THE TEAK EEGION. 209 



the heavens above the spot; while by day a thick pall of 

 smoke hangs over the valley. Near the scene the air is 

 stifling and thick with falling flakes of ash. Wild animals 

 have fled the neighbourhood ; and clouds of insects rise before 

 the advancing flames, to be devoured by myriads of birds col- 

 lected seemingly from every end of the country. Innumer- 

 able snakes and noxious vermin of all sorts perish in the fire, 

 including many of the curious grass snake of these regions, 

 which a diligent search will frequently discover twined among 

 the matted masses of the spear-grass. It is a harmless crea- 

 ture, living on insects, and changes its colour from green to 

 yellow along with the grass. When the fires are burnt out 

 the spectacle is a dismal one indeed. Hill-side after hill-side 

 of blackness, relieved only here and there by a long streak of 

 white ashes where a prostrate trunk has been consumed, and 

 by the wilderness of S&lei skeletons, scorched at the base, and 

 above more yellow and ghastly than ever. 



Yet, even in the heart of those parts of the basaltic region 

 to which this description most fittingly applies, there are few 

 tracts where, at a little distance, some oasis will not be found. 

 The larger ravines are often filled with clumps of bamboo 

 which never entirely lose their verdure ; and here and there a 

 sheltered valley will be met, where there is either a pool of 

 water, or moisture not far below the surface, with its fringe of 

 verdure, and a few Mhow& or Mango trees, perhaps marking 

 the site of some old village, deserted long ago beyond the 

 memory of living man. In the central valley of the Tapti 

 also will be found at intervals bays of rich deep soil, with a 

 moist substratum that is never entirely parched up, and carry- 

 ing a greener grass which it is hard to burn, and often a 

 covering of forest trees. Most of these tracts have been at 

 one time reclaimed to the plough and thickly populated. That 



