« 
THE VEGETATION OF THE DISTRICT OF MINBU IN 
UPPER BURMA. 
— ♦— 
By A, Gage . 
1 
CHAPTER I.— ITINERARY. 
The writer having been deputed by Major Prain, I. M S., Director 
of the Botanical' Survey of India and Superintendent of the Royal 
Botanic Garden, Calcutta, to proceed to the district of Minbu in Upper 
Burma to collect specimens and to study the vegetation of the district, 
left Calcutta by steamer on the 27th February 1903 and arrived at 
Rangoon on the 2nd March 1903. As the steamer reached Rangoon 
just too late to allow the writer to proceed at once to Minbu, he utilised 
the enforced stay in collecting in the neighbourhood of Rangoon 
itself. While there the writer also called upon the Director of Land 
Records and Agriculture and upon the Revenue Secretary, by both of 
whom he was provided with letters of intoduction, by the former to 
the Deputy Commissioner of Minbu, and to the Superintendent of 
Land Records there, by the latter to the Deputy Conservator of 
Forests. The writer left Rangoon on the 4th March by train for 
Prome, whence the journey was continued by the Irawaddy Flotilla 
Company’s steamers until Minbu was reached on the 7th March, where 
the writer was received by his friend Captain Fenton, I.M.S., then 
Civil Surgeon of Minbu. The same day the writer called on 
Mr. Parry, the Deputy Commissioner, and explained to him the object 
of the writer’s visit to Minbu. The following day the writer met 
Mr. Aubert, the Superintendent of Land Records, and in company with 
him visited the island in the Irawaddy opposite the town of Minbu, 
and collected specimens of all the crops growing there, which were 
then in flower or fruit. The following day, the 9th March, the writer 
collected to the west of Minbu town and in consultation with 
Mr. Aubert drew up a tour through the central part of the district,, 
crossing it from East to West. 
Mr. Aubert displayed keen interest in the object of the tour, and 
volunteered to accompany the writer on his excursion. It is owing to 
this fortunate circumstance that this account of the flora of Minbu. 
B 
