( 31 ) 



permeable as on impermeable strata. They were, no doubt, of mucli greater extent in Pegu ia 

 former periods than they are at present ; but as the destruction of these forests went on, tlio 

 climate became drier and drier, and they became restricted to the more protected valleys of the 

 Yomah, especially along its eastern slopes. Along the western slopes of this hill range, over- 

 green forests are seen only in small detached patches. Judging from the occurrence of certain 

 evergreens in various valleys, now destitute of entire evergreen forests, these forests may have 

 probably existed, where now mixed-forests occupy their place. Ou the drier ridges, Jao we ver, 

 if we take into account the configuration and climate of the whole country, evergreen forests 

 could never have existed, even under the most favourable conditions. Deep alluvium also 

 shews no vestiges of having possessed at any time a tropical evergreen forest, for even the 

 Sittang valley, the dampest and most favoured of all Pegu river-beds, is destitute of them. 



The large number* of trees which vary so much in different localities, makes it 

 utterly impossible to reduce the character of these forests to a few principal consti- 

 tuents. Here Humboldt's words are applicable : " Die uebergrosse Mannichfaltigkeit der 

 bluehtenreichen 'Waldflora verbietet die Frage, woraus diese Urwaelder bestehen ?" A 

 forester unacquainted with botany will, however, easily recognise such forests by the general 

 aspect that moisture, accompanied by a certain degree of shade, effects. If we, in the hot 

 season, travel for long distances through forests destitute of leaves, and finally enter a 

 dark cool forest, where we find ourselves protected from the sunbeams by a dense cover of 

 foliage, we may naturally presume, that we have entered a tropical forest. But it is quite 

 different, when travelling during the rains, for there the contrast is not so marked. Some bo- 

 tanical knowledge is therefore required, to distinguish leaf-shedding from evergreen forests, 

 and this is more especially the case, if the forest partakes of the character of what I call moid 

 forests. 



Most of the trees in these forests have no Burmese althoughmany possess Karen names. 

 Burmans, who name, quite correctly, tree after tree in an open mixed-forest from distances 

 quite astounding, will with difficulty recognise here even such trees as grow in mixed-forests, 

 or will not be able to recognize them at all. 



In giving here a sketch of these forests, I divide them into two varieties, viz. the closed 

 and the open tropical forests, two formations produced chiefly by degrees of moisture. This 

 division is only applicable to Pegu, and not to the hills, east of the Sittang. 



a. Closed tropical forests. The average height of the trees in the closed tropical forests 

 ranges from 150 to 200 feet, rarely less ; trees of 250 feet in height are of no rare occurrence. 

 The clean stem of the higher trees varies from 80 to 100 feet and more. Jungle-fires rarely, 

 if ever, occur in these forests, and therefore the fallen leaves etc. are allowed to decay slowly, 

 and to form, generally, a good black humus-soil. 



Dr. Brandis, in his report on the Attaran forests (p. 54) truly speaks of these forests as 

 being clothed with an unbroken stratum of vegetation of 150 to 200 feet depth, and there are 

 really 4 and often 5 strata of vegetation distinguishable. The lofty trees tower above all 

 others, forming, as it were, a leaf-shedding open forest above the lower stratum of evergreen 

 trees. These are chiefly Sterculiae, such as St. scaphigera, campanulata {Plerocijmbium, Javanicaf 

 R. Br.) and St. alafa, Tetrameles nudiflora, Parkia leiophi/lla, Acrocarpusfraxinifolius, Albizzia 

 Lebbek and stipiilata, Xylia dolabriformis, Guatteria lateriflora, Swintonia Swenckii, Ptero- 

 carpus Indiciis, Duahanga sonneratioides, Artocarpus chaplasha, Lacoocha and echinatus, Pentace 

 Birmanica and some others. Of lofty trees the few following are the more conspicuous 

 true evergreens : Dipterocarpus alatiis, laevis and turbinatus,X Parashorea stellata, Hopea odorata, 

 Ficus laccifera, Anisoptera glabra, Paijena paralleloneura, Garcinia coica, Anliaris toxicaria. 



Then follow the big trees, which rest on shorter trunks, though in bulk they are not pro- 

 bably inferior to the lofty trees. They form the medial stratum, and are chiefly evergreens, as 

 are Mitrephora vandaeflora, Pterospermum semisagittatum axiA fuscum, Bursera serrata, Dysoxylon 

 sp., Kurriinia robusta, Semecarpus heterophyUa {?), Marlea tomentosa and begoniae/olia, Stereos- 

 permum fimbriatum (?) Vitex peduncularis, Adenanthera paconina, Cedrela Tooiia, and C. mnlti- 

 juga, Sapindus rarak, Lagerstroemia tomentosa {?), 3Iangifera Indica, Xanthochymus pictoriits, 

 Sandoricum Imlicum, Dalbergia glaticescens, Ficus obtusifolia, Tyela etc., Podocarpus polystachya, 

 Albizzia lucida, Pithecolobium loliatuni, Payanelia multijuga, Amoora Rohitaka, Discospermu/n 

 yJiaerocarpum ?, Diospyros cordifo/ius ?, Tetranthera 2 or 3 species, Bischoffia Javanica ; Trewia 

 nudiflora, Hibiscus vulpinus, Pterosjjcrmun acerifolium, Sterculia ornata, Elaeocarpus tuberculatus 

 etc., etc. 



In the tropical forest of the Toukyeghat valley which stretches between the seven pagodas and the Bogelay 

 ridges (an area of hardly 8 to 9 square miles), not less than 300 to 350 different kinds of trees alone have been 

 observed by me. Not a day passed, without my having had to add 1 or 2 kinds more to ray lists, and so it went 

 on until I became compelled by sickness to leave this forest-tract. The best mixed forest of equal extent would 

 liardly give 70 to 80 kinds of trees. 



t Not St. Javanica, R. Br., which is identical with a Blumean species. 



X These wood-oil trees are strictly no evergreens, but the succession of leaf-shedding and leaf-forming is here 

 so rapid, that young leaves are already developed, while the old ones are still dropping off. 



