258 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
turesque rocks of blue lime-stone. The districts 
of Ye and Tavoy may generally be described as 
mountainous. The valleys or plains are very few 
in number, and there is no considerable one ex¬ 
cept that through which the Tavoy river flows, 
and even this does not appear to be of any very 
great breadth. 
The aspect of the Mergui district is still more 
hilly than that of Tavoy, and the valleys narrower. 
Even that, through which the Tennaserim river 
flows, is scarcely of greater breadth than sufficient 
to afford this stream a free passage. The geo¬ 
logical formation of this district is almost univer¬ 
sally granitic. 
The archipelago of islands, which skirt our 
coasts so thickly, does not properly commence 
until about the latitude of 14° 30', and therefore 
belongs correctly to Tavoy and Mergui, leaving 
the shores of Ye and Martaban an open and expos¬ 
ed sea. These islands are all hilly or mountain¬ 
ous, and generally composed of granite, with an 
occasional intermixture of lime and sand-stone. 
The new territory is better furnished with har¬ 
bours than any other portion of the Bay of Bengal, 
there being three very good ones on the main 
land within the compass of four degrees of lati¬ 
tude, besides one or two among the islands. The 
best and securest harbour, without reference, how¬ 
ever, to commercial convenience, is that of Mer¬ 
gui, in about latitude 12°. This will admit vessels 
