TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
87 
tides, and other important points connected with 
the navigation of the harbour and the entrance 
into it. The greatest rise and fall in the springs 
appears to be between eighteen and nineteen feet; 
at neaps, it is five or six feet less. On the oozy 
bar of the Kalyen, there were this morning, at the 
lowest ebb, ten feet water, and at the highest flood, 
quarter-less five fathoms. Every morning since 
our arrival, Captain Studdert was employed from 
three to four hours in examining and sounding 
the harbour and its approaches. Between the reef 
of rocks already mentioned, and at no great dis¬ 
tance from the cape, there is a channel which has 
been long used by Chinese junks and native ves¬ 
sels ; but for European shipping, the proper en¬ 
trance into the harbour is close round the extre¬ 
mity of the reef, and between it and a shoal lying 
north of it. 
From the description now given of the har¬ 
bour,—the entrance into it, and the neighbouring 
localities, it is obvious that the place is capable, 
at a very trifling expense, of being fortified in 
such a manner as to render it quite impregnable. 
A battery on the promontory completely com¬ 
mands the town, and protects the shipping, which 
may lie in good anchorage within fifty yards of the 
shore. An enemy entering the harbour might 
be sunk from a martello tower on the high rock 
of Kyaikami, a few hundred yards from the pro¬ 
montory. A battery at either side of the en- 
