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 Central University Library 
 
 University of California, San Diego 
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 UCSD Lib.
 
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 THE 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOZi. II 
 
 Olompilcb bij ^uthoritp. 
 
 Spe^ 
 
 MACt /€ 
 
 S it tt 9 n : 
 
 PRINTED AT THE GOVERNMENT PRESS. 
 1879.
 
 THE 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 AGWON. — A revenue circle on the sea-coast of the Thanlyeng {Syriam) 
 township, Rangoon district, north-east of the mouth of the Rangoon river. 
 The southern part of the coast-line is formed by a sandy beach fringed by a 
 belt of tree and grass jungle whilst further to the north-east the sand gives 
 place to mud ; the rest of the country is an open plain undulating slightly 
 towards the north with^ here and there, depressed and marshy spots which 
 form the principal inland fisheries. The inhabitants are engaged in agricul- 
 true, in fishing, and in salt-making. The population in 1876 numbered 11,568 
 and the gross Revenue amounted to Rs. 1,04,178 of which Rs. 87,020 were 
 derived from the land."^ 
 
 A-HL AT. — A village of about 600 inhabitants, in the extreme south-west- 
 ern portion of the Martaban township, Amherst district. 
 
 A-HPYOUK. — A village, or rather group of three villages, in the Hen- 
 zada district, on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, some miles south of 
 the latitude of Zalwon. In 1875 the group contained a population of 2,150 
 souls. 
 
 A-HPYOUK. — A revenue circle in the south-eastern portion of the 
 Zalwon township of the Henzada district, with much rice cultivation in its 
 southern part and along the bank of the Irrawaddy. This circle contains 
 numerous lakes and fisheries of which the largest are the Gnyee-re-gyee nearly 
 three miles long and half a mile broad and from fifteen to twenty feet deep in 
 the dry weather and, further east, the Biendaw from two to two and 
 a half miles long but narrow and about ten feet deep. 
 
 In 1876 the circle had a population of 6,605 souls and produced a gross 
 Revenue of Rs. 16,245 of which Rs. 9,623 were from the land, Rs. 5,133 from 
 the capitation tax, Rs. 959 from fishery and net tax, and Rs. 530 from other 
 sources. 
 
 AING-GYEE. — A large village in the Henzada district, a little to the 
 north of the great Doora lake and on the edge of an extensive rice plain 
 the cultivation of which forms the principal occupation of the inhabitants. 
 
 AING-KA-LOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Hlaing township, Rangoon 
 district, on the right bank of the Hlaing river and adjoining the Henzada dis- 
 
 *NoTE. — This circle has since been divided into two, distinguished as North Agwou and 
 Sout" Agwon ; the statistics given above are for the two.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 trict. The surface of the country is flat and parts of the circle are subject to 
 iuundation during the rains. The principal products are rice, cotton and 
 tobacco. The inhabitants of some of the villages are largely employed in 
 the fisheries. Population in 1876, 3,623 land Revenue Rs. 6,916 and gross 
 Revenue ; Rs. 20,598. 
 
 AING-THA-BYOO. — A village in the Myenoo township, Bassein district, 
 on the Bassein river, a short distance below Le-myet-hna, containing a popula- 
 tion of over 600 souls, 
 
 AING-TOON. — A small river in the Shwe-gyeen district, which rises 
 in a spur of the Pegu Yomas and after a generally easterly course through 
 the Anan-baw circle falls into the Tsittoung near the village of Doungmo. 
 
 AKOUK-TOUNG. — The name given to the eastern extremity of a 
 spur running down from the Arakan Yoma mountains which abuts on the 
 Irrawaddy, less than a mile south of the boundary between the Henzada and 
 Prome districts, in an abruptly scarped cliff some 300 feet high, artificially 
 honeycombed with caves containing images of Gaudama Boodha and 
 of Rahans : here the Irrawaddy enters the delta and gradually spreads out into 
 numerous anastomosing creeks and rivers. This hill was the scene of two 
 or three engagements between the English and the Burmese during the 
 second Burmese war and it was here that Major Gardner was surprised and 
 killed {vide Henzada district :—Histori/). The spur which terminates at 
 Akouktouug formed the northern limit of the ancient Taking kingdom of 
 Pe"-u, west of the Irrawaddy, and before the formation of the delta vpas a 
 Customs station, whence the name " Customs Revenue Hill." 
 
 AKYAB.— A town on the coast of Arakan, in 20° 8' N. and 92° 57' E., 
 at the mouth of the Kooladan river, the head -quarters of the Arakan division 
 and of the Akyab district. Originally a Mug fishing village it was chosen 
 as the chief station of the province of Arakan soon after the close of the first 
 Ano-lo-Burmese war when the extreme unhealthiness of Mrohoung or old 
 Arakan, the last capital of the ancient Arakanese kingdom and subsequently 
 the seat of the Burmese governor of Rakhaing, rendered the removal of the 
 troops and civil establishments a matter of necessity. The site, only fifteen 
 feet above the level of the sea at half tide and with places below high-water 
 mark, was laid out with broad raised roads, forming causeways, with deep 
 ditches on either side. Owing principally to its situation, easily accessible 
 by boats from the rich rice land in the interior and with a fine harbour 
 formed by the mouth of the river, it soon became an emporium of trade 
 and was resorted to by numerous ships seeking rice cargoes. A large influx 
 of population took place from Chittagong, Ramoo and Cox's Bazaar in the 
 Chittagong division of Bengal, and from Mrohoung, and the town rapidly 
 increased in wealth and in importance. Though well laid out at starting and 
 at first rapidly and then more gradually increasing in population and in size 
 the want of labourers was a bar to any very great improvement, and the 
 raising and metalling of the roads, digging ditches and tanks, filling up 
 swamps, and planting trees had to be carried on almost entirely by convict 
 labour. In 1836 the shops were found "well supplied with the diflPerent 
 varieties of grain which are in use amongst the inhabitants of Bengal, from 
 whence they are imported ; and British cloths, consisting of piece-goods, 
 muslins and broad-cloths, cutlery, crockery, glass-ware and native manu-
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 3 
 
 factures" were exposed for sale. A few years later the troops were withdrawn 
 and the cantonment abandoned except by the European civil officers. As 
 years rolled on and commerce increased the town progressed and substantial 
 houses were constructed. The population which m 1868 numbered 15^536 
 souls had increased in 1872 to 19,230, who at the census taken that year 
 were found to consist of : — 
 
 Hindoos. 
 
 Mahomedans. 
 
 BOODHISTS. 
 
 Christians. 
 
 Others. 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 la 
 
 B 
 
 
 6 
 
 n 
 
 4) 
 P4 
 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 a3 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 1,884 
 
 27 
 
 3.516 
 
 1,502 
 
 5,892 
 
 5,627 
 
 216 
 
 109 
 
 387 
 
 70 
 
 11,895 
 
 7,335 
 
 These figures include the floating population, the bond fide residents 
 numbered 15,775 who in 1876 had increased to 18,306. 
 
 To a great extent the disproportion in the sexes amongst the Mahomedans 
 and Hindoos is caused by the number of men who come for the rice season to 
 work either in conveying the unhusked rice from the interior (in the boats they 
 bring with them from Chittagong and Cox's Bazaar), or as coolies in the rice 
 godowns. 
 
 The principal public buildings are the Court-house, Gaol, Custom-house, 
 Hospital and Markets. The Court-house, containing the Courts and offices 
 of the Commissioner of the division, of the Deputy Commissioner of the dis- 
 trict, of the Assistant Commissioner, of the Town Magistrate and of the Super- 
 intendent of Police, is of masonry and was completed in 1872 at a cost of 
 Es. 1,30,680. The custom-house, a fine building on the bank of the river 
 at the shore end of the main wooden wharf, was finished in 1869. The gaol 
 has been in existence for a considerable period and is now being improved, a 
 wall being raised round the work yard within which new buildings will be 
 constructed the site of the existing prison being utilized for work sheds. Tlie 
 hospital and dispensary consist of two buildings joined by a covered way, one 
 for Europeans and one for Asiatics ; a new hospital is now in course of 'con- 
 struction : the income in 1874 was Es. 9,703 of which Es. 2,010 was given 
 by the State and Rs. 1,640 by the Port Fund, and the expenditure was 
 Es. 5,360: the number of persons treated was 2,450 of whom 1,890 were 
 out-patients and 560 in-patients. The town contains three markets one of 
 which was till lately private property ; of the other two one has been in 
 existence for many years, and the other, in the Shwe-bya qunrter, was com- 
 pleted in 1870 at a cost of Es. 6,500. There are two churches, one of 
 masonry and one (the Eoman Catholic) of wood and a new school-house 
 besides a travellers' bungalow and a circuit-house. The school, which 
 is now of the higher class, was established by the State in 1846, and 
 in 1875 the average daily attendance of pupils was 224 of whom 
 nearly all were Arakanese. The other public ofliccs are <lie post 
 office, telegraph office and Master Attendant's office. There are also several
 
 4 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 merchants' offices and five steam rice-husking' mills. At the mouth of the 
 harbour is Savage Island light-house. 
 
 The gross municipal revenue derived from port dues^ market rents and 
 other municipal sources, the rent and sale of town lands, the dispensary fund, 
 and a five per cent, cess on certain imperial taxes was in 1871-72 Rs. 47,650 and 
 in 1872-73, Rs. 70,290. In 1874 Akyab was constituted a Municipal town and 
 a Municipal Committee, with the Town Magistrate as President, was appointed. 
 The revenue administered by this body inl876-77 was Rs. 90,662. 
 
 There are no returns available shewing the value of the trade during 
 the first year or two but, according to Pemberton, the value of the ex- 
 ports carried by square-rigged vessels during seven months of 1833 was 
 Bs. 93,800. 
 
 The value of the trade in 1863-64, 1873-74, 1875-76 and 1876-77 was— 
 
 Imports. Exports. Total. 
 
 Rs. Rs. Rs. 
 
 1863-64 ... 57,72,140 64,13,310 1,21,85,450 
 
 1873-74 ... 91,14,210 91,03,470 1,82,17,680 
 
 1875-76 ... 40,48,000 59,83,860 1,00,31,860 
 
 1876-77 ... 66,71,325 71,62,137 1,38,33,462 
 
 The exports consist almost entirely of rice, of which large quantities are 
 sent to Europe, and the imports of machines and machinery — for whicli 
 however there will not be a steady demand — coal, vegetable oils, canes and 
 tobacco from foreign ; and tobacco, vegetable oils, cotton piece-goods and twist 
 with silk and wool goods from Indian ports, some of which are of Indian but the 
 larger quantity of foreign manufacture. A comparatively large amount of 
 specie is imported annually for the rice trade the unexpended balance being 
 returned at the end of the season. In 1873 the imports and exports of specie 
 were Rs. 54,73,710 and Rs. 8,89,750 respectively. 
 
 The name of the town is supposed to be a corruption of Akhyatdaw, the 
 title of a pagoda in the neighbourhood which was, probably, a good land-mark 
 for ships in former times. By the Burmese-speaking inhabitants it is called Tsit- 
 tive, because the British army encamped there in 1825. 
 
 AKYAB. — A district in the Arakan division, lying on the sea-coast in the 
 north of the province, 5,337 square miles in extent,'^ separated on the west 
 from Chittagong by the Naaf estuary and the Thooloo hills and on the south 
 from the Kyouk-hpyoo district by a spur of the Arakan Yoma mountains and 
 towards the sea-coast by straits and tidal creeks : on the east are the Arakan 
 Yomas, inhabited by wild tribes, with Upper Burma lying beyond and 
 on the north a country of tangled forest and mountains taken from the 
 district in 1868 and formed into the " Hill Tracts of Northern Arakan''-' (q. v.). 
 Working their way out from the sea of mountains in the north are three main 
 ranges forming the water partings of the Naaf and the three principal rivers, 
 the Mayoo, the Kooladan and the Lemro, and gradually sinking into broad 
 and fertile plains which even at some distance from the coast are intersected 
 by anastomosing streams whilst the lower portion is a network of tidal creeks 
 in many places dry at low water but all navigable by boats at the flood. 
 
 * Note. — In 1871 several square miles of the Mengbra township were transferred to the 
 Kyouk-hpyoo district, reducing Akyab to the area given above.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. . 5 
 
 The principal range of mountains is the Arakan Yoma (the eastern 
 Mountains. boundary of the district) which here has a general south- 
 
 easterly direction and throws out innumerable spurs com- 
 pletely filling" the country east of the Lemro river. A pass leads up the 
 valley of the Tseng and across this range to Upper Burma. In the west, form- 
 ing the water parting between the Naaf and the Mayoo, are the Mayoo 
 hills which terminate at Agnoo-hmaw near the mouth of the latter river the 
 southern part of their length being nearly parallel to, and not far from, 
 the sea-coast. This range is steep and can be crossed only by regular passes ; 
 the most northern is now but little used but is the easiest and in the 
 Burmese time was protected by a fort of which traces still remain. The 
 next two are the Gnet-khyeng-douk and the Alai-khyoung ; in both the 
 ascents are steep and practicable only for foot passengers : the latter was the 
 one crossed by the Burmese force which retreated before General Morrison's 
 division during the first Burmese war. South of these are others used only 
 by the inhabitants of the neighbouring country. 
 
 The principal rivers are the Mayoo, the Kooladan and the Lemro. The 
 jjj^gj.g^ Mayoo rises in the mountains which form the northern 
 
 boundary of this part of the district and has a generally south- 
 south-easterly course to the sea which it reaches a few miles north-west of 
 Akyab. The Kooladan rises in the main range in the neighbourhood of the 
 Blue mountain and falls into the sea at Akyab its mouth forming a spacious 
 harbour but with a bar running across it rendering the entry difficult. In 
 the rainy season it is navigable by boats of 400 tons burden for 70 miles 
 above Akyab and for boats of 40 tons 50 miles beyond to Dalekmai 
 in the Hill Tracts. The Lemro rises far in the north and falls into the sea 
 in Hunters^ Bay. All these streams, traversing as they do in the upper 
 portion of their course a highly mountainous country, are formed by the 
 junction of numerous torrents but as soon as they escape from the hills their 
 character changes and they expand into broad creeks and vast estuaries com- 
 municating with each other and the sea and spreading over the country at high 
 water like the threads of an enormous net to form the main — and indeed 
 almost the only — channels of communication. 
 
 The forests of this district have never been completely explored but 
 Forests. ^^ 1869-70 Dr. Schlich was especially deputed by the Local 
 
 Government to report on the Pyengkado forests of Arakan 
 and was able to make a partial examination of the tracts east of the Koola- 
 dan river. On the low ground near the coast subject to tidal influence 
 mangrove jungle covers the face of the country; above this are the rice 
 tracts, the forests here consisting of low jungle with a few trees j the most 
 important are Tsit CAlhizzia proceraj, Pyengma {Lagcrstroemia ReginceJ, 
 Ka-gnyeng cDipterocarpus alataj, Khabouug fStrychnos Niix Vomica J and 
 Lekpan ( Bombax MalaharicumJ. On slightly hilly ground still further 
 inland are the dry forests forming a belt along the lower slopes of the 
 Arakan Yoma and its spurs, where Pyengkado fXylia dolahriformisj furnishes 
 the most valuable timber ; it occurs in patches of which many were discovered in 
 that part of the country which was examined ; wherever it is found it forms 
 on an average about one-third of all the trees. A considerable quantity 
 of the wood has been exported for sleepers: from 18G4 to 18G8 inclusive the 
 East Indian Railway Company received 70,377 sleepers, costing lis. 3,87,660,
 
 6 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 the greater portion cut in this district iu the neighbourhood of the bamboo 
 forest. No definite experience has been gained as to how long Pyengkado sleep- 
 ers will endure but an opinion exists that they will last over fifteen years. 
 Locally the timber is used for house-posts, bridges and for many other pur- 
 poses. With Pyengkado are found Pyengma {Lagerstroemia RegincE), which 
 furnishes a wood used for boats and house-posts and which might possibly 
 answer for railway sleepers, Tsengbwon {Dillenia pentagyna) and, in the south 
 only, Myouk-khyaw {Homaliimi tomentosum), not of much value as it 
 is not very durable. Thit-pouk {Dalhergia sp.), which yields a wood 
 used for canoes and boats said to last two or three years in fresh and 
 seven years in salt water, and several other kinds which belong to the green 
 forests such as Ka-guyeng {Dipterocarpus alata) are met with. These green 
 forests extend further inland still into the Arakan Yomas and contain several 
 useful trees, as Dipterocarpus turhinatiis and Thenggan {Hopeci odorata), 
 the best of all for boats. Up the Mrothit khyoung, in the Naaf town- 
 ship, oil trees of vast size are used for building the larger kind of boats 
 but the timber is becoming scarce. Bamboo forests cover by far the greater 
 area, in many places containing no trees and in others with both green forest 
 and dry forest timber intermixed. Teak plantations have been made in the 
 upper portions of the tiacts drained by the Kooladan and the Lemro rivers 
 and though too young yet to warrant any positive opinion as to the success 
 of the experiment they promise well. 
 
 The early history of the country is involved in mist ; the existing records. 
 History. compiled by Arakanese, are filled with impossible stories 
 
 invented in many cases in others based upon tradition but 
 so embellished as almost to conceal their foundation and all made to shew forth 
 the glories of the race and of the Booddhist religion. Rama-waddee, near the 
 present Sandoway in the south of the Arakan division, was, the chroniclers relate, 
 the capital of a kingdom over which reigned Thamooddee-dewa who was tributary 
 to the king of Baranathee (Benares). Manj'- ages later Tsekkyawaddee, who 
 in a future life was to become the Boodh Gaudama, reigned in Baranathee and 
 to his fourth son, Kanmyeng, he allotted " all the countries inhabited by the 
 Burman, Shan and Malay races^' from Manipur to the borders of China. 
 " Kanmyeng came to Rama-waddee and, dispossessing the descendants of Tha- 
 '' mooddee-dewa, married a princess of that race named Thoo-won-na-ga-hlya, 
 " while Maha-radza-gnya, a male descendant of Thamoodde-dewa, was sent to 
 " govern the city of Wethalee, iu Arakan Proper."^ King Kanmyeng peopled 
 ^' his dominions with various tribes and amongst the rest appear the progeni- 
 '' tors of the Arakanese as being now brought to the country for the first time."" 
 The names of these tribes are Thek, Khyeug (a tribe living amongst the 
 Yoma mountains), Myo (the Mroos, now nearly extinct, inhabiting the hills), 
 Kyip (a small tribe near Manipur), Shandoo (a tribe in the northern hills), 
 Moodoo, Proo (a name by which a portion of the Burmese nation was formerly 
 distinguished), Mekhalee (a Shan tribe), Dzengme, Leng, Tantengthaye (a 
 tribe said to live on the borders of China), Atsim (the Malays), Lengkhe (a 
 tribe in the hills north-west of Arakan Proper), Pyanloung (a Shan tribe), 
 
 ■^ Note. — Sir Arthur Phayre calls the country known to Bnrmans as Rahhaing-pyee, which 
 comprised the Akyab district and part of Khyonlc-hpyoo, " Arakan Proper." The existing Ara- 
 kan division, together with that j^ortion of Bassein which lies west of the Arakan Yomas, was 
 known as Rakhaing-pycc-gyee, or " the great Ai-akau country,'" that is the Arakanese dominions.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 7 
 
 Katlie (Maiiipuvis), Kanran (said to be the present Rakbaing' race or a portion 
 of tbem called Kbyoungtbas), Thodooii, Talaing-, Kanteekamyoou, Lawaik and 
 Lagwon-^ (said to be tbe ancestors of the Siamese.) Tlie dynasty thus 
 established reigned for an indefinite period, which tbe chroniclers describe as 
 lasting a term indicated by a unit followed by one hundred and forty cyphers : 
 even up to a comparatively late period the palm leaf histories are filled with 
 equally incredible statements, continual wars and rebellions in which one 
 side or the other was miraculously aided fill up the accounts and it is not till 
 the end^f the eighth century that any approach to accuracy seems to be made. 
 About 788 A. D. Maha-taing- Tsandaya ascended the throne, founded a new 
 city on the site of the old Rama-waddee and died after a reign of 22 years. 
 In his reign several ships were wrecked on Ramree Island and the crews, 
 said to have been Mahomedans, were sent to Arakan Proper and settled in 
 villages. The ninth king-, who lived during the tenth century, made an ex^Dc- 
 dition into Bengal and set up a pillar at Chittagong which according to 
 the Arakanese is a corruption of the Burmese '' Tsit-ta-goung,'' and was .so 
 named from the king abandoning his conquest saying, somewhat late^ that 
 to make war was improper. Towards tbe end of the tenth century the Proo 
 king of Prome invaded the kingdom but was unable to bring his army 
 across the Yoma mountains and a few years later the capital was removed 
 to Arakan (or Mrohouug). In 976 A. D. a Shan prince conquered the country 
 and took the capital, withdrawing with much spoil after eighteen yeai-s' 
 occupation. Just about this time the king: of Pagan invaded Arakan but was 
 forced to retreat. In 994 a son of the king who bad advanced into Bengal 
 ascended tbe throne and removed the capital to Tsambhawet on the Lemro 
 river but was killed during a second invasion by the king of Pagan after 
 reigning for twenty-four years : he was succeeded in 1018 A. D. by Khetta- 
 theng, of the same family, who established his capital at Pengtsa. 
 
 The further history of the country up to 1404 A. D. may be related in 
 the words of Sir Arthur Phayre. Khettatheng reigned for ten years and 
 was succeeded in 1028 by his brother Tsandatheng. " Four of his descend- 
 ''ants reigned in succession. In the reign of the fifth, named Meugphyugyi, 
 " a noble usurped the throne ; another noble deposed him, but in the year 423 
 "(1061 A.D.), the son of Mengphyugyi, named Mengnanthu, ascended the 
 '^' throne and reigned five years. The third in descent from him, named 
 "Mengbhilu, was .slain by a rebellious noble named Thengkhaya, who 
 ^^ usurped tbe throne in the year 440 (1078 A. D.) The heir apparent, 
 ^'' Meng-re-bhaya, escaped to the court of Kyan-tsit-tha king of Puggan 
 " {Pagan). The usurper reigned 14 years; his son Mengthan succeeded him 
 ^1 m 454 (1092 A. D.) and reigned eight years ; on his death his son Meng 
 " Padi ascended the throne. During this period the rightful heir to the 
 I' throne, Meng-re-bhaya, was residing unnoticed at Puggan {Pagan) ; he had 
 ''married his own sister Tsu-pouk-ngyo, and there was born to them a son 
 " named Letya-meng-nau. The exiled king died without being al)le to pro- 
 II cure assistance from the Puggan (Pagan) Court for the recovery of his 
 " throne. At length the king of that country Alaung-tsi-thu, the grand- 
 ly sou of Kyan-tsit-tha, sent an army of 100,000 Pyus and 100,000 Talaiugs 
 " to place Letya-meng-uan upon the throne. This army marched in the 
 
 "Note.— There is a tract of this name in Zeugmai east of the Salween.
 
 8 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 ''year 464 (1102 A.D.), and after one repulse the usurper Meng- Padi was 
 *' slain and Letya-meng-nan restored to the throne of his ancestors in 465. 
 '^ A Burmese inscription on a stone discovered at Buddhagaya serves to con- 
 '' firm the account given in [this history of the restoration of Letya-meng- 
 " nan, or, as he is called in the stone inscription Pyu-ta-thin-meng, i. e., 
 " Lord of a hundred thousand Pyus. It is evident, from the tenor both of 
 " the history and of the inscription, that the Arakan prince was regarded as 
 " a dependant of the Puggan {Parian) king, to whom he had from his birth 
 " been a supplicant for aid : in return for the assistance granted him for the 
 " recovery of his grandfather's throne he was to aid in rebuilding the temple 
 " at Buddhagaya, in the name of the Puggan {Pagan) sovereign. The 
 " royal capital was established at Loung-kyet, but that site proving un- 
 " healthy, the city of Marim was built in the year 468 (1106 A. D.) Four 
 " kings followed in quick succession, after whom Gan-laya ascended the 
 "throne in 495 (1133 A. D.) He is described as a prince of great power^ 
 " to whom the kings of Bengal, Pegu, Puggan {Pagan), and Siam did hom- 
 " age, but his chief claim to distinction lies in his having built the temple 
 " of Mahati, a few miles south of the present town of Arakan, the idol in 
 "• which was, in sanctity, inferior only to that of Mahamuni. This temple 
 " and image were destroyed during the late war [the first Burmese war), the 
 " height on which they stood being occupied as a post by the Burmese forces. 
 " This king died after a reign of twenty years, in 515 (1153 A, D.) He was 
 " succeeded by his son Datha Radza, who upheld his father's fame, and 
 "repaired Mahamuni temple, which, since its partial destruction by the Pyu 
 " army in Letya-meng-nan's time, had remained neglected ; the idol which 
 " had been mutilated was also restored, the tributary kings being employed 
 " upon the work. This king died after a reign of twelve years in 527 (1165 
 " A. D.) He was succeeded by his son Anan-thi-ri, a prince who grievously 
 " oppressed his people, and, neglecting the affairs of government, passed his 
 '^ days in riot and debauchery. He lost the extensive empire possessed by 
 " his father and grandfather, neglected religious duties, and extorted large 
 "sums of money from the people, till the whole country, says the historian, 
 " cursing him in their heai'ts, a general rising occurred : he was deposed and 
 " killed, and his younger brother, Mengphuntsa, reigned in his stead. In 
 'Hhe year 529 (1167 A. D.), this prince estabhshed his capital at Khyit, on 
 " the river Lemyo. A Shan army attempting to invade the kingdom was 
 " defeated in the Yoma mountains, and a number were taken prisoners and 
 "settled in two villages in the tract of country in Arakan Proper now 
 " known as Toungbhek. This king died after a prosperous reign of seven years." 
 
 " In the reign of his grandson, Gana-yu-bau, a noble named Tsa-leng- 
 " kabo usurped the throne, but, proving oppressive, was murdered in the first 
 " year of his usurpation." 
 
 " Midzu-theng, the younger brother of Gana-yu-bau, was now raised 
 *'to the throne; he removed the capital to Pingtsa, close to the present 
 '' town of Arakan. The oldest Arakanese coins extant, having the emblems 
 " of royalty engraved upon them, but without any date or inscription, are 
 " traditionally said to have been struck during this reign. This prince- was 
 " surnamed Taingkhyit, or ' country beloved.' With characteristic extrava- 
 " gance he is said to have reigned over the present Burmese dominions, and a 
 *' great part of India as far as the river Narindgana, and to the borders of
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. » 
 
 " Nipal. The succeeding ten kiDgs pass like shadows, without anything; 
 
 " worthy of notice except their short reigns. The five last of them reigned 
 
 *^ only for one year each, and by their oppression and neglect of religious 
 
 '' duties the people were dissatisfied, while sickness and famine desolated the 
 
 ^' country. The nats or spirits of the seasons withheld their aid : the earth 
 
 '' no longer yielded her fruits, and general misery prevailed. The last of 
 
 " these wicked kings was deposed, and his son, Letya-gyi, ascended the throne 
 
 *' in 572 (1210 A. D.), and by his mild government restored the prosperity 
 
 " of the country. In the year 599 (1237 A. D.), Alau-ma-phyu succeeded 
 
 " to the throne, and removed the capital to Loungkyet in 601, This king 
 
 *^ made war upon the Puggan (Pagan) sovereign, and received tribute from 
 
 <' the king of Bengal. He died after a reign of six years. His son, Radza- 
 
 " thugyi succeeded. In this reign the Takings invaded the southern portion 
 
 *'of the kingdom, but were repulsed by the Arakauese general, Ananthugyi. 
 
 •Nothing worthy of notice occurs until the reign of Nan-kyagyi, who 
 
 *' ascended the throne in the year 630 (1268 A. D.) This king oppressed 
 
 " the people with heavy taxes, and levied contributions of goods which he 
 
 " stored up in his palace. By various acts of tyranny he incurred the hatred 
 
 " of many influential men ; and even the priests, whose religion forbids them 
 
 " to notice worldly affairs, are represented as inimical to him. Eventually 
 
 '' he was killed in the fourth year of his reign, and was succeeded by his son, 
 
 " Mengbhilu, who married the daughter of the Tsi-tha-beng, or commander 
 
 ''of the body-guard, the conspirator against the former sovereign. This 
 
 "prince is described as being, if possible, more hateful than his father. 
 
 " Being jealous of the supposed high destinies of his infant son, Mengdi, he 
 
 '^ ordered him to be cast into the river, but the child was miraculously pre- 
 
 " served, rescued by some fishermen, and was sent to a remote part of the 
 
 " kingdom. These and other similar acts inflaming the mind of the people 
 
 " against the king, he was slain in a conspiracy headed by the Tsi-tha-beng 
 
 " after a reign of four years. Tsi-tha-beng, the king-maker, now usurped 
 
 " the throne, but was himself killed in the third year of his reign. The son 
 
 '^ of Mengbhilu, named Mengdi, was then raised to the throne, but he was 
 
 " only seven years of age. This king gave general satisfaction, and enjoyed 
 
 "along and prosperous reign. In the year 656 (1294 A.D.), the Shans 
 
 '' invaded the kingdom, but were repulsed. The king of Thooratan,^ or 
 
 *' (Eastern) Bengal, named Nga-pu-kheug fBahadar Khan?J, courted his 
 
 " alliance and sent i)resents of elephants and horses. After this his dominions 
 
 '' again being attacked in various quarters by the Shans, the Burmese, the 
 
 " Takings and the Thek tribe in the north, the king went to the Mahamuni 
 
 *' temple, and, depositing his rosary before the idol, vowed to rid the country 
 
 '' of its enemies. In pursuance of this vow, he marched in person in the 
 
 ''year 674 (1312 A. D.) to repel the Takings, who had possessed themselves 
 
 "of the country south of the town of Thandwai [Sandoioay). His uncle, 
 
 " Udzdza-na-gyee, was sent with an army to attack Puggan (Pagan) . Tsa- 
 
 " lenggathu, his brother-in-law, advanced into Pegu, and the general, Radza- 
 
 " theug-kyan was sent against the Thek tribe. The city of Puggan (Pagan) 
 
 " was taken, the Takings were overawed, and the expedition against the Thek, 
 
 * Note.— Sonargaon, now called Painam, the capital of the eastern district of Bengal when 
 it first revolted from the Dehh empire, A. D. 1279. 
 
 2
 
 10 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " after being once repulsed, was eventually crowned with success. After this^ 
 '' the general Eadza-theng-kyan subdued the country along the sea-coast as 
 ^^ far as the Brahmaputra river. In the year 689 (1327 A.D.), the Puggan 
 '' (Pagan) sovereign made an attack upon the island of Kanbyi {Ramrce), and 
 " carried away a number of the inhabitants who were planted upon the 
 " Manipur frontier. After this, the Thandwai (Sandoivay) viceroy having 
 " gained possession of a relic of Gaudama brought from Cejdon, by virtue 
 " of which he expected to obtain sovereignty, rose in rebellion, but was finally 
 " reduced to obedience. Soon after this, Mengdi died^ after a reign of 106 
 " years, at the age of 113. Nothing worthy of notice occurred until 756 
 " (1394 A.D.), when the reigning sovereign marched to attack the Puggan 
 *' {Pagan) empire^ the capital of which was established at Engwa, or Ava. 
 " During his absence the governor of Thandwai [Sandoicay) revolted, and 
 '' seizing the boats which had conveyed the king's army along the seacoast, 
 " and were now left on the shore for his return, made the best of his way to 
 '* Loungkyet, the capital, where he set up the king's infant son, Radza-thu. 
 " The king returned without delay, but his army deserting him he was slain 
 " and his son proclaimed. The Tsi-tha-beng, as the rebellious governor was 
 " called, not long after sent the young king to the southern extremity of the 
 '' kingdom, and governed in his name ; but, becoming unpopular, he was, 
 " after two years, deposed and killed by a noble named Mying-tsaiug-gyi, 
 '' who in his turn, became disliked and had to fly to the Burmese dominions, 
 '' when the lawful king Radza-thu was restored. He was succeeded by his 
 '^ younger brother, Thing-gathu. This prince, after a reign of three years, was 
 " murdered by the chief priest of the country in a monastery, with the con- 
 " nivance of his nephew, Meng-tsaw-mwon, who then succeeded to the 
 « throne in the year 766 (1404 A.D)." 
 
 Worn-out by his cruelties the people rose against him and called in 
 the aid of Meng-tshwai, king of Ava, who despatched a force of 80,000 men 
 under his son. Meng-tsaw-mwon fled to Bengal and found refuge with the 
 ruler of Thooratan who, being himself engaged in war, could render no assist- 
 ance. At this period the empire of Dehli was torn to pieces by an ambitious 
 aristocracy and many of the subordinate governors had declared themselves 
 independent. The Arakanese histories state that when Meng-tsaw-mwon was 
 in Bengal the king of DeMi came to attack the chief or king of Thooratan who 
 was greatly assisted by the fugitive ; this most probably refers to the invasion 
 of Bengal by Sultan Ibrahim of Joanpur. 
 
 The King of Ava had no intention of resigning his grasp on Arakan 
 whilst the Arakanese had no intention of allowing him to retain possession of 
 the country ; aided by the Talaings they made constant endeavours to drive 
 out the Burmese and in 1426 A.D. they were completely successful. In the 
 meanwhile Meng-tsaw-mwon by his crafty devices had, as noticed above, 
 greatly assisted the ruler of Thooratan and in gratitude an army was sent to 
 restore him to his kingdom. After some reverses it was successful and in 
 1430 A.D., Meng-tsaw-mwon re-ascended the throne of his fathers amidst 
 the acclamations of his subjects who, with the usual fickleness of eastern 
 nations, rejoiced that a descendant of their ancient line of kings, whom they 
 themselves had expelled for his cruelty, was restored to them. 
 
 After his return Meng-tsaw-mwon determined on changing the site of 
 his capital and was, the native histories state, miraculously guided to Myoukoo,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 11 
 
 now called old Arakan or Mrohoung- : the real cause of the selection of the situa- 
 tion may more reasonablybe found in the strength of the position and the facility 
 with which its natural advantages for defence could be added to. '' When Meug- 
 tsaw-mwon found his end approaching, as his sons were infants, he appointed 
 his brother, Meng Khari, heir to the throne, and closed his chequered career in 
 the fourth year of his restoration, aged fifty-three years." From this time the 
 Arakan kingdom, undisturbed by its eastern neighbours who were at conti- 
 nual war with each other, continued to flourish. In 1531 A.D. the twelfth 
 king, Mengba, worried by the aggressiveness of the Burmese and fearing the 
 Portuguese adventurers who had settled on the coast, surrounded his capital 
 with a stone wall eighteen feet high with six gates, and a devout Booddhist 
 erected therein a pagoda, the remains of which still exist, called Shit-Thouug 
 Bhoora, from the 80^000 images (cut out of soft stone) which he is supposed 
 to have placed in and around it : very many, but all more or less injured, are 
 still in existence and vary in height from an inch to six feet. During 
 the next few years the kings of Arakan extended their conquests west- 
 ward and between 1560 and 1570 made themselves masters of Chittagoug. 
 In 1571 Meng Thaloung excavated lakes round old Arakan, building raised 
 causeways across them, to protect his capital from surprise by the Burmese 
 and by the hill tribes who made incursions into the covmtry plundering vil- 
 lages and carrying off their inhabitants as slaves. His sou, Mengnala, was 
 governor of Chittagong. The turbulent conduct of the Portuguese adven- 
 turers, who were independent of the Portuguese viceroy at Goa, led Meng 
 Radza-gyee, the son and successor of Meng Thaloung, to drive them from his 
 dominions and in 1609 he resumed the land which had been granted to them 
 and attacked them in force. Many were killed but some succeeded in escap- 
 ing and took possession of the islands in the mouth of the Ganges, living by 
 piracy. Sebastian Gonzales was elected as their chief and in a short time he 
 collected a formidable force and established a regular government on Sundeep 
 Island. In the same year a brother of the king, having been guilty of some 
 offence, escaped to Gonzales and persuaded him to attempt an attack on Arakan 
 which failed. The following year the Arakanese, who were now aided by the 
 Portuguese, took possession of the country in the neighbourhood of Luckim- 
 poor but were eventually driven off with great slaughter the king effecting 
 his escape with considerable difficulty. Gonzales immediately turned ujjon 
 him, seized his boats and, proceeding down the coast, took and plundered the 
 towns and villages and even advanced on the capital but was defeated and 
 forced to retire. He then sent to the Portuguese viceroy of Goa, Don 
 Hierome de Azvedo, suggesting an attack on Arakan and promising an 
 annual tribute. An expedition was fitted out and the command given to 
 Don Francis de Meneses who proceeded to the mouth of the Kooladan. Here 
 he was unsuccessfully attacked by the king aided by the Dutch and held his 
 own for a month, till November, when he was joined by Gonzales who bitterly 
 reproached him for not waiting for him. The two commanders proceeded up 
 the river and were signally defeated ; Don Meneses was killed in the action 
 which took place and Gonzales, retiring to Sundeep, was abandoned by a 
 large number of his followers. In the following year the King of Arakan 
 took possession of Suudeej) and for some years the Arakanese regularly 
 invaded and plundered the lower parts of Bengal, carrying off numerous 
 captives.
 
 12 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 In the meanwhile the country was in great disorder. Meng* Radza- 
 gyee was succeeded by his son Meng" Kanoung who, after a reign of 
 thirteen years, was poisoned by his queen and her paramour, Mouug Koot-tha, 
 the governor of Loungkyet. Moung Koot-tha was imprisoned and Meng-tsa- 
 guay, the son of the murdered sovereign, proclaimed king but only to be poi- 
 soned within seven days by his mother who by her intrigues succeeded in 
 effecting the release of Moung Koot-tha, whom she married, and who ascended 
 the throne and reigned for seven years. 
 
 In 1661, Shah Shuja having been utterly defeated by his brother 
 Aurungzeb was driven to seek refuge in Arakan. On the frontier he was re- 
 ceived by an envoy who assured him of welcome and on nearing the capital he 
 and his family and followers were met by an escort which conducted them to 
 quarters set apart for them. At first he was well treated but in a short time 
 the king, either instigated by Aurungzeb^s Lieutenant in Bengal or excited 
 by reports of the beauty of Shah Shuja's daughter, demanded her in mar- 
 riage. That a Mussulmani, a descendant of kings, should be asked for by a 
 Kafir was intolerable and Shah Shuja sent back a haughty refusal. His 
 destruction was then determined on, his party was attacked, he himself made 
 captive and drowned and the ladies of his household carried prisoners to the 
 palace. The princess, the cause of her father^s death, stabbed herself sooner 
 than submit to the embraces of the king ; her brothers, one a lad of sixteen 
 and the other an infant, were killed ; two of her sisters poisoned themselves ; 
 and a third, forced to wed the Arakanese monarch, died of grief; not one 
 of Shah Shuja^s family remained and when the news was brought to his 
 father, the dethroned Shah Jehan, he exclaimed "Could not the cursed 
 infidel have left one son alive to avenge the wrongs of his grand- 
 father?" 
 
 From the death of the usurper Koot-tha twelve kings reigned till 
 cii'ca 1701 A.D. For some years before this the kingdom had been in a very 
 disturbed state and Kyet-tseng near the mouth of the Lemro, Lemro and 
 other places were seized by robber chiefs whose gangs devastated the country. 
 Twon-gnyo, a man of low origin but of strong will, having, more by good luck 
 than by anything else, defeated one of these gangs and gained over the 
 inhabitants of the capital, declared himself king and justified his authority by 
 clearing the country of the dacoits who infested it. He repaired Mahamoonee, 
 Maha-htee and the walls of the city, built himself a new palace, and ravaged 
 the lower part of Bengal with his armies, taking advantage of the disturbances 
 which arose on the accession of Jehandar Shah. He died in 1731 and was 
 succeeded by ten kings all of whom except Narapaya had short reigns. The 
 country was gradually falling into anarchy. In 1775 A.D. one Eng-tswon, 
 a native of Ramree, dethroned the reigning Sovereign Waimala Radza and 
 proclaimed himself king, and, having put down a rebellion which shortly 
 broke out, was succeeded, in 1783 A.D., by his son-in-law Thamada Eadza, 
 the last independent Sovereign of Arakan. 
 
 The following year, when Bhodaw Bhoora was king of Burma, the 
 discontented Arakanese who hated their Ramree ruler invited the Burmans to 
 aid them in dethroning him. A large Burman Force assembled at Prome 
 under three royal Princes and invaded Arakan by three different routes. 
 After some severe fighting the Arakanese army was defeated' near Kyouk-hpyoo 
 and the Burmans advanced on the capital and took possession, meeting with
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 13 
 
 hardly any resistance; the country was annexed and Thamada Radza was 
 carried prisoner to Ava where he shortly afterwards died. 
 
 This acquisition brought the Burmese into contact with the British 
 and disputes soon arose. Large numbers of the inhabitants escaped from the 
 cruelties of the Burmese and settled in Chittagong and other parts of Lower 
 Bengal. Khyeng-byan — who is usually styled King Berring in the official 
 accounts of this period — the son of the man who had invited the Burmese 
 into Arakan, twice raised a revolt and his standard was joined by most of 
 the respectable Arakanese families ; but the rising was finally suppressed and 
 those who could do so escaped to Chittagong. Here Khyeng-byan continued 
 his intrigues till he died in 1815 and the differences which arose in conse- 
 quence between the two Governments and the retaliatory irruptions of the 
 Burmese, who attacked and carried off the East India Company's elephant- 
 hunters, together with the attitude assumed and the demands made by the 
 Burmese Court not only regarding this part of the country but also in con- 
 nection with the northern frontier in Manipur, led eventually to an open 
 rupture. In 1824 war was declared and the Burmese dominions were invaded ; 
 a force under General Morrison moved on Arakan and another under Sir 
 Archibald Campbell operated by way of the valley of the Irrawaddy. On 
 the 2nd February 1825 the first detachment of British troops crossed the 
 Naaf from Chittagong and after a tedious but unopposed march arrived in 
 front of Arakan town on the 28th of the same month, supported by the Flo- 
 tilla under Commodore Hayes which, not altogether without resistance on 
 the part of the Burmese, had proceeded up the Kooladan and through the 
 creeks. The town was found to be strongly fortified, the Burman Comman- 
 der having taken advantage of and added to the old Arakanese entrenchments 
 and erected along the hills a line of stockades. 
 
 The only pass through the hills to the town was at the northern 
 extremity of the line of defence and this was protected by several guns and 
 four thousand muskets: the total garrison was nine thousand men. The 
 ground in front was clear and open and the only cover was a belt of jungle 
 which ran along the base of the hills whilst beyond this again the ground was 
 fully exposed to the enemy's fire. On the morning of the 29th March the 
 storming party, under Brigadier-General McBean, advanced to attack the 
 pass. It consisted of the light company of the 54th Piegiment, four com- 
 panies of the 2nd Kegiment L. I., the light companies of the 10th and 16th 
 M. N. I., and the rifle company of the Mug levy, and was supported by six 
 companies of the IGth Regiment, M. N. I. tinder the well-directed and 
 steady fire of the Burmese and the avalanche of stones which they poured 
 down upon the heads of the troops the British were repulsed, and at last, 
 when Captain French of the IGth Regiment, M. N. I., had been killed and 
 all the remaining officers wounded, the storming party retreated. The plan 
 of attack was then changed and it was determined to attempt to turn the 
 right flank of the Burmese whilst their attention was occupied by an attack 
 on their front. On the 30th March a battery was erected to play upon the 
 works commanding the pass and on the 31st it opened fire. At about eight 
 in the evening a force under Brigadier Richards left the camp: it consisted 
 of six companies of the 44th Regiment, three of the 2Gth and three of the 
 49th Native Infantry, thirty seamen under Lieutenant Armstrong of the 
 Research and thirty dismounted troopers of Gardener's Horse. The hill was
 
 14 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 nearly five hundred feet high and the ascent steep and winding. All remained 
 quiet till shortly after eleven when a shot from the hill shewed that the enemy 
 had discovered the approach of Brigadier Richards^ party. This single shot 
 was followed by a short but sharp fire when the Burmaus turned and the hill 
 was in the possession of the British. The next day a six-pounder was dragged 
 up the hill and fire was opened on the heights commanding the pass whilst 
 at the same time Brigadier Richards moved against it from the position 
 which he had taken the night before and Brigadier McBean along his original 
 line of advance ; the Burmese, after a feeble defence, abandoned all the works 
 and the town. The capture of Arakan ended the war as far as the Arakan 
 Province was concerned; the Burmese troops at once abandoned Ramree and 
 Sandoway and retreated across the mountains into Pegu ; and the steady 
 advance of Sir Archibald Campbell up the valley of the Irrawaddy, driving 
 the Burmese forces before him, prevented any attempt on their part to disturb 
 our possession. This advance ended at Yandaboo where a treaty was signed 
 on the 24th February 1826 by which Arakan and Tenasserim became British 
 territory. 
 
 When, shortly afterwards, the main body of the British troops was 
 withdrawn one regiment was left in Arakan and a local battalion was raised, 
 partly to keep order and partly to repel the incursions of the wild tribes 
 occupying the hills. For several years the country was more or less in a dis- 
 turbed state and within two years the establishment of a native dynasty 
 was plotted for. The leaders were three men named Oung Gyaw-rhee a 
 brother-in-law of Khyeng-byan, Oung Gyaw-tsau, his nephew, both of 
 whom had rendered assistance to the British army and had received 
 appointments under the British Government and Shwe-pan, also a British 
 official, who had escaped or been allowed to return from Ava whither his 
 father had been carried captive. In 1827 attempts were made to tamper with 
 the men of the local battalion; the flame was smothered for a time, Oung 
 Gyaw-rhee and Oung Gyaw-tsan were dismissed for cruelty and malpractices 
 and the latter was sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment for seriously 
 wounding a Police daroga. In 1836 the rebellion broke out but was sup- 
 pressed before it had developed into anything further than a series of dacoities : 
 the instigators believed that the British Government would retire and accept 
 a yearly tribute in lieu of full occupation. Since then the country has 
 remained undisturbed. 
 
 The only town is Akyab, built on low ground at the mouth of the 
 Kooladan river, which in 1826 was an insignificant village, 
 Towns. ^^^ -j^ -^^^Q contained a population of 18,306 souls. It 
 
 is the head-quarters of the Arakan division as well as of the district and con- 
 tains numerous public buildings. The streets are raised, well drained, and 
 except in the native portion of the town, lined with trees. 
 
 Arakan town, now called Mrohoung or " old town," the head-quav- 
 ters of the township of the same name, with about 3,000 inhabitants, is worthy 
 of note as having been at one time the capital of the Arakanese kingdom and 
 strongly fortified. 
 
 Besides these two, Akyab and Mrohoung, the district contains, 
 according to the census of 1872, only one town with 1,000 inhabitants, 70 
 villages with 500 to 1,000, 840 with 200 to 500, and 890 with less than 200, 
 making in all 1,803 towns and villages.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 15 
 
 lu 1831, when the district inchided the present Hill Tracts and a 
 part of what is now the Myaihoon township of Kyouk- 
 Population. hpyoo, the inhabitants numbered 95,098 souls*; the follow- 
 
 ing year the number had risen to 109,045, and thenceforward till 1854 the 
 increase was rapid. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Popiilation. 
 
 
 1832 
 
 1842 
 1852 
 
 109,645 
 130,034 
 201,677 
 
 The special census taken in 1872 shows a population of 
 276,671, hut this includes the floating labouring population, 
 sailors in the port of Akyah, travellers, &c. The figures 
 given for that year are those of the annual population re- 
 turns which include only bond fide inhabitants. 
 
 1862 
 
 227,231 
 
 
 1872 
 
 271,099 
 
 
 1875 
 
 283,160 
 
 
 1876 
 
 284,119 
 
 
 When Arakan was first ceded it was found to be almost depopulated 
 but immigrants soon flocked in, composed mainly of persons who had been 
 driven out by the Burmese or who had escaped during the war and who came 
 back to their homes from Chittagong and other neighbouring districts, and 
 as the country became more settled the immigration increased. About 1838 
 rumours prevailed of an impending attack by the Burmese which somewhat 
 checked the flow, but these soon subsided and in 1840 Lieutenant (now Sir 
 Arthur) Phayre was able to write : — " Numbers of the descendants of those 
 who fled in troublous times from their country and settled in the southern 
 part of Chittagong, the islands off the coast, and even the Sunderbuns of Ben- 
 gal are gradually returning ; and during the north-east monsoon boats filled 
 with men, women, and children, with all their worldly goods, may be seen 
 steering south along the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal to return to the 
 land their fathers abandoned thirty or forty years before. They have told me 
 that in their exile the old men used to speak with regret for its loss of 
 the beauty of their country, the fertility of the laud, which returned a hun- 
 dredfold, the heavy ears of rice, the glory of their kings, the former splendour 
 of the capital, the pagodas, and the famous image of Gaudama,* now carried 
 away, with which the fortunes of the country were indissolubly united. '^ 
 
 After the second Burmese war, when Pegu fell into our hands, the 
 stream was again slightly checked but since 1862, when Arakau, Pegu and 
 Tenasserim were formed into one Government, the population has consider- 
 ably increased. It is clear that those who came were not to any great extent 
 Burmaus for the whole number of that people in 1872 was only 4,632, whilst 
 there is not a single Talaiug, and that, therefore, there was no drain on the 
 indigenous population of the delta of the Irrawaddy or of Upper Burma. 
 
 *NoTE. — A gigantic iruage of brass carried off by the Bunneso to Ava, where it now is, fi-om 
 the sacred Mahamuui temple near old Arakan, the former capital.
 
 IG BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The races represented in the district and their numbers in 1872 were, 
 
 according- to the census : — 
 
 1. Europeans and Americans .. .. .. 150 
 
 2. Eurasians and Indo-Portuguese . . . . . . 184 
 
 3. Chinese .. .. ., .. 264 
 
 4. Afghans . . . . , . . . 8 
 
 5. Hindoos ,. .. .. .. 2,655 
 
 6. Mahomedans of pm-e and mixed blood . . . . 58,255 
 
 7. Burmese .. .. .. .. 4,632 
 
 8. Shans .. .. .. .. 334 
 
 9. Arakanese . . . . . . . . 171,612 
 
 10. Hill Tribes — Khyoungtha, Khwemee, Mro, &c., .. 38'577 
 
 Total .. 276,671 
 
 The Arakanese, who form the major part of the inhabitants, are ^' a 
 section of the Burman nation separated from the parent stock by mountains, 
 which, except towards the southern extremity of the Yoma range, admit of 
 little intercourse from one side to the other ; hence those living in this dis- 
 trict, which adjoins Bengal, have some peculiarities in dialect and manners.'^ 
 Subjects of an independent monarch conquered by the Burmese towards the 
 close of the last century, they have remained distinct from their conquerors, 
 who are represented by only 4,632 souls. They appear to have gradually 
 imbibed " some of the physical as well as the moral and social characteristics 
 of the natives of India, with whom they have been for at least centuries much 
 intermixed. They are darker than the Talaings, and perhaps rather 
 darker than Burmans, and the type of countenance is as much Aryan as Mon- 
 golian. Morally, too, they are I think (writes Colonel Stevenson), more like 
 natives of India than Burmans are, and they appear to be sliding into Indian 
 habits and social usages. They are a coarser, more violent-tempered people 
 than the Burmans, and have more of the pride of race and concomitant indo- 
 lence."" To some extent, more especially among the higher classes, the Indian 
 custom of secluding the females has been adopted and early marriages of girls 
 are now by no means uncommon. 
 
 Of the 58,255 Mahomedans many are men who come down for the 
 working season only from Chittagong and were included in the census returns, 
 but are not, properly speaking, inhabitants of the country. Those who are 
 bond fide residents, though recruited by immigrants from Bengal, are for the 
 most part descendants of slaves captured by the Arakanese and Burmese in their 
 wars with their neighbours. The Arakan kings in former times had possessions 
 all along the coast as far as Chittagong and Dacca and many Mahomedans were 
 sent to Arakan as slaves. Large numbers are said to have been brougl^ by 
 Meng Radza-gyee after his first expedition to Sundeep and the local histories 
 relate that in the ninth century several ships were wrecked on Ramree Island 
 and the Mussulman crews sent to Arakan and placed in villages there. They 
 differ but little from the Arakanese except in their religion and in the social 
 customs which their religion directs ; in writing they use Burmese but 
 amongst themselves employ colloquially the language of their ancestors. 
 
 The Hindoos, that is those who are permanent residents, whose num- 
 bers are to some very slight extent increased yearly by immigration, have been 
 in the country for many generations ; some of them are Manipuri Brahmans 
 brought by the Burmese as astrologers and others, also Brahmans, are descend-
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 17 
 
 ants of colonists from Bengal brought by the Arakan kings. Amongst them 
 are a few * Dams'* whose history is thus related by Sir Arthur Phayre : 
 " The Doms it would appear, were brought from Bengal to act as Phra 
 Kyivon (Bhoora Kywon) or pagoda slaves. It is a strange anomaly in the 
 Booddhist religion (as it prevails in Burma) that the servitors of the temples 
 are invariably outcasts, with whom the rest of the community will hold no 
 intercourse. In Burma Proper pagoda slaves are pardoned convicts or persons 
 condemned to the employment on account of crimes. The kings of Arakan, 
 finding in Bengal a number of degraded castes ready made to their hands, 
 imported them and their families as perpetual and hereditary pagoda slaves. 
 These people, of course, are now released from their compulsory servitude, and 
 have become cultivators, but, in consequence of their former condition, they 
 are regarded by the people with as much disgust as they would be from their 
 low caste by Hindoos.'" 
 
 One noticeable difference between Hindoo and Mussulman immigrants 
 is that the latter intermarry freely with the women of the country who, 
 nominally at least, become Mussulmauis, whilst the former rarely do, as they 
 could not associate and eat with their wives and children without losing caste : 
 one of the results is shown in the paucity of Hindoo children. 
 
 The hill tribes are fully described iu the account of the Hill Tracts 
 and under their tribal names. The Khyoungtha are of the same race as the 
 Arakanese, the name being given to those who inhabit the banks of mountain 
 streams. How they came to be separated so markedly fi'om their country- 
 men does not appear and it is curious that they should remain so and should 
 so steadily prefer the hills where it is so difficult to procure a livelihood to the 
 plains where, comparatively speaking, it is so easy. 
 
 There is a greater disproportion between the sexes in this district 
 than in any other, the males being 53'56 and the females 46*44 per cent, of 
 the population. The difference is greatest amongst the Hindoos, who form 
 0"96 of the whole population, 0"07 only being females and 0*89 males. 
 
 According to ages, there were found to be at the census in 1872 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Not exceeding 1 
 
 year 
 
 
 
 6,847 
 
 6,473 
 
 Above 1 
 
 year 
 
 and under 6 years 
 
 
 
 19,504 
 
 19,302 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 , 12 „ 
 
 
 
 22,068 
 
 20,813 
 
 
 , 12 
 
 
 
 , 20 „ 
 
 
 
 23,116 
 
 22,775 
 
 
 , 20 
 
 
 
 , 30 „ 
 
 
 
 27,411 
 
 21,203 
 
 
 , 30 
 
 
 
 , 40 „ 
 
 
 
 22,707 
 
 16,316 
 
 
 , 40 
 
 
 
 , 50 „ 
 
 
 
 14,103 
 
 10,542 
 
 
 , 60 
 
 
 
 , 60 „ 
 
 
 
 7,115 
 
 6,417 
 
 
 , 60 
 
 
 
 ' •• " 
 
 
 
 5,309 
 
 4,650 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 148,180 
 
 128,491 
 
 * Note.— The Doms are a very low caste of Hindoos, utterly despised, and supposed to have 
 sprung from a Tior father and Baiti mother : iu India they are basket-makers.
 
 18 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 At every age, therefore^ from birth to death the males predominate but it is 
 between the ages of 20 and 50 that the difference in the number of males and 
 of females is greatest and it is accounted for partly by immigration but mainly 
 by the inilux of workers for the rice season who bring few or no women with 
 them. To confirm this view it is only necessary to look at the figures shew- 
 ing the proportion between the sexes of Booddhists, Hindoos and Mahomedans 
 at different ag-es : — 
 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Indigenous population other than Mahomedan, as 
 Booddhist, &o. . . 
 
 113,114 
 
 102,305 
 
 215,419 
 
 Mahomedans 
 
 32,387 
 
 25,876 
 
 58,263 
 
 Hindoos 
 
 2,457 
 
 198 
 
 2,655 
 
 Taken by races^ however, the males do not always exceed the females :- 
 
 (Males from 1 to 6, there are 3,691 
 
 Natives of India — Mahomedans 
 Arabanese — Booddhists . . 
 Europeans— Christians . . 
 Others 
 
 ••\JFemales„ „ „ ,, „ „ 3,746 
 
 . (Males „ „ „ „ „ „ 13,119 
 
 •' {Females ,, „ ,, „ „ „ 13,250 
 
 (Males „ „ „ „ „ „ 8 
 
 •'\Females,, „ „ ,, ,, ,, 12 
 
 (Males „ 6 to 20 „ „ 29 
 
 •• (Females „ „ „ „ ,, „ 33 
 
 The following table gives the distribution of infirmities as affecting the 
 
 population by sexes ; the percentages are calculated on the total number of 
 each sex : — 
 
 Sex. 
 
 Insanes. 
 
 Deaf and dumb. 
 
 Bhnd. 
 
 Lepers. 
 
 
 No. 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 No. 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 No. 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 No. 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Males . . 
 
 220 
 
 015 
 
 296 
 
 0-19 
 
 232 
 
 0-16 
 
 44 
 
 0-03 
 
 Females 
 
 98 
 
 0-85 
 
 145 
 
 0-11 
 
 121 
 
 0-09 
 
 35 
 
 0-03 
 
 The number of persons employed in service or performing personal offices 
 was found to be 97,295 (a far larger number than in any other district in the 
 province), in agriculture and cattle-dealing 44,830, and in mechanical arts, 
 manufactures, &c. 10^111. Of the agriculturists, who form 16-20 per cent, of 
 the whole population, 39,573 were over 20 years old. 
 
 Of manufactures the district has none of any importance. A little salt is 
 made near the Naaf by a mixed process of solar evapora- 
 anu actures. ^^^^ ^^^ boiling but year by year the outturn is decreas- 
 
 ing owing to the cheaper rate at which foreign salt can be sold. Earthen 
 pots are made in Akyab, Kyailet, Mengbra and Rathai-doung and the process 
 is everywhere exceedingly simple : the clay is exposed to tbe weather for one 
 season and in the dry weather pulveriised and mixed with water^ a small
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 19 
 
 proportion of sand being- added ; the pots are moulded by hand, exposed to the 
 sun till dry and then burned, the Vhole process lasting- about twelve days. 
 The manufacture gives employment during the working season to some 700 
 persons all told. 
 
 The staple product of the district is rice and for this the rich and extensive 
 j)lains (the average produce per acre is lbs. 1,300) 
 
 Agriculture. stretching from the foot of the northern hills towards 
 
 the sea-coast are admirably adapted whilst the facilities for reaching Akyab 
 through the numerous anastomosing creeks and the demand for export have 
 greatly encouraged its growth by the ever-increasing population. During the 
 nine years ending with 1875 the acreage under cultivation, excluding touugyas, 
 has been : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 (2 
 
 m 
 O 
 
 i 
 
 M 
 S 
 
 a 
 
 6 
 
 c3 
 
 ID 
 
 +3 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 +3 
 
 a 
 pq 
 
 CD 
 
 a 
 
 CO 
 
 .9 
 '3 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 <D 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 (D 
 > 
 
 a 
 
 JD 
 
 +3 
 
 .id 
 
 O 
 
 1867 
 
 268,014 
 
 35 
 
 20 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 100 
 
 403 
 
 769 
 
 7,443 
 
 1,858 
 
 423 
 
 *10,297 
 
 99 
 
 
 
 1868 
 
 238,438 
 
 34 
 
 44 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 100 
 
 376 
 
 746 
 
 7,468 1,701 
 
 416 
 
 2,447 
 
 148 
 
 7,044 
 
 827 
 
 1869 
 
 244,190 
 
 30 
 
 77 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 JSot 
 given. 
 
 367 
 
 759 
 
 7,581 1,623 
 
 443 
 
 2,008 
 
 113 
 
 8,046 
 
 1,125 
 
 1870 
 
 248,975 
 
 27 
 
 153 
 
 
 1 
 
 do. 
 
 335 
 
 771 
 
 7,471 1,528 
 
 392 
 
 2,195 
 
 101 
 
 7,311 
 
 1,183 
 
 1871 
 
 258,444 
 
 143 
 
 130 
 
 42 
 
 38 
 
 50 
 
 293 
 
 816 
 
 7,398 1,410 
 
 362 
 
 2,051 
 
 109 
 
 7,406 
 
 1,356 
 
 1872 
 
 263,375 
 
 53 
 
 113 
 
 73 
 
 17 
 
 50 
 
 310 
 
 816 
 
 7,470 1,275 
 
 395 
 
 2,130 
 
 100 
 
 7,422 
 
 1,352 
 
 18V3 
 
 260,486 
 
 78 
 
 82 
 
 2 
 
 18 
 
 110 
 
 321 
 
 822 
 
 7,431 
 
 1,385 
 
 477 
 
 3,695 
 
 84 
 
 3,201 
 
 328 
 
 1874 
 
 270,842 
 
 14 
 
 87 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 110 
 
 285 
 
 335 
 
 7,500 
 
 1,367 
 
 
 3,814 
 
 
 7,729 
 
 
 1875 
 
 272,902 
 
 13 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 110 
 
 283 
 
 824 
 
 7,625 
 
 1,355 
 
 463 
 
 2,259 
 
 74 
 
 9,238 
 
 8,9X8 
 
 -x- Includes Mixed products. 
 
 The most noticeable feature in this statement is the sudden decrease 
 in 1868 in the area of rice land, a decrease so great that even in 1871 the 
 recovery was not complete. The causes may be stated in the words of the 
 Commissioner : — ^' Loss of cattle from widely spread and persistent cattle 
 disease during the two previous years has doubtless impoverished a number 
 of people who now cannot afford to cultivate much ; the cyclone of the 
 13th November last (1867) injured much good rice land and added not 
 a little to other losses of the community; and the cholera finally, which 
 prevailed throughout the town and district, has not only carried off many who 
 could and would work, but has put it out of the power of those who can but 
 will not work to obtain the labour necessary to till their lauds. This has 
 hitherto been drawn from Chittagong, but its annual swarms of labourers 
 have not arrived this year for the cultivating season. Large numbers of them 
 fled the country during the prevalence of the epidemic.'" Thus to cattle disease 
 on the one hand and to the sudden loss of hired labour on the other supple- 
 mented by the serious damage done bj'^ the cyclone may be attributed a check 
 to cvdtivation which it took six years to overcome. The high price 
 realized for rice in 1873-74' on account of the scarcity in Bengal so stimulated 
 cultivation that the total area under rice during the following ,year, including 
 rent-free grants and hill clearings, was 286,588 acres whilst the whole culti- 
 vated area was 308,814 acres. The holding of each cultivator averages 8*42 
 acres.
 
 20 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The toungya or hill system of cultivation was formerly followed to a con- 
 siderable extent even in the plains but is giving" place to the better plan of 
 ploughing and harrowing. The toungyas are not, as a rule, measured but the 
 area is estimated at two acres for each cutter. In 1855 the number of workers 
 was 5,355, in 1864, 4,414, and during the nine years ending w 
 
 1867 
 1868 
 1869 
 1870 
 1871 
 1872 
 1873 
 1874 
 1875 
 
 The district is rich in agricultural stock which, notwithstanding the mur- 
 rain that carried off so many head of cattle in 1865, 1866 and 1867, has 
 increased very considerably. In 1867 and 1875 the published official returns 
 give the numbers as follows : — 
 
 3nding 
 
 W] 
 
 th 1875 :— 
 
 . 3,428 
 . . 3,293 
 .. 3,124 
 .. 3,718 
 .. 3,919 
 .. 3,341 
 
 . 3,051 
 .. 3,122 
 . . 2,983 
 
 
 
 ^tS 
 
 
 CO 
 
 Is 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •7- S 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 fl 
 
 
 CD 
 
 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 
 
 !=! 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 oT -^ 
 
 ■u 
 
 
 , 
 
 60 
 
 TO 
 
 
 
 cS 
 
 sa 
 
 ^ 
 
 a 
 
 <D 
 
 
 13 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 rd 
 
 
 ,75 
 
 O 
 
 C3 
 
 
 !>* 
 
 w 
 
 o 
 
 p-< 
 
 CD 
 
 s 
 
 i:l< 
 
 M 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 -X- 
 
 -::- 
 
 
 
 
 "^ Not given. In 
 1869-70, the nuia- 
 
 1867 .. 
 
 82,710 
 
 82,470 
 
 158 
 
 •■ 
 
 
 36,391 
 
 14,159 
 
 3,327 
 
 bers were — sheep 
 and goats 1,981, 
 
 1875 .. 
 
 121,073 
 
 167,431 
 
 271 
 
 8,748 
 
 8,783 
 
 55,353 
 
 14,370 
 
 4,712 
 
 pigs 5,928. 
 
 The large proportion of boats in comparison with carts is due to the nature 
 of the country the tidal creeks which traverse it forming the principal channels 
 of communication. The increase in ploughs and in plough-cattle is remarkable 
 and notably so when compared with the small increase in the number of boats 
 and carts. The carriage of the grain from the interior to Akyab for export is 
 largely in the hands of Chittagouians who bring down their boats after the 
 rains and take them back when the season is over and before the enumeration 
 is made. The rate of wages is on the whole higher than anywhere else 
 unskilled labourers receiving about Es. 5 a week and skilled labourers Es. 14. 
 With the increasing population the agriculture and the revenue have 
 more than kept pace. In 1828 Mr. Paton, the Civil 
 evenues. Officer in charge, calculated that for the ensuing five 
 
 years the revenue which would be derived from the whole of Arakan would 
 not exceed Rs. 2,20,000 per annum whereas in 1831 the assessment in this 
 district alone yielded Rs. 2,40,190 : this was at the rate of two rupees twelve 
 annas per head of population. During the following nine years the amounts 
 realized were : — 
 
 Rs, Rs. 
 
 1832 .. .. 2,48,570 1837 .. .. 3,35,730 
 
 1833 
 
 1834 
 1835 
 1836 
 
 2,80,300 
 3.10,170 
 2,87,020 
 3,26,290 
 
 1838 
 1839 
 1840 
 
 3,80,290 
 3,79,810 
 3,79,700
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 21 
 
 Tn Iftq? the taxes on forest produce, huts, boats, houses, sugar-presses, 
 handicrrJenlcrX^^ prevailed as pa^^t of the ancient -e-e sy^^^^^^^^ 
 force when we took the country were abohshed and ^^- ^^f^^V. 1 ' fi the 
 the figures given above show how little the revenue suffered. I^ l^/J^ ^J^^ 
 amount denved from this district was Rs 10 0^70, m 1862 Rs.14,20,430, 
 in 1872 Rs. 19/24,627 and in 1875 Rs. 20,83,69J. 
 
 w 
 
 Pm 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 rS 
 
 
 
 » a.2 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Custom 
 ing fi 
 fiscal 
 
 
 
 
 1862 
 1875 
 
 Increase 
 
 Bs. I Rs. I Ks. I Rs. 
 5,73,350 12,73,2601 95,920 
 
 5,94,656 2,83,594 1,57,734 
 
 21,306 10,334 61,814 
 
 Rs. 
 
 4,04,490 
 
 5,822 7,00,062 
 
 Rs. I Rs. 
 
 73,410 1 14,20,430 
 
 1,63,669 10,05,537 
 
 5 822 4,04,490 73,410 4,85,107 
 
 Tke amount received by the State a. land revenue and the area worked, 
 divided into their main heads, were :— 
 
 -'^'C/ el^XT r wwKaS h^:! .ale. bet^e. - and CO y^ 
 
 of age except those living in Akyab town 7lY«,?IarinSArtror persons 
 
 houses in lieu and persons ^f ^ "y -/»£ ™*;:/' "u^ &c., 
 
 en»oged in education or devoted to the peiloimance oi „ 
 
 was hr 1875 assessed on 70,040 souls and yielded Rs. 2,83,5J1 
 
 over four rupees a head of those t^^J^^^^'J. ^ j^ ^.u iatoricating 
 
 not only here but in the neighbouring Chittagong distuct ot licu^ai.
 
 22 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The tax ou fisheries and fisliing nets was first imposed in 1864-65 and in 
 that year yielded Rs. 6,820. 
 
 The increase in receipts from Customs is entirely due to increased trade. 
 In the following table are shewn, year by year, the receipts for the last 21 
 years : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Amount, 
 
 Year. 
 
 Amount. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Amount. 
 
 
 Es. 
 
 
 Es. 
 
 
 Es. 
 
 1855-56 .. 
 
 1,81,590 
 
 1862-63 . . 
 
 4,04,490 
 
 1869-70 . . 
 
 2,97,860 
 
 1856-57 .. 
 
 86,470 
 
 1863-64 . . 
 
 4,92,080 
 
 1870-71 . . 
 
 6,78,030 
 
 1857-58 . . 
 
 1,46,850 
 
 1864-65 . . 
 
 4,09,220 
 
 1871-72 . . 
 
 5,26,530 
 
 1858-59 . . 
 
 1,25,090 
 
 1865-66 . . 
 
 3,77,850 
 
 1872-73 . . 
 
 8,81,610 
 
 1859-60 .. 
 
 2,30,830 
 
 1866-67 . . 
 
 2,93,870 
 
 1873-74 . . 
 
 7,05,940 
 
 1860-61 . . 
 
 4,31,650 
 
 1867-68 . . 
 
 4,42,720 
 
 1874-75 . . 
 
 6,34,946 
 
 1861-62 . . 
 
 3,60,120 
 
 1868-69 . . 
 
 5,49,560 
 
 1875-76 . . 
 
 7,00,062 
 
 The fluctuations are considerable and are due partly to chang-es in the rates of 
 duty and partly to the state of trade and not unfrequently to the shipments 
 falling- mainly before or after the close of the financial year. The rapid 
 falling-off from 1863 to 1866, when the tide turned, was due to the 
 state of the rice trade. In 1863-64 there was a sudden inflation owing 
 to an increased demand for rice in the ports to the eastward of the province 
 the result of scarcity in China; in the following year the exports fell, in 1865 
 they fell still lower, and in 1866 fell very considerably but rose again with 
 great rapidity in 1867. During this period there had not only been great 
 stagnation in the home markets but the Siamese ports had been thrown 
 open and in 1866 the returns were made up for 11 months only owing to a 
 change in the financial year — a change which took place during the rice 
 shipping season. The next great fluctuation was in 1869 and this was 
 caused by shippers holding back in expectation of a reduction in, if not the 
 total abolition of, the export duty on rice (which was eventually lowered by 
 about 33 per cent.) ; the result of this holding back is seen in the increased 
 duty realized in the following year notwithstanding the great reduction in 
 the duty. 
 
 The gross revenue collected in the district, exclusive of municipal and local 
 funds, during each of the last nine years was : — 
 
 1867 
 
 . Es. 
 
 14,89,312 
 
 1872 
 
 .. Es. 
 
 19.24,647 
 
 1868 
 
 • )) 
 
 15,70,464 
 
 1873 
 
 
 18,18,769 
 
 1869 
 
 • )) 
 
 13,10,233 
 
 1874 
 
 
 17,87,858 
 
 1870 
 
 • )> 
 
 17,00,770 
 
 1875 
 
 
 20,83,693 
 
 1871 
 
 • >> 
 
 15,36,717 
 
 

 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 23 
 
 Deducting from these figures the Customs dues which have been shewn to 
 fluctuate greatly the revenues were — 
 
 1867 
 
 . Rs. 10,46,592 
 
 1872 
 
 .. Rs, 10,43,087 
 
 1868 
 
 .. „ 10,20,904 
 
 1873 
 
 .. „ 11,12,829 
 
 1869 
 
 .. „ 10,12,373 
 
 1874 
 
 .. „ 11,42,922 
 
 1870 
 
 . „ 10,22,740 
 
 1875 
 
 .. „ 13,83,631 
 
 1871 
 
 .. „ 10,10,187 
 
 
 
 Deducting from the gross revenues the expenditure on administration — 
 that is the cost of civil offices of all kinds (and the establishment for the 
 control of the whole of the Arakan Division is included) — the balances avail- 
 able for the general purposes of the State were :— 
 
 Year. 
 
 Gross revenue. 
 
 Cost of 
 Administration. 
 
 Balance. 
 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 
 1867 
 
 14,89,312 
 
 4,28,817 
 
 10,60,495 
 
 
 1868 
 
 15,70,464 
 
 3,00,869 
 
 12,69,595 
 
 
 1869 
 
 13,10,233 
 
 2,82,393 
 
 11,27,841 
 
 
 1870 
 
 17,00,770 
 
 3,01,355 
 
 13,99,415 
 
 
 1871 
 
 15,35,717 
 
 2,47,697 
 
 12,88,020 
 
 
 1872 
 
 19,24,647 
 
 2,09,356 
 
 17,15,291 
 
 
 1873 
 
 18,18,769 
 
 3,21,828 
 
 14,96,941 
 
 
 1874 
 1875 
 
 17,87,358 
 20,83,693 
 
 3,20,813 
 3,21,459 
 
 14,67,045 
 17,62,134 
 
 Average per annum, 
 Rs. 13,73,732. 
 
 The local revenues increased with the Imperial. In 1857 the Ferry Fund 
 alone had a balance of Rs. 157,860 ; this was amalgamated with the general 
 Bengal Ferry Fund allotments being made to the district according to its 
 stated requirements but on the formation of the province in l^QH Bengal no 
 longer received any contributions from Arakan and did not return the balance, 
 if there was any. In 1873-74, 1874-75 and 1875-76, the revenues derived 
 from local sources were — 
 
 Port Fnnd . . 
 Mnnicipal Fund 
 Bazaar Fund 
 Dispensary Fund 
 Land Sale and Rent Fund 
 Five per Cent. Cess Fund 
 District Fund 
 
 Total 
 Add Revenue collected by the Municipality 
 
 Grand Total 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1873-74, 
 
 1874-75. 
 
 1875-76. 
 
 46,313 
 
 43,212 
 
 47,013 
 
 22,849 
 
 ^ , 
 
 . , 
 
 3,480 
 
 1,235 
 
 2,007 
 
 1,287 
 
 1,640 
 
 1,899 
 
 194 
 
 159 
 
 176 
 
 43,314 
 
 33,974 
 
 64,639 
 
 7,391 
 
 7,859 
 
 10,097 
 
 Rs. 1,24,828 
 
 88,079 
 26,172 
 
 1,15,931 
 
 44,480 
 
 „ 1,24,828 
 
 1,14,251 1,60,411
 
 24 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER, 
 
 The trade of the district is mainly confined to Akyab. Before the British 
 occupation large sea-going- boats from Mrohoung 
 ■^^'^'^®' visited the ports of Bengal and brought away numer- 
 
 ous articles of British manufacture such as muslins, woollens, cutlery, piece-goods, 
 glass and crockery with which every town and village was fairly supplied, whilst 
 a small trade was carried on with the other Burman ports to the eastward. The 
 establishment of the British Government, resulting in the removal of the 
 vexatious restrictions on trade imposed by the Burmese, was the signal for 
 English ships to visit Akyab for the rice which the surrounding country pro- 
 duced in larger quantities year by year, bringing in return piece-goods, 
 tobacco and other articles. To rice was subsequently added timber for sleepers 
 for the Indian railways (but for a short period only) hides, horns and but 
 little else, the rice trade occupying by far the larger number of ships frequent- 
 ing the port. 
 
 From October 1830 to April 1831 — that is during the shipping season — 
 140 square-rigged vessels cleared out carrying cargoes valued at Rs, 73,780. 
 In 1833 the number of such vessels had increased to 178 and the value of 
 their cargoes to Rs. 93,810. The trade from 1855-56 to 1875-76 is shewn 
 in the following table, that of each of the first ten and of the last three years 
 being given separately : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 1 
 
 X 
 
 a 
 'S 
 
 •s 
 
 > 
 
 S3 
 
 > 
 
 Value of all other ex- 
 ports, including trea- 
 sure. 
 
 60 
 
 a 
 
 .3 ^ 
 §^ 
 
 ■s 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 Tonnage of vessels 
 cleared out. 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 1855-56 
 
 1,06,76,040 
 
 2,910 
 
 3,00,010 
 
 77,88,450 
 
 1,93,512 
 
 1856-57 
 
 29,88,580 
 
 6,210 
 
 13,07,770 
 
 47,55,470 
 
 91,472 
 
 1857-58 
 
 61,08,930 
 
 2,000 
 
 21,34,340 
 
 51,39,580 
 
 1,7,0635 
 
 1858-59 
 
 28,19,710 
 
 470 
 
 11,24,800 
 
 34,76,650 
 
 1,17,528 
 
 1859-60 
 
 27,93,570 
 
 3,220 
 
 12,60,110 
 
 48,33,670 
 
 69,878 
 
 1860-61 
 
 45,54,850 
 
 150 
 
 4,46,650 
 
 29,16,670 
 
 1,21,719 
 
 1861-62 
 
 35,12,850 
 
 4,900 
 
 10,83,780 
 
 56,27,490 
 
 1,14,696 
 
 1862-63 
 
 39,51,660 
 
 2,790 
 
 10,64,180 
 
 51,72,340 
 
 1,15,975 
 
 1863-64 
 
 48,37,240 
 
 19,820 
 
 15,56,260 
 
 57,72,140 
 
 1,55,973 
 
 1873-74 
 
 72,76,010 
 
 6,920 
 
 28,31,280 
 
 91,04,970 
 
 1,93,444 
 
 1874-75 
 
 59,46,850 
 
 20,430 
 
 23,05,970 
 
 64,20,090 
 
 1,79,260 
 
 1875-76 
 
 45,53,920 
 
 16,120 
 
 17,43,200 
 
 41,01,810 
 
 1,94,470
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 25 
 
 The rice is exported to India and to foreign countries. In the calendar 
 year 1871 the exports to Europe were 113,047 tons; in 1872 they were 
 141,634 tons; in 1873, when there was a great demand for Bengal and the 
 Madras coast 123,452; in 1874 141,280 tons; and in 1875 136,247 tons. 
 The timber, which consists of ironwood, goes to Chittagong for house 
 posts and to Bengal for railway sleepers. Cutch goes mainly to Chittagong 
 and is brought into the country across the Arakan Romas from Upper Burma 
 and the hill districts. Gunnybags come in from Calcutta empty to be re- 
 exported filled with rice when their numbers and value are not entered in 
 the returns. The trade in piecegoods is with the Indian and provincial ports 
 and is carried on almost exclusively by native merchants. Tobacco was and 
 indeed still is imported in quantities but the trade is falling off and little 
 found in the market outside Akyab. It is a branch of trade which may 
 very possibly become largely developed as the tobacco grown in the Hill 
 Tracts has been favourably reported on and is found to contain important 
 constituents in amount closely resembling those in the most favourite 
 tobaccos of European smokers— the Havanna and Manilla tobaccos of the 
 English market. A small quantity of very fair cotton, the produce of the 
 Hill Tracts, is exported to Chittagong but the native looms are chiefly 
 supplied with Manchester thread. 
 
 The number and gross tonnage of the ships which cleared out during each 
 of the last three years were : — 
 
 
 1873-74. 
 
 L874-75. 
 
 1875-76. 
 
 Class. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Number. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Number. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Number. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 British 
 
 158 
 
 110,998 
 
 166 
 
 112,819 
 
 173 
 
 108,731 
 
 Foreign 
 
 95 
 
 61,024 
 
 62 
 
 43,317 
 
 94 
 
 63,362 
 
 Asiatic 
 
 316 
 
 21,422 
 
 347 
 
 23,127 
 
 318 
 
 22,376 
 
 Total 
 
 569 
 
 193,444 
 
 575 
 
 179,263 
 
 585 
 
 194,469 
 
 When Arakan was ceded to the British in 1826 by the treaty of Yandaboo 
 Administration. ^^ ^^^^ found that the Burmese Government had divided 
 
 the country into governorships of which Akyab formed 
 one with its head-quarters at Arakan town, the capital of the former Arakan king- 
 dom which had been conquered and annexed to the Burmese dominions towards 
 the end of the eighteenth century. The system adopted by the English Gov- 
 ernment for the management of the country is thus described by Lieutenant 
 (now Sir Artlmr) Phayre, who was for many years in civil employ in Arakan 
 and subsequently Chief Commissioner of the province : — ^''Arakan (that is the 
 Akyab district to which this name is, properly speaking, restricted) is divided 
 into 160 circles, of which 148 are denominated lajwti \]iywo)i\ or islands, being 
 situated in the lowlands, and 12 arc culled khi/ouiKj or streams being in the hill 
 districts. They contain a total of 960 villages. Each of these circles is
 
 26 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 placed auder au officer designated Kywn-aoj) [Kyivon-oop] (this is pronounced as 
 one syllable, Kijok) ; or Khyoung-aop, accordiug- to the locality of his 
 charge. The duties ofaKyivn-aop [Kywon-ooj)'] are to collect the revenue, to 
 preserve order in his circle, and to assist the police in the apprehension of 
 criminals ; through him are made all statistical inquiries, and to him are 
 referred many disputes concerning land ; he is paid 15 per cent, upon his col- 
 lections. In each circle there are from three or four to 15 or 20 villages ; the 
 revenue collected by the different 7i'?/?t;7i-rtops [Kywon-oap'] varies from Rs. 200 
 to Rs. 10,000. This great difference results from the rapid increase within a 
 few years of some circles compared with others, consequent on superiority or 
 fertility of soil, more convenient locality for exporting grain, and other causes. 
 The office oiKyivn-aop [Kywon-oop] is not hereditary, but the son of any man 
 who has rendered essential services generally succeeds on his father's demise. 
 Next to the /^?/^(77^-f?op [^Kyivon-oop] is the Eawa-f/oung [Rwa-gouny], or \i]]Age 
 head. This officer is elected by the villagers themselves ; if there are two or 
 more candidates for the appointment, the villagers meet and sign their names 
 to a document containing the name of him whom they vote for ; these lists 
 are then forwarded by the Kyivn-aop [Kyivon-ooy] to the officer in charge of 
 the district (called Myo-icon), who appoints him that has a majority of votes, 
 unless, indeed, there be some good reason for rejecting him. . . The Rawa- 
 gonng [Rwa-goimg'] collects the revenue of his village and delivers it to the 
 Kywn-aop \Kyivon-oop']^ who carries it to the Government treasury. He is 
 paid four per cent, on his collections. A village of 30 houses is entitled to a 
 Rawa-goiing IRiva-goung], that is, to a stipendiary one. If a village has less 
 than that number of houses they pay their tax to a neighbouring Goung ; but 
 if the villagers, as frequently happens, dislike this arrangement and elect a 
 Goung of their own, the proceeding is confirmed, but they must pay him them- 
 selves. Their object then is to induce settlers to come among them, whereby 
 their village maybe raised to the privileged standard of 30 houses. Under 
 the orders of the Rawa-goung [Riva-goung] is the Raica-tsarc [Rwa-tsare'], 
 or village scribe. He is paid two per cent, on the village collections. The 
 appointment is usually held by the son or by some relation of the Raiva- 
 goimg [Rwa-goKng']. His duties are to prepare, under the orders of the Goung, 
 the village Sarang {Tsareng), or register, containing the name of each house- 
 holder in the village, with the amount of tax demaudable from him upon each 
 item. 
 
 ''There are no agents of police in the village, the village officers being 
 held responsible for the preservation of order and the seizure of criminals. 
 
 " Throughout the district there are six police stations, at which the police 
 ordinarily remain until information being given by a village officer or other 
 person of any occurrence requiring their presence, they proceed to the spot : 
 nearly all communication in the district is carried on by water. 
 
 *' The European functionary in charge is styled a Senior Assistant to the 
 Commissioner of Arakan (by the people, Myowon). To conduct all revenue 
 affiiirs there is an officer styled Myo-tkoogycc, whose office under the Arakan 
 and Burman Governments was considered the most important in the country. 
 He then apportioned to each the amount of revenue demanded by the Govern- 
 ment ; his duty now is, under the orders of the Senior Assistant, to superintend 
 all the Kywn-aops [Kywon-oop'] , and to inspect and report upon the annual 
 registers of their circles : the office still carries with it a great deal of impor-
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 27 
 
 tauce ill the minJs of the people. This officer is paid a fixed salary, and 
 resides at the chief town of the district/^ 
 
 The existing system of administration is but a development of that first 
 adopted. The office of Kyioon-oop (now called Thoog-yees) still exists but the 
 incumbents have no longer regular police duties and are paid by a much smaller 
 percentage on their collections, the Goungs are village police officers appointed 
 by the Government who receive a fixed salary and have little or nothing to do 
 with the Eevenue, and a regular police force has been established. The district 
 has been divided into townships over each of which, except Akyab Avhich is 
 undera European Magistrate, is placed a Native Extra Assistant Commissioner 
 with revenue, civil and criminal powers. Of these townships there are eight. 
 The Kooladan in the valley of the river of the same name is the most 
 northern and adjoins the Hill Tracts. It is divided into eight revenue 
 circles and contains no large towns and but little cultivation : the 
 Extra Assistant Commissioner in charge holds his Court at a village on 
 the right bank of the river not far from the celebrated Mahamoonee temple. 
 South and east of the Kooladan township is the Old Arakan or Mrohouug 
 township which is divided into 21 revenue circles with the head-quarters 
 at Arakan : in this township is situated the temple of Maha-htee. On the 
 other or western side of the Kooladan is the Ooreetoung West township 
 extending down nearly to Akyab, divided into 19 revenue circles. The 
 Raithaidoung township adjoins Chittagong on the north and Ooreetoung 
 West on the east whilst on the south it touches the coast and occuj)ies the 
 country on both banks oftheMayoo; it is divided into 21 circles and the 
 head-quarters are at Rathaidoung on the Mayoo river. The Naaf, known to 
 the Arakanese as Anouk-gnay, occupies the country between the Mayoo hills 
 and the Naaf from the sea-coast northwards and is divided into 11 circles. The 
 Ooreetoung East township is south of Mrohouug and extends along the sea- 
 coast below Akyab: it is divided into 17 circles and includes the Borongo 
 islands. Meugbra extends from the Ooreetoung East township to Kyouk-hpyoo 
 and the Arakan Roma mountains and is bounded on the south by the sea ; it is 
 divided into 19 circles. Lastly Kyailet, containing 18 circles, occupies the 
 small tract of country round the town of Akyab. 
 
 The officers now entrusted with the administration of the country 
 in all its branches, exclusive of Thoogyces or Kywon-oop and the Gouuf/s 
 and Kyedangyees (who hold much the same position that the Goungs formerly 
 held but in lieu of salary are excused the payment of capitation-tax) are a 
 Deputy Commissioner, an Assistant Commissioner, a Magistrate for the 
 island and town of Akyab, eight Extra Assistant Commissioners, an 
 Akhwonwon who holds the place of the Myo-thoogyee alluded to above, 
 a Superintendent of Police, a Civil Surgeon who is in charge of the Gaol, an 
 Executive Engineer, a Collector of Customs, a Master Attendant, a Deputy 
 Inspector of Schools, a Superintendent of the Telegraph Department and 
 a Post Master. The Deputy Commissioner and the Assistant and Extra 
 Assistant Commissioners are the Judges, Magistrates and Revenue ofiicials 
 for the whole of the district each within his own territorial limits, the 
 jurisdiction of the Magistrate extending over Akyab Island within which 
 the other officers have no criminal judicial authority. The " Tarama-thoo- 
 gyee,'^ now called an Extra Assistant Commissioner and stationed in Akyab, 
 has civil jurisdiction over Akyab Island and is Judge of the Court of Small
 
 28 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Causes with final jnrisdiction up to Rs. 100. The town of Akyab was formed 
 into a Municipality in 1874, and a Municipal Committee was appointed 
 which deals with the local revenues and expenditure. 
 
 The police force, which was raised in 1861, is a portion of the g^eneral 
 police force of the province under the Inspector-General in Rangoon and, as 
 far as this district is concerned, replaces the old local police and the local 
 battalion. The strength has varied at different times: in 1875 it consisted 
 of a District Superintendent, 32 subordinate officers and 419 men, who cost 
 Rs. 93,799. For several years the Police were to a large extent engaged 
 in repelling attacks of, and in following up, marauding parties from amongst 
 the hill tribes in the north but since the Hill Tracts have been separated from 
 this district their duties have lain more entirely in preventing and detecting 
 local crime, amongst which murders and gang robberies at one time filled an 
 important place. 
 
 The Gaol in Akyab is under the charge of the Civil Surgeon and consists of 
 wooden buildings raised from the ground and surrounded by a wall. A new 
 wall is being built round what has hitherto been the work-yard, and new Gaol 
 buildings will be constructed within it, the site of the existing prison being 
 used for work-sheds. The difficulty in obtaining and the expense of employ- 
 iuo" hired labour, together with the absolute necessity for making roads and 
 drains, filling up swamps, and, generally, laying out and keeping in order the 
 town of Akyab led to the prisoners confined in this Gaol being to a very great 
 extent employed in out-door labour, but gradually in-door labour has been 
 introduced with, as regards the prison, very satisfactory results. In 1855 the 
 average cost of each prisoner was Rs. 111-12; in 1857 it had fallen to 
 Es. 79-12 and in 1859 to Es. 60-8. In 1875 the gross cost was Es. 52-14 and 
 owing to the value of the Gaol labour the nett cost was only Rs. 24-9, exclud- 
 ing the cost of the new buildings. The works on which the prisoners are 
 employed are stone-breaking, coir-pounding, spinning jute and weaving the 
 twist into bags, cotton-spinning and hand-weaving, pounding bricks, making 
 coir-mats, rugs and ropes, and carpentry and smiths' work ; timber- sawing was 
 introduced in 1875. The gross earnings during 1875 were Es. 14,298 
 and the cost of materials having been Rs. 5,630 the nett amount paid into 
 the Government treasury was Rs. 8,668. The whole cost of the Gaol was 
 Es. 16,770 so that more than a third was defrayed from profits. In 
 1873 Carolina rice-seed was sown in the garden and produced lbs. 115 for 
 every pound of seed sown. The average number of prisoners in confinement — 
 some of whom were ti-ansferred from Kyouk-hpyoo and Sandoway, as this prison 
 is a divisional one, during each of the last nine years was : — 
 
 1867 
 
 .. 295 
 
 1868 
 
 .. 367 
 
 1869 
 
 .. 471 
 
 1870 
 
 .. 490 
 
 1871 
 
 .. 861 
 
 1872 
 
 .. 332 
 
 1873 
 
 .. 369 
 
 1874 
 
 .. 334 
 
 1875 
 
 .. 330 
 
 The hospital and charitable dispensary in Akyab consist of two lai'ge blocks 
 of buildings raised from the ground on piles, with a covered way running 
 between them, one for Europeans and the other for natives, the latter built 
 many years ago. An entirely new building is in course of erection. The num- 
 ber of patients treated during the last seven years was : —
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 Patiknts. 
 
 
 
 Years. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 In. 
 
 Out. 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 1869 
 
 .. 
 
 .. 
 
 2,012 
 
 
 1870 
 
 579 
 
 1,564 
 
 2,143 
 
 
 1871 
 
 298 
 
 1,389 
 
 1,687 
 
 
 1872 
 
 398 
 
 1,893 
 
 2,291 
 
 
 1873 
 
 461 
 
 2,280 
 
 2,741 
 
 
 1874 
 
 560 
 
 1,890 
 
 2,450 
 
 
 1875 
 
 374 
 
 1,993 
 
 2,367 
 
 
 In 1871 a lock hospital was completed. 
 
 For many years education in this district was left very much to itself^ as it 
 had been left in the Burman time ; in 1846 a Government school was established 
 in Akyab aiid placed under the Director of Public Instruction in Bengal ; but 
 in 1857 it was withdrawn from him and placed under the control of the local 
 authorities. Of late years, since the formation of an Education Department 
 in the province, this school has had more attention paid to it : a new school- 
 house has been built for it, and in 1875 it was raised to the position of a 
 High School : the average number of pupils who attended daily in that year 
 was 224. In 1873 a cess school, that is one the cost of which is defrayed 
 from the five per cent, local cess fund, was opened at Moungdoo, in the Naaf 
 township, which at the end of the year had 20 pupils on its rolls, and at the 
 end of 1875, 43. This school affords a good example of the craving of parents 
 for the instruction of their children in English to enable them to obtain 
 employment as clerks in the Government service and in merchants' offices and 
 of their disregard of education for its own sake. The Director of Public In- 
 struction in his report for 1875 quotes the following extract from the remarks 
 of the Deputy Inspector of Schools : — " This school under Moung Tha Doon 
 Oung, the vernacular teacher, made a very good commencement but after- 
 wards dwindled away — parents wanted education in English, they did not 
 cai'e much for the vernacular. At last there were only four or five boys in 
 the school Avhen Moung Shwe Oo, a teacher from the Akyab High School, 
 was sent to Moungdoo on the 20th July 1875. Then it was that the boys 
 
 re-entered, and now the school has 43 boys on the rolls. Tlie 
 
 parents of the boys have expressed a wish for another teacher of English, and 
 they would like the present Vernacular to be removed. They do not wish 
 
 for any vernacular education " In 1874 another cess 
 
 school was opened at INlrohoung. 
 
 The endeavours to make use of the existing indigenous lay and monastic 
 schools for the purposes of general education and to bring them to some extent 
 under control have not been extraordinarily successful. In 1875 120 lay and
 
 30 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 monastic schools submitted to the examination of their pupils; the lay 
 schools alone did not come up to the standards — necessarily low — fixed by 
 the Education Department : pupils passed the examination in 43 monastic 
 but iu only three lay schools ; iu these latter out of the 15 prize -winners seven 
 were o-irls.. The census of 1872 showed that, as regards mere reading and 
 writing, the Mahomedans and Booddhists— that is by far the larger proportion 
 of the inhabitants — were farther advanced than almost anywhere else in 
 the province. Of those of these religions of 20 years of age and 
 upwards 11,589 Mahomedan males out of 22,979, 31,938 Booddhist males out 
 of 64,54-9, 1,543 Mahomedan females and 3,275 Booddhist females could read 
 and write. 
 
 Outside the island of Akyab the numerous inosculating creeks which traverse 
 the low country in every direction and unite the 
 
 Communications. streams flowing down from the hills to the sea form 
 
 the principal highways. An unmetalled fair-weather road, extending for 20 
 miles from Mrohouug to Mcngbra, has lately been made and a road from 
 Moung-daw in the Naaf township to Akyab, a distance of 65 miles, which 
 will unite this town with the Chittagong division, is under construction, 
 and the first section, ten and half miles out of Akyab, has been completed. 
 
 AKYAW. — A revenue circle in the Douabyoo township of the Thoon- 
 khwa district, on the right bank of the Irrawaddy and some distance inland, 
 more cultivated in the north than towards the south where there is a good 
 deal of tree-forest of which a large portion is suitable only for firewood. 
 The inhabitants are principally traders, fishermen and rice-cultivators. The 
 land revenue in 1874-75 amounted to Rs. 2,990 and the capitation-tax in 
 1875-76 to Rs. 1,800. This circle has lately been placed under the Kyoon- 
 tanee Thoogyee. 
 
 AKYAW. — A village in the Thoon-khwa district about four miles to the 
 west of the Irrawaddy with a brick-laid road running through it, containing 
 a population of some 600 souls. The inhabitants are principally Talaings. 
 
 A-L A-BH WOT. — A lake in the northern portion of the Rangoon district, 
 on the right bank of the Hlaing river with which it communicates. In the 
 dry weather it has a depth of about 10 feet. 
 
 ALAY-BOUK. — A creek in the Alay-kywon, at the entrance to the 
 Bassein river, about 100 feet wide and admitting boats of 200 baskets burden 
 at all times. 
 
 ALAY-KHYOUNG.— A village of about 50 houses in 18° 57' 50" 
 N. and 95° 1' 20" E.,in the Htangoiik revenue circle, Kama township, Thayet 
 district on the Pyagyee a little mountain torrent which flows down from 
 the Tswotpoung spur to the Made river. 
 
 ALAY-KHYOUNG. — A revenue circle with an area of 25 square miles 
 occupying the extreme north of the Ramree township of the Kyouk-hpyoo 
 district with about 1,600 inhabitants. Salt is made here to some extent. The 
 land revenue iu 1874-75 was Rs. 1,130 and the capitation-tax in 1875 Rs. 2,010. 
 
 ALAY-KYWON. — A revenue circle in the Ngapootaw township, Bassein 
 district, with an estimated area of 65 square miles, occupying the central 
 portion of the island, or rather mass of islands, which lie in the Bassein 
 river between the Bassein and the Thek-kay-thoung mouths, the northern
 
 ^U'J 
 
 ALGUADA REEF LIGHT-HOUSE.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 81 
 
 and southern boundaries being formed by the Lwougan and the Hnget-kywuo 
 creeks which flow between them. The country is flat and covered with 
 jung-le but low sand-hillocks appear to the south-west of Thek-kay-thoung 
 village. Intersected by numerous anastomosing channels communication 
 is usually carried on by water and the roads are little else than footpaths. 
 The principal villages are Thek-kay-thoung and Oon-khyoung, close together 
 on the bank of the Thek-kay-thoung, which together contain a population of 
 some 1,000 souls. The inhabitants, who are principally Talaings, are mainly 
 employed in salt making and in fishing. The land revenue in 1875-76 
 amounted to Rs. 2,503, the capitation-tax in 1876 to Rs. 3,517, the local 
 funds revenue to Rs. 200, the gross revenue to Rs. 8,159, and the popula- 
 tion to 1,893 souls. 
 
 ALAY-KYWON. — The north-western revenue circle of the Mye-boon 
 township of the Kyouk-hpyoo district, covering an area of about 27 square 
 miles and lying on the northern coast of Hunter's Bay and west of the Kyat- 
 tseug, one of the numerous mouths of the Lemro river. In 1875 the popu- 
 lation numbered 1,084 souls, the land revenue was Rs. 4,660 and the capitation- 
 tax Rs. 1,880. 
 
 ALEE-RWA. — A village in the Gnyouug-le-beng circle of the Shwe- 
 gyeng township, Shwe-gyeng district, to the west of the Tsittouug river, with 
 about 650 inhabitants. 
 
 ALGUADA.'^ — A dangerous reef of rocks in the Bay of Bengal, bearing 
 from Diamond Island, S.S.W. 3i leagues, level with the surface of the sea and 
 extending north and south about 1| miles with outlying and detached rocks 
 at a considerable distance from it. The reef now carries a light-house, 
 standing in 15° 42' N. lat. and 94° ll'lO" E. long., 144 feet high and 
 built of granite masonry in alternate black and white bands which was com- 
 menced in February 1801 and finished in April 1865 and thus took nearly five 
 years to build, besides two years of preparation. Considering the difficulty of 
 procuring proper labour and the distance it was necessary to go to obtain 
 suitable materials (the stone was brought from an island on the coast of 
 Tenasserim) this light-house does not compare unfavourably with others of a 
 similar type such as the Skerry Vohr and the Bell Rock. It bears a first order 
 catadioptric light revolving once in a minute and visible 20 miles. 
 
 ALLAN-MYO.— A town in the Thayet district, situated in 19° 22' 50" 
 N. latitude and 95° 17' 20" E. longitude on the left bank of the Irrawaddy close 
 to the old Burman town of Myedai. During the second Burmese war when the 
 fort at Myedai was occupied by British troops a native village sprang up 
 close to it on the opposite or south bank of the Kyc-nee stream which 
 here enters the Irrawaddy. The situation being a favourable one as the 
 outlet of the produce of a large tract of country on the cast of the river the 
 village rapidly rose into a town which has of late years been much improved 
 and extended. A market has been built and an Assistant Commissioner who is 
 also ex-ojficio Assistant Collector of Customs has been stationed here. The 
 population in 1872 amounted to 0,607 souls. The town was named after Major 
 Allan of the Madras Quartermastcr-Gencrars Department who demarcated the 
 
 * The reef is known to the Bmmans as Nagarit Kijotik but to all others by its Portuguese 
 name Ahjuadn.
 
 32 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 frontier line. The name was readily adopted by the Burmese, whose word for flag 
 (" Alan") has much the same sound except that the emphasis is placed on the last 
 syllable^ as it was the most advanced post at which the British flag was hoisted. 
 ALO-DAW-RA. — A revenue circle in the Prome district on the North 
 Naweug river which now contains four of the old village tracts. In 1876-77 
 the land revenue amounted to Rs. 2,759, the capitation-tax to Es, 3,573, and 
 the gross revenue to Es. 6,924. In 1876 the inhabitants numbered 5^476. 
 
 ALO-DAW-EA. — A village in the Prome district on the North Naweng 
 river seven miles in a direct line from its junction with the South Naweng 
 and 19 miles north-east of Prome. A small body of Police is quartered in this 
 village. 
 
 ALOON. — A little river in the Henzada district which rises in the Ara- 
 kan Roma mountains and flowing through a narrow valley, of which the 
 Tagoung-gyee spur^ the northern boundary of the district in that direction, 
 forms the northern Avatershed, falls into the Tshanda near Bhet-rai after a 
 course of about 25 miles^ at first to the north-east then east and for the last 
 few miles south. The lower part of its course is rocky and boats cannot 
 ascend even in the rains above Tatkoon, a distance of nine or ten miles. The 
 banks are steep towards its source and flat near its mouth : on the banks 
 are found teak, cutch, ironwood and bamboos. 
 
 ALOON. — ^ A revenue circle in the Kyankheng township, lying in the north- 
 western corner of the Henzada district and extending eastwards from the Ai'akan 
 Roma mountains. The whole area is hilly and covered with forest 
 containing, amongst other trees, Teak {Tectona granclis), Pyengma (Lager- 
 strcemia Regince) and Pyenggado {Iiiga xylocarpa). The cultivation is 
 carried on almost entirely in toungyas where rice, cotton and other hill produce 
 are grown. In 1876 it had a population of 1,634 souls and in 1876-77 the 
 laud revenue was Es. 2^629, the capitation-tax Rs. 1^820^ and the gross revenue 
 demand Rs. 4,413. 
 
 AMAT. — A creek in the Kwengbouk circle, Myouugmya township, 
 Bassein district, connecting the Rwe and the Pyamalaw, rather over 20 
 miles from the sea and navigable by the largest native boats. 
 
 AMHERST.* — A district in the Tenasserim division, occupying the coun- 
 try north, south and east of the mouths of the Salween, the Gyaing and the 
 Attaran rivers, which unite near the townof Maulmain, the head-quarter station 
 of the district and of the division, and including Bheeloogy won a large island 
 west of and not a mile from Maulmain. From where the Thoung-yeng pours 
 its waters into the Salween, in the extreme north, the north-western 
 boundary of the district follows the latter river for some 40 miles, as far as 
 the mouth of the Ewonzaleug, another of its tributaries. Here it turns north- 
 west, and five or six miles up the latter river inclines west, then north, and then 
 west again to the Doonthamee river, which it descends for some distance when 
 inclining westward again it strikes the Kyouk-tsarit Avhich it follows southwards 
 to the eastern mouth of the Kyoon-iek. Turning west it follows the course 
 of this natural canal to its western mouth in the Bheeleng river. Here 
 it turns south and follows the Bheeleng to its mouth and thence the 
 
 * The district takes its name from the to\YU of Amherst q. v.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 33 
 
 coast line southward, outside Bheeloogywon and past Amherst, to a spot a few 
 miles below the Re or Ye river where the Ma-hlwai spur comes dowu 
 towards the sea. In the south the Ma-hlwai spur separates this district from 
 Tavoy, and to the eastward the main range as far north as the source of the 
 Thoung-yeng and thence that stream to its mouth form the boundaries between 
 British and Siamese territory. The area comprised within these limits is 15,205 
 square miles. The major portion of the district, that part lying to the east of the 
 Sal ween and of the sea-coast, was, with Tavoy and Mergui ceded to the British 
 by the treaty of Yandaboo, which terminated the first Burmese war. The 
 Tha-htoon sub-division, that is the country between the Salween and the 
 Bheelengj was annexed with Pegu by Lord Dalhousie after the second 
 Burmese war and for some years formed a portion of the Shwe-gyeng 
 district. The inconvenience of this arrangement led to its being adjoined 
 to Amherst in 1864-65. Looked at on the map the district is seen to consist 
 of five distinct tracts : — To the north, north-east, east and south-east of Maulmain 
 are alluvial plains intersected by the Salween, the Gyaing and the Attaran and 
 shut in on the east by the Dawna and on the west, south of Maulmain, by the 
 comparatively low Toung-gnyo chain running parallel to the sea-coast; beyond 
 these plains, in the extreme east, is the narrow and densely wooded mountainous 
 region formed by the Dawna chain and its spurs ; from Maulmain southwards 
 to the Ma-hlwai spur is a narrow strip of country between the Toung-gnyo 
 chain and the sea, gradually widening out in the south into the valley of the Re 
 and drained by numerous small streams with a general east and west direction ; 
 west of the Salween is Tha-htoon with one main chain running up north 
 and numerous other high grounds ; and lastly Bheeloogywon with as it were 
 a backbone and ribs of hills forming the skeleton which supports and holds 
 together rich rice lands. 
 
 To the eastward is the Dawna chain which starts from the 
 
 MmiiitniTin Moolai-yit hill (5,500 feet high) in the main range in 
 
 16° 5' 45" N. and 98° 42' 3" E., and extending N.N.W. 
 for a distance of 200 miles divides the waters of the Houng-tharaw and of the 
 Hlaing-bhwai from those of the Thouug-yeng. The general appearance of the 
 chain is that of an elevated wooded tableland of laterite worked by drainage 
 into a mountainous form rather than that which would be produced by sudden 
 upheaval. At intervals, however, are outcrops which, in uplifted crests 
 of the underlying rocks extending into the bed of the Thoung-yeng and 
 forming dangerous obstructions to navigation, look like indications of powerful 
 volcanic disturbance. 
 
 Starting from Moolai-yit, an immense mass of rock throwing out innu- 
 merable spurs, the mountains in the south-east and south are formed by the 
 main dividing range and its offshoots, the central axis of the mountainous 
 system which drains itself into the Gulf of Siam and the Bay of Bengal. At 
 the head, waters of the Thoung-yeng, which has its source amongst these 
 mountains, is a high tableland of laterite, 1,100 feet above the sea, covered 
 with Eng forest and dotted with alluvial spots clothed with evergreen forest or 
 cultivated by Karengs. Westward is the valley of the Houug-tharaw, 
 bounded on the west by a low range of hills of soft wavy outline 
 emanating from the high tableland of Pantoonaw and the sandstone 
 formations round Thouugboou (3,472 feet above the sea level). 
 Here and there the peaked and jagged summits of isolated limestone rocks 
 
 5
 
 34 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 may be seen rising out of the plain, some half hidden by strug-g-ling vegetation 
 others bare and white. For some distance southward the country west of the 
 main range preserves its character of softly-undulating hills but this is 
 soon lost in barren limestone ridges. 
 
 There are several passes across the main range from this district to 
 Siamese territory. The first, which can in strictness hardly be called 
 a pass from Burma to Siam as it lies wholly in the latter, requires 
 notice as it is on one of the highways fi'om British territory to 
 Bangkok. Myawadee, an old and once fortified town on the left bank of 
 the Thoung-yeng in 16° 42' 15" N. and 98° 32' 30" E., can be reached 
 in seven days. Rahaing in Siam lies 45 miles almost due east of Myawadee. The 
 route between them, being much frequented, is clear and open and the jour- 
 ney can thus be performed in two days. In the south-west monsoon boats 
 go down the Meinam from Rahaing to Bangkok in eight days. During the 
 hot weather it takes 15, owing to the diminished velocity of the current 
 and the winding of the channel which leads through innumerable sand- 
 banks and shoals. Another pass leads from the Houng-tharaw river in 15°41' 
 19" N. and 98° 35' E. to the Siamese village of Phra May-klaung the capital 
 of the district of that name, where the Governor resides. There is a track called 
 the Menanda road up a river of that name, a tributary of the Houng-tharaw, 
 and thence near the main watershed northwards to the sources of the Thoung- 
 yeng. The next pass is by the Three Pagodas. The journey up the 
 Attaran is made by boat as far as Kannee, a police station, and thence 
 by elephants across the watershed. The average time occupied in the 
 journey from Maulmain to Bangkok by this route is 25 days — eight 
 days to the Three Pagodas and 17 from the pass to Bangkok. The view 
 from the summit of this pass is thus described by Assistant Surgeon 
 Heifer who visited it in 1838 or 1839 : — '' One of the most beautiful sights 
 ^' I ever enjoyed was visiting that famous pass. It is a high tabldand, upon 
 " which, again, a number of mountain ridges is planted. I ascended one solitary 
 ^' limestone rock, lying to the north of the three heaps of stones indicating 
 " the former site of the Three Pagodas. The view from thence, though exhi- 
 " biting no snowy peaks or glaciers, was in many respects grander than the 
 *' scenery in Switzerland, on the Appenines, or the Jura Alps. It was an 
 " unbounded view, ridges after ridges in succeeding lines running in the 
 '^ same direction emerged one above the other : in the Siamese territories 
 " I counted eight different chains.'" 
 
 From the Tsadaik hill of the main range, m 15° 17' 25" N. and 98° 15' E., 
 theToung-gnyo chain extends N.N.W. to Maulmain formingthe western water- 
 shed of the Attaran. These hills, nowhere of any very great elevation, 
 finally disappear north of Maulmain in a small island in the Salween called 
 Goung-tse-kywon. 
 
 North of Maulmain and east of the Salween is a short range of lime- 
 stone rocks called Zwai-ka-beng some IG miles in length. 
 
 To the west of the Salween a range of hills runs northward from Martabau 
 of which one peak, the Koolama-toung, east of the Poung circle, is over 3,000 
 feet high. At the Zeng-gyaik peak a spur is thrown off to the N.N.W. which 
 extends to Kawthan close to Tha-htoon and forms the western limit of the Dheba- 
 rien valley: at Reng-gnyiem the Reng-gnyiem, which rises in this valley, flows 
 throuo-h a s-oro-e westward to the sea. The main chain continues northward
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 35 
 
 aud terminates at Kama-tbaiug a little to the south of the Kyoou-iek, the 
 northern boundary of the district. There are two passes across these hills ; 
 the uorthern by a cart track from Kyouk-tsarit, a little village on the stream 
 of the same name at the eastern mouth of the Kyoou-iek, to Thien-tshiep, a 
 rising village on the, as yet unfinished, main road from Martaban to Touug- 
 nyoo, 13 miles north of Tha-htoon ; and the southern by a metalled road 
 from Zemathway, a village on a small and partially artificially made stream, 
 4^ miles to Tha-htoon, through the Gaw gap where the Gaw stream flows 
 westward through the pass and under the road. By this route large quantities 
 of unhusked rice are annually exported from the neighbourhood of Tha-htoon 
 to Maulmain via the Bheuglaing and Salween rivers. As many as 200 carts a 
 day are said to traverse this road in the height of the season. 
 
 Running from north to south and extending from one end of Bheeloo- 
 gywon to the other is a low range with short spurs which would seem to have 
 been at one time connected with the Martaban bills before the Salween forced its 
 way or was forced between them. Near the centre of the island the hills suddenly 
 dip and form a narrow pass but a few feet, comparatively, above the sea-level where 
 nestled amongst trees, lies Khyoung-tshoon the principal village of the township. 
 Owing to the mountainous nature of a great portion of the country the 
 Rivers. rivers are very numerous but except the Salween, the 
 
 Gyaing, with its tributaries the Houng-tharaw and the 
 Hlaiug-bhwai, the Attarau aud the Thoung-yeng there are none of any great 
 size. The Salween, the sources of which, far away to the north somewhere in 
 unexplored China, have never been seen by European eye, falls into the sea at 
 Maulmain. Notwithstanding the distance of its source it cannot rank for 
 commercial value with any of the great rivers of Asia. Its channel is broad, 
 shallow and obstructed by numerous island shoals and though navigable by 
 country boats as far as the passless rapids just below the mouth of the 
 Thoung-yeng and in reaches above that point is, except in its southern mouth, 
 unfit for the accommodation of sea-going vessels which cannot ascend much 
 above Maulmain. Immediately below the town of Martaban, which lies on 
 its right bank opposite Maulmain, it is divided into two branches by Bheeloo 
 island. The southern, the entrance for ships, is at its mouth, between Amherst 
 and Bheeloo-gywon or Bheeloo island, not less than seven miles wide, aud its 
 northern mouth, dangerous and altogether impracticable for shipping, is still 
 broader. Below the mouth of the Thoung-yeng it receives from the north- 
 west the waters of the Rwonzaleng, a river of the Salween Hill Tracts district 
 and still lower, from the same direction, the Bheuglaing brings to it the 
 waters collected by the Doonthamee, the Kyouk-tsarit aud other small rivers 
 and during the rains a considerable share of the spill of the Bheeleng which 
 formerly flooded the Thien-tshiep and Tha-htoon plains but has been forced 
 round the Martaban hills and into the Kyouk-tsarit by an embankment ex- 
 tending from Doonwoou to Kama-thaing. At Maulmain it is joined from the 
 eastward by the Gyaing and the Attarau. 
 
 The Gyaing, formed by the junction of the Hlaing-bhwai and the Houng- 
 tharaw, Hows almost due west. It is a stream of considerable breadth but of 
 no great depth and its channel is obstructed by islands and sandbanks. It is 
 navigable for ordinary boats during all seasons throughout its course. 
 
 The Hlaing-bhwai rises in the north of the district and flows southwards to 
 Gyaing village where it is joined by the Houng-tharaw from the south, the united
 
 36 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 waters flowing westward. Its principal tributary is the Dagyaing which 
 joins it from the east about 30 miles above Gyaiug. In the rains it is navigable by 
 boats to above Hlaing-bhwai, 45 miles up and 85 miles from Maulmain, but in 
 the dry season the sand bar below that village can be crossed only at high 
 water springs. 
 
 The Houng-tharaw rises in Siamese territory to the south-south-east of 
 Maulmain and crossing the frontier in 15° 41' 19" N. and 98° 35' E., flows in 
 a N.N.W. direction at first amongst the spurs of the main range, uniting 
 with the Hlaing-bhwai in about 16° 34' N., and 98° 3' E. A peculiar feature 
 of the Houng-tharaw valley is that it consists of several table lauds sepa- 
 rated by abrupt descents. The soil is a sandy loam which would seem to have 
 been well cultivated in former years. The current is exceedingly rapid in the 
 rains and boats then ascend with difficulty. It is navigable beyond Meetan 
 ■which is 40 miles from the mouth and 80 miles from Maulmain. One of the 
 main feeders is the Kawkariet which joins it from the east, and in the rains 
 forms the route to Kawkariet village and thence via Myawadee to Siam. In 
 the dry season this little streamlet is not navigable and the whole journey 
 from the Houng-tharaw is made by land. 
 
 The Attaran, which drains the tract of country between the Toung-gnyo 
 chain and the low undulating hills west of the Houng-tharaw is, like the 
 Gyaing, formed by the junction of two main streams and fed by numerous 
 rivulets. The Zamee, navigable by boats for 40 miles from its mouth but 
 difficult of ascent by reason of the rapidity of the current, and the Wengraw 
 unite a few miles above the site of ancient Attaran to form this narrow 
 deep and sluggish river from which, 60 miles above Maulmain, the light of 
 day is almost shut out by high banks and dense masses of overhanging foliage. 
 In 1827 Mr. Crawfurd, the Civil Commissioner, ascended as far as Attaran 
 in the Diana, a small river steamer. 
 
 The Thoung-yeng, which from its source in 16° 27' 47" N., and 98° 50' 50" E. 
 to its mouth in 17°50' 40" N. and 97° 45' 85" E., forms the north-eastern 
 boundary of the district, rises in the main range of mountains and has a 
 general N.N W. course of about 197 miles to the Salween. Its breadth 
 varies considerably, in some places narrowing to 100 feet and in others widen- 
 ing out to 1,000. Its course is filled with rapids and falls rendering navigation 
 impossible. Near its mouth it receives from the north the waters of the Hmaing- 
 Iwon-gyee a large affluent the whole length of which is in foreign territory. 
 The remaining streams are small and of but little present import- 
 ance. The Rwonzaleng, a river of the Salween Hill Tracts, joins the Salween 
 from the north-north-west below the Thoung-yeng and still lower down the 
 Bhenglaing brings the collected waters of numerous small rivers and torrents. 
 The Bheeleng, which rises in the mass of mountains forming the Salween Hill 
 Tracts, falls into the sea considerably to the north and a little to the west of 
 the northern mouth of the Salween and is, in the lower portion of its course, 
 the western boundary of the district. The Wakharoo rises in the Toung-gnyo 
 chain and passing through a hilly country flows due westward to the sea 
 near Ambevst; its mouth affords an excellent harbour. The Re, in the extreme 
 south, rises in the main range and falls into the sea in 15° 5' N. : it is an 
 inconsiderable stream and is not accessible except during the fine season a groujt 
 of reefs and breakers about four miles out to sea rendering approach difficult, 
 if not impossible^ at other periods of the year.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 37 
 
 Off the coast between the mouths of the Wakharoo and the Re, a little 
 south of the 16th parallel, is Double Island on which, at a cost of Rs. 90,340, 
 has been erected a light-house showing- a first order dioptric fixed light with 
 a cata-dioptric mirror visible 19 miles and first lighted in December 1866. 
 
 Of the geology of the district but little is known as it has never been 
 
 Geology regularly and completely examined by a professed geolo- 
 
 gist. Mr. Theobald of the Geological Survey of India 
 had several opportunities of examining portions of it and a brief notice by him 
 was published in the Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. X., 
 Part 2. 
 
 Dr. Oldham divides the rocks which cover so large a portion of Tenas- 
 serim into a lower division, which he terms the " Mergui/' series well developed 
 in the south, and an upper, or '^ Moulmein/' series largely developed to the 
 north and the most conspicuous member of which is the massive limestone 
 which forms so picturesque a feature in the country round Maulmain and in the 
 Salween valley. The entire thickness of these two divisions is placed at 
 about 9,000, and the age of the whole fixed as Palaeozoic, the Maulmain beds 
 being provisionally placed in the '' lower carboniferous group of European 
 geologists.''^ Since Dr. Oldham^s account of these beds was written 
 nothing has been added to our knowledge of them save that from 
 the evidence of a few fossils procured from Zwai-ka-beug, a limestone hill 
 forming a prominent landmark above Maulmain popularly kuowu as the " Duke 
 of York's nose -," the limestone in question may certainly be pronounced to be 
 of the age of the carboniferous limestone of Europe. Dr. Oldham remarks 
 that this limestone is more sparingly developed to the south than in Martaban 
 but it is probable that the limestone met with in the Mergui Archipelago 
 belongs to the same formation. The most marked feature of this limestone is 
 its mode of occurrence in steeply-scarped hills the sides of which overhang, as 
 may be seen in the case of the hills near Maulmain which rise abruptly from 
 the low inundated plains between the Gyaing and the Attaran rivers and 
 exhibit the precise appearance of what they undoubtedly were at no remote 
 geological period, sea-girt rocks such as still stud the Mergui Archipelago and 
 which from their position in low-lying alluvial plains even now, during the 
 rains, are approachable only by boats through a mimic freshwater sea. The 
 exploration of the caves in these hills — of which there are no less than 23 groups 
 in the district, each distinguished by its proper name, scattered over the country 
 and all more or less ornamented by pious Booddhists and filled with images 
 of Gaudama and of Rahans — has been suggested in the hope of enlarging 
 our knowledge of an extinct local fauna such as, in Europe, has so often 
 rewarded cave research ; but as regards all caves similarly situated to those 
 near Maulmain the chances are much against finding auythiug to repay the 
 labour expended, as, form their former position as rocky islands in the sea, it 
 is improbable that they ever afforded retreat to any vertebrata save the edible 
 nest-building swallow or a few bats. In the case, however, of caves situated 
 in limestone rocks at a greater elevation and consequently not like the 
 others guarded from approach, by the surrounding sea the case is different 
 and such caves hold out promise of a rich harvest to future explorers. 
 
 It is probable that this group may prove to be metalliferous, as it is 
 traversed by the same series of granite and elvan dykes as the older crystal- 
 line rocks of the district ; and these may not improbably be connected with the
 
 38 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 development of the ores of tiuj lead, iron and copper occurring in the Salween 
 Hill Tracts. The lead ore at Touug-nyoo occurs in the next group, but 
 possibly both this group and the next will equally be found to be the reposi- 
 tories of the metallic deposits of the Salween Hill Tracts whether these should 
 ultimately prove of economic value or not. 
 
 To the next group the term " Martaban " is applied, for convenience merely, 
 from its large development in Martaban. Of its age we know nothing, but, 
 petrologically considered, it is a group of true crystalline rocks undistinguish- 
 able in character from the ordinary gneissose rocks of Bengal. Near Marta- 
 ban specimens of schorl rock and fragments of schorl crystals of not less than 
 three inches in diameter have been found which the natives who picked them 
 up evidently supposed might have some connection with coal. Micaceous 
 schists are common but in Martaban hornblendic rock would seem less abundant 
 than in the same group of rocks in India. To this group Mr. Theobald refers 
 much of the so-termed granite of the country lying to the east of the Salween. 
 
 From the little he saw of the relation of the Martaban and Maulmain 
 groups he judged that, in places at least, the former constituted the higher hills 
 vyhilst the lower country was occupied by the latter ; but his opportunities were, 
 he considers, too limited to allow of safely generalizing from such data or in 
 authoriziug him to say if the last group rests immediately on the present 
 one in Martaban or if any representatives of the " Mergui " group of the 
 southern provinces intervene, as is probably the case. The denudation, how- 
 ever, to which these Palasozoic beds have been subjected has been enormous 
 and to this is due the curiously isolated appearance of so many of the hills 
 and ranges in the vicinity of Maulmain and elsewhere. 
 
 Hot springs exist in eleven spots in various parts of this district but always 
 in more or less close proximity to the limestone outcrops. The largest and 
 most important are those at " Attaran Reboo* " {rehoo signifies hot v/ater), 
 on the Attaran which can be reached in two tides by boat from Maulmain and, 
 according to Dr. Heifer's description, belong to the carbonated class. They 
 are situated about two miles inland from the old town of Attaran and of them Dr. 
 Heifer writes. — "There are 10 hot springs, or rather hot-water ponds, of which 
 I could only examine the nearest as the access to the others was through deep 
 water at 180° Fahrenheit. This one was a semi-circular pond, about 50 feet in 
 circumference ; in one place it was 35 feet deep. The quantity of carbonic 
 acid which the springs evolve seems to render the neighbourhood peculiarly 
 adapted to support vegetable life. The ground around the spring is strongly 
 impregnated with iron, and the water which runs over the ochre mud has 
 a strong styptic taste. The springs on the Attaran approach in their 
 composition nearest to the celebrated spring of Toplitz. Their medical 
 properties would render them excellent remedies in a number of diseases ; 
 liver-complaints would find a powerful remedy in them.'' The Burmese are 
 aware of the medicinal properties of the water in these springs and employ it 
 iu fever and in some forms of cutaneous affections. They use it externally in the 
 form of a bath when cooled and as a vapour bath when hot ; in the latter 
 case the patient sits on a bamboo platform erected over the spring and under 
 a large inverted basket covered with cloths to retain the steam. Dr. Morton 
 
 * The other hot spihigs are at Ka-hgnyaw, Pa-nga, Thoon-tshay Thoou-tshoo, Mai-kala, 
 Oou-kharieu, Myawaclee, Dham-matha, Dooureng and l?ouug.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 39 
 
 foimd on analysis that the water contains a considerable quantity of calcareous 
 matter and that the tufa which it deposits on the margin is a carbonate of lime. 
 The springs appear to rise from the mountain limestone and thus to hold a 
 geological position similar to that of the hot springs of Great Britain most of 
 which rise from strata beloAV the coal and hence from or through the limestone. 
 
 Large areas on all the hills are occupied by evergreen forest abounding in 
 
 many valuable species. This is particularly the case 
 
 ores s. ^^^j^ ^l^g Dawna chain, the watershed between the valleys 
 
 of the Thoung-yeng and of the Hlaing-bhwai and Houng-tharaw rivers, 
 
 where the timber attains stupendous proportions and where Hopea odorata, 
 
 Dijiterocarjms alata and other valuable trees are abundant. 
 
 The teak localities are some of the most important in the province. For 
 forest conservancy purposes they have been divided into the Doonthamee, the 
 Hlaing-bhwai, the Lower Salween, the Thoung-yeng, the Houng-tharaw and 
 the Attaran. The Doonthamee forests, between the Salween and the Doon- 
 thamee rivers stretching down as far south as Hpagat about 32 miles from 
 Maulmain, are estimated to cover an area of 60 square miles and in 1859 
 to have contained 14,340 Ist-class trees. They are on dry and even 
 or undulating ground. The stems are branched and frequently crooked 
 and the timber is generally small but hard. The great value of these tracts is 
 that they produce excellent " crooks^' for ship-building. The Salween 
 and the Doonthamee rivers afford the means of transit but in many instances 
 the timber must be dragged or carted overland for considerable distances 
 before reaching a waterway. 
 
 The Hlaing-bhwai and Lower Salween forests, situated east 
 of the Salween on the Hlaing-bhwai river and its feeders, are valuable 
 mainly from the supply of crooked timber which they have yielded almost 
 since the occupation of the country. Teak here grows on even ground ; no 
 trace of it can be found on the hills which skirt the valley of the Hlaing-bhwai 
 river although these hills are covered with similar trees and bamboos to those 
 which are usually found associated with teak. The teak-producing forests are dry 
 and open and much exposed to jungle fires. Pyengma is frequently associ- 
 ated with teak. The growth of the tree is very inferior. Almost all laro-e 
 trees are forked with short stems that are crooked or of irregular shape. 
 Much of this may be ascribed to the remains of old toiou/ija cultivation, 
 but it is principally owing to the fact that the best trees of' good size have 
 been removed and that in a locality like this the teak does not naturally attain 
 a fine regular stature. 
 
 The Thoung-yeng forests, on the hills forming the western water- 
 shed of the Thoung-yeng river cover a considerable proportion of the tract and 
 contain trees of gigantic size and of most regular growth. Dr. Brandis, who 
 visited the forests, states that the first 40 miles from the river's mouth are 
 without any teak forests of importance. Here the mountains approach close 
 to the Thoung-yeng or dense evergreen forest covers the level ground between 
 them and the river's bank. On tlie Shan side there are teak forests of great 
 value in this part of the river but onlj' a few scattered trees on the British. The 
 south-western tributary streams drain some valuable teak localities of some 
 importance, hedged in almost on all sides by dense evergreen forest which 
 covers the flanks of the mountains and higher hills and wliich here and there 
 stretches down to the banks of the Tlioung-yeng. Teak is found in bamboo
 
 40 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 forest or in the mixed dry forest in which Pyeuggado forms a prominent feature 
 but there are also extensive tracts covered with bamboo forest or with the 
 mixed dry forest in which not a single teak tree is to be met with. 
 
 Higher up the hills are covered with impenetrable forests never touched 
 by the hand of man where the trees attain a height which, though not 
 equal to that of the gigantic fir of California, would scarcely be believed had 
 it not been ascertained by careful measurement. A specimen of a species of 
 the Dipterocarpus family had a girth of 20 feet and a height to the first branch 
 of 160 feet. The forest is so dense that the height of the trees can only be 
 measured on the banks of a stream or on the sides of a hill and in such localities 
 the forest appears like a green ^unbroken wall standing up nearly 200 feet 
 from the ground. Teak is not found in forests of this kind but it is abundant 
 on the northern hills not only in the Thoung-yeng valley but also in that of the 
 Mai-hpa-lai river, a tributary of the former, running nearly parallel to it but in 
 an opposite direction, and on the sandstone of the hills between the two are found 
 some of the finest teak localities in British Burma in one of which 550 1st class 
 trees were observed on an area of one-third of a square mile. The stature of 
 the trees is tall and regular : they stand up in the forest like so many wax 
 tapers. The size may be gathered from the following measurements taken at 
 random from among the larger trees of the Mai-hpa-lai forest : — 
 
 Girth, 6 ft. Length of stem to first branch, 72 ft. 6 in. 
 
 „ 10 ft. „ ,, 77 ft. 9 in. 
 
 „ 10 ft. 4 in. „ „ 70 ft. 
 
 „ 16 ft. 4 in. „ „ 84 ft. 
 
 „ 12 ft. „ „ 66 ft. 
 
 • 
 But the teak localities are not spread over the whole of this part of the 
 Thoung-yeng valley. Large tracts, especially on the undulating hills near the 
 main river, are covered with dry and open Dipterocarpus forest interspersed 
 occasionally with the Thoung-yeng fir {Pinus Massoniana, Lamb.) but without 
 a trace of teak except on the margin towards the lower ground along the 
 smaller streams. 
 
 The Houng-tharaw forests were visited by Captain Tremenhere 
 in 1841. He particularly mentions teak localities with trees having 
 straight stems of great dimensions but of very slow growth. Captain Guthrie 
 (1845) estimated the number of the teak trees on the Houng-tharaw 
 at 1,600, of which 473 belonged to the 1st class or in girth above six feet. 
 Captain Guthrie mentions that in the forests on some of the tributaries there 
 were trees abandoned that had been girdled 10 years previously. Mr. E. 
 O'Riley, in a paper entitled " Observations in connection with the route 
 across to the head of the Houng-tharaw river," states that '' a few patches 
 of teak, of small extent and widely separated, are found on the banks of 
 the streams falling into the Houng-tharaw the whole, however, rifled of 
 the best trees ; and at one locality situated above the falls of the 99 islands, 
 where, owing to the favourable nature of the soil (composed of the detritus of 
 granite and schistose rocks mixed with the alluvium), the trees were of mag- 
 nificent growth and dimensions the teak had been completely annihilated and, 
 after conversion into short logs, had been abandoned in consequence, it was 
 said, of some obstruction which prevented their conveyance through the 
 channels of the islands. Unlike the large teak of the forests on the Weng-raw 
 and Zimmo fZameeJ, this patch appears to have been composed of the most
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 41 
 
 valuable timber for mast pieces : the logs, after an exposure on the bank of 
 the river for the last ten years, with the exception of being weather-worn 
 outside are sound throughout some of them measuring 10 cubits in girth, and 
 from the original spar converted into four lengths of 10 to 12 cubits each." 
 Blasting operations have within the last few years been carried on to clear 
 the channel of the Houng-tharaw and afford an exit to the timber of these 
 forests. In 1873-74, 545 tons of stone were thus removed near the " Ninety- 
 nine islands." 
 
 The Attai-an group of forests is situated on both banks oftheZamee and 
 Wengraw streams, which by their junction in the hilly country to the south 
 of the great plains round Maulmain form the Attaran river, and covers an 
 estimated area of 100 square miles. For some years after the cession of the 
 Martaban and Tenasserim provinces the timber in most of these forests was so 
 recklessly and indiscriminately felled, the grantees working for speedy returns, 
 that Dr. Falconer in 1850 reported that '' but for the timber in two small 
 " reserved forests it would now be a matter of record only that teak of large 
 " size has ever been produced on the Attaran," and even these two "■ instead of 
 *^ being intact forests have been partially worked by trespass by the adjoining 
 "forest holders." In 1860 Dr. Brandis examined the forests and found that in 
 those on the Wengraw the growth of teak was good " almost the whole of the 
 " large trees having tall straight stems free from branches to a considerable 
 " height but the greater number were hollow or attacked with epiphytic 
 " ficus or injured in their growth by a load of creepers" whilst '' with few 
 " exceptions all good trees above five cubits in girth and most of those 
 "above four cubits have been removed, numerous stumps indicating their 
 " former existence and the numerous logs, once good but half destroyed by a 
 " fire, remaining as a proof of the wasteful mode of working.^' Similarly the 
 result of an examination of the forests further east on the Zamee shewed vast 
 numbers of stumps remaining in what had been one of the finest teak local- 
 ities. Higher up the stream the forests were poorer and from one tract 
 very little timber had been removed but the trees "had been killed in a 
 " wholesale manner, many had since fallen or been destroyed by fire, and the 
 " traveller finds himself in a forest of dead fallen trees. •'^ For some years 
 after 1824 hardly any restrictions were placed on the grantees ; subse- 
 quently, on Dr. Wallich's recommendation, the forests were worked on account 
 of Government but in 1829 they were again thrown open to private indivi- 
 duals. In 1841 the Commissioner, Mr. Blundell, proposed the resumption 
 of all permits and the leasing or farming out of the tracts under new rules, 
 which were sanctioned by the Government in the same year. In 1842, 
 when the forests were visited by Captain Tremenheere, it was found that the 
 rules had been disregarded and new rules were framed and sanctioned. 
 These three sets of rules under which licenses or leases for cutting timber 
 in these forests were granted may be thus summarized : — 
 
 1. Rules of 1829, without any penalties. 
 
 2. Rules of 1841, imposing the penalty of immediate resumption on 
 
 the breach of any of the rules. 
 
 3. Rules of 1842, substituting fines and other penalties for immediate 
 
 resumption. 
 
 6
 
 42 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 In 1845j the utter neglect of all rules continuing-, the Commissioner sum- 
 marily resumed several forests under the penalty clause of 1841 ; but this 
 measure was disapproved of by the Government of India and his orders were 
 cancelled. From this time the supply of timber gradually diminished 
 and the northern forests on the Thouug-yeng and Upper Salween took the 
 place of those on the Attaran and its affluents. In 1853 Sir A. Bogle can- 
 celled a number of permits which were in the hands of native foresters who 
 entirely neglected their forests not even bringing timber down. In 1860 
 Dr. Brandis, having carefully examined these forests, proposed that they should 
 be left in the hands of private parties, hoping that this measure would, consi- 
 dering the objections at that time felt to the administration of forests by 
 Government, " prove the safety valve for the administration of forests in India.'''' 
 Subsequently, however^ they were declared reserved Government forests and 
 brought under the general forest rules of the province. Such tracts as 
 lapsed to the Government were worked under one year permits for the 
 removal of seasoned timber only while in the tracts the tenure of which was 
 recognized and for which 30 year permits had been given the prohibition of the 
 removal of timber under 7 ft. 6 ins. in girth was rigidly enforced. 
 
 Teak, however, is not the only valuable timber tree. The Padouk fur- 
 nishes a beautiful hard heavy wood; theAnan {Fragrceafj'agrans)atimher which 
 hardens under water ', Pyengma possesses strength, pliability and durability ; 
 and Thenggan {Hopea odorata) is much used for boats ; besides these 
 numerous other kinds exist in abundance the wood of which could well be used 
 for furniture and for building and other purposes.* 
 
 The history of the country now comprised within the limits of the Amherst 
 ■g. . district is little else than an account of petty wars and 
 
 marauding incursions. Claimed by the Siamese on 
 the east and by the Peguans on the west, until the one was driven out and the 
 other conquered by the Burmans, the country had no rest for many centuries. 
 Martaban, on the right bank of the Salween, was founded in 1269 A. D. 
 by a Burman monarch who reigned in Pagan — Narapadeetseethoo — '' on a 
 rocky promontory with the country of the Shans (Siamese) on the east and 
 the sea on the west;'^ and this sovereign, whose great ambition it was to spread 
 the doctrines of Booddha, planted on the point a colony of thirty families to 
 take care of the Pagoda which he had erected and appointed Aliengma as 
 Governor. At this period the major portion of the district, that lying to the 
 east of the Salween, was Siamese territory. Aliengma, summoned to Court 
 by Narapadeetseethoo\s son and successor, escaped into the Shan country and 
 Talapya was appointed Governor in his stead. Aliengma soon returned 
 and, aided by the Shans, drove out and killed Talapya and resumed the 
 governorship, probably as tributary to the King of Siam. For many years 
 the Burman kingdom was harassed by the Chinese from the north and its 
 sovereigns were unable to exert any authority in the south. Magadoo, 
 a native of Martaban and a trader by profession, having travelled 
 into Siam had risen in favour at Court and been appointed Governor 
 of the capital during one of the absences of the King. He eloped 
 with the King's daughter and, returning to Martaban, treacherously 
 
 * The felling witbout permission of Padouk, Aiian, Pyengma and Thenggan, and of some other 
 kinds is prohibited in certain tracts throughout the Province. See Introduction : sub tit. 
 
 FOEESTS.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 43 
 
 killed Aliengma, seized the reins of Government in 1281 and was recognized 
 by the King- of Siam who bestowed on him a title, and from this time he is 
 known in history as King "VVareeyoo. The ambition of Wareeyoo was not 
 satisfied. North of Martaban was a country called Kanpalanee and on one 
 occasion of the King of that country going into the forests on a hunting- 
 excursion Wareeyoo sallied forth, pillaged the capital and carried away 
 captive the King^s daughtei', eventually making himself master of the country. 
 About this time the King of Pegu also had succeeded in effecting his independ- 
 ence and the two monarchs entered into friendly relations. The Chinese army 
 from the north having overcome the King of Pagan advanced south and 
 attacked Pegu upon which the King of Martaban joined his forces with those 
 of Pegu and defeated the invaders. Quarrels soon arose and eventually 
 Wareeyoo annexed Pegu. Wareeyoo was succeeded by his brother who was 
 killed in a rebellion and was succeeded by his nephew Zaw-aw-bheng-hmaing. 
 In his reign the boundaries of the kingdom were widely extended, Labong, 
 Tavoy and Tenasserim being added to dominions which already stretched nearly 
 to Prome on the north and to Bassein on the west. From this time the 
 history of Martaban merges in that of Pegu. Between loGS and 1581 A. D. 
 Cffisar Frederic the Venetian visited Martaban: he found there '^ninety 
 Portugal merchants and other base men which had fallen at diflPerence with the 
 Governor of the city.^'' The King of Pegu " had gone with a million and four 
 hundred thousand men to conquer the kingdom of Siam/' and in his absence 
 some of the Portuguese had killed four or five of the inhabitants in a street 
 quarrel ; " the captain of the Portugals would not deliver these men, but rather 
 set himself up with all the rest in arms.^' From this time forward for many years 
 the country was continually the theatre of wars and rebellions. The Kings of 
 Burma gradually recovered some of their lost territory but only to lose it again, 
 whilst the Kings of Siam took advantage of the disturbances to re-annex 
 the site of the present Maulmain and the country to the south and to carry 
 their arms across the Sal ween. In the latter half of the eighteenth century 
 Aloungbhoora and his successors conquered the country and retained possession 
 till after the first Anglo-Burmese war, when the Burmese wei'e forced to cede 
 to the British the whole tract lying to the east of the Salween : the remaining 
 portion was annexed after the second war by Lord Dalhousie. 
 
 Of architectural remains worthy of notice there are not a few in this 
 Architectural remains. tlistrict. The Kalaw Pagoda, towards the northern 
 end of Bheeloo island, is supposed to have been 
 erected over a relic of Gaudama during the reign of Asoka, King of Kapilavastu, 
 the great protector of Booddhism — a period to which the Burmans are fond 
 of attributing the erection of very many of their sacred buildings. On this 
 island alone are some sixty of these structures, held to be of great antiquity, 
 of which no written histories are in existence. 
 
 On the hill just above the town of Martaban is a Pagoda the foundation of 
 which, in 1282 A.D., is attributed to King Wareeyoo. Its Burman name 
 Myathiendhan, which is by some supposed to be a corruption of Myathien- 
 deng, is, according to the Burman records, derived from the fact of a 
 large emerald having been placed in it. The Burmese account of 
 its erection is that the King of Ceylon sent an Embassy to obtam certain 
 relics of Gaudama buried here under eight pillars ; the relics could not
 
 44 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 be found but the pillars were carried to Ceylon and the Pagoda raised on the 
 site. Its Talaing- name is Kyaik Moothamien. Here also are the Shwe Dagon, 
 so called from having been founded at the same time as the great Shwe-Dagon 
 Pagoda in Eangoon, the Kyaik-hpyeng-koo or Doo-an, founded in 1288 A.D. 
 and the Kyaik-kha-lwon-bhwon, the erection of which is placed in the sixth 
 century B.C., during Gaudama's apocryphal visit to this country. The 
 Kyaik-kha-pan Pagoda was founded in 1199 A.D. by Aliengma to commemo- 
 rate the conversion of the inhabitants by Gaudama who had been invited to 
 the spot to be eaten but whose preaching changed the evil intention of his 
 hosts. The Shwe-koo is of a much later date, having been built by the 
 Governor of Martaban in 1785 A.D. by oi'der of Bhodaw-Bhoora, the then 
 reigning sovereign of Burma. The Khyan-tha-gyee Pagoda at Zetawon 
 close to Martaban was built in 1299 A.D. by King Tsaw-theng-hmaing, 
 and was restored in 1785 A.D., by order of King Bhodaw-Bhoora. The 
 Talaing name, which has the same meaning as the Burmese, viz. " cool, 
 comfortable," is Kyaik-khaha and was given to the structure from a tradition 
 that Gaudama had pronounced the waters of a neighbouring tank to be cool 
 and pleasant. At Zeng-kyaik in about 16° 42' N., about 18 miles north-west 
 of Martaban on the range of hills which extends towards Tha-htoon, is one 
 of the numerous Pagodas supposed to have been built in the reign of Asoka 
 and to contain one of Gaudama's hairs. The most ancient and the most cele- 
 brated of all is the Tha-htoon Pagoda which bears in its construction evidences 
 of its great age though it is certain that it cannot claim the origin given to it 
 by the Burmese chroniclers according to whom it was founded in 594 B.C. by 
 Theeharaga King of Thoowonuabhoome, of which country Tha-htoon was 
 the capital, to commemorate the visit of Gaudama. During the reign of 
 Tsawta-koomraa it was rebuilt by Thawna and Ootara, the two Booddhist 
 apostles who had been commissioned by the great Booddhist council held at 
 Pataliputra in 241 B.C. to teach and preach in Pegu. 
 
 South of the town of Maulmain there are a large number of Pagodas of 
 which little or nothing is known but that all except two have no claim to 
 any great antiquity ; some have been built since the occupation of the 
 country by the English. The Nattoung and the Toung-gnyo are said to have 
 been built in the time of Ramapoora, the original founder of Maulmain. 
 
 In Maulmain, on the ridge of hills which runs through the town, are several 
 Pagodas of which the Kyaik-than-lau, occupying a commanding position on the 
 Northern spur of the hill over against Martaban, is the principal. According 
 to the received traditions the spot was first selected by the Siamese during an 
 abortive attempt to invade Pegu and the present structure was afterwards 
 built by the hermit Thee-gnya or Theela who enshrined therein a hair of 
 Gaudama. Many years later it was repaired by the King of Martaban. 
 When the British occupied Tenasserim it was almost a ruin but was repaired 
 in 1831 by Moung Tawlai, a native Extra Assistant Commissioner, at a cost of 
 Bs. 1,000 raised by private subscription. The name is supposed to be a cor- 
 ruption of Kyaik-Shau-lau, or " the Pagoda of the overthrow of the Siamese." 
 On the same hills, farther south, is the Oozeena Pagoda so called from the 
 name of its last restorer who in 1838 expended Es. 600 on it ; its 
 original name was Kyaik-padhan, derived from the white hill on which it 
 stands ; the Burmese believe it to have been founded during the 
 reign of Asoka and to contain a hair of Gaudama. On the same hills are three
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 45 
 
 small and undoubtedly very ancient Pagodas, also supposed to contain Gau- 
 dama^s hairs : the Pathada, not far from the Kyaik-than-lan, the Dhatke and the 
 Kyaik-matan. The Kyaik-hpanee, supposed to have been built about 1,000 
 years ag-o by the Peguan King Bhanai-tsiet-tsaw to commemorate a victory 
 over the Siamese (Bhanai in Taking means victory) is situated close to the 
 water's edge on the north point of the land on which the town stands. In 
 1863 it was enlarged by one Mouug Shwe Bhoo. In the plain west of the 
 hills is another small Pagoda, also said to contain a hair of Gaudama, built very 
 many years ago but enlarged and restored about 1838 at a cost of Rs. 1,000, 
 raised by public subscription, by a Booddhist priest of considerable note whose 
 name '' in religion " was no less formidable than " Tshaya-daw-gyee-aniet 
 Wonthakalayana Tietkhaleugkara Teereetedzha Mahadhammaraza Tieraza- 
 gooroo.''' To the south of the town are two very old Pagodas supposed to con- 
 tain relics of Gaudama. 
 
 Besides Pagodas the ruins of ancient towns remain as signs of the former 
 glory of the kingdom. Tha-htoon and Martabau, once the capital of a powerful 
 monarchy, still exist but Myawaddee in the valley of the Thoungyeng a little 
 south of the 17th degree of north latitude and Attaran on the river of the 
 same name, once great cities, are now almost entirely deserted ; the former 
 contained some 50,000 inhabitants and was enclosed by a regularly built high 
 and thick wall, of which the remains are still traceable, with a deep double ditch, 
 which formed a parallelogram, the longer sides two miles in length and the 
 shorter one mile. Traders in large numbers from Siam and from the neighbour- 
 ing States resorted to it and annually caravans arrived from Muangla and from 
 China whilst from the west came European goods, imported into Martaban, 
 and salt from the coast. 
 
 The parts of the district which are most cultivated are the Tha-htoon sub- 
 Agriculture and products, division, principally in its south-western portion, 
 Bheeloo island, the lower part oi the country between 
 the Salween and the Hlaingbhwai, the plain land east of Maulmain, 
 the north-western borders of the lower portion of the Houng-tharaw and the 
 tract between the Toung-guyo range and the sea from Maulmain southwards 
 towards Amherst and in the extreme south near Re. The Tha-htoon sub-division 
 furnishes about five-sixteenths of the cultivated area of the whole district and 
 of this four-fifths are in the Martaban township of which the western portion 
 is the richer. Bheeloogywon and the large township of Zaya, between Maulmain 
 and Amherst, have about the same area under cultivation and together include 
 about three-eighths of that of the whole district. 
 
 In the mountainous country forming the Houngtharaw and southern 
 portion of the Gyaing Attaran townships there is but little cultivation whilst 
 almost the whole of the plains between the Salween and the undulating ground 
 bordering the Hlaingbhwai and those between the Houngtharaw and the 
 Attaran are inundated during the rains and at some periods are several feet 
 under water. In parts of the Gyaing Thau-lweng township, especially near 
 Htoon-aing on the Salween about twenty miles above Maulmain, inhabited by 
 Talaings who or whose fathers emigrated from Pegu in a body after the first 
 Burmese war, and along the banks of the Gyaing rice is extensively grown. 
 
 The cultivated area is increasing markedly; in 1869-70 there were 318 
 square miles under tillage ; five years later, in 1873-74<, 401 and in 1875-76 
 461. Rice is the main produce: in 1875-76 2,46,022 acres or 390 square miles,
 
 46 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 that is more tliau the whole cultivated area in 1869-70, were planted with this 
 grain, and the average rate of produce per acre being 1,635 lbs. the gross 
 produce of unhusked rice in this district was about 179,574 tons, of which 
 about 117,421 were exported in the shape of husked rice. Dhanee palms and 
 betel palms are largely cultivated; Akyab alone has a more extensive area 
 of the former and Shwe-gyeng of the latter. Of tobacco a small quantity is 
 raised both by Burmans and by Karengs, by the former principally on the sand 
 banks in the Hpagat circle at the junction of the Salween and the Bhenglaing, 
 by the latter in small patches for their own use ; sessamum is grown by the 
 latter and sold to the former who express the oil. Of sugar-cane plantations 
 there were 1,189 acres in 1875-76 : some of the cane is exported to 
 Rangoon and from some sugar is made for local consumption and for export. 
 Though but little cane is grown in Tha-htoon this sub-division has the 
 largest number of mills. The cane is cultivated in the neighbouring Shwe- 
 gyeng district on the banks of the Bheeleng, where in the season a brisk trade 
 is carried on, purchasers goiugup from Tha-htoon. Excellent cotton might be 
 grown but at present other crops offer a better return ; for some years small 
 quantities have been exported to India, Arakan, Tavoy and Mergui but it is 
 principally cultivated by the Karengs on the hill sides for home consumption. 
 Considering the very large extent of the district and the proportion of that extent 
 which is mountainous and unsuited for regular cultivation the number of 
 Toungyas or Hill gardens is not large, even Thayetmyo and Prome in the 
 northern portion of the valley of the Irrawaddy having more ; this is mainly 
 due to the sparseness of the population which is congregated in the lower parts 
 leaving the hills and mountains comparatively speaking uninhabited. The 
 land is almost entirely in the hands of small proprietors who hold it dii'ect from 
 the State and cultivate it themselves aided by the members of their families and 
 occasionally by hired labourers, who are paid in kind to the value of from six 
 to eight rupees a month according as they live and board with their employers 
 or not. Of large proprietors there are none and the average holding is from 
 10 to 15 acres, which is shewing a tendency to increase, but at a very slow 
 rate. As a rule the proprietors reside near their lands and have not yet 
 reached that stage of advancement in which they take up their abode in towns 
 and live on the rent of their landed property nor can they do so until 
 the average holdings inci'ease in size and the rent increases from the present 
 average rate of two or three rupees per acre a year. The area under cultivation 
 according to crops was, in acres, in : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Sugar. 
 
 Cotton. 
 
 Vege- 
 tables. 
 
 Betel 
 
 Nut. 
 
 Cocoa- 
 nut. 
 
 Dlianee. 
 
 i 
 Fruits. 
 
 All other 
 kinds. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1855-56 
 
 77,459 
 
 
 
 Unknown 
 
 
 
 
 13,.329 
 
 90,788 
 
 1868-69 
 
 1,61,345 
 
 133 
 
 1,313 
 
 7,180 
 
 3,430 
 
 iio 
 
 3,083 
 
 12,930 
 
 3,009 
 
 1,92,533 
 
 1869-70 
 
 1,70,400 
 
 948 
 
 569 
 
 7,702 
 
 3,375 
 
 1,023 
 
 4,262 
 
 12,470 
 
 3,262 
 
 2,04,011 
 
 1870-71 
 
 1,76,998 
 
 875 
 
 599 
 
 7,660 
 
 3,386 
 
 1,062 
 
 4,312 
 
 13,754 
 
 2,955 
 
 2,11,601 
 
 1871-72 
 
 1,87,353 
 
 834 
 
 1,610 
 
 
 3,375 
 
 1,062 
 
 4,307 
 
 12,601 
 
 2,439 
 
 2,13,,581 
 
 1872-73 
 
 1,97,082 
 
 993 
 
 1,016 
 
 
 3,472 
 
 1,066 
 
 4,644 
 
 12,585 
 
 2,520 
 
 2,23,378 
 
 1873-74 
 
 2,20497 
 
 955 
 
 877 
 
 , . 
 
 3,468 
 
 1,060 
 
 4,585 
 
 12,731 
 
 2,249 
 
 2,46,422 
 
 1874-75 
 
 2,42,848 
 
 1,107 
 
 778 
 
 
 3,500 
 
 1,060 
 
 4,643 
 
 14,027 
 
 2,530 
 
 2,70,493
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 47 
 
 There still remain (in 1875-76) 4,813 square miles of culturable land 
 ■waiting- only for cultivators. 
 
 Keeping- pace with the increase in the area cultivated has been the in- 
 crease in agricultural stock : — 
 
 Year, 
 
 Buffaloes. 
 
 Cows, 
 
 Biills, 
 
 Bullocks. 
 
 Carts. 
 
 Ploughs. 
 
 Boats. 
 
 1855-56 
 
 86,501 
 
 5,297 
 
 2,356 
 
 1,029 
 
 4,320 
 
 1867-68 
 
 43,169 
 
 18,442 
 
 3,837 
 
 10406 
 
 4,452 
 
 1868-69 
 
 40,984 
 
 20,820 
 
 4,088 
 
 10,533 
 
 4,754 
 
 1869-70 
 
 14,561 
 
 28,897 
 
 4,096 
 
 10,181 
 
 5,250 
 
 1870-71 
 
 49,988 
 
 28,473 
 
 4,109 
 
 13,872 
 
 5,771 
 
 1871-72 
 
 52,893 
 
 31,471 
 
 6 20 
 
 19,163 
 
 5,373 
 
 1872-73 
 
 55,286 
 
 28,988 
 
 5,450 
 
 20,615 
 
 5,883 
 
 1873-74 
 
 65,672 
 
 34,611 
 
 5,359 
 
 22,472 
 
 6,086 
 
 1874-75 
 
 77,886 
 
 39,254 
 
 6,400 
 
 23,020 
 
 6,187 
 
 This district has suffered terribly from cattle-disease which is imported 
 almost annually from the Shan States ri^t Myawaddee and the Three Pagodas. 
 In 1876 between the 1st January and the 30th Aug-ust 12,562 head of cattle 
 (11,290 buffaloes and 1,272 cows, bulls and bullocks) died. 
 
 The most important natural product is, undoubtedly, teak. Ever since the 
 country came under the British Government this article of trade has attracted 
 the attention of almost every class ; an immense amount of capital has been 
 sunk and lost and whilst the forests have been the g-rave of many a few for- 
 tunes have been made but ruin has overtaken the majority of the Foresters. 
 To the attractions of the timber-trade and its ramifications is mainly due the 
 g-rowth of Maulmain and at first the prosperity of the district. The more 
 considerable portion of the timber is of foreig-u g-rowth and is brought down the 
 rivers from Siam and Zeng'-mai for shipment at Maulmain. The mode of bring- 
 ing timber to market is as follows : — the selected trees are girdled (almost 
 everywhere in British territory by responsible Government officers) by a rim of 
 bark being cleared off right rouud the stem about five feet from the ground. 
 Three years later the trees are felled, marked, and dragged by elephants to the 
 bed of the river or stream which taps the forest and left there till the 
 waters rise during the height of the rains when the logs float down — in some 
 cases untouched and unseen in others, as in the Thoungyeng, followed 
 and guided by men and ele])hants — till they reach the Kyodan w^iere their 
 further progress in artificially arrested. Here are stationed parties of Foresters 
 who recognize their own timber by the marks put on in the forest, draw each 
 log to the bank and form them into rafts which arc taken down by raftsmen
 
 48 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 to the Government timber-station where they must be deposited, entered on the 
 forest revenue books and duty, if any is due, paid before they can be taken 
 further down to the ships waiting to receive them for export, or to the saw-pits 
 in Maulmain. At the Kyodan or rope station on the Salween, some distance 
 below the great rapids, where the river is narrowed to a third of its natural 
 breadth between two perpendicular cliffs, a deep blue clear swift stream run- 
 ning between them, an immense cable is stretched from one side to the other 
 which intercepts the floating logs as they collect during the night. At dawn 
 a number of foresters may be seen scrambling over them, diving under them, 
 and swimming amongst them shouting with laughter as a rolling log preci- 
 pitates a novice into the water. Each one is trying to select a log and 
 paddle it ashore clear of the assembled mass. Sometimes the weight of the 
 timber snaps the cable and the whole accumulated body of wood, logs, 
 drift and rubbish from the forest tears down the river till it is stranded by 
 the current or with great difficulty landed by practised men who make this 
 their profession and receive salvage at a fixed scale. Some of it is often lost 
 by being carried out to sea or stranded on unfrequented islands. The 
 salvors are also busily employed in collecting logs which accidentally pass the 
 rope : these they form into rafts from which the owners select their particular 
 logs. 
 
 A product having all the same properties as camphor is extracted by distil- 
 lation from a syngeneseous plant belonging to the sub-division of Verhenacece 
 Eupatorue, which is very common throughout the country. The quantity 
 which is obtained from this plant in the dry season is not inconsiderable 
 and might probably be increased by a more perfect process of distillation. 
 A kind of gamboge is obtained from the juice of two trees in the district, 
 which, though not fitted for use as a colour, promises to afford an excellent 
 varnish and, like gamboge, is a powerfully drastic purgative. The Ka-guyeng 
 which grows abundantly in the forests yields an oil used as a varnish, which is 
 extracted by making a large hole in the trunk in which a fire is kindled the 
 heat drawing out the oil which is collected in earthen pots. Sticklac occurs 
 in the north produced by the Coccus Laccce on several species of ficus. 
 
 When the Tenasserim provinces were ceded by the King of Burma under 
 the treaty of Yandaboo they were considered so uupro- 
 Revenue. ductive that their surrender was at one time seriously 
 
 contemplated. The rapid tide of immigration, the discovery of valuable teak 
 forests and the careful and fostering measures of the ofiicers placed in charge 
 soon bore fruit and in 1855-56 the revenues of this district, exclusive of those 
 of the Tha-htoon sub-division which then formed a part of what is now called 
 the Shwe-gyeng district, amounted to Es. 449,360, and up to 1862-63 
 
 increased rapidly -.-^ 
 
 Rs. 
 1856-57 .. .. .. .. .. .. 522,150 
 
 1857-58 
 1858-59 
 1859-60 
 1860-61 
 1861-62 
 1862-63 
 
 552,480 
 671,500 
 720,050 
 916,930 
 962,530 
 93-4,860 
 
 In 1863-64 there was a considerable diminution from customs and in 
 1861-65 from land, in the latter case due mainly to a lowering of the rates.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 49 
 
 In the next decennial period, or from 1862-63 to 1872-73, the revenues 
 continued to rise : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Land. 
 
 Capita- 
 tion. 
 
 Rs, 
 72,240 
 
 187,470 
 
 Fisheries 
 uuJ Net. 
 
 Customs. 
 
 Excise. 
 
 All other 
 items. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1862-63 
 1872-73 . . 
 
 Rs. 
 204,600 
 403,190 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1,350 
 14,310 
 
 Rs. 
 111,390 
 
 354,750 
 
 Rs. 
 266,330 
 255,150 
 
 Rs. 
 278,950 
 162,500 
 
 Rs. 
 
 934,860 
 
 1,377,370 
 
 The principal increases were under the heads of customs and fisheries but 
 the land revenue had very nearly doubled and the proceeds of the capitation 
 tax had more than doubled. Three years later the total revenue amounted to 
 Rs. 1,687,413. 
 
 In 1873 there was a remarkable increase in the land revenue owing to the 
 largely increased area which became taxable. This was partly due to 
 an increase in actual cultivation, caused by the improvement in the rice- 
 trade which up to a year or two before was insignificant timber being the 
 principal and almost only important export from Maulraain, partly to land 
 in the Tha-htoon and Zaya townships having been reclaimed and rendered 
 fit for rice cultivation and partly to numerous leases having fallen in and 
 the area which the lease-holders had added to their fields during the exist- 
 ence of the lease now for the first time becoming liable to Revenue demand. 
 
 The land revenue, gross revenue and cost of officials of all kinds in this 
 district, including those employed in the town of Maulmain and the divisional 
 staff, during the last ten years were : — 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 Land Revenue. 
 
 Gross Revenue. 
 
 Cost of officials. 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1867 
 
 336,080 
 
 1,492,400 
 
 239,180 
 
 1868 
 
 338,790 
 
 1,085,930 
 
 158,240 
 
 1869 
 
 358,990 
 
 1,097,080 
 
 172,210 
 
 1870 
 
 369,080 
 
 1,158,260 
 
 167,950 
 
 1871 
 
 382,570 
 
 1,245,970 
 
 332,270 
 
 1872 
 
 403,194 
 
 1,377,370 
 
 171,090 
 
 1873 
 
 453,130 
 
 1,361,080 
 
 174,220 
 
 1874 
 
 492,877 
 
 1,434,416 
 
 155,035 
 
 1875 
 
 462,520 
 
 1,687,413 
 
 189,681
 
 50 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 For some years after the cession of the Tenasserim provinces the land 
 revenue was represented by a levy of 25 per cent, upon the value of the crop, 
 calculated at an average ad valorem rate which was arranged periodically to 
 suit the mutations in the market price of grain. In 1834 this system was 
 changed and payment on the area substituted, the English acre being the 
 measure employed and two rupees eight annas fixed as the maximum per acre 
 for the best lands. This plan has been continued ever since, though the 
 rates have often been varied. 
 
 In addition to the imperial revenue a local revenue is raised from (a) 
 town funds, levied in towns and derived -from bazaar-stall rents and other 
 sources, (b) a district fund including all other local receipts except those from 
 the five per cent, cess^ and (c) the cess levied on the land Revenue and fisheries. 
 In 1873 the produce of these local rates was Rs. 40,200, an increase of Es. 11,830 
 over the receipts in 1872 and of Es. 12,510 over those of 1871.: the increase was 
 especially in the five per cent. cess. In 1875-76 the amount realized was 
 Es. 54,449. 
 
 The scene of continual conflicts between the Siamese and the Peguan 
 Population kingdoms and subsequently ravaged by the Burman 
 
 armies of Aloungbhoora and his successors on the one 
 hand and by the troops of the King of Siam on the other the country to the 
 east of the Salween was found in 1826 to be almost uninhabited. In 1829 
 the country stretching from the Thoung-yengto the Pakchan (which includes the 
 present districts of Tavoy and Mergui) contained a population estimated at a 
 little over 70,000 souls. From this time until the annexation of Pegu the 
 increase was extraordinarily and increasingly rapid. In 1835 the number had 
 risen to 85^000, or by 21 per cent. ; in 1845 to 127,455, or by 50 per cent, in 
 the decade ; and in 1855 to 213,629, or by 69 per cent, in the decade. It is 
 impossible now to tell how much of the increase was due to births but it is 
 certain that only an infinitesimal proportion was and that it was immigration 
 which swelled the numbers : immigration from India to Maulmaiu, which 
 rapidly rose into a flourishing town, and immigration into Maulmain and the 
 district generally from Pegu where Burman Governors still ruled and 
 whence in this period, from 1826 to 1855, 257,000 souls, it is calculated, 
 emigrated to the neighbouring British provinces, Arakan on the west and 
 Tenasserim on the south-east. In February 1827 Moung Tsat, a Talaing 
 chief known in the histories of the first Burmese war as the Syriam 
 Raja, who had rebelled against the Burmans and endeavoured to 
 re-establish the Talaing kingdom, escaped to Maulmain with 10,000 fol- 
 lowers, half of whom settled at a place now known as Htoon-aing about 20 
 miles north of Maulmain, and the other half, under Moung Gan, at Wakharoo, 
 to the south ; this party was soon followed by others and at a moderate 
 computation some 20,000 souls arrived from Burmese territory in the first few 
 years. So rapid was the influx that the Commissioner had some difficulty in 
 obtaining a sufiicient supply of rice and had to send to Tavoy and to Ee for 
 grain. In 1855 the population of the district, which then comprised only the 
 country east of the Salween fi'om the Thoung-yeng to the Tavoy district, 
 numbered 83,146 souls, in 1860 it had increased to 130,953, or by 56 per 
 cent, in the five years, and in 1870 to 235,747 ; but during this decade the 
 whole of the Tha-htoon sub-division was transferred from what up to that time 
 was called the Martaban, and since then the Shwe-gyeng, district. Two years 
 later, when the first regular census was taken, the number had risen to
 
 BEITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 51 
 
 239,940, of whom 46,472 were residents of Maulmaia— a fishing-village in 
 1825— the remaining 193,468 being spread throughout the district and, 
 being to a considerable extent agriculturists, found most numerous where the 
 soil is most fertile and culturable ; Martaban, Bheeloo-gywon and the plain 
 country east and north of Maulmain shewing the largest numbers, whilst 
 the hilly Houngtharaw and Hlaingbhwai townships had only a small popula- 
 tion almost entirely composed of Karengs and Siamese. The population in 
 1872, exclusive of that of Maulmain, was : — 
 
 Talaings 
 
 .. 9i,476 
 
 Natives of India — 
 
 
 Karengs 
 
 .. 53,751 
 
 Hindoos 
 
 . . 4,286 
 
 Toungthoos 
 
 . . 19,636 
 
 Mahomedans 
 
 826 
 
 Arakanese 
 
 .. 8,215 
 
 Chinese 
 
 . . 1,848 
 
 Shans 
 
 .. 5,891 
 
 Malays 
 
 72 
 
 Bm-mans 
 
 . . 4,241 
 
 All others 
 
 646 
 
 During the Burman occupation of the country the coast-tracts of 
 Tenasserim were peopled for the most part by Talaings, called by themselves 
 Moon, and subsequently to the cession of these provinces to the British, 
 after the English had abandoned the valley of the Irrawaddy, their numbers 
 were largely reinforced by immigration from Pegu. The lower portion of the 
 Tha-htoon sub-division round about Martaban, the country extending north- 
 ward along the left bank of the Salween, and more especially the tract of 
 country from Maulmain southward to Re between the sea and the Toung-gnyo 
 hills are inhabited mainly by this race. A people of the same stock as the Kols 
 and other aboriginal tribes of India, who may have occupied that country even 
 before the Dravidians entered it, seem to have arrived in Burma both from 
 the north and by the coast, though, as stated by Sir Arthur Phayre, " we 
 " have now no means of tracing whether the Muns {Moon) of Pegu came direct 
 '' down the Erawati {Irrawaddy) or parting from their kinsmen the Kolarian 
 " tribes, in the lower course of the Gauges or the Brahmaputra, came through 
 " Arakan to their present seat. There appear now to be no indications of 
 " their presence either in Arakan or in the country of the upper Erawati.^' 
 Later, about a thousand years before Christ, the Dravidians from Talingana 
 arrived by sea and established trading colonies on the coast of '' Piamayana,^* 
 that is the country between the mouths of the Basseiu and of the Salween. 
 They found the Moon wild and uncivilized, " yet the Dravidian colonists have 
 been merged into the mass of that wild race^' losing, except for foreigners, 
 even their name but leaving, as it were, in the word " Talaing" by which 
 this mixed people is known to all but themselves, a mark to shew their 
 connection with the Talingana from which they came. 
 
 Their use of their own language, which is harsh and guttural, differing 
 from Burmese in almost every word and totally different in combination of 
 words and sentences and in idiom, was more than strongly discouraged by 
 the Burman conqueror Aloungbhoora and by his successors, and after the first 
 Anglo-Burmese war was " furiously proscribed " and no longer permitted in the 
 monasteries or elsewhere within the Burman dominions : in Pegu it has 
 almost died out but in this district, in places coast ward remote from 
 the principal towns, the enforcement of the orders prohibiting its use was a ~ 
 work of much difficulty and was checked by the British occupation, 
 whilst the immigrants from Pegu brought it with them and reinforced 
 largely the number of those who adhered to their mother tongue. In 
 1772 a Talaing chief named Bee-gnya Theng rebelled against the Burmans,
 
 62 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 in 1791 Myat Poo followed his example in Tavoy, in 1814 Thoot Paw rose 
 against them, and in 1824 Meng- Kyaik raised an insurrection^ also in Tavoy. 
 These rebellions were unsuccessful and were put down with great cruelty, the 
 Talaings escaping in vast numbers to Siam : the enforced emigration reached 
 an estimated number of over 200,000 souls and the descendants of the emi- 
 grants are now living in the country to which they escaped. 
 
 The Karengs occupy, generally, the hilly country, the whole extent of the 
 valley of the Thoung-yeng and the western slopes of the Dawna spur, the 
 banks of the Houngtharaw, of the Wengraw and of the Zamee and the moun- 
 tains amongst which these rivers flow, and the upper portion of the valley 
 of the Re ; both Sgaws and Pwos^ or Pgho, are fully represented. Of pure Bur- 
 mese there are but few. The Toungthoos are " an isolated race, whose ori- 
 gin has not been very accurately fixed," of whom by far the larger number 
 are, in this district, in and around Tha-htoon with a few villages on the 
 Salween though some are found in the valley of the Tsittoung as far north as 
 the Toung-ngoo district and a few to the eastward as far as the Houngtharaw. 
 " They are a swarthy race, sturdily built and differing in language, dress, 
 " customs and phj^sique from the surrounding races. They have no written 
 " character and their traditions are preserved to them by professional story- 
 " tellers.'"' Their language is said by competent authorities '' to approach 
 nearer to that of '' the Pwo Karengs than to that of any of the other surround- 
 ing races,^"* and in dress they resemble the Shans, wearing loose trousers and 
 jackets, white or blue. The Arakanese and the Shans who have immigrated 
 from the west and from Siam may be considered as permanent residents who 
 have settled definitely in the country as, doubtless, have most of the Chinese 
 and some of the Hindoos and Mahomedans — amongst whom are included 
 Burmese women converted before marriage with Mussulmans, a process to 
 which they have little or no aversion, and the mixed descendants of these 
 marriages — but of these many have come only to make money and look for- 
 ward to a return to India. On the banks of the Attaran in the Theetharo 
 circle, some distance below Maulmain, is a colony of Mahomedans, and others 
 scattered by twos and threes are found in most of the trading towns and 
 villages. The Hindoos, rarely penetrating far into the interior, are clustered 
 in the town and larger villages near Maulmain. 
 
 As almost everywhere else in the province the males are more numer- 
 ous than the females (the numbers being 52'07 of the former to 47'93 of 
 the latter) and as might be expected this is most so amongst the Hindoos 
 and Mahomedans and least so amongst the indigenous population : of the 
 Hindoo population 69*33 per cent, are males and of the Mahomedans 64*03, 
 whilst of the Booddhists — Talaings, Burmans, Toungthoos, Arakanese, &c. — 
 51*66 per cent, are males. Though not entirely yet in a great measure this 
 disproportion is due to the constant tide of immigration which is to a great 
 extent confined to males. In 1872 the immigrants numbered 19,906 and in 
 1873 12,631, the emigrants numbering 9,796 and 5,395. 
 
 The population of the district in 1875-76 was 2,75,432, of whom 57,719 
 were in Maulmain. 
 
 The number of towns and villages spread over the face of the country is 
 
 Towns and villages '' ^^? °^ which 420 have less than 200 inhabitants, 
 
 257 from 200 to 500, 61 from 500 to 1,000, 18 
 
 between 1,000 and 2,000, 1 from 2,000 to 3,000, 1 from 3,000 to 5,000 and 
 
 1 over 20,000.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 53 
 
 The only town having a population exceeding- 5,000 is Maulmain which, 
 lying in 16° 38' N. and 97° 38' E., is situated on a bend of the Salween at 
 the junction of that river with the Gyaiug and the Attaran opposite to the 
 small town of Martaban on the north and Bheeloo island on the west. When 
 the British occupied Tenasserim in 1826 Maulmain was little else than a 
 fishing-village. It was selected as the site for the cantonment of the main 
 body of the troops in that province by the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Archibald 
 Campbell, as the best position from which to overawe the Burmese who still 
 retained Pegu and had a force at Martaban on the opposite bank of the Salween 
 and as having a better supply of water than Amherst, at the mouth of the 
 river. The large areas fitted for cultivation, the cruelties of the Burmese in 
 Pegu and the discovery and working of the valuable teak-forests in the 
 interior led to a stream of immigration and the town rapidly rose in size and 
 in importance. In 1855 it had a population of 23,683 inclusive of 2,211 
 troops, which ten years later had increased to 70,347 ; but after that year the 
 number of its inhabitants fell year by year till in 1872-73 it had only 46,742 ; 
 this falling off was largely caused by the losses in the timber-trade on which 
 the town depended for its prosperity. In 1873-74 the number rose again to 
 53,873, owing partly to an influx of Hindoos from the famine stricken 
 districts in Bengal; and in 1875-76 the population was 57,719 souls. 
 
 Amherst is a small station in 16° 15' N. and 97° 34' E. on the sea 
 coast, about 30 miles south of Maulmain by river and 54 by road. On the 
 cession of Tenasserim to the British Mr. Crawford the Commissioner selected it 
 as the seat of the local Government and called it Amherst after Lord Amherst 
 the Governor-General, its native name being Kyaik Khamee. ]Mr. Crawford 
 appears to have been guided in his selection by its position, easily accessible 
 from the sea, well elevated and open to the sea breeze and on the Wakharoo 
 a river navigable for some distance by large ships the mouth of which 
 affords a good harbour. The General Commanding, however, preferred Maul- 
 main which eventually, in 1827, became the head-quarter station. A bold rano-e 
 of wooded hills rises within a short distance on the inland side of the town, 
 leaving a limited space of level ground partially cleared of jungle between it and 
 the sea on one side and the river on the other. As a sanatarium for invalids 
 it is highly recommended and the residents of Maulmain visit it as a seaside 
 retreat during the hot season. For some years it was garrisoned by a small 
 detachment which was eventually replaced by a Police guard. 
 
 Martaban opposite Maulmain on the right bank of the Salween came into 
 the possession of the British on the annexation of Pegu by Lord Dalhousie in 
 1854 and for some years was included in the then formed Martaban (now called 
 Shwe-gyeng) district but, with the Tha-htoon sub-division, was transferred to 
 Amherst in 1864-65. In 1544, when it was the capital of a kingdom, it was 
 besieged by the Burmese aided by some Portuguese, taken and sacked, the Kino- 
 cast into the sea and the kingdom annexed to Burma, During the wars which 
 lasted with hardly any intermission from this period till the subjugation of the 
 whole country from Arakan to Mergui by Aloungbhoora and his successors 
 Martaban was sometimes the capital of an independent State, at others 
 ruled by a governor appointed by the Burman, Peguan or Siamese Govern- 
 ment to each of which it belonged at different periods. Ralph Fitch who 
 visited Pegu at the end of the sixteenth century described Martaban as a
 
 54 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 flourishing- city with a large trade with China and Malacca, In the eighteenth 
 century the Peguans rose against the Burmese and succeeded in re-establish- 
 ing the Pegu Monarchy which a few years later was overthrown by Aloung- 
 bhoora and from that time till 1852 Martaban remained in the possession of 
 the Burmans. During both Burmese wars it was attacked by the English and, 
 on both occasions, taken after a short and feeble resistance. 
 
 The demand for rice and teak timber in the Home and Indian markets, 
 the rapid influx of population, which followed on 
 '^^^^^- the British occupation, who settled on the fertile but 
 
 uncultivated waste land whicli abounded, the discovery of vast and valuable 
 teak tracts, and the site of the town on the Salween, which taps a foreign 
 country rich in teak forests for the produce of which this river is the only 
 outlet, led to a rapid increase of trade. In January 1855 the Customs Depart- 
 ment was established and from that year onwards the values of the imports and 
 exports have been : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Imports. 
 
 Exports. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1855-56 .. 
 
 Rs. 
 3,583,020 
 
 Ks. 
 4,390,920 
 
 Rs. 
 7,973,940 
 
 1856-57 .. 
 
 5,036,750 
 
 5,320,760 
 
 10,357,510 
 
 1857-58 .. 
 
 5,396,880 
 
 5.786,210 
 
 11,183,190 
 
 1858-59 .. 
 
 5,505,710 
 
 5,773,860 
 
 11,279,570 
 
 1859-60 .. 
 
 5,930,590 
 
 4,966,430 
 
 10,897,020 
 
 1860-61 .. 
 
 5,302,340 
 
 4,463,710 
 
 9,766,050 
 
 1861-62 .. 
 
 8,236,480 
 
 7,812,980 
 
 16,049,460 
 
 1862-63 .. 
 
 5,536,240 
 
 6,141,250 
 
 11,677,490 
 
 1863-64 .. 
 
 4,884,430 
 
 5,419,240 
 
 10,303,670 
 
 1864-65 .. 
 
 6,930,210 
 
 8,748,340 
 
 15,678,560 
 
 1865-66 .. 
 
 7,95,2490 
 
 9,537,370 
 
 17,489,860 
 
 1866-67 .. 
 
 5,971,940 
 
 5,631,940 
 
 11,603,880 
 
 1867-68 .. 
 
 6,352,173 
 
 6,043,726 
 
 12,395,899 
 
 1868-69 .. 
 
 6,760,680 
 
 8,398,130 
 
 15,158,810 
 
 1869-70 .. 
 
 6,079,555 
 
 6,407,004 
 
 12,486,559 
 
 1870-71 .. 
 
 6,167,590 
 
 6,220,360 
 
 12,387,950 
 
 1871-72 .. 
 
 6,439,480 
 
 7,207,440 
 
 13,646,920 
 
 1872-73 .. 
 
 7,909,040 
 
 8,494,650 
 
 16,403,690 
 
 1873-74 .. 
 
 10,686,380 
 
 12,441,130 
 
 23,127,510 
 
 1874-75 
 
 9,098,135 
 
 9,276,384 
 
 18,374,519 
 
 1875-76 
 
 5,987,377 
 
 11,844,357 
 
 17,831,734
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 55 
 
 The principal articles of export are timber and rice and the fluctuations in 
 these were the main causes of the fluctuations of trade. Teak is sent to the 
 United Kingdom and to India largely, increasingly to Foreign Europe and in 
 small quantities to the Straits : the first shipment to England was in 1839. 
 TJie increase in the value of this trade is shewn by the Forest revenue 
 till the Custom House was established and since then by the value of the 
 exports : — 
 
 Timber revenue. 
 
 Bs. 
 
 1836 .. .. .. .. .. .. 20,800 
 
 1839-40 
 1840-41 
 1841-42 
 1842-43 
 1843-44 
 1844-45 
 1845-46 
 1846-47 
 1847-48 
 1848-49 
 1849-50 
 1850-51 
 1851-52 
 1852-53 
 1853-54 
 1854-55 
 
 1855-56 
 1856-57 
 1857-58 
 1858-59 
 1859-60 
 1860-61 
 1861-62 
 1862-63 
 1863-64 
 1873-74 
 
 Value of timber exported. 
 
 21,730 
 29,240 
 55,110 
 58,920 
 54,180 
 23,710 
 61,870 
 88,870 
 96,480 
 90,650 
 63,440 
 79,460 
 71,630 
 84,790 
 102,370 
 188,350 
 
 . . 1,438,960 
 ..2,070,570 
 ..2,949,250 
 ..3,744,850 
 . . 3,189,520 
 ..2,964,970 
 . . 6,062,900 
 . . 4,302,020 
 ..3,728,440 
 . . 5,824,830 
 
 The rice trade had formerly been mainly with the Straits, for which in ordi- 
 nary seasons the bulk of the crop was purchased, but the grain has now acquired 
 a more favourable standing in the European markets and year by year 
 larger shipments are made to Europe besides shipments to India. In 1863-64 
 only 4,033 tons were sent to the United Kingdom and in 1866-67 only 1102 : 
 in 1868-69 the quantity increased to 8,552 tons, in 1871-72 it was 14,280 
 and in 1873-74, notwithstanding the large demand in India on account of 
 the scarcity in Bengal it was 21,341 tons. In the same years the exports 
 to the Straits were— 6,476; 3,477 ; 3,942 ; 29,765 and 15,712 tons. The 
 increase in this branch of the trade of the district, depending as it did on the 
 rice having obtained a better footing in the European markets, led to the 
 erection of steam-cleaning mills, of which there were twelve in 1875-76. The 
 following statement of the total exports shews the fluctuations of the trade : — 
 
 1864-65 
 1870-71 
 1871-72 
 1872-73 
 
 tons 21,567 
 
 1873-74 
 
 „ 37,572 
 
 1874-75 
 
 „ 66,257 
 
 1875-76 
 
 „ 51,718 
 
 1876-77 
 
 tons 71,949 
 „ 44,791 
 
 „ 77,987 
 ,, 56,383 
 
 Cotton is produced in the district and exported as are hides, but the trade 
 in these is very small.
 
 56 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The principal imports are cottou and woollen piece-goods, tea, sugar and 
 sugareaudy, spirits, vegetable oils, silk piece-goods, twist and tobacco : the 
 quantities of these in 1873-74 were : — 
 
 
 
 From 
 
 Foreign 
 
 ports. 
 
 Fbom India. 
 
 
 
 Foreign 
 manufactui-e. 
 
 Indian 
 manufacture. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Cotton piece-goods 
 
 .. Yds. 
 
 155,508 
 
 280,683 
 
 222,028 
 
 658,119 
 
 Twist 
 
 
 .. 
 
 180,100 
 
 .. 
 
 180,100 
 
 Spirits 
 
 .. GaUs. ,. 
 
 21,953 
 
 .. 
 
 • • 
 
 21,953 
 
 Spices 
 
 .. Cwts. 
 
 9,785 
 
 • • 
 
 5,572 
 
 15,357 
 
 Sugar and sugarcandy 
 
 • 11 • ' 
 
 5,045 
 
 • • 
 
 1,191 
 
 6,236 
 
 Tea 
 
 .. lbs. 
 
 38,031 
 
 .. 
 
 .. 
 
 38,031 
 
 Woollen piece-goods 
 
 .. Yds. 
 
 23,499 
 
 
 ' ' 
 
 23,499 
 
 Vegetable oils , . 
 
 .. Galls. .. 
 
 • • 
 
 .. 
 
 32,719 
 
 32,719 
 
 Silk piece-goods 
 
 .. Yds. 
 
 .. 
 
 174,884 
 
 26,698 
 
 201,582 
 
 Tobacco 
 
 .. Cwts. 
 
 •• 
 
 19,068 
 
 17,474 
 
 36,542 
 
 For administrative purposes the district is divided into eleven townships. 
 Administration ^^'^•' Tha-htoon, Hpagat and Martabau, on the west side 
 
 of the Salween, joined to it in 1865, now forming the 
 Tha-htoon, until very lately called the Martaban, Sub-division under an Assist- 
 ant Commissioner whose head-quarters are at Tha-htoon. Bheeloogywon an 
 island off Maulraain dividing the northern from the southern mouth of the 
 Salween ; the Than-lweng Hlaingbhwai occupying the northern portion between 
 the Salween and its tributary the Thoung-yeng; the Gyaing Than-lweng 
 between those two rivers but further south and reaching down to the Gyaing 
 and, near Maulmain, a short way beyond it ; the Gyaing Attaran stretching 
 southwards behind Maulmain to the extreme southern limit of the district, 
 shut in on the west by the Toung-gnyo spur and on the east by the Houng- 
 tharaw river ; the Zaya, the Wakharoo and the Re Lamaing occupying the 
 stretch of sea-coast from Maulmain southwards to the Ma-hlwai spur, the 
 southern watershed of the Re, and bounded on the east by the Toung-gnyo 
 spur ; and the Houugtharaw occupying the hilly country between the 
 Thoung-yeng and the Houugtharaw southwards from the Pata stream, 
 an eastern tributary of the Hlaingbhwai which joins it a little north of 
 the junction of that river with the Houugtharaw. These townships again 
 are sub-divided into revenue circles. The Judicial tribunals of the district 
 are precisely similar to those elsewhere in the pi'oviuce, except that 
 the Recorder of Rangoon is here I'eplaced by a Judge of Maulmain with 
 less extensive powers. Of the eighteen presiding officers fourteen exercise 
 criminal, civil and revenue powers ; one, the Judge of Maulmain, civil and 
 criminal ; one, the Magistrate of Maulmain, criminal only ; and two, Forest 
 Officers, deal only with breaches of the Forest Rules. The maximum distance
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 57 
 
 of villages from the nearest Court is forty miles, the average distance nine. 
 For guarding this territory and for the prevention of crime and detection 
 and arrest of offenders 581 Police Constables and 36 River Policemen 
 were entertained in 1876 under three superior and sixty-five subordinate 
 officers at a total cost of Rs. 1,55,974. It is with the Touugthoo and 
 Kareng population that the Police have most to do for these are the people 
 who are most concerned in crimes of violence of which there were annually 
 not a few, many however committed by Shans who rush across the eastern 
 and south-eastern frontier and back again before it is possible for the 
 Police to do anything, indeed in some cases before the Police are made 
 aware that any crime has been committed. Sometimes a band of robbers 
 sprang up in the district and, perfectly at home on the hills and in the 
 wild jungles, it was only with great difficulty that it could be dispersed 
 and then only after some months. In 1870 a leader of one of these gangs 
 offered a reward of Es. 600 for the head of an Inspector of Police who was 
 energetically hunting him down and who eventually came up with him and 
 shot him after a sharp fight. A great difficulty under which the Police laboured 
 was the unwillingness of the inhabitants to give information which would lead 
 to the capture of a band until the atrocities become too great even for thein 
 to bear. Latterly there have been fewer crimes of violence such as robberies 
 and dacoities and no organized gang has been known for some years. The 
 town of Maulmain is protected by a body of Police, under the same Superin-: 
 tendent and forming a portion of the same force, numbering 149 men, of 
 whom 99 are for the Military cantonment. The salaries of the men employed 
 in the town are partly defrayed by the Municipality. 
 
 The large Gaol in Maulmain, one of the great Central Prisons of the 
 province, has been in existence for some years but has been much improved 
 of late and rendered more fitted for the reception of the large numbers of pri- 
 soners who used formerly to be retained in the districts where they had been 
 tried and convicted. Before the establishment of the Penal Settlement on 
 the Andaman Islands Maulmain was one of the places of transportation of 
 prisoners from India. As originally constructed this Gaol was simply a col- 
 lection of large barracks within four high walls but work-yards, work-sheds 
 and store-rooms have been added. The Gaol now consists of double-storied 
 brick-work buildings with wooden floors and tiled roofs. The prisoners 
 sentenced to hard labour are employed as gardeners in the Gaol garden, as 
 wicker-workers, coir-workers, tailors, blacksmiths, cotton-spinners, stone 
 breakers, and especially in upholstery and as carpenters and the nett value 
 of their labour credited to the Government in 1875 was Rs. 26,513. The 
 expenditure in 1875 was : — 
 
 Bations 
 
 Establishment... 
 Police Guard ... 
 Hospital charges 
 Clothing* 
 Contingencies... 
 
 Rs. 
 
 ... 24,462 
 ... 19,750 
 ... 5,229 
 605 
 127 
 ... 2,128 
 
 Total ... 62,371 
 
 ♦ The cost of clothing in 1874 wasRs. 3,550.
 
 58 BEITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The prison population in the same year was : — 
 
 Criminal prisoners sentenced to rigorous imprisonment ... 1,456 
 
 „ „ „ simple „ ... 206 
 
 Civil „ (debtors) „ ... 284 
 
 Total ... 1,946 
 
 Deducting from the charges the profits of the Gaol labour, the nett cost 
 for each prisoner was Es. 31-7-6. 
 
 Including Maulmain the district possesses 195 schools, viz., two Govern- 
 ment and 195 private of which 11 are Missionary and a considerable 
 number Monastic. Until of late these monastic schools, spread over the whole 
 face of the country and found in almost every village, 
 
 Education. -^^ which the Booddhist Hpoongyees live and teach 
 
 the village lads, received little or no active attention from the Government 
 but they are now being gradually and cautiously taken in hand so that, if 
 possible, they may be improved and strengthened and made the means of 
 spreading a sounder and better education among the people. In 1835 a 
 Government school was established in Maulmain which is now classed as a 
 High School, has about 100 pupils, Europeans and Eurasians, and has 
 absorbed a neighbouring English school which was receiving State aid. 
 
 St. Patrick's School was established in 1842 by the Eoman Catholic Mission. 
 In 1871 the Moung-gan Anglo-Vernacular School was opened under a master of 
 pure Burmese origin : this was found not to be sufficiently well supported 
 and has been amalgamated with the Government school. Of schools for girls 
 only the town of Maulmain has several : the Morton Lane Girls' School for 
 Burmese girls, an excellent institution, attached to which are five ancillary 
 girls' schools in different parts of the town ; St. Joseph's School estab- 
 lished by the Roman Catholic Mission and consisting of two distinct 
 seminaries, viz., a convent school and an orphanage for destitute girls of 
 mixed European origin ; and the Church of England orphanage which holds 
 a deservedly respectable place amongst the girls' schools of the province. In 
 1843 the American Baptist Mission set up a normal school in Maulmain for 
 Karengs in which Burmese is taught as a subject and English will probably 
 follow. At Tha-htoon the Government has lately established a town school 
 for boys and girls. The extent to which the improvement of the monastic 
 schools has been carried in this district is brought out in the Report of the 
 Director of PubHc Instruction for 1873. Eighty-nine of such schools were 
 visited with the consent of the Hpoongyees, and the pupils examined and 
 prizes given. In Maulmain the result was not successful ; no less than 50 
 Hpoongyees refused to admit the Examiner. Into these schools boys alone 
 are received and for the education of girls other agencies have to be depended on. 
 Though, speaking generally, the women of Burma are content to leave educa- 
 tion to their fathers, husbands, brothers and sons yet in many places laymen 
 have started village schools in which girls are taught to read and write. In 
 this district in 1873 twelve lay village schools were visited and the pupils 
 examined and among those so examined were 71 girls. 
 
 Communication is carried on principally in boats. A metalled road extends 
 
 southwards as far as Kwan-hla, a distance of 38 miles. 
 
 Communications. ^^^ -^ ^^ ^^^^^.^^ ^^ construction as far as Re, 73 miles 
 
 further whence it will eventually be prolonged to Tavoy and Mergui. At
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 69 
 
 Kwan-hla a branch road leaves this main road westwards to Amherst; a dis- 
 tance of 16 miles. A road has been carried from Maulmain eastward, past 
 the " Farm Cave" Rocks, to the Gyaing ; this was intended as the first section 
 of a road to Hlaingbhwai. A road is now being made from Martaban north- 
 wards to Tha-htoon whence it will be extended to Shwe-gyeng. Besides these 
 there is a short metalled road about 4| miles long from Zemathway on the 
 stream of that name to Tha-htoon. 
 
 A telegraph line extends from Maulmain past Tha-htoon to Shwe-gyeng 
 (with a branch thence to Eangoon) and onto Touug-ngoo, and another from. 
 Maulmain to Amherst. The only Telegraph Stations are at Maulmain and 
 Amherst. 
 
 AMHERST. — A small town in the Amherst district at the southern mouth 
 of the Salween River in latitude 16° 15' north and longitude 97° 34' east 
 about 30 miles south of Maulmain by river and 54 miles by road. A bold 
 range of wooded hills rises within a short distance on the inland side of the 
 town leaving a limited space of level ground partially cleared of jungle 
 between it and the sea on one side, and the Wakharoo river on the other. As a 
 sanatorium for invalids Amherst is highly recommended by most medical 
 men. The town displays a goodly collection of planked houses belonging to 
 residents of Maulmain, who go down occasionally to benefit by the sea 
 breezes. It is also resorted to by invalids from Maulmain and Rangoon 
 during the hot and dry months of February, March and April as well for the 
 benefit of change of air as for the enjoyment of the cool sea-breeze and salt-water 
 bathing. The chief importance of Amherst is its convenience as a pilot-station. 
 The site was selected, on the cession of Tenasserim, by the Civil Commissioner, 
 Mr. Crawford, as the capital of the Province and named after the Governor- 
 General, Lord Amherst. The head-quarters were subsequently removed to 
 Maulmain. The town gives its name to the district. 
 
 AMHERST. — An island in the Kyouk-hpyoo district. — See Tsagoo. 
 
 AMHERST. — A circle in the Amhert district. — See Kyaik-Khamee. 
 
 AMHERST. — A township in the district of the same name. — See Kyaik- 
 Khamee. 
 
 AN. — A village in the Kyouk-hpyoo district on the An river, the head- 
 quarter station of the An township. It contains a Court-house for the Extra 
 Assistant Commissioner and a police station and in 1875 had a population of 
 1,528 souls, largely engaged in trade. Ponies and cattlej dried tea, cutch 
 and other goods are brought over the mountains from Upper Burma and 
 passed down to the coast for distribution throughout the country and piece- 
 goods, tobacco and other articles are brought hither for export to Upper 
 Burma in return. 
 
 AN. — A river in the Kyouk-hpyoo district, more generally known as the 
 Aeng, which rises in the Arakau Romas and falls into Combermere Bay. 
 During spring tides large boats can ascend as far as An village, 45 miles from 
 the mouth, but at all other periods they are obliged to stop some five miles 
 lower down. 
 
 AN. — An extensive township occupying the whole of the eastern portion 
 of the Kyouk-hpyoo district from the Maee river northwards, bounded on the 
 east by the Arakan Roma mountains and traversed by the An river. It has
 
 60 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 never been surveyed but the estimated area is 2,883 square miles or more 
 than half that of the whole district. The inhabitants, who number 20,631 
 souls, are mainly Arakanese on the coast and Burmans inland in the villages 
 on the Maee and the An whilst Khyengs occupy the northern part of the 
 township. In the north and east the country is hilly and densely wooded but 
 in the valleys of the rivers and towards the sea-coast there is a g-ood deal of 
 cultivation. The principal products, besides rice, are sessamum and tobacco both 
 of which are exported, whilst from Upper Burma across the An pass come 
 ponies, tea, coarse sugar, lacquered ware, cutch and other articles. The head- 
 quarters of the township are at An a village on the river of the same name some 
 45 miles from its mouth. In 1876 the laud revenue amounted to Rs. 10,519, 
 and the capitation-tax to Bs. 15,736 : in the same year the gross Revenue 
 was Rs. 25,649. 
 
 Before the conquest ofArakan by the British this township formed a 
 Burman Governorship, and after the conquest it was joined to Sandoway. In 
 1833 it was formed into a separate district with portions of the present 
 Kyouk-hpyoo and Akyab districts added to it. In 1838 the head-quarters 
 were transferred from An to Kyouk-hpyoo and eleven circles joined to it from 
 Ramree then a separate district. In 1852 Ramree and An were united into 
 the Kyouk-hpyoo district and the township re-formed. In 1871 two circles, 
 Ro and Tsitkan, were taken from it and added to others from the Kyouk- 
 hpyoo township and the Akyab district to form the Myeboon township. 
 
 ANAN-BAW. — An extensive revenue circle covering an area of more 
 than 270 square miles in the Kyouk-kyee township, Shwe-gyeng district, west 
 of the Tsittoung river and adjoining Toung-ngoo on the north. It has 
 a population of 4,418 inhabitants who are principally Karengs. Silk-worms 
 are bred to some extent in this circle and the silk exported, principally across 
 the Roma mountains to Prome and Shwe-douug in the Prome district. In 
 1876 the capitation tax was Rs. 3,967 the land Revenue Rs. 2,148 and the 
 gross Revenue Rs. 6,652. {The name is derived from the Anan tree). 
 
 AN-DAW. {Sacred double tooth). — A small Pagoda in the Sandoway 
 district on a hill on the right bank of the Sandoway river opposite the town 
 of that name, said to have been erected in 761 A.D. by King Tsek-khyoop to 
 contain a tooth of Gaudama Booddha. In 1865 the outer shell gave way and 
 was repaired. Feasts are held thrice yearly during the months of March, June 
 and October, which each last one day ; those who attend — chiefly from San- 
 doway town — pass on for another day to the Nandaw and for a third to the 
 Tshandaw Pagoda, both of which are in the neighbourhood. 
 
 AN-GYEE. — A township in the Rangoon district rather over 600 square 
 miles in extent extending from the sea-coast northward as far as the Pan- 
 hlaing creek and stretching westwards from the Rangoon river, which forms 
 its eastern boundary, to the To or China Bakir, the lower portion of which 
 bounds it on the south towards the east. The Tha-khwot-peng, more com- 
 monly known as the Bassein creek, the ordinary route for river steamers from 
 Rangoon to the Irrawaddy during the dry season, traverses it from N.N. W. to 
 S.S.E. The principal villages are Htan-ma-uaing where salt is made, Pyaw- 
 bhway inhabited chiefly by rice cultivators, Lek-khaik, Kwon-khyan-goon and 
 Thoon-khwa where pots for salt-boiling are manufactured. The soil is exceed- 
 ingly fertile and a considerable quantity of rice is produced for the Rangoon 
 market. In 1876 the population nunibered 75,147 souls, the land revenue
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 61 
 
 amounted to Ks. 319,535 and the capitation-tax to Rs. 93,386 ; the gross 
 Kevenue was Es 444,888. It contains 14 Revenue circles. The head- 
 quarters are at Twante. The old name of this tract was Dala. It was changed 
 to An-khyee (" wonderful''' " admirable"), of which An-gyee is a corruption, 
 about fifty years ago when Moung Shwe Tha the Myo Thoogyee or headman 
 had sent to the annual boat races on the Royal lake at Rangoon a boat so 
 named, manned by men from Dala, which won all the races in which it competed. 
 AN-KHYOUNG. {An stream). — A revenue circle in the An township of 
 the Kyouk-hpyoo district stretching westward from the Arakan mountains 
 beyond the An river. It has an area of 481 square miles and a population (in 
 1876) of 3,036 souls. Its principal produce is sessamum. The land revenue 
 in 1876-77 was Rs. 2,000 the capitation-tax Rs. 2,510 and the gross Revenue 
 Rs. 4,653. 
 
 AN-LET-WAI. (Left An). — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo 
 district 1,200 square miles in extent, stretching southwards from the extreme 
 north of the district on the right bank of the An river. Exceedingly moun- 
 tainous and almost entirely covered by forest : the area under cultivation is 
 very small; sessamum is its main produce : the population numbers 2,105. 
 The land revenue in 1876-77 was Rs. 6,646 and the capitation-tax Rs. 2,000. 
 The gross Revenue was Rs. 2,680. 
 
 AN-LET-YA. {Right An). — A revenue circle in the An township, 
 Kyouk-hpyoo district, with little cultivation and a population of 4,997 souls 
 including those of the village of An. It lies in the hilly country towards the 
 north-east of the district in the valley of the An. The land revenue in 1876-77 
 was Rs. 4,922 and the capitation-tax Rs. 3,234. 
 
 ANOO. — A small tribe living in the Arakan Hill Tracts of whom little or 
 nothing is known except that the few villages which they occupy in this 
 province are difficult of access, that they dress like the Khamies but speak a 
 distinct dialect, and bury their dead in the Forest. They are the only tribe 
 who live at any distance from a navigable stream. 
 
 ANOUK-BHET. — A township of Tavoy occupying, as its name {Western 
 Side) denotes, the western portion of the district. It extends southwards in a 
 narrow strip between the coast and the Tavoy river from the northern boundary 
 of the district to Tavoy point. Throughout its entire length it is traversed by 
 a low range of wooded hills nowhere exceeding 500 feet in height which 
 form the western watershed of the Tavoy river. In the north and separated 
 from the coast by a still lower range is the Hien-tsai basin, a large sweet- water 
 lake 15 miles long and from 6 to 8 miles broad which is fed by numerous 
 streams and empties itself into the sea by a narrow mouth closed by a sand- 
 bar. The principal products of the township are rice and the Nipa palm ; salt is 
 made in several places. 
 
 It is divided into 12 Revenue circles and contains no towns or villages of 
 any size or importance. The population in 1876 numbered 26,732 souls : the 
 land revenue amounted to Rs. 37,483 the capitation-tax to Rs. 19,932 and 
 the gross Revenue to Rs. 63,086 including Rs. 1,962 local cess. 
 
 APENG-HNIT-TSHAY. {Twenty tree cre^/t).— A creek in theBassein 
 district flowing between the Daga and Shwe-gnyoung-beng rivers. It is about 
 200 feet wide and has a depth of 15 feet increased to 19 at the flood. In the 
 rains it is navigable from the Shwe-gnyoung-beng as far as Kangoon, but in 
 the dry weather small boats cannot ascend above Koon-tsabay-oon.
 
 62 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 ABAKAN. — The most northern of the three divisions of British Burma 
 extending in a long narrow strip along the coast of the Bay of Bengal from the 
 Naaf estuary in the north to the Khwa river in the south and shut in on the east 
 by the Arakan Roma mountains. The name is a corruption of " Rakhaing" 
 the native name for the Arakanese. It covers an area of 12,525 square 
 miles and is divided into four districts : — The Arakan Hill Tracts, Akyab, 
 Kyouk-hpyoo and Sandoway. After the first Burmese war " Rakhaing-pyee- 
 gyee/' or the Arakan kingdom, was ceded to the British by the King of Burma 
 and formed into a Province which was placed under the Bengal Government. 
 It then extended as far south as Cape Negrais and was divided into four 
 districts ; — Akyab, An, Ramree and Sandoway. Various changes took place 
 in the boundaries of the districts and after the second Burmese war, when 
 Pegu was annexed, the lower strip, between the Khwa and Cape Negrais, was 
 joined to the Bassein district of Pegu. In 1875 it contained a population 
 of 497,632 souls and produced a gross revenue of Rs. 2,528,828. It is 
 administei'ed by a Commissioner whose head-quarters are at Akyab and by 
 three Deputy Commissioners of districts and a Superintendant of Hill Tracts. 
 Of the total area 12,668 square miles are reputed to be unculturable and only 
 785 square miles as actually under cultivation. 
 
 ARAKAN. — The ancient capital of Arakan. — See Mrohoung. 
 
 ARAKAN HILL TRACTS.*— This district, lying amongst the wilderness 
 of mountains in the north of Arakan, for many years formed a portion of the 
 Akyab district. Inhabited by wild tribes continually at feud with each other and 
 occupied largely in committing forays not only in the hills but even occasionally 
 in the lower and more civilised country to the south it was found impossible 
 for the local officers to do more than occasionally to copy the habits of these 
 almost savages and to make occasional raids for the punishment of the 
 marauders. In 1865 in order to bring the country more under control and, 
 as far as possible, to civilize the inhabitants and reduce them gradually to 
 more peaceful habits it was sepai-ated from Akyab and an ofiicer placed in 
 independent charge subject directly to the Commissioner of Arakan. In 1868 
 with a view of encouraging trade and traffic with the Hill Tribes and the 
 gradual winning of them over to a more frequent peaceable communication 
 with the people of the plains a market was establislied towards the south 
 at Myouk-toung, far enough in the hills to attract the hill people whilst not too far 
 from Akyab to attract traders, where the sessamum, cotton, tobacco and 
 other hill produce could be disposed of instead of being, as formerly, 
 exchanged for other goods with petty travelling hucksters who were an 
 inducement to the hillmen to commit dacoity and who could not be prevented 
 from carrying about for sale or barter arms, sulphur, saltpetre and gunpowder. 
 The market has proved a success and is now the common resort of hill men 
 from the Kooladan and the Mee. The Superintendent can personally super- 
 intend their dealings with the traders from the plains and many cases of 
 violence and murder have thus been prevented. In the same year, 1868, 
 the establishment was increased and an Assistant Superintendent appointed. 
 
 * [V/ith the exception of a few unimportant verbal alterations, some additions from subsequent 
 reports by Captain Hughes and a change in the method of spelhng so as to bring it, as far as 
 possible, into accordance with Colonel Horace Browne's system, approved by the Chief Commis- 
 sioner, the account of these tracts is taken almost entirely word for word from a report dated in 
 1872 by Mr. R. F. St. A. St. John of the Uncovenanted Service formerly of the 60th Royal Rifles 
 who was for some time Superintendent. — Editor.]
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. ^ 63 
 
 Tlie jurisdiction of the Superintendent comprises the whole of the country 
 drained by the Pay or Pee and the Kooladan with their tributaries north 
 of the latitude of the Kooladan police-station (which is situated about a 
 mile south of the junction of the Mee with the Kooladan) together with 
 the whole of the country drained by the Le-mro and its tributaries north of the 
 police post situated at the junction of the Roo with that stream and by 
 streams joining the Le-mro, above that river also the whole of the country 
 north of a line drawn westward from the mouth of the Roo to a point on 
 the east bank of the Kooladan about fifteen miles below the Kooladan post. 
 Until a regular boundary is laid down the actual limits of the district cannot 
 be fixed. On the Kooladan river the utmost limit of the real practical power 
 of control of the Superintendent is twenty miles north of Dalekmai ; beyond 
 this there are only one or two villages and then comes an uninhabited tract of 
 country reaching far north. On the Mee his control is not felt further north 
 than a mile or two beyond the police post at the junction of the Thamie and Mee 
 or Walien. Above this post there are a few villages on the Thamie, but the 
 Mee or Walien is uninhabited until the Bookie Shandoo villages are reached 
 after seven or eight days' journey. On the Le-mro owing to the police post 
 being on the boundary between this district and that of Akyab it is impossible 
 to say how far actual control extends. Roughly the Hill Tracts may be said to 
 be bounded on the south by the district of Akyab and on the west by 
 Chittagong, whilst on the north and east are no defined boundaries but 
 unknown tracts of mountainous jungle, stretching away towards Burma on 
 the east and Manipur on the north. 
 
 The Kooladan or Yam-pang is the principal river. It is called Kooladan 
 jji^gj.g by the Arakanese from " dan" a place or location and 
 
 " koola''' a foreigner, as it was on this river that the 
 Kings of Arakan located their Bengali slaves : Yam-pang is the Khamie 
 name. The source is unknown ; its general course, which is said to be for 
 some miles underground, is nearly north and south and even in the dry 
 weather it is navigable for large boats for about 120 miles from Akyab. The 
 tide is felt as far north as Koon-daw, 15 miles higher up. Above this the 
 river is a succession of rapids and shallows, and above the Tsala stream the 
 bed is excessively rocky. Its principal tributaries are the Tsala which joins it 
 about 25 miles above Dalekmai ; the Rala, the Kola, the Palak, the Kan, 
 the Mee which also receives the Thamie, and the Pay or Pee. The valleys of 
 the Palak and Kan are fertile and open and it is said that the tobacco 
 formerly grown there was especially good ; owing to frequent raids these two 
 valleys are now uninhabited. The banks of the Mee are inhabited chiefly by 
 Mro as far north as the river's junction with the Thamie, the small breadth of 
 its valley, however, affords but little space for tobacco cultivation, as is the case 
 also with the Thamie ; far north on the head waters of the Mee are Shandoo 
 tribes whilst to the south-west is the small tribe of Klioungtso who 
 generally join in their raids. With the exception of a few miles above its 
 junction with the Kooladan the Mee is a very shallow and impracticable 
 stream. The Pee, which runs parallel to the Kooladan on the west, is 
 navigable for large boats up to the latitude of the Kooladan police post, and 
 thence is a shallow mountain torrent flowing through a country inhabited by 
 Mro and Khamie. 
 
 The Le-mro has its sources in the eastern Roma, the watershed between 
 Arakan and Upper Burma, some distance to the north of the latitude of
 
 64 BKITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Dalekmai and after a course due south for about 60 miles is joined by the 
 Pee from the east and turning westwards receives the waters of the O 
 from the north and then, after running- south and west for about eight miles, 
 it takes an abrupt turn to the north and receives the waters of the Peng or 
 Wakrien. On the head waters of these streams reside tribes of Khyeng 
 and Shandoo of whom little is known but below their junction are tributary 
 Khyeng whose villages are found from this point south to within a few miles 
 of Old Arakan {Mrohoung). On the Roo are three or four villages of Mro who 
 settled there by permission of the Khyeng clan who claim that part. The 
 Le-mro at its mouth is much silted up and the tide ascends only a few miles 
 so that in the dry weather small canoes alone can pass up, whilst in the 
 rains the current is very rapid. Above the mouth of the Roo the Le-mro 
 is joined from the east by two large streams, the Wet and the Tseng, which 
 receive the greater part of the drainage from the south-east ; the valleys 
 through which they flow are sparsely inhabited by Khyeug. 
 
 The total area of the district is generally calculated at between 4,000 and 
 5,000 square miles but a large part is almost inaccessible and generally 
 speaking the population is confined to the large streams. This area is 
 composed of broken parallel ridges of sandstone hills covered with dense 
 forest drained by innumerable streamlets. The general run of the ranges is 
 north and south and wherever the rivers have been forced to take an easterly 
 or westerly course may still be seen the broken barriers which formerly 
 dammed up the waters and raised the alluvial deposits on their banks far 
 above the level of the highest rise in modern times. The scenery is sometimes 
 very wild and beautiful but still there is, necessarily, a great sameness. 
 
 Amongst the wild animals may be mentioned the elephant, rhinoceros, 
 
 Natural products. ^^^^^^ ^^er, goat, antelope, pig, tiger, bear and monkey. 
 
 The domestic animals are the gayal, buffalo, ox, goat, 
 pig and dog. The timber trees are ironwood, kamoung, thit-ka-do, ye-ma- 
 nay (gmelina), theng-gan-net (liopea), mee-gyoung-ye (pentaptera glabra), 
 ka-guyeng (dipterocarpus loevis) and in one spot north of Dalekmai there 
 is a little teak. Bamboos are plentiful and are taken down in large quan- 
 tities to Akyab. 
 
 Inhabitants. The great tribes inhabiting the hills are* : — 
 
 1, 
 
 2. 
 
 Rakhaing or Khyoungtha 
 Shandoo 
 
 .. 1,219 
 2 
 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 6. 
 6. 
 
 7. 
 
 Kiiamie or Khwe-myee 
 
 Anoo or KJioungtso 
 
 Khyeng 
 
 Khyaw or Kookie 
 
 Mro 
 
 .. 7,172 
 29 
 
 .. 1,634 
 84 
 
 .. 2,162 
 
 Total (exclusive of the PoUce) . . 12,302 
 
 The Rakhaing, commonly called Khyoung-tha, are of Burmese stock and 
 speak a dialect differing but little from Arakanese. They are divided into 
 seven clans, viz : I. Loon-hie (Arakanese), — II. Dala (Talaing), — III. Tansiet 
 (Arakanese), — IV. Moon-htouk (Talaing), — V. Koon-tsway (Arakanese), — VI. 
 Shwe-ba-dzwai (Arakanese), and — VII. Rook (Talaing) ; all live ontheKooladan 
 river, their most northern village being about eight miles above Dalekmai. 
 
 * The figures given are for 1875-76.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 65 
 
 Some clans, however^ are said to be descended from Takings or Moon wlio 
 came over to Arakan with a princess of Pegu who was married to an Arakanese 
 King- in the sixteenth century ; a story borne out by the fact that one clan 
 is still called the " Moon" clan whilst Dalekmai is said to be named from Dala 
 opposite Rangoon. In manners and customs they differ but little from 
 the Arakanese and Burmese and belong to the great Myamma or Mramma 
 (Burman) family : " Khyoung-tha^' simply means " the sons-of-the-river." 
 Their numbers in this district are 1,219, but there are many in Akyab. They 
 are a quiet, pleasant people, more like the Burmese than the Arakanese in 
 disposition. Their dress consists of the Arakanese waist cloth of dark 
 home-spun cotton and a white turban, the hair being tied in a knot on 
 the top of the head : the women wear the Arakanese petticoat which is the 
 same as the Burmese save that it comes further round so as not to expose 
 the leg in walking ; the colours however are sad and throughout the whole 
 of the Arakanese family there seems to be a want of appreciation of the 
 harmonious blending of gorgeous colours so dear to the eastern Burman 's 
 eye. Tattooing is practised but not as in Burma, the utmost being a few 
 charms on the back or shoulders. Though professedly Booddhists the spirit 
 worship of their fathers finds a much larger place in their heai'ts and many 
 customs common to primitive tribes are strictly observed. The written 
 character used by the Khyoung-tha was originally the same as the Burmese 
 but in repeating the alphabet they call some of the letters by different 
 names : the books which they use are written on rough home-made paper 
 cut to look like palm leaves and the characters used in these books difier 
 greatly from the usual Burmese form ; this arises from the originals having 
 been copied by Bengali writers who were ignorant of the true form. 
 
 The next tribe in order is the Shandoo but of them we know so little 
 that no trustworthy information can be given ; it appears, however, that the 
 customs of the tribes differ. Major Tickell in 1852 had an interview with a 
 Chief of the Bookie clan, which is nearest to us on the river Mee, and 
 those seen by Mr. Davis and Mr. St. John were from southern tribes. In 
 appearance they resemble the Khamie but their language is very different 
 though a few words are found common to both. In comparing the languages 
 of these tribes, who use monosyllabic words and are always in a state of feud 
 with one another, little result can be obtained from vocabularies as compared 
 with the consonantal sounds and the construction of the sentences. The tract 
 inhabited by them for the most part lies to the east and north-east of the 
 mountain which is commonly called the "Blue Mountain," and which is 
 situated at the north-west point of the Akyab district as laid down by the 
 Survey officers previous to the formation of the Hill Tracts District. There 
 are, however, outlying tribes on the Mee and head waters of the Le-mro and 
 it is impossible to say how far they extend north and east. The only points 
 which the accounts given by Captain Lewin the Superintendant of Hill 
 Tribes in Chittagong, by Major Tickell, and by Mr. St. John have in common 
 are : — that tlioy frequently use timber in building their houses and that they 
 raise them from the groiuid ; that they are polygamous (though all the tribes are 
 polygamous yet as in Burma monogamy is the rule more than the exception); 
 that they have a dread of water above knee deep ; and that they bury their 
 dead in graves dug in the village and lined with stones instead of burning 
 them. In this latter custom they seem to differ from the Burmese and every 
 
 9
 
 66 BBITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 other tribe. Captain Lewin states that their features do not bear any signs 
 of Mongolian physiognomy and Major Tiekell remarks this of one specimen 
 but not of the other. Those, however, seen by Mr. St. John were decidedly 
 Mongolian and in no way differed in stature or appearance from the Khamie. 
 Strictly speaking a description of this tribe is out of place as they can hardly 
 be called one of the district tribes though some of their clans are within the 
 limits of the survey map. 
 
 The Khamie, or as they are more commonly called the Khwe-myee, are 
 the principal tribe of the district. Three or four generations ago they dwelt 
 on the mountain ranges to the north-east but having quarrelled with their 
 neighboui's the Shandoo they were driven down towards the Kooladan, gradually 
 pushing before them the Mro and the Khyoung-tha who formerly dwelt there. 
 They are divided, like all the hill people^ into clans and doubtless in their 
 former habitat had their own lands and obeyed influential heads of 
 clans ; but their forced immigration has destroj^ed all this and now they are 
 scattered and confused though keeping together in villages composed for the 
 most part of members of the same clan under a headman or toiuig-meng whose 
 office is generally hereditary. " Touug-meug" is a Burmese word derived from 
 " toung^' a hill and " meng" a chief : their own word for chief is " a-raing." 
 The name " Khamie'^ is the one by which they call themselves and means 
 '^ man" [homo) ; the Burmese, however^ as is their wont, have seized upon the 
 peculiarity of their dress which hangs down behind like a tail and adapting 
 the word " Khamie^' to their own language make it into " Khwe-myee'''' from 
 " khwe" a dog, and "myee^' a tail. In features, language and manners 
 they are of the same family as the Mram-ma. The dress of the male 
 Khamie is a long home-spun cotton cloth about one foot in width which is 
 passed several times round the waist and once between the legs, the coloured 
 ends hanging down in front and behind ; the hair is knotted over the front 
 part of the head and a long twisted white cloth is bound round the head so 
 as to make a turban standing well up over the forehead ; this adds to the 
 height and sets them off to great advantage. They are generally well set 
 up and muscular but vary greatly in stature ; they are wary and occasionally 
 deceitful ; ^' their distrust is the result of their dealings with people who 
 they know deceive them and if once convinced that you will keep your 
 word they will always trust you." Generally speaking they are more open to 
 improvement than any of the other tribes not even excepting the Khyoung-tha 
 and there can be no doubt but they are now fully able to understand the 
 benefits of peace and trade and are desiroiis of changing their former pre- 
 datory habits. 
 
 The Mro (whom Mr. St. John is inclined to consider as a sept of the 
 Khamie) wear but a small blue waist cloth about four inches wide and are 
 not particular as to their head dress or personal appearance ; their houses, too_, 
 are small and the desire for improvement is not so great. The women 
 of both tribes dress almost exactly alike. A short dark blue cloth reaching 
 to the knee and open at the side is fastened round the waist with a belt of 
 cords covered either with large beads or copper rings ; over the breast is worn 
 a small strip of cloth. Unlike the men they are very squarely built but the 
 habit of carrying very heavy weights on their backs in baskets with a band 
 passing over their forehead up the precipitous hill paths makes them walk 
 with a constrained and waddling gait. Some when young are good looking
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 67 
 
 but constant labour soon destroys their personal appearance. This tribe lives 
 on the Mee^ a tributary of the Kooladan, and on some streams to the south, 
 and appears to be looked upon by the others as inferior to themselves. It 
 was their custom to form a nest, as nearly musketproof as they could 
 make it, in some high tree connected with the ground by a bamI)oo ladder, 
 in which men women and children took refuge in case of attack, cutting 
 the ladder after they had gone up. The practice has died out owing to the 
 freedom from danger which they now enjoy. 
 
 The Anoo, Koon or Khouugtso are a small tribe of whom there is one 
 village east of Dalekmai, very difficult to get at, and three or four on the Tsala 
 and near the head waters of the Thamie, also difficult of access : little, there- 
 fore, is known of them save that they dress like Khamie but speak a dis- 
 tinct dialect which contains many words and expressions intelligible to the 
 Mauipuri. ^ They also bury their dead, but in the forest. 
 
 The Khyeug are tlie most widely spread of all the tribes and inhabit the 
 Arakau Roma mountain range, east of the Le-mro river, that divides 
 Arakan from Burma, and extends from far south down into the Sandoway 
 district and across the Romas into the Pegu division. Though all acknowledge 
 that they are of the same family and universally tattoo the faces of their womeli, 
 a practice pecuhar to their tribe, yet there is a great diffiirence between the 
 dialects of those who are brought captives from the east side and of those who 
 inhabit these hills : generally speaking they are shy and averse to improvement, 
 cultivating neither cotton nor tobacco for sale. They are divided into numerous 
 clans each of which is located on certain tracts sufficiently large to supply them 
 with cultivation the boundaries of which they never exceed. 
 
 It has been said that they adopted the custom of tattooing the womeus' 
 faces to prevent their being taken by the Burmese rulers and this is the 
 explanation almost universally accepted in the plains and in the Pegu division; 
 but the reason may have been as suggested by Mr. St. John, that they mark 
 them thus so as to know them when carried away by other tribes and also 
 to enable them to conceal the women of other tribes carried off by them. 
 Their language though not understood by either Khamie or Mro has 
 many words in common with theirs. The men knot their hair over the fore- 
 head and the waist cloth is, in these hill tracts, reduced to the smallest 
 possible dimensions; in fact it can hardly be said to have the slightest 
 pretensions to decency. Those of the tribe who live east of the Roma mountain 
 dress somewhat differently {See Khyeug). 
 
 The women wear a short waist cloth but open on both sides and a 
 smock frock like that worn by the Kareng but very short; the clans further 
 south wear it long. 
 
 The Khyaw inhabit a village of about 30 houses near the junction 
 of the Tsala with the Kooladan : they arc undoubtedly of the Kookie family 
 but how they became separated from the main body is not known. The men 
 knot their hair at the back and shave over the forehead ; the women plait 
 it into two tails which are brought up over the forehead : their features are 
 different to the other tribes and their complexion far darker. 
 
 Though there may be a few minor differences in tlie manners and customs 
 
 of these tribes yet on the whole there is great similarity. The religion of 
 
 all is spirit worship of the most primitive kind and consists in paying a 
 
 •sacrifice of blood to the spirits of the hills and rivers as a means of averrino-
 
 68 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 evil ; the smallest act cannot be performed without shedding the blood of 
 some kind of animal or bird. 
 
 In the year there are two important ceremonies for the propitiation of 
 the " Ka-nie," or spirit, viz., at the time of soAving- seed and before harvest. 
 At the first a fowl or pig is taken alive to the place to be sown, a small heap 
 of rice seed is placed on the ground and the blood from the animal is poured 
 on it ; the flesh is taken home and eaten. The second is performed when 
 the rice plant is well grown but before the ear has come up ; a fowl, pig or 
 dog is killed at home and the blood is smeared on long bamboos decorated 
 by shaving round the joints so as to leave tassels and tufts hanging from 
 them ; these bamboos are then taken to the field and stuck up in various 
 parts of it. 
 
 There is also another annual feast, in honour of departed spirits who 
 are called '^ hpalaw.'" This custom is followed by the Khamie and 
 Khyoung-tha but not by the Mro. The ceremony is performed by the 
 Khamie after harvest and is called " ta-proungpa-oung or the opening of 
 the dead-house. When a person dies and has been burnt the ashes are 
 collected and placed in a small house in the forest, together with his spear 
 or gun which has first been broken in pieces. These small houses are generally 
 placed in groups near a village, for which they are sometimes numerous enough 
 to be mistaken. After harvest the whole of the deceased^s relatives cook 
 various kinds of dishes and rice and take them with pots of "a-moo" 
 (liquor made from rice) to the small houses where the ashes repose ; the doors 
 of the house are opened and food having been placed for the departed are 
 re-closed : the relatives then weep, eat and drink and return home in the 
 evening. Khyoung-tha perform this ceremony thrice a year but with 
 them it consists simply of setting aside food and drink for the departed for 
 a short time and then throwing it away into the river. 
 
 During the dry weather numerous feasts are given at which large 
 numbers of cattle are killed and eaten and rice-beer and spirits consumed. 
 It is a mark of distinction amongst them to have it said that they have 
 killed so many head at a feast ; the largest number Mr. St. John heard of was 
 150 killed at one feast by a headman (A-raing) and his sons. The gayals, 
 buffaloes and oxen are tied up to a post and speared behind the right 
 sboulder but other animals have their throats cut. Dogs are castrated when 
 young for use at feasts. The post used by the Mro is Y shaped ; and just 
 below the fork carved so as to represent two or more beasts. There is some 
 peculiar but at present unknown significance attached to this symbol both 
 by Mro and Khamie and it is often carved on the posts of headmen^'s 
 houses and on the house ladder. The Khamie and Khyeng do not carve 
 their posts but set them up rough ; in the Khyeng villages some rough 
 stones are set up. 
 
 At the feasts there is always a drinking of " khoung" or rice-beer 
 which is made by soaking rice with certain ferment-causing roots in a large 
 pot : this pot is then put away till required and then filled to the brim with 
 water; a reed with two little holes cut at the side above the bottom joint 
 having been thrust down into the liquor it is sucked up and when the 
 first man has drank his quantum he marks it with a slip of bamboo and fills 
 up with water for the next comer. One pot is sufficient for a large number 
 of men. When five or six pots are put in a row the drinkers are supposed
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 69 
 
 to commence at one and move on up the line until they come to the other. 
 This liquor is not disagreeable and is moderately intoxicating". 
 
 Dancing must be seen to be clearly understood : it is more of a side 
 Dances. closing step than a dance the line being headed by 
 
 drummers, small gong players, wind instrument 
 blowers and men armed with spears, '' Wa-raik" (a peculiar brass handled 
 sword said to be made by the Shandoos and much prized), muskets and 
 shields. The step consists of closing two steps to the right and one to the 
 left in time to the music and at the same time bending the body so as to 
 throw the posteriors outwards : the young men commence it and then drag in 
 the girls between them to whom they make love and whom they stimulate with 
 ardent spirits. '' I have seen" writes Mr. St. John " a young man thus dancino- 
 away and murmuring a love song into the ears of two girls at the same time, 
 one on each side, with his arms round their necks." Before commeucino> 
 the faces of all are often smeared with a mixture of saffron and rice flour 
 which is supposed to ward off the bad effects of drinking. Occasionally they 
 dance a wild sort of war dance with "dhas" and shields and there is also 
 a very clever dance something resembling the sword dance of Scotland 
 but between two heavy rice pounders which are clapped together by two other 
 men to the sound of a drum : if the dancer is not very agile or exact he 
 is liable to get his leg broken between the pounders. 
 
 Till marriage, intercourse between the sexes is perfectly free and unres- 
 Marriage. trained ; and it is considered highly proper to marry 
 
 a girl great with child though it be that of another 
 man ; if however a girl bring forth before marriage the child is, it is said, 
 exposed. Marriage is a simple contract consequent on makino- valuable 
 presents to the parents. It is an insult to tell a girl that the young men 
 will not sleep in her house. 
 
 Tabooing. "^^^^ ceremony of '' Ya" for tabooing is strictly observed 
 
 on the following occasions : — 
 \st. — When any person belonging to the village is killed by a tiger 
 or crocodile ; when the body of any person so killed is brought 
 into a village ; or when any woman of the village dies in child- 
 birth all intercourse with other villages is cut off until the appear- 
 ance of the next new moon. 
 Incl. — When a village or house is burnt ; or when a new village is erected 
 
 intercourse is forbidden for the period of three days. 
 ^rd. — When any epidemic breaks out intercourse is forbidden with 
 
 that village until the disease has disappeared. 
 Uh. — When the rice plants are well up and require weeding intercourse 
 
 is forbidden for seven days. 
 5th. — When a villager dies by accident intercourse is forbidden for one 
 
 day. 
 Any person breaking this custom is fined by the headmen of the 
 neighbouring villages. To show that a village is tabooed strings or canes are 
 suspended across the road. 
 
 At harvest time the people are forbidden to eat flesh or fish ; and 
 any person who has killed another or been wounded by a tiger or crocodile 
 is obliged to abstain from flesh for a period extending from three months 
 to one year. It is also considered wrong to take money for a tiger's skin.
 
 70 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 When the inhabitants of a village have been successful in a raid or in 
 Customs. repelling an attack a sacrifice is offered to the " Kauie" 
 
 or guardian spirit ; all the men dancing a war dance 
 with spears and shields round the village post. 
 
 When a person dies the body is laid out in the house and a feast made ; 
 food is set apart for the ghost which is supposed to remain over the house 
 as long as the body is there. Seven bundles of rice for a man and six for a 
 woman are left at the place of cremation for the ghost to feed on^ and neglect 
 of this custom is a bar to inheritance. 
 
 According to the Hill custom all offences or injuries ai'e remedial by fine 
 only, and this fine is called in the Burmese " goung-hpo,^^ or head money ; 
 by the Mro it is called '^aloo-wang"; and by the Khamie " loo-wang.'"' 
 If the fine or debt be not paid means are first taken to try and recover 
 the money by restraining the person and if this be ineffectual the judgment- 
 debtor becomes the slave of the injured party who either keeps him in his 
 house to work or sells him. In cases where it is impossible to apprehend 
 the party or recover the amount due the creditor will bide his time and, 
 when least expected, a raid will be committed on the village of the debtor. 
 As this " goung-hpo'^ is constantly demanded for purely imaginary reasons, 
 and in a very arbitrary manner, raids are sometimes committed and feuds 
 established on very frivolous i^retences ; for instance the feud between the 
 Shandoo and the Karay clan of Khamie, who formerly lived in the Palook 
 valley, is said to have originated in a dispute concerning a bamboo pipe head, an 
 article of but small value, and has resulted in the expulsion of the whole 
 of the Khamie from that valley. In another case a young Mro found the 
 body of a small deer that had been killed by a tiger and threw it into the forest 
 near another man's field at a great distance from the village ; this came to 
 the knowledge of the owner of the " joom/'' or patch of cultivation and one of 
 his children dying shortly afterwards he attributed it to the act and 
 demanded " goung-hpo" from the young man. The village elders admitted 
 the claim and a small forfeit was paid and it was thought that the matter 
 was fully settled but about a year afterwards another child died and its 
 death, was by some curious process of reasoning, attributed to the same act 
 and another demand of larger value was made ; this was too much and the 
 person of whom the demand was made fled to the Superintendent for succour. 
 T „ The following is an abstract of the Hill laws as 
 
 given by Mr. Davis and quoted by Mr. St. John, two 
 successive Superintendents. 
 
 Criminal. 
 
 i. — If a person commit murder he should be fined the value of two 
 Murder or Homicide. ^^^^'^^ ^^^ several spears, swords and gongs, say in all 
 about Rs. 600. If death be caused accidentally the 
 fine should be half the above. 
 
 ii. — When a village is plundered by a body of raiders the leader alone 
 jjg^-^ is to be held responsible and if apprehended is 
 
 bound to return the value of all property taken (includ- 
 ing the head money of persons killed) and also to pay a fine. 
 
 iii. — If a village be burnt down in committing a raid the leader is 
 Raid and arson. bound to make good the damage done and to pay a fine 
 
 in addition.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 71 
 
 iv. — A person who commits theft is bound to return the pro- 
 Theft perty, or its value, and to pay a fine not exceeding- 
 Rs. 30. 
 Grievous limt ^' — ^ person who causes grievous hurt may be 
 fined Rs. 100. 
 AssaiUt. ^^- — ^^ ^ person assault another he is to pay a fine not 
 exceeding Rs. 30. 
 vii. — If rape be committed on a married woman the husband is entitled 
 I^ape. to demand a sum not exceeding- Rs. 60. Rape of 
 an unmarried woman is to be punished by a fine not 
 exceeding Rs. 30. 
 
 Besides the fine the ofiender has to pay for the animal (pig) slain to make 
 the agreement binding. 
 
 When murder is committed in a raid any raiders caught red-handed are 
 at once beheaded and the heads stuck up in the village. 
 
 A woman may not receive a fine but a male relative or husband may 
 receive it for her. 
 
 Civil. 
 
 i. — If two persons dispute about a debt or other matter and neither 
 Oj.^eal. *^^^ produce evidence they are obliged to go through 
 
 the ordeal of ducking the head in water^ and the decision 
 is given in favour of him who keeps under longest. 
 
 ii. — If a debt be not paid and the debtor is not apprehended the 
 Execution. creditor^s party, if strong enough, attacks the debtor^s 
 
 village and carries ofi" as many captives as it can. 
 iii. — The interest on a debt is double the principal if one year 
 Interest. ^® allowed to expire from the date on which it was 
 
 contracted. 
 
 Sons Uable for father. iv.— The debts of the father must be paid by the 
 sons. 
 v. — If a man die without male issue his property is claimed by his near- 
 No male issue. ®^^ '^''^^^ relative; he, therefore, is responsible for the 
 debts of the deceased whether there be property or not. 
 vi. — Should a man die leaving a son who is a minor the nearest male 
 Minority. relative acts as guardian until minority ceases on 
 
 marriage when he is bound to give account of his 
 stewardship. 
 Women. ^'^^' — -^ woman cannot inherit and is, therefore, not 
 
 responsible for a debt. 
 Division of inherit- viii. — If a man die leaving two or more sous the 
 ^^^^- property is divided as follows : — 
 
 If there are only two they divide equally : if there be more than two 
 the eldest and the youngest take two shares each and the others one share 
 each. 
 
 ix. — On the death of the fiither the eldest son must give his maternal 
 
 Customs to be ob- uncle a full-grown buftcilo or the value. On the death of 
 
 ^^^'^'^'^- the mother the youngest son must give a paternal uncle 
 
 a full-grown buffalo or the value. If this cannot be done a son should be 
 
 given.
 
 72 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Bequeathing sons ^' — If a man be on the point of death and cannot pay his 
 
 debts he must leave a son to the creditor to work it off. 
 
 xi. — Slaves do not inherit unless adopted according to rule ; if iuhei'iting 
 
 gj^^^g as having- been adopted they will be held responsible for 
 
 debts. If a slave, however, be adopted by a master who 
 
 has sons he cannot inherit. 
 
 xii. — There is no fixed age for marriage, nor any constraint used to 
 influence choice. Marriage is contracted on consent of 
 auiage, ^^^ woman's parents after payment of the fixed dowry 
 
 by the suitor. 
 
 xiii. a. — If a husband wish to divorce his wife he may do so and take 
 Divorce ^^^ ^^^^ children ; but in so doing he will forfeit claim 
 
 to dowry. 
 b. — If a woman have children by a former husband she is entitled to 
 them on divorce. 
 
 c. — A divorced woman must, until re-married, be supported by the male 
 relative who received her dowry or by his heir. 
 
 Pq xiv. a. — No female can receive dowry : it must be 
 
 received by the nearest male relative. 
 b. — If a husband chastise or ill-treat his wife and she absconds in 
 consequence he is nevertheless entitled to receive back the dowry. 
 
 c. — If a wife abuse or ill-treat her husband he may chastise her ; but 
 if on that accouat he divorce her he forfeits claim to dowry. 
 
 XV. a. — If the husband divorce the wife for proved adultery he is entitled 
 Adulterv ^*^ receive the dowry paid by him and may also demand 
 
 a sum equal to the dowry from the adulterer in addition 
 to fine and costs. 
 
 d. — If a man commit adultery the wife has no redress, 
 xvi. — Should a woman die in giving birth to a child before marriage the 
 reputed father must pay her value to her father or nearest male relative. 
 
 Oath is usually taken by swearing to speak the truth on a musket, spear, 
 Qr^^]^^ sword, tiger's tusk, crocodile^s tooth and stone hatchet 
 
 (supposed to be a meteoric stone, they are occasionally 
 found when cutting the jungle); these are all held together in the hands 
 whilst repeating the oath. This is not much feared and it is said that the 
 Khamie consider an oath taken on the skull of a cat or tiger more binding. 
 Some Mro say that an oath taken on the praying mantis is binding whilst 
 this is denied by others. 
 
 Cultivation is of the simplest character, viz., that commonly called 
 Cultivation toungrja in Burma and jooiii in India : it consists 
 
 in selecting a suitable spot of forest on the side of 
 a hill and clearing it by cutting down the underwood ; early in April 
 this is set fire to and immediately afterwards the seed is sown broad- 
 cast. The only implements used are a chopper about twelve inches long 
 and about three inches broad at the end, in fact an isosceles triangle of iron 
 with a base of three inches, the apex being fitted into a bamboo handle, and 
 a small axe or triangular " celt^' of iron with the small end run through a 
 hole in a bamboo to form the handle. Unlike Burmese choppers however 
 the wash is only on one side. During the rains cotton and sessamum 
 are planted on the same piece of ground. In August the rice ripens and
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 73 
 
 the family on some fine day repair to the field with a basket four or five feet 
 in diameter; the women and children reap the ears with a rough jagged 
 sickle and carry them to a man who tramples out the grain which when 
 taken home is dried in the sun or, if the weather will not allow of this, over 
 fires. 
 
 The cotton is much sought after by the Arakanese and of late years 
 the cultivation has considerably increased as the Khamie on the Kooladan 
 are quite alive to the advantage of a good market. It is inferior to Egyptian 
 in staple, fibre and texture but it yields a much larger crop and it has been 
 reported by the Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce, Bombay, to be 
 somewhat superior to ordinary Bengal cotton. 
 
 Tobacco is cultivated by all the villagers on the Kooladan and is 
 remarkably good, almost equal to Manilla. It is sown broadcast on the 
 alluvial deposits along the banks after the fall of the river in November, the 
 long elephant grass haying first been cut and burnt. The plants are not 
 transplanted but well weeded and thinned out ; a good deal, however, depends 
 upon the season as the plants require a little rain though the heavy fogs no 
 doubt do a great deal for them. When the plants are about two feet high 
 the shoots and lower leaves are broken off to make the good leaves grow 
 larger. In April and May the leaves are picked and strung through the 
 stalk on a thin bamboo skewer about one cubit in length, from 20 to 30 leaves 
 on a skewer, and hung up in the house roof to dry ; after five or six days they 
 are taken down and shaken about to prevent the leaves from adhering to one 
 another : they are then re-hung and after six or seven days, when quite dry, 
 thrown into a large basket in which they undergo heavy pressure ; after 
 about a month and a half, when the rain has well set in, they are taken out 
 and sorted into bundles. The tobacco is never exposed to the sun and is 
 kept till the rains for sorting so that the leaves may be pliant. The Mro 
 have a tradition that the seed was brought from Cheduba Island where also 
 good tobacco is produced. The Khamie call it "■ tsa-rak,'' the Mro " tsa-rook," 
 and the Khyeng " tsee-met.'' These words are evidently corruptions of the 
 Burmese " tshe-rwek" tobacco leaf. The Shandoo call it " oma," or " koma- 
 kouk." 
 
 The women do most of the cultivation with the exception of cutting the 
 jungle for toungya. 
 
 Of the climate Mr. St. John writes:—" I think that the deadliness of the 
 Health and climate. " climate has been overstated; but it affects peo,.lo 
 " differently. I do not consider, however, that the Mill 
 " fever is to be attributed to malaria but to constant severe changes of 
 " temperature. From my own experience I have found that the only dangerous 
 " months are April, May and June ; April is excessively hot and May and 
 ^' June are the beginning of the rains, the end of the rains I have found 
 '' pleasant. The time for moving about is from the 1st of November to the 31st 
 *' March. The people are generally speaking healthy but subject to skin 
 " diseases. What tells most on the 'European is want of proper food. It is 
 " evident from the custom of the people that a very strong diet is necessary, 
 " and chickens, therefore, and tin-meats are not sufficient for the European; 
 "occasionally he may obtain a little venison but beef and mutton are out of 
 " the question.-" Arakanese do not stand the climate well and it is deadly to 
 most Burmese who seldom get over the fever and almost always suffer from 
 
 10
 
 74 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 enlargement of the spleen. From December to March the prevailing wind is 
 north and during the monsoon south or south-west. 
 
 The dispensary at head-quarters is a well raised building with a planked 
 floor and bamboo mat walls, and consists of two rooms for indoor patients 
 and another which is used as an office and dispensary. The total number of 
 persons treated in 1875 was 1,441 of whom 277 were in-patients. Included 
 in these figures are 225 Policemen of whom 102 were in-patients. 
 
 The number of cases of each class of disease treated was — 
 
 Fever ... ..> 292 Disease of the respiratory system 93 
 
 Measles ... ... 69 Ditto digestive do. 229 
 
 Dysentery ... ... 57 Ditto urinary do. 10 
 
 Diarrhoea ... ... 61 Ditto skin 208 
 
 Disease of the eye ... 77 Others 345 
 
 The weapons used by the Shandoo, Khamie and Mro are muskets, 
 ^ j^g spears, short swords or bills, knives and shields. The 
 
 muskets are old English ones obtained from Arakau, 
 Chittagong and Upper Burma : the spears are of two or three different 
 shapes but all short (about four feet long) with a long iron spike ; " sanroteer" 
 as the Greeks called it. The Khamie and Mro chopper is about one foot long 
 in the blade and is carried in a basket-work sheath ; the end is not pointed 
 but is about two inches broad. The Shandoo have a very curious bill about 
 the same length but with a brass handle four or five inches long with a 
 guard for the fingers and a tuft of stained hair. This guard is, however, too 
 small for a European's hand and even for that of many Khamie : this is carried 
 in a curiously-cut wooden scabbard. The shields used by the Shandoo and Kha- 
 mie are similar in shape and are made of buSiilo-skin ; they are about two feet 
 long one cubit wide at the top and fourteen inches at the bottom, and the 
 centre is slightly raised ; inside there is a double handle by which to hold 
 them. Those of the Shandoo Chiefs are ornamented with rows of small brass 
 saucer-shaped plates which are fastened on in rows of eight and occupy the 
 upper half; from the lower row hang pendants of coloured horse or goats 
 hair. The second in command of a war-party and a chiefs son carry the 
 same shaped shield with one large brass plate, about ten inches in diameter, in 
 the centre. The knives or daggers are sharp-pointed and carried by a leather 
 belt over the shoulder in a bone sheath usually ornamented with cowries. 
 
 The spear of the Khyeng is very long and heavy and their shield is 
 long and rounded like the Eoman '' scutum^' : it has only one handle and has 
 no ornamentation. They also use a large cross-bow like the Kareng and 
 some tribes use a small long-bow with short iron-tipped arrows, but these are 
 now scarce. 
 
 From the Arakanese histories, which, like all Burmese records, are, as far 
 
 ^ . . , , ., as the accounts of the more early times are concerned, a 
 
 Origmof tribes. . „-,.. , •' ,, .,, 
 
 mixture oi tradition and romance worked up with a view 
 
 to fabricating for the first kings a fabulous descent from the solar race of 
 
 India and to introducing the imaginary visit of Gaudama to Indo-China, 
 
 very little of value is to be gleaned. The first Booddhist monks seem to have 
 
 pursued much the same course as the Brahmins did in Manipur when, after 
 
 converting a portion of these same tribes, they made out a fabulous connection 
 
 between them and the heroes of the Maha Bharata. From the facts, however, 
 
 that the Burmese do admit that all the tribes are related to thera and to one
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 75 
 
 another and that frequent reference is made to immigrations vid the Kooladan 
 river and from the stories of "bhee-loos''' or monsters it would seem that in very 
 remote ages a great Mongohau horde consisting- of several tribes passed south- 
 ward from Thibet and dividing- into two streams either in or near the valley of 
 Manipur the one proceeded down the Kyeng-'dweng- and peopled Upper Burma 
 whilst the other followed the valley of the Kooladan driving before it an 
 aboriginal race similar to the Yak-ko of Ceylon, or the present Andamanese, 
 who either were or were believed to be cannibals and whom the new arrivals 
 termed " Yek-kha/'^ As soon as the heads of these columns reached the sea 
 a reaction would set in naturally resulting in the improvement of those who 
 held the plains and in the isolation of the smaller families in the hills : this by 
 the process of natural selection and isolation and their want of a written 
 language would soon result in the various tribes talking very different 
 dialects. The different dialects, however, are more alike and have more affinity 
 with the Burmese than is at first apparent. All have a few words in common 
 as '' ien" or " iem" a house, and " hn" or " lam'''' a road ; the Burman is the 
 only tribe that pronounces the final as n. 
 
 The houses of all the tribes are built of bamboos with either wooden or 
 bamboo posts ; those of the Khamie being decidedly 
 the best and largest. The Khamie house is raised five 
 or six feet from the ground and is usually three fathoms broad by five or six 
 in length (the fathom is an ordinary man's stretch from the tips of the fingers 
 of the right hand to those of the left), some however are larger. The interior 
 of the house is one large hall ; at one end the mat walls are double and at 
 both are fireplaces. There is a door leading to a raised platform and at the 
 usual entrance there is a sort of vestibule where the water-bottles are kept. 
 Inside on the centre post are fixed the skulls of animals killed at feasts and 
 also spears, gongs, drums &c. ; outside on the wall at the entrance end are the 
 skulls of animals killed in the chase. The floor is of woven bamboos and 
 the roof, which is round and brought down at the corners, is thatched with 
 grass or bamboo leaves placed over a rough bamboo mat and kept down on 
 the outside with another ; at the end of the house between the double walls is 
 a place for fowls ; below are the piggeries. Generally each married couple 
 have a house to themselves. The Khyoung-tha house — never very large — is 
 built in the usual Arakanese fashion, raised five or six feet from the ground 
 with a door at one end and a fowl-house on one side : the roof is brought up 
 to a ridge. The Mro house is very similar but the side where the fireplace 
 is put instead of being of mat is made of unsplit bamboos so that the smoke 
 may escape. The Khyeng vary in their style but all build well off the 
 ground ; some build their houses so that they are pentagon-shaped with a 
 
 » The name Arakan, " Eakhaing, " now given to the wliole tract south of the Naaf and west of 
 " the Roma mouutaius as far south as the Khwa stream " appears to be a corruption of 
 " Rekkiidik, derived from the Pah word Yek-kha which in its popular signification means a 
 "monster, half-man half-beast which, like the Cretan Minotam-, devoured human flesh. The 
 " country was named Rek-kha-pu-ra by the Booddhist Missionaries from India, either because 
 " they found the tradition existing of a race of monsters which committed devastation in a 
 " remote period or because they found the Mramma people worshijipers of spirits and demons. 
 " It is possible that these traditions of human-flcsh-devonring monsters arose from exaggerated 
 " stories concerning the savage tribes who inhabited the country when first the Mramma race 
 " entered it. The names given to some of these monsters bear a close resemlilance to the names 
 " common among the Khyeng and Khamie tribes to this day". PhajTc's History of Arakan. 
 " Joiunal Bcng : As : Soc : Vol. XII. pp. 24, 25.
 
 76 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 door at the end and three large openings at the side. The Khyaw houses are 
 much the same but they do not weave the bamboo floor, simply laying down 
 the split bamboos loose so that dust may easily be swept away. 
 
 Villages are, wherever the ground admits, built in a rough circle in the 
 centre of which are the slaughter-posts and a shed for travellers, which is also 
 used as a forge. The chief men, too, generally have a detached building for 
 strangers to sleep in. The hill-people always weave the mats of the walls in 
 the place where they are to remain and do not follow the Burmese custom of 
 first weaving on the ground and fixing up afterwards. 
 
 The only arts practised are those of weaving cotton cloths and baskets. 
 The blankets made by the Khamie are, generally speak- 
 anu ac ures. -^^^^^ white and have thick ribs of cotton run in to make 
 
 them warm ; some are like large Turkish towels. The Mro usually weave 
 blankets with a black and white pattern, shewing only on one side. The 
 Khyeng weave them in broad stripes of bright colours like those worn by the 
 Toungthoo. There are also long earthenware pots which are said to be made 
 by the Khyeng high up the Le-mro : they are covered with a cane network 
 with a wide ring at the bottom to make them stand. 
 
 The population returns for this district are very inaccurate as the hill 
 people object to telling the number of children they 
 Population, ^^^^ rpj^g statistics are collected by the " Khyoung-ook" 
 
 who corresponds to the " Thoogyee^'' of other parts of the Province. 
 
 The total population in 1875-76 was supposed to be 12,442. 
 
 The proportion of males to females by races is shewn below : — 
 
 Races. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 European 
 
 Burmese . . . . 
 
 Arakauese and Kbyoung-tha 
 
 Khamio . . 
 
 Mro 
 
 Khyeng 
 
 Anoo 
 
 Shandoo 
 
 Other .. 
 
 
 4 
 
 28 
 
 710 
 
 3,769 
 
 1,026 
 
 811 
 
 15 
 
 2 
 
 21 
 
 19 
 
 650 
 
 3,403 
 
 1,136 
 
 823 
 
 14 
 
 11 
 
 
 Total 
 
 6,386 
 
 6,056 
 
 Nearly the whole population are agriculturists. 
 The prevailing languages are Arakauese and Khamie. 
 The estimated area under cultivation is nine square miles and of this 2,500 
 acres are under cotton and 4,000 under tobacco. There are only 15 acres of
 
 BRITIBH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 77 
 
 Fiscal. 
 
 rice-land under cultivation and these are in the plain near Myouk-toung 
 at the foot of the hills ; the rate of assessment per acre 
 is twelve annas : rice is grown in the " joom ■" or " ya/' 
 but no measurements are made or rate per acre fixed, each family being 
 charged one Rupee a year; the number of ya in 1875-76 was 5,196. An 
 experimental tobacco farm has been opened by the State at Myouk-toung. A 
 capitation tax was formerly charged on all Mro and Khyeng living near 
 the borders of the Akyab district and on Khyoungtha generally : the rates 
 were two rupees for married men and one rupee for widowers ; bachelors were 
 not charged at all. This tax has since been abolished and tribute has been 
 levied at the rate of one rupee per family. The only other sources of revenue 
 are timber-duty and fines. A tax of one rupee is levied as in other parts of 
 Arakan on all iron wood trees felled. 
 
 . The following table shews the amount realized 
 
 Total receipts. during 1875-76 as compared with the receipts for 
 
 1869-70 :— 
 
 Items of Revenue realized. 
 
 Amount 
 
 realized for 
 
 1875-76. 
 
 Amount 
 
 realized for 
 
 1869-70. 
 
 Increase. 
 
 Decrease. 
 
 1. Land Revenue 
 
 2. Capitation-tax 
 
 3. Excise (Tari Sale License) 
 
 4. Tribute 
 
 5. Miscellaneous 
 
 Rs. 
 2,720 
 
 2,479 
 1,610 
 
 Rs. 
 
 690 
 
 1,420 
 
 60 
 
 1,190 
 
 340 
 
 Rs. 
 2,030 
 
 1,289 
 1,270 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1,420 
 60 
 
 Total 
 
 6,809 
 
 3,700 
 
 4,589 
 
 1,480 
 
 Nett Increase 
 
 •• 
 
 
 3,109 
 
 
 Mr. Davis's estimate for 1868 shewed that Rs. 80,000 worth of produce 
 found its way yearly down to Akyab and nearly the whole 
 ^^ ^' of this from the Kooladau Khamie. 
 
 The exports from the Kooladan in 1875-76 were : — 
 
 Tobacco leaves, 126,428 biindles 
 Ditto roots, 185,000 do. 
 Ditto ditto, 18 sers 
 
 Cotton, 1,603 baskets 
 
 Sessainum, 3,291 
 
 Bamboos, 513,442 
 
 Plantains, 103,335 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 
 Cash- 
 Goods unsold... 
 
 Total 
 
 Value. 
 
 
 Es. A. 
 
 P 
 
 28,462 8 
 
 
 
 62 8 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 3,325 8 
 
 
 
 3,004 
 
 
 
 3,222 4 
 
 
 
 1,121 7 
 
 
 
 5,539 1 
 
 6 
 
 139,541 2 
 
 
 
 32,327 5 
 
 
 
 216,612 11 
 
 6 
 
 * Ou account of the State.
 
 78 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The trade on the Le-mro river amounts to about Rs. 12,000 and the princi- 
 pal exports are bamboos and sessamum whilst miscellaneous goods form the 
 bulk of the imports. 
 
 On the Pee river there is a trade of the value about Rs. 8,000; consisting of 
 tobacco, cotton, sessamum and miscellaneous goods. 
 
 The whole of the salt used in the district is brought from Ramree in large 
 boats, which begin to arrive in November. The price is four to five baskets 
 (12 sers) for one rupee. The Shandoo obtain their salt by barter from the 
 villagers near the frontier, who make very large profits from the trade, and, 
 as the salt has afterwards to be carried on men's backs for several days' 
 journey, it must be a highly-prized article by the time it reaches the Shandoo 
 villages. All the trans-frontier tribes are dependent on our administration 
 for their supplies of salt, which might, if necessary, be cut off without any 
 trouble or expense. 
 
 Cotton is grown in the toungya and the crop is gathered soon after the 
 rains. The export season is from December to March. 
 
 ^^ The late rains of 1875 were very destructive to the 
 
 cotton crop which amounted to about 2,000 baskets only, some of this was 
 not purchased until after the close of the year. The cotton is sold by the 
 basket of 30 sers (so called), but this has been found to contain little more 
 than 401bs. The usual price is two rupees a basket, which would make the 
 price of a raaund of 80lbs about Rs. 4. 
 
 There are two Judicial Officers in the district both exercising Criminal 
 and Civil jurisdiction viz. : — the Superintendent and 
 Tribunals and Police. ^^^ Assistant Superintendent. The Superintendent 
 exercises all the powers of a District Magistrate and on the 27th July 
 1870 was invested with special powers under the Criminal Procedure Code. 
 He also exercises all the Civil powers of a District Judge as defined in Act XVI. 
 of 1875 and elsewhere. The Assistant Superintendent exercises in Criminal 
 matters the powers of a subordinate Magistrate of the 2nd class with power 
 of committal, and in Civil matters the power of a Court of the 1st grade 
 as defined in Section 6 of Act XVI of 1875. The Superintendent of Hill 
 Tribes is also ex-officio Superintendent of Police. The men are divided 
 among ten guards, eight of which are stockaded. The stockades are built 
 with upright posts, six feet apart, and chevaux-de-fnse of split bamboos, 
 sharpened, between. One hundred of the men are armed with muzzle-loading 
 cavalry carbines while the remainder have the old Brown Bess. 
 
 The whole length of the north-eastern frontier, from Dalekmai to 
 Prengwa, is regularly patrolled once a week during the raiding months by 
 strong parties of men of the frontier guards, who meet and exchange reports. 
 Weekly communication by patrol is also kept up by the guards which are 
 within the line of frontier. It requires strong and hardy men to stand the 
 climate and the work incidental to the Police of these hills and the admissions 
 to hospital stand as high as 84 per cent. 
 
 In 1875 the stockade at Dalekmai was removed from its former 
 position on the bank of the river to the top of a small hill ; this besides 
 increasing the strength of the place has proved beneficial to the health 
 of the men. The guard-house at this station has been built sufficiently 
 strong to bear two-inch planking being fixed all round below the flooring, as 
 well as for three feet above the floor, which will convert it into a block-house
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 79 
 
 that can be held by a handful of men leaving nearly the whole guard available 
 to follow up raiders. 
 
 A new guard-house has been built on the same plan at Tsamee and new 
 guard-houses have also been put up on the Kan and Pee rivers. 
 
 The composition of the Police force on the 1st January 1876 is shewn 
 in the table below : — 
 
 Europeans ... ... .... ... ... 3 
 
 Kbyoungtha ... ... ... ... ... 9 
 
 Khamie ... ... ... ... ... 50 
 
 Khyeng ... ... ... ... ... 5 
 
 Mro ... ... ... ... ... 12 
 
 Manipuri ... ... ... ... ... 32 
 
 Eajbansi* ... ... ... ... ... 25 
 
 Burmese ... ... ... ... ... 4 
 
 Arakanese ... ... ... ... ... 22 
 
 Goorkhas and Tipperah men ... ... ... ... 81 
 
 Madrassis ... ... ... ... ... 3 
 
 Bengalis ... ... ... ... ... 4 
 
 Vacancies ... ... ... ... 6 
 
 Total sanctioned strength ... 256 
 
 The European element consists of one Assistant Superintendent of 
 Police who is stationed on the northern frontier at Dalekmai, and two 
 Chief Inspectors of Police^ one of whom is stationed on the Le-mro and 
 the other at Tsamee. The Inspectors of Police in this district are styled 
 Chief Inspectors and draw a local allowance of Rs. 75 a month in addition 
 to their pay of Es. 175. 
 
 The above table shows that 76 inhabitants of the country are drawing 
 Government pay as policemen. That there are not more is due to the large 
 number of Goorkhas who find their way up here seeking employment and it 
 is not thought advisable to discourage the practice by turning them back. 
 That the work has not become distasteful is shewn by the number of hill-men 
 who apply for enlistment and have to be told to wait for vacancies. The 
 time has not yet arrived when it would be safe to trust to a police force 
 composed chiefly of hill-men although mixed up as they now are with men 
 from the Indian hills they do their work well. 
 
 The Police of the Hill Tracts have little of the work common to other 
 districts and they really constitute a quasi military force whose duty is to 
 repel raids from outside and to keep order amongst the tribes within our 
 administrative boundary. 
 
 ASHE-KHYOUNG.— A village in the Mobya circle, Theekweng town- 
 ship, Bassein district, on the Kyoon-la-ngoo stream, in the middle of a large 
 extent of rice fields, inhabited principally by Kareng. 
 
 ASHE-MYOUK. — A township in Tavoy occupying the whole of the 
 eastern portion of the district from Amherst on the north to Mergui on the 
 
 * The Eajbausi in Lower Bengal are fishermen and cultivators and are said to be a branch 
 of the Tiors who are diA-ided into two classes, the Eajbansi Tiors and the ordinary Tiors. In 
 Eastern and North-Eastern Bengal on the other hand the Koch or ancient ruling class as 
 they embrace Hinduism are called Rajbansi, literally " of the royal kindred." The Rajbansi 
 in the Hill Tracts are from Eastern Bengal.
 
 80 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 south, and from the high range of hills forming the boundary between 
 British territory on the east to the Tavoy river as far south as about the 
 latitude of Tavoy town, and below that to the range of hills forming 
 the eastern watershed of that river in the lower portion of its 
 course. The whole face of the country is mountainous and forest-clad, pro- 
 ducing valuable timber of various kinds but containing little cultivation 
 and that only in clearings on the hill sides. The principal river is the 
 Tenasserim which has its source in the southern boundary of the district 
 amongst the spurs of the Myeng-mo-let-khat hill, the summit of which is 
 supposed to attain an elevation of 7,000 feet, and flowing N. by W. for a consi- 
 derable distance is joined at Myetta by the Khamoung-thwai and turning west 
 and south rounds the northern end of a range of hills and runs southward, 
 almost parallel to its original course, into the Mergui district. The Tenas- 
 serim before receiving the waters of the Khamoung-thwai, a shallow river in 
 the dry season but much swollen during the rains, is about 55 yards broad 
 at low water. It, like its northern tributary, flows through a narrow 
 valley fed by numerous mountain torrents over a rocky bed which forms a 
 succession of rapids rendering it unnavigable by boats. 
 
 There are no towns or villages of any importance in the township : 
 Myetta at the junction of the Tenasserim and the Khamoung-thwai was once 
 a large town, traditionally the capital of an independent Siamese principality, 
 but is now only a small Kareng village at which, soon after the British occu- 
 pation, the American Baptist Missionaries formed a settlement. 
 
 The population of the township, which is divided into twelve Revenue 
 circles, was 18,061 souls in 1876, the land revenue Es. 28,261, the capitation 
 tax Rs. 13,210 and the gross Revenue Rs. 42,933. The name literally means 
 " North-east.'' 
 
 ASHE-TOUNG (South-east). — A township in Tavoy, divided into ten 
 Revenue circles, lying on the left bank of the Tavoy river and extending 
 southwards along the seacoast to the Mergui district : a range of hills which 
 send their spurs down nearly to the river and the coast separates it from 
 the North-Eastern Township. It is drained by numerous streams which have 
 generally an E. and W. direction, with broad mouths fringed with mangrove ; 
 the most important is the Toung-byouk in the south which, rising in the 
 north-western slopes of the Myeng-mo-let-khat hill and flowing through a 
 fertile valley towards the N.W. turns west and falls into the mouth of the 
 Tavoy river through an outlet about half a mile wide. The principal products 
 are rice, sessamum, cardamoms, betel-nuts, fruit, and nipa palms from which 
 is extracted tari and sugar the leaves being extensively used for thatch. 
 
 The population in 1876 was 17,943 souls, the land revenue Rs. 28,720, 
 the amount realized from the capitation tax Rs. 12,593 and the gross Revenue 
 Es. 43,332. 
 
 ATHAY-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the Bassein township of the Bas- 
 sein district with an area of about 15 square miles, between the Bassein and 
 Paibeng rivers on the east and west and the Let-khoot on the north. Towards 
 the Bassein river it is undulating and the soil gravelly. The inhabitants, 
 Burmans and Kareng, are employed in rice and garden cultivation. A broad 
 belt of forest skirts the rivers and creeks and there is a good deal of low 
 land in the south. To the north is the large town of Bassein, a portion of 
 which is within the limits of this circle. There are no made roads but dry
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 81 
 
 weather footpaths from village to villag-e. The laud Revenue iu 1876 was Rs. 
 5,119, the capitation tax Rs. 1,520, aud the gross revenue Rs. 6,898 ; the 
 population numbered 1,542 souls. The Zhe-kbyoung circle is under the same 
 Thoogyee. 
 
 ATHAY-GYEE.— A quarter of the town of Bassein. The quarter 
 received its name, Athay, from being occupied in the Burmese time by a class 
 of people who were exempt from regular service under the Government, paying 
 a tax in lieu thereof. 
 
 A-THOOT. — A stream in the Tsambay-roon township of the Bassein 
 district, which rises in the Kyoonlaba lake or swamp and trending gradually 
 towards the south-west meanders through large waste plains sparsely covered 
 with forest and falls into the Kj'oon-khabo a short distance above Bhoora- 
 thoon-tshoo. It is tidal and for about fifteen miles from its mouth, as far as 
 Kywon-ta-leng-goon, is, in the rains, open for laden boats of all sizes. In the 
 dry season it is divided off into fisheries. 
 
 A-THOOT. — A revenue circle in the Tsambay-roon township — to which 
 is nowjoined Kyoung-goon — in the Bassein district about 84 square miles iu 
 extent. The northern portion consists of undulating ground covered with 
 good timber ; the remainder of low waste plains subject to inundation. The 
 inhabitants, who in 1876 numbered 4,528, are largely engaged in the lake 
 and pond fisheries which are numerous. The land Revenue in 1876 was Rs. 
 9,260, the capitation tax Rs. 4,350, and the gross Revenue Rs. 18,060. 
 
 A-THOOT. — A village or rather a cluster of villages in the Bassein dis- 
 trict on the stream of the same name between seven and eight miles from 
 its mouth. The name is Taking and means " after-birth" (j^Zrtcewfa) and is 
 said to have been given to the village as being the birth place of one of the 
 early kings of Bassein*. 
 
 A-TSAI. — A village in the Thanlyeng township, Rangoon district, in 
 16° 35' N. and 96° 32' E. near the source of an insignificant branch of the 
 Hmawwon and 31 miles west of Kbanoung. The inhabitants, who are 
 principally Shan and are engaged mainly in rice cultivation, numbered, in 1877, 
 672 souls. The name is Taking and means a glazed earthenware pot, of 
 which there was once a large manufactory here. 
 
 A-TSEE. — A revenue circle in the Re Lamaing township, Amherst dis- 
 trict, sometimes called A -tsen. It is situated on the sea coast at and south 
 of the mouth of the Re river. The inhabitants are chiefly Tabling. A-tsee 
 is the Taking name for the Eria odoratissima a sweet smelling orchid, a 
 favourite with Burmans and Taking, which is common on the trees in this 
 circle. In 1876 the population numbered 1,185 souls, the land revenue was 
 Rs. 2,710, and the capitation tax Rs. 1,270. 
 
 A-TSEN. — A revenue circle in the Amherst district. {See Atsee.) 
 
 ATTARAN. — A river in the Amherst district, formed by the junction of 
 the Zamie and the Wengraw, which falls into the Salween at jNIaulmain. 
 It is a narrow, deep and somewhat sluggish stream with a N.N.W. course 
 and is navigable for a considerable distance. Mr. Crawford, the first British 
 Commissioner of the Tenasseriin Provinces, ascended in a small steamer 
 
 * " AkhyenK (in Tulaing Atlioot) bliay-ma bniyoop-tbce-lc" literally " where was your after- 
 " biitli biuied?" is au idiomatic way of asking a Biirmau where he was born. 
 
 11
 
 82 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 very nearly to the junction of the Zamie and the Wengraw. Two tides or 
 one day's journey from the mouth are some hot springs {vide Amherst district) . 
 In former years a considerable quantity of teak was brought down from the 
 forests — now almost exhausted — which clothe the hills on the banks of the 
 Zamie and the Wengraw. 
 
 BASSEIN. — A creek in the Rangoon district — See Tha-khwot-peng. 
 
 BASSEIN. — A river, or perhaps more correctly a creek, in the Pegu 
 division ; the most westerly of the main channels through which the waters of 
 the Irrawaddy reach the sea. Its northern entrance, about nine miles above the 
 town of Henzada, is 300 yards wide but is choked by a bank of sand uncovered 
 in the dry season through which at this period a little water finds its way to 
 form a small rivulet in the bed. Flowing in a south-westerly direction the 
 Daga leaves it three miles from the main stream of the Irrawaddy to rejoin it 
 again a few miles further on ; beyond this it is joined by the Panmawaddee, and 
 lower down other large tidal creeks connect it by a thousand smaller channels 
 ■with the other mouths of the great river till after a tortuous course of two 
 hundred miles it falls into the sea at Hmawdeng or Pagoda Point. In the 
 rains it is navigable throughout by river steamers but in the dry season it 
 is fordable as far down as Nga-thaing-khyoung beyond which point steamers 
 cannot then ascend. From Le-myet-hna, where it is about 100 yards wide, it 
 gradually broadens to 900 yards, a width which it retains for some dis- 
 tance in its winding course above Ngapootaw. From this point downwards 
 its course is generally S.S.W. and many rocks and islands occur but naviga- 
 tion is by no means difficult. The right bank from Ngapootaw down to 
 Long Island is low, muddy and covered with jungle; thence to the site of 
 Dalhousie it is low and from Dalhousie to Hmawdeng somewhat hilly. The left 
 bank is hilly and low alternately to Huget-pouk ; from thence to the mouth 
 of the Pyeng-kha-raing it is low and very muddy ; a fine sandy beach 
 stretches to Yeethoung and from here to Poorian point, which marks the 
 eastern shore of the mouth, the margin is rocky. From a little above the 
 Sesostris rock ofi" Long Island the river contracts but directly Long Island is 
 passed it opens out and gradually widens to its mouth. Just at the mouth 
 and close to the right bank is Haing-gyee or Negrais Island celebrated in 
 Anglo-Burmese history. " There are two channels leading into this river one 
 " on each side of Negrais Island and the western channel forms a good harbour. 
 " The eastern channel is not so safe for an extensive reef projects from the 
 " land about Poorian nearly to Diamond Island — which faces the mouth of the 
 c( river — and a reef also projects from Negrais Island about five miles to the 
 '' south-west which with other detached shoal banks nearly join the extremity 
 " of the former reef and Diamond Island." Seventy-five miles up is the 
 large and important town of Bassein, the head-quarters of the district of the 
 same name, which does a large export trade in rice and is one of the prin- 
 " cipal ports of the province, annually visited by numerous ships of considerable 
 tonnage. 
 
 BASSEIN.~A Municipal town in the delta of the Irrawaddy on both 
 banks of the Bassein river 75 miles from the sea, in 16° 45' N. and 94° 40' E. 
 the head-quarters of the Bassein district, with 22,417 inhabitants in 1876. 
 On the left bank of the river on a slight eminence in the Zhe-khyouug quarter
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 83 
 
 stands the Shwe Moo-htaw Pagoda now in the centre of a fort constructed by 
 the Eug-lish within the walls of which are the Court-houses and the Treasury 
 and in the neighbourhood a newly laid out public garden. To the east, beyond 
 an open space which served as a parade-ground for the troops, is the Myothit 
 quarter with two principal streets runniug through it east and west about a 
 mile in length terminating in a plain covered with pagodas^ zayats or rest- 
 houses^ monasteries and massive images in all stages of decay where the inhabi- 
 tants assemble for their feasts and religious festivals. North of the Fort and 
 the open space round it is the Talaing-khyoung quarter extending along the 
 bank of the river and pierced by a large street running north and south and 
 others at right angles thereto^ whilst to the southward lies the Athaygyee 
 quarter traversed by two good streets running north and south and by cross 
 streets at right angles, the richest and most populous of the Municipal divisions. 
 Here are the Chief Market, the Custom-house, the Roman Catholic Church and 
 institute of St, Peter, and the principal shops. Across the river is the small 
 Theng-bhaw-gyeug suburb containing the rice-mills and store-yards of the 
 principal merchants. Outside the Fort is the Gaol, completed in 1868-69 at 
 a cost of Es. 172,600, consisting of shingled wooden buildings well raised 
 from the ground, radiating from the centre and surrounded by a wall. There 
 are two mai-kets ; the principal built in the Athay-gyee quarter in 1860-61 and 
 the second completed in 1873-74 in the Talaiug khyouug quarter ; a circuit- 
 house, two hospitals, one a wooden building for Europeans and the other of 
 masonry for natives, Customs office, and a Master Attendant's Office. There 
 are also an Anglican Catholic Church, a Pioman Catholic Church, a Roman 
 Catholic School, and a Chapel and two Kareng Normal Schools belono-ino- to 
 the American Baptist Missionaries, one for Pwo and one for So-aw Kareno-. 
 
 The town having been utterly depopulated in the time of the Burman 
 conqueror Aloung-bhoora no trustworthy records are obtainable. It is by one 
 account said to have been founded in 1249 A.D. by Oom-ma-dan-dee a Talaino- 
 Princess, whilst according to another it was in existence many years earlier! 
 Situated in a fertile rice country intersected by numerous navigable creeks which 
 afford means of communication with Rangoon and with the Irrawaddy and the 
 country to the north and accessible by the largest ships from the sea Bassein 
 has always been a port of considerable importance and is alluded to as 
 *' Cosmin '^ by Ralph Fitch and other travellers who found Rano"oon, or as it 
 was then called Dagon, a small village. Endeavours were continually made 
 by the English to obtain a permanent footing and factories were formed on 
 Negrais and in Bassein itself but they never succeeded and the establishments 
 were eventually withdrawn. During the first Burmese war the occupation of 
 the town by the British under Major Sale was unopposed the Burman Gover- 
 nor having set fire to and deserted it and retreated up the Bassein river to 
 Le-myet-hna. The population gradually returned and the place was not 
 abandoned till the conclusion of the war when all troops were withdrawn. 
 During the second Burmese war it was taken by assault by detachments of 
 the 51st K. O. L. I. and of the M. N. I. 
 
 In 1855-56 the value of grain exports by sea and land was Rs, 435,050 
 and of all other exports including treasure Rs. 90,396; the value of the 
 imports was Rs. 243,000 : the tonnage of the vessels which cleared out in the 
 same year was 2,847. In 1864-65, when the English had been for ten years 
 in undisputed possession of the whole country from which Bassein could draw
 
 84 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 its export supplies^ the values had varied to Es. 2,672,822, Rs. 67,702 and 
 Rs. 166,519. In 1876-77 the value of grain exported (104,516 tons) was 
 Rs. 5,000,427, of all other exports Rs. 34,268, of imports Rs. 369,519, 
 and the tonnage of vessels which cleared out, excluding those in ballast, was 
 79,176. 
 
 The main article of export is rice and the principal imports by sea are 
 coal, salt and gunny-bags, the last brought down from Calcutta to be filled 
 with the rice to be exported ; whilst the piece-goods and other articles of 
 foreign manufacture with which the markets and shops are supplied are 
 brought principally from Rangoon. 
 
 Within the last few years the town has been connected with Rangoon by 
 a telegraph line which it is proposed to extend to the mouth of the river where 
 ships call for orders. 
 
 In 1876-77 the town had a gross Municipal revenue of Es. 97,784. 
 
 BASSEIN. — A district in the Pegu division occupying the extreme 
 western portion of the delta of the Irrawaddy and a small strip of country 
 on the sea coast on the other side of the Arakan mountains north of Hmawdeng. 
 To the north lie Henzada on the east and Sandoway on the west of the Arakan 
 hills, to the east Thoon-khwa and to the south and west the Bay of 
 Bengal. 
 
 From the mouth of the Khwa river in about 17° 34' N. and 94° 37' E. 
 the coast line stretches for 110 miles, measured in a straight line, in a 
 generally south-south-west direction to Cape Negrais, thence it inclines south 
 by east for nine miles to Hmawdeng or Pagoda Point the southern extremity of 
 the Arakan mountains. The first few miles consist of a gently shelving sandy 
 beach backed by undulating ground covered with forest, below this rocky 
 headlands alternate with stretches of narrow sandy beach the forest here and 
 there coming down to the water's edge : beyond Cape Negrais, where the 
 hills enter the sea abruptly forming a bold and rugged escarpment, the coast 
 is generally rocky. From Hmawdeng westwards the whole aspect and 
 character as well as the direction of the coast line changes. The rocky shore 
 with forest-clad hills behind it gives place to a flat and sandy beach with 
 narrow grass-covered plains running along its margin soon passing into man- 
 grove swamps intersected in every direction by tidal creeks. 
 
 The eastern boundary is formed almost throughoiit its entire length by 
 creeks. From the Pyeugthaloo or eastern mouth of the Pyamalaw it runs 
 northward along the course of that stream to the Zalai-htaw Oukpouk thence 
 it is marked by the Zalai-htaw, the Thaigoon, the Tawbadaik, the Regoo, the 
 Wawmee, the Khaya-gan, the Eoon-ugoo, the Kawthaleng (as far as Danaw), 
 the Bawzat-gale, the Mezalee, the Pouk-padan to its junction with the Taw- 
 da-loo below Kyoon-tanee, thence by the Taw-da-loo as far as Natmaw Koola- 
 tshiep from which by a line drawn to the southernmost point of the Ngabyema 
 Lake, thence along the western bank of that lake to its northern end and then 
 by a line drawn to the leng-khyoung near Myo-goon-rwa at the head of the 
 Shakhaigyee lake ; from this point it inclines north-west till it strikes the 
 Daga river. From the Daga the boundary runs in a north-westerly direction 
 for 26 miles to the Bassein river which it crosses in about 17° 3' 5" N, a few miles 
 above Le-myet-hna, only eight or nine miles as the crow flies from the Daga. 
 From the Bassein river westwards it follows the crest of the Mo-htee spur for 
 28 miles to its root in the Arakan mountains : there it turns south for 10
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 85 
 
 miles following' the crest of the main rang-e to near the sonree of the Khwa 
 which it follows to the sea coast, 16 miles off due west but more than 36 miles 
 measured along* the bed of the river. 
 
 The appearance of the district on the map is that of an irregular paral- 
 lelogram extending northwards from the Bay of Bengal divided into two very- 
 unequal parts by the Arakan mountains, that to the west forming a narrow 
 strip of mountainous country that to the east a stretch of alluvial land 
 traversed by three large rivers, branches of the Irrawaddy, which flow nearly 
 parallel to one another from their parent source to the sea. Of this the 
 northern and largest portion as far south as the latitude of Ngapootaw is 
 well watered and exceedingly fertile^ the southern, with cultivated plains 
 scattered here and there and with large tracts of forest, gradually passes into 
 low marshy ground cut into innumerable islands by the network of tidal 
 creeks which unite the mouths of the Irrawaddy. The area contained within 
 the limits given above is about 6,517 square miles of which, in 1876-77, 431 
 were cultivated and 4,986 culturable waste leaving 1,100 unculturable. 
 
 The principal rivers are the Pyamalaw — with its two mouths the Pyamalaw 
 T,- and the Pyengthaloo — the boundary of the district, the 
 
 Rwe with the small Daye-bhyoo mouth and the Bassein 
 with the Thekkay-thoung mouth. With the exception of the Bassein these 
 names are those by which the mouths only are known. The Pyamalaw 
 leaves the Kyocnpat at Shwe-loung and flows for some distance north-west 
 and west before it turns south to the sea. The Rwe is formed by the junction 
 a little to the south-east of Myoungmya of several inosculating creeks. 
 All these streams appear to be almost entirely dependent upon the Irrawaddy 
 and the tide for their water. The Bassein river though itself leaving the 
 Irrawaddy some miles above Henzada and connected with that river by 
 numerous creeks and smaller streams, of which the Daga is the most impor- 
 tant, receives much of its water from the eastern slopes of the Arakan hills 
 and is the only mouth used by large sea-going vessels, which ascend to 
 Bassein the head-quarters of the district and one of the principal ports of the 
 Province. The whole country south of the 17th degree, except to the west 
 of the Arakan Romas and in their immediate neighbourhood on the east, con- 
 sists of numerous islands formed by vast numbers of anastomosing tidal creeks 
 some navigable by large boats and even by steamers, others only by canoes. 
 
 The only hills of any size are the Arakan mountains across which are 
 jjjjjg several passes used by travellers but they are all more 
 
 or less difficult and impracticable except during the 
 driest portion of the year. The most northern pass which is entirely in this 
 district is the Bhawmce, the highest point of which is 270 feet only above the 
 sea level, from the junction of the Tsa-loo and Bhawmee streams to the 
 village of Thit-nan-koo on the Thien. Further south there are two passes 
 by the Kyouug-tha and Tsheng'-ma streams ; the crest of the first is 381 and 
 of the second 284 feet above the sea. By the Nga-root river a pass leads 
 over the mountains to the Pien stream ; the principal obstructions are the 
 rocks and boulders the elevation of the hills beiu*^ insignificant. Lastly 
 from Rwotpa to Letpan in the extreme south, a little north of the latitude of 
 Cape Negrais, a rarely used track crosses the hills at an elevation of 270 feet.* 
 
 For the passes north of Bhawmee see Sandoicay District.
 
 86 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Nothing" definite is known of the character and resources of the forests 
 PQj.gg|.g in this district beyond the fact that they comprise large 
 
 tracts of maug-rove forest and of evergreen forest, the dry 
 or upper mixed forest being, it would seem, somewhat limited in area. These 
 forests are resorted to yearly for considerable quantities of Pyeng-gado {Xylia 
 dolahriformis), Sha {Acacia catechu), Toungpien {Artocarpus sp.), Thit-kha 
 (Quercus semiserrata) and other woods for use at Bassein and at the large 
 villages in the delta and along the Bassein river. Teak is not met with in 
 any great abundance on any part of the hills. 
 
 Along the coast, especially between Cape Negrais and Hmawdeng 
 
 occur beds of blown sand, somewhat more earthy than 
 eo ogy. sandy^ which from their reddish colour when viewed 
 
 from a distance are named Kannee or "red bank." A deposit of a somewhat 
 similar origin only coarser and distinctly accumulated under water is met 
 with along the course of some of the less sheltered tidal creeks ; it is a 
 calcareous sand composed of comminuted shells and corals of living species 
 consolidated into a more or less calcareous sandstone or ragstone and display- 
 ing the same local variations as are seen in the deposits now forming along 
 the Indian shores. When this littoral concrete does not form on the banks of 
 the tidal streams its place is taken by the foetid mud or sand and mud of 
 the mangrove swamps. East of Ngapootaw on the Bassein river a considerable 
 area is covered with sandy deposits, as is also a tract of country stretching 
 northward from Bassein which Mr. Blanford of the Geological Survey of 
 India thus describes : — "In the northern portion of the district and as far south 
 '■' as the neighbourhood of Bassein a considerable tract of low hills skirting the 
 " higher range is composed of gravel and sand of considerable thickness. This 
 "formation includes a bed of laterite covered to some depth by a sandy deposit 
 " and cropping out at the small escarpment which in most places rises from 
 " the flat alluvium of the delta. A similar laterite and gravelly deposit 
 " covers a considerable area east of the Bassein river in the neighbourhood of 
 " the town of Bassein." In the northern part of this district these sandy 
 beds attain a greater importance than elsewhere and it is not unlikely that 
 these vast accumulations are mainly derived from the denudation of the 
 incoherent beds of the fossil wood group, which at present occupies a very 
 restricted area in Pegu in comparison with its former limits. A remarkable 
 patch of beds, somewhat recalling in appearance the Porebunder beds of 
 Kattiawar, occurs on the western coast of the district. These beds embrace 
 Kaw-ran-gyee Island in Lat. 13° 30' 50" N. together with a small portion of 
 the mainland. The most characteristic bed is a calcareous sandstone or soft 
 rather earthy limestone of a very pale brown or cream colour, containing 
 four species of as many genera of echinoderms the most common being a 
 species oUohophora very close to that now inhabiting the adjoining coast and a 
 species of Echinolampas (near E. Affinis) and one pelecypod, a rather small 
 species of Amussium. Kaw-ran-gyee Island consists of beds of thin calcareous 
 sandstone having a high dip W. by N. nearly. Denudation has, save at this 
 spot, removed every trace of this deposit. On the mainland the rocks are 
 entirely isolated by a low swampy channel running into the Nga-root creek. 
 Just opposite the northern extremity of Kaw-ran-gyee Island some beds of 
 earthy bluish sandstone come in vertically along the shore. At the mouth 
 of the Nga-root creek small sharks teeth are not rare and from the same
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 87 
 
 earthy beds two conical fish teeth, some frag-mentary crustacean claws and the 
 ossicles (palatal or dermal) of some species of Ray were found by Mr. Theobald 
 of the Geolog-ical Survey of India. On Kaw-ran-gyee Island he also 
 procured a small reptilian tooth with cultrate edges, smooth and mottled 
 yellow longitudinally. On this island and on the adjoining mainland a soft 
 calcareous sandstone or earthy limestone occurs, easy to work and unusually 
 well situated for shipment into lighters or small coasting craft. The island 
 is composed of these beds and under its leeside a channel exists having a 
 depth of two or three fathoms at low water with a good bottom of sand or 
 mud. The channel shoals gradually towards the mainland and is protected 
 by the island on the west or seaward and by a bar almost dry at low water to 
 the north but enjoying a safe and easy entrance from the south save during 
 the prevalence of the southwest monsoon. 
 
