Page:Provincial geographies of India (Volume 4).djvu/96

80 yields resin. Another use of pyinma and kanyin-byu is for boat-building, for which kôkku (Albizia lebbeck), thingan (Hopea odorata), and yamane (Gmelina arborea) are also in request. Padauk (Pterocarpus macrocarpus) is widely distributed. Economically its principal use is for the making of cart-wheels; it is also much prized for gun-carriages and for ordnance work generally. The roadside padauk (Pterocarpus indicus) is an introduced Malayan species not found wild in the forests, a lovely tree, whose blossoms, when it flowers three times just before the rains, fall in cataracts of gold. Cutch or sha (Acacia Catechu) is common throughout the dry and comparatively dry districts and supports a thriving industry. The wood is cut into chips, boiled, and produces valuable tanning material. Than (Terminalia Oliveri) and dahat (Tectona Hamiltoniana) are burnt for charcoal. Extract of than has been used illegitimately for adulteration of cutch. Pines (Pinus Khasya), best of resin-producing trees, abound in the higher hills, notably in the Chin country, the Shan States, the Ruby Mines, and Salween; Pinus Merkusii is also found, mainly in the Shan States and Salween. Lac, the excretion of the lac insect, and Chinese varnish are produced in the Shan States. Oil for torches is extracted from Kanyin (Dipterocarpus alatus and D. loevis), black varnish from thitsi (Melanorrhoea usitata). Of thitkado (Cedrela Toona) are fashioned sheaths of native swords and daggers.

At the head waters of the Ngawchang, a tributary of the 'Nmaikha, is found a stately juniper from which the Chinese make planks for coffins. It is described as a magnificent tree, growing upwards of 150 feet in height and over 20 feet in girth at the base. The wood is white, very fragrant, and smooth-grained. The seat of the coffin plank industry is at Kangpawng in Putao.