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JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
territory 33,800. To the south, the east, and the 
north, we have the Siamese for our neighbours, 
along a frontier of not less than six hundred miles, 
formed almost every where by a high chain of 
mountains, covered with forests, and which has 
extensive tracts of uninhabited country on both 
sides of it. 
The Saluen river constitutes every where our 
western boundary with the Burmans. The fron¬ 
tier here is, probably, about a hundred and forty 
miles in length. In every other direction the 
Bay of Bengal forms our boundary, giving us a 
sea-coast of between three and four hundred miles 
in extent. 
Beginning from the northern portion of our 
territory, the navigable rivers within it are, the 
Saluen, the Gain, the Ataran, the Wagru, the Ye, 
the Tavoy, and the Tennaserim. Of these, the 
Saluen, or, as the name is correctly written, the 
Than-lwen, has by far the longest course, and con¬ 
veys the largest body of water. It appears to be 
the Louk-iang of the Chinese, and to have its 
source in the province of Yunan. It then passes 
successively through the territories of Lao and 
Siam, enters that of the Burmese between the 
19th and 20th degrees of north latitude, and dis¬ 
embogues itself by two channels, separated from 
each other by the island of Balu. The most 
southerly of these falls into the sea, nearly in the 
latitude of 16 degrees, where its mouth is not less 