 The Nummulitic or Eocene group of rocks is well developed, extending 
 throughout this district as far as Pooriam point, a rocky spit running into 
 the sea on the eastern side of the mouth of the Bassein river, but its precise 
 extent towards the west is uncertain from its joining, if not blending 
 with, the altered rocks of the southern portion of the Arakan hills which 
 are almost devoid of organic remains or present so few as to be useless 
 for any purpose of subdivision of the group or even for estimating its geo- 
 logical age. The difficulty of separating the groups is increased by the 
 similar capricious sort of submetamorphism which prevails in both. For 
 these altered rocks of the southern region a provisional classification and 
 name has been accepted by Mr. Theobald who has named them the Negrais 
 beds, from their being very characteristically displayed about Cape Negrais, 
 a term which includes all the rocks met with in the country stretching 
 northward from Cape Negrais along the Arakan range and western coast 
 older than the Nummulitic and younger than the Triassic. The difference 
 in mineral character in the Negrais rocks is very great. In some places 
 flaggy and massive sandstones occur quite unaltered and dipping at moderate 
 angles whilst in places sections are exposed of highly altered shales and sand- 
 stones and in some spots the sandstone is seen converted into a cherty rock 
 seamed with silica and evidently subjected to an alteration of an intense 
 kind. The following sketch of the beds seen in crossing the Arakan range 
 from east to west between Gnyoung-beng-tha and Re-poot will illustrate the 
 character of the present group. '' When well within the hills, proceeding in a 
 '^ westerly direction ; the first rocks passed over in descending order are blue 
 " slaty shales of great thickness with a dip to the east. These shales are soft 
 '' and silky and contain numerous beds of blue limestone varying from a few 
 " inches to a few feet in thickness. The limestone is fine-grained and sub- 
 " crystalline, breaking with a conchoidal fracture, blue on its freshly broken 
 '' surface but weathering to a pale yellow or nankeen colour. It is rather 
 " silicious and hardened and although a very probable looking rock for fossils 
 " a close search failed to discover any traces whatever of organic remains 
 ^' in it. After passing these shales, but still on the east side of the range, 
 " a group of coarse thick bedded silicious sandstones is met with, with harsh 
 " silicious or jaspery shales and thin-bedded silicious sandstones intermixed. 
 " The whole of these beds are internally hardened and silicified. One very 
 " thick bed has a hardened appearance from containing irregularly shaped 
 " earthy portions which decay and leave great angular hollows three or four
 
 / 
 
 88 BBITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 "inches across. Some dark blue thi a-bedded slaty shale also occurs associated 
 '' subordinately with the silicious beds as though here foreshadowing the 
 " approaching deposition of similar shales in much greater foi-ce which are seen 
 '' as above mentioned to overlie these silicious beds. After leaving these silicious 
 *^ beds no very clear section is seen. The dip appears however to remain easterly 
 *' till the axis of the main range is crossed. 
 
 *' The axis of the range here consists of a great thickness of beds of a very 
 " homogeneous clay, of a reddish or pinky yellow colour, and obscurely bedded. 
 " It is much broken up and comminuted as though through severe pressure, but 
 " little altered, and neither to the eastward nor westward are its relations with 
 " the other rocks well seen. After crossing the axis of the range the succession 
 '' of beds was not well seen ; and though I did not remark the silicious beds to 
 " be so prominent as on the east of the range I am inclined to believe that the 
 ''same beds as are met with in the east are again crossed on the west, in a 
 '' reverse order, that is to say that the range forms a great anticlinal, the pre- 
 " vailing dips on its Eastern side being Easterly, and on its Western side Wes- 
 " terly. On the west, however, there is (locally at all events) greater irregu- 
 'Harity indip and strike than on the east ; and I have there noticed beds with 
 " an east and west strike, or nearly at right angles to the prevailing one of 
 '' the range. Much allowance must be made for imperfect observation, as all 
 " one sees of the rock is such glimpses as can be obtained along the narrow 
 " path threading these forest-clad ranges. When well past the main range 
 " the road descends and runs over a thick succession of the but little altered 
 *' sandstones of the Kyouk-gyee {Mff stone) stream. Part of this rocky stream 
 " is quite impassable for elephants, and the nature of the country may be 
 " imagined from it requiring four hard days marches to accomplish the distance 
 '^ from Nyoung-ben-tha {Gmjoung-heng-tha) to Yaypot {Re-poot), though these 
 " villages are in a direct line only fifteen miles apart, 
 
 "A little south oi"Phon'Sa.-khyouug{Hpoon-tsa-khyo'ang), near Matha on 
 " the coast, a good section of beds of this group is seen ; but their proper place 
 " in the series can hardly be determined, owing to the want of any sort of 
 " geological horizon in the group, either lithological or otherwise. I am 
 '' inclined, however, to place them high in the series, above the vast series of 
 " sandstones seen above Yaypot {Re-poot), in the bed of the Kyouk-gyee 
 " stream. 
 
 " Section near Matha (ascending). The beds veer round from 15° to 
 " south -by -west, to 45° to west-by-south. 
 
 1. Dark arenaceoiis shales, with faint carbonaceous mark- 
 
 ings and stringy beds of sandstone much contorted 
 
 and squeezed about . . . . . . • . 300 
 
 2. Harsh thin-bedded sandstones in one and two-inch beds, 
 
 with shaly partings and a few beds five and seven inches 
 thick .. .. .. .. .. •• 85 
 
 3. Beds similar to the above, but one and two feet beds 
 
 predominating . . . . . . • ■ • • 23 
 
 4. Very thin-bedded sandstones not averaging half an inch, 
 
 with a few one and two-inch beds interspersed . . G9 
 
 5. Thicker bedded sandstones in from nine to twenty-mch 
 
 beds .. .. .. .. .. .. 52 
 
 6. Similar to the last, but thinner bedded . . . . 49 
 
 7. Thin-bedded shaly sandstones . . . . • . 99 
 
 8. Thicker bedded sandstones in from nine to twelve-hich 
 
 beds .. .. .. .. .. •• 46 
 
 9. Thin shaly beds . . . . . . . • • • 30 
 
 753
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 89 
 
 " The section here becomes confused, but thick beds of sandstone come in, 
 " which seem identical with the sandstones commonly seen along" the coast, and 
 *' which I will now describe. Along- most parts of the coast, from Negrais 
 " upwards, a group of sandstones occurs, thin-bedded and massive, but present- 
 *' iug no very prominent mineral character, or affording any fossil. The sand- 
 " stones are very little altered, generally not at all, and usually dip at moderate 
 " angles and with much less show of disturbance than other and older beds 
 
 " along the coast 
 
 *' The massive beds at the base of this group are everywhere most con- 
 " spicuous and of a peculiar greenish hue very characteristic of this rock, 
 " which hue, however, in some places towards the north is changed into a 
 '' bluish tinge. The rock is a very fine-grained argillaceous sandstone, rather 
 '' compact, but where exposed to the action of the sea, its surface usually pre- 
 " sents a honeycombed or cancellated appearance, the result of a peculiar mode 
 " of weathering, theryiodus operandi and proximate cause of which is somewhat 
 *' obscure. Subordinate to the thick-bedded greenish or cancellated sandstone, 
 '' as it may conveniently be termed, occurs an irregular, and in places almost 
 " stringy bed of conglomerate, a prominent feature connected with which is its 
 " great irregularity and capricious mode of occurrence. It nowhere forms a 
 *^ marked bed, save perhaps near Ywot-pa {Rivot-pa), but dies out and re-ap- 
 " pears along a certain horizon as an integral constituent of the cancellated sand- 
 " stone, in places forming" a stringy course in it, reduced in places to little more 
 *^ than a sprinkling" of small pebbles in a sandstone matrix, whilst in other 
 *' places it would seem to expand into a thick mass of conglomerate, though 
 " such instances are very local and circumscribed in extent. 
 
 " This is the conglomerate, I think, which is so largely developed in the 
 " hill behind Phoung-do {Hpoung-do) ; if so, it nowhere else attains the same 
 " importance. To this bed may also be referred the masses of conglomerate 
 " seen on the shore opposite Ywot-pa (Rwot-pa), where they stand quite 
 '' isolated between tidemarks, and are so compact as to have resisted the full 
 " force of the waves on an exposed coast. 
 
 " This conglomerate is in places almost a pseudo-breccia, the fragments 
 "composing it being but imperfectly rounded. The included fragments are all 
 '^ small, rarely half an inch across, and usually much smaller, and mainly consist 
 " of a comminuted dark blue or cream-colored shale highly indurated, the latter 
 " variety only effervescing very feebly with acid. Quartz fragments are here 
 " very subordinate and small. This conglomerate is very soon lost sight of, 
 " going north, and may be said to cease almost at once as an independent bed, 
 " though re-appearing here and there at intervals. It may be recognised, for 
 " instance, a little north of the Yaytho (Re-tho) stream on the coast between 
 *^ Broken Point and Kyoungthah {Khyoung-tha). The rocks along the shore 
 " here are thick-bedded massive sandstones, mingled with which a thin string 
 '* of conglomerate occurs, rather irregularly, composed mainly of small white 
 ** quartz pebbles with a little shaly detritus as elsewhere. Some few miles 
 "south of Matha, strings of fine conglomerate are noticed in the sandstone, 
 "and still further north, between Ky ouk-ky on {Khyouk-ky won) and Gwah 
 " {Khiva), considerable bands of a coarse conglomerate, made up of shaly and 
 "cherty fragments, are dispersed through the sandstone, all which represent, 
 "probably within narrow limits, what may be called a common horizon. 
 
 12
 
 90 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " These thick-bedded sandstones are often tilted up at high angles but are 
 '' more usually seen either horizontal or dipping at low angles. In addi- 
 " tion to the cancellated form of weathering, the rock is sometimes seen 
 " with a tendency to divide into polygonal fragments, the fissures separating 
 " which seem to originate spontaneously, the nucleus of each fragment retaining 
 " the original green or bluish hue of the undecayed rock, while the fissures are 
 " represented by yellow bands, as though the result of chemical rather than 
 " mechanical causes. 
 
 " Nowhere is the variable character of the beds of this group better dis- 
 " played than along the coast immediately north of Cape Negrais. Below the 
 " point where the Ywot-pa (Rivot-pa,) stream falls into the sea, beds are expos- 
 " ed very similar in general character to those already given in the section near 
 " Matha, higher up the coast. These beds contain crushed carbonaceous trunks 
 " and branches, and dip at angles varying from 10° to 40° east-by-north. 
 " South of these beds, thin shaly sandstone, quite unaltered, come in, dipping 
 " 15° west-by-north. Nearer Negrais, a thick series of dark shales, with 
 '* subordinate beds of cherty limestone, comes in, displaying signs of having 
 *' been subjected to great mechanical strain as well as to chemical alteration. 
 " This latter is displayed in the numerous veins of fibrous calciteand fibrous 
 " quartz which traverse the rock, the former attaining a thickness of a 
 " couple of inches, the latter rarely attaining half an inch. Some of the 
 '' shale where the veins are most numerous is of a deep black color and very 
 " hard and glossy, and I can convey no better idea of the lumps of this rock 
 '' scattered along the shore than by comparing them to lumps of black putty, 
 '' which they precisely resemble. A little nodular soapstone is also found 
 '' scattered here and there, and the occurence of this mineral, together with 
 " its invariable associate, the fibrous vein-quartz, points to this being a focus 
 *' for that peculiar metaraorphism which has so generally affected this group. 
 " These shales constitute the low ridge, which here forms the axis of the range, 
 " where crossed by the pass leading to Ywot-pa {Rwot-pa), but on which, from 
 " its forest-clad nature, little is seen of the rocks passed over. It is here 
 " that the " mud volcano " of the charts of this coast is situated, a complete 
 " misnomer, as it has no connection with volcanic action properly so called, 
 *' and neither lava, ashes, nor other volcanic rocks are seen about it. 
 
 " This " mud volcano" is situated on the hill side, where it rapidly slopes 
 " down to the shore, and within a stone's throw of the sea. A narrow footpath 
 " exists along the coast here, on the east of which at one spot a small mound of 
 " loose pulverulent shale rises a few feet in height, and about thirty feet at most 
 *' in diameter, over which any one might walk without having his attention 
 *' arrested by any peculiarity. This mound is the " mud volcano." A very 
 " similar instance is seen near the shore near Ngan-khyoung, and my remarks 
 ^' on one will be equally applicable to both. This mound consists of a 
 " greenish shale, very much comminuted and mixed with fragments of veins of 
 " calcite, from the thickness of cardboard to one or two inches. These fragments 
 " have evidently resulted from the spontaneous dehiscence of the compact shale 
 " they originally traversed; and this is seen in the constitution of the thicker 
 *' veins, which are formed by the union and anastomosis of numerous smaller 
 '^ veins, wherein portions of the shaly matrix are seen enveloped and preserved. 
 " A very little hydrated peroxide of iron in small lumps is seen lying about,
 
 BEITISH BUKMA GAZETTEER. 91 
 
 " but nothing else to indicate any peculiarity, still less volcanic action. The 
 " form of the low mound suggests a certain amount of intumescence or 
 '' upheaving of the clay having taken place, but in the case of the Ngan- 
 *■' khyoung " volcano'-* this is less seen, and I am inclined to pronounce the 
 " ' mud volcano ' in either case as the vent for a very feeble discharge of 
 " marsh-gas. In the rains, when the surface was plastic, a feeble ebullition of 
 " gas would be quite adequate to produce the low mound in question, ^yhich 
 " on drying would present the incoherent heap of shale fragments described ; 
 " the combustion of the marsh-gas at some period or other from burning 
 *' grass, probably attracting notice during the night to the locality. . . . 
 "^ Most of the outcrops of limestone through the southern portion of the 
 " Arakan Range, both those along the coast and those met with occasionally in 
 " the hills, present the appearance of subordinate beds among the shales and 
 " sandstones of this group ; but there are some cases where limestone occurs in 
 " such extensive masses as to favor the idea of their being continuations of the 
 ^' thick bed of Nummulitic limestone which occurs on the east side of the 
 ^' range, and such may be their character, though not yet established on fossil 
 " evidence. First of these in importance is the limestone a couple of miles or so 
 '^ east-north-east from Baumi [Bhaiv-mee) , on the Arakan coast, about Lat. 17° 
 '' 18', forming a low ridge striking north-north-east from the margin of the 
 "■ mangrove swamp, where it terminates towards the river, and soon disappear- 
 " ing in the forest-clad ground in the interior. It is only approachable by a small 
 " boat up a tidal creek traversing the mangrove swamp, after three-quarter flood. 
 *' The rock is massive and subcrystalline, with an apparent dip of 20° to 50° to 
 " east-south-east, as far as the cyclopean masses in which the rock lies enables 
 " us to judge. It is of a blue or gray color, and generally devoid of fossils ; in 
 ^' some of the blocks corals are seen, but none have hitherto been obtained, 
 *' capable of being determined. Its thickness is probably not much under one 
 " hundred feet. Above the limestone (as well as the ground enabled 
 " me to judge) occurs an intensely hard ferruginous conglomerate, charac- 
 " terised by numerous quartz pebbles. Below the limestone comes in a very 
 " hard siheious sandstone like a quartzite, of a gray color on its freshly- 
 " fractured surface, but weathering red, and then displaying the original 
 " thin layers of sand, which in the aggregate form the thick-bedded rock before 
 " us. Near Sat-wa, (Tsat-iva) a little boss of limestone which may belong to this 
 " bed is exposed in the jungles, and is used for lime by the villagers in the neigh- 
 ^' bourhood. This rock is a white and somewhat argillaceous rock, not well 
 " seen, but with an apparent dip to the east. Strewed about the vicinity are a 
 " few pieces of conglomerate, like that associated with the Baumi (Bhaw-mee) 
 " limestone ; and a little to the south, in a line indicating a lower position 
 " strategraphically, stands a huge fang of harsh sandstone very similar to the 
 '' Baumi {Bhaw-mee) rock. The distance of this spot from Baumi (Bhaw-mee) 
 " is about thirty miles, and though I know of no other outcrop in the interval, 
 " I am inclined to regard both outcrops as belonging to one bed. Great as 
 " the thickness of the limestone is at '&i\.\xm\{ Bhaw-mee) it is much isolated, most 
 *' probably by denudation ; and I failed after a careful search to detect any 
 " traces of it on the opposite side of the Baumi (Bhaw-mee) river, nor were my 
 " enquiries among the Burmese more successful. Another enormous isolated 
 " mass of limestone of very similar character occurs on the On-ben (Oon-beng)
 
 92 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " stream, a tributary of the Gwali (Khwa) river. It is situated in dense tree 
 
 " forest away from any village There is small question that the 
 
 " Baumi (Bhaiv-mee) and On-ben (Oon-beng) limestones are the same bed.'"'* 
 
 Soapstone which is used by the Burmese for writing on parabaik or 
 blackened fibre-paper is largely imported from Upper Burma, but occurs at 
 a variety of spots in the Arakan range, chiefly, though not exclusively, on its 
 eastern side. Among the altered rock towards Cape Negrais it is found in 
 the form of veins, among altered shale along the shore, and a few miles east 
 of Kweng-boo, thirty miles north of Cape Negrais among sandstones, which 
 are indurated and disturbed; but at neither of these spots are any intruded rocks 
 visible. At Kweng-boo, the steatite occurs in veins traversing sandstone 
 lenticularly intermixed with the peculiar fibrous quartz, but not averaging 
 an inch in thickness. In these veins the steatite is a little in excess of the 
 fibrous quartZj but the two minerals are very intimately united, the lenticular 
 masses of the former being often enveloped with a layer of the latter, and 
 portions are sometimes seen presenting almost the appearance of a conglomerate 
 of steatite kernels, some no larger than hemp-seeds, enveloped in a paste of 
 fibrous quartz. These steatite kernels have, however, nothing to do with a 
 mechanical origin, but are bounded by lustrous burnished surfaces, much resem- 
 bling the silken sides produced in shales by pressure, but in this case of quite 
 another character, and the result of the peculiar chemical composition and mode 
 of origin of the mineral — the smaller and purer portions of which being those 
 with most lustrous surface. 
 
 Most of the lime used in the district is procured near Thamandewa and 
 Kyouk-thaing-baw on the Bassein river a few miles below Ngapootaw on 
 which Mr. Blanford, of the Geological Survey of India, remarked : — 
 " This is by far the most important locality in the province, and perhaps 
 " in the whole of Pegu. At Kyouk-theingbaw {Kyouk-thaing-baw) several 
 " very large masses of limestone crop out from the alluvium on the river 
 *' bank. The quantity here, though considerable, would, however, soon be 
 ^' exhausted if there were a large demand for lime. South of the village, 
 ''Thamandewa, a tidal creek stretches for some miles into the country, and 
 " on the south of this creek the outcrop of a bed at least thirty or forty 
 *' feet thick stretches across the country in a direction nearly south 20° 
 '' west, for a distance of about a mile, re-appearing at intervals for about 
 " a mile further, the most southerly point where it is seen being near the 
 " bank of the river bed not far from the village of Toung-gale. The quan- 
 " tity is inexhaustible, the quality good, and the access easy, Thamandewa 
 '' creek being navigable for Burmese boats of the largest size, and probably 
 " at high tide for sea-going vessels. "'•'f 
 
 Of the early history of the district but little is known. The Bassein 
 g. . river has been claimed as the Besynga of the Geo- 
 
 grapher Ptolemy but its right to this distinction 
 has never been universally admitted, though the weight of evidence is in 
 favor of this view. " In his sketch of the hydrography of India beyond the 
 " Ganges'^ observes that learned and cautious officer Colonel Yule " the 
 
 * Report on the Geology of Pegu : By W. Theobald, Geological Survey of India, 
 t Apud Theobald : " Report on the Geology of Pegu.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 93 
 
 " Geographer {Ptolemy) says distinctly, * From the range of Moendrus flow' 
 ^' ' down all the rivers beyond Ganges, until you come to the river Besynga.' 
 " This remark seems infallibly to identify Mons Mceandrus with Yoma-doung, 
 " the great spinal range of Arakan, and the river Besynga with the Bassein 
 " branch of the Irawadi/'* In the old Taking histories the " 32 cities of 
 Bassein" are mentioned under the date 625 A.D. as forming a portion of 
 the kingdom of Pegu. Circa 1250 A.D. a princess named Oommadandee 
 ascended the throne but a few years later Bassein was conquered by the 
 Burraans. In 1272 the Chinese invaded Burma and the reigning king 
 Narathee-ha-pade, subsequently nicknamed Taroop-pye-raeng or " the king 
 who ran away from the Tartars'^, escaped southward to Bassein. "Very few 
 years later on, in 1289 A.D., Bassein, according to Taking histories, again 
 passed over to Pegu; this occurred probably when the Taking kingdom increas- 
 ed in power owing to the gradual sinking of the Burman authority in the 
 north. About 1383 A.D., when Eazadhierit, the greatest monarch of the Ta- 
 king, ascended the throne, one Louk-bya, Governor of Myoungmya, pi-oposed 
 to the Burmans to assist them in conquering Pegu and the acceptance of 
 his ofier led to long and almost incessant wars between the two kingdoms. 
 
 In 1686 the Governor of Madras determined on establishing a settlement 
 on Negrais, which was then considered as a portion of the Arakan dominions, 
 and despatched a sloop to make a survey of the island but she lost her pas- 
 sage and was obliged to return. The following year Captain Weldon, on his 
 return from Mergui, landed on Negrais and hoisting the British flag took 
 possession of the island in the name of the East India Company. No further 
 steps were taken till 1753 when Mr. Hunter was sent in charge of an expedi- 
 tion which landed on the island and formed the first British settlement. The 
 settlement did not thrive and Mr. Hunter soon died and was succeeded by 
 Mr. Burke. At this time the war between the kingdoms of Pegu and Burma, 
 which ended in the complete subjugation of the former, was raging in all its 
 fierceness. Both Peguans and Burmans sought the assistance of the British 
 which was refused by Mr. Burke. In 1755 the English had a settlement at 
 Bassein itself and Captain Baker who was then in charge of the factory wrote 
 that the Taking having quitted Bassein the Burmaus had attacked and des- 
 troyed the place respecting however the East India Company^s factory and pro- 
 perty. In his report to the Madras Government Mr, Burke strongly urged the 
 advisability of our siding with the Burmans whose cause was flourishing and 
 whose enemies the Taking had succeeded in obtaining the assistance of our 
 rivals the French who then had a settlement at Syriam below Eangoon. The 
 King of Burma sent ambassadors to Negrais who were escorted from Bassein 
 by Captain Baker. A mission was sent to the Burman King with the object 
 of obtaining, amongst other advantages, a formal grant of Negrais and a grant 
 of the land at Bassein occupied by the Company's factory as the whole 
 country had now, in the opinion of the English officers, passed to the Burman 
 monarchy. Unfortunately the British ships near Rangoon had been forced to 
 assist the Taking and the Burman King could not forgive this treachery as he 
 considered it. The English authorities insisted on absolute neutrality and 
 
 * Yule's Mission to Ava, page 205. Colonel Yule does not adopt this view as ahsolutely 
 correct, but his opinion appears to lean very strongly to it.
 
 94 ' BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 their local ag'ents were in consequence suspected by both sovereigns. In 
 1757 Ensign Lister obtained what was considered as a cession in perpetuity of 
 Negrais and of ground at Bassein. In 1759 the establishment was withdrawn 
 from Negrais and a few persons only left to take charge of the Company's 
 property there as well as to hold possession of the island and for the superin- 
 tendauce of these Captain Southey was sent from Madras. He landed on the 
 5th October 1759 and on the 7thj when all the Europeans were collected to 
 meet the Burmese authorities, they were treacherously attacked and, with the 
 exception of a midshipman who escaped to his ship the Victoria, Captain Alves, 
 murdered. After the Europeans, 10 in number, had been despatched a 
 general massacre took place. In 1760 a mission was sent to obtain redress 
 but without effect, the Burman King absolutely forbidding our return to 
 Negrais but granting a site for the factory at Bassein of which the English 
 Government did not avail itself. From this time until the fii'st Burmese 
 war the English Government took no further steps for forming a settlement 
 in this district. During that war a detachment under Major Sale attacked 
 and occupied Bassein which was retained until the evacuation of Pegu, in 
 accordance with the terms of the treaty of Yandaboo. During the second 
 Burmese war the town was again captured, after a feeble resistance, by a 
 force under Commodore Lambert and since then has remained in possession 
 of the British. On the annexation of Pegu the district, which in the Bxu'- 
 mese times had been divided into 14 districts, eleven under Paineng or 
 steersmen of royal war-boats and three under Myothoogyee who were heredi- 
 tary office holders, was placed under a Deputy Commissioner. At this time 
 the whole of the district was a prey to anarchy : the British troops were kept 
 within the limits of the seaport towns and frontier stations and in the interior 
 numerous bandit chiefs set up a pseudo-independent authority, in more than 
 one case claiming to be officers of the Burman Court deputed to regain the 
 country, and there can be no doubt that had they been successful they would 
 have been rewarded by the King provided that they handed over their 
 conquests and settled down into peaceable offices about the Court. A kind of 
 civil war was now carried on ; on the one side were those who were averse to 
 us or who looked to plunder for profit, on the other were those who had in 
 any way sided with the English. So far was animosity carried that villages 
 on the banks of the Irrawaddy were destroyed because fuel had been supplied 
 to the steamers. To clear the country of these gangs, to afford protection to 
 the people and restore their confidence in us was now the great object of all 
 civil officers and in this district as well as in Henzada and Tharrawaddy 
 this was the more necessary as no one dared to accept even small appoint- 
 ments and the country was without local officials owning obedience to 
 the British. In January 1853 Captain Fytche, the Deputy Commissioner, 
 succeeded in dispersing a force which kept the whole country in the south 
 and south-east in a state of terror, attacking it first on Negrais Island, 
 whither it had gone to plunder the village of Haingyee, and following it 
 up northwards into the Shweloung township, eventually destroying the three 
 large villages in which it had made its head-quarters. 
 
 No sooner was this effected than Captain Fytche with a party of sea- 
 men from the Zenobia and Nemesis, one or two guns, and his Kareng levies 
 proceeded northward up the Daga river and encountering a party under three
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 95 
 
 Burman leaders routed them with considerable loss and drove the remainder 
 northward to join another chief, Meng-yee Moung Gnyoon the former Gover- 
 nor of Basseiu, whom he attacked a few days later and utterly defeated captur- 
 ing* his two sons. Two days after the eng'ag'ement the Mengyee's dead body 
 was found in the jungles. In the words of the official report: — " The Bassein 
 " district was cleai*ed of the remnant of Burmese troops and of numerous 
 " marauders by the gallant exertions of Major A. Fytche. He received a 
 " brevet-majority as a reward for his services." The nucleus and heart of 
 this force was a party of seamen of the steam frigate Zenohia under Com- 
 mander Rennie of the Indian Navy. By the beginning of March 1853 the 
 lower tracts were freed from the large marauding parties which hitherto 
 had occupied them and nothing but straggling bands of robbers remained. 
 The northern part of the district was still disturbed by a man named 
 Nga Myat Htoon who held out in the south of Henzada {q.v.) and was 
 finally defeated and his party broken up by Sir John Cheape operating 
 from the north and Major Fytche and Captain Rennie from the south. 
 In January 1854 fresh disturbances broke out. Two men named Shwe Too 
 and Kyaw Zan Hlacame down from Ava and issued a proclamation to the 
 effect that they had been commissioned by the heir apparent to drive out 
 the English and had been appointed the one Governor of Bassein and the 
 other Commander-in-chief. They were aided and abetted by a Booddhist 
 priest, a resident of the district, in whose monastery the plan of the out- 
 break was settled. They gradually assembled a number of desperate characters 
 from the borders of this district and from Henzada and suddenly seized the three 
 large adjoining towns of Dounggyee, Ngathaing-khyoung and Eegyee and this 
 success induced numbers to join them, amongst others NgaTha Oo formerly 
 Royal Steersman of Regyee who had fled to Ava on our taking possession 
 of the country but had returned some six months previously and was on 
 parole. The upper part of the district, unprotected by any British ti'oops, fell 
 at once into the hands of the rebels who exercised no oppression of any kind 
 except against those who had accepted office under the English. On the 
 receipt of the information Major Fytche moved up the river with a small 
 military force of Europeans and Madras Native Infantry and 400 of the inha- 
 bitants of the country and found the enemy advancing on Bassein on either 
 bank of the river ; some three hundred on the right bank and eleven hundred 
 in two parties on the left : on the approach of the British force the Burmans 
 on the right bank retreated to Ngathaing-khyoung but those on the left 
 were attacked and driven into Pandaw which was evacuated on the arrival of 
 the British in pursuit. During the night Shwe Too moved out from Ngathaing- 
 khyoung and surrounded Pandaw but was kept off by the Burmese pickets 
 till daybreak when the main body moved out against him. He had taken up a 
 position at the head of the village and his force was drawn up in a plain with 
 the flanks resting in groves of mango trees and low bushes tilled with 
 skirmishers. After a sharp struggle the Burmese broke and fled and the 
 British force moved on to Ngathaing-khyoung where it joined Major 
 Baker's detachment and a force of Burmese who had been sent to attack an- 
 other leader, a duty which it performed with success bringing him in captive. 
 In the meanwhile a party under the Goung-gyoop of Le-myet-hna had attacked 
 the rebels at Dounggyee but had been defeated with great loss and was pursued
 
 96 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 by the rebel chief. Major Fytche followed, conveying his men in carts, and came 
 up with the Burmans the following' day surprising them whilst eating and 
 totally defeating them. The Chief escaped but was captured crossing the 
 Bassein river. On the first news of the outbreak information had been des- 
 patched to Rangoon and assistance asked for ; a detachment was sent under 
 Lieutenant Shuldham 26th M.N.I, which encountered and defeated a rebel 
 party at Myoungmya the Chief being killed during the pursuit. The outbreak 
 was thus speedily crushed by rapid and decisive action and Nga Kyaw Zau 
 Hla, the priest, and most of the inferior leaders killed or captured. 
 
 The difficulties encountered were not confined to inspiriting a down trodden 
 people and getting them to resist their old oppressors, to out-manoeuvring 
 leaders who knew every footpath and creek, and to obtaining information of 
 their strength and movements from a timid population who were in greater 
 fear of the marauders than of the constituted authority, but the very nature of 
 the country greatly impeded any combined and successful movements, any 
 surprises and sudden attacks. Only one who has traversed the delta of the 
 Irrawaddy can adequately appreciate the difficulty of accompHshing this work. 
 The country is a net- work of creeks which though they afi^ord a ready means 
 of access to any given point yet present serious impediments as soon as a 
 force lands and commences to march. 
 
 From this time forward no serious endeavour was made to drive out the 
 English and though there have been several disturbances they were speedily 
 suppressed. In January 1857 there was an outbreak amongsli the Kareng 
 but judicious measures were immediately taken by the Deputy Commissioner 
 and within a week they were twice routed and utterly dispersed by the 
 Bassein Talaing Corps raised some time previously by that officer. No time 
 had been given for the disease to spread and the district immediately resumed 
 its usual quiet. This outbreak was an offshoot from the Kareng rebellion 
 then going on in the hills of the Shwe-gyeng district one of the leaders of 
 which was connected with Bassein and his emissaries worked upon the 
 feelings of the Kareng who had settled here and who were induced to rise 
 in order to afford aid to one who, they were led to believe, was destined to be 
 ruler of Pegu. 
 
 The inhabitants of the Bassein district as it then 
 existed, according to the census of 1872, were : — 
 
 Population. 
 
 Burmese 
 
 Kareng 
 
 Talaing 
 
 Shan 
 
 Arakanese 
 
 Khyeng 
 
 Hindoos, including those of mixed parentage. . 
 
 Mahomedans 
 
 Chinese . . . , . . 
 
 Other races, Europeans, Indo-Europeans, Malays, &c. 
 
 Total 
 
 2,08,551 
 
 92,061 
 
 14,540 
 
 1,601 
 
 1,056 
 
 780 
 
 711 
 
 2,649 
 
 454 
 
 288 
 
 322,689 
 
 In 1875, the Shwe-loung andPantanaw townships were taken from Bassein, 
 The population in 1874 and in 1876, according to the Thoogyee's rolls, was: —
 
 3ITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 97 
 
 
 1874. 
 
 
 
 Total. 
 
 Shwe-loung 
 
 District as it 
 
 1876. 
 
 
 and Pantauaw, 
 
 now exists. 
 
 
 Burmese aud Arakanese 
 
 221,3.31 
 
 29,251 
 
 192,080 
 
 198,247 
 
 Kareng 
 
 108,393 
 
 22,635 
 
 85,758 
 
 87,093 
 
 Talaing 
 
 11,024 
 
 1,591 
 
 9,433 
 
 9,435 
 
 Shau 
 
 1,602 
 
 
 1,602 
 
 1,785 
 
 Khyeng .. .. ,. 
 
 953 
 
 
 953 
 
 925 
 
 Hindoos 
 
 1,267 
 
 
 1,267 
 
 1,264 
 
 Mahomedans 
 
 2,609 
 
 161 
 
 2,448 
 
 2,638 
 
 Chinese 
 
 1,160 
 
 229 
 
 981 
 
 1,033 
 
 Other races 
 
 319 
 
 11 
 
 308 
 
 438 
 
 Total 
 
 348,658 
 
 53,878 
 
 294,780 
 
 302,858 
 
 In former years the Talaing mustered strongly but the Burmese conquest 
 by Aloungbhoora and still more the measures adopted by the Burmese when 
 they returned to the delta of the Irrawaddy on the evacuation of Pegu by the 
 British after the first Burmese war drove many into exile and more than 
 decimated the number of those who could not or did not escape from the 
 anger of their rulers whom they had irritated by siding with the English. 
 The Kareng in this district differ from their brethren in the hills in Tenasserim 
 from having adoj^ted the Burmese custom of cultivation but still retain 
 their dress, language, customs and religion except where converted to Chris- 
 tianity, yet many are, at least nominally, Booddhists. The Shan are settlers 
 from the north, whilst many of the Mahomedans aud most of the Hindoos are 
 sojourners who come to make money to be spent in their own country. The 
 Khyeng live mostly in the hills to the north-west, the tribe or race stretching 
 far away north and west into Upper Burma and Arakan {vide sub tit : Khyeng). 
 Here, as everywhere else in the Province except in Mergui, the males exceed 
 the females. In 1876 there were 157,142 of the former to 144,715 of 
 the latter. The ratio is materially affected by the town of Bassein and is 
 largely due to immigration. The Madrassees, Chittagoniaus and others from 
 India bring no women with them but, like the Chinese, take to themselves 
 wives from the women of the country whom they can and do leave behind if 
 they return, whilst large numbers of Burmans come down from Upper Burma 
 for the season only, to work in the rice mills in Bassein and even those who 
 come to settle in the rural tracts do not, to any considerable extent, bring 
 women with them. 
 
 The principal occupation of the inhabitants is agriculture and fishing, 
 the large plains affording occupation to the one class and the seacoast and 
 numerous ponds, rivers and tidal creeks in the south to the other. 
 
 The number of towns and villages in 187G was 1,455. The most import- 
 ant are : — 
 
 Bassein in about 1Q° 14' N. and 94° 46' E. on the banks of the Nga-woon 
 river some 75 miles from the sea ; the head-quarter station. The three largest 
 quarters of the town are on the left bank of the river surrounding the fort built 
 since the annexation of Pegu and enclosing the conspicuous Shwe-moo-htaw 
 
 13
 
 98 BKITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Pag-oda, viz., the Athaygyee quarter to the south, the Talaing-khyoung" quarter 
 to the north and the Myothit to the east. The small Theng-bhaw-gyeng" suburb 
 is oil the right bank. Withia the walls of the fort are the principal public 
 buildings — the Courts, Treasm-y and Police Office. The population has 
 rapidly increased since its occupation by the British and in 1876 numbered 
 22,417 souls. In the year 1860-61 the value of the exports and imports 
 was Es. 941,710 ; in 1861-62 it rose suddenly to Es. 1,623,250 (imports 
 Es. 550,280, exports Es. 1,072,970) ; in 1872-73 it amounted to Es. 3,499,710, 
 of which Es. 2,823,630 was on account of exports (Es. 2,763,120 on account 
 of exports to foreign countries other than India) and in 1876-77 reached 
 Es. 5,582,458, that is : — imports Es. 447,641 exports to India including other 
 ports in Burma Es. 65,510, to the Straits and ports to the eastward 
 Es. 12,961 and to Europe and ports west of India Es. 4,956,224. The 
 principal trade is in rice, grown in the district and imported from higher up 
 the valley of the Irrawaddy, and husked for export in the mills erected by 
 European merchants' This trade gives employment to a large number of men 
 from Upper Burma who come down for work, leaving their families behind 
 them, and return at the end of the season. Small quantities of timber, cotton, 
 tobacco and oil-seed also are exported : the principal imports are piece-goods, 
 cotton stuffs and crockery. Chinese junks bring small consignments of tea and 
 silk but mainly for the use of the Chinese community. Native craft from 
 the coast of Madras bring cocoanuts and other articles used chiefly by the 
 natives of that country who are employed largely in loading and unloading 
 ships. 
 
 Lemyet-hna in 17° 35' N. and 95° 13' 30" E. on the bank of the Bassein 
 river had a population of 5,635 souls in 1867 and of 4,986 in 1876. 
 
 Myoung-mya in 16° 35' N. and 95° E. is on the river of the same name 
 partly on one bank and partly on the other : in 1876 it had a population of 
 of 1,717 souls. 
 
 Ngapootaw in 16° 32' N. and 94° 46' E. is on the island of the same name 
 in the Bassein river, built on the side of a low range of hills and reaching down 
 to the water^s edge : the population in 1876 was 1,010. 
 
 Regyee Pandaw in 17° 19' 30" N. and 15° 10' E. is on the creek of the 
 same name, which flows between the Bassein and Daga rivers, and is composed 
 of the once separate towns or villages of Eegyee and Pandaw : it had a popula- 
 tion in 1867 of 4,695 and in 1876 of 3,506 : it is a place of some importance in 
 the rice trade. It was here that the Talaing army in its retreat before 
 Aloungbhoora made its last stand before its complete and final defeat. 
 
 Ngaihaing-khyoung in 17° 22' 30" N. and 95° 8' 30" E. on the Bassein 
 river at the northern entrance of the Eegyee creek had a population of 3,512 
 in 1867 and of 2,737 in 1876; the inhabitants do a considerable trade in rice 
 which is sent to Bassein. For some years a detachment of Native Infantry 
 from Bassein garrisoned the town, a duty now performed by the Police. 
 
 Kyoonpyaw in 17° 17' N. and 95° 16' E. on the Daga river at the southern 
 entrance of the Eegyee creek had a population in 1876 of 2,551 employ- 
 ed in agriculture, in fishing and in trading. 
 
 The area of the district under cultivation has rapidly increased. In 
 
 Agriculture 1855-56 it was 134,520 acres; in 1859-60 162,983 
 
 ^ * acres ; in 1864-65 186,129 acres; in 1869-70 220,160 
 
 acres ; and in 1874-75 305,920 acres. In 1876-77, when a considerable tract
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 99 
 
 on the east had been cut off, the cultivated area was 275,840 acres, or the 
 fifteenth part of the whole area, leaving 3,191;040 acres culturable but un- 
 cultivated waste. 
 
 The crops cultivated in acres during the last ten years were : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Oil-seeds. 
 
 Sugar. 
 
 Cotton. 
 
 Tobacco. 
 
 Betel vine. 
 
 xed products, 
 vegetables, 
 uit trees, <&c. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 S * 
 
 1867-68 
 
 193,713 
 
 42 
 
 412 
 
 132 
 
 26 
 
 
 6,759 
 
 1868-69 
 
 202,391 
 
 •• 
 
 46 
 
 110 
 
 20 
 
 507 
 
 7,650 
 
 1869-70 
 
 201,810 
 
 •• 
 
 51 
 
 83 
 
 2 
 
 529 
 
 29,057 
 
 1870-71 
 
 206.370 
 
 64 
 
 224 
 
 85 
 
 33 
 
 .. 
 
 17,607 
 
 1871-72 
 
 222,423 
 
 10 
 
 160 
 
 183 
 
 67 
 
 • • 
 
 10,399 
 
 1872-73 
 
 212,884 
 
 5 
 
 93 
 
 206 
 
 39 
 
 528 
 
 6,816 
 
 1873-74 
 
 239,362 
 
 29 
 
 100 
 
 235 
 
 100 
 
 471 
 
 7,933 
 
 1874-75 
 
 289,395 
 
 41 
 
 67 
 
 303 
 
 40 
 
 500 
 
 13,649 
 
 1875-76 
 
 253,597 
 
 1 
 
 40 
 
 96 
 
 34 
 
 396 
 
 23,018 
 
 1876-77 
 
 262,060 
 
 16 
 
 201 
 
 209 
 
 66 
 
 781 
 
 31,279 
 
 The staple product is rice anrl the average crop 1,600 lbs. an acre : the 
 gross produce of this cereal in 1876-77 may be taken at 187,183 tons which 
 at the then current rates would be worth Rs. 10,295,065. Sessamuni 
 and tobacco are cultivated to a small extent. The produce of cotton per 
 acre is small, averaging 83 lbs. 
 
 The agricultural stock has, like the area under cultivation, increased 
 largely year by year. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Cows, bulls 
 
 and 
 
 bullocks. 
 
 Buffaloes. 
 
 Sheep and 
 goats. 
 
 rigs. 
 
 Carts. 
 
 Ploughs. 
 
 Boats, 
 
 1869-70 . . 
 
 33,746 
 
 78,108 
 
 1,281 
 
 23,464 
 
 14,074 
 
 28,258 
 
 12,623 
 
 1874-75 . . 
 
 57,327 
 
 1,00,339 
 
 1,609 
 
 30,086 
 
 53,635 
 
 26,433 
 
 16,184 
 
 1875-76 . . 
 
 55,600 
 
 91,772 
 
 1,421 
 
 26,973 
 
 24,728 
 
 23,847 
 
 12,274 
 
 1876-77 . . 
 
 65,475 
 
 93,753 
 
 2,015 
 
 26,098 
 
 26,480 
 
 21,174 
 
 12,857 
 
 Thus, notwithstanding the loss of two extensive townships, the district has now 
 a larger agricultural stock than it had eight years ago. The average size of 
 individual holdings is about fifteen acres, a larger area considerably than is
 
 100 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 held further north, as in Thayet for exanaple where about four acres is the 
 average size of a cultivator's land. Hired labourers are rarely employed ; 
 their wages vary from about eight rupees and board to ten rupees without 
 board. In almost all cases the owners cultivate their own land and renting 
 out is not common. 
 
 Nature has provided the district with lines of communication by which 
 the produce can readily be transported to the most favourable market : intersect- 
 ed by a net-work of creeks, easily navigable for some months after the rains 
 till the hot weather sets in, the country requires but few roads : in the dry season 
 a cart track leads from village to village ; in the rains a boat can pass almost 
 anywhere. Whilst, however, these creeks afford excellent means of communi- 
 cation and fertilise the country they are not without their inconveniences. 
 Annually on the rise of the Irrawaddy large areas of country are flooded 
 and the crops too often destroyed. To remedy this and afford protection to 
 tracts of valuable rice land small embankments were erected by the inhabi- 
 tants, bvit these were too weak and too much localized to be of any great or 
 permanent benefit. Since 1865 large embankments have been and are still 
 being made by the State along the banks of the Irrawaddy in the Henzada 
 district to confine that river to its natural channel whilst a similar line is 
 being carried along the left bank of the Bassein from its northern mouth and 
 is complete as far as Ngathaing-khyoung. 
 
 The principal manufactures of the district are Salt, Ngapee and Pottery ; 
 
 ,, t +, c the first two mainly on the seacoast in the Ng-a- 
 
 Manuiactui'es. -^ i,ii •*', 
 
 pootaw and Myoung-mya townships and the last m the 
 
 Bassein, Myoung-mya and Regyee townships. Within a distance of eight 
 
 or ten miles of the seacoast and in the alluvial delta several plains occur 
 
 the soil of which is more or less saline and where these are in the vicinity 
 
 of creeks salt is prepared. The salt is made by solar evaporation and 
 
 boiling. About the month of January a salt tract measuring about 5,000 
 
 square yards is dammed in and divided into eight or more beds, carefully 
 
 constructed drains running between them. These beds are then ploughed up 
 
 to a depth of from 12 to 18 inches, all lumps broken up and the top soil 
 
 reduced to powder, a work which takes about 25 days. By this time the 
 
 water in the neighbouring creeks has, owing to the cessation of the rains 
 
 and the gradual running off of the fresh water, become brackish and is 
 
 pumped into the salt-beds by means of a wheel worked by buffaloes. This 
 
 is left for some days until, partly by subsidence partly by evaporation, the 
 
 beds are dry and a thin layer of salt is left on the surface. More water 
 
 is then pumped in ; not into all the beds simultaneously but passed from 
 
 one to the other in regular order till all are filled ; the water in the last having 
 
 thus passed through all the preceding ones. In the meanwhile tanks have been 
 
 dug, generally about 40' x 60' x 5' deep, and the water after remaining 24 hours 
 
 on the salt-beds is turned into them. The same process is repeated until 
 
 these tanks are full or the workers think that they have a sufficient quantity 
 
 for their purpose. From the tanks the water is carried to the boiling place 
 
 and poured into pots underneath which a fire is kept continually burning ; as 
 
 soon as all the water in a pot has evaporated it is cleared of the salt and re-filled 
 
 from the tanks the salt laeing thrown into a general heap and exposed to the 
 
 sun on shelving boards to allow the bittern to drain off, a process which is 
 
 complete in from two to four days. The pots are all of a uniform size and
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 101 
 
 contain about 4^ gallons of brine each and at each evaporation yield about 
 7lbs. of salt. Each pot is replenished twice in 24 hours and as the boiling 
 continues for some four months (the fire being put out and the pots examined 
 and cracked ones replaced three times in that period) the average produce of 
 one pot during the season is about 1,350 lbs. The boiling places as a rule 
 contain from 100 to 230 pots each, but some are smaller. The salt is 
 sold on the spot for the preparation on the coast of salt-fish and ngapee. 
 The expenditure during a season of from four to five months for a boiling 
 place of 200 pots is about as follows : — 
 
 Es. 
 
 Hire of buffaloes . . . . . . . . . . 80 
 
 Six hundred pots (allowing for breakage &c.) . . . . 180 
 
 Fuel .. .. .. .. .. .. 600 
 
 Cocoanut fibre . . . . . , . . . . 150 
 
 Wages of six men for five months . . . . . . 450 
 
 Provisons for ditto . . . . . . . . 200 
 
 Earth-oil for feeding fires . . . , . . . . 75 
 
 Cost of sheds . . . . . . . . . . 50 
 
 Tax .. .. .. .. .. .. 100 
 
 1,885 
 The value of the salt made (about) . . . . . . 2,500 
 
 Nett profit . . 615 
 
 Several kinds of ngapee are made of which " Dharaeng" is the most import- 
 ant. It is manufactured on the seacoast on the spot where the fish are caught 
 and consists of a mixture of all kinds of fish and prawns which, as they are 
 caught in the traps, are thrown en masse on to a raised platform made of 
 bamboos and left there for about eight hours until all the water has drained off. 
 By this time decomposition has generally set in. The mass is theu sprinkled 
 thickly with salt and the whole thoroughly crushed and mixed together by 
 hand. It is then ready for the market and if not sold at once is stored in large 
 wicker baskets and more salt oecasionllay added as putridity advances. About 
 4,700 lbs. of salt are required for 100 baskets of ngapee. 
 
 Large pots and other kinds of heavy glazed pottery are manufactured prin- 
 cipally in the Myoung-mya township at a village near the town of Bassein called 
 Thit-gnyo-goon. The earth used is a kind of red clay with a slight admixture 
 of sand in it which is collected and brought to the site before the season^s work 
 commences. The clay is dried and pounded in wooden mortars and mixed 
 with water till it has attained the necessary consistency. A lump is taken up 
 by hand and moulded into the form of a cylinder which is set upon the centre 
 of a wooden wheel revolving horizontally and the clay is fashioned by the 
 hand by one man or woman as the wheel is worked by another. Two persons 
 can turn out from 15 to 20 large or 40 to 60 small pots in a day. When 
 turned the pots are left for a day to dry and the glaze is then applied and 
 the pots at once put into the kiln where they are burned for three daj^s. The 
 glaze is made from the slag obtained in smelting silver ore and is brought 
 from Upper Burma : it is pounded in a mortar, sifted, mixed with thick rice 
 water and applied with a brush. In one season, that is from January to April, 
 two men can turn out about 1,000 pots of sizes which are generally sold to 
 traders on the spot for from Es. 120 to Ks. 130. The ordinary water and cook- 
 ing-pots — unglazed — are somewhat differently made. The clay is thoroughly 
 mixed with fine sand and water in a pit and is then placed on hides and kneaded 
 by being trampled with naked feet. The pot is not at once formed on the wheel
 
 102 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 as iu the case of the ghazed jars but as soon as a globe has been formed by- 
 turning it is enlarged by hammering with a flat piece of wood with a rough 
 surface. It is, when in this stage, exceedingly moist and is dried in a shed 
 for three days and again beaten out. The salt pots are made ia the same 
 way but are much thicker. About 100 small or 20 large pots of this 
 description can be made iu one day by two men. 
 
 The actual revenue raised prior to the annexation — when the district 
 did not include the tract west of the Arakan Romas 
 but extended further eastward into what is now 
 the Thoon-khwa district — cannot be accurately ascertained. The amount 
 remitted to the capital or to the officer about the Court to whom the 
 revenues had been granted— the Myo-tsa or " Eater of the Revenues of the 
 Myo" — is known but the amount exacted by the local officials for their own 
 share is no where recorded. A certain sum they were justly entitled to by 
 way of salary, as fees &c., but no record even of this can be found much less 
 of the sums which they extorted from the people whom they ruled. The 
 amount which they received in various forms as fees on the administration of 
 justice, fines in criminal cases &c., may safely be put down at a sum equal to two- 
 thirds of the remittances to the King's Government or to the Myo-tsa. The 
 amounts due were always calculated by viss and tickals and were in '' Rwetnee" 
 silver, supposed to contain five per cent, only of alloy. For all practical pur 
 poses of comparison with the existing revenue a viss 
 taken as worth Rs. 130. From the local records found 
 it appears that the annual revenue furnished by this 
 in the Burmese times, was : — 
 
 or 100 ticals may be 
 in the various offices 
 district, as it existed 
 
 1. House and Family Tax — Burmans and Kareng 
 
 2. Yoke of oxen or rice land tax . . 
 
 3. Fisheries 
 
 4. Salt 
 
 5. Transit duties 
 
 Total 
 
 Es. 
 
 122,730 
 35,980 
 92,030 
 13,380 
 18,380 
 
 282,500 
 
 Adding two-thirds for the share of the local officers the amount paid by the 
 inhabitants was at least Rs. 470,800. 
 
 For the first year or two after the annexation the revenues were neces- 
 sarily irregular, and 1855-56 is the first year which it is safe to take 
 as shewing the taxation at first imposed on the people who had passed under 
 
 our rule. In that year the revenue was : — 
 
 Es. 
 
 1. Capitation 
 
 
 
 
 194,650 
 
 2. Land 
 
 
 
 
 215,170 
 
 3. Fisheries 
 
 
 
 
 81,570 
 
 4. Salt 
 
 
 
 
 17,040 
 
 5. Forest Produce 
 
 
 
 
 1,650 
 
 6. Excise 
 
 
 
 
 65,390 
 
 7. Sea Customs . . 
 
 
 
 
 13,560 
 
 8. Port dues and Marine 
 
 receipts 
 
 
 10,270 
 
 9. Fees and Fines 
 
 
 
 
 16,250 
 
 10. Sale of unclaimed 
 
 property 
 
 
 1,020 
 
 11. Postage Stamps 
 
 
 
 
 650 
 
 12. Miscellaneous . . 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 10,700 
 
 
 .. 617,910
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 103 
 
 The increase was very largely due to indirect taxation, which was felt but 
 slightly, whilst the inhabitants were relieved from the numerous exactions 
 which were all the more burdensome from being* indefinite and dependant 
 upon the wants and caprice of the local officials. The result was soon shewn 
 in an increase of the population by immigration, and by the extended area 
 brought under cultivation. Without any extraordinary and sudden increase 
 in the rate of taxation, and indeed the general tendency has been to keep it as 
 low as possible, the amount of revenue derived from the land has year by year 
 increased. Excluding toungya or hill gardens the area under cultivation, 
 the revenue derived therefrom and the rate of taxation per acre in 1875-76 as 
 compared with 1855-56 was : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Land under 
 cultivation. 
 
 Laud Revenue. 
 
 Average, 
 rate per acre. 
 
 1855-56 
 
 1875-76 
 
 Acres. 
 134,520 
 264,320 
 
 Es' 
 212,220 
 437,320 
 
 Es. A. P. 
 19 
 1 10 5 
 
 The capitation tax represents the House and Family tax of the former 
 rulers, with this great difference, that under the Burmese the total demand 
 was ordered annually by the Governor of the district, the assessment per circle 
 being left to the Akhwonwon and the assessment per house to the Thoo- 
 gyee, the latter fixing it accordiug to his estimate of the riches of the 
 head of the house, in some cases counting several families as one " Revenue 
 house," whilst under the English rule each married man and each bachelor 
 between 18 and 60, except priests, cripples and some others, pays a fixed 
 amount, fixed not with reference to his circumstances but the same for all viz. 
 five rupees and two rupees eight annas respectively. In 1855-56 the yield of 
 this tax was Rs. 194,650, in 1876-77 Rs. 305,300. The Fishery Tax is imposed 
 upon nets and traps used in the sea and in the rivers, and the ponds are leased 
 out for a term of yeai-s to the highest bidder, care being taken that, as far as \)0s- 
 sible, the bidders are ioHftyifZc fishermen residing near the ponds which they 
 wish to rent, a system lately introduced in supersession of one by which no 
 bidding was allowed but the fisheries were given from year to year to inhabit- 
 ants of neighbouring villages, the Deputy Commissioner exercising his dis- 
 cretion in selecting the worker from amongst the always numerous applicants, 
 a system which itself was successor to one of open auction. In 1855-56 the 
 Revenue derived from both classes, fishermen and fisheries, was Rs. 81,570, iu 
 1876-77 Rs.108,985.* 
 
 The salt tax, levied on the pots in which the brine is boiled after being 
 subjected to solar evaporation, is an exceedingly fluctuating source of revenue, 
 but is, on the whole, decreasing owing to the importation of foreign salt 
 which undersells that made iu the country except for fish-curing. The system 
 of taxation has been to a certain extent copied from the Burmese who taxed 
 each pot but they, in addition, raised a revenue from shipping dues, about eight 
 
 * In this district and in Henzada the receipts varied periodically on account of certain 
 border fisheries which, situated partly in one district and partly in the other, were leased 
 alternately by one Deputy Commissioner and by the other, the revenue derived therefrom being 
 credited in the district the Deputy Commissioner of which held the auction.
 
 lOi 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 annas being paid in this way for every 365 pounds of salt placed on board a boat. 
 In 1855-56 the proceeds of the tax amounted to Es. 7,040 ; in 1856-57 it fell to 
 Es. 8,170; in 1859-60 it rose to Es. 15,170 and in the following- year fell to 
 Es. 14,420 ; in 1871-72 it was Es. 12,290 ; in 1872-73 only Es. 7,800 ; in 
 1875-76 Es. 8,783 and in 1876-77 Es. 7,037. In 1855 the selling price of salt 
 in the Bassein market was about thirteen annas, in 1873 rather over one 
 rupee two annas and in 1876-77 one rupee six annas per maund of 80 lbs. 
 
 The excise revenue, derived from licenses to sell intoxicating liquors and 
 drugs, has increased considerably. Under the Burmese rule the use of these 
 stimulants was prohibited but after the annexation it was recognized that as 
 intoxicating liquors and drugs were undoubtedly used their use should be 
 turned to the benefit of the State. The excise revenue in 1855-56 amounted 
 to Ea. 55,390; in 1860-61 to Es. 61,040; in 1870-71 to Es. 49,490; in 
 1872-73 to Es. 57,600 and in 1876-77 to Es. 127,895. Sea customs have 
 afforded a continually increasing, but naturally to some extent a fluctuating, 
 revenue, the amount depending not only on the fluctuation of trade but upon 
 the rates of import and export duty levied. In 1855-56 the amount realized, 
 including fines and confiscations, was Es. 13,560; by 1872-73 it had risen to 
 Es. 392,270 ; in 1874-75 to Es. 385,763 and in 1876-77 to Es. 546,542 an increase 
 due largely to increased exports of grain. The other items of revenue vary 
 considerably year by year, but the receipts from the sale of postage stamps 
 increase steadily but not rapidly for hitherto the post office has not been 
 extensively used by the indigenous population. 
 
 The gross Imperial and Provincial Eevenue of the district and the 
 expenditure for officials of all kinds during the ten years ending with 1876- 
 77 has been : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 Expenditure. 
 
 
 . 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 1867-68 
 
 
 1,071,890 
 
 139,260 
 
 1868-69 
 
 
 1,255,660 
 
 148,340. 
 
 1869-70 
 
 
 1,184,640 
 
 151,370 
 
 1870-71 
 
 
 1,186,730 
 
 133,850 
 
 1871-72 
 
 
 1,278,720 
 
 166,190 
 
 1872-73 
 
 
 1,383,962 
 
 104,810 
 
 1873-74 
 
 
 1,571,850 
 
 145,580 
 
 1874-75 
 
 
 1,724,486 
 
 154,871 
 
 1875-76 
 
 
 1,706,062 
 
 129,513 
 
 1870-77 
 
 
 1,666,466 
 
 196,729 
 
 The local revenues raised in the district in 1876-77, over and above the 
 Imperial and Provincial revenue and excluding the Port (Es. 26,614) and
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 105 
 
 Dispensary funds (Rs. 8,059) aud the local revenue of the town of Bassein 
 (Rs. 97,784) which is a Municipal Town with a Committee administering its 
 Revenues, was Rs. 60,051. 
 
 The trade of the Bassein district, like that of every other part of the pro- 
 
 vince, has largely increased since the British occupa- 
 
 ^^ ®' tion. The values of the imports and exports, together 
 
 with the tonnage of the vessels which cleared out, for each year from 1855-56 to 
 
 1876-77 are given in the following table : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Value of 
 
 grain 
 exported. 
 
 Value of 
 
 timber 
 
 exported. 
 
 Value of all 
 
 other 
 
 exports 
 
 including 
 
 treasure. 
 
 Value of all 
 1 imports in- 
 cluding 
 treasure. 
 
 Tonnage 
 
 of vessels 
 
 cleared out. 
 
 1855-56 
 
 Es. 
 435,053 
 
 Rs. 
 2,505 
 
 Es 
 
 87,891 
 
 Rs. 
 243,007 
 
 tons. 
 2,847 
 
 1856-57 
 
 363,987 
 
 1,861 
 
 61,073 
 
 363,912 
 
 13^95 
 
 1857-58 
 
 1,165,542 
 
 2,359 
 
 61,755 
 
 974,404 
 
 37,403 
 
 1858-59 
 
 1,437,025 
 
 5,017 
 
 99,362 
 
 932,879 
 
 33,008 
 
 1859-60 
 
 258,731 
 
 2,645 
 
 98,143 
 
 247,838 
 
 12,987 
 
 1860-61 
 
 584,589 
 
 
 49,155 
 
 307,969 
 
 16,615 
 
 1861-62 
 
 1,010,568 
 
 ... 
 
 62,402 
 
 550,282 
 
 29,571 
 
 1862-63 
 
 1,087,116 
 
 797 
 
 52,412 
 
 500,808 
 
 29,986 
 
 1863-64 
 
 1,133,351 
 
 
 79,530 
 
 289,763 
 
 35,126 
 
 1864-65 
 
 2,672,822 
 
 7,956 
 
 59,746 
 
 166,519 
 
 51,635 
 
 1865-66 
 
 2,852,464 
 
 3,520 
 
 43,670 
 
 328,761 
 
 42,163 
 
 1866-67 
 
 1,306,960 
 
 1,160 
 
 25,811 
 
 163,671 
 
 24,737 
 
 1867-68 
 
 1,542,646 
 
 2,516 
 
 29,519 
 
 205,886 
 
 33,749 
 
 1868-69 
 
 2,619,524 
 
 7,455 
 
 317,048 
 
 242,331 
 
 47,077 
 
 1869-70 
 
 2,160,514 
 
 1,055 
 
 119,010 
 
 247,135 
 
 41,515 
 
 1870-71 
 
 1,798,648 
 
 210 
 
 331,174 
 
 438,538 
 
 33,633 
 
 1871-72 
 
 2,135,371 
 
 ... 
 
 11,452 
 
 220,735 
 
 41,376 
 
 1872-73 
 
 2,802,770 
 
 
 20,863 
 
 676,076 
 
 57,088 
 
 1873-74 
 
 3,765,640 
 
 3,03 
 
 522,242 
 
 2,093,623=^^^ 
 
 63,202 
 
 1874-75 
 
 4,057,845 
 
 3,327 
 
 67,079 
 
 449,035 
 
 71,020 
 
 1875-76 
 
 4,820,864 
 
 
 22,006 
 
 499,023 
 
 88,450 
 
 1876-77 
 
 5,000,426 
 
 11.447 
 
 22,822 
 
 447,641 
 
 81,297 
 
 * The increase was in treasure on account of 
 for the famine-stricken tracts iu Bengal. 
 
 the State and was due to the demand for rice 
 
 14
 
 106 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The most important article of export is rice, of which by far the larger 
 quantity goes to Europe. The local price of the unhusked grain depends 
 very much upon that at Rangoon for both draw their supplies to a great 
 extent from the large rice-producing country between and north of them. The 
 great demand for this cereal for export stimulates its production and the 
 embankments along the Irrawaddy and the Bassein rivers protect, and will 
 as they are carried on still further protect very extensive areas of excellent 
 rice land. 
 
 The quantities of this grain shipped in each year since 1861-62 was 
 in tons : — 
 
 1862-63 
 
 . 38,639 
 
 1870-71 
 
 . . 44,291 
 
 1863-64 
 
 . 39,366 
 
 1871-72 
 
 .. 55,274 
 
 1864-65 
 
 . 64,225 
 
 1872-73 
 
 . . 74,927 
 
 1865-66 
 
 . 62,649 
 
 1873-74 
 
 . . 88,495 
 
 1866-67 
 
 . 26,690 
 
 1874-75 
 
 .. 89,743 
 
 1867-68 
 
 . 37,160 
 
 1875-76 
 
 .. 113,957 
 
 1868-69 
 
 . 60,549 
 
 1876-77 
 
 .. 104,516 
 
 1869-70 
 
 . 51,063 
 
 
 
 Lying in the delta of the Irrawaddy with the surface of the country 
 intersected by a vast number of creeks the muddy banks 
 Climate. ^£ which are left exposed for the greater part of the 
 
 24 hours and with a heavy rain-fall during the monsoon the climate is relax- 
 ing and favourable to animal and vegetable decomposition. Cholera and 
 fever are reported to be endemic, whilst bowel-complaints^ dropsy and 
 rheumatism are common. Small-pox is much spread by inoculation. 
 
 The rain-fall and average temperature during the last ten years were : —
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
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 108 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 On the annexation of Peg-u the Bassein district was formed out of what 
 had been the Bassein Governorship during" the Bur- 
 Admimstration. mese time but there was added to it a strip of country, 
 
 up till that time a portion of Sandoway, extending along- the seacoast west of 
 the Arakan mountains as far north as the Kyientalee stream which falls into 
 the Bay of Beng-al in about 18° N., divided into two townships. In 1864 
 it was found that the northern of these two could better be supervised from 
 Sandoway and westward of the mountains the boundary was broug-ht south to 
 the Khwa where it has since remained. To the west of the Arakan Romas the 
 district remained for several years unaltered but in 1875 the Shweloung- 
 and Pantanaw townships in the extreme east were taken from it and in 
 1876 further slight changes were made in its limits^ the existing" boundaries 
 being those given at pages 84 and 85. In the first year of the British occupation 
 a Deputy Commissioner was placed in charge with one Assistant and 
 eleven Goung-gyoop who replaced the Paineng and Myothoogyee of the 
 Burmese time but with considerably less authority and with two peons each 
 by way of Police for the whole district. Up to the middle of 1853 the country 
 was in a very disturbed state and the civil officers, aided only by the few troops 
 that could occasionally be spared from the weak garrison in Bassein and by 
 seamen from the Zenobia and the Nemesis, were continually engaged in hunt- 
 ino- down and dispersing large gangs of armed marauders. The necessity 
 for strengthening the civil administration was soon felt ; the Deputy Com- 
 missioner was empowered to punish with death all persons convicted of parti- 
 cipation in open and armed insurrection (an authority subsequently withdrawn 
 when quiet was restored) and a Police force was raised of a total strength of 
 546 men (with two European Non-commissioned Officers) the large majority of 
 whom were recruited from those who had been employed in a somewhat 
 similar capacity under the Burmese rule and had in many cases acted with the 
 gangs only just dispersed and were thus turned to good use and given an 
 occupation suited to their habits,, whilst the discipline enforced eventually ren- 
 dered them of great service. Amongst others who volunteered and were accept- 
 ed was a man who had acted as a petty chief under the rebel Myat Htoon up 
 to the final dispersion of his band, vfho brought eighty men with him. 
 In 1857 an outbreak took place amongst the Kareng led by a man who, 
 thouo-h a Kareng, spoke a different dialect from those settled in the district, 
 and who was connected with the leader of the Kareng rebellion then going 
 on in the hill country of the Shwe-gyeng district. They occupied Myoungmya 
 but escaped on the approach of the Deputy Commissioner and were followed 
 in the direction of Labwotkoola and overtaken and dispersed. They assembled 
 ao-ain in Wakamay where they were attacked and finally defeated, 40 of their 
 number being taken prisoners ; the leader escaped but was captured somewhat 
 later. With occasional changes in the civil establishments the administi^ation 
 remained the same until 1861, when the Police Battalion was disbanded and 
 a reo-ular Police force for the whole Province under an Inspector-General and 
 District Superintendents was organized. The main evil with which this force 
 has had to contend has been dacoity, confined mainly, especially of late years, 
 to the Shweloung township, now a portion of Thoon-khwa (q.v.). In 1868 there 
 was a serious disturbance in the town of Bassein which was immediately sup- 
 pressed. Nga Kyaw Tha, a native of Upper Burma who had been residing for 
 some four years in Bassein, combined with a new arrival, a soothsayer named
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 109 
 
 Nga Shwe Wa, and with a petty local official and succeeded in enlisting secretly- 
 some fifteen or twenty men (persuading them that he was of royal descent)- and 
 by forged documents induced them to believe that he had been appointed Prince 
 of Bassein by the King of Upper Burma. On the night of the 27th April he 
 collected his fifteen followers aud about a hundred up-country men who had come 
 down for the season to work in the rice-mills and who up to this moment seem to 
 have known nothing of the plot. The whole party went before daylight in the 
 morning to the Pagoda within the fort and, after worshipping, suddenly rushed 
 on the Treasury guard. The Deputy Commissioner speedily arrived on the spot 
 with about fifteen policemen and on their firing the robbers broke and escaped 
 in all directions, having been in possession of the treasury for about twenty 
 minutes only and without even opening the doors. Nearly the whole of the 
 attacking party was captured that day including the leaders except Nga Kyaw 
 Tha who was seized in Piangoon in June following. 
 
 Very soon after the occupation of Pegu it was deemed advisable to remove 
 the head-quarters of the district southward from Bassein to " a position 
 " unrivalled as a port in the Bay of Bengal " near the mouth of the river on the 
 right bank, which was named ' Dalhousie^ after the Governor-General to 
 whom was due the annexation of Pegu. The site thus selected had " for 
 " many years attracted the attention of naval officers as supplying all that is 
 " required for a harbour of refuge. From its natural position it was admir- 
 " ably adapted as a port of call ; and placed at the natural outlet of a vast tract 
 " of fertile country it was hoped that it would become a mart of importance." 
 In 1855 all preliminary ai'rangements had been completed, the main roads of 
 the city had been traced out, a strand road had been made, the site of public 
 buildings determined on and a pier was in course of construction. The crest 
 of a rock was levelled to admit of the erection of a battery which should 
 command the passage of the river, and the blocks and allotments in the town 
 were marked out. Beyond a few fishermen^'s huts the site had been found 
 entirely vacant. In 1856-57, however, the whole site was submerged by a 
 sudden rise of the sea cousequent on a cyclone. Almost every building was 
 swept away and several lives were lost but the idea was not abandoned and the 
 Courts and the Gaol were transferred hither from Bassein ; but the same year 
 they were retransferred to Bassein where they have ever since remained aud 
 " Dalhousie " has sunk into its former state of waste and jungle. No attempt 
 has since been made to build the city for it was found by practical experience 
 that Bassein was by far the better site. 
 
 The district is now divided into eight towaiships. Adjoining the Henzada 
 district is Le-mj^et-hna, divided into eight Revenue circles, with the head- 
 quarters at the town of the same name on the Bassein or Nga-won river ; 
 to the south-east of this is Kegyee with the head-quarters at Regyee Pandaw, 
 containing twelve Revenue circles ; and still further to the south Tsam-bay- 
 roon, with the head-quarters at Kyoon-pyaw on the Daga river, containing 
 eight Revenue circles. These three townships form the Nga-thaing-khyoung 
 sub-division, under an Assistant Commissioner whose head-quarters are at the 
 town of the same name. South of Le-myet-hna and extending across the 
 hills to the seacoast is the Thaboung township, with the head-quarters at a 
 town of the same name on the Bassein, divided into fourteen Revenue circles ; 
 and below this Bassein, the head-quarter township, with eight Revenue circles, 
 and including the town of Bassein ; extending southward to the coast and
 
 110 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 includiDg- the lower portion of the tract west of the Arakan Romas is Ngapoo- 
 tsbw, divided into eleven Revenue circles, with the head-quarters at Ngapootaw 
 on the Bassein river on an island of the same name. Immediately south 
 of Tsam-hay-roon and east of Bassein is Thee-kweng- with the head-quarters 
 at Kan-g-yee-doung, containing ten Revenue circles : to the south of 
 Thee-kweng the country, which is generally flat and highly intersected 
 Avith creeks but with a low rang-e of rising ground running through it on the 
 west, forms the Myoungmya township, with nine Revenue circles and the 
 head-quarters at Myoungmya. To the eastward is the Thoon-khwa district. 
 The actual administrative stajQF consists of a Deputy Commissioner with two 
 Assistant Commissioners, one stationed in Bassein and one in Ngathaiug- 
 khyoung, eight Extra Assistant Commissioners, a Superintendent of Police, a 
 Civil Surgeon, a Collector of Customs, a Master- Attendant, and a Deputy 
 Inspector of Schools. 
 
 Ever since the occupation of Pegu this district has enjoyed considerable 
 educational advantages. Almost immediately after the annexation the 
 American Baptist Missionaries, who had for many years devoted much 
 attention to the education of the Kareng in Tenasserim and who found 
 large numbers of this race here, established village schools and at Bassein 
 a Normal School to which both boys and girls were admitted, and in 1858-59 
 they started a school for Burmese and put up a printing- press at Myoungmya 
 to supply their Kareng converts with books. 
 
 In 1860 a Kareng Normal and Industrial Institute was opened, also by 
 the Baptist Missionaries, to which both boys and girls were admitted: 
 in 1875-76 the average daily attendance was 160. Of late years a handsome 
 new building has been added for the accommodation of the increasing numbers. 
 In 1861 the Roman Catholic Mission established St. Peter's Institution in two 
 departments, English and Vernacular, which have since been amalgamated 
 and, with a few special exceptions, English is taught throughout the School. 
 In 1875-76 the average daily attendance was 75 ; of the pupils about one- 
 half were Kareng, 16 Burmese, and the rest Eurasians, Chinese, &c. In 
 1868 a Pwo Kareng Normal School was opened by the Baptist Missionaries 
 and in 1875-76 the daily average attendance was 46. All these receive grants- 
 in-aid from the State. In 1874 the Government established a Middle Class 
 School and, with a view of attracting pupils from the interior, a boarding- 
 establishment was subsequently attached to it. The number of pupils on the 
 rolls on the 31st March 1876 was 144 of whom 99 were Burmese, one Kareng 
 and the rest principally Natives of India. The average daily attendance in 
 1875-76 was 117, and the total charges Rs. 6,050 : the cost to the State for 
 each pupil was Rs. 35-10-5 : the school fee is Re. 1 a month. In 1873 the 
 Government established a Cess School at Nga-thaing-khyoung-, that is a school 
 the cost of which is defrayed from the Education portion of the Five per Cent. 
 Cess levied on the land and fishery revenue, which is for both boys and girls. 
 At the Examination in 1876, when the school was favourably reported on, 
 20 boys and 15 girls attended. The monthly fees are eight annas for boys 
 and four annas for girls. The cost to the Government in 1876 for the educa- 
 tion of each pupil was Rs. 47-12-0. 
 
 Here as in every part of Burma primary education is in the hands of the 
 Booddhist monks and of a few laymen who start a school to gain a livelihood 
 and teach both boys and girls. The schools, monastic and lay, of those masters
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Ill 
 
 who will allow it are examined yearly, and prizes given. In 1875-76 133 
 schools had successful pupils : of these schools 34 were lay and 99 monastic. 
 
 The Gaol of this district was at first a mat building- ; in 1858 a wall 
 round it was commenced which was not completed until 1861 ; in 1868-64 
 a new ward and a new hospital were constructed and during the following 
 year a new Gaol was commenced. It was in this year that an Inspector- 
 General was first appointed and a commencement made in a more effective 
 and more regular system of prison management. The new Gaol, which 
 cost Rs. 172,600, was not completed until 1868, up to which period the 
 buildings used were temporary structures raised on piles with wooden floors. 
 Four wards radiate from the main guard in the centre, the necessary offices 
 being between them, and the whole is surrounded with a high wall ; the build- 
 ings are brickwork structures with iron roofs and earthwork floors, the prisoners 
 sleeping on benches two feet off the ground. There is accommodation, at 36 
 superficial feet per head, for 405 males and 16 females. In 1855 the average 
 number in confinement was 317 of all classes. The daily average number of 
 prisoners confined in 1876 was : — 
 
 Convicted prisoners 
 
 Under-trial ,, 
 
 Debtors, excise, prisoners, and revenue defaulters 
 
 Total of aU classes 
 
 Males. 
 
 343 
 
 5 
 
 17 
 
 Females. 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 Total. 
 346 
 6 
 17 
 
 365 
 
 369 
 
 The cost to the State was : — 
 
 Rations 
 Establishment 
 Police Guard 
 Hospital charges 
 Clothing 
 Contingencies 
 
 Rs. 
 
 A. 
 
 P 
 
 9,436 
 
 15 
 
 1 
 
 6,961 
 
 15 
 
 2 
 
 4,858 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 530 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 690 
 
 11 
 
 7 
 
 806 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 Total 
 
 23,285 15 1 
 
 Adding the amount expended on the Gaol buildings and deducting the 
 profits from Gaol labour (Rs. 12,313-15-11), on which an average of 209 
 prisoners were regularly employed, the cost of each convict to the State in 1876 
 was Es. 67-8-9. On the 5th July 1876 a small Lock-up was opened at Nga- 
 thaing-khyoung in which prisoners who are sentenced in that sub-division to 
 one month's imprisonment and under work out their sentences. The average 
 number of prisoners of all classes confined was 16 and the nett cost to the 
 State Es. 64-1-6 for each. 
 
 The Police force numbered, in 1876, 355 men (of whom 37 were boat- 
 men and river police and 72 employed in the town of Bassein) under a 
 Superintendent and 36 subordinate officers (of whom 11 were employed in 
 Bassein town). The total cost was Rs. 85,776 of which Es. 70,131 was 
 chargeable to the Provincial Revenues, the rest being chargeable to the 
 Bassein Municipality. The strength gives one policeman to every twenty- 
 three square miles and to every 898 of the population. 
 
 In the town of Bassein tliere is a charitable dispensary and two hospitals 
 one for Europeans and the other for natives, all three being under the Civil 
 Surgeon. A new Hospital, which is to cost about Es. 8,000— of which
 
 112 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Rs. 4,000 are provided from the Dispensary Fuud^ Es. 2,000 by the Municipa- 
 lity, Rs. 1,500 from the Port Fund, and the remainder collected from private 
 individuals — is now being' built. It is to be of teak with a shingled roof, and 
 is to contain two large roomy wards, each to hold 10 beds and each having a 
 bath-room. In the centre will be a dispensary, an operation-room and au 
 office : a fine portico will provide a waiting-room for out-patients. In 1866-67 
 the private contributions, including fees from patients, amounted to Rs. 1,380 
 and 1,086 persons were treated. In 1876 the gross receipts amounted 
 to Rs. 7,022, of which Rs. 981 were from private contributions, and the 
 expenditure to Rs. 2,520. The total balance at credit of the fund at the close 
 of the year was Rs. 7,785. The total number who received aid that year was 
 3,461, of whom 264, including 10 Europeans, were in-patients. Most of the 
 Europeans are sailors whose cases it is difficult to manage on board ship. 
 
 The postal communications are : — 
 
 (1.) A four-weekly service by the steamers of the British India Steam 
 Navigation Company between Chittagong and Peuang, and vice versa, the 
 steamers calling at Akyab, Kyouk-hpyoo, Sandoway (during- the N. E. 
 monsoon), Basseiu, Rangoon, Maulmain, Tavoy River, Mergui and Malewon in 
 British, and Renoung, Kopah, and Junk Ceylon in foreign, territory. 
 
 (2.) A service twice a week by the steamers of the Irrawaddy Flotilla 
 Company between Rangoon and Bassein and vice versa, calling at Maoobeng-, 
 Shwe-loung, Myoungmya and, when practicable, at Pautanaw. 
 
 (3.) A service, maintained out of the District Dak portion of the Five 
 Per Cent Cess Fund, three times a month between Bassein and Ngathaing- 
 khyoung and vice versa, via the Daga river ; three times a month 
 between Bassein and Ngathaiug-khyoung and vice versa, via the Ngawou or 
 Bassein river and three times a month by land from Ngathaing-khyoung to 
 Lemyethna and Henzada, and vice versa. 
 
 BASSEIN. — A township in the district of the same name on the left 
 bank of the Nga-won or Bassein river extending southwards from the Daga 
 to the mouth of the Tabeng which for some distance forms its south-eastern 
 boundary. Towards the north the ground is undulating but the country 
 to the south is flat and highly cultivated with rice. The town of Bassein 
 lies in the west centre. In 1876 the population numbered 17,695 souls and 
 the gross revenue was Rs. 58,795 of which Rs. 38,865 were derived from the 
 land and Rs. 17,974 from the capitation-tax. 
 
 BAWBENG. — A small stream in the Henzada district which has its 
 source in the western slopes of the Pegu mountains in the south of the 
 Ta-pwon township and, fed by numerous mountain torrents, unites with the 
 Thayet to form the Wet. The banks are for the most part steep and rocky. 
 
 BAWDEE. — A revenue circle in the north-eastern portion of the Pan- 
 tanaw township of the Thoon-khwa district the greater portion of which is low 
 ground. The inhabitants who number 6,756 are mainly fishermen, petty 
 traders and cultivators. The land revenue in 1876 was Rs. 3,395 and the 
 capitation-tax Rs. 7,458 : the gross revenue (very largely derived from the 
 fisheries) being Rs. 56,864. This circle now includes Kaloung. 
 
 REELING.— See Bheeleng. 
 
 BENG-KOOP. — A village in the Thamboola circle, Myedai township, 
 Thayet district, containing about ninety houses.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 113 
 
 BENTINCK. — An island iu the Mergui Archipelago between 11° 30' and 
 12° N. and a little to the east of 98° E. To the eastward is Domel Island 
 and between the two is a good harbour where ships can lie land-locked and 
 secure from all swell, in good holding-ground, mud and sand. 
 
 BGHAI. — One of the three great Kareng families, occupying the whole 
 country between the Tsittoung and Salween, north of the latitude of the 
 Thouk-re-khat stream as far as the Shan State, of Mobye beyond British 
 territory. The family comprises the following sub-divisions : Red Kareno- 
 Tunic Bghai or Bghai-ka-teu, Pant Bghai or Bghai-ka-hta, Lay-may or 
 Brek or Pray, Tshawko and Manoo-manaw ; some wearing tunics and some 
 trowsers ; the women all wearing the ordinary Kareng female dress. In this 
 family marriages are always contracted between relations, third cousins being 
 considered as too remote and first cousins as too near : beyond third cousins 
 marriages are prohibited. 
 
 Thedeadareinvariably buried and their funeral ceremonies are, therefore, 
 peculiar to themselves ; they have been so fully described by Dr. Mason that 
 the following account is taken verbatim from one published by him in the 
 Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society : — 
 
 "When an elder among the Bghais with a large number of descendants 
 " dies the people build a place in the hall for the deposit of the corpse and they 
 *' hew a coffin out of the body of a tree and hew a cover for it, like the Chinese 
 " cofiins. 
 
 " The body lies in state three or four days and during the time men blow 
 " pipes and the young men and maidens march round the corpse to the music. 
 '^ At night the piping is discontinued and singing is substituted. 
 
 " When the piping and marching is not going forward the exercises are 
 " diversified by weeping and mourning; or by the men knocking pestles 
 " together and others showing their dexterity by putting their hands or heads 
 " in between and withdrawing them quickly before the missiles come together 
 " again. '^ 
 
 " Before the burial an elder opens the hand of the dead man and puts 
 " into it a bangle or some other bit of metal and then cuts off a few particles 
 " with a sword saying : ' May we live to be as old as thou art,' Each one in the 
 " company goes through the same ceremonial and the fragments gathered are 
 " looked upon as charms to prolong life. 
 
 " When about to bury the corpse two candles made of bees-wax are lighted 
 " and two swords are brought. A sword and a candle are taken by the eldest 
 " son and a sword and a candle by the youngest; and they march round the 
 " bier in opposite directions three times, each time they meet exchanging swords 
 " and candles. After completing the circuits one candle is placed at the foot 
 " of the coffin and the other at the head.f 
 
 " A fowl or a hog is led three times round the building in which the body 
 " is placed and on completing the first round it is struck with a strip of bam- 
 " boo once ; on completing the second round twice; and at the third round 
 *' it is killed. If a fowl it is killed by twisting its head oil". The meat is set 
 " before the body as food. 
 
 • Cf. the account of the dances amongst the tribes iu the Arakau Hill Tracts ; page G'J. 
 t Cf. Sgaw funeral ceremonies sub. tit. "Sgavr.'" 
 
 15
 
 114 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " Young- people care buried in a similar manner but with some abridgement 
 '^ of the forms. 
 
 '^ When the day of burial arrives and the body is carried to the grave four 
 " bamboo splints are taken and one is thrown towards the west saying : ' that is 
 " the east ;' another is thrown to the east saying : ' that is the west ;' a third 
 " is thrown upwards towards the top of a tree saying : ' that is the foot of the 
 '' tree ;' and a fourth is thrown downwards saying : * that is top of the tree/ 
 '' The sources of the stream are then pointed to saying : * that is the mouth 
 *■' of the stream ;' and the mouth of the stream is pointed to saying : ' that is 
 '' the head of the stream/ This is done because in Hades everything is upside 
 " down in relation to the things of this world. 
 
 " The body is then buried and the grave filled in without further ceremony 
 " and when the top of the grave has been neatly smoothed off a little fence 
 '■' of trellis- work is built around it. Within this fence boiled rice and other 
 " food are placed for the dead. 
 
 '' On returning from, the grave each person provides himself with three 
 '' little hooks made of branches of trees and calling his spirit to follow him at 
 " short intervals as he returns he makes a motion as if hooking it and then 
 " thrusts the hook into the ground. This is done to prevent the spirit of the 
 " living from staying behind with the spirit of the dead.* 
 
 " After the funeral the grave-digger washes his clothes or the neglect to do 
 ^' so renders him unfortunate. Married children may dig the grave for a parent 
 " but young ones are prohibited. They must hire some one to do the work 
 " and give him five rupees. 
 
 " Like the Chinese the Bghais make annual feasts for the dead for three 
 " years after a person's death. The feast is made at the new moon near the 
 '' close of August or the beginning of September ; and all the villagers that 
 " have lost relatives partake in it. 
 
 '^ Before the new moon they prepare food, plantains, sugarcane, tobacco, 
 '' betel-nuts, betel leaves and other articles of consumption. A bamboo is laid 
 ^' across one angle of the roof of the room and on it are hung up new tunics, new 
 " turbans, new petticoats, beads and bangles ; and at the appropriate time when 
 " the spirits of the dead are supposed to be present, having returned to visit 
 " them, they say : ' You have come to me, you have returned to me. It has ' 
 *' ' been raining hard and you must be wet. Dress yourselves, clothe yourselves ' 
 " ' with these new garments and all the companions that are with you. Eat ' 
 " ' betel together with all that accompany you, all your friends and associates ' 
 *' ' and the long dead. Call them all to eat and drink.'' 
 
 " After dark all the people eat bread made of boiled rice beaten in a 
 " mortar. The bread is spread out and the people are invited : ' all who are ' 
 " ' hungry eat bread here.'' 
 
 "Next morning, the first day of the moon, which is deemed the proper 
 " feast day the previous last day of the month being regarded as the day of 
 " preparation, all who have kyee-zeet hang them up and beat them. Then 
 " they kill a hog and make thirty bottles of bamboos. Into one bottle they put 
 " honey, into another water, in a third native spirit, in a fourth salt, in a fifth oil, 
 " in a sixth chillies and into the seventh turmeric. The other twenty-three are 
 
 * Cf. " La" sub. tit. " Kareng." 
 
 f A kind of gong peculiar to the Kareng and very highly vahied.
 
 BBITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 115 
 
 ^' laid aside. Loopholes are made to each bottle through which a string, dyed 
 " yellow, is tied. 
 
 " After setting apart the seven bottles that have been filled the remaining 
 " twenty-three are filled with food indiscriminately, some with pork, some 
 " with boiled rice, some with rice bread, some with native spirit and some with 
 " betel. When these are filled rice bread is rolled up in leaves and the rolls 
 " piled up together ; and then a large basket of open work is woven, into which 
 " all these bamboo bottles and the rolls of bread are put. 
 
 " When the rice and meat are cooked for the feast, after the above arrange- 
 '' ments have been made, the food is placed on kyee-zee or on little bamboo stools 
 '' if they have no kyee-zee ; and they have to be very particular to spread out 
 " all the food at the same instant lest some of the spirits of the dead, being 
 " delayed in eating, should be left behind by their companions. 
 
 " So soon as the food is arranged on the tables the people beat the kyee- 
 ^' zee and begin to cry, which they say is calling the spirits to come to eat. 
 " Each one calls on the particular relative for whom he has prepared the feast 
 " as father, mother, sister, or brother. If a mother he says ; weeping : ' O prince- ' 
 " ' bird mother it is the close of August Oh ! It is the new moon in September ' 
 " ' Oh ! You have come to visit me Oh ! You have returned to see me Oh ! ' 
 " ' I give you eatables Oh ! I give you drinkables Oh ! Eat with a glad heart ' 
 " ' Oh ! Eat with a happy mind Oh ! Don't be afraid mother Oh I Do not ' 
 " * be apprehensive Oh ! ' 
 
 "■ After the weeping exercises are over the spirits are supposed to have 
 '' finished their repast and the people sit down to eat what is left. 
 
 " More food is then prepared and put into the basket with the bamboo 
 '' bottles that the spirits may have food to carry away with them ; and at coek- 
 " crowing next morning all the contents of the basket including the bamboo 
 " bottles are thrown out of the house on the ground ; when the same scene of 
 " crying and calling on the spirits of the dead is repeated as detailed above." 
 Once a year in February or March every Bghai family holds a festival 
 in which every person's wrist is tied with a thread and prayers are 
 addressed both to the fowl offered and to Thie-keu, Mo-khie or Indra. The 
 rite is called " The good to do " but of its origin and object the natives can 
 give no account beyond what is found in the forms themselves. 
 
 " When the time approaches the people prepare beforehand ardent spirits 
 " and buy hogs and fowls and get everything ready. When the time actually 
 ''■ comes the villagers perform the ceremony, two or three or four families a 
 " day till it has gone through the whole village. 
 
 **The first^thing done is to bring up two jars of arrack and secure 
 " them by tying them to a bamboo and the next is to bring up a hog and 
 '' fowls. Then an eating dish is washed and filled with water and set by the 
 " side of the jars with spirits. 
 
 " An elder is now called or any one skilled in interpreting fowl's bones 
 ''and a fowl is put into his hands. He cuts ofi" the bill of the fowl dips its 
 " head and feet in the water and then drops the blood from the bleeding head 
 ''on the forehead of the oldest man of the family that is performing the 
 " ceremony. 
 
 "■ The master of the ceremonies then addresses the elder and says : ' The 
 " ' hand-tier devours thee ; thou hast the jaundice ; thou art shrivelled up ; thou' 
 '"art not strong; thou art weakly. Now we i^ive food and drink to the hand-'
 
 116 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 II t 
 
 tier. Mayest thou be strong ; mayest thou be vigorous ; mayest thou be' 
 " ' established as the rock, indestructible as the hearth stones ; mayest thou' 
 " ' have long life ; mayest thou have a protracted existence/ 
 
 " After besmearing the elder's forehead with the fowl^s blood the master 
 " of the ceremonies pinches a few feathers and a little down from the fowFs neck 
 " and sticks them on the blood, where they adhere perhaps for the whole day. 
 
 " He next addresses the fowl and says : ' Arouse, arouse, Thie-keu's fowl/ 
 " ' Mo-khie's fowl, we give thee food, we afford thee sustenance. Thou drinkest' 
 '' ' in a knowledge of the future, thou eatest superhuman power. In the morning' 
 '' ' thou seest the hawk, in the evening thou seest man. The seven heavens thou' 
 " ' ascendest to the top, the seven earths thou descendest to the bottom. Thou' 
 *' ' arrivest at Khu-the, thou goest unto Tha-ma, [i. e. Yu-ma the judge of the 
 " dead] . ' Thou goest through the crevices of rocks thou goest through the' 
 " ' crevices of precipices. At the opening and shutting of the western gates' 
 '' ' of rock thou goest in between, thou goest below the earth where the sun' 
 " ' travels. I implore thee, I exhort thee. I make thee a messenger, I make' 
 " ' thee an angel. Good thou revealest ; evil thou revealest. Arouse thee' 
 '''fowl arouse; reveal what is in thee. Now I exhort thee, I entreat thee.' 
 " ' If this man is to live to an old age, if his head is not to be bent down,' 
 '' ' if he is not to come down crash like a falling tree, let the right hand bone' 
 " ' come uneven, let the bones be short and long. Thou art skilled in the words' 
 " ' of the elders ; thou knowest the language of old men. The good thou fully' 
 ** 'knowest; with the evil thou art perfectly acquainted. Fowl I exhort thee,' 
 '' ' I entreat thee ; reveal whatever is in thee. And now if this man's head is' 
 " ' to bend down, if he is to come down crash like a falling tree, if he is unable' 
 " ' to rest himself from incessant trouble, if unable to overcome obstacles which' 
 " ' shall meet him on every hand, if unable to rise up or lie down, if his life' 
 " ' is not to be prolonged, if he cannot live ; then fowl come up unpropitious, come' 
 " ' up with the tendon short on the right side, come wrong end foremost. If he' 
 " ' be able to obtain sufficient to support life, if he be not overcome by feuds,' 
 *' ' fowl come up even. Thie-keu's fowl, Mo-khie's fowl I pull out thy feathers,' 
 " ' I pull at thy skin, I dip thy head, I dip thy feet. Arouse fowl, reveal what' 
 " 'is in thee.' 
 
 " Every one in succession is then besmeared on the forehead with the 
 " blood of a separate fowl ; and then every one marks his own fowl by tying 
 " a string to it that he may recognise it after being cooked. Some tie a string 
 '* on the neck, others on the leg, others on the wing and others elsewhere. 
 '^ They next scorch off the feathers and boil the fowls. 
 
 " The hog is taken if the gall bladder be deemed a good one otherwise 
 " it is rejected. When the rice and meat is cooked they bring the rice and 
 " the pork and the fowls and the threads and the bamboo tubes to suck up 
 " the drink and the spirits and all are placed together. 
 
 " The master of the ceremonies then goes and puts two bamboo tubes into 
 " the left hand of one and the gall bladder of the hog and the head of the 
 " fowl into his right hand ; and then the elder of the family takes the thread 
 " and ties his wrist. Each one in succession takes the articles mentioned above 
 "in his or her hands and the elder ties every one's wrist, at the same time 
 " praying with each : ' Mo-khie the hand-tier, the good-to-do, we offer thee food' 
 " ' and drink, si)irits well prepared, a great hog. Defend us ; when we go to and' 
 " ' fro look after us. If we fall raise us up. When we go or return, when we'
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 117 
 
 " ' walk on a branch or a beam, when the branches or creepers break down, when' 
 (i * we go among" the Burmese or other tribes, when we climb trees or descend' 
 " ' into the waters, when we go up iuto the house or return to the paddy field/ 
 " ' may no accident befal us, stretch forth thy hand and help us ; put forth thy' 
 " ' foot and assist us. Go before us, follow behind us. Deliver us from demous/ 
 '' ' deliver us from ghosts.' 
 
 " After this the person whose wrist is tied changes the things in his 
 '^ hands from right to left and left to right. Then each one tastes the spirits ; 
 " after which each one tastes the fowl ; and when this is done an elder is called 
 '^ upon to pray who prays thus : 
 
 *' ' Mo-khie of mountain Kie-ku Mo-khie of the seven heavens Mo-khie' 
 " ' of the seven earths assemble together even the blind the deaf and the' 
 " Mame ; and eat and drink the food.' 
 
 " A libation of spirits is then poured out ; and after this the drama closes 
 "with spirits being served out for all to drink".* 
 
 In sickness the Bghais like other Kareng (resembling in this respect the 
 Kakhyen of the noi'th) trust to divination and propitiation of the spirits 
 but the ceremony of invocation is somewhat different. The whole family 
 assembles and an elder leads a dog round them, praying as he goes. The 
 dog is then killed and the elder sits opposite to the family with a green 
 bamboo held horizontally three or four feet from the ground between him 
 and them; over this the dead body of the dog is thrown by the legs towards 
 the family who catch it and throw it back. After this has been done three 
 times the animal is cooked and eaten. 
 
 Their villages consist of a single house with a passage down the centre and 
 rooms on each side for each family, some houses containing as many as seventy- 
 five of such rooms : below are the pigs ; above in the rafters the fowls. The 
 village is surrounded by a fence and round many are planted pointed bamboos 
 at an angle of 45°. When a stranger visits them a spot for him is pointed 
 out and if he moves from it he is speared. In many villages the men sleep 
 on the ground to be ready to resist an attack. A new village is built every 
 year when the inhabitants move to a new spot, on which occasion there is a 
 feast and an ox or a buffalo is sacrificed to the spirits guarding the country. 
 
 When about to make a foray, to which the " head of the war " i.e. the 
 person on whose account the foray is made never goes, volunteers are called for 
 either from the head of the war^s village only or from surrounding ones also and 
 each individual has his duty allotted to him, some as guides and some as mem- 
 bers of the storming party, whilst others are appointed to form the rear guard. 
 
 Another peculiarity of this family is their love of dog's flesh which the 
 other Kareng will not touch. One sept is remarkable for its want of family 
 afTection : a sickly child a grumbling widowed mother or in times of scarcity 
 an orphan nephew or niece is remorselessly sold into slavery. If an uncle 
 dies they often sell the widow and if a married brother dies his widow has to 
 pay ten rupees to her brothers-in-law or be sold, [fa married woman dies her 
 relatives demand a large price from the widower which he must pay or be sold 
 or fight; the majority of those who cannot pay adopting the last alternativ^e. 
 
 Except amongst the Eed Kareng the animal sacritied to the spirits of their 
 ancestors is a hog, the hierophant being the oldest woman of the family and no 
 men taking part in the ceremony which has been described as follows : — 
 
 Dr. Mason iu the Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal.
 
 118 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 "The first thing is to brew or distil spirits for three days. Then a 
 " little table is made with four bamboo posts. Leaves of a plant of the g'inger 
 " tribe are next rolled up in a sug-ar loaf form, and three joints of bamboos are 
 " cut off even. Spirits are then poured into these three bamboos, and the 
 " conical rolls of leaves with bamboo bottles of drink are all set uprig-ht on 
 " the table. Then a living hog is put on a fanning basket. 
 
 " The head of the offering or priest is a woman and she takes one of 
 " the conically rolled leaves and turning to the table she prays to Yau as if 
 " he were present there. She prays thus.* 
 
 " ' O Yau-peu thou dost now devour the whole family. We feed thee' 
 " ' with old spirits and a great hog. ' Heal us, watch over us, defend us. When' 
 " ' we fall raise us up, when we slip down set us up again. Make us strong/ 
 " ' make us vigorous, all of us. When we fall on the wood hew it through/ 
 " ' when we fall into a coffin split it open' \i. e. raise us up from the point of 
 " death]. ' Establish us, make us immoveable. Let not plots let not devices' 
 " ' against us succeed. Let us have large crops, let us have good paddy. Let' 
 " ' us have little grass, let us have few weeds. Let our labour be light, let' 
 " ' us eat whatever we want. Let us succeed in our works, let us eat with little' 
 '^ ' work. Let the effects of our labours increase, let our produce swell up' 
 '' Hike rice in boiling. Let us ascend to the tops of the mountains, let us 
 "■ ' descend to the depths of the valleys. Let us spear hogs, let us seize' 
 '' ' captives. Let us purchase kyee-zee, let us dig out the pangolin' \i. e. let 
 " us accomplish difficult things] . ' In the water let us be great rocks, on land' 
 " ' let us be large wood-oil trees. Let not the tiger seize us, let not the tiger' 
 ' ' ' kill us. When the tiger would leap on us may he growl, when man would' 
 '' ' seize us may he cough. When tigers would leap on us may they wait for' 
 " ' each other, when men would seize us may they feel abashed. Let us devour' 
 " ' a stream to its source, let us eat a creek to its mouth' \i, e. get possession 
 '^ of the whole valley] . ' Let us eat up the rock to atoms, let us eat the sand' 
 " ' to dust' [i. e. overcome every difficulty]. 
 
 " The priestess next lays her left hand on the neck of the hog and with 
 " her right she grasps the hand of the oldest person in the company and shak- 
 " ing it slowly up and down she repeats the above prayer. In this way she 
 " goes round the whole company from the oldest to the youngest, repeating 
 " the prayer with each. 
 
 " The hog is killed next but it is not killed with a knife or spear ; a 
 "■ sharpened bamboo is forced into it on the right side, under the fore leg. 
 " When the bristles have been singed off a part of the flesh is cooked with 
 " rice flour in a chatty and a part in joints of bamboo ; but the head is hung 
 " U23 whole on the posts of the table. 
 
 " When the rice and meat is spread out the priestess shakes hands again 
 " with each one and prays as before. She then tastes the food and after her 
 " the others taste it in succession from the oldest to the youngest. 
 
 " This done, they rise up and the priestess tastes the spirits ; and as before 
 " all the rest follow her example according to seniority. After this they all 
 " return to the food again. 
 
 " At evening the stomach of the hog is roasted and all taste of it in the 
 " manner described above. 
 
 Alluding to the " supposed duties" of these spirits as servants of the Lord of the Castle, 
 an account of whom is given sub tit. " Karen" Q. V.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 119 
 
 '' Next morning" at dawn, they take the posts of the table and throwing* them 
 " away endwise, as they would throw a javelin, into the earth without the village 
 " they say : ' now it is done, it is finished. Go thy way, return to thy place/ 
 
 " After it is light, they cook the head of the hog" and eat it with any meat 
 " that may be left. On that day the people do not go away from the house."* 
 
 In addition to this offering- to the manes of their ancestors they have a 
 custom of making" a sacrifice to the "■ lord of the earth^' in July, usually once 
 in three years, but in calamitous times once in two and in prosperous times 
 once in four or five only. 
 
 " The first thing" done is to take a hog" to a central position in the villao^e 
 " lands and placing it under an Eug"enia tree, there erect a booth. The Eugenia 
 " is chosen because regarded as a more holy tree than any other. The booth 
 '' is for the four ' heads of the sacrifice^ or jDriests, and elders to occupy, 
 
 " When the booth is built every man cuts three bamboos, one long* one 
 " to represent a post in his barn, and two short ones, which he ties to the long" 
 " one, to represent the heig'ht to which he wishes his crop of paddy to reach 
 " when it is gathered into his barn. Then he makes^ in miniature, a paddy-bin 
 '' along pen, a hen-coop, a trap, and a snare. 
 
 '' When these j^reparatory measures have been taken one of the heads of 
 " the sacrifice calls the people together and all the men assemble about the 
 ''booth. The most wealthy elders sit together with the heads of the sacrifice 
 ''in the booth, but the young people and the poor stay without. No women 
 " are allowed to be present. 
 
 " The ceremonies are introduced by the head of the sacrifice taking a 
 " small branch of the Eugenia tree in his hand, when all present imitate him 
 " and take a leafy sprig of the tree. The leader lifts his clasped hands to 
 "heaven with the sprig between them and praj^s; when all follow his example, 
 " each asking in his prayers for whatever he most desires. 
 
 " After the prayers, the head of the sacrifice rises up and, taking a spear, 
 " spears the hog to death. So soon as the blood begins to flow all the people 
 ''jump up and each one seizes his bamboo which had been set against the tree 
 " and calls out with a loud voice : ' may my barn be filled with paddy as high' 
 " ' as my bamboo.'' Some cry out : ' I have caught many rats in my trap •/ and 
 " others : ' 1 have snared many wild fowls in my snare.' Some dance with 
 '' shields that they have prepared for the purpose, and others beat drums and 
 " blow pipes. 
 
 " They next take the hog to the village and every man, young and old 
 ^'vvho is able, kills a fowl ; and, after they have cooked the hog and fowls and 
 "' prepared the food and drink properly, they carry the whole to the booth. 
 " There they place the food on a raised platform prepared for the purpose, and 
 "taking again sprigs of the Eugenia tree between their clasped hands, they 
 " all pray, saying : ' Lord of the seven heavens and seven earths, lord of the' 
 " ' water, lord of the land, Thic-kho-mu-kha, all of you, eat our property, eat' 
 " ' our pork, cat our fowls, make our paddy good, our rice good ; make our' 
 " ' daughters handsome, our sons skilful ; give us food, give us drink, give us' 
 " ' to become governors, give us to become elders ; enable us to buy kyee-zce,' 
 " ' to spear with fatal clfect ; make our names famous, heard above and below ;' 
 '' ' make us joyous and happy with our wives and children.' 
 
 * Dr. Miisou iu the Bcugiil Asiatic Society's Journal.
 
 120 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " After praying", they rise up and dauce ag-aiu. When the dancing- is 
 " done they set the food in order in the booth, to remain there all night as 
 " not a bit of it is to be eaten before the next day, and then return to their 
 ^' houses, dancing- all the way home. The remainder of the day is spent in 
 " their houses, drinking-, dancing-, and beating kyee-zee and gongs. 
 
 '' The next morning they all repair again to the foot of the Eugenia tree, 
 '^ when the heads of the sacrifice and the elders commence eating the food and 
 '' drinking the spirits that have been prepared and placed in the booth. All 
 " are allowed to partake that choose, but the food is considered holy, and none 
 '' but the holy, clean, and upright persons are considered as proper persons to 
 "■ partake of it. The question of fitness is left, however, for every one to 
 '* decide for himself. If a man feels persuaded in his own mind that he is 
 "guilty of no transgression but is upright and holy he goes forward and 
 " partakes of the food ; but if his conscience reproves him for some wrong 
 " deed or word he joins the throng outside the booth and occupies the time 
 " with others in dancing. Nor is unfitness to partake of this holy food confin- 
 " ed to immoral acts there ai*e certain ceremonial uncleannesses which are 
 " regarded as unfitting a man to partake. For instance, if a man's wife is preg- 
 " naut he is deemed unclean and unfitted to eat of this holy food. 
 
 " After the feast is finished the company returns to the village, dancing 
 " all the way as before ; and on arriving at the houses one or two of the heads 
 " of the sacrifice, go to the brook and draw two bamboos of water for every 
 " family in the village. After the water has been drawn the heads of the 
 '' sacrifice call all the members of each family to the hall or verandah — men, 
 " women, and children — and then he sprinkles or throws the water from one 
 " bamboo upon them. Those who get wet are said to be free from evil, be- 
 '' cause the water is ' holy water.^ One bamboo-full remains in the house till 
 ''next morning when the owners go to the fields and sprinkle it on their 
 " growing paddy ; and they say because it is ' holy water,' the paddy that 
 " is wet by it will be good and abundant. 
 
 "In all these ceremonies women are carefully excluded, except in partici- 
 " pating of ' the holy water.'' 
 
 " The four elders that are called the ' heads of the sacrifice' or priests have 
 '* special names or titles given them to distinguish their office. 
 " The first is called Deu-sai, i. e. Lord of the village. 
 „ second ;, „ Pghai-sen ,, The Messenger. 
 „ third „ „ Ywa-san „ Keeper of the village. 
 „ fourth ,j „ Sa-kai „ Signification uncertain. 
 " These offices are strictly hereditary. The fathers of the present occu- 
 " pants held them, and their places, when they die, will be held by their sons. 
 " When the priests officiate they have embroidered tunics given them by 
 '' the peo])le. Sometimes these are embroidered with silk and often with red 
 " silk, and are made longer than ordinary garments. The people give them 
 " also ear knobs and beads, and think that it is very meritorious to do so."* 
 
 BGHAI-KA-HTA.— A subdivision of the Bghai Kareng tribe, called by 
 the English Pant Bghai from their wearing trowsers and not tunics. The 
 Burmese name for them is "Kareng Ayaing" or ''Wild Kareng" Their 
 distinguishing dress is a pair of a short white trowsers with red radiating 
 
 * Dr. Mason in Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 121 
 
 Hues worked in them uear the bottom, " as the rays of the rising sua are 
 sometimes represented'^.''^ 
 
 They inhabit the western slopes of the hills between the Salweeu and 
 Tsittoung- rivers from the frontier down to about five miles north of the 
 latitude of the town of Toung'-ngoo. Those whose villages are near the 
 Burmese are comparatively civilized and rear silkworms but those living 
 in the interior are rude and their women, like those of the Wewas, do not know 
 how to weave ; they have, therefore, to get their cloths from their neighbours, 
 and generally by begging or stealing. They are fond of dogs' flesh which 
 they eat without salt. 
 
 BGHAI-KA-TEU. — A subdivision of the Bghai family of Kareng called 
 by the Burmese Liejjjji,'a(7?/ee or '^ big butterflies^' and by the English Tunic 
 Bghai to distinguish them from another clan of the same division who wear 
 trowsers. Their distinguishing dress is a white tunic or smock frock with red 
 perpendicular stripes. They have but few villages all situated in the Toung- 
 ngoo district of the Tenasserim division on the right bank of the Thouk-re- 
 khat stream. 
 
 BGHAI-MOO-HTE.— A sept of the Bghai tribe of Kareng, so called by 
 the other Bgliai. — See Kareng-nee. 
 
 BHA-LA. — A small river in the Hpoung-leng township, Eangoon district, 
 which has its source in the Pegu Romas and flowing southwards falls into 
 the Poozwondoung through a mouth 150 feet broad ; the banks are 
 steep in some places and sloping at others, except in the hills the bed is 
 muddy and sandy. At low water it is fordable just above its junction with 
 the little Ataroo a few miles from its mouth. The name is Taking and means 
 Arrow River. 
 
 BHA-LA-TADA-GYEE.— A village in the Retho circle, Hpoung-leng 
 township, Rangoon district, on the Prome road between eleven and twelve miles 
 from Rangoon. The inhabitants, who are mostly agriculturists, numbered 788 
 in 1877. The name is partly Taking and partly Burmese and means literally 
 " the great bridge over the river Arroiv." The village was so called from 
 the existence at this spot of a large bridge across the Bhak. 
 
 BHA-LE. — A village in the Gnyoung-beng cii'cle in the south of the 
 Pegu township, Rangoon district, on the east bank of the Pegu river, 
 a little south of the mouth of the Paing-kyoon stream. The inhabitants 
 are almost entirely agriculturists and in 1877 numbered 789 souls. The 
 name is Taking and means Gourd River. 
 
 BHAN. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-gygeng district extending south- 
 east from Shwe-gyeng to the hills and bounded on the south by the Mootta- 
 ma or, as it is more commonly pronounced, Madama river. Over 235 square 
 miles in extent it is sparsely cultivated and inhabited by a small population 
 of 3,816 souls mostly Kareng. The gross revenue in 1876-77 was Rs. 4,951 
 of which Rs. 3,205 was derived from the land. 
 
 BHAN-BHWAI-GOON. — A small revenue circle in the Poungday town- 
 ship, Prome district. In 1876 it had a population of 246 souls and a gross 
 
 * Burma : by Dr. Mason, second Edition, page 88. 
 
 16
 
 122 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 revenue of Rs. 781 of which Rs. 376 were derived from the land and Rs. 335 
 from the capitation-tax. 
 
 BHAN-BHWAI-GOON. — A rising villag-e in theHmaw-bhee circle of 
 the township of the same name in the Rangoon district. In 1868 it had 
 rather over 100 inhabitants and in 1877 502. 
 
 BHAN-BOUNG. — A small river in the Prome district, not navigable 
 by boats, which rises in the Neepa-tshe spur and flowing in a north-westerly- 
 direction joins the Teng-gyee a little to the west of the village of Myodoung. 
 The bed of the stream is sandy and muddy and the banks are moderately steep. 
 In the country which it traverses are found several kinds of valuable timber 
 as Pyeng-gado {Xylia dolahriformis) , Reng-daik {Dalbergia cultrata), Htouk- 
 kyan ( Terminalia crenata ), Thabye ( Eugenia sp. ) and Cutch {Acacia 
 catechu) . 
 
 BHANBYENG. — A little village of only thirty houses in the circle of 
 the same name, Thayet township, Thayet district, on the Pwon stream about 
 sixteen miles north-west, by the present road, from Thayetmyo. It does not 
 appear amongst the villages registered in the Burmese " Domesday Book'-* of 
 1838 A. D. It is important only in that near it several earth-oil wells have 
 been sunk whence a clear oil is obtained unlike the thick and viscid product 
 found at Padoukbeng and at Renaukhyoung the site of the prolific earth-oil 
 wells in Upper Burma. 
 
 BHANBYENG. — A revenue circle in the Kama township, Thayet dis- 
 trict, stretching up westward to the Arakan hills and occupying the valley 
 of the Nga-wet river and the country on the left bank of the Toung-goung- 
 doon. To the east, beyond the end of the Kyouk spur, the country is fairly 
 level but the whole of the western portion of the circle is forest-covered moun- 
 tain, the unculturable area being no less than 110 square miles out of the 
 114 of the whole circle. The regular cultivation measures about 500 acres 
 the remainder being hillside clearings. The population in 1876 numbered 3,373 
 souls and the gross revenue, derived mainly from capitation tax, amounted to 
 Rs. 5,405. The only village is Thayet-kyoung containing rather under 
 100 houses and situated at the south-eastern foot of the hills. In 1872 
 Kyoukpyoot and subsequently Tsee were placed under the Bhanbyeng Thoo- 
 gyee. 
 
 BHANBYENG. — A revenue circle in the valley of the Pouk-khoung 
 in the Prome district eastward of Prome, on the lower slopes of the spurs 
 of the Pegu Roma mountains and south of the Naweng. The neighbouring 
 Tsheng-gaw circle has been joined to it and in 1876-77 the united tracts had 
 a population of 1,261 souls and produced a gross revenue of Rs. 1,996 of 
 which Rs. 755 were derived from the land and Rs. 836 from the capitation 
 tax. 
 
 BHAN-GOON. — A revenue circle in the Thayet township, Thayet dis- 
 trict, which formerly belonged to the Kama township but was transferred in 
 1859 as being near Thayetmyo and inconveniently distant from Kama. It 
 has an area of 24 square miles of which about 16 are unculturable 
 waste and about two under cultivation, the remainder being culturable 
 waste. The population in 1876 numbered 2,716 souls, all Burmans. The pro- 
 ducts are rice, sessamum, cotton, maize, plantains, chillies, cutch and silk.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 123 
 
 In 1876-77 the land revenue was Rs. 1,763, the capitation-tax Rs. 2,867 and 
 the gross revenue Rs. 4,744. 
 
 BHAN-L AW. — A revenue circle in the Mergui district occupying the val- 
 ley of the Tenasserim river above its junction with the little Tenasserim. 
 In 1876-77 it had a population of 1,997 souls, a land revenue of Rs. 1,525 and 
 produced Rs. 1,347 as capitation-tax. 
 
 BHAN-OUNG. — A revenue circle in the Toung-ngoo district north of 
 Toung-ngoo and on the right bank of the Tsittoung river. Regular rice culti- 
 vation is carried on to a small extent only, the inhabitants.being mainly Toungya 
 cultivators or gardeners. Towards the north of the circle is the Tseeloung 
 lake, five feet deep in the dry weather and eight feet in the rains ; at the latter 
 season it can be entered by moderately sized boats. In 1876-77 the land 
 revenue was Rs. 2,253, the capitation-tax Rs. 3,150, the gross revenue Rs. 7,632 
 and the population 4,135. 
 
 BHAW. — A stream in the Rangoon district. Leaving the network of 
 streams and creeks which occupies the central portion of the Than-lyeng town- 
 ship it flows westward and falls into the Pegu river about a mile above Syriam. 
 Throughout its course it forms the boundary between the Poo-gan-doung 
 and the Thanlyeng circles. At its mouth it is about 100 feet wide and 
 about 16 feet deep and, with the tide, is navigable throughout by the largest 
 boats, which bring to the Rangoon market the rice produced in the fertile 
 tract which it drains. 
 
 BHAWDEE. — A stream in the Thoonkhwa district which collects, 
 through numerous creeks, a good deal of the drainage of the Donabyoo 
 township west of the Irrawaddy and falls into that river through a mouth 
 130 feet broad and 13 deep. It is navigable by the largest class of boats 
 for 14 miles, to Shwe-hle. 
 
 BHAWKATA. —A stream in the Shwe-gyeng district, which has its 
 source in the western slopes of the Poungloung mountains and falls into the 
 Kyouk-gyee a few miles above its mouth. 
 
 BHAW-LAY. — A revenue circle in the HIaing township, Rangoon 
 district, on the north of the Pan-hlaing creek. Rice is cultivated in the north 
 and east but the centre of the circle is covered with tree forest and the western 
 portion consists of low plains liable to inundation. In 1876 the land 
 revenue was Rs. 9,602, the capitation-tax Rs. 5,880 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 24,994: in the same year the population numbered 4,822. 
 
 BHAW-LAY. — A village in the circle of the same name in the HIaing 
 township, Rangoon district, on the Bhaw-lay creek a little south of its junc- 
 tion with the Pa-khwon. The inhabitants, who in 1877 numbered 527, are 
 mostly rice cultivators. Bhaw-lay is a corruption of the Talaing "Bhoung- 
 lee" which signifies a *' progress.'' The place was so named from having 
 been specially visited by king Narapadee-tseethoo during one of his " royal 
 progresses'' circa 1190 A.D. A fine kind of matting is made here which 
 finds a ready sale in Rangoon. 
 
 BHAW-LAY. — A creek in the northern portion of the Rangoon dis- 
 trict which leaves the HIaing a little above Hle-tshiep and after flowing 
 west and then south rejoins it a little above Htan-ta-beng. Boats of from 
 400 to 500 bushels burden can traverse it from end to end. The banks are
 
 124 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 somewhat steep and are sandy and covered with grass and tree forest, 
 Durino" the dry weather the tide^ at springs, is felt as far as its northern 
 mouth : during- the rains it is navigable by river steamers. 
 
 BHAWMEE. — A river in the Khyoung-tha township, Bassein district, 
 which has its source in the western slopes of the Arakan mountains and falls 
 into the Bay of Bengal near the village of the same name. It is tidal as far 
 as Thoonkhwa, a distance of some 20 miles: its bed is sandy and gravelly 
 and at the mouth are several rocks which make the entry difficult for large 
 boats. At Shwe-tsheng-kho, twelve miles from the mouth, there is a 
 depth of five feet of water and at Toung-tsakhan, nearly four miles further up, 
 of four feet. The banks are covered with Bamboo and Neepatshe. 
 
 BHAWMEE. — A revenue circle, 250 square miles in extent in the 
 Thaboung township, Bassein district, immediately to the south of Khwa-letya 
 (now under the same Thoogyee) between the Bay of Bengal on the west and 
 the Arakan mountains on the east. The whole circle with the exception of a 
 little plain cultivated land near the villages of Kyoodaw and Thaigoon consists 
 of a mountain tract covered with dense forest. From the mouth of the 
 Magyee river, the southern boundary of the circle, for five miles northward a 
 sandy beach is found with the hills and foi-est coming close down to the 
 water^'s edge : above the mouth of the Ooii a rocky headland projects, thence 
 sand and rock alternate to about 1^ miles south of Matha whence, up to the 
 Bhawmee in the north, the coast is rocky and abrupt. The villages are small 
 and the population is sparse. The land revenue in 1876-77 was Rs. 525, the 
 capitation -tax Rs. 1,152, the gross revenue Rs. 2,011 and the population 1,406. 
 
 BHAWNEE. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-gyeng district lying on 
 the eastern slopes of the Pegu Romas and extending from the Toung-ngoo 
 district in the north to the Rangoon district in the south. The whole area 
 of 800 square miles, except in the east where there are a few patches of rice 
 cultivation, may be said to consist of a mass of hills covered with dense forest. 
 In 1876 the population numbered 4,738, the laud revenue was Rs. 2,039, the 
 capitation -tax Rs. 3,082 and the gross revenue Rs. 5,432. After the 
 annexation of Pegu this ti'act was divided into two circles and attached to 
 Rangoon; subsequently the two were amalgamated and the tract attached to 
 the Touug-ngoo district from which, in 1866, it was transferred to Shwe-gyeng. 
 None of the streams are of any importance ; the principal are the Re-nwe and 
 the Bhien-da. A considerable quantity of silk is spun from silkworms reared 
 on the spot and exported mainly to Prome and Shwedoung. 
 
 BHAWNEE. — A small village of about 400 inhabitants on the Bhaw- 
 nee river in the southern part of the circle of the same name in the Shwe- 
 gyeng district. 
 
 BHAW-THA-BYE-GAN. — A village in the Poo-gan-doung circle, Than- 
 lyeng township, Rangoon district, on the Bhaw creek, a few miles from its 
 mouth in the Pegu river, easily reached by boats which bring away the un- 
 husked rice largely produced in the surrounding country. The inhabitants are 
 almost all agriculturists and in 1877 numbered 767 souls. The village is 
 generally known as Bhaw Thabyegan to distinguish it from the numerous 
 other Thabyegan in the same circle. The name is derived from a tank {kan or 
 gan) in the neighbourhood near some Tha-bye trees {Eucjenia sp.)
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 125 
 
 BHAWTHAIK. — A revenue circle in the Amherst district. See Thambhaya. 
 
 BHAYAI. — A petty and decreasing" village in the Shwebandaw circle, 
 Myedai township, Thayet district. About ten years ago it contained 30 
 houses which have now decreased to about 16. Moung Kyouk-kai, a follower 
 of the Tsekya Meng, set up his gold umbrella here in the rebellion of 
 1209 B. E. (1847 A.D.). 
 
 BHEELENG. — A revenue circle in the Tsau-rwe township, Henzada 
 district, now joined to the Tsan-rwe Myoma circle. 
 
 BHEELENG. — A small stream in the Henzada district which rises in 
 the western slopes of the Pegu Romas and after a south and west course of 
 about 24 miles falls into the Hlaing or Myitmakha at Bheeleng. During* 
 the rains boats of 100 bushels burden can ascend for about six miles as far as 
 Kyeedaw : in the dry weather it is not navigable. The banks are steep and 
 the bed muddy. 
 
 BHEELENG.— A village on the right bank of the Hlaing at the mouth 
 of the Bheeleng river. In 1876 the inhabitants numbered 1,057. They are 
 principally petty traders and fishermen. 
 
 BHEELENG. — A revenue circle in the Tsittoung sub-division of the 
 Shwe-gyeng district on the right bank of the Bheeleng river and including 
 the town of Bheeleng. It has an area of about 220 square miles. In 1875 
 5,047 acres were under cultivation and in 1876-77 the gross revenue, 
 including the local revenue of the town of Bheeleng", was Rs. 19,009 of which 
 the capitation-tax furnished Rs. 6,460 and the land revenue Rs. 5,878. The 
 population in that year was 8,716. 
 
 BHEELENG. — A river in the Shwe-gyeng district. It has its source 
 in about the latitude of Kyouk-gyee, west of the head waters of the Rwonzaleng, 
 in the mass of mountains which lie between the Tsittoung and the Salween 
 and flows southward for about 282 miles, falling into the sea at the head 
 of the Bay of Bengal a few miles to the east of the mouth of the Tsittoung. 
 For many miles it is a shallow rocky stream with a rapid current ; as it enters 
 the plain country it deepens but does not materially widen and after flowing past 
 Yeng-oon and Bheeleng and receiving the waters of numerous creeks it 
 becomes very tortuous and finally spreads out into a bell mouth two miles broad 
 up which a bore rushes with great velocity, in the dry season felt as far as 
 Shwe-le a few miles below Bheeleng, the tide ascending considerably higher : 
 during the rains the current increases and except near the mouth of the river 
 the bore makes no way. At this season the waters spread over the banks 
 and inundate the bordering plains, but the Thein-tshiep and Tha-htoon plains 
 in the south-east which formerly suffered most are now to a great extent pro- 
 tected by the Doonwon and Kamathaing embankment which has been raised a 
 few miles south of the Kyoon-iep, the southern bouudaiy of the Shwe-gyeng 
 district east of this river. From May to Sei)tembcr a short portion of its 
 course, from the mouth of the Shwe-le creek to the mouth of the Kyoou-iek, 
 forms part of the main route from the Tsittoung to Maulmain. 
 
 BHEELENG. — A town on the right bank of the Bheeleng river, the head- 
 quarter station of the Bheeleng Kyaik-hto township, Tsittoung sub-division, 
 Shwe-gyeng district, containing a Court-house, Circuit-house, Police station and 
 a wooden market. It is wx'll laid out in straight steets crossing each other
 
 126 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 at right angles. In 1824 Oozana, Governor of Martaban, when he retired 
 before the British settled here with a number of Burman followers and built 
 a stockade and was confirmed as Governor by the King of Burma. Six years 
 later he was murdered by one of his officials and the extent of territory under 
 the Governor's control was then reduced. During the second Burmese war the 
 town was surrendered without resistance to the commander of the British column 
 which advanced from Martaban to Toung-ngoo. After the annexation of the 
 country in 1853 an insurrection broke out headed by a Shan of Keng-rwa, 
 a village to the westward, who had been made a Thoogyee. Troops were sent 
 from Kyaik-hto and the insurgents, after some sharp fighting, driven 
 out of Bheeleng and dispersed. Since then it has more than once been attack- 
 ed and plundered by dacoits, the last occasion being in 1863, and has twice 
 been burned down and rebuilt. In 1877 it had a population of 2,074 souls, 
 principally Burmans traders with a small admixture of Taking. In 1876-77' 
 the local revenue realized was Rs. 1,709. 
 
 BHEELENG KYAIK-HTO.— A township in the Tsittoung sub-division 
 of the Shwe-gyeng district bounded on the north by the lower range of the 
 mass of mountains which form the Salween Hill Tracts, on the south by the 
 sea, on the east for the most part by the Bheeleng river which separates it from 
 the Tha-htoon township of the Amherst district but in the north-east by the 
 Doonthamie several miles to the eastward of the Bheeleng, and on the west by 
 the Kadat stream which separates it from the Tsittoung township of the same 
 sub-division. The general aspect of the country is that of a wide alluvial plain 
 stretching southwards from the base of the hills to the seacoast and traversed 
 by streams or rather drainage-ways which carry off the rain-fall of the 
 southern slopes of the hills and the plain and, from the formation of the 
 country and of the coastline, admit the full rush of the tide which rapidly 
 covers the coast for miles and rising into a bore in every channel sweeps up 
 almost to the foot of the hills. The fact that at no veiy remote period the sea 
 covered the whole plain is attested by the geological formation and by the 
 occasional discovery of cables of large size at Kyouk-loon-gyee, Taik-koola and 
 other places : to these local traditions add their testimony. The only river is 
 the Bheeleng. On its banks, near the town of the same name, porcelain 
 clay is found and is used by Shans, who come down for the season only 
 bringing another kind of clay and other minerals from the Shan States, which 
 they use with the local mineral in making pottery. The vessels made are 
 variously ornamented but the designs are rude and inartistic. The principal 
 towns and villages are Bheeleng with a population of 2,074 in 1876, the head- 
 quarters of the township, Kyaik-hto the head-quarters of the sub-division 
 with 3,011 inhabitants, Keng-rwa, Taing-kaw and Kaw-ka-dwot. The inhabit- 
 ants who in 1876 numbered 40,625 souls are principally Taking except in 
 the town of Bheeleng where the Burman element largely predominates. There 
 is a Toungthoo settlement at Kyouk-ta-loon and Shan villages are found along 
 the bank of the Bheeleng. During Burman rule members of this race, of which 
 great numbers are now immigrating, were, on account of their predatory habits, 
 forbidden to enter Burman territory. The Bheeleng river annually over- 
 flows its banks and the rich alluvial mud deposited favours the growth of a 
 variety of vegetable products and especially sugarcane which is extensively 
 cultivated round about Bheeleng. The land revenue in 1876 was Rs. 37,844 
 the capitation -tax Rs. 31,142 and the gross revenue Rs. 86,638.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 127 
 
 BHEELOO. — A sub-tribe of Pwo Kareng so called by the Burmese. 
 — See Taroo. 
 
 BHEELOO-GYWON.~An extensive island lying in the mouth of the 
 Salweeu 107 square miles in extent and about 30 miles long and stretching 
 from Martaban to Amherst. It forms a township of the Amherst district. 
 The western portion of the island was formerly cut off from the rest by a large 
 creek called the Tsaibala ; of this the northern end has entirely silted up. 
 This western portion, in the Burmese time, formed a separate ' Myo' or town- 
 ship called Daray. The middle of the island from north to south is occupied 
 by a range of wooded and pagoda topped hills which sends out spurs eastward 
 to the river and westward to the sea ; these traverse rich rice land and their sides 
 and lower slopes are covered with orchards of mango, mangosteen and other 
 fruit trees. The alluvial plains to the west of these hills, between them and 
 the sea, are extensive and fertile; those to the east are narrow and less pro- 
 ductive. The head-quarters are at Khyoung-tshoon lying in about the centre 
 of the island in a dip of the hills. Here there is an artificial reservoir, an 
 embankment, lined with flowering trees, having been thrown across the lower 
 end of a small valley. The villages, which with few exceptions are all situated 
 at the foot of the hills, are generally large and straggling. This is chiefly 
 owing to the Talaing prejudice against living in a house which does not face 
 the north. The houses are large and well raised. 
 
 The island is intersected with creeks which enable the produce to be 
 exported with but little expense. There are two short roads both made by 
 Major Broadfoot about thirty years ago : one about three miles long from 
 Kalwee at the northern extremity of the island across a plain to the central 
 range of hills which has been allowed to fall out of repair : the other about 
 three miles long from Natmaw on the Sal ween to Khyoung-tshoon ; this has 
 been kept in repair and is much used. 
 
 In the Burman time this township, exclusive of Daray, was divided into 
 twelve difierent " Ewa" which in this instance meant tracts of country divided 
 off for fiscal purposes and each placed under one Thoogyee. The boundaries 
 of each Rwa, however, do not appear to have been laid down with any great 
 degree of exactitude. When the township came to be re-peopled, after the 
 cession of Tenasserim to the British, immigrants arrived in parties each under 
 its own leader ; these leaders continued to exercise authority irrespective of 
 the old boundaries and were naturally acknowledged as the Thoogyee of 
 the villages they established and as the collectors of the taxes due by their 
 followers, but it frequently happened that some of the followers cultivated 
 land at a distance from the village in which they lived and amongst the lands 
 of inhabitants of another village yet they still payed the land revenue through 
 their own leader and the revenue divisions of the country then became tribal 
 instead of territorial. Such an arrangement was no doubt politic and con- 
 venient in the early years of our occupation but its inconvenience when a 
 closer check upon the Thoogyee became advisable was great. 
 
 In 1848 Captain (now Sir Arthur) Phayre, then the Deputy Commis- 
 sioner, carefully examined the township and fixed the boundaries of the circles; 
 he retained as much as possible the ancient limits of the old divisions but when 
 it was found that two or more Thoogyee had exercised authority within the 
 limits of one of these divisions for twenty years, when new interests had sprung 
 up or where the reduction of a Thoogyee's office was likely to be felt as a
 
 128 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 hardship by the people he divided the old Rwa. The thirteen Rwa of the 
 Burmese time were thus made into eighteen circles. Since then some of the 
 smaller circles have been joined to others but the boundaries laid down by 
 Captain Phayre have been adhered to except in one instance. In 1868 the 
 number of circles had thus been reduced to fifteen and in 1876 to twelve. 
 The cultivation has very considerably increased : — 
 
 In 1848 it was .. .. 15,225 acres. 
 
 „ 1853 „ .. .. 21,049 do. 
 
 „ 1858 „ .. .. 27,606 do, 
 
 „ 1863 „ .. .. 28,002 do, 
 
 „ 1868 „ .. .. 32,545 do. 
 
 „ 1878 „ .. .. 42,318 do. 
 
 „ 1876 „ .. .. t41,274 do. 
 
 Between Khyoung-tshoon and the northern end of the island, amongst 
 the hills at Ka-hgnyaw, there is a hot saline spring the water of which is used 
 on the spot in cases of rheumatism and skin diseases. The township in 1876, 
 when the population numbered 24,141 souls or a little over 225 to the square 
 mile, produced a gross revenue of Es. 78,866. The name, which means 
 " Cacoderaon island," is derived from traditions of its having formerly been 
 inhabited by anthropophagous monsters.* 
 
 BHENG-BYAI, — A river in the Toung-ngoo district which rises in the 
 Poungloung range and after a south-westerly course falls into the Tsittoung 
 about 30 miles north of Toung-ngoo. It is not navigable by boats at any season 
 of the year; during the rains a considerable quantity of teak is floated down 
 
 it. 
 
 BHENGLAING. — A river in the Amherst district, formed by the junc- 
 tion of the Doonthamie and the Kyouk-tsarit, which falls into the Salween 
 in about 16° 45' N. It is navigable throughout and flows between high 
 and wooded banks. During the rains it forms a portion of the ordinary 
 route between Maulmain and the Tsittoung river. Across the mouth is a 
 sand-bar which in the dry season is impassable at low water except by small 
 boats. 
 
 BHENGLAING. — A revenue circle in the Hpagat township in the 
 Amherst district, lying in the angle formed by the junction of the Bheng- 
 laing with the Salween. This is the only circle in the district in which tobacco 
 is grown except for home consumption. In 1876, the land revenue was 
 Rs. 2,497, the capitation-tax Rs. 3,325, and the population 3,265. 
 
 BHETRAI. — A large village in the Henzada district on the bank of the 
 Pala river about 12 miles in a direct line inland from the Irrawaddy, contain- 
 ing some 700 inhabitants who are principally cultivators, petty traders 
 and foresters ; taree-drawers are numerous as the circle in which the village is 
 situated produces a considerable number of taree-trees. 
 
 BHETRAI. — A revenue circle in the Kyan-kheng township, Henzada 
 district, extending southwards down a valley between two subsidiary spurs of 
 the Tazoung-gyee and drained by a small tributary of the Kwon. Near the 
 village of Bhetrai there is some rice cultivation but elsewhere the country is 
 
 * See page 44, lines 8 and 9, and note on jDage 75. 
 
 t There were 2,340 more acres of rice land left fallow in 1876 than in 1873.
 
 BEITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 129 
 
 hilly and covered with dense tree forest in which are found Pyeugma (Lager- 
 str<jemiaReciincs),'£'yeng-giido {Xylia dolabriformis) and Kug {DijJterocarjJus 
 tuberculatus) . The land revenue in 1876-77 was Rs. 6,750, the capitation-tax 
 Rs. 4^700, the gross revenue Es. 11,484 and the popvilation 4,622. 
 
 BHET-RAI. — A creek in the Bassein district forming the western 
 boundary of the Takaiug circle. It extends northwards from the Thandwai 
 to the Thoodan, parallel to the Bassein river. The largest boats can ascend 
 as far as the Thoodan. 
 
 BHIEN-DA. — A small stream which rises in the eastern slopes of the 
 Pegu Roma mountains in the Bhaw-nee circle of the Shwe-gyeng district 
 and after an easterly course of about 45 miles falls into the Re-uwe. 
 Towai'ds the source the banks are steep but towards the mouth flat; the bed 
 is rocky and sandy. In the rains small boats can ascend as far as the village of 
 Bhien-da. The principal trees found on the banks are Teak, Sha {Acacia 
 catechu), Pyeng-gado {Xylia dolabriformis) and Pyeng-ma {Lagerstroemia 
 Regince) . 
 
 BHIEN-DAW-TSHIEP.— Alake in the Douabyoo township, Thoonkhwa 
 district, connected by watercourses with the Hlaiug river : it is from 2 to 2| 
 miles long and 10 feet deep in the hot weather. 
 
 BHODAW. — A township in the Bassein district which now forms a 
 portion of Eegyee. 
 
 BHODAW. — A small river in the Bassein district which rises in the 
 Arakan mountains. After a course of about 14 miles, nearly due east, it falls 
 into the Bassein a mile or so south of Gnyoung-maw village, where it is 
 about 70 feet wide and 10 feet deep. The bed is sandy and muddy ; the 
 banks are covered with fine timber and teak is found near its source. With 
 the flood boats of 100 bushels burden can ascend for about two miles. 
 
 BHODAW KANNEE. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-khyouug-gale 
 township (now joined to Le-myet-hna) Bassein district, about 126 square miles 
 in extent, stretching eastwards from the Arakan mountains to the Bassein 
 river and lying to the north of the Bhodaw stream. Formerly Bhodaw and 
 Kannee were separate circles, both in the Bhodaw township; some years ago they 
 were united and subsequently were transferred to Kyouk-khyoung-gale. 
 The western part is hilly and covered with tree forest including teak but 
 between the lower slopes of the hills and the Bassein river there is some level 
 land where rice is cultivated. At the village of Tsha-daw, at the mouth of 
 the Kwon, pottery for various purposes is manufactured. The felling and sale 
 of the timber and bamboos found to the westward aflbrd a means of livelihood 
 to the inhabitants of the villages in the interior; fishing, cultivation and 
 trading to those of villages fartlier east. The land revenue in 1876-77 was 
 Es. 3,552, the capitatiou-tax Ks. 4,860, the gross revenue Rs. 9,036 and the 
 population 3,963. 
 
 BHODOOP. — A tidal creek in the Thoon-khwa district uniting the To 
 with the Pantabwot and forming the head of thePyapoou river. Its northern 
 mouth is shallow and it is only at high water that large boats can pass 
 through. The banks are steep and covered with dense tree forest. 
 
 BHO-HTIET-RWA.— A large village of some 700 souls or more in the 
 Myoung-mya township, Ba.ssein district, in 16° 33' N. and 95° 7' E. 
 
 17
 
 130 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 BHOMBADEE. — See Bhoommawadee. 
 
 BHOOMMAWADEE.— A township of the Toung'-ngoo district on the 
 left bank of the Tsittoung extending north from the Shwe-gyeng district to 
 the Thit-nan-tha river and divided into three revenue circles. The whole 
 of the eastern portion is mountainous and covered with thick forest, in which 
 is found teak and other valuable timber, the only regular cultivation being in 
 the more level country along the bank of the Tsittouug. It contains several 
 lakes the largest of which are the Engwon and the Zengdoon, both in the south- 
 west corner. The inhabitants are Burmese, Kareug and Shan with a few Talaing 
 and in 1876 numbered 18,481 : in that year the land revenue Avas Es. 4,491, 
 the capitation-tax Es. 8,062 and the gross revenue Es. 19,327. 
 
 BHOOMMAWADEE. — A revenue circle in the township of the same 
 name in the Touug-ngoo district on the left bank of the Tsittoung river and 
 adjoining the Shwe-gyeng district on the south ; it is now joined to the 
 l^aipalan circle. 
 
 BHOOMMAWADEE EEGYAW.— A natural channel joining the 
 Eouk-thwa- wa, which it leaves at the village of the same name, to the Tsittoung 
 at Eegyaw. During the hot season its bed is in some places dry but during 
 the rains it is navigable throughout for boats of from 25 to 30 feet in 
 length. The banks are here and there high and the bed is muddy and 
 sandy. 
 
 BHOON-MAW. — A highly-venerated Pagoda in Talaing Thoung-goon 
 village, about three miles north-east of Tavoy, on a bluff called Kyet-tsha- 
 maw, built in 1341 A.D. by an exiled Peguan Prince. It is 41 feet high, 
 octangular in shape and 117 feet in circumference at the base and still carries 
 a Talaing htee. 
 
 BHOORA-GYEE. — A village in the Angyee township of the Rangoon 
 district, south of Khabeng, which takes its name from one of the 37 great 
 Pagodas of Augyee, now a ruin. See Htaw-koo. 
 
 BHOOEA-HLA. — A revenue circle in the Ngapootaw township, Bassein 
 district, with an estimated area of 95 square miles, occupying the southern 
 angle between the Arakan hills on the west and the Bassein river on the east 
 as far north as the Bhoora-hla stream. The general aspect of the country 
 is hilly, the hills being spurs from the Arakan Eomas. In this circle is 
 included Haing-gyee or Negrais island, lying in the mouth of the Bassein river 
 and separated from the mainland by a channel 1,500 yards broad at its widest 
 and 800 yards at its narrowest part. The island is about 11 miles in circum- 
 ference, much intersected by creeks, flat and shelving towards its southern 
 end but abruptly hilly towards the northern, where is the site of the old 
 factory. 
 
 The Alguada is a long and dangerous reef 15 miles from the mainland 
 on which now stands a light-house. 
 
 Diamond Island or Thamee-hla Kywon, the station of the light-house 
 keepers not on duty at Alguada, is low and covered with brushwood and lies 
 outside the mouth of the Bassein river. It abounds with turtle and is leased 
 out as a turtle bank, the revenue derived therefrom being large. 
 
 The iuhabitants of the circle are mainly Burmese and Kareng with 
 a few Talaing, and in 1876 numbered 2,004 souls who are chiefly engaged iu
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 131 
 
 fishing and in making" gnapee. In 1876-77 the land revenue was Rs. 2,647, 
 the capitation-tax Rs. 2,142 and the gross revenue Rs. 18,520. 
 
 BHOORA-HLA. — A small river which rises in the eastern slopes of the 
 Arakan Romas about 15 miles from their southern extremity and after a 
 course of some 12 miles E.S.E. falls into the Bassein river at Bhoora-hla village. 
 Boats of 500 bushels burden can ascend for three miles ;. beyond this the tide 
 is not felt. 
 
 BHOORA-TSHIEP.— A village with a population of about 750 souls 
 on the right bank of the Bheeleng river a few miles above Bheeleng. 
 
 BHOO-RO. — A stream in the Prome district with a rocky bed and steep 
 banks which rises in the Arakan mountains and after an E.S.E. course of about 
 35 miles, almost immediately on its leaving the hills, joins the Thanee near 
 the village of Gnyoung-beug-tha; shortly after the latter rounds to the 
 southward the spur which forms the water parting between the two. In 
 the rains small boats can ascend a short distance. The hills amongst which 
 it flows are richly timbered ; the most important trees are Teak, Pyeng-gado and 
 Htouk-kyan. 
 
 BHOOT-KHYOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Myenoo township — now 
 united to Regyee — in the Bassein district on the left bank of the Bassein river 
 with an area of 45 square miles. There is some rice cultivation towards 
 the east and in patches elsewhere but the major portion of the circle 
 consists of low swampy ground covered with grass and tree forest. The 
 inhabitants are largely engaged in fishing. There are no proper cart roads 
 but merely footpaths from village to village used only during the dry season 
 and tracks to the rice-fields. In 1876-77 the land revenue was Rs. 1,881, the 
 capitation-tax Rs. 6,825, the gross revenue Rs. 10,367 and the population 
 5,466. 
 
 BHOOT-PYENG.— A village in the Mergui district of the Tenasserira 
 division on the rii^ht bank of the Bhoot-pyeng, a narrow muddy stream, 
 situated in 11° 12' N. lat. and 98'^42'E. long. It was a somewhat important 
 place in the Siamese time but it has dwindled to a village of about 500 
 inhabitants of Malays, Siamese and Chinese. The two former cultivate rice 
 and employ themselves in fishing, the latter in sugar-planting. 
 
 BHOOT-PYENG. — A mountainous revenue circle in the Mergui district 
 occupying the whole of the southern portion of the Le-gnya township. In 
 1876-77 it had a population of 1,848 souls and produced a gross revenue 
 Rs. 2,524 of which Rs. 137 were derived from the land. 
 
 BHOOT-PYENG. — A small stream in the Le-gnya township, Mergui 
 district, traversing a generally mountainous country from south to north till 
 it suddenly turns westward and falls into the sea. Boats can ascend as far 
 as Bhoot-pyeng village. 
 
 BHWAI-BENG-GAN.— The northern portion of the town of Poungday. 
 
 BHWAI-BENG-GAN. — A revenue circle of the Prome district north 
 of Poungday of which the village of Bhwai-beng-gan forms a portion. The 
 Kyadaw and Hmaw-daw circles are qpw joined to it. In 1876-77 the 
 land revenue was Rs. 2,597, the capitation-tax Rs. 2,572, the gross revenue 
 Rs. 5,259 and the population 2,738.
 
 132 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 BHWOT-GYEE.— A lake in the Henzada district north-east of the 
 great Htoo lake three miles west of the Irrawaddy. It is about two 
 miles long and quarter of a mile wide. In the rains it is 7^ feet deep and 
 in the dry weather from 3 to 4 ; the banks are flat and the water always clear 
 and fresh. According to local tradition this lake was formerly the bed of the 
 Irrawaddy. 
 
 BHWOT-LAY. — A river in the Thayet district flowing into the 
 Irrawaddy from the eastwards. It is formed by the junction of many 
 streams, the largest of which are the Fade and Khyouug-goung-gyee. 
 The volume of water which enters the Irrawaddy by this channel is, 
 during the rains, considerable but the creek is useless for navigation on 
 account of the force of the current and the rapidity with which the water 
 rises and falls. Near its mouth it is spanned by a substantial wooden bridge 
 crossed by the main road between Rangoon and Myedai. During the 
 raius a large quantity of teak is floated down to the mouth of the river 
 where it is rafted for the Rangoon market. 
 
 BHWOT-LAY. — A revenue circle in the Myedai township, Thayet 
 district, partially cultivated, principally with rice, and with a population of 
 2,975 souls. The more important products are rice, sessamum and maize. 
 Within the limits of the circle are, amongst others, the villages and village 
 tracts of Bhwot-lay and Toung-na-tha, over each of which was a Thoogyee 
 in the Burmese time, and Htouk-kyan-daing and Pouk-aing joined to it since 
 tlie annexation of Pegu. In 1876-77 the united circles produced a revenue 
 of Rs. 5,534 of which Rs. 2,251 was derived from the land. 
 
 BODA-M AW. — A revenue circle in the Kyailet township, Akyab district, 
 forming a portion of the town of Akyab. 
 
 BO-KHYOOP. — Two villages, distinguished as North and South, in the 
 Syriam circle, Syriam township, Rangoon district, lying in the plain and well 
 cultivated country between the Pegu and Rangoon rivers and the laterite ridge 
 on which stands the Syriam Pagoda. South Bo-khyoop is a mere hamlet 
 with 250 inhabitants ; North Bo-khyoop had a population of 1,208 souls in 
 1877, almost all agriculturists. The name, which literally translated means 
 Commander-in-Chief, was given to the village because it sprang up on the site 
 on which the army of the Burman Commander-in-Chief encamped during the 
 last siege and capture of Syriam by the Burmans. 
 
 BOODOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Ooreetoung east township, Akyab 
 district. In 1876 the population numbered 973 souls, the land revenue was 
 Rs. 3,468, the capitation-tax Rs. 1,095 and the gross revenue Rs. 4,772. 
 
 BO-TA-HTOUNG. — A small Pagoda in the town of Rangoon on the 
 bank of the river below the principal wharves, which, according to local 
 history, was built in 359 B. E. (997 A.D.) by one thousand (ta-htoung) officers 
 fBoJ by the order of Okkalaba King of Twante on the spot where was burned 
 the body of his son Miuhanda who had been drowned in the Pegu river. 
 It gives its name to a quarter of Rangoon. 
 
 BREK. — A small sub-tribe of Bghai Kareng called by the Burmese 
 Lay may : q. v. 
 
 BUFFALO ROCKS {Liep Kywon or Turtle Island).— K group of 
 detached rugged rocks extending nearly N. and S. for about three miles, situated
 
 BBITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 133 
 
 29 miles from the shore and bearing- N. from the western extremity of Cape 
 Negrais. The North Buffalo is a little more than half a mile to the S. W. 
 of the other island, Perforated Rock and Pillar Rock lying- between them. 
 On the west side of the Eocks the soundings are regular, 20 fathoms about 
 a mile from them and 50 or 60 fathoms at 5 leagues distance. Lat. 16° 19' 
 to 16° 22' N. Long 94° 12' E. bearing nearly S. ^ W. from Calventura 
 Rock and distant 10 or 11 leagues. 
 
 BYEE. — A small and unimportant stream in the Sandoway district 
 which has a generally southerly course and falls into the Sandoway river a few 
 miles below Sandoway. 
 
 BYEE-WA. — A village at the mouth of the Byee stream with from 500 
 to 600 inhabitants, mainly Arakanese, on the right bank of the Sandoway 
 river about two miles below that town. 
 
 BYOO-GAN. — A village of about 60 houses in the Kyan circle, Meng- 
 doon township, Thayet district, on a small affluent of the Ma-htoon. In the 
 Burmese time it was one of the registered villages of an hereditary Thoogyee- 
 ship. 
 
 BYOO-GOON, — A revenue circle in the Prome district about ten miles 
 east of Prome : the larger part is under rice cultivation. In 1876-77 the 
 land revenue was Es. 242, the capitation-tax Es. 87 and the population 95. 
 
 BYOO-GOON. — A village in the Prome district in the middle of a 
 large rice tract in 18° 48' 50" N. and 95° 28' E. about eleven miles east 
 of the town of Prome. 
 
 CALVENTURA {Hnget-toung or Bird's feather). — A group of rocks off 
 the coast of Arakan forming two divisions bearing from each other north-west 
 and south-east, distant five or six miles, the body of them being in lat. 16° 53' 
 N. The north-west group consists of seven black rocks in lat. 16° 55' N., long. 
 94° 15' 30" E. of different magnitudes and forms ; one of them resembles an 
 old church with a mutilated spire, another is much larger near the top than 
 it is near the small base on which it stands. The south-east division consists 
 of two high rocky islands, covered with trees and bushes and connected by a 
 reef of rocks with five to seven fathoms water upon it ; about half-way 
 between the islands there is a single rock, dry at low water. 
 
 CAP ISLAND. — A small round bushy island off Tavoy Point called 
 Hnget-thaik (Bird's nest) by the Burmese. 
 
 CAVENDISH ISLAND. — An islet one third of a mile long surrounded 
 by a reef, a little to the south of Kalegouk. 
 
 CHEDUBA.— ^ec Manoung. 
 
 CHINA-BAKIR.— See To. 
 
 CRAB ISLAND.— 6fee Pyeng-gyee. 
 
 DAGA. — A creek in the Pegu division which leaves the Bassein or Nga- 
 won river three or four miles from its northern mouth in the Irrawaddy in the 
 Henzada district and flowing in a generally south-westerly direction, but with 
 many windings, it i-ejoins the Bassein seven or eight miles above the town of 
 Bassein bringing with it the drainage of the country through which it flows 
 and much of the rainfall and spill in the delta poured into its channel by the
 
 184 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 numerous anastomosing- creeks which reticulate over the countr}^ The 
 northern entrance has in a great measure silted up and is now completely closed 
 by the reclamation embankment thrown up along the bank of the Bassein : 
 the bed for about eight miles down, as far as Ewathit, is dry during the hot 
 season. In the rains there is a strong current downwards but in the dry 
 season the tide is felt as far as Thabye-hla at neaps and fifteen miles further at 
 springs. It is navigable by river steamers during the rains for thirty-six 
 miles from its southern outlet as far as the mouth of the Meng-ma-hnaing 
 creek but during the dry season those vessels cannot ascend more than 
 ten or twelve miles. Large native boats can go up as high as Kyoon- 
 pyaw at all seasons of the year and small boats still higher : here the 
 river is from 200 to 300 feet wide and 10 to 15 feet deep. A few miles below 
 Kyoonpyaw on the right or western bank is the Eug-rai-gyee lake which it has 
 been supposed was formerly a portion of the Daga and now communicates 
 with it by a small channel. 
 
 DAGA. — A revenue circle in the Bassein district to which is now joined 
 Shwe-gnyoung-beng. In 1876 the population of the united circles was 
 2,227, the land revenue Rs. 4,153, the capitation-tax Rs. 2,045 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 6,418. 
 
 DA-GYAING. — A river in the Amherst district having its source in the 
 Dawna spur and flowing, westward to the Hlaingbhwai which it joins about half 
 way between Khazaing and Hlaingbhwai. An impetuous torrent, the course is 
 obstructed by numerous rocks and it is not navigable even near its mouth except 
 by small canoes. In the rains it brings dowu a considerable body of water. 
 
 DAI-D A-RAI. — A village in the Thoonkhwa district on the right bank 
 of the To river about fifteen miles from its mouth. The inhabitants are Ta- 
 laing and Burmans and are principally engaged in rice cultivation^ fishing and 
 wood-cutting. Lat. 16° 26' 30" N. long. 95° 4' E. i 
 
 DAI-D A-EAI. — A revenue circle in the north- western portion of the 
 Pj^apoon township, Thoonkhwa district, on the right or southern bank of the 
 To river. In 1876^ when it had a population of 5,319 souls, the land 
 revenue was Rs. 21,976, the capitation-tax Rs. 6,525 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 31,062. It was formerly included in the Wakamay circle of the same 
 township. 
 
 DAING-BOON. — A revenue circle on the Le-mro river on the northern 
 borders of the Mye-boon township of the Kyouk-hpyoo district, with an area 
 of 117 miles and a population in 1876 of 4,111 souls. Its southern portion is 
 divided into numerous islands by inter-communicating tidal creeks. The land 
 revenue in 1876 was Rs. 5,083, the capitation-tax Rs. 3,900 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 31,087. 
 
 DAI-PAI. — A lake in the Matoungda circle of the Kanoung township 
 in the Henzada district, near the foot of the eastern slopes of the Pegu Roma 
 mountains, covering an area of nearly a square mile : in the rains it has a depth 
 of nine and in the dry season of four or five feet. It is supplied princi- 
 pally by the drainage from the neighbouring hills but before the embankments 
 were constructed it received some of the spill of the Irrawaddy during the rains. 
 
 DALA. — A creek in the Rangoon district which empties itself into the 
 Rangoon river opposite Rangoon. On the west side of its mouth are dockyards
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 135 
 
 aud the Dala suburb of Eangoon and to the east timber yards and steam saw 
 milJs. In the dry season it is not navigable for more than two or three miles 
 but during the rains boats can traverse its whole length. 
 
 DALA. — A creek in the Thoonkhwa district forming one of the mouths of 
 the Irrawaddy ; so named in the charts but more properly called Kyoon-toon. 
 
 DALA. — A suburb of Eangoon on the right or western bank of the 
 Eangoon river. In ancient times the Dala district included the present Angyee 
 township of the Eangoon district and the Pyapoon township of Thoonkhwa and 
 was sometimes annexed to Burma, sometimes to Thaulyeng and sometimes to 
 Pegu, at others it was under an independent Governor. In 1650 A.D., accord- 
 ing to an inscription on a stone at the Koung-hmoo-daw Pagoda near Ava 
 which was completed in that year, Dala formed a portion of Eamanya, a 
 province subject to the King of Burma. At the end of the last century or 
 the beginning of this Pyapoon was separated from it and subsequently 
 Angyee. 
 
 DALA-NWON. — A river in the Shwe-gyeng district which rises in the 
 eastern spurs of the Pegu Iloma mountains and, flowing towards the south- 
 east, falls into the Tsittouug a few miles below Thooyaithamee (commonly 
 called Thayet-thamien). It is navigable for large boats as far as Thoonkhwa. 
 
 DAN-DOUNG. — A village on the Kyouug-goung-gyee stream some 
 four miles above its junction with the Pade, in the Thamboola circle, Myedai 
 township, Thayet district, containing ^bout sixty houses. 
 
 DA-NWON. — A tidal creek in the Shweloung township, Thoonkhwa 
 district, forming, with the Irrawaddy, an island on which stauds the village 
 of Kywonpyathat in 16° 25' N. and 95° 12' 30" E. It is navigable by river 
 steamers. 
 
 DA-PYOO-KHYAING. — A revenue circle 220 square miles in extent in 
 the south-western portion of the An township, Kyouk-hpyoo district, cut up 
 into numerous islands by inosculating tidal creeks. In 1876 it had a popula- 
 tion, principally of Arakanese, of 3,617 souls. The land revenue was Es. 2,418, 
 the capitation-tax Es. 2,814 aud the gross revenue Es. 5,490. It now includes 
 the formerly separate Ma-ee circle. 
 
 DAEAY. — A revenue circle in the Amherst district in the extreme 
 north-west corner of Bheeloo island, having the sea on the west, the Daray- 
 bouk on the north, the Kalwee circle on the east and the Kwouraik circle on 
 the south, with a small Talaiug population and a good deal of cultivation. 
 In 1876 the population was 544, the laud revenue Es. 4,024 and the capita- 
 tion-tax lis. 5i4o. In the Burmese time Daray was a separate '' Myo" or 
 township and included the present circles of Daray, Kwonraik aud Tawkama, 
 that is the whole of the western portion of Bheeloogywon which was cut off 
 from the east by a large creek called the Tsaibala of which the northern portion 
 has now silted up. It could not, however, have been a very populous or pro- 
 ductive township as in 1808 A.D., the Governor had only twelve families under 
 him and was dismissed on account of his inability to raise any revenue. It 
 was divided into circles in 1848 by the Deputy Commissioner Captain 
 (now Sir Arthur) Phayre. 
 
 DAEAY-BHYOO. — A creek in the Kweng-bouk-gyee circle of the 
 Bassein district forminif one of the entrances from the sea to the Ewe. The
 
 136 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 mouth, iu 15° 51' 20" N. and 90° 41' 20" E., is so filled by saudbaaks as 
 scarcely to afford a passage for the smallest sea-going craft but the remaining 
 portion of the river affords easy navigation to river steamers. 
 
 DAEAY-BOUK. — The name given to the northern mouth of the Sal- 
 ween from Martaban to the sea. Several centuries ago it was the ordinary 
 entrance for ships coming to Martaban, then a great trading port, but for 
 many years it has been so filled with sandbanks as to be impassable for sea- 
 going boats. 
 
 DAEAY-BOUK. — A village in the Labwotkoola circle, Myoungmya town- 
 ship, Bassein district, on the Tha-ran-boon which reaches the sea by numerous 
 channels the principal of which are the Ewe and the Daray-bhyoo. To the 
 north-west and south are rich rice-fields and the inhabitants, over 600 in number, 
 are principally engaged in cultivation and in trade. 
 
 DAEIEN. — A revenue circle in the extreme south-western corner of the 
 Martaban township, Amherst district, bounded on the west by the sea and on 
 the south by the Daray-bouk. The circle consists of low highly cultivated 
 plains liable to inundation on the west during high tides, the sea water penetrat- 
 ing into the low land inside the protecting drift-covered beach through a drain- 
 age way cut by a villager some years ago. In 1876 the population numbered 
 3,181, the capitation-tax was Es. 3,277 and the land revenue Es. 24,784. 
 
 DATTAW. — A small stream which rises in the Khyee-ba spur on the west 
 of the Irrawaddy and falls into that river near Pienthalien. Its banks are 
 moderately steep and its bed sandy and muddy. In the rains and then only 
 boats can ascend for a short distance. On its banks are found Teak, Cutch {Aca- 
 cia catechu) Eng-gyeng (Pentacme siamensis) much used in house building, 
 Thenggan {Hopea odorata) which is scarce, and Pyengma [Lagerstroemia 
 JRegince). 
 
 DAWLAN. — A revenue circle lying between the Dawna hills and the 
 Hlaingbhwai river in the southern portion of the Thanlweng Hlaingbhwai 
 township, Amherst district, opposite Gyaing. Its inhabitants are principally 
 Kareng. In 1876 it produced a land revenue of Es. 1,925, the capitation-tax 
 amounted to Es. 2,912, the gross revenue to Es. 4,837 and the population 
 numbered 2,836 souls. 
 
 DETANAW. — A small but once a large and flourishing Taking village 
 in the Lawadee circle, Augyee township, Eangoon district. At the close of 
 the first Anglo-Burmese war numbers of the inhabitants who had sided with 
 the British escaped to Tenasserim and the rest were seized and massacred by the 
 local Burmese authorities for their adherence to the English. In the neigh- 
 bourhood are the ruins of a large and ancient Pagoda, one of the 37 great 
 Pagodas of Angyee. 
 
 DHABIEN. — A tidal creek in the Eangoon district running between 
 the Poozwondoung and Pegu rivers, past the village of Dhabien where it is 
 fifteen feet deep at high tide : the largest boats can ascend to this village, a dis- 
 tance of a little over a mile, at all times : iu the rains its water is sweet and it 
 is navigable throughout its course. 
 
 DHABIEN NORTH. — A revenue circle in the Hpoung-leng township 
 of the Rangoon district on the right bank of the Pegu river. In 1876 it had 
 a population of 3,076 souls and 11,831 acres under rice cultivation. The
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 137 
 
 land revenue in the same year was Rs. 23;938, the capitation-tax Rs. 3,573 and 
 the gross revenue Rs. 27,511. 
 
 DHABIEN SOUTH. — A revenue circle in the Hpouni^-leng township, 
 Rangoon district, between the Pegu and Poozwondoung rivers immediately 
 to the south of Dhabien north of which until a year or two ago it formed a 
 portion. In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 25,684, the capitation-tax Rs, 3,050, 
 the gross revenue Rs. 28,769, the area of rice land under cultivation 12,688 
 acres and the population 2,604 souls. 
 
 DHA-GNYA-WADEE. — A revenue circle in the Toung-ngoo district, 
 extending eastward from the Pegu Romas along both banks of the 
 Khaboung and occupying the whole of the country drained by that stream 
 and its tributaries. With the exception of a small tract of rice cultivation the 
 whole of this circle is a mass of hills and undulating ground where are found 
 Eng {Dipterocarjnis tuherculatus), Sha, {Acacia catechu) , Theuggan (Hopea 
 odorata), Pyengma {Lagerstroemia Regince), Pyenggado {Xylia dolahriformis) 
 and Teak {Tectona grandis). On the banks of the Khaboung and on the 
 hills there is excellent teak but the forests in the plains are, as regards this 
 tree, limited. In 1876 the inhabitants numbered 3,787, the land revenue 
 was Rs. 717, the capitation-tax Rs. 1,721 and the gross revenue Rs. 2,474. 
 
 DHALET. — A revenue circle 420 square miles in extent on the upper 
 course of the Dhalet river in the extreme north of the An towQship of the 
 Kyouk-hpyoo district. The inhabitants, who are chiefly Khyeng", num- 
 bered 4,629 in 1876 and in that year the land revenue was Rs. 2,176, the capi- 
 tation-tax Rs. 3,083 and the gross revenue Rs. 5,425. 
 
 DHALET. — A river in the Kyouk-hpyoo district which rises in the 
 main range and falls into Combermere Bay. It can be ascended by boats of 
 considerable burden as far as the village of the same name (in many reports 
 and works on the country called Talak) about 25 miles from the mouth ; 
 higher up the stream is a mountain torrent navigable only by small canoes. 
 From Dhalet there is a pass across the hills to Upper Burma which was par- 
 tially explored during the first Burmese war and was found to be almost im- 
 practicable for troops. 
 
 DHALET. — A village in the Kyouk-hpyoo district on the river of the 
 same name ; a small Police force is stationed hei'e. 
 
 DHAM-BHEE. — A revenue circle in the north-east of the Henzada town- 
 ship, Henzada district, on the left bank of the Ngavvon or Bassein river. The 
 neighbouring circle of Myo-gweng has of late years been joined to it. The 
 villages are small the largest having in 1875 a little over 500 inhabitants. 
 The united circles had in 1876 a population of 7,471 souls principally engaged 
 in rice cultivation. In that year the land revenue amounted to Rs. 8,275, 
 the capitation-tax to Rs. 7,547 and the gross revenue to Rs. 16,991. The 
 country was formerly subject to inundation from the spill of the Irrawaddy 
 but is now protected by an embankment along that river. 
 
 DHAM-MA-THA. — A small village in the Amherst district on the left 
 bank of the Gyaing, opposite a large grass and tree-covered island lying about 
 sixty yards off, seventeen miles above Maulraain. To the south of the village 
 
 18
 
 138 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 is an extensive outcrop of limestone rocks covered with dense tree forest 
 and pierced by a large cave with the walls and roof highly ornamented with figui'es 
 in red and gold of Gaudama Booddha and of Rahan and the floor covered 
 with images. All are in various stages of decay but a few bear marks of wan- 
 ton destruction, as do so many in the other caves in this district more accessible 
 to strangers who have no respect for Booddhism or the religious edifices and 
 shrines of the inhabitants of the country. These rocks terminate immediately 
 below the village in a cliff overhanging the river and crowned with a small 
 white Pagoda, reached by a long flight of steps built from the south up 
 the western side. From the top there is a fine view of the surrounding 
 country, shut in on the east by the distant blue mountains which bound the 
 valley of the Thoungyeng and on the west by Bheeloogywon and the Marta- 
 bau hills, whilst to the north appear the massive and rugged Zwai-ka-beng 
 limestone rocks popularly known as the " Duke of York's nose.'' In the dis- 
 tance to the westward Maulmain is conspicuous by the gilded Pagodas and 
 monasteries on the low hills which traverse the town. Between the cliff and the 
 village is the Government rest-house with a flight of steps down to the river. 
 
 DHANOO. — An extensive but rambling revenue circle in the north-east 
 of the Tha-htoon township on the right bank of the Kyouk-tsarit and 
 Bheng-laing rivers and bounded on the south by the Ze-ma-thway, a tributary 
 of the latter. The name is derived from " Dhanoo " the appellation of a people 
 who are supposed at one time to have inhabited the tract and who were one 
 of the one hundred and one races into which all the people of the world are, 
 according to the Burmese belief, divided : at present the population is mainly 
 Toungthoo. The surface of the country is hilly and undulating, covered with 
 tree forest and annually to a considerable extent inundated, partly from the 
 rain-fall and the spill of the Bhenglaiug which is banked up by the Sal ween 
 and of late years partly by the overflow from the Bheeleng which is excluded 
 from the Thien-tshiep and Tha-htoon plains and forced round the northern end of 
 the Martaban hills at Kamathaing by the Doonwon embankment. In 1876 
 the land revenue was Rs. 1,454, the capitation-tax Rs. 5,891 and the popula- 
 tion 7,661. It now includes the Meng-lweng circle. Many of the inhabitants 
 cultivate land in the neighbouring circles. 
 
 DHANOOT BHOORA-GYEE.— A very large Pagoda, now in ruins, in 
 the Kodoung circle, Angyee township, Rangoon district, about one mile 
 from the entrance of the Tha-khwot-peng creek. This was formerly the 
 site of a flourishing village but no habitation has existed within the memory 
 of any one now living nor are any records traceable which throw light upon 
 the history of the Pagoda. 
 
 DHATHWAI-KYOUK.— A river in the Prome district w^hich rises in 
 the southern slopes of the Tshenglau subspur, to the north of which is the 
 valley of the Shwelay, and flowing for some distance southward and then turn- 
 ing west falls into the Zay just above the entrance of this stream into the 
 Eugma lake. It is not open for boats at any time ; its banks are moderate- 
 ly steep and its bed is sandy and gravelly. The lower portion of its course 
 is through rice-fields but higher up, amongst the hills, it flows through forests 
 producing valuable timber : Pyeuggado {Xylia dolahriformis) , Eng-gyeng
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 139 
 
 {Pentacme Siameiisis), Bhanbhwai tCare?/aar&orm) and Eng (Dipterocarpus 
 tuberculatus) . 
 
 DHATHWAI.KYOUK.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 41 
 N. and 95° 34' 35" E. on the river of the same name, at the mouth of the Kya- 
 thoung-myouug one of its affluents, twenty miles in a direct line S.E. from 
 Prome. It lies about four or five miles east of the edge of the great rice tract 
 occupying the centre of the valley between the Pegu mountains and the 
 Prome hills and at the western foot of the spurs of the former. It is in- 
 habited mainly by agriculturists engaged in garden and miscellaneous culti- 
 vation. 
 
 DHATKE. — A small pagoda, now in ruins, on the hills in the town of 
 Maulmain. Of its early history nothing is known. It is supposed to contain 
 one of Gaudama^s hairs. 
 
 DIAMOND ISLAND. — A low tree covered island about one square 
 mile in extent and visible at five leao-ues distance lying off the mouth of the 
 Bassein or Ngawon river, in lat. 15° 51' 30" N. and long. 94° 18' 45" E., 
 distant 50 miles from Pagoda Point and about 8 miles from Negrais Island or 
 Haing-gyee. In shape it is quadrilateral having the angles facing the points 
 of the compass. During strong southerly gales landing is difficult. It does 
 not appear ever to have been inhabited by the Burmese but was and is visited 
 by those engaged in collecting the eggs of the turtles which frequent it in 
 large numbers. For some years it has been occupied by the Light-house 
 establishment as the home station of the detachment in charge of the Alguada 
 reef Light-house. It is connected with Bassein by a telegraph line for the 
 use principally of the masters of ships calling for orders. By the Burmese it 
 is known as Miemma-hla-kywon. 
 
 DOMEL. — An island in the Mergui Archipelago between 11° 26' and 
 11° 28' N. and 98° 2' and 98° 11' E., forming a portion of the Mergui district of 
 the Tenasserim division and lying due west of Kisseriug island from which it is 
 three or four miles distant, the navigable channel between the two, however, 
 being very narrow. Its extreme length, from north to south, is about twenty- 
 eight miles and its breadth, from east to west, about four miles. 
 
 DONABYOO MYOMA. — A revenue circle in the Donabyoo township 
 Thoonkhwa district on the right bank of the Irrawaddy. The upper portion 
 has long been under cultivation ; the southern part was formerly forest 
 waste subject to inundation but is now protected by embankments along the 
 Irrawaddy. In 1876 the land revenue was Ks. 5,550, the capitation-tax 
 Es. 6,860, the gross revenue Es. 15,133 and the population 7,328 including 
 the inhabitants of Donabyoo town who numbered 4,331. This circle now 
 includes Thaboung. 
 
 DONABYOO. — A township in the Thoonkhwa district lying principally 
 on the right bank of the Irrawaddy with a small portion on the left bank and 
 adjoining Henzada on the north and Rangoon on the east. It was formerly in 
 the Henzada district and included the A-hpyouk circle on the left bank of the 
 river : some three years ago the Thoon-tshay circle, also in the left bank, was 
 added to it from Rangoon. In 1875, on the formation of the Thoonkhwa district, 
 A-hpyouk was cut off and joined to the Za-lwon township of Henzada. Almost 
 the whole township was subject to inundation on the rise of the Irrawaddy but
 
 140 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 is now protected by extensive embankments along the west bank of that river. 
 The principal town is Donabyoo where the Extra Assistant Commissioner in 
 charg-e is stationed. In 1876 it produced a land revenue of Ks. 55,431, 
 the capitation-tax amounted to Rs. 34,448^ the gross revenue was Rs. 1,08,564 
 and the population 36,122. 
 
 DONABYOO. — A town in the Thoonkhwa district on the right bank 
 of the Irrawaddy about 35 miles south of Henzada, containing a Court house^ 
 a Police station and a bazaar or market-place. The population in 1876-77 
 was 5,800 and the local revenue during each of the nine years ending with 
 1875-76 were :— 
 
 Year. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 1867-68 
 1868-69 
 1869-70 
 1870-71 
 1871-72 
 
 3,186 
 3,136 
 3,950 
 3,758 
 3,921 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1,296 
 
 1,468 
 
 2,096 
 
 2,817 
 
 2,028 
 
 1872-73 
 1873-74 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 
 3,950 
 3,950 
 4,155 
 4,331 
 
 Rs. 
 2,537 
 4,412 
 4,289 
 4,252 
 
 In the first Anglo-Burmese war after the capture of Rangoon the Burmese 
 Commander-in-chief, Bandoola, entrenched himself in this town with a force 
 of fifteen thousand men. The main work was a stockaded paralellogram 
 of one thousand yards by seven hundred which was on the bank well 
 above the level of the river. On the river face were fifty cannon of 
 various calibres whilst the approach on the land side was defended by two 
 outworks. General Cotton's force carried the first stockade at the point of 
 the bayonet but was repulsed from the main work, Captains Cannon and Eose 
 being killed and the greater number of the men killed or wounded. General 
 Cotton then retreated down the river waiting for reinforcements. Sir 
 Archibald Campbell the Commander-in-Chief, who was advancing north up the 
 valley of the Hlaing fell back, estabhshed his head-quarters at Henzada and 
 proceeded down the river. On arrival before Donabyoo he constructed 
 batteries of heavy artillery the enemy making numerous sorties with a view of 
 interrupting the work ; when the batteries were completed they opened a fire 
 of shot, shell and rockets and next day the Burmans were discovered to be in 
 full retreat : this was subsequently found to be due to the death of Bandoola 
 who had been killed by the bursting of a shell. 
 
 During the second war the Burman general made no endeavour to hold 
 the town but evacuated it before the arrival of the British force and retreated 
 on Prome. Shortly after this numerous armed bands spread over the country 
 and, amongst other places, occupied Donabyoo the leader being one Moung 
 My'at Htoon. He was attacked by a force under Captain Hewett I.N. 
 defeated and forced to retreat, but on the British retiring reappeared with 
 his band. Captain Loch R.N. in the early part of January 1853 moved up 
 the river with a small detachment and finally drove him southwards where he 
 was a short time later, after forcing Captain Loch's party to fall back, over- 
 taken by Sir John Cheape and killed. From this time Donabyoo remained in
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. I4l 
 
 the undisputed possession of the British. The name which is correctly spelt 
 Danoo-hpyoo, means "White peacock " and is partly Pali — Danoo " a peacock"" 
 — and partly Burmese — hpyoo " white." 
 
 DOONRAN. — A tidal creek in the Thoonkhwa district which runs from 
 the To or China Bakir in an almost southerly direction to the sea, having a 
 total leng-th of about thirteen miles. The depth of the water varies from \ 
 a fathom to 8 or 9, the northern end being shallow and the southern deep ; the 
 water is sweet thi'oughout except at the springs when a high bore is formed 
 which reaches far up. It is navigable by boats of 300 baskets burden but 
 not by very large boats on accouut of the numerous shoals. On the right bank, 
 in the interior, are extensive plains abounding in game and on the left bank 
 wild elephants are found. 
 
 DOONEENG. — The name of a peak in the Zwaikabeng limestone hills 
 north of Maulmain. The ascent is made with considerable difficulty owing to 
 the precipitous nature of the rocks. Almost at the summit a gap is reached 
 '•' then descending a few yards the spectator is astonished to find himself on 
 " the edge of a large basin like the crater of an extinct volcano ; round and 
 ''beyond, on the opposite side of the gulph, for miles in extent dark precipitous 
 "crags of every imaginable and unimaginable form fling down their tall 
 " shadows a thousand feet about the place of entrance enclosing an area of 
 " several square miles.^' 
 
 " Down a steep descent of one or two hundred feet an uneven plain 
 "is reached covered with a luxuriant forest. This impregnable natural fortress 
 " has been a place of refuge for the Karens during many generations. While 
 " the Burmans, the Shans and the Talaings were contending in the plains below, 
 " the Karens in this e3a-ie home peeped out on the belligerents from behind 
 " their battlements in perfect security. The great defect is the want of water 
 ''which is obtainable, but not in abundance, from a small stream called Tee- 
 " reng or the ' brook of weeping.' In the days of the Burman conqueror 
 '' Alompra {Aloung-bhoora) before his successes^' in Tenasserim " a large num- 
 "ber of Karens were besieged here by Siamese and tradition says that nearly 
 " the whole perished for want of food and water. From the sufferings of that 
 " period, or a previous one, the place has acquired the name of Doonreng" or 
 " City of weeping." * 
 
 DOONRENG. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Than-lweng township, 
 Amherst district, on the western slopes of the Zwai-ka-beng hills inhabited 
 mainly by Kareug. In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 2,361, the capitation- 
 tax Rs. 2,565 and the population 1,881. Included in this circle is the Touug- 
 myouk circle. 
 
 DOONTHAMIE. — A river in the Tenasserim division which has never 
 been carefully explored or examined. It has its source somewhat below 
 the latitude of Shwe-gyeng, between the Bheeleng and the Sal ween rivers, 
 and after a very tortuous course southward unites with the Kyouk-tsarit, 
 in about 16° 59' 30" N. a few miles south of Dhanoo village, to form the 
 Bhenglaing a tril)utary of the Salween. It is navigable liy Burman boats 
 for some distance. The upper part of its course is through hills on which 
 
 * Mason's Burma : Intrutluction, page 11, editu. of 1860.
 
 142 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 are found a considerable number of teak trees of excellent quality. The 
 forests are some distance from the river but several tributary streams facilitate 
 the removal of the timber in the rains. 
 
 DOONWON.— Another name of the Bheeleug river, q. v. 
 
 DOONWON. — A village in the Tha-htoon township of the Amherst 
 district, on the left bank of the Bheeleng river, on slightly rising ground 
 immediately south of the mouth of the Kyoon-iek creek. An embankment 
 now extends eastward from the rising ground for half a mile to Kama- 
 thaing on the western slopes of the northern extremity of the Martabau 
 hills, which keeps out the spill of the Bheeleng river and thus affords pro- 
 tection to the Tha-htoon plain. In 1876 the village had a small population 
 of 281 souls. In former years it was an important walled city, the principal 
 town of the surrounding country though far inferior to Tha-htoon its south- 
 eastern neighbour. In 1306, when it formed a portion of the kingdom of 
 Martaban, it was attacked and plundered by the King of Zeng-mai, east 
 of the Salween, and in 1351 it was again attacked and taken. Shortly after- 
 wards Byat-ta-ba, the half-brother or cousin of Ba-gnya-oo the reigning 
 sovereign, having risen in rebellion and seized the capital the King retired to 
 Doonwon : the rebellion was successful but owing to the intervention of the 
 King of Zeng-mai Ba-gnya-oo remained undisturbed for six years in the 
 retreat he had chosen. Byat-ta-ba then obtained possession of the town by 
 stratagem and Ba-gnya-oo fled to Pegu which formed a portion of his 
 dominions. By a tacit understanding there was peace between them and Byat- 
 ta-ba retained the country east of the Bheeleng. Ba-gnya-oo was succeeded 
 by Kadzadierit who, after successfully resisting a Burmese invasion, attacked 
 and took Doonwon. After this the name drops out of history. 
 
 Close to the present village, and within the walls and moat of the old town 
 of which the ruins still exist, are two wooden images, evidently from the 
 dress, of foreigners one of which has a hole through both cheeks. These 
 were until lately considered by all the inhabitants of the surrounding country, and 
 still are by some looked upon, as the images of powerful nat and it was thought 
 to be dangerous to pass them without making some offering of a little rice 
 or a bunch of leaves or a flower. According to local traditions they re- 
 present two natives of India — Ee-bra-hoon and Oo-le (Ibrahim and All or 
 Wali) — who were in command and were killed during the assault by the 
 troops of Kadzadierit and the hole through the cheeks is intended to 
 represent the bullet-wound which caused the death of the elder of the 
 two. Sir Arthur Phayre, however, in his History oil^ega [Journal of the 
 Asiatic Sociekj of Bengal, 1873, No. 1, i^t. 1, page 48) states that two officers 
 having these names defended Martaban after the fall of Doonwon and escaped 
 to ^' the Koola country '■* and in a foot-note adds : '^ There is no mention made 
 " of firearms in these operations, but immediately afterwards there is in 
 " the account of the attack on Bassein." 
 
 DOOEx-V. — A village in the Atsen circle, Re-Lamaing township), Amherst 
 district to the north of Atsen. In 1876 it had 588 inhabitants. 
 
 DOOR A. — A revenue circle in the south of the Henzada township of 
 the Henzada district. It is well cultivated on low ground, preserved from 
 inundation by the embankment along the Irrawaddy. In 1876 it had a
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 143 
 
 population of 7,216 souls and produced a land revenue of Es. 21,374^ 
 Rs. 7^450 as capitation-tax and a gross revenue of Rs. 31,536. The two 
 largest villages are Htantabeug" and Aiug-g-yee each containing- a population 
 of over 1,000 souls. On the eastern border of the circle is the great Doora lake. 
 
 DOORA. — An extensive lake or group of intercommunicating lakes in 
 the Henzada township of the Henzada district. In the most westerly of these is 
 an island which divides it into two called the Doora and the Moshoon : 
 half a mile east of this latter and communicating with it in the rains 
 is the Engtha-nwot and between this and the Irrawaddy and joined to both 
 during the wet season is the Mobalai. The Doora proper is about two 
 square miles in extent and united at its northern extremity to the Irrawaddy 
 by the Atha-rwot stream through which, during the rains and before the 
 Irrawaddy embankments were constructed, boats of from 300 to 400 baskets 
 burden could pass. The Moshoon lake^ or more properly the Moshoon por- 
 tion of the Doora, is 2J miles in length and from 300 to 400 yards broad 
 with a depth of from 6 to 9 feet in the dry weather. The Engtha-nwot has 
 a length of 1,400 feet and a maximum breadth of 700 with a depth of from 
 4 to 6 feet in the dry weather. The Mobalai has about 5 feet of water in 
 the dry season. These lakes are fed by the drainage of the surrounding 
 country but have been to some extent affected by the embankments 
 carried along the Irrawaddy which have closed the mouths of the streams by 
 means of which they communicated with this river during the rains. 
 
 DOORENGABHO. — A village in the Prome district stretching along 
 the bank of the Irrawaddy to the south-west of Shwedoung and forming a 
 suburb of that town. 
 
 DOOTIEYA KHARENG.— A revenue circle in the Gyaiug Attaran 
 township, Amherst district, occupying a tract of country extending south- 
 ward from the junction of the Hlaingbhwai and the Houugtharaw. The area 
 under cultivation is small and the inhabitants, who are mainly Kareng, are few. 
 In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 464, the capitation-tax Rs. 605 and the 
 population 477. 
 
 DOUBLE ISLAND. — A small island about twelve miles south of 
 Amherst point, well raised above the sea and lying in 15° 52' 30" N. and 97° 
 36' 30" E. On it stands a stone light-house with an iron tower, containing 
 a dioptric fixed light of the first order with a catadioptric mirror visible 
 nineteen miles and first exhibited on the 4th December 1865. The original 
 cost of the work was Rs. 9,03,400. The principal object in building a 
 light-house here was to guide ships making for Maulmain and to prevent their 
 running up the Tsittoung river to certain destruction. 
 
 DOUNGBOON.— A village in the Prome district in 15° 33' 55" N. 
 and 95° 30' 15" E. on the bank of the Thitneedaw stream, about five miles 
 above its junction with the Zay, seventeen miles S.E. of Prome as the crow 
 flics. The inhabitants arc chiefly agriculturists. 
 
 DOUNGBOON. — A revenue circle in the Prome district to the N. E. 
 of the Engma lake, extensively cultivated with rice and including four of the 
 old revenue circles. In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 8,785, the capitation- 
 tax Rs. 10,372, the gross revenue Rs. 20,787 and the population 9,296.
 
 144 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 DOUNG-GYEE. — A village ia the Henzada district on the right bank 
 of the Irrawaddy in 17° 32' N. and 95° 37' E., about a mile south of the 
 old village of Toungbotara. 
 
 DOUNG-GYEE. — A town in the Le-myet-hna township, Bassein dis- 
 trict, outheBassein river in 17° 22' 30" N. and 95° 8' E. The surround- 
 ing country is open waste covered with grass and tree forest and liable to 
 inundation. In the hot and dry seasons many of the residents are employed 
 in fishing and in manufacturing large pots for boiling salt and for other 
 purposes ; these are made from the excellent pottery-clay found in the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 DOUNGMANA. — A revenue circle in the Mahathaman township of 
 the Prome district, which in 1876 produced a land revenue of Rs. 1,030 ; 
 the capitatiou-tax in the same year was Rs. 543, the gross revenue Rs. 1,573 
 and the population 544. Included in this circle is Tha-ma-wadee, once in- 
 dependent. 
 
 ENG-BAW-NGAY. — A village in the Prome district on the edge of the 
 Eno--Daiug (a long stretch of Eng-forest land between the Prome hills and 
 the Myit-makha) thirteen miles in a direct Hue S. S. E. of Prome but much 
 further by road. To the westward the country is hilly and covered with 
 Eng {Dipterocarpus tuhcrcidatus) forest but to the east, north and south it is 
 more open and to some extent under rice cultivation. 
 
 ENG-BHET-TAW. — A village in the Kama township, Thayet district, 
 situated in a small tract of rice land about two miles north-east of the Ma- 
 htoon river. 
 
 ENG-DAING. — A village in the Toung-ngoo district on the Bhengbyai 
 stream, seven miles east of Tsittoung river and five south of the frontier 
 line. 
 
 ENG-GA-BHO. — A village of about 1,000 inhabitants in the Kabaing 
 circle, Henzada township, Henzada district, containing several Pagodas and 
 good public rest-houses. The inhabitants are mainly engaged in cultivation 
 and fishing. Lat. 17° 36' N. Long. 95° 24' E. 
 
 ENG-GA-BOO. — A revenue circle in the Gnyoungdoon township of the 
 Thoonkhwa district extending along the Panhlaing creek from its junction 
 with the Irrawaddy. The land to the east is low and subject to inundation ; 
 the principal rice-fields are towards the west where the land is higher. Many 
 of the inhabitants are engaged in fishing, from the tax on which a consider- 
 able revenue is derived. The land revenue in 1876-77 was Rs. 5,518, the capita- 
 tion-tax Rs. 6,018, the gross revenue Rs. 26,008 and the population 4,736. 
 
 ENG-GA-LOON. — (A Taking name; — from 'Ank' a lake and 'Kaloon' a 
 kind of reed [Maranta] ). A village in the Augyee township, Rangoon district, 
 on the edge of the Twante Tawgyee a little to the south-west of Tshapoogan, 
 inhabited chiefly by Talaing. In the neighbourhood are the ruins of one of the 
 thirty-seven great Pagodas of the township (vide Htawkoo and Htaickharan). 
 There is a tradition in the village that not much more than a hundred years ago 
 the sea rolled at the foot of the Tawgyee and the former line of sea coast is 
 still pointed out. Some years ago when a well was being sunk a large ship^s
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 145 
 
 cable was found a few feet below the surface and pieces of wreck are still 
 occasionally met with. 
 
 ENG-GOON. — A small stream in the north of the Prome district which 
 rises in the southern slopes of the Padouk spur of the Pegu Eoma mountains, 
 a few miles east of the source of the Gwe-khyo. Flowing in a south-westerly 
 direction it falls into the south Naweng- at the same spot as the Gwe-khyo and 
 the Khyoung-tsaik, In the lower portion of its course the bed is sandy and 
 muddy and higher up rocky ; the banks are steep and clothed with elephant 
 grass, bamboos and forest trees. 
 
 ENG-GOON. — A large agricultural village in the Myedai township, 
 Thayet district, situated in an extensive rice plain and on the high road from 
 Rangoon to the north. Lat. 19° 16' 10" N., Long. 95° 18' 20" E. 
 
 ENG-GYEE.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 31' 45" N. and 95° 
 40' 15 ' E. in a small patch of rice country, about four miles east of the northern 
 end of Poungday. It formerly gave its name to an independent circle now 
 joined to Zee-beug-hla. 
 
 ENG-GYEE-RWA-BWA.— A village in the Myedai township, Thayet 
 district, on the Pade stream, five or six miles from its junction with the 
 Khyoung-goung-gyee. 
 
 ENG-GYENG. — A revenue circle in the An township of the Kyouk- 
 hpyoo district on the right bank of the An river, about six square miles in extent 
 with a population of 791 souls. In 1876-77 it produced Rs. 425 as land 
 revenue, Rs. 733 as capitation-tax and Es. 1,125 gross revenue. 
 
 ENG-LAY''. — A village in the Myedai township, Thayet district, on a 
 stream of the same name, a tributarj^ of the Pade. 
 
 ENGMA-MYOMA. — A revenue circle in the Prome district on the Myit- 
 ma-kha river just below the Eugma lake. The west and centre of the 
 circle consists of low hills and undulating ground, the source, in the rains, of 
 numerous small streams which flow into the Myit-ma-kha; the eastern por- 
 tion is fairly level. A narrow belt of rice-cultivation runs nearly throughout 
 the whole length of the circle. The main road from Rangoon to the frontier 
 traverses this circle in a westerly direction. 
 
 ENG-RAI. — A town in the circle of the same name, in the Tsam-bay-roon 
 township, Bassein district, on the right bank of the Daga river, about seven 
 miles below Kyoonpyaw, in 17° 10' 30" N. and 95° 18' 30" E. with a popula- 
 tion of some 1,500 souls, who are largely engaged in rice-cultivation and in 
 fishing. In former years, before the Kyoung-goon and Tsam-lxay-roou town- 
 ships were united, this town was the head-quarters of the Extra Assistant 
 Commissioner. 
 
 ENG-RAI. — A large revenue circle in the Tsam-bay-roon township of the 
 Bassein district on the right bank of the Daga a few miles below the town of 
 Kyoon-pyaw. The upper or northern part of the circle consists of rice- 
 fields and the southern part presents an open plain, interspersed with patches 
 of forest, which affords excellent pasture for cattle. The ground here undu- 
 lates slightly. A considerable portion of the revenue is derived from the 
 fisheries. In the north (where the great Eng-rai-gyee lake, q. v. is) there are 
 good fair weather cart-roads but in the south footpaths only. The land 
 
 19
 
 14G BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 revenue in 1876-77 was Rs. 11,783, the capitation-tax Rs. 8,018; the gross 
 revenue Rs. 36,425 and the population 6,248. 
 
 ENG-RAI-GYEE. — A lake in the Bassein district about five miles in 
 circumference with a pretty uniform breadth of 280 to 300 yards and a depth 
 of from 20 to 45 feet in the centre ; it is connected with the Daga, a large 
 branch of the Gnawon or Bassein river, by a small outlet which at the 
 period of the freshes during the S. W. monsoon and on the subsidence of 
 that river serves to replenish the water of the lake from the Irrawaddy 
 and to carry off the surplus water. Both in the small stream and in the river 
 the water is shallower than in the lake whilst the general breadth of the last 
 is greater than that of either of the two first. By some it has been supposed 
 that it was formerly a portion of the bed of the Daga^ by others that it was 
 formed by causes totally independent of stream action by a gradual subsi- 
 dence of the substratum or by a slip of the lower lying beds. It is cer- 
 tainly a fact that the water of the lake when relieved of the surcharge from 
 the river has a different colour (dark opaque olive) from that of the river 
 when uninfluenced by the efflux from the Irrawaddy and its properties are 
 such as to cause the fish in it to attain a large size and a greater degree of 
 fatness than those of either river or lakes in the vicinity. 
 
 Under the Burman Government this lake had a far-famed celebrity 
 from the abundance and excellence of the fish caught on the occasion of 
 the annual drawing of its bed during the full moon of June; on which occasion 
 traders from Ava, from Prome and from the large towns on the Irrawaddy 
 assembled to make their investments in smoke-dried fish cured on the spot, 
 whilst, as at present obtains, the fish-dealers from Bassein and other towns 
 on the lower streams purchased the fish alive, and transported them in bam- 
 boo cages immersed in water from which they were sold still in a live 
 state; owing to the profits realized in this trade the competition for the 
 purchase of the fish at the lake became so great that it was not unusual to 
 make advances several seasons previous to the completion of the contract. 
 
 As a ''preserve''^ for fish to which their natural instincts would direct 
 them for purposes of spawning and breeding the lake is eminently adapted 
 and after the rains of the monsoon have filled the water-courses and the 
 Daga has become swollen and rapid the fish seek the still waters of the 
 lake in vast numbers, making their entrance through the small channel 
 and shallow water at its southern entrance where the land is low and swampy : 
 this entrance is left open until the fish have passed through, it is then closed 
 during the height of the waters and on the subsidence, when the channel 
 has become too shallow to admit of the fish escaping, it is again opened. 
 
 So valuable a source of revenue to the Burmese Government as this 
 fishery afibrded was not allowed to escape easily ; accordingly the sum of 60 
 viss of silver or about Es. 7,800 annually was exacted as a Royal tax 
 from the " Paineng " or hereditary chief of the lake, who exercised sole 
 authority over the villagers employed in the fishery and, with his subordinate 
 officers, formed a distinct and independent establishment. The conditions of 
 the payment of this amount of tax were, however, favourable to the villager, 
 as he was exempt from all other process of taxation and in proportion to his 
 means had a right of investing his capital in the general working of the 
 fishery, the purchase of material for weirs, traps, nets, &c., in proportion
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 147 
 
 with which amount so invested he received a share in the outturn at the 
 end of the season. 
 
 On the cessation of the rains of the S. W. monsoon, when the 
 waters have fallen to their lowest level, a fixed weir is placed across the 
 lake at its shallowest part and another some distance from it shutting" 
 off between them a small space in which is the mouth of the channel connect- 
 ing- the lake with the Daga river : this small space, made as small as pos- 
 sible, is left uuworked. A drag-net of reed and grass, strongly constructed 
 with the toughest forest creepers forming from its great length of about 
 900 yards a deep concavity and sweeping the bed of the lake, is then placed 
 across inside one weir and gradually moved right round the lake towards 
 the other. The process of dragging is performed by floating capstans 
 worked by hawsers of jungle rope attached to the end of the frame 
 which by this tedious process is carried forward during three mouths at 
 about 45 fathoms each day until it is opposite to the village at the further 
 end of the lake ; a new weir is now constructed to form one side of the enclo- 
 sure into which the fish have thus been driven. The ponderous mass 
 of framework is taken to pieces and reconstructed across the water at the second 
 of the two weiis first made whence it is dragged up in the same way as 
 before to the village driving the fish before it and the ends are gradually 
 contracted till an oblong space is included within which the fish are enclosed. 
 The taking of the fish from the enclosure into which they are ultimately 
 driven is deferred until the full moon of June, by which time the first showers 
 of the monsoon have reduced the temperature of the. water, and the fish are 
 then less subject to die than would be the case with the full blaze of the 
 sun, unmitigated by the rain, striking upon the crowded mass ; even with this 
 precaution, however, a large number of fish die before the whole has been 
 cleared and the stench of their corruption taints the air for miles around. 
 
 On the near approach of the drag-net to the space forming the enclosure 
 the fish are observed to be in great commotion, rushing in all directions 
 and attempting to force their way through; finding the net too strong 
 many of the larger kind attempt to leap over the barrier which they 
 effect only to fall into nets spread to catch them ere they reach the 
 water ; as the space becomes more confined the disturbance of the mass of 
 fish becomes so great that the noise of the splashing, and especially the 
 deep hollow "grunting " of the larger kinds, is heard at several miles distance 
 and although this may appear tinctured with a little exaggeration it will be 
 intelligible when it is stated that the number of fish caught is never below 70,000 
 to 80,000 of all kinds, some of which weigh upwards of 15 viss or about 
 lbs. 56 each ; mixed up with the mass it is not unusual to find crocodiles of all 
 sizes, from the infant of a month to a grown parent whose skull measures 
 three feet in length. Strange to relate no accident or casualty has been 
 known to occur from the presence of crocodiles in this lake although the men 
 employed in working the drag-net are constantly compelled to dive to the 
 bottom in the deeper parts to clear the lower portion of obstructions in 
 the bed. 
 
 During the taking and disposal of the fish some 8,000 to 10,000 persons 
 are collected at the small village in front of the preserve, a market is formed, 
 and temporary sheds for smoking the fish are built where the principal 
 amount of business is transacted; the scene altogether is exciting- and,
 
 148 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 notwithstanding the fishy odour, fresh and corrupt, which pervades the atmos- 
 phere, is well worth the visit of the curious observer. 
 
 The principal fish belong to the following genera, — Cerca, Cyprinus, 
 Gohio, Labeo, Cimelodus, Cirrhimis, Cyprinodon and Silurus, some of which 
 attain the large size previously noted. In addition to these, howevei', there is 
 a multitude of smaller fry which are converted into the coarser kinds of 
 " Ngapee,"*' and are only interesting to the Ichthyologist, who would here 
 find a large field for observation. Of those named above some 25,000 viss, 
 upwards of 40 tons, are annually disposed of on the spot.* 
 
 ENG-EOON. — A river in the northern portion of the Prome district 
 which rises in the Myit-myeng-doung spur and flowing southward falls into 
 the Kouk-khwe, itself a tributary of the north Naweng, near Htangoon a 
 little below Wet-htee-gan. It is navigable during the rains for a short dis- 
 tance by small boats ; the bed is sandy and the banks, on which the Eng tree 
 {Dipterocarpus tuberculatus) is found in great abundance, are moderately 
 high. 
 
 ENG-THA-NWOT.— A lake in the Henzada district lying a little to the 
 east of the Doora lake with which it communicates by a small channel. 
 It is 1,400 yards long and has a maximum breadth of 700 yards : the depth 
 in the dry weather is from 4 to 6 feet and in the rains from 12 to 14. 
 
 ENG-TSOUK. — A revenue circle in the Anouk-bhet township, Tavoy 
 district, about sixteen square miles in extent of which some three are cultivated, 
 mainly with rice. In 1876-77 the land revenue was Rs. 4,338, the capitation- 
 tax Es. 1,964, the gross revenue Rs. 6,537 and the population 2,656. 
 
 ENG-WON. — A lake in the Bhoommawaddee township of the Toung- 
 ngoo district rather more than a mile inland from the left bank of the Tsit- 
 touug river, with a depth of 15 feet of water in the rains and 6 or 7 in the 
 dry weather. 
 
 ENG-WON. — A revenue circle in the Anouk-bhet township, Tavoy dis- 
 trict, about nine square miles in extent of which a quarter is under cultivation, 
 principally with rice. In 1876-77 the land revenue was Rs. 8,993, the capita- 
 tion-tax Rs. 2,092, the gross revenue Es. 6,285 and the population 2,730. 
 
 ENG-WON-GYEE.— A lake in the Meng-gyee township of the Henzada 
 district on the right bank of the Myit-ma-kha or Hlaing river north-west of 
 Meng-gyee. In the rains it is 25 feet deep and can then be entered by 
 boats of 100 baskets burden ; in the dry season it is 6 feet deep : the bed is 
 muddy and the banks flat. 
 
 ENG-ZAYA. — A large revenue circle in the north-west of the 
 Thoon-khwa township, Thoon-khwa district. The principal products are 
 tobacco, betel vine leaves and vegetables. The eastern part of the circle con- 
 sists of extensive plains and swamps which in some cases constitute fisheries, 
 yielding a large revenue to the State. In 1876-77 the land revenue was 
 Es. 9,624, the capitation-tax Rs. 7,130, the gross revenue Es. 22,900 and 
 the population 3,739. 
 
 FOUL ISLAND. — An uninhabited island ofi* the coast of the Sandoway 
 district — called by the Burmese Nan-tha-kywon of which the English 
 
 * Taken almost verbatim from a paper by the late Mr. O'Eiley, F.R.G.S. [Editor.]
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 149 
 
 name is a translatiou — lying in about 18° 3' N. six leagues from the mainland 
 and seven from Bluff point and visible from a distance of eight leagues. It is 
 about two miles long of conical form sloping from the centre towards the sea 
 and the north end terminating in a low point. To the north-east there are islets 
 and rocks near the shore and a reef partly above water extending southward. 
 The name is derived from a so-called "mud volcano^' which gives the island 
 its conical appearance and from which, at times, pours forth a torrent of hot 
 mud bubbling with marsh gas. 
 
 GAI-KHO. — A fierce and savage subtribe of Pwo Kareng living north and 
 ea^ of the Shoung and like them wearing trowsers which, however, probably 
 owing to their habit of rearing silkworms, are often made of silk handsomely 
 ornamented. Though a portion of the Pwo branch they wear tlie same trowsers 
 as the Bghai-ka-hta viz. : white with red radiating lines like the rising sun 
 embroidered at the bottom. By the Bghai family they are called Kai, a word 
 that is never used alone but with an affix denoting one of the three portions 
 into which they divide the clan : — Kai-khew or " Upper Kai '"" Kai-la or 
 *' Lower Kai^' and Kai-pie-ya, or ^' Kai's people": the term Gai-kho '\s t\\Q 
 Burmanised form of Kai-khew. Formerly they were the determined foes 
 of the British but owing to the exertions of the district officers they are 
 now our firm friends. They consider themselves as superior to all the other 
 Kareng clans : the men are stout tall and muscular, daring in adventure and wai'- 
 like in disposition ; the women large, fair and often with ruddy complexions. 
 Burmese schools have been established by the Baptist missionaries and many 
 amongst them can speak Burmese. Within British territory there are about 
 twenty villages containing an estimated population of 3,000 souls. They have 
 two distinguishing peculiarities, their horror of ponies and elephants which 
 are not allowed to enter their villages and for which they will neither provide 
 nor sell fodder and the barbarous custom, now happily dying out, of buryiuo- 
 a slave with the dead body of every slave holder and elder. 
 
 GAMOON-AING. — A revenue circle in the valley of the Kyoukgyee 
 stream, an eastern tributary of the Tsittoung, in the Kyoukgyee township of 
 the Shwe-gyeng district, which includes the formerly separate circle of Kyouk- 
 hmaw. It extends over an estimated area of 120 square miles and has a 
 population — towards the east composed principally of Kareng — of 6,538 souls. 
 A large revenue is derived from fishery and net tax mainly in the old 
 Kyouk-hmaw circle : the land revenue in 1876-77 was Rs. 4,983, the capita- 
 tion-tax Es. 5,712 and the gross revenue Rs. 17,749. 
 
 GAW. — A revenue circle in the Tlia-htoon sub-division, Amherst district; 
 lying partly in the valley formed by the Martaban hills on the east and 
 the Debharien spur on the west and partly in the plain countxy between 
 the hills and the seacoast. A few years ago it extended across the Martaban 
 hills eastward to the Bhenglaing but it was found to be too large for 
 supervision by one Thoogyee and was, therefore, reduced to its present limits. 
 In 1876 it had a population of 4,668 souls, mainly Toungthoo, and 6,567 
 acres under cultivation ; the capitation-tax was Rs. 4,327 and the land revenue 
 Es. 12,167. 
 
 GAW. — A small stream in the Tha-htoon township which rises in the 
 Martaban hills and flowing westward crosses the heaxi of the Debharien
 
 150 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 valley a few miles south of Tha-htoon and falls into the Tsha or Tha-htoon 
 river not far from Kawthan. 
 
 GAWTAMAW. — A small revenue circle in the Mahathaman township, 
 Prome district, about ten miles east of Prome ; the major portion is under rice 
 cultivation. The land revenue in 1876-77 was Es. 505, the capitation-tax 
 Es. 365, the gross revenue Es. 890 and the population 355. United with it is 
 the formerly separate Koon-tseug circle. 
 
 GNYOUNG-BENG.— A village in the Thanlyeng township of the Ean- 
 goon district on the Poogandoung stream and about seven miles from its 
 mouth inhabited chiefly by Talaing who are traders and carriers. In 1877 
 it had 999 inhabitants. Lat. 16° 59' N. Long. 96° 28' 30" E. 
 
 GNYOUNG-BENG. — A revenue circle in the extreme south of the Pegu 
 township, Eaugoon district, between the Pegu and the Tsittoung rivers. The 
 principal rice cultivation is in the western part of the circle where the coun- 
 try is undulating. In 1876 it had a population of 8,339 souls. The land 
 revenue in the same year was Es. 57,514, the capitation-tax Es. 10,083 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 88,482. 
 
 GNYOUNG-BENG. — A village in the Prome district in a small patch of 
 rice cultivation on the bank of the South Naweng river some eight miles 
 above the mouth of the North Naweng. 
 
 GNYOUNG-BENG-GYEE.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 25' 50" 
 N. and 95° 23' 30" E. a short distance to the N. W. of Poungday and about 
 a mile and a half north of the Kyat river, inhabited mainly by rice culti- 
 vators; 
 
 GNYOUNG-BENG-HLA. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo town- 
 ship, Kyouk-hpyoo district, eight square miles in extent, with a population in 
 1876 of 1,650 souls. The principal manufacture is salt. The land revenue 
 in 1876-77 was Es. 2,007, the capitation-tax Es. 1,770 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 4,421. United with it is the formerly separate Madai-kywon circle. 
 
 GNYOUNG-BENG-EWA.— A village in the Henzada township on the 
 north of the town of Henzada of which it forms a suburb. 
 
 GNYOUNG-BENG-EWA.— A small revenue circle in the Henzada 
 township, Henzada district, lying to the north of Henzada on the right 
 bank of the Irrawaddy, the southern and western portions of which are exten- 
 sively cultivated with rice. It is now joined to the Henzada Myoma circle. 
 
 GNYOUNG-BENG-THA.— A village in the Toungngoo district on the 
 left bank of the Tsittoung in 19° 0' 40" N. and 96° 32' 40" E. inhabited 
 principally by gardeners and Kareng cultivators. 
 
 GNYOUNG-BENG-THA.— A revenue circle in the Prome district in 
 the extreme north-eastern corner of the Padoang township, separated from 
 the Thayet district by the little Yathaya streamlet and occupying the whole 
 of the river bank opposite Prome. The surface of the country is generally 
 hilly with fruit and vegetable gardens on the hill sides. The villages are 
 all on the bank of the Irrawaddy and are inhabited by cultivators and fisher- 
 men. The land revenue in 1876-77 wasEs. 911 and the capitation-tax Es. 1,147. 
 
 GNYOUNG-BENG-THA.— A revenue circle in the Za-lwon township of 
 the Henzada district on the right bank of the Irrawaddy south of and adjoining
 
 BBITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 151 
 
 the Za-lwon Myoma circle. The laud is well cultivated with rice an 
 embaDkment on the river protecting it from inundation. The land revenue 
 in 1876-77 was Rs, 8,417, the capitation-tax Rs. 3,027 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 12,923. In the same year the population was 4,467 souls. 
 
 GNYOUNG-BENG-TSHIEP.— Alarge village on the leftbankof the Irra- 
 waddy in the Myedai township, Thayet district: in the Burmese time it was 
 the head-quarters of a Myothoogyee. It is said to have been founded by 
 the Shan King of Ava Mo-hgnyeng-meng-tara, a usurper who was Tsawbwa 
 of Mo-hgnyeng, when he came down in 1438 A.D. to make peace with 
 the king of Pegu who was besieging Prome. It was originally called Meklia- 
 wadee. North of it was founded a small town called Ramawadee and south 
 another called Zeya-wadee. Symes who visited it at the end of the last cen- 
 tury describes it as a '' fine village situated in a romantic country.'^ 
 
 During the first Burmese war General Campbell had an interview in 
 this village with the Burmese Commissioners but the terms of the treaty into 
 which they entered were not ratified at the capital and the British advance 
 continued. 
 
 GNYOUNG-BENG-TSHIEP.— Alarge villageinthe Gyaing Thanlweug 
 township Amherst district on the right bank of the Attaran river at its mouth. 
 In 1876 it had a population of 1,794 souls. 
 
 GNYOUNG-BENG-TSHIEP.— A revenue circle in the Myedai township, 
 Thayet district, six square miles in extent on the left bank of the Irrawaddy : 
 included within its limits are six of the old village tracts each of which in 
 the Burmese time had a Thoogyee of its own. The population in 1876 num- 
 bered 4,115 souls almost all 13urmans. The land revenue realized in 1876- 
 77 was Rs. 4,437, the capitation-tax Rs. 4,135 and the gross revenue Rs. 10,247. 
 Before the annexation of Pegu Gnyoung-beng-tshiep was an independent juris- 
 diction and under the Myothoogyee were the Thoogyee of Myo-hla, Tsheng- 
 doon, Bwotlay, Pyalo and Pyenbouk which with the exception of the last 
 are still Thoogyeeships but are no longer under the head official in Gnyoung- 
 beng-tshiep who has charge of his own circle only. The last Myo- 
 thoogyee but one succeeded when four years old in 1798 A.D. and was killed 
 fighting against the British near Rangoon in 1852. Hisson MoungTet-hpyo 
 fled with the defeated Burman army and before the annexation succeeded his 
 father in the Myothoogyeeship. On the advance of the British force he 
 abandoned his appointment and retired into private life. Subsequently he 
 took office under the English as an Extra Assistant Commissioner and was 
 placed in charge of the Myedai township. His is the oldest family in the 
 district tracing its descent to Myothoogyee in the time of the great Aloung- 
 bhoora (Alompra) A.D. 1756, whilst few of the others can go further back 
 than the days of his son Mengtaragyee A.D. 1780. 
 
 GNYOUNG-BENG-TSHIEP.— A revenue circle in the Gyaing Than- 
 Iweng township, Amherst district, east of Maulmain at the junction of the 
 Attaran and the Gyaing and on the right bank of the former. The circle 
 is noted for the manufacture of earthen pots from the earth brought down 
 the Attaran from Kyaikparan : these pots are used on the coast for salt 
 boiling and other purposes. The land revenue in 1876-77 was Rs. 4,246, 
 the capitation-tax Rs. 3,237 and the population 2,999 souls.
 
 152 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 GNYOUNG-DAN. — A village in the Prome district on the Gnyoung-dan 
 Ro, or wet weather watercourse, which falls into the Waigyee river about 
 four miles east of the Eugma swamp and twenty-three E. S. E. of Prome 
 in a direct line. 
 
 GNYOUNG-DAN.— A village in the Prome district in 11° 29' 40" N. 
 and 95° 34' 10" E. on the left bank of the Thien stream, one of the small 
 tributaries of the Waigyee, about two miles N. W. of Poungday and one mile 
 north of the main road from Eangoon to the northern frontier of the Province. 
 
 GNYOUNG-DAN. — A revenue circle in the Prome district about a 
 mile and a half west of Poungday. Gnyoimgdan is its largest village. In 
 1876-77 the land revenue was Rs, 703, the capitation-tax Pis. 890, the gross 
 revenue Rs. 1,590 and the population 883 souls. Adjoined to it is the 
 formerly separate circle of Thayet-khyeng. 
 
 GNYOUNG-DOON.— Sometimes called Y'andoon. A town in the Thoon- 
 khwa district with a population of 6,900 souls, 60 miles north-west from 
 Rangoon at the junction of the Pan-hlaing creek, here called the Gnyoungdoon, 
 with the Irrawaddy. The town, which extends for about three miles along 
 both banks of the creek, has sprung up almost entirely since 1852 ; in the 
 Burmese time it was a small village of some 100 houses. It is the rendezvous 
 of all the trading boats which run between the upper part of the valley 
 of the Irrawaddy and Rangoon and during the rains as many as 1,000 boats 
 collect here and dispose of their cargoes, those from up-country to those from 
 Rangoon and vice versa. The principal imports from up-country are wheat, 
 gram, beans, pickled tea, oil, onions, garlic and silk, and the principal exports 
 upwards, rice husked and unhusked, piece-goods, crockery, earthen-ware, 
 tobacco and betel-nuts : small steamers occasionally run between Rangoon 
 and Gnyoungdoon, making the trip with a favourable tide in one day. 
 
 GNYOUNG-DOON. — A revenue circle in the township of the same 
 name in the Thoon-khwa district at the northern mouth of the Pan-hlaing creek. 
 In 1876-77 the laud revenue was Rs. 16,172 the capitation-tax Rs. 12,708 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 29,666 ; in the same year the population, including 
 the inhabitants of the town of Gnyoungdoon, was 12,354. 
 
 GNYOUNG-GOON. — A revenue circle in the Re Lamaiug township, 
 Amherst district, on the spurs of the forest-clad hills which border the valley 
 of the Re. Its inhabitants are chiefly Kareng and the cultivated area is very 
 small and almost entirely on the hill sides. The land revenue in 1876 
 was only Rs. 307, the capitation-tax Rs. 1,092 and the number of the inhabit- 
 ants 834. 
 
 GNYOUNG-KHARA. — The name of an ancient town two miles north 
 of Tavoy built in 715 A.D. after the destruction of Thagara and At-ka-lien- 
 oung by the Shans. A few mounds only now remain to mark the site. 
 
 GNYOUNG-KHYOUNG.— A village in the Henzada district on the 
 right bank of the Irrawaddy. The principal occupation of the inhabitants 
 is the cultivation of the neighbouring extensive tract of rice land. Long. 95° 
 41' 20" E.: Lat. 17° 21' 40" N. 
 
 GNYOUNG-KHYOUNG.— A revenue circle in the Donabyoo town- 
 ship, Thoon-khwa district, on the right bank of the Irrawaddy south of
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 153 
 
 Donabyoo Myoma. Until the embaukmeut along the rivei* was made the south- 
 ern portions of the circle were unculturable owing- to periodical inundations. 
 In 1876-77 the land revenue was Es. 15,401, the capitation-tax Es. 9,345, the 
 g-ross revenue Es. 27,611 and the population 10,212. United to it is the Tha- 
 byoo circle. 
 
 GNYOUNG-LE-BENG. — A revenue circle. in the Shwe-gyeng district 
 to the W.N.W. of Shwe-gyeng with an area of about 70 square miles 
 and a population of 5,284 souls, principally Tabling. In 1876-77 the land 
 revenue was Es. 8,994, the capitation-tax Es. 5,037 and the gross revenue 
 Ks. 14,480. 
 
 GNYOUNG-LE-BENG.— A large village of 1,082 inhabitants in the 
 Shwe-gyeng district a few miles west of Kweug-da-la and about 14 W.N.W. 
 from Shwe-gyeng. 
 
 GNYOUNG-EWA-GYEE.— A revenue circle on the southern border of the 
 Kanoung township of the Henzada district with some rising ground towards 
 the west and extensive rice plains in the centre. The land revenue in 1876- 
 77 was Es. 6,730, the capitation-tax Es. 4.370, the gross revenue Es. 11,849 
 and the population 4,981. 
 
 GNYOUNG-EWA-NGAY.— A revenue circle in the south of the Kan- 
 oung township of the Henzada district extending eastwards from the Arakan 
 Eoma mountains with extensive rice-fields towards the east, the west beino- 
 mountainous and covered with tree forest. It is now joined to five other circles 
 viz., Eeng-taw, Gnyoung-khyeng, Htien-the, Kywai-tsheng and Thanat-khoou. 
 In 1876-77 the land revenue of the united circles was Es. 1,412, the eapitatiou- 
 tax Es. 2,460, the gross revenue Es. 3,949, and the population 2,556 souls. 
 
 GNYOUNG-TSA-EE.— A village in the Shwedoung township, Prome dis- 
 trict, in 18° 30' 6" N. and 95° 13' 41" E. on the left bank of the Irrawaddy 
 about four and a half miles above the southern boundary of the district. 
 
 GNYOUNG-TSA-EE. — A revenue circle in the Prome district occupying 
 
 the south-western corner of the Shwe-doung township between the Irrawaddy 
 on the west, the Henzada district on the south and the Shwe-uat-touno* or 
 Kholan hills on the east. Included in this area are the formerly separate circles 
 of Tsheng-rwa, Hmek-khara, Gnyouug-tsa-re, Sha-tsoo-khyoung, Magyee- 
 htoon, Sha-daing, Bai-hla and Kyouk-taga. During the rains a tract of country 
 in the south is completely separated from the rest by the Doon-koola water- 
 course which leaves the Irrawaddy at Shwe-kywon village and joins it ao-ain 
 just below Gnyoung-tsa-re : in the dry season when the waters of the river fall 
 this channel is closed up just above Gnyoung-tsa-re and what was an island is 
 converted into a long narrow peninsula connected with the rest of the circle 
 by a neck of sand. The surface of the country in general is level except in the 
 east where the ground undulates considerably. In the centre and towards 
 the south-west rice is extensively cultivated. Gnyoung-tsa-re is the only large 
 village. The land revenue in 1876-77 was Es. 5,729, the capitation-tax 
 Es. 6,115, the gross revenue Es. 12,465 and the population 5,961. 
 
 GN YOUNG-TSENG. — A revenue circle in the northern portion of the south- 
 eastern township of the Tavoy district, of which about one-third is under 
 cultivation, principally with rice. In 1876-77 the land revenue was Rs. 3,249, the 
 capitation-tax Es. 1,432, the gross revenue Es. 5,457 and the po])ulation 1,789. 
 
 20
 
 154 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 GNYOUNG-TSENG-GYEE.— A small revenue circle in the Poungday 
 township, Prome district, wliicli in 1876-77 furnished Pis. 281 as land revenue 
 and Es. 250 as capitation-tax and had a population of 255 souls. 
 
 GNYOUNG-TSENG-NGAY.— A revenue circle in the Prome district 
 close to and to the west of Poungday. Being one of the old circles it is of very 
 small extent and in 1876 the population was only 281 souls. The land 
 revenue in 1876-77 was Es. 213, the capitation-tax Es, 270 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 483. 
 
 GNYOUNG-WAING.— A village of about 500 inhabitants in the Ananbaw 
 circle, Kyouk-gyee township, Shwe-gyeng district, on the Kwon river a few 
 miles above its mouth. 
 
 GNYOUNG-WON.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 33' 40" N, 
 and 95° 33' 40'' E. about six miles N.N.W. of Poungday and a mile N. 
 of the Waigyee river a small feeder of which runs past the village. Its in- 
 habitants are mainly agriculturists. 
 
 GNYOUNG-WON. — A revenue circle in the Prome district a short 
 distance to the north-north-east of Poungday on the right bank of the Waigyee 
 just below Rwa-thit-gyee. It is well cultivated with rice in the central and 
 western portions. The largest village is Gnyoung-goon. In 1876-77 the land 
 revenue was Es. 1,396, the capitation-tax Es. 1,683, the gross revenue Es. 3,115 
 and the population 1,750. 
 
 GNYOUNG-WON. — A revenue circle in the Kama township, Thayet 
 district, containing but little cultivation. In 1860 the Thoogyee of Thara- 
 pee and Kyouk-padoung resigned and their circles were joined to the old 
 Gnyoung-won circle to form the present one. The Thoogyee is also in 
 charge of the Myo-hla circle. The land revenue in 1876-77 was Es. 991, the 
 capitation-tax Es. 1,037, the gross revenue Es. 2,098 and the population 993. 
 GOUNG-TSE-KYWON. — A small rocky island in the Salween, at its 
 junction with the Gyaing close to Maulmain, on which stand a monastery 
 and a few pagodas shaded by trees. 
 
 GWE-KHYO. — A river in the northern portion of the Prome district a 
 tributary of the South Naweng. It rises in the southern slopes of the 
 Padouk spur some twenty miles west of the main range of the Pegu Roma 
 mountains and has a south-westerly course to the Naw^eng which it joins 
 near the village of Khyouug-khwa by the same mouth as the Eng-goon and 
 the Khyouug-tsouk ; near its source the bed is rocky but lower down sandy 
 and muddy : it is not navigable by boats. The trees most common on its banks 
 are Eug {D'qjterocarpiis tuberculatus) and Htien {Nauclea sp.) 
 
 GYAING. — A river in the Amherst district formed by the junction in 
 16° 34' N. and 98~^ 3' E. near the village of Gyaing of the Hlaiugbhwai and 
 the Houugtharaw. The united waters flow w^est lor 45 miles and fall into 
 the Salween at Maulmain. A broad but shallow river with numerous sand- 
 banks it is navigable only by boats ; these can ascend at all seasons. The 
 most important places on the banks are Kado at the mouth, the Government 
 Timber- revenue station; Zatha-byeng, on the same (right) bank a few miles 
 higher up, the head-quarters of the Gyaing Than-lweug township; Tarana on 
 the left bank about four miles higher; Dhammatha a small village remarkable 
 on account of a single scarped and pagoda crowned rock and an amphitheatre
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 155 
 
 of limestone hills iu which are larg-e caves filled with images of Gaudama 
 Booddha and of Rahan ; and lastly Gyaing*. 
 
 GYAING. — A village in the Amherst district at the junction of the 
 Hlaing-bwai and Houngtharaw rivers where a small Police force is stationed. 
 
 GYAING. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Than-lweng township, Am- 
 herst district, at the junction of the Hlaiug-bhwai and the Houngtharaw. 
 In 1876-77 the land i*evenue was Es. 3,506, the capitation-tax Rs. 2,155 
 and the population 2,983. 
 
 GYAING ATTARAN. — A township in the Amherst district occupying 
 the valley of the Attaran river from the hills forming the southern boundary 
 of the district northwards to the G3^aing. A tract on the left bank of that 
 river eastwards from the mouth of the Attaran has of late years, for adminis- 
 trative convenience, been added to' the Gyaing Than-lweng township the larger 
 portion of which lies north of the Gyaing. 
 
 The township is sparsely populated especially towards the south where 
 the inhabitants are principally Kareng. Above the junction of the Zamee 
 and the Weng-raw, which unite to form the Attaran, are large tracts of 
 forest-land containing much valuable timber which, except bond fide for pur- 
 poses of cultivation, cannot be cut without a license. Teak was formerly very 
 plentiful but considerable damage was done in the first years after the British 
 occupation by indiscriminate felling. 
 
 The head-quarters are at a small village called Nga-bye-ma with 233 in- 
 habitants in 1876 on the right bank of the Attaran. A few miles above 
 this is Re-boo, a hamlet so called from the neighbouring hot spring which 
 is described by Dr. Heifer — and his description is accurate — as a " semi-cir- 
 ^' cular pond 50 feet in circumference perfectly calm except in one or two 
 "places where a slight ebullition occasionally takes place. * * * The air 
 " above the spring was 97° 50' and the water itself 147° F. ; notwithstanding this 
 '* high temperature the borders are deeply covered with vegetation and a species 
 " of ficus " has " actually its roots in the water. The ground round the springs 
 •' is strongly impregnated with iron.^' In 1874-75 a partially successful ex- 
 periment in potato cultivation was made in the neighbourhood but beyond 
 the reach of the heat of this spring. Between Nga-bye-ma and Re-boo is the 
 site of the ancient town of Attaran of which traces of the surrounding 
 mound only exist. The Attaran is a deep rapid river flowing in places under 
 cliffs of tree-clad limestone rocks and navigable by vessels of large draught 
 for a considerable distance — Mr. Crawford in 1826 ascended in a steamer as 
 far as old Attaran — but used only by boats as the country it taps has but 
 a small population and no extensive areas of land under cultivation. 
 
 For administrative purposes the township is divided into 15 circles and 
 in 1876-77 produced a gross revenue of Es. 43,184 of which Es. 20,094 were 
 derived from the capitation-tax and Rs. 23,810 from the land. The popu- 
 lation in that year numbered 20,496 souls. 
 
 In the dry season parties of Shan cross the frontier at the Three Pagodas 
 and come down the valley of the Attaran bringing ponies and cattle for sale. 
 
 GYAING THAN-LWENG.— A township in the Amherst district form- 
 ing a rectangular tract extending eastwards from the Salween to the Hlaing- 
 bhwai and southwards from the Hpa-au a tributary of the Salween and the 
 Kha-zaiug a tributary of the Hlaing-bhwai, the sources of which are close
 
 156 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 togethei' and in the rains are connected by a small stream navigable by canoes, 
 to the Gyaing- and including' a small patch of country south of that river 
 round about Gnyoung-beng-tshiep at the mouth of the Attavan on its right 
 bank just behind Maulmain. It contains 16 revenue circles. The head- 
 quarters-are at Za-tha-byeng on the right bank of the Gyaing twelve miles 
 above Maulmain. The principal villages are Gnyoung-beng-tshiep, Kado at 
 the junction of the Gyaing and the Salvveen, the Government Timber-revenue 
 station a busy town where many rich foresters and timber traders reside, 
 Hpa-an in the N.W. corner at the mouth of the Hpa-an stream the head- 
 quarters of the Assistant Superintendent of Police in charge of the northern 
 range where there is a Police station and a new market, Noung-loon inhabited 
 largely by Toungthoo on the main line of traffic between the Shan States 
 and Tha-htoon, and Kha-rai just above the junction of the Hlaing-bhwai and 
 the Houng-tha-raw which, united, form the Gyaing. With the exception of 
 the three main rivers which bound the township on three sides the streams 
 are of little or no importance ; the largest are the Kado with a bar at its mouth 
 impassable at low water, the Hpai-ka-ta and the Hpa-an tributaries of the 
 Salween and the Kha-zaiug which falls into the Hlaing-bhwai. During the 
 dry season numerous parties of Shan bringing cattle come in via Mya-waddy 
 and Kaw-ka-riet in the Houng-tha-raw township and crossing the Hlaing-bhwai 
 at Kha-rai just above Gyaing pass westwards to Tha-htoon and on northwards 
 into the Shwe-gyeug district and at the end of the season return by the same 
 route. The halting-places and distances are Kha-rai to Moot-ka-do 8 miles, 
 Moot-ka-do to Kaw-ka-da 24 miles, Kaw-ka-da to Noung-loon 15 miles, and 
 Noung-loon to Hpa-an 12 miles. Here they cross the Salween and pass into 
 tlie Hpa-gat township. More commonly the distance between Moot-ka-do 
 and Noung-loon is divided into three and the halting-places and distances 
 then are Kha-rai to Moot-ka-do 8 miles, Moot-ka-do to Noung-goon 10 miles, 
 Noung-goon through Kaw-ka-da to Rwou-gnya 16 miles, Rwou-gnya to 
 Noung-loon 13 miles, and Noung-loon to Hpa-an 12 miles. 
 
 In the west and south-west the country consists of an extensive plain 
 traversed by parallel lines of limestone rocks having a general north and 
 south direction with intervening narrow and cultivated valleys. Portions are 
 heavily inundated during the rains partly by the slow escape of the rain-fall 
 and partly by the spill of the Salween which pours in at and above Hpa-an 
 and flows southward through the Noung-loon valley and over the plain 
 country between the Salween and the Zwai-ka-beng hills passing out into the 
 Salween again at and below Hpai-ka-ta. The eastern and north-eastern parts 
 of the township are filled by low laterite hills, covered by open tree and 
 bamboo forest, intersecting small grass plains with little patches of rice near 
 the numerous Kareng villages scattered over this part of the crantry. These 
 plains are so low that water remains in them in pools throughout the year. 
 The southern tract is a long narrow rice-producing plain between the 
 undulating ground on the north and the Gyaing on the south which on the 
 west unites with the Noung-loon and Doon-reng valleys. The villages on the 
 bank of the Salween and Gyaing are inhabited chiefly by Talaing with a 
 few Burmans, those in the E. and N.E. by Kareng and those in the centre 
 by Toungthoo. In the plain country rice is grown and exported, principally 
 via Hpa-an whence it comes down the Salween, and from the villages on the 
 banks of the Gyaing. In the more hilly parts where water and loddtM* are
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 157 
 
 obtainable all the year round cattle are extensively bred and are sold to 
 purchasers who come from Tha-htoon and from Pegu and other places 
 west of the Tsittoung and move about from village to village collecting herds 
 which they drive home by the ordinary trade route. In the dry weather 
 the cattle wander over the low grass plains and in the rains through the 
 forest on the higher ground. In 1876-77 the township had a population 
 of 39,524 souls and produced a revenue of Rs. 103,273 of which Rs. 02,156 
 were derived from the land revenue and Rs. 41,117 from the capitation-tax. 
 
 GYO-BENG.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 26' 50" N. and 
 95° 34' 25" E. on the Myolay creek and on the road from Ta-pwon in the 
 Henzada district to Poungday about three miles south of its junction with 
 the main road from Rangoon to the northern frontier. 
 
 GYO-BENG-THA. — A. village in the Prome district close to and to the 
 north of the Wet-poot stream and about a quarter of a mile from the village 
 of that name on the main road from Rangoon to the northern frontier. 
 
 GYO-GOON.— In 19° 17' 45" N. Lat. and 94° 52' 50" E. Long.; a village 
 in the Ma-oo-daing circle, Mengdoon township, Thayet district^ on the bank 
 of the Ma-htoon river. 
 
 GYO-WA.— A village in 19° 14' 25" N. Lat. and 94° 48' 55" E. Long, 
 in the Pai-myouk circle, Mengdoon township, Thayet district, on the Hlo-wa 
 stream a little above the villages of Myouk-pyeng and Kan-ma-naing. 
 
 GYO-YA-THA. — A village in the Prome district six miles east of Prome 
 town in the middle of large rice fields. 
 
 GYWON-DOUNG.— A suburb of Kama in the Thayet district lying on 
 the south bank of the Made. 
 
 HAING-GYEE. — An island, better known as Negrais, in theBassein or 
 Ngawou river near the western bank three and a half miles up from Pagoda 
 Point and rendered conspicuous by a hill at its northern end which slopes away 
 to the centre : a narrow belt of level ground skirts the shore almost all round. 
 The channel between the island and the western bank of the river is one mile 
 broad on the south and four and a half on the north opposite the abandoned 
 station of Dalhousie. In 1086 A.D. the Governor of Madras, who was anxious 
 to push his factories eastward and to open out trade with Burma, actuated by the 
 reports of early travellers and by the knowledge that Negrais possessed the 
 great advantage of being accessible both by sea and land at all seasons of 
 the year, despatched an expedition to survey the island which was believed to 
 be a portion of the Arakan dominions, but the vessel in which it sailed had 
 to put back. In 1687 Captain Weldon, on his return from Mergui whither 
 he had been sent to declare war with the Government of Siam, entered the 
 river, landed and surveyed the island and took possession of it in the name of 
 the British. The report states that he "destroyed some Siamese huts that 
 were on the island." There is no trace in Talaing or Burman history of the 
 Siamese ever having penetrated so far westward and unless the report is alto- 
 gether wrong the huts were probably those of some Shan immigrants who 
 were also called Siamese by old travellers and writers. Captain Weldon may 
 possibly have confounded Shan with Siamese and have considered that as he 
 had just declared war on the part of the British he was justified in seizing a 
 portion of the enemy's territory, yet it would be an extreme stretch of imagi-
 
 158 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 nation to suppose that an island three miles up a river belong-ed to a kingdom 
 many miles to the eastward because a few subjects of that kiugdom were found 
 on it. Nothing- further was done until 1753 when the Governor of Madras sent 
 a party under Mr. Hunter to form a trading settlement. The following 
 year Mr. Burke reported that the fort which had been erected was built in 
 a swamp influenced by the tides and that the inhabitants were suffering 
 severely from sickness and want of food and attributed it to Mr. Hunter's 
 incapacity. Mr. Hunter was retained in charge and dying shortly afterwards 
 was succeeded by Mr. Burke. The factory had remained undisturbed mainly 
 on account of the war between the Peguans and the Burmans both of whom 
 endeavoured without eifect to enlist the English on their side. Bassein some 
 seventy miles up the river, where an English out factory had been established, 
 was attacked and captured by the Burmans who, anxious to obtain British 
 aid, carefully avoided injuring the English inhabitants and after the capture 
 sent envoys to Negrais to press for assistance : this was refused as the 
 agent desired to avoid mixing himself up in the quarrel of the two 
 kingdoms, hoping, doubtless, to be well thought of by the eventually successful 
 Government by reason of his not having aided the unsuccessful. During the 
 absence of the Burman envoys the Peguans retook the town and the envoys 
 therefore returned to Negrais. The Burmans having succeeded in annexing 
 Pegu a mission was sent in 1755 A.D. to the capital to endeavour to obtain 
 amongst other things a formal grant of Negrais : this the King refused. In 
 1757 another mission was sent for the same purpose under Ensign Lister with 
 no better result as regards the island. In 1759 the establishment was with- 
 drawn and three or four persons only were left in charge of some property 
 and timber as well as to hold possession of the island and Captain 
 Southbey was sent to assume command. The day after his arrival — 5th October 
 1759 — Antony, the man who had attended Ensign Lister on his mission to Ava, 
 delivered to him a letter purporting to be from the King of Burma. Antony 
 dined with Captain Southbey that day and was asked to meet all the Euro- 
 pean gentlemen in the station on the following. The guests assembled at 
 the appointed hour and were on the point of sitting down to dinner when 
 at a given signal a large number of armed Burmese rushed into the house 
 and murdered all except a midshipman who succeeded in escaping to his 
 ship and giving the alarm. After the Europeans, ten in number, had been 
 killed a general massacre of the natives of India took place. In 1760 Captain 
 Alves was despatched to demand satisfaction for these murders; but far from 
 obtaining any redress the King prohibited our returning to the island, though 
 he granted a spot of ground for a factory at Bassein and released the few who 
 escaped death and were taken prisoners at Negrais. In 1802 Captain 
 Symes was sent to claim the island but without avail and it never came into 
 the possession of the British till Pegu was annexed in 1852 by Lord Dalhousie. 
 
 HAN-GAN. — A revenue circle in the Re Lamaing township, Amherst 
 district, on the left bank of the Re river reaching from the hills to the sea 
 coast. It is inhabited chiefly by Taking and is well cultivated. It now 
 includes Khaw-tsa and in 1876 had 2,066 inhabitants; in that year the land 
 revenue was Es. 3,209 and the capitation-tax Rs. 2,137. 
 
 HAN-GAN.— A village in the Amherst district about ten miles up 
 the Han-gan river which falls into the Re at its mouth. In 1876 it had 
 1,114 inhabitants. Long. 97° 54' 30" E. Lat. 15° 11' N.
 
 BlUTISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 159 
 
 HASHWIE.— A c\an of the Pwo Kareiig- family of about 2,000 
 souls liviug- in some twenty-five to thirty villag-es on the hills between the 
 Tsittoung and Thouk-re-khat streams in the latitude of the northern boun- 
 dary of the Province. They are a tall, slender, active and warlike race but 
 their women are ug-ly, ignorant and degraded. The caves in their country 
 furnish the saltpetre from which they make their gunpowder : to the salt- 
 petre, charcoal and sulphur they add, under the impression that it increases 
 the strength, alcoholic spirits and, since the advent of the Missionaries, Perry 
 Davis^ " painkiller" when they can get it. 
 
 HENG-THA-GAN.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 27' N. 
 and 95° 34' 30" E. There are two villages of this name distinguished 
 as North Heng-tha-gan and South Heng-tha-gan both so close to Poungday 
 that they form almost the southern end of that town though they are in a 
 different revenue circle. Both, like Poungday, are on the Myolay channel. 
 
 HENG-THA-GAN. — A revenue circle in the Prome district immediately 
 south of Poungday. Its largest village is Heng-tha-gan which forms 
 the southern portion of Poungday itself. Kanoo further south on the 
 Myolay and Thabhangoon, also on the Myolay close to its junction with the 
 Kyat or Kan-tha, are populous places. This circle is traversed by the main 
 road from Poungday to Ta-pwon in the Henzada district. It has of late 
 years been placed under the Thoogyee of Kook-ko-beng. 
 
 HENZADA. — The head-quarters of the Henzada district, supposed to 
 have been founded in the earlier part of the sixteenth century, on the right 
 bank of the Irrawaddy which opposite to the town is split into several chan- 
 nels by large sandbanks. In 1876 the inhabitants numbered 15,307 souls of 
 whom about two-thirds are Burmese, the remainder being chiefly Talaing 
 though Shan, Chinamen, Madrassees, Mahomedans^ Indo-Europeans and 
 Chin-Indo-Europeans are represented. It contains Court-houses, a Treasury, a 
 Pohce Station, a Public Works Department Inspection Bungalow, a Telegraph 
 Office, a Post Office, a small masonry Gaol or Lock-up with wooden barracks 
 in which an average of 72 prisoners were confined in 1876, a Charitable Dis- 
 pensary in which during that year 202 in and 2,041 out patients Avere treated, 
 a fine market place or bazaar and three schools, a Kareug normal, a State town 
 school and one for Burmese established by the Society for the Propagation of 
 the Gospel. In 1876-77 it had a gross Municipal revenue of Es. 45,648. Lat. 77° 
 58' Long. 95° 32' E. 
 
 HENZADA. — A township in the district of the same name on the right 
 bank of the Irrawaddy extending westwards to the Arakan Romas. The whole 
 country, which is exceedingly fertile and produces much rice, was formerly 
 liable to annual inundations on the rising of the Irrawaddy but has been very 
 greatly protected by embankments thrown up along that river and the 
 Bassein. The principal town is Henzada with a population of 15,307 
 souls, the head-quarters of the district. In 1876-77 the land revenue was 
 Es. 1,16,585, the ca{)itation-tax Es. 54,830 and the gross revenue Es. 1,93,698 ; 
 this includes Es. 6,518 local fund receipts credited to the district and cess 
 funds and expended solely in the district in which raised. The population 
 in the same year was 78,664. The township is divided into twelve circles. 
 
 HENZADA. — A district in the Pegu division, covering an area of 4,047 
 square miles, in the valley of the Irrawaddy at the head of the delta and
 
 160 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 lying on both banks of that river. The northern boundary which separates 
 it from the Prome district, leaves the Pegu Roma mountains in about 18° 
 48' N. and following generally natural features runs about E. by S. 
 down the Poondoung spur and the Kyat river to the Myitmakha or 
 Hlaiug and then on past the Irrawaddy and up the Kyouk-piet-tha stream to- 
 wards the south to the Ta-zoung-gyee spur, thence westward along that spur 
 to the Arakau Roma mountains which it strikes in about 18° 23' N. The 
 southern boundary which separates the district from Rangoon on the east and 
 Bassein and Thoon-khwa on the west is more irregular in its course ; starting 
 from the Pegu Romas it follows the Mee-neng to its mouth in the Hlaiug, then 
 turning south it follows the Hlaing for about a mile and a half to the Re-nek- 
 khyouug where it inclines west and strikes the Irrawaddy at a spot about 
 eight or nine miles below Henzada ; following the Irrawaddy southwards for a 
 few miles it turns west again along the Pantauaw creek to leave it almost imme- 
 diately and trend nortli-west, almost parallel to and not far from the Irrawaddy, 
 to the Bassein river which it ci'osses and then inclines more to the west to the 
 Arakan mountains. From the north to about the latitude of Henzada the district 
 stretches right across the valley but below this the Bassein district running 
 up north along the Arakan Romas and the Rangoon district along the Pegu 
 Romas give the lower portion the form of a truncated cone lying partly on 
 one bank of the Irrawaddy and partly on the other, with the newly-formed 
 Thoon-khwa district closing it in on the south. The eastern and western 
 boundaries are formed by the two ranges of mountains which enclose the 
 valley of the Irrawaddy : here the face of the country has a rugged 
 character which subsides into undulations and finally into a dead flat in the 
 more central parts near the river. In 1861 Henzada on the west of 
 the Irrawaddy and Tharrawaddy on the east, which shortly after the occupa- 
 tion of Pegu had been separated and had since then formed two independent 
 jurisdictions, were re-united and the head-quarters were moved from Henzada 
 to Myanouug further north. In 1870 the head-quarters were re-transferred 
 to Henzada where they now are. In 1872-73 the Thoon-tshay circle of 
 Rangoon was added to it from Rangoon, and in 1875 the greater part of the 
 Donabyoo township was taken from it and added to others to form the Thoon- 
 khwa district. 
 
 The Arakan Romas forming the western boundary and stretching from 
 
 far beyond the frontier of Pegu to the Bay of Bengal have 
 Mountains. nowhere in this district a greater elevation than in the 
 
 latitude of Myanoung where one of the peaks rises to 4,003 
 feet above the sea-level: from this point southwards the height rapidly 
 diminishes. Towards the north the spurs stretch down to the Irrawaddy 
 and one, just within the district, ends at Akouk-toung in a precipitous cliff 
 300 feet high, its feet bathed by the river and its face caverned artificially 
 to contain statues of Gaudama, the only instance in this district in which a hill 
 abuts on the river. Towards the south the course of the Irrawaddy trends 
 away from these moun^fcains and leaves room for vast plains. The asceuts 
 of the range are steep though not generally rocky and the entire surface of the 
 tract covered by the main range and its spurs is clothed with dense forest the 
 summits of the highest peaks being the only points destitute of tree jungle. 
 
 The Pegu Romas on the east are further removed from the river and 
 their spurs do not extend down so far into the valley. The highest point
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 161 
 
 (2,000 feet above the sea) in the whole chain is in this district in 17° 55' N.j 
 where it branches out southward into several radiating spurs which form the 
 valleys of the Pegu and the Poo-zwou-doung- rivers and their tributaries. 
 The slopes are extremely steep and the valleys sharply excavated, the result 
 of the soft character of the shales and earthy sandstone constituting the range 
 and partly also of the heavy rain-fall of Pegu. The country here as in the 
 west is densely wooded and in the hot season is dry and parched. 
 
 The plains are extensive and to some extent cultivated and are almost 
 
 everywhere suited for the production of rice but were, till 
 Plains. a few years ago, annually inundated over a considerable 
 
 area. To the east of the Irrawaddy these plains stretch 
 from north to south throughout the whole length of the district reaching on 
 the one hand from the Hlaing to the Pegu Romas and on the other to the 
 Irrawaddy. It is these latter which are most subject to inundation. The 
 plains on the western bank of the Irrawaddy extend from Akouktouug in 
 the north to the southern limit of the district and widening out in their 
 lower portion stretch inland from the Irrawaddy towards the Arakan Romas. 
 A great part of this country was subject to extensive inundation but has been 
 greatly protected by embankments constructed along the right bank of the 
 river so that almost the whole area is suitable for rice cultivation except 
 where, here and there, patches of sandy and gravelly soil or lakes and marshes 
 occur. 
 
 From the two bounding mountain ranges numerous torrents pour down 
 
 and on reaching the plain country unite to form large 
 Rivers, streams which fall into the Hlaing, the Irrawaddy 
 
 and the Basseiu rivers, whilst towards the south the 
 Hlaing and the Irrawaddy are connected by several creeks, the waters of 
 whichever of the two may be temporarily the fullest finding its way thus 
 during the rains into the other. The Irrawaddy traverses the district 
 from north to south dividing it into two pretty equal parts but having a 
 general S.S.E. course, and is here navigable by river steamers at all seasons. 
 The Hlaing rises in Prome as the Zay and enters this district as the Myit-ma- 
 klia a few miles east of the Irrawaddy, a low range of hills covered with Eng 
 forest {Dipterocarpus tuherculatns) and generally known as the Eugdaing lying 
 between them. Its course is about parallel to that of the Irrawaddy and from 
 the east it receives through numerous channels the drainage of the Pegu 
 Roma mountains which fertilises the plain on its eastern bank. A little below 
 the southern extremity of the Engdaing the Tsheug-khoung creek, navig- 
 able throughout during the rains only, unites it with the Irrawaddy, and 
 from this point downwards numerous channels exist by which during the 
 rains the waters of the two rivers mingle. Its principal affluents from the 
 east are the Toung-gnyo in the north, the Meng-bhoo, the Toung, the 
 Meng-hla, the Tsheug-aing, the Toung-bho-hla, the Bheeleng, whicli has 
 different names in different parts of its course, and in the south the Thoon- 
 tshay, all tapping a country rich in teak and other valuable timber and 
 in the lower portion of their lengths flowing through culturable and partly 
 cultivated land. On the west innumerable small streams form by their union 
 several principal channels along which the accumulated drainage of the 
 western half of the district is carried to the Irrawaddy and Basseiu rivers. 
 Many of these streams are either entirely dry or they contain water to the 
 
 21
 
 162 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 depth of a few iuches only during the hot season, and nearly all have hig-h 
 precipitous banks and extremely tortuous courses : after heavy rains they fill 
 with great rapidity and flow with a very strong current. During the continu- 
 ance of the south-west monsoon they become navigable to a distance of some 
 miles above their mouths and by taking advantage of the freshets which 
 prevail at that season boats of considerable burden can ascend with ease until 
 the stream becomes a mountain torrent. The Pouk-taing rises in the 
 Akouk-toung spur and has an easterly course of only ten miles, but receives 
 many small tributaries in its course. The Tsauda, the Aloon and the 
 Padaw rise in the Arakan mountains and unite to form the Pata-sheng 
 which falls into the Irrawaddy a little below Kyan-kheng : the first has a 
 south-easterly course of about 25 miles, and the others a north-easterly course 
 of about 30 and 40 miles respectively. The Ka-gnyeng rises in the Arakan 
 mountains and runs in a south-easterly direction for about 60 miles and 
 after receiving the waters of the ShAve-uaing and the Tsheng-boon falls into 
 the Bassein river about 13 miles from its northern mouth. It communicates 
 with the Irrawaddy by the Thambhaya-daing creek which leaves it at the elbow 
 formed by the sudden bend which it makes S.S.W. when only a mile from 
 the Irrawaddy. It traverses a highly-cultivated country. The Mamya rises 
 in the Arakan mountains and for 30 miles flows south-east when, turning 
 north, it falls into the Htoo lake five miles further on, the surplus waters of 
 which used to find their way to the Irrawaddy. The Nan-ga-thoo is formed 
 by two streams of this name which have their sources in the Arakan mountains 
 and unite a little above Kweng-gouk^ and falls into the Bassein river about two 
 miles west of the mouth of the Ka-gnyeng. The Bassein river is in reality 
 a branch of the Irrawaddy recruited by the drainage of the country through 
 which it flows. It leaves the Irrawaddy about nine miles above Henzada 
 and flows south-west to the sea through the Bassein district. At its entrance 
 it is about 300 yards wide but is choked by a sandbank rising above the 
 level of the water of the Irrawaddy during the dry season. In the rains the 
 largest boats can enter it and river steamers have passed through it. 
 
 "' Recent alluvium, that is the deposit thrown down by the waters of 
 
 the existing Irrawadi (Irrawaddy) occupies a very small 
 Geology. area," and fi'om the northern limit of the district " to a '^ 
 
 " little above Pantanaw follows very closely the bed of ^' 
 " the river nowhere attaining a greater breadth than six miles. The older " 
 " alluvium * * * niay be divided into an upper and a lower portion ; " 
 " the latter of irregular development and consisting of coarse gravels " 
 " transported from a distance, with large included masses of silicified wood " 
 " derived from the neighbourhood, whilst the former consists of a very homo- " 
 " geneous clay. This clay deposit comprises the entii'e level plains of Pegu. ■" 
 '' In constitution it is very homogeneous, somewhat arenaceous "^ ^ "^ " 
 " and of a uniform yellowish colour, in places assuming a more reddish " 
 " colour than usual and under certain conditions of exposure and weathering " 
 " assuming an imperfect lateritic appearance superficially. The last appear- " 
 " ance is usually seen in the sides of wells and is indicated by the peculiar " 
 " mottled appearance the rock presents from the irregular manner in which ■" 
 " the peroxide of iron arranges itself. The whole deposit is very homogeneous, " 
 " a little more sandy in some spots than in others, and with occasional thin " 
 " layers of sand irregularly and sparingly interspersed through it ; the only "
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 163 
 
 '* recoguizable baud possessing a distinctive character is a dark layer of only " 
 " a few inches in thickness but of wide distribution. Judging from this " 
 '' baud the whole deposit would seem to have a gentle slope to the south at " 
 " a somewhat greater rate than the present surface of the country ; for " 
 " whilst above Myanoung this dark band is clearly seen high up in the bank " 
 " and but little below the high flood level of the river, in the tidal parts of the '■" 
 '' delta it is found about the level of mid water mark or lower * * -^ The " 
 " older alluvial clay just described rests in Pegu on a considerable deposit, or '^ 
 " bottom bed as it may be considered, of sand or gravel, varying much with " 
 '' locality, aud made up partly of the detritus from the nearest rocks, and " 
 " partly of gravel derived from more distant sources. At Niouugdon, " 
 " {Gnyoung-doon) at the top of the tideway, this bottom bed consists of " 
 " cleau saud with a few small quartz pebbles sparingly dispersed here and " 
 "■ there through it; aud it is the presence of this underbed of sand which so ^' 
 " greatly favours the abrasion of the channel of the Nioungdon {Gmjoung- " 
 " doon vel Panhlaing) stream, and is the indirect cause of the broad shallow, ^' 
 "just below the junction of the stream with the Irrawadi {Irrawaddy),'" 
 " which forms so great an obstacle to navigation. Higher up the river a " 
 " few nailes above Monyo {Mo-gnyo), on the opposite bank, a large stretch " 
 " of gravel and boulders is exposed, which is about the lowest point to " 
 " which these very coarse gravels reach. Above this spot coarse gravels, " 
 
 " as a rule, underhe the clay wherever it is cut through In many" 
 
 "places along the western slopes of the Pegu Yoma (i?o?na) lateriteis found of" 
 " fair quality underlying the sandy soil of the Engdaiug forest {Dipterocarpus " 
 " tubercidatus) where its position is that of a basal member of the older alluvium." 
 The fossil wood group which formerly extended as far south as Rangoon is 
 now but slightly represented in this district. The Nummulitic or Eocene 
 group of rocks which extends on the west bank of the Irrawaddy from the 
 frontier to the sea along the Arakan range traverses this district ; at Akouk- 
 toung it is four miles broad. South of Myanoung the extent of the group 
 becomes somewhat irregular and uncertain, being covered and masked on the 
 east by a thick deposit of sand and gravel ; while on the west its extent can- 
 not satisfactorily be defined. " Opposite Myanoung the width is only ten " 
 " miles, and at Henzada not more than two. South of Henzada the Nummu- " 
 "litic beds are much covered up by surface detritus, and their width is incon- " 
 " siderable. " In about 17° 45' in the bed of a stream falling into the Nanga- 
 thoo is an exposed outcrop of a peculiar whitish argillaceous sandstone, 
 locally used for the construction of images of Gaudama. The beds of this 
 rock, the position of which in regard to the limestone of the group is doubtful 
 but, probably, above it, extend still further north but do not seem to 
 occur in the Prome district. The " Negrais " rocks which include those 
 here met with older than the Nummulitic and newer than the Triassic extend 
 throughout the district, as do the latter. The intrusive rocks are in this 
 district, as i'ar as it has been geologically examined, mainly represented by 
 serpentine, and with this may be considered the steatite veins of the Arakan 
 range. There are twenty-one distinct patches of this rock ranged within a 
 strip of country twenty-one miles in length, which extends south into the 
 neighbouring Bassein district. " The first and largest display is a broad belt " 
 
 " of it crossing the Nuugathu {Nan-ga-thoo) stream In all localities in this '' 
 
 "district the serpentine presents the same appearance, and this great unifor- '
 
 164 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " mity of mineral character would seem to indicate community of orig-iu, la " 
 " colour it varies somewhat from a pale to a rather dark but not dull green ; " 
 " and it would yield an ornamental stone, but for the fatal defect of being " 
 " everywhere seamed by cracks which traverse the rock irregularly in every '' 
 " direction, the largest and soundest-looking blocks falling into numerous '* 
 " polygonal or slabby fragments under a few smart taps from a hammer/' 
 Soapstone which is used by the Burmese for writing on parabaik^ a material 
 still used in many places instead of paper^ is largely imported from Upper 
 Burma but is found almost everywhere where serpentine occurs, though not 
 in such a form as to furnish the ordinary pencils in use, some six inches long. 
 It is in all localities " essentially the same though it varies in colour from a 
 pale grey to nearly black." 
 
 Petroleum was discovered some years ago about twelve miles from Myan- 
 oung, but the well that was sunk was almost immediately abandoned. Gold 
 occurs in the bed of the Irrawaddy but in too small a quantity to render its 
 extraction worth the labour. At a village called Shwe-gyeng just above 
 Mo-gnyo a little is occasionally obtained in a coarse gravel bank left dry on 
 the subsidence of the river ; but the outturn is insignificant and the metal is 
 obtained in the finest possible state of division. 
 
 The forests in this district comprise every variety except the mangrove. 
 West of the Irrawaddy in the north, in the tract drain- 
 Forests, ed by the Aloon, the Tsanda and the Padaw which 
 unite to form the Patasheng, the hills are steep but the 
 top of the ridges is frequently level and here teak of fine and regular 
 growth occurs, whilst in the plains it is widely dispersed often alter- 
 nating Avith Eng {Dipterocarpus tuberculatus) , but mature teak of large 
 girth does not now abound. The forests hereabouts were extensively 
 worked in the Burmese time and the most valuable timber brought away. 
 In addition to Eng which grows on the lower slopes of the spurs of the 
 Arakan range stretching for miles southward from the northern boundary 
 parallel to the bank of the Irrawaddy, Pyengkado {Xylia doldbriformis) used 
 for house-posts and bridge-piles, ploughs and boat anchors, and with a heart 
 wood as durable as teak and equally safe from the attacks of white ants, 
 Htouk-kyan (Terminalia macrocarpa), Pyengma {Lagerstroeinia Regincs), 
 Eeudaik (Dalhergia sp.) furnishing a heavy wood with a red heart used for 
 plough and cart poles, Ka-gnyeng, furnishing an excellent oil used as a 
 varnish in situations unexposed to the weather, Bhan-bhwe {Careya arhorea) 
 and other valuable trees are numerous ; the Sha {Acacia catechu) from 
 which is extracted cutch is by no means uncommon. To the east of 
 the Irrawaddy are large areas of lower mixed forest stretching from the 
 upper limit of the land subject to inundation from the annual overflow 
 of the main river and the Hlaing to the Eng forest. This latter extends 
 throughout the district from north to south and here are patches of 
 mixed forest with a considerable proportion of teak, especially near the 
 margin. East of this extending to the foot of the range is a region of low 
 undulating hills, varying in breadth from one to ten miles, rich in teak, 
 whilst the forests on the spurs and ridges still further east are the finest and 
 by far the most extensive. In the north the Toung-gnyo and the Meng-boo 
 streams, and further south the Toung, Meng-hla, Mok-kha and Bheeleng 
 traverse a rich forest country. The principal timber trees are : —
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 165 
 
 Name. 
 
 Descriptiou of wood. 
 
 Uses. 
 
 Xylia dolabriformis . . 
 
 Dark-coloured, hard 
 
 Too hard to be easily worked. Used 
 
 
 and dense, strong 
 
 for house -jjosts, bridge-i)iles, 
 
 
 and durable. 
 
 boat anchors, railway sleepers. 
 
 Dipterocarpiis tuberculatus 
 
 Light brown . . 
 
 Excellent for every jiurpose of 
 house-buikUug, especially for 
 posts. 
 
 Terminalia macrocarpa 
 
 Dark brown . . 
 
 Used in house-building : strong but 
 not very dui'able. 
 
 Lagerstrcemia reginas 
 
 Red 
 
 Strong and adapted for house- 
 building, but more especially for 
 piles and in situations under 
 water. 
 
 Dalbergia sp. 
 
 Sapwood readily decays 
 but the heaitwood 
 is durable. Heavy ; 
 will not float. Black, 
 sometimes with red 
 and white streaks. 
 
 Used for plough and cart poles. 
 
 Acacia catechu 
 
 .... 
 
 Fiu'nishing cutch. Found growing 
 in abundance in places easy of 
 access and considerably worked. 
 
 Dipterocarpus alatus 
 
 Light brown . . 
 
 Timber of great size and strength ; 
 much used in boat-building ; 
 plentiful, furnishing a useful oil. 
 
 Careya arborea 
 
 Red-coloured . . 
 
 Plentiful. Timber large, used for 
 carts, &c. 
 
 Barringtonia . . 
 
 Red 
 
 Plentiful east of the Irrawaddy ; 
 wood hard and of fine grain. 
 Used for carts. 
 
 Besides these trees which are valuable for their timber there are others 
 which are of some worth on account of their products. A species of 
 Biguouia is plentiful, from the inner bark of which is obtained a material 
 much used locally for ropes. jEschynomene paludosa springs up sponta- 
 neously in the rice-fields and affords an excellent fibre. Bomhax peiitanclra 
 and B. heterophylla yield an astringent gum resin. Sterculia, of which there 
 are several species, yields a gum probably analogous to Tragacantli. From the 
 bark of the Odina loodier, which forms a larger proportion of the forests than 
 any other tree, is obtained a gum which ma}' be galbauum, the plant afford- 
 ing which is not well known. Dipterocarpus turhinatus already noticed, which 
 in the south takes the place of Acacia catechu the two never being found 
 together, furnishes an oil which answers excellently as a varnish in unexposed 
 situations. These and other trees of considerable value are spread over the 
 face of the country but with the exception oi Acacia catechu have never been 
 extensively used teak having absorbed the attention both of traders and of the 
 Government. This was far from being the case in the time of the Burmese 
 rule when, here as elsewhere, no tree which furnished a wood or an extract 
 of general use could be felled or tapped without payment. The object then,
 
 166 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 however, was not forest conservancy but the realization of the largest possible 
 revenue for the grantee of the M?/o, that is the official atMandalay or the member 
 of the Eoyal family to whom the tract had been allotted as a strictly personal 
 source of income, or for the officials who were in executive charge. 
 
 The unauthorized felling of teak has always been sti'ictly prohibited and 
 in 1873 Thitkha {Fentace Burmanica) and Thit-kado {Schizo chiton grandi- 
 florum) were reserved and in 1877 Padouk (Pterocarpus macrocarpus) . lu 
 the early part of 1876 the State set apart a large area as Government forests 
 in which unauthorized felling of several other kinds of trees was prohibited^ 
 and the whole of this district west of the Irrawaddy is included, whilst the 
 country east of that river has formed a portion of the Government forest 
 tracts for many years. 
 
 The changes in the area of the district render it impossible to give any 
 
 accurate statistics shewing the increase in the number of 
 Population. inhabitants in the tracts now included in Henzada. The 
 
 figures below shew the population in Henzada and Tharra- 
 waddy from 1855 to 1874-75, and in Henzada as it now exists from that 
 date onwards. There are no statistics available which shew the population of 
 the Donabyoo township in 1855 : in 1876-77, when it formed a portion of 
 Thoon-khwa, it had 36,122 inhabitants. In 1872-73 the Thoon-tshay circle 
 was transferred from Rangoon to Henzada and in 1876-77 it had a population 
 of 11,263: — 
 
 1855 
 
 
 171,601 
 
 1866 
 
 363,817 
 
 1856 
 
 
 
 204,747 
 
 1867 
 
 380,505 
 
 1857 
 
 
 
 219,620 
 
 1868 
 
 393,627 
 
 1858 
 
 
 
 239,432 
 
 1869 
 
 423,998 
 
 1859 
 
 
 
 239,348 
 
 1870 
 
 435,323 
 
 1860 
 
 
 
 246,862 
 
 1871 
 
 444,750 
 
 1861 
 
 
 
 302,819 
 
 1872 
 
 460,020 
 
 1862 
 
 
 
 300,831 
 
 1873 
 
 475,839 
 
 1863 
 
 
 
 307,260 
 
 1874 
 
 504,321 
 
 1864 
 
 
 
 313,999 
 
 1875t 
 
 490,284 
 
 1865 
 
 
 
 347,615 
 
 1876 .. 
 
 501,213 
 
 The rapidity of the increase in the early years was undoubtedly due to 
 immigration consequent on the gradual settlement of the country, whilst the 
 fertility of the soil with its proximity to a ready market and the construction 
 of protecting bunds along the Irrawaddy, have kept up the flow. These 
 embankments were commenced not many years ago and the balance of immi- 
 gration over emigration during the last 10 years has been : — 
 
 * See Introductory Chapter on Forests. 
 
 ^ In this year Donabyoo was transferred to Thoon-khwa.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 167 
 
 
 
 
 Difference in 
 
 
 Emigrants. 
 
 Immigrants. 
 
 favoiu' of 
 
 
 
 
 the district. 
 
 1867 . . 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 13,274 
 
 20,179 
 
 6,905 
 
 1868 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 14,572 
 
 24,327 
 
 9,755 
 
 1869 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 17,843 
 
 31,510 
 
 13,667 
 
 1870 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18,712 
 
 25,8G8 
 
 7,156 
 
 1871 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 19,043 
 
 26,215 
 
 7,172 
 
 1872 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 22,968 
 
 30,596 
 
 7,628 
 
 1873 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 19,948 
 
 30,969 
 
 11,021 
 
 1874 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18,285 
 
 31,989 
 
 13,704 
 
 1875 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 19,871 
 
 31,162 
 
 11,291 
 
 1876 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 5,420 
 
 7,718 
 
 2,498 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 
 
 
 90,797 
 
 Still the inhabitants are only 127 to the square mile whilst there are 1^730,399 
 acres of culturable waste. 
 
 Comparing 1856 with 1876, the former year being selected as the first 
 for which statistics of this kind even moderately accurate are available, the 
 races composing the population of the district were : — 
 
 
 1856. 
 
 1876. 
 
 Burmans 
 
 
 
 80,567 
 
 412,800 
 
 Talaing . . 
 
 
 
 
 91,101 
 
 17,707 
 
 Kareng . . 
 
 
 
 
 26,132 
 
 53,926 
 
 Shan 
 
 
 
 
 2,927 
 
 1,827 
 
 Arakanese 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 * 
 
 Khyeng . . 
 
 
 
 
 1,705 
 
 5,100 
 
 Yabaing . . 
 
 
 
 
 702 
 
 2,113 
 
 Chinese . . 
 
 
 
 
 156 
 
 472 
 
 Hindoos . . 
 
 
 
 
 1,308 1 
 
 1,042 
 
 Mahomedans 
 
 
 
 
 1.129 
 
 Other races 
 
 
 
 
 138 
 
 5,097 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 
 204,747 
 
 501,213 
 
 According to the latest official retarus now available (1876) females 
 slightly exceed the males, the former numbering 250,883 the latter 250,330, 
 whereas in the province as a whole exclusive of the two Hill Tract districts, 
 the males exceed the females, and this was the condition of this district when 
 the special census was taken in 1872. The change cannot reasonably be 
 ascribed to the transfer of Donabyoo to Thoou-khwa or to the addition of the 
 Thoon-tshay ciixle from Rangoon and it is impossible with the information 
 now obtainable to account for it satisfactorily. 
 
 The register of births and deaths for 1876 shew the former at 5,607 or 
 10*98 per mille, and of the latter 3,980 or 7'94 per mille, which would give a 
 rate of increase from natural causes of 3*04 per mille. The registration of 
 vital statistics is of late introduction, and amongst a widely scattered people 
 with no regular local registrars whose duty it is to attend to this alone the 
 
 • Included among Burmana, supra.
 
 168 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 returns cannot be taken as accurate. It is not at all probable, however, that 
 any greater difficulty occurs in the registration of the births of boys than of 
 girls or of girls than of boys and the proportion of one to the other which 
 the returns give may be accepted as fairly accurate and these shew that 
 whilst the births of boys numbered 2,936 those of girls were 2,671. Simi- 
 larly the proportion of deaths of males to deaths of females may be taken as 
 fairly given in the returns aad these shew that in 1876 2,121 males died and 
 1,859 females, so that the proportion of births of females to that of males is 
 considerably greater than the proportion of deaths : an examination of the 
 figures giving the number of males and females at various ages shews 
 that the boys and old men are but slightly more numerous than the girls 
 and old women whilst the adult males, comparatively, greatly outnumber the 
 adult females. 
 
 No returns of diseases later than those of the census of 1872 are available 
 and according to these there were, except possibly in the Salween and in 
 Northern Arakan wbere the returns cannot from the nature of the country 
 and the wildness of the inhabitants be made out with any approach even to 
 accuracy, fewer insane persons than in any part of the province, 0*09 
 per cent, whilst the number of deaf and dumb, 0*17 per cent., is large, and the 
 number of blind, 0'32, only exceeded in the upper portion of the valley of the 
 Tsittoung ; of lepers there were 0"12 per cent., principally males. 
 
 Although situated south of the limits of the ancient Burmese kingdom 
 the Burmese here as everywhere else in Pegu largely outnumber the Taking. 
 After the conquest of the lower country by Aloungbhoora a steady endeavour 
 was made to destroy the Talaing nationality ; the use of the language was for- 
 bidden and Burmans were encouraged to immigrate, large bodies coming down 
 and settling, as at Kyankheng. 
 
 After the first Burmese Avar when the British troops retired the Burmans 
 by their cruelties still further reduced the numbers, already dwindling, of the 
 Talaing people who had generally assisted us against their former masters 
 and who fled in numbers to Tenasserim to escape the fury of their oppressors 
 under which many succumbed. This diminution has continued but undoubt- 
 edly both before and since the annexation it is not due to emigration solely 
 but also to absorption amongst the Burmans. The few in this district are an 
 exemplification of Sir Arthur Phayre's remark that — "■ scarcely any one of 
 " Talaing descent calls himself anything but a Burman, so completely has the 
 " national spirit been extinguished. '^ 
 
 A noticeable feature is the large number of Kareng, Bassein alone 
 having more, who as a race are hill-men shy and fearful of strangers and io 
 their dealings with others; but long before the occupation of Pegu large num- 
 bers had shaken off their timidity and settled in the plains, retaining their 
 own language and customs but adopting the Burmese dress and method 
 of cultivation. The increase in their numbers is not readily to be accounted 
 for. The census returns shew that it has extended through every district of the 
 province, except Rangoon, and cannot therefore be due to intra-provincial 
 emigration and immigration whilst no great influx of their people into the 
 province has taken place of late years. Though undoubtedly partly due to 
 the natural increase it is most probably mainly caused by a more correct 
 enumeration now that all troubles and rebellions amongst them are over 
 and that they have become less timid and frightened of their rulers than
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 169 
 
 they were during and immediately after the Burmese rule. The increase 
 in the number of Khyeng is partly due to the same cause and partly to immi- 
 gration from Arakan and the north. The number of Yabaing also has lately 
 increased : this is the only district in the Pegu division in which they are 
 found. Sir Arthur Phayre states that the term Yabaing or Zabaing is rather 
 *' the description of an occupation than the distinctive name of a race. The 
 " people so called are breeders of silkworms in the hill districts. The term is 
 " probably a Shan word_, applied to those who first introduced the worm from 
 " the eastward, and the meaning of it is not now understood." 
 
 Situated at the head of the delta of the Irrawaddy and containing 
 
 much fertile land the district has always been extensively 
 Agriculture. cultivated with rice which has found a ready sale in the 
 
 Piangoon and Bassein markets communication with both 
 being easy by the numerous creeks which intersect the country. In former 
 years large tracts were subject to inundation from the periodical overflowing of 
 the Irrawaddy and this is still case with the country to the east. On 
 the west for many years endeavours were made to afford a remedy but there 
 was no systematic effort till about ten years after we had occupied Pegu. 
 The Civil Officers had constructed petty embankments in various places to 
 protect towns or existing cultivation : in 1862-63 these were at 
 
 1. Kyan-kheng. 
 
 2. Myan-oung. 
 
 3. Kan-oung. 
 
 4. Henzada. 
 
 6. Anouk-bhet. 
 
 6. Tham-bo-ta-ra. 
 
 7. Doo-ra. 
 
 8. Za-lwon. 
 
 In 1862 the country was carefully and scientifically examined and it was 
 proposed to take over these embankments from the Civil Officers and run a 
 line along the right bank of the Irrawaddy from Akouktoung to Pantauaw 
 closing up the mouths of nearly all the rivers and leaving only sluices for the 
 necessary exit of the drainage of the country. There was considerable doubt as to 
 the extent to which erosion of the river bank was taking place and it was deter- 
 mined that the line should run some distance inland and not near the river 
 bank so as to avoid all risk of its being gradually cut away. The first four- 
 teen miles from Akouktoung were to be and are really are only a road, and do 
 not reclaim any land. The question of closing the Tham-bha-ya-daing 
 creek and the Bassein river was finally settled in the negative and in conse- 
 quence extensive embankments along the left bank of the latter have 
 become necessary. In 1868-G9 an embankment along the eastern bank of the 
 river was recommended so as to protect the valley of the Hlaing and the 
 intervening country which almost every year is turned into a vast sheet of 
 water. 
 
 The Kyan-kheng embaukment/excluding the northern fourteen miles 
 which, as has been said, is a road and protects no land, is niue miles long, the 
 last five running westward along the left bank of the Pa-ta-sheng and protecting 
 the country to the north of it irom the overflow of that river which extended 
 up behind the first four miles running parallel to the Irrawaddy. The 
 whole country protected does not exceed five square miles, and it is the 
 opinion of very competent authorities that north of the Pa-ta-sheng the con- 
 struction of expensive protecting works was at least hardly necessary, as the 
 profits from extended cultivation do not nearly cover the cost. The next section 
 
 22
 
 170 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 proceeding- southward is the Myanoung, four miles of which run east and 
 west along the right bank of the Pa-ta-sheng and the remainder southward 
 along the Irrawaddy so far inland as to exclude the large town of Myanoung", 
 (in front of which the existing embankment was improved) to the mouth 
 of the Tham-bha-ya-daing ; another length runs along the Irrawaddy between 
 the Tham-bha-ya-daing and the Bassein river. But as the mouths of these 
 two streams remain open and as the embankment north of the Tham-bha-ya- 
 daing stops at the 45th mile with an abrupt ending large masses of water 
 find their way into the country behind them. The remedy proposed for 
 this will be alluded to further on. South of the Bassein river another embank- 
 ment was carried on which now reaches as far as Ke-lai village below Henzada 
 and is to be carried on considerably farther. From the northern end of 
 this section and joined to it an embankment has been carried along the 
 left bank of the Bassein river past Le-myet-hna as far as Shwe-gnyoung-beng 
 in the Bassein district below Nga-thaing-khyoung and is to be carried farther. 
 Some miles inland an embankment has been constructed running about 
 N. W. and S. E. along the bank of the Ka-gnyeng or Oot-hpo stream 
 from Myeng-goon to Ma-gyee-goon nearly to the Tham-bha-ya-daing creek. 
 It is now proposed to unite the southern end of this with the southern 
 end of the Myanoung section near Loo-daw-tsoo village^ and thus afford 
 that protection to the country rendered necessary by the spaces which exist 
 for the passage of the Tham-bha-ya-daing and Bassein rivers. When the 
 works are completed as at present proposed, they will thus consist of: 1. An 
 embankment extending from above Kyan-kheug and turning round west- 
 ward along the Pa-ta-sheng. 2. Another stretching along the right bank of the 
 Pa-ta-sheng to the Irrawaddy then down that river to Loo-daw-tsoo, thence 
 about W. S. W. to Magyee-goon and from that point N.W. along the 
 Oot-hpo or Ka-gnyeng. 3. One more flanking the Bassein river from 
 Shwe-myeng-deng to its northern mouth in the Irrawaddy and down that 
 river to below Zalwon. Before giving an account of the general cultivation 
 of the district it may be as well to notice the results of the protective works 
 already constructed on the increase in cultivation behind them. The 
 area of land cultivated behind the Kyan-kheng section has increased since 
 1867-68 the year before this work became protective from 1,590 to 2,350 and 
 no more culturable uncultivated land remains. The Myanoung embankment 
 was made in sections : before the Kanoung section was thrown up the acreage 
 of cultivation in the land which it protects was 1,761 which in two years rose to 
 1,898 : in 1864-65 the Myanoung section became protective and the cultivation 
 which, including that behind the Kanoung, was the previous year 13,044 acres 
 had increased in 1868-69 to 14,543. The following year the 3rd and last 
 section became protective ; the cultivation in the area protected by the two 
 upper sections and about to be protected by this one was in 1868-69 16,897, 
 acres which in 1873-74 had increased to 32,504. The large increase (in 1872-73 
 the area was 17,888 acres) was due to the ten years settlement expiring, during 
 which a cultivator was allowed to extend his cultivation to the utmost of his 
 power paying revenue only on the area he had when the settlement was made 
 his lands being then measured once for the whole ten years. The increase up 
 to 1872-73 represented therefore increased cultivation by new comers or by 
 the few who had refused the settlement ; whereas the figures for 1873-74 
 shew the real increase the whole cultivated land being measured. The
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 171 
 
 Bassein river embankment now protects 519 acres in this district, where 
 before only 427 were cultivated; and the Henzada embankment which unites 
 with this protects 65,750 acres where only 22,468 exclusive of those added 
 to their lands by settlement holders existed before. In the Burmese time 
 the export of rice was prohibited and the inhabitants had but little induce- 
 ment to extend the area under cultivation : after the annexation a brisk 
 demand arose and prices went up from four to six times the rate before the 
 war. 
 
 The progressive increase in the price of rice together with a better 
 government under which the cultivator has greater security against arbitrary 
 demands and enhancement of rates, the increase in the population and 
 the extensive protective works described above have borne fruit in the 
 increased area brought under the plough and planted with fruit trees, 
 vegetables and other crops. An excellent rice country producing a rice 
 which is better suited for long sea voyages than that grown further north 
 and possessing in the Irrawaddy and the creeks and rivers which join 
 it an easy means of communicating with the two seaports of Rangoon and 
 Bassein, the crops find a ready sale and the area under cultivation with this 
 cereal has largely increased whilst miscellaneous cultivation — as vegetables, 
 cotton, tobacco &c. — has not by any means remained stationary. The fol- 
 lowing table shews the increase up to 1863 : — 
 
 
 Acreage. 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 Rice land. 
 
 Garden and or- 
 chard land. 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 cultivation. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1855 . . . . 
 
 104,790 
 
 2,921 
 
 7,718 
 
 115,429 
 
 1856 . . . . 
 
 126,156 
 
 3,854 
 
 12,007 
 
 142,017 
 
 1857 
 
 133,574 
 
 4,351 
 
 13,189 
 
 151,114 
 
 1858 . . . . 
 
 143,565 
 
 4,939 
 
 17,529 
 
 166,033 
 
 1859 . . . . 
 
 144,552 
 
 5,382 
 
 13,804 
 
 163,738 
 
 1860 . . . . 
 
 140,391 
 
 5,212 
 
 18,893 
 
 164,496 
 
 1861 
 
 141,108 
 
 5,886 
 
 15,241 
 
 162,235 
 
 1862 . . . . 
 
 165,371 
 
 6,611 
 
 23,042 
 
 195,024 
 
 1863 
 
 172,928 
 
 6,837 
 
 19,713 
 
 190,478 
 
 1860 and 1861 were bad years and 1860 especially so as regards rice- 
 lands : this was due to the breaking of the Henzada embankment whereby a 
 large extent of country was seriously damaged from the overflow of the 
 Irrawaddy. This disaster was not without good for it led to the construc- 
 tion of those extensive protective works already alluded to.
 
 172 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The area under cultivation from 1868 to 1876 was : — 
 
 
 Rice land. 
 
 Garden land. 
 
 Miscellaneous. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 1868 
 
 204,495 
 
 8,822 
 
 18,729 
 
 232,046 
 
 
 1869 
 
 209,725 
 
 9,240 
 
 24,486 
 
 243,451 
 
 
 1870 
 
 215,406 
 
 9,424 
 
 29,040 
 
 253,870 
 
 
 1871 
 
 220,163 
 
 9,486 
 
 30,212 
 
 259,861 
 
 
 1872 
 
 224,331 
 
 9,722 
 
 28,337 
 
 262,390 
 
 
 1873 
 
 278,661 
 
 14,617 
 
 30,108 
 
 323,386 
 
 
 1874 
 
 333,841 
 
 16,068 
 
 25,859 
 
 375,768 
 
 
 1875 
 
 314,673 
 
 13,916 
 
 14,716 
 
 343,305 
 
 
 1876 
 
 320,300 
 
 14,230 
 
 28,518 
 
 363,048 
 
 
 Since Pegu was annexed there has, therefore, been an increase in the 
 total cultivated area, excluding Toungya, of no less than 247,619 acres and 
 this notwithstanding that a whole township has been taken from the district ; 
 an increase greater than the most sanguine could have hoped for. 
 
 The crops under cultivation in 1875-76 were : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <0 
 
 m 
 
 o 
 
 d 
 
 tao 
 
 o 
 
 Of 
 
 bo 
 
 "S 
 
 i 
 
 o 
 
 '9 
 
 OS 
 
 a 
 
 •1 
 
 •fc) 
 
 3 
 
 
 fs 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 h- 1 
 
 o 
 H 
 
 0) 
 
 > 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 e^ 
 
 CO 
 
 CD 
 
 O 
 
 c^ 
 
 05 
 
 t- 
 
 CO 
 
 t- 
 
 
 
 
 i-H 
 
 
 I>- 
 
 
 
 I-l 
 
 00 
 
 «5 
 
 
 
 
 <!£> 
 
 O 
 
 lO 
 
 
 ■ys 
 
 
 
 
 
 c~ 
 
 iH 
 
 
 -* 
 
 ■* 
 
 
 
 rH 
 
 (M 
 
 05 
 
 
 
 rH 
 
 
 Ti< 
 
 00 
 
 T-l 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1-1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The cotton is inferior to that grown in the north and the produce is 
 locally consumed. The soil of the country has been reported on as in many 
 places well suited for this crop, and several endeavours have been made 
 to improve the growth but with little or no success. In 1873 a further 
 experiment was tried and some Egyptian seed was given to the cultivators
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 173 
 
 but with no better success than formerly ; the soil rapidly cakes round the 
 stems in the dry season and the plants are dwarfed and bear but little seed. 
 Tobacco is carefully planted and well taken care of but the cheapness of 
 Indian tobacco and the exteusive areas of good and unoccupied waste rice 
 land have tended to prevent any extensive cultivation of this plant which 
 is grown principally on sand banks left dry by the falliug of the Irra- 
 waddy. Sessamum is, nest after rice, the most important agricultural 
 product. 
 
 The average rent of land has not materially varied during the last 
 ten years as the vast culturable waste and the favourable terms upon which 
 grants are made tend to keep it at about one Kupee eight anuas an acre. 
 Its fertility is remarkable, exceeding that in any other part of the pro- 
 vince, an acre producing on an average 2,500lbs. of rice or 400lbs. of indigo : 
 the ground sown with cotton and sessamum however yields a comparatively 
 much smaller return 230lbs. of the former per acre and 560lbs. of the latter. 
 The price of rice is mainly regulated by the price in the Rangoon and Bas- 
 sein markets the latter of which again is greatly dependent upon the former. 
 The rates at which the principal products were selling in the local market 
 during the ten years was, per maund of 80lbs. : — 
 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Cotton. 
 
 Tobacco. 
 
 Sessamiun. 
 
 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 P. 
 
 Rs. A. P. 
 
 Rs. A. P. 
 
 Rs. A. P. 
 
 
 1867 
 
 2 8 
 
 
 
 5 14 
 
 9 12 
 
 3 2 
 
 
 1868 
 
 2 4 
 
 
 
 5 14 
 
 9 12 
 
 3 2 6 
 
 
 1869 
 
 2 4 
 
 
 
 5 14 
 
 9 12 
 
 3 2 
 
 
 1870 
 
 2 4 
 
 
 
 5 14 
 
 9 12 
 
 3 2 
 
 
 1871 
 
 2 4 
 
 
 
 5 14 
 
 9 
 
 3 1 
 
 
 1872 
 
 2 4 
 
 
 
 5 14 
 
 9 
 
 3 8 
 
 
 1873 
 
 3 2 
 
 
 
 4 14 
 
 7 5 
 
 3 12 
 
 
 1874 
 
 3 2 
 
 
 
 4 14 
 
 7 5 
 
 3 12 
 
 
 1875 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 4 14 
 
 7 5 
 
 3 12 
 
 
 1876 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 11 7 
 
 5 12 
 
 
 Up to 1872 inclusive the rates remained stationary, but during the nest year 
 there was a sudden rise in rice and sessamum and a fall in cotton and tobacco 
 The cause of these changes is to be found iu the state of trade at the ports : in 
 that year there was a very large falling otf in the esport of cotton, the 
 import of tobacco increased, whilst rice was in great demand not only for 
 Europe but for Bengal, large stocks being purchased by the State. Owing 
 to the large esports in 187G-77 and the high prices given by the merchants 
 the stocks usually kept for home consumption were nearly exhausted aud
 
 174 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 during the rains of 1877 unhusked rice was selling- in the local market at 
 from Es. 40 to Es. 160 per hundred baskets. 
 
 As might be expected in a district having such an extensive culturable 
 area the agriculturists are exceedingly numerous, numbering at the last regular 
 census 160,943 souls ; and amongst these are included only those actively 
 eno-aged in agriculture and with animals, as labourers and dealers in ponies, cattle, 
 pigs, &e,, of whom there are very few ; but of these only 67,980 are males over 
 20 years of age and though doubtless many younger males are so employed 
 yet a great proportion of the agriculturists are women who do much of the 
 planting in the rice-fields and generally, as in Italy and some other European 
 countries, do a great deal of what is generally supposed to be almost 
 exclusively man^s work. The proportion of agriculturists to those otherwise 
 employed was 33"75 per cent; of persons having no ostensible means of livelihood, 
 women not having special occupations, children, male and female, &c., 41"58, 
 and of persons engaged in mechanical arts, manufactures, and in the sale of 
 articles prepared for consumption about 2"00 per cent., the remainder being 
 principally Government servants, merchants and traders, of whom there were 
 some 5,000, and professional persons. 
 
 Nearly all the large towns are on the right bank of the Irrawaddy though 
 
 many important places are in Tharrawaddy, that is the 
 
 Towns and villages, country east of the river : here, however, the great 
 
 extent of the annual inundations and the smaller extent 
 
 of country fitted for the cultivation of rice, the great staple produce of the 
 
 province, though perhaps favourable to the existence of numerous small 
 
 villages retard the formation of the large trading towns and nearly all large 
 
 towns in this district owe their magnitude if not their very existence to trade 
 
 in the products of the surrounding country. 
 
 Kyan-khcng which is not far south of the frontier of the district in 
 18° 19' N. and 95° 1' 50" E. is a long straggling town stretching for a 
 considerable distance along the bank of the Irrawaddy just above the mouth 
 of the Pa-ta-sheng river. It is the head-quarter town of a township under an 
 Extra Assistant Commissioner and contains a Court-house, Police station and 
 a good market place. Of but small importance prior to the first Burmese war 
 it rapidly increased after the annexation of Pegu and now exports a consider- 
 able quantity of rice grown in the neighbourhood. In 1863 it had less than 
 5,000 inhabitants and in 1876 8,761 a result principally due to its 
 increasing trade which again, depending almost entirely as it does upon rice 
 export, is the result of the increased cultivation of the country in the interior. 
 The inhabitants are almost entirely Burmans with a small sprinkling of 
 Hindoos and Mahomedans. 
 
 Myan-oung, once the head-quarters of the Pegu Light Infantry, a local 
 corps disbanded on the formation of the existing Police force, and subsequently 
 the head-quarters of the district till 1870, is some distance below Kyan-kheng 
 and stretches along the bank of the river for two miles whilst its breadth inland 
 is not much over 200 yards. It is now the head-quarter station of a sub-divi- 
 sion and contains a Court-house and Treasury, a Police station. Lock-up, 
 Telegraph Office, Post Office, Hospital and Dispensary, Circuit-house and Pub- 
 lic Works Department Inspection Bungalow. Though an old Taking town 
 its inhabitants are mainly Burmans with a very few Hindoos, Mahomedans, 
 Europeans, Indo-Europeaus and Chin-Indo-Europeaus. Of some importance
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 175 
 
 in the Burmese time its progress of late years has not been great and it 
 has been eclipsed by its northern neighbour Kyan-kheng notwithstanding 
 advantages which it long had as a military and civil station. In 1864 it had 
 a population of 5,125 and in 1876 of 5,859 only. 
 
 Kan-oung, seven miles below Myanoung, founded by Aloungbhoora, the 
 Burman conqueror, circa 1753 A. D., is the head-quarter station of a township. It 
 possesses a Court-house^ a market-place or bazaar, a Police station and a Pub- 
 lic Works Department Inspection Bungalow. Its small population of 3,191 
 souls is composed mainly of Burmans, with a few Hindoos and about 100 
 Mahomedans. 
 
 Henzada is considerably to the south in 17°58' N. and 95°32' E. now 
 the head-quarters of the district, with a gross municipal revenue in 1876-77 of 
 Ks. 45,648 larger than that of any town except the three principal seaports of 
 the province, the military station of Thayetmyo and Prome which has double the 
 population. It contains Court-houses, a Gaol, fine market-places, a Telegraph 
 Office, Post Office, Circuit-house and a Public Works Department Insf)ectiou 
 Bungalow. Always of some importance it has increased considerably of late 
 years and during the last ten its population has risen from 14,551 souls to 
 15,307. The streets have been raised and the town generally much improved 
 out of its large revenue. The inhabitants are principally Burmaus, with a few 
 Hindoos, Mahomedans, Europeans (mainly officials), Indo-Europeans, and Chin- 
 Indo-Europeans. 
 
