( 6 ) 



to the nerves. None but those who have been assailed by these 

 most insatiable of bloodsuckers can really understand the injury 

 and discomfort they cause to man and beast. 



10. Shortly after leaving Myanoung, the river becomes more 



denned in its course, and, even here 

 north of MySioimg to°Prome. r ° m an( * there, the erosion of its high banks 



is observable, though not, perhaps, to 

 such an extent as marks the characteristic features of the Indus. 

 The surrounding landscape, as we steam onward, becomes more 

 and more engaging — in a word, we are leaving the low, flat country 

 of the delta, and entering the region of mountains and woodlands, 

 with a foreground of richly-cultivated plains. The Arakan range, 

 with its prettily-wooded slopes, here sends out an eccentric spur 

 to the water's edge, whose face is decorated with carvings of a 

 Bhuddhistic type, many of which are of very recent date. This 

 forms the civil boundary of the Thayetmyo and Tharrawaddy 

 Districts, and here the river becomes more tortuous in its course, 

 and the current increases in strength. Proceeding onwards, the 

 hills are sufficiently neared to distinguish the class of arborescent 

 vegetation now fast falling before the ruthless hand of man, to 

 make room for culture yielding a more speedy return. 



11. I was not a little surprised to hear from Mr. Hough, late 

 _ . , , Sub-Assistant Conservator of Forests, 



ii/xtensive tounqya clearings ob- j-i j. i l- £ j.i i 



served. Evil effects briefly noticed. ? nat a large proportion of these clear- 

 ings had been effected within the last 

 three years ; and even still may be seen large areas covered with 

 felled trees ready for burning — a process of agriculture familiarly 

 known as toungya in Burma, and corresponding with the dyah 

 of India. If clearing continues at the same ratio in this vicinity, 

 we may expect to see, at no distant date, the whole of this range 

 denuded of its timber. In this instance less harm is being done, 

 perhaps, than generally results from this barbarous method of 

 culture, for the trees felled are, as -a rule, useless timber, and are 

 replaced by fruit trees; nevertheless, in estimating the benefit of 

 forests, it is necessary to consider the value of trees, both in- 

 dividually and collectively — that is, as furnishing the every-day 

 necessaries of life, and influencing surrounding objects ; but the 

 evil effect of robbing hill-sides and tops of their trees is too well 

 known to be dilated on here. This system of cultivation is, and I 

 fear always will be, a bone of contention between the Kevenue 

 Officials and Forest Officers. The latter, alive to the interests of 

 their own department, point to the calamities brought on other 

 nations by similar wasteful and destructive practices which have 

 been permitted to continue unchecked ; while the former support 



