"Exactly so," was the reply. "The army was stampeded by the shells that came so unexpectedly and frightened the animals, and when they began to run the men on foot naturally followed their example. The elephant is a timid beast in many things, and so is the horse, and when they take fright nothing can stop them. The elephant was employed in war before the invention of gunpowder, but since that explosive came into general use he has ceased to be of any value on the battlefield. The Burmese are not cowards, but their animals are, and probably the lesson of that and other occasions has taught them to leave the elephant behind when going to battle. The lesson was quite as pointed as the one of overturning their war-boats by the swell of a steamer, and you can be sure it has not been forgotten." The scenery began to change as they passed the locality of this one-sided battle; the flat banks disappeared in many places, and low hills came into view, and by-and-by the low hills changed to higher ones. Most of the hills were wooded, and the low ground, wherever it occurred, was covered with rice or banana fields, or perhaps with custard-apple and mango trees. Occasionally they passed heaps of firewood that had been piled on the banks for the use of the steamers, exactly as it is piled on the banks of the Mississippi, and whenever they stopped to take in fuel the process of "wooding up" reminded the Doctor very forcibly of the same operation on the great river of North America. [Illustration: A COMPOSITE CREW.] Among the odd craft they met was one that had a monkey and a parrot as part of the crew; the parrot was seated on the top of the mast, while the monkey amused himself by climbing over the sail and displaying a good deal of general activity. Evidently he desired to drive the parrot from her perch, but had a wholesome respect for her sharp and powerful beak. [Illustration; AN EASTERN WATER-FALL.] Where the hills came down to the edge of the river there was now and then a water-fall glistening among the foliage, and dashing its white spray over the rocks. The most of these cascades were small, and the boys observed that all the larger tributaries of the Irrawaddy joined the great stream through level plains. At one of their halting-places a native boat lay close to them, and the odor that rose from it was not altogether agreeable to the nostrils of the strangers. Frank inquired the cause of the disagreeable smell, and was told that the crew was probably at dinner, and regaling itself on _nagapee_. Naturally he wished to know what nagapee was.