612 An account of some of the Petty States [Oct. 



8 hours, 50 minutes on the road; some of them did not arrive till an hour after- 

 wards from the difficulty of the ascent. 



•'8^. Direction North, 70 East. Time, 5 hours ; distance, 12 miles. 

 " 9. Continued to ascend the hills in a path rather better than that of yes- 

 terday ; free from ruts. — 10. 45. A good broad road along the side of the hills 

 for an hour or two. — 2. Halted on a small plain near the Lowa village of 

 Meing -lay -been 36 containing five or six houses. The nights have gradually been 

 becoming cooler as we ascended, and there are seven of the people ill with fever 

 in consequence. The thermometer stood at 46° in the tent this morning at 

 8 A. », 



" The jungle plantain, thet-tse, bamboos, and pine in luxuriance, the latter 

 forming the principal part of the jungle (or forest, for it has lost much of its 

 density in these upland regions ;) the creepers have almost disappeared, and the 

 trees which form the crest of the hills to the westward may almost be counted in 

 the afternoon, and might be traversed with little difficulty.— At 11. 15 to-day from 

 the top of one of the high hills nothing could be seen as far as the eye could 

 range but masses of hills rising one above another, covered with the same 

 description of jungle to their summits, but no snow to be seen ; if they can be 

 said to be disposed at all into ranges, it is between S. S. E. and N. N. W. but 

 they are extremely irregular and broken. 



" 9th. Direction North, 45 East. Time, 6 hours ; distance, 10 miles. 

 " 8. 55, Continued to ascend. — 2. 30. Open forest, composed entirely of 

 fir trees, tall, straight, and free from branches, to the height probably of 50 feet. 



"2. 55. Halted at the Lowa 39 village of Bo i0 , situated in an open plain in 

 the forest, perhaps of 12 or 15 miles in length by five or six in breadth, as has 

 been the case ever since leaving the Mein-lun-ghee. Our march has been a continued 

 ascent, but gradually surmounting hills in succession, with several descents 

 throughout ; we are now said to occupy the highest and coldest halting place 

 on the road ; the fir has been the most numerous tree throughout the march, and 

 the only one during the latter part of the day. The village of Bo consists of 60 or 

 80 houses : the people are all ironsmiths, and are exempted from all service but 

 furnishing elephants' chains, cooking pots, spears, and other iron-ware to the 

 Shans during war, or for military purposes ; the iron ore is a red oxyd, and is 

 found in immense masses in a hill to the north-westward less than one day's 

 journey. It is brought to the village on elephants and melted in a simple fur- 

 nace — yields nearly 50 per cent, of metal, soft and unfit for knives, ploughs, 

 shears, &c. &c. ; they have not the art of hardening it. The people are said to 

 be rich, particularly in elephants, of which there are not less than sixty or seventy 

 in the village. 



4< 10/A. Direction South, 65 East. Time, 5 hours, 40 minutes ; distance, 14 

 miles. 



« 10 a. m. Ascended by a good path, much frequented throughout. — 10. 20, 

 descent. — 1. 25. Saw the May-ping* 1 river, which falls into the sea at Bankofc. — 

 2. 20. Rocky steep, difficult descent.— 3. 15. Crossed the M ay -papie* 2 river, knee 

 deep, running easterly. — 3. 40. Halted on the banks of the May-papie on a 

 small grassy plain. Since 12. 20 we have been descending; the road though 

 rocky has been pretty good, the air is decidedly milder, the pine has been gra- 

 dually diminishing in numbers, and now not one is to be seen ; the jungle just 

 here is very close ; the rocks throughout the latter part of the march old gray 



