34<6 GEOGRAPHY AND 



ney of twenty days, which was described by a man, who accomplished seven- 

 teen : it is practicable only to a mountaineer, and appears to present almost 

 insuperable difficulties. He states, that on two occasions, the traveller is 

 obliged to swing himself across precipices by the hands and feet, on a rope 

 of cane stretched from rock to rock. (Appendix No. V.) 



To the southward of that tract, and eastward of the Brahmalcund, lies 

 the country inhabited by the Bor Khamtis, from whom the Khamtis of 

 Sadiya are sprung. They are Buddhists, of the same worship as the Bur- 

 mese, Shams, &c., and claim divine origin. Through their country, they 

 state, the Irawadi flows towards Ava, taking its rise from the hills, dividing 

 them from Asam and the Mishmis. I have been furnished with a route 

 from Sadiya by the Theinga, (Appendix No. VI.j 



The principal difficulty which I have experienced in tracing the route 

 from Rangpur into Ava, from various sources of information, has arisen less 

 from an^ actual differences of statement than from the discordant dialects and 

 mode of pronunciation of the people. Thus, although, the Asamese, the 

 Khamtis, Sinh-phos, and Burmese, from whom I made enquiries, all seem 

 to agree as to the general distance and direction, yet each gave a different 

 route, and seemed to have no acquaintance with those of the others. Two 

 rallying points, however, became establislied, namely, Namrup, or Namhog, 

 second of the map, on this side of the hills, and old Bisa, or Bijanun Yua^ 

 on the other. 



The first correction requisite in the Burmese route, laid down in the 

 map, is at the commencement, quitting Rangpur, whence the road ' should 

 take a north-easterly direction, until it reaches the entrance of the pass near 

 Bisa Gong, at the junction of the Borl and Nowa Diking rivers. This road, 

 after crossing the Disavg^ near Bor Hath, and the Bori Diking at Jypur, 



