48 On the Tin of the Province of Mergui. 



2. The streams themselves are rich in tin, which may be collected 

 from their beds in considerable quantities. The process by which it 

 has been deposited for long periods, and for many miles along the 

 line of valleys through which they flow, appears to be in active 

 operation at the present day. Crystals of the peroxide of tin washed 

 down by the rivers and deposited with sand and gravel in their beds 

 may, by changes of the river's course during the freshes, be quickly 

 covered with a few feet of gravel and soil. The older deposits have, as 

 far as my observation extends at present, the same alluvial character, 

 and it would be well in future operations to have regard to the levels 

 in which the streams may have formerly run. The first of these loca- 

 lities which attracted my attention was the Thongdan river, issuing 

 from the primitive mountains in the immediate neighbourhood of the 

 coal mine on the Great Tenasserim river. I visited this river in the 

 course of my survey of the coal basin, and found pits in great num- 

 ber along its banks, of the existence of which I had been previously 

 informed, though the object for which they had been dug was not 

 known to my informant. On washing some of the gravel from the 

 bottom of one of the pits, a small quantity of tin was found. 



3. A Shan was subsequently sent there, and collected 11,889 

 grains of tin, of the native peroxide, in the course of an hour and 

 half, Specimen No. I, which is equivalent to 19 ounces and 198 

 grains of pure tin. 



4. After leaving the vicinity of the coal mine, I proceeded down 

 the river, and was accompanied by the Shan, who had been employ- 

 ed in tin works in the Straits, and to whom several tin streams in 

 the Mergui province were known. These are situated chiefly on 

 the Little Tenasserim river, into which they empty themselves. 

 The first and most accessible is the Thabawlick, which unites with 

 the Thakiet, four miles above the junction of the latter with the Little 

 Tenasserim. The mouth of the Thakiet is eleven miles from the 

 town of Tenasserim. 



5. The access to this tin ground is by land in the dry season. 

 Landing at the village of Thakiet, I proceeded on foot eight miles, and 

 reached the Thabawlick at the point indicated in the accompanying 

 sketch. 



6. The intervening ground is for the most part flat. After 



