TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
41 
hours at the village of Shue-gain, on the right 
bank of the river. The name of the place is 
correctly written Shue-kyen, from Shue, gold, 
and Kyen, to sift; for here, and in some other 
places in the neighbourhood, a little gold is ob¬ 
tained by washing the sands of the river when 
it is low. Two priests, the only ones in the 
village, paid us a visit. Very much against the 
rules of their order, we found them great beg¬ 
gars. They asked for razors, handkerchiefs, 
rice, and I know not what all. The village? 
which at one time had been considerable, is 
at present very paltry, not containing above 
twenty or thirty houses. Our visitors inform¬ 
ed us, that it had been in a state of decay for 
many years, the inhabitants having gradually 
abandoned it in consequence of the heavy con¬ 
tributions and exactions to which they were 
subjected. This is, of course, the real cause of 
that absence of industry and the poverty which 
has been so painfully evident hitherto through¬ 
out our journey. 
In the evening, we passed the villages of 
Nga-pi-saik, on the west bank, and Re-gyen 
opposite to it. The first is a petty village, and 
the three syllables which compose it, mean lite¬ 
rally, 64 pressed fish landing-place.” Dr. Bu¬ 
chanan Hamilton renders it “ Fish-sauce land- 
