1861.] 
Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 
311 
next halting place, where I gathered from the inhabitants the follow- 
ing particulars regarding this strange phenomenon. The oldest' in- 
habitant I could get hold of, who had been at Nat-Mee for some 
60 years, remembered no difference in the hillock or heap of stones 
from their present condition. He believed that the latter had been 
collected there by people who came to see the fire, long ago, each 
heaping up one or two on the spot. And the appearance of the cairn 
strongly bears out . this opinion. The flames used to burn steadily 
all the year round, and even in the rains never went out. They could 
not be extinguished by water. For the last eight or nine years, how- 
ever, they have been more fitful, only burning for two or three 
months every year at the change of the Burman year. They had 
been burning for about six weeks when we saw them. They never 
were known to do any harm, to make much more noise, or to extend 
over much more space than when we saw them ; but everybody knew 
that if all the fires in the village were not put out once a year and 
relit from this, the village would be burnt. Unfortunately, neither 
my companion nor myself are geologists, but the conclusion we came 
to regarding the phenomenon was that it was some inflammable gas 
issuing from the earth. There was no apparent sign of any recent 
volcanic convulsion — no tradition of any such ; while a very slight 
explosive force would derange the heap of stones and scatter them 
in all directions. Yet, as far as we could ascertain, the heap had been 
much in .its present condition from time immemorial. I picked up 
on the spot a tradition ascribing the names of all the old villages in 
the neighbourhood to what had taken place in days of yore with the 
Spirit of the Fire. If good for nothing else, it serves to show that 
the fire must have been much in its present condition when these 
villages were founded, whenever that may have been ; and I annex a 
translation of it. Although unable to give any scientific description 
of this phenomenon, perhaps these notes may draw the attention of 
some one capable of doing so, to it. The distance of Nat-Mee from 
Tliayet Myo is about 30 miles. The road is good in the dry weather ; 
and in the latter half of it there are numerous villages.” 
Tub Legend oe Nat-Mee oe the Spieit-Fiee. 
Translated from the Burmese. 
“ Long, long ago there lived in the village now called Nat-Mee a 
man who gained his living as a blacksmith. When his time was 
