368 Mr Crawford's Account of the Missum to Avd. 



cessful. The features of the animal kingdom, indeed, differ much less from 

 those of Hindostan than the vegetable. Still there is, no doubt, much room 

 for discovery, when the countries are leisurely explored by experienced natu- 

 ralists. In the Martaban provinces, the forests of which teem with the ele- 

 phant, the rhinoceros, the wild baffalop, ox, and deer, a new species of the 

 latter is believed to exist. In the upper provinces a species of mole-rat is very 

 frequent, and thought to be an undescribed animal. Some of the officers of 

 our army imagined that they had ascertained the existence of the jackall and 

 fox in the upper provinces of the Burman empire, but this seems to be a mis- 

 take. It is a singular fact, that neither these animals, nor the wolf, hyena, nor 

 any other of the genus canis is found there, with the exception of one animal, 

 which is yet undescribed, and the howl of which it was that was mistaken for 

 that of the jackall. The feline tribe, especially the larger species, are but 

 rare in the upper provinces of the Burman empire, but too frequent in the 

 lower. The night before we left Maulamhyeng, a tiger was shot in the heart 

 of the cantonment, by a party of officers who lay in wait fur him. Two or 

 three of the smaller species of this family, found in Martaban and Pegu, are 

 thought to be as yet unknown to naturalists. In Martaban, two new species 

 of pheasant have been found, of which living specimens have been sent to Cal- 

 cutta. The celebrated elephant must not be forgotten. At Ava there is but 

 one Albino elephant ; this, a male of about twenty-five years of age, was re- 

 peatedly seen and examined by the gentlemen of the mission ; and his Ma- 

 jesty has made a present to the Governor-General of a drawing of the animal 

 in its state caparison, which is no bad specimen of Burman art. 



" As connected with this department, may be mentioned the existence at 

 Ava of a man covered from head to foot with hair, whose history is not less 

 remarkable than that of the celebrated porcupine man, who excited so much 

 curiosity in England, and other parts of Europe, near a century ago. The hair 

 on the face of this singular being, the ears included, is shaggy, and about 

 eight inches long. On the breast and shoulders it is from four to five. It is 

 singular that the teeth of this individual are defective in number, the molares, 

 or finders, being entirely wanting. This person is a native of the Shan coun- 

 try or Lao, and from the banks of the upper portion of the Saluen or Marta* 

 ban river : he was presented to the King of Ava, as a curiosity, by the prince 

 of that country. At Ava he married a pretty Burmese woman, by whom he 

 has two daughters ; the eldest resembles her mother, the youngest is covered 

 with hair like her father, only that it is white or fair, whereas his is now brown 

 or black, having, however, been fair when a child, like that of the infant. With 

 the exceptions mentioned, both the father and his child are perfectly well- 

 formed, and indeed, for the Burman race, rather handsome. The whole 

 family were sent by the King to the residence of the mission, where drawings 

 and descriptions of them were taken. Albinos occur, now and then, among 

 the Burmese, as among other races of men. We saw two examples ; one of 

 these, a young man of twenty, was born of Burmese parents. They were 

 ashamed of him, and considering him little better than a European, they made 

 him over to the Portuguese clergyman. The reverend father, in due course, 

 made him a christian. 

 • " With respect to the literature and language of the Burmans, the mission 



