PART II. 

 SPECIAL REPORT.* 



The remarks on the utilisation of toungyas, on plantations, &o., must necessarily he ac- 

 cepted with some reservation, for I am neither a trained forester, nor an agriculturist, nor is my 

 present position one which could offer me practical experience in such matters. I have how- 

 ever, greatly profited in this direction, while connected with the Botanical gardens at Bui- 

 tenzorg (Java), the finest and richest garden that exists within the tropics, and besides this, my 

 deductions are based upon a careful study of the vegetation in the field and upon a general 

 acquaintance with collateral branches of science. Under such circumstances, these notes may 

 serve for what they are intended, viz., as theoretical hints which may become useful in the 

 bauds of an intelligent practical man. 



The list of Burmese trees, forming Appendix A. of this report, is made up to the best of 

 my knowledge, and any incompleteness in the same must be ascribed to the impossibility of 

 collecting, as a traveller, every tree in a country, of such a varied character as Burma. I 

 have left more than fifty different kinds of trees unnamed, because I am unable to compare 

 them on account of their being without flowers or fruit. A further exploration of the Prome 

 and Sittang districts during the rains will swell up the list considerably. 



The naming of the trees, &c., has chiefly caused the delay in the submission of this 

 second part of my report, for I have taken some pains to adopt only such botanical names 

 as may hereafter be least liable to the continuous changes now going on in botanical litera- 

 ture. 



The subjects remarked upon in the following pages are briefly as follows : 



1. Preservation of forests with regard to soil and climate. 



2. Utilisation of toungyas, with cursory remarks on timber plantations. 



3. Some hints with reference to the study of the quality of woods in India. 



4. Conclusion. 



Appendices. 



Appendix A. List of Burmese trees. 



B. Key for the determination of Burmese trees. 



C. Collection of Burmese names for other plants than trees. 



D. Lord Mayo's tree {Maijodendron) a new genus from Martaban. 



E. Extracts from Mr. Kurz's journal of his tours in British Burma. 



I. Comervancy of forests in Pegu with regard to soil and climate. 



My remarks under this head have nothing to do with practical conservancy, but refer 

 merely to the preservationf and the clearing of forests as a whole, in connection with clime 

 and soil, and independently of the resources that might eventually accrue from them. Pegu 

 has too many forests, and the proportion of hilly ground to alluvial plains is so much in 

 favour of the former, and these again are in such close vicinity to the banks of the principal 

 rivers, that no fear need be entertained of the climatic sequences, even if all the forests on 

 alluvial land are removed, provided that those on the hills are maintained. 



Although opinion is divided upon the question* of the influence of forests upon climate, 

 it is now so far settled, that we have the plainest proofs in support of those who hold that 

 forests stand in close connection with the hygrometrical state of a tropical country. Only 

 those can still persist in their scepticism, whose narrow-mindedness does not permit them to 

 grasp the intricacies of cause and effect, or who believe that all sorts of forest must necessarily 

 produce the same effect. 



Deciduous forests have in tropical countries no material influence upon climate generally, 

 and their influence upon moisture must be considered doubtful, although their existence may 

 possibly afTect to a great degree the prolongation of the rainy season. Evergreen forests can 



* I prepared and submitted my reports when the new system of transliteration of vernacular names was 

 still under discussion ; hence the difference in the spelling of the first part, which was submitted early in 1872, 

 and that of the second part, which was submitted the subsequent year. 



t In the following pages " preservation" and " protection" should not be confounded with " strict reser- 

 vation." 



X This question was discussed in India many years ago. See Journal Asiatic Society Bengal, XVIII. 1849, 

 791, (Lieut. \V. H. Parish, on the influence of forests on climate). If I am not mistaken, an article on the 

 tame subject also appeared in Corbyn's Indian Review. 



Numerous facts, especially in France, demonstrate the theory that forests in temperate regions exercise no ma- 

 terial influence upon the amount of rainfall. It is stated that the amount of rainfall in France has not diminished but 



