1837.] 



from Ava to the Frontier of Assam* 



419 



and his description is the first that has ever been given of the locality 

 from whence the Burmans obtain this mineral. 



" We set out at eight o'clock," he says, " in the morning, and re- 

 turned at two p. m. To the foot of the hills the direction is about 

 south 25 west, and the distance three miles, the last mile being through 

 a thick grass jungle, after which there is an ascent of one hundred 

 feet, where there is a sort of temple, at which the natives, on visiting 

 the mines, make offerings to the ngats or spirits. About a hundred 

 yards from this place, the marks of pits, where amber had been for- 

 merly dug for, are visible, but this side of the hill is now deserted, and 

 we proceeded three miles further on to the place where the people are 

 now employed in digging, and where the amber is most plentiful. The 

 last three miles of our road led through a dense small tree jungle, and 

 the pits and holes were so numerous that it was with difficulty we got 

 on. The whole tract is a succession of small hillocks, the highest Of 

 which rise abruptly to the height of fifty feet, and amongst various 

 shrubs which cover these hillocks the tea plant is very plentiful. The 

 soil throughout is a reddish and yellow coloured clay, and the earth in 

 those pits, which had been for sometime exposed to the air, had a 

 smell of coal tar; whilst in those which had been recently opened, the 

 soil had a fine aromatic smell. The pits vary from six to fifteen feet in 

 depth, being, generally speaking, three feet square, and the soil is so 

 stiff that it does not require propping up." 



" I have no doubt," Captain Hannay adds, " that my being accom- 

 panied by several Burmese officers, caused the people to secrete all the 

 good amber they had found. For although they were at work in ten 

 pits, I did not see a piece of amber worth having. The people em- 

 ployed in digging were a few Singphos from the borders of China and 

 of this valley. On making inquiry regarding the cause of the alleged 

 scarcity of amber, I was told that, want of people to dig for it was the 

 principal cause; but I should think the inefficiency of the tools they 

 use was the most plausible reason: — their only implements being a 

 bambu sharpened at one end, and a small wooden shovel." 



" The most favorable spots for digging are on such spaces on the 

 sides of the small hillocks as are free from jungle, and I am told that 

 the deeper the pits are dug, the finer the amber ; and that that kind 

 which is of a bright pale yellow, is only got at the depth of forty feet 

 under ground." 



A few days subsequent to this examination of the amber mines, 

 Captain Hannay visited the Numtunaee or Khyend wen, which flows 

 through the valley about five miles north of Meingkhwon in this part 



