CH A P T E R XXIII
T H E C H IN D W I N
n p H E Chindwin is the greatest tributary o f the
i . Irrawaddy,, and it is, worthy, alike by reason: of
its- volume,, its beauty,, and, its own strong; individual
personality,, of the part: it plays in the: life of Burma.
Its sources lie in the midst of snow-touched peaks, and
unexplored mountains,, in the, far north. It is not: till,,
with its tributaries, it enters: the Hu Xawng valley in
the 27th degree: of North Latitude,, that it becomes
known to civilisation, and even thence it flows for a
long way through country to which a traveller can only
commit himself at considerable peril. For the Pax
Britannica has not yet settled upon the wild tracts that
border its northern waters. Nor is ^ any continuous
navigation of it possible till after it has emerged from
the defiles which bar its progress between the 26th
and 27th degrees of North Latitude. Thereafter, before
the depletion of winter lessens the volume of its waters,
shallow stern-wheeled steamers can traverse it without
hindrance to its junction with the Irrawaddy. It enters
the greater river in two streams, with a space, twenty-
two miles in extent between.. One of these streams, the
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