Page:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 1 (2nd edition).djvu/201

Rh that examination, was found to possess no river or creek in any part excepting on the north side, where there are several deep bays and coves which are and have been frequented by our sealing vessels. Its northern head is called Cape Two Bays; and, thirty miles to the northward, is Port St. Helena, which is the northern limit of our examination of the eastern coast. The country about is dry and parched, although thickly covered with small shrubs and a tolerable grass, on which large herds of guanacoes feed.

According to Falconer, (the Jesuit missionary who resided many years among the Indian tribes inhabiting the country about Buenos Ayres,) the eastern coast between the latitudes of 41° and 51° is frequented by the natives, for the purpose only of burying the dead: they have, however, been occasionally met with travelling along the coast, apparently without any particular object in view. Near Port Desire I have seen the graves of the Indians on the summit of the hills, but the bodies had been removed, probably by the Indians themselves; for we are informed by Falconer, that, after the dead have been interred twelve months, the graves are visited by the tribe, for the purpose of collecting the bones and conveying them to their family sepulchers, where they are set up and adorned with all the beads and ornaments the friends and family of the deceased can collect for the occasion. The ceremony is performed by certain women of the tribe, whose peculiar office it is to attend to these rites. 



province of Arracan extends. from the left bank of the Tiknaaf river, in latitude 20° 46′ N., and longitude 92° 20′ E., to Cape Negrais. in latitude 16° 2′ N., and longitude 94° 14′ E., and is divided from the Burman territory by the Yeomandong mountains, lying parallel to, and in some places approaching very near, the sea-coast, which is fronted by numerous. islands, moderately high and thinly inhabited, the largest of which are Cheduba and Ramree, forming part of a group which were almost unknown to Europeans before the Burmese war of 1824. Amongst them are several good harbours, particularly that of Kyouk Phyoo, which takes its name from the small white pebbles that are washed on the beach during the S.W. monsoon, Kyouk Phyoo meaning 'white stones.' Akyab to the northward and Ramree to the southward are also safe harbours, and both have inland water communications with Kyouk Phyoo, as it has with