190 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
Bassein to that of Martaban, constituting the na¬ 
tural country of the Peguan race, possesses facili¬ 
ties of internal navigation which are equalled in 
few countries. In the hilly region, constituting 
the country of the Burmese, the facility of water 
communication is of course far less remarkable ; 
for it possesses no rivers of much utility to com¬ 
merce, except the Irawadi, the Kyen-dwen, and 
Saluen. Commercial intercourse here, therefore, 
is carried on chiefly by land conveyance; the car¬ 
riage, for the most part consisting of oxen, of carts 
drawn by oxen, and occasionally of small horses. 
The merchants carrying on traffic in this manner, 
travel for security in caravans, as in other parts of 
the East. The trading vessels which we observed 
on the Irawadi, were generally small, and not ex¬ 
ceeding ten or fifteen tons burthen. We saw 
however, at Ava, Pakok’ho and other trading 
places, a good number of a larger description, 
some of which could not have been of less bur¬ 
then than one hundred tons. All Burman trading 
vessels seem to be constructed on the same plan. 
They are long, flat, and so very narrow, that 
wings or out-riggers are necessary to prevent 
them from up setting. A sail made of matting, 
and of a square form, is used with a fair wind, 
which is pretty frequent and steady in the south¬ 
west monsoon. When this fails, the boats are 
propelled in the lower provinces with the assis¬ 
tance of long poles; and in the upper, where 
