1843.] Visit to the Pakchan River. 525 



Chimpohun during the rains, and if necessary, to the gulf itself. From 

 thence the road continues good. It crosses the Chimpohun very fre- 

 quently, besides many dry ravines which communicate with it ; the 

 banks of these, where crossed by the road have not more than thirty 

 or thirty- five feet of abrupt declivity, the rest of the ground being very 

 regular, and partaking of the general slope of the country. At 3 p. m., 

 having walked seventeen and half miles, we fell in with an elephant, 

 and inducing the driver to take us on, were relieved from further per- 

 sonal exertion. The first eight miles of the eastern slope of the Pass 

 have the greatest fall, after which the descent is easy till we reach the 

 alluvial plain of Chimpohun. Nearing this plain, at 5 p. m., we ob- 

 served the influence of the tide in the river, and at 5-30 reached 

 Chimpohun. The plain is covered with rice fields, bearing signs of 

 abundant crops as far as could be observed on all sides, and is bounded 

 by a range of hills bending in a curved direction to the South-East. 

 Some of these near the plain have much the same isolated and abrupt 

 character, as the limestone hills near Maulmain. After half an hour's 

 delay, the headman forwarded us on fresh elephants to the camp of the 

 chief, which we found at Tasapaow, three and half miles distant further 

 East, and reached it at 8. p. m., the entire distance between Pakchan 

 and Tasapaow, being nearly twenty-eight miles. 



4. We were here hospitably treated, and visited the chief early 

 the following morning. After a slight dinner, Dr. Richardson suc- 

 ceeded in inducing him to return and confer with Mr. Blundell, whom 

 he expressed himself anxious to meet. His encampment was on the 

 right bank of the Chimpohun, where the river is about 180 yards 

 broad, running through a level country over a sandy bed, free from 

 obstructions, and with a rise and fall of tide of about six feet at the 

 springs. The depth of water at 8 a. m. on the 13th of March, was 

 six feet with a rising tide. It communicates directly with the gulf 

 of Siam, from which, by the best information, we were distant five 

 miles. A sea-going boat of about thirty tons was under a shed at 

 this spot ; but junks trading on the Siam coast do not pass beyond 

 Tayang, a town four miles East of Tasapaow, and within a mile of the 

 sea. Time would not admit of our going to the coast, as Mr. Blundell 

 and the rest of the party were expecting our speedy return to Pakchan. 

 The distance of Tasapaow from the sea, as above given, may I think 



