The party with me, besides the Chow and his company, comprised forty-one persons—viz., Dr Cushing, Dr M‘Gilvary, two Shan interpreters, three Shan servants, three Madras servants, Moung Loogalay, eight Shan elephant-men, and twenty Shan porters with four large elephants. As a shelter from the night-dews we carried a tent, so capacious and so convenient for carriage that it reminded me of the one in the ‘Arabian Nights’ which would shelter an army and yet could be put in one’s pocket. Ours was formed of a roll of longcloth, 30 feet long and 15 feet wide, that packed into a roll 21 inches long and 7 inches in diameter. The great Zimmé rice-plain is divided into more or less extensive fields by orchards containing beautiful clumps of bamboos and mango, tamarind, palmyra, cocoa-nut, areca-nut, and other trees; and in these orchards, and in pretty groves scattered about the plain, nestle numerous villages and detached houses. Until the hills are reached the country is one ceaseless succession of orchards and rice-fields, all of which, nearly up to the east bank of the Meh Ping, are irrigated by canals and channels drawing their water from the Meh Hkuang, the river on which the capital city of the Shan State of Lapoon lies. Starting from the bridge a little before one o’clock, we proceeded in a north-easterly direction, and halted for the night in the fields of Muang Doo, having passed within view of nineteen villages in the seven and a half miles’ march. We were disappointed at finding that the Chow and his son had not passed through the village, and that nothing was known there of his movements. As soon as the elephants were unloaded some of the Shans commenced cutting bamboos for the erection of our pavilion, and before we had finished bathing, it was completed and our dinner was ready. Our dinner-table consisted of a cane-covered howdahseat placed on the top of two wooden spirit-cases set on end and some distance apart. A couple more cases, set one on the other, served as my seat, and my companions were enthroned on their folding camp-chairs. The long arms of my chair, although adding greatly to my comfort, and being handy for writing, prevented it from being drawn up to our improvised table. The rapidity with which a hot dinner was served by our Madras servants would astonish stay-at-home people. Soup being in tins, takes very little time to cook, as it has only to be heated; bacon takes but a minute or two; and vegetables, curry, chickens, tapioca, and rice-puddings having been prepared and more than half cooked at our last halting-place, are quickly served. But even so, the boys deserved great credit for their readiness and good management.