1837.] Journal of an expedition from Moulmien to Ava. 1019 



On the 6th I started for Ava after a detention at Monay of forty- two 

 days. "We halted the first day at a small nullah sbout two miles from 

 Monay, and in the afternoon the Tso-boa came out with his men 

 to some zeyats and pagodas about half a mile nearer the town. 

 Mkng-nay-myo accompanied me to the halting-place, and theTso-boa's 

 son, the Tso-boa, Tseet-kay and the second Bodhayea visited me in 

 the evening. 



On the 7th we made a march of twelve miles to Hay peck: some of the 

 troops marched long before day-light : the Tso-boa passed my tent 

 about six o'clock, and at seven I followed and reached the ground at 

 half- past eleven. A square of low sheds had been erected for the 

 troops, huts for the Tso-boa and his immediate followers in the centre, 

 and a spot was pointed out to me to the westward of the enclosure for 

 pitching the tents ; boughs were furnished for the elephants and grass 

 for the horses ; the troops continued dropping in ten or twelve at a 

 time till dark, they are said to amount to 1000 men, one-half armed 

 with muskets the other with spears. In case of an attack, many 

 of the muskets must prove nearly as dangerous to themselves as 

 to the enemy. The few who can muster horses are allowed to 

 ride, altogether without order and mixed with the infantry. Each 

 foot soldier also carries over his shoulder two cowrie baskets, 

 and his musket or spear tied to the bearing pole. They march with- 

 out order, firing off their muskets occasionally along the whole line of 

 the march : all their provisions and ammunition must be carried in 

 their cowrie baskets, as except a few coolies of the Tso-boa's, and one 

 or two other chiefs, there are no carriers with the force. I visited 

 the Tso-boa in the evening. In this way we marched till the 16th 

 April, through a hilly undulating country, the long faces of the undula- 

 tions sweeping away almost as smooth as the surface of a snow 

 wreath, with small abrupt rugged rocky hills and ranges projecting as 

 it were through them to a height of from 20 to 150 feet or more ; 

 the soil exceedingly poor, almost bare of trees or brushwood, much of 

 it brought under cultivation for dry grain, though the population is 

 scanty. We passed one or two large towns, and the Pon and Bora- 

 that rivers about three and a half feet deep at this season. The Tso- 

 boa and a part of the force frequently started long before day-light, 

 and the whole was never up till dark. When our encampment lay at 

 a distance from any village the force immediately constructed their 

 sheds of boughs of trees in the same order as on our first encampment, 

 completing the square as they come up. 



On the 1 6th, after daily hearing reports of the most contradictory 



