FROM THE MERGE I ARCHIPELAGO. 



139 



which is exposed to the full force of the sea-breezes, and the slope 

 of which is more steep, there are fewer Mangrove-swamps, and 

 in place of orchards there are temporary fishing-stations. At 

 Timiki, in the centre of the island, towards the north, there are 

 a few clearings made by Karens, Burmese, and some advanced 

 Selungs ; but the attempts at cultivation are insignificant con- 

 sidering the size of the island, which retains its character as a 

 great primeval forest. 



Elphinstone Island* is the most seaward member of a group 

 of beautiful islands lying to the south-west of King Island, and 

 known to the Selungs as the Doang group. The three other 

 principal islands of the group are Ross, Grant, and MacLeod 

 Islands. Elphinstone Island is distant about 30 miles in a 

 straight line from the town of Mergui. It is of irregular form, 

 being cut up by numerous bays, and its highest point, which has 

 not yet been measured, is visible 10 to 11 leagues at sea. The 

 island is about 10 miles long and 8 in its extreme breadth ; 

 there is only one high peak, the rest of the island consisting of 

 low hills, and the peak presents this peculiarity as compared with 

 the other hills I have seen in the Archipelago, that a considerable 

 area of its eastern aspect seems to be free of trees and to be rocky ; 

 but all the remainder of the island is covered with forest. £so 

 tigers are found in the Doang group, but pigs and mouse- deer 

 are numerous. 



Sullivan Island t is considerably to the south of King Island, 

 as it lies 17 miles off 1 the mainland and more or less parallel 

 to it. It is a long and narrow island, being only 5 to 6 miles 

 broad in its widest part, its average width not being more than 

 3 miles. It is traversed throughout its length by a ridge of hills 

 rising to 1523 feet. It is also covered by a dense forest com- 

 paratively clear of undergrowth on some parts of the hill-slopes, 

 and so dense overhead as to exclude the direct rays of the sun ; 

 the trees not unfrequently attaining to an altitude of 250 feet. 

 In this island I first met w r ith Casuarina equisetifolia growing 

 wild along its western shore associated with Cycas Rumphii, two 

 outlying members of the Austro-Malayan subregion. 



* Lat. 12° 16' to 12° 26' N. 



t Lat. 10° 41' 30" to 10° 59' 30" N. 



12* 



