صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

of Dayeik, or Dareik, of the old maps, is situated on the banks of the latter stream, about half a day above the junction of the two; it is now destitute of inhabitants, but as we are much less troublesome neighbours than the Birmans, the present Myotsa, who is a Taline from Kaling-Aung in the province of Tavoy, has received the royal order to re-establish it with Talines, who he says will be allowed to bring their wives and families here with them; this is however in my mind very questionable, for the king with good reason, fears the Talines would return to their own country if they could once get so near it, with their families. I here found six thugs who arrived fifteen days ago, having made their escape from the Tavoy jail; I requested Myotsa to give them in charge of the Siamese officer now on his way from Bankok to Tavoy, promising the allowance of 10 rupees a head for them when returned to Tavoy; he said he could not give them up without a royal order, and if he could, the officer would probably not receive charge of them; a good deal was said pro and con, and he at last agreed, at my suggestion, as he could not take care of them (having only come here to meet me, and see to my provisions, &c. and being again about immediately leaving to return to Be-lankKyeung to wash for gold) to send them to Camboorie, as it is probable I shall there meet the officers who annually visit Maulmain and Tavoy from Bankok. I declined receiving charge of them, having no means of preventing them making their escape, and told him I should at all events demand them at Bankok, and he must hold himself answerable that they were forthcoming, this he readily promised, and was altogether very friendly and civil; he also provided me with a boat, in which to send some of the heavy things, and some sick people to Camboorie, at which place it will arrive at the same time that we shall, the river being so tortuous that it takes five days with the stream to reach Camboorie from this place. In the course of the afternoon some twenty boats with the Laos people from Chandapoorie, who were taken prisoners by the Siamese in their cruel destruction of that place about twelve years ago, passed up on their way to the Belank river to wash the sand for gold; last year was an unsuccessful year; the number of people employed amounts in some years to 2,500, they are employed three months, and are ordered to produce a maximum of one tickel each of gold, all over which they are allowed to keep; some only get a half, some a quarter, others less; they are all sworn to give in all they have obtained on their return to Bankok; few make up the tickel; they have the same licence as to provisions as the Taline wood cutters, and it was a party of them who

plundered the village near our last halting; the old Myotsa came after sunset with an invitation for me to stay here two or three days; I was however told he only wanted the credit at Bankok of having been civil to me, I accordingly, which I should however have done under any circumstances, declined remaining, and pressed him again about the convicts; he repeated his promise to send them to Camboorie.

January 19th.-Bang-tee, 4h. 6m., twelve miles. Having started the boat with the tindal, and some of the heavy presents, and discharged the hired elephant, left our halting place at 9 A. M., and at the top of the bank passed the village of May-nam-noi, consisting of four miserable bamboo houses, that of the Myotsa not to be distinguished from the others, and surrounded by the remains of the old stockade, which has not been repaired for many years; proceeding not far from the side of the river, through a bamboo jungle and over broken ground, passed a small Kareen village at 9h. 35m., and at 11h. 15m. cross the river (now named May-nam-noi) running here N. 20° E. on a sand bank in the middle of it; after crossing the river saw a few teak trees, the first on this side of the hills, and had a glimpse of a herd of twenty or thirty wild buffaloes, noble looking animals; at 1h. 40m. halted here in a thick jungle, surrounded by hills, on a small brook, which passes through a ravine to join the May-nam-noi; path has been good all day, particularly in the teak forest; gave the old Myotsa who has been exceedingly civil, a small carpet at starting this morning.

January 20th.-Weing-wee, 4h. 10m., nine miles. Started at 8h. 20m. and march for an hour over broken irregular ground, surrounded by hills which frequently approach so close as to form rugged ravines; we then came on the bank of a small stream, or rather a chain of lagoons, where we waited an hour for the elephants to tread down the strong reeds, of twenty or thirty feet high, with which the narrow ravine is filled to the foot of the abrupt, broken stony hills, to enable us to pass; this continued till noon, where again, after a short ascent, we came amongst the stony ravines and narrow valleys of the limestone hills; at 1h. 30m. came to a small clearing, and at 2h. halted here near a deserted Kareen village; the family only removed a few yards, and built a sand pagoda three feet high to propitiate the Nâts, having been frightened away by the very ominous circumstance of some mushrooms sprouting up in the fire place. The path to-day has been the worst we have travelled, which is accounted for by the people from all the communication between Bankok and May-nam-noi being carried on in boats; if more frequented it would of course be better, but no traffic could make it a good road; there is another road on the eastern side of the river, which the Myotsa of May-nam-noi told our

guide was the best of the two, but water was scarce by that route; the guide told us he did not know the other road, and so brought us by this one, it however turns out that he does not know this one either, and has to trust to a boy who came to accompany him back to his village. Had a visit from a tiger last night, strange to say the first since leaving Maulmain.

