The Irrawaddy cuts the district in two from north to south. The town of Bhamo lies in a plain along the left bank of the river, midway between two defiles, usually spoken of as the first and second defile, through which the waters rushing down from the region of mountains in the north have cut their way. The river is open all the year round, as far as Bhamo to large river-steamers. But the first or northern defile is always difficult, and when the river is in flood, impassable. Hence Bhamo is the gate of Upper Burma, and the port for the trade which has existed for centuries with Western Yunnan. In a very small way it is the Peshawur of Burma, and for the purpose of raids and such like the Kachin tribes play the part of the Pathans on the north-west frontier of India. The greater part of the district is hilly and covered with forest; and the Kachins, who form quite a third of the population, live in the hills. [Illustration: BHAMO MONGMIT ETC.] It is said that trade follows the Flag. In this case the reverse is true. The Irrawaddy Flotilla Company had prepared the way for us here. Bhamo had been the northern terminus of their steamers since 1869, and for some time the Government of India had kept a Resident there to protect the trade. But no attempt had been made to navigate beyond Bhamo. In December, 1885, a force was sent up by river to occupy the town, and an officer of the Burma Commission, Captain Cooke, accompanied it, and began to establish a civil administration. No opposition was met with. The population of the town was not in a position to resist us. Mixed with the indigenous Burmans and Shans was a considerable colony of Chinese traders--some of them Cantonese who had filtered up from the coast, others hardy and adventurous men from Yunnan, engaged in the jade and amber and rubber trades in the northern part of the district. These foreigners, although they disliked exceedingly our interference with the opium and liquor traffic, and even more our attempts in the interests of the troops to improve their methods of sanitation, were not actively hostile. The peasantry of a mixed Shan-Burman race, who cultivated the level country round and below the town, were peacefully inclined, though shy and timorous. But the Kachin tribes soon began to show their teeth and to do their best to make things unpleasant. The policy laid down from the first for the guidance of the local officers in their dealings with the Kachins was one of patience and conciliation. Perhaps too much stress was laid on this. In one case, certainly, the Deputy Commissioner's anxiety to adhere to this policy was carried to an extreme, and caused mischief.