WD540(19)

‘View. from the Creek, Yé-nan-gyoung.’

Upon the first visit of the Embassy, this creek, whence the town takes its name, and from the bed of which this view is obtained, was partially flowing with water, and served as a harbour for boats. On the return of the Mission party, the whole channel, with the exception of a small patch of water here and there, was a thick bed of dry sand, along which the carts were seen passing to and fro, engaged in conveying the oil from the Wells.

The pagoda and wooden tzoum, (under which a figure of Gautma was most probably enshrined) crowning the higher portion of the bank, are the same seen on the right of the view of the town, in Plate 15.

The picturesque, comfortable, and triple roofed wooden edifices on the lower portion of the bank, are the Kioungs or monasteries of the Priests, whose residences are always contiguous to the pagodas. This may therefore be taken as the representation of a perfect group of Boodhist ecclesiastical buildings.

Upon the night on which the Mission, when returning from Ava, had anchored off this place, sudden and heavy rains brought a torrent down the creek, under the force of which, huts were swept away near its mouth; many boats were swamped; the steamers were dragged from their anchors, and, it was feared and believed, several lives lost.