162 
GEOLOGICAL FEATURES BETWEEN LADONG AND OOGAH. 
of pi’oduce ; with an increase of production 
there will be an augmentation of capital, 
and the agriculturist may look forward to 
the attainment of those articles of comfort 
and luxury hitherto denied to him. Still 
this change for the better will, of necessity, 
be very gradual. It is as it were a newly 
discovered land, and as such it will require 
the united elforts of capital and labour 
(joined with skill), to bring its resources 
into play. As is well known, the staple 
produce of the soil is rice. Great quanti- 
ties of this grain are annually exported to 
Madras and Penang : the returns being 
generally made in kind, and consisting 
chiefly of Madras cloths and Europe muslins, 
which are either sold in Arracan or retained 
for importation into Ava. I am not aware 
that any other article of agricultural produce 
is exported from Rambree. Both cotton and 
indigo ai’e, however, grown upon the island, 
the former on the mountain side after it had 
been cleared of the jungle; tobacco is also 
produced in the ravines and clefts of the 
hills, subsequent to the accumulation of 
alluvial soil deposited therein by means of 
a dam so constructed, as to oppose its 
escape with the torrent. But neither of 
these are produced in such abundance as 
to permit of a large exportation : the 
quantity grown being little more than suffici- 
ent for consumption in the pi'ovince. A 
want of capital, and perhaps a want of con- 
fidence in the Government, prohibiting agri- 
cultural speculation, the production is gene- 
rally confined to what may be deemed suffi- 
cient for domestic purposes, or be grown 
with the sure prospect of ultimate reward.” 
The geological features of the country 
between Ladong and Oogah presented no 
peculiarity; the soil being a rich clay 
mixed in some degree with sand, and sand- 
stone the prevailing rock, its inclination, 
wherever it could be observed ‘ ‘ being still 
to the S. S. W. and S. W. parallel to the 
bearing of the hills.” 
Leaving the stubble fields of Ladong'’’^ 
our author once more proceeds along the 
beach and sees the village of Oogah before 
him “ very prettily situated on a bight of 
the sea.” The prospect from the village 
is said to be very fine, “beyond it, on 
the land side, lay JeeJca, the highest moun- 
tain in the island, and immediately opposite 
to it was the island of Cheduba, with its blue 
hills and undulating plains,” a small vessel 
called a Godoo, was at anchor between the 
islands bound to Bassem, with beetlenuts 
and sundries. The Soogree, or revenue 
Collector, and also head man of the village 
came out to compliment the stranger and to 
escort him to his dwelling house, in front 
of which a muchaun had been constructed 
for the repose of travellers, and whereon 
our traveller rested until a room could be 
prepared for his accommodation. He was 
cautioned, however, against his wish to sleep 
on the same platform during the night, 
from the dread of tigers which were fre- 
quently prowling about ; and fortune favored 
him, for one of these ferocious animals 
actually visited the village during the night 
and created great alarm . The Collector seems 
to have been in easy circumstances ; abun- 
dance of poultry and cattle with the I 
supreme additional blessing as he supposed 
of two wives. 
“ Polygamy is common enough in Arra- 
can. There appears to be no limitation ; a 
man may keep as many wives as he can 
afford to maintain. The consent of the first 
wife should, however, be obtained pi-evious 
to the conclusion of a second contract. It is 
seldom that a refusal is given, and equally 
seldom that attention is paid to it. Retain- 
ing the privileges of a mistress, and probably 
aware of her inability to enforce a compli- 
ance with the restriction she wishes to im- 
pose, the elder wife usually signifies her 
readiness to receive into the family a second 
helpmate for her husband. This new alliance 
is seldom resorted to before the first wife 
shall have ceased to retain the charms of her 
youth, and have become incapable of perform- 
ing the several domestic duties incumbent 
upon her.” 
Betrothing during infantine years as in 
India is unknown, generally, although 
instances will sometimes occur that mar- 
riage has been the result of a preconcerted 
arrangement between the parents. Similar 
instances though probably yet more rare 
ones,maybe adduced even among Europeans, 
but these merely form the exception to the 
national custom, and the young people are 
“ not unfrequently” permitted to form 
their own engagements, the consent of the 
parents being readily obtained when there 
is no striking disparity in the years of the 
parties. It would be common place to cite 
the universally acknowledged tokens of a 
pure and mutual affection ; but there is one 
on the part of the female that is somewhat 
out of the way. Cheroots, the manufacture 
of her own hand, convey her sense of the 
happiness she derives from the assistance 
which her lover has given to her labors. When 
the attachment is declared to the father 
