12 LA TOUCHE : GEOLOGY OF NORTHERN SHAN STATES. 



yet been seriously studied on the spot. The climate, for at least 

 five months in the year, is superb, and even during the rainy 

 season it is so superior to that of the plains that the Local Govern- 

 ment has established its head-quarters at Maymyo. 



With all these advantages, it is my sincere hope that other 

 geologists, and not only those whose professional duty it is to carry 

 on our work, may be induced to visit the country. Among the 

 points of detail that still remain to be worked out I may men- 

 tion : the stratigraphical position, distribution and significance of 

 the Bawdwin volcanic series ; the age of the Chaung Magyi quartz- 

 ites and slates — Dr. Noetling's submetamorphic formation ; the 

 distribution of land and sea at the close of the Ordovician period 

 and the question whether any considerable orographic movements 

 took place at that time, concerning which I have many doubts ; 

 and from a zoo-geographical point of view, the reason why we 

 have, among these older rocks, so many anomalous features in the 

 distribution of the faunas in what is apparently a conformable 

 sequence of strata. The staff of the Geological Survey is so small, 

 and the area as well as the number of questions that we have to 

 deal with is so large, that it is with difficulty that one man alone 

 can be spared for such work ; and yet I am convinced that if 

 these and other details of the geology of this tract could be fully 

 studied, they would give us a valuable clue to the geology of the 

 whole of south-eastern Asia. 1 



1 Note. — A few words may be added on the pronunciation of Burmese and Shan 

 place-names. The accent is invariably placed on the last syllable ; thus Maymyo is pro- 

 nounced as two syllables, Muy-myoo, not May-my-6. Ky (as in Kyauk, a stone or rock) 

 should rather be transliterated Ty, but Europeans generally give it the sound of ch in 

 church. Gyi ( = great, also the name of the barking deer, perhaps given to it in derision, 

 on account of so great a voice proceeding from so small an animal) is pronounced like 

 the French fy in fy suis, and g followed by a y is always soft. Y following m is 

 always — and t or k in the middle of a word are usually — suppressed, as in Myitnge, 

 Wetwin, Gokteik (pronounced Min-g&y, We-win, Go-teek respectively). Finally, the 

 modified 6 in Mong is pronounced as if it were written Maing ; and Loi (a hill) as two 

 syllables, Lo-ai. 



