470 Botanical Notes. [No. 5, 



same Palm grows also in our Provinces on the bills that lie between 

 Kanhareet and the Thounggeen river. 



On an extensive tableland, with an elevation of about two 

 thousand feet, which we crossed, I think on the third day after 

 leaving " Thonzoo" the vegetation was almost as rank as in the low 

 valleys. We passed through a great deal of tall grass. Bamboos 

 were plentiful, and the prevailing trees still Dillenias and Gmelina 

 arborea with large Sterculias. Here also grew abundantly a fine 

 Pandanus ; it had no aerial roots, but shot up perfectly straight for 

 some thirty or forty feet, and then branched once or twice dicho- 

 tomously. The leaves drooped as in other species. The extent of 

 this tableland was considerable, giving an area, I should say, of 

 several square miles. The soil was evidently rich, and the high 

 hills which surround it on all sides, supply it abundantly with water. 

 If the approach to it were only more practicable, it would offer a 

 fine, as well as most picturesque site for a settlement. 



On the third or fourth day after leaving Thonzoo, we arrived 

 about sunset, after a long march, over very steep hills, at an unusu- 

 ally romantic spot ; at least, so it appeared to us. Perhaps, how- 

 ever, the great charm was that we here emerged for awhile from 

 the jungle and could see a mile or so before us. A small extent of 

 country suddenly opened upon us clear of jungle. The only vege- 

 tation was long grass, recently burned, with JPteris aquilina, and 

 here and there a Dillenia, and the ever-recurring Yamanay Gmelina. 

 Snugly ensconced in a hollow lay a Siamese village of a few houses, 

 reminding us at once of a Swiss Chalet. This effect is produced by 

 the form of the houses which have low pitched roofs and widely 

 projecting eaves, also by their generally rustic character. The 

 Wa-bo (Bambusa gigantea) forms the whole material for house- 

 building. Whole bamboos furnish the posts ; portions of the same, 

 split and interlaced in various ways, the sides and floors, which 

 according to the universal custom here and throughout Burmah, 

 are raised some six or seven feet from the ground, while the roof is 

 composed of long lengths of half bamboos, with their concave and 

 convex sides alternately uppermost, and overlying each other after 

 the manner of rounded tiles. The name of the village is Loon-fhe- 

 Koung. The clearing, though extensive, was, no doubt, artificial, 



