Whilst the cooking things and things to be cooked were being unloaded, men were despatched in search of water and firewood, and the boys were preparing their fireplace; and however tired they might be after a long tramp, they always prided themselves upon their cookery, and the celerity with which our meals were served. All this they did merrily and with light hearts; and hardly once during the journey, even when they were suffering from frequent attacks of fever, have I seen them out of temper. They knew that we all had our work to do, and they took a pride in doing theirs to the best of their ability. It was pleasant to watch the continuous improvement in Jewan’s _physique_. When hired for me by Go Paul, a Madras boy who had been with me for many years, he looked a mere stripling, with legs little better than broomsticks in appearance, and a chest that spoke very little for his capacity for travel. Every day his calves were getting bigger, his chest was expanding, and he seemed to become more vigorous. Travel was certainly rapidly making a man of him. In the evening Dr M‘Gilvary called up some of the most intelligent of the Shans to give me information about their customs, commencing with courtship and marriage. They told us that a youth was allowed to visit a girl either in private or in the family circle, and that courting-time is known as _Bŏw ow-ha sow_ (_Bow_, a bachelor; _ow-ha_, to visit; _sow_, a virgin or maid). A lad, when courting without witnesses, places himself entirely in the power of the girl, as it is the custom to take a woman’s word as conclusive proof of any alleged breach of delicacy, and for such breaches the spirit-fine required by the ancestral spirits of the family can be levied. The amount of the spirit-fine varies, according to the custom of the family, from a bunch of flowers to nine rupees. Such fines are due, not merely as a solatium for indelicate acts towards the females of the family, but for accidentally coming into contact with them. Even in general company, if a woman is touched to call her attention, and she reports the fact to the _kumlung_, the patriarch and priest of her family, the fine can be levied. If the girl neglects to report the occurrence at once, and sickness, caused by the anger of the unappeased ancestral spirits, happens subsequently in her family, her word is still taken, and the fine is levied.