1859.] Itinerary in the district of Amherst, Tenasserim. 437 



mouth of which we had seen at Kroontau on the 12th. It was 

 surprisingly large and deep, considering the length of its course, 

 and its beautifully clear waters tempted strongly to a bath. The 

 Mey hatha comes from near a lofty abrupt mountain which the 

 Karens pointed out, apparently twenty miles off to the S. S. E. 

 The hill said to be stockaded and the head-quarters of the Governor 

 of Lengka, a district we enter to-morrow. It is called by the 

 Burmese "Lengka tat"'' (Lengka fort); by the Shans " Kho-ya ;" 

 and by the Karens " Klong p'hado" (great hill). At Mongtoosd is 

 a small colony of Shan Karens, who, men and women, sat close round 

 never taking their eyes off us while day-light lasted. Our ablutions 

 and toilettes seemed to excite the most intense astonishment, and 

 an examination of my telescope, sextant, and especially the Chro- 

 nometer with its solemn tick, set them all wild. 



February 17th. — Our course this morning lay N. N. E. up and 

 along the ridge of a hill called " T'hee bo" and towards the highest 

 point of the ridge " Pansanouk" where the Aneroid stood at 27.1. 

 On the way I had a snap shot at a barking deer and missed. 

 (One of our party more fortunate killed one the other side of 

 Loongtikoung, the venison of which was excellent). A fine polecat 

 looking animal also crossed the path, but too quickly to be fired at, 

 and also a bevy of the Bollulus cristatus, a singular genus of quail 

 procurable occasionally at Mergui. Hitherto I have done nothing 

 in the Zoological way myself, and as to the people, they of course 

 do nothing to help one. The ascent up this interminable hill was 

 most fatiguing, and after four hours climbing, I was glad to sit down 

 on the summit where we had another view of the "Lengka tat" 

 about thirty miles S. S. E. The rest of our day's march was a steep 

 descent into a hot grass jungle bottom, and at noon we halted at 

 Toongban by a stream for breakfast, having entered a moderately 

 undulating country, buried in heavy grass jungle and thinly 

 scattered forest trees, interspersed with rugged blackened limestone 

 rocks. 



After breakfast, before resuming our journey, there was much deli- 

 beration and discussion amongst our Karens, and we were at length 

 given to understand that the path onward was planted with tiger 

 traps : things about as unpleasant to meet as the animals tliem- 



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