19 



to me the former existence of savannah forests. Encamped at Lethok dweng. 



5rd March, 1871. To-day's march was a very uniform and tiresome one, leadin" chiefly 

 through savannahs, savannah forests and rice cultivation. The savannah forest behind Le- 

 thok dweng were chiefly formed of sha, intermixed with a few other papilionaceous trees, 

 especially Millettia ovaHfolin, but for a mile or so teak was the tree scattered all over the 

 grassy plain until all trees disappeared and a savannah, semu stricto, extended as far as the 

 Prome road near Natalong. Following the Prome road through monotonous rice-fields we 

 arrived at Poungday and encamped there under the shade of large tamarind trees. 



4th March, 1871. Here at Poungday I had to make arrangements for fresh men, as 

 those who accompanied me all wished to leave, it being at present too hot for them to travel 

 about. One of the elephants also, having a gore back, had to be discharged. 



5ih March, 1871. Only wretched and rather daooit-looking Shans offered themselves, 

 whom I refused to engage, but two Burmese promised to join me at the next camp, and so I 

 persuaded my'men to remain for that day and started the same morning. The whole route 

 was along the Prome road, running through cultivated paddy fields and the country was 

 sprinkled so thickly with toddy palms that from a distance it looked like a palm-forest. Be- 

 fore reaching the Myit makha choung a small and rather pure teak forest to the right at- 

 tracted my attention. Put up in the zyat of Gho tau on the Myitmakha. 



The evening was spent in a visit to the little teak forest I had passed. Teak was the prevail- 

 ing tree but other trees were seen, such as Kyi ni {Barrihgtonia acutavgula), nyoung pyu {Ficus 

 Rumphii), Khaboung (Strychno^ nux vomica), -paXan {Bnuhinia partiflora), nagyi [Pterosper- 

 mum semisagittatum), yindyke {Dalbergia cuUrafa], thimbyun (Dillenia pentagyna), yung 

 {Anogcissus acuminalus), pyenma (Lagcrsh-oemin Jlos rcginoe), Kembalin {Antidesma Bunias), 

 chin youk [Gartiga pmnata), madama {Dalbergia ovalifolia ), thein {Stephegyne parviflora), thit 

 magyi [Albizzia odoraiissima) and a few others; thus a lower mixed forest was formed) of which 

 most probably the associating trees had been cut away. Only a few species of low vegetatioa 

 could be recognised, (the jungle fires having raged over the terrain), amongst these were Phyl- 

 loditim jmlcliellum, Cocculun Leceba, Saccharum spontaneum, Lygodium, baup noe, momakha, 

 Congea, Sida rhombifoHa, Thespesia Lampas, Capparis horrida, Ardisia Wallichii, and others. 

 The alluvium here seems to rest on a gravelly substratum and the trees are small and ill-grown. 



The vegetation along and near the choung was a modification of swamp forest consisting 

 ehiefiy of Barringtonia acutangula, Combretum (rifoliatum and Roydsia obtusifolia. The waters 

 of the stream were covered with a dense stratum of Salvinia cucullata, Ijwmwa reptans, 

 Azolln and Hymeuachne myurus. 



6th March, 1871 Shortly after leaving the cultivated tracts of the Myitmaka I came 

 upon gravelly ochraceous or pinkish grounds, on which Eng forests with a good admixture of 

 Prome vegetation grew. A stemless Cycas (C. Siamensis) was plentiful. The more raised 

 ridges (nowhere higher than 150 feet) and exposed slopes usually bore Eng forests of a 

 tolerably pure type, with plenty of engyin (Petitacme Siamensis) and jihthya (Shorea obtiisa), 

 while those covered with a deeper stratum of surface soil along the courses of the streamlets 

 shewed mixed dry forests with plenty of yung, thitmagyi, nabbe, engyin, tantap {Albizzia 

 lucida), Emb/ica officinalis, didu, chin youk, Flacourtia, table {Eugenia Jambolana), tay 

 [Diospyros Birmanica and D. cordifolius) , lambo {Buchanania latifolia), Zizyphiis jujuba, 

 sha, Vitex cartescens, palan etc. Encamped at Shan gon, where we were warned by the police- 

 man to take care of dacoits who infest the Prome road. 



7th March, 1871. To-day we branched off' from the Prome road and marched directly 

 eastwards towards Khyi thay on the Irrawaddi. The country remained the same as yesterday. 

 The very shallow alluvium of the Kyun choung resting on diluvium changed the aspect of 

 the mixed dry forests very little, and remained much the same until we reached the second 

 low range which separates the Kyun alluvium from the Irrawaddi, when Eng forests were 

 again met with. Descending to the Irrawaddi valley the soil was found to be gravelly and 

 Eug forests, mixed dry forests and cultivation were curiously mingled according to the differ- 

 ent substratum. Encamped at Magyi bonk gon, where we had to feed our elephants who were 

 in need of other food, witli a new and very distinct fig tree {Ficus insignis). 



8th March, 1871. This morning I sent my camp straight on to Myoma, while I con- 

 tinued my eastward march to Kyi-thay so as to finish the section across tlie Irrawaddi 

 valley. Eng forests alternated with mixed dry forests over the sliglitly undulating gravelly 

 terrain, while fallow rice fields occupied all the shallow alluvial deposits. Towards the Irra- 

 waddi the depth of the alluvium and rice cultivation increased, and after crossing a swampy 

 jheel like choung we soon found ourselves at the banks of the Irrawaddi itself, which shewed 

 a section only of loose fine sand of 17 feet thickness. From here we followed the cart road 

 along the Irrawaddi leading through an almost uninterrupted chain of villages with indications 

 of savannahs, up to Myoma, where I found my camp after some difficulty pitched near, 

 opposite the rocks in the Irrawaddi, opposite the telegraph station of Padouug. 



9th March, 1871. Proceeded along the Irrawaddi which is here marked everywhere by 

 extensive land-slips and is full of sand-bauks. Tlie banks look friendly even at tiiis season 



