The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c15.45

v1.c15.45

The navigation of the Irrawaddy extends for nine hundred miles from the sea to Bhamo, near the border of the Chinese Empire. As the steamer goes northward from Mandalay the banks are at first flat, with here and there a group of white pagodas. Great rafts of bamboo and teak logs float down the river. At Kathā the flat country is left, for the river there comes from the east through grand defiles, with wooded fronts descending to the water's edge. Bhamo lies low along the river bank beyond the narrows. It is only twenty miles from the Chinese frontier. Many of its houses are raised high upon piles, because of the river floods. Until recently the Kachin hillmen often raided the caravans passing from Bhamo into China.