rmahs as quiet and as peaceable
as we can. But our very intercourse will enlighten them by degrees, and
we have more to dread from that quarter than from all the hordes of
Russia or Runjeet Sing, and the whole disaffection of India.

As I have more to say relative to the Burmahs, I will, in my next
chapter, enter into a short narrative of the expedition to Bassein. It
was a bloodless one, although very important in its results: and
circumstances occurred in it which will throw much light upon the
character of the nation.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

It was not until many months after the war had been carried on, that Sir
Archibald Campbell found himself in a position to penetrate into the
heart of the Burmah territory, and attempt the capital. He wanted
almost every thing, and among the rest reinforcements of men; for the
rainy season had swept them off by thousands. At last, when determined
to make the attempt, he did it with a most inadequate force; so small
that, had the Burmahs thought of even trenching up and barricading the
roads at every half mile, he must have been compelled, without firing a
shot, to have retreated. Fortunately, he had an accession of
men-of-war, and his river detachment was stronger than he could have
hoped for. I do not pretend to state the total force which was embarked
on the river or that which proceeded by hand, communicating with each
other when circumstances permitted, as the major part of the provisions
of the army were, I believe, carried up by water. The united river
force was commanded by Brigadier Cotton, Captain Alexander, and Captain
Chads; the land forces, of course, by Sir A Campbell, who had excellent
officers with him, but whose tactics were of no use in this warfare of
morass, mud, and jungle.

It will be proper to explain why it was considered necessary to detach a
part of the forces to Bassein. The Rangoon river joins the Irrawaddy on
the left, about one hundred and seventy miles from its flowing into the
ocean. On the right of the Irrawaddy is the river of Bassein, the mouth
of it about one hundred and fifty miles from that of the Irrawaddy, and
running up the country in an angle towards it until it joins it about
four hundred miles up in the interior. The two rivers thus enclose a
large delta of land, which is the most fertile and best peopled of the
Burmah provinces, and it was from this delta that Bundoola, the Burmah
general, received all his supplies of me