 Za-lwon is a risingtown farther tothesouth, which has a population of 4,784 
 souls, a large increase since 1868 when its inhabitants numbered 2,989 only. 
 It has a Court-house used by the Extra Assistant Commisssioner in charge 
 of the township, and a Police station. 
 
 Meng-gijee on the left bank of the Irrawaddy in 18° 6' 35" N. and 95° 30' E., 
 which includes Ke-kheng, was at one time, after the second Burmese war, 
 of considerable importance and the head-quarter station of Tharrawaddy or 
 the country east of the Irrawaddy now included in Henzada, in which was 
 quartered a detachment of Native Infantry. The Assistant Commissioner 
 was withdrawn some years after the occupation, but it has of late years been 
 found necessary to reconstitute the town into the head-quarter station 
 of a sub-division. It contains a Court-house, bazaar or market-place and 
 a Police station, and has a population of 15,770 souls, largely engaged in trade. 
 
 In addition to these towns there are others in different parts of the 
 country which are gradually and steadily rising in importance as Mo-gnyo, 
 Ta-pwon and Tsan-rwe, where Extra Assistant Commissioners hold their 
 Courts, and a large number of villages of various sizes. In villages and in 
 small hamlets of less than 200 inhabitants Henzada may be said to be par- 
 ticularly rich no other district in the province having so many. The larger 
 number of these are along the banks of the Irrawaddy and on the banks of 
 the tributary streams to the west of that river. It may safely be asserted 
 that the embankments along the Irrawaddy which protect such an exten- 
 sive tract of fertile rice country from the inundations to which it was annually 
 subject will not only produce a steady increase in the size of villages now 
 existing and occupied by cultivators of the neighbouring plains but will cause 
 the establishment of many new ones in spots hitherto waste and waiting only 
 for relief from the superabundant waters of the river and for labour to 
 become valuable and fruitful fields.
 
 176 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Once a portion of the Talaing" kingdom of Pegu and annexed to the 
 Burman Empire in 1753 A.D. by Alonngbhoora, the dis- 
 History. trict has no special history : it never seems to have been 
 
 the scene of much fig-hting nor to have had at any period 
 an independent existence. Its towns were occasionally attacked and defended 
 but the inhabitants would appear to have taken no special part in any of the 
 wars. Kyan-kheng, Myan-oung, Oot-hpo and Henzada claim to have been 
 founded by Talaing princes in the early days of Talaing history, whilst 
 Kan-oung does not go further back than the days of Alonngbhoora. It pos- 
 sesses no extensive ruins like Thare-khet-tara near Prome or Twan-te in Ean- 
 goon. When Colonel Symes visited Ava at the end of the last century he 
 found at Henzada evident signs of wealth but little cultivation, whilst the 
 neighbourhood of Myan-oung he described as exceedingly fruitful, exporting 
 a considerable quantity of rice upcountry. Tharrawaddy or the country on 
 the east of the Irrawaddy was given as an appanage to a prince of royal 
 blood who became famous, or perhaps rather infamous, under the name of 
 " Prince Tharrawaddy^' : clever, open hearted and liberal but ambitious, cruel 
 and vindictive, he turned his grant into a nest of robbers who were thoroughly 
 devoted to him and of whom he made use in 1837 to dethrone his brother 
 in his own favour. During the first Burmese war no resistance was 
 offered to the British Army in this district as it now exists. After the 
 fall of Donabyoo Sir Archibald Campbell continued his advance up the 
 valley of the Irrawaddy and was met at Taroop-hmaw by Burman Envoys 
 who wished him to halt and enter into negotiations, a suggestion which, 
 warned by experience, he declined to entertain but offered to treat for peace 
 when in Prome. Soon after the taking of Eangoon and Bassein during 
 the second Burmese war, the Phlegethon was sent up the river to reconnoitre 
 and found that the Governor of Dalla had evacuated Donabyoo and had 
 crossed the river to Tsaga, a few miles higher up. On the Phlegethon opening 
 fire the force, which consisted of some 5,000 men, retired to Thara-waw (Sara- 
 wa), some of them reerossing to Henzada. 
 
 In the beginning of July 1852 Commodore Tarleton moved up towards 
 Prome and found a large body of men at Kan-oung who replied to a shell from 
 the flotilla of which he was in command by a vigorous fire from guns and mus- 
 ketry from their defences to which they retreated : as the expedition had 
 been specially despatched to reconnoitre the river it proceeded after shelling 
 the works for an hour and on its return sometime later the place was found 
 to have been abandoned. At Myan-oung all was found quiet but at Akouk- 
 toung extensive fortifications were observed crowning the bluff and completely 
 commanding the western channel leaving the eastern undefended ; through 
 this the vessels passed onwards to Prome. 
 
 The Burmese, on receiving information of the capture of Prome by the 
 flotilla, abandoned the works at Akouk-toung and were discovered crossing 
 the river; they were immediately attacked and five brass field pieces captured, 
 and a few days later the works and some of the 28 guns which they were 
 found to contain were destroyed, the remainder being brought away. The 
 Burmese general in command, a grandson of the great Bandoola who had 
 been killed at Donabyoo during the first war, subsequently surrendered. 
 The whole of the delta was, however, not entirely cleared of Burmese troops 
 and many marauders remained who were only waiting for a favourable
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 177 
 
 opportunity to collect together and to cany on a guerilla war with the British 
 and with all who had in any way helped them. After Bandoola had retired to 
 Prome on the advance of Commander Tarleton just related no attempts 
 were made by the British to occupy Akouk-toung as General Godwin passed it 
 and captured and occupied Prome. A force of Burmans took advantage of this 
 and rebuilt the stockades ; in these they mounted five guns and seriously 
 threatened our communications : the stockades were stormed by Captain 
 Loch E.N. with a small force of 82 marines and seamen on the 4th 
 November and captured without the loss of a single man. The Burmese 
 rapidly reassembled and on the 9th of November Captain Loch again attack- 
 ed and captured the heights with less difficulty than before. To prevent 
 any recurrence of this danger a small force under Major Gardner was 
 stationed off Akouk-toung, in the Enterprize, and directed to patrol the hills 
 regularly. Early on the morning of the 19th, whilst thus employed, he was 
 surprized and he himself and a Havildar killed and six sepoys wounded. A 
 force was at once despatched from Prome under Colonel Handscomb and 
 Captain Loch R.N. who attacked and drove off the enemy from the two 
 positions which they occupied, one north and one south of Akouk-toung, the 
 latter a few miles from Kyan-kheug, after which Akouk-toung was occupied 
 and no further serious disturbances occurred on the right bank of the Irra- 
 waddy in this neighbourhood. In the meanwhile Bassein and the southern 
 part of Henzada had been, if possible, in a still more disturbed state. In 
 Bassein there had been several risings, not of the people generally but of 
 the disbanded Burman Police, of which each Tlioogyee even had several 
 hundreds. The conquest of the country by the English deprived them of 
 all occupation and, encouraged and led by men holding commissions from 
 the Court at Ava, they kept the whole country below the Akouk-toung hills 
 in a continual ferment. The principal leader in this district was one Myat- 
 htoou the hereditary Thoogyee of a small circle, a man of daring who 
 bad more than once been treated as a rebel by the Burmese Government, 
 who collected a large body of marauders. He was attacked south of Dona- 
 byoo by a force under Sir John Cheape with which a Kareng levy under Captain 
 Fytche in civil charge of Bassein co-operated and liis force dispersed. He 
 himself escaped but gave no more trouble. In Tharrawaddy a man named 
 Goung-gyee caused much disorder. He was the hereditary Thoogyee of a circle 
 and before the outbreak of the war had refused to furnish his quota of tax or to 
 supply the produce which was due from him to the Burmese Government ; he 
 was therefore deposed and a relation of his own appointed to succeed him ; this 
 relative he forcibly expelled and when the war broke out, siding with neither 
 array, he established a sort of petty government of his own. The Burmese 
 Governor of the district had marched with a contingent from his province 
 tojoin the Burmese army before Rangoon and after its defeat he retired to his 
 government. Here, in the rainy season of 1852, Goung-gyee attacked him, 
 upon which a force from the Burman army then at Prome was detached 
 against him but the rapid advance of the British enabled Goung-gyee to elude 
 his opponents. In 1853 he refused to obey a summons from Captain Smith 
 who had been placed in charge and the Burmese Government now secretly 
 supported him, and for a considerable period he was enabled to keep the country 
 in a very disturbed state. " By dint of terror inspired by ruthless cruelties 
 '' to those of his countrymen who accepted service from the British Govern- 
 
 23
 
 178 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " ment he deterred many from submitting and from supplying" information 
 " regarding his movements. Their villages were attacked, plundered and 
 " burnt ; their wives and children driven off into the mountains, and the men 
 " forced to decide between joining him and death/' Not only had Goung- 
 gyee no intention of acknowledging any master but he was determined 
 that during his life no one should occupy the post which he had so long 
 held. No sooner was a Myooke appointed by the British Government than 
 Goung-gyee killed him. It was not until the early part of 1855 that he 
 was got rid of when, owing to the energetic measures taken by Captain 
 d^Oyley in Prome and Captain (now Colonel) David Brown in Tharrawaddy, 
 he was so closely pursued and harassed that at last, almost deserted by his 
 followers, he acknowledged himself beaten and escaped into Burmese terri- 
 tory. 
 
 The defeat of these two leaders and the dispersion of their gangs 
 together with the energetic and firm but conciliatory policy pursued by the 
 Civil Officers in charge relieved the whole country and no serious disturbances 
 have occurred since. 
 
 On the annexation of Pegu the present Henzada district was called Sarawa 
 {Tha-ra-icaiv) and very shortly afterwards was divided 
 
 Revenue. into two called Henzada and Tharrawaddy to be subse- 
 
 quently united and called Myanoung, a name which a few 
 years ago was changed to Henzada on the removal of the head-quarters from 
 Myanoung back to Henzada : since then the Thoon-tshay circle has been added 
 from Ban goon and Donabyoo has been taken from it. The revenue derived 
 from Tharrawadddy was comparatively small. Under the Burmese rule 
 the two tracts east and west of the Irrawaddy including Donabyoo 
 remitted annually to the central Government at Ava, or to the Myo-tsa to 
 whom they had been allotted, the revenue shewn in the following table : — 
 
 
 Henzada. 
 
 Tharrawaddy. 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1. House family tax, Burmans and 
 Kareng . . 
 
 96,120 
 
 80,110 
 
 1,76,280 
 
 2. Yoke of oxen or rice land 
 
 76,440 
 
 970 
 
 77,410 
 
 3. Fisheries 
 
 25,150 
 
 9,910 
 
 35,060 
 
 4. Transit duties 
 
 .... 
 
 6,690 
 
 6,690 
 
 5. Betel-nut and palm plantations . . 
 
 680 
 
 .... 
 
 680 
 
 6. Licensed brokers and m i s c e 1- 
 laneous . . 
 
 3,820 
 
 1,380 
 
 5,200 
 
 7. One township ten per cent, in kind 
 after the rice crop had been 
 threshed . . 
 
 Unknown 
 
 
 .... 
 
 8. 3651bs. honey, 3651bs. wax and 100 
 mats 
 
 
 Unknown 
 
 
 Total 
 
 2,02,210 
 
 99,060 
 
 3,01,270
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 179 
 
 The small revenue derived from rice land and the comparatively large 
 amount derived from transit duties was due to the small area of rice and the 
 comparatively large area of garden and vegetable cultivation ; the two latter 
 were not taxed but duties were levied on the produce when carried into 
 another township. 
 
 On the British occupation the transit duties and duties on licensed brokers 
 were abolished but the other imposts were retained slightly altered, whilst some 
 other indirect taxes, notably excise, were imposed. In 1855-56 thedemand was : — 
 
 
 Henzada. 
 
 Tharrawaddy. 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 1. Land 
 
 148,590 
 
 61,770 
 
 210,360 
 
 2. Capitation .. .. ' .. 
 
 127,960 
 
 75,030 
 
 202,990 
 
 3. Fisheries .. 
 
 33,500 
 
 7,500 
 
 41,000 
 
 4. Salt 
 
 120 
 
 .... 
 
 120 
 
 5. Excise 
 
 16,980 
 
 2,000 
 
 18,980 
 
 6. Timber revenue 
 
 50 
 
 100 
 
 150 
 
 7. Sale of unclaimed property 
 
 550 
 
 .... 
 
 550 
 
 8. Bazaar rent . . 
 
 1,460 
 
 90 
 
 1,550 
 
 9. Fines and fees 
 
 10,470 
 
 5,640 
 
 16,110 
 
 10. Ferries 
 
 
 40 
 
 40 
 
 11. Postage stamps 
 
 .... 
 
 170 
 
 170 
 
 12. Miscellaneous . . 
 
 4,850 
 
 3,080 
 
 7,930 
 
 Total 
 
 344,530 
 
 155,420 
 
 499,950 
 
 At the end of the decade the total revenue had increased to Rs. 829,510 
 or had nearly doubled, exclusive of bazaar rent and other items which were 
 now credited to local revenue. The increase was under every head except 
 excise which had greatly fallen off. 
 
 
 1855-56. 
 
 1864-65. 
 
 1. Land .. 
 
 2. Capitation 
 
 3. Fisheries .. .. .. .. 
 
 4. Excise.. 
 
 5. Other items 
 
 Rs. 
 210,360 
 202,990 
 41,000 
 18,480 
 26,620 
 
 Es. 
 338,280 
 355,030 
 
 69,910 
 7,980 
 
 58,310 
 
 Total 
 
 499,950 
 
 829,510
 
 180 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Ten years later, ia 1874-75, the gross revenue was Rs. 1,356,193, but 
 owing to the rapid growth in the population the rate per head had fallen from 
 about Rs. 2-14 to about Es. 2-9. 
 
 The gross revenue for the year 1876-77 divided into its main heads was : — 
 
 1. Land Revenue 
 
 
 .. Rs. 
 
 575,893 
 
 2. Capitation tax 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 460,061 
 
 3. Fisheries, leases & net licenses 
 
 
 „ 
 
 79,498 
 
 4. Salt tax . . 
 
 
 • • »i 
 
 43 
 
 5. Forest Produce 
 
 
 
 177 
 
 6. Other items — 
 
 
 
 
 a. Excise on spirits and drags 
 
 Es. 
 
 89,727 
 
 
 h. Fines and forfeitures 
 
 
 24,843 
 
 
 c. Unclaimed property sold 
 
 
 634 
 
 
 d. Miscellaneous 
 
 
 12,739 
 
 
 e. Postage and Telegraph stamps . . 
 
 
 7,695 
 
 
 /. Law stamps 
 
 
 45,332 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 
 180,970 
 
 
 
 
 1,296,642 
 
 7. Local taxes 
 
 Grand Total 
 
 , ^ 
 
 130,692 
 
 
 1,327,334 
 
 The local revenues are derived from Municipal and Town taxes, Market 
 stall rents, contributions to the dispensaries, fines and the five per cent cess, 
 which are credited either to the town in which they are levied or where levied 
 out of any town to the district generally. The amounts thus received in 
 1876-77 were : — 
 
 Municipal Fund 
 District Fund 
 Five per cent, cess 
 Dispensary 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Total 
 
 45,648 
 
 40,875 
 
 41,662 
 
 2,507 
 
 130,692 
 
 Before the annexation of Pegu the country now forming the Henzada 
 ... district was divided into numerous small tracts ruled by 
 
 officials who, though not of high rank, communicated 
 direct with the Government at Ava. Those in the country south of Akouk- 
 toung on the right bank and south of Taroop-hmaw on the left, as far as 
 the Rangoon and Bassein districts, were incorporated into one district and 
 called Sarawa {Thara,-ivaiv). Very shortly, however, it was found necessary to 
 divide Tha-ra-waw into two and the Irrawaddy was taken as the dividing line ; 
 Henzada to the west with its head-quarters at the town of that name was 
 made one district and Tharrawaddy on the east, the old historical name of 
 that part of the Province, with its head- quarters at Meng-gyee, the other ; 
 at the same time the small township of Taroop-hmaw in the north was taken 
 from Prome and added to the latter. 
 
 Each township was placed under a Burmese oflicer under the designa- 
 tion of Myo-ook and he was entrusted with moderate judicial, fiscal and 
 police power. Immediately under the Myo-ook were the Thoogyee, or 
 revenue and police oflicers placed over circles, each circle containing several 
 village tracts. These officers held the same general position which they 
 held under the Burmese rule. The area of their jurisdiction varied from 
 three or four to twenty square miles. Each Thoogyee had two peons.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 181 
 
 Subordinate to the Thooygee were appointed goung (literally ' heads '). These 
 officers existed under the Burmese Government by no fixed rule but were 
 placed at the caprice of each Thoogyee or other officer wherever a new 
 hamlet sprung up or a few families coni^regated. They were now appointed 
 over, on the avei'age, every hundred families throughout the several circles 
 and placed under the immediate ordei's of the Thoogyee, whom they assisted 
 in the revenue and police duties. They received a salary of ten rupees a 
 month each. They constituted the village constabulary and, with the Thoo- 
 gyee, the detective police. At the same time the goung and ook (or *' rulers^') 
 over traders, over fishermen, over ploughmen of the royal lands, over 
 brokers, over silver assayers &c. were reduced and these classes, which had 
 hitherto formed distinct bodies each under its own head, were brought 
 under the general laws of the country and any crimes and offences of which 
 their members might be accused made primarily cognizable by the Thoogyee 
 and goung, who at first seemed hardly able to understand that all persons 
 withiu the limits of the tracts of which they had been placed in charge were 
 within their jurisdiction. It was soon found that the Thoogyee and goung 
 with their two peons each were not able to maintain order in a country lately 
 the seat of war and overrun with men who had hitherto lived upon the land. 
 The Burmese system was to exact a definite and fixed revenue from the 
 various divisions and to allow the officials in charge thereof no defined salary 
 but the criminal fines and the fees on the administration of justice and such other 
 sums as they could squeeze from the inhabitants without causing so much 
 discontent that appeals were made to Ava : at the same time the local officials 
 were held strictly and personally responsible for their quota of revenue in 
 money or in kind as the case might be and the supply of fighting men and 
 war boats in case of necessity. Each official kept as many followers as he 
 could support or as could support themselves without driving the long-suf- 
 fering inhabitants, who had and have a great awe for constituted authority, 
 into venturing into rebellion or flight. The result of the war was to throw 
 these men loose uj^on the country and it required vigorous efforts and strong 
 measures to restore confidence. 
 
 A local regiment was raised and called the Pegu Light Infantry :itwas com- 
 posed ofa commandant, second in command, adjutant, four subalterns, one assist- 
 ant surgeon, seven native commissioned and seventy-eight non-commissioned 
 officers and 495 rank and file, with their head-quarters at Myanoung ; whilst 
 in Tharrawaddy a local police corps of 546 strong, officers and men, was 
 formed by Captain Brown, to which two European non-commissioned officers 
 were attached. At the same time the Deputy Commissioners were authorized 
 to carry out at once any sentence of death which they might pass on persons 
 taken in open and armed insurrection, an authority subsequently withdrawn as 
 the country settled down. The general result of the measures adopted was 
 that in two years the district, except in Tharrawaddy where Goung-gyee 
 caused considerable trouble, was quiet but murders and gang-robberies still 
 continued; of the former there were no less than ten in Henzada in 1855 and 
 six in Tharrawaddy during the same year. Gradually the state of the country 
 improved and more especially was this the case in the once turbulent district 
 east of the Irrawaddy owing to " the indefatigable energy and well directed 
 " exertions of Captain (now Colonel) Brown " who had been in charge 
 since 1853. The inhabitants returned to their homes and, as far as it is
 
 182 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 possible to judge from their conduct and their general statements^ gladly 
 accepted the change of rulers, population increased and the revenue rose 
 in amount whilst its incidence per head fell. The raising of the Pegu 
 Light Infantry was attended with some difficulty as it was found at first that 
 Burmese and Talaing would not enlist ; an endeavour was made, with but 
 little success, to get Malay recruits from the Straits but in a few years the 
 corps was raised to its full sanctioned strength, mainly by an accession of 
 Burmans from Tharrawaddy, and in 1858 it furnished detachments which 
 relieved the troops of the line on the detached frontier posts in the Prome 
 district. In 1861 on the formation of the existing provincial police the corps 
 was disbanded, most of the officers and many of the men joining the new 
 body and at the same time the police battalion raised by Captain Brown 
 was similarly reduced. 
 
 In 1861 Tharrawaddy and Henzada were united and formed into one 
 district, the head-quarters being removed north to Myanoung which thence- 
 forward for several years gave its name to the district. In 1870 the head- 
 quarters w^ere transferred to Henzada and the district was I'e-named. In 
 1873 the Thoon-tshay circle of the Rangoon district was added, and in April 
 1875 the Douabyoo township was taken away and added to others from 
 Bassein and Rangoon to form the new Thoon-khwa district. Henzada is now 
 divided into three sub-divisions, Henzada, Myanoung and Tharrawaddy and 
 these again into nine townships in charge of each of which is an Extra 
 Assistant Commissioner, and into eighty-one revenue circles. 
 
 In 1876 the police force consisted of one Superintendent, one Assistant 
 superintendent, 44 subordinate officers and 354 men, of whom 45 were 
 employed for municipal purposes and nine as river police ; the total cost was 
 Es. 93,473, Rs„ 8,994 being defrayed from local sources. 
 
 Almost the last buildings constructed were the gaols and lock-ups. For the 
 first few years the prisoners were confined in temporary mat buildings, except at 
 Meng-gyee in Tharrawaddy where Captain Brown turned an old and abandoned 
 brick building into an efficient place of confinement for his prisoners. In 
 1856 two outbreaks occurred : twenty-four prisoners endeavoured to escape, 
 fourteen succeeded, six were killed and four re-captured. In 1859 an 
 enclosure wall of masonry was constructed by convict labour round the Meng- 
 gyee gaol under the superintendence of Lieutenant Lloyd. In 1861 the 
 gaols at Meng-gyee and at Henzada were abolished, though retained as 
 lock-ups in which prisoners were confined pending trial and when sentenced to 
 short terms of imprisonment. The plan then under consideration was to 
 have a gaol in each district in which prisoners sentenced to not more than 
 three years imprisonment should be confined but this was subsequently 
 altered and it was determined that all prisoners undergoing a longer term than 
 six months should be sent to Eaugoon. In 1864 the lock-up at Myanoung was 
 a wooden building standing in open country on the banks of the Irrawaddy 
 without enclosure of any sort in which were confined only under-trial 
 prisoners and those sentenced to not more than a month's imprisonment, the 
 remainder being sent to Rangoon. In 1868-69 masonry lock-ups were con- 
 structed at Henzada and at Myanoung and some years later it was proposed 
 to build a district gaol at the former station but the plan was abandoned. 
 
 The gaol at Henzada though classed as a district gaol is in reality but 
 a lock-up and is inadequate for the wants of the district. It and the lock-up
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 183 
 
 at MyanouDg' are of similar construction, both consisting of masonry buildings 
 with woodeu barracks raised 10 feet off the ground in which, during 1875 and 
 1876j an average number of 83 and 67 prisoners, respectively, were confined. 
 At Heuzada the average daily number of convicts employed on labour 
 outside the gaol walls was ten, eight were employed on the gaol garden, 
 twenty on manufactures, seven on the gaol buildings, six as gaol servants and 
 four as prison officers. Rs. 992 were realized by the sale of gaol manufac- 
 tures and Es. 980 for the extramural labour. The expenditure during the 
 year was — 
 
 Es. A. P. 
 
 On gaol buildings by Gaol Department . . . . 43 
 
 Ditto by Public Works Department 
 
 Maintaining and guarding prisoners 
 
 Cash receipts from manufactures 
 Expenditui-e for sand, mortar, &c. 
 
 5,888 
 
 
 
 
 
 Eg. A. 
 5,931 
 5,792 
 
 P. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 2,223 
 . 1,090 
 
 11,723 
 1,133 
 
 
 
 
 
 •• 
 
 
 
 10,590 
 
 
 
 
 102 13 
 
 
 
 Nett cost 
 
 Nett cost per head 
 
 Excluding the cost of new buildings and repairs, the total cost of each 
 prisoner during the four years ending with 1876 was Es. 56-13-6, Es. 69-12-7 
 Es. 75-2-1, and Es. 56-3-6. ' 
 
 In Myanouug where eighteen convicts were employed on manufactures the 
 cash receipts were larger and the nett cost proportionately reduced. In 1876 
 the gross expenditure on the lock-up was Es. 6,653 and deductiuo- 
 Es. 2,785, the profit from the sale of manufactured articles, &c., the nett out- 
 lay was Es. 3,868 or Es. 47-2-9 per head. The total cost ( exclusive of that 
 for buildings ) per head of average strength during each of the four years 
 ending with 1876 was Es. 63-8-6, Rs. 76-1-4, Es. 53-8-0 and Es. 62-9-9. 
 
 This district has from the first received considerable attention as reo-ards 
 the education of its inhabitants but beyond making grants-in-aid to the 
 missionary societies the State did not interfere for some years. As early as 
 1855 schools had been established by the American Baptist missionaries and 
 in 1856 a Kareng Normal school was opened in Henzada, in 1867 the Society for 
 the Propagation of the Gospel started a school in the same town, and in 1873 
 and 1874 the Government formed cess schools in Henzada and Myanouug 
 and in 1875 in Kyan-kheug. In the meanwhile the Baptist missionaries 
 had started numerous village schools amongst the Kareng to which the State 
 for some time afforded aid. 
 
 The average daily attendance in the cess schools in 1876 was : — in Henzada 
 52, Myanoung 36, and Kyan-kheng 20. In Henzada almost all the pupils are 
 Booddhists whereas in Myanoung there were 13 Christians, Mahomedans and 
 Hindoos out of a total of 34 on the rolls on the 31st March 1876, and in Kyan- 
 kheug three out of a total of 31 on the rolls. The total number on the rolls of the 
 S. P. G. Mission School, to which the State made a grant of Es. 960, was 58 and 
 the average daily attendance 47. In Henzada there are two schools for Bur- 
 mese girls to each of which the State makes a small grant. The total number 
 of pupils on the rolls in 1876 was 67 and the average daily attendance was 51.
 
 184 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 All these are more or less under the supervision of Europeans or Americans. 
 At Henzada and at Meng-gyee there are lay schools, one at each, in which 
 both boys and girls are taught, kept by Burmans who receive small grants and 
 are also assisted by a master paid by the State, whilst at Re-keng the Gov- 
 ernment employs a master who teaches in a large monastery with the 
 consent and on the application of the head hpoongyee. Numerous monas- 
 teries and lay schools are annually inspected and prizes distributed and in 
 1875-76 the Director of Public Instruction reported that in this district indigen- 
 ous lay education was founded on a permanently sound and steadily broaden- 
 ing basis. 
 
 HENZADA ANOUK-BHET.— A revenue circle in the Henzada town- 
 ship, Henzada district, on the right bank of the Irrawaddy south of Henzada 
 town, partially cultivated in fields which would be a swamp were it not for 
 the protecting embankment on the Irrawaddy. In 1876 the land revenue was 
 Es. 5,431, the capitation tax Es. 3,900, the gross revenue Rs. 10,420 and the 
 population 4,725. 
 
 HENZADA MYOMA. — A revenue circle in the Henzada township of 
 the Henzada district round and including a portion of Henzada the bead- 
 quarters of the district. In 1876 including the inhabitants of the town the 
 population was 16,886, and in the same year the land revenue was Rs. 4,035, 
 the capitation tax Rs. 977 and the gross revenue, excluding that of the 
 municipality, Es. 14,030. 
 
 HEUMA. — A tribe inhabiting the hill country of Arakan. — See Shandoo. 
 
 HIEN-TSAI. — The native name for the north Mosco island, q.v. 
 
 HIEN-TSAI. — A fresh water basin in the Tavoy district lying on the 
 coast about half way between Re in Amherst and Tavoy. The country slopes 
 from all sides towards a central point, forming the semi-circle of a great 
 cone, in the lower part of which the basin about fifteen miles long by six to eight 
 broad formed by the confluence of all the streams between Re and Tavoy (except 
 the Hangan and the Za-dee) descending from the westernmost ranges, and 
 surrounded by land on all sides except an opening of about half a mile in 
 width through which it communicates with the sea. The entrance is 
 closed by a sand bar. Within the basin and towards its northern end is an 
 extensive island containing land suited for rice cultivation. Wood-oil trees 
 grow in abundance in the neighbourhood. 
 
 HLAI-GA-TOUNG. — A small unuavigable river in the Prome district 
 that rises in the hills on the north-east of the Irrawaddy and flows 
 southward in a narrow ravine for some five miles when it receives the waters 
 of the Bho-ra, which has emerged from a still narrower ravine immediately 
 to the west, and three miles further on it joins the North Naweng a mile 
 below the village of Tham-ba-ya-goon. 
 
 HLAING. — A township occupying the extreme north-west of the Rangoon 
 district and lying on both banks of the Hlaing river. 
 
 The boundary leaves the Pegu Eomas near the source of the Mee-neng 
 and following that river to its mouth in the Hlaing, turns southward to the 
 mouth of the Ee-nat-eng Khyouug; here turning west it follows that creek to 
 the Ee-nat-eng and the northern border of the swamp and then continues west 
 along an imaginary line to the A-lap-tsheu-eng ; here it inclines south-east to
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 185 
 
 aMa-00 tree (Sarcocephalus cadamba) in about the latitude of Bhiet-naw on the 
 Hlain^ : inchning- again south-south-east it strikes the Pa-khwou stream and, 
 following- this in a generally southerly direction to its mouth in the Bhaw-lay, 
 it runs with that creek at first south and gradually round east to its southern 
 mouth in the Illaing. Turning abruptly north along that river it bends round 
 west again and follows a spur in an east-north-easterly direction to the 
 Pegu Romas; these form the eastern boundary of tlie township. The area 
 within these limits is 678 square miles. To the north and west lie Henzada; south 
 and east the Hmaw-bhee and the Hpoung-leng townships of Rangoon. The 
 head-quarters are at Taw-la-tai on the southern bank of the Bhaw-lay creek at 
 its northern junction with the Hlaing-. In 1873 the northern circle, Thoon- 
 tshay, was joined to the Henzada district and in 1875-76 other circles on the 
 west were taken from the township when the Thoon-khwa district was 
 formed. The township is divided into four revenue circles, viz., Ook-kan in the 
 north-east, Myoung-ta-nga in the south-east, Aing-ka-loung in the north-west 
 and Bhaw-lay in the south-west. The two first are fully described under their 
 own names but it is desirable to add to the account already given of the two last. 
 Aing-ka-loung occupies the whole of that portion of the township wdiich 
 lies west of the Hlaing and north of the Bhaw-lay. There are but few 
 spots high enough to escape, during the rains, from the spill of the Hlaing-, 
 the Pa-khwon and the Bhaw-lay, supplemented as these are by the waters of 
 the Irrawaddy which find their way over the country by numerous 
 creeks, whilst the rush of the Irrawaddy through the Pan-hlaing banks up 
 the Hlaing, and consequently the Bhaw-lay, and thus adds to the over- 
 flow. The somewhat raised spots, which are found principally along the 
 Hlaing and in the north-western corner at and below the village of 
 Eng-ta-ra, are themselves occasionally submerged on a heavy rise, as in 
 1877. Except this higher ground the whole circle, more especially in 
 the west, is covered with tree and grass forest, called the Eng-ta-ra Taw-gyee 
 or the " Great Eng-ta-ra forest^^, in which the principal trees are Htieu 
 and Roon {Anogeissus acuminata) and is highly intersected with creeks 
 mostly dry even as early as the end of January. There are five principal 
 fens, for they cannot be called lakes : in the centre of the circle is the 
 A-la-bhwot, the largest, and north of it are the Taw-kha-ra and the Ka-law- 
 koon, whilst towards the south is the Ma-tha and in the extreme south- 
 east the Meng-hla. In 1877 the inhabitants were — 
 
 Burmans ... ... ... ... 1,736 
 
 Talaiug ... ... ... ... 642 
 
 Kareng ... ... ... ... 991 
 
 Chinese ... ... ... ... 4 
 
 3,373 
 
 In that year there were only 25 villages, all either on the Hlaing or 
 gi-ouped near Eng-ta-ra. The principal are : — Aing-ka-loung, a long 
 straggling village in the north-eastern corner on the bank of the Hlaing, 
 consisting of two rows of houses one on each side of a road with a much 
 damaged brick path running along its centre leading to a monastery and 
 one or two zayats in an ojien grove of trees at the lower end. Between the 
 monastery and the river is a good bricked well. The inhabitants, who in 
 1877 numbered 368, are princi])ally employed in working as fishermen and 
 as coolies on the timber rafts. Hpo-khouug, a similar village about a mile 
 
 24
 
 186 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 further down and opposite Hlaing with 214 inhabitants ; and Taw-ta-ree, 
 still further south and about half a mile inland from the river bank, with 
 201 inhabitants. In 1876 there were 4,152 acres of rice land under culti- 
 vation and none fallow, 79 acres of garden and 292 acres of miscellaneous 
 cultivation; 1,259 buffaloes, 188 cows, bulls and bullocks, 189 carts, 240 
 plouo"hs and 18 boats. The inhabitants of all the villages on the Hlaing 
 eke out their means by cutting and selling grass for thatch and in buying 
 bamboos from the forest workers at the head waters of the Ook-kau 
 which they stack on the river bank till an opportunity offers of sending 
 or taking them to Rangoon for sale in the market there. 
 
 The Bhaw-lay circle occupies the whole of the township west of the Hlaing 
 below Aing-ka-loung. Like its northern neighbour it is highly intersect- 
 ed by small creeks which form an irregular network with each other and 
 with the Bhaw-lay and the Hlaing. The greater portion of its area is 
 flooded twice during the year on the high rises of the Irrawaddy and of 
 the Hlaing and is thereby rendered unculturable and is covered with 
 open tree forest and elephant grass. The places most free from flooding, 
 thouo-h not exempt in high rises, are (a) along the bank of the northern 
 portion of the Bhaw-lay ; here there is an annual spill from the creek but 
 not sufficient in ordinaiy years to damage cultivation : {b) in the extreme 
 south-eastern corner : and (c) a stretch of slightly higher ground extending, 
 with intervals, southwards from Gnyoung-waing at the junction of the 
 Hlaing with the northern mouth of the Bhaw-lay along the east central 
 tract to rather more than halfway down the circle. In 1876 there were 
 6,706 acres under rice, 112 acres left fallow, 187 acres of garden land 
 and 30 acres of miscellaneous cultivation. In the same year there were 
 1,263 buffaloes, 107 cows, bulls and bullocks distributed amongst three 
 villages, viz., Tha-bhaw-khyoung, Hlay-tshiep and Taw-la-tai, 103 pigs, 
 13 goats, 118 carts, 244 ploughs and 16 boats. 
 
 The villages, of which in that year there were 25, are almost entirely 
 on the banks of the main streams. The most important are Bhaw-lay on 
 the stream of the same name a little to the south of the mouth of the 
 Kha-noung-pe creek with 472 inhabitants who are principally workers of 
 lake and stream fisheries ; Hlay-tshiep at the junction of Hlaing and the 
 northern mouth of the Bhaw-lay where a small Police force is stationed, 
 with 420 inhabitants, agriculturists and raftsmen ; A-lien-a-lay on the 
 bank of the Hlaing at the mouth of the stream of the same name with 
 541 inhabitants, agriculturists and raftsmen ; and Taw-la-tai, with its 
 north-eastern and semi-detached quarter Gnyoung-waing, with 626 
 inhabitants, those living in the former agriculturists and raftsmen and 
 those in the latter traders and rice brokers. 
 
 The total number of the inhabitants of the circle in 1877 was : — 
 
 Burmans ... ••• ••• ••• 2,002 
 
 Talaing ... ... ... ••• 1,689 
 
 Kareng ... ... ... ••• 1,111 
 
 Chinese ... ... ... ••• "^ 
 
 Musulmans ... ... ••• ••• ^ 
 
 4,811 
 
 To the east of the township the country is hilly and here is found much 
 valuable timber, as teak {Tectona grandis),l^yeug-ma {Lagerstroemia RegiiKg),
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 187 
 
 Eng" {Dipterocarpiis tuhei'culaUis), Ka-g-uyeng (D. alatiis), Theug-gan [Hopea 
 odorata) and Fyeag-gs^-do {Xyliaclolabriforinis). A cousiderable portion of this 
 tract has been demarcated as a State forest reserve. Below this the country 
 gradually subsides into a plain, the eastern borders of which in the north are 
 lower than the banks of the Hlaing. In consequence, as that river annually 
 overflows the country in its immediate neighbourhood, it is not culturable 
 except, perhaps, in the extreme south. West of the Hlaing the country is 
 one vast flat with a few places high enough to escape the annual floods where 
 rice is grown ; elsewhere it is covered with grass and with tree forest of little 
 or no value. 
 
 The principal rivers are the Hlaing, the Bhaw-lay creek and the Ook-kan and 
 the Ma-ga-ree, tributaries of the Hlaing from the eastward : much timber is 
 brought down the two last, and down the Ook-kan bamboos also, and conveyed 
 to Rangoon down the Hlaing. 
 
 The principal villages are Taw-la-tai, the head-quarters, on the Bhaw-lay 
 with a population of 626 souls in 1877. Pouk-koon where is the Ook-kan station 
 of the Irrawaddy Valley (State) Railway which traverses the township from south 
 to north, with 494 inhabitants ; and Myoung-ta-nga in the north of the circle of 
 the same name with 802 inhabitants. A little to the south of Hlaing, on the left 
 bank of the river of that name, are the remains of an old city said to have been 
 founded in the time of Rahzadhierit, the great king of the Talaing. The ruins of 
 three pagodas and of the walls are standing ; these latter form a square each 
 side facing one of the cardinal points of the compass and with a gateway in the 
 centre. North of the Dhat, a small mountain tributary of the Ook-kan which 
 it joius from the south-east, are the ruins of another town called Htan-bhoo 
 the crumbling walls only remaining : it is said to have been founded by Meng- 
 ran-ga a son of Rahzadhierit, who, rebelling against his fathei*, was killed in 
 his own camp at a spot now called La-ha-ma-ngay close to Htan-bhoo. 
 
 In 1876 the area actually under rice was 28,469 acres, the land revenue 
 was Rs. 48,621, the capitation-tax Rs. 26,123, the gross revenue Rs. 96,205 
 and the population 19,996 souls. 
 
 HLAING. — A river in the valley of the Irrawaddy which flows past the 
 town of Rangoon whence to its mouth it is universally known as the Kaugoon 
 river. It rises in the marshy grounds east of Prome and, flowing- south over 
 a sandy and muddy bed between low banks in a channel which is only just 
 defined and no more even in the dry season, falls into the Eng-ma lake, after 
 having received the waters of numerous small streams, all like itself in this por- 
 tion of its course uunavigable by boats. It has been supposed that it acts as a 
 sort of escape channel for the flood waters of the Naweng when jionded bock 
 by an unusual rise of the Irrawaddy and even that it is an old channel 
 of the Irrawaddy itself but now cut off" by an alluvial bar, but there is a 
 sufficient rise in the intervening country to form a watershed between this 
 sluggish river and the eddying volume of the Naweng in flood which 
 sweeps past it a few miles to the north. On leaving the Engma lake, which 
 it enters as the ' Zay', it continues its southward course as the ' Myit-ma- 
 kha', traverses the Heuzada district east of and almost parallel to the 
 Irrawaddy and enters the Rangoon district at Myit-kyo. In the north it is 
 separated from the Irrawaddy by a line of low hills covered with Eng 
 forest {Dipterocarpus tiihcrculatus) which ends a little above the latitude of 
 Myanouug. Below this it is connected with the Irrawaddy by numerous creeks
 
 188 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 which increase iu size and importance towards the south. From Tsan-rwe, 
 where it receives the Thoon-tshay from the east, it is navigahle upwards at all 
 seasons as far as Ta-pwon, the water being* never less than three feet deep, but 
 the channel is in many places choked with jungle. Small boats ascend even as 
 far as Eng^-ma with cargoes of salt, ngapee and other goods. Owing to the 
 numerous shoals it is impracticable for steamers even of light draught above 
 Tsan-rwe where its width is 180 yards^ its depth four feet, the bed sandy and 
 the tidal rise 2| feet. Below Tsan-rwe it continues between high sandy banks 
 to about 17° 15' N., where the Bhaw-lay, with a mouth about 120 yards broad, 
 leaves it to the west. A little lower its banks gradually sink and assume the 
 appearance characteristic of those of a tidal stream in the delta, abrupt and steep 
 for a few feet from the top and below high water mark shelving and muddy, the 
 crest either bare or hidden by overhanging shrubs with their lower branches 
 and branchlets washed by the tide and covered with brown slime which, as the 
 water falls, dries into a dirty grey. Large trees such as the Mango and Htieu 
 disappear and are succeeded by Lamoo and other timber which thrives 
 in brackish water. The waters have no longer a semblance even of trans- 
 parency but are thick and muddy every stroke of the oar sending the earthy 
 particles swirling in distinct eddies. A very little north of the 17th parallel 
 the Bhaw-lay, here called the Kook-ko, joins it again and it then widens con- 
 siderably. Three miles lower it suddenly spreads out to a breadth of several 
 miles and its course is divided by two main islands into three channels ; of 
 these the eastern is the deepest and the one most generally used by boats and 
 always by the river steamers which reach the Irrawaddy during the rains 
 through the Kook-ko. Up to 1874 the route was through the Pan-hlaing-, 
 further south, but this is gradually silting up. The western channel is 
 shallow and considei-ably larger whilst the central is still shallower and so filled 
 with sand banks that, except at high water, it is barely navigable even by a 
 canoe. The two main islands, one on each side of this central channel, are 
 gradually enlarging by accretion : that on the east now contains about sixty 
 acres and that on the west about eighty. Above there is a small round island 
 formerly containing from fifteen to twenty acres, but the banks are steep and 
 fall in every year and its area is now only about five. Below the two main 
 islands is another, larger than either, which has increased and is still increasing 
 in the same way as they are. Just above Rangoon the river is joined by the 
 Pan-hlaing from the westward and sweeping round the town towards the east it 
 is joined by the Pegu and the Poo-zwon-doung when, turning south again, it 
 flows on for 21 miles through an ever-widening- channel and falls into the Gulf 
 of Martaban in Lat. 16° 28' N. Long. 96° 20' E. through a mouth three miles 
 broad. The land at the entrance is low and for the most part covered with 
 jungle to the water's edge forming dense mangrove and tidal forests. Owing 
 to the great rise and fall of the tide and to the velocity of the tidal stream the 
 water, even far out to seaward, is charged with a large quantity of deposit, caus- 
 ing the river to present a deep yellow hue. At the mouth it is high water, 
 at full and change of the moon, at 3 hrs. 15 mins. : the springs rise 21 feet 
 and neaps 13 feet. It is navigable to Rangoon by large ships, which, however, 
 have to wait for flood tide to cross the Hastings, a shoal formed just above 
 the united mouths of the Pegu and Poo-zwon-doung rivers. In the rains 
 it is navigable for 80 miles above Rangoon by ships of 500 tons burden. 
 The channel up to Rangoon is winding and difficult.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 189 
 
 HLAING. — A village in the Rangoon district at a re-entering angle on the 
 left bank of the Hlaiiig river about 11 miles above the mouth of the Bhaw-lay. 
 The village, the seat of the Governor of the Hlaing province in the Burmese 
 time, was occupied without resistance by the British troops under Sir Archibald 
 Campbell on the 23rd February 1825. In 1877 it had a population of 293 souls. 
 It occupies the site of the river face suburb of the ancient town of Hlaing, 
 which is mentioned in Talaiugand Burman histories as early as the latter half 
 of the fourteenth century. The walls and three pagodas only, now all in 
 ruins, remain and the laud within, once the scene of busy life, is almost 
 entirely under the plough : the walls are of brick and of earth, the bricks 
 broad, long and flat and exceedingly well burned but without a trace of 
 vitreous glaze, and are about 15 feet high and 30 feet broad at the 
 base ; they form a square, each side facing one of the cardinal points of the 
 compass and about one thousand yards long with a gateway in the centre. 
 The northern wall is now about three hundred yards from the river, 
 but judging from the erosion taking jilace must originally have been con- 
 siderably farther. Near the village are the ruins of a pagoda called Hpouug- 
 daw-kau and on the opposite bank of the Hlaing, just above Hpo-khoung 
 village, another, in better repair with its htee still in j)lace but with the gildino- 
 worn off, called Hpoung-daw-oo both said to have been built by the Prince 
 of Tharawaddy, who afterwards came to the throne as Koon-boung-meng, 
 on a visit he paid to Pegu in 1820 when he followed the route generally taken 
 by the Burman armies in the wars with Pegu and leaving the Irrawaddy a little 
 below the latitude of Myanoung entered the Hlaing and thus escaped the 
 the waves of lower portion of the former river. 
 
 HLAING-BHOON. — A tidal creek in the Bassein district running 
 nearly due north and south from the Bassein river to the Shwe-doung which it 
 joins a short distance from its mouth. It has an average depth of from two to 
 fuur fathoms at low water and is navigated by large country boats. 
 
 HLAING-BHOON-GALE.— A creek in the Bassein district. See Oot-hpo. 
 
 HLAING-BHWAI. — A village on the left bank of the river of the same 
 name, 108 miles from Maulmain, the head-quarters of the Than-lweng 
 Hlaing-])hwai township of the Amherst district, containing, in 1876, a popula- 
 tion of 680 souls. To the south of the village are the Court-house and Police 
 station and between these and the village a very fine monastery, remarkable 
 for the large size of the posts on which it stands. During the dry season a 
 stream of trade passes through this village between the Shan States on the 
 east and the plain country on the west and south. Parties of Shan come in, 
 bringing principally silk piece-goods, men^s plaids and women's petticoats 
 which they carr}' down for sale to Maulmain and towards Tha-htoon returning in 
 a few mouths with cotton piece-g(jods and twist. At the same season parties of 
 Shan and Toungthoo from Tha-htuon and the neighbourhood go to the 
 Shan States, carrying iiriiicipally coin, and purchase large numbers of cattle 
 which they sell in the plain country to the westward. The local trade consists 
 in piece-goods and twist brought up by natives of India, and oil, salt, dried 
 vegetables, salt fish, &c. brought up by Burmaus and Talaing, and in fowls, 
 ducks and pigs bred by the Kareng who occupy the surrounding countr}', 
 especially towards and on the Dawiia range to the eastward, and carried down 
 to the jNIaulmain market, principally by natives of India and Chinamen.
 
 190 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 In the rains the current of the river is so rapid that the ascent is tedious 
 and long-, but in the dry season the spring- tides extend for some two miles above 
 the villag-e and boats can come up rapidly and can then get over the rocky 
 ledge which is about two hundred yards below the village. 
 
 HLAING-BHWAI. — A river in the Amherst district which has its sources 
 in the northern portion of the Dawna range and flowing southwards for about 
 120 miles unites with the Houng-tha-raw at Gyaing to flow almost due west, 
 as the Gyaing, and to fall into the Salween at Maulmain. At its junction 
 with the Da-gyaing, a stream which joins it from the eastward about 24 miles 
 south of Hlaing-bhwai and by the river 42 above Gyaing and is of equal 
 size, it is in the rains about 70 yards wide ; below this it rapidly broadens and 
 and at Gyaing cannot be much less than 400 yards broad. In the rains the 
 water is muddy and the current strong and rapid and boats ascend with diffi- 
 culty but in the dry season, when the spring tides extend up for 70 miles, 
 boats of five hundred baskets bui'den go up to Hlaing-bhwai : except at springs, 
 however, they cannot get over the reef of rocks which stretches across the river 
 about two hundred yards below that village. As far as the mouth of the Da- 
 gyaing the banks are high and well defined, lower down they are, in places, low 
 and the bordering scrub forest comes down to the water's edge even in the dry 
 season, the larger tree forest lying more inland and marking the limit of the 
 river at its highest. The usual halting-places on the way up are Khazaing 
 where there is a Police station 26 miles from Gyaing, and, in the wet weather, 
 Khyouug-wa, a small village on the right bank a little above the mouth of the 
 Da-gyaing 16 miles higher up. 
 
 HLAY-GOO. — A village on the Rangoon and Pegu road where it crosses 
 the Poo-zwon-doung — whence the name which means a ford for carts — with 
 557 inhabitants in 1877. It is the head-quarters of the Hpoung-leng 
 township and contains a Court-house and a Police station. 
 
 HLAY-THAY. — A revenue circle in the Prome district about seven miles 
 E. N. E. of Prome near the Naweng river, containing six of the old village 
 tracts. In 1876 it had a population of 1,505 souls; the land revenue was 
 Rs. 1,916, the capitation- tax Es. 1,713 and the gross revenue Rs. 3,652. 
 
 HLAY-TSHIEP. — A revenue circle on the right bank of the Irrawaddy 
 in the north-east corner of the Henzada township, Henzada district, the 
 cultivated part of which lies principally to the south-east. In 1876 the popu- 
 lation was 2,269, the land revenue Es. 3,596, the capitation tax Es. 2,275 and 
 the gross revenue Rs. 7,799. 
 
 HLAY-TSHIEP. — A village in the Bhaw-lay circle of the Hlaing town- 
 ship, Rangoon district, on the right bank of the Hlaing just below the 
 northern mouth of the Bhaw-lay creek and close to Taw-la-tai the head- 
 quarters of the township. The houses are in two rows along the banks of the 
 river with a road between them. The Police station, the only public building, 
 is behind the centre of the village. In 1877 it had 470 inhabitants. 
 The village was founded about twenty years ago by Moung Shwe Tha, the 
 Extra Assistant Commissioner of the township, who was afterwards burned to 
 death near Zee-goon, on the opposite bank of the Hlaing, in a patch of 
 elephant grass which he had caused to be set on fire to drive out the deer 
 which he had gone to shoot.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 191 
 
 HLWA. — A river in theThayet district which rises in the eastern slopes 
 of the Arakan hills near the strange and lofty Shwe-doung- peak and after 
 an easterly course of about thirty miles falls into the Ma-htoou river in the 
 Menoc-doon township. In the dry season this stream is a trickling brooklet 
 but during the rains small boats can ascend for some miles as far as the 
 village of Gwa-thit : towards the source the bed is very rocky. It has 
 numerous tributaries none of which are of any importance. 
 
 HLWA-TSENG.— A village in the Prome district in 19° 0' 25" N. and 
 95° 30' 55" E. on the left bank of the north Naweug nine miles from its mouth, 
 measured in a direct line, and at the junction of the Hlwa-tseng streamlet 
 with that river. On the opposite side of the North Naweng is a small patch of 
 rice cultivation. The inhabitants are mainly gardeners and rice cultivators, 
 
 HLAW-GA-TA. — A creek in the Bassein district. See Mai-za-lee. 
 
 HMAN-DENG. — A village in the Re-byoo circle, Thayet township, 
 Thayet district, some three miles west of the river bank, and about six 
 north-west of Thayet town, containing from eighty to ninety houses : 
 the inhabitants are mostly employed in cultivating hill gardens and the 
 narrow strip of rice land about half a mile broad which stretches in a 
 north-western direction towards Oot-shit-goon. 
 
 HMAW-BHEE. — A revenue circle in the north of the township of the 
 same name in the Rangoon district, extending from the Pegu Romas on the 
 east to the Hlaing on the west and separated from Myouug-ta-nga on the 
 north by the little Myo Khyouug and other insignificant streams and towards 
 the east by a cart track, and from Lien-goon on the south by the Hmaw-bhee 
 stream. On the east the country is hilly and covered with tree forest but in 
 the centre of the circle there is a good deal of rice cultivation though the 
 soil is poor; towards the west shrub and brush forest appear and the face 
 of the country is broken here and there by marshy ground. The area under 
 cultivation and the agricultural stock and population during each of the 
 last five years were : — 
 
 
 
 Area 
 
 under ciiltivation. 
 
 
 H 
 
 'ricultural stock. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 C3 
 
 
 0) 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 cj 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 ji 
 
 
 
 
 -3 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 fs 
 
 
 m 
 
 60 
 
 S 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 
 H 
 
 PLi 
 
 rt 
 
 o 
 
 s 
 
 H 
 
 pq 
 
 
 PU 
 
 O 
 
 (^ 
 
 PP 
 
 
 1872.. 
 
 3,802 
 
 6,251 
 
 220 
 
 .. 
 
 6,471 
 
 1,292 
 
 406 
 
 65 
 
 256 
 
 622 
 
 17 
 
 
 1873.. 
 
 4,926 
 
 7,665 
 
 235 
 
 • • 
 
 7,900 
 
 1,416 
 
 455 
 
 143 
 
 260 
 
 551 
 
 11 
 
 
 1874.. 
 
 3,587 
 
 8,554 
 
 254 
 
 •• 
 
 8,808 
 
 1,217 
 
 520 
 
 209 
 
 197 
 
 659 
 
 37 
 
 
 1875.. 
 
 4,411 
 
 9,925 
 
 354 
 
 •• 
 
 10,279 
 
 1,214 
 
 397 
 
 181 
 
 261 
 
 573 
 
 82 
 
 
 1876.. 
 
 4,644 
 
 9,704 
 
 371 
 
 156 
 
 10,231 
 
 1,385 
 
 508 
 
 161 
 
 303 
 
 634 
 
 194 

 
 192 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The principal village is Hmaw-bhee, the head-quarters of the sub-division, 
 with 803 inhabitants. 
 
 HMAW-BHEE. — A villag-e of 803 inhabitants in the Rang-oon dis- 
 trict a short distance east of the Hmaw-bhee stream in 17° 4' 20" N. and 96° 7' E. 
 to which, during" the rains, boats of 250 bushels burden can ascend via the 
 Lien-goon, the entrance to the Hmaw-bhee having to a great extent silted up. 
 At this village, on the bank of the stream, are the remains of an old Peguan fort 
 forming a parallelogram with an east and west entrance and a deep ditch 
 round it. Almost all the bricks in the old walls have been taken for metal 
 for the Irrawaddy Valley Railway. During the first Burmese war the Burman 
 general occupied this fort in his retreat northward before the main Bi-itish 
 column under Sir Archibald Campbell, but after firing a few shots evacuated 
 it without waiting for the attack of the English troops. The inhabitants are 
 mainly employed in rice cultivation, 
 
 HMAW-BHEE. — A sub-division of the Rangoon district occupying the 
 country north of the town of Rangoon and of the Angyee township of the 
 Syriam division and lying to the westward of the Pegu Romas. The 
 Rangoon and Irrawaddy Valley (State) Railway traverses the sub-division 
 from south to north, and from Hmaw-bhee station — a few miles north-east of 
 Hmaw-bhee village — occupies the great northern military road. The prin- 
 cipal river is the Hlaing which flows from north to south and, joined by the 
 Pan-hlaing in the south, forms the Rangoon river. In the rains 
 steamers can ascend for some distance and boats of 400 bushels burden 
 can at all seasons go up as high as the mouth of the Re-nek. In the rains large 
 boats can traverse the whole extent of the river in this sub-division. The sub- 
 division is divided into two townships, Hlaing containing four revenue circles 
 in the north and Hmaw-bhee containing eleven revenue circles in the south: 
 the head-quarters are at Hmaw-bhee. In 1876 the population numbered 70,433 
 souls, the land revenue was Rs. 228,503, the capitation-tax Rs. 80,730 and the 
 gross revenue Rs. 337,421. 
 
 HMAW-BHEE. — A township in the sub-division of the same name in the 
 Rangoon district with the Hlaing township on the north, the Thoon-khwa 
 district on the west, the An-gyee and the Than-lyeng townships on the south 
 and the Hpoung-leng township on the east. It extends from the town of 
 Rangoon northwards along the western slopes of the Pegu Romas and north-west 
 beyond the Hlaing river to the Pan-hlaing, and east and south-east across the 
 Poo-zwon-doung into the valley of the Pegu and along the bank of that river 
 as far as the Ma-tso stream, and consists of three portions each differing 
 considerably from the others, (a) West of the Hlaing ai'e the Htan-ta-beng, 
 Ka-tseng, Pa-dan and Kyoon-oo circles : here the country on the west is tra- 
 versed by a large number of intercommunicating tidal creeks through which 
 the tide and the waters of the Irrawaddy find their way over the land 
 and every second or third year, since the construction of the embankments 
 along the west bank of the Irrawaddy, flood the fields and destroy the crops. 
 Thex-e is but little cultivation and the country is to a great extent 
 covered with open tree forest and elephant grass, (b) In the tract north 
 of Rangoon the country loses the flat appearance which it has near the sea 
 coast and gradually passes into undulating ground which, towards the 
 north-east, rises into hills covered with tree forest. The soil is poor but,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 193 
 
 everywhere below the high ground, is cultivated with rice which is exported 
 through the creeks which communicate with the Hlaing and up which the 
 tide extends almost to the foot of the hills. Towards the south the country 
 has been denuded of wood for fuel for Eangoon and the streams are no 
 longer fringed with brushwood which afforded shade for the spawning fish 
 and the fry. (c) East of Rangoon the country is open, level and highly cul- 
 tivated, and the soil is rich and productive, but is beginning to suffer from 
 the exhaustion caused by continued cultivation with no rest and no rotation 
 of crops. 
 
 The area under cultivation, the agricultural stock and the population 
 during the last five years were : — 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 =3 
 
 >H 
 
 S 
 
 CS 
 
 P- 
 
 a> 
 
 O 
 
 ►H 
 
 fL, 
 
 1872.. 
 
 46,062 
 
 1873.. 
 
 52,810 
 
 1874.. 
 
 50,612 
 
 1875.. 
 
 51,620 
 
 1876.. 
 
 50,487 
 
 Area in acres. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 <u 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 -S 
 
 lU 
 
 o 
 
 U 
 
 o 
 
 rt 
 
 O 
 
 S 
 
 65,747 
 
 6,876 
 
 505 
 
 73,922, 6,273 
 
 515 
 
 82,573 6,957 
 
 635 
 
 95,990 6,840 
 
 665 
 
 90,840 
 
 6,260 
 
 819 
 
 72,128 
 80,710 
 90,165 
 103,495 
 97,919 
 
 Agricultural stock. 
 
 n 
 
 12,757 
 11,928 
 11,725 
 9,602 
 11,726 
 
 CO w 
 
 
 Sr^ 
 
 
 
 
 m = 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 -pq 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 Oh 
 
 5,589 
 
 949 
 
 6,111 
 
 1,052 
 
 5,802 
 
 1,461 
 
 5,400 
 
 1,265 
 
 5,772 
 
 1,232 
 
 2,357 
 2,596 
 2,261 
 2,059 
 2,264 
 
 5,223 
 5,342 
 5,227 
 4,410 
 5,124 
 
 pq 
 
 1,033 
 
 1,326 
 
 944 
 
 963 
 
 1,051 
 
 The revenue during the same period was : — 
 
 
 Impebul and Provincial. 
 
 Local. 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 CO 
 
 £ 
 
 
 
 eg 
 O 
 
 3 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 S3 
 
 .a 
 
 o 
 
 "3 
 
 CO 
 
 a 
 
 (A 
 
 
 1^ 
 
 c! 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 O) 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 E 
 
 < 
 
 H 
 
 O 
 
 O 
 
 
 1872 
 
 67,982 
 
 26,977 
 
 1,135 
 
 , , 
 
 96,905 
 
 3,455 
 
 99,550 
 
 In 1874 Tsit- 
 peng and Kyouk 
 
 1873 
 
 74,404 
 
 31,460 
 
 1,135 
 
 •• 
 
 106,999 
 
 3,776 
 
 110,776 
 
 kliyoung were 
 added from 
 
 1874 
 
 184,909 
 
 57,392 
 
 6,679 
 
 500 
 
 249,480 
 
 9,604 
 
 159,085 
 
 Than-lyeng, and 
 Htan-ta-beng 
 
 1875 
 
 210,555 
 
 56,355 
 
 6,679 
 
 462 
 
 274,051 
 
 10,884 
 
 284,935 
 
 Katseng, Padan 
 and Kyoon-oo 
 
 1876 
 
 200,882 
 
 54,605 
 
 6,679 
 
 48 
 
 262,214 
 
 10,380 
 
 272,594 
 
 from Eng-ga- 
 bhoo. 
 
 25
 
 194 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The head-quarters are at present at Lien-goon but it is proposed to move 
 th em to Eug-tsien on the Irrawaddy Valley (State) Railway which traverses 
 the township from south to north. The stations, in this township, are at 
 Thamaing (about to be moved to Eug-tsien), Hlaw-ga and Hmaw-bhee (about 
 to be moved some two miles south from Shan-tsoo where it now is too near 
 Hmaw-bhee.) 
 
 During the Burmese rule the Hmaw-bhee "Myo" included only the 
 Hmaw-bhee, Lien-goon and Kyoung-goon circles and was bounded on the 
 west by the Hlaiug, on the north by the Myo, on the south by the Tagoo- 
 kyaw, whilst towards the west the official boundary is given as the Kyaik- 
 ka-loot pagoda. The Myo-thoo-gyee resided at Wa-hta-ya where there were 
 then 500 to 600 houses. The total revenue was : — 
 
 Ticals of silver equal to about Es. 
 
 Fisheries 
 
 Toungya 
 
 Laud 
 
 Charges for taking the revenue to 
 
 the Myo-tsa at Amarapoora 
 Capitation and other taxes 
 
 250 
 250 
 250 
 
 250 
 300 
 
 ditto 
 ditto 
 ditto 
 
 ditto 
 ditto 
 
 .. 325 
 .. 325 
 .. 325 
 
 .. 325 
 .. 390 
 
 Total 
 
 1,300 
 
 .. 1,690 
 
 In addition a tax equalling Rs. 1-8-0 was levied on each plough and sent 
 to the Governor at Rangoon, and 25 baskets of unhusked rice for each plough 
 were paid to the local Government and stored in the public granary in Ran- 
 goon. The Myo-thoo-gyee got 15 baskets of unhusked rice for each plough. 
 The taxes paid in kind were carried at the expense of the cultivators. 
 
 HMAW-BHEE. — A small river in the township of the same name in the 
 Rangoon district which rises in the lower slopes of the Pegu Romas and 
 flowing southwards past Hmaw-bhee turns west and falls into the Hlaing at 
 Hmaw-bhee-wa-rwa, a few miles below A-lien-a-lay on the opposite bank. In 
 the rains boats of considerable burden can go up to Hmaw-bhee. Where it 
 turns west, near Kyee-beng-tshiep and Mo-gyo-pyit villages, the Lien-goon 
 leaves it and falls into the Hlaing at Wa-hta-ya. Of late years the Lien-goon 
 has become the main outlet, the lower portion of the Hmaw-bhee having 
 silted up. 
 
 HMAW-DAW.— A village of 536 inhabitants in 1877 in the len-da- 
 poo-ra circle, Anygee township, Rangoon district, on the edge of the Twan-te 
 Taw-gyee. 
 
 HMAW-KAN. — A village in the Prome district eleven miles in a direct 
 line south-east of Prome, in 18° 43' 50" N. and 95° 25' 40'^ E. on the bank of 
 the Zay stream, six miles north of the Engma lake, on the western portion of 
 the large rice tract which extends from the Naweug river southwards to the 
 limit of the district. 
 
 HMAW-THE. — A stream in the Bassein district which rises in the Kyoon- 
 la-ha lake and after flowing for some distance eastwards turns north and joins 
 the Re-gyee. It is about one hundred feet wide near its mouth and four or 
 five feet deep. In the rains it is navigable by boats about 30 feet long but in 
 the dry season it consists of a series of lakes fringed with scrub forest. 
 The banks are in some parts high and there is much rice cultivation in the 
 country on both sides.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 195 
 
 HMAW-WON. — A stream in the Than-lj^eng or Syriam township of the 
 Rangoon district formed by the junction of numerous rivulets which rise in 
 the plains towards the north and, fed by several creeks which communicate 
 with the Pegu river and with each other, it falls into the Hlaing or Ran- 
 goon river not far from its mouth. It is tidal beyond Ee-bhaw-gan where it is 
 joined by the Bhaw from the west ; through this channel communication can 
 be kept up with the Pegu river which that creek joins just above Syriam or 
 Than-lyeng. The banks are steep and muddy and free of tree forest. At flood 
 tides large boats can ascend for a considerable distance but at and below 
 Kyouktan, the head-quarters of the Syriam sub-division of the district, about 
 seven miles from the mouth, rocks render the passage difficult and dangerous 
 at other seasons. Traversing a rich rice-producing country the stream flows 
 past numerous villages of some size and importance. 
 
 HMAW-WON. — A revenue circle in the Than-lj^eug township of the 
 Rangoon district at the mouth of the Rangoon river. The aspect of the 
 southern portion of the country is that of an extensive plain richly cultivated, 
 the uncultivated parts being low and subject to inundation : the northern por- 
 tion has a good deal of tree forest. In the extreme south is a masonry 
 pillar which marks the entrance to the Rangoon river. The inhabitants, who 
 are principally agriculturists, numbered 7,740 in 1876 when the land revenue 
 was Rs. 68,606, the capitation-tax Rs. 8,415 and the gross revenue Rs. 67,167. 
 
 HMAW-ZA.— A village about five and a half miles E. S. E. of the 
 town of Prome on the edge of a large tract of rice country. There is here a 
 station of the Irrawaddy Valley (State) Railway. 
 
 HNAI-GYO. — A revenue circle in the north-western portion of the 
 Donabyoo township of the Thoon-khwa district, forming a level tract at one time 
 covered with tree and grass forest but now coming under cultivation owing to 
 the construction of protecting embankments. The inhabitants are principally 
 traders, gardeners and rice cultivators. It now includes the once independent 
 circle of Kan -goo. In 1876 it had 5,828 inhabitants, a land revenue of 
 Rs. 11,267 and a gross revenue of Rs. 19,382 of which Rs. 5,765 were derived 
 from the capitation-tax. 
 
 HNA-MOUNG-GYA. — A small revenue circle in the Mye-boon township, 
 Kyouk-hpyoo district, half a square mile in extent and with a population of 
 159 souls in 1876. It is a tract of country given as a grant under the "svaste 
 land rules and being by the effect of these rules independent of any Thoogyee, 
 the grantee dealing directly with the State, it is shewn in the returns as a 
 circle. 
 
 HNGET-KIIOUNG. — A conspicuous pagoda-crowned rock at the mouth 
 of Kyouk-hpyoo harbour, called Pagoda rock in the charts. 
 
 HNGET-KYOON. — A creek in the Nga-poo-taw township, Bassein dis- 
 trict. See Thounfj-gale. 
 
 HNGET-PYAW.— A tidal creek in the Shwe-loung township, Thoon-khwa 
 district, about 14 miles in length connecting the Re-zoo-daiug and the Tha- 
 rwot creeks. It is navigable throughout by river steamers. 
 
 HNGET-THATK.— A small island off Tavoy Point, at the mouth of the 
 Tavoy river, called Cap Island in the charts.
 
 196 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 HNIT-KAING. — A revenue circle in the Wa-kha-roo township, Amherst 
 district, stretching- east and west 12 miles along the whole length of the 
 Wa-kha-roo river from its source in the Toung-gnyo range to its junction 
 with the Salween, with an area of 25,715 acres. It has the Pa-gna circle and 
 the sea on the south. As seen from an eminence the whole surface of the 
 circle appears to consist of an almost unbroken extent of laplands covered with 
 tree forest, with several lofty hills in the south-west portion. The only rice 
 land is in a narrow plain along the Wa-kha-roo river. The soil of the upland 
 is generally poor and in the dry weather waterless, there being no wells or 
 other artificial means of obtaining water, but as the soil rests on a laterite for- 
 mation it is to some extent used for garden cultivation. The hills near the 
 sea shore contain ores which are extracted in very minute quantities by some 
 of the residents in the vicinity. The majority of the inhabitants of the village 
 of Wa-kha-roo cultivate land on the other side of the Wa-kha-roo river in the 
 Zaya township. The inhabitants of the other villages are mostly Burmanised 
 Taking who settled here when there was a sugar manufactory at Amherst. 
 In 1868 the inhabitants numbered 1,523, the land revenue was Rs. 937, the 
 capitation -tax Rs. 1,610 and the gross revenue Rs. 2,748.- In 1876 the 
 numbers and amounts were 2,357, Rs. 4,022, Rs. 2,595, and Rs. 6,617 
 respectively. 
 
 HOON. — A river in Ramree {Ranhyai) which falls into the sea on the 
 eastern shore of that island near the southern extremity. 
 
 HOON-MYOUK-BHET.— A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district, 
 in the southern portion of llamree island, about 24 square miles in extent, in 
 which rice, sugar-cane and indigo are cultivated. The population in 1876 
 numbered 2,668 souls, the land revenue was Rs. 2,770, the capitation -tnx 
 Rs. 2,920 and the gross revenue Rs. 5,885. 
 
 HOON-TOUNG-BHET.— A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district 
 in the south of Ramree island and on its western coast, with an area of some 
 29 square miles, in which sugar-cane is largely cultivated. It had, in 1876, an 
 Arakanese population of 1,802 souls. In that year the land revenue was 
 Rs. 2,827, the capitation-tax Rs. 1,950 and the gross revenue Rs. 4,413. 
 
 HOUNG-THA-RAW. — A river in the Amherst district which rises in 
 Siamese territory east of the province and flows through the mountains which 
 mark the boundary between the two countries. Crossing the frontier in 
 15° 41' 19" N. and 98° 35' E., where the demarcating line traverses a broad 
 glen, it rushes with great velocity amongst a mass of mountains densely clothed 
 with thick and heavy tree forest, here passing between high and scarped banks, 
 there washing the feet of the spurs sent down by the dark walls which shut 
 in its valley on the east and on the west, now silent and still, now white and 
 foaming as it dashes over rocky steeps from one table-land to another. Gra- 
 dually the hills recede, feathery bamboos waving over the reflecting waters are 
 seen mixed with the dense forest ; these gives place to elephant grass and 
 at last near Gyaiug, where it joins the Hlaing-bhwai from the north, patches 
 of cultivation appear on the gradually sinking banks. It is navigable by boats 
 for some distance beyond Meetan, 80 miles from Maulmain. 
 
 HOUNG-THA-RAW. — A township in the extreme south-eastern corner of 
 the Amherst district, bounded on the east by Thoung-yeng and on the west by
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 197 
 
 the Houng-tha-raw. Highly mountainous and densely wooded it produces 
 much valuable timber but is sparsely inhabited^ chiefly by Kareng", and con- 
 tains but little cultivation and that principally in hill-gardens or toungya. It 
 is divided into five revenue circles and in 1876 had a population of 11,625 
 souls and produced only Rs. 6,902 as land revenue and Rs. 9,576 as capita- 
 tion-tax. One of the most important trade routes traverses the township. 
 Siamese cattle-dealers annually bring in large numbers of beasts via Mya-wad- 
 dee — an ancient town of some celebrity now a small village on the Thoung- 
 yeng — to Kaw-ka-riet, the head-quarters of the township, where there is a 
 cattle market, and thence to Gyaing and on through the Gyaing Than-lweng- 
 township towards Tha-htoon, Shwe-gyeng and Pegu. 
 
 HPA-AN. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Than-lweng township, Amherst 
 district, on the left bank of the Salween but lying south of the Hpa-an stream 
 and inhabited mainly by Toungthoo. In 1876 it had a population of 2,746 
 souls, a land revenue of Rs. 2,21:5 and a gross revenue of Rs. 5,056, of which 
 Rs. 2,810 were from the capitation-tax. 
 
 HPA-AN. — A village in the Amherst district on the left bank of the 
 Salween at the mouth of the Hpa-an stream, which separates the Gyaing 
 Than-lweng from the Than-lweng Hlaing-bhwai township, where is stationed 
 a detachment of regular police. A bazaar has lately been built. The village 
 is divided into two portions ; in the north on the bank of the Hpa-an the 
 inhabitants are principally Burmans and numbered 573 souls in 1876 ; to the 
 south are Toungthoo gardeners who in the same year numbered 718. This 
 village is on the main trade route with Siam and immediately below is a 
 public ferry by which large numbers of Shan and home-bred cattle are 
 annually taken to Tha-htoon and thence to Shwe-gyeng and Pegu and the 
 Rangoon district generally. 
 
 HPA-AN. — A small tidal stream in the Amherst district which falls into 
 the Salween at the village of the same name about 34 miles above Maulmain. 
 It rises in the plain between the Salween and the Hlaing-bhwai near the source 
 of the Kha-zaing, a tributary of the latter, the two intercommunicating during 
 the rains. It is navigable only by canoes or small boats. 
 
 HPA-BYOUK. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Attaran township, 
 Amherst district, lying in the centre of the country between the Houng-tha-raw 
 and the Attaran rivers on the east and west respectively, and the hilly country 
 and the Gyaing on the north and south. It was inhabited in 1876 by 360 
 persons mostly Talaing, but contains hardly any cultivated spots. The land 
 revenue that year was Rs. 138 and the capitation-tax Rs. 330. 
 
 HPA-GAT. — A village in the Amherst district, the head-quarters of the 
 township of the same name, on the right bank of the Salween, 30 miles 
 from Maulmain. Immediately to the north of tiie village is an outcrop of 
 limestone rocks containing a large cave highly ornamented with images of 
 all sizes of Gaudama Booddha and of Rahan. Most of these have been much 
 damaged by the natives of India and others who resort to the cave to 
 collect the bats' dung for manure. 
 
 HPA-GAT. — A township in the Amherst district occupying the country 
 between the Salween on the east and the Doon-tha-mee and Bheng-laing on the 
 west. It is divided into three revenue circles, Myaing-gyee, Myaing-gale and
 
 198 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 BlienCT-laing, the last in the south and the most cultivated. In the north the 
 country is hilly and densely wooded and in the south it is undulating with low 
 raarshy tracts here and there. In the southern circle tobacco is extensively 
 grown on the sand banks left dry after the waters of the Bheng-laing and Sal- 
 ween fall. The head-quarters are at Hpa-gat, a small village on the Salween 
 30 miles from Maulmain. In 1876 the inhabitants numbered 9,192 souls, the 
 land revenue was Ks. 5,376 and the capitation-tax Es. 8,114. This township 
 together with Tha-htoon and Martaban were transferred from Martaban (now 
 Shwe-gyeng) to Amherst in 1864-65. 
 
 HP A-GOO. — A large village in the Hpa-goo west circle, Rangoon district, 
 on the left bank of the Pegu river in 16° 54' N. and 96° 26' E., inhabited by 
 Taking and Burmans who are mainly engaged in rice cultivation. In 1876 
 the inhabitants numbered 1,956 souls. 
 
 HPA-GOO ANOUK. — A revenue circle in the Than-lyeng township, 
 Rangoon district, extending eastwards from the left bank of the Pegu river 
 north of and adjoining the Poo-gan-doung circle. In 1876 the population 
 was 4,830, the land revenue Rs. 26,050, the capitation-tax Rs. 5,648 and the 
 gross revenue Rs. 31,698. 
 
 HPA-GOO ASHE. — A revenue circle in the Than-lyeng township, 
 Rangoon district, at the mouth of the Tsit-toung river, lying on the north of 
 the A-dwon creek. In 1876 the population was 3,020, the land revenue 
 Rs. 20,464, the capitation-tax Rs. 3,743, and the gross revenue Rs. 30,907. 
 Until 1874 Hpa-goo Ashe and Hpa-goo Anouk formed one circle. 
 
 HPAI-KHA-TA. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Than-lweng township, 
 Amherst district, on the left bank of the Salween river, extending for some 
 distance northward from the Hpa-won stream. It has a large population of 
 Talaing and is well cultivated. In 1876 the population was 2,253, the land 
 revenue Rs. 3,110 and the capitation-tax Rs. 2,372. 
 
 HPAI-KHA-TA. — A small stream in the Amherst district which falls 
 into the Salween river and helps to carry off from the Doon-reng plain the 
 natural rainfall and the spill of the Salween which comes in at and above 
 Hpa-an. 
 
 HPAI-KHA-TA.— A small village, of 551 inhabitants in 1876, in the 
 circle of the same name in the Amherst district, lying on both banks of the 
 Hpai-kha-ta at its mouth in the Salween. 
 
 HPA-LAT. — A village in the Martaban township, Amherst district, at 
 the foot of the Koo-la-ma peak of the Martaban hills, a little north of 
 Martaban. In 1876 it had 1,086 inhabitants. 
 
 HPA-TENG.— A village of 661 inhabitants in 1876 on the east bank 
 of the Salween north of Htoon-aing, in the Htoon-aiug circle of the Gyaing- 
 Than-lweng township, Amherst district. 
 
 HPAN-HPA.— A village with 818 inhabitants in 1876 on Bheeloo island, 
 Amherst district. In 1868 it had 616 inhabitants. 
 
 HPAN-KHA-BENG. — A revenue circle in the Taroop-hmaw township, 
 Henzada district, on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, south of Taroop-hmaw 
 Myoma, containing but little cultivation. In the centre of the circle is a
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 199 
 
 narrow stretch of water called the Hpau-kha-beng lake, valuable as a fishery. 
 In 1876 the population numbered 7,049, the laud revenue was Rs. 2,855, the 
 capitation-tax Rs. 6,588 and the gross revenue Es. 18,473. 
 
 HPA-NOON. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Attaran township, Amherst 
 district, on the lower slopes of the hills which cover the face of the southern 
 part of the district, and lying between the Houug-tha-raw on the east and the 
 Attaran on the west, immediately above the junction of the Zamee and the 
 Weng-raw which form the latter river. It is iuhabited by Kareug and con- 
 tains but little cultivation. In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 865, the capi- 
 tation-tax Rs. 1,442 and the population 1,510. 
 
 HPA-OUK. — A revenue circle in the Zaya township, Amherst district, 
 between the Touug-gnyo hills and the Salween below the town of Maulmain, 
 lying between the Kaw-kha-nee and Kyouk-tan circles. It is divided into 
 five distinct longitudinal belts of country : (a) the slopes of the range, 
 unadapted for cultivation ; (b) the upland tract at the foot of the range, suit- 
 able for gardens ; (c) undulating ground, fitted for gardens and in some places 
 for rice but with j^oor soil ; (d) the alluvial plain; (e) swampy land, where the 
 dhanee palm is grown. The population, composed mainly of Taking, in 1868 
 numbered 2,144, and in 1876, 2,847 souls. The laud revenue in these years was 
 Rs. 7,360 and Es. 8,018 and the capitation-tax Es. 2,247 and Es. 2,585 
 respectively. 
 
 HPA-OUK. — A village of 1,583 inhabitants in the circle of the same 
 name, Zaya township, Amherst district. 
 
 HPAEO-TSIEN. — A revenue circle in the Than-lweug Hlaing-bhwai 
 township, Amherst district, on the left bank of the Thoung-yeng, stretch- 
 ing from its mouth south-eastwards. It is inhabited by a few Kareng, 
 who in 1876 numbered 340 souls, and may be said to be Avithout any 
 cultivation. The land revenue in 1876 was Rs. 92 and the capitation-tax 
 Rs. 126. 
 
 HPA-THIEN. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Attaran township, 
 Amherst district, on the Zamee a little above the junction of that river with 
 the Weng-raw. It is a hilly and forest-covered tract, thinly cultivated and 
 inhabited by Kareng. In 1876 the population numbered 1,319 souls, the 
 land revenue was Es. 860 and the capitation- tax Es. 1,497. 
 
 HPA-THIEN. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Amherst 
 district, with 743 inhabitants in 1876. 
 
 HPE -TEAL— See Bhe-trai. 
 
 • 
 
 HPOUNG-GYEE. — A thinly inhabited revenue circle In the northern 
 portion of the Hpoung-leng township of the Rangoon district, on the upper 
 part of the course of the Poo-zwon-doung river. The country consists of 
 numerous low laterite hills covered with bamboo and tree forest wuth a few 
 patches of rice cultivation on the banks of the sti'eams. The principal 
 timber trees are Ka-gnyeng (Diptcrocarpus alatus), Bhan-bhwai {Carcya 
 arhorea), Htouk-sha {Vitex leucoxijlon), Nabai {Od'ina JVodier) and Gyo 
 (Sclileiclicra trijnua.) In 1876 the population numbered 3,881 souls, the 
 laud revenue was Rs. 8,279, the capitation-tax Es. 6,197 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 14,476.
 
 200 BllITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 HPOUNG-LENG. — The most northern township of theEaugoou district, 
 now iucluding- A-kha-reug- and Daw-boon and extending from the bank of the 
 Pegu river northward along the valley of the Poo-zwon-douogiuto the hills 
 which form the lower slopes of the Pegu Romas. It has an area of about 
 880 square miles and is divided into seven revenue circles. Towards the 
 south the country is well cultivated with rice which is brought down the 
 Poo-zwon-doung and Pegu rivers to Eangoon. In the north the hills are 
 covered with dense forest amongst which teak, Pyeng-gado, Pyeng-ma, Eng, 
 and other valuable timber are found. The most important and largest villages 
 are in the rice plains to the south where the country is intersected by numer- 
 ous creeks which fall into the Poo-zwon-doung and Pegu rivers and afTord 
 the inhabitants a ready means of conveying their crops to Rangoon. The 
 township is also traversed by the road to Pegu, constructed and kept in repair 
 by the Public Works Department. The Poo-zwon-doung is navigable by large 
 boats as far as Bhoora-gyee and the Pegu river throughout its length in 
 this township. In 1876 the population was 34,477, the land revenue 
 Es. 169,546, the capitation-tax Rs. 41,842 and the gross revenue Rs. 212,510. 
 The head-quarters are at Hlay-goo on the Poo-zwon-doung river and the 
 Eangoon and Pegu road 28 miles from Rangoon. 
 
 HPYOO. — A river in the Toung-ngoo district which rises in the eastern 
 slopes of the Pegu Romas and after a south-easterly course of about seventy 
 miles falls into the Tsit-toung 28 miles south of Toung-ngoo. The first 56 
 miles are through a narrow valley, almost a ravine, intersected by subsidiary 
 spurs and with numerous mountain torrents bringing down the drainage. The 
 last five or six miles before it enters the plains are blocked by rapids and 
 in some places the water rushes through narrow channels dug out between 
 high walls of rock that once opposed themselves to the torrent. The 
 northern slopes of the hills amongst which the river winds are covered 
 with dry oj)en forest of Pyeug-gado {Xylia dolahriformis), Myouk-khyaw 
 {Homalium tomentosum) and Teak {Tectona grandis), whilst the southern 
 are seen covered with large heavy climbing bamboos, Theng-gan {Hopea 
 odorata), Ka-gnyeng {Dipterocarpus alatus) and other species (as D. turbina- 
 tus, d-c), Oak {Quercus Brandisiana) and other "green forest" trees. 
 During the rains boats can ascend for some 15 miles as far as Meng-lan 
 village where the plain country ceases and the hills commence, and at this 
 season a considerable quantity of timber and of raw silk (the worm is 
 extensively bred by the inhabitants) are brought down to the Tsit-toung for 
 conveyance to the local markets. According to Mason it derives its name 
 from a colony of Pyoo having settled on its banks. See Prome. 
 
 HPYOUK-TSHIEP.— The southern portion of the large town of Shwe- 
 doung in the Prome district seven miles below Prome on the left bank of 
 the Irrawaddy at the mouth of the little Koo-la stream, forming a separate 
 revenue circle. In 1876 the population numbered 8,356. 
 
 HPYOUK-TSHIEP-GOON.— A tiny village in the Meug-dai circle, 
 Thayet township, Thayet district, about six miles south-west from Thayet- 
 myo ; in the neighbourhood are two salt wells which were worked in the 
 Burmese time and yielded a small quantity of brine. 
 
 HTAN-BENG-GYO. — A revenue circle in the Re-gyee township, Bas- 
 seiu district, on the left bank of the Basseiu river which forms its northern
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 201 
 
 boundary. It has an area of about eleven square miles and is fairly well 
 populated aud cultivated, tlie villages being more numerous than further south 
 in the township. The inhabitants are engaged in agriculture and in fishing. 
 In the west of the circle is the Myit-kyo lake, which was once a portion of 
 the Bassein river and has been formed by the current cutting a channel through 
 the narrow neck of abend. There aregoodfair-weather cart roads throughout 
 the circle. In 1876 the population numbered 1,315 souls, the laud revenue 
 was Rs. 3,505, the capitation-tax Es. 4,220 and the gross revenue Es. 8,636. 
 
 HTAN-BOUK. — A revenue circle in the Ma-ha-tha-man township of the 
 Prome district just to the east of Prome and on the left bank of the Na-weng 
 river, containing five village tracts. In 1876 the population numbered 1,784, 
 the land revenue was Es. 2,092, the capitation -tax Es. 1,780 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 3,997. 
 
 HTAN-DAW-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the Pegu township of the 
 Eangoon district, lying in the hilly country at the source of the Pegu river 
 along which it extends south-south-east, and but very little cultivated. The 
 principal trees are Teak {Tectona grandis), Pyeng-gado {Xylia dolahriformis) , 
 Pyeng-ma [Lagerstroemia regince), Ka-gnyeng {.Dipterocarpus alatiis), the 
 two last in abundance, and bamboos. Wild elephants, deer, tiger and hog 
 are met with. It contains no large villages. In 1876 the population was 
 3,844, the land revenue Es. 3,530 and the capitation-tax Es. 4,248. 
 
 HTAN-GOUK. — A revenue circle in the Kama township, Thayet dis- 
 trict, lying between the Made stream on the north and the boundary of 
 the district on the south. It has an area of 25,600 acres of which 21,879 
 are unculturable waste and about 1,750 only cultivated. In 1872 the revenue 
 wasEs. 3,240, about two-thirds of which were derived from the capitation-tax, 
 and the population was found by the census to number 1,827 souls. This 
 circle now contains Kyouk-mai and Pyen-doung, the first of which was added 
 in 1862 when its Thoogyee resigned, and the second in 1864 when its Thoo- 
 gyee was dismissed for harbouring dacoits. In 1876 the population numbered 
 1,387 souls, the land revenue was Es. 1,497, the capitation-tax Rs. 1,708 
 and the gross revenue Es. 3,301. 
 
 HTAN-LE-BENG. — A revenue circle in the Za-lwon township, Henzada 
 district, with a large area under rice cultivation. In 1876 the popula- 
 tion numbered 2,791 souls, the land revenue was Es. 4,902, the capitation-tax 
 Es. 2,377 and the gross revenue Rs. 7,589. 
 
 HTAN-LE-BENG. — A revenue circle in the Thee-kweng township, 
 Bassein district, enclosed between the Pan-ma-wad-dee and the Myoung-mya 
 rivers on the east, west and south and joining the Thee-kweng circle of the 
 same township on the north. It has an estimated area of 109 square miles. 
 The country generally is low and much intersected by creeks none of which 
 are of much importance : the Kyoon-toon, a tributary of the Myoung-mya 
 which it joins near Kwe-le, is perhaps the most worthy of notice but 
 it is navigable by boats 40 feet in length for ten miles only from its mouth. 
 The largest village is Kan-gyee in 16° 44' N. and 95° 5' E. in the centre of a 
 patch of rice cultivation, inhabited mainly by Burmese. In 1876 the popula- 
 tion was 6,662, the land revenue Es. 22,602, the capitation-tax Es. 6,900 aud 
 the gross revenue Es. 31,970. 
 
 26
 
 202 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 HTAN-MA-NAING. — A tidal creek in the Lang-oon district which 
 has its source in the marshy ground in the centre of the Ang-yee township 
 and falls into the Bassein or Tha-khwot-beng creek. It is fed by the tide and 
 at all seasons during- the flood boats of 400 baskets burden can ascend as 
 far as the village of Htan-ma-naing^ situated in a rice-producing- tract : at the 
 ebb it is almost dry. 
 
 HTAN-MA-NAING.— A village in the Eangoon district in 16° 32' N. 
 and 96° 12' E. about four miles from the mouth of the Htau-ma-naing- creek, 
 which at the villag-e is still a considerable stream. In 1859 it was the resi- 
 dence of the Extra Assistant Commissioner of the Augyee township and con- 
 tained about 1,250 inhabitants, almost all Taking", who in 1877 had decreased 
 to 1,162. They are nearly all eng-ag-ed in the manufacture of salt or in trade 
 although the village is surrounded by fertile land well adapted for the cultiv- 
 ation of rice. This village is noted for its unhealthiness for all who are not 
 natives of the place. 
 
 HTAN-MA-NAING. — A revenue circle in the Angyee township of the 
 Eangoon district, bounded on the north by the A-hpa-roon stream which 
 separates it from the Ko-doung circle ; on the south by the Tha-khwot-peng ; 
 and on the south-east by the To. On the west it is separated from La-wa-dee, 
 by the Taw-kha-ran and Taw-dwon streams, and from Kaw-hmoo by the Taw- 
 koo stream. Its greatest length from north to south is about 14 miles, its 
 greatest breadth about eight miles and the area 92 miles. In 1859 it 
 had 4,286 inhabitants, and in 1876, 2,678. In the former year but little 
 cultivation was carried on, the energies of the people being entirely thrown 
 into the manufacture of salt, the pans occupying 1,580 acres of ground. Some 
 parts of the circle are very fertile and in 1876 the land revenue had risen to 
 Rs. 13,515, "whilst the amount realized on account of the capitation-tax was 
 Rs. 3,473 and the gross revenue Es. 23,703. 
 
 HTAN-PA-DAING. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Than-lweng town- 
 ship, Amherst district, which in 1876 had 4,178 inhabitants. In that year the 
 land revenue was Rs. 4,250 and the capitation-tax Rs. 4,157. It now 
 includes the lendoo circle. 
 
 HTAN-TA-BENG. — A long straggling and poor village built in three 
 rows of houses, in the circle of the same name in the Rangoon district on the 
 right bank of the Hlaing river a few miles south of the Kook-ko, or southern 
 mouth of the Bhaw-lay stream. Annually under water there are no roads, 
 but here and there are patches of bricked footpaths and elsewhere logs of 
 trees to keep the pedestrian's feet from getting wet. At high rises of the 
 Hlaing this is not sufficient and the logs themselves are sometimes, as in 1877, 
 one or two feet under water. At the lower end of the village there is a 
 monastery, a zaj'^at or public rest-house and a good well. In the centre 
 of the village there is an old tank, the water green and muddy, and behind 
 the village a larger one, dug a few years ago. Stretching away westward are 
 rice fields but the soil is poor and they are liable to be submerged on any 
 high rise of the river. The inhabitants, who are rice cultivators, fishermen 
 ,and raftsmen, numbered 1,012 in 1877. In the first Burmese war a body 
 of some 3,000 Burmese being strongly stockaded near this village a force 
 under Colonel Godwin was sent to disperse it. The British were received 
 I y a brisk fiie from 36 pieces of artillery of various calibres but the stockade
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 203 
 
 was carried by storm with little difficulty or loss whilst the Burrfiese suffered 
 severely. 
 
 HTAN-TA-BENG. — A revenue circle in the Hmaw-bhee township of the 
 
 Rangoon district south of the junction of the Bhaw-lay creek and the Hlaiug- 
 
 river. A part of the circle is under rice cultivation and the rest of the 
 
 country is covered with tree and grass forest subject to inundation during the 
 
 rains. The inhabitants of some of the villages are largely engaged in fishing. 
 
 In 1876 the land revenue was Es. 11,707, the capitation-tax Ks. 4,180 and the 
 
 gross revenue Rs. 17,027. The only villages of any importance are Htau-ta- 
 
 beug and Htien-nhit-peng. In 1876 there were 5,442 acres under rice and 
 
 714 acres fallow. The agricultural stock consisted of 1,111 buffaloes, 61 cows 
 
 bulls and bullocks, 230 pigs, 131 carts, 338 ploughs and 54 boats. The 
 
 population in 1877 was — 
 
 Biirmans . . . . . . . . 1,760 
 
 Talaiug .. .. .. .. 657 
 
 Kareng .. .. .. .. 1,491 
 
 Chinese . . . . . . . . 4 
 
 Natives of India . . . . . . 1 
 
 Total . . 3,913 
 
 HTAN-THOON-BENG.— A large village in the Henzada district, nine 
 or ten miles inland, west of Kanouug, in an extensive rice tract. 
 
 HTAN-THOON-BENG. — A revenue circle in the Myanoung township of 
 the Henzada district south of the town of Hyauoung, very largely cultivated 
 with rice. In 1876 it had 6,080 inhabitants, the land revenue was Rs. 12j73o, 
 the capitation-tax Rs, 5,565 and the gross revenue Rs. 18,968. 
 
 HTAN-THOON-KHWA.— A revenue circle in the Prome district well 
 cultivated with rice, lying to the westward of Pouugday and about a mile south 
 of the high road to the north. Its largest village, Htan-thoou-khwa, is in the 
 north. It now includes three village tracts. In 1876 it had 849 inhabitants, 
 the land revenue was Rs. 884 and the capitation-tax Rs. 813. 
 
 HTAN-THOON-KHWA.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 28' N. 
 and 95° 32' 10" E. about two and a half miles west of Poungday and a mile 
 south of the military road from Rangoon to the northern frontier. It is 
 inhabited principally by rice growers. 
 
 HTAN-ZENG-HLA. — A revenue circle in theRo-gyee township, Basseiu 
 district, occupying a long narrow strip of country on the left bank of the 
 Htan-zeng-hla from the Kyaik-pee to the Tshat-poo on the north. Its area is 
 about 27 square miles. The country is, generally, flat and open, but on the 
 north there is a ridge of elevated land. This circle is fairly well cultivated 
 but the inhabitants are largely employed in fishing. In 1876 it had 2,856 
 inhabitants, the land revenue was Rs. 5,528, the capitation-tax Rs. 2,950 and 
 the gross revenue Rs. 14,342. 
 
 HTAW-KA-NO. — A village in the Shwe-loung township, Thoon-khwa 
 district, about 13 miles W. S. W. from Shwe-loung, as the crow flies. It has 
 a population of about 600 souls. 
 
 HTEE-LOON. — A revenue circle in the Than-lweng Hlaing-bhwai town- 
 ship, Amherst district, with a small population of Toungthoo engaged in
 
 204 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 agriculture. In 1876 the inhabitants numhered 1,197, the land revenue was 
 E.S. 1,628 and the capitation-tax Rs. 1,355. 
 
 HTEE-LOON. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Amherst district on the road between, and about equidistant from, Hpa-an 
 and Hlaing-bhwai inhabited by Toung-thoo. The low forest-covered hills 
 south of this village were up to 1870 the resort of gangs of robbers who 
 harried the inhabitants far and wide. 
 
 HTEE-TSHWAI. — A revenue circle in the Ra-thai-doung township, 
 Akyab district. In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 4,801, the capitation-tax 
 Rs. 3,537, the gross revenue Rs. 8,698 and the number of inhabitants 3,294. 
 
 HTIEN-DAW. — A large village of some 2,000 inhabitants in the Henzada 
 district in 17° 51' 40" N. and 95° 34' E. on a backwater of the Irrawaddy and 
 about two miles east of the main channel. The inhabitants are principally 
 traders and cultivators of miscellaneous products. It contains a Police station. 
 
 HTIEN-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Henzada district on the east 
 bank of the Irrawaddy and south of Mo-gnyo ; the centre is under rice cultiv- 
 ation. In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 5,642, the capitation-tax Rs. 6,715, 
 the gross revenue Rs. 14,258 and the population 8,191. 
 
 HTIEN-HNIT-PENG.— A village in the Htan-ta-beng circle of the 
 Hmaw-bhee township, Rangoon district, which in 1876 had 681 inhabitants. 
 
 HTIEN-POUK-GYO-GOON.— A village in the Prome district in 31° 10' 
 N. and 95° 28' 40* E. in the Engma township, to the east of the Myit-ma-kha 
 river and inhabited mainly by agriculturists. 
 
 HTOO. — A small stream in the Henzada district which has its source in 
 the Pegu mountains and after a south-westerly course of about 35 miles falls 
 into the Myit-ma-kha near Bhoora-ngoo, having received numerous additions 
 in its course from mountain torrents and streams of the same character as its 
 own. In the rains small boats can ascend for a considerable distance. The 
 higher part of its course is rocky and the banks are steep. It traverses a 
 valuable teak tract in which other important forest trees are found, as Pyeng- 
 gado {Xylia dolabj'iformis) , 'Eug {Dijjterocarpus tuherculatus) and Htouk-kyan 
 (Terminalia macrocarpa) which are floated down during the rains. 
 
 HTOO. — A lake in the Henzada district, a little north of the 18th 
 parallel of latitude and, in a direct line, about ten miles west of the Ii-rawaddy. 
 It is bounded on the north and Avest by low hills and trickling down from 
 these numerous small springs keep up the supply of water which is augmented 
 during the rains by the Ma-mya stream with the drainage from the Arakan 
 hills. The banks are low and marshy and shew that at one time this lake 
 was much larger than it is now. The average depth in the dry weather is 
 not more than three or four feet and at this season the water is clear. In the 
 centre of the lake is a small island. 
 
 HTOON-AING.— A village on the left bank of the Salween river 
 opposite the mouth of the Bheng-laing with 1,174 inhabitants in 1876. 
 In 1827 a large body of Talaing emigrants from Pegu settled here and in the 
 surrounding country which is now well cultivated. 
 
 HTOON-AING. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Than-lweng township, 
 Amherst district, on the left bank of the Salween river opposite the mouth of
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 205 
 
 the Bheng-laing ; it is well cultivated and inhabited mainly by Taking- of 
 whom some 6,000 settled hereabouts in 1827 under the " Syriam Eaja/' who 
 had escaped from Pegu after attempting to drive out the Burmese and re-esta- 
 blish the Peguan kingdom. In 1876 it had 3,806 inhabitants, the land revenue 
 was Rs. 4,919 and the capitation-tax Ks. 3,940. It now includes the ELaw- 
 gaik and the Kaw-hlaik circles. 
 
 HTOON-BHO. — A large village in the Padoung township, Prome district, 
 also called Toung-ngoo, in 18° 30' 15" N. and 95° 10' 15" E. on the right bank 
 of the Irrawadd}^ at the mouth of the Kha-wa stream a mile and a half above 
 the southern boundary of the district. It has acquired the name of Htoon-bho 
 from the fact that limestone is brought hither from the Kyouk-htoon hill some 
 six miles off and burned on the banks of the river. The inhabitants are cul- 
 tivators, lime burners and petty merchants who carry on trade with the inland 
 villages. 
 
 HTOON-BHO. — A revenue circle in the south of the Padoung township 
 of the Prome distinct lying on the bank of the Irrawaddy between the Kha-wa 
 stream on the east and the Henzada district on the west. A little rice 
 cultivation is carried on near the river. Htoon-bho at the mouth of the 
 Kha-wa is the largest village. In 1876 the population numbered 4,185, the 
 land revenue was Rs. 3,611, the capitation-tax Rs. 4,705 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 8,992. It now includes the Tha-bye-hla and the Kweng-hla circles. 
 
 HTOON-BHO.— A small hamlet in the centre of the Kya-gan circle. 
 My oung-ray a township, Bassein district; the few inhabitants are employed 
 in burning the lime quarried in the neighbourhood. 
 
 HTOON-MAN. — A revenue circle in the Zaya township, Amherst district, 
 which extends westwards from the Toung-gnyo range towards the Salween, 
 from which it is cut off by a portion of the Kwon-hla circle. It has the 
 Wa-kha-roo river and the Kwon-hla circle on the south and the Ka-law-thaw 
 circle on the north, and contains a total area of about 14,000 acres most of 
 which is fertile plain land. It was originally called the Kwou-ka-moo circle 
 (pronounced Ktvan-ka-moo). Htoon-man was separated from Kwon-ka-moo as 
 a police measure but the Thoogyee having been relieved of police duties the 
 two circles were again united as Htoon-man where the Kwon-ka-moo Thoogyee 
 died. In 1868 the population, all Taking, numbered 754 souls, the laud 
 revenue was Rs. 5,107 and the capitation-tax Rs. 777. In 1876 these were 
 1,043, Rs. 8,315 and Rs. 1,077 respectively. 
 
 HTOON-TA-LOOT. — A revenue circle, now including A-byeng, in the 
 south-east of that portion of the Za-lwon township lying on the riglit bank 
 of the Irrawaddy. In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 7,946, the capitation-tax 
 Rs. 3,742, the gross revenue Rs. 15,161 and the population 4,458. 
 
 HTOUK-MA. — A revenue circle in the Kama township, Thayet district, on 
 the bank of the Irrawaddy, shut in on the north and west by the Kyouk-poon 
 hill and on the south by tiie Toung-mouk-theng-gan spur, the boundary of 
 the district. In 1872 it furnished as revenue Rs. 1,880 from a population of 
 1,225 souls. Its largest village is Tsit-ta-ran on the bank of the Irrawaddy 
 containing some 120 houses. It now includes the Tsit-ta-ran circle which was 
 united with it in 1868. Subsequently ^lya-wad-dee, Myoma and Toung-tsa- 
 gaing were joined to it. In 1876 the population numbered 3,812 souls, the
 
 206 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 land revenue was Rs. 2^245, the capitation-tax Rs. 4,057 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 6,889. 
 
 lEM-MAI. — A revenue circle in the Bassein district, adjoinino- the 
 Thoou-khwa district. In 1876, the population was Rs. 4,222, the laud revenue 
 Rs. 8,276, the capitation-tax Rs. 5,290 and the gross revenue Rs. 13,982. 
 
 lEM-MAI. — A large village in the extreme uorth of the circle of the 
 same name and of the Bassein district, at the junction of the Meng-ma-hnaing 
 and the lem-mai Re-gyaw. In 1877 it had a population of 1,230 souls. 
 
 lEM-MAI RE-GYAW. — A creek, partly in the Bassein and partly in the 
 Thoon-khwa district, joining the Meng-ma-hnaing and the Keng-bhet streams. 
 Boats of 50 or 60 feet in length can pass through with the flood tide in the 
 dry weather and in the rains at all times. 
 
 lEN-DA-POO-RA. — A revenue circle on the western borders of the 
 Ang3'ee township of the Rangoon district. It is separated from the La-wa-dee 
 circle on the north by the Kyoon-ka-lway creek, on the west it is bounded by the 
 To, on the north by the Kha-doon creek which divides it from the Twan-te 
 circle and on the east by an imaginary line drawn through the Twan-te Taw- 
 gyee : the area comprised within these limits is 73 square miles. The greater 
 portion consists of high undulating ground. In 1876 the population uumbered 
 5,741 souls, the land revenue was Rs. 14,782, the capitation-tax Rs. 6,683 and 
 the gross revenue Rs. 21,775. 
 
 IRRAWADDY. — The principal river in the province ; traversing the 
 Pegu division from north to south. Its sources have never been explored. 
 d'Anville, in the middle of the eighteenth century, considered it as identical 
 with the Tsanpoo which flows through Thibet from west to east, and in 
 Dalrymple's map which accompanies Symes' " Embassy to Ava'^ the Tsanpoo 
 is shewn as one of its sources, but the junction of the two is indicated by a 
 dotted line to mark that the connection between them is uncertain. In 
 1825 Klaproth adopted another idea, viz., that the Irrawaddy was a continu- 
 ation of the Pinlaing-kiaug which, after flowing through Western Yuuau, 
 entered the valley of the Irrawaddy at Ba-mhaw. Even as late as 1854 
 Dr. McClelland, in a note on the discharge of water by this river, wrote that 
 " makingall allowance for the extravagance of Burmese historians there is enough 
 '' in the authenticated history of the country to shew that great armies have 
 " passed and repassed to and from China. Besides which the Chinese 
 " characters of the boats and houses of Burma, together with some of the 
 '^ ceremonies of the people, suggest a more immediate and direct intercourse 
 " with China on the part of the Burmese than any other nation on the 
 " western side of the Himalayas, so much so that I have often heard it 
 " surmised by our officers at Prome, as one way of accounting for the 
 " resemblances, that the Irrawaddy probably flows from China, not that 
 '' it was supposed to be navigable to that extent, but that its valleys may 
 "afford comparatively easy passes between the two countries.'^ After 
 noticing the discoveries of Lieutenant Wilcox and that geographer's opinion 
 that the source of the Irrawaddy is in the Khamtee country, three hundred 
 and sixty miles above Ava, he adds " there can scarcely be a doubt that it 
 " must necessarily have a more extended course, more especially as it has been 
 *' traced two hundred miles above Ava without observing any perceptible
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 207 
 
 " difference or diminution of size." In 1827, Lieutenants Wilcox and 
 Burlton made a determined attempt to reach the sources of the Irrawaddy 
 and they satisfactorily proved that the Tsanpoo was the upper portion of the 
 Dihong- and was not connected with the Irrawaddy at all. The result of the 
 explorations of these officers and of others has been to shew, as conclusively as 
 can be shewn until the river is traced to its source, that it rises in the southern 
 slopes of the Patkoi mountains, one branch in 28° N. Lat. and 97° 30' E. 
 Long, and another in the same mountains a few days' journey further eastward, 
 the two, that to the west called by the Burmese Myit-g-yee or "Large river" and 
 that to the east Myit-nge or '' Small river", uniting to form the Irrawaddy in 
 about 26° N. Lat.* Drs. Griffith and Bayfield and Captain Hannay shewed 
 that Klaproth's idea was erroneous, for they personally visited Ba-mhaw and 
 found that the Ta-peng, the stream which enters the Irrawaddy at tliat town, 
 was navigable only for small boats aud was but an insignificant tributary of 
 the great river which flows here, 250 miles above Ava, in a broad stream inter- 
 sected by islands (one channel alone between Ba-mhaw and the island lying 
 opposite to it being 800 yards across) and navigable for steamers of light 
 draught. If anything further was necessary it was furnished by the party 
 under Major Sladen which visited Yunan in 1868 and followed the Ta-peug 
 through a great portion of its course. 
 
 Dr. Griffith found that the Irrawaddy where it receives the waters of the 
 Mogoung stream above the first defile was about 600 yards broad. If 
 Lieutenant Wilcox is right this point is 200 miles from the source and the 
 area of country drained by the river here about five and a half square degrees; 
 at Ava 1 85- square degrees ; at Prome 31 square degrees ; and at the head of 
 the delta 322- square degrees. 
 
 The principal affluents are the Mogoung from the westward, which throws 
 its waters into the main stream in 24° 50', the Shwe-lee which joins it from 
 the east in 23"^ 40', and the Kyeug-dweng which unites with it from the west in 
 21° 30'. 
 
 The g-eneral course of the river is north and south. Shortly after leaving 
 the mouth of the Mogoung- where, as has already been stated, it is 
 600 yards broad, it enters the first or upper defile. '' Here the greatest 
 " breadth of the river does not exceed 250 yards and in all the bad i)laces is 
 " contracted to within 100 and even 50. In the places above referred to the 
 " river rushes by with great velocity while the return waters, caused on 
 *' either side by the surrounding rocks, occasion violent eddies and whirlpools 
 "so as to render" a " boat unmanageable and if upset the best swimmer 
 could not live in these places." When the river is at its lowest no bottom is 
 found in many places even at 40 fathoms. 
 
 At Ba-mhaWj a short distance below the defile, it receives the waters of the 
 Ta-peug from the east and then, after a long l)end to the westward, turns south 
 again and enters the second defile. This though not so grand as the first is 
 exceedingly picturesque ; the stream, greatly contracted, winding in deathlike 
 stillness under high bare rocks rising sheer out of the water. Still lower 
 down, and not far from Maudalay, is the third or lowest defile. In this there 
 are none of the dangers of the first and none of the rugged beauty of the 
 
 * Wilcox himself placed the junction in about 25° but Captain Haunay fixed it, and probably 
 more correctly, in 26°.
 
 208 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 second, but the banks are covered with dense vegetation sloping down to the 
 stream and with occasional almost perpendicular but wooded heights, afford 
 a pleasing- picture, its softness contrasting with the grand and striking 
 scenery of the first and second defiles. Except when the river is at its 
 highest and the current consequently rapid and strong the navigation of the 
 two lower defiles is easy and safe for all but very long steamers. " Below 
 " this third defile the valley of Ava may be said to commence. It lies 
 '^ entirely on the east side of the Irrawaddy, the range of hills which 
 " terminates at Sagain opposite Ava hemming the river closely in on the 
 " west. At the lower end of the valley comes in the fine stream of the Myit- 
 " nge. Just above this the great river contracts from a mile and more in 
 '* width to about 800 yards, in passing between the rocky roots of the Sagain 
 " hills, and an isolated temple-crowned eminence on the left bauk.""^ At a 
 very short distance below Tsa-gaing the river takes a sharp turn to the 
 westward and, after flowing in this direction for about 40 mileSj to Tseng-dat, 
 it gradually comes round to the south again, receiving the waters of the 
 Kyeng-dweug from the westward near the southern extremity of the sweep. 
 From this point its course is due south for a considerable distance 
 when, deflecting, it runs about south-west to Tsa-lay-myo. From this point 
 its course is, roughly, east-south-east to the British frontier which 
 it crosses in 19° 29' 3" N. and 95° 15' E., having then a breadth of three 
 quarters of a mile. Continuing east-south-east it rapidly widens and opposite 
 Thayetmyo, about eleven miles lower down, is nearly three miles broad. 
 Below this it contracts and flowing between bold and densely wooded banks 
 it passes Prome 48 miles further south and takes a great bend round to the west 
 and then east-south-east again, the hills receding on both banks and the stream 
 broadening considerably till, at Akouk-toung, a few miles above Myan-oung, a 
 spur of the Arakau hills juts down to the river and ends abruptly in a preci- 
 pice some three hundred feet high. Here the river enters the delta the hills 
 finally receding and giving place to low alluvial plains formerly inundated for 
 miles on both banks every year on the rise of the river but now protected on 
 the west by extensive embankments. In about 17° 19' N. it takes another and 
 sharper bend to the west, almost immediately returning to its former course 
 and as it does so throwing off to the westward its first branch, the Bassein 
 river. Gradually trending round westward, it a little north of 17° sends off 
 a branch eastward, the Panhlaing creek, which joins the Hlaing just above 
 Kaugoon, the two forming the Rangoon river. In 17° the Pan-ta-naw leaves 
 it to the west, and from this point the main river runs due south till, a few 
 miles further on, it throws off a stream, which eventually reaches the sea as 
 the To or China Bakir, and inclining westward breaks into numerous creeks. 
 From 17° N. it divides and sub-divides, recommuuicating on each side 
 with the streams which have already left it, and converts the whole of the 
 lower portion of its valley into a network of anastomosing tidal creeks till it 
 reaches the sea by nine principal mouths including on the west the Bassein 
 river and its eastern entrance the Thek-ngay-thoung and on the east the Ran- 
 goon, the others and intervening ones being, from east to west, the To or China 
 Bakir, the Pya-poon, the Kyoon-toon, the Irrawaddy, the Pya-ma-law and its 
 western branch the Pyeug-tha-loo, and the Rwe, all of which, as already stated, 
 
 * Yule's " Mission to Ava."
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 209 
 
 intercommunicate by numerous channels. The eastern and western are the 
 only ones used by seagoing- ships, but a portion of the To or China Bakir is 
 used by river steamers and large boats going from Rangoon to the Irrawaddy 
 during the dry season when the route used during the rains, via the Pan-hlaiug 
 or via the Kook-ko, is closed for want of water, and others are traversed in 
 places by boats and river steamers passing inland between Rangoon and 
 Bassein. This maritime delta, the protuberance of which has been caused by 
 the deposition of the immense quantity of silt brought down by the river and 
 which in this manner is still encroaching on the sea, is, especially in its lower 
 part, cut up into an infinity of islands by a vast labyrinth of tidal creeks and 
 channels. Within the full tidal influence these are lined with mangrove 
 thicket and forest of Htien and other brackish-water loving trees, or a fringe 
 of gigantic grasses, and for a considerable distance inland bear the peculiar 
 and unmistakeable appearance of all tidal creeks : the banks steep for a few 
 feet from the top, then shelving and muddy, the top either bare or covered 
 with grass or tall black-stemmed trees with no undergrowth, or with low 
 shrubs, the lower branches bearing, in their mud-covered leaves, evidence of 
 the rise and fall of the tide. Scattered along the channels and sheets of 
 water in the extreme south, are, during the dry season, temporary villages 
 occupied by salt boilers and makers of nga-pee or fish paste. A little more 
 inland, patches of cultivation appear gradually passing into extensive tracts. 
 
 The total length of the Irrawaddy from its sources to the sea is about 900 
 miles, the last 240 of which are in British territory, and considering its few 
 windings its development in this latter distance may be about 50 miles. As 
 far down as Akouk-toung in the Henzada district its bed is rocky but below this 
 sandy and muddy. It is full of islands and sandbanks, many of the former and 
 all the latter submerged during the rains. New sandbanks are continually 
 forming and old ones being removed, and the deep channel changes in many 
 places every season and in some places even oftener but the course of the 
 river, flowing as it does everywhere except in the delta between high banks, 
 alters inappreciably. Its waters are extremely muddy and the mud is carried 
 far out to sea. It commences to rise in March, some months before the rains 
 set in, but whether owing to the melting of the snows in the mountains in which 
 it takes its rise or to heavy rains at that season in the extreme northern portion 
 of the country which it drains, or to both causes, is not yet known. Certain 
 it is that as high as Ba-mhaw it rises before any rain has fallen there. It rises 
 and falls several times till about June and then rising pretty steadily it attains 
 its maximum height about September at which time it is, at Prome, from 33 
 to 34 feet above its dry season level, and at this period, below the latitude of 
 Myan-ouug inundates a vast tract of country on the east and unprotected bank. 
 Several and differing calculations have been made of its discharge : those by 
 Lieutenant Heathcote from data obtained near Tsa-gaiug in October gave 
 316,580 cubic feet per second ; those by Dr. McClelland from data obtained 
 at Prome in April 1853 when the river was about five inches above its lowest 
 gave 105,794 per second ; Mr. Login calculated it at 75,000 cubic feet per 
 second at the head of the delta; wliilst from careful observations and calcula- 
 tions made at Myan-oung by Mr. Gordon the flood maximum discharge in 
 August 1872 was 1,442,007 feet and the mean velocity G,451 feet. 
 
 The following table gives the result, in metre-tons, of 37 cubic feet, of 
 Mr. Gordon's observations : — 
 
 27
 
 210 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 
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 212 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The river is uavigable at all seasons by steamers of light draught as high 
 as, and probably beyond, Ba-mhaw, and during the dry season for steamers 
 drawing six feet as far at least as the frontier. In the rains steamers and 
 large boats enter the main river fi'om Eangoou by the Pau-hlaing or the 
 Bhaw-lay creeks, but during the dry season they have to descend the Ran- 
 goon river for some distance and, passing through the Bassein creek (not to 
 be confounded with the Bassein river) , enter the Irrawaddy through the To or 
 China Bakir. At this season the entrance of the Bassein river from the 
 Irrawaddy is entirely closed by a large sandbank but in the rains steamers 
 can pass up and down by this channel. The tide is felt as far up as Henzada 
 and at Poo-zwon-doung it rises 18|^ feet at springs. 
 
 Its principal affluents in British territory are the Ma-htoon (or Meng-doon), 
 the Ma-de and the Tha-lai-dan from the west, and the Kye-nee, the Bhwot-lay 
 and the Na-weng from the east. Below Akouk-touug on the west and Prome 
 on the east it has no tributaries of any importance. 
 
 KA-BAING. — A revenue circle in the Henzada township, Henzada district, 
 on the left bank of the Nga-won river. The land revenue in 1876 was Rs. 
 4,055;, the capitation-tax Rs. 4^647, the gross revenue Rs. 9,462^ and the 
 population 5,340 souls. 
 
 KA-BENG. — A revenue circle in the Mergui district north of the northern 
 mouth of the Teuasserim river. In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 5,258, the 
 capitation -tax Rs. 2,011 and the population 3,277. 
 
 KA-DAING-TEE. — A revenue circle on the Rwon-za-leng river below 
 Pa-pwon in the Salweeu Hill Tracts. In 1876 it had a population of 5,576 
 souls and produced as land revenue — principally from hill gardens — Rs. 2,490 
 and as capitation-tax Rs. 2,211. 
 
 KA-DAN-GYEE. — A tidal creek in the Myoung-mya township, Bassein 
 
 district, joining theRwe and Pya-ma-law rivers, its western entrance being about 
 four miles below La-bwot-ta. It is navigable by river steamers. 
 
 KA-DAT. — A sti-eam which has its source in the hills north of Kyaik-hto 
 and flowing through that town, where it is spanned by a wooden bridge, it 
 enters the plains and dviring the rains unites with the numerous creeks then 
 intersecting that part of the country, which is to a great extent under water at 
 that season. It falls into the Tsit-toung near its mouth and is navigable for 
 large boats as far as Kyaik-hto during the monsoon. 
 
 KA-DA-WA. — A revenue circle in the Mro-houng township, Akyab district, 
 to which is now joined Loo-leng-byo. The population of the united circles in 
 1876 was 1,672, the land revenue Rs. 5,561, the capitation-tax Rs. 1,993 and 
 the gross revenue Rs. 7,832. 
 
 KA-DO. — A small creek in the Amherst district which at both ends com- 
 municates with the Salween north of Maulmain. Its southern mouth like that 
 of all similar streams affected by the tide is large and forms the Ka-do timber 
 station, where the Forest Ofiice is located and where all timber coming down the 
 Salween, the Gyaing and the Attaran is collected and registered. A sand bar 
 stretches across the southern entrance impassable except at flood tides. 
 
 KA-DO. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Thau-lweng township, Amherst 
 district, opposite Maulmain at the junction of the Gyaing, the Attaran and the
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 213 
 
 Salween. It has a large population of Talaing, and is pretty well cultivated. 
 In 1876 the laud revenue was Rs. 4,372, the capitation-tax lis. 3,692 and the 
 population 3,672. It now includes Kaw-hla. 
 
 KA-DO. — A village on the bank of the Gyaing at the mouth of the creek 
 of the same name and close to the junction of the Gyaing and the Salween. 
 It is well laid out with brick-laid streets shaded by trees. The inhabitants 
 are principally timber traders and their followers. It is the Government tim- 
 ber station at which all logs brought down the Salween are collected and 
 taken by the owners after payment of duty. 
 
 The whole of the village lies within the jurisdiction of the Judge and of 
 the Magistrate of Maulmain. The number of inhabitants in 1877 was 2,232. 
 
 KA-DWAI. — A sparsely cultivated, hilly revenue circle in the south- 
 eastern township, Tavoy district, to which is now joined its southern neigh- 
 bour Pa-aw. The united circles occupy the extreme southern portion of 
 the district on the coast and adjoin Mergui. In 1876 the population number- 
 ed lj561, the land revenue was lis. 473, the capitation-tax Rs. 614 and the 
 gross revenue Rs. 1,118. The principal products are sessamum and carda- 
 moms. 
 
 KA-GNYENG. — A river in the Basseiu district, which rises in the Arakan 
 Romas and after a south-easterly course of some twelve miles falls into the 
 Bassein river about two and a half miles above the mouth of the Shwe-gnyoung- 
 beng. The breadth at the mouth is about 100 feet and the depth about 
 12. The bed is sandy and muddy. Large boats can ascend for a little over a 
 mile only. The banks are covered with fine and valuable timber, Ka-gnyeng 
 {Dipterocarpus alatus), Pyengma (Lagerstrceima Regince), Pyeng-gado {Xylia 
 Dolabnformis) , Rengdaik {Dalbergia cidtrata) and Shaw {StercuUa sjj). 
 
 KA-GNYENG-DAING. — A revenue circle in the Le-myet-hua township, 
 Bassein district, on the eastern slopes of the Arakan Romas. The country is 
 mountainous, except towards the east where the ground is level and the soil suit- 
 able for rice. Pyengma (Lagerstrcemia Regince), Pyeng-ga-do {Xylia Dolabri- 
 formis), Reug-dftik {Dalbergia cidtrata) and Ka-gnyeng {Dipterocarpus alatus) 
 are abundant, and a little teak is found on the banks of the Mai-za-lee river. 
 The inhabitants in 1876 numbered 3,238, and in that year the land revenue was 
 Rs. 3,330, the capitation-tax Es. 3,530 and the gross revenue Rs. 7,027. 
 
 KA-GNYENG-GOON. — A village in the Zhe-pa-thway circle, Angyee 
 township, Rangoon district, about a mile from the seacoast, a few miles east of 
 the mouth of the To river, at the head of the Meng-ga-loon, a small tributary of 
 the former. The inhabitants, who are chiefly Burman and Talaing agricul- 
 turists, numbered 1,121 in 1877. In the Burman time the population was 
 very small; the village has increased principally owing to an influx of the 
 inhabitants of To at the mouth of the river of the same name. The culturable 
 land in the neighbourhood is extensive and fertile. Near the village is the 
 old ruined pagoda of Meng-galoon, known as the Kyouk-tshoo Bhoora. It is 
 built upon the spot where the vessel carrying the holy relic, now enshrined 
 under tiie Shwe-tshan-daw at Twan-te, first cast anchor, hence the name 
 (' Kyouk-tshoo,' an anchor). It is, therefore, one of the most famous of the 
 37 Pagodas of Angyee.
 
 214 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KA-GNYENG-KWA.— A small village of 503 inhabitants in 1877 in the 
 Bhoot-khyouug- circle^ Re-gyee township, on the western bank of the Ee-nouk, 
 towards the north-east of the Bassein district. 
 
 KA-GNYOON-KYWON. — An island forming a revenue circle in the south- 
 eastern township of the Tavoy district, thinly populated but very largely culti- 
 vated. Its principal products are rice, dhanee leaves and dhanee sugar. 
 The fishery and net tax is large. In 1876 the laud revenue was Es. 5,934, the 
 capitation-tax Rs. 292, the gross revenue Es. 7,150, and the population 421. 
 
 KA-HGNYAW. — A revenue circle in the north-east corner of Bhee-loo- 
 gywon in the Amherst district, having the Salween river on the north and 
 east, the circle of Ka-lwee on the west and that of Thek-kaw on the south. 
 Its total area is 4,766 acres, all plain land, and almost all under 
 cultivation. Its eastern portion consists of some extensive islands in the 
 Salween, immediately opposite to INIaulmain, the soil of which is well adapted 
 both for gardens and for rice cultivation. It comprises the two old circles of 
 Kahgnyaw and Douk-yat, which were united in 1865. A small area is to some 
 extent damaged by the overflow from hot salt springs at a spot known as the Nga- 
 raikywon or " Hell Island." There is a large and constant flow of very hot 
 saline water and the whole of the land near them is more or less impregnated 
 with salt. The crystalized produce has a distinct bitter taste. The " garden" 
 cultivation consists principally of the dhanee and cocoanut palms. In 1860 
 the land revenue was Rs. 8,663, the capitation-tax Es. 1,547 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 10,220. In 1876 the land revenue was Es. 10,057, the capita- 
 tion-tax Es. 1,827 and the population 1,757. 
 
 KA-HGNYAW. — A village in the circle of the same name on the west of 
 Bhee-loo-gywon in the Amherst district near the Ka-gnyoung stream. The 
 iuhabitauts are principally Talaing and in 1867 numbered 928 souls and 966 
 in 1877. 
 
 KAI. — A sub-tribe of the Pwo division of Kareng so called by the 
 Bgliai. See Gaikho. ■ 
 
 KAI-LENG. — Arevenue circle in the south-eastern corner of the Tha-ga-ra 
 township, Toung-ngoo district, on the right bank of the Tsit-touug river. 
 In this circle is the Pouk-aing lake nine feet deep during the rains and five only 
 in the dry season. In 1876 the population numbered 2,683, the land revenue 
 was Es. 1,003, the capitation-tax Es. 2,006 and the gross revenue Es. 3,300. 
 
 KAING-GYEE. — A village in the Padoung township, Prome district, on 
 the bank of the Bhoo-ro stream, just above its mouth. The inhabitants are 
 chiefly rice cultivators, gardeners and coolies. 
 
 KAING-KHYOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district, on 
 the north-eastern coast of Ramree island, north of and adjoining the Ramree 
 township, having an area of 11 square miles which are not much cultivated. 
 The inhabitants, who are mainly Arakanese, numbered 1,994 in 1876 and are 
 extensively engaged in fishing and in manufacturing salt. The land revenue 
 in 1876 was Es. 1,116, the capitation-tax Es. 2,237 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 5,074. 
 
 KA-KA-EAN. — A tidal creek in the lower portion of the Shwe-loung town- 
 ship, Thoon-khwa district, connecting the Irrawaddy with the Pya-ma-law,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 215 
 
 haviug- a general N. N. E. and S. S. W. direction : its northern entrance is about 
 eig-ht miles below Kywou-pya-that village. It is navigable at all times by the 
 largest boats. 
 
 KA-LA-BE. — A revenue circle on Bhee-loo-gywon in the Amherst district, 
 which extends from the Salween westwards acroi^s the central range of" hills 
 to the Tsai-ba-la khyoung. It has Kharaik-thit on the north and Kwon-taw and 
 Ka-ma-ke on the south. In the Burmese time Ka-la-be comprised only that 
 portion of the present circle which lies between the Salween and the hills ; 
 the other portion, to the west of the hills, was called Pan-hpa and was under 
 a Kareng Tsaw-kai. When Captain Phayre (then Deputy Commissioner) 
 visited the locality he found that the Talaing Thoogyee of Ka-la-be collected 
 tax from the Talaing both in Ka-la-be and in Pan-hpa and the Kareng 
 Tsaw-kai in the same way had charge of the Kareng in both circles. He 
 made arrangements for the amalgamation of the two circles which were shortly 
 afterwards carried out. The united circles comprise an area of 4,674 acres, of 
 which almost the whole is under cultivation. In 1868 the population num- 
 bered 2,091 souls (congregated principally in the villages of Ka-la-be 
 Moo-rit-gale, Rwa-thit, Pan-hpa and Kaw-ka-dai), the land revenue was 
 Rs. 7,016, the capitation-tax lis. 2,585 and the gross revenue Rs. 9,627. 
 In 1876 there were 2,890 inhabitants, the land revenue was Es. 7,136 and the 
 capitation-tax Rs. 3,057. 
 
 KA-LAING-OUNG. — A revenue circle in the north-eastern township, 
 Tavoy district, with a small population of 719 souls in 1876. The face of the 
 country is mountainous and forest-clad and but little cultivation is carried on. 
 In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 257, the capitation-tax Rs. 321 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 590. 
 
 KA-LAI-TO. — A village in the Kha-raik-thit circle of the Bhee-loo-gywon 
 township, Amherst district, south of Khyoung-tshoon and west of Kha-raik-thit. 
 The population in 1867 numbered 576 souls and 854 in 1877. 
 
 KA-LAW. — A village in the Rwa-lwot circle of the Bhee-loo-gywon town- 
 ship of the Amherst district, on the south bank of the A-byaing stream. In 
 1867, when the surrounding country formed the Ka-law circle, the inhabitants, 
 who are principally Talaing, numbered 588 and 614 in 1877. 
 
 KA-LAW. — A pagoda on Bheeloo island supposed to have been founded 
 dui'ing the reign of Asoka in the third century B. C, to enshrine a relic of 
 Gaudama. 
 
 KA-LAW-THWOT. — A village in the centre of the circle of the same 
 name in the Zaya township of the Amherst district south of Ka-ma-wek and 
 near the Ka-law-thwot stream. The name in Talaing means " Betel-nut 
 tree. " In 1868 it had 691 inhabitants and 1,076 in 1877. 
 
 KA-LAW-THWOT. — A narrow and irregularly shaped revenue circle in the 
 Zaya township, Amherst district, reaching from the Toung-gnyo range nearly to 
 the Salween, having Ka-ma-wek on the north and Htoon-man on the south, 
 with an area of 8,914 acres, the greater part of which is plain land. The 
 present limits of the circle comprise three old Thoogyeeships, rir., Ka-law-thwot, 
 Ka-ma-ta-ke and Mai-bouk. In 1868 the inhabitants, who are principally 
 Talaing, numbered 1,074 and the gross revenue was Rs. 4,150, of which Rs. 3,000
 
 216 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 was derived from the land. In 1876 the population was 1,600, the land revenue 
 Rs. 3,302 and the capitation-tax Rs. 1,592, 
 
 KA-LEE-TAW. — A village in the Ma-hoo-ra circle, Hpoung-leng township, 
 Rangoon district, on the Poo-zwon-doung river about fifteen miles below 
 Hpouug-gyee. In 1877 it had 516 inhabitants. 
 
 KA-LE-GOUK. — An island off the coast of the Amherst district^ 50 miles 
 long and running north by west and south by east with its northern extremity 
 thirty miles from Cape Amherst. Its woodiest part which is at the north end 
 is about a mile in extent, whilst towards the south the island runs to a point. 
 According to Dr. Macpherson the "northern half, on the western side, is compos- 
 " ed of a long granite ridge with an average perpendicular drop to the sea. The 
 " eastern side descends to the shore in gentle or abrupt slopes, while the west is 
 " broken into abrupt hills with level, well-raised, intervening spaces forming three 
 bays.'^ From one of these, Quai-ry Bay, the stones were dug for the Alguada 
 Reef light-house. The entire island is clothed with fine trees and water of a 
 good quality is found at a depth of fifteen feet from the surface, whilst " a peren- 
 " nial spring of sweet water flows through the centre of the island." The centre 
 of the island is in 15° 33' North. 
 
 KA-LIET-PAT. — A small stream which rises in the Arakan mountains and 
 falls into the Thee-da or Kyouk-khyoung-gale river in the Bassein district. The 
 banks are composed of sandy loam and are fringed with tree forest. After 
 leaving the hills its banks spread out forming in various places, in the hot 
 season when this river is dry, separate lakes leased out as fisheries. 
 
 KA-LOUNG-TOUNG.— A village in the Pan-ta-naw township, Thoon- 
 khwa district, in 16° 58' North and 95° East at the mouth of the Bhaw-dee stream 
 a short distance above Pan-ta-uaw. It has a population of about 600 souls. 
 
 KA-LWEE. — A revenue circle in the Amherst district at the northern 
 end of Bheeloo island having the northern entrance of the Salween, known as 
 the Daray-bouk, on the north and bordering on the circles of Ka-hgnyaw, 
 Ka-ma-mo and Daray on the other side. The total area is 2,675 acres, nearly 
 the whole of which is culturable plain land. At the northern extremity of 
 the circle is a detached hill, round which Ka-lwee and other villages are built. 
 It includes the formerly distinct circle of Moon-aing. It is inhabited chiefly by 
 Talaiug and is well cultivated. In 1868 the inhabitants numbered 1,758 and the 
 gross revenue was Rs. 6,899. In 1876 the population was 3,255, the land 
 revenue Rs. 7,118 and the capitation-tax Rs. 3,525. 
 
 KA-LWEE. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Amherst 
 district in the extreme north of Bhee-loo-gywon on the bank of the Daray-bouk 
 or northern mouth of the Salween, lying on the side of a detached hill connect- 
 ed with the main Bhee-loo-gywon range by a road across the rice plain. 
 In 1860 it had 931 inhabitants and 1,138 in 1876. The neighbouring pic- 
 turesquely situated pagodas and zayat, embosomed amongst trees and over- 
 looking the Salween river, are a favourite resort of the European inhabitants 
 of Maulmain. 
 
 KA-LWEN. — A revenue circle in the Mergui district north of Mergui, to 
 the south of the northern mouth of the Tenasserim river. In 1876 the land 
 revenue was Rs. 2,883, the capitation tax lis. 1,074 and the population 1,839.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 217 
 
 KA-MA. — A village of about 600 inhabitants on the western coast of 
 Cheduba. 
 
 KA-MA. — The head-quarters of the township of the same name in the 
 Thayet district on the right bank of the Irrawaddy river, prettily situated 
 on low hills, most of them crowned by a pagoda or a monastery. According 
 to the census taken in 1872, it had a population of 2,943 souls and according 
 to the Thoogyee's rolls of 2,829 in 1877. The Ma-de stream flows through 
 the town, that portion lying to the south being known as Gywon-doung. A 
 short distance above the village is the mouth of the Ma-htoon river and all 
 the surplus produce of the valley of that stream, consisting of tobacco, chillies, 
 onions, cutch and cotton, that does not go down straight to Prome is disposed 
 of here. 
 
 Two legends are current as to the manner in which the place obtained its 
 name. According to one it was an important and flourishing town in the days 
 of Rek-kan, king of Prome (250 B.C.,) paying much revenue to the king who, 
 therefore, named it Ma-ha-ga-ma, Ma-ha meaning 'great' and ' ga-ma ' being 
 the designation in Pali of a second class city, that is one with a market but 
 without walls. This name it bore until the time of the great Burmau king 
 Alouugbhoora. This conqueror of Pegu, finding it compare unfavourably with 
 the other cities of that country such as Prome and Piangoon, considered it 
 unworthy of the name of Ma-ha-ga-ma, and with prurient pleasantry suggested 
 that henceforth it should be called Kama {sensual desire) . The second legend 
 derives the name from a more reverend source. King Na-ra-pa-dee- 
 tsee-thoo (A.D. 1167) when rebuilding the Bhoora-baw pagoda on the 
 ruins of an old one wished to make an oflering of a piece of fine cotton 
 cloth. As the finest kind of cloth was not always obtainable, the king was in 
 doubt as to whether he would be able to fulfil his pious wish when a man 
 from Tha-byeng-tshoung presented himself with a piece, on which the king 
 exclaimed : "I desired cloth ; through my former merits my wish has been gra- 
 tified ; let this town be called ' Hpyeng-ta-kan-ma ' (assisted by fortune the 
 cloth has been obtained) ." This name was shortened into Kan-ma (assisted by 
 fortune) which subsequently was corrupted to Kamma and Kama. 
 
 KA-MA. — A township of the Thayet district between Lat. 19° 5' and 18° 
 49' N. and Long. 94° 45' and 95° 14' 20" E. It contains an area of 575 
 square miles and is bounded on the north by the townships of Thayet and 
 Meng-doon ; on the west by the Arakan mountains ; on the east by the Irra- 
 waddy river ; and on the south by the Padoung township of the Prome district. 
 
 The present township of Ka-ma contains the whole of what was the Myo- 
 thoogyeeship of Ka-ma, less the circles of Ban-goon and Nga-tshaw which have 
 been transferred to Thayet, and the whole of the Myo-thoogyeeship of Mya- 
 wadee. 
 
 Mya-wadee (the emerald country) derives its name from the expiatory 
 offerings of a royal parricide. In 1278 A.D. Nara-thee-ha-pa-de, after escaping 
 from the Tartars, became the victim of his son Thee-ha-thoo whom he had 
 appointed Governor of Prome. He was poisoned at Shwe-boon-tha opposite 
 Prome and his son afterwards raised nine pagodas to his memory on the right 
 bank of the river above the Hpo-oo hill, eushriniug within each pagoda one 
 of the emerald-adorned regalia. Hence the land where these pagodas are situ- 
 ated came to be known as Mya-wadee — " the emerald laud." 
 
 28
 
 218 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 At the great settlement of 1145 b.e. (1783), five Talk Tlioogyee and 
 fifty-nine village Thoogyee were appointed under the Myo-thoogyee of Kama, 
 with hereditary succession to all the ajspointments. The hereditary system, 
 however, was not of long duration, except in the case of the officials of the low- 
 est rank, the village Thoogyee. Forty-five years later the hereditary Talk 
 Thoogyee had all disappeared and the family of the first Myo-thoogyee having 
 kept the ofiice for three generations, during a period of 50 years, was ousted in 
 1837 A.D. 
 
 To the small division of Mya-wadee one Myo-thoogyee and fourteen 
 village Thoogyee were appointed in 1145 b.e. The Myo-thoogyee of Mya- 
 wadee did not rank high amongst his class. He was notentitled to carry a gold 
 umbrella as most of them were. Neither the Myo-thoogyee of Ka-ma nor of Mya- 
 wa-dee had the power of life and death, but there is in the river just off the 
 town of Ka-ma a whirlpool of a dangerous character into which criminals, or 
 others whom it was desirable to get rid of, were not unfrequently dropped. 
 
 At the time when the Doomsday Book was prepared, 1783 a.d., the Myo- 
 thoogyeeship of Ka-ma is said to have contained 142 villages. These were 
 divided into five circles and 59 village Thoogyeeships. Any village, however 
 small, which contained an inhabitant of means sufficient to enable him to pur- 
 chase the headship was registered. The five circles, named generally after 
 the sti-eams on which they w^ere situated, were Mah-toon, Myit-gyoung, Pa- 
 nee, Poon-na and Ma-de. The registered villages contained in each of these 
 five circles were as follows : —
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 219 
 
 Mya-wadee does not appear to have been divided into circles in the 
 Burmese time : the Myo being a small one was manai^ed by the Myo-thoogyee 
 without the intervention of the Thoogyee of Talk as in other Myo. 
 
 The annual tribute which Ka-ma had to remit to the capital was fixed at 
 60 viss of silver or Rs. 8,571 and Mya-wa-dee had to send 30 viss or Rs. 
 4,285. The Myo-thoogyee decided annually how much should be paid by each 
 circle. The heads of the circles decided in like manner what amount should 
 be borne by each village and the heads of villages then proceeded to collect the 
 amount, and as much more as they could get, in whatever manner they chose. 
 The incomes of the Myo-thoogyee seem to have depended mainly upon 
 the fees derived from suitors. Justice was dispensed in the verandahs of the 
 Myo-thoogyees' houses by deputies appointed by them for that purpose. 
 The heads of fiscal circles (Taik Thoogyee) had, also, the power of disposing of 
 petty civil cases, accounting for a portion of the fees received to the Myo- 
 thoogyee. The heads of villages (Rwa Thoogyee), likewise, were permitted to 
 dispose of such petty cases as were voluntarily brought before them. Neither 
 Ka-ma nor Mya-wadee were required to furnish any soldiers for the service of 
 the State. 
 
 The township is now divided into seventeen revenue circles. In 1876 the 
 population was 30,363, the land revenue Rs. 29,116, the capitation-tax 
 Es. 33,029 and the gross revenue Rs. 69,848. The head-quarters are at 
 Ka-ma. 
 
 KA-MA. — A revenue circle in the Ka-ma township, Thayet district, lying 
 on the right bank of the Irrawaddy to the immediate north of the Gaw-beng hills 
 and roundabout the town of Ka-ma, with an area of three square miles and 
 a population of 3,319 souls in 1876, nestling amongst the hills which stretch 
 down to the bank of the Irrawaddy ; the area under cultivation is small. The 
 once independent circle of Htoon-gyee has of late years been placed under the 
 same Thoogyee. The laud revenue in 1876 was Rs. 2,711, the capitation -tax 
 Rs. 3,270 and the gross revenue, including the local revenue raised in the town, 
 Rs. 10,875. 
 
 KA-MA. — A revenue circle of the Kyouk-hp3'oo district on the western 
 coast of Cheduba, about 36 square miles in extent and with a poiDulation of 
 2581 souls in 1876. Rice and tobacco are the principal crops raised. At the 
 north-western point is a round hill 200 feet in height from which are evolutions 
 of marsh gas which have led to its being considered a volcano. The land 
 revenue in 1876 was Rs. 1,979, the capitation-tax Rs. 2,515 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 4,615. 
 
 KA-MA-GA-LE. — A village of about sixty houses in the Guyoung-beng- 
 tshiep circle, Myedai township, Thayet district, on the left bank of the river 
 opposite to the town of Ka-ma, of which it is an ofi'-shoot. 
 
 KA-MA-KA-EOOT. — A village in the Hmaw-won circle, Than-lyeng town- 
 ship, Rangoon district, on a stream of the same name about nine miles from 
 its junction with the Hmaw-won river, a little below Kyouk-tan and about 
 three miles from the seacoast. The majority of the inhabitants, who in 1876 
 numbered 1,373, are Talaing agriculturists who cultivate the extensive plains 
 on both sides of the stream. The name is Talaing, and is derived from '' kam " 
 a tank and " karoot " a mango tree, a tank with mango trees near it having 
 formerly existed in the neighbourhood.
 
 220 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KA-MA-KE, — A revenue circle occupying the extreme southern point of 
 Bheeloo island in the Amherst district, opposite to the town of Amherst ; 
 having- the sea on the south and east, the Kwon-taw {pronounced Kwantaiv) 
 circle on the west and Ka-la-be on the north. To the south and east are 
 detached hills on which are situated the villages. The rest of the circle con- 
 sists of extensive alluvial plains, but much is damaged by salt water. 
 
 In the Burmese time this circle extended over what now forms the two 
 circles of Ka-ma-ke (exclusive of Abyit) and Kwon-taw. When the circle was 
 re-peopled, after the cession of Teuasserim, three Thoogyee settled down in this 
 tract at Ka-ma-ke, Kwon-hla and Kwon-taw respectively, and collected tax each 
 from his own followers. When Captain Phayre re-arranged the boundaries in 
 1848 he placed Ka-ma-ke and Kwon-hla under one Thoogyee and gave him 
 also superintendence over Abyit which joined Ka-ma-ke, Kwon-taw being made 
 a separate Thoogyeeship. In 1876 the land revenue amounted to Rs, 7,136 and 
 the capitation-tax to Rs. 2,113 ; the population in the same year was 2,112. 
 In 1868 the population was 1,684, and the gross revenue Rs. 7,754. 
 
 KA-MA-ICE. — A village in the circle of the same name in the south of Bhee- 
 loo-gywon in the Amherst district. The population in 1868 numbered 794 souls 
 including the inhabitants of the adjoining village of Toung-tsoung and 812 in 
 1877. 
 
 KA-MA-MO. — A village in the Ka-lwee circle on the western slopes 
 of the main Bhee-loo-gywon range, a short distance south of Ka-lwee. The 
 inhabitants, who are principally Talaing with a few Chinese, numbered 693 
 souls in 1867 and 796 in 1877. 
 
 KA-MA-NAT. — A village in the Pegu circle, Pegu township, Rangoon 
 district, about two miles east of Pegu. In 1877 the inhabitants numbered 
 1,163 souls. 
 
 KA-MA-WEK. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Zaya 
 township of the Amherst district, 14 miles from Maulmain on the great south- 
 ern road which now extends to Kwon-hla, and is being constructed as far as Re, 
 a little to the south of Moo-doon, the head-quarters of the township. There is 
 a government rest house in this village. In 1877 it had 989 inhabitants. 
 
 KA-MA-WEK, — A small and unimportant river in the Amherst district 
 which rises in the Toung-guyo range, and after a westerly course of 16 or 18 
 miles falls into the sea a few miles above Amherst. 
 
 KA-MAW-KA-NENG. — A village in the Ke-la-tha circle, Ee La-maing 
 township, Amherst district, east of Ke-la-tha and near the source of the 
 La-maing river. In 1877 it had 580 inhabitants. The name is Talaing and 
 means " Rock " village. 
 
 KAM-BAI. — A village in the Rangoon district to the north-east of Rangoon 
 about one and a half miles east of Ko-kaing {q. v.) close to a small lake. The 
 inhabitants are engaged in rice cultivation and in fisheries. There is a 
 Police station in the village. In 1877 it had 877 inhabitants. 
 
 KAM-BAI. — A revenue circle in the Tha-boung township, Bassein district, 
 on the left bank of the Bassein river, bounded on the east by the Ta-zeng-hla 
 stream and immediately north of the Tay-goon circle. It has an area of about 
 29 square miles which are but partially cultivated and are for the most part
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 221 
 
 covered with forest. The inhabitants, who are mainly Burmese, are largely 
 engaged iu fishing, and some of them in cultivating. There is a fair-weather 
 cart-road through almost every village. In 1876 the population was 2,353, 
 the laud revenue Rs. 2,366, the capitatiou-tax Rs. 2,397 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 9,434. 
 
 KAM-BAI. — A village of 841 inhabitants in 1877, principally Kareng and 
 Shan, in the Kaw-hmoo circle, Angyee township, Raugoon district, on the 
 Moo-la-man creek about half a mile west of Kha-beng. In some of the old 
 village registers it is called Kamhhet. 
 
 KAM-BHEE-LA. — A river in the Prome district. See Kouk-givay. 
 
 KAM-BHEE-LA. — A revenue circle in the Prome district on the right 
 bank of the Na-weng, traversed by the Kouk-gway, here called the Kam-bhee- 
 la, a tributary of the Na-weng ; iu the rains small boats can go up as high as the 
 village which gives its name to the circle, that is for rather over a mile. In 
 1876 the population was 430, the laud revenue Rs. 812, the capitation-tax 
 Rs. 458 and the gv-oss revenue Rs. 1,425. 
 
 KAM-BHET. — A village in the Angyee township, Rangoon district. See 
 Kam-hai. 
 
 KA-MEE-GYWAI. — A revenue circle in the Meng-bra township, Akyab 
 district. In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 1,987, the capitation tax Rs. 662, 
 the gross revenue Rs. 2,748 and the number of the inhabitants 503. 
 
 KAMIE. — A hill tribe iu Arakan. A branch of the Khamie {q, v.), but 
 having some differences iu their language (see appendix) ; e. g. — 
 
 English Khamie. Kamie. 
 
 Air Ga-lee A-lee 
 
 Ant Ba-leng Pa-leng 
 
 Ploung 
 Am-noo 
 Hoo 
 
 In manners, customs, religion and dress they are the same as the Khamie and 
 are of the same stock, living with and amongst them. 
 
 KA-NAING-TA. — A large village in the Moo-htee circle of the Tavoy 
 district on the eastern bauk of the Tavoy river. In 1877 it had 685 
 inhabitants. 
 
 KA-MYAW-KENG. — A revenue circle in the western township of the 
 Tavoy district, close to Tavoy, with an area of twelve square miles of which 
 about one-sixth is cultivated, mostly with rice. In 1876 the population was 
 2,280, the land revenue Rs. 1,902, the capitation-tax Rs. 1,872 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 3,869. 
 
 KA-MYIT. — A large, but to a great extent unculturable, revenue circle 
 extending eastwards from the seacoast in the southern part of the central 
 township of the Sandoway district. Its inhabitants, who are mainly Burmese, 
 numbered 3,488 souls in 1876. The principal products are rice, sessamum 
 and tobacco. The land revenue in 1876 was Rs. 3,762, the capitation-tax 
 Rs. 2,944 and the gross revenue Rs. 6,802. This circle was forrnerly in the 
 southern or Kyien-ta-lee township aud, with Touug-ma-gyee, was transferred to 
 the central township in 1876 as it was too far from Khwa, the head -quarters, 
 
 Boat 
 
 Mloung 
 
 Mother 
 
 Na-oo-ee 
 
 He 
 
 Ha-na-ee
 
 222 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 for effective supervision aud as it was easier for suitors to come to Sandoway 
 than to go south to Khwa. 
 
 KAN-BAING. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung' East township, 
 Akyab district, to which is now joined Touug-khyouug. The land revenue 
 of the united circles in 1876 was Ks. 8,921, the capitation-tax Rs. 3,095, the 
 gross revenue Rs. 12,595 and the population 2,433 souls. 
 
 KAN-BYENG. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung East township, 
 Akyab district, which in 1876 had a population of 734 souls, a land revenue 
 of lis. 3,951 and a gross revenue of Rs. 5,267 of which Rs. 997 were derived 
 from the capitation-tax. 
 
 KAN-AING. — A revenue circle in the Ramree township of the Kyouk- 
 hpyoo district on the left bank of the Ran-bouk stream, rather over 18 square 
 miles in extent. Coarse sugar and indigo are the main products. The 
 neighbouring circle of Kyouk-twe has of late years been joined to it. In 1876 
 the population of the two was 4,068, the land revenue Rs. 3,339 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 7,811 of which Rs. 4,062 were derived from the capitation-tax. 
 
 KAN-GAW. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district, north of the 
 Ra-ba-teng river in the Ramree township, 11 square miles in extent, with a 
 population of 2,728 souls in 1876. In that year the land revenue was Rs. 
 2,770, the capitation-tax Rs. 2,837 and the gross revenue Rs. 5,792. The 
 Ra-ba-teng circle is now joined to it. 
 
 KAN-GYEE. — A village in the Htan-le-beng circle of the Thee-kweng 
 township, Bassein district, on the western bank of the Kyon-toon creek opposite 
 to Goon-gnyeng-dan. In 1877 it had 775 inhabitants. 
 
 KAN-GYEE -DOTING.— The head-quarter town of the Thee-kweng town- 
 ship, Bassein district, in 16° 54' 30" N. and 64° 58' E. with a population of 
 2,351 souls, situated on the right bank of the Daga river about 15 miles from 
 its junction with the Nga-won. The inhabitants are principally engaged in 
 agriculture. The town contains a court-house and a police station. 
 
 KAN-HLA. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-doung township, Prome district, 
 which now includes the Ma-oo-daing,Rwa-thit-gyee, Mai-daw, Sha-daing, Rwa- 
 bai-hla, Hmek-ka-ra, Tsheug-ra and Kyouk-taw-ga circles and extends from 
 the Shwe-nat-toung hills on the west to the Prome hills or Engdaiug on the 
 east across the valley of the Kyoon stream just north of Poung-khyoot. The 
 centre of the circle is well cultivated with rice but the extreme eastern and 
 western portions consist of undulating ground and low hills covered with 
 forest aud drained by numerous small streams — affluents of the Kyoon. The 
 main road from Rangoon to the north traverses this circle which it enters at 
 Kan-goon and leaves in the Eugdaing or great belt of Eng forest which extends 
 away far south into the Henzada district, a little to the south of the source 
 of the Lek-pan-khoon rivulet. In 1876 the population of the united circles was 
 1,891, the land revenue Rs. 2,285, and the gross revenue Rs. 4,439 of which 
 Rs. 2,027 were derived from the capitation-tax. 
 
 KAN-KOO. — A village in the Padoung township, Prome district, in 
 18° 37' 40" N. and 95° 4' 35" E. on the Kan-koo stream just above its junction 
 with the Kyouk-bhoo. The name is derived from the soapstone {Kan-Icoo-kyouk) 
 found on the banks of the Kan-koo.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 223 
 
 KAN-KOO. — A small and unnavigable mountaiu stream which rises in 
 one of the spurs of the Arakan Koma mountains and after a short easterly- 
 course falls into the Kyouk-hhoo. Its name is derived from Kan-koo (Burmese 
 for soapstone) which is found at various places on its banks, 
 
 KAN-LAY. — A village in the Ma-oo-daing circle, Meng-doon township, 
 Thayet district, on the bank of the Ma-htoon river a short distance above the 
 mouth of the Det-Shwe one of its affluents from the north. This village 
 which has about seventy-five houses, is in 19° 18 ' 50" North Lat. and 94° 47' 
 E. Long. It formerly gave its name to a separate circle, which, in 1860 on 
 the death of the hereditary Thoogyee, was joined to Ma-oo-daing. 
 
 KAN-LET. — A small revenue circle, rather more than one square mile in 
 extent, on the northern coast of Cheduba to the west of Kyet-ro. Rice and 
 tobacco are the principal products. In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 642, the 
 capitation-tax Rs. 513, the gross revenue Rs. 1,187 and the population 481 souls. 
 
 KAN-NEE. — A revenue circle in the Nga-poo-taw township, Basseiu dis- 
 trict, having an approximate area of 237 square miles, extending northwards 
 between the Arakan hills and the Bassein river from the Tha-man-de-wa circle 
 to the Thau-dwai river, which divides itfrom the former Kyouk-khyoung-gyee 
 township. The north-eastern corner of the circle, above Oot-hpo, is flat but 
 the rest is hilly and covered with forest. An outcrop of sandstone appears 
 to the north of the Shwe-doung stream and another a few miles inland to the 
 west. Bamboos and iron-wood are found in abundance on the western side of 
 the circle at the foot of the Arakan mountains. The inhabitants, who are 
 chiefly Kareng, and who are occupied in cultivation, numbered 2,620 in 1876 
 when the land revenue was Rs. 4,550, the caj)itation-tax Rs. 3,030 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 7,709. 
 
 KAN-NEE. — A revenue circle in the Bhoom-ma- wad-dee township, Toung- 
 ngoo district, on the left bank of the Tsit-toung river, extending from theThit- 
 nan-tha stream on the north to the Pa-thee on the south. To the eastward the 
 country is hilly and covered with tree, brush wood and grass forest. Within 
 the limits of this circle is the Eug-won lake with fifteen feet of water in the 
 rains and from six to eight in the dry season, and one or two other smaller 
 ones. The principal timber is teak, Pyeng-gado (Xylia Dolahriformis) and 
 Pyeng-mia {Lagcrstroemia Rcgince) ; bamboos are plentiful. In 1876 the popu- 
 lation numbered 4,684, the laud revenue was Rs. 1,560, the capitation- tax 
 Rs. 2,258 and the gross revenue Rs. 5,753. 
 
 KAN-NEE. — A river in theToung-ngoo district which rises in the Poung- 
 loung range and after a westerly course of about 20 miles falls into the 
 Tsit-toung five miles north of Toung-ugoo. During the rains it is navigable for 
 boats of about 30 feet in length for some distance. From its mouth to the 
 village of Kwon-beug, a distance about four or five miles, its bed is sandy, above 
 that very rocky. A moderate quantity of teak, bamboos and sessamum are 
 brought down this stream to the Toung-ngoo market. 
 
 KAN-NEE. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Nga-poo-taw 
 township of the Bassein district on the right bank of the Than-dwai about four 
 miles above its mouth in the Bassein, a little above Ta-man-khyoung ; it is the 
 residence of the Thoogyee of the circle. In 1877 it had 526 inhabitants. 
 The trade is mainly in salt, rice and nga-pee. Lat. 16^ 37' N. Long. 94° 43' E.
 
 224 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KAN-NGAY. — A revenue circle in the Prome district north-east of 
 Pouug;-day and ou the left bank of the Wai-gyee ; its largest village is Toung-bo- 
 hla ou the Wai-gyee river. It now includes the Tha-hla-peng-zee, Reng-ma-hla, 
 and Rat-tha circles. In 1876 the inhabitants numbered 1,832, the land 
 revenue was Rs. 1,718, the capitation-tax Rs. 1,828 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 3,806. 
 
 KAN-00.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 25' 20" N. and 95° 34' 15" 
 E. on the Myo-lay channel and about a mile and a half from its mouth. The 
 road from Ta-hpoon in the Henzada district passes this village, which is about 
 four and a half miles south of Poung-day, measuring from the main road from 
 Rangoon to the northern frontier which runs through that town. 
 
 KAN-OUNG. — A town in the Henzada district on the right bank of the 
 Irrawaddy about seven miles below Myanoung, with a population in 1875 of 
 3,171 souls and in 1877 of 3,315, principally merchants and petty traders. It 
 was founded in 1754 A. D. by the Burman conqueror Aloungbhoora. It con- 
 tains a Police station, a Public Works Department Inspection Bungalow and 
 several good public restbouses. The name is Tabling and means a " whirlpool" 
 and was given to the town because there was then a whirlpool in the river 
 opposite the spot where it was founded. In the neighbourhood are the 
 remains of an old fort. The local revenue in 1877 was Es. 1,617. Long. 
 18° 10' 50" E. Lat. 95° 28' N. 
 
 KAN-OUNG. — A well cultivated revenue circle on the bank of the Irra- 
 waddy in the Kan-oung township of the Henzada district. To it have been 
 added the Koon-ta-loon andKyet-tshoo-daw circles farther north. In 1876 the 
 populationnumberedl0,542,the land revenue was Rs. 9,259, the capitation-tax 
 Rs. 9,390 and the gross revenue Rs. 21,208. These figures are exclusive of 
 the population and revenue of the town of Kan-oung. 
 
 KAN-OUNG. — A township in the Henzada district divided into eight 
 revenue circles, extending westwards from the Irrawaddy to the Arakan 
 Roma mountains, with Myanoung on the north and Oot-hpo on the south. 
 To the westward the country is mountainous and forest-clad but towards the 
 west, low and at one time subject to annual inundations from the overflow 
 of the Irrawaddy ; extensive embankments along that river have of late years 
 afforded almost complete protection and rice cultivation is rapidly extending 
 in the fertile country thus rendered fit for the production of this cereal. In the 
 low laud between the hills and the Irrawaddy are several lakes of which 
 the largest and most important is the Htoo, fed during the rains by the 
 Ma-mya which comes down from the Arakan mountains. Owing to the 
 Irrawaddy embankments and the want of scape-way the lake is gradually 
 being silted up by the sand brought down by the Ma-mya. The hilly 
 country contains some valuable timber such as teak, htouk-kyan and pyeug- 
 gado, whilst further eastward eng is found in some quantity. 
 
 The principal town is Kan-oung, on the bank of the Irrawaddy in the 
 north-eastern part of the township, where the Extra Assistant Commissioner 
 in charge resides and holds his court and where there is a good market and a 
 police station. In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 27,881, the capitation-tax 
 Rs. 34,000 and the gross revenue Rs. 71,802. In the same year the popula- 
 tion and agricultural stock was : —
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 225 
 
 
 Animals. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (S 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 3 .i^ 
 
 -73 
 
 
 
 
 DO 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 <D 
 
 m § 
 
 OS 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <u 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 
 00 
 
 CiO 
 
 s 
 
 2 
 
 to 
 
 
 s 
 
 ^ 
 
 |f5 
 
 O 
 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 ^ 
 
 .-3 
 
 o 
 
 
 Ph 
 
 OP 
 
 8,790 
 
 6,950 
 
 185 
 
 CL, 
 
 ^ 
 
 frH 
 
 CQ 
 
 O 
 
 fp 
 
 36,336 
 
 145 
 
 2,264 
 
 6,277 
 
 4,018 
 
 1 
 
 73 
 
 109 
 
 and the land under cultivation : — 
 
 Area in Acees under 
 
 Rice. 
 
 
 Cultivated. 
 
 Fallow. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Garden. 
 
 Miscellaneous. 
 
 Total. 
 
 17,080 
 
 476 
 
 17,556 
 
 1,304 
 
 1,228 
 
 2,532 
 
 KAN-EWA. — A revenue circle with an area of about 41 square miles in 
 the Thee-kweng township, Bassein district, lying- between the Pe-beng and the 
 Pan- ma- wad-dee rivers. The country consists of level and well cultivated plains, 
 more especially between the Pe-beng and the Moung-dee rivers. East of the 
 Mouug-dee the country is low and portions are occasionally inundated. The 
 plains on either side of the Moung-dee are relieved by patches of forest and the 
 creeks and streams are fringed with trees, none, however, of any value. In 
 1876 the inhabitants numbered 3,657, the land revenue was Rs. 14,427, the 
 capitation-tax Rs. 3,762 and the gross revenue Rs. 18,935. 
 
 KAN-THA. — See Toung-gnyo river. 
 
 KAN-THOON-TSENG.— A village in the Prome district between the 
 Irrawaddy and the Shwe-nat-toung hills, a mile and a half west of the latter, 
 eight miles south, as the crow flies, from Shwe-douug and rather more than 
 seven E. S. E. from Kyee-thay, with which, as Avith most of the neighbouring" 
 villages it is connected by a good dry-weather cart road. 
 
 KAN-TSHIEP. — A tidal creek near the sea in the Bassein district 
 running from the Daray-bhyoo creek, about five miles from its southern mouth, 
 in a Dorth-easterly direction to the Pya-ma-law. River steamers have passed 
 through it. 
 
 KA-RENG. — A small stream in the Toung-ngoo district, which rises in 
 the Poung-louug I'auge and, after a westerly course of about 20 miles, falls 
 into the Tsit-toung nearly opposite Toung-ngoo. It is navigable for boats for 
 about two miles only from its mouth. 
 
 29
 
 226 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KA-RENG. — A race scattered throughout the province from Mergui] in 
 the south to beyond Toung-ngoo in the extreme north and fi-omthe Salween Hill 
 Tracts in the east as far west as Arakan^ but found principally in the Toung- 
 ngoo, Shwe-gyeng, Amherst, Tavoy, Mergui, Bassein and Rangoon districts. 
 Kareng is the name by which they are designated by the Burmese and which 
 has been adopted by the English (by Symes they are called Cariainers and by 
 later writers Carians and Karyens) ; to the Kareng themselves it is unknown and 
 its derivation is uncertain but is, most probably, Ka-ra by which the Kareng-nee 
 in the north call themselves, or Ka-roon, the designation of the Gai-kho 
 amongst themselves. Those in the north and east, preferring to live far from 
 the bustle of cities and towns, from choice ensconce themselves in the dense 
 forest or perch on the heights of almost inaccessible mountains or hide 
 in the high and nearly impenetrable elephant grass on the margins of streams, 
 whilst those in the south and west have settled in the plains amongst their 
 Talaing and Burmese neighbours. Living hitherto with the dominant race 
 but not of them, timid and suspicious, the natural result of long continued 
 oppression under the Burmese, and with manners coarse and repulsive, they 
 have, in the opinion of the casual observer, the appearance of stolid stupidity. 
 Owing partly to distrust and partly, perhaps, to the supercilious way in which 
 they are often treated they affect an ignorance which, far from being real, is 
 by no means impracticable for, wild and uncultivated to a degree as they 
 naturally are, they are highly susceptible of social, moral and religious 
 influences when once their confidence has been won and their sympathies 
 awakened. The results of the labours amongst them of the members of the 
 American Baptist Mission have the appearance of being almost miraculous 
 and it is not going too far to state that the cessation of blood feuds and the 
 peaceable way in which the various tribes are living together, and have lived 
 together since they came under British rule, is far more due to the influence 
 exercised over them by the Missionaries than to the measures adopted by the 
 English Government, beneficial as these have, doubtless, been. 
 
 The Kareng people, who have no one distinctive name for themselves, are 
 
 composedof three tribes differing somewhat in their customs 
 tribal di\'isfons. ^^ " ^^^^ traditions and considerably in their language : — 
 
 the Sgaw, Pwo and Bghai. Each tribe is sub-divided 
 into septs or clans which also differ from each other in some of their customs 
 and idioms and particularly in their dress. Considerable confusion has been 
 caused by the numerous names given to each clan some having no less than 
 four or five; speaking of themselves each sept calls itself by its own name for 
 man, and were these terms for man adopted in English the clans would be 
 much more accurately distinguished than they are at present. 
 
 The three tribes are thus sub-divided : — 
 
 I, — Sgaw. So called by themselves. 
 
 (a) called Myit-tho by the Burmese. 
 {b) ,, Shan ,, Pwo. 
 
 (c) ,, Pa-koo ,, Kareng-nee. 
 
 (d) ,, Burmese Kareng by some English writers and by Burmans 
 
 in Rangoon and Bassein. 
 
 (e) ,, White Kareng by some English writers. 
 
 1. Ma-nie-pgha clan. 
 
 2. Pa-koo 
 
 3. We-wa . ,,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 227 
 
 II. — Pwo. So called by the Sgaw, the name by which they are generally known ; 
 sometimes wiitten Pgho. 
 
 (a) called Sho by themselves. 
 
 (b) ,, Myit Kbyeng by some Burmese. 
 
 (c) „ Talaing Kareng ,, ,, and by some EngUsh 
 
 writers. 
 
 1. Mo-pgha clan. So called by the Missionaries, the name by which they 
 
 are generally known. 
 
 {a) called Taw-pya by Burmese. 
 
 (b) ,, Pie-do by some of themselves. 
 
 (c) ,, Pie-zaw ,, ,, 
 
 (d) „ Flaw 
 
 2. Ta-roo clan. So called by the Kareng-nee, the name by which they 
 
 are generally known. 
 
 (a) called Koohta by themselves. 
 
 (b) „ Padouug by the Gai-kho. 
 
 (c) ,, Bhee-loo by the Bm-mese. 
 
 3. Shoung clan. 
 
 4. Hashwie clan. So called by the Bghai, the name by which they are 
 
 generally known. 
 (a) called Ha-shoo by themselves. 
 
 5. Gai-kho clan. So called by the Bghai, the name by which they are 
 
 generally known. 
 
 (a) called Ka-roon by themselves. 
 
 (6) ,, Pra-ka-young by themselves. 
 
 (c) ,, Padoung by the Kareng-nee. 
 
 UI. — Bghai. So called by the Sgaw, the name by which they are generally known. 
 (a) called Pye-3'a by themselves. 
 
 1. Kareng-nee clan. So called by the Burmese. 
 
 (a) called Bed Kareng by the English. 
 
 (b) „ Yang-aing ,, Shan. 
 
 (c) ,, Ka-ra by themselves, 
 
 (d) ,, Pra-ka-ra ,, 
 
 (e) ,, Bghai-moo-hte by the other Bghai. 
 (/■) ,, The-pya ,, Gai-kho. 
 
 2. Bghai-ka-tew clan. 
 
 (a) called Tunic Bghai by the EngUsh. 
 (h) ,, Liep-pya-gyee ,, Biu'mese. 
 8. Bghai-ka-hta clan. 
 
 (a) called Pant Bghai by the English 
 
 (b) ,, Kareng-a-yaiug ,, Burmese. 
 
 (c) ,, Liep-pya-ngay ,, 
 
 4. Lay-may. 
 
 (a) called Brec by the Kareng-nee. 
 
 (b) „ Pray 
 
 5. Man-oo-man-aw. 
 
 6. Tshaw-kho. 
 
 There are tlms three clans of Sgaw, five clans of Pwo and six clans of 
 B^liai, but these only include those tribes and sub-tribes representatives of 
 which are found in the province : in tlie Shan districts beyond our frontier 
 are the Ran-lanp;', Reng'-lxin, Rcug-tsaik, Keug", Ta-lya vel Reng-ka-la vcl 
 lleng'-da-laing' (of Mr. O'Riley) and others. 
 
 The Kareng are undoubtedly of a different family from the Burmese 
 . . and Talaing and as certainly they are not the aboriginal 
 
 "gin- inhabitants of the country. Their own tradition is that 
 
 thoy came from the north across a " river of running sand/' a name given by 
 Fa Hian to the desert between China and Thibet, and the account of it given 
 by this Chinese pilgrim agrees with the traditionary account of the Kareng. 
 He says, '' There are evil spirits iu this river of sand and such scorching winds 
 " that whoso encountereth them dies and none escape. Neither birds are 
 " seen in the air nor quadrupeds on the ground. On every side as far as the
 
 228 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " eye can reach, if you seek for the proper place to cross, there is no other mark 
 " to distinguish it than the skeletons of those who have perished there ; these 
 " alone seem to indicate the route/' The Kareng account as given by 
 Dr. Mason is : — " That was a fearful trackless region, where the sands 
 " rolled before the winds like the waves of the sea." The first historical 
 notice of the Kareng was that of Marco Polo, following whom Malte Brun 
 says, " Thus the country of Caride is the south-eastern point of Thibet, and 
 " perhaps the country of the nation of the Cariaines, which is spread over 
 " Ava '' : Bghai traditions allude to a town called Bha-maw whither they 
 went to purchase axes. The Sgaw account is that they came from a country 
 north of the Shan, whilst the Kareng-nee say that they were driven from a 
 place north of Ava sixteen or seventeen generations ago and are a portion of 
 a Chinese army : this would carry us back to about 1-100 A. D., and about 
 that time the Chinese three times invaded Burma and were twice defeated. 
 It may be taken, therefore, until more materials for the formation of a sound 
 conclusion are obtained, that the Kareng emigrated some centuries after the 
 commencement of the Christian era from the north of China and were followed 
 much later by the Kareng-nee who had formed a portion of an invading 
 Chinese army. 
 
 Those who live in the plains are a muscular people with large limbs 
 whilst the mountaineers are a weaker people with smaller' 
 
 Physical character, ^^g^les and with small limbs. The average height is 
 low ; of the men about five feet four or five feet five and of the women not 
 more than four feet nine. The unexposed portions of the body are as fair as 
 those of the Chinese and on many is to be seen the yellow tinge of that race ; 
 the hair is straight, coarse and, usually, like the eyes, jet black, but in the 
 north brownish hair and hazel eyes are sometimes found. "The head is 
 " pyramidal, wider across the cheek bones than across the temples and the 
 " bridge of the nose rises only slightly above the face." 
 
 The houses vary in shape, size and construction ; some living in com- 
 paratively permanent houses, some in temporary sheds, 
 
 Dwellings, domes- some having separate structures for each family, others one 
 tic animals and food, ^^v the ^yho\e viilage. {See Bghai and Pwo.) The only 
 domestic animals which they have are fowls, dogs and pigs of the small 
 Chinese breed ; the dogs are eaten by the Bghai only. They keep no 
 cats because they do not eat them, whilst the cats would eat the rats 
 which the Kareng waut for themselves. With this exception they are 
 omnivorous ; every animal from a rat to an elephant, every reptile from a 
 sand-lizard to a serpent, ants, grubs, every bird, every fish and the whole 
 vegetable kingdom adorn their tables. But, curiously, they will eat none 
 of the monkey tribe except the " White Eyelid INIonkey," 
 
 The dress varies with each clan, those iu the north 
 ^^^^' wearing trowsers, those towards the south tunics : 
 
 I. — Sgaw. 
 
 1. Ma-nie-pgha claaa. 
 
 2. Pa-koo clan. — Tunics, white without stripes and with a narrow border of embroidery 
 
 at the bottom, the patterns of which differ for every \illage. 
 
 3. We-wa clan. — Dress of all kinds. 
 
 II.— Pwo. 
 
 1, Mo-pgha clan. — Same as the Bghai-ka-tow, i.e., tunics white with red perpendicular 
 lines : reason of similarity unknown.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 229 
 
 2. Ta-roo clan. — Trowsers. 
 
 3. Sboung clau. — Trowsers, white with radiating red Hnes at the bottom, Hke the Gai- 
 
 kho but not so handsomely embroidered. 
 
 4. Ha-shwie clan. — Trowsers. 
 
 5. Gai-kho clan. — Trowsers, often of silk and handsomely embroidered ; red lines at 
 
 the bottom radiating like the beams of the rising siin. 
 
 III.— Bghai. 
 
 1. Kareng-nee elan. — Trowsers, red with perpendicular, very narrow black or white 
 
 stripes, sometimes black with red or white stripes : bright red turban. 
 
 2. Bghai-ka-tew clan. — Tunics, white with perpendicular rod stripes : same as Mo-pgha. 
 
 3. Bghai-ka-hta clan. — Trowsers, white with red radiating lines worked in them at the 
 
 bottom ; same as Gai-kho but not of silk nor so handsomely embroidered. 
 
 4. Lay-may clan. — Go almost naked. 
 
 5. Ma-noo-ma-naw clan. 
 
 6. Tshaw-kho clan. — Trowsers, white ornamented with red and black vertical stripes. 
 
 Like all races they have customs peculiar to themselves. The ceremonies 
 Ceremonies at performed at the birth of a child are the same amongst 
 births. all the clans except the Kareng-nee {q. v.) 
 
 The navel string having been cut (the knife is carefully kept as the child's 
 
 life is supposed to be connected with its preservation) the placenta are placed 
 
 in a bamboo and hung on a tree by the father, who deals in a similar way 
 
 with an abortion, in this case, however, selecting the Eugenia. On his 
 
 return to the house he pounds rice and goes through other woman^s labour if 
 
 the child is a girl or spears a hog if a boy. When the navel string sloughs 
 
 away the father goes out hunting and fishing and his success or want of 
 
 success is held to be indicative of the child^s future prosperity. On his return 
 
 a feast is given and the child is purified and named. '' An elder takes a 
 
 " thin splint of bamboo and, tying a fowl's feathers at one end, he fans it down 
 
 " the child's arm, saying — 
 
 ' Fan away ill luck, fan away ill success : 
 Fan away inability, fan away unskilfulness : 
 Fan away slow growth, fan away difficulty of growth : 
 Fan away stuntedness, fan away puniness : 
 Fan away drowsiness, fan away stupidity : 
 Fan away debasedness, fan away wretchedness : 
 Fan away the whole completely.' 
 
 " The elder now changes his motion and fans up the child's arm, saying — 
 
 ' Fan on power, fan on influence : 
 Fan on the paddy bin, fan on the paddy barn : 
 Fan on flowers, fan on dependants : 
 Fan on good things, fan on appropriate things. ' 
 
 "He next takes a bit of thread, that has been prepared for the purpose, 
 '' and tying it round the child's wrist says 'I name thee A. B.' using the 
 "name that the parents had previously determined upon." 
 
 The names are sometimes those of ancestors, sometimes descriptive of 
 
 the parent's feelings, as "Joy," " Hope ;" often those of the 
 
 ^™®^' seasons during which the child was born as '^ Harvest;" in 
 
 many cases the child is named from some circumstance that occurred about 
 
 the time of its birth as " Father returned," * or from some peculiarity in its 
 
 appearance as "White" or "Black." On other occasions it is named after some 
 
 * Khyeng-byan (Khyeng-bran according to Arakanese pronunciation) the Arakanese, com- 
 monly called King-berriug who rebelled against the Burmans iu the beginning of this century and 
 was one of the causes of the first Burmese war (vide sub-tit. Akyab : — History) was so named 
 because he was born when his father Moung Kliyeng came back from Ava. Pyan-thee is 
 " to return" and tlie ;> is softened into /) for euphony.
 
 230 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 bird, beast, mineral or tree as " Heron," " Tiger," '' Tin," " Cotton." Those 
 who, on growing up, develop some peculiarity receive a kind of nick-name 
 to which "Father" or "Mother" is attached as "Father of swiftness," "Mother 
 of contrivance." Probably the greatest peculiarity about names, however, is 
 the custom of changing the parents' names when a child is born to them : 
 thenceforward they are no longer " Tiger" or " Joy" or " Elephant " or 
 ♦'Harvest" but "Father of A." and "Mother of A": as "Father of 
 Kwa-la" and " Mother of Kwa-la." This practice, however, is not uni- 
 versal. 
 
 Infanticide is rarely practised but sometimes if a mother dies her infant 
 
 is buried Avith her. The Ka-khyeng east of Ba-mhawhave 
 Infanticic e, ^ similar custom ; with them, if a mother dies within seven 
 
 days of the birth of her child, the house, dead body, living infant and every 
 article in the house are burnt, but should a stranger be present in the village 
 he may save the child's life by adopting it and carrying it away : no 
 Ka-khyeng will on any account have anything to say to it, nor may it remain 
 in the village. 
 
 Frequently, but never amongst the Kareng-nee, infants are betrothed by 
 
 their parents, owing to a prevalent idea that the two 
 Betrotha s. children are by this means physically connected so that the 
 
 good health of the one neutralises the ill-health of the other ; special resort 
 is had to this custom when the child is weak and sickly : a tribe of northern 
 Bghai seem to prefer selling a sickly child into slavery. When an infant's 
 betrothal is desired matters are first arranged by the parents and the 
 inevitable fowl's bones are consulted and only if they give a favourable 
 response is the ceremony proceeded with. A feast is given by the parents of 
 the boy at which the betrothal is completed by an elder praying : " Lord of the 
 '' land and water, INIokhie of the land and water, these two are now engaged to 
 " be united together in marriage. May they have long life, may they 
 '■' produce seed, may their shoots sprout forth, may they grow old together." 
 If, on arriving at a marriageable age, they decline to carry out the contract 
 made for them, the parents of the girl pay half the expenses of the betrothal 
 feast, and the bond is broken. 
 
 When a young man chooses his own wife he commences by obtaining the 
 sanction of the girl's parents to his paying his addresses, not to the girl 
 herself but through them. He then selects a go-between who first consults 
 a chicken^s bones ; if they give an unfavourable reply the matter is allowed to 
 drop, if on the other hand the answer is favourable the go-between arranges 
 the match, and when this is done a feast is given by the young mane's 
 friends to those of the girl, when the gall of the animal killed is examined ; 
 if it is flaccid it is a bad omen and sometimes leads to the breaking off the 
 match, but if plump it is favourable. The marriage sometimes takes place 
 in a few days but is often delayed. If a girl breaks her engagement she has 
 to pay the expenses of the feast, but she is at liberty to receive the addresses 
 of another suitor if her betrothed declares publicly that he desires to forfeit 
 all that has been spent, which is the recognized way of breaking off the match. 
 The marriage ceremony is simple : the bride is conducted to the house 
 Marriage °^ ^^® bridegroom's parents in a procession with music, 
 
 and as she ascends the ladder she is drenched to the 
 skin with water. Before the company leave two elders, one on behalf of
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 231 
 
 the Lride and one on behalf of the brideg-room, take, each, a cup of spirits, 
 the first repeats the duties of the husband in case of his wife's death and 
 the latter replies acknowleg-iug- that such are his duties (one of which is that 
 should she be killed in a foray or carried into captivity, he must purchase 
 her freedom or obtain the price of her blood). Each elder then gives to the 
 other to drink and says : " Be faithful to your covenant." This concludes 
 the ceremony. The Kareng-nee (q.v.) forms are very different. 
 
 The southern Kareng, differing in this respect from the Kareug-nee, are 
 
 chaste, but lapses among the married are not uncommon. 
 Chastity and divorce, although adultery is considered as particularly oifensive 
 
 to God. Polygamy is not permitted^ but is practised by 
 some of those who live near the Burmese. Divorces are not infrequent ; if 
 the man leaves the woman he forfeits all property which he does not take 
 with him ; if the woman leaves the man she receives only what her husband 
 
 chooses to allow her. Widows retain their husband's houses 
 Widows. and endeavour to gain their own livelihood ; if they are 
 
 young" they often marry again, but if old are dependent 
 on their relations for support and are not infrequently much neglected. 
 
 Without vigour of constitution the Kareng often succumb to diseases 
 
 which the stronger European can resist, such as measles 
 Sickness. which are nearly as fatal in their villages as small-pox is 
 
 amongst western nations. They suffer from small-pox, 
 cholera, dysentery, dropsy, consumption and fevers and in some places in the 
 hills g-oitre is common. In ordinary illnesses they treat the sick with a fair 
 amount of kindness, but decline to afford any assistance to an individual 
 attacked by one considered infectious. An outbreak of cholera or small-pox 
 will temporarily depopulate the villag-es in large tracts of country, the 
 inhabitants flying from the disease with terror and living in the forests till 
 they think that they can return to their homes without danger of contagion. 
 The individual who has, or is supposed to have, imported the disease is held 
 responsible for all the deaths and must pay the price of the lives lost ; if he 
 dies himself or is unable to pay the debt remains for his children and descend- 
 ants to wipe off. Every illness is looked upon as inflicted by the spirits and 
 though the Kareng have some knowledge of medicine resort is not had to it 
 till incantations have been tried and the spirits have declined to be propitious, 
 thus reversing the usual order amongst uncivilized nations. 
 
 Some of the tribes bury and some burn their dead, but all those who 
 Disposal of the dead. I'esort to cremation state that it is, comparatively, a new 
 
 practice and that formerly they buried. 
 Individuals often form covenants of friendship of which there are three 
 Bonds of friendship, kinds, viz: — Mghe, Tho and Bo, the lastbeing the strongest, 
 
 one Do helping the other in seasons of scarcity and 
 defending his character against attacks. The ceremony connected with the 
 formation of this tie is as follows. The host cuts off the snout of a hog or, 
 the bill of a fowl and rubs the blood on the shins of his guest, fowl bones 
 are then consulted and if they are propitious the guest repeats the ceremony 
 and again turns to fowl bones ; if the answer is unfavourable all that has 
 preceded goes for nothing- and the affair drops, but if it is satisfactory the 
 two are thenceforth Do and so call each other dropping, as regards them- 
 selves, their proper names.
 
 232 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 '' Ung-overned and uug-overuable the Pakoo are the hereditary 
 
 Goveinmeut and '' enemies of the Pwo^ the Bghai of the Pakoo, the Gaikho 
 laws, '^ of the Bghai and the Kareug'-nee of all" ; such was the 
 
 description given of the northern and eastern Kareug by 
 one who had known them for over a quarter of a century. This state of 
 affairs, however, is rapidly dying out and except, perhaps, on the north-east 
 frontier, and in the recesses of the hills in parts of Toung'-ngoo and Shwe-gyeng 
 the Kareng of the Tenasserim division have settled down into nearly if not 
 quite as peaceable cultivators as their brethren in Bassein and Rangoon, with 
 tax collectors, village police and other petty officials selected from amongst 
 themselves. The policy of the British Government, directly the reverse of 
 that of its predecessors, the Burmese and Talaing, has been to deal gently 
 with the Kareng and inspire them with confidence, wherever possible select- 
 ing from amongst them and not from Burmese the minor officials who live 
 with them and are in continual and daily contact with them. Shy and 
 retiring and utterly unaccustomed to the delays and forms of our laws, they 
 prefer settling their disputes amongst themselves, but do occasionally resort 
 to the courts. The influence exercised over them by the Missionaries and the 
 schools which these earnest men have built and support amongst them have 
 immensely facilitated the conciliatory measures of such men as the late Sir 
 Henry Durand and Sir Arthur Phayre, and we have only to turn to the still 
 savage hill tribes of Arakan to see how little can be done by Government 
 officers burdened with multifarious duties without the assistance of these 
 indefatigable men who penetrate everywhere, sometimes, perhaps, with more 
 zeal than discretion. 
 
 In the north and north-east, amongst the Ha-shwie, the Lay-may, the 
 Tshaw-kho and the Kareng-nee, feuds and forays are, probably, nearly as 
 common now as they were all over the Tenasserim division befox'eits cession to 
 the British, and as they are amongst the Arakan hill tribes and the Ka-khyeng 
 near Bha-maw ; the stronger prey on the weaker, seizing their property, 
 burning their villages, slaying those Avho resist and selling their wretched 
 prisoners into a state of endless slavery. These attacks goaded the most 
 timid to retaliate whence followed most bitter blood feuds, and at the same 
 time treaties offensive and defensive between the weaker villages : an ox or 
 buffaloe is killed and the inhabitants of the two villages feast together, after 
 which the elders arrange the terms of the alliance. 
 
 The weapons used are crossbows with poisoned arrows, spears, and javelins 
 for throwing at an enemy, swords, matchlocks and old muskets : round their 
 houses and villages they plant pointed bamboos at an angle of 45°, rising a 
 few inches above the ground : for defence they use shields and breastplates 
 made of hide. 
 
 The Kareng never declare war. The great principle of Kareng warfare is 
 to take their enemy by surprise. Nor is war waged 
 Mode of Warfare. ostensibly between one village and another. There is 
 always an individual at the head of every war, on whose account the war 
 is made and who acts as general but never goes to the fight himself. When 
 he deems it a favourable time for his purpose he kills a hog or a fowl, and 
 taking a bit of the heart, a bit of the liver and a bit of the entrails he mixes 
 them up with salt and rolls the mixture up in a leaf: this he calls tying the 
 heads of his enemies. After finishing his preparations, he prays : " Lord
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 233 
 
 " of the heavens, Lord of the earth, Lord of the mountains, Lord of the 
 "hills, mayest thou put down the inhabitants of the village. Make them 
 "forgetful, make them to forget themselves, help us, we beseech thee/' 
 
 He then gives the roll to two men, who have been engaged for the 
 " service, and says to them : " I send you to spy out the road ; go look. Is 
 " the village easy or difficult to attack ? Has it caltrops planted around it or 
 *' not ? Look accurately. Go up into the village and sleep with the people ; 
 "and if any one invites you to sit with him, take out this roll and mix up 
 " its contents privately with their rice and curry. It will tie their heads. I 
 " will tie their heads with it ; when they eat, they will forget themselves ; 
 '* and then we will go and attack them. And because they have eaten 
 ^' that which ties their heads they will forget to seize their swords and spears 
 " and before they can recover themselves we will grasp their arms and over- 
 " come them and kill them." 
 
 When the spies return, they probably say: "These people have not 
 '' planted a single caltrop. There is no difficulty about the village whatever. 
 '' If we go and attack it, we shall take it, and kill all the people." 
 
 Then the head of the war sends out his people to collect volunteers 
 for his foray. The matter having been arranged beforehand 40 or 50 
 come from one village and 40 or 50 from another, and if when all the 
 fighting men assemble together they amount to a couple of hundred, it 
 is quite satisfactory, and they are feasted at the village to which they have 
 been called. 
 
 Before handing round the whiskey, the head of the war pours out some 
 slowly on the ground and prays : " Lord of the seven heavens and the seven 
 "earths. Lord of the rivers and streams, of the mountains and hills, we 
 '^ give thee whiskey to drink and rice to eat. Help us, we entreat thee. 
 '^ We will now go and attack that village. We have tied the heads of 
 *' the inhabitants. Help us. Make their minds forgetful ; make them to 
 '' forget themselves. That they may sleep heavily, that their sleep may be 
 " unbroken, let not a dog bark at us, let not a hog grunt at us. Let them 
 '' not seize a bow, a sword or a spear. And may the Lord help my children 
 " and grandchildren that are going to attack this village and deliver them 
 " from all harm. May they overcome their enemies and not be lost. May 
 *' they be delivered from the bow, the sword and the spear.'^ After the 
 prayer, the elders drink part of the whiskey and it is then circulated freely 
 among the company. 
 
 The head of the war next takes a fowl and after killing it consults its 
 bones as to the success of the war if commenced then. Before the examina- 
 tion he says : " Fowl, possessor of superhuman powers, fore-endued with 
 " divine intelligence, thou scratchest with thy feet, thou peckcst with thy bill, 
 " thou goestunto Khoo-hte (king of death), thou goest unto Tha-ma (monarch 
 '' of death), thou goest to Slue- woo, (the brother of God), thou gocst into the 
 " presence of God ; thou seest unto the verge of heaven, thou seest unto the 
 *^ edge of the horizon. I now purpose to go and attack that village. Shall 
 " we be hit, shall we be obstructed ? If we go siiall we suiler shall we die by 
 ^' the bow, shall we be pierced by the spear, shall we weary ourselves, shall 
 " we exhaust ourselves ? If so, reveal thyself unfavourable.'^ 
 
 If the omens are unfavourable he dismisses the troops and each one 
 returns to his home to wait for a more auspicious opportunity. When he 
 
 30
 
 234 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 calls them again he proceeds as before and on consulting the fowl's bones, 
 prays : " We will go and attack that house. Shall we overcome, shall we 
 " utterly destroy ? Shall we escape being hit by the bow, and speared by the 
 " spear? Shall we not stumble on anything? If they will not resist us, but 
 " their lives be destroyed, their village come to utter destruction, then, fowl, 
 " reveal thyself favourable/' 
 
 If the bones give the desired response, the elder who reads it, says : 
 " The bones are good. If we go, we shall meet with no disaster. We shall 
 " seize and kill the whole, and if any should remain, they will not be able 
 '' to resist us.'' 
 
 Then the head of the war leaps up and calls out exultiugly to his 
 troops that they will certainly be victorious. He says : "^ Soldiers, fear 
 " not nor be anxious. Go fight and be strong. If two or three of you are 
 ^' killed, I am your Lord. If in the battle a spear is broken bring me the 
 '' handle ; if the barrel of your musket drops out bring me the stock. I will 
 " replace everything. If one or two are killed bring their bodies to me, I will 
 " clothe them, I will give them shrouds and pay their value," 
 
 He calls for two to volunteer to be first to go up the ladder into the 
 first house and these he addresses : '' You are a hunting dog, you are a wild 
 '' boar. If you succeed, you are worthy of a buffalo, and you shall have it. 
 " If you cannot succeed, if you are killed let not those you leave behind ask 
 " a buffalo of me, let them ask a fowl. Let them not ask of me a silk 
 " garment on account of your death. You say you are bold, you say you are 
 " fearless. You go the first, you return the last. Therefore, if our enemies 
 " follow and you run away and become terrified and anything happens to 
 " the people you are responsible." He closes with the declaration that he 
 will prosecute the v/ar till he overcomes whatever may be the resistance they 
 meet. 
 
 The troops then go off singing war songs, of which the following is 
 a specimen : 
 
 I go to war, I am sent. 
 
 I go to fight, I am sent. 
 
 Clothe me with the iron breastplate, 
 
 Give me the iron shield, 
 
 I am not sti'ong, may I make myself strong ? 
 
 I am weak, may I make myself powerful ? 
 
 I go with a multitude, many persons. 
 
 We will go to the house, the foot of steps. 
 
 We will fire musket and holloa. 
 
 The people come with wives and children. 
 
 Unsheath the spear, draw the sword, 
 
 Smite the neck, spear the side 
 
 Till blood flows purple. 
 
 I go to war, I am employed. 
 I go to fight, I am employed. 
 Employer gave me whiskey to diink ; 
 I drink till I am dizzy. 
 
 We march in order, like white ants ; . 
 We cross a stream, and trample it djy ; 
 We arrive at the foot of the house. 
 We reach the foot of the ladder : 
 We go up into the bed-rooms. 
 Blood flows like a stream of water. 
 The blood flows down under the house.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 235 
 
 Tbe mother cries herself to death. 
 
 The great hawk flies over the house, 
 Pounces down on the Chief's red cock. 
 The great hawk sweeps around the house, 
 Carries off its prey at the foot of the steps, 
 Seizes the Chief's white cock. 
 The great hawk flies away 
 Lea\dng the Chief behind weeping. 
 
 When the expedition reaches the house to be attacked a party rushes 
 into the house killing all the men they meet, while the rest surround the 
 house from below. These intercept all that endeavour to escape and receive 
 in charge such women and children as they wish to bring away alive and bind 
 them. If the inmates resist the house is fired and the people who leap 
 out to escape the flames are killed or taken prisoners. They kill without 
 regard to age or sex. Infants are always killed as they say they would die 
 if carried away. Children are often massacred with the utmost barbarity. 
 Their hands and feet are cut off and their bodies hacked into small pieces. 
 Adults are often embowelled, split in two, their ears cut off and put in their 
 mouths and it is not uncommon to bring away the jaws of their victims as 
 trophies, as the North American Indians bring away scalps. Sometimes, 
 after the house has been burnt up, they sow the seeds of vegetables on the 
 ashes to indicate the utter destruction they have wrought. 
 
 On the return of the expedition with their captives, when they come 
 within hearing of the village from which they were sent, they blow their 
 war trumpets and the villagers know by the peculiar call that they are 
 returning victors. On their arrival they place all the captives in the 
 hands of the head of the war, who feasts his troops and then dismisses them 
 to their several homes. 
 
 The head of the war keeps the captives a considerable time when, if 
 none of their friends come to redeem them, he sells them off to other districts, 
 for oxen or buffaloes if practicable, that he may have an ox or a buffalo to 
 give to each village that came to his aid. 
 
 Captives, except those taken in satisfaction of a debt, are often illtreated, 
 beaten, wounded and occasionally killed. When they are 
 prisoner?.^'^* ° brought in bound and fettered to the head of the war, he 
 
 sometimes addresses them thus : " I did not begin this war. 
 " You killed my father, you killed my mother ; you have cut off my head, made 
 '' my tongue to protrude. You have made the blood to flow to the handle of 
 *' the cleaver, to the sheath of the spear ; you snapped the bow string, you 
 " have broken the spear. You have made my father come to corruption, my 
 " mother to rottenness. You have exasperated me, you have made my anger 
 "■ to rise. I have not attacked you without reason ; there was a righteous 
 '' cause. You have dried up the waters, you have made the land barren, the 
 *' grain unproductive, the barns empty. You have angered the God of heaven, 
 *'you have provoked the Lord of the earth. You have stopped the rains and 
 "made the dry season irregular. You must now redeem yourselves, you must 
 " pay money, you must give kyee-zee. If you do not furnish your price you 
 " must become slaves and die slaves." 
 
 When part of a village attacked escapes they usually endeavour to redeem 
 Redeeming captives, the prisoners that have been taken before they are sold 
 away to strangers. For this purpose an elder belonging 
 to a neutral village is hired to go and buy off the captives.
 
 236 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Wheu tlie messenger comes to the head of the wav and explains his 
 object the latter, if favourable, takes a hog- and cuts off its snout and with 
 the blood that flows from it he besmears the legs of the messenger, which is 
 the sign that he makes him his friend, and he says he will receive him as an 
 ambassador of peace and he shall make peace between the belligerent parties 
 and they will become brethren again. 
 
 After being well entertained that day he is dismissed the next morning 
 with the legs and head of the hog that had been killed, and the sight of 
 these, wheu he returns, is regarded as legal proof that his mission has been 
 accepted in good faith and that definite arrangements may be made for the 
 redemption of each captive, if they do not quarrel about the price, which 
 they sometimes do. When everything has been arranged satisfactorily 
 filings are made from a sword, a spear, a musket barrel and a stone, and a 
 dog is killed, these filings are then mixed with a part of its blood and with 
 the blood of a hog and a fowl and the whole is put into a cup of water. 
 This is called the " peace-making water." Then the skull of the dog is 
 chopped in two and one takes the lower jaw and suspends it with a string 
 around his neck, the other party takes the part of the skull containing the 
 upper jaw and hangs it around his neck in like manner. They next take in 
 hand the cup of *' peace-making water.'' and say : " We will now make an 
 " end of the feud. Hereafter, we will not attack each other ; we will not 
 " devour each other's property any more, we will become brethren, we will 
 " marry into each other's families. We will entertain no hatred, no malice ; 
 '^ we will not backbite each other, but we will be happy in each other down to 
 " the generations of our children and grandchildren ; and our children 
 " shall not quarrel, but live in harmony. If you agree to this," says each 
 ])arty addressing the other, " and will agree to live in accordance with this 
 " agreement for ever, into the generations of our children and grandchildren, 
 " then drink of the peace-making water." 
 
 After drinking they say : " Now that we have made peace, if any one 
 " breaks the engagement, if he does not act truly, but goes to war again and 
 " stirs up the feud again, may the spear eat his breast, the musket his bowels, 
 " the sword his head ; may the dog devour him, may the hog devour him, may 
 " the stone devour him ! When he drinks whiskey, may it become in him the 
 '' water that oozes from a dead body. When he eats the flesh of a hog may 
 " that hog become the hog of his funeral rites." 
 
 After these imprecations they drink again and the captives are 
 dismissed. 
 
 As they go away a salute of muskets is fired and a shower of arrows is 
 Bent after them, typical of the power of the dismissing party. 
 
 Sometimes when there have been feuds between different villages and 
 
 the inhabitants have settled their difficulties both villages 
 
 Treaty of peace. assemble together and enter into a treaty of peace. 
 
 Having selected a large and durable tree for a witness, 
 
 they assemble around it and each party cuts a deep notch in the tree. When 
 
 the " peace-making water " is prepared and drunk and the imprecation 
 
 spoken, two elders rise up, spear in hand, and address the people saying : 
 
 " The cause of action is finished this day. Hereafter act in harmony, associate 
 
 ''with each other as brethren. Hereafter if any one brings up a cause of 
 
 "contention, this tree is witness against him. If the elders die, the notches
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 237 
 
 " in this tree will remain as evidence against him ; and let this spear spear him. 
 '' He shall be fined a chatty {pot-full) of silver and a cup of gold." Beyond 
 this notch in a tree no monuments of peace or war are known to exist. 
 
 Slavery is common amongst all the tribes and a clan of the Bghai 
 Slavery often sell their relations. Defaulting debtors, captives in 
 
 forays, confirmed thieves, widows and widowers who 
 cannot pay the price of the deceased, those who introduce or are supposed to 
 have introduced contagious diseases and possessors of poison, are all sold into 
 slavery. The prices vary, elderly people find no buyer, men and women 
 from 80 to 40 sometimes fetch as much as Rs. 200 or Es. 300, but girls and 
 boys between 12 and 15 Rs. 400, whilst children of three or four sell forEs. 300 
 or Es. 400 each. 
 
 The Kareng having no written language, or rather having a language 
 Laws ^^® various dialects of which were first reduced into 
 
 writing by the American Missionaries, have no written 
 laws nor have they any tradition of a lawgiver, their rules having gradually 
 grown up and being passed down from elder to elder and believed to be so 
 perfect as to require no change. Indolence, covetousness, partiality, backbiting, 
 hatred, falsehood, quarrelling, oppression, theft (the punishment for which is 
 being sold into slavery), adultery and fornication are forbidden; peace, love, 
 charity to the poor and to widows and orphans, industry and respect and 
 obedience to parents inculcated. Suicide is not prohibited but is looked 
 upon, as indeed it is, a cowardly mode of escaping from difficulties or dangers, 
 and yet it is very common and almost invariably by hanging : a taunt or a 
 headache are sufficient inducements to self-destruction. The precepts of the 
 the elders are excellent but little attention is in reality paid to them ; forays 
 are forbidden and yet were of weekly occurrence, lying is spoken against 
 strongly yet Dr. Mason states " I have never yet met with a Kareng in the 
 " church or out of it, that, when he had committed a wrong, would not tell 
 " a falsehood to cover it;" notwithstanding their command of " do not steal " 
 they will abstract any small article which they think will not be missed, but 
 as theft amongst themselves is severely punished, they are in other respects 
 honest. The general principle of their criminal law is the lex talionis and 
 they are implacable and vindictive. For a first theft a man is forgiven on 
 making restoration, an habitual thief is sold into slavery. A suspected thief 
 is tried by ordeal, the accuser and the accused trying which can keep his 
 head longest under water, and the one who fails must pay a fine or is put to 
 death ; another, but rarely used, method is to strip the bark from a stcrcidia 
 tree which is then exceedingly slippery and which the suspected man must 
 attempt to ascend. In cases of adultery or fornication, the transgressor buys 
 a hog, and the man and woman take hold each one of a foot with which 
 they scrape furrows in the ground to receive the blood. If they are 
 unmarried no other fine is paid, but if one or both parties are married, they 
 must pay a fine to the injured husband or wife, or both, who is then ipso facto 
 divorced and can marry again, the adulterers being allowed to live together 
 if they choose. Reputed witches and wizards are killed, as are poisoners, 
 whilst the punishment for the mere possession of poison is slavery. 
 
 The father's property i)asses by will to his children and it is the custom to 
 
 share it nearly equally among them, but always giving 
 
 aw o n en ance. ^^^ eldest sou the largest share and sometimes friviuEf a
 
 238 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 little more to the youngest tlian to those between. Nothing is given to the 
 widow, but she is entitled to the use of the property till her death. 
 
 When a Kareng of property made his will, before letters were introduced, 
 he killed an ox or a buffalo and made a feast at which every inhabitant of 
 the village was invited to attend. At the feast he declared his wishes as to 
 the disposal of his property and prayed that the disposition he had made 
 might be carried out after his death. 
 
 The mother has no property of her own. If she brought property at her 
 marriage it became her husband^s ; but at her husband's death she takes 
 his place, the Kareng say, and the property is hers to use till her death after 
 which it goes to the children, according to the will of the father. She has 
 no power to make any other disposition of it. 
 
 In the event of a second marriage the children of a mature age take 
 possession of the property their father left them : the second husband is not 
 allowed to appropriate to himself any part of the property of the first husband, 
 nor can the children of the second marriage share in it, though in the case 
 of minors it may remain in the mother's hands. 
 
 Formerly, and occasionally even in the present day, when a Kareng, has 
 been repeatedly to one that owes him money, without 
 
 Civil Suit. obtaining it, and has perhaps been treated uncivilly, he 
 
 calls out the 2'>osse comitatus, so far as his friends constitute it, and when a 
 favourite opportunity occurs, they go and seize the debtor in his house or 
 field and bring him off; sometimes taking also one or two of his family or 
 friends. When the debtor is set down bound before his creditor the latter 
 will say to him : — " I have no feud with thee. On the contrary I compas- 
 " sionate thee. But thou borrowedst money of me, thou borrowedst kyee-zee 
 " of me. The money was in my wallet, and I took it out and gave it to thee ; 
 " my kyee-zee was in my room, and I tied a string to it, and slung it on thy 
 " head, and caused thee to bear it away. Therefore I went and asked thee for 
 *' the return of my money ; I went and requested thee the price of the kyee-zee. 
 '' But thou wouldst not pay me ; thou wert abusive to me ; thou stirredst up 
 " strife. Thy language was contentious ; thy words were not peaceable. Thou 
 '' didst not give me food to eat ; thou didst not give me water to drink. Thou 
 " wast angry with me, thou didst hate me. I went after thee ; and returned 
 " hungry and thirsty. I ascended mountains and descended into valleys ; I 
 " suffered from heat, and I suffered from cold. Thou didst not repay me my 
 " money; thou didst not pay me for my kyee-zee. Many years have elapsed ; 
 " many months have passed over. So now I have commenced an action against 
 " thee ; now I have made an attack on thee. Thou didst borrow one kyee-zee 
 " of me ; now thou must pay me two. Thou didst borrow one share of me ; 
 " now thou must pay me two. Thou didst borrow one hundred rupees of me ; 
 " now thou must repay me two hundred. If thou dost not pay me I will sell 
 " thee to repay me for my money to pay me for my kyee-zee. And when I 
 " sell thee, I shall do that which is right and proper.^' Cases have been tried 
 in our Courts in which the debtor prosecuted the creditor for his forcible 
 seizure and exaction of the kyee-zee. 
 
 The Kareng are remarkable for believing in one Eternal GOD, Creator 
 
 T?.i;„;^„ of all things, called by the Sgaw and Pwo Ywa and by 
 
 iXeligion. -r-. , . 1 • ?•! 1 • II- • ji 
 
 the Bghai Ta-ywa, " who is like the air and lives in the 
 
 " sky as does the wind and like the wind goes everywhere,'' but who has no
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 239 
 
 place in their paradise, and who originally dwelt amongst them and only left 
 them after fruitless endeavours to draw them to himself. Though detesting 
 idolatry and having the greatest contempt for Booddhism they yet credit the 
 most childish myths regarding this Supreme Being, as that he had a brother 
 called Shie-woo, who, according to one tribe had three eyes, with whom he 
 fought and, proving the strongest, threw under the earth. The name Shie-ivoo 
 and the tradition of his having had three eyes would seem to point to Shiva, 
 and, consequently, to a Hindu origin for this belief. 
 
 It has been asserted that there is a considerable difference between the 
 religion of the Kareng-nee and that of the rest of the race, the former 
 ^' having arrived at the monotheistic idea," whilst the latter '' are still 
 " struggling with the crude religious ideas connected with the primitive belief 
 " in ghosts or spirits. '■" This is an error ; the Kareng-nee, a clan of the Sgaw 
 family, do not differ at all from their brethren in religion, and but little 
 in ceremonies. Excluding those who have been converted to Christianity, the 
 whole race invokes the aid and deprecates the wrath of innumerable unseen 
 spirits but never sacrifice or pray to the Supreme Being, whose existence is 
 equally acknowledged by all. To a non-christian Kareng, be he Sgaw, Pwo 
 or Bghai ; Pakoo, Kareng-nee or Hashwie, the world is filled with invisible 
 spirits: every living being be it manor beast orcreeping thing,has its La ; every 
 mountain peak, tree, cataract and river has its lord, and every lord a 
 number of attendants, agents to carry out his will, who are the La of those 
 who have died violent deaths. These lords reside near the physical object 
 which they protect, seated on the mossy crag, under the forest tree, or in the 
 foaming torrent. Their attendants, the ghosts, smoking pipes with gold and 
 silver stems and armed with swords and spears, lurk in every nook and 
 cranny, and should a luckless Kareng ignorantly touch one of these powerful 
 guardians or step upon their attendants' unseen weapons they rise in anger 
 and afflict him with sore diseases and must be propitiated with bloodless 
 sacrifices. 
 
 The principal lords are he of the earth and she of the rice crops, and to 
 Lord of the earth. ^*^^^ appropriate ofierings are made at the proper times. 
 
 Among the southern Sgaw the sacrifices to the first are 
 offered annually in January, whilst amongst the Bghai the ceremony occurs 
 once in three years in July : though ostensibly to the Lord of the earth 
 the prayers and ceremonies shew that all the lords, and their attendants as 
 well, are included. {8ee Bghai and Sgaiv) . 
 
 The goddess of the harvest, called Bie-yaw, is invoked annually when the 
 
 crops are sown. Two different accounts are given of the 
 Goddess of the origin of the custom ; according to one a poor man 
 
 surrounded by rich neighbours was much oppressed by 
 them, and they would give him only three grains of rice from which to raise a 
 crop. An old woman named Bie-yaw, who had been inhospitably treated by the 
 opulent, was kindly received by the poor man ; she proved to be a goddess and 
 in return for the treatment which she had received she caused a fall of 
 rain to destroy the wealthy and their possessions, but the three grains of rice 
 of her benefactor to produce a plentiful crop, and before leaving him, then the 
 only man on earth from whom all are descended, she instructed him in the 
 ceremonies to be performed to insure her favour. The second is, that Bie- 
 yaw and her husband assiuming the form of pythons wound themselves round
 
 240 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 the pile of unhusked rice which thereupon increased enormously, but the 
 owner ignorantly killed the male snake on which the female escaped cursing 
 him and eventually, owing- to the curse, he was sold as a slave. When the 
 rice plants are a few inches high a small hut is built in the field, and in it 
 are placed two ropes, whilst the following prayer is offered. " Grand-mother 
 " thou guardest my field, thou watchest over my plantation. Look out for 
 " men entering ; look sharp for people coming in. If they come, bind them 
 " with this string, tie them with this rope, do not let thera go. If they will 
 " pay fines of money, do not let them go ; if they will pay fines of silver, do 
 '' not let them go ; but if they will pay fines in barns of rice, dismiss them. 
 " Eat, grand-mother, guard my field, watch over my plantation. Pour down 
 "■ thy children's rice, gx'and-mother, or thy children's fields will come to 
 " nought, sweep it off with thy hand, bring it down continually.'' From 
 the time of sowing until the completion of this ceremony Bie-yaw has been 
 sitting on the chained stumps, so that unlike the other deities, she is supposed 
 to be ubiquitous. When the crop is gathered and being threshed Bie-yaw is 
 again prayed to to give a good out-turn. 
 
 The ghosts and their masters, the lords, are not the only enemies whom 
 
 the Kareng dreads : in former times they say that God made 
 
 a mixture of the flesh of every animal and directed them 
 to eat the whole, for if the}' omitted to eat any that animal would hereafter 
 become invisible and eat them ; accidentally they neglected to eat of the flesh 
 of the Na since which time it preys upon them causing sickness and death 
 and is incarnate in tigers, serpents and other wild animals and reptiles, and 
 must be driven away from their fields and their houses. But, perhaps, the most 
 
 formidable danger to which he is exposed is that of the 
 
 Adverse La. attacks of seven spirits who are always on the watch to kill 
 
 him and who are pledged to destroy him : one by the mouth of a tiger, one by 
 
 old age, one by sickness, one by drowning, one by the hand of man, one by 
 
 a fall and the last by every other means. 
 
 Though in continual fear of assaults which he can neither foresee nor resist, 
 
 he is not left unprotected, his guardian spirit, his La, 
 Protecting La. accompanies him seated on his neck or head, and as long 
 
 as he so remains the Kareng is safe from all attacks ; but the La, may be 
 enticed away by others, or may jump down, or wander away during the body's 
 sleep, and then follows sickness and death. If a man pines away his La is 
 supposed to be wandering and must be called back with an offering of food. 
 The Kareng ideas of a future state are confused and indefinite. Some 
 
 believe that the next world will be precisely like this, but 
 Futm-e state. reversed. Day here will be night there, north here south 
 
 there, and that its inhabitants will be employed precisely as now. Another 
 belief is that at death when the La leaves the body, it is judged by a Minos ; 
 those who have done good go to paradise, whence they exercise a watchful 
 care over their descendants, presiding especially over births and marriages, and 
 are worshipped by their descendants ; those who have done evil go to the 
 place of punishment ; whilst those who have done neither good nor evil are 
 sent to Hades ; those only being excluded from entering any of these three 
 (a) whose bodies are unburied or unburned, these become ghosts ; {b) who have 
 died violent deaths, these become the invisible servants of the numerous earthly 
 gods and (c) those who have been unjust rulers or who have been put to death
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 241 
 
 for their crimes who take the forms of birds and beasts and are propitiated with 
 prayers and sacrifices. 
 
 The behef in witchcraft is strong". "Witches and wizards, unlike those of 
 
 European countries, have made no compact with the devil, 
 c era . y^^^ ^^.g ^j^jQgg y^YiQ have obtained possession of a Na, already 
 
 alluded to : they have the power of producing mortal diseases by introducing 
 foreign substances into the bodies of others, however distant. Dr. Mason 
 records a case which came under his own notice in Tavoy in which a Kareng 
 died from water in the cavity of the viscera and having been supposed to 
 be bewitched his friends were called in to witness the post mortem in order 
 to convince them that he had died from natural causes. Very different was 
 the effect produced, for the Kareng exclaimed ; " Before we only suspected it, 
 " but now we know that he died from witchcraft, for there is the water that 
 " was put into him by enchantment.''^ In another case which, however, 
 occurred more than 25 years ago, two Kareng appeared before a petty 
 official, also a Kareng, accusing an individual of having a Na. The reply which 
 they received was such that they, in open day, killed the unfortunate man 
 whom they suspected. 
 
 Almost all Kareng of the Bghai family and of the Pa-koo clan of the Sgaw 
 
 have in their houses stones to which they make offerings 
 one wois ip. ^^ blood, because '^ if they do not give it blood to eat, it 
 
 ** will eat them." Some of these stones are supposed to give good crops of rice, 
 others to be the embodiment of beneficent spirits, which, however, sometimes 
 turn out malevolent, and others to kill those whom their owners dislike. 
 These stones have nothing peculiar in their appearance ; they are mere bits of 
 rock crystal, chalcedony, or sometimes even bits of sandstone or stratified rock. 
 The year is divided into twelve lunar months commencing with January 
 
 and ending with December, whereas the Burmese, Shan, 
 Divisions of the and Taking years commence about March. As the English 
 ^^^^^' ninth mouth is called ' September,' the tenth 'October/ 
 
 the eleventh ' November,' and the twelfth ' December', shewing that the 
 months must have been named when the year began in March, so the Kareng 
 eighth mouth is called '' seventh month," and the ninth the " eighth month," 
 and must have been so called when the year commenced in December as it 
 does at Asadakh in Thibet. February is the " searching month" ' when the 
 Kareng go out to hunt for sites for their fields; August, the " month of gladness,^' 
 because the rice is in the ear ; April, the '^'seed month," when the rice is sown, 
 and December the " month of shades," because then the annual offerings to 
 the manes of their ancestors are made. There are some slight differences 
 amongst the Kareng-nee ; June with them is the "seventh month," whilst 
 August is not the " month of gladness" hat Ai-doo oq account of a feast which 
 is described srih-tit. Kareng-nee. 
 
 Those Kareng who have settled in the plains have adopted the same 
 
 method of cultivation as that followed bv the Burmese and 
 ^_^System of cultiva- Talaing but those living in the hills sow their crops 
 
 in what are called toungya or hill gardens. In January 
 or February the house-owner goes out to search for a site, and having found 
 one which suits him he picks up a clod of earth and puts it under his pillow, 
 if his dreams are favourable well and good, if unfavourable he must renew his 
 search over and over again till he finds a spot the earth of which brings good 
 
 31
 
 242 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER, 
 
 omens to him in his sleep. He then goes out with his family and cuts down 
 the trees on the patch. The operation is commenced by cutting a slight 
 note hin the largest trees at the bottom and proceeding upwards, leaving 
 the smaller trees untouched but increasing the depth of the incision in 
 the larger trees as the top of the patch, always on the side of a hill, is 
 reached ; here the largest trees are cut quite through and thus fall on 
 those below ; '' an impetus is created which increases as it moves steadily 
 " down the hill side, and with one lengthened crash prostrates the whole 
 " forest vegetation."* All is then left till April when the accumulated mass 
 is dry enough to burn, a new house of bamboos being built in the mean- 
 while in some secluded spot close by : then the dry timber is lighted and the 
 ashes serve as manure whilst the heat of the fire breaks up the ground to 
 the depth of a few inches. In May, after the first rains, the rice is sown, 
 holes being dibbled into the ground and the grains dropped in. When the 
 rice is well up, cotton, capsicums and Indian-corn are planted between the 
 ridges. Near the house are sugar-cane, yams (near dry logs over which their 
 tendrils creep), and piper betel near some tall trees up which the plant can 
 wind. A small hut is built in the patch in which a boy or a girl is placed 
 to frighten away the birds and wild hogs, and, after two or three weedings, 
 the crop is reaped in October and threshed by the men beating the ears 
 against a beam or treading the grains out with their toes, for they have no 
 buffaloes like their lowland neighbours. Whilst the plants are in the ground 
 the men are employed in fishing and are aided by the women who go to the 
 banks of streams with small hand nets. Animals are trapped, or shot with 
 bows and arrows and food thus provided. In some places they have permanent 
 gardens of the Areca palm, the nuts of which are chewed with the 
 leaf of the piper betel, lime and tobacco, by all races, Burman, Talaing 
 and Kareng. These gardens are generally on the margins of mountain 
 streams and are irrigated by water conducted in artificial channels from 
 the parent streams at spots above the level of the plantation. When 
 the rice crops have been gathered the Kareng visit the villages in the plains 
 bringing in betel-nuts, rice, fowls, wild honey, bees-wax, and in some places 
 cardamoms (found growing wild), and thus obtain funds wherewith to support 
 themselves and to pay their taxes. Often, however, they dispose of their 
 produce to Burmans and others who at this season visit the hills taking with 
 them cotton goods and other articles to exchange. 
 Population ^'^® Kareng population according to the census in 
 
 1872 numbered 331,255 souls. 
 
 KAEENG-AYAING.— The Burmese name of a clan of Bghai Kareng, 
 See Bghai-ka-hta. 
 
 KAKENG-NEE. — Called by themselves iTa-j-rtjby Shans Yang-aiiig, hy the 
 Gaikho The-pya, and Bghai-vioo-hte or eastern Bghai by the rest of the family. 
 Thoy occupy the country north of the province but some have emigrated into 
 British territory. They are divided into Eastern and Western Kareng-nee, of 
 whom the former are by far the more numerous. They are the most civilized 
 and at the same time the most ferocious of all the Kareng tribes, preying 
 without mercy on their weaker southern neighbours, a practice which the 
 western branch has, however, to a great extent given up. They belong to the 
 'Report by Mr. O'Riley, Assistant Commissiouer in the Toung-ngoo district, 1855.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 243 
 
 Bghai tribe and, like the majority of that clan, wear trowsers. '* The men 
 " wear short red pants with perpendicular, very narrow, black or white stripes. 
 " Sometimes the pants have a black ground and the stripes are red or white. 
 " Below the knee are black bands formed of twisted thread aud varnished 
 " with the black varnish that abounds in this country obtained from the Melan- 
 " norrhcea usitatissiiiia. A wrapper of white with a few red or black stripes is 
 " wrapped around the body, and many wear Shan jackets which seem to be an 
 '' addition to the Kareng dress. A bright red turban is worn on the head and an 
 
 " ornamented bag is hung across the shoulder The female dress is 
 
 " peculiarly picturesque, though every garment is only a rectangular piece of 
 " cloth. The head dress is a large red or black turban, wound up to form a 
 '* small tower on the top of the head. There is no gown but a cloth like the 
 " Roman toga, tied by two corners on the right shoulder, and the left arm 
 " is sometimes kept covered, but more often it is drawn out above the garment. 
 " A second piece of cloth, like the first, is kept on the hand like a loose shawl 
 *' or tied around the waist. One of these garments is usually red and the 
 " other black, though occasionally both are red. For a petticoat another 
 " rectangular piece of cloth is wrapped two or three times around the person, 
 '* and is kept in its place by a wampum belt, some half a dozen inches in 
 " diameter. Another enormous band of beads is worn below the knee and on 
 " the ankles large silver bangles. Both sexes wear bangles on the wrists, and 
 " the women a profusion of silver necklaces formed of ingots of silver, or coins, 
 " to which are added a dozen or more strings of beads. Ear-drops are worn by 
 " both men and women, and the latter add silver ear-plugs an inch or more in 
 " diameter.'^* The men have the rising sun tattooed in red across the small 
 of the back. 
 
 The majority of their customs are the same as those of the rest of the 
 Bghai family but in some points they differ. At the birth of a child, when 
 the mother is able to move about, which is generally in about three days, a 
 feast is given by the father to all who choose to come, aud the mother, 
 taking the child on her back, goes down out of the house and, digging the 
 ground a little, pulls up a few weeds, thus symbolizing her undertaking to 
 support her infant (for she is supposed to have gone to the rice field and 
 worked therein) and then returns ; after this presents are made to the 
 child (of silver or of iron if a boy aud of beads or of a fowl or of a pig if a girl) 
 and it is named after some relation or after some one who has given large 
 presents. 
 
 They never betroth their children in infancy and their marriage ceremony 
 is peculiar. The two young people having made up their minds to marry and 
 the parents having given their consent (which they rarely refuse) the bride- 
 groom makes a feast in his house to which the bride and some female 
 companions come. During the feast the bridegroom presents a cup of 
 spirits to the bride asking " Is it agreeable ?" This she takes, replying '^ It is" 
 ''agreeable.^' She and her companions remain all night and returning home 
 next morning prepare a feast to which the bridegroom and his friends come 
 and the ceremony of presenting the cup of spirits is again goue through, 
 this time the bride being the questioner ; occasionally the rei)ly, given play- 
 fully, is " Not agreeable," when the spirits must be offered and the question 
 
 * Burma, by Dr. Mason ; pp. 89,90.
 
 244 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 asked till a favourable answer is received. The feast in the bride's house 
 completes the whole ceremony. 
 
 The names of their mouths are slig-htly different from those employed 
 by other Kareug". Though their year commences in January, June is the 
 " seventh month/-* but July is not called the " eighth,'^ and August instead 
 of being called the ^' month of gladness " is named " Ai~doo," after a feast 
 peculiar to themselves, the origin of which is unknown ; hogs, fowls and 
 oxen are killed and all the villagers feast together and send food and spirits 
 to their friends elsewhere. Drums are beaten, muskets loaded only with 
 powder fired off, and the whole is a three days saturnalia during which 
 accidents often happen and houses are set on fire. In another point are their 
 customs different from those of the rest of the Bghai : they never offer a 
 bog to the spirits of their ancestors. 
 
 KA-EEE-THENG.— A small village, of 390 inhabitants in 1877, on the 
 eastern bank of the Ka-rwa-dai river, the head-quarters of the Mek-ka-la-gya 
 circle, Oo-rit-toung west township, Akyab district. 
 
 KAEENG-LE-KHYENG.— A small village in the Toung-ngoo district 
 on the bank of the Re-nwe stream, at the foot of the western slopes of the 
 Rek-kan-tseng spur, about seven miles due west of the Tsit-toung and five 
 south of Upper Burma : there is here one of the frontier police posts. 
 
 KA-ROOP-PEE. — A small river in the Amherst district, formed by the 
 junction of numerous mountain streams which rise in the western slopes of 
 the Toung-gnyo range. It falls into the sea nearly opposite Double Island. 
 
 KA-ROOP-PEE. — A revenue circle in the Wa-kha-roo township, Amherst 
 district, situated between the Toung-gnyo hills on the east, the sea on the 
 west, the Pa-nga circle on the north, and the Tsam-ba-ra circle on the south. 
 The eastern portion is hilly, producing valuable timber such as Ka-gnyeng 
 and Pyeng-gado. The remainder consists of sandy hillocks with intervening 
 plains of considerable extent and the whole is intersected by tidal creeks of 
 large size. Communication with other places is difiicult except in the fine 
 season, when boats can venture out of the creeks into the open sea. Salt is 
 made near the sea coast. The population, who are principally Talaing, 
 numbered 1,219 in 1868 and 1,844 in 1876, when the land revenue was 
 Rs. 2,692 and the capitation tax Rs. 1,732. 
 
 KA-ROOP-PEE. — A large village in the Wa-kha-roo township of the 
 Amherst district, in the circle of the same name, on the left bank of the 
 Ka-roop-pee stream near its mouth. In 1869, when an Assistant 
 Commissioner was placed in charge of the sub-division, the Extra Assistant 
 Commissioner in charge of the township was transferred hither from 
 Amherst. A few years later, when the Assistant Commissioner was removed, 
 Amherst again became the head-quarters of the township. In 1868 it 
 had 865 and in 1877 1,297 inhabitants. The name is Taking and is 
 derived from a tradition of its having been originally founded by three 
 Chinamen. 
 
 KA-TA-WA. — A revenue circle in the Mro-houng township of the 
 Akyab district on the Koo-la-dan river. In 1876 the population was 2,020, 
 the land revenue Rs. 7,080, the capitation tax Rs. 2,464 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 9,898. The Thoogyee resides in a small village of the same
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 245 
 
 name situated on the eastern bank of the Koo-la-dan, which had 252 
 .inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 KA-THA-HPA-KARENG.— A viUage in the Kyaik-kaw circle, Tha-htoon 
 township, Amherst district, at the foot of the western slopes of the Martaban 
 hills. In 1877 the inhabitants numbered 529 souls. 
 
 KATOO-BYENG. — A revenue circle in the Ka-ma township, Thayet 
 district, to which have been added Tha-gnyan, Tsheug-tshway-myoung, Zee- 
 daw, Kywai-gouug-, Goon-meng-myouug and Tsam-bay-khyoon. The Tha- 
 gnyan Thoogyee resigned in 1863, when his circle was joined to Zee-daw, and 
 the Zee-daw Thoo-gyee in 1872, and the united circles were added to Tsam- 
 bay-khyoon. In 1870 the Goon-myeng-myoung Thoogyee resigned aud the 
 circle was added to Kywai-gouug. Subsequently Tsam-bay-khyoon (with 
 Tha-guyan and Zee-daw) and Kywai-goung (with Goon-myeng-myoung) were 
 joined to Katoo-byeng. In 1872 these circles had a population of 1,608 
 souls and in 1870 of 1,626 : in 1872 the land revenue was Rs. 1,758 and in 
 1876 Rs. 2,425 ; in the latter year the capitation tax was Rs, 1,812 aud the 
 gross revenue Rs. 4,379. The Thoogyeeship of Katoo-byeng was held heredi- 
 tarily, but in 1826, before the annexation of Pegu, the then Thoogyee, 
 Moung Ouug Tsee, sold his birthright to one Mouug Khat. The pi'incipal 
 products are rice, sessamum, plantains, maize, thatch-grass and cutch, the 
 last principally in the old Kywai-gouug circle. In the Zee-daw circle was an 
 irrigation reservoir known as the " Zee-daw-kan'^ or Zee-daw tank, but the 
 embankment gave way several years ago. 
 
 KATOO-BYENG. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Ka-ma township, Thayet district, on the left bank of the Ma-de stream, con- 
 taining rather over fifty houses. 
 
 KA-TSENG. — A circle in the Hmaw-bhee township, Rangoon district, 
 added to it, with Htau-ta-beng, Pa-dan and Kyoon-oo, in 1874, from the 
 Eng-ga-bhoo township which was then broken up. In shape it is an irregular 
 triangle with the apex towards the west and the base formed by the Hlaing 
 river. On the north it is separated from the Htan-ta-bcng circle by the 
 Hta-ka-loung creek, on the west from Kyoon-oo by the Eng-ka-laiiig, aud on 
 the south from Pa-dan by the Tsoo-la-gan. The area comprised within these 
 limits is about 20 square miles. The country is a vast flat plain, treeless, 
 except near the villages which are thinly shrouded in bamboos of inferior 
 growth and cocoanut trees, and highly intersected l)y tidal creeks, most of them 
 navigable by large boats at the flood and in many cases spanned at the 
 villages by high wooden foot bridges. The whole area is subject to inunda- 
 tion during the rains and the soil is poor, producing only from 30 to 40 
 baskets of unhusked rice per acre. 
 
 In 1876 there were 17,788 acres of rice (excluding 1,579 acres left fallow), 
 two acres of dhanee, five acres of garden aud seven acres of miscellaneous 
 cultivation. 
 
 In 1877 the agricultural stock was : — 
 
 Buffaloes .. .. .. .. .. 1,006 
 
 Cows, bulls and bullocks 
 
 Pigs 
 
 Ploughs 
 
 Carts 
 
 Boats 
 
 178 
 106 
 502 
 129 
 186
 
 246 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The buffaloes are owned principally by the Talaing and Kareng inhabit- 
 ants^ the cows, bulls and bullocks by the Talaing and Burmans, and the pigs 
 by the Burmans and Chinese. 
 
 In the same year the inhabitants were : — 
 
 Talaing 
 Burmans . . 
 Shan 
 Kareng 
 Chinese 
 Natives of India 
 
 1,436 
 
 1,043 
 
 872 
 
 44 
 
 4 
 
 11 
 
 3,410 
 
 living in ten villages, of which the largest was Pouktau on the stream of the 
 same name rather more than a mile from its mouth, with 604 inhabitants, 
 and Rakhaing-yoj where the Thoogyee lives, on the Rakhaing-yo creek 
 about a mile and a half south of Pouktan, with 611 iuabitants. By far the 
 larger portion of the population are agriculturists and coolies. 
 
 In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 19,408, the capitation tax Rs 3,858 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 23,371. 
 
 KA-WA. — A large village in the Rangoon district, with 1,053 inhabit- 
 ants in 1877, on the right bank of the Pegu river in 17° 4' 30" N. and 
 96° 31' 10" E., inhabited principally by Talaing agriculturists and petty 
 traders. In 1878 a considerable portion of the village was burned down, the 
 result of the spreading of a jungle fire. 
 
 KA-WA. — A tidal creek in the Shwe-loung township, Bassein district, 
 joining the Irrawaddy on the east to the Kyoon-pa-doot on the west, which at 
 the floods can be traversed by boats fifty feet in length. In the rains it 
 unites with the Moung-dee, another tidal creek running north and south. 
 
 KA-WAI. — A small river which rises amongst the eastern slopes of the 
 Arakan mountains and, flowing eastwards, falls into the Irrawaddy just above 
 the town of Thayet. It is of no importance, is not navigable, and in the hot 
 weather is almost dry. 
 
 KAW-BHIEN. — A revenue circle in the Gyaiug Attaran township, 
 Amherst district, extending southwards from the left bank of the Gyaing 
 east of Maulmain from which it is separated by the Kyaik-paran circle. In 
 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 5,642, the capitation tax Rs. 1,878, the 
 gross revenue Rs. 7,520 and the population 2,883. 
 
 KAW-BHIEN. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Gyaing 
 Attaran township of the Amherst district, on the east or right bank of the 
 Attaran and south of the Kaw-bhien, one of its tributaries, a stream of little 
 or no importance. In 1877 it had 1,400 inhabitants. 
 
 KAW-BOUK. — A village in the Kaw-bhien circle, Gyaing Attaran 
 township, Amherst district, to the north of and near Kaw-bhien. In 1877 
 it had a population of 570 souls. 
 
 KAW-DWON. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Than-lweng township, 
 Amherst district, formed of the islands opposite Maulmain on the south and 
 Kado on the east, at the junction of the Salween,the Gyaing and the Attaran 
 rivers. These islands are fertile and are well cultivated by their Talaing 
 inhabitants who in 1876 numbered 777 ; that year the laud revenue was 
 Rs. 4,428 and the ca])itation tax Rs. 972.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 247 
 
 KAW-DWOT. — A villag-e in the Rwa-lwot circle of the Bhee-loo-gywon 
 towuship, Amhei-st district, east of Ka-law. lu 1867, this village had a 
 population of 343 souls, principally Talaing, and in 1877 of 682. 
 
 KAW-DWOT. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Re La-maiug township of the Amherst district, on the left bank of the La-maiug 
 river^ near its mouth. In 1877 it had 975 inhabitants. The name is Talaiug 
 and means " island ""^ village. 
 
 KAW-DWOT. — A revenue circle on the sea coast in the Re La-maiug 
 township of the Amherst district, well cultivated by the inhabitants who are 
 mostly Talaiug and who in 1876 numbered 1,600 souls. The laud revenue 
 in that year was Rs. 4,820 and the capitation tax Rs. 1,653. 
 
 KA-WEK. — A revenue circle, about 15 square miles in extent, in the 
 Myoung-mya township, Bassein district, in the delta of the Irrawaddy, between 
 the Poo-loo and the Tha-yaw-boon channels on the south, east and west, and 
 bounded on the north by the small Ka-wek creek which flows between these 
 two. The north-western and western portion of the circle only are cultivated. 
 It has no roads. The only stream of any importance is the Poo-loo which 
 is navigable by river steamers at all times ; the banks are densely wooded, 
 but the timber is of no value. In 1876 the population was 2,211, the 
 land revenue Rs. 4,778, the capitation tax Rs. 2,210 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 7,292. 
 
 KA-WEK. — A tidal creek in the Than-Iyeng township, Rangoon district, 
 which falls into the Pegu live or six miles above Hpa-goo village. The 
 banks are sandy and shelving and fringed in places with tree forest; with the 
 flood tide boats of 500 bushels burden can ascend for a considerable distance, 
 as far as A-htoon village. In the rains, when the plains are flooded, boats 
 can pass through from the Pegu river to the sea. 
 
 KAW-HLA. — A village in the Kado circle, Gyaing Than-lweng' town- 
 ship, Amherst district, on the right bank of the Gyaing a little to the 
 north of Kado from which it is separated by a rice plain. In 1877 the 
 inhabitants numbered 620 souls. 
 
 KAW-HMOO.— A village in the Rangoon district, in 16° 31' 30" N. and 
 96° 8' E. near the source of the Lek-khaik, divided into two or three parts. 
 The inhabitants who are mainly Burmese and Kareng numbered 476 in 
 1877 and are engaged principally in agriculture, but some are fishermen 
 working the neighbouring A-twot lake and some are salt workers. 
 
 KAW-HMOO. — A revenue circle in the centre of the lower half of the 
 Angyee township, Rangoon district, lying between Pyaw-bhway, Ko-doung 
 and Htan-ma-naing on the east, La-wa-dee on the south, Twan-te and len-da- 
 poora on the west and Ma-hlaing and Pan-hlaing on the north. Its extreme 
 length is about fifteen miles and its extreme breadth about nine. The western 
 portion of the circle consists of high undulating ground covered Avith forest, 
 whilst the eastern consists of low swam))y ground or extensive sheets of 
 water — the Bhoora-gyee, A-hpyouk and A-twot Eug. In the centre is a strip 
 of rice land where most of the villages are found. During the last five 
 years the population, area under cultivation and the revenue realized have 
 been : —
 
 248 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 
 Popula- 
 tion. 
 
 5,216 
 4,554 
 5,660 
 6,045 
 7,012 
 
 Area, in acres, under 
 
 Revenue, in rupees, from 
 
 Year. 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Garden 
 
 Total. 
 
 Land. 
 
 Capita- 
 tion. 
 
 All other 
 sources. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1872-73 
 1873-74 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 
 3,334 
 5,426 
 4,426 
 3,560 
 4,526 
 
 44 
 51 
 52 
 53 
 61 
 
 3,378 
 5,477 
 4,478 
 3,613 
 
 4,587 
 
 13,375 
 15,521 
 12,021 
 13,040 
 11,420 
 
 5,107 
 5,242 
 6,022 
 5,525 
 4,522 
 
 1,990 
 2,000 
 2,500 
 2,520 
 2,600 
 
 20,552 
 22,763 
 20,543 
 21,115 
 18,543 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 s.i^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 a> 
 
 io 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 o 
 
 5g 
 
 o 
 
 »3 
 
 to 
 
 1 
 
 f 
 o 
 
 OS 
 
 o 
 
 
 pq 
 
 O 
 
 S 
 
 O 
 
 CL, 
 
 W 
 
 1872-73 
 
 723 
 
 980 
 
 20 
 
 282 
 
 375 
 
 159 
 
 135 
 
 1873-74 
 
 802 
 
 990 
 
 13 
 
 300 
 
 425 
 
 149 
 
 124 
 
 1874-75 
 
 904 
 
 804 
 
 29 
 
 425 
 
 352 
 
 156 
 
 130 
 
 1875-76 
 
 742 
 
 664 
 
 35 
 
 423 
 
 424 
 
 200 
 
 160 
 
 1876-77 
 
 824 
 
 724 
 
 45 
 
 282 
 
 355 
 
 190 
 
 170 
 
 la former years the fisheries constituted the riches of the circle, but in 1876 
 the laud revenue was Rs. 16,550, the capitation tax Rs. 7,928 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 26,543. 
 
 KAW-HNAT. — A villag-e in the Kado circle of the Gyaing Than-lweng 
 township, Amherst district, north of and close to Kado. In 1877 it had 
 523 inhabitants. 
 
 KAW-KA-DWOT.— A village in the Zoot-thoot circle, Bheeleng Kyaik- 
 hto township, Shwe-gyeug district, on the high road from Bheeleng to Kyaik- 
 hto where it crosses the Thai-hpyoo river at the elbow formed by its sudden 
 bend westward. In 1877 it had 1,333 inhabitants; agriculturists and fisher- 
 men who work the numerous fisheries in the neighbourhood. Thei'e is a police 
 station in this village and a cattle market is held twice a week in the di*y season. 
 
 KAW-KA-LEE. — A small, but high and remarkable, island inside the 
 mouth of the Tavoy river, called " Reef Island '^ in the charts. 
 
 KAW-KA-MAY. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Tsit-toung sub-division of the Shwe-gyeng district, in the southern portion of 
 the plains stretching southward to the sea from Kyaik-hto, and on the bank 
 of the Thai-hpyoo, a tributary of the Tsit-toung. In 1877 it had 955 
 inhabitants.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 249 
 
 KAW-KA-MAY. — A reveuue circle in the Tsit-toimg isub-divisiou of the 
 Shwe-g-yeug- district, about 112 square miles in area, which extends from 
 Kyaik-hto southwards to the coast along both banks of the Thai-hpyoo creek. 
 In 1876 it had a population of 4,723 souls, of whom the majority are Talaiug 
 and a few Kareug. The river and sea fisheries furnish a small proportion of 
 the revenue. The land revenue in 1876 was lis. 12,480, the capitation tax 
 Us. 4,455 and the gross revenue Rs. 19,787. 
 
 KAW-KA-RIET. — A small stream in the Amherst district, which has its 
 source in the western slopes of the Dawna spur and after a W.S.W. course 
 of a fewmiles flows past the village^of Kaw-ka-riet and a mile or two lower down, 
 where it receives from the eastward the waters of the Hlaing, another moun- 
 tain torrent, it turns westward and with a winding but generally westerly 
 course between high banks dotted here with long grass, there with open tree 
 forest, with occasional clumps of feathery bamboos hanging over the dark 
 waters, it falls into the Houng-tha-raw a few miles above Kya-eng village. 
 In the rains it is navigable by boats as far as Kaw-ka-riet village, but in 
 the dry season it is impracticable above the mouth of the Hlaing: even in 
 September it is little else than a shallow mountain torrent, depositing 
 pebbles, coarse sand and gravel at the salient angles of the banks. At Kaw- 
 ka-riet it is spanned by a wooden bridge connecting the two quarters of the 
 village. 
 
 KAW-KA-EIET. — The head-quarters of the Houng-tha-raw township, 
 Amherst district. It is a straggling village on both banks of the Kaw-ka-riet 
 stream, which is here spanned by a wooden bridge. Kareug live on the left 
 and Burmaus and Toungthoo on the right bank where are the Court-house 
 of the Extra Assistant Commissioner in charge of the township, the police 
 station and the Government market. In 1876 the population numbered 
 2,135 souls and the land revenue was Rs. 2,318. There is here a cattle market 
 held once a week. 
 
 KAW-KA-RIET. — A reveuue circle in the Houng-tha-raw township, 
 Amherst district, between the crest of the Dawna spur and the Houng-tha-raw 
 river. It is inhabited mainly by Kareng and is not extensively cultivated. 
 In 1876 the population was 3,240, the land revenue Rs. 2,803 and the 
 capitation tax Rs. 3,700. 
 
 KAW-KA-RIT. — A revenue circle in the extreme south of the Salween 
 Hill Tracts on the Rwon-za-leng river, near its mouth in the Salween, and 
 adjoining the Amherst district. In 1876 the number of inhabitants was 
 3,601, the land revenue Rs. 1,483 and the capitation tax Rs. 1,539. 
 
 KAW-KHA-NEE. — A revenue circle in the Zaya township, Amherst 
 district, south of and adjoining Kyouk-tan, which separates it from Maulmain, 
 cut off from the Salween by a narrow strip of land which separates it from the 
 Kyouk-tan and Hpa-ouk circles. Its total area is about 4,260 acres of which 
 about two-thirds are upland adapted for garden cultivation. The tracts just 
 below the iiigh land are very poor, some yielding not more than fi'om 15 to 
 20 baskets an acre ; the lands nearer the Salween are good. Its inhabitants 
 are principally Talaiug and in 1876 numbered 1,406 souls; in that year the 
 land revenue was Rs. 3,154 and the capitation tax Rs. 1,415. 
 
 KAW-LEE-YA. — A revenue circle lately added to the Shwe-gyeng 
 
 32
 
 250 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 township of the Shwe-gyeng district from Rangoon, 192 square miles, about, in 
 extent, lying west of Thoo-yai-tha-mee, with a population, in 1876, of 3,312 
 souls, mainly Talaing. At the end of the rains the inhabitants are largely 
 engaged in working the numerous lake and pond fisheries in the circle, 
 from which the State derives a large revenue. In 1876 the land revenue 
 was Rs, 1,933, the capitation tax Rs. 3,510 and the gross revenue Rs. 17,562. 
 
 KAW-LOO-DO. — A block-house and Police post in the Sal ween Hill Tracts, 
 four marches north of Pa-pwon, constructed in 1861 for the protection of the 
 surrounding wild and mountainous country. In 1878 it was attacked and 
 burned down by a marauding party of Kareng-nee. 
 
 KAW-LOO-DO. — A mountainous and forest-clad revenue circle in the north 
 of the Sal ween hill tracts. In 1876 the population, Kareng, numbered 4,074 
 souls, the land revenue was Rs. 905 and the capitation tax Rs. 1,378. 
 
 KAW-LOON. — A revenue circle in the Than-lweng Hlaing-bhwai town- 
 ship, Amherst district. In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 834, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 1,784 and the population 2,215 souls. 
 
 KAW-PA-RAN. — A revenue circle in the Zaya township of the Amherst 
 district, which now includes Paing-ka-ma and .extends from the Toung-gnyo 
 spur westwards to the sea coast immediately south of the Moo-doon and 
 north of the Kwon-te circles. The old Paing-ka-ma circle consisted of two 
 portions, one at the foot of the Toung-gnyo hills and the other on the bank 
 of the Salween, Kaw-pa-ran lying between them. Included within the 
 limits of old Kaw-pa-ran is Bha-louk, once an independent circle, added to 
 Kaw-pa-ran about 25 years ago. The inhabitants are chiefly Talaing 
 agriculturists, who numbered 2,844 in 1876, when the land revenue was 
 Rs. 6,095 and the capitation tax Rs. 2,462. 
 
 KAW-RAN-GYEE. — A small island off the western coast of the Basseia 
 district, near the mouth of the Nga-root-khoung river ; the '' Coringee " of the 
 old charts. Limestone is found on the island and is brought to the mainland 
 and burned. 
 
 KAW-THAT. — A village in the Ta-ra-na circle of the Gyaing Than-lweng 
 township, Amherst district, on the left bank of the Gyaing, west of Ta-ra-na. 
 In 1877 the inhabitants numbered 756 souls. 
 
 KA-ZEB. — A revenue circle in the south-eastern township of the Tavoy 
 district inhabited by a few Kareng and with very little cultivation, principally 
 of sessamum and cardamoms. It now includes Tha-hpyoo-khyouug and Tsaw- 
 bhoora. In 1876 there were only 845 inhabitants, the land revenue was 
 Rs. 365, the capitation tax Rs. 732 and the gross revenue Rs. 1,115. 
 
 KE-LA-THA. — The highest peak in the hills immediately north of 
 Keng-rwa, the end of the mass of mountains between the Tsit-toung and the 
 Bhee-leng rivers. A large and conspicuous pagoda caps the hill and was 
 formerly much resorted to by pilgrims. The site is traditionally said to have 
 been selected by Gaudama as the place in which to deposit one of his hairs 
 which he had given to the hermit living on Ke-la-tha. At the foot of the 
 pagoda is a large slab of stone, unfortunately broken, with an inscription in 
 Talaing the meaning of which is not known. Near the summit of the hill 
 there is a noted well containing excellent water.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 251 
 
 KE-LA-THA. — A revenue circle in the Re La-maing* township, Amherst 
 district, on the western slopes of the Toung'-gnyo chain. It is inhabited prin- 
 cipally by Taking- and is to some extent under cultivation. In 1876 the 
 population numbered 1,358 souls, the land revenue was Rs. 2,011 and the 
 capitation tax Rs. 1,620. 
 
 KE-LA-THA. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Re Laraa- 
 iug township of the Amherst district on the left bank of the La-maing river 
 where a small Police force is stationed. In 1877 it had 826 inhabitants. 
 
 ElENG. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district, lying in the south- 
 west corner of the township of that name on the west coast of Ramree island, to 
 the north of the mouth of the Ran-bouk stream. It has an area of seven square 
 miles and in 1876 had a population of 3,668 souls. In that year the land 
 revenue was Rs. 3,503, the capitation tax Rs. 3,979 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 7,767. This circle now includes Moo-reng. In addition to rice the 
 principal products are coarse sugar and indigo. 
 
 KENG-DAT. — A revenue circle in the Tha-boung township of the Bassein 
 district, about 30 square miles in extent, occupying the corner formed by the 
 junction of the Nga-won and Daga rivers. The country on the west is 
 undulating but on the east it is flat and cultivated with rice. In 1876 the 
 land revenue was Rs. 8,579, the capitation tax Rs. 4,477, the gross revenue 
 Rs. 13,488 and the number of inhabitants 4,602. 
 
 KENG-KHYOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Zaya township, Amherst 
 district, extending from the Toung-gnyo hills on the east to the Salween on 
 the west. It now includes Kwon-ta and a portion of Ka-ma-pa-tai. Towards 
 the east is high forest-land, in the centre poor land and towards the west 
 fertile soil with a fringe of dhanee plantations on the bank of the riv^er. In 1868 
 the population, who ai'e principally Talaing agriculturists, numbered 979, the 
 the land revenue was Rs. 3,212 and the capitation tax Rs. 985. In 1876 
 these were 3,267, Rs. 7,215 and Rs. 3,177 respectively. 
 
 KENG-RWA. — A large village in the Henzada district, with a population 
 of about 800 souls in 1878, on the right bank of the Irrawaddy in 18° 25' 30'' N. 
 and 95° 16' 40" E. near the northern frontier of the district. The inhabitants, 
 who are mainly Burmese, are principally engaged in trading. 
 
 KENG-RWA. — A revenue circle in the Tsit-toung sub-division of the 
 Shwe-gyeng district between the town of K3'aik-hto and the upper course of 
 the Thai-hpyoo. It has an area of about 220 square miles, and in 1876 had a 
 population of 4,865 souls. It is but slightly cultivated and the revenue 
 derived from leasing out the pond and lake fisheries is larger than that derived 
 from the land which, in 1876, was Rs. 1,576 ; the capitation tax that 3'ear 
 was Rs. 3,870 and the gross revenue Rs. 10,031. 
 
 KENG-RWA. — A village in the circle of the same name, containing 1,349 
 inhabitants in 1877, six miles to the south of Kyaik-hto, between that town and 
 Kaw-ka-dwot, at the foot of the hills which bound to the north the plain country 
 of the Tsit-toung sub-division and on the high road from Tsit-toung to 
 Maulmain. There is here a Government rest-house and a small Police force. 
 The inhabitants, many of whom are Toungthoo, are largely engaged in orchard 
 cultivation, growing mangoes, oranges and doorians of notedly pure flavour.
 
 252 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 During the Burmese time a small military force was stationed in this village, 
 whence the name — Keiig " a military post" and riva '' a village.'^ 
 
 KENG-THAN.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 26' 50" N. and 
 25° 27' 0" E. on the right bank of the Myit-ma-kha, seven miles from its source 
 in the Engma lake : from this village a narrow tract of rice country extends 
 southwards along the bank of the Myit-ma-kha into the Henzada district. 
 
 KENG-WA. — A tidal creek which traverses the united Zayat-hla and 
 Kyoon-ta-nai circles of the Pan-ta-naw township, Thoon-khwa district, from 
 north to south, nearly parallel to, and a few miles to the west of, the Irrawaddy 
 into which it falls at Keng-wa; after this the river has taken a bend eastwards : 
 at its northern end it communicates with numerous creeks, of which the principal 
 is the Nga-ran ; its total length is from 18 to 20 miles. It is open for large 
 boats with masts at all times and seasons. The banks are fringed with valu- 
 able timber. 
 
 KHA-BENG. — A village in the An-gyee township of the Rangoon district 
 on the Moo-la-man creek with 125 inhabitants only in 1877, chiefly Talaingand 
 Shan gardeners. It is the site of an ancient city where reigned the King 
 Tha-mien-htaw-byeen-ran and his queen Mien-da-de-wee, the founders of the 
 Shwe Tshau-daw pagoda at Twan-te. The ruins of both the interior and 
 exterior cities are still visible. On the opposite bank of the Moo-la-man is the 
 Kyaik-keng pagoda ; to the south is a large ruined pagoda known as the 
 Moung Tee. Mouug Tee is said to have been the husband of a celebrated 
 princess of Kha-beng. 
 
 KHA-BOUNG. — A river in the Toung-gnoo district which rises in the 
 Pegu Roma range and after a south-westerly course of 68 miles falls into the 
 Tsit-toung about two miles south of Toung-gnoo, It is navigable for some 
 25 miles. Rather more than twelve miles from its mouth it flows past 
 the ancient site of Toung-ngoo. Towards its source the banks are steep and 
 its bed rocky. Teak, Theng-gan for boat-building, sessamum and a considerable 
 quantity of betel-nut are brought down this stream for the Toung-ngoo market. 
 
 KHA-BOUNG-GAN.— A village in the Prome district E. S. E. of the 
 town of Prome from which it is about eight miles distant. 
 
 KHA-DA. — A village in the Pouug circle of the Martaban township, 
 Amherst district, south of Poung the head-quarters of the township. In 1876 it 
 had 823 inhabitants. 
 
 KHA-LA. — A village in the Mergui district of the Tenasserim division, 
 in 12° 0' 53" N. Lat. and 98° 83' E. Long, with a small population of about 150 
 souls. Before the conquest by Aloungbhoora it was a flourishing village. 
 The American Baptist and a Roman Catholic Mission formerly had stations 
 here but the former has been abandoned and a native catechist left in charge 
 of the latter. The population is mixed Kareug and Burman. 
 
 KHA-DAIK. — A village in the Kyaik-kaw circle, Tha-htoon township, 
 Amherst district, on the bank of the Bhee-leng river not far from its mouth. 
 In 1877 it had 539 inhabitants. 
 
 KHA-DAING. — A highly-cultivated revenue circle in the southern portion 
 of the Martaban township, Amherst district, on the west of the Martaban hills. 
 In 1870 the land revenue, derived almost entirely from the rice land, was
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 253 
 
 Rs. 13,907, the capitation tax Rs. 690 and the population 683. Some of the 
 lands are owned and worked by inhabitants of the neighbouring circles. 
 
 KHA-DAT-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the western township of the 
 Tavoy district about 16 square miles in extent which in 1876 had a population 
 of 1,175 souls, and a land revenue of Rs. 2,895 ; in that year the capitation tax 
 was Rs. 902 and the gross revenue Rs. 4,049. The principal products are 
 rice and salt. 
 
 KHA-DAT-NGAY. — A revenue circle in the western township, Tavoy 
 district, about 14 square miles in extent. In 1876 the land revenue was 
 Rs. 2,179, the capitation tax Rs. 1,604, the gross revenue Rs. 4,388 and the 
 number of inhabitants 2,045. The principal products are rice, dhanee palms 
 and salt. 
 
 KHA-DWON. — A village in the Gaw circle, Martaban township, Amherst 
 district. In 1867 the population of this village numbered 762 souls, and 646 
 in 1877. 
 
 KHA-LOUK-THAIK.— A village, of 659 inhabitants in 1877, in the 
 Kyoon-ka-nee circle of the Myoung-mya township, Bassein district, on the 
 eastern bank of the Kha-louk-thaik stream, about fifteen miles north-east of 
 Myoung-mya. 
 
 KHAMIE. — Sometimes written Khoomi, Koomi or Kummi. A hill- 
 tribe in Arakan, of the Toungtha class, inhabiting the hills bordering the 
 Koo-la-dau and numbering about 7,000 souls. Of this race of people there 
 are two divisions, called by themselves Khumie and Khamie but generally 
 known under the common appellation of Khamie. They are the most warlike 
 tribe living within the tribute-paying limits. It is probable that they have 
 not been settled in their present seat for more than five or six generations but 
 have been driven down from the distant hills by the more warlike and stronger 
 Shandoo, and have in their turn driven the Mro to the foot of the hills and 
 even to the plains. When questioned about the country occupied by their 
 ancestors they point to the highest range of the Roma mountains and say 
 that formerly their tribe was very numerous and had strongly stockaded 
 villages in those hills, which are now occupied by Khyeng and Shandoo : 
 indeed portions of the tribe have been driven out by the former within the 
 memory of man. To this enforced immigration is i)robably due the gradual 
 increase in their numbers. The language of the Khamie portion was reduced 
 to writing by Mr. Stilson of the American Baptist Mission. They are 
 divided into seventeen clans, each having a distinctive name viz., Rek-kha, 
 Hteng-too-dza, Kray, Loon-loo, Tshit-too, Kan-lwe, Lien-kran, A-boung, 
 Hpa-broo, Lien-khoop, Nhan-lay, Bha-leng, Kho-be, Loung-ta, Toung-too, 
 Tsam-bale and Lee-loo. Each clan is under a separate Toung-meng, or " Hill 
 Chief." Their religious system is very vague and consists in Nat, or spirit, 
 worship. They adore the earth, the sun and every object that strikes their fancy, 
 to each of which they accord a separate spirit. "Each peak in their native hills 
 " they hold to be the mountain watchtower of a god. Nothing could better 
 " illustrate this than the accompanying translation of part of a Khamie's prayer. 
 " Previous to an undertaking or an expedition, he lets loose a fowl, as an 
 " offering to the spirits, and utters tlie following : — 'Oh spirit of the day-sun ; 
 " *oh spirit of the rock-ledged gate : oh spirit of the streams of the Hoo-tsa-loon ;
 
 254 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 '' ' oil spirit of the surg-es of the Kalak ; oh lords of the mountain peaks ; 
 " ' one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight times ; take ye this my 
 '' ' offering.' " .... 
 
 Every object vehich is in motion they conceive to be so in virtue of a 
 spirit. They have no religious superiors, but pay a certain amount of respect 
 to those who pretend to be in communication with the spirits and the inter- 
 preters of their will. Their only visible objects of worship are the trunks of 
 three or four trees, which have been cut down in clearing a space for the 
 village, and a similar number of pillar-like stones. These are fixed in the 
 earth together, in the middle of a large shed, which is also used as the place 
 of re-union and festivity of the village. 
 
 They have no marriage ceremony : the bridegroom gives as much as he can 
 to the father of the bride and takes her home. The women wear a short 
 petticoat kept on by numerous brass rings round the waist ; the men are 
 almost naked, but have a small cloth round the loins the ends hanging in 
 front and behind, whence the Burmese corruption of the name into Khwe- 
 myee or ''dog's tail." 
 
 They have no regular cultivation but clear and plant toungya or hill- 
 gardens with a species of indigenous rice called hill or red rice. As soon as 
 the available soil near a village is exhausted, which on an average takes place 
 in about three years, the whole village migrates to another spot and new 
 houses are built. Wandering thus every three years and in continual dread 
 of being massacred by their relentless foes, the Khamie do not know what 
 comfort or security is and all their valuables are secreted in some hidden 
 cave ; yet they are a merry and laughter-loving race and fond to a degree of 
 beads with which they ornament everything they possess. 
 
 They pay a tribute to the British Government and, since the appointment 
 of a Superintendent of Hill Tracts, are gradually learning what peace and 
 protection ai'e. 
 
 KHA-MOUNG-KHYOUNG.— A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo 
 district, about 14 square miles in extent in the southern portion of Ramree 
 island and on its eastern coast, in which sugarcane is largely cultivated. The 
 population, who are mainly Arakanese, numbered 1,224 in 1876. In that 
 year the land revenue was Rs. 1,741, the capitation tax Rs. 1,156 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 3,000. 
 
 KHA-MOUNG-THWAY. — A revenue circle in the north-eastern town- 
 ship of the Tavoy district, sparsely cultivated and inhabited by a few Kareng. 
 Sessamum and cardamoms are the principal products, but the area under 
 cultivation, entirely hill gardens, is very small. In 1876 the population was 
 only 333 and the gross revenue Rs. 226, of which Rs. 48 was derived from the 
 land and Rs. 176 from the capitation tax. 
 
 KHA-NOUNG-TO. — A village in the Kha-noung-to circle, Angyee 
 township, Rangoon district, on the stream of the same name which flows 
 between the Rangoon river and the Ka-ma-ouug. It is divided into two portions 
 distinguished as " north" and "south." In 1876 it had 1,382 inhabitants. 
 
 KHA-NOUNG-TO. — A revenue circle in the Angyee township, Rangoon 
 district, west of and adjoining Dalla and north of the Ka-ma-oung stream. 
 In 1876 the population numbered 5,844, the land revenue was Rs. 24,035,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 255 
 
 the capitation tax Rs. 6,715 and the gross revenue Rs. 30,750. It was 
 separated from Ma-hking in 1875. Since then the population has been : — 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 "o 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 60 
 
 a 
 '3 
 -3 
 
 § 
 
 to 
 
 s 
 
 t-l 
 .«3 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 o 
 
 .g 
 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 H 
 
 pq 
 
 M 
 
 OQ 
 
 o 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 1875 
 
 4,032 
 
 792 
 
 131 
 
 106 
 
 11 
 
 53 
 
 5,125 
 
 1876 
 
 1,633 
 
 3,690 
 
 103 
 
 123 
 
 16 
 
 109 
 
 5,674 
 
 1877 
 
 1,633 
 
 3,710 
 
 110 
 
 129 
 
 10 
 
 136 
 
 5,728 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the stock were : — 
 
 
 bo 
 
 a 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 'T3 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 tn 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 <o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 a , 
 
 
 03 
 
 
 a> 
 
 "a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 <» 
 
 C3 
 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 05 
 
 "eS 
 
 o 
 
 1875 
 
 11,641 
 
 , , 
 
 , , 
 
 11,644 
 
 529 
 
 937 
 
 70 
 
 228 
 
 571 
 
 226 
 
 1876 
 
 12,554 
 
 .. 
 
 .. 
 
 12,555 
 
 641 
 
 821 
 
 115 
 
 262 
 
 640 
 
 254 
 
 1877 
 
 12,501 
 
 •• 
 
 • • 
 
 12,502 
 
 799 
 
 799 
 
 63 
 
 253 
 
 596 
 
 195 
 
 KHA-NWAI-KHA-BHO. — A revenue circle in the south-west of the 
 Pau-ta-naw township, Thoon-khwa district, now including Myeng-ga-doung 
 and extending along the left bank of the Irrawaddy southwards from the 
 Pau-ta-uaw river. The Re-baw-hlee, a shallow winding creek, traverses it in 
 a general north and south direction. The face of the country is flat and 
 covered, except where under cultivation, with grass and tree forest. In 1876 
 the land revenue was Rs. 6,592, the capitation tax Rs. 5,923, the gross 
 revenue, to a considerable extent derived from fisheries, Rs. 18,321 and 
 the population 5,554. The principal village is Kha-nwai-kha-hbo. 
 
 KHA-NWAI-KHA-HBO.— A village in the Pau-ta-naw township, Thoon- 
 khwa district, in 16° 51' N. and 95° 25' E.,on the left bank of the Irrawaddy. 
 The inhabitants are principally fishermen, 
 
 KHA-RAI. — A village on the right bank of the Hlaing at its junction 
 with the Houng-tha-raw, in the Gyaing circle, Gyaing Than-lweng township, 
 Amherst district, divided into two portions distinguished as North Kha-rai 
 and South Kha-rai. In 1877 the two had 1,057 inhabitants. It lies on the 
 edge of a small rice plain and is connected with the undulating ground 
 behind it by a raised road constructed a few years ago by the inhabitants. 
 It is one of the halting places for the Shan caravans which bring in cuttle 
 every year, and close by a cattle-market is regularly held. 
 
 KHA-RAIK-THIT. — A highly populated and well cultivated revenue 
 circle in the Amherst district, extending from the Salwecu on the east to the
 
 256 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Tsai-ba-la on the west across almost the whole of Bhee-loo-gywou. It has the 
 Moo-rit-gyee and Weng-tsien ch-cles on the north and Ka-la-be on the 
 south. Though one of the largest circles in Bhee-loo-gywon it was still larger 
 in the Burmese time then comprising the present circle of Weng-tsieu, which 
 was cut oiFfrom it and divided into two called Weng-tsien and Moo-rit-gyee 
 (since united by Captain Phayre, in 1848). The Heng-tha-ky won or Heng-tha 
 Island in the Salweeu, which formerly belonged to the small circle of Nat-maw 
 since abolished, has been added to it. In this circle there is a gap in the 
 central line of hills where lies nestled amongst trees the village of Khyoung- 
 tshoon, the head-quarters of the township. The lands on the west of the 
 range are far more fertile than those on the east. A considerable area, 
 between high and low water mark, is planted with Dhanee palms {Nipa 
 fruticans). In 1876 the inhabitants of the united circles, who are principally 
 Taking, numbered 3,980, the land revenue was Rs. 11,170 and the capitation 
 tax Rs. 3,690. 
 
 KHA-EAIK-THIT. — A village in the circle of the same name on Bhee- 
 loo-gywon on a range of the hills which traverse the island, near the source 
 of the Kha-raik-thit stream. It is the eastern suburb of Khyoung-tshoon and 
 in 1876 contained 815 and in 1877 1,127 inhabitants. 
 
 KHA-EAING. — A small village in the Sandoway district on an island 
 of the same name in the Khoo circle of the Northern or Toung-goop township : 
 in 1877 the inhabitants numbered 437 souls. 
 
 KHA-EA-KYWON. — A very largely cultivated revenue circle in the 
 Hpoung-leng township of the Rangoon district, extending from the Poo-zwon- 
 douug to the Pegu river north of the Dha-bien creek, inhabited mainly by 
 Taking. The whole area consists almost entirely of rice land with but very 
 little grass or tree forest. In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 36,241, the 
 capitation tax Rs. 5,303, the gross revenue Rs. 42,558 and the population 
 3,963. The largest village is Dha-bien in the south-east corner of the circle; 
 the inhabitants in 1877 numbered 1,321. 
 
 KHA-EA-TSOO. — A small village in the Shwe-gyeng district, on the 
 right bank of the Tsit-toung river at the mouth of the Kha-ra-tsoo creek 
 which runs between the Tsit-toung and the Pegu rivers and was the old 
 water route from Rangoon to Toung-ngoo and Shwe-gyeng. A small body 
 of police is stationed here. 
 
 KHA-EENG. — Two circles in the Amherst district. See Doo-tie-ya 
 Kha-reng and Pa-ta-ma Kha-reng. 
 
 KHA-EENG. — A village in the Doo-tie-ya Kha-reng circle, Gyaing 
 Attaran township, Amherst district, about four miles from the mouth of the 
 little Kha-reug streamlet. In 1877 it had 541 inhabitants. 
 
 KHA-EWAI. — A village in the Shwe-gyeng district, on the left bank of 
 the Tsit-toung river a few miles above Tsit-toung, at the foot of some low 
 pagoda-crowned laterite hills which give it an exceedingly picturesque 
 appearance. It is noted for its knives, choppers and swords. 
 
 KHA-TENG-MA-THA.— A small vilkge in the Tham-boo-la circle, 
 Mye-dai township, Thayet district, amongst the western spurs of the Pegu 
 Roma rauge. For some years after the close of the second Burmese war a
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 257 
 
 small military force was stationed here ; this was subsequently replaced by 
 a detachment of the local Pegu Light Infantry, and since 1861 it has been 
 occupied by a small police force. 
 
 KHAT-TEE^YA.— A village of 882 inhabitants in 1877 in the Thee- 
 kweug circle of the Thee-kweng township, Bassein district, on the southern 
 bank of the Pan-ma-wa-dee near its source. 
 
 KHAT-TEE-YA. — A creek in the Bassein district, which rises on the 
 eastern slopes of the Arakan mountains and falls into the Bassein river near 
 Oo-tshit-kweng village. Boats 60 feet long can ascend at all seasons as far as 
 Ka-dek-khyoung, a distance of about six miles. In the rains advantage is 
 taken of the strong current downwards to float down rafts of bamboos cut in 
 the hills amongst which the river has its soui'ce. 
 
 KHAT-TOO. — A small river in the Bassein district which rises in the 
 lower eastern slopes of the Arakan mountains and falls into the Bassein river 
 at Le-myet-hua ; near its mouth it is about 30 feet wide and 12 feet deep, but 
 higher up during the hot season there is little or no water in it ; the bed is 
 sandy and gravelly : on its banks are found Pyengma {Lagerstroemia regince) 
 and Myouk-khyaw {Homalium tomentosum) in abundance and some 
 teak. 
 
 KHA-YA. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Than-lweng township, 
 Amherst district, on the right or northern bank of the Gyaing. In 1876 the 
 land revenue was Rs. 3,035, the capitation tax Rs. 1,637 and the population 
 
 1;584. 
 
 KHA-YA. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Gyaing 
 Than-lweng township, Amherst district, on the right bank of the Gyaing at 
 the mouth of the Kha-ya streamlet. In 1877 it had 717 inhabitants. 
 
 KHA-ZAING. — A revenue circle in the Than-lweng Hlaing-bhwai town- 
 ship, Amherst district, in the angle formed by the junction of the Kha-zaing 
 siream with the Hlaing-bhwai and extending northward to beyond the 
 latitude of Hlaing village. The inhabitants, who are principally Kareng, 
 numbered 1,373 in 1876, when the land revenue was Rs. 860 and the 
 capitation tax Rs. 1,365. 
 
 KHA-ZAING. — A small river in the Amherst district which rises in the 
 lowlands between the Sal ween and the Hlaing-bhwai and flowing eastwards falls 
 into the latter about half a mile below Kha-zaing village. It forms the 
 boundary between the Than-lweng Hlaing-bhwai and the Gyaing Attaran 
 townships towards the east, as the Hpa-an does towards the west, and in the 
 rains the two communicate, when a small canoe can pass between the Hlaing- 
 bhwai and the Salween. 
 
 KHA-ZAING. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Than- 
 lweng Hlaing-bhwai township, on the east bank of the Hlaing-bhwai river 
 about half a mile north of the mouth of the Kha-zaing a western tributary of the 
 Hlaing-bhwai. It contains a Police station and is the first halting place after 
 leaving Gyaing on the route by water from Maulmaiu to Hlaing-bhwai. In 
 1877 it had 578 inhabitants. 
 
 KHE-BOUNG.— A small village, of 551 inhabitants in 1877, in the 
 Thoon-daik circle, in the Kyoou-pyaw township, Bassein district, on the 
 
 33
 
 258 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 westevu bank of the Daga river, opposite the town of Kyoou-pyaw. It was 
 formerly known by its Talaiug name of Kyaik-kha-nan. 
 
 It is several times mentioned in Burmese and Taking history during the 
 reign of Badza-dhie-rit, king of Pegu. In A.D. 1406 (1410 according to 
 Burmese history) the ]3urmans under Prince Meng-re-kyaw-tswa invaded 
 Pegu but failed to take several towns in the south amongst which was 
 Khe-boung. At the next invasion in A.D. 1413, however, Khe-boung was 
 captured and remained in the possession of the Burmans until they were driven 
 out in 1414. 
 
 KHE-MAN. — A small revenue circle in the Poungday township, Prome 
 district, east of the northern end of Poungday, well cultivated with rice but 
 containing no large villages. Included in it are the formerly separate village 
 tracts of Shwe-ban-daw and Kyoon-daing. In 1876 the land revenue was 
 Rs. 992, the capitation tax Rs. 698 and the population 699. 
 
 KHWA. — A small river forming a portion of the boundary between the 
 Arakan and Pegu divisions. It takes its rise in the western slopes of the 
 Arakan Roma range and after a S.S.W. course of about 20 miles it turns to 
 the west for about 10 miles and then N.N.W. for 10 more when it disembogues 
 in the Bay of Bengal in 17° 43' 54" N. Lat. and 94° 38' 9" E. Long., a short 
 distance below the village of the same name. Its mouth forms a good 
 harbour but the entrance is rendered intricate and difficult by a bar of sand 
 which stretches across its mouth and on which during the ebb there are not 
 more than 2^ fathoms of water. It is affected by the tide as far as Than-ga- 
 ta-rwa during neap and Pien-ne-goou-rwa during spring tides, and small boats 
 can ascend as far as the former with the flood. Larger boats cannot' go 
 further up than Oon-mheng-rwa which can be reached in one tide. 
 
 KHWA. — The head-quarters of the southern township of the Sandoway 
 district on the right bank of the Khwa river about a mile from its mouth. 
 It has been much improved of late years and is well laid out with good broad, 
 straio-ht roads, crossing at right angles, one of which has been extended to 
 the neio-hbouriug village of Ta-man-goon. The one or two tidal creeks which 
 run u pinto the village are crossed by wooden foot bridges, built principally 
 by the people who, also, made the roads. The village is buried in a grove of 
 fruit trees ; mango, tamarind, jack, cocoanut, &c. The houses are generally 
 laro-e and o-ood, with timber posts, mat walls and thatched roofs. A little trade 
 dunng the favourable seasons of the year is carried on by sea with parts of the 
 Bassetn district further south and Chinese junks are occasionally seen 
 at anchor off the village. The only public buildings are a Court-house and 
 a police station. The population including that of the adjoining villages of 
 Ta-man-goon, Alay-rwa and Khyeng-tsoo was 1,088 in 1875, of whom nearly 
 all were Burmans, with a few Khyeng (52) and natives of India and only six 
 Arakanese, and 1,303 in 1877. 
 
 KHWA-LEK-YA. — A revenue circle in the Bassein district, on the left 
 bank of the Khwa river, adjoining Sandoway on the north and lying between 
 the Arakan Romas on the east and the Bay of Bengal on the west. It now 
 includes Bhaw-mee and has, therefore, the Tsheng-ma circle on the south. 
 The northern portion of the seacoast consists for the most part of a gently 
 shelving sandy beach, backed by undulating ground covered with forest, with 
 rocks appearing here and there ; below this the coast is rocky and abrupt
 
 BKITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 259 
 
 for some distance ; this is succeeded by alternating sand and rock to the 
 Oou stream where a rocky headland projects ; further south a sandy beach is 
 ao-ain found, with forest-clad hills coming" close down to the water^s edge. 
 The whole of the circle is a mountain tract covered with dense forest, with 
 patches of rice cultivation, iu fields towards the seacoast and elsewhere on the 
 hill slopes. The principal tree is the Ka-gnyeng. In 1867 the population was 
 1,769 aud the land revenue lis. 715. In 1876 the population was 2,460, 
 the laud revenue Rs. 1,010, the capitation tax Rs. 2,012 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 3,496. The name is derived from its position on the left 
 {Burmanice right) bank of the Khwa. See Khwa-lek-ivai. 
 
 KHWA-LEK-WAI. — A revenue circle in the extreme south of the 
 southera township of the Sandoway district, with an area of 194 square 
 miles, extending along the right bank of the Khwa river to the seacoast and 
 including the once independent circle of Rahaing. To the south is the Basseiu 
 district aud on the north the Loung-gyo circle. In 1875 the population 
 numbered 2,319 souls, of whom 1,698 were iu the old Khwa-lek-wai circle, 
 almost entirely Burmans with 65 Khyeugs, and 621, almost entirely 
 Arakanese, in Rahaing : in the same year the cajjitation tax amounted to 
 Rs. 2,160. In 1876 the population was 2,339, the land revenue Rs. 1,135, 
 the capitation tax Rs. 2,214 and the gross revenue, largely derived from the 
 net and fishery tax, Rs. 8,681. From Khwa, the principal village, a road 
 leads via Rahaing-bya across the Romas to Henzada, used to some extent by 
 Burmese traders. The meaning of the name is literally, " Left hand 
 Khwa," that is the Khwa circle on the left bank of the Khwa, as Burmans 
 call " left" bank what the English call the '' right " bank of a river. 
 
 KHWA-TSHOON.— A village in the Kyoon-taw circle, Ra-thai-douug 
 township, Akyab district, on the northern bank of the Ra-mouug-doon 
 stream at its junction wdth the Lek-ya-dek and the Lek-wai streams. In 
 1877 it had 682 inhabitants. 
 
 KHWA-TSHOON.— A village in the Thai-gan circle, Ra-thai-doung 
 township, Akyab district, on the western bank of the Ma-yoo river at the 
 mouths of the Tsheng-deug-bwa and Koo-la-pan-zan. It is the residence of 
 the Thoogyee of the circle and in 1877 had 748 inhabitants. 
 
 KHYAN-THA-GYEE.— A pagoda at Ze-ta-won in Martaban founded in 
 1299 A. D. by King Tsaw-theng-hmaing, and restored in 1785 by Moung 
 Pathee, Governor of Martaban, with funds sent to him for this purpose from 
 Ava by King Bhodaw Bhoora. The Talaing name " Kha-ba '' means the 
 same as the Burmese, viz., " cool, comfortable ^' and is supposed to be derived 
 from the coolness of the waters of a neighbouring tank. 
 
 KHYA-RA-GOON. — A revenue circle in the Prome district, now 
 including Tha-boung, a short distance south-east of Engma. The inhabit- 
 ants, who in 1877 numbered 1,661 souls, are mainly agriculturists. In that 
 year the land revenue was Rs. 2,586, the capitation tax Rs. 1,880 and the 
 gross revenue Rs. 4,522. 
 
 KHYAW. — A very small tribe of about 100 souls living in one village 
 in the Arakan hills on the banks of the Koo-la-dan. They are a fine strong 
 race said to be braver than any of the others. Tliough living amongst the 
 Kha-mie there is a marked dissimilarity in feature and dress : they can hardly
 
 260 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 be disting-uised from the lower class of Bengali peasantry of Chittagong : 
 they are dark with large features and the men wear their hair in a knot at 
 the back of the head, like the Khyoimg-tha, but shave a few inches from the 
 forehead and wear no head dress : they most probably belong to the Kookie 
 family but they have no traditions regarding their origin nor of how they came 
 amongst the Kha-mie in Arakan. They worship upright stones which they 
 erect in different parts of their villages and consecrate to the Nat. Their 
 language is unwritten : it is monosyllabic and presents marked similarities 
 with the other dialects of Chin-India. 
 
 KHYENG*. — A race of mountaineers scattered over all the hilly 
 country between Eastern Bengal, the western provinces of China and the 
 borders of Anuam and Cambodia but inhabiting more especially the chain 
 of hills which stretches southwards from the Himalayas to Cape Negrais. In 
 the north they are said to be wild and fierce, and those on the western slopes 
 of the Arakan mountains are described as the least civilised of the wild tribes 
 living in the Hill Tracts. In British territory they are quiet and harmless. 
 They have developed no form of government higher than the patriarchal and 
 have no written language. Almost their only occupation is agriculture of the 
 kind called toungya, the cultivation of patches on the mountain slopes aban- 
 doned after the crop is gathered, but under British rule they are gradually 
 taking to ordinary rice cultivation and, with the acquisition of fields in the 
 plains, lose much of their propensity for roving. The number of this tribe in 
 British Burma according to the census of 1872 was 51,117 souls, spread gener- 
 ally all over the Pegu division, but most numerous in the northern portion of 
 the valley of the Irrawaddy ; a few inhabit the southern and western slopes of 
 the Arakan mountains and the eastern slopes of the Pegu Romas. Symes, 
 who visited Ava at the end of the last century, describes them as " children 
 *' of nature, delighting in their wild and native freedom, for the most part 
 " insuperably averse to hold any communication with the people of the 
 plains. '^' 
 
 Colonel Yule describes them as of Indo-Chinese race and related to the 
 Kookies, Nagas, &c. ; Sir Arthur Phayre appears to con- 
 ^"8^"- sider that their own tradition of their origin — that they are 
 
 of the same lineage as the Arakanese and Burmese the stragg-lers from armies 
 or moving hordes left in the mountains — is correct, whilst Dr. Mason would 
 class them with the Kareng*. They call themselves Shyoo. The Burmese 
 name for the Pwo Kareng is Myit-khyeng or river Khyeng, which would seem 
 to support Dr. Mason's view, more especially as the Pwo Kareng call themselves 
 Sho and as the alphabet made by the Baptist Missionaries for the Pwo Kareng- 
 lano-uage can, with very slight modifications, be employed to express most of 
 the Khyeng sounds. By this means a version of the Gospel, according to 
 S. John, has been prepared which, though not without defects, can be under- 
 stood by Khyeng who have been taught to read. A few hymns also have 
 been translated and printed. 
 
 The Khyeng tradition as to the origin of the various races of man is that 
 in the beginning of the world, after the sun and moon had been created, the 
 earth by its own powers of productiveness brought forth a woman who was 
 
 * Extracted mainly from Lieutenant-Colonel Horace Browne's account of the Thayet- 
 myo district, published at Rangoon in 1874:.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 261 
 
 called Hlee-neu. Hlee-nea laid one hundred eg-gs^ which she hatched in cotton- 
 wool and from which sprang- one hundred human beings, the progenitors of 
 the different races of man. She then laid another egg which was beautifully 
 coloured as if by the hand of some skilful artist. In her affection for this egg 
 she placed it in a metal vessel instead of in cotton wool. As it failed to hatch 
 she thought that it was addled and throwing it on to the roof of her house 
 she exclaimed " if it is destined to be hatched let it go and take its chance of 
 *' finding a protector.'" The egg fell from the roof on to some rubbish in the 
 gutter and with it was carried away by the waters of a stream down which it 
 floated till lodged in a Yan-laik tree. Here it was seen by a bird called Asha-eum 
 {Cucidus paradisceicus , Linn.), who sat upon it and hatched it. It produced a 
 male and a female, who from the moment of their birth were separated. When 
 the girl had grown up she was carried off by a bear who kept her confined 
 in a tree. From this captivity she was delivered by a bee who directed 
 her to tie a piece of cotton to his tail and by this means guided her to 
 the male who, the bee informed her, was her brother, then living in the 
 valley of the Khyeng-dweng, a tributary of the Irrawaddy . In commemoration 
 of this a piece of cotton is tied to the hand of new-born infants. The male 
 had taken to himself a dog as wife, but he now wished to marry his sister, to 
 which she objected on the ground of their affinity. Hlee-neu was appealed to 
 and she decided that the dog-wife should be sacrificed and the young man 
 and maiden should marry ; that their sons and daughters should intermarry, 
 but that after that the brother^s daughters should marry the sister^s sons. 
 From this marriage sprang the Khyeng race, who still offer up a dog as a 
 sacrifice to the household spirits and give the daughters of brothers in 
 marriage to the sister's sons. Hlee-neu loved her youngest born son, but 
 before she found him she had already partitioned off the world among her other 
 children and had nothing left but inhospitable mountain ranges ; these she 
 gave him and added elephants, horses, cattle, goats, pigs and fowls, and 
 directed his Burman brother to look after his education. The Burman turned 
 out to be a very wicked and unscrupulous guardian, he pretended to educate 
 the Khyeng but he shewed him only the blank side of his slate, so that he 
 never learnt a single letter. Before he put him on an elephant he rubbed the 
 animal's back with cowhage, which so sorely tickled the poor Khyeng's bare 
 skin that he refused to have anything more to do with such animals and gave 
 them all to the Burmans. The buffalo too the Burman managed to deprive 
 him of : when lie tried to ride it the Burmau^s wife got in the way and was 
 knocked down ; the Burman complained to Hlee-neu who decided that the 
 buffalo should be given to the Burman in compensation for the injury done. 
 Ultimately of all the animals which had been given to him, goats, pigs and 
 fowls alone remained in his possession. The grasping Burman did not even 
 allow the Khyeng to remain in undisturbed occupation of his mountains ; 
 when the boundaries of the different countries were marked out the Burman 
 took care to mark his with permanent objects but the Khyeng set up no 
 marks save tufts of twisted grass which were burned uj) by the jungle fires, 
 on which the Khyeng had to live wherever the Burman told him. Thus his 
 
 * The tradition of Hlee-neu having laid 101 eggs from which all human races have sprung 
 corresponds with the Burman idea of the existence of 101 races of men in the world, amongst 
 whom the Khyeng and Koo-la are included ; under the latter designation are grouped all Euro- 
 peans and natives of India.
 
 262 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 race has never bad a country of its own but wanders over tbe mountain rang-es 
 of Burma. These traditions point clearly to long-continued and systematic 
 oppression on the part of the Burmese. 
 
 The origin of every law and custom is religiously assigned to Hlee-neu, 
 who is said to have laid down a complete code of laws for the guidance of her 
 Khyeng descendants before she died and departed to the happy land where she 
 still lives in eternal happiness. 
 
 If a Khyeng is able to speak a little Burmese and is asked as to his 
 _ .. . religion, he will probably answer that, following the cus- 
 
 tom of his ancestors, he worships the most excellent lord 
 Gaudama, but in saying this he is only repeating the formula that he 
 has often heard from his Burmese neighbours. All he means is that he 
 chiefly venerates the pagodas, and on certain occasions^ such as the annual 
 pagoda festivals, follows the multitude and conforms somewhat to the 
 Burmese customs. They acknowledge one God, a spirit, the Creator 
 and Ruler of the universe, who is so good that they -have nothing to 
 fear from him and so need not worship him, but they worship, with propitia- 
 tory offerings of khoung and sacrificial meats, the demons or nat who are 
 looked upon as the authors of all evil, and of whom there is an innumerable 
 body — of the trees, of the streams, of the hills, of the houses — and the 
 worship of two of these, the Oo-yoo-khoon and Mo-gouug nat (nat of the 
 heavens) was specially ordered by Hlee-neu. The offerings to the latter of 
 these two consist of cotton tassels, stones and the flowers of the Tha-bye tree 
 {Eugenia sp.), in obedience to the precept of Hlee-neu who said " Earth is the 
 " flesh and stones are the bones of the world. Let the nat of heaven be 
 " worshipped with the flowers of the Tha-bye tree and with a stone." These 
 sacrifices and offerings are made not only to ensure safety in this world but 
 to ensure admission into heaven after death ; to the happy land called Nga- 
 thien, where the spirits of good Khyeng join those of their ancestors and live 
 in perpetual enjoyment of the khoung and baked meats which they have 
 offered during life. 
 
