same
stunted vegetation.

_May 11th_.--Tagoung is a miserable village on the left bank; it
occupies a rocky eminence, and contains less than 100 houses. It is the
most inferior village I have yet seen, the streets being dreadfully dirty
and the houses very mean. We visited an old pagoda, about a mile from
the town, which is surrounded by an antique wall, much obscured by
jungle, and more resembling a bund. On our route hither we landed at
Thigan, a village containing about forty houses, and prettily situated at
the foot of a hill of micaceous sandstone, on the right bank. At this
place are the remains of a fort built by the Chinese, of slabs of the
rock forming the hill. Similar remains exist at Myadoung, on the
opposite bank, as I learn from Mr. Bayfield. I gathered a Sida,
Capparis, Prionitis, Gnaphalium, and a Xanthoxylia petiolis alatis
armata; an Adiantum grows between the slabs composing the wall. At
Tsenkan I observed an Agave, a different Cactus, a fleshy Euphorbia; and
an Ananassa is common all about.

About Tagoung the botany is varied, and interesting. I gathered about
fifteen plants that had not occurred before, two Poae, two Andropogons, a
Zanthoxylum, and an Olax. The most interesting is an Apocynea, floribus
infundibulifor. lamina reflexa, fauce squamis dentatis 10, serie duplici
dispositis, interioribus petalis oppositis et majoribus, antheris, in
conum stigma omnino coadunatis. Cotton cultivated here; plants taller
than usual. The villages around are all forsaken owing to one of them
having been attacked by Khukeens, and two men carried off. Hence the
population at Tagoung, although usually scanty, is now much increased
from adjoining places. A small river falls into the Irrawaddi
immediately above Tagoung.

_May 12th_.--Reached Male about 6 P.M. Passed _en route_ a few
villages, none of any size or importance. The river varies in width,
_i.e_. the channel, from 400 to 600 yards. The banks are either
alluvial or rocky; and there are hills on the right bank skirting the
river; those on the left, are more distant and higher. Borassus
commences to be common; it is a taller, and more slender tree than that
of Coromandel, and the trunk is not covered with the persistent bases of
the petioles.

The village of Tsebainago is opposite to Male, and appears nearly of the
same size. Both are situated close to the mouth of the third Kioukdweng.
Male contains 150 houses, all small; it is a plac