712 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



rainfall varies greatly in different parts of the States but seems 

 to range between 60 and 100 inches. 



Hsipaw State lies between 2r-56' and 22°-56' North and 96°-13' 

 and 98" East. Area, 5,086 square miles. Bounded on the north 

 by the Ruby Mines district and the States of Mongmit and Tawng- 

 peng ; on the east by North and South Hsenwi ; on the south by 

 the Mandalay district from which it is separated for some distance 

 by the Nam Pia river. It is divided into four sub-States, Hsi- 

 paw proper, Hsumhsai, Mongiong and Mongtung. The main 

 State lies in the geographical fault which runs east and west from 

 the Salween at Kunlong to near the rim of the Shan tableland at 

 the Gokteik Gorge — one of the chief features of the State down 

 which flows a small tributary of the Nam Tu ; and the coimtry is 

 here broken up into a mass of not very well defined ridges and spurs. 



The countr}^ is drained by the Nam Tu (Myitnge) which on the 

 Southern border of the State runs in a deep gorge about 2,000 feet 

 below the general level of the country, " Taimgya " rice is grown 

 on the hills and " wet " rice in the vallej^s ; other crops cultivated 

 are sesamum, cotton, ginger, oranges and tea. 



The chief plain land is in the valley of the Nam Tu near Hsipaw 

 town, and the Pyaunggaung — Nawngpeng strath, south-west of the 

 capital of the State. Population (1901), 104,700, by far tfee 

 greater portion (90,000) being Shans, the remainder chiefly con- 

 sisting of Burmans, Danus, Kachins and natives of India. 



In Hsipaw and probably many of the other Shan States the chief 

 thing to be noted from a zoological point of view is the alteration 

 of the natural conditions of a large part of the countr}^ due to 

 " Taungya " or " dry rice " -cultivation which will account for the 

 raritj^ or non-existence of many mammals peculiar to heavy 

 forest country. In "Taungya" cultivation, an area is cleared 

 by fire and roughl}^ tilled ; rice is then grown for one or two 

 seasons after which the ground is temporarily exhausted, when 

 another area is similarlj^ cleared, a low deciduous scrub growing up 

 in the tracts that have been abandoned. Except in such inacces- 

 sible places as the gorges of the rivers where the jungle is 

 evergreen and very thick, or in the valleys where " wet rice " is 

 grown, a very large part of the State is covered with deciduous 

 scrub forest of more or less recent growth, which at one time or 

 another has been cleared and under cultivation, while the fires lit 

 for this purpose during the dr}^ season spread over and annually 

 burn off" the undergrowth nearly everywhere, probably driving away 

 a large number of animals as effectually as the bush fires of 

 Australia do. With a few exceptions the larger Mammals are rare 

 except on the northern boundary of the State on the borders of 

 the Ruby Mines district, where Elephant, Rhinoceros (sumatrensis), 



