( 2 ) 



ruled it should be curtailed, and open from date of iny arrival at 

 Mandalay. This rather upset my original arrangements, and the 

 hours I had spent at night, compiling my notes from Eangoon 

 northwards, were wasted as concerns the present report. 



2. It had at first been my intention, before dealing with the 



_ geographical and physical Character- 

 Present narrative to be received -„ t '„„ n f x-u p rnrm f rv r.y.A r i V p V nnrtVi 



as jottings on subjects foreign to istics oi ine coimuy ana nvei norm 

 object of mission— a separate cbap- of Mandalay, to have recorded all items 

 o e b r -ec b t eillS devoted t0 this latter of interest that came under observation 



from the day of embarkation at Ean- 

 goon, thus rendering my journal more complete and of greater 

 service to future explorers of the country over which I had travelled. 

 The present account of my tour in Upper Burma I would, however, 

 now wish accepted merely in the light of jottings on all subjects 

 other than those affecting the main object of my mission, to which 

 I intend devoting a separate chapter, wherein I shall recapitulate, 

 seriatim, all matters of interest associated with the Ficus elastica; 

 finally treating briefly on the system I propose should be adopted 

 for the introduction of the tree into the forests of British Burma, 

 together with instructions, which may prove useful, for propagating 

 the species, should it hereafter be found expedient to replenish our 

 stock from Upper Burma. Mr. Nepean, the Assistant Conservator, 

 under whose management I had placed the propagation of lac, 

 being new to the work, it was necessary I remained in his sub-divi- 

 sion for a time, to start the project ; and, while instructing him in 

 the system, I also completed the necessary arrangements for the 

 supply of sleepers in my division for the Eangoon and Irrawaddy 

 Valley (State) Eailway, and inspected the Kyatsoo Creek, with a 

 view to establishing an unimpeded through traffic during the cold 

 season. It was the 10th September ere I returned to Eangoon. 

 The Government Press was now overstocked with work, and unable 

 to take up my report ; and as the map that accompanies it had not 

 been received from Calcutta, where it was lithographed, there was 

 no immediate hurry for the work being taken in hand. I again left 

 for the district, where my services were urgently required, on the 

 6th October, and did not return to Eangoon for two months. On 

 the 10th of December 1874, I solicited permission to print my 

 report, and on the 3rd of January 1875, sanction was accorded. 



3. Having explained the cause of delay in the publication of my 



travels, and accounted for the incom- 



Origin and object of mission to p J ete f Qrm j n w kich my journal is nOW 

 Upper Burma explained. * . , . , . ■, ■, £ J P , 



presented, it is only left for me to say 

 a few words as to the origin of my mission to Upper Burma, con- 

 cluding this introductory chapter with a brief notice of Prome and 



