1837.] 



from Ava to the Frontier of Assam. 



399 



of which at Wegyih, a village above Katha, Captain Hannay estimat- 

 ed at one mile and a half an hour, with an average depth of 18 feet. 

 This would give a discharge of about 52,272 cubic feet per second, 

 while that of the Ganges at the same season may be assumed on 

 Rennell's authority at 80,000 feet per second, giving for both a 

 proportion of 1 to 1.53. No satisfactory comparison can, however, 

 be yet instituted between these magnificent rivers, for up to the pre- 

 sent moment we are without a single section of the Irawadi, which 

 could be safely assumed as the basis of a calculation sufficiently accu- 

 rate for such a purpose. 



At Kyouk-gyih, which the party reached on the 1 7th, they had 

 fairly entered the remarkable curve in the Irawadi which had been 

 previously represented in all our sketches of the river, and served, in 

 the absence of more accurate information, as a point of reference, 

 generally well known to the Burmahs and Shans. Here there is 

 a ledge of rocks, over which the stream passes with so great a degree 

 of rapidity, as to render it very difficult of navigation during the rains. 

 The rocks are serpentine and the sand collected amongst them appear- 

 ed to be a mixture of small garnets and iron sand The right bank 

 of the river, for two miles below Kyouk-gyih, is composed of small 

 round stones and sand, and Captain Hannay was told that the natives 

 wash the soil for gold. 



No circumstance throughout this voyage afforded a more gratifying 

 proof of the friendly feeling generally of the Burmese authorities, than 

 the attentions which Captain Hannay received at every place at which 

 they halted. Houses were erected for his accommodation at the various 

 stages of the route, differing in no respect from those intended for the 

 Myuwun of Mogaang; presents of fruit, rice, and vegetables were 

 daily made to himself and followers, and the supposed tedium of his 

 evenings was relieved by a band of singers and dancers, who are found 

 at almost every town and village in the Burman empire. At Kyouk- 

 gyih, these attentions were shewn to a very remarkable degree by the 

 Woon of Munyen, " whose civility," says Captain Hannay, " was the 

 subject of conversation with every one in the fleet." 



" Every individual has received sufficient rice and fish for two days' 

 supply, and my boat was filled by him with all sorts of provisions, 

 enough certainly to last myself and my followers for a week." The 

 house of this liberal Woon, Captain Hannay describes " as a very 

 neat and comfortable dwelling, with a remarkably clean compound, in 

 which there is a garden laid out with a great deal of taste, and. besides 



