444 Itinerary in the district of Amherst \ Tenasserim. [No. 5. 



baud till llf a. m. resting at several places as the ascent was con- 

 tinuous, terribly slippery, and the path choked up incessantly by 

 fallen trees. At 11^ a. m. mounted my elephant, but it was fatiguing 

 and nervous work : for the poor animal could scarcely have gone a 

 mile an hour, and the ascents and descents over slabs of rock, &c. 

 were so steep that he had to go at times entirely on his knees 

 and elbows. "We stopped at Thembauley, a pretty little cleared spot 

 on the ridge, where the people had built one or two small pagodas, 

 and from hence had a magnificent view of Mooley-it and its neigh- 

 bour Napulloo, now distant about twelve miles. The Aneroid stood 

 at 25° 25' (far out of the table drawn up for it). 1 p. m. Ther. 78'. 

 From this spot I walked on to Theethoungplee, about three miles 

 along the ridge and descending the whole way >? and here we 

 bivouacked at 3 p. M. — distance about twelve miles. 



While brushing through the jungle, near Thembauley, one of my 

 people, following with a spare gun, uttered a sudden cry of pain, 

 and turning round I saw him writhing in such a way that I felt sure 

 a scorpion had stung him. In about two minutes he was prostrate 

 and groaning with torture. The Karens seemed to know or guess what 

 had happened, for they commenced an eager search in the offend- 

 ing bush, and presently pointed out to me a rectangular shaped 

 green caterpillar, with a back bristling with star-headed spines. This 

 they seized between two twigs smashed all to pieces, and rubbed 

 upon the spot where the man had been stung. In two or three 

 minutes the pain ceased and he continued his journey ! I have 

 myself been stung by these little urticarious abominations : but this 

 one must have been of a peculiarly malignant species. 



At night we had thunder and lightning and a little rain. 



February 26th. — Halted to allow some expected supplies to come 

 up. Boiled water at 9 a. m. at 205°. 2 ; Ther. 7i° ; giving 3746 feet 

 altitude. Thembauley is about 4000 feet. The Aneroid is quite 

 useless at this height and its reading worked out by La Place's 

 formula gave something outrageous. Thermometer at 7 a. m. 63°, 



February 27th. — Started at 7 a.m.; Ther. 60°. Path pretty good, 

 level and descending by turns for three miles, then ascending for four 

 more to " Teeineebong" ("yellow sand"), a little partially cleared 

 dell full of bees and gad-flies and a most abominably offensive 



