216 
[July 
Notice of Dr. Richardson’s, tyc. 
feet wide, and only 3 feet deep at this season, though at others it is navigable by 
boats of considerable burthen. The valley of the Me-ping extends to Ban-c6c, with 
hills on each side, and is lost at that place in the plain country. The width varies 
from ten or twelve miles, to sixty or eighty. The soil is a rich sandy loam, and 
apparently of considerable depth. The hills which bound it are high , though no 
snow was observable on any. No snow is said to be encountered even in the route 
to the frontiers of China, represented as about four-hundred miles distant, though 
from the occasional inundation to which the Me-ping is subject, Mr. R. thinks its 
sources must be within the limit of snow. The thermometer in the valley seldom 
rose above 53° at 7 o’clock. 
Zemi, which is of much greater extent than Labfing, is a double walled fort, 
situated on the Me -ping, and about half a mile distant. Logitn, which is larger also 
than Labung, is represented as distant three days journey, beingon a small range of 
hills, on the banks of the M§cu£ng river, a feeder of the Me'-ping. The wall round 
Labung is built of a red ferruginous sandstone, similar to that common in Ava, 
finished at the top with bricks. The chiefs houses are mostly of wood, and covered 
with shingles. They are some of them surrounded by a kind of stockade or en- 
closure made of timber, and eight or ten feet high ; within the walls they grow every 
kind of fruit tree, and in great numbers, so that it has, at a little distance, by no 
means the look of a city. The fort is in shape an irregular oval, the longer diameter 
being about 1600 feet, the shorter not more, than a third of this. The wall is from 
fifteen to twenty-three feet high outside, and from thirteen to eighteen inside. It 
is not of any strength. It has four gates on the eastern side or face, two on the 
southern, two on the western, and one on the northern. It has a wet ditch of sixty 
or seventy feet in width on three sides. On the eastern face the river flows, but 
at this season is not more than kneedeep. On the eastern bank of the river, op- 
posite the fort, is an old stockade of equal size, with bastions of brick work remain- 
ing. There are said to he 30 guns in Labkng, and 40 in Zemi and Logim each, 
although a Burmese prisoner fixed the total number of the three places as not more 
than ten. The number of inhabitants was equally exaggerated into 4000 1 for 
Lobang, and 40 000 to 50 000 for each of the other two towns. Dr. R. thinks the 
population of all three cannot be rated at higher than 30 000. This gives us a very 
different idea of these places to what is obtained from the old accounts of the 
Portuguese and others. 
These people appear to be subject to Siam, though they evidently wish to he 
considered merely as allies. About 45 years ago they were under the Burmese 
sway ; but the rule of the latter was so oppressive, that people could no long- 
er bear with them. The present chief, together with his nephews, having 
solicited aid from the king of Siam, to whom they had previously married 
their sister, excited the people to rise on their oppressors, and with the aid fur- 
nished from Ban-c6c, they succeeded in driving them out of the countrv. Two 
attempts were subsequently made by the Burmese to re-establish themselves, but 
they proved unsuccessful ; and the uncle of the seven brothers, whose title is 
Chu-che-wit, (lord of life,) still maintains his independence, with perhaps a no- 
minal subjection to Siam. Two of the brothers govern Zimme and Logdn, 
which latter place is of recent establishment. Chu-che-wit is about 68 years of 
age, mild in his manners, and much respected by his people. Dr. R. appears to 
have been impressed in his favor, by his general behaviour towards himself and 
his reception of the mission. 
These people appear, like the Siamese, to have been more successful cultivators 
of music than most other eastern nations. Their music is described by Dr. Rich- 
ardson as sweet and pleasing, but he does not give any account ot the instruments 
they use. The wives of the chiefs dance before strangers for their amusement. 
Polygamy is of course extensively practised by those who can afford it. One of 
the chiefs is described as having 25 wives, every one of which, but one, had been, 
as he boasted, kidnapped. It is, in fact, by robbery and inan-stealing that they 
have risen to the little importance they are thought to possess ; and in these two 
points they are said to be the most unprincipled set of scoundrels on the face of 
the earth. They are otherwise a people with much in their character to interest a 
European ; but we must hasten to conclude this unwarrantably long abstract of a 
Roper, which will be published in all its details in another place. 
* Quaere 40000 ?— Ed. 