 This " Khoung""^ is a fermented drink, an essential in Khyeng' nat 
 . oblation and indeed of Khyeng life generally, the excessive 
 
 drinking of which converts their feasts into scenes of dis- 
 gusting drunkenness. For their knowledge of khoung they consider themselves 
 indebted to their great mother Hlee-neu. During the infancy of her numerous 
 progeny Hlee-neu made a tank of milk for their sustenance, near which lived a 
 porcupine who drank some of the milk and, as a result, became covered with 
 quills instead of hairs. When the contents of the tank were exhausted there 
 sprang up the rice plant, pepper, brinjal {Solanum melongena), garlic, the pai- 
 tek-nee (a gigantic bean with red seeds) and the thit-khyo plant. The Khyeng, 
 fearing that the strength which they had derived from the milk would now 
 decrease, applied to Hlee-neu who directed them to prepare from the plants 
 growing in the tank a decoction to resemble the milk it had contained. " Take 
 " the bark of the thit-khyo, the root of the brinjal, the bean of the pai-tek-nee, 
 " pepper corns, garlic and the entrails of a porcupine, mix them up in rice flour 
 
 * Khoung is also made by the Ka-khyeng north and east of Bha-maw in Upper Burma 
 and of a better quality. It has been described as like creaming champagne and was drunk by the 
 Europeans of the Mission to Yunan under Colonel Horace Browne in 1874-75. Probably it was 
 not prepared in precisely the same way as that supposed to resemble Hlee-neu's milk.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 263 
 
 '' and make balls. Cover these up for three days and then expose them to the 
 '* sun until they become wort ; mix the wort with parboiled rice, put it into a 
 " pot and bury it for several days in a heap of unhusked rice; then add water 
 " according to taste and the divine khoung is ready to be sucked up through 
 " tubes. In taste it resembles Hlee-neu's milk and by it is man's strength 
 " increased. On account of its excellence it must always be offered to the nat.^' 
 Khyeng girls are given in marriage by their brothers not by their 
 Marriage parents. When a girl is born she is especially assigned to 
 
 one of her brothers or, if she has none, to one of her 
 father's sister's sons whose consent has to be obtained by any one who aspires 
 to her hand and who, after her marriage, must be treated with the greatest 
 respect by her husband. If the husband visits the brother he must take with 
 him a present of khoung, and should the brother visit him he must present to 
 him khoung and pork, or, if his circumstances are such that he cannot do 
 this, he must make profound apologies. As a rule girls are affianced early to 
 one of their cousins, but the match is not seldom broken off and in such a case 
 the defaulter, if the man, has to give to the girl five pots of khoung, a bullock 
 worth Ks. 30, a pig three feet in girth, a spear, a fork, a bag and 
 a piece of ornamented cloth ; if the girl, she has to give to the man a brass 
 dish worth about Rs. 15, a silk cloth and a silk belt each worth about Rs. 5 
 and a silk turban worth about eight annas. 
 
 When a marriage is contemplated, whether the parties have been pre- 
 viously affianced or not, their friends are invited to drink khoung at the man's 
 house. A pig is slaughtered and the liver placed on a brass dish for inspection 
 by the wise men.* If there are any marks upon the liver the marriage is post- 
 poned and the ceremony has to be repeated on a subsequent occasion; if the 
 signs are unpropitious on three successive occasions the match is finally broken 
 off and the intended bridegroom receives from the girl's parents a present 
 of a turban, a dress and a girdle " to wipe away tears." Marriages are cele- 
 brated in the bride's house : the bridegroom provides the pot of khoung over 
 which the ceremony takes place and his friends bring pork, the bride^s friends 
 producing fowls. A bamboo is neatly peeled and slit at the top, a cross 
 stick is inserted and the whole fastened into the pot of khoung, on each side 
 of which sit, and must remain, the party, the bridegroom and his friends oa 
 one side and the bride and her friends on the other. Should any one cross 
 from one side to the other he has to provide a pot of khoung. An elder on 
 the bridegroom's side rises and proposes that the marriage ceremony be per- 
 formed accoi'ding to the commands of Hlee-neu, An elder on the bride's side 
 then recites Hlee-neu's decision on the application made to her by the first 
 parents of the tribe. The bridegroom makes presents to the bride's brother 
 aod receives his consent to the marriage (if the brother is not satisfied the 
 points in dispute are then and there decided by the elders) and the brother 
 signifies his assent by eating of the bridegroom's pork ; the celebration 
 of the marriage is then complete and the bride belongs to the bridegroom. 
 The marriage presents are then given. None of the bride's party are allowed 
 to touch the pork, nor of the bridegroom's to touch the fowls ; if this rule is 
 broken more khoung has to be given and pork if the offender is of the bride- 
 groom's party and fowls if of the bride's. 
 
 * Cf. Kareng cnstoma, page '2.S0, line 40 et xeq.
 
 264 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Some days later the newly married pair g-ive security that they will 
 behave properly to each other and in evidence of the compact a notch is cut 
 in a tree*. The man's agreement is that he will not beat his wife immoderately 
 or so severely as to break a bamboo over her, to draw blood or to maim her, 
 nor will he cut off her hair ; the woman^s, that she will behave to her husband 
 as a wife should do. If she misbehaves the husband can chastize her moder- 
 ately, but should he do so immoderately he has to make peace with her 
 brother, who can take her away if he is not satisfied. If the wife deserts her 
 husband her sureties have to find him another wife. If she commits adultery 
 she forfeits the whole of her property to her husband and has also to give two 
 gongs, a bullock, a brass dish, a dha-lway or sword and a piece of blue cloth. 
 If a man wishes to take a second wife he must obtain the consent of his first 
 wife's brother who, if not satisfied, can deprive him of his first wife. When 
 a man dies his widow belongs to his brotherf ; she can marry no one else unless 
 they refuse to marry her in which case her brother can give her 
 to auvone else ; she can refuse to remarry only on taking a vow to remain 
 unmaiTied and to worship her husband's household nat. If after this vow she 
 marries she has to pay Rs. 30 and her husband forfeits three bullocks and a 
 cow. Divorces are obtainable and the sentence is pronounced by the elders, 
 but they are rarely sought. 
 
 A death is made an occasion for much feasting. Bullocks, buffaloes, pigs 
 , and fowls are slaughtered, according to the means of the 
 
 family, to entertain the guests and to propitiate the nat 
 so that the deceased may safely reach the happy land, Nga-thien. The corpse, 
 with a fowl tied to one of its big toes, is carried on a stretcher to the burning 
 place and, together with the fowl, is burned. The bones of the deceased, 
 plucked from the embers, are washed in khoung, rubbed with turmeric and 
 placed in a pot, where they remain for a year or more till they can be taken 
 to the family burying ground where they are finally deposited. These burial 
 places are few in number and considerable reserve is shewn by the Khyeng 
 with regard to their position : there is a very extensive one in Upper Burma 
 to which are carried the relics of many Khyeng who die in British Burma. 
 The ceremony of depositing the bones in the family place of burial is some- 
 what similar to an Irish wake ; there is much eating and drinking and 
 boisterous behaviour. One custom on such occasions is peculiar and would 
 seem to shew that there is amongst the Khyeng some sense of a god as a 
 present disposer of events, whether prosperous or untoward. A man, standing 
 at the grave, brandishes a sword and raises the insolent cry " Art thou 
 " satisfied now with the accomplishment of thy purpose in the death of this 
 " one of thy creatures ?" 
 
 The chief peculiarities of the Khyeng law of inheritance are that as soon 
 ^ , . as a woman is married she loses all claim to inherit her 
 
 parents' property, provided that her parents have other 
 children, and that when parents have several children the last married or the 
 one who remains single cannot leave his or her parents' house, but is bound 
 to remain with, work for, and feed them : on the parents' death this child is 
 entitled to three-fifths of the property. 
 
 * Cf, Kareng custom, page 236, line 7 from bottom. 
 t Cf. Deuteronomy, chapter XXV.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 265 
 
 In obedience to the commands of Hlee-ncu Khyeng swear on the flower 
 
 Oaths ^^ ^^^^ Tha-bye tree and on a stone : ^' when disputes^' 
 
 " arise and oaths have to be taken let the swearer hold a" 
 
 '^ Tha-bye flower and let him take up a stone. Let him who ventures to'^ 
 
 '' swear in this way gain his cause. " 
 
 It has hitherto been the custom with Khyeng young women^ soon after 
 Tattooins ^^^^^ arrive at years of puberty, to tattoo the whole of 
 
 their faces with vertical and closely adjoining narrow black 
 lines which, as Symes very correctly observes^ '* gives a most extraordinary 
 appearance." The origin of the custom is not known ; according to some it 
 was prescribed by Hlee-neu with the object of preventing the young men of 
 other tribes from falling in love with Khyeng maidens ; according to others 
 it was adopted with a view of preventing the Burmans from depriving them^ 
 as they once did, of their most comely females ; and according to others the 
 object was that they might be able to trace their women when carried away 
 by other tribes. The custom was lately universal but in British territory it 
 is slowly dying out. 
 
 The Khyeng in appearance resemble the Burmans much more than any 
 Pj.ggg of their cognate tribes, the Kareng for instance. A 
 
 Khyeng man, when he abandons his natural dress which 
 is nothing but a narrow strip of cloth and adopts the Burman kilt or waist- 
 cloth, is indistinguishable from a Burman save by the absence of tattooing 
 on the legs and now that the custom of so marking the limbs is by no means 
 universally followed amongst the Burmese this distinguishing mark is not a 
 safe one : the women are naturally pretty and seem far less willing than the 
 men to adopt the Burmese costume, generally wearing a dark blouse orna- 
 mented with red and with white thread. 
 
 Many centuries of oppression have made the Khyeng a timid and a retir- 
 Character ^"» ^'^^^ though, perhaps, less SO than the Kareng : they 
 
 are seldom genial and communicative unless visited in 
 their villages or under the influence of khoung. A Khyeng rarely takes to 
 violent crime but when he does he becomes and remains a most dangerous 
 character, vindictive, wantonly and brutally cruel and merciless, exhibiting 
 great boldness in attack and great skill in evading capture. 
 
 KHYENG-GOON.— A village in 19° 7' 10" N. Lat. and 95° 25' 15* E. 
 Long., containing about eighty houses, in the Tsheng-doop circle, Myedai town- 
 ship, Thayet district. It is close to Tsheng-doop, which gives its name to the 
 circle, in a rice plain on one of the affluents of the Bhwot-lay. The inhabitants 
 are chiefly engaged in agriculture. 
 
 KHYIET-TOUNG.— A village of 473 inhabitants in 1877, in the Kyien 
 circle, Meng-bra township, Akyab district, on the western bank of the Thai-dan. 
 
 KHYOUK-RWA. — A revenue circle in the Oot-hpo township of the 
 Henzada district, west of the Irrawaddy and l)ordering on the Le-rayet-hna 
 township of the Bassein district, on the right bank of the Bassein river. 
 Towards the west the country is hilly but elsewhere it is well suited for rice 
 cultivation of which there is a good deal. In 1876 the land revenue was 
 Ks. 7,615, the capitation tax Rs. 6,657, the gross revenue Rs. 15,525 and the 
 population 7,776 souls. 
 
 34
 
 266 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KHYOUK-TSHAY.-^A revenue circle in the Le-rayet-hna township, 
 Bassein district, 30 square miles in extent, occupying the south-eastern corner 
 of the township, between the Bassein river on the east and the Hlaw-ga-ta, 
 its affluent, on the south-east. It is only partially cultivated the ground 
 being generally low and subject to inundation. The inhabitants are employed 
 mainly in cultivation, fishing and forestry. In 1876 the land revenue was 
 Rs. 1,051, the capitation tax Rs. 2,720, the gross revenue Rs. 5,362 and the 
 population 2,485 souls. 
 
 KHYOUNG-BYA. — A small village in the Tha-loo circle, l^hyouk-hpyoo 
 township, Khyouk-hpyoo district, the head-quarters of the thoo-gyee, locally 
 noted for its pottery manufacture. 
 
 KHYOUNG-BYA. — A large revenue circle in the north of the Kyouk- 
 gyee township of the Shwe-gyeng district, lying along the western slopes 
 of the low range running parallel to the Tsit-toung river, about 265 square 
 miles in extent. In 1876 the population, composed mainly of Kareng, 
 numbered 2,062, the capitation tax was Rs. 837, the land revenue Rs. 1,083 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 2,155. 
 
 KHYOUNG-DOUNG-GYEE.— A village in the Shwe-doung township, 
 Prome district, in 18° 38' 0" N. and 95° 16' 40" E., on the left bank of the 
 Irrawaddy, immediately to the north of Kyee-thay and at the lower end of the 
 Theng-byoo fen. 
 
 KHYOUNG-DOUNG-SHAN.— A village in the Shwe-doung township, 
 Prome district, on the left bank of the Irrawaddy above and adjoining Kyee-thay. 
 
 KHYOUNG-GOUNG-GYEE.— A river which rises in the western slopes 
 of the Pegu mountains and, flowing through the Thayet district in a westerly 
 direction, unites with the Pa-de and other streams to form the Bhwot-lay. 
 
 KHYOUNG-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the Central township of the 
 Sandoway district, east of Sandoway, on the upper course of the Sandoway 
 river, with the Kyien-ta-lee-bya circle on the east, the Lek-wai-a-she circle 
 on the north and the Tsa-wa and Ka-myit circles on the south, separated from 
 the lastby the Pa-hoon spur of the main range. The principal villages, all on the 
 banks of the Sandoway river, are Shan-toung, A-gnyit, Daing-baing and 
 Kyoung-toung. The greater portion of the circle is hilly and a great deal of it 
 is unculturable. The most important product is tobacco. In 1876 the land 
 revenue was Rs. 1,087, the capitation tax Rs. 898, the gross revenue Rs. 1,985 
 and the population 1,072 souls. 
 
 KHYOUNG-KHWA. — A revenue circle in the Kyan-kheng township 
 of the Henzada district, having the Rwa-thit circle on the west and north and 
 the Eng-lat circle of the Kyan-kheng and the Pa-daw circle of the Myanoung 
 township on the south and east, containing a good deal of land under rice. 
 In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 2,590, the capitation tax Rs. 1,352, the 
 gross revenue Rs. 3,962 and the population 1,326. 
 
 KHYOUNG-THA.— Literally ''children of the stream"; a tribe of 
 which in the hill tracts of Arakan there were 1,261 souls in 1876 ; 
 they are found only on the banks of the Koo-la-dan river. They are the least 
 uncivilized of all the hill tribes and dress better ; some of them are able to 
 read and write the old Burmese or Arakanese character. The men wear a 
 cotton, or sometimes silk, cloth reaching from the hips to below the knee, a
 
 BUITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 267 
 
 short jacket with sleevee, fastening at the throat, and a turban : the hair hangs 
 coiled into a knot towatrds the back of the head. The women wear the Bur- 
 mese hta-mien or petticoat, open in front but covering the breast and leaving 
 the arms and shoulders exposed. The men tattoo themselves^ but not so 
 much as the Burmaus, and the name of God is usually tattooed on the shoulder. 
 They carry on most of the traffic amongst the hill tribes, which is usually 
 done by barter, and are the only tribe which understands the use of medicines. 
 They appear to be a portion of the original inhabitants of Arakan driven up 
 the river at the time of the occupation of the country by the Burmese. They 
 are nominally Booddhists but their religion is mixed up with spirit worship. 
 " Their parent stream is looked upon with a holy love, not only as affording 
 " them sustenance but likewise a ready passage by which to flee from the 
 " attacks of their foes. At the northern outskirts of each village, from which 
 " quarter alone they dread the advent of any danger (all to the south being 
 ^' in possession of the English), in the direction of the forest, and under 
 " the shade of the comeliest tree, may be seen the shrine of their two Nats, 
 '' the one male the other female. They are represented by two pebbles 
 " picked from the banks of the river.* The female is considered the most 
 " powerful, and is meant to represent the Mayoo Nat, or spirit which pre- 
 ^' sides over the mouth of the Myoo river ; she is believed to be a most 
 '* powerful spirit, the guardian of Arracan from all the dangers of the 
 
 " sea The other, or male spirit, is called Rwatsoung Nat or ' the village ' 
 
 " ' guardian ' to whom, as his name implies, is entrusted the care of the village. 
 " They believe, to use their identical words, that ' should he withdraw his 
 " ' favour the evil eye would glare upon their children ; sickness would 
 " ' devastate their healths ; the floods would sweep away the foundations of 
 '^ ' their homes ; and their most favourite haunts would become the prowl of 
 " ' the tiger and wild cat o'mount.' Whenever a new shrine is to be erected 
 " fresh stones are chosen, the village is tabooed for seven days, sentinels are 
 " placed on all the surrounding heights to prevent the ingress or egress of 
 '' any person, and sacrifices of fowls and pigs are made. Around each stone 
 ^' is wound some cotton thread coloured yellow with turmeric, f Before 
 marriage intercourse between the sexes is unrestricted but after marriage 
 chastity is insisted on : girls marry when about fifteen or sixteen, and the 
 boys as young as nineteen. As might be expected from their greater 
 civilization and Burmanised manners the marriage ceremony is not so simple 
 as amongst the other hill tribes. If the man has not selected his wife his 
 parents choose one for him. A relation is sent to the parents of the girl and 
 if they consent a day is fixed on which they meet in the house of the bride's 
 father and arrange the preliminaries ; that night the bridegroom's father and 
 mother remain in the house of the woman's parents. A favourable day is then 
 fixed on and on that day the bridegroom and his relations go to the bride's 
 village and stay in a temporary shed built for them, receiving the visits of 
 the villagers, the bride doing the same in her father's house. At sunset the 
 bridegroom goes to his future father-in-law's house and the religious ceremony 
 is performed. Rice, mango leaves and pots of water arc placed on the floor 
 
 * They are placed lying down in a flat position each having a sort of baby house erected to 
 receive it. 
 
 t A note on some hill tribes on the Koo-la-dan river by Lieut. T. Latter, Journal of the 
 Bengal Asiatic Society : Vol. XV. (1840) pp. 01, 02.
 
 268 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 between the bride and bridegroom, who face each other, and a uewly-spua 
 cotton thread is wound round the whole. A Booddhist priest then reads 
 some sentences in Pali and taking cooked rice in each hand he feeds the 
 couple seven times, alternately, crossing and recrossing his arms. Finally he 
 hooks the little finger of the bridegroom^s right hand into that of the bride's 
 left hand, repeats some more Pali sentences and the ceremony is complete.* 
 
 Their funerals, also, are conducted more like those of the Burmese. The 
 body is carried to the burning ground and, if of a man, laid on a pile of three 
 layers, if of a woman of four ; a priest repeats some Pali phrases and the pile 
 is fired by the nearest relative, male or female : the ashes are afterwards 
 collected and buried on the spot. 
 
 Three times a year they feast the dead, but simply by putting aside food 
 and drink for them which after a few days are thrown away. 
 
 KHYOUNG-THA. — A small river in the Bassein district, which rises in 
 the western slopes of the Arakan mountains and falls into the Bay of Bengal 
 near the village of Khyoung-tha : at the springs the tide reaches nearly to the 
 source of the river. About five miles from the mouth there are five feet of 
 water and boats of 500 baskets burden can ascend thus far. 
 
 KHYOUNG-TSHOON,— A long village on Bhee-loo-gywon in the 
 Amherst district, stretching in two lines of houses, one on each side of the 
 road, to and beyond a pass through the low hills which form the backbone, 
 as it were, of the island. The western portion is called Weng-tsien and the 
 eastern Kha-raik-thit. The village lies on the edge of the low hills and in the 
 pass, partly in the plains and partly on the slightly and almost imperceptibly 
 rising ground. On the west a valley extends up northwards between Weng- 
 tsien and the rest of the village and advantage has been taken of this to form 
 an artificial reservoir of water by throwing an embankment across the valley. 
 This embankment is traversed by a road and is lined on the north or reservoir 
 side by a line of trees, the handsome purple-flowering Lagerstroemia regince 
 predominating, with the Khyee-beng, with its insignificant bottle-brush- 
 looking, brick-red flowers, and other kinds interspersed. This embankment, 
 on the south of the eastern approach to which is a handsome Thien newly 
 repaired and ornamented with scarlet and gold, retains a large volume of 
 water ; in the hot season the area is about one square mile and the depth ten 
 feet and in the rains very nearly double this both in area and in depth. 
 This most useful work was constructed entirely by the people, urged thereto 
 by a Booddhist priest whose monastery is in the neighbourhood, and is kept 
 in repair by them. The State has made a bridged opening at the western 
 end as an escape to prevent the water from overflowing the road. 
 
 The village is connected with Nat-maw on the Salween, about four miles 
 off, by a good road across the rice plains, commenced by Major Broadfoot, 
 which is in repair. This road is much used and has done a great deal to attract 
 population to the neighbourhood. The only public buildings are a Court- 
 house and a Police station. The number of inhabitants of the group of 
 villages was 1,357 in 1868 and 1,958 in 1877. 
 
 * The iutcrvcntiou of the Booddhist priest and his manual acts, so contrary to pure Bood- 
 dhist practice, mark strongly, both as regards the people and the priesthood, the iutiueuce of 
 the customs and habits of the inhabitants of Chittagong.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 269 
 
 KHYOUNG-TSOUK.— A village iu the Prome district, in 18° 58' 40'' 
 N. aud 19° 37' 45" E., among'st the hills in the northern portion of the 
 district, on the bank of the Khyoung-tsouk stream, inhabited chiefly by 
 hill garden cultivators. 
 
 KHYOUNG-TSOUK.— A river in the Prome district, formed by the 
 junction of two mountain-torrents both rising- in the southern slo[)es of the 
 Padouk spur four or five miles west of the main chain of the Pegu Roma 
 mountains, a subsidiary offshoot from which separates them from each other 
 for the first six or seven miles of their course north-westward. After their 
 junction the river turns south-west and, receiving numerous small and unim- 
 portant tributaries on its way down, falls into the south Na-weng near the 
 village of Khyoung-khwa, where the Eug-goon and the Gway meet it, all 
 three discharging their waters by the same mouth. In the short portion of 
 its course which lies in the valley of the south Na-weng the bed is sandy and 
 muddy and the steep banks are lined with elephant grass and bamboos, but 
 higher up the bed is rocky. The hills amongst which it winds are covered 
 with teak and other large forest trees which, when felled, are, in the rains, 
 floated down it to the south Na-weng and to the Irrawaddy. The river is not 
 navigable by boats at any season. At Ka-deng-hnit-tohay, well up amongst the 
 hills, is a '' magnificent waterfall which in the dry season appears as an insuper- 
 *' able obstruction to the floating down of timber but where, in the height of 
 '' the rains, to give the expression of the Burmese foresters of that district, it 
 " is awful to see how one log after the other takes the leap over the rocks 
 ^' into the abyss below and then quietly floats on in the smooth waters 
 " beneath."* 
 
 KING ISLAND. — An island of the Mergui Archipelago forming a por- 
 tion of the Mergui district of the Tenasserim division, between 12° 19' and 
 12° 42' N. Lat. and 98° 9' and 98' 21' W. Long, about ten miles from the 
 coast, west of the mouths of the Tenasserim river. Its length from north to 
 south is twenty-six miles and its breadth from east to west ten miles, A 
 high range of hills runs along its western side, leaving on the eastern side a 
 rich alluvial plain twenty miles long and five broad. At the north end there 
 is a fine bay forming an excellent well-sheltered harbour, and on the island at 
 this spot is to be found plenty of good water. The bay is called " French Bay" 
 from having been used by the French ships of war during the wars between 
 England aud France, from whence they issued to capture British merchant 
 vessels : the existence of this harbour was then unknown to the British. The 
 isla.nd produces the largest timber found in the district, well fitted for masts 
 and spars. It is sparsely inhabited by Burmese and Kareng. 
 
 KISSERING. — An island in the Mergui Archipelago attached to the 
 Mergui district of the Tenasserim division, and situated between 11° 32' and 
 11°47' N. Lat. and 98° 15' and 98° 25' E. Long, off the mouth of the Le-gnya 
 river. It is one of the most fertile and picturesque islands in the group, com- 
 posed of undulating land of the richest description but now covered with 
 dense forest. During the Siamese rule it was well cultivated, and there was 
 on it a large town of the same name, of which only large heaps of bricks remain 
 to attest that it must have been a place of some size. The town and island 
 
 * Dr. Braudis' rcpoit ou the Pegu Forests.
 
 270 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 were deserted by the inhabitants when the country was conquered by the 
 Burmese in the time of Aloung-bhoora {Alompra). 
 
 KO-BENG. — A rising village of the Shwe-tshan-daw circle, Mye-dai town- 
 ship, Thayet district, situated on the Pa-de stream. Ten years ago it was 
 entered in the returns as containing thirteen houses : it now has nearly one 
 hundred. 
 
 KO-DOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Ang-yee township, Rangoon district, 
 separated on the north by the Khanoung and the A-gat creeks from Pyaw- 
 bhway. On the east it is bounded by the Rangoon river, on the south by the 
 Tha-khwot-peng and the A-hparoon rivers, the former separating it from Moot- 
 kywon and the latter from Htan-ma-naing. On the west is the Kaw-hmoo 
 circle from which it is separated by a stream which forms a portion of the 
 Lweng-gyee Eng. The greatest length from east to west is about nine miles 
 and the greatest breadth about eight. In 1876 it had a population of 5,389 
 souls, or about 103 to the square mile, the greater portion being Kareug and 
 almost the whole agricultural. The soil generally is exceedingly fertile. In 
 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 46,728 the capitation tax Rs. 7;490 and the 
 gross revenue Rs. 54,868. 
 
 KO-GYEE-LOOP. — A small revenue circle in the Prome district to the 
 east of the Zay stream and west of the Tseedaing circle. In 1876 it had a popu- 
 lation of 251 souls, a land revenue of Rs. 281, capitation tax Rs. 273 and a 
 gross revenue of Rs. 554. 
 
 KO-KAING.— A small village of 377 inhabitants in 1877, north of and 
 a few miles from Rangoon. During the first Burmese war this village 
 was the scene of some severe fighting. The Burman general having erected 
 entrenchments, Major-General Campbell moved out against him on the 15th 
 December 1854 in two columns, the right, under Brigadier-General Cotton, 
 of 540 men from the 13th, 18th and the 34th regiment M. N. I. with 60 of the 
 Governor-Generars body guard, the left, under General Campbell himself, 800 
 strong and composed of detachments of the 38th, 39th, and 41st regiments, 
 and of the 9th 13th 28th and 30th regiments N. I. with 100 men of the body 
 guard. The works were found to consist of two large stockades connected by 
 a central entrenchment ; each wing was about 400 yards long by 200 broad 
 and projected considerably beyond the centre. The right column attacked 
 the centre whilst the left, forming into two divisions, attacked the flanking stock- 
 ades. In fifteen minutes the whole of the works were in the possession of the 
 assailants. The total number of killed was eighteen, including Lieutenants 
 Darby, Petsy and Jones of the 13th and O'Hanlon of the Bengal Artillery, who 
 died of his wounds, and the wounded to one hundred and fourteen, including 
 seven ofiicers of the 13th. 
 
 KOO-BHYOO. — A revenue circle in the Ta-pwon township, in the northern 
 portion of the Heuzada district, to the east of the Irrawaddy, to which is now 
 united Goon-gnyeng-dan. The circle contains a good deal of tree forest in which 
 are found Eng {Dipterocarpus tuherculatus), Pyeng-ma (Lagerstroernia regince), 
 Pyeng-gado {Xylia dolabriformis) and Reug-daik {Dalbergia cultrata). In 1876 
 the united circles had a population of 8,740 souls, and produced a gross revenue 
 of Rs. 16,439, of which Rs. 7,654 were derived from the laud, Rs. 8,235 from 
 the capitation tax and the rest from other sources.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 271 
 
 KOO-BHYOO. — A revenue circle in the Meng-doon township, Thayet- 
 myo district, having an area of thirty-five square miles, a population in 1876 
 of 3,345 souls of whom about some 200 are Khyeug and furnishing a revenue 
 in that year of Rs. 5,410, of which Rs. 2,841 were derived from land and Rs. 
 2,361 from capitation tax. Rather more than eight square miles are cultur- 
 able, and about half are actually cultivated. Eight of the old village tracts are 
 row included within the limits of this circle, of which Koo-hbyoo, Tha-dwou- 
 no-ay, Pan-gnyo and Moo were united to it at the annexation and the 
 ofhers have been subsequently added ; Doo in 1856, and Oo-yeeu-bo and 
 Pazwon-myoung in 1858. The products are rice, sessamum, cotton, plantains, 
 maize, tobacco, chillies, onions, cutch, and thatch grass, and in the Burmese time 
 salt, extracted from a brine spring in Pan-gnyo near the village of Tsan-gyee. 
 KOOK-KO. — A tidal creek in the Myoug-mya township, navigable by 
 river steamers, and flowing between the Ewe and Pya-ma-law rivers; its western 
 mouth is about three miles below La-bwot-ta. 
 
 KOOK-KO. — A revenue circle in the Myeboon township, Kyouk-hpyoo 
 trict, on the shore of Combermere Bay, composed of islands separated by tidal 
 creeks. It has an area of 21 square miles and a population of 2,006 souls. 
 In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 2,040, the capitation tax Rs. 2,193 and the 
 gross revenue Rs. 4,535. 
 
 KOOK-KO. — A village of 600 inhabitants in the revenue circle of the same 
 name in the Mye-boon township, Khyouk-hpyoo district. 
 
 KOOK-KO-BENG. — A revenue circle in the Prome district, now formed of 
 several united village tracts, about four miles south-west of Poungday. It has 
 no large villages ; the most populous one is Gnyoung-bhyoo-gyee, containing 
 somewhat over three hundred inhabitants. 
 
 KOO-LA-DAN. — A river in Arakan which has its sources in the moun- 
 tainous country in the north, somewhere, it is supposed, in the neighboui'hood 
 of the Blue Mountain, and with a general N. and S. direction falls into the 
 Bay of Bengal at Akyab, whei'e it is called by Europeans the Arakan river 
 but by the inhabitants of the country Ga-tsha-bha. Before it leaves the 
 hills it is fed by numerous streams, the two largest of which ai'e the Mee 
 from the east and the Pee from the west, and its banks are inhabited by 
 hillmen. It is navigable by vessels of from 300 to 400 tons burden for 
 nearly fifty miles from its mouth, which forms a large harbour with good 
 holding ground, protected from the violence of the S. W. monsoon by the 
 Borongo islands and at its entrance by a rocky islet, called Savage Island, 
 on which stands a light-house erected in 1842 and supplied with more per 
 feet reflecting apparatus in 1871. The entrance is, however, somewhat dan- 
 gerous and difficult and very shallow at low tide, there being then barely 32 
 fathoms, necessarily much reduced when a rolling swell sets in. 
 
 KOO-LA-DAN. — A township in the north of the Akyab district, adjoin- 
 ing the Hill Tracts and having Mro-houng on the south and east and Oo-rit- 
 touug West on the west. It is divided into eight revenue circles. Except 
 to the soiith, on the banks of the Koo-la-dan and of its tributary the Pee, 
 the country is hilly and forest-clad. The township contains no large towns 
 and not much cultivation. The head-quarters are on the right bank of 
 the Koo-la-dan river not far from the Maha-moo-nee temple : q. v. The name 
 "Koo-la-dan" is derived from " Koo-la,^' a western foreigner, and "dan''
 
 272 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 or "tan" which, when used in this connection, means a locality or 
 quarter, because the captives made by the Arakanese in their raids in 
 Chittagong were settled here : to the present day the tract contains many 
 Musulmans of mixed descent, especially along the right bank of the Koo-la- 
 dan. In 1876 the land revenue was Es. 47,536, the capitation tax Ks. 18,392 
 the gross revenue Es. 68,408 and the population 15,406 souls. 
 
 KOO-LA-PAN-ZENG. — A revenue circle in the north of the Ea-thai- 
 douncf township, Akyab district, to which has been added Tsaing-dan. In 
 1874-75 7,199 acres of land were under cultivation and the land revenue 
 realized was Es. 10,644. The population in 1876-77 numbered 12,648 
 souls, the capitation tax amounted to Es. 8,215, the land revenue to 
 Es. 10,983 and the gross revenue to Es. 19,806. 
 
 KOON-DAN. — A revenue circle in the Hmaw-bhee township, Eangoon 
 district, lying to the west of the low termmal ridge of the Eoma mountains, 
 adjoining and north of the town of Eangoon and stretching eastwards to 
 the Poo-zwon-doung river which separates it from the Kyouk-khyoung and 
 Tsit-peng circles of the same township. To the west is the Meng-ga-la- 
 doon circle and to the north Ee-tho. The eastern portion of the circle is hilly 
 and unfitted for rice cultivation. Sku'tingthe rice plains on the western side 
 is the Meng-lan or old " Eoyal road." The circle is traversed by the road 
 from Eangoon towards Prome, running northward ; the principal villages are 
 Pouk-taw with 755 inhabitants in 1876, Kam-bai, where there is a police 
 guard, with 877 inhabitants, Ee-goo with 448, and Ta-da-ga-le on the Poo- 
 zwon-doung river with 526. In that year the population of the whole circle 
 was 8,253, the land revenue Es. 18,117 and the amount of the capitation 
 tax Es. 7,308. 
 
 KOON-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Mye-dai township, Thayet 
 district, within the limits of which are what were, at the preparation of the 
 great register nearly one hundred years ago, the two registered village 
 circles of Kook-ko-hla and Kyet-roon-gyee. It has an area of 30,720 acres 
 of which about 27,000 are unculturable and about 1,900 are cultivated. 
 The principal villages are Goon-daw about a mile and a half inland from 
 the Irrawaddy and Kyet-roon-gyee, on the stream of the same name which 
 unites with other rivulets to form the Eetshoon a tributary of the Kye-nee. 
 The principal products are rice, sessamum, cotton, plantains, custard apples 
 and maize. In 1876 the population numbered 2,174 souls, the land 
 revenue was Es. 1,160, the capitation tax Es. 2,260 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 3,503. 
 
 KOON-LAY. — A village of seventy houses ui the Tham-boo-la circle, 
 Mye-dai township, Thayet district. 
 
 KOON-PYENG. — A revenue chcle in the Kyouk-ldiyoung-gale township 
 — now joined to Le-myet-hna — Bassein district, 101 square miles in extent 
 and stretching eastward from the Arakan mountains on the north of the Kwon 
 stream with the Thoung-dan circle on the west and the Kan-nee circle on the 
 south. In the eastern part there is a fair amount of rice cultivation, but 
 towards the west the country is a mass of forest-covered hills gradually rising 
 into the Arakan mountains. The inhabitants of the circle are engaged 
 in agricultural pursuits and in forestry. In 1876 the population was 6,513
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 273 
 
 souls, the land revenue Rs. 9,737, the capitation tax Rs. 7,312 and the 
 gross revenue Rs. 17,541. 
 
 KOON-RO. — A village in the Prome district six miles east of the town 
 of Prome in a large rice tract and within the limits of Ya-thay-myo, or 
 Tha-re-khet-tara, the ruined capital of the ancient Prome kingdom. 
 
 KOON-RWA-LENG. — A revenue cii'cle in the Prome district extending 
 along the left bank of the Irrawaddy northwards from the Naweng river 
 and including five of the old village tracts, viz., Koon-rwa-leng, Hpo-goung, 
 Lek-khoop-peng, Mya-rwa, and Nga-pat. In 1876 it had a population of 
 1,858, the land revenue was Rs. 1,361, the capitation tax Rs. 1,948 and 
 the gross revenue Rs. 4,253. 
 
 KOON-TA-LOON. — A revenue ch-cle in the Kan-oung townshij) of the 
 Henzada district westward of Kan-oung, now forming a portion of the 
 Kan-oung Myoma cu-cle, well cultivated towards the north and east. 
 
 KOON-TENG-NGAY. — A village in the Prome district inhabited mainly 
 by agricultmists engaged in rice cultivation and situated about two miles 
 west of the village of Loung-gyee. 
 
 KOON-TSENG. — A revenue circle of the Prome district about eleven 
 miles east of Prome ; the major portion is under rice cultivation. It is now 
 united to Gaw-ta-maw. 
 
 KOOT-THIEN-NA-ROON.— A pagoda in the Shwe-gyeng district at the 
 village of Ayek-thai-ma, about six miles to the north of the town of Bhee- 
 leng. According to the local traditions two brothers, prmces, the elder of 
 whom was married, settled in the neighbom'hood. The wife of the elder 
 died in giving bu'th to a daughter and subsequently the elder brother him- 
 self died. On his deathbed he gave his brother his deceased wife's ring 
 with an injunction to marry no one whose finger it would not fit. After 
 much search it was found that the ring fitted the orphan niece. She 
 besought her uncle to allow her to build a pagoda before the di'eaded marriage 
 took place and so arranged that she was immm-ed in it and escajDed the 
 incestuous intercom*se at the expense of her life. 
 
 KO-TOUNG. — A village in the Peng-ga-daw cu'cle, Mye-dai township, 
 Thayet district, on one of the small feeders of the Ivhyoung-goung-gyee 
 river. About ten years ago the village, which is now of sixty-five houses, 
 was returned as containing only twelve. 
 
 KOUK-GWAI. — A river in the Prome district which rises in the un- 
 dulating ground north of Wet-htee-gan and, after receiving the waters brought 
 down by the Eng-roon, falls into the Na-weng near Tha-pan-khyo. In the 
 rains small boats can ascend as far as the village of Kam-bhce-la : the banks 
 are moderately steep and the bed sandy ; towards the soui'ce they are 
 fringed with tree-forest but from the village of Zee-goon to the Na-weng 
 this stream runs through a small tract of cultivated land. 
 
 KOUNG-TSEE. — A revenue circle in the Prome district north-east of 
 Prome, south of the Teng-gyee and Na-weng rivers and occupying the angle 
 formed by the junction of the K^n^ai river and the Nce-pa-tshe spur of the 
 Pegu Roma mountains. The villages are few in number and, generally, 
 small ; the mhabitants cultivate rice and cotton. The Oot-hpo village 
 
 35
 
 274 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 tract is now joined to it and in 1876 the land revenue raised in the two 
 was Es. 576, the capitation tax Es. 637 and the gross revenue Es. 1,768. 
 In that year the population numbered 1,280 souls. 
 
 KOUNG-TSEE. — A village in the Prome district on the Keng-poon rivu- 
 let, which falls into the Teng-gyee near 0-htien-goon. It is situated in a 
 patch of rice cultivation in 18° 49' 30" N., and 95° 46' E. 
 
 KWE. — A tidal creek in the Nga-poo-taw township, Bassein district, 
 running between the Bassein and the Thek-ngay-thoung mouths of the Nga- 
 won river, varying from 100 to 300 yards in breadth and from two to six 
 fathoms in depth at low water. Near its eastern end a bed of Hmestone 
 passes under the creek on which there are three fathoms at low tide. 
 
 KWE-DAN-SHE. — A village in the Zaing-ga-naing circle, Pegu 
 township, Eangoon district, a few miles below Pegu but on the right bank 
 of the Pegu river. In 1877 it had 582 inhabitants. 
 
 KWENG-BOUK-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the Myoung-mya town- 
 ship, Bassein district, having an estimated area of 350 square miles and 
 comprising that portion of the delta of the Irrawaddy lying between the 
 Ewe and the Pya-ma-law rivers which is bounded by the Pan-ma-myit-ta and 
 the Poo-loo natm'al canals on the north and by the seacoast on the south. 
 The coastline consists of a flat and sandy beach with narrow plains, from 
 ;J to 1^ a mile in mdth and covered with grass jungle, running along its 
 margin. The country as far north as the Kook-ko channel is low and inter- 
 sected by tidal creeks the banks of which have a deep fringe of heavy tree 
 forest. From the Kook-ko to the northern boundary the country gradually 
 rises, the intricacy of the creeks diminishes, and the plains and habitable spots 
 increase. No hill or stone of any sort has been discovered and the whole 
 circle may be considered as formed of pm*e alluvial deposit. There are no 
 roads of any sort but excellent water communication. The inhabitants, 
 who in 1876 numbered 2,432, are mainly fishermen and net and trap 
 makers though a few are engaged in cultivation. In that year the land 
 revenue was Es. 6,648, the capitation tax Es. 2,855 and the gross revenue, 
 of which about one-quarter was the produce of the fishery and net tax, 
 Es. 13,380. 
 
 KWENG-BA-LA. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Shwe-gyeng township, Shwe-gyeng district, on the Tsit-toung river just 
 below Pooz-won-myoung, with 524 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 KWENG-DA-LA. — A revenue ckcle in the Shwe-gyeng district occupy- 
 ing bothbanksof theriverjustnorth of the town of Shwe-gyeng and on the west 
 bank stretching down opposite to that town. It has an area of about 80 
 square miles and a population (in 1876) of 7,793 souls who are principally 
 Bm'mese. There are several fisheries worked by inhabitants of this circle. 
 At Poo-zwon-myoung pots are largely manufactured for export down the 
 river to the Eangoon district and inland to the hiUs and elsewhere. In 
 1876 the land revenue was Es. 1,853, the capitation tax Es. 7,082 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 12,252. 
 
 KWENG-GOUK. — A revenue cu-cle in the Oot-hpo township of the 
 Henzada district, having the Bassein district on the south and the Gnyoung- 
 rwa-ngay circle on the north, and extending eastward from the Arakau
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 275 
 
 mountains to the Oot-hpo Myoma circle. To the west the country is 
 hilly and covered with tree forest, where are found Teak {Tectona grandis), 
 Eng {Dipterocarpus tuherculatus) , Pyeng-gado {Xylia dolahriformis) and 
 Sha {Acacia catechu) ; through these forests roam elephants, bison, tiger and 
 deer. Towards the west the country is open and exceedingly fertile. In 
 1876 the population numbered 13,731 souls and the gross revenue was 
 Es. 27,598, of which Es. 12,353 were from the land revenue and Es. 12,347 
 from the capitation tax. 
 
 KWENG-HLA. — A revenue ch'cle in the Pa-doung township of the 
 Prome district, to the west of Pyeng-gyee, now joined to the Toung-ngoo 
 circle. 
 
 KWENG-HLA. — A revenue circle in the Tha-boung township, Bassein 
 district, lying between the crest of the Arakan hills on the west and the 
 Bassein river on the east, and extending northwards from the Thaboung 
 circle, from which it is separated by the Thien stream, to the Kan-nee circle 
 of the Le-myet-hna township. In the eastern part of the circle there is a good 
 deal of rice cultivation but towards the west the ground rises and the sur- 
 face of the country is occupied by the well-wooded spurs and eastern slopes 
 of the Ai-akan Eoma. There is a faii'ly good road through the plains about 
 two miles west of the Bassein river. In 1876 the population numbered 
 4,564 souls, the land revenue was Es. 4,339, the capitation tax Es. 4,795 
 and the gross revenue Es. 11,119. 
 
 KWENG-LYA. — A village in the Kwon-khyoung circle, Ee-gyee town- 
 ship, Bassein district, 12 miles south-west of Nga-thaing-kliyoung, on the 
 right bank of the Bassein river, at the southern mouth of the Kwon river, 
 which separates it from the viUageof Tsha-daw, and a few miles below Nga-pee- 
 tshiep. The inhabitants of the united villages, who are mainly Kareng, are 
 engaged chiefly in agricultm-e and numbered 1,012 in 1877. 
 
 KWON. — A river in the Bassein district which rises in the Arakan 
 hills and falls into the Than-dwe at the shoulder of the bend eastward which 
 that river makes about six miles from its mouth. It is na^'igable by boats 
 of 30 to 40 feet in length as far as the ^dllagG of Kwon-khyoung, that is 
 for about two miles, and small boats can ascend two miles fm-ther with the 
 flood. 
 
 KWON. — A river in the Bassein district which rises in the Arakan 
 mountains and empties itseK mto the Bassein river between the two adjoin- 
 ing \dllages of Kweng-lya and Tsha-daw. Dming the rains it is na\'iga- 
 ble for boats of fifty or sixty baskets bm-den as far as Hpan-kha-beng but 
 in the dry weather only as far as the village of Kweng-khyoung and then 
 only at flood tide. About seven miles from its source it is joined by a 
 northern tributary which rises in the Tsheng-ro peak of the Arakan moun- 
 tains, about 1,400 feet above the sea level. P,yengma (Lagersircemia rcginca), 
 Pyeng-gado {Xylia dolabnformis) and Eengdaik {Dalbergia cultrata) are found 
 on its banks, as well as some teak near its som'ce. 
 
 KWON. — A river forming the boundary between the Toung-ngoo and 
 the Shwe-gyeng districts on the west of the Tsit-toung river. It rises in the 
 Pegu Eoma range and after an easterly coiu-se of 60 miles falls into the 
 Tsit-toung about 50 miles south of Toung-ngoo. Owing to the rockiness of
 
 276 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 of its bed it is not navigable by boats but large quantities of teak and of the 
 produce of the country, of which raw silk forms a large part, are brought 
 down on rafts. About 20 miles from its mouth, near the village of 
 Tsan-gyee, it is for several miles obstructed by rapids with narrow 
 passages between the rocks. 
 
 KWON. — A small river in the Henzada district which rises in the Ara- 
 kan mountains and, flowing eastward through a valley separated from that 
 of the A-loon on the north by a spur of the Roma, falls into that river a 
 few miles above Bhet-rai village. In the rains large boats can ascend far 
 about four miles but no further on account of the rocky nature of the bed 
 and other obstructions, such as trees and bamboos which are then washed 
 down. The banks are steep in some places and flat in others and the bed 
 is sandy, muddy and rocky. Teak is the most important tree growing on 
 its banks. 
 
 KWON-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Henzada district, now includ- 
 ing Reng-daw and Re-dweng-hla, lying on the southern border of the Myan- 
 oung township between Thien-goon on the west and Htan-thoon-beng on the 
 east. The cultivation is carried on chiefly in the centre and towards the 
 south-east of these combined circles the west and north being undulating 
 ground unsuited for rice : about half of Reng-daw is under rice cultivation. 
 In 1876 the population numbered 3,851 souls, the capitation tax produced 
 Rs. 4,250, the land revenue was Rs. 4,879 and the gross revenue was 
 Rs. 9,662. 
 
 KWON-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Attaran township of 
 the Amherst district, to which Poon-kaw is now joined. In 1876 the popu- 
 lation numbered 868 souls, the land revenue was Rs. 209 and the capita- 
 tion tax produced Rs. 322. 
 
 KWON-HLA. — (Pronounced Kwan-hla). A village of the Ka-ma-ke 
 circle in the Amherst district, north-east of and near Ka-ma-ke, in the south 
 of Bhee-loo-gywon. When this township was re-peopled after the annexa- 
 tion a Thoogyee and his followers settled in this village which gave its 
 name to a circle which was united to Ka-ma-ke in 1848. In 1868 the 
 population, principally Talaing, numbered 559 souls and in 1876 705. 
 
 KWON-HLA. — {Pronounced Kivan-hla). A revenue circle in the Zaya 
 township, Amherst district, divided into two portions by the Htoon-man 
 circle. One portion of it, which is nearly all highland, adjoins the Toung- 
 gnyo range between Htoon-man on the north and the Wa-kha-roo river on 
 the south ; the other, all plain land, is on the bank of the Salween at the 
 mouth of the Wa-klia-roo. The total area of the cu-cle is 14,215 acres. 
 The inhabitants, who in 1868 numbered 732 and in 1876 1,094 souls, are 
 principally Talaing with a few Kareng and Chinese. The principal villages 
 are Kwon-hla and Nee-pa-daw. In the former there were 369 inhabitants 
 in 1868 and under 500 in 1876 and m the latter 363 in 1868 and 790 in 
 1876. In the latter year the land revenue was Rs. 4,767 (a good many of 
 the inhabitants of the country on the other side of the Wa-kha-roo own and 
 cultivate land here) and the capitation tax produced Rs. 1,027. 
 
 KWON-KHYAN-GOON.— A village in the La-wa-dee circle, Angyee 
 township, Rangoon district, which, with the adjacent village of Taw-pa-lwai
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 277 
 
 had, in 1877, 1,233 inhabitants, chiefly Talaing. It does not appear 
 to have increased in size to any considerable extent for in 1858 it contain- 
 ed 200 houses, which represent a population of about 1,000 souls, and in 
 1868 there were 1,076 inhabitants. It is situated on the Thoon-khwa or 
 Taw-pa-lwai stream, about five miles from its mouth in the To river. The 
 inhabitants are largely occupied in the manufacture of the pots in which 
 brme is boiled down for the extraction of salt. The clay is found in the 
 Taw-gyee near the A-twot lake, or swamp, a few miles north of the village. 
 The pot makers pay no special tax ; in the Burmese time each potter's wheel 
 was charged. 
 
 KWON-KHYOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Ee-gyee township, Bassein 
 district, about 18 square miles in extent. Its largest viUage is Bhoora-goon. 
 In 1876 the population numbered 2,049 souls, the land revenue was 
 Rs. 1,637, the capitation tax Es. 2,330 and the gross revenue Es. 4,754. 
 
 KWON-LOUNG. — A \dUage of nearly one hundi'ed and twenty houses 
 on the left bank of the Irrawaddy in the Nga-pyeng chcle, Mye-dai township, 
 Thayet district, oj)posite Kjnvon-gale island. In the same narrow tract 
 of rice country are the villages of Pyee-beng-hla on the north and Nga- 
 pyeng to the south. 
 
 KWON-NEE. — {Pronounced Kivan-nee). A village in the Hmaw-won 
 ch'cle, Than-lyeng township, Eangoon district, on a stream of the same name 
 about four miles from its junction with the Ka-ma-ka-root, the united streams 
 falling into the Hmaw-won a little below Kyouk-tan. In 1877 the popula- 
 tion numbered 611 souls. A number of Talaing famihes have been 
 established here ever since the first Anglo Burmese war, attracted to the spot 
 by the fertility of the neighbom'ing lands and by the convenience of the situa- 
 tion, the stream being broad and navigable by boats of considerable bm'den 
 as far as the village. 
 
 KWON-OON. — A revenue circle in the Thayet township, Thayet 
 district, covering an area of about eight square miles, of which about 600 
 acres are cultivated at present and some thousand more are cultm*able ; in 
 1876 the population numbered 5,727 and the gross revenue was Es. 6,761, 
 of which Es. 2,313 were derived from the land revenue and Es. 4,276 from 
 the capitation tax. Formerly this cu'cle formed a portion of Taw-daw- 
 khyoung but was erected into a separate circle in 1855 : in 1861 Taw-daw- 
 khyoung was absorbed in Ban-byeng ; in 1871 the Ee-byoo cii-cle was 
 placed under the Thoogyee of Kwon-oon, who had hereditary rights, as was 
 Mya-tsa-gaing ua 1871 on the resignation of the Thoogyee. Still later Ban- 
 byeng with the included Taw-daw-khyoung was added to it. The products 
 are cotton, sessamum, rice, maize and cutch. 
 
 KWON-OON. — A village in the Kwon-oon circle, Thayet township, 
 Thayet district, contaming about fifty houses, situated on thePwon stream. 
 Before 1855 it was one of the villages of Taw-daw-khyoung : it was then, 
 together with two other villages, formed into a new cncle. 
 
 KWON-OON. — A revenue cncle in the Tha-ga-ra township of the 
 Toung-ngoo district, east of the Tsit-toung river, near which the country is 
 level but eastwards it is hilly and forest-clad, producing teak and bamboos. In 
 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 1,257, the capitation tax Es. 2,274, the gross 
 revenue Es. 4,181 and the population 3,711.
 
 278 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KWON-EAIK. — {Pronounced Kwan-raik). A revenue circle in the 
 Amherst district on the western side of Bhee-loo-gywon and in the central por- 
 tion of what was the old Daray " Myo" or township, having the sea on the 
 west, the present ckcle of Daray on the north, Ewa-lwot on the east and 
 Taw-ka-ma on the south. The whole of its surface is an extensive alluvial 
 plain with a total area of 6,452 acres. This is the only ckcle in the town- 
 ship in which the boundaries fixed by Captain Phayre in 1848 have been 
 changed. When the circle was first established the Kyoon-ka-mee and the 
 Kyoon-tha streams were declared to form the boundary between this circle and 
 Taw-ka-ma but the Kyoon-ka-mee having silted up disputes arose between 
 the two Thoogyee and a portion of what was formerly in Kwon-raik is now 
 included in Taw-ka-ma. The principal village is Kwon-raik, near the stream 
 of the same name : in 1876 it had 978 inhabitants. In 1868 the population 
 was 934, the land revenue Es. 5,237 and the capitation tax Es. 905 : in 1876 
 these had increased to 1,116, Es. 5,430 and Es. 1,160 respectively. The 
 principal occupation of the inhabitants is cultivation but a httle salt is 
 made and a small revenue is derived from the tax on nets. 
 
 KWON-EAIK. — {Pronounced Kivan-raik). A viUage in the circle of the 
 same name in the Amherst district on Bhee-loo-gywon near the little Kwon- 
 raik stream. In 1867 this and the adjoining village of Taw-ka-ma had 904 
 inhabitants, almost all Talaing with a fewBurmans and one or two Chinese, 
 and in 1877 978. 
 
 KWON-TAW. — {Pronounced Kiuan-taiv). A revenue circle in the 
 Amherst district in the south of Bhee-loo-gywon, having Ka-la-be on the 
 north, Ka-ma-ke on the east, Taw-ka-ma on the west and the sea on the south. 
 Its surface is an unbroken level of swampy plains, parts of which are occa- 
 sionally damaged by salt water. In the Burmese time it formed a portion 
 of the Ka-ma-ke circle from which it was separated by Captain Phayre in 1848. 
 It has a total area of 4,891 acres. Of late years the sea has made consider- 
 able encroachment and the sites of Kwon-taw and other villages have been 
 swept away since 1848. The land is generally good for rice when not 
 swamped with salt-water and there is Httle room for any increase in the 
 area so cultivated unless reclamation schemes are undertaken. There is no 
 ground fit for gardens, that is above the usual inundation level. In 1868 
 the population numbered about 120, the land revenue was Es. 4,915 and the 
 capitation tax Es. 127. In 1876 these had increased to 228, Es. 5,282 and 
 Es. 230 respectively. The paucity of the population as compared with the 
 land revenue is due to the inhabitants, when their villages were washed away, 
 having removed into neighbom-ing circles but still working the land. 
 
 KWON-THAI. — {Pronounced Kwan-thai). A village in the Kharaik- 
 thit circle of the Bhee-loo-gywon township of the Amherst district, on the 
 bank of the Salween at the mouth of the Kharaik-thit stream. The 
 inhabitants numbered 565 m 1867 and 875 in 1877. 
 
 KYA-ENG. — A revenue ckcle in the north of the Kyan-kheng township, 
 Henzada district, south of Akouk-toung, now included in the Tshoon-lai 
 cu'cle. 
 
 KYA-ENG. — A revenue cncle in the Gyaing Attaran township, Amherst 
 district, occupying the country on both banks of the Za-mee river, just south
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 279 
 
 of the Hpa-tliien circle. Hilly and covered with forest the few Kareng who 
 inhabit it do not cultivate largely. In 1876 the population was 1,017, the 
 land revenue Es. 331 and the capitation tax Es. 982. The prmcipal village 
 is Kya-eng. 
 
 KYA-ENG. — A revenue cu-cle in the north-eastern township of the 
 Tavoy district, about 24 square miles in extent, of which about one-sixth is 
 cultivated. The main products are rice and doorians. In 1876 the inhabit- 
 ants numbered 2,703, the land revenue was Es. 4,386, the capitation tax 
 Es. 2,222 and the gross revenue Es. 6,827. 
 
 KYA-ENG. — A village in the cii'cle of the same name in the Gyaing 
 Attaran township, Amherst district, about fom* miles east of the bank of the 
 Za-mee, the houses smTounded with orange and other fi-uit gardens. A small 
 and unimportant little stream of the same name runs through the village 
 which is laid out without any attempt at regularity and with no roads but 
 narrow footpaths through the gardens fi-om house to house. The inhabit- 
 ants, who are Kareng and are nearly, if not quite, aU Christians, numbered 
 707 m 1877. 
 
 KYA-ENG. — A village ua the cu-cle of the same name in the Tavoy 
 district which in 1877 had a population of 685 souls. 
 
 KYA-GAN. — A revenue chcle in the Moung-mya township, Bassein 
 district, with an area of about 111 square miles, on the right bank of the 
 Ewe, north of the La-bwot-ta-loot channel. An outcrop of limestone, risino- 
 into small hills, occupies the whole of the northern and central portion o*f 
 the cu-cle. The inhabitants are principally fishermen and nga-pee makers, 
 though a few are cultivators, and in 1876 numbered 4,833 souls. La-bwot-ta 
 is the principal place. Dm-ing the fishing season the majority of the inhabi- 
 tants go south and estabhsh temporary fishing hamlets. In 1876 the land 
 revenue was Es. 2,762, the capitation tax Es. 6,365, the other taxes, 
 pruacipaUy net and trap, Es. 5,847 and the gi-oss revenue, including the 
 five per cent cess on the land revenue and net tax, Es. 15,363. 
 
 KYA-GAN. — A revenue ch-cle in the Meng-doon to^\-nship, Thayet 
 district, now joined to Ta-goung-nek. 
 
 KYA-GAN. — A village of over one hundi*ed houses in the cii'cle of the 
 same name in the Meng-doon township, Thayet district, close to the northern 
 frontier and about a mile from the 8th boundary pillar, counting westwards 
 from the river. 
 
 KYAIK-ATHOOT.— A pagoda in the plams west of the Maulmam hills 
 said to contain a hah- of Gaudama and to have been built by King Maha- 
 nee-zee-na. It was restored about thii-ty-five years ago and is now 135 feet 
 high and 360 feet in circumference at the base. 
 
 KYAIK-HPA-NAY. — A pagoda in the extreme north of the town of Maul- 
 main standing on the bank of the Salween river. According to the cm-rent 
 tradition it was built by a Taking — one of the original mythical djTiasty which 
 reigned before the foundation of Pegu — to commemorate a victory over the 
 Siamese. It was repaired in 1863 by an inhabitant of Maulmain at his own 
 expense and has now a height of 45 feet.
 
 280 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KYAIK-HPYENG-KOO.— A pagoda in the Martaban township of the 
 Amherst district, founded in 1288 a.d. by King Wa-rie-yoo. The name is 
 supposed to be a corruption of the Talaing "Kyaik-hpyeng-boo" or "Pagoda 
 of the large assembly" from having been built on a spot on which Gaudama 
 had preached to and converted a large assembly of Bhee-loo^. 
 
 KYAIK-HTEE-YO.— A peak on the crest of the main dividing range 
 between the Tsit-toung and the Salween just to the east of Tsittoung, 
 between that town and Kyaikhto, which rises to a height of 3,650 feet. The 
 ascent is made in one day from the south-east and in two from Tsit-toung. 
 The pagodas on the top are annually resorted to by crowds of Booddhists, 
 especially Talaing, in February of each year. The view from the summit 
 is exceedingly fine : to the eastward are seen the Martaban mountains, 
 to the south the sea and to the west the great Shwe Hmaw-daw Pagoda of 
 Pegu. The most remarkable features of this hill are the many granitoid 
 boulders scattered about its summit, some of them balanced in the strangest 
 manner on the most prominent rocks. On all the most striking of these 
 boulders small pagodas have been built ; of these the two principal are the 
 Kyaik-htee-yo-ga-le (a barbarous word, three-fifths Talaing and two-fifths 
 Burmese) and the Kyaik-htee-yo (whence is derived the name of the 
 hill). This latter, about fifteen feet high, is built on a huge, almost 
 egg-shaped, rounded, granitoid boulder perched on the very summit of a 
 projecting and shelving tabular rock, which itself is separated several feet 
 from the mountain by a rent or chasm, now spanned by a small bamboo 
 footbridge and on the further side drops down perpendicularly into a valley 
 below. On the extreme verge of this sloping rock table, and actually 
 overhanging it by nearly half, is perched this wonderful boulder, thirty feet 
 high and surmounted by the pagoda, reached by a bamboo moveable ladder. 
 The mass appears as if the additional weight of a few ]pounds, or indeed 
 a strong wind, would send it sliding down from the place it has occupied 
 for unknown centuries crashing into the sloping valley beneath and pious 
 Booddhists believe that it is retained m its position solely by the power of 
 the relic enshrined in the pagoda. This relic is a hah- of Gaudama given 
 to a hermit residing on the mountain by the Booddlia himself as he was 
 retiu-ning from the second heaven of the Nat whither he had gone to preach 
 the law to his mother. 
 
 KYAIK-HTO. — A revenue ch-cle in the Tsit-toung sub-division of the 
 Shwe-gyeng district, surrounding the town of Kyaik-hto, about 70 square 
 miles in extent and with a population in 1876 of 7,329 souls. The area 
 under cultivation is small but the fisheries afford a large revenue to the 
 State. In the hills to the north cardamoms]are produced to some extent. 
 In 1876 the land revenue was Es. 703, the capitation tax Es. 5,623 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 21,335. 
 
 KYAIK-HTO. — A busy, thriving town in the Kyaik-hto Bhee-leng 
 township, Shwe-gyeng district, about half way between Tsit-toung and 
 Bhee-leng, on the Ka-dat river, which is here spanned by a wooden 
 bridge, and on the high road to Maulmam, and lying at the foot of the 
 hills closing in the large plain country which stretches down southward to 
 the coast. It has a population of 2,040 souls. For some years it was the 
 
 * Cf. " Bhee-loo-gywon" and note to page 128,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 281 
 
 head-quarter station of the Kyaik-hto township and later of the united 
 townships of Kyaik-hto and Bhee-leng. A few years ago the Extra 
 Assistant Commissioner in charge of these two townships was transferred 
 to Bhee-leng, and Kyaik-hto, lying in about the centre, was made the head- 
 quarter station of the Tsit-toung sub-division, the Assistant Commissioner 
 in charge being transferred hither from Tsit-toung. The town consists 
 principally of one long street at ri'ght angles to and crossing the Kadat, that 
 portion which lies to the eastward being the largest and most important ; 
 here there are cross streets and a few others parallel to the main road. 
 The houses are well and substantially built and the town throughout the 
 year is a centre of trade in cattle, rice m the husk, betelnuts, fish, salt, 
 piece-goods, cotton t^vdst and hardware. The proposed canal to connect 
 the Bhee-leng and Tsit-toung rivers will pass close by Kyaik-hto. At the 
 extreme eastern end, near a group of pagodas and monasteries, is the 
 circuit-house, The town contains a Court-house, a Police Station and a 
 good market. In 1876 the local revenue, in addition to the Imperial taxes, 
 was Es. 2,443. 
 
 KYAIK-KA-LO. — This pagoda, which at present is undergoing 
 repair, is situated about 300 yards west of the Prome road and li miles N. 
 of the village of Tsan-gyee-wa. It stands on the summit of a short spur 
 stretching from the ridge along which runs the high road. There is a 
 small zayat at the junction of the footpath leading to the pagoda and the 
 Prome road. The whole of the ridge is covered with short shrub-growth 
 and long grass. 
 
 The footpath leads uj) to the platform, which is about 60 yards square, 
 entering it by a few steps placed in the centre of the side facing the E. 
 Immediately inside the entrance is a sitting figure of Gaudama Booddha, 
 under a roofed building ; behind this is another figure, also of the last 
 Booddha, let into the basement of the " bell," and again on the S. side of 
 the beU there is also another figure similarly let in. From the platform an 
 excellent view is obtained of the undulating ground stretchmg westwards 
 and southwards, and of the broad expanse of rice-fields eastwards towards 
 the Poo-zwon-doung creek. In the S. E. corner of the platform stands 
 another roofed building containing one large and two small figures of 
 Gaudama. 
 
 The basement of the pagoda is octagonal, each side being about 14 
 3^ards in length, and is raised some 6^ feet above the level of the platform. 
 On the basement stand 24 small pagodas, some of which are undergoing 
 repair, and from then- midst rises the " bell " of the large pagoda, the 
 height of the whole being about 90 feet. On the N. side a portion of the 
 modern brick-facing of the basement has fallen into decay, exposing the 
 large blocks of laterite of which the pagoda is built. A small winding road 
 leads from the S. E. corner of the platform and, sku-ting the neighbouring 
 monastery grounds, descends into a dell lying l)etwcon the edge of the platform 
 and the Prome road. In this dell is a small tank, surrounded l)y a low brick 
 wall, with four small ornamental archways over the steps leading down 
 to the well. The path then winds up the opposite side of the dell and 
 joins the Prome road about 50 yards S. of the point from whence the 
 main path strikes off to the pagoda. There is here an annual festival in 
 the month of Taboung (about March) attended by vast numbers of people. 
 
 36
 
 282 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KYAIK-KA-LWON-BWON. — A pagoda in Martaban supposed to have 
 been founded in the sixth century B.C. by the Bheeloo, who then inhabited 
 the country, to commemorate a miracle performed by Gaudama, who came 
 to preach to and convert them, and to enshrine one of his^hairs. 
 
 KYAIK-KA-LWON-BWON. — A pagoda standing on a massive laterite 
 base on the hill above the town of Tsit-toung within the old fort walls, sup- 
 posed to have been built to commemorate an interview between Gaudama and 
 100 Bheeloo. 
 
 KYAIK-KA-MAN-LAI. — A pagoda on Bheeloo island, supposed to have 
 been founded during the reign of a Talaing king named Nan-da-thee-ha- 
 ra-ga. 
 
 KYAIK-KA-MAW. — A group of villages in the Than-lyeng township of 
 the Kangoon district, inhabited by Pwo Kareng agriculturists and situat- 
 ed some in the plains and some on the Koondan or undulating ground. 
 There formerly existed here a Talaing city of which no traces remain save 
 a cluster of pagodas on an eminence near which is a conspicuous clump of 
 teak trees. 
 
 KYAIK-KA-THA. — A very ancient pagoda in the Shwe-gyeng district 
 between Tsit-toung and Kyaik-hto, about seven miles from the former, built, 
 according to local tradition, by Prince Ka-tha Koom-ma-ra. This Prince, 
 who was the son of one of the minor Queens, was, by order of the Chief Queen, 
 thrown, when an infant, on to the bank of the Tsit-toung river at Kha-ra- 
 tshoo. He was saved and brought to Kyaik-ka-tha where, in after years, he 
 built this pagoda and founded a town, the remains of which are still in 
 existence. Leading up to this pagoda is a curious avenue of other and smaller 
 ones all built, as the Kyaik-ka-tha itself is, of laterite and generally known to 
 the Burmese as " Bhoora-ta-htoung " or the thousand pagodas. Kyaik-ka- 
 tha is the Talaing name. 
 
 KYAIK-KA-THA.— A smaU viUage of 617 inhabitants in the Tsit- 
 toung sub-division of the Shwe-gyeng district eight miles south-east of Tsit- 
 toung, on the high road, during the rains, from Tsit-toung to Maulmain. 
 Near it is a celebrated pagoda supposed to have been founded by a Prince 
 named Ka-tha Koom-ma-ra who founded a town here, whence the name, 
 Kyaik meaning pagoda in Talaing. The inhabitants live principally by 
 working the neighbouring fisheries. 
 
 KYAIK-KAW. — A revenue circle in the Tha-htoon township of the 
 Amherst district, north of Tha-htoon, stretching from the crest of the 
 Martaban hills westward to the Bhee-leng river, with the Dha-noo circle 
 on the north and east (on the other side of the hills) and the Mye-nee-goon 
 cu'cle on the south. The alluvial plains are fertile but are still too much 
 flooded by the spill from the Bhee-leng and by the rain water, which does 
 not flow off rapidly, to be available for much cultivation notwithstanding 
 the protection afforded by the Ka-ma-thaing embankment and the drainage 
 ways which have been cut of late years. These works have done undoubted 
 good for whereas the land revenue in 1868 was Es. 6,644 it was Es. 10,618 
 in 1876. The increase, however, is partly due to the reduction in the 
 rate which was Es. 2-4 per acre before 1868 and has since been Es. 1-12, 
 Eo. 1, and twelve annas, according to the situation and fertility of the soil.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 283 
 
 In 1878 the population, composed mainly of Talaing and Kareng, was 
 3,336 and the capitation tax Rs. 3,430 ; in 1876 4,969 and Es. 5,072 
 respectively. The principal villages are Ka-tha-ba-kareng and Kha-daik ; 
 in 1868 the inhabitants numbered 823 and 350 and m 1876 529 and 539 
 respectively. The latter of these two was formerly on the bank of the 
 Bhee-leng, but owing to that river having changed its channel it is now 
 some distance inland. 
 
 KYAIK-KA-TSHAN. — A pagoda of great sanctity in the Rangoon 
 district, about three miles north-east of the Shwe-dagon pagoda in Rangoon, 
 about 90 feet high and 70 feet in diameter at the base. It was erected, 
 according to Talaing history, about two centm-ies B. C. by Baw-ga-the-na 
 over one of the relics of Gaudama brought by eight Rahanda. It was 
 partially destroyed in 1733 but was repau'ed and has been occasionally 
 repaired since. A large assemblage of people takes place at the annual 
 festival in February. 
 
 KYAIK-KHA-MEE. — A small circle in the Wa-kha-roo township, 
 Amherst district, oftriangular shape, having the Salween and the Wa-kha-roo 
 rivers on one side and the sea on the other and the circle of Hnit-kaing on 
 the east for its base. The total area is 3,996 acres. The principal rice 
 fields are in the alluvial plain near the bank of the Wa-kha-roo, the rest 
 of the cu'cle is upland with a laterite soil and well adapted for gardens. There 
 was formerly a good deal of sugar cultivation but as the land became 
 impoverished the cultivators moved eastwards into other circles. The 
 population is almost entii'ely congregated in the town of Amherst. It is 
 composed principally of Talaing, with Burmans, Natives of India, Chinese 
 and a few Europeans and Indo-Em'opeans : in 1868 it numbered 3,085 
 Bouls and 3,436 in 1876. In the latter year the land revenue was Rs. 1,852 
 and the capitation tax Rs. 3,182. 
 
 KYAIK-KHA-MEE. — A name sometimes given to the Wa-kha-roo 
 township of the Amherst district, q. v. 
 
 KYAIK-IOIA-PAN.— A pagoda in Martaban founded in 1199 A.D. by 
 King A-lien-ma. 
 
 KYAIK-KOUK. — A handsome pagoda standing on the Than-lyeng 
 Koon-dan, or stretch of low laterite hills which extend from Than-lyeng to 
 Kyouk-tan, just above the village of Ka-gnyeng-goon, four or five miles 
 from Than-lyeng or Syriam, and built almost enth-ely of large laterite 
 blocks. It is one hundi-ed and thu-ty one feet in height and twelve 
 hundred feet in cu'cumference at the base. The platform from which it 
 rises is paved with slabs of a reddish stone brought from Upper Bm-ma. 
 The upper part of the structure is ornamented by alternate bands of white 
 yellow and pale greenish-blue metal, which glitter m the sim and to one 
 at a little distance give the pagoda the appearance of being gilded like the 
 Shwe-dagon in Rangoon, the Shwe-Hmaw-daw in Pegu and many others. 
 According to the history of the pagoda, Gaudama, a few years after attaining 
 Booddha-hood, visited Bm-ma and whilst staying on the Martaban hills 
 presented two of his hairs to a resident hermit. In 580 B.C. the hennit 
 came to Than-lyeng and presented the hau's to Ze-ya-the-na the king, who 
 enshrined them in this pagoda which he built for that purpose. Thi'ee
 
 284 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 hundred and fifty years later, in 223 B.C., eight Rahanda or Booddhist monks 
 visited Than-lyeng and presented Baw-ga-the-na, the last independent 
 sovereign, with a bone of Gaudama's forehead and one of his teeth, one of which 
 the pious monarch enshrined in the east side of the pagoda and the other 
 in the Kyaik-ka-tshan pagoda. In 1781 it had partially fallen into ruin 
 and was repaired by King Bho-daw-bhoora, the thhd son of Aloung-bhoora, 
 who ascended the throne in that year. It has since been considerably 
 embelhshed by Moung Tha-dw^on-oung, an Extra Assistant Commissioner 
 and son of Moung Tsat who headed our Talaing allies in the first Anglo- 
 Burmese war and subsequently escaped with many followers to the Amherst 
 district. The building is now in the charge of a committee of elders of 
 which the present Extra Assistant Commissioner of the township, Moung 
 Bha-gyaw, son of Moung Tha-dwou-oung, is the President. 
 
 KYAIK-MA-PiAW. — An extensive revenue circle in the Amherst district 
 lying between the Attaran river on the east and the Tomig-gnyo chain on 
 the west. It was at first included in the Attaran township, was sub- 
 sequently transferied to Zaya, and has again of late years been retransf erred 
 to Gyaing Attaran. The total area is 28,723 acres. It has a considerable 
 extent of upland but consists chiefly of large plains, intersected by water 
 courses and deeply flooded in the rains when, after a heavy fall, almost the 
 whole circle is covered to a depth of several feet and a smaU inland sea is 
 formed, across which, when the wind is high, small boats dare not venture. 
 These floods are caused by the volume of water brought down by the 
 Attaran river banking up the streams which flow from the Toung-gnyo 
 chain. The only village of any importance is Kyaik-ma-raw. In 1868 the 
 population, who are principally Talaing, with some Kareng and a few Shan 
 and Chinese, numbered 1,384, the land revenue was Es. 1,921 and the 
 capitation tax Rs. 1,375. In 1876 these were 2,043, Es. 3,160 and 
 Es. 2,087 respectively. 
 
 KYAIK-MA-EAW. — A village m the circle of the same name in the 
 Gyaing Attaran township of the Amherst district, about a mile to the west 
 of the Attaran rivei and not far east of the Toung-gnyo hills. A good road 
 runs from the river bank to the village. In 1877 it had a population of 
 822 souls. 
 
 KYAIK-MA-TAW. — A small pagoda on the hills in the town of Maul- 
 mam supposed to contain one of Gaudama's hairs. Of its early history 
 nothing is known. 
 
 KYAIK-PA-DAING. — A village in the Pegu circle of the Pegu township, 
 Eangoon district, on the northern bank of the Paing-kywon cutting, which, 
 witlAhe Myit-kyo canal, forms the water-route between the Pegu and the 
 Tsit-tovmg. It is the head-quarters of the Executive Enguaeer of the 
 Tsit-toung Embankment and Canal Division. In 1877 it had 877 inhabi- 
 tants. 
 
 KYAIK-PA-NAY. — A pagoda in Maulmain close to the waters' edge 
 on the north point of the land on which the town stands built in the 
 eighth century by the Peguan king Bha-nai-tsiep-tsaw to commemorate a 
 victory over the Shans or Siamese. It was enlarged in 1863 by Moung 
 Shwe Boo and is now 45 feet high.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 285 
 
 KYAIK-PA-RAN. — A revenue cii'cle in the Amherst district, occupying 
 a tract of country in the Gyamg Attaran township on the right bank'of 
 the Attaran river, and stretching south-east from the Gnyoung-beng-tshiep 
 chcle. It is inhabited principally by Talaing. In this circle is found the 
 earth from which the pots for salt boiling are manufactm-ed in Gnyoung-beng- 
 tshiep. In 187G the population was 2,057, the land revenue Es. 4,229 and 
 the capitation tax Rs. 1,877. 
 
 KYAIK-TAW. — A large village, divided into north and south Kyaik-taw, 
 in the len-da-poo-ra cii'cle, Angyee township, Rangoon district, on the bank 
 of the To river, at the mouth of the Doo-reng Kyaik-taw stream, situated in 
 an extensive and fertile plain. In 1877 the united villages had a population 
 of 1,047 souls. 
 
 KYAIK-THAN-LAN. — The principal pagoda in the town of Maulmain, 
 occupying a commanding position on the northern spur of the hill over 
 against Martaban, supposed to contain one of Gaudama's hah-s. It was 
 founded in 875 A.D. by a hermit named Tha-gnyaov Thce-la. It was sub- 
 sequently enlarged by Pan-noo-rat, ruler of Maulmam, and again circa 1538 
 A.D. by Wa-rie-yoo king of Martaban. When the coimtry was ceded to the 
 British this pagoda was in ruins but it was repahed in 1831 by Moung 
 Taw-lay, an Extra Assistant Commissioner, with funds collected by pubhc 
 subscription. It measures 152 feet in height and 377 feet in cu-ciunference 
 at the base. The name K3^aik-than-lan is supposed to be a corruption of 
 Kyaik-shan-lan or the pagoda of the Shan defeat, and to be so named from 
 the Shan or Siamese having been here defeated by the Peguans or Talaing. 
 
 KYAIK-TOUNG-HPO. — A revenue chcle, inhabited by Kareng and 
 ])ut little cultivated, lying in the hilly and forest-clad country east of the 
 Dawna range and just south of Mya-pa-daing, in the Houng-tha-raw township 
 of the Amherst district. It contains some valuable teak localities. In 
 1876 it had a population of 2,349 souls and a land revenue of Rs. 749 whilst 
 the capitation tax produced Rs. 1,126. 
 
 KYAI-LET. — A township in the Akyab distiict, on the right bank of 
 the Koo-la-dan or Ga-tsha-ba river at its mouth, surrounding the town of 
 Akyab. It is an island, generally low and flat, some parts being below 
 high tide. 
 
 KYAN. — A revenue cu-cle in the Meng-doon township, Thayct district, 
 amongst the spurs of the Ai-akan mountains, ninety-one square miles in 
 extent, eighty-three being uncultuiable mountain waste and about three 
 under cultivation. The population m 1876 numbered 2,284 souls, of whom 
 a fifth were Khyeng. Owing to its situation the patches of hill 
 clearing are numerous. In 1872 Rs. 1,060 were drawn from the circle as 
 land revenue and Rs. 1,460 as capitation tax. In 1876 the figures were 
 Rs. 1,528 and Rs. 1,529 respectively. Six of the old registered villages are 
 included with the limits of the circle but none of them had any Thoogyee 
 in 1853 when Pegu became British territory. The products are rice, 
 sessamum, cotton, maize, tobacco, onions, chillies and cutch. 
 
 KYAN-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-doung township, Prome 
 district, which now includes Rwa-hteng, Thoon-rwa-boung, Shwe-dien- 
 hgnyeng, Kyee-wek, Kyee-daing and Zhe-ma. It is traversed from south to
 
 286 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 north by the Kyoon stream east of which there is a good deal of rice 
 cultivation. In 1876 there were 816 inhabitants, the land revenue was Es. 
 1,800 and the capitation tax Es. 873. 
 
 KYAN-KHENG. — A township occupying the extreme north of the 
 Henzada district, west of the Irrawaddy, adjoining the Prome district on 
 the north and the Myanoung township on the south, and extending west- 
 ward from the Irrawaddy to the crest of the Arakan Eoma mountains which 
 separates it from the Sandoway district of Arakan. The greater portion of 
 the country, especially in the north and west, is hilly and indeed mountainous 
 and covered with dense forest. An embankment extends along the bank of 
 the Irrawaddy southwards from the spur which ends in the Akouk-toung 
 cliff and protects the country inside from inundation on the annual rise of 
 the river. The township is divided into seven revenue circles and in 1876 
 had a gross population of 31,903 souls and a gross revenue (including the 
 local revenue raised in Kyan-kheng the principal town) of Es. 73,678, of 
 which Es. 29,185 were derived from the land, Es. 32,068 from the capitation 
 tax, Es. 9,689 from local cesses and rates and Es. 2,736 from fisheries and 
 other miscellaneous sources. 
 
 In 1876 the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock were : — 
 
 Area, in acres, under 
 
 Stock. 
 
 
 
 m 
 PS 
 
 i 
 1 
 
 '3 
 o 
 
 to 
 
 •rH 
 
 o 
 
 Is 
 pi 
 
 CO 
 ^ CO 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 to 
 
 a 
 
 eg 
 
 CO 
 
 O 
 
 to 
 tsD 
 
 03 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 09 
 
 o 
 
 17,016 
 
 1,724 
 
 1,526 
 
 20,266 
 
 108 
 
 3,670 
 
 7,116 
 
 136 
 
 718 
 
 3,437 
 
 2,851 
 
 33 
 
 325 
 
 KYAN-KHENG. — A town in the Henzada district extending for some 
 distance along the right bank of the Irrawaddy about six miles north of 
 Myanoung, with a population m 1874 of 8,744 inhabitants and m 1876 of 
 It is the head-quarters of an Extra Assistant Commissioner and has 
 a fine market, a pohce station and a PubHc Works Department inspection 
 bungalow. It now contains Eng-lat, Ewa-thit and Myo-ma, the last 
 of which was founded by the Talaing circa 1250 A.D., and Eng-lat in 
 1753 by one Moung Khyeng, a Burman who came with a number of 
 followers from the village of Eng-lat in Upper Burma. Ewa-thit was founded 
 in the same year. The inhabitants are principally merchants, cultivators 
 and fishermen. A large trade is done in this town, a great deal of unhusked 
 rice being sent down the river. The local revenue in 1876-77 was Es. 7,500. 
 Long. 18°19'N. Lat. 95°20' 10'^ E. 
 
 KYAN-KHENGMYOMA. — A revenue cncle in the Henzada district 
 surrounding and including part of the town of Kyan-kheng, with the Tshoon- 
 lai circle on the north, the Bhet-rai circle on the west, the Ewa-thit circle on 
 the south and the Irrawaddy on the east, and including Pyaw-bhway island,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 287 
 
 separated from the mainland by a channel of that river. In the south and 
 east the country is under rice with some vegetable gardens but there is not 
 much cultivation in the north, whilst towards the west the country is hilly 
 and forest-clad. In 1867 the land revenue was Es. 2,584,the capitation 
 tax Es. 4,965 and the population 4,312. In 1876 these were Es. 3,577, 
 Es. 5,012 and 4,972 respectively ; adding the sums collected on account 
 of local cesses (including the amount collected in Kyan-kheng town) and 
 fisheries the gross revenue was Es. 18,458. 
 
 KYA-0. — A revenue circle in the Prome district in the southern part of 
 the Pa-doung township. The eastern portion, near the village of Kya-o, con- 
 tains some rice cultivation but the western consists of forest-covered hills, 
 nowhere perhaps over 100 feet in height ; the principal is the Kyouk- 
 tan hill whence a good supply of limestone is obtained and carried to 
 Htoon-bho to be burned. The inhabitants — Burmese and Ivliyeng — are 
 largely engaged in hill side cultivation and in the manufacture of cutch. 
 In 1876 the poiralation was 892, the land revenue Es. 1,050, the caj)itation 
 tax Es. 1,037 and the gross revenue Es. 2,117. 
 
 KYA-O. — A village in the Pa-doung township of the Prome district, in 
 18°26'45" N. and 95°8'20* E., on the bank of the Kha-wa stream about 
 five miles from its mouth at Htoon-bho. The inhabitants are chiefly culti- 
 vators. 
 
 KYAT. — See Toung-gnyo river. 
 
 KYAT. — A river in the Bassein district which has its source in the 
 Arakan mountains and falls in to the Bassein river opposite Le-myet-hna. In 
 the hot weather it is dry. The bed is gravelly to within a short distance of the 
 mouth. In the rains it is connected by several channels with the Tan-daw 
 lake. In a portion of its course it is called the Tha-khwot and lower down 
 the Ta-da. 
 
 KYAT. — A revenue circle in the Meng-doon township, Thayet dis- 
 trict, on the left bank of the Ma-htoon stream, about twenty-one square 
 miles in extent, of which rather less than five are culturable the remain- 
 ing sixteen being mountainous and covered with forest. Shut in be- 
 tween the Ma-htoon river on the west and a range of hills on the east, the 
 western spm's of which stretch down to the Ma-htoon, there is but small 
 space for regular cultivation and consequently hiU clearings are numerous. 
 The population numbered 1,319 in 1876, almost all of whom were Burmans. 
 The revenue in 1872 amounted to Es. 1,260, viz., land revenue Es. 560 and 
 capitation tax Es. 700, andin 1876 to Es. 1,631 viz., land revenue 702, capi- 
 tation tax Es. 852 and other taxes and rates Es. 77. The products are 
 rice, cotton, onions, sessamum and plantains. 
 
 KYA-THE. — A village of about fifty houses in the Tham-boo-la cu'cle, 
 Mye-dai township, Thayet district. 
 
 KYAT-TSENG. — A revenue circle in the Mye-boon township, Kyouk- 
 hpyoo district, between the Le-mro and the Kyat-tseng rivers north of 
 Daingboon, about 20 square miles in extent and with a population of 2,319 
 souls in 1876. In that year the land revenue was Es. 3,695, the capitation 
 tax Es. 2,851, the receipts from the tax on nets and from local cesses &c., 
 Es. 571 and the gross revenue Es. 7,117.
 
 288 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KYA-WA. — A village in the Sliwe-doung circle, Meng-doon township, 
 Thayet district, containing about seventy houses. 
 
 KYA-WENG. — A village in the Ewon East circle, Than-lyeng township, 
 Eangoon district, on the left bank of the Pyeng-ma-gan stream about a mile 
 from its mouth. The inhabitants, who are principally Shan agricultuiists, 
 numbered 549 in 1877. 
 
 KYAW-KAING. — A small village in the La-moo Lek-wai circle of the 
 northern or Toung-goop township of the Sandoway district, on the right bank 
 of the La-moo and about seven miles from its mouth. In 1877 the inhabit- 
 ants numbered 473 souls. 
 
 KYE-DAING. — A village of sixty houses in the Ee-byoo cu-cle, Thayet 
 township, Thayet district, adjoining lOiyeng-tsouk (which contains fifty 
 houses), about seven miles north-west of the town of Thayet. Both of 
 these villages are near the centre of a long narrow stretch of rice cultiva- 
 tion extending from Ewa-toimg to Oot-shit-goon. 
 
 KYEE-GAN-EAI. — A village in the Toung-ma-gyee circle of the 
 Central or Sandoway township of the Sandoway district, on the seacoast 
 three or four miles south of Toung-ma-gyee point. In 1877 the inhabitants 
 numbered 823 souls. 
 
 KYEE-GOON. — A village in the Meng-doon Myoma circle, Meng-doon 
 township, Thayet district, close to the right bank of the Ma-htoon river, a 
 short distance south-east of the town of Meng-doon. 
 
 KYEE-MA-NO.— A village in the Prome district in 18°28'0" N. and 
 95° 37' 20" E. a mile and a half north of the Kyat river and not quite 
 three miles east of the lower end of Poung-day, on the eastern edge of the 
 Poung-day rice plain. 
 
 KYEE-MA-NO. — A revenue circle in the Prome district to the eastward 
 of Poung-day between the Nwa-dat and the Kyat streams, now joined to Ma- 
 gyee-beng. 
 
 KYEE-T^IYENG-DAING.— A suburb of Eangoon : q. v. 
 
 KYEE-THAI. — A large village in the Prome district on the left bank 
 of the Irrawaddy in 18° 37' 33" N. and 95° 11' 30" E. and, measured along 
 the river bank, about ten miles below Shwe-doung. To the north of this 
 village is the Theng-byoo lake and to the south of it the Eng-bya. In the 
 rains these two unite behind the village and form an extensive tract of fen 
 extending for nearly ten miles north and south and navigable by boats of 
 four hundred bushels burden. 
 
 The inhabitants of this village, who m 1877 numbered 743, are engaged 
 in rice cultivation and m fishing but more especially in silk weaving. A 
 good dry-weather road leads due eastward to Shwe-nat-toung, eight miles 
 inland, where an annual pagoda festival is held. 
 
 KYEE-THAI. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-doung township, Prome 
 district, on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, between Shwe-doung Myoma and 
 Gnyoung-tsa-re. The villages, of which Kyee-thai, Ewa-tha-goon and Lek- 
 pan-boo are the largest, are mostly on, or close to, the river bank. Eice fields 
 and gardens occupy an extensive area and the rest of the chcle, which in 
 general is level, is covered with tree and grass forest. South of Kyee-thai is the
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 289 
 
 Eng-bya lake which, m the rams, spreads nortliwards and joins the Theng- 
 byoo, converting the whole of the country behind the village of Kyee-thai and 
 for some miles north and south of it into a vast reedy marsh. In 1876 the 
 population numbered 3,324, the land revenue was Es. 2,473, the capitation 
 tax Es. 3,905 and the gi'oss revenue Es. 6,543. 
 
 KYE-MEE. — A village in the Kama toAvnship, Thayet district, contain- 
 ing some eighty houses and situated on the bank of the Ma-htoon stream in 
 the Kyouk-tsoung circle. It was formerly the residence of a Thoogyee but 
 in 1862 the last holder of that office was dismissed for bribery and his cii'cle 
 added to Kyouk-tsoung. 
 
 KYE-NEE. — A revenue circle in the Henzada district on the western 
 slopes of the Pegu Eoma north of the Tsa-doo-thee-ree-goon cu'cle. Eice 
 cultivation is met with near the villages but the remainder of the ckcle con- 
 sists of undulating ground and hills increasing in height towards the east, 
 covered with the tree forest in which is found Teak {Tectona grandis), Pyeng- 
 gado {Xylia dolabriformis) and Eng (Dipterocarpus tuhercidatus) ; and 
 where elephants, tigers, bison, hog and deer abound. In 1876 the popu- 
 lation numbered 5,725 souls, the land revenue was Es. 5,277, the capitation 
 tax Es. 5,608 and the gross revenue Es. 11,193. 
 
 KYE-NEE. — A river in the Thayet district, which rises in the Burmese 
 territories among the lower western slopes of the Pegu Eoma and entering 
 the Mye-dai township near the village of Hpoung-teng, about twelve miles 
 east of the Irrawaddy, falls into that river just below the old fort at Mye-dai. 
 Its course within British territory is not more than sixteen miles m a dh-ect 
 line. It brings down a considerable quantity of water dm'ing the rains but 
 is useless for navigation and also, owing, it is said, to obstructions m its 
 course in Upper Burma, for floating timber. The bed is gravelly and the 
 banks steep in some places. Useful timber is found on its banks ; amongst 
 other trees Eng-gyeng {Pentacme siamensis), which furnishes a white, heavy 
 wood extensively used in house-building, and Acacia catechu from which the 
 cutch of commerce is extracted. It has several feeders, but none are 
 navigable or of any importance. 
 
 KYEK-MA-YA. — A revenue circle in the Ma-ha-tha-man township, 
 Prome district, containing ten village tracts and lymg to the cast of the Zay 
 stream and just above the Eng-ma swamp. Eice cultivation is extensively 
 carried on in this circle. In 1876 the population was 1,572, the land 
 revenue Es. 2,081, the capitation tax Es. 1,573 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 3,674. 
 
 KYEK-POUNG. — A river in the Bassein district. Its som-ce is m the 
 Arakan mountams whence it flows for a considerable distance south and 
 then east, joining the Bassein river about five miles below the village of 
 Tsha-daw. Its total length is about twenty-two miles : its breadth at the 
 mouth is forty feet and its depth ten ; the bed is sandy and muddy. The 
 banks are covered with fine timber trees and with bamboos of several kinds. 
 With the flood large boats can ascend for two miles or a little more. 
 
 KYEK-EO. — A revenue cu-cle with an area of 26 square miles in the 
 extreme north of Cheduba island, in the Kyouk-hpyoo district, with a popu- 
 lation of 3,233 souls in 1876. The principal products ai'e rice and tobacco^ 
 
 37
 
 290 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Not far from the coast there are some i)etroleum wells. In 1876 the land 
 revenue was Rs. 3,139, the capitation tax Es. 3,385 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 6,759. 
 
 KYEK-ROON. — A village about seven miles inland from the east 
 bank of the Irrawaddy, in the Goon-daw circle of the Mye-dai township, 
 Thayet district, situated on the little Kyek-roon stream, an affluent, from the 
 south, of the Kye-nee river. It contains about one hundred and thirty 
 houses. 
 
 KYEK-TAIK. — A revenue circle in the Meng-hla township of the 
 Henzada district, on the northern and southern slopes of the Eng-gyeng- 
 doung spur of the Pegu Eoma. To the west the country is low and level 
 and suited for rice cultivation but towards the east it consists of undulat- 
 ing ground and low hills which gradually rise in height till they join the 
 Roma : these hills are clothed with bamboo and tree forest — Teak {Tectona 
 grandis), Pyeng-gado {Xylia dolahriformis) and Eng {Dipterocariyus tuhercu- 
 latus) — through which roam elephant, bison, tiger, hog and deer. Cutch is 
 manufactm'ed in this circle from the trees found growing in the forests. In 
 1876 the population was 7,925 souls, the land revenue Rs. 11,824, the capi- 
 tation tax Rs. 6,470 and the gross revenue Rs. 19,495. 
 
 KYEK-TAW-PYOON. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district, 
 formed of a group of islands north of Kyouk-hpyoo, 13 square miles in 
 extent, partially cultivated, iDartly with indigo, and with 1,543 inhabitants 
 in 1876, when the land revenue was Rs. 1,247, the capitation tax Rs. 1,757 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 5,366, Rs. 2,362 having been derived from the 
 net tax and the local cesses. It now includes the Tswon-pan-khyaing circle. 
 
 KYEK-TSHOO-DAW. — A small revenue circle in the north-east corner 
 of the Kan-oungto"svnship, Henzada district, now united to Kan-oung Myoma. 
 
 KYE-REK-DWENG. — A revenue circle in the western township, Tavoy 
 district, 40 square miles in extent, of which about three are cultivated, 
 principally with rice. Salt is made and a fair revenue is derived from the 
 fishery and net tax. In 1876 the population numbered 1,218 souls, the land 
 revenue was Rs. 2,588, the capitation tax Rs. 926 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 4,400. 
 
 KYIEN-TA-LEE. — A village in the southern township of the Sandoway 
 district, formerly the head-quarter station of the toTviiship and the residence 
 of the Extra Assistant Commissioner in charge. It is situated about eight 
 miles from the mouth of the Kyien-ta-lee river and is accessible to smaU sea 
 going vessels. In 1876 it had a mixed population of 389 souls, amongst 
 whom Ai'akanese predominate. A small body of Police is stationed here. 
 
 KYIEN-TA-LEE. — A revenue circle in the southern orKhwa township 
 of the Sandoway district, which now includes Kyien-ta-lee-bya and extends 
 eastwards from the sea coast, north of the Kyien-ta-lee-Re-gyaw ckcle, to the 
 crest of the Arakan mountains. The principal products are rice and sessa- 
 mum. The estimated area of the miited cii'cles is 390 square miles and in 
 1876 the population was 2,082, the land revenue Rs. 2,181, the capitation 
 tax Rs. 2,012 and the gross revenue Rs. 6,505. In 1831 a hpoongyee, or Bood- 
 dhist monk, trading on the superstitious feelings of the i)eople and on the desh'es 
 and hopes of those who expected that the British Government, having driven
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 291 
 
 out the Burmese, would retii-e on receiving an indemnity and leave the Ai-akan- 
 ese to re-estabhsh their ancient kingdom, pretended that he was a Meng-loung 
 or the embodunent of a future prince, and raised an insurrection which, for 
 a short time, caused some uneasiness but which was eventually suiDpressed 
 with far greater promptitude and ease than was at first expected. 
 
 KYIEN-TA-LEE.— A river in the Sandoway district which rises in the 
 Arakan hills and, with a general north-west com'se, falls into the Bav of 
 Bengal m about 17° 58' N. at Bluff Point. ^ 
 
 KYIEN-TA-LEE -BYA.— A revenue circle in the lOiwa township of the 
 Sandoway district, lymg in the mountainous country at the head 
 waters of the Kyien-ta-lee river, having an estimated area of 220 square 
 miles. Its population in 1872 was estimated at 94 souls and the area under 
 cultivation in the same year at 34 acres. It is now joined to Kyien-ta-lee. 
 
 KYIEN-TA-LEE-RE-GYAW.— Arevenue circle in the southern orKhwa 
 township of the Sandoway district, which extends inland from the sea coast 
 at Bluff Pouat towards the Arakan mountains. The estimated area is 
 196 square miles, very httle cultivated especially towards the east. In 1876 
 the population was 1,014, the land revenue Es. 639, the capitation tax 
 Es. 804 and the gross revenue Es. 2,792. 
 
 KYOO-DAW-GAN. — A revenue circle in the Prome district west of 
 Poung-day. It is traversed by the high road from Eangoon to the north. 
 It contains no large villages. In 1876 the population was 290, the land 
 revenue Es. 265 and the capitation tax Es. 280. 
 
 KYOON. — A small stream in the Bassein district which rises in some 
 low laterite hiUs, south of the village of Le-tshoo, and, flowing in a southerly 
 du-ection for ten or twelve miles, falls into the Pe-beng. Its mouth is about 
 100 feet broad. In the rains it is navigable by small boats almost up to 
 its source. 
 
 KYOON-BOUK. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-loung township, Thoon- 
 kliwa district, having an area of 112 square miles, lying on the right bank 
 of the Irrawaddy. The southern corner is formed into an island by the 
 Hnget-pyaw channel. The country is generally low, flat and covered with 
 grass, and much intersected by creeks on the banks of which are the villaf^es. 
 The inhabitants subsist chiefly by fishing and miscellaneous cultivation, and 
 in 1876 numbered 4,797 souls ; m that year the land revenue was Es. 5,320, 
 the capitation tax Es. 5,850 and the revenue derived from all other som-ces, 
 of which the rent of the fisheries was by far the most prolific, Es. 10,595. 
 
 KYOON-HPA. — A revenue cu-clc m about the centre of the Henzada 
 township of the Henzada district, the larger portion of which is under rice 
 cultivation. On the west is the Ka-baing circle, on the north the Gyomig- 
 kwee, on the east the Lay-dee-kan-hla and on the south the Nat-maw. In 
 1876 the population numbered 2,821, the land revenue was Es. 8,780, the 
 capitation tax Es. 2,992 and the gross revenue Es. 11,919. 
 
 KYOON-KA-NEE. — A revenue circle, occupying about 54 square miles 
 in the northern portion of the Myoung-mya township, Bassein district, and 
 enclosed cast and west by the Pya-ma-law and the liha-louk-thaik channels.
 
 292 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Sugarcane is cultivated on the banks of the Kha-louk-thaik. The inhabi- 
 tants are Kareng and Burmans and in 1876 numbered 5,954 souls ; in 
 that year the land revenue was Es. 14,298, a larger amount than that 
 derived from any other circle in the township and from any other ckcle in 
 the district except Htan-le-beng and Paik-thoung m Thee-kweng, the capi- 
 tation tax Es. 6,295 and the gross revenue Es. 21,410. 
 
 KYOON-KA-ZENG. — A revenue circle in the Kyoung-goon township, 
 now joined to Tsam-bay-roon, in the Bassein district, about 120 square miles 
 in extent. The ground is generally low and marshy and unfitted for rice 
 cultivation. The inhabitants of the circle are largely employed in the 
 fisheries. Kyon-ta-nee and the country to the east of it were the scene of the 
 operations carried on in 1853 by the British under Sir- J. Cheape and the 
 Bassein Kareng levy under Major (now Lieutenant-General) Fytche against 
 he rebel Myat-htoon. About two miles below Kyoon-ta-nee was Kyoon-ka- 
 zeng, where Myat-htoon estabhshed his head-quarters which, on his defeat, 
 was destroyed. In 1876 the population was 3,293, the land revenue 
 Es. 5,664, the capitation tax Es. 3,735 and the gross revenue Es. 18,516, of 
 which the larger portion was derived from the rent of the fisheries. 
 
 KYOON-KHA-DAT. — A village in the Hnit-kaing circle of the Wa-kha- 
 roo township of the Amherst district, on the eastern bank of the Wa-kha-roo 
 river near the little Kyoon-kha-dat, one of its tributaries. In 1877 it had 
 620 inhabitants. 
 
 KYOON-KHA-EENG. — A village in the Bassein district, surrounded by 
 rice fields, in the Thee-kweng township, on the Pe-beng river, about five miles 
 above Ee-dweng-koon, inhabited chiefly by Talaing and Kareng cultivators. 
 
 KYOON-MEE. — A village in the Mye-noo circle, Le-myet-hna town- 
 ship, Bassein district, on the western bank of the Ee-nouk stream towards 
 the north-eastern boundary of the district. Close to it is the village of 
 Tsa-re-kweng. In 1877 it had 603 inhabitants. 
 
 KYOON-PA-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-loung township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, about 78 square miles in extent, on the left bank of the 
 Pya-ma-law. The country generally is flat, low and uncultivated though 
 there is some rice cultivation. Shwe-loung, the head-quarter town of the 
 township, is the largest in the cii'cle ; its inhabitants trade much with 
 Bassein and Eangoon and many are employed in fishing. The cii-cle con- 
 tains a very large number of Kareng villages, situated generally on the 
 banks of the numerous anastomosing streams and channels, the inhabi- 
 tants of which are mostly gardeners. In 1876 the number of inhabitants 
 was 7,463, the land revenue was Es. 8,101, the amoimt of the capitation 
 tax was Es. 7,038 and the gross revenue was Es. 17,644. 
 
 KYOON-PA-DOOP. — A rich revenue circle in the Shwe-loung township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, about 65 square miles in extent, on the right bank of 
 the Irrawaddy just above the Lan-tha-maing channel. The country is flat, 
 low and much intersected by creeks. The inhabitants, who are engaged in 
 agriculture and fishing, numbered 9,669 in 1876 when the land revenue was 
 Es. 21,264, the amount of the capitation tax Es. 9,730 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 31,983.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 293 
 
 KYOON-PA-DOOP.— A tidal creek in the Sliwe-loung township, Thoon- 
 khwa district, fourteen miles in length from its mouth in the Tha-rwot- 
 thwot to where it joins the Irrawaddy. It is navigable throughout by river 
 steamers. 
 
 KYOON-PA-GOO. — A small stream which divides the Tsit-toung from 
 the Shwe-gyeng sub-division of the Shwe-gyeng district. It rises in the 
 hills east of the Tsit-toung and falls into that river just above Kha-rwai. 
 It is not navigable by large boats. 
 
 KYOON-PA-GOO. — A revenue circle in the Tsit-toung township of the 
 Shwe-gyeng district, about 120 square miles in extent, lying on the left bank 
 of the Tsit-toung river with the Kyoon-pa-goo stream on the north, the 
 Poung-loung range on the east and the Tsit-toung circle on the south. It 
 now includes Eng-kwot. It is sparsely inhabited and contains but little 
 cultivated ground. The principal villages are Kha-rwai, near the mouth of 
 the Kyoon-pagoo, and Thien-zayat further south, on the bank of the Tsit- 
 toung. In 1876 the inhabitants, who are mostly Kareng, numbered 3,774, 
 the land revenue was Es. 1,267, the capitation tax Es. 1,428 and the gi'oss 
 revenue Es. 2,758. 
 
 KYOON-PYAW.— The head-quarter town of the Tsam-bay-roon 
 township in the Bassein district, on the right bank of the Daga river at the 
 mouth of the Ee-gyee, in 17° 17' N. and 95° 16' E., with a population in 
 1876 of 2,490 souls and in 1877 of 2,835. The inhabitants are principally 
 traders and cultivators. Large quantities of the rice grown in the 
 extensive fields in the neighbom-hood are sent to Bassein. It contains a 
 Court-house, a Pohce station and a market. The local revenue in 1876-77 
 was Es. 2,655. 
 
 KYOON-TA-LEE. — A river which has its source in the Arakan moun- 
 tains and faUs into the Bassein river at Kyoon-ta-lee in 17° 18' N. and 94° 
 67' E. after a south-easterly course of about 18 miles. At its mouth it has 
 a breadth of about ninety feet and a depth of nine, with a sandy and 
 muddy bed. With the flood boats of forty baskets burden can ascend 
 as far as Tsit-ta-ran. On its banks are found bamboos and valuable 
 timber. 
 
 KYOON-TA-NEE.— 6'gg Bhaiv-dee river. 
 
 KYOON-TA-NEE.— Arich revenue cii'cle in the Donabyoo township 
 of the Thoon-khwa district, adjoining and to the east of the Donabyoo 
 Myoma curcle, which now includes A-kyaw and Pyeng-ka-tha. It has gained 
 very largely by the embankments along the Ii-rawaddy and the land reve- 
 nue, which in 1867 was about Es. 1,700, was Es. 4,458 in 1876, when the 
 population numbered 3,972 souls and the capitation tax was Es. 3,840. 
 In the same year the gross revenue was Es. 18,324, very lai-gely derived 
 from the rents of the fisheries and the tax on nets. 
 
 KYOON-TOON.— One of the mam branches of the In-awaddy, which 
 takes its origin at a place about ten miles below Gnyoung-doon where 
 another branch, the To, also bifurcates. From this point it follows a 
 S. S. W. course to the sea. During the rains there is a rapid cm-rent down- 
 wards but at other times it is tidal throughout its length, the rise and fall
 
 294 BRITISH BURMA GAZETEER. 
 
 of the tide at the mouth is, at springs, about seven feet. It is navigable 
 by river steamers or vessels of 300 tons burthen from its northern mouth 
 for about sixty miles, as far as the mouth of the Pee-pa-lwot. For some dis- 
 tance below this, a good deal of its water having found an exit through the 
 Pee-pa-lwot into the Irrawaddy or principal mouth, it is very shallow and 
 fordable at low water, but southwards from the mouth of the Kyoon-ta, which 
 reinforces it with water from the To, the channel is good and it has a 
 depth of not less than four fathoms at low tides. The islands in this river 
 are numerous ; the two principal ones are the Miem-ma-hla, sixteen miles 
 long by three broad, near the mouth, and the smaller Kj^won-gnyo-gyee, 
 higher up. Down to the village of Kyaik-pee the banks are generally covered 
 with elephant grass, and from this point southwards with tree-forest. From 
 its commencement to the mouth of the Wa-ra-khaing it is known as the Eng- 
 tai, lower down as the Ma-ran or Kyaik-pee, and towards the coast it is gene- 
 rally called by the inhabitants the Kyoon-toon. By non-residents and 
 Europeans, generally, it is ordinarily called the Dala. During the dry 
 weather boats are daily seen passing down this river conveying plantains, 
 rice, sugar, betel-nut, &c., to the villages on the sea coast ; these return 
 with nga-pee (fish paste), dhanee leaves and poles, the two last for the 
 Eangoon market especially. 
 
 KYOON-TOON. — A small river in the Bassein district, about fourteen 
 miles long, of which the last ten are navigable by boats forty feet in length, 
 which falls into the Myoung-mya river at Kwe-lwe village. 
 
 KYOON-WON. — A village in the Kyaik-pa-ran circle of the Gyaing 
 Attaran township, Amherst district, on the right bank of the Attaran. In 
 1877 it had 546 inhabitants. 
 
 KYOUK-BHOO. — A revenue circle in the Prome district, in the Pa- 
 doung township, extending eastwards from the Ai'akan mountains to within 
 a few miles of the Irrawaddy. The country consists of a succession of 
 spurs and counter- spurs from the main range which are densely covered 
 with tree-forest, among which are found Teak, Pyengado or iron wood, and 
 Sha or cutch. Only in the more level country along the eastern border of 
 the circle does regular rice cultivation occur, and here are situated most of 
 the villages, of which Kyouk-bhoo, Hpo-rwa and Kan-goo are the largest. 
 The Kyouk-bhoo rises in the west of the cu'cle and flows through it east- 
 wards towards the Ii-rawaddy. The military road from Padoung into Ara- 
 kan, aross the Toung-goop pass of the Arakan mountains, enters this cu-- 
 cle at Gnyoung-khye-douk on the Kyouk-bhoo river from whence westwards 
 it winds amongst and over the hills. At Gnyoung-gyo, on this road, some 
 fourteen miles west of Gnyoung-khye-douk, experiments at forming a sana- 
 tarium for the Thayetmyo garrison have been attempted ; one of the great 
 difficulties to be overcome is the scarcity of water during the cold and 
 dry seasons. In 1876 the population numbered 1,826 souls, the land 
 revenue was Es. 1,005, the capitation tax Rs. 2,185 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 3,420. 
 
 KYOUK-BHOO. — A small village in the revenue cu-cle of the same name 
 in the Padoung township, Prome district. 
 
 KYOUK-BHOO.— A stream in the Prome district which rises in the 
 Arakan mountauis and flows in an easterly du-ection in a narrow valley
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 295 
 
 between two long spurs for about twcnty-fivc miles when it joins the 
 Tha-nee close to its mouth. On this river, about seven miles in a direct 
 line westwards from the Irrawaddy, is the village of Gnyoung-khye-douk, 
 the first halting-place on the road across the Arakan mountains to Toung- 
 goop in the Sandoway district of the Arakan division. Pemberton, in his 
 report on the eastern frontier of British India published in 1835, states 
 (p. 100) that Lieutenant B. Brown followed the bed of this stream for some 
 distance from the Irrawaddy on his exploration of the Toung-goop pass. 
 Since then a more practicable road has been made. As far as Gnyoung- 
 khye-douk the banks are moderately steep and the bed sandy or gravelly, 
 but from this village to its som'ce the bed is rocky and the banks steep. 
 The hills through which it flows are covered with valuable timber. 
 
 KYOUK-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the township of the same name 
 in the Shwe-gyeng district, extending from the Kyouk-gyee river eastwards 
 to the hills, with the Khyoung-bya cii'cle on the north and the Thayet-peng- 
 tat circle on the south, with an area of about 215 square miles and a popu- 
 lation, principally Kareng, of 4,125 souls in 1876. The fishery and net 
 tax produce a large revenue. In 1876 the land revenue was Es. 2,295, 
 the capitation tax Es. 2,996 and the gross revenue, including the local 
 funds raised in the large village of Kyouk-gyee, Es. 9,701. 
 
 KYOUK-GYEE. — A village in the cii'cle of the same name in the Shwe- 
 gyeng district, the head-quarters of the Kyouk-gyee township, lying on both 
 banks of the Kyouk-gyee river and on the Shwe-gyeng and Toung-ngoo road 
 32 miles from the former town, with 1,643 inhabitants in 1877. Although a 
 moderately-sized and busy town, the inhabitants doing a thriving trade, prin- 
 cipally in betel-nut, with the Kareng and others who hve in the wilderness of 
 mountains stretchmg away north and east, with well-built houses and two 
 bridges across the Kj^ouk-gyee connecting the two quarters, the dense 
 forest which sm-round it and the high and rocky hills which shut it in, 
 give it a look of sohtude and di'eariness. Its name is said to be derived 
 from a large and peculiarly shaped stone near it {Kyouk "a stone" and c/yce 
 "big.") In the Bm-mese time Kyouk-gyee was a fortified to'uii and traces 
 of the old stockade still remain ; in 1809 it was attacked and destroyed by 
 the Zeng-mai Shans. About ten miles to the south is the Hmaw-daw, an 
 unfinished pagoda, held in great reverence by the Burmese, where a 
 festival is held annually in March, and in its neighbourhood is the site of the 
 old city of Kyouk-hmaw ; the surrounding mound and fosse still remain but 
 within is a tangled mass of jungle. The local revenue raised iu Kyouk-gyee 
 m 1876-77 was Es. 1,573. 
 
 KYOUK-GYEE. — A river which rises m the north of the Shwe-gj-eng 
 district in the hills to the eastward and flows southwards nearly pai'aUel 
 to and near the Tsit-toung mto which it falls about eight miles, measm*cd 
 in a du-ect line above Shwe-gyeng and nearly 20 measured along the 
 tortuous course of the Tsit-toung. About thirty-six miles from its mouth is 
 the town of Kyouk-gyee, lying on both its Imnks, the two portions connected 
 by bridges ; thus far it is navigable by large boats. 
 
 KYOUK-GYEE. — A village in the Ka-m^-it cu'cle of the Central or 
 Sandoway township of the Sandoway district, lying on both banks of the 
 Ka-myit stream, between eight and nine miles from its mouth and twenty-
 
 296 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 six miles from Sandoway. In 1877 it had 837 inhabitants. The Thoogyee 
 of the cu"cle resides in this village. 
 
 KYOUK-GYEE. — A township in the north of the Shwe-gyeng district, 
 and having Toung-ngoo on the north, the Salween Hill Tracts on the east, 
 the Shwe-gyeng township on the south and west and traversed from north to 
 south by the Tsit-toung river. The eastern portion is highly mountainous and 
 inhabited chiefly by Kareng and contains but little regular rice cultivation, 
 the principal product being betel-nut grown on the hills and brought down 
 to Kyouk-gyee for sale, and teak and other valuable timber. On the 
 extreme west the surface of the country is hilly but between the hills and the 
 river are broad and fertile rice plains. The princijial rivers are the Kwon, 
 theKouk-thwa-wa and the Kyouk-gyee, the first and second flowing westwards 
 respectively to the Tsit-toung and the last southwards, parallel to that 
 river and a short distance east of it, till it turns westward and joins it near 
 Waing village. Except Kyouk-gyee, the head-quarters, it has no village of 
 any importance. 
 
 It is divided into seven revenue circles and in 1876 produced a gross 
 revenue, local. Imperial and provincial of Es. 59,948. In the same year 
 the population numbered 29,519 souls. 
 
 KYOUK-HPYOO. — A tidal creek in the Bassein district, Myoung-mya 
 township, which runs from the Peng-le-gale south and west to the Thek- 
 ngay-thoung, which it joins just below the northern end of the Alay-kywon. 
 It is navigable for some distance by river steamers and at flood tide 
 large boats can pass through its whole length to the Peng-le-gale. A good 
 deal of limestone is quarried from its banks and carried to La-bwot-ta and 
 len-may. About six miles from its western mouth a small creek of the same 
 name branches off eastward and joins the Ewe just above the village of 
 Kyouk-maw. 
 
 KYOUK-HPYOO. — A revenue circle in the township and district of the 
 same name, occupying the north-western corner of Eamree Island, with an 
 area of 26 square miles and a population in 1876 of 1,620 souls : in 
 that year the land revenue was Es. 1,972, the amount of the capitation tax 
 Es. 1,670 and the gross revenue Es. 3,753. The principal product is sugar. 
 
 KYOUK-HPYOO.— A township in the district of the same name, 388 
 square miles in extent, occupying the northern end of Eamree Island and a 
 group of islands to the north-east nearer the mainland formed by the 
 numerous tidal creeks which intersect the coast. In 1871 the Kwon-khyoung, 
 Ngwe-dweng-too and Kook-ko cu'cles were taken from it and added to others 
 from Akyab and from the An township to form the Mye-boon town- 
 ship. The head-quarters are at Kyouk-hpyoo. The township is now divided 
 into nineteen revenue circles and in 1874-75 produced a land revenue 
 of Es. 38,745 and Es. 40,811 as capitation tax. In 1876-77 the corres- 
 iwnding figures were Es. 39,216 and Es. 42,976. In that year the popula- 
 tion was 39,881 mainly Arakanese and the gross revenue Es. 133,519. The 
 principal products besides rice are indigo, salt and sugar, for the manu- 
 facture of which last 679 mills were at work in 1875-76. 
 
 KYOUK-HPYOO. — A tovm in Arakan, on the northern end of Eamree 
 Island, in 19° 26' 23" N. and 94° 33' 12" E. the head-quarter station of the 
 Kyouk-hpyoo district, to which it gives its name {White stone), said by some to
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 297 
 
 be derived from the white pebbly beach and Ijy others from a rock with a 
 white pagoda on it the entrance of the harbom- : the former derivation appears 
 the most probable and is sujiported by the best authorities. When Arakan 
 was ceded to the British in 1825, after the first Anglo-Bm-mese war, a small 
 fishing village occupied the site of the present town. In 1829 the garrison 
 of Sandoway, consisting of one battalion of Native Infantry and a detail 
 of artillery, which formed the greater portion of the troops then stationed in 
 Arakan, was transferred to Kyouk-hpyoo. The chief Civil station w^as then 
 at Eamree. The Government was strongly m*ged to transfer the head- 
 quarters of the newly-acquii'ed Province from Akyab to Kyouk-hpyoo but 
 declined to sanction the change. In 1835 Captain Pemberton published a 
 report on the eastern frontier of India and he thus describes Kyouk-phyoo : — 
 ** The Cantonments are built perpendicular to and close upon the seashore, 
 ** which has here a north-western aspect ; the site is a sandy plain bounded 
 ** on the south-west by a low sandstone range and on the east by a smaU 
 "creek which separates it from the allmial ground lying at the base of the 
 " Na-ga-toung and Oon-kh3'oung hills. On the east a creek caUed the Oung- 
 " chonng {Oo?i-khyoung) extends a considerable distance behmd the range 
 *' already mentioned, which runs from north-west to south-east. The bunga- 
 " lows of the officers are only separated from the beach by a narrow^ strip of 
 " land a few feet above high water level, and the lines of the sepoys are 
 "between five and six hundi-ed yards fm'ther inland with a southern aspect 
 " towards the parade ground, which is bounded on the south by a belt of man- 
 " grove jungle with a small branch of the Oung-choung creek flowing into it. 
 " The severity of the monsoon is broken by the range of hills bounding the 
 " Cantonment on the south-west, which varies from 500 to about 2,000 feet in 
 " height, and it is probably to its protective influence that the station owes 
 " its comparative salubrity, for in other respects its physical aspect differs but 
 " Httle from that observed in other spots of proved unhealthiness. Mangrove 
 "jungle lines the whole tract extending behind the Cantonment from the 
 " foot of the hiUs to the mouth of the Oung-choung creek, and as has ah-eady 
 " been observed, it is intersected in various directions by other inlets which 
 " are alternately flooded and left dry by the influence of the tide. 
 
 "East of the Cantonments and aljout half a mile chstant are the lines 
 " of the lascars attached to the flotilla of gunboats, which are securely 
 " moored in a small basin sufficiently capacious to hold them all, and which 
 " can easily be converted into a very excellent dock. The Oung-choung creek, 
 " which is about f of a mile fm-ther east, is equally well adapted for the 
 " same purpose on a larger scale, and is more convenient as being much 
 " nearer the springs from which the few vessels frequenting this port are 
 " accustomed to obtain their supply of water. It is along the shores of this 
 " creek, and in the numerous islands on the eastern side of the harbour, 
 " that the salt of the Province is principally manufactured, which Govern- 
 " ment formerly received at the rate of seven annas per maund ; the manu- 
 " factm-e, however, has never been extensively encouraged, as it has, 
 " I believe, been found that the inhabitants of the western side of the Bay of 
 " Bengal contrive to manufacture it at a rate far below that which the Mugs 
 " considered a fan* equivalent for theu' labour."* 
 
 * Report on the Eastcru Frontier by Captain R. Boilcau remberton, 44tb N.I.. Calcutta, 
 1835, pp. 91, 92. 
 
 38
 
 298 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The description given above is still fairly accurate. The Court-house, 
 circuit-house and officers' houses are along the sea beach, but the barracks 
 no longer exist. The town now has besides these a gaol, hospital and 
 charitable dispensary, a school-house and a market. 
 
 The harbour extends for many miles along the eastern shore of the 
 island, but the approach is dangerous on account of the numerous sunken 
 rocks ; the channel is, however, well buoyed. 
 
 In 1833 portions of Akyab, Eamree and Sandoway had been united to 
 form a new district, with the head-quarters at An, and in 1838 on account of 
 the extreme unhealthiness of An the head-quarters were transferred to Kyouk- 
 hpyoo. In 1841 the garrison was strengthened for about seven months 
 by a battalion of Native Infantry and a detachment of Em-opean Artillery, 
 but in 1850 the whole force was withdrawn and the town, which had sprung 
 up and had by this time considerably increased in size and in importance, 
 commenced to fall away. In 1852 its decadence received a slight check from 
 a battalion of Native Infantry being quartered in the old cantonments, a step 
 taken by the Government on account of the second Anglo-Burmese war, and 
 from the amalgamation of Kamree and An into the Kyouk-hpyoo district and 
 the consequent abolition of the head-quarters at Eamree. In 1855 the troops 
 were withdrawn and from that time forward the town has continued to 
 languish. 
 
 According to the official reports the number of inhabitants in each 
 year since 1866 has been : — 
 
 3,689 
 2,720 
 2,720 
 2,692 
 2,667 
 2,573 
 2,562 
 2,637 
 2,585 
 2,620 
 
 1867 
 
 
 1868 
 
 
 1869 
 
 
 1870 
 
 
 1871 
 
 
 1872 
 
 
 1873 
 
 
 1874 
 
 
 1875 
 
 
 1876 : 
 
 
 The local revenue raised in the town from market stall rents and other 
 som-ccs is small. In 1877-78 it was Es. 2,974. 
 
 KYOUK-HPYOO.— A district in the Arakan division 4,309 square 
 miles in extent, comprising a strip of the mainland from the An pass, 
 across the Arakan Eoma mountains, to the Ma-ee river and the large 
 islands of Eamree and Cheduba with numerous others which extend 
 southward along the coast of Sandoway. On the north lies the Akyab 
 district, south Sandoway, east and on the other side of the Arakan Eoma 
 Upper Burma and west and south the Bay of Bengal. The mainland in the 
 north and east is highly mountainous and forest-clad and the lower portion 
 divided into a number of islands by a labyrinth of tidal creeks which 
 terminate at the foot of the lower ranges and receive the contributions of 
 numerous small streams. Between the mainland and Eamree is a group 
 of islands separated by deep, narrow, salt-water creeks forming the north- 
 eastern shore of the harbour of Kyouk-phyoo — so named from the town on the 
 northern end of Eamree — which extends for nearly thirty miles along the 
 island in a south-easterly dii'cction and has an average breadth of three miles.
 
 BRITISH BUEMA GAZETTEER. 299 
 
 South-west of Eamree Island is Cbeduba, or Man-oung as it is called by the 
 Burmese and Arakanese. 
 
 North-east and east of Eamree and in Kyouk-hpyoo harbour are 
 numerous rocky islands, as Pagoda Eock, the Terribles, the Brothers, the 
 Sisters, etc., rismg abruptly from the sea and with no cultm*able area, whilst 
 off the southern point of Eamree and the southern point of Cheduba are 
 Amherst or Tsa-goo Island and Ee-kj-won with several smaller islets. 
 
 The principal mountains are the Arakan Eoma which separate the 
 Mountains district from the territories of the King of Burma and 
 send out numerous spm's and subspurs almost to the sea 
 coast. 
 
 Within the limits of this district the range is crossed by two main passes 
 which take their names from the two rivers, the Dha-let and the An. 
 The Dha-let pass, in the extreme north, was partially explored dm'ing the 
 first Burmese war by a detachment under Major Bm-ke and was proved to be 
 almost impassable by troops, owing as much to the scarcity of water as to 
 the precipitous natm-e of the ascents and descents, and it is but little used even 
 by the inhabitants of the country. The An pass, farther south, was traversed 
 by a detachment of Sir Ai'chibald Campbell's army on its retm-n from Yan- 
 daboo ; it proceeded from Tsheng-hpyoo-kywon on the. bank of the Irrawaddy 
 to the village of An, about 45 miles from the mouth of the river, which can 
 be reached by large boats at spring tides in eleven days. In 1830 Lieutenant 
 Pemberton made the march in nine days, starting from Myeng-boo, a village 
 thu-ty-eight miles below Tsheng-hpyoo-kywon. Going eastward the road from 
 An for some distance traverses a level country, crossing the An in several 
 places, after which, gradually passing into the hills, it strikes the crest of the 
 mountains at a spot 4,664 feet above the sea and 4,517 feet above the fii'st 
 rising ground, from which it is about eighteen miles distant ; on the east the 
 descent is much sharper falling 3,777 feet in eight miles. From this point 
 the road follows the bed of a river in a narrow and rocky ravine for twenty 
 miles, gradually emerging into level and open ground. From the crest 
 eastwards the country belongs to the Idngdom of Upper Bm-ma. On Eamree 
 Island there is one main range of mountains with a general N. N. W. and 
 S. S. E. du-ection, and with an elevation above the plain varpng from 
 500 to 1,500 feet for the principal extent and not exceeding 3,000 feet at 
 the highest point, with lower spm-s branchmg ofif from it. The gen- 
 eral character of Cheduba is that of a weU- wooded, fertile island of moderate 
 height and irregular outline, fifteen-and-a-half miles in length ; a band of 
 level plain, but little raised above the sea, extends round the coast, wider 
 on the east than on the west, whilst within this tract are irregular, low, 
 undulating gi-ounds varying from 50 to 500 feet in height, enclosmg 
 several higher and detached hiUs, the loftiest of which, on the south of the 
 island, is about 1,400 feet high. 
 
 There arc no rivers of any great importance but numerous small 
 streams dram the larger islands and the Dha-let and the 
 
 Rivers. ^j^^ ^^^ ^Yiq mainland, are both na^agable by large boats 
 
 as far as the two villages of the same names, the first some twenty-five 
 and the other forty-five miles from the mouth of the stream on which each 
 is situated ; above these they are mere momitain torrents navigable only 
 by the smallest canoes and by rafts.
 
 300 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The most important and valuable timber fomid growing in this district 
 is Pyeng-gado {Xylia dolabriformis). From the An 
 orests. southwards throughout the mainland Pyeng-gado forms 
 
 compact masses of forests all along the lower hills and adjoining plains ; 
 north of the An to the Dha-let it occurs in patches and north of the Dha-let 
 appears to cease altogether. On Eamree Island nearly all the hills produce 
 Pyeng-gado, but as a general rule of an inferior description ; on the south, 
 however, that which remains — for the finest trees have been cut down — is 
 good. The area drained by the An is, with the exception of level ground near 
 the stream, covered with bamboo forests, each some few acres only in extent, 
 containing Pyeng-gado. The western slopes of the spur which extends 
 between the An and the Dha-let are covered partly with green and partly 
 with di'y forest, the former occupying the greater portion of the area. 
 The dry forest is found near the upper part of several small creeks which 
 run towards the sea and here Pyeng-gado is found, partly good and partly 
 inferior. The actual area of the Pyeng-gado forest has never been accur- 
 ately ascertained. 
 
 In addition to Pyeng-gado the district produces many other valuable trees. 
 Ka-gnyeng {Dipterocarpus alatus) found all over the district, furnishes 
 the wood-oil so much used for torches, and here the timber is employed 
 for the tops of boats, and when used as planking in houses in unexposed 
 situations, lasts for some twenty years. In Eamree Thit-ya {Shorea obtusa) 
 and elsewhere Bhan-bwai (Careyaarborea), Pyeng-ma {Lagerstroemia regince),' 
 Htien (Nauclea parvifolia) and Shaw (Beilschmiedia sp.) are used for house- 
 posts, the last being much sought after. Boats are made from the Kook-ko 
 {Albizzia lebbek), flooring planks from several kinds of Tha-bye (Eugenia), 
 canoes from Pyeng-ma {Lagerstrcemia regince) ; the wood of theKyek-yo (Vitex 
 pubescens) is used for the teeth of harrows and the powdered bark of Bhwai- 
 zeng {Baukinia malabarica) , mixed with oil, for caulking boats. The estim- 
 ated area of the forest tracts unsuited for cultivation is about 652 square 
 miles and of the 1,639 square miles of mountainous country not more 
 than 320 are fit even for toungya ; from these, if a demand arose, much 
 valuable timber could be supplied which can never be used up by local 
 consumption, whilst it could easily be worked out and shipped to India at 
 but little expense. The trees which most deserve attention are Ka-gnyeng 
 (Dipterocarpus alatus), found all over the district, three species of Kook- 
 ko viz., (Albizzia, procera, lebbek and stipulata), which are plentiful, Kyan 
 (Terminalia alata) and Bhan-bhwai (Careya arborea). 
 
 Of the geology of this district little is accurately known. Earlier 
 . observers, as Lieutenant Foley and Commander Halsted, 
 eral poducts! ^^' Considered the numerous islands to be of volcanic origin, 
 but Mr. Theobald of the Geological Sm^vey of India con- 
 siders this view as untenable. Numerous small hillocks exist within four miles 
 of the town of Kyouk-hpyoo situated on rising gromid 200 or 300 feet above the 
 sea level, conical-shaped and formed of mud of a blackish grey colom\ On 
 the top of each is a small opening filled with water through which there is a 
 frequent discharge of marsh gas and an occasional issue of flames rising to a 
 great height and illuminating the sm-rounding country for many miles. Com- 
 mander Halsted of H. M. S. Childers visited every one of the mud " volcanoes " 
 of Cheduba a few years after the English had obtained possession of Arakan
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 301 
 
 and " on none with the strictest search could be found any traces of direct 
 "fire, or of those peculiar formations produced by that agent. Gas alone 
 " seems to be the one immediately occasioning those strange exceptions 
 "to the general character of volcanoes. It is no doubt inflammable gas, 
 " and the hght given by some of them in activity has been so great as 
 " to enable a book to be read by it at a distance of nine miles.,.. The large 
 *' volcanoes of Cheduba are four in number ; they are detached mounds 
 " rather than cones varying from 100 to 1,000 feet above the level of the sea. 
 
 *' In all these the water or mud is salt The minor volcanic rents seldom 
 
 ** exhibit any change; the larger ones when in eruj^tion, which generally takes 
 " place dm'ing the rains, either throw forth to a considerable height accom- 
 " panied with flame, fluid mud which spreads over a certain extent, or the 
 " sm-face affected boils "wdth the escapement of gas, being too consistent to be 
 " thrown uj)." Thelargest "volcano" is in about the centre of this island andis 
 called Toung -nee or My e-nee-toung, 'red earth hiU' (Pagoda hiU of the charts) ; 
 some years ago there was an irruption, or more properly a conflagration, 
 of marsh gas here which illuminated the to^vTi of Eamree some twenty-five 
 miles distant, and still later as twelve men, kneeling close to the crater, were 
 worshipping the di-agon supposed to reside in the volcano an irruption occm-red 
 three only escaping and the remainder perishing from their clothes taking 
 fire. 
 
 " There are two other volcanoes of small dimensions, and but little 
 " elevated above the plains where they are found to exist ; they are composed 
 *' of the same soil of mud emitting large bubbles of gas ; and besides 
 " these there are two si)ots whence water alone is brought uj) by the gas." 
 
 " They are composed of a stiff gi-ey clay with large quantities of 
 ** singular fragments of stone, their sides much cut up by the effects of 
 " rain, their summits quite bare and from 240 to 250 yards in diameter ; 
 ** on these are deposed stiff cones of clay, from a few inches to fom- feet 
 " in height, and the same variety of dimensions in diameter. These are 
 " hard on the outside, but filled half way up with thick well-mixed mud, 
 " which every now and then exudes from a hole at the sides or summit at 
 ** the bursting of a bubble of gas which occm's every three or four minutes. 
 
 Earth-oil wcUs exist in several places and for some years were farmed 
 out by the State and a tax on their working is still levied in the Tseen- 
 khyoon circle near the northern end of Eamree Island, on the east coast 
 in Than-khyoung and, farther south, in Le-doung ; and on Cheduba in 
 Kyet-ro in the north, Man-oung in the centre and Toung-rwa in the 
 south. Of these the Lc-doung wells are the most important and have been 
 fully descri])ed by Major Plant at one time Deputy Commissioner of the 
 district. " They are situated at and round the bases of some low hills and 
 " are of various depths. The deepest well is 32 cubits deep with a mouth 
 " four feet square and a bottom about one cubit square. The sides of the 
 ** well are boarded up and strongly secured by diagonal cross-beams ingeni- 
 " ously and firmly fixed into retaining posts at the corners of the wooden 
 *' lining ; these cross-beams are in the shape of a cutter's main-boom, the 
 ** after end being let mto one post and the jaw end embracing the opposite 
 " post, and this being hammered down fixes the casing. This system of 
 " diagonal bars is carried down from top to bottom, with intervals of about 
 " two feet, and consequently acts as a ladder for going up and down the
 
 302 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 * well. At the bottom, where the oil collects, is a receptacle about 4 inches 
 
 ' deep containing water, on the top of which the oil floats The drawing 
 
 ' takes place twice a day, morning and evening : a small boy, descending 
 ' to the bottom, scoops up the oil into an earthen jar to which is attached 
 
 * a line ; about half way down another lad sits on the cross bars and 
 
 * guides this jar up, and from him m tm^n a man at the mouth guides the 
 ' jar in its perilous ascent The young boy from the bottom seemed 
 
 * a good deal affected : his face was flushed, his body hot and his eyes 
 
 * much inflamed and bleary ; the duration of his visit to the bottom was 
 ' about half an hour, he was 12 years of age and had been going down 
 
 ' the well twice daily for a long time New wells are constantly being 
 
 ' dug and yield a remunerative outturn. The oil when brought up 
 ' appeared like a blue whitish water, when poured into a receiver it gave 
 ' out beautiful brilliant straw-colom-ed rays and the smell was strong 
 ' and pungent. The oil is sold at five bottles per rupee." It is used for 
 
 lighting and in small doses medicinally as an emetic. In Cheduba the oil 
 is much nearer the surface ; there, at the site of the wells — if wells they 
 can be called — the earth is turned up to a depth of two feet and a bank of 
 soil raised round a square of about twenty yards, which during the rains 
 thus forms a shallow pond, the surface of which is in a constant state 
 of ebullition from the escape of gas. The petroleum collects on the 
 surface in three different forms. *' A green fluid oil first spreads itself 
 *' over the spot where the gas is bubbling up ; as it extends, its edges 
 *' exhibit a brown curdling substance resembling half congealed dripping, 
 *' and amongst this, as it becomes thicker, is seen gathering in spots a 
 *' dark brown substance of the colour and consistency of molasses." This 
 latter is used to preserve wood and to satm-ate paper for umbrellas and is 
 sometimes burnt but the green fluid is that mostly used to supply lamps. 
 The curdled substance is used with the dark for the coarser pm^poses to 
 which it is applied. In the months of March and April the pond gradually 
 di'ies up, when the soil is redug and disturbed as much as possible in 
 preparation for the ensuing season's work. 
 
 Limestone is found in several places on Eamree island and is quarried 
 for local use, according to the limited demand, in the Kyouk-hpyoo and 
 Kyouk-pyouk circles on the north-west, Ewa-thit on the north and Nga- 
 khoop-pyeng on the south-east. The limestone is quarried with ii'on 
 crowljars and carried to the bank of the nearest stream to be burned. 
 A hole in the shape of an inverted cone is dug in the ground on the edge of 
 the bank and fiUed with raw limestone and a horizontal opening formed 
 from the side of the bank for the introduction of the fuel. The fire is kept 
 burning for thirty-six hours and twelve hours are allowed for cooling. The 
 lime is then differently treated as it is intended for building pm-poses or for 
 chewing with betel ; for the former it is placed in a heap and slaked with 
 fresh or with salt water but for the latter it is put into small earthen pots, 
 which are about one-third filled with limestone, and freshwater is added and 
 the whole left to stand for some days, when the water is poured off and 
 the lime carefully collected. 
 
 Iron exists on Ramree and other islands and was formerly smelted 
 but its place in the market has been taken by foreign importations. Coal 
 has been found in three places on Ramree and in one on Cheduba, but is
 
 BRITISH BUEMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 303 
 
 not worked. Specimens from Kan-daing, twelve miles distant from Eam- 
 ree by road and five and a quarter by sea and one mile from the Keng 
 river, were sent to the coal and mineral committee which sat in Calcutta 
 in 1841 and were pronounced to be of excellent quality for steam pur- 
 poses, whilst some sent from Hoon, fm-ther south, was declared to be 
 almost equally good. The Hoon field Hes within one mile of the river of 
 that name, about eight and a half miles south of Eamree in a dii'ect line, 
 but eighteen miles by the road. The thii'd field is at Tan within two miles 
 of Eamree but is, probably, not woi*th working. The coal from a spot near 
 the western coast of Cheduba in the Toung-rwa ckcle was pronounced by 
 Mr. Piddington to be " bituminous though not highly so. Its appearance 
 " and the featm*es of some of the specimens are also in its favom-." No 
 attempt has been made to examine these coal-fields carefully and scienti- 
 fically. A considerable quantity of salt is made in the district, which is 
 more fully alluded to under the head of manufactm-es. 
 
 Out of the 4,309 square miles of the district, no less than 3,740 
 Agriculture. including the area of the streams and creeks, are returned 
 
 as absolutely uncultui'able, and in 1876-77 only 165 were 
 actually under cultivation. 
 
 The acreage of the various crops grown during each of the last ten 
 years was : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 <» 
 
 OJ 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 o 
 
 M 
 
 o 
 
 d 
 02 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 i 
 
 ■73 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 ■-3 
 5 
 
 g 
 
 a 
 
 w 
 
 8 
 
 u 
 
 ■2 
 
 
 a 
 V 
 a 
 
 Ph 
 
 m 
 
 CO 
 
 13 
 "S 
 
 to 
 
 Orchards. 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 1867-68 .. 
 
 75,843 
 
 1,682 
 
 1 
 
 64 
 
 46 
 
 1,149 
 
 2,064 
 
 132 
 
 2,024 
 
 1,214 
 
 84,219 
 
 1868-69 .. 
 
 81,000 
 
 1,774 
 
 4 
 
 88 
 
 50 
 
 1,195 
 
 2,167 
 
 133 
 
 709 
 
 2,757 
 
 89,937 
 
 1869-70 .. 
 
 81,570 
 
 1,890 
 
 2 
 
 G6 
 
 50 
 
 1,128 
 
 2,184 
 
 138 
 
 707 
 
 2,775 
 
 90,510 
 
 1870-71 .. 
 
 82,410 
 
 2,022 
 
 1 
 
 GO 
 
 51 
 
 1,258 
 
 2,192 
 
 136 
 
 355 
 
 2,859 
 
 91,370 
 
 1871-72 .. 
 
 86,822 
 
 1,644 
 
 1 
 
 65 
 
 50 
 
 1,289 
 
 2,264 
 
 179 
 
 733 
 
 3,046 
 
 96,093 
 
 1872-73 ,. 
 
 87,685 
 
 1,288 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 51 
 
 1,359 
 
 2,291 
 
 202 
 
 757 
 
 3,094 
 
 96,732 
 
 1873-71 .. 
 
 81,848 
 
 1,294 
 
 2 
 
 74 
 
 51 
 
 1,365 
 
 2,298 
 
 217 
 
 753 
 
 3,714 
 
 91,116 
 
 1874-75 .. 
 
 83,627 
 
 1,556 
 
 2 
 
 87 
 
 51 
 
 1,454 
 
 2,362 
 
 209 
 
 749 
 
 3,171 
 
 93,278 
 
 1875-76 .. 
 
 84,089 
 
 1,681 
 
 2 
 
 73 
 
 51 
 
 1,504 
 
 2,451 
 
 198 
 
 787 
 
 3,231 
 
 94,067 
 
 1876-77 .. 
 
 91,155 
 
 1,537 
 
 1 
 
 71 
 
 52 
 
 1,514 
 
 2,477 
 
 186 
 
 526 
 
 3,236 
 
 1,00,755 
 
 ♦ Tho 
 uuder rice 
 
 oilicial rttiuns iu tho Admiuistratiou Ikjiorts 
 from laud left fallow. The figures on page 304 do 
 
 do not distinguish land actually 
 uot iuclude fallow land.
 
 304 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The area of rice land, which is not very productive the average quantity 
 of grain produced per acre being only 9001bs., extends but slowly, and as long 
 ago as 1850-51 the Commissioner reported that " the better lands appear 
 "to have been already occupied." The acreage of rice land paying revenue 
 and the total crop, calculated at 9001bs. the acre, was : — 
 
 Acres. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 [n 1849-50 
 
 53,848 
 
 .. 21,189 
 
 „ 1859-60 
 
 65,107 
 
 .. 26,159 
 
 „ 1869-70 
 
 70,445 
 
 . . 28,304 
 
 „ 1870-71 
 
 71,076 
 
 . . 28,557 
 
 „ 1871-72 
 
 80,324 
 
 .. 32,273 
 
 „ 1872-73 
 
 81,142 
 
 .. 32,601 
 
 „ 1873-74 
 
 81,348 
 
 .. 32,684 
 
 „ 1874-75 
 
 83,627 
 
 .. 33,573 
 
 „ 1875-76 
 
 84,089 
 
 .. 33,785 
 
 „ 1876-77 
 
 84,942 
 
 . . 84,126 
 
 the sudden increase in 1871-72 was partly caused by the addition to the dis- 
 trict of four circles from Akyab in which there were 8,546 acres of cultivated 
 rice land. The whole of this is not consumed in the district, but there are 
 no means of ascertaining how much of the crop finds its way by the creeks 
 to the Akyab market, to be partially cleaned before being exported from the 
 the country, and south to Sandoway for consumption there ; but the exports 
 direct from Kyouk-hpyoo have, though never very large, varied considerably ; 
 in 1859-60 there were no shipments, but in 1864-65, 613 tons were sent to 
 the Straits and 863 tons of cleaned and uncleaned rice to Indian ports, and 
 in the following year 1,467 tons: in 1866-67 again there were no dkect 
 exports. In 1872-73 the Straits took 135 and India 223 tons, whilst 
 in 1873-74 1,234 tons were shipped and in 1876-77, only 18 cwts. 
 
 The tobacco is grown chiefly for home consumption and that 
 produced in Cheduba is considered the best. 
 
 Though the area on which indigo is cultivated was, in 1876, only 73 
 acres, it is far larger than anywhere else in the Province except in Henzada. 
 The ground is ploughed in December or January and the seed hand planted 
 after having been soaked in water for a night and kept damp a day or two 
 longer till it has germinated. In March or April when the plant in good soil 
 is from three to four feet high, in poorer from two to three feet, the leaves are 
 gathered for the purpose of extracting the dye, and a month later, by which 
 time the plant has grown about a foot more, the seeds are collected for next 
 year's sowing. There are two pluckings for each sowing and an acre of land 
 sown with about 321bs. of seed will produce some 15 cwts. of dye. The 
 expenses of cultivating an acre, including the State demand as land revenue, 
 may be taken at about Rs. 39, and the selling price of the dye in the local 
 markets, which has not much varied of late years, at one and a haK annas a 
 pound, or Rs. 10-8 per cwt. : thus the profits on each acre are from Rs. 110 
 to 120 annually. 
 
 The soil is not considered favourable for the cultivation of cotton, and 
 such as is grown is for home consumption : it is almost exclusively sown 
 together with rice in toungya or hill gardens, the rice is sown first and the 
 cotton between the rice seeds : the rice reaches maturity first and is reaped, 
 the cotton crop being collected afterwards. Sessamum also is cultivated 
 in toungya.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 305 
 
 The market price (per maund of 801bs) of the most important products 
 during the last ten years has been : — 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rice. 
 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 
 to 
 
 o 
 t) 
 
 C3 
 
 O 
 
 EH 
 
 
 1— ( 
 
 
 M 
 
 Q) 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 Es. A. 
 
 P. 
 
 Es. A. 
 
 P. 
 
 Es. A. P. 
 
 Es. A. P. 
 
 Es. 
 
 A, 
 
 P. 
 
 Es. A. 
 
 P. 
 
 Es. A. P. 
 
 1867-68 
 
 2 4 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Not given. 
 
 26 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 12 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 1868-69 
 
 2 8 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 3 8 
 
 25 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 18G9-70 
 
 2 8 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 2 4 
 
 Not given. 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 1870-71 
 
 2 8 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 2 4 
 
 25 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 1871-72 
 
 1 5 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 25 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 Not given. 
 
 9 
 
 1872-73 
 
 1 4 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 Not given. 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 1873-74 
 
 1 8 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 20 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 1874-75 
 
 1 8 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 Not given. 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 1875-76 
 
 1 8 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 20 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 1876-77 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 Not given. 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 Cotton and indigo have remained very steady, as might be expected from 
 the fact that they are produced for local consumption only, and the 
 changes in the price of the other articles has varied but little. 
 
 Whilst the area under cultivation is extending slowly and prices are 
 remaining almost stationary the rates of wages are the same as ten years 
 ago :— 
 
 
 Daily 
 
 rates. 
 
 
 Price of stock. 
 
 
 1867-68. 
 
 1876-77. 
 
 
 1867-68. 
 
 1876-77. 
 
 Laljouicrs 
 
 Skilled . . . . 
 
 Unskilled . . . . 
 Carts (per day) 
 Boats ( do. ) 
 Plough bullocks, each 
 Goats ,, 
 
 Es. A. P. 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 Es. A. 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 P. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Es. As. P. 
 
 60 "6" 
 Not given. 
 
 Es. As. P. 
 
 35 o' 
 12 
 
 The market value of agricultural stock appears to have fallen very 
 considerably. To some extent this may be due to the inaccuracy of 
 the returns, for in a country like Burma the acquisition of accurate statistics 
 cannot be hoped for and all that can be done is to form an approximate 
 estimate. It may also partly be due to a natm-al increase in the number 
 of beasts without an equivalent increase in the area brought under cultiva- 
 tion, for, as alreadj^ stated, the best lands were taken up years ago, whilst 
 the nature of the country is much against large exports of cattle. 
 
 39
 
 806 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 According to the returns appended to the Annual Administration Eeports 
 the stock in each of the last ten years was : — 
 
 
 
 TS 
 
 CD 
 
 
 
 
 
 (S, 
 
 bo 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 "rt ^ 
 
 -73 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 TO 
 
 ID 
 
 rJ= O 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 C3 • 
 
 
 SO 
 
 CO 73 
 
 
 bO 
 
 CD 
 
 g3 
 
 1 
 O 
 
 CO 
 
 ^1 
 
 
 w 
 
 O 
 
 rjl 
 
 pL, 
 
 O 
 
 PM 
 
 eq 
 
 O 
 
 1867-68 
 
 27,808 
 
 39,792 
 
 944 
 
 4,833 
 
 555 
 
 12,680 
 
 4,667 
 
 Not given. 
 
 1868-69 
 
 27,629 
 
 41,569 
 
 917 
 
 4,273 
 
 539 
 
 13,484 
 
 4,648 
 
 Do. 
 
 1869-70 
 
 28,709 
 
 44,879 
 
 981 
 
 4,386 
 
 535 
 
 13,549 
 
 4,785 
 
 1,205 
 
 1870-71 
 
 28,373 
 
 46,831 
 
 721 
 
 3,894 
 
 452 
 
 13,948 
 
 4,449 
 
 1,328 
 
 1871-72 
 
 31,496 
 
 47,965 
 
 958 
 
 3,307 
 
 446 
 
 15,327 
 
 5,155 
 
 1,273 
 
 1872-73 
 
 31,140 
 
 48,422 
 
 939 
 
 4,096 
 
 492 
 
 15,561 
 
 5,252 
 
 1,052 
 
 1873-74 
 
 30,410 
 
 49,938 
 
 867 
 
 3,935 
 
 544 
 
 14,832 
 
 5,282 
 
 790 
 
 1874-75 
 
 28,683 
 
 51,024 
 
 975 
 
 4,290 
 
 523 
 
 15,716 
 
 4,954 
 
 921 
 
 1875-76 
 
 29,076 
 
 52,817 
 
 620 
 
 4,920 
 
 498 
 
 16,000 
 
 5,244 
 
 1,012 
 
 1876-77 
 
 29,127 
 
 53,062 
 
 980 
 
 5,228 
 
 480 
 
 16,010 
 
 5,387 
 
 1,058 
 
 The land is held chiefly by small proprietors who own from one to five 
 acres, seldom more, and who do not often let their land but work it them- 
 selves, rarely employing hh-ed labom-ers ; when they do they pay about 
 Es. 6-8 a month if the labom^er lives with them, as is sometimes the 
 case, or about Ks. 8 if he does not. The census of 1872 shewed that 
 the agricultm-al adult male population of this district was 26,082 or 19*49 
 per cent, of the whole, on whom an average of 5*52 persons were dependant 
 and whose holdings averaged 3 "85 acres in extent. When land is let the 
 rent, which is fixed beforehand and generally by parol agreement, is paid in 
 kind, and in the case of rice land is very low, bemg about ten bushels a season. 
 Tenants very rarely employ hu-ed labour ; then- mode and standard of living 
 is very similar to that of their landlords but in solvency, in independance, and 
 general circumstances and character they are, perhaps, slightly below the 
 small proprietors. The size of the holdings shews little or no tendency to 
 increase, and it is exceedingly rare for an owner to emigrate into a town 
 and settle there, leasing his land and living on his rents ; indeed, considering 
 the smallness of the properties and the lowness of rent, it would be impossi- 
 ble for any landowner without other means to live on the rent of his estate. 
 
 The principal articles manufactured in the district, besides the silk 
 
 , , and cotton cloths woven in almost every house, are indigo. 
 
 Manufactures. ,, , i -i ° 
 
 salt, pots, coarse sugar and sessamum oil. 
 
 Salt is made in many places, in the dry season, on the banks of the 
 
 numerous tidal creeks. The annual produce varies considerabty, depending 
 
 upon the local demand for fish-cming and upon the imports from foreign 
 
 countries into Akyab and Bassein. The quantity manufactured during each 
 
 of the seven years ending with 1873-74* was : — 
 
 1867-68 
 
 . . Cwts. 84,214 
 
 1871-72 
 
 1868-69 
 
 „ 102,750 
 
 1872-73 
 
 1869-70 
 
 79,226 
 
 1873-74 
 
 1870-71 
 
 30,679 
 
 
 Cwts. 
 
 11,681 
 
 8,057 
 13,911 
 
 * No later information is available.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 307 
 
 The method employed for the manufactm-e of the article is simple 
 and inexpensive. The sea water is raised from the creek by means of a 
 trough working on a pivot near its centre, and pom-ed into a shallow 
 tank about six inches deep and left exposed to the sun for about two days 
 and then run into a second and a day or two later into a third ; after 
 remaining there for a day or two boiled rice is thrown into it and if the 
 rice floats the brine is passed into a foui'th tank, three or fom- feet deep, 
 from which it is transfeiTed to pots and the water evaporated by boiling. 
 
 The earthen pots are made principally in the Eamree Myoma, Kaing- 
 Khj'oung and Than-htoung cncles, and are sold on the spot to the saltboilers. 
 In the manufactm-e, which is carried on near the spot where the earth is 
 found, both men and women are employed; the men dig and carry the earth 
 and the women make the pots ; generally a man and his wife work together in 
 this way. The earth, which must be perfectly free from salt, is beaten into 
 dust, sifted, and mixed mth sand and fresh water, the proportions dependmg 
 on the pm-pose for which the pots are to be used : if for salt boiling two-thirds 
 sand and one-thu-d clay ; if for holdmg water and other domestic purposes 
 equal parts. The pots are shaped with the hand and a small wooden mallet, 
 exposed to the sun for one day and kept in the shade for some days longer 
 until a sufficient number to fill a kiln is ready. The day before the pots 
 are put into the kiln they are washed mside and out with a mixture of red 
 clay (brought from a distance) and water, and the bm-ning lasts one night 
 only. The kiln is made by laying on the ground billets of wood over which 
 is spread a layer of cow-dung, the pots are built upon this and covered with 
 straw. The number of pots in each kiln varies from 800 to 1,000 and it 
 takes a man and a woman one month to make and burn this number. 
 Salt pots are sold at about Ks. 6 the hundred and others at half that rate. 
 
 Sessamum oil is made dm-ing the hot season and principally on the 
 mainland where the sessamum is grown. The oil is expressed by a simple 
 process in which a large pestle is turned round and round in a mortar by 
 a bullock. The small end of a large log is buried some eight feet in the 
 gi-ound leaving the large end, about two feet in diameter, four feet above 
 the surface ; this is hollowed out to a depth of two feet : into the cavity 
 thus formed the larger end of a wooden " pestle", six feet long, is inserted, 
 and to the top of this is attached a bar worked by the bullock which is 
 driven round and round the " mortar" m which this "pestle" works, 
 gi-inding the sessamum seeds thrown in and kept damp by the addition of 
 hot water. In some cases the oil runs off by a hole m the side of the mortar 
 but more often is collected by the exceedingly primitive method of dippmg 
 cloths mto the mass and when satm-ated ringing them out. One mill will 
 tm-n out about 110 lbs. of oil a day. The oil not requii'ed for home con- 
 sumption finds its way principally to Akyab. 
 
 Sugar-cane is grown to a considerable extent on Eamree island and 
 a coarse kind of sugar is extracted in numerous places, dm-mg the cU-y 
 season, but chielly in the Than-htoung circle. The sugar-cane is 
 crushed in a press worked l)y a bullock or a buffalo and the juice boiled 
 down. 
 
 Indigo, as already stated, is more extensively grown here than m any 
 other part of the Province. The dye is extracted dm-ing the di-y season 
 and solely for home consumption. The leaves and slender twigs are placed
 
 308 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 in a large vessel, generally a small boat, which is fiUed with water and are 
 allowed to soak for some twenty-four hours, and slaked lime being then 
 added are sthred with a wooden pole worked by hand. The leaves and 
 twigs are then taken out and thrown away and the water left for a day to 
 settle ; when the sediment has fallen to the bottom the water is drained 
 off and the blue liquid deposit is placed in pots and allowed to stand for 
 three or four days until it has solidified and is fit for sale. 
 
 By the census taken in 1872 the population of the district was found 
 Population ^^ number 144,177 souls ; in 1873-74 it had risen to 
 
 145,665 and in 1876-77 to 149,035. When Arakan be- 
 came a portion of the British dominions Kyouk-hpyoo was found more 
 populated than the mainland, and the large tracts of cultm-able waste in 
 Akyab attracted many of the inhabitants of this district from which for 
 many years there was a steady tide of emigration northwards. Notwith- 
 standing this the immigration was so large that the number of inhabitants 
 increased from year to year. In 1832 the population numbered 66,172 
 souls ; ten years later 80,072 ; in 1852 107,785 ; in 1862 122,273, and in 
 1872 as ah-eady stated, 144,177, giving an average of 33*46 per square mile. 
 The population was composed of ; — 
 
 Aiakanese .. .. .. 119,137 
 
 Bui-mese 
 Khyeng 
 Mahomedans 
 Hindoos 
 Other races 
 
 Total 
 
 10,469 
 
 10,322 
 
 3,917 
 
 185 
 
 97 
 
 144,177 
 
 The Arakanese inhabit mainly Cheduba, Eamree and the coast of the main 
 land, the Burmese the valley of the An, and the Khyeng the hill country. The 
 Mahomedans are largely of mixed blood, descendants of the captives made 
 by the kings of Arakan in their incursions into Bengal and of the remnants 
 of the followers of Sha Shuja, the brother of Am-ungzeb, who inter-married 
 with Burmese and Arakanese women insisting on their, at least nominal, 
 conversion to the tenets of Islam, to which they had no objection. 
 The total male and female population accordmg to ages was : — 
 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Not exceeding one year 
 
 3,083 
 
 2,781 
 
 5,864 
 
 Above 1 not exceeding 6 years 
 
 10,305 
 
 9,995 
 
 20,300 
 
 „ 6 „ 12 „ 
 
 11,780 
 
 11,479 
 
 23,259 
 
 „ 12 „ 20 „ 
 
 12,304 
 
 12,575 
 
 24,879 
 
 „ 20 „ 30 „ 
 
 12,307 
 
 11,865 
 
 24,272 
 
 ,,30 „ 40 „ 
 
 9,373 
 
 9,229 
 
 18,602 
 
 „ 40 „ 50 „ 
 
 7,313 
 
 6,647 
 
 13,960 
 
 „ 50 „ 60 „ 
 
 3,742 
 
 3,393 
 
 7,135 
 
 Above 60 .. 
 
 2,849 
 
 3,157 
 
 6,006 
 
 Total 
 
 73,056 
 
 71,121 
 
 144,177 
 
 Thus at every period up to 60 except between 12 and 20 the males exceeded 
 the females in number, but above 60 the females exceeded the males, which
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 309 
 
 is exactly the reverse of what occurs in Europe where the females are in 
 excss of the males but are shorter-Uved. 
 
 The number of each sex classed according to religion was : — 
 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Booddhists 
 
 Mahomedans 
 
 Hindoos 
 
 Christians 
 
 Others (Khyeng &c.) . . 
 
 65,577 
 
 2,023 
 
 156 
 
 29 
 
 5,271 
 
 64,125 
 
 1,897 
 29 
 18 
 
 5,052 
 
 129,702 
 
 3,920 
 
 185 
 
 47 
 
 10,323 
 
 In 1876-77 the total population was : — 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 o 
 a 
 
 §3 
 
 ^6 
 
 Over twelve. 
 
 Under 
 twelve. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Over twelve. 
 
 Under 
 twelve. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Nnmbei 
 square m 
 
 52,770 
 
 22,276 
 
 75,046 
 
 52,326 
 
 21,663 
 
 73,989 
 
 149,035 
 
 34 
 
 The district does not contain a single town of 5,000 inhabitants. The 
 largest is Eamree, the head-quarters of the township of 
 Towns and vil- the same name, on the eastern coast of the island, some 
 ^^^^' thii-teen miles up the Tan, a tidal creek. It contains a 
 
 Com-t-house, a market and a Police-station, and in 1877 had a population 
 of 4,028 souls. Kyouk-hpyoo on the northern extremity of the island, the 
 head-quarters of the district, a fishing village in the Bm-mese time, 
 rose in importance after the British conquest but sank on the withdi'awal 
 of the troops, and now contains a population of 2,620 souls. It possesses 
 Court-houses, a gaol, market. Police-station, hospital and charitable dis- 
 pensary, a State school and a cii'cuit-house. It has an excellent harbour, 
 running for miles up the eastern side of the island, approach to which is 
 dangerous on account of the numerous rocks, but the entrance is weU 
 buoyed. Cheduba or Man-oung is on the island of the same name near its 
 north-eastern extremity on the bank of a small stream and is the head- 
 quarters of the township with a Com-t-house and Pohce-station. Unlike 
 Eamree and Kyouk-hpyoo the number of its mhabitants, who trade with 
 Sandoway, Bassein and Chittagong, is slowly increasing. In 1870 they 
 numbered 1,198 souls; in 1871 1,234 ; in 1872 1,283 ; in 1873 1,323 ; and 
 in 1877 1,409. An is a village on the river of the same name forty-five miles 
 from its mouth and accessible by large boats dm-ing spring tides. In 1870 
 it contained a population of 1,593 which in 1877 had increased to 1,634. 
 The inhabitants are largely engaged in trade with Upper Burma on the one 
 hand and with the seacoast on the other. The village is the head-quarter 
 station of a to^Miship and contains a Court-house, Police-station and a 
 market. Mye-boon was transferred to this district from Akyab in 1870-71 
 and is the head-quarters of a township with a Coui-t-house, a Police-
 
 310 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 station and a market. It is situated on an island in the north on the 
 coast of Hunter's Bay. In 1870 it had a population of 1,231 souls which 
 in 1872 had fallen to 1,189 hut by 1877 had increased again to 1,230. 
 Besides these the district contained in 1872, when the census was taken, 
 723 villages with less than 200 inhabitants, 209 with fi-om 200 to 500, 
 18 with from 500 to 1,000 and one with from 1,000 to 2,000, making a 
 total of 956 towns and villages. In 1877 the number had increased to 
 983. 
 
 The Imperial and provincial revenue since the for- 
 mation of the province has been : — 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 
 o 
 
 •i-H 
 
 
 
 00 
 
 a 
 
 • i-H 
 
 0) 
 
 
 
 
 "§ 
 
 9^ 
 
 6 
 
 •a 
 
 rg 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 'S. 
 
 1 o 
 
 6 .2 
 
 
 o 
 
 "3 
 
 
 t-3 
 
 O 
 
 Q 
 
 H 
 
 P^ 
 
 < 
 
 H 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es 
 
 Es, 
 
 Es. 
 
 1855-56 
 
 105,070 
 
 78,258 
 
 
 8,388 
 
 
 4,505 
 
 196,221 
 
 1856-57 
 
 112,149 
 
 80,748 
 
 
 9,463 
 
 
 8,331 
 
 210,621 
 
 1857-58 
 
 111,641 
 
 84,912 
 
 
 14,952 
 
 
 5,469 
 
 216,974 
 
 1858-59 
 
 114,074 
 
 83,025 
 
 
 20,865 
 
 
 10,176 
 
 228,140 
 
 1859-60 
 
 119,671 
 
 87,221 
 
 
 15,014 
 
 
 17,485 
 
 239,391 
 
 1860-61 
 
 125,884 
 
 90.1^1 
 
 
 15,734 
 
 
 43,396 
 
 275,175 
 
 1861-62 
 
 127,754 
 
 91,076 
 
 
 19,617 
 
 
 50,980 
 
 289,427 
 
 1862-63 
 
 128,600 
 
 125,306 
 
 
 20,573 
 
 
 38,544 
 
 313,023 
 
 1863-64 
 
 131,621 
 
 127,905 
 
 
 3,370 
 
 
 24,192 
 
 286,988 
 
 1864-65 
 
 131,544 
 
 132,246 
 
 
 22,039 
 
 2,oi 
 
 6 37,351 
 
 325,196 
 
 1865-66 
 
 127,135 
 
 132,246 
 
 1,73 
 
 24,233 
 
 2,66 
 
 9 18,117 
 
 306,130 
 
 1866-67 
 
 124,960 
 
 128,408 
 
 20 
 
 9 2,785 
 
 2,70 
 
 2 38,759 
 
 286,409 
 
 1867-68 
 
 117,668 
 
 124,892 
 
 
 2,650 
 
 2,44 
 
 37,100 
 
 284,750 
 
 1868-69 
 
 117,670 
 
 126,700 
 
 45 
 
 26,190 
 
 3,05 
 
 42,680 
 
 316,740 
 
 1869-70 
 
 118,350 
 
 128,380' 
 
 
 28,290 
 
 3,33 
 
 38,420 
 
 816,770 
 
 1870-71* 
 
 137,160 
 
 140,570 
 
 2,43 
 
 29,390 
 
 4,66 
 
 24,690 
 
 338,900 
 
 1871-72 
 
 136,790 
 
 142,710 
 
 
 31,800 
 
 4,34 
 
 24,020 
 
 339,660 
 
 1872-73 
 
 137,670 
 
 144,030 
 
 
 31,090 
 
 5,17 
 
 25,130 
 
 343,090 
 
 1873-74 
 
 137,310 
 
 146,470 
 
 2,65 
 
 3 40,670 
 
 5,34 
 
 28,647 
 
 361,090 
 
 1874-75 
 
 141,449 
 
 151,021 
 
 72 
 
 2 66,286 
 
 5,39 
 
 6 35,523 
 
 400,407 
 
 1875-76 
 
 142,130 
 
 152,790 
 
 1,16 
 
 9 79,047 
 
 6,23 
 
 5 35,096 
 
 416.267 
 
 1876-77 
 
 142,501 
 
 153,629 
 
 
 93,158 
 
 5,37 
 
 5 39,081 
 
 433,744 
 
 The revenue derived from the salt tax, imposed upon the pots used at 
 the rate of eight aunas each, is very fluctuatmg. The demand for salt 
 depends to some extent upon the fishing season, a considerable quantity of 
 that produced in the district being used for fish-cm-ing, and upon the im- 
 portation of foreign salt into Akyab and Kyouk-hpyoo whence it spreads 
 over the country exercising a powerful influence upon the local manufac- 
 ture and consequently upon the revenue derived therefrom. This tax is a 
 decreasing som'ce of revenue, as the home-made product cannot compete 
 in the market, either in quality or in price, with the imj)orted article. 
 
 * The large increase is due to the addition of four circles from Akj'ab : the land revenue, 
 excluding that levied in this tract, was Es. 120,510 and the capitation tax Es. 130,710.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 311 
 
 The sudden rise in the amount realized from excise duty in 1868-69 
 was mainly due to the establishment of two opium farms and one spirit 
 farm* to meet legitimately what was found to be a real demand which hither- 
 to had been illicitly supplied by smuggling. 
 
 The gross revenue and the total cost of officers of all kinds dm'ing the 
 decennial period ending with 1876-77 were : — 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 Expenditure. 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1867-68 
 
 
 2,84,750 
 
 1,38,440 
 
 1868-69 
 
 
 
 3,16,740 
 
 1,38,600 
 
 1869-70 
 
 
 
 3,16,770 
 
 86,310 
 
 1870-71 
 
 
 
 3,38,900 
 
 82,590 
 
 1871-72 
 
 
 
 3,39,660 
 
 78,920 
 
 1872-73 
 
 
 
 3,43,090 
 
 81,570 
 
 1873-74 
 
 
 
 3,61,091 
 
 82,980 
 
 1874-75 
 
 
 
 4,00,407 
 
 78,433 
 
 1875-76 
 
 
 
 4,17,741 
 
 81,864 
 
 1876-77 
 
 
 
 4,34,545 
 
 82,939 
 
 Besides this revenue, a local revenue is derived from port and munici- 
 pal funds, a district fund, a five per cent, cess on the land and fishery 
 revenue, a dispensary fund, and market stall rents. The amount thus col- 
 lected dm'ing the last ten years has been : — 
 
 
 ri 
 
 ri 
 
 13 
 
 >» 
 
 o 
 
 TS 
 
 fl 
 
 s 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 a 
 
 2 
 
 
 CO . 
 
 S-l 
 
 '*" 
 
 
 
 P^ 
 
 
 -a 
 
 P. s 
 
 <D CD 
 
 
 "3 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 ft 
 
 o 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1867-68 
 
 . 
 
 109 
 
 341 
 
 3,744 
 
 234 
 
 7,264 
 
 648 
 
 12,340 
 
 1868-69 
 
 
 
 
 386 
 
 648 
 
 5,517 
 
 615 
 
 5,801 
 
 1,202 
 
 13,969 
 
 1869-70 
 
 
 
 
 80 
 
 2,130 
 
 3,190 
 
 460 
 
 14,980 
 
 780 
 
 21,620 
 
 1870-71 
 
 
 
 
 70 
 
 2,610 
 
 2,650 
 
 240 
 
 6.620 
 
 1,950 
 
 14,140 
 
 1871-72 
 
 
 
 
 140 
 
 2,580 
 
 2,710 
 
 170 
 
 6,460 
 
 1,870 
 
 13,930 
 
 1872-73 
 
 
 
 
 490 
 
 2,600 
 
 3,010 
 
 490 
 
 3,010 
 
 1,350 
 
 10,950 
 
 1873-74 
 
 
 
 
 340 
 
 2,720 
 
 2,800 
 
 220 
 
 9,240 
 
 2,070 
 
 17,390 
 
 1874-75 
 
 
 
 
 577 
 
 2,851 
 
 2,920 
 
 237 
 
 7,288 
 
 1,415 
 
 19,702 
 
 1875-76 
 
 
 
 
 467 
 
 10,074t 
 
 , , 
 
 
 12,529 
 
 1,181 
 
 24,251 
 
 1876-77 
 
 
 
 862 
 
 2,974 
 
 •• 
 
 
 6,726 
 
 3,955 
 
 14,517 
 
 In the Bm-mese time the mainland portion of this district formed part 
 Administration. ^^ Ai'akan Proper, whilst Eamree and Cheduba were 
 separate and independent Governorships. After the 
 country was ceded to the British Eamree and Cheduba were formed into 
 the Eamree district and placed under an ofiicer styled Principal Assistant 
 Commissioner, and the greater part of the main land formed another dis- 
 trict similarly ruled called Aeng (An). After this arrangement had lasted 
 nearly thu-ty years An was joined to Eamree and placed under a Deputy 
 Commissioner with his head-quarters at Kj-ouk-hpj^oo and m 1871-72 the area 
 
 • The system of farming the licenses to sell opium and spirits has since been abolished, 
 t Market fuud and Dispensarj- fund included.
 
 312 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 was increased by the addition in the north of four circles from Akyab. Dur- 
 ing the first few years of British occupation the major portion of the garrison 
 of Arakan was stationed at Sandoway. Subsequently it was removed to 
 Kyouk-hpyoo where the force consisted of a regiment of native infantry which 
 furnished a detachment to Sandoway and the escort of the British resident 
 at Ava, a flotilla of gun-boats and a brigade of guns with about 28 men. 
 
 The district is divided into five townships each under an Extra Assis- 
 tant Commissioner. Cheduba consisting of that island and its dependent, 
 Ee-gyee, is about 400 square miles in extent and well cultivated with rice, 
 sugar-cane and tobacco ; the head- quarters are at the town of the same 
 name near the north-eastern end of the island. Eamree, the head-quarters 
 of which are in the large town of the same name on the eastern side of 
 Eamree Island, is also well cultivated and thickly populated. Kyouk-hpyoo 
 is also on Eamree Island and north of the Eamree township ; here a con- 
 siderable quantity of salt is manufactured. An is a very extensive but 
 mountainous township on the mainland with regular cultivation in the 
 valley of the An river and numerous toungya on the hills where rice, cot- 
 ton and sessamum are grown ; the inhabitants are Kareng, Burmese and 
 Ai-akanese. Mye-boon is on the northern shore of Hunter's Bay, divided 
 into numerous islands, inhabited principally by Arakanese and producing 
 rice and tobacco. 
 
 The police force, under a Superintendent, whose head-quarters are at 
 Kyouk-hpyoo, and 22 subordinate officers, consists of 345 constables, of 
 whom 25 are river police, and their total cost in 1876, including travel- 
 ling and horse allowance and contingencies of all kinds was Es. 74,310. 
 Of this number, however, two officers and 35 men were employed as guards 
 over the gaol, treasury, &c., thus leaving 310 men for police work in the district 
 or one to every 481 of the inhabitants. The major portion of the force is 
 located on the mainland in the An township, traversed by the main road 
 across the Eoma mountains into Upper Burma, whilst in the north Khyeng 
 are enlisted to keep the hill men in order. 
 
 The gaol is at Kyouk-hpyoo, whither it was removed in 1853-54 from 
 Eamree. It consists of brick barracks, thatched with leaves and with 
 wooden floors, in which were confined during 1876 an average of 95 pri- 
 soners ; long-term convicts are sent to Akyab, those who remain are prin- 
 cipally engaged in stone-breakmg, but late in 1873 oil-mills, sufficient to give 
 employment to all prisoners sentenced to hard labour, were purchased 
 and set to work. The gross receipts from prison labour in 1876 were 
 Es. 3,384. 
 
 The hospital and charitable dispensary are also at Kyouk-hpyoo, under 
 the charge of the Civil Medical Officer. The buildings were erected some 
 thirty years ago and are partly of masonry and partly of wood : the walls 
 are of bamboo matting plastered and the roof is thatched with dhanee 
 leaves. The hospital consists of a large central ward, with four corner 
 rooms used as a dispensary, an office and a female ward. The number of 
 patients treated in 1876 was : — 
 
 In-patients ,. .. .. 211 
 
 Out-patients . . . . . . 698 
 
 Total .. 810
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 313 
 
 who suffered principally from fevers of a malarious tj^pe and from diseases of 
 the digestive organs and of the skin. The hospital is supported by voluntary 
 subscriptions, the major portion being paid by Eui'opeans, and by the State 
 which provides the establishment. The total income in 1876-77 was 
 Es. 1,794 and the expenditm-e Es. 1,535. 
 
 As early as 1837 the State established a school in Kyouk-hpyoo which 
 is now classed as " middle." In 1875-76 it had 48 pupils on the rolls and 
 a daily average attendance of 42, all of them taught through the English 
 language. The receipts were Es. 3,407 from Government, Es. 726 from 
 schooling fees and Es. 81 from the sale of books, making Es. 4,214 in all. 
 The total cost of educating each pupil was Es. 100 of which the State 
 defrayed Es. 81. In 1874 a cess school was started in Cheduba ; the num- 
 ber of pupils on the rolls in 1875-76 was 57 and the total cost of educating 
 each Es. 22. In 1867 a school was estabhshed and supported in Eamree 
 entirely by native effort, and a grant was subsequently made to it. In 1869 
 the grant was withdi*awn and the school was closed for want of funds, but 
 it was re-opened in 1870 on the grant being renewed. A few years later 
 another school was opened by an Em^asian and in 1872-73 the State grant 
 was transferred to it, on account of its superiority. In 1874 it had an 
 average attendance of 54 pupils who paid a small monthly fee. Both have 
 since been closed. 
 
 The knowledge of reading and writing is far more general amongst the 
 Booddhists than amongst any other class except the Christians, but this 
 aj^phes only to the males who alone, or almost alone, have any opportunity 
 of learning in the indigenous schools which are almost entii'ely monastic. 
 At the census taken in 1872 it was found that of male Booddhists 7*83 per 
 cent, under 12 years, 86*11 between 12 and 20 and 91*02 above 20 were 
 under instruction or could read and write, whilst amongst females of the 
 same religion not one under 20 and only '81 per cent, above that age were 
 at all educated. Amongst the Mahomedans, on the other hand, 5*25 per 
 cent, of females under 20, 9*45 per cent, of males under 12, 87*50 per cent, 
 of males between 12 and 20, and 88*54 of those exceeding 20 years were 
 under instruction or could read and write. The Hindoos are the worst off 
 of all, for no females and no males under 12 (there were only 21 in the dis- 
 trict, however, in 1872) are at all educated and only 66*67 per cent, between 
 12 and 20 and 70*37 per cent, above 20 could read and write. In 1875 an 
 Inspector visited the district and examined the pupils in 83 indigenous pri- 
 mary schools, not including those which were inspected but not examined 
 owing to the absence of the head Hpoon-gyee or of the proprietors ; of 
 these 75 were monastic and eight lay, educating in all 1,405 pupils. Of 
 this number 1,259 pupils belonged to monastic and 146 (124 boys and 22 
 gu'ls) to lay schools. Of the 83 schools the report was that " 58 may be 
 ** considered to be good schools not failing generally to give useful instruc- 
 " tion, viz., 16 monastic and two lay schools in the Kj'ouk-hpj'oo township, 
 ** 25 monastic and fom-lay in Eamree and Cheduba, eight in An and four 
 ** in Mye-boon. " 
 
 The local mails are carried by a local establishment under the control of 
 
 the Deputy Commissioner, the cost of which is defrayed 
 
 Communications. f^.^^^ ^j^^ ^^^.^ p^^. ^^^^^^ q^^^ j^^nd. One line rmis from 
 
 Kyouk-hpyoo via Eamree to Cheduba (89 miles) and back, one from Kvouk- 
 
 40
 
 314 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 hpyoo via Talaing-toung to Ma-ee (45 miles) with a branch from Talaing- 
 toiing to Lek-pan (15 miles), one from Kyouk-hpyoo to Mye-boon (60 miles) 
 and one from Kyouk-hpyoo to An (57 miles) with branches thence to 0-boon 
 (14 miles) and to Dha-let (24 miles). The steamers of the British India 
 Steam Navigation Company call in once a month on their way from Calcutta 
 to Eangoon {via Akyab) and the Strait Settlements and vice versa, and from 
 November to May once a month on their way from Calcutta to Sandoway 
 and back. There are thus monthly mails during the rains, and fortnightly 
 at other seasons. Dming the rains the mails are sent on from Akyab and 
 vice versa in boats which run through the creeks, avoiding the open sea. 
 
 KYOUK-HPYOO. — A village in the Kya-gan circle, Myoung-mya town- 
 ship, Bassein district, on the western or right bank of the Ewe, about thirty- 
 eight miles from its mouth. In 1877 it had 596 inhabitants. 
 
 KYOUK-HTA-EAN. — A village in the north-eastern corner of the 
 Nga-khoop-pyeng ch'cle, Eamree township, Kyouk-hpyoo district, so named 
 from a rock in the neighbourhood which resembles a stone wall. The 
 inhabitants, who numbered 1,032 in 1877, are engaged in sea fishing, the 
 fish being sent in large quantities to Akyab. 
 
 KYOUK-KA-LAT. — A tidal creek in the southern poi-tion of the 
 Alay-kywon at the mouth of the Bassein river, open to boats of from 60 to 
 70 feet in length at all seasons. At the eastern mouth, where it joins the 
 Thek-ngay-thoung, there are sandbanks. 
 
 KYOUK-KHYOUNG. — A long narrow revenue circle in the Hmaw-bhee 
 township, Eangoon district, east of Eangoon, occupying the angle formed 
 by the junction of the Pegu and Poo-zwon-doung rivers, the former bound- 
 ing it on the south and the latter on the west. To the north and east is 
 the Tsit-peng cu'cle of the same township separated from Kyouk-khyoung 
 on the extreme west by the little Thien-khyoung stream and elsewhere by 
 an imaginary line. The general aspect of the circle is that of a low, flat 
 alluvial plain, with much rice cultivation and with villages dotted here and 
 there. Of forest there is none and of trees but few. The streams are 
 muddy tidal creeks, almost empty at low tide neaps ; at one time it, with 
 Tsit-peng and Dha-bien (now divided into two circles), formed the Daw- 
 bhoon township. When this was broken up it w^as joined to Than-lyeng 
 and subsequently was added to Hmaw-bhee. A narrow strip 1,000 feet 
 broad, extending along the bank of the Pegu and Poo-zwon-doung rivers 
 from a pillar 6,000 feet up the Pegu to another 13,000 feet up the Poo-zwon- 
 doung, is now included within the limits of the town of Eangoon. 
 
 The principal villages are Thien-khyoung about two miles up the 
 stream of the same name, divided into two portions called Thien-khyoung 
 East and Thien-khyoung West, with 1,272 inhabitants m 1868 and 1,097 
 in 1877, and Khwe-ma with 377 uihabitants in 1868 and 540 in 1877. In 
 1868 the land revenue was Es. 10,956 and the number of inhabitants 3,250.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 315 
 
 During the last quinquennial period the area under cultivation and 
 revenue were : — 
 
 
 Area, in acres. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Yeak. 
 
 Rice, in- 
 cluding 
 fallow. 
 
 Garden. 
 
 Miscel- 
 laneous. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Land. 
 
 Capita- All other 
 tiontax. taxes. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1873-74 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 7,865 
 
 9,137 
 
 12,561 
 
 12,393 
 
 12,578 
 
 13 
 15 
 19 
 19 
 
 47 
 
 
 7,178 
 
 9,152 
 
 12,580 
 
 12,412 
 
 12,625 
 
 15,367 
 17,424 
 22,138 
 21,928 
 25,177 
 
 4,255 
 4,293 
 3,190 
 3,330 
 
 3,845 
 
 10 
 13 
 66 
 36 
 38 
 
 19,632 
 21,800 
 25,394 
 25,294 
 29,060 
 
 and the population 
 
 and a 
 
 gricultural stock : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Agricultural Stock. 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ! -5^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 db 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 c3 
 
 CO 
 
 O 
 
 "3 
 
 m 
 
 O 
 "cS 
 SO 
 
 
 w 
 
 f 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 
 
 c3 
 
 M 
 
 « 
 
 i^ 
 
 o 
 
 S 
 
 o a 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 O 
 
 
 pq 
 
 H 
 
 M 
 
 ^ 
 
 EH 
 
 m 
 
 U 03 
 
 O 
 
 PM 
 
 " 
 
 n 
 
 1873-74 
 
 1,905 
 
 1,317 
 
 152 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 3,381 
 
 1,222 
 
 93 
 
 8 
 
 424 
 
 118 
 
 167 
 
 1874-75 
 
 1,993 
 
 1,419 
 
 180 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 3,605 
 
 1,114 
 
 141 
 
 • • 
 
 460 
 
 52 
 
 26 
 
 1875-76 
 
 1,062 
 
 1,465 
 
 142 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 2,675 
 
 1,115 
 
 153 
 
 .. 
 
 459 
 
 91 
 
 30 
 
 1876-77 
 
 1,101 
 
 1,436 
 
 128 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 2,710 
 
 1,165 
 
 172 
 
 • • 
 
 448 
 
 160 
 
 125 
 
 1877-78 
 
 1,342 
 
 1,640 
 
 124 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 3,121 
 
 1,385 
 
 210 
 
 •• 
 
 556 
 
 168 
 
 78 
 
 KYOUK-KHYOUNG-GA-LE (also caUed Thee-da).—A river in the Bas- 
 eein district which rises in the Ai*akan mountains and falls into the Bassein 
 river at the village of the same name. At the village of Khyoung-khwa it 
 is joined by a large tributary from the north. The mam stream is muddy 
 at its mouth and sandy and gravelly towards its som*ce, and in the rains is 
 open for a short distance for large boats. The banks are high and clothed 
 with fine forest trees. About a mile below the Hpoon-tso-gj-ee halting 
 place are mineral springs and fom- miles lower down salt sprmgs. 
 
 KYOUK-KHYOUNG-GA-LE.— A village of 1,780 souls in the Le-myet- 
 hna township, Bassein district, on a stream of the same name about two 
 miles from its mouth in the Bassein river and about six miles above Nga- 
 thaing-khyoung. It was formerly called "Kvaik-taw-pyee-pa-taw" and was 
 at one time the head-quarters of the Kyouk-khyoung-ga-le township before 
 that was broken up.
 
 316 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KYOUK-KHYOUNG-GYEE.— A revenue circle in the Bassein town- 
 ship of the Bassein district on the right bank of the Irrawaddy, with an area 
 of about 49 square miles and bounded on the west by the Than-dwai river. 
 The general aspect is that of a cultivated plain relieved by strips of forest 
 on the banks of the rivers and by a few gently elevated knolls in the north 
 and west. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in rice and other cultiva- 
 tion and in 1876-77 numbered 5,992. In that year the land revenue was 
 Es. 13,265, the amount of the capitation tax Bs. 6,360 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 26,289. 
 
 KYOUK-KHYOUNG-GYEE.— A river in the Bassein district which 
 rises in the eastern slopes of the Arakan mountains and runs for eight or 
 nine miles in a southerly direction, nearly parallel with the main range, to its 
 junction with the Wom-bhai, whence it turns off in an easterly direction to 
 the Bassein river. It is navigable for large, masted boats as far as the village 
 of Tha-boung, a distance of about six miles, and for small boats, with the 
 tide, for four miles fmiher. 
 
 KYOUK-KHYOUNG-GYEE.— A large and thriving village, with an 
 agricultural population of 1,248 inhabitants in 1877, in the circle of the 
 same name m the Bassein township, on the right bank of the Bassein river 
 about eight miles above the town of Bassein. Before the Kyouk-khyoung- 
 gyee township was done away with this was the head-quarter station. The 
 Thoogyee of the circle now resides here. 
 
 KYOUK-KHYOUNG-MYOUK.— A revenue circle in the Eamree town- 
 ship on the south-western coast of Eamree island, ten square miles in 
 extent, in which coarse sugar is to a great extent made. Its population 
 numbered 2,332 in 1876-77 when the land revenue was Es. 2,034, the cap- 
 itation tax Es. 2,550 and the gross revenue Es. 4,706. 
 
 KYOUK-KHYOUNG-TOUNG.— A revenue circle m the southern por- 
 tion of Eamree island on the western coast, about 42 square miles in extent, 
 cultivated with sugar-cane and indigo principally. It has an Arakanese 
 population of 3,066 souls and in 1876 produced a gross revenue of 
 Es. 5,436 of which Es. 2,060 was from the land, Es. 3,215 from the capita- 
 tion tax and Es. 161 from other sources. 
 
 KYOUK-MAI. — A village in the Htan-gouk circle, Kama township 
 Thayet district, in 19° 0' 30" N. and 95° 4' 9" E., on the right bank of the 
 Ma-de river, a short distance above the mouth of the Moon-ta. In former 
 years it had a Thoogyee of its own but in 1862 that official resigned and it 
 was joined to Htan-gouk. 
 
 KYOUK-MAI. — A village about eight miles west of the town of Kama 
 in the Thayet district, near which are two salt springs which were 
 worked in the Burmese time and yielded about fifty pots of brine daily. 
 
 KYOUK-MA-TSHENG.— A river m the Thayet district.— /See Mway-ro, 
 KYOUK-MAW. — A revenue circle in the north-eastern township, Tavoy 
 district, having an area of some 12 square miles of which barely one-sixth 
 is under cultivation. Its main produce is rice. In 1876-77 the population 
 numbered 1,690 souls, the land revenue was Es. 4,578, the amount of the 
 capitation tax Es. 1,166 and the gross revenue Es. 5,973.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 317 
 
 KYOUK-MAW. — A village in the Kya-gan circle, Myoimg-mya town- 
 ship, Bassein district, on the right bank of the Rwe river, about 36 miles 
 from its mouth, containing in 1877 546 inhabitants, who are engaged prin- 
 cipally in fishmg, fisli-cm'ing and salt-making, a few being cultivators. 
 
 KYOUK-NEE-MAW. — A revenue cncle in the western township, Tavoy 
 district, about 56 square miles in extent, but with very little cultivation, 
 mainly of rice. In 1876-77 the population numbered 1,870 souls, the 
 land revenue was Es. 1,705, the capitation tax Es. 1,526 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 4,612. 
 
 KYOUK-PYOUK. — A revenue circle of the Kyouk-hpyoo district on 
 the western coast of Eamree island near its northern end. It has an area 
 of 25 square miles and a population of 2506 souls. Sugar is made to some 
 extent in this cu-cle. In 1876-77 the land revenue was Es. 1,885, the 
 amount of the capitation tax Es. 2,645 and the gi'oss revenue Es. 4,624. 
 
 KYOUK-TAING-PYENG.— A revenue cii-cle in the Than-lyeng town- 
 ship, Eangoon district, having the Than-lyeng circle on the west, the 
 Poo-gan-doung cu'cle on the north, the A-gwon (North) cu'cle on the east and 
 the Ewon (East) and Ewon (West) ch'cles on the south. It was originally a 
 portion of Than-lyeng Myo-ma and the Myo-ooke of Than-lyeng and the rider 
 of the Ewon Shan, who occupied and gave their name to the Ewon cncle, 
 had continual disputes as to the limits of their respective jiuisdictions. 
 Prince Tharrawaddy, after he had ascended the throne of Bui'ma as Koon- 
 boung Meng, visited Eangoon in 1840 A. D., and took the opportunity of 
 settling the dispute. He fixed the Ewon boimdary, which was marked by 
 a stone-pillar on the bank of the Hmaw-won river, and cutting off the 
 eastern part of Than-lyeng he formed it into an independent tract which he 
 named Kyouk-taing-pyeng Talk or " the cu-cle beyond the stone-pillar". 
 This arrangement was not of long dm'ation for on the annexation of Pegu 
 it was found that Kyouk-taing-pyeng had agam been joined to Than-lyeng. 
 It thus remained till 1867-68 when it was again made independent of Than- 
 lyeng. 
 
 The area under cultivation and the revenue realized during each of the 
 last five years were : — 
 
 
 Aeea, in acres. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 Rice, in- 
 cluding 
 fallow. 
 
 Garden. 
 
 Miscel- 
 laneous. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Land. 
 
 Capita- 
 tion tax. 
 
 All other 
 taxes. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1873-74 . . 
 1874-75 . . 
 1875-76 . . 
 1876-77 .. 
 1877-78.. 
 
 11,085 
 16,117 
 17,113 
 19,344 
 21,896 
 
 163 
 582 
 285 
 308 
 319 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 13 
 
 18 
 
 25 
 
 11,253 
 16,707 
 17,411 
 19,669 
 22,240 
 
 17,043 
 23,630 
 23,179 
 25,409 
 30,454 
 
 5,465 
 6,350 
 6,212 
 6,695 
 7,190 
 
 1,875 
 1,451 
 1,370 
 1,362 
 770 
 
 24,383 
 31,431 
 30,761 
 33,466 
 38,414
 
 318 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 During the same period the population and agricultural stock were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Agricultukal Stock. 
 
 Ykab. 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 aj 
 
 ^ 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 •1 
 
 -3 
 
 
 02 c3 
 
 
 
 <S1 
 
 -9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 1^ 
 
 o 
 
 -a 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 O fl 
 
 00 
 
 o 
 
 00 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 
 m 
 
 H 
 
 m 
 
 ^ 
 
 < 
 
 H 
 
 m 
 
 Q § 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 CM 
 
 m 
 
 1873-74 
 
 1,409 
 
 951 
 
 756 
 
 
 87 
 
 3,203 
 
 685 
 
 199 
 
 
 148 
 
 240 
 
 49 
 
 1874-75 
 
 1,620 
 
 1,212 
 
 505 
 
 
 104 
 
 3,441 
 
 809 
 
 284 
 
 3 
 
 204 
 
 433 
 
 11 
 
 1875-76 
 
 1,852 
 
 2,210 
 
 399 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 4,469 
 
 1,439 
 
 205 
 
 2 
 
 184 
 
 746 
 
 13 
 
 1876-77 
 
 1,783 
 
 1,902 
 
 644 
 
 11 
 
 6 
 
 4,346 
 
 1,399 
 
 378 
 
 2 
 
 147 
 
 630 
 
 22 
 
 1877-78 
 
 1,800 
 
 2,251 
 
 596 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 4,664 
 
 1,458 
 
 314 
 
 
 143 
 
 635 
 
 15 
 
 KYOUK-TAN. — A revenue circle of the Kyouk-hpyoo district, on the 
 eastern coast of Cheduba, about 12 square miles in extent and with a popu- 
 lation of 2,188 souls in 1876-77, when the land revenue was Ks. 2,661 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 5,212 of which Es. 2,348 were derived from the 
 capitation tax. The principal crops cultivated are rice and tobacco. 
 
 KYOUK-TAN. — A revenue circle in the Myanoung township of the 
 Henzada district, which now includes Gnyoung-myit-tshwai ; on the south 
 is the Htan-thoon-beng, on the west the Kwon-daw and Pa-daw and 
 on the north the Eng-lat cii'cle of the Kyan-kheng township, whilst the 
 Myanoung Myoma circle separates it from the Irrawaddy on the east. 
 By far the larger portion is under rice cultivation. In 1876 the land 
 revenue was Es. 13,652, the capitation tax Es. 5,987, the gross revenue 
 Es. 21,269 and the population 6,124. 
 
 KYOUK-TAN. — A revenue cii-cle in the Zaya township of the Amherst 
 district, immediately south of and adjoining the town of Maulmain, with 
 the Ngan-te cii'cle on the east, the Salween river on the west and the 
 Kaw-kha-nee circle on the south. It has a total area of about 5,000 acres. 
 The eastern portion is upland and the remainder undulating and low. The 
 soil is generally poor and by far the greater portion is better adapted for 
 gardens or orchards than for rice cultivation. The population is very 
 miscellaneous, the majority being Tavoyers, the rest largely natives of 
 India, with many Chinese. In 1868 the population numbered 1,199, the 
 land tax was Es. 5,631 and the capitation tax Es. 1,625. In 1876 these 
 were : 1,842, Es 5,444 and Es. 2,162 respectively. 
 
 KYOUK-TAN.— A village in the Than-lyeng township, Eangoon district, 
 on the right bank of the Hmaw-won, about five miles from its mouth, and at 
 the southern extremity of the Than-lyeng Koondan or range of low hills. It 
 derives its name from the reef of rocks which stretches across the Hmaw-won 
 andrenders the navigation difficult if not dangerous : on one of these, near the 
 centre of the stream, is a small white pagoda and adjoining and west of the 
 village on the river bank is a pagoda of considerable antiquity, though of 
 no great size ; it is said to have been built about the same time as the 
 Kyaik-kouk or Syriam pagoda, during the life of Gaudama, who died 
 in 543 B.C., but there is no trustworthy authority for its origin and
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 319 
 
 Booddhism was unknown in Burma at that time. This village is now the 
 head-quarters of the Sj'riam division, which consists of the Than-lyeng and 
 Angyee townships, and contains a Coui't-house for the Assistant Com- 
 missioner in charge and a police station. The population in 1877 was 407. 
 
 KYOUK-TAN. — A village in the ckcle of the same name in the Zaya 
 township of the Amherst district, on the east bank of the Salween and on 
 the left or southern bank of the little Kyouk-tan, which separates it from 
 Maulmain. It is so called from a reef of rocks (Kyouk-tan) near the village. 
 In 1877 it had 568 inhabitants. 
 
 KYOUK-TSA-RIT.— A viUage in the Tsam-pa-na-go circle of the Marta- 
 ban township, Amherst district, north of Kywai-khyan and, Hke it, between 
 the Martaban hills on the west and the Salween on the east. In 1867 
 this viUage had 257 inhabitants and 526 in 1877. 
 
 KYOUK-TSOUNG.— A village of about 90 houses in the Kama town- 
 ship, Thayet district, in the lower portion of the valley of the Ma-htoon 
 stream and on the bank of that river, a few miles above the spot where the 
 Pa-nee joins it from the north. It is the residence of the Thoogyee of 
 the circle of the same name. 
 
 KYOUK-TSOUNG. — A revenue cu'cle in the Kama township, Thayet 
 district, lying in the lower portion of the valley of Ma-htoon river, bound- 
 ed N. E. by the Pa-douk and S. W. by the Pan-deng hiUs and having 
 an area of 16 square miles. The population in 1872 was found to 
 number 2,429 souls of whom some 300 were Khyeng, and the cultivated 
 area measm-ed 2,877 acres, of which 154 were toungya. The larger 
 portion of the ch'cle occupies, comparatively, plain land to the S. W. of the 
 river, which here takes a large bend to the N. E ; this is well cultivated with 
 rice, 2,092 acres in the circle being planted with that cereal. The taxes in 
 1872 amomited to Rs. 2,540. This cii'cle has been held hereditarily since 
 1145 B.E. ; in 1861 the Thoogyee of Taw-ma, to the south, died and in 
 1862 the Thoogyee of Kyee-mee, to the north, was dismissed for bribery and 
 these two were joined to Kyouk-tsoimg, and in 1871 Tshan-doon, to the 
 east, was also added. It contains several fanly sized villages : Taw-ma of 
 113 houses in the southern corner of the plain country on the right bank 
 and near to the Ma-htoon ; Kyouk-tsoung further north and on the river, 
 with 88 houses, Kyee-mee still higher up the valley with 80 houses ; and 
 Ma-gyee, with 54 houses, on the left bank a little below Kyee-mee. In 1876 
 the population was 2,831, the land revenue Rs. 4,019, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 2,973 and the gross revenue Rs. 7,213. 
 
 KYOUK-TSWOT-GYO.— A small imnavigable river in the Thayet 
 district which rises in the slopes of the Pegu Roma and falls into the 
 Irrawaddy just above the large village of Gnyoung-beng-tshiep. 
 
 KYOUK-TWENG. — A revenue cncle in the noi-th-eastern township 
 of the Tavoy district, very sparsely cultivated and with a small population 
 of Kareng. The main products are sessamum and cardamoms. In 1876 
 the population was 820, the capitation tax Rs. 473, the land revenue 
 Rs. 265 and the gross revenue Rs. 752. 
 
 KYOUNG. — A village in the Rwon (West) ciixle, Than-lyeng township, 
 Rangoon district, situated on a small feeder of the Pyen-ma-gan stream.
 
 320 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The inhabitants, who are principally Shan agriculturists, numbered 
 623 in 1877. 
 
 KYOUNG-GOON. — A revenue circle, about 32 square miles in extent 
 in the southern portion of the Kyoung-goon township (now joined to 
 Tsam-bay-roon) in the Bassein district, on the left bank of the Meng-ma- 
 naing stream and Daga river, not very extensively cultivated with rice. 
 It is generally low and covered with grass and tree-forest. It contains one 
 large village, Kyoung-goon, on the bank of the Daga. In 1876 the 
 population numbered 5,872 souls, the capitation tax was Es. 6,435, the 
 land revenue Es. 11,315 and the gross revenue Es. 18,435. 
 
 KYOUNG-GOON. — Formerly a township in the Bassein district, but 
 now joined to Tsam-bay-roon. 
 
 KYOUNG-GOON. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Tsam-bay-roon township of the Bassein district, on the western bank of the 
 Daga river about 45 miles from the junction of the latter with the Nga-won. 
 In 1867 it was the head-quarters of a township of the same name and had 
 602 inhabitants : in 1876 m had 959 mhabitants. Lat. 17° 5' 30" N. Long. 
 95° 15' 30" E. 
 
 KYOUNG-GOON. — A long, narrow revenue ch'cle in the Hmaw-bhee 
 township, Eangoon district, north of the town of Eangoon, from which it is 
 separated by the Meng-ga-la-doon chcle. The eastern boundary is the 
 Eangoon and Prome road, running along the crest of the Pegu Eoma 
 mountains and separating it from the Ee-tho chcle of the Hpoung-leng town- 
 ship, and the western the river Hlamg in the south and the Lien-goon 
 circle in the north, whilst the Hmaw-bhee cu'cle lies on its northern border. 
 It is traversed from south to north by the Irrawaddy Valley (State) Eailway, 
 with a station at Hlaw-ga 19 miles from Eangoon. The eastern portion 
 consists of hilly ground covered with tree and shrub-forest and highly 
 intersected by ravines ; towards the south-west and west are rice plains 
 drained by small tidal streams, tributaries of the Hlaing. The soil is poor 
 and, as in all the neighbom-ing low lands, the water a few feet below the 
 surface is brackish so that the inhabitants have to depend on tanks for their 
 water supply. The majority of the villages, all small and of no importance, 
 are situated on the eastern edge of the plain. 
 
 The area under cultivation and the revenue during each of the last five 
 years were : — 
 
 
 Aeea, in acees. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Rice, in- 
 cluding 
 fallow. 
 
 Garden. 
 
 Miscel- 
 laneous. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Land. 
 
 Capita- 
 tion tax. 
 
 All other 
 taxes. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1873-74 
 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 7,514 
 7,918 
 9,849 
 9,671 
 9,382 
 
 52 
 
 49 
 
 212 
 
 271 
 
 296 
 
 216 
 198 
 
 7,566 
 
 7,967 
 
 10,061 
 
 10,158 
 
 9,876 
 
 13,149 
 13,917 
 17,559 
 16,498 
 16,625 
 
 4,780 
 5,205 
 4,755 
 4,843 
 4,493 
 
 10 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 17,939 
 19,131 
 22.321 
 21,351 
 21,125
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and the population and agricultural stock : — 
 
 321 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Agkicultukal Stock. 
 
 Year. 
 
 QQ 
 
 
 
 
 00 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 "3 
 
 
 
 01 
 
 "3 
 o 
 
 o 
 1 
 
 
 CO 
 
 1 
 
 CO 
 
 1 
 
 -a 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 
 m 
 
 H 
 
 M 
 
 02 
 
 -< 
 
 EH 
 
 m 
 
 CJ 
 
 o 
 
 Ph 
 
 n 
 
 1873-74 
 
 i 
 
 1,916' 
 
 246 
 
 903 
 
 395 
 
 
 3,460 
 
 1,189 
 
 308 
 
 2 
 
 315 
 
 308 
 
 1 
 
 1874-75 
 
 2,207 1 
 
 530 
 
 1,048 
 
 547 
 
 ii 
 
 4,352 
 
 1,148 
 
 247 
 
 
 284 
 
 420 
 
 7 
 
 1875-76 
 
 1,583 1 
 
 505 
 
 1,440 
 
 557 
 
 30 
 
 4,115 
 
 948 
 
 486 
 
 21 
 
 297 
 
 506 
 
 9 
 
 1876-77 
 
 1,7651 
 
 489 
 
 1,139 
 
 543 
 
 20 
 
 3,956 
 
 769 
 
 355 
 
 9 
 
 285 
 
 422 
 
 2 
 
 1877-78 
 
 1,811 j 
 
 1 
 
 257 
 
 966 
 
 493 
 
 12 
 
 3,593 
 
 517 
 
 140 
 
 3 
 
 163 
 
 268 
 
 1 
 
 KYOUNG-KWEE. — A revenue circle in the Henzada township of the 
 Henzada district, north-west of Henzada, with good soil and well cultivated 
 with rice. The inhabitants, who are mainly cultivators and fishermen, who 
 work the pond fisheries in the cu'cle, numbered 5,309 in 1876 and in that 
 year the land revenue was Es. 14,401, the capitation tax Rs. 5,287 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 20,722. 
 
 KYOUNG-TAIK.— A village with a population of 613 souls in 1877, on 
 the Twan-te Taw-gyee in the La-wa-dee cu'cle, Angyee township, Eangoon 
 district, inhabited chiefly by Pwo Kareng. 
 
 KYOUNG-TSOO. — A collection of some 70 houses on the south, and 
 forming a part, of the outskirts of the Gywon-doung portion of the town 
 of Kama. 
 
 KYWAI-KHYAN. — A village in the Tsam-pa-na-go circle of the Marta- 
 ban township, Amherst district, between the Martaban hills and the 
 Salween. In 1867 the inhabitants numbered 253 souls and 524 in 1877. 
 
 KYWAI-KHYAN. — A village in the Moot-kyee circle, Martaban town- 
 ship, Amherst district, to the west of the Martaban hiUs, west of Moot-kyee 
 and near the Kha-daing stream. In 1867 the population numbered 368 
 souls and 1,111 in 1877. 
 
 KYWAI-LOO. — A small village in the northern township of the San- 
 doway district, on the Tan-lwai river, inhabited principally by Burmese, at 
 which is stationed a small police force. It is about nine miles by road from 
 Tsha-pyeng and by river can only be reached by small boats. In 1876 it 
 had 962 inhabitants. 
 
 KYWAI-LOO. — A revenue circle in the northern township of the San- 
 doway district, extending westwards from the Ai'akan hills, south of the 
 La-moo-lck-ya and Tsha-byeng circles, with the Tan-lwai circle inter- 
 vening between it and the seacoast. Though of considerable area it is, 
 owing to its mountainous nature, but sparsely cultivated by its small 
 Burmese population, who grow sessamum and tobacco principally. In 1876 
 the land revenue was Es. 2,851, the capitation tax Es. 2,252, the gross 
 revenue Es. 7,931 and the population 2,333. 
 
 41
 
 322 BRITISH BUKMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KYWAI-LOO-LENG.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 30' 40' N. 
 and 95° 34' 5" E., about a mile west of the northern end of the town of 
 Poungday, inhabited mainly by rice cultivators. 
 
 KYWAI-LOO-LENG. — A revenue circle in the Prome district west of 
 Poungday, well cultivated with rice but containing few villages, of which 
 Kywai-loo-leng-ga-le in the west is the largest. In 1876 the population was 
 623, the land revenue Es. 780 and the capitation tax Es. 490. 
 
 KYWAI-EAL — A revenue cii-cle in the Pa-doung township, Prome dis- 
 trict, on the Tha-nee stream, which now includes Ee-tha. The largest 
 village is of the same name as the circle and is close to the Tha-nee, in the 
 most cultivated portion of the tract. In 1876 the land revenue was Es. 1,092, 
 the capitation tax Es. 1,405, the gross revenue Es. 2,637 and the population 
 1,271. 
 
 KYWAI-EAL — A village in the Pa-doung township, Prome district, in 
 18° 43' 25" N. and 95° 4' 40" E. on the bank of the Tha-nee river a short 
 distance below the mouth of the Bhoo-ro. 
 
 KYWAI-THE. — A small unnavigable stream which rises in the Myit- 
 myeng-doung spur of the Pegu Eoma and, flowing south-west, traverses the 
 Gnyoung-beng-tshiep cii'cle of the Thayet district and faUs into the Irra- 
 waddy a little above Thayet-taw, after having been joined by the Tsit-tsa-ba 
 and the Mywe-bwe. The bed is sandy and the banks moderately steep and 
 fringed with bamboo and Eng {DijJierocarpus tuherculatus). 
 
 KYWON. — A small river in the Shwe-doung township, Prome district, 
 which has its source in the Poung-khyot circle near the southern boundary 
 of the district and flows northwards through rice fields to the Irrawaddy 
 at Shwe-gyo-goon village just below the town of Shwe-doung, receiving the 
 drainage of the valley between the Prome or Toung-gyee and the Shwe-nat- 
 toung or Kho-lan ranges. It is not navigable for boats and the banks are 
 steep ; sandstone is found in its bed as in those of nearly aU its tributaries. 
 
 KYWON-BOUK.— A vUlage in the Zien cii-cle of the Central or Sando- 
 way township, Sandoway district, lying on both banks of the little Zien 
 stream, about four miles from its confluence with the Sandoway river which 
 it joins near the village of Tsheng-klioung. In 1877 the inhabitants num- 
 bered 910 souls. 
 
 KYWON-DAING. — A village on the Pa-de river in the Shwe-ban-daw 
 cu'cle, Mye-dai township, Thayet district. It has not more than fifty or 
 sixty houses. 
 
 KYWON-DAING. — A revenue cu'cle in the Prome district on the right 
 bank of the Irrawaddy about five miles above the southern boundary of the 
 district. The largest village is Thoo-le-dan — or Thoo-re-dan — on the bank 
 of the river at the mouth of a stream of the same name, and the other ham- 
 lets are almost all on the river's edge. The inhabitants, who are princi- 
 pally rice cultivators and gardeners with a few petty traders and fisher- 
 men, numbered 3,168 in 1876, when the land revenue was Es. 3,737, the 
 capitation tax Es. 3,387 and the gross revenue Es. 7,818. The ckcle now 
 includes Tshan-rwa, Tsit-taing and Lee-bwai. 
 
 KYWON-DAW-HLA. — A revenue circle in the Prome district, adjoining 
 and west of the southern part of the town of Poungday. In 1876 the popula-
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 323 
 
 tion was 6,382, the land revenue Rs. 3,248, the capitation tax Es. 6,463 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 19,658. This cii'cle now includes Hpa-lan-bwai 
 
 and Tsoung-beng. 
 
 KYWON-GA-LE. — A village in the Kama cii'cle, Kama township, 
 Thayet district, containing somewhat over 100 houses. 
 
 KYWON-GA-LE.— A large village of nearly 200 houses in 19° 3' 50" N. 
 lat. and 95° 13' 30" E. long., in the Gnyoung-beng-tshiep cii'cle, Mye-dai 
 township, Thayet district, on a large island a little to the north of Gnyoung- 
 beng-tshiep. In the Bui-mese time it was not registered as a village and a 
 few years ago it contained only 130 houses. 
 
 KYWON-GOON. — A revenue circle in the Prome district lying east of 
 the Myit-ma-kha and south of the Wek-poot. Included in it are the old 
 Kywon-goon, Tsa-ba-gyway and Tomig-lwe circles. Kywou-goon, in the 
 north, Toung-lwe, in the north-east, and Mye-nan-the, a little to the south of 
 the river in the west, are the largest villages. Rice is cultivated in the 
 northern portion and in patches in the southern. Close to the little village 
 of Khyoung-bya is the Kya-eng formed by a depression in the land and 
 receiving its water-supply from the drainage of the smTounding country ; 
 it is of no importance except as a small fishery. 
 
 KYWON-KHYOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Thee-kweng township, 
 Bassein district, with an estimated area of 38 square miles, between the 
 Ta-beng and Le-tshoo circles of the same township. To the west the 
 country is undulating and covered with bamboos and wood-oil trees and 
 the largest portion of the cu'cle is uncultivated, open waste. In the 
 north and in the south there are some rice fields. The inhabitants 
 are agriculturists and fishermen. The cii-cle is well intersected by roads. 
 In 1876 the land revenue was Rs. 8,653, the capitation tax Rs. 4,250, the 
 gross revenue Rs. 14,084 and the population 4,561. 
 
 KYWON-MA-NGAY.— A village in the Shwe-loung township, Thoon- 
 khwa district, in 16° 25' N. and 95' 12' E. on a creek of the same name at 
 its junction with the Irrawaddy exactly opposite the large village of Kywon- 
 pya-that. The general occupation of the inhabitants, mostly Talaing and 
 numbering some 600 souls, is cutting rattans and the manufacture of 
 salt. After the rains they go down to the seacoast to fish. 
 
 KT\VON-PYA-THAT.— A revenue cii'cle in the Shwe-loung township 
 of the Thoon-khwa district, lying between two branches of the Irrawaddy 
 which unite at its southern extremity and are joined on its noi*thern by the 
 Tha-rwot creek. To the north are the Kywon-bouk and Kyoon-pa-doot 
 circles. The whole circle is deeply intersected by numerous interlacing creeks 
 dividing it into a group of islands. It is low and swampy and subject to 
 inundations. The most important village is Kywon-pya-that in about the 
 centre of the western border of the cu'cle. In 1876 it had 4,077 inhabit- 
 ants and i^roduced a gross revenue of Rs. 11,552, of which Rs. 4,088 were 
 derived from the land, Rs. 4,678 from the capitation tax and the rest from 
 the net tax. 
 
 KYWON-PYA-THAT.— A village on the bank of a branch of the Irra- 
 waddy on the western borders of the cu-cle of the same name in the Shwe- 
 loung township of the Thoon-khwa district.
 
 324 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KYWON-PYA-THAT.— A large tidal creek in the Thoon-khwa district 
 forming the lower portion of the Pan-ta-naw, which unites on both sides by 
 numerous inosculating creeks with the other streams which traverse the 
 Shwe-loung township, and a short distance from the coast joins the Re- 
 tsoo-daing and falls into the sea as the Irrawaddy. 
 
 LA-BWOT-KHYAN-MYOUK.— A revenue circle in the Shwe-loung 
 township of the Thoon-khwa district. On the north are the Kyoon-pa-daw 
 and Kyoon-pa-doop circles of the same township, on the east the Kyoon- 
 toon circle, on the south the La-bwot-khyan Toung circle and on 
 the west the Kweng-bouk-gyee, Kyoon-ta-nee and Pyeng-ma-goon 
 circles. Lying in the south of the delta of the Irrawaddy, between the 
 Pyeng-za-loo and Irrawaddy mouths of that river, the country generally 
 is low, liable to inundation, and highly intersected by tidal creeks fringed 
 with low forest and with dhanee palms {Nipa Fruticans.) Towards 
 the north there is some rice cultivation. The circle is inhabited principally by 
 Kareng. In 1876 the population was 4,221, the land revenue Es. 10,730, the 
 capitation tax PiS. 4,858 and the gross revenue Rs. 5,698. 
 
 LA-BWOT-KHYAN-TOUNG.— Or South La-bwot-khyan— is a revenue 
 circle in the Shwe-loung township of the Thoon-khwa district, immediately 
 to the south of La-bwot-khyan-myouk (or north) and, like it, lying between 
 the Pyeng-za-loo and the Irrawaddy. The circle is a net-work of tidal creeks 
 and the inhabitants, who are mainly Burmans, are largely engaged in fish- 
 ing. In 1876 the population was 4,488, the land revenue Rs. 6,514, the capi- 
 tation tax Rs. 4,640 and the gross revenue Rs. 20,468, of which nearly half 
 was derived from the tax on fishing nets. 
 
 LA-BWOT-KOO-LA. — A revenue circle in the Myoung-mya township, 
 Bassein district, lying in the angle formed by the Rwe and the Moung-mya- 
 houng channels and bounded on the south by the Oon-beng which separates 
 it from the Lai-byouk circle. It is very extensively cultivated and only 
 towards the south is there any waste land. The principal means of com- 
 munication is by water : there are no regular roads, though carts go from 
 village to village after the crops have been reaped. The inhabitants are 
 mainly engaged in rice cultivation and some in sea and river fishing. La- 
 bwot-koo-la on the bank of the Tha-raw-boon (the head-waters of the Rwe) 
 with 1,800 mhabitants and Da-rai-bouk with 679 inhabitants are the largest 
 villages. In 1876 the population was 5,390, the capitation tax Rs. 5,760, the 
 land revenue Rs. 10,630 and the gross revenue 16,933. 
 
 LA-BWOT-KOO-LA. — A large village in the revenue circle of the same 
 name, Myoung-mya township, Bassein district, on the western bank of the 
 Rwe river (in this part of the district called the Tha-raw-boon Re-gyaw) in 
 a well-cultivated rice tract eight miles south-east of Myoung-mya. The 
 inhabitants, who numbered 1,800 in 1877, are engaged principally in petty 
 trading, in fishing and in rice cultivation. Lat. 16"" 31 ' N. Long. 95° 3' 30" E. 
 
 LA-BWOT-TA. — A tidal creek in the Myoung-mya township, Bassein 
 district, connecting the Thek-ngay-thoung on the west with the Rwe on the 
 east. It is navigable by river steamers for about three miles inwards from 
 the mouth in the Thek-ngay-thoung and is traversible at all times by boats 
 of from 80 to 90 feet in length without masts.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 325 
 
 LA-BWOT-TA. — A large village in the Kya-gan circle, Myoung-mya 
 township, Bassein district, with a population of 1,211 souls in 1877, on the 
 Rwe river at the mouth of the La-bwot-ta stream. The principal occupa- 
 tion of the inhabitants during the dry season is the manufacture of nga-pee, 
 or fish paste, and at this time the greater number go to the mouth of the Ewe 
 river for the sea fishing whilst some go to other villages as Hpo-doot, Ta-man- 
 khyoung, &c., where they form temporary hamlets and make salt. The 
 principal trade of the place is in these two articles, salt and nga-pee. Lat. 
 16"^ 8' N. Long. 94° 59' E. A small Police force is quartered in this village. 
 
 LA-BWOT-TA-EOOP.— A tidal creek in the Myoung-mya township, 
 Bassein district, running east and west between the Thek-ngay-thoung and 
 Rwe rivers, the latter of which it joins just above La-bwot-ta village. Boats 
 60 feet in length, but without masts, can pass through it at all times and 
 seasons. 
 
 LA-BWOT-TA-ROOP. — A village m the Kya-gan circle, Myoung-mya 
 township, Bassein district, on both banks of the La-bwot-ta-roop stream 
 about two miles from its western entrance and about 20 miles from the 
 sea, the residence of the Thoogyee of the circle. The inhabitants, whose 
 principal occupation is the manufacture of nga-pee or fish paste, numbered 
 529 in 1877. 
 
 L A-GWON-BYENG. — A long and narrow revenue circle in the Hpoung- 
 leng township of the Eangoon district having the Htan-daw-gyee chxle on 
 the north, the Zaing-ga-naing cncle on the east, the Ivha-ra-kywon circle 
 on the south and the Ma-hoo-ra cncle on the west. Towards the south the 
 country is slightly undulating with rice cultivation and open, waste plains ; 
 towards the north are low laterite ridges covered with bamboo and tree- 
 forest in which are found Pyeng-gado {Xylia dolahriformis), Pyeng-ma 
 {Lar/erstroemia refiiiKB) and Ka-gnyeng {Dlptei-ocarpus alatus). The inhabit- 
 ants during the last three years were : — 
 
 Burmese 
 Talaing 
 Kareng 
 Other races 
 
 Total .. 2,940 2,905 3,074 
 
 The area under cultivation and revenue dming the last five years were : — 
 
 1875. 
 
 1876. 
 
 1877 
 
 580 
 
 848 
 
 658 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 2,309 
 
 2,021 
 
 2,366 
 
 21 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 
 Area, in Acres. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Rice. G„de„. ,J«-'. 
 
 Total. Land. 
 
 Capita- 
 tion tax. 
 
 All other 
 items. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1873-74 
 1874-75 
 1876-76 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 3,469 
 4,849 
 5,649 
 6,921 
 6,594 
 
 66 
 75 
 
 144 
 98 
 
 185 
 
 17 
 154 
 120 
 
 i 
 3,525 5,563 3,085 
 4,924 7,690 3,538 
 6,820 8,886 3,645 
 6,173 9,373 3,803 
 6,899 10,718 4,115 
 
 2,170 
 2,170 
 2,170 
 410 
 1,468 
 
 10,808 
 13,398 
 14,701 
 13,586 
 16,291
 
 326 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and the agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ r^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 P «^ 
 
 Ul 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 C8 
 
 "cS 
 O 
 
 
 
 O nS 
 
 Ph 
 
 o 
 
 fQ 
 
 
 pq 
 
 C3 
 
 
 
 
 1873-74 
 
 1,200 
 
 388 
 
 358 
 
 275 
 
 22 
 
 1874-75 
 
 1,096 
 
 225 
 
 331 
 
 261 
 
 12 
 
 1875-76 
 
 1,305 
 
 616 
 
 346 
 
 271 
 
 
 1876-77 
 
 1,809 
 
 648 
 
 377 
 
 250 
 
 
 1877-78 
 
 1,482 
 
 682 
 
 408 
 
 341 
 
 
 LAI-BYOUK. — A revenue circle in the Myoung-mya township, Bassein 
 district, with an area of ahout 77 square miles, lying between the Ewe and 
 the Thek-ngay-thoung rivers, or rather mouths of the Irrawaddy, andhounded 
 on the north by the Myoung-mya-houng and the Oon-beng channels and on 
 the south by the La-bwot-ta-roop. A range of low lime hills runs parallel to 
 the Bassein river, near its left bank, and crops out at the village of Kyouk- 
 tan-gyee the inhabitants of which find employment in quarrying and burn- 
 ing the lime. There are no proper cart roads but there are footpaths from 
 village to village. The principal cultivation is in the north of the circle. 
 In 1876 the population was 2,546, the land revenue Ks. 4,513, the capita- 
 tion tax Es. 2,932 and the gross revenue Es. 7,701. 
 
 LAI-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Ta-pwon township of the Henzada 
 district. The greater portion of the country is covered with grass jungle, 
 with Sha {Acacia catechu) and Tha-bye {Eugenia sp.) intermixed. In 1876 
 the population was 6,104, the land revenue Es. 5,061, the capitation tax Es. 
 5,492 and the gross revenue Es. 10,854. 
 
 LAI-EWA. — A revenue circle in the Prome district to the south-east 
 of Prome lying between the Zay river on the east and the Prome hills on 
 the west, and containing eight of the old village tracts, viz., Lai-rwa, Za- 
 noung-deng, Meng-dat, Bya-haw, Lai-gyee, Tsheng-baik, Kywai-reng and 
 Toung-ya-ngay. In 1876 the land revenue was Es. 1,521, the capitation 
 tax Es. 840, the gross revenue Es. 2,536 and the population 852. 
 
 LAI-EWA. — A revenue circle in the Pa-doung township, Prome district, 
 separated from the Ewa-boo-le ch-cle by the Tha-nee stream. It con- 
 tains two of the old circles, viz., Lai-rwa and Tsoon-gan and is faiidy 
 well cultivated with rice. In 1876 the land revenue was Es. 540, the cap- 
 itation tax Es. 495, the gross revenue Es. 1,085 and the population 374 
 souls. 
 
 LA-MAING. — A small river in the Amherst district formed by the 
 junction of numerous mountain streams which have their sources in the 
 western slopes of the Toung-gnyo range. After a short westerly course it 
 falls into the sea in 15° 28' N. about 20 miles above the mouth of the Ee. 
 
 LA-MOO. — A small river in the Sandoway district which rises in the 
 western slopes of the Arakan mountains and falls into the sea opposite 
 Eamree Island, south of the mouth of the Ma-ee.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 327 
 
 LA-MOO-KHYIE. — A village in the Theng-gan-nek cii'cle, Eamree 
 township, Kyouk-hpyoo district, on the east coast of Eamree Island, about a 
 mile inland and about the same distance north of Theng-gan-nek, with a 
 population in 1877 of 550 souls. 
 
 LA-MOO-LEK-YA. — A revenue cu-cle in the northern township of the 
 Sandoway district, extending from the Arakan Roma to the sea, separated 
 from Ma-ee on the north by the La-moo stream and on the south from the 
 Khareng-gyee, Kywai-loo and Tan-lwai circles by the Kywai-raing spur and 
 the Tsha-byeng river. Its estimated area is 150 square miles ; the 
 greater portion is moimtainous and densely wooded and but a small part 
 is suited for regular cultivation. In 1876 the inhabitants, who are mainly 
 Ai'akanese, numbered 985, the land revenue was Es. 848, the capitation tax 
 Es. 799 and the gross revenue Es. 2,493. The name is derived from its 
 position on the right {Anglice left) bank of the La-moo to distinguish it 
 from the La-moo Lek-wai {Left La-moo), once independent but now joined 
 to Ma-ee. 
 
 LAMPEE ISLAND.— 5'ee Sullivan's Island. 
 
 LAN-THA-MAING. — A village in the Shwe-loung township, Thoon-khwa 
 district, about 17 miles S. by E. from Shwe-loung as the crow flies. It has 
 a population of about 550 souls. 
 
 LA-WA-DEE. — A revenue cu'cle in the Angyee township, Eangoon 
 district, 105 square miles in extent ; on the north it adjoins Kaw-hmoo and 
 len-da-poora from which it is separated by an imaginary line drawn 
 through the Taw-gyee from the Kyouk-ka-lway stream on the west to the 
 Ta-koo-khyan on the east ; on the south it is bounded by the To, and on 
 the east it is separated by the Taw-kha-ran and other streams from the 
 Htan-ma-naing chcle. Towards the west the ground undulates to some 
 extent and is covered with tree-forest whilst towards the north and east 
 there is some forest and elsewhere rice land. The whole of the circle is 
 natm-ally fertile ; a considerable portion was reduced almost to a swamp after 
 the first Anglo-Burmese war owing to the silting up of one of the main 
 streams — the Ka-ma-ka-lwon. There was formerly a large village of this 
 name on its banks which was entkely deserted after the war, the 
 inhabitants, who used to keep the bed clear, emigrating to Maulmain, and 
 now, dm-ing the di-y season, there is not a trace of the watercourse remain- 
 ing even in places where large boats used to anchor. 
 
 The population in 1858-59 and dm-ing the last four years was : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 
 tc 
 
 to 
 
 a 
 
 
 A a5 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 03 
 
 V 
 
 d 
 
 ,-. 03 
 
 "3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 c3 
 
 ^ 
 
 ji 
 
 •< 
 
 o 
 
 
 pq 
 
 H 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 H 
 
 1858-59 
 
 146 
 
 1,533 
 
 2,164 
 
 
 
 3,843 
 
 1874-75 
 
 1,113 
 
 2,720 
 
 2,145 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 6,072 
 
 1875-76 
 
 1,090 
 
 3,019 
 
 2,376 
 
 13 
 
 93 
 
 6,591 
 
 1876-77 
 
 2,084 
 
 1,987 
 
 2,136 
 
 170 
 
 98 
 
 6,475 
 
 1877-78 
 
 1,683 
 
 3,434 
 
 2,253 
 
 319 
 
 140 
 
 7,829
 
 328 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The Kareng and Shan are garden and rice cultivators and the Tal- 
 aing were formerly nearly all salt or salt-pot makers but many have taken 
 to agriculture as, owing to importation, salt-making has ceased to be as 
 remunerative as formerly. The potteries are at the villages of Kwon-khyan- 
 goon, Taw-ba-lwai and Ma-yan. The earth is obtained from the high ground 
 of the " Twan-te Taw-gyee." These pots were sold at Rs. 30 to 40 per hundred 
 in 1868 and in 1877 at from Rs. 75 to Rs. 90 per hundred. The highest price 
 known before the annexation of Pegu is said to have been Rs. 15 per hundred. 
 
 The principal villages are Kwon-khyan-goon, Thoon-khwa and Kyoung- 
 daik. The area under cultivation and the revenue during the last five 
 years were : — 
 
 
 Area, in Acbes. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 1 
 
 ll 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 a 
 
 O 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 
 Capitation tax. 
 
 
 3 
 
 "o 
 
 1873-74 
 
 1874-75 
 
 1875-76 
 
 1876-77 
 
 1877-78 
 
 7,615 
 8,501 
 8,867 
 9,403 
 9,712 
 
 213 
 228 
 319 
 335 
 375 
 
 8 
 44 
 
 7,828 
 8,729 
 9,186 
 8,746 
 10,131 
 
 16,872 
 18,782 
 18,987 
 19,279 
 20,992 
 
 9,893 
 7,358 
 7,715 
 8,040 
 8,838 
 
 422 
 353 
 75 
 260 
 161 
 
 25,187 
 26,493 
 26,777 
 27,580 
 29,991 
 
 and the agricultural stock 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 la 
 
 "3 2 
 
 t3 
 
 ID 
 
 Carts. 
 
 Ploughs. 
 
 O 
 
 pq 
 
 1873-74 .. .. : 
 
 2,115 
 
 442 
 
 , , 
 
 292 
 
 734 
 
 114 
 
 1874-75 
 
 2,022 
 
 378 
 
 
 309 
 
 850 
 
 252 
 
 1875-76 
 
 2,031 
 
 380 
 
 •• 
 
 311 
 
 821 
 
 250 
 
 1876-77 
 
 2,275 
 
 458 
 
 
 295 
 
 566 
 
 96 
 
 1877-78 .. - 
 
 2,224 
 
 610 
 
 7 
 
 252 
 
 621 
 
 85 
 
 LAW-THAW. — A small stream rising in the marshy ground to the east 
 of Prome and bringing thence the surplus waters of the swamps which, fed 
 by the Shwe-lay and other streams from the eastward, are the source of the
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 329 
 
 Zay, a river which, changing its name more than once as it flows south, 
 reaches the sea as the " Rangoon river." Emining almost due west through 
 low ground covered with orchards of cocoanuts, plantams, mangoes and 
 betel palms, it joins the Na-weng immediately behind the town of Prome. 
 
 LA-YA. — A large and highly fertile circle in the Tsit-toung township 
 of the Shwe-gyeng district, bounded on the east by the Tsit-toung, on the 
 south by the Tsit-toung, the Kha-ra-tshoo creek, and a small creek which 
 runs for a very short distance between these streams and on the west 
 by the new canal from the Pegu to the Tsit-toung river. On the west 
 and south it adjoins the Rangoon district. A small triangular portion 
 on the north-west, with the apex to the south, was taken from it in 1877 
 and added to the Ma-yen-za-ya circle of Rangoon. The surface of the 
 country is flat and, except m the north-west and west, well cultivated with 
 rice. In 1876 the population was 3,856, the land revenue Rs. 8,998, the 
 capitation tax Rs. 3,845 and the gross revenue Rs. 20,693. None of the 
 villages are of any importance. The only crop cultivated is rice. This 
 circle contains some valuable and important fisheries. 
 
 LAY-DEE. — A village in the Tham-boo-la circle, Mye-dai township, 
 Thayet district, of about 60 houses. 
 
 LAY-DEE -KAN-HL A. — A revenue cii'cle in the Henzada township, 
 Henzada district. The general aspect of this circle is that of a large plain 
 cultivated with rice. In 1876 the population was 8,101, the land revenue 
 Rs. 16,386, the capitation tax Rs. 6,155 and the gross revenue Rs. 23,863. 
 
 LAY'^-HLA. — A revenue circle in the Toung-ngoo district on the west 
 bank of the Tsit-toung, north-west of Toung-ngoo, very extensively culti- 
 vated, especially with rice. In 1876 the population was 3,991, the land 
 revenue Rs. 4,052, the capitation tax Rs. 3,040 and the gross revenue Rs. 
 7,934. 
 
 LAY-MAY. — Literally " Blacknecks." A small sept of Bghai, number- 
 ing about 1,000 souls, so called by the Burmese on account of the black 
 rings which they wear round their necks, and by the rest of the clan known 
 as Brec or Pray. They live in the Toung-ngoo district, north-east of 
 Toung-ngoo, and go about almost naked. They are the Ishmaelites among 
 the Kareng ; their hand is against every one and everyone's hand is against 
 them ; they are savage, treacherous and ignorant and live chiefly by 
 plunder. 
 
 LAY-MEE-KHO.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 48' 50" N. and 
 95° 28' 40" E. on the bank of the small Shwe-lay stream, twelve miles 
 east of Prome. The inhabitants are principally rice cultivators. 
 
 LAY-MEE-KHO. — A revenue circle in the Prome district about 18 
 miles east of Prome containing a good deal of rice land and including three 
 village tracts, Lay-mce-kho, Re-nek and Kcng-tec. In 1876 the population 
 was 682, the land revenue Rs. 1,471 and the capitation tax Rs. 807. 
 
 LE-GNYA. — A river in the Mergui district which has its source in 
 about 13° 45' N. in the main range, here not more than 25 miles from the 
 seacoast, and flows with a tortuous course, but generally north, for some 60 
 miles, past the viUagc of the same name the head-quarters of a township, 
 when it turns west and falls into ^Miale's Bay some 30 miles further on. 
 
 42
 
 330 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The coast between its mouth and that of the extreme southern branch of the 
 Tenasserim, further north, is divided into numerous islands by highly anas- 
 tomosing tidal creeks. This river is navigable by boats some distance 
 above Le-gnya, beyond which for some miles the effect of the tide is felt. 
 The bed is sandy and muddy and its mouth very broad. Some distance 
 up there are eddies and whirlpools which render its navigation by unskilled 
 boatmen dangerous. 
 
 LE-GNYA. — A small village in the Mergui district of the Tenasserim 
 division, on the left bank of the Le-gnya river in 11° 29' N. Lat. and 98° 52' 
 E. Long. 30 miles from its mouth and 78 miles south-east of Mergui, 
 the head-quarters of the township of the same name. Dming the Siamese 
 rule it was a large and populous place but it is now a long, stragghng village 
 with about 181 inhabitants, all Siamese and all cultivators. The public 
 buildings are the Court-house and a Police-station. The name is Siamese 
 and means an open elevated plain. 
 
 LE-GNYA. — A township in the Mergui district, extending from the 
 crest of the main range on the east to the sea on the west, including many of 
 the islands of the Archipelago, and stretching up northward along the coast 
 to the Mergui township, the Tenasserim township extending southward be- 
 tween it and the hills for more than half its length. In the south it adjoins 
 Ma-lee-won. It contains only two ch'cles Le-gnya and Bhoot-pyeng. The 
 head-quarters are at Le-gnya. The greater part of the country is moun- 
 tainous and covered with forest and the area under cultivation is small. In 
 1876 the population, composed of Malays, Siamese and Chinese, numbered 
 3,117, the land revenue was Es. 2,661 and the gross revenue Es. 4,685. 
 
 LE-GNYA. — A revenue cu'cle in the Mergui district of considerable 
 extent occupying the valley of the Le-gnya river and extending northwards 
 to the Tenasserim. In 1876 the population was 1,269, the land revenue 
 Es. 1,290 and the capitation tax Es. 871. The largest village is Bhoot- 
 pyeng, 100 miles S. E. of Mergui with 436 Siamese, Chinese and Malay 
 inhabitants in 1876. The two former are cultivators whilst the Chinese 
 work tin mines m various places at some distance from the village. 
 
 LEK-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the Prome district to the eastward 
 of Prome amongst the spm-s of the Pegu Eoma mountains. Though it 
 contains 13 of the old village tracts, viz., Da-la-mai, Tha-hpan-gaing, 
 Za-rit, Dee-thwai-kyouk, Thayet-kaing-gyo, 0-gwai, Ko-ran-dan, Kan-bya, 
 Koung-kyai, Haing-shoo-ma-hla, Koo-la-the-gyee, Shwe-ga-ro-thaing and 
 Lek-gyee and is of some extent yet it is sparsely inhabited and yields but a 
 small revenue from land and capitation tax. Various kinds of excellent 
 timber such as Eng (Dipterocarpus tuberculatus) and Pyeng-gado {Xylia 
 dolabriformis) are found on the hills with which this circle is intersected. 
 In 1876 the population was 903, the land revenue Es. 988, the capitation 
 tax Es. 943 and the gross revenue Es. 1,981. 
 
 LEK-HTEK. — A revenue circle in the Zaya township, Amherst 
 district, which now includes Ka-ma-wek. It extends from the Toung-gnyo 
 range on the east to the Ka-ma-oot circle which separates it from the 
 Salween. It has Kwan-te on the north and Ka-law-thwot on the south. 
 A considerable portion is upland and the rest is plain country but liable to
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 331 
 
 inundation towards the south from the defective drainage ; of late j^ears, 
 however, much has been done in improving the existing waterwaj's and in 
 excavatmg others. In 1868 the population of the two cu'cles, then separate 
 and independent, was 2,812, the land revenue was Rs. 6,683 and the capita- 
 tion tax Pis. 2,925. In 1876 there were 3,166 mhahitants, principally 
 Talaing, the land revenue was Rs. 6,847 and the capitation tax Es. 3,242. 
 The only village of any importance is Ka-ma-wek which in 1877 had 989 
 inhabitants. 
 
 LEK-KHAIK. — A village in the Kaw-hmoo cu'cle, An-gyee township, 
 Rangoon district, about six miles north of Kwon-kliyan-goon, inhabited 
 principally by Talaing a few of whom are rice cultivators but the major 
 portion salt-manufacturers. Near it are the ruins of a large pagoda, one 
 of the most considerable of the 37 great pagodas of An-gyee. In 1877 it 
 had a i)opulation of 277 souls. 
 
 LEK-KHOOT. — A small river in the Basseru district which rises in 
 the Arakan hills and after a S. E. com-se of little more than eight miles 
 falls into the Bassein rather more than two miles above the village of 
 Kyouk-khyoung-gyee and about a mile below the mouth of the Da-ga. It 
 is navigable by small boats at aU times of the tide for about two miles 
 from its mouth. 
 
 LEK-KHOOT. — A creek m the Bassein district which joms the Pe- 
 beng river on the south-east and communicates with the ]\Iyo on the north 
 and the Bassein river on the west by the Thai-bhyoo and Zhe creeks respec- 
 tively. In the rains it is na\4gable by boats of 500 baskets bm-den which, 
 however, camiot pass into the Bassein as the Zhe only admits boats dm-ing 
 the flood tides and then but as far as the market in the town of Bassein. 
 
 LEK-KHOOT-KOON.— A village in the Zhe-pa-thway ch-cle, Angyee 
 township, Rangoon district, about one and half miles east of Ka-gnyeng- 
 goon, pleasantly situated a few hmidi-ed yards from the seacoast. The 
 inhabitants — who are principally Talaing and cultivators or agricultural 
 labom-ers — numbered about 250 in 1858 and 638 in 1877. In the neighbour- 
 hood are the three small villages of Ta-ma-ta-kaw, Zhe-pa-thway (which gives 
 its name to the cu'cle) and Kareng-khyoung. 
 
 LEK-KHOOT-PENG.— A revenue circle in the Prome district a few 
 miles east of Prome, now joined to Koon-rwa-leng. 
 
 LEK-KHOOT-PENG.— A village m the Koon-rwa-leng cu-cle, Ma-ha- 
 tha-man township, Prome district, close to the left bank of the Irrawaddy 
 and some two miles north of the mouth of the Na-weng river, in 18° 50' 30" 
 N. and 95° 15' 55" E., lying in an open waste plain on the bank of a rivulet 
 which falls into the Irrawaddy and near to a natm'al swampy reservoir of 
 water. The inhabitants, who numbered 521 in 1877, are mainly gai'deners 
 and rice cultivators. 
 
 LEK-KHWA-DWE. — A revenue circle, 65 square miles in extent, in 
 the An township, Kyouk-hpyoo district, between the seacoast and the west- 
 ern watershed of the valley of the An. Towards the west it is divided into 
 islands by numerous tidal creeks. In 1876 it had an Ai-akancsc population 
 of 1,531 souls, the land revenue was Es. 1,743, the capitation tax Rs. 1,291 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 3,154.
 
 332 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 LEK-MYOUNG. — A small but increasing village in the Pyeng-bouk 
 circle, Mye-dai township, Thayet district, in a moderate sized rice plain 
 at the north-western extremity of which is the little village of Kyouk-ma- 
 tsheng with some 20 houses. In 1872 Lek-myoung contained 50 houses. 
 
 LEK-PA-DAN. — A revenue cu'cle in the Prome district lying to the 
 north-east of the Tsa-bay-gan circle. Its largest villages are Myoung-dan and 
 Eoon-goon, one portion of which latter is inhabited by Kareng. It is almost 
 enth-ely under rice cultivation, is well populated (1,867 souls in 1876) and 
 yields, comparatively, a large revenue from land and capitation tax viz., 
 Es. 2,395 and Es. 1,825 respectively in 1876. 
 
 LEK-PA-DAN. — A small but very rich and thickly-populated revenue 
 circle in the Tsan-rwe township of the Henzada district, separated from 
 Toung-bo-hla on the north by the Pie-gyee, from Kye-nee on the east by an 
 imaginary line running between the Ee-gyee and the Thai-bhyoo and with 
 Shwe-loung lying to the westward. The principal product is rice for which 
 the soil is well suited and the carriage easy. In 1876 the population was 
 10,374, the land revenue Es. 14,048, the capitation tax Es. 8,072 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 24,745. 
 
 LEK-PAN. — A village in the A-gwon (North) cii-cle of the Than-lyeng 
 township, Eangoon district, about five miles up the creek of the same name, 
 with 587 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 LEK-PAN-BHYOO. — A revenue circle in the Prome district, some eight 
 miles S. E. of Prome, containing three of the former village tracts, viz., 
 Lek-pan-bhyoo, Mywai-gyee-dweng and Ewa-thit, and cultivated principally 
 with rice. In 1876 the population was 353, the land revenue Es. 451 and 
 the capitation tax Es. 368. 
 
 LEK-PAN-BHYOO. — A village in the Shwe-doung township, Prome dis- 
 trict, on the bank of the Irrawaddy, between Kj'ee-tliay and Gnj'oung-tsa-re 
 and about two miles south of the former. Just to the east of this village is 
 the Eng-bya fen, navigable by fairly sized boats in the rains. A good fair- 
 weather road joins it to Kyee-thay but in the rains the communication is 
 almost entnely by water. 
 
 LEK-PAN-BYA. — A village on the eastern bank of the river Koo-la-dan, 
 in the cu'cle of the same name m the Oo-rit-toung (East) towTiship of the 
 Akyab district. In 1877 it contained 590 inhabitants. 
 
 LEK-PAN-BYA. — A revenue cii-cle in the Oo-rit-toung (East) township 
 of the Akyab district. In 1876 the population was 1,229, the land revenue 
 Es. 4,349, the capitation tax Es. 1,630 and the gross revenue Es. 6,316. 
 
 LEK-PAN-DAING.— A village of from 60 to 70 houses, in 19° 20' 
 12' N. Lat. and 94° 4' 78" E. Long., in the Kyan cu'cle of the Meng-doon 
 township, Thayet district, on the Ma-htoon river, in the mountainous country 
 formed by the numerous spurs of the Ai-akan hills. It was formerly 
 one of the villages of a cu'cle of the same name the Thoogyeeship of which 
 was hereditary but on the annexation of Pegu it was found that the family 
 of the original holder was no longer in possession. 
 
 LEK-PAN-DAING. — A revenue ckcle in the Meng-bra township, 
 Akyab district. In 1876 the inhabitants numbered 1,888, the land revenue 
 was Es. 4,914, the capitation tax Es. 1,712 and the gross revenue Es. 6,872.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 333 
 
 LEK-PAN-HLA. — A village containing about 50 houses in the 
 Tsheng-cloop circle, Mye-clai township, Thayet district, situated in a rice 
 plain on the right bank of the Thai-bhyoo about seven miles from its mouth 
 in the Bh wot -lay. 
 
 LEK-PAN-imOON.— A village of about 50 houses on one of the 
 numerous feeders of the Pa-de stream in the Shwe-ban-daw circle of the 
 Mye-dai township, Thayet district. 
 
 LEK-PAN-TAW. — A revenue cu'cle in the Ma-ha-tha-man townshij), 
 Prome district, which now includes Ngwe-gyaw and Mo-goung. In 1876 
 the inhabitants numbered 1,044, the land revenue was Es. 1,841 and the 
 caj)itation tax Pis. 1,138. 
 
 LEK-PAN-TSHIEP.— A village, containing 80 houses, on the right 
 bank of the Irrawaddy some five miles north of Thayetmyo, in the Pie-bhyoo 
 chicle, Thayet township, close to a sjpur which comes down to the river 
 bank. 
 
 LEK-PAN-TSOO.— A small \dllage, of only 274 mhabitants in 1877, 
 in the Shwe-kyoung-byeng-lek-ya ch'cle of the Central or Sandoway town- 
 ship of the Sandoway district, on the left bank of the unimportant Myeng 
 rivulet near its mouth in the Sandoway river and about five miles below 
 Sandoway ; it is noted for the limestone found in the neighbom-hood which 
 was favourably reported on by Dr. Oldham of the Geological Smwey of 
 India. 
 
 LEK-EAI-DEK. — A revenue cii-cle in the Pa-doung township, Prome 
 district, which now includes Tha-bye-aing. The south-eastern portion of 
 the circle is weU cultivated with rice. In 1876 the population was 1,877, 
 the land revenue Es. 2,037, the capitation tax Es. 2,123 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 5,265. 
 
 LEK-WAI-ANOUK. — A small revenue circle in the Sandoway district, 
 a short distance north of Sandoway, extending from the Ko-kweng sjnir 
 on the east to the Sandoway river on the west, separated from the Zien 
 cu-cle on the north by the Kya-tsheng spur and from the Lek-wai-ashe 
 cncle on the south by the Byee stream. It has an area of about 30 square 
 miles of which about three are cultivated and barely two more culturable. 
 In 1828 the gi'oss revenue demand was Es. 3,500 and the number of houses 
 224 which represents a population of about 1,100 souls. In 1876 it had an 
 Ai-akanese population of 1,937 souls. The principal products are rice, 
 tobacco, sugar, indigo, cotton and sessamum. In 1876 the land revenue 
 was Es. 2,815, the capitation tax Es. 1,534 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 4,869. 
 
 LEK-WAI-ASHE. — A revenue circle north of Sandoway, about 155 
 square miles in extent, the larger portion of which is unculturable, 
 extending from the Ko-kweng spur to the Sandoway river immediately 
 south of the Lek-wai-anouk circle and separated on the south from the 
 Khyoung-gyee circle by the An-daw spur. In 1828 the gross revenue 
 was Es. 2,600 and the population between 800 and 900. Its inhabitants, 
 who are mainly Arakanese, numbered 2,110 souls in 1876 when the land 
 revenue was Es. 2,175, the capitation tax Es. 1,650 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 8,875. Eice, sessamum and tobacco are the principal crops.
 
 334 BEITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 LEK-WAI-KYWON. — A small revenue circle, about six square miles 
 in extent, in the north-eastern township of the Tavoy district ; about one- 
 third is under cultivation, principally with rice. In 1876 the population was 
 3,199, the land revenue Es. 2,335, the capitation tax Es. 2,414 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 4,884. The chief occupation of the inhabitants is feUing 
 and floating various kinds of timber to Tavoy for building purposes ; 
 some grow hemp for fishing nets, some cultivate rice and a few are fisher- 
 men. 
 
 LEK-WAI-KYWON. — A village in the cu'cle of the same name in the 
 Tavoy district in the neighbourhood of which is the site of an old town 
 caUed Gnyoung-yan. 
 
 LEK-YA-MAING. — A revenue cncle in the Mro-houng township, Akyab 
 district. In 1876 the inhabitants numbered 1,643, the land revenue was 
 Es. 4,140, the capitation tax Es. 1,965 and the gross revenue Es. 6,389. 
 
 LE-MEO. — A river in the Akyab district, erroneously named Lemroo 
 on the maps ; the name signifies fom- towns — le fom* and mro a town. Its 
 sources, which have never been explored, lie in the wilderness of mountains 
 which occupy the whole of the northern part of Ai'akan, spurs and sub- 
 sidiary spurs of the Arakan Eoma hills. Joined by several large streams 
 before it descends into the plains, it has a general N. and S. du-ection and 
 falls into Hunter's Bay by numerous mouths all of which are interconnected 
 by a net work of tidal creeks, and by the same means communicates with 
 other rivers north-west and south-east. 
 
 LE-MYET-HNA. — A revenue circle of the Ta-pwon township of the 
 Henzada district, east of the Irrawaddy, containing a good deal of rice 
 cultivation. In 1876 the population was 7,328, the land revenue Es. 11,586, 
 the capitation tax Es. 6,547 and the gross revenue Es. 18,858. 
 
 LE-MYET-HNA.— A town in the Bassein district, with 3,674 in- 
 habitants in 1877, the head-quarters of the township of the same 
 name on the western bank of the Bassein or Nga-won river in Lat. 17° 
 35' N. and Long. 95° 13' 30' E. containing a Court-house for the Extra 
 Assistant Commissioner in charge of the township, a Market and a 
 Police-station. A protecting embankment has been raised along the 
 margin of the river but notwithstanding this the town is, in high rises, 
 two or three feet under water. A local revenue of Es. 7,100 was raised in 
 1876-77 from the town rates and the market stall rents. 
 
 It was to this town that the Governor of Bassein retreated on the 
 approach of Major Sale's detachment during the first Burmese war. Major 
 Sale proceeded up the river from Bassein with a small detachment and 
 found the town, then a place of great extent, abandoned. 
 
 LE-MYET-HNA. — A township in the Bassein district. The Arakan 
 mountains, from the source of the Kwon stream northwards to the Mo-htee 
 spur, form the western boundary, the Mo-htee spur to its eastern end, 
 thence for a short distance the Tsan-khyoung and thence an imaginary 
 irregular line to the Bassein river near Tsien-j)ywon, and on the east bank 
 the Ee-lai form the northern boundary. The Ee-nouk the eastern, and an 
 imaginary line from the Ee-nouk to the Bassein at the village of Bhoot- 
 khyoung, the Bassein itself and the river Kwon from its mouth to its source
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 335 
 
 form the southern boundary. The Arakan mountains, in places 1,900 feet 
 high, send down their well-wooded spm-s eastwards, leaving a hne of plain 
 country between their lower slopes and the Bassem river which gradually 
 passes into low swampy land. The rivers are short and of httle or no import- 
 ance, being little more than mountain torrents navigable only in the plains. 
 The principal town is Le-myet-hna on the bank of the Bassein river, the 
 head-quarters of the township, which in 1877 had a population of 3,674 
 souls. Two or three miles to the westward of this town is the great Pan- 
 daw lake, which in the dry weather has only two or three feet of water in 
 it but in the rains is navigable by large boats. 
 
 For fiscal and administrative pm-poses the township is divided into 
 seven cii'cles, viz : — Tseng-pywon, Le-myet-hna (North), Le-myet-hna 
 (South), Khyouk-tshay (in the old Le-myet-hna township), Mye-noo (east of 
 the Bassein and formerly in Tha-bye-hla now broken up), Thoung-dan 
 and Kwon-pyeng (formerly in Kyouk-khyoung-ga-le now broken up). The 
 population of the township in 1876 was 40,065, the land revenue Es. 34,309, 
 the capitation tax Rs. 44,216 and the gross revenue Es. 94,737. 
 
 LE-MYET-HNA (NOETH).— A revenue cii-cle m the township of the 
 same name in the Bassein district about 19 square miles in extent, bounded 
 on the north by the Mo-htee spm- of the Ai'akan mountains and extending 
 from that range in a narrow strip E.S.E. to the Bassein river. In the centre 
 there is a fair amount of cultivation but to the west the country is hilly 
 and covered with tree-forest and to the east low and stretching out into 
 extensive plains. About three miles west of the Bassein river is the large 
 Pan-daw lake which has never less than two or three feet of water in it. In 
 the extreme east of the circle, on the bank of the Bassein river, is the town 
 of Le-myet-hna, the head-quarters of the township. In 1876 the population 
 was 5,990, the land revenue Es. 2,867, the cajntation tax Es. 6,897 and the 
 gross revenue, includmg the local revenue of the town of Le-myet-hna, 
 Rs. 17,886. 
 
 LE-IMYET-HNA (SOUTH).— A revenue circle in the township of the 
 same name in the Bassein district, extending in a narrow strip from the 
 Arakan mountains to the Bassein river, between the Le-myet-hna (North) 
 cu'cle and the Kyat stream, with an area of about 42 square miles. It has 
 but a small amount of rice cultivation. The larger portion of the country 
 consists of low hills rising in height towards the west to the Ai-akan Eomas 
 and covered with tree-forest. It now includes the once independent cu'cle of 
 Ka-gnyeng-daing. In 1876 the population of the united circles was 6,064, 
 the land revenue Es. 4,975, the capitation tax Es. 6,475 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 11,814. 
 
 LENG-BHAN. — A hamlet in the Shwe-doung cii-cle, Meng-doon 
 township, Thayet district, which some years ago was entered on the returns 
 as having 84 houses. Diu-ing the Burmese rule Lcng-bhan was a separate 
 Thoogyeeship but it was amalgamated with others on the annexation. 
 It is on the Hlwa stream not far from its junction with the Ma-htoon. 
 To the east of the %illage is a small salt spring which yielded about ten 
 pots of brine daily. 
 
 LENG-LENG-GAN. — A revenue chcle in the Prome district to the 
 east of and close to the Zay stream ; it contains three of the old village
 
 336 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 tracts, viz., Leng-leng-gan, Hmaw-gan and Poung-kwai. In 1876 the 
 population was 1,245, the land revenue Rs. 1,086, the capitation tax Es. 1,250 
 and the gross revenue Es. 2,742. 
 
 LENG-EWA. — A village in the Prome district about five miles east 
 of the town of Prome, in 18° 48' N. and 95° 22' 20" E., in the northern 
 portion of a large rice plain and about a mile west of the swamp in which 
 the Zay stream, the head-waters of the Myit-ma-kha river, has its source. 
 
 LE-TOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district, 22 square 
 miles in extent, occupying the extreme north-western corner of the Eamree 
 township, south of the Ean-bouk stream. It had a population in 1876 of 
 5,344 souls engaged principally in growing and making indigo and sugar and 
 in fishing. About three miles inland near the banks of the Le-toung stream 
 are some petroleum wells, the produce of which is exported. New wells are 
 continually being dug and yield a remunerative outturn. In 1876 the land 
 revenue was Es. 3,381, the capitation tax Es. 6,395 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 10,087. 
 
 LE-TSHOO.— A town, with 1,185 inhabitants in 1876, in the circle 
 of the same name in the Thee-kweng township, Bassein district, on the 
 right bank of the Daga river, between two and three miles below Kan-gyee- 
 doung. The inhabitants are mainly rice cultivators. 
 
 LE-TSHOO. — A revenue cu-cle in the Thee-kweng township, Bassein 
 district, with an approximate area of 32 square miles, lying along the left 
 bank of the Da-ga river westwards from the Ta-ta-zeng. It is, generally 
 speaking, flat and covered with grass but in the west it is undulating and 
 hilly and in the centre there is an extensive rice plain. The inhabitants, who 
 are mainly Burmese, are engaged in cultivation and in fishing. The 
 principal town is Kan-gyee in 16° 54' 30" N. and 94° 58' E. on the left 
 bank of the Da-ga river. There is a good cart road from Kan-gyee to 
 Bassein. In 1876 the population of the circle was 5,287, the land revenue 
 Es. 6,739, the capitation tax Es. 5,995 and the gross revenue Es. 13,472. 
 
 LIEN-GOON.— A village of 638 mhabitants in 1877, in the cuxle of 
 the same name, in the Hmaw-bhee township, Eangoon district, at the 
 junction of the Thien and Lien-goon streams. The houses extend along 
 both banks of these two rivers in smgle rows and radiate in three 
 directions from a picturesque group of pagodas, monasteries and thien. 
 The streams are spanned by well-raised makeshift footbridges consisting 
 of single planks supported upon cross bars between wooden posts, but not 
 nailed or fastened m anyway, with ricketty bamboo hand rails. Until May 
 1878 the village was the head-quarters of the township with a Court-house 
 and a Police-station, but these have been moved eastward to Eng-tsien 
 near the Eangoon and Irrawaddy Valley (State) Eailway in the neighbour- 
 hood of Pouk-taw where the railway workshops are situated.* 
 
 LIEN-GOON. — A revenue circle in the Hmaw-bhee township, Eangoon 
 district, on the left bank of theHlaing river. It forms an u-regular triangle, 
 with the base to the north, separated from the Hmaw-bhee cu-cle_ by the 
 Hmaw-bhee stream, now silting up, and with the Kyoung-goon cu-cle on 
 
 * The site of these workshops is often called Eng-tsien but this is a misnomer as there is 
 at the spot a village called Pouk-taw and Eng-tsien is about a mile off in a N. by W. direction.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 337 
 
 the east between it and the undulating ground which, in this latitude, 
 represents the Pegu Eoma and separated from it by the Kareng 
 and other streams. The face of the country is one vast plain intersected 
 with but slightly anastomosing creeks and rivers, which are tidal to beyond 
 the limits of the circle, with a fringe of La-moo forest along the bank 
 of the Hlaing, and with extensive dlianee plantations between high and 
 low water mark on the river's bank and on the fom- islands in the wide 
 *' spread " of the Hlamg just above Wa-hta-ya. Elsewhere the plain is 
 almost, if not entnely, treeless, even the villages havmg little or no shelter 
 from the sun. The streams were formerly fringed with brushwood and tree^ 
 intermixed which afforded shade for the spawning fish and for the fry. The 
 wants of Eangoon for firewood — and Rangoon is distant only a tide's distance 
 by boat and two hom's run by rail — have resulted in the denudation of the 
 circle of all timber except La-moo, which is useless even for firewood, 
 and the fish are steadily abandoning theii' old haunts whilst the people 
 are dependent for firewood on the drift in the Hlamg, stocks of which are 
 to be seen stacked in every village. The principal produce is rice, but the 
 soil is poor and the return only from 30 to 40 baskets an acre. Notwith- 
 standing the proximity of the railway — which runs a few hundi'ed yards 
 east of the boundary of the circle — and the nearness of the Hlaw-ga station, 
 the rice in the husk is taken to the Rangoon market by boats which, with 
 high tides, come up the Lien-goon, Thien and other streams and are loaded 
 at the threshing floors. 
 
 The increasing demand in Rangoon for fruits and vegetables has led 
 to a large increase of late years in garden cultivation but still the area so 
 cultivated is comparatively small. 
 
 In the rains boats of 500 baskets burden can traverse this circle through 
 the Thai-bhj'oo, Tha-ra-goon, Ro-gyee and Lien-goon streams and, since 
 the silting up of the Hmaw-bhee, this is the route generally preferred for 
 the small trade in piece-goods, twist, crockery, needles, salt, nga-pee, etc., up- 
 wards, and rice and other vegetable produce (the latter especially from 
 Hmaw-bhee in the circle of the same name) downwards. 
 
 The inhabitants of this and of some of the neighbourmg cu-cles l3'ing 
 to the south and south-east get their thatch grass from Dee-bai and 
 other places in Pegu, where it is of very good quality whilst there is none 
 available left here partly in consequence of the extension of the land under 
 rice and partly from a large grant of land having been made just to the cast- 
 ward and for extracting any produce from this, firewood or grass, the factor 
 of the grantee charges exorbitantly. Thatch now (1878) sells at about one 
 rupee a bundle so that to thatch an ordinary Burmese house it costs about 
 Rs. 22 (400 bundles of thatch grass Rs. IG and 200 bamboos, brought prin- 
 cipally from the Ook-kan forests further north lid the Ook-kan and Hlaing, 
 Rs. 6) ; this is exclusive of " ties " and labour. Here, as elsewhere in the 
 south of the delta of the Irrawaddy, the water a few feet below the surface is 
 brackish and in consequence no wells arc to be found tlieii' place being taken 
 by tanks in which the water is always to a certain extent stagnant and 
 unpalatable. 
 
 The principal villages are Lien-goon, with 638 inhabitants in 1877, at 
 the junction of the Thion and the Lien-goon ; Ro-gyee to the north of Lien- 
 goon with 339 inhabitants ; and "Wa-hta-ya, to the south, on both banks of 
 
 43
 
 338 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 the Hlaing and, consequently, partly in the Ka-tseng cncle of the same town- 
 ship, with 412 inhabitants. 
 
 During the last five years the population according to races has 
 been : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 a> 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 xa 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 a 
 
 .9 
 
 a 
 
 !3 
 
 m S8 
 
 II 
 
 i 
 
 r 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
 -i 
 
 
 
 cS 
 
 
 
 s^ 
 
 c8 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 • 
 
 pp 
 
 H 
 
 M 
 
 :zi 
 
 <i 
 
 H 
 
 o 
 
 M 
 
 EH 
 
 1873 
 
 2,193 
 
 608 
 
 1,004 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 329 
 
 4,183 
 
 1874 
 
 2,101 
 
 714 
 
 993 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 329 
 
 4,144 
 
 1875 
 
 2,901 
 
 279 
 
 946 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 4,137 
 
 1876 
 
 3,283 
 
 
 1,097 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 4,389 
 
 1877 
 
 3,391 
 
 •• 
 
 1,087 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 •• 
 
 4,493 
 
 The sudden falling-off in the number of Shan and of Talaing, accom- 
 panied by the sudden increase in the number of Bm-mans, is probably due 
 to a change in the system of enumerating the races, the more especially as 
 it is synchronous with the appointment of a new Thoogyee, who is the 
 enumerator. 
 
 During the same period the area under cultivation and the revenue 
 were : — 
 
 
 Area, in acres under 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Garden. 
 
 Miscel- 
 laneous. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Land. 
 
 Capita- 
 tion tax. 
 
 All other 
 items. 
 
 Total, 
 
 1872-73 
 
 1873-74 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 
 7,048 
 
 8,349 
 
 11,159 
 
 10,829 
 
 10,906 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 37 
 
 36 
 
 30 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 7,051 
 
 8,351 
 
 11,196 
 
 10,870 
 
 10,944 
 
 12,516 
 14,675 
 19,623 
 16,598 
 
 18,288 
 
 4,780 
 5,022 
 5,367 
 5,217 
 5,267 
 
 25 
 
 17,296 
 19,722 
 24,991 
 21,815 
 23,556 
 
 and the agricultural stock was : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 o 
 
 Ms 
 
 "3 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 •3 
 
 53 
 
 mr2 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 
 m 
 
 o S 
 
 Ph 
 
 u 
 
 m 
 
 1873 
 
 1,762 
 
 230 
 
 895 
 
 64 
 
 40 
 
 1874 
 
 1,270 
 
 97 
 
 493 
 
 221 
 
 336 
 
 1875 
 
 741 
 
 47 
 
 295 
 
 191 
 
 295 
 
 1876 
 
 1,315 
 
 48 
 
 556 
 
 167 
 
 66 
 
 1877 
 
 1,469 
 
 50 
 
 429 
 
 194 
 
 92
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 339 
 
 LIEN-GOON. — A revenue circle in the Bassein township, Bassein 
 district, bounded on the south and west by the Than-dwai river and having 
 an area of about 28 square miles. The central portion is occupied chiefly 
 by brushwood and forest, the rice plams being confined to the northern and 
 eastern tracts. It now includes Mai-za-lee. In 1876 the population was 
 2,756, the land revenue Rs. 5,287, the capitation tax Es. 2,795 and the 
 gross revenue Rs. 8,349. 
 
 LIEN-THA-MAING.— A tidal creek in the Shwe-loung township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, which leaves the Irrawaddy about opposite to the 
 village of Kywon-diet and joins the Pya-ma-law. This is the route taken 
 by steamers plying between Rangoon and Bassein. 
 
 LIEP-HLOOT. — A revenue circle in the Ta-roop-hmaw township, 
 Henzada district, on the left bank of the Myit-ma-ldia or Hlaing river, con- 
 taining a good deal of rice cultivation. In 1876 the population was 1,666, 
 the land revenue Rs. 1,854, the capitation tax Rs. 1,480 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 3,701. 
 
 LIEP-KYWON. — A rocky island, uninhabited and very small, off the 
 coast of the Nga-po-taw township of the Bassein district in 16° 23' N. about 
 one and a half miles from the shore. Immediately^ to the north, and at no 
 great distance, are two other similar rocks caUed Oon-kywon. 
 
 LIEP-PYA-GYEE. — A sub-tribe of Bghai Kareng. See Bghai-ka-tew. 
 
 LIEP-PYA-NGAY.— A sub-tribe of the Bghai family of Kareng, so 
 called by the Burmese. See BgJiai-ka-hta. 
 
 LIEP-THOUNG. — A village in the Pyeng-boo cii'cle. Pa-law township, 
 Mergui district, 45 miles north-west of Mergui, on a rivulet of the same 
 name. The mhabitants, who are all Burmese cultivators, numbered 563 
 in 1877. 
 
 LOUNG-GYEE. — A thickly-populated and weU-cultivated revenue 
 circle in the Prome district on the Wai-gyee river, west and north-west of 
 Tha-bye-poung-gyee. In the rains boats of five hundi-ed bushels burden 
 can ascend the Wai-gyee from the Myit-ma-kha nearly as far as Loung- 
 gyee vUlage, the largest in the circle, situated a short distance from the 
 river, on its right bank. In 1876 the population was 2,279, the land revenue 
 Es. 2,274, the capitation tax Rs, 2,305 and the gross revenue Rs. 4,839. 
 
 LOUNG-GYEE.— A village in the Prome district, in 18° 32' 20" N. and 
 95° 32' 15" E. on the right bank of the Wai-gyee stream, between nine and 
 ten miles from its junction with the Myit-ma-kha, and four miles above 
 Wek-poot where the road from Rangoon to the frontier crosses the Wai- 
 gyee. 
 
 LOUNG-GYO. — A revenue cu-cle in the Southern township of the 
 Sandoway district, with an estimated area of 570 square miles, stretching 
 from the Arakan mountains to the sea, and haA'ing the Khwa circle 
 on the south and the Tshat-thwa on the north. It contains hardly any 
 cultivation and the inhabitants, who are principall}^ Arakanese, numbered 
 only 978 in 1876. In that year the land revenue was Rs. 619, the capita- 
 tion tax Rs. 904 and the gross revenue Es. 2,251.
 
 340 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 LOUNG-GYO. — A village iii the cii-cle of the same name in the San- 
 doway district, on the seacoast about 93 miles from Sandoway. In 1877 it 
 had 711 inhabitants. 
 
 LOUNG-KAING. — Formerly a separate revenue circle in the Gyaing 
 Attaran township, Amherst district, extending south-west from the Houng- 
 tha-raw ; it is now united to its northern neighbom' Mee-ga-loon. 
 
 LOUNG-KYEK. — A village in the Pyee-tso-gyee circle, Oo-rit-toung 
 east township, Akyab district, on the western bank of the stream of the same 
 name, with 454 inhabitants in 1877. In 1239 A. D. the then reigning sove- 
 reign, A-lan-ma-hpyoo, removed the capital from Khyit on the river Le-mro 
 to Loung-kyek (or Loung-ki'ek as it is called in Arakanese). In 1406 the 
 Burmans invaded the country, drove the king, Meng-tsaw-mwon, into Bengal 
 and captured Loung-kyek. On Meug-tsaw-mwon's return in 1430 he 
 removed the seat of government farther inland to Arakan, or Mro-houng 
 as it is now called. 
 
 LOUNG-KYEK. — A revenue circle in the Mro-houng township, Akyab 
 district. In 1876 the inhabitants numbered 8,552, the land revenue was Es. 
 4,194, the capitation tax Es. 1,900 and the gross revenue Es. 6,251. 
 
 LOUNG-LOON. — A revenue circle on the sea-coast in the western town- 
 ship of Tavoy in which are included the Southern Mosco Islands. To the 
 north and east is the Eng-tsouk, and to the south the Khadat-ngay circle. 
 In 1876 the population was 3,868, the land revenue Es. 5,681, the capita- 
 tion tax Es. 2,958 and the gross revenue Es. 9,543. The inhabitants are 
 pricipally cultivators ; some make torches from the oil of the Ka-gnyeng 
 {DipterocarjMs alatus). The women make coarse mats, and leaf mats are 
 extensively manufactured. At the village of Tsit-pye salt is made for export. 
 
 LOUNG-LOON. — A group of islands off the coast of the Tavoy district. 
 See Mosco. 
 
 LOUNG-TSHAING. — A revenue cncle in the Ea-thai-domig town- 
 ship, Akyab district. In 1876 the inhabitants numbered 2,625, the land 
 revenue was Es. 7,183, the capitation tax Es. 2,918 and the gross revenue 
 10,543. 
 
 LOUNG-ZA-LEE. — A revenue circle in the Prome district on the right 
 bank of the Irrawaddy a short distance inland and south of Pa-doung, now 
 united to Myo-kweng. The inhabitants, some of whom are Khyeng, are 
 principally rice cultivators, gardeners and coolies. The Loung-za-lee stream- 
 let, which is of no importance, rises in the northern portion of this cii'cle and 
 flows through it in a S. S. E. direction towards the Irrawaddy. 
 
 LWENG-PYENG. — A revenue circle in the Henzada district, east of 
 the Irrawaddy, between Mo-gnyo and Meng-hla. The southern and eastern 
 portions are under rice cultivation but the rest is covered with tree-forest in 
 which Pyeng-gado {Xylia dolahriformis) is found. In 1876 the population 
 was 2,846, the land revenue Es. 2,915, the capitation tax Es. 2,897 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 7,539. 
 
 LWON-GAN. — A tidal creek in the Nga-poo-taw township, Bassein 
 district, running through the Alay-k}^on in the mouth of the Bassein river 
 and uniting the Bassein and the Pyoon-wa creek. It is navigable by
 
 ' BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 341 
 
 large boats from its mouth to the Alay-bouk-khyoimg, that is for about five 
 miles, and from thence to the Pyoon-wa, a distance of about four miles, 
 by boats of 200 bushels burden. 
 
 MA-DAI-GANGA. — An island in the Kyouk-hpyoo district lying off the 
 east coast of Eamree. It forms a revenue chcle which in 1877 
 had 803 inhabitants and produced as land revenue Rs. 571, as capita- 
 tion tax Rs. 9J:3 and as gross revenue Rs. 4,076. 
 
 MA-DA-MA. — A creek in the Bassein district. See Myoung-mya-houng. 
 
 MA-DA-MA. — A river in the Shwe-gyeng district which rises in the 
 hills south-east of Shwe-gyeng and flowing first to the west and then to 
 the north falls into the Shwe-gyeng river at the town of that name. A 
 small mountam stream m the diy weather it suddenly fills in the rains. 
 It is not navigable for any but the smallest boats. In the upper part of 
 its course its bed is rocky and lower down sandy. Betel-nuts and other 
 hill produce are brought down it on rafts to Shwe-gyeng. 
 
 MA-DE. — A river in the Thayet district. It rises in the eastern slopes 
 of the Ai'akan mountains and running eastwards for about 40 miles falls 
 into the Irrawaddy at the town of Ka-ma, dividing it into two parts the 
 southern of which is called Gywon-doung. Its length in a direct line is not 
 more than 30 miles. The bed of the stream is gravelly and sandy for 
 some distance from its mouth but nearer the source the banks are steep 
 and the bed rocky. In the dry season it is not navigable for boats or rafts 
 but in the rains boats of the largest size can ascend for some miles above 
 Ka-ma, and at this time of the year large quantities of produce are floated 
 down on rafts, as well as a few teak logs which are brought into it from its 
 affluents, the Kyee from the south and the Nga-wek and Moon-ta from the 
 north. 
 
 MA-EE. — An extensive revenue circle in the Sandoway district, in the 
 extreme north of the Northern township, extending from the crest of the 
 Ai'akan Roma to the seacoast opposite Ramree. Separated from the 
 Kyouk-hpyoo district on the north by the Ma-ee river and from the 
 La-moo-lek-ya circle on the south by the La-moo stream it now includes 
 La-moo-lek-wai ; towards the east the country is high, mountainous and 
 covered with dense forest. The approximate area is 590 square miles. The 
 little Wai river runs through the circle from east to west : this stream was 
 formerly the boundary between Ma-ee and La-moo-lek-wai. In 1876-77 
 the population was 2,508, the land revenue Rs. 2,319, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 2,077 and the gross revenue Rs. 6,695. The principal products are 
 rice, sugar-cane, cotton and sessamum. 
 
 MA-EE — A small village of 526 inhabitants m 1877, principally 
 Arakanese with a few Burmese and some Mahomedans, on the left bank of 
 the Ma-ee river about eight miles from its mouth. 
 
 MA-EE. — A small river forming the northern boundary of the Sando- 
 way district, navigable for some distance above Ma-ee ; its som'ce is in the 
 Arakan Roma and it falls into the sea opposite Ramree Island. 
 
 MA-GWE. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-lay township of the Prome 
 district, now including Khyeng-tsouk, l^'ing north-east of Prome and ex- 
 tending to the Pegu Roma mountains. The country is generally hilly and
 
 342 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 covered with Teak {Tectona grandis), Eng {Dipterocarjyus tiiherculatus) , Sha 
 {Acacia catechu) and bamboo forest ; the soil is sandy, sometimes mixed 
 with clay and gravel. There are no cart roads. There is a pass from the 
 som-ce of the south Na-weng over the Pegu Eoma to the Toung-ngoo dis- 
 trict. In 1877 the population of the united circles was 579, the land 
 revenue Rs. 370, the capitation tax Es. 469 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 934. 
 
 MA-GYEE. — A river in the Tha-boung township, Bassein district, 
 rising in the Arakan mountains and having an almost westerly com'se to the 
 Bay of Bengal, between the Bhaw-mee and Tsheng-ma revenue cu'cles. 
 Boats of from 500 to 600 baskets bmxlen can ascend as far as the mouth 
 of the Kyouk-ta-loon, five miles from the mouth, where the water is three 
 feet deep ; thus far the stream is tidal. There is only one village on its 
 banks and that is at it mouth. The bed is rocky but not gravelly. 
 
 MA-GYEE. — A village of some 60 houses in the Kj^ouk-tsoung circle, 
 Ka-ma to^\'nship, Thayet district, in the lower middle portion of the valley of 
 the Ma-htoon and lying in the narrow strip of country between that river 
 and the Pa-douk hills on the north-east. 
 
 MA-GYEE-BENG. — A revenue cii'cle in the Poungday township, Prome 
 district, which now includes Kyee-ma-no, Goon-myeng-myoung, Keng- 
 mwon-khyoon, Tsa-khan-gyee, Tha-zee, Kan-tha, Kan-tseng-ngay and Nat- 
 ta-leng. In 1876-77 the population was 3,748, the land revenue Es. 4,255, 
 the capitation tax Es. 3,722 and the gross revenue Es. 8,132. It is largely 
 cultivated with rice but the villages are small ; the most populous is Kyee- 
 ma-no, three miles east of Poungday, with 626 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 MA-GYEE-BENG-KWENG.— A revenue circle in the Pa-doung town- 
 ship, Prome district, in which is now included Byai-gyee. In 1876-77 the 
 land revenue was Es. 604, the capitation tax Es. 767, the gross revenue 
 Es. 1,566 and the population 734. 
 
 MA-GYEE -BOUK. — A village in the Shwe-doung township, Prome 
 district, about eight miles south of Shwe-doung and two miles west of the 
 Shwe-nat-toung hills. It is connected with Kyee-thai and most of the 
 surrounding villages by good dry weather cart roads and, with the neigh- 
 bouring hamlets, Kan-thoon-tseng and Theng-ban-goon, furnishes the 
 cultivators of the large rice tract which Hes near it. 
 
 MA-GYEE -DAW.— A large village of 130 houses in 19° 2' 30" N. Lat., 
 and 95° 16' 20" E. Long., on the right bank of the Irrawaddy, about six 
 miles above the town of Thayet and immediately below and adjoining 
 Mya-tsa-gaing. It is in the Mya-tsa-gaing chcle of the Thayet township. 
 
 MA-GYEE-GOON.— A village in the Mye-dai cu'cle of the Mye-dai 
 to^vnship, Thayet district, containing some 130 houses. About twelve 
 years ago it was returned as ha\dng only nme houses which would give 
 a population of about 45 souls. 
 
 MA-GYEE-HTOON. — A village in the Pa-doung township, Prome dis- 
 trict in 18° 39' 30" N. and 95° 7' 50" E., about seven miles west of the 
 town of Pa-doung and rather more than a mile north of the Kyouk-bho 
 river. Its inhabitants, who numbered 617 in 1877, are chiefly cultivators 
 gardeners and petty traders.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. MS 
 
 MA-GYEE-HTOON. — A revenue cii-cle in the Pa-doung township, 
 Prome district. In 1876-77 the population was 1,666, the land revenue 
 Es. 1,432, the capitation tax Es. 1,685 and the gross revenue Es. 3,364. 
 
 MA-GYEE-KHYO. — A revenue cii-cle in the Ma-ha-tha-man township 
 of the Prome district, extending from near the Zay stream eastward to the 
 Tsheng-lan spm', about 10 miles in a direct line S. E. of Prome ; three of 
 the old village cu'cles are included in it, viz., Ma-gyee-khyo, Hpoung-gyee- 
 bweng and Myoung-bwa. In this circle is the Nghet-pyaw-daw fen 
 which receives its water from numerous small streams flowing from 
 the high ground to the east, the surplus water running into the Zay ; the 
 banks are flat and the bottom muddy. In 1876 there were 732 inhabitants, 
 the land revenue was Es. 1,322, the caj)itation tax Es. 732 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 2,054. 
 
 MA-GYEE-LEE. — A small revenue circle in the Poungday township, 
 Prome district, in which in 1876-77 there were 162 inhabitants. In that 
 year the land revenue was Es. 150 and the capitation tax Es. 208. 
 
 MA-HA-HTEE. — An image of Gaudama Booddha in the Loung-kyek 
 cu'cle of the Mro-houng township, Akyab district, placed within a pagoda 
 known as the Kyouk-gnyo or " dusky stone pagoda." The image was 
 formerly called Ma-ha-te and of the reason or time of the change in name 
 nothing is known ; it is, probably, a corruption. According to the 
 pagoda history king Kaw-lee-ya, who reigned in Arakan from 1133 to 1153 
 
 A. D. and is described as of gi"eat power (the kings of Bengal, Pegu, Pagan, 
 and Siam doing him homage), dreamt that in the bed of the Loung-kyek 
 river was a massive stone from which he was to construct an image of the 
 Booddha. He caused search to be made by divers and such a stone of a 
 dusky hue was found. This was raised with red silk cords and an image 
 carved therefrom. It was highly reverenced and remained in good order till 
 the taking of Mro-houng by the British when the head was knocked oft".* 
 About 38 years ago it was repau'ed by two inhabitants of Akyab. Moung 
 Moung commenced the work and on his death his son Momig Shwe 
 Go completed it. 
 
 MA-HA-MOO-NEE.— A pagoda in the Akyab district to the N. N. E. of 
 Mro-houng or old Arakan, once of great celebrity and still visited at certain 
 seasons by numerous pilgrims. The pagoda formerly enshrined an image 
 of Gaudama Booddha. It is impossible to reconcile the facts given in the 
 pagoda historj^ — for the history of every pagoda of any sanctity is carefully 
 recorded on palm leaves — w^ith the accounts of lay chroniclers or 
 with the known facts of history. Of the death of Gaudama in 543 
 
 B. C. there can be now, since the researches of General Cunningham, 
 no doubt and the stories of his visits to Bm'ma, even when divested 
 of the mu-aculous embellishments of over-rehgous and under-truthful 
 historians, must be rejected as fabulous. As if to convict themselves 
 the Ai-akanese chroniclers do not scruple to admit the death of Gaudama 
 in the sixth century before Christ and yet to bring him to their country 
 
 * In Sir Ai'tliiir Phayre's history of Arakan, published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society 
 of Bengal (1844), it is stated that " this temple and image were destroj-ed dming the late war, 
 "the height on which the temple stood being occupied as a position by the Burmese forces." 
 Destroyed thev were not, but much damaged.
 
 344 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 on the wings of the wind with 500 disciples in his train during the reign 
 of Tsan-da-thoo-rie-ya who ascended the throne in 146 A. D. This 
 king is generally reckoned as the head of a new dynasty, though he 
 succeeded a long line of ancestors, because the religion of Gaudama was 
 introduced dui'ing his reign — most i)robably by missionaries from the east- 
 ward or from Ceylon. According to the " sacred" histories the Booddha, 
 at the request of Tsan-da-thoo-rie-ya, consented to the construction of a 
 colossal metal statue of himself on which he breathed seven times saying : 
 " My younger brother, Ma-ha-moo-nee, you remain here to be worshipped 
 "by human beings, Nat and Bramha." A temple was built on the Thee- 
 la-gyee-ree (now called the Kyouk-taw) hill to contain the image, and here 
 it remamed — the Arakanese Palladium — till the conquest of Ai'akan by the 
 Burmese in 1784, when it was carried to Amarapoora by the Toung-goop 
 pass (in the present Sandoway district). There it was placed in a build- 
 ing constructed to contain it, called the Maha-myat-moo-nee, about two 
 miles from the city gates, which became the most popular place of 
 worship — if worship it may be called — in the neighbourhood. The image 
 is in the usual sitting attitude on a " Radza-pal-leng" or throne of the 
 peculiar shape used by the king in the state audience hall. The figm-e is 
 about 12 feet high, with all the limbs in proportion. The face is polished 
 but all the rest of the figure is thickly encrusted with gold leaf, the accu- 
 mulation of years and of the offerings of thousands of votaries.* 
 
 The Arakanese have a tradition that the image sank whilst being floated 
 on a raft down the The-khyoung and Le-mro, whereupon a glittering ball 
 rose from the water and, ascending, disappeared in the clouds, and that the 
 statue now in Ava was constructed by the officers entrusted with the duty 
 of conveying the original from Ai-akan who feared to report what had 
 occurred. The desire to possess the Ma-ha-moo-nee image was one of the 
 causes of the war which ended in the subjugation of Arakan by the Burmese. 
 An ancient metal bell belonging to this pagoda was kept for many years 
 in front of the court house at Akyab but it has since been restored. 
 
 MA-HA-THA-MAN. — A township in the Prome district adjoining the 
 Thayet district on the north and bounded on the east by the Shwe-lay township, 
 on the south by the Poungday township and on the west by the Shwe-doung 
 township, the Ii-rawaddy, and the tract comprised within the limits of the 
 town of Prome. Before the annexation of Pegu the present Ma-ha-tha- 
 man township consisted of several independent jurisdictions. North of 
 the Na-weng were Thoo-won-na-bho extending from the Irrawaddy to 
 Kyoon-tshoon, east of Thoo-won-na-bho and 0-shit-toung, a small tract 
 lying in the extreme east, whilst south of the Naweng were Meng- 
 ga-la-doon, surrounding Tha-re-kliet-ta-ra, Tsa-leng-ga-thoo and Mo-goop 
 in the western half of the southern portion of the present township and 
 Ma-ha-tha-man occupying the south-eastern half and towards the north 
 stretching round westwards almost to the Irrawaddy and thus enclosing 
 Meng-ga-la-doon and its southern neighbour Tsa-leng-ga-thoo. The total 
 area of the township is about 670 square miles. The north and north-east 
 IDortions consist of low hills covered with Eng and other valuable trees 
 which towards the west gradually pass into undulating ground, with 
 
 ^Yule's mission to Ava : 1857, p. 1G6.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 345 
 
 patches of rice cultivation here and there, and then into an extensive plain, 
 partly under rice and partly open waste, interspersed with clumps of tree 
 forest, which stretches away southwards till, passing Prome, it sku-ts the 
 hills which form the homidary between this township and Shwe-doung 
 and, inchnmg sHghtly eastward between the Shwe-nat-toung hills and 
 the western slopes of the Pegu Pioma, runs into the Poungday township. 
 On the west this plain, below Prome, is confined by low, undulating 
 ground gradually passing into Eng-covered hills of no great altitude, which 
 form the Engdauig or belt of Eng-forest extending southwards for many 
 miles, and on the east by the lower spurs of the Eoma forming undulating 
 country finally rising into low hills covered with dense tree and bam- 
 boo forest. Down the centre of this i^lain, drained by the Zay, the head- 
 waters of the Myit-ma-kha, which receives all the water from the hilly 
 country east and west brought down by innumerable streams and which 
 widens out every here and there into swamps, fens and morasses, are 
 extensive and rich rice fields. In the hills to the north-east and north 
 cotton is largely cultivated, chiefly by the Khyeng. The principal trees 
 are Eng {Diptcrocarpus tuberculatus), Pj^eng-gado {Xylia dulahriformis), and 
 in the east and north-east Sha {Accia catechu) from which large quantities 
 of cutch are manufactm'ed. 
 
 In the south-eastern corner of the plain a narrow strip of Shwe-lay, the 
 old Ka-la-thien-ga, runs up north into this township. 
 
 There are two separate systems of river drainage, one in the north 
 connected with the Irrawaddy and one in the south connected with the Hlaing 
 or Piangoon river through the Zay and Myit-ma-ldia. In the extreme north the 
 North Na-weng enters the township from Shwe-lay near Kyouk-pya-goo and 
 flows in a south-south-westerly dkection to join the South Na-weng near the 
 village of Myoma in the midst of extensive rice fields. The South Na-weng, 
 the Gway, the len-goon and the Khyoung-tsouk all enter from Shwe-lay and 
 the three last — ha\dng united near the \dllage of Khyoung-khwa- 
 at once fall into the South Na-weng which flows west-south-west to the Irra- 
 waddy at Prome. The whole ch-ainage of the district north of the South 
 Na-weng and a little south of it is thus collected into this one river and so 
 carried to the great artery of Pegu. The Gway, the len-goon and the 
 Khyoung-tsouk are not navigable by boats at any time but large quantities 
 of timber are brought down them in the rains from the forests on then- head- 
 waters in Shwe-lay. SmaU boats can ascend the North Na-weng in the rams 
 for some five miles or so as far as the village of Tha-la-peng-tsce ; in this 
 township its bed is sandy and its banks moderately steep. Boats of from 
 50 to 100 bushels burden can in the rains ascend the South Na-weng to 
 beyond the limits of the township ; the bed is sandy and the banks mode- 
 rately steep. 
 
 A very short distance south of the South Na-weng and a few miles east 
 of Prome are a series of swamps and fens fed by the streams from the east 
 which here find level land and are hemmed in by the hills to the west and 
 rising ground to the north. In one of the most northern of these rises the 
 Zay which flows southward, draining a congeries of these reservoirs as it goes 
 till it falls into the great Eng-ma swamp in the Poungday township. It 
 has been supposed that in the rams some of the surplus waters from these 
 swamps find their way to the Na-weng and vice versa so that the Zay forms 
 
 44
 
 346 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 an outlet for the flood waters of the Na-weng when ponded back by a high 
 rise in the Irrawaddy. This view, however, is combated by Mr. Theobald of 
 the Geological Survey who has examined the country scientifically. 
 
