August 7, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



107 



Shwaygoon, on the 20tli, I found that Dr. Gushing 

 and the remainder of oAr party had arrived there. 

 The next day we left with seven bullock-carts, and 

 after a good ducking in the Hlineboay Kiver, owing 

 to our driver missing the ford, reached Hlineboay, 

 where we found that the Burman magistrate had 

 procured fourteen elephants, — six for our party, and 



3IAP SHOWING PROPOSED RAILWAYS. 



eight for that of the Bombay-Burmah party, which 

 wished to accompany us as far as Maingloongyee. 

 As the latter party had not arrived by the 23d, I de- 

 termined to start, and make short marches until they 

 overtook us. Having secured a guide who could 

 speak Burmese, Talain, and Karen, to come with us 

 as far as Maingloongyee, we mounted our elephants, 

 and I commenced the survey. 



Mounting an elephant is no easy matter for a Euro- 

 pean. A native, with his bare feet and lithe body, 

 just takes hold of the ear of the monster, and scram- 

 bles up; but we, with our boots and tight-fitting 

 clothes, in vain attempt to follow their example. 

 The hide is so slippery that we can get no purchase 

 on it, and either have to be half lugged and half 

 bundled up; or clamber from a stage on to the beast's 

 head, and perhaps sprawl over the mahout as we 

 attempt to enter the howdah; or else endeavor to 

 mount by a rope-ladder, whilst the timorous elephant, 

 unused to us and our strange appearance, is edging 

 away, and may, in his fright, floor us with a swing of 

 his trunk, and endeavor to make an end of us with 

 his tusks, 



I do not know whether any one before me ever 

 attempted to make a route-survey from the back of 

 an elephant: the difficulty of the proceeding can only 

 be conceived by one who has tried it, particularly if 

 the animal is a tall, long-striding brute. Female ele- 

 phants are much pleasanter to ride than male ones; 



but, as a male elephant is considered superior, the 

 natives insisted that I, being the head of a party that 

 they wished to honor, should invariably mount the 

 largest male tusker that they were possessed of. The 

 weariness caused by the constant jolting that I suf- 

 fered for months, joined with the constant wakeful- 

 ness of my attention, left me nearly prostrate on my 

 arrival at Bangkok. 



Our first march was a short one. The elephants, 

 after being unloaded, had their front feet shackled 

 with anklets made of twisted cane, and were led 

 away to their bath, and afterwards turned into the 

 jungle to feed. The elephants had to be bathed and 

 loaded by daylight, so that we might make long 

 marches, and have a good rest in the heat of the 

 day, when we took our breakfast. Before starting, 

 we generally had some Kopp's soup mixed with Lie- 

 big's essence of meat, and some biscuits, with coffee, 

 cocoa, or tea. Our breakfast, which we generally 

 took about noon, consisted of soup, chickens, some- 

 times a duck, curry and rice, and vegetables when 

 we could get them. Tea was always going, both for 

 ourselves and our servants. At times we were so 

 tired of fowls that we purchased cattle and had 

 them slaughtered, as we could not otherwise get a 

 beefsteak. Pork, even from wild boar, was dangerous 

 food. Nearly all the people of a village we passed 

 through in the Muang Fang plain were suffering 

 from trichinosis, and most of the inhabitants in 

 Yiang Pa Pow had been taken ill about two years 

 previously. 



Our dinners were similar to our breakfasts, with 

 the addition of fried plantains, tapioca, or boiled rice 

 and jam. 



Although deer were plentiful throughout the coun- 

 try, we seldom had venison, as we had no time to 

 hunt. Often deer crossed our path right in front of 

 our elephants, a wild boar would rush through our 

 encampment, and jungle-fowl, quail, and hares be 



PILLAR^ROCK IN THE 3IEn PING. 



met with in our day's ride. Gibbons were nearly 

 the only monkeys that we ever saw, but they were 

 very numerous in the evergreen forests. 



Not only were fires lit for our dinners, but owing 

 to the numerous tigers, which were constantly on the 

 prowl at night in the neighborhood of our camps, 

 often a dozen were kept burning all night long by 



