( 204 ) 



11 required." The opposition I met with, in the Mogoung district 

 must be partly attributed to the foolish jealousy, with which both the 

 amber and serpentine mines are guarded from the eye of intelligent 

 observers, and partly to the mandate from the palace (which I 

 believe had already been noticed in the Political Diary of the 

 Assistant Resident at Bhamo,) prohibiting any assistance being 

 extended to me in the collection of Ficus elastica seedlings. As to 

 the truth of the order, there is no doubt, for I had been privately told 

 of it, by two of the royal hpoongyees. In spite of the opposition, 

 however, I trust the Chief Commissioner and the Supreme 

 Government of India will consider I have brought my mis- 

 sion to a successful close, and that, although I have been unable to 

 fix the extreme limit of the Ficus elastica south of the Assam Pro- 

 vince, where the tree is known to abound, yet I have gained much 

 valuable information regarding the natural habits of this tree, 

 which will ultimately tend to its successful introduction into British 

 Burma. I called on the royal poongyee to say, "[good-bye" and 

 cannot conclude this day's diary without observing what a capital 

 specimen he is of his cloth : the good this man had done by 

 befriending the mountaineers, and converting many to the Buddhistic 

 faith, had already commenced to bear fruit. Left Mogoung at 

 4 p.m., and made fast for the night a few miles below. 



345. Monday, 23rd March 1874.— Thermometer, 72° at 6 a.m. 

 Bain overnight, cloudy and drizzly throughout the day. With 

 the exception of a few Kakhyen squatters employed catching 

 fish, there are no villages between Mogoung and Tahoon. The 

 river averages 150 yards in breadth, and is remarkably winding in 

 its course ; the country on either side is flat and uninteresting. 

 There had been a considerable rise since my boats came up, which 

 bespoke heavy rain in the hills. Stopped for a little while 

 beneath a spur, just south of Tahpoon, to examine the system 

 by which teak is felled and extracted here : the trees are first killed by 

 the process of girdling, and making a hole through the stem, in 

 two different directions ; they are then felled, cut into lengths 

 not exceding twenty-five feet, and dragged to the water's edge 

 by buffaloes. This work is entirely in the hands of the Kakh- 

 yens. The process of seasoning or killing is conducted when the 

 tree is in flower, and under this system the logs are stated to be dry 

 enough to float in twelve months. The largest girth I measured, was 

 four feet three in circumference, and the timber appeared remarkably 

 free from heart shake. Just here, the river deepens considerably, and 

 the scenery becomes more engaging ; but this does not last for long, 

 the country soon again flattening out on either side, and the shore 

 fringed with tall grasses and salix : immediately below the large Kak- 



