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144 BIRMAH.
A vessel of this bulk will require a crew of twenty-six
boatmen, besides the leedegee, who acts as captain.
Boats of precisely similar construction, with the ex-
ception of the outriggers, are described by Herodotus,
and are still to be seen represented on the sculptured
walls of the Egyptian temples.
The Irrawaddy, or, as it might be rendered, Elephantine
river,* has been supposed to derive its name
from the vast herds of that majestic animal which
abound on its banks. As the word, however, is San-
scrit, this is not so likely, as that it has a mythological
reference, or that the sacred name of the Indian Iravati
has been transferred to the Birman river; agreeably to
the practice of all colonists, who love to bestow, on the
ground of some real or fancied analogy, the names of
their native scenes on new regions. Deep jungles
skirt the banks of the river in this part, and, as usual
in all uncleared tracts under this latitude, there is no
trifling drawback on the pleasures of the voyage, occasioned
by the swarms of mosquitoes. Captain Cox
describes them as the largest and most ravenous he
ever met with; and Col. Symes, as venomous beyond
what he ever felt. Two pairs of thick stockings were
We have already noticed the various orthography observed
by different travellers in giving the name of this river. That
which we have adopted in the text, is not the most correct, but
comes near the pronunciation, and has been most commonly followed
in our maps. Col. Francklin writes it Era Wuddey; Mrs
Judson, A-rah-wah-tee and Aiayawotte; others, Iravati and Irabati
; from which it is easy to suppose that the word Ava has
been formed. In like manner, the Elephantine river of India,
the third of the Punjab, is called the Ravey, a corruption of
Iravati, which the Greeks turned into Hydroates or Hydravates.
The Nile also, which the Irrawaddy in many respects resembles,
had the same title of Elephantine where it entered Egypt from
the north, although the elephant is believed not to be indigenous
.in Africa. See note at p. 4.