s, course continued
along the bed of the river.

5. _Kamein_.--Direction SSE. distance 14 miles: on starting left the
Mogoung river: course throughout over fine open high plains intersected
by belts of jungle.

6. _From Kamein to Mogoung_.--Direction SSE. Distance 25 miles,
course over high open plains and dry woods. Many nullahs occurred on the
route: crossed the Mogoung river opposite to Kamein.

_Nature of the Country_.--The low hills which are passed before
reaching the Mogoung river, are covered with tree jungle, but they afford
scarcely any thing of interest; they are here and there intersected by
small plains, covered with the usual grasses. {130} The country
traversed while following the Mogoung river, is most uninteresting, the
road following almost entirely the sandy bed of the river, the banks of
which are either covered with grass or tree jungle. On leaving this most
tortuous river, the face of the country improved and became very
picturesque, presenting almost exclusively fine high, and rather
extensive plains covered with grass, and partially with trees, while here
and there they are intersected by strips of dry tree jungle. Low hills
are visible frequently, especially to the eastward.

_Villages and Towns_.

1. _Kamein_, on the right bank of the Mogoung river, at the junction of
the Endaw-khioung, consists of two stockades, one on a small hill the
other at the foot. Both together contain about 32 houses. The
inhabitants are Shans. It is a place of some consequence, as it is on
the route from Mogoung to the Serpentine mines. From Kamein, Shewe Down
Gyee, a conspicuous mountain, so called, bears east.

2. _Mogoung_, on the right bank of the river of the same name, just
below the junction to the Namyeen Khioung, contains rather fewer than 300
houses. Although it contains so few houses it is a place of considerable
extent. It is surrounded by the remains of a timber stockade, similar in
construction to those of Burmah proper. The houses are mostly small, and
I speak within bounds when I say, that there is not a single one that
bears the stamp of respectability. There is a bazaar, but nothing good
is procurable in it. Tea and sugar-candy are rare and high priced. Pork
is plentiful. Mogoung is situated in a plain of some extent, this plain
is surrounded in almost every direction by hills, all of which, with the
exception of Shewe Down Gyee, are low: the nearest of these are about
thre