“Dr Cushing here, sahib! boat coming:” so gasped Veyloo and Jewan, my Madras servants, as they came racing up the staircase of the teak-built court-house at Shoaygoon, where I was enjoying a smoke whilst reclining in my table-armed folding-chair. This chair, which was a miracle of comfort and convenience, together with my camp-bedstead, had been designed and constructed for me by A-heng, a very clever and honest Chinese contractor, who for many years had been employed by me in constructing bridges, court-houses, jails, bazaars, and various other public buildings whilst I was in charge of the Tenasserim division of Burmah. This division, measuring 630 miles in a north and south direction, forms the eastern portion of Lower Burmah, and is bordered on the east by Siam and the Siamese Shan States, through which I was about to journey in search of the best route for a railway to connect Burmah with South-western China. Following the boys, who had rushed off as soon as they had given me the news, I scrambled down the steep bank of the Salween river, which forms the western boundary of the garden of the court-house, and reached the water’s edge some minutes before the boat stranded at my feet. “Here we are, together at last!” I exclaimed, as I helped my future companion from the boat; “I do hope you are better. I was so glad you succeeded in persuading the doctor to allow you to come,—I should have been helpless without you.” “Thanks; I feel better already, and hope to be all right in a day or two,” said Dr Cushing. “Jungle-life was what I wanted: my illness, although partly the after-effects of fever, was mainly due to being cooped up for months at indoor work. Have you got the elephants?” “Yes,” I replied, “they are at Hlineboay, and I have arranged for seven carts to take our things there to-morrow. We can have them packed after lunch, and see if we shall require more. Come along; the boys have lunch ready.” Meanwhile the boys had been welcoming Ramasawmy, Dr Cushing’s Madras servant; and Shoay Wai and Portow, the Shan interpreters, who had been hired for the expedition, were aiding the boatmen to unload the boat and carry the things to the court-house. The next morning, the 21st of January, we were away early, Dr Cushing and I leading the way in the cart which carried our bedding and the treasure; the latter consisting of fifteen bags, each containing a hundred rupees, packed away in the tin boxes and waterproof bags amongst my clothing, and a heavy burden of gold-leaf, which for safety I carried on my person. How glad I was to place the gold in the custody of the missionaries at Zimmé when I arrived there! Very few men would care to be rich if they had to carry their wealth in bullion about them.