72 Proceedings of tlic Asiatic Society. [Feb. 



obtain supplies. It is to be wondered at that the Namroop route should 

 be used at all by traders, considering that each man must carry fifteen 

 pounds weight of rice for his own consumption on the journey, be- 

 sides his load of goods ; but the Moolooks, Singfoos and Dooanniahs are 

 not hill men, and to avoid climbing the steep scarps which the Patkoi 

 presents at every other point, they form depots of provisions along 

 this route much in the same manner that the later Arctic explorers 

 have adopted in their expeditions on the ice. They carry forward 

 rice and bury it at convenient intervals along the road, and then 

 return for their loads. What is wanted is about ninety miles of road 

 from Makoom to the Kyundween. There is a sufficient amount of 

 Naga and Dooanniah labour to be obtained in the neighbourhood for 

 the construction of an ordinary " cutcha" road, and the cost of it 

 would not exceed one thousand Rupees per mile. Such a road would 

 enable the trader from Hookoong to reach Makoom in one-third 

 the number of marches that the journey now occupies, and it would 

 render an examination of the country easy, and thus pave the way 

 for a more scientifically constructed road, or a Railway. 



On my return I fell in with a party of eight men returning to 

 Hookoong. They had brought over amber ornaments, ivory and 

 daos for sale. Two of the party were taking back about thirty yards 

 each of the poorest description of calico* and another had some 

 sulphur. The rest had invested in opium. 



These men assured me that there was more than one well used 

 trade route through Hookoong, and through the Sepahee Singfoo 

 country, to Tali and other places in Western China. The question 

 of opening up China to India is of so great importance, that it is not 

 likely to be lost sight of, now that it has once attracted attention, but 

 the magnitude of this subject should not make us pass over the value 

 of improving the communication between the Burhampooter and the 

 Kyundween. The great want of Assam is population to cultivate the 

 soil. We can obtain labourers from Bengal, but we have also to great 

 extent to import their food and this in a notoriously fertile country.f 



* I am not sure about the name of this cloth. It is composed chiefly of 

 starch with a small portion of cotton to give toughness to the fabric. It ia 

 never seen in any civilised place, but the Manchester manufacturers know 

 well how to suit savage customers who must have cheap clothing, and do not 

 wash their clothes. 



t The ground is cropped year after year and no manure is used, yet the 

 yield is on the average about 45 cwt., of paddy to the acre. 



