72 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
country before us more completely. It was un¬ 
inhabited, but the traces of former occupation 
were discernible. The ruins of four small pagodas 
were found close to the beach : several wells were 
seen not far from them; and in the same situation 
were the remains of a miserable breastwork, re¬ 
cently thrown up by way of opposing the conquest 
of the province by Colonel Godwin’s detachment 
in 18 25, 
“ At ten o’clock we proceeded to explore the 
river already mentioned, and the mouth of which 
falls into the harbour. In proceeding towards it 
from the place where we lay, we had all along three 
and a half and four fathoms water; and over the 
bar, which was of soft ooze, quarter-less three. 
After entering, we carried five and a half and five 
fathoms for eight miles up, ranging the river 
from one side to another, until the steam-vessel 
sometimes touched the trees. For about a mile 
up, this stream is every where from four to five 
hundred yards wide; and being soon landlocked, 
it forms a spacious and beautiful harbour, into 
which at low-water neap-tides most merchant-ships 
can enter; and at high-water, ships of any bur¬ 
then. The banks of this river would have formed 
by far the most convenient spot for a mercantile 
town; but unfortunately they were, within any 
convenient distance of its mouth, low, and sub¬ 
ject to inundation. We ascended the stream as 
far as a large branch which leads to the village of 
