We do not quite like the telegrams about the expedition
to the Raby Mines in Bnrmah. The " mines " exist in a desolate enclosed valley some 6,200 ft. above the sea, and a small column of English and Ghoorka soldiers was, by the last accounts (Dec. 16th), climbing painfully up the hills beyond Bhamo, without help from roads, and through most dangerous forests. They meet with little or no resistance, but they see the villages burned before them, and have every reason to believe that the Shans and miners will fight. We fear they will, and in a very dangerous way, too. The accounts, which are, however, very imperfect, suggest to us that those interested are allowing the British to reach the valley, with the intention of shutting them in, and possibly cutting off water. Fortunately, the retarn will be far easier and quicker than the ascent. We hope some authentic account of this singular episode in the Burmese guerilla war will one day be published. There is a flavour of the "Arabian Nights" and Sindbad's Diamond Valley about it which irresistibly appeals to the imagination. We only want a balloon to be the scientific equivalent of the part real, part legendary, part supernatural " roe " of the Arab story-tellers,—an enormous expansion, probably, of the " rukh," or gigantic condor of Madagascar.
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