PART 2.] 
Theobald: Axial (/roup in Western Prome. 
43 
‘ axial’ strata, but midway between them like a link is a very minute patch of serpentine 
of a few yards in diameter, probably a dyke. Thitsi hill is in fact a miniature of Nattoung, 
as Nattoung is of Bidoung, and no other similar outbursts are known to me within the area 
under review. All the pther localities seem to fall under the category of veins subordinate 
to the axials they traverse, but be they all connected or not, the rock throughout is one 
and the same whether occurring in veins or developed in masses like Bidoung. Serpentine 
veins are far from infrequent in the upper axial zone, and I rather think they are confined 
to it, or to within a short distance of it. Certain it is that I can recall no instance of their 
occurrence in the older division of the group, or where the upper group is not present like¬ 
wise. The horizon indeed which these veins seem to affect is one near the bottom of the 
upper axials, and we are pretty certain to find the characteristic limestone of this division 
not very far from the outcrop of serpentine. The limestone is frequently altered and some¬ 
times only occurs sparingly, but it is usually to be seen, or some other of the equally 
characteristic beds of this horizon. The veins are always small and usually associated 
with a species of steatite from which the Burmese manufacture pencils for writing on black 
hoards. I cannot affirm that this steatito is always associated with serpentine, but such 
is the case usually. This steatite is called ‘ kangri and is largely imported from Upper 
Burmah. There are, however, numerous places in Western Prome where it occurs and where 
it is extracted for local use. It usually occurs in small pieces lying loose in the decaying 
rock and not commonly in pieces larger than a hen’s egg. It occurs in shale (and also far 
to the south, as noticed in a previous report, in sandstone) and appears to be the result of 
a segregative metamorphism. It is not an intrusive rock or mineral and yet its com¬ 
ponent atoms must have enjoyed complete mobility, and its formation seems due to the 
re-arrangement of the constituents of certain beds of the axial group, through an influence 
which may have resulted from the presence of serpentine veins in the vicinity, for there 
seems a decided connexion between the two. 
A curious variety of this rock is sometimes seen closely simulating a conglomerate. 
Ihe dark steatito occurs in various sized nodules or amygdala, from the size of a 
hemp-seed or less to that of a small egg. These nodules are smooth and burnished and 
impacted in a matrix of white fibrous quartz, in just sufficient quantity to separate 
the nodules of steatite, hut still forming a very inconsiderable proportion of the rock. 
Excellent samples of this variety occur on Shinbaian bill, and here I could detect no 
instance of the steatite enveloping any portion of quartz, hut where the two minerals are 
more equally proportioned I believe either indifferently envelopes the other. The mineral 
occurs of various tints from pale grey to black, the paler varieties being esteemed the 
purest and most suitable for writing. The very dark varieties approach a shale in character, 
and may he regarded as peculiarly altered shale: some pieces display very distinct fissures 
or shrinkage cracks, and all the appearance of having been once in a plastic state. 
At Shinbaian hill just on the flanks of the serpentine, or before that rock is quite 
reached, a considerable quantity of the above varieties is developed on the hill side and 
also a more massive or compact variety than is usually seen. This variety occurred in 
regular strata of from 6 inches to a foot in thickness, but unequally developed. The more 
massive portions broke with a clean but earthy fracture, and dull surface, and much resembled 
in general appearance a claystoue; but this dull variety passes into the ordinary sort with 
highly lustrous surface planes and the quasi foliated structure as seen in pure spermaceti; 
and the association of the two suggests that the latter merely consists ot the finer portions 
eliminated by segregation from the other. The common shape for the finer sort to sponta¬ 
neously break up into or arrange itself is that of rudely amygdaloidal pieces, with curved 
ends, either the result of pressure, or of some modified form of crystallization. The highly 
