Burma, amber, jadeite, jade, fei cui, gems, Kachin State, Myanmar

An abstract by Robert Boileau Pemberton of Captain S.F. Hannay’s 1835–1836 journey from Ava through northern Burma to the Hukong Valley and its amber mines. The paper records routes, geography, peoples, trade and natural resources and is particularly important for the early history of Burma’s jade and amber deposits. At Mogaung, Hannay obtained specimens of the green stone called kyouktsein by the Burmese and yueesh by the Chinese, which he believed to be nephrite; the material described was the jadeite-bearing stone later recognized as Burmese jade. He also records Chinese trade in the material, its use for rings, bracelets and cups, and the approximate location of the mines northwest of Mogaung. Farther north, Hannay visited the Hukong amber workings and described the pits, mining methods, quality of the amber and its trade. The paper is therefore an important early European source for both the Burmese jade tract and the Hukong amber mines. One of the earliest Western accounts of travels through Kachin State, with details on the jade and amber mines.