 The great northern road from Eangoon runs through a small portion 
 of this township, just south of Prome, and enters it again when it leaves that 
 town running north-east to the Na-weng, which it crosses at Nat-ta-leng, and 
 then north and north-west, past A-lo-daw-ra, into the Thayet district. 
 Another road connects this with Pouk-khoung, the head-quarters of the 
 Shwe-lay township. Fair weather roads traverse all portions of this town- 
 ship. 
 
 The principal manufactures are cutch and tari (toddy) sugar. 
 
 There are no large towns nor any considerable villages : the largest are 
 Lek-klioop-peng in the Koon-rwa-leng circle with 521 inhabitants in 1877, 
 A-lo-daw-ra in the circle of same name with 448 inhabitants and Dha-koo 
 in the Ma-toung-da ckcle with 435 inhabitants. The Extra Assistant Com- 
 missioner in charge resides and holds his Com't at Hpoom-ma-thien, a 
 small village on the Na-weng a few miles east of Prome. Wek-htee-gan, 14 
 miles north of Prome, is noteworthy as having been the site of a serious 
 defeat of a British column of Madras sepoys in the first war. Four or five 
 miles east of Prome, marked by the ruins of large pagodas and extensive 
 walls, is the great Tha-re-ldiet-ta-ra or Ya-thay-myo, once the capital of 
 the flom'ishing kmgdom of Prome, whose sovereign ruled over the whole 
 valley of the Irrawaddy, destroyed by the Kan-ran tribe from Arakan, cii'ca 
 100 A. D., now a cluster of ^dllages hidden in brush-wood and surrounded 
 with rice fields. 
 
 On the annexation of Pegu, when the township was formed, it was 
 found that no less than 222 village Thoogyee claimed to be registered. 
 Many of the tracts were amalgamated and all were tmiied into cu'cles. 
 Advantage has been taken of the death, resignation and dismissal of incum- 
 bents still fm'ther to diminish the number of those officials, whose collec- 
 tions of revenue were necessarily, owing to the small areas of which they 
 had charge, so small that their salaries, derived fi'om a percentage on such 
 collections, were msufficient to support them and the township is now 
 (1878) divided into 50 revenue cii'cles of unequal area and population. 
 
 In 1877 the number of inhabitants was 52,360, the land revenue 
 Es. 61,866, the capitation taxEs. 48,895 and the gross revenue Es. 1,16,043. 
 
 MA-HOO-EA. — A river in the Eangoon district which has its som-ce in 
 the Pegu Eoma to the east of that of the Poo-zwon-doung, of which it 
 is a tributary joining it near the village of Kyaw-zan. Its total com-se is 
 about 20 miles and at its mouth it is 50 feet wide and six feet deep. To- 
 wards the source its bed is rocky but lower do"«Ti muddy, its banks are 
 covered with grass, tree forest and bamboos. 
 
 MA-HOO-EA. — A long, narrow revenue circle in the Hpoung-leng 
 township of the Eangoon district, stretching south along the left bank of 
 the Poo-zwon-doung river from its source, about 26 miles in length by 
 three in breadth. To the south is the Kha-ra-kywon circle, to the east the 
 La-gwon-byeng, Zaing-ga-namg and Htan-daw-gyee circles and to the west 
 the Hpoung-gyee and Kywon-ga-le cii'cles. In the southern portion there is 
 a good deal of rice cultivation but the north is hilly and even mountainous,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 347 
 
 producing a large quantity of teak and other valuable trees such as Eeng- 
 dsiik (Balbergiasj).) used fov Y>\ough and cart poles, and the wood-oil tree, 
 Ka-gnyeng {Dipterocarpus tiibcrcidatus). 
 
 The mhabitants and the agricultural stock during the last five years 
 were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Agricultural Stock. 
 
 Year. 
 
 CO 
 
 d 
 
 a 
 
 tab 
 g 
 
 
 o g 
 
 3 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 ows, bulls 
 nd bul- 
 ocks. 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 to 
 
 1 
 
 .a 
 to 
 
 B 
 O 
 
 O 
 
 
 « 
 
 M 
 
 z 
 
 < 
 
 H 
 
 « 
 
 o ■= — < 
 
 O 
 
 O 
 
 CL, 
 
 M 
 
 1873-74 
 
 2,429 
 
 1,897 
 
 1 
 
 444 
 
 4,774 
 
 1,309 
 
 298 
 
 12 
 
 155 
 
 610 
 
 
 1874-75 
 
 2,223 
 
 1,464 
 
 
 500 
 
 4,187 
 
 1,191 
 
 317 
 
 8 
 
 240 
 
 564 
 
 i 
 
 1875-76 
 
 2,871 
 
 1,973 
 
 
 665 
 
 5,494 
 
 1,732 
 
 610 
 
 8 
 
 396 
 
 807 
 
 20 
 
 1876-77 
 
 2,215 
 
 1,978 
 
 8 
 
 1,451 
 
 5,652 
 
 1,671 
 
 517 
 
 1 
 
 335 
 
 686 
 
 8 
 
 1877-78 
 
 2,296 
 
 2,045 
 
 4 
 
 1,504 
 
 6,850 
 
 1,805 
 
 703 
 
 7 
 
 455 
 
 849 
 
 18 
 
 and the area under cultivation and revenue : — 
 
 
 Area, in acres. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Garden. 
 
 Miscel- 
 laneous. 
 
 Total. 
 
 ^-^- bt. 
 
 Other 
 taxes. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1873-74 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 6,978 
 9,071 
 9,454 
 9,878 
 10,465 
 
 67 
 88 
 89 
 89 
 94 
 
 62 
 65 
 
 7,045 
 
 9,179 
 
 9,543 
 
 10,029 
 
 10,624 
 
 12,161 5,422 
 15,804 5,232 
 16,484 5,712 
 17,292 5,907 
 1,82,112 6,052 
 
 550 
 566 
 582 
 2,201 
 339 
 
 18,133 
 21,602 
 22,778 
 25,400 
 74,603 
 
 MA-HOO-KA. — A large and iiTegularly built village lying on both banks 
 of the Poo-zwon-doung river (the portion on the right bank generally known 
 as Hpoung-gyee) about 60 miles from its mouth, partly in the Hpoung-gyee 
 and partly in the Ma-hoo-ra circles of the Hpoung-leng township, Eangoon 
 district, in a small patch of rice cultivation sm-rounded by tree, shrub and 
 grass forest, one march from Hlay-goo, the head-quarters of the township, 
 and two marches from Htouk-kyan, (where the Pegu and Toung-ngoo 
 road leaves the Eangoon and Pegu road), whether via Kya-eng or via Hlay- 
 goo. The inhabitants, who are chiefly cultivators and foresters, numbered 
 944 in 1877. The houses are mostly substantially built and, like 
 almost all those in this part of the country, are thatched either with the 
 leaves of the Tsa-loo palm {Licuala peltata, Box.) or with the fan-shaped 
 leaves of the Taw-htan {Livistona speciosa, Kurz.) laid on single and overlap- 
 ping each other. In the western, or Hpoung-gj-ee, quarter is a monastery 
 with a Thien, or idol-house, and two faMy good rest-houses. The land 
 in the neighbourhood is poor and on the west liable to inundation. The 
 Poo-zwon-doung here flows between high and steep arenaceous banks, about
 
 348 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 30 yards apart at the top. In the rains it flows with great force and 
 rapidity but in the dry season is Httle more than a series of shallow, muddy 
 pools. At the upper end of the village it is spanned by a substantial 
 wooden bridge connecting the two quarters. The Police station is on the 
 right bank. 
 
 MA-HTOON. — A river in the Thayet district, Pegu division, which, 
 rising near the lofty Myeng-ka-dek peak of the Ai-akan Pioma, flows south- 
 east and, eight miles fi'om its soui'ce, whilst it is still in the heart of the 
 mountains, enters British territory and crossing the Meng-doon and Ka-ma 
 townships and flowing past the town of Meng-doon falls into the Irra- 
 waddy just above Ka-ma, about 50 miles in a dii'ect line from the spot 
 where it enters the district. Its course is so winding, however, that the actual 
 distance traversed by it in British Burma is about 150 miles. Dm'ing the 
 rains its waters rise and fall continually, the quantity contained between 
 its banks mainly depending on the rainfall in the hills. At this season of 
 the year it is navigable by boats of the largest size but owing to the 
 sinuosities of the course and the strength of the cm*rent it takes 10 or 12 
 days to reach Meng-doon from Ka-ma : in the cold and hot seasons small 
 boats only can ascend as far as Meng-doon. Large quantities of the 
 produce oif its fertile valley — rice, cotton, cutch, sessamum, etc. — are brought 
 down it on rafts and during the rains logs of Teak and Pyeng-gado {Xylia 
 dolahriformis) , the produce of the forests on the Ai-akan range, are floated 
 down singly and rafted at its mouth. Flowing amongst hills almost 
 throughout its course it has many small affluents, the most important 
 being the Moo-the, the Hlwa and the Pa-nee : amongst the smaller ones 
 are the Da-ga and the Ta-ma from the west and south and the Kyoon, the 
 Moo, the Nat-myouk and the Dek-shay from the north. The scenery 
 throughout its course is exceedingly pictm-esque. 
 
 During the dry season the fields on the high banks of parts of this 
 river, the tops of which are sometimes 30 feet above the level of the 
 water, are irrigated by means of a simple but ingeniously contrived self- 
 acting under- shot water wheel which is driven by the current. This 
 machine has been in use here time out of mind and is not found elsewhere 
 in Burma yet no tradition exists as to the period of its introduction or the 
 person by whom it was invented. At the spot where the wheel is to work 
 common jungle wood posts, generally eight in number, are driven into the 
 ground in two lines of fom' posts each parallel to the com'se of the river, 
 one line close under the bank and the other some distance out in the 
 stream. A strong bar is secm-ely fastened along the top of each line and 
 on these two bars, at right angles to the course of the river, rests the 
 shaft of the wheel, which thus revolves between the two lines of jDOsts which 
 support it. The whole of the wheel, with the exception of the shaft which 
 is of some hard wood, is constructed of bamboo. Attached to the outer ends 
 of the s^Dokes, in a similar position to that of the floats of the paddle of a 
 steamer, are flaps or paddles of coarse bamboo mat work. Alternately 
 with these floats, on either side of the wheel, are placed the buckets, which 
 are joints of bamboo closed at one end by the natural knot of the wood. 
 These buckets, of which there are thus twice as many as there are floats 
 or flaps, are so arranged that as the wheel turns they dip into the water 
 above the wheel and rise from it below at an angle of about 45°. The
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 349 
 
 current acting on the floats the wheel revolves, dippmg each pair of buckets 
 successively ; these, j)assing under water and filling, retain, on rising, from 
 two to four pints each which, on arriving at the top, they discharge into 
 troughs that carry the water mto the fields and redescend to bring up a 
 fresh supi)l3\ The diameter of the wheel, which is sometimes as much 
 as 18 feet, is regulated by the height of the bank, and the shaft 
 is placed at such a distance above the level of the stream that each 
 float in turn passes completely under and the whole of its surface is 
 acted upon by the current. If it should so happen that the force of the 
 water is not sufficient dams are constructed higher up and after two or 
 three days or less, as may be necessary, the dam is cut and the stored 
 water tm*ned on to the wheel. 
 
 MAI-HPYOO. — A revenue cii'cle in the Bhoom-ma-wa-dee township, 
 Toung-ngoo district, on the east bank of the Tsit-toung, south of Kan-nee. In 
 1877 the population was 8,197, the land revenue Es. 1,627, the cajntation 
 tax Es. 3,366 and the gross revenue Es. 7,181. It contains two lakes, 
 the Kywai-kyan and the La-man, the former of which is dry in the hot 
 season. 
 
 MAI-KA-LA. — A river in the Amherst district which has its som-ce in 
 the western slopes of the Moo-lai-yit momitain and after a short westerly 
 com'se falls into the Houng-tha-raw. 
 
 MAINGY. — A small island in the Mergui Archipelago, a portion of the 
 Mergui district, m 12° 30' N. Lat. and 98" 7' E. Long, due west of the 
 centre of King Island from which it is about three miles distant. Its 
 central j)eak is visible for 11 miles. 
 
 MAI-PA-LAI. — A river in the Amherst district which rises in the 
 eastern slopes of the Daw-na mountains and after a S. S. E. coui'se of about 
 40 miles falls into the Thoung-yeng a short distance below Mya-wa-dee. 
 
 MAI-PA-LAI. — A village in the Mya-wa-dee cu-cle of the Houng-tha- 
 raw township, Amherst district, six miles up a small stream of the same 
 name, a tributary of the Thoung-yeng, where a small Police force is 
 stationed. In 1877 it had 531 inhabitants. 
 
 MAI-PA-LAN. — A revenue cu-cle in the Bhoom-ma-wa-dee townshii), 
 Toung-ngoo district which now includes the Bhoom-ma-wa-dee circle. In 
 1877 the population was 5,600, the land revenue Es. 1,303, the capitation 
 tax Es. 2,438 and the gross revenue Es. 6,393. 
 
 MAI-AVAING. — A revenue cu-cle in the Salween Hill Tracts, of con- 
 siderable extent but mountainous and clothed with dense forest. In 1876 
 the popluation was 4,372, the land revenue Es. 1,524 and the capitation tax 
 Es. 2,083. 
 
 MAI-ZA-LEE. — A revenue circle, having an area of about 99 square 
 miles, in the Bassein to\\iiship, Bassein district, lying in the south-western 
 corner of the township between the Arakan hills on the west, the Than-dwai 
 andKwon rivers on the south, the Hpek Ee-gyan on the east and the Nga-kwa 
 stream on the north. The south-east portion is flat and well cultivated but to 
 the west the cii-cle is hilly, the hills mcreasing in height towards the great Ara- 
 kan range ; the soil here is sandy. It now includes Lien-goon. The mlial)itants, 
 of whom many are Kareng. numbered 2,756 in 1876-77 and arc chiefly engaged
 
 350 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 in agriculture. There are no roads but there are footpaths from village to 
 village. In 1876-77 the land revenue was Ks, 5,287, the capitation tax 
 Es. 2,795 and the gross revenue Ks. 8,349. 
 
 MAI-ZA-LEE. — A village in the Bassein township, Bassein district, 
 on the bank of the Northern Mai-za-lee river, about 13 miles north-west of 
 Bassein. The inhabitants are largely engaged in rice cultivation and in 
 1877 numbered 621. 
 
 MAI-ZA-LEE. — A river in the Bassein district which rises in the 
 Ai'akan hills and, after a south-easterly course of about 30 miles, unites 
 with theHlaw-ga-ta at a village of that name. It is merely a mountain torrent 
 with a sandy and gravelly bed and is nearly or quite diy in the hot season. 
 Its banks are high and clothed with dense forest in which, towards the 
 source, some teak is found. These two streams, under the former name, 
 flow south for 10 or 12 miles and fall into the Bassein river at the 
 village of Mai-za-lee m about 17° 28' 30" N. 
 
 MAI-ZA-LEE. — A river in the Bassein district which rises in the 
 Ai-akan Eoma and, reinforced by the Thai-bhyoo, a spur of the moun- 
 tains separating their- som-ces, falls into the Bassein or Nga-won. It is 
 navigable at all seasons by boats of from 30 to 40 feet in length for about 
 five miles, or as far as Nat-tseng-kweng village. 
 
 MA-LEE-WON. — A sub-division lying in the extreme south of the 
 Province and forming a portion of the Mergui district. It is bounded on 
 the east by the main range which separates the Province from Siam and 
 lower down by the Pak-chan river, on the west by the sea and on the north 
 by the Tenasserim township, and includes many of the islands in the south of 
 the Mergui Archipelago and Victoria Island off the mouth of the Pak-chan, 
 which the Siamese claimed for many years but which they eventually 
 acknowledged to be British territory on the settlement of the boundary 
 between the two countries in 1867-68. The coast line is for the most part 
 fringed with mangrove swamp as are the banks of the rivers and creeks. 
 These swamps are in places but a few yards m depth and in others they 
 extend a mile or more inland. The country in the immediate vicinity of 
 Ma-lee-won consists of undulating plains or low hills covered with grass and 
 dotted with trees sometimes single, sometimes in clumps or in groves and 
 here and there in smaU forests. Towards the north and south-east rise 
 low ranges of hills, spurs of the main dividing range, covered with dense 
 evergreen virgin forest. This forest extends over the greater part of the 
 sub-division, broken here and there by patches of cultivation, villages or 
 tin mmes. In the immediate vicinity of the villages and of the spaces cleared 
 for cultivation the forest is usually very dense and m many places almost 
 impenetrable owing to the thick undergrowth and the numbers of canes of 
 various species, but in the interior it is comparatively open and free 
 from brush-wood and scrub. The inhabitants, who numbered only 5,561 in 
 1877, are Siamese, Chinese and Malays with a few Bm-mese. The Siamese 
 confine themselves to cultivation and the Chinese to mining, though some 
 of these latter cultivate a little. The Malays, who are mostly congregated 
 in the village of Ban-ka-tsoon and Pa-law-toon-toon, are chiefly occupied 
 during the rains in growing rice and in the dry weather in roaming among 
 the islands of the Archipelago, collecting dammer, scented wood, etc, and in
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 351 
 
 petty trade with the Selung, the mhabitants of these islands, exchanging 
 rice for pearls, sea slugs, etc. The officer m charge of the sub-division was 
 stationed in Ma-lee-won (there has been none since May 1877) and the 
 Extra Assistant Commissioners in Ka-lan-tsaing, a collection of hamlets 
 rather than a village, a few miles below Kra and in Le-gnya. The area 
 brought under cultivation is exceedingly small and the land revenue in 1877 
 was only Es. 3,226. 
 
 The chief product of the sub-division is tin, obtained by washing the 
 gravel lying immediately below the alluvial deposits in the valley. 
 
 In 1860 the Ma-lee-won township or southern portion of the tract, 
 340 square miles in extent, was farmed out to a Chinaman for Es. 600 
 per annum ; he was provided with a Police force, the pay of which, Es. 2,400 
 per annum, he di-ew in cash but which he is asserted to have paid in tin, 
 and who was practically supreme, subject to a control which was in truth 
 only nominal and, if all accounts are true, exercising, the power of life 
 and death at his own mere pleasm-e. About five years ago the lease ex- 
 pired and was not renewed and the present sub-division, consisting of 
 Ma-lee-won and Le-gnya, was formed. An English company got a grant 
 of the tin mines and commenced to work energetically, at first with great 
 success, but the works have been abandoned as the lodes were lost. 
 The gross revenue realized in 1877 was Es. 6,537 of which Es. 3,311 
 were derived from the capitation tax. 
 
 MA-LEE-WON. — A village in the sub-division of the same name in the 
 Mergui district, about 20 miles from the mouth of the Pak-chan river, with 
 315 inhabitants in 1876. The name is Siamese and means " Malay Settle- 
 ment " and was so named from havmg been founded by Malays. In the 
 neighbom-hood are tin mines which had been worked from a remote period 
 by Chinese. In 1873 an European firm obtained a mining lease from the 
 Government but threw it up in 1877 as unprofitable. The Chinese have 
 resumed work, from 80 to 100 men now being employed, and from then- less 
 expensive method of extracting the tin and their willingness to accept 
 smaller profits than Europeans look forward to, it pays them. The public 
 buildings are a good Court-house and a Police guard-house. 
 
 MA-MYA. — A river in the Henzada district which has its source in 
 the eastern slopes of the Arakan Eoma mountains in the Meng-wa-doung 
 circle. It flows in an easterly dh-ection for the first 20 miles and is 
 then deflected to the south-east towards the village of Ma-toung-da, near 
 which it is again deflected, and most abruptly, towards the north until in 
 falls into the Htoo lake. It is navigable, dming the rains only, by small 
 boats. Its upper course is exceedingly rocky. It drains a country containing 
 Teak, Pyeng-gado (A'^/Z/a dolahriformis) and Htouk-kj'an {Terminalia macro- 
 carpa) of excellent growth, with Eng {Dipterocarims tuhcrculatus) lower 
 down. It brings down a considerable quantity of sand and is thus gradually 
 filling up the lake. 
 
 MA-NIE-PGHA. — A sub-tribe of Kareng, a portion of the Sgaw family, 
 inhabiting the hills in the Tomig-ngoo district between the Eouk-thwa-wa 
 and the Myit-ngay streams. They are one of the few septs that have any other 
 domestic animals than fowls and swine ; in common with the Pa-koo they 
 breed a few goats and they cultivate the areca palm, rice and a little cot-
 
 352 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 ton. By some they are considered as a portion of the Pwo family on ac- 
 count of the strong nasal sound peculiar to the dialects of that tribe. The 
 majority have embraced Christianity. 
 
 MA-NOO-MA-NAW.^A large, trowser-wearing sub-division of the 
 Bghai family of Kareng, livmg in the Toung-ngoo district of the Tenasserim 
 division, north of the Sgaw and between them and the Kareng-nee. 
 
 MAN-OUNG. — An island in the Bay of Bengal forming a township in 
 the Kyouk-hpyoo district, more commonly known as Cheduba, with the 
 head-quarters at the town of Man-oung in the north-western part of the 
 island. • It extends from 18° 40' to 18° 56' 30" N. Lat. and from 93° 30' 
 to 93° 47' E. Long, and with its southern dependency Ee-kywon, otherwise 
 known as Flat Island, covers an area of about 120 square miles. Its general 
 ajipearance and character is that of a fertile, well-wooded island of moderate 
 height and irregular shape. A band of level plain, but little raised above the 
 sea and of far greater width on the east than on the west, extends round its 
 coast ; withm this lie u-regular, low, undulating hills varying in height from 50 
 to 500 feet, enclosing several higher detached mounds with steej), well-wooded 
 sides, the highest of which, near the south of the island, rises nearly to 1,400 
 feet. In the extreme north-west corner, connected with the main island by 
 a series of detached rocks both above and below water with deep channels 
 between them, is a so-called " volcano " from which flames occasionally 
 issue ; these are in reahty due to a copious discharge of inflammable gas 
 and not to volcanic action. 
 
 The inhabitants, who numbered 21,779 in 1875 and 22,078 in 1877, 
 are chiefly Arakanese and are employed in rice and tobacco cultivation and 
 in fishing. A considerable quantity of rice is sent hence durmg the season 
 and the township is noted for the good quality of Its tobacco. Petroleum 
 is found in several spots on the island. The princij)al villages are Man- 
 oung, Ke-kywon, Toung-bhet, Ivha-bhoon-maw, Ka-ma, Ta-htoo, and 
 Tsheng-nat-khyoung. The township is di\dded into eight revenue circles and 
 in 1875-76 the land revenue amounted to PiS. 22,443 and the capitation tax 
 to Es. 22,913 : in 1876-77 the land revenue was Es. 22,485 the capitation 
 tax Es. 23,171 and the gross revenue Es. 69,029. 
 
 Two derivations are given for the name '' Man-oung" which signifies 
 " overcoming of the evil disposition." According to an ancient tradition 
 a governor of the Island api^ointed by Tsan-da-ra I. kmg of Ai-akan, who 
 reigned some 2,000 years B. C, so harried the people that they complain- 
 ed to the sovereign who summoned the governor to appear before him. On 
 the governor refusing to attend the Com't the monarch struck the sea with 
 a rod and ordered it to bring his disobedient subject into his presence. The 
 sea obeyed and in a few days the dead body of the rebel was washed ashore 
 near the Eoyal city. According to another account the name was given to 
 the island because it was the place of transportation for those who were 
 considered to be politically dangerous, who were thus rendered powerless 
 for evil and whose evil disi^osition was thus overcome. The classical 
 name is Mek-kha-wa-dee. The name Cheduba, by which the island is 
 known to Europeans and to natives of India, is said to be a corrujition 
 of Char-dhuba or " four capes " from the capes at the four corners of the 
 island.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 353 
 
 MAN-OTJNG. — Better knoT\Ti as Clieduba, is a small town iii the 
 north-west of Man-oung or Clieduba Island, on the bank of the Oon-khyoimg, 
 the head-quarters of the Cheduba township. It contains a Court-house, 
 Market, School and Police-station. In 1873 it had a population of 1,323 
 souls, in 1875 of 1,384, and in 1877 of 1,409. Locally it is known as Zhe- 
 dan. 
 
 MAN-OUNG-MYOMA. — A revenue cu*cle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district 
 lying in the north-eastern part of Cheduba Island, 54 square miles in area, 
 with 5,129 inhabitants in 1875 and 5,393 in 1877. The principal products 
 are rice and tobacco. Towards the west of the cii'cle are some petroleum 
 wells. Included in it is Man-oung the head-quarters of the township. The 
 land revenue in 1875 was Es. 5,304 and the capitation tax Es. 5,500, and 
 in 1877 Es. 5,351 and Es. 5,795 respectively : in the latter year the gross 
 revenue, including that raised in Man-oung, was Es. 33,274. 
 
 MA-00-BENG. — A revenue cii'cle in the Thoon-khwa township of the 
 Thoon-khwa district. In 1876-77 the population numbered 4,142, the land 
 revenue was Es. 6,362, the capitation tax Es. 4,793 and the gross revenue, 
 including that raised in the town of Ma-oo-beng, Es. 28,793. 
 
 MA-00-BENG. — The head-quarters of the Thoon-khwa district on the 
 bank of the Ee-nouk stream, one of the numerous large creeks through 
 which the waters of the Irrawaddy find their way through the Delta, here 
 half a mile wide. The town is a new one, selected as the head-quarters on 
 the formation of the Thoon-khwa district, and the laying out commenced 
 in April 1875. There are three main roads running north and south, 
 intersected at right angles, and at pretty regular intervals, by 10 main 
 cross roads which run east and west. The land on which the town 
 is built is low, the highest portion, viz., towards the north and east, is 
 barely an inch above the level of the high water mark of the river during 
 the rains. The southern and western portions, where are fisheries, are 
 very low, the natural slope of the grouncl being gradually towards the west, 
 and are flooded during the rains and swampy in October and November. 
 The town contams Court-houses, a small Gaol, a Police-station, a Charitable 
 dispensary and a Market. In 1877 the population was 1,178, and the local 
 revenue raised, in addition to the Imperial and Provincial revenues, 
 Es. 4,234. 
 
 MA-00-DAING. — A revenue cu'cle in the Meng-doon township, Thayet 
 district, with an area of about 30 square miles and a jDopulation in 
 1877 of 2,411 souls of whom about 400 are Kareng, and yielding in that 
 j^ear a revenue of Es. 3,351 of which Es. 1,569 was derived from the land 
 and Es. 1,527 from the capitation tax. Cows form nearly one-thii*d of the 
 total number of cattle, 1,622 head. The cultiu'able area measm-es 3,782 
 acres but only about 1,800 acres are actually cultivated. In 1860 Kan-lay 
 and Ma-oo-daing were joined to form the present circle. The products 
 are rice, cotton, cutch, sessamum, maize, tobacco, onions, chillies and 
 plantains. 
 
 MA-OO-KHOON. — A village in the Prome district inhabited chiefly by 
 rice cultivators and situated on the right bank of the Myit-ma-kha about 
 two and a half miles from its source in the Engma lake. 
 
 45
 
 354 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 MA-RA-MAN. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-cToiing township, Prome 
 district, lying between the Kyee-thai circle and the Shwe-nat-toung or 
 Kho-lan hills. In the north-eastern corner, on the first hill in the Kho- 
 lan range, stands the highly sacred Shwe-nat-toung pagoda at which an 
 annual fair is held in March when crowds of people from all parts of the 
 country assemble in the plain near the village of Ma-ra-man. This circle 
 is now joined to Ewa-goon lyuig on the eastern side of the Ivlio-lan hills. 
 
 MA-EAN-00. — A revenue circle in the Than-lweng Hlaing-bhwai town- 
 ship, Amherst district, between the Dawna range and the Thoung-yeng 
 river to the east of the source of the Hlaing-bhwai. It is generally moun- 
 tainous and covered with forest but is to some extent under cultivation by 
 the Kareng who inhabit it. It is now joined to Hlaing-bhwai. 
 
 MA-EO-THOUNG SHA-KHAI.— A revenue circle in the extreme 
 north-eastern portion of the Tsam-bay-roon township, Bassein district, 
 bounded on the north and east by townships of the Henzada district, 
 about 65 square miles in extent. Forest-covered land everjnvhere prepon- 
 derates over the cultivated and open. A considerable portion of the 
 country has, however, been rendered fit for rice cultivation by the construc- 
 tion of embankments in Henzada which preserve it from inundation. 
 In the southern part of the circle is the Sha-khai-gyee lake, a fine sheet 
 of water about four miles in length and half a mile in breadth formed 
 by a slight depression in the soil ; in the rains it is supplied with water 
 by the Daga river with which it communicates by two small streams. 
 Near this lake is the old Myo-goon fort or stockade. In 1876-77 the popu- 
 lation was 3,296, the land revenue Rs. 4,838, the capitation tax Es. 3,672 
 and the gross revenue Es. 9,899. 
 
 MAETABAN. — A cii'cle in the Amherst district. — See Moot-ta-ma. 
 
 MARTABAN. — A toT^nashipin the Tha-htoon sub -division of the Amherst 
 district, bounded on the west by the sea and on the east by the Bheng- 
 laing and southwards from the mouth of that river by the Salween ; on the 
 south the Da-ray -bouk, or northern mouth of the Salween, separates it from 
 Bhee-loo-gjn^^on and on the north it is separated from the Tha-htoon town- 
 ship by the Hpa-baing streamlet, a tributary of the Bheng-laing, the 
 Kyoon-hpa, a tributary of the Tsha or Tha-htoon river, and in the extreme 
 north-west by the Tsha itself. East of the Bheng-laing is the Hpa-gat 
 township of the same sub-di\dsion and east of the Salween the Gyaing Than- 
 lweng township. A range of hills starts from the south-eastern corner at 
 Martaban and runs up N. N. W. for about 12 miles when it tm-ns north and 
 gradually rises in altitude to the Zeng-gyaik peak, 3,500 feet above the sea 
 level, whence the height diminishes somewhat rapidly. A little north of the 
 Zeng-gyaik hill a spur is thrown out towards the N. N. W., enclosmg with 
 the main range the Dhe-ba-rien valley drained by the Eeng-gnjdem which 
 bm'sts through a gorge in the spur at the village of the same name. The 
 spur gradually sinks and ends near Toung-tsoon a little south of the Kyoon- 
 hpa. To the east of the main line of hills the country is forest-clad and 
 with but little cultivation, comparatively. On the west are extensive and 
 fertile plains intersected by numerous streams and creeks which afford an 
 easy outlet for the large quantities of rice grown in the tract. The principal 
 of these are Bheng-loung and the Reng-gnyiem flowing westward to the sea,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 355 
 
 and the Da-rien and the Kha-daing flowmg southward to the Da-ray -bouk. 
 The extreme western portion is, in parts, Hable to damage by the entry of the 
 sea water through the various rivers ; in very high tides, especially if a 
 strong westerly or south-westerly wind is blowing, it overtops the banks and 
 spreads over the country which is lower than the coast line. In the south 
 the coast is protected by the sand and mud-covered drift which increases 
 yearly and forms a strong protecting embankment except where pierced by 
 the mouths of the streams ; towards the north there are considerable stretches 
 of mangrove swamp. To seaward are vast sand and mud banks, dry at low 
 water, which render any approach by sea-going vessels impossible. 
 
 The princii)al villages are Martaban in the extreme south-east corner 
 on the bank of the Salween, opposite Maulmain, once the capital of a king- 
 dom and more than once besieged by invading armies and, after the 
 annexation of Pegu, the head-quarters of the township till these were 
 removed to Poung ; now it is a straggling village with 1,673 inhabitants : 
 Wai-pa-tan with 1,368, K3r«^ai-khyan with 1,111, Poung with 1,073, Klia-da 
 with 1,104 and Hpa-lat with 1,068. These, with the exception of Kywai- 
 khyan, are, as are almost all the more important "villages, along the western 
 slopes of the Martaban hills. 
 
 The township, which with Tha-htoon and Hpa-gat was transferred 
 to the Amherst from the Shwe-gyeng district in 1865, is now divided 
 into nine ckcles, viz., Toung-tsoon, Eeng-gnyiem, Poung, Kha-damg, 
 Da-rien, Moo-kyee and Moot-ta-ma west of the hills, Gaw, m the north, 
 partly in the Dhe-ba-rien valley and partly in the plain country to the west- 
 ward, and Tsam-pa-na-go occupying the whole of the country between 
 the hills and the Bheng-laing and the Salween, except a very small portion 
 in the extreme south which belongs to Moot-ta-ma. 
 
 The population in 1876-77 was 31,097, the land revenue Es. 1,33,599 
 and the capitation tax Es. 30,465. 
 
 MAETABAN. — A small town in the Amherst district on the right bank 
 of the Salween, immediately opposite to Maulmain, between the river 
 and the eastern slopes of a range of hills which stretches up N. W. 
 and is here crowned by several white pagodas looking down upon the broad 
 expanse of waters, formed by the junction of the united Gj^amg and Attaran 
 with the Salween and the fleet of merchant vessels lying in the river off 
 Maulmain. 
 
 The town is said to have been built three years after the foundation of 
 Pegu, or in A. D. 576, by Tha-ma-la the first king and then disappears almost 
 altogether from history. In A. D, 1269, when the Peguan kingdom had 
 been conquered by the Burmese and the king of Burma was supreme in 
 ancient Ea-ma-gnya, asovereignof Talaing race re-built the city " on a rocky 
 '* promontory with the country of the Shan on the east and the sea on the 
 ** west," and appointed as governoi' one A-lien-ma. A-lien-ma soon lost his 
 governorship and Ta-la-bya was appointed in his stead. The whole kmg- 
 dom, disorganized by the attacks on the capital made by the Tartar hordes 
 of Khublai Khan, was falling to pieces and A-lien-ma rctm-ned and killed 
 his successor but was himself put to death by one Wa-rie-3^00 (who is 
 claimed by the native historians as a Talaing but was most probably by 
 descent a Shan or northern Siamese) who had travelled south-cast to the 
 capital of Siam and had eloped with the king's daughter. Wa-ric-yoo
 
 356 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 declared himself independent and sent aid to the ruler of Pegu who had done 
 likewise ; the combined forces defeated the Burman army sent against them 
 but the two rebel chieftains quarrelled and Wa-rie-yoo overcame his ally, now 
 become his rival, and declared and mauitained himself asking of the ancient 
 Peguan kingdom. After a reign of 19 years Wa-rie-yoo was murdered by the 
 two sons of the dethroned king of Pegu and was succeeded by Khoon-law. In 
 A. D. 1323 the capital was transferred to Pegu by Bee-gnya-ran-da but 
 the royal palace and seat of government appear to have remained for some 
 time at Martaban. Dm^ing the subsequent wars between the Peguans, the 
 Siamese and the Burmese Martaban was several times besieged and cap- 
 tured and on more than one occasion was the last stronghold of the reign- 
 ing sovereign. The Portuguese historian Manuel de Faria y Sousa speaks 
 of it as being, in 1540, the " metropolis of a great and flomishing kingdom" 
 which was beseiged for seven months by Ta-beng-shwe-htee, king of Toung- 
 ngoo (who had ah-eady taken Pegu the capital of the kingdom), when the 
 governor was starved into surrendering without conditions and was drowned 
 by his conqueror. The account of the riches of the town given by the Por- 
 tuguese historian is, most probably, exaggerated. The treasure, he says, 
 " amounted to 100 millions of gold. The thii'd day the army had liberty to 
 " plunder, which lasted fom- days, and was valued at 12 millions. Next the 
 " city was burned, when perished by fire and sword above 60,000 souls, 
 " besides as many male slaves ; 2,000 temples and 40,000 houses were laid 
 " even with the ground. There were in the tovni 6,000 pieces of cannon, 
 " 100,000 quintals of pepper, and as much of other spices." After this 
 general destruction the victor retm-ned to Pegu " leaving people to rebuild 
 " the ruined city". Towards the end of the sixteenth century the town 
 was taken by the king of Siam who appointed a governor over it and the 
 sm-roundmg country. Some years later the rulers of Martaban appear to 
 have been almost independent but not strong enough to resist either 
 Philip de Brito y Nicote, who had made himself master of Pegu, or the king 
 of Ava who wrested the kingdom from him. From this time forward it 
 remained the seat of a governor appointed by the monarch, Peguan or 
 Bm'mese, who hapi^ened to rule the country. 
 
 Dm'ing the first Bm-mese war a force under Lieutenant-Colonel God- 
 win was despatched against the town from Rangoon. The troops arrived 
 off the place on the 29th November 1824 and after a mutual cannonade landed 
 under a heavy fire and advanced to the attack ; the Bm-man garrison escap- 
 ed without waitmg for the assault and the British found the stockades 
 deserted. A small detachment was sufficient to hold the position until the 
 termination of the war when Ai'akan and the comitry east and south of the 
 Salween were ceded to the British, but the intervening comitry from the 
 Salween to the Arakan Eoma mountains was restored to the Bm*man 
 government. 
 
 On the breaking out of the second Anglo-Burmese war Martaban was 
 one of the first places captm-ed. On the 5th April 1852 the troops landed 
 under the personal supervision of General Godwin, the Commander-in-Chief, 
 and carried the works without the loss of a single man and with only eight 
 wounded. On the 26th May following the Burmese advanced against the 
 small garrison but were driven off with the aid of reinforcements sent across 
 the river from Maulmain, and later, in July, were attacked in a position
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 357 
 
 which they had taken up close by whence they were enabled to cause 
 considerable annoyance and forced to abandon it. Early in the following 
 year a column advanced from Martaban northwards and from that time the 
 Burmese made no further attempt to re-take the town. 
 
 For several years it was the head-quarter station of the township 
 and contained a Court-house, On the face of the hill opposite Maulmain 
 is a good Circuit-house and below a substantial wooden wiiarf. On the 
 bank of the Salween is an ancient pagoda, the Mya-thien-dan {q.r.), recently 
 repaired and surmounted by a new gilt htee or umbrella. In 1877 the 
 inhabitants numbered 1,673 souls. 
 
 MA-TOUNG-DA. — A revenue circle east of the Irrawaddy in the 
 Mo-gnyo township of the Henzada district vdth. the Mo-gnyo cncle on the 
 west, the Myoma and Myo-dweng ch'cles on the north, the Kj^ek-taik circle 
 of the Meng-hla township on the east and south-east, between it and the 
 Pegu Eoma mountains, and the Tshay-hnit and Lweng-bj-eng circles of the 
 Meng-hla township on the south. The southern portion of the ch'cle is 
 low and subject to inundation during the rains but towards the north 
 there is an extensive rice plain and some forest-covered land. In the west 
 and centre of the cu'cle are extensive Cutch {Acacia catechu) forests with 
 some Teak and Htouk-kyan (Terminalia macrocarpa) ; in the east are 
 found Teak and bamboos. In 1876 the population was 5,822, the land 
 revenue Es. 7,517, the capitation tax Es. 5,425 and the gross revenue 
 P^. 16,951. 
 
 MA-TOUNG-DA. — A revenue circle in the Kan-oung township of 
 the Henzada district, principally undulating and forest- covered but with 
 some extensive rice cultivation, lying about half way between the Arakau 
 mountains and the Irrawaddy, with the Ewe-doung circle on the north, the 
 Gnyoung-rwa-gyee circle on the east, the Thek-ngay-byeng circle on the 
 south, and the Tsee-beng, Shwe-gyeng and Gnyoung-rwa-ngay cu"cles on the 
 west ; within its limits is the Dai-pai lake, about one square mile in extent 
 and four or five feet deep in the dry weather. This cncle now includes 
 Tsan-rwa and Ewa-ta-ra. In 1876 the population was 3,046, the land 
 revenue Es. 3,317, the capitation tax Es. 2,895 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 6,436. 
 
 MA-TOUNG-DA. — A revenue circle in the Prome district on the right 
 bank of the Na-w^cng and separated from the Irrawaddy by the Koon-ma- 
 leng circle. It now includes also Nat-ta-leng, Da-koo and Tsheng-daing. 
 In 1876 the population was 1,228, the land revenue Es. 1,249, the capita- 
 tion tax Es. 1,122 and the gross revenue Es. 2,461. 
 
 MAULMAIN. — A to-uii situated on the left bank of the Salween at its 
 junction with Gyaing and the Attaran in 16° 29' N. Lat. and 97° 38' E. 
 Long., the head-quarters of the Amherst district and of the Tenasserim 
 division. Immediately to the west is Bhee-loo-gj'won, a large island 107 
 square miles in extent, the waters of the Salween flowmg westward into the 
 Gulf of Martaban round the north of the island, between it and Martaban, by 
 the Da-ray-bouk, and southward between it and the mainland on which stands 
 Maulmain. This channel is sometimes called the Amherst and sometimes 
 the Maulmain river but now, generally, " the Salween" par excellence. The 
 position of this island thus conduces to the idea that the to^vn lies a con-
 
 358 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 siderable distance up a river whereas in truth it is on the seacoast but 
 with a large island lymg immediately off it, protecting it from the force 
 of the monsoon but shutting out all sea view. To the northward, on the 
 opposite bank of the Salween, is Martaban, once the capital of a kingdom 
 but now little more than a moderate sized village. 
 
 Low hills, forming the northern extremity of the Toung-gnyo range, 
 run north and south through the town dividing it into two distinct and very 
 dissimilar portions which touch each other at the northern base of the 
 hills on the bank of the Gyaing. These are crowned at intervals with 
 pagodas in various stages of preservation and decay, from the dark, brick, 
 grass-covered and tottering relic with its rusty and failing htee to the white 
 and gold restored edifice gleaming in the sunlight, and monasteries richly 
 ornamented with gilding, colom* and carved work. On the west are four 
 out of the five "divisions" of the town, wiiich extend northwards between 
 the Salween and the hills, from Mopoon with its steam-mills for husking 
 rice, and timber and ship-building yards, to the Military cantonment on 
 the pomt formed by the junction of the Gj^aing and the Salween opposite 
 Martaban, a distance of six miles. Nowhere is the breadth greater than 
 1,200 yards. This portion, which throughout slopes to the bank of the 
 Salween more or less abruptly, is intersected by three main roads running 
 north and south ; one extends the whole distance, with a single row of 
 houses separating it from the Salween, the second, parallel and to the 
 eastward, runs from the Cantonments southwards for a httle over a mile, 
 and the third, still further to the east, at its northern end, on the border 
 of the Cantonment, unites ^\ith the second and at its southern, near the 
 northern entrance of Mopoon, with the first. Numerous cross roads 
 running east and west up the slope from the Salween connect these three. 
 In this portion are situated the public buildings, the Military Canton- 
 ments, the Merchants offices and warehouses, the prmcipal sho'ps and, 
 especially on the western slopes of the hills, the houses of the European 
 residents. The inhabitants are almost entirely Em-opeans, Eurasians, 
 natives of India and Chinese. The " fifth division", or Daing-won-kweng, 
 is more compact and lies behind the hills m the valley of the Attaran and, 
 with its northern extremity resting on the Gyaing, stretches nearly to the 
 bank of the former river ; on the opposite shore is Gnyoung-beng-tshiep, 
 a large village almost a subui'b but not included withm the limits of the 
 town lands of which the Attaran forms the eastern boundary. This 
 quarter, named after the notorious Daing-won who encamped here when 
 he was sent dovm. by the Burmese Government in 1808 to quell disturbances 
 which had broken out in the south at Tavoy and Mergui, is inhabited 
 principally by Burmans and Talaing. 
 
 Like most towns m the provmce, the houses, except near the bank of the 
 Salween and in Daing-won-kweng, are smTOunded by extensive groimds and 
 are nestled m masses of foliage. The view from the hills in the centre of 
 the town is of great beauty, probably unsm-passed in the whole of Bui'ma. 
 Looking westward the foreground is occupied by an extensive wood of trees 
 of every shade of foliage from the dark olive of the mango to the hght green 
 of the pagoda tree varied by the graceful plumes of the bamboo with build- 
 ings shewing here and there, beyond lies a magnificent sheet of water 
 studded with green islands amongst which stands out conspicuously the
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 359 
 
 little rocky Goung-tsai-kywon completely occui^ied by one or two white and 
 glittering pagodas and a monastery sheltered by trees, and in the distance, 
 closing the view, are the forest-clad hills of Bhee-loo-gjn^on and Martaban. 
 •Eastward, at the foot of the hills, is a large and regularly laid out town 
 lying on the edge of a rice plain from which, beyond the Attaran, rise 
 isolated fantastically shaped ridges of limestone, bare in parts and elsewhere 
 with the jagged peaks partially concealed by straggling clumps of vegetation 
 and in the extreme distance the faint blue outline of the frowning Dawna 
 spur. Away to the north are the Zwai-ka-beng rocks, an outcrop of lime- 
 stone some 13 miles in length, too distant to allow an appreciation of 
 their rugged beauty, whilst to the south rise the dark Toung-wamg hills, 
 their sombre colour relieved by the glistening white pagoda and the 
 monasteries on their side. Winding through the plain are the Gjahig and 
 the Attaran, shewing here and there like silver bands amongst the green 
 shades of the hills and gardens and the golden tints of the rice fields. 
 
 The principal buildings are Salween House, built by Colonel Bogle as a 
 private residence and now the property of the Municipality ; the Hospital, 
 a new and handsome wooden edifice nearly complete and destined to take 
 the place of the mconvenient and small dispensary erected many years ago ; 
 the public offices of masonry ; two chm-ches of masonry for the Eoman 
 (dedicated, the one to S. Patrick built in 1857 to replace one built in 1836 
 and the other to S. Mark built in 1843) and one of wood for the Angh- 
 can branch of the Catholic Church (dedicated to S. Mathew and conse- 
 crated in 1834 by Bishop Wilson) ; a masonry Baptist chapel (built 
 in 1833) ; a large Gaol ; the wooden Barracks occupied by the Eegiment 
 of Madi-as Native Infantry which forms the garrison ; and the Custom- 
 house, the Post and Telegraph Offices, and the Master-Attendant's 0£&ce, 
 all near the Main Wharf. 
 
 When this portion of the province was ceded by the treaty of Yandaboo, 
 at the site of the town was found a spacious, irregular quadrangle 
 surrounded by an earthen mound or rampart, all the rest was a mass of 
 tangled tree and brush-wood forest and long grass, and men still livmg 
 relate stories of the toil undergone and the difficulties surmounted in clearmg 
 it. The Civil Commissioner, Mr. Crawfurd, selected Amherst as the best spot 
 for the capital of the newly acquu'ed territory, but the Military Commander, 
 General Sii' Archibald Campbell, chose Maulmain as being better supplied 
 with water and as being, from its position opposite Martaban then occupied 
 by the Burmese, the best site, strategically, for the British garrison which 
 was more requu-ed to overawe the Bm-mese officials across the river, to 
 repel desultory attacks and to defend the left bank of the Salween from 
 marauding parties than to keep order amongst the inhabitants of the ceded 
 country. In a few years the Civil Station was moved up to the Cantonment 
 and Maulmain from a waste gradually grew into a thriving commercial town. 
 
 The history of its rise and of its vicissitudes is best learned by 
 studying its trade. Along the banks of the Attaran and m other parts of 
 the Amherst district were rich and valuable Teak forests, whilst to the 
 north, in Siamese territory (Zenr/mai), are vast tracts of country producing 
 magnificent timber for which the only outlet is Maulmain. A large trade 
 in Teak soon sprang up and for many years timber formed the principal 
 and indeed the only article of export.
 
 360 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 
 Es. 
 
 1836 
 
 20,804 
 
 1839-40 
 
 21,728 
 
 1840-41 
 
 29,245 
 
 1841-42 
 
 55,108 
 
 1842-43 
 
 58,924 
 
 1843-44 
 
 54,182 
 
 1844-45 
 
 23,711 
 
 1845-46 
 
 61,867 
 
 1846-47 
 
 88,869 
 
 The amount of timber revenue realized was, in : — 
 
 Es. 
 
 1847-48 . . 96,484 
 
 1848-49 . . 90,649 
 
 1849-50 . . 63,443 
 
 1850-51 . . 79,466 
 
 1851-62 . . 71,628 
 
 1852-53 . . 84,792 
 
 1853-54 . . 102,372 
 
 1854-55 . . 188,354 
 
 1855-56 . . 206,359 
 
 The export, in tons, from that year onwards was : — 
 
 1856-57 .. 28,779 1867-68 .. 62,255 
 
 1857-58 .. 42,326 1868-69 .. 98,333 
 
 1858-59 .. 69,371 1869-70 .. 64,769 
 
 1859-60 .. 77,620 1870-71 .. 53,904 
 
 1860-61 .. 60,218 1871-72 .. 57,000 
 
 1861-62 .. 97,970 1872-73 .. 78,657 
 
 1862-63 .. 75,568 1873-74 .. 86,361 
 
 1863-64 .. 67,660 1874-75 .. 76,639 
 
 1864-65 .. 114,364 1875-76 ,. 105,154 
 
 1865-66 .. 118,976 1876-77 .. 78,573 
 
 1866-67 .. 48,190 1877-78 .. 123,242 
 
 With the gradual settlement of the country and the increase in the 
 population and consequent increase in agriculture rice came into the 
 market for exportation. In 1850 Europe took 18,058 bags, and the gross 
 value of the exports in 1855-56 was Rs. 627,408. The quantity exported 
 increased very largely, with some fluctuations due to the shipments taking 
 place early or late and the returns being invariably closed on the same date. 
 
 The quantity, in tons, exported since 1851-55, and the greater quan- 
 tity was to the United Kingdom, was : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Tear. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 1855-56 
 
 16,170 
 
 1866-67 
 
 26,547 
 
 1856-57 
 
 19,405 
 
 1867-68 
 
 23,376 
 
 1857-58 
 
 24,714 
 
 1868-69 
 
 25,626 
 
 1858-59 
 
 16,163 
 
 1869-70 
 
 23,137 
 
 18.59-60 
 
 17,766 
 
 1870-71 
 
 37,572 
 
 1860-61 
 
 11,284 
 
 1871-72 
 
 56,257 
 
 1861-62 
 
 28,615 
 
 1872-73 
 
 51,718 
 
 1862-63 
 
 21,492 
 
 1873-74 
 
 71,949 
 
 1863-64 
 
 16,114 
 
 1874-75 
 
 44,788 
 
 1864-65 
 
 21,567 
 
 1875-76 
 
 77,980 
 
 1865-66 
 
 23,670 
 
 1876-77 
 
 65,657 
 
 Cotton is exported mainly to Indian ports. In 1865-66 and in 
 1866-67 a few experimental exports were made to the United Kingdom but 
 the venture was not a paying one. The quantity, in tons, exported in each 
 year from 1854-55 was : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 1855-56 
 
 1,929 
 
 1866-67 
 
 2,902 
 
 1856-57 
 
 5,194 
 
 1867-68 
 
 2,210 
 
 1857-58 
 
 1,376 
 
 1868-69 
 
 4,365 
 
 1858-59 
 
 2,465 
 
 1869-70 
 
 3,813 
 
 1859-60 
 
 2,348 
 
 1870-71 
 
 2,190 
 
 1860-61 
 
 1,442 
 
 1871-72 
 
 1,238 
 
 1861-62 
 
 1,523 
 
 1872-73 
 
 5,259 
 
 1862-63 
 
 1,685 
 
 1873-74 
 
 2,700 
 
 1863-34 
 
 2,058 
 
 1874-75 
 
 1,768 
 
 1864-65 
 
 4,295 
 
 1875-76 
 
 1,491 
 
 1865-66 
 
 1,5751 
 
 1876-77 
 
 2.059
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 361 
 
 Besides timber, grain and cotton the principal exports are bides and 
 horns with very small quantities of lead, copper, yellow orpiment and 
 stick lac. 
 
 The principal imports are cotton twist and yarn, cotton, woollen and 
 silk piece goods, wines, beer and spirits, sugar and betel nuts, the last 
 fetching a higher price than those grown in the country. A noticeable 
 feature is the absence of salt from the list of imports, more than one ship 
 has arrived with this commodity but there has been no sale for it, the 
 country article holding its own as it does nowhere else in this Province. 
 
 The value of the imports and exports, the amount of duty realized 
 and the number and tonnage of the ships visiting the port are given in the 
 following tables : — 
 
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 46
 
 362 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 
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 368 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Sliip-buiMiiig commenced as early 
 of 51 tons, was built by Mr. Warrick, 
 a Barque of 250 tons, built in 1832 ; 
 the Concordia, Brig, 75 tons and the 
 1833, also by Mr. Warrick, and the A 
 in the same year by Messrs. Darwood 
 and gross tonnage built in each year 
 
 as 1830 when the Devil, a schooner 
 , This was followed by the Woodlark, 
 the Young Rover, Schooner, 157 tons, 
 
 George Sivinton, Schooner 70 tons, in 
 ttaran, Schooner, 70 tons, constructed 
 
 and Bentley. The number of vessels 
 since have been : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Number. 
 
 Gross tonnage. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Number. 
 
 Gross tonnage. 
 
 1834 
 
 4 
 
 815 
 
 1856 
 
 2 
 
 1,672 
 
 1835 
 
 2 
 
 664 
 
 1857 
 
 4 
 
 963 
 
 1836 
 
 7 
 
 683 
 
 1858 
 
 5 
 
 1,797 
 
 1837 
 
 10 
 
 2,852 
 
 1859 
 
 
 
 1838 
 
 10 
 
 3,837 
 
 1860 
 
 
 . . 
 
 1839 
 
 9 
 
 2,070 
 
 1861 
 
 *i 
 
 858 
 
 1840 
 
 10 
 
 2,844 
 
 1862 
 
 1 
 
 395 
 
 1841 
 
 6 
 
 1,542 
 
 1863 
 
 1 
 
 36 
 
 1842 
 
 8 
 
 3,165 
 
 1864 
 
 2 
 
 833 
 
 1843 
 
 7 
 
 2,297 
 
 1865 
 
 
 
 1844 
 
 3 
 
 833 
 
 1866 
 
 
 . . 
 
 1845 
 
 4 
 
 1,816 
 
 1867 
 
 
 
 1846 
 
 5 
 
 2,267 
 
 1868 
 
 
 
 1847 
 
 2 
 
 655 
 
 1869 
 
 1 
 
 51 
 
 1848 
 
 3 
 
 1,280 
 
 1870 
 
 1 
 
 73 
 
 1849 
 
 4 
 
 2,115 
 
 1871 
 
 
 .. 
 
 1850 
 
 1 
 
 19 
 
 1872 
 
 
 . . 
 
 1851 
 
 5 
 
 737 
 
 1873 
 
 2 
 
 208 
 
 1852 
 
 7 
 
 2,492 
 
 1874 
 
 
 
 1853 
 
 10 
 
 4,527 
 
 1875 
 
 2 
 
 222 
 
 1854 
 
 4 
 
 1,928* 
 
 1876 
 
 
 
 1855 
 
 2 
 
 1,472 
 
 1877 
 
 i 
 
 174 
 
 The most important amongst these were the steamer Tenasserim of 750 
 tons built in 1841, the steamer Malacca of 1,300 tons built in 1853, the 
 ship Canning of 1,022 tons built in 1854, the ship Copenhagen of 1,017 tons 
 built in 1855, and the ship Cosixitrick of 1,418 tons built in 1856, and 
 burnt on a voyage with emigrants from England to Australia. 
 
 No earlier statistics of the population are available than those of 1839 
 when there were 17,022 inhabitants, in 1841 there were, 28,685, in 1848 
 there were, according to the census taken that year, 36,898, and in 1857 
 23,683 ; since 1862-63 the number has been : — 
 
 Years. 
 
 Numbei 
 
 1863-64 
 
 . 60,889. 
 
 1864-65 
 
 . 69,386. 
 
 1865-66 
 
 . 70,349. 
 
 1866-67 
 
 . 61,429. 
 
 1867-68 
 
 . 65,566. 
 
 1868-69 
 
 . 66,022. 
 
 1869-70 
 
 . 71,534. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Number. 
 
 1870-71 . 
 
 02,337. 
 
 1871-72 . 
 
 . 53,653. 
 
 1872-73 . 
 
 . 46,472. 
 
 1873-74 . 
 
 . 58,873. 
 
 1874-75 . 
 
 . 63,841. 
 
 1875-76 . 
 
 57,719. 
 
 1876-77 . 
 
 . 51,607. 
 
 * Exclusive oi the barque Ciiy of DuUin the tonnage of which is not now ascertainable,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 369 
 
 Men of almost every nation are to be found : English, French, Germans, 
 Dutch, Belgians, Norwegians, Swedes, Greeks, Danes, Americans, Persians, 
 Chinese, Burmans, Shans, and Hindustanis; the numbers in 1872 and in 
 1878 were : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 '^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 f3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 " 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 Yeah. 
 
 a 
 to 
 
 2 
 
 
 § 
 
 a 
 1 
 
 ta 
 
 ID 
 
 a 
 
 O 
 
 > 
 
 m 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 g 
 
 '3 
 
 60 
 
 a 
 ■a 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 a 
 
 S 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 ^ 
 
 C3 
 
 ci 
 
 03 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 p^ 
 
 <i 
 
 H 
 
 o 
 
 ;?; 
 
 fq 
 
 &H 
 
 M 
 
 CO 
 
 H 
 
 H 
 
 1872 ... 
 
 652 
 
 14 
 
 1,534 
 
 9 
 
 1,484 
 
 18,G35 
 
 11,115 
 
 12,162 
 
 180 
 
 633 
 
 54 
 
 46,472 
 
 1878 ... 
 
 *1,270 
 
 
 
 
 2,324 
 
 1,562 
 
 9,607 
 
 16,120 
 
 106 
 
 1,279 
 
 
 54,333 
 
 The revenue, derived from the Night-watch tax and other local sources, 
 was employed in i3aying for the Police, in keeping the roads in order and 
 in carrying out such works as were found necessary from time to time, 
 and was administered by the Magistrate under the control of the Commis- 
 sioner. In 1874 the town was placed under a Municipality with members 
 partly official and partly non-official nominated by the Local Government, 
 and with the Town Magistrate as President. The system of taxation was 
 changed : the Night-watch tax, levied at a fixed rate, was abolished in 
 1875-76, and a Municipal tax substituted, and gradually, as has been 
 deemed advisable, further changes have been made in altering the 
 rates and in the imposition of new ones for specific objects, such as provid- 
 ing for watering the roads. The actual sources of income at present are, a 
 Municipal tax, receipts from licenses for the wholesale and for the retail 
 vend of intoxicating liquors, slaughter-house licenses, hack-carriage 
 licenses, hack-cart licenses, passenger-boat licenses, the leasing of ferries, 
 land-rent for lauds belonging to the Government but administered by the 
 Municipality, sales of land, certain fines and fees, such as fines for breaches 
 of local and license rules, fines for committing nuisances, gambling 
 fines and escheats, cattle-pound fees and fines, and other miscellaneous 
 sources including an annual assignment from the Land Sale Fund. The 
 charges are for collection of taxes and cesses. Police, general manage- 
 ment, pay of vaccinators, a health officer, a conservancy establishment, 
 watering roads, surveys, rewards, construction and repairs of roads and 
 bridges and of pounds. The receipts and charges in 1866-67, and during 
 the last three years have been in rupees : — 
 
 
 1866-67. 
 
 1875-76. 
 
 1876-77. 
 
 1877-78. 
 
 Keceipts 
 Charges 
 
 59,044t 
 82,528 
 
 126,817 
 106,589 
 
 145,545 
 166,766 
 
 114,162 
 107,342 
 
 Includes Eurasians. 
 
 t Includes a loan of Es. 10,000. 
 
 47
 
 370 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 At the end of 1867-68 the town was Rs. 19,944 in debt but at the end of 
 1877-78 had a siirphis balance of Es. 6,920. 
 
 There is still much room for the expenditure of funds. The roads, 
 owing to their inclination down the slope towards the Salween, require 
 extensive and expensive annual repairs, and nothing could well be more 
 faulty or dangerous than the conservancy system : a system of long-used 
 cesspits, never cleaned, and intermixed with the wells (in some places 
 they are in almost immediate proximity to each other) from which the 
 inhabitants obtain their drinking-water. The outcry in England regarding 
 cesspools and wells has been great and terribly startling facts have been 
 brought to notice but in no single instance has anything so bad been 
 disclosed there as exists here. The streets are watered and the town is to 
 be lighted with oil lamps, and at the present moment several schemes for 
 obtaining a supply of pure water from a distance are under consideration. 
 But the full, nay running over, cesspits are still in use and are to 
 remain so till there is more unanimity amongst the Municipal Commis- 
 sioners as to how the night-soil shall be disposed of. 
 
 The existing rate of taxation per head of population is Rs. 1-11-7. 
 
 MAW-RWA. — A village in the Lamoo-lek-ya circle of the Northern 
 township, Sandoway district, on the La-moo river, about 10 miles from its 
 mouth, with a population of 1,070 souls in 1877. The village is accessible 
 by land and by water. 
 
 MAW-TOON. — A village in the Tenasserim circle of the Tenasserim 
 township, Mergui district, 16 miles N. W. of Tenasserim, on the right bank 
 of the Tenasserim river. The inhabitants, who nmnbered 633 souls in 1877, 
 are all cultivators. 
 
 MA-YAN. — A small village in the Angyee township of the Rangoon 
 district, remarkable only as having given its name to a quarter of the town 
 of Maulmain (Ma-yan-goon) to which most of its inhabitants fled after the 
 close of the first Burmese war. 
 
 MA-YA-TSEN. — A very extensive revenue circle in the extreme north 
 of the Kyouk-hpyoo township of the Kyouk-hpyoo district, lying on the 
 north-eastern shore of Kyouk-hpyoo harbour and consisting of numerous 
 closely-adjoining islands. It is rather more than 45 square miles in 
 extent and has a population of 2,558 souls. In 1876-77 the land revenue 
 was Rs. 2,380, the capitation tax Rs. 3,148 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 6,482. 
 
 MA-YEN-ZA-YA. — A revenue circle in the Rangoon district extending 
 eastwards from the Pegu Roma to the new Pegu and Tsit-toung canal, 
 having the Shwe-gyeng district on the north and east ; from this it is separated 
 by the Bhaw-nee-ga-le stream from its source to the Pegu and Toung-ngoo 
 road, thence by that road to a little north of the village of Pyeng-boon-gyee, 
 thence by the embankment which stretches across the plains to Myit-kyo 
 on the bank of the Tsit-toung and thence, southwards, by the canal. On 
 the south is the Pegu Myoma circle. On the west the country is hilly and 
 forest-clad but east of the Pegu and Toung-ngoo road it is an extensive 
 grass-covered plain (intersected by numerous streams, all connected with the 
 Pyeng-boon-gyee, the Wom-bhai-eng or the Bhoora-ga-le which rise in the
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 371 
 
 west and carry oJBf the drainage of the Pegu hills) for the most part under 
 water during the rains and forming valuable fisheries but with a few spots 
 sufiiciently raised to be cultivated with rice. The principal villages are 
 Pyeng-boon-gyee, with 926 inhabitants in 1877, and Bhoora-ga-le, about 
 eight miles further south on the main road, with 249 inhabitants. The 
 population, the area under cultivation and the revenue during the last five 
 years have been : — 
 
 
 Aeea, in acres. 
 
 Revekue, ra Rupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 6 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 CD QQ 
 
 S ^ 
 
 .2 o 
 
 "3 
 o 
 
 "3 
 
 .2 
 o 
 
 o g 
 
 "3 
 1 
 
 1873-74 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 
 1877-78 
 
 14,206 
 17,755 
 18,353 
 18,194 
 17,236 
 
 65 
 
 26 
 
 77 
 
 146 
 
 723 
 
 79 
 42 
 
 59 
 
 68 
 84 
 
 70 
 
 97 
 
 80 
 
 116 
 
 111 
 
 14,426 
 17,920 
 18,569 
 18,524 
 18,154 
 
 14,168 
 17,053 
 32,313 
 17,303 
 16,388 
 
 7,410 
 8,000 
 7,638 
 7,996 
 8,270 
 
 16,663 
 18,941 
 4,679 
 16,457 
 17,071 
 
 38,241 
 43,994 
 44,630 
 41,750 
 41,729 
 
 and the agricultural stock 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 =* . 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 O 
 
 
 w 
 
 
 as 
 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 if r— 
 
 ac3 
 
 !D O 
 
 03 
 
 bo 
 
 O 
 
 CO 
 
 r: 
 
 o 
 
 
 n 
 
 o S 
 
 OQ 
 
 s 
 
 P^ 
 
 o 
 
 M 
 
 1873-74 
 
 2,406 
 
 479 
 
 
 41 
 
 543 
 
 505 
 
 32 
 
 1874-75 
 
 3,191 
 
 586 
 
 9 
 
 23 
 
 773 
 
 664 
 
 9 
 
 1875-76 
 
 3,777 
 
 762 
 
 
 19 
 
 844 
 
 703 
 
 17 
 
 1876-77 
 
 3,412 
 
 1,125 
 
 
 20 
 
 839 
 
 737 
 
 11 
 
 1877-78 
 
 1,993 
 
 759 
 
 
 10 
 
 407 
 
 401 
 
 16 
 
 The circle received its present boundaries in 1877, when a small tract 
 in the north-west was added to and a small tract in the north-east taken 
 from the Shwe-gyeng district. The forest-clad hills on the west afford 
 a comparatively safe and easy retreat for out-laws and on several occasions 
 gangs of robbers have formed and sought shelter here, harbom-ed and assist- 
 ed by some of the Kareng who occupy the villages between the Pegu river 
 and the Pegu and Toung-ngoo road and by the inhabitants of Pyeng-boon- 
 gyee, Wom-bhai-cng and Bhoora-ga-le on that road. It was in attacking 
 one of these bands to the north-east of Bhoora-ga-le that Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Hamilton, the Inspector-General of Police, was kUled in 1874. 
 
 MAY-KHA-PiE. — A small river in the Bassein district which rises in the 
 Arakan mountains, about 13 miles from Pagoda Point, and after an almost 
 southerly course of about 12 miles, past four or five villages surroimded 
 with rice fields, falls mto the Bassein river opposite Haing-gyee or Negrais 
 Island. It is tidal as far as I)ee-tsoon-rwa, 10 miles up, to which village 
 boats of 300 bushels biu'den can ascend.
 
 372 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 MA-YOO. — A river in Arakan which rises in the hills near the northern 
 boundary of the Akyab district and, flowing with a general N. and S. direction, 
 falls into the Bay of Bengal to the N. W. of Akyab Island between the Naaf 
 and theKoo-la-dan. For 50 miles up it has more the appearance of an arm 
 of the sea than of a river. Its mouth is about three miles broad. The 
 entrance is rendered dangerous for vessels of any but the smallest draft by 
 rocks and shoals : the passage used by native boats is in shore on the 
 northern side. 
 
 MEE-GA-LOON. — A revenue cu-cle in the Gyaing Attaran township, 
 Amherst district, l,ymg ui the angle formed by the Houng-tha-raw and the 
 Gyaing. To the south, and separated from it by an imaginary line only, is 
 the Doo-tie-ya Ivlia-reng cu'cle and to the westward, separated from it by 
 low hills, is the Pa-ta-ma Kha-reng cu'cle : it now includes Loung-kaing. 
 Its inhabitants are mainly Talamg and numbered 1,859 in 1876-77 when 
 the land revenue was Es. 3,522 and the capitation tax Es. 2,147. 
 
 MEE-GA-THAT. — A small river in the Amherst district, a tributary of 
 the Za-mie ; rising in the main range to the eastward it enters British 
 territory in 15° 22' 42" N. and 98° 37' 10" E. Its course is about west. 
 
 MEE-G YOUNG. — A village in the K}^on-kliyoung circle, Thee-kweng 
 township, Bassein district, in 16° 52' 30' N. and 94° 58' E. in the middle of 
 extensive rice fields. The inhabitants, most of whom are Burmans, are 
 engaged mainly in cultivation. 
 
 MEE-GYOUNG-EE. — A revenue circle in the Prome district imme- 
 diately south of the town of Prome and lymg along the left bank of 
 the Irrawaddy, containing principally fruit gardens. Two of the old village 
 tracts are included in this circle, viz., Tsaw-oo-tat and Htee-beng. In 
 1876 the population numbered 914, the land revenue was Es. 942, the capi- 
 tation tax Es. 1,005 and the gross revenue Es. 2,481. 
 
 MEE-HTA-GYIT. — A small river in the Amherst district which falls 
 into the Za-mie from the westward near the village of Kan-nee. It has a 
 valuable Teak forest on its banks. 
 
 MEE-TAN. — A small river in the Amherst district which rises in the 
 western slopes of the Moo-lai-yit mountain and after a short westerly com-se 
 falls into the Houng-tha-raw a few miles above the mouth of the Mai-ka-la. 
 
 MEE-THWE-BOOT.— A village of some 90 houses in the Thai-daw 
 circle, Tliayet township, Thayet district, on the right bank of the Irra- 
 waddy at the mouth of the Mee-thwe-boot stream, between Htan-doung 
 and Thayet-myo. 
 
 MEE-THWE-BOOT.— A small river in the Thayet district which 
 rises in the eastern slopes of the Arakan mountains and, receiving the 
 waters of numerous mountain rivulets, flows eastward and falls into the 
 Irrawaddy just below the town of Thayet, at the village of Mee-thwe-boot. 
 It is not navigable except during the rains and then only by small boats and 
 for two or three miles. 
 
 MEE-ZAN. — A revenue cu'cle in the Amherst district extending along 
 the left bank of the Salween northwards from the Hpa-an stream, with the 
 Shwc-gwon circle on the north and the Htee-loon circle on the east. It now
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 373 
 
 includes Kaw-htaw. In 1876 the population was 1,942, the land revenue 
 Es. 2,087 and the capitation tax Es. 2,095. 
 
 MENG-BOO. — A small river in the Henzada district, Pegu division, 
 which rises in the slopes of the Shan-ma-toung spur of the Pegu Eoma in 
 about 18° 30' N. Lat. and after a south-westerly course of about 30 miles 
 falls into the M3dt-ma-kha near the village of Kyouk-wa. Its banks are 
 steep and its bed sandy and rocky, but in the rains it is navigable for some 
 distance from its mouth by boats of 150 bushels burden. It taps a country 
 in which are some fine Teak tracts. 
 
 MEXG-BEA. — A township in the Akyab district divided into 15 
 revenue ch'cles, lying south of Mro-houng and adjoming the Kyouk-hpyoo 
 district, to which a few years ago several cii'cles from this township were 
 added {See Kyouk-hjjyoo district — Administrvtion) . On the west is the 
 Oo-rit-toung (East) township and on the east the Arakan Hill Tracts. In 
 the south the soil is good, the cultivation extensive, and the country highly 
 intersected by navigable creeks which serve the purpose of roads ; portions 
 are hable to inundation at high tides. In 1876-77 the population numbered 
 26,893 souls and the revenue was Es. 92,775 (Es. 57,840 from land, 
 Es. 30,784 from capitation tax and Es. 4,151 from other som-ces). 
 
 IMENG-BYENG. — A village of about 70 houses in the Poo-hto cu-cle, 
 Ka-ma township, Thayet district, on the right bank of the Irrawaddy, 
 between Ka-ma and Poo-hto. 
 
 ]\IENG-DAI. — A little village of nearly 20 houses in the Meng-dai 
 township, Thayet district, on the Mee-thwe-boot stream, in which a small 
 pohce force of nine or ten men is stationed. 
 
 IVIENG-DAI. — A village in the Tham-ba-ya cu'cle, Ka-ma township, 
 Thayet district, containing about 90 houses, lying in the lower portion 
 of the valley of the Ma-htoon and between that river and the Hnget-the 
 spur on the S. W. It was originally an independent cu'cle but in 1862, on 
 the resignation of the then Thoogyee, it was added to 0-shit-goon, itself 
 since joined to Tham-ba-ya. 
 
 MENG-DAI. — A revenue cu'cle in the Thayet township, Thayet 
 district, in the vaUey of the Mee-thwe-boot stream, to the west of Thai- 
 daw, of late years joined to Moon-za-lie. 
 
 MENG-DAI. — A revenue cu-cle in the Prome district stretching north- 
 east from the bank of the Irrawaddy, about eight miles below Prome, to the 
 Prome hiUs. The country is generally hilly and covered with forest. In 
 the western corner is the Meng-dai quarter of the large town of Shwe-doung, 
 and in the river just opposite is Meng-dai island which forms a portion of 
 this cu'cle. It now includes Za-loon and in 1876-77 the population was 
 7,169, the capitation tax Es. 6,970, the land revenue Es. 1,984 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 9,535. 
 
 ^lENG-DAT. — A revenue circle in the Meng-doon township, Thayet 
 district. In the Burmese time it contained eight village tracts and was 
 under a Myo-thoogyee subordinate to the Won of Meng-doon. The fron- 
 tier line chosen by Lord Dalhousie cut Meng-dat in half ; four of the eight 
 tracts remained to the king of Burma and the fom* which were annexed 
 were made into one circle under one Thoogyee. In the war of 1825 the
 
 374 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Meng-clat Myo-thoogyee fought well against the English; in the war of 1852 
 his grandson, who had succeeded him in the Myo-thoogyeeship, followed his 
 example and subsequently, on the annexation of Pegu, declined to take 
 office under the British and retired to Upper Burma. The circle covers an 
 area of 27 square miles, of which only some 4,000 acres are cultur- 
 able (about 2,200 acres actually cultivated) the remainder being hilly and 
 covered with forest : — Teak, Cutch, Palm, Eng-gyeng {Pentacme Siamensis) 
 and bamboos. Such cultivation as there is is largely in hill clearings. The soil 
 generally consists of a light slate-coloiu-ed clay (in some parts red) mixed 
 with a good deal of sand and here and there pebbles and gravel occur ; the 
 low sandy ground close to the Pa-nee stream is covered with tobacco and 
 vegetable gardens. The population a few years ago numbered 1,504 souls 
 living in 583 houses in 27 villages ; in 1872 it numbered 3,445 souls (2,111 
 Burmese and 1,334 Khyeng) living in 831 houses in 36 villages, and in 
 1876 2,596. The revenue in 1876-77 was PiS. 2,390 (land revenue Pis. 763, 
 capitation tax Es. 1,569 and other taxes and rates Es. 58.) The products 
 are rice, sessamum, cotton, maize, tobacco and chillies. 
 
 MENG-DOON.— A town in the Thayet district in 18° 20' 12" N. Lat. 
 and 94° 4' 74" E. Long., the head-quarters of the Meng-doon township. 
 It is a pretty little town situated on high land amongst hills on one of the 
 bends of the Ma-htoon river within a few miles of the Arakan mountains. 
 In the Burmese time a Won was stationed here with jmisdiction over 
 " the seven districts at the foot of the hills" (See Meng-doon toivnship). After 
 the annexation it was placed under an Extra Assistant Commissioner of the 
 3rd class, and now an Extra Assistant Commissioner of the 2nd class holds 
 his court here. It has not increased during British rule and now has a 
 population of about 1,600 souls engaged chiefly in agriculture. For some 
 years after the annexation it was occupied by a military force, detached from 
 Thayet-myo ; this was reHeved by a detachment of the Pegu light infantry, 
 recruited amongst the Burmans, which was subsequently withdrawn and 
 replaced by police. 
 
 According to the current legend the town was founded circa 100 A.D. by 
 Tha-moon~da-rie, a fugitive prince of Prome, and was caUed Bhoom-ma- 
 wa-dee, the Ma-htoon being called Tha-man-da-na-dee and the Prince's 
 palace in the town Ze-yan-bhoon-tha. After reigning in Bhoom-ma-wa-dee 
 for seven years Tha-moon-da-rie, having appointed his uncle, Ze-ta-koo-ta, 
 as Governor, went north and founded the subsequently flourishing kingdom 
 of Pagan. 
 
 MENG-DOON. — A township in the Thayet district between Lat. 19° 5' 
 and 19° 30' N. and Long. 94° 30' and 94° 45' E. 
 
 It contains an area of 708 square miles and is bounded on the north 
 by Upper Bm-ma, on the west by the Arakan mountains, on the east by 
 the township of Thayet and on the south by that of Ka-ma. 
 
 Its cultivated area in 1871-72 was : — 
 
 Acres. 
 Rice land .. .. .. .. 1,1(52 
 
 Gardens . . . . . . . . 857 
 
 Miscellaneous cultivation . . . . . . 4,356 
 
 Total . . 6,375
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 375 
 
 There were also 3,638 toungya and 3,585 trees assessed separately for 
 revenue. 
 
 The revenue was : — 
 
 Es. 
 Land revenue . . . . . . . . 12,842 
 
 Capitation tax . . . . . . . . 16,195 
 
 Total lis... 29,037 
 
 The population, by the census of 1872, amounted to 26,165 souls, of 
 whom 20,804 were Burmans and 5,361 Khyeng, living in 5,877 houses in 
 217 villages. 
 
 It contained the following cattle : — 
 
 Buffaloes .. .. .. .. .. 2,723 
 
 Bulls, bullocks and cows . . . . . . 27,490 
 
 Total 
 
 30,213 
 
 It contains 45 registered village tracts which are now divided amongst 
 nine Thoogyee. 
 
 The area under cultivation, revenue, population and agricultural 
 stock in 1876-77 were : — 
 
 Akea, in 
 
 ACEES. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Stock. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 n3 
 
 
 
 ■73 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 <o 
 
 
 
 ai 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 cS 
 
 
 
 y m 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 1 
 
 05 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 OS 
 
 o 
 
 •r-t 
 CS 
 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 CO 
 
 ai 
 to 
 
 c3 
 
 O 
 
 « 
 
 o 
 
 S 
 
 H 
 
 t^ 
 
 o 
 
 <! 
 
 H 
 
 m 
 
 o 
 
 w 
 
 > 
 
 e-< 
 
 10,178 
 
 653 
 
 3,634 
 
 14,485 
 
 16,962 
 
 17,132 
 
 2,064 
 
 37,964 
 
 3,854 
 
 17,535 
 
 5,982 
 
 210 
 
 26,039 
 
 The present township of Meng-doon, or Meng-doon cum Meng-dat, 
 comprises portions of the Burmese districts of Meng-doon, Taing-da and 
 Meng-dat. Proceeding from the east the frontier line cut Meng-dat in two, 
 leaving about one-third to the Bm-mans and taking the other two-thnds 
 into British territory. It then cut off a very small portion of the north- 
 east corner of the Meng-doon district which it left to Burma, then included a 
 small bit of the southern part of Taing-da in British territory, and then, 
 cutting through Meng-doon, again left the north-west corner of that town- 
 ship to the Bm-mans. Our township, therefore, includes nearly the whole 
 of the old Meng-doon township, a very small piece of Taing-da and two- 
 thu-ds of Meng-dat. 
 
 Meng-doon is said to derive its name from an event which occm-red at 
 a very early i)eriod of Burman history. Two sons of Ma-noo-raza, king of 
 Tha-htoon, rebelled against their father and took refuge with the Pyoo- 
 thek, who then inhabited this part of the country. From this circum- 
 stance the place became known afterwards as Meng-poon (Prince's hiding-
 
 376 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 place) subsequently corrupted to Meng-cloon. Meng-dat was the place 
 where these prmces collected a force of cavah-y, hence it was called 
 Myeng-dat (cavalry camp) subsequently corrupted to Meng-dat. 
 
 In later times under the Burmese Government Meng-doon was the 
 residence of a Won, a provincial governor of high rank with full power 
 of life and death, who had jurisdiction over Meng-dat, Taing-da, Myo-thit, 
 Pa-dien, Ma-bhai and Nan-tay as well as Meng-doon*. At the settlement 
 of 1783 A.D., there were two Myo-thoogyee in Meng-doon, one of the north 
 and one of the south ; 20 years later the number was reduced and Moung 
 Htwe-hla, the Myo-thoogyee of the north, was removed and Moung Wa, the 
 Myo-thoogyee of the south, remained in office. His descendant, Moung 
 Kee, was in office at the time of the annexation. He fled to Upper Burma 
 and refused to take service under the English Government although invited 
 to do so by the Commissioner. One of his sons is now the Tsit-kai pf 
 Taing-da Toung-tsen in Upper Bm-ma but some of his relatives still 
 reside about Meng-doon. No head-men of circles (Talk Thoogyee) canae 
 between the Myo-thoogyee and the village head-men (Rwa-thoogyee) in this 
 township but at the town of Meng-doon there resided a numerous staff 
 of officials round the Won. These were a Tsit-kai (subordinate Judge), 
 Na-khan, Tsa-re-gyee (secretaries), Won-tsa-re (clerks to the Won), a 
 Myo-ook, sometimes called Myo-won, a Htoung-hmoo (Gaoler) and a Khoon 
 (superior Judge). 
 
 There were 37 hereditary village Thoogyee in 1783 a.d. but the here- 
 ditary system does not appear to have struck root very firmly for at 
 the time of the annexation (1854) the number had been reduced to eight and 
 now there are only four left. Although the annexation of Pegu was pro- 
 claimed in December 1852 Meng-doon and Meng-dat were not brought 
 under British administration until March 1854 when the then Commis- 
 sioner of Pegu (now Sii' A. P. Phayre) marched there with a small force, 
 took possession of the township, and personally made all the necessary 
 arrangements for its future administration. One Nga Noung, who had been 
 a Government dacoit t in the Burmese time, was at first made both Myo- 
 ook and Thoogyee of Meng-dat and he was shortly afterwards removed in 
 the same capacity to Meng-doon, but his native habits could not be eradi- 
 cated and he was soon dismissed for embezzlement, on which he retm*ned to 
 his old avocation of dacoit chief in Upper Burma. The present Extra 
 Assistant Commissioner of Meng-doon, Moung Tshouk, was then appointed 
 in his place. 
 
 Meng-dat in the Burmese time was under a Myo-thoogyee who was 
 subordinate to the Won of Meng-doon. He had under him eight village 
 Thoogyee, all appointed hereditarily in 1783 A.D. Foui- only of these 
 village Thoogyee's jm-isdictions are now mcluded in British Bm-ma the 
 other four being beyond the frontier line. 
 
 In the war of 1825 the Meng-dat Myo-thoogyee, Moung Shwe-oo, was 
 a man of some note. He served agamst the British with 500 men from 
 Meng-dat and is said to have gained some success at Pan-wa. His grand- 
 
 * Called the "seven Districts along the Hill" (Toung-tsen Khoo-hnit Kha-raing). 
 
 t Most Burman Governors have among their recognized followers one called the dacoit 
 officer (Dha-myaBo) who is allowed to commit dacoities, on fitting opportunities, with impiinity, 
 a share of the spoil, of course, belonging to the Governor.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 377 
 
 soil, Moling Kareng, was Myo-tboogyee in the second war. He refused to take 
 office under the British Government and retired to Upper Burma on the 
 annexation of the Provmce. The hereditary system among the Thoogyee 
 had taken as Httle root here as in Meng-doon, for all the four village Thoo- 
 gyeeships included withm our boundary were held by strangers at the 
 time of the annexation. 
 
 When the second war broke out the Won of Meng-doon, Moung 
 Shwe-gnyo, was invested with authority over Tsa-goo, Tsa-laing, Kya-beng 
 and Lay-gaing, as well as over the seven hill districts of Meng-doon. He 
 collected a force of 10,000 men, but did nothing with it. Some of the force 
 mutinied, there was internal fighting, and the Won died at Ma-bhai. 
 
 The following table shews the villages which were registered in 1145 
 B.E., 1783 A.D. and the names of the circles in which they are at present 
 included : — 
 
 Registered villages. 
 
 Present circle. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lek-pa-daing 
 
 
 
 Kyan. 
 
 Keng-bwon-toung 
 
 
 
 4. 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Kyan .. 
 
 
 
 
 dttto. 
 
 Ta-ma .. 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Ewa-tha 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Ka-tswon-myoung 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 Koo-byoo. 
 
 Moo 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Pan-gnyo 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Oo-yeen-boo 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Tha-dwon-gyee . . 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Tha-dwon-ngay . . 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Doo 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Meng-rwa-gaing . . 
 
 
 
 
 Meng-doon. 
 
 Kaing-ngay 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Myoung-gyee 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Tsa-ga-dai 
 
 
 
 
 Ma-oo-daing. 
 
 Ma-oo-daing 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Tseng-deng 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Aing-ma 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Pai-myonk . . » . 
 
 
 
 
 Pai-myouk. 
 
 Myouk-pyeng 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Tsa-ba-tan 
 
 
 
 
 Shwe-doung. 
 
 Mai-za-lee 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Da-lay-pyeng .. 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Leng-bhan 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Toung-myeng 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Khyoung-boiik . . 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Gnyoung-maw . . 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Nat-mouk 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Kyap-ka-baing . . 
 
 
 
 
 Kyap. 
 
 Hmaik . . 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Ta-goung-nek . . 
 
 
 
 
 Ta-goung-nek. 
 
 Thwe-gyoiik 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Kya-gan 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Rwa-boo-lai 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 Tsheng-tha 
 
 
 
 
 ditto. 
 
 The four registered villages of Meng-dat have been included ever since 
 the annexation in the one circle of that name. 
 
 48
 
 378 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The annual quota of revenue* assessed upon Meng-doon at the settle- 
 ment of 1145 B. E., was 50 viss of silver or Es. 6,600 and on Meng-dat 
 12 viss or Es. 1,560. Meng-doon had, besides, to furnish, for the personal 
 service of the king, 20 men who were relieved every six months. In 
 time of war Meng-doon had to furnish 500 musketeers and 500 spear- 
 men. After the first war the assessment of regular revenue remained, nomi- 
 nally, the same but an extra cess, called the " tenth" (Dathama), was 
 levied for four years in order to pay off the fine imposed on the Burmese 
 government at the treaty of Yandaboo. This is said to have amounted in 
 the governorship of Meng-doon (far larger than the present township) to 
 5,000 viss of sUver or Es. 650,000 per annum, and in Meng-dat to 50 
 viss. 
 
 The fixed assessment had to be remitted in full to the Myo-tsa at 
 Amarapoora. The Won, Myo-thoogyee and other numerous officials are 
 said to have obtained their personal revenue chiefly from the sums 
 extracted from suitors in civil and criminal cases. A lawsuit invariably 
 resulted in the ruin of one of the parties. 
 
 The last Myo-tsa of Meng-doon was the present king of Burma and 
 from Meng-doon he derived the title of " Meng-doon Prince" by which 
 he was known before his accession to the throne. On his representing, 
 whilst Myo-tsa of Meng-doon, that the annual tribute of 50 viss of silver 
 was insufficient for him the amount was doubled. 
 
 MENG-DOON. — A revenue circle in the Meng-doon township, 
 Thayet district, in which is situated the town of Meng-doon, the head- 
 quarters of the township. For some years after the annexation the 
 taxes in the town of Meng-doon were collected by the town goung but in 
 1862 the Oot-hpo Thoogyee was entrusted with this duty and the town 
 made a portion of his circle. The products are rice, sessamum, cotton, 
 plantains, tobacco, onions, chillies and cutch. In 1876-77 the population 
 was 4,178, the land revenue Es. 3,296, the capitation tax Es. 2,788 and the 
 revenue from all other sources, including that levied in the town of Meng- 
 doon, Es. 2,825. 
 
 MENG-GA-LA-DOON. — A revenue circle in the Hmaw-bhee township 
 adjoining and north of the town of Eangoon, extending westwards from the 
 ridge of the hiUs along which runs the Prome road to the Hlaing ; on the east 
 is the Koon-dan circle and on the north the Kyoung-goon. The country 
 on the east and south-east is hilly and forest-clad with numerous winding 
 ravines and both by its physical formation and by its (laterite) soil suited 
 only for orchards and vegetable gardens. For some miles from Eangoon 
 almost every inch of available land is planted with jack, mango and other 
 fruit-bearing trees, whilst the ground between the stems is covered with 
 pine-apple plants the fruit being destined for the Eangoon market. These, 
 owing to the dense shade and possibly to the heavy dews and the poverty 
 of the soil, are watery and tasteless when compared with even the Indian 
 fruit. Towards the west the country sinks and here rice is grown, the tidal 
 streams which carry off the water from the hills to the Hlaing affording an 
 easy means of transport to Eangoon. 
 
 * Called here the Kwon-bho-daw. It was assessed in Rwek-nee silver of which one viss may 
 be taken as equivalent toEs. 153, according to Sir A. Phayre.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 379 
 
 The area under cultivation and the revenue during the last five years 
 were : — 
 
 
 Area, in Acres. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Garden. 
 
 Miscel- 
 laneous. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Land. 
 
 Capita- 
 tion tax. 
 
 All 
 others. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1873-74 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 3,935 
 
 4,276 
 4,261 
 4,093 
 4,590 
 
 2,269 
 2,619 
 2,502 
 2,592 
 2,607 
 
 24 
 32 
 43 
 45 
 39 
 
 6,228 
 6,927 
 6,806 
 6,730 
 7,236 
 
 15,174 
 17,120 
 15,769 
 14,910 
 17,417 
 
 7,113 
 6,573 
 6,895 
 6,593 
 6,785 
 
 114 
 144 
 165 
 151 
 156 
 
 22,401 
 23,837 
 22,829 
 21,654 
 24,385 
 
 and the population and agricultural stock :- 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Agricultural stock. 
 
 Teab. 
 
 
 
 
 
 "o 
 
 
 
 
 "31 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 m 
 
 .9 
 
 '3 
 
 a 
 
 w 
 
 00 cS 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 to "^ 
 
 to 
 
 O 
 
 to 
 
 1 
 
 tn 
 
 .a 
 o 
 
 
 
 pq 
 
 H 
 
 U2 
 
 M 
 
 "A 
 
 < 
 
 EH 
 
 (3 
 
 O i 
 
 d 
 
 ^ 
 
 PM 
 
 m 
 
 1873-74 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 221 
 
 1,542 
 
 13 
 
 285 
 
 342 
 
 48 
 
 1874-75 
 
 3,347 
 
 
 2,551 
 
 875 
 
 22 
 
 40 
 
 6,835 
 
 176 
 
 126 
 
 10 
 
 311 
 
 323 
 
 31 
 
 1875-76 
 
 3,421 
 
 
 2,484 
 
 509 
 
 
 207 
 
 6,621 
 
 175 
 
 1,369 
 
 5 
 
 251 
 
 265 
 
 23 
 
 1876-77 
 
 3,603 
 
 
 2,188 
 
 595 
 
 27 
 
 167 
 
 6,580 
 
 142 
 
 1,425 
 
 1 
 
 216 
 
 187 
 
 36 
 
 1877-78 
 
 3,010 
 
 •• 
 
 2,583 
 
 353 
 
 11 
 
 6 
 
 5,963 
 
 141 
 
 106 
 
 " 
 
 141 
 
 153 
 
 8 
 
 The number of Shan is comparatively large. They are congregated 
 almost entirely on the undulating ground in the east and south-east and 
 are nearly all gardeners. 
 
 Towards the north-eastern corner is the village of Meng-ga-la-doon, 
 near the site of a once fiourshing town, founded circa 750 A.D. by Poon-na- 
 ree-ka, of which no traces even remain. The villages are all small hamlets 
 of no importance. 
 
 MENG-GA-LA-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the Naaf townshij), Akyab 
 district, on the bank of the Naaf estuary, divided into three distinct por- 
 tions by an intervening grant of land. The population in 1875 numbered 
 2,234 souls, the cultivated area covered 2,226 acres, the land revenue 
 amounted to Es. 4,852 and the capitation tax produced Es. 1,970. In 1876 
 there were 3,569 inhabitants and the gross revenue was Es. 9,291 of which 
 Rs. 5,674 were derived from the land, Es. 3,350 from the capitation tax 
 and the remainder from other sources. 
 
 MENG-GYEE. — A township of the Henzada district on the east bank 
 of the Irrawaddy extending eastwards from that river to the Pegu Eoma 
 with the Ta-pwon township on the north and the Mo-gnyo township on 
 the south. The principal town is Meng-gyee, at one time the head-quarters
 
 380 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 of the Tharrawaddy district* which now forms a portion of Henzada. The 
 population of the township in 1876 was 15,770 souls, the land revenue 
 Ks. 4,731, the capitation tax Ks. 14,383 and the gross revenue Ks. 36,539. 
 
 MENG-GYEE. — A town in the Henzada district with some 1,700 
 inhabitants, about two miles inland, eastward of the Irrawaddy and about 
 11 miles south of the latitude of Myan-oung. For some years after the 
 last war a detachment of Native Infantry was quartered in this town and it 
 was made the head-quarters of an Assistant Commissioner ; subsequently the 
 troops were withdrawn and the Assistant Commissioner replaced by an 
 Extra Assistant, who in later years has been relieved by an Assistant 
 Commissioner again. It is an imj)ortant town from which the produce of 
 the neighboming country, principally rice and cutch, is exported down the 
 river. It contains a Court-house and a Police-station. 
 
 MENG-HLA. — A river in the Henzada district. The north and south 
 Meng-hla rise in the western slopes of the Pegu mountains and unite at 
 Tshay-rwa to form the Meng-hla which flows in a south-westerly direction 
 to the Htoo, a distance of about 30 miles. The forests below Tshay-rwa 
 contain Htouk-kyan (Terniinalia macrocarpa) and Pyeng-gado {Xylia 
 dolabriformis) and those above that village Teak. 
 
 MENG-HLA. — A revenue circle in the Henzada district, east of the 
 Irrawaddy, lying to the south and west of Tshay-nhit-rwa. In the centre and 
 towards the east rice cultivation is carried on. In 1876-77 the population 
 numbered 8,412 souls, the land revenue was Es. 12,614, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 7,470 and the gross revenue Es. 21,139. 
 
 MENG-HLA. — A township in the Henzada district extending east- 
 wards from the Hlaing to the Pegu Eoma mountains, having the Mo-gnyo 
 township on the north and the Tsan-rwe township on the south ; towards 
 the east the country is hilly and is covered with forest where are 
 found Teak and other valuable timber, whilst towards the south, especially 
 in the Meng-hla circle, there is a good deal of rice cultivation. The town- 
 ship is divided into five revenue circles, viz., Kyek-taik, Tshay-hnit-rwa, 
 Meng-hla, Paik-taw and Lweng-pyeng. In 1876 there were 33,191 inhabit- 
 ants, the land revenue was Es. 48,025, the capitation tax Es. 29,173 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 112,654. 
 
 MENG-MA-NAING. — A creek in the Basseui district : the upper por- 
 tion of the Myoung-mya. 
 
 MENG-NGAY-GOON. — A revenue circle in the Prome district extend- 
 ing from about 13 miles east of Prome to the lower spurs of the Pegu 
 Eoma mountains. It contains four village tracts, viz., Meng-ngay-goon, 
 Thai-ma-thouk, Taw-rwa, and Aing-touk. In 1876-77 the population was 
 829, the land revenue Es. 1,741, the cai)itation tax Es. 835 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 2,576. 
 
 MENG-PYENG. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district on the 
 east coast of Cheduba, between the mouths of the Oon and the Kyee streams. 
 It has an area of about 20 square miles and a population of 3,789 souls of 
 whom a large number are collected in the two villages of Taw-too and 
 
 * Tharrawadily was again separated from Henzada and formed into an independent district 
 in 1878.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 381 
 
 Tsheng-nat-ldiyoung. In 1876-77 the capitation tax was Rs. 4,140, the land 
 revenue Es. 4,284 and the gross revenue Rs. 8,721. 
 
 MENG-PYENG. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo township, 
 Kyouk-hpyoo district, about the centre of Ramree Island and adjoining 
 the Ramree township ; on the north-east is the Kaing-khj-oung cu'cle, on 
 north, separated from it by the Tsan-khyoung, is the Than-htoung circle 
 and on the west and south-west the Tha-loo-doung circle. It is about nine 
 square miles in extent and has a population of 1,267 souls. The principal 
 product is sugar made from the sugar-cane which is extensively gro^vn. 
 In 1876-77 the land revenue was Rs. 1,223, the capitation tax Rs. 1,394 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 2,690. 
 
 MENG-RWA. — A village of 50 houses, which gave its name to a 
 cu-cle in the Meng-doon township, Thayet district, now joined to the 
 Meng-doon cu'cle. It is situated at the angle of a sharp bend of the 
 Ma-htoon about two miles south-east of the town of Meng-doon. 
 
 MENG-RWA. — A village in the Prome district forming the south-east- 
 em outskuis of the town of Shwe-doung. 
 
 MENG-RWA. — A revenue ckcle in the Shwe-doung township, Prome 
 district, south and east of Shwe-doung. The western portion of the circle 
 is level and highly cultivated whilst the eastern consists of undulating ground 
 and low hills covered with dense forest in which Teak is found m small 
 quantities mixed with Eng {Dipterocarpus tuhcrculatus) and bamboos. The 
 main road from Rangoon to the north runs through the western portion of 
 the circle. Included within its present limits are the once independ- 
 ent village tracts of Kaw-hla, Rwa-pa-lai, Rwa-hla, Tat-thit, Nat-tseng-gan, 
 Rwa-ma, Toung-loon-gnyo, Ka-thit-taing, Htouk-kyan-damg, Toung-tsoon, 
 Heng-gouk, Tha-bye-hla and Wa-lay. In 1876-77 the circle had 3,039 
 inhabitants and produced a gross revenue of Rs. 7,113 of which Rs. 3,668 
 were derived from the land, Rs. 3,320 from the capitation tax and Rs. 125 
 from miscellaneous sources. 
 
 MENG-YAT. — An arm of the sea half a mile wide at its mouth, just 
 north of the Than-htoung circle, which stretches inland for thi-ee miles in a 
 south-south-westerly direction from the north-eastern coast of Ramree 
 island. At its lower end it is fed by two short main streams. 
 
 MENG-YAT. — A long, narrow revenue cu'cle in the Kyouk-hpyoo 
 district extending north-east from the western coast of Ramree island along 
 the left bank of the Meng-yat to within about a mile of the north-eastern 
 coast. To the north-west is the Kyouk-pj^ouk cu-cle, to the north the 
 Gnyoung-beng-hla circle, to the west and south-west the Than-htoung 
 cii-cle and to the south the Than-khyoung cu-cle. In its northern portion 
 it is intersected by a net-work of tidal creeks which communicate with the 
 Meng-yat. It is 29 square miles in extent and has a population of 1,695 
 souls. The principal manufactm-e is salt. In 1876-77 the land revenue 
 was Rs. 1,746, the capitation tax Rs. 1,703 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 3,640. 
 
 MERGUI. — A town in the Tenasserim division in 12° 26' N. and 
 98° 35' E., the head-quarters of the Mergui district, on an island in the 
 principal mouth of the Tenasserim river which falls into the sea about two
 
 382 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 miles to the north and about one to the south of the town. The harbour 
 admits vessels of 18 feet draught. The banks near the town are hard 
 gravel but towards the sea mud flats extend for some distance, a mud bank 
 of some considerable length shewing itself at low water. Eising almost 
 from high water mark is a low range of hills, on which stand the Court- 
 houses and the old barracks, and round the base of which, west, north 
 and east, the town is built ; to the east is the Gaol. The other buildings are 
 the Treasury and Police-office in the same masonry building as that 
 in which the courts are held, the Circuit-house, of wood, on the northern 
 crest of the hill and the Charitable dispensary somewhat lower down ; on 
 the beach is the market, with a masonry causeway to the sea covered at 
 high tides, and a little to the south is a substantial wooden pier stretching 
 out to below low water mark. The population has not increased much of 
 late years, having been 9,873 in 1863-64, 10,200 in 1873-74 and 10,731 in 
 1876-77 ; it is composed of mixed races, Talaing, Burmese, Malays, 
 Bengalis, Madrassis, Siamese and many Chinese. In former years it was 
 a penal station to which convicts from Bengal were transported. It has a 
 Government school and a Eoman Catholic and an American Baptist 
 Mission. 
 
 The town, as it now exists, is of comparatively modern date and owes its 
 existence to the Burmans who, after the subjugation of the surrounding 
 country about the middle of the last century, enlarged the few fishing 
 hamlets which they found here. These were the only remains of the once 
 flourishing city mentioned by old travellers in which many English mer- 
 chants settled and remained peaceably employed and in high favour with 
 the inhabitants till they were attacked and driven out in 1695 (76 being 
 murdered and only 20 escaping) on the East India Company declaring war 
 with Siam, for which pm-pose Captain Weldon was despatched to Mergui, 
 then a Siamese town. It is mentioned by Caesar Frederick, the Venetian 
 traveller who visited Burma in 1569, as " a village called Mergui in whose 
 " harbour there lay every year some ships, with veizina {Sappan wood) 
 " nyppa and benjamin." In 1780 the Siamese invaded the country but were 
 defeated before Mergui and forced to retreat and in 1821 it was again 
 attacked by the same people and burned down. 
 
 During the first Burmese war an expeditionary force under Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Miles, having captured Tavoy, proceeded to Mergui ; a heavy fire was 
 opened from the town which was silenced by the guns of the ships and the 
 troops, landing and wading through the mud banks on the beach, escaladed 
 the stockade from which the enemy fled. The town was found deserted 
 but the people soon returned and shewed themselves perfectly indifferent to 
 the change of authorities. A small garrison of Native Infantry was left 
 and from that time Mergui has been a British town. In 1829 a rebellion 
 broke out in Tavoy and the officers in charge at Mergui, panic struck, escaped 
 with the small garrison to one of theneighbom-ing islands. Shwe Gya, son 
 of the Governor in the Burmese time, assumed and retained charge of the 
 town until a force was despatched from Tavoy where the out-break had 
 been suppressed. 
 
 The inhabitants carry on a good trade with the other ports of British 
 Burma and with the Straits Settlements, the principal articles of export being 
 grain (rice husked and unhusked), timber, dried fish, molasses and tin,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 383 
 
 and the principal imports cotton piece-goods, silk and tea. The Customs 
 duty which is realized from this trade is very small owing to its being mainly 
 with ports in British India. 
 
 The value of exports and imports with the amount of duty realized 
 during each of the last 10 years was : — 
 
 
 Value of Exports, in Rupees, 
 
 Value of Imports, in Rupees, 
 
 ai 
 
 O X 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 Sh 
 
 o 
 
 § 
 
 Foreign ports, 
 including the 
 Straits. 
 
 'u 03 
 
 pq a 
 
 l-< CO 
 
 O -43 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 00 
 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 Foreign ports, 
 including the 
 Straits. 
 
 M a 
 
 Tl CO 
 
 o-r3 
 
 3 
 
 H 
 
 ei "5 
 
 
 1867-68 . . 
 
 1,500 
 
 40,833 
 
 306,017 
 
 348,350 
 
 
 48,016 
 
 268,478 
 
 316,494 
 
 664,844 
 
 4,988 
 
 1868-69 .. 
 
 8,450 
 
 34,982 
 
 323,192 
 
 366,624 
 
 
 51,170 
 
 236,634 
 
 287,814 
 
 654,438 
 
 4,348 
 
 1869-70 . . 
 
 •• 
 
 49,689 
 
 293,665 
 
 343,354 
 
 
 61,697 
 
 165,918 
 
 227,615 
 
 570,969 
 
 4,530 
 
 1870-71 .. 
 
 2,450 
 
 59,243 
 
 305,964 
 
 367,659 
 
 
 78,688 
 
 222,898 
 
 301,586 
 
 669,245 
 
 6,247 
 
 1871-72 .. 
 
 2,392 
 
 71,264 
 
 275,086 
 
 348,742 
 
 
 97,502 
 
 200,857 
 
 298,359 
 
 647,101 
 
 6,145 
 
 1872-73 .. 
 
 2,277 
 
 71,680 
 
 358,583 
 
 432,540 
 
 
 55,120 
 
 238,999 
 
 294,119 
 
 726,659 
 
 2,909 
 
 1873-74 . . 
 
 5,095 
 
 62,070 
 
 395,266 
 
 462,431 
 
 
 76,324 
 
 321,850 
 
 389,174 
 
 351,605 
 
 3,798 
 
 1874-75 . . 
 
 1,350 
 
 69,598 
 
 397,999 
 
 468,947 
 
 
 96,471 
 
 296,126 
 
 392,597 
 
 861,544 
 
 4,283 
 
 1875-76 . . 
 
 5,640 
 
 73,322 
 
 336,622 
 
 415,584 
 
 
 85,258 
 
 223,415 
 
 308,673 
 
 724,257 
 
 5,858 
 
 1876-77 . . 
 
 18,332 
 
 140,317 
 
 331,924 
 
 490,573 
 
 415 
 
 134,930 
 
 307,731 
 
 443,076 
 
 933,649 
 
 8,052 
 
 The grain and timber exported during the same period was, in tons : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Grain. 
 
 Timber. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Grain. 
 
 Timber. 
 
 1867-68 
 
 70 
 
 9 
 
 1872-73 
 
 552 
 
 166 
 
 1868-69 
 
 685 
 
 16 
 
 1873-74 
 
 437 
 
 34 
 
 1869-70 
 
 652 
 
 25 
 
 1874-75 
 
 299 
 
 135 
 
 1870-71 
 
 1061 
 
 .. 
 
 1875-76 
 
 418 
 
 126 
 
 1871-72 
 
 906 
 
 2 
 
 1876-77 
 
 1,448 
 
 21 
 
 MERGUI. — A district in the Tenasserim division occupying the south- 
 ernmost portion of the Province. On the east it is separated from Siam 
 by the main range, and lower do^^^l by the Pak-chan river, to the west is the 
 Bay of Bengal and to the north the district of Tavoy. It extends from 
 9° 58' to 13° 24' N. and from 90" 15' to 98'' 35' E., is 206 miles long, has a 
 mean average breadth of about 40 miles — excluding the Mergui Archipelago —
 
 884 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and contains an area of 7,810 square miles. The surface of the country is 
 chiefly mountainous and, consequently, much intersected by streams of which 
 few are at present of any importance except as drainage -ways, being chiefly 
 unnavigable mountain torrents. 
 
 In 1875 Tavoy Island, off the mouth of the Tavoy river, was added to 
 it from the Tavoy district, south of which it lies. It extends from 12° 55' N. 
 to 13° 13' N. and is about two miles in breadth and 18 miles in length, 
 of moderate height, stretching N. by W. and S. by E. with a peak in the 
 middle and another small one at its southern end. On the east there is a 
 good and safe harbour called Port Owen, with good water and wood. 
 The island is mainly important as the principal place of resort of the 
 Colocalia facipkaga, the nests of which are largely exported to the Straits and 
 China and the right of collecting them leased out by the State. 
 
 The whole face of the country, hill and dale, except where cleared for 
 cultivation, is densely clothed with luxuriant vegetation, and towards the 
 interior and on the more elevated situations ui)on the coast are forest 
 trees of great beauty and size. The coast line, studded with islands, of 
 which within the hmits of the district there are no less than 207, is very 
 irregular and for several miles inland very little raised above the level of 
 the sea, consisting for the most part, and particularly to the southward of the 
 town of Mergui, of low mangrove islands entkely unfit for cultivation ; here 
 and there, however, are found small plains of fertile land adapted for rice, 
 and occasionally hills of moderate elevation occur upon which are gardens 
 of areca palms and plantains. Towards the interior, after passing the 
 mangrove limits the ground gradually rises till it becomes mountainous, 
 even to the banks of the rivers, and so contmues to the grand natm-al barrier, 
 the lofty chain which divides the Province from Siam. 
 
 Two principal ranges traverse the district from north to south in a 
 Mountains. nearly N. W. and S. E. dii*ection, rmming almost par- 
 
 allel to each other for a considerable distance, the river 
 Tenasserim winding between them till it turns south and traverses an 
 opening in the westernmost range. The western range soon rises again 
 and below the latitude of Mergui inclines eastward and joins the other at 
 the Ehow Phra hiU a little above 11° N. Lat. From about 11° 25' N. Lat. 
 to the extreme southern limit of the district extends another low range 
 forming the western watershed of the Le-gnya and the Pak-chan and joined 
 to the eastern range between the sources of these two rivers by a cross spur. 
 On the east and south the country is fiUed with these ranges and their off- 
 shoots and subsidiary spurs all covered with thick forest. 
 
 The most northern pass across the main range into Siam is by the 
 Tsa-raw but this is so difficult that it is almost impracticable and is only 
 used by Kareng. Seventy- six miles further south is another, called by the 
 Bm-mese " Maw-doung" and by the Siamese " Khow-maun", the one meaning 
 " Tired hill" the other " Pillow mountain", at the somxe of the Thien- 
 khwon stream ; this is the main line of communication between Mergui 
 and the southern provinces of Siam. On the English side the country is 
 so infested with tigers that the natives never attempt the jom*ney unarmed 
 or in less numbers than three. Apart from this the Thien-khwon is navi- 
 gable only by the smallest boats during that part of the year when travel- 
 ling is possible. This route is both bad and long and it is also through a
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 385 
 
 line of country where elephants are not procurable, in addition to which there 
 is a scarcity of di'inking water on the Siamese side. 
 
 From Maw-doung southwards down to the source of the Kra river 
 Siamese form almost exclusively the occupants of the peninsula ; the con- 
 sequence is that the mountains are traversed by more passes than in the 
 same length of any other portion of the boundary line, real or imagined 
 hindrances being removed by former mutual intercourse and by consang- 
 uinity. There are five well-known passes which deserve mention. 
 
 The fast is up the Thien-khwon to the mouth of the Khalaung- 
 khyan-khow, about a mile below Hpoung-tshiep, the landing-place in 
 the Maw-doung route. Thence up the Khalaung-khyan-khow to its 
 som-ce in the main watershed near Khow-lwon, the ' Eoyal Mountain'. 
 On the eastern side is the som'ce of the Khalaung-khyak-kra. The 
 descent may be made along it but there is a short cut east into the 
 Khalaung Htap-tsa-kay, the boundary of the district of Koo-ee in Siam. 
 
 The remaining fom- passes have the Nga-won river for a common 
 base, the mountams being crossed by following up its eastern affluents. 
 
 The fii'st of these is the Khlaung Hta-hpay, at the mouth of which 
 boats and rafts stop as the Nga-won is not navigable higher up. Oppo- 
 site the Khlaung Hta-hpay is the Ivhlaung Hta-da-yeng, a tributary of 
 the Khlaung-kliyak-ki-a. The route leads up it as far as the somxe whence 
 a branch track runs east through a gorge in the Kliow-lwon range into 
 the plains of " Htai)-sa-kay." 
 
 The second is up the Nga-won to the Khlaung-pa-wa-ay and thence 
 up that stream, descending into the Khlaung Hpa-raun, in the district of 
 Aan-ta-hpan. 
 
 The third is higher up the Nga-won by the Khlaung Hpa-leu-an and 
 then down the Khlaung-lau-ay, a tributary of the Hpa-raun river. 
 
 The fom-th is by the source of the Nga-won, skirting a hill called Khow- 
 poon, on the east side of which is the Khlaung Hta-tsay which flows by the 
 town of Khyoon-hpaun and is sometimes called Klilaung Khyoon-hpaun. 
 
 Though elephants are plentiful in this part of Siam they are not used 
 by those who come over into our territory so that these passes are not suf- 
 ficiently cleared to admit of any other mode of travelling than on foot with 
 coolies. 
 
 Amongst the mountain ranges are several plains of varying extent the 
 most productive of which is the great plain on the western 
 
 ^°^' side of the district, stretching south from Palaw in 12° 58' 
 
 to Le-gnya in 11° 28' and extending inland to the western range : next 
 in importance is the upper and middle portion of the valley lying to 
 the eastward of the last between the two principal ranges, 100 miles in 
 length and averaging 10 in breadth. i3ossessing a rich alluvial soil and 
 drained by the Tenasserim river but at present almost entu*ely covered 
 with forest except in the patches cleared by the Karcng and Siamese. In 
 the south is the valley of the Pak-chan, and stretching for 30 miles 
 along the right l)ank of that river, is a thu'd plain in which the soil is rich 
 and suited for the production of all kinds of tropical produce. Scattered 
 over the face of the district are numerous other small plain valleys with 
 good soil but overgrown with dense forest, the home of the bison, the 
 rhinoceros and the tiger. 
 
 49
 
 88G BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The four principal rivers in the district are the Tenasserim, the 
 Rivers ^egnya, the Pak-chan and the Pa-louk. The Tenasserim 
 
 has its sources north of the Mergui district which it 
 traverses from north to south in a narrow valley as far as the town of 
 Tenasserim where, joined by the Little Tenasserim flowing from the south 
 and formed by the junction of the Nga-won and the Thien-khwon and, like 
 the Great Tenasserim, recruited by numerous mountain torrents, it turns 
 suddenly westward and flowing through the chain which had confined it reaches 
 the Bay of Bengal in numerous channels into which its waters are divided 
 on reaching the lowland near the coast. It is navigable for all but very 
 large boats as far as the town of Tenasserim but beyond that boats of 
 even moderate tonnage cannot proceed without difficulty. The influence 
 of the tide is felt only 10 miles beyond Tenasserim. The banks are 
 generally high with perpendicular faces but in some places it flows through 
 low land. The Little Tenasserim traverses a somewhat similar valley. 
 
 The Le-gnya rises in the main range in about 13° 45' N. and has a 
 general northerly course for some 60 miles past Le-gnya when it tm-ns 
 west and falls into the Bay of Bengal. It is na^dgable by boats as far as 
 the tide can be felt, or for some miles above Le-gnya. 
 
 The Pak-chan forms the south-eastern boundary of the province. It 
 rises in the main range, near the root of a spm* on the northern side of which 
 is the som'ce of the Le-gnya, and flows in a generally southerly du-ection 
 for 78 miles to Victoria Point. For the first 15 miles of its com-se it is 
 a small mountain stream but having received the drainage of the hills on 
 each side it soon develops into a navigable river and at its mouth is two 
 and a half miles broad. 
 
 The Pa-louk is a small river in the northern part of the district which 
 rises in the Myeng-mo-lek-kliat mountain and flows at first southward and 
 then to the west. At its mouth it is about 700 yards broad but above Pa-louk 
 village there are rapids and falls. 
 
 The low-lying land along the seacoast from the Le-gnya northwards 
 to the northern mouth of the Tenasserim is highly intersected by muddy 
 tidal creeks whilst the mountainous tracts in the east, north and south are 
 drained by an infinity of torrents, some flowing directly into the sea and 
 others towards every point of the compass in thickly wooded and dark, 
 narrow ravines till, mingling their waters, they reinforce the main channel. 
 In the dry season these are but brooklets, a tiny stream wandering over the 
 sandy bed amongst massive boulders, but in the rains they become now 
 foaming torrents dashing with violence against the steep banks and over 
 rocky ledges and washing the slippery crags with then* spray, now sinking 
 into silent, dark pools buried in dense masses of overhanging foliage of every 
 shade and form. 
 
 The district has never been accurately geologically surveyed. In 1855 
 
 Geoiooy and ^^'- Olf^li^m of the Geological Smwey of India visited 
 
 Mineralogy.' Mergui and examined the coal fields and the following 
 
 account is taken almost verbatim from his report. 
 
 In general geological structure this district api^ears to be tolerably 
 
 simple, although the relation of the rocks at first proves very deceptive 
 
 owing to the numerous dislocations and disturbances to which they have 
 
 been subjected. Eesting upon granite a series of highly metamorphosed
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 387 
 
 rocks occur, exhibiting every variety from perfect gneiss and mica slate to 
 hard silicious slates, occasionally chloritic, and to black earthy but mica- 
 ceous and glossy slates. Through these numerous veins of granite penetrate 
 and ramify in every du'ection and of all sizes. These are only seen near to 
 the immediate junction of the granite and the bedded rocks, and where this 
 junction is not absolutely traceable the occurrence of similar veins points 
 conclusively to its close proximity. 
 
 Resting upon these there is a great accumulation of beds of a pseudo- 
 porphyritic rock, deriving this aspect from imbedded crystalline fragments 
 of felspar which weather out freely or become whitened on exposm-e. In 
 its most normal character this is an earthy, but highly indurated, rock, 
 with these small u'regular disseminated bits of felspar ; but this passes by 
 almost insensible gradations on the one hand into hard earthy slaty 
 masses without the disseminated particles, and on the other into giits, 
 containing much roanded fragments of quartz, quartzite, and of these 
 pseudo-porphjTitic rocks themselves. These grits often become very 
 coarse and largely conglomeritic. The intercalation, and occasionally 
 regular succession, of these varied deposits renders the bedding of the 
 series traceable, but the rocks have been subjected to very gi-eat disturbances 
 and are found dipping in every dii-ection and at all angles. These rocks 
 form all the higher grounds of the outer ranges (as distinct from the central 
 range of mountains dividing the British territory fi-om Siam) in the 
 southern portion of the district. The general character of the series, also, 
 varies materially indifferent parts, the greater or lesser prevalence of grits 
 and conglomerates and of hard sandstone beds affectmg the general aspect. 
 
 With this group of rocks, and resting upon it, appear to be associated 
 a considerable thickness of dark colom-ed blueish and blueish-black earthy 
 beds, frequently thinly laminated and then presentmg an imperfectly 
 developed slaty structure. With these occur some beds of very hard, 
 generally dark gi-ey, quartzose grits. In parts, apparently from a greater 
 amount of local igneous action, these slates become silky in aspect and 
 much crumpled. These must be of considerable thickness although their 
 immediate relation to the rocks occurring close to them is obscure. Taking 
 them in connection with the pseudo-porphyritic rocks and the conglomerate 
 and grits below the total thickness cannot be less than 9,000 feet. To 
 these rocks as being best seen m all their varied character in this district, 
 Dr. Oldham applied the distinguishmg name of the " Mergui" series. 
 
 These are succeeded upwards by a group of hard sand-stone l)eds, often 
 in thick and massive layers, with thin earthy partings, often in thin laminae, 
 finer and more earthy. The prevailing colour is of a reddish tint, or reddish 
 white tint, but some of the beds are of a deep red and others of a yellowish 
 earthy tint. A few of the layers are slightl}^ calcareous, and in the 
 upper portion a few thin and irregular bands of earthy limestone of a 
 blueish tint occur. In some of the softer and more earthy beds are fossils 
 (^Corals, Gasteropoda, Brachiopoda, Crustacea, i(-e.J Over these sandstones 
 another series of grey shaly beds occurs, these are occasionally calcareous 
 and when so yield fossils fSpirifera, Producta, d-c.J and also pass occa- 
 sionally mto a soft, black, carbonaceous mass with nodular concretions of 
 hard quartz. Some beds of sandstone, often of a dark colour, are associat- 
 ed with the group. Above these come a series of no great thickness (150
 
 388 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 to 200 feet) of fine soft sandstones, thinly bedded, and with grey and 
 pinkish-coloured shaly layers intercalated ; and upon these appears to rest 
 the hard and thick limestone of the district, as seen near the Tenasserim 
 river and towards the south. This limestone is the representative of the 
 great limestone which is seen so largely developed near'to Maulmain and 
 in the Amherst district generally, but which is, comparatively speaking, 
 sparingly present in the south. 
 
 The whole of these form one continuous series, and as -some of the 
 most important members of that series are best seen in the immediate 
 vicinity of Maulmain, Dr. Oldliam designated the group the " Maulmain" 
 beds. 
 
 " These Maulmain beds, and down in the succession I have given to the 
 " top of the Mergui group, appear to me," writes Dr. Oldham, " so far as I 
 *' can at present judge, to represent the same geological epoch as the 
 *' lower carboniferous group of European geologists. The era of the 
 ** * Mergui ' rocks themselves is not so clear. In many cases pseudo-por- 
 *' phyritic beds have much the aspect of some of those curious and inter- 
 ** esting igneous masses which are so common in the Silurian districts of 
 " England, while others of the coarse and hard and often almost corneous 
 " sandstones and conglomerates have all the lithological character of many 
 " of the European Devonian series, but as yet their lithological character 
 " is the only evidence as I could not trace any organic remains which could 
 "give a clue to their geological epoch " 
 
 " This limestone is by no means deficient in fossils but is, in general, 
 " so hard and compact that it is entirely impossible to get any of the 
 *' imbedded organic remains out. On the weathered surfaces and smooth 
 " water-polished faces of the rock their outlined sections can be traced, 
 " worn down perfectly smooth with the general surface, but any attempt to 
 " break them out inevitably results in the fracture of all. Probably if this 
 *' rock were anywhere quarried some of these organic remains could be pro- 
 " cured but, unfortunately, here as elsewhere one of the great difficulties a 
 " geologist has to contend with is the total absence of any openings or quar- 
 " ries into the rocks of the district." 
 
 " Upon the denuded surfaces and edges of the rocks hitherto described 
 "are a series of beds of conglomerates, of sandstones, of soft and loosely 
 *' coherent shales, and of coal, which stretch at intervals over a very large 
 " portion of the southern part of the Tenasserim division. The conglome- 
 ^' rates are never very coarse, the pebbles seldom exceeding a few inches in 
 " diameter ; the sandstones are fine, gritty, pebbly, clean, white quartzose 
 " sands, or earthy and of a yellowish tint ; the shale beds are of a blueish 
 " green or blackish tint, and very regularly disposed in thin and frequently 
 " repeated laminae. The coal itself is also regularly disposed in thin flaky 
 " laminfe, with minute earthy streaks marking its structure." 
 
 " Besides their unconformity with the lower rocks, and with difference 
 " in mineral character which these beds offer, there is a total difference in 
 " their imbedded organic remains. In some of the layers of the soft sand- 
 *' stones and shales numerous impressions of dicotyledonous leaves are found 
 " of a very recent aspect, and in the beds of papery shale which accompany 
 " the coal (like much of the papery brown coal of Germany) are numerous 
 " fish scales and bones (but seldom anything like a perfect fish) of fresh
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 389 
 
 " water character. All these circumstances combined pomt to a very recent 
 " geological epoch for the formation of these beds, and I have no hesitation in 
 " entirely agreeing with the opuiion on this point formerly expressed by 
 " Colonel Tremenheere, that these coals are of the tertiary period of geology. . . 
 
 *' It is an interesting and cm-ious fact, however, that in this district 
 
 " there is a very considerable development of rocks which, from theii* imbed- 
 " ded organic remains, are certainly of an age somewhat synchronous with 
 " that of the great ' carboniferous' formation of geologists, but in which no 
 " beds of coal occur, while thick masses of vegetable matter have been depo- 
 " sited, and have subsequently been mineralized into good coal, at a compar- 
 " atively very recent period. This is only an additional instance of how local 
 " all such deposits must be when compared with large areas, and of how 
 " the altered circumstances of each locality must most materially affect the 
 " natm-e of the rock formed there at any given time." 
 
 " These coal-bearing deposits, the total thickness of which nowhere 
 " exceeds 900 to 1,000 feet, are never traceable contuauously over any very 
 " extended area. They are cut off and seem heaped up agamst the project- 
 " ing ridges of the higher grounds and appear to be divided by these natm-al 
 " barriers into a series of isolated and detached portions. In all cases the 
 " physical conformation of the country now existing, or a conformation very 
 " slightly differmg from that now existing, appears to have determined the 
 " extent of these deposits, and looking at the general natm-e of them and of 
 " theii' associations I am led to view them as a series of lacustrian (fresh- 
 " water) deposits formed in smaU lake-hke expansions along the Imes of the 
 " great drainage vaUeys of the country, wherein the waters became ponded 
 " back by natm-al barriers. These deposits also preserve a certain general 
 " du-ection and thus mark the line of a great depression, or general valley, 
 " between the main dividing ridge which here separates Siam from the British 
 " territories and the outer ridges which come between them and the sea. 
 " Through and across the line of this outer ridge the general drainage of the 
 " country is discharged by a series of gorges or narrow rocky channels through 
 " which the main rivers pass. The Tenasserim river, east of Mergui town, 
 " discharges the large body of waters which had accumulated throughout its 
 " extended north and south com-se together with the tributary waters of the 
 " Little Tenasserim and its affluents, through a narrow rocky gorge ; and fur- 
 " ther south, at the Le-gnya river, the drainage of an immense area is all 
 * * discharged through a narrow rocky gorge. All these gorges have a common 
 " direction nearly east and west, although the general drainage of the 
 " comitry and the course of the main streams is almost invariably north and 
 " south. It is this feature which gives rise to the remarkable and sudden 
 " alteration in the direction of these rivers, as may be seen by a reference to 
 " a map of the province." 
 
 Coal was reported to have been discovered in 13 different locali- 
 ties, but in five of these it was found that a black carbonaceous rock Avith 
 quartz nodules, which crumbles into powder on exposm-e and soils the 
 fingers, had been mistaken for it. Two sites— on the Nga-won and the 
 Pa- wot — were not \asited as the occurrence of coal was very doubtful, and if 
 it did exist their position would render it impossible to work it to advan- 
 tage. At a locality noticed l)y Dr. Heifer above the falls of the Little 
 Tenasserim the seams were found only an inch or two in thickness,
 
 390 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 extremely ii-regular in their occurrence and frequently discontinuous, so as 
 to be practically quite useless. 
 
 About 1841 the State worked some coal mines at a spot about three- 
 quarters of a mile west of the bank of the Tenasserim and close to the 
 channel of the Thoo-hte khyoung a small stream which here comes down 
 from the higher ridges to the west. The works were abandoned after a year 
 or two and at the time of Dr. Oldham's visit the pits were full of water. 
 
 The coal had been extracted entirely by means of open adits sunk on 
 the dip of the bed and along the bank of the small stream, in the bank of 
 which the coal was exposed. Great expenditure had evidently been incurred 
 here as a good broad road-way had been cut through the forest to the bank 
 of the Tenasserim — this had been levelled by embanking and cutting (in one 
 place a cutting of some hundred yards to the depth of nearly 12 feet,) — 
 and a long and straight channel had been excavated for the waters of the 
 small stream in order to divert them from the workings. Many experi- 
 mental shafts were also sunk in search of the bed of coal and other beds 
 beneath this one, but they appeared to have been put down without any pro- 
 per system and were for the most part of great size and consequently, 
 very costly. 
 
 The section of the coal seen was : — 
 
 Descenclinei. 
 Ft. In 
 
 1. Surface gravel and clay . . . . . . . . ..40 
 
 2. Stiff tenacious grey clay, with ferruginous markings and coatings on the fissures, 
 
 which when cut follow the tool and give to the mass a red and ochery aspect, 6 
 
 3. Brownish-hlack earthy shale, with fish scales and traces of vegetable remains. 
 The upper surface and outer or exposed parts of this decompose into a clay very 
 similar to that immediately above. For a few inches next the coal it becomes 
 more black in colour, finer shaly and flaky, and the remains of fish are more 
 abundant. .. .. .. .. .. ..56 
 
 4. Rotten coaly matter and coal smut . . . . . . ..10 
 
 5. Coal 
 
 Ft. In. 
 Flaky and bright . . . . . . 9 inches to 2 6 
 
 Brown shale . . . . . . . . . . 1 J 
 
 Coal .. .. .. .. .. ..0 4 
 
 Greyish-brown shale . . . . . . ..01 
 
 Coal, pyrites abundant, much more so than in the upper bed. This 
 
 is good firm coal, becoming more earthy and flaky towards bottom 2 
 Blackish-grey flaky shale or soft clay, imperfect impressions of stems 
 
 occasionally, thickness to . . . . . . ..02^ 
 
 Coal, good solid coal, pyrites on partings, rendering it " brassy" . . 10 
 Blackish soft coal shale, or earthy coal, shining and full of pyrites 1 
 Coal, rich flakes of jet coal of | inch, separated by earthy shales, 
 
 pyi'ites abundant .. .. .. .. ..010 
 
 Black shaly smut, with thin streaks of coal in it . . ..02 
 
 ' Alternating and very hregular layers of flaky grey-black vegetable 
 
 mould and of black jetty coal . . . . ..09 
 
 Coaly shale, passing into coal . . . . . . ..08 
 
 Alternating clay and coal in thin streaky laminaB . . ..06 
 
 Grey flaky vegetable mould or clay . . . . ..04 
 
 Black shale with coal streaks, some of J inch thick . . . . 10 
 
 Grey clay, flaky, same as before .. ..■ ..0 5 
 
 Shale, with thin bright streaks of coal, flaky and laminar . . 10 
 
 11 10 11 10 
 
 6. Greyish-white clay (under clay), flaky and slightly sandy ; small and 
 
 imperfect remains of plants visible . . . . . . . . 3 6 
 
 7. At bottom is more sandy and much harder ; sandstone much the 
 
 same colour and coruposition as the bed above, but more sandy . . 6
 
 Pf. 
 
 In. 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 391 
 
 8. Grey soft flaky clay . . . . 
 
 9. Blackish ditto ditto 
 
 10. Brownish-grey, sandy, clunch clay 
 
 11. Clay, blueish-grey, soft and flaky, and very similar to that met before, 
 
 in part . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 
 
 12. Sandstone, reddish white, close-grained and quartzose, with ochei-y 
 stains, clay, hard, stiff, tenacious towards base, more ferruginous and 
 
 sandy . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 
 
 13. Sandstone, ochery and quartzose, decomposuig into a yellowish ocherj' 
 
 sand . . . . . . , . . . . . 4 
 
 4(j 
 
 The beds below this continue to be of a similar character, hard quartz- 
 ose sandstones for some depth, but no coal has been observed in them. 
 Over all the beds noticed above a thick mass of conglomerate was fomid in 
 sinking one of the shafts to the dip of the coal. 
 
 From the detailed section given above, it will be seen that the actual 
 coal seams amount together to six feet eight inches in thickness, while 
 the intervening partings of shale, &c., only form an aggregate thickness of 
 four and half inches, so that the whole could easily be worked in one 
 bed ; and this was done. 
 
 The dip or inclination of all the beds is high, being as much as 28° 
 towards 15'^ N. of E. There is a distinct joint in the masses heading a 
 little E. of N. at the planes of which imderlie 60° to 70° to the W. 
 
 Throughout the whole thickness of the coal iron pyrites apjiear, either 
 imbedded in small lumps or forming their crystalHne coatings on the joints, 
 often giving the coal, when freshly broken, a richly glittering metallic 
 appearence. The coal, tm-ned out in good cuboidal masses, was easily 
 wrought, and with little waste. It is difficult to ignite but burns freely, 
 breaking up into small fragments which do not coke, and in large heaps 
 requires care to keep up free ignition. It was found to answer weU in the 
 small steam engine used at the mines and also proved equal to ordinary 
 " country " coal in sea-going steamers. 
 
 The presence of the ii'on pyrities mentioned above, to which, whether 
 justly or not, was attributed the fact of some of this coal having sponta- 
 neously ignited (m one or two occasions, would undoubtedly tend to render 
 it unsafe ; l)ut Dr. Oldham was of opinion that this alone would not have 
 been sufficient to condemn it as this mineral is by no means constantly 
 present and much of the coal is so free from it as to be perfectly safe and 
 useful. The waste at the mine would fm-ther be a productive som-ce of 
 alum, if economized in that way. 
 
 The rapid dip of the beds and the consequent depth to which all shafts 
 would soon have to be sunk to meet the coal was, and still remains, the 
 most serious objection to the profitable working of this coal. In other 
 respects it is well placed. The distance from the pit's mouth to the 
 Tenasserim river is not more than three-fourths of a mile and for the whole 
 way a level road has been formed on which it was intended to lay a tramway. 
 
 At the time of Dr. Oldham's ^^sit (February) the waters of the river were 
 very low, though not at the lowest ; but there was then, and there is, probablj', 
 at all times of the year, a very toleral)le supply in the small stream passing 
 the coal pits. This could readily be ponded back above the coal and
 
 392 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 a reservoir formed from which a steady supply could be obtained (the 
 amount of water was quite sufiicient for driving a very effective water- 
 wheel), and this, probably, would have been both a much cheaper and more 
 useful process than simply diverting the stream as was done. 
 
 The next locality on the Great Tenasserim river in which coal has been 
 found is Hien-lap or Hien-lat. This is the name of a small scattered 
 Burmese village situated on the right bank of the river, about six miles 
 further north than Thoo-hte khyoung. The coal beds crop out at the 
 eastern side of a small mountain stream, about three-fourths of a mile to 
 the west of the bank of the Tenasserim. The country between the river 
 and the coal is at present an unbroken forest but it is tolerably level, and 
 presents no real difficulty to the formation of an excellent road. The dif- 
 ference of level between the river bank and the coal, where it outcrops, is 
 very trifling. The occurrence of coal here was made known to Mr. Chase, 
 Deputy Commissioner at Mergui, by some natives who had seen it in their 
 wanderings in the forest. It was not known at the time of the works being 
 carried on at the old mines, and indeed very probably was not then visible 
 as the stream may since then have cut away the bank and exposed it. 
 
 The section immediately at the coal gives the following succession : — 
 
 Ft. In. 
 Blackish compact flaky shale or slate, abounding in small fish scales, 
 
 bones, &c., same as those found at Thoo-hte khyoung . . . . 4 
 
 Ditto, more pitchy-looking, with thin laminae of bright coal . . . . 6 
 
 Coal smut or dirty earthy coal . . . . . . 6 inches to 9 
 
 Coal, flaky in structiu'e ; the separation into laminfe being well seen on 
 exposed surfaces but scarcely visible on the fresh fractirre, the coal 
 breaking as readily across these lines as along them ; very thin divi- 
 sions of more earthy and flaky character mark some of the layers 
 but do not occur in sufficient thickness or number to prevent the 
 . whole bed being removed. 
 
 The coal is here not less than 17 feet 6 inches to 18 feet thick. From 
 top to bottom of this splendid bed there is but little variation in quality, all 
 is of good glossy aspect and conchoidal fractm*e, coming out in large sym- 
 metrical masses, which do not, however, bear exposure for any length of 
 time without breaking down. It bm-ns freely and with a good flame, does 
 not coke, but breaks up and leaves but little ashes. 
 
 Throughout the bed a few small lumps of iron pyrites and a few thin 
 coatings on the joints occur but not to any extent and by no means so 
 abundantly as in the coal at Thoo-hte Idiyoung or at Kan-ma-pyeng (to be 
 described below). 
 
 The specific gravity of this coal is 1"28, and by analysis 100 parts were 
 found to contain — 
 
 Volatile matter, inclusive of water . . . . . . . . 54*6 
 
 Carbon . . . . . . . . . . ..... 45-4 
 
 Ashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6'5 
 
 The water was found to be 12*6 per cent.* 
 
 From this place, under the sanction of Mr. Chase, from 70 to 100 tons 
 of coal had been extracted by a Burman and brought to Mergui, from 
 which it was supj)lied to the H. C. Steamer Phtto, and proved a very effec- 
 
 * This analysis, and those given below, made by Dr. F. F. Macnamara, Chemical Examiner 
 to the Government, are given on his authority.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 393 
 
 tive and useful coal, keeping up steam well and easily fii'ed. It is, as might 
 be anticipated, of rather rapid combustion, and would be more adapted for 
 tubular boilers than for those of the ordinary construction. 
 
 The coal was extracted simply by cutting back on the face of the out- 
 crop, and in doing so only a thickness of about 13 feet of the coal had been 
 touched, the rest being left as not so easily accessible. The cutting extend- 
 ed for about seven yards in length and had, therefore, not been carried to 
 a depth of more than 12 feet. On Dr. Oldham's arrival this was found 
 filled with water, and it had to be cleared before he could see the coal or its 
 relations. 
 
 Under contract, the Burmese who excavated here received Rs. 24 
 for every ton of coal deUvered at Mergui, a rate which, however desirable 
 it may have been to encourage such undertakings at first, was very much 
 too high to be maintained, indeed the same man was most desirous of 
 entering on another contract for the delivery of coal at Mergui at Rs. 16, 
 or a reduction of one-third ; but even this was too high a rate. Seeing, 
 however, that in any case the amount of coal which could be procured 
 in that way, without any machinery or any of the most ordinary mechani- 
 cal apphances, could only be small, and that every yard thus excavated 
 was only tending to injm*e the mine, if any systematic workings were con- 
 templated. Dr. Oldham advised that such operations should be stopped, and 
 no more coal was, therefore, extracted. 
 
 About three-quarters of a mile north of Hien-lap another small village 
 is situated in the forest on the west bank of the Tenasserim, and within 
 its lands coal has been found, exposed by the cutting back of a small 
 mountain rill. This coal at Kan-ma-pyeng is of very similar character and 
 aspect to the others. Its analysis yielded to Dr. Macnamara the following 
 results : — 
 
 Specific gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-33 
 
 Volatile matter . . . . . . . . . . . . 54-2 
 
 Carbon .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 45-8 
 
 Ashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5 
 
 The water included above in the amount of volatile matter was 51 '52 
 per cent. 
 
 Iron pjrrites is unfortunately very abundant in this bed and would 
 render it an unsafe fuel for many purposes, from the danger of spon- 
 taneous combustion. For local purposes, however, it would prove a very 
 useful fuel, the more "brassy" portions being rejected, and for such pur- 
 poses a large amount of good coal might be here obtained. 
 
 It is not well seen, and the section is rather obscure. Covered by 
 blackish shale, with some fish scales, &c., we have a bed or layer of slaty or 
 laminar coal of two feet eight inches in thickness. This rests upon a tough, 
 reddish-brown, flaky clay, with carbonaceous partings of 11 inches ; then a 
 two inch seam of pale clay with carbonized impressions of grassy stems ; 
 then four inches of carbonaceous and bitummous shale ; then one foot five 
 inches of ashy-coloured clay with carbonaceous markings. Under these is 
 the main bed of coal, which here gives a workable thickness of about eight 
 feet, divided by some thin layers of earthy shale but yielding large and 
 symmetrical masses of coal. 
 
 50
 
 394 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 This coal is at a slightly less distance from the river than at Hien-lap ; 
 the path through the forest, cut nearly straight, is 1,090 yards in length 
 and over very easy and favourable ground. The point where it meets the 
 river is, however, by no means so favoui'able as a shipping place as near Hien- 
 lap, where there is deep water and a firm solid bank held up by thick beds 
 of conglomerate which are horizontal and, projecting from the bank, form 
 in the dry season an excellent natural landing-place. 
 
 Coal, as stated by Dr. HeKer,* also occurs at a considerable distance 
 north of this and above the great rapids of the Tenasserim. This was 
 visited by Mr. Theobald who found that it is in small nodular strings in 
 the sandstone, not more than an inch in thickness, and by no means 
 continuous. These are, therefore, of no practical value whatever. 
 
 Dr. HeKer first discovered and described the locaHty on the Little Ten- 
 asserim river in 1848, and then spoke of the coal in the following terms : — 
 *' A vein, five feet thick, 240 feet long, visible on the banks of the river, for- 
 ** mation above grey, below black clay slate, the lowest stratum apparently 
 ** resting — to judge after the general features of the country — upon blue 
 *' limestone ;" and again, " close to this, and a continuation of it, an 
 *' immense coal field, of either slaty or conchoidal pitch coal, or English 
 " cannel-coal, highly bituminous, without any concomitant of iron pyrites." 
 He states the seam to be in most places six or more feet thick, and dipping 
 25°. This locality is 121 miles from Mergui and 80 from the town of Tenas- 
 serim. f 
 
 It is exceedmgly difficult to miderstand Dr. Heifer's account of this 
 coal, as he always speaks of it as cannel-coal and pitch coal, and yet says 
 it would rank next to Kilkenny coal, which is well known to be an anthra- 
 cite, or in fact at the other end of the scale altogethier. 
 
 The Keports of the Coal Committee in 1846 even went further than 
 Dr. Heifer and spoke of " inexhaustible beds of uniformly good quality" 
 (p. 142.) These glowing descriptions were found, on an inspection of the 
 locality by Dr. Oldham, to be unsupported by facts. There is undoubtedly a 
 bed of what at first might readily be mistaken for coal, of six feet thick, and 
 seen in more places than one ; but of these six feet, there are in reality only 
 a few inches of good coal ; the rest is very earthy bituminous shale, with 
 thin streaky laminae of coal, barely sufficient to support ignition and sustain 
 combustion ; and even the coal which does occur is irregularly distributed 
 in lenticular nodules or lumps imbedded in the general earthy mass, and 
 having often very much the aspect of being the result of the thorough 
 carbonization of masses of wood imbedded in the general heap of vegetable 
 pulp and leafy mud. 
 
 There are two distinct beds, separated by an intervening series of sand- 
 stone and shales of about 200 feet in thickness ; of these beds, the upper 
 one is decidedly the best, and from its total thickness (six feet) probably 
 about two feet of tolerable coal could be obtained. 
 
 The detailed section of the coal beds and associated layers will shew 
 their character. The lower bed gives : — 
 
 * Dr. Heifer's Second Report, Calcutta, page 36. t Second Report, p. 37, et seq :
 
 Descend 
 
 inn. 
 
 Ft. 
 
 In. 
 
 to 12 
 
 
 
 .. 
 
 6 
 
 .. 
 
 4 
 
 .. 2 
 
 
 
 .. 
 
 4 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER, 395 
 
 Clay and gravel on top . . 
 
 Mould, blackish 
 Ditto red 
 
 Coaly smut, earthy and ferruginous 
 
 Coal, flaky, woody in structure . . 
 
 Clunch clay, grey, flaky, with fragmentary vegetable impressions, 
 abundant and irregular, thin streaks of bright jetty coal — lower three 
 or four inches much lighter in colour . . . . . . ..10 
 
 Coal, brilliant jetty coal, bright and glistening, in places of one foot 
 thick, but dying out to nothing within a few feet, and then again 
 enlarging to eight or 10 inches, very irregularly streaked with 
 blackish shaly clay . . . . . . . . . . ..10 
 
 Grey clunchy clay, with many irregular seams of brilliant jetty coal . . 8 
 
 Thus, out of a bed or beds which on the surface looked Hke a bed of coal 
 of more than four feet thick, there is in reality not more than 18 inches, 
 frequently much less, of good coal, and this not in a continuous deposit 
 but in ii-regular patches. 
 
 At the upper bed the detailed section is — 
 
 Black coaly shale 
 
 Coal and coaly shale . . 
 
 Shales, brownish-black and papery, with fish scales, &c. . . 
 
 Coal, bright and good, but with iron pyrites disseminated 
 
 Shales, blackish, with thin lamina; of bright jetty coal . . 
 
 Coal, fair strong coal, laminae in structure (pyi-ites) 
 
 Clay, grey flaky clay . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 
 
 Here it will be seen that there is more than three feet of fair coal, which 
 is, however, though not largely, impregnated with iron pyrites. 
 
 The analysis of this coal yielded to Dr. ]\Iacnamara the following 
 result : — 
 
 .. 16. 
 
 Bescendinq. 
 
 Ft. 
 
 In. 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 Specific gravity 
 
 1-37 
 
 Percentage of water 
 
 Volatile matter 
 
 49-7 
 
 Inclusive of water. 
 
 Carbon 
 
 50-3 
 
 
 Ashes 
 
 8-5 
 
 
 With the exception of the iron pyrites this is a good fuel. It comes 
 out in good lumps and is sufficiently hard. The greater portion also of the 
 coaly shale given in this section might be usefully economized for any local 
 purposes if ever this field should be wrought, but is too poor to repay the 
 cost of transport to any distance. 
 
 These beds are favorably placed for working, the amount of the dip or 
 inclination is not more than 18° N. to 20" E., and they are very accessible 
 so far as then- position with regard to the stream and the surface is con- 
 cerned ; but the great distance of the place from any port, the very bad 
 state of the small stream down which the coal would liave to Ije conveyed, 
 and the consequently heavy expense of carriage, will preclude these Tseng- 
 koon coals from being worked so long as other and more easily accessible 
 localities can be found. 
 
 " The coal is here exposed in the bank of a small tributary stream which 
 " comes in from the south and which is called by the natives the Phlia-o or 
 "fish stream (Siamese name). It occurs in an u-regularly developed bed, 
 ** varying from one foot to two feet and even two feet six inches in thickness.
 
 396 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " It is throughout of laminar structure, with a seam of fine jetty coal between 
 " the layers and very numerous nodular lumps and masses of a resinous, 
 " ambery-looking mineral imbedded ; the mass of the coal on the fresh 
 ** fracture having a very dull lustre and hard pitchy and earthy aspect. 
 " The whole group of rocks here has even a more modern look than the 
 "beds with coal in the Tenasserim district. The rocks are softer and less 
 " indurated, and are more irregular and more like recent clays and sands. 
 "In ascending order the little section of the coal here exposed is as 
 "follows : — 
 
 Ft. In. 
 
 Blueish-wliite, grey, and blackish fine sandy mud, with small black 
 
 patches or stains, evidently the indistinct remains of plants, (seen). 3 
 
 This passes insensibly into a dark brownish bed of the same kind, with 
 small angular grains of quartz imbedded, and this by insensible 
 gradations becomes of a blacker colour from the streaks of coaly 
 matter and small fragments of carbonized vegetable remains. This 
 does not form any definite bed but is only the upper part of the 
 previous beds, with these slight alterations in texture and composi- 
 tion. 2 8 
 
 Coal, resting on the irregular sm-face of this muddy bed. . . ..16 
 
 Mud, clunchy and full of disseminated vegetable remains in frag- 
 ments of carbonized vegetable matter, forming black layers and pat- 
 ches, varying from an almost imperceptible thickness to J an inch. 4 
 
 In this bed are imbedded irregular patches of brilliant jet coal, with a 
 bright lustre, and having a semi-columnous texture. Onemaundof 
 this extracted yielded a basket of fine brilliant blazing coal ; on the 
 outer portion of this the woody structure was quite visible. 
 
 Coal, fine bright pitchy coal ; in seams varying from | of an inch 
 
 to one inch, imbedded in ferruginous mud. . . . . . . . . 10 
 
 Mud, fine, silty, greyish-white, with stems and leaves disseminated 
 through it in every direction, both across and along the layers, but 
 slightly carbonized. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..46 
 
 Black ferruginous bed, with small nodular masses of the same resinous 
 
 ambery-looking mineral noticed above and very thin seams of coal. 6 
 
 *' Over all these comes a layer of gravel, composed of pebbles of quartz- 
 " ose, hard sandstone and pure white quartz. In this a few small fragments 
 " of tin-stone occur. This gravel is here from six inches to two feet six 
 " inches in thiclmess, and is covered by the stiff, red pseudo-laterite clay, 
 " so commonly exposed over the country. 
 
 " The beds of coal and associated rocks dip at 35° to 38° E . to 15° to 30° N. 
 
 " Such is the section in immediate connexion with the coal. Below 
 " these beds the series of rocks (similarly ascending) consist of whitish, 
 " earthy, fine sandstone and indurated mud, slightly calcareous, occasionally 
 " and locally so much so as to form a muddy limestone. To these succeed 
 " beds of partially angular conglomerates, with beds of clunchy clay and 
 "muddy sandstones, dipping as before to E. 30° N. This series is about 
 " 300 feet thick. By "partially angular", I mean conglomerates in which the 
 " angular character of the broken pebbles imbedded is still retained, although 
 " the sharp edges are slightly worn off. Over these comes the coal group as 
 " given above, and above this again we have a series of sandstone beds, soft 
 " and muddy, of thick, clunchy clays and marks occasionally pebbly, and with 
 " a few seams of unevenly deposited carbonaceous matter of an inch to two 
 "inches in thickness, and fine pebbly conglomerates. The whole gives a 
 " thickness of about 600 feet, and has been subjected to several faultings and 
 " other disturbances by which the dip and arrangements have been much 
 " affected.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 397 
 
 ''From this it will be seen that there is not altogether more than 18 
 " inches of coal, and this can scarcely be called coal, for it is a hard, black, 
 " slaty shale, somewhat stone coal-like in aspect. It is however very inter- 
 " esting from the abundant dissemination through it in irregular little nodular 
 " lumps of the resmous ambery-like mineral I have noticed above. This 
 "varies in colom- from a blueish bottle-green to a rich yellowish tint, 
 " like tine amber. In fractm-e it is quite conchoidal and glassy, bm-ns freely 
 " and from its abundance adds greatly to the blazing qualities of the mass. 
 
 " The coal ignites with some difficulty, but then bm*ns with a good flame 
 " and strong heat, the lumps become red-hot but do not disintegi-ate, retain- 
 " ing all then- original form. The ashes are white and abundant. The coal 
 ** comes out of the bed in large and solid masses, and if it occm-red ui any 
 " abundance would prove a useful fuel for many pm'poses. 
 
 " Above this main bed, as I have mentioned, and separated by about 
 *' 200 feet of sandstones and clays, there is another thin seam of coaly 
 " matter ; but it is very u'regular and in no place more than a few inches in 
 " thickness, so that it will be perfectly useless as a som-ce of fuel. 
 
 In the vaUey of the Tenasserim the cliffs past which that river flows 
 are in several places composed of limestone and on specimens, probably 
 brought from this locahty for they came from the eastward of Tavoy and 
 no limestone is at present known to exist in that district. Dr. Ure reported 
 that they had " a specific gravity of 27 and were of perfectly pm^e semi- 
 " crystalline carbonate of lime aldn to statuary marble, well adapted to act 
 " as a flux in the melting of u'on." 
 
 In the vaUey of the Palouk river there are some thermal springs which 
 were visited and described by Lieutenant (now General) McLeod. " Hav- 
 *' ing ascended as far as I could in a small canoe, which was dragged over 
 " rapids, I performed the latter part of the journey by land in consequence 
 " of the river becoming too shallow and the rapids or falls getting stronger. 
 ** In retm*ning, however, I descended the stream the whole way on a small 
 
 "bamboo raft, There are two spots where the springs show 
 
 " themselves, one immediately on the right bank of the river (here about 
 " 100 feet wide) with some in the river itself, and the other about two or 
 ** three minutes' walk to the northward mland ; and around the former ones 
 " a mound of cu^cular stones of various sizes was caked together with 
 " hardened clay having the appearance of stone. The whole of the mound 
 " had externally a black appearance, and in some places small cu'cular 
 " basins had been formed by springs now diy. All the springs then 
 " discharging were close to the water's edge or in the water : they issue 
 " from under the rocks through a sandy bottom ; the orifices were very 
 " small and not above two inches deep. The thermometer being dipped 
 " in the hottest rose to 196° Fahr. Then- height above the sea I estimated 
 " at about 200 feet." 
 
 " The second springs, a little inland, are larger and deeper and are 
 " situated in a small open space. There were some 40 or 50 bubbling 
 " up along a line of about 50 feet by 20, the largest bemg at the northern 
 " extremity. I took the water from two of the large springs, one about three 
 " and a half feet deep and two feet in diameter, and the other about half the 
 *' size. In both the thermometer indicated a heat of 194° Fahr. ; the ground 
 " at the bottom is of a dark, shining colour, here and there resembling the
 
 398 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " colour of brick-dust. Though vapours rise from the springs no disagreeable 
 " smell pervades the atmosphere. There are other springs in a N. N. W. 
 " direction from this at a place called Pe. There is nothing in the neigh- 
 *' bourhood, that I know of, indicating volcanic agency." 
 
 To this account Dr. Evizard adds ; " A rough examination which I 
 ** made shews these springs to be strongly impregnated with sulphuretted 
 " hydrogen and to contain also a small proportion of iron and carbonate 
 "ofHme." 
 
 Almost all the tributaries of the Tenasserim from the eastward contain 
 gold, according to Dr. Heifer. Near the old town of 
 iron? mangSe!""'' Tenasserim, where the Great and Little Tenasserim unite, 
 about one anna's weight is sometimes obtained as the 
 result of one season's washing dm'ing the rains by one individual. Copper, 
 in the form of grey copper ore, contaming from 40 to 50 parts of the metal 
 in combination with antimony, iron and sulphur have, according to Mr. 
 O'Eiley, been obtained from several islands of the archipelago. Dr. Heifer 
 reported an occurrence of zinc on the Mergui islands, but Dr. Oldham of 
 the Geological Survey of India states that all the zinc in the Province is 
 imported. According to Dr. Mason there is a very rich deposit of specular 
 oxide of iron on one of the branches of the Palouk river, whilst the brown 
 oxide is very abundant near Mergui. Three specimens were sent to Dr. Ure 
 who said that from their density they would afford good iron in the 
 smelting fm-nace and he gave their specific gravity as 3*37 — 3*18 — and 3*32, 
 respectively. 
 
 Manganese was found in the Tenasserim by Captain (now General) 
 Tremenheere who wrote — " During my stay at th6 Tenasserim coal basin a 
 " piece of manganese ore (black coal) of good quality was brought to me by 
 " a Kareng who stated that it had been found accidentally in the bank of a 
 " stream called the Thug-goo (Tha-goo) which enters the Great Tenasserim 
 " 17 miles below the coal site. Subsequently several other pieces of 
 " the same ore were brought to Mr. T. H. Corbin, Assistant to the Com- 
 " missioner, from the Therabwen (Thee-ra-hvenrj) river, five miles above the 
 " Thug-goo and from an intermediate spot 
 
 " In proceeding down the river I visited these spots and found that at 
 ** each a valuable bed of manganese ore existed close to the surface of the 
 " country. It was impossible, however, to form any definite opinion as to 
 " the extent of the beds." 
 
 The whole surface of the district from the water's edge to the most 
 elevated mountain ridge is an almost uninterrupted 
 Forests and vege- forest. " All ground left to nature is, without discrimin- 
 tabie products. ,, ^^-^^^ without exception, covered with timber. There 
 
 *' are no marshes, no sandy plains, no bare rocks, no such thing as an 
 *' American Savannah, nothing resembling a New Holland pasturage, only 
 " the pygmean endeavours of man, rescuing the soil for his own purposes, 
 ** with the assistance of fire have divested a small fraction of the area from 
 " the primitive forest*." No less than 4,734 square miles are unculturable 
 and 3,003 square miles culturable waste, on almost the whole of which 
 there is valuable timber which has generally been neglected for the Teak of 
 
 * Dr. Heifer.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 399 
 
 Amherst and Pegu. Theng-gan {Hopea odorata) exists in abundance especial- 
 ly on the banks of the Little Tenasserim, and its timber is savm. up and 
 used for building pui-poses and for boats. It is an excellent durable wood 
 when kept under water as in a boat, or under cover as on land, but is liable 
 to split if exposed dry to the sun. Ka-gnyeng {Dipterocarpus tuherculatus) 
 is plentiful and if kept free from wet and white ants planks sawn from it 
 would answer as well as those of Teak ; its great value, however, is in the oil 
 or rather balsam which it yields, and which is extracted by cutting a large 
 notch in the trunk a few feet from the ground and occasionally stimulating 
 the secretion by scorching the sm*face of the scar, which is generally con- 
 verted into charcoal and gives the oU a dirty black appearance. It is used 
 for making torches and as a wood varnish in unexposed situations. Anan 
 {Fagroea fragrans) , which here reaches the largest dimensions and grows 
 peculiarly straight and free from internal decay, yields a valuable timber 
 which the teredo worm mil not attack and which hardens under water. Eng 
 {Xylia dolahriformis) is abundant and the timber is more dui-able in the 
 ground than Teak. Bhan-bhwai {Careya arhorea) like the two preceding trees 
 resists decay but is less abundant, denser in grain, more abounding in knots 
 and of smaller size than Anan, but is much prized by the natives for its useful 
 properties. An inferior kind of sandal wood is produced by the Ka-ra-mai 
 both on the mainland and on the islands of the Archipelago and sapan wood 
 exists in the valley of the Tenasserim. The Jack or Pien-nai (Artocarpus 
 integrifolia) yields an excellent yellow dye which does not require any of the 
 metallic bases as a mordant and a tenacious milky juice which flows abun- 
 dantly from recent wounds and furnishes the best bh'd-lime, whilst the red 
 dye obtained from the roots of the Gnyaw-gyee (Morinda Citrifolia) is equal 
 to that furnished by the sapan wood. 
 
 Bamboos of several kinds are exceedingly abundant all over the district, 
 the islands excepted, and rattans abound. 
 
 The useful vegetable products much resemble those of the neighbour- 
 ing Tavoy district but there is one which deserves especial notice. At the 
 mouth of the Bhoot-pyeng river are groves of Kha-boung {Stnjchnos mix 
 vomica) at one time very extensive but now considerably thinned 
 by the wasteful manner in which they are destroyed by the inhabitants. 
 The roots are cut away and extracted for use and the tree, no longer 
 supported, in time falls by its own weight or is felled by the wind and is 
 allowed to rot. The roots are dried, and rubbed into powder on a stone and 
 the powder mixed into a thin paste with water and applied to the affected 
 part in cases of rheumatism, producing in time constitutional effects very 
 similar to those caused by the mternal use of strychnme. 
 
 South of Mergui and east of Tenasserim elephants not many years 
 ago were exceedingly numerous, descending into the 
 Animal produc- plains during the rains and dm-ing the dr}' season retiring 
 *'°'^^* into the forest-clad mountains. The numbers have con- 
 
 siderably diminished of late years as has the number of Ehinoceri of which 
 two kinds were kno^^•n, the single and the double-horned, and possibly a 
 third, Rhinoceros Asiaticiis Suinatrensis, now found principally on the 
 Islands of the Archipelago. The single-horned species was the most common, 
 the double-horned less so ; the horns are stUl eagerly bought by the 
 Chinese for export. Tigers, leopards, and cheeta are plentiful as well as
 
 400 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 several kinds of deer and wild hog. Turtle eggs are collected on the sand- 
 banks, and beche de mer are brought to Mergui whence they are exported to 
 the Straits Settlements. Edible birds'-nests, built by the Colocalia fuciphaga 
 in the rocky caverns and crevices of the islands of the Archipelago, mainly 
 on Tavoy Island, are collected from January to April and exported to the 
 Straits, generally direct by the pm'chaser from Government of the right to 
 collect. Of honey-bees there are several kinds ; one makes its combs 
 on trees and furnishes a transparent, yellowish, syrupy honey, whilst another 
 selects the limestone rocks and produces an aromatic, reddish-brown honey 
 more liquid than the former. Considerable quantities of dammer are 
 collected from the nests or combs of the dammer-bee and used for caulking 
 the seams of boats. 
 
 The climate of Mergui is remarkable for its salubrity. The great heat 
 which its tropical situation would otherwise involve dur- 
 ing the months of March, April and May is moderated by 
 the land and sea breezes which follow each other alternately day and night, 
 the latter usually commencing to blow between the hours of nine and 12 
 in the morning and continuing till sunset, soon after which the land breeze 
 sets in, but with less regularity, and cools the otherwise sultry and oppres- 
 sive atmosphere. During the rainy months, from June to October inclusive, 
 the sun is often obscured and the temperatm-e is on the whole pleasantly 
 cool. The months of November, December, January and February are 
 the cool months. The variation of temperatm-e thermometrically is not 
 great. 
 
 Climate. 
 
 
 AVEEAGE TEMPEEATCKE IN 
 
 THE 
 
 SHADE. 
 
 1876. 
 
 Mean of maximum read 
 
 „ „ minimum 
 Highest reading 
 Lowest „ 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 May. 
 
 July. 
 
 December. 
 
 ings, May, 80-30 
 
 
 (0 
 aa 
 
 a 
 
 
 CO 
 
 03 
 
 p 
 
 pi 
 
 02 
 
 a 
 
 CO 
 
 a 
 m 
 
 
 pi 
 
 -.a 
 
 m 
 OQ 
 
 „ 78-50 
 „ 92-00 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 „ 77-00 
 
 1867 
 
 72 
 
 84 
 
 73 
 
 74 
 
 82 
 
 70 
 
 68 
 
 84 
 
 70 
 
 Mean of maximum 
 
 , July, 80-70 
 
 1868 
 
 77 
 
 87 
 
 85 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 74 
 
 64 
 
 84 
 
 69 
 
 „ „ minimum , 
 
 „ 80-20 
 
 1869 
 
 76 
 
 86 
 
 82 
 
 76 
 
 80 
 
 76 
 
 69 
 
 80 
 
 71 
 
 Highest reading 
 
 „ 90-00 
 
 1870 
 
 75 
 
 85 
 
 76 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 79 
 
 69 
 
 82 
 
 79 
 
 Lowest ,, 
 
 „ 78-00 
 
 1871 
 
 77 
 
 85 
 
 74 
 
 74 
 
 83 
 
 74 
 
 68 
 
 80 
 
 70 
 
 Mean of maximum 
 
 Dec. 83-30 
 
 1872 
 
 76 
 
 86 
 
 82 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 79 
 
 71 
 
 83 
 
 80 
 
 „ ,, minimum 
 
 „ 73-10 
 
 1873 
 
 78 
 
 86 
 
 83 
 
 75 
 
 79 
 
 77 
 
 71 
 
 82 
 
 80 
 
 Highest ,, 
 
 „ 89-00 
 
 1874 
 
 84 
 
 87 
 
 86 
 
 83 
 
 85 
 
 84 
 
 81 
 
 82 
 
 81 
 
 Lowest „ 
 
 „ 66-50 
 
 1875 
 
 90 
 
 * 
 
 90 
 
 88 
 
 ..* 
 
 90 
 
 88 
 
 * 
 
 90 
 
 
 
 Not given in returns.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 401 
 
 North-easterly and north-westerly winds prevail during the winter and 
 spring months, for the remainder of the year southerly and westerly winds 
 are the most common ; occasionally during the rainy season violent north- 
 westerly storms of wind and rain occur continuing for days together, and 
 storms of thunder and lightning accompanied by torrents of rain are of 
 frequent occurrence chiefly in the months of April and May and again in 
 October and November. The transitions in the state of the weather are 
 subject to a remarkable regularity in their recurrence ; for example, it 
 frequently commences raining at a certain hour in the day, continuing 
 perhaps for several hours and succeeded by an interval of fine weather and 
 this occurs daily nearly at the same moment for several days when a 
 sudden and complete change may take place and the storm or rain 
 which previously had come on in the evening now begins at noon or 
 at some other period of the 24 hours. It often happens also that storms 
 come on daily for several days but on each occasion an hour earlier 
 or later than on the previous one. The most obvious peculiarity of the 
 atmosphere is its humidity. 
 
 
 
 Rainfall, 
 
 IN INCHES. 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 January to 
 May. 
 
 June to 
 September. 
 
 October to 
 December. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1867 
 
 26-05 
 
 131-92 
 
 10-30 
 
 168-27 * 
 
 1868 
 
 44-40 
 
 118-80 
 
 15-20 
 
 178-40 
 
 1869 
 
 21-30 
 
 130-20 
 
 13-50 
 
 176-00 
 
 1870 
 
 32-80 
 
 107-50 
 
 7-40 
 
 147-70 
 
 1871 
 
 47-30 
 
 123-90 
 
 16-90 
 
 188-10 
 
 1872 
 
 19-70 
 
 100-02 
 
 9-12 
 
 128-84 
 
 1873 
 
 13-77 
 
 132-93 
 
 19-20 
 
 165-90 
 
 1874 
 
 39-73 
 
 106-61 
 
 18-18 
 
 164-52 
 
 1875 
 
 24-79 
 
 129-76 
 
 15-96 
 
 170-51 
 
 1876 
 
 44-96 
 
 112-05 
 
 18-09 
 
 17504 
 
 Average .. 
 
 31-48 
 
 119-37 
 
 13-38 
 
 165-22 
 
 The most prevalent diseases are fevers — ague, remittent, and simple 
 continued — dyspepsia, bronchitis, ophthalmia, rheumatism and abscesses. 
 The low-lying country and the damp, forest-clad valleys arc pregnant with 
 miasmatic effluvia but the fevers are readily amenable to treatment. 
 A curious fact is the general absence of ague-cake or enlarged spleen. 
 Small-pox annually carries off a large percentage of the population 
 
 51
 
 402 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 comparatively — in 1876 as many as "66. The total deaths and the ratio 
 per 1,000 of population in 1876, with the mean of the previous five 
 years was : — 
 
 
 Ratio per 1,000 of population. 
 
 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 
 
 From all causes. 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 pi 
 
 • 
 
 «<H CO 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 cS 
 
 
 o a 
 
 -^ 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 <o 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 S^ 
 
 
 _ > 
 
 < 
 H 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 2 
 
 g 
 
 > 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 ■§ 
 
 5* 
 1— 1 
 
 "o 
 
 < 
 
 I 
 
 Average 
 five pre 
 years. 
 
 283 
 
 •• 
 
 6-63 
 
 9-38 
 
 4-26 
 
 •47 
 
 6-06 
 
 26-83 
 
 19-62 
 
 Of the early history of Mergui but little is known. Ealph Fitch and 
 gjg^.^ Caesar Frederic both mention it as a country with an 
 
 important trade, and in 1687 it was visited by Captain 
 Weldon who had been sent thither to declare war with Siam, which shews 
 that at that period it formed a portion of the Siamese dominions. Tenas- 
 serim is said to have been founded by the Siamese in 1373 A.D. Towards 
 <the end of the eighteenth century it was wrested from the Siamese by 
 
 tloung-bhoora and remained Bm*mese temtory until the first Bm*mese war. 
 fter the Burmese conquest the Siamese generally fled and to replace 
 them Bm-mese colonists were imported by the conquerors and settled in 
 villages in different parts of the country as far south as Le-gnya, beyond 
 which the country remained disputed territory. The whole country remained 
 in a chronic state of rebeUion and war. The Siamese, more numerous 
 than the inhabitants of the Burmese colonies which had been estabhshed 
 partly by force and were kept up by di'ead, made continual incursions, 
 carrying away numerous captives, and the Burmese Governors wreaked 
 their vengeance on their own people who would not or did not fight ; especi- 
 ally was this so in 1808 when the Daing-won, who had been sent south to 
 put down a rebellion which had broken out in Tavoy and Mergui, robbed 
 and murdered wherever he went. After disorder had reigned supreme for 
 some 50 years war broke out between the Government of India and the 
 King of Bm-ma and in 1824 Sir Archibald Campbell, commanding in Pegu, 
 despatched a force which, after taking possession of Tavoy, appeared before 
 Mergui on the 6th October 1824 ; a heavy fire was opened from the batteries 
 of the town but this was speedily silenced and the stockade carried by 
 assault. Early in 1825 a Siamese force landed and ravaged the country 
 about Tenasserim but was driven off and from that time Mergui has remained 
 undisturbed in the possession of the English. 
 
 Except the walls, or rather the foundations of the walls, of old 
 
 Tenasserim, founded towards the end of the fourteenth 
 
 ^""r JmaSr^^ century, and one or two pagodas of no very great antiquity 
 
 the district possesses no architectural remains of any 
 
 kind. In Tenasserim there is a pagoda called Wot-tsheng, built in
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 403 
 
 1380 A.D. and thoroughly repaired a few years ago, but of no great sanctity. 
 The Ze-da-won pagoda on a hill on the banks of the Tenasserim river is 
 supposed to have been built in 1208 A.D. by King Na-ra-pa-tee-tshee-thoo 
 who visited the coast and is visited every year in the month of October by 
 large numbers of pilgrims. The pagoda on the central hill in Mergui was 
 erected in 1803 A.D. by the then Burman Governor and is not important 
 in any way. 
 
 This district is far more important from its mineral than from its 
 AgriciUtm-e. agricultural wealth, only 73 square miles of country being 
 
 under cultivation. Rice is grown in the plains and in 
 toungya amongst the hills and small quantities are exported from the 
 coast towns. The area thus cultivated is slowly but steadily increasing. 
 Sugarcane and tobacco are produced to some extent, sessamum is grown 
 with rice in the toungya and the seeds used locally and exported. Areca 
 palms cover 787 acres, rattans are plentiful and the Dhanee {Nipa 
 fruticans) is found in perfection and largely cultivated in the mangrove 
 territory, a good deal of coarse sugar being made from the juice of the 
 stem and the leaves used for thatch in the district and to some extent 
 exported. It is in fruits, however, that Mergui is agriculturally richest : 
 Doorians, Mangosteens, Jack, Papaya, Cocoanuts, Guavas, Mulberries, 
 Cashew, Limes, Oranges, Pine-apples, Melons, Plantains, Ka-na-tso or 
 Eangoon grapes {Pierardia sapota) and Shaddock are extensively grown, and 
 amongst vegetables. Yams, sweet and Kareng potatoes, cucumbers, gom'ds 
 and chillies and many others are produced in abundance. 
 The more frequent steam communication with Piangoon and Maulmain 
 is tending to increase the area of garden land as the people find a readier 
 sale for the exportable produce. 
 
 The area under the principal crops during each of the last ten years 
 was : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 .2 
 
 a 
 
 OS 
 u 
 
 cS 
 
 o 
 u 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 'A 
 
 
 
 OS 
 
 a 
 
 <D 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 a 
 
 e3 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 ■§ 
 o 
 
 .2 43 
 
 
 M 
 
 CQ 
 
 H 
 
 O 
 
 m 
 
 O 
 
 (In 
 
 Q 
 
 S 
 
 1807-68 
 
 30,286 
 
 62 
 
 45 
 
 107 
 
 785 
 
 3,055 
 
 325 
 
 216 
 
 2,329 
 
 18(J8-(19 
 
 2;),>S83 
 
 133 
 
 46 
 
 110 
 
 751 
 
 3,112 
 
 373 
 
 246 
 
 2,557 
 
 1869-70 
 
 31,205 
 
 148 
 
 43 
 
 111 
 
 752 
 
 3,136 
 
 422 
 
 244 
 
 2,619 
 
 1870-71 
 
 25,243 
 
 
 47 
 
 , , 
 
 751 
 
 3,179 
 
 443 
 
 245 
 
 2,659 
 
 1871-72 
 
 25,713 
 
 176 
 
 59 
 
 123 
 
 756 
 
 3,203 
 
 497 
 
 245 
 
 2,726 
 
 1872-73 
 
 28,431 
 
 23 
 
 28 
 
 122 
 
 682 
 
 3,436 
 
 428 
 
 227 
 
 8,150 
 
 1873-74 
 
 29,389 
 
 23 
 
 49 
 
 120 
 
 713 
 
 3,550 
 
 439 
 
 243 
 
 2,346 
 
 1874-75 
 
 30,137 
 
 42 
 
 49 
 
 120 
 
 713 
 
 3,601 
 
 472 
 
 211 
 
 3,382 
 
 1875-76 
 
 30,926 
 
 59 
 
 48 
 
 121 
 
 725 
 
 3,749 
 
 497 
 
 236 
 
 3,504 
 
 1876-77 
 
 31,879 
 
 70 
 
 43 
 
 114 
 
 727 
 
 3,796 
 
 427 
 
 236 
 
 8,543 
 
 The soil is poorer than in any other part of the Province except in 
 Kyouk-hpyoo and Sandoway, the average outtm-n of rice being only 1,000 lbs. 
 an acre. The gross produce of this cereal in 1876-77, exclusive of that 
 grown in toungya, was thus about 14,230 tons.
 
 404 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The agricultural stock during the same period was : — 
 
 
 and 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. ! i 
 
 to . 
 1- 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6C 
 
 
 o 
 
 ■^ O 
 
 c3 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ■^ CD 
 
 
 "3 
 
 m"^ 
 
 .^ 
 
 S^"§ 
 
 
 
 tc 
 
 EQ 
 
 a^ 
 
 
 to 
 
 t^ 
 
 3} 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 -^a 
 
 
 fp 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 02 
 
 Ph 
 
 ^ 
 
 fH 
 
 fQ 
 
 o 
 
 1867-68 
 
 16,742 
 
 223 
 
 5 
 
 200 
 
 350 
 
 23 
 
 3,020 
 
 2,004 
 
 Not given. 
 
 1868-69 
 
 18,564 
 
 259 
 
 7 
 
 210 
 
 816 
 
 38 
 
 3,000 
 
 2,071 
 
 
 1869-70 
 
 19,637 
 
 203 
 
 10 
 
 182 
 
 735 
 
 24 
 
 3,026 
 
 2,110 
 
 
 1870-71 
 
 22,451 
 
 215 
 
 10 
 
 
 684 
 
 23 
 
 3,042 
 
 1,895 
 
 12 
 
 1871-72 
 
 23,897 
 
 269 
 
 9 
 
 156 
 
 514 
 
 36 
 
 3,063 
 
 1,911 
 
 
 1872-73 
 
 23,732 
 
 320 
 
 9 
 
 187 
 
 596 
 
 89 
 
 3,072 
 
 1,944 
 
 16 
 
 1873-74 
 
 24,672 
 
 331 
 
 10 
 
 296 
 
 910 
 
 53 
 
 3,056 
 
 2,095 
 
 17 
 
 1874-75 
 
 26,389 
 
 350 
 
 13 
 
 255 
 
 1,070 
 
 58 
 
 3,067 
 
 2,192 
 
 19 
 
 1875-76 
 
 27,710 
 
 449 
 
 16 
 
 312 
 
 1,249 
 
 48 
 
 3,060 
 
 2,452 
 
 16 
 
 1876-77 
 
 27,805 
 
 507 
 
 18 
 
 397 
 
 1,327 
 
 61 
 
 3,075 
 
 2,577 
 
 20 
 
 and the prices of produce and labour, according to the retui-ns given in 
 the annual Administration Reports, were in Rupees : — 
 
 
 6 
 
 Sugar. 
 
 Is 
 
 02 
 
 o 
 
 CI 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 H 
 
 w 
 
 o 
 
 CD 
 
 O 
 
 to 
 
 o 
 ^5 
 
 03 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 Laboubees. 
 
 1 
 Q 
 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 ■73 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 Per maund of 80 lbs. 
 
 Each. 
 
 Daily hire. 
 
 
 Per man. 
 
 Each. 
 
 1867-68 
 1868-69 
 1869-70 
 1870-71 
 1871-72 
 1872-73 
 1873-74 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 
 1 8 
 1 8 
 1 8 
 1 8 
 1 8 
 1 12 
 1 12 
 1 12 
 
 1 12 
 
 2 4 
 
 8 12 
 8 12 
 
 8*i2 
 8 12 
 8 12 
 8 12 
 8 12 
 14 
 20 
 
 3 2 
 3 2 
 1 4 
 3 2 
 3 2 
 3 2 
 3 2 
 3 2 
 1 5 
 1 3 
 
 > 
 to 
 
 11 8 
 11 8 
 11 8 
 22 8 
 20 
 
 40 
 40 
 60 
 45 
 45 
 45 
 45 
 45 
 45 
 60 
 
 14 
 14 
 
 5 
 14 
 
 6 
 6 
 
 6**0 
 6 
 6 
 
 40 
 40 
 40 
 40 
 60 
 40 
 40 
 40 
 40 
 40 
 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 2 8 
 2 8 
 2 8 
 2 8 
 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 
 As a general rule the land is held and cultivated by the owner, though 
 in some very rare cases it is rented out and the owner lives in a town or village, 
 but even in this case the rent which he receives is by no means sufficient 
 to support him and he pursues some trade or occupation ; in some cases, 
 indeed, owners who are unable to work then own land let it out rent free. 
 Mortgages, almost always usufructuary, are rare ; formerly they were by 
 parol agreement or on a document wTitten after the native manner on 
 parabaik, but of late years stamped paper has been adopted, doubtless 
 because the Coui'ts refuse to receive an unstamped document in evidence.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 405 
 
 Labom-ers as a general rule are paid no monthly wages but at the end of 
 the season receive from 50 to 60 baskets of unhusked rice. The average 
 holding of each cultivator is about 5 '70 acres, and the number of persons 
 dependent upon each male agricultm-ist of 20 years of age and upwards, 
 who in 1872 numbered 18,512, is about 6'31. 
 
 From the notices of early travellers who described the country when 
 Population ^^ ^^^ under Siamese rule it seems evident that at one time 
 
 this district was rich and thickly inhabited but it is 
 extremely doubtful if their accounts do not give too glowing a pictm-e of its 
 wealth. On the conquest of the country by Aloung-bhoora almost all the 
 Siamese retired, except from Bhoot-pyeng and Le-gnya south of Mergui 
 where the Bm-mans never gained a secm-e footing. The feelings between the 
 Bm'mese and Siamese were very much those which for centm'ies existed 
 between the Enghsh and the Scots : the one nation was the natm-al enemy 
 of the other. After the conquest a system of petty warfare was carried on 
 accompanied by kidnapping, plunder and devastation, whilst even within 
 then own limits the Bm-man conquerors robbed and murdered and the 
 whole frontier was turned into a waste. The Siamese, on the establishment 
 of the British Government, gradually returned and many have settled 
 down into peaceable cultivators. They are an industrious, hardy race, 
 approaching more to the Malay type in then* features, and are as a 
 general rule quiet, orderly and obedient. The Bm-mese are descendants 
 of those who came with the conquering generals of their race and remained 
 after the British occupation, recruited by occasional immigration ; they are 
 found principally in the to-^Tis and villages in the fertile tract bordering the 
 seacoast. The Hindoo population — to some extent derived from com^cts trans- 
 ported hither from Bengal in former years, partly from, camp-followers who 
 came with the troops and remained when these were withdrawn, partly from 
 immigi-ation — is ver}"- small and fluctuates considerably from year to year. 
 The Mahomedans are more numerous and increase steadily. The Bm-mese, 
 Shan and Kareng form the great bulk of the inhabitants, whilst there are 
 more Malays than in the whole of the rest of the Province altogether and 
 more Chinese than in any other part except the town of Piangoon. More 
 than half the Mahomedans other than Malays and very nearly half the 
 Chinese are in Mergui town. As regards the Mahomedans, however, it is 
 worthy of notice that the Malays are vastly more numerous in the district 
 than in Mergui where in 1873 there were only 25 out of a total of 1,201. 
 The Kareng are spread over the district and avoid the large to\\iis. The 
 Selung, a small tribe inhabiting the islands of the Ai-chipelago are, m a 
 low state of civilization and with few comforts. An American Baptist 
 Missionary, Mr. Brayton, reduced their language to writing, established a 
 school and brought out some school books in Selungese. In former years they 
 lived a wandering life passing from island to island with no other habi- 
 tation than their boats and were frequently carried off as slaves by the 
 Malays. Their principal occupations are fishing, collecting sandal- wood 
 and catching sea slugs which they sell to traders who visit the islands and 
 to the inhabitants of the coast villages ; wild pigs, which are found on some 
 of the islands, are caught and killed by their numerous dogs and a few 
 possess fowls. Mr Ivincaid who visited them some thirty years ago WTote : 
 *' They have no God, no temple, no priest, no liturgy, no holy day and no
 
 406 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 ** prayers. In their domestic habits they are free from all conventional 
 " rules. They are very poor, too, having no houses, no gardens, no culti- 
 *' vated fields, nor any domestic animals but dogs." Their general state 
 has decidedly improved since the time when this sad picture of their condi- 
 tion was drawn, and though still behind every other race in the Province 
 they exhibit less fear of their fellow creatures and are tending towards more 
 settled habits, notably in no longer living solely on board their boats but 
 having, in places, houses, as yet, it must be said, of a very rude kind. 
 
 On the occupation of the country by the British it was found to be 
 almost depopulated, the result of the border warfare already alluded to and of 
 the cruelties of the Burmese, especially of the Daing-won in 1808, and con- 
 tained only some 10,000 inhabitants. In 1837-38 the number had risen to 
 17,862 and since, partly from immigration and partly from natural causes, 
 has continued to increase. The population was : — 
 
 26,739 in 1847-48. 
 31,833 in 1857-58. 
 41,688 in 1867-68. 
 42,650 in 1868-69. 
 43,753 in 1869-70. 
 44,762 in 1870-71. 
 
 46,184 in 1871-72. 
 47,694 in 1872-73. 
 48,589 in 1873-74. 
 49,612 in 1874-75. 
 50,885 in 1875-76. 
 51,846 in 1876-77. 
 
 The following table shews the inhabitants during the last decennial 
 period classified according to religion : — 
 
 Yeak. 
 
 Hindoos. 
 
 Maliomedans. 
 
 Booddhists, 
 including 
 Kareng. 
 
 Christians 
 and others. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1867 
 
 
 
 164 
 
 2,050 
 
 39,302 
 
 172 
 
 41,688 
 
 1868 
 
 
 
 203 
 
 2,077 
 
 40,119 
 
 151 
 
 42,550 
 
 1869 
 
 
 
 109 
 
 2,190 
 
 41,311 
 
 143 
 
 43,753 
 
 1870 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 2,196 
 
 42,390 
 
 126 
 
 44,762 
 
 1871 
 
 
 
 44 
 
 2,323 
 
 43,678 
 
 139 
 
 46,184 
 
 1872 
 
 
 
 168 
 
 2,351 
 
 45,057 
 
 118 
 
 47,694 
 
 1873 
 
 
 
 120 
 
 2,462 
 
 45,780 
 
 227 
 
 48,589 
 
 1874 
 
 
 
 246 
 
 2,419 
 
 46,714 
 
 233 
 
 49,612 
 
 1875 
 
 
 
 332 
 
 2,486 
 
 47,816 
 
 221 
 
 50,855 
 
 1876 
 
 
 
 353 
 
 2,533 
 
 48,750 
 
 210 
 
 51,846 
 
 In 1873 the nationality was 
 
 : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 Nationality. 
 
 Town of 
 Mergui. 
 
 District 
 
 Total. 
 
 Europeans and Eurasians 
 
 35 
 
 7 
 
 42 
 
 Portuguese Christians 
 
 
 
 
 150 
 
 27 
 
 185 
 
 Burmese 
 
 
 
 
 7,.380 
 
 20,930 
 
 28,310 
 
 Chinese 
 
 
 
 
 1,091 
 
 1,294 
 
 2,385 
 
 Kareng . . 
 
 
 
 
 .... 
 
 8,328 
 
 8,328 
 
 Madrassis 
 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 2 
 
 25 
 
 Bengalis 
 
 
 
 
 95 
 
 
 95 
 
 Siamese 
 
 
 
 
 .... 
 
 5,033 
 
 5,033 
 
 Malays 
 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 1,236 
 
 1,261 
 
 Mahomedans 
 
 
 
 
 1,393 
 
 1,069 
 
 2,462 
 
 Selung 
 
 
 
 
 
 463 
 
 463* 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 
 10,200 
 
 38,389 
 
 48,589 
 
 Approximate.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 407 
 
 Here as everywhere else, except in Tavoy, the males are more numerous 
 than the females and this may fairly be ascribed to the immigration of males 
 from other countries, Siam, China, the Straits and India, who rarely or never 
 bring wives or families with them. The total population in 1872 classed 
 according to age, sex and religion was : — 
 
 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 CI 
 
 r- 
 
 rH 
 
 OS 
 
 (M 
 
 o 
 
 i« 
 
 (M 
 
 
 
 lO 
 
 IM 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 OS 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 rH 
 
 OS 
 
 
 •mon 
 
 1-1 
 
 o 
 
 t- 
 
 *i 
 
 C» 
 
 t- 
 
 rH 
 
 CO 
 
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 rH 
 
 
 
 c<r 
 
 oo" 
 
 i>r 
 
 CD 
 
 t-^ 
 
 co" 
 
 ^" 
 
 of 
 
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 t-T 
 
 h3 
 
 H 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
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 -^ 
 
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 in 
 
 00 
 
 t- 
 
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 <M 
 
 •SBYSVUB^ 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 00^ 
 
 eo' 
 
 co" 
 
 rH 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 co" 
 
 OS_ 
 
 i-T 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 OS 
 
 OS 
 
 cf 
 
 
 «s 
 
 -* 
 
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 U5 
 
 CO 
 
 rH 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
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 o 
 
 
 
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 00 
 
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 CD 
 
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 w 
 
 eo 
 
 s 
 
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 r-i^ 
 
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 o_ 
 
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 i-T 
 
 ■^ 
 
 •^ 
 
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 co" 
 
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 « 

 
 408 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 This district contains only one town with more than 5,000 inhabitants 
 and not one with more than 2,000 and less than 5,000. 
 lages^'^^ ^^ ^ " ^^©rgui, the head-quarters, stands on the west of an 
 island of the same name in 12° 26' N. and 98° 35' E. : 
 originally a small village the present town was founded by the Burmese in 
 1767 A.D., nine years after they had conquered the country. It is built 
 round the base of a small hill on which are situated the Com't-house and 
 Treasury and where were formerly the barracks occupied by the troops, and 
 covers an area of 10 square miles. The population, composed mainly of 
 Chinese, who live on the seaboard, Mahomedans, who occupy the part 
 behind the central hill, and Burmese, who are located in the other parts, is 
 steadily but slowly increasing ; in 1867 the inhabitants numbered 9,381, 
 in 1873 10,200, of whom 7,380 were Burmese, 1,091 Chinese, 1,393 Maho- 
 medans, and the remainder Europeans and Eurasians, Hindoos and Ma- 
 lays, and in 1877 10,731. It contains two Court-houses, a Police-office, 
 a School-house, a Circuit-house, a Forest-office and a Hospital and dispensary 
 on the central hill, a Gaol in the village at the back, and three Poli(3fe- 
 stations situated north, south and west, with a masonry market on 
 the sea beach and a wooden and thatched smaller one in the town ; from 
 the former a stone wharf projects into the sea, and fm-ther south an old 
 and 'substantial wooden pier extends to below low watermark. Pa-law 
 is a large village of 1,481 inhabitants in the north of the district on the 
 banks of a small stream of the same name, the head-quarters of a township 
 where an Extra Assistant Commissioner holds his court. It is in the centre 
 of a fertile rice tract and does a fair trade in the export of that cereal. 
 Pa-la is another large village on a stream of the same name, about 12 
 miles south of Pa-law, with a good rice trade. It was a large place during 
 the Siamese rule but has now a population of only 844 souls. Le- 
 gnya, the head-quarters of the Le-gnya townshij), is on a river of the 
 same name, about two tides up, in 11° 28' N. It was a place of some impor- 
 tance during the Siamese rule but is now a long, straggling village with a 
 population of 181 souls, principally Siamese and Malays with a few 
 Chinamen who cultivate rice and sugar-cane. A small police force is sta- 
 tioned here. Bhoot-pyeng, on the Bhoot-pyeng river, was a large town 
 when the country belonged to the Siamese but is now a small village 
 inhabited by a few Malays and Siamese who are rice and sugar-cane 
 cultivators. In this village a small body of police is stationed. Tenas- 
 serim, which gives its name to the whole division, is at the junction of the 
 Great and Little Tenasserim rivers. It was founded in 1373 A.D. by the 
 Siamese and was surrounded by a mud wall faced with brick, the founda- 
 tions of which are still visible, which enclosed some four square miles. It 
 was captured by the Burman conqueror, Aloung-bhoora, in 1759 and a few 
 years later the inhabitants were put to the sword by the Burman Governor, 
 Moung Tien-gyaw. All that now remains of this ancient town is a smaU vil- 
 lage with 666 inhabitants sm-rounded by hills covered with dense forest and 
 inhabited by a mixed race of Siamese and Burmese with a few Chinamen. 
 The Extra Assistant Commissioner in charge of the township holds his Court 
 here and a small police force is quartered in the village. The remaining 
 villages, 196 in number, are small and of no importance ; 56 contain less than 
 200 inhabitants, 130 between 200 and 500 and 10 between 500 and 1,000.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 409 
 
 The trade of Mergui seems at one time to have been of some impor- 
 rppg^^g tance. Csesar Frederick, who visited the comitry in about 
 
 1569 A.D., speaking of Tenasserim wrote — *' A great 
 " river which cometh out of the kingdom of Siam and where this river 
 " runneth into the sea is a village called Mergui in whose harbour there lay 
 " every year some ships with veizina, nyppa and benjamin". James 
 Lamarter, writing in 1592 A.D., speaks of waiting at Point de Galle for 
 " ships from Tenasserim, a great Bay to the south of Martaban in the 
 " kingdom of Siam" and according to Dr. Mason, it is said m some account 
 of a voj^age made in 1609 that " the Guzerat vessels came to Siam in June 
 " and July, touching by way at the Maldive Islands and then at Tenasserim 
 *' whence they go over to Siam in 20 days." There is now a flom'ishing 
 trade with Rangoon, Bassein and the Straits Settlements. The principal 
 articles of export are rice, rattans, torches, dried fish, areca nuts, sessa- 
 mum seeds, molasses, sea slugs, edible birds-nests and tin. Sea slugs, 
 shark fins and edible birds-nests are exported mainly to Singapore and 
 Penang and rice is sometimes carried to the Nicobar Islands, whence are 
 brought in exchange betel-nuts, tortoise-shell and, formerly, not unfrequently 
 goods which the natives had obtained from the wrecks of vessels. The 
 principal imports are piece-goods, tobacco, cotton, earthenware, tea and 
 sugar. The value of the imports and exports since 1856-57 were : — 
 
 Yeak. 
 
 Total value of 
 
 Total value of 
 
 exports. 
 
 imports. 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1857-58 
 
 
 
 145,290 
 
 111,250 
 
 1858-59 
 
 
 
 118,180 
 
 123,750 
 
 1859-60 
 
 
 
 114,630 
 
 122,120 
 
 1860-61 
 
 
 
 212,000 
 
 121,380 
 
 1861-62 
 
 
 
 142,850 
 
 143,220 
 
 1862-63 
 
 
 
 161,830 
 
 147,320 
 
 1863-64 
 
 
 
 170,110 
 
 110,980 
 
 1864-65 
 
 
 
 236,080 
 
 213,390 
 
 1865-66 
 
 
 
 247,320 
 
 206,280 
 
 1866-67 
 
 
 
 321,070 
 
 242,510 
 
 1867-68 
 
 
 
 348,350 
 
 316,494 
 
 1868-69 
 
 
 
 366,620 
 
 287,810 
 
 1869-70 
 
 
 
 343,354 
 
 227,615 
 
 1870-71 
 
 
 
 367,659 
 
 301,586 
 
 1871-72 
 
 
 
 348,742 
 
 298,358 
 
 1872-73 
 
 
 
 419,684 
 
 275,681 
 
 1873-74 
 
 
 
 462,411 
 
 387,115 
 
 1874-75 
 
 
 
 392,596 
 
 468,946 
 
 1875-76 
 
 
 
 308,673 
 
 415,584 
 
 1876-77 
 
 
 
 443,076 
 
 490,573 
 
 52
 
 410 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The value of the grain exported during each year from 1855-56 was :- 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 Export. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Export. 
 
 
 Es. 
 
 
 Es. 
 
 1856-57 
 
 
 8,560 
 
 1867-68 
 
 24,139 
 
 1857-58 
 
 
 
 15,100 
 
 1868-69 
 
 23,500 
 
 1858-59 
 
 
 
 7,330 
 
 1869-70 
 
 24,329 
 
 1859 60 
 
 
 
 5,850 
 
 1870-71 
 
 38,560 
 
 1860-61 
 
 
 
 13,770 
 
 1871-72 
 
 34,940 
 
 1861-62 . 
 
 
 
 14,610 
 
 1872-73 
 
 16,397 
 
 1862-63 
 
 
 
 18,000 
 
 1873-74 
 
 19,710 
 
 1863-64 
 
 
 
 17,790 
 
 1874-75 
 
 12,953 
 
 1864-65 . 
 
 
 
 16,970 
 
 1875-76 
 
 16,468 
 
 1865-66 . 
 
 
 
 6,120 
 
 1876-77 
 
 42,005 
 
 1866-67 . . 
 
 
 28,900 
 
 
 
 During the sixteenth century the Peguan sovereigns received from Mergui 
 
 Revenue, ^^ annual revenue of 3,000 viss of silver or Es. 390,000, 
 
 80 elephants and all the customs dues of the port ; but 
 
 when it was first occupied by the British the revenue derived from this 
 
 district was very small, and in 1853-54, 27 years later, was only Es. 56,500. 
 
 Dm-mg the last 23 years it has been as shewn in the following table : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 a 
 
 <D 
 
 m 
 
 •a 
 
 00 
 
 B 
 
 00 
 
 1 
 
 Si 
 <D 
 
 
 
 '73 
 
 i 
 
 
 '3 
 
 
 § 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 EH 
 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 1854-55 . . 
 
 
 26,220 
 
 9,840 
 
 8,860 
 
 
 
 12,060 
 
 56,980 
 
 1855-56 . . 
 
 
 27,310 
 
 9,690 
 
 12,510 
 
 
 1,088 
 
 11,440 
 
 62,030 
 
 1856-67 . . 
 
 
 29,360 
 
 9,850 
 
 12,600 
 
 
 2,230 
 
 11,570 
 
 65,620 
 
 1857-58.. 
 
 
 28,870 
 
 12,240 
 
 13,820 
 
 
 2,250 
 
 12,990 
 
 70,170 
 
 1858-59 . . 
 
 
 42,940 
 
 17,440 
 
 18,030 
 
 
 1,570 
 
 12,990 
 
 92,970 
 
 1859-60 . . 
 
 
 44,550 
 
 17,710 
 
 24,970 
 
 
 1,720 
 
 15,990 
 
 104,850 
 
 1860-61 . . 
 
 
 46,480 
 
 17,380 
 
 31,390 
 
 
 2,770 
 
 17,900 
 
 115,920 
 
 1861-62 . . 
 
 
 46,670 
 
 22,310 
 
 32,050 
 
 500 
 
 3,130 
 
 12,550 
 
 117,210 
 
 1862-63 . . 
 
 
 49,460 
 
 21,070 
 
 23,840 
 
 950 
 
 8,420 
 
 18,530 
 
 117,270 
 
 1803-64 . . 
 
 
 48,490 
 
 21,210 
 
 34,150 
 
 900 
 
 3,100 
 
 15,060 
 
 122,910 
 
 1864-65 . . 
 
 
 48,540 
 
 22,130 
 
 34,910 
 
 7,330 
 
 2,790 
 
 13,170 
 
 128,870 
 
 1865-66 . . 
 
 
 54,670 
 
 22,250 
 
 23,070 
 
 7,440 
 
 1,630 
 
 11,910 
 
 120,970 
 
 1866-67 . . 
 
 
 51,400 
 
 22,860 
 
 36,010 
 
 8,380 
 
 3,480 
 
 13,040 
 
 135,170 
 
 1867-68 . . 
 
 
 52,140 
 
 24,140 
 
 24,390 
 
 8,870 
 
 4,990 
 
 11,850 
 
 126,380 
 
 1868-69 . . 
 
 
 51,690 
 
 23,830 
 
 29,110 
 
 10,360 
 
 4,350 
 
 13,800 
 
 133,140 
 
 1869-70 . . 
 
 
 53,500 
 
 24,520 
 
 29,250 
 
 10,050 
 
 4,530 
 
 12,030 
 
 133,880 
 
 1870-71.. 
 
 
 54,500 
 
 25,120 
 
 25,790 
 
 10,080 
 
 8,250 
 
 13,000 
 
 136,740 
 
 1871-72.. 
 
 
 55,040 
 
 25,690 
 
 29,060 
 
 11,180 
 
 6,150 
 
 10,900 
 
 138,020 
 
 1872-73 . . 
 
 
 60,280 
 
 26,970 
 
 29,030 
 
 11,020 
 
 2,910 
 
 13,880 
 
 143,090 
 
 1873-74 . . 
 
 
 62,120 
 
 28,780 
 
 40,610 
 
 11,050 
 
 3,800 
 
 15,010 
 
 161,370 
 
 1874-75.. 
 
 
 63,576 
 
 29,412 
 
 41,992 
 
 10,449 
 
 4,823 
 
 17.328 
 
 167,680 
 
 1875-76 . . 
 
 
 64,959 
 
 30,252 
 
 52,061 
 
 11,298 
 
 6,534 
 
 17,024 
 
 182,128 
 
 1876-77 . . 
 
 
 66,599 
 
 31,037 
 
 50,076 
 
 10,530 
 
 7,390 
 
 56,455 
 
 182,087 
 
 Customs-ofiices were first established in 1855-56, and in 1861-62 the 
 turtle banks were first leased out for a term of years, more with the object
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 411 
 
 of preserving them from the gradual destruction which they were surely 
 undergoing from their being opened to the people at large than to raise a 
 revenue. In the last 23 years the revenues have more than trebled, whilst 
 the land revenue and capitation tax have increased by 260 and 215 per 
 cent. : the main increase was due to fisheries and excise. 
 
 From these revenues the expenditure for officers of all kinds during the 
 last 10 years and the available balances were : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Gross Imperial 
 
 Total cost of 
 
 Balance. 
 
 revenue. 
 
 officials of all kinds. 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1867 
 
 126,380 
 
 98,930 
 
 27,450 
 
 1868 
 
 133,140 
 
 56,330 
 
 76,810 
 
 1869 
 
 133,880 
 
 87,240 
 
 46,610 
 
 1870 
 
 136,740 
 
 78,430 
 
 58,310 
 
 1871 
 
 138,020 
 
 49,150 
 
 88,870 
 
 1872 
 
 143,090 
 
 71,810 
 
 71.280 
 
 1873 
 
 161,370 
 
 79,080 
 
 82,290 
 
 1874 
 
 167,580 
 
 75,571 
 
 92,009 
 
 1875 
 
 182,128 
 
 69,952 
 
 112,176 
 
 1876 
 
 182,007 
 
 75,552 
 
 106.535 
 
 In addition to this Imperial revenue a local revenue is raised from a 
 town fund, a district fund and the five per cent, cess fund. The amounts 
 thus raised during the last 10 years have been : — 
 
 1867-68 
 1868-69 
 1869-70 
 1870-71 
 1871-72 
 
 Rs. 
 
 
 9,800 
 
 1872-73 
 
 11,300 
 
 1873-74 
 
 11,210 
 
 1874-75 
 
 12,100 
 
 1875-76 
 
 11,500 
 
 1876-77 
 
 Rs. 
 11,780 
 12,250 
 16,532 
 17,319 
 14,956 
 
 Manufactures. 
 
 The principal manufactures in the district are jaggery, sugar-boiling 
 and tin-smelting. Jaggery is made from the juice of the 
 Neepa palm and the manufacture is carried on from 
 November to the following April. The stems of the full grown trees are 
 gently beaten for 15 or 20 days, the fruit is then cut off and the juice which 
 exudes from the ends of the stocks left attached to the tree drains slowly 
 into bamboos placed to receive it : when a sufficient quantity has been 
 collected it is placed in iron pans and boiled down till sufficiently viscid 
 to harden on cooling. The bamboos are carefully washed after each 
 time they are used to prevent the juice from turning sour. Each manu- 
 facturer employs one or more labourers according to the number of trees 
 which he works. Ten trees are calculated to yield about 92 lbs. of jaggery 
 in a season, and the largest amomit manufactured by any one party may 
 be taken at about 150 times this quantity or 123 cwt., worth about 
 Es. 225. Sugar is made principally in Tenasserim, Le-gnya and the 
 \'illages round Mergui Island, and during the N. E. monsoon, that is from 
 November till April. The canes are crushed under a stone roller and 
 the juice caught in a large tub. "\^^en a sufficient quantity has been 
 collected it is strained and boiled down to crystallization in iron pans, 
 and the product, which is then of a red hue, is blanched by being placed
 
 412 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 in large, wide-mouthed earthen pots covered with hay, kept damp by daily 
 sprinkling, and arranged under a shed ; in a few days the upper portion 
 of the contents of the pot are scraped off and the operation repeated until 
 the whole has been whitened and collected. The native method of extract- 
 ing tin from the ore is as follows. The ore after being well washed is placed 
 in a cylindrical vessel of clay four feet in circumference and six feet in height 
 together with charcoal. At the bottom and on opposite sides, are two 
 orifices, in one of which is inserted the mouth of a pair of bellows, whilst 
 from the other the ore as it melts runs out into a hole dug in the earth 
 to receive it. From this it is cast into oblong moulds and is exported in 
 the ingot shape thus given to it. The cost of smelting is estimated at about 
 Es. 1-8 per lOOlbs. The average number of men employed by each 
 master worker is 60 and each is paid about Es. 15 a month and is fed. 
 The average of the yield of each man's labom' is calculated at about Es. 30 
 a month, but there are other expenses besides wages. The tools have to be 
 supplied and in many cases a channel has to be cut to bring water from 
 a neighbom'ing stream to the site of the works. In many cases the workers 
 receive no food or wages but supply the " proprietor " with tin ore 
 at about Es. 13-8 per 100 lbs. which on meltmg yield 66 lbs. of pure 
 tin. In 1877-78 only 13 out of the 29 mmes were actually worked. 
 
 The administration of the district is at present entrusted to a Deputy 
 Administration Commissioner whose head-quarters are at Mergui, five 
 Extra Assistant Commissioners and a Superintendent of 
 Police. In former years the suborduiate administrative officers were 
 called Goung-gyoop, and the Police were under them : they were nine in 
 number and had charge of Pa-law in the extreme north, Ka-beng adjoining 
 it in the south, Ta-gnyet to the south-east stretching down to Mergui Island 
 from which it was divided by the Ka-beng river, Ka-lweng on Mergui Island 
 north of the to^\T^i of Mergui, to the north of which again and adjoining 
 Ta-gnyet was Pa-goot-toung ; west of the Tenasserim river was Taw 
 Nouk-lay and to the south-east Tenasserim, Pa-re-kywon including King's 
 Island and Madi*a-ma-kan, the last an island opposite the town of Mergui 
 and about three-quarters of a mile distant from it, Le-gnya extending 
 from the main range westwards to the sea between Tenasserim and Ma-lee- 
 won, and lastly Ma-lee-won occupying the whole country south of Le-gnya. 
 In later years the various subordinate jm^isdictions were amalgamated 
 into the existing towTiships, and in 1860-61 the whole of Ma-lee-won was 
 farmed out to a Chinaman who was su]3plied with police and who collected 
 for his own benefit aU the taxes and worked the tin mines, a system which 
 a year or two ago was discontinued and the township again brought under 
 the supervision of the local officers for administrative pm-poses. The dis- 
 trict is now divided into five townships, Mergui, Pa-law, Tenasserim, 
 Le-gnya and Ma-lee-won. Pa-law extends from the Tavoy district in the 
 north along the coast to Mergui township with a narrow strip stretchmg 
 still further southwards between Mergui and the western hills and in 1876 
 contained 14,248 inhabitants scattered in numerous villages. South of 
 Pa-law and north of Le-gnya with Tenasserim in the east is the Mergui to^vn- 
 ship with 16,327 inhabitants exclusive of the 10,731 in the town of Mergui. 
 Eastward of Pa-law and occupying the valleys of the two Tenasserim 
 rivers and thus extending behind Le-gnya and Mergui is Tenasserim,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 413 
 
 the head-quarters of which are at Old Tenasserim and which in 1873 had 
 a population of only 6,494 souls and in 1876 of 6,516. From the Mergui 
 township southwards to the spur which forms the watershed between the 
 sources of the Le-gnya and the Pak-chan the country, with 2,898 inhabit- 
 ants in 1873 and 3,117 in 1876, is under the Le-gnya Extra Assistant 
 Commissioner, and from this spur southward is Ma-lee-won mth 2,250 
 inhabitants in 1873 and 2,444 in 1876. Ma-lee-won and Le-gnya are 
 included in the Ma-lee-won sub-division. In the town of Mergui there is 
 also an Extra Assistant Commissioner of superior grade. There are thus 
 seven criminal, civil and revenue courts with no village fm-ther from any 
 one of them than 60 miles, whilst the average distance is 32 miles. 
 
 The Pohce, under a Superintendent whose head-quarters are at Mergui, 
 was organized in 1862-63 as a part of the general Police force of the 
 Province and consists of 20 subordinate officers and 178 men, of whom 10 
 are boatmen and 16 are paid from municipal funds. The principal Police 
 stations besides Mergui and Pa-law, Tenasserim, Le-gnya and Ma-lee-won, 
 the head-quarter stations of Extra Assistant Commissioners, are Pyeng-boo- 
 gyee, Bhan-loung and Bhoot-pyeng. In 1876 the cost of the force was 
 Ks. 47,798 of which Rs. 1,980 were defraj^ed from local funds. In that 
 year it was found necessary slightly to decrease the strength of the force in 
 order to obtain funds wherewith to increase the pay of the Police emploj^ed 
 in Ma-lee-won, as it was impossible to get recruits at the old rates. 
 
 The gaol, which consists of thatched wooden buildings surrounded by 
 a masonry wall, lying in the valley behind the hill round which the to\Mi of 
 Mergui is built, was erected soon after the British occupation of the country, 
 some, if not all, of the laterite with which the wall is constructed being 
 brought from the old walls of Tenasserim. The average number of prison- 
 ers confined here is very small, the largest number during the five years 
 ending with 1876 being 25 (all long-term convicts are sent to Maulmain). 
 and the amount made by gaol manufactures is also small, whilst the 
 average cost of each prisoner, PiS. 151 in 1876, is necessarily large owing to 
 few the confined. The number received, which as regards this gaol may be 
 taken as the number sentenced to imprisonment, and the number discharged, 
 during the last five years were : — 
 
 
 V 
 2 
 
 B 
 
 o 
 
 taO u 
 
 ■3 « 
 
 i§ 
 (4 
 
 •73 
 
 '<D 
 
 Total. 
 
 DiSCHAEGED. 
 
 a 
 <o 
 
 .g 
 
 ■ti 
 a ^ 
 
 
 Teak. 
 
 <S o 
 
 tn 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 •3 
 
 ID 
 
 > 
 < 
 
 1872 
 1873 
 1874 
 1875 
 1876 
 
 14 
 
 12 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 11 
 
 84 
 78 
 67 
 73 
 81 
 
 98 
 90 
 76 
 79 
 92 
 
 10 
 27 
 23 
 18 
 35 
 
 76 
 54 
 
 47 
 50 
 
 48 
 
 86 
 81 
 70 
 68 
 83 
 
 12 
 9 
 6 
 
 11 
 9 
 
 20 
 13 
 12 
 10 
 10 
 
 Postal communication within the limits of the district is cai'ried on by 
 district dak, that is by an establishment dii-ectly under the control of the
 
 414 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Deputy Commissioner, and paid for from the five per cent, cess levied on 
 land revenue and fishery and net tax, by which are carried letters free. The 
 lines are from Mergui to Pyeng-byoo-gyee via Pa-law (53 miles) and back, 
 from Mergui to Tenasserim (35 miles) and back, from Mergui to Le-gnya 
 and on to Bhoot-pyeng (144 miles) and back, and from Mergui to Ma-lee- 
 won (195 miles) and back. Postal communication with the outside world 
 is carried on by the steamers of the British India Steam Navigation Com- 
 pany which call in once a week on their way between Calcutta and the 
 other sea-ports of the Province, and Penang and other ports to the east- 
 ward, and by the small coasting steamers of the Maulmain Tug Company, 
 which run down to Mergui from Maulmain twice a month. 
 
 The Hospital and Charitable dispensary are situated on the extremity 
 of the Mergui hills and consist of a wooden structm-e with shingled roof, 
 raised about 10 feet from the groimd and divided into five compartments. 
 The central part is divided into two rooms serving as ofiice and dispensary 
 and the remainder is used as hospital wards. The number of persons 
 treated during 1876 was 3,295 of whom 169 were in-patients, and dming 
 that year the income was Es. 6,551 and the expenditm-e Es. 6,544 ; the credit 
 balance at the close of the year was Es. 656. 
 
 The education of the inhabitants of the district had been, until late 
 years, principally cared for by the Booddhist priests and the Eoman 
 Catholic and the American Baptist Missionaries, but in 1871 the State 
 established a middle class school in Mergui which was welcomed by the 
 inhabitants and has made some progress, a progress which latterly was 
 somew^hat checked by the opening of a Eoman Catholic school in the town, 
 by the fear which some of the people had that the institution of the State 
 school was to be changed and English no longer taught, by a Chinaman 
 from Penang opening a school for the Chinese, and by the existence of three 
 or four little English schools m which no fees were charged. The State 
 school appears to be recovering gradually, a new school-house has been 
 built as well as a residence for the head master. In 1873, when it was 
 suffering from the above causes it had an average daily attendance of 32 
 scholars, who paid a fee varjdng from eight annas to one Eupee. 
 
 The number of pupils on the rolls, aU learning through the English 
 language, the average attendance and the receipts and charges during the 
 last five years were : — 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 pl 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 O) 
 
 Receipts, in Rupees. 
 
 Ph 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 U >5 
 
 ^3 
 
 "cS 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 o 
 
 S o 
 
 fl g 
 
 
 
 CD ^ 
 CD O 
 
 
 
 Cost, in Rupees, of 
 educating each 
 
 
 :=J,d 
 
 
 m <0 
 
 o . 
 
 d 
 
 
 .-H 
 
 PUPIL. 
 
 
 o p 
 
 fA s 
 o 
 
 go 
 
 n in 
 
 
 From 
 and s 
 books 
 
 "3 
 o 
 H 
 
 
 
 1872-73 
 
 35 
 
 48 
 
 36 
 
 3,939 
 
 505 
 
 4,444 
 
 4,444 
 
 95 
 
 1873-74 
 
 71 
 
 39 
 
 32 
 
 3,800 
 
 433 
 
 4,233 
 
 4,233 
 
 109 
 
 1874-75 
 
 74 
 
 75 
 
 62 
 
 5,938 
 
 520 
 
 6,448 
 
 5,978 
 
 96 
 
 1875-76 
 
 77 
 
 78 
 
 66 
 
 4,598 
 
 536 
 
 5,134 
 
 5,134 
 
 78 
 
 1876-77 
 
 66 
 
 68 
 
 58 
 
 4,886 
 
 468 
 
 5,354 
 
 5,354 
 
 92
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 415 
 
 Besides the Government School in Mergui, there are 16 schools aided 
 by the State and inspected by the State officers, of which little can be 
 said except that the scholars are taught, after a fashion, to read and write 
 BuiTnese. 
 
 MEEGUI AECHIPELAGO.— A large cluster of islands which, com- 
 mencing in the north with Tavoy Island in about 13° 13' N. Lat., stretches 
 southward beyond the limits of British territory. The majority are 
 mountainous, the height of some being 3,000 feet ; Maingy Island in 12° 32' 
 N. Lat. and 98° 7' E. Long, can be seen for 11 miles, and the southern 
 peak of S. Matthew's Island in 10° 52' N. Lat. and 98° E. Long, for 
 13 miles. Those amongst them which are not bare rocks are clothed 
 with dense vegetation, though some, e. g., Kissering, were formerly weU 
 cultivated. They are but sparsely mhabited, a few Bui-mese and Kareng 
 having settled on one or two. They are the resort of a peculiar race, the 
 Selung iq. v.), who rarely or never leave them to visit the mainland. 
 They have been well described as " a cluster of islands and islets with bays 
 " and coves, headlands and highlands, capes and promontories, high bluffs 
 " and low shores, rocks and sands, fountain streams and cascades, moun- 
 " tain, plain and precij^ice, unsm'passed for their wild fantastic and 
 " picturesque beauty." The most westerly are composed of granite and 
 porphyry, those nearer the mainland of sandstone, grauwacke and conglo- 
 merate. They are, probably, rich in minerals. The principal productions 
 are leches de mer, collected by the Selung who exchange them with Bm-mese 
 and Malays for rice and spmts, and edible birds-nests. The caoutchouc 
 tree is asserted to grow in great abundance on the Islands and Malays 
 from Singapore to extract the gum. No exact enquiries on this point have, 
 however, been made. A branch of the tree was brought to the Dej^uty 
 Commissioner in 1868-69 and the gum was made in his presence. The 
 islands are infested by snakes and wild animals — tigers, rhinoceros and deer. 
 
 MET-TA. — A village in the Tavoy district at which is stationed a 
 small force of Pohce, once a flomishing Siamese town, on the Tenasserim 
 river at the spot where it commences its great bend west and south. 
 
 MET-TA. — A wild and mountainous revenue circle in the north-eastern 
 township of the Tavoy district, inhabited by Kareng of whom there were 
 1,066 in 1876 : in that year the land revenue was lis. 551, the capitation 
 tax Rs. 739 and the gi'oss revenue Ks. 1,317. The cultivated area is very 
 small and the main products are sessamum and cardamoms. It now 
 includes Thayet-ngoot. 
 
 MIEM-MA-PYA. — A revenue circle in the Prome district on the banks 
 of the Zay just north of the Pa-sheng circle ; in addition to Miem-ma-pya 
 it now includes Shwe-leng, Pvwa-tha-sa and Meng-boo. In 1876 the popu- 
 lation was 448, the land revenue Pis. 470 and the capitation tax Es. 480. 
 
 MO-BA-LAI. — A lake in the Henzada district. See Doora. 
 
 MO-BHAW. — A revenue cu-cle in the Shwe-gyeng district, occupying 
 the country from the Tsit-touug to the eastern hills southward from the 
 Ma-da-ma stream to the Kyoon-pa-goo ; to the north is the Ban circle and to 
 the south the Kyoon-pa-goo cncle of the Tsit-toung to\\'nship : the greater 
 portion of the circle is hilly and forest-clad. With an area of 240 square
 
 416 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 miles it has a population of 6,672 souls who are mainly Kareng. In 1876 
 the land revenue was Es. 2,083, the capitation tax Es. 3,988 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 8,228. 
 
 MO-BHOON. — The northern portion or suburb of Mye-dai q. v. 
 
 MO-BYA-MYOUK.— (A^ori/i Mo-hya). A revenue circle in the north- 
 eastern corner of the Thee-kweng township, Bassein district, just south of 
 the Daga and west of the Meng-ma-naing creek : on the west it is separat- 
 ed from the Paik-thoung circle by the Kyoon-la-ngoo creek and on the 
 south from South Mo-bya by an imaginary line. The principal villages 
 are Thoung-gyee on the Da-ga with 512 mhabitants and Ashe-khyoung on 
 the Kyoon-la-ngoo with 646 inhabitants. In 1876 the land revenue was 
 Es. 10,945, the capitation tax Es. 5,777, the gross revenue Es. 19,432 and 
 the population 4,739. 
 
 MO-BYA-TOUNG.— (SoMt/i Mo-hya). A revenue circle in the Bassein 
 district immediately to the south of North Mo-bya from which it was 
 separated in the early part of 1875. On the west it is separated from 
 the Paik-thomig circle by the Kyoon-la-ngoo creek, on the east from the 
 Kyoung-goon circle of the Kyoon-pyaw or Tsam-bay-roon township and from 
 the lem-mai chicle by the Meng-ma-naing, and on the south from the 
 Thee-kweng circle by the Pan-ma-wa-dee. It contains no villages of any 
 importance. In 1876 the population numbered 4,816 souls, the land 
 revenue was Es. 9,819, the capitation tax Es. 5,682 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 15,992. 
 
 MO-GNYO. — A long narrow township in the Tharrawaddy or eastern 
 portion of the Henzada district stretching E. N. E., from the bank of the 
 Irrawaddy to the Pegu Eoma mountains between the Meng-hla and Tsan- 
 rwe townships on the south and the Ta-pwon township on the north. To- 
 wards the east the country is hilly and covered with dense forest ; the 
 central and western portions are level and well cultivated, principally with 
 rice. The township is traversed from north to south by the Myit-ma-kha 
 or Hlaing, which communicates with the Irrawaddy by channels traversing 
 the Mo-gnyo and Htien-daw circles and falls into the sea as the Eangoon 
 river. The township is divided into six revenue circles, viz., Mo-gnyo, 
 Htien-daw, Eeng-daik-beng, Khoo-nhit-rwa, Myo-dweng and Ma-toung-da. 
 The principal villages are Mo-gnyo, Htien-daw, Myo-dweng and Khoo-nhit- 
 rwa in the circles of the same names. In 1876 the population was 45,792, 
 the land revenue Es. 50,320, the capitation tax Es. 41,405 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 105,952. 
 
 MO-GNYO. — A revenue circle in the township of the same name in the 
 Henzada district on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, having the Htien-daw 
 circle on the south, Meng-gyee on the north and the Ma-toung-da cu'cle 
 of the Meng-hla township on the east. The ground is low and subject 
 to inundation. The principal crops cultivated are rice, tobacco and vege- 
 tables. In 1876 the population was 7,717, the land revenue Es. 4,656, the 
 capitation tax Es. 7,500 and the gross revenue Es. 17,812. In 1868 the 
 gross revenue was Es. 11,492 and the population 6,592. 
 
 MO-GNYO. — A town in the circle and township of the same name in 
 the Henzada district on the left bank of the Irrawaddy divided into
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 417 
 
 two quarters called the north and south quarters respectively. The site of 
 the original village has been swept away by the waters of the river. It is 
 the head-quarters of the township and contains a Court-house and a Police 
 Station. Lat. 17° 58' 10" N., Long. 95° 34' 30" E. 
 
 MO-GOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Mye-dai township, Thayet 
 district, having an area of about 3,840 acres of which some 1,300 are under 
 regular cultivation and 320, about, under toungya, and 500 culturable and 
 1,720 unculturable waste. It is situated in the triangle formed by the 
 frontier on the noii;h, the Irrawaddy on the west and the Kye-nee river on 
 the south-east. The i^opulation in 1872, including travellers and temporary 
 residents, was 1,663 souls, aU Burmans, who owned 1,153 head of cattle. 
 It contains three of the old Burmese village tracts, viz., Mo-goung, Ewa- 
 byeen and Ewa-haing. The largest village is Mo-goung which has 
 206 houses. In 1859 the villages of Shwe-tha-de, Zoung-ya-kyeng 
 and Hpan-lan-khyoung were transferred to the Mye-dai circle, the here- 
 ditary Thoogyee of which represented that they were properly in his 
 jurisdiction. The Thoogyee of Mo-goung is now also in charge of Mouk- 
 teng. The products are rice, sessamum, cotton, plantains, maize, chillies 
 and cutch. The area of rice cultivation is "comparatively large, viz., 
 about 1,200 acres, and toungya are numerous considering the geographi- 
 cal position of the circle. In 1876-77 the population was 5,709, the land 
 revenue Es. 2,550, the capitation tax Es. 3,065 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 5,809. 
 
 MO-NAT. — A village of 50 houses in the Shwe-doung circle, Meng-doon 
 township, Thayet district, close to the larger village of Tsa-ba-tan. 
 
 MOO-DOON. — A long, narrow revenue cii'cle in the Zaya township, 
 Amherst district, extending from the Toung-gnyo spur* westward to the Sal- 
 ween, lying between the Kaw-pa-ran circle on the south and the Keng- 
 khyoung circle on the north. The amount of upland is small : the plains 
 are extensive, but suffer from defective drainage ; this has been to some 
 extent improved. The greater part of the garden cultivation consists of 
 dhanee. The principal village is Moo-doon, the head-quarters of the 
 township. The population,, land revenue and caj^itation tax in 1868 were 
 1,978, Es. 3,573 and Es. 2,097 respectively, and m 1867 3,268, Es. 4,175 
 and Es. 3,025. 
 
 MOO-DOON. — A village in the ch'cle of the same name in the Zaya 
 township, Amherst district, on the main road to the south, nine miles from 
 Maulmain, the head-quarters of the township, with 2,475 inhabitants, includ- 
 ing the 1,226 of Moo-doon South. It contains a Com-t-house, a Public Works 
 Department Inspection Bungalow and a Police-station. In the neighbour- 
 hood are some ornamental pieces of water generally known as " the sacred 
 *' lakes. " 
 
 MOO-KYEE. — A revenue circle in the Moot-ta-ma or Martaban town- 
 ship of the Tha-htoon sub-division of the Amherst district, lying on 
 the western side of the Martaban hiUs at the corner where the range 
 changes its du'ection from north-west and south-east to nearly north and 
 south. On the north this circle adjoins Pouug and on the south Kha-daing. 
 The land near the hills is liable to floods from the sudden rushes of water 
 after heavy rains, the rest of the circle is moderately fertile. In one place the 
 
 53
 
 418 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 land is damaged by the overflow of brine from some hot salt springs. 
 Water carriage for the conveyance of the produce to the Maulmain market 
 and elsewhere is available all the year round at spring tides. In 1868 the 
 population was 1,633, the land revenue Es. 6,683 and the capitation tax 
 Bs. 1,770. Nine years later, in 1877, these were 4,080, Rs. 16,605 and 
 Rs. 4,182 respectively. 
 
 MOON. — A village in the circle of the same name, in the Kyouk-gyee 
 township of the Shwe-gyeng district, not far from the right bank of the Tsit- 
 toung river, about 52 miles above the town of Shwe-gyeng, with 669 inhabit- 
 ants. According to the Burmese local histories its name, corrupted from 
 Moo, is derived from the fact that a certain quantity of the water of the neigh- 
 bouring stream was found to be heavier than that of the Rouk-thwa-wa by 
 one Moo or two annas. In 1830 it was deserted on account of the oppressions 
 of the Governor of Kyouk-gy'ee, but under his successor it was repopulated. 
 It contains a Government rest-house and a Police-station; about 16 miles 
 to the eastwards is a hot spring the waters of which have not been analyzed. 
 The inhabitants are employed principally in trading in bamboos, torches, 
 betel-nut and timber. 
 
 MOON. — A revenue circle in the north of the Kyouk-gyee township, 
 Shwe-gyeng district, on the left bank of the Tsit-toung river about 290 square 
 miles in area and with a population of 4,603 souls, mainly Burmese. A 
 comparatively large revenue is derived from lake and pond fishery and net 
 tax. The circle contains some very fine Teak and Pyeng-ga-do forests; the 
 land revenue in 1876-77 was Rs. 2,192, the capitation tax Rs. 3,935 and the 
 gross revenue Rs. 7,309. 
 
 MOON. — A small river in the northern part of the Shwe-gyeng district 
 which has its source in the hills to the east of the Tsit-toung and after a 
 generally westerly course falls into that river near the village of Moon in 
 about 18° 32' 35" N. 
 
 MOON-TA. — A small stream in the Thayet district, one of the 
 affluents, from the north, of the Ma-de river. It rises in the Kwon-doung 
 spur of the Arakan range and flowing in a south-easterly direction falls 
 into the Ma-de some miles to the east of the mouth of the Nga-wek. Its 
 bed is sandy and gravelly with rocks near the source ; it is not navigable 
 by boats. Teak, Eng {Dipterocarjms tuberculatus) and Sha (Cutch ; — Acacia 
 Catechu) are found on the hills amongst which it flows, and logs of the 
 former are floated down it to the Ma-de and so to the Irrawaddy at 
 Ka-ma. 
 
 MOON-TSA-LEE.— A revenue cii-cle in the Thayet district, Thayet 
 township, 18 square miles in extent, of which more than 14 a,re uncul- 
 turable, and of the rest a little more than one-half is under cultivation, 
 374 acres being hill clearings. The population in 1872 was 1,154 
 souls including 153 Khyeng, and 147 Shan of whom there are very few 
 elsewhere in the district. Considering the number of inhabitants the 
 number of cattle, 586 head, was small. The land revenue m 1872 was 
 Rs. 640, the remainder of the revenue, which aggregated Rs. 1,630, being 
 derived from capitation tax. The present Thoogyee is a descendant of the 
 Talk Thoogyee of Khyoung-yo one of the five Talk into which the then 
 Thayet district was divided in the Burmese time. The products are rice,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 419 
 
 sessamum, maize, plantains and cutch. In 1876-77 the population was 
 1,935, the land revenue Ks. 1,019, the capitation tax Es. 1,945 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 3,412. It now includes the Meng-dai circle. 
 
 MOO-EENG. — A small revenue circle with an area of about six square 
 miles in the southern portion of the Kyouk-hpyoo township, Kyouk-hpyoo 
 district, on the west coast of Eamree, now joined to the Keng circle lying 
 on the south. 
 
 MOO-EIT-GA-LE.— A village m the Ka-la-be curcle of the Bhee-loo- 
 gywon township, Amherst district, south of the Pan-hpa hills. In 1868 it 
 had 795 inhabitants and in 1877 1,230. 
 
 MOOT-HTEE. — A revenue circle in the north-eastern township, Ta- 
 voy district, 12 square miles in extent, of which about a quarter are under 
 grain cultivation. In 1876 the population was 2,281, the land revenue 
 Es. 3,373, the capitation tax Es. 1,762 and the gross revenue Es. 5,307. 
 
 MOOT-KYWON. — A highly cultivated but not very populous revenue 
 circle in the Angyee township, Eangoon district, occupying the northern 
 portion of the island formed by the sea, the Eangoon river and the Tha- 
 khwot-peng creek, or the Bassein creek as it is called in the charts. It 
 formerly included the whole of this island but the southern portion was 
 separated from it and formed into the Zhe-pa-thway cu-cle in 1876. This 
 circle and Zhe-pa-thway contained, previous to the first Burmese war, a 
 very considerable Talaing population, many of whom at the close of the war 
 emigrated to Maulmain. 
 
 The area under cultivation and the revenue during each of the last five 
 years were : — 
 
 
 Area, in Acres. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Rice in- 
 cluding 
 fallow. 
 
 Garden. 
 
 Miscel- 
 laneous. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Laud. 
 
 Capita- All other 
 tion tax. items. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1873-74 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 14,144 
 17,724 
 18,062 
 9,716 
 10,514 
 
 4 
 6 
 5 
 1 
 2 
 
 7 
 3 
 
 14,155 
 17,733 
 18,067 
 9,717 
 10,616 
 
 31,098 
 38,724 
 39,466 
 21,047 
 23,258 
 
 38,055 
 8,252 
 9,192 
 4,185 
 4,470 
 
 2,110 
 
 4,027 
 
 1,828 
 
 884 
 
 390 
 
 41,363 
 51,003 
 50,486 
 22,814 
 28,118 
 
 The population and agricultural stock during the same period were : — 
 
 
 Population , 
 
 Agricultural 
 
 Stock. 
 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 m 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 PQ 
 
 H 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 ■3 « 
 
 1 
 
 ai 
 
 tn 
 
 s 
 
 n 
 
 M 00 
 
 O ns 
 OP 
 
 ■s 
 
 OS 
 
 n 
 
 -a 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 1873-74 
 
 2,377 
 
 3,431 
 
 112 
 
 20 
 
 5,940 
 
 1,516 
 
 612 
 
 367 
 
 514 
 
 99 
 
 1874-75 
 
 2,795 
 
 3,832 
 
 236 
 
 13 
 
 6,876 
 
 2,022 
 
 378 
 
 309 
 
 850 
 
 252 
 
 1875-76 
 
 3,031 
 
 4,253 
 
 247 
 
 18 
 
 7,549 
 
 1,599 
 
 667 
 
 275 
 
 889 
 
 202 
 
 1876-77 
 
 1,509 
 
 1,632 
 
 86 
 
 7 
 
 3,234 
 
 542 
 
 82 
 
 114 
 
 221 
 
 77 
 
 1877-78 
 
 1.289 
 
 1,898 
 
 121 
 
 7 
 
 3,315 
 
 629 
 
 298 
 
 238 
 
 313 
 
 222
 
 420 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The largest village is Tsha-daing-mwot with 702 inhabitants in 1877 
 on the bank of the Eangoon river. The country is generally low and 
 though not too much inundated for rice cultivation yet it is so for the 
 health of the cattle which as a general rule are not housed and in conse- 
 quence there is annually a comi^aratively high mortality, especially amongst 
 the buffaloes which are less hardy than bullocks. 
 
 MOOT-TA-MA. — More generally called Martaban in English. A revenue 
 circle in the township of the same name in the Amherst district, surround- 
 ing the town of Martaban, on the right bank of the Salween and opposite 
 Maulmain. It is of trangular shape having the Martaban mountains, run- 
 ning north-west and south-east, and the Darai-bouk for its two sides and 
 the Kha-daing khyoung, separating it from the Kha-daing and Moo-kyee 
 circles, for its base. Towards the river the land is good but at the foot of 
 the mountains there is some waste land rendered unculturable by the 
 floods of water which rush down from the hills and which the existing drain- 
 age channels cannot carry off. At one time garden cuhvation was com- 
 paratively extensive but the high prices realized of late years and the great 
 and increasing demand in the Maulmain market for rice for export has led to 
 a great increase in the area sown with this cereal, but not at the expense of 
 the gardens as garden land is not suitable for rice. In 1868 the land reve- 
 nue was Rs. 7,577, the capitation tax Es. 3,167 and the population 3,178. 
 In 1876-77 these were Rs. 14,539, Rs. 4,512 and 4,755 respectively. The 
 only important village is Martaban 
 
 MO-TSAY. — A revenue circle in the Ra-thai-doung township, Akyab 
 district. In 1876-77, the population was 2,360, the land revenue Rs. 5,065 
 the capitation tax Rs. 2,612 and the gross revenue Rs. 8,030. The 
 principal village is A-wa-zee-gaing with 719 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 MO-TSAY-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the Ra-thai-doung township, 
 Akyab district. In 1876-77 the population was 2,256, the land revenue 
 Rs. 9,007, the capitation tax Rs. 2,740, and the gross revenue Rs. 12,651. 
 The principal village is Toung-rwa, with 663 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 MO-PGHA. — A subtribe of the Pwo branch of Kareng, caUed by the 
 Burmese Taw -by a or " wild bees " from the fact of their bringing honey 
 and bees-wax into the Burmese villages for sale. They live in eight or nine 
 villages in the Toung-ngoo district of the Tenasserim division, between the 
 Kan-nee and Thouk-re-khat streams. Mo-pgha is the name given to them 
 from one of their villages by the Missionaries but it is a name by which 
 they do not recognize themselves. Small as the tribe is they have two or 
 three different dialects and thus, though they all distinguish themselves by 
 their word for man, some caU themselves Plaiv, others Pie-do and others 
 again Pie-zaiv. Although their language shews them to belong to the Pwo 
 class they wear the same tunic as the Bghai-ka-teu or Tunic Bghai viz., 
 white with red perpendicular stripes. They sacrifice a black bullock to the 
 lord of the earth and for one without a single white hair they wiU, at the 
 sacrificial season, give almost any price. Mr. Cross, of the American 
 Baptist Mission, writes of them : " I know of no tribe or variety of Kareng 
 *' whose morality is so strict and stern." Many of the people have embraced 
 Christianity and are earnest in promoting education.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 421 
 
 MO-POON. — A quarter of the town of Maulmain in which are numer- 
 ous steam rice -husking mills and saw mills. 
 
 MOSCOS. — A group of islands off the coast of the Tavoy district, 
 ** which extend in a chain parallel to the coast from Lat. 14° 28' N. D.to Lat. 
 (( -j^go ^r^i -^^^ ^^^ ^^^ distant from it from three to five leagues having a safe 
 ** channel inside between them and the coast, with soundings mostly from 
 " 10 to 15 fathoms, deepening generally near the islands." These islands 
 are divided into three groups, the Northern, Middle and Southern, called 
 in Burmese Hien-tsai, Moung-ma-gan and Loung-loon respectively. " Be- 
 *' tween the southern and middle groups there are safe channels and these 
 " are the largest and highest of these islands ; the northern part of the 
 *' chain is composed of straggling islands of various sizes, with several rocks 
 ** above water". 
 
 MO-TSA-GYAN. — A revenue circle in the Ta-pwon township, Henzada 
 district separated from the Ta-pwon and Pouk-taw cii'cles on the 
 north by the little Baing stream, a tributary of the Hpoung which falls into 
 the Myit-ma-kha, and wdth the Le-myet-hna circle of the same township on 
 the north west. On the south are the Mo-gnyo and the Meng-gyee circles 
 and on the west the Po-tsa-daw cu'cle of Ta-roop-maw. The cultivation 
 is principally in the north and has increased considerably of late years. 
 In 1868 the population was 3,866, the land revenue Es. 2,466, the capitation 
 tax Rs. 3,703 and the gross revenue Es. 6,207. In 1876-77 these were 
 4,676, Es. 6,580, Es. 4,610 and Es. 11,571. 
 
 MOUK-TENG.— A village in the Mouk-teng cii'cle of the Mye-dai 
 township, Thayet district, on the Kye-nee river, hardly a mile from the 
 frontier and about 11 miles due east from the Irrawaddy. Except as being 
 a frontier Pohce-post it is of no importance. 
 
 MOUK-TENG. — A circle in the Mye-dai towTiship, Thayet district, 
 in which are included no less than six of the old registered circles. The 
 area is 42,880 acres of which only 2,476 were mider cultivation in 1871-72, 
 and of these 1,360 were hiQ clearings. This paucity of cultivation and large 
 number of toungya is due to the fact that by far the larger portion of the 
 circle is mountainous situated as it is on the spm*s of the Pegu Eoma. 
 The circle contains three fau'ly large villages, viz., Mouk-teng, Ee-nan-ngay 
 and Ee-nan-gyee. The last Thoogyee was dismissed in 1870 and this circle 
 was then placed under the Thoogyee of Mo-goung. 
 
 MOUNG-BHEE. — A river in the Bassein district which rises in the 
 Arakan hiUs and after a southerly com-se of about 12 miles falls into the 
 Kyouk-khyoung-gyee at the village of Moung-bhee. Sprmg tides go up 
 as far as Thit-poot, neaps as far as Htsiep-gyee. For about six miles from 
 its mouth the banks are fringed with Gnyoung-lan {Ficus sp.) and higher up 
 the Nee-pa-tshe {Morindus sp.) is abundant. 
 
 MOUNG-DAW. — The head-quai-ters of the Naaf township of the Akyab 
 district, on the Naaf estuary, near the mouth of the Moung-daw. It con- 
 tains a Com-t-house, Government Cess School, Telegraph Office, Market- 
 place and Police-station. A ferry boat plies between this town and the 
 Chittagong district. The population in 1877 numbered 547 souls, princi- 
 pally Chittagonians. It is sometimes called Moimg-daw-tat or Moung-daw's
 
 422 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 military post, from a Burmese general of that name having built a stockade 
 there in 1823-24, during the first Anglo-Burmese war. It was to this officer 
 that was entrusted the conduct of the negotiation when the differences be- 
 tween the Burmese in Arakan and the English in Chittagong first arose. 
 Moung-daw was occupied by the British on the 1st February 1825, and was 
 found to have been abandoned by the Burmans. 
 
 MOUNG-DEE. — A tidal creek in the Thee-kweng township, Bassein 
 district, which leaves the Pan-ma-wa-dee at Zee-byoo-khyoung and flowing 
 for 15 miles parallel to it, in a general south-westerly dh-ection, joins the 
 Thek-ngay-thoung mouth of the Irrawaddy. It is navigable at aU times by 
 the largest boats. 
 
 MOUNG-DEE. — A tidal creek in the Shwe-loung township, Thoon-khwa 
 district, with a general north and south direction, parallel to the Irrawaddy 
 and about two miles to the westward of it. In the rains it joins the Ka-way 
 and Lan-tha-maing creeks. It is 80 feet wide at its southern entrance, and 
 in the dry season is navigable by boats 25 feet in length for about two and 
 a half miles up. 
 
 MOUNG-MA-GAN. — An irregularly shaped revenue circle in the wes- 
 tern township of the Tavoy district, west of Tavoy, and including the 
 Middle Mosco Islands, extending north and south along the seacoast and 
 reaching eastwards to the Tavoy river ; on the north is the north-eastern town- 
 ship and on the south the Ka-myaw-keng cu'cle. It is about 26 square miles 
 in extent and not much cultivated. A small revenue is derived from tm-tle 
 banks. It now includes Myo-houng. In 1876-77 the population was 3,483, 
 the land revenue Rs. 3,646, the capitation taxRs. 2,666, and the gross 
 revenue Es. 6,966. 
 
 MOUNG-MA-GAN.— A group of islands off the coast of the Tavoy 
 district. See Moscos. 
 
 MOUNG-MAI-SHOUNG. — A very large revenue circle in the north-east- 
 ern township of the Tavoy district, lying on the left bank of the Tavoy 
 river and extending northwards from the Za-ha stream, which separates it 
 from the north-eastern township, to the Ka-lien-oung Ka-reng circle. 
 Though of extensive area it contains but little cultivation and few inhabitants, 
 the greater portion being covered with tree and grass forest. In 1876-77 the 
 population was 1863, the land revenue Rs. 4,956, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 1,411 and the gross revenue Rs. 4,884. 
 
 MRO-HOUNG. — A township in the Akyab district lying to the east of 
 the Koo-la-dan river, so named {Mro a town and koung old) from containing 
 old Arakan or Myouk-oo, the capital of the Arakanese kingdom before its 
 conquest by the Burmese towards the close of the last century. On the 
 north and east are forest-clad hills but below and to the west of these the 
 country is rich and fertile and towards the south highly intersected by 
 creeks. A fair weather road extends from Mro-houng, the head-quarters, to 
 Meng-bra a distance of about 20 miles, but communication is everywhere 
 carried on chiefly by creeks. About 20 miles north of Mro-houng is the 
 Ma-ha-moo-nee pagoda, still visited by pilgrims, where was formerly the 
 gigantic metal image of Gaudama carried to Ava by the Burmese after the 
 conquest of the country in 1784, and Ma-ha-htee, a temple hardly less sacred.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 423 
 
 The township is divided into 12 revenue circles. The gross revenue 
 in 1876-77 was Rs. 94,386, of which Rs. 47,241, were derived from the 
 land and Rs. 29,757, from the capitation tax, the rest from fisheries, 
 excise and other som'ces. The population in that year was 24,316 souls. 
 
 MRO-HOUNG. — A town in the Akyab district of the Arakan division, 
 the head-quarters of the Mro-houng to^ATiship, in 20° 44' N. Lat, and 
 93° 26' E. Long. The Arakanese name was Myouk-oo or Monkey's egg 
 (the Burmese name for potato) the origin of which is very obscure. It 
 appears to have been known to the geographer Ptolemy under the name of 
 Triglyphon, which would seem to be derived from the cognizance of the town — 
 once a famous seat of Booddhism — the sacred Booddhist triglyph or trident, 
 the three prongs or upright hues representing Booddha, the law, and the 
 congregation and the uniting line at the bottom their unity. It stands at 
 the head of a branch of the Koo -la-dan river about 50 miles from its 
 mouth, almost at the extreme hmit of tidal influence, on a rocky plain sur- 
 rounded with hiUs. The principal creek is formed of two branches which 
 unite below the hills and pass through the town. The ruins of the ancient 
 fort are stiU in existence ; they consist of three square enclosm-es one with- 
 in the other, smrrounded by masonry walls of very considerable thickness, 
 built of stone and brick set in cement ; the stone, it would appear, ha^^Ilg 
 been the material originally employed and the brick used in making such 
 repairs as from time to time became necessary.* In some places the 
 repairs were made with wood but this was, in aU probability, during the 
 war of 1824-25. The most extensive and laborious work of all, however, is 
 what may be called the outer line of defence, for wherever openings occur 
 in the hills surrounding the town there were erected mounds of earth faced 
 with masonry, the stones of which are exceedingly large ; some of these 
 connectmg mounds were of great height, and the spots where the material 
 was excavated were utilized as dykes for defensive pm'poses but now resemble 
 large natural ponds. At the main gateways the stone walls were high and 
 thick, but where the hills afforded a natm-al protection a low wall was run 
 along then' summits. These massive works have shared the fate of the 
 town and are in ruins but the platform on which stood the palace still 
 remains, and within the sacred precinct stand the Com-t-house and Police 
 lines. On the conquest of Ai-akan by the Burmese in 1784 the town made 
 no resistance but yielded after the defeat of the Arakanese monarch in a 
 general action fought some distance from his capital and became the head- 
 quarters of one of the fom* districts or provinces into which the country was 
 divided. 
 
 In 1824, on the declaration of war with Ava, one of the points on which 
 the kingdom was attacked was Ai-akan. On the 2nd February 1825 the first 
 British detachment crossed the Naaf from Chittagong and after a tedious 
 march the whole division of British troops acting in Arakan, imder General 
 Morrison, and the flotilla, under Commodore Hayes, arrived before the town 
 of Arakan on the 28th March. The place was found to be strongly foi-tified, 
 the Burmaus had followed and taken advantage of the old fortifications 
 abeady described and had added to them. The first attack was unsuccess- 
 
 • Some of the stone is said to have been brought from Borongo Island at the mouth of the 
 Eoo-la-dan.
 
 424 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 ful, but the entrenchments were eventually carried by storm, not without 
 considerable loss. 
 
 The capture of this stronghold led to the immediate retirement of the 
 whole Burman army from Arakan and General Morrison cantoned the 
 the greater portion of his troops in the town. When the rains commenced 
 early in May disease broke out in the cantonments and carried off more 
 victims than in any other portion of the country in which British troops 
 were engaged, indeed it may be said, without exaggeration, that the Ara- 
 kan army was almost destroyed by it. The excessive mortality was due to 
 the site of the town ; this was the opinion held at the time by the medical 
 men and it was confirmed by the healthiness of the troops stationed else- 
 where, as at Sandoway, Kyouk-hpyoo and Akyab. Dr. Mason wrote in 
 the second volume of the Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society 
 of Calcutta: — " Its site is such as one would at first sight pronounce to be 
 '' prolific of those noxious exhalations, whatever they may be, that are 
 ' generally allowed to engender intermittent fever. It lies on the banks of 
 ' a muddy river, or rather ramifications of a river, bm'ied among hills at a 
 ' distance nearly forty miles from the sea and invested on every side with 
 ' jungle and morass. The tide overflows the flat borders of the river to a 
 ' considerable extent, its reflux converts these into a noisome swamp, and 
 ' in this swamp, strange to say, a great part of Arakan is built." Dr. Steven- 
 son recorded that :— " Of the peculiar unhealthiness of the town of Arakan 
 '' the Burmese were aware and studiously avoided it m the rains. The 
 ' Mugs, too, were aware of it, for, if I am not misinformed, they often 
 'retire to the seacoast, or to some village at a distance when sick ;" and Dr. 
 Burnard's testimony was that : — " The causes of this sickness were too 
 ' obvious to be overlooked ; the locality was sufficient to satisfy every medi- 
 'cal observer that troops could not inhabit it with impunity." On reading 
 the accounts of the frightful mortality amongst the troops cantoned at 
 Arakan one cannot but wonder that such a site should have remained for 
 350 years the capital of a kingdom. General Morrison himseK fell a victim, 
 for he was obUged by iU-health to leave Arakan before the conclusion of 
 the war and died on his way home. 
 
 Soon after the close of the war the troops were removed and the head- 
 quarters of the division placed at Akyab. From this time IVIro-houng gra- 
 dually sank in importance and now contains a small population of 2,086 
 souls of all ages and sexes. In addition to the Court-house and Police- 
 station it contains a market and a Government school. 
 
 MRO-KHYOUNG. — A revenue circle in the extreme south of the large 
 island lying between Eamree and the mainland, bounded on the south by 
 the Nga-ga-bouk creek which separates it from Ma-dai-gan-ga island, a 
 revenue circle in the Eamree township, on the east by the Kywai-khya- 
 bouk which separates it from the An township, on the west by Kyouk- 
 hpyoo harbour and on the north by the Tha-loo-doung and Ka-baing 
 creeks which separate it from the Mye-boon township. In 1876 the 
 inhabitants numbered 1,384, the land revenue was Es. 993, the capitation 
 tax Es. 1,828 and the gross revenue Es. 5,067. 
 
 MEOO. — A hill tribe in Ai-akan, belonging to the Toung-tha division, 
 numbering 1,500 souls, consisting of the following 15 clans, each under
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 425 
 
 its own petty chief : — Khan-za-na, La-too, Paw-ma-na, Ta-gyee, Dook-tsa, 
 Moveenet, Lee-kho, Han-ma-na, Ma-liee-na, Wa-lien, Khan-tet, Tisiway- 
 net, Bawsheen, Moeetsana, and Letet, and living on the banks of the Mee- 
 kliyoung, Thamie-ldiyoung, the southern part of the Pee-kliyoiing and the 
 Eoo-kliyoung. They once occupied the soui'ces of the Koo-la-dan but have 
 been driven out by the Khamie and have gradually moved south and 
 west, many passing into Chittagong, reducing their number in Arakan from 
 2,800 souls in 1853 to 1,500. The native history of Ai-akan refers to the 
 Mroo as already in the country when the Burman race entered it and 
 would seem to imply further that they are of the same stock, though this is 
 indignantly denied at the present day by the Arakanese. They have no 
 written language, but some of their words have been collected by Sir 
 Arthur Phayre {See Appendix). They are dark-skinned, powerful menwdth 
 Ai'yan featm'es. They have three gods, Too-ra-ee, the father, Tsoon-toon, the 
 nat of the hills and Oo-reng, the nat of the streams. Their knowledge of 
 medicine is of the slightest ; in colic they apply a heated sword to their 
 stomach, in a headache they bleed the head, and sores and wounds they 
 smear with a paste of earth from an ant-hill or apply a rice poultice. 
 When travelling the Oo-reng is propitiated before each day's journey by 
 a prayer offered by the headman of the party standing in the stream 
 holding some young shoots of grass one pulled uj) by each member, the 
 whole of which are afterwards stuck in the bank. On arriving on the top of 
 a hill each individual plucks a bunch of grass which he throws on to the 
 ground and thus propitiates Tsoon-toon. The site of a village is chosen- 
 by dreams ; a fish betokens riches, a river a plentiful crop of rice, a snake 
 or a dog evil. 
 
 Before marriage intercourse is promiscuous. To obtain a wife a man 
 must pay Rs. 200 or PiS. 300, or serve for three years. " At the marriage there 
 " is a big feast. Everyone attending has a thread tied round his right 
 ** wrist ; this is done by the oldest woman of the bride's family. The string 
 " must remain on the wrist till it di'ops off."* Concubinage is unkno^^^l, 
 and no master can have connexion with his female slave, but anj^one else 
 may marry her by paying her fine and making her free. In case of di- 
 vorce the husband is repaid what he gave for his wife who, besides, for- 
 feits all her property. Widows can, but rarely do, re-marry. On the 
 death of a man with a young family the widow and childi'en are taken 
 charge of by the nearest male relative. If the children grow up during the 
 lifetime of the father and marry and settle the father lives with the 
 youngest son who, on his death, inherits his property. The women wear a 
 short petticoat, and the men a strip of cloth romid the loins and be- 
 tween the legs. They bm'y the dead. A few pay regular tax to the 
 British Government but the majority pay a tribute of one rupee a year 
 for each house, collected by the headmen. 
 
 MRO-THIT. — A revenue circle in the extreme noi-th-eastern angle of 
 the Kyouk-hpyoo township, Kyouk-hpyoo district, bounded on the south by 
 the Oon-khyoung which separates it from the Tseen-khyoon cncle, on the 
 east and north by the sea and on the west by the Kyouk-hpyoo-houng cii'cle. 
 
 • Hill Tracts of Chittagoug aud the dwellers therein, by Captain Le\vin, Calcutta, 18G9, 
 p. 93. 
 
 54
 
 42G BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 In 1876-77 the population was 3,438, the land revenue Es. 1,507, the capi- 
 tation tax Ks. 2,708 and the gross revenue, including that raised in the 
 town of Kyouk-hpyoo, Es. 41,529. 
 
 MEO-THIT. — A revenue circle on the bank of the Naaf estuary in 
 the Naaf township of the Akyab district, with a population in 1875 of 
 2,507 souls, a land revenue in 1874-75 of Es. 4,691, and producuig in 1875- 
 76 Es. 2,450 from the capitation tax. Mro-thit-khyoung — now indepen- 
 dent — was formerly a part of this cu-cle. In 1876-77 the population was 
 3,361, the land revenue Es. 4,982, the capitation tax Es. 3,361 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 8,595. The only village of any importance is Do-tan- 
 rwa on the Mro-thit-khyoung. 
 
 MEO-THIT-KHYOUNG.— A revenue ckcle in the Akyah district on 
 the bank of the Naaf estuary, originally a portion of Mro-thit, with a 
 population, principally natives of the neighbouring Chittagong district, 
 numbering 4,579 souls in 1875. The land revenue, derived from a culti- 
 vated area of 3,046 acres, amounted in 1874-75 to Es. 4,455 and the capi- 
 tation tax in 1875-76 to Es. 4,195. In 1876-77 the population was 11,338, 
 the land revenue Es. 6,136, the capitation tax Es. 8,342 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 17,184. The principal villages are Nga-khoo-ra with 795 
 inhabitants, Hpyoo-ma-ashe with 719 and We-la-toung with 2,721, all on 
 the Mro-thit stream, a branch of the Naaf, and the last lying on either 
 bank, the two quarters called We-la-toung East and We-la-toung West, res- 
 pectively. The principal products are rice, wood-oil, mustard-seed and salt, 
 the last for home consumption. 
 
 MWAY-EO. — A small and insignificant stream in the Thayet dis- 
 trict which rises to the east of the Irrawaddy and falls into that river a little 
 south of the village of Pyeng-bouk. To the east of Kyouk-ma-tsheng village 
 it is called the Kyouk-ma-tsheng stream. 
 
 MYAING-GA-LE. — A long and comparatively narrow revenue circle 
 in the Hpa-gat township, Amherst district, between the Bheng-laing river 
 and its feeder the Doon-tha-mie on the west and the Salween on the 
 east : on the north is the Myaing-gyee ckcle and on the south the 
 Bheng-laing circle of the same township, the boundary in either case being 
 marked by an imaginary line drawn east and west between the Doon-tha- 
 mie and the Salween in the former and the Bheng-laing and the Salween m 
 the latter case. The circle is very poor the country consisting of undulat- 
 ing, forest-clad land, low plains annually inundated, and precipitous lime- 
 stone rocks. The villages are decreasing in size, for whereas none are 
 returned as having 500 inhabitants in 1877, Myaing-ga-le had 518 and 
 Wai-da-rai 539 in 1868. The area under cultivation is very small and 
 except in the immediate neighbourhood of the villages consists entnely 
 of rice. In 1876-77 the population was 2,553, the land revenue Es. 1,789 
 and the capitation tax Es. 2,925. 
 
 MYAING-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the Amherst district occupying 
 the northern portion of the Hpa-gat township and lying between the Sal- 
 ween and the Doon-tha-mie ; to the north are the Salween Hill Tracts and 
 to the south the Myaing-ga-le circle of the same township. The face of 
 the country consists of undulating and hilly ground with low valleys and 
 small swamps with very little cultivation to be found anywhere. Some of
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 427 
 
 the forests are valuable, producing Teak and other useful timber. In 1868 
 the population was 2,833 scattered through nine villages, almost entirely 
 Kareng with a few Talaing, Toung-thoo and Shan. The Kareng, who are 
 wild and ignorant are toung-ya cultivators, the Talaing live on the bank of 
 the Salween and are principally timber salvers and raftsmen, the Toung-thoo 
 and Shan are cultivators. In 1868 the land revenue was Es. 849 and the 
 capitation tax Es. 1,791. In 1876-77 the population was 3,374, the land 
 revenue Rs. 1,090 and the capitation tax Es. 1,364. The principal villages 
 are Mee-zaing, on the bank of the Salween, which had 567 inhabitants in 
 1868 and 684 in 1877, and Thai-hpyoo-khyoung which had 361 inhabitants 
 in 1868 and 534 in 1877. 
 
 MYAN-OUNG. — A township in the Henzada district between Kyan- 
 kheng and Kan-oung and extending westwards from the Irrawaddy to the 
 Arakan hills. To the westward the country is mountainous and produces 
 some valuable timber but between the foot of the hills and the river it is low 
 and was formerly subject to yearly inundations ; the embankments con- 
 structed along the Irrawaddy now protect a large tract of fertile country in 
 which rice cultivation is extending. The principal town is Myan-oung, at 
 one time the head-quarters of the district, where an Assistant Commissioner 
 in charge of the sub-division is now stationed. It is divided into six 
 revenue circles, viz., Myanoung-myoma, Tan-thoon-beng, Koon-daw, Thien- 
 goon. Pan-daw and Kyouk-tan. In 1876-77 the population was 40,972, 
 the land revenue Es. 58,865, the capitation tax Es. 37,655 and the gross 
 revenue, including the local revenue raised in the town of Myan-oung, 
 Es. 1,15,900. 
 
 MYAN-OUNG. — A town on the right bank of the Irrawaddy, formerly 
 the head-quarters of the Henzada (then called the Myan-oung) district, but 
 now the head-quarters of an Assistant Commissioner, with a population 
 in 1876 of 5,859 souls. It is two miles long by about 200 yards broad and 
 contains Court-houses, a small masonry gaol or lock-up with wooden bar- 
 racks in which, in 1876, an average of 74 persons were confined, a Public 
 Works Department Inspection-bungalow, Circuit-house, Pohce-station, 
 Charitable dispensary in which 125 in and 761 out-patients were treated 
 in 1876, a good Market-place, a Telegraph office, Post office and a school. 
 
 It was formerly the head-quarters of the Pegu Light Infantry ; a local 
 battalion raised after the second Anglo-Burmese w\ar and disbanded in 
 1861-62 when its place was taken by the newly-formed constabulary. 
 
 Founded by the Talaing at the same time as Kyan-kheng in the same 
 district, circa 1250 A.D., it was then called Ko-dwot. It was captured by 
 Aloung-bhoora, the Burman conqueror, in 1754 A.D., who built a fort and 
 changed the name to Myan-oung. During the first Anglo-Burmese war it 
 was not defended by the Burmans in then- retreat northward before the British 
 force. In 1876-77 the population, including that of the town of Myan-oung, 
 was 12,919, the land revenue Es. 6,398, the capitation tax Es. 10,573 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 31,746. The local revenue raised in 1876-77 was 
 Es. 8,324. 
 
 MYAN-OUNG-MYOMA.— A revenue circle in the Myan-oung township 
 of the Henzada district lying on the right l)ank of the Irrawaddy north and 
 south of Myan-oung and now including Toung-bycug. Towards the west
 
 428 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 the ground is undulating but elsewhere it is well cultivated, principally 
 with rice. In 1876-77 the population was 6,340, and the land revenue 
 Es. 6,398. 
 
 MYA-PA-DAING. — A revenue circle in the Houng-tha-raw township, 
 Amherst district, lying between the Dawna range on the east and the Houng- 
 tha-raw on the west with the Daw-Ian circle of the Than-lweng Hlaing- 
 bhwai township on the north separated from it by the Pa-da stream, and 
 the Kaw-ka-riet circle on the south. Like all the other circles in this 
 township it is mountainous and with but little cultivation and inhabited 
 principally by Kareng. In 1876-77 the population was 3,705, the land 
 revenue Es. 2,711 and the capitation tax Es. 3,503. 
 
 MYA-EWA. — A village on the left bank of the Irrawaddy about two 
 miles above the town of Prome. Its name — Emerald village — is derived 
 from a tradition that when Gaudama was travelling about preaching his 
 religion he came hither and having placed some of his hairs in an emerald 
 box presented to him by a dragon he, by his supernatural power, caused it 
 to lodge in a bamboo clump where it shone like fire and was found by two 
 brothers, Ee-zee-ka and Pa-lee-ka, who carried it to a hill further south and 
 erected over it a pagoda, the Shwe Tshan-daw now standing in the town of 
 Prome. 
 
 MYA-THIEN-DAN.— A pagoda at Martaban founded in 1281 A.D. by 
 King Wa-rie-yoo. Mya-thien-dan is a corruption of Mya-thien-deng, a name 
 given to the pagoda by reason of its being supposed to have in it an 
 emerald worth 100,000 ticals (Es. 2,500,000), sent by the kmg of Ceylon 
 with an embassy in seven ships which was to bring back certain relics of 
 Gaudama, deposited at a spot marked by eight pillars. With the sanction 
 of King Wa-rie-yoo search was made during 24 days but no relics could 
 be found. The embassy was allowed to carry away the eight piUars and on 
 the spot thus left vacant King Wa-rie-yoo built this pagoda. 
 
 MYA-TSA-GAING. — A viUage in the Thayet township, Thayet district, 
 which gives its name to the circle in which it is situated. It is on the 
 right bank of the Irrawaddy about six miles above the town of Thayet. 
 
 MYA-TSA-GAING. — A revenue ckcle in the Thayet township, Thayet 
 district. This circle was formerly in the jurisdiction of the Mye-dai Myo- 
 thoogyee the last of whom, on the advance of the British in 1853, carried 
 off the Talk Thoogyee and most of the inhabitants. Subsequently the 
 brother of this Thoogyee was appointed to the charge of this cu-cle by the 
 EngUsh, but he resigned in 1871 and the circle was then placed under the 
 Thoogyee of Kwon-on. The products are rice, maize and betel-leaf. 
 
 MYA-TSIEN-KYWON. — A village in the Prome district on an island 
 in the Irrawaddy, nearly opposite the large village of Kyee-thay, attached 
 to the Padoung township. 
 
 MYA-WA-DEE. — A revenue circle in the Houng-tha-raw township, 
 Amherst district, extending northwards from the main dividing range 
 along the Thoung-yeng. A mass of forest-clad hills, some of very great 
 height, and having extensive Teak tracts it is sparsely inhabited by Kareng 
 and with little cultivation. In 1876 the population was 2,090, the land 
 revenue Es. 616 and the capitation tax Es. 1,139.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 429 
 
 MYA-WA-DEE. — A portion of the Kama township {q. v.) oftheThayet 
 district, which, before the annexation of Pegu, formed a separate juris- 
 diction under a Myo-thoogyee. 
 
 MYA-WA-DEE -MYO-MA. — A revenue circle in the Kama to^Tiship, 
 Thayet district, on the bank of the Irrawaddy just south of the mouth of 
 the Ma-de In the Burmese time this was a Myo-thoogyeeship. At the 
 time of the annexation the then Myo-thoogyee, Moung Pe, fled into Upper 
 Burma. The Myo-thoogyee always lived at the large village of Gywon- 
 doung on the bank of the Irrawaddy at the mouth of the Ma-de which 
 separates it from the town of Kama. In 1872 on the Thoogyee being 
 dismissed the circle was placed under the Htouk-ma Thoogyee. 
 
 MYA-WA-DEE -T^IYO-MA.— A village of about 80 houses which gives 
 its name to a revenue ckcle in the Kama township, Thayet district. It is 
 situated on the bank of the Irrawaddy about half way between Jlama and 
 Htouk-ma. 
 
 MYAY-NA-THA. — A village in the southern portion of the Prome dis- 
 trict close to the Khyoon-khyoon-gya or Wek-poot stream, and about a mile 
 and a half W. S. W. of Kyoon-goon. 
 
 MYE-BOON. — A small towTi in the Kyouk-hpyoo district, the head- 
 quarters of the township of the same name, situated on the shore of 
 Hunter's Bay on an island formed by some of the numerous inosculating 
 tidal creeks which intersect the whole coast of the mainland north of Kyouk- 
 hpyoo. The inhabitants, who in 1877 numbered 1,230 souls, are largely 
 engaged in sea-fishing, the fish being sold in the local markets and exported 
 to Akyab. It contams a Court-house and a Police-station. 
 
 MYE-BOON. — A township in the north-western portion of the Kyouk- 
 hpyoo district adjoining Akyab and formed in 1871 from cii'cles taken from 
 other townships in Kyouk-hpyoo and from Akyab. The north-western por- 
 tion is hilly but the south and south-east is intersected by numerous tidal 
 creeks by means of which much of the communication is carried on. 
 The inhabitants are principally Arakanese. The head-quarters are at 
 Mye-boon on an island formed by the creeks noticed above. The principal 
 villages are Thayet-toung, Kan-thoung-gyee and Pouk-htoo-toung. It 
 is divided into 11 revenue cncles, viz., Alay-kywon, Nga-man-rai, Kyat- 
 tseng, Daing-boon, Lek-khoop-pye, Eo, Koon-khyoung, Hnit-moung-gya, 
 Ngwe-tweng-too, Kook-ko and Tsek-kaw. In 1877 the population was 
 19,607, the land revenue Es. 31,154, the capitation tax Pis. 20,940 and the 
 gross revenue lis. 7G,570. 
 
 MYE-DAI. — A small town or village in the ^lye-dai township of 
 the Thayet district, the head-quarters of the Mye-dai ]\[yo-won ha the 
 Burmese times. The name is derived from the traditional history of 
 Maha-tham-ba-wa and Tsoola-tham-ba-wa, twin sons of Tha-do Ma-ha-raza 
 the last long of Tagoung, who were born blind. Thou* father ordered them 
 to be put to death, l)ut their mother preserved their lives ; when they were 
 about 18 years old Tha-do Ma-ha-raza discovered that his orders had not 
 been obeyed, and the young men were then set afloat on a raft in the Irra- 
 waddy ; on their way dowTi the river they obtained then* sight by the aid of a 
 Bhce-loo-ma or ogress. The cure was not instantaneous but very gradual 
 and on arriving opposite the site of the present Mye-dai they first saw the
 
 430 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 sky and exclaimed "the sky is as a cover (Mo-boon) and the earth is 
 underneath (Mye-dai)". Tradition ascribes the construction of the fort 
 at Mye-dai to Tha-moon-da-rit in 100 A.D., during the interval which 
 elapsed between his exile from Prome and the establishment of his king- 
 dom at Pagan. Thirteen centuries later it was rebuilt by Meng-rai-kyaw- 
 tswa, son of the Idng of Ava, in his unsuccessful expedition against the Ta- 
 laings to release his mother and sister who had been taken prisoner by King 
 Ea-za-dliie-rit, Since then it has always been considered by Burmans as a 
 river post of considerable importance. On the cessation of the second 
 Anglo-Burmese war the main frontier force was stationed in Prome with a 
 detachment in the Mye-dai fort, but subsequently the detachment was with- 
 drawn and the whole garrison placed at Thayetmyo on the right bank of 
 the Irrawaddy just opposite to Mye-dai. Just to the south of the fort, on 
 the other side of the Kye-nee-khyoung is the new town of AUanmyo {q. v.) 
 which has supplanted Mye-dai. 
 
 Colonel Symes, who visited Mye-dai on his way up the river as envoy 
 from the Governor-General to the King of Burma at the end of the last 
 century, thus describes it : — " It is a place of no great magnitude, but 
 ' extremely neat ; there are two principal streets, and at the north end of the 
 ' present town are to be seen the ruins of a brick fort, which, like all other 
 ' forts of masonry in the Burmese Empire, is in a state of dilapidation. 
 ' On the south and south-east sides the town is enclosed by a deep ravine, 
 ' the banks of which are cut perpendicular, and the remains of an old 
 ' brick wall were discoverable, which was probably a defence to the former 
 ' suburb. We observed many small temples and convents apart from the 
 ' town, situated in groves of mango, tamarind and pipal trees of uncom- 
 ' mon stateliness and beauty. North of the town about a mile there is a 
 ' good deal of cultivation, chiefly of rice ; the fields were well laid down and 
 ' fenced. This quarter is beautifully wooded, and diversified with rising 
 ' grounds. We observed many cart-roads and pathways leading into the 
 ' country in various directions. The soil is composed of clay and sand, 
 * and in some places is very stony, particularly near the river." 
 
 MYE-DAI.— A township in the Thayet district between Lat. 19° 29' 3" 
 and 18° 50' 3" N., and Long. 95° 13' 30" and 95° 55' E. occupying the whole 
 of the district east of the Irrawaddy. 
 
 It contains an area of 921 square miles and is bounded on the north 
 by Upper Burma, on the west by the Irrawaddy, on the east by the Pegu 
 Eoma range and on the south by the district of Prome. Its cultivated 
 
 area in 1871-72 was : — 
 
 Acres. 
 Rice land .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 20,019 
 
 Garden land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836 
 
 Miscellaneous.. .. .. .. .. .. .. 8.245 
 
 Total .. 29,100 
 
 There were also 4,484 toungya and 6,056 fruit-trees assessed sepa- 
 rately for revenue : the revenue was : — 
 
 •^ Rs. 
 
 Land revenue . . . . . . ... . . . . 23,346 
 
 Capitation tax . . . . . . . . . . . • 34,868 
 
 Fisheries .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2,672 
 
 Total . . 60,886
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 431 
 
 The population according to the census amounted to 63,061 souls, of 
 whom 56,538 were Burmans, 5,825 Khyeng, 420 Kareng, and 278 of other 
 races. 
 
 It contained in 1872 the following cattle : — 
 
 Buffaloes .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2,195 
 
 Bulls, bullocks and cows . . . . . . . . . . 27,775 
 
 Total . . 29,970 
 
 It contains 92 registered village tracts which are now divided among 
 13 Thoogyees. The number of separate villages is 305 and the number of 
 houses 12,920. 
 
 In the Burmese time the township contained the following independent 
 jurisdictions : — Mye-dai Myo, Pya-lo Tails, Pyeng-bouk Talk, Bhwot-lay 
 Talk, Tsheng-doop Talk, Myo-hla Talk and Gnyoung-beng-tshiep Myo. The 
 whole of the last six districts are included in the present township of 
 Mye-dai. Of the Mye-dai Myo about half is left to Upper Burma and a 
 small piece on the west of the Irrawaddy, a portion of the present Kwon-oon 
 circle was cut off and joined to Thayet, in 1859, as the Mya-tsa-gaing cii'cle. 
 The frontier line cuts the old Mye-dai Myo on the east of the Irrawaddy 
 nearly in half. On the west of the Irrawaddy it includes only a very small 
 bit of the Anouk-bhet Talk of Mye-dai within the British frontier. 
 
 On the annexation of Pegu the present township of Mj^e-dai was 
 divided into three, the Gnyoung-beng-tshiep, the Nga-taik and the Mye- 
 dai. Gnyoung-beng-tshiep and Nga-taik were amalgamated with Mye-dai 
 in 1861. 
 
 In 1145 B.E., the officials appointed to the Mye-dai Myo were : — A 
 Myo-thoogyee, sometimes called a Myo-won, over the whole Myo, with 
 two Tsa-khyee or writers ; a Thoogyee and a Tsa-khyee in the Tha-roung 
 Talk, and the same m the Kaw-tham-bee and Anouk-bhet Taik. The 
 number of registered villages was 64 viz. in Kaw-tham-bee 21, Myoma 
 23, Tha-young 10 and Anouk-bhet 10 ; of these 48 are now in British and 16 
 in Upper Burma. 
 
 Sometimes Mye-dai was placed under a Myo-won who, generally, had 
 the power of the sword ; at other times it was left to the Myo-thoogyee who 
 was not allowed the power of life and death, which was entrusted in 
 such cases to the Myit-tseen-won, or High Sheriff of the Irrawaddy, whose 
 jurisdiction extended all along the banks of the Irrawaddy from Kyouk-ta- 
 loon to the mouths of the river. Judicial officers caUed Myo-ook and Myo- 
 gaing were sometimes appointed under the M3^o-thoogyee. 
 
 From the days of King Bliodaw Bhoora to the first war with the 
 English no fixed contingent of soldiers was provided by the Mye-dai Myo 
 but in time of war all the officials from the Myo-thoogyee to the village 
 Thoogyee were bound to attend on summons, with one follower each, and 
 proceed wherever they were ordered, their expenses whilst on service 
 being a charge upon the inhabitants of the Mj-o. In the war of 1825-26 
 Moung Shwe-meng, the Myo-thoogyee of Mye-dai, and Moung Bo, the 
 Thoogyee of Tha-roung and Kaw-tham-bee, obtamed a decisive victory over 
 a British force composed of Madras sepoys at Wek-htee-gan in Prome. 
 The Myo of Mye-dai during this war had to furnish a force of 500 soldiers. 
 After tile war there was great competition between the families of Moung
 
 432 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Shwe-meng and Moung Bo for the Myo-thoogyee orMyo-won-shipof Mye-dai. 
 Moung Shwe-meng kept it until he died, but after his death although 
 his son Moung Ta-roop was now and then appointed to the post Moung 
 Bo succeeded eventually in ousting the rival family and maintained his 
 position under the corrupt government of the Pagan Meng until the second 
 English war. Proud of his victory in the first war he remained a devoted 
 servant of the king and though he did not venture again to meet the English 
 in the field he opposed them to the utmost of his power ; he withdrew as 
 their forces advanced and carried off with him the whole of the population 
 of his Myo. So thoroughly did he succeed in his scheme for depopulating 
 the country that when the British forces arrived at Mye-dai there was not 
 an inhabitant to be found between the Irrawaddy and the Koma range. 
 For some years after the annexation Moung Bo remained in office just 
 beyond om- frontier, but slowly and gradually the involuntary exiles whom 
 he had driven off' stole back to their deserted fields and villages. 
 
 Gnyoung-beng-tshiep Myo (literally Banyan tree landing-place) is said 
 to have been called Mek-kha-wa-dee and to have been first founded by 
 the Shan king of Ava, Mo-hgnyeng-meng-tara, m 800 B. E. (1438 A. D. 
 about), when that monarch came down to make peace with the king of 
 Pegu who was besieging Prome ; above it was founded a town called 
 Eama-wa-dee and below it another called Ze-ya-wa-dee. 
 
 Before 1145 B. E. 1783 A. D. Gnyoung-beng-tshiep included the five 
 Taiks of Myo-hla, Tsheng-doop, Bhwot-lay, Pya-lo and Pyeng-bouk, 
 besides those now included within its limits ; but in the settlement of that 
 year these were made an independent jurisdiction and named Nga-taik 
 (five talk) Myo. Twelve villages in Gnyoung-beng-tshiep were registered, 
 five in Pya-lo, five in Pyeng-bouk, 10 in Bhwot-lay, 10 in Tsheng-doop 
 and 12 in Myo-hla. 
 
 The family of the Myo-thoogyee of Gnyoung-beng-tshiep is the oldest 
 in the Thayet district, its genealogy running back to five generations before 
 the time of Aloung-bhoora (1115 B. E, 1753 A. D.) In the time of Aloung- 
 bhoora the Myo-thoogyee was one Moung Myat, who had the title of Wot- 
 ta-na-ze-ya Bo. The king in his expedition to conquer Pegu confirmed him 
 in the possession of his hereditary office but at the same time appointed 
 three other officials, designated respectively a Tsa-kliyee, a Po-tsa, and a 
 Khet-tra, it would seem as checks upon the Myo-thoogyee. 
 
 At the settlement of 1145 B. E. the Wot-ta-na-ze-ya Bo's son, who had 
 the title of Ze-ta-wot-ta-na-khan, was Myo-thoogyee. The Tsa-khyee, Po- 
 tsa, and Khet-tra- ships were declared hereditary in the families of the persons 
 who then held them ; all four of these ofdcials appear to have had a voice in 
 the management of the Myo. The Myo-thoogyee looked after the land 
 revenue and the others after the fishery tax, the customs dues and the broker- 
 age fees. Civil and criminal cases were decided by a court composed of all 
 four. In 1164 B. E. the offices of Tsa-khyee, Po-tsa, and Khet-tra were 
 abolished, the Myo-thoogyee being left as the sole hereditary official. The 
 last Myo-thoogyee was Moung Riet, who succeeded to the appointment (his 
 father having died on service on the Toung-ngoo side) in 1160 B. E., 1798 
 A. D. at the early age of four years, and finished his career in action against 
 the English near Eangoon "in 1852. His son Moung Tet-hpyo (subse- 
 quently an Extra Assistant Commissioner serving under the British
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 433 
 
 Government) fled with the defeated army of the Shwe-doung Won from 
 Eangoon and succeeded, before the annexation, to the Myo-thoogyeeship 
 of Gnyoung-beng-tshiep. He abandoned his appointment, however, when 
 the British forces advanced and retired temporarily into private life. He 
 was succeeded by Moung Shwe-gnyo, a creature of the Shwe-doung Won, 
 who had once been appointed Myo-ook (under the Myo-thoogyee) in 
 Gnyoung-beng-tshiep. This man took advantage of his position to commit 
 great oppression and. was killed shortly afterwards, in revenge, by the 
 villagers. 
 
 The offices of the Taik-ook or Pyee-tso, as they were also called, of 
 Nga-taik were made hereditary in 1145 ; but on the annexation in 
 1215 B. E., the families of the original officials had. disappeared, except 
 in Pyeng-bouk, and the hereditary Thoo-gyee of that circle was dismissed, 
 shortly afterwards. 
 
 At the earliest Eevenue Settlement of which any record is found in the 
 local annals (about 1181 B. E.) the proportions of fixed revenue payable 
 by each of the divisions contained m the present Mye-dai township were 
 as follows : — 
 
 Mye-dai-Myo 
 
 Gnyoung-beng-tsheip 
 
 Pya-lo 
 
 Pyeng-boiik 
 
 Bhwot-lay 
 
 Tsheug-doop 
 
 Myo-bla 
 
 60 Visa of Silver or Rs. 7,800 
 
 10 
 
 Ditto 
 
 , 1,300 
 
 10 
 
 Ditto 
 
 , 1,300 
 
 10 
 
 Ditto 
 
 , 1,300 
 
 15 
 
 Ditto 
 
 , 1,950 
 
 15 
 
 Ditto 
 
 , 1,950 
 
 20 
 
 Ditto 
 
 , 2,600 
 
 Total 
 
 140 
 
 Ditto 
 
 18,200 
 
 Gnyoung-beng-tshiep had likewise to provide 58 men for the Tsan- 
 shwe-gai war-boat. The whole of the above revenue had to be paid in, nett, 
 to the Myo-tsa, or person to whom the grant was assigned as the source of 
 his income, and the Myo-tsa's establishment was entitled to demand certain 
 sums in addition to this fixed amount. His secretary took 10 per cent, and 
 his writer and treasurer each five per cent. This raised the total amount 
 which had to be remitted to the capital to 165 viss of silver or Es. 21,840. 
 
 As about half the old Mye-dai Myo is now included in Upper Bui'ma 
 the total amount of revenue paid under Burmese rule by the present 
 township may be set down as 130 viss or Es. 17,290. Besides this 
 amount the officials had to forward sundry annual " presents " to the 
 Court at Ava, which came out of the pockets of the people. The yearly 
 offerings of the Myo-thoogyee, Thoogyee and Pyee-tso were a silver bowl 
 and some broad cotton cloth. The Tsa-kliyee and village Thoogyee sent 
 silver bowls of smaller dimensions and some cotton cloth. 
 
 The assessment of the ordinary revenue was effected by dividmg 
 the owners of cattle into three classes and fixmg a certain rate on each class. 
 The owner of four j'Okes of cattle belonged to the first class. Those 
 who had less to the second or third class. The rate of paj^ment for the 
 first class was fixed at 2^ ticals or about Es. 3-4-9, of the second class 
 1^ ticals or about Es. 1-10-0, and the third class at f of a tical or about 
 Es. 0-12-9. This was exclusive of various fees and presents. The writer's fees 
 were l-4th, l-8th, and l-16th of a tical for the different classes or about 
 Es. 0-5-0, Es. 0-2-6, and Es. 0-1-3. The collection fees were the same as 
 
 55
 
 434 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 the writer's and a small payment in kind (rice and cotton) besides. The 
 cultivators of toungya paid f of a tical (Rs. 0-15-0) for the first year's 
 growth, ^ tical (Rs. 0-10-0) for the second year and ^ of a tical (Rs. 0-5-0) 
 for the third year. Lands dedicated to sacred purposes paid at the rate 
 of 1^ baskets of rice in the husk, | basket of cleaned rice and a bamboo 
 mat on each yoke of cattle, as well as four annas writer's fees. In 
 Gnyoung-beng-tshiep land paid 10 per cent, on the produce, with fees in 
 addition. In Mye-dai a tax of 50 ticals per annum (about Rs. 65) was 
 paid by all the fishermen. There was a Khoon-daing-oo, or head fisher- 
 man, who assessed this on the others and appropriated any surplus himself. 
 In Gnyoung-beng-tshiep fixed sums were paid on the different kinds of 
 nets; some 5 tickals (about Rs. 6-8-0) and some 2^ tickals (about 
 Rs. 3-4-0). There was a tax on slaves, ^ tical (about Rs. 0-5-0) being paid 
 for each slave. Customs dues were taken from boats wherever they 
 discharged cargoes at the rate of 2 ticals (about Rs. 2-9-6), 1 tical (about 
 Es. 1-4-9), or ^ tical (about Rs. 0-5-0) according to the size of the boat ; 
 a duty of ^ basket of rice in the husk from each cart arriving at a mart 
 and 2| per cent, on that brought "by boat were also taken and appropriat- 
 ed to the remuneration of those who had to provide entertainment 
 and transport for any royal messengers or public guests. 
 
 Produce brokers were Hcensed. They were authorized to take one per 
 cent, on the value of the goods sold from the seller and the same from the 
 buyer. 
 
 There was a duty on the sale of cattle, and unclaimed cattle were kept 
 for a year and a half and then sold. 
 
 Of the fees received by the officials on the decision of lawsuits, of all 
 fines in criminal cases, of the duty on the sale of cattle, of the proceeds of 
 the sale of unclaimed cattle and of the brokers' fees one half was Imperial 
 revenue and the rest the perquisite of the official concerned. 
 
 During the reign of Tharrawaddy (1838 — 1846) the quotas of fixed 
 revenue were seriously increased, but under his successor, Koon-boung 
 Meng, better known as Prince Pagan Meng (1846 — 1853), they were raised 
 to sums which were collected with the greatest difficulty. These sums are 
 said to have been : — 
 
 Mye-dai 
 Gnyoung-beng-tshiep 
 
 Pya-lo 
 
 Pyeng-bouk 
 
 Bhwot-lay 
 
 Tsheng-doop 
 
 Myo-lila 
 
 500 Viss or Es. iB5,000 
 
 100 
 
 Ditto 
 
 , 13,000 
 
 25 
 
 Ditto 
 
 3,250 
 
 25 
 
 Ditto 
 
 3,250 
 
 40 
 
 Ditto 
 
 5,200 
 
 40 
 
 Ditto 
 
 5,200 
 
 60 
 
 Ditto 
 
 7,800 
 
 Total .. 790 Ditto „ 102,700 
 
 The object does not appear to have been to increase the revenues of the 
 Myo-tsa, as he got little if any more than formerly and nothing from 
 Gnyoung-beng-tshiep, but to pour money into the coffers of the members of 
 the clique which then ruled in the capital. 
 
 There are no means of ascertaining the incidence of taxation per head 
 with any approach to accuracy, but even before Koon-boung Meng's time it 
 could not have been less than Rs. 1-8-0 and in the Pagan Meng's 
 time it must have been at least Rs. 7-0-0. In 1872, 18 years after the
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 435 
 
 annexation of Pegu, it was Es. 1-0-0, and in 1876, including direct and 
 indii"ect taxes and local funds, in short everything realized b}' the State, 
 Es. 1-6-0. 
 
 For administrative purposes the township is divided into 13 cii'cles, 
 viz., Mo-goung, Mye-dai Myo-ma, Ewa-toung, Goon-daw, Tham-bhoo-la, 
 Teng-daw, Shwe-ban-daw, Myo-hla, Bhwot-lay, Tsheng-doop, Pya-lo, Pyoung 
 and Gnyoung-beng-tshiep. 
 
 In 1876 the land revenue w^as Es. 34,582, the capitation tax Es. 45,429, 
 the gross revenue Es. 102,776 and the number of the inhabitants 60,700. 
 
 ]\IYE-DAI-]VIYOMA. — A revenue circle of most ii-regular shape in the 
 Mye-dai township, Thayet district, extending along the left bank of the 
 Irrawaddy from the Mo-goung to the Ewa-toung circle and having the Mo- 
 goung and Goon-daw cu'cles on the east. Towards the south, on the 
 bank of the Irrawaddy, is the small town of Allan-myo, the inland 
 frontier customs station, at which is stationed an Assistant Commissioner 
 and a Police force. The Thoogyee is not an hereditary village Thoogyee 
 but belongs to a family which claims to have had an hereditary title in 
 the Bunnese time to the Taik-ook-ship of Mye-dai. His family were 
 deprived of their position by Moung Bo, the last Myo-thoogyee of Mye- 
 dai before the annexation,* and when that took place the present Thoogyee 
 got his title recognized by the British authorities. Since then he has 
 succeeded in having various villages taken from other circles and added 
 to his on the ground that they formerly belonged to Mye-dai Myo-ma. 
 The products are rice, sessamum, plantains, maize and onions. Including 
 the town of Allan, the population, land revenue, capitation tax and gross 
 revenue in 1871-72 and in 1876-77 were : — 
 
 Ypar 
 
 Population. 
 
 Bevenue, in Eupees. 
 
 
 Land. 
 
 Capitation. 
 
 All other items. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1871-72 
 1876-77 
 
 6,383 
 7,802 
 
 765 
 1,405 
 
 5,125 
 6,800 
 
 1,498 
 16,212 
 
 7,388 
 24,417 
 
 ]\IYEK-SHOO. — A village in the Prome district, amongst rice fields, 
 some six miles to the east of the town of Prome. 
 
 IVIYEK-SIIOO. — A revenue circle in the Prome district, to the cast of 
 the town of Prome and containing six of the old village tracts, viz., Myek- 
 shoo, Za-yat-hla, Htoon-thwa, Tsan-gwai, Ewa-doung, and Wai-loung. In 
 1876 the population was 1,668, the land revenue Es. 1,740, the capitation tax 
 Es. 1,702 and the gross revenue Es. 3,492. 
 
