67 
Part V.j Pearson: Note on the Utilization of Bamboo. 
300 feet. Owing to the existence of a waterfall on the Seik Chaung, a 
tributary of the Mayu, which occurs about 60 miles from the sea and 
which it is thought, might possibly be utilized to generate power for a 
mill, this scheme has been divided into two parts. The first dealing with 
the forests lying above this waterfall, the raw produce from which could 
be worked out to a mill just below the falls, and the other dealing with 
the forests on each side of the Kaladan and Lemru, the bamboos from 
which could be exploited to Akyab. 
A. —Forests of the Seik catchment area. 
( See small 'portion marked E on map. ) 
(2) Description of the forests. 
The catchment area, in which these forests occur, is, generally speak¬ 
ing, narrow and long, the main stream having few feeders of importance 
throughout the area, except one on the east bank, called the Rhee Chaung, 
which is nearly as large as the main stream and joins it just above the 
waterfall. The forests were originally of an evergreen type but this class 
of forest has gradually disappeared and is now found only along the banks 
of the rivers and on the steeper slopes. The rest of the area is now cov¬ 
ered with a dense crop of bamboos, known locally by the name of Kayin 
(Melocanna bambusoides), in which practically not a single tree is to be 
seen. This peculiar type of bamboo growth has been brought into 
existence by a method of shifting cultivation known as “Taungva.” 
It is carried out by the hillmen and consists in cutting down the original 
forests, burning the timber and brushwood when dry and sowing rice 
and cotton seed in the ashes; they then desert the place, after reaping 
the crop, and go on to another area. As this system of cultivation has 
been going on for many generations, the original forests have practically 
disappeared, leaving these hill tracts covered with masses of bamboos of 
varying ages. 
Each household cuts about three acres a year, and now that the 
people have cleared out the virgin forests, they go back every six or 
seven years to their original area and instead of cutting and burning 
tree growth, which has, as a matter of course, disappeared, they clear 
out the six to seven-year old bamboos, and burn them in order to obtai n 
the ash in which to sow the seed. 
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