March 8, 1888] 



NATURE 



447 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



Mount Roraima, in British Guiana, was ascended for the 

 third time on October 14 last, by Mr. F. Dressel, an English 

 orchid collector. The first ascent, it will be remembered, was 

 by Mr. Im Thurn, in December 1884. The second was in 

 November 1886, by Mr. Cremer, also an orchid collector. Mr. 

 Im Thurn's ascent took place in the beginning of the wet season, 

 when everything was saturated with moisture. Mr. Dressel 

 ascended after continuous dry weather, and found the upper 

 surface comparatively dry, the elevated portions most markedly 

 so ; while large areas of the sward-like levels were perfectly 

 desiccated. The water in the various channels was very shallow, 

 and the deep basins or depressions contained but very small 

 quantities, though in no case was any found to be quite dry. 

 Frequently the surface of the water in these shallow basins was 

 more or less covered with a green, apparently a Confervoid, 

 layer. In the pools at the bottom of these wide basins, Mr. 

 Dressel found a considerable quantity of quartz, in the form 

 both of separate crystals, and of aggregated masses, of various 

 and often of large sizes. The presence of such quartz in such 

 positions and under such conditions, Timehri points out, is an 

 extremely interesting fact, though our want of knowledge of the 

 petrographic character of the formation of the top of Roraima, 

 beyond the fact of its being sandstone, renders it barren, and 

 one hardly justifying speculation. It will be remembered that 

 on the first ascent no animal life was noticed during the short 

 time spent on the top ; and this necessarily denoted the likeli- 

 hood of the absence or great rarity of birds and insects. During 

 the two or three hours spent on the top by Mr. Dressel, no 

 birds were seen ; but a few specimens of butterflies, all of 

 one kind, of a dark brown and nearly black colour, were 

 observed, and two of them were caught, though one alone was 

 sufficiently preserved to show much of its structure. In the 

 shallow basins a few forms of a small black toad with a yellow 

 spot on the throat was also seen, and one was caught, but was 

 accidentally left on the fop. A third animal form was found in 

 the moist earth attached to some plants which had been pulled 

 up ; from Mr, Dressel's description it is conjectured by Timehri 

 to be a Millipede, allied iojulus. It is probable enough that a 

 stay of a day or two on the top would well repay the naturalist ; 

 and Mr. Dressel thinks it would not be difficult to arrange for 

 such a stay. The fantastic shape into which the sandstone has 

 been fashioned, and the weirdness of the scenes which have been 

 so graphically described by Mr. Im Thurn, affected Mr. Dressel 

 in a similar manner. He mentions that the surface of the rocks 

 present very closely the appearance of granite, owing to 

 weathering ; and at first he thought some mistake had been 

 made in describing the formation as sandstone, until he moved 

 away a small rock from its setting, when its real nature was 

 revealed. 



Timehri for December last contains a very interesting account 

 by Mr. E. A. Wallace of a visit he paid to the Guahivos, an 

 isolated tribe of Indians, living near the head of the River Meta, 

 a tributary of the Orinoco, in the Republic of Columbia. 



At the last meeting of the Royal Geographical Society 

 Mr. Robert Gordon read a paper on the Kuby Mines near 

 Mogok, Burma. ITiese ruby mines lie about 100 miles N.N.E. 

 of Mandalay. The ruby-bearing region, so far as known, lies 

 within an area ten miles long by five wide, and consists of groups 

 of small valleys nestling beneath the Toung-Meh range, and to 

 the south of it. The Enjouk valley to the north is said to yield 

 rubies and sapphires, but they have not been regularly worked. 

