1859.] Itinerary in the district of Amherst, Tenasserim. 435 



Our little encampment of booths and wigwams was outside the 

 village, and shortly after our arrival the Governor and suite came 

 to visit us. He was a civil good-natured old man, and all the people 

 a simple pleasing set. They are of the class called Shan Talyngs, 

 to whom allusion was made before ; and their countenances are far 

 more pleasant than those of the pure Shaus, especially as they do 

 not cut their hair into a brush. We had a long interview with the 

 Governor ; who, whether it is etiquette with them, or whether he 

 was deaf, or imagined I was, bawled out every word like a stentor. 

 He spoke in Shan, which was interpreted into Talyng, and that into 

 Burmese. Before parting I civilly remarked to the old gentleman 

 that it would be more considerate to travellers to put his cordon 

 sanitaire at the commencement, instead of near the end of a difficult 

 journey ! Total march to-day 13 miles. 



February 14M. — The place being pleasant to look upon, and ac- 

 counts of the next march most dismal, we halted to-day. 



Weytamaryny, Lat. 15° 20' 31" N. ; Long. 98° 40' E. ; Thermometer 

 55° at Q\ a. m., 84° at noon. Height above Moulmein 524 feet. 

 The extremes of temperature have so disturbed the rate of my 

 Chronometer, that, want of time preventing my stopping long 

 enough anywhere to re-rate it, I must trust to Latitude and dead 

 reckoning to fix my positions in future. 



In the evening took a stroll through the village. The houses are 

 large, well raised on bamboos, of which they are entirely composed, 

 and very flat in the pitch of the roof, like Swiss cottages. The 

 houses stood embowered in plantain trees (these people being exclu- 

 sively frugivorous) and the low spurs of the hills all round were 

 cultivated with cotton. The marks of pigs were so abundant that 

 I was nearly tempted to sit up at night for them. My offer of ten 

 rupees to any villager who would shoot me one was however met 

 with general merriment as something " really too ridiculous" — not 

 a fowl, duck, or buffalo was to be seen, and all the way from Thalaya 

 zyk to the Houngthrau river, we have to depend on our own com- 

 missariat for supplies. Fortunately the possession of a good quan- 

 tity of Grimwade's desiccated milk, allows us the real luxury of a 

 good cup of tea and coffee in the mornings ; no traveller in such 

 inhospitable regions should be without this admirable substitute for 



