GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS AND EXPLORATIONS. 171 



exploration, and in November 1879 lie started with two companions, 

 and soon after arrived at Bhamo. Thence the party ascended the 

 river in boats to Ka-cho, once an important city, in latitude 25° 20', 

 at an elevation of about 1,000 feet above the sea. At the village of 

 Maigna, about 16 miles north of Ka-cho, the Burmese frontier was 

 reached. The country beyond is inhabited by Kachins, among 

 whom no Shans reside, and the people pay no tribute to Burma. 

 Two days afterwards the junction of the eastern and western 

 branches of the Irawadi river were sighted, the latter (called the 

 Maleeka) being considerably swollen and 500 paces wide, while the 

 eastern branch (called Mehka) was low and flowing amid rapids and 

 large rocks, with a width of about 100 yards. The people of the 

 country stated that the great increase in the waters of the western 

 branch was due to the melting of the snow at its sources, and there 

 can be little doubt that it is the larger, and rises in higher ranges. 

 The natives also stated that the eastern branch has two principal 

 affluents, one from the east, and believed to have its source in the 

 Naungsa lake, and the other from the north, said to rise in the hills 

 50 or 60 miles beyond Mo-goung-poon. The sources of the western 

 branch are stated to be in the Kantee country, at a distance of 

 about 23 clays' journey from Ka-cho. Thus it is highly probable 

 that this is the branch of the river reached by Wilcox in his journey 

 from Assam in 1827, which is described in Vol. XVII. of the 

 Kesearches of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Calcutta, 1832). The 

 explorer's " Kantee " i3 obviously identical with Wilcox's " Khanti."* 

 The trustworthiness of the explorer's investigations is proved by 

 a comparison of the three maps, viz.: — Lieutenant Wilcox's, of 

 1828 ; Father Desgodins' map of the eastern frontier of Tibet, pre- 

 sented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal ; and the explorer's own. 

 These are skilfully juxtaposed by the Surveyor-General of India in 

 his Report for 1879-80, and the general agreement is substantial 

 and striking. It is quite conclusive against the old theory of the 

 identity of the Sanpo and Irawadi. 



* Major Sandeman read a paper on the journey before the Royal Geographical 

 Society on the 27th February 1882. See Proceedings, p. 2-58. 



