18G1.] 
The countries between Thibet and Burmah. 
3G7 
Memorandum on the countries between Thibet , Yun&n and Bwrmah . 
■ — By theVEU x Reverend Thohine D’Mazure, Vicar Apostolic of 
Thibet; communicated by Lieut. -Colonel A. P. Phayre, Commis- 
sioner of Pegu ; (with notes and a comment by Lt.-Col. H. Yule, 
Bengal Engineers) . With a Map of the N. E. Frontier prepar- 
ed in the office of the Survr.-Genl. of India, Calcutta, August, 18G1. 
The following account of the countries situated between Thibet, 
the Chinese provinces of Setchuen and Yunan, and the Northern 
portion of Burmah, is contained in a letter written by the Very Re- 
verend Thomine D’Mazure, Vicar Apostolic of Thibet, residing in the 
valley of Bonga in about 28° 15' of North Latitude and 9G° 30 ,# of 
East Longitude. 
The country is under the government of Hlassa. The letter is 
addressed to the Right Reverend Bishop Bigandet, Bishop and Vicar 
Apostolic in Pegu and Ava. 
The Vicar Apostolic of Thibet considers that the Tsanpo river of 
that country, or as he writes it, Gakbo-dzanbo,f is the upper course 
of the Irawadi river. Bishop Bigandet’s communication, addressed 
to Lieutenant-Colonel A. P. Phayre, is as follows. 
‘ Rangoon, 15th September, 1SG0. I have the pleasure to communi- 
cate to you the following remarks on the geographical situation of 
the countries between Thibet, the Chinese Province of Setchuen and a 
portion of Yunan and Burmah, as well as on the tribes inhabiting them, 
which have been supplied, at my request, by the Vicar Apostolic of 
Thibet. On my return from Bhamo in 1857, I felt very anxious to 
ascertain whether it would be possible to establish a communication 
between the Missionaries established in those localities and ourselves. 
The distance between Bhamo in Burma and the Valley of Bonga 
where our Missionaries have a small establishment, could not be 
more, in my estimation, than 4° or 4° 25' of North Latitude, and I 
wished to be informed as correctly as possible on the geographical 
position of Bonga, the names of the principal rivers, mountains, and 
* This is probably Paris longitude. Otherwise it is an impossible position. 
It does not appear whence it is derived. The letter does not mention the sup- 
posed longitude of Bonga. — Y. 
t This should be “ Yarkiou dzanbo.” The Gakbo he describes as a tributary 
only of the other. — Y. 
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