292 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIV. 



ground falls back from the River the levels are often a mass of 

 ' kaing ' grass jungle. Population is sparse and villages few and far 

 between. Unlike the West bank, the East, although often hilly, is 

 nowhere mountainous. The main hill system that forms the 

 watershed between the Chindwin and the Irrawaddy is at. no place 

 visible from the River. 



On entering the Lower Chindwin District, the Valley widens out, 

 the hills recede, and broad, level plains covered with crops, typical 

 of the Dry Zone, begin to appear." 



The actual length of the Chindwin, following the curves, " is 

 about 600 miles, and is navigable for a considerable part of that 

 distance during the rains. Steamers of the Irrawaddy Flotilla 

 Company, as well as local Government launches, run the whole year 

 round as high as Kindat and as far as Homalin when the river is 

 in flood, at which time, although little communication is actually 

 kept up, small stern-wheelers can get up stream almost to the rapids 

 themselves." 



" In the extreme North lie the mountains that surround the 

 Hukawng Valley which appear to rise to about 6,000 or 7,000 feet. 

 Separated from these by a considerable tract of the low country, in 

 the North-west, bordering on the Zingkaling Hkamti State are the 

 outlying mountains of the great pile of upland that separates the 

 District from Assam. In this group is the highest peak in Burma, 

 Sarameti (or Nwemauktaung) 12,557 feet, often capped with snow. 

 From this main mass, branch a series of ridges, averaging from 

 2,000 to 3,000 feet, which run in a Southerly direction right down 

 to the Southern border of the Lower Chindwin. These are separated 

 from the Manipur and Chin Hills first by the Kabaw Valley and 

 afterwards by that of the Myittha River. On the Ea,st, the com- 

 paratively low mountains which form the watershed between the 

 Chindwin and the Irrawaddy are at no point close to the former, 

 they consist of a range of abrupt hills averaging 1,000 feet, but 

 rising to over 5,000 feet on the Katha boundary. In the Lower 

 Chindwin the country becomes undulating, only slightly rising 

 Eastwards to the low Nwegwedaung Range." 



" The I'ocks belong to the Tertiary Sj^stem. There is a coal 

 bearing area in the West, and nummulithic limestone and shales 

 further South ; Eastward are miocene clays, and soft sandstones 

 cover the greater part of the Lower Chindwin District. 



In the Upper Chindwin there is rice cultivation in the valleys 

 and a certain amount of ' Taungya ' on the hill slopes ; further 

 South in the Lower Chindwin jowar, grass, beans, cotton and 

 tobacco are grown. 



In the Lower Chindwin the forests lie in the- hills to the West, but 

 further North, above Homalin, on the slopes of the mountains and 

 on the river banks, the jungle becomes practically all evergreen. 