January 21st.-Ta-ta-kan, 4h. 30m., thirteen and half miles. Started at 9h. and ascend gently along a pretty good path for half an hour, where an equal descent brought us to the bottom of the low hill, where crossing a small stream springing from the rocks close to the road side we enter a small level, covered by prickly bamboos; the eastern hills recede here, and our route lay near the foot of those to the south-west till 12h., when ascending the debritus (nearly all the hills to this have been limestone) at the bottom of the hills which are composed of red sandstone, very steep, and perhaps 700 feet in height, march along a rocky path, and through a short ravine, crossing one small run of water, till 1h, where we again came to the level, reaching to the river, across which our route lay till lh. 45m., where we halt on the western bank of the river opposite Ta-ta-kan; the Myotsa, for it is still dignified by the title of city, having once I suppose been entitled to it, came over immediately and invited me to a Tay he had erected for me close to, or rather over the water on the other side; as however an unnecessary loss of time would have been caused by crossing the river, the best road being on this side, I thanked him for his attention, but declined crossing the river; he was satisfied and very civil; he brought some eggs, cocoanuts, and a basket of rice, for which he refused payment; he was born here, but his father was Myotsa of Maulmain, in which he had about forty houses in the time of Tsen-bue-shen, son of the great Alom-pra who ascended the throne of Ava about 1744; he receives sixty tickels a year from the king, and is one of nine Myotsas under the Camboorie May-won, six on this and two on the See-sa-wet, and one between the rivers, all Talines, except Pra-sa-one of Kienk Khaung, who is a Kareen. The Kareens are said to amount to 1,000 under Camboorie, who pay each fifty viss of cotton; the village of Ta-ta-kan contains only seven houses, and the stockade, which was of bamboos, is quite in ruins; the river is here about a stone's throw and a half across, about five feet deep, and very sluggish, with high banks on both sides. The path to-day has been good, and generally level; from this there is a path west of Tavoy; our boat and also the six thugs have passed down; of the latter I am told there are eleven more at Camboorie.

(To be continued.)

ART. IV.-Remarks on the Geology, &c. of the country extending

SIR,

between Bhar and Simla.

To G. R. CLERK, ESQ.

Political Agent, Ambala.

In reporting my arrival at Ambala, I beg leave to lay before you an outline of the route I have followed, and of my proceedings. From Ambala I proceeded to Bhar, and from thence traversed the Pinjore valley as far westward as Nallaghur; I then ascended the mountains en route to Ballaspore per Ramghur. In this tract I passed over a series of rocks, consisting principally of sandstone, slate clay, limestone, and trap, a particular account of which I shall afterwards take the liberty of laying before you. Close to Ballaspore I crossed the Sutledge, and proceeded along its banks for some distance. Being still unsuccessful in finding an out crop of coal, I prosecuted my search towards Mundi.

In the Mundi territory, near to the village of Tuttepore, coal occurs, agreeing in mineralogical characters with the canal coal of Britain, &c., and if it could be found in quantity, would be well adapted for steam vessels, &c. I regret however to state, that the advanced state of the season, and other untoward circumstances prevented me from carrying on my investigations.

That coal may occur here in quantity, is probable from the circumstance of its being found in the same formation, and associated with the same rocks as the coal beds of Britain, &c.; and the specimens which I have brought to Ambala, equal to a maund, shew that it will be well adapted to the purposes for which it is so much required. I hope therefore another opportunity will be granted, in order that may finish my examination, seeing that there is so much probability of success; and if I am successful, I might then direct my attention to the route by which the coal might be transported to the banks of the Sutledge. I would feel particularly indebted, if you lay my statement before Government, and if in accordance with your views, with a request that leave may be granted at some future period for finishing my inquiry.

I

[blocks in formation]

REPORT.

The observations which we are now about to offer, being made during the most unfavorable period of the year, viz. July, scarcely a day passing in which our investigations were not interrupted by rain, are far from perfect; we hope however when the season is more favorable we will be allowed to resume them.

In the mean time our remarks will be principally confined to the country extending between Bhar, and a few miles beyond Simla. By means of the road sections and the numerous streams which occur, the country here has been well opened up, rendering its examination comparatively easy and satisfactory in general, in many places however, from the various alterations and dislocations, difficulties of no ordinary nature are encountered.

The field which we are now about to enter on, although frequently trodden by travellers, has never as yet engaged the particular attention of any geologist, a remark which applies nearly to the whole of the Himmalehs. Thus it has been lately remarked, "We possess but little information as to the general direction and dip of the strata of the Himmalehs; even the principal geognostical features of the various formations are scarcely at all known to us. Νο doubt some remarkable statements have been made, and none more so than those of Mr. Gerard, who mentions that he met with fossil shells, in alluvium, at a great height, as fresh and entire as if they had recently emerged from their own element; and that just before crossing the boundary of Ladak and Bussahor, he found a bed of antediluvian oysters, clinging to the rock as if they had been alive, and that at 16,000 feet above the level of the sea. Well might the author of the Geognosy of India conclude his remarks on the above, with the observation, that verification of this is expected. It is a statement truly remarkable, and well worthy of the attention of future travellers. In an address lately delivered to the Geological Society of London by its late distinguished president, we have the following remarks, "that Captain Grant in his account of Cutch, and Mr. Malcolmson in his description of a large portion of the Indian peninsula, have not ventured to call strata which they have examined, by the names which describe European formations." If any thing has been proved by geological investigations, conducted in the different quarters of the globe, it is, that in every country the rocks composing * British India, vol. III, p 316. + British India, vol. III, p 326. Addressed to the Geol. Society, London, Feb. 1838, by the Rev. William Whewell.

« السابقةمتابعة »