This coast having but lately been brought under subjection to the British arms, had not as yet been travelled over by any British officer, and it remained to be proved how far the inhabitants could be confided in, either in the capacity of servants, or as guides and porters on a march.

The Tavoyers have no inducement to make long journeys. The Siam frontier is to them a Rubicon,—while they can reach the towns and villages on the north and south, much easier by water than by land. There are no carriage-cattle on this coast, like the bullocks of India. A few slight carts drawn by buffalos, one only to a cart, are used for short excursions when the roads admit of their being made, or the fields are dry enough to be crossed. Their roads are, however so very bad, that perhaps five miles may be reckoned the greatest distance in a straight line in any one given direction, and from any point, to which one of these vehicles can proceed without encoutering broken-down bridges, gaps in old causeways, sloughs, and rocks.