1865.] Notes of a trip up the Salween. 139 
a good stiff hill, in fact, a regular mountain. The word Kon seemed 
to be applied to any thing under 1000 feet. Two or three Kons 
go for nothing, no account is taken of them in the prospective march, 
if you should ask what it is like. After two or three days, one learnt 
oneself to despise a mound of 1000 feet. In this sort of travelling, 
one counts hours not miles; and, beginning to walk at 5.30 or6 a. M.,. 
a man has generally had enough of it by 11 or 12 o'clock, and 
rejoices to hear that the “tszkan” or halting-place is near at hand. 
And this is the country through which some enterprising person has, 
I believe, proposed to make a Railroad to China ! 
The extremely low temperature of the upper part of the Yoonzalin 
district is remarkable. Immediately you get in among the moun- 
tains, even before crossing the watershed which divides the Sittoung 
and Yoonzalin, it becomes very much colder. It was the beginning 
of March; yet, at a place called Thayet-penkindat, on the west of 
the watershed, the nights and mornings were uncomfortably cold, and 
the water in the stream excessively so. Before reaching this place, an 
elevation of at least 4,000 feet, has to be made from Bangatah. 
Thayet-penkindat is the name given to a stockade which we have 
placed here. It is beautifully situated at the head of a fine valley, 
and is 2206 feet above the sea, and closely surrounded by mountains 
2000 or 3000 feet higher. The stockade is guarded by a Police force, 
and the site appears to be well chosen, as it is situated at the entrance 
of the Pass into this part of the Yoonzalin. This Pass is called Kyouk- 
taga or Rock-gate, and is a narrow defile, two or three miles long. 
The head of this pass is 3343 feet above the sea.* A small stream 
runs through it,;and the vegetation consequently is very rank. I was 
told that I should probably find some new ferns here, but though 
there were many species, there was nothing which I had not seen 
before. Near the head of the pass, however, I discovered a new 
species of Bulbophyllum, and one or two other orchids. 
Through this pass, we were in the Yoonzalin, district, and, to my 
great delight, the next day, among the Fir trees. The sight and the 
fragrance of a Fir forest to me, who had not seen one for a long time, 
was most refreshing. The trees are all of one kind, Pinus longifolia, 
* The heights given have been furnished by Col. Blake, and are from his 
own measurements by an aneroid. 
