27 



8tk March, 1868. Rained all night. At midnight my camp was alarmed by the unoalled- 

 for visit of a tiger, who, however, went off without taking with him any booty. The weather 

 was worse than yesterday, and during a break in the rain I went to the top of the hill but 

 soon had to return on account of a heavy storm that commenced and continued the whole 

 day, gradually swelling into a perfect gale. We were detained for the rest of the day, and 

 fortunately for us our tent stood sheltered by the forest at our back, or it certainly would 

 have been blown down, had it been pitched on the plateau itself. Our people were placed 

 in a most distressing condition, being unable to fetch water to cook their food, or even to 

 keep up the fires to warm themselves. Late in the night the Karens who had volunteered 

 the previous day to go down to Kolodo for food, came back in a miserable plight, wet 

 through and through. It is only steady, wiry men, like these Karens who could stand such 

 a gale on the ridges without being blown off, and who could find their way in spite of rain 

 and darkness up to the very top of Nattoung. 



9lh March, 1868. During the night the sky cleared up to our great delight, for our 

 men had spent the previous day without food, and were shivering with cold. The morning 

 was very fine, and our camp was all alive, as the men lit the fires to cook their food, and spread 

 out their best garments to dry. In the mean time I went over the the hill-ranges towards 

 the Tegako toung, a hill some 200 to 300 feet higher than the Nattoung, covered apparently 

 with stunted hill-forests, but inaccessible from our position. The view from the top of this 

 hill was beautifully clear, and I could see the Salween winding its course through a deep 

 valley, while hills, apparently more than 10,000 feet high, towered up in the Siamese territory. 

 On my return from this excursion we did not think it advisable to prolong our stay on 

 the top of the ridge on account of the scarcity of food and the general condition of our 

 people ; after all had therefore taken their meals, we made our retreat along the same route as 

 that by which we had come up. Late in the evening we reached our old camp at Laytlo 

 choung where I found to my dismay the bundles of plants which I left behind under the 

 shelter of an overhanging rock, were perfectly drenched and spoiled. 

 10//i March, 1868. Went as far as Puki, along the same route. 



llth March, 1868. To-day we branched off from our former route, and ascended the 

 ridges to our left, which seemed to be a continuation of the Ghelsoko range. The highest 

 point reached was about 5000 feet. The forests were chiefly pine forests with drier hill- 

 forests, but in descending towards Plumadoe we again entered most beautiful moist hill- 

 forests, which continued until we came in sight of the Myitgnan, where toungyas and upper 

 mixed forests replaced them below an elevation of 30OO feet. A sharp descent brought us 

 to Plumadoe itself, a large village of Christian Karens. The topography of the surrounding 

 country presented the most inviting of the localities we passed for a Chinchona plantation, 

 and was as such recommended by us to the authorities, although it stood at an elevation of 

 only about 2,500 feet. The defect of elevation was, however, remedied by the surrounding 

 shelter as well as degree of exposure, which the valley offered and which taken into considera- 

 tion would probably afford the same advantages as a site 3,500 to 4000 in elevation with a 

 free exposure. 



I2th March, 1868. The early morning was occupied by me in going over the ground 

 selected for Chinchona plantation and in taking a rough sketch of it. The substratum 

 appeared to be composed of metamorphic rocks. Our men were sent on to Mundeing and 

 we followed a few hours afterwards. It seemed as if we had left a paradise behind us, for 

 the whole Myitgnan valley is almost perfectly denuded of its forests. Only a single small 

 patch of evergreen forest was met with before we ascended the slopes of the water shed be- 

 tween the Myitgnan and the little Kye clioung, along which the path wound up and down 

 through endless toungyas. The monotony of these is only interrupted by a few Karen 

 villages or betelnut gardens, the latter being especially refreshing on account of the beautiful 

 shade and coolness they produce. The opposite water shed towards the Choungmenah 

 choung also appeared to be woodless. What a destruction of forest must have gone on here 

 since 1859 ! Dr. Brandis' sketch-map of the teak localities in the Tenasserim and Martabaa 

 provinces represented the whole valley as one teak-forest of 36 square miles, and now hardly 

 a single teak tree can be seen, in fact only scattered trees which partake of the character of 

 an upper mixed forest are left to indicate their former existence. Such destruction must 

 sooner or later become the subject of serious consideration and it is strange that the Chris- 

 tian Karen inhabitants of the valley should not have learnt the undoubted value of the forests. 

 After passing Mundeing gyi we fell in with a small upper mixed forest with a few teak trees in 

 it ; here we turned to our right and after passing a little choung soon reached Mundeing 

 geley, situated on a commanding position opposite to Yedoh-gyi. 



13//t March, 1868. At dawn of this morning we marched down the slopes through 

 toungyas, and crossing the Tini loh, bordered by evergreens, we again ascended through 

 toungyas, the low ridges on the other side joining at Kelloh the route, we had come 

 by the previous week, and arrived at Bogelay about 3 p. jm., where we found our elephants. 



