234 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
fifty from the old town of Pegu ; or, as it is more 
correctly written, Bago. Tongo is situated on 
the Setang river. In the dry season, boats of four 
cubits beam, and carrying two hundred baskets of 
rice—that is, boats of five tons burthen—can go 
up as far as the town. In the wet season, the 
largest trading Burman vessels can ascend it. 
This place is said to have under its jurisdiction 
fifty-five townships. liamathain is a large town, 
half-way between Ava and Tongo, or fifty taings 
distant from each. Mait’hila, another consider¬ 
able place on the same road, is distant from Ava 
forty taings. The town of Kyaong-myo, fortified 
by a brick-wall, lies thirty taings above Ava, on 
the right bank of the Ira wadi. 
All the towns now enumerated lie within the 
proper country of the Burmese. In that portion 
of Lao, or the country of the Shans, which is 
tributary to the Burmans, the most considerable 
towns are Mone and Thing-nyi. Mone is said to 
be one of the largest towns of the kingdom, and 
a place of trade. This is the residence of a Bur¬ 
mese chief, who superintends the affairs of the 
tributary Shans. Thing-nyi is also a consider¬ 
able place, lying on the immediate borders of the 
Siamese portion of Lao. 
The population of the Burman empire, before 
the loss of Arracan, of its conquests to the North¬ 
west, and of the provinces South of the Saluen 
