The Imperial Gazetteer of India
Meyer, William Stevenson, Sir, 1860-1922.
Burn, Richard, Sir, 1871-1947.
Cotton, James Sutherland, 1847-1918.
Risley, Sir Herbert Hope, 1851-1911.
....................................
New edition, published under the authority of His Majesty's secretary of state for India in council.
Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1908-1931 [v. 1, 1909]

251 SOUTHRN SHAN STATES
belt. There is a plentiful undergrowth of shrubs''and herbaceous
plants:; and ferns, mosses, and lichens abound. At an altitude of
over 4,00.0 feet - the forest gives place to an open rolling plateau of
rounded grassy hills,, with scattered clumps. of oaks and :pines, the
vegetation being temperate in character. Species of Ranunculus,
Clematis, Viola, Polygala, Hypericum, Pximula, and Swertia abound,
as, well as representatives of the more tropical genera, such as Les-
pedeza, Codonopsis; Ipomaea, and many Labiatae'. 'Further particulars
about the vegetation of the States will be found under. the head of
Forests:
The elephant, bison, tsine or hsaing (Ros sondaicus), and rhinoceros
are met with, as well as the tiger, leopard, and other felidae. Sambar,
swamp deer, hog deer, and barking-deer are common; bears are widely
distributed; but the wild dog and the jackal are rare, as also is the
serow. -Hog are found everywhere, and the gibbon and monkeys of
various kinds are. numerous. Among snakes the Russell's viper is the
commonest, while- the hamadryad, cobra, and python are all occa-
sionally met with. The harrier and kestrel are often seen, and every
rarely the, Himalayan eagle. The cuckoo is a regular visitor, and a
lark (identical with the English' bird) is common. The list of water-
fowl, both migratory and indigenous, is large, and among the rarer
visitors may be mentioned the wood-snipe and woodcock.
Portions of the States, such for instance as the country, about the
town of Kengtung and several of the tarsi areas, are very. unhealthy,
but on the whole the climate is fairly temperate and salubrious. In
the deeper valleys the weather is humid in the rainy season, and very,
hot during March and, April; on the uplands the heat during the -day
in- those two months is considerable, but there is always an appreoiable
drop in the temperature at night. In December and January frost is
quite common, and even in Mawkmai, one of the lowest valleys, the
thermometer has been known to fall to freezing-point. . The head=
quarters station of Taunggyi has an annual mean temperature of 66�
The rainfall throughout is moderate, lessening towards the east.` In
Taunggyi the annual average is about 6o inches, and at Thamakan
(Hsam6nghkam) in the Myelat about 38.
'It cannot be said with certainty who were the original inhabitants
of the' Shan. States, but it is probable that the Tai (see NoxTHFRx
SHAN STATES) came into a country already occupied
by Was, Palaungs, - Fins, Taungthus, and Karens. History
At any rate Burmese authority was undoubtedly brought to bear on
the Southern Shan States long before permanent control 4vas gained
over Hsenwi, :which- was early in the seventeenth century,' when the
H. Collett and W: B. Hemsley, t'On a `Collection of Plants from 'Upper Burma
andsthe.Shan.Stateg,' Joua�nai.of,Ghe Linnean-Satiety, Botany, use]: xxvi r, -r
VOL. XXII. R

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