INTRODUCTION. 



5 



ing the economic value of the coal seams then recently discovered 

 in the Namyau and Namma valleys. Dr. Noetling's journey was 

 made at an unfortunate time of year for geological observations , 

 for he visited the country during the rainy season, when every- 

 thing is buried in a mass of rank vegetation, and the mule tracks, 

 which were at that time the only means of communication, are 

 almost impassable. A cart-road was then being made from Man- 

 dalay to Maymyo (C 4), 40 miles distant on the plateau, and it 

 was in this portion of his journey only that Dr. Noetling found 

 any fossils. In addition to these drawbacks, the only map to 

 be had was one on a scale of sixteen miles to an inch, and by 

 no means accurate. Whereas when Mr. Datta and I made our 

 first traverse, ten years later, the cart-road had been extended to 

 Lashio, and the earth-work for the Mandalay-Kunlon railway had 

 also been completed as far as that place ; consequently we had 

 the advantage of numerous and freshly opened cuttings, which 

 greatly facilitated our observations. Moreover, after the first season 

 we were supplied with excellent maps, on the adequate scale of 

 one mile to the inch. 



Dr. Noetling prefaces his account of the geology by some 

 . , , remarks on the topographical features of the 



Physical features. . , A ° . 



plateau, but 1 cannot say that his conclu- 

 sions about the peculiar arrangement of the river valleys have 

 withstood the test of more recent investigation. He says (Op. ext., 

 p. 101) :- 



" The boundary which separates the plateau-like south from the hilly north of 

 the country here described is marked by a long valley, which begins a few miles 

 cast of the Gokteik pass and runs in a north-eastern direction to the Salween, and 

 probably far beyond it to Western China. This valley has the peculiar feature 

 that it has not one general direction of drainage but three, at least so far as I have 

 examined it. Beginning from the Salween, wc see the water running to the cast 

 up to a village called Hoika about 30 to 35 miles east of Lashio. Beyond that 

 village the water runs to the west as far as Bawgyo, where it is met by a stream 

 coming from the west, joining the waters coming from the cast. This irregularity 

 — the direction of drainage — proves that the origin of this valley must be u 

 peculiar one, and so it is. The Gokteik-Kunlon valley marks a line of great 

 disturbance of the strata ; two large faults, or probably two systems of compound 

 faults, running from the south-west to the north-east, are distinctly discernible. 

 Along these faults the country was thrown down, but as this action did not of 

 course take place very regularly, one part moving perhaps stronger than another, 

 the peculiarity of the drainage system is readily explained. It is very common 

 in this valley to meet isolated hills rising abruptly in its centre : they an; nothing 



