16 



certainly again have believed them, had I not obtained information about the road while at 

 KhoMu Tay. This morning the oho gyi oarae again imploring me to desist from going to 

 Khosmoung tay, for my elephants would all tumble down the hills, but I coolly told him 

 that they could climb the trees like squirrels, the truth of which he seemed to doubt. At last 

 we got our guides and ascended the bed of the Tay Tay choung, bordered by evergreens such 

 as Sumhavia macrophi/l/a, Casfanea argentea, Garcinia clliptica and Elacarpus (jrandifoliim, 

 along with the never failing Murraya exotica. On arriving at the fork of the two last feeders 

 or rather sources of the Tay Tay we ascended a short spur of the main range of the Yomah, 

 and came down on the other side to the Ye gna choung, which is a feeder of the Chi wa 

 choung, we went down a bed of this choung to a spot near where it effects a junction with the 

 Muy gyi choung, a rather conspicuous hill stream with plenty of running water. Sha zoung 

 (Euphorbia trigona), a small tree up to 25 feet high, offered a peculiar and curious sight along 

 the declivities of the dry sandstone ridges, especially as all the other trees had shed their leaves. 

 We ascended the Muy gyi only for a short distance, and then commenced the worst part of the 

 day's journey when we branched off to the right, and ascended the watershed between the 

 Muy gyi and Panyo choung. After a hot ascent up to 1200, if not 1500 feet, we finally 

 reached the highest crest, on which a conical black looking peak covered with dry hill forests 

 rose about a thousand paces off, I really entertained some fears about the practicability of 

 getting the elephants over such passages ; but they managed it, and I can only concur in the 

 praise and admiration which M. Maout in his travels in Siam bestowed upon the patience, 

 prudence and obedience of these really useful animals. The forests up to this place were all 

 of very uniform character, but the upper mixed forest of a dry character on this long ridge 

 had a very dense clothing of teak grass, mixed with Andropogon montanuin, Panicum mon- 

 tnniim and a few otiier grasses, amongst which we found Crotalaria Chineiuis, an erect 

 Pueraria, a Shuterin {/),lii7nea glomerata \erj villous, Lepldagatliis, Leea, Neuracanthiis tetra- 

 gonostacliyus and others. Teak grew here splendidly along with pyenkadu and yindyke, the 

 latter attaining the unusual height of 80 to 90 feet by 6 to 8 feet in girth. The other trees 

 found here were myouk gna {Dnabanga grand ijiora), tadi [Bursera serratn), thitpagan {Millettia 

 Brandi^iana), chinyouk [Qnruga piiinata), panga {Terminalin chebiila), Sha ni {Sterculia 

 riUosa) etc. Myinwa and Kyattounwa form the bamboo growth. Descending along a feeder 

 of the Panyo gne choung which was very winding and led chiefly through toungyas, we 

 arrived late in the evening at Kho sue Tay, where we encamped on the other side of the 

 choung at some distance from a village in upper mixed forests. 



22d February, 1871. Calcareous sandstones appeared here, but I neglected to attend 

 to them, as I became aware of their calcareous nature only after my arrival in Calcutta. 



All my men wanted to leave me this morning, and it required all my energy to keep 

 them back, which I succeeded in doing, though I discharged one man who had made himself 

 obnoxious from the time he first demanded leave. 



Although separated from the Kambala toung only by a range forming the watershed 

 between the Panyo gne and some other choung, possibly the Gyo gyo choung, the villagers 

 assured me that it was impossible to ascend the mountain from here and I accordingly started 

 for Gho mung Tay on the other side of the Yomah, the inhabitants of which Tay, they added, 

 had " business" on the hill consisting chiefly in hunting. 



The route lay over uninteresting spurs of the Yomah, covered by toungyas, until we 

 came to the main range itself, where upper mixed forests of a dry clmracter prevailed. The 

 pass is here, as on the 19th instant, very low and rounded. In descending on the other side to 

 the Opon choung (a feeder of the Kun choung) we fell in again with evergreens and encamped 

 in the bed of the Opon, about half a mile off from Gho mung Tay. Here I also heard that 

 a good path exists to Kho sue Tay on the Lay dhu da choung, from where we intended to 

 cross over on the IGth inst. This tay is only 3 Burmese miles off ! 



23rd February, 1871. The march to-day was a short one, only 2 Burmese miles, but it 

 lay over the main range, which, strange to say, was here very precipitous and about 1 200 

 to 1500 feet high. The upper part especially was nearly vertical and I had great difficulty 

 in getting up to the crest. The elephants had to make a detour, but still tlie journey was 

 as hard for them, as it was when they had to cross the Muy gyi watershed. Proceeding 

 along the creet for some distance southwards and also passing the head waters of the Muy 

 gyi, we descended to a feeder of the Gyo gyo choung, where the upper mixed forests were 

 succeeded by evergreen tropical forests of a poor character. On arriving at the Gyo gyo it- 

 self, we encamped at the root of a spur of the Kambala. The forests were here distributed 

 over the terrain in accordance with general laws, the ridges and sunny slopes bearing upper 

 mixed forests with teak and pyenkadu and the deep ravines being sprinkled with evergreens, 

 while the Gyo gyo is bordered by a narrow strip of evergreens. My geography was here 

 altogether at fault ; for the Karens assured me that the Gyo gyo does not How into the Muy 

 gyi choung as marked in Fitzroy's map. Hence the Panyo gne cliouug, on which Kho-sue Tay 

 lies, is probably a feeder only of the Muy gyi, which is separated by a range from the Gyo 

 ^yo choung. 



