1862.] 
295 
Literary Intelligence , fyc. 
While at Bouk, I obtained information of some iron stone similar 
to that at Seebeing being found on the east side of the same moun¬ 
tain whose west foot shows the oxide at Seebeing. From Seebeing 
to that spot is four miles, from it to the foot of the mountains two 
miles, from the foot of the mountain, carts can come to a ferry on 
the Ongbringle, and all difficulty ceases. From Seebeing itself the 
villagers can come to Mandaley and return half way the same day, 
b J a rugged pathway through a pass in the mountains. If the ore 
be, as I see no reason to doubt, in immense quantity, the reduction 
of it on the spot where wood and charcoal are to hand ad libitum , 
or the transit of the ore to the river, would be both feasible and 
immensely profitable. I assayed the ore and obtained 68 per cent, of 
pure iron. I smelted some with limestone, and made it into steel, 
by the Wootz process. 
It was pronounced by the French mechanic in charge of the 
Prince’s foundry equal to the best steel purchased from Calcutta, as 
English steel, and made into chisel, &c., that cut the said English 
steel. The mechanic told the Prince, that if he could get this steel, 
he should require no more foreign steel for the purposes of the work¬ 
shop. The price of the “ English steel” mentioned is seventy-six 
rupees a hundred viss. 
Mandaley , May 2nd, 1862. 
If you know from other accounts the real state of Yunan, you will 
not be surprised that I am still in Mandaley. Nothing could be 
done, beyond getting one’s throat cut in vain, in the Chinese terri¬ 
tories bordering on Burmah. The rebellion is over, the suspicious 
calm I spoke of in my last to you, has broken up into general 
lawlessness, rapine, and anarchy. Village plunders village, every 
man’s hand is against his neighbours. Famine and distress have 
swelled the numbers of robbers and pillagers. If a Chinaman comes 
through the passes it is in flying from his enemies without goods or 
property and often leaving his children or his wife in the hands of 
the successful insurrectionists. 
The Kakoos or Kakhyens have been drawn into the strife, or ra¬ 
ther the universal scrimmage. They are plundered and forced to join 
their plunderers in the next expedition of rapine. 
Again I think it would have been useless to attempt the journey 
2 Q 
