158 OBSERVATIONS ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE 



me with as much hospitality as their situation admitted of. They are 

 generally a fine race of people — athletic, and of much fairer complexions 

 than the Peguers and Surmans. Their whole deportment favorably con- 

 trasts with that of these two races. 



They live independently ; keep dogs for the chase ; cultivate cotton ; 

 weave it into cloth, and dye it with the indigo raised by themselves : — and 

 they are very comfortably housed. They change their ground every two 

 or three years. I met a whole tribe in rapid progress down the river. 

 They gave as a reason that the cholera (which seems, from time immemo- 

 rial, to have prevailed in the jungly parts of these regions), had swept off 

 so many persons, that they had been obliged to abandon their village, 

 and seek a new abode. Opposite the small Khyen village of Michan- 

 tawig, which lies on an island, is a singular rocky hill ; the base of which 

 is washed by the river. It may be six hundred feet high, and it has a 

 black and scorched appearance. It is almost bare of grass, and there 

 are only a few trees on it. These grow in the hollows and crevices. It 

 might be taken for basalt or granite at a short distance, but on a close 

 inspection is found to consist of a black limestone, breaking off into^ 

 cubical fragments. The ascent is abrupt and difficult, and the tread of 

 the feet is succeeded by a hollow sound as if the hill was but one vast 

 catacomb. Several pits, having circular orifices, and of about three feet 

 in diameter, were observed in the ascent. They are of considerable 

 depth, for stones thrown into them were heard for about twelve seconds, 

 rebounding in their descent to the bottom. On looking down these, I 

 noticed large fungus-shaped stalactitic masses hanging from the sides. 

 Near the summit of the hill, the ridges of the rock are so angular and 

 sharp that scarcely one of my people escaped being badly wounded in 

 their feet. 



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