362 Remarks on the Geology of Tavoy. 



stream works. It is found in the debris of primitive rocks, 

 and the soil in which they are buried yields seven feet/'* It 

 is rather remarkable, that the richest deposit of this stream 

 tin is, according to native testimony on the summit of a high 

 hill in the centre of the district ; and inasmuch as stream tin 

 in Cornwall is connected with rich veins of the ore in slate 

 rocks, we are warranted to indulge sanguine expectations of 

 finding veins in these slate mountains, throwing as they do, 

 their shadows over the stream works. That tin does occur in 

 veins in this country, I cannot doubt, for the Karens have 

 repeatedly told me that tin in Siam is found in large masses ; 

 but they represent the locality as in a more southern latitude. 

 Gold, in small quantities, is also found with the tin, both 

 here and near the head waters of Tavoy river. East of the 

 tin region are the tertiary lands, which Dr. Heifer calls " the 

 elevated land of Natamis," at the forks of the Tenasserim. 

 Lignite has been found a few miles north of Mata, which on 

 analysis, gave more than 60 per cent, of carbon, with upwards 

 of 30 per cent, of volatile matter, f Going south two or three 

 days journey, the river runs through high hills, which some- 

 times come down to the waters edge. In passing down 

 several years ago, I noticed slate rocks dipping to the south 

 west in an angle of more than forty-five degrees, succeeded 

 by pudding-stone or breccia, with here and there solitary 

 masses of limestone, some specimens of which were pro- 

 nounced marble. On the third or fourth days journey, the 

 rapids and falls cease, the hills recede from the river, and the 

 strata in the banks that had been nearly perpendicular, 

 become as nearly horizontal. Here the natives tell me alum 

 is found, and here commences the sappan wood forests, and 

 I am not sure but with this extensive basin they end; still, 



* Query, to a depth of — ? Ed. 



t In the interstices of some of the specimens before me, I find sulphate 

 of iron, or copperas, from the spontaneous decomposition of the iron 

 pyrites with which they abound. 