 ]\IYE-NEE-GOON. — A revenue cii-cle in the Tha-htoon tow^iship, 
 Amherst district, extending in a W.S.W. dnection from the Martaban hiUs to 
 the sea coast just below the mouth of the Bhee-leng river. On the north it is 
 separated from the Kyaik-kaw circle by the Myaik-ta-hpoon stream, and on 
 
 * See Mye-dai township.
 
 436 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 the south from the Tha-htoon circle and the Toung-tshoon circle of the 
 Martaban township by the Taik-kha-rai, and below the mouth of this stream 
 by the Tsha or Tha-htoon river. It is traversed from north to south by the 
 Tsha, which here runs parallel to the Martaban hills and about a mile and 
 a half to two miles to the westward of them. Except in the rains this 
 stream, which is always shallow, is dry above Tha-htoon, nearly up to 
 which town it is tidal. The country on the east is covered with tree forest 
 and on the lower slopes of the hills, where most of the villages are collected 
 in a long line, the ground is suited only for gardens and of these there 
 are not many. Further west the land is seriously inundated every year, 
 but towards the extreme west and south the ground rises sUghty and culti- 
 vation is feasible, and the area brought under the plough has of late years 
 largely increased. The land revenue, capitation tax, and population, prin- 
 cipally Kareng and Toungthoo with, however, a large number of Talaing, 
 in 1867-68 and m 1876-77 were :— 
 
 1867-68. 1876-77. 
 
 Land revenue .. Es. 4,703 .. Rs. 11,168 
 
 Capitation tax .. „ 1,447 .. „ 2,402 
 
 Total .. „ 6,150 .. „ 13,570 
 
 Population .. 1,587 .. 2,567 
 
 The principal villages are Mye-nee-goon and Noung-ka-la near the hills 
 and Taik-kha-rai in the south-west. 
 
 MYE-NEE-GOON.— A village at the western foot of the Martaban 
 hills in the circle of the same name, Tha-htoon township, Amherst district, 
 close to and north of Tha-htoon, almost joined to it by intervening houses 
 and hamlets. In 1868 it had 486 mhabitants and 606 m 1877. 
 
 MYE-NEE-GOON. — A village in the Koo-bhyoo circle, Meng-doon town- 
 ship, Thayet district, rather more than a mile to the E.N.E. of the town of 
 Meng-doon, which has increased from 30 to 60 houses. It is situated 
 between the Tsheng-gyee and the Tsheng-reng streams, two smaU tributaries 
 of the Ma-htoon river. 
 
 MYENG-BA. — A village, or group of adjoining villages, in the Mya- 
 tsa-gaing circle, Thayet township, Thayet district, containing over 100 
 houses, on the right bank of the Irrawaddy close to and south of the boundary 
 pillar, which is sometimes caUed the " Myeng-ba pillar." In this village 
 are stationed 20 men of the Frontier police. 
 
 MYENG-HOOT. — A Revenue circle in the southern portion of the 
 Naaf township of the Akyab district on the seacoast, containing 15,680 
 acres of land of which in 1874-75 2,902 only were under cultivation 
 producing a land revenue of Es. 2,558. In 1876-77 the population 
 numbered 5,738 souls, the land revenue was Es. 2,773, the capitation 
 tax amounted to Es. 3,529 and the gross revenue to Es. 6,959. 
 
 MYENG-00. — A village of over 100 houses in the Doo-reng-a-bho circle, 
 Mye-dai township, Thayet district, which has considerably increased since 
 the annexation ; before that it was not registered as a \dllage. It is on 
 the left bank of the Irrawaddy opposite to Kyoon-ga-le island, between 
 the river and the main road from Eangoon to Mye-dai.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 437 
 
 MYENG-WA-TOUNG. — An extensive revenue circle in the north-west 
 of the Kan-oung township, Henzada district, stretching eastward from the 
 Arakan Eoma mountains. Towards the west it is a mass of hills on which 
 are found valuable trees, as Teak {Tecto7ia grandis) , 'Pjeng-m.a,{Lagerstrcemia 
 Regirice), Pyeng-ga-do (Xylia dolabriformis), Eng {Dipterocarpus tuberculatus) 
 and Htouk-kyan (Terminalia macrocarpa) and bamboos. Towards the east 
 it is to some extent under cultivation. Steatite is found near the mouth of 
 the Ma-mya stream. It now includes Thai-bo and Meng-ga-ba. In 1876-77 
 the population was 4,221, the land revenue Es. 2,961, the capitation tax 
 Es.,4,152 and the gross revenue Es. 7,425. 
 
 ]\IYE-NOO. — A revenue cu-cle in the Le-myet-hna township of the 
 Bassein district. On the west it is bounded by the Bassein river and on the 
 north-east it adjoins the Henzada district. There is a fan* amount of 
 rice cultivation scattered in patches over the cii'cle, which has an area of 
 about 81 square miles, especially towards the west : to the eastward the 
 ground is low and swampy and covered with tree and grass forest. In the 
 north-west and in the south-west are two lakes and there is another in the 
 eastern portion. In 1876 the population was 7,932, the land revenue 
 Es. 6,005, the capitation tax Es. 8,425 and the gross revenue Es. 16,507. 
 
 IVIYIT-GYEE-POUK.— A viUage in the Toung-ngoo district, about 
 haH a mile north of Toung-ngoo inhabited principally by Bm-man and 
 Shan gardeners and petty traders. 
 
 MYIT-KHYENG.— The Pwo famUy of Kareng, so caUed by the 
 Burmese. See Pico. 
 
 IMYIT-LOUNG. — A small stream in the Prome district, an affluent of 
 the Teng-gyee, itself a tributary of the South Naweng. Eising in a spm- of 
 the Pegu Eoma it flows in a N.N.W. direction through a comparatively 
 open tract of country till it faUs into the Teng-gyee near the village of 
 Myo-doung. Its bed is sandy and muddy and its banks moderately steep. 
 
 IVIYIT-MA-KHA. — The name of a stream which rises in the Prome 
 district, a short distance east of Prome, and flows southward through the 
 Henzada district forming the upper portion of the Hlaing, q. v. 
 
 MYIT-TA-EA. — A river in the Bassein district which rises in the 
 eastern slopes of the Ai-akan mountains, about 40 miles north of Pagoda 
 Point, and flowing in a south-south-easterly dh-ection for about 30 miles 
 falls into the Bassein river by two large mouths nearly three miles apart, 
 the southern is called the Ka-naw-kyee, forming an island called Kam- 
 bha-la some seven or eight square miles in extent. Boats of 5,000 
 bushels burden can enter by either mouth and in windy weather the 
 inner passage round the island is preferred by native boatmen to the open 
 Bassein river, there nearly three miles broad. Boats 20 feet in length can 
 ascend from the bifm-cation, where rocks impede the passage and up to a 
 little beyond which the river is tidal, to the foot of the hills. About four 
 miles inland the northern or Myit-ta-ra mouth receives a large portion of 
 the waters brought down fi-om the Ai-akan hills by the Taw-gyee river. 
 
 ]yiYIT-TA-EA.— A revenue cncle in the Nga-poo-taw township, Bassein 
 district, with an estimated area of about 160 square miles, extending north, 
 from the Bhoora-hla cii-cle, between the Ai-akan range and the Bassein. river
 
 438 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 as far as mouth of the Myit-ta-ra from whence, northwards, it is con- 
 fined by that stream on the east, narrowing up to a point in the extreme 
 northern corner. From its southern boundary to the Ee-goung-gyee stream 
 and from the bank of the Bassein river inland for four or five miles to the 
 eastern slopes of the Arakan mountains the country consists of numerous 
 cultivated plains intersected with forest, from thence northwards the country 
 is hilly and thickly wooded except on Kam-bha-la, the island in the mouth 
 of the Myit-ta-ra river where, towards the south, there are extensive and 
 highly cultivated plains. The principal river, the rest being merely 
 mountain torrents which but for the tides would be dry in the hot weatjier, 
 is the Myit-ta-ra. The Ke-gyaw has a large mouth just into which but no 
 further river steamers can enter. By the Pa-loung — a feeder of the Myit- 
 ta-ra — a pass leads across the Arakan hills to the village of Nga-root-koung. 
 In 1876 the population was 2,301, the land revenue Es. 3,868, the capitation 
 tax Es. 2,625 and the gross revenue Es. 9,428. 
 
 MYO-DWENG. — A revenue circle in the Mo-gnyo township, Henzada 
 district, east of the Irrawaddy, stretching down from the Pegu Eoma 
 between the Thayet and the Wek streams on the north (which separate it 
 from the Ta-pwon township) and the Htoo on the south (which separates it 
 from the Meng-hla township) : on the east are the Khoo-hnit-rwa, Mo-gnyo 
 and Ma-toung-da circles of the same township. On the east the country 
 is hilly and forest-clad, producing, amongst other less important trees, Teak, 
 Sha {Acacia catechu), fi'om which cutch is extracted, and Nee-pa-tshe 
 {Morinda sjy.), which furnishes a red dye, and bamboos. In the centre and 
 towards the west the country is level and here there is some rice cultivation. 
 In 1868 the gross revenue was Es. 5,441 and the number of inhabitants 
 3,559 ; in 1876-77 the population was 6,244, the land revenue Es. 4,139, 
 the capitation tax Es. 5,265 and the gross revenue Es. 9,705. 
 
 MYO-GWENG. — A small revenue circle in the Prome district, on 
 the right bank of the Irrawaddy south of Padoung, just below the Ee-weng 
 circle. It is traversed by the little and unimportant Loung-tsa-lee streamlet. 
 The inhabitants are petty traders, rice cultivators, gardeners and coolies. 
 It contains no large villages. To it has been added the once independent 
 circle of Loung-tsa-lee. In 1876 the population was 676, the land revenue 
 Es. 988, the capitation tax Es. 635 and the gross revenue Es. 1,768. 
 
 MYO-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the Prome district north of Poung- 
 day of which the villages of Myo-gyee and Gnyoung-beng-tha form an 
 extension. It is now united to Tha-hpan-gyo. 
 
 MYO-HLA. — A large viUage in the Toung-ngoo district on the bank of 
 the Tsit-toung in 19° 24' 35" N. and 96° 21' 30" E. about five miles south 
 of the frontier in a direct line and about seven by the river, at which is 
 stationed a Police-force. 
 
 MYO-HLA. — A thinly- populated revenue cncle in the Toung-ngoo 
 district on the right bank of the Tsit-toimg and adjoining the frontier of the 
 . Province. Near the Tsit-toung the comitry is low and level but to the 
 west it is very hilly and covered with dense forest. It now includes the 
 Ma-o circle and ui 1876 had 1,976 mhabitants. In that year the land 
 revenue was Es. 476, the capitation tax Es. 1,778 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 2,320.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 439 
 
 jVIYO-HLA.— A revenue ckcle in the Prome district, to the eastward of 
 the town of Prome, containing well cultivated and fertile rice fields, and 
 comprising 10 of the old village tracts, viz., Myo-hla, Ewa-ma-gyee, 
 Ma-ha-bo, Piwa-ma-ngay, Hpoung-gyee-bweng, Myoung-gyee, Rwa-shay, 
 Pouk-pouk, A-tha-Hen and Kheng-mee-goon. In 1876 the population of 
 these united tracts was 2,346, the land revenue Es. 4,706, the capitation 
 tax Es. 2,310 and the gross revenue Es. 7,016. 
 
 ]VIYO-HLA. — A revenue cii-cle in the Kama township of the Thayet 
 district, lying on the left bank of the Ma-htoon stream and confined on the 
 N.E. by the Padouk spm* of the Ai'akan mountains. Its exact area is 
 unknown, but it contains about 500 acres of cultivated land of which about 
 100 are under toungya. The population, composed of Bui-mans, numbered 
 '558 souls in 1872. The villages are few and small. The ckcle was 
 formerly held hereditarily but in 1871, when the then holder resigned 
 because his income, derived from a percentage on the taxes paid by the 
 people and amounting to some Es. 80 a year, was insufficient to support him, 
 it was placed under the Thoogyee of the neighbouring cii'cle of Gnyoung 
 won. The products are rice, sessamum, tobacco, chillies and onions. 
 
 MYO-HLA. — A revenue circle in the Mye-dai township, Thayet 
 district, containing many villages, of which the only large one is Khoon- 
 gnyeen-nway, and having an area of eighty-three square miles and a popu- 
 lation of 3,162 souls of whom over three thousand are Bui-mans. The 
 number of cattle in 1872 was 2,441 of which 1,620 were bullocks, and the 
 revenue was Es. 2,760 viz., Es. 1,020 from the land and Es. 174 from the 
 capitation tax. Since 1870 it has included Than-rwa. In 1876 the united 
 cu-cles fm-nished as land revenue Es. 2,609, as capitation tax Es. 2,279 and 
 as gross revenue Es. 5,125. 
 
 In this circle are, amongst others, the villages of Weng-wot, 
 Hmwa, Tsa-mya, Gnyoung-amg, Ee-byee and Khoon-gnyeen-nway each of 
 which had a Thoogyee in the Bui-mese time the descendants of 
 whom still exist. 
 
 MYO-HOUNG. — A revenue circle in the western township of the 
 Tavoy district ; such cultivation as there is, is principally rice. In this circle, 
 which is somewhat to the north of Tavoy town and on the opposite side of 
 the river, is found the clay from which are manufactui'ed, in Tavoy, the pots 
 used in salt boiling. It is now joined to Moung-ma-gan. 
 
 MYO-HOUNG.— A town in the Akyab district, the head-quarters of 
 the township of the same name. See Mro-houng. 
 
 MYO-KHYOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo township, 
 Kyouk-phoo district, north of Ma-dai-gan-ga island, 24 square miles in 
 extent. See Mro-khyoung. 
 
 MYO-LAI. — A stream in the Poungday township of the Prome district 
 which connects the Wai-gyee or Shwe-lay with the Kyat or Toung-gnyo. 
 Leaving the Wai-gyee at Hmat-taing village it rmis southward through the 
 town of Poungday and faUs into the Kyat a little below the village of Tha- 
 hpan-goon. Thi'oughout the whole of its course it flows through villages and 
 cultivated ground and is at no season na\-igable by boats. In the dry 
 season water is obtaiuetl for drinking purposes by digging holes in its bed. It
 
 440 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 is one of the numerous inosculating channels which traverse the lower por- 
 tion of the Poungday plain connecting the Shwe-lay, the Kyat and the 
 Myit-ma-kha and serving to carry off, though not sufficiently rapidly, the 
 violent rush of water which comes down from the neighbouring Pegu Roma 
 mountains during the rains. 
 
 MYO-MA. — A revenue circle in the Prome district at the junction of 
 the North and South Naweng rivers, containing two village tracts, viz., 
 Myo-ma and Tha-zee. In 1876 the population was 1,147, the capitation 
 tax Es. 803, the land revenue Es. 961 and the gross revenue Es. 1,764. 
 
 MYO-THIT. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district. See 
 Mro-thit. 
 
 MYOUK-BHET-MYO.— A township in the north of the Sandoway district 
 with a population in 1875 of 19,437 souls. The name is more a description 
 than a name signifying as it does " northern townshij)." It occupies the 
 whole of the northern part of the district from the Ma-ee river to the Khwet- 
 toung spur and comprises an area of about 1,454 square miles, by far the 
 greater portion of which is mountainous and forest-clad, divided into 10 
 revenue circles. The rivers are small and of little or no importance and aU 
 have a general E. and W. course. The head-quarters are at Toung-goop 
 on the river of the same name. 
 
 In 1875, the area under cultivation was : — 
 
 Acres. 
 
 Eice land under cultivation and annual assessment ; . . . 7,280 
 
 Ditto, fallow do. .. .. 235 
 
 Ditto, under lease or revenue settlement for more than one year and 
 
 paying revenue .. .. .. .. .. 3,799 
 
 Toungya at As. 8 per acre . . . . . . . . . . 754 
 
 Ditto, atAs. 4 do. .. .. .. ... ..448 
 
 Garden and orchard land under annual assessment . . . . 796 
 
 Ditto ditto ditto lease or revenue settlement for more than one 
 
 year . . . . . . . . . . . . 686 
 
 Miscellaneous cultivation subject to annual assessment . . .. 965 
 
 Ditto ditto, under lease for more than one year . . . . 75 
 
 Total .. 15,038 
 
 The principal products other than the staple, rice, are : — tobacco, 
 sessamum, cotton, pepper, sugarcane, plantains, cocoanuts, betel-nuts, 
 dhanee, betel-vines, peas, hemp and indigo, which are consumed mainly in 
 the township. The products exported are insignificant in quantity and value, 
 the principal are tobacco and sessamum seed, both going to Kyouk-hpyoo, 
 and vegetable products. Indigo is grown only in very small quantities, and 
 that by Khyeng, and is used by them for dyeing home-spun fabrics. There 
 is a little trade in cattle, such as buffaloes and buUocks, carried on between 
 the inhabitants of this township and those of the Prome and Akyab districts. 
 
 Of the forest products u'on-wood is exported to the neighbour- 
 ing district of Kyouk-hpyoo and is cut for local use, but the supply fluc- 
 tuates according to the demand as it is principally used for house -building 
 purposes. 
 
 With the exception of the Imperial road across the Arakan Eoma 
 having its termination at Toung-goop there are no made roads in the 
 township. Communication between villages is maintained by boats through
 
 ; 
 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 P. 
 
 21,908 15 
 
 8 
 
 16,734 
 
 
 
 686 8 
 
 
 
 186 4 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 1,158 
 
 
 
 1,065 
 
 
 
 1,965 
 
 
 
 .. 43,713 11 
 
 8 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 441 
 
 the various tidal creeks and streams and by foot tracks over the hills ; 
 these latter however, are little used except in the dry season. 
 
 The people are principally engaged in agricultural pursuits and only 
 when their crops do not require thek attention do they follow any other 
 occupation. They catch and cure fish for home consumption and some 
 families manufacture salt ; salt boiling is principally carried on in the 
 Padeng circle, and in 1875 furnished as revenue Rs. 686-8. Weaving of 
 cotton cloths is universal and is carried on in every house, but merely to 
 meet home requirements. 
 
 The gross Imperial and Provincial revenue derived from the township 
 in 1874-75 was Rs. 43,714, made up as follows 
 
 Land revenue 
 Capitation tax 
 Salt tax 
 Net tax 
 Turtle banks 
 Timbei- duty . . 
 Excise revenue 
 Miscellaneous revenua 
 
 Total 
 
 In 1876 the population was 19,520, the land revenue Rs. 22,530, the 
 capitation tax Rs. 17,016 and the gross revenue Rs. 70,902 of which Rs. 
 48,446 were Imperial and Provincial credited to the various heads given 
 in the preceding paragraph and the rest to Local Funds. 
 
 The principal villages, besides Toung-gooj), are Ma-ee, Maw-rwa, 
 Tsha-beng, Tan-lwai, Ta-ra-tha, Nga-mouk-khyoung, and Gyee-pywon. 
 
 MYOUK-KYWOT.— A village of about 50 houses m 19° 25' 20" N. Lat. 
 and 95° 7' 40" E. Long, on the Htan-roon stream, an affluent of the Pwon. 
 It is in the Bhan-byeng ch'cle of the Thayet township, Thayet district. 
 The inhabitants are engaged principally in rice and " hill " cultivation. 
 
 MYOUK-PYENG.— A village in the Pay-myouk ch'cle, Meng-doon 
 township, Thayet district, containing some 50 houses. It is situated on 
 the Hlo-wa stream contiguous to the village of Kan-ma-naing which has 
 another 50 or more houses in it, at the mouth of the Ma-gyee-goon rivulet. 
 It was entered in the Burmese retm-ns as a registered village and was 
 joined to Pay-myouk by the British Government in 1864. 
 
 IMYOUNG-GYEE. — A large revenue circle in the Kyan-ldieng township, 
 Henzada district, extending eastwards from the Arakan Roma mountains 
 to the Bhct-rai circle, and separated from the A-loon circle of the same 
 township on the north by the Kwon stream and from tlie Myan-oung 
 township on the south by the Khoung-loung. Towards the north-east 
 there is a little rice cultivation but elsewhere the circle is a confused 
 mass of hills covered with bamboo and tree forest amongst which are 
 io\mdTeiik{Tectonagra}idis), F^nf^ {Dipterocarpns taherculatiis), Pyeng-ma 
 (Lagerstrccmia licg'incc), Pj^eng-ga-do (Xtflia dolahijormis) and Bhan-bhwai 
 (Careya arhorea). The only river except tlie two which form the north and 
 south boundaries is the Tsan-da, which unites with the Khoung-loung. In 
 1876 the population was 2,353, the land revenue Rs. 2,424, the capitation 
 tax Rs. 2,615 and the gi'oss revenue Rs. 5,186. 
 
 56
 
 442 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 MYOUNG-MYA. — A revenue circle, 163 square miles in extent, in the 
 township of the same name in the Bassein district, between the Thek-ngay- 
 thoung channel on the west, the Myoung-mya-houng on the south and 
 east and the Myoung-mya or Tshiep-gyee on the north. Except in the 
 extreme north-west corner on the island formed by the Khwe-le, which runs 
 between the Myoung-mya and the Thek-ngay-thoung, the surface of the 
 country is generally undulating, the formation towards the centre tending 
 somewhat to a ridge. The population is principally Kareng with 
 some- Burmans and a few Shan and is employed in fishing and in 
 the east and north-west in rice cultivation. In the northern part of the 
 circle, surrounded by hills, is a smaU lake which retains its water all the 
 year round and from which numerous small streams run between the hills. 
 There are no regular roads, but a foot track or bridle road passes through 
 the centre of the circle, touching at all the interior villages. In 1876-77 
 the population was 6,534, the land revenue Rs. 8,023, the capitation tax 
 Es. 6,982 and the gross revenue Rs. 15,717. 
 
 MYOUNG-MYA. — A township in the Bassein district between the 
 Thek-ngay-thoung and the Pya-ma-law and Pyeng-tha-loo channels on the 
 west and east respectively and stretching up northwards from the seacoast 
 to the Myoung-mya, which forms its northern boundary from the north- 
 western corner eastwards to the mouth of the Klia-louk-thaik, and with a 
 narrow strip — the Kyoon-ka-nee circle — running up still further north 
 between the Kha-louk-thaik and the Pya-ma-law. It has an area, exclusive 
 of the rivers and creeks, of 931 square miles. Down the centre of the 
 township runs the Rwe channel which separates from the Myoung-mya 
 near the village of that name as the Tha-re-boon, and faUs into the sea by 
 two mouths, the eastern caUed the Da-ray-bhyoo. The south-eastern 
 corner is formed by an island which separates the Pya-ma-law into two 
 mouths, that to the eastward called the Pyeng-tha-loo. 
 
 The coast line consists of a flat and sandy beach with narrow plains 
 running along its margin from ^ to |- a mile in width covered with grass. 
 From the coast as far north as the Kook-ko channel the country is uninhabited 
 during the rains ; at other seasons there are numerous temporary fishing 
 hamlets established by the inhabitants of some of the villages inland. 
 The lower portion the country, especially to the eastward, is low and inter- 
 sected by numerous tidal creeks with the banks having a deep fringe of 
 heavy forest. From the Kook-ko northwards the country gradually rises, 
 the intricacy of the creeks diminishes and the size of the plains and per- 
 manently inhabitable spots increases. In the western and central portion 
 of the township, north of La-bwot-ta, in 16° 18' N., the country rises into 
 small, well-wooded hills, and here small tracts of rice cultivation appear 
 which, farther north, in the centre of the township, increase considerably 
 in size. In the north-western corner an outcrop of Magnesian limestone 
 rises into low hills which are densely wooded. The extreme northern portion 
 consists of a narrow tract of low gromid which stretches up some 15 miles 
 N. N. E. between the Pya-ma-law and the Myoung-mya. 
 
 The most important streams, besides the numerous and large anasto- 
 mosing creeks in the lower portion, are the Myoung-mya-houng and the Rwe, 
 which both leave the Myoung-mya at the to-vMi of that name, and the Myoung- 
 mya and the Pya-ma-law. The Myoung-mya-houng connects the Rwe on the
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 448 
 
 east with the Bassein river on the west and is navigable in the dry season by 
 boats of from 25 to 30 feet in length. The Ewe is about 160 yards wide 
 at its northern end and 300 yards \vide at its southern, with from 20 to 30 
 feet of water, and is navigable by river steamers. The Myoung-mya 
 runs from the town of the samenametothe Pan-ma-wa-dee and is navigable 
 by large boats, possibly by river steamers. The Pya-ma-law is one of the 
 numerous mouths of the Irrawaddy which it leaves at Shwe-loung in the 
 township of the same name, in the Thoon-kwa district, and reaches the 
 sea by two mouths, the Pya-ma-law and the Pyeng-tha-loo. It is navi- 
 gable by river steamers throughout its entire length ; its mouth, where 
 there is an extensive bar, is four miles wide. 
 
 The township is now divided into nine revenue circles, viz., Kweng- 
 bouk-gyee, Ka-wek, La-bwot-koo-la, Lay-byouk, Kya-gan, Myoung-mya, 
 Kyoon-ka-nee, Poo-loo, Pyeng-ma-goon and Theng-gan-kywon. In 1876-77 
 the jDopulation was 84,914, the land revenue Ks. 61,541, the capitation tax 
 Ks. 39,491 and the gross revenue Es. 117,370. 
 
 The principal towns and villages are Myoung-mya with 1,715 inhabit- 
 ants, the head-quarters, on the Myoung-mya creek ; Kyoon-ka-nee, 
 in the cu'cle of the same name on the Kyoon-tsien Ee-gyaw near its 
 mouth, with 795 inhabitants ; Kha-louk-thaik, W. by N. of Kyoon-ka-nee, 
 with 659 inhabitants ; La-bwot-ta in the south of the Kya-gan cii'cle, with 
 1,211 mhabitants ; La-bwot-koola near the junction of the Poo-loo and the 
 Tha-re-boon, with 1,800 inhabitants and Da-ray-bouk, a few miles further 
 south, with 679 inhabitants. 
 
 MYOUNG-MYA. — A creek in the Bassein district which runs from 
 the head of the Ewe westwards to the Pan-ma-wa-dee and is formed by 
 the junction of numerous creeks coming in from the west and north-west. 
 It is the northern boundary of the township of the same name separating 
 it from the Thee-kweng township of the same district. Its extreme length 
 is 15 miles. Near its northern end is the town of Myoung-mya. The 
 network of creeks in this part of the country is so great that it might almost 
 be said to leave the Daga near Oot-hpo in about 17° 4' N. and 95° 16' E. 
 and to run south under various names e. g., Meng-ma-naing and Kha- 
 louk-thaik, till it turns west a little to the east of Myoung-mya and assumes 
 the name of that town. Just before it reaches Myoung-mya it throws ofif 
 to the southward the Tha-re-boon (the head-waters of the Ewe). From 
 this point westward it offers no obstacles whatever to its navigation by 
 river steamers of 300 tons burden. Above this, that is along those portions 
 caUed the Kha-louk-thaik and the Meng-ma-naing, large boats can pass at 
 all seasons with the Hood tide. 
 
 MYOUNG-MYA.— A town in the Bassein district in 16° 45' N. and 
 95° E. the head-quarter station of the township of the same name, 
 situated on the Myoung-mya or Tshicp-gyee river. The inhabitants, who 
 numbered 1,715 souls in 1877, are engaged in cultivation and in fishing 
 and in making salt and nga-pee. It was the scene of the first rising 
 amongst theKarcng in 1853 (See Bassein District : — History). Formerly it 
 possessed some handsome wooden monasteries and rest-houses but these, 
 together with the town, were burned dovm. in 1861. In the immediate 
 vicinity a wooden chapel has been erected by a Koman Catholic Missionary
 
 444 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 who has dwelt here for many years. The Extra Assistant Commissioner 
 in charge of the township holds his court in this town. It contains a Court- 
 house, Police-station and a substantial Market and a large pagoda and 
 image of Gaudama, erected, according to the cm-rent tradition, by a " foreign 
 king." It was formerly called Tshiep-gyee, Myoung-mya, being about 
 four miles inland from the present site. 
 
 In 1876-77 a local revenue of Ks. 239 was realized from the market 
 stall-rents. 
 
 MYOUNG-MYA-HOUNG.— A creek in the Myoung-mya township of 
 the Bassein district, which leaves the Tha-re-boon a few miles from its 
 northern mouth, and flowing in a generally south-west direction falls into 
 the Bassein or Nga-won river by two mouths, the northern called the Po- 
 loung-gyee and the southern the Peng-le-ga-le. It is tidal during the dry 
 season and is navigable by boats of from 25 to 30 feet in length. 
 
 MYOUNG-TA-NGA. — A poor and straggling village in the Rangoon 
 district on the banks of the stream of the same name, a small tributary 
 of the Hlaing, at a spot where it makes several short serpentine bends and 
 about two miles to the eastward of that river. To the south-east are the 
 remains of an old fort. It is about two tides from Eangoon by the Hlaing 
 and is accessible by land from the same town via Hmaw-bhae. The 
 inhabitants who are principally cultivators, or foresters working in the forests 
 on the slopes of the Pegu Roma mountains to the eastward, numbered 917 
 in 1877. 
 
 MYOUNG-TA-NGA. — A revenue circle in the south-eastern portion of 
 the Hlaing township of the Eangoon district, with an area of about 220 
 square miles ; bounded on the north by the Ma-ga-ree which separates it 
 from the Ook-kan circle, on the east by the Pegu Eoma, on the south by 
 the Myo-kliyoung, which separates it from the Hmaw-bhee circle of the 
 Hmaw-bhee township and on the west by the Hlaing river. The eastern 
 part of this circle is covered with dense forest (known as the Hlaing 
 forest) abounding in Teak and other valuable woods, the western part 
 towards the Hlaing river presents cultm-able plains in the neighbourhood 
 of the villages intersected by tracts of forest. Here the area under rice 
 cultivation is increasing steadily and rapidly although the soil is poor, 
 whilst those portions of the cu'cle which are unsuited for this crop and are 
 beyond the limits of the Government forests, that is, west of the railway 
 and adjoining it on the east, are being taken up for gardens and mainly by 
 the Shans who are coming down in increasing numbers from the Shan 
 states and select for their settlements lands fitted for orchards and gardens. 
 They prefer the immediate neighbourhood of Eangoon as giving them a 
 readier market for their produce, but new-comers find the land there to a 
 very great extent already occupied and settle along the railway line. On 
 the hills silk-worms are bred. A large revenue is derived from the net and 
 fisher V tax.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 445 
 
 During the last five years the area under cultivation and the revenue 
 were : — 
 
 
 Area, in acres. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 Eice. 
 
 Garden. 
 
 Miscel- 
 laneous. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Land. 
 
 Capita- 
 tion tax. 
 
 All other 
 items. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1873-74 .. 
 1874-75 . . 
 1875-76 . . 
 1876-77 . . 
 1877-78 . . 
 
 5,616 
 6,640 
 
 7,481 
 8,324 
 8.976 
 
 36 
 30 
 56 
 63 
 66 
 
 52 
 
 38 
 
 19 
 
 232 
 
 155 
 
 5,704 
 6,708 
 7,556 
 8,621 
 9,197 
 
 9,115 
 10,737 
 11,924 
 13,401 
 14,051 
 
 5,655 
 5,645 
 5,585 
 6,245 
 6,425 
 
 1,634 
 1,629 
 1,627 
 1,404 
 1,439 
 
 16,404 
 18,011 
 19,136 
 21,050 
 21,915 
 
 and the population and agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Stock. 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 o5 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 m 
 
 CO tn 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6D 
 
 
 ti 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 ^-3 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 'cS 
 
 H 
 
 
 2 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 n 
 
 
 to 
 
 O 
 
 m 
 
 o 
 pq 
 
 1873-74 
 
 2,216 
 
 674 
 
 149 
 
 1,674 
 
 11 
 
 4,724 
 
 1,260 
 
 148 
 
 178 
 
 354 
 
 29 
 
 1874-75 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1,351 
 
 261 
 
 154 
 
 406 
 
 6 
 
 1875-76 
 
 1,704 
 
 496 
 
 60 
 
 1,718 
 
 11 
 
 3,989 
 
 1,353 
 
 238 
 
 328 
 
 471 
 
 2 
 
 1876-77 
 
 2,069 
 
 937 
 
 46 
 
 1,602 
 
 9 
 
 4,663 
 
 1,634 
 
 713 
 
 259 
 
 508 
 
 162 
 
 1877-78 
 
 1,686 
 
 829 
 
 134 
 
 2,231 
 
 15 
 
 4,895 
 
 2,030 
 
 1,191 
 
 434 
 
 584 
 
 111 
 
 MWAI-YO. — A revenue cu'cle in the Prome district, traversed by the 
 Thit-nee-doon stream to the N. E. of Prome and about seven miles inland 
 from the Irrawaddy. In 1876-77 the population was 336, the land revenue 
 Es. 457, the capitation tax Pis. 325 and the gross revenue PiS. 872. 
 
 NAAF. — An arm of the sea forming a portion of the western bound- 
 ary of the Akyab district and separating the Province from Chittagong. 
 "Naaf" is the Bengali name customarily used by all but Ai-akanese and 
 Bm*mese to whom this estuary is known as the Anouk-iipay. It is about 
 31 mUes in length and three miles broad at its mouth and shallows con- 
 siderably towards the head. Owing to the numerous rocks and shoals, 
 the entrance is dangerous. Ferry boats ply regularly between Moung- 
 daw and the Chittagong side. Off the coast are S. Martm's and Oyster 
 Islands, neither inhabited ; on the former thatch-grass grows abundantly 
 and is brought away by the inhabitants of the mainland. 
 
 NAAF. — A township in the Akyab district, with its head-quarters at 
 Moung-daw, lying between the Naaf estuary on the west and the Ma-3^00 
 hills on the east and touching the Bay of Bengal towards the south. The 
 Bm'mese and Arakancse name is Anouk-ngay or " little west " (country).
 
 446 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The northern portion is but sparsely inhabited and is covered with forest, 
 the central is well cultivated by the Bengali and Mug inhabitants and the 
 southern is a narrow, barren and sandy strip of country, with a few 
 villages, which forms a good grazing ground for cattle. It is divided 
 into 10 revenue circles. In 1877-78 it contained 47,456 inhabitants and 
 produced a gross revenue of Rs. 107,623, of which Es. 40,285 were derived 
 from the capitation tax and Es. 59,122 from the land revenue. 
 
 NAAF (NOETH).— The northern of the two Naaf ch-cles in the 
 township of the same name in the Akyab district. Within its limits is 
 situated Moung-daw the head-quarters of the township. In 1875 the popu- 
 lation numbered 6,704 souls and the capitation tax produced Es. 6,337. 
 In 1874-75 the area under cultivation was 5,292 acres, and the land 
 revenue amounted to Es. 11,395. In 1876-77 the population was 7,152, 
 the land revenue Es. 11,668, the capitation tax Es. 6,535 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 21,456. 
 
 NAAF (SOUTH).— The southern Naaf chcle of the township of the 
 same name in the Akyab district. The area under cultivatipn in 1874-75 
 was 2,550 acres and the land revenue amounted to Es. 5,489. In 1875-76 
 the population numbered 2,610 souls and the capitation tax produced 
 Es. 2,576. In 1876-77 the population was 2,530, the land revenue 
 Es. 5,500, the capitation tax Es. 2,512, and the gross revenue Es. 8,395. 
 The largest village is Pa-deng, with 400 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 NA-BHOO. — A small stream in the Amherst district which rises in 
 the western slopes of the Dawna range and after a westerly course of 
 about 20 miles falls into the Hlaing-bhwai a few miles above its junction 
 with the Houng-tha-raw. 
 
 NA-GA. — A village in the Le-doung circle, Eamree township, Kyouk- 
 hpyoo district, about half a mile inland on the western coast of Eamree 
 Island, two miles south of the Ean-bouk stream. The name is derived 
 from its proximity to a so-called volcano. In 1877-78 it had a population 
 of 555 souls. The inhabitants are principally petty traders in miscellaneous 
 products such as betel-nut, tobacco, &c. 
 
 NA-LIEN-TSAN. — A small village in the Ma-lee-won circle of the 
 Mergui district, the head-quarter station of the Ma-lee-won township, on 
 the right bank of the Pak-chan 32 miles above Ma-lee-won. In 1877-78 
 it had 370 inhabitants, principally Siamese with a few Chinese. The 
 public buildings are a small Court-house and a Police-station. 
 
 NAN-DAW. — A smaU pagoda in the Sandoway district on a hill about 
 half a mile north of the town of Sandoway, and on the left bank of the 
 river of the same name, said to have been built by Meng Bhra in 763 A. D., 
 two years later than the neighbom-ing " An-daw", to contain a rib of 
 Gaudama. It is resorted to principally by the inhabitants of Sandoway 
 during one of the three feast days in March, June and October ; the other 
 two feast days in each of these months being spent at the An-daw and 
 Tshan-daw pagodas respectively. 
 
 NAN-EA-GOON. — A village in the Kywon-baw circle of the Ea-thai- 
 doung township, Akyab district, situated on the north bank of the Kha- 
 moung-doon stream, near its source. In 1877-78 it had 542 inhabitants.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 447 
 
 NAN-TSHOO-BENG.— A village of some 100 houses in tlie Pyen- 
 bouk circle of the Mye-dai township, Thayet district. It is situated on 
 the left bank of the Irrawaddy m a large rice plain just to the north of 
 and almost joined to the village of Pyen-bouk which gives its name to 
 the ckcle. 
 
 NAT-KHYOUNG. — A revenue ckcle in the Gyaing Attaran township, 
 Amherst district, lying on both banks of the Tsa-mee river, just south 
 of Kya-eng, and extending east and west to the watersheds of the valley of 
 that river. Its hills are covered with forest, and the Kareng who inhabit it 
 are able to cultivate only a very small portion of its surface. In 1S77 the 
 population numbered 998, the land revenue was PiS. 295 and the capitation 
 tax lis. 435. 
 
 NAT-MAW.— A vHlage in the Henzada district in 17° 34' 10" N. and 
 95° 30' 30" E. in the circle of the same name, about fom' miles south-west of 
 Henzada, on the bank of the Nat -maw stream, the inhabitants of which 
 are principally engaged in the fisheries and in rice cultivation. In 1877 
 they numbered 2,386. 
 
 NAT-MAW. — A revenue cu'cle in the Henzada township of the 
 Henzada district having on the north the Kyoon-hpa circle, on the west the 
 Za-lwon township, on the east the Le-dee-khan-hla and Tha-nwon-tha-naw 
 circles, and on the south the Za-lwon township. It now includes Tha-tsee. 
 In 1877 the population was 5,961, the land revenue Pis. 17,751, the 
 capitation tax Es. 5,812 and the gross revenue Pis. 24,530. 
 
 NAT-MEE. — A small cu'cle in the Ka-ma township, Thayet dis- 
 trict. It was held by a hereditary Thoogyee who in 1870 A. D. resigned 
 on account of the insufficiency of his mcome and the cu'cle was then joined to 
 Toon fq.v.J, which is sometimes called Nat-mee Toon. The name is 
 derived from the " spmt fire " seen near the village of Nat-mee, the result 
 of the combustion of hydrogen gas which here escapes from the earth 
 C Vide Thayet district: Geology J. The products are rice, tobacco, chillies, 
 onions, sessamum, cotton, maize, cutch and plantains. 
 
 NAT-MOUK. — A revenue cu'cle in the Prome district, west of the town 
 of Padoung. The south-eastern portion where most of the villages are 
 found contains a good deal of land under rice cultivation. In 1877-78 the 
 land revenue was Es. 1,190, the capitation tax Es. 635, the gross revenue 
 Rs. 1,840 and the population 598. 
 
 NAT-POO-DEE. — A revenue cii'cle in the Prome district to the west- 
 ward of and close to Poungday, traversed by the main road which runs 
 from Rangoon through Poungday and Prome to the northern frontier of 
 the Province. Nat-poo-dee, situated on this road, is the largest village. In 
 1877 the land revenue was Es. 442, the capitation tax Rs. 527, the gross 
 revenue lis. 1,032 and the number of inhabitants 486. 
 
 NAT-POO-DEE.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 28' 25" N. and 
 95° 33' 50" E., a mile and a half from Poungday on the high road from Ran- 
 goon to the frontier. It is inhabited chiefly by rice cultivators. 
 
 NAT-TA-LENG.— A httle \411age m the Prome district about four 
 miles in a direct line E. N. E. of Prome town on the main road from Ran- 
 goon to Mye-dai which here crosses the river Na-weug over a timber bridge.
 
 448 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 NA-WENG. — A river in the Prome district. There are two streams 
 of this name distinguished as the "North" and the "South" Na-weng. 
 
 The North Na-weng rises in the Pegu Roma mountains to the north of 
 the Pa-douk spur and flows down the centre of a mountainous and narrow 
 valley till it reaches the plain country. From its source to the village of 
 Tsheng-won its general direction is north-west, thence it rims west to Lek- 
 klioop-peng and from there S. S. W. till it joins the South Na-weng a mile 
 south of the village of Myo-ma. Whilst amongst the hills its bed is rocky, 
 its banks are steep, and its tributaries are moimtain torrents, only one 
 of which, the Tswon, which joins it shortly after it has turned westwards, 
 is more than a few miles long ; when it enters the plains the bed becomes 
 sandy and the banks moderately steep. Here its afiluents increase in size 
 and in length ; they are the Tsa-do-gya, the Thit-poot and the Hlai-ka- 
 doung from the north, and the Pieng from the south, all similar in charac- 
 ter having rocky beds and draining narrow bamboo-covered ravines. 
 
 The South Na-weng, also, rises in the Pegu Roma immediately to the 
 south of the Pa-douk spur which forms the watershed between these two 
 rivers till they unite at its south-western extremity. As far as the mouth 
 of the Teng-gyee its course is about W. S. W. winding down a narrow val- 
 ley over a rocky bed and having only mountain torrents as its tributa- 
 ries. Here it enters the plains and flowing W. N. W. for a short distance 
 it turns S. W. to pour into the Irrawaddy, at the town of Prome, all the 
 drainage of the country lying between it and the long spur of the Roma 
 mountains which forms the northern boundary of the district on the left 
 bank of the Irrawaddy and the drainage of a small belt of country to the 
 south. Whilst still in the hills it receives near Rat-thit the waters of the 
 Teng-gyee which drains a long and somewhat bell-mouthed valley with a 
 general westerly direction. Soon after it descends into the plains the 
 Khyoung-tsouk brings with it the surplus waters from a rocky valley 
 lying between the two Na-weng rivers and separated from them by 
 subsidiary spurs. Just before uniting itself with the Na-weng the 
 Khyoung-tsouk receives two tributaries, the Gway-khyo and the Eng- 
 goon. From the mouth of the Khyoung-tsouk to that of the North Na- 
 weng the afiluents are few and unimportant. Lower down the Kouk-gway 
 falls into it from the north and the Law-thaw from the south. The Kouk- 
 gway, sometimes called the Kam-bhee-la, rises in the plains in the undu- 
 lating ground north of the village of Wek-htee-gan and before joining the 
 South Na-weng receives the Eng-roon which has its source in a spur much 
 further to the north ; both have sandy beds and are navigable by small 
 boats for a short distance from their mouths during the rains. The Law- 
 thaw in the rains unites with streams which come down from the eastern 
 mountains and pouring their waters into the marshy ground behind the 
 town of Prome are the real source of the Rangoon river. The Thit-kyee 
 rising in the hills 10 or 15 miles north of the Prome district joins the 
 Na-weng about five miles from its mouth. 
 
 In the dry season all these rivers are nearly dry but in the rains they 
 bring down vast volumes of water, the drainage of some 700 square miles 
 of country finding its way out by the one mouth of the Na-weng. None of 
 them are navigable by large boats for any distance but in the rains small 
 boats can ascend a short way up those which flow through the plains and
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 449 
 
 the North and South Na-weng as far as the village of Tha-hla-peng-tsee and 
 the mouth of the Teng-gyee respectively. The Na-weng is now mamly 
 used as a channel for floating from the forests on the Eoma mountains the 
 teak and other valuable timber * found there, which is rafted at its mouth, 
 and the bamboos growuig on the slopes of the more western spm-s. 
 
 NGA-BYE-MA.— A village in the Amherst chstrict on the right bank 
 of the Attaran river, the head-quarters of the Gyaing Attaran township. 
 In 1875, it had a small population of 233 souls. It contams a Com-t-house 
 near the wooden wharf and a Police station. 
 
 NGA-HLAING.— A small but fertile revenue circle in the Kama town- 
 ship, Thayet district, two square miles in extent, of which only about 160 
 acres are unculturable. The cultivated area is sown mainly with rice, and 
 with tobacco, sessamum, chilHes and onions. In 1877 the population num- 
 bered 1,570 and the revenue was Es. 3,792 of which Es. 2,033 was derived 
 from the land, Es. 1,607 from the capitation tax and the rest from miscel- 
 laneous som-ces. None of the villages are of any importance. It now 
 includes Alat-lay, joined to it in 1858 when the Thoogyee, having been con- 
 cerned in a cattle-theft case, escaped to Upper Bm-ma. 
 
 NGA-HLAING-KHYOON.— A revenue cu'cle hi the Thayet district, 
 stretchmg southwards from the extreme north-west corner along the west- 
 ern boundary of the Thayet township, with an area of about 52 square 
 miles of which rather over 46 are uncultm-able waste. The larger portion 
 of the cultivation is carried on in toimg-ya clearmgs spread over the hills 
 on which this cu'cle is situated. The population, which is almost entu'ely 
 Em-man, numbered 2,852 souls m 1872 and 3,171 m 1877. In the latter 
 year the land revenue was Es. 1,467, the capitation-tax Es. 2,174 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 3,764. The villages are numerous but none of 
 them are large. In former years Nga-hlaing-ldiyoon formed a portion of 
 the Toung-bhet cu-cle ; m 1847 a.d., one Moung Toot-gyee came hither from 
 Bhan-goon, then in the Kama jurisdiction, with a large number of followers 
 and in order to encourage him the then Burmese Governor withdrew Nga- 
 hlaing-khyoon from Toung-bhet and formed it into a separate cu-cle oyer 
 which he placed the immigrant leader as Thoogyee. After the annexation 
 the ckcle was divided amongst five Thoogyees, viz., those of Hpoung-ga-aing, 
 Meng-rwa, Ka-gnyit-kya, Oon-nai-tai-gyee and Nga-hlaing-khyoon. Four 
 of the Thoogyees, one after the other, gradually disappeared, and all on 
 account of serious charges preferred against them and in 1864 the five 
 circles were joined together again. The products are rice, cotton, sessamum, 
 maize, cutch and petroleum of a thick quality similar to that imported from 
 Ee-nan-khyoung in Upper Burma. Wells have been sunk near the village 
 of Pa-douk-beng but the yield at present is insignificant. 
 
 NGA-KHO-BYENG. — A revenue circle in the Eamree township of the 
 Kyouk-hpyoo district lying in the extreme southern point of the island, 
 about 14 square miles'in extent, cultivated with rice and producing also 
 some indigo ; limestone is found towards the north-east. The inhabitants, 
 who are principally Ai-akanese, numbered 4,002 in 1877-78, when the land 
 
 Eug (Dipterocarpm tubcrculaius), Pyeng-ga-do [Xi/Ua ihilabriformis), Htouk-kyan (Terminalia 
 inacrocarpa), Pyeng-ma {Lagcrstramia regince) and Bban-bhwai (Careija arhorea). 
 
 57
 
 450 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 revenue was Rs, 3,240, the capitation tax Rs. 4,445 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 8,803. It now includes the Ean-byai-ngay circle. 
 
 NGA-KHWA. — A small river in the Bassein district, which rises in 
 the Arakan hills and falls into the Than-dwe. It is navigable by boats 20 
 feet in length as far as the village of Ma-oo-goon, a distance of two miles. 
 
 NGA-KHWA. — A revenue circle in the Tha-boung township, Bassein 
 district west of Bassein town lying along the Arakan hiUs and bounded on 
 the east by the Than-dwe river, on the north by the Than-lyek-tswon circle 
 of the same township from which it is separated by the Kyouk-khyoung-gyee 
 stream and on the south by the Mai-za-lee cu'cle of the Bassein township 
 from which it is separated by the Nga-khwa stream. It now includes the 
 Shan-kweng circle. The eastern part is flat and pretty well cultivated 
 but the western is hilly ; the hills increasing in height toward the Arakan 
 mountains. Limestone is found close to the main range and near 
 the source of the Wom-bhai streamlet, a tributary of the Kyouk-khyoung- 
 gyee. There are no roads but footpaths from village to village. A large 
 majority of the inhabitants are Kareng. In 1877 the population of the 
 united circles was 2,445, the land revenue Rs. 4,864, the capitation tax 
 Es. 2,525 and the gross revenue Es. 7,107. 
 
 NGA-MAN-RAI. — A revenue circle in the Mye-boon township, Kyouk- 
 hpyoo district, on the northern shore of Hunter's Bay (which is known to 
 Burmese and Arakanese as Nga-man-rai) with an area of about 15 square 
 miles and extending along the Kyat-tseng creek. In 1877 it had a popula- 
 tion of 1,613 souls and the land revenue was Rs. 4,990 the capitation tax 
 Es. 2,050 and the gross revenue Es. 7,381. 
 
 NGA-MOUK-KHYOUNG.— A large village in the Pa-deng circle of 
 the northern township of Sandoway on Pa-deng Island, with 1,396 
 inhabitants in 1877-78. A considerable quantity of salt is manufactured 
 in the neighbourhood. 
 
 NGA-NEE-BA.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 37' 20" N. and 
 95° 29' 40" E., about 18 miles S. S. E. of Prome and 13 N. N. W. of Poung- 
 day, lying in a large and weU-populated rice tract ; it is inhabited chiefly by 
 agriculturists. 
 
 • NGAN-KHYOUNG. — A thinly-inhabited revenue circle in the Nga- 
 poo-taw township, Bassein district, occupying the southern portion of the 
 strip of land between the Bay of Bengal and the Arakan mountains and 
 extending north as far as the Hnget-pyaw stream. Its estimated area is 
 about 192 square miles and the whole consists of forest-covered hills 
 stretching down towards the sea by gradual slopes and leaving a narrow 
 sandy beach except near Hmaw-deng or Pagoda Point, Cape Negrais, fur- 
 ther north, and a few other spots where they enter the sea abruptly forming 
 a bold and rugged escarpment. In one or two places there are smaU plains 
 cultivated with rice. From December to February native boats can pass 
 up and down this coast ; the favourite harbour is between parallel spm-s 
 of rock running out into the sea at Poon-gnyet-gyoung on the southern 
 side of Cape Negrais. It is now united with Nga-roop-koung. 
 
 NGAN-TE. — A revenue circle in the Zaya township, Amherst district, 
 formed by the amalgamation of the two small Ngan-te and Mai-roung
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 451 
 
 circles. It has the town of Maulmain on the west, the Attaran on the north 
 and east and the Thee-tha-ro and Kyouk-tan cu-cles on the south. Its 
 total area is 4,124 acres. The greater portion of the sm-face is stony 
 upland and by no means fertile but still adapted for gardens and orchards 
 to the cultivation of which the close proximity of the circle to the town of 
 Maulmain lends a stimulus. Maulmain can be reached from any part by 
 land or by water in two or three hours. 
 
 The population and revenue have been : — 
 
 Years. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Land. 
 
 Capitation 
 tax. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1858 
 1875 
 
 1877 
 
 735 
 1,228 
 
 2,059 
 2,680 
 2,531 
 
 1,060 
 1,400 
 1,373 
 
 3,119 
 4,080 
 3,904 
 
 NGA-OUNG. — A small river in the Bassein district which falls into 
 the Bassein river just above the town of Bassein. Boats of 25 feet in length 
 can, at all seasons, ascend for about two miles as far as the village of 
 Thai-gyee-goon. 
 
 NGA-PAW. — A revenue circle in the Prome district to the south of the 
 Daw-lee cu*cle. There is a little rice cultivation in the eastern corner on 
 the bank of the Shwe4ay, near the fairly large village of Nga-paw. In 1877 
 the land revenue was Es. 484, the capitation tax Rs. 1,180, the gross revenue 
 PiS. 1,884 and the poj^ulation 1,098. 
 
 NGA-PAW.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 37' 50" N. and 
 95° 42' 5" E. on the bank of the Shwe-lay river about six miles due west of 
 the Pan-doung spur of the Pegu Eoma mountains. 
 
 NGA-PEE-TSHIEP. — A large village in the circle of the same name 
 in the Kan-oung township of the Henzada district on the right bank of the 
 Irrawaddy. In 1877-78 it had 2,019 inhabitants. 
 
 NGA-PEE-TSHIEP. — A revenue ch-cle in the Kan-oung township, 
 Henzada district, stretching south-west from the bank of the Irrawaddy 
 opposite or a little below Meng-gyee. The country is low and the area under 
 cultivation is not extensive. This circle is now joined to 0-bho. 
 
 NGA-POO-TAW. — An island in the Bassein river forming a revenue 
 cu'cle in the to^viiship of the same name in the Bassein district. The 
 eastern channel between it and the mainland is called the Pan-ma-wa-dee. 
 It is generally low and flat and much intersected by creeks. A peculiar 
 feature is a low range of hills on the west side parallel to the river on the 
 western slope of which stands the to^^'n of Nga-poo-taw the head-quarters 
 of the township. The land revenue in 1877 was Rs. 2,996, the capitation 
 tax Rs. 1,922, the gross revenue Rs. 5,068 and the population 1,670.
 
 452 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 NGA-POO-TAW. — A village in the Nga-poo-taw circle, Bassein dis- 
 trict, the head-quarters of the township of the same name. This village, 
 on an island about 21 miles below Bassein formed by the junction of the 
 Pan-ma-wa-dee river and its tributary the Thek-nga Ee-gyawy with the 
 Bassein river, lies on the western slopes of a low range of hills and extends 
 down to the river bank. Stretching northward is a tract of fertile rice land 
 and the village itself lies bmied in fruit trees of various kinds. The 
 inhabitants are handi-craftsmen, cultivators and traders, and in 1877 
 numbered 896. 
 
 NGA-POO-TAW. — A township occupying the extreme south-western 
 portion of the Bassein district and extending northwards on both flanks of 
 the Arakan Eoma, between the Bay of Bengal on the west and the Thek- 
 ngay-thoung mouth of the Bassein or Nga-won river on the east, to the 
 Tsheng-ma river on the west of the mountains and to the Than-dwe on 
 the east. The limits have several times been altered. Before the 
 annexation of Pegu the country on the west of the Eoma formed 
 a portion of Arakan ; shortly after the annexation it, together with a con- 
 siderable tract to the north as far as the Kyien-ta-lee, was attached to 
 Bassein and formed mto the Kyoung-tha township. Later on the portion 
 north of the Khwa was given back to Sandoway and still later, on the 
 Khyoung-tha township being abolished, the two southern circles, Ngan- 
 khyoung and Nga-roop-koung, were added to Nga-poo-taw. The Ta-kaing 
 circle, east of the hills, which is now in the Bassein, was formerly 
 in this township. 
 
 The township is divided into two and very dissimilar tracts by the 
 Arakan Eoma. The extreme south-eastern consists of a large island 
 33 miles long by about seven broad, m the broadest part, lying in the 
 Nga-won, with the Bassein mouth on the west and the Thek-ngay- 
 thoung on the east, intersected by numerous anastomosing tidal creeks, 
 and with a rocky promontory running out seawards and ending at Poorian 
 point. Off the Bassein mouth is Diamond Island ; fm'ther out at sea the 
 Phaeton shoal ; and still further the Alguada reef. North of this the 
 surface is alluvial. Towards the north the country is flat and covered 
 with forest whilst in the extreme north lime and various kinds of sand- 
 stone rise to the surface and form small hills from 40 to 100 feet high, 
 excessively steep on the western side. At the village of Thit-poot an 
 outcrop of sandstone stretches across the Thek-ngay-thoung channel. In 
 the Bassein channel between the island first' described and the mainland, 
 and nearer to the latter, is another small island, Haing-gyee or Negrais, 
 which is celebrated in Anglo-Burmese history as having been the site of 
 an English factory during the last century. Further up the river is 
 Long Island, a long stretch of forest-covered ground with a low ridge of 
 hills running along its eastern side and an outcrop in the river caUed the 
 Sesostris rocks with eight feet of water over them. Nga-poo-taw island, 
 still further north, is much intersected by creeks, has a low range of hills 
 on the west, on the western slopes of which stands the town of Nga-poo- 
 taw, the head-quarter station of the township. West of the Bassein the 
 general aspect of the mainland from Hmaw-deng or Pagoda point north- 
 wards is hilly, the hills being spurs stretching out from the Arakan Eoma, 
 thickly covered with tree and grass forest mixed with bamboos. On the
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER, 453 
 
 east from the Bhoora-hla to the Ee-goimg-gyee are numerous cultivated 
 plains intersected with forest extending four or five miles inland. West 
 of the Arakan range, nowhere more than 16 miles from the sea, the 
 whole face of the country is mountainous, the spurs and cross-spurs here 
 extending by gradual slopes to the sandy beach, there, as at Cape Negrais, 
 forming rugged and sea-washed escarpments. In a few places, notably 
 about the village of Nat-maw, are small rice plains but, generally, such 
 cultivation as there is on the hill sides. 
 
 The Arakan Eoma stretching up northwards, nowhere in this township 
 attain any great elevation. The principal spurs are inclined to the main 
 range at an angle of about 40° while the cross-spurs are nearly parallel 
 to it. The rivers are mountain torrents of little or no importance. 
 
 There are two passes across the Ai-akan hills, one, not much used, 
 from the village of Rwot-pa, the summit 295 feet above the sea level, and 
 one further north from the source of the Po-loung stream with nearly the 
 same elevation. 
 
 The only rivers of any size are the Myit-ta-ra and the Than-dwe, 
 which form a part of the northern boundary of the township. The Myit- 
 tara has two mouths, the southern called the Ka-naw-gyee, Kam-bha 
 island lying between them. Both these mouths will admit boats of 
 from 5,000 to 6,000 bushels burden as far as their bifurcation, and 
 native boatmen prefer this way round the island to the open Bassein river. 
 Large vessels can enter the Than-dwe and pass up some six miles as far 
 as the mouth of the Kwon. It has never less than 20 feet of water at 
 the mouth and just inside there are 40 feet which decrease to 28 at the 
 mouth of the Kwon. 
 
 Most of the lime at present used in the Bassein district is procured 
 near Tha-man-de-wa and Kyouk-thien-baw, on the Bassein river a few 
 miles below Nga-poo-taw. 
 
 The township is divided into 10 revenue circles, one west of the 
 Roma. The land revenue and capitation tax in 1875 aggregated 
 Rs. 50,793. In 1876-77 the population was 20,037, the land revenue 
 Rs. 29,328, the capitation tax Rs. 22,738 and gross revenue Rs. 80,132. 
 
 NGA-PYENG.— A cu-cle in the Mye-dai township, Thayet district. 
 The population are almost entu'ely Burmans with a very few Khyeng. In 
 1874-75 the land revenue was Rs. 1,913, and the capitation tax Rs. 2,390. 
 The cattle in the cu'cle numbered, according to the census of 1872, 1,656 
 head, by far the larger portion being bullocks. The principal product 
 is rice, but sessamum, tobacco, maize and plantains are also grown. 
 It now includes Doo-reng-ga-bho and in 1877 the population was 3,301, 
 the land revenue Rs. 2,467, the capitation tax Rs. 3,327 and the gi'oss 
 revenue Rs. 6,987. 
 
 NGA-PYENG.— A village in the Mye-dai township, Thayet district, 
 south of Myeng-oo, lying on the left bank of the Irrawaddy in the southern 
 portion of an extensive tract of rice cultivation. 
 
 NGA-ROOT-KOUNG.— A trading village in the Nga-poo-taw town- 
 ship, Bassein district at the mouth of the Nga-root-koung stream, containmg 
 499 inhabitants in 1877. Bassein boats passing up dispose of various 
 bazaar goods to the petty shop-keepers of the place in exchange for
 
 454 BEITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 nga-pee and boats passing down from Sandoway dispose of tobacco in like 
 manner. Lat. 16° 30' 30" N. Long. 93° 22' E. 
 
 NGA-EOOT-KOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Nga-poo-taw township, 
 Bassein district, lying between the Bay of Bengal on the south and west, 
 the Tsheng-ma stream on the north and the Arakan mountains on the east. 
 It now includes Ngan-khyoung in the extreme south. The country com- 
 prised within these limits presents a mountainous aspect, spurs and branch- 
 spurs running out from the western slopes of the Arakan mountains all 
 covered with thick forest. Here and there are small plains, especially near 
 the villages of Nat-maw and Nga-root-koung, which are cultivated with 
 rice but elsewhere such cultivation as there is is on the sides of the hills. 
 Along the coast-line stretches of sandy beach alternate with rocks jutting 
 out into the sea. There are numerous insignificant islands off the coast 
 and vessels are unable to approach the shore with safety. The land 
 revenue of the united circles in 1877-78 was Es. 1,172, the capitation tax 
 Es. 1,848, the gross revenue Es. 4,299 and the population 2,114. The 
 name means " Black pepper" but the reason of the circle being so called 
 is very obscure. 
 
 NGA-EOOT-KOUNG. — A river in the Bassein district which rises in 
 the western slopes of the Arakan mountains and falls into the sea at the 
 village of the same name. Large boats of 400 or 500 bushels burden can 
 at all times and seasons ascend as far Meng-gya-khyoung, or for about 
 three miles. During the rains this river becomes a rushing mountain 
 torrent. 
 
 NGA-THAING-KHYOUNG.— A town of 2,289 inhabitants in 1877, on 
 the eastern bank of the Bassein river ; the head-quarters of the Nga-thaing- 
 khyoung division of the Bassein district. The inhabitants are mainly 
 traders and fishermen. Large quantities of rice are grown in the neighbour- 
 hood. For a short time after the conclusion of the second Burmese war a 
 detachment of Native Infantry from Bassein garrisoned the town. Bather 
 less than a mile to the eastward is the Myit-khyo lake. The town contains 
 a Court-house, a Police-station, a large and substantially built market, 
 a school, a lock-up and a D. P. W. inspection bungalow. In 1876-77 the 
 local revenue was Es. 6,452. Lat. 17° 20' 30" N. Long. 95° 8' 30" E. 
 
 NGA-WEK. — A small mountain stream in the Thayet district which 
 rises in the Kwon-doung spur of the Arakan hills and, flowing east-south- 
 east, falls into the Ma-de (of which it is the largest feeder from the 
 north) near the village of Bhan-byee. The bed is rocky and sandy and 
 towards its source the banks are steep : it is not navigable by boats. Teak 
 and Eng {Dipterocarpus tuherculatus) are found on the hills through which 
 it passes. 
 
 NGA-WON. — A river in the Pegu division, more commonly known 
 as the Bassein river : q.v. 
 
 NGA-ZAING-EAING. — A revenue circle in the Meng-bra township, 
 Akyab district. In 1877-78, the population was 2,557, the land revenue 
 Es. 6,485, the capitation tax Es. 2,434 and the gross revenue Es. 9,321. 
 
 NGWE-DOUNG.— A revenue circle in the Ea-thai-donng township 
 of the Akyab district. In 1877-78 the population was 2,040, the land
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 455 
 
 revenue Rs. 4,479, the capitation tax Rs. 1,892 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 6,630. 
 
 NGWE-TWENG-TOO. — A revenue circle on the Mye-boon township, 
 Kyouk-hpyoo district, 36 square miles in extent, divided into numerous 
 islands by the inosculating tidal creeks at the mouth of the river Dha-let. 
 In 1877-78 it had a population of 2,060 souls, including the inhabitants of 
 the village of Thayet-toung who numbered about 600. The land revenue was 
 Es. 3,868, the capitation tax Es. 2,475 and the gross revenue Es. 6,567. 
 
 NOUK-MEE. — A village in the Thek-ngay-byeng circle, Oot-hpo town- 
 ship, Henzada district, on the west or right bank of the Irrawaddy. In 
 1877-78, it had 891 inhabitants. 
 
 NOUNG-BO. — A village of about 500 inhabitants in the Moon cu'cle, 
 Kyouk-gyee township, Shwe-gyeng district, about four miles due east from 
 the Tsit-toung on the Shwe-gyeng and Toung-ngoo road rather under 20 
 miles north of Kyouk-gyee. 
 
 NOUNG-KA-LA. — A village in the Mye-nee-goon circle, Tha-htoon 
 townshij), Amherst district, at the foot of the western slopes of the Marta- 
 ban hills, a short distance north of Mye-nee-goon. In 1877-78 it had 894 
 inhabitants. 
 
 NOUNG-LENG-GYEE.— A revenue circle in the Ra-thai-doung tovm- 
 ship, Akyab district. In 1877-78 the population was 2,390, the land 
 revenue Rs. 7,193, the capitation tax Rs. 2,770 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 10,562. 
 
 NOUNG-LOON. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Than-lweng town- 
 ship, Amherst district, east of the Zwai-ka-beng hills ; on the north it is 
 separated from the Than-lweng Hlaing-bhwai township by the Hpa-an 
 stream, and on the east and south are the Rwon-gnya and Za-tha-byeng 
 circles respectively. In 1876-77 the population was 2,428, the land revenue 
 Es. 3,305 and the capitation tax Es. 2,595. 
 
 NOUNG-TA-BWAI. — A village in the Mya-pa-daing cu-cle of the Houng- 
 tha-raw township of the Amherst district, on the bank of the Gyaing about 
 six miles from the mouth of the Nga-poo-pa-ta and about one mile from 
 Mya-pa-daing. In 1877-78 it had 921 inhabitants. 
 
 NWA-DAT. — A small stream in the Poungday township, Prome district, 
 which rises to the north of Pan-deng-beng in the Shwe-lay township and 
 flows southwards somewhat parallel to and to the eastward of the Myo-lay, 
 falling into the Kyat at Pouk-taw. Throughout its length it flows through 
 rich rice fields between steep banks and over a muddy bed. In the rains it 
 is navigable by small boats but at all other seasons it is dry. 
 
 NWA-MA-EAN. — A village in the Prome district, on the left bank of 
 the Irrawaddy between Prome and Shwe-doung. After the annexation of 
 Pegu it was proposed to place the main frontier force at this village but 
 fever having broken out amongst the troops on their first removal hither 
 from Prome it was, probably somewhat precipitately, determined that 
 Nwa-ma-ran was an unhealthy place and Thayctmyo was selected as the 
 military station.
 
 456 BEITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 NWA-MA-EAN. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-doung township, Prome 
 district, on the bank of the Irrawaddy, between Prome and Shwe-doung. 
 Parallel to the river and running down the centre of the circle is a line of 
 low forest-covered hills ; in the south-western portion the country is under 
 rice cultivation. The road from Eangoon to the frontier runs through 
 this circle near the bank of the Irrawaddy. It now includes Kyek-hpyoo- 
 doung, Tshan-dweng, Pyeng-beng-gaing, Tseng-ma-khyat, Bhai-lek, Hpo- 
 thien-dan and Htan-beng-gaing. In 1876-77, the population was 2,187, 
 the land revenue Es. 3,098, the capitation tax Es. 2,418 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 5,868. 
 
 0-BHO. — A revenue circle in the Kan-oung township of the Henzada 
 district, which includes Aing-ka-law, Nga-pee-tshiep and Kanoung-gnay, on 
 the bank of the Irrawaddy south of the town of Kan-oung. On the north 
 is the Kan-oung circle, on the west the Ewe-doung and Gnyoung-rwa-gyee 
 circles and on the south the Thai-bhyoo circle, all of the same township. 
 In 1876-77 the population was 5,289, the land revenue Es. 3,789, the capi- 
 tation tax Es. 4,953 and the gross revenue Es. 10,794. The principal 
 village is Kwon-khyan-goon on the bank of the Irrawaddy with 2,074 
 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 00-DIEN. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-doung township, Prome 
 district, which now includes Aing-da-leng-ga, Aing, Kyouk-o, Ko-dweng- 
 zeng, Kyouk-o-gyee, Mee-loung, Tshan-rwa and Wa-lay. It lies just to the 
 south of Meng-rwa on the main road to Eangoon from the northern 
 frontier. Almost the entire circle is under rice cultivation. In 1876-77 
 the population was 1,396, the land revenue Es. 2,433, the capitation tax 
 Es. 1,595 and the gross revenue Es. 4,058. 
 
 00-DO. — A tidal stream in the Bassein district, a tributary of the 
 Hpet-ra which falls into the Than-dwe near its mouth. Boats of about 200 
 baskets burden can ascend at all seasons of the year with the flood tide as 
 far as the mouth of the Lien-goon, a distance of about three miles. 
 
 OOK-KAN. — A revenue circle in the extreme north of the Hlaing town- 
 ship of the Eangoon district separated from the Thoon-tshay circle of 
 Henzada on the north by the Mee-neng and from the Myoung-ta-nga circle 
 on the south by the Ma-ga-ree and extending from the Pegu Eoma on the 
 east to the river Hlaing on the west. It is traversed from south to north 
 by the Irrawaddy Valley (State) Eailway and there is a station, called Ook- 
 kan, at Pouk-koon about two miles east of Ook-kan village. On the west 
 the country is hilly and forest clad, producmg teak and other valuable 
 trees : the greater portion of the circle here is included in the Ma-ga-ree 
 forest reserve. West of the railway the country is low and cultivated with 
 rice but the soil is poor. The land along the Hlaing is slightly raised above 
 the level further inland and in consequence during the rams a strip on 
 the east is converted into a swamp and is unculturable. The Ook-kan 
 stream runs through about the centre from east to west. A feeder road 
 is being made from the Eailway station at Pouk-koon westward to Ook-kan 
 where it turns south and crosses the Ma-ga-ree at Bha-loon. The principal 
 villages, are Ook-kan and Poukrkoon, and in the north-east is Htan-bhoo the 
 site of an ancient town now in ruins.
 
 been 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 457 
 
 The population and agricultural stock during the last five years have 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Agricultural Stock. 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 to CO 
 
 7^ O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 S3 
 es 
 
 g 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 ■*^ to 
 o <c 
 
 "3 
 o 
 
 "cS 
 
 
 03 
 O 
 
 CO 
 
 CS 
 
 ,3 
 
 o 
 
 05 
 
 o 
 
 
 m 
 
 M 
 
 ai 
 
 < 
 
 H 
 
 PQ 
 
 o S 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 eu. 
 
 pq 
 
 1873-74 
 
 3,064 
 
 2,579 
 
 212 
 
 101 
 
 7,756 
 
 1,504 
 
 372 
 
 
 637 
 
 734 
 
 19 
 
 1874-75 
 
 2,029 
 
 3,837 
 
 224 
 
 2,124 
 
 8,214 
 
 2,076 
 
 532 
 
 
 874 
 
 877 
 
 13 
 
 1875-76 
 
 2,976 
 
 2,944 
 
 42 
 
 2,093 
 
 8,055 
 
 1,804 
 
 377 
 
 
 815 
 
 811 
 
 4 
 
 1876-77 
 
 2,176 
 
 2,477 
 
 50 
 
 2,004 
 
 6,707 
 
 1,600 
 
 468 
 
 
 825 
 
 815 
 
 
 1877-78 
 
 2,771 
 
 2,599 
 
 73 
 
 1,666 
 
 7,109 
 
 1,947 
 
 472 
 
 9 
 
 934 
 
 972 
 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the revenue : — 
 
 
 Area, in Acres. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Tbab. 
 
 Bice, in- 
 cluding 
 fallow. 
 
 Garden. 
 
 Miscel- 
 laneous. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Land. 
 
 Capita- All other m . , 
 tiontax. taxes. •^"^'*^- 
 
 1873-74.. 
 1874-75 . . 
 1875-76 . . 
 1876-77 . . 
 1877-78 .. 
 
 7,860 
 
 8,944 
 
 9,682 
 
 10,628 
 
 11,119 
 
 137 
 154 
 123 
 177 
 160 
 
 190 
 
 39 
 
 173 
 
 237 
 
 49 
 
 8,187 
 
 9,137 
 
 9,978 
 
 11,042 
 
 11,400 
 
 13,850 
 15,499 
 16,870 
 18.522 
 19,010 
 
 9,244 
 9,320 
 9,689 
 9.760 
 10,162 
 
 481 
 404 
 331 
 281 
 415 
 
 23,575 
 25,223 
 26,890 
 28.-563 
 29,587 
 
 OOK-KAN. — A river which rises in the Pegu Eoma mountains and 
 falls into Hlaing at Pyeng-ma-goon. It is a narrow stream, shallow and 
 unnavigable in the dry weather, but in the rams it rises considerably and 
 for some two months in the year is 25 feet above its dry weather level : it 
 then just tops the high steep, banksbet ween which it flows. Towards the 
 source the bed is rocky but in the plains sandy and hard. At the village of 
 Ook-kan the banks are about 40 feet apart. The water is always sweet but 
 at springs in the dry season the tide ascends for a short distance above the 
 mouth raising the fresh water very perceptibly. In the rains large boats 
 can ascend as far as the village of Ook-kan and at this season teak and 
 other valuable timber is brought down from the forests on the east through 
 which it flows and the logs arc collected at various places where they are 
 formed mto small rafts of one or two logs each. Towards the end of the 
 rains these are collected in the Hlaing near the mouth and there formed into 
 large rafts and floated down. 
 
 OOK-KAN. — A village containing a small Police guard in the circle 
 of the same name, between the Irrawaddy Valley (State) Piailway and 
 the Hlaing river, a mile alid a half to the west of the former and about five 
 
 58
 
 458 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 west of the latter. It is now being connected with the Ook-kan railway 
 station, which is at the village of Pouk-koon, and with Bha-loon and other 
 villages to the southward by a feeder road. It is a large straggling village 
 on the right bank of the Ook-kan river, here about 40 feet wide between the 
 banks but nearly dry except in the rains, ensconced in a grove of trees and 
 lying in a rice plain with very similar but much smaller villages in its 
 neighbourhood. It has several roads through it with brick-laid pathways 
 down the centre, mostly old and worn out with gaps which in the rains 
 are muddy pools ; here and there these gaps have been filled in. It contains 
 two fairly good zayat or public rest-houses, a monastery and two square- 
 built pagodas, one erected in 1877 to cover the remains of a Booddhist 
 monk. The village is said to have been founded about 300 years ago by 
 a Talaing related by marriage to the royal family of Pegu and to have 
 derived its Talaing name, of which Ook-kan (brick tank) is a translation, 
 from the existence of a brick-walled tank in the neighbom-hood. The 
 Talaing were soon supplemented by a small influx of Arakanese, and subse- 
 quently by Burmese settlers. All three races are represented, and though aU 
 use the Burmese language and have completely adopted Burmese customs, 
 yet some of the Talaing stiU understand then- own tongue. Still later 
 some Kareng settled in the village. It contained 713 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 00-LE. — The name given to the head- waters of the Thoung-yeng 
 river — q. v. 
 
 OON-BENG-HLA. — A village in the Ee-bhyoo circle, Thayet township, 
 Thayet district, on the Thai-bhyoo stream, about three miles to the west 
 of the Irrawaddy. It contains about 70 houses. 
 
 OON-KYWON.— >See Liep-kywon. 
 
 OON-NAI. — A village containing from 50 to 60 houses in the Thit-mee- 
 tsoo revenue circle, Kama township, Thayet district. It lies in the tri- 
 angular valley enclosed by the Toung-mouk-theng-gan spur on the south, 
 the Htoon-doung on the north-west and the Kyouk-poon on the east, and 
 drained by the Kyouk-pwet stream, a small affluent of the Ma-de. 
 
 00-EEE-TOUNG. — A pagoda in the Oo-ree-toung circle of the Oo-ree- 
 toung (west) township, Akyab district, on the Thee-la-pat-pa-da hill. It is 
 said to have been built circa 1590 A, D., by king Meng-tha-loung on his 
 return from an expedition against the Khyeng and the Mro. When proceed- 
 ing on the expedition the king had observed what appeared to be a ball of 
 fire on the hill and was informed by his astrologers that it was the effulgence 
 from the skull of Gaudama when he died in one of his earlier existences as 
 a Brahmin. 
 
 00-EEE-TOUNG, EAST.— A small township in the Akyab district, 
 lying along the seacoast to the west of Meng-bra. It is in general low 
 and intersected with tidal creeks the water in which, but for artificial 
 embankments, would at high tides inundate much of the surrounding 
 country. It is divided into 22 revenue circles. In 1876-77 the population 
 was 35,651, the land revenue Es. 102,051, the capitation tax Es. 43,811 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 155,071. 
 
 00-EEE-TOUNG, WEST.— A township m the Akyab district to the 
 west of the Koo-la-dan township. The southern portion is highly intersected
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 459 
 
 with tidal creeks which unite the Koo-la-dan and the Ma-yoo rivers. The 
 cultivation is principally on the right bank of the Koo-la-dan and on both 
 banks of the To, one of its tributaries, at the mouth of the Taw-bya and 
 amongst the numerous creeks in the south. The northern portion is hilly 
 and forest- clad. The name is derived from a high hiU on which was built, by 
 one of the kings of Ai'akan, a pagoda reached by four flights of steps : all 
 is now in ruins. The township, which is divided into 16 revenue circles, 
 had in 1876-77 a population of 35,291 souls and produced a revenue of 
 Rs. 133,477 ; Rs. 90,468 from the land and Rs. 38,966 from the capitation 
 tax, the rest being from miscellaneous sources. 
 
 00-REE-TOUNG.— A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (west) town- 
 ship of the Akyab district. In 1876-77 the population was 3,912, the land 
 revenue Rs. 8,429, the capitation tax Rs. 4,662 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 13,803. The principal villages are Tan-kho, with 559 inhabitants, on 
 the western bank of the Naaf, aud Poon-na-ky^-on, close to the Oo-ree- 
 toung pagoda, with 365 inhabitants. 
 
 00-TEE. — A pagoda in the Shwe-gyeng district, formerly called 
 Hmwe-daw because it contained a hair of Gaudama. It stands about a 
 mile north of Shwe-gyeng town on the bank of the Shwe-gyeng river. It 
 was destroyed by an earthquake in 1858 and was re-built by a Hpoon-gyee 
 named Oo-tee, whence its present name. 
 
 OOT-HPO. — A town in the Henzada district on the west bank of the 
 Ka-gnyeng stream, four miles west of the Irrawaddy and 29 miles south of 
 Myanoung, formerly a large city founded in the eighth century and then 
 caUed Kyaik-eng-ga. It is the head-quarters of the to^^nship and con- 
 tains a Com't-house and a Police-station. In 1877 the population was 
 3,826. Long. 17° 45' 50" N. Lat. 95° 21' 10" E. 
 
 OOT-HPO. — A village in the Kyek-taik circle, Mo-gnyo township, 
 Henzada district, between the Irrawaddy Valley (State) Railway and the 
 Hlaing. In 1877 it had 541 inhabitants. 
 
 OOT-HPO. — A township in the Henzada district 463 miles in extent, 
 on the west bank of the Irrawaddy between Henzada on the south and 
 Ka-noung on the north. To the westward the country is momitainous and 
 to the east low and formerly liable to inundation on the annual rise of 
 the Irrawaddy, but now protected by embankments which have rendered it 
 possible to cultivate the soil more extensively. It is divided into six revenue 
 circles. In 1877-78 the land revenue was Rs, 46,253, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 48,467 and the gross revenue Rs. 98,660. 
 
 The population and agricultural stock in 1877 was : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 T3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 03 
 
 
 to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a <u 
 
 
 05 
 
 
 
 .a 
 1— 1 
 
 a> 
 
 'a 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 -a 
 
 =1 
 
 o 
 
 to 
 
 3 
 
 "3 
 
 o 
 
 fco 
 
 to 
 
 rs 
 
 CO 0) 
 
 -3 
 
 to 
 o 
 
 s 
 
 rn 
 
 =5 
 
 O 
 
 > 
 
 Ph 
 
 « 
 
 O 
 
 m 
 
 « 
 
 O 
 
 0^ 
 
 u 
 
 Ph 
 
 o 
 
 M 
 
 149 
 
 37,707 
 
 224 
 
 3,973 
 
 3,153 
 
 1,650 
 
 5,569 
 
 55 
 
 766 
 
 4,546 
 
 2.484 
 
 7% 
 
 469
 
 460 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 OOT-HPO. — A narrow tidal creek in the Bassein district uniting the 
 Khat-tee-ya, which it joins near its mouth, and the Bassein river a few 
 miles below the mouth of the Than-dwe. It has an average depth of from 
 15 to 20 feet and is navigable by large masted boats of 60 feet in length. 
 
 OOT-HPO. — A revenue circle in the township of the same name in the 
 Henzada district and lying to the east of the Kweng-gouk and Tsee-beng 
 circles and west of the Thek-ngay-byeng circle. The western portion con- 
 sists of undulating ground but towards the east rice cultivation is carried 
 on to a considerable extent. In 1876-77 the population was 10,542|the land 
 revenue Es. 9,259, the capitation tax Es. 9,390 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 21,109. 
 
 OOT-POON. — A village in the A-hpyouk circle, Za-lwon township, 
 Henzada district, on the left bank of the Irrawaddy about a mile south of 
 A-hpyouk. In 1877 it had 833 inhabitants. 
 
 OOT-TOO. — A revenue circle in the south-eastern township of the Tavoy 
 district of about 12 square miles in extent. A small revenue is derived 
 from fishery and net tax. The main products are rice, doorians and betel- 
 nuts. In 1876-77 the population was 3,873, the land revenue Es. 4,933, 
 the capitation tax Es. 3,162 and the gross revenue Es. 8,410. The 
 principal villages are Thayet-khyoung the head-quarters of the township, 
 with 925 inhabitants, Pien-daw with 585 inhabitants and Kyouk-myoung 
 with 536 inhabitants. 
 
 OOT-TWENG. — A village in the Khoung-ran circle, Ze-a-wa-dee 
 township, Toung-ngoo district, on the Toung-ngoo and Pegu road, about 
 two miles west of the Tsit-toung and seven south of Toung-ngoo. In 1877 
 it had 739 inhabitants. 
 
 OOT-TWENG-GOON.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 31' 45" N. 
 and 95° 33' 40" E. about a mile south of the Wai-gyee river and a mile and 
 a half west of the northern end of Poungday, inhabited principally by rice 
 cultivators. 
 
 00-ZEE-NA. — A pagoda, 112 feet high, supposed to contain one of 
 Gaudama's haii's, formerly called Kyaik-pa-htan from the white appearance 
 of the ground on which it stands, on the hills in the town of Maulmain, 
 immediately behind the Court-houses. It was built in the reign of 
 Athaw-ka by a hermit named Ma-naw-zee-na aided by a rich man 
 named Mien-dee. It was repaired some 35 years ago by one Oo-zee-na. 
 
 0-SHIT-GOON.— A village of 70 houses In the Ee-bhyoo circle, Thayet 
 township, Thayet district, about eight miles north-west of the town 
 of Thayet, near the Tha-bye-tsan stream and at the north-western 
 extremity of a long, narrow strip of rice cultivation in which are the villages 
 of Kye-daing, Khyeng-tsouk and Hman-deng. 
 
 O-SHIT-GOON. — A small village near the frontier and about 25 miles 
 east of the Irrawaddy in the Tham-boo-la cu'cle, Mye-dai township, Thayet 
 district. 
 
 0-SHIT-GOON. — A revenue cii'cle in the Kama township, Thayet 
 district, lying between the Hnget-kha hills on the south-west and the Ma- 
 htoon river on the north-east with an area of 10 square miles and a
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 461 
 
 population in 1872 of 1,054 souls. This, as has been the case with 
 many other circles, was gradually enlarged by the addition to it of 
 others as the Thoogyee died, resigned or were dismissed, and in 1872, 
 on the resignation of its Thoogyee, it was placed under the Thoogyee of 
 Tham-bha-ra. The largest village, which is in about the centre of the 
 circle, is Meng-dai. 
 
 0-SHIT-PENG. — A village in the Pa-doung township, Prome district, 
 in 18° 40' 10" N. and 95° 6' 5" E. on the military road from Pa-doung over 
 the Toung-goop pass, close to the spot where this road crosses the river 
 Tha-nee. 
 
 0-SHIT-PENG. — A small village in the Toung-ngoo district, six miles 
 from the frontier and about three miles east of the Tsit-toung, imj)ortant 
 only as being one in the chain of frontier Police-stations. 
 
 OUK-MA-NIEM. — A revenue ckcle in the Kama townshij) of the 
 Thayet district occupying the upper portion of the narrow valley between 
 the Pa-douk or Tshay-lan and Tha-o-bj'it spurs having an approximate 
 area of 15 square miles of which not one complete square mile is under 
 cultivation. Out of the 571 acres which are cultivated no less than 222 
 are occupied by toungya. In 1872 the population numbered 685 or 1*20 
 to each acre of cultivation and 756 in 1876. The circle is held heredi- 
 tarily and now includes besides Ouk-ma-niem, Ka-tswon-myoung, the 
 Thoogyee of which died in 1870, and Ouk-ma-myeng, the Thoogyee of 
 which resigned in 1871. In 1876-77 the land revenue of the three circles 
 was Es. 443, the capitation tax Pvs. 842 and the gross revenue Es. 1,307. 
 
 OUK-PAING-KYWON.— A village of about 800 inhabitants in the 
 Paing-kwon cu'cle of the Amherst district. 
 
 OUK-EWA. — A village in the Gnyoung-beng-tha ch'cle, Za-lwon town- 
 ship, Henzada district, on the right bank of the Irrawaddy at the mouth 
 of the Gnyoung-beng-tha creek. In 1877 it had 596 inhabitants. 
 
 OUNG-BENG-THA. — A revenue circle in the north-eastern portion of 
 the Taroop-hmaw towiiship, Henzada district, adjoining the Prome district, 
 with some rice cultivation towards the south-east. 
 
 OUNG-DAING. — A revenue cu'cle in the Kyai-let township of the 
 Akyab district. In 1876-77 the population was 2,263 the land revenue 
 Es. 7,848, the' capitation tax Es. 2,620 and the gross revenue Es. 11,023. 
 It contains no villages of any importance : the principal is Ee-kliyan-byeng, 
 with 299 inhabitants, on the west bank of the Ma-yoo whence there is 
 a ferry to the eastern bank ; it is the residence of the Thoogyee. 
 
 OUNG-TSHIEP. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (west) town- 
 ship of the Akyab district. In 1876-77 the population was 1,535, the 
 land revenue Es. 5,871, the capitation tax 2,010 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 8,237. The principal village is Oung-tshiep, with 378 inhabitants 
 on the north bank of the Eo-khyoung — the residence of the Thoogyee. 
 
 OYSTEE ISLAND. — A small, rocky and dangerous island off the coast 
 of Arakan between the Naaf and the Ma-yoo about 12 miles from the main- 
 land. 
 
 OYSTEE EEEF. — A dangerous sunken reef off the coast of Arakan 
 in 20° 5' N. Lat. on which an ii-on screw-pile light-house has been erected.
 
 462 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 PA-AING. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-doung township of the 
 Prome district. In 1877 the population was 1,845, the land revenue 
 Es. 2,427, the capitation tax Es. 2,145 and the gross revenue Es. 4,672. 
 
 PA-AW. — A revenue circle in the south-eastern township of the 
 Tavoy district, now joined to Ka-dwai ; the main products are sessamum 
 and cardamoms. 
 
 PA-BWOT. — A village of 70 houses in the Toon circle, Kama 
 township, Thayet district, on the Pa-nee stream. It gave its name 
 to a circle, which for some years after the annexation of Pegu remained, 
 as it had been in the Burmese time, an independent Thoogyeeship, but in 
 1863, on the Thoogyee being dismissed for bribery, it was united to Toon. 
 
 PA-DA. — A village in the Than-lyeng township of the Eangoon district 
 on the Pa-da stream and on the east of the rising ground which extends 
 from Syriam to Kyouk-tan, near the site of an ancient town. The name is 
 said to be derived from the Pali Pa-da — a footstep — because the old town 
 was built in the form of a footstep, the toes pointing north. The ruins 
 of the old town wall, built of hewn pieces of laterite, is still distinctly 
 traceable and the shape of the town can be made out from a neighbouring 
 pagoda. The remains of the palace and of the elephant enclosure are 
 visible. Within the limits are a pair of very ancient twin pagodas now 
 known as the Taw-ra-kyoung Bhoora. The first ruler of Syriam is said 
 to have married the daughter of the ruler of Pa-da. The town was destroyed 
 by the Burmese during the invasion of A-na-raw-hta in the middle of the 
 eleventh century. The inhabitants who are principally Talaing and Shan 
 agriculturists and traders are few in number. 
 
 PA-DAN. — A revenue circle in the Hmaw-bhee township of the 
 Eangoon district, occupying the angle formed by the river Hlaing and 
 the Pan-hlaing creek, which unite to form what is commonly known as the 
 Eangoon river, and north of their junction. The aspect of the country 
 is that of a vast plain extensively cultivated and intersected by numerous 
 tidal creeks, occasionally fringed with low brushwood. Although the soil 
 is probably the most fertile in the whole township yet the average produce 
 is not, on an average, more than 40 bushels to an acre. It does not 
 contain a single village with 500 inhabitants. 
 
 The area under cultivation and the revenue during each of the last 
 five years were : — 
 
 
 Area, in Acres. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Yeak. 
 
 Rice. Garden. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Land. 
 
 Capita- 
 tion tax. 
 
 All other 
 taxes. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1873-74 
 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 7,153 
 
 7,617 
 
 9,296 
 
 10,565 
 
 10,611 
 
 102 
 145 
 159 
 204 
 206 
 
 7,255 
 
 7,762 
 
 9,455 
 
 10,769 
 
 10,817 
 
 16,826 
 17,984 
 21,811 
 23,870 
 24,930 
 
 4,350 
 4,427 
 4,560 
 4,325 
 4,283 
 
 352 
 344 
 109 
 
 77 
 86 
 
 21,528 
 22,755 
 26,480 
 28,272 
 29,299
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 463 
 
 The 
 
 population 
 
 and 
 
 agricultural stock for the same period were :— 
 
 - 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Agricultural Stock. 
 
 Teak. 
 
 to 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 M 
 
 ^ o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 c3 
 
 to 
 
 6D 
 
 
 o 
 .a 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 y 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 
 03 ^<S 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 03 
 O 
 
 ^ 
 
 s 
 
 ® a 
 
 o "• 
 
 00 
 
 DO 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 m 
 
 o 
 
 
 m 
 
 H W 
 
 02 
 
 <J 
 
 H 
 
 cq 
 
 o § 
 
 o 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 
 Ph 
 
 w 
 
 1873-74 .. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 541 
 
 339 
 
 1 
 
 103 
 
 83 
 
 438 
 
 188 
 
 1874-75 . . 
 
 1,858 
 
 1,494 
 
 493 
 
 
 io 
 
 3,855 
 
 633 
 
 421 
 
 
 114 
 
 94 
 
 499 
 
 168 
 
 1875-76 . . 
 
 1,807 
 
 1,783 
 
 369 
 
 
 15 
 
 3,974 
 
 639 
 
 443 
 
 
 124 
 
 107 
 
 513 
 
 193 
 
 1876-77 .. 
 
 1,496 
 
 1,815 
 
 326 
 
 
 21 
 
 3,650 
 
 663 
 
 424 
 
 4 
 
 198 
 
 86 
 
 466 
 
 197 
 
 1877-78 , . 
 
 1,252 
 
 1,800 
 
 44 
 
 429 
 
 
 3,525 
 
 634 
 
 376 
 
 5 
 
 202 
 
 100 
 
 420 
 
 156 
 
 PA-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Mro-houng township, Akyab dis- 
 trict. In 1877 the population was 1,220, the land revenue Es. 2,783, the 
 capitation tax Es. 1,489 and the gross revenue Es. 4,411. 
 
 PA-DE. — A stream which rises in the western slopes of the Pegu 
 Eoma and has a westerly com-se for some distance before it is called the 
 Bhwot-lay : — q.v. Many small tributaries join it before it leaves the moun- 
 tains, and down these large quantities of teak timber are brought during the 
 rains. In the di-y weather the water is only a few inches deep and some- 
 times flows underneath sandbanks. In some places dams of sand are 
 constructed for u-rigation pm-poses and these retain the water in pools several 
 feet deep and some hundreds of yards in length. 
 
 PA-DENG. — A revenue circle in the northern township of Sandoway. 
 The principal products are rice and sessamum. In 1838 it contained 580 
 inhabitants and produced a gross revenue of Es. 750. In 1877 the popu- 
 lation was 2,804, the land revenue Es. 3,190, the capitation tax Es. 2,390 
 and the gross revenue Es. 6,546. 
 
 PA-DOUK-BENG. — A small village of 50 houses in the Nga-hlaing- 
 khyoon cii'cle, Thayet township, Thayet district, about nine miles west, 
 by the present road, from Thayetmyo. It is mainly important as 
 being near the spot at which one or two earth-oil wells have been sunk 
 from which a thick and viscid oil is obtained but in no very large quantities. 
 
 PA-DOUK-GOON. — A village in the Toung-ngoo district, occupied by 
 a small Police-force, about a mile and a half east of the Tsit-toung, two 
 and a half miles south of the frontier and a mile N. N. E. of Wa-roon-lai, 
 on a road leading south from Upper Burma. 
 
 PA-DOUNG. — A to^Tiship in the Prome district occupj^ng the whole of 
 the right bank of the Irrawaddy from Thayet on the north to Henzada 
 on the south and stretching westward to the crest of the Arakaii mountains, 
 with an area of 1,188 square miles. Along the bank of the river for about 
 a mile inland the ground is level and mostly under rice cultivation ; west 
 of this the ground undulates and then cultivation appears m toungya and 
 on the banks of the small rivers. This undulating ground soon passes into 
 hills and the whole country to the Arakan mountains is a succession of
 
 464 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 densely-wooded spurs and counterspurs intersected by small streams and 
 mountain torrents. The western boundary of the township and of the dis- 
 trict, in the extreme south, is formed by the Kyouk-piet-tha stream which 
 rises in the angle formed by two ridges of hills branchmg out from a long spur 
 of the Arakan mountains, running close and almost parallel to each other, 
 one in this district and one in Henzada, abutting on the Irrawaddy like a 
 colossal pair of knees and called the Pa-doung and the Kyan-kheng Akouk- 
 toung respectively. The chffs of the latter rise abruptly from the water 
 and, their scarped faces hollowed out into numerous small caves in which 
 recline images of Gaudama, form a marked feature on the Irrawaddy. It 
 was here that Major Gardner was killed during the second Burmese war. 
 
 Growing in these tracts are found Eng {Dij^terocarjms tuherculatus), 
 Pyeng-ga-do (Xylia dolahriformis,) Htouk-kyan {Terminalia macrocai-pa) , 
 Sha (Acacia catechu) and Teak (Tectona grandis), besides bamboos which 
 are very plentiful. Teak-producmg localities are scarcer than they are 
 farther north, but there are some valuable tracts on the side spurs of the 
 Arakan hills, especially near the sources of the Tha-nee, Bhoo-ro, Kyouk- 
 bhoo and Thoo-le-dan streams which, under the Burmese rule and during the 
 first years of the occupation of Pegu by the British, yielded very 
 considerable supplies of planks and of squared logs. That these tracts 
 have been worked extensively is apparent from the large number of 
 full-sized stumps found standing in the forests. In 1858 it was estimated 
 by the Forest Department that the area of the teak-producing localities 
 here was 40 square miles. Owing to the large number of cutch trees 
 {Acacia catechu) and to the demand for cutch a brisk manufacture of this 
 article has sprung up. 
 
 The prmcipal rivers, aU of which except the last rise in the Arakan 
 Ptoma mountains and are fed by numerous mountain torrents, are the 
 Tha-nee and its two tributaries the Bhoo-ro and the Kyouk-bhoo, the two 
 Thoo-le-dan and the Kha-wa. The Tha-nee has a south-easterly course 
 and flows past several large villages in a somewhat narrow but, in its 
 lower portion, fairly well cultivated valley ; the banks are steep and the bed 
 rocky towards the source, but in the rains boats of 80 bushels burden can 
 ascend as far as the village of Zayat-hla. Near Kaing-gyee it is joined by 
 the Bhoo-ro, and near Bhoo-rwa, a few miles from its mouth, by the 
 Kyouk-bhoo. The Bhoo-ro has an easterly course of about 35 miles ; in 
 the rains boats of 100 bushels burden can ascend as far Kaing-gyee 
 about a mile from its mouth ; the banks are steep and the bed sandy and 
 rocky. The Kyouk-bhoo has an easterly course ; in the rains boats can 
 ascend as far as Gnyoung-khye-douk on the Toung-goop road, up to 
 which the banks are moderately steep and the bed sandy and gravelly, 
 after this to its source the banks are very steep and the bed rocky. Teak 
 and other valuable timber and bamboos are found on the banks of both 
 these streams. The two Thoo-le-dan rivers unite at Ma-toung and fall into 
 the Irrawaddy at the village of Thoo-le-dan. In the rains large boats can 
 ascend as far as Hlay-goo where the united streams leave the hills and enter 
 the plain country which fringes the bank of the Irrawaddy, and small boats 
 for some distance further. The banks up to Hlay-goo are moderately 
 steep and the bed is sandy but beyond this to its som-ce the bed is rocky 
 and the banks are very steep. Teak, Pyeng-ga-do, Htouk-kyan and Sha
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 4G5 
 
 are met with in the hilly country which these rivers drain and large 
 quantities of bamboos are cut on their Ijanks and rafted and floated down 
 stream for sale at the large villages on the Irrawaddy. The Klia-wa rises in 
 the hills which form the southern boundary of the district and send their 
 spm's northwards and falls into the Irrawaddy at the large village of Htoon- 
 bho, or Toung-ngoo as it is sometimes called. During the height of the rains 
 boats of 150 bushels burden can ascend for fom* or five miles as high as Tha- 
 bye-hla ; from its mouth to this village the banks are somewhat low but 
 above they are steep. 
 
 The mineral productions of the township consist of earth-oil and lime- 
 stone. The first, the existence of which was onlj' lately discovered, is found 
 in the north near the village of Toung-bo-gyee, in the bed of a small stream. 
 ** At the time of my visit in November 1871," whites Mr. Theobald of the 
 
 Geological Survey of India, " fom" shafts had been sunk one of 
 
 " which had been buried by a slip, and two of the others had not struck any 
 " petroleum. The second shaft, however, which is the only one which needs 
 " attention, had been very successful and had yielded some two and a half 
 " \dss " (9-1251bs.) " of oil daily at a depth of 35 cubits, till it became filled 
 " with water in the rains when the supply ceased," owing to the pressure 
 of the high column of water on the mouths of the oil-containing cracks 
 and fissures. The limestone which, according to Mr. Theobald, "is 
 procurable in any quantity" is found in the Kyouktan hill, about six 
 miles from Htoon-bho at the mouth of the Kj'ouk-piet-tha stream in the 
 extreme south-eastern part of the township and is brought to Htoon-bho to 
 be burnt. The way in which the limestone is quarried is thus described by 
 Mr. Theobald in the Memou's of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. X., Pt. 
 2, p. 156 : — " The mode of extraction is, however, unsystematic and wasteful 
 " to a degree. The outcrop of the rock is just dug into, and if the rock is 
 " rather slabby, it is simply broken up and extracted in conveniently sized 
 " lumps. No order or regularity is observed in opening a pit, hence a great 
 ** waste of labour with, it may be presumed, enhanced cost. If the outcrop 
 '• is more massive in character, a large fire is kindled on the bare surface of 
 *' the rock, by which the stone is rendered more brittle and easier to break 
 " up and extract. The only tools used are a few light hammers, a crowl^ar 
 " or so, and a number of wedges both of wood and of h-on." In the southern 
 portion of the to^vnship, on the banks of the Ma-toung stream, a tributary of 
 the south Thoo-le-dan, about four miles from its mouth, are some salt springs, 
 of no present economic value owing to the importation of foreign salt. 
 
 The to^^^lship, which in the Burmese time was an independent 
 jurisdiction, was, according to the registers prepared after the annexation, 
 divided into 302 village tracts under Thoogyee. These were formed into 
 revenue circles, several being amalgamated together, and this process of 
 amalgamation has gone on as the Thoogyee died, resigned or were dis- 
 missed till the number of circles has been reduced to 24. The area under 
 cultivation necessarily varies every year Ijut may be taken roughly as 45 
 square miles of which 25,000 acres are sown with rice, and the remainder pro- 
 duce miscellaneous crops, such as fruit, chillies, onions, scssamum, tobacco 
 and cotton, which are sold in the villages on the river bank ; cotton cloths, 
 piece-goods and nga-pee being brought up in exchange ; cutch for export is 
 largely manufactured as also a peculiar kind of matting. The principal 
 
 69
 
 466 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 road is called the Prome and Toung-goop road and runs from just opposite 
 Prome along the bank of the river through Pa-doung and for some miles 
 further southwards when it turns west and passes over the Toung-goop pass 
 into Arakan : it is used principally in the dry season by parties of traders. 
 Besides this there are everywhere, near the river, fair-weather cart roads, 
 but in the hills only tracks for men or unladen cattle and elephants. The 
 principal town is Pa-doung, on the bank of the river, a long, straggling col- 
 lection of villages hemmed in by rice swamps, with a small population of 
 2,897 souls. It is here that the Assistant Commissioner who has charge 
 of the division (Pa-doung and Shwe-doung townships) holds his Court. 
 There is also a Police-station and a small bazaar. In 1877 the population 
 was 35,269, the land revenue Es. 37,917, the capitation tax Es. 39,832 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 86,677. 
 
 PA-DOUNG. — A sub-division of the Prome district formed in 1875 and 
 consisting of the Pa-doung township on the right and the Shwe-doung town- 
 ship on the left bank of the Irrawaddy. The head-quarters are at Pa-doung. 
 
 PA-DOUNG. — A sub-tribe of Pwo Kareng, so called by the Kareng-nee ; 
 a sub-branch of the Bghai family. — See Taroo. 
 
 PA-DOUNG. — A town in the Prome district on the right bank of the 
 Irrawaddy about 15 miles below Prome, the head-quarters of the Pa-doung 
 sub-division, with a population in 1874 of 2,812 souls and of 2,897 in 
 1877-78. It consists of one long street, a portion of the military road 
 from opposite Prome across the Arakan Eoma to Arakan, with a single 
 row of houses on each side, intersected by cross streets going down to the 
 river on the east and on the west towards the rice plains which shut in the 
 town in that direction. It has a Court-house, Police-station, a small 
 market and a school ; and includes the Won-lo and Eoon-tshiep quarters. 
 For some years a Telegraph office was kept up, mainly for departmental 
 purposes such as keeping the line clear and repairing it, but the establish- 
 ment was withdrawn a few years ago. It is the head-quarters of the Pa- 
 doung township and an Extra Assistant Commissioner used to reside here. 
 This continued for some time after the Pa-doung and Shwe-doung town- 
 ships had been formed into a sub-division and placed under an Assistant 
 Commissioner with his head-quarters at Pa-doung, A ferry boat passes 
 daily between this town and Prome. 
 
 Pa-doung is occasionally mentioned in Burman history. About the 
 end of the first century of the Christian era Tha-peng-gnyoo, the last king of 
 old Prome, fled thither after the destruction of his capital, Tha-re-khettra, 
 by the Kan-ran tribe. Many centuries later, in 1784 A.D., the Burman 
 army destined for the conquest of Arakan assembled there, and a large part 
 of it advanced thence over the Toung-goop pass towards the capital of the 
 doomed kingdom. In both the first and the second Anglo-Burmese wars 
 it was the scene of some fighting. 
 
 PA-DWON-PIET.— A village with 707 inhabitants in 1877 in the 
 A-hpyouk circle of the Za-lwon township of the Henzada district on the east 
 bank of the Irrawaddy about half a mile south of Oot-hpo. It is said to 
 have been originally called " Tee-toot-maw" or, " the point where owls 
 (the horned owl, Strix Leschenaultii of Temminck) catch fish."
 
 BRITISH BURM.^ GAZETTEER. 467 
 
 PA-GAING. — A village in the Kaw-lee-ya cii'cle of the Shwe-gyeng 
 district, about 25 miles in a straight line S. S. W. of Shwe-gyeng and about 
 two miles north of the embankment runnmg between the Pegu and Toung- 
 ngoo road and the Tsit-toung at Myit-kyo which forms the boundary between 
 the Shwe-gyeng and the Eangoon districts. It lies in the centre of a tract 
 abounding in fisheries. Immense quantities of fish are captured and 
 prepared for export : in the dry weather Shan assemble in large numbers 
 and buy the fish either dried or salted ; these they carry away secm'ely 
 packed in panniers slung across the backs of bullocks : a few carts also 
 come down from Upper Bm-ma and retm'n laden with fish. In the rainy 
 season the village is almost submerged ; sometimes so much so that the 
 people have to abandon their houses. In 1877 the population numbered 325. 
 
 PA-GOOT-TOUNG. — A revenue cncle in the Mergui district, on Mergui 
 island, east of Mergui. In 1877 the population was 2,526, the land revenue 
 Es. 13,437, the capitation tax Rs. 1,659 and the gross revenue Pis. 15,096. 
 
 PAI-BENG. — A creek in the Bassein district which unites the Da-ga 
 and the Bassein rivers. Its upper or northern portion is called Thayet. 
 Large boats can ascend it at all seasons for about 18 miles as far as 
 the village of Pie-dweng-goon. Above this for another 18 miles, to Wa-doo, 
 boats of 50 baskets bm-den without masts can go. During the dry weather 
 the tide is felt as far as Pai-beng village, about 30 miles from the Bassein 
 mouth, and the water is then brackish ; in the rains it is sweet. 
 
 PAI-BENG. — A revenue cii-cle in the Thee-kweng township, Bassein 
 district, having an approximate area of 56 square miles lying north of the 
 Moung-dee and east of the Ta-ta-zeng stream. The surface of the country 
 is, generally speaking, flat, and the circle is faii'ly well cultivated, especially 
 in its northern portion. A belt of somewhat heavy forest forms the north- 
 western boundary of the cncle. The inhabitants are chiefly Kareng. The 
 most important village is Ee-dweng-goon in 16° 37' N. and 94" 43' E. as 
 far as which large boats can ascend the river from Bassein. A few fair 
 weather cart roads are to be found across the cultivated plains. In 1877 
 the population was 4,673, the land revenue Es. 13,471, the capitation tax 
 Es. 4,752 and the gross revenue Es. 19,194. 
 
 PAI-BENG-GOON. — A revenue circle in the Prome district a few miles 
 east of the town of Prome containing fertile rice fields. In 1877 the popu- 
 lation was 334, the land revenue was Es. 729, the capitation tax Es. 420 
 and the gross revenue Es. 1,212. 
 
 PAI-BENG-YENG. — A revenue circle in the Mro-houng towTiship, 
 Akyab district. In 1877 the population was 2,099, the land revenue 
 Es. 4,047, the capitation tax Es. 2,697 and the gross revenue Es. 20,201. 
 The principal village is Myoung-bwai-zhe. • 
 
 PAI-GOO. — A revenue circle in the township of the same name in the 
 Eangoon district, extending eastward from the Pegu river to the Pegu and 
 Tsit-toung canal and including within its limits the once important town 
 of Pegu, the former capital of the Taking kingdom. On the north is the 
 Ma-yen-za-ya circle, on the south the Paing-kyoon circle and on the east the 
 La-ya circle of the Shwe-gyeng district. The western portion of the circle 
 is well cultivated, but the east is a vast open plain submerged dm'uig the 
 rains. It contains few valuable timber trees but bamboos in abundance.
 
 468 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The area under cultivation and the revenue during each of the last five 
 years were : — 
 
 
 Abea, in Ackes. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Rice, in- 
 cluding 
 fallow. 
 
 * 
 Garden. 
 
 Miscel- 
 laneous. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Land, 
 
 Capita- 
 tion tax. 
 
 All other 
 
 taxes. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1873-74 
 1874-75 
 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 18,581 
 15,842 
 16,442 
 17,213 
 18,251 
 
 203 
 119 
 213 
 211 
 219 
 
 74 
 119 
 55 
 63 
 63 
 
 18,858 
 16,074 
 16,710 
 17,487 
 18,533 
 
 36,483 
 31,727 
 32,566 
 34,259 
 36,432 
 
 14,160 
 14,170 
 13,507 
 13,557 
 14,005 
 
 5,571 
 5,100 
 229 
 4,855 
 3,250 
 
 56,214 
 50,997 
 46,302 
 52,671 
 53,687 
 
 and the population and agricultural stock :- 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Agricultural Stock. 
 
 Year. 
 
 to 
 
 a 
 
 to 
 
 3 
 
 Is 
 
 a 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 02 
 
 to 
 
 S 
 
 ,a 
 o 
 
 
 m 
 
 O 
 
 .2J 
 o S 
 
 -a 
 a 
 
 '^ p. 
 
 to g 
 
 i " 
 
 to 
 fcO 
 
 to 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 to 
 
 01 
 
 O 
 
 1873-74 
 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 1,3*52 
 1,212 
 
 1,480 
 
 10,493 
 9,989 
 10,431 
 
 776 
 
 1,151 
 
 993 
 
 433 
 391 
 775 
 
 255 
 139 
 171 
 
 13,309 
 12,743 
 13,847 
 
 4,213 
 4,123 
 3,315 
 1,913 
 3,181 
 
 1,037 
 999 
 
 1,824 
 960 
 872 
 
 55 
 42 
 87 
 
 's 
 
 92 
 106 
 208 
 
 69 
 2 
 
 909 
 895 
 971 
 639 
 730 
 
 3,003 
 998 
 
 1,348 
 608 
 729 
 
 164 
 174 
 100 
 11.3 
 153 
 
 PAIK-THOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Thee-kweng township, 
 Bassein district, stretching south from the Da-ga river into the angle 
 formed by the junction of the Pan-ma- wa-deo and the Ta-ta-zeng. It com- 
 prises an estimated area of 91 square miles of level ground, intersected 
 W'ith small and insignificant creeks the banks of which are invariably 
 covered with a fringe of forest of various degrees of depth, dividmg the 
 country into numerous detached plains. The principal rice lands are in the 
 north of the circle. The most important village is Hlee-tshiep in 16° 57' N. 
 and 95° 2 30" E. on the right bank of the Ta-ta-zeng, about a mile from 
 its junction with the Da-ga ; the inhabitants are prmcipally rice culti- 
 vators. In 1877 the population was 7,427, the land revenue PiS. 24,774, 
 the cq^pitation tax Pis. 6,680 and the gross revenue Es. 32,999. 
 
 PAI-MYOUK. — A circle in the Meng-doon township, Thayet district, 
 164 miles in extent 155 being unculturable mountainous forest waste, and 
 rather less than four under cultivation, more than one of which consists 
 of hill clearings. The population in 1877 was 2,708 souls, of whom about 
 one quarter were Khyeng. Up to 1864, Myouk-peng, now in this circle, 
 formed a separate Thoogyeeship. The products arc rice, sessamum, cotton, 
 maize, tobacco, onions, chillies and cutcli. In 1877 the land revenue was 
 Rs. 1,676, the capitation tax Rs. 1,858 and the gross revenue Rs. 3,618.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 469 
 
 PAI-MYOUK. — A river in the Thayet district which rises in the 
 Arakan Eoma and falls into the Hlwa river from the south. It is not at 
 any time navigable for boats, but teak and other valuable timber is met 
 with on its banks ; its bed is sandy and muddy. 
 
 PAING-KWON. — A revenue cu'cle in the Than-lweng Hlaing-bhwai 
 township, Amherst district, occupying the tract of country between the 
 Dawna hills on the east, the Hlaing-bhwai and Da-gyaing on the west, and 
 the Daw-Ian cuxle on the south. Its inhabitants are mainly Kareng and 
 numbered 2,432 in 1877, when the land revenue was Es. 1,063 and the 
 cai)itation tax Rs. 2,294. 
 
 PAING-KYOON. — A village in the Reng-e circle of the Henzada dis- 
 trict on the east bank of the Paing-kyoon stream, about a mile east of the 
 Irrawaddy, with 707 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 PAING-KYOON. — A revenue circle in the Pegu township of the Ran- 
 goon district, extending eastwards, immediately to the south of the Pegu 
 circle and north of the Gnyomig-beng, from the Pegu river to the Tsit-toung. 
 The eastern portion is annually inundated and rendered unfit for cultivation. 
 
 The area under cultivation and the revenue realized during each of the 
 last fom' years were : — 
 
 
 Akea, in Acres. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Yeak. 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Garden. 
 
 Miscel- 
 laneous. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Land, 
 
 Capita- 
 tion tax. 
 
 Other 
 taxes. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 12,475 
 13,330 
 14,008 
 15,985 
 
 21 
 16 
 16 
 
 20 
 
 39 
 37 
 37 
 83 
 
 12,533 
 13,383 
 14,061 
 16,038 
 
 22,728 
 24,167 
 25,301 
 29,015 
 
 5',320 
 5,637 
 6,918 
 
 25 
 
 25,083 
 196 
 121 
 
 22,753 
 54.570 
 31,134 
 35,054 
 
 and the population and agricultm'al stock during the last three years : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Agricultural Stock. 
 
 Year. 
 
 03 
 
 a 
 
 to 
 
 '5 
 
 H 
 
 to 
 a 
 
 14 
 
 •3 ^ 
 
 o g 
 
 r-H fH 
 
 < 
 
 "3 
 
 o 
 
 m 
 o 
 
 an 
 pq 
 
 Cows, bulls 
 and bul- 
 locks. 
 
 
 03 
 
 -a 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 m 
 O 
 
 1875-76 
 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 488 
 321 
 407 
 
 3,207 
 4,231 
 4,555 
 
 168 
 156 
 151 
 
 57 
 
 3,920 
 4,708 
 5,113 
 
 1,330 
 1,911 
 2,190 
 
 181 
 170 
 258 
 
 150 
 280 
 332 
 
 420 
 765 
 831 
 
 10 
 
 • 12 
 
 13 
 
 PAING-KYOON. — A creek which unites the Pegu and the Tsit-toung 
 rivers. Formerly very tortuous and about 33 miles long it has been 
 generally deepened and various cuttings made in it so that its length has 
 been reduced to 18 miles. Till the new canal to Myit-kyo was opened 
 it formed a portion of the main water route from Rangoon to Toung-ngoo.
 
 470 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 In 1867, during the rains, a small river steamer succeeded with some 
 difficulty in passing through it. 
 
 PAING-KYOON-WA.— A small village of 528 inhabitants in 1878, in 
 the cu-cle of the same name, Pegu township, Piangoon district, at the mouth 
 of the Paing-kyoon creek. 
 
 PAK-CHAN. — A river in the Mergui district which forms the eastern 
 boundary in the extreme south. The som'ces lie in the angle formed by 
 the main watershed of the peninsula and a lofty range of hills which 
 divides the drainage of the Ma-lee-won and Le-gnya towTiships and termin- 
 ates at the mouth of the Pak-chan in Victoria Point. Its main som'ce lies 
 in this range or spur 1'32 miles distant from its junction with the main 
 watershed, in Lat. 10" 48' 14" North, Long. 98° 55' 40" East. For the 
 first 15 miles of its course it is an ordinary mountain stream with a bed 
 choked up by masses of disintegrated rocks. Lower down several affluents, 
 discharging a great lateral drainage, unite and form what is called by the 
 Siamese " Khlaung Pak-chan.^' The width of the river after it has received 
 the combined contents of these streams is about 100 feet and it is navig- 
 able up to this point by small boats from July to December. By March 
 the bed is dry down to the vicinity of Ki'a, excepting in hollows and 
 reservoirs formed by natural obstructions. From the source to Kra, a 
 distance of 30 miles, the general dh"ection of the river is south-west without 
 any appreciable deflection. The next few miles down to the mouth of the 
 May-nam-naw-ey are very tortuous, after which the river runs direct to 
 Victoria Point. 
 
 The tidal influence extends in the dry months, i. e. from February to 
 April, as far as " Khow-ka-ta," 10 miles above Kra, at which village the 
 rise and fall at the springs are eight feet. At this time of the year the bed 
 of the river at Ivra is almost dry at low water. The banks are cultivated as 
 far as Na-lee-khyan, three and a half miles down, below which point the 
 joint operations of a flood tide and the swollen river cause a general and 
 heavy inundation of the adjacent land. This takes place even in the di-y 
 weather and produces a delta-like vegetation of mangrove trees and neepa 
 palms. 
 
 At Kra the Pak-chan is 250 feet broad ; it is the same six miles 
 lower down, when it receives the contents of the May-nam-naw-ey and 
 enlarges to 350 feet ; thence it gradually increases in width towards its 
 mouth, where it is as much as two and a half miles from shore to shore. 
 
 Fom'teen miles above the mouth the Ma-lee-won and the Khya-oon 
 (or La-oon) rivers fall into it. The former di-ains the hills to the west ; 
 the latter, a fine broad stream, pours in the concentrated drainage of the 
 mountainous region to the south known as Re-noung. Thus far the 
 Pak-chan is navigable, the soundmgs marked in the published charts 
 being six and seven fathoms. Above this confluence, at high water, it stiU 
 looks a noble stream two miles broad ; but as the tide runs out long flats 
 and sandbanks make their appearance leaving at last an insignificant 
 channel 30 yards wide and three feet deep. Besides these sandbanks 
 there is an obstruction to navigation in a ridge of rocks just below the con- 
 fluence of the May-nam-naw-ey. As the tide falls the ridge appears on 
 either side leaving a contracted waterway. Through this confined passage
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 471 
 
 the Pak-cban and May-nam-naw-ey force their way with frightful velocity : 
 above this the river takes sudden bends which add to the dangers of the des- 
 cent. Slack water at high tide is the only safe time for shooting this chan- 
 nel; at any other time it is a very ugly business. 
 
 Colonel Fytche in the rainy season of 1864 succeeded in reaching Era in 
 H. M's Steamer Nemesis to meet the Siamese Chiefs and settle our southern 
 boundary, but even then the undertaking must have been hazardous. 
 
 The total length of the Pak-chan from its source to its mouth at Victoria 
 Point is 78 miles. The territory on the right or west and north-west bank 
 is called Ma-lee-won and belongs to the British. 
 
 On the left or south-east bank are the Siamese Provinces of Era 
 and Re-noung which are considered valuable for then- lead and tin 
 mines. Ma-lee-won on our side is the favourite site of mining operations. 
 Being in the midst of mountains there is no culturable space and the 
 inhabitants depend upon the produce of the lands near Na-lee-khyan 
 and Ki-a for the means of sustenance. The inundation of the level 
 lands in other parts of the Pak-chan's course below Na-lee-khyan, 
 which is synchronous with the rising tide, prevents their cultivation. 
 
 At Kra there is a peculiarity in the river's course which deserves 
 mention. Immediately^ opposite the village an island has been formed. 
 The main stream had once an eye-shaped bend ; this has been changed pro- 
 bably by excessive floods, the water havmg worked a channel through the 
 narrow neck of the eye, and permitted in time the passage of the main 
 stream. The island thus formed is acknowledged to be British territory.* 
 
 PA-KOO. — A sub-tribe of the Sgaw Kareng family inhabiting the 
 Toung-ngoo and Shwe-gyeng districts of the Tenasserim division. Their 
 dialect is closely allied to that of the Pwo but wants the final consonant. 
 Then' tunic is white without stripes and has a narrow band of embroidery 
 at the bottom, the patterns differing for each village. They have sufiered 
 considerably from the inroads of the Red Kareng whose forays were 
 rendered the easier in that no one Pa-koo village would help any other. Like 
 the rest of the race they are fond of keepmg in their houses stones which 
 they hold to possess miraculous power ; the peculiarity of the Pa-koo in 
 this respect is that their stones are supposed to cause the death of any 
 enemy whose foot print is struck with it. About 2,000 have embraced 
 Christianity. 
 
 PA-KWON. — A creek formed by the junction, to north of the latitude 
 of Donabyoo, of several others of small size and of no importance : 
 after a south-easterly course it falls into the Bhaw-lay a little above the 
 village of Bhaw-lay where it is 300 feet broad and 20 feet deep. From its 
 mouth upwards for about 10 miles, or as far as the village of Pa-kwon, it is 
 navigable by boats of the largest class. 
 
 PA-LA. — A revenue circle in the Pa-law township of the Mergui district 
 on the seacoast south of Pa-law. In 1877 the population was 2,846, the 
 land revenue Rs. 3,231, the capitation tax Rs. 1,761 and the gross revenue 
 4,996. 
 
 • Report on the Settlement of the boundary between the Kingdom of Siam and the Tenas- 
 serim division of the Province of British Burma, by Lieutenant A. H. Bagge, R.E., 1868.
 
 472 BKITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 PA-LA. — A village in the Mergui district of the Teiiasserim division, 
 situated on a small stream of the same name, 12 miles from its month and 
 34 miles north of Mergui, in 12° 50' North Lat. and 98° 31' East Long. 
 The inhabitants, who are principally cultivators and fishermen, carry on a 
 small trade in rice, fish and nga-pee. During the Siamese rule it was a 
 place of some importance. In 1877 it had 877 inhabitants. 
 
 PA-LAW. — A revenue circle in the Pa-law township, Mergui district, on 
 the seacoast, in the north adjoining Pa-law. In 1877 the population was 
 3,513, the land revenue was Es. 7,472, the capitation tax Pis. 1,989 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 9,461. 
 
 PA-LAW-KHYOUNG.— A small Kareng village of 519 inhabitants in 
 1877, on both banks of the river Pa-law, above the village of that name. The 
 houses are, as is very common amongst Kareng who have settled in the 
 plains in Tenasserim, scattered singly and in groups amongst ill-kept 
 orchards, without any pretence to neatness or order. 
 
 PA-LOUK. — A river in the Mergui district which rises in the south- 
 eastern slopes of the Myeng-mo-let-khat mountain on the borders of Tavoy 
 and flows towards the south-west, receiving numerous small mountain 
 streams and falling into the sea in about 13o 8' North, and 98o 36' East. Its 
 mouth is about 700 yards wide but it narrows considerably towards the 
 village of Pa-louk; above this occurs a succession of rapids and falls. The 
 hills on the banks are by no means high until close to the source but are 
 covered with thick forest and high trees. In several spots in the valley of 
 this river there are thermal springs strongly impregnated wdth sulphuretted 
 hydrogen and containing a small quantity of iron and of carbonate of lime. 
 The hottest raised the thermometer to 196° Fahr, {Vide Mergui district.) 
 
 PA-LOUNG. — A village in the Bhwai-da circle, Mro-houng township, 
 Akyab district, on the eastern bank of the river Koo-la-dan. In 1877 it had 
 684 inhabitants. 
 
 PAN-BENG-GOON.— A village of about 80 houses in the Koo-bhyoo 
 circle, Meng-doon township, Thayet district. 
 
 PAN-DAW. — A town in the Ee-gyee township of the Bassein district, 
 on the southern bank of the Ee-gyee, a small tributary of the Bassein river, 
 about five miles south of Nga-thaing-khyoung. It is the head-quarters of 
 the united townships of Ee-gyee, Bho-daw and Mye-noo, w^here the Extra 
 Assistant Commissioner resides and holds his court, and is surrounded by 
 very extensive rice plains, the produce of which is exported to Bassein. It 
 contains a Police-station, Court-house, and a market. The population in 
 1877 was 3,982. It was here that the Talaing army made its last stand 
 against the Burman king Aloung-bhoora {Alompra). The town, which 
 stands in 17° 19' 30" North and 95° 10' East, has gradually risen, since 
 the annexation of Pegu, by the gradual increase and final junction of the 
 two neighbouring villages of Ee-gyee and Pan-daw and is sometimes called 
 Ee-gyee Pan-daw. In 1876-77 the local revenue was Es. 3,804. 
 
 PAN-DAW. — A revenue circle in the south-eastern township of the 
 Tavoy district. In 1877 the population was 2,075, the land revenue 
 Es. 5,445, the capitation tax Es. 1,638 and the gross revenue Es. 7,481. 
 The principal products are doorian, betel-nut and rice.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 473 
 
 PAN-DAW. — A village in the Tavoy district, in the circle of the same 
 name, on the bank of the river Tavoy. On the river bank about a mile from 
 Pan-daw is a Custom-house, and a warehouse and jetty built by a private 
 individual. 
 
 PAN-DAW. — A creek in the Bassein district. — See Re-gyee. 
 
 PAN-DAW. — A lake in the Bassein district in the Le-myet-hna town- 
 ship, about three milss west of Le-myet-hna, communicating with the Bas- 
 sein or Nga-won river. In the dry weather it has only two or three feet of 
 water but in the rains it is navigable by boats. The bed is muddy and the 
 banks are covered with forest. 
 
 PAN-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Myanoung township of the Hen- 
 zada district, north of Kwon-daw and east of Thien-goon, which now includes 
 Pek-ma-khan. The western poi-tion is undulating, the rest is well culti- 
 vated with rice. In 1877 the population was 6,914, the land revenue 
 PiS. 11,465, the cai^itation tax PiS. 6,192 and the gross revenue Es. 18,840. 
 
 PAN-DAW-PYENG. — A large revenue cu'cle amongst the islands 
 between Kyouk-hpyoo and the mainland, in the Kyouk-hpyoo township of 
 the Kyouk-hpyoo district, about 40 square miles in extent. In 1875 it 
 had a population of 1,920 souls and produced a revenue of PiS. 3,490, of 
 which Es. 1,383 was derived from the land. In 1877 the population was 
 1,966, the land revenue Es. 1,745, the capitation tax Es. 2,192 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 4,901. The principal village is Koo-do-tshiep. 
 
 PAN-DENG.— A small village of 764 inhabitants in 1877, on the banks 
 of the river Ka-gnyeng, in the Oot-hpo circle, Oot-hpo township, Henzada 
 district. 
 
 PAN-DENG-ENG.— A village of 1,884 inhabitants in the Moung- 
 ma-gan circle of the western township of Tavoy. 
 
 PA-NEE. — A river m the Thayet district. It rises to the east of the 
 source of the Moo, in the hills north of British territory, and crossing the 
 frontier near the village of Ivhwe-douk enters the Meng-dat portion of the 
 Meng-doon township. After a southerly course of about 30 miles from 
 Khwe-douk, dm-ing the latter portion of which it runs through the Kama 
 township, it falls into the Ma-htoon a few miles from its mouth at Tham- 
 ba-ya. It is navigable, during the rains, for boats of 100 baskets burden as 
 far as the village of Meng-dat but it is httle used on account of the force of the 
 current and its rapid rises and falls. It has numerous small tributaries 
 but none of any importance. 
 
 PA-NGA. — A large and compact cii'cle in the Wa-kha-roo township of the 
 Amherst district, between the Toung-gnyo hills on the east, the sea on the west, 
 the Hnit-kaing circle on the north and the Ka-roop-pee circle on the south. 
 Its total area is 49,471 acres. The eastern half is high, undulating land 
 covered with forest similar in most respects to the upland of the Hnit-kaing 
 circle. The western portion also is undulating but the valleys are wider 
 and are traversed by tidal streams. The present circle now includes Tset- 
 tsai which was joined to it from Hnit-kaing, circa 1865. Tset-tsai is not an 
 old territorial division and did not exist under the Burman Government. 
 Some migratory Kareng having located themselves here after Teuasserim 
 passed to the British they were allowed to pay tax through their own Tsaw-kai 
 
 60
 
 474 ■ BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 or headman and Tset-tsai thus acquired a place in the revenue books as a 
 distinct circle. The Kareng having wandered away, it was joined to Hnit- 
 kaing and then, as above stated, to Pa-nga. The soil, generally, is not 
 favourable for rice cultivation and very little is grown. The kweng are 
 small ; some situated in narrow valleys are unproductive and liable to 
 floods and others are damaged by salt water. There are many salt manu- 
 factories ; some belong to the people of the circle and others to inhabitants of 
 other circles who reside here during the salt-making season only. The 
 cutting of fuel for these manufactories furnishes a means of livelihood for 
 many of the residents who are not themselves salt-makers. In 1868 the 
 population was 577, the land revenue Es. 2,232 and the capitation tax 
 Es. 775. In 1877 these were 757, Es. 1,704 and Es. 757 respectively. 
 
 PA-NGA. — A small village in the circle of the same name in the Wa- 
 kha-roo township of the Amherst district, on the northern bank of the 
 Pa-nga stream. In 1868 it had 577 inhabitants, all Talaing, and in 1877 
 it had 552. 
 
 PAN-HLAING. — A village in the Eangoon district on the Pan-hlaing 
 creek at the mouth of the Khat-tee-ya, which flows between it and the town 
 of the same name : q. v. {in appendix). 
 
 PAN-HLAING.— A village of 906 inhabitants in 1878, in the Pai-goo 
 circle of the Pegu township, Eangoon district. 
 
 PAN-HLAING. — A creek in the Eangoon and Thon-khwa districts which 
 runs from the Irrawaddy at Gnyoung-doon to the Hlaing just above Eangoon. 
 In the dry weather there are numerous shoals between the villages of Khat- 
 tee-ya and Mai-za-lee which render the navigation almost impossible for boats 
 drawing even only two or three feet of water and similar obstructions occur 
 a little below Gnyoung-doon. Large boats going up from Eangoon to 
 Gnyoung-doon, as large numbers do at all seasons of the year, are compelled 
 to follow a somewhat circuitous course : on arriving at Khat-tee-ya they pass 
 up the Pan-daing creek to Pan-daing and thence by a small creek back 
 to the Pan-hlaing above the shoals. In the rains large boats can pass 
 through the whole length. The banks are steep and muddy and covered 
 with grass, trees and plantain gardens. 
 
 PAN-HLAING. — A revenue circle in the Angyee township of the 
 Eangoon district, between the Pan-hlaing creek on the north, the Khat- 
 tee-ya Ee-gyaw on the west, the Twan-te or Moo-la-man on the south and 
 the Ta-ma-ta-kaw and Meng-hpoon on the east. This circle, which was 
 transferred to Thoon-khwa on the formation of that district and was re- 
 transferred in the latter half of 1875, is a large plain, swampy towards 
 the south. The principal villages are Ewa-thit, with 887 inhabitants, and 
 Zee-bhyoo-goon with 761.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 475 
 
 The population and agricultural stock during the last five years have 
 been : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Agricultural Stock. 
 
 Ybab. 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 tn 
 
 to to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 pq 
 
 60 
 
 g 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 "3 
 1 
 
 '3 
 pi 
 
 9 
 
 
 cS 
 
 O 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 1873-74 
 
 4,175 
 
 702 
 
 2,714 
 
 
 20 
 
 7,611 
 
 795 
 
 58 
 
 
 282 
 
 286 
 
 598 
 
 1874-75 
 
 3,696 
 
 602 
 
 2,314 
 
 , , 
 
 23 
 
 6,635 
 
 642 
 
 78 
 
 
 232 
 
 293 
 
 182 
 
 1875-76 
 
 3,668 
 
 604 
 
 2,311 
 
 , , 
 
 11 
 
 6,594 
 
 585 
 
 50 
 
 45 
 
 196 
 
 243 
 
 154 
 
 1876-77 
 
 2,406 
 
 3,210 
 
 3,073 
 
 82 
 
 78 
 
 8,849 
 
 1,250 
 
 219 
 
 756 
 
 82 
 
 632 
 
 59 
 
 1877-78 
 
 2,667 
 
 3,872 
 
 3,514 
 
 163 
 
 53 
 
 10,269 
 
 1,460 
 
 257 
 
 820 
 
 160 
 
 755 
 
 476 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the revenue :- 
 
 
 Area, in Acres. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Garden. 
 
 Miscel- 
 laneous. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Land. 
 
 Capita- 
 tion tax. 
 
 All other 
 taxes. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1873-74 . . 
 1874-75 .. 
 1875-76 .. 
 1876-77 .. 
 1877-78.. 
 
 6,725 
 
 9,701 
 
 8,830 
 
 10,870 
 
 10,180 
 
 1,061 
 
 502 
 
 754 
 
 1,715 
 
 1,383 
 
 21 
 173 
 122 
 124 
 137 
 
 7,807 
 10,376 
 
 9,706 
 12,709 
 11,700 
 
 15,752 
 21,078 
 19,663 
 22,931 
 22,153 
 
 9,625 
 8,970 
 9,182 
 9,982 
 10,887 
 
 15,187 
 14,816 
 15,863 
 14,854 
 16,709 
 
 40,565 
 44,864 
 44,708 
 47,767 
 49,749 
 
 PAN-MA-MYIT-TA. — A tidal creek in the Bassein district, connecting 
 the Pya-ma-law and the Rwe, the former of which it strikes near the village 
 of Ran-ma-naing. It is navigable by river steamers at all times and is the 
 route generally followed by small vessels plying between Rangoon and 
 Bassein. 
 
 PAN-MA- WA-DEE. — A creek in the Bassein district. Under the 
 name of the Thee-kweng it leaves the Meng-ma-naing near the village of 
 Htan-ta-beng, in about 16° 50' N. and 95° 13' E., and for some 14 miles 
 runs towards the west and then tm'ns south-west. Fifteen miles lower do^vn 
 the Moung-dee separates from it, and flows westward to fall into the Thek- 
 ngay ; 18 miles lower it is again joined from the eastward by the Meng-ma- 
 naing, here called the Myoung-mya or the Tshiep-gyee river, and two miles 
 fm'ther by the Thek-ngay from the north ; ten miles below this spot it 
 unites with the Bassein and with that river and the Thek-ngay forms Nga- 
 poo-taw island. River steamers can ascend at all seasons with little diffi- 
 culty as far as the village of Thee-kweng, a distance of 48 miles, where it 
 is about 200 feet broad, and large boats can pass through it into the Meng- 
 ma-naing. At the mouth of the Moung-dee there is an extensive sandbank,
 
 476 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 but with a clear channel with plenty of water round it. The depth of water 
 at its mouth where it joins the Bassein river is 10 fathoms at low water 
 springs. 
 
 PAN-MA- WA-DEE. — A village in the Paik-thoung circle of the Bassein 
 district, in a rice plain south of the Kyoon-la-ngoo, a tributary of the Pan- 
 ma-wa-dee. In 1877-78 it had 680 inhabitants. 
 
 PAN-TA-BWOT. — A tidal creek in the Thoon-khwa district with a 
 southern course from the Thoon-khwa, which it leaves just above the village 
 of the same name, to the Bho-doop, which it joins at Kyaik-lat, by which 
 it communicates with the To ; it has a uniform breadth of about 200 yards, 
 and is navigable by the largest boats at all seasons. The banks are steep 
 and covered with grass and tree forest. 
 
 PAN-TAING. — A tidal creek in the Thoon-khwa district, about 10 
 miles long, which unites the Khat-tee-ya and the Bhaw-lay, navigable by 
 boats of 300 baskets burden at all times and seasons ; during the rains 
 it is navigable by river steamers. In some places the banks are steep and 
 are everywhere covered with grass and tree forest ; the bed is muddy. 
 
 PAN-TA-NAW. — A township in the Thoon-khwa district north of Shwe- 
 loung having the Henzada district on its north-east and the Eangoon district 
 on its south-east, with an area of about 238 square miles. The greater part 
 is covered with forest and a considerable portion is subject to inundation 
 during the rains. It is divided into five revenue circles. In 1877 the 
 population was 34,971, the capitation tax Es. 36,181, the land revenue 
 Es. 28,141 and the gross revenue Es. 1,64,825. 
 
 PAN-TA-NAW. — A revenue circle about 23 square miles in extent in 
 the township of the same name, in the Thoon-kwa district on the left bank 
 of the Irrawaddy between that river and the Ee-baw-re-le which here has a 
 large inverted S shaped bend. The country is inundated during the rains 
 but there are parts, especially two plains in the centre and north-west, which 
 are under rice cultivation. The inhabitants are traders, fishermen and 
 agriculturists. In the northern part of the circle, on the bank of the 
 Irrawaddy, is the large town of Pan-ta-naw, the head-quarter station of the 
 township. In 1877 the population was 8,002, the land revenue Es. 3,530, 
 the capitation tax Es. 7,655 and the gi'oss revenue Es. 12,430. 
 
 PAN-TA-NAW. — A town in the township of the same name in the 
 Thoon-khwa district on the bank of the Irrawaddy in 16° 58' N. and 
 95° 33' E. with a population of 5,824 souls, the head-quarters of an Extra 
 Assistant Commissioner. It supports its own Police and has a good market. 
 It is about 10 miles south of Gnyoung-doon where the Upper Irrawaddy 
 trade separates into two branches, the one continuing to Eangoon and the 
 other coming to Pan-ta-naw on its way to Bassein. A considerable number 
 of boats call in here and a large business is done ; nga-pee and dried and 
 salted fish being brought from the seacoast and piece-goods and hard- 
 ware from Bassein and sold for export up the Irawaddy. Some of the 
 inhabitants find employment in fishing. 
 
 PAN-TAW. — A revenue circle in the northern township of the Sando- 
 way district extending inland from the seacoast ; it is now joined to Khoo.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 477 
 
 PANT-BGHAL— A sub-division of the Bghai family of Kareng, so 
 called by the English because they wear trowsers. See Bghai-ka-hta. 
 
 PAN-TSA-NWE. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (west) town- 
 ship of the Akyab district. In 1877 the population was 1,351, the land 
 revenue Es. 3,115, the capitation tax Es. 1,515 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 4,950. 
 
 PAN-TSHWAI. — A village in the Tsa-doo-thee-rie-koon circle of 
 the Tsan-rwe township of the Henzada district on the north bank of the 
 Thoon-tshay stream. In 1877 it had 636 inhabitants. 
 
 PA-PWON. — A revenue circle in the Salween Hill Tracts. In 1877 
 the population was 4,487, the land revenue Es. 1,243 and the capitation 
 Es. 1,825. 
 
 PA-PWON. — A village on the banks of the Ewon-za-leng river 95 miles 
 from its mouth in about 18° 6' N. immediately surrounded by the hills in 
 the midst of which it lies, with a population of 735 souls in 1877. It is the 
 head-quarters of the lately formed Salween district which up to a few 
 years ago formed the Ewon-za-leng sub-division of the Shwe-gyeng district. 
 It extends for some distance along the left bank at the mouth of the little 
 Ta-ra-law mountain stream and there are a few houses on the right bank. 
 It was first estabhshed many years ago by some trading Shan from Zeng- 
 mai and its present population is mainly Shan. A strong Police force is 
 quartered in a stockade close to the village. It contains a good Court- 
 house and a temporary hospital and dispensary. 
 
 PA-EEE-KYWON. — An island in the Mergui Archipelago opposite 
 Mergui. 
 
 PA-SHENG. — A revenue circle in the Ma-ha-tha-man township of the 
 Prome district on the Zay stream a short distance above the Engma 
 swamp. Six of the old village tracts are comprised within its Umits. In 
 1877 the population was 1,315, the land revenue Es. 1,332, the capitation 
 tax Es. 1,322 and the gross revenue Es. 2,724. 
 
 PA-SHENG. — A village in the Prome district 12 miles south-east of 
 Prome and fom' miles above the northern end of the Engma lake, on the 
 bank of the Zay stream in 18° 41' 50" N. and 95° 26' 20" E., mhabited 
 principally by rice cultivators. 
 
 PA-SHENG. — A river in the Henzada district which, under the name 
 of the Tshan-da, rises in the Arakan mountains and after an easterly course 
 of about 40 miles falls into the Irrawaddy a little to the north of the 
 latitude of its som-ce, a short distance below Kyan-kheng. Its principal 
 tributaries are the Pa-daw and the A-loon ; before receiving either of these 
 it is reinforced by the Khoung-loung, a small momitain torrent which has 
 its som*ce in the Arakan mountains a Httle to the south of that of the main 
 stream. In the rains boats can ascend for nearly 29 miles to Kyouk-pa- 
 tsat, about a mile above the mouth of the Khoung-loung, but no fm-ther on 
 account of the rocks and boulders and the trees and bamboos brought down 
 from the hills. At this season the cm'rent here is very strong. The banks 
 are in some places fiat and in others steep, the bed muddy, sandy and 
 rocky. The area drained by this river and its tributaries is about 100 
 square miles. Teak is found widely dispersed over the plains along the
 
 478 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 lower part of these streams, often alternating with Eng fDipterocarpus 
 tuberculatus J . 
 
 PA-TA. — A small river in the Amherst district which forms the 
 boundary between the Houng-tha-raw township on the south and the Than- 
 Iweng Hlaing-bhwai township on the north. Its source is in the Dawna 
 spur and after a south-westerly course of some 15 miles its falls into the 
 Hlaing-bhwai river in 17° 42' N. and 98° 1' E. four miles above its junction 
 with the Houng-tha-raw. 
 
 PA-TA-DA. — A small pagoda in Maulmain near the Kyaik-than-lan 
 supposed to contain one of Gaudama's hairs. Of its early history nothing 
 is known except that it was erected by a rich man named Gaw-ien-da. 
 
 PA-TA-MA KHA-EENG. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Attaran 
 township, Amherst district, on the left bank of the Gyaing east of Kaw- 
 bhien, thinly cultivated and sparsely inhabited by Kareng. In 1877 the 
 population was 388, the land revenue Es. 227 and the capitation tax 
 Es. 600. 
 
 PA-TEK-MYOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Prome district, stretching 
 up northwards from the Shwe-lay along the right bank of the Pa-tek-myoung 
 rivulet. There is but little cultivation principally rice and cotton, and the 
 villages are few and smaU. It is now joined Thayet-myoung. 
 
 PA-THWAY. — A revenue circle inthePan-ta-naw township, Thoon-khwa 
 district, about 61 square miles in extent, on the right bank of the 
 Irrawaddy below the mouth of the Bhaw-dee stream. The inhabitants 
 are largely engaged in fishing. In 1877 the population was 8,275, the 
 land revenue Es. 11,655 the cajoitation tax Es. 8,250 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 30,770. 
 
 PA- WOT. — A large revenue circle in the Mergui district occupying 
 the valley of the Tenasserim from the northern end of the district south- 
 wards to Bhan-law. In 1877 the population was 669, the land revenue 
 Es. 122, the capitation tax Es. 296 and the gross revenue Es. 418. 
 
 PIE-LA-KHAT. — A village in the Zhe-pa-thway circle, Angyee town- 
 ship, Eangoon district, two miles from the sea coast and four miles west by 
 south from Elephant Point, on a stream of the same name which falls into 
 the Eangoon river about four miles above its mouth. In 1858 the village 
 contained about 40 families of Shan and Burmans most of whom were salt- 
 manufacturers. In 1877 the number of inhabitants had increased to 647. 
 
 PEE-PA-LWOT. — A creek in the Thoon-khwa district which flows 
 between the Kyoon-toon and the Ee-tsoo-daing rivers carrying into the 
 latter the larger portion of the water of the former which it itself has 
 received mainly from the Irrawaddy river higher up. It is large enough to 
 admit of navigation by river steamers, but they could not pass beyond it 
 into the Kyoon-toon which is, in this portion of its course, exceedingly 
 shallow. The banks are in some places steep and in others sloping and are 
 covered with grass and tree forest. Nearly all the villages on its banks are 
 inhabited by Kareng. 
 
 PEGU. — The north-eastern township of the Eangoon district, bounded 
 on the north and east by the Shwe-gyeng district of the Tenasserim divi- 
 sion, on the south by the Than-lyeng (Syriam) township and on the west
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 479 
 
 by the Hpoung-leng township. A few years ago the north-eastern circle, 
 Kaw-lee-ya, was transferred to Shwe-gyeng. Within the limits of this town- 
 ship are comprised the old Burman jurisdictions of Pegu on the north-east, 
 Zaing-ga-naing on the north-west, and Zwai-boon on the south. The 
 north-western portion is mountainous and forest-clad : the upper part of 
 the valley of the Pegu river has the character of a table-land with an 
 elevation of some 1,500 feet, with a hilly surface intersected by deep 
 ravines ; towards the south the hills gradually sink into undulating ground 
 and soon pass into level tracts partially cultivated with rice. The country 
 in the north of the valley on both banks of the river is covered with dense 
 evergreen forest, or with forest in which evergreen trees are mixed with 
 Pyeng-ga-do and others which shed their leaves, such as Pyeng-ma and 
 Ka-gnyeng. 
 
 The principal river is the Pegu which has its source amongst the spurs 
 of the Pegu Eoma in the extreme north and flowing at first towards the 
 S.S.E., gradually bends round and leaves the township in a S.S.W. 
 direction. Whilst still in the hills it is recruited by a number of small 
 mountain torrents and in the plains it receives several small rivers of no 
 great importance. It is navigable as far as Pegu by river steamers in the 
 rains and by large boats at all seasons with the flood. The central portion 
 of the township is traversed by the Paing-kyoon, an artificially widened and 
 deepened creek, or rather series of creeks, which communicates on the east 
 with the Tsit-toung river at Kha-ra-tsoo village and, till the new canal 
 was opened in 1878, formed, during flood tides and in the rains, the usual 
 channel of communication between Eangoon- and the towns on the Tsit- 
 toung. A good road runs from Pegu to Eangoon and another is being 
 constructed from Pegu to Toung-ngoo to replace the old " Eoyal road ", 
 now little more than a cart-track, made by the Peguan King Ta-beng- 
 shwe-tee in the middle of the sixteenth century. Besides these there are 
 everywhere good fair-weather tracks from village to village except amongst 
 the northern hills. The construction of a Eailway from Eangoon to 
 Toung-ngoo is under consideration. 
 
 The principal town is Pegu, on the banks of the Pegu river, where an 
 Assistant Commissioner and an Extra Assistant Commissioner are stationed, 
 containing Court-houses, a bazaar and Police-stations. 
 
 Gnyoung-waing and Ka-ma-nat are the principal villages. 
 
 Scattered over the face of the country are numerous pagodas of greater 
 or less sanctity and in various stages of decay. 
 
 The township is divided into six revenue circles and in 1877-78 
 produced a gross revenue of Es. 271,169, of which Es. 169,350 were derived 
 from the land, Es. 59,142 from the capitation tax and the rest from 
 miscellaneous sources. In that year the population was 49,655. 
 
 PEGU. — A town in the Eangoon district situated on both banks of the 
 river of the same name, 20 miles west of the Tsit-toung, containing (in 
 1878) a population of 4,337 souls ; the head-quarters of a township and 
 of a sub-division, with Com't-houses, Police-stations, a Market, a Post-office 
 and a Government school. 
 
 The existing town occupies the space between the river and the ruins of 
 the walls of the ancient town, founded in 573 A. D. by emigrants from Tha- 
 htoon headed by the two princes Tha-ma-la and Wie-ma-la, once the
 
 480 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 capital of the Talaing kingdom, the sovereigns of which at some periods 
 reigned over the whole valleys of the Tsit-tomig and of the Irrawaddy 
 as far as and including Toiing-ngoo and Prome, conquered Ava and the sea- 
 coast as far as the Pak-chan, and successfully invaded Siam and Arakan. 
 Across the river and connected with the Pegu quarter by a substantial wooden 
 bridge over which runs the Piangoon and Toung-ngoo road is Zaing-ga-naing. 
 Inside the old walls is the great Shwe-hmaw-daw pagoda, an object of 
 greater veneration to the Talaing than even the Shwe Dagon at Eangoon. 
 It is well laid out with broad streets crossing each other, generally at right 
 angles, well raised and metalled, the metal consisting of brick from the old 
 wall. A few houses are within the old wall. The market is on the bank 
 of the river a little above the bridge. The Court-houses are on the top of 
 the wall, which here has been levelled, behind, that is east of the town. 
 The construction of a lock-up and a dispensary near the Com-t-houses, 
 and the transfer to that neighbourhood of the Police-station of the Pro- 
 vincial Police are now under consideration. The Municipal Police-station 
 is in the town as is the school. The old ditch communicated with the 
 river both above and below the present town, but the openings have been 
 closed, and the stagnant water is at some seasons most offensive. The 
 houses are built of wood and bamboos and are thatched or tiled. The town 
 has more than once been burned down. 
 
 Pegu is described by European travellers in the IGth century as of great 
 size, strength and magnificence. Caesar Frederick, who was here in the 
 latter portion of the sixteenth century, according to the account given in 
 Purchas wrote : — " By the help of God we came safe to Pegu, which are 
 " two cities, the old and the new. In the old citie are the Merchant strangers 
 " and Merchants of the Countrie, for there are the greatest doings and the 
 " greatest trade. This citie is not very great, but it hath very great suburbs. 
 " Their houses be made with canes and covered with leaves or with straw ; 
 *' but the Merchants have all one House or Magazon which house they call 
 " Godon, which is made of bricks, and there they put all their goods of 
 " any value to save them from the often mischances which happen to 
 *' houses made of such stuffe. In the new citie is the Palace of the King 
 *' and his abiding place with all his barons and nobles and other gentle- 
 " men ; and in the time that I was there they finished the building of the 
 *' new citie. It is a great citie, very plaine and flat, and foursquare, walled 
 " round about and with ditches that compass the walls round about with 
 '' water, in which ditches are many Crocodiles. It hath no Drawbridges 
 " yet it hath 20 gates, five for every square: on the walls there are many 
 *' places made for Centinels to watch, made of wood and covered or gilt 
 " with gold. The streets thereof are the fairest that I have seen, they are 
 " as straight as a line from one gate to another, and standing at one gate 
 " you may discover the other ; and they are as broad as that ten or twelve 
 " men may ride abreast in them. And those streets that be thwart are 
 ** faire and large ; the streets both on the one side and on the other are 
 " planted at the doores of the houses with nut trees of India, which make 
 " a very commodious shadow ; the houses be made of wood and covered 
 *' with a kind of tiles in forme of cups very necessary for their use. The 
 " King's Palace is in the middle of the Citie made in forme of a walled 
 *' castle, with ditches full of water round about it. The lodgings within
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 481 
 
 " are made of wood, all over gilded, with fine pinnacles and very costlie 
 " worke covered with plates of gold ; truly it may be a king's house. 
 " Within the gate there is a fine large coui'te, from the one side to the other 
 " wherein are made places for the strongest and stoutest elephants." 
 
 When Aloung-bhoora overran and conquered Pegu in the middle of 
 the eighteenth century he used every effort and took every means to 
 destroy all traces of Talamg nationality. He destroyed every house in 
 the town and dispersed the inhabitants. His great grandson Bho-daw 
 Bhoora who succeeded in 1781 pursued a different policy and in his time 
 the seat of the local government was for sometime transferred from 
 Eangoon to Pegu. Symes who visited it in 1795, thus describes it* 
 " The extent of ancient Pegue may still be accurately traced by the ruins 
 " of the ditch and wall that smTounded it; from these it appears to have 
 " been a quadrangle each side measm-ing nearly a mile and a half; in 
 " places the ditch has been choked up by rubbish that has been cast into 
 " it, and the falling of its own banks ; sufficient, however, still remains to 
 " show that it was once no contemptible defence ; the breadth I judged to be 
 " about sixty yards, and the depth ten or twelve feet, in some parts of it 
 " there is water, but in no considerable quantity. I was informed that when 
 " the ditch was in repair, the water seldom in the hottest seasons sunk 
 " below the depth of four feet. An injudicious fausse-bray thirty feet wide 
 " did not add to the security of this fortress." 
 
 " The fragments of the wall likewise evince that this was a work of 
 *' magnitude and labour ; it is not easy to ascertam what was its exact 
 " height, but we conjectured it at least thirty feet, and in breadth at the 
 •' base, not less than forty. It is composed of brick badly cemented with 
 " clay mortar. Small equidistant bastions, about 300 yards asunder are 
 " still discoverable ; there had been a parapet of masonry, but the whole is 
 " in a state so ruinous, and so covered with weeds and briars, as to leave 
 *' very imperfect vestiges of its former strength." 
 
 " In the centre of each face of the fort there is a gateway about thirty 
 " feet wide ; these gateways were the principal entrances. The passage 
 *' over the ditch is over a causeway raised on a mound of earth that serves 
 " as a bridge, and was formerly defended by an entrenchment, of which there 
 " are now no traces." After describing how ineffectual seemed to have been 
 the endeavours to repopulate Pegu Colonel Symes continues: — " Pegu in its 
 *' renovated and contracted state seems to have been built on the plan of 
 " the former city, and occupies about one half of its area. It is fenced round 
 " by a stockade from ten to twelve feet high, on the north and east sides 
 " its borders are the old wall, t The plane of the town is not yet filled with 
 " houses, but a number of new ones are building. There is one main 
 " street running east and west, crossed at right angles by two smaller 
 " streets not yet finished. At each extremity of the principal street there 
 " is a gate in the stockade, which is shut early in the evening ; after that 
 " hour entrance during the night is confined to a wicket. * * * *There 
 ** are two inferior gates on the north and south sides of the stockade." 
 
 " The streets of Pegu are spacious. * * * *The new town is well 
 " paved with brick, which the ruins of the old plentifully supply ; on each 
 " side of the way there is a drain to carry off the water." 
 
 * Embassy to Ava, p. 182 et xeq. t It thus included the Shwa-hmaw-daw pagoda. 
 
 61
 
 482 BRITIBH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 After the capture of Eangoon dming the first Burmese war the Burman 
 Commander-in-Chief retired to this town and, his forces becoming thinned 
 by desertion, the inhabitants rose against him and handed the place over 
 to the British who garrisoned it with a small force. During the second war 
 it was more stubbornly defended. Early in June 1852 the defences were 
 carried by a force under Major Cotton and Commander Tarleton, R. N., the 
 granaries destroyed and the guns carried away. Without assistance, how- 
 ever, the inhabitants, at whose request the expedition had been sent, were 
 unable to hold the town for a week, and the Burmese reoccupied the pagoda 
 platform and threw up strong defences along the river. In November of the 
 same year a force under Brigadier McNeill was sent from Eangoon to retake 
 the town, which it did after some considerable fighting and with some loss. 
 The main portion of the troops were withdrawn, and a garrison left of 200 
 men of the Madras Fusihers, 200 of the 5th Regiment M. N. I., some 
 European Artillery and a detail of Madras Sappers, the whole being placed 
 under the command of Major Hill of the Fusiliers. Hardly had Brigadier 
 McNeill retired when the Burmese attacked the garrison but were driven 
 off. The attacks continued and in the beginning of December the enemy 
 appeared in force and Major Hill with difliculty held the position. A small 
 body of troops was despatched from Eangoon, but this was driven back and 
 forced to retire without communicating with the besieged. General Godwin, 
 the Commander-in-Chief, then moved up the Pegu river in person with 
 1,200 men, upon which, after some skirmishing, the Burmese retired but 
 as they remained in the neighbom'hood the force moved out against them and 
 finally defeated them driving them out of a strong position in the plains 
 where they had thrown up extensive entrenchments. 
 
 A local revenue is raised from the rent of the market stalls and from 
 a rate on the land ; in 1877-78 this amounted to Es. 14,382-12-4. 
 
 PEGU. — A river in the Eangoon district which rises in the eastern 
 slopes of the Pegu Eoma mountains and flowing at first S.S.E. past the 
 town of Pegu and then S.S.W. falls into the Eangoon or Hlaing river 
 at Eangoon after a total course of about 180 miles. At its mouth it is 
 about one mile broad and deep enough to allow large vessels to ascend 
 for a short distance, where they lie off the mouth of the Poo-zwon-doung to 
 take in cargoes of rice cleaned in the steam mills on the banks of that river. 
 At neaps the tide is felt as high as Pegu and during springs a bore ascends 
 nearly as far. During the rains it is navigable for river steamers as far as 
 Pegu but in the dry season and at neap tides only small boats can ascend 
 to that town. For the first few miles of its course, before it leaves the moun- 
 tains in which it has its sources, its bed is exceedingly rocky. It taps a 
 country in which is found much teak and other valuable timber and 
 bamboos, and lower down it flows through a considerable area of fertile 
 rice land. As far as the mouth of the new canal, a short distance below 
 Pegu, it forms the main route from Eangoon to the towns on the Tsit- 
 toung. 
 
 PEGU. — A revenue circle in the Eangoon district, more properly called 
 Pai-goo, q.v. 
 
 PEK-LEK.— A small village of 666 inhabitants in 1878 in the 
 Kyouk-taing-pyeng circle, Thanlyeng township, Eangoon district.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 483 
 
 PENG-GA-DAW. — A revenue cii-cle in the Mye-dai township, Thayet 
 district containing three of the old registered villages and now joined to 
 Teng-daw. The products are rice, sessamum, cotton, cutch and silk. 
 Near Ta-roop-beng are some salt springs which were worked in the Burmese 
 time. 
 
 PENG-GA-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Prome district north of 
 Poungday of which the village of Peng-ga-daw forms an extension. In 1877 
 the population was 762, the land revenue was Es. 721, the capitation tax 
 was Es. 760 and the gross revenue was Es. 1,481. 
 
 PENG-LE-GA-LE. — A creek in the Bassein district, tidal in the dry 
 season, which leaves the Ewe a little south of its northern mouth in the 
 Myoung-mya river and runs, generally, S.W., but with many sinuosities, to 
 the Bassein river which it enters opposite the northern end of Long Island. 
 It communicates with its parent stream, the Ewe, by numerous anastomos- 
 ing creeks. Eiver steamers could ascend it as far as the village of 
 Htoon-bho. At low tide springs it has, according to Captain Ward's 
 chart, three and a half fathoms of water at its mouth. 
 
 PENG-THEE-LA. — A smaU river in the Toung-ngoo district which 
 rises in the Than-toung mountain of the Poung-loung range and after a 
 westerly course of 20 miles faUs into the Tsit-toung. During the rains 
 boats of about 24 feet length can ascend for some four miles. 
 
 PHAETON. — A small shoal off the mouth of the Bassein river, on which 
 H.M.S. Phaeton struck on the 16th of February 1810, and was, in conse- 
 quence, obliged to go to Calcutta to repair. It bears S. W. by S. from 
 Diamond Island, distant four- miles, and N. by E., distant three and a half 
 mUes, from the Alguada reef, having nine fathoms of water close to and two 
 fathoms upon it. 
 
 PIE -DO. — A clan of Pwo Kareng. — See Mo-pgha. 
 
 PIEN-NAI-KHYOUNG. — A revenue cu'cle to which is now joined 
 Mye-ngoo, in the Oo-ree-toung (east) township, Akyab district. In 1877 
 the population of the united circles was 4,510, the land revenue Es. 5,020, 
 the capitation tax Es. 5,427 and the gross" revenue Es. 11,808. 
 
 PIEN-NAI-KWENG.— A village in the Kama township, Thayet dis- 
 trict ; near it is a salt spring capable of yielding 30 pots of brine a day. 
 
 PIET-TSWAY.— A village in the Kha-noung-to circle, Angyee town- 
 ship, Eangoon district, on the I^lia-noung-to stream, about five miles from 
 its mouth in the Eangoon river. In 1878 it had 796 inhabitants. 
 
 PIE -Z AW. — A clan of Pwo Kareng. — See Mo-pgha. 
 
 PLAW. — A clan of Pwo Kareng, so called by some of themselves. — See 
 Mo-pgha. 
 
 POON-KAW. — A revenue circle m the Gyaing Attaran township, Am- 
 herst district, which has been added to Kwon-gyee. 
 
 POO-GAN-DOUNG. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Than-lyeng township of the Eangoon district on the banks of the Poo- 
 gan-doung stream about five miles from its mouth in the Pegu river. In 
 1868 it had 757 inhabitants and 997 in 1877.
 
 484 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 POO-GAN-DOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Than-lyeng township of 
 the Rangoon district extending from the Pegu river eastward to the 
 A-gwou (north) circle from which it is separated by the Lek-pan-zeng 
 creek. On the south are the Than-lyeng and Kyouk-taing-pyeng circles both 
 separated from it by the Bhaw stream. On the north are the two Hpa-goo 
 circles. A considerable area is under rice cultivation especially in the 
 neighbourhood of the Pegu river. With the exception of a fringe of tree 
 forest on the west and a small patch on the south this chcle is an exten- 
 sive plain, the western portion of which is under rice cultivation. A con- 
 siderable revenue is derived from the fishery and net tax. 
 
 The area under cultivation and the revenue during the last five years 
 were : — 
 
 
 Area, in Acres. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Garden. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Land. 
 
 Capita- 
 tion tax. 
 
 All other 
 taxes. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1873-74 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 20,757 
 24,462 
 26,260 
 27,323 
 27,934 
 
 9 
 10 
 11 
 25 
 17 
 
 20,766 
 24,472 
 26,271 
 27,348 
 27,951 
 
 44,540 
 52,162 
 53,746 
 55,372 
 57,942 
 
 9,795 
 
 9,688 
 
 10,008 
 
 10,028 
 
 10,495 
 
 9,762 
 8,618 
 77 
 8,048 
 7,254 
 
 64,097 
 70,468 
 63,831 
 73,448 
 75,691 
 
 and the population and agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Agricultural Stock. 
 
 Year. 
 
 oi 
 
 i 
 
 (H 
 
 pq 
 
 to 
 
 a 
 'S 
 
 fcb 
 a 
 
 cS 
 
 0) 
 
 O 
 
 "3 
 
 CO 
 
 O 
 
 Is 
 
 ia 
 s 
 pq 
 
 .2 S 
 
 <i> 
 
 00 ® 
 
 60 
 
 'A 
 
 1 
 
 oi 
 
 t 
 
 O 
 
 Ol 
 
 O 
 
 1873-74 . . 
 1874-75 . . 
 1875-76 .. 
 1876-77 . . 
 1877-78 . . 
 
 2,799 
 2,804 
 2,643 
 1,668 
 
 5,830 375 
 5,953 424 
 5,976 881 
 7,690 690 
 
 138 
 216 
 394 
 118 
 
 60 
 125 
 121 
 
 91 
 
 9,i'84 
 9,522 
 9,970 
 10,257 
 
 3,643 
 3,636 
 
 3,581 
 3,768 
 3,900 
 
 536 
 501 
 
 493 
 476 
 528 
 
 4 
 22 
 24 
 
 262 
 321 
 377 
 216 
 241 
 
 565 
 661 
 466 
 498 
 506 
 
 1,523 
 1,517 
 
 1,468 
 1,482 
 1,497 
 
 378 
 301 
 248 
 376 
 330 
 
 POO-HTO. — A revenue circle in the Kama township, Thayet district, 
 on the bank of the Irrawaddy to the north of the town of Kama, 48 square 
 miles in extent, of which about 41 are hilly and uncultm'able and covered 
 with forest, and from fom- to five actually under cultivation, principally with 
 rice. The population in 1872 numbered nearly 3,000 souls, and the amount 
 paid as tax aggregated Rs. 5,000. The chclewas formerly divided amongst 
 five Thoogyee. About 1861 the Thoogyee of Pien-tha-leug was mm'dered 
 by dacoits and his son who succeeded him resigned a few months afterwards. 
 In 1868 the Thoogyee of Kan-nee died, and his son also resigned a month
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 485 
 
 or two subsequently. In the same year the Thoogyee of Khyeng-tsouk and 
 of Pya-re also resigned. As each of these resignations took place the 
 Poo-hto cu'cle was enlarged. The population in 1877 was 2,645, the land 
 revenue Pis. 2,107, the capitation tax Pis. 3,020 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 5,709. 
 
 POO-HTO. — A village, with 514 inhabitants, in the circle of the 
 same name in the Kama township, Thayet district, close to the right bank of 
 the Irrawaddy, in 19° 6' 10" N. Lat. and 95° 14' 50" E . Long. Near the village 
 is a salt spring which used to yield about 15 pots of brine a day. 
 
 PA-LAW. — A large village in the Mergui district of the Tenasserim 
 division in 12° 58' N. Lat and 98° 32' E. Long on the left bank of 
 the Pa-law stream, about 10 miles from its mouth in the sea and 40 miles 
 north of Mergui. It is the head-quarters of a township. It stands m the 
 centre of a large rice-producing country and has a very fair trade, exporting 
 rice, husked and unhusked. It is situated on high and well-dramed ground 
 and as it enjoys the advantage of the sea breeze the climate is healthy. 
 During the Siamese rule it was considerably larger : in 1877 it had a poj)u- 
 lation of 1,481 souls of mixed races, Burmese and Kareng with a few 
 Chinese. 
 
 POO-LOO. — A tidal creek in the Bassein district which leaves the 
 Myoung-mya river at the village of Poo-loo in about 16° 35' 30" N. six 
 miles above and eastward of the town of Myoung-mya and runs south and 
 then west for four miles to the Piwe. It is navigable for river steamers 
 at aU times and is traversed by those plying between Piangoon and Bassein ; 
 the banks are densely wooded. 
 
 P00-L00-PYENG-MA-G00N.--TWO revenue cycles in the Myoung- 
 mya township, Bassein district, now joined together and 28 square miles in 
 extent lying between the Pya-ma-law and the Ewe channels north of the Pan- 
 ma-myit-ta. Such cultivation as exists is principally in the north or Poo-loo 
 portion. The southern part of Pyeng-ma-goon is subject to inundation; of 
 roads there are none but only footpaths from village to village ; water 
 communication is good. A large number of the inhabitants are Kareng. 
 In 1877 the population was 4,285, the land revenue Es. 9,059, the capita- 
 tion tax Es. 5,060 and the gross revenue Es. 14,564. 
 
 POON-NA. — A village of between 80 and 90 houses in the Poon-na 
 circle, Kama township, Thayet district, in 19° 13' 35" N. Lat. and 
 90° 4' 15" E. Long. The name of the village originally was Kan-gyee, 
 this was changed to Poon-na in 1786 A. D. A small Pohce force is 
 quartered in this village. 
 
 POON-NA. — A revenue circle in the Kama to-vvnship, Thayet district, 
 three square miles in extent, half being uncultm'able and about 600 acres 
 actually under cultivation, almost entii-ely with rice. The 513 inhabitants 
 are all Bm-mans. In 1872 the taxes were Es. 39 on account of land and 
 Es. 53 on account of capitation tax. The circle was formerly called Kan- 
 gyee, the name being changed to Poon-na in 1786. The products are rice 
 and sessamum. In 1877 the land revenue was Es. 447, the capitation tax 
 Es. 565 and the gross revenue Es. 1,034.
 
 486 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 POON-NA. — A village in the Tsheng-paik circle, Oo-ree-toimg (east) 
 township, Akyab district, on the south bank of the little Poon-na. In 1877 
 it had 517 inhabitants. 
 
 POON-NA-EIEP. — A large village in the Mo-gnyo circle of the town- 
 ship of the same name in the Henzada district between the Irrawaddy and 
 the Irrawaddy Valley (State) Railway and about three miles west of the 
 latter. The name is said to be a corruption of Poon-na-roop or " image of 
 "a Poon-na" (a Brahmin) but inasmuch as "roop " for an image is a common 
 word, it is difficult to understand why it should have been corrupted into 
 " riep." In 1877 it had 3,351 inhabitants. 
 
 POON-NA-TSOO.— A small village, of 550 inhabitants in 1878, in the 
 Pai-goo circle, Pegu towTishij), Eangoon district. 
 
 POO-ZWON-DOUNG. — The most easterly suberrb of Eangoon. q. v. 
 
 POO-ZWON-DOUNG. — A river in the Eangoon district which has its 
 source in the Pegu Eoma mountains in about 17° 8' N. and falls into the 
 Pegu river at its junction with the Hlaing just below Eangoon, after a 
 southerly com^se of about 53 miles. It is about 440 yards wide at its mouth 
 and was deep enough to allow of the entry of large ships but is now silting 
 up from the vast quantities of rice husk discharged into it from the mills 
 on its banks. From its somxe for about 20 miles, above which boats cannot 
 pass in the dry season, its water is sweet. Towards the som'ce its bed is 
 rocky and towards its mouth the banks are steep and muddy. The upper 
 part of its vaUey produces valuable timber and the lower large crops of rice. 
 
 POO-ZWON-MYOUNG.— A village in the Kweng-da-la cii-cle of the 
 Shwe-gyeng district, on the right bank of the Tsit-toung river, some 15 miles 
 above Shwe-gyeng by the river, with a population in 1877 of 1,035 souls. 
 A large number of earthen pots are made here for export. 
 
 PO-TSA-DAW. — A revenue circle on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, 
 opposite to Kan-oung, in the Taroop-hmaw township, Henzada district, with 
 but little rice cultivation, miscellaneous products occupying the larger part 
 of the cultivated area. In 1877 the population was 2,732, the land revenue 
 Es. 1,483, the capitation tax Es. 2,462 and the gross revenue Es. 7,094. 
 
 POUK-AING. — A revenue circle in the Myedai township, Thayet 
 district, situated in the plains on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, and joined 
 to Bhwot-lay in 1870. The chief products are maize, rice and tobacco. 
 
 POUK-BENG.— A small village of 511 inhabitants in 1878 in the 
 Hpa-goo (west) circle of the Than-lyeng township, Eangoon district. 
 
 POUK-KHOUNG. — A small village on the stream of the same name 
 in the Prome district about 24 miles N. E . of Prome with which it is 
 connected by a good road, where the Extra Assistant Commissioner in 
 charge of the Shwe-lay township resides and holds his Court : a small 
 Police force is stationed here. In 1877 it had only 254 inhabitants. 
 
 POUK-KHOUNG. — A river in the Prome district which rises in the 
 Talaing-hmyaw spur of the Pegu Eoma mountains and flows towards the 
 north-west through a narrow vaUey, nowhere five miles broad, for about 
 12 miles to the South Naweng which it reaches a short distance from 
 the village of Ma-mya. About four miles from its mouth it passes the
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 487 
 
 village of Pouk-khoung, the head-quarter station of an Extra Assistant 
 Commissioner. The bed is generally sandy and the banks are in some 
 places steep. 
 
 POUK-KHOUNG.— A revenue circle in the Prome district to the east- 
 ward of Prome amongst the lower slopes of the Pegu Eoma spurs ; patches 
 of rice cultivation are found here and there near the villages. In 1877 
 the population was 2,106, the land revenue PiS. 1,240, the capitation 
 tax Pis. 1,323 and the gross revenue PiS. 3,588. 
 
 POUK-NWAY-KHYOON.— A village in the Shwe-doung township, 
 Prome district, four miles S.E. of Kyee-thay, about the same distance due 
 east of the Irrawaddy and eight miles north of Gnyoung-tsa-re : a good faii-- 
 weather caii; road runs between these three villages. 
 
 POUK-OO-GA. — A village on the Pie-ngay stream in the Toon cu-cle, 
 Kama to^vmship, Thayet district, which contains about 60 houses. During 
 the Burmese time a Thoogyee with hereditary rights was appointed 
 to the circle named after this village and after the annexation it remained 
 separate until 1859 A. D. when the then Thoogyee was dismissed for bribery 
 and the circle subsequently added to Toon. 
 
 POUK-TAING. — A small river in the Tavoy district which rises amongst 
 the northern slopes of the Nwa-hla-bo hill and flowing north-west and then 
 west falls into the Tavoy river about five miles below Tavoy. 
 
 POUK-TAING. — A revenue circle in the south-west corner of the 
 north-east township, Tavoy district, somewhat south of the town of Tavoy, 
 having an area of about 185 square miles of which about one-fifth is 
 cultivated. Its principal produce is rice. In 1877 the population was 
 1,540, the land revenue Es. 3,012, the capitation tax Es. 1,174 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 4,337. 
 
 POUK-TAN. — A village in Ka-tseng circle, Hmaw-bhee township, 
 the Eangoon district, about a mUe up a small creek which falls into the 
 Hlaing, in the centre of a good deal of rice land; the inhabitants are princi- 
 pally engaged in cultivation and in trading. In 1878 the population num- 
 bered 718 souls. Lat. 16° 56' N. Long. 96° 7' E. 
 
 POUK-TAW. — A revenue cu-cle in the Toung-ngoo district, adjoining 
 Da-gnya-wa-dee. In the south-west there are some low hills but elsewhere 
 it is level and fanly cultivated. Toddy palms {Borassus) grow in abundance. 
 In 1877 the population was 4,020, the land revenue Es. 4,055, the capi- 
 tation tax Es. 3,714 and the gross revenue Es. 8,082. 
 
 POUK-TAW. — A village of 60 houses about two miles from the northern 
 frontier and rather more in a south-westerly direction from the second 
 boundary piDar westwards from the Irrawaddy, on the Lek-ma-she-doung. 
 It is in the Kwon-oon cii'cle, Thayet township, Thayet district. It was 
 formerly in the Tan-taw Kyoung circle which in 1861 was joined to 
 Bhan-byeng and this was subsequently added to Toon. 
 
 POUK-TAW. — A village in the Koon-dan circle, Hmaw-bhee township, 
 Eangoon district, about three miles N. N. E. of Eangoon and one and a 
 half west of the river Poo-zwon-doung, situated in a fertile rice-produciag 
 tract. In 1878 it had 703 inhabitants.
 
 488. BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 POUK-TAW. — A revenue circle in the northern portion of the Prome 
 district on the North Na-weng river. It now includes Kyoo-wot and Tham- 
 ba-ra-goon. In 1877 the population was 2,298, the land revenue was 
 Es. 943, the capitation tax Es. 1,749 and the gross revenue Es. 3,127. 
 
 POUK-TAW. — A revenue circle in the Ta-pwon township of the 
 Henzada district, very largely cultivated with rice. In 1877 the population 
 was 4,625, the land revenue Es. 4,967, the capitation tax Es. 4,145 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 9,377. 
 
 POUK-TAW. — A revenue circle in the Meng-hla township of the 
 Henzada district, east of the Irrawaddy and south of Lweng-pyeng. The 
 centre and south-eastern portions are well cultivated, the rest is covered 
 with grass and tree forest in which is found Pyeng-gado {Xylia dolabri- 
 formis.) In 1877 the population was 7,657, the land revenue Es. 12,800, 
 the capitation tax Es. 6,467 and the gross revenue Es. 20,330. 
 
 POUK-TOO-TOUNG.— A village of 1,191 inhabitants in the Tsek- 
 khaw circle, Mye-boon township, Kyouk-hpyoo district. 
 
 POUNG. — A village in this circle of the same name, Martaban town- 
 ship, Amherst district, at the foot of the western slopes of the Zeng-gyaik 
 hills. It has a population of 1073 souls. 
 
 POUNG. — A very thickly-populated and highly- cultivated revenue 
 circle in the south-western portion of the Martaban township, Amherst 
 district, lying on the west of the Martaban hills, south of Gaw and north of 
 Kha-daing and Moo-kyee with the estuary of the Bhee-leng on the west. 
 The lands in the western portion are very fertile, but in the eastern, along 
 the foot of the mountains, the soil is poor, the fields are liable to damage 
 from sudden rushes of water and the crops suffer from violent squalls of 
 wind, most of the land hereabouts is therefore reserved for pasture. The 
 circle is traversed by several creeks leading out to sea but laden boats never 
 venture out. In the rains water-carriage is available throughout the circle. 
 In 1868 the population was 4,528, the land revenue Es. 12,712 and the 
 capitation tax Es. 4,845. In 1877 these were 5,459, Es. 14,094 and 
 Es. 5,797 respectively. Some salt is made in this circle. The principal 
 villages are Poung, Kha-da, Ta-koo-wee, Hpa-lat and Zeng-gyaik. 
 
 POUNG-DAY. — A township in the south of the Prome district border- 
 ing Henzada (Tharrawaddy) and adjoining the Shw^e-doung township on the 
 west, the Shwe-lay township on the east and theMa-ha-tha-man township on 
 the north, including both Poung-day and Eng-ma, formerly independent 
 jurisdictions. West of the Myit-ma-kha, which traverses the township 
 from north to south leaving a narrow strip between it and the Eng-daing, 
 the country is undulating and covered with forest, but to the eastward it is one 
 vast plain highly cultivated with rice, with the long, straggling town _ of 
 Poung-day in about the centre, with good fair-weather cart roads traversing 
 it in every direction and two main roads constructed by the Public Works 
 Department, one the great high road from Eangoon to the northern frontier, 
 and the other the high road to Ta-pwon which leaves the northern road at 
 Poung-day and seven miles further south passed over the Kan-tha by a 
 wooden bridge and enters the Henzada district. The Kan-tha or Toung- 
 gnyo has silted up very considerably and in consequence the waters have
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
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 a 3 
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 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 489 
 
 spread and two new channels have been formed, one on each side of the 
 bridge which has thus been cut off from the banks and is being pulled down 
 as useless. The principal stream is the Myit-ma-kha, the head-waters of 
 the Hlaing, which carries off nearly the whole drainage of the country, 
 receiving the Shwe-lay or Wai-gyee or Wek-poot and the Kyat or Kan-tha 
 or Toung-gnyo from the east, and numerous small streams which flow 
 down from the neighbouring rising ground on the west. 
 
 Not far from Eng-ma is the Eng-ma lake, an extensive marsh about 
 10 miles long and four miles broad in the rains ; this is a large sheet 
 of water 12 feet deep. The Myit-ma-kha enters it in the north, as the Zay, 
 and leaves it again in the south. 
 
 There are few trees of any value to be found east of the Myit-ma- 
 kha, but near Eng-ma is the " Royal Forest," of small extent but consist- 
 ing entirely of teak of very fine growth. West of the Myit-ma-kha, Eng 
 is found along the undulating ground in considerable quantities. 
 
 The principal town is Poung-day where an Assistant Commissioner in 
 charge of the sub-division is stationed. 
 
 The township is divided into 35 revenue chcles. In 1877 the population 
 was 33,750, the land revenue Rs. 28,814, the capitation tax Rs. 33,419 
 and the gi'oss revenue Rs. 83,598. 
 
 POUNG-DAY. — A long, straggling town in the Prome district in about 
 18° 27'. N. and 93° 34' 49" E. on the mam road from Rangoon northward, 
 33 miles south of Prome, and by the Irrawaddy Valley (State) Railway 
 about 32 miles from Prome, traversed by the Myo-lay, a small creek diy or 
 almost dry in the hot season, at which an Assistant Commissioner is 
 stationed. It has a Charitable dispensary, a covered market-place, a 
 Com-t-house, PoUce-station, a Lock-up, a Public Works Department inspec- 
 tion bungalow, a Government school and a Railway Station, and in 1878 
 had a population of 5,390 souls. 
 
 POUNG-KHYOOP. — A revenue cu'cle occupying the southern portion 
 of the Shwe-doung township, Prome district, east of the Kho-lan hills. 
 The centre is under rice cultivation but the eastern and western portions 
 consist of forest-covered hills and undulating ground. The Kyoon stream, 
 which drains the valley between the Shwe-nat-tomig or Ivho-lan hills on the 
 west and the Prome or Toung-gyee hills on the east, has its source in this 
 circle. In 1877 the population was 594, the land revenue Rs. 563, the 
 capitation tax Rs. 618 and the gross revenue Rs. 1,181. 
 
 POUNG-TA-LEE. — A revenue cu-cle in the Ma-ha-tha-man town- 
 ship of the Prome district, lying to the east of Prome. In 1877 the 
 population was 301, the land revenue Rs. 761, the capitation tax Rs. 335 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 1,096. 
 
 PRA-KA-RA. — A clan of the Bghai Kareng family. — See Kareng-nee. 
 
 PRA-KA-YOUNG.— A clan of the Pwo Kareng family ; so called by 
 themselves. — See Gai-kho. 
 
 PROME, — A town in the valley of the Irrawaddy on the left bank of that 
 river in 18' 47' 53' N. and 95' 18' 18' E., the head-quarters of the Prome 
 district. Extending northward from the foot of the Prome hiUs to the bank 
 of the Na-weng, with a suburb on the other side of that stream, and eastwards 
 
 62
 
 490 , BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 for some distance up the Na-weng valley it is divided into several municipal 
 divisions, — Na-weng on the north, Kwa-bhai on the east, Tsheng-tsoo on the 
 south, and Shwe-koo and Tshan-daw in the centre forming, as it were, 
 the heart of the town. The ground on the river bank is high and slopes 
 downwards towards the east and the ditch, excavated m the Burman time, 
 formerly closed the town in on that side and communicated with the 
 Na-weng on the north and, passing through Tsheng-tsoo, with the Irrawaddy 
 on the south and was spanned by several wooden bridges. Dm'ing the dry 
 weather this ditch was a swamp and a fertile cause of fevers and gave 
 to the town the reputation of being exceedingly unhealthy. It is being 
 filled in, partly with earth brought from the southern hills and partly by 
 that obtained from excavating tanks. On the bank of the river on the high 
 ground opposite the centre of the town are the Police office, the Govern- 
 ment school, the Court-houses, with a nicely laid out garden and a foun- 
 tain in front of them, the small public gardens, the Anglican church in 
 com'se of erection, and the Telegraph office occupying the small space left 
 between the river and the Strand road. From this road, which extends 
 from one end of the town to the other, from Tsheng-tsoo to the Na-weng, 
 numerous well laid out streets run eastwards and are intersected 
 at right angles by others. Behind and rather north of Tsheng-tsoo 
 and detached from the low hills which shut in the town on the south 
 is the great Shwe Tshan-daw pagoda, shining out conspicuously from 
 amongst the dark foliage of the shrubs and trees which cover the slopes of 
 the hill on which it stands. North of the high laterite ground on which 
 are the Court-houses and under the high bank a sandbank stretches 
 up to the mouth of the Na-weng, under water in the rains but in the 
 dry weather covered with brokers' huts. At this season a fleet of merchant 
 boats is moored along it of which numbers are laden with nga-pee or fish 
 paste, a product of the seacoast tracts, its unpleasant odour pervading the 
 Na-weng quarter of the town. Here, on the high bank a little inland and on 
 the inner side of the Strand, are the markets, consisting of four distinct 
 buildings ; one, the largest and newest, occupying the site of the old gaol, 
 which was pulled down when the lock-up was constructed, with the meat- 
 market immediately north of it ; to the south, separated from the principal 
 market by a road- way, is the old one, built about 15 years ago to replace 
 one much farther east near the old ditch, and between this old one and the 
 river is the fish market. Farther south, overlooking the river and separated 
 from it by the Strand are the Charitable dispensary and the Lock-hospital, 
 wooden buildings well raised from the ground. In an open space facing and 
 thrown back from the river, a little south of the Court-houses, are two tanks, 
 one east of or behind the other with the travellers' bungalow on the road- 
 way between them. The Railway station, at present the terminus of the 
 Irrawaddy Valley (State) Railway, is just behind these tanks, separated from 
 them by High street, with the engine- sheds a httle to the south-west on 
 the southern side of another main street which forms a portion of the 
 Rangoon and Mye-dai road. North of this street and between it and the 
 tanks was the lock-up, built when the old gaol was pulled down, arid now 
 being demolished to make way for buildings for the railway. The Baptist 
 Chapel is near the market and a new wooden Roman Catholic Church 
 is under construction in the Tsheng-tsoo quarter. Almost the whole
 
 
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 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 491 
 
 of the town was destroyed by fire in 1862 and the Deputy Commissioner, 
 Colonel D. Brown, seized the opportmiity and laid out the streets very 
 much as they are now. 
 
 Promeis mentioned in ancient histories as the capital of a great kingdom 
 before the commencement of the Christian era, but the town spoken of was 
 Tha-re-khettra, some miles inland, the remains of which still exist. From 
 the destruction of Tha-re-khettra, about the end of the first century, Prome 
 for many years belonged, sometimes to Ava, sometimes to Pegu, and was 
 sometimes independent, an independence which its rulers never retained for 
 any lengthened period, and after the conquest of Pegu by Aloung-bhoora it 
 remained a Bm-man town until Pegu was annexed by the British in 1853. 
 
 In 1825, dm-ing the first war, when Sir Ai-chibald Campbell was advanc- 
 ing northward on the Bm-mese capital, endeavom-s were made to induce him 
 to halt before reaching Prome, but he declined to enter into any negotiations 
 until he had arrived at the town. Upon the first appearance of the force 
 before the place, it was partly bm'ned and abandoned by the Bm*mese troops 
 although strongly fortified and was deserted by the inhabitants. The Com- 
 mander-in-Chief here entered into winter-quarters and finding by practical 
 exj)erience that the town was liable to inundation from the overflow of the 
 Ii'rawaddy, placed his troops on the high ground to the southward. Various 
 detachments were sent out to Shwe-doung and towards Toung-ngoo, and 
 after the rains were over the column advanced on Ava. After the signatm'e 
 of the treaty of Yandaboo in 1826 the British evacuated this district with the 
 rest of the valley of the Irrawaddy. During the second Bm-mese war, in 1852, 
 the town was attacked by the flotilla under Commander Tarleton ; the Bm'- 
 mese Commander fled and Prome was occupied but almost immediately 
 abandoned as there were no troops to hold it. Three months later, in 
 October of that year, the advance from Rangoon took place. The flotilla 
 with the troops on board arrived off Prome on the morning of the 9th 
 October and each ship was cannonaded from a projecting point on the hills 
 south of the town as it passed up, but with very little effect. A portion of the 
 troops were disembarked that evening and after a short fight occupied the 
 northern portion of the town. Next morning the remainder of the force 
 was landed and the whole advanced on the Bm*mese position on the hills to 
 the south and east held by some 4,000 men, w^ho retreated on to the main 
 army stationed at Ea-thay-myo, some five or six miles to the eastward. 
 On the 15th October Bandoola, the Bm-man Commander surrendered, and 
 from that time the garrison were mamly employed in expeditions against 
 the enemy, who had collected on the right bank of the river m what is now the 
 Pa-doung township of the district and in the southern portion of the Henzada 
 district, and gradually drove them out. The coimtry was considerably 
 disturbed, the inhabitants were in doubt as to whether the country would be 
 restored to the Burmese or not, and rumours of another war were rife. 
 Gradually the country settled down and a regular Civil Government was 
 established. The British garrison in Prome at first occupied the hills 
 south of the town, but were subsequently transferred to Nwa-ma-ran, fom- or 
 five miles south near Shwe-doung. In 1854 they were transferred to Tha- 
 yet-myo which was nearer to the frontier and was supposed to be healthier. 
 
 The number of inhabitants, according to Symes, was over 30,000 in 
 1793, but this would seem to be far too high an estimate. There is no
 
 492 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 information at present available as to the number of inhabitants until 
 1864, when it was stated to be 22,243, since then the population has been 
 returned as : — 
 
 1864 
 
 22,243 
 
 1871 .. 
 
 24,632 
 
 1865 
 
 21,807 
 
 1872 .. 
 
 81,157 
 
 1866 
 
 22,739 
 
 1873 .. 
 
 25,631 
 
 1867 
 
 23,420 
 
 1874 .. 
 
 25,959 
 
 1868 
 
 25,095 
 
 1875 .. 
 
 25,390 
 
 1869 
 
 24,616 
 
 1876 .. 
 
 25,684 
 
 1870 
 
 . 28,915 
 
 1877 .. 
 
 26,826 
 
 The figures for 1872 are those of the special census taken that year 
 and include all wayfarers and casual inhabitants but it is difficult to 
 believe that there were over 4,000 of these, and that the town has progress- 
 ed so very slowly in population. 
 
 The local receipts and charges in 1867-68 and in 1877-78 were 
 Es. 49,016 and Rs. 23,599, and Es. 96,380 and Es. 79,842 respectively. 
 
 On the 12th November 1874 a Municipal Committee was appointed 
 consisting of 16 members and a president and the administration of the 
 local funds raised in the to^vTi was entrusted to this body ; since then great 
 improvements have been made ; tanks have been dug, swamps filled in, 
 the town lighted with kerosine oil lamps, and public gardens have been 
 laid out. The amount spent on public works from the formation of the 
 Municipality till the close of the year 1877-78 has been Es, 92,820 out 
 of a gross revenue of Es. 352,800 including a loan of Es. 7,260. Next to 
 public works the principal item of charge is for Police. 
 
 PEOME. — A district in the Pegu di^dsion occupying the whole breadth 
 of the valley of the Irrawaddy between the Thayet district on the north and 
 the Henzada and Tharrawaddyt districts on the south. The western 
 boundary, Arakan lying beyond, follows the crest of the Arakan mountains 
 from the root of the Bhee-la spur southward to that of the Ta-goung spur, 
 a distance of about 52 miles. The southern boundary runs eastward 
 for 20 miles along the Ta-goung spur to the source of the Kyouk-piet-tha 
 and thence north-east for seven miles along the bed of that stream to the 
 Irrawaddy. On the left bank of the great river the line is much more 
 irregular. Leaving the bank of the Irrawaddy near the ^dllage of Thaj^et- 
 ta-beng and following no natural featm-es it runs N. E. for five miles, and 
 then, tm-ning S. E., strikes the Prome hills five miles fm-ther on ; following 
 the crest of these southwards it turns E. and crossing the Myit-ma-kha, 
 abuts on the Kyat in 95° 30'; thence it follows that stream for some 
 distance when it turns north and then north-east and follows the crest of 
 the Pan-doung spur to its root in the Pegu Eoma, leaving a strip of Henzada 
 (Tharrawaddy) between the southern portion of Prome and the mountains. 
 The total length of the southern boundary on both banks of the river is 
 98 miles ; the distance measm-ed in a dnect line is about 70 miles. The 
 western boundary line runs northward along the crest of the Pegu Eoma 
 mountains from the Thoon-mye-tsaing hill to the point where the Pa-teng- 
 
 t Tharrawaddy was separated from Henzada and made into an independent district whilst 
 this work was passing through the press and after the account of Henzada was printed.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 493 
 
 kyouk-poon spur leaves the main chain, a distance of 28 miles. The 
 northern limit of the district follows the Pa-teng-kyouk-poon spur of the 
 Pegu Pioma and runs m a general W. S. W. direction to the Za-lwon 
 khyoung, a distance of 54 miles : at first it runs ahout W., then turns 
 alternately S. and W. till its last bend southwards brings it to the banks of 
 the Za-lwon and from this point to the Irrawaddy, a distance of six miles, 
 it follows the course of that rivulet. On the right bank of the Irrawaddy it 
 starts westward from the mouth of the Ya-tha-ya stream and going along its 
 bed for three miles to its source it then follows the crest of the Bhee-la 
 spur for 33 miles more to the Arakan mountains : the total length of the 
 northern boundary hne from range to range is 96 miles. The total area 
 comprised within these limits is 2,887 square miles. 
 
 The district originally extended northwards as far as the frontier 
 of the Province but in April 1870 the present Thayet district was, on pohtical, 
 fiscal and administrative grounds, separated from it and formed into an 
 independent jurisdiction, and the northern boundary as described above was 
 fixed on as the Hne of demarcation between the two. 
 
 The Irrawaddy flows through the district from north to south divid- 
 ing it into two portions differing considerably in area, in 
 Physical Geography, appearance and in fertHity. On the west the Ai-akan 
 mountains, running nearly parallel to the river, throw off numerous 
 thickly-wooded spm's which stretch far eastward and divide the country into 
 small valleys, drained by short, unimportant and almost unnavigable 
 affluents of the great river, in which but little regular cultivation can be 
 carried on. On the left bank the face of the country, though somewhat 
 the same in the north, is very dissimilar in the centre and south. To the 
 north and north-east of the latitude of the town of Prome the forest- 
 covered spm-s of the Pegu Pioma, reaching down riverwards, form vaUeys 
 and ravines in which rush torrents whose waters, as they travel south-west 
 towards the more level country, are gradually collected into three or four 
 larger streams which eventually, a few miles from Prome, unite into one, 
 the Na-weng. The southern and south-western portions of this tract are 
 more level and gradually, south of the Na-weng, pass into large and 
 well-cultivated plains lying between the Pegu Roma and the Irrawaddy 
 and intersected here and there by low ranges of hills having a general north 
 and south direction. Immediately to the south and south-east of Prome are 
 rising grounds of no great elevation which form the northern end of a 
 line of hills extending to the south beyond the limits of the district; 
 between this ridge and the Irrawaddy, which here takes a large bend round 
 westward, lies the Shwe-doung plain, the larger Poung-day plain being 
 on the eastern side of these, the Prome hills. Starting from Shwe-nat- 
 toung, some 12 or 14 miles south of Prome, the Ivho-lau, another low and 
 independent chain runs south and, like the Prome hills, extends for some 
 distance into the Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district, thus dividing the Shwe- 
 doung plain down the centre. In the head of the tract, round the northern 
 extremity of the Kho-lan ridge, and stretching down the two vales on each 
 side of it, are fertile and extensive rice fields. The remaining portion 
 of the district, bounded on the north by the hilly country which ends 
 some little distance north of the Na-weng river, on the west by the Prome 
 hills, on the east by a broad belt of forest- covered spurs sent down from the
 
 494 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Pegu Eoma, is one large, flat plain, the richest and most populous part, 
 watered by numerous streams which, hemmed m from the Irrawaddy by the 
 Prome and Kho-lan hills, send their waters to the Myit-ma-kha, the head 
 of the Hlaing or Eangoon river and thus seawards in a line parallel to, and 
 to the east of, the main river. Fringing the northern bank of the South 
 Na-weng and then, after narrowing considerably behind Prome, extending 
 south along the Zay stream as far as the Eng-ma swamp, where it rapidly 
 widens out eastward so as almost to cover the whole country between the 
 two lines of hills, is the finest rice tract in the district. 
 
 Across the Pegu Eoma there are, in this district, one or two roads, but these 
 can be used only by men or elephants. A footpath leads from the source 
 of the North Na-weng over the hills to the source of the Myouk-mwe ; another 
 from the source of the South Na-weng to the Hpa-loung; and further south 
 there is one from near the source of the Shwe-lay to the Kareng hamlets on the 
 Za-ma-yee, the head-waters of the Pegu river. Over the Arakan mountains 
 a road leads from Pa-doung via Gnyoung-khye-douk to Toung-goop in the 
 Sandoway district in Arakan. It was by this route that the main body of 
 the Burmese army in 1783 A. D. advanced from Prome to the final con- 
 quest of the kingdom of Arakan, and that the enormous statue of Gaudama 
 and the large cannon captured in the Arakanese capital were conveyed as 
 trophies to Ava. In 1826, however. Lieutenant B. Browne of the Artillery 
 reported the pass as altogether impracticable for troops or for laden cattle. 
 This officer started from Pa-doung on the 23rd March and reached Toung-goop 
 on the 2nd April, having made eleven marches. The first six, over numer- 
 ous inferior heights, brought the party to the foot of the mountains which 
 were found to be very precipitous and difficult of ascent. A barometrical 
 observation made at the top of the pass gave the elevation as about 4,000 
 feet above the level of the last stream crossed. Both on the eastern and 
 the western sides the supply of water was found to be most precarious and 
 scanty. After the annexation of Pegu the then Governor-General, Lord 
 Dalhousie, du-ected the construction of a good military road across this pass, 
 which was soon reported to be so far complete that a horseman could ride 
 along the whole length of it at any pace. The work was continued year by 
 year and the path widened and gradually metalled but, owing mainly to the 
 increased facilities of communication on the Irrawaddy river, the road has been 
 somewhat neglected and in 1868-69 was reported as " not being a road at aU 
 except for pack bullocks". On this road is Gnyoung-gyo where an endeav- 
 our has been made to form a sanatarium for the Thayet-myo garrison. 
 
 In the first of the four tracts alluded to above, viz., Pa-doung, there are 
 few rivers of any importance most of the streams being 
 
 ^^"^^^^- short mountain torrents which reach the Irrawaddy before 
 
 they have time and distance to gather strength and volume. The northern 
 half is drained by the Tha-nee system consisting of three larger and 
 innumerable smaller rivers. The southern half, with the exception of a 
 small area on the south-east, by the Tha-le-dan system, so named from its 
 two main channels ; and the triangular space confined between the Irrawaddy 
 stream on the east, the Akouk-toung spur on the south and the Kyaw-kan-lan 
 spur on the north-west, by the Kha-wa. 
 
 The Tha-nee rises in the extreme north-west angle and flows E. S. E. 
 for about 25 miles, in a valley south of the spur forming the northern boun-
 
 BKITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 495 
 
 dary, when, rounding the end of the spur which bounds the valley on the 
 south, it turns southward and 20 miles fui-ther on, having received the 
 waters of the Bhoo-ro and the Kyouk-hhoo, joins the Irrawaddy at Pai-gyee. 
 In the rains small boats can ascend as far as Za-yat-hla, a short distance 
 above the mouth of the Bhoo-ro. The Bhoo-ro rises m the Ai-akan mountains 
 to the south of the source of the Tha-nee and flows south-east for 35 miles 
 in a valley parallel to the valley of that river and separated from it by a long 
 spm-, when it falls into the Tha-nee near the village of Gnyoung-beng-tha. 
 Its bed is rocky and its banks are steep and, except during the rains, it is 
 not navigable by boats. The Kyouk-bhoo rises considerably south of the 
 source of the Bhoo-ro and has an easterly com'se to the Tha-nee which it 
 joins a few miles from the bank of the Irrawaddy. It is navigable during the 
 rains but only by small boats. South of the Kyouk-bhoo is a long spur 
 which reaches down to the river bank, forming the southern limit of the 
 northern system and the rains which fall on the western and south-western 
 hiUs are carried to the Irrawaddy by the Tha-le-dan streams which rise in 
 the Arakan mountains and unite near the village of Ma-toung, 17 miles from 
 the village of Tha-le-dan where their united waters reach the main river. 
 The southern branch is not navigable by boats but the northern or main 
 branch can be used during the rains by large boats as far as the village 
 of Hlay-goo ; thus far the banks are moderately steep and the bed is 
 sandy. Down these streams are brought large quantities of teak timber. 
 The south-east corner is cut off from the rest by a spur which runs north- 
 east from the Doo-gyo hill on the southern confines of the district to the 
 Irrawaddy and is drained by the Kha-wa which has a short north-easterly 
 course to the village of Htoon-bho ; in the height of the rains boats can 
 ascend for a few miles. 
 
 The second tract, the mountainous country east of the Irrawaddy and 
 north and north-east of the town of Prome, is drained by the Na-weug 
 system of rivers of which the most important are the South Na-weng 
 falling into the Irrawaddy at Prome and its tributaries the North Na-weng, 
 the I-Qiyoung-tsouk and the Teng-gyee. 
 
 The North Na-weng rises in the Pegu Pioma. It first takes a north- 
 westerly course to near the village of Aing-won where it turns west and then 
 flows past Lek-khoop-peng, then runnmg S. S. W. through a large forest- 
 covered but comparatively fiat tract of country it joins the South Na-weng. 
 From the mouth for some distance upwards the banks are moderately steep 
 and the bed is sandy, but its character soon changes and the bed becomes 
 rocky and the banks very steep. To the south-west of the source of the North 
 Na-weng and at the junction of the Tsa-ra and Pa-douk spurs is that of the 
 Khyoung-tsouk ; this river, after flowing in a north-westerly direction for 
 some distance, turns S. W. and, uniting with the Gway-khyo, joins the South 
 Na-weng near the village of Khyoung-khwa. It is not navigable by boats 
 but teak timber which is found at its source is floated down it in the rains. 
 The bed is sandy and muddy and the banks are steep. The South Na-weng 
 rises in the main range of Ihe Pegu Eoma and flows in a south-westerly 
 direction till it leaves the hilly country when it joins the Teng-gyee and 
 turns west, gradually curving to the S. W., till it reaches the Irrawaddy. 
 In the lower portion of its course the bed is sandy but in the higher portion 
 rocky. The Teng-gyee also rises in the Pegu Roma mountains and taking
 
 496 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 first a north-westerly and then a westerly course it falls into the South 
 Na-weng just as this stream is entering the flatter country which intervenes 
 between the Irrawaddy and the spurs of the mountains. Though all these 
 rivers are to a certain extent navigable by boats yet they are at present mainly 
 important as the routes by which the valuable timber found covering the 
 hills in which they rise and amongst which they wmd is floated down to 
 the Irrawaddy to be rafted at the mouth of the Na-weng. 
 
 The Shwe-doung township, between the Irrawaddy and the Prome, 
 hills, has no large rivers ; the only one which need be mentioned is the 
 Kyoon which drams the valley between the Prome and the IQio-lan 
 hills and, running through rice fields almost throughout its whole length, 
 falls into the Irrawaddy near the village of Shwe-gyo-goon, just below the 
 town of Shwe-doung. 
 
 The surplus water of the extensive plain country lying between the 
 Pegu Eoma and the Prome hills south of the latitude of Prome is collected 
 in numerous streams which form, what may for convenience be called the 
 Myit-ma-kha sj^stem. The Zay, rising close to the southern wall of Ra- 
 thay-myo or Tha-re-khettra, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Prome 
 and carrying with it the di-ainage of the country on either bank, flows 
 southward by the foot of the Prome hills between flat banks and 
 over a muddy bottom, here and there widening out into a morass, and 
 fringed with rice fields, till it reaches the northern end of the Eng-ma 
 swamp. To the west, owing to the proximity of the Prome hills, the streams 
 are mere rivulets, but to the eastward there are three sub-systems of di-ain- 
 age. The Shwe-lay rises in the northern corner of the valley bounded on 
 the south by the Tsheng-lan spur and flowmg in a north-westerly direction 
 falls into the Mwai-gyo swamp, one of those formed by the Zay. The Da- 
 thway-kyouk has its source in the southern slopes of the Tsheng-lan spur 
 and 'flows south-west till it reaches the Zay as the Thit-nee-daw, a few 
 miles above the Eng-ma lake. The Tha-dwot rises in the Nee-pa-tshe 
 spur, a little to the south of the Da-thway-kyouk from which it is separated 
 by a subsidiary offshoot of the main chain, and running S. S. W. falls into 
 the Too which unites the Zay with the Shwe-lay or Wai-gyee. On leaving 
 the Eng-ma swamp the Zay assumes the name of Myit-ma-kha which it 
 retains in this district and for some distance beyond, eventually becom- 
 ing the Hlaing and from Rangoon to the sea the " Piangoon river". Run- 
 ning up north-east between the Nee-pa-tshe and the Pan-doung spur, 
 which here forms the boundary of the district, is a valley down which flows 
 the Shwe-lay. This river rises in the lower slopes of the main range of the 
 Pegu Roma as the Shwe-lay, a designation which it retains till it enters the 
 champaign country ; here it is called the Wai-gyee until it nears the^ village 
 of Wek-poot, a name it assumes and retains until it receives that of Ivhyoon- 
 khyoon-gya which it carries with it to its junction with the Myit-ma-kha. 
 From its mouth to the village of Tha-bj^e-poung-gyee it is navigable dm-mg 
 the rains by moderate sized boats but west of the Poung-day plains it is choked 
 by sand and rubbish. The Kyat rises in the Henzada (Tharrawaddy) dis- 
 trict, where it is known as the Toung-gnyo, and in the latter portion of 
 its course forms the boundary between Prome and Henzada (Tharra- 
 waddy). The Poungday plains, lying between these two strgams, the 
 Wai-gyee and the Kyat, on the north and south and the Myit-ma-kha on
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 497 
 
 the west, are intersected by numerous anastomosing channels, nearly or 
 quite dry in the dry season and filled in the rains. Considerable damage 
 is often done by the debris brought down from the forests on the mountain 
 slopes gradually collecting in the two main drainers of this part of the 
 country, the Wai-gyee and the Kyat, and choking either or both. The 
 rush of water is forced either over or through the banks of the dammed-up 
 stream and sj)reads over the rice fields into some other com^se which the 
 following year in its turn gets choked and, overflowing, sends another 
 year's rains to wash away the now di-ied and decayed refuse which had 
 originally barred the j)assage in the old channel or to cut a new one in the 
 soft soil of the plain. Owing to the obstructions thus caused to the floating 
 out from the Shwe-lay forests of the teak timber felled therein the Forest 
 department in 1860 cleared out a canal to join the Shwe-lay and the Myit- 
 ma-kha and to avoid a spot in which, west of Poung-day, the former was 
 rendered useless for timber floating pm-poses by having silted up. Two other 
 streams were left untouched as it was feared that some parts of the country 
 relying partly on the inundations for then* rice crops might be laid dry and 
 that others lower down might be flooded. 
 
 Of lakes properly so called the district has but two, the Eng-ma and 
 the Shwe-doung Myo-ma, The Dee-doot swamp on the 
 
 ^°^^^- east bank of the Irrawaddy is a depression in the plains 
 
 receiving its yearly supply of water from the overflow of the Irrawaddy ; in 
 the rains it is seven feet deep but in the hot season it is dr3\ The Nga- 
 pyaw-daw, Peng-lay-dien and Ngwe-gyaware little else than morasses formed 
 by the overflow of the Zay over its low and sedgy banks ; they have some 
 nine feet of water in them during the rains but are almost diy at all other 
 seasons. The Shwe-doung Myo-ma or Theng-bhoo lake is on the east bank 
 of and close to the Irrawaddy opposite to the town of Padoung, and is two 
 miles long and one mile wide in its broadest part. In the drj^ season it 
 has seven feet of water and in the rams, when the Irrawaddy aids the 
 rainfall in filling it, fifteen ; at this period it spreads out and, joining a 
 line of morasses (dry except dm-ing this portion of the year) which 
 stretches behind the large village of Kyee-thay, it unites with the Eng-^jya 
 in the south. This is of much the same character ; it is two and a half 
 miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide and communicates with the 
 Irrawaddy in the rains. The Eng-ma lake is an extensive marsh lying 
 to the east of the Prome line of hills, about 10 miles long and fom- broad 
 in its widest part : dming the rains it is a large sheet of water 
 and about 12 feet deep ; in the dry weather it is almost without water 
 and is covered with reeds and long gi'ass. The Zay enters it at its 
 northern and the Myit-ma-kha, the head-waters of the lilaing or Rangoon 
 river, leaves it at its southern end. 
 
 The forest tracts in Prome may be divided into three great groups : 
 one on the west of the Irrawaddy, one in the north-east 
 
 Forests. ^^ ^^iq district on the hills di'aiued by the Na-weng, and 
 
 one in the south-east on the hills drained by the Shwe-lay. The country 
 drained by the Tha-nee and the Tha-le-dan, though possessing fewer teak 
 localities than the more northern part of the Province, has some which 
 are exceedingly valuable. The spur dividing the two systems of drainage 
 alluded to above is covered with fine large teak trees, and the teak at the 
 
 63
 
 498 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 sources of the Kj^onk-bhoo, the most southern of the main feeders of the 
 Tha-nee, is of line growth in the small valleys and on the lower slopes of 
 the hills but on the brow of the ridges it is low-branched and crooked. 
 It is certain that under the Burmese rule and during the first years of 
 British occupation this part of the country yielded very considerable 
 supplies of planks and of squared logs. Kyan-kheng and Myan-oung, both 
 in the Henzada district, are the places to which the timber was generally 
 taken. The numerous large Burmese boats, for the building of which 
 Kyan-kheng is noted, were, it is asserted, mostly constructed with timber 
 from these forests. The fact that these tracts were once worked extensively 
 is apparent from the large number of full-sized stumps counted in 
 1857 — 59, viz. 240 in a square mile in the north and 560 in the same area 
 in the south. About 40 square miles is the area of the teak localities on 
 this bank of the Irrawaddy in this district and 200 the number of first 
 class trees per square mile. 
 
 The two tracts on the east of the Irrawaddy are of the same character 
 and differ mainly in the extent to which they have been worked. Between 
 the Pegu Roma mountains and the river are large stretches of country, 
 generally running north and south at the foot of the hiUs, covered with Eng 
 {Dij)terocarims) forest, in which the principal trees are, besides Eng from 
 which the name is taken, Thit-ya {Shorea obtusa), Eng-gyeng {Pentacme 
 Siamensis) and Thit-tsee {Mdanorrlicea usitatissima). Below these are 
 the lower mixed forests and above them the more important dry or upper 
 mixed forests, in which are found Teak ( Tectona grandis) and other valuable 
 timber. Teak occurs all over the eastern hiUs in more or less abundance, 
 and the average annual yield since the three-year permit system was 
 introduced in 1862 has been about 10,000 logs.* The north-eastern tracts 
 on the Na-weng and its feeders, in some of which there are rocky ob- 
 structions, have been far more freely worked than those to the south ; so 
 much so indeed that it is necessary to proceed one or two marches into 
 the hills to reach really valuable teak localities, a fact which is accounted 
 for by the vicinity of the town of Prome and by the facility with which, 
 in the rains, timber can be brought down the Na-weng which in the lower 
 part of its course is perfectly clear. 
 
 The Shwe-lay forests have been much better preserved owing to the 
 river of that name being blocked up with sand and rubbish in the plains 
 to the west of Poung-day. Since the occupation of the country by the 
 British and the formation of a separate forest department which can control 
 the working of the forests and prevent them from being exhausted, a canal 
 has been constructed to avoid the obstruction and thus to open up these 
 tracts which are probably some of the richest in Pegu, the area covered 
 with teak being estimated at 95 square miles, and the average number of 
 first class teak trees per square mile (in 1857 — 59) at 2,000. Some parts are 
 still richer, one forest near the village of Gyo-beng-aing, first noticed by the 
 then Assistant Commissioner of Tharrawaddy, Captain (now Colonel) David 
 Brown, having an extent of six square miles and containing, in 1857, 21,202 
 first class trees or 3,533 per square mile. A disadvantage in these Shwe- 
 lay forests is the want of water in the dry season. 
 
 * This system has been abandoned and the forests of the province are worked by the 
 Forest Department.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 499 
 
 There is some teak in the plains also, the most remarkable locality 
 being near Eng-ma where the " Eoyal forest " consists almost exclusively 
 of that species of timber and the trees are as straight and tall as the finest 
 teak on the hills of the Pegu Eoma range. 
 
 In addition to teak many other valuable species are found in the 
 various forests, as Eng (Dipterocarpus tubercalatus), durable when not 
 exposed to the damp and much used for house posts ; Thit-ya (Shorea 
 obtusa), white heavy and dm-abie and used in house-building ; Eng-gyeng 
 {Pentacnie Siamensis) , also white and heavy and used for the same purpose ; 
 and higher up amongst the Teak, 'Pyeng-gado (Xylia dolahriformis) , more 
 durable even than teak but extremely hard to work ; Htouk-kyan {Terminalia 
 macrocarpa) , used in house-buildmg ; Kook-ko {Alhizzia Lebbek), black and 
 heavy, used for cart-wheels and oil presses; Pa-douk {Pterocarpus Indicus), 
 red and heavy, used for cart-wheels ; Eeng-daik (Dalbergia sp.), heavy, 
 with a red heart used for plough and cart-poles ; and Sha {Acacia catechu), 
 used for the manufactm'e of cutch, and the inner wood, being extremely 
 hard and dm'able, for house-posts, handles, &c. In Pa-douk and Kook-ko the 
 eastern forests and in Sha both eastern and western are extremely rich. It 
 has been estimated that as many as 2,000 trees of the first kind, 1,100 of 
 the second, and no less than 130,000 of the third were felled annually until 
 Pa-douk and Sha were reserved. 
 
 The principal pagodas in the district are the Shwe Tshan-daw in the 
 town of Prome and the Shwe-nat-daw some 14 miles 
 
 ^^° ^^' south of Prome, standing on the northern point of the 
 
 line of hills which traverses the Shwe-doung township. 
 
 The Shwe Tshan-daw, on a hiU half a mile from the left bank 
 of the Irrawaddy, rises from a nearly square platform to a height of about 
 80 feet and covers an area of 11,025 square feet. It is surrounded by 83 
 small gilded temples called " Ze-dee-yan" each containing an image of 
 Gaudama. These, which unite at their bases, form a continuous wall 
 round the pagoda, leaving a narrow passage between it and them. There 
 are foui* aj^proaches to the platform on which the pagoda stands each 
 consisting of flights of about 100 brick steps, facing N.,S.,E. and W : the 
 northern and western are covered m with elaborately carved and 
 ornamented roofs supported on massive teak-wood posts, some partly gilded 
 and partly painted vermilion. The platform into which the summit of the 
 biU has been levelled is paved with stone slabs, and all round its outer edge 
 is a series of carved wooden houses facmg mwards, intersj^ersed with smaller 
 pagodas, containing figures of Gaudama and of Eahan, some in a standing, 
 and others m a sitting or lying position. Between these and the main 
 pagoda are numerous Tan-khwon-daing or posts surmounted by the 
 "Ka-ra-wiet" or sacred bird* with long streamers dependent from their 
 summits and 13 large bells, now partly gilt, hanging, with their rims just 
 off the ground, on two cross bars supported on strong posts ; these the 
 
 * In form something between a goose and a cock. It is often erroneously supposed to be 
 a hanza or goose. This latter is the national bird of Pegu, and however willing Taking might 
 be to ornament their snored flagstaffs with an image of their national emblem yet Burmans 
 would not follow the custom whereas the Tan-khwon-daing at Bha-maw and far north are sur- 
 mounted by a precisely similar figure. The Ka-ra-wiet is the carrying bird of Vishnu, 
 " which has been brought into Bmmesc mythology with other prominent objects of the Hindu 
 " pantheon."
 
 500 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 worshippers strike with the butt end of deer's antlers lying in readiness 
 near them. 
 
 When Gaudama was travelling about preaching his religion he arrived 
 near the present town of Prome and landed on an island called Zeng-gyan 
 where he was accosted by a Naga or dragon who begged for three of the 
 preacher's hairs that he might enshrine them in a pagoda. The sage 
 refused, saying that the glory of building a pagoda on that spot to contain 
 his relics was reserved to Ee-zee-ka and Pa-lee-ka, two brothers then 
 at Tha-htoon near the present town of Maulmain. The dragon there- 
 upon presented Gaudama with an emerald box praying that at least 
 he might be allowed to contribute the receptacle in which the sacred 
 hairs would be placed. Accepting the box Gaudama placed in it three of 
 the hairs of his head and by his supernatural power caused it to lodge 
 amongst the branches of a tree on the bank where it shone like fire. 
 Here it was found by the brothers w^ho finally, after much discussion 
 and search for a suitable place, guided by the prophecy that the capital 
 of a flouiishing kingdom should be founded close by, selected the hill on 
 which the Shwe Tshan-daw stands and depositing the emerald box on 
 seven ingots of gold erected over it a pagoda seven feet high. Seven days 
 later, after they had retm-ned to then- own country, the pagoda sank into 
 the earth and disappeared. Many years later king Dwot-ta-boung earnestly 
 desu-ed that the relics might be . restored and in answer to his wish 
 the pagoda reappeared and the king repaired it. Successive kings_ and 
 o-overnors added to and embelHshed it but it was not until comparatively 
 of late years that it assumed its present proportions. In 1753 A.D. Aloung- 
 bhoora had it regilt. In 1841 A.D. king Koon-boung Meng, better known 
 as prince Tharrawaddy, had it thoroughly repaired and regilt and sur- 
 mounted it with a new htee or crown of ii-on, gilt and studded with jewels, 
 the diameter of the base of which was ten feet. In 1842 A.D. the carved 
 roofs over the northern and western approaches were put up by Moung 
 Toot-gyee, the governor. In 1858 A.D. it was again put in repair at an 
 estimated cost of Rs. 76,800 raised by public subscription by an influen- 
 tial inhabitant of Prome named Moung Tha-shwe, and a few years ago it 
 was regilt at a cost of Rs. 25,000 also raised by public subscription by 
 Moung'^Shwe An. The annual festival, when the pagoda is visited by 
 thousands of pious Booddhists, is held in Taboung, corresponding to March. 
 
 The Shwe-nat-daw pagoda some 14 miles south of the town of Prome 
 is built on the high ground, forming the northern end of the chain of 
 low hiUs which traverse the Shwe-doimg township from north to south : 
 immediately below it is a small plain where assemble annually, dm-ing 
 the early portion of the year, vast crowds of people, sometimes as many 
 as 20,000, from all quarters who come for the eight days' festival but 
 nominally to worship at the pagoda. Living for the tune in temporary 
 sheds or "huts and occupying theii- time in buying and selling, in looking 
 on at wresthng matches and theatrical representations conducted, as they 
 always are in Burma, in the open air and in other amusements, the 
 scene represents a fair in which the serious business is religious worship. 
 The pagoda profusely gilt and of great height is a conspicuous object for 
 some distance and completely dwarfs the hne of small pagodas stretch- 
 ing southward on the crest of the ridge. The palm-leaf history relates
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 501 
 
 that the Shwe-nat-daw was originally built by Tsan-da-de-wee, half- 
 sister and wife of Dwot-ta-boung, the founder of the Prome kingdom who 
 reigned from 443 B.C. to 372 B.C. On one of her jom^neys the queen 
 came to Nat-toung and was told that it was so called because the hill 
 (toiing) was sui-mounted by the image of the tutelary Nat of the neighbour- 
 hood. The queen obtained from her husband two of the six relics of 
 Gaudama which he had miraculously received and from the Eahanda 14 
 more and enclosing them in a golden box she buried them on the summit of 
 the hill and built over them a pagoda 22^ feet high. King Dwot-ta-boung 
 granted to the pagoda and set apart from secular uses for ever the whole space 
 round it on which its shadow fell between sunrise and sunset and directed 
 that a grand festival should be held there annually on the full moon of Ta- 
 boung (March). Centuries later Thee-ha-thoo, son of Taroop-joye-meng, who 
 established his capital at Prome, repaired the structm-e and raised its height to 
 66 feet. About the middle of the sixteenth century Ta-beng-shwe-htee, king 
 of Toung-ngoo, who had conquered Prome, added to the pagoda and increased 
 its height. Smce then it has been more than once rejDaired and regilt. 
 
 The early history of the once flourishing kingdom of Prome, like that 
 of the other states which now form portions of British 
 18 ory. Burma, is veiled in obscurity. Records purporting to be 
 
 exact exist but, confessedly written long after the occurrences which they 
 profess to relate, fact and fable are interw^oven into such an intricate web 
 that it is impossible to disentangle the true from the false. The task of 
 discriminating between authentic statements and the embellishments added 
 by historians more patriotic than truthful is rendered still more difficult, 
 if not indeed, as regards the early periods, impossible, by the great dis- 
 crepancies found in records dealing with the same periods but compiled by 
 chroniclers of different nationalities. 
 
 It is most probable that the area of distribution of Gaudama's relics 
 after his death in 543 B.C. marks the limits of his 45 years' wanderings, 3^et 
 all Burman histories declare that he visited and preached in Burma. The 
 Prome histories commence by asserting that during his peregiinations he 
 arrived at a mountain a little to the N. W. of the present town and whilst 
 looking thence to the south-east over " a great ocean " he observed a p)iece 
 of cowdung floating with the current, and at the same time a bamboo rat 
 appeared before and adored him. The sage smiled and in answer to a ques- 
 tion of his companion Ananda, prophesied thus : " This rat at my feet 
 " shall be born again as Dwot-ta-boung and in the 101st year of my religion 
 " he shall found, at the spot where that piece of cowdung now is the large 
 " town of Tha-re-khettra, and in his reign shall my religion sj^read far and 
 *' wide. This shall be preceded by five great signs ; there shall be a terrific 
 " earthquake ; this great ocean shall be suddenly dried up ; this mountain 
 " shall be broken and for a part of it shall be a lake ; a new river shall 
 " appear ; and a new mountain shall be raised up." Thus not only does 
 Gaudama prophesy the five miraculous events and the foundation of the 
 town, but he foresees the establishment of an era dating from his death, 
 and by it fixes the time for the fulfilment of his prophecy. * Having thus 
 connected Prome with the great founder of his religion the chronicler 
 
 * The era of religion was fixed by Ajatasatta or Ayatathat, king of Slagadha, in 543 B.C., 
 after the burning of Gaudama's body and the distribution of his remains.
 
 502 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 relates a story intended to prove that Dwot-ta-boung was of royal lineage. 
 In 505 B.C. during the reign of Tha-do, 17th king of Ta-goung, a town many 
 miles up the valley of the Irrawaddy, news was brought to the capital that 
 a monstrous wild boar was devastating the country to the southward. The 
 queen's brother, who had been declared heir-apparent, was charged to deliver 
 the land from this scourge and started in pursuit. The boar first fled 
 north-east passing through a narrow passage between two rocks now called 
 Wek-iveng or " boar's entrance," and then turning south-west and making 
 for a large forest on the right bank of the Irrawaddy he crossed that river 
 a few miles below the present town of Ee-nan-khyoung. So enormous was 
 the animal that he not only forded the river without swimming, but did so 
 without wetting more than his feet, whence the name given to the large 
 village at that spot, Wek-ma-tsioot or "boar not wet." The Prince pursued 
 him hotly and at length overtook and killed him on an island in the river 
 a short distance to the north of the present British frontier, now known as 
 Wek-hto-kywon or "boar stabbed island." The Prince having performed the 
 duty upon which he had been sent, instead of returning to Ta-goung deter- 
 mined on leaving the world. " The distance which I have travelled," the 
 chronicler makes him say, " and the number of years that I have been 
 " absent, are very great ; if I return to Ta-goung and tell the king of the 
 " death of the boar he may not believe me ; I might indeed take the carcase 
 " as evidence of the truth of my story, but even then the presents and 
 " honours with which I should be loaded would still be perishable and endure 
 *' during this transitory life only. No ! I am akeady advanced in years ; I will 
 *' not return to Ta-goung, but will remain here in the woods and becoming a 
 " hermit wiU strive after Nirwana and lay up treasures for hereafter." 
 Descending the Irrawaddy he selected as the site for his hermitage a spot 
 five or six miles east of the present town of Prome and soon became a 
 Eahanda perfect in the six kinds of wisdom.* Although so holy and so 
 utterly devoid of passion a daughter was born to him two years later. 
 The historian is put to great straits to reconcile this with the holiness and 
 continence of the hermit, and can only find an escape from his dilemma 
 by resorting to the miraculous. Not far from his retreat was a pool to 
 which the recluse went daily for the pui'poses of natui'e ; a doe which drank of 
 the waters gave birth to a human infant and the hermit, hearing its cries, 
 proceeded to the spot ; the startled deer bounded into the forest leaving 
 the child, a ghi, of which the hermit constituted himself the guardian. 
 At his prayer milk flowed from his fore and middle fingers and he was thus 
 enabled to bring up the infant given to him. Matters went weU till his 
 daughter, whom he had named Bhe-da-rie, was about 17 years old when 
 the holy man, feeling that it was not right for a woman, even his own 
 daughter, to live in the hermitage with him, devised a plan for keeping her 
 away all day. Making a small hole in a gom-d, he gave it to Bhe-da-rie 
 and directed her to go to the river daily and fiU it to replenish the water-pot 
 standing in his cell. The hole was so small that Bhe-da-rie was kept away 
 at the river bank dm'ing the whole of each day. 
 
 * The six kinds of wisdom which are the attributes of a ' Rahanda ' or mortal fit to pass 
 into Nirwana without further transmigrations are (1) the faculty of seeing like a Nat, (2) 
 the faculty of hearing like a Nat, (3) creative power, (4 ) knowledge of others' thoughts, (5) 
 freedom from passion and (G) knowledge of one's own past existences.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 503 
 
 During the hermit's absence from Ta-goung two sons had been born to 
 his sister and brother-in-law but both Wind. The king, Tha-do, du-ected 
 that they should be destroyed but their mother concealed them. Some 
 years later Tha-do, discovering the fraud, repeated his order and the two 
 lads, who had now reached man's estate, were placed with some food on a 
 bamboo raft and cast loose on the Irrawaddy. Passing near the bank at 
 Tsit-kaing a Bhee-loo-ma, or ogress, dropped on to the raft from the over- 
 hanging branch of a Tsit tree and floated down the river with them. Day by 
 day she robbed them of their food as they sat down to eat. One day just 
 as the Bhee-loo-ma was dipping her hand into the dish Ma-ha-tham-ba-wa, 
 the elder of the two brothers, seized her and was about to stab her when she 
 promised to cm-e their blindness if they would spare her. To this they agreed 
 and she commenced to administer medicines, the raft still floating down 
 the river. As the jom-ney continued the cm-e progressed ; opposite the pres- 
 ent town of Tsa-leng or " beginning of light " they first saw faint glim- 
 merings; lower down, just below the present British frontier, they first 
 saw clearly and cried out " Mo-hoon-mye-dai,'" that is "the sky is as a cover 
 "and the earth is underneath it"; the place is called Mye-dai to this day. 
 Continuing on their way they soon arrived at the spot where Bhe-da-rie was 
 endeavom'ing to fill her gourd. Ma-ha-tham-ba-wa taking it from her 
 enlarged the hole with his dagger and the gourd then rapidly filling she 
 carried it to her father and related what had happened. The old man sent 
 for the two princes, Ma-ha-tham-ba-wa and Tsoo-la-tham-ba-wa, and finding 
 that they were his nephews gave Bhe-da-rie to wife to the elder. This was 
 in the year 60 of the era of reUgion or 464 B.C. On the night of the mar- 
 riage Gaudama's prediction was partially fulfilled : there was a terrific earth- 
 quake, the sea was dried up, the waters forming a lake near the foot of the 
 hill on which the Booddha had stood, a new river — now called the Na-weng — 
 aj^peared, and a new mountain rose up perpendicularly in a plain. 
 
 Three tribes wandering from the east now arrive at Prome and quarrel 
 as to the possession of the site for a settlement. The Kan-ran and Thek, bemg 
 beaten, move further westward into Arakan, and the Proo or Pj^oo remain and 
 elect a woman as chief. In some histories an account is given of this queen 
 obtaining from the aborigines a grant of as much land as could be enclosed 
 within an ox-hide and, like Dido, cutting the hide into strips. The Pyoo 
 were soon engaged in disputes with their neighbours and at last had to beg for 
 the assistance of Ma-ha-tham-ba-wa and of his brother Tsoo-la-tham-ba-wa, 
 the former of whom married the Pyoo sovereign. After reigning for six years 
 Ma-ha-tham-ba-wa died leaving two children, an infant son by Bhe-da-rie 
 and a daughter by the Pyoo queen : he was succeeded by his brother Tsoo-la- 
 tham-ba-wa v/ho married Bhe-da-rie and after a reign of 35 years was followed 
 by his nephew and step-son Dwot-ta-boung. Dwot-ta-boung married his 
 half-sister Tsan-da-de-wee, daughter of Ma-ha-tham-ba-wa and the Pyoo 
 queen and, all the five events predicted by Gaudama having taken place, 
 shortly afterwards founded the city of Tha-re-khettra or Pia-thay-myo on the 
 spot where his grand-father the hermit lived and his mother, his wife 
 and himself were born. The date of the foundation of this city can be 
 fixed with some certainty, for some of the histories of Prome — all of which 
 agree in giving 101 of the Booddhist religious era as the date — state 
 that it was in the first year after the first great Booddhist council ; and this,
 
 504 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 it is known from perfectly independent testimony, took place circa 443 B.C. 
 Tsoo-la-tham-ba-wa must, therefore, have succeeded his brother in 478 B.C., 
 and Ma-ha-tham-ba-wa have become head of the Pyoo tribe in 484 B.C. 
 
 Tha-re-khettra was situated five or six miles east of the present town 
 of Prome and was, according to the annalists, sm-rounded by a wall 40 miles 
 in length with 32 large and 23 small gates and filled with splendid build- 
 ings including three royal palaces with handsome gilt spires. About 
 the beginning of the second century of the Christian era the town was 
 abandoned and fell into ruins, but the remains of massive walls constructed 
 with well burnt bricks 18 inches long by nine wide and four and a half thick, 
 the embankments" and the pagodas attest that where now are some seven 
 or eight villages, standing in rice fields and swamps intersected here and 
 there by patches and strips of brushwood, was once a large city, the capital 
 of a flourishing and powerful kingdom. 
 
 The next date which can be fixed with any approach to correctness is 
 the accession of a king in the twelfth, or according to some historians, in the 
 twentieth year of whose reign was held the second great Booddhist council. 
 This was called together by Asoka in the twenty-second year of his reign, 
 counting from his accession and in the eighteenth counting from his corona- 
 tion, and assembled under the guidance of the Ai-ahat Mogaliputra in 
 241 B.C. 
 
 The Burmese annals are by no means trustworthy and it is not till circa 
 90 B.C. * that any statements by historians of other countries can be made 
 available as checks on the Prome historians. About that year the sacred 
 Booddhist scriptures were reduced into writing in Ceylon and this fact, which 
 is noticed in the Bm-mese palm-leaf chronicles, is stated there to have taken 
 place in the seventeenth year of a king named Te-pa. This sovereign, 
 who was originally a poor student for the priesthood and was adopted by his 
 childless predecessor, must thus have ascended the throne circa 107 B.C. He 
 is stated to have been the eleventh sovereign since the foundation of the capi- 
 tal, but this would give over 40 years as the average length of the reign of 
 his predecessors except that of Dwot-ta-boung, who, it is asserted, reigned 
 for 70 years. 
 
 The Te-pa dynasty occupied the throne of Tha-re-khettra for 202 years 
 or until 95 A.D., when the monarchy was broken up by civil war and 
 an invasion by the Kan-ran tribe from Ai'akan. The last king was Thoo- 
 pa-gnya. His nephew Tha-moon-da-riet fled first to Toung-gnyo S.E. of 
 Prome ; he then crossed the Irrawaddy to Pa-doung but being still harassed 
 by the Kan-ran he went northwards to Meng-doon. He finally recrossed the 
 Irrawaddy and founded the city of Lower Pagan in 108 A.D. In estabhshing 
 his new kingdom he was greatly assisted by a scion of the old Ta-goung race 
 of kings named Pyoo-meng-tee, or Pyoo-tsaw-tee who married his daughter 
 and afterwards succeeded him. 
 
 From about the middle of the 14th to the beginning of the 16th cen- 
 tury the greater part of the dommions which had been included in the Pagan 
 kingdom was parcelled out amongst a crowd of adventm'ers from the Shan 
 states. In about 1365 a descendant of the old Ta-goung dynasty succeeded 
 in re-establishing the Burman monarchy but it lasted only a few years. 
 
 * Dr. Mason says 93 or 94 B.C. Sir J. Emerson Tennant in his work on Ceylon, 3rd 
 Edition, page 376. saj-s in 89 B.C.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 505 
 
 In 1404 Eaza-dhie-rit, king of the Talaing kingdom on the south, the capital 
 of which was at Pegu, invaded Burma and passmg by Prome and Mye-dai 
 ravaged the country near the capital which was then at Ava. Towards the 
 close of the 15th centm-y the power of the rulers at Ava was so decreased 
 that the monarchy may be said to have ceased to exist. Then- dominions 
 were divided amongst a number of independent Burmanised Shan Tsaw-bwa, 
 of whom one was at Toung-ngoo. Thither flocked many Bm-mans and Bood- 
 dhist monks, and the rulers and people of Toung-ngoo became more 
 thoroughly Burman than the rest of Burma. 
 
 In 1530 A.D. there ascended the throne of Toung-ngoo a monarch who 
 is known in history as Meng-tara-shwe-htee, or Ta-beng-shwe-htee. Four 
 years afterwards he commenced his aggressive career by marching on Pegu. 
 In two campaigns the power of the Talaing king was broken and he fled to 
 Prome. Having subdued the whole of the Talaing countrj^, Ta-beng-shwe- 
 htee removed his capital from Toung-ngoo to Pegu. An alliance was 
 formed against him by the kings of Ava, Prome and Arakan but theii- forces 
 were cleverly taken in detail by Ta-beng-shwe-htee and his renowned general 
 Bhooreng-noung and utterly defeated in the neighbourhood of Prome, which 
 sm-rendered in June 1542 A.D. In the later years of his life Ta-beng-shwe- 
 htee is said to have fallen mto bad habits from associating with a dissipated 
 Portuguese adventurer. He was mm-dered in May 1550 A.D., after a 
 glorious reign of only 20 years, in which time he had raised himself from 
 being merely Tsaw-bwa of Toung-ngoo to be lord paramount of Pegu, Tenas- 
 serim and Upper Burma as far as Pagan and the kings of Burma and Siam 
 paying him tribute. He was succeeded by the general to whom much of 
 his military success was due, Bhooreng-noung, who in consequence of his 
 having taken six white elephants from the king of Siam, assumed the 
 title of Tsheng-hpyoo-mya-sheng.* It was not without fighting, however, 
 that he obtained possession of the throne. No sooner was Ta-beng-shwe- 
 htee dead, than the rulers of Prome and Toung-gnoo, though they were 
 Bhooreng-noung's own brothers, declared themselves independent and the 
 old royal Talaing family again set up its claim to the throne of Pegu. 
 Bhooreng-noung speedily reduced his refractory brothers to subjection. 
 Commencing with Toung-ngoo he went across from thence to Mye-dai and 
 Ma-lwon, and there obtaining a fleet of boats went down by water to Prome. 
 Having subdued Prome he went northwards and had nearly reached Ava 
 when he was re-called by the intelligence that the Peguans were about to 
 attack Toung-ngoo. This attempt he easily frustrated. He now called a 
 family gathering and distributed the provinces of the empire among his 
 brothers, maldng them tributary princes of Martaban, Prome and Toung-ngoo. 
 
 The great king, Tsheng-byoo-mya-sheng, died 1581 A.D., and his vast 
 empu'e shortly afterwards fell to pieces. The seat of government was removed 
 after his death to Toung-ngoo, and one of his younger sons, Gnyoimg-ran- 
 meng-tara, established his capital at Ava. 
 
 The second dj-nasty of Ava kings which was thus established lasted 
 for about a century and a half, and was ultimately terminated by an invasion 
 from Pegu. The Talaing were driven to revolt by the misgovernment of 
 the of&cers sent down fi'om Ava. They established their independence and 
 the second king, Byee-gnya-da-la, invaded the Bm'man territory, captm-ed 
 
 * Lord of many white elephants. 
 
 G4
 
 606 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Ava, and carried off the king a prisoner to Pegu. The whole of Upper 
 Burma was reduced, with the exception of one village, Moot-tsho-blio, some 
 miles to the north of Ava. The headman of this village was one Moung- 
 oung-ze-ya. He refused to surrender to the Talaing conquerors and was re- 
 peatedly attacked but invariably unsuccessfully. The fame of his patriotism 
 and ability soon spread and a great crowd of Burmans, who chafed under the 
 domination of the Talaing, gathered round him and acknowledged him as 
 their leader. With their assistance he drove the Talaing out of Ava and 
 the whole of Upper Burma. He then assumed the title of Aloung-meng- 
 tara-gyee, or Aloung-bhoora (corrupted by Europeans into Alompra) and 
 became the founder of the third and present dynasty of Ava kings (1753 A.D.). 
 His native village he dignified with the name of Ka-ta-na-thien-ga-koon- 
 boung. In 175B he conquered Pegu, and carried away ca^Dtive to Ava Bya- 
 hmaing-tee-raza, the last of the Talaing kings. 
 
 From this period till the annexation of Pegu by Lord Dalhousie at the 
 close of the second Burmese war Prome remained a province of the Burman 
 kingdom. 
 
 The district, although adjoining the once famous kingdom of Pegu 
 contains only five Talaing. On the first annexation 
 Population. ^^ ^^^ province the present Thayet district, as 
 
 already stated, formed a portion of Prome and was not separated 
 from it till 1870 ; up to that year the statistics of population of the two 
 districts are mixed up together. In 1855 the population of what is now Prome 
 numbered 79,226 souls and 171,773 in 1860, in other words it had more than 
 doubled, owing to the gradual quieting down of the country, the return of 
 families to their homes and to immigration from Upper Burma, the tide of 
 which had akeady set in. When the census was taken in 1872 the number 
 of inhabitants was found to be 274,872, but this included travellers and 
 temporary residents and of these, considering that the Irrawaddy forms the 
 main artery of communication, there must have been very many. Though 
 but little confidence can be reposed in the returns of the Thoogyee yet it is 
 impossible to suppose that they were so seriously out as this would seem to 
 shew them, and this the more especially as havmg themselves been the 
 enumerators they would not, with the census figures before them, have, in 
 the following year, suddenly brought down the population, as they did, 
 from 274,872 to 266,067 had they not some reasonable explanation to offer. 
 The various races were : — 
 
 Burmese .. .. .. •• 256,864 
 
 Khyeng .. .. .. .. 10,796 
 
 Kareng . . . . . . , . 2 ,382 
 
 Shan .. .. .. .. 1,297 
 
 Kathay .. .. .. .. 1,814 
 
 Hindoos .. .. .. .. 285 
 
 Mahomedans . . . . . . . • 1,082 
 
 Chinese and persons of mixed Chinese descent . . . . 259 
 
 Other races inchiding Europeans, Eurasians, Malays, &c. . . 63 
 
 Total .. 274,872 
 
 Except amongst the Khyeng, Kareng and Kathay travellers were 
 probably included under every head but to what extent it is impossible 
 to say.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 507 
 
 The population in 1877 was — 
 
 Biirmans .. .. .. .. 264,043 
 
 Talaing . . . . . . . . 5 
 
 Shan . . . . . . , . 1,748 
 
 Khyeng •• .. .. .. 9,'760 
 
 Chinese . . , . . , . _ 229 
 
 Kathay .. .. ., .. i^080 
 
 Kareng .. .. .. .. 2,895 
 
 Natives of India . . . . . . . . 2,099 
 
 All others . . . . . . . . 319 
 
 Total . . 282,178 
 
 The lOiyeng, a portion of the mountain race which extends far north 
 into Upper Burma and westward into Ai-akan, are found generally in the 
 country to the west of the Irrawaddy, though there are some villages on the 
 east. When living near the Burmese the men adojjt the Burmese costume 
 much more readily than the women whose tattooed faces unmistakeably 
 betray their origin.* In the jungle villages the men are rarely tattooed and 
 wear as little clothing as possible. If those near the plains are questioned 
 they wiU probably reply that they are Booddhists but then- Buddhism is only 
 an outward crust ; they foUow the example of their Burman neighbours and 
 on the annual pagoda festivals go with the multitude and conform somewhat 
 to the Burman customs. As a race they are naturally cruel to strangers 
 but staunch friends to each other, and a Kliyeng dacoit is the embodiment 
 of craft and malice ; at the same time more dreaded by the Burmans than 
 any other for his savage cruelties and disliked by the police for his abilit}', 
 aided by the connivance of his friends, to avoid capture. The Shan are 
 settlers from the north-east of Ava, a patient, hard-working people, who are 
 excellent gardeners ; occasionally, however, they take to robbery but rarely 
 in armed gangs. The Kathays, Hmdoos by religion, are Manipm-is who 
 have resided in Prome for many years, brought thither as Bm-man captives. 
 They occupy a distinct quarter of the town between the river and the great 
 ShweTshan-daw pagoda and are principally engaged in weaving silk poo-tsho 
 and hta-mien, worn by the Bm-mese and Talaing men and women through- 
 out the Province. Owing to the improvements which are being carried out 
 in Prome many have gone south to Shwe-doung, Kyee-thay and other 
 villages on the east bank of the Irrawaddy. They are found nowhere else 
 in British Burma except in Eangoon where there arc only 31 of them. 
 The Hindoos, Mahomedans and Chinese are immigrants who come merely 
 to make money and who are engaged, the first largely in cattle dealing and 
 the other two races in trade, settling m the various towns and larger villages. 
 The total agi-icultural population was returned as (and this is probably 
 nearly accm-ate) 73,505, of whom 38,340 were males above 20 years 
 of age, and the average holding was shewn as 4*42 acres. The number of per- 
 sons dependent upon agricultm-e was about 73,505, but it is not possible to 
 attain absolute accm-acy on this point as large numbers are agriculturists or 
 fishermen as the season serves, and more still have, under the charge of some 
 person of their families, small retail shops in which articles of almost every 
 sort and kind are offered for sale. That the number of agi-icultm-ists is not 
 
 • This custom of tattooing the face in close lines so as to render it of an almost uniform blue 
 colour is dying out — vide sub tit " Khyeng".
 
 508 
 
 BEITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 more than 26*74 per cent, in such an agricultmral country is due to the large 
 trading towns, Prome with 31,157, Shwe-doung with 12,654 and Poung-day 
 with 5,630 inhabitants ; deducting these the percentage of agriculturists to 
 the whole population was 68*71 . 
 
 The total male and female population according to ages was : — 
 
 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Not exceeding one year 
 
 6,448 
 
 6,184 
 
 12,632 
 
 Above 1 year and not exceeding 
 
 6 years 
 
 22,295 
 
 23,422 
 
 45,717 
 
 6 do. do. 
 
 12 ,, 
 
 21,326 
 
 20,302 
 
 41,628 
 
 „ 12 do. do. 
 
 20 „ 
 
 18,076 
 
 17,152 
 
 35,228 
 
 „ 20 do. do. 
 
 30 ,, 
 
 22,145 
 
 22,339 
 
 44,484 
 
 „ 30 do. do. 
 
 40 „ 
 
 20,708 
 
 19,344 
 
 40,052 
 
 „ 40 do. do. 
 
 50 ,, 
 
 13,615 
 
 12,422 
 
 26,037 
 
 ,, 50 do. do. 
 
 60 „ 
 
 7,164 
 
 7,648 
 
 14,812 
 
 „ 60 
 
 Total 
 
 6,770 
 
 7,512 
 
 14,282 
 
 
 138,547 
 
 136,325 
 
 274,872 
 
 Taking the two sexes between the ages of 20 and 40, which may be assumed 
 to include the vast majority of immigrants, the males exceeded the females 
 by 2,094, and whilst there were more female children between one year and 
 six years old there are more boys born than girls. 
 
 According to the official returns the number of inhabitants have 
 been in : — 
 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 Under 12. 
 
 Over 12. 
 
 Under 12. 
 
 Over 12. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1871 
 
 1872 
 1873 
 1874 
 1875 
 1876 
 
 52,669 
 47,168 
 50,069 
 47,307 
 45,924 
 46,258 
 
 75,379 
 82,120 
 86,397 
 86,844 
 89,367 
 89,185 
 
 50,793 
 46,914 
 49,928 
 46,967 
 45,530 
 45,547 
 
 72,614 
 80,955 
 88,478 
 84,949 
 87,190 
 86,870 
 
 251,455 
 257,157 
 
 274,872 
 266,067 
 268,011 
 267,860 
 
 Thus according to the annual returns the males exceed the females 
 both under and over twelve. 
 
 The largest product of the district is rice and this is cultivated mainly 
 in the splendid tract of champaign country which stretches 
 
 gncn me. southwards fi'om about the town of Prome and extends 
 
 from the w^estern slopes of the Pegu Eoma to the Irrawaddy, forming the 
 Poung-day and Shwe-doung townships, and is intersected by two narrow 
 ranges of low hills ; there is some rice land further north and on the west 
 bank of the Irrawaddy but here the cultivation is mainly garden and 
 toungya. The grain is soft and is unsuited for a long sea voyage and is 
 usually consumed in the district and other parts of the province or is 
 exported northwards to Mandalay. Owing to the opening of the Railway, 
 however, a considerable quantity will now no doubt be brought south to 
 supply the China and Straits markets. Tobacco is grown on the banks of 
 the Irrawaddy after the river has fallen : the area shews no tendency to 
 increase. Cotton is sown on the hill sides and is used for local consump-
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 609 
 
 tion and is partially cleaned in Prome and sent down to Eangoon foi' export, 
 sometimes mixed with the shorter- stapled kind from Upper I3urma which is 
 brought to Prome to be cleaned. Near Prome and on the hills opposite are 
 numerous fruit gardens, the custard apple predominating ; no less than 593 
 acres are planted with this tree in the whole district, and 10,231 acres with 
 mixed fruit trees, cocoanut, palm and betel-nut trees numbering some 
 142,000. The toungya system of cultivation, called jhoom in Chittagong, is 
 extensively adopted, the estimated area so worked in 1876-77 being about 
 9,291 acres ; in no other district except Shwe-gyeng in Tenasserim is it so 
 large and nowhere in such a high proportion to the whole area. This system, 
 which is justifiably objected to as wasteful, is carried on on the hill sides by 
 the Kareng, Yabaing and the poorer Bm-mans who cannot afford to pm-chase 
 cattle for ploughing in the plains. This system is not peculiar to Burma ; it 
 was or is general in Assam, in the hills of Central India and in Mysore where 
 it is called coomree. A portion of the forest is cleared, varying in extent 
 according to the number of the family engaged in the cultivation. The timber 
 is felled in the early part of the di-y season and left to di-y ; just before the 
 rains it is fired and the logs and brushwood reduced to ashes. The ground 
 being thus cleared and the soil enriched all that is necessary is to await 
 the first fall of rain and then to sow the rice, oil-seed or cotton, the first 
 and last often sown together, in which case the rice which ripens about 
 October is then cleared away and the cotton allowed to hold the ground 
 till it ripens its capsules in March. After this the toungya becomes waste. 
 One peculiar kind of injury caused by toungya is the over-luxmiant 
 growth of the dense forest that in most cases immediately occupies the 
 soil, fertilized by the large amount of ashes and not yet exliausted by the 
 single harvest it has yielded. In some respects the toungya system may 
 have its advantages. In this district, especially on the dry hills near the 
 Na-weng, the bm-ning of the trees and shrubs for toungya cultivation does 
 not create a mass of low dense forest as in the other parts of the province ; 
 on the contrary the fertilizing effect of the ashes has the opposite effect for 
 an unusual number of young trees are found on deserted toungya among 
 which there is generally a due proportion of teak. 
 
 The area under each principal crop in each year, since Thayet was 
 formed into a separate district, has been, in acres : — 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 
 QQ 
 
 'a 
 
 a 
 
 d 
 
 CO 
 
 05 
 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 
 qj 
 
 CO 
 
 60 
 
 S 
 
 ^ 
 
 to 
 
 '3 
 
 "S 
 
 
 
 CJ 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 01 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 « 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 H 
 
 > 
 
 ^ 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 150,793 
 
 5G9 
 
 24 
 
 2,036 
 
 
 182,580 
 
 
 1870-71 . . 
 
 29,158 
 
 There were also 1,894 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 acres under cotton. 
 
 1871-72 . . 
 
 152,032 
 152,540 
 
 533 
 1,340 
 
 24 
 
 55 
 
 2,266 
 2,270 
 
 16,676 
 
 169,892 
 
 Cotton 1,775. 
 
 1872-73 . . 
 
 2,667 1 11,020 
 
 Cotton 1,529. 
 
 1873-71 . . 
 
 153,330 
 
 1,755 
 
 52 
 
 2,144 
 
 2,437 
 
 7,186 
 
 166,904 
 
 Cotton 18,28. 
 
 1874-75 . . 
 
 150,'.)51 
 
 10 
 
 56 
 
 1,677 
 
 2,923 
 
 11,270 
 
 166,887 
 
 
 1875-76 . . 
 
 151.2!)6 
 
 40 
 
 71 
 
 1,749 
 
 2,959 
 
 10,725 
 
 169,840 
 
 
 1876-77 . . 
 
 152 450 
 
 1,340 
 
 55 
 
 2,270 
 
 2,767 
 
 11,020 
 
 169,992 
 
 Cotton 15,29. 
 
 1877-78 . . 
 
 151,920 
 
 19 
 
 94 
 
 2,154 
 
 3,747 
 
 12,155 
 
 170,089 

 
 510 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Since 1870-71 inclusive, the agricultural stock, according to the returns 
 jiven in the Annual Administration Eeports, has been : — 
 
 
 
 'Ti 
 
 
 
 T3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 li 
 
 
 
 (S 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 
 -3 § 
 
 CO 
 
 
 m 
 
 — eg 
 
 1 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 o3 
 
 - ^ 
 
 O) 
 
 
 S^o 
 
 A 
 
 m 
 
 sp 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 ■f-H 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 
 tD 
 
 
 ft 
 
 ,2 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 fp 
 
 U 
 
 P-t 
 
 S 
 
 xn 
 
 S 
 
 Q 
 
 s 
 
 pq 
 
 1870-71 
 
 17,417 
 
 82,948 
 
 774 
 
 10,379 
 
 605 
 
 27 
 
 28,723 
 
 37,737 
 
 1,213 
 
 1871-72 
 
 19,702 
 
 82,816 
 
 681 
 
 10,300 
 
 679 
 
 24 
 
 26,256 
 
 29,445 
 
 1,200 
 
 1872-73 
 
 20,314 
 
 85,222 
 
 545 
 
 10,585 
 
 819 
 
 22 
 
 28,592 
 
 31,490 
 
 1,313 
 
 1873-74 
 
 18,584 
 
 84,917 
 
 495 
 
 9,875 
 
 776 
 
 25 
 
 28,627 
 
 31,451 
 
 1,349 
 
 1874-75 
 
 20,085 
 
 87,504 
 
 481 
 
 9,411 
 
 609 
 
 20 
 
 29,838 
 
 32,035 
 
 1,358 
 
 1876-76 
 
 21,851 
 
 90,128 
 
 501 
 
 9,280 
 
 707 
 
 21 
 
 29,785 
 
 32,084 
 
 1,362 
 
 1876-77 
 
 20,314 
 
 85,222 
 
 545 
 
 10,585 
 
 819 
 
 22 
 
 28,592 
 
 31,490 
 
 1,313 
 
 1877-78 
 
 25,606 
 
 98,871 
 
 523 
 
 10,774 
 
 855 
 
 8 
 
 31,599 
 
 33,485 
 
 1,185 
 
 The average quantity of land held by each cultivator is seven acres, 
 generally in one plot, but in some cases intersected by other properties. 
 In Pa-doung the land is a good deal encumbered, owing probably to its having 
 been more thickly inhabited in former years and to many of the inhabitants 
 having crossed the river to Shwe-doung and mortgaged their land to obtain 
 funds for trading, but as a general rule the proprietors every where live close 
 to the land which they own. 
 
 One of the most important manufactm-es of this district is silk, 
 the following account of which is taken from a paper 
 Manufactures. y^^ Colonel Horace Browne, then Deputy Commissioner of 
 Prome, published in September 1870 : — Neither the worm nor the mulberry 
 are indigenous to the province, but were, most probably, imported from 
 China by the valley of the Irrawaddy and not across the hills from India. 
 That this very lucrative manufactm-e is not more generally spread over the 
 country has been attributed to the fact that it mvolves taking the life 
 of the chrysalis, an act of impiety looked upon with horror by every 
 rigid Booddhist ; in fact, the silk growers are nearly all Yabaing, a race 
 of the same stock as the Burmese by whom, however, they are looked 
 down upon, and those who breed silk worms live in villages by themselves 
 holding little social intercourse with their neighbours. The fact that the 
 mulberry tree does not grow well on alluvial soil has, it may be x^resumed, 
 something to do with the limited number of silk growers. 
 
 The Burmese mulberry, which has not been identified by any com- 
 petent botanist but which has been pronounced not to be the Morus Indica, 
 is a thin lanky shrub throwing out several vertical shoots from near the 
 ground and growing to a height of eight or ten feet. It will not flower 
 and is therefore propagated by cuttings. After about three years a 
 plantation ceases to bear good and succulent leaves and is then abandoned 
 or the plants are uprooted. The shrub is grown principally on the sides 
 of hills but a small quantity is planted in alluvial soil by the margins _ of 
 mountain streams, though the silk produced in such localities is inferior 
 to that obtained where the mulberry is grown on high land. The Burmese 
 name for the tree is po-tsa-heng, or " silk worms' food tree". Should the 
 mulberry leaves fail the larv?e are fed on the leaves of the Broussoncfia vapy-
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 511 
 
 rifera {Ma-hlaing-hemi, the tree from the hark of which is made the coarse 
 Bm.-mese paper called parabaik). The leaves of these two trees are the only 
 ones used as food for the silk worm and the silk produced by worms 
 fed on the leaves of the latter is, comparatively, worthless. The silk is of 
 a very rough and inferior description, admirably adapted for the manufac- 
 ture of the strong coarse silks so universally worn by the natives of the 
 country, and sells at about five or six rupees a pound in the local 
 market. In 1855 its value in the English market was estimated by the 
 Calcutta Chamber of Commerce at about half of this price. The price of 
 the raw silk when brought to the markets on the river's bank varies 
 from Ks. 4-8-0 to Es. 7 per lb., the average price being about Es. 5-12-0 
 per lb. 
 
 The method pursued is rude and careless in the extreme. All the 
 processes are carried on in the ordinary bamboo dwelling-houses of the 
 country which are smoke-begrimed and dirty. The larvae and cocoons 
 share the accommodation with the family of the house-owner, and live 
 and thrive in close proximity to the place where the culinarj^ and other 
 domestic operations of the household are carried on . The plant of a 
 Burmese silk filature is simple and inexpensive, consisting simply of (a) 
 a set of flat trays with slightly raised edges, made of strips of bamboos 
 I)laited, from two to four feet in diameter ; (b) some neatly made 
 circlets of palm leaves three or four inches in diameter ; (c) some strips of 
 coarse cotton cloth ; (d) a common cooking pot ; (e) a small bamboo reel ; 
 and (/) a two-pronged fork. As soon as the females are impregnated the 
 males are thrown away and the females are placed within the palm-leaf 
 ch'clets on a sheet of coarse cotton cloth two or three feet square, to 
 which the eggs adhere and which thus becomes covered with circular 
 cartoons of eggs. These when sold fetch about two annas each. When 
 the moths have laid all theii- eggs, which takes them about a day to do, 
 they are thrown away and the pieces of cloth are wrapped up and left to 
 themselves. About the eighth day the eggs are hatched, the cloths are 
 then opened and the larvae are swept by a feather on to a tray. The pro- 
 duce of one cii'cular cartoon will, when the worms are full grown, more 
 than fill a large tray two or three feet in diameter. About 12 hours after 
 they are hatched the worms are fed with finely chopped pieces of the 
 tenderest mulberry leaves, and are so fed for the first four or five days, 
 when they shed their skins. After this change they require plenty of strong 
 leaves and, beyond being supplied with food, they receive little or no care. 
 No attention is paid to clcanlmess, the frass and remnants of leaves being 
 left in the tray ; the larvjE bear very rough handling, being scraped up 
 and tossed about in handfuls when they are moved. Their only enemy is 
 the ichneumon fly, and when such a fly has deposited its eggs in the body 
 of a larva, which soon gives sign of what has occm-red, the worm is thro"\vn 
 away. To protect the larvte the trays are generally kept covered. The 
 larvae after 30 days, during which they moult four times, are ready to 
 spin their cocoons. The " ripe " ones are picked out by the hand and 
 thrower in heaps on to a small tray in which they are conveyed to the 
 cocooning tray. This is three or fom- feet in diameter and within it is 
 a large ribbon of plaited bamboo a couple of inches wide, womid round and 
 round in a spiral with its edge on the tray. The larvae are taken up in
 
 512 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 handfuls and scattered over the tray with as little care as if they were so 
 many grains of corn. They attach their cocoons, which are completed in 
 24 hom'S, to the spiral. The cocoons are torn off the plaited bamboo rib- 
 bon and thrown into baskets and two or three days later are placed in 
 a common pot to simmer in water over a slow fire. Above the pot are 
 placed a pair of cross sticks from which a bamboo reel is suspended and 
 iDeside the pot is a wooden cylinder tm^ning on a pivot. Some filaments 
 of silk are caught and drawn out of the pot, run over the bamboo reel 
 and fastened to the cylinder. The reeler (generally a woman) with an 
 iron fork in one hand and the handle of the cylinder in the other, keeps 
 catching up the filaments in the pot with the fork and reeling them on to 
 the cylinder. The thread produced is coarse and du'ty, and is mixed with 
 bits of pupse and other refuse, all of which go with the silk on to the 
 cylinder. When the silk is exhausted from the pot the larvae are taken 
 out and fried in oil for the dinner of the household. 
 
 The cocoons left to produce the imaginse are ready in about eight 
 days. As the moths emerge they are put in large covered trays for a day 
 that the males may fecundate the females, when the males are thrown 
 away and the process is again gone through. The cocoons from which 
 the moths emerge are not thrown away, but from them a coarser silk is 
 spun which fetches one-third of the price of that obtained from the 
 undamaged cocoons. The length of the different stages is : — 
 
 Days. 
 
 Eggs .. .. .. .. 8 — in cold weather 11. 
 
 LarvaB . . . . . . . . 30 
 
 Cocoon . . . . . . . . 8 
 
 Imago . . . . . . . . 1 
 
 47 — or in cold weather 50. 
 
 The silk growers are quite ready to adopt any measures, whether the intro- 
 duction of new breeds of silk worms or the improvement of their machinery, 
 which may be expected to be profitable. 
 
 The weaving of silk, of which a large quantity is exported, is principally 
 carried on in Prome and Shwe-doung, but not by any means in those towns 
 only : a loom usually forms part of every Burman's household furniture and 
 is worked by the female members of the family. The best cloths are 
 woven from imported Chinese silk, which is more expensive than the native 
 grown, the first costing Es. 36 and the second Es. 22 for a viss (3*65 lbs.). 
 The weavers usually buy the silk raw, wind the threads off clear, twist them 
 by means of a wheel and make the resulting thread up into hanks : they then 
 boil it in soap and water and dye it of the desired colour, after which they 
 reel it off again: these operations, for a viss or 3*65 lbs. of silk, take fifteen, 
 ten, two, one, five, and one day respectively, and 21 days more are employed 
 in weaving it into a saleable fabric. This quantity of silk would weave 
 into five men's waist cloths for ordinary wear w^hich would sell at about 
 Es. 13 a piece. A hta-mien or woman's dress is prepared and woven in 
 the same way, but different persons weave the centre part and the lower por- 
 tion. One viss of silk will produce 30 centres, each about four feet six inches 
 in length, woven each in one day, and selling for about Es. 2-4-0. Of the 
 bottoms six feet can be woven in one day, and these cost about Es. 1-12-0 
 each. The Kathay in Prome and the inhabitants of some of the villages
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 513 
 
 in the district, especially Kyee-thay, are noted for their silk piece-goods, 
 sometimes as many as 24 shuttles being required for the pattern being 
 worked. 
 
 In the town of Prome, and there only in this district, are made large and 
 highly ornamented boxes used for keeping Bm-mese palm-leaf books, in 
 monasteries especially. The box is made of teak and when planed and 
 the carpentering finished it is covered with a mixtm-e of wood-oil and 
 sifted teak saw dust which is allowed to dry ; the uneven parts are then 
 smoothed down and the box is covered with a preparation composed of 
 finely sifted burnt rice-husk, wood-oil and rice water. When this is diy 
 it is rubbed down with a smooth stone and cocoanut husk and water, and 
 is again rubbed with wood-oil. It is again fined down and put in the sun, 
 and when quite dry receives another coat of wood-oil after which it is put 
 away in the shade ; it is agaua washed, exposed to the sun, smeared with 
 wood-oil and put awaj' to diy. It is now ready for decoration. Figm-es 
 and fiowers are di:awn upon it profusely in wood-oil, and a kind of 
 gold size ; it is then washed in the sun with boiled wood-oil and rubbed 
 with cotton wool, after which gold leaf is evenly apphed aU over it and gently 
 washed with water when it comes away from all the imfigured parts. 
 
 A coarse kind of brown sugar is made in the Shwe-doung and Maha- 
 tha-man townships from the juice of the palm tree. The tari drawn in the 
 morning is at once boiled to prevent fermentation and is then collected in 
 large pots and boiled again, with continual stii-rmg, till it gets thick when it 
 is allowed to cool till it can be rolled into lumps with the hands or spread 
 upon boards to dry. The price varies from Es. 20 to Rs. 22-8-0 per 100 viss 
 (365 lbs.) The pots, both for drawing off tari from the tree, which cost 
 about Es. two the 100, and for boiling the sugar, which cost about Es. 10 the 
 100, are made in the di-y season in Prome and Shwe-doung ; when a good 
 workman will reahze a profit of about Es. 100. In 1877 there were 500 
 sugar-boilers. 
 
 Cutch is manufactured in large quantities in the more wooded townships 
 of Shwe-lay, Maha-tha-man and Pa-doung throughout the gi-eater portion of 
 the year : in the hot weather the work ceases. Three men generally work 
 together, selecting a spot where water is easily obtainable and Acacia catechu 
 trees abound. One man is employed in cutting down the trees and in driv- 
 ing the buffaloes that drag them close to the fm*nace, another in taking off 
 the outside wood and in cutting the heart into chips, and the third in attend- 
 ing to the fires and boilmg the chips down. The chips are put into pots 
 holding about 10 viss, or four and a half gallons, each and these are filled up 
 with water and the whole boiled for about 12 hours. When the water 
 is boiled down to one-haK of its original quantity the chips arc taken 
 out and the liquor is poured into large iron pans and again boiled 
 and stirred till it attains the consistency of syrup ; the pans are then 
 taken off the fire and the stirring continued till they are cool when 
 the contents are spread on leaves in a wooden frame and left for the 
 night ; in the morning the mass is dry, caked and ready to be cut up 
 into pieces for the market. The chips are boiled down t^vice but there 
 is not much cutch extracted by the second boiling. The daily outtm-n 
 varies from 36 to 55 lbs. The price varies considerably ; in 1868 it 
 was about Es. 5-12-0 for a maund of 80 pounds, in 1870 about Es. 4-8-0, 
 
 65
 
 514 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Eevenue. 
 
 in 1873 about Rs. 2-5-6 and in 1876-77 Rs. 2-5-0 when it was selling at 
 Es. 9-13-0 in the Rangoon market. It is purchased for export and chiefly 
 by Chinamen who send out brokers to the forests ; a very small quantity 
 is consumed locally. It is calculated that three men working steadily for 
 eight months can make about 3,650 lbs. expending for pots, food and 
 buffaloes, Rs. 265. The pots are made chiefly at Meng-boo in Upper 
 Burma and are brought down for sale. This manufacture gave occupation 
 to 2,040 persons in 1877-78 and the number of cauldrons in each manu- 
 factory averages from three to four. Owing to the wasteful manner in 
 which the forests were worked, the Acacia catechu was yearly getting 
 scarcer. This has been checked, no tree can be felled without permission 
 and a fee of Rs. 5 is charged for each cauldron used. The number of 
 cauldrons in 1876-77 was 2,443 and 2,282 in 1877-78. 
 
 The actual amount of revenue obtained from this district dm-ing the 
 Bm-mese time can never be known as no amount was 
 fixed but each official was almost entitled to extract as 
 much as he could for himself over and above the quota which was due 
 to the State and to the Myo-tsa or the person to whom the revenues had 
 been allotted. These were fixed and were generally levied according to 
 the settlement made by king Bhodaw Bhoora in 1783 and revised in 
 1801. The larger portion of this Imperial revenue, as it may be called, 
 was raised by a rate on each family, fixed generally by the chief 
 local authority but the assessment on each house was left to the 
 Thoogyee. Certain royal lands near Prome were held by a class of persons 
 called Lamaing on payment of a rent of half the produce, which was stored 
 in the royal granaries at Prome, and they were exempted from all other 
 taxation, a kind of tenure which existed nowhere else in the province. The 
 amount remitted to the capital prior to the second Burmese war was 
 Rs. 167,960. 
 
 The gross revenue reahzed during each of the first 10 years after the 
 annexation, when Thayet and a small portion of Henzada (Tharrawaddy) 
 were mcluded, was, in rupees : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 AU other 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 Land 
 Revenue. 
 
 Capitation 
 tax. 
 
 Fisheries. 
 
 Excise. 
 
 items of 
 Imperial 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 revenue.* 
 
 
 1855-56 
 
 177,155 
 
 144,231 
 
 4,692 
 
 29,347 
 
 28,209 
 
 
 1856-57 
 
 
 
 201,282 
 
 175,897 
 
 4,972 
 
 20,200 
 
 23,905 
 
 
 1857-58 
 
 
 
 279,448 
 
 198,039 
 
 6,630 
 
 20,460 
 
 24,852 
 
 
 1858-59 
 
 
 
 213,652 
 
 206,842 
 
 7,084 
 
 15,910 
 
 27,207 
 
 
 1859-60 
 
 
 
 251,465 
 
 219,590 
 
 7,764 
 
 21,845 
 
 63,459 
 
 
 1860-61 
 
 
 
 260,575 
 
 228,840 
 
 8,415 
 
 19,350 
 
 65,052 
 
 
 1861-62 
 
 
 
 257,075 
 
 278,571 
 
 8,766 
 
 17,350 
 
 54,371 
 
 
 1862-63 
 
 
 
 265,815 
 
 276,824 
 
 8,819 
 
 17,900 
 
 47,092 
 
 
 1863-64 
 
 
 
 262,243 
 
 288,187 
 
 7,761 
 
 22,550 
 
 63,836 
 
 
 1864-65 
 
 
 270,364 
 
 302,970 
 
 4,107 
 
 24,400 
 
 57,197 
 
 
 Customs are omitted.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 515 
 
 The revenue arranged under the same beads during 1869-70, the year 
 before the division of the district, and during each year subsequently was, in 
 rupees : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 All other 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 Land 
 Revenue. 
 
 Capitation 
 tax. 
 
 Fisheries. 
 
 Excise. 
 
 items of 
 Imperial 
 revenue. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1869-70 
 
 284,574 
 
 340,069 
 
 9,429 
 
 72,038 
 
 96,345 
 
 803,280 
 
 1870-71 
 
 229,061 
 
 248,988 
 
 7,973 
 
 14,072 
 
 67,618 
 
 567,712 
 
 1871-72 
 
 228,139 
 
 252,028 
 
 8,677 
 
 11,428 
 
 57,905 
 
 558,177 
 
 1872-73 
 
 227,028 
 
 255.946 
 
 11,811 
 
 40,997 
 
 47,021 
 
 582,803 
 
 1873-74 
 
 227,652 
 
 258,826 
 
 11,902 
 
 55,412 
 
 46,088 
 
 599,880 
 
 1874-75 
 
 225,072 
 
 261,632 
 
 14,575 
 
 61,729 
 
 45,423 
 
 608,432 
 
 1875-76 
 
 227,491 
 
 262,364 
 
 12,029 
 
 69,137 
 
 50,388 
 
 621,409 
 
 1876-77 
 
 231,290 
 
 267,573 
 
 12,405 
 
 74,567 
 
 60,618 
 
 646,353 
 
 The gross revenues and the expenditure on officers of all kinds together 
 with the balances available during the last seven years were, in rupees : — 
 
 
 Gross 
 Eevenue. 
 
 Cost of 
 
 officers? of ail 
 
 kinds. 
 
 Balance. 
 
 1871-72 
 
 558,177 
 
 125,424 
 
 422,753 
 
 1872-73 
 
 
 
 
 
 582,800 
 
 119,091 
 
 462,712 
 
 1873-74 
 
 
 
 
 
 599,883 
 
 131,626 
 
 467,254 
 
 1874-75 
 
 
 
 
 
 608,432 
 
 159,181 
 
 449,251 
 
 1875-76 
 
 
 
 
 
 621,409 
 
 147,703 
 
 473,706 
 
 1876-77 
 
 
 
 
 
 646,353 
 
 235,790 
 
 410,563 
 
 1877-78 
 
 
 
 
 
 685,747 
 
 159,137 
 
 426,610 
 
 The local revenues are derived from town funds raised in towns by a rate 
 on the houses, from the rent of market-stalls, cattle-pound fees and fines, 
 cattle-market fees, &c. and the five per cent, cess fund, an addition of five 
 per cent, to the demand for land and fishery revenue, the proceeds of which 
 are devoted in fixed proportions to the support of the village police, the 
 rm'al post, education and local roads. There is also the municipal 
 fund raised in Prome and administered by the Municipality which is treated 
 of elsewhere. The amounts thus raised during the three ycai's ending 
 with 1877-78, excluding the local revenue of Prome, were : — 
 
 1875-76 .. Rs. 75,421 | 1876-77 .. Rs. 88,360 
 1877-78 .. Rs. 63,231. 
 
 The principal towns are : — 
 
 Prome, the head-quarters of the district, which is situated in 18° 47' 53" N. 
 
 and 95° 18' 18" E. on the left bank of the Irrawaddy at 
 
 Towns. ^j^p mouth of the Na-weng on the great north road from 
 
 Rangoon. It is now the terminus of the Irrawaddy Valley (State) Railway.
 
 516 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER, 
 
 To the south and south-east it is closed in by low pagoda-topped hills, on 
 one of which stands the conspicuous gilded Shwe Tshan-daw. It is the 
 third largest town in the province, having a population which from 21,000 
 souls in 1863 had risen to 25,631 in 1873 and to 26,826 in 1877. In 1862 it 
 was burned down and was re-laid out in straight and broad streets by the then 
 Deputy Commissioner, Major (now Colonel) David Brown. It contains Court- 
 houses, two Schools — one for boys and one for girls, — a Hospital and Dispen- 
 sary, a Lock-hospital, a Telegraph office, and two good and well supplied 
 bazaars besides fish and meat markets, a Travellers' bungalow, Circuit-house, 
 a Baptist chapel and two churches — one for the Anglicans, in course of 
 construction, the other for the Koman Catholics finished. Its principal 
 manufactures are silk cloths, large gilt boxes for holding palm-leaf books, and 
 lacquer ware. 
 
 Shwe-doimg, in 18° 42' N". and 95° 17' 30" E. is on the left bank of 
 the Irrawaddy at the mouth of the little Koo-la stream, eight miles below 
 Prome, on the north road from Rangoon. It has grown up since the occupation 
 of Pegu by the British from the junction of the two villages of Meng-day to the 
 north and Pyouk-tshiep, or more properly Myouk-tshiep, to the south, lying one 
 on each side of the Koo-la ; the old town of Shwe-doung, which has dwindled to 
 a mere village, is some miles further south. In 1866 it had a popu- 
 lation of 8,700 souls, which in 1873 had increased to 12,654, and in 1877 
 to 13,588. It is well laid out with roads and has a flourishing bazaar 
 and a Court-house where the Extra Assistant Commissioner in charge of 
 the township of the same name holds his com-t. The inhabitants are 
 merchants, rice cultivators, weavers and coolies. A large trade is done in 
 rice produced in the fertile tract lying to the south and east of the town. 
 The local revenue in 1877-78 was Rs. 24,989. 
 
 Pa-doung, in 18° 41' N". and 95° 13' 20" E., the head-quarters of 
 the township of the same name and of the sub-division, is on the right bank of 
 the Irrawaddy about 15 miles below Prome on the road across the Toung- 
 goop pass into Arakan. It is somewhat celebrated in Burmese history as 
 having been the place of refuge of Tha-moon-da-riet, kmg of Prome, at the 
 end of the first century of the Christian era, when the Prome kingdom was 
 destroyed by internal dissensions and by the Kan-ran tribe from Arakan 
 and, many centuries later in 1784 A. D., the place of assembly of the 
 Burman army which conquered Arakan and annexed it to the Burman 
 empire. In both the Anglo-Burman wars there was some fighting here. 
 It is a long narrow town, hemmed in by rice fields on one side and by the 
 Irrawaddy on the other, with one main street running through it along the 
 river bank, a portion of the Toung-goop road. It has never been a large 
 place : in 1868 it had a population of 2,866 souls — Burmese, Shan, Khyeng, 
 Chinese, and natives of Madras and Bengal — and in 1877 of 2,897. It 
 has a bazaar fairly well supplied with the produce of the township, such 
 as rice, chillies, onions, tobacco, sessamum, stick-lac, cutch and a kind of 
 matting. A small local revenue of Rs. 2,994 was raised in 1877-78. 
 
 Poimg-day, in 18° 27' 9" N. and 95° 34' 49'' E., the head-quarters of 
 the Poung-day sub-division of the district, is situated in extensive rice plains, 
 between the Wai-gyee and Kyat rivers on the north and south, 33 miles 
 south-east of Prome, on the main road from Rangoon to the north where the 
 old road from Ta-pwon in the Henzada district joins it, and on the Railway.
 
 BBITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 517 
 
 It has a good bazaar and a Court-bouse in wbicb the Assistant Commis- 
 sioner holds his Comi ; there are also a Public Works Department inspec- 
 tion bungalow, a Dispensary, a small Lock-up and a Eailway station. In 
 1868 it had a population of 5,549 souls, in 1873 of 5,630 and in 1878 of 
 5,390. In 1877-78 the local revenue was Es. 13,238. 
 
 Ta-heng-ta-ga, not far fromPcmig-day, Peng-ga-daw , which almost forms 
 a portion of Poung-day, Toung-hon-imjo, which almost forms a portion of 
 Shwe-doung, and Kyce-thay and Gnyoung-tsa-re on the right bank of the Irra- 
 waddy, the last near the southern confines of the district, are large and 
 flom'ishing villages. 
 
 The climate of Prome to some extent resembles that of other districts 
 in Bm-ma but it is much drier. The seasons succeed 
 ^ ^' each other with equal regularity. The returns of the 
 
 nine years ending with 1875 give the rainfall and temperature as : — 
 
 
 Raikfall, in inches. 
 
 Average tempebature in the shade. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 May. 
 
 
 
 Julv. 
 
 
 December 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 S 
 
 1 
 a> 
 
 a 
 
 <u 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 ft 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 o 
 O 
 
 "3 
 o 
 H 
 
 (O 
 m 
 
 ■a 
 02 
 
 a 
 
 (M 
 
 03 
 CO 
 
 a 
 m 
 
 -a 
 
 a 
 
 m 
 
 to 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 CZ2 
 
 1867.. 
 
 8-53 
 
 2027 
 
 6-33 
 
 35-13 
 
 82 
 
 92 
 
 90 
 
 77 
 
 86 
 
 83 
 
 63 
 
 80 
 
 78 
 
 1868.. 
 
 5-80 
 
 35-90 
 
 5-20 
 
 48-50 
 
 80 
 
 92 
 
 89 
 
 77 
 
 84 
 
 81 
 
 65 
 
 80 
 
 80 
 
 1869.. 
 
 4-40 
 
 23-50 
 
 5-90 
 
 34-00 
 
 70 
 
 102 
 
 99 
 
 72 
 
 90 
 
 82 
 
 68 
 
 86 
 
 80 
 
 1870.. 
 
 9-94 
 
 32'73 
 
 3-54 
 
 46-21 
 
 78 
 
 88 
 
 83 
 
 76 
 
 88 
 
 82 
 
 61 
 
 82 
 
 79 
 
 1871.. 
 
 13-55 
 
 3814 
 
 11-42 
 
 63-11 
 
 78 
 
 86 
 
 82 
 
 76 
 
 82 
 
 80 ' 64 
 
 80 
 
 77 
 
 1872.. 
 
 611 
 
 33-75 
 
 6-76 
 
 46-62 
 
 |94 
 |80 
 
 IOa.m. 
 
 4 P.M. 
 
 •• 
 
 85 
 72 
 
 IOa.m. 
 4 p.m. 
 
 .. 84 
 .. 65 
 
 IOa.m. 
 
 4 P.M. 
 
 •• 
 
 1873.. 
 
 5-41 
 
 35-00 
 
 7-57 
 
 47-98 
 
 (81 
 (97 
 
 IOa.m. 
 4 p.m. 
 
 •• 
 
 76 
 
 81 
 
 IOa.m. 
 4 p.m. 
 
 .. 82 
 .. 69 
 
 10 A.M. 
 
 4 p.m. 
 
 •• 
 
 1874.. 
 
 4-46 
 
 23.41 
 
 5-96 
 
 33-83 
 
 80 
 
 94 
 
 88 
 
 77 
 
 86 
 
 81 
 
 65 
 
 54 
 
 77 
 
 1875.. 
 
 8-75 
 
 30-76 
 
 6-19 
 
 45-70 
 
 79 
 
 92 
 
 81 
 
 77 
 
 81 
 
 80 
 
 63 
 
 78 
 
 75 
 
 For the next two years the returns give : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 1876 
 1877 
 
 KAINFAUi, IN INCHES. 
 
 5-90 
 3-89 
 
 3MG 
 
 41-77 
 
 5-35 
 7-80 
 
 48-41 
 53-46 
 
 »- ^ 
 
 89-20 
 101-74 
 
 Thebmometrical range. 
 
 May. 
 
 
 
 82 70 
 80-31 
 
 100 
 106 
 
 July. 
 
 g c3 
 
 CS 4) 
 
 O hi 
 
 a 
 
 84-40 
 85-22 
 
 
 76-20 
 76-12 
 
 December. 
 
 CO 
 
 2 =* 
 
 a a> 
 
 8210 
 82-8 
 
 62-40 
 65-6
 
 518 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 In the Burmese time the district was divided into small independent 
 Administration. tracts, the officers in charge even when not of high 
 rank communicating directly with the Com-t at Ava, 
 administered by Won, Myo-thoogyee, or Tsit-ke, under whom were Talk 
 Thoogyee, Ewa or Village Thoogyee and Kyedangyee. The Talk Thoogyee- 
 ships were generally hereditary offices and on the annexation the incumbents 
 were, as far as possible, left undisturbed ; where they had joined their for- 
 tunes with the Burmans or had been killed relatives were, as a rule, appointed 
 by the British, and in some cases false claimants of hereditary title to ap- 
 pointments which never had been hereditary appeared and were registered. 
 Under the Thoogyee, each of whom had two peons, were aj)pointed 
 goungs over, on an average, every hundred families, receiving a salary of 
 Ks. 10 a month and aiding the Thoogyee in revenue and police duties, 
 forming in fact a village constabulary as well as being subordinate revenue 
 officials. In the Burmese time they were appointed by no fixed rule 
 but at the caprice of the Thoogyee. The district was divided into 
 tracts called townships, each under a Myo-ook or Extra Assistant Commis- 
 sioner, entrusted with moderate Fiscal, Judicial, and Pohce powers. It was 
 in time found absolutely necessary to reduce the number of Thoogyee and 
 this was effected by the amalgamation of cu'cles as occasion occurred. At 
 first the incumbents, whether really hereditary or not, held strongly to their 
 appointments but as work increased and prices rose many resigned and 
 others were dismissed for embezzlement and even for dacoity and other 
 similar offences, and adjoining tracts were joined : the " cii'cle " now 
 approaches more nearly to the old Talk, a designation erroneously given by 
 the English to each village tract, no distinction being drawn between the 
 Ewa-thoogyee or headman of a tract and the Taik-thoogyee or headman of 
 a circle. The number of Thoogyee has thus been reduced to 140. The 
 separate jmisdictions also were amalgamated and formed into townships : 
 Pa-doung on the west bank of the Irrawaddy remaining as the Pa-doung 
 township, at first under an Extra Assistant Commissioner but now under 
 the immediate charge of the officer in charge of the sub-division. On 
 the east bank in the north and east Thoo-won-a-bho, Kyoon-htoon, 0- 
 shit-toung, Ea-thay, Tsa-leng-ga-thoo, Meng-ga-la-doon, Ma-ha-tha- 
 man and Mo-goop have been formed into the Ma-ha-tha-man town- 
 ship, with the head-quarters at Hpoom-ma-thien, a few miles east of 
 Prome, and containing 50 cu'cles in 1877. Farther east and north-east, 
 occupying the whole of the slopes of the Pegu Eoma in this district, Mjo- 
 doung, Ka-la-thien-ga, Shwe-lay andEwa-bien, form the Shwe -lay township 
 divided into 14 revenue circles, with the head-quarters at Pouk-khoung east 
 of Prome on the Pouk-khoung stream, Eng-ma and Poung-day have been 
 united into the Poung-day sub-division under an Assistant Commissioner and 
 an Extra Assistant Commissioner, with its head-quarters at Poung-day and 
 containing 35 revenue cu'cles, the richest and most fertile part of the country 
 except, possibly, Shwe-doung which is on the bank of the Irrawaddy occupy- 
 ing the country in one of its great bends with its head-quarters at Shwe- 
 doung and contains 17 circles.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 519 
 
 The prominent statistics of each township in 1877-78 were : — 
 
 Name. 
 
 Area, in 
 square 
 miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Chief Town. 
 
 Villages. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Prome 
 
 Ma-ha-tha-man 
 
 Shwe-lay 
 
 Poung-day .. 
 
 Shwe-doung 
 
 Pa-doung 
 
 3 
 
 56o§ 
 
 722:i 
 
 328^ 
 
 80 
 
 1,188 
 
 26,826 
 51,285 
 23,776 
 82,000 
 52,127 
 43,164 
 
 Hpoom-ma-thien . . 
 
 Pouk-khoung 
 
 Pouug-day 
 
 Shwe-doung 
 
 Pa-doung 
 
 5,390 
 
 13,.588 
 
 2,897 
 
 407 
 232 
 
 486 
 277 
 252 
 
 In April 1870, Thayet, up to that time a sub-division of Prome, was 
 separated from it and formed into an independent jurisdiction. 
 
