1837.] 



from Ava to the Frontier of Assam. 



407 



tending for a mile and a half, which were even then considered danger- 

 ous; and Captain Hannay remarks, that he had seldom seen in the 

 worst season, and worst part of the Ganges, a stronger current, or more 

 turbulent water than at the rapids of Shuegyain-man, a short distance 

 above the village of Namhet. 



On the arrival of the fleet at Tshenbo, which is about 10 miles below 

 the mouth of the Mogaung river, the boats by which the party had 

 been conveyed from Ava were exchanged for others of a smaller 

 description, better adapted for the navigation of so small and tortuous 

 a river as that of Mogaung. The one prepared for Captain Hannay's 

 accommodation was of the kind called by the Burmese " loung it 

 was paddled by 25 men, and formed of a single tree, with the addition 

 of a plank 10 inches broad, all round the upper part of it. 



Before quitting Tshenbo, Captain Hannay had a visit from the head 

 priest, whose curiosity to obtain some knowledge of European customs 

 and habits could only be satisfied by the display of the contents of 

 his trunks, and the sight of his watch, sextant, and thermometer; all 

 of which he was permitted to examine by Captain Hannay, who 

 regrets that he had not brought some missionary tract? with him from 

 Ava " to give this inquisitive priest some idea of the Christian religion." 

 Tshenbo, on the authority of this priest, is said to have been formerly 

 a principal city of the Phwon tribe, who were dispossessed of it, about 

 sixty years ago, by the Burmahs. 



On the last day of December the mission reached the mouth of the 

 Mogaung river, which Captain Han n t ay ascertained by observation to 

 be in latitude 24° 56' 53". Here they were to quit the Irawadi, which, 

 says Captain Hannay " is still a fine river flowing in a reach from the 

 eastward half a mile broad, at the rate of two miles an hour, and with 

 a depth varying from three fathoms in the centre to two at the edge." 



The Mogaung river on which the town of the same name is situated, 

 is not more than 100 yards wide, and the navigation is impeded by a 

 succession of rapids over which the stream rushes with considerable 

 velocity. The smallest boat in the fleet was an hour and a half getting 

 over the first of these obstacles, and the Shan boatmen, who are thorough- 

 ly acquainted with the character of the river, "pull their boats close to 

 the rocky points, and then, using all their strength, shoot across to the op- 

 posite side before the force of the stream had time to throw them on the 

 rocks." The Burmah boatmen adopted the apparently easier method 

 of pulling their boats up along the edge of the stream, but this proved 

 both difficult and dangerous, one boat being upset and a man drowned. 

 The banks of the river were covered with a dense and impervious jun- 



