ON THE ROUTE FROM ASSAM TO AVA. 



131 



Villages and Towns. 



1. Camein, on the right bank of the Mogoung river, at the junc- 

 tion of the Endaw-khioung, consists of two stockades, one on a small 

 hill the other at the foot. Both together contain about 32 houses. 

 The inhabitants are Shans. It is a place of some consequence, as it is 

 on the route from Mogoung to the Serpentine mines. From Kamein 

 Shewe Down Gyee, a conspicuous mountain, so called, bears east. 



2. Mogoung, on the right bank of the river of the same name, just 

 below the junction to the Namyeen Khioung, contains rather fewer 

 than 300 houses. Although it contains so few houses it is a place 

 of considerable extent. It is surrounded by the remains of a timber 

 stockade, similar in construction to those of Burmah proper. The houses 

 are mostly small, and I speak within bounds when I say, that there 

 is not a single one that bears the stamp of respectability. There is 

 a bazaar, but nothing good is procurable in it. Tea and sugar-candy 

 are rare and high priced. Pork is plentiful. Mogoung is situated in 

 a plain of some extent, this plain is surrounded in almost every 

 direction by hills, all of which, with the exception of Shewe Down 

 Gyee, are low : the nearest of these are about three miles off. 



The inhabitants are mostly Shans, there are some Assamese, the 

 chief of whom is a relation of Chundra Kant, the ex- Rajah of Assam. 

 The best street in the town, though one of small extent, is that 

 occupied by the resident Chinese, none of whom however are natives 

 of China proper. Of this people I should say there are barely 60 in 

 Mogoung, and, judging from their houses, none of which are of brick, 

 I should say they are very inferior to their fellow-countrymen residing 

 in Bamo. 



During our stay in Mogoung, which was protracted owing to 

 the disturbed state of the country, the population was much increas- 

 ed by Shan- Chinese returning from the Serpentine mines ; and as 

 there was a considerable number of boats engaged by them for the 

 transportation of the Serpentine, the town looked busier than it other- 

 wise would have done. 



The Mogoung river is here about 100 yards broad, but it is much 

 subdivided by sand banks : it is navigable for moderate sized boats a 

 considerable distance above the town. In the upper part of the 

 course this river abounds with fish to an unprecedented degree ; of 

 these the most numerous is the Bokhar of Assam, and of this I 

 have seen shoals of immense extent. 



The Namyeen is a small and shallow stream. Although from the 



