ASAM AND THE NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES. 439 



used to, was presented, and we were much pressed to remain a few 

 days — however we liked our former quarters much better. In the evening, 

 the women all assembled on a large mat extended on the turf, to hear our 

 musical box. Neither they nor their men were in holiday suits, but they 

 looked very clean and behaved well. Their high head-dress is very 

 singular, and not altogether inelegant. In the morning, we went off at 

 an early hour, accompanied by a guide mounted on a third horse, and in 

 two hours we crossed the plains obliquely to the river's edge. 



The Iraivadi, we were surprised to find but a small river, smaller 

 even than we anticipated, though aware of the proximity of its sources. 

 It was not more than eighty yards broad, and still fordable, though con- 

 siderably swollen by the melting snows, the bed was of rounded stones, 

 and both above and below where we stood we could see numerous shallow 

 rapids similar to those in the Diking. 



As to the origin of the Irawadi, I felt perfectly satisfied from the 

 moment I made inquiries ^.tSadiya; but since further evidence, founded on 

 the report of the natives, might not have satisfied those who had adopted 

 Mr. Klaproth's opinion, that the waters of the Sampo find an outlet 

 through the channel of the Irawadi, I had resolved, if possible, to have 

 occular and incontrovertible demonstration ; and I could not help exulting, 

 when standing on the edge of the clear stream, at the successful result of 

 our toils and fatigues. Before us, to the north, rose a towering wall, 

 stretching from W. to E. offering an awkward impediment to the passage 

 of a river in a cross direction, and we agreed on the spot that, if Mr. 

 Klaproth proved determined to make his Sampo pass by Ava, he must 

 find a river for his purpose considerably removed towards or into China. 



The scenery was of the finest order, and its effect was heightened by 

 the thin mists hovering on the bases of the blue mountains. One majestiG 



