Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
and fro-ing as they came and went at each port of call, loading
and unloading their cargoes. Between ports they squatted on the
steel deck chatting, chewing betel nut and smoking white che-
roots which they passed from one to another, and if they were
going further afield than could be covered in a day they would
unroll their plaited bamboo sleeping mats and sleep out on
deck. Buddhist priests in their sa¬ron robes wandered about
beating their gongs and accepting a share of their compatriots
frugal meals.
As the steamer sailed out of Rangoon the first view seen
beyond the muddy brown banks of the river was a sea of emerald
green rice fields shimmering to the horizon. Between the wars
Burma was the world's largest producer of rice. Occasional
villages could be spotted from a distance by the toddy palms,
distinctive for their long trunk topped with a tuft of green, look-
ing much like the pom-pom on a circus horse, that fringed each
one. As they approached the villages they could see Burmese
women with their children bathing in the river or washing the
family's clothes, as water bu¬alo, used for many an agricultural
task, wallowed in the shallows with only their nose and horns
visible above the water.
Gradually, as they steamed further north, the landscape
became more undulating as the jungle-covered foothills of the
Arakan Mountains to the west were approached. Near Prome,
the end of the railway line from Rangoon and where many pas-
sengers embarked for the oil fields, the river cut deeply into the
hills creating high rocky cli¬s festooned by the jungle that grace-
fully draped itself over the edge and into the water. Brilliant
birds of every colour flashed amongst the dense green foliage,
settling in their hundreds on the overhanging branches, and on
every promontory a white pagoda perched in the hope of earn-
ing Nirvana points for its Buddhist builder. Beyond Prome the
bamboo reached heights of 30 feet and the Pegu mountains to
the east also came down to drink at the Irrawaddi. The two
mountain ranges, now towering either side of the steam ship,
