182 Captain R. C. Beavan on Panolia eldi. [No. 3, 



some eight to ten miles distant from the hills, and seems to be still 

 retiring, since the water along the coast of this gulf of Martaban 

 is very shallow and studded with sandbanks. For the primary- 

 cause of this we may doubtless look to the immense amount 

 of wit deposit brought down by the waters of the Sal ween, Beeling, 

 Sittang and Rangoon rivers, all of which discharge themselves into 

 the gulf of Martaban. As the sea retires, a belt of mangrove jungle 

 about a mile in width appears to travel with it, thus enclosing the 

 plain with a barrier of vegetation on one side and the mountains on the 

 other. This strip of mangrove jungle gives cover to numberless hog- 

 deer, tiger, leopard and pig, but is never entered by the Thamyn, 

 except where somewhat open ; nor on the other side do they ever 

 attempt to penetrate into the mountains. The plain is intersected by 

 numerous tidal creeks which in the hot weather, when deprived of 

 water from the hills, appear to dry up to a great extent, and those 

 still open at that time of year contain no admixture of fresh water, so 

 that it is evident, that for two, if not three, months in the year, the 

 Thamyn must be entirely deprived of fresh water, whilst during the 

 rainy season, for six months at least, they may be said to live in water. 

 It appears wonderful how they can manage to exist in such ex- 

 tremes of heat and wet. With the exception of a few stunted 

 trees, and a fringe of hibiscus bushes along the creeks, the plain 

 is covered with nothing but grasses and paddy, of which latter both 

 the wild and cultivated varieties are abundant : owing, however, to the 

 paucity of the population and the consequent demand for labour in 

 this immediate neighbourhood, perhaps only one fourth of the whole 

 area is under cultivation for paddy : this crop succeeds here admirably, 

 and the grain forms one of the staple articles of export from Moul- 

 mein and other Burmese ports. The remaining three fourths are 

 covered with the indigenous uncultivated plants which, in seasons 

 of scarcity, are reaped and used for food. This tract of country forms 

 a vast grazing ground both for the Thamyn, and for large herds of 

 tame buffaloes which are during the rains pastured here by the 

 Karens, but withdrawn into the heavy jungles near the hills, when, 

 in April and May, the whole of the vegetation on the plain becomes 

 parched up, or is devoured by jungle fires. At the time o£ my visit 

 vast flocks of waders and other water-birds were arriving from the 



