386 H. Collett — Feaftires in the Geological Structure, S^-c. [No. 4, 



and terminating at its lowest point in a cluster of exposed limestone 

 rocks half hidden in a rank growth of grass and bushes : there is the 

 round punch-bowl-like hollow from 100 to 500 feet across with often 

 the gaping mouths of its drainage exit plainly discernible at the bottom : 

 and in the more hilly districts there is the deep trench-like valley, closed 

 at both ends, and once filled up to the brim with red clay of which 

 hardly a trace now remains, and at its lowest point the exposed black 

 limestone rocks through the interstices of which the entire superincum- 

 bent mass of clay must, during a long series of years, have been carried 

 away by the water. 



It seems most astonishing, and, at first sight, almost impossible, 

 that the vast masses of red clay which, we can plainly see, have been 

 eroded from the surface of the country can have been carried into the 

 bowels of the earth instead of, as one is accustomed to see, into rivers 

 and seas : but there is no escaping from the conclusion which I have 

 endeavoured to explain. The evidence is absolutely undeniable, and the 

 fact is universally accepted by the people of the country, who when 

 asked what becomes of the drainage of one of these large basin-like 

 depressions, always at once reply that " of course, it goes into the 

 ground," as if it was quite the normal state of affairs that it should 

 do so. 



As a natural consequence, the Myelat district is remarkable for 

 the absence of rivers. In the part which I know best, — comprising the 

 sub-districts of Pwehla, Nankon, Kyon, Nangon, Thamakan, and Pinmi, 

 and embracing an area of more than 250 square miles, — the map* shows 

 but one small stream, which is really nothing more than a ditch (the 

 Baungdaw Chaung falling into the Inle Lake at Imleywa), to carry off 

 the drainage of a country in which the annual rainfall probably exceeds 

 fifty inches. 



I am not aware whether the facts I have endeavoured to describe 

 are unusual, or whether similar instances of the products of denudation 

 disappearing under ground are known in other countries ; but I cannot 

 remember having read of such a case. 

 Meiktila, Upper Burmah. 



2hth July, 1888. 



* Sheet No. 5, S. W., South Eastern Trans-frontier Map, Survey of India. 

 Calcutta, May, 1888. (Unpublished proof.) 



