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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 21, p. 327.

.RUBY MINES DISTRICT 327 it is close to the northern boundary of the District, when it bends sharply south-west again to meet the Irrawaddy a few miles above Tigyaing in Katha District. The valley below Myitson is wide and to a certain extent cultivated, in marked contrast to the country on the upper course. At Myitson the Shweli is joined on the left by a stream formed by the junction of the Kin, which rises near Shwenyaungbin in the Mogok subdivision, and the Nam Mit (Meik); watering the valley in which the capital of the MSngmit State is situated. Another stream deserving of mention is the Moybe or Nam Pe, which rises in the Tawngpeng State, and, after skirting the southern boundary of Mong- mit and of the District proper, turns south to separate the Hsipaw State from Mandalay District, finishing its course as the Madaya chaung. The whole of the Ruby Mines District is occupied by crystalline rocks, mainly gneisses, and pyroxene granulites, traversed by grains of tourmaline-bearing granite. Between Thabeikkyin and Mogok batids . of crystalline limestone are interbedded with the gneiss,-and from these the rubies of the District are derived. The stones were formerly obtained from the limestone itself, but the principal sources now are the clays and other.debris filling up fissures and caves in the limestone and the alluvial gravels and clays of the valleys of Mogok and Kyatpyin. Besides rubies, sapphires and spinels with tourmaline are found in the alluvium, Graphite occurs in small flakes disseminated through the limestone, and in a few localities is concentrated in pockets of considerable size along the junction of the limestones with the gneiss. The vegetation is much the same as is described in the article on the NORTHERN SHAN STATES. In the evergreen tracts it is very luxuriant. Tigers and leopards are common and are very destructive to cattle, Bears, hog, bison, sdmbar, and gyi (barking-deer) are all numerous, Elephants are found in places, especially in Mongmit territory, and here and there rhinoceros have been met with. The Mogok plateau is situated at a high altitude and possesses a temperate climate well suited to Europeans, the maximum and minimum temperatures at Mogok averaging 7o° and 37° in' December and 8o° and 5g° in May, Bernardmyo, a small station io miles to the north-west of Mogok, and somewhat higher, enjoys a climate colder and more bracing. It used to be,a military sanitarium, but the troops have~now been withdrawn from it. The climate of the river-side town- ships resembles that of Mandalay, but the country farther from the river. at the foot of the hills is very :malarious. The Mbngmit valley, too, is unhealthy, but, unlike that of Mogok, is excessively hot. ; The rainfall varies considerably in the different subdivisions. During the