Nature of the Country.—­The low hills which are passed before reaching the Mogoung river, are covered with tree jungle, but they afford scarcely any thing of interest; they are here and there intersected by small plains, covered with the usual grasses. {130} The country traversed while following the Mogoung river, is most uninteresting, the road following almost entirely the sandy bed of the river, the banks of which are either covered with grass or tree jungle.  On leaving this most tortuous river, the face of the country improved and became very picturesque, presenting almost exclusively fine high, and rather extensive plains covered with grass, and partially with trees, while here and there they are intersected by strips of dry tree jungle.  Low hills are visible frequently, especially to the eastward.

Villages and Towns.

1. Kamein, on the right bank of the Mogoung river, at the junction of the Endaw-khioung, consists of two stockades, one on a small hill the other at the foot.  Both together contain about 32 houses.  The inhabitants are Shans.  It is a place of some consequence, as it is on the route from Mogoung to the Serpentine mines.  From Kamein, Shewe Down Gyee, a conspicuous mountain, so called, bears east.

2. Mogoung, on the right bank of the river of the same name, just below the junction to the Namyeen Khioung, contains rather fewer than 300 houses.  Although it contains so few houses it is a place of considerable extent.  It is surrounded by the remains of a timber stockade, similar in construction to those of Burmah proper.  The houses are mostly small, and I speak within bounds when I say, that there is not a single one that bears the stamp of respectability.  There is a bazaar, but nothing good is procurable in it.  Tea and sugar-candy are rare and high priced.  Pork is plentiful.  Mogoung is situated in a plain of some extent, this plain is surrounded in almost every direction by hills, all of which, with the exception of Shewe Down Gyee, are low:  the nearest of these are about three miles off.

The inhabitants are mostly Shans, there are some Assamese, the chief of whom is a relation of Chundra Kant, the ex-Rajah of Assam.  The best street in the town, though one of small extent, is that occupied by the resident Chinese, none of whom however are natives of China proper.  Of this people I should say there are barely 60 in Mogoung, and, judging from their houses, none of which are of brick, I should say they are very inferior to their fellow-countrymen residing in Bamo.

During our stay in Mogoung, which was protracted owing to the disturbed state of the country, the population was much increased by Shan-Chinese returning from the Serpentine mines; and as there was a considerable number of boats engaged by them for the transportation of the Serpentine, the town looked busier than it otherwise would have done.

The Mogoung, river is here about 100 yards broad, but it is much subdivided by sand banks:  it is navigable for moderate sized boats a considerable distance above the town.  In the upper part of the course this river abounds with fish to an unprecedented degree; of these the most numerous is the Bokhar of Assam, and of this I have seen shoals of immense extent.