PHYSICAL GEOLOGY. 



21 



limestone, and choked with masses ot rock fallen from either side, 

 is formed. The deposition of travertine, or calcareous tufa, in all 

 the streams is very rapid. In some cases it raises the level of the 

 stream bed to such an extent, in the shallower valleys, that the 

 water breaks away to one side or the other, and a network of 

 anastomosing channels is formed, resembling that usually associated 

 with deltaic conditions. 



The most conspicuous example of this feature is to be seen in 

 the broad valley in which the town of Hsum-Hsai (Burnt., Thonze) 

 is situated, where, on the cart-road and railway, an extraordinary 

 number of culverts and bridges has had to be constructed (see Fig. 

 11, p. 338). All these streams eventually drain into the single 

 channel of the Hpawng-aw, which flows into the Nam-Tu through 

 a narrow limestone gorge. 



The scenery of the plateau has a peculiar character of its own : 



, , , there are no very conspicuous features, except 



Scenery of the plate.au. . . , ' 1 . , 



where a fault has depressed one portion ot the 

 surface relatively to that of another, and has left a precipitous scarp 

 of limestone, extending in a direct line for many miles, whitened by an 

 accumulation of travertine depending in thick curtains from the cliffs, 

 or where a river has excavated a narrow, picturesque gorge. It is a coun- 

 try of gentle declivities, and rounded interlacing hillocks, covered, as far 

 as the eye can see, after the rainy season, with a dense matting 

 of elephant or Tcaing grass, interspersed in places with low scrub 

 jungle, and in others with park like savannahs of scattered oak 

 trees (Plate 2). It is in fact not unlike parts of the downs of England, 

 or, having regard to the deep red colour of the soil, to the rolling hills 

 of Herefordshire. So well marked is this character of the scenery, 

 that one may be perfectly sure, on finding oneself in such surround- 

 ings, that the formation beneath the soil is the Plateau Limestone, 

 even where an outcrop of the solid rock is only to be found after 

 diligent search. The description of the prevailing scenery in the 

 Southern Shan States given by Mr. Fedden 1 shows that it possesses the 

 same features. He also compares it to that of the downs of 

 England or the farm land of Devon. 



The hills that rise in places above the general level of the 

 plateau exhibit an entirely different type of 



Non-plateau type of , • ,! i 



sc-nory. scenery, due to the difference in (lie character 



of the rocks. The change from one type of 



i Sel. Sec. Gov. I ml., SXLliX, y. :i8. 



