are most wonderful, echoing and re-echoing in almost harmonious reverberations. In the earliest morning the loud shouting of the hoolock monkeys in the forest made the whole air resonant, as it was taken up by another troop on the opposite bank, and echoed along the hills and from cliff to cliff in a constant wave of sound, curiously blended with which rang the shrill crowing of jungle cocks. As the sun rose higher, a deep bass was supplied by the hum of innumerable bees, whose pendant nests thickly studded the rocky projections of the precipice. At the next turn of the river another pagoda, with a handsome many-roofed zayat by its side, high on the western hills, marked the northern entrance of the defile, and we soon passed the ancient mart of Kaungtoung, celebrated for the repulse of the Chinese invading army in 1769, and the treaty which thenceforward secured peace and commerce between Burma and China. Subsequently it became a rival of Bhamô as an emporium of Chinese trade by the valley of the Shuaylee and the Muangmow route. The river now spread itself into a broad stream, broken up by islands and sandbanks, but in some places not less than a mile and half wide between the main banks. In front of the village of Sawady a long stretch of sand was occupied by a large encampment of Shan, Chinese, and other traders, a large fleet of boats lying ready to convey the goods down the river. [Illustration: THE DEVA-FACED CLIFF, SECOND DEFILE OF THE IRAWADY.] Here we sighted Bhamô in the distance, situated on an elevated bank overlooking the river, the htees of its few pagodas glistening brightly in the setting sun. To the right the high range of the Kakhyen hills was seen stretching away in an unbroken line to the east-north-east, and on the left a low range of undulating tree-clad hills bent round to join the western heights of the defile. The almost level sweep of country, about twenty-five miles broad between these limits, was closed in, about ten miles to the north, by another low range, marking the upper _khyoukdwen_, or first defile, of the Irawady. [1] Pronounced “Bhamaw.” [2] ‘Report on Eastern Frontier of British India,’ 1835. [3] _Vide_ ‘Selection of Papers on the Hill Tracts between Assam and Burmah,’ Calcutta, 1873. [4] The Chamber of Commerce, under the able president, Mr. M’Call, had been most active in urging the despatch of the mission, and had subscribed £3000 for all expenses of their representatives, and for the purchase of specimens of manufactures. [5] The _putzo_ is a long narrow silken cloth of a chequered pattern, which a Burman winds round him to form a suit of clothes. The _tamein_ is the feminine equivalent, partly of cloth, partly of silk, with a zigzag pattern, the silken portions forming the skirt, which, according to ancient custom, exposes one leg almost completely in walking.