INTRODUCTION. 
xix 
The second river, the Sittang, is of less magnitude, and, owing to the con- 
figuration of the coast, traverses British territory for about 200 miles only. 
Its breadth at the frontier is inconsiderable, but from Myitkyo down to 
the sea it is not unfrequently half a mile broad. This river is noted for 
its high bore, a danger to navigation which the construction of a canal 
between the Pegu and the Sittang rivers was designed to avert. The range 
of hills between the Irrawaddy and Sittang rivers rise to an altitude at the 
highest point, east of Pounday, of 2500 feet. 
Tenasserim, the Southern Division, consists of a mass of mountain- 
ranges. Its northern portion is traversed by the Salween river, one of 
great size, but rendered useless for purposes of navigation by reason of its 
numerous rapids. Two of the highest peaks in Tenasserim are named 
respectively Mooleyit and Nwalabo, and their elevation is about 7000 feet. 
Karennee, a State lying to the north-east of Pegu, is a small block of 
mountainous country inhabited by a race called Red Karins. The 
highest peak, named Nattoung, is said to be 8000 feet above the level 
of the sea. A dispute about the boundaries between this State and 
Independent Burmah led the Indian Government in 1874 to send a small 
political expedition into Karennee. Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay was fortu- 
nately able to accompany this expedition and to form a rich collection of 
birds. He writes : — 
On the 5th March, 1874, an expedition under the orders of the late 
Col. Malcolm Lloyd, Deputy Commissioner of the Tonghoo district, left that 
place with directions to proceed on a political erraad to Khyai-phogyee, 
the chief village of the Karennee country. One of that lamented officer's 
numerous acts of kindness to me during my sojourn in Tonghoo was to 
include me in his party. 
The journey was throughout over a mountainous country. The direc- 
tion of the first ten marches was due east to a village called Domoloo, 
within twenty miles of the Salween river. During these marches no 
birds particularly worthy of mention were collected, excepting a specimen 
of j^githaliscus erythrocephalus, which I shot near Hkoosaloo on the 
13th March, and a new Zosterops [Z. austeni, Waiden ) a little 
further on. 
From Domoloo for the remaining six marches the course was nearly 
due north, but nothing of interest was obtained until our arrival at Khyai- 
* Vol. i. p. 343. 
