392 Professor Buckland oti l/ic Bones of Mastodon, ^c.froni Ava. 



tenable, and the pillars have l)ccn converted throughout into stone in ten 

 years, and from this cause have defied the axes of the pioneers, they still 

 exist, and may be appealed to in evidence of the fact: not only so, but the 

 teak pillars of all buildings more than ten years old, that are within the flood 

 level of the Irawadi, will also be converted into stone : it will be therefore 

 easy (o procure from Prome and send to London a portion of such a pillar, 

 which would be decisive of tlie point at issue ; but, as the country abounds 

 in petrified trees, it should be remembered that no specimen will be satis- 

 factory unless it is taken from a building the age of which is ascertained, and 

 bears a form and marks that are unquestionably artificial and the effect of 

 tools antecedently to the process of petrifaction. 



