440 SIR EODERICK I. MURCHISON'S ADDRESS— ASIA. [May 25, 1857. 



Burmah. — "We are indebted to Captain Yule, of tlie Bengal En- 

 gineers, who had been sent by the Indian Government to Amaru- 

 pura as secretary to Major Arthur Phayre, for a most valuable 

 communication on the geography of Burmah, with an illustrative map 

 of that country. Captain Yule has compared and brought together 

 with great ability the various valuable surveys of several of his 

 precursors in different parts of this extensive field of operations. His 

 principal materials were a Survey of the new British Province of 

 Pegu, by Lieut. Williams of the Bengal Engineers, still in progress ; 

 a New Survey of the Province of Martaban, by Mr. Hobday; a 

 Survey of the Irawady to Ava, by Captain Eennie and Lieut. Heath- 

 cote of the Indian navy. Besides these data, Captain Yule con- 

 tributes his own sketch of part of the Aracan Yoma range and 

 its passes, and a rearrangement of the Chinese frontier and the 

 Laos States east of Burmah, as taken from the Eoute Surveys of 

 Dr. Richardson and Captain McLeod. A considerable error in the 

 longitude of the Irawady at Prome, and the higher parts of the 

 stream, as assigned in previous maps, is pointed out. This error, 

 which, in 1853, Captain Yule had indicated as probable, in a 

 Memoir on the Passes of the Yoma, has been confirmed by the 

 surveys since made. The geological portion of the work by Mr. 

 Oldham, the Superintendent of the Geological Survey of India, 

 affords much important information respecting the structure of the 

 country, the rocks, and their relations ; and renders the publication 

 additionally valuable by the observations it contains on the statis- 

 tics of the productions of the country, including certain mineral sub- 

 stances described by that good geologist. This work, which was 

 printed for limited circulation at Calcutta, by order of the Governor- 

 General, is now in the course of publication by the East India 

 Company, accompanied by a map, engraved by Mr. Arrowsmith ; and 

 Mr. John Crawfurd, who, from his acquaintance with the Burmese 

 empire, is most competent to express an opinion, has spoken of it 

 with marked approbation. 



China. — Believing that our members would gladly receive in- 

 formation relating to China from so competent an authority, I induced 

 our distinguished member Sir John Davis to read at one of our 

 meetings a Paper of great value, and which many of you heard 

 with pleasure.* Certainly no living Englishman, and indeed no 

 living European, was so competent to such a task. He is among 



* See Proceedings, No. IX. 



