Bhamo. Bamo, or Blianmc, a town of Burmah, on the Irrawaddy, 40 m. W. of the Chinese frontier; pop. about 12,000. The permanent inhabitants are chiefly Laos, and the transient residents Chinese and Shans (Siamese). The old Shan town of Bhamo or Mhanmo is further up the river Tapan, which joins the Irrawaddy at a short distance from the modern town. The latter, surrounded with a bamboo palisade, contains a Chinese temple and about 2,000 large dwellings, those of the natives being made of reeds thatched with grass, and those of the Chinese of blue-stained brick. It is the seat of a viceroy and the principal trading place between the Chinese caravans and the Burman and Mohammedan merchants. A greater variety of tribes gather at the annual fair and in the bazaar here from December to April than in any other Asiatic town, not excepting Kiakhta. The total annual value of the trade with China is estimated at about £500,000, and sometimes as much as £700,000, including imports of £80,000 worth of silk, besides tea, copper, drugs, and paper, and exports of £230,000 worth of cotton, besides feathers, ivory, wax, edible birds' nests, rhinoceros and deer horns, and sapphires.

Among the most industrious dyers and mechanics are the Palongs, who live in the neighborhood on the frontier of China.