1853.] Note on the Discharge of Water, by the Irrawaddy. 481 



About the beginning of April or end of March, 1837, the late 

 Mr. Griffith observed that at Mogoung, one hundred and eighty 

 miles above Ava, the Irrawaddy presents the same large undivided 

 body of water as in the lower parts of Burmah, and, as an instance 

 of its great magnitude, he says that it is not affected in size or 

 appearance by the addition it then receives of the Mogoung river, 

 the last large tributary worthy of the name, which the Irrawaddy 

 receives. 



These circumstances together with the quantity of water dis- 

 charged by the Irrawaddy into the sea, certainly claim for it a first 

 place amongst the great rivers of the east, hardly second to the 

 Ganges itself. 



While thus struck with the size of the Irrawaddy, we are forcibly 

 reminded of its being, I believe, the only one of our great rivers, 

 whose source is still a matter of speculation. 



Making all allowance for the extravagance of Burmese Historians, 

 there is enough in the authenticated history of the country, to 

 show that great armies have passed and re-passed to, and from, 

 China. Besides which, the Chinese character of the boats and 

 houses of Burmah, together with some of the ceremonies of the 

 people, suggest a more immediate and direct intercourse with China 

 on the part of the Burmese, than any other nation on the western 

 side of the Himalaya. So much so, that I have often heard it 

 surmised by our officers at Prome, as one way of accounting for 

 the resemblances, that the Irrawaddy probably flows from China, 

 not that it was supposed to be navigable to that extent, but that 

 its valleys may afford comparatively easy passes between the two 

 countries. 



Klaproth considered the Irrawaddy to be a continuation of the 

 Tsan peu or great river of Thibet, an opinion with which Mr. Grif- 

 fith coincided. Colonel Wilcox, however, an excellent authority, 

 considered the Tsan peu to be the continuation of the Burrampoo- 

 tur, and Captain Pemberton, I believe was of the same opinion, and 

 accordingly made the Irrawaddy terminate in the Borkhumtee coun- 

 try, three hundred and sixty miles above Ava, although there can 

 hardly be a doubt that it must necessarily have a more extended 

 course, more especially as it has been traced two hundred miles 



3 p 2 



