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The Geological features of the country were then noticed at some length. 
The most recent strata were, naturally, the deltas of the rivers, which were 
still forming, and were composed of gravel, clay, and mud. Below these 
were found ferruginous aud ossiferous gravels and clays, containing fossil 
trees, and the bones of many recent and extinct Mammals, as well as other 
fossils characteristic of the Pliocene series, and also pieces of wood, both 
rolled and unrolled. The Miocene series were remarkable for containing 
beds of a curious substance called Laterite, unknown in Europe, which 
was quite soft when freshly quarried, but which became quite hard on ex- 
posure, and frequently honeycombed, nodules of clay falling out. It was 
largely used for building purposes, and was probably a ferruginous clay 
containing much silica. The Eocene strata were then noticed ; the num- 
mulitic limestone was largely developed in the Shan hills, but the nummu- 
lites themselves were small ; there were numerous petrifying springs in 
these hills, charged with carbonate of lime, which produced large beds of 
tufa, used for the building of pagodas. Several hot springs occurred also, 
one being as warm .as 124° F., and another, nearer Thainee, was said to be 
poisonous. In the Prome district the shales, blue clays, and sandstones 
predominated, and in many clay beds large quantities of nummulites were 
found, as well as of very minute Foramenifera, which closely resembled 
those now brought up from the deep-sea soundings. Among the sand- 
stones were several beds of salt, which produced brine springs. The 
oldest strata were of course to be looked for in the centre of the moun- 
tain ranges, especially of the Western Yeoma; and here several rocks were 
found which had apparently been much metamorphosed and indurated, 
whose age it was difficult to determine ; but, from the occurrence of fossils 
in other localities in somewhat similar beds, the author was inclined to 
consider these as belonging to the Cretaceous series. There were also 
found here out-bursts of trap, one of the true volcanic rocks, as well as of 
serpentine, and steatite. 
Among the other geological features of the country, attention was drawn 
to several interesting examples of the elevation of the land upon the 
Arracan coast, the proofs of which were found in the remains of coral 
reefs and oyster banks at a considerable distance above the present sea- 
level. The curious mud-volcanoes were also described ; they were only a 
few feet in diameter, and in the inside of the crater a blue saline mud was 
seen, which was frequently projected out in large quantities, accompanied 
by a large evolution of light carburetted hydrogen gas. 
The metallurgical products of the country were not numerous ; gold 
occurred in very small quantities, hardly sufficient to pay for working, in 
two or three places; at Kyouktat were some silver-lead mines, which had 
been worked for a long period in a rough way ; the galena occurred irre- 
gularly in the limestones, it was melted in a cupola, and the oxide of lead 
