and every one is taking a hand in levelling the open
strip of land between the village and the river. House
property is cheap at Paungbyin, and the best house in
the village, a large and pleasant-looking habitation, is
tenanted by a man whose income is only ^ 1 2 a year.
But the habitable space is limited by the lowlands and
swamps that surround the village ; and there is conse-
SUNSET AT PAUNGBYIN
quently a large colony of water-dwellers under the river
bank, whose houses are built on rafts. On the farther
shore is the neat village of Pasagon, and beyond it
flats and marshes stretch away to the feet of successive
ranges of blue hills, which divide the Kubo valley,
once in dispute between the kings of Burma $nd
Manipur, from the Chindwin. Of an evening, the view
THE SAW-BWA OF THAUNGDUT
