APPENDIX. 461 



Though perfectly satisfied on this point from having been so long and so often engaged 

 in the inquiry, I have recently questioned a Burman attendant, who has been with me 

 since the capture of Rangpur, and who came from Amerapura, his native city, by the 

 route of the Irawadi, striking off where the Mogaun, or Mungkhung rivulet joins the 

 great river. This man,* in answer to my simple question as to the size of the Bhanmo 

 river, immediately replied — as large as the Dikho, (the little stream running past Gher- 

 gong, and Rangpur in Asam,) and he positively denies that any river joins the Irawadi, 

 as far up as he has seen it. 



" I was assured by the Officer who gave me the account of the Map here published, 

 and who, as belonging to Panmo, on the frontier of China, must have been perfectly well 

 informed, that the Irawadi f or Kiang nga never enters the province of Yunnan, but keeps 

 far to the west of it, the whole principality of Panmo being interposed." (Hamilton, 

 p. 36 of his Account.) 



In answer to this, M. Klaproth could not again remind us that though this may 

 be true of the Irawadi of the Mranmas, it may not be so of the " Irawadi of Geogra- 

 phers ;" he would be well aware that the latter was understood and intended by Dr. 

 Hamilton, who perfectly well recollected the story of the four Chinese of the Universal 

 History. I do not think it worth while to enter on a discussion of their travels. J Hamil- 

 ton has said enough on the subject; but indeed it appears to me that citing such authority, 

 or the "renseignemens authentiques" of our great Geographer Rennell, is wilfully 

 recurring for information to a period when much of what is now perfectly understood was 

 the subject of mere conjecture. 



I was assured by a party of Shams from Yunnan, that there is no river to compare 

 with the Sadiya Brahmaputra, within thirteen days' journey of Banmo. The river allud- 

 ed to by them at that distance, appears to be the Lan-tsan, or Kianlong-kiang . The 

 Nou-kyang is, as we are told by Hamilton, much inferior to the Irawadi at Bhanmo, 



* He has often shown considerable intelligence iu geographical matters. 



t It must not be forgotten, that while Dr. Hamilton was pursuing these inquiries at Amerapura, there were 

 there some Chinese Ambassadors from Yunnan, who also gave him information. 



t They might have embarked on the Bhanmo river. 



x 3 



