11 



t 



from, email chouogs we soon arrived at Gho bu gna Tay, situated on a prominent knob of a 

 sandstone spur commanding a fine view over the Zamayi stream below it. The forests were 

 all upper mixed forests and only a few evergreens were met with along the choungs but no- 

 where did I, as I oxpected, find close evergreen forests. Moving a mile further on, we 

 descended to the Zamayi and encamped on loose sand the only level spot where to pitch a 

 tent. 



"[st February, 1871. The aspect and configuration of the country is everywhere so similar, 

 and the forests so alike, that it is better to simply sum up the route I took. Bamboos, more 

 especially tinwa, had thoroughly shed their leaves and so had also most of the trees. A more 

 disagreeable march to a botanist cannot be imagined than travelling through leaf-shedding 

 forests at this period of the year when the shedding of leaves has just commenced ; and for 

 this reason neither flowers not fruits could be collected, as they all appear at a later period. 

 Passing Gho myella Tay we crossed a toungya said to be only 2 years old (I estimated it at 

 twice the age); This shewed the following vegetation. Ma-ii letsha {Sarcocephalus undula- 

 tus) thit po {Dalhergitt purpurea), binga (Ste2)hegyne rotundifolia), Kyattoun wa (Bambusa 

 Brandisiana) , tasha (Spoiiiu orientalis), Ka ouug (Ficus congloinerata), poung ma theing 

 (Blumea bahamifcra), pyoung sa or teak grass plenty, plenty tek ke ( Saccharum sjwntaneum) , 

 Kadu (Conyza viscosa and Ageraium conyzoides), plenty tamin sein (Panicum (T/iyssanolaena) 

 acariferum), Katsene {Triumfetta annwt), Buettneria aspera, wa or cotton, a remnant of culture 

 {Gossypium lierbaceum), ehoung mi gVi{Buddleia Asiatica),viioi m\a.m.a, [Besmodium trique- 

 truni), Strobilanthes auriculata and Str. glaucescens, myouk gno {Duabanga grandiflora), maloa 

 (Spaf/iodea stipulata), thein gala (^Naudea sens Hi folia), damagne noe {Millettia exfensa) and 

 thamakha noe {Congea tomenfosa) ; only a few teak-seedlings were observed towards the bor- 

 ders of the toungya. 



Had to cross the little Legwa ehoung from whence we came to the Thay may ehoung 

 and, going up the Kyet ehoung (a feeder of the Thay may) we reached Gho tho boung Tay 

 where we stayed. 



2nd Februiry, 1871. There were great festivities at this Tay on account of a marriage, 

 and we had to stay, being unable to get a guide before the next day. 



^rd February, 1871. The path as on previous days lay over sandstone ridges covered 

 by upper mixed forests with well grown teak and pyenkadu. After several sharp ascents 

 and descents we came again to the Thay may ehoung, which perfectly confused me by its 

 windings. Here on a small plain, the same ehoung runs in two opposite directions, hardly 

 100 paces from one another. After crossing a low ridge, we came to a Tay situated at the 

 borders of extensive level rice-lands and encamped at the northern extremity of the plain 

 opposite to a village, called Wa-tha-but yua, a new name I think for a village of Jabines 

 who had just commenced building near the Karen Tay. 



4th February, 1871. The route to-day ran through a good deal of cultivated land and 

 old toungyas along the Wa-tha-but ehoung, passing several villages of Jabines. It is in- 

 teresting to see how these Jabines occupy everywhere in the hills the level lands, while the 

 Karens do not avail themselves of lands easy to cultivate, but prefer to cut their toungyas on 

 the hills themselves. A patch of lofty trees far ahead, ornamented with festoons of climbers 

 soon led me to expect true evergreen tropical forests. Nor was I disappointed in my 

 expectations ; for the ehoung soon became narrower and overhung with Wa-tha but wa, a 

 bamboo characteristic to evergreen forests in these hills. A large broad-leaved rattan (yaina- 

 tha) turned up along with numerous ferns and other plants indicative of dampness such as 

 Goniopteris lincata, Nephrodium, Davallia spe/uncae, Angiopteris evecta, Bragantia tomentosa, 

 Mussaenda, Trevesia palmata, 2 species of Flntosfemma, Strobiliinthes flava, etc. etc. Of 

 trees we came along Bischoffia Jav itiica, Swinfonia Schwenckii, Holigarnn Grahamii, Acrocar- 

 ptM fraxinifolius, Hibiscus macrophylliis, Pandanus furcaius, Myristica, Payanelia muUijiiga, 

 Macaranga, Hydnocarpus heterophyllus, Semecarpus heterophyllus, Caryota urens, Sterculla 

 scapJiigtra, etc. etc. This was an agreeable change for me, and I soon filled the stock of paper 

 which I had carried all over the hills without a chance of making many new additions. 

 The ridges bordering the ehoung are as everywhere covered by upper mixed forests with 

 teak. In ascending the headwaters of the Wa-tha-but we entered very dry hill-land covered 

 by dry upper mixed forests with teak, but no water. At Didu Tay we changed our guides 

 and crossed the principal watershed between the Zamayi and the Sittang rivers. The 

 vegetation on the Sittang side is more varied and evergreens cover tlie bottom of the valleys. 

 Passing over large tracts of deserted toungyas and descending over ridges covered by upper 

 mixed forests we arrived rather late in the day at Jan gay Tay on a feeder of the Bheinda 

 ehoung, a village said to bo about 2 Burmese miles W. by N. from Gho-tha-may or Phosit 

 Tay on the Bheinda itself 



bth February, 1871. The path runs for the first half over the ridges and, therefore, was 

 extremely uniform only upper mixed forests being inet here witli occasional poor evergreen 

 forests when fording the few choungs. Black bears must be plentiful here judging from the 



