( 192 ) 



stone, but nowhere did I notice them on the plateaux. The trees 

 were, without exception, epiphytical in habit, growing at great dis- 

 stances apart, perhaps a quarter of a mile or more, in an evergreen 

 forest reeking with moisture : the vegetation being generally made 

 up of Dipterocarpus tuberculatus, Fici, Lagerstraaimia grandiflora, Carey a 

 arborea, Magnolia, Pentaptera paniculata, Begonia, Gordonia, Bombax 

 malabaricum, Nauclea, Strychnos Nux-vomica, Bauhinia, Diospyros, 

 Phyllanthus, musa, Calami, Bamboo, tree ferns, aracem, Broussonetia 

 papyrifera, Agathis Loranthifolia, and bordering on the streams 

 Breedelia upturn, also the wild rose. The following measurements 

 represent four of the finest Ficus elastica met with during the day : — 



No. L— Height ... ... ... ... ... 118 feet. 



Circumference of space occupied by crown ... 709 ,, 



Ditto trunk ... ... ... 83 ., 



Ditto including aerial roots ... ... 119 ,, 



No. II.— Height ... ... ... ... ... 102 „ 



Circumference of space occupied by crown ... 715 ,, 



Ditto trunk ... ... ... 87 „ 



Ditto including aerial roots ... ... 123 ,, 



No. III.— Height ... ... ... ... ... 94 „ 



Circumference of space occupied by crown ... 690 ,, 



Ditto trunk ... ... ... 81 ,, 



Ditto including aerial roots ... ... 114 „ 



No. IV.— Height ... ... ... ... ... 85 „ 



Cii'cumference of space occupied by crown ... 695 ,, 



Ditto trunk ... ... ... 84 ,, 



Ditto including aerial roots ... ... 130 „ 



321. In no instance did I observe reproduction below the 

 parent tree, but examples were not wanting of the seed having 

 germinated in the Polypodium ivallichianum, growing on Bombax, 

 and other giant trees, from which the aerial roots of the Ficus 

 elastica descended, giving a strange appearance : these in later 

 years, by a process of inosculation, unite into one, forming the 

 huge stem for which these trees are noted. In trees that have 

 reached maturity, the lateral roots keep close to the surface, and, in 

 many instances, are more than half exposed, that part above ground 

 representing logs of three feet circumference, gradually tapering 

 away as they descend the hill in search of moisture from the stream 

 below ; such trees I also found to have thrown down roots from the 

 wide-spreading branches in the same manner as the Banian tree, 

 and evidently intended by nature as supports for their bulky limbs. 

 On returning to my boats, late in the evening, some Shan-Talokes 

 from the serpentine mines, reported having met two gangs of Kak- 

 hyens, at the mouth of the Nanghaing choung, but that they bolted 

 on being fired at. This was evidently the party we had heard of at 

 Mogoung. Kamine is situated on the right bank, at the confluence 

 of the Nanghaing choung, which takes its rise in the mountains to 

 the north, and during the rains is navigable for small boats within 



