doubtedly suggestive of
the Nile, but the Irrawaddy is wider; the sand edge falls in the same
kind of chunks; the Nile is silvery and blue, with colourless shadows,
here everywhere rainbow tints spread out most delicately, and here
instead of Egyptians in floppy robes you have refined people exquisitely
dressed. As the river is low, we do not see much beyond the edge of the
banks. They are topped with high grass and reeds and low palm ferns, and
over these appear cane matting roofs of cottages and fine trees.

Paints feel poor things, and a camera can't get these wide effects, at
least mine won't--a cinematograph would be the thing. Every five minutes
a new river scene unrolls itself. At present, as I look from my large
cabin-window, I see a belt of feathery grass, and then the blue sky. A
flight of white herons rise, and the sand throws yellow reflected light
under their wings; a long, dug-out canoe passes down with a load of
colour, red earthenware pots forward, a copper-faced man amidship, in
white jacket and indian-red kilt. He is paddling, behind him are green
bananas, and in the stern a lady sits in pink petticoat and white
jacket. The clothes of men and women are somewhat similar; the man's
coloured "putsoe," or kilt, often of tartan, is tied in a knot in front
of his waist, and comes down to the middle of his calf. The woman tucks
her longer skirt or "tamaine," above her bosom, as you might hitch a
bath-towel, and it falls rather tightly to her ankles, and both men and
women wear a loose white cotton jacket, which just comes to their waist,
with wide sleeves that come below the waist. The men wear their hair
long, tied up with a bright silk scarf, and the women wear theirs coiled
on the top of their heads with a white crescent comb in it, and often a
bunch of yellow orchids. I've heard Europeans say there is little to
distinguish the men from the women in figure or dress: but, to me, their
figures and faces seem very prettily distinguished.

[Illustration]

We stop the night at Henzada, and dine on deck, shut off from the night
by a glass partition. The captain tells us how in 1863 the Company was
formed to take over from the Government four river steamers previously
used for carrying troops and stores; and how the fleet has steadily
grown with the development of the province until it now consists of 360
vessels, of all sorts and sizes.

Captain Terndrup also tells us of the occupation of Upper Burmah. He
br