222 
Account of n visit to Pup pa doling. 
[No. 3, 
passing rapidly over the highest peak, to clear off, I preferred sitting 
in the sun, and out of the wind, which came roaring up from the 
great central hollow. The crater is about a mile across, and the sides 
stretch down in black precipices to a depth of probably not less than 
2000 feet. I regretted much that I could not devote a day to the 
examination of the interior of the crater. Dense jungle filled the 
bottom, and trees grew upon the sides wherever there was a hold for 
their roots. On the North side or a little East of North, the side of 
the crater has been broken down, so that no lake exists within. The 
South side, opposite to the gap, is far higher than to the East or 
West, and the two highest peaks, one about 300 feet above the other, 
are about half a mile apart, and owe their prominence to being com¬ 
posed of dykes of a very granular and ill crystallized rock, which has 
resisted the wearing effects of decomposition and rain better than 
the softer beds of volcanic ash which form the cone, and the bedding 
of which is beautifully seen inside the crater. Their slope is about 
35° to 40° in most parts. The whole upper portion of the volcano 
is formed of these ash beds, the lava flows having apparently been 
lateral. 
I regret much that my ignorance of botanical science prevents me 
from giving any detailed account of the vegetation of this peak. 
There appeared to be a peculiar mixture of tropical and temperate 
forms, and the latter must be interesting from the complete isolation 
of the hill. The common brakes, Pteris aguilina , is abundant, toge¬ 
ther with two other ferns* of more tropical appearance. A large 
thistle with formidable spines is common, and the only plant which 
has any claims to be considered a tree is, strangely enough, the wild 
date palm.f A few straggling trees inside the crater were dwarfed 
and covered with lichens and mosses. 
* One is I think Nothocldcena argentea. 
+ I have heard that the same is the case on the Western Ghats of India. 
The complete change in the vegetation below 4000 feet upon a hill in Burma 
is very curious, when it is remembered that no such alteration takes place upon 
Parasnath (4500 feet high) in Bengal, a mountain which may fairly be compar¬ 
ed, as being very nearly as high as Puppa, and equally isolated. The lower level 
to which temperate plants descend East of the Bay of Bengal has been attributed 
to the greater moisture of the climate, but, in upper Burma, the rain fall must 
be far less than in Bengal, and little if at all heavier than in the plains of the 
Carnatic. It is scarcely pos'siblo that more rain falls on Puppa, separated from 
the sea by the high range of the Arakan Yoma, than on Purasnath, with no such 
barrier to intercept the moisture. 
