The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1888-04-12
JACKSON. OHIO. THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 1888.

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paddles to rest. "We could not hav
dane it unless your honor padded S
hard" says 90 Byike to me. TIL
men snigger openly at this bare-face
fattery, but are instantly brought t.
their bearings by the old gentleman
who points out in his most impressiv
way that the canoe behind US has beel
swept back again; and that the othe
gentleman has not been padding a
all, which quite accounts for the fail
ure.
The man at the bow finds cleft il
the rock into which he can stick hi
paddle and so moor the canoe, while
the others turn to watch how oul
companions will accomplish the pas:
we have just overcome. It will take
them some time to reach us, so light
a cheroot and study the view. From
our nook it is wild and beautiful; the
broad brown river swirls past between
two rugged walls Of rock which, nine
ty or a hundred feet above, fall back
and rise steeply in jungle-clad noun
tains to the height Of three or four
thousand feet. Down the stream,
across the basin, is sloping green
bank dotted with magnificent timber
overgrown with luxuriant. Towering
creepers. Orchids, with their lovely
scentless blossoms, are everywhere on
the rocks and trees in wonderful pro-
fusion.
The Salween is one of the great
highways from the teak forests to the
port Of Maulmain. Every fssure and
resting-place among the rocks and
powders is occupied by immense. teak
logs which the swollen river has left
there during the floods. Far out of
reach, they lie heaped and piled in
confusion, wedged hard and fast,
though many look dangerous where
they hang over the torrent hundred
feet below. During the southwest
monsoon thousands Of trunks are
foated away up in the distant forests
rarely visited by Europeans. Stripped
Of their bark, and branded all over
with hammer bearing the lessee's
private mark. they are drawn to the
waters edge by elephants, to be car
ried away by the rising floods which
bear them down tc the Government
timber-depot two or three hundred
miles off, near Maulmain. There they
are identified and claimed by the les
sees agent, who pays the fee and re-
moves his timber to ship or sell, as
,he case may be.
This apparently haphazard method
IF conducting the trade provides a
means Of Livelihood for numbers Of
natives, who haunt the river with ca
hoes and ropes to collect the drifting
ogs; for each of which they receive
'eward of eight annas at the depot.
The marks obviate the likelihood of
he timber being stolen by the col
ectors, who however may sometimes
get windfall in the shape of an un-
branded waif. On the upper regions
# the Salween, kyodans, enormous
,ables of bamboos lashed together, are
tretched across from bank to bank
md skim the surface Of the water, ar
esting and detaining the drifting
imber on its downward course. These
he watchers at the kyodan collect and
aft, to send on to the depot and claim
he salvage due. Easton, whose know
edge of these matters qualified him to
udge, estimated that on our upward
-oyage we passed quantity of strand
d timber sufficient to supply the
Iaulmain market (the largest in In
lia) fof at least two years. This rep
esented a sum of about one million |
md a quarter sterling in Inaccessible
ogs! Much of the lumber would of
ourse be borne away by the next
loods, which however in their turn
would leave more in the same case.
While I have been admiring the
prospect and discussing the teak trade,
CASTOR has succeeded in getting up the
apid, and now runs in alongside my
;anoe, heated, breathless, and ruffied
n temper at the delay. The sun is
lot, and the men are exhausted by
heir efforts to work the boat up, and
must have rest before continuing the
aborious paddle through the gorge.
The servants canoe is still in the
midst of its difficulties, and, badly
teered, sways about the stream in
manner that every moment threatens
is destruction against the rocks.
They'll lose the goats" says East
nan, shading his eyes with his topee:
1 wish | had taken them in my own
anoe. Hi, Shway Lee" he shouts
o his servant, 'hold the large goat,
le will fall out!"
The large goat is rolling about with
uch violence that Shway Lee has diff
iculty in securing its legs and throw
ng it on its back. 1t is safer that
way, for while standing it had passed |
he time making half-hearted attempts
o jump overheard.
The canoe eventually arrives in
afety, and presently all three crews
ettle down to paddle again, and con-
inue the slow but trying journy to-