42 NOETLING : PETROLEUM IN BURMA. 



frequent and the water is covered with a thin film of petroleum. 

 The temperature is 76 F. 



It is remarkable that while mud volcano No. 5 underwent such 

 considerable changes since 1888, this one has not changed in the 

 slightest degree since that year, notwithstanding there being a 

 continuous rise of gas bubbles. The crater-like basin, partly filled 

 with water in which bubbles rise, was the same in 1888 as in 1895. 



Besides these active mud volcanoes there are the remains of at 

 least two extinct ones, which must once have possessed cones 

 of considerable height, but are now almost entirely denuded by rain 

 leaving only their base still visible. One of them (A) is close 

 to the southern base of No, 3, shown on plate I ; the second one 

 ( B) is east of No. 2 ; it is not represented on any of the plates. 



B.— Middle group. 

 About 700 feet north of the group mentioned above there are a 

 few smaller mud holes, one of which is particularly active. It 

 forms a crater like basin of about 7 feet in diameter, which is filled 

 with muddy water in which gas bubbles rise incessantly ; the mud 

 has a temperature of 82 F. and is covered with a thick continuous 

 brown film of petroleum. Besides this there are a few small 

 cones, around which the ground is saturated with petroleum. None 

 of them were active, and only one emitted gas with a hissing noise. 

 No changes have been recorded since 1888. 



C. — Northern group. 

 About 1,300 feet north of No. 6 there is another group of vents 

 which, although very active, scarcely deserve the name of mud 

 volcanoes. These wells are all more or less irregular basins which 

 are filled with a watery mud, in which small but numerous gas bubbles 

 rise incessantly. The surface of the water is always covered with a 

 thick film of petroleum. 



The largest of these holes forms an irregular basin of about 

 ( 88 ) 



