210 
Account of a visit to Puppa doling. 
[No. 3, 
shewing that the claims of this line peak to notice are by no means 
limited to its picturesque appearance,* and that both its geology and 
natural history deserve far more attention than I was able to devote 
to them in the two days to which my stay was necessarily limited. 
Towards the end of last October, I was on my return from Man- 
dele, the present capital of Ava, in which town and its neighbour¬ 
hood I had been staying for about six weeks. Before leaving the 
city I had been furnished with an order of the king, addressed to 
the Myo-woon or Governor of Pagan, to assist me in every way. 
Without such an order, it would, in all probability, be very difficult 
for any one to visit the mountain,t and it would certainly have been 
impossible for me, within the few days of my leave which remained 
unexpired. As it was, I had not the slightest delay, but, reaching 
Pagan on the afternoon of the 25th October, I was able to start for 
Puppa the next morning, the Myo-woon sending with me a Tscire or 
writer, and providing me with a pony, coolies and guides. 
The distance of Puppa in a direct line from Pagan can be but 
little over twenty-five miles, but by the road, which winds consider¬ 
ably, this is increased to thirty or thirty-five, about two days’ march. 
The accompanying map is a mere sketch, but it will serve to shew 
the relative positions of the various places mentioned below. 
October 26th .—I left Pagan by a road which passed close to the 
Dhamayangyee temple, and thence led, by no means in a direct line, 
towards the N. W. end of the Ta-ywan (or Ta-rwan) hills.J Near 
the town, the country is mostly cultivated at this season, the prin¬ 
cipal crops being maize janera , and a kind of millet called lu by the 
Burmese. The soil is very sandy, but few pebbles occurring. The 
whole of the slightly undulating tract, over which I passed from 
* Major (now Colonel) Yule in the excellent “Narrative of the Mission to 
Ava,’’ thus writes (p. 25, London edition). “ The lofty isolated hill of Paopa 
was distinctly visible far to the Eastward, showing here a double himmock top. 
It must be 3000 feet high, at least allowing for the probable distance.” And 
again p. 27. “ The remarkable Paopa doung is a more and more conspicuous 
object as we advance. The Burmese naturally look with some superstitious 
dread on this isolated mountain which they say it is impossible to ascend, and 
regard as the dwelling of myriads of Nats and Bilus. See also Dr. Oldham’s 
note in the appendix to the same work, p. 338.” Others, besides Col. Yule, have 
been told by the Burmese that the mountain is inaccessible. 
t In this and in other instances in which I was allowed to penetrate into the 
country above Ava, I was indebted, for this advantage, to Colonel Pliayre, the 
Commissioner of Pegu, who very kindly furnished me with a letter to the chief 
minister at Mandele, 
% Tharawadi hills of Col. Yule. Narrative, p. 27. 
