402 



Captain Hannay's Route 



[Oct. 



in height, and composed of clay. "With the exception of Ava and 

 Bangun it is the largest place I have seen in Burmah, and, not except- 

 ing these places, I certainly think it the most interesting. The novel- 

 ty of so large a fleet as ours passing up (and no doubt, having heard 

 that a European officer was of the party) had attracted a great crowd 

 of people to the river side, and on landing, I felt as if 1 were almost in 

 a civilized land again, when I found myself amongst fair complexion- 

 ed people, wearing jackets and trowsers, after being accustomed to the 

 harsh features and party-colored dress of the Burmans. The people 

 I saw were Chinese from the province of Funan, and Shans from the 

 Shan provinces subject to China. Bamo is said to contain 1500 houses, 

 but including several villages which join it, I should say it contained 

 2000 at least, 200 of which are inhabited by Chinese. Besides the 

 permanent population of Bamo, there are always a great number of 

 strangers there, Chinese, IShans, and Kakhyens, who either come to 

 make purchases or to be hired as workmen. There are also a great 

 number of Assamese both in the town and in the villages immediately 

 connected with it, amongst whom are several members of the Tapan or 

 Assam Raja's family. Bamo is the jaghire of the Tapan Raja's sister, 

 who is one of the ladies of the king of Ava. 



" The inhabitants of this district live in large comfortable houses, 

 which are thatched with grass, and walls made of reeds. They are 

 generally railed in, and all the villages have bambu palisades sur- 

 rounding them. The Palongs of the Chinese frontier are, I am told, 

 remarkably industrious. They are good dyers, carpenters and black- 

 smiths, and all the dhas or swords used in this part of the country 

 are made by them." " I received," adds Captain Hannay, " great 

 attention from the Myuwun of Bamo, and aho from the head Chinese 

 there ; they sent me tea, sugar, dried fruits, and vegetables, for 

 which I, of course, made a suitable return. The annual caravan 

 from China had not arrived, and the supply of Chinese articles in the 

 shops was very small." 



The people of Bamo were so strongly impressed with the idea 

 that Captain Hannay's only object was to find a road by which Bri- 

 tish troops might penetrate to China, that he found it extremely dif- 

 ficult to obtain any information from them regarding the routes into 

 that country. The Chinese themselves, however, proved more com- 

 municative, and from them he learnt the existence of several passes 

 from Bamo into Yunan ; but as one of these presents far greater faci- 

 lities of transit than the others, it is generally adopted for commercial 

 intercourse, and the mode of carrying it on is thus described. "At 



