1016 Mission to the Court of Siam. [Dec. 



Art. III. — Journal of a Mission from the Supreme Government of 

 India to the Court of Siam. 



December I8lh. — At half past 1 p. m. left Maulmain. My baggage 

 and presents for the Court of Siam in three boats ; and at half past 2 p. m. 

 halt ten minutes at Neaung-ben-tseik, when having ascertained that the 

 elephants (six), which are to meet me at Nat-Kyning, had started about 

 8 o'clock, we proceeded with the flood tide in a south-easterly direction 

 up the Attran river, passed the villages of Nantay, Keik-poron, 

 Keik-mo-rong, Peikh-hnay-cong, Kan-ta (or Kanaumy), Being-beo, 

 and at 6 o'clock halted for the night at Keik-mare. The banks of the 

 river, which winds considerably through an alluvial country, have 

 been low and wooded throughout the day. 



December \9th. — At half past 2 a. m. left Keik-mare with the 

 morning's flood, and continuing the same course as yesterday, passed 

 several rocky (lime?) hills, and at 8h. 45m. halted for breakfast at the 

 village of Attran, near the old city of that name. The neighbourhood of 

 this village is said to be favourable for cotton cultivation, and the teak 

 forests commence in detached clumps on the right, or eastern bank 

 of the river, about Pa-baung, (a village inhabited by Shan elephant 

 hunters), a short way below it. Complaints are said to have been 

 made to the court of Bankok of the number of elephants stolen from 

 that kingdom, a little north and east of the capital, and sold into our 

 territory; some of these hunters have been summoned to Bankok, 

 others have been recalled by the chief of Timmay, to which place the 

 majority of them belong, and the rest are said to be preparing to fol- 

 low them : in the meantime, strict orders have been issued by the court 

 of Bankok, prohibiting the exportation of elephants from Yahine, (the 

 southernmost of the Laos towns), and the country to the southward. Left 

 Attran at 11 a.m., and at 1 p. m. enter the Zimee river, where it is joined 

 by the Wengeo, their united streams forming the Attran. The Zimee 

 is exceedingly tortuous in its course, the different reaches running to 

 every point of the compass. At 2h. 25m. p. m. halt for dinner, having 

 come from Attran against the stream, which is very sluggish at this 

 season ; 4h. 15m. start again with the flood, and reach Kea-en (lotus 

 lake) at 10 p. m., here we halted for the night; the inhabitants of the 

 village are Kareens, who have fled from the oppression of the Birmans 

 in the last year. 



December 20th. — Left Kea-en at 8 a. m. on the flood, and reach 

 Nat-Kyeaung, at 10 a. m., where we got the things out of the boats, and 



