Medical notes on the climate of Burmah : and on the diseases which have there prevailed among European troops / by Charles Murchison.

  • Murchison, Charles, 1830-1879.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical notes on the climate of Burmah : and on the diseases which have there prevailed among European troops / by Charles Murchison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    about 300 miles above Rangoon, and 360 miles below Ava, and 40 miles from the present frontier of the British posses- sions in Burmah. The country, foi* several hundred miles above Rangoon, consists of one vast alluvial plain, intersected by rivers, by which it is inundated every rainy season, and covered with rice fields or dense jungle. This plain is con- tinued up along the banks of the river to within 30 miles of Prome. Here, at a place called Sahlaydan, on the western bank of the river, a range of hills appears, a branch of the great Arracan range, which is continued up along that side of the river to above Prome, while a little farther up, on the opposite bank, another range commences, continuous with the hills, which, from their terminating in the immediate vicinity of Prome, generally receive the name of the Prome moun- tains. These consist of a number of undulating hills, the highest point, Boxer's Hill, being about 200 feet above the level of the river. The hills on the opposite side are much higher, some of them exceeding 400 feet. The Prome range, at whose northern extremity the town of Prome is built, ex- tends fi'om the river's bank eastward for about two miles, and is then succeeded by an alluvial plain, stretching unin- terruptedly to the base of the Galladzet Mountains, a distance of about 30 miles. This plain, which in a southerly direc- tion, is continuous with the great alluvial plain of the Irra- waddy already mentioned, is covered with jungle, extensive rice fields, and a few teak forests, and during the rainy sea- son the greater part of it is under water, the only mode of communication between many of the towns and villages being by means of boats ; while the protracted dryness after the rains breaks up the rice fields by extensive fissures, often two or three feet in depth. The hills at Prome consist of a shingly sand, lying in strata at an inclination of about 45°, with a dip to the eastward. Some of the strata contain a considerable quantity of argillaceous matter, and often form a marked contrast to those immediately alDOve and below them. This sand, which probably belongs to the Diluvium, afterwards alluded to, appears to lie upon a formation of a gi'anular, sandy,yellow limestone, arranged in strata, also at an inclina- tion of 45, with a strike north and south, and containing a quantity of marine shells and other organic remains very .similar to those of the London clay K Tliis formation is best seen in the hill.s opposite to Prome, but large blocks of the 1 The. following Bhellfl, &c., found in this rock have been identified by Mr Sowerby, with lliose f.^und in the liondon clay, and Calcaire yro/sicr of riiris, Ancillaria, Miirex, Ccrithiiini, Oliva, Astuile ruguta, Nueula rugosu, Teredo, Teeth of Bhark, figh scakg, &c.