( 61 ) 



A fair is held here annually, when I am told all the fish that 

 can be caught by the pilgrims, are decorated down to the shoulders 

 with gold leaf, by the same process followed in gilding pagodas ; 

 but I cannot vouch for the correctness of this report : certainly many 

 of the fish had fragments of gold leaf about their heads. 



110. The following trees, shrubs, and grasses were either observ- 



ed or collected by myself and collector : 

 Trees, shrubs, and grasses. dentilloidea, mjcthanthes (cultivated), 



teak, tectona hamiltonii, stunted bamboo common, moUugo, polygonum 

 bombax, cyperaceae, olax, ficus adelia narefolia, mimosia, and arundo. 



111. The coal-fields visited by Professor Oldham in 1855, were to 



the west of Thingadaw. He mentions 

 ' et ' three different localities in this vicinity, 



where coal is known to occur ; but that eight miles north-west of 

 Thingadaw, he considers gives the best coal, and the most durable. 



112. We are no sooner out of the defile, than the river resumes 



. , . its natural character : it widens out con- 



Natural character of the river. giderably> and fc much intersected by 



sand-banks and islands of different ages. The surface current no 

 longer presents the smooth, glassy appearance we have just ob- 

 served ; but sweeping onwards, a mighty brown flood, with almost 

 resistless flow, works eddies and whirlpools by its heavy breathings, 

 which add to the intricacy of its navigation. 



113. The village of Malee marks the northern limit of the 

 vii a f Mai defile ; is built on a rocky eminence, 



crowned with pagodas and monasteries, 

 embosomed amongst trees ; and with its prettily-carved minarets 

 and gorgeous htees, shooting up through the dark foliage, and the 

 noble Shwe-oo-doung mountains in the distance presents a most 

 pleasing effect. Here there is a Custom-house and police station : 

 the main object of the former, — from what one hears, — is to prac- 

 tice extortion, and the latter to see it enforced. On the western 

 bank, a little higher than Malee, a low line of sand-stone hills 

 skirts the banks for some considerable distance, but on the opposite 

 shore, the hills recede miles inland, immediately the defile ceases. 



114. So shallow was the stream soon after leaving Malee, that the 



anchor had to be cast and soundings 



Shallow state of river. ^^ Ag there WRg ^^ ^ be SQme 



little delay before the navigable channel could be deter min ed upon, 

 the Captain very kindly allowed me to go ashore and examine the 

 vegetation. I collected, however, but few plants of interest, the 

 sand-banks giving growth chiefly to salix, composite, and grasses. 

 The main banks were wooded with an arborescent growth, 

 among which were distinguishable, from the distance, bombax, dtp- 



