It contains no manganese or titanium. 2nd. Compact magnetic iron ore.-Tavoy No. 4. External and magnetic characters as above. It contains neither manganese nor titanium. 3rd. Tavoy ore No. 2.-External characters as above. Specific gravity, 4'369 4th. Tavoy ore No. 3.-Characters as above, as to aspect and magnetism. Specific gravity, 4'100. The two latter samples are even richer than the former, as is evinced by the specific gravity, but they are all quite rich enough and pure enough for making the best quality of bar-iron and steel. I instituted two elaborate sets of experiments in search of titanium, which, when present in any notable quantity in iron ores, renders the iron made from them red-hot, but I found none in the above ores. In the first set of experiments I treated the ore as follows:-I added to its solution in nitro-muriatic acid so much tartaric acid as to render all the oxides unprecipitable by ammonia. I next added ammonia in excess, and afterwards hydro-sulphuret of ammonia, which throws down all the metals except titanium. The whole being thrown upon a filter, afforded a colourless liquid, which evaporated to dryness, and carefully ignited in a platinum cup, left no trace of titanic acid, which it would have done had any of that metal existed in the ore. The second set of experiments for titanium consisted in transmitting sulphuretted hydrogen in excess through the nitro-muriatic solution of the ore, in then adding ammonia in excess, the effect of which is to precipitate both the iron and titanium. But the precipitate when digested with sulphurous acid, has its iron dissolved, while the titanic acid will remain undissolved as a white powder. By this means also no distinct evidence of titanium could be obtained. 5th. The limestone from Tavoy has a specific gravity of 27, and is a perfectly pure, semi-crystalline carbonate of lime, akin to statuary marble. It is well adapted to act as a flux in the smelting of iron. The three samples of iron ores from Mergui are brown hema tites, and from their density will afford good iron in the smelting furnace. 6th. Mergui ironstone No. 1, specific gravity, 3*37. 7th. 8th. Ditto No. 2, No. 3, The limestone of Mergui ditto 3.18. 3'32. has a specific gravity of 27; it is a pure calcareous carbonate. I analysed both the limestones.1 REPORT OF A VISIT TO THE PAKCHAN RIVER, AND OF SOME TIN LOCALITIES IN THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE TENASSERIM PROVINCES. By Capt. G. B. TREMENHEERE, F.G.S., Executive Engineer, Tenasserim Provinces. WITH A MAP AND SECTION OF THE PENINSULA. ["Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. xii. pp. 523-534.] 1. THE boundary between our provinces and the Siamese territory at the south and western extremity of Tenasserim has never been distinctly defined. After a correspondence with the Court of Bangkok, it had been arranged that an agent on their part should meet Mr. Commis. sioner Blundell on the Pakchan river on March 1, where evidence was to be heard on both sides, and the question finally settled. The departure of the commissioner from Maulmain was unavoidably delayed till March 4. At Mr. Blundell's request, I formed one of his party in the H.C. steamer Hoogly, and touching at Amherst and Mergui, entered the Pakchan river on March 10. 2. The entrance is about two miles wide, affording ample room and deep water for the admission of ships of the largest burthen. The numerous islands which range along either shore of this fine river, and the bold hilly country beyond, afford views which would be thought picturesque in any country. For the 1 ["British Burma Gazetteer," vol. i. pp. 36-66; ii. 388.] first ten miles it is very slightly contracted in breadth, and has little of the character of a river, but of a capacious inlet of the sea. To this distance we carried not less than four fathom water, but for the most part six and seven. After proceeding thus far, we turned into the Malewan river, and anchored at about one and a half mile in a north-west direction, for the purpose of communicating with the British settlement of that name. The next day, proceeding eight miles higher up the main river, we anchored in three fathoms abreast the confluence of the great Kaman river, beyond which, the river being much contracted by sandbanks, the steamer could not proceed. From thence we moved in boats, and arrived at Pakchan in eight hours-the distance, as surveyed by Captain R. Ross, commanding the Hoogly, being thirty miles. The river narrows gradually, and from the great Kaman passes through level country; approaching Pakchan, hills again appear, and it becomes very tortuous, at which spot it is about fifty yards broad, with a rise and fall of tide of eight feet at the springs. 3. The governor of Pakchan, a Chinaman, informed Mr. Blundell that the chief of Peechapooree, who had been deputed by the Siam Government to meet him, had arrived at Pakchan punctually on March 1; after waiting ten days, he had retired to Chimpohun, on the plain of the east side of the peninsula. It was therefore determined that Dr. Richardson, assistant to the commissioner, should go to the chief and invite his return to the projected conference. Accordingly, Dr. Richardson and myself, with a few of our own followers, commenced our journey on foot a little after five A.M., the prospect of crossing the peninsula being an object of peculiar interest. Following generally the course of a small stream called the Kraa, which joins the main river at Pakchan, we proceeded by a good and clear road of ten to fifteen feet wide through the jungle towards the Kraa Pass, distant three miles in a north-east direction. The road here turns to the south of east, and the pass, which is not intricate, leads for some distance along the bed of the rivulet, and terminates to the south-east at six and five-sixth miles from Pakchan. Here the greatest altitude is attained between the valley of the Pakchan and the alluvial plains on the east side of the peninsula, for soon after, at 8.7 A.M., we came upon the waters of the Chinpohun, running in an easterly direction towards the Gulf of Siam; the country then begins to slope