 Over the whole is a Deputy Commissioner with three Assistants, two 
 stationed in Prome and one in Poung-day, and five Extra Assistants, one 
 in the town of Prome. In 18G2-63 the existing regular Police was orga- 
 nized, and in 1877 consisted of a Superintendent with 35 subordinate 
 ofiicers and 343 men paid from Provincial revenues, and seven ofticers and 
 76 men paid from local revenues, besides a small extra force entertained 
 annually for eight days during the fairs at the Shwe Tshan-daw and at 
 the Shwe-nat-toung and Nga-myek-hna, in the Shwe-doung and Pa-doung 
 townships respectively. Of this force 24 men and three subordinate officers 
 were employed as guards over the treasm-y and the lock-up or gaol, and 88 
 were on duty in towns, leaving 316 men for general district work. The total 
 strength of all grades of the Provincial Police gives about one man to every 
 seven square miles and for every 603 souls, excluding those in towns 
 where there are Municipal or town Police. The whole cost in 1877 was 
 lis. 96,811 of which Es. 67,334 were paid from the Provincial revenues. 
 
 The education of the district was for some years solely in the hands of 
 the Booddhist monks and of a few native laymen who established small 
 village schools, and was confined to reading and writing, even simple 
 Arithmetic not being taught ; and not only was this all that the monks even 
 professed to teach, but girls were left almost entirely imeducated, almost, 
 for there were some lay schools in which a few girls, though very few, 
 managed to pick up a little knowledge of reading and writing. Almost 
 immediately after the annexation of Pegu the American Baptist Mission- 
 aries opened village schools and a Normal School in Prome, and in 1866 
 the State established a middle class school in the same town. In 1871 a 
 girls' school was opened by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 
 and in 1873 the State started lower class schools in Shwe-doung and 
 Poung-day. The education given in the State school in Prome is in English 
 and Burmese, in Arithmetic, Geography and History. In 1876-77 it had 
 an average daily attendance of 108 pupils, Burmese, Chinese, Eurasians, 
 Mahomeclans and Hindoos. The fees paid by the scholars are not high, 
 varying from eight annas to a rupee a month, and these in 1876-77 pro- 
 duced Pis. 1,312, the remaining cost of the school, lis. 4,459, being defrayed 
 by the State. The girls' school is under the Rangoon Ladies Association
 
 520 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and receives a grant-in-aid from the State, and at the end of 1876-77 it 
 had 103 pupils on the rolls, of whom nine were studying English. Its cost, 
 Es. 2,453, was defrayed partly hy subscriptions, donations, fees, fines, &c., 
 (Pts. 478), partly by the State grant of Es. 2,486.* An American Baptist 
 school for girls which formerly existed was closed in 1876. The object of 
 the town schools, which are supported from local funds, as first started was 
 to teach the usual branches of a middle class education entirely through the 
 medium of the vernacular language. At Shwe-doung the town school at 
 first attracted but few pupils, and at Poung-day the inhabitants, before the 
 school was opened, had asked for one where Enghsh might be taught, a 
 request which they repeated after the opening of the vernacular school. 
 Arrangements were accordingly made for reorganizing these two schools and 
 they are now Anglo-Vernacular. The number of pupils, and receipts and 
 expenditure during 1876-77 were : — 
 
 
 Pupils. 
 
 Receipts, in kupees. 
 
 
 Town. 
 
 On the 
 rolls at 
 end of 
 
 year. 
 
 Average 
 monthly 
 attend- 
 ance. 
 
 Learning 
 EugUsh 
 
 Learning 
 Burmese 
 
 Fees, 
 fines, &c. 
 
 From 
 
 the 
 
 State. 
 
 Total. 
 
 DITURE, 
 
 IN 
 RUPEEa. 
 
 Shwe-doung 
 Poung-day 
 
 22 
 55 
 
 .27 
 50 
 
 19 
 36 
 
 3 
 19 
 
 175 
 367 
 
 1,235 
 975 
 
 1,410 
 1,342 
 
 1,410 
 1,342 
 
 In pursuance of the scheme for utilizing the monasteries as far as 
 possible in giving a sounder education to the people than that which these 
 institutions had hitherto imparted a deputy Inspector was appointed in 
 1873-74 to inspect those monasteries in the Thayet and Prome districts the 
 head monk of which would allow his pupils to be examined and to receive 
 the prizes which the State offered to successful scholars. The deputy Inspec- 
 tor's attention was not confined to monasteries but lay village schools were 
 admitted to share in the advantages offered if the proprietors chose, and to 
 such as wished it and were thought worthy, the State appointed salaried 
 teachers and the school became liable to regular inspection, the deputy 
 Inspector acting merely as examiner in the other cases. The results of the 
 examination in this district in 1877-78 were : — 
 
 j^ Monastic 
 Successful Schools . . - 
 
 Lay 
 
 85 
 
 29 
 
 /Monasteries; hoys 
 Number of scholars attend- 
 
 "'• [Lay-schools {^^^ ;; 
 
 2,722 
 
 798 
 
 344 
 
 Monastic Schools ; boys 
 
 219 
 
 Number of prize-winners. 4 ,, ^ 
 [Lay-schools |g[JJ 
 
 145 
 
 84 
 
 This includes a building grant of Rs. 2,000.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 621 
 
 The gaol was first constructed in 185G and in that year contamed an 
 average of 215 prisoners. It consisted of a substantial masonry wall with 
 wooden and mat buildmgs in the interior. It thus continued for 10 
 years, prisoners sentenced to more than two years' imprisonment being 
 sent to Rangoon. In 1866-67, when the gaols of the province were 
 classified and the Gaol Department, under an Inspector-General ap- 
 pointed in 1864, began to take shape, the Prome gaol was reduced to a 
 lock-up and the construction of a new gaol at Thayetmyo commenced, the 
 prisoners from Prome bemg transferred thither on its completion in 1868-69. 
 In 1869-70 the lock-up was completed. It consisted of wooden buildhigs raised 
 10 feet from the ground on masonry and surrounded by a brick wall. In 
 1873-74 it had, including those remaining from 1872-73, 1,226 prisoners 
 of all classes, of whom 813 were acquitted or released on payment of fine, expiry 
 of sentence, &c., two escaped, one was executed, and 825 were transferred 
 to other gaols (prisoners sentenced to more than two months' imprisonment 
 but not more than two years were sent to Thayetmyo, and prisoners sen- 
 tenced to more than two years to Rangoon). In so small a lock-up it is 
 difficult to carry out any system of intramural labour which shall be at 
 once punitive and remunerative : the prisoners do not remain long enough 
 to learn any trade and it is impossible to employ each one at his own, 
 even supposing that it is of a nature to be rendered effective as a punish- 
 ment. The labour on which the prisoners were chiefly employed in 1877 
 was cotton-ginning, rice-husking, soorkee-pounding, that is pounding 
 bricks into dust to be mixed with lime and sand to form mortar for 
 building purposes, and gardening. The average earning of each prisoner 
 employed in hard labour was rather over Rs. 13-11-6 and the nett earnings, 
 after deducting the cost of raw material, was a little over Rs. 11-11-6 thus 
 reducing the cost of the lock-up to the State to Rs. 6,110-5-0 or rather more 
 than Rs. 94 for each prisoner during the year. In 1878 the site was taken 
 over by the Railway department, the prisoners were removed to Thayetmyo 
 and the lock-up pulled down. No prison now exists in Prome. 
 
 The telegraph lines in the district are those which run from Rangoon 
 to Thayet and from Prome to Toung-goop in Arakan. The first follows the 
 main road and passes through Poung-day and Shwe-doung to Prome, where 
 the office is situated, and thence northward towards Thayetmyo. It consists 
 of a single wire supported on wooden posts. The other crosses the bottom 
 of the Irrawaddy, a distance of 1,375, yards at the southern end of Prome 
 town, and then follows the right l)ank of the Irrawaddy through Pa-doung 
 and across the Roma mountains. This also consists of a single line 
 supported on wooden posts. In 1877-78 the number of messages was : — 
 
 Sent .. .. .. .. .. .. 3,484 
 
 Transit .. .. .. .. .. .. 54,006 
 
 Received .. .. .. .. .. .. 3.172 
 
 The large number of messages which passed through Prome is due to 
 the fact that all messages to and from the south from and to Thayetmyo and 
 Upper Bm-ma as well as messages from the whole of the province east of the 
 Irrawaddy, including Rangoon, to Calcutta and Em'ope and rice versa pass 
 through this office. 
 
 The principal road in the district is the great northern road from 
 Rangoon to Mye-dai. Entering near Poung-day it strikes the Irrawaddy 
 
 66
 
 522 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 near Shwe-doung and follows the bank of the river to Prome ; thence it 
 proceeds west and crossing the Na-weng at Nat-ta-leng turns north- 
 Shortly after leaving Poung-day it crosses the Wek-poot stream by an u'on 
 bridge of 90 feet span, finished in 1871-72 at a total cost of Pis. 35,000, and 
 at Nat-ta-leng the Na-w^ng is crossed by a bridge consisting of three spans 
 of 60 and three of 22 feet on massive teak piles which was completed in 
 1873-74 at a cost of Pis. 10,890. The whole distance is now open for cart 
 traffic at all seasons of the year, and is much used south of Prome by the 
 numerous waggons which bring the rice of the fertile Poung-day plains to 
 the river bank at Shwe-doung for export. From Poimg-day a road ran 
 southw^ard to Ta-pwon in the Henzada district, crossing the Kan-tha stream 
 by a bridge of two spans of 60 feet and two of 12 feet on wooden piles, 
 com]pleted in 1874-75 at a cost of some Pis. 7,000 and built to replace one 
 carried away a few years earlier by the timber and refuse brought down from 
 the forests during a heavy flood. The river has now silted up in the 
 centre and flows round both ends of the bridge, cutting it off from either 
 shore and it is, therefore, being pulled down. Soon after the annexation of 
 Pegu a military road was constructed across the Ai-akan hills : it ran 
 along the river bank from opposite Prome to Pa-doung and then tm*ned 
 westwards to the hills, but it is not in good repau'. A good road runs 
 from Prome to Pouk-klioung, the head-quarters of the Shwe-lay town- 
 ship. The Irrawaddy Valley (State) Eailway traverses this district ; the 
 stations are at Poung-day, Tsheng-myee-tshwai, Hmaw-za and Prome. 
 Besides the main roads there are numerous cart tracks in the plains 
 leading from village to village, all traversible by carts with ease dm'ing the 
 dry weather. The mails are carried from Piangoou by the railwaj^ daily 
 and thence to Thayetmyo by the steamers of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Com- 
 pany which arrive from Piangoon once a week. 
 
 PWAI-THA. — A revenue cu-cle in the Taroop-maw township of the 
 Henzada district which now includes the neighbom-ing cu-cles of Eeng-she 
 and Eng-daing-poo : it lies to the east of the great Eng-daing or Eng forest 
 which extends north into the Prome district. Towards the west the ground 
 is undulating and covered with Eng (Diptcrocarpus tuherculatus). In 1877 
 the population was 2,510, the land revenue Es. 1,588, the capitation tax 
 Ks. 2,315 and the gross revenue Rs. 4,628. 
 
 PWE-DOO. — A Police post in the Koo-byoo circle, Meng-doon township, 
 Tha3^et district, at which are stationed about 20 men : near the post is 
 a small village of some dozen houses. 
 
 PWO. — One of the three great families of Kareng, so called by 
 another great branch, the Sgaw, and by the English. They designate 
 themselves by the word Sho, and the Burmese name for them is Myit- 
 khyeng, that is river lOiyeng, or Talaing Kareng. They are found through- 
 out the Tenasserim division from Mergui to a little above Tsit-toung living 
 in distinct clusters of villages and in Bassein, Thoon-khwa and Eangoon, 
 where they have to a great extent adopted the manners, dress and religion 
 of the Burmans and Talaing. Though the Sgaw, are less muscular than 
 the Pwo, with whom they had a bitter feud, yet they succeeded, by 
 numerous forays before the cession of Tenasserim to the British, in 
 diminishing their numbers in the Mergui district by about one-half and were
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 523 
 
 preparing for another raid when the Enghsh took possession of the 
 country. 
 
 The sub-divisions are Mop-gha, Ta-roo, Shoung, Ha-shwie and Gai- 
 kho, all of whom wear trowsers except the Mop-gha ; these wear tunics, 
 the distinguishing mark of which is a broad band of embroidery at the 
 bottom, that of the Pa-koo Sgaw having a narrow band. Those living in 
 the south invariably build their houses so as to face the east ; in other 
 respects they differ but little from the rest of theu' race. 
 
 PWON.— A little river in the Thayet district, which rises on 
 the west of the Myeng-ba range, in the Thee-ro-pya-gyee hill, a 
 few miles north of the frontier and enters the Thayet township near 
 the frontier village of Thayet-myeng about nine miles west of the Irrawaddy 
 and flows into that river about a mile and a half north of Thayet-myo. 
 The banks are steep and the bed gravelly and very rocky. Boats of 500 
 baskets bm-den can ascend as far as the village of Pie-bwek but 
 the river is little used on account of the strength of the current and its 
 sudden rises and falls. In the dry weather it contains only a tiny stream 
 of water often running underneath sandbanks. It has some affluents, such 
 as the Zee-hpyoo and the Tsway-daw but none of them are more than 
 mountain streams. 
 
 PWON-GYEE.— A village of some 50 houses in the Nga-hlamg-kyoou 
 circle, Thayet township, Thayet district, on the Pwon stream, near the 
 somewhat smaller village of Meng-rwa. There is a small patch of rice 
 cultivation near these two villages. 
 
 PWOT-TSOO.— A village of 862 inhabitants in 1877 in the Pouk-taw 
 circle of the Ta-pwon township of the Henzada district. Its name is said 
 to have been derived from the fact of its having been the residence of many 
 locally-noted turners. 
 
 PYA-KYWON. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (East) township 
 Akyab district. In 1877 the population was 1,266, the land revenue 
 Es. 5,450, the capitation tax PiS. 1,685 and the gross revenue Pis. 7,417. 
 
 PYA-LO. — A large and increasing village in 19° 8' N. Lat. and 
 95° 16' E. Long., in the circle of the same name in the Mye-dai town- 
 ship, Thayet district, contammg 1,286 inhabitants. It is on the main road 
 from Rangoon to Mye-dai and on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, opposite to 
 the Poo-hto hill, at the narrowest portion of the river in this district. Pya-lo 
 has for many years been of some importance. Symes, who visited it at the 
 end of the last centmy, calls it a town. 
 
 PYA-LO. — A circle in the Mye-dai township, Thayet district, on the 
 bank of the Irrawaddy, having an area of 16 square miles of which 
 about 900 acres are under cultivation, mainly with rice. The population in 
 1872 numbered 1,498 souls, almost all Burmans, who owned 634 head of 
 cattle and paid PiS. 2,200 as taxes of which Es. 1,460 were on account 
 of capitation tax and the rest on account of land revenue. The Thoogyee 
 of this cu-cle is also in charge of Pyeng-bouk and Ta-zan, making up the 
 area over which he has a revenue supervision to 50 square miles. In 
 1877 the population of the three was 3,754, the land revenue Rs. 2,447, 
 the capitation tax Es. 3,782 and the gross revenue Es. 6,449.
 
 524 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 PYA-MA-LAW. — One of the many mouths of the Irrawaddy. At the 
 town of Shwe-loimg, in 16° 44' 30" N. and 95° 23' 30" E., it leaves the Pan- 
 ta-naw river, which continues to the sea and with the Eng-tay and other 
 anastomosing creeks debouches at the Irrawaddy mouth, and runs for about 
 six miles to the N. N. E. Here it curves round W. and S. S. W. and after 
 a course of 90 miles falls into the sea in about 15° 50' N. and 94° 48' E., 
 having, 15 miles above, sent off a large branch eastward to the sea called 
 the Pyeng-tha-loo. Throughout its course it is connected with the Irrawaddy 
 and the Ewe mouths by numerous large and inosculating creeks. It is 
 navigable throughout its whole length by river steamers. At its mouth 
 which is four miles wide, is an extensive bar. The Pyeng-tha-loo at its 
 mouth is about two miles wide and five and a half fathoms deep. 
 
 PYA-POON. — A township in the Thoon-khwa district, lying between 
 Bassein on the west, the Bay of Bengal on the south, Thoon-khwa 
 on the north and the Pangoon district on the east. It includes Pya-poon 
 on the south and Eng-tay on the north, formerly independent jmisdic- 
 tions. The whole of the country is low and especially towards the south 
 intersected by numerous inosculating tidal creeks. The plains are in 
 places covered with tree and scrub forest and subject to inundation but 
 elsewhere are well cultivated with rice and other products. 
 
 The principal village is Pya-poon, on the creek of that name, where 
 the Extra Assistant Commissioner in charge resides and holds his 
 court. 
 
 It is divided into eight revenue circles. In 1877 the population was 
 44,207, the land revenue Rs. 145,585, the capitation tax Rs. 52,513 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 263,227. 
 
 PYA-POON. — A creek in the Thoon-khwa district forming one of the 
 numerous mouths of the Irrawaddy. It branches off southwards from the 
 To or China Bakir near Kwon-ta and has here, at low water, a depth of 
 three or four feet, but elsewhere it has not less than 12 feet. It is tidal 
 throughout, but the water is sweet throughout the year as low as Pya-poon 
 village. The banks are somewhat steep and muddy and are fringed with 
 forest. 
 
 PYA-POON. — A revenue circle in the north-western portion of the town- 
 ship of the same name in the Thoon-khwa district. The northern and 
 western portion of the country is covered with tree and cane forest while the 
 eastern consists of a large plain : the land along the banks of the 
 streams is low and subject to inundation during the rains. A considerable 
 revenue is derived from the fishery and net tax. In 1877 the population 
 was 7,220, the land revenue Es. 10,087, the capitation tax Es. 8,135 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 28,885. 
 
 PYA-POON. — A village in the Thoon-khwa district on the Pya-poon 
 mouth of the Irrawaddy with a population of between 1,500 and 2,000 souls, 
 who are mainly engaged in cultivation and in sea-fishing, many resorting 
 during the season to fishing villages on the coast. Lat. 16° 16' N. Long. 
 95' 40' E. 
 
 PYAW-BHWAY.— A large village in the Eangoon district on both 
 banks of the tidal Ka-ma-oung creek about four and a half miles due west
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 525 
 
 of the Eangoou river. The creek is spanned by several high and good 
 wooden bridges broad enough for carts but impassable by all except foot 
 travellers by reason of their steepness and of the central portion being 
 raised above the two ends and approached by a step. This highly incon- 
 venient construction is to allow of the passage of boats which come up in 
 numbers as almost all the rice grown in the fertile Pyaw-bhway and 
 Ko-doung circles is exported by this route. There are, comparatively, but 
 few houses on the north or left bank and these are occupied by Talaing ; on 
 the south or right bank, where the inhabitants are Burmans with a very 
 few Chmese and Mahomedans, the houses are in several rows with roads 
 between them and cross roads running at right angles. There are several 
 pagodas and small zayats. As the water a few feet below the surface is 
 brackish there are no wells, but the inhabitants supply themselves from 
 tanks of which there are three, Imed with masonry. In 1878 the po^jula- 
 tion was 3,766. The inhabitants are cultivators and rice cleaners, a very 
 large quantity being husked in the village and sent as cleaned rice to the Ean- 
 goon market and in consequence there is a vast quantity of husk which is 
 spread upon the roads. Amongst the rice cleaners the men make about 
 Rs. 25 a month and the women and girls from eight to twelve annas a day. 
 Lat. 16° 40' N. Long. 96° 13' E. 
 
 PYAW-BHWAY. — A revenue circle towards the north-east of the 
 Angyee township of the Rangoon district. It is bounded on the north-east 
 by the Rangoon river, on ■ the south by the Kha-noung stream and the 
 A-gat-ro separating it from the Ko-doung circle, on the west by the 
 Gnyoung-lieu stream separating it from Kaw-hmoo, and on the north by 
 the Ka-ma-oung separating it from Ma-hlaing. Its greatest breadth is 
 about seven miles and its greatest length the same. The population is a 
 very mixed one, Kareng and Talaing predominating. To the north and 
 east there is some tree forest but the rest of the circle is open waste or 
 under rice for which its soil is well suited. 
 
 The population and agricultural stock during the last five years were : — 
 
 
 PorULATION. 
 
 Agricultural Stock. 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 M ,„• 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 '5 
 H 
 
 tb 
 a 
 9 
 
 14 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 o 
 
 < 
 
 3 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 O 
 
 Cows, bull 
 and buUock 
 
 Goats and 
 sheep. 
 
 to 
 
 s 
 
 en 
 
 "i 
 
 Si 
 to 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 1873-74 . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 , , 
 
 726 
 
 960 
 
 
 , . 
 
 338 
 
 
 405 
 
 1874-75 . . 
 
 1,427 
 
 3,763 
 
 1,158 
 
 81 
 
 56 
 
 6,485 
 
 855 
 
 1,233 
 
 • • 
 
 
 470 
 
 696 
 
 534 
 
 1875-76 . . 
 
 2,965 
 
 3,083 
 
 1,354 
 
 22 
 
 100 
 
 7,528 
 
 643 
 
 1,275 
 
 23 
 
 228 
 
 409 
 
 710 
 
 267 
 
 1876-77 .. 
 
 4,606 
 
 1,590 
 
 1,422 
 
 
 101 
 
 7,719 
 
 691 
 
 1,266 
 
 3 
 
 226 
 
 385 
 
 727 
 
 272 
 
 1877-78 . . 
 
 5,123 
 
 1,084 
 
 1,658 
 
 37 
 
 88 
 
 7,990 
 
 781 
 
 1,249 
 
 4 
 
 346 
 
 419 
 
 1,155 
 
 653
 
 526 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the revenue : — 
 
 
 Area, in Acres. 
 
 Revenue, in Rupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Garden. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Land. 
 
 Capita- 
 tion tax. 
 
 All other 
 taxes. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1873-74 
 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 12,411 
 
 14,448 
 14,787 
 16,340 
 16,429 
 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 8 
 
 12,419 
 14,455 
 14,795 
 16,348 
 16,437 
 
 27,706 
 32,073 
 31,576 
 34,297 
 34,810 
 
 8,592 
 7,965 
 8,980 
 9,525 
 9,912 
 
 1,223 
 
 1,218 
 
 2,085 
 
 1,202 
 
 28 
 
 37,521 
 41,256 
 42,641 
 45,024 
 44,750 
 
 PYAW-BHWAY-KYWON.— An island in the Irrawaddy included in the 
 Kyan-kheng circle of the township of the same name in the Hcnzada district, 
 on which is a village of the same name with 809 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 PYEE-KHYA. — A revenue circle in the north of the Mergui district, 
 adjoming Tavoy and separated from the sea by the Pyeng-bhoo circle. 
 In 1877 the population was 1,435, the land revenue Rs. 612, the capitation 
 tax Es. 1,092 and the gross revenue Pis. 1,514. 
 
 PYEE-KYWON. — A revenue circle in the Mergui township of the 
 Mergui district. In 1877 the population was 1,431, the land revenue 
 Es. 2,476, the capitation tax Rs. 906 and the gross revenue Rs. 3,382. 
 
 PYEE-TSO-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (East) town- 
 ship of the Akyab district. In 1877 the land revenue was Rs, 5,846, the 
 capitation tax Rs. 2,282, the gross revenue Rs. 8,244 and the population 
 1,814. 
 
 PYENG-BENG-HLA.— A village in the Nga-pyeng cu-cle, Mye-dai 
 township, Thayet district, situated at the northern extremity of a large 
 patch of rice cultivation which stretches northwards along the left bank of 
 the Irrawaddy from near the village of Nga-j^yeng. 
 
 PYENG-BHOO. — A revenue circle on the seacoast in the extreme 
 north of the Mergui district adjoining Tavoy and lying on both banks of the 
 Pa-louk stream. In 1877 the population was 3,583, the land revenue 
 Rs. 2,672, the capitation tax Rs. 2,047 and the gross revenue Rs. 4,719. 
 
 PYENG-BHYOO. — A revenue circle in the Naaf township of the Akyab 
 district. In 1877 the population was 1,728, the land revenue Rs. 3,850, the 
 capitation tax Rs. 1,595 and the gross revenue Rs. 5,664. 
 
 PYENG-BHYOO-MAW. — A small revenue cu'cle containing about 
 200 acres, well to the east of Kyouk-hpj^oo towTi. In 1875 it had a popula- 
 tion of 244 souls and produced a revenue of Rs. 529 of which Rs. 236 were 
 derived from the land. In 1877 the population was 247, the land revenue 
 Rs. 236, the capitation tax Rs. 303 and the gross revenue Rs. 710. 
 
 PYENG-BOON-GYEE.— A village in the Ma-yen-za-ya circle, Pegu 
 township, Rangoon district, on both banks of the little stream of the same 
 name where it is crossed by the main road. The inhabitants, who numbered 912
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 5*27 
 
 in 1878, are Talaing and are principally engaged in rice cultivation and in 
 fishing. Lat. 17^ 4' N., Long. 96° 39' E. 
 
 PYENG-BOUK.— A village in 19° 9' N. Lat. and 95° 16' 15" E. Long, 
 in the Pya-lo circle, Mye-dai township, Thayet district. It is situated on the 
 bank of the Irrawaddy, nearly at the northern end of a rice plain, in the 
 southern portion of which is the large village of Pya-lo. 
 
 PYENG-BOUK. — A revenue cu-cle in the Mye-dai township, Thayet 
 district on the bank of the Irrawaddy. In 1871, on the resignation of the 
 Thoogyee, this cii-cle was placed under the Thoogyee of Pya-lo. The products 
 are rice, sessamum, tobacco and plantains. 
 
 PYENG-DA-EAY. — A revenue circle in the Pya-poon township of the 
 Thoon-khwa district on the seacoast, extending from the Pya-poon river west- 
 wards to the Da-la. A very large number of the inhabitants are employed as 
 fishermen and a very large revenue, far exceeding that produced from 
 the land and by the capitation tax, is derived from the fishery and net tax. 
 In 1877 the population was 3,579, the laud revenue was Es. 5,508, the 
 capitation tax Es. 5,110 and the gross revenue Es. 31,528. 
 
 PYENG-DOUNG.— A village in the Shwe-ban-daw circle, Mye-dai 
 township, Thayet district, containing about 66 houses. 
 
 PYENG-DOUNG-GOON.— A small village on the Mee-thwe-boot stream 
 in the Nga-hlaing-khyoon cu-cle, Thayet township, Thayet district, in 
 which are stationed about 20 of the Frontier Police ; it does not contain 
 more than 20 or 30 houses. 
 
 PYENG-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the Prome district, on the right 
 bank of the Irrawaddy along the lower portion of the little Kha-wa stream. 
 The inhabitants are chietly rice cultivators, but in Pyeng-gyee, a village 
 on the bank of the Irrawaddy, there are some petty traders. In 1877 
 the population was 979, the land revenue Es. 1,996, the capitation tax 
 Es. 1,088 and the gross revenue Es. 3,239. 
 
 PYENG-GYEE.— An island in the Tavoy river, called Crab Island in 
 the charts, about 24 miles below Tavoy. 
 
 PYENG-GYEE.— A large village in the Pa-doung township of the 
 Prome district in 18° 30' 50" N. and 95° 9' 40" E. on the right bank of the 
 Irrawaddy just above Htoon-bho, divided into two distinct portions called 
 Pyeng-gyee and Pyeng-gyee Myouk-bhek. It is inhabited by cultivators and 
 petty merchants who supply the villages in the interior with the goods 
 brought up and down the Irrawaddy by the trading boats. 
 
 PYENG-KA-THA.— A village in the Henzada district in 17° 18' 40" N. 
 and 95° 33' 40" E. In the neighbom-hood of the village is a large clump of 
 mango trees near which the British force encamped when in pm-suit of the 
 rebel chief Myat Htoon in 1852-53. 
 
 PYENG-KHA-EAING.— A village in the revenue cu-cle of the same 
 name in the Nga-poo-taw township, Bassein district, on the Kha-louk-thaik 
 creek near the mouth of the Bassein river, in 15' 57' N. and 94° 28' E. 
 Near this village are some large rice plains. The inhabitants are cultivators, 
 salt-makers, traders, handicraftsmen and fishermen, the last of whom leave 
 Pyeng-kha-raing in the fishing season to form temporary fishing hamlets
 
 628 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 such as Kan-tsliiep and Zee-thoung. Some of the best varieties of nga-pee 
 manufactured in the Bassein district are made here. It contams a Police- 
 station. 
 
 PYENG-KHA-EAING. — A revenue circle in the Nga-poo-taw township, 
 Bassein district, having an area of about 40 square miles, occupying the. 
 extreme southern end of the cluster of contiguous islands which lie in 
 the mouth of the Bassein river ; it forms a rocky promontory running 
 out into the sea in a southerly du'ection ; the northern portion of it is 
 covered with alluvial deposit but in the south the limestone rises abruptly 
 to the surface. The rocky cliffs at Poorian Point have a perpendicular 
 height of nearly 40 feet. On the western side of this circle there are 
 some large rice plains but the remainder is thickly covered with forest. 
 The inhabitants, Talaing and Bm'mans, are prmcipally engaged in cultiva- 
 tion, in fishing, and in salt and nga-pee-making. The princij^al village is 
 Pyeng-kha-raing. In 1.877 the jDopulation was 1,426, the land revenue 
 Ks. 1,469, the capitation tax Es. 1,552 and the gross revenue Es. 5,352. 
 
 PYENG-KHYA-TSHIEP.— A large vUlage in the Toung-loon cu-cle, 
 Kyoon-pyaw or Tsam-bay-roon township, Bassein district, on the western 
 bank of the Ee-gyee, a tributary of the Da-ga. The inhabitants, who are 
 engaged principally in cultivation, numbered 590 ia 1877. A considerable 
 quantity of rice and of timber is exported. 
 
 PYENG-KHYOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (east) town- 
 ship, Akyab district. In 1877 the land revenue was Es. 2,569, the capitation 
 tax Es. 1,330, the gross revenue Es. 4,048 and the population 1,126. 
 
 PYENG-MA-AING. — A revenue circle in the Ma-ha-tha-man town- 
 ship of the Prome district to the eastward of Prome. In 1877 the pojjula- 
 tion was 463, the land revenue was Es. 687, the capitation tax Es. 470 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 1,224. It now includes Ean-damg. 
 
 PYENG-MA-BENG-HLA.— A village in the Tha-bye-hla circle of the 
 Kyoon-pyaw or Tsam-bay-roon township, Bassein district, on high land 
 between the Da-ga and the Ee-nouk stream. In 1877 it had 817 inhabitants. 
 
 PYENG-MA-BENG-HLA. — A revenue cii-cle in the Ee-gyee township, 
 Bassein district, between the Bassein river on the west and the Ta-zeng-hla 
 on the east. The country, which covers an area of some 33 square miles, 
 is flat and open. The inhabitants are engaged to a considerable extent in 
 fishing and some in cultivation. In 1877 the population was 2,365, the 
 land revenue Es. 4,298, the capitation tax Es. 2,402 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 10,523. 
 
 PYENG-MA-GAN.— A village in the Ewon (East) circle of the Than- 
 lyeng township, Eangoon district, in 16° 40' 30" N. and 96' 30' E. on the 
 stream of the same name, about five miles from its mouth, inhabited chiefly 
 by Shan cultivators. The entire population numbered 1,249 in 1878. 
 
 PYENG-MA-NA. — A revenue circle in the Prome district occupy- 
 ing the hilly country in the south-west portion of the Pa-doung township 
 and extending from the Arakan mountains eastward nearly to the Irra- 
 waddy. The hills are densely wooded; Teak {Tectona grandis), Pyeng- 
 ga-do {Xylia dulahrifonnis), Htouk-kyan {Terminalia macrocarpa) and 
 Bha {Acacia catechu) are found in tolerable abundance. In the more
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 529 
 
 level portion to the eastward there is some rice cultivation and it 
 is here that the larger villages, as Zee-goon and Pyeng-ma-na, are 
 foimd. Nearer the Arakan mountains the cultivation is carried on entirely 
 on the toungya system. The Tha-le-dan stream runs through this 
 circle from east to west, the North and South Tha-le-dan rivers join- 
 ing at the village Ma-toung ; on the latter, about five miles m a dh-ect line 
 E. S. E. from Ma-toung, are some salt springs. The inhabitants of the 
 cu'cle, Bm-mese and Khyeng, are engaged principally in cultivation and in 
 boiling down cutch, and in 1877 numbered 3,806 souls. In that year the 
 land revenue was Es. 2,493, the capitation tax Es. 1,345 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 7,036. 
 
 PYENG-MA-NA. — A village in the Pa-domig township, Prome district, 
 in 18^ 32' 40" N. and 95° 6' 15' E. on the Tha-le-dan river about five miles 
 from its mouth ; the inhabitants are chiefly cultivators. 
 
 PYENG-THA-LOO.— The eastern mouth of the Pya-ma-law river, 
 fi'om which it bifurcates 15 miles from the sea. Its entrance is about two 
 miles wide and five and a half fathoms deep. 
 
 PYENG-TSENG. — A semi-circular piece of water in the Henzada 
 district, north of the Htoo lake, having a length of about five miles and a 
 breadth of about 200 yards. It is bounded on the north, south and west by 
 high ground the drainage from which supplies it with water. 
 
 PYE-YA. — A family of Kareng; so caUed by themselves, by the 
 Sgaw called Bghai, q. v. 
 
 PYOO-GOON. — A village in the Prome district, about 10 miles east of 
 Prome in 18° 48' 50" N. and 95° 28'' E. inhabited principally by rice cul- 
 tivators. 
 
 PYOON-WA. — A tidal creek in the Alay-kywon at the entrance to 
 the Bassein river. It leaves the Thek-ngay-thoung mouth at Ouk-kywon- 
 rwa, where it is 300 yards wide, and turns up north joining the Thek-ngay- 
 thoung again near the north end of the island 13 miles higher up at 
 Pyoon-wa-rwa where it is only 50 yards broad. Its total length is about 16 
 miles ; it has a depth of not less than 25 feet at either end so that large 
 boats pass up and down. 
 
 PYOUNG-GYEE.— A small village of about 50 houses in the Kyan 
 circle, Meng-doon township, Thayet district. It lies amongst the spm-s 
 of the Arakan mountains on the Pyoung rivulet, a small tributary of the 
 Ma-htoon, and about two miles south of Lek-pan-daing on that river. In 
 former years it was under the Thoogyee of Pyomig who was appointed by the 
 Bm'mese Government with hereditary rights, but the family had disappeared 
 at the time of the annexation of Pegu m 1853. 
 
 Q. — For all words which might commence with QU. — e.g. QUENG- 
 B.LA.—See KW. 
 
 EA-BA-TENG. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district, towards 
 the north-west of the Eamree township, now included in the Kan-gaw 
 circle. 
 
 EA-HAING. — A revenue circle on the coast of the Kyien-ta-lee town- 
 ship, Sandoway district, a little to the north of the mouth .of the Khwa, 
 
 67
 
 530 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 49 square miles in extent with hardly any cultivation. It is now joined 
 to Khwa-lek-wai. 
 
 EA-KHAING-EO. — A village in the Ka-tseng circle of the Hmaw- 
 bhee township, Eangoon district, about three miles west of the Hlaing 
 river, in the middle of a large but not very fertile tract of rice land. The 
 inhabitants, who are principally Talaing and Kareng, are engaged in agri- 
 culture and in 1877 numbered 611. 
 
 RAI-DAING. — A revenue circle in the Prome district, Shwe-doung 
 township, now joined to Sheng-ngay. 
 
 EAI-HLA. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-gyee township, Shwe-gyeng 
 district, in its northern portion lying on both banks and its southern on 
 the right bank only of the Tsit-toung river or large village of Kyouk-gyee, 
 south of the latitude of the town. It has an area of about 220 square miles 
 and contains a good many lakes and ponds leased out as fisheries. In 
 1876-77 the population was 5,512, the land revenue Es. 8,444, the capita- 
 tion tax Es. 4,940 and the gross revenue Es. 14,628. 
 
 EAI-KYWON. — A revenue circle of the Kyouk-hpyoo district, about 
 five square miles in area, consisting of a group of islands off the south 
 coast of Cheduba and taking its name from the largest, marked in the 
 charts as " Flat island", in the centre of which is a so-called volcanic hill 
 about 200 feet high. The circle has a small population of 834 souls and 
 produces rice and tobacco. In 1876-77 the land revenue was Es. 1,161, the 
 capitation tax Es. 830 and the gross revenue Es. 2,049. 
 
 EAI-LAING. — A revenue circle in the Tavoy district. It extends 
 northward along the right bank of the Tavoy river from the Mro-houng 
 frontier of the Moung-ma-gan circle, from which it is separated by the 
 Kywai-gya, to the Ee-ngay — both tributaries of the Tavoy river — which 
 divides it in the north from the Za-dee circle : on the west it is bounded by 
 the hills forming the western watershed of the valley of the Tavoy. In 
 1876-77 the population was 2,770, the land revenue Es. 2,445, the capita- 
 tion tax Es. 2,129 and gross revenue Es. 4,704. 
 
 EAMEEE. — A township in the Kyouk-hpyoo district, about 437 
 square miles in extent, occupying the southern portion of the island of the 
 same name, more properly called Ean-byai (the classical name is Eama-wad- 
 dee), south of the Kyouk-hpyoo township. The principal products are rice, 
 indigo and sugar ; for the extraction of the last 252 mills were at work in 
 1874 ; limestone is found in various places on the western and northern coasts 
 and petroleum on the eastern. The head-quarters are at Eamree, towards 
 the east coast. The principal villages are Kyouk-hta-ran with 1,032 
 inhabitants, Ean-thek with 586 inhabitants, Tsit-pya with 634 inhabitants, 
 Tha-byee-kywon with 649 inhabitants, and Na-ga with 555 inhabitants. 
 
 It is now divided into 18 revenue circles, viz., Nga-kho-byeng, Theng- 
 ga-nek, Hoon-toung-bhek, Hoon-myouk-bhek, Kha-moung-khyoung, Kyouk- 
 khyoung (south), Kyouk-khyoung (north), Le-douug, Kan-daing, Ean- 
 bouk, Kan-gaw, Alay-khyoung, Ean-byai Myoma (east), Ran-byai Myo-ma 
 (south), Ean-thek, Theng-bha-kaing, Zee-kywon and Tsa-goo. In 1876-77 
 the population, composed mainly of Arakanese, was 46,838, the land 
 revenue Es. 39,149, the capitation tax Es. 50,806 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 235,402.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 631 
 
 RAMREE. — A small town near the eastern coast of the island of the 
 same name, about 13 miles up the Tan, a tidal river which is not very 
 broad but can be ascended thus far by good sized boats. The town 
 stands on the eastern side of a circular amphitheatre formed by numerous 
 low ranges of partially wooded hills separated by small intervening hol- 
 lows and ravines. During the existence of the Arakan kingdom it was 
 the seat of the Governor of the island and was then, and is still, called by 
 the Arakanese Tan-myo. After the conquest of the country by the Bur- 
 mese it was retained as the head-quarters of the Governor but was known to 
 the conquerors as Yan-byai-myo or in other words the principal town of the 
 Yan-byai governorship : this has been corrupted by Europeans into Ramree; 
 the Arakanese would call it Ram-brai or Ram-bree and the Enghsh have 
 but dropped the b. 
 
 It is difficult to ascertain, with any approach to accuracy, the period 
 when the town was in its most flourishing condition but it was probably in 
 about 1805 A. D., when its inhabitants carried on an extensive trade with 
 Bengal, Bassein and Tavoy. A few years later it suffered much from the 
 rebellion of Khyeng-bran and from the retaliatory measures of the Bur- 
 mese. Khyeng-bran appears to have had many adherents in the town and 
 after his defeat large numbers of the inhabitants were killed or forced to 
 fly the country. During the first Anglo-Burmese war the place was 
 occupied without resistance by the troops under General Macbean, the 
 Burmese having evacuated the strong and judiciously-constructed de- 
 fences before the arrival of the British force. One of these defences was 
 an unusually strong stockade ; within this all civil and military business 
 had been carried on, whence the quarter in which it was situated, one of 
 the five of the town, was, and is still, called Tat-dweng. 
 
 On the conquest of Arakan by the British Ramree was made the head- 
 quarters of the district of the same name, and so remained until 1852 
 when, in consequence of An and Ramree being joined together, Kyouk- 
 hpyoo, till then the head-quarters of An, became the head-quarters of the 
 new district. 
 
 In 1853 the population was estimated at about 9,000 souls, of whom 
 nearly two-thirds were Arakanese. On the removal of the head-quarters 
 to Kyouk-hpyoo Ramree sank to the position of the chief station of a 
 township only and since then has considerably decreased in importance. 
 In 1870 it had 4,000 inhabitants, in 1873 3,939, in 1875-76 3,826 and 
 in 1876-77 4,028 who carry on a coasting trade with Chittagong, Sando- 
 way and Bassein. The public buildmgs are a Court-house, PoHce-station 
 and an old and a new market-place. 
 
 In 1867 a school was opened and supported for some time by native 
 effort ; subsequently a State grant was made to it and when this was with- 
 drawn, in 1869, the school was closed but was re-opened in 1870 on the 
 grant being renewed. In 1872-73 a rival school was started. The grant 
 was transferred to this but in a few years both schools were closed. 
 
 RAN-BOUK. — A river in Ramree island which falls into the sea on 
 the south-western coast. 
 
 RAN-BOUK. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district, on the 
 southern bank of the stream of the same name near the centre of the
 
 532 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Ramree township. On the west is the Ran-daing circle and on the east the 
 Ran-thek and Ran-byai Myoma circles. In 1876-77 the land revenue 
 was Rs, 3,969, the capitation tax Rs. 3,471, the gross revenue Rs. 7,696 
 and the population 3,513 souls. It contains no villages of any importance. 
 
 RAN-BYAI MYOMA (East). — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo 
 district on the eastern shore of Ramree island north of the mouth of the 
 Tan river, and between it and the Daw-ra-ta and the Rit. On the north is 
 the Ran-thek circle, on the west the once independent Ran-byai Myoma 
 (West) and on the south, on the other side of the Tan, Ran-byai Myoma 
 (South) which now includes Ran-byai Myoma (West). In 1876-77 the popula- 
 tion was 2,466, the land revenue Rs. 1,961, the capitation tax Rs. 2,820 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 5,916. 
 
 RAN-BYAI MYOMA (South). — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo 
 district, on the eastern coast of Ramree island, and to the west and south of 
 the Ran-byai Myoma (East) circle. To the westward is the Ran-bouk circle 
 and to the southward the Theng-bha-kaing. It now includes Ran-byai 
 Myoma (West). In 1876-77 the population was 4,961, the land revenue 
 Rs. 1,445, the capitation tax Rs. 5,711 and the gross revenue, including 
 that of the town of Ramree, Rs, 35,613. 
 
 RAN-BYAI MYOMA (West). — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo 
 district, west of Ran-byai Myoma (East) with an area of about 11 square 
 miles, now joined to the Ran-byai Myoma (South) circle. 
 
 RAN-BYAI NGAY. — A revenue circle on the south-western shore of 
 Ramree island just north of Nga-kho-byeng to which it is now joined. 
 
 RANGOON. — The name usually given to the lower portion of the 
 Hlaing river, q. v. 
 
 RANGOON. — A district in the Pegu division occupying the sea board 
 from the mouth of the Tsit-toung westward to that mouth of the great Irra- 
 waddy river which is generally known as the China Bakir but is more cor- 
 rectly called the To, and extending inland up the vaUeys of the Irrawaddy 
 and the Tsit-toung rivers to the Henzada and Tharrawaddy districts on the 
 west of the Pegu Roma and to the Shwe-gyeng district of Tenasserim on the 
 east. To the west lies Thoon-khwa and to the east Shwe-gyeng. The northern 
 boundary on the north-west leaves the Pegu Roma near the source of the Mee- 
 neng and following that stream westwards to its mouth in the Hlaing turns 
 southward to the mouth of the Re-nat-eng-khyoung ; here turning west it 
 follows that rivulet to the Re-nat-eng and round the northern border of that 
 fen and then on westward along an imaginary line to the Alap-tsheng-eng ; 
 here it inclines south-east to a Ma-oo tree {Sarcocephalus cadamba) in about 
 the latitude of Bhiet-naw on the Hlaing ; inclining again south-south-east it 
 strikes the Pa-khwon and following this in a generally southerly direction to 
 its mouth in the Bhaw-lay it runs with that creek southwards to 
 the Pan-taing and along that to Khat-tee-ya on the Pan-hlaing : 
 thence it follows the Khat-tee-ya Re-gyaw to its mouth in the To 
 and hugs the left bank of that river to its mouth except at a spot a few 
 miles below Kyaik-taw where it includes Re-bhoo Island. On the east of 
 the Pegu Roma the line follows the Bhaw-nee-ga-le from its source to the 
 Pegu and Toung-ngoo road ; thence that road southwards to the Pyeng-
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 633 
 
 boon-g3^ee (or Pa-gaiiig) embankment and along that embankment eastwards 
 to the Pegu and Tsit-tomig canal. Here it tm*ns south and follows the 
 canal to its entrance into the Kha-ra-tshoo creek where it tm-ns east again 
 and follows the creek to within a very short distance of the Tsit-toung 
 when it strikes off south-eastwards and follows a small creek running 
 between the Kha-ra-tshoo and the Tsit-toung so as to exclude that portion 
 of the hamlet of Kha-ra-tshoo which lies south of the creek of the same 
 name. Below this the Tsit-toung forms the eastern boundary whilst the sea 
 forms the southern boundary everywhere. The area included within these 
 limits is 5,646 square miles. On the first formation of the district, after the 
 annexation, it included also Bhaw-nee, a strip of country lying along the 
 eastern slopes of the Pegu Pioma from the Bhaw-nee-ga-le stream to the 
 Toung-ngoo district, the Kaw-lee-ya circle in the north-eastern corner of Pegu, 
 the Thoon-tshay cu-cle, in the extreme north between the Pegu Pioma on the 
 east and the Hlaing on the west, and the whole tract west of its present 
 western border as far as that branch of the Irrawaddy which, in its south- 
 ward com-se, is known as the Irrawaddy, the Eng-tay, the Ee-tsoo-daing 
 the Pe-mwot and the Irrawaddy again at the mouth, as far north as the 
 latitude of Donabyoo. Bhaw-nee was transferred to Toung-ngoo in 1864, 
 and from Toung-ngoo to Shwe-gyeng in 1866 ; Kaw-lee-ya was transferred 
 to Shwe-gyeng in 1872-73, Thoon-tshay to Henzada in 1873-74, and the 
 western tract to Thoon-khwa on the formation of that district in 1875. In 
 1876 the present western boundary was definitively fixed whereby afm-ther 
 smaU tract was added to Thoon-khwa and m 1877 the present northern 
 and north-eastern boundary east of the Pioma was laid down and a small 
 tract north of the Pa-gaing embankment was added to Shwe-gyeng and a 
 small tract south of it to Rangoon. 
 
 The general aspect of the district is that of a vast plain extending 
 along the seacoast and, slowly rising, stretching north for some 25 miles 
 when, in about the centre, it is met and, as it were, checked by the lower 
 slopes of the Pegu Roma and, struggling up amongst these mountains in 
 the valleys of the Poo-zwon-doung and the Pegu, it folds round them 
 east and west and rolls on forming portions of the valleys of the Tsit-toung 
 and of the Hlaing. South of the Pegu and in the greater part of the valley 
 of the Hlaing or Rangoon, for some distance above the latitude of the town 
 of the same name, the country is everywhere highly intersected b}^ tidal 
 creeks ; the water a few feet below the surface is brackish and undi'inkable 
 and wells are useless but further north are streams tidal for some distance 
 and fresh higher up. 
 
 The only mountains in the district are the Pegu Roma which enter 
 Monntains ^^ *^^® extreme north, where they attain an estimated 
 
 height of 2,000 feet, the highest elevation of the range, 
 and a few miles lower down fork out into two main branches with several 
 subsidiary spurs. The western branch (which has a general S. S. W. 
 direction) and its oflf-shoots divide the valleys of the Hlaing and Poo-zwon- 
 doung rivers and, after rising once more in the irregularl}- shaped lime- 
 stone hill called Toung-gnyo, a little to the south of the 17th parallel, 
 terminate as a hilly range some 30 miles north of Rangoon. The range 
 is continued as an elevated ridge past that town, where it appears in the 
 laterite hills round the great pagoda and, beyond the Pegu river, in the
 
 634 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Syriam Koon-dan, finally disappearing beneath the alluvial plains of the 
 delta, being last seen in the rocks which crop up in the Hmaw-won 
 stream. The southern portion of this ridge lying between the Pegu river 
 and the Hmaw-won runs in a direction nearly parallel to and about three 
 miles east of the Kangoon river and, nowhere more than five miles broad, 
 is locally known as the Than-lyeng (Syriam) Koon-dan or " rising ground". 
 The eastern branch continues from the point of bifurcation towards the 
 S. S. E. and, intersected by the Pegu valley, sinks near the town of Pegu 
 and finally disappears south of the Pegu river, where it is represented by 
 an undulating wooded tract of no great extent. The sides of the main 
 range are, as a rule, steep and the valleys sharply excavated, but the upper 
 portion of the Pegu valley has more the character of a tableland with a 
 hilly surface intersected by deep ravines. 
 
 From Twan-te southwards to the Tha-khwot-peng or Bassein creek is 
 a tract of high undulating ground some 18 or 20 miles in length covered 
 with forest and locally known as the Twan-te Taw-gyee or " great forest " 
 or as the Twan-te Koon-dan or "rising ground", on fine days clearly dis- 
 tinguishable from Rangoon. 
 
 The principal river is the Hlaing which rises near Prome as the 
 
 Rivers ^^^ ^^^ entering this district in about 17° 30' flows 
 
 S. S. E., at first through high sandy banks, past 
 Eangoon, falling into the sea in about 16° 30' as the Rangoon river. It is 
 navigable by the largest sea-going vessels as far as Rangoon at all seasons 
 and during spring tides ships of considerable burden can ascend for 80 
 miles further, but just below Rangoon the Hastuags shoal stretches across 
 the river and bars the approach of ships of heavy draught except at spruags. 
 During the north-west monsoon river steamers can ascend to beyond the 
 northern boundary of the district and boats of from 200 to 300 baskets 
 burden can navigate the upper portion at all seasons. The tide is felt 
 beyond the northern boundary and the water is brackish and undrinkable 
 as high as the village of Kywai-koo about 20 miles below Hlaing. From 
 the east it receives the waters of the Ook-kan, the Ma-ga-ree, the Hmaw- 
 bhee, the Lien-goon and numerous small streams which brmg down the 
 drainage of the western slopes of the Pegu Roma, and at Rangoon it is joined 
 by the united waters of the Pegu and Poo-zwon-doung rivers which drain the 
 eastern and southern flanks of those mountains and their numerous spurs 
 in this district, whilst on the west it is joined to the Irrawaddy by the 
 Bhaw-lay, the Pan-hlaing and the Tha-khwot-peng and many other smaller 
 tidal creeks. The Ook-kan, which joins the Hlaing at Htan-bhoo-wa, is not 
 navigable during the dry weather but boats of 600 baskets burden can ascend 
 in the rains as far as the village of Ook-kan, a distance of about six miles ; 
 below this the banks are flat and sandy but at its source rocky ; it drains a 
 valley containing much valuable timber of different kinds, as Teak, Pyeng- 
 ga-do (Xylia dolahrijormis) and Pyeng-ma {Lacier strcemia regina.) The 
 Hmaw-bhee is a small perennial stream with shelving banks which are 
 topped during the rains and is navigable only by small boats. It is now 
 silting up below Hmaw-bhee, its waters finding their way out through the 
 Lien-goon. 
 
 The Poo-zwon-doung rises in the eastern slopes of the southern 
 spurs of the Pegu Roma and falls into the Pegu river at its mouth at the
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 535 
 
 town of Rangoon after a south-easterly course of some 53 miles through a 
 valley at first narrow but suddenly widening out eastwards. At its mouth 
 it is 440 yards broad and large ships could formerly ascend for a short 
 distance to the numerous rice-cleaning mills erected in the Poo-zwon-doung 
 quarter of Eangoon and on the opposite bank. It is now silting up owing 
 to the vast quantities of rice husk discharged from the mills. Small boats 
 can, during the rains, go to within 20 miles of its source where the water 
 is sweet and the banks and bed rocky. For some 30 miles below Ma-hoo-ra 
 or Hpoung-gyee it is, in the dry weather, but a series of muddy pools. The 
 valley through which this river flows is rich in valuable timber in the 
 north and in the south is well cultivated with rice. 
 
 The Pegu river rises in the eastern slopes of the Pegu Eoma and falls 
 into the Rangoon or Hlaing river at Rangoon. For some distance from its 
 soui'ce it traverses a narrow rocky valley and is fed by numerous mountain 
 torrents but below the old to"v\Ti of Pegu it enters a flat and fertile country 
 well cultivated with rice. Dm-ing the rains it is navigable by river steamers 
 and by the largest boats as far as Pegu but dm-ing the cold and hot seasons 
 large boats can ascend that distance dm'ing spring tides only. At all 
 seasons sea-going vessels can pass up for a few miles. The tide is felt as 
 far as A-waing some miles above Pegu and during the springs a bore passes 
 up beyond the mouth of the Paing-kyoon creek. This creek with others 
 which unite with it was some years ago deepened and widened so as to 
 admit of boat communication between the Pegu and the Tsit-toung rivers. 
 The eastern mouth was at Kha-ra-tshoo and it was found that it was too 
 much within the influence of the Tsit-toung bore and the creeks themselves 
 were gradually silting up. In consequence a new locked canal has been 
 made which leaves the old channel some miles west of Kha-ra-tshoo and 
 joins the Tsit-toung at Myit-kyo considerably higher up about 16 miles 
 above Tsit-toung. This canal, as already stated, forms a portion of the 
 eastern boundary of the district. 
 
 West of the Hlaing the whole country is divided and sub-divided by 
 tidal creeks, many navigable by large boats, which unite the Hlaing and 
 the numerous mouths of the Irrawaddy. The Bhaw-lay leaves the Hlaing 
 at Hle-tshiep and curving round west and then south and flowing between 
 steep and sandy banks and navigable at all seasons by boats of from 
 800 to 400 baskets burden and during the rains by river steamers, it re- 
 unites with it some 20 miles lower down just above Htan-ta-beng. It is jomed 
 in the north by the Pa-kwon which is navigable for some distance by the 
 largest class of boats, and communicates with the Irrawaddy by several 
 small streams ; towards the south the Pan-taing unites it with the Pan- 
 hlaing : it is navigable throughout at all times and seasons by boats of 
 300 baskets bm'den and dm-ing the rains by river steamers. A few miles 
 above Rangoon the Hlaing is joined by the Pan-hlaing which leaves the 
 Irrawaddy at Gnyoung-doon ; dm-ing the dry season this creek is impassa- 
 ble except by small boats but in the rams is the usual route of river 
 steamers proceeding to the Irrawaddy from Rangoon. South of Rangoon 
 the principal creek is the Tha-khwot-peng or Bassein which runs between 
 the Rangoon river and the To or China Bakir and is na%'igable at all 
 seasons, river steamers using it during the dry weather when the Pan- 
 hlaing is closed.
 
 636 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The whole of the valleys stretching round the base of the Pegu Eoma 
 Geology. ^^^^ ^^^ inclusive of the delta of the Irrawaddy to the 
 
 Tsit-toung is composed of the homogeneous and some- 
 what arenaceous older alluvium slightly more sandy towards the east than 
 in the west, resting on a considerable deposit o£ sand or gravel. " Along 
 " the skh'ts of the Pegu Eoma a broad belt of sandy deposits occur, 
 " lateritic in places" which " acquire great importancein the south, where the 
 " Pegu Roma sinks down and the Miocene strata composing it becomes 
 *' shrouded from view beneath this detrital talus. For some 35 miles north 
 "of Rangoon these detrital beds almost conceal the older deposits which 
 " only here and there betray theii' existence beneath them as in the Can- 
 " tonment gardens in Rangoon, and where the Syriam range finally dis- 
 "appears on the banks of the Hmaw-won channel". Laterite occurs in 
 various places as in the elevated ridge of ground whereon the ancient city 
 of Syriam stood, below Rangoon ; and an incoherent form of this rock 
 is now in process of formation out of the older or red alluvial clay. In 
 this district " no very trustworthy proofs occur of the existence at 
 ' present of the undisturbed beds of the fossil wood group, but its former 
 ' extension, even as far south as Rangoon, is proved by the occasional 
 ' occurrence of partly rolled pieces * * * * in the gravelly detritus 
 ' which to the south covers up the undisturbed beds of the group, and in a 
 ' measure replaces them along the outer hills "*. " The Roma mountains 
 ' are composed, as far as is known, wholly of beds of later Tertiary age, with 
 ' no intrusive rock of any kind, of laterite slate clay and bituminous often 
 ' dark argillaceous sandstone which last in the higher ridges is hardened 
 * and indurated, but in lower places is soft and friable, varying in colour 
 'from bluish to yellowish grey "f. 
 
 The forests include tracts of all classes. On the seacoast and on 
 Forests ^^® banks of the tidal streams in the south is the 
 
 " Mangrove" forest which is the principal source of 
 the supply of fuel and of light poles for building purposes for the 
 Rangoon market and where, amongst other trees, are found growing the 
 Kam-ba-la {Sonneratia apetala) which yields a strong, hard wood of coarse 
 grain and of a red colour used in Calcutta (it is found in the delta of the 
 Ganges) for boxes for packing beer and wine and the Ka-na-tso (Heritiera 
 minor) furnishing an exceedingly tough and light wood, according to 
 Dr. Wallich unrivalled for elasticity, hardness and durability. Higher 
 up on the banks of the Irrawaddy and of the Hlaing rivers is " Lower mixed" 
 forest where are large quantities of Pyeng-ma {Lagerstroemia regince) fm'nish- 
 ing a red wood which, though soft, is durable under water, and is used for the 
 fittings of boats, sometimes for the hulls of canoes, for house-posts, plank- 
 ing, beams, scantling for roofs, carts, and a variety of other purposes, and 
 Ka-gnyeng {Dipterocarpus alatus). Considerable areas of Eng {Dipterocarpus 
 tiiberculatus) occur on the high ground east of the Hlaing river towards the 
 north, and narrower belts towards the south, whence, especially in the 
 valley of the Ook-kan a considerable number of logs are extracted and sent 
 annually to Rangoon. " Dry" or " Upper mixed" forest covers all the 
 high ground and higher hills except towards the source of the Pegu 
 
 * Mr. Theobald's report in the Memoirs of the Geological Survey of ludia, Vol. X., Pai't 2. 
 t Dr. McClelland in Records of the Government of India, Vol IX.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 537 
 
 river where evergreen forest is met with. Here Thit-ka {Cedreela toona) 
 and Pyeng-ka-do {Xylia dolabriformis) abound, the former much used of late 
 years for cabinet pm-poses and the heartwood of the latter lasting as long 
 as teak, but very heavy, a cubic foot weighing from 60 to 66 lbs. The 
 most important tree in this class of forest is Teak {Tectona grandis) and 
 the richest localities are on the western feeders of the Pegu river ; the Poo- 
 zwon-doung river in the upper portion of its com-se flows between hills 
 covered with excellent Teak, and west of the Pegu Pioma the Ook-kan and 
 other tributaries of the Hlaing drain valleys containing a good deal of this 
 valuable timber. Much of the forest in the upper part of the Pegu valley 
 is dense " Evergreen" or evergreen mixed with Pyeng-ka-do {Xylia dolabri- 
 formis) and other trees which shed their leaves. There are two Teak 
 " Eeserves" neither of great extent, one on the western slopes of the Pioma 
 in the valley of the Ma-ga-ree and one on the right bank of the Pegu not far 
 from its somxe. There is also a Teak plantation near Kyek-hpyoo-gan on the 
 Prome road. 
 
 The local accounts and the Telugu and Tamil traditions seem to shew 
 j^gj. that probably some thousand years B. C. the inhabitants 
 
 of Talingana visited and colonized the coast of Burma, find- 
 ing there a Moon population, a branch of the Kolarian tribes of India whose 
 name still remains in the designation by which the Peguans call themselves, 
 whilst " Talingana", the country of the colonists, appears in the word Talaing 
 by which they are known to surrounding nations and through them to 
 Em-opeans. The palm-leaf histories allude to a city called Ai-amana on 
 the site of the present Rangoon and assert that dming the life tune of 
 Gaudama, that is before 543 B. C, the Shwe Dagon pagoda in Rangoon was 
 founded by two brothers Poo {dove) and Ta-paw {plenty), sons of the king 
 of Ook-ka-la-ba, west of Rangoon and near the modern Twan-te, who had 
 visited India and had met and conversed with Gaudama from whom they had 
 received several of his hairs, but the first notice of the country which can be 
 considered as historical is given in the Sinhalese Mahawanso which speaks of 
 the mission of Sono and Uttaro sent by the third Booddhist Council (held in 
 241 B. C.) to Savarna-bhoo-mee to spread the Booddhist faith in its purity. 
 It seems clear that the delta of the Irrawaddy was not exempt from the almost 
 "religious war" which prevailed between the followers of the Brahmanic 
 and Booddliistic faiths, the victory eventually passing to the one body in 
 India and to the other in Burma. Here the differences lasted for several 
 hundreds of years until about the end of the eighth century, the Booddhists 
 being recruited in the meanwhile by the arrival of their co-religonists 
 expelled from India. One of the results of these religious differences 
 was the foundation of the city of Pegu in 573 A. D., by Tha-ma-la and 
 Wee-ma-la, sons of the king of Tha-htoon by a mother of Naga descent, 
 who were excluded from the throne of their father. They brought with 
 them 170 families from Tha-htoon and were joined by 330 families 
 from the neighbourhood of the new city. Tha-ma-la was anointed 
 king and would seem to have extended his dominions considerably to 
 the eastward as he is said to have founded Martaban. He was succeeded 
 by his brother Wee-ma-la wbo founded Tsit-toung and during whose reign 
 the country was unsuccessfully invaded (in 590 A. D.) by the king of Bij- 
 ja-na-ga-ran {Vizianaaraiii?}. Thirteen kings followed between this period 
 
 68
 
 538 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and 746 A. D., and by this time the kingdom had been extended over 
 the whole country of Eama-gnya from the Arakan mountains on the 
 west to the Salween on the east, including the former capital, Tha- 
 htoon, which had much declined in importance. Even at this time the Bood- 
 dhist religion was not generally accepted in the country and the tenth king 
 of Pegu, Poon-na-ree-ka (Brahman heart), and more especially his son and 
 successor Tek-tha, appears to have been at least inclined towards Hindoo 
 traditions. Tek-tha was miraculously converted by Badra-devi, a young girl 
 whom he had condemned to death on account of her faith but who, on his 
 conversion, became his principal queen. With the death of Tek-tha ended 
 the third dynasty of Pegu, for the succession had been more than once 
 disturbed by usurpers. The length of time during which these three 
 dynasties occupied the throne is doubtful, and it is by no means clear 
 when Tek-tha died.* About 1050 A. D., A-naw-ra-hta, the king of Pagan, 
 conquered the country and it remained subject to the Burmans for some 
 two centuries. The gradual disintegration of the Burman kingdom and 
 the capture of the capital by the Tartars and consequent flight of the king, 
 
 • Even so learned and patient an investigator as Sir Arthur Phayre is at a loss to account 
 for the hiatus between Tek-tha's death and A-naw-ra-hta's conquest. In his history of Pegu, 
 by far the most trustworthy work on the subject, published in the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic 
 Society, he states, after recording Tek-tha's death : — 
 
 " A gap now occurs in the narrative of events which the native historians either have not 
 attempted to bridge over, or have noticed with only a few general statements. In a preliminary 
 sketch to the copy of the history which I possess, it is stated that the first 17 kings, extending 
 from the foundation of the city of Han-tha-wati to king Tek-tha, reigned for a period of 500 
 years. But in the detailed accoimts of the reigns of those kings the sum of the years they are 
 stated to have reigned amounts to only "208. The first part of the history then closes as if a 
 great crisis had been endured. A new chapter is opened which simply states that the destinies 
 of Han-tha-wati were accomplished, the line of kings broken ; and the writer then bursts forth 
 in lamentation over the rule of foreign Burmese kings and their hateful governors. Three of 
 these are mentioned and reviled, and the narrative then passes on to events near the close of the 
 13th century of the Christian era, when Moguls and Turks overthrew the Burmese monarchy, 
 Pagan was captured, and her king a captive. Supposing that the 17 kings represent in some 
 fashion the events of 500 years, then the close of king Tek-tha's reign would be about A. D. 1073. 
 From that time until the capture of the Burmese capital by the Tartars there is a period of 
 about 211 years, of which the Moon chroniclers say nothing, except the loss of their native kings 
 and the rule of three hated foreign governors. This hiatus is not peculiar to the manuscript 
 history which I possess, but may be traced in others. Thus Dr. Mason from the copy which he 
 followed, dates the foundation of Pegu A. D. 573 and the death of Tek-tha A. D. 841 but 
 immediately after this, there is a blank of more than 300 years. ****** The cause 
 of these great discrepancies arises from the Talaing historians having sought to conceal the 
 religious revolutions in their country, during the 9th and 10th centuries, and to avoid narrating 
 the conquest of their country by A-naw-ra-hta, king of Pagan, about A. D. 1050, with its continued 
 subjection to Burma for more than 200 years, and it is strange that in the Burmese Maha Raza- 
 weng, though the conquest of Tha-htoon is narrated at great length, nothing is said of the 
 occupation of the city of Han-tha-wati. Yet, no doubt, the city was then taken by the Burmese 
 king. Either then it was supposed that the capture of the ancient city of Tha-htoon rendered 
 special mention of Pegu unnecessary, or the chroniclers hesitated to record the first instance of 
 the falsification of the legend which in the cause of religion assigned to Pegu a perpetual suc- 
 cession of kings in the line of Tha-ma-la Ku-ma-ra. The Talaing historians have endeavoui-ed to 
 represent then- country as having been uniformly orthodox Booddhist, while the records they 
 present to us shew that there have been frequent alternations of Booddhism and Brahmanism. 
 The names of the two last kings of the native dynasty, Poon-na-reeka and Tek-tha, with the few 
 notices we have regarding them, shew that their reigns represent periods of rehgious strifes 
 between the two great sects, and an attempted introduction of a form of worship antagonistic to 
 both. Poon-na-reeka, or " brahmin heart," sufficiently indicates the influence during one period ; 
 while the name Tek-tha, or Tishza, identical with that of the brother of Asoka, points to a corrupt 
 Booddhism, and the re-establishment of that worship. This is typified in the pleasing legend of 
 Badra Devi, and Booddhism has been the cherished religion of the people from that time until
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 539 
 
 circa 1250 A. D., to Bassein, whence if necessary he could have embarked 
 for Ceylon with which Bassein carried on a somewhat extensive trade, was 
 taken advantage of by the Talaing who had never ceased to hat'e their 
 conquerors, and headed by a man of Burmese descent named A-kham-won 
 they rose in rebellion in Pegu, whilst at the same period a Talaing, or 
 according to Sir A. Phayre a Shan, named Wa-rie-yoo killed the Burman 
 governor of Martaban and made himself master of that town and of the 
 surrounding country. A-kham-won was put to death by his brother-in- 
 law, Leng-gya, after he had reigned two years, and Leng-gya himself was 
 almost immediately killed by A-khyam-won, another brother-in-law of 
 A-kham-won, who ascended the throne. The two rebellious leaders in 
 Pegu and Martaban entered into an alliance and married each other's 
 daughters, and on the king of Bm-ma sending an army southwards they 
 united their forces and defeating the Burmans pursued them as far as 
 Pa-doung, a few miles below Prome. The Talaing then retired to Pegu but 
 disputes arose and A-khyam-won, who on ascending the throne had taken 
 the name of Ta-ra-bya, was seized and carried to Martaban where he was 
 subsequently put to death and Wa-rie-yoo declared himself king of the whole 
 country, a proceeding in which the inhabitants acquiesced. In the mean- 
 while the Tartars had again invaded Burma and possessed themselves of 
 the capital and numerous petty rulers declared themselves independent ; 
 amongst these was the Shan-Burmese governor of Toung-ngoo, generally 
 called in the European accounts of that period the king of the Burmas, 
 a title which he claimed as against the usurping Shan who ruled in 
 the former capital of the empire. 
 
 Wa-rie-yoo was killed by the two sons of Ta-ra-bya and was succeeded 
 in 1306 A.D. by his brother who four years later was put to death by his 
 brother-in-law Meng-ba-la, and his nephew, Meng-ba-la's son Zaw-aw, was 
 proclaimed king. This sovereign extended his dominions southward and 
 declaring himself independent of Siam, to which his predecessor had 
 acknowledged his vassalage, took possession of Tavoy and Tenasserim ; 
 these were lost during the reign of his successor Zaw-zit who transferred 
 the capital to Pegu and assumed the name of Bya-gnya-ran-da. Bya-gnya- 
 ran-da advanced against Prome but was repulsed and killed in 1330 and 
 was eventually succeeded by a son of Khoon-law, the brother of Wa-rie-yoo, 
 who reigned is years and was followed by his nephew Bya-gnya-oo who 
 took the name of Tsheng-hpyoo-sheng. During the reign of this sovereign the 
 country was disturbed by the continual incursions of the Shan on the north- 
 east but this did not prevent him from sending an embassy to Ceylon whence 
 he obtained a holy relic of Gaudama which was enshrined in a pagoda 
 built on a spot now included within the limits of Maulmain. A few years 
 later a near relation of his own, named Byat-ta-ba, raised a rebellion against 
 him and succeeded in wresting Martaban from the Peguan dominions and 
 Tsheng-hpyoo-sheng made no endeavour to recover it. Tsheng-hpyoo- 
 sheng was succeeded by hissonRaza-dhie-ritinl385 ; herepelled a formidable 
 invasion of the Burmese and in 1388 regained possession of Martaban and 
 the country to the eastward. He then turned his attention to Myoung-mya, 
 the governor of which, himself of royal blood, had invited the Burmese 
 to invade the country as soon as Raza-dhie-rit ascended the throne, and 
 captured that city and Bassein and pursued the rebel governor's son (he
 
 540 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 himself bad already been taken prisoner) into Arakan. Some years later 
 be advanced against the king of Burma who bad occupied Koo-dwot, now 
 called Myan-oung, and drove out bis troops, and in 1404, taking advantage 
 of a war wbicb bad broken out between Arakan and Burma, be advanced 
 against tbe latter country and laid siege to Ava but was forced to retire : 
 tbe following year be again moved up tbe Irrawaddy and laid siege to 
 Prome ; tbe town was relieved by tbe king of Burma and tbe two monarcbs, 
 inliuenced probably by mutual fear, swore perpetual friendship . A short 
 time later a force was sent into Arakan to aid the people of that country 
 against tbe Burmese, a duty successfully performed, tbe Burmese being 
 driven out and tbe son of tbe Arakan king, who bad fled to Bengal, placed on 
 his father's throne. Tbe Burmans then invaded Pegu but were defeated and 
 driven northward beyond the frontier, Raza-dhie-rit returning in triumph 
 to his capital. A little later another invasion took place with no better 
 success, but in 1411 tbe Burmans made themselves masters of several 
 places in the delta of tbe Irrawaddy and failmg in their attacks on 
 Myoung-mya and Bassein passed into Arakan whither they were followed 
 by tbe Talaing, who afterwards moved northwards against Prome but 
 were driven back and pursued by the Burmese who occupied Dala, Dagon 
 (Eangoon), Hmaw-bbee and Syriam. After considerable fightuag the 
 Burmans reth^ed, but in tbe meanwhile the Talauag generals had withdrawn 
 from Ai-akan. Tbe war continued with hardly any intermission and with 
 varying success till 1414 when the Burmans were finally repulsed. Eaza- 
 dhie-rit died in 1421 and was succeeded by bis son Bya-gnya Dbam-ma 
 Raza who almost immediately after he ascended the throne had to put 
 down a rebebion led by bis two brothers Bya-gnya Kan and Bya-gnya Ryaeng. 
 A short time afterwards tbe Burman king invaded Pegu but eventually 
 married the Talaing king's sister, Sheng-tsaw-boo, and returned to Ava. 
 Bya-gnya Dbam-ma Raza died in 1424 and was succeeded by Bya- 
 gnya Kan who is known in history as Bya-gnya-ran-kek. Sheng-tsaw-boo 
 was dissatisfied with her position and aided by two Booddhist monks she 
 escaped to her brother's coui-t circa 1439, and eventually ascended 
 the throne in 1454, three kings, Bya-gnya-wa-roo, Bya-gnya-keng 
 and Hmaw-daw, tbe last of whom was put to death as a tyrant after 
 a short reign of only seven months, having successively ruled the 
 country in the meanwhile. Sheng-tsaw-boo married her daughter to one 
 of tbe monks who bad aided her in escaping from Ava and named him 
 Crown Prince, she herself retiring to Dagon. Devoted to religion and 
 greatly beloved by her subjects she died after reigning for seven years, 
 three of wbicb in Dagon, and to tbe present day an annual festival is 
 held in her honour at Rangoon. Dbam-ma Ze-dee, the ex-monk, succeeded 
 her and was renowned for bis wisdom, power, and intercom-se with 
 foreign countries, and after bis death m 1491, be received tbe funeral of 
 a Chakrawartti Raja or universal monarch. Bya-gnya-ran, bis son, reigned 
 for 35 years and was succeeded by Ta-ka-rwot-bee, in whose reign tbe 
 country was conquered by the king of Toung-ngoo, Ta-beng-shwe-btee. 
 
 It was probably during tbe reign of Raza-dhie-rit that the country was 
 first visited by European travellers. Nicholas Conti was in Pegu, " a very 
 " populous city, the circumference of wbicb is 12 miles", in 1430. Bya-gnya- 
 ran is described by Hieronimo da Santa Stefano and Luigi Vertomannus ;
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 541 
 
 the former complains of the delay in getting pa^-ment for liis goods 
 •which were of such a sort that only the lord of the city could purchase 
 them, and the latter writes of that king's great magnificence. Vertomannus 
 states that Pegu was a walled town and that the houses were constructed 
 of stone and lime. It was with this sovereign that Antonio Correa made 
 a treaty of peace at Martaban in 1519, and from this time onwards for 
 many years there was much intercourse between European adventurers 
 and soldiers of fortune and the kings of Pegu who sought then* aid. It 
 has already been stated that Ta-beng-shwe-htee, king of Toung-ngoo, known 
 in European accounts as king of the Bramas, conquered Pegu. He had 
 succeeded his father in 1530 at the age of 16 and having repelled an 
 invasion of the Peguans he in turn advanced against their capital which 
 he took in 1538 although the defenders were aided by a force of Spaniards 
 under Ferdinand de Morales. He followed the retreating Ta-ka-rwot-bee 
 to Prome and worsted him in an engagement near that town and then he 
 returned to Pegu ; Ta-ka-rwot-bee followed him but died in the forests of 
 Eng-ga-boo between the Hlaing and the Irrawaddy. Thus ended the Shan 
 dynasty founded by Wa-rie-yoo. Ta-beng-shwe-htee now captm-ed Mar- 
 taban and returning to Pegu was crowned king and, to mark his 
 assumption of the sovereignty, he placed a new htee on the Shwe-hmaw-daw 
 pagoda and another on the Shwe Dagon. 
 
 Extending his conquests he besieged and took Prome and after repel- 
 ling an invasion of the Burmese he ascended the Irrawaddy and made him- 
 self master of the country as far as lower Pagan ; he then invaded Arakan 
 on pretence of placing the brother of the lately deceased ruler on the throne 
 but the Siamese having invaded Pegu he accepted the homage of the 
 nephew of the claimant whom he was supporting and withdrew. In 1549 
 he defeated the Siamese army and forced the king of Siam to pay tribute. 
 Somewhat later, he gave way to habits of intemperance and became utterly 
 incapable : several rebellions broke out and to suppress one, headed by 
 Tha-meng-htaw, a son of Bya-gnya-ran, Bhooreng Noung, the heu'-ai^pa- 
 rent, proceeded westwards to Da-la : dm-ing his absence Ta-beng-shwe-htee 
 was killed in 1550, at the age of 36, by a brother of Tha-meng-tsaw- 
 dwot, the governor of Tsit-toung, the latter proclaiming himself king. 
 Bhoo-reng Noung marched on Toung-ngoo where his brother was governor 
 but he was refused admission whereupon he invested the place and eventu- 
 ally captured it. In the meanwhile Tha-meng-htaw and Tha-meng- 
 tsaw-dwot were disputing the possession of the kingdom ; Tha-meng- 
 tsaw-dwot was taken prisoner and beheaded and Tha-meng-htaw was 
 solemnly consecrated and assumed the title of Za-ga-lee Meng. Bhooreng 
 Noung having taken Toung-ngoo crossed the lioma and laid siege to 
 Prome which was surrendered by treachery and in 1551 he returned 
 to Toung-ngoo, advanced against Tha-meng-htaw whom he utterly defeated 
 close to the capital, and in 1554, after subduing the whole country and 
 putting to death Tha-meng-htaw, who had escaped first to Da-la and then 
 to Martaban and had been betrayed into his hands, he declared war with 
 Burma and in March 1555 captured Ava. In all these operations the 
 Portuguese were of gi'eat assistance to Bhooreng Noung whose dominions 
 now extended from Tenasserim to Arakan and from the seacoast north- 
 ward to the Shan States. Not yet content, he attacked and conquered
 
 642 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Siam in 1563-64, and six years later, on a rebellion against him break- 
 ing out there, he again invaded that country and capturing the capital 
 gave it up to plunder, returning to Pegu in 1570 after ravaging the country 
 in many directions. In 1580 he sent an expedition into Arakan, but died 
 suddenly in 1581. 
 
 Although his whole reign of 30 years in Pegu was occupied in con- 
 tinual wars of aggression and in quelling rebellions Bhooreng Noung was 
 not simply a great warrior. He enlarged his capital and greatly strength- 
 ened its walls of which the outer one was 7,000 yards long on each face, 
 each with five gates and constructed by and named after a tributary king ; 
 within he erected a magnificent palace, and in the neighbourhood he 
 founded another town of which the massive remains still exist. He paid 
 great attention to religion and obtained from one of the kings of Ceylon 
 a holy relic of Gaudama which he enshrined in a pagoda, and in 
 return he sent an embassy to the donor who had complained that he 
 alone of the four kings reigning on the Island was orthodox. This 
 relic subsequently disappeared and Sir A. Phayre suggests that the relic 
 chamber was plundered by de Brito. He abolished the annual sacrifices to 
 the Nat and, viewing with displeasure the killing of animals by the numer- 
 ous foreigners of his dominions, he forcibly converted numbers to Booddhism. 
 
 Bhooreng Noung was succeeded by his son Nanda Bhooreng to whom 
 all the tributary kings did homage except the king of Burma. The army 
 was recalled from Arakan and in order to reduce the king of Burma and to 
 punish him for his intrigues with the rulers of Prome and Toung-ngoo, which 
 these latter had disclosed, Nanda Bhooreng advanced up the Irrawaddy 
 in 1584-85 and forced him to escape into China. In the meanwhile 
 the king of Siam rebelled and four expeditions, all equally unsuccess- 
 ful, were despatched against him, in 1585, 1587, 1590 and in 1593. The 
 failure of these seems to have embittered the feelings of Nanda Bhooreng 
 and to have rendered him wantonly cruel. " The Booddhist monks of 
 " Talaing race excited his hatred. Numbers of them he forced to become 
 *' laymen, and then either exiled or killed them, thousands of the Moon people 
 " abandoned their country and fled, while those caught in their flight were 
 " put to death for the attempt. The country of the delta became depopu- 
 " lated." The country fell into complete disorder. The king of Siam 
 invaded the kingdom but retired, when the kings of Toung-ngoo and 
 Zeng-mai rose in rebellion and the Arakanese seized Syriam. In 1599 
 Pegu was captured and Nanda Bhooreng sent prisoner to Toung-ngoo 
 and the Arakanese retiring Pegu was left without any ruler. In 1600 
 Philip de Brito, then in the service of the king of Arakan, was sent to hold 
 Syriam. He, however, proved faithless and sided with the Portuguese 
 Viceroy at Goa and, accepted by the Talaing inhabitants, he declared him- 
 self master of Pegu of which he took possession in the name of the king of 
 Portugal. He built a fort and church at Syriam and laid out a new city : 
 he defeated a force sent against him by the kings of Toung-ngoo and 
 Arakan, capturing its commander, the son of the latter, and subsequently he 
 drove off another invading army. He entered into treaties with his former 
 enemy, the king of Toung-ngoo, and with the ruler of Martaban, but he 
 irritated the inhabitants by breaking into and plundering the pagodas, and 
 having treacherously attacked the king of Toung-ngoo, taken his city and
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 543 
 
 burned his palace, was himself attacked by the king of Burma in 1612 and 
 captured and impaled, and the Portuguese power in Pegu was thus finally 
 destroyed. 
 
 Pegu remained subject to the king of Burma till 1740 A.D., and it was 
 during this period that the English commenced trading with Kangoon. 
 In 1695 application was made for leave to establish a factory at Syriam, and 
 from 1709 to 1743 English traders were settled there. During this interval 
 the Burmese government, owing partly to invasions from the north and 
 partly to internal dissensions, was falling to pieces and in 1740 the Peguans 
 broke out in rebellion. They took Syriam, which they lost the following 
 year but retook in 1743, and the English having refused to aid them against 
 the Burmans they burned down the factories, whereupon Mr. Smart withdrew 
 the establishment. A year or two later they advanced on Burma, took the 
 capital and annexing the country brought the king to Pegu. They did 
 not retain it long. In 1753 Moung-oung-zaya, Myo-thoo-gyee of Moot- 
 tsho-bo, raised the standard of revolt and gaining a few successes was 
 speedily joined by large numbers of his countrymen. He captured Ava 
 and proclaimed himself king under the title of Aloung-bhoora, thus found- 
 ing the dynasty now reigning. Within four years he had conquered Pegu, 
 Tavoy and Mergui and had advanced into Siam. The English government 
 sided with neither party but unfortunately some of its officers laid them- 
 selves open to considerable suspicion and were held by Aloung-bhoora to 
 have aided the Peguans. Various unsuccessful endeavours were made to 
 re-obtain a footing in Syriam and matters remained in a very unsatisfac- 
 tory state for many years. In 1824 the first Burmese war broke out and a 
 British force entered the river and took Rangoon. The British retained 
 possession of the country till the close of the war and then restored it to 
 the king of Burma. The disputes which arose on matters of trade and the 
 complaints of British merchants and ship masters of the treatment which 
 they received in Pangoon led to the second Burmese war which broke out 
 in 1852, when Rangoon and Pegu were captured after some severe fighting 
 and the lower portions of the valleys of the Irrawaddy and Tsit-toung 
 annexed to the British dominions, and the Peguan kingdom thus passed to 
 the English. 
 
 The principal pagodas in the district are the Shwe Dagon, the Bo-ta- 
 
 Archseoiosv htoung and the Tsoo-lai in Rangoon, the Kyaik-kouk at 
 
 Syriam, the Shwe-hmaw-daw at Pegu, the Tshan-daw at 
 
 Twan-te, the Kyaik-ka-tshan a few miles to the north-east, and the Kyaik- 
 
 ka-lo a few miles to the north, of Rangoon. 
 
 The Shwe Dagon, the most celebrated object of worship in all the Indo- 
 Chinese countries, was, it is asserted in the palm-leaf records, founded in 
 688 B.C. or 43 years before the death of Gaudama when that sage was 
 85 years old, by Poo and Ta-paw sons of the king of Ook-ka-la-ba (Twan-te), 
 who during a visit to India had obtained from the Booddha himself several 
 of his hairs which, with great ceremony, were enshrined under a pagoda 
 18 cubits in height ; but, as observed by Sii* Ai'thur Phayre, " it cannot be 
 " credited that during the life of Gaudama the Talaing people had through 
 *' their own means any communication by sea with India, or that Booddhism 
 " was introduced into the delta of the Irrawaddy at so early a period". The 
 first trustworthy statements are those which relate to the repairs and works
 
 644 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 carried out by queen Sheng-tsaw-boo in the latter half of the fifteenth 
 century. This sovereign raised its height to 292 feet, made terraces on the 
 hill, paved the topmost one with stone, and set apart land and hereditary 
 slaves for the service of the shrine. Mendes Pinto makes no mention of the 
 pagoda but Balbi, the Venetian, who visited Eangoon, or Dagon as it was 
 then called, towards the end of the 16th century gives a full description of it*. 
 
 From time to time the building was enlarged and beautified, especially 
 since the conquest of the delta by the Burmans who seem to have endeavour- 
 ed, for political reasons, to cause it to eclipse the more purely Talaing pagoda 
 in the ancient capital of the kingdom. In 1768 A. D., king Tsheng-hpyoo- 
 sheng replaced the Talaing htee or crown by one of Burmese form and 
 regilt the outside. In 1871 it was regilt with funds derived from public 
 subscriptions, the donations of pilgrims visiting the shrine, and the rents 
 of the fruit trees standing on the platform, and when the regilding was 
 complete a new htee was put on it. This was made in Mandalay of iron, 
 thickly gilded and studded with jewels, at a cost of Rs. 620,000, brought down 
 the river with great ceremony, received and escorted by a specially deputed 
 British Officer, and elevated amidst grand public rejoicings, the feelings of 
 the Burmans no little elated by the knowledge that their ancient ruler was 
 allowed to re-crown this most sacred edifice. The existing building is 320 
 feet high and 1,130 feet in circumference at the base, rising from a square 
 platform and surrounded by numerous smaller pagodas and images of Gauda- 
 ma, and is approached by four sets of staii'S facing the cardinal points of the 
 compass. The hill on which the pagoda stands has of late years been to 
 some extent fortified by the English government. During the second 
 Burmese war this hill was defended by the Burmese but was carried by 
 assault by the British troops under General Godwin. 
 
 The Bo-ta-htoung is a small pagoda of no great sanctity on the bank 
 of the Rangoon river a little below the Master Attendant's wharf. It is said 
 to have been built by 1,000 officers (Bo-ta-htoung) by order of the king of 
 Ook-ka-la-ba on the spot where his son's body had been burned. 
 
 The Tsoo-lai pagoda stands in the town in what is now Fytche square 
 and is said to have been originally constructed at the same time as the 
 Shwe Dagon. 
 
 The Kyaik-kouk pagoda stands out conspicuously on the Syriam hills 
 and is supposed to contain various relics of Gaudama, some placed in it when 
 it is said to have been first constructed in the sixth century before Christ and 
 others added some 350 years later. It was repaired and beautified by 
 Bhodaw Bhoora son of Aloung Bhoora, in 1781, and then measured 133 
 feet in height and 900 feet in circumference at the base. It is visited every 
 year at the annual festival in March by large numbers of pilgrims. 
 
 The Shwe Hmaw-daw in Pegu is the great pagoda of the Talaing. 
 The palm-leaf records assert that it was first built in the sixth century B.C. 
 to enshrine some of Gaudama's hairs brought hither by two brothers named 
 Ma-ha-tha-wa-ka and Tsoo-la-tha-wa-ka, on a spot selected by the Booddha 
 himself, where, by prophetic power, he knew that a town would one 
 day rise. In 1120 it" was repaired by king Tha-ma-la, the founder 
 of the first real city. From this time it was continually enlarged and 
 adorned, each succeeding sovereign vieing with his predecessors in his 
 
 * See Shwe Dagon pagoda.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 545 
 
 endeavours to improve and beautify it. The last king of Pegu, Bya- 
 gnya-da-la, renewed the htee. After the Burman conquest the kings 
 paid more attention to the Shwe Dagon than to the Shwe Hmaw-daw 
 but this was not entirely neglected, and in 1791 Bhodaw Bhoora repaired 
 and regilded it, repaired the htee, and built 11 small pagodas round it. 
 It stands on high ground some distance from the present town of Pegu, is 
 octagonal at the base, each side measuring 162 feet, and is 324 feet in height. 
 At a few feet above the platform are two broad ledges one above the other 
 on which are rows of small pagodas completely surrounding the main 
 building, the lower ledge supporting 75 and the upper 53. During the 
 second Burmese war it was the scene of much fighting, being occupied 
 by the British troops and more than once attacked by the Burmese. 
 
 The Shwe Tshan-daw at Twan-te is an object of greater veneration to 
 the Talaing than even the Shwe Dagon, as it has not been repau-ed or 
 kept up by the Burmese. It was erected, according to its palm-leaf 
 history, during the sixth century B.C. by the then ruler of the neighbouring 
 city of Kha-beng as a shrine for some hairs of Gaudama given to three 
 Sinhalese pilgi-ims and some 400 years later four more hairs were added. 
 It was repaired in 1781 and again in 1866. 
 
 The Kyaik-ka-tshan pagoda is in the Hmaw-bhee township a few miles 
 north-east of Piangoon. It was built, it is asserted, in 193 B.C. to cover 
 relics of Gaudama and has been several times repaired, the last occasion 
 being in 1848 when a new htee was placed on it. It is 90 feet high 
 and 220 feet in circumference at the base. It is annually resorted to in 
 March by large numbers of Booddhists. 
 
 The Kyaik-ka-lo, built of laterite blocks now faced with brick, stands 
 on the summit of a short spur a little to the west of the Piangoon and Prome 
 road, about 14 miles north of Eangoon. The platform is about 60 yards 
 square. The basement of the pagoda is octagonal, each side being 14 yards 
 long. The height to the htee is about 90 feet. The pagoda is sur- 
 rounded by 24 small ones of much later date. It is resorted to annually 
 by crowds of people for two days of the annual festival in March. 
 
 In the town of Pvangoon there is a Thien-gyee, or building used for the 
 performance of certain rites and ceremonies peculiar to the Booddhist 
 priesthood, said to have been built at the same time as the Kyaik-ka-tshan 
 pagoda and to contain relics of one of the liahanda who brought over the 
 remains of Gaudama. 
 
 In the An-gyee township are the ruins of ancient pagodas of which 37 
 were built in various places upon the spots where the holy relics which now 
 repose under the Shwe Tshan-daw at Twan-te rested upon their journey 
 from the seacoast to Kha-beng. Twan-te itself was once a considerable 
 town and the lines of its surrounding wall are still traceable whilst 
 the site of the " Nan-goon " or palace is pointed out by the inhabitants. 
 A short distance from Twan-te is Kha-beng-rwa, the site of an ancient city 
 where reigned Tha-mien-htaw-byeen-tsan and his queen Mien-da-de-wee the 
 founders of the Shwe Tshan-daw pagoda at Twan-te. The ruined walls both 
 of the exterior and of the interior cities are still visible, as well as the 
 remains of several ancient pagodas. At Zaing-ga-naing and in its neigh- 
 bourhood are found massive bricks, glazed tiles ornamented with the heads 
 of animals, large stone tables on which is engraved the history of the town 
 
 69
 
 546 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and pagodas, and enormous images, the ruins of the buildings erected by 
 Dham-ma-ze-dee. Meng-ga-la-doon, a few miles north of Rangoon, Hmaw- 
 bhee, between the river Hlaing and the Roma mountains, Hlaing a little to 
 the northward on the left bank of the river of the same and Htan-bhoo in the 
 north-east, near the junction of the Dhat, a small mountain torrent, with the 
 Ook-kan, are sites of ancient towns. Meng-ga-la-doon is said to have been 
 founded by Poon-na-ree-ka, who reigned in Pegu from 746 A.D. to 761 A.D., 
 and called Rama-wad-dee. No traces of its walls now remain. The date of 
 the foundation of Hmaw-bhee is uncertain. It was surrounded by masonry 
 walls, a parapet and a ditch ; the bricks in the walls have been used as 
 ballast for the Railway. The date of the foundation of Hlaing is equally 
 uncertain, but is generally placed in the reign of Raza-dhie-rit (1385 — 
 1421 A.D.). The ruins of three pagodas and of the walls are still traceable. 
 These latter appear to have been of brick faced with earth, about 15 feet 
 high, and to have enclosed a square, each side about 1,000 yards long and 
 facing one of the cardinal points of the compass, with a gateway in the 
 centre. The bricks are of the usual Bm*man shape, long, broad and thin, 
 but well burned. The northern wall is now about 300 yards from 
 the river but must at one time have been much further judging from 
 the erosion of the banks now going on ; an extensive tract of rice-fields 
 and a suburb, probably, occupied the intervening space. The interior is 
 now partly cultivated and partly overgrown with shrubs and grass. 
 Htan-bhoo is said to have been founded about the same time by a son of 
 Raza-dhie-rit who subsequently rebelled against his father and was killed 
 near the town at a spot now called La-ha-ma-ngay where a pagoda was 
 erected by his widow ; the crumbling walls are just traceable. Syriam 
 or Than-lyeng was founded many centuries ago and was once the capital 
 of a petty kingdom ; it will be found fully described sub. tit. Than-lyeng. 
 In its immediate neighbourhood is Pa-da, q. v. 
 
 The climate is generally depressing and retards convalescence, but other- 
 wise it is, as far as a sub-tropical climate can be, pleasant 
 ^ ®' and healthy. December and January are cool, bracing 
 
 months, very little rain falls and sometimes none. The nights and 
 mornings before sunrise are occasionally very cold, and even piercing and 
 chilly during the prevalence of easterly winds which sometimes blow for 
 short intervals at this season. The dews are very heavy and only dry up 
 with the morning sun. In February the weather commences to get hot 
 and before the close of that month and in March and April, the heat is 
 excessive ; until towards the end of April the wind is generally from the 
 south south-west and rising in the morning, continues all day, blowing with 
 considerable strength, untU about 8 p. m. when sometimes a gentle south- 
 west breeze sets in, but then often fails, and then the nights are close and 
 suffocating. Towards the end of April a succession of nor-westers with 
 thunder and lightning issue in the rains, which continue till October : occa- 
 sionally the whole season is, as it were, pushed back ; the rains do not 
 commence till the beginning or even middle of May and last till the middle of 
 November. This season is peculiarly trying ; whilst rain is falling it is 
 cool but as soon as it stops and the sun comes out the atmosphere is hot 
 and damp and the effect exhausting. Sometimes the mornings and 
 evenings are cool, sometimes humid and oppressive. As the rains gradually
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 647 
 
 cease the intervals of damp heat are longer until, as the middle or end 
 of November approaches, the nights and mornings become cooler and 
 cooler until the pleasant December and January weather comes round 
 again. At the end of the rainy season, as at the commencement, there is 
 usually considerable electrical disturbance. The average rainfall may be 
 taken at about 115"00 inches. 
 
 Persons of robust sanguineous constitution suffer most during the hot 
 season from violent congestion of the lungs and liver, etc., with symptom- 
 atic fever, whilst those of feeble lymphatic constitution suffer most in the 
 rains and cold season from fevers of a low type, disease of the spleen, 
 dropsical effusion, rheumatism, and bowel and pulmonary complaints. 
 
 The soil of most parts of the district except on the hill sides and 
 undulating ground and where the tides wash over the 
 
 gnc ure. j^^^^ ^^ ^^ some parts in the south, is exceedingly fertile, 
 
 and more especially is this so in the north-eastern and central parts of the 
 Angyee township opposite Rangoon, in the southern part of the Hpoung- 
 leng township east of Rangoon and in parts of the Than-lyeng township 
 south of Rangoon and on the other side of the Pegu river. Here the average 
 yield of unhusked rice is as much as 80 or 100 bushels an acre. North 
 of Rangoon the soil is poorer, yielding only from 30 to 40 bushels, whilst the 
 Ma-yen-za-ya circle in the north-east, beyond the town of Pegu, and the 
 country south and south-eastwards is annually covered with so much water 
 that cultivation can only be carried on in a few spots. Here considerable 
 damage has been done by the leasing out of streams as fisheries ; the lessees 
 erected weirs and embankments and, as the streams are tidal, this caused 
 them to silt up and thus to become unable to carry off the rainfall. This has 
 now been changed, no stream fisheries are here leased and a protecting 
 embankment has been thrown across the plain from near Pyeng-boon-gyee 
 on the Pegu and Toung-ngoo road to Myit-kyo on the bank of the Tsit-toung; 
 how far this embankment will fulfiill the object for which it was made is still 
 doubtful. West of the Hlaing river, from the north to a little south of the 
 Pan-hlaing, but more especially in the extreme north that is the tract form- 
 ing the Aing-ka-loung and Bhaw-lay circles, the country is liable to inunda- 
 tion. The embankments along the west bank of the Irrawaddy and Nga- 
 won, which protect large areas of good land in the Henzada, Thoou-khwa 
 and Bassein districts, force the flood, which formerly spread west and east 
 but principally west, to flow eastward to a far greater extent than formerly. 
 It enters by the numerous creeks which join the Irrawaddy to the Hlaing, 
 whilst that portion which passes down the Pan-hlaing banks up the Hlaing 
 and makes bad worse. In 1876-77 the crops were ruined over no less than 
 171,000 acres, entailing much suffering on the people, a serious remission 
 of the land revenue and an extensive emigration. 
 
 Some centuries ago the country was highly cultivated, but the con- 
 tinual wars with the Siamese on the one hand and the Burmese on the 
 other, the cruel persecutions to which the inhabitants were sometimes sub- 
 jected, notably by Nanda Bhooreng at the end of the sixteenth century, and 
 the measures adopted by the Burmese conquerors, depopulated the land. 
 The proceedings of Nanda Bhooreng were so cruel that, to use the words 
 of Bernier, he "converted the country into forests and prevented for many 
 "years the tillage of the land," and Sir Arthur Phayre in his history of Pegu
 
 548 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 says that " the country of the delta became depopulated and an attempt 
 ** was made to drive down the people from upper Erawati, to till the 
 ''fertile land of Pegu. But famine and plague raged and there was no 
 " help." 
 
 The area under cultivation slowly increased, but the exportation of rice 
 having been prohibited some time before the second Anglo-Burmese war, 
 cultivation was, necessarily, checked. The annexation _, imparted a new 
 vigour to trade, and the area under rice at once commenced to increase. 
 The extent of land under cultivation by the Burmese may be put down at 
 50,000 acres. 
 
 The richest rice land is in the An-gyee township, that is in the tract 
 west of the Eangoon and south of the Pan-hlaing, and in the lower parts of 
 the valley of the Pegu river : in some places the out-turn is 80 baskets an acre 
 or about 80-fold, equal to one ton three cwt. of rice, and in others as much as 
 112 baskets equal to one ton twelve cwt. of rice. Towards the north the soil 
 is much poorer and in some places even 30 baskets is considered a good yield. 
 
 The gardens and orchards are found principally in the neighbourhood 
 of Eangoon and this for two reasons ; the market is close at hand and the 
 soil is less fitted for rice. North and east of the town are large areas covered 
 with mango, jack, ma-yan and other fruit trees in thick orchards, with 
 pine-apples covering the soil beneath the shade. Shan, market gardeners 
 j)ar excellence, mordern immigrants from far beyond British territory, have 
 settled and are settling hereabouts in large numbers and are taking up the 
 undulating ground which suits the crops they prefer. Not only is the 
 Eangoon market kept supplied but fruit is sent up north by the railway for 
 sale in the rice-producing country in the northern part of Eangoon and in 
 Tharrawaddy. From Twan-te on the west and its neighbourhood and from 
 Than-lyeng on the south, across the Pegu river, are brought vast numbers 
 of plantains and mangoes grown in the orchards on the "Koondan" or 
 line of low hills running southwards, whilst from an extensive grove a little 
 north of Eangoon and from another at Hmaw-bhee, both the property of 
 the State and leased annually, are brought many cart-loads of ma-yan, a kind 
 of acid plum much sought after. At Twan-te is a small grove of Sapodilla 
 plum trees producing the royal fruit of the Talaing, esteemed by the 
 Peguan monarchs as the doorian is by the kings of Burma. Close to Ean- 
 goon are numerous vegetable gardens, the property of Chinese who supply 
 the market with vegetables and who, in the early mornings, may be met 
 trudging out with buckets giving out an odour anything but pleasing to 
 European nostrils and containing the manure with which, taught by the 
 traditions and the pratice of their own country, they so advantageously 
 supplement the producing properties of the sandy and arid soil.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 549 
 
 The area (on which revenue was payable) under rice, of gardens and of 
 miscellaneous cultivation, excluding hill gardens, from 1853-54 to 1877-78 
 was, in acres : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 1853-54 
 
 1854-55 
 
 1855-56 
 
 1856-57 
 
 1857-58 
 
 1858-59 
 
 1859-60 
 
 1860-61 
 
 1861-62 
 
 1862-63 
 
 1863-64 
 
 1864-65* 
 
 1865-66 
 
 Eice. 
 
 68,056 
 103,678 
 152,523 
 209,278 
 237,183 
 227,207 
 228,467 
 263,425 
 281,709 
 287,964 
 320,091 
 338,389 
 352,199 
 
 Garden. 
 
 1,193 
 
 3,789 
 
 5,120 
 
 5,716 
 
 7,773 
 
 8,081 
 
 8,522 
 
 11,765 
 
 13,832 
 
 13,594 
 
 12,840 
 
 12,974 
 
 13,715 
 
 Miscel- 
 laneous. 
 
 2,974 
 3,287 
 3,939 
 4,547 
 4,839 
 5,534 
 6,281 
 4,622 
 3,481 
 3,900 
 
 Total. 
 
 69,249 
 107,402 
 157,643 
 217,968 
 248,243 
 392,118 
 241,536 
 280,029 
 301,075 
 307,839 
 337,553 
 354,844 
 869,814 
 
 Year. 
 
 1866-67 
 
 1867-68 
 
 1868-69 
 
 1869-70 
 
 1870-71 
 
 1871-72 
 
 1872-73t 
 
 1873-74+ 
 
 1874-75 
 
 1875-76§ 
 
 1876-77 
 
 1877-78 
 
 Rice. 
 
 371,108 
 379,297 
 386,950 
 397,858 
 443,960 
 472,987 
 500,663 
 577,833 
 673,619 
 630,433 
 668,131 
 701,804 
 
 Garden. 
 
 14,507 
 15,312 
 15,667 
 16,167 
 17,158 
 17,879 
 18,673 
 23,131 
 25,227 
 14,568 
 15,951 
 16,930 
 
 Miscel- 
 laneous. 
 
 3,561 
 3,456 
 5,136 
 3,639 
 3,931 
 4,084 
 4,857 
 4,662 
 5,320 
 2,062 
 3,718 
 3,088 
 
 Total. 
 
 389,176 
 398,065 
 407,753 
 417,664 
 465,049 
 494,950 
 524,193 
 605,626 
 704,166 
 647,063 
 687,800 
 721,822 
 
 The acreage of principal crops cultivated since 1866-67 was 
 
 Year. 
 
 1868-69 
 1869-70 
 
 1870-71 
 1871-72 
 
 1872-73 
 1873-74 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 Eice. 
 
 Oil seeds. 
 
 Cotton. 
 
 380,981 
 393,170 
 
 435,306 
 471,360 
 
 498,202 
 577,833 
 673,619 
 631,615 
 669,313 
 671,371 
 
 99 
 
 40 
 
 61 
 134 
 
 386 
 
 427 
 
 106 
 
 Not given 
 
 44 
 
 80 
 Not given 
 
 40 
 107 
 
 118 
 
 47 
 
 34 
 
 Not given 
 
 1 
 
 Dlianee 
 palms. 
 
 1,645 
 
 40 
 
 Mixed fruit 
 trees. 
 
 18,387 
 30,020 
 
 32,688 
 27,040 
 
 27 
 107 
 169 
 313 
 678 
 659 
 
 22,998 
 23,483 
 30,136 
 28,458 
 19,208 
 19,679 
 
 The a 
 
 gricultural stock dur 
 
 ing the same period was :— 
 
 - 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 Buffaloes. 
 
 Cows, bulls 
 and bullocks. 
 
 Sbeep and 
 goats. 
 
 Pigs. 
 
 Carts. 
 
 Ploughs. 
 
 Boats. 
 
 1868-69 
 
 60,369 
 
 20,001 
 
 2,417 
 
 2,635 
 
 14,531 
 
 25,214 
 
 9.128 
 
 1869-70 . . 
 
 56,348 
 
 20,350 
 
 986 
 
 7,148 
 
 14,479 
 
 25,300 
 
 8,417 
 
 1870-71 
 
 56,930 
 
 25,778 
 
 598 
 
 5,824 
 
 14,918 
 
 25,469 
 
 8,297 
 
 1871-72 
 
 77,422 
 
 22,338 
 
 843 
 
 6,713 
 
 14,901 
 
 29,270 
 
 8,655 
 
 1872-73 
 
 80,263 
 
 23,979 
 
 684 
 
 6,063 
 
 14,695 
 
 29,436 
 
 9,153 
 
 1873-74 . . 
 
 84,746 
 
 26,993 
 
 606 
 
 4,999 
 
 16,777 
 
 31,324 
 
 10,230 
 
 1874-75 
 
 84,871 
 
 26,930 
 
 483 
 
 6,276 
 
 17,287 
 
 33,987 
 
 10,055 
 
 1875-76 
 
 74,297 
 
 29,969 
 
 646 
 
 5,084 
 
 15,598 
 
 30,843 
 
 6,886 
 
 1876-77 
 
 76,887 
 
 29,330 
 
 834 
 
 7,587 
 
 15,803 
 
 29,575 
 
 6,060 
 
 1877-78 
 
 83,721 
 
 30,623 
 
 1,297 
 
 7,034 
 
 13,281 
 
 26,420 
 
 5,239 
 
 * Bliaw-iiee transferred to Touiig-uRoo. 
 Kuw-lee-yn „ Shwe-gyeiig. 
 
 J Tlioou-tsay transferred to Henzada. 
 
 S Three thousand five hundred and sixty-nine sq. miles 
 
 of couuti-y on the west trausfened to Thoon-khwa.
 
 550 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The average price of almost every article and the ordinary wages rose 
 greatly. These were, in rupees : — 
 
 
 Per Maund of 80 lbs. 
 
 Peb Day. 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 
 
 
 
 d 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 q 
 
 
 '6 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 1 
 o 
 
 
 "3 
 
 
 1 
 
 g 
 o 
 O 
 
 •2" 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 « 
 
 O 
 
 Si 
 
 w 
 
 EH 
 
 O 
 
 O 
 
 
 ai 
 
 P 
 
 o 
 
 n 
 
 CQ 
 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 Rs.A. 
 
 Rs.A. 
 
 Rs.A. 
 
 Rs.A. 
 
 Rs.A. 
 
 Rs.A. 
 
 Rs.A. 
 
 Rs.A.IRs.A. 
 
 Rs.A. 
 
 Rs.A. 
 
 1868-69 
 
 3 
 
 21 
 
 14 
 
 1 7 
 
 7 3 
 
 13 2* 
 
 17 8f 
 
 12 
 
 1 8 
 
 12 
 
 2 8 
 
 1 1+ 
 
 1 Ot 
 
 1877-78 
 
 4 10 
 
 6 11 
 
 16 2 
 
 1 7 
 
 16 1 
 
 14 15 
 
 24 10 
 
 7 
 
 1 8 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 10 
 
 In 1868 a pair of plough bullocks could be bought for Rs. 100 and a 
 pair of buffaloes for the same amount but in 1877-78 the price had risen 
 to nearly Rs. 200 for a good pair of either. 
 
 Mortgages of land were formerly uncommon but are yearly increasing 
 in number. The people are wornderfully neglectful of their plough beasts 
 and many of these die from easily-preventible causes ; the people them- 
 selves — though herein an exception must be made in favour of the women 
 who are thrifty, thoughtful and careful — are a pleasure-loving race, 
 thinking little of the morrow and recklessly squandering their hard-earned 
 gains in gambling or in dances. Exceptions there are, no doubt, who, 
 en revanche, are miserly and hoard their wealth, burying it or hiding it 
 in their grain stores or in the thatch of their houses. Added to this is 
 the influence on them of the Booddhist religion which leads them to spend 
 freely in ornamenting pagodas and in building monasteries in order to 
 accumulate merit to carry them to a higher stage in their next transmigra- 
 tion. The peasants are thus divided into two very dissimilar classes — the 
 many spendthrifts and the few hoarders. In Rangoon are collected men 
 of nearly all races, and of many of these, especially the Chetties, the 
 main object in life is to make money ; they are more grasping than the 
 fabled Jew and to them resort the agriculurists for the means of buying 
 cattle to replace those which they have lost by want of care and even to 
 purchase seed grain which they should have stored but have sold, tempted 
 by the prices offered towards the end of the rains and by their lust for the 
 means of satisfying their desire for gambling, for show and for bon camara- 
 derie. The result is appearing more and more year by year in the number 
 of suits for redemption of mortgages with which the time of the Civil Courts 
 is taken up; no deeds are produced, or if they are they are doubtful, 
 disputed, or insufficiently stamj)ed and unregistered and consequently 
 inadmissible as evidence. Latterly, as land has become more valuable, 
 these suits have increased in number and one of the most difficult duties 
 of the judges has been, and is, to discover the nature of the transaction. 
 
 The largeness of the holdings as compared with that in other parts 
 of the province renders the employment of hired labour more common. 
 Every owner of eight or nine acres and upwards usually hires labourers 
 in proportion to the size of his holding ; these are paid by the season, 
 living with the farmer and performing odd jobs about the house besides 
 
 * No quotation is given till 1872-73. 
 
 i No quotation is given till 1871-72.^
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 651 
 
 purely agricultural labour : with clothing they supply themselves. The 
 engagement includes ploughing, sowing, reaping, threshing, and garner- 
 ing and the rate of payment is usually 150 baskets of unhusked rice per 
 man, which may represent any sum from Es. 100 to Es. 150 or more 
 according to the market price in December or January. In many cases 
 now-a-days natives of India, almost invariably Madrassis, are hired and 
 more especially for reaping, and the system then is different. The coohes 
 are engaged in bodies varying in number from 20 to 100 and they are paid 
 at the rate of from Es. 50 to Es. 80 for an area which usually yields 1,000 
 baskets, except in Pyaw-bhwai and some other circles which are close to 
 Eangoon where the rate is as high as Es. 100 and even Es. 150. The 
 hirer has to supply the labourers with rice, oil and tamarinds. They do 
 not thresh out the grain but move from farm to farm taking up fresh 
 contracts as they finish the one upon which they are engaged and as they 
 work hard so as to get as many contracts as they can in the season they 
 get through their work rapidly and are preferred to Burman labourers by 
 many of the farmers. The gains of the labourer are thus pretty sure ; not 
 so those of the farmer. 
 
 Buffaloes may be calculated to work for from three to four years when 
 they succumb to the climate and bad treatment ; plough and cart bullocks 
 somewhat longer. Bearing this in mind and taking the average price of 
 these animals and of rice in the husk at the present day the expenditure 
 and receipts of a family of six persons, a father, mother and four children, 
 owning ten acres of good rice land would be, about : — 
 
 A. Farm — 
 
 1. — One-third cost of a pair of buffaloes 
 
 2. — One-third cost of a plough 
 
 3. — One-eighth cost of a cart 
 
 4. — Hire of a labourer to plough, reap, and thresh and do odd jobs 
 
 5. — Ten bushels of seed grain 
 
 B. Food— 
 
 6. — Rice (2 pyee a day or about one basket of rice in eight days, 45 
 
 baskets a year equal to 100 baskets of rice in the husk) 
 7. — Fifty viss of ngapee 
 8. — Curry stuff etc. 
 
 C. Clothes— 
 
 9.— Two Petticoats at Rs. 2-8 
 10. — Two Men's waistcloths at Rs. 3-4 
 11.— Two Turbans at Rs. 2-8 
 12. — Two Women's jackets at Re. 1-4 
 13.— Two Men's ditto at Re. 1-4 
 14. — For children (say) . . 
 
 D. Miscellaneous — 
 
 15. — Repairing house and thatching 
 
 16. — Cheroots, betel, household utensils etc. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 60 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 150 
 
 10 
 
 226 
 
 E. Taxes- 
 
 17. — Land revenue 
 18. — Capitation tax 
 
 100 
 15 
 15 
 
 130 
 
 5 
 6 
 5 
 2 
 2 
 15 
 
 Say Rs. 480. 
 
 
 — 36 
 
 8 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 25 
 
 
 
 
 472 
 
 8 
 
 The ten acres, if the land is moderately good, will produce about 
 600 baskets of rice in the husk which, calculated at the same rate, are 
 worth Es. 600, and the annual gain should thus be about Es. 120 ; but in
 
 552 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 practice it is very much less as money is expended in silk clothes for 
 festivals, in giving dances, in offerings to the Hpoongyee and in many 
 other ways, and it is certain that such a family, as a general rule, puts 
 by nothing and barely makes both ends meet. 
 
 The average holding of each agriculturist has always been larger 
 here than elsewhere in the province, that is always since the British occupa- 
 tion for no statistics are available for any antecedent period from which 
 information on this point can be gained with any approach to accuracy. 
 On the annexation it was found that the average holding was of about 10 
 acres and according to the census reports of 1872 it was found to be 
 11*47 acres. It is extremely doubtful if these figures are accurate for it 
 has certainly been the case that in some instances the size of the ordinary 
 holding has been arrived at by dividing the total number of acres in a 
 district on which revenue was paid by the number of inhabitants shewn 
 as " agriculturists ", a term which includes many who neither own nor rent 
 land but work as labourers. Dividing the area of rice land, including fallow, 
 by the number of persons who paid revenue on such land — and this is the 
 nearest approach possible to correctness — it appears from the latest returns 
 that the average holding is 19 acres and that of holdings of : — 
 
 Up to 10 acres there are . . . . . . . . 14,352 
 
 Froia 10 to 20 acres . . . . . . . . . . 10,055 
 
 Ov 
 
 20 to 30 
 
 30 to 40 
 
 40 to 50 
 
 50 to 100 
 
 er 100 
 
 5,599 
 2,980 
 1,623 
 2,081 
 151 
 
 The area of garden land is always smaller and of this, whether held with 
 or without rice land, there were, in 1877-78 : — 
 
 Holdings of from 1 to 5 acres . . . . . . . . 6,109 
 
 5 to 10 „ . . . . . . . . 822 
 
 Above 10 „ .. .. .. ..146 
 
 In making these calculations the grants of land made revenue free for a 
 term of years under the liberal grant rules of 1861 and of 1865 have been 
 thrown out of consideration : of these there were 54 in 1877 representing an 
 area of 66,160 acres. The grantees pay no revenue for a period fixed in 
 each case when the grant was made and regulated according to the natm-e 
 of the forest on the land at the time and are entitled to demand any rent 
 they please from those whom they can induce to settle ; the legaUty or equity 
 of the terms is a matter for the Civil Courts if disputes arise. At the end 
 of the lease they are entitled to a renewal at the rates in force according to 
 the scale or at any rate agreed upon between them and the Government not 
 exceeding the highest rate paid by non-grantees in the neighbom-hood. The 
 rules were found to work so unsatisfactorily and to conduce so little to any 
 real increase to the cultivation or to the prosperity of the country that in 
 1872 the issue of any new grants was forbidden. 
 
 The continual wars between the Burmans, the Peguans and the 
 
 Siamese together with internal dissensions considerably 
 
 Population. depopulated the once flourishing Talaing kingdom of 
 
 which this district formed a part and, as if these were not suflicient, several 
 
 Talaing kings did their best to ruin their country, whilst the Bm-mans, 
 
 after the conquest by Aloung-bhoora, took measures which largely resulted
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 553 
 
 in a still further decrease amongst the inhabitants. Nanda-bhooreng, 
 who reigned over Pegu and Ava from 1582 to 1599, by his cruelties 
 during the last few years of his reign forced numbers to abandon their 
 country and so depopulated the delta that none were left to cultivate the 
 soil. The Burmese, after the conquest in 1757, set themselves steadily 
 to extirpate the Talaing language and after the first Burmese war drove 
 many thousands into the neighbouring British provinces of Arakan and 
 Tenasserim. In 1855 the number of inhabitants was returned as 137,130, 
 but the Commissioner expressed his opinion that this was far too low an 
 estimate. "From general observation, it is believed" he stated "that 
 "the districts of * * * * and Kangoon contain about three times the 
 "number of people that are shewn. This is also the opinion of the 
 " of&cers in charge of those districts". Taking the population at the higher 
 figure of 401,390, which is the Commissioner's estimate, the number per 
 square mile would have been in that year rather under 41, and this in an 
 extremely fertile country of which such glowing descriptions were given by 
 the earher Euroj^ean travellers in the sixteenth century. 
 
 The census taken in 1872 shewed the number of inhabitants, exclusive 
 of those in the town of Eangoon as : — 
 
 Burmese .. .. .. .. 292,794 
 
 Talaing .. .. .. .. 4,943 
 
 Kareng .. .. .. .. 27,305 
 
 Slian .. .. .. .. 5,179 
 
 Arakanese .. .. .. ., 107 
 
 Hindoos .. .. ,. .. 934 
 
 Mahomedans . . . . . . , . 518 
 
 Chinese . . . . . , . . 537 
 
 All others . . . . . . . . 7 
 
 Total . . 332,324 
 
 The most noticeable point in this statement is the paucity of the 
 Talaing, the former inhabitants. Doubtless this had been to a considerable 
 extent caused by the cruelties of Nanda-bhooreng already alluded to whose 
 enmity seems to have been especially excited by the Talaing Booddhist 
 monks, thousands of whom he forced to turn lajmen and killed or 
 expelled, and by the emigration eastward and westward during the later 
 years of the Burmese rule, but it appears exceedingly probable that many 
 shewn in the returns as Burmans are really pure Talaing and still more 
 of mixed Burman and Talaing blood, for as Sir Arthur Phayre noticed 
 20 years ago, speaking of the inhabitants of Pegu, " scarcely any one 
 " of Talaing descent calls himself anything but a Burman, so completely 
 " has the national spirit been extinguished". The Kareng — and many 
 even of these prefer to be considered Burmese — are not so numerous 
 here as in other parts of the delta of the Irrawaddy. They belong to 
 Pwo and Sgaw families, two of the three into which the race is divided, 
 and are industrious agriculturists. Their arrival in the plains is no doubt 
 an event of comparatively late date. Numbers of them have been con- 
 verted to Christianity and the remainder have to some extent adopted 
 Booddhism as their rehgion. The Shan have come fi'om the north 
 and east at various periods and are found in colonies, one of which near 
 Rangoon is of very recent date. In the Than-lyeng township are villages 
 occupied by descendants of a number of captives brought away from seven 
 
 70
 
 55i 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 villages in the neigbbourhoocl of Zeng-mai by Aloung-bhoora after his 
 invasion of that country some 125 years ago. The captives were settled 
 in the Rwon circle (to which they gave their name) under a headman of 
 their own and remained there for many years, but latterly many have emi- 
 grated to other circles, their numbers being recruited by arrivals from 
 another colony near Pegu, and many are found in Twan-te. The newer 
 colonies retain their dress, customs and language, but the older ones have 
 become thoroughly Burmanised and retain but few traces of their distinct 
 nationality. Amongst the Mahomedans are found two classes, new 
 arrivals from India and descendants of former immigrants. In the 
 Than-lyeng township are descendants of the Indian Mussulmans who 
 resided here during the time that the European factories flourished and 
 although they have received a considerable infusion of Burmese blood 
 they still adhere to their distinctive dress and rehgion but in everything 
 else are completely Burmanised. They intermarry chiefly among them- 
 selves. Amongst the Booddhists are found a number of families who 
 state that they are of foreign origin, who bury their dead under tombs 
 and abstain from pork and who are most probably descended from the 
 converts forcibly made by the Peguan king Bhooreng Noung about the 
 middle of the sixteenth century. 
 
 The following table shews the distribution of the population in 1872 
 according to sexes and religion : — 
 
 
 Christians. 
 
 Hindoos. 
 
 Mahomedans. 
 
 Booddhists. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Males 
 Females ... 
 
 3,911 
 3,527 
 
 609 
 325 
 
 317 
 
 201 
 
 171,567 
 151,867 
 
 176,404 
 155,920 
 
 Total 
 
 7,438 
 
 934 
 
 518 
 
 323,434 
 
 332,324 
 
 The Kareng and other Asiatic races, other than Hindoos and Mahomedans, 
 are included amongst the Booddhists except in the cases of converts to 
 Christianity. The Booddhists, therefore, furnish 97'32 per cent, of the 
 whole population ; Henzada, where there are very few Hindoos, and 
 Shwe-gyeng, where there are very few Christians, alone shewing a higher 
 percentage. The disproportion between the males and females is greater 
 than in any other district except Akyab, and then only if Akyab town be 
 included, whilst Ptangoon town is excluded here ; the actual percentage is 
 63-08 males to 46-92 females. 
 
 The population according to age was found to be : — 
 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Not exceeding one year 
 
 11,020 
 
 9,051 
 
 20,071 
 
 Above 1 year, not above 6 years 
 
 26,269 
 
 23,674 
 
 49,943 
 
 „ 6 „ „ „ 12 „ 
 
 26,532 
 
 23,346 
 
 49,878 
 
 „ 12 „ „ „ 20 „ 
 
 21,844 
 
 19,855 
 
 41,699 
 
 „ 20 „ „ „ 30 „ 
 
 26,534 
 
 24,008 
 
 60,542 
 
 ,, 30 „ „ ,, 40 „ 
 
 26,921 
 
 24,762 
 
 51,683 
 
 „ 40 „ „ „ 50 „ 
 
 18,886 
 
 15,817 
 
 34,703 
 
 „ 50 „ „ „ 60 ,, 
 
 10,061 
 
 8,349 
 
 18,410 
 
 Exceeding 60 „ 
 
 8,337 
 
 7,028 
 
 15,366
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 555 
 
 At none of these ages were the females in excess of the males as was 
 found to be the case at certain ages in several districts, and notably all 
 along the Tenasserim coast and up the valleys of the Salween and of the 
 Tsit-toung towards Toung-ngoo. The number of male agriculturists over 20 
 was 41,180 or rather more than one-third of the number of the whole male 
 population above that age. 
 
 The population of the town of Kangoon is of a very different character 
 as is shewn by the following figures which give the number of the various 
 races living there in 1872 : — 
 
 Burmans 
 
 Talaing 
 
 Kareng 
 
 Shan 
 
 Arakanese 
 
 Hindoos 
 
 Mahomedans . . 
 
 Chinese 
 
 Europeans, Eurasians, and Americans 
 
 All others . . 
 
 Total 
 
 56,918 
 
 7,451 
 
 525 
 
 1,217 
 
 195 
 
 15,284* 
 9,608 
 3,181 
 2,384t 
 1,982 
 
 98,745 
 
 The whole population, therefore, of the district, including the capital town 
 of the province, was 431,069. 
 
 The population of the district from 1854-55 has been : — 
 
 Year. District. Town. Year. District. Town. 
 
 1855 . 
 
 175,185^ 
 
 
 1867 
 
 . 280,231 . . 
 
 71,186 
 
 1856 . 
 
 178,889 
 
 
 1868 
 
 . 285,400 . . 
 
 72,675 
 
 1857 . 
 
 201,633 
 
 
 1869 
 
 . 264,495 . . 
 
 96,942 
 
 1858 . 
 
 195,759 
 
 Inclusive of Ran- 
 
 1870 
 
 . 457,149 .. 
 
 93,103 
 
 1859 . 
 
 221,829 
 
 ^goon town. 
 
 1871 
 
 273,078 . . 
 
 100,000 
 
 1860 . 
 
 252,507 
 
 
 1872 
 
 . 310,035 .. 
 
 77,777 
 
 1861 . 
 
 274,742 
 
 
 1873 
 
 . 348,236 . . 
 
 80,096 
 
 1862 . 
 
 283,714 
 
 
 1874 
 
 . 335,169 .. 
 
 81,244 
 
 1863 . 
 
 236,121 .. 61,138 
 
 1875 
 
 .. 276,367 .. 
 
 80,464 
 
 1864 . 
 
 249,999 .. 63,256 
 
 1876 
 
 . 281,992 .. 
 
 83,322 
 
 1865 . 
 
 246,149 .. 66,577 
 
 1877 
 
 . 286,505 . . 
 
 83,322 
 
 1866 . 
 
 247,523 
 
 .. 69,866 
 
 
 
 
 The most important town is Rangoon from which the district takes 
 its name and which is the capital of the province, 
 '^^"^^ situated on the bank of the Hlaing, or as it is here called 
 
 the Eangoon, at the mouth of the Pegu river. In the Burmese time little 
 more than a collection of mat huts grouped with little regularity or order 
 it has risen to its present importance since the occupation of the country 
 by the British. In 1878 it contained 91,458 inhabitants. It will be found 
 described under its own name. 
 
 Pegu, on the river of the same name, in 17° 19' N. and 9G° 34' 30" E., 
 once the capital of a sovereign who ruled from Bengal to Cochin China, 
 the kings of Arakan and of Siam, of Ava, Toung-ngoo, and Prome being 
 tributary to him, never recovered its capture by the Burmese under 
 
 * Including 1,906 Christians. 
 
 t Of whom 1,926 were British, 37 Italians, 81 Germans, 13 Americans, and the rest Austri- 
 ans, Dutch, French, Norwegians, &c., &c.
 
 556 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Aloung-bhoora, in 1756 A.D., and is now little more than a large vil- 
 lage, the head-quarters of a township, with 4,948 inhabitants. It was 
 founded by Tha-ma-la and Wee-ma-la, sons of the then reigning sovereign 
 of Tha-htoon, who brought with them 130 families and were joined by 
 many more from the neighbourhood. The new kingdom gradually rose 
 in importance as Tha-htoon dwindled and Pegu was enlarged and 
 embellished by many of its rulers. More than once attacked and taken, 
 it sometimes sank into a provincial city again to be made the seat of Gov- 
 ernment. It was described by Csesar Fredericke, the Venetian, who 
 visited the country early in the latter half of the sixteenth centmy, as con- 
 sisting of two separate portions in one of which resided the trading popu- 
 lation and in the other the Court and its surroundings, the latter encircled 
 by a square wall with 20 gates, five in each face, and surmounted at intervals 
 by gilded sentry boxes ; the streets were straight and broad enough for 10 
 or 12 men to ride abreast along them ; the houses were of wood and tiled, 
 and the palace was in the centre encompassed by wet ditches and hand- 
 somely ornamented and gilded. On the opposite bank of the river are the 
 extensive remains of numerous pagodas and other masonry structm'es, 
 whilst to the eastward is the celebrated Shwe-hmaw-daw pagoda, within the 
 ruined walls of a fort a mile square built by Bhooreng Noung, who 
 amongst other names assumed that of Tsheng-hpyoo-sheng (the Chaumi- 
 grem of the Portuguese writers), as a portion of the town described by 
 Cffisar Fredericke. During the second Burmese war Pegu was twice 
 taken by the British and after the second captm-e was more than once 
 attacked by the Burmese troops and defended with some difficulty. It is 
 the head-quarters of a sub-division and contains Court-houses, Police- 
 stations, a Telegraph office, a Post office, a School and a Market-place. 
 The inhabitants are mainly Booddhists, with a few Hindoos, Mahomedans 
 and Christians. 
 
 Twan-te is another village, once an important town, situated at the 
 northern extremity of the Twan-te Taw-gyee, west of Rangoon, on 
 the banks of the Twan-te stream about seven miles from its mouth in the 
 To river. The site of the old boundary wall is still pointed out by the 
 inhabitants. Near it is the ancient Shwe Tshan-daw pagoda much vene- 
 rated by the Talaing and not far off the site of the old town of Kha- 
 beng. 
 
 Syriam, or more properly Than-lyeng, on the eastern bank of the Pegu 
 river opposite Piangoon, was the site of the Portuguese and Enghsh factories 
 and the scene in 1612 of the captm-e and impalement by the king of Burma of 
 de Brito who had made himself master of the country in the name 
 of the king of Portugal and had attained such power that he was able to 
 attack and defeat the king of Toung-ngoo and to seize his capital. The 
 remains of the fort and buildings, including those of a church erected by 
 de Brito, are still in existence and a considerable number of the mhabitants 
 are descendants of the Mahomedan settlers of that period. During the wars 
 between the English and the Burmese it was attacked and taken by the 
 British ; after they had retired, on the conclusion of the first Burmese 
 war, Moung Tsat, called the " Syriam Piaja", declining to submit to 
 the Burmese on their return when the British evacuated Pegu, attempted 
 to re-establish the Talaing monarchy but was defeated and with his fol-
 
 200 
 
 
 inhabitants 
 
 
 200 
 
 to 
 
 500 inhabitants. 
 
 500 
 
 )) 
 
 1,000 
 
 
 1,000 
 
 )> 
 
 2,000 
 
 
 2,000 
 
 )i 
 
 3,000 
 
 
 3,000 
 
 )) 
 
 5,000 
 
 
 5,000 
 
 )> 
 
 10,000 
 50,000 
 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 657 
 
 lowers driven to seek refuge in Tenasserim where they settled in two 
 parties, one on the banks of the Salween and one further south on the 
 seacoast. 
 
 Several other towns are mentioned in Burmese and Talaing history, 
 but none are now of any importance, and all have sunk into villages. Of 
 towns and villages there were in 1872 : — 
 
 1,080 with less than 
 322 „ from 
 
 68 „ ,, 
 
 8 ,, >» 
 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 1 (Rangoon) more than 
 
 The principal articles manufactured are salt, pottery, fish-paste 
 (nga-pee), mats, and silk and cotton cloths ; all for 
 Manufactures. YqcqI consumption, except the pottery and nga-pee 
 
 which are exported, the latter to Upper Burma. The salt is made during 
 the hot weather at various places along the seacoast and in the Syriam 
 and An-gyee townships, partly by solar evaporation and partly by boiling 
 in iron or earthen pots, the u'on yielding the greater out-turn. The 
 method adopted when iron pots are used is as follows : — 
 
 A site having been selected a i3atch sometimes an acre in extent is 
 carefully cleared of scrub, the roots being dug out, and left to the next 
 season when any shrubs or grass which may have sprung up are taken out 
 and the whole carefully levelled. Eound this is constructed an embank- 
 ment, and during the spring tides of February the sea water is convej^ed 
 into this cistern by a trough communicating with a platform on the bank 
 of some tidal stream. In March the mud left by solar evaporation on the 
 sm'face of the enclosed space is scraped off and placed in a filter which 
 has previously been constructed and salt water poiu-ed on it. This filter 
 consists of a framework some 15 feet long, five feet wide and one and a 
 half feet deep, raised three feet from the ground on small supports, the 
 bottom is made of rough poles about two inches m diameter laid side by 
 side covered by a mat made of a wild creeper over which is put coarse 
 cloth. Under the filter is a slanting framework of palm leaves which 
 conducts the filtered brine into a trough, and thus to a reservou- or pit 
 some six feet deep dug near the furnace, which is about 15 feet long, 12 
 feet broad, and four or five feet high, where the boiling pots are arranged. 
 As long as a few grains of boiled rice thrown from time to time into the 
 brine will float the filtering process is continued but as soon as they sink 
 it is stopped find the contents of the filter are thrown away. The boiling 
 is continued day and night, the pots being cleared about every twelve 
 hours, when the contents have evaporated to dryness, and replenished 
 with iorine from the reseiTOU*. The furnace is protected by a shed which 
 serves also as a dwelling for the workers. 
 
 The method employed when eai-then pots are used for boiling is 
 different. During the rainy season a large space is cleared, ploughed and 
 made as smooth as possible and arranged in terraces protected by 
 embankments and when the rains arc over a tank near the cleared space is
 
 558 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 excavated about 30 feet long by 22 feet broad and four or five feet deep. 
 Between December and March the necessary materials such as pots, firewood, 
 &c., are collected (the former principally from Kwon-khyan-goon in An-gyee) 
 and a shed built within which is constructed a kiln of the earthern pots built 
 into the shape of a dome. In the meanwhile, in January, water is let into 
 the higher terraces either by balmg or, if the site is low enough, by letting 
 it pass through an opening made in the protecting embankment. After 
 remaining for one day in the upper terrace it is passed into the second 
 and two and a half days later into the last. When the water here collected 
 will float a grain or two of boiled rice it is ready for boihng, but the fields 
 have to be filled two or three times before sufiicient salt is extracted from 
 the soil to render the brine ready for the furnace. The pots are very 
 strong and thick but often burst under the tremendous heat to which they 
 are exposed. There are usually two boilings in each 24 hours and each 
 boiling gives about two viss or about 7i lbs. of salt. As the boiling 
 season lasts for about two months the average outturn from each pot may 
 be taken at 250 viss or about eight cwt. which at current prices would sell 
 at about Es. 18 or Es. 19. 
 
 The gross quantity made varies year by year and is decreasing owing 
 to the importation of foreign salt which competes favourably with it in the 
 market. For many years the local article held its own for nga-pee making, 
 but even here it is losing ground and mainly because it is dearer. The 
 increasing cost of firewood also has somethmg to do with it. 
 
 Pots for salt boiling are made in Kwon-khyan-goon and in the adjoin- 
 ing village of Taw-pa-lwai in the Angyee township. The work of making 
 salt pots begins in January and ends when the rains commence. Usually 
 four men work together — women are never employed — one mixing the earth, 
 one turning the wheel, one fashioning and one finishing. The earth is 
 brought from Mayan-rwa, a little to the northward, where ordinary pots 
 are made, fine sea sand from the mouth of the river To and the firewood 
 from the Twan-te Taw-gyee. To every two parts of earth one part of sand 
 is added and the mass mixed up with water till it is soft enough to work. 
 The fashioning is done entirely by hand and the pot when fashioned is well 
 beaten with a flat slab of wood; when completed they are put to dry, a process 
 which, as they are very thick, takes a long time, and are then placed in a per- 
 manent kiln, about 250 at a time, and burned for 24 hours. The kilns are 
 built against the scarped side of a hill and have the draught-hole close to 
 the hill and the entrance at the other end. The roof is somewhat dome- 
 shaped and has much the appearance of a large unkeeled boat tui-ned 
 topsy-turvy. The inside measurements vary. An ordinary sized kiln is 
 about 20 feet long by 12 broad and 10 feet high from the floor to the centre 
 of the roof. Many of the pots, owing to defective workmanship, crack and 
 break in the burnuig, in some cases as many as 100 out of the 250 in 
 the kiln. A party of four good workmen will tm-n out from 100 to 
 125 salt pots in a day. The price varies, according to the season and 
 the demands of the salt-boilers, from Es. 45 to Es. 90 per hundred. A 500- 
 basket boat with four men will carry 25 baskets of sand and make the trip 
 to To-wa and back four times a day. The boatmen are paid eight annas a 
 day each and the cost of 100 baskets of sand is thus Es. 8 ; the man who 
 brings the earth gets Es. 2-8 per 100 baskets. The mixer gets one rupee a
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 559 
 
 day, the wheel-turner, fashioner and finisher each Es. 3 per 100 pots, 
 expenditure and profits during a season would be about : — 
 
 One hundred baskets of sand 
 Two ,, ,, earth 
 
 Eight cords of wood 
 Mixer, 90 days 
 Fashioner for 1,250 pots.. 
 Wheel-turner ,, 
 
 Finisher ,, ,, 
 
 Bamboos, &c. 
 
 The 
 
 Value of 1,250 pots at Rs. 60 
 
 Deduct value of 400 pots damaged in burning 
 
 Rs. 
 
 A. 
 
 P. 
 
 .. 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 .. 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 .. 32 
 
 
 
 
 
 .. 90 
 
 
 
 
 
 .. 37 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 .. 37 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 .. 37 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 .. 2 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 .. 750 
 
 
 
 
 
 .. 240 
 
 
 
 
 
 250 
 
 510 
 
 Nett profit Say Rs. 250 
 
 At other periods of the year the potters at Kwon-khyan-goon and Taw- 
 pa-lwai and throughout the year those of Ma-yan-rwa and Thoon-kwa make 
 cooking pots. The same earth is used as for the salt pots but the sand is 
 from De-da-naw and is used in smaller quantities. Usually a man and a 
 woman work together, the man bringing the earth and the sand and mixing 
 the clay and the woman tm-ning the wheel with one hand and fashioning 
 with the other. A couple can turn out from 100 to 150 pots of sizes in a 
 day. From 250 to 300 are put in each kiln and are burned for 12 hours, 
 a quarter of a cord of wood being used. About one-fifth are cracked or 
 broken in the burning. In the cold weather they sell on the spot for from 
 Rs. 6 to Rs. 8 per 100 and in the rains for about Rs. 5 per 100. 
 
 The salt-boilers usually come to buy their own pots but the water 
 and cooking pots are bought principally by persons who hawk them about 
 in boats or take them to the markets in Rangoon and other large places. 
 In some cases persons in Kywon-khyan-goon make advances to the potters 
 at the rate of Rs. 3 per 100 and then resell at market rates. An ordinary 
 water pot costs two annas in Rangoon. 
 
 At Twan-te are made large water or oil jars glazed outside with a mix- 
 ture of galena and rice water, some standing four feet high, commonly 
 known as " Pegu jars", which are used throughout Burma. 
 
 Nga-pee is made principally in the An-gyee township. It is of two 
 kinds one called Nga-pee-goung and the other Toung-tha-nga-pee ; Nga-pee- 
 goung again consists of the ordinary Nga-pee-goung such as is made here 
 and of Nga-tha-louk Nga-pee, made from the Nga-tha-louk or Hilsa 
 {Clupea palasah). In making the ordinary Nga-pee-goung the fish are 
 scaled, — if large by hand, if small by means of a bamboo with the end made 
 into a kind of stiff brush and worked amongst a mass thrown together, almost 
 alive, into a wooden mortar — cleaned and the heads of the large ones cut off. 
 They are then well rubbed with salt and carefully packed into a bamboo 
 basket and weights placed on the top. Here they are left for a night, the 
 liquid draining away through the basket. Next morning they are taken out, 
 rubbed with salt, and spread out on a mat and the next day they are put 
 away with alternate layers of salt in large jars and left in a cool place. In 
 a month the liquid which has come to the top has evaporated and left a 
 layer of salt and they are ready for sale. Sometimes the supernatant liquid 
 gets full of maggots before completely drying up ; in this case it is taken off 
 and more salt added. It is a great object both to the makers and to the
 
 560 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 cooks to keep the fish whole. They are eaten roasted, fried or in curries. 
 In making Toung-tha Nga-pee, which must not be confounded with Bhala- 
 khyan vcl Tsien-tsa (because it can be eaten uncooked) vel Nga-pee-hgnyeng 
 (Arakan) vel Gwai (Tavoy and Mergui), the fish are scaled and in large fish 
 the head is removed and the body cut up. They are soaked in brine for a 
 night, taken out and exposed to the sun on a mat till they begin to turn 
 putrid and then brayed in a mortar with salt and packed away in any 
 receptacle and kept for two or three months by which time the paste is fit 
 for sale. This is made into a kind of sauce with other ingredients and is 
 used as a condiment. 
 
 In An-gyee are made large coarse mats for the Eangoon market 
 used largely for placing at the bottom of ships holds ; whilst in the Hlaing 
 township a much finer kind is made for which there is a ready sale in the 
 Eangoon market for local use and for export to other parts of the province. 
 
 Silkworms are to some extent reared in the Hlaing township, and the 
 process of rearing the worms, collecting and boiling the cocoons and 
 winding the silk is the same as in Prome, Thayet and elsewhere. Silk 
 and cotton cloths are made in almost every house, partly for sale and partly 
 for the use of the household. 
 
 The exact amount of the revenue realised in the district before the 
 annexation is not discoverable as no records are obtain- 
 Eevenue. ^-^-^^ ^^ shew the amount raised for their own use by the 
 
 local officials who received no regular salary but were paid by judicial fees 
 and fines and by whatever they could squeeze from the people over and above 
 the sum fixed by the State as that which was to be remitted annually to 
 the capital either for the Government or for the Myotsa, that is the prince 
 or official to whom the district had been allotted for maintenance. The local 
 revenues may, however, be taken at about two-thhds of the Imperial, if 
 these terms may be used to distinguish the State from the local official 
 demand. The amount of the State demand, which was generally collected 
 according to the settlement made by order of the king Bhodaw-bhoora in 
 1783 and revised in 1801 just prior to the annexation was : — 
 
 Es. 
 
 1. — House family tax, Burmans and Kareng 
 
 2. — Yoke of oxen, or rice land tax 
 
 3. — Fisheries ,. 
 
 4.— Salt 
 
 5. — Transit duties 
 
 6. — Timber and forest dues. 
 
 7. — Ferries 
 
 8. — Brokers' licenses and miscellaneous. . 
 
 9. — Customs 
 
 The amounts were fixed in viss (3*65lbs.) of Ewek-nee silver each of which 
 may be taken as the equivalent of Es. 130 and the sums given above are 
 calculated accordingly. Adding two-thirds of this for the local revenues 
 the whole sum paid by the population, which, as ah'eady shewn was then 
 exceedmgly sparse though doubtless more numerous than during the first 
 year or perhaps first two years after the annexation, was Es. 11,45,600, 
 rather less than the amount realized by the British Government in 1856-67, 
 
 
 . 164,370 
 
 
 73,190 
 
 
 . 103,570 
 
 
 63,820 
 
 
 24,440 
 
 
 2,710 
 
 
 200 
 
 
 5,070 
 
 
 . 260,000 
 
 Total 
 
 . 687,370
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 561 
 
 and rather less than the revenues of the whole of Pegu mcludmg Toung- 
 ngoo (which has since heen transferred to Tenasserim) in 1853-54. 
 
 The British Government adopted, to a certain extent, the Bui'mese 
 system, if system it can be called, which was not oppressive and suited the 
 people, making such modifications as our experience in Ai-akan and Tenas- 
 serim shewed to be advantageous. The capitation and land taxes were 
 retained but levied according to fixed rates and no longer assessed on each 
 family by the village officer according to his estimate of its means. The 
 fisheries were rented out and the tax on the manufacture of salt was con- 
 tinued m a modified form. Ferries, judicial fines and fees, sea customs, 
 port dues, &c. fm-nished a share of the gross revenue whilst an excise on 
 spu'its and drugs was introduced and transit and broker dues abolished. 
 
 There are no details of the collections before 1855-56 now available, 
 but the nett amomits in 1853-54 and in 1854-55 were Es. 545,093 and 
 Rs. 829,934 respectively. The collections in 1855-56 and in 1877-78 were : — 
 
 Land reveuue 
 
 Ciipitatiou tax . . 
 
 Salt tax 
 
 Fishery tax 
 
 Forest produce 
 
 Excise 
 
 Sea customs 
 
 Timber revenue 
 
 Judicial fines and fees, and Law stamps. 
 
 Postage and Telegraph stamps 
 
 Misceilaueous (savings, sale of unclaimed property, &o.) 
 
 Total 
 
 1855-56. 
 
 960,400 
 
 1877-78. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Be. 
 
 306,960 
 
 1,366,391 
 
 168,950 
 
 850,047 
 
 32,550 
 
 7,076 
 
 140,670 
 
 104,906 
 
 Nil. 
 
 515 
 
 72,680 
 
 526.884 
 
 157,370 
 
 2,917,743 
 
 50,730 
 
 Nil. 
 
 14,560 
 
 31,418 
 
 7,310 
 
 1,343,677 
 
 8,620 
 
 248,450 
 
 6,897,107 
 
 During this period stamps in judicial proceedings 
 rendered obligatory and the telegraph was establ 
 which the inland fishery tax was first collected was 
 ponds to the highest bidder at auction 
 annual leases granted by the district o 
 
 and for law papers were 
 
 shed. The system upon 
 
 by leasing out lakes and 
 
 this was subsequently changed to 
 
 cer to inhabitants of neighboiuing 
 
 villages at a rent fixed by himself ; and a year or two ago a mocUfied auction 
 system was substituted at which only bond fide fishermen living near the 
 fishery can bid, and the lease is for five years instead of for one only as 
 formerly. 
 
 The gross revenues of the district, excluding sea customs, but including 
 the Imperial revenue raised in the town of Rangoon, dui'ing the 10 years 
 ending with 1877-78, have been : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 Year. 
 
 ilevenue.i 
 
 Year. Eevenue. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 1868-69 
 1869-70 
 
 Es. 
 2,414,204 
 2,350,706 
 
 1870-71 
 1871-72 
 
 Es. 
 2,452,037 
 2,437,703 
 
 1872-73 
 1873-74 
 
 Es. 
 2,671,814 
 2,967,255 
 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 
 Es. 
 3,229,384 
 2,284,517* 
 
 1 
 1 
 1876-77 
 
 1877-78 
 
 Es. 
 2,364,559 
 3,107,822 
 
 * 111 this year the Tliooii-kliwa district was formed aud the revouue adiuiuistrutiou of the town of 
 Baugoou was placed uudor the Magistrate. 
 
 71
 
 662 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 From these figures is excluded a local revenue derived from ferries, 
 lease of stalls in market-places, a town fund raised on the land in Pegu, an 
 addition of five per cent, to the Imperial land and fishery taxes, cattle 
 market fees, &c. The amounts so raised during the ten years ending 
 with 1877-78 were : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 1868-69 
 1869-70 
 
 Rs. 
 52,241 
 45,568 
 
 1870-71 
 1871-72 
 
 Rs. 
 74,118 
 68,502 
 
 11872-73 
 1873-74 
 
 Rs. 
 
 91,476 
 
 110,379 
 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 
 Rs. 
 108,255 
 82,991 
 
 1876-77 
 
 1877-78 
 
 Rs. 
 
 106,886 
 124,696 
 
 Administration. 
 
 This does not include the local revenue raised in the town of Eangoon. 
 
 Under the Burmese Government this district consisted of several 
 townshi]3s each under an officer exercising considerable 
 powers, and the whole was controlled by a Governor who 
 had the power of life and death and communicated direct with the Govern- 
 ment at A.va. The townships, of which there were 14 exclusive of Eangoon, 
 were Pegu, Zwai-bhoon, Zaing-ga-naing, Daw-bhoon, A-kha-rien, Hpoung- 
 leng, Hlaing, Eng-ga-bhoo, Hmaw-bhee, Twan-te, Thoon-kliwa, An-gyee, 
 Eng-tay and Pya-poon. When the head of the township held his office 
 hereditarily he was called a Myo-thoogyee but when appointed by the State 
 a Myo-ook, and when holding the appointment in virtue of being com- 
 mander of a royal war-boat a Pai-neng (steersman). The exercise of power 
 by these various officers was very capricious. The subordinate officers in 
 the interior, generally, were in league with robbers whom they entertained, 
 nominally as a kind of Police. After the capture of the lower portion of the 
 delta of the Irrawaddy the country fell a prey to anarchy and it was more 
 than a year before peace was restored. This district suffered less than its 
 neighbours to the west and north, Bassein, Henzada and Tharrawaddy, but 
 still hardly any grain was sown during the rains of the first year. The local 
 jurisdictions were to a great extent retained, a Deputy Commissioner placed 
 in charge of the district and a Myo-ook appointed to each township with 
 moderate judicial, fiscal and Police powers, with Thoogyee in charge of 
 circles and Goung under them, not as formerly at the caprice of the Thoogyee 
 but each in charge of several villages and appointed by the Government. 
 Each Myo-ook was allowed two peons only and every endeavour was made, 
 with gradual but complete success, to check the entertainment by these 
 officials of bands of bravos. The Thoogyee, who were primarily revenue 
 officers but who also were held responsible for the general state of their circles, 
 were paid by a percentage on their revenue collections, whilst the Goung, 
 who were primarily Police officers but were to assist the Thoogyee general- 
 ly in the collection of the revenue, were paid Es. 10 a month ; these consti- 
 tuted the village constabulary and, with the Thoogyee, the detective Police. 
 Below the Goung again were appointed Kye-dan-gyee in charge of village 
 tracts whose duties were to assist both Goung and Thoogyee in their duties. 
 In Eangoon Goung were appointed to the several wards or quarters. 
 One of the most important changes made was in the suppression of heads of
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 563 
 
 trades. " There were Ook (heads) over the Kareng of each township, over 
 " the fishermen and over the brokers, over palm juice drawers and 
 *' silver-assay ers, over the ploughmen of the royal lands, and the cultivators 
 " of the royal gardens. They, alone, took primary cognizance of crimes 
 " and offences amongst those under their charge" and at first it was "found 
 " a matter of no small difficulty to make Thoogyee and others understand 
 *' that they had jurisdiction over all residents in the territories under their 
 "charge without reference to this mere personal jurisdiction". With four 
 exceptions little or no change has been made in the general principles of 
 the administration of the district, these exceptions are : — the formation 
 in 1861-62 of a regular Police placed under officers of its own but except 
 in matters of interior economy and discipline subordinate to the district 
 officer ; a few years later the formation of an mdependent prison depart- 
 ment; later still the formation of an education department ; and a few years 
 ago the almost entire separation of the town from the district. Circles 
 have been amalgamated and placed under one Thoogyee instead of two or 
 three, others have been split into two, townships have been added together 
 and placed under one Myo-ook or Extra Assistant Commissioner and several 
 townships have been joined into a sub-division placed under the immediate 
 control of an Assistant Commissioner or of an Extra Assistant of superior 
 grade, and the limits of the district itself have been varied by handing over 
 outlymg tracts to neighbouring jurisdictions — Bhaw-nee in the extreme 
 north on the eastern slopes of the Pegu Roma mountains to Toung-ngoo in 
 1864 (since joined to Shwe-gyeng), the Kaw-lee-ya cu'cle between the Pegu 
 mountains and the Tsit-toung river to Shwe-gyeng in 1872-73, a narrow 
 strip west of those mountains which formed the Thoon-tshay circle to 
 Henzada during the following year, and lastly the addition of an extensive 
 tract in the extreme west to another in the extreme east of Bassein to form 
 the Thoon-khwa district. 
 
 Rangoon is now divided into three sub-divisions each containing two 
 townships, viz. : — 
 
 Sub-divisions. 
 
 Head-quarters. 
 
 Townships. 
 
 Head-quarters. 
 
 Old townships. 
 
 Number 
 of circles. 
 
 Hmaw-bliee . . 
 
 Hmaw-bbee* . . 
 
 Hlaing 
 
 Taw-la-tai 
 
 Hlaing 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Hmaw-bhee 
 
 Eng-tsient 
 
 Hmaw-bhee and 
 
 i 
 
 ) 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 part of Eng-ga- 
 
 
 
 
 
 bboo and of Daw- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 bhoon. 
 
 Than-lyeng or 
 
 Kyouk-tan 
 
 An-pyce . . 
 
 Twan-te 
 
 Au-gyee 
 
 14 
 
 Syriam. 
 
 
 Than-lyeng 
 
 Than-lyeng 
 
 Than-lyeng and 
 part of Zwai- 
 bhoon. 
 
 10 
 
 Pegu 
 
 Pegu 
 
 Pegu 
 
 Pegu 
 
 Pegu and part of 
 Zwai-bhoon and 
 of Zaing-ga-naing. 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 
 
 Hpoung-leng 
 
 Hlay-goo 
 
 Hpoung-leng, A- 
 kha-rien, and part 
 of Zaing-ga-naing 
 andof Daw-bhoon. 
 
 Total . . 
 
 8 
 
 
 53 
 
 * Shortly to be removed to Eng-tsieu. 
 
 t Shortly to be removed to Hmaw-bhee.
 
 664 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 In each township there is a court presided over by the Extra Assistant 
 Commissioner in charge who has moderate civil and criminal powers, and 
 in each sub-division a similar court presided over by the Assistant or Extra 
 Assistant in charge with higher powers. The Deputy Commissioner as 
 district judge hears all civil appeals, and on the original side entertains 
 suits of over Es. 3,000 in value, an appeal and in some cases a second appeal 
 lying from him to the Commissioner of the division. As district magistrate 
 he hears all appeals in criminal cases except those preferred from magistrates 
 of the first class, and officers in charge of sub-divisions usually are of this 
 rank, which lie du-ect to the sessions judge and himself tries persons accused 
 of the more serious offences except murder and those in which seven years 
 rigorous imprisonment or transportation would be an insufficient punish- 
 ment : these are committed to the Commissioner sitting as a Court of 
 Session, usually by the magistrate of the sub-division. There are thus 
 10 courts presided over by officers exercising both civil and criminal 
 as well as revenue powers. No village is more than 44 miles from any 
 court and the average distance is 26 miles. The number of civil suits and 
 appeals instituted and their gross value during 1876 and 1877, the only two 
 complete years since the Thoon-khwa district was formed, were : — 
 
 
 Okiginal Suits. 
 
 
 Appeals Instituted. 
 
 1876. 
 
 1877. 
 
 1876. 
 
 1877. 
 
 Instituted. 
 
 Value. 
 
 Instituted. 
 
 Value. 
 
 Instituted. 
 
 Instituted. 
 
 1,714 
 
 Es. 
 
 201,440 
 
 1,738 
 
 Ks. 
 263,117 
 
 52 
 
 85 
 
 The number of persons tried and the number of witnesses examined 
 during the same years was : — 
 
 1876. 
 
 1877. 
 
 Appeals. 
 
 Persons tried. 
 
 Witnesses. 
 
 Persons tried. 
 
 Witnesses. 
 
 1876. 
 
 1877. 
 
 3,846 
 
 7,546 
 
 3,676 
 
 7,531 
 
 20 
 
 23 
 
 For several years after the annexation the more serious crimes, such 
 as murder, gang-robbery, technically called dacoity, and ordinary robbery 
 were far from uncommon. Gradually the district has settled down but 
 gang-robberies are still not altogether unknown. These are sometimes,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 5G5 
 
 bnt rarely, committed by villagers, sometimes by gangs made up partly of 
 inhabitants of the district and partly of upcountry Burmans organized and 
 led by trained dacoits who come down from Upper Bm-ma with this object 
 and return when the rains set in, and sometimes by Kareng-nee who have 
 settled down ; the depredations of these latter are confined, generally, to the 
 country about Pegu : the numerous bad characters to be found in the Kyee- 
 myeng-daing and Poo-zwon-doung quarters of Piangoon lend their aid in 
 swelling the number especially m the immediate neighbom'hood of Piangoon ; 
 they are not recognized by the persons attacked and they get back before 
 the police have received any information and it is almost impossible to find 
 out who the robbers were. 
 
 The number of ofi'ences committed varies considerably and it would 
 almost seem as if waves of crime passed over the district at intervals of 
 several years. The two last 1876 and 1877 were bad years and afford no 
 criterion ; indeed there have never been so many dacoities since 1872 as in 
 1877. The numbers of the more serious offences were : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ;-> 
 
 tc 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 aj 
 
 
 
 
 ,=i 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TO 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <D 
 
 a 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 .a CO 
 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 60 
 
 Year. 
 
 2 
 
 g 
 
 H 
 
 ai 
 
 -w a 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 -1 
 
 3 ^ 
 
 >> 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 <I> 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 d 
 
 
 
 
 cS 
 ft 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 1876 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 39 
 
 1 
 
 14 
 
 156 
 
 978 
 
 144 
 
 1877 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 12 
 
 38 
 
 11 
 
 28 
 
 116 
 
 930 
 
 124 
 
 The police force consists of one Superintendent, one Assistant Superin- 
 tendent, 45 subordinate officers and 503 policemen. One subordinate 
 officer and eight constables are employed in Pegu and arc paid from the local 
 fmids of that town : 50 constables are water police ; and fom* officers and Gl 
 men form the Gaol guard. The total cost of this force dm'ing 1877 was 
 Pis. 1,23,049 of which lis. 1,G20 were defrayed from local funds. The great 
 majority of the men are Burmans or Talaing, whilst natives of India are 
 enlisted more to act as guards over the gaol and for other cognate duties. 
 
 The district has no special gaol. Prisoners convicted by the magistrates 
 are confined in the Piangoon Central Prison which, at present, is situated in 
 the town of Rangoon. 
 
 Schools were opened many years ago by the Missionaries both Piomau 
 Catholic and Baptist, but it was not until the Burman government had 
 been displaced that there was any real toleration and schools were for long 
 to be found in Piangoon only, the education of the rural classes being left 
 in the hands of the Booddhist monks. In 18G7 there were 54 village 
 missionary schools aided by the Government but principally for Kareng. 
 In 1873 a cess school, that is one the expenses of which are defrayed from 
 the five per cent, cess on the land revenue, fishery rents and fish-net tax, 
 was established in Pegu and has been very favourably reported on. It was
 
 606 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 in this district that attempts were first made to utilize the existing monas- 
 tic schools, to raise the teaching given in them, and gradually to bring 
 them under inspection by Government officers. The progi-ess made has 
 not been extraordinarily rapid. 
 
 Communication is principally carried on by water, boats passing 
 backwards and forwards along the Hlaing, the Pan-hlaing, Tha-khwot-peng, 
 Poo-zwon-doung and Pegu and the many tidal creeks which exist every- 
 where except in the north central portion of the district. Advantage was 
 taken some years ago of the Paing-kyoon creek and this and others uniting 
 with it were deepened and widened so that boats could pass through to the 
 Tsit-toung. This improved channel, however, gradually silted up and at its 
 eastern end it was found to be too much exposed to the bore which sweeps 
 up the Tsit-toung and in consequence a new canal has been made running 
 from the old channel, not far from Kha-ra-tshoo, to Myit-kyo on the Tsit- 
 toung, with a lock at its eastern end and another at the Pegu or western 
 end of the old channel. The principal roads are one from Rangoon 
 towards Prome, which from a little north of Hmaw-bhee has been taken up 
 by the Piangoon and Irrawaddy Valley (State) Railway ; the Rangoon and 
 Toung-ngoo road which leaves the Prome road at Htouk-kyan 21^ miles 
 from Rangoon and runs eastward across the Hpoung-leng plain to Pegu, 
 crossing the Pegu river by a wooden bridge, and on northwards along the 
 eastern foot of the Pegu Roma. Up to and within the limits of Pegu it is 
 bridged and metalled but beyond the earthwork only has been finished. 
 Another road leads from Dala on the right bank of the Hlaing westward to 
 Twan-te, and a third from Thau-lyeng on the left bank of the Pegu to 
 Kyouk-tan, the head-quarters of the Syriam sub-division. Feeder roads 
 are either under construction or are about to be commenced from the Ook- 
 kan station on the Railway, which is at the village of Pouk-koon, westward 
 to Ook-kau, round south through Bha-loon to Myoung-ta-nga and thence 
 to Hmaw-bhee ; from Hmaw-bhee eastward to the Railway station and onto 
 the Prome road ; and from the Hlaw-ga station eastwards to near Htouk- 
 kyan. The Rangoon and Irrawaddy Valley (State) Railway, after it enters 
 this district from Rangoon, runs nearly due north for 60^ miles to the 
 Mee-neng river, with stations at Tha-maing (about to be removed to Pouk- 
 taw near Engtsien) Hlaw-ga, Hmaw-bhee, Taikgyee and Ook-kan (at the 
 village of Pouk-koon). The line is single and the guage 3 "2809 feet. 
 
 The mails are carried daily by the Railway from Rangoon northward, 
 and once a week by mail-cart from Rangoon past Htouk-kyan to Pegu. 
 These lines are under the Imperial post-office. In addition there are lines 
 under the Deputy Commissioner and paid for from the cess, from Rangoon to 
 Kyouk-tan and back three times a week, from Rangoon to Twan-te and on to 
 the Thoon-khwa district every day, and from Rangoon to Taw-la-tai, the 
 head-quarters of the Hlaing township, on the Hlamg river at the mouth of 
 the Bhaw-lay, twice a week. 
 
 Cattle-markets are held three times a week at Pegu, Htouk-kyan, Kam- 
 bai, Gnyoung-beng, Bo-khyoop, Htan-ma-naing, Tha-maing and Hmaw- 
 bhee. As in England sales elsewhere are not illegal but every endeavour 
 is made to get sellers to bring their cattle to the markets as the official in 
 charge issues to the buyer a ticket describing the cattle and giving other 
 details and the Police are thus aided in tracing stolen beasts. A small fee
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 567 
 
 is charged. The number of cattle sold and the fees realized during the last 
 three years were : — 
 
 
 1876. 
 
 1877. 
 
 1878. 
 
 
 o2 
 
 '6 
 
 o2 
 
 
 o2 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 ^ 
 
 u " 
 
 cS 
 
 ■^ » 
 
 -3 
 
 
 ^S 
 
 cu 
 
 ^^ 
 
 S-l 
 
 ^S 
 
 It 
 
 
 i1 
 1" 
 
 
 
 03 
 
 
 0} 
 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Begu 
 
 5,155 
 
 1,631 
 
 7,020 
 
 2,249 
 
 11,890 
 
 3,723 
 
 Htouk-kyau 
 
 4,556 
 
 1,402 
 
 5,095 
 
 1,522 
 
 5,412 
 
 1,575 
 
 Kam-bai 
 
 2,594 
 
 906 
 
 3,078 
 
 1,036 
 
 5,102 
 
 1,687 
 
 Gnyoung-beng 
 
 4,047 
 
 1,397 
 
 3,050 
 
 1,022 
 
 4,105 
 
 1,251 
 
 Bo-khyoop 
 
 20 
 
 6 
 
 2,593 
 
 891 
 
 1,656 
 
 539 
 
 Htan-ma-naing* 
 
 75 
 
 25 
 
 695 
 
 243 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Tha-maing . . 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 965 
 
 301 
 
 1,654 
 
 504 
 
 Hmaw-bhee 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 " 
 
 71 
 
 19 
 
 RANGOON. — The capital of the Province, 21 miles from the sea, lymg 
 on the left bank of the Hlaing river at its junction with the Pegu and the 
 Poo-zwon-doung with a small suburb on the right bank. According to the 
 Talaing traditions the first village established on the site of the present 
 Rangoon was founded circa 585 B.C. by two brothers, Poo and Ta-paw, 
 who had received some of Gaudama's hairs from the Booddha himself and, 
 acting on his instructions, bm-ied them on the summit of a slight laterite 
 elevation and erected over them the Shwe Dagon pagoda. Poon-na-ree-ka, 
 who reigned in Pegu from 746 to 761 A.I)., is said to have built or 
 re-established the town which he called Aramana. At some indefinite period 
 it regained its name of Dagon and is thus mentioned in the Talaing histories 
 which relate how king Zaw-zit visited it, circa 685 A.D. ; how it was occupied 
 by the Burmese in 1413 ; how Bya-guya-keng, the son of Piaza-dhie-rit, 
 was appointed its governor by his father, and how Sheng-tsaw-boo, the 
 daughter of Raza-dhie-rit, built herself a palace there in 1460. t 
 
 The town gradually sank into a collection of huts near the pagoda and 
 drops out of history. Dala, now a small and unimportant suburb on the 
 opposite bank of the Hlaing, and Syriam, on the opposite bank of the Pegu 
 river, are over and over again noticed as places of importance but of Dagon 
 little or nothing is recorded. Gaspar Balbi came to Pegu in 1579-80 and, 
 apud Purchas, wrote of Dagon " After we were landed we began to goe 
 " on the right hand in a large street about 50 paces broad, in which we 
 " saw wooden houses gilded and adorned with delicate gardens after their 
 " custom wherein their Talapoins, which are their Friers, dwell and look 
 *' to the Pagod or Varella of Dogou. The left side is furnished with portals 
 " and shops * * * and by this street they go to the Varella for a good 
 " mile straight forward, either under paint houses or in the open street 
 ** which is free to walk in". 
 
 * This market was transferred to Tha-maing in 1877. 
 
 t" Her name is held in high houoiu- among the people to this day and a national festival to 
 " her memory is celebrated once a year at Rangoon." — The History of Pegu, by Sir A. P. Phayre, 
 Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, 1673, p. 122.
 
 568 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The English, Portuguese, Dutch and French had factories at Than- 
 lyeng — better known under the European] sed form Syriam — on the other 
 side of the Pegu river and the governor of Dagon was the principal intermedi- 
 ary through whom the officers in charge of the factories communicated with 
 the Talaing Court at Pegu. The dislike of the Talaing to western foreigners 
 getting a footing in the country and the quarrels between the European 
 "factors", each striving to oust the rest for the benefit of his own govern- 
 ment, led the sovereign of Pegu to increase the authority and power of the 
 governor of Dagon until at last that ofdcer rose to the first rank and was 
 second to none in the kingdom. The accounts of the Portuguese and 
 English officials in charge of the factories as they were called, or commercial 
 and state agencies as they might perhaps more correctly be designated, are 
 full of the doings of the governor of Dagon and of their own endeavours 
 to outwit each other and get into his good graces so as to obtain privileges 
 which should nominally give them generally greater facilities for trade but 
 which in reality would be of advantage in strengthening their hands in the 
 continual struggle to drive out their European competitors and secure a 
 monopoly. In the wars which took place between the kings of Pegu and 
 of Burma Dagon often changed hands and when at last, in 1763 the 
 Burman Aloung-bhoora drove out the Talaing garrison of Ava, then the 
 Burman capital, and eventually conquered the Talaing kingdom he came 
 down to Dagon, repaked, and thus to a certain extent to Peguan feelings 
 desecrated, the great Shwe Dagon pagoda, almost re-founded the town and 
 re-named it Pian-koon* or Rangoon, the name it has ever since borne, and 
 made it the seat of the Viceroyalty which he established. It remained, 
 however, little more than a collection of bamboo huts on a marshy flat, but 
 little above the level of low tides, intersected by narrow and irregular 
 streets. It was the scene of repeated struggles for supremacy between the 
 defeated Peguans and their conquerors the Burmans and up to 1790 con- 
 tinual attempts were made by the former to wrest Rangoon from the latter. 
 The last great revolt was in 1789 or in the beginning of 1790 ; the Burman 
 governor was murdered and the town for a time fell into the hands of the 
 insurgents. Meng-tara-gyee, or Bho-daw Bhoora, was then on the throne of 
 Burma and, it is said with his sanction, the rebellion was crushed with 
 the most savage and brutal atrocities and no similar rising was ever again 
 attempted. 
 
 The English having succeeded in obtaining leave to establish a factory 
 in Rangoon surrounded it by a brick wall and hoisted the British colours 
 over it. In 1794 differences arose in Arakan and Chittagong between the 
 East India Company and the Burmese Government and Colonel Symes 
 was sent on an embassy to Ava, one of the results of his mission being 
 that Captain Cox was appointed British Resident in Rangoon. He was 
 re-called in the early part of 1798 and no one was sent to replace him. 
 
 Symes thus described Rangoon as he saw it : — " It stretches along the 
 " bank of the river about a mile and is not more than a third of a mile_ in 
 " breadth. The city or miou (mi/o) is a square, surrounded by a high 
 " stockade, and on the north side it is further strengthened by an indifferent 
 " fosse, across which a wooden bridge is thrown : in this face there are 
 
 * " The end of the war" from Ban war and Koon (euphonic causa Goon) to be finished, 
 
 exhausted.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 569 
 
 ' two gates, in each of the others only one. Wooden stages are erected in 
 ' several places within the stockade, for musqueteers to stand on in case 
 
 * of an attack. On the south side, towards the river which is about twenty 
 
 * or thirty yards from the palisade, there are a number of huts and three 
 
 * wharves, with cranes for landing goods. A battery of twelve cannon, six 
 ' and nine pounders, raised on the bank, commands the river, but the 
 ' guns and carriages are in such a wretched condition that they could do 
 ' but little execution. Close to the wooden wharf are two commodious 
 
 * wooden houses, used by the merchants as an exchange, where they usually 
 
 * meet in the cool of the morning and evening to converse and transact 
 
 * business. The streets of the town are narrow, and much inferior to those 
 ' of Pegu, but clean, and well paved : there are numerous channels to 
 ' carry off the rain, over which strong planks are placed, to prevent an 
 ' interruption to intercourse. The houses are raised on posts from the 
 ' ground ; the smaller supported by bamboos, the larger by strong timbers. 
 
 * All the officers of Government, the most opulent merchants, and persons 
 ' of consideration, live within the fort ; shipwrights, and people of inferior 
 ' rank, inhabit the suburbs ; and one entire street, called Tuckally {Tat- 
 ' ga-le), is exclusively assigned to common prostitutes, who are not per- 
 ' mitted to dwell within the precincts of the fortification." 
 
 " Swine are suffered to roam about the town at large : these animals, 
 ' which are with reason held unclean, do not belong to any particular 
 
 * owners ; they are servants of the public, common scavengers ; they go 
 ' under the houses and devour the filth. The Burmans are also fond of 
 ' dogs, numbers of which infest the streets ; the breed is small and 
 ' extremely noisy."* 
 
 The next published accounts of the to^vn are those given by Snodgrass, 
 V/ilson and others who wrote histories of the first Anglo-Burmese war. It 
 was then found to extend "about nine hundred yards along the bank of 
 " the river and to be about six or seven hundi-ed yards wide in its broadest 
 *' part : at either extremity extend unprotected suburbs, but the centre, or 
 " the town itself, is defended by an enclosure of paDsades 10 or 12 feet 
 " hight, strengthened internally by embankments of earth, and i^rotected 
 " externally on one side by the river, and on the other three sides by a 
 " shallow creek or ditch communicating with the river, and expanding at 
 " the western end into a morass crossed by a bridge. The palisade 
 " encloses the whole of the town of Rangoon in the shape of an irregular 
 " parallelogram, having one gate in each of three faces, and two in that of 
 " the north ; at the river gate is a wharf, denominated the King's wharf."! 
 The appearance of the town had a very different effect on Major Snodgrass 
 from that which it had on Colonel Symes : — 
 
 " We had been so much accustomed", says the former, " to hear 
 ** Eangoon spoken of as a place of great trade and commercial importance, 
 "that we could not fail to feel disappointed at its mean and poor appear- 
 " ance. We had talked of its custom-house, its dockyards, and its harbour, 
 " until our imaginations led us to anticipate, if not splendour, at least some 
 
 • Symes : Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava : Loudon, 1800, pp. 205, 206. 
 
 t From 16 to 18 feet accordiuR to Major Snodgrass, Military Secretary to Sir Archibald Camp- 
 bell. — Narrative of the Burmese War: London, 1827, p. 12. 
 
 * Narrative of the Burmese War bv Horace Haymau Wilson : London, 1852, pp. 67, 68. 
 
 72
 
 570 BKITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 "visible sign of a flourishing commercial city : but, however humble our 
 *' expectations might have been, they must still have fallen short of the 
 " miserable and desolate picture which the place presented when first 
 " occupied by the British troops. The town, if a vast assemblage of wooden 
 " huts may be dignified with that name, is surrounded by a wooden 
 " stockade, from 16 to 18 feet in height, which effectually shuts out all view 
 ** of the fine river which runs past it, and gives it a confined and insalubrious 
 " appearance. There are a few brick houses, chiefly belonging to Euro- 
 " peans, within the stockade, upon which a heavy tax is levied ; and they 
 " are only permitted to be built by special authority from the Government, 
 *' which is but seldom granted. * * * * The custom-house, the prin- 
 " cipal building in the place, seemed fast tottering into ruins. One solitary 
 *' hull upon the stocks marked the dockyard, and a few coasting vessels 
 " and country canoes were the only craft found in this great commercial 
 " mart of India beyond the Ganges". 
 
 * * * * a rjij^g houses in Rangoon and Ava, generally, are built 
 " of wood, or bamboo ; those of the former material usually belong to the 
 " ofiicers of Government or the wealthier description of inhabitants : the 
 *' floors are raised some feet above the ground, which would contribute 
 " much to their dryness, healthiness and comfort, were not the space 
 " beneath almost invariably a receptacle for dirt and stagnant water, from 
 " which, during the heat of the day, pestilential vapours constantly ascend 
 " to the annoyance of every one except a Burmhan." 
 
 " Herds of meagre swine, the disgusting scavengers of the town, infest 
 *' the streets by day ; and at night they are relieved by packs of hungry 
 " dogs, which effectually deprive the stranger of his sleep by their incessant 
 " howling, and midnight quarrels." 
 
 This gloomy picture may, perhaps, be partly explained by the fact 
 that the town was then without inhabitants, for according to Wilson it was 
 found to be entirely deserted. Very little if any change had taken place 
 since Colonel Symes' visit in 1800. The stockade surrounding the town 
 proper was found as he found it, the huts or houses as he found them, and 
 the scavengers were still the dogs and the pigs which wandered over the 
 streets and under the houses. 
 
 Another account of the town is given in the 27th volume of the Medi- 
 cal Reports, presented to Parliament in 1842 : — " Except a few houses erected 
 " by Europeans, the town consists of four rows of reed huts running at 
 *' right-angles to each other, surrounded by a stockade from 10 to 12 feet 
 " in height and protected by a ditch on the northern side : the river face is 
 *' not more than 600 or 700 yards in length and the whole circuit of the 
 " stockade scarcely exceeds a mile. The site bemg level and in the 
 " immediate vicinity of the river is always damp, and during the wet 
 " season, which comprises most part of the year, it is little better than a 
 " mixture of mud and marsh, above which the houses are raised on posts. 
 * * * * " About two miles to the north of the town a small conical 
 " hill starts somewhat abruptly from the plain, the summit of which is 
 " formed into a succession of extensive terraces rising over each other and 
 *' surmounted by one of the principal religious edifices of the empire, a 
 *' pagoda 350 feet in height. Connecting this hill with the town is a gradual 
 *' slope along which are two excellent roads proceeding from each extremity of
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 571 
 
 " the northern face of the stockade to the pagoda and lined with substantial 
 *' teak houses belonging to the priesthood. The ground on either side is 
 " described as swampy, but it is difficult to find any in the neighbourhood 
 " which is not so : there are also several large tanks along the road over- 
 " grown with rushes and weeds and full of mud and stagnant water. To- 
 " wards the south, as far as the mouth of the river, rice-fiats extend on every 
 " side intersected here and there by low bushes ; but on the north a dense 
 " jungle reaches almost to the very verge of the pagoda, and, with theexcep- 
 " tion of occasional patches and open plains, forms the only prospect in that 
 " direction." 
 
 The British held Rangoon till the 9th December 1827 when, the second 
 instalment of the war indemnity havmg been paid, the troops evacuated 
 the town in accordance with the terms of the treaty of Yandaboo. 
 
 Still later in about 1840, it was thus described. " To a stranger its 
 " appearance was unmviting and suggestive of meanness and poverty and 
 " quite dispelled the interest excited by the narratives of travellers and the 
 " description of scenes and events with which its name had become asso- 
 " ciated. It was a dull, miserable place and during the rains resembled 
 " nothing but a vast neglected swamp. 
 
 " The principal portion of the town lay within the stockade but the larger 
 " and more populous part was the suburb called Tat-ga-le on its west face. 
 " The main street led from the custom-house through nearly the middle of 
 " the stockade." This was built m the form of an irregular square with its 
 southern face running for some 1,200 yards parallel to, and from 400 to 500 
 yards from, the river. The northern face was of similar length, the eastern 
 face was 605 yards long and the western 210 yards. In the north face there 
 were two gates and one sallyport, in the south, facing the river, three gates 
 and three sallyports, in the east two gates, and m the west one gate and 
 one sallyport. 
 
 The town, such as it was, was close to the river bank and in 1841, 
 when king Koon-boung-meng, better known as prince Tharrawaddy, visited 
 Rangoon he directed that the town and stockade should be removed about 
 a mile and a quarter inland to the site of Ook-ka-la-bha and be called by 
 that name. The ground plan of the new foundation was nearly square \\dth 
 sides about three quarters of a mile long having the Shwe Dagon pagoda 
 hiU as a citadel on the north-east. The " royal order" was to a certain extent 
 obeyed ; the principal buildings and government offices were placed in the 
 new towTi and were there when the British force landed and captured 
 Rangoon in April 1852. It was surrounded by an earthen embankment 
 16 feet high and eight broad at the top with a ditch runnmg along each 
 side of the square. Between the new town and the river the ground was 
 generally low and swampy and under water during spring tides, yet it had 
 not been entirely deserted. On war between the English and the Burmese 
 being declared for the second time in 1852 the force despatched against 
 Rangoon found it far better defended than in 1824. The troops landed 
 on the 12th April and succeeded, after severe fighting, in carrying the 
 stockade at the point of the bayonet and on the 14th the pagoda was 
 captm-ed by an assault on the east face, the enemy escaping by the north- 
 ern and western faces. From this time the town has remained in the 
 possession of the British. Within six months of its capture steps were
 
 672 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 taken for laying it out in regular streets, for raising the general level 
 and for keeping out the river. The old stockade was pulled down and the 
 low land raised with earth from the higher ground inland. The work of 
 improvement has continued year by year and the Eangoon of to-day is as 
 unlike the Eangoon of 1852 as modern London is unlike the London of 
 600 years ago. 
 
 The town stands on a promontory formed by two reaches of the 
 Hlaing river on the west and south and the Poo-zwoon-doung on the east. 
 A raised Strand road runs along the southern reach of the former and the 
 space between it and the old ditch is divided into square blocks by broad 
 streets running north and south and crossed at right-angles by others, 
 equally broad, running east and west : each block has narrower streets 
 running through it parallel to each other and lying north and south. The 
 broad streets leading up from the Strand are carried for some distance 
 beyond the canal, which they cross by causeways thus dividing it into a series 
 of tanks, to Commissioner's road and Montgomerie street, the former a con- 
 tinuation westwards of the latter, which for some distance are parallel to 
 the main east and west thoroughfares. Opposite the western end of the 
 old ditch Commissioner's road follows the bend of the river, but at a con- 
 siderable distance inland, and curves round northward as the lower Kyee- 
 myeng-daing road and runs in that direction to the northern Municipal 
 boundary, enclosing the Kyee-myeng-daing quarter between it and the Hlaing 
 river on the west. Some distance behind Commissioner's road the streets 
 running north and south, here called roads, incline somewhat to the 
 west and are intersected by others, all, or nearly all, planted with trees 
 along each side and enclosing the residences of most of the European and 
 Eurasian inhabitants, each surrounded by a field or garden. Still further 
 north is the Military Cantonment and within its limits, but beyond the 
 houses and barracks, stands the great Shwe Dagon pagoda, the terraced hill 
 from which it rises now fortified. A little to the east of the Shwe Dagon 
 is the " Great Koyal Lake", a fine sheet of water with a carriage drive all 
 round it, the land within this drive being called " Dalhousie Park" and 
 open to the public. Immediately north of and opposite the centre of the 
 town is a smaller piece of water called the *' Little Eoyal Lake". 
 
 The Eangoon and Lrawaddy Valley (State) Eailway, with the terminus 
 in the centre of the town but with an extension eastwards to the goods 
 sheds, follows, generally, the direction of Commissioner's road. 
 
 The town is divided into 11 quarters ; on the extreme north-west is 
 Kyee-myeng-daing with Aloon next to it : the former, where there is a Eailway 
 station, is occupied principally by Burmese but there are two or three rice- 
 huskmg steam mills. In Aloon, at the bend of the Hlaing, is the govern- 
 ment timber depot. The main portion of the town, or Eangoon proper, 
 consisting of Lam-ma-daw, Taroop-dan (so called from its being largely 
 inhabited by Chinese), and four other quarters, distinguished as N, E. town, 
 N. W. town, S. E. town, and S. W. town, contains the public buildings, the 
 principal merchants' offices and the shops, and is inhabited by persons of 
 all races. Here is the Tsoo-lai pagoda in Fytche square, an open space 
 with a large tank in the centre surrounded by trees and shrubs and with 
 the Eoman Catholic Cathedral on its eastern, the Law Courts, fortheEecor- 
 der. Judicial Commissioner and Small Cause Court Judges, on its southern
 
 RRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 573 
 
 and the Town Hall on its northern side. On the bank of the river, between 
 it and the Strand, is the Municipal market and a little further east the 
 Sailors' Home. Facing the Strand road and thus looking out on to the river 
 are Holy Trinity Chui'ch (Anglican), the office of the Secretaries to the Local 
 Government, the Telegi'aph Office, the Bank of Bengal, the public offices, 
 the Custom-house, all fine masonry two-storeyed buildings, and several 
 others, equally substantial and almost equally imposing, used as merchants' 
 offices. The Poo-zwon-doung river joins the Hlaing at an acute angle in 
 the extreme east ; the point of junction is called Monkey Point and is crowned 
 by an incompleted battery of which the guns will sweep the approach 
 to the town by river. Stretching along the bank of the Poo-zwon-doung 
 is the Poo-zwon-doung quarter, separated from the central portion of 
 Rangoon by rice fields and in parts by swampy ground covered with 
 mangrove and connected with it by raised and metalled roads. Here are 
 the principal rice-husking steam mills. Stretching along the bank of the 
 Hlaing between Poo-zwon-doung and Piangoon is the Bo-ta-htoung quarter 
 and here, on the edge of the river, are numerous steam saw mills. The 
 principal public buildings besides those already mentioned are the Lunatic 
 Asylum between the Cantonment and the town ; the Gaol immediately to 
 the south of the Asylum ; the Hospital and Charitable Dispensary, east 
 of the Agri-Horticultural Society's Gardens where is the Phayre Museum, 
 and, separated from the latter by Commissioner's road, thfe High School. 
 Near the Railway station is the Lock-hospital. On the right bank of the 
 Hlaing is the Da-la quarter, a narrow tract extending along the margin 
 of the river, in which are the private dockyards and docks. 
 
 Immediately north of the Railway, which runs behind the High School, 
 Gaol, and Lunatic Asylum, is the Military parade ground, with an ii'on 
 Anglican Church on its northern border. The Military Cantonment 
 extends behind this in a line running east and west, and on the east over- 
 laps it and reaches down southwards for some distance. 
 
 The Gaol was constructed soon after the annexation of Pegu and con- 
 sisted of raised wooden barracks surrounded by a high wall. Considerable 
 additions have gradually been made and it now includes extensive work- 
 shops. Owing to its being the principal central prison of the Province the 
 number of convicts confined has very considerably increased and arrange- 
 ments are now being made for the construction of a new central prison a 
 few miles from Rangoon and for the conversion of the present buildings 
 into a district Gaol. The daily average number of prisoners confined in 
 1862 was 945 and dm*ing each of the last seven years was : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Convicts. 
 
 Under trial. 
 
 Civil and 
 excise. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1871 
 1872 
 1873 
 1874 
 1875 
 1876 
 1877 
 
 1,926 
 1,987 
 2,212 
 2,156 
 2,091 
 2,104 
 1,752 
 
 73 
 
 52 
 
 58 
 
 39^ 
 26 
 24 
 24 
 
 12 
 16 
 16 
 59 
 
 1,999 
 1,989 
 2,270 
 2,207 
 2,133 
 2,144 
 1,835
 
 574 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 For a long time the principal labour on which the convicts were employed 
 was in breaking stones and in making roads and filling up swamps. This 
 was gradually stopped and except those employed in the Gaol garden all 
 convicts now work inside the walls. Various branches of manufacture have 
 been introduced, such as weaving, carpentering, iron smith's work, cabinet- 
 making, basket-making, corn-grinding, etc. The gross cost, nett cash earn- 
 ings of the convicts and nett cost of the Gaol were Ks. 21,188, Es. 9,447 and 
 Es. 11,741 respectively in 1862, and during each of the last seven years 
 have been, in rupees : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 _^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 CQ 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 w 
 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 a 
 
 
 '3'^ 
 
 Year. 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 02 
 
 '3 
 
 00 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 -. 
 
 if a 
 
 
 O 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 St 
 
 cS 
 
 OJ 
 
 a> 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. A. P. 
 
 1871 
 
 101,919 
 
 23,857 
 
 78,062 
 
 39 9 
 
 1872 
 
 113,329 
 
 73,371 
 
 39,958 
 
 20 1 5 
 
 1873 
 
 128,938 
 
 125,579 
 
 3,358 
 
 10 7 7 
 
 1874 ■ 
 
 274,325 
 
 136,294 
 
 138,031 
 
 64 4 
 
 1875 
 
 404,051 
 
 185,997 
 
 218,054 
 
 99 12 
 
 1876 
 
 266,000 
 
 189,430 
 
 75,570 
 
 34 10 7 
 
 1877 
 
 297,728 
 
 201,473 
 
 96,255 
 
 52 
 
 The Lunatic Asylum was finally completed in 1872. It consists 
 of two portions, one surrounded by a high wall within which are the 
 worksheds and the chambers for separate confinement, and the other 
 with a low wall round it enclosing the flower garden in front and kitchen 
 garden behind, both cultivated by the patients, the overseer's quarters, 
 the Hospital, the necessary out-offices and several small cottages in which 
 the less dangerous patients reside. The gardens are a source of healthy 
 occupation to many of the inmates, whilst basket, rope, and mat-making 
 and oil-pressing employ others. The number of patients has been : — 
 
 1872 
 1873 
 
 1874 
 
 151 
 
 1875 
 
 172 
 
 1876 
 
 188 
 
 1877 
 
 192 
 204 
 220 
 
 To the east of the Gaol, but not immediately adjoining it, and lying 
 between Commissioner's road and the parade ground are a Eoman Catholic 
 convent and girls' school ; and the new High School, a fine wooden building, 
 this was completed in December 1875 at a cost of Es. 164,750. In 1869 the 
 Calcutta University consented to an University Entrance Examination being 
 held in Eangoon. The plan was not found to succeed and in view of the 
 present exigencies of the Province a local and lower standard was established 
 and the scheme of examinations for the University abandoned. In 1873 a site 
 was bought and the erection of the existing buildings was commenced. 
 The school was opened on the 2nd March 1874 in the building intended 
 for the residence of the Principal and at the end of the month there were 
 129 pupils of whom 28 boarded with the Principal. In 1874-75 drawing
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 575 
 
 and law classes were established and a Madrassah department for the 
 education of the children of the numerous Mahomedans in Rangoon was 
 opened ; the law class, however, was soon given up. During the same year 
 a preparatory school was started. It was in this year that some of the 
 pupils succeeded in passing into the higher department. Very soon after 
 the school was started the Professor of Pali, the learned Dr. Mason, died 
 and instruction in that language was carried on by three Burmese masters 
 until 1879 when a master came out from England. In December 1876 
 two students in the lately-opened Higher department, out of the three who 
 appeared, passed the matriculation examination of the Calcutta University 
 with credit. 
 
 The principal statistics of this school are given in the following 
 table : — 
 
 . 
 
 
 Pupils on the roll at end of year. 
 
 ® 
 
 
 
 
 
 , 
 
 aj 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .2 
 
 
 
 TS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 'do 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 Department. 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C3 
 CO 
 
 
 
 '3 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 m 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 ^■5 
 
 ® 
 
 m 
 
 9 
 
 g 
 
 CD 
 
 05 
 
 g 
 
 1 
 
 03 
 
 1 
 
 s 
 
 2 
 
 > 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 Ui 
 
 Q 
 
 m 
 
 S 
 
 H 
 
 ►-5 
 
 O 
 
 -< 
 
 Preparatory 
 
 1874 
 
 
 details not 
 
 given : total 
 
 190 
 
 
 
 112 
 
 ,. 
 
 1875 
 
 86 
 
 — 
 
 48 
 
 21 
 
 18 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 — 
 
 167 
 
 " 
 
 1876 
 
 1877 
 1874 
 
 93 
 110 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 52 
 
 48 
 
 20 
 
 31 
 
 11 
 
 4 
 107 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 176 
 
 i> 
 
 ' 46 
 
 
 2 " 
 
 178 
 
 Lower 
 
 details not 
 
 given : total 
 
 
 .. 
 
 75 
 
 M 
 
 1875 
 
 81 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 92 
 
 »» 
 
 1876 
 
 84 
 
 
 23 
 
 9 
 
 23 
 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 111 
 
 ,, 
 
 1877 
 1874 
 
 60 
 
 — 
 
 23 
 
 18 
 
 7 
 80 
 
 
 J 
 
 112 
 
 Middle 
 
 details not 
 
 given : total 
 
 
 , , 
 
 59 
 
 >» 
 
 1875 
 
 62 
 
 2 
 
 15 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 13 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 70 
 
 >i 
 
 1876 
 1877 
 1876 
 1877 
 
 60 
 
 65 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 15 
 14 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 80 
 
 «> 
 
 16 
 
 
 1 
 
 74 
 
 Higher 
 
 : :, 
 
 — 1 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 " 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The other schools of the " High" class in Rangoon are S. John's 
 College and the Diocesan School. The former was established by the 
 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1864. The existing building
 
 676 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 was built in 1869 — 71 on a site a little to the west of where the 
 Lunatic Asylum now stands ; until then the school had been carried on in 
 a house close by rented by the Society. The school is under the entire con- 
 trol of the Missionaries but as it receives an annual grant-in-aid from the 
 State it is inspected by the Director of Public Instruction. On the 31st 
 March 1878, it had 560 pupils on the rolls of whom 356 were Bm-mese. 
 The Diocesan School was founded by Bishop Cotton in 1864 and is carried 
 on in a masonry building north of the Hospital and Dispensary. It is 
 supported by a government grant and by subscriptions, schooling-fees, fines, 
 and the sale of books. On the 31st March 1878 there were 52 pupils on 
 the rolls all of whom were Europeans or Eurasians. The only Middle Class 
 school is S. Paul's Institution, founded in 1860 by the Pdght Pteverend 
 the Lord Bishop of Piamatha, Vicar Apostolic (then of Ava and) of Pegu. It 
 is situated close to the Tsoo-lai pagoda. On the 31st March 1878 it had 
 385 pupils on its rolls of whom 109 were Bm'mans. The girls' schools are 
 S. John's Convent and Orphanage under the Eoman Catholic Bishop, 
 founded in 1862 ; the Diocesan school for gMs founded at the same time as 
 the Diocesan boys' school ; another aided school, started in 1869 ; and the 
 Eurasian Home, founded in 1875. All these receive grants-in-aid. The 
 vernacular guis' schools are the Government school founded in 1873 ; 
 S. Mary's school, S.P.G., founded in 1866 ; a gMs' school in Kyee-myeng- 
 daing, belonging to the American Baptist Mission ; and a school in Poo- 
 zwon-doung supported by the Eangoon Ladies' Association. There are 
 also several schools of the American Baptist Mission, notably a Theological 
 College for Kareng, which receive no aid from the State. 
 
 The Hospital was opened m 1854 in a wooden building situated on 
 the site of the present one. In 1872 the existing fine and airy wooden 
 edifice and all necessary out-offices were completed at a cost of, in round 
 numbers, Ks. 98,000 : in 1873 quarters for the resident Medical Officer were 
 finished at a cost of Rs. 4,820, and in 1874 a separate building for patients 
 suffering from contagious diseases and an operating theatre were put up at 
 a cost of Rs. 10,470. 
 
 The total number of patients treated during each of the last 10 years 
 has been : — 
 
 
 Patients. 
 
 
 
 
 Patients. 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 
 In-door. 
 
 Out-door. 
 
 Total. 
 
 In-door. 
 
 Out-door. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1868 
 
 (Details 
 at 
 
 not avail- \ 
 le 
 
 9,966 
 
 1873 
 
 1,620 
 
 8,128 
 
 9,748 
 
 1869 
 1870 
 1871 
 1872 
 
 1,001 
 1,218 
 1,363 
 
 16,383 
 16,308 
 12,280 
 
 13,485 
 17,384 
 17,586 
 13,643 
 
 1874 
 1875 
 1876 
 1877 
 
 2,154 
 2,319 
 2,349 
 2,510 
 
 11,493 
 12,890 
 12,620 
 13,419 
 
 13,647 
 15,209 
 14,969 
 15,929 
 
 The number of out-patients has fluctuated considerably and this 
 might be expected as it must to a great extent depend upon the general 
 health of the town during the year. On the other hand the number of
 
 ..^
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 577 
 
 in-patients has steadily increased. The hospital is supported partly by 
 the State, which provides the medicines and pays the salaries of the Medi- 
 cal officers, partly by voluntary subscriptions and donations, partly by a 
 grant from the Municipality and partly from the fees paid by masters of 
 merchant ships who may send any of their crew to the Hospital for treat- 
 ment. The establishment is not so well supported as it deserves to be, 
 especially by the Asiatic portion of the community. The subscriptions, 
 donations and amounts received from paying patients were, in rupees : — 
 
 
 Voluntary 
 
 Voluntary 
 
 Received from 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
 
 DONATIONS. 
 
 PAYING PATIENTS. 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 (0 
 
 o 
 
 11 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 c8 
 
 s 
 
 c3 
 
 o 
 
 cS 
 
 2 
 
 c8 
 
 
 3 
 
 w 
 
 3 
 
 M 
 
 3 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 <! 
 
 m 
 
 < 
 
 H 
 
 < 
 
 H 
 
 < 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1873 . . 
 
 2,836 
 
 99 
 
 353 
 
 223 
 
 3,080 
 
 183 
 
 6,279 
 
 505 
 
 1875 . . 
 
 5,378 
 
 1,828 
 
 1,208 
 
 — 
 
 1,759 
 
 609 
 
 8,345 
 
 2,437 
 
 1877 . . 
 
 5,136 
 
 1,010 
 
 400 
 
 
 1,801 
 
 200 
 
 7,337 
 
 1,210 
 
 The Lock-hospital is on the west of the old canal not far from the 
 Railway-station. It consists of wooden barracks surrounded by a masonry 
 wall and was completed, at a cost of Ks. 12,000, in 1870-71 and first occu- 
 pied in 1871-72. 
 
 After the close of the second Anglo-Burmese war the garrison of Ran- 
 goon was very slowly reduced in strength till 1862 when considerable 
 changes were made. In 1878 it consisted of two batteries of artillery, one 
 battalion of European and one battalion of Native Infantry, with a detail 
 of Sappers, all belonging or attached to the Madras Army and quartered 
 in the Cantonment which extends east and west behind the to^,^Ti near 
 the Shwe Dagon pagoda, the Europeans being on the extreme east, the 
 Artillery in the centre and the Native Infantry on the west. On the 
 northern edge of the parade ground is the (Anglican) Cantonment Church, 
 an iron building erected in 1857, and somewhat fiu'thcr to the east, on 
 Pagoda road, the Roman Catholic Cantonment Church, a masonry building. 
 
 The judicial work of the town was at first entrusted to the Magistrate 
 and the Deputy Commissioner of Rangoon. A few years later a Judicial 
 Deputy Commissioner was appointed and the Deputy Commissioner 
 relieved of judicial work arising within the town. Still a few years later a 
 Recorder was appointed and the Judicial Deputy Commissioner's appoint- 
 ment abolished. As work increased various changes had to be made and 
 the judicial staff now consists of a town Magistrate and two Assistant 
 Magistrates, one of whom sits in Kyee-mycng-daing, two Small Cause 
 Court Judges and a Recorder who has civil and criminal powers and super- 
 vises all the other Courts. In certain cases, such as confii'ming sentences 
 of death, the Recorder and the Judicial Commissioner of the province, who 
 otherwise has no jurisdiction in Rangoon, sit together as the "Special Court". 
 
 The Police are enlisted under the general Police Act and are under 
 the control of officers appointed by the State but they are paid by the 
 
 73
 
 678 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Municipality. The number employed in 1877 was 28 officers and 216 
 men who cost in all Rs. 62,628. The proportion of Police was five 
 to every square mile and one to every 341 persons. By far the larger 
 number of cases with which the Police have to deal is composed of minor 
 offences against the person and offences against Municipal bye-laws, the 
 Excise Act, the Police Act and other special Acts. 
 
 The revenues of the town are now raised and managed by a Munici- 
 pal Committee, first appointed on the 31st July 1874, consisting of a 
 President (the Town Magistrate) and 32 members, some ex-officio, some 
 officials, and some non-officials. Vacancies are filled up by the Chief Com- 
 missioner on the nomination of the President, and the number of members 
 does not always remain the same ; at the close of 1877-78 there were 
 only 20. The gross revenue administered by this body in 1877-78 Was 
 Rs. 735,826 and the gross expenditure Rs. 708,379. 
 
 Since the appointment of this Committee vast improvements have been 
 made. Fine markets have been built, Poo-zwon-doung and Bo-ta-htoung 
 have been supplied with good water brought from the "Great Royal Lakes", 
 the streets have been kept in good order and clean and are watered regularly 
 except during the rains, conservancy has been attended to, the streets 
 have been lighted with kerosine lamps and a scheme is now under con- 
 sideration for supplying the whole of Rangoon with pure water from a 
 reservoir to be made near Ko-kaing. 
 
 The Strand bank, that is the strip between the Strand road and the 
 river, is managed by a Committee which regulates the anchoring of boats and 
 the leasing of the wharves, of which there are six on the north bank, of 
 which the most important are those opposite Godwin street, Latter street, 
 Tsoo-lai Pagoda street and Phayre street. 
 
 The formation of a Port Trust Committee which will have charge of 
 the port and port funds is now under consideration. 
 
 Through changes of government, laws neglected or ill administered, 
 insurrections, wars, and a dirt-and-marsh-poisoned at- 
 Popuiation. mosphere the number of houses and of inhabitants in 
 
 Rangoon rose and fell year by year until the country passed under 
 British rule. In 1795 there were 5,000 houses registered and allowing 
 five persons to each house (the Burmese government assumed 10) the 
 population would have numbered 25,000 souls. In 1812 there were only 
 1,500 registered houses, which would give a population of 7,500. In 1826 
 a census was taken and it was found that there were 1,570 houses and 8,666 
 inhabitants, or at the rate of 11 persons to every two houses. If this rate 
 was constant the population would have been 27,500 in 1795 and 8,250 in 
 1812. One of the eftects of the first Anglo-Burmese war was to give an 
 impetus to trade and as a natural result the town increased, and more 
 rapidly than was to be expected. In 1852 the number of inhabitants was 
 estimated as being about the same as in 1795. 
 
 Long previous to 1795 Rangoon was the asylum of insolvent debtors 
 and of foreigners of desperate fortunes. Fugitives from almost every 
 country in the East were to be met with and not a few Europeans, and apart 
 from such adventurers the town presented a motley assemblage such as few 
 others could produce. Burmans, Talaing, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Portu- 
 gese, Armenians, Persians, Parsis, Moguls, Madrassis and Bengalis mingled
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 579 
 
 together and were engaged in various branches of trade and commerce, 
 but the principal merchants were Par sis, Ai'menians and Moguls who 
 engrossed the greater part of the trade of the town, and the Government 
 frequently selected individuals from amongst them to fill positions of trust 
 relating to trade and transactions with foreigners. In 1810 an Englishman 
 named Eogers was Akouk-won — commonly called Shahbunder in old reports 
 and books — or Collector of Sea Customs. Though the class of inhabit- 
 ants has much changed, European merchants and their assistants having 
 taken the place of the needy adventm-ers of no strong moral principles of 
 those days, and rich and influential Asiatics having succeeded to those 
 who took as much delight and as much pains in keeping out European, 
 and especially English, enterprise as in making money, yet the town, fre- 
 quented as it is by large numbers of ships, contains no small number of 
 European loafers and natives of Bengal and Madras of the lowest character 
 who are too often thought to afford a fair example of the inhabitants of 
 the countries whence they have come and which they have certainly left to 
 their country's good. But especially has the Chinese element very largely 
 increased. The Shan are principally immigrants who have arrived since 
 the annexation of Pegu. 
 
 In 1872 a census was taken but this included travellers and the ship- 
 ping in port. Including these it was found that the races represented were 
 most diverse and that the town was still the resort of men from almost 
 every quarter of the globe. 
 
 The returns give the following : — 
 
 1,217 
 
 195 
 
 31 
 
 187 
 
 127 
 
 29 
 
 2 
 
 85 
 
 18 
 
 53 
 
 3,181 
 
 The annual returns shew the number of houses and the population in 
 each year from 1863 onwards to have been : — 
 
 Europeans and Eurasians . . 3,789 
 
 Shan 
 
 Africans 
 
 31 
 
 Arakanese 
 
 Australians 
 
 4 
 
 Kathays 
 
 Americans 
 
 43 
 
 Armenians 
 
 Hindoos 
 
 .. 15,261 
 
 Malays 
 
 Moguls 
 
 416 
 
 Arabs 
 
 Patbans 
 
 19 
 
 Afghans 
 
 Sooratees 
 
 315 
 
 Jews 
 
 Burmese 
 
 .. 56,918 
 
 Parsis 
 
 Talaing 
 
 .. 7,461 
 
 Siamese 
 
 Kareug 
 
 525 
 
 Chinese 
 
 
 
 
 
 Houses. 
 
 
 
 1 si 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Year. 
 
 ! -1 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 
 (0 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 01 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 c 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 W 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 <i 
 
 H 
 
 
 1863 
 
 
 61,138 
 
 1 1871 
 
 
 100,000 
 
 1864 
 
 o 
 
 63,256 
 
 1872 
 
 Information not avail- 
 
 n.m 
 
 1865 
 
 
 66,577 
 
 1873 
 
 able. 
 
 80.096 
 
 1866 
 
 69,866 
 
 1874 
 
 
 81,244 
 
 1867 
 
 ■S^ 
 
 71,186 
 
 : 1875 
 
 596 12,247 ' 12,843 
 
 80,494 
 
 1868 
 
 ss 
 
 72,675 
 
 i 1876 
 
 670 12,536 1 13,206 
 
 83,222 
 
 1869 
 
 o" 
 
 96,942 
 
 i 1877 
 
 728 13,148 1 13.868 
 
 91,458 
 
 1870 
 
 & 
 
 93,163 
 
 ! 1878 
 
 921 
 
 12,468 
 
 13.389 
 
 110,700
 
 580 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 European factories, or as we should call them now commercial agencies, 
 Trade. were established in and in the neighbourhood of Ean- 
 
 goon in about the middle of the seventeenth century ; 
 but these, owing to the constant wars, carried on but little trade and 
 indeed soon ceased to exist and it was not until towards the end of the 
 eighteenth century, after the final conquest of Pegu by the Burmans, that 
 there was any extensive development of mercantile transactions. 
 
 Soon afterwards the town began to acquire importance and its trade 
 was gradually extended to Penang on the south-east and on the west to 
 Calcutta, Madras, and Ceylon, and eventually to the Mauritius ; but it was 
 with Calcutta that the largest business was done, owing to the great 
 demand in that market for teak timber and the facility with which it sup- 
 plied the Burmese with British and Indian piece-goods. No direct trade 
 was ever carried on between Burma or Pegu and any European country. 
 
 The nature of the land on the banks of the river, the accessibility of 
 the town from the sea, the great rise and fall of the tide, the then existing 
 low rate of wages and the, as it then seemed, inexhaustible supply of teak 
 timber afforded Eangoon great advantages for ship-building. The first 
 rudiments of the art appear to have been received from the French. 
 No information, unless it is locked up in the archives in Fort St. 
 George, is in existence regarding vessels constructed here before 1786, 
 when the workmen were described as being as expert as any in the east 
 and the designs of the vessels they constructed excellent. In that year the 
 Gimimra, of 680 tons, and the Agnes — there is no record of her tonnage — 
 were launched. The following table is compiled from the only records 
 which I have been able to obtain : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Number of 
 vessels. 
 
 Aggregate 
 tonnage. 
 
 Largest vessel. 
 
 Smallest vessel. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Name. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 1786 
 
 2 
 
 ? 
 
 ? 
 
 ? 
 
 ? 
 
 ? 
 
 1790 
 
 1 
 
 400 
 
 Charles . . 
 
 400 
 
 
 — 
 
 1795 
 
 1 
 
 777 
 
 Mysore . . 
 
 777 
 
 
 — 
 
 1800 
 
 1 
 
 400 
 
 Mary 
 
 400 
 
 
 — 
 
 1801 
 
 7 
 
 3,096 
 
 Adamant 
 
 1,000 
 
 Malcolm . . 
 
 90 
 
 1802 
 
 11 
 
 3,412 
 
 Marquess Wellesle 
 
 y 1,050 
 
 Eegina . . 
 
 80 
 
 1803 
 
 8 
 
 2,177 
 
 Change . . 
 
 407 
 
 Diana 
 
 50 
 
 1804 
 
 8 
 
 1,993 
 
 Edinburgh ) -g 
 Perseveranza J g 
 
 500 
 
 Lizard . . 
 George \ -g 
 Nancy j g 
 
 70 
 140 
 
 1805 
 
 7 
 
 2,705 
 
 Sha-Hpari 
 
 1,000 
 
 1806 
 
 8 
 
 1,032 
 
 Commerce 
 
 362 
 
 Strathspey 
 
 320 
 
 1807 
 
 9 
 
 1,613 
 
 Helen 
 
 300 
 
 Steady . . 
 
 60 
 
 1808 
 
 7 
 
 1,395 
 
 Peelumcanza 
 
 550 
 
 Matilda .. 
 
 60 
 
 1809 
 
 1 
 
 41 
 
 Alligator . . 
 
 40 
 
 
 — 
 
 1810 
 
 4 
 
 1,192 
 
 Mentor . . 
 
 500 
 
 Juno 
 
 40 
 
 1811 
 
 1 
 
 620 
 
 Shvve-doung 
 
 620 
 
 
 — 
 
 1812 
 
 1 
 
 248 
 
 Argo 
 
 248 
 
 
 — 
 
 1813 
 
 4 
 
 1,034 
 
 Dala 
 
 520 
 
 Maria 
 
 210 
 
 1814 
 
 8 
 
 1,835 
 
 Mustapha 
 
 450 
 
 Juno 
 
 60 
 
 1815 
 
 4 
 
 1,213 
 
 Four Sisters 
 
 670 
 
 Maria 
 
 60 
 
 1816 
 
 3 
 
 1,159 
 
 CordeUa . . 
 
 430 
 
 Ahmoody 
 
 350 
 
 1817 
 
 4 
 
 2,039 
 
 Britannia 
 
 750 
 
 Governor Petrie . . 
 
 240 
 
 1818 
 
 3 
 
 1,545 
 
 Isabella . . 
 
 575 
 
 Sha Khoosroo . . 
 
 400 
 
 1819 
 
 3 
 
 984 
 
 Fatal Mani 
 
 337 
 
 Industry . . 
 
 250 
 
 1820 
 
 1 
 
 800 
 
 Perthshire 
 
 800 
 
 
 — 
 
 1821 
 
 1 
 
 177 
 
 Fatel Mani 
 
 177 
 
 
 —
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 681 
 
 The list is clearly incomplete as in 1795 Colonel Symes saw on the 
 stocks several vessels of from 800 to 1,000 tons burden and several others 
 in a state of forwardness, whilst according to the list only one was built 
 in 1795 and there is a blank after that till 1800. 
 
 For some time before the commencement of hostilities it was clear to 
 most people in Rangoon that there was every chance of war and ship- 
 building was checked ; when war actually broke out it ceased entirely but 
 recommenced soon after the signing of the treaty of Yandaboo and continued 
 till war was again declared in 1852. During the intervening period 24 
 vessels, measuring in all 5,625 tons, were constructed. The largest was the 
 Mariam of 500 tons. The most important was the Ra-ta-na-yeen-mwon, 
 the King's ship which was seized by Commodore Lambert just before the 
 actual rupture between the two governments took place. 
 
 It has ah'eady been stated that the principal trade of Eangoon was 
 with Calcutta. The number of vessels that sailed from the latter port for 
 the former was, in : — 
 
 1801 
 
 11 .. 2,120 tons. 
 
 1812 
 
 8 
 
 2,030 tons. 
 
 1802 
 
 8 .. 1,870 „ 
 
 1813 
 
 7 
 
 2,940 „ 
 
 1803 
 
 7 .. 2,761 „ 
 
 1814 
 
 18 
 
 3,071 „ 
 
 1804 
 
 2 .. 310 „ 
 
 1815 
 
 12 
 
 1,665 „ 
 
 1805 
 
 3 .. 375 „ 
 
 1816 
 
 5 
 
 990 „ 
 
 1806 
 
 6 .. 1,062 „ 
 
 1817 
 
 10 
 
 3,674 „ 
 
 1807 
 
 5 .. 990 „ 
 
 1818 
 
 3 
 
 1,130 „ 
 
 1808 
 
 9 .. 2,237 „ 
 
 1819 
 
 3 
 
 1,069 „ 
 
 1809 
 
 6 .. 625 ,, 
 
 *1820 
 
 14 
 
 6,874 „ 
 
 1810 
 
 7 .. 1,645 „ 
 
 •1821 
 
 15 
 
 8,263 „ 
 
 1811 
 
 3 .. 975 „ 
 
 
 
 
 During the £ 
 
 iame period the import shipping from 
 
 Rangoon ' 
 
 was : — 
 
 1801 
 
 15 .. 6,420 tons. 
 
 1812 
 
 10 
 
 2,665 tons. 
 
 1802 
 
 22 .. 8,327 „ 
 
 1813 
 
 15 
 
 3,571 „ 
 
 1803 
 
 20 .. 7,156 „ 
 
 1814 
 
 28 
 
 7,368 „ 
 
 1804 
 
 15 .. 4,008 „ 
 
 1815 
 
 18 
 
 3,470 „ 
 
 1805 
 
 18 .. 6,220 „ 
 
 1816 
 
 22 
 
 5,702 „ 
 
 1806 
 
 13 .. 4,061 ,, 
 
 1817 
 
 26 
 
 8,404 „ 
 
 1807 
 
 17 .. 3,655 „ 
 
 1818 
 
 13 
 
 5,317 „ 
 
 1808 
 
 23 .. 5,870 „ 
 
 1819 
 
 5 
 
 2,167 „ 
 
 1809 
 
 11 .. 3,575 „ 
 
 1820 
 
 10 
 
 4,972 „ 
 
 1810 
 
 9 .. 1,780 „ 
 
 1821 
 
 18 
 
 8,058 „ 
 
 1811 
 
 12 .. 3,865 „ 
 
 
 
 
 These tables do not include the coasting vessels, but the trade carried 
 on by them was very trifling. They were : — 
 
 From Eangoon, 
 
 To Eangoon. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Vessels. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Vessels. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 1803 
 
 
 37 
 
 1810 
 
 2 
 
 125 
 
 1805 
 
 
 74 
 
 1811 
 
 2 
 
 278 
 
 1811 
 
 
 104 
 
 1812 
 
 3 
 
 666 
 
 1812 
 
 
 244 
 
 1813 
 
 1 
 
 204 
 
 1813 
 
 
 104 
 
 1814 
 
 3 
 
 174 
 
 1814 
 
 
 74 
 
 1815 
 
 4 
 
 299 
 
 1816 
 
 
 74 
 
 1816 
 
 2 
 
 148 
 
 1817 
 
 
 74 
 
 1817 
 
 2 
 
 148 
 
 1821 
 
 
 222 
 
 1819 
 
 1 
 
 26 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1820 
 
 1 
 
 70 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — i 
 
 1821 
 
 2 
 
 159 
 
 * Cleared out generally in ballast, in order to bring teak.
 
 682 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The total number of vessels that cleared out annually from Eangoon 
 to all ports for many years prior to 1811 was from 18 to 25 ; from 1811 to 
 1817, 36 ; from 1817 to 1822, 46 ; and from 1822 to 1825, 56. In 1822 it 
 was calculated that the utmost amount of tonnage likely to find employment 
 annually between Calcutta and Eangoon was 5,400 tons. In the three years 
 1820-21, 1821-22, and 1822-23, 22 vessels aggregating 9,404 tons entered 
 the port of Calcutta from Rangoon and five vessels aggregating 630 tons 
 the port of Madras. 
 
 The Burmese system of government was not one likely to foster trade. 
 The officials either have no salaries at all but are paid by dues which they 
 themselves assess or receive a small pay with the right to dues besides : 
 the will to levy dues is not wanting. The government also required its 
 Viceroy to remit the proceeds of certain duties to the capital and his quali- 
 fications were judged of mainly by the amount which he sent up. The 
 port charges varied at different times and under different officers but they 
 were always very high and in addition every possible' pretence was used for 
 imposing extra dues. Up to 1813 the dues and presents for the principal 
 officials, claimed from aU masters without distinction, were : — 
 
 King's agent . . . . . . 115 ticals, equal to Es. 149 
 
 Imperial Government . . . . 650 
 
 Nakhandaw . . . . . . 80 
 
 Petty writers 75 
 
 Chantry 10 
 
 Doorkeeper . . . . . . 10 
 
 Anchorage dues . . . . . . 30 
 
 845 
 104 
 97 
 13 
 13 
 89 
 
 On clearing : — 
 
 Money charge in lieu of pay- 
 ment in kind . . . . 35 ticals, equal to Rs. 65 
 
 Pilotage 300 „ ,, „ 390 
 
 Pilot's boat 25 ,, ,, ,, 32 
 
 1,260 
 
 487 
 
 1,747 
 
 In that year the Viceroy of Pegu informed the Indian Government that 
 the king of Burma, having become convinced that with such heavy charges 
 to pay merchants could make no profit and that, therefore, if they were 
 continued trade could not be developed, had directed that modifications 
 should be made and some small changes were effected. In 1820 the 
 demands for a ship of 420 tons were : — 
 
 ticals, equal to Rs. 962 
 
 520 
 
 32 
 
 58 
 
 ,1 >> 58 
 
 240 
 26 
 
 )) ») 65 
 
 Govermnent demand 
 
 740 ti 
 
 Anchorage dues and pilotage 
 
 
 inwards 
 
 400 
 
 Manifest charge (new) . . 
 
 25 
 
 Clearance pass . . 
 
 45 
 
 King's messenger to report arrival 
 
 45 
 
 Pilotage outwards and pilot's 
 
 
 boat 
 
 187-50 
 
 Miscellaneous fees 
 
 20 
 
 Nakhandaw 
 
 50 
 
 Total .. 1,512-50 1,961 
 
 A new ship built in the river was exempt from charges on her first voyage. 
 
 Commanders on landing had to go first to the Custom-house to be 
 
 searched, then to the Port-officer, then to the place for delivery of the mani-
 
 BEITISH BUEMA GAZETTEEE. 
 
 583 
 
 fest of all cargo, fire-arms, ammunition, and indeed of every article in the 
 ship, for anything that might be omitted was liable to confiscation, then to 
 the Governor, and then to the Re-won. Whenever anyone landed he had 
 to go to the Custom-house to be searched. Up to a few years before the 
 Anglo-Burmese war of 1824-25 all square-rigged vessels were obliged to 
 unship their rudders and land their arms, guns and ammunition ; ultimately 
 they were relieved from the necessity of unshipping their rudders on paying 
 32 ticals (Es. 41) to the local authorities. 
 
 At this period the duty charged on all imports was 12 per cent., on all 
 exports except timber 5 per cent, and on timber 1 per cent. In the early 
 part of the century the export duties were levied from the importer from the 
 interior but later on from the exporter himself. Ships stores paid half duty. 
 
 The following is a statement of the commerce with the British settle- 
 ments in India from 1802 to 1806 : — 
 
 Imports. 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 Merchandise. 
 
 Treasure. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1802 
 1803 
 1804 
 1805 
 1806 
 
 Es. 
 340,210 
 143,523 
 163,012 
 225,653 
 222,187 
 
 Es. 
 111,923 
 83,114 
 39,643 
 19,579 
 
 Es. 
 452,133 
 226.637 
 202,655 
 245,232 
 222,187 
 
 Exports. 
 
 Tear. 
 
 Merchandise. 
 
 Treasure. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1802 
 1803 
 1804 
 1805 
 1806 
 
 Es. 
 
 479,880 
 777,357 
 458,941 
 595,738 
 471,070 
 
 Es. 
 
 9,878 
 16,590 
 
 1,684 
 57,870 
 
 Es. 
 
 489,758 
 793,947 
 460,625 
 653,608 
 471,070 
 
 The exportation of rice and of the precious metals was absolutely 
 prohibited, and it was by adroit smuggling that the latter was carried 
 away. The total imports, it will be seen, exceeded the total exports by 
 Es. 1,856,638. 
 
 The value of the imported articles in 1805 was : — 
 
 
 Es. 
 
 
 Es. 
 
 Tin 
 
 .. 1,400 
 
 Canvas . . 
 
 .. 1,534 
 
 Wine . . 
 
 . . 1,400 
 
 Sundries 
 
 . . 8,332 
 
 Woollens 
 
 .. 5,176 
 
 Imports re-exported. 
 
 Piece goods 
 
 126,202 
 
 Broad cloth 
 
 .. 17,196 
 
 Opium . . 
 
 .. 15.110 
 
 Iron and nails 
 
 .. 6,528 
 
 Grain . . 
 
 . . 2,000 
 
 Wines and Hquors 
 
 .. 2,637 
 
 Eum 
 
 .. 2,336 
 
 Velvets . . 
 
 .. 8.314 
 
 Tin and plated ware 
 
 .. 4,625 
 
 Sundries . . 
 
 .. 9.395 
 
 China ware 
 
 . . 3,085 
 
 Treasure . . 
 
 .. 19,579 
 
 Ironmongery 
 
 .. 2,148 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 245,232
 
 584 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 He articles oi export m 
 
 inng tne 
 
 same ye 
 
 ar were : — 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Timber 
 
 
 
 461,153 
 
 Pepper 
 
 
 
 18,809 
 
 Orpiment 
 
 
 
 38,788 
 
 Coir and coir cables 
 
 
 
 12,678 
 
 Ponies 
 
 
 
 80,867 
 
 Cardamoms 
 
 
 
 1,232 
 
 Stick-lac 
 
 
 
 657 
 
 Wax 
 
 
 
 3,249 
 
 Sundries 
 
 
 
 28,305 
 
 Treasure 
 
 
 
 57,874 
 
 
 
 
 Total . . 653,602 
 
 From six years later the returns of the trade between Eangoon and 
 Calcutta shew : — 
 
 Imports into Rangoon. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Merchandise. 
 
 Treasure. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Merchandise. 
 
 Treasiire. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1813-14 
 1814-15 
 1815-18 
 1816-17 
 
 414,921 
 660,434 
 469,038 
 155,357 
 
 — 
 
 414,921 
 560,434 
 469,038 
 155,357 
 
 1817-18 
 1818-19 
 1819-20 
 1820-21 
 
 116,837 
 
 123,234 
 
 49,785 
 
 95,443 
 
 3,375 
 
 116,837 
 
 123,234 
 
 53,160 
 
 95,443 
 
 Exports from Rangoon. 
 
 
 Merchandise. 
 
 Treasure. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1813-14 
 
 1814-15 
 
 1815-16 
 
 1816-17 
 
 1817-18 
 
 1818-19 
 
 1819-20 
 
 1820-21 
 
 470,952 
 423,655 
 393,362 
 331,873 
 398,315 
 219,023 
 178,124 
 220,994 
 
 48,939 
 263,531 
 178,295 
 413,362 
 178,000 
 
 60,637 
 23,555 
 
 619,891 
 687,186 
 671,657 
 745,235 
 576,315 
 219,023 
 238,681 
 244,548 
 
 During these years the principal imports from Calcutta were 
 
 Piece goods . . 
 
 Raw silk 
 
 Cotton 
 
 Indigo 
 
 Saltpeter 
 
 Sugar 
 
 Rice 
 
 Pepper 
 
 Opium 
 
 On the close of the first war Arakan 
 the British. Owing to the production of i 
 of all vexatious restrictions on trade Akyab rose to be a large town whilst, 
 unchecked by a high range of mountains or by the acts of the local autho- 
 rities, the trade of Pegu found an outlet in Maulmain and, speedily increas- 
 ing, raised that town to a large trading port, a position it to a great extent 
 lost when, after the second Burmese war, Pegu became British territory. 
 
 pieces 
 
 337,431 
 
 
 maunds 
 
 413 
 
 1,045 
 
 15 
 
 86 
 
 3,720 
 
 
 bags 
 
 17,845 
 
 
 maunds 
 
 4 
 
 
 chests 
 
 25 
 
 
 and Tenasserim were 
 
 ceded to 
 
 ce in Arak 
 
 an and the 
 
 cessation
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 585 
 
 From 1826 to 1852 the average annual number of arrivals and depar- 
 tures was ; — 
 
 English vessels from 100 to 1,000 tons 20 
 
 Chulia vessels from 200 to 600 tons 25 
 
 Coasting schooners trading westward . . . . . . • . 60 
 
 KattooB and junks 20 
 
 Total . . 125 
 
 A royal present of one piece of cambric, one piece of Palampur, and one 
 Pulicat handkerchief was made by the master of each ship arriving. The 
 port charges were reduced and were levied according to the tonnage of the 
 ship, varying from Es. 10 to Ks. 500 ; these went into the coffers of the 
 local government : the anchorage-dues were assigned to one of the queens. 
 The pilotage fees were Es. 10 per foot of draft but vessels were not obhged 
 to take pilots. Customs dues on imports were levied in kind at the rate of 
 10 per cent, for the king and two per cent, for the Customs officials. On 
 a vessel arriving from a foreign port the cargo was landed at the Custom- 
 house and the cases opened in the presence of the owners or consignees ; 12 
 per cent, was taken by the local authorities and the remainder stamped, 
 to shew that duty had been paid, and handed over by the Customs officers. 
 The annual average number of pieces thus collected was 4,500 and the 
 value thereof Es. 182,000. They consisted chiefly of book-musHns, hand- 
 kerchiefs of European and of PuHcat manufacture, long-cloth, grey shirt- 
 ings, broad-cloths, net, manilla mats, etc. Some articles were usually 
 sold and 12 per cent, of the proceeds taken, the balance being made over : 
 these were cocoanuts, betel-nuts, ginger, nutmegs, raisins, ghee, tobacco 
 and a few others. The amount remitted annually to the capital on account 
 of customs dues was about Es. 211,000. 
 
 When Pegu passed to the EngHsh trade began to improve and has pro- 
 ceeded with vast strides. Not only was the whole customs system changed 
 and restrictions on importation and exportation removed but the country in 
 the interior was gradually developed and Eangoon has now become the third 
 port in India. Cotton piece-goods, salt and various other articles have 
 poured in whilst rice has more than taken the place of timber, and cutch, 
 bides and horns, and petroleum have added to the export trade. 
 
 The value of the export and import trade, excluding treasure, has 
 been, in rupees, in : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Imports. 
 
 Exports. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1858-59 
 1868-69 
 1877-78 
 
 12,743,744 
 23,464,602 
 37,777,242 
 
 8,666,817 
 19,540,551 
 44,143,015 
 
 21,310,661 
 43,005,153 
 81,920,257 
 
 The following tables shew the gross exports and imports (excluding 
 treasure) during each of the last five years : — 
 
 74
 
 586 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
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 588 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Some of these articles merely pass through the country ; candles, 
 cotton-twist, cotton piece-goods, earthen-ware and porcelain, glass and 
 glass-ware, &c., find their way directly into Upper Burma whilst caoutchouc, 
 raw cotton, gums and resins, hides, horns, ivory, lac, mineral oils, spices, 
 tobacco and wood are partly, and jade is entirely, drawn from that country. 
 
 The duty levied necessarily depends upon the tariff. During the last 
 five years the import and export duty and the tonnage of vessels entering and 
 clearing out was : — 
 
 
 Customs duties, in Rupees. 
 
 Gross Tonnage of Vessels. 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 i 
 
 O 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 .3 
 
 o 
 O 
 
 3 
 o 
 
 EH 
 
 1873-74 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 843,283 
 
 1,027,830 
 
 939,545 
 
 979,239 
 
 1,108,269 
 
 1,896,385 
 1,606,520 
 1,909,125 
 1,829,860 
 1,809,465 
 
 2,739,668 
 2,634,350 
 
 2,848,670 
 2,809,099 
 2,917,734 
 
 525,470 
 565,015 
 565,954 
 477,546 
 559,051 
 
 600,359 
 493,817 
 542,452 
 506,549 
 540,904 
 
 1,025,829 
 
 1,058,832 
 
 1,108,406 
 
 984,095 
 
 1,099,955 
 
 The price of unhusked rice in the Eangoon market in 1819 was about 
 one rupee for 10 baskets. In 1855-56 it was three times, and that of husked 
 rice double, what it was just before the annexation, but prices had been 
 rising for some years. The following table shews, in Kupees, the average 
 price of one hundred baskets (bushels) of unhusked rice, of cargo rice 
 (partially husked), and of husked rice during the export seasons of each 
 year from 1848 to 1856, and is taken from the Administration Keport for 
 1855-56 :— 
 
 Year. 
 
 Unhusked 
 rice. 
 
 Cargo rice. 
 
 Husked rice. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 1848-49 
 
 8 
 
 22 
 
 31i 
 
 (B (D bn H 
 V a a <o 
 
 1849-50 
 
 12 
 
 28 
 
 60 
 
 s the p 
 onseque 
 en exis 
 Es. 400 
 
 1850-51 
 
 15 
 
 35 
 
 75 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ ^M o 
 
 1851-52 
 
 18 
 
 40 
 
 75 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1852-53 
 
 35 
 
 65 
 
 100* 
 
 a .15 ""•' 
 P a; o CO . 
 tc b .to 
 
 1853-54 
 
 40 
 
 65 
 
 100 
 
 bpg 03 a 1 
 
 1854-55 
 
 45 
 
 70 
 
 128J 
 
 Duri 
 of 1 
 of t 
 tofi 
 100 
 
 1855-56 
 
 53 
 
 95 
 
 132 
 
 
 Since then the increasfe in the supply, great as it has been, has not kept 
 pace with the increase in the demand, and prices have more than doubled.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 689 
 
 The rice season commences in about January and ends in May, though 
 purchases are made all the year round. The prices of rice in the husk 
 at the mills in Rangoon during the last seven years have been, per 100 
 baskets, in rupees : — 
 
 Yeak. 
 
 January. 
 
 AprU. 
 
 July. 
 
 October. 
 
 1872 .. 
 
 55 
 
 64 
 
 64 
 
 64 
 
 1873 
 
 60 
 
 61 
 
 60 
 
 65 
 
 1874 
 
 83 
 
 98 
 
 90 
 
 81 
 
 1875 
 
 50 
 
 58 
 
 57 
 
 67 
 
 1876 
 
 55 
 
 69 
 
 82 
 
 100 
 
 1877 
 
 72 
 
 88 
 
 135 
 
 200 
 
 1878 
 
 93 
 
 180 
 
 124 
 
 125 
 
 Each firm has its One or more brokers and several buyers, the former as 
 a rule residing on the mill premises. At the beginning of the season the firm 
 advances money to the buyer and takes a mortgage on his boat as security, 
 the broker also standing security. The buyer then goes into the country and 
 buys up grain from the cultivators as cheaply as he can and brings it down 
 to the mill where he sells it to the mill-owner at current rates, receiving 
 cash payment. Towards the end of the season the advances are gradually 
 called in by the short payment system, that is that the seller is paid for a 
 portion of the cargo, the rest being taken as against the advance. Many 
 of the cultivators, however, bring down the grain themselves and the bro- 
 kers and their men go out into the Pegu and Rangoon rivers in small 
 boats and buy up the cargoes which are delivered at the mills on the banks 
 of the Poo-zwon-doung. The brokers are paid by a percentage on every 
 basket delivered whether bought by themselves or by those for whom they 
 have stood security. The rice in the husk is measured at the wharves as it 
 is discharged and is then stored in the mill. There it is winnowed, carried 
 to the top storey, passed between two revolving stones just sufficiently 
 apart to grind off the outer husk, re-winnowed, a blast carrying away the 
 loosened husk, and shot into bags, all by steam machinery. Perfectly 
 cleaned rice will not stand the long sea voyage to England and the grain as 
 it is sent out has still on it an inner pellicle and is mixed with about 20 per 
 cent, of unhusked rice and is technically known as " cargo rice". Owning to 
 the shortening of the distance and time in transit caused by the opening of 
 the Suez Canal and the employment of steamers cleaned rice is gradually 
 taking the place of cargo rice and this although it necessitates change in 
 the plant of the mills which is now, at all events, somewhat expensive, 
 however much it may have been cheapened by new inventions. 
 
 As competition is keen and as each firm has only a limited extent of 
 the bank of the river on which to discharge a i^ractice has sprung up of 
 taking delivery in cargo boats in the Pegu river : these, being the property 
 of the firm, can be kept loaded until there is room for them to come along- 
 side the wharves, and an additional inducement is thus ofi'ered to the 
 sellers as they do not lose a tide as they may if they sell to firms not using 
 cargo boats and have to wait for room to discharge. This has led to steam-
 
 590 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 launches being employed to tow out the unladen and to tow back the laden 
 cargo boats and, probably before long, small light-draught steamers will be 
 used to go up the Pegu river and meet the rice boats coming down. No 
 doubt this will interfere with the " buyers against advances" but it is very 
 doubtful if, for many years yet, middlemen will altogether disappear and 
 the peasants and farmers gain sufficient capital and learn enough political 
 economy to cease crying out against " regrating". 
 
 RAN-KHYOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Mro-houng township, Akyab 
 district. In 1876-77 the population was 2,531, the land revenue Es. 4,189, 
 the capitation tax Rs. 2,663 and the gross revenue Es. 7,097. 
 
 EAN-KYWON. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (west) township, 
 of the Akyab district. In 1876-77 the population was 1,642, the land revenue 
 Rs. 6,279, the capitation tax Es. 2,106 and the gross revenue Rs. 8,762. 
 
 RAN-THEK. — A revenue circle in the Ramree township of the Kyouk- 
 hpyoo district lying north and north-east of Ramree. It is about 37 square 
 miles in extent with a population of 1,631 souls in 1876-77 when the land 
 revenue was Rs. 1,272, the capitation tax Rs. 1,755 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 3,249. The principal villages are Ran-thek and Tsit-pya. Limestone 
 is found towards the north. 
 
 RAN-THEK. — A village in the circle of the same name, Ramree town- 
 ship, Kyouk-hpyoo district, on the eastern coast of Ramree island, about 
 three miles inland in a direct line, on a tributary of the Ran-thek stream, 
 with a population in 1877 of 586 souls. Limestone is found in the neigh- 
 bourhood and is burned here and exported to Akyab and other places. 
 
 RAN-THEK. — A tidal stream in Ramree island which falls into the sea 
 on the eastern coast. 
 
 RAN-WA. — A revenue circle in the Mro-houng township, Akyab dis- 
 trict. In 1876-77 the population was 2,020, the land revenue was Rs. 7,080 
 the capitation tax Rs. 2,464 and the gross revenue Rs. 9,898. 
 
 RA-THAI. — A revenue circle in the Prome district a few miles east 
 of Prome, containing nine of the old village tracts. This circle, now a 
 cluster of villages, occupies the site of the once famous capital of the old 
 Prome kingdom which was destroyed in the first century A.D. In 1876-77 
 the land revenue was Rs. 3,677, the capitation tax Rs. 3,325, the gross 
 revenue Rs. 7,395 and the population 3,117. 
 
 RA-THAI-DOUNG. — A revenue circle in the township of the same 
 name in the Akyab district. In 1876-77 the land revenue was Rs. 3,865, 
 the capitation tax Rs. 2,145, the gross revenue Rs. 6,315 and the population 
 1,699. The principal village, Ra-thai-doung, is the head-quarters of the 
 township. 
 
 RA-THAI-DOUNG.— A village in the Akyab district on the left bank of 
 the Ma-yoo river about 18 miles from its mouth, the head-quarters of the 
 township of the same name, containing a court-house for the Extra Assist- 
 ant Commissioner and a Police station, and with a population of 639 souls 
 in 1877. The name Ra-thai-doung or " hermit hill " is derived from a 
 neighbouring hill on which, in ancient times, there lived a celebrated and 
 miracle-workiug hermit.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 691 
 
 RA-THAI-DOUNG. — A township in the Akyab district, bounded on 
 the north by Chittagong and the Koo-la-dan hills, on the east by the Oo-ree- 
 toung (west) township, on the west by the Ma-yoo range of hills and on the 
 south by the Kwe-dai creek which divides it from Akyab. The cultivated 
 area is mainly on the banks of the Ma-yoo river which traverses the township 
 in a general N. and S. du'ection. The head-quarters are at Ra-thai-doung. 
 In 1876 the population numbered 55,189, the land revenue was Es. 119,213, 
 the capitation tax Es. 53,948 and the gross revenue Es. 181,121. It is 
 divided into 21 revenue circles. The only tea plantation in the province is 
 in the northern part of this township on the right bank of the Ma-yoo river. 
 
 RA-THAI-MYO. — The ruins of the ancient capital of the Prome king- 
 dom, known also as Tha-re-khettra, about eight miles west of Prome on the 
 main road northward to Mye-dai. The ruins of massive pagodas and the 
 remains of an extensive embankment strengthened with brickwork remain 
 to mark the site which is now overgrown with shrubs except where the in- 
 habitants of the cluster of villages within the ancient limits have cleared 
 the ground for rice cultivation. 
 
 EAT-THA. — A village in the Pa-doung township, Prome district, in 
 18° 42' 0" N. and 95° 5' 10" E. on the bank of the Tha-nee river, between 
 seven and eight miles from its mouth and nine miles due west of Pa-doung. 
 
 EAT-THA. — A revenue circle in the Pa-doung township, Prome district, 
 on the left bank of the Tha-nee, north of the Kaing-rwa circle which now 
 forms a portion of Ewa-boo-lai. The south-western portion of the circle 
 near the Tha-nee, in which is the village of Eat-tha, contains some tracts 
 of rice cultivation. It is now joined to Kwai-rai. 
 
 EAT-THA. — A revenue circle in the Prome district close to, and to the 
 westward of, Poungday. In 1876 the land revenue was Es. 307, the capita- 
 tion tax Es. 373, the gross revenue Es. 680 and the population 357. 
 
 EAT-THIT. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-lay township, Prome dis- 
 trict, lying amongst the spurs of the Pegu Eoma mountains north-east of 
 Prome, traversed by the South Na-weng and its tributaries the Khyoung- 
 tsouk and the Teng-gyee. The south-western corner, south of the Teng- 
 gyee and the Na-weng, is pretty level and the soil is fau-ly well suited for 
 the cultivation of rice ; in the north the country is extremely hilly and is 
 covered with dense forest in which Teak {Tectona grandis) Pyeng-ga-do 
 (Xylia dolabriformis), Sha {Acacia catechu) and other valuable trees abound. 
 In 1876-77 the land revenue was Es. 1,871, the capitation tax Es. 2,586, 
 the gross revenue Es. 7,442 and the population 4,329. It now includes 14 
 of the old village tracts. 
 
 RE. — A revenue circle on the seacoast in the southern portion of the 
 Amherst district in the Ee La-maing township. In 1876-77 the population 
 was 2,829, the capitation tax Es. 3,303 and the land revenue Es. 3,329. 
 The only place of any importance is Ee. 
 
 RE. — A town in the circle of the same name in the Re La-maing town- 
 ship of the Amherst district on the northern or right bank of the Re river 
 not far from its mouth. It is the head-quarter station of the township and 
 contains a court-house, a market and a circuit-house. In 1876-77 it had 
 2,694 inhabitants. During the first Anglo-Burmese war it was occupied
 
 692 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 without resistance by a small British force despatched from Martaban after 
 the caxjture of that place. A very small revenue is derived from the market 
 stall rents which, in 1876-77 amounted only to Es. 270. 
 
 RE. — A river which has its source not far from that of the Attaran, at 
 the head of the valley formed by the Toung-gnyo and the Ma-hlwai hills, and 
 ■falls into the sea in the extreme south of the Amherst district of Tenasserim 
 in 15° 5' N. It receives the greater number of its tributaries from the east 
 and north, few from the south ; its course is comparatively short and it is 
 only navigable within the influence of the tide. Its mouth being exposed 
 to the ocean affords no shelter and is difficult of approach owing to rocks 
 and reefs about four miles from the shore. 
 
 RE-BAW. — A tidal creek in the Alay-kywon at the entrance to the 
 Bassein river, varying from 100 to 300 feet in width and navigable by 
 
 large boats. 
 
 EE-BAW-KYWON. — A small revenue cii-cle in the Thayet township, 
 Thayet district, on a sand bank in the Irrawaddy river which is nearly 
 submerged during the rains. The crops cultivated are tobacco and vege- 
 tables. In 1876-77 the population numbered 148 souls, the capitation tax 
 was Es. 45, the land revenue Es. 172 and the gross revenue Es. 219. 
 
 EE-BAW-EE-LE. — A creek in the Thoon-khwa district which leaves the 
 Kyoon-toon or Da-la at the village of Kywai-doon and reaches the Irrawaddy 
 near Ma-gyee-goon. It has a very tortuous course, its length being about 
 28 miles whilst the distance apart of its two mouths in a direct line is only 
 eight or nine miles. About the middle of its com'se, near the village of 
 Kyee-khyoung, it approaches from the eastward to within half a mile of the 
 Irrawaddy to curve round eastward again for nearly six miles before it tm^ns 
 south towards the Da-la. In the rains it has five feet of water and is open 
 for boats of 100 baskets burden but in the dry season it is only one or two 
 feet deep. At its junction with the Irrawaddy there is a bar which stops 
 navigation. 
 
 EE-BHOO. — A village in the Kha-zaing circle of the Than-lweng 
 Hlaing-bhwai township, Amherst district, to the eastward of the Gyaing, 
 and not far from the source of the Pa-da. In 1876 it had 594 inhabit- 
 ants. 
 
 EE-BHOO-WA. — A village in the Wa-kha-mai circle, Pya-poon town- 
 ship, Thoon-khwa district on the bank of the To, about one mile from the 
 mouth of the Hpo-douk. 
 
 EE-BOUK. — A village on the west bank of the Irrawaddy, in the Kya- 
 eng circle, Kyan-kheng township, Henzada district. In 1877 it had 590 
 inhabitants. 
 
 EE-BWEK. — A village of about 50 houses, on the Pwon stream, in the 
 Kwon-oon cu'cle, Thayet township, Thayet district, close to the Taw-law- 
 khyoung and Taw-mhwon, in a small patch of rice cultivation. Near it is 
 the Andaw or Tshwai-daw pagoda, said to have been erected over a holy 
 tooth relic obtained from Ceylon by King Nara-pa-dee-tsee-thoo circa 1167 
 A.D. and deposited by that monarch in this spot in obedience to superna- 
 tural signs and portents.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 503 
 
 EE-DWENG-GOON.— A village in the Tbee-kweng township, Bas- 
 sein district, in 16'87'N. and 94" 43' E. on the Pai-bcng stream._ It is 
 surrounded l)y rice land and the inhabitants are princii)ally cultivators. 
 Large boats of 300 bushels burden can ascend the river as far as this at 
 all seasons, if not carrying yards, and consequently large numbers come up 
 in the rice season to fetch rice for sale to the millers in Bassein. 
 
 RE-E. — A small revenue circle in the Mergui township, Mergui dis- 
 trict, consisting entirely, of islands of the Archipelago, with no cultivation 
 and only 332 inhabitants in 1876-77, when the revenue, derived solely 
 from the capitation tax, was Es. 182. 
 
 EEEF ISLAND. — A small island in the mouth of the Tavoy river, called 
 Kaw-ka-lce in Bm-mese. 
 
 EE-GYAW. — A village in the Kyien-ta-lcc circle of the southern town- 
 ship of Sandoway, on the left bank of the Kyien-ta-lee river, 63 miles south 
 of Sandoway. In 1877-78 it had 845 inhabitants. 
 
 EE-GYAW. — A village in the Oot-hpo circle, Oot-hpo township, 
 Henzada district, on the banks of the Ka-gnyeng stream. In 1877 it had 
 563 inhabitants. 
 
 EE-GYAW. — A village in the Toung-tsoon circle, Martaban township, 
 Tha-htoon sub-division, Amherst district, lying near the foot of the western 
 slopes of the Dhe-ba-rien spur of the Martaban hills. In 1867 the inhabi- 
 tants numbered 294 and 632 in 1877. 
 
 EE-GYAW. — A revenue circle in the Oot-hpo township, Henzada district, 
 on the right bank of the Irrawaddy below Thek-ngay-byeng, containing some 
 rice cultivation the area of which is increasing owing to the protection 
 from inundation afforded by artificial embankments on the right bank of the 
 Irrawaddy. In 1876-77 the land revenue was Es. 2,166, the capitation tax 
 Es. 3,342, the gross revenue Es. 6,218 and the population 3,583. It 
 contains no villages of any importance. 
 
 EE-GYEE. — Two adjoining revenue circles, but under one Thoogyee, 
 in the to\vnship of the same name, Bassein district, liavmg an area of about 
 17 square miles and formmg a vast rice plain with here and there low 
 swampy patches and in the north a little open forest. The largest town is 
 Ee-gyee Pan-daw m 17° 19' 30" N. and 95' 10' E., the head-quarters of the 
 Extra Assistant Commissioner in charge of the township. There is a good 
 cart-road from Nga-thaing-khyoung to Ee-gyee Pan-daw and generally there 
 are fair-weather roads throughout the circle. In 1876-77 there were 7,752 
 inhabitants, the capitation tax was Es. 8,462, the land revenue Es. 1,116 
 and the gross revenue Es. 24,342. The principal towns and villages are 
 Pan-daw and Theng-gan-toung. 
 
 EE-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the Toung-ngoo district, in the north 
 of the Toung-ngoo Myoma township and west of the Tsit-toung, and sepa- 
 rated from that river by the Bhan-oung cu'cle. Towards the north-west 
 the ground is undulating and here is found Eng {Dipterocnrpus tuhercu- 
 lafus) whilst towards the south there is some rice cultivation ; the rest of 
 the circle is covered with tree and grass forest. In 1876-77 the population 
 was 2,158, the capitation taxRs. 1,526, the land revenue Es. 1,432 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 3,060. It contains no villages of anv importance. 
 
 75
 
 594 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 RE-GYEE. — A creek in the Bassein district, which falls into the Nga- 
 won or Bassein river close to Nga-thaing-khyoung, and in the rains extends 
 eastwards and joins the Da-ga river near Kyoon-pyaw. At this season it is 
 about 15 feet deep and open throughout for large boats ; on its banks, about 
 five miles in a direct line from Nga-thaing-khyoung, is the town of Pan-daw. 
 It is sometimes called the Pan-daw. 
 
 RE-HP YOO. — A village of 50 houses, on the Pwon stream not far from 
 its junction with the Irrawaddy, which gives its name to a circle in the 
 Thayet township, Thayet district. 
 
 PiE-HPYOO. — A revenue circle in the Thayet township, Thayet dis- 
 trict, with an area of about 20 square miles, of which about three are 
 actually cultivated and some three more are culturable waste. The inhabi- 
 tants numbered 2,591 in 1876-77 when the land revenue was Rs. 663, the 
 capitation tax Rs. 2,595 and the gross revenue Rs. 3,342. Oon-beng-hla 
 was added to the circle in 1855 and Khyeng-tsouk in 1860. The products 
 are rice, sessamum, cotton and plantains. 
 
 RE-KENG. — A revenue circle in the Meng-gyee townshi^D, Henzada 
 (Tharrawaddy) district. In 1876-77 the population was 15,770, the capita- 
 tion tax Rs. 14,382, the land revenue Rs. 4,730 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 36,339. The principal towns and villages are Re-keng Meng-gyee (the 
 head-quarters of an Assistant Commissioner), Myit-tha and Tham-bha-ya- 
 goon. 
 
 RE-KENG. — A town in the circle of the same name in the Meng-gyee 
 township, of the Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district, on the east bank of the 
 Irrawaddy. It contains a market, a police-station and a dispensary. In 
 1877 it had 2,997 inhabitants. A smaU local revenue is derived from the 
 market stall-rents and expended on general improvements : in 1876-77 this 
 amounted to Rs. 2,719. 
 
 RE-LA-MAING. — A township in the Amherst district extending along 
 the coast, south of the Wa-kha-roo township, and, in the south, stretching 
 inland up the valley of the Re river to its sources ; on the south it is 
 bounded by the high spur which separates the Amherst from the Tavoy 
 district. This township contains some fertile land, especially near La- 
 maing and in the valley of the Re, and soon after the British occuj)ation 
 grain was exported thence to Maulmain for the use of the numerous 
 immigrants who arrived in great numbers from the delta of the Irrawaddy. 
 The Re is the largest river ; it receives most of its tributaries from the 
 north and east and but few from the south ; it is navigable only within 
 the influence of the tides. About four and a half miles off the coast, 
 extending northwards from a little above the latitude of the mouth of the 
 La-maing river, is Ka-le-gouk Island, and the coast is fringed with rocks 
 and small islets. It is divided into eight revenue circles. The population 
 in 1876-77 was 11,788, the land revenue was Rs. 19,965 and the capitation 
 tax Rs. 13,173. The principal villages are Re (the head-quarters), Han- 
 gan, A-tseen, Doo-ra, Ke-la-tha, Ka-maw-ka-neng, Kaw-dwot, Taing-ka- 
 maw and Toung-boon. 
 
 RE-LE. — A small village in the Myee-noo circle, Le-myet-hna tovm- 
 ship, Bassein district, on the eastern bank of the Bassem river near the 
 northern boundary of the district. In 1877 it had 526 inhabitants.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 595 
 
 EE-MA-NOUK.— A revenue circle in the Pa-doung township, Prome 
 "district, touching the Thayet district in the north and lying just to the 
 west of Tha-bye-aing.. There are small patches of regular cultivation in 
 the south but almost the whole face of the country is covered with forest. 
 Earth-oil has been found not far from the village of Toung-bo-gyee {q. v.) 
 In 1876-77 there were 958 inhabitants, the capitation tax was Es. 980, the 
 land revenue was Ks. 2,301 and the gross revenue Es. 3,326. 
 
 EE-MYEK.— A revenue circle in the Shwe-doung township of the 
 Prome district east of the Zay stream and about 12 miles S. E. of Prome, 
 measured in a direct line. Included in it are four viUage tracts. In 1876-77 
 there were 1,304 inhabitants, the capitation tax was Es. 1,405, the land 
 revenue was Es. 1,899 and the gross revenue was Es. 3,354. 
 
 EE-MYIT.— A revenue cu-cle in the Ma-ha-tha-man township of the 
 Prome district. In 1876-77 the population numbered 299, the capitation 
 tax was Es. 305, the land revenue was Es. 367 and the gross revenue was 
 Es. 672. 
 
 EENG-DAIK-GOON.— A village in the Doo-ra cu'cle, Henzada town- 
 ship, Henzada district, on the bank of the Doo-ra lake, about fom' miles 
 west of the Irrawaddy, near some Eeng-daik trees {Dalbergia sj).), whence 
 the name. In 1877 it had 902 inhabitants. 
 
 EENG-DAIK-KWENG.— A revenue cii-cle in the Poungday township 
 of the Prome district, about six miles east of the Engma swamp : it is 
 principally under rice cultivation. In 1876-77 there were 304 inhabitants, 
 the capitation tax was Es. 325 and the land revenue Es. 486. 
 
 EENG-DAIK-TAN.— A village in the Prome district, in 18° 35' 10" N. 
 and 95° 32' 55' E., about haK a mile N. E. of the village of Loung-gyee, 
 on the right bank of the Wai-gyee river. It is inhabited principally by rice 
 growers. 
 
 EENG-E. — A revenue circle in the Za-lwon township of the Henzada 
 district, which now mcludes A-twot and Paing-kyoon. In 1876-77 the 
 land revenue was Es. 3,573, the capitation tax Es. 3,845, the gross revenue 
 Es. 16,601 and the population 4,126. The principal village is Paing- 
 kyoon, lying in that portion which formerly constituted the Paing-kyoon 
 circle. 
 
 EENG-E. — A small village in the Za-lwon Myoma circle, Za-lwon 
 township, Henzada district, about two miles from the east bank of the Irra- 
 waddy and on the banks of a small lake of the same name. To the east- 
 ward of the lake is a pagoda to which the people resort in boats at the 
 full moon of Taw-tha-leng, that is in August. 
 
 EENG-GNYIEM. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Martaban township of the Amherst district, on the western side of a gorge 
 in the spur of the Martaban hills which encloses the Dhe-ba-rien valley on 
 on the west. Through this gorge tlows the Eeng-gnyiem stream on its way 
 to the Tsha or Tha-htoon river, joining this latter at its mouth ; at the 
 village the Eeng-gyuiem is spanned by a wooden bridge, built some years 
 ago by the then Assistant Commissioner of the sub-division, Mr. J. C. L)avis. 
 At the eastern end of Eeng-gnyiem the Martaban and Shwe-gyeng road, 
 now being made, will cross the stream close to, almost in, the gorge.
 
 59G BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 In 1868 Reng-giiyiem had 241 inliabitants and 557 in 1877. The group of 
 houses on the southern bank of the stream, being in another circle, is con- 
 sidered as a separate village though it adjoins, and is nearly one-third of 
 the size' of, Reng-gnyiem proper. 
 
 RENG-GNYIEM. — A revenue circle in the Martaban township of the 
 Tha-htoon sub-division of the Amherst district, having Toung-tsoon on the 
 north, the Martaban hills on the east, Poung on the south, and the sea on 
 the west. Up to 1876 it extended as far north as the Tha-htoon township, 
 separated from it by the Tsha or Tha-htoon river. In that year the northern 
 portion was taken from it and formed into the Toung-tsoon circle. The 
 only large village is Reng-gnyiem. In 1876-77 the population was 2,245, 
 the capitation tax Rs. 3,325 and the land revenue Rs. 18,211. 
 
 RENG-MA-GOON. — A revenue circle in the Ma-ha-tha-man township 
 of the Prome district. In 1876-77 the population numbered 441, the capi- 
 tation tax was Rs. 420, the land revenue was Rs. 518 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 938. 
 
 RENG-OON. — A revenue circle in the Tsit-toung sub-division of the 
 Shwe-gyeng district, on the Bhee-leng river, occupying the northern por- 
 tion of the Bhee-leng township. In 1876-77 the population was 6,499, the 
 capitation tax was Rs. 3,069, the land revenue was Rs. 1,560 and the 
 gross revenue Rs. 5,202. Kareng predominate amongst the inhabitants, 
 and the produce is chiefly rice, betel-nut and sessamum. 
 
 RENG-OON. — A village in the Tsit-toung sub-division of the Shwe- 
 gyeng district, on the right bank of the Bhee-leng river, 13 miles above 
 Bhee-leng, with 790 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 RENG-SHE. — A village in the Htan-beng-gyo circle, Re-gyee township, 
 Bassein district, on the western bank of the Nga-won or Bassein river, 
 four miles below Nga-thaing-khyoung. In 1877 it had 995 inhabitants. 
 
 RE-NWE. — A small stream in the Shwe-gyeng district which rises in 
 the Pegu Roma and falls into the Tsit-toung. In the plains its bed is 
 shallow and the channel sometimes gets choked by a fallen tree and the 
 rubbish accumulated behind it. 
 
 RE-THO. — A revenue circle in the Hpoung-leng township of the Ran- 
 goon district, with a population of 8,359 souls, mainly Burmans, in 1876-77. 
 Almost the whole of the circle, except a small tract on the west, is under 
 rice cultivation. In 1876-77 the capitation tax was Rs. 9,138, the land 
 revenue Rs. 34,127 and the gross revenue Rs. 43,265. The principal vil- 
 lages are Tsheng-bhoon and Bha-la-ta-da-gyee. 
 
 RE-TSOO-DAING.— A tidal creek in the Thoon-khwa district which 
 flows southward from the Eng-tay and forms one of the network of creeks 
 which intersect that portion of the delta of the Irrawaddy. After the Pee- 
 pa-lwot joins it it is called the Pai-mwot and a little lower down it receives 
 the waters ^of the Kywon-pya-that (more correctly the Kywon-bhoora-thad) 
 and thenceforward assumes the name of the great river. In about 17" N. it 
 sends off to the southward a large branch which, under the name of the To 
 or China Bakir, reaches the sea 20 miles W. S. W. of the Hlaing or 
 Rangoon river.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 697 
 
 PtE-WENG. — A village in the Pa-doung township of the Prome dis- 
 trict, about two miles below the town of Pa-doung and one mile inland from 
 the right bank of the Irrawaddy. 
 
 EE-WENG. — A revenue circle in the Prome district, on the right 
 bank of the Irrawaddy, just below Pa-doung. The road across the Arakan 
 hills by the Toung-goop pass runs along the river bank through this circle. 
 The inhabitants are mainly cultivators and fishermen. Near the village of 
 Tsee-tha, on the river bank, is the Dee-doot eng or fishery, a depression in 
 the plains, dry in the hot season, receiving its supply of water from the over 
 flow of the Irrawaddy in the rains when it is seven feet deep. In 1876-77 
 there were 1,913 inhabitants, the capitation tax was PiS. 1,968, the land 
 revenue was Rs. 1,197 and the gross revenue PiS. 4,380. 
 
 RO. — A large revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district, 81 square 
 miles in extent, lying amongst the mountains in the north-east of the Mye- 
 boon township and inhabited to the north-east principally by Khyeng. It 
 has but little cultivation. In 1876-77 the inhabitants numbered 1,655, the 
 capitation tax was Es. 1,350, the land revenue was Rs. 1,103 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 2,631. 
 
 RO-KYWON. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (west) township, 
 Akyab district, which includes Ro-ngoo. In 1876-77 the population 
 numbered 2,244, the capitation tax was Rs. 2,635, the land revenue was 
 Es. 7,849 and the gross revenue Es. 10,739. 
 
 EOO. — A small village on the river Dha-let, in the Dha-let circle. An 
 township, Kyouk-hpyoo district. It is said to have been the capital of a 
 kingdom but was most probably the village of some hill chief somewhat 
 stronger than his neighbours. Local traditions state that the name is 
 derived from the fact of a princess of Sandoway, who had fled hither, becom- 
 ing mad {aroo). In 1877 it had only 288 inhabitants. It contains a Tele- 
 graph station and the signallers and other Telegraph officials, whose 
 principal, if not only, duty is to keep the line in repair, have made good 
 flower and kitchen gardens. 
 
 EOON-GOON.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 34' 20" N. and 
 95° 29' 20" E., about three miles east of the Engma lake, inhabited chiefly 
 by rice cultivators. A short distance to the south is another smaller 
 village of the same name inhabited by Kareng. 
 
 EOON-TSHIEP.— A village in the Pa-doung township, Prome district, 
 in 18^42' 45" N. and 95° 15' 25" E., on the right bank of the Irrawaddy just 
 above and adjoining the town of Pa-doung. 
 
 EOON-TSHIEP.— A revenue circle in the Prome district on the right 
 bank of the Irrawaddy to the immediate north of the town of Pa-doung, con- 
 taining a comparatively large area under rice cultivation. The inhabitants 
 are principally cultivators but in the villages on the river bank there are 
 some traders and fishermen. In 1876-77 the population was 2,052, the 
 land revenue Es. 3,328, the capitation tax Es. 2,082 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 5,745. It now includes Kya-khat. 
 
 EO-TA-EOOP.— A village in the circle of the same name in the Oo-ree- 
 toung (west) township of the Akyab district on the banks of the Eo. In 
 1877 it had 659 inhabitants.
 
 598 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 EO-TA-EOOP. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (west) township, 
 Akyab district. In 1876-77 the population numbered 3,900, the capitation 
 tax was Es. 2,727, the land revenue was Es. 2,842 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 5,838. The largest village is Eo-ta-roop. The principal products are 
 rice, bamboos and cotton. 
 
 EOUK-THWA. — A stream which rises in the Poung-loung range in the 
 Toung-ngoo district and after a south-westerly course of about 80 miles 
 falls into the Tsit-toung river about six miles north of the village of Moon 
 (Shwe-gyeng district). Several large tributaries join it in the plains. 
 During the last few miles it forms the boundary between the Toung-ngoo 
 and Shwe-gyeng districts. In the rains it is navigable for boats 80 feet 
 long as far as the village of Eng-bhek but during the dry season as far 
 as the village of Eouk-thwa-wa only. From its mouth to Eng-bhek its 
 bed is sandy, thence to its source rocky. It is an outlet for a considerable 
 quantity of areca nuts and for a little teak. Isolated groups of low hills 
 with rounded outlines, and more continuous elevated ground divide the 
 different branches of the stream. Some of these hills are covered with 
 Eng {Dipterocaj'pus) forest others with bamboos. Associated with teak 
 are, amongst other trees Pyeng-ma-hpyoo {Lagerstroemia calyculata) and 
 five specimens of Padouk {Pterocarpus indicus). 
 
 ' EOUK-THWA-WA.— A village on the Eouk-thwa stream about five 
 miles from its mouth, lying partly in the Toung-ngoo and partly m the 
 Shwe-gyeng district. During the dry season it can be reached from the 
 Tsit-toung by boats of about 80 feet in length. A small Police force is 
 stationed in this village. 
 
 EWA-BOO.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 52' 0" N. and 
 95° 42' 50" E. on the bank of the Teng-gyee river about six miles above its 
 junction with the South Na-weng. The inhabitants are engaged principally 
 in agriculture though a few work in the neighbouring teak forests. 
 
 EWA-BOO. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-lay township of the Prome 
 district on the Teng-gyee stream j^ust above its junction with the South 
 Na-weng. It is inhabited mainly by petty traders and toung-ya and rice 
 cultivators. In 1876-77 there were 1,058 inhabitants the capitation 
 tax was Es. 485, the land revenue was Es. 597 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 1,867. 
 
 EWA-BOO-LAI. — A revenue circle in the Pa-doung township, Prome 
 district, which now includes its western and northern neighbours the Bhoo- 
 bhek and the Kaing-rwa circles. It lies on both banks of the Tha-nee 
 river near its mouth. The inhabitants are principally engaged in cultivat- 
 ing the rice fields which lie in the eastern part of the circle near the Tha- 
 nee. The largest village is. 0-shit-beng on the right bank of the Tha-nee 
 and on the military road from Pa-doung to Touug-goop in Arakan. In 
 1876-77 the population was 1,131, the land revenue Es. 1,445, the capita- 
 tion tax Es. 1,818 and the gross revenue Es. 2,828. 
 
 EWA-BWA. — A small village of 50 houses on the Tsa-dweng streamlet 
 in the Meng-dat circle, Meng-doon township, Thayet district. 
 
 EWA-GOON. — A village in the Shwe-doung township, Prome district, 
 about three miles to the S. S. E. of Kyee-thay, with which it is connected by
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 599 
 
 a good fair-weather road, and the same distance east of the Irrawaddy. In 
 
 1877 it had 589 inhabitants. 
 
 EWA-GOON. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-doung township, Prome 
 district, west of the great north road from Rangoon and of the Ee-myit circle. 
 Almost the whole of its area is under rice cultivation. In 1876-77 the 
 population was 2,108, the captation tax Es. 2,360, the land revenue 
 Es. 3,446 and the gross revenue Es. 5,846. 
 
 EWA-HAING. — A small village in the Mye-dai township of the Thayet 
 district, on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, close to the frontier and contain- 
 ing some 50 houses. 
 
 EWA-LWOT. — A revenue circle on Bhee-loo-gywon in the Amherst 
 district, having the Bhee-loo-gywon hills on the east, Ka-ma-mo on the 
 north, Kwon-raik on the west, and Weng-tsien on the south. It now again 
 includes the once independent Ka-law which was cut off from it by Captain 
 Phayre in 1848. It is one of the most unproductive circles in the island 
 much of the land being seriously damaged by salt-water. The principal 
 villages are Ewa-lwot, Hnie-moot, Ka-law and Kaw-dwot. In 1876-77 the 
 population was 3,658, the capitation tax Es. 4,135 and the land revenue 
 Es. 4,047. 
 
 EWA-LWOT. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Bhee- 
 loo-gywon township of Amherst, on the north bank of the Ewa-lwot creek. 
 In 1867 it had 1,135 inhabitants and 1,201 in 1877. 
 
 EWA-MA. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-lay township of the Prome 
 district. In 1876-77 there were 1,174 inhabitants, the capitation tax was 
 Es. 813, the land revenue was Es. 679 and the gross revenue was Es. 1,622. 
 
 • EWA-THA-EA, — A small revenue circle in the Ma-ha-tha-man township 
 of the Prome district a few miles east of Prome. In 1876-77 the popula- 
 tion numbered 310, the capitation tax was Es. 297 and the land revenue 
 was Es. 308. 
 
 EWA-THEK-NGAY. — A revenue circle in the Kyai-let township of 
 the Akyab district. In 1876-77 the population numbered 1,309, the capita- 
 tion tax was Es. 1,480, the land revenue was Es. 3,472 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 5,262. 
 
 EWA-THIT. — A revenue circle in the Ma-ha-tha-man township of 
 the Prome district about 11 miles east of Prome, containing seven village 
 tracts. In 1876-77 the population numbered 1,552, the capitation tax was 
 Es. 1,405, and the land revenue Es. 1,857. 
 
 EWA-THIT. — A revenue circle in the Kyan-kheng township of the 
 Henzada district, which now includes Eng-lat. In 1876-77 the population 
 was 11,595, the capitation tax Es. 11,082, the laud revenue Es. 7,523 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 19,519. The principal villages are Eng-lat, Ewa-thit 
 and Kwe-ma. 
 
 EWA-THIT. — A village in the Thee-kweng cu-cle, Thee-kweng town- 
 ship, Bassein district, on the eastern bank of the Kha-louk-thaik stream, 
 about 26 miles east of Bassein. In 1877 it had 658 inhabitants. 
 
 EWA-THIT. — A village in the Mo-gnyo M_yo-ma Reng-daik-beng circle 
 of the Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district about three miles west of the Irra-
 
 600 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 waddy Valley (State) Eailway, founded in 1860. In 1877 it had 755 inhabit- 
 ants. 
 
 RWA-THIT. — A town in the circle of the same name in the Kyan-kheng 
 township of the Henzada district on the left bank of the Irrawaddy ; the 
 head-quarters of the township. It contains a market, a court-house for the 
 Extra Assistant Commissioner, a Police-station and a Pubhc Works Depart- 
 ment inspection bungalow. In 1877 it had 3,671 inhabitants. 
 
 EWA-THIT. — A large village in the Gnyoung-kwee circle, Henzada 
 township, Henzada district, in 17° 37' 40" N. and 95° 26' 40" E., near the Da-ga 
 river and six miles north of Henzada, lying in a large tract of rice country 
 in the cultivation of which the inhabitants are mainly occupied. In 1877 it 
 had 2,038 inhabitants. 
 
 RWA-THIT. — A village in the Ta-gay circle, Gnyoung-doon township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, on the bank of the Irrawaddy six miles north of 
 Gnyoung-doon. In 1878 it had 755 inhabitants. 
 
 RWA-THIT. — A village in the Bhaw-dee circle, Pantanaw township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, on the river Pantanaw and opposite the town of that 
 name. In 1878 it had 917 inhabitants. 
 
 RWA-TOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-lay township of the 
 Prome district. In 1876-77 there were 1,882 inhabitants, the capitation tax 
 was Rs. 1,209, the land revenue was Rs. 1,174 and the gross revenue was 
 Rs. 2,698. 
 
 RWA-TOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Mye-dai township, Thayet 
 district, situated on the left bank of the Irrawaddy a little below Mye-dai, 
 in which are contained the two old Burman village circles of Ta-bo and 
 Zien-gyee. In 1876-77 the number of inhabitants was 3,321, the capitation 
 tax was Rs. 4,313, the land revenue was Rs. 693 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 7,828. The products are rice, sessamum, plantains and maize. 
 
 RWA-TOUNG.— A town of the Thayet district situated in 19° 19' 20" 
 N. Lat. and 95° 18' 45" E. Long, on the left bank of the Irrawaddy just 
 opposite to the Thayetmyo cantonment, with a population of 3,631 souls 
 in 1872 and of 2,643 in 1878 many of whom are engaged in cotton clean- 
 ing. An Extra Assistant Commissioner has his court, and a small body of 
 Police are stationed, here. It contains. a market and a school-house. It is 
 now a suburb of Allan-myo and its local revenues are incorporated with those 
 of that town. 
 
 RWE. — One of the mouths of the Irrawaddy. This creek or river is 
 formed by the junction of a branch of the Myoung-mya called the Poo-loo 
 and of the Tsaga-mya in about 16° 33' N. and 95° 8' E., and lower down is 
 joined to the Pya-ma-law and the Bassein river, itself a mouth of the Irra- 
 waddy, by numerous highly anastomosing creeks. Its course is S.S.W. and 
 its length about 60 miles. It is navigable by river steamers at all seasons. 
 
 RWE-DOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Kan-oung township of the 
 Henzada district. In 1876-77 the population was 5,802, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 4,840, the land revenue Rs. 1,968 and the gross revenue Rs. 8,574. It 
 now includes Kweng-tha. The only village of any importance is Too-kyan- 
 goon about 14 miles west of the Irrawaddy.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 601 
 
 RWEK-GNYO-TOUNG.— A revenue circle in the Naaf township of the 
 Akyab district, on the bank of the Naaf. In 1876-77 the population, com- 
 posed mainly of natives of India, numbered 3,925, the capitation tax was 
 Es. 3,949, the land revenue was Es. 7,292 and the gross revenue Es. 11,685. 
 
 EWON (East). — A revenue circle in the Than-lyeng township of the 
 Eangoon district, lying between the A-gwon (north) circle on the east, the 
 Hmaw-won flowing between them, the A-gwon (south) circle on the south, 
 the Ewon (west) cii-cle on the west and the Kyouk-taing-pyeng circle on the 
 north. Ewon (east) and Ewon (west) formerly formed one circle and at one 
 time included a portion of Kyouk-taing-pyeng. Owing to disputes between 
 the chief of the Ewon Shan, who occupied Ewon, and the governor of Syriam 
 the Burman government made Kyouk-taing-pyeng (q.v.) independent of 
 both. These 8han are the descendants of captives brought away by Aloung- 
 bhoora from seven villages in the Ewon country (that is the tract lying on 
 both banks of the Salween south of the Pa, the western of which is now 
 called the Salween Hill Tracts division, but was long known as the Ewon- 
 za-leiig, the eastern portion still belonging to Zeng-mai) who were settled here 
 under their own " Bo " or headman. They have become thoroughly Bur- 
 manised and the Shan language is understood only by a few of the older 
 people ; the greater number of them are agriculturists. At the north-eastern 
 end of the circle the inhabitants are Talaing. In 1876-77 the population 
 was 5,723, the capitation tax Es. 6,683, the land revenue Es.. 32,867 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 39,550. The principal villages are Ee-tha-ya, Meng- 
 rwa, Kya-weng and Pyeng-ma-gan. 
 
 EWON (West). — A revenue circle in the Than-lyeng township, Eangoon 
 district, having the Than-lyeng, Kyouk-taing-pyeng and Ewon (east) (q.v.) 
 circles on the north, the Pegu river on the west, the Hmaw-won circle on 
 the south and the A-gwon (south) and Ewon (east) circles on the east. 
 The principal villages are Kyoung-rwa, Kyoon-gan, Kj^aik-ka-maw and 
 Kyouk-tan, the head-quarters of the sub-division. In 1876-77 the popula- 
 tion was 4,275, the capitation tax Es. 6,298, the land revenue Es. 32,075 
 and the gross revenue Es. 39,095. A small quantity of salt is made in this 
 circle. 
 
 EWON-GNYA. — A revenue circle in about the centre of the Than-lweng 
 Hlaing-bhwai township of the Amherst district. In 1876-77 the population 
 was 2,310, the capitation taxEs. 2,437 and the land revenue Es. 2,319. It 
 now includes Kha-zaing. The principal villages are Kha-zaing and Ee-bhoo. 
 
 RWON-ZA-LENG. — A river in the Tenasserim division which has its 
 sources in the north of the mountainous country forming the Salween Hill 
 Tracts district and flows nearly south through a narrow, rocky valley to the 
 Salween which it joins at Kaw-ka-rit. With a rapid current and a rocky 
 bed it is, even in the dry weather, navigable only with difficulty and when 
 swollen by the rains and boiling in furious eddies or dashing against the 
 rocks which impede its course it is not navigable even by rafts. It derives 
 its name from the fact of its running through a country once inhabited by 
 Ewon Shan which was overrun and annexed by Aloung-bhoora in the latter 
 half of the 18th century many of the inhabitants being brought away captive 
 and settled in a tract south-east of Syriam subsequently known as the Ewon 
 circle. 
 
 76
 
 602 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 PtWOT-PA. — A small river which rises in 16° 6' N. Lat. on the western 
 sloj)es of the Arakan Eoma range and after a westerly course of about 10 
 miles falls into the sea in 16° 11 ' N. Lat. The village of Ewot-pa is situated 
 on its right bank about a mile from the coast and large boats can ascend 
 thus far with the flood tide. During the dry season it has no other water 
 than that which it receives from the sea. 
 
 SAINT MARTIN'S ISLAND.— An island off the coast of Arakan near 
 the entrance of the Naaf estuary, four or five miles from the shore, formed 
 of two portions united by a dry ledge of rocks. It is low and lined on the 
 west by a reef. Midway between the island and the mainland there are 
 extensive reefs with breakers. It is unmhabited and is visited by the 
 people of the coast who bring away considerable quantities of thatch grass. 
 
 SAINT MATTHEW'S ISLAND.— An island in the Mergui Archipelago, 
 lying between 9° 50' and 10° 4' N. Lat. and 98° and 98° 10' E. Long. It is the 
 most southern of the islands belonging to the British. It forms a portion 
 of the Mergui district. Its highest peak, in the south of the island, in 9° 52' 
 N. Lat. and 98^ E. Long., is visible for 13 leagues. 
 
 SALWEEN. — A river in the Tenasserim division with a general north 
 and south course, which falls into the sea by two mouths, one to the west- 
 ward of Maulmain and one to the south at Amherst. Between these two 
 mouths lies Bhee-loo-gywon or Ogre island. The sources of this river, 
 which have* never been explored, are far north in the Himalayas or m the 
 mountains which form their extension eastward. After traversing Yunnan 
 and the Shan and Kareng-nee States to the south of that province of China 
 it enters British territory at the extreme n.orth-eastern corner of the province, 
 and for some distance, as far as the mouth of the Thoung-yeng forms the 
 eastern boundary of British Burma. In this part of its course it is a broad 
 swift stream, navigable by boats and flowing between high, densely-wooded 
 mountains. Towards the south these mountains approach closer and closer 
 tiU near the mouth of the Thoung-yeng, one of its tributaries which forms the 
 east and the northern and north-eastern boundary of the Amherst district 
 and of the province, the breadth of the stream contracts so much that in 
 some places the bed does not occupy more than 30 yards. Ten miles lower 
 are the great rapids, formed by a bar of rocks stretching completely across . 
 the river and impassable even by canoes in the dry season. In the rains 
 when the river is swollen by the mass of w^ater brought down from the vast 
 tract of country which it and its tributaries drain the rush of the water 
 is so strong and the violence of its efforts to pass the rocky ledge is so great 
 that even massive logs of timber are dashed to pieces. Ten miles further 
 south are other but less formidable rapids impassable in the rains. Below * 
 this are numerous islands and shoals covered during the floods, when the 
 water rises 30 feet. A few miles further south, after it has received the 
 waters of the Rwon-za-leng from the westward, the hills on the eastern 
 bank recede and those on the western diminish considerably in altitude 
 and the river traverses a more open and level country with characteristic 
 limestone rocks on both banks at intervals rising suddenly out of the plain 
 into serrated lofty ridges. At Maulmain the Salween receives from the east- 
 ward the united waters of the Gyaing, formed by the junction of the Hlaing- 
 bhwai and the Houng-tha-raw, and of the Attaran which joins the Gyaing
 
 BKITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 603 
 
 at its mouth ; here the river splits into two branches. The northern flowing 
 between Bhee-loo-gywon and the old town of Martaban, now not navigable 
 by reason of sand banks, was some centmies ago the principal entrance. 
 The southern branch flows past Maulmain and falls into the sea at Amherst 
 by a mouth seven miles wide. By this channel vessels of the largest size 
 can reach Maulmain but the navigation is rendered difficult by the shifting 
 of the sands. 
 
 Vast quantities of teak timber from British and foreign forests are 
 annually floated down the Salween and shipped in Maulmain for export. 
 These are dragged into the forest streams by elephants and washed in the 
 rains into the Salwcen by which they are carried do^^i in whirlmg masses 
 till checked by a rope stretched across at Kyo-dan some 50 miles from 
 Maulmain. Large numbers of salvors assemble here in the season and 
 raft as many logs as they can which are claimed by the owners — they are 
 marked m the forests — who pay salvage. 
 
 SALWEEN HILL TEACTS.— A district in the Tenasserim division 
 extending from the northern frontier southwards to Kaw-ka-rit on the 
 Salween and occupying the whole of the country between the Salween on 
 the east and the Poung-loung mountains on the west. On the south its 
 boundary is formed by a line drawn eastwards from the Poung-lomig range 
 to the mouth of the Mai-gya, a small tributary of the Bhee-leng, and from 
 the Bhee-leng river to the Doon-tha-mie, the course of which it follows for 
 some distance till, turning eastwards, it crosses a low range of hills to the 
 som-ce of the Mai-ga-la which it follows to its mouth in the Rwon-za-leng, and 
 thence to the Salween is marked by that river. On the north is Kareng-nee, 
 on the east Zeng-mai, on the south Amherst and Shwe-gyeng and on the 
 west Shwe-gyeng and Toung-ngoo. The area comprised within its limits 
 is estimated at 4,646 square miles. From the annexation of Pegu until 
 1872 it formed a sub-division of the Shwe-gyeng district (formerly called 
 the Martaban province and later the Martaban district) under an Assistant 
 Commissioner but in that year was separated from it and constituted an 
 independent jurisdiction. The whole country is a wilderness of mountains ; 
 even the valley of the Ewon-za-leng, the principal river after the Salween, 
 is more a long winding gorge than a valley. The direction of the whole hue 
 of mountains, of which there are three prmcipal ranges, is generally N. N. W. 
 and S. S. E., but the innumerable congeries of spm-s thrown oft" by the 
 main systems have no general dii-ection but appear to be thrown up in 
 eccentric masses perfectly bewildermg. The slopes are so steep and the 
 sides are so densely wooded that the passage by laden animals is m 
 many places an impossibility, and that of travellers on foot diflicult and 
 • fatiguing in the extreme. It is through these hills that Shan caravans 
 come down annually to Kangoon and Maulmain and except the routes used 
 by them there are no roads over which laden bullocks can pass, baggage 
 and goods being carried on men's backs ; in many places unladen elephants 
 can only just make the ascents. The country is drained l)y three principal 
 rivers, the Salween, the Piwon-za-leng and the Bhee-leng, fed by a multitude 
 of mountain torrents pouring down the narrow ravines and boiling over 
 rocks and boulders on their impetuous way to the larger rivers, which seem 
 to partake of the character of their turbulent tributaries, and lash them- 
 selves into foam over masses of rock or in very wantonness roll about the
 
 604 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 pebbles of their beds or whirl in wild eddies as if rejoicing in then* might 
 and beauty before the beetling crags and densely-wooded slopes whose 
 feet are bathed by their waters, whilst gigantic forest trees of every 
 hue and glistening with gorgeous flowers bend their branches to protect 
 the cool waters from the bui-ning sun until they emerge into the low country 
 when, deprived of their companions the rocks and wooded hills, they sink 
 into muddy streams with no trace left of their former state but the rapidity 
 of their currents as they glide along swiftly and silently, seeming anxious 
 only to hide their sullied waters in the sea. The Ewon-za-leng which rises 
 in the extreme north is navigable with some difficulty during the dry season 
 as far as Pa-pwon, the head-quarters, but in the rains the rapidity and 
 strength of its current renders the ascent impossible and the descent 
 exceedingly dangerous. Except by small boats and rafts the Bhee-leng is 
 not navigable at all within the limits of this district. The navigation of 
 the Salween is impeded by rapids impassable by boats. 
 
 The cultivation is almost entii'ely in hill-gardens except near Pa-pwon, 
 and in the betel gardens which are permanent. 
 
 The crops cultivated dm-ing each year since 1871 and the number of 
 Toung-ya and the agricultural stock have been : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 ,a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 
 
 TS 
 
 
 
 
 
 Yeak. 
 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 
 05 
 
 CQ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 e8 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •a 
 
 ►^ 
 
 to 
 
 P 
 
 a 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 rO 
 
 03 
 
 
 J3 
 
 
 
 <» 
 
 "S 
 
 13 
 
 tsD 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 P 
 
 
 m 
 "5 
 
 to 
 
 Q 
 
 OS 
 
 
 
 a> 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 iS 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 M 
 
 M 
 
 S 
 
 H 
 
 m 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 O 
 
 S 
 
 PQ 
 
 1872 
 
 
 1,253 
 
 9 
 
 10,636 
 
 899 
 
 34 
 
 129 
 
 
 
 
 1873 
 
 — 
 
 1,264 
 
 18 
 
 11,720 
 
 1,486 
 
 84 
 
 145 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 1874 
 
 — 
 
 1,345 
 
 15 
 
 11,978 
 
 1,964 
 
 112 
 
 174 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 1875 
 
 134 
 
 1,411 
 
 18 
 
 12,078 
 
 1,882 
 
 267 
 
 189 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 1876 
 
 193 
 
 1,477 
 
 17 
 
 12,670 
 
 1,868 
 
 327 
 
 200 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 24 
 
 1877 
 
 280 
 
 1,462 
 
 6 
 
 12,526 
 
 2,269 
 
 333 
 
 215 
 
 " 
 
 
 ~ 
 
 The inhabitants are almost entirely Kareng, but a few Shan have 
 settled in the neighbourhood of Pa-pwon. The eastern portion of the 
 country was formerly inhabited by Rwon Shan, whence the name Rwon-za- 
 leng : the larger number of these were brought away by Aloung-bhoora and 
 settled in what is now the Syriam township of Eangoon. In 1872 the 
 number of inhabitants was 25,953 and in 1877 26,649. 
 
 This district is now placed under an Assistant Commissioner who is 
 Administration stationed at Pa-pwon, a village on the Rwon-za-leng at 
 the mouth of the little Ta-ra-law stream, under whom is 
 an Extra Assistant Commissioner and six Thoogyees of circles, — Pa-pwon, 
 Kaw-loo-do, Kaw-ka-rit, Kha-daing-tee, Mai-waing and Weng-hpyaing. For 
 some years after the country became British territory it was in a very 
 disturbed state. A Kareng, who styled himself " Meng-loung" or the 
 incarnation of a prince, collected around him the loose characters 
 and evil-disposed persons of the neighbouring countries, Shan and Kareng,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 605 
 
 and taking advantage of a prediction current amongst the Kareng that a 
 prince of their race was to arise who should drive out the foreigners and 
 estabhsh a new dynasty in Pegu, he persuaded some 1,500 men to join 
 him, reduced this tract to complete subjection, and subsequently descended 
 into the plains and took several villages, the inhabitants escaping into 
 Shwe-gyeng. On the approach of a force of Europeans, sepoys, and pohce, 
 the party retreated hastily into the hills, and being still pursued Meng- 
 loung escaped into Zeng-mai. On the retm-n of the troops to Shwe-gyeng 
 and Tsit-toung he reappeared on the scene of his former operations and 
 resumed his system of annoyance and aggression on the villages, descend- 
 ing into the plains and even attacking Kyouk-gyee from which he was 
 repulsed with considerable loss by a detachment of the 8th Regiment M.N.I, 
 under Lieutenant Childs. It was impossible for bodies of regular troops to 
 operate with any effect amongst the mountains of this wild country, and a 
 special force was raised consisting of two companies of 100 men each. It 
 was intended that this levy should be composed of Kareng, but it was found 
 impossible to make soldiers of them and Shan and Toungthoo were to a great 
 extent enhsted instead ; added to these were two thirds of a company of Native 
 Infantry and a few European Artillerymen, the whole under the immediate 
 orders of the Assistant Commissioner. This force was divided into four 
 bodies, each placed under an Em-opean officer, and by these parties acting 
 under the general control of the Deputy Commissioner, Major Berdmore, 
 aided by a diversion made in the south by the Deputy Commissioner of 
 Amherst, Major Briggs, the whole of the distm'bed tracts were speedily 
 cleared of the marauders who infested • them. Meng-loung was so hard 
 pressed that he and his immediate followers esca^Ded into Kareng-nee and 
 have never since given any trouble. 
 
