28 JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
mation. Fossil wood was in abundance along the 
bank ; but we did not observe, nor did we hear 
upon inquiry of any fossil bones. At Mag we we 
found stationed a person of considerable conse¬ 
quence, called the Mret-sen-wun. This officer 
has charge of the river police, and is vested with 
the power of life and death, which was attested 
by a spectacle seen by two of our gentlemen on 
the river-side, a little below Mag we—the bodies 
of six persons who, fifteen days before, had been 
executed by him for piracy. They were already 
torn to pieces by the numerous birds of prey 
that hovered about them. 
Jan . 9 .—On the morning of the 5tli we left 
Mag we, and at noon arrived at Melun and Pat- 
nago. We landed at the latter place and visited 
a lake not half a mile from the river-side. When 
we went up, this was a considerable body of 
water, but now it was little better than a marsh 
overgrown with aquatic plants, among which was 
the Nelumbo , or Indian lotus, and a splendid 
Nymphoea , a new species. We expected to find 
in this season numerous wildgeese and ducks; but 
there were none of the former, and very few of 
the latter. After taking in a supply of firewood, 
we prosecuted our journey, and anchored for the 
night a few miles above Lungyi. On the 6 th 
our navigation was very intricate and difficult, 
and we were obliged to take a pilot from village 
to village, which occasioned much detention. 
