72 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
At six in the evening, we came to a narrow 
part of the river, not exceeding six hundred 
yards in breadth. On the eastern side, the hills 
terminate in the promontory of Napadi (Nat- 
padi, rosary of the Nats). There is a corre¬ 
sponding promontory on the west side, being 
the termination of a hill, called Po-u-taong, 
full two hundred feet high. A little farther 
up the river than these promontories, and in 
the middle of the stream, is an island. In the 
possession of an enemy of any military know¬ 
ledge or courage, this would have proved a 
difficult or impregnable position. After the 
expiration of the armistice of Yaong-ben-saik, 
the Burman force, to the amount, according to 
the estimate of our scouts, of more than fifty 
thousand men, began to close in upon Prome, 
and the principal body occupied the narrow 
pass of the river which I have just described ; 
the Kyi Wungyi, the chief commander, being 
posted on the western bank, and the Sa-dau- 
wun, or steward of the household, on the 
eastern. The position of the Kyi Wungyi was 
forced on the 2d of December last. The Eu¬ 
ropean troops advanced upon this occasion with 
such impetuosity, and the works were so pre¬ 
cipitately abandoned by the Burmans, that only 
eleven of the enemy lost their lives in the stock- 