gradually to the east. At 8.37 A.M. we halted two hours for refreshment by the side of the Chimpɔhun, at a spot where there are three or four houses, having the name of Bantapakchan. We here observed a canoe, which can be floated to Chimpohun during the rains, and if necessary to the gulf itself. From thence the road continues good. It crosses the Chimpohun very frequently, besides many dry ravines which communicate with it; the banks of these, where crossed by the road, have not more than thirty or thirty-five feet of abrupt declivity, the rest of the ground being very regular, and partaking of the general slope of the country. At 3 P.M., having walked seventeen and a half miles, we fell in with an elephant, and inducing the driver to take us on, were relieved from further personal exertion. The first eight miles of the eastern slope of the pass have the greatest fall, after which the descent is easy till we reach the alluvial plain of Chimpohun. Nearing this plain, at 5 P.M. we observed the influence of the tide in the river, and at 5.30 reached Chimpohun. The plain is covered with rice-fields, bearing signs of abundant crops, as far as could be observed, on all sides, and is bounded by a range of hills bending in a curved direction to the south-east. Some of these, near the plain, have much the same isolated and abrupt character as the limestone hills near Maulmain. After half an hour's delay, the headman forwarded us on fresh elephants to the camp of the chief, which we found at Tasapaow, three and a half miles distant further east, and reached it at 8 P.M., the entire distance between Pakchan and Tasapaow being nearly twenty-eight miles. 4. We were here hospitably treated, and visited the chief early the following morning. After a slight dinner, Dr. Richardson succeeded in inducing him to return and confer with Mr. Blundell, whom he expressed himself anxious to meet. His encampment was on the right bank of the Chimpohun, where the river is about 180 yards broad, running through a level country over a sandy bed free from obstructions, and with a rise and fall of tide of about six feet at the springs. The depth of water at 8 A.M. on March 13 was six feet, with a rising tide. It communicates directly with the Gulf of Siam, from which, by the best information, we were distant five miles. A sea-going boat of about thirty tons was under a shed at this spot; but junks trading on the Siam coast do not pass beyond Tayang, a town four miles east of Tasapaow and within a mile of the sea. Time would not admit of our going to the coast, as Mr. Blundell and the rest of the party were expecting our speedy return to Pakchan. The distance of Tasapaow from the sea, as above given, may I think be relied on, having been obtained from one of our own people, who had formerly resided some time at Chimpohun. The protraction of my route also, with these five miles added, makes the east coast of the peninsula correspond, within one mile short, with its longitude by Horsburgh's chart. The distance therefore between Pakchan and the coast of the Gulf of Siam is thirty-two miles, and the entire breadth of the peninsula at this point from the Bay of Bengal to the Gulf is as nearly as possible sixty miles. 5. After receiving the chief's return visit, elephants were provided to take us back to Pakchan. We started at II A.M., and halted for the night on the Chimpohun river at a shed about halfway, named Tacumlae, and reached Pakchan the next day, March 14, at 2 P.M. On the way back I paid particular attention to the inclination of the country, with a view of forming a probable estimate of the elevation of the top of the Kraa Pass, where the head waters of the Kraa and the Chimpohun rise, and I am of opinion that the difference of level between that point and the plains at Chimpohun and Pakchan does not exceed 450 feet. Along the entire route between these two places, or twenty-three miles, running water was crossed thirty-two times, besides which there are numerous dry nullahs before mentioned, which would be occasionally unfordable during the rains. The road is never more than 100 feet above the bed of the river course; it has an easy slope, and except at the crossings of the streams and nullahs is now passable by guns; but no part of the road would during the dry season present any difficulty to the passage of an army. 6. Some speculations having appeared lately in the columns of the Maulmain Chronicle, on the practicability of carrying a canal across the isthmus of Kraa, whereby ships might pass by a short route to India and China, instead of round the Malayan peninsula, I am induced to offer some observations, under the idea that inquiries on the subject might probably be made at some future period. From the tidal waters of the Pakchan flowing westward to the Bay of Bengal, to those of the Chimpohun running eastward to the Gulf of Siam, I paid as much attention to the slopes and facilities for such a work as the nature of our journey allowed, and while no work of this description, where the physical difficulties are not absolutely insurmountable, ought perhaps to be pronounced impracticable, I have no hesitation in saying that the scheme alluded to is not in my opinion reasonably practicable. On a rough estimate, I assume 450 feet as the greatest rise of ground between the two seas, and if we suppose the line of road to be 100 feet above the level of the bed of the water-courses of the pass as they now exist, and deduct that from the above, it will leave 350 feet of excavation, chiefly in solid rock, to be effected at the head of the pass, to which the depth of the ship channel would remain to be added. As no ships come higher up than the second anchorage of the Hooghly, or twenty-five miles in a direct line below Pakchan, the length of the canal would be increased by that distance, as well, in all probability, by the five miles beyond Tasapaow, as the rivers on that side of the peninsula are known to be generally obstructed by bars of sand. Both the Kraa and Chimphun rivers are very small streams at this season, running over rocky beds, and no supply of fresh water could, I think, be depended on from |