CHAPTER V. 



TAWNG-PENG SYSTEM. 



Between the gneiss of the Ruby Mines District and the fossiliferous 

 rocks of the Shan Plateau a broad area of broken, 

 hilly country intervenes, in which very little 

 level ground is to be met with. It forms a maze of deep, V-shaped 

 valleys, separated from one another by steep, knife-edged ridges and 

 spurs, clothed from base to summit in dense vegetation. So preci- 

 pitous are the lower slopes of the glens that it is often impossible to find 

 a way along the banks of the streams, and the rocks are as a rule 

 accessible only where the narrow paths between the villages, perched 

 on the ridges above, cross the valleys. 



Except for a narrow zone along the margin of the plateau, 

 the whole of this broken country is occu- 



Name of system. . , . , ... , , 



pied by rocks which so far have not yielded 

 fossils, and as they appear to form a well defined group of strata, 

 and to be separated by a distinct stratigraphical break from the 

 succeeding formations, the name of the Tawng-peng System is now 

 bestowed upon them, since the sub-State of that name, noted for 

 its production of the pickled tea, or ' letpet,' so freely indulged 

 in by the Burmese, is almost entirely composed of these rocks. 

 The whole of this hilly tract is inhabited by the Palaungs or Rumai, 

 a race of hill men differing in customs and language from the 

 Shans, but devout Buddhists, and of very peaceable disposition. 

 According to Sir J. G. Scott 1 they may be allied either to the 

 Karens of Lower Burma or to the Wa tribes, who are found 

 on the other side of the Salween, but they also show some affinity 

 in their customs with the hill tribes of Assam. 



The rocks of the Tawng-peng System are divided into three 

 „ , ,.». . series, which have been named, in descending 



biu>-<uvisions. . 0 



order : — 

 Bawd win Volcanic Series. 

 Chaung-Magyi Series. 

 Mica Schists of Mong Long. 



Of these the middle series is the most important from a strati- 

 graphical point of view, since it occupies a far greater area than 

 either of the others, but in an economical sense the rocks com- 

 posing it are not of much value, though a small quantity of gold 



1 Gazetteer of Upper Burma ; Part I, Vol. I, p. 480. 



