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The Karens usually plant mulberry, with Solanum melongena, Hibiscus, Andropogon 

 Sorghum, Nicofiaiia Tahacum, Sesamum Indicmn and such like together on one field, or plant 

 a little of everything on smaller hill fields, etc. 



Amongst these crops are seen coming up : Cleome icosandra, Gi/nandropsis pentaphylla, 

 Portulaca oleracea, Triumfetta angulata, Corchorus acutangulus and capsnlaris, Oxalis sensieioa 

 and corniculata, Ammannia pentandra, peploides, and baccifera, Thladiantha dubia, Hemia- 

 delphis poli/sperma, Gnaphalium multiceps, Solanum nigrum, Gelosia cristata, Ageratum cony- 

 zoidcs, Solanum torium, Tndicum, and verbascifolium, Achi/ranthcs aspera, Kyllingia, Blumea 

 Wightiana, runcinnata, pterodonta and aurita, Sida acuta and rhombifolia, Buddleia neemda, 

 Vernonia cinerea, Amaranfhm sanguineus and spinoms, Lindenbergia macrosiachua, Ipomoea 

 vitifolia, Eleusine Indica, Nelsonia origanifolia, Gossgpiuin herbaccum, Dosmodium triquetrum, 

 Strobilanthcs auriculatiis, and scaber, Ardisia Wallichiana, Spilant/ies acmella and paniculata, 

 Cylista scoriosa, Argi/reia, Thunbergia laurifolia, Luffa cylindrica, Rungia pectinata, Strobi- 

 lanthcs glaucescens, coarse Cijperi, Onychium auratum, Pteris longi/oUa and Gretica, Ficus 

 heterophylln, and similar plants. 



At higher elevations in the Karen hills, Strobilanthcs flnccidus is often seen cultivated 

 for its dye. There appear also many plants of higher elevations on those hill toungyas, 

 which are wanting in the Yoraah, such as Sonchus arvensis, Youngia lyrata, Scirpus mucro- 

 nnlus, Eleocharis tetraquetra, Clcrodendron infortunatum, Ruhus Moluccanus, and rosaefolius, 

 Conyza absinthifolia, Alectra Indica, Gnaphalium hypolcucum, and numerous others. 



The trees that have been felled and burnt previous to the formation of such toungyas, 

 are usually not completely burnt, but many of these logs, seriously damaged and scorched by 

 fire, are scattered on the ground. The stumps of the felled trees are also seen sticking out 

 everywhere, and often throw out numerous shoots that grow up again into trees. 



After the harvest has been brought in, these toungyas are left to themselves for the 

 next 8 to 12 years, by which time they become, as a rule, converted again into young forests. 

 These are then considered by the Karens to have become " strong" enough to yield a 

 sufficient amount of alkalies, etc., for another routine of hill rice culture. They are seldom 

 kept under cultivation for a second year, and then no rice is cultivated, but only cotton, 

 mulberry, and such like, along with the usual culinary vegetables. 



After such toungyas are completely abandoned, they are called toungyas poonzoh, or 

 briefly poonzoh : deserted toungyas. The vegetation in the next season is usually not much 

 changed on such poonzohs. The crops that stood on them have of course disappeared, but 

 stragglers are still plentiful, and the usual weeds of cultivation get the supremacy. The 

 second year, however, the scene changes altogether. The whole poonzoh becomes covered 

 by certain weeds that have got the supremacy over the others, such as Conyza balsamifera, 

 Blumea lacera, runcinnata etc., Conyza viscosula, Solanum torrum or verbascifolium, Sida, Ver- 

 nonia cinerea, Achijranthes aspera, Triumfetta angulata, Ageratum conyzoides, Triumfetta 

 annua, Lygodium scundens, Paederia tomeniosa, Buddleia neemda, Flilggea, Urena lobata, Cen- 

 totheca, etc. Such is the case especially in the level tracts, but in hilly parts coarse grasses 

 spring up which supersede all other herbaceous growth, and these are chiefly Thyssanolaena 

 acarifera, Saccharum spontaneum, Androscepia gigantea, and Coix heteroclita. Bamboos appear 

 only when in the surrounding forest tracts the bamboos flower and fruit at the time 

 when such toungyas become deserted. One cannot pass such deserted toungyas without 

 being troubled by such plants, as Z7/r, TrafM/e^^a (especially T. annua), Desmodium poly- 

 carpum, Centotheca lappacea, and Chrysopogon aciculatus, the fruits of which adhere firmly 

 to the clothes. These, as well as the stitf fragile hairs on the sheathes of Coix heteroclita, 

 cause a great deal of irritation to the skin when one has to penetrate such dense grass-jungles. 



The grasses, above named, rapidly expel all the weak weeds, and only shrubs and seed- 

 lings of the more frequent trees can overtop these powerful intruders, until they have grown 

 up high enough, to check the further growth of coarse grasses by their own shade. 



The trees that seemed to me most frequently to come up on deserted toungyas are 

 Anogeissus acuminatus, Lagerstroemia macrocarpa and tomentosa, Premna pyrumidata, Ficus 

 hispida, Nauclea sp. (maoo letshok), Dalbergia purpurea (thit-poh), Nauclea Brunonis, (bingah), 

 Spondias jnnnata ('Gway) ; Ficus cuniata, Duabanga grnndiflora, Nauclea sericea, Spathodea, 

 Bombax, and such like : these are all light-loving trees. In the Karen hills many others appear, 

 like Sponia velutina, Schima, Hibiscus vulpinus, Croton oblongifolium, Lantana arborea, and. 

 others ; while in higher elevations above 3000 feet, numerous trees from the drier hill 

 forests appear, amongst which especially Eurya, Ficus hirta, Nelitris imniculata, and Ternstroe- 

 mia Japonica, are most abundantly met with, along with such undergrowth as Pteris 

 aquilina, Androscepia, Clcrodendron infoi'tunatum, Jasminum linearifoliurn, Hedyotis scandens, 

 Asparagus curillus, etc. 



I could trace no rule by which trees might be classed that grow up in poon- 

 zohs. Any tree from tlie surrounding forests can spring up, either singly or in num- 

 bers, and those that grow best are always such as probably grew before the formation 

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