18G2.] Account of a visit to Puppet doling. 219 



famous Puppa iron is produced. They are not worked at this season 

 of the year, when the population is employed in agriculture. In 

 form they differ entirely from any Indian furnace with which I 

 am acquainted, and they are, so far as I am aware, quite peculiar 

 in producing iron without the use of any artificial blast whatever. 

 The iron obtained, although extremely impure, being mixed with 

 slag and pieces of unburnt charcoal, is in large blocks and of excel- 

 lent quality, and from this district, that is the country around 

 Puppa, a very large proportion of the iron used in Burma is obtained. 

 The whole road so far had been a slow but constant ascent from 

 the Irawaddi, but on reaching the village of Endotha a watershed 

 was passed, and a valley lay between it and the mountain, the base 

 of which was now only about five miles distant. The view from this 

 point is perhaps the best on the whole road, and the mountain, its 

 lower portion covered with dense jungle, and the bright grassy outer 

 slopes of the top contrasting with the black precipices of the inte- 

 rior, has a most imposing appearance. Yet it loses much of its 

 height from the elevation of the ground around.* The crater form, 

 which had been gradually becoming more distinct as I approached, 

 was now so remarkable as to leave little doubt of the mountain's 

 being of volcanic origin. To the South was the singular hill of 

 Tounggala, a peculiar mass in the shape of a truncated cone with 

 very steep sides, It is referred to by Dr. Oldham. Another pecu- 

 liarity, which here came into view, was a raised terrace-like expanse 

 of flat ground, apparently encircling the mountain and separated 

 from the undulating sandy country around by a precipitous scarp 

 about 500 feet high, which stretched for many miles, forming the 

 opposite side of the hollow in front of me. My suspicions of the 

 nature of this were confirmed on reaching it, by the first blocks of 

 stone which I picked up proving to be an augite porphyry of unmis- 

 takeably volcanic origin. A steep road leads up this cliff, the greater 

 portion of which consists of sand, with a cap of volcanic rock, which 

 has evidently preserved the soft underlying beds from the denudation 

 which has reduced the level of the country around. 



After ascending the scarp, a walk of about two miles brought me 

 to the town of Puppa, from which the mountain derives its name. 



* Endotha is at least 1000 feet above Pagan. At the former place my aneroid 

 at noon marked 28.3 inches, the thermometer being 83°. 



