A Burmese wonderland; a tale of travel in Lower and ... - Khamkoo

128 A BURMESE WONDERLAND.
forefathers without apparent efiort, and pass it on. It
is inherent only in the sons of the soil. Ask an immigrant
— the legend of his adopted village, and he uill
reply " I don't know. I have only been here twelve
years."
There is no proper road to Mount Popa from this
side. We simply travelled by inter-village tracks. It
is the custom here for bullock-carts to go only from one
village to another, where, a messenger having been
sent ahead, the next relay is standing ready. This was,
I beUeve, the system in Burmese times, and it certainly
works well. The bullocks are always fresh, and it was
only occasionally that we were kept waiting for new ones.
The country traversed is typical of the " Dry Zone."
It is rather sterile, and supports only a thin scrubjungle
with a few fine tamarinds at intervals. These
truly splendid trees are all the more welcome for their
comparative rarity. Their deep shadow invites a halt ',
and the time wasted in their shade will not be grudged,
though you pay for it in sweat afterwards. Bees hive
near by, and butterflies and birds visit the glorious
fohage overhead : while on the ground lives a little
scarlet insect, which, I suppose, is a sort of spider, and
which the Burmese call Nat-tha-mi Ron Dwe Gaung
the "Fairy Betel-Spit."
The soil of these plains is gravelly, and probably
belongs to the Mocene age. The wreck of what must
once have been wonderful Ingyin^ forests lie petrified
^Aporosa Macropbjlla.