Another estimate formed by Dr Cheek concerned the population of the State of Zimmé. This was based upon an incomplete list of the houses upon which a levy was to be made for feeding the Yaks, or local deities, at the yearly sacrifice. The list included 97,000 houses at the time Dr Cheek saw it; and as seven people on an average live in each house, the population of these houses could not be less than 600,000 souls. Allowing for the other houses not then noted, and for the houses of Lawa, Karen, Muhseu, and other hill-people who are not enumerated in the subscription lists, the gross population of the Zimmé State—including Zimmé, Kiang Hai, Kiang Hsen, Muang Pow, Muang Houngson, Muang Fang, Muang Ken, and its other sub-provinces—must be about 700,000 people. The following day, accompanied by Drs Cushing and M‘Gilvary, I made a round of visits to the king and members of the Court at Zimmé. Leaving the house, we followed the bank of the river to the timber bridge, and crossed it to the western suburbs. The centre span is removable, so as to allow the royal boats of the chiefs to pass through, and is raised about a foot above the rest of the flooring, thus being a great hindrance to the passage of carts and carriages. When driving over the bridge, our carriage had to be lifted on and off this raised portion. No nails or bolts were used in the structure; consequently the planks moved up and down like the keys of a piano as we passed over it. Following the road through the western suburb, I entered one of the shops to purchase some Chinese umbrellas, as mine were the worse for wear, and was served by a person dressed in ordinary female costume, who seemed to be very masculine in appearance, and considerably above 4 feet 10 inches in height—a height few Zimmé Shan women attain to. On telling Dr M‘Gilvary, he informed me that the individual was an hermaphrodite; that this peculiar form of Nature’s freaks was by no means uncommon in the country; and that all such people were obliged to dress in female costume. It is a pretty sight in the early morning to watch the women and girls from the neighbouring villages streaming over the bridge on their way to the market, passing along in single file, with their baskets dangling from each end of a shoulder-bamboo, or accurately poised on their heads. The younger women move like youthful Dianas, with a quick, firm, and elastic tread, and in symmetry of form resemble the ideal models of Grecian art.