Page:Madras Journal of Literature and Science, series 1, volume 6 (1837).djvu/451

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1837.]
from Ava to the Frontier of Assam.
423

of Drs. Richardson and Bayfield, and Lieutenant Macleod, with such marked advantage, bids fair, in a comparatively short time, to render the whole empire of Ava belter known than the most sanguine could have ventured to anticipate. Did the results of such journies and investigations tend only to an increase of our geographical knowledge, they would even then be most valuable: but to suppose that the consequences of this intercourse between intelligence and ignorance are so limited, is to take a most inadequate view of the subject: the confidence inspired by the visits and conduct of a single individual,[1] has already opened a communication between Yunan and Moulmein, and the caravans of China have commenced their annual visits to the British settlements on the coast: the journey of Captain Hannay will in all probability lead to a similar result between Assam and the northern districts of Yunan; and the time may not be very distant, when British merchants located at Bamo, will, by their superior energy and resources, extend its now restricted trade to surrounding countries, and pave the way for ameliorating the condition and enlightening the ignorance of their numerous inhabitants.—Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal pp. 245-278.




4.—Report on the Physical Condition of the Assam Tea Plant, with reference to Geological Structure, Soils, and Climate.By John M'Clelland, Esq., Assistant Surgeon, Bengal Establishment, and Member of the Asiatic and Medical Societies of Calcutta.Presented to the Agricultural Society of Calcutta, 8th February, 1837, by desire of the Right Honourable Lord Auckland, Governor General of India, &c. &c. &c.


[We have been favoured by the talented author with an able pamphlet under the above title, which has been printed in Calcutta as the first fasciculus of the 4th vol. of the Transactions of the Agri-Horticultural Society. We have abridged it to suit our pages.—Ed.]


Geology.—Approaching the Kossia mountains, I observed small insulated knolls projecting abruptly out of the low marshy plains by which they are surrounded. They are seen extending along the base

  1. Dr. Richardson of Madras.—R. B. P.