8 A FIRST LIST OF THE 



" The above tables apply equally well to Tonghoo and Pvome. 

 In Thayetmyo the cold-weather is more bracing", and the heat 

 is a trifle greater in April than elsewhere. 



" The rainfall in the Evergreen Forests must be considerably 

 greater than in the plains, since in March and April heavy thunder- 

 storms are frequent. From the Thayetmyo register they do not 

 appear to have extended to the plains. Light summer showers 

 also are common, occurring chiefly during the hottest months. 

 This exerts, no doubt, a great influence on the vegetation. 



" A short description of Thayetmyo and Tonghoo, two of our 

 remotest cantonments in British India, may be acceptable. 



" Thayetmyo lies on the west bank of the Irrawaddy, and 

 consists of a native town to the south and a cantonment to the 

 north. The latter is about a mile square, regularly laid out with 

 roads crossing each other at right angles and surrounded by a 

 circular road. The barracks are of Teak throughout, with the 

 floor raised on posts ten feet from the ground, which is paved. 

 This ground-floor is perfectly open on all sides, and forms a 

 mess and recreation-room, which for coolness is not to be surpassed 

 by any building I am acquainted with. Little, however, can be 

 said for the private residences in the station. They are tumble- 

 down, wretched sheds, leaky, ant-eaten, and only kept upright 

 by renewing a portion every few months. There are a few good 

 houses of course, but they only serve to make the bad ones more 

 wretched by contrast. The roads and compounds are thickly 

 planted with trees ; the ground is undulating, and on three sides 

 the cantonment is surrounded by hills, some of them high, so 

 that, taken altogether, Thayetmyo can boast of being a very 

 pretty station. Viewed as a military station, there is absolutely 

 nothing wanting. Even racket-courts and a swimming-bath have 

 been built for the comfort of the troops. The garrison con- 

 sists of one wing of European infantry, one field battery of 

 artillery, and a regiment of sepoys. 



" The Irrawaddy, at the frontier, is little short of a mile 

 in breadth. Opposite Thayetmyo a large sandbank has formed 

 of late years, detracting much from the appearance of the place. 

 In the rains, however, the river becomes a mighty stream, 

 obliterating all sandbanks. Steamers of five-feet draught can 

 proceed at all seasons of the year up to Bhamo, 600 miles from 

 the sea. 



"Tonghoo is situated in a plain on the west bank of the 

 Sittang. Like Thayetmyo, it consists of a large native town 

 and a cantonment, but both are much inferior in importance. 

 The former was, in olden times, the capital of one of the petty 

 kingdoms into which Burmah was divided. The fort, about a 

 mile and a half square, still exists in tolerably good order, with 

 high earthen walls and a deep moat exteriorly. In the centre 