 The valleys arrange themselves into three groups of nearly equal 

 area by the distribution of the watercourses. To the east a few 

 streams unite to form the Yay-Nee, or red water, so called from 

 the washings of red earth from the mines. The most remarkable 

 thing, Mr. Gordon stated, in the Mogok and neighbouring 

 districts, is the distinctness and diversity of races among the 

 peoples in the different communities, who evidently have kept 

 themselves from intermarriage with their neighbours for centuries, 

 and a brief notice of the tribes whose types are found here may 

 nnt be out of place. In Kathey, as the name implies, the 

 villagers are Katheys, whose ancestors were brought as prisoners 

 from Munnipore very long ago, as they have lost both the 

 Hindoo religion and their own language. In Mandalay, Prome, 

 and Henzadah, where bodies of the same people have been long 

 transplanted, they keep their race and religion pure still. The 

 ethnologist would find matter of intense interest in the inter- 

 actions of some of these races upon each other, and perhaps the 



history of these transplanted Katheys would yield the most 

 curious results. When surveying for the railway in the district 

 south of Mandalay, Mr. Gordon found them extensively dis- 

 tributed throughout the country, alsvays living separately in their 

 own villages, and retaining many of their peculiar characteristics, 

 even when they had become thoroughly Burmanized in their 

 speech, religion, and general habits. They are colonies of pure 

 Aryan race, retaining the features .and colour and physique of 

 their Indian ancestors, although surrounded for centuries by 

 Turanians of great assimilating power, whose cordial hospitality 

 and tolerance tend to modify and absorb most of the races coming 

 into close contact with them. None of the yellow races of 

 Burma, or Siam, or China, milk their cattle, and it is difficult 

 when travelling in those regions to get a supply of this very 

 useful article. Near Mandalay, and to the south of it, however, 

 the Katheys have accustomed many of the Burmese to the use of 

 milk, and it is perhaps the only part of Burma where it could be 

 got in the country places. In Bama and other villages the people 

 are Paloungs, who keep up intercourse with the tea-growing 

 Paloungs on the hills to the east, and preserve their language, 

 although, like the Katheys, they have become Buddhists. Less 

 is known of the Paloungs than of most of the great tribes 

 bordering on Burma. They differ in speech, and claim to differ 

 in origin, from all their neighbours. They occupy a wedge- 

 shaped territory of mountains and plateau between the Ruby 

 Mines of Burma, the Shans, and China ; their principal State 

 being called Toung-baing, which has nominally been subject to 

 Burma, but which, from its inaccessibility, has been practically 

 independent. The region is known to the Burmese as the 

 La-pet Toung, or Tea Mountains, as it is the part from which 

 great supplies of tea in a dry or in a pickled state are brought. 

 The Paloungs who cultivate it appear to be a quiet, unaggressive 

 people ; and they do not themselves bring their produce to the ' 

 Burmese markets, but sell it to trading caravans of Shans and 

 Panthays. In Kyatpyen the people claim to be of pure Burmese 

 stock. They dress, however, in Shan costume of blue or white 

 trousers and jackets, which is very unusual for the Burmese, 

 whose ordinary costume resembles the Scotch kilt. In Mogok 

 the permanent residents are Shans, but Burmanized. Separate 

 communities of pure Chinese and of Mohammedan Chinese are 

 found as permanent or as temporary residents. Beyond these 

 principal peoples, we find in this small locality, attracted by its 

 wealth and its markets, bodies of Mainthas and of Leesaws as 

 temporary visitors. Although the Kach yens are near neighbours 

 to the north, the powerful Shan State of Momeit prevents their 

 irruption to the Ruby Mines. The Mainthas are either Chinese 

 Shans of a different type from the main body, or are hill 

 Chinese from the North-eastern Chinese Shan States. The 

 Leesaws are hill-men of weaker physique, who occupy the 

 mountain regions of Western Yunnan, and are found in isolated 

 communities in the higher parts of the Northern Shan States. 

 They are supposed to be of the same tribal origin as the 

 Burmese ; but to have been driven and kept in the more 

 inhospitable hill tracts to the north. 



According to Allen's Indian Mail, Colonel Sartorius, of the 

 1st Beloochee Regiment, has made an interes'.ing report on his 

 recent journey through the Southern Shan and Red Karen 

 country. At Saga iron ore is found in abundance. Tin _ is 

 plentiful in Lower Kerennie, and coal at the Lowelon Mountain. 

 Besides these, silver, sulphur, and saltpetre were also found. 

 He describes Rosambhe Lake as being quite as beautiful as the 

 lakes of Cashmere, and the Fa'ls of Kazor, which are 130 feet 

 in height, are perhaps the finest in the East. 



OUR ELECTRICAL COLUMN. 



Lords Crawford and Wantage, Sir Coutts Lindsay, and 

 others, have boldly thrown down the gauntlet to the gas people. 

 They have taken ground at Deptford for a central station, and 

 are going to supply electricity to London. They start with 

 200,000 lamps, and charge at the same rate as gas at 4?. 2ii. per 

 1000 cubic feet. 



The Meteorological Society are promised a fine display of 

 atmospheric electrical apparatus for exhibition at their meeting 

 on March 20. Lightning protectors of all kinds will be shown. 



The introduction of the terms "magnetic resistance," and 

 "magneto-motive force," as the analogues of electric resistance 

 and electromotive force, with their ratios, magnetic flux and 



