It may seem unworthy of the Government of a great country to rejoice at the death of a brigand whose influence did not extend over more than a few hundred square miles. It was not the man's death, but all that it meant. A sign of the coming end--slowly coming, it may be, but still the coming end--of a very weary struggle with a system of resistance which was costing us many good men and a lavish expenditure of money. Bo Swè was ridden down by a party of Colonel Clements' Mounted Infantry belonging to the Lower Burma command. He and his men were surprised in a ravine, and many, including Bo Swè, killed. There were still left the broken remnants of the leader's following. Active officers, with special powers and sufficient police, were placed in charge of the Northern subdivisions of the Thayetmyo district on both sides of the river, and order was established before the end of 1887. But in Upper Burma the districts of the Southern Division remained in a very bad state. Ôktama was still master, especially in the valley of the Môn. I had not found the right men for Minbu, and the weakness of the civil administration was represented as an evil, not without reason, by the military commanders. The following extract from a letter dated 1st of October, 1887, from the Commissioner of the Southern Division will give a better idea of the state of things than mere general phrases:-- "On 16th August, Po Saung, an informer, was caught and killed by Bo Cho's gang in Pagan. "On 29th August, Yan Sin, a dacoit who had submitted, was caught and killed by Nga Kway in Pagan. "On 5th September, at Kôkkozu village in Pauk, the dacoits tried to catch the thugyi, but failed, and caught and murdered his wife. "Su Gaung, a mounted police constable, was shot while carrying letters between Myingyan and Natogyi on 16th September. "In Lindaung, Pagan district, the thugyi was murdered a month ago and Thade's gang on 10th September attempted to capture his son, but failed, and plundered the village. "On 29th September, Nurtama in Minbu, which is the headquarters of the Kyabin Myoôk, was attacked. The Myoôk's and seven other houses were burned; no one was killed. The Myoôk lived here in fear of his life for some time. He sleeps at night at Sinbyugyun, on the other side of the Salin Creek, and if he sleeps at Nurtama he does not sleep in his own house, but in a little post which he has built. He has taken a guard of ten men from Sinbyugyun. "On 24th September at Sagyun, in Myingyan district, Custance's interpreter and the thugyi of Welôn were breakfasting in the village; they were attacked, and the interpreter killed, his head being nearly severed from his body. The thugyi escaped with a slight wound."