1859.] Botanical Notes. 471 



since the higher hills all round were covered with the usual thick 

 jungle. It is strange how Bteris aquilina should find its way to 

 such a clearing, and at once . establish itself! The elevation is 

 about 2000 (1919) feet above Moulmein. The Thermometer, just 

 before sunrise on the 17th or 18th of February, stood at 52°, a 

 temperature which sensibly affects those who have been walk- 

 ing, but a few hours before, in a noonday sun, and a tempera- 

 ture of 120°. On an adjoining hill about 500 feet higher, stood a 

 tall solitary specimen (apparently) of Borassus. I could not ap- 

 proach it for the jungle, but there can be little doubt but that it was 

 wild, as that hill had never been cleared. Besides which the Karens 

 cultivate no Palms whatever and the Burmese gave it the name of 

 Tan-tan or wild Palm. A small stream, rising in the higher hills, 

 flows near this village ; and on its banks the same Salix, which, 

 fringes our river sides, at or near the level of the sea, in the form of 

 a mere bush, is seen growing to a large tree having a height of 

 some forty feet, with a diameter of 18 inches. Besides the Salix, 

 the three most prevalent trees, bj^ all the hill streams, were the 

 JEsculus before mentioned, Meliosma (Millingtonia Boxh.) simplici- 

 folia, and a very line large-leaved, large-flowered Eugenia (E. aquea ? 

 Boxh.) We have, then, at this place, with an elevation above the 

 sea-level of some 2000 feet, JEsculus, Salix, and Pteris aquilina, 

 growing in company with Borassus, Dillenia, Dipt erocar pus, Ban- 

 danus and other tropical forms. I may mention that I found Bt. 

 aquilina growing on as low a level as 1000 feet above the sea in this 

 district, also Funaria hygrometrica. At about the same level I 

 gathered also Adiantum Capillus Veneris, on rocks in the Megatha 

 river. 



The Karens, who inhabit this wild district, are few, and their 

 villages many miles from each other. They live entirely on vege- 

 tables, and have no domestic animal but the dog. Though their 

 jungles abound with wild fowl, they keep no poultry. The pur- 

 chase of eggs or milk, of anything indeed, but rice, is, therefore, 

 hopeless. Their cultivation is of the rudest kind, a fresh clearing 

 being made every year for their rice-crop, which is their chief food. 

 Besides rice they grow, however, tobacco, sesamum, cotton, sugar- 

 cane, and chillies. They seem fond of flowers, for a quantity of 



3 p 2 



