The old King of Burmah had died a short time before; his successor, King Theebaw, was unfriendly to foreigners, and apparently to everybody else, and there was a good prospect of another Burmese war. Theebaw had imprisoned some of the European residents of Mandalay, the capital, but afterward released them through fear of trouble with the British authorities. The English had withdrawn their official representative at Mandalay, and the steamers ceased to run from Rangoon to the capital; an insurrection had broken out among the Burmese, the exact extent of which was not known; small pox had appeared in the palace, the king's brother and uncle having died of it, while the king himself was supposed to have been attacked with the disease. The astrologers at the royal court were endeavoring to ward off the effects of the evil spirits, and ordered sacrifices to appease them. Hundreds of young girls were seized in the streets of Mandalay, and sacrificed in obedience to this order, and all who could leave the city were doing so. It was dangerous to go to Mandalay, and besides there was no way of getting there, since communication was cut off by the stoppage of the steamboats. The next day news was received that the king had arrested about fifty of his relatives, and intended to put them to death, so as to prevent any intrigues for his place on the throne. They were kept in prison for a while, where they were treated with great cruelty, and finally murdered. Of course the trip to Mandalay was abandoned at once; but as the steamers were still running to Thayetmyo, which is in British territory, and near the frontier, it was determined to go there. Passage was taken on a steamer leaving the following day, and at the hour appointed for departure our friends were on board. The steamboat did not ascend the Rangoon River to the Irrawaddy, but passed through a channel known as Bassein Creek, which shortened the distance, and gave a better depth of water than the river. It was not till the day after leaving Rangoon that they entered the great river of Burmah, the Irrawaddy, which is about 1500 miles long, and is said to be the fourth in the world in the volume of water brought down by its current. In the latter part of its course it is nearly four miles wide, and at Bhamo, 1000 miles from the sea, it is not less than a mile from one bank to the other. It rises in the Himalaya Mountains, east of Thibet, and has a course that is generally southerly, though in one place it makes a large bend like the letter S, and in another it turns sharply from the south to the west. It is navigable for more than 1000 miles for boats drawing not over three feet of water, and it is open for the entire year.