CHAPTER XVI. 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 



The geological history of the Northern Shan States may be 

 said to begin with the Naungkangyi period, 

 Eastern shore of h fi t fc ' ith defmite rec0 rds of 



Gondwana land. 



passing events in the shape of fossils, just as 

 the history of a nation, as opposed to tradition, begins with its 

 earliest documents, whether in the shape of coins and writings, or 

 its architecture. At the same time it may be allowable to put 

 forward one or two conjectures regarding the course of events that 

 preceded the opening of the historical period in this region. 

 Whether we accept the correlation of the crystalline limestones 

 and associated gneisses, etc., of the Ruby Mines district with the 

 Dharwar system, or refer them to a still older period, we may suppose 

 that the area occupied by them was continuous, in very early times, 

 with the great Archaean continent which covered so large a portion 

 of the southern hemisphere, commonly known as Gondwana land, and 

 that the separation of the fragment of this continent now remaining 

 visible in Burma took place at a later date. Thus the series of 

 fossiliferous strata now described marks one section of the eastern 



shore of that continent. We have evidence also 

 (1 J i , i ';;; 0rdovician dem " that the rocks forming this old land had been 



actively denuded, and that a great series ol 

 elastic rocks had been deposited upon the crystalline floor, before 

 definite indications of the presence of living organisms appeared ; 

 but the conditions under which these beds, comprised in the Tawng 

 Peng system, were accumulated, whether marine, lacustrine, or 

 terrestrial, are quite as conjectural as those under which the 

 Vindhyan system of the Indian Peninsula was formed. And 

 lastly, we know that, either towards (he end of this period of 

 deposition, or during the interval of upheaval and disturbance 

 fchat followed it, some exhibition of explosive volcanic energy 

 took place, resulting in the emission of lavas and tuffs of an 

 acid type. 



