394 



Captain Hannay' s Route 



[Oct. 



to the danger of the passage. In this part of their course, the 

 mission frequently met large rafts of bambus descending from the 

 Shueli river, and upon them, small baskets of pickled tea, brought 

 from the hills to the south-east of that river. This tea was said to 

 be manufactured by a race called Palong Paon, who are under 

 Momeit. At Tsingu, Captain Hannay saw three native Chinese 

 from Thengyichu or Mounyen, and several others in the service of 

 the noblemen of the court, had accompanied the expedition from Ava 

 with the view of proceeding to the Kyouk Tsein, or Serpentine mines 

 near the sources of the U'ru river, west of the Irawadi. On the 

 30th of November the party left the village of Yedan Fua, where a 

 perceptible change takes place in the character of the country and 

 river. " The latter," says Captain Hannay, " from covering an ex- 

 tent of miles is sometimes confined within a limit of 150 yards, with- 

 out rapids or torrents, as I had expected, but almost as still as 

 a lake. In some places its depth is very great being upwards of ten 

 fathoms. It winds through beautiful jungle, in which the pipal, 

 simal trees, and bambus, are conspicuous, and it has, generally 

 speaking, a rocky bed and banks, which last rise to a considerable 

 height, and composed of sandstone, which varies from dark to a 

 white and yellow colour." At the next stage, or Thihadophya, Captain 

 Hannay mentions a very remarkable instance of the tameness of the 

 fish, which are not allowed to be killed, and are found from about a 

 mile below the village to an equal distance above. 



" If rice is thrown into the water from the boat, a dozen fish, some 

 of them as much as three and four feet long, come to the surface, and 

 not only eat the rice, but open their mouths for you to put it in, and 

 they will allow you to pat them on the head, which I and some of 

 my followers actually did. Some of these fish are apparently of the 

 same species as those called in India guru and ruta : indeed the 

 Hindus who are with me called them by these names. The breadth of 

 head is remarkable, and the mouth very large; they have no teeth,— 

 at least so the people told me, whom I saw feeling their mouths." 

 This spectacle, strange as it must have appeared, was hardly more so 

 than the adventure of the following morning, when Captain Hannay 

 " was awoke by the boatmen calling to the fish to participate in their 

 meal." 



On the 1st of December the expedition arrived at Tsampaynago, 

 which has been before mentioned as the limit, beyond which, even na- 

 tives of the country are not permitted to proceed without an express 

 order from the Government. The custom-house or thana is on the 



