8 BURMA, ITS PEOPLE ASD PRODUCT/OSS. 



wbicli iutersects tins district between the Tenasseiini and the Tavoy liver-valleys, 

 and after a generally direct east and west course, falls into the sea about six miles 

 below the village of Kyoukhtsinj." 



" We found tbo springs in a narrow granite rock cbaiincl, tbrougb wliich a 

 sballow stream falls in little cascades, divide<l by small pools. The most striking 

 feature of the scene was the jet of steam which seemed to give off the greater portion 

 of the clouds of steam overhead. It rushes out of a bole nearly midway down a 

 cascade some six feet high, with a noise precisely like that of a steaui jet, and with 

 such force that it drives tlie water of the cascade horizontally out some four or five 

 feet. The water which issues from this hole with the steam, or at least comes into 

 contact with the steam, was hot enough to boil an egg well enough to eat, in three 

 minutes." 



Jlr. Tween examined the water from Pai, and found it to contain — "iron, 

 alumina, lime, potash, soda, silica, hydrocliloric acid, sulphm-ic acid, hydrosulphurio 

 acid, and organic matter which is nitrogenous." 



In Blartaban, hot springs are frequent, rising in the valleys which intersect the 

 ranges east of the Tsittoung. Dr. Mason records a hot spring " at Touug-ngoo some 

 twenty miles east of the city, in the granite mountains, two or three thousand 

 feet above the plains; but the beat is not equal to those in the Tenasserim 

 Provinces." 



There are also hot springs in the Lepan-bew-cboung, in lat. 19^ IG' 30", long. 

 9G° 3G' ; another in the Ch(Hing-maii-nay valley, lat. 18^ -ii', long. <JG^ -iG' ; and 

 a hot spring of loT Fahr. in the Hlay-loo-myouug-choung, lat. 18^ 33', long. OG"" 51'. 

 These are but a few of the springs which rise along this range of mountains and 

 few of which have ever been visited by a European. 



The only hot spring known in Pegu rises in the bed of the Bulay stream, under 

 the village of Kwou-bulay, lat. 19° 15', long. 96" 16'; but the temperature could not 

 be taken, as at the time of my visit it was concealed by a sand bank which had been 

 washed over it. 



Mr. Bunbury also discovered a hot sjiring near the sources of the Saudoway 

 Eiver in lat. 18-^ 6' 20", long. 91" 51'. 



The list of minerals in the present edition is very much smaller than in previous 

 ones, as a great number have been omitted ; for example, all im|)orted factitious 

 minerals, as sulphate of copper, oxide of arsenic and its sulphides, vermilion, etc. ; 

 also minerals which have been included without any grounds, as borax, mercury, 

 diamonds, etc. ; and lastly minerals properly classed with rocks, as limestone, slate, 

 clays, etc. The classification adopted is that of I)ana. 



Group I. NATIVE ELEMENTS. 



Gold — ' Shwae.' 



"Though not quite so abundant (writes Dr. Mason) as in California, there is 

 perhaps no mineral except iron more universally diti'iised over Burma than gold. 

 It is found near the old town of Tenasserim, where I have seen Burmans enqiloyed 

 in washing the sands of the river. Almost all the creeks (writes Dr. Heifer) 

 coming from the eastern or Siamese side of the Tenasserim river contain gold. 

 Tavoy river at its sources is rich in gold, and on the Siamese side of the water-shed, 

 several hundred persons are reported as permanently employed at the diggings. 

 It has been collected in the tin deposits east of Tavoy and on the sea-side of the 

 granite mountains south of Ye. Pegu was formerly so rich in gold that it obtaineil 

 the name Sacana-lhiimi ' the land of gold,' and the Irrawaddy was called Siivaii(uifi<li 

 'the river of gold,' while 'Thatung,' confessedly the oldest city on the coast, is 

 derived, according to Ijicut. A. St. John, from TlKion-Irtii't-ddtiiKj, literally 'Silvei-- 

 gold-city.' In modern times Sliweijijcn up the Tsittoung siguilies 'gold sitting.' 



