360 CETACEA. 



water immediately below Prome, where the course of the river is well defined 

 by high banks. On my second voyage, although a constant outlook was kept, 

 dolphins were not met with until the steamer had reached Yenanyoung, about 

 one hundred miles above Prome. After the first dolphins had been encountered, 

 they were seen almost daily in the deep reaches of the river as far as our destina- 

 tion, Bham6, which is about 550 miles in a straight line from the sea, and about 

 800 miles by the windings of the river. The Tapeng, which flows down from the 

 liigh Chinese valleys to the east of Bham6, joins the Irawady about a mile above 

 the town, and at the mouth of the Tapeng many dolphins of all ages are generally to 

 l)e seen disporting themselves in the long deep reach of the Irawady that occurs there. 

 But during the rains, when the Tapeng and the other affluents of the great Burmese 

 river, such as the Khyendwen and Shuaylee, are in flood, they are ascended by these 

 dolphins. They are also numerous in the deep channels of the lower and middle 

 defiles, and indeed may be generally observed in the majority of the deep reaches. 

 The Shans of Upper Burma assert that the dolphins are not to be found beyond a 

 point thirty miles above Bham6, where the course of the river is interrupted by 

 rocks, and wliich they style Lahine, or Dolphin Point, from the circumstance that, 

 according to them, it is the residence of certain Nats, who there impose so heavy 

 a toll on dolphins as to deter them from proceeding upwards. 



Prom very exhaustive reports forwarded to me by the Officers of the Burma 

 Commission, in reply to a circular I had issued asking for information regarding the 

 distribution of Cetacea in the rivers of Burma, it would appear that two species are 

 met with, one a round-headed dolphin which is essentially fluviatile, and another 

 with a longish snout which frequents the estuaries and is probably a Steno. The 

 former seems restricted to the Irawady, in which it has the distribution I have just 

 indicated ; while the other enters all the estuaries, from Akyab to Mergui, which 

 are of sufficient depth to admit it, and what appears to be this form has been 

 observed at Rangoon, and in the estuary of the Sittang large schools are not of 

 unfrequent occurrence. 



Habits. — The Irawady dolphin has much the characters of its marine fellows, 

 being generally seen in small schools which frequently accompany the river 

 steamers, careering in front and alongside of them, as is the custom of dolphins of 

 the sea. Occasionally, however, a solitary individual may be observed, but this is 

 the exception, as two or three are usually associated together, hence this may be 

 considered as a gregarious form. In the defile below Bhamo, where the river runs 

 for ten miles over a deep bed 40 to 60 fathoms in depth and from 200 to 500 

 yards in width, and defined by high, wooded hills on either side, numerous troops 

 of dolphins may be observed passing up and down, rising every minute or two to the 

 surface to emit the short blowing sound, which ends in the more feeble one of 

 inspiration, and all night through this sound may be heard. They never leave the 

 deep water, and when they rise to breathe (which they do in periods varying from 

 70 to 150 seconds, although occasionally exceeded) the blow-hole is first seen, then 

 at the end of inspiration the head disappears and the back comes into view. 