 In 1867 disturbances recommenced ; a chief named Deepa attacked 
 and plundered our villages and threatened Pa-pwon and from that time 
 forward dacoities continued. This district forms the base of operations of the 
 Maulmain foresters, that is of those who have purchased the, right to extract 
 timber from the vast teak tracts across the Salween : these men yearly 
 come up with large sums in cash which they requii-e for the payment of 
 their workmen, or to pay their dues to the various chiefs, and m consequence 
 the whole of the neighboming country beyond om- borders has become the 
 resort of men of various classes, many of whom acknowledge no settled 
 authority, who collect in bodies under some leader more daring or more 
 capable than themselves and, with Zeng-mai and Kareng-nee as refuges, fall 
 upon the foresters ^nd attack om- villages. In order to remedy this state 
 of affairs the Tract was separated from Shwe-gyeng in 1872 and placed 
 under an officer styled " Superintendent, " who is immediately under the 
 Commissioner of Tenasserim, and the police force was considerable 
 strengthened. The Superintendent of the Tract is ex-officio Superintendent 
 of Police, and in 1877 had under him a force consisting of an European 
 Inspector, 16 subordinate officers and 227 men of whom 12 are river police. 
 The force is quartered at Kaw-loo-do, an old post, in the north, and at 
 Kyouk-gnyat and Dha-kweng on the Salween, with a strong reserve at 
 Pa-pwon. No less than 158 of the men are Kareng who are gradually taking 
 to Police work but Avill not serve for long ; as soon as they make enough 
 money to marry they withdraw — without permission if there is any delay
 
 606 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 in answering their request to be allowed to retire — but they carry away better 
 habits of discipline and a greater readiness to unite in resisting an attack. 
 
 The revenue is raised almost entirely from the land and from the 
 capitation tax ; excise on spirits and drugs yielding very little, and judicial 
 receipts, such as fines and forfeitures, sales of unclaimed property and 
 judicial stamps, a little more. 
 
 The latest returns available are those for 1876-77, and according to 
 these the receipts were from — 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Land .. .. .. .. * 9,615 
 
 Capitation tax . . . . . . . . 10,768 
 
 Rs. 
 Excise .. .. .. .. 805 
 
 Fines and forfeitures . . . . . . 2,418 
 
 Unclaimed property sold . . . . 17 
 
 Savings from pay . . . . . . 69 
 
 Law stamps .. .. .. 1,078 
 
 Miscellaneous .. .. .. 144 
 
 4,531 
 
 Total . . 24,914 
 
 SANDOWAY. — A district in the south of the Arakan division, 3,667 
 square miles in extent, more correctly called Than-dwai. On the north it 
 is bounded by the Ma-ee river, which separates it from Kyouk-hpyoo, on 
 the west by the Bay of Bengal, on the south by the Khwa, on the other 
 bank of which is the Bassein district of the Pegu division, and on the east 
 by the Arakan mountains, Bassein, Henzada, Prome, and Thayet occupy- 
 ing the country to the eastward. Its extreme length is 136 miles and its 
 breadth in the north 48 and in the south 24 miles. After the cession of 
 Arakan and Tenasserim by the treaty of Yandaboo, signed in 1826 A.D., 
 the boundaries of the district were : — N. the Dha-let river and the road 
 from Dha-let to Ava ; W. and S. the Eamree channel and the Bay of 
 Bengal ; E., down to the sea, the Arakan Koma range the water 
 parting between the rivers flowing east and west. Some years later 
 the northern part, above the Ma-ee, was separated from it and formed into 
 a separate district, and after the second Burmese war, which resulted in 
 the annexation of Pegu, the southern portion as far north as the Kyien-ta- 
 lee was joined to Bassein, but in 1864 the tract between the Kyien-ta-lee 
 and the Khwa was restored. 
 
 The face of the country is mountainous, the Arakan Eoma sending out 
 numerous spurs which reach down to the coast and these again throwing 
 out a countless number of side-spurs running on the whole parallel to the 
 Eoma, the whole drained by numerous small streams. Not more than one- 
 eighteenth of the surface can be called plain and except here, where rice 
 cultivation is carried on, and on the sides of the hills where clearings are 
 made for toungya, the country is thickly covered with forest. From the 
 mouth of the Sandoway river northwards the coast is indented by numerous 
 navigable and inosculating tidal creeks which receive the contributions of 
 many small streams ; by means of these communication can be kept up 
 without the necessity of going out to sea. Southward it presents a rugged 
 and rocky barrier to the ocean with few available places of refuge. The 
 rivers draining the country are but mountain torrents to within a few miles 
 of the coast.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 607 
 
 The main range of the Arakan Eoma Mountains has in the north a 
 Mouutaius ^' •^' ^^^ ^' direction, but as it proceeds southwards it 
 
 gradually curves towards the west and at the sources of 
 the Khwa runs nearly due north and south with a slight inclination west- ' 
 wards. In the north some of its peaks attain an elevation little short of 
 6,000 feet, but the height gradually diminishes to 3,200 feet at Shouk-beng 
 where the Toung-goop road crosses the range, rising again to 3,600 feet in 
 18° 21' 26" N. and to 4,000 feet a few miles further south. From this 
 point the range rapidly sinks and at the sources of the Khwa is about 890 
 feet high. It is crossed by several passes more or less frequented, wdiich, 
 with one exception (Toung-goop), consist simply of a narrow line of foot- 
 path cut through dense forest rarely more than from six to eight feet wide- 
 and so much overgrown at the end of every monsoon as to render a good 
 deal of clearance necessary before they can again be used even by foot 
 passengers. The scarcity of water and the consequent necessity of select- 
 ing the halting places with special reference to its supply render the stages 
 of very unequal length. The most southern of these passes is that which 
 leads from Khwa to Le-myet-hna in the Bassein district : the hills are of 
 no great height, the supply of water is comparatively abundant and the 
 route is practicable for every description of carriage except carts. North of 
 this are some others, not extensively used, and in the extreme north the 
 Toung-goop pass, the road across which proceeds from the village of that 
 name to Pa-doung on the Irrawaddy in the Prome district. This route was 
 traversed after the first Burmese war by Lieutenant Browne who pro- 
 nounced it impracticable for troops or laden cattle although it was the one 
 followed by the main body of the Burman army on the invasion of Arakan 
 in 1784 A.D., and the one by which the enormous image taken at Ma-ha- 
 moo-nee was carried to Ava. After the second Burmese war a road was 
 made across the pass and rapidly pushed on and in 1854 was " traversiblo 
 by a horseman at full galop " throughout its length. Since then the road 
 was considerably widened and rendered fit for the passage of troops of all 
 arms, but has been to a great extent abandoned, only a small sum annually 
 being spent on its repair and in keeping the bridges in order. This route 
 is the one mainly used by traders from Pegu and the telegraph line to Cal- 
 cutta is carried along it. 
 
 The principal rivers arc the Ma-ee, the Tan-lwai, the Tomig-goop, the 
 Rivers Sandowav, the Kyien-ta-lee and the I^iiwa, all. of which 
 
 rise in the western slopes of the Ai'akan Roma Moun- 
 tains. The first, which forms the northern boundary of the district, falls 
 into the arm of the sea which separates Ramree Island from the main land, 
 and the second into the same arm some 64 miles farther south : neither 
 are of any great importance. The Toung-goop falls into the Bay of Bengal 
 by several mouths between about 18° 44' and 18° 50' : it is navigable for 
 only a very short distance mland and is rarely resorted to except by 
 country boats in their trafiicking voyages along the coast. The Sandoway 
 river flows past the town of that name and then turnmg west falls into the 
 . sea some 15 miles farther on at Tseng- goung in 18° 32' N. The influence of 
 the tide is felt a short distance beyond Sandoway and the river is navigable 
 by the largest class of boats as far as that town. The roadstead at its 
 mouth, however, is exposed and dangerous and a heavy swell immediately
 
 608 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 follows any increase of wind from the south-west. The Kyien-ta-lee is a 
 small stream of no importance which reaches the sea at " Bluff-point " in 
 about 17° 59'. The Khwa at first flows south then west and finally turn- 
 ing N., and running for some miles almost parallel to the coast inclines 
 westward again and falls into the Bay in about 17° 36' N. Lat. Its mouth 
 forms a good anchorage for steamers or other vessels having from nine to 
 10 feet draught only, but the entrance is rendered intricate and difficult by 
 rocks and a bar of sand. 
 
 The " newer alluvium " of the Memoirs of the Geological Survey of 
 Geology * India is represented in this district mainly by blown 
 
 sand, littoral concrete, and mangi-ove swamp. The 
 *' blown sand " or dunes occur most frequently south of the Kyien-ta-lee 
 river, but are occasionally met with farther north, whilst all along the coast 
 " a deposit of somewhat similar origin, only coarser and distinctly accumu- 
 *' lated under w^,ter, is commonly met with along the com'se of many of the 
 " less sheltered tidal creeks..,. it is in fact merely the calcareous sand com- 
 " posed of comminuted shells and corals of living species, consohdated into 
 
 " a more or less compact calcareous sandstone or ragstone It is a deposit 
 
 " of a very porous character and often yields a supply of sweet water, being 
 *' free from organic or other impurities, except jDerhaps in some places a 
 
 " little salt The elevation of these littoral concretes, and m places corals, 
 
 " above the present tide limits points to a moderate elevation of the whole 
 " country in a recent period, which there are no grounds for sui3posing to 
 " have yet ceased. Where the above littoral concrete does not form the 
 " banks of the tidal streams of the Arakan coast, its place is taken by the 
 " foetid mud, or sand and mud of the mangrove swamps. In low lying 
 *' spots within the tideway, whether mud or sand predominates, the deposit 
 " is equally offensive, the whole area being marked by a peculiar flora and 
 " by the abundance of the strange crab, Thalassina scorpionoides. Geologi- 
 " cally considered, however, the deposit is insignificant, being extremely 
 " superficial, and rarely covering any great extent of country beyond the 
 " immediate vicinity of the tidal creek * * * ^ 
 
 " All along the coast at various spots remnants of the older alluvium can 
 *' be detected near the hills, in some places almost buried beneath recent 
 " debris swept down by torrents from the adjacent hill sides," their arrange- 
 ment and their proximity to the hills pointing " to their being relics of a 
 " now nearly denuded belt of clays of littoral origin." For all rocks older 
 than the Nummulitic but younger than the Triassic met with in the Province 
 the term " Negrais " has been adopted from their extensive development near 
 the Cape of that name m the Bassein district. Here they occupy the major 
 portion of the country between the Khwa and the spur forming the southern 
 watershed of the Kyien-ta-lee, north of which, except along the upper slopes 
 of the Pegu Pioma, is a cretaceous group which has been called the "Ma-ee". 
 " The difference in their mineral character is very great. In some places 
 " massive and flaggy sandstones occur quite unaltered and dipping at mode- 
 " rate angles, whilst in places sections are exposed of highly altered shales 
 " and sandstones; and in some spots the sandstone is seen altered into a 
 " chertzy rock seamed with silica and evidently subjected to an alteration 
 
 * From " Report on the Geology of Pegu" by W. Theobald, in Vol. X., pt. 2 of the memoirs 
 of the Geological Survey of India.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 609 
 
 " of an intense kind * * * * ^ rpj^g massive 
 
 *' beds at the base of this group are everywhere most conspicuoiis 
 " and of a pecuhar greenish hue very characteristic of this rock" which 
 ** is a very fine-grained argillaceous sandstone, rather compact, but 
 " where exposed to the action of the sea its surface usually presents a 
 " hone3^combed or cancellated appearance. . . . Subordinate to the thick- 
 *' bedded greenish or cancellated sandstone occurs in an irregular and in 
 " places almost stringy bed of conglomerate, a prominent feature connected 
 *' with which is its great irregularity and capricious mode of occurrence." 
 
 South of the Kyien-ta-lee and on both banks near its mouth are small 
 outcrops of limestone, the exact position of which as regards the Nummulitic 
 group has not been ascertained, and about a mile S.S.E. from the village of 
 Kyien-ta-lee there is, in a cave, a *' huge mass of hard compact sandstone." 
 
 Of the Cretaceous rocks Mr. Theobald writes : — " The occurrence of rocks 
 " of Cretaceous age on the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal was first 
 " established in 1872 by the discovery near Mai-i (Ma-ee), in the northern 
 " part of the Sandoway district, of a single specimen of Ammonites infiatus 
 " Sow. The specimen was found in the bed of a small stream and had 
 ** evidently weathered out of the shales in which the bed of tli€ stream lay, 
 " but curiously enough, it was unaccompanied by any other fossil whatever, 
 " though I devoted a day to the careful examination of the spot. The 
 "specimen was not perfect but of its identity with the Cenomanien A. 
 " inflatus Sow, Dr. Stoliczka, to whom I submitted the specimen, had 
 *' not the slightest doubt. The Sandoway district, which stretches from 
 " Mai-i {Mn-ee) to Gwah {Klma), a distance of 124 miles, belongs to 
 " the province of Arakan, and on this account no less than from the wild, 
 " uninhabited, and inaccessible character of the greater portion of it, has 
 " received only a very cursory examination, sufficient to give a general idea 
 " of its geological structure and relation to the adjoining districts of Pegu. 
 *'.... It will suffice to say that the Cretaceous rocks extend down from 
 " the Kyouk-hpew {Kyouk-hpj/oo) district in latitude 29° 30', certainly as 
 " far as Kyeantalce (Kyicn-ta-lce) on the coast, a distance of 94 miles in a 
 " straight line. Throughout this long tract of country I am aware of no 
 *' fossils having been mot met with, save the abovcmentioned specimen of 
 " A. infiatus Sow., but the occurrence here and there, at intervals, of some 
 *' peculiar beds, seen associated near Mai-i (Ma-ce) with the beds from which 
 " yl. in/Zrtiws was derived, renders the extension of the group thus far as 
 " certain as it can be in default of any fossils whatever. 
 
 " How far the gi-oup extends south of Kyeantalce (Ki/ien-ta-lee) is 
 " uncertain, as a much greater amount of alteration and disturbance is 
 " found in the rocks along the coast south of Kyeantalee (Ki/ien-ta-lee) than 
 " north of it ; all, therefore, that can be affirmed is, that it is very possible 
 " that some of the altered rocks and outcrops of limestone met with be- 
 " tween Kyeantalee [Krjicn-ta-kc) and Cape Negrais may be of Cretaceous 
 ** age rather than Nummulitic to which group the balance of evidence 
 *' would perhaps tend to refer the bulk of the hill rocks of the southern 
 ** portion of the Arakan range ; but in default of precise evidence in the 
 " form of organic remains these rocks of doubtful age must remain classed 
 " as I have already classed them, in a provisional group (Negrais) iuter- 
 *' mediate in position between the Cretaceous beds and the Tertiaries. 
 
 77
 
 610 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " One bed which I regard as belonging to the group which contains 
 " A. inflatiis is a limestone of a light cream colour, in places exhibiting a 
 " somewhat speckled or flea-bitten aspect, from the dissemination through 
 " it of sublenticular crystalline particles, some of which may possibly be of 
 " foraminiferous origin. The rock is argillaceous, very homogeneous in 
 " grain, occasionally seamed with calcite, and breaks with a subconchoidal 
 " fracture. I think it probable that there are more beds than one of this 
 " character, as in one place a thin bed of it was seen intercalated with the 
 " shales of this group, whilst at other spots where the rock was much more 
 " largely developed its relation to any other beds was not so perceptible. 
 " The first spot where this rock occm's, commencing in the north of the 
 " Sandoway district, is four miles S.S.W. of Mai-i (Ma-ee), where it consti- 
 " tutes a small hill not 200 yards in circumference, on the edge of some 
 *' paddy-land bordering a tidal creek. It is here quarried and burnt for 
 " local use, but a brisk demand for lime would soon make serious inroads 
 " on the amount of rock here exposed. About 12 miles S. S. E. of this a 
 " much larger development of what I take to be the same bed occurs at 
 " some distance up a small stream not laid down on the map, but which may 
 " be termed the Kama stream, from the name of the village situated on 
 " its banks. The spot bemg somewhat out of the way and unapproachable 
 ** for elephants was not visited by me ; but from samples of the rock it is, 
 " I consider, identical with that at Mai-i (Ma-ee). It is too inaccessible to 
 " be of any present practical value, especially as the same rock occurs more 
 *' favourably situated elsewhere. 
 
 " The next spot where this limestone occurs largely is a few miles 
 " south-west of Ki-ben-ziaht {Kyee-heng-tshiep), a village on the Tan-loay 
 " (Tan-hvai) stream, not quite half way from Mai-i (Ma-ee) to the mouth of 
 " the Sandoway river. It here occurs in considerable quantity in undula- 
 " ting ground, but its relation to any other beds is not seen. Thus far I 
 *' think there is little doubt that these outcrops are all portions of one and 
 " the same bed, re-appearing at intervals and probably discoverable at 
 " more spots than my hasty examination enabled me to detect, but whether 
 " or no the same bed is identical with some outcrops of rock of very similar 
 " mineral aspect farther south is not equally clear. For instance, close to 
 " Tonghoop (Toimg-goojj), a small outcrop of limestone is seen which may 
 " belong to this bed and about three miles north of it some limestone, 
 " which probably is the same ; it is seen in the bed of the stream up which 
 " the road winds ; and again farther south another outcrop occurs five 
 " miles north-west of Sandoway. Between Sandoway and Kyeantalee 
 " (Kyien-ta-lee) limestone occurs at several spots, but usually more or less 
 " sub-crystalline in character and not so argillaceous as the Kama rock. 
 " At Sanday (Tsan-tay), four miles above Kyeantalee (Kyien-ta-lee), on the 
 " opposite side of the river, occurs an argillaceous limestone which may 
 " belong to this group * * . Besides the above limestone there is another 
 " peculiar kind of rock which may be used to trace the extent of the Creta- 
 " ceous group, to which it would seem to belong, to the south. This 
 " peculiar rock, which is first met with about two and a half miles north- 
 " east of Kyeantalee (Kyien-ta-lee), is a greyish, rather earthy sandstone, 
 " which in places exhibits a pisolitic structure from the dissemination 
 " through it of small globular concretions of carbonate of lime and ii'on
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 611 
 
 *' (with a trace of magnesia according to an analysis by Mr. Mallet) which 
 " rarely exceed the size of a small pea. These concretions, which must be 
 " considered as of contemporary age with the rock and the result of segre- 
 ** gative or crj^stalline action previous to its consolidation, are sparingly 
 " distributed through it, and very irregularly likewise, much of the rock 
 " being quite devoid of them. On decomposing, these concretions leave 
 " holes contaming a little powdery oxide of iron, and impart to the earthy 
 " sandstone the aspect of an amygdaloidal trap ; indeed, the deception is so 
 " perfect that it requires a careful examination of the bed to realise that it 
 "is a simple sedimentary and not a volcanic rock. At several spots 
 " between Kyeantalee (Kyien-ta-lee) and Mai-i (Ma-ee) this very remarkable 
 " rock occm's, and though seen but at intervals may, from its very marked 
 " and peculiar character, be taken as conclusive of the extension over the 
 *' above country of the Cretaceous beds, of which, I believe, it is a member. 
 " East of Mai-i (Ma-ee) the beds of this gi'oup attain a great thickness, 
 " though some of them may belong to older members of the Secondary 
 " series. The prevailing dip is E. N. E., and the rocks are mainly hard, 
 ** massive sandstones, with some dark shales interspersed. In these shales, 
 " in some places, flat concretions of limestone occur, both blue and pale- 
 " gray, rareley more than six inches across and from one to two inches in 
 " thickness. In none of these beds have I noticed any fossils, though I 
 " somewhat carefully examined some of these calciferous shales above 
 " Lyndi (Leng-dee), on the Mai-i (Ma-ee), where they seemed to promise to 
 *' yield some sort of organism, but without success." 
 
 The " Axials " of Triassic age " constitute the core or axis of the Ara- 
 " kan range towards the frontier, '"' theii- western boundary coinciding most 
 probably with the valley of the Ga-moon a feeder of the Ma-ee. South of 
 the parallel of the frontier of Pegu serpentine nowhere occui's in this dis- 
 trict, but "it must be largely developed in some parts of the valley of the 
 " Mai-i (Ma-ee) river to judge by the quantity of pebbles of this rock seen in 
 " the bed of the river about Lyndi " (Leng-dee). Soapstone is a common 
 accompaniment of serpentine and is " the result of chemical segregation in 
 " veins which traverse the altered sedimentary rocks of both Axial and 
 " Negrais groups". Of its occm-rence in Sandoway Mr. Theobald writes : — 
 " There is no place, however, within the limits of Pegu where the mode of 
 " occurrence of this steatite is so well seen as in the adjoining district of 
 " Sandoway ; and, as from the greater number and thickness of the veins 
 " here, the spot may be regarded as a focus of the peculiar action which 
 " has produced these veins, I shall briefly describe it, in place of any of the 
 " less noteworthy spots where the mineral occurs to the south, since, save 
 " in the greater thickness and number of the veins, the description of one 
 " locality will, in aU essential respects, stand for all. The precise position 
 " of the spot I shall now describe is three miles north-west from Sandoway, 
 ** or nearly midway between Kau (Gaw) and the Andau (Aiidaic) pagoda, 
 " being rather nearer, if an_>i;hing, to Kau (Gaw). I am not sure if the 
 " rocks around Sandoway should be referred to the Cretaceous group or to 
 " the Eocene, as what little limestone there is in the neighbourhood does 
 " not contain fossils, and there is little or no evidence at present to support 
 " an opinion one way or the other. In the near vicinity of the spot a good 
 " deal of coarse conglomerate is scattered about, and some queer looking
 
 612 ' BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " septarian masses of compact marl derivecl from the waste of some shales 
 " which have once mcluded them. On reaching the low hill which seems 
 " to be the focus for these veins of quartz and steatite quantities of the 
 " vein-stuff are seen scattered over the face of the hill, the debris evidently 
 " of veins traversing the rocks at this spot. Most of the veins are of the 
 " usual small dimensions, but some veins here are far larger than any 
 " noticed elsewhere, being nearly a foot thick, whereas elsewhere they are 
 " rarely seen more than a few inches. These veins are composed of the 
 " ordinary union of steatite and wdiite fibrous quartz, having more or less 
 *' of a chatoyant lustre. The steatite is of the ordinary gray or green colour, 
 " hard and compact in the thicker parts of a vein but passing into the 
 " finer variety usually selected for writing pm-poses. The sm'face of the 
 " finer portions of the steatite is smooth and burnished, and the mineral 
 " exhibits a tendency to develope curved ends, resembling cloves of garlic 
 " or similar bulbs ; and this is not the result of pressm-e, but of an appro- 
 " priate segregative process dm'ing the formation of the mineral * * * * 
 
 " A specimen of steatite analysed by Mr. Tween gave the following 
 '' result :— 
 
 Water 
 
 2-4 
 
 Silica 
 
 .. G311 
 
 Oxides of ii-ou and alumina . . 
 
 3-41 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 30-47 
 
 Alkali 
 
 . . a trace 
 
 99-39 
 
 Limestone, intermixed with the tertiary clays and sands of the lower 
 lands, is abundant and very pure, yielding on assay, — 
 
 Carbonate of lime (with some traces of ii'on, alumina 
 
 and magnesia , . . . . . . . 93-6 
 
 Insoluble clay . . . . . . . . 6-4 
 
 100-0 
 
 The absence of silica renders it unfit for hydraulic purposes, but its soft- 
 ness and friability make it a valuable adjunct in the preparation of artificial 
 cements. 
 
 Almost the whole face of the country is covered with forest, which may 
 Forests ^^ divided into three main classes exclusive of that which 
 
 covers the Roma mountains, viz. : " Mangrove," on the low 
 ground within tidal limits ; " Dry," on slightly hilly gTound from the plains 
 up to from 500 to 800 feet above the level of the sea ; and " Green," begin- 
 ning at or near the plains and covering by far the greater part of the country 
 up to the Eoma. Above the mangrove forest, interspersed amongst the rice 
 plains, are Pyeng-ma {Lag erst iwmia rcgince), Kii-gnyeng {Dipterocarims alata), 
 and some others, but none of these, however, as a rule, apj)ear in large num- 
 bers. As soon as the ground rises dry forest appears with great regularity 
 and forms a belt along the lower part of the hill ranges. The most important 
 and characteristic trees here are Pyeng-kado {Xijlia dolahriformis),I'jeng-m.i\j 
 (Lagerst7-oe)nia regirue), Tseng-bwon {Dillenia pentagyna) and Myouk-khyaw 
 (Homaliiim tomentosum), which are the most numerous, and north of Kyien- 
 ta-lee always appear together : south of this Tseng-bwon has not been ob- 
 served. In addition to these there are many others of diflercnt economic
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 613 
 
 value and some which more properly belong to the evergreen forest higher 
 up. Ka-gnyeng in most instances here appears singly but in some places 
 in distinct groups forming pm-e Ka-gnyeng forests. Bamboos are exceed- 
 ingly scarce. The dense evergreen forest consists of a great variety of trees 
 of which the most important are Eng {Dipterocarjius tuherculatiis), Toung 
 Thayet {Mangifcra sylvatica), Theng-gan (Ilopea odorata) and Ka-gnyoung 
 {Dipterocai'ims turhmatus) , but many others exist the timber of which 
 might be usefully employed. From an economic point of view the three 
 most important trees are Pyeng-kado {XijUa dolahrij'ormis) the wood of which, 
 though difticult to work from its hardness, is exceedingly dm-able and is 
 used in house-building and for railway sleepers ; Eng {Di2)terocarpns tuher- 
 culatiis) most plentiful in the northern township, which furnishes a useful 
 timber of some dm-ability if not exposed to the weather and from which is 
 extracted a thick resin (dammer) usually applied to the seams of boats 
 and to render wicker-buckets water-tight ; and Ka-gnyeng {!). alata), 
 plentiful in the south, an immense tree from which is extracted an inflam- 
 mable oil much used for making torches ; the wood is of no great value, 
 but is said to furnish the best charcoal for gunpowder. 
 
 The climate generally differs but little from that of the rest of Arakan, 
 Climate ^^* i^i^^^ed from that of what has been called the " littoral 
 
 zone " of the Province. The three seasons into which 
 the year is divided follow each other with regularity but with occasional 
 variations in the times of their commencement and in their duration. 
 During the " cold " season from November to February the dews are exceed- 
 ingly heavy and the evenings and nights cold and chilly, the terrestrial 
 radiation thermometer not infrequently recording only 38° and the winds 
 blowing usually at first from the N.W. and N.E., gradually veering round 
 to E. and W. From February to May dense fogs rise during the evenings 
 and mornings, and the wind comes from the W. Towards the middle 
 of May storms of thunder and lightning with squally weather and S.E. and 
 S.W. winds usher in the "rainy " season, which ends about October with 
 still more violent atmospheric disturbances and strong winds blowing from 
 the S. and S.W., gradually becoming variable till, towards the end of 
 October, they settle and the cold weather again appears. 
 
 The rainfall during each of the last 10 years has been : — 
 
 
 January 
 
 Jimc 
 
 Octoljer 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 May. 
 
 September. 
 
 January. 
 
 
 18G8 
 
 1610 
 
 222 30 
 
 14-45 
 
 253-15 
 
 1809 
 
 4-10 
 
 178-55 
 
 8-55 
 
 li)l-50 
 
 1870 
 
 33-00 
 
 172-85 
 
 12-08 
 
 217-93 
 
 1871 
 
 28-14 
 
 li)2-52 
 
 12-J3 
 
 230-99 
 
 1872 
 
 22-30 
 
 167C0 
 
 6-60 
 
 100.00 
 
 1873 
 
 22-80 
 
 212-50 
 
 15-80 
 
 251-10 
 
 1874 
 
 12-58 
 
 130-02 
 
 10-19 
 
 152-79 
 
 1875 
 
 14 -IG 
 
 201-03 
 
 14-04 
 
 230-43 
 
 187G 
 
 14-70 
 
 155-80 
 
 13-92 
 
 184-48 
 
 1877 
 
 2-54 
 
 231-15 
 
 17-22 
 
 250-91
 
 614 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The mean of the maximum readings in May, July and December in 
 1877 was, 87° 81° and 79° respectively : the mean of the minimum dm'ing 
 the same months 79° 78° and 76° respectively. The highest reading was 
 90° and the lowest 74°. 
 
 The district on the whole is healthy and the town of Sandoway is one of 
 the healthiest if not the healthiest station in Arakan. Its site is more 
 elevated and freer from malarious swamps and noisesome jungle than any 
 other in that division. Cases of ague occur at all seasons and during the 
 cold weather, when the wind is from the N.E. and N.W., fever assumes 
 an epidemic form, largely due to want of care and caution, and if not 
 early checked is apt to pass into the remittent type. Cholera and small- 
 pox occasionally appear but always, it may be said, as importations. Vac- 
 cination has made but slight progress : the villages are small and not 
 easily accessible, the population is sparse and fully employed during the 
 winter months in agricultural and other pursuits and the inhabitants of 
 the country are but little inclined to incur considerable trouble and fatigue 
 to obtain the advantages of a prophylactic to which they have, from want 
 of experience of its beneficent effects and from its, to them, novelty an 
 apathetic and indeed sometimes a positive dislike. 
 
 According to the palm-leaf histories there reigned in Baranathi (Ben- 
 History ares), at a time when the duration of a man's life was 
 ninety millions of years, a descendant of the first Booddh 
 of the present period who had sixteen sons to the eldest of whom, Tha- 
 moo-tee-de-wa, he allotted the country now forming this district, and for 
 whom the Nat or spirits built a city near the present Sandoway which was 
 called Dwa-ra-wad-dee. Some kings of this race are represented as Bood- 
 hists and some as Hindoos. Many ages later Tsek-kya-wad-dee — the embryo 
 Booddh Gaudama — was king of Baranathi ; and to his son Kan-myeng he 
 gave all the country inhabited by the Bm'man, Shan, and Malay races. 
 Kan-myeng came to Dwa-ra-wad-dee, dispossessed the descendant of Tha- 
 moo-tee-de-wa, a connection of whose he married, and was succeeded by 
 kings of his own line who reigned for a period represented by a unit 
 followed by one hundred and forty cyphers. During the reign of the 
 last of these, named Na-rien-da, the country was attacked by the grand- 
 sons of a king who ruled in Mo-goung, the history of whose bii'th and 
 preservation from death need not here be related. " Arriving by sea at the 
 ' mouth of the Than-dwai river, they are foiled in their attempts to find the 
 ' city, which by some is said to have had the power of soaring above the 
 ' earth, out of reach of danger, and by others this is said to have been an 
 ' illusion produced by its guardian Bhee-loo-ma. By the advice of a 
 ' Bathai, or hermit, the brothers propitiate the guardian Bhee-loo-ma, and 
 ' she then withdraws her protection ; the ten brothers now bind the city 
 ' to the earth with an iron chain, from which circumstance the present 
 ' name Than-dwai (iron bound) is deduced. The city then falls into the 
 ' hands of the invaders. The brothers divide their conquest into ten 
 ' shares, but make Than-dwai their chief capital. After some time the 
 ' eight younger brothers are slain in a conflict with the people of the 
 ' country, who appear to have risen against them, and the two elder with 
 ' their sister are obliged to fly." The capital is subsequently established to 
 the north and from this time Sandoway appears only as a province of the
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 615 
 
 Ai-akan kingdom ravaged alternately by the Burmese and by the Talaing 
 until the conquest of the country by the Burmans in 1784 A.D. It was 
 then formed into a governorship and its Won, or as he is sometimes called 
 its Kaja, appeared as one of the commanders of the Burman army which 
 invaded Bengal at the commencement of the first Biu'mese war. After the 
 capture of Arakan by the British a detachment under General Macbean was 
 sent southwards and ascended the river which had been staked in various 
 places and stockaded, but there was no appearance of the enemy who had 
 withdrawn from all their positions in Arakan upon hearing of the downfall 
 of the capital. The country was ceded to the British by the treaty of Yan- 
 daboo and on the withdrawal of General Morrison's army one regiment of 
 Native infantry was left at Sandoway, fm-nishing detachments to Eamree 
 and Akyab, and portions of the Arakan local battalion were stationed in the 
 town and at various places in the interior. A few years later the military 
 head-quarters were transferred to Kyouk-hpyoo and subsequently the small 
 detachment of two companies was withdrawn. Since then the district has 
 been in charge of the civil officers only. 
 
 There is little, as far as our present information extends, worthy of the 
 notice of the Ai'chgeologist. Here, as elsewhere in the 
 
 c 860 ogy. province but perhaps to a somewhat less extent, the 
 
 date of the erection of such sacred edifices as are to be found has probably 
 been somewhat thrown back, and stories of the enshrining of rehcs of 
 the last Booddh have been invented to suit the views of pious religionists, 
 more anxious for the glorification of Gaudama and of then- country 
 through him than to record only the truth. 
 
 On the hills close to Sandoway are three small whitewashed pagodas ; 
 the An-daw, Nan-daw and Tshan-daw. The An-daw is on the right or 
 northern bank of the river about a mile distant. It is said to have been 
 erected in 761 A.D., by King Meng-tsek-khj^oop to cover a tooth of Gaudama, 
 whence the name An-daw. It has been repeatedly repau'ed. The present 
 building, which is of brick, is 242 feet in circumference and 63 feet high. 
 It is suiTounded by a walled enclosure and is approached by a pathway up 
 the hill, the summit of which is 234 feet above the plain. The Nan-daw 
 is on a hill about half a mile north of the town, 480 feet above the level of 
 the plain. It is built of brick, is 38 feet high and is surrounded by a brick 
 wall two feet high and pierced by two gateways. It is approached by an 
 ordmary pathway up the side of the hill without steps. It is said to have 
 been erected in 763 A.D., by Meng-bra to cover a rib of Gaudama. The 
 Tshan-daw is also on the left bank of the river about half a mile south of 
 Sandoway. It is built of brick and is smTounded by a low wall with two 
 entrances. The pagoda itself is 170 feet in circumference at the base and 
 85 feet high. It is said to have been built in 784 A.D., by Meng-gnyo- 
 klieng to cover a hair of Gaudama brought from Ceylon. The approach 
 from the plain is by a rough path on which are found traces of steps. 
 
 Three times a year, in March, April and October, the people of Sando- 
 way and of the neighbouring villages resort to these pagodas, spending one 
 day at each pagoda on each occasion. 
 
 Two inscribed stones have been found, one near the village of Byee-wa, 
 on the right bank of the Sandoway river a few miles below the town, and 
 the other in the Northern township. Both are in Sanscrit of the eighth
 
 61G 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 century and one contains the first couplet of the Boocldhist text from 
 *' Yedharma " down to " Maha Sramana". Silver coins struck hy ancient 
 kings of Arakan are occasionally to be met with hung as charms or orna- 
 ments round the necks of children, many with the dates and names of the 
 kings in Burmese characters on either side, but some have unintelligible 
 Persian or Nagari characters on the obverse. Occasionally also are found 
 specimens of a smaller coin with impressions of the same primitive character 
 and workmanship ; these may be assigned to a very early dynasty of 
 Arakan kings who reigned from about 800 to about 950 A.D. On the 
 obverse, under the king's title is a caparisoned bull couchant and on 
 the reverse the sun, crescent moon and trident. The coin is of the size of 
 a fourpenny-bit. Celts or stone implements of the smooth age are abund- 
 ant, some of great size, and are fashioned from different kinds of stone. 
 
 Out of the 3,667 square miles in the district about 135 are culturable 
 
 and of this about 72 are actually under cultivation. 
 
 According to the official returns the area under crops 
 during the last ten years has been, in acres : — 
 
 AgricultiU'e. 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 aj 
 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 
 CO 
 CD 
 
 
 
 
 \o 
 
 ci 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 QJ 
 
 _j3 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Q 
 
 
 
 
 Q 
 
 
 ci 
 fcD 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 _tc 
 
 a 
 ,5 
 
 fcc 
 
 § 
 ^ 
 
 <1> 
 
 C3 
 
 o 
 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 
 CQ 
 
 O 
 
 h- ( 
 
 E 
 
 !> 
 
 Q 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 1868-69 
 
 28,920 
 
 729 
 
 411 
 
 505 
 
 5 
 
 27 
 
 421 
 
 
 577 
 
 1,531 
 
 1869-70 
 
 29,135 
 
 806 
 
 185 
 
 547 
 
 2 
 
 71 
 
 466 
 
 — 
 
 130 
 
 1,559 
 
 1870-71 
 
 25,269 
 
 799 
 
 143 
 
 517 
 
 2 
 
 67 
 
 231 
 
 — 
 
 133 
 
 1,601 
 
 1871-72 
 
 25,730 
 
 776 
 
 87 
 
 490 
 
 1 
 
 70 
 
 638 
 
 — 
 
 109 
 
 1,705 
 
 1872-73 
 
 26,116 
 
 813 
 
 71 
 
 492 
 
 75 
 
 64 
 
 581 
 
 — 
 
 95 
 
 1,762 
 
 1873-74 
 
 27,680 
 
 838 
 
 141 
 
 477 
 
 20 
 
 68 
 
 7S7 
 
 1,680 
 
 687 
 
 1,762 
 
 1874-75 
 
 27,914 
 
 941 
 
 398 
 
 468 
 
 2 
 
 65 
 
 556 
 
 — 
 
 4,020 
 
 1,789 
 
 1875-76 
 
 28,679 
 
 998 
 
 508 
 
 437 
 
 3 
 
 44 
 
 519 
 
 1,795 
 
 1,385 
 
 1,820 
 
 1876-77 
 
 32,326 
 
 926 
 
 367 
 
 443 
 
 1 
 
 49 
 
 624 
 
 1,842 
 
 1,434 
 
 1,914 
 
 1877-78 
 
 34,468 
 
 924 
 
 264 
 
 522 
 
 1 
 
 48 
 
 629 
 
 1,862 
 
 1,428 
 
 1,876 
 
 The main crops are rice, sessamum, tobacco, cotton, pepper, sugar- 
 cane, dhanee palms, and towards the south yams. Land suited for rice 
 there is but little, and it is not very fairly productive, yielding on an 
 average 940 lbs. an acre. Other crops are more paying and rice is no 
 longer exported from the district. The average rent for rice land is lower 
 than that suited for any other crop. Sessamum and cotton are grown 
 mainly with rice on the hill sides in the hill gardens or tounrj-ya. 
 Tobacco is largely grown and the cultivation is extending. The plant 
 is said by the natives to have been introduced via China and Bm-ma 
 and not through India, but there is no corroborative evidence on this 
 13oint, nor is tobacco mentioned anterior to the commencement of the 
 seventeenth century. In this district the plant grows to from four to 
 five and a half feet in height ; the leaves nearest to the root are 
 from 18 to 20 inches in length, and from eight to ten in breadth, and
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 617 
 
 decrease gradually in size upwards. The roots are long and fibrous, and 
 the stem about two and a half inches in diameter. The chief and best 
 portions are grown " on old ' Chm- ' land, and on the alluvial soil deposited 
 "dm-ingthe S.W. monsoon by the numerous mountain streams of the 
 " Eoma range, which run then short com-se to the sea. These streams 
 " begin to subside early in October and immediately the soil has become 
 "sufficiently dry, it is most thoroughly worked up by repeated ploughings 
 " and harrowings, and every weed carefully extracted." 
 
 " The young plants are drawn when about three inches high, and planted 
 " out from two to throe feet asunder in the beginning of November, and 
 " come to matmity, according to the nature of the soil, towards the end of 
 " February and all March. When the plants attain the height of 18 inches 
 " only ten leaves are allowed to remain on each plant, all the extra ones as 
 " also the tops, and all sprouts and suckers beuag carefully plucked off, so as 
 "to throw all the nourishment into the remaining leaves ; this plucking con- 
 " tinues as new sprouts appear until the final cuttmg of the crop. The 
 " plants from then early growth to this stage require constant attention as 
 "they are very liable to be destroyed by a small worm and by a large 
 "description of cricket." 
 
 " The leaves are considered fit for gathering when their edges commence 
 " to turn yellow and the surface gets mottled with brownish specks. The 
 " leaves are picked singly and as fast as they are cut are carried into sheds 
 " and strung up to di-y for seven days, when they are laid out in the sun and 
 "open ail- for three days and nights, and then hmig up in the sheds agam for 
 " 24 hom-s. They are then taken down and sorted into three kinds, accord- 
 " ing to then- length, and strung upon thm pieces of bamboo, 30 leaves on 
 " each slip ; ten of these slips are then bound together and constitute one ho 
 " or bundle. These bundles are then packed one upon the other and kept 
 " pressed down and in about a month from this time are sufficiently dry for 
 " sale." * 
 
 The Cuba plant was introduced into the district by Captain (now Sir*, 
 A. P.) Phayre and Captain (now Lieutenant-General) Fytche and thrives 
 very well, but is not much appreciated by the mhabitants who consider it 
 inferior in flavour to the earlier introduced plant. 
 
 Madder is grown near the Khwa and the cultivation is very profitable ; 
 the produce is exported to Bassein. 
 
 As an almost universal rule the land in the plains is held and worked 
 by small proprietors holding direct from the State, the hotdmgs averaging 
 five acres lying altogether and not intersected by other properties. On the 
 whole the land is not often mortgaged but occasionally when a small sum is 
 required by a proprietor he will borrow if at enormous mterest giving his 
 land as security and repaying in the course of a season ; if a large "sum is 
 requned the land is generally made over to the mortgagee for several years 
 on the payment of a lump siim on which no other interest is charged, the 
 mortgagor being entitled to redeem whenever he can on rcpajTuent of the 
 principal. Labourers are never paid by the month but when employed for 
 the ploughing, or transplanting and reaping seasons receive in the first case 
 two rupees an acre and their food for the job, and in the second a bushel of 
 
 Report on the Tubacco of the Saudowav district by Captain Fytche. • 
 
 7i
 
 618 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 grain for the day. When land is leased out the rent is almost invariably 
 paid in kind and averages one-third of the yield. 
 
 In the hills the cultivators move from place to place each season and 
 cannot be said to own land at all but must be considered as yearly tenants 
 of the State who choose their own land and pay a fixed yearly rent in the 
 shape of a tax which does not vary whatever may be the size of the plot 
 which they cultivate. It is noticeable that in this district these clearings 
 are made mostly by the Khyeng and-Burmans ; Arakanese do not like this 
 method. Many of the Khyeng cultivate rice-land in the plains. 
 
 The quantity of agricultural stock during the last 10 years, according 
 to the published official returns was : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 to 
 
 CD 
 O 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 -73 
 
 i 
 
 CO 
 
 w 
 
 CO 
 
 1 
 
 O 
 
 Ploughs. 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 Oil and sugar 
 mills. 
 
 1868-69 
 
 18,753 
 
 6,025 
 
 917 
 820 
 
 4,273 
 5,050 
 
 787 
 1,015 
 
 5,356 
 5,546 
 
 1,882 
 1,573 
 
 No return. 
 
 1869-70 
 
 26,730 
 
 108 
 
 1870-71 
 
 28,736 
 
 530 
 
 not given 
 
 2,475 
 2,412 
 
 359 
 874 
 
 5,745 
 5,709 
 
 1,427 
 1,470 
 
 138 
 
 1871-72 
 
 23,211 
 
 7,273 
 
 96 
 
 1872-73 
 
 23,080 
 
 6,820 
 
 3,220 
 
 2,823 
 
 867 
 
 8,961 
 
 1,431 
 
 105 
 
 1873-74 
 
 23,036 
 
 7,329 
 
 325 
 
 2,992 
 
 1,388 
 
 10,851 
 
 1,463 
 
 113 
 
 1874-75 
 
 23,066 
 
 7,179 
 
 359 
 
 2,752 
 
 881 
 
 10,913 
 
 1,395 
 
 161 
 
 1875-76 
 
 24,304 
 
 7,016 
 
 625 
 
 2,801 
 
 785 
 
 10,548 
 
 1,307 
 
 170 
 
 1876-77 
 
 24,709 
 
 6,941 
 
 329 
 
 2,349 
 
 716 
 
 10,874 
 
 1,563 
 
 160 
 
 1877-78 
 
 24,112 
 
 7,875 
 
 367 
 
 2,213 
 
 1,028 
 
 11,844 
 
 1,328 
 
 103 
 
 and the average prices of cattle and of the most important articles of pro- 
 duce and consumption were, in rupees : — " 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Per Maund of 80 lbs. 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 42 
 
 C3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <D 
 03 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 05 
 
 o 
 
 ,d 
 
 Year. 
 
 6 
 
 •i-H 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5h 
 
 a 
 
 "3 
 
 02 
 
 o 
 o 
 o 
 oi 
 
 O 
 
 a) 
 m 
 O 
 
 1 
 
 1868-69 .. 
 
 1 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 42 U 
 
 not given 
 
 50 
 
 1869-70 .. 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 30 
 
 20 
 
 50 
 
 1870-71 .. 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 4 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 22 
 
 16 
 
 35 
 
 1871-72 .. 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 6 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 22 
 
 16 
 
 35 
 
 1872-73 .. 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 4 6 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 25 
 
 16 
 
 45 
 
 1873-74 .. 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 5 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 25 
 
 16 
 
 40 
 
 1874-75 .. 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 7 8 
 
 1 
 
 3 4 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 40 
 
 20 
 
 45 
 
 1875-76 .. 
 
 
 15 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 8 11 
 
 1 
 
 11 9 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 40 
 
 20 
 
 45 
 
 1876-77 .. 
 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 35 
 
 20 
 
 45 
 
 1877-78 .. 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 13 5 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 35 
 
 — 
 
 45
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 619 
 
 Mountainous and forest-clad, with but a small area culturable, the 
 Population. district has always, that is always since the British 
 
 occupation, been sparsely inhabited and there is no 
 evidence of its ever having had a numerous population, but the increase has, 
 on the whole, been proportionately larger than in other parts of Arakan. 
 In 1828 the number of inhabitants was 19,538 and in 1832, 19,289 ; in 1842 
 it had risen to 27,660 or 43*40 per cent., and ten years later to 42,886, or 
 55*0 per cent. The following year, after the annexation of Pegu, it fell to 
 86,595 as many persons returned to that country whence they had emigrated 
 during the Burmese time and the whole tract southward from the Kyien- 
 ta-lee river was joined to Bassein. Ten years later it had fallen still lower 
 to 32,481. Since then it has increased, partly owing to the restoration of 
 the country between the Kliwa and the Kyien-ta-lee, partly to the return of 
 people from Pegu who had been unable to obtain their ancestral lands or 
 who were disenchanted with their old homes and partly to natural causes, 
 and in 1872 was 51,312. 
 
 The numbers of the various nationalities and races was found, at the 
 census taken in 1872, to be : — 
 
 Europeans, Eui-asians and In 
 
 do-Portuguese 
 
 16 
 
 Chinese 
 
 . . 
 
 9 
 
 Hindoos 
 
 
 86 
 
 Mahomedans 
 
 
 .. 2,021 
 
 Bnrmans 
 
 
 • ..19,188 
 
 Arakaueae. 
 
 
 . . 28, .339 
 
 Slum 
 
 ... 
 
 24 
 
 Kareng 
 
 
 .. 171 
 
 Khyeng 
 
 
 .. 4,731 
 
 Other races 
 
 Total 
 
 40 
 
 
 . . 54,725 
 
 This, however, includes 3,413 travellers, wanderers and sojourners. 
 
 The Europeans and Eurasians are all officials. The Hindoos are 
 mainly convicts transported from Hindustan many years ago when Sandoway 
 was a convict station. 
 
 The Mahomedans are of two classes the Mye-doo, who ascribe their 
 origin to memliers of a colony from near Ava who originally came as soldiers 
 with the invading Bunnan army and who, some 65 or more years ago, were 
 joined by many of their co-religionists who left Burma during a famine, 
 and the Kanian, who claim to have come originally from Dehli and to be 
 descended from the followers of the unfortunate Sha Shuja who was put 
 to death by the king of Arakan with whom he had sought refuge from his 
 brother Auruiigzeb. Neither of these classes differ much from their Bood- 
 dhist neighbours except in religion, in the customs which that religion 
 enjoins, and in education of which they have loss. 
 
 The Burmans are descended from colonists imported by the Burman 
 government after the conquest of Arakan jyid immigrants who have come 
 in from the adjoining valley of the Irrawaddy. The few Shan and Kareng 
 have found their way across the Roma since the British occupation and the 
 Khycng have long been in the north and east and of late years have spread 
 into the plains.
 
 620 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Classified according to age and sex the population was 
 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 IS 
 
 o 
 
 «5 
 O 
 rH 
 
 r-4 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 d 
 o 
 
 (M 
 
 d 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 d 
 o 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 d 
 o 
 o 
 
 d 
 
 CD 
 O 
 
 O 
 U5 
 
 d 
 
 CO 
 
 > 
 o 
 
 (Males 
 Hindoos . • ] 
 
 (■Females . . 
 
 i Males 
 Mahomedans . . \ 
 
 (Females . . 
 
 (Males 
 Booddhists . . \ 
 
 (Females . . 
 
 ( Males 
 Christians . . ] 
 
 (Females .. 
 
 ( Males 
 Others . . \ 
 
 (Females' . . 
 
 (Males 
 Total 
 
 Females .. 
 
 45 
 
 76 
 
 1,836 
 
 1,224 
 
 163 
 128 
 2,044^ 
 1,428 
 
 180 
 
 281 
 
 3,410 
 
 4,518 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 435 
 
 405 
 
 4,026 
 
 5,205 
 
 160 
 
 179 
 
 4,153 
 
 3,741 
 
 1 
 
 395 
 
 868 
 
 4,709 
 
 4,288 
 
 175 
 
 149 
 
 3,743 
 
 3,462 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 451 
 
 309 
 
 4,373 
 
 3,921 
 
 9 
 
 200 
 
 134 
 
 3.621 
 
 3,510 
 
 5 
 
 392 
 
 383 
 
 4,227 
 
 4,027 
 
 25 
 
 135 
 
 71 
 
 3,186 
 
 3,054 
 
 1 
 
 345 
 
 315 
 
 3,692 
 
 3,441 
 
 28 
 
 101 
 
 47 
 
 2,076 
 
 1,965 
 
 2 
 
 230 
 
 217 
 
 2,437 
 
 2,229 
 
 12 
 
 58 
 
 34 
 
 1,103 
 
 983 
 
 125 
 
 101 
 
 1,298 
 
 1,118 
 
 12 
 
 64 
 32 
 
 1,078 
 897 
 
 95 
 
 84 
 
 1,249 
 
 1,013 
 
 The number of females was considerably larger than that of the males 
 amongst the Mahomedans up to 12 j^ears of age and amongst the Bood- 
 dhists from one to six years, which would seem to shew that amongst the 
 latter the mortality amongst male is considerably greater than amongst 
 female infants, whilst amongst the former the deaths of the two sexes do 
 not vary so much until about the age .of puberty, from which time forwards 
 the males are increasingly in excess, doubling the females after 60. There 
 are no means of ascertaining the proportions at various ages between the 
 Arakanese and the Burmans. 
 
 The census included w^hat may be called the " floating population". 
 The annual returns for the succeeding years give the inhabitants as : — 
 
 • 
 
 Under twelve. Ovee twelve. 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 Yeak. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Males. Females. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1873 .. 
 
 1874 .. 
 
 1875 .. 
 
 1876 .. 
 
 1877 .. 
 
 9,85ft 
 10,249 
 10,256 
 
 9,983 
 10,686 
 
 9,655 
 9,769 
 9,754 
 9,514 
 9,893 
 
 16,667 
 17,156 
 17,463 
 17,755 
 18,570 
 
 15,817 
 16,401 
 16,317 
 16,779 
 17,633 
 
 26,533 
 27,405 
 27,719 
 27,738 
 29,256 
 
 25,472 
 26,170 
 26,171 
 26,293 
 27,526 
 
 52,005 
 53,575 
 53,790 
 54,031 
 56,782
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 621 
 
 There are no towns in the district with a larger popuhxtion than 2,000 
 
 souls and by far the larger number of villages have less 
 
 ^°'"'''- than 200 inhabitants, 62, only, having from 200 to 500 
 
 and foiu: from 500 to 1,000. These are nearly all sitiiated in the less hilly 
 
 country between the sea coast and the slopes of the Arakan Eoma mountains, 
 
 many on the coast and many others on the banks of rivers. 
 
 The only places of any importance are Sandoway, Toung-goop, Khwa 
 and Kyien-ta-lee. The foundation of Sandoway is placed in the preliis- 
 torical period and is attributed to a son of the king of Benares, mii'aculously 
 aided. After the conquest of Arakan by the Burmans it was the seat of 
 governors the last of whom was one of the commanders of the army which 
 invaded Bengal during the first Burmese war. The town was occupied by 
 the British forces under General Macbean and w^as found to have been 
 abandoned by the Burmese troops. It was then made the head-quarter 
 station of a district and for some years a military garrison was stationed 
 in it. It is situated in 18° 25' N. and 84° 30' E. on the left bank of the 
 Sandoway river about fifteen miles from its mouth in a nearly circular and 
 well-cultivated plain, open on the east and w^est, where are ihe openings 
 through which the Sandoway flows from the Eoma mountams to the sea. 
 In 1834, it consisted of about 500 houses with 2,000 inhabitants, the 
 barracks of the two companies of regular troojos forming the garrison, being 
 the right bank of the river to the north. In 1877 it had 1,617 inhabitants, 
 and had a Treasury, Court-house, Hospital, Market-place, Gaol and Police- 
 stations, with good roads in it and in its immediate neighbourhood. 
 
 Toung-goop is a somew^hat smaller town with a population of 1,551 
 souls in 1877, on the river of the same name, the head-quarter station of the 
 northern township where, in addition to the Court and offices of the Extra 
 Assistant Commissioner in charge, there are a Police post and a Telegraph 
 office communicating with Pa-doung on the Irrawaddy on the east and with 
 Eoo in Kyouk-hpyoo on the west and thence with Calcutta. The military 
 road across the Arakan Eoma terminates at this tow^n. 
 
 Khwa is a village on the right bank of the river of the same name at 
 its mouth and contains a population of 1,029 souls, without mcluding those 
 of the three adjoining hamlets of Ta-man-rwa, Alay-rwa and Khj^eng-tso-rwa. 
 In 1874 the Extra Assistant Commissioner m charge of the township w^as 
 transferred hither from Kyien-ta-lee. It has a small trade with Bassein 
 and Eangoon to the south and Sandoway to the north ; piece-goods, Pegu 
 jars, crockery and salt being imported. 
 
 Kyien-ta-lee is a small village at the mouth of the Kyien-ta-lee river 
 formerly the head-quarters of the southern township, and accessible to small 
 coasting craft. Besides these there are 425 villages, nearly all containing 
 less than 200 inhabitants. 
 
 The trade consists chiefly in the export to Akyab, Kyouk-hpyoo and 
 Bassein of rice, tobacco, sessamum, plantains, betel leaf, 
 Tactuxes. ™^°"' Salt (made partly by solar evaporation and partly by 
 boiling), salt-fish, fish paste, dhanee leaves for thatch- 
 ing, and boats, the planks of which are sewn together with rattan binders, 
 and m the import of piece-goods, twist, betel-nuts, tobacco of an inferior 
 quality, crockery and hardware and various articles for domestic use. 
 Across the Arakan mountains come from Prome silk and silk cloths and
 
 622 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 a few minor articles of light weight which can be carried by men. The most 
 important manufacture is thatch from the leaves of the Neepa palm which 
 is in great demand in Akyab and Kyouk-hpyoo as well as locally. Cotton 
 cloths and silk dresses, the latter ojf which are in good repu4ie, are woven by 
 the women in almost every house. The silk used is obtained from the 
 southern township where silk-worms are bred and from the upper parts of 
 the valley of the Irrawaddy. 
 
 During the Burmese rule the only regular revenue was derived from 
 Revenue transit duties and a tax on the land. Five baskets of 
 
 grain in the husk were taken for each pair of buffaloes 
 used together with half a basket claimed by the keeper of the royal granary 
 for " wastage," but there was no fixed rate and the governors often exacted 
 considerably more. Each basket held 401b8. . In addition to this the various 
 local officials exacted their dues and these in all amounted to nearly 50 per 
 cent. more. In 1828, Captain White, the officer in charge, calculated that 
 every head of a family paid Rs. 17-8-0 a year to the Government, whilst the 
 cost of living for a family of four persons was only Rs. 42 a year : — 
 
 Maunds. Seers. Cost Rs. 
 
 Rice 
 
 Tobacco 
 
 Salt 
 
 Clothes 
 
 Nga-pee 
 
 Oil 
 
 House 
 
 Fowls 
 
 25 
 
 16 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 4 
 
 33 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 15 
 
 33 
 
 2 
 
 2i 
 
 1 
 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 42 
 
 In 1831 the total assessment was Rs. 48,530, or about two rupees 
 eight annas a head on the population ; 20 years later, in 1851, the amount 
 had risen to Rs. 83,620. Still 20 years later in 1871, when other taxes 
 had been imposed and the population and cultivated area had considerably 
 increased, the gross revenue including Local Funds was Rs. 117,440. The 
 details during the last ten years were, in rupees : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 c3 
 
 
 
 
 "o 
 
 
 
 
 M 
 OS 
 
 
 Pi 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 y:1 ^ 
 
 OT 
 
 Ykar. 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 05 
 
 
 ■■f 
 
 
 l-M 
 
 '3 
 
 
 CD 
 
 c8 
 
 eg 
 
 t^ 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Op5 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 OQ 03 
 
 
 
 '73 
 
 
 
 rj 
 
 
 O 
 
 cS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 '<o 
 
 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 & 
 
 cS 
 
 •rH 
 
 s 
 
 133 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 a> 
 
 
 h? 
 
 o 
 
 ai 
 
 Pm 
 
 H 
 
 < 
 
 H 
 
 O 
 
 ^ 
 
 1868-69 
 
 48,235 
 
 40,519 
 
 1,352 
 
 1,218 
 
 10,562 
 
 14,495 
 
 115,874 
 
 75,925 
 
 34,695 
 
 1869-70 
 
 49,383 
 
 41,105 
 
 685 
 
 1,468 
 
 12,565 
 
 14,077 
 
 119,125 
 
 81,174 
 
 33,492 
 
 1870-71 
 
 49,898 
 
 42,396 
 
 963 
 
 1,529 
 
 13,145 
 
 11,797 
 
 119,868 
 
 84,228 
 
 31,216 
 
 1871-72 
 
 50,539 
 
 42,943 
 
 932 
 
 1,507 
 
 13,439 
 
 12,476 
 
 121,566 
 
 43,230 
 
 73,975 
 
 1872-73 
 
 51,233 
 
 43,867 
 
 1,002 
 
 1,413 
 
 15,607 
 
 14,627 
 
 127,749 
 
 72,641 
 
 50,487 
 
 1873-74 
 
 52,736 
 
 43,703 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,222 
 
 14,721 
 
 14,786 
 
 128,168 
 
 72,641 
 
 50,985 
 
 1874-75 
 
 53,754 
 
 45,276 
 
 823 
 
 l',301 
 
 12,912 
 
 19,192 
 
 133,258 
 
 74,282 
 
 51,164 
 
 1875-76 
 
 54,665 
 
 45,731 
 
 1,124 
 
 1,225 
 
 13,6-22 
 
 15,452 
 
 131,819 
 
 83,448 
 
 43,290 
 
 1876-77 
 
 55,817 
 
 45,629 
 
 1,331 
 
 1.412 
 
 16,817 
 
 19,513 
 
 140,419 
 
 100,648 
 
 33,743 
 
 1877-78 
 
 56,845 
 
 47,443 
 
 635 
 
 1,153 
 
 19,319 
 
 18,835 
 
 144,230 
 

 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. bZ6 
 
 The small local revenue is raised mainly from the municipal tax in 
 Sandoway and from the additional five per cent, on the land and fishery 
 revenue and is devoted to local purposes, such as village police and roads, 
 district post, and? education of the simplest kind. This has but little varied : 
 in 1867-68 it amounted to Rs. 4,620 and in 1872-73 to precisely the same 
 amount and in 1877-78, to Es. 5,800. 
 
 The actual incidence of taxation of all kinds, Imperial and Local, 
 direct and indirect iu 1868-69, was Es. 2-8-2 and in 1877-78 Es. 2-8-8. 
 
 Before the first Anglo-Burm.ese war the government was administered 
 Administration, ^^*^'^' *^^^ usual Burmese fashion ; over the whole was a 
 Won-douk or a Won and under him were Tsit-ke, Mj^o- 
 ook^ Na-khan-daw, Tsa-re-daw-gyee, Taik Thoogyee and Gomig ; the last 
 appointed by the Thoogyee. When Arakan passed to the English the 
 officers appointed to administer the country appear to have been at a loss 
 to understand the old system and the land tenure. The Taik Thoogyee, 
 who were merely officials, were treated as Zamindars and mthe early records 
 are spoken of as " owning" the circles of which they were in charge and 
 the circles as being their " estates". They were, at first, required to pay 
 in a fixed amount of revenue and were left to assess the landowners and 
 tax payers with little if any interference on the European officer's part. 
 Those who did not live in Sandoway were required to have an agent there 
 with whom the officer in charge transacted business. The Thoogyee 
 generally, as far as was ascertained, had a scale by which they regulated 
 the demand, and this it would appear from the records at Sandoway was : — 
 
 1. — Married people, well off, with families, bond-sei-vants, farm cattle, &c., Rs. 17. 
 
 2. — Married people not so well off, Rs. 15. ' 
 
 3. — Married people depending upon their own labour, maiTied people who were old and could 
 
 not work, and newly married people with means, Rs. 9. 
 4. — Married people too old to work and newly married people with little or no substance, 
 
 Rs. 3-8. 
 
 Hpoon-gyee, the maimed and infirm, government servants, the incurably 
 diseased and bachelors were exempt. 
 
 Gradually, as the country came to be more understood, the. system 
 changed ; the Thoogyee fell back mto their proper position and the revenue 
 demand from each person was fixed. 
 
 For some time after the British occupation the country was in a 
 very disturbed state and robberies and dacoities were numerous. In February 
 1829 Nga Tsa-oo, the Thoogyee of Alay-gyo, raised a rebellion ; this was 
 speedily suppressed and Tsa-oo's nephew appointed in his place. A few 
 months later Tsa-oo called upon his nephew to resign and on his refusing 
 attacked and captured his village, and remained in possession till 1830 
 when he was driven across the Eomainto Kanoung. In 1831 a Hpoon-gyee 
 of Kyien-ta-lee gave out that he was a " Meng-loung", or embryo king, 
 and caused considerable trouble before the force he raised agauist the British 
 could be dispersed. 
 
 One of the earliest endeavours of the English was to make roads and 
 Captain White reported in 1831 that there was a good road from An to 
 Negrais. No trace of this now remains. 
 
 The general administration of the district is now carried on by a 
 Deputy Commissioner who has extensive judicial powers and is the chief 
 revenue authoritv under the Commissioner of the division. In charge of the
 
 624 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 three townships are Extra Assistant Commissioners, who are subordinate 
 Judicial Officers and who also supervise the Thoogyee or Kywon or Taik-ook 
 who are in charge of the revenue circles and who, though primarily revenue 
 collectors, aid in the general administration by sending in various returns 
 on matters not purely police or judicial and are expected to aid the police 
 with their influence and local knowledge. Subordinate to the Thoogyee are 
 Kye-dan-gyee or headmen of villages. The village police is composed of 
 Goung appointed one to several villages. The regular police is under a 
 Superintendent, himself subordinate in all matters not purely departmental 
 to the Deputy Commissioner, and in 1877 consisted of 208 men and 17. sub- 
 ordinate officers, which gives about one man to each 18 square miles of 
 country and to every 267 inhabitants. These are paid entirely from the 
 provincial revenues and in 1877 cost Es. 37,778. In the town of Sandoway, 
 which in former years was a place of transportation for convicts from India, 
 there is now a second class district gaol composed of brickwork buildings 
 with leaf roofs and wooden floors raised four feet from the ground. The 
 number of prisoners is never very large : the greatest average number of all 
 classes in any of the last five years was in 1873, when there were 79, and the 
 smallest in 1875 when there were 37. The total cost of the gaol during the 
 last year was Rs. 17,322 of which Es. 1,735 were recouped from the value 
 of the prisoners' labour. 
 
 The hospital and civil dispensary in charge of the Civil Surgeon are 
 in Sandoway and are in a new building, completed in 1873, built of wood 
 with mat walls and raised four feet from the ground with two male and 
 one female ward, bathrooms, surgery and an office. During 1876 85 in- 
 and 1,873 out-patients were treated, principally for fevers, bowel complaints 
 diseases of the respiratory organs, abcesses, and wounds and injuries. In 
 1873 the number of out-patients was only 107, in 1874 192, and in 1875 
 639. The revenue including the amount repayed by the State is small and 
 but little if at all exceeds the expenditure. In 1876 the receipts were 
 Es. 1,523 and the payments Es. 1,507. The science of medicine is unknown 
 to the people and the practice is empirical and according to rules extracted 
 from ancient books, varied occasionally by exorcisms of a violent kind. 
 Beyond, perhaps, the rude setting of a broken bone, surgery is not practised. 
 Vaccination is carried on only by the Civil Surgeon and his subordinates, 
 but inoculation is extensively used. 
 
 As regards education, little has been done except by the Booddhist 
 monks. With rare exceptions every male Booddhist is sent to a monastery 
 and taught to read and write but in the agricultural parts of the district 
 the services of the boys are required in the fields and the attendance _ at 
 school is very irregular, and the small learning gained is lost in after life. 
 In towns reading and writing, and in some cases the rudimentary rules 
 of arithmetic, are more fully taught both in the monasteries and in private 
 schools, but the census of 1872 shewed that only 7'45 per cent, of the 
 males under 12, 13*33 of those between 12 and 20, and 33*22 per cent, of 
 those above 20 could read and write or were being taught whilst there was 
 not a single girl or woman who acknowledged to this small amount of 
 instruction. The Mahomedans were still more backward, 7'53 per cent, of, 
 those under 12, not one between 12 and 20, and 11-11 over 20 of the males, 
 and not a single female could read or write or was under instruction : except in
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 625 
 
 towns there are no schools to which they can be sent and the parents prefer 
 that their children should remain uneducated to sending them to the Bood- 
 dhistic schools. In towns they are better taught and in some cases learn 
 not only sufficient Arabic to enable them to read the Koran but also Hindu- 
 stani. A middle class school was opened in 1876 and had 44 pupils on the 
 rolls at the end of the year. 
 
 SANDOWAY.— The head-quarter town of the district of the same 
 name, on the Sandoway river, about 15 miles from its mouth but only four 
 •and a half from the seacoast in a direct line east and west, lying in a basin 
 about 12 miles long by one broad well cultivated with rice and surrounded by 
 hills the only outlets being those through which the river flows. The larger 
 portion of the town, well laid out with good roads crossmg each other at right 
 angles, is mainly on the left bank of theriver, whilst on the right bank there is 
 a long, straggling suburb, buried in trees and having more the appearance 
 of an independent village. It contains Court-houses, a Police-station, 
 Market, Gaol, Hospital and Dispensary and a Circuit-house, all, except the 
 wall round the gaol, constructed of bamboos or wood and thatched. 
 
 It is a very ancient town often mentioned in Arakanese history and is 
 said to have been at one time the capital of a kingdom, more probably of a 
 petty chieftainship. Its original name was Dwa-ra-wad-dee ; according to 
 a current legend this was changed to Than-dwai, the name by which it is 
 now known to the Burmese and Arakanese (Sandoway being an English 
 corruption), from its having been miraculously fastened to the earth by iron 
 chains (from than "iron " and twai, euphonise causa dwai " to suspend"). 
 
 After the capture of the town of Arakan in 1824 a force was sent 
 southwards to attack Ramree and Sandoway. General Macbean arrived off 
 the mouth of the Sandoway river on the 28th of April and reached the town 
 on the 30th ; stakes had been placed across the stream in several places and 
 stockades had been erected, but these had been abandoned and Sandoway was 
 occupied without resistance. For a few years after the cessation of the war 
 Sandoway was the head-quarters of the troops garrisoning Arakan. Sub- 
 sequently the head-quarters were transferred to Kyouk-hpyoo, and two com- 
 panies oi' Native Infantry detached to Sandoway. Eventually this force was 
 withdrawn and was replaced by a detachment of the Arakan Local battalion, 
 and still later, when this was disbanded, the garrison was withdi-awn 
 altogether. 
 
 When the British first occupied Sandoway the number of inhabitants 
 was found to be 4,500. During each of the last ten years it has been : — 
 
 1868-69 
 1869-70 
 1870-71 
 1871-72 
 
 1872-73 
 
 It has a small coasting trade with Kyouk-hpyoo, Khwa and other 
 towns in rice, tobacco, chiUies, peas, madder and sessamum and an over- 
 land trade in silk and other piece-goods with Prome and Bassein by passes 
 over the Arakan Roma mountains valued at about Bs. 20,000 a year. Owing 
 to the numerous creeks which intersect the coast boats can go as far 
 northward as Akyab, and even -beyond, without going out mto the open sea. 
 
 In the neighbourhood are three pagodas called Andaw, Nandaw and 
 Tshandaw, to which the inhabitants resort three times a year, spending one 
 
 79 
 
 1,506 
 
 1873-74 
 
 .. 1,613 
 
 1,523 
 
 1874-75 
 
 . . 1,669 
 
 1,523 
 
 1875-76 
 
 . . 1,505 
 
 1,508 
 
 1876-77 
 
 . . 1,436 
 
 1,548 
 
 1877-78 
 
 .. 1,617
 
 626 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 day on each occasion at each pagoda. In former years steamers were able 
 to ascend as far as Keng-maw, seven miles below Sandoway whence there 
 was a good road to the town. Lat. 18° 25' N. Long. 94° 30' E. 
 
 SANDOWAY. — A river in the district of the same name in the Arakan 
 division, which has its source in the Arakan hills and, flowing W.N.W., falls 
 into the sea in about 18° 31 ' N. About 15 miles up is the town of Sandoway 
 and large boats can ascend thus far, but of late years even small sea-going 
 vessels have to remain at the mouth, inside of which the anchorage is from 
 five to six fathoms, and large vessels have to anchor in the roads. In 
 former years steamers used to ascend as far as Keng-maw, a village some 
 seven miles below Sandoway. The tide is felt for a short distance above 
 Sandoway. 
 
 About 50 miles from the mouth there is a thermal sulphuretted hydro- 
 gen spring in the bed of the river, the water of which attains a heat of 
 110° Fahr. 
 
 SANDOWAY MYOMA.— A township in the district of the same 
 name, occupying the centre of the district, whence it is sometimes 
 called the Central township, bounded on the east by Ai-akan Eoma, 
 on the west by the Bay of Bengal, on the north by the Northern or 
 Toung-goop township, from which it is separated by the Khwek-loung spur 
 and the river Hoon-bouk, and on the south by the Re-tsan spur and the 
 river Mee-ldiyoung-rai. It is divided into 14 revenue circles of which the 
 two southern, Toung-ma-gyee and Ka-myit, were joined to it from the 
 southern or Kliwa township in 1875. The principal town is Sandoway and 
 the principal river the Sandoway. 
 
 In 1875, the cultivated area was : — 
 
 Acres. 
 
 Rice land under cultivation and annual assessment . . . . 6,894 
 
 fallow „ „ .. .. 538 
 
 ,, under lease or revenue settlement for more than one year 
 
 and paying revenue . . . . . . . . 2,537 
 
 Toungya at eight annas per acre . . . . . . . . 548 
 
 „ four ,, „ .. .. .. .. 807 
 
 Garden and orchard land under annual assessment . . . . 1,062 
 
 ,, „ ,, lease or revenue settlement for more 
 
 than one year . . . . . . . . . . 12 
 
 Miscellaneous cultivation subject to annual assessment . . . . 2,208 
 
 ,, ,, under lease for more than one year . . 6 
 
 Total . . 14,612 
 
 The principal products other than rice are tobacco, sessamum, cotton, 
 pepper, sugar-cane, cocoanuts, dhanee, betel-nuts, pan-vines, peas, hemp, 
 and miscellaneous garden produce. 
 
 The principal articles exported are tobacco, sessamum oil and seeds, 
 and pan leaves, mainly to the Kyouk-hpyoo and Akyab districts ; the former 
 takes for the making of fishing nets all the hemp that is procurable. 
 
 There is also a small trade in cattle, carried on principally by traders 
 from the Bassein district. 
 
 The import trade of the township is small and insignificant : the prin- 
 cipal articles imported are goods of European manufactm-e, such as cotton 
 and woollen piece-goods and cotton twist from Akyab, and silk piece-goods
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 627 
 
 from Prome and Bassein, and from the last named district earth-oil and 
 lacquered-ware. Besides these a small quantity of miscellaneous goods of 
 trifling value is imported, chiefly from Akyab. 
 
 Iron wood is much used for building purposes but very little, if any, is 
 exported from the township. 
 
 In and near the town of Sandoway there are one or two roads but 
 these are only partially metalled: one, running in a westerly dh-ection 
 from Sandoway to the sea, four and a half miles in length, is open for 
 trafiic throughout its entire length ; another, following the course of the 
 river northwards for about five miles, is almost if not quite useless ovnng 
 to the want of bridges. Beyond a radius of five miles from Sandoway 
 communication is carried on chiefly by foot tracks and along the beds of 
 mountain torrents which can only be used in the dry weather. Communi- 
 cation with the northern township is kept up by boats through the various 
 creeks and streams throughout the year and during the N.E. monsoon 
 communication with the south is possible by boats but this route is efiectu- 
 ally barred during the prevalence of the S.W. monsoon. 
 
 The majority of the people confine their attention to husbandly, whilst 
 only a few may be called traders and- they at the best are mere pedlers. 
 The people on the seaboard employ some of their time in fishing, in the 
 preparation of their national condiment ngapec and m the manufacture of 
 salt. 
 
 Of skilled labour there is a little and but few persons follow as their 
 sole means of livelihood the occupation of carpenter, blacksmith, umbrella- 
 maker or other employments requiring skill. Of really skilled labom- there 
 is literally none. 
 
 Weaving is carried on in most families principally to supply home 
 wants, the female members occupying much of their time at the looms. 
 
 SANDOWAY MYOMA. — A revenue circle in the central township of 
 the Sandoway district, bounded on the north by the river Sandoway and 
 on the south by the Poung-khyoung spur, with the Shwe-g3^oung-pyeng-lek-ya 
 chcle on the west and the Khyoung-gyee circle on the cast. It now includes 
 Nan-khyoung. The principal products are rice, cotton, tobacco, betel leaves, 
 sugar and indigo. In 1870-77 the population was 2,809, the land revenue 
 Es. 1,118, the capitation tax lis. 1,908 and the gross revenue, including that 
 raised in the town of Sandoway, Ks. 25,880. 
 
 SAVAGE ISLAND. — A rocky islet in the mouth of the Koo-la-dan river 
 at the entrance to the Akyab harbour, on which stands a masonry lighthouse 
 erected in 1842. A new lantern and light apparatus was suppHed in 1870-71 . 
 
 SELUNG. — A small, quiet and moffensivo race of doubtful origin 
 inhabiting the islands of the Mergui Archipelago. Most probably they 
 were driven out of Malayana by the Malays, of whom they have an here- 
 ditary dread, when that race came up from Sumatra. In physical 
 appearance they are between Malays and Burmans. Their language seems 
 to contain words of almost every neighbouring race and in one case, Maysha, 
 "man", a word very greatly resembling the Kakhyeng Masha which has 
 the same meaning. 
 
 They have no fixed abode, living in their boats roaming from island 
 to island in search of sea slugs, fish, shell fish, sapau wood, turtles, shells,
 
 628 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 pearls and bees' wax which, together with a peculiar kind of mat made by 
 the women during the rains, they exchange with Chinese and Malay 
 visitors for rice, salt, and cloths, and to a great extent for arrack and 
 opium. Occasionally some of them bring their wares to the villages on 
 the seacoast. During the heavy rains as many as 200 will sometimes be 
 found encamped in huts built on poles cut from the forests, walled and 
 roofed with mats which can be rolled up and stowed away in their boats. 
 They rarely remain in the same place for more than a week. They live 
 almost entirely on rice and fish, and occasionally a few hogs are caught 
 and killed by their numerous dogs. When their stock of rice is exhausted 
 they live on a wild root which grows in abundance in the Archipelago 
 and which, '* after much maceration in water parts with its poisonous 
 "matter and becomes safe and edible". Formerly they paid a tax to 
 Government of three rupees per boat annually but this was discontinued 
 by Mr. Blundell when Commissioner of Tenasserim and has, ha^Dpily, 
 never been re-imposed. Their boats are dilg-outs with the sides heightened 
 by long pithy stems of a kind of palm impaled upon bamboo spikes fastened 
 into the upper edge ; the sail is of palm leaves stitched together and the 
 ropes are of twisted rattan. The bee-hunting season lasts about a month 
 and each " hunt " is preceded by a kind of religious ceremony in which a 
 spirit man having lighted a wax candle chants before it an incantation to 
 the spirits, at the same time drinking freely of sj)irits which he calls the 
 " honey- water". According- to one observer, they have no god, no priest, 
 no liturgy, no holy day and no prayers, but they certainly have a word in 
 their language for God, viz., Too-da, and according to Dr. Stevens they 
 have a traditional belief in a Creator who is the greatest and best of 
 beings. 
 
 SGAW. — The most numerous and the most peaceful of the Kareng 
 tribes, consisting of the Sgaw, Ma-nie-pgha, Pa-koo and We-wa clans 
 and inhabiting that portion of British territory lying between 12° and 19° 
 N. Lat. They are found to the east of Zeng-mai and a few have passed 
 westwards into Arakan. By the Burmese they are called Myit-tho and by 
 the Pwo Shan. Though comparatively a quiet race they have a long- 
 standing and deadly feud with the Pwo whom they have partially exter- 
 minated in the Mergui district and against whom they were preparing a 
 raid when Tenasserim was ceded to the British. Their distinguishing dress 
 is a white tunic or smock frock with several parallel narrow bars of red 
 round the bottom. 
 
 In their religion and in most of their customs they resemble the other 
 Kareng (q.v.), but they have some peculiarities. About January the south- 
 ern Sgaw have an annual festival for making offerings to the god of the 
 earth and his followers, the spirits of those who are denied admittance into 
 Hades and who execute the punishments awarded by their master to those 
 who swear or use foul language. One curious portion of their belief is 
 that if they swear m their own country they can escape by making pro- 
 pitiatory offerings to the god of the earth, but should they blaspheme in 
 a far-off country they will be killed before dark. To the spirits of their 
 ancestors who have done good in this life, and who watch over births, 
 marriages and children generally, they offer a fowl with a prayer of which 
 the following is a specimen.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 629 
 
 " Mothers and Fathers, Theklu, I will offer you a great cock with a 
 " spur fit to stick a rice mortar upon. Take away siclmess, take away 
 " disease, take away laziness, take away inefficiency, take away sleepiness, 
 ** take away drowsiness, take away inability to obtain, take away inability 
 "to make a living, take away unsuccessfulness, take away want of success, 
 "take away debasedness, take away wretchedness, take away the whole". 
 
 Like all the other tribes they believe that every individual has his La, 
 which they call Ka-la, and which is endowed with immortality, receiving 
 after the death of the body the reward due to the individual's actions during 
 life, and which cannot leave the earth until the funeral ceremonies have 
 been completed. When a body is burnt, for they do not bury their dead, 
 a bone is taken from the pile, and one end of a slender bamboo is attached 
 to it. At the other end of the bamboo is a fine thread to which tufts of 
 cotton and pieces of charcoal are fastened alternately, and at the loose end 
 of this thread is a metal ancle- or wrist-ring which is so suspended as to 
 hang just over a brass pot containing a boiled egg, the weight of the ring 
 causing the bamboo to bend down. The whole is in the centre of a large 
 shed round which is hung up the property of the deceased and two torches 
 are placed one at the head and one at the feet, a procession singing dirges 
 going round and round the whole. Then the relatives of the dead approach 
 in succession and touch the brass cup : when the one dearest to the deceased 
 does so the La twists and snaps the string (a feat not difficult for one of 
 the relations to perform with so slender a bamboo and so fine a strmg) and 
 causes the ring to strike the basin, the bone is then buried and the La is 
 free. 
 
 SHA-BOUNG. — A village in the Zee-beng-hla circle of the Prome 
 district about a mile and a half east of the Shwe-lay stream, in 18° 37' 0" N. 
 and 95° 43' 0" E. on the little Sha-boung rivulet. In former days it gave its 
 name to a registered village tract under an independent Thoogyee. 
 
 SHA-KHAL — A revenue circle in the Tsam-bay-roon (or Kyoon-pyaw) 
 township, Bassein district. In 1876-77 the population was 3,296, the land 
 revenue Rs. 4,838, the capitation tax Es. 3,672 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 9,889. During this year the boundary between Bassein and Thoon- 
 khwa was rearranged ; three quarters of Sha-khai were inckided in the 
 latter district and the remaining quarter was added to the Thoung-daik 
 circle of Bassein. 
 
 SHA-KHAI-GYEE. — A lake in the Bassein district communicating 
 with the Da-ga river. It is a fine sheet of water four miles in length and 
 somewhat more than half a mile in breadth, formed by a slight depression. 
 The bed is somewhat muddy and in the dry season there are not more than 
 eight to ten feet of water in the deepest part which is at the southern end, 
 whilst at the northern, where the banks are shelving, there are not more than 
 two or three. 
 
 SHANDOO. — A tribe found on the hills and streams in the mass of 
 mountains intervening between the valley of the Irrawaddy in Upper Bm-ma 
 and the plains of Arakan of whom but very few are within the limits of 
 British authority. Very little is known of them. In the Journal of the 
 Bengal Asiatic Society for 1852 Captain Tickell published some notes of this 
 tribe — who call themselves ' Heuma' — the result of an interview with a chief
 
 630 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and his follower who ventured as far as Akyab. The country which they 
 inhabit would appear to lie between 22° and 23° N. and 93° and 94° E. ; 
 they are divided into several clans, which according to Captain Tickell's 
 informant, the chief of the Bookees, extend N.E., in the following order : — 
 Bookee, Tha-bhaw, La-lyang, Toon-boo, Eoon-hpe, Yang-leng, Hoo-the, Mow- 
 too, Tan-t'lang and Hekka, but of the distance between them nothing could 
 be learned. Their houses are made of timber by the more opulent and of 
 bamboos by the poorer classes, thatched with grass and well raised from the 
 ground. They are rich in poultry and pigs and cultivate such crops as can be 
 raised on the hill sides, such as maize, rice, plantains, yams, cotton, linseed, 
 ect. Elephants are generally shot with large heavy arrows set in trap bows 
 of great size pointing inwards and connected by the same line that pulls the 
 trigger so that the animal passing through or touching the line with his foot 
 receives an arrow in each side ; the people are unacquainted with any poison 
 for their arrow heads. Elephants' teeth form one of their principal objects 
 of barter. The weapons are small bows and arrows (just being superseded 
 by muskets), short spears and shields made of buffalo hide ornamented with 
 brass plates and tufts of buffalo hair dyed scarlet. They are; polygamous 
 the number of their wives depending mainly upon their means of paying for 
 them, they may marry two sisters at once : daughters are entu-ely excluded 
 from succession. Widows are left to the charity of the eldest son who 
 inherits all the property unless he be married before his father's death in 
 which case ho gets nothing. They bury their dead, digging a hole in the 
 ground to the depth of a man's height which they pave with stones and 
 line with boards and in this the corpse, after having been kept for some 
 days in the house, is placed in a supine posture, with the head to the east, 
 together with the weapons used during life : the hole is then covered 
 with sticks, planks and earth and over all a large stone. They regard the 
 sun and the moon as deities and sacrifice pigs and cattle to them at the 
 commencement of the rains. They have no divisions of the year except by 
 seasons. 
 
 SHAN-DWOT. — A revenue cii-cle in the Mergui district adjoining the 
 Tenasserim township on the east and shut off from the seacoast by the 
 Pa-law and Pa-la circles on the west. In 1876-77 the population was 1,397, 
 the land revenue Es. 611, the capitation tax Es. 928 and the gi'oss revenue 
 Es. 1,539. The principal village is Pa-law-khyoung-rwa. 
 
 SHAN-GAN. — A village in the Ko-doung cu'cle, Angyee township, 
 Eangoon district, with 536 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 SHAN-KWENG. — A revenue eircle in the western portion of the Tha- 
 boung township^ Bassein district, having an area of about 40 square miles. 
 With the exception of some rice cultivation on the eastern side this circle 
 presents a mass of thickly-wooded hills, spurs and off-shoots from the 
 Ai-akan range across which there is a pass about 400 feet above the sea level 
 from the village of Tha-boung to Ivhyoung-thai. The inhabitants are mainly 
 Kareng engaged in agriculture in fields in the plams and in toungya on the 
 hill sides. It now includes Nga-khwa.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 631 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years was : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 
 Revenue 
 
 
 Yeab, 
 
 
 tb 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 a 
 
 
 tJ 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 Ph 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 CS 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 fq 
 
 M 
 
 H 
 
 (-3 
 
 u 
 
 H 
 
 1874 
 
 1,028 
 
 1,612 
 
 2,640 
 
 3,801 
 
 2,372 
 
 6,178 
 
 1875 
 
 859 
 
 18,021 
 
 2,661 
 
 4,508 
 
 2,390 
 
 6,798 
 
 1876 
 
 1,791 
 
 1,684 
 
 2,775 
 
 4,704 
 
 2,482 
 
 7,186 
 
 1877 
 
 1,177 
 
 1,268 
 
 2,445 
 
 4,360 
 
 . 2,525 
 
 6,889 
 
 1878 
 
 1,163 
 
 1,233 
 
 2,402 
 
 4,661 
 
 2,570 
 
 7,231 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock :- 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 Land. 
 
 
 
 Agkicultdral 
 
 STOCK. 
 
 
 
 
 "S 
 
 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 m-^ 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 03 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 § o 
 
 
 0) 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 ts 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ID 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 t3 " 
 
 a 
 
 'P 
 
 03 
 
 a 
 
 m 
 
 "3 
 1 
 
 SO 
 
 o 
 
 35 
 
 o 
 
 o5 
 
 CO 
 
 TO 
 
 1 
 
 top 
 
 TO 
 
 O 
 
 1874 
 
 2,384 
 
 307 
 
 56 
 
 2,747 
 
 963 
 
 779 
 
 57 
 
 561 
 
 129 
 
 274 
 
 120 
 
 1875 
 
 2,790 
 
 341 
 
 14 
 
 2,145 
 
 1,680 
 
 730 
 
 14 
 
 179 
 
 169 
 
 214 
 
 128 
 
 1876 
 
 2.985 
 
 360 
 
 16 
 
 3,361 
 
 1,708 
 
 873 
 
 7 
 
 103 
 
 150 
 
 449 
 
 112 
 
 1877 
 
 2,722 
 
 358 
 
 50 
 
 3,030 
 
 1,147 
 
 281 
 
 39 
 
 ISO 
 
 36 
 
 166 
 
 35 
 
 1878 
 
 2,929 
 
 356 
 
 82 
 
 3,367 
 
 1,267 
 
 321 
 
 61 
 
 101 
 
 41 
 
 128 
 
 22 
 
 SHAN-PiWA. — A vOlage in the Pai-kwon cu-cle, Koo-la-dan township, 
 Akyab district, on the western bank of the Koo-la-dan. In 1876 it contained 
 508 inhabitants. 
 
 SHAN-TSOO-GYEE.— A village in the Twan-te ch'cle, An-gyee township, 
 Eangoon district, with 523 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 SHA-PYAN. — A small stream in the Thayet district which rises in 
 the Myit-myeng-doung spur of the Pegu Eoma and, flowing in a 
 generally southward direction, falls into the Bhwot-lay river. It is not 
 navigable by boats at any time ; the banks are flat and the bed sandy. 
 
 SHA-TAW. — A village in the Myanoung cu'clc of the Myanoung town- 
 ship, Hcnzada district, on the west bank of the Irrawaddy, with 598 
 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 SHA-TSEE-BHO.— A village in the Pouk-taw circle, Mo-gnyo town- 
 ship, Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district, about a mile west of the Eangoon 
 and Irrawaddy Valley (State) Kailway, with G16 inhabitants in 1877.
 
 632 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 SHAW-DOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Kama township, Thayet 
 district, three square miles in extent, of which rather more than one is un- 
 culturable and rather more than another actually cultivated. The inhab- 
 itants, of whom a few are Khyeng, numbered 641 in 1876-77 ; the land 
 revenue was Es. 736, the capitation tax Es. 700 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 1,493. The circle now includes Shaw-doung and Ewa-ma, the Thoogyee 
 of the latter having resigned in 1859. The products are rice, sessamum, 
 chillies, onions, tobacco, plantains and maize. 
 
 SHENG-BENG-NAN-KAING.— A pagoda in Martaban, supposed to 
 contain one of G.audama's hau's and to have been erected in the sixth 
 century B.C. by a converted Bhee-loo or ogre. It was repaired in 1807 by 
 the then governor. 
 
 SHENG-BHOOEENG-KYOUK-TSOUK.— About 20 miles west of 
 Toung-ngoo are two small pagodas thus named which are said to have 
 been erected by order of Asoka in 225 B.C. The name means " built of 
 " stone by the queen". The existing buildings are undoubtedly modern and 
 probably enclose smaller pagodas founded when Toung-ngoo was an inde- 
 pendent kingdom, that is in the fifteenth century, or perhaps earlier, in the 
 twelfth century, when Nara-pad-dee-tsee-thoo visited this portion of his 
 dominions. 
 
 SHENG-DHA-WAI. — A highly venerated pagoda in the Tavoy dis- 
 trict, north-east of the village of Moung-mai-shoung, 77 feet high and 301 
 feet in circumference at the base. It is supposed to enclose a relic of Gau- 
 dama which, released by its possessor, the miraculously-born Theng-gan 
 Meng, alighted at the spot where the pagoda now stands and was received 
 by the people in a golden basket. 
 
 SHENG-BENG-THA-EOUNG.— A village in the Htan-le-beng circle, 
 Za-lwon township, Henzada district, on the east bank of the Niek-ban 
 stream, with 714 inhabitants in 1876-77. Close to it is a modern pagoda 
 of the same name. 
 
 SHENG-NGAY. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-doung township, 
 Prome district, just to the north of the Shwe-nat-toung or Kho-lan hills. 
 It now includes five village tracts. In 1876-77 the population was 2,142, 
 the land revenue Es. 4,468 and the capitation tax Es. 2,322. It contains 
 no villages of any importance. 
 
 SHENG-MAW.— A pagoda on Tavoy point, founded in 1204 A.D. by 
 Nara-pad-dee-tsee-thoo, king of Burma, when he visited this part of his 
 territories It is nine feet high and 24 feet in circumference at the base, 
 and is highly reverenced as being supposed to contain a tooth of Gau- 
 dama. 
 
 SHENG-MOOT-TEE.— The most famous pagoda in the Tavoy dis- 
 trict, to the south of the village of the same name. It is 58 feet high and 
 308 feet in circumference at the base. It is said to have been built to 
 enshrine an image that, with a stone and a banyan-tree — both of which are 
 shewn near the pagoda — was miraculously floated from India to the spot 
 where the sacred edifice now stands. An annual festival is held near this 
 pagoda, the people coming on gaily decorated bamboo-rafts with music and 
 dancing.
 
 > 
 
 O 
 
 o
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 633 
 
 SHENG-TOUNG-BOON.— A pagoda in the south-eastern township of 
 the Tavoy district, supposed to have been founded in 781 A.D. It is 40 
 feet high, 100 feet in circumference at the base, and octangular in shape. 
 
 SHO. — The Pwo family of Kareng : so called by themselves. See Pivo. 
 
 SHOUNG. — A small sub-tribe of the Pwo family of Kareng now found 
 near the northern extremity of the Toung-ngoo district of the Tenasserim 
 division but having a tradition that they have been driven northwards 
 from near Tha-htoon. During the Burmese rule a number of then- villages 
 were exempted from taxation on condition of a watch being kept up 
 against incursions by the Bed Kareng. They wear trowsers like the Gai-ldio 
 but not so handsomely embroidered. They number about 700 souls, living 
 in about 20 villages. 
 
 SHOUNG-GYO-GOON.— A revenue circle in the Shwe-doung town- 
 ship, Prome district. In 1876-77 the population was 3,799, the land reve- 
 nue Bs. 3,008, the capitation tax Bs. 4,143 and the gross revenue Bs. 7,571. 
 
 SHWE AN-DAW. — A pagoda near the village of Be-bwek, a few miles 
 north of the town of Thayet. This pagoda dates from the time of Na-ra- 
 pad-dee-tsee-thoo, king of Burma (about 1167 A.D.), who is noted for his 
 I)iety, his communications with Ceylon and his frequent jom'neys through 
 his dominions. He is said to have received from Ceylon a holy tooth relic 
 of Gaudama and, while escorting it to his capital, he was warned by signs 
 and portents to deposit it at the spot where this pagoda now stands. 
 
 SHWE BAN-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Mye-dai township, Tha- 
 yet district. In 1876-77 the population was 4,761, the land revenue Bs. 
 3,174, the capitation tax Bs. 2,051 and the gross revenue Bs. 5,431. The 
 principal products are rice, cotton, sessamum, maize and cutch. 
 
 SHWE BAN -DAW. — A village in the Prome district, close to and to 
 the south of, Shwe-doung from which it is separated by Doo-reng-ga-bho, 
 the two forming an extension of that town along the bank of the Irrawaddy. 
 
 SHWE BHOOBA-BAW.— A pagoda in the Kama township of the 
 Thayet district, which was built during the reign of Nara-pad-dee-tsee-thoo 
 {circa 1170 A.D.) on the spot where the remains of an old pagoda were 
 discovered. 
 
 SHWE DAGON. — The great pagoda of Bangoon and the most vene- 
 rated object of worship in all the Indo-Chinese countries. At the annual 
 festival in March crowds of pilgrims flock to it from all parts of the country, 
 from the Shan states in the north, from the Kareng-nee states in the 
 north-east and from far above Mo-goung on the Irrawaddy. So great is its 
 renown that the king of Siam not long ago had a fine Zayat, or resting- 
 place for pilgi'ims, built near it. It stands upon a mound partly natural 
 partly artificial in the angle formed by the junction of the Bangoon or 
 Hlaing and Pegu rivers, about two miles north of the former and three 
 miles east of the latter. The hill on which it is erected has been cut into 
 two rectangular terraces one above the other, each side facing one of the 
 cardinal points of the compass. The upper terrace, which has been care- 
 fully levelled and paved, is 166 feet from the level of the gromid, and is 
 900 feet long by 685 feet wide. The ascent to this platform was by four 
 flights of brick steps — one opposite the centre of each face — but the western 
 
 80
 
 634 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 has been closed by the fortifications lately built. The southern approach is 
 covered with handsomely-carved wooden roofs supported on massive smooth 
 teak and masonry pillars and has at the foot two immense griffins, one on 
 each side. From the centre of the platform the profusely-gilt solid brick 
 pagoda springing from an octagonal base with a perimeter of 1,355 feet, 
 rises with a gradually diminishing spheroidal outline to a height of 321 
 feet and, supporting a gilt-iron network " umbrella " in the shape of a cone 
 26 feet high and surrounded with bells 
 
 " Shoots upward like a pjTamid of fire. " 
 
 The space round the pagoda is left clear for worshippers but all round the 
 edge of the platform are numerous idol-houses facing inwards, containing 
 images of Gaudama in the usual sitting position, and of the same Booddha 
 in a previous existence receiving from Dipengara, one of his predecessors, 
 the prophetical annunciation that he too should, after the lapse of four 
 Theng-khye,* and the existence and destruction of 100,000 worlds, attain to 
 Booddhahood. Between these idol-houses and the main building are 
 numerous bells, small pagodas, Ta-khwon-daing or sacred posts each sur- 
 mounted by the figure of a Karawaik (Garuda, the carrying-bu'd of Vishnu) 
 and bearmg a long streamer : the bells are struck by worshippers with the 
 deers' antlers which are left lying near them. On the east the space is 
 more choked up with buildings than on the other sides and here stand a 
 small pagoda, an exact representation and the exact size of the old 
 htee or " umbrella " on the summit since replaced by one made in Manda- 
 lay, and, covered by a roof, an enormous bell, 7ft. 7|in. in diameter at the 
 mouth, under which a man can stand upright with ease. This bell bears 
 an inscription in Burmese in twelve lines, the latter portion, as translated 
 by Mr. G. Hough, running — " For this meritorious gift, replete with 
 " the virtue of beneficence, may he " (Bho-daw Bhoora, the king who 
 presented the bell) " be conducted to Niek-ban, and obtain the destined 
 " blessing of men, Nat and Bramha, by means of divine perfection. May 
 " he obtain in his transmigrations the reigning state only among men and 
 " Nat. May he have a pleasant voice, a voice heard at whatever place 
 " desired, like the voice of Kan-tha-meng, Poon-noo-ka, and A-la-ma-ka 
 " when he speaks to terrify, and like Karawaik, king of bh-ds, when he 
 *' speaks on the subjects about wMch Nat and Brahma del^ht to hear. 
 " Whatever may be his desire or the thought of his heart merely let that 
 " desire be fulfilled. Let him not in the least meet with that towards which 
 " he has no mental disposition and for which he has no desire. When Aree- 
 " madeya shall be revealed let him have the revelation that he may be- 
 *' come We-tha-dee Nat, supreme of the three rational existences. In 
 " every state of existence let him continually and truly possess the excel- 
 " lence of wisdom and according to his desu*e in practices pertaining to 
 " this world and to the divine state so let it be accomplished. Thus, in 
 " order to cause the voice of homage during the period of 500 years to be 
 " heard at the monument of the divine hair in the city of Rangoon, let the 
 " reward of the great merit of givmg the great bell, called Maha Ganda, 
 " be unto the royal queen mother, the royal father proprietor of life, lord 
 '' of the white elephant, the royal grand father, Aloung-meng, the royal 
 
 * A Theug-kbye is a number consisting of a unit followed by 140 cyphers.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 635 
 
 " uncle, the royal aunt queen, the royal sons, the royal daughters, the 
 " royal relatives, the royal concubines, the noblemen, the military officers 
 " and teachers. Let the Nat who guard the religious dispensation 5,000 
 " years, the Nat who guard the royal city, palace and umbrella, the Nat 
 " who all around guard the empire, the provinces and villages, the Nat 
 " who guard the monuments of the divme hair around the hill Tampa- 
 " koot-ta together with the Nat governing Bomma and Akatha and all 
 " rational beings throughout the universe utter praises and accept the 
 " supplications." 
 
 The legend of the first building of this pagoda dates from a very early 
 period in the history of the Talaing race. Before the birth of Gaudama a 
 king reigned over the Talamg in the delta of the Irrawaddy, having his 
 capital at Ook-ka-la-bha, on the site of the modern Twan-te, 16 miles west 
 of Rangoon. Near that city lived a pious merchant named Tha-ka-lai who, 
 on account of his meritorious actions in a pre\dous existence and of his 
 present worthiness, received a title and high distinction from the king of 
 the country. This merchant had two sons named Poo or dove and Ta-paw 
 or plenty. The two young men, having heard that a famine existed in the 
 western countries, determined to convey thither a shipload of rice. They 
 sailed for the west and in due time cast anchor on the coast of the country ; 
 this, probably, was the shore at the mouth of the Ganges. Landing they 
 proceeded inland towards the town of Bandawa (Pandooa in the district of 
 Hugli?), and having hned 500 carts they retm'ned to their vessel, loaded 
 them with the rice which they had brought, and retm'ned towards the 
 city. On their road they were met by a Nat who in a former existence 
 had been their mother who asked them where they were going to trade 
 and on their replying that they were going to the city of Bandawa she de- 
 manded, "Desire ye gold and silver merchandize, or rather desh-e ye 
 "treasure ?" Their answer was " Heavenly treasure." Acting on the ad- 
 vice of the Nat, and guided by her, they travelled for two days and at last 
 reached the place where Gaudama was sitting under the Yazayatana or 
 Leng-lwon tree at Gaya near Patna, during the seventh period of seven day's 
 meditation which immediately preceded his becoming perfect*. 
 
 * Tho authority for this statemeut is Colonel Burncy in Asiatic Researches, vol. 20,1836, 
 p. 187 ; and this would fix the date at 588 B.C. (which is exactly the date given in the legend). 
 It is not easy to see how Patna could be reached from the coast in three days by a train of 
 loaded carts. According to Colonel Burney the seven periods of rest were after Gaudama had 
 become perfected and were as follows : — 
 
 1 . Under the shade of the Peepul tree upon a golden throne which had miraculously risen 
 from the earth. 
 
 2. On a rising ground a short distance from the tree, on which Gaudama stood for seven 
 days looking at tho throne " without winking or blinking". 
 
 3. At another spot near the tree, where Gaudama walked backwards and forwards in the 
 air for seven days. 
 
 4. In a golden house which appeared muaculously. 
 
 5. Under another I'ccpul tree. 
 
 6. Near the lake of Monzalienda in whicli dwelt a Naga or dragon, amongst the folds of 
 whose body Gaudama sat for seven days. 
 
 7. Under the Yazayatana tree. 
 
 According to Cunningham (Bhilsa Topes, p. 2 J) tho seven weeks were passed before Gauda- 
 ma was perfected, and a few days afterwards Gaudama left Gaya for Benares. There is a 
 further discrepancy inasmuch as Cunningham states that the seven weeks were passed in four 
 periods ; four weeks under the Bhodi tree, one under the Peepul, one under the Mahalindo, 
 and one under the Rajayatana. It will be observed that in the text Gaudama gives the two 
 young men some hairs of his head ; be must, therefore, have been perfected at that time.
 
 636 ■ BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The young men in reply to Gaudama stated that they came from a far 
 and an unknown country and Gaudama informed them that his predeces- 
 sors had left behind in Pegu a bathing garment, a water-dipper, and a 
 staff, hidden in the Thien-goot-tara mount under a wood-oil tree. He then, 
 rubbing his hand over his head, gave to each of them four of the hau's 
 which attached themselves to his fingers ; he re-named them Ta-poo-sa and 
 Hpa-lee-ka, and charged them to deposit these haii's with the other rehcs. 
 
 The two brothers, placing the hairs in a golden casket, rejoined 
 their ship and set out on their return to their own country. On their way 
 they put in at a place called Ezali or Zetta, the king of which insisted 
 upon having two of the hairs. Proceeding onwards they anchored off 
 Cape Negrais, the Naga or Dragon of which lies in wait to sink the ships 
 of those unbelieving voyagers who pay him no respect ; he also demanded 
 two of the hairs which were reluctantly jdelded. In seven days more the 
 brothers reached Ook-ka-la-bha and, to their astonishment, found that the 
 four hairs which had been taken from them had, by the miraculous power 
 of Gaudama, been restored and that all the eight were in the casket in 
 which they were originally placed. The king and all the court proceeded 
 to the place where the ship was and received the relics with due honour. 
 In obedience to the instructions of Gaudama search was made for Mount 
 Thien-goot-ta-ra but no one could say where it was till at length the 
 guardian of the earth appeared and pointed out the spot. When the tree 
 on it, under which the relics of the former Booddha were deposited, was 
 felled it "as the three divisions of the mount were not equal it remained 
 '* poised horizontally on its centre on the highest peak ; its top touched 
 " not the ground and its root touched not the ground. Therefore the place 
 " was called in the Moon language ' Dagon.' " A relic chamber was pre- 
 pared underground, and the sacred relics were deposited therein with much 
 ceremony by the king and his officers. With the relics were placed gold, silver 
 and precious stones, and a golden model of the ship, with images of the 
 two brothers holding the helm, which floated mh-aculously on a mimic sea, 
 and over the relic-chamber was built a small pagoda 27 feet high. The 
 date given in the legend for the erection of this pagoda is B. C. 588. A 
 town soon sprang up near the pagoda and existed for 32 generations until 
 the fall of the dynasty of the sovereigns of Ook-ka-la-bha, when both town 
 and pagoda fell into ruins. Nothing was done to restore the pagoda till 
 1446 A.D. during the reign of the Peguan king Ba-gnya-raw. The work 
 was continued by his successors and in 1501, when the throne of 
 Pegu was occupied by a female sovereign named Sheng-tsaw-boo, land was 
 allotted and hereditary servitors were set apart for the service of the shrine. 
 At this time the additions and restorations had raised the height of the 
 pagoda to 129 feet. Still further additions were made by the succeeding 
 sovereigns, especially by the Bm-mese after their conquest of Pegu, the 
 policy of the kings of that race being to increase the splendour of the Shwe 
 Dagon at Piangoon so that it might surpass the Shwe-hmaw-daw at Pegu 
 the ancient building which the Talaing had for so many years reverenced 
 and which was associated "with the recollections of theii- national independ- 
 ence. Owing to these continual additions the pagoda at last, in 1768 
 reached its present height of 321 feet from the platform on which it 
 stands. In 1774 it was re-gilt by Tsheng-hpyoo-sheng, king of Bm'ma,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 637 
 
 the amount of gold used being equal to the weight of the king, 
 that is 12st. 31bs. : the value of the gold was thus about Es. 94,080. 
 It was again gilt in 1834, and once more before the conquest of Pegu by the 
 British. 
 
 A few years ago it was again re-gilt from top to bottom partly by pub- 
 lic subscriptions, the amount being raised year by year from the pilgrims 
 who visited the shrine at the great festival, and partly by the rent derived 
 from leasing out the palm trees on the slopes and terraces of the mound 
 on which it stands. This work was completed in 1871 and, with the sanc- 
 tion of the British Government, the king of Burma sent down with great 
 state and ceremony a new Htee of iron covered with soUd gold-plating and 
 inlaid with numbers of jewels, 13| feet in diameter at the base, 47 feet in 
 height, weighing 1^ tons, and valued at Es. 620,000. The time selected 
 for the work was the annual festival in November. *' From the 
 " 25th October until the 26th November the people were gathering to 
 " Eangoon from all parts of the country and flocking to the pagoda in 
 " crowds. Meantime the arrangements were being made for bringing 
 " down the old Htee of 1774 and carrying up the new one of nearly a 
 " century later. The great difficulty in the coronation was to carry the 
 " different pieces of the Htee up the outside of the great solid cone of the 
 " pagoda proper. This was accomplished by covering the cone with a 
 " basket-work of bamboos, and then constructmg a roadway of six strong 
 " ropes which ran in an inclined plane from a point on the platform to a 
 " point on the upper part of the cone. A carriage ran up this roadway on 
 " pullies and brought up each portion of the Htee in succession, which was 
 *' then elevated to the summit by a crane." 
 
 *' The labour and expense of these proceedings were entirely gratuit- 
 *' ous. Hundreds of wooden poles, besides 50,000 bamboos and 70 cart- 
 " loads of canes, were used in the construction of the scaffolding. The 
 *' labour was distributed amongst different bodies of workmen and artizans, 
 " each having its own head-man and performing its allotted portion with- 
 " out pay or emolument beyond the religious merit which was supposed 
 " to attach to the fulfilment of the task, whilst every workmg-man was 
 " duly supplied with provisions at the expense of other pious contributors. 
 " For the work of dragging the ropes which drew up the different pieces of 
 " the Htee there were always thousands of volimteers, young and old, who 
 " were only too anxious to lend a hand."* 
 
 The hill on which the pagoda stands has been fortified by the British 
 so as to serve as a refuge in case of need. 
 
 The whole of the early history of this pagoda must be rejected as un- 
 trustworthy and the first accounts in which any confidence can be placed are 
 those which relate to the occurrences during the reign of the queen Sheng- 
 tsaw-boo so late as the beginning of the sixteenth century, though it may be 
 accepted as a fact that a pagoda existed on this spot from much earlier 
 times. 
 
 The name is derived from the Talaing word " Takoon," which signi- 
 fies " a tree or log lying athwart," alludhig to the position assigned in the 
 tradition to the tree after it was cut down, and which has been corrupted 
 
 * Administration report, 1871-72.
 
 638 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 into Dagon or Dagun in Burmese. The word " Shwe " or golden is a 
 Burmese translation of the original Talaing word prefixed to Takoon. It is 
 now used generally as a term indicative of excellence. 
 
 During the first Burmese war in 1825-26 the strong position where 
 the pagoda stands was abandoned by the Bm-mese on the fall of the town 
 of Kangoon (then situated on the bank of the river some distance to the 
 south) and, being occupied by the British under Sir Archibald Campbell 
 from the middle of May to the end of the war, was several times unsuc- 
 cessfully attacked by the Bm'mese. 
 
 During the second Burmese war in 1852 the position of the town was 
 found to be entu^ely changed. A new town had been formed about a mile 
 and a quarter from the river to the south of the pagoda, which had been 
 very cleverly worked into the defences to which it formed a sort of citadel. 
 The Burmese had settled that the British would attack from the south 
 and had made every preparation for receiving them, having armed the de- 
 fences with nearly 100 pieces of cannon and jingals and collected a garri- 
 son of 10,000 men. The British troops, however, moved to the east front, 
 turning the Burmese position and passing then- stockaded town. After 
 some hours firing from the heavy guns it was discovered, at about 11 a.m., 
 that the east entrance, on which the artillery was playing, was clear and 
 an assault was ordered. The troops advanced steadily over the interven- 
 ing 800 yards under the fire of the walls crowded with the enemy. When 
 the storming party reached the steps a tremendous rush was made and a 
 deafenmg cheer announced that the great Shwe Dagon pagoda was a 
 second time in the hands of the British.* 
 
 SHWE DAGON. — A pagoda in Martaban, so called because it was 
 founded at the same time as the great Shwe Dagon pagoda of Eangoon. 
 
 ^ SHWE-DAW.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 32' 10" N. and 
 95° 30' 0" E. on the little Khyoung-gan rivulet about four miles due east 
 of the southern end of the Eng-ma swamp, and three miles due north of 
 Ewa-thit on the main road from Eangoon to the northern frontier of the 
 province. Its inhabitants are chiefly occupied in rice cultivation. 
 
 SHWE-DOUNG. — A town in the Prome district, the head-quarters of 
 the township of the same name, on the right bank of the Irrawaddy, about 
 eight miles below Prome, on the main road from Eangoon to the north, in 
 18° 42' N. and 95° 17' 30" E., separated into two parts— the Meng-dai and 
 Hpyouk-tshiep quarters — by the Koola-khyoung, which is traversed by a 
 long wooden bridge, and further up, where it is much narrower, by a 
 masonry structure carrying the main road already alluded to. This town 
 has risen to its present importance since the occupation of Pegu by the 
 English ; the old town of Shwe-doung or Shwe-douug Myoma, mentioned 
 in old records and travels, being now a village only, some miles farther 
 south on the same bank of the Irrawaddy opposite to Padoung. In 1863- 
 
 * The following extraordinary and incredible statement appears in Sonnerat, " Voyages 
 " aux Indes Orientales et eu Chine" published in 1782 : — " Ce dernier (the Shwe Dagon) est 
 " singulierement construit ; il se termine eu cone, et u'a ni portes ni fenetres : c'est par ime 
 " onvertiu'e pratique au sommet, sur lequel on voit la couronne d'or qu'y fit placer Alomin-a, 
 " que les Princes, les Seigneurs, et le peuple jettcnt les richesses immenses qu'ils apportent en 
 " o£frandes. Ce tresor doit ctre un des j)lus riches de la terre, si toutefois les Biumaus n'out 
 " pas trouvc le moyen de la piller par quelque soutcrrain."
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 639 
 
 64 it had not even 5,000 inhabitants, in 1873-74 it had 12,518 and in 
 1877-78 13,588. • On the bank of the Irrawaddy and accessible by large 
 boats, though owing to sandbanks and islands not by steamers, it is the 
 port almost of the Pomigday and Eng-ma rice plains, the produce of 
 ■which has to pass this town on its way to Prome, except that portion 
 which finds its way to Piangoon by the railway, or by dry weather roads 
 northwards behind the Prome hills, and the small portion which finds an 
 outlet southwards during the ra*ns by the Myit-ma-kha and creeks com- 
 municating with the Irrawaddy many miles lower down. The Hpyouk- 
 tshiep quarter on the south suffered formerly from the overflow of the 
 Irrawaddy and of the Koola-khyoung the waters of which were forced back 
 into its broad mouth by the rise in the main river, but this has been to a 
 great extent remedied l3y embankments of no great height but sufficient 
 for the purpose of protecting the lower land within them. It has a good 
 covered Market-place, a Police-station, and a Court-house, and is well laid 
 out with streets generally at right angles. It gontains numerous pagodas, 
 monasteries, and zayats or public rest-houses. 
 
 SHWE-DOUNG. — A township in the Prome district, bounded by the 
 Irrawaddy on the west, the Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district on the south, 
 the Ma-ha-tha-man and Poungday townships on the east, and the Ma-ha- 
 tha-man township on the north, having an area of about 200 square miles. 
 The eastern boundary is formed by the low Toung-gyee hills which extend 
 from near Prome into the Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district, and are covered 
 with Eng {dipterocarpus tiibercidatus) , forming the Engdaing or Eng-country. 
 From Prome a low chain stretches southward nearly to Shwe-doung, and 
 from Shwe-nat-toung four miles south of that town another low forest- 
 covered ridge extends to the Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district dividing the 
 township into two long plains uniting round the northern end of the Shwe- 
 nat-toung or Kho-lan hills. In the south-west a large corner is cut off by 
 the Doon-ka-la channel, which is choked up with sand just above Gnyoung- 
 tsa-re in the dry weather, but in the rains completely separates into an 
 island the country between it and the Irrawaddy. There are no rivers of 
 any size, the largest being the Kyoon, which drains the plain between the 
 Toung-gyee and Kho-lan hills, and flowing northwards through rice-fields 
 falls into the Irrawaddy at the village of Shwe-gyo-goon near Shwe-doung. 
 The main cultivation is carried on in the centre of the two plains and 
 round Shwe-doung, but garden and miscellaneous cultivation exists to a 
 considerable extent along the bank of the Irrawaddy, where tobacco and 
 vegetables are grown, and inland some sessamum is produced. In the 
 north-east, below Shwe-doung, many palm-trees are growTi, and from these 
 are drawn large quantities of tari. 
 
 Near Shwe-doung Myoma the principal town in the Burmese time, on 
 the bank of the Irrawaddy, some five miles south of the present town of 
 Shwe-doung, is the Theng-bhyoo lake which in the dry season is about two 
 miles long and one mile wide in its broadest part, and seven (in the rains 
 15) feet deep. The banks are low and covered with elephant-grass and the 
 bed is muddy but the water clear. This lake receives its supply from the 
 Irrawaddy, as well as from the rains, and in the rainy season extends south 
 wards to the Eng-bya. This is another morass two miles south of Kyee- 
 tbai two and a half miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide. At this
 
 640 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 period of the year boats can ascend the Doon-ka-la channel from Gnyoung- 
 tsa and from thence enter the Eng-bya and go up close to Shwe-doung 
 Myoma. 
 
 The principal road in the township is the great northern road from 
 Eangoon, which enters it through the Eng-daing and strikes the Irrawaddy 
 at Shwe-doung, whence it proceeds northwards along the bank to 
 Prome. In addition to this the whole township is intersected with fair- 
 weather cart-roads. The head-quarter town is Shwe-doung, on the bank of 
 the Irrawaddy about eight miles below Prome, which has arisen since the 
 annexation of Pegu by the gradual enlargement of the two villages of Meng- 
 dai and Hpyouk-tshiep, one on each side of the little Koola streamlet at its 
 mouth. It now contains a population of 13,588 souls — merchants, rice 
 cultivators, weavers, fishermen and coolies. It is well laid out with roads 
 and has a good and well-supplied market. The other large places are Doo- 
 reng-ga-bho and Toung-loou-gnyo, which form the southern and eastern out- 
 skirts of Shwe-doung ; Kyee-thai, on the river bank, noted for its silk- 
 weaving, and Gnyoung-tsa-re, still larger, further down. 
 
 Close to the village of Ma-ra-man, in 18° 37' 30" N. and 95° 17' 0" E., 
 on the northern end of the Kho-lan spur is the celebrated and conspicuous 
 Shwe-nat-toung pagoda, in the plain at the foot of which some 20,000 
 people assemble annually for seven days in March to worship and hold a 
 fair. Behind the Shwe-nat-toung are six other small pagodas stretching 
 in a line southwards. 
 
 On the annexation of Pegu it was found that Shwe-doung was divided 
 into 99 village tracts, each with its own Thoogyee. These tracts have 
 gradually been amalgamated as the Thoogyee died, resigned, or were dis- 
 missed for bad conduct, and there are now only 17 revenue circles under 
 separate Thoogyee. In 1876-77 the population was 25,901, the land reve- 
 nue Es. 27,438 and the capitation tax Es. 28,350. 
 
 SHWE-DOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Meng-doon township, Thayet 
 district, with an area of 82 square miles, 85 per cent, of which is uncul- 
 turable waste ; of the culturable area about 5,000 acres are actually under 
 cultivation, and of these many are hill clearings. In 1872 it had 4,040 in- 
 habitants, of whom a comparatively very large number, viz., 1,196 were 
 Khyeng. Included in the present ch"cle are eight village tracts, the here- 
 ditary Thoogyee of which had disappeared before the annexation. The 
 products are rice, sessamum, cotton, maize, tobacco, chillies, onions, cutch 
 and silk. Upwards of 100 acres are mulberry cultivation, but no silk is 
 reeled ; the cocoons are all sold. East of Leng-bhan village is a salt-well 
 which was worked in the Burmese time. In 1876-77 the population was 
 4,394, the land revenue Es. 2,967, and the capitation tax Es. 2,915. 
 
 SHWE-DOUNG MYOMA.— A revenue circle in the Shwe-doung town- 
 ship, Prome district, to the north of and adjoming Kyee-thai, and occupy- 
 ing the corner formed by the bend which the Irrawaddy takes a few miles 
 south of Prome. Eice cultivation is not much carried on except in the 
 south-west. The villages are principally on the bank of the Irrawaddy, the 
 largest being Khyoung-toung, close to Kyee-thai at the southern end of the 
 Theng-bhyoo lake. Shwe-doung Myoma, the old Shwe-doimg, the town or 
 village which is always thus called in Burmese history, the present town
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 641 
 
 of Shwe-doung having grown up since the annexation and being known by 
 the names of its two quarters, which then were separate villages, Hpyouk- 
 tshiep and Meng-dai, is at the northern end of the same lake and is now 
 but a small village. The population in 1876-77 was 3,332, the land 
 revenue Es. 1,501, the capitation tax Ks. 3,877 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 6,066. 
 
 SHWE-DOUNG-00.— A pagoda in the old stockade on high ground 
 to the north of the town of Shwe-gyeng, built in 1809. At one time 
 it was much resorted to by the inhabitants but it has been abandoned 
 since the stockade has been converted into a fort, a powder magazine erected 
 near it, and a guard of sepoys placed close to it. 
 
 SHWE-GNYOUNG-BENG.— A revenue circle in the Tha-boung town- 
 ship, Bassein district, about 45 square miles in extent and lying between 
 the Shwe-gnyoung-beng and the Da-ga rivers. In the west there is some 
 rice cultivation but the rest of the cii'cle consists of large waste plains 
 with undulating ground towards the north ; the inhabitants are largely 
 engaged in fishing. In 1876-77 the population was 2,426, the land revenue 
 Es. 1,594, the capitation tax Es. 2,080 and the gross revenue Es. 8,570. 
 
 SHWE-GNYOUNG-BENG.— A river in the Bassein district, which falls 
 into the Bassein river near the village of the same name in 17° 1' 0" N. 
 and 94° 55' 0" E., and communicates by several creeks with the Da-ga 
 further eastward. The banks are firm, and in its lower portion the stream 
 is from 100 to 150 feet wide. It is not navigable by large boats for any 
 distance except in the rains, and in the dry season small boats even cannot 
 ascend beyond Tsit-peng-gyee. 
 
 SH WE -GOON. — A revenue circle in the Than-lweng Hlaing-bhwai 
 township, Amherst district, on the left bank of the Salween north of Mee- 
 zan. It is inhal)ited mainly by Kareng, by whom it is to some extent cul- 
 tivated. It contains a tract of teak forest on the bank of the river. In 
 1876-77 the population numbered 1,994 souls. 
 
 SHWE-GYENG. — A revenue circle in the Kanoung township of the 
 Henzada district, on the right bank of the Irrawaddy, thinly cultivated, 
 principally with garden and miscellaneous produce. The principal village 
 is Shwe-gyeng. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 
 Revenue, 
 
 IN Rupees. 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 Si 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 "3 
 
 13 
 
 .1 « 
 
 2 » 
 
 "3 
 
 
 3 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 "o 
 
 <A 
 
 as ■" 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 pq 
 
 W 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 yA 
 
 O 
 
 < 
 
 H 
 
 1874 
 
 2,217 
 
 76 
 
 961 
 
 8,254 
 
 2,068 
 
 3,045 
 
 666 
 
 5,774 
 
 1875 
 
 2,072 
 
 85 
 
 1,138 
 
 3,290 
 
 2,016 
 
 3,117 
 
 659 
 
 5,892 
 
 1876 
 
 2,183 
 
 93 
 
 1,140 
 
 3,416 
 
 921 
 
 8,297 
 
 528 
 
 4,746 
 
 1877 
 
 2,270 
 
 91 
 
 1,220 
 
 3,581 
 
 2,167 
 
 3,842 
 
 492 
 
 6,001 
 
 1878 
 
 2,520 
 
 79 
 
 1,042 
 
 3,641 
 
 2,669 
 
 3,402 
 
 473 
 
 6,844 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8] 
 
 L
 
 C42 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 During the same period the area under cultivation and the agricultural 
 stock were : — 
 
 
 Land, in Aches. 
 
 Stock. 
 
 Year, 
 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 1 03 
 
 o O 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 OS 
 
 Pa 
 
 o " 
 
 to 
 
 1 
 
 bo 
 
 pi 
 o 
 
 s 
 
 CS 
 
 o 
 
 1874 
 
 1875 
 1876 
 1877 
 1878 
 
 44 
 
 96 
 
 149 
 
 242 
 
 294 
 
 17 
 19 
 34 
 31 
 29 
 
 505 
 313 
 122 
 
 158 
 279 
 
 566 
 
 428 
 305 
 431 
 602 
 
 190 
 190 
 260 
 270 
 218 
 
 72 
 
 72 
 
 152 
 
 100 
 
 114 
 
 15 
 
 40 
 40 
 
 84 
 
 82 
 
 144 
 
 152 
 
 113 
 
 40 
 89 
 39 
 40 
 .0 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 15 
 
 SHWE-GYENG. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Kanoung township, Henzada district, on the west hank of the Irrawaddy, 
 with 650 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 SHWE-GYENG. — A river in the Shwe-gyeng district, which rises in 
 the high mountains north-east of Shwe-gyeng and falls into the Tsit-toung 
 at that town. Above Shwe-gyeng where it receives the Ma-da-ma from 
 the south and where its channel suddenly deepens it is not navigable by 
 any but the smallest boats. Its bed is sandy for some distance up and 
 rocky above. 
 
 SHWE-GYENG.— The head-quarter station of the Shwe-gyeng district, 
 in 17'' 54' 40" N. and 96° 51' 15" E., on the left bank of the Tsit-toung 
 river at the mouth of the Shwe-gyeng, with 7,528 inhabitants in 1878. 
 Extending across the angle formed by the junction of the two rivers is a low 
 line of laterite hills on which are the barracks of the small garrison, detached 
 from Touug-ngoo, and a few houses, the remnants of the much larger can- 
 tonment which was established here after the close of the second Burmese 
 war. Where these abut on the Tsit-toung river, north of the town, is the 
 old fort and stockade from which the Burmese escaped without waiting for 
 the attack of the English on the advance of the British column from Marta- 
 ban to Toung-ngoo in 1853. The main portion of the town, which is laid out 
 in straight streets generally at right-angles, lies in the low land between these 
 hills and the rivers, and during the rains is to a great extent flooded. On 
 the right bank of the Tsit-toung there is a small suburb. The inhabitants 
 are principally engaged in trading. The town contains the usual offices of 
 a Deputy Commissioner, a police-office, post-office, hospital and dispensary, 
 school, telegraph-office, and forest-office, a considerable quantity of teak 
 being brought down the Tsit-toung and landed on the river bank for exami- 
 nation and for the receipt of passes from the Forest officer in charge. It is 
 a town of no very ancient date which has gradually increased from a small 
 village, the increase being aided in 1829 by a large influx of the inhabitants 
 of Kyouk-gyee, further north, who had been burned out. 
 
 SHWE-GYENG. — A township in the centre of the district of the same 
 name, lying on both sides of the Tsit-toung river ; on the west it includes
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 643 
 
 Bliaw-nee, transferred some years ago from Toung-ngoo, and thus stretches 
 up along the Pegu Koma almost to the extreme north -west corner of the 
 district. Its northern boundar)', west of the Tsit-toung, is formed by the 
 Ee-nwe and Kyoo rivers, and to the east by a line drawn from the mouth 
 of the Kyouk-gyee to' the Shwe-gyeng river and thence by that stream to 
 its source. On the east it is bounded by the crest of the Poungloung range 
 from the source of the Shwe-gyeng to the Kyaik-htee-ro hill ; on the south 
 by the Kyoon-pa-goo east of the Tsit-toung and on the west by the Pyeng- 
 boon-gyee or Pa-gaing embankment and the Bhaw-nee-ga-le (thus including 
 Kaw-lee-ya, a circle lately added to it from Piangoon), and on the west by 
 the Pegu mountains. To the north is the Kyouk-gyee township and the 
 Toung-ngoo district, to the east the Salween Hill Tracts district, to the 
 south the Tsit-toung township and the Piangoon district and to the west 
 the Henzada (Tharrawaddy) and Prome districts. The eastern and western 
 borders are highly mountainous and covered with dense forest but between 
 the lower slopes of the hills and the river, more especially west of the Tsit- 
 toung, are tracts of fertile rice laud. The principal rivers are the Kyoo and 
 the I)a-la-nwon on the east and the Shwe-gyeng on the west, but there are 
 other streams of more or less importance, the majority of them navigable 
 for some distance during the rains. The western portion is traversed by 
 numerous fair-weather cart roads; the main road from Pegu to Toung-ngoo, 
 now being made, and the projected Tsit-toung Valley (State) Railway will 
 run through this township. On the east the main road from Toung-ngoo to 
 Tsit-toung runs along the bank of the river. The town of Shwe-gyeng lies 
 within the township but is not under the jurisdiction of the Extra Assistant 
 Commissioner in charge, who was formerly stationed close to that town on 
 the opposite bank of the Shwe-gyeng but now resides and holds his court 
 at Thayet-tha-mien — more correctly Thoo-rai-tha-mee — a long straggling 
 village on the right bank of the Tsit-toung river. The other principal 
 villages are Poo-zwon-myoung, on the banks of the Tsit-toung, where there 
 is a considerable manufacture of earthen pots, and Gnyoung-le-beng, some- 
 what inland in the centre of a large tract of rice cultivation. In 1876-77 
 the population was 49,198, the land revenue was PiS. 25,820, the capitation 
 tax Pis. 38,794 and the gross revenue Es. 1,47,253. 
 
 SHWE-GYENG. — A district in the Tenasserim division, 5,565 square 
 miles in extent, lying in the valley of the Tsit-toung south of Toung-ngoo 
 from which it is separated east of the Tsit-toung by the Piouk-thwa river, 
 and on the west by the K\von. Its western boundary, which extends from 
 the source of the Kwon to that of the Bhaw-nee-ga-le, is formed by 
 the Pegu Pioma mountains as far south as the Kha-la and thence by the 
 eastern of the two spurs into which the main range here separates : west 
 of the main range are the Henzada (Tharrawaddy) and Prome districts, and 
 west of the spur is the Piangoon district. On the right bank of the Tsit- 
 toung it is separated from the Piangoon district by the Bhaw-nee-ga-le as 
 far as the Pegu and Toung-ngoo road, thence by that road to the Pycng- 
 boon-gyec or Pa-gaing embankment and thence liy this embankment to 
 Myit-kyo on the Tsit-toung : here the boundary turns southward and follows 
 the canal to the Kha-ra-tshoo, when, turning eastward, it follows that 
 creek nearly to its mouth winding southward so as to include the village 
 of Kha-ra-tshoo situated in a small triangular patch between the Tsit-toung
 
 644 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and the creek. On the east from the source of the Eouk-thwa to the Kyaik- 
 htee-yo the crest of the Poungloung range separates it from the Salween 
 Hill Tracts. From Kyaik-htee-yo the boundary line turns eastward, still 
 dividing the district from the Salween Hill Tracts, and after striking 
 the river Bhee-leng follows it southwards to its mouth. The southern 
 boundary in this part extends along the Kyoon-iek eastward to its mouth in 
 the Kyouk-tsa-rit, here it turns north-east and crossing the Doon-tha-mie 
 and the hills strikes the Salween at Kyouk-tsa-rit. East and south, below 
 the Salween Hill Tracts, the district which adjoins it is Amherst. 
 
 The boundaries have more than once been altered. After the second 
 Burmese war it included the Salween and the Tha-htoon sub-division of the 
 Amherst district but did not include Bhaw-nee, and was then called the 
 Martaban province ; after the formation of the Chief Commissionership it 
 was called the Martaban district. In 1864-65, Martaban was joined to 
 Amherst and the district was called Shwe-gyeng ; a short time later Bhaw- 
 nee, which had originally belonged to Rangoon, was added to it from Toung- 
 ngoo : in 1872 the Ewon-za-leng sub -division was formed into an independ- 
 ent jurisdiction and called the Salween Hill Tracts, and in 1873 the Kaw- 
 lee-ya ckcle in the south-west was added to it from Rangoon and the village 
 of Leng-bweng from Toung-ngoo. In 1877 the boundary between Shwe- 
 gyeng and Rangoon was changed whereby small tracts were exchanged. 
 
 In the north the aspect of the country is highly mountainous, both 
 the eastern and the w^estern range sending down numerous spurs which, on 
 the east, approach to within a few miles of the Tsit-toung. Both ranges 
 diminish in height towards the south and the Pegu Roma recede farther 
 from the river leaving a wide extent of good land. Below Kyaik-hto, a 
 town at the foot of the southern slopes of the Poungloung range, the 
 whole country consists of low lands which comprise extensive plains and 
 scrub forest stretching away as far as the eye can reach with an almost 
 unrelieved sombre appearance and mostly covered with almost impenetrable 
 elephant grass except where rice is grown on some spots suited to its cultiva- 
 tion. Here and there a pagoda, or a group of houses with hardly a tree near 
 them except perhaps a few tall palms, mark the village of some fishermen 
 or salt-boilers who gain a precarious livelihood from the salt-impregnated 
 soil or the muddy waters of the numerous tidal creeks. At high tides the 
 whole of the coast for miles inland is inundated, and so rapidly does the sea 
 advance over the fiats that little or no chance is offered to the fisherman or 
 turtle-seeker should he have neglected the warning sound of the advancing 
 waters. During the dry season the upper portion of these plains is 
 easily traversible by carts but during the rains they become one vast sheet 
 of water, with the tops of the tall elephant grass shewing above and 
 almost concealing the pagodas and villages by which alone the boatman 
 can guide his course. 
 
 The principal mountains are the Pegu Roma on the west and the 
 
 Mountains. Poungloung on the east both extending from north to 
 
 south but the latter nearer to the Tsit-toung river. 
 Both are densely wooded, with steep ascents and descents, drained by 
 numerous small streams which, as a "general rule, flow all the year round, 
 and inhabited by Kareng and Yabaing. There are several passes over the 
 Pegu Roma but they are mere tracks winding up ravines and along the crests
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 645 
 
 of spurs. Across the Poungloung range there are three principal routes : 
 the northern is up the valley of the Baw-ga-ta and across the Thayet-peng- 
 keng-dat hill to Kaw-loo-do, the northern police-post in the Salween Hill 
 Tracts ; the central passes up the valleys of the Moot-ta-ma and the Mai- 
 dai and debouches at Pa-pwon ; the southern lies in the valley of the Moot- 
 ta-ma almost to the source of that river and then crosses the high Thwot- 
 ta-bat hill and strikes Hpa-wa-ta on the Bhee-leng river. This range, 
 which at the Tsek-le hill opposite Shwe-gyeng attains a height of about 
 4,000 feet, terminates above Keng-rwa in the Ke-la-tha hill, crowned by a 
 conspicuous pagoda said to have been founded many years ago at the same 
 time as the Kyaik-htee-yo on a hill of the same range above Tsit-toung. 
 The Tsit-toung, above Shwe-gyeng sometimes called the Toung-ngoo 
 river and sometimes the Poungloung, rises in the Burmese 
 ^^^^^' territories and enters this district at its northern 
 
 boundary ; after an exceedingly tortuous course it takes a large S-shaped 
 bend just below Tsit-toung and some miles to the south falls into the Gulf 
 of Martaban by a funnel-shaped mouth seven or eight miles wide up which 
 the spring tides rush with great violence forming a bore and rendering 
 navigation exceedingly dangerous. It is navigable throughout its length 
 in this district by large boats and steam-launches. At the mouth of the 
 river at springs the bore rises to the height of 20 feet. At low water as far 
 as the eye can see the country near the mouth is a succession of low mud 
 fiats ; the first appearance of the setting flood is marked in the far distance 
 seaward by the tide-wave which rolls up through the channel leading to the 
 mouth of the river with a low rumbling sound which gradually becomes 
 more and more audible forewarning all who may be in its way and giving 
 timely notice of its advance. On nearing the mouth it throws off small 
 bores into the narrow channels that lead to the different creeks the main 
 body passing up the Tsit-toung with a curling crest which even at Kha-ra- 
 tshoo is, during the springs, some 12 feet high, and is broken only by the 
 serpentine curve of the river a little higher up. In the dry season it 
 sweeps up the river as far as Waing, between Tsit-toung and Shwe-gyeng, 
 but in the rains does not go beyond Weng-ba-daw some seven miles below 
 Tsit-toung. Behind it comes the main body of the tide which breaks 
 over the flats and in a few moments inundates the whole coast for miles. 
 Following the roUing crest of the bore in the river is the " boiling ", or as 
 the Burmese call it the " rising ", sand in which many a boat is lost after it 
 has withstood the shock of the bore passing. It is simply a chop-sea of 
 heavy sand and water which sometimes acts with such effect upon a boat 
 as to render it a wreck in a few minutes. The banks of the river gradually 
 increase in height but, composed of loose and sandy alluvium, they crumble 
 away very considerably under the influence of the bore and of the rapid 
 current during the rains : except in the neighbourhood of villages where 
 patches of rice or garden cultivation exist they are almost uniformly 
 covered with dense grass. Its affluents are small, generally rocky, and 
 comparatively insignificant streams which serve only as drainage-ways, as 
 means of communication between the villages on their banks, or as outlets 
 for timber and other forest produce. The Kwou, the northern boundary of 
 the district rises in the Pegu Eoma and after an E.S.E. course of some 
 60 miles faUs into the Tsit-toung near A-nan-baw about 50 miles below
 
 646 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Toung-ngoo. Its course before it has left the mountains is obstructed by 
 rocks but teak and raw silk are brought down and distributed through the 
 Tsit-toung. The Re-nwe has its source in the Pegu Eoma and after a 
 south-easterly course of about 90 miles falls into the Tsit-toung about six 
 miles north of Shwe-gyeng. The banks are steep and rocky near the source 
 and fiat near the mouth : in the rains small boats can ascend as far as the 
 village of Waing-gyee. The Bhaing-da, Tsha-re, Kaw-lee-ya, and Bhaw-nee 
 are all streams whose waters are added to those of the Tsit-toung from the 
 westward. A little above the village of Myit-kyo the Da-la-nwon comes in 
 from the west : it is formed by the junction of several small streams and is 
 easily navigable for some distance beyond Thoon-khwa whence, until 
 the Pyeng-boon-gyee embankment was made, boats could easily proceed 
 during the rains to the Pegu river and thus avoid the dangerous bore. 
 
 The eastern affluents are the Eouk-thwa in the north which is navigable 
 for a few miles only from its mouth, but serves as an outlet for a consider- 
 able quantity of areca nut grown on the hills and for a small quantity of 
 teak ; the Moon ; and the Kyouk-gyee, which rises in the north-eastern part 
 of the district and, fed by the Pa-da and numerous mountain torrents from 
 the Poungloung range, falls into the Tsit-toung about 12 miles above Shwe- 
 gyeng after a southerly course almost parallel to that river and at no great 
 distance from it ; its principal tributary is the Baw-ga-ta. The Shwe-gyeng, 
 which is not navigable except by rafts and very small boats, rises in the 
 Poungloung range, north of Shwe-gyeng and falls into the Tsit-toung at that 
 town after receiving near its mouth the waters of the Moot-ta-ma which 
 has its source in the mountains south-east of Shwe-gyeng near the Thwot- 
 ta-bat hill. South of this the streams are too small to be of any import- 
 ance excejot to carry off the rainfall : the two principal are the Kyoon- 
 pa-goo and the Kha-wa, the latter joining the main river at Tsit-toung. 
 Some six or seven miles below Tsit-toung, at the village of Weng-ba-daw, 
 is a small creek almost dry in the dry season but which in the rains com- 
 municates with the swollen streams and flooded plains to the eastward and 
 is then the only route to Kyaik-hto and Bhee-leng and thence to Maulmain. 
 
 The Bhee-leng or Doon-won river rises in the wilderness of mountains 
 forming the Salween district, and has a generally southerly course to the 
 Gulf of Martaban. Whilst winding amongst the hills it is a rocky, pebbly, 
 mountain torrent rushing over enormous boulders and bathing the feet of 
 forest-clad steeps but as soon as it emerges into the plains it deepens rapidly 
 and soon becomes thick and muddy. The entrance from the sea is difficult 
 and dangerous and the villages on its banks are generally small. For a 
 short portion of its course it forms the highway during the rains between 
 the Tsit-toung and Maulmain. During springs a bore rushes up this river 
 inundating the country round for miles and in the dry season extends as 
 far up as Shwe-hle a few miles below Bhee-leng but during the rains is soon 
 checked by the strong current and mass of water which then comes down 
 from the hills. In the south the banks are low gradually rising towards 
 the north, where at first elephant grass and then tree forest take the place 
 of the mangrove which grows on its banks near the coast. Its affluents are 
 few and insignificant but during the rains it communicates on the east with 
 the Doou-tha-mee, and in the west with the Tsit-toung and the intervening 
 rivers.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 647 
 
 The vast plain south of Kyaik-hto, lying between the Tsit-toung and 
 the Bhee-leng, is drained by two principal streams which, in the rains, are 
 interconnected, the whole country becoming a sheet of water. The Ka-dat 
 flows through Kyaik-hto, where it is spanned by a wooden bridge, and con- 
 tinuing towards the S.S.E. falls into the mouth of the Tsit-toung river or 
 the head of the Gulf of Martaban. The Thai-bhyoo, a somewhatlarger stream, 
 rises rather farther to the north on the eastern side of the southern end of 
 the Poungloung range and, after a somewhat more tortuous course trending 
 more to the westward, reaches the Gulf about seven miles below the mouth 
 of the Ka-dat. There are bores in both these streams and at flood tides the 
 whole of the lower country through which they flow is flooded. 
 
 There are five small lakes in the district four of which viz., Htoon-daw, 
 Tsa-weng, Mwai-dweng, and Mee-khyoung-goung, are in 
 Lakes. ^^^ Moon circle of the Kyouk-gyee township, and the 
 
 fifth, the Nga-thwai-zoot, is south of Bhee-leng. The Htoon-daw and the 
 Mwai-dweng are both picturesque sheets of water and the former is of some 
 extent and winds round through thick forest encircling a small piece of high 
 land in its centre. 
 
 The district has never been accurately geologically surveyed. The 
 Poungloung range on the east " consists of two distinct 
 mineralogy. ^^^ " groups of rocks an older and metomorphic one, and a 
 "younger one of carboniferous age."* Whether true 
 gi-anite occurs otherwise than in the shape of dykes or not within the limits 
 of this district is a point not yet fully determined. "It may indeed be 
 " doubted " writes Mr. Theobald " if any granite save in the form of veins 
 " occurs in the Poungloung range, or within the British frontier line ; though 
 " the schistose rock, of which the Poungloung consist, displays a great ten- 
 " dency to massive structure lithologically resembling granite but neither 
 " intrusive nor in any way dissociated from the more bedded members of the 
 " group :t " and again "I fully admit that lithologically this Kyouk-gyee and 
 " Kyiktyo [Kyaik-ktee-yo) rock is a perfect granite, but from the identity of 
 " it with a similar granitic rock, which is undoubtedly a member of the schis- 
 " tose group of crystalline rocks, I am led to suspect a similar relationship 
 " for it." : 
 
 North of Kyouk-gyee the gneissose (Triassic) rocks of which the Poung- 
 loung range is composed extend westwards as far as the Kyouk-gyee river 
 only but towards the south they border the Tsit-toung. 
 
 The Pegu Pioma on the west and most of the ground intervening 
 between them and the Tsit-toung consists "of a very important series of 
 " beds between the Eocene or Nummulitic group on the one hand, and the 
 
 " fossil wood group {jjost pliocene to pliocene) on the other From what we 
 
 " know of the Yoma its age may be roughly fixed as upper tertiary, covering 
 " probably the whole of the geological epochs named miocene and pliocene." || 
 
 * Theobald : *' Geology of Pegu " in Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Volume X., 
 part 2, page 35. 
 
 t Tbcobakl : " Geology of Pegu " in Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Volume X., 
 part 2, page 13. 
 
 J Theobald: ".Geology of Pegu" in Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Volume X., 
 part 2, page 140. 
 
 II Theobald : " Geology of Pegu" in Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Volume X., 
 part 2, page 80.
 
 648 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The whole of the level and alluvial plains are occupied by an arenaceous 
 and very homogeneous deposit, which most probably had an estuary origin, 
 with patches of coarse sands and gravels along the edge of the lower slopes 
 of the Pegu Eoma. Westof theTsit-toung "laterite is generally wanting, 
 
 "and its occurrence exceptional Crossing the Sittang (Tsit-toung) 
 
 " river, good typical laterite undistinguishable from the Midnapore rock, is 
 *' found in great force, forming a continuous belt of high ground almost 
 " scarped as regards the abruptness of its margin towards the Sittang 
 " (Tsit-toung) and forming a plateau of variable breadth thence to the foot of 
 " the hills, and which covers ground not as yet explored. This is the lateritic 
 
 *' belt which may be roughly estimated to rise abruptly from 50 to 60 
 
 "feet above the alluvium of the Sittang {Tsit-toung) valley. The now 
 " deserted military station of Sittang {Tsit-toung) was situated on a steep bluff 
 " of this rock overlooking the river ; and a little below this the deposit 
 " sweeps away back from the river, and runs with a slightly sinuous and 
 *' somewhat indented outline to Kyeikto {Kyaik-hto) and thence to Martaban. 
 " From Sittang {Tsit-toung) the deposit runs with a very straight boundary, 
 " modified only by the denuding action of streams which traverse it, as high 
 " as Kyouk-kyee, a distance of 60 miles ; beyond which it is continued in a 
 *' less regular manner for some 25 miles more. 
 
 " I have described this laterite as a basal member of the older alluvium 
 " of the province ; but perhaps it would be more correct to describe it as a 
 *' shore or marginal deposit of the basin wherein the wide-spread alluvial clay 
 " accumulated, and as the equivalent, so to say, of that rock. At the time 
 ** of its accumulation, the waters of the Gulf of Martaban stretched up what 
 ** now forms the Irawadi, Sittang {Tsit-toung) and Salwin {Sahveen) valleys ; 
 *' and the drainage from the then peninsular-like land, now constituting the 
 *' Arakan, Pegu and Poungloung ranges, contributed towards the formation 
 " along the coast-line of the sandy talus or bank, which now intervenes 
 *' between the level plains and the hill country. The Pegu range, consistmg 
 ** wholly of soft sand and shales, rather deficient in iron, has contributed to 
 " that sandy detritus which fringes the plains of the Sittang {Tsit-toung) 
 " valley to the westward, and wherein pebbles and gravel are scarce, and 
 " laterite as a rule wanting. East of the Sittang {Tsit-toung), however, the 
 " Poungloung hill ranges composed of metamorphic and altered rocks, 
 *' many of them rich in iron, have contributed not only a coarser pebbly 
 *' detritus, but the precise elements, silicious, argillaceous and ferruginous, 
 " requisite for the production of typical laterite; and the above described 
 ** laterite bank is simply the littoral accumulation of debris brought down 
 " under ordinary conditions of denudation, and identical in its age and mode 
 *' of accumulation with the loose sandy deposits on the opposite side of the 
 *' valley. The accumulation and transportation of the coarse materials 
 *' forming this laterite bank naturally would be more suddenly arrested than 
 " in the case of fine deposits ; hence the abrupt scarped outline of the 
 "laterite is, in my opinion, to a great extent an original feature of deposi- 
 *' tion, only to a very partial extent modified by subsequent denudation ; and 
 "it is probable that this laterite bank at no period extended much 
 " beyond the general line of its present boundary, no outliers, or other 
 " indications of its former extension, being anywhere seen west of the Sittang 
 " {Tsit-toung).
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 049 
 
 " Some 13 miles north of Shuay-gheen (Shive-gyeng) on the line of 
 ** telegraph road is a small bat-cave in thelaterite, which has the appearance • 
 * ' of having originated naturally, probably through the removal, by ordinary 
 " drainage, of some loose and incoherent portion of the lateritic stratum 
 " wherein the cave occurs. It is entered from the top by a natural opening, 
 " and there is also a ' swallow hole ' in the roof which may or may not be 
 " of artificial origin ; the cave, however, appears never to have been 
 " tenanted by any animals save bats, and possesses no features of interest 
 *' whatever."* 
 
 The district is, it is supposed, rich in minerals but until it has been 
 carefully surveyed and the spots at which these occur examined scientifically 
 no positive statements on this subject can be «aade. Gold is certainly 
 found in most of the affluents of the Shwe-gyeng {Gold loashing) river and 
 has been more than once worked but the quantity obtained is so small as 
 not to repay the labour. This river and the mountains at its source have 
 been examined by Mr. Theobald of the Geological Survey and by a practical 
 miner and the reports of both point generally to the same conclusions. 
 Mr. Theobald stated that "the section of the auriferous beds corresponds 
 " very closely with that given by Sir R. Murchison, in his ' Siluria,' of the 
 
 " Russian gold deposits From the occurrence of coarse grains in the 
 
 " Shuay-gheen (Shwe-gi/cnf/) gravels I should infer the occurrence of the metal 
 *' in situ in some of the rocks towards the sources of the streams falling into 
 
 " the Sittang {Tsit-toung) especially the Matuma (Moot-ta-ma) From the 
 
 " marked scarcity of quartz pebbles at the gold washings I am inclined to 
 " believe that quartz is not the matrix or not the sole matrix certainly of the 
 " Shuay-gheen {Shwe-gyeng) gold." He adds that the full amount which an 
 industrious worker could calculate on making daily would be about five annas. 
 Subsequently a party of Chinamen started work, but found the result so un- 
 remunerative that they gave it up. Still later Mr. James Abernethy, aided 
 by the State, made a further and equally unsuccessful attempt to obtain a re- 
 munerative quantity of the precious metal. He condemned the sources of 
 the Shwe-g3^eng as being " steep and rocky and having a hard smooth 
 " ledge upon which gold is seldom found in great quantities to pay." He 
 further examined the sources of the Baw-ga-ta with much the same result. 
 
 Copper exists in the Kyouk-gyee township and the pits in the neigh- 
 bourhood attest the fact that it has been at one time worked. Galena is 
 also found in the same township, as is iron ; this latter was worked during 
 the Burmese time by some Shan and the ore sold at about seven rupees 
 a hundredweight. Lead and tin are both found in spots north of Shwe- 
 gyeng but have never been worked. Coal, it is said, exists in Kyouk-gyee 
 but the site has never been scientifically examined. 
 
 The teak forests west of the Tsit-toung are situated mostly in the 
 plains and consist bf isolated patches of limited extent, 
 but containing some timber of great value, situated 
 generally on the banks of the lle-nwe, Bhaing-da and Kaw-lee-ya rivers, 
 and further north on the Kwon. East of the Tsit-toung groups of teak trees 
 are found scattered all along the road from Kyouk-gyee doMn to Tsit-toung, 
 but the stems are irregular and the trees seldom tall. Further inland, 
 
 * Theobald : " Geology of Pegu " in Memoin of the Geological Survey of IruU'i, Volume X,, 
 pnrt 2, page 57 et seq, 
 
 82
 
 650 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 higher up the valleys, of most of the eastern affluents of the Tsit-toung, 
 considerable quantities of teak are to be found but only a small proportion 
 of the full-sized trees are of regular shape, except in the valleys of the Moon 
 and the Pa-da, a tributary of the Kyouk-gyee. Teak here forms excellent 
 forests on level ground along the banks of the main stream and a good 
 proportion of teak trees is found on the lower hills immediately skirting 
 the valley. Some of the forests are on deep and rich alluvial soil, others 
 on higher, slightly undulating, ground densely covered with a species of 
 Pollinia which is characteristic of a peculiar class of teak localities, — a 
 soft grass with long narrow blades, often from six to eight feet high, so 
 that when penetrating a forest covered with it during the rains, you are 
 deeply immersed in it. .Yet it offers no serious impediment to progress 
 through a forest, as elephant grass decidedly does ; which, however, is 
 not found in teak localities. The teak grass is not very favourable to 
 the springing up of seedlings. 
 
 The most valuable trees other than teak are Pyeng-ka-do (Xylia dolabri- 
 formis), Pyeng-ma {Lagerstronmia regince) and Thit-tsee {Melanorrhcea usita- 
 tissima) yielding a black varnish. 
 
 . Except in the hills, the climate is generally healthy. From the middle 
 of October to the middle of May it is dry, but heavy 
 ima e. dews at night and fogs in the morning prevail during 
 
 January and February. The day heat is excessfve from March till May, 
 but a refreshing breeze generally sets in at from 6 to 7 p. m. The nights 
 and mornings are cool throughout the year. During the dry season the 
 air in almost every part, except j^owards the coast, is loaded with smoke and 
 particles of burnt matter from jungles being on fire on all sides. Towards 
 the end of May the rains are ushered in by violent thunderstorms and 
 gales of wind, and at their termination the same phenomena in a milder 
 form are 'experienced. 
 
 The principal diseases from which the inhabitants suffer are fevers and 
 bowel-complaints, to which in 1877 no less than 123 and 64 respectively 
 of the 220 deaths were attributed, whilst one was due to cholera and none 
 to small-pox. 
 
 The rain-fall and average state of the thermometer during the seven 
 years ending with 1875-76, were : — 
 
 
 Rainfall, in inches. 
 
 Average 
 
 lEMPERATUEE IN THE SHADE. 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 53 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 a> 
 
 m 
 
 a 
 
 u 
 
 (1) 
 
 ft 
 
 o 
 
 
 • May. 
 
 July. 
 
 December. 
 
 YE.VK. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 P-5 
 
 S 
 
 eg 
 
 o 
 a 
 
 O ai 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 m 
 
 Pi" 
 
 TO 
 
 m 
 
 a 
 
 02 
 
 IN 
 
 "S 
 
 TO 
 
 w. 
 
 03 
 
 m 
 
 p^ 
 
 a 
 eg 
 
 1869.. 
 
 14-45 
 
 160-20 
 
 8-45 
 
 183-10 
 
 70 
 
 96 
 
 82 
 
 78 
 
 88 
 
 81 
 
 67 
 
 83 
 
 78 
 
 1870.. 
 
 39-10 
 
 129 10 
 
 15-60 
 
 183-80 
 
 78 
 
 87 
 
 82 
 
 76 
 
 85 
 
 77 
 
 58 
 
 84 
 
 74 
 
 1871.. 
 
 35-50 
 
 164-80 
 
 16-60 
 
 216-90 
 
 70 
 
 90 
 
 74 
 
 73 
 
 93 
 
 77 
 
 48 
 
 90 
 
 50 
 
 1872.. 
 
 22-50 
 
 103-60 
 
 11-90 
 
 138-00 
 
 70 
 
 96 
 
 75 
 
 71 
 
 84 
 
 77 
 
 60 
 
 85 
 
 79 
 
 1873.. 
 
 5-00 
 
 109-00 
 
 13-90 
 
 127-90 
 
 76 
 
 102 
 
 79 
 
 79 
 
 90 
 
 86 
 
 69 
 
 88 
 
 77 
 
 1874.. 
 
 15-10 
 
 108-50 
 
 8-80 
 
 132-40 
 
 74 
 
 100 
 
 77 
 
 76 
 
 88 
 
 82 
 
 66 
 
 86 
 
 78 
 
 1875.. 
 
 19-10 
 
 140-10 
 
 6-20 
 
 165-40 
 
 75 
 
 99 
 
 78 
 
 76 
 
 88 
 
 84 
 
 81 
 
 88 
 
 79
 
 BRITISH BUKMA GAZETTEER. - 
 
 651 
 
 In 1876 and 1877 the rain-fall and the average temperature in the 
 shade were : — 
 
 
 Rainfall 
 
 , IN INCHES. 
 
 
 
 Average tempebatube m 
 
 TECE SHADE. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 May. 
 
 July. 
 
 December. 
 
 
 g 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 p 
 
 
 
 
 p 
 
 
 
 p 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 Yeab, 
 
 
 .a 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 'S 
 
 to 
 
 i3 
 
 to 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 tso 
 a 
 
 e3 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 
 CO 
 
 a 
 
 BO 
 
 a 
 
 
 t, 
 
 M 
 o 
 
 
 3 03 
 
 Scd 
 
 S 
 
 <3 
 
 S3 
 
 s . 
 
 ■■3 
 
 ci 
 
 a.- 
 
 ■a 
 ■•-> 
 
 .a 
 
 % 
 
 
 1 
 
 p 
 
 o 
 
 
 •3 
 o 
 
 
 O.S 
 
 d o 
 
 
 
 
 OS 
 
 Is 
 
 .a 
 
 60 
 
 a) 
 ;•* 
 
 m 
 o 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 a> 
 
 
 i-s 
 
 i-s 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 w 
 
 tJ 
 
 a 
 
 a ■ 
 
 £ 
 
 1^ 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 K 
 
 Hi 
 
 1876 ... 
 
 17-60 
 
 122-10 
 
 7-20 
 
 146-90 
 
 87 
 
 78 
 
 90 
 
 75 
 
 87 
 
 79 
 
 87 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 59 
 
 83 
 
 55 
 
 1877 
 
 4-80 
 
 140-39 
 
 11-80 
 
 156-99 
 
 101-79 
 
 109 
 
 — 
 
 76 
 
 86 
 
 76 92 
 
 74 
 
 90 
 
 63 
 
 91 
 
 55 
 
 Only 175 sq^uare miles of the district are cultivated, but the cultivated 
 area is gradually extending and there are some 3,611 
 
 gric ture. square miles of culturable waste waiting to be taken up. 
 
 The most fertile portions are on the right bank of the Tsit-toung river 
 towards the south. The principal crop is rice of which 25 different kinds 
 are grown. These with the time of sowing and of reajjing, and the outturn 
 of husked grain, are : — 
 
 
 
 • 5 ai SI- 
 
 
 Name. 
 
 When sown. 
 
 When 
 reaped. 
 
 utturu of 
 usked ric 
 ushels, 
 ere. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O^^ c 
 
 
 Kyouk-gyee . . 
 
 May or June. 
 
 January or 
 February. 
 
 50 or 60 
 
 Generally cultivated. 
 
 Nga-tsien 
 
 June 
 
 November or 
 December. 
 
 60 
 
 Raised principally on the west 
 bank of the Tsit-toung for 
 exportation to Europe, for 
 which purpose it fetches a 
 higher price than other 
 kinds. 
 
 Tsa-ba-hpyoo Mec-doon . . 
 
 Do. .. 
 
 Do. .. 
 
 CO 
 
 Softer grained than the above, 
 and largely cultivated. 
 
 Tsa-ba-nek . . 
 
 Do. .. 
 
 Close of No- 
 vember. 
 
 50 
 
 A good and palatable grain, 
 cultivated by liiauy. 
 
 Tsa-ba-nek Toung-byaw . . 
 
 Do. .. 
 
 Do. .. 
 
 45 
 
 Very similar to above, and 
 cultivated by many. 
 
 Toung-byaw .. 
 
 End of June 
 or bt'f^inniug 
 of July. 
 
 January 1. 
 
 50 
 
 Good, cultivated by many, 
 and of higher value than 
 Kouk-gyee in the market. 
 
 Ra-haing 
 
 June 
 
 October .. 
 
 40 to 45 
 
 Has a long, but small grain. 
 Not much cultivated, except 
 in case of scarcity, owing 
 to the early ripening, and 
 the consequent difficulty 
 in reaping it.
 
 652 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Name. 
 
 When sown. 
 
 When 
 reaped. 
 
 Outturn of un- 
 husked rice in 
 bushels, per 
 acre. 
 
 November. 
 
 35 
 
 December. 
 
 35 
 
 October . . 
 
 30 
 
 November, 
 
 35 
 
 October . . 
 
 55 
 
 January . . 
 
 30 
 
 October . . 
 
 35 
 
 Do. .. 
 
 40 
 
 Do. .. 
 
 40 
 
 Do. .. 
 
 45 to 50 
 
 October and 
 November. 
 
 50 
 
 September, 
 
 50 
 
 .January and 
 February. 
 
 50 
 
 October . . 
 
 40 
 
 September, 
 
 40 to 45 
 
 Do. .. 
 
 40 
 
 October . . 
 
 40 
 
 September. 
 
 40 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Shan-ga-le 
 
 Kouk-nhien . . 
 
 Nga-khyiek . . 
 Ka-ka-poon , . . 
 E-dee-ma-tat . . 
 Kvvek-twa 
 
 Koon-wa 
 
 Pan-gnyo-gyee 
 Koon-nee-gyee 
 Nga-sheng-thwai 
 
 Kouk-gyee 
 
 Boo-hpoo-ga-le 
 
 Mee-doon 
 
 Kouk-yeng 
 Po-wo 
 Poo-pa-rien 
 Boo-kee 
 
 Kyo-tseng 
 
 Do. .. 
 
 July 
 
 June 
 
 Do. .. 
 
 Do. .. 
 September, 
 
 August 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 July 
 
 June 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 
 Rarely or never cultivated 
 for sale, but for home con- 
 sumption. 
 
 Used principally for making 
 cakes. 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 Only cultivated when there is 
 
 a scarcity. 
 For consumption boiled, and 
 
 for cakes. 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 Ditto ; large grained. 
 
 Rough-grained, and but little 
 
 cultivated. 
 When cultivated, the grain is 
 
 principally used for making 
 
 cakes. 
 
 Cultivated in toungya by Ka- 
 reng. 
 
 Not much cultivated on ac- 
 count of its early ripening. 
 
 Grain hard and palatable. 
 
 A tough grain, large and 
 
 short. 
 Similar to Kouk-nhien. 
 
 A scented grain. 
 
 A spotted grain. 
 
 Betel-nuts are very largely cultivated on the hill sides near running 
 streams, the water being diverted into the palm-grovea by artificial chan- 
 nels. Cotton is to some extent grown in the toungya, and to a very small 
 extent tobacco is cultivated ; whilst there is a larger extent of sugar-cane 
 cultivation here than anywhere else, except in Kyouk-hpyoo. Vegetables 
 are abundant and of toungya there are more than in any other part of the 
 province. The land generally is not fertile and in the case of no crop is 
 the average outturn per acre largo, whilst in some cases, as in that of 
 tobacco and oil-seeds, it is very small. 
 
 V
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 653 
 
 The area under the principal crops during each of the last seven years 
 was, in acres : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 « 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 ■3 
 
 
 
 TS 
 
 (S 
 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 53 
 
 -a 
 
 Teak. 
 
 
 a> 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 03 
 
 a 
 
 TS S 
 
 
 
 
 OS 
 
 ^ 
 
 cj 
 
 © 
 
 
 <o <o 
 
 
 
 
 tlD 
 
 .4.3 
 
 ri3 
 
 to 
 
 
 X J3 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 <u 
 
 <o 
 
 
 
 (3 
 
 b 
 
 CO 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 > 
 
 m 
 
 s 
 
 1871-72 
 
 50,773 
 
 1 
 
 Not given 
 
 223 
 
 11 
 
 1,481 
 
 4,611 
 
 2,106 
 
 1872-73 
 
 56,687 
 
 6 
 
 702 
 
 242 
 
 12 
 
 991 
 
 3,511 
 
 2,124 
 
 1873-74 
 
 59,697 
 
 9 
 
 497 
 
 217 
 
 4 
 
 1,226 
 
 3,483 
 
 2,099 
 
 1874-75 
 
 63,106 
 
 23 
 
 1,036 
 
 22 
 
 16 
 
 1,015 
 
 3,872 
 
 2,201 
 
 1875-76 
 
 60,764 
 
 4 
 
 438 
 
 28 
 
 6 
 
 900 
 
 3,845 
 
 2,082 
 
 1876-77 
 
 62,886 
 
 12 
 
 662 
 
 99 
 
 4 
 
 1,344 
 
 3,707 
 
 2,047 
 
 1877-78 
 
 67,640 
 
 128 
 
 1,020 
 
 136 
 
 9 
 
 1,496 
 
 3,738 
 
 3,619 
 
 Rice is the only crop the cultivation of which has really and steadily 
 increased. The chief rice-producing tracts are in the Kaw-lee-ya, Kweng- 
 da-la, Gnyoung-le-beng, Ee-hla, Kyouk-gyee and Gamoon-aing cu'cles of 
 which the last is, perhaps, the most important. 
 
 The agricultural stock during the same period was : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Buffaloes. 
 
 Cows, bulls 
 and bullocks. 
 
 Sheep and 
 goats. 
 
 Pigs. 
 
 Carts. 
 
 Ploughs. 
 
 Boats. 
 
 1871-72 
 
 23,652 
 
 8,345 
 
 350 
 
 2,000 
 
 4,699 
 
 6,108 
 
 1,457 
 
 1872-73 
 
 25,113 
 
 8,225 
 
 350 
 
 2,000 
 
 4,761 
 
 6,395 
 
 1,557 
 
 1873-74 
 
 27,502 
 
 9,184 
 
 400 
 
 2,200 
 
 4,959 
 
 6,740 
 
 1.559 
 
 1874-75 
 
 27,950 
 
 10,197 
 
 450 
 
 2,300 
 
 5,295 
 
 7,219 
 
 1,634 
 
 1875-76 
 
 26,911 
 
 11,311 
 
 398 
 
 2,367 
 
 5,381 
 
 7,040 
 
 1,460 
 
 1876-77 
 
 29,076 
 
 11,779 
 
 416 
 
 2,408 
 
 5,849 
 
 7,336 
 
 1,323 
 
 1877-78 
 
 29,203 
 
 11,705 
 
 398 
 
 2,564 
 
 5,890 
 
 7,364 
 
 1,331 
 
 And the prices of the more important articles and beasts 
 
 
 Per madnd of 80 lbs. 
 
 CO 
 
 S-l 
 
 
 Each. 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 u, 
 
 
 
 Plough bul- 
 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Salt. 
 
 on 
 
 
 Buffaloes. 
 
 locks. 
 
 
 Rs. A. P. 
 
 Rs. A. P. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 P. 
 
 Rs. B. P. 
 
 Rs. A. P. 
 
 1871-72 
 
 2 1 
 
 18 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 1872-73 
 
 17 
 
 3 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 1873-74 
 
 2 
 
 18 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 70 
 
 60 
 
 1874-75 
 
 2 8 
 
 2 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 70 
 
 60 
 
 1875-76 
 
 2 8 
 
 2 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 70 
 
 60 
 
 1876-77 
 
 2 8 
 
 2 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 70 
 
 60 
 
 1877-78 
 
 2 8 
 
 2 2 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 70 
 
 60
 
 654 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The total agricultural population was found by the census taken in 
 1872 to be about 20*80 per cent, of the whole and the male agriculturists 
 of 20 years of age and upwards 20,209. The average size of each holding 
 is between three and four acres. As a general rule land is held by small 
 proprietors and is very rarely rented out, never for a long term of years. 
 Eice lands are seldom if ever mortgaged, but garden and orchard lands 
 are. Occasionally but not often labourers are hired for rice cultivation.and 
 are always. paid in kind. 
 
 Population. ^^^ census in 1872 shewed the number of inhabit- 
 
 ants to be 129,485, or 23'26 persons to the square mile, 
 composed of the following races : — 
 
 Europeans, Eurasians, and Americans 
 
 
 68 
 
 Chinese . . 
 
 ..157 
 
 Hindoos 
 
 
 
 . . 291 
 
 Mabomedans 
 
 
 
 . . 421 
 
 Burmans 
 
 
 
 41,562 
 
 Talaing 
 
 
 
 33,926 
 
 Kareng 
 
 
 
 43,475 
 
 Shan 
 
 . 
 
 
 3,189 
 
 Talaing 
 
 . 
 
 
 1,475 
 
 Toungthoo 
 
 . 
 
 
 4,887 
 
 Other races ... 
 
 • 
 
 
 34 
 
 Tot£ 
 
 il . . 129,485 
 
 The most numerous were the Kareng, who are scattered over the hills 
 more especially to the east of the Tsit-toung and belong to two of the great 
 families, Sgaw and Pwo, of whom many are Christians, converted by the 
 American Baptist missionaries. They differ in nothing from their neigh- 
 bours to the eastward in the Salween Hill Tract. The Talaing are most 
 numerous in the south m the plain country, at one time it would seem 
 thickly populated by them when the Peguan kingdom arose on the 
 decadence of that of Tha-htoon and extended its power from the Irrawaddy 
 to the Salween. The Burmans are found princii^ally in the level country 
 northwards from Tsit-toung. The Toung-ngoo kingdom, the limits of which 
 seem never to have been very accurately defined southwards, extended 
 probably, considerably below the limits of the present Toung-ngoo district, 
 and was thoroughly Burman, so much so that at one period the sovereign 
 was known as the king of the " Burmas " when a Shan family had usm-ped 
 the throne of the kingdom of Ava. The Yabaing, a retiring race, are found 
 chiefly on the eastern slopes of the Pegu Roma in Bhaw-nee, and are 
 largely engaged in the rearing of silk- worms which is then- specialite). The 
 Hindoos, Mahomedans and Chinese are all immigrants since the British 
 occupation, as are large numbers of the Shan of whom a whole colony 
 came in some years ago and was placed at Weng-ka-neng in the fork form- 
 ed by the junction of the Moot-ta-ma and Shwe-gyeng rivers.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The numbers of each sex and age were : — 
 
 655 
 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Not exceeding one year . , . . • . . 
 Above one, but not above six years 
 
 ,, 6 „ „ 12 ,, 
 
 ,, 12 „ „ 20 „ 
 
 „ 20 „ „ 30 ,, 
 
 „ 30 „ „ 40 ,, 
 
 ,. 40 ,, „ 50 ,, 
 
 ,, 50 „ „ 60 „ 
 Above 60 
 
 4,702 
 
 12,257 
 
 11,723 
 
 8,354 
 
 9,627 
 
 10,312 
 
 5,509 
 
 2,448 
 
 8,011 
 
 4,359 
 11,631 
 9,951 
 9,010 
 10,363 
 7,594 
 3,897 
 2,478 
 2,259 
 
 9,061 
 
 23,888 
 
 21,674 
 
 17,364 
 
 19,990 
 
 17,906 
 
 9,406 
 
 4,926 
 
 5,270 
 
 Total 
 
 67,943 
 
 61,542 
 
 129,485 
 
 Towns. 
 
 The most remarkable fact which these figm^es disclose is the at fii'st 
 gradual and then sudden diminution of the males between one and 20 years 
 of age, a diminution so large that between 12 and 30 the females exceed 
 them in number; whereas between 30 and 40 there is a considerable 
 decrease amongst the females against an increase amongst the males. In 
 1878 the number of the inhabitants had increased to 139,432. 
 
 The principal town in the district, and the only one with more than 
 5,000 inhabitants, is Shwe-gyeng founded during the 
 last century before the conquest of the country by 
 Aloung-bhoora. Until the British occupation it was never of much import- 
 ance. It is situated at the junction of the Shwe-gyeng with the Tsit- 
 toung and extends for some miles along the bank of the latter, shut in 
 behind by low laterite hills which run across the angle from river to 
 river. On these hills at one extremity is situated the old Burman stockade, 
 with the magazine constructed by the English close to the Shwe-doung-oo 
 pagoda, and at the other the houses of the European residents, whilst 
 extending along them are the wooden barracks of the small military 
 garrison detached from Toung-ngoo. The town itself is low and subject to 
 inundation on the rise of the Tsit-toung. It contains a com*t-house, 
 market-place, post-office, telegraph-office, forest-office, pohce-office and 
 police-stations, a hospital and dispensary, a school and a small lock-uj). 
 The population in 1878 numbered 7,528 souls. 
 
 The next town in size and importance is Kyaik-hto at the foot of the 
 Poungloung range on the banks of the Ka-dat, a wooden bridge traversed 
 by the high road from Maulmain to Toung-ngoo spanning the river and 
 connecting the principal part of the town on the left bank with the small 
 suburb on the right. It was founded many centuries ago, and is inhabited 
 chiefly by Talaing. The name is derived from two Talaing words signifying 
 "royal boundary " and according to the palm leaf histories was given to 
 the town because the Ka-dat stream was fixed upon by the Tha-ma-la and 
 Wee-ma-la as one of the boundaries between the three provinces into which 
 they divided the Talaing dominions. Tha-ma-la and Wee-ma-la were the 
 two princes, sons of tlie king of Tha-htoou, who founded Pegu, and more
 
 656 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 probably the Ka-clat was at one time the boundary between the rising 
 kingdom of Pegu and the decaying kingdom of Tha-htoon. In 1856 it was 
 attacked by one Nga Thee-la, a Shan, a resident of the neighbouring village 
 of Keng-rwa, who had been a Thoogyee and had escaped when under trial 
 for embezzlement, subsequently murdering the Goung-gyoop in charge of the 
 townshi]D and declaring himself in rebellion against the British Government. 
 He was shot whilst storming the court-house by a sepoy of the small military 
 detachment of the 13th M. N. I. then in garrison here. For some years 
 it was the head-quarter station of the Bhee-leng Kyaik-hto township, and 
 during the last few years has been the head-quarters of the Tsit-toung 
 sub-division, the Assistant Commissioner in charge having being trans- 
 ferred hither from Tsit-toung. It contains a court-house, market-place 
 and police-station. 
 
 Bhee-leng with a population of 2,074 souls, on the right bank of the 
 Bhee-leng river, was formerly a small village but in 1824, when Oozana, the 
 governor of Martaban, retired before the British he settled here with a 
 number of Talaing followers and built a. large stockade. After six years 
 he was murdered by his A-khwon-won, or principal revenue official, and was 
 succeeded by one Moung Bo, to whom was allotted a smaller territory than 
 that ruled by his predecessor. During the second Bm-mese war the place 
 was surrendered to the English and occupied without resistance. The 
 town has twice been burned down and has once been attacked by a band 
 of dacoits. For some years an Extra Assistant Commissioner was stationed 
 here, until the Bhee-leng and Kyaik-hto townships were united. A few 
 years ago, on Kyaik-hto bemg made the head-quarters of the sub-division, 
 the Kyaik-hto Extra Assistant Commissioner was transferred hither. The 
 town contains a court-house, circuit-house, police-station and a market- 
 place. The inhabitants are principally traders. A few miles to the north 
 is the ancient Koot-thien-na-roon pagoda. 
 
 Tsit-toung is a small town on the left bank of the Tsit-toung, at the 
 mouth of the Kha-wa streamlet, confined on the east and south by high 
 ground, that to the south rising abruptly from the main river. The town 
 is supposed to have been founded by Wee-ma-la about 588 A..D. Little or 
 no mention is made of it in history till the middle of the sixteenth century 
 when the reigning king of Pegu, who had sunk almost into imbecility, was 
 murdered by the governor's brother. This governor was himself a scion of 
 the royal family and immediately proclaimed himself king and took posses- 
 sion of Pegu but was shortly afterwards attacked and put to death. Whether 
 he was shot in action or was captm-ed and beheaded by Bhoo-reng Noung 
 is not clear. During the first Burmese war it was well defended and on the 
 first attack the British were driven back with the loss of several officers, 
 amongst them Colonel Conry commanding the force. During the second 
 war the Burman governor, Moung Goung, surrendered the town without 
 firing a shot. Until a few years ago it was the head-quarters of the sub- 
 division. It contains a court-house, market-place and police-station. On 
 the high ground above the town to the south is the Kyaik Ka-lwon-bwon 
 pagoda, constructed of blocks of laterite. The base is about 50 feet from 
 the ground and hexagonal, each side about 60 feet in length with three 
 small terraces : from the centre of this base, which is ascended by a flight 
 of steps in the masonry on the western side, rises the pagoda some 70 feet
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 657 
 
 high. On this hill was constructed a regular fort with parapet and ditch, 
 the former built of laterite, and this was for some years garrisoned by a 
 small British force. 
 
 Weng-ba-daw is a large village on the left bank of the Tsit-toung 
 about seven miles below Tsit-toung and lying on both banks of the Weng-ba- 
 daw creek across which is a wooden bridge. It is the chief halting-place for 
 boats proceeding up the river. During the rains trade with the country 
 to the eastward and with Maulmain is carried on by boats all of which 
 pass along the Weng-ba-daw creek through the village, which then has a 
 very busy appearance. The inhabitants are Talaing and Burmans who 
 gain their livelihood by tradmg, rice cultivation and salt manufacturing. 
 A considerable number of salt boiling pots are made in the neighbourhood 
 with clay brought in boats from higher up the river. 
 
 Kyouk-gyee, the head-quarters of the township of that name, is on the 
 Kyouk-gyee river, at the foot of the Poungloung mountains, about 34 miles 
 above Shwe-gyeng and only six miles in a direct line inland from the Tsit- 
 toung. It stands on either side of the stream, the two quarters being 
 connected by two bridges. In 1809 it was attacked and destroyed by the 
 Zeng-mai Shan, and for some years subsequently the governorship was 
 disputed. Dui-mg the second Bm-mese war the town, though stockaded, 
 was not defended, Moung Bhwa, the governor of Martaban who had fled 
 hither, making his escape with several officials most of whom, however 
 were taken prisoners next day : Moung Bhwa, riding in a cart and com- 
 monly dressed, was not recognized and escaped in the crowd. In 1856 it 
 was attacked by Meng Loung, a Kareng who was in rebellion in the Piwon- 
 za-leng, but he was driven off with considerable loss by the small garrison 
 of the 8th Piegiment M. N. I. under Lieutenant Childs. The chief trade is 
 in betel-nuts which are brought down from the neighbouring hills by the 
 Kareng cultivators. 
 
 Moon is a small village on the stream of the same name north of 
 Kyouk-gyee, founded in 1801 by Burman settlers from Kyoung-bya. In 
 1830 it was deserted owing to the cruelties of the then governor of Kyouk- 
 gyee within whose jurisdiction it was situated but was repopulated on his 
 dismissal a short time later. It contains a travellers' bungalow. 
 
 Thoo-rai-tha-mee more commonly called Thayet-tha-mien is a long and 
 somewhat straggling village on the right bank of the Tsit-toung river, the 
 head-quarters of the Shwe-gyeng township, containing a court-house and a 
 police-station. 
 
 Poo-zoon-myoung, founded in 1814, is a straggling but thriving and 
 prettily situated village lymg amongst groves of mango and jack trees on 
 the right bank of the Tsit-toung river about nine miles above Shwe-gyeng. 
 The inhabitants are partly Talaing and partly Burmans who for the 
 most part gain their livelUiood by the manufacture of earthen jars from a 
 clay found in the neighbourhood and by trading : most of the rice grown 
 in the two great rice-producing circles in the district is carted hither and 
 shipped for transport by the Tsit-toung. The village has once been 
 entirely destroyed by tire. 
 
 Gnyoung-le-beng is a large village, some six miles west of Poo-zwon- 
 myoung, in the centre of a large plain highly cultivated with rice. The 
 inhabitants are principally Talaing and Burman cultivators. It contains 
 
 83
 
 658 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 a police-station. During the disorders consequent on the second Burmese 
 war and the disorganization of the country on the advance by the British 
 troojDS it was attacked and destroyed by the Thoogyee of a neighbouring 
 village who carried off a considerable quantity of property. 
 
 Keng-rwa is a small village between Kyaik-hto and Bhee-leng in the 
 plain at the foot of the southern slopes of the Poungloung range at which 
 a small police force is stationed. It was the scene of an outbreak in 1856 
 headed by one Nga Thee-la, a Shan inhabitant of the village, who was shot 
 in an attack on the court-house in Kyaik-hto, upon which the rebellion 
 collapsed. 
 
 Out of the 512 towns and villages in the district in 1872 no less than 318 
 had less than 200 inhabitants and 126 had from 200 to 500 whilst 30 had 
 from 500 to 1,000 the remainder having more than 1,000 but not one 
 had 10,000. The number has now risen to 564. 
 
 The revenue raised in this district during each of the last 23 years 
 is given in the subjoined table. There was a progressive 
 
 Revenue. increase from 1855-56 to 1863-64, the demand having 
 
 nearly doubled, whilst the demand from excise had reached its maximum 
 in 1860-61 and w^as rapidly falhng. At the end of 1865-66 the whole of 
 the Martaban sub-division was transferred to the Amherst district and in 
 consequence the demand was lower than it had ever been since 1855-56. 
 Since then it has made great strides, and in 1877-78 nearly equalled that 
 in 1863-64. 
 
 
 Land eevenxje. 
 
 d 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 Yeak. 
 
 
 
 § 
 o 
 
 <0 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 
 .2 
 
 <D 
 
 <a 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 <B 
 
 '3 
 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 
 
 1 
 
 '3 
 
 1 
 
 S 
 
 
 rt 
 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 EH 
 
 
 .2 
 
 M 
 
 H 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1855-56 
 
 62,463 
 
 9,078 
 
 1,820 
 
 22,599 
 
 95,960 
 
 79,597 
 
 25,217 
 
 19,063 
 
 11,285 
 
 231,122 
 
 1856-57 
 
 88,700 
 
 7,817 
 
 1,713 
 
 21,078 
 
 119,308 
 
 82,267 
 
 34,247 
 
 22,493 
 
 20,475 
 
 278,790 
 
 1857-58 
 
 92,497 
 
 7,168 
 
 1,276 
 
 19,585 
 
 120,526 
 
 79,514 
 
 46,465 
 
 27,042 
 
 18,457 
 
 292,004 
 
 1858-59 
 
 104,031 
 
 10,711 
 
 2,015 
 
 20,785 
 
 137,542 
 
 86,139 
 
 47,403 
 
 37,901 
 
 25,228 
 
 334,205 
 
 1859-60 
 
 115,945 
 
 12,174 
 
 3,273 
 
 25,695 
 
 157,087 
 
 82,697 
 
 59,460 
 
 43,044 
 
 22,480 
 
 364,768 
 
 1860-61 
 
 133,380 
 
 12,763 
 
 3,597 
 
 21,992 
 
 171,732 
 
 84,319 
 
 66,095 
 
 60,600 
 
 34,588 
 
 417,334 
 
 1861-62 
 
 132,559 
 
 13,112 
 
 5,302 
 
 27,223 
 
 178,196 
 
 104,843 
 
 84,139 
 
 20,846 
 
 32,175 
 
 420,199 
 
 1862-63 
 
 124,316 
 
 13,144 
 
 5,929 
 
 26,374 
 
 169,763 
 
 110,114 
 
 76,607 
 
 20,311 
 
 32,096 
 
 408,891 
 
 1863-64 
 
 127,952 
 
 13,213 
 
 4,235 
 
 20,552 
 
 165,952 
 
 122,055 
 
 67,645 
 
 15,009 
 
 26,475 
 
 397,136 
 
 1864-65 
 
 85,863 
 
 7,789 
 
 3,260 
 
 10,122 
 
 107,034 
 
 121,110 
 
 60,359 
 
 3,130 
 
 35,744 
 
 327,377 
 
 1865-66 
 
 102,801 
 
 8,417 
 
 3,618 
 
 10,518 
 
 124,634 
 
 126,898 
 
 59,646 
 
 9,229 
 
 34,033 
 
 349,440 
 
 1866-67 
 
 32,716 
 
 6,750 
 
 1,403 
 
 10,913 
 
 51,782 
 
 118,762 
 
 68,094 
 
 6,849 
 
 12,473 
 
 247,960 
 
 1867-68 
 
 34,317 
 
 5,855 
 
 1,264 
 
 11,283 
 
 52,719 
 
 91,651 
 
 60,327 
 
 3,650 
 
 31,624 
 
 239,971 
 
 1868-69 
 
 32,597 
 
 5,822 
 
 1,427 
 
 10,846 
 
 50,692 
 
 92,337 
 
 62,879 
 
 3,440 
 
 31,324 
 
 240,672 
 
 1869-70 
 
 33,958 
 
 5,905 
 
 1,273 
 
 11,241 
 
 52,377 
 
 93,814 
 
 64,577 
 
 4,122 
 
 37,744 
 
 252,634 
 
 1870-71 
 
 36,935 
 
 6,412 
 
 1,173 
 
 11,510 
 
 56,030 
 
 98,806 
 
 63,967 
 
 3,316 
 
 56,390 
 
 273,518 
 
 1871-72 
 
 61,372 
 
 10,999 
 
 1,764 
 
 7,091 
 
 81,226 
 
 94,351 
 
 64,509 
 
 3,799 
 
 86,530 
 
 330,475 
 
 1872-73 
 
 69,198 
 
 11,049 
 
 2,015 
 
 7,260 
 
 89,522 
 
 97,409 
 
 69,170 
 
 19,894 
 
 59,781 
 
 335,676 
 
 1873-74 
 
 79,548 
 
 11,044 
 
 1,998 
 
 7,339 
 
 99,929 
 
 103,708 
 
 81,050 
 
 12,221 
 
 34,506 
 
 331,414 
 
 1874-75 
 
 85,533 
 
 12,071 
 
 2,642 
 
 7,143 
 
 107,389 
 
 104,096 
 
 78,458 
 
 14,232 
 
 46,740 
 
 350,915 
 
 1875-76 
 
 82,101 
 
 11,784 
 
 1,633 
 
 6,083 
 
 101.601 
 
 106,568 
 
 77,870 
 
 23,711 
 
 35,065 
 
 344,815 
 
 1876-77 
 
 84,631 
 
 11,471 
 
 2,502 
 
 6,422 
 
 105,026 
 
 107,305 
 
 75,744 
 
 27,291 
 
 35,951 
 
 351,317 
 
 1877-78 
 
 91,762 
 
 11,242 
 
 3,465 
 
 6,648 
 
 113,117 
 
 109,104 
 
 105,786 
 
 21,311 
 
 35,535 
 
 384,853 
 
 The local taxes derived from municipal and town funds raised in 
 towns, the district fund raised from ferries and other sources outside the
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. G59 
 
 limits of to"wns, and a cess of five per cent, on the land and fishery taxes, 
 in 1868-69 amounted to Rs. 24,080 and in 1877-78 to Es. 40,851. The 
 total amount, therefore, of taxes of all kinds paid by the people in those 
 years was Es. 264,752 and Es. 425,704 respectively. 
 
 The only manufactures in the district are pot-making, salt-boiling and 
 silk-spinning. The pots are made at Poo-zwon-myoung, a 
 
 anu actures, village a few miles above Shwe-gyeng, where clay is pro- 
 cured on the spot ; at Kweng-da-la, a short distance lower down ; at 
 Tshiep-gyee, in the Kyouk-gyee township; and at Weng-ba-daw, in the 
 Tsit-toung township. At Poo-zwon-myoung the pots are made for export 
 to Eangoon and Maulmain and the intermediate towns and to the Kareng 
 villages on the hills, but at the other places for local consumption. The 
 manufacture lasts throughout the dry season, that is from November to 
 the following May. The clay is put in a pit with water and allowed to 
 remain for one night : next morning the water is drained off and the 
 clay removed to a shallow pit and mixed with the feet with carefully sifted 
 river sand and when well mixed is turned on a wheel into pots of various 
 sizes and shajjes. The kilns contain 1,000 pots amongst which are 
 about 200 of the largest kind. The pots when ready are sold the largest 
 size for five rupees and the others for one rupee eight annas the hundi-ed. 
 The annual produce of one man's labour is estimated at 1,000 unburned 
 pots a month, or 7,000 in the season. The manufacture has been in exist- 
 ence for some 25 years. 
 
 The pots made at Weng-ba-daw are solely for the salt-boilers. The clay 
 is brought in boats from Poo-zwon-mj^oung and is paid for by barter at the 
 rate of one boat load of salt for three boat loads of clay delivered, the pot- 
 makers exchanging the pots with the salt-boilers for salt delivered at the 
 rate of 365 lbs. of salt for each 100 pots sold. The process is much the 
 same as that employed at Poo-zwon-myoung and elsewhere except that the 
 sand is not so carefully sifted ; the pots are fashioned entirely by hand not 
 even a wheel being used, and each kiln contains about 100 pots only. The 
 whole process, which is carried on onl}^ in the salt-working season, that is, 
 in January and February, lasts about 20 days. The yearly outturn 
 averages about 15,000 pots, but this varies according to the requirements 
 of the salt- boilers. 
 
 In the Bhaw-nce and Anan-baw circles at the foot and on the lower 
 slopes of the Pegu Eoma silk-worms are bred by the Yabaing and the whole 
 system is the same as that followed by the same class in the Thayet and 
 Prome districts. The annual produce is about 9,000 lbs. the value of which 
 on the spot is about Es. 4,500. The quantity exported, principally to 
 Prome and Shwe-doung where, on account of the number of skilled weavers, 
 there is the best market for it, is estimated at two-thirds of the total pro- 
 duce or some 6,000 lbs. 
 
 For administrative purposes the district is divided into four townships 
 in charge of which are 3rd grade Extra Assistant Com- 
 
 mirus ra ion. missioners or Myo-ook exercising revenue and judicial 
 powers, generally responsible for the administration and bound to supervise 
 those of the 28 Thoogyee whose circles are within the limits of their 
 townships. Two of these townships viz., Tsit-toung and Bhee-leng, form 
 the Tsit-toung sub-division, the other two, Kyouk-gyee and Shwe-gyeng. are
 
 G60 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 dii-ectly under the Deputy Commissioner. In the town of Sbwe-gyeng 
 there is also an Extra Assistant Commissioner of the 2nd grade or Tsit-kai. 
 
 For the first year or two after the annexation of the country there 
 were considerable disturbances : whilst Meng Loung was in rebellion in 
 the Rwon-za-leng a Shan named Nga Thee-la, of considerable daring, great 
 influence among his people, and formerly a Thoogyee, succeeded in effecting 
 his escape whilst under trial for embezzlement from the State, and gather- 
 ing together a few of his own race planned an attack having for its object the 
 murder of the Goung-gyoop or officer in charge of the township by whose 
 instrumentality and zeal his offence had been brought to light. He accom- 
 plished his object imder circumstances of the most cold-blooded cruelty, 
 and then openly proclaimed himself a rebel and a partisan of Meng Loung. 
 He at length attacked Kyaik-hto where a small detachment of the 13th 
 M. N. I. under a subadar was stationed, but was shot during the attack 
 and his followers were dispersed. A strong police force was now enter- 
 tained consisting of one subadar, three jemadars, eight havildars, nine 
 naiks and 124 privates for land and interior duty, and a river force of 
 one Superintendent and two Assistant Superintendents, three sjTangs, 
 11 tindals, and 111 privates with a carpenter and a caulker*. Besides 
 these there was a village police composed of Goung over several villages, 
 and the Thoogyee of circles and Kye-dan-gyee of villages aided in detec- 
 tive and preventive police duties and were generally supervised by the 
 Myo-ook, or Goung-gyoop as they were then called, in charge of townships, 
 each of whom also had two peons. This village police still to a certain 
 extent exists and though not under the direct control of the Superin- 
 tendent aids him and his men by affording information, pursuing gangs 
 of dacoits when they appear and in similar ways. The Goung are appointed 
 by the Deputy Commissioner but are employed mainly on police work 
 in conjunction with and to some extent under the Superintendent ; the 
 Thoogyee and Kye-dan-gyee are revenue officials who are also generally 
 responsible for the peace and quiet of their tracts, as are the Extra 
 Assistant Commissioners in charge of townships. 
 
 The existing force, which forms a portion of the general police force 
 of the province under the Inspector-General in Rangoon in all matters of 
 interior economy but under the general control of the Deputy Commis- 
 sioner, is under a District Superintendent, and the strength in 1877 was 
 one Superintendent, 30 subordinate officers and 332 men, exclusive of one 
 subordinate officer and 16 men paid by the town of Shwe-gyeng but forming 
 a portion of the regular police force gi\^ng one man to every 15 square 
 miles and to every 358 of the inhabitants : of these one officer and 22 men 
 were employed as guards over the treasury and lock-up and as escorts to 
 prisoners and 30 officers and 810 men on regular police duty. The total 
 cost was Rs. 76,536. 
 
 The small lock-up, situated east of the town in a valley between the 
 military barracks and the court-house, consists of brick-work wards with 
 wooden floors raised three feet from the ground with tiled roofs, surrounded 
 
 * The "Interior Police" enumerated above were for the Shwe-gyeng district as it at 
 present exists eschiding Bhaw-nee and Kaw-lee-ya, but the statistics of the river Police do not 
 distinguish between those employed here and in the Martaban sub-division now joined to 
 Amherst as Tha-htoon.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 661 
 
 by a brick wall. The average number of prisoners confined is small as 
 those sentenced to any but short terms are transferred elsewhere : in 1873 
 the number was 57 of all classes convicted, under trial, and civil prisoners, 
 and 79 in 1877. The labour on which the prisoners are employed besides 
 ordinary gaol service is in working oil and rice-cleaning mills and in 
 the gaol garden from which the vegetables are supplied. 
 
 The hospital and dispensary under the Civil Surgeon has been in 
 existence for a long time. A new building was commenced in 1876. The 
 number of sick treated during 1877 was 6,914 of whom 343 were in-patients. 
 It has a small income, derived partly from Government and partly from 
 voluntary subscriptions. In 1877 this was Es. 3,089. 
 
 In 1871 a district middle class school was established by the State 
 which at the end of 1876 had an average monthly number of 58 pupils on 
 the rolls, all studying Burmese ; the annual cost of educating each was 
 Es. 110, of which the State paid Es. 100. The American Baptist 
 missionaries have also a boys' and girls' school for Kareng, but with these 
 exceptions the education of the people is entirely in the hands of the 
 Booddhist monks and of a few laymen who have started village schools 
 where the girls receive such knowledge of reading and writing as they 
 possess. In many cases, doubtless, those taught in the monasteries to 
 some extent lose in after-life the little knowledge which they gained, but the 
 census figures may be accepted as shewing fanly enough the extent to which 
 the power of reading and writing only is spread. 
 
 
 
 Percentage 
 
 OF THOSE ABLE TO READ AND 
 
 
 
 WHITE OR UNDER INSTRDCTION UPON 
 
 
 
 THE WHOLE OTHER POPULATION 
 
 
 
 OF THE SAME SEX AND AGE. 
 
 
 Not above 
 12. 
 
 12—20. 
 
 Above 20. 
 
 Hindoos 
 
 (Males 
 
 24-32 
 
 60-00 
 
 24-60 
 
 ( Females 
 
 4-17 
 
 42-86 
 
 6-25 
 
 Mahomedaus . . 
 
 Males 
 Females 
 
 58-46 
 4-65 
 
 57-89 
 20-00 
 
 24-68 
 7-32 
 
 Booddbists 
 
 ( Males 
 1 Females 
 
 9-34 
 0-13 
 
 45-01 
 0-82 
 
 26-26 
 0-34 
 
 Christians, including Eareng converts ] p * ^^ 
 
 17-80 
 7-96 
 
 44-44 
 20-00 
 
 2215 
 6-40 
 
 Others 
 
 Males 
 (Females 
 
 Males 
 ■ ( Females 
 
 
 5-71 
 
 1-75 
 
 Total 
 
 9.50 
 
 44-91 
 
 26-13 
 
 0.17 
 
 0-97 
 
 0-38 
 
 During the dry season communication from village to village is, except 
 in the case of those bordering the Tsit-toung and Bhee-leng rivers, carried 
 on by carts. Of made roads there are only 16 miles, but the nature of the 
 country presents no difficulty to cart-travelling in the plains, and along 
 the left bank of the Tsit-toung river a fairly good road extends from the 
 northern end of the district to Tsit-toung where it turns eastward and
 
 662 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 becoming only a cart crack it follows, and keeps as close as possible 
 to, the southern end of the Pounglong range, and passes through Kyaik-hto 
 and Keng-rwa to Bhee-leng. On the right bank of the river a road was 
 made from Pegu to Toung-ngoo by King Tabeng Shwe-htee, who reigned 
 over the Talaiug kingdom from 1540 to 1550, having been king of Toung- 
 gnoo from 1530 to 1540, and wells were dug and rest-houses and gardens 
 made at intervals along it for the use of travellers. Of the rest-houses 
 and gardens nothing now remains, but the road, called the Menglan, 
 is still in existence, and though not traversible during the rains it can 
 be used during the dry weather. During the rains travelling is almost 
 everywhere done in boats, and at this season the road from Tsit-toung 
 to Bhee-leng and towards Maulmain is impassable, the whole plain being 
 a vast expanse of reedy water. The journey to Maulmain from the Tsit- 
 toung is then made by boat via Weng-ba-daw on the west and the Shwe-lay 
 canal on the east which communicates with the Bhee-leng river at the 
 village of that name ; a few miles lower down the Kyoon-iep creek leaves 
 the Bhee-leng and joins the Kyouk-tsa-rit, which falls into the Bheng-laing, 
 at the extreme south-eastern corner of the district. 
 
 To facilitate communication with Kangoon, a canal has been made 
 from Myit-kyo on the Tsit-toung to the Kha-ra-tshoo creek and thence to the 
 Paing-kyoon creek and thus into the Pegu river. 
 
 SHWE-HLE. — A revenue circle on the left bank of the Tsit-toung river 
 and south of Tsit-toung town, vfith. an area of about 75 square miles. A 
 good deal of salt is made towards the coast. In 1876-77 the population 
 was 3,067, the land revenue Rs. 5,001, the capitation tax Es. 9,285 and the 
 gross revenue Pis. 13,113. 
 
 SHWE-HPOUNG-DAW-00 (Prow of the royal barge).— A pagoda 
 in the Kama township of the Thayet district which was built during 
 the time of king Aloung-tsee-thoo, circa 1085, at the spot where the royal 
 barge was once moored. 
 
 SHWE-HMAW-DAW.— A pagoda in the old fortified town of Pegu in 
 the Piangoon district of the Pegu division. The present name, Shwe-hmaW- 
 daw, is a Burmese corruption of the Talaing Hpoot-daw which in Burmese 
 is Bhoora-byan, flying or winged bhoora or pagoda. It is a pyramidal 
 solid brick l3uilding rising to a height of 324 feet from an octagonal base 
 each side of which is 162 feet in length. It stands upon two terraces, one 
 above the other ; the larger and lower, about 10 feet from the level of the 
 ground, being an exact parallelogram each of the sides of which is 1,390 
 feet long ; the upper and smaller terrace, of the same shape as the lower, 
 is about 20 feet higher and has a perimeter of 2,736 feet ; both are ascended 
 by uncovered flights of stone steps. The base of the pagoda is surrounded 
 by two tiers of smaller ones, the lower of which, six feet from the terrace, 
 contains 75, each 27 feet high and 40 feet in circumference at the base ; 
 the upper tier contains 53. 
 
 The account of the foundation of the Shwe-hmaw-daw, as given in its 
 sacred record, forms no exception to the general rule that the historians of 
 Burma endeavour to connect every spot and every sacred building with 
 a visit of Gaudama, though there can be no doubt that he never came so 
 far east as Chin-India. Accordmg to this chronicle Gaudama, whilst stay-
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 663 
 
 ing on the Mat-koo-la hill near the sources of the Rwon-za-Ieng river, was 
 visited by two brothers Ma-ha-tha-la and Tsoo-Ia-tha-la of Zoiing-doo, a 
 place on the Pegu river about 20 miles above the present town of Pegu, 
 To them he gave two hairs of his head and, foreseeing that in after years 
 the capital of a powerful kingdom would be founded at Han-tha-wad-dee, 
 he directed the two brothers to enshrine the hairs on the Thoo-da-tha-na 
 Myeng-thee-la hill a short distance west of the Han-tha-wad-dee hill, inform- 
 ing them that in the 1116th year of his religion Tha-ma-la and Wee-ma-la 
 would there establish the Han-tha-wad-dee kingdom. " The two brothers 
 " Ma-ha-tha-la and Tsoo-la-tha-la then took ship and conveyed the sacred 
 " relics enclosed in a casket provided for that purpose by the Thagya 
 " king of their native town, where they were received with great rejoicing. 
 " After holding high festival for seven months and seven days, they proceeded 
 " to obey the instructions they had received, by enshrining the relics on the 
 " Thoo-da-tha-na hill. Guided by the miraculous power of the Nat and 
 " Bram-ha they speedily arrived at the spot, and then they prayed that an 
 " omen might be given if that indeed was the very place. In answer to 
 " then- prayers the great earth shook. This not only supplied the desired 
 " information, but called down a host of Nat and Bram-ha from the upper 
 " regions to take part in the enshrinement of the relics. By them the 
 " shrine was thus prepared. At the bottom of a pit, 10 cubits square, was 
 " laid a slab of pearly white marble, set with diamonds. A similar slab, 
 " set with emeralds, was prepared to cover the mouth of the pit. In the 
 " centre of the bottom slalj the Thagya king placed a golden cradle, round 
 " which were ranged images of the chief disciples of Gaudama, each holding 
 " a golden bouquet. These disciples were Tha-ree-pot-tra, Maw-ga-lan, 
 " Thee-ree, Maha Maya, Thee-ree Thoo-daw-dana, Ya-thaw-da-ra, Khe-ma, 
 " Oo-pa-won, Ea-hoo-la and A-nan-da. The sacred relics were then con- 
 " ducted with great pomp from Zoung-doo to the hill, the distance, two 
 ** yoozanas (24 miles), being traversed in 14 days. The casket containing 
 " the hairs was then placed on the cradle, and high festival was held 
 " around the shrine. Besides the images of the chief disciples those of the 
 " following persons also were placed in the shrine : Ma-ha-tha-la and Tsoo- 
 " la-tha-la, the disciples A-noo-roo-dha, Ma-ha Ka-tha-pa, Oo-roo-we-la 
 " Ka-tha-pa, Oo-pa-lie-pa-gnya, Isaweggie, the king of the Bram-ha, and his 
 " four wives. Countless offerings were then made, the Thagya king giving 
 " ten billions of gold, each of his four queens forty thousand of silver, 
 *' Pien-ta-ka (father of Ma-ha-tha-la and Tsoo-la-tha-Ia) one thousand of 
 *' gold, Ma-ha-tha-la and Tsoo-la-tha-la one thousand and eighty of silver, 
 " and so on. The Thagya king then placed certain Nat to guard the shrine, 
 " and a structure of stone and brick, 50 cubits high and 250 cubits in circum- 
 " ference, was erected over it." A number of people were dedicated to the 
 service of the pagoda by the king of Zoung-doo and 1,050 feet of land to 
 the east, 1,050 to the north, 1,050 to the west and 525 to the south were 
 given to the shrine. 
 
 The chronicle at once jumps to the time of A-thaw-ka and the thii-d 
 Booddhist council and relates that the pagodas throughout the country 
 having fallen into decay and the religion of Gaudama having become 
 neglected king Dhara-raa-thaw-ka of Patalipoot endeavoured to re-establish 
 both in their pristine splendour and amongst other meritorious works
 
 664 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 repaired the Shwe-hmaw-daw, the Shwe Dagon and five other pagodas close 
 to Pegu. Ninety men were assigned as pagoda slaves to the first and the 
 land given by king Tha-moon-da-ra-ya of Zoung-doo when the pagoda was 
 first built was again measured and re-granted, having been, it is to be pre- 
 sumed, taken by carnally-minded persons when the true religion " faded". 
 The chronicle then skips 900 years and brings us to what may be called the 
 historical period. In the year 1116 of Gaudama's era A.D. 573, Tha- 
 ma-la and Wee-ma-la founded the city and kingdom of Han-tha-wad-dee, 
 of which Tha-ma-la was the first sovereign. He found the Shwe-hmaw-daw 
 still in existence and he repaired it, added four cubits to its height, put a 
 new htee on it and dedicated 25 families to its service. His successor, his 
 brother Wee-ma-la, added five cubits, making it 59 cubits high, regilt it, 
 gave it a new htee and dedicated five more families to its service. His 
 nephew Ka-tha-koom-ma-ra, who succeeded him on the throne, raised the 
 height of the pagoda to 64 cubits. The next addition was made in 619 A.D. 
 by A-rien-da-koom-ma, who, as the htee was inclining to the north, directed 
 his chief noble Thoo-ra-thee-dee to repair the structure. This was done 
 and the height increased to 73 cubits, and 47 more families were dedicated 
 to its perpetual service. During his son's reign the htee and the upper por- 
 tion of the building having been much damaged by a storm, it was repaired, 
 raised to 76 cubits, and presented with a new jewelled htee. Some 17 years 
 later king Gien-da-ra-za added five cubits, making it 81 cubits high, and 
 dedicated three more families to it. Successive sovereigns repaired, added 
 to and regilt the edifice until in the reign of Tha-maing-daw-rwot-ka-lie, 
 probably a descendant of the Martaban race of kings, it attained its present 
 height of 324 feet. The two most noteworthy statements in the chronicle 
 are that A-noo-ma-ra-za, the twelfth king of the original dynasty, in 
 about 1209 A.D. obtained from Thee-ree-dham-ma-thaw-ka, the king of 
 Tha-htoon, a holy tooth relic which he enshrined in the pagoda and that 
 king Dham-ma-ze-dee, who came to the throne in 1502, received from 
 the king of Ceylon a present of 100,000 paving stones, 50,000 of which 
 were used in paving the court or upper terrace. Towards the end of the 
 18th century the Burman king Bhodaw Bhoora came down to Pegu and 
 the building was again thoroughly repaired but no addition was made to 
 its height. The htee or umbrella, which was 39|- feet high and 46 feet in 
 circumference, was re-gilt at the same time. 
 
 During the second Burmese war of 1852-53 the platform was the 
 scene of some sharp fighting. In June 1852 the town was taken by 
 the British but as no troops could be spared it was abandoned and was 
 re-occupied by the Burmese. In November of the same year it was again 
 attacked and taken, but not without some loss, and a small garrison of 400 
 infantry, two guns, and a detachment of artillery and sappers and miners 
 left in charge. The Burmese commenced their attacks within two days of 
 the withdrawal of the rest of the force and from the 5th to the 14th December 
 closely invested the pagoda, the difficulty of the defence being increased 
 by the necessity of protecting some thousand Talaing women and children 
 who, whilst their male relations were obliged to fight against us in the 
 enemy's ranks, came in to us for protection from their rulers, the Burmese. 
 The first attempt made to relieve Pegu failed, and it was only when a strong 
 force under General Godwin, the Commander-in-Chief, approached from
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 665 
 
 Rangoon tliat the Burmese retired towards Sliwe-gycng. Rftbellion l)roke out 
 in Upper Burma on the 17th December and most of the Burmese troops 
 were re-called to the capital, and from that time the garrison remained 
 unmolested until withdrawn after the annexation. 
 
 SHWE-HMAW-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Ee La-maing town- 
 ship, Amherst district, on the head-waters of the Meng-hla, a tril)utary 
 from the north-east of the river Re. Mountainous and covered with forest 
 it is but thinly populated by Kareng and sparsely cultivated. Mau-oung 
 is now joined to it. In 1876-77 the population was 343, the land revenue 
 Rs. 90 and the capitation tax Es. 370. 
 
 SHWE-KIIAROO-TOUK (Shining shell).— A pagoda on the hills above 
 Kama in the Kama township of the Thayet district, said to have been built 
 by Thoo-pa-gnya-na-ga-ra-tshien-na, a fugitive sovereign of Promc. 
 
 SHWE-KHYOUNG-BYENG-LEK-YA.— A revenue circle on the left 
 bank of the Sandoway river below Sandoway. The larger portion of its 
 culturable area is under cultivation. Rice and tobacco arc the principal 
 products. In 1870-77 the population, composed mainly of Arakanese, was 
 1,3G9, the land revenue Rs. 2,338, the capitation tax Rs. 1,132 and the 
 gross revenue Rs. 5,908. 
 
 SHWE-KOO.— A pagoda in Martaban built in 1785 by Moung 
 Pa-thee, the governor, by order of Bhodaw Blioora, then reigning in Bm-ma, 
 who, having been born on a Monday, ordered that pagodas to be called 
 ' golden caverns ' (Shwe-koo), the sign of the day, should be erected in 
 various parts of his dominions. 
 
 SHWE-KOO. — A pagoda in the town of Tavoy, 50 feet high and 147 
 feet in circumference at the base, built by order of Bhodaw Bhoora, king of 
 Burma, who reigned from 1781 to 1819. 
 
 SHWE-KYWON. — A small island about two square miles in extent 
 forming a revenue circle in the Western township of the Tavoy district, with 
 more than two-thirds under cultivation. The principal products are rice 
 and the dhanee palm. In 1876-77 the population was 398, the land revenue 
 Rs. 4,784, the capitation tax Rs. 340 and the gross revenue Rs. 5,362. 
 
 SIIWE-LAY. — A township in the Prome district extending along the 
 western slopes of the Pegu Roma from the Hcnzada(Tharrawaddy) district 
 and the Poungday to^vnship northwards to the Thayet district, having the 
 Ma-ha-tha-man township to the west. It includes the old Shwe-lay, Rwa- 
 bien and Myo-doung townships. The whole of the country is exceedingly hilly 
 except in the south-west, and is covered with valuable timber amongst which 
 teak holds a prominent place. There is but little rice cultivation even in the 
 low country, but cotton and the mulberry plant arc grown on the hills. 
 The principal streams are the North and South Na-wengand the Teng-gyeo, 
 a tributary of the latter and in the south the Shwe-lay, called further 
 westward the Wai-gyee and the Wek-poot. These streams are not navigable 
 in this township but they and then- feeders drain a country of great richness 
 in timber which has been considerably worked. The principal trees found 
 arc Acacia catechu, Odina icodicr, Pcniaptcra, Spoiidia acinninafa, N((uclea 
 parvijiora, Xylia dolahriformis, Tcctona grandis, Carcija arhorca, Terminalia 
 macrocarim, Shorea robasta and several others of which llopca odorata and 
 Pterocarpus indicus only need be noticed. 
 
 84
 
 666 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The township contains 14 revenue circles but no large villages. The 
 Extra Assistant Commissioner resides and holds his court at Pouk-khoung, 
 a small village on the little stream of that name, a tributary of the South 
 Na-weng. In 1876-77 the population was 21,963, the land revenue 
 Es. 10,465, the capitation tax Es. 15,997 and the gross revenue Es. 
 33,482. 
 
 SHWE-LAY. — A river in the Prome district, Pegu division. Eising in 
 the western slopes of the Ko-dek spur of the Pegu Eoma some five miles 
 from the main range and flowing in a south-westerly direction it drains 
 the valley lying between the Nee-pa-tshe and Pan-doung spurs in the 
 Shwe-lay township and, traversing the centre of the great plain country 
 which lies between the Eoma mountains on the east and the Prome hills 
 on the west, falls into the Myit-ma-kha a little to the north of the village of 
 Keng-than. From its source to about the village of Pouk-taw, it is 
 called the Shwe-lay. Its affluents here are of no great importance 
 being merely mountain torrents rushing down from teak-covered hills. 
 From Pouk-taw onwards it is called the Wai-gyee till it nears the 
 village of Wek-poot (where it is crossed by an iron bridge canying the main 
 road from Eangcon to the frontier) the name of which it assumes and 
 retains till it falls into the Myit-ma-kha as the Khyoon-khyoon-gya. 
 During the rains boats of 500 bushels burden can ascend the river as 
 far as Tha-bye-poung-gyee, some miles above Wek-poot. In the plains 
 north-west of Poung-day its course is choked with sand and rubbish 
 brought down from the forests : above this obstruction it is 100 feet wide 
 and 20 feet deep. Below, it no longer runs in one channel, but by numer- 
 ous anastomosing streams is connected with the Myit-ma-kha and with 
 the Kyat (or Toung-gnoo) on the south. The main channel near Wek-poot 
 is only 40 feet wide and three feet deep in the dry season. Tappmg a rich 
 teak country several more or less successful endeavours have been made 
 to facilitate the removal of the felled logs to the Irrawaddy and, to avoid 
 the great obstruction in the Poung-day plains, a natural channel was 
 improved by the Forest Department in 1860. But as each year the 
 rains in the hills suddenly fill the river and send it rushing down swollen 
 by the torrents which join it with the forest debris which during the 
 dry weather has rolled into their beds down the steep hill-sides between 
 which they dash, new obstructions are formed and the foaming water, 
 checked and dammed up by the accumulated sand and decayed timber 
 which it has itself brought down, in a few hours bursts the banks and finds 
 its way onward generally in old channels, but sometimes in new ones which 
 it cuts in the soft soil of the plain over which it spreads. 
 
 SHWE-LOUNG. — A township in the Thoon-khwa district, extending 
 northwards from the seacoast for nearly 100 miles between the Pya-ma- 
 law and the Irrawaddy, the former separating it from the Bassein district. 
 In the north the countrj'- forms a large jDlain covered with scrub forest ; 
 south of Shwe-loung there is some rice cultivation but the lower part 
 of the township consists of low uncultivated land cut up into islands 
 by numerous anastomosing tidal creeks thickly fringed with Ka-na-tso 
 (Indian Soondree, Heritiera minoi-) and Lamoo {Sunneratia acida), and 
 in many parts producing nothing but mangrove {Brugidera rheedii). In the
 
 RRITISn BURMA GAZETTEER. ' 667 
 
 south these creeks are dotted here and there with temporary fishing 
 villages consisting of a few huts only the inhahitants of which, when the 
 season is over, retire north to the permanent villages situated on higher 
 land, such as Wai-gyee Zayat, Shwe-loung, Taw-ka-noo, Wa-khay-ma and 
 Lan-tha-maing. The approximate area of the township, exclusive of the 
 rivers and creeks is 1,124 square miles. It is divided into six revenue circles. 
 In 187G-77 the population was 34,715, the land revenue Es. 58,017, the 
 capitation tax Es. 36,802 and the gross revenue Es. 120,900. 
 
 SHWE-LOUNG. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Tsan-rwe township of the Henzada (Tharawaddy) district on the west bank 
 of the Myit-ma-kha. In 1877 it had 920 inhabitants. 
 
 SHWE-LOUNG.— A town in the Thoon-khwa district in 16° 44' 30" N. 
 and 95° 23' 30" E. on the bank of the Irrawaddy at the spot where the 
 Pya-ma-law channel branches off N. N. W., the head-quarters of the town- 
 ship of the same name, the Extra Assistant Commissioner in charge of 
 which resides and holds his court here. The inhabitants are largely 
 engaged in trade with Eangoon and Bassein and many are occupied 
 in the fisheries. A strong police force is quartered in the town. 
 
 SHWE-LOUNG. — A revenue circle in the north-west portion of the 
 Tsan-rwe township of the Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district, east of the 
 Irrawaddy, lying on both banks of the Myit-ma-kha or Hlaing river, and 
 containing but little cultivation. In 1876-77 the population was 4,266, 
 the land revenue Es. 1,022, the capitation tax Es. 4,177 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 10,250. 
 
 SHWE-LOUNG. — A small revenue circle in the Prome district, a short 
 distance below Pa-doung, close to to the bank of the Irrawaddy. In 1876-77 
 the population was 166, the land revenue Es. 131, the capitation tax Es. 182 
 and the gross revenue Es. 488. 
 
 SHWE-MO-BOON, — A pagoda at Mye-dai said to have been erected 
 by Ma-ha-tham-ba-wa and Tso-la-tham-ba-wa, the founders of the old 
 Prome kingdom. 
 
 SHWE-MOOT-TAW.— A pagoda near the town of Ka-ma in the Ka-ma 
 township of the Thayet district, standing out conspicuously amongst the 
 group which crowns the hills surrounding that town. The legend regarding 
 it is the same as that connected with the pagoda of the same name near 
 Thayetmyo. It is one of those of which there are no less than ten in the 
 Thayet district alone whose name is derived from the tradition that they, 
 _ erected by the order of Asoka, had all to be completed when the moon was 
 emerging from an eclipse; hence the designation which means "the 
 release of the moon from an eclipse". 
 
 SHWE-MOOT-TAW.— A pagoda just below the town of Thayetmyo in 
 the Thayet township of the Thayet district. The legend regarding its 
 erection in the same as that of the Shwe-moot-taw at Ka-ma mentioned 
 above. 
 
 SHWE-MYA-OO-SHOUNG. (Emerald hair-knot).— A small pagoda 
 in the Mcng-doon township of the Thayet district, which was built so 
 lately as 1833 by a governor of Meng-doou.
 
 668 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 SHWE-MYA-THIEN-DAN (Emerald worth a hundred thousand).— A 
 small pagoda in the Mye-dai township of the Thayet district, so called from 
 the tradition that King Nalra-pad-dee-tsee-thoo, circa 1167, found an 
 emerald of that value in a neighbouring creek which he deposited in the 
 pagoda. 
 
 SHWE-MYENG-DENG.— A pagoda in the Ka-ma township of the 
 Thayet district, forming one of the group on the hills surrounding Ka-ma. Its 
 name, which means " conspicuous", is derived from its position. It is said 
 to date from the time of Thoo-pa-gnya-na-ga-ra-tshien-na (circa 100 A.D.) 
 a fugitive king of Prome who, during his flight northwards, remained some 
 time at Ka-ma. As subsequently it was found that the desh-es of many who 
 visited this shrine were answered, it received the second name of Shwe-tsoo- 
 toung-byee or " prayers fulfilled". 
 
 SHWE-MYENG-DENG. — A revenue circle in the northern portion of 
 the Bassein township in the district of the same name, with an area of 
 about 21 square miles, extending along the left bank of the Bassein river 
 from Bassein to the Da-ga. The country here assumes an undulating form ; 
 along the bank of the Bassein river it is suitable for rice cultivation, but 
 in the centre the undulation is more marked and the ground is thickly 
 wooded : to the east the land is low and open but not well fitted for cultiva- 
 tion. The inhabitants are principally cultivators, fishermen, boatmen and 
 coolies. There is a good cart road from Shwe-myeng-deng to Bassein and 
 to other parts of the circle. In 1876-77 the population was 3,224, the land- 
 revenue Rs. 3,176, the capitation tax Es. 3,200 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 6,539. 
 
 SHWE-MYO-DOON.— A pagoda in Mye-dai said to have been erected 
 by Ma-ha-tham-ba-wa and Tsoo-la-tham-ba-wa, the founders of the old 
 Prome kingdom. 
 
 SHWE-NAN-PAING (Possessor of a palace). — A pagoda on the 
 hills near Ka-ma on the right bank of the Irrawaddy in the Ka-ma township 
 of the Thayet district, said to have been built by Thoo-pa-gnya-na-ga- 
 ra-tshien-na when a fugitive from Prome in the hope that the meritorious 
 work would assist him in regaining possession of his throne. 
 
 SHWE-NAT-TOUNG.— A pagoda in the Prome district about 16 
 miles south of the town of Prome. It is supposed to have been built during 
 the reign of Dwot-ta-boung, the founder of Prome, by queen Tsan-da-de-wee. 
 According to the tradition in one of her journeys she came to the Nat-toung 
 hill and was informed by the people that on it was placed the image of 
 their tutelary Nat, whence it derived its name of Nat-toung or hill of the Nat. 
 Queen Tsan-da-de-wee determined on building a pagoda on this hill and 
 obtaining from her husband two of the six relics of Gaudama which he had 
 miraculously received and from some Eahanda one hundred and forty 
 more she enclosed them in a gold box set with jewels ; this she placed in a 
 silver box, and the silver box in another golden one. These boxes with 
 their contents she enshrined in the pagoda, 22^ feet high, which she built 
 on Nat-toung. On the completion of the work king Dwot-ta-boung con- 
 secrated the whole space round it on which its shadow fell between sun- 
 rise and sunset and directed that a grand festival should be held there 
 annually on the full moon of the month of Taboung (about March). When
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 669 
 
 Thee-ha-thoo, son of Taroop-pyc-meng king of Pagan, became king of 
 Prome he rcpaii-ed the pagoda and raised its height to 66 feet. About 
 the middle of the sixteenth century, Ta-beng-shwe-htee, king* of Toun- 
 ngoo, who had conquered Prome, added to the pagoda and increased its 
 height. Many years later it was again repaired Ijy pubhc subscriptions 
 collected by a Hpoongyee of the village of Kj'cethai named La-ba-ra-wa. 
 The building, profusely gilt and shining in the sun, stands out consx)icu- 
 ously on the first hill of a low range overhanging the Shwe-nat-toung 
 plain, and has in a . Ime behind it the Nga-tsoo, Pan-bhyoo, lipo-lay, 
 Hi)o-myat, Hpo-tha-bho and Theng-gan pagodas. 
 
 The annual festival is still kept up, and in the month of Taboung some 
 twenty thousand people assemble, living for eight days in temporary sheds 
 erected in the plain, occu^jying their time in worshipping at the pagoda, in 
 buying and selling, and in attending theatrical representations and wrestling 
 matches. 
 
 SHWE-THEK-LWOT.— A pagoda in the town of Thayet in the Thayet 
 district. The name being interpreted signifies " Golden life preserved". 
 It was erected by Meng-gyee-tswa-tsaw-kai, the second kmg of the Ava 
 dynasty, about 1373 A. J), as a thank-offering for the preservation of his 
 life when he, as a child, was taken captive in Thayetmyo by the king of 
 Arakan. This pagoda is still kept in good repair and is remarkable for 
 being one of the most southern hollow pagodas : in Upper Burma erections of 
 this kind are numerous but in the lower country the great majority of the 
 pagodas are of the solid bell-shaped pattern. 
 
 SHWE-TSEE-GOON.— A pagoda close to Ka^ma in the Ka-ma town- 
 ship of the Thayet district, said to have been built circa 100 A. D. by the 
 Prome sovereign Thoo-pa-gnya-na-ga-ra-tshien-na during his fight north- 
 wards. 
 
 SHWE-TSHAN-DAW.— A pagoda near Twan-te in the Rangoon dis- 
 tirict of the Pegu division, more venerated by the Talaing than even the 
 great Shwe Dagon of Piangoon. According to its sacred history it was 
 erected in 577 B. C. by Thamien-htaw-byeen-ran, the then kingof Kha-beng, 
 now a small village near Twan-te, and Ids wife Mien-da-do-wee as a shrine 
 for three of Gaudama's hairs given by him to three holy pilgrims from 
 Ceylon, named Thoo-ma-na-hto, Tiek-kha-byecn-gnya and Tha-ga-ra- 
 byecn-gnya on the occasion of their visiting him whilst he was tarrying in 
 the Zeng-gyaik hills. The sage directed them to deposit these hairs on the 
 Me-roo-da hill, as this was the spot on which he had twice closed his previous 
 existence, — once when an elephant and once when a Thameng ( a kind of 
 deer). After some difficulty this hill, which is that on which the pagoda 
 now stands, was found and his commands obeyed. Subsequently, m 538 B.C., 
 four more holy hau's were enshrined in the pagoda l)y king Thamien-htaw- 
 byeen-gnya-kan-de and a hermit named Gyce-ree-ren-ga who had brought 
 them from Tha-htoon where they were in the possession of king Thee-rec- 
 dham-ma-thaw-ka (not to be confounded with the great Athawka of Patali- 
 pot), in obedience to the command of Gaudama given to his favorite disciple 
 Ananda before his attainment of Niekban. 
 
 Near the Shwe-tshan-daw is a grove of Thwot-ta-bat trees (Sapodilla 
 plum) seven in number, the only one existing in Pegu. The trees were cut
 
 670 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 down, it is said by orders of the Talaing rulers, when the Burmans conquered 
 theii' country because the produce was a royal fruit to be eaten by none but 
 the monarch and the present trees are the shoots of the old stumps. 
 
 SHWE-T SHAN-DAW.— The large pagoda in the town of Prome. It 
 is situated about half a mile from the bank of the river and gives its name 
 to a quarter of the town. The hill on which it stands is called Thoo-dat- 
 tha-na and is 138 high. The pagoda, which is gilt all over, is nearly 
 square at the base. The gilt iron net-work htee or conical top is at its 
 base ten feet in diameter. The pagoda itself is solid without any cavity 
 and is now about 180 feet high, and covers an area of 11,025 square 
 feet. It is surrounded by 83 small gilt niches called Ze-dee-yan, 
 each containg an image of Gaudama. These, which unite at their bases, 
 form a continuous wall round the pagoda leaving a narrow passage between 
 it and them, the entrance to which, through a low narrow doorway with a 
 wooden door, is on the east side. There are four approaches to the plat- 
 form on which the pagoda stands, consisting of flights of about 100 brick 
 steps, one facing each cardmal point of the compass. Two of them only, 
 the northern and the western, are covered with an elaborately carved roof 
 supported on massive teak posts partly gilt and partly painted vermillion. 
 
 The platform itself is neatly paved with slabs of stone and all round 
 its outer edge is a continuous series of carved wooden houses containing, in 
 some cases standing in some recumbent, figures of Gaudama, and between 
 these and the pagoda are Ta-khwon-daing or sacred posts surmounted by a 
 Karawaik and with a streamer floating from a point just below the figure of 
 the bird. Besides these there are some 12 or 13 bells, hanging to massive 
 wooden cross-bars supported on posts five or six feet high, which are struck 
 with deers' antlers by those who come to worship. The largest of these 
 bells measures about ten feet in circumference. 
 
 The pagoda is supposed to have been first erected by two brothers, 
 Ee-zee-ka and Pa-lee-ka. According to the tradition Gaudama, when travel- 
 ling, arrived near Prome, and whilst walking about on an island named 
 Zeng-yan was accosted by a naga or dragon who begged for some sacred 
 hairs that he might enshrine them in a pagoda. This request Gaudama 
 refused saying that the glory of building a pagoda to contain his relics 
 must be reserved for two brothers, Ee-zee-ka and Pa-lee-ka, who had gone 
 on a trading expedition to Thoo-woon-na-bhoo-mee (Tha-htoon). The Naga 
 then presented to Gaudama an emerald box praj'ing that, as he might not 
 receive the sacred hau's, he might at least contribute the receptacle in which 
 they would be placed. Accepting the box Gaudama placed in it the relics 
 and by his supernatural power caused it to rise to the height of two palmyra 
 trees and then shoot like lightning to the bank and lodge in a clump of bam- 
 boos where it shone like fire. Shortly afterwards Ee-zee-ka and Pa-lee-ka 
 arrived and anchoring at the spot went ashore and discoverd the relics. 
 There is now a small village at this spot, about 15 miles from Prome 
 called Mya-rwa or "Emerald village". The relics were brought on board 
 and after some discussion it w\as determined that three pagodas should be 
 built, one on the spot where the emerald box was found, and which was 
 named Mya-bhoora or Emerald pagoda, and two on the bank exactly 
 opposite the bows and the stern of the vessel, which were called Oo-bhoora 
 or " Ship's stem pagoda" and Pai-bhoora or "Ship's stern pagoda" res-
 
 BRITISH BURMxi. GAZETTEER. 671 
 
 pectivoly. In none of these were the relics enshrined but search was 
 made for a hoHer place. Having heard of Gaudama's prediction that at 
 the site of the present Prome the capital of a powerful kingdom would be 
 founded they proceeded thither. On their arrival they halted to consider 
 where the best site would be and the spot where they so halted was called 
 Tsway-nway-yat or " Place of discussion " now corrupted into Tsa-re-yat. 
 Here their sailors, immediately after the discussion, built a pagoda which 
 they called Tsway-nway bhoora, or " Discussion pagoda". Such a pagoda, 
 small and gilt and so named, is still in existence. This discussion had no 
 result and the brothers and their crew wandered about seeking a suitable 
 place. One of the crew, a foreigner named Tha-kyit (Sarkies ? ) wearied 
 and faint, called out, *'A-tshoon-hpyat-ba", or "let us come to a decision "; 
 hence the present name " Tha-kyit-htsoon" given to a portion of the town 
 of Prome. At last the hill on which the Shwe-tshan-daw stands was fixed 
 upon and this for the somewhat incomprehensible reason that, on walking 
 over it, the soil adhered to their feet. If the whole tradition was not 
 manifestly fabulous, it might be supposed that here and here alone they 
 found the soil on a rising ground soft enough to enable them to dig the 
 foundations without excessive labour. Having excavated the soil for the 
 foundations they laid therein seven bricks of gold and on these placed the 
 emerald box and over the whole raised a pagoda seven feet high and then 
 returned to their own country. Seven days after they left the pagoda 
 sank into the earth and disappeared. Owing to the prayers of king Dwot- 
 taboung, the founder of ancient Prome, the pagoda re-appeared, and the 
 king repaired it. The Burmese records give no further account of the 
 pagoda but from oral tradition it appears that various kings and governors 
 have gradually added to it until at last it has attained its present dimen- 
 sions. In 1753 Aloung-bhoora coated it with gold. The pagoda hav- 
 ing been damaged by an earthquake, king Tharrawaddy, on his way to 
 Eangoon in 1841, had it thoroughly repaired and re-gilt and put on it 
 a new htee studded with jewels. The roofs over the northern and western 
 approaches were put up by the governor, Moung Toot-gyee, in 18-12. Since 
 then it was again damaged by an earthquake and in 1858 was repaired by 
 an influential inhabitant of Prome, Moung Tha Shwe, at a cost of Es. 
 70,800 raised by public subscription. It has lately been re-gilt at an esti- 
 mated cost of about Es. 25,000 raised by public subscription l)y one Moung 
 Shwe An. The annual festival is held on the full moon of Taboung, corres- 
 ponding to March. 
 
 SHWE-TSqO-TOUNG-BYEE.— A pagoda in the Ka-ma township of 
 the Thayet district. — See Shtre-vujctuj-deuij. 
 
 SHWE-TSOO-TOUNG-BYEE (Prayer fullilled).— A small pagoda 
 in the Meng-doon township of the Thayet district, said to have been built 
 about 108 A. D. by the uncle of Tha-moo-da-rit, the founder of Lower 
 Pagan. 
 
 SHWE-TSW AY-DAW.— A pagoda in the Thayet district.— >Scc' Shwe 
 An-daw. 
 
 SULLIVAN'S ISLAND.— An island of the Mergui archipelago attached 
 to the Mergui district of the Tenasserini division, about eight miles olf the 
 coast and lying between 10' 40' and 11' N. Lat. and 97 58' and 08"
 
 G72 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 E. Long. Its extreme length is 17 miles and its greatest breadth, at its 
 northern end, about six miles.' Its highest peak is to the south, almost due 
 west of Boyce's point on the main land, in 10° 41' N. Lat. It is the 
 favourite resting-place of the Selung (q.v.) a tribe inhabiting the archipe- 
 lago. 
 
 SYEIAM. — More correctly called Than-lyeng, a sub-division of the 
 Eangoon district composed of the Than-lyeng township south of the Pegu 
 river and east of the Hlaing or Eangoon river and the An-gyee township 
 occupying the whole of the lower portion of the district west of the Hlaing 
 from the Pan-hlaing to the sea. The head-quarters are at Kyouk-tan on 
 the Hmaw-won in the Syriam township. 
 
 SYEIAM. — A township in the sub-division of the same name, bounded 
 on the west by the Eangoon river, on the north by the Pegu river, on the 
 east by the Pegu township and on the south by the Bay of Bengal. It is 
 divided into ten revenue circles and in 1877 had a population of 56,141 
 souls. In that year the land revenue was Es. 354,995, the capitation tax 
 Es. 67,698 and the gross revenue Es. 442,113. The head-quarters are at 
 Syriam. 
 
 SYEIAM. — More correctly called Than-lyeng. A town in the Eangoon 
 district of the Pegu division situated in 16° 45' 30" N. Lat. and 96° 19' E. 
 Long : the head-quarter station of a township of the same name. It is 
 on the left bank of the Pegu river about three miles from its mouth, on the 
 northern extremity of the Than-lj^eng Koon-dan. The present town, with 
 its adjacent hamlets or suburbs of Ka-thit-taw-rwa, Kan-tsoung-rwa and 
 Kareng-zoo, contains a population of 1,733 souls of Talaing, Burman, 
 Kareng, Mussulman and Shan race. The Ka-thit-taw sulnirb is inhabited 
 entirely by Mussulmans, descendants of the Indian Mahomedans who 
 resided here when the Portuguese factory flourished. Although they 
 have received a considerable infusion of Bm'mese and Talaing blood 
 yet they still adhere to their distinctive dress, customs and religion, but 
 in language and everything else are thoroughly Burmanised : they now 
 intermarry chiefly among themselves, and are, consequently, decidedly 
 inferior to the Burmese in physique and appearance. They have two 
 small wooden mosques in the village and behind the town, and they point 
 out the ruins of a considerable masonry building which was, they say, 
 the " Eetya " (Eedgarh) of then* ancestors. They are now chiefly 
 engaged in agriculture and form the major portion of the cultivating 
 population of the place. The Kan-tsoung suburb is on the opposite or 
 western side of the town and is inhabited by Shan who are engaged chiefly 
 in garden cultivation. The Kareng-zoo suburb, also called Koon-dan-rwa, 
 is about a mile and a half behind the town and occupied by Talaing and 
 Kareng engaged in rice and garden cultivation. 
 
 The town of Than-lyeng, better known to Em'opeans by the name of 
 Syriam, lies partly within and partly without the old city walls, portions 
 of which, substantially built of earth and latcrite, are still standing. 
 According to the Burmese tradition it was founded in 587 B.C. by Ze-ya- 
 the-na, who named it Pa-da, about 50 years later changed to Thau-Lyeng 
 after Than-lyeng who dethroned A-rien-da-ra-za, son of Zc-ya-thc-na, and 
 married his daughter. Little or nothiner is known of the town from that
 
 BlUTISH BUKMA GAZETTEER. 673 
 
 time until the commencement of the 17th century. Towards the close of 
 the previous century the king of Arakan, taking advantage of the quarrels 
 between the kings of Toung-ngoo, Ava, and Pegu, and the destruction of 
 ,the monarchy of the last by the first, took possession of Pegu aided by the 
 Portuguese under Philip de Brito y. Nicotc, to whom, in reward for then* 
 services, he gave the town of Than-lyeng, which they repaired and fortified. 
 In a short time, however, the king of Arakan found reason to regret his 
 liberality and formed an alliance with the king of Toung-ngoo for the 
 purpose of driving out the Portuguese, but the attack on the town failed 
 and the entcrprize was abandoned. Some years later, in 1G13, Than- 
 lyeng was besieged and taken by the king of Ava, Nicote impaled alive 
 and all the Portuguese whose lives were spared sent as slaves to the 
 capital, where some traces of them exist to this day in a race of people 
 with light coloured hair and eyes. 
 
 In 1G31 the Dutch were allowed to establish a factory at Than- 
 lyeng which they retained till 1G77.* The date of the establishment 
 of the English factory is not known. In 1698, however, it was re-established 
 and Mr. Bowyear placed in charge of it by the Government of Madras. 
 In 1740 the Peguans expelled the Burmese and captured Than-lyeng 
 without, however, injuring or molesting the English and other foreigners 
 residing there. In 1743 the Burmese retook the town, but held it for three 
 days only, when the Talaings returned, di'ove out the Burmese, and having 
 strong and not altogether unwarranted suspicions of duplicity on the part 
 of Mr. Smart, then in charge of the factory, burnt it to the ground, and 
 this together with the unsettled state of affairs induced Mr. Smart to retire 
 from the country with the whole establishment. Nothing now remains of 
 these once flourishing Portuguese, Dutch and English factories but sub- 
 stantial ruins of the old church, some tombs of masonry and the foundations 
 of a few masonry houses. The tombs all shew signs of having been dug 
 into : this was done before the occupation of Pegu by the British, by order 
 of the Myo-ook or Burmese petty governor, in the expectation of finding 
 treasure. The ruins of the church stand on an elevated ridge just outside 
 the old town walls and give evidence of the great strength and solidity 
 with which it must originally have been built. It was erected in 1749-50 
 by Monseigneur Ncrini, the second Vicar Apostolic of Ava and Pegu 
 and a member of the Barnabite mission which laboured in this country 
 dm'ing the last century. The following account of its erection is taken 
 from the life of one of these missionaries, Monseigneur G. M. Percoto, 
 missionary to the kingdoms of Ava and Pegu and Bishop of Massulis : — 
 " He," Dom Nerini, " was received with favour by the king of Pegu to whom 
 " he made himself useful by his skill in astronomy, foretelling eclipses and 
 " so forth, and he ultimately received permission to erect a church of 
 " masonry at Syriam. The funds for building the church were found by a 
 " good Armenian merchant, and the building was designed by Father 
 *' Nerini. So well did he succeed that the cluu-ch when finished was the 
 ** admiration not only of the country but even of the foreigners who came 
 " to the place. In plan it consisted of a single nave ornamented with 
 
 * According to Valoutyn ; but Dalrymple states that both English aud Dutch were expelled 
 some years earUcr. 
 
 85
 
 674 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " arches and columns both inside and out. Its dimensions were as follows : 
 " length 81, breadth 31 and height 40 French feet. It was intended 
 " to have had a domed roof, but the arrival of the Coromandel workmen 
 " who were sent for to construct it was prevented by the war which arose, <, 
 " and the roof was, therefore, completed in another style. The whole 
 " building was a marvel to the Peguans, but what they more especially 
 " admired was a spiral staircase going up inside the tower. The following 
 *' inscription was placed inside the church : — 
 
 "D. 0. M. 
 
 " Ad. fidem. Propagandum. 
 
 " ClEEICI. PiEGULARIS. SaNCTI. PaULLI. 
 
 " NicoLAus. DE Aguilar. Nationi. Armenus. 
 " Margarita. Conjux. 
 " ^dificabant. 
 
 " Anno Domini CIOIOCCL." 
 
 No trace of this inscription now remains : the roof and west wall have 
 fallen in as well as other parts of the building, but the place where the 
 spiral staircase was with the marks of the steps, the north and south walls 
 and the eastern end, are still standing. Father Luigi Galli, in his history of 
 Christianity in Burma, tells us that — 
 
 " Hardly was the labour of constructing the church ended when Father 
 " Nerini took in hand the building of a roomy house as a parochial 
 " residence for the bishop and the missionaries shortly expected from 
 " Italy, as well as a dwelling-place for a number of Taking children given 
 " by their parents to the mission. The dwelling thus constructed had, 
 " when finished, two halls, eight rooms, and two verandahs. For symmetry 
 " there was a wing, the rooms in the lower floor of which were used as 
 " store-houses, one for a kitchen and another for a bath-room excepted. 
 " Above was the dormitory and the school-house, which had at the time 
 " 40 pupils on the rolls. By the side of the church, and within the spacious 
 " mission grant, another dwelling was erected for abandoned infants who 
 " were placed under the charge of matronly dames to be brought up in 
 " piety, religion and industry. These various structures gave the place 
 " an aspect of a little village, but were not, however, constructed without 
 " cost as about 5,000 Roman scudi had to be expended in the erections. 
 " The major part of this sum was received from a wealthy and well dis- 
 *' posed Armenian merchant named Nicolas de Aguilar, principally in 
 " whose honour the marble tablet (alluded to above) was erected." 
 
 The mission was established in 1722, and remained unmolested till 
 the war between the Peguans and the Burmese which resulted in the 
 destruction of the factories and the temporary supremacy of the Talaing 
 kingdom, when Monsignor Galizia was killed, but Father Nerini, as we 
 have seen, was spared and taken into favour by the Peguan king and was 
 eventually, in 1754, raised to the apostolic vicariate and made Bishop of 
 Orienza. The flourishing days of the mission after this were of but short 
 duration. In 1756 the bishop was mm-dered by the Burman sovereign 
 Aloung-bhoora, then besieging Than-lyeng, because he suspected him of 
 having sent for a French ship which entered the river with the intention
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 075 
 
 of assisting the Peguans. From that time till 1760 the mission remained 
 destitute, and was then re-established in Eangoon, Than-lyeng or Syriam 
 being abandoned. 
 
 The Myo-ook dming the first war in 1824-25 was Moung Tsat whose 
 sister was married to king Bhadoon-meng, fourth son of Aloung-bhoora ; 
 after the capture of Rangoon by the British troops he collected a consider- 
 able force and commenced fortifying the town and erecting works to 
 command the entrance to the river. On the 4th August 1824 a force of 
 about 600 men drawn from H. M's. 41st Eegiment, the Madras European 
 Infantry Eegiment and the 12th M. N. L, under Brigadier Smelt, 
 was sent to dislodge him. The Burmese force was found posted within 
 the walls of the old Portuguese factory, the defences of which had been 
 strengthened with palisades. The storming party was received by a sharp 
 fire, but the enemy evacuated the place before the escalade, and were 
 pm-sued by a detachment under Colonel Kelly. The British did not retain 
 possession of the town, and this was occupied in December by a portion of 
 the grand Burmese army which had been investing Eangoon. On the 
 commander-in-chief determining to commence his onward march to Prome 
 he detached a force under Colonel Elrington which, on the 11th February 
 1825, drove out the enemy and re-occupied Than-lyeng. After the con- 
 clusion of the war the Talaing, finding that we did not intend retaining 
 possession of the valleys of the Irrawaddy and Tsit-toung and impelled 
 by their long-standing hatred of their Burmese conquerors and by a 
 natural fear that, having deserted to the British on every possible occasion 
 and rendered them every assistance, their former masters would, on their 
 return, notwithstanding the sixth article of the treaty of peace signed at 
 Yandaboo, harrass and injure them to the utmost extent of their power, 
 determined on taking advantage of the weakened state of the Burman 
 empire and on attempting to regain possession of their ancient kingdom. 
 The leader of the movement was Moung Tsat, the Myo-ook of Than-lyeng, 
 who assumed the title of king. The Talaing were joined by the Karcng 
 and for some time it was doubtful whether the Burmese would be able 
 to suppress the rebellion. They made two or three endeavours to obtain 
 the assistance of the English which Mr. Crawford, then on his way down 
 from Ava, steadily declined to afford. One word from the English, they 
 said, would induce Moung Tsat to give up the enterprize and retire into 
 British territory. Indeed before Mr. Crawford left Eangoon for the capital 
 and when the British troops were stiU m Eangoon the Burmese local 
 authorities, who clearly foresaw the rising which afterwards took place and 
 knew that Moung Tsat would be the leader, had asked that the English 
 Commissioners should seize him and his friends and followers and hand 
 them over to their tender mercies. The Talaing, on the other hand, asked 
 for no assistance but begged that the British would not mterfere but would 
 " stand upright and move neither to the right-hand nor to the left." 
 After some fighting in and round Eangoon, a force arrived from Ava and 
 the Peguans retreated to Than-lyeng, and in 1827 the leaders including 
 Moung Tsat escaped to Tenasserim. 
 
 During the second Burmese war the Myo-ook of Than-lyeng repaired 
 the fortifications of his town and prepared to resist the Enghsh, but changed 
 his mind and escaped without firing a shot.
 
 676 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 TA-BENG-TA-GA. — A village in the Doung-boon circle, Poung-day 
 township, Prome district, a few miles east of the Thai-goon station on 
 the Eangoon and Irrawaddy Valley (State) Railway with 715 inhabitants in 
 1877. During the rule of the Burmese government a strong stockade 
 existed in the neighbourhood. 
 
 TA-DA. — See Tonng-gnyo river. 
 
 TA-DA. — A village in the A-goon (South) circle, Than-lyeng township, 
 Rangoon district with 889 inhabitants in 1878-79. 
 
 TA-DA-GA-LE. — A village in the Koon-dan circle, Hmaw-bhee town- 
 ship, Rangoon district, with 555 inhabitants in 1878-79. 
 
 TA-GAY. — A revenue circle in the Gnyoung-doon township of the 
 Thoon-khwa district, 103 square miles in extent, containing about 6,600 
 acres under cultivation and with large fisheries. In 1876-77 the population 
 was 7,611, the land revenue Rs. 13,161, the capitation tax Rs. 7,473 and 
 the gross revenue Rs. 27,429. In 1877-78 the land revenue was Rs. 13,140, 
 the capitation tax Rs. 8,260, the fishery revenue Rs. 13,343 and the popula- 
 tion 8,246. 
 
 TA-GNYEK. — A revenue circle in the Mergui district east of Mergui 
 and lying in the west of the valley of the Tenasserim. In 1876-77 the 
 population was 2,689, the land revenue Rs. 7,47^, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 1,585 and the gross revenue Rs, 9,058. 
 
 TA-GNYEK KARENG. — A revenue circle in the Mergui district extend- 
 ing southwards from Shan-dwot to the east of Mergui island. In 1876-77 
 the population was 1,474, the land revenue Rs. 1,193, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 954 and the gross revenue Rs. 2,147. 
 
 TA-GOUNG-NEK. — A revenue circle in the Meng-doon township, 
 Thayet district, about 132 square miles in extent, by far the larger portion 
 of which, over 122 square miles, are wild hilly forest land quite uncultur- 
 able. The actually cultivated portion covers an extent of some 1,400 acres, 
 leaving about 5,000 acres of culturable land waiting for cultivators. The 
 j)opulation is, as regards the whole area, very sparse, numbering 2,804 souls 
 in 1876-77, or not 22 to the square mile. The products are rice, sessamum, 
 chillies, cotton, cutch and silk. In 1876-77 the land revenue was Rs. 1,620, 
 the capitation tax Rs. 1,703 and the gross revenue Rs. 3,439. 
 
 TAIK-KOO-LA. — A revenue circle in the Tsit-toung sub-division of the 
 Shwe-gyeng district, extending south-westwards from near Kyaik-hto to the 
 mouth of the Tsit-toung river. It has an area of about 144 square miles, 
 of which the northern portion only is cultivated. The soil is very fertile. 
 A good deal of salt is made in this circle. In 1876-77 the population was 
 3,920, the land revenue Rs. 3,861, the capitation tax Rs. 3,582 and the 
 gross revenue Rs. 10,293. The principal village is Taingkaw. 
 
 TAING-GYO. — A revenue circle in the Khwa or Southern township of 
 the Sandoway district stretching from the coast to the Arakan hills with 
 an estimated area of 169 square miles, very slightly cultivated, and a 
 population in 1876-77 of 1,041 souls. In 1876-77 the land revenue was 
 Rs. 759, the capitation tax Rs. 950 and the gross revenue Rs. 2,503.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. G77 
 
 TAING-KA-MAW. — A revenue circle in the Re La-maing township of 
 the Amherst district which now mckides Toimg-hoon. The principal 
 villages are Taing-ka-maw and Toung-boon. In 1876-77 the population 
 was 1,573, the land revenue Rs. 1,727 and the capitation tax Rs. 1,573. 
 
 TAING-KA-MAW. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Re La-mamg township of the Amherst district on the seacoast to the south 
 of Kaw-dwot. In 1877 it had 859 inhabitants. 
 
 ■ TAING-KAW.— A village in the Taik-koola circle of the Tsit-toung 
 sub-division of the Shwe-gyeng district in the plains, 10 miles south-west of 
 Kyaik-hto. In 1877 it had 1,475 inhabitants. 
 
 TA-KAING. — A revenue circle in the Bassein township, Bassein 
 district, between the Hpet-rai-gyaw and the Bassein river having an 
 approximate area of 20 square miles. The country generally is one vast 
 plain which is pretty extensively cultivated with rice. It is much inter- 
 sected by creeks and its western boundary, the Hpet-rai-gyaw, is a short 
 passage to Bassein for boats of 200 bushels burden and under. The principal 
 village is Kyek-poung about two miles east of the Bassein river. In 187C-77 
 the population was 1,897, the land revenue Rs. 5,161, the caj)itation tax 
 Rs. 1,835 and the gross revenue Rs. 7,257. 
 
 TA-KHWON-DAING. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Attaran town- 
 ship of the Amherst district occupying the hilly and forest-covered country 
 on both banks of the Weng-raw river for a considerable distance from its 
 source. It has but little cultivation. The inhabitants are chiefly Kareng 
 and in 1876-77 numbered 2,486. In that year the land revenue was 
 Rs. 1,228 and the capitation tax Rs. 2,690. 
 
 TA-KHWON-DAING.— A tidal creek in the Shwe-loung township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, joining the Da-nwon and the Re-tsoo-daing. Its bed 
 and banks are muddy. Its least depth is nine feet and it is, therefore, 
 navigable by river steamers. 
 
 TA-KOO-WEE. — A village in the Poung circle of the Martaban town- 
 ship, Rangoon district, with 652 inhabitants in 1877-78. 
 
 TA-L AING-GOON. — A revenue circle in the north-eastern angle of the 
 Prome district, traversed throughout its whole length by the North Na-weng. 
 The country consists generally of undulating and hilly ground covered 
 with dense forest in which Teak {Tectona (jrandis) and Pyeng-ga-do {XiiUa 
 dolahriformis) abound. The sides of the hills are cleared for cotton cultiva- 
 tion, and tobacco, sessamum and vegetables are grown on the banks of the 
 Na-weng. There are no cart roads. A footpath leads from the source of 
 the Na-weng across the Roma to the Toung-ngoo district. In 1876-77 the 
 population was 2,465, the land revenue Rs. 522, the capitation tax Rs. 1,522 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 2,769. 
 
 TA-LAING-TAI. — A village in the Thoo-te circle, Central township, 
 Sandoway district on the bank of the Zee-goon near the mouth of the 
 Thoo-te. In 1877 it had 853 inhabitants. 
 
 TA-LENG-TSHIEP. — A village in the Sandoway ch'cle. Central town- 
 ship, Sandoway district, on the left bank of the Sandoway river one and a 
 half miles above Sandoway. In 1877 it had 530 inhabitants.
 
 678 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 TA-MAN-KHYOUNG.— A village of 566 inhabitants in 1877 in the 
 Kan-nee circle, Nga-poo-taw township, Bassein district, on the right hank 
 of the Than-dwe near its junction with the Bassein river. Near it is some 
 rice land. The inhabitants are principally traders, tradesmen, cultivators 
 and fishermen. The little trade that it does is mainly in rice and salted and 
 pressed fish. 
 
 TA-MOOT-KYOON, — A revenue circle in the Mergui district extending 
 from the Little Tenasserim eastwards to the main range forming the boundary 
 between Siam and British Burma. In 1876-77 the population was 
 1,472, the land revenue Es. 1,203, the capitation tax Es. 1,095 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 2,298. 
 
 TA-MYA. — A village in the Kan-goo circle, Donabyoo township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, about a mile inland from the Irrawaddy and fom* 
 miles north-west of Donabyoo. In 1878 it had 523 inhabitants. 
 
 TAN. — A river in Eamree island which falls into the sea on the eastern 
 coast. About 13 miles up is the town of Eamree, the ascent by boats taking 
 from three to four hours. The river for about six miles up is lined with 
 dense mangrove swamp which gradually gives place to drier ground until 
 the town is reached. The anchorage is about half a mile from the mouth 
 of the creek, 
 
 TA-NEE. — A village in the Thoon-khwa circle of the township and 
 district of the same name eight miles south of Ma-oo-beng and opposite 
 Thoon-khwa (g.v.). In 1878 it had 1,279 inhabitants. 
 
 TA-NENG-THA-EEE. — A revenue cu-cle in the Tenasserim township 
 of the Mergui district on the left bank of the Tenasserim river. In 1876-77 
 the population was 2,378, the land revenue Es. 3,860, the capitation tax 
 Es. 1,440 and the gross revenue Es. 5,300. The principal villages are 
 Tenasserim, the head-quarters of the township, and Maw-toon 16 miles to 
 the north-west. 
 
 TAN-KHO. — A village in the Oo-ree-toung circle of the Oo-ree-toung 
 (West) township, Akyab district, on the western bank of the Koo-la-dan and 
 south of the Oo-ree-toung pagoda. The name is said to be a corruption of 
 Htan-kho, but this appears to be exceedingly doubtful. In 1877 it had 559 
 inhabitants. 
 
 TAN-LWAL— A village of 962 inhabitants in 1876-77, nearly all 
 Ai'akanese, on the Tan-lwai river about a mile from its mouth, in the 
 Northern township of the Sandoway district. 
 
 TAN-LWAL — A river in the Sandoway district, which it traverses 
 from east to west, having its source in the Arakan hills and falling into the 
 sea about 64 miles south of the Ma-ee. 
 
 TAN-LWAI. — A small revenue circle in the northern township of the 
 Sandoway district, extending inland from the Kyaing-kywon grant which 
 lies between it and the seacoast, both being just south of the Tsha-byeng 
 circle. The small population, mainly composed of Arakanese, cultivate four- 
 fifths of the culturable area which is about one-half of the whole circle ; 
 rice is the principal product. In 1876-77 the inhabitants numbered
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 679 
 
 1,810, the land revenue was Rs. 3,246, the capitation tax Es. 1,562 and 
 the gross revenue Rs. 4,808. The principal village is Tan-lwai. 
 
 TA-PWON. — A town in the Henzada (TharrawaddjO district east of 
 the Irrawaddy and about four miles east of the Myit-ma-kha, in IS"' 46' 22" 
 N. and 95° 49' 7" E. with a population of 1,800 souls in 1876-77 who 
 are principally rice cultivators, traders and fishermen. From this town a 
 good road led northwards to Poung-day in the Prome district across the 
 Kan-tha or Toung-gnyo stream over a substantial wooden bridge : the 
 Kan-tha has silted up in the centre and the water flowed round the ends 
 the bridge cutting it off from the banks : it has in consequence been pulled 
 down. The town contains a court-house for the Extra Assistant Commis- 
 sioner, a police-station and an inspection bungalow. 
 
 TA-PWON. — A stream which rises in the plains of the Lai-daw circle 
 and flows past Ta-pwon to the Myit-ma-kha. The banks are flat and 
 muddy. During the rains it is navigable by large boats from its mouth to 
 Ta-pwon, and for smaller boats for some distance higher up, but like most 
 of the streams in this part of the country it is silting up. 
 
 TA-PWON. — The northern township of the Henzada (Tharrawaddy) 
 district east of the Irrawaddy, extending from the Pegu Roma westwards to 
 the Irrawaddy and adjoining Prome on the north. The hilly country pro- 
 duces some valuable timber amongst which are considerable quantities of 
 teak. It now includes Ta-roop-maw and is divided into 14 circles and 
 covers an area of 678 square miles. The land revenue in 1877-78 was 
 Rs. 60,221, the capitation taxRs. 71,231 and the gross revenue Es. 158,835, 
 including Rs. 7,502 local funds. In 1877 the population was 78,232. 
 
 TA-PWON MYO-MA. — A revenue cu*cle in the Ta-pwon township of 
 the Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district ; in the south it is subject to munda- 
 tion but in the north is well cultivated with rice. In 1876-77 the population 
 was 9,374, the land revenue Rs. 6,149, the capitation taxEs. 8,082 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 18,840. It now includes Tha-bye-hla and Oung-beug-tha. 
 The principal towns and villages are Ta-pwon, Gyo-le-beng, Thit-ta-ra, 
 Mye-noo, Oung-beng-tha, Htan-ta-beng and Tha-bye-hla. 
 
 TA-EA-BHA. — A village in the Kywai-loo circle. Northern township, 
 Sandoway district, lying on both banks of the Tan-lwai stream about four 
 miles from its mouth. In 1877 it had 707 inhabitants. 
 
 TA-EA-NA. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Gyaing 
 Than-lweng township of the Amherst district on the left bank of the Gyaing 
 below Sandoway Dham-ma-tha. In 1877 it had 1,617 mhabitants. 
 
 TA-EA-NA. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Than-lweng township of the 
 Amherst district on the left bank of the Gyaing. It contains a good deal 
 of rice land under cultivation and is inhabited chiefly by Talaing. In 
 1876-77 the population was 3,114, the land revenue Es. 7,385 and the 
 capitation tax Es. 2,945. The principal villages are Ta-ra-na, Kaw-that 
 and Dham-ma-tha. 
 
 TA-EAW-TAW.— A village in the Lck-wai (East) circle, Central town- 
 ship, Sandoway district, on the riglit bank of the Sandoway river a little 
 below Sandoway. In 1877 it had 650 inhabitauta.
 
 680 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 TA-EEE-KA-LWON. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Attaran 
 township, Amherst district, occupying an extended stretch of mountainous 
 country on the left bank of the Houng-tha-raw. It is sparsely inhabited by 
 Kareng and very thinly cultivated ; the major portion of its surface is covered 
 by forest. In 1876-77 the population wq,s 506, the land revenue was 
 Es. 271 and the capitation tax was Es. 562. 
 
 TA-EEB-KA-LWON. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Amherst district on the west bank of the Houng-tha-raw not far from the 
 mouth of the Ta-ree-ka-hoon stream. In 1877 it had 672 inhabitants. 
 
 TA-EOO. — A sub-tribe of the Pwo family of Kareng residing in the 
 extreme north-east of the province, called by themselves Koo-hta, by the 
 Burmese Bhee-loo " Ogres", and by the Kareng-nee Pa-doung. A portion 
 of the clan shave the whole head except two tufts of hair, one over each 
 temple. They are considered to be a peaceable sept but yet are notorious 
 for their blood feuds amongst themselves and for the slavery which exists 
 amongst them : they number about 16,000 souls but it is probable that 
 most of these live beyond the British frontier though the native official 
 stationed among the Gai-kho says not. The women wear short togas, and 
 in addition to the brass coils round the neck and below the Imee, which 
 distinguish some of their neighbours, they have similar coils above the knee. . 
 The men wear trowsers. 
 
 TA-EOOP-HMYAW.— A village in the Ta-roop-maw circle, Ta-pwon 
 township, Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district, about a mile east of the Irra- 
 waddy. In 1877 it had 786 inhabitants. 
 
 TA-EOOP-HPYOO. — A revenue circle in the Padoung township of the 
 Prome district. In 1876-77 the population was 1,615, the land revenue 
 Es. 975, the capitation tax Es. 1,825 and the gross revenue Es. 2,930. 
 
 TA-EOOP-MAW-MYO-MA.— A revenue circle in the Ta-pwon township, 
 Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district, now including Tweng-byai on the left 
 bank of the Irrawaddy, and adjoining the Prome district, with but little 
 cultivation : towards the east the country is undulating and covered with 
 Eng {Dipterocaj'pus tuhercidatus) forest. In 1876-77 the population was 
 6,080, the land revenue w^as 3,230, the capitation tax Es. 5,410 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 9,520. The principal village is Ta-roop-hmyaw. 
 
 TA-EOOP-TAW. — A village in the Twan-te circle, Angyee township, 
 Eangoon district, on the lower ground to the north of the Twan-te Taw-gyee, 
 about two miles N.E. from Twan-te. In 1877 it contained a population 
 of 820 souls, Talaing, Kareng and Shan, most of whom are garden cul- 
 tivators. 
 
 TA-THEE. — A village in the Dha-bhien circle, Hpoung-leng township, , 
 Eangoon district, with 772 inhabitants in 1878-79. 
 
 TAVOY. — A river in the Tenasserim division. The various streams 
 which unite to form this river have their sources in the southern slopes 
 of the Ma-hlwai spur and in the western slopes of the main range in the 
 extreme north of the Tavoy district. Much obstructed by rocks and rapids 
 it has a southerly course, through a narrow valley nowhere more than from 
 ten to 12 miles across, of about 120 miles, and, receiving the waters of
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 681 
 
 numerous small mountain streams, flows past the town of Tavoy, below 
 which it widens rapidly and falls into the sea in about 13' 32' N. having 
 attained a breadth of several miles. It is navigable throughout the year 
 for boats and small craft for about 70 miles from its mouth, but owing to 
 numerous shoals and low islands, the latter cultivated with rice, dhanee 
 palms and other garden produce, not only is the navigation exceedingly 
 intricate but vessels drawing more than seven feet of water cannot proceed 
 above Goodridge plains 80 miles below Tavoy and about 15 miles up. The 
 tide is felt some way above Tavoy. 
 
 TAVOY. — The head-quarter town of the district of the same name in 
 the Tenasserim division on the Tavoy river about 30 miles from its mouth 
 with 13,133 inhabitants in 1863-6^, 14,50G in 1867-68 and 14,795 in 
 1877-78. 
 
 The town being situated in the valley of the river its position in regard 
 to the surrounding country is low and the north-west and south portion is 
 flooded at high tide and swampy during the rains ; the central portion is 
 about 12 feet above high water level. It is laid out in straight streets and 
 the houses are for the most part built of timber or bamboos and thatched 
 with dhanee leaves. To the east and west are ranges of hills running nearly 
 north and south. The surrounding land is under rice cultivation and during 
 the season is rendered swampy by the small embankments raised to retain 
 the rain water on the fields. It contains coiu't-houses, police-stations, a 
 custom-house, post-office, hospital and dispensary, market, school and a 
 small and new gaol, besides numerous pagodas, monasteries and zayats or 
 rest-houses. The trade is small and of but little importance, and is carried 
 on chiefly with other ports in the province and with the Straits Settlements. 
 The principal exports are rice, dhanee leaves, jaggery, earthen pots, wood oil, 
 timber and fruits, and the principal imports are piece-goods, long cloth, 
 turkey red, silk and cotton velvets, iron, crockery, tobacco and dried vege- 
 tables such as onions and chillies. In 1877-78 it had a gross municipal 
 income of Rs. 10,499. 
 
 The town was founded in 1751 though the country is noticed much 
 earlier and the ruins of some nine cities exist in various parts of the • 
 district, notably at Old Tavoy or Myo-houng a few miles to the north. In 
 1752 the ruler of the country made overtures to the British to establish a 
 factory in or near his new capital. During the first Burmese war the 
 garrison rose against the commander on the appearance of the British at 
 the mouth of the river and handed the place over to the English, together 
 with the person of the second in command and his family whom they had 
 taken prisoners. For several j^ears a detachment from Maulmain was 
 quartered in the town which was gradually weakened and finally withdrawn. 
 According to one tradition the name is a corruption of a Siamese word 
 meaning " a landing-place for rattans," according to another it was so named 
 because it was celebrated for its armom-ers, people coming from a long 
 distance to buy swords {dha a sword and woi/ to buy), according to a third 
 because a miraculous sword was once bought here, and according to a 
 fourth it is a Burmese corruption of the Talaing word Ilta-u-a;/, sitting 
 crossed-legged after the manner of tailors, and the town was thus called 
 because Gaudama was so found by the inhabitants on his visit to the place. 
 The last two traditions are the most incredible of the four, if any credit at 
 
 80
 
 682 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 all is due to any, which is highly improhable. Lat. 14^ 5' N, ; Long. 
 98° 10' E. 
 
 TAVOY. — A district in the Tenasserim division extending along the 
 eastern side of the Bay of Bengal from 13° 15' to 15° 11' N., bounded 
 on the north by Amherst, from which it is separated by a range of hills 
 south of the Re river, on the south by Mergui and on the east by the high 
 chain of mountains which forms the boundary between British India and 
 Siam. Its extreme length is about 150 miles, its breadth at the widest 
 part is about 50 miles, and its area 7,200 square miles. Its general aspect 
 is that of a long seacoast tract, hilly and densely wooded, enclosed by 
 mountains on three sides and open on the west towards the sea. 
 
 The mouth of the Tavoy river affords excellent anchorage for ships 
 and vessels can anchor along the coast at all times dui'ing the north-east 
 monsoon, and during the south-west monsoon do often take secure refuge 
 under the lee of the islands which shelter the coast. There are also one 
 or two coves, as at Kyek-hlwot and Hmaw-rit, in which vessels might find 
 safe anchorage during the south-west monsoon, with three fathoms at low 
 water. Hien-tsai basin, towards the north, is a fine harbour with deep 
 water but its mouth is obstructed by a bar. 
 
 The principal islands along the coast are the Moscos. These extend 
 in a chain from 13° 47' to 14° 28' N. and are distant from nine to 13 
 miles from the main land with a safe channel inside. Between the southern 
 and middle groups, which are the largest and highest, there are safe 
 channels ; the northern group is composed of straggling islands with 
 several rocks above water. 
 
 There are three mountain ranges, viz., the main chain on the 
 Mountains. extreme east, the Nwa-hla-bo in the centre, and a third 
 
 intervening between the Nwa-hla-bo and the seacoast. 
 The main chain, with a general N.N.W. and S.S.E. dii-ection, rises here occa- 
 sionally to a height of 5,000 feet, and throwing off numerous densely-wooded 
 spurs offers an almost impassible barrier across which, into Siam, there 
 are but three routes and of these the southern or Mai-bhoora is impracti- 
 cable for elephants. The northern is by the Htan-doung at the source of 
 the May-nam-naw-ey in Lat. 14° 26' 53", N. Long. 98° 32' E. a Siamese 
 river, from Tavoy, to Kan-boo-ree via Met-ta. The southern route is by 
 the Amya pass, 60 miles lower down, which derives its name from a village 
 on the Tenasserim river. By this route the time occupied in travelhng 
 from Tavoy to Bangkok would be as follows : — 
 
 From Tavoy to Met-ta, by elephants . . . . 2 days. 
 
 From Met-ta to Amya, down to the Tenasserim river 
 From Amya to Ban Wangmeuk, through the Amya Pass, 
 
 by Kareng coolies . . 
 
 From Wangmeuk to Kan-boo-ree by boat down the 
 
 Tai-pa-ket 
 
 From Kan-boo-ree to May-khlaung, down the May- 
 
 khlauug river 
 From May-khlaung to Bangkok by boat, through Maha- 
 
 chai and Hta-cheen 
 
 Total 
 
 3 
 
 12 days. 
 
 There are two objections to this route : the first is the descent of the 
 Tenasserim from ]Met-ta to Amya through the dangerous rapids and fails
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 683 
 
 SO common to it ; the second is that Amya cannot be reached by elephants 
 from the Tavoy side. Baggage has to be carried across the hills by Kareng 
 
 coolies and if the baggage is too heavy the northern route by Htan-doung 
 must be taken. By.it the time occupied would be : — 
 
 From Tavoy to Met-ta, by elephants . . . . 2 days. 
 From Met-ta to Htan-doung by elephants up the Kha- 
 
 miet stream .. .. •• •• 2 ,, 
 From Htan-doung to Deuyeik by elephants following 
 
 the May-nam-naw-ey . . . . • • 3A „ 
 
 From Deuyeik to Wangmeuk by elephants . . . . 4 ,, 
 
 From Wangmeuk to Bangkok by boats . . . • 5 ,, 
 
 Total .. 1(3^ days. 
 
 The western approach to the Htan-doung pass is very steep. 
 
 Thirty-eight miles south of the Amya pass there is another route across 
 the watershed into Siam through the Mai-bhoora pass. The western 
 ascent is up tlie Mai-bhoora river, an affluent of the Tenasserim. The 
 distance is short but the journey is a long one owing to the irregular rocky 
 condition of the river bed. The descent to the east is down the Mai-bhoora- 
 khyee to Ban Wangmeuk on the Tai-hpa-kek. From Tai-hpa-ngay on the 
 Mai-bhoora-khyee there is a short cut eastward into the liat-boo-ree and 
 Phayt-cha-boo-ree district of Siam. This pass is a very ditficult one and 
 is only used by Kareng. 
 
 Bounding the Tenasserim valley on the west and forming the water- 
 shed between the Tavoy and Tenasserim rivers is another range thrown 
 off by the main cham in about 14^ 42' N. and extending down through the 
 district into Mergui to the great westward bend of the Tenasserim river. 
 The highest point in this range is Nwa-la-bo, a hill about 21 miles N.N.E. 
 of Tavoy. The ascent of this mountain has been several times made and 
 the late Colonel Stevenson thus describes one that he effected some 20 
 years ago. 
 
 " We reached the foot of the range in three marches from Tavoy town 
 " and computed the distance to be about 21 miles. The path mostly running 
 " through thick jungle is tolerably good throughout but crosses water in a 
 " great many places. The ascent was thence accomplished in two stages, 
 " the first occupying two hours and a quarter and following the direct path, 
 " very steep and rocky across the ridge to the valley of the Tenasserim, the 
 " second runnmg up along the ridge in a general southerly direction to the 
 " summit of the cone. It occupied upwards of six hours. 
 
 " The first portion of this ascent (the second stage) was not very steep 
 " but the forest was very dense ; in some places the jungle of thorny bamboo 
 " was impervious and delayed us many minutes, once a quarter of an hour, 
 " while we cut a passage through but a great portion of the path was a very 
 " clearly defined track of wild animals. As we neared the cone the mountain 
 " narrowed into a mere spur with precipitous walls clothed with dense jungle — 
 " the path here was often not more than a yard in width. The cone itself, 
 " which is the apex of three spurs, rises sharply from the ridge ; we climbed 
 " about 500 feet — the ascent was extremely arduous. We found its summit 
 " to be a table of not more than 40 feet in length by less than half that in 
 " breadth, entirely clothed witli stunted trees and dwarf bamboo jungle. On 
 ** the north-east the wall of the ridge is a precipice of 2,000 or even 2,500 feet.
 
 684 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 ** At 3-80 (it uas in January) the thermometer was 65' in the shade ; at 
 "6. p. M. 59"; at 10-10 it fell 'to 57°; at 6 a. m. and until sunrise a few 
 " minutes afterwards 56°, which was the lowest observed. At 8 a. m., it 
 *' reached only 64° in the sun when shining brightly, nearly corresponding 
 " with the temperature at 3-30 shade of previous day. The view on both 
 " days was much obscured by haze but the boundary range between Tavoy 
 " and Siam was very clearly visible. The range of view is most extensive 
 " and panoramic : no mountain approaching it in height appeared within a 
 " circle of probably 35 miles ; at that distance the peak of one was visible, 
 " nearly due south, which we supposed to be higher. 
 
 "It was very obvious that no table-land was to be found on this ridge 
 " or the spurs from it of more than a few square feet : 2,000 or even 1,500 
 *' feet below it a small superficies on the sides of the mountain would pro- 
 " bably be met with here and there. 
 
 " As there was not a boiling-point thermometer or mountain barometar 
 " in Tavoy the height was subsequently taken by the theodolite, but the 
 " greatest difficulty occurred in obtaining a sufficient base-line ; that selected 
 " was measured in no less than three lengths ; two of them across water 
 " could be ascertained only by triangulation. Upon a base-line fixed by 
 " such a complicated method and measuring hardly a tenth of the distance 
 " of the object and thereby affording only very acute angles for the measure- 
 " ment little reliance can be placed. The result obtained made the height 
 " a little more than 4,500 feet." 
 
 The third range, which is of no great height, leaves the Ma-hlwai 
 spur, the northern boundary of the district, and, forming the western 
 water-shed of the Tavoy river, extends southward to Tavoy point. 
 
 The district contains but httle plain country except that in the lower 
 course of the Tavoy river, and the hills, where not cleared in patches for 
 temporary cultivation, are covered with dense forest. 
 
 The chief rivers are the Tenasserim and the Tavoy. The former is 
 ' Eivors remarkable for its two sources, the one rising in the 
 
 north and flowing south to the Kareng village of Met-ta 
 where it is joined by the latter which takes it source about 80 miles due 
 south of the source of the first and flows north ; after uniting they flow 
 due eastward and then turn south and shortly enter the Mergui district. 
 For the greater part of its course this river is dangerous to navigate on 
 account of its rapids. 
 
 The Tavoy river has its source in the Ma-hlwai spur and, flowing 
 southward through a narrow valley and fed by numerous mountain torrents, 
 falls into the sea at Tavoy point about 40 miles below the town of Tavoy. 
 From its source nearly to Gnyoung-doon-lai it is not navigable for boats 
 of any kind ; from this spot as far south as Rwon-lai, about 32 miles above 
 Tavoy at which place the rapids cease and the tides are felt, it is navigable 
 by boats drawing not more than three or four feet. Three miles above 
 the town the character of the river alters and below Goodridge plains it 
 flows through an alluvial plain and is spread in a wide channel studded 
 with islands. Hereabouts there are numerous tidal creeks much used by 
 the inhabitants. This river, which at its mouth is more properly an 
 estuary being about 15 miles wide, is navigable for vessels of any burden 
 and its main channel is pretty free from shoals as far as Than-lyeng-tshiep,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. G85 
 
 or Goodridge plains, on the west bank, about 20 miles from Nghek-tbaik or 
 Cap island, a rock at the mouth with a deep channel l)etween it and the 
 land. Ships can find safe anchorage at all times within Cap island and 
 Sheng-maw point. Fresh water is at almost all seasons obtainable along 
 the west shore as far as the most northern rocky islet, Kathaj'-ma-kj^won, 
 inside of which is a fine spring of water known as " English well ", 
 called by the natives Eng-ga-nee dweng. At the springs it is safe as far 
 Tavoy for vessels drawing not more than eight feet of water but those 
 drawing seven can scarcely hope to get up at neap tides as the shoals, 
 which are constantly changing their position, nearly fill the channel. 
 
 The district has never been carefully examined by a geologist. The 
 Geology mountain ranges appear to be granite. The intervening 
 
 valleys have occasional patches of clay slate, more or 
 less altered by igneous action, with here and there dykes of claystone and 
 freestone trap. The hills along the seacoast consist almost entirely of 
 granite ; on the east side of them there is abundance of micaceous iron ore 
 and clay ironstone, a good deal of the former being magnetic : nearly opposite 
 the town, on the west bank of the river, is an elevated ironstone ridge, 
 the higher part of the rock being magnetic. The low hills east of the town 
 of Tavoy and those at Sheng-dha-wai above and at Pan-daw and Ka-nck- 
 tha-ree below are all formed of alluvium composed chiefly of gravel with 
 small boulders of sandstone, conglomerate and quartz. This is again covered 
 with soil of the same material decayed and oxidized. The plains are com- 
 posed of a stiff clay occasionally highly ferruginous. The banks and bed 
 of the Tavoy river are generally clayey but occasionally a rocky stratum of 
 laterite is seen, and the first hilly undulations to the eastward are composed 
 of laterite, clay and sandstone. It is certain that this district formerly 
 yielded tin and lead and there is reason to believe that the tribute to the 
 government of Ava was mainly paid in these metals, but since the British 
 occupation lead has not been worked and tin is collected in but small 
 quantities by washing. Gold is found at the head-waters of many streams, 
 but not in great quantity and it is also proved to exist, though never 
 worked, in the alluvium of Tavoy town. Iron was formerly extracted in 
 the neighbourhood of Tavoy but the work has long ceased to be remuner- 
 ative. There is a small hill of magnetic iron ore about three miles N.W. 
 of Tavoy, and Dr. Ure, to whom specimens were sent many years ago, 
 reported very favourably of them, observing that the purest specimen 
 contained more than G6 per cent, of the pure metal and that they were 
 perfectly free from litanium. He said " they are all rich enough and 
 *' pure enough for making the best quality of bar iron and steel". Copper 
 has been reported to exist in two or three localities at the mouth of the 
 Toung-byouk river. 
 
 The mineral springs are of two kinds, sulphurous and saline ; the 
 first, neai* the forks of the Tenasserim, and the others east and south of 
 Tavoy. Of the former Dr. Mason, writes " All the stones in the springs 
 " are of a bright brass colour produced apparently by the deposition of the 
 "sulphur*". Dr. Heifer considered that they "belonged to the class of 
 " sulphurous mineral waters, tinged slightly with chalybeate, like the water 
 " of Brighton".t Dr. Mason adds " their heat above the atmosphere is not 
 
 .* Masou's Burma, 1st Edition, pp. 17, 18. t Dr. Heifer's second Report, 1839, p. 23.
 
 686 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " great. Mr. Bennett at a recent visit found the thermometer to rise in the 
 " hottest spring to 119°. They rise from the slate rocks like the warm 
 " springs of a considerable part of Germany.^' 
 
 The following description of the saline springs is taken in full from 
 Dr. Mason's work. " On the margin of the granite range east of Tavoy 
 *' either near the junction of the slate and granite or in the granite itself 
 *' is a series of the hottest springs in the province. I have visited four or 
 " five in a line of 50 or 60 miles and found them uniformly of a saline 
 " character. Around one, nearly east of Tavoy, the stones are covered 
 " with an efflorescence resembling Epsom or Glauber salt. Mr, Bennett 
 
 " found the thermometer in this spring to rise to 144° The hottest 
 
 " springs are at Pai and according to Phillips they are hotter than 
 
 ** any on record out of volcanic regions, with the qestionable exception of 
 " three springs in China which ' probably exceeded the temperature of the 
 ** ' air from 70° to 120° degrees '. The principal spring at Pai, for there are 
 ** several, is in a little sandy basin in the midst of granite rocks on the 
 " margin of a cold-water stream where it bubbles up from three or four 
 " vents ; on immersing the thermometer into one the mercury rose to 
 " 198", — within 14 degrees of the boiling point. Its location is rather pecu- 
 " liar, not being in a valley like the others I have seen but on the side of a 
 " hill more than a 1,000 feet above the level of the sea and surrounded 
 " by large masses of coarse-grained granite rock, which seem to have been 
 *' detached from the summit above".* 
 
 Except in the valleys the whole surface of the country is covered with 
 dense forest, cleared here and there by the Kareng for 
 °bif producTs^^*^' " toungya, which has never been scientifically surveyed 
 and examined. Beyond a few straggling trees in the 
 north the existence of teak {Tectona grandis) is unknown, but other useful 
 timber abounds. The principal timber trees are : — Theng-gan {Hopea odo- 
 rata) which sometimes grows to a height of 250 feet and furnishes a strong 
 light-brown timber used extensively in the construction of boats and canoes 
 and to some extent for building purposes : a cubic foot weighs 641bs. 
 Pyeng-gado {Xylia dolahriformis), found principally near the forks of the 
 Tenasserim though not uncommon in other parts ; the sap-wood is attacked 
 by white ants and decays easily but the heart-wood is more durable than 
 teak but extremely hard and heavy. Anan {Fagroea fragrans), a some- 
 what common tree which the teredo worm will not attack and which is said 
 to harden by submersion and would be valuable for bridges, piles and 
 other sub-aqueous purposes ; at Tavoy it is used principally for the posts 
 of Booddhist edifices. Pyeng-ma (Lagerstroemia reginoe), valuable in ship- 
 and boat-building as it lasts well under water, used for house posts (for 
 which however it is not well suited as the portion buried in the ground 
 decays) planks, beams, roof- scantling and numerous other purposes. 
 Eng-gyeng {Hopea suava), yielding a hard and tough but heavy wood used 
 in boat-building and for planks, lihy e {Syndesmis tavoyana), a handsome 
 red wood used for furniture which when steeped in ferruginous mud 
 turns to a pure ebony black. Padouk (Pterocarptis indicus), the wood resem- 
 bles mahogany but is heavier, red and coarse-grained, that of the root being 
 
 Mason's Bmma, 1st Edition p. 18.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 687 
 
 closer grained, darker and beautifully variegated ; it is much prized 
 and is extensively used in gun-carriages in India. Ka-gnyeng {Dhptero- 
 carpiis alata) the wood of which is not much valued but from which a 
 useful wood-oil is extracted. 
 
 The medicinal and useful plants are very numerous. " The hills that 
 " bound the valley of the Tavoy river " writes the late Dr. Mason " on both 
 " sides, from their bases to their summits, abound with a tree which pro- 
 *' duces a bright gamboge. It is Roxburgh's Garcinia jncturia, which he 
 
 " knew produced a gamboge, which he said, washable to fade I coloured 
 
 " a piece of paper, one band with this gamboge and another with the 
 " gamboge of commerce and subsequently exposed both to the weather 
 " equally for more than twelve months, but without being able to discover 
 
 " that one faded any more than the other It is used by the native doctors 
 
 " in medicine but not extensively." One of the most inveterate weeds 
 which springs up in every clearing is a species of Blumca which by a very 
 simple process yields good camphor. The late Mr. O'Reilly sent to Cal- 
 cutta some specimens of that which he had prepared with more care than 
 is usually taken by the natives and it was reported as " in its refined form 
 in all respects identical with Chinese camphor.* The Padouk produces a 
 gum pronounced by Dr. Morton to be, in its medical virtues, identical with 
 the kino of the druggists. From the Biitca f rondo sa exudes a gum declared 
 to be the "gummi rubrum astringens" of the old druggists and according 
 to Mason " M. Guibourt of Paris, " to whom some of it had been sent, 
 states his opinion in his work on drugs " that it is the original ' kino which 
 " ' had entirely disappeared from commerce and was once so much valued 
 *' * as to be sold for nearly a guinea a pound.' " The eastern mountains 
 produce an inferior kind of cinnamon. The Cassia alata is much cultiva- 
 ted by the natives for its medicinal properties in diseases of the skin for 
 which the native doctors employ it extensively. The Terminalia hellerica 
 produces the Myrobolans which Burmese hold to be medicinal and which 
 when dried is sold in the drug shops. A fungus is found growing at the 
 roots of bamboos much used as an anthelmintic. The Kareng sow the 
 castor oil plant the seeds of which they use as a mordant. One species of 
 croton is now cultivated for its medicinal virtues and another, also used as 
 a cathartic, grows wild. Among the mangrove swamps the " Sea cocoa- 
 nut " as it is called by the Burmese {Carapa ohovata) is common ; its 
 fruit is employed as an astringent, especially in cholera. Sarsaparilla 
 {Smilax ovalifolia) exists and is used as in Europe. The cashew, which is 
 plentiful, exudes " a tine white transparent gum, like gum arabic, and not 
 " inferior to it in virtue or quality." " The leaves of a very common weed 
 ** belonging to the genus Polanisia when bruised are said to act as a 
 ** sinapism. The dried twisted fruit of a species of Ilelicteres is seen among 
 ** the native drugs in the bazaar and is used by Burmese doctors. The 
 " root of a species of Desmodium is valued for its medicinal properties. 
 " The Kareng make an infusion of the leaves of a species of Paratropia, 
 "which they use for many internal diseases." The seeds of the Entada 
 scandens are used as a febrifuge. Wood-oil is said by Dr. O'Shaughnessy 
 to have the same medical properties as copaiba. 
 
 * Voigt apud Mason, p. ISG.
 
 688 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 There are several sources of vegetable oils. The Ka-gnyeng {Diptero- 
 carpns alata) is found in almost all situations. When fully grown oil is 
 extracted from it by scooping out a hollow in the stem, in this a fire is 
 lighted and thereafter the oil collected daily. Each tree will yield on an 
 average 201bs. a year for five or six years. It is, properly speaking, a balsam 
 which by distillation yields a volatile oil, a resin being left behind : Dr. 
 Heifer. says that " laid upon paintings it covers them with a fine trans- 
 
 " parent coating not liable to turn yellow, and dries quickly it is more 
 
 " transparent than copal or mastic, without smell or taste, shining, brittle, 
 " melts easily, burns with a perfume similar to frankincense, dissolves entirely 
 " in ether, turpentine and substantial oils."!' It dissolves caoutchouc mak- 
 ing a water-proofing solution and is found to answer as a substitute for fish- 
 oil in curing leather. It is used as a house varnish in places which are 
 not exposed to the weather and largely in the manufacture of torches. 
 The oil of ben tree is abundant ; a species of Cerbera from which the 
 Burmese extract a lamp oil is found on the banks of tidal creeks and a large 
 timber tree, a species of Bassia from which the natives extract an edible 
 oil, is indigenous. Dr. Heifer states that the Melanorrhoea usitatissima, 
 the Thit-tse, of the Burmese, " is, in the latitude of Tavoy, at home " on the 
 eastern mountains. It afiords an excellent black varnish, much used to 
 lacquer wooden and bamboo boxes, the extraction of which from the tree 
 requires caution on account of its vesicant properties. It is used in gilding, 
 the surface of the article being first smeared with this varnish and the 
 gold leaf immediately applied. 
 
 " The bai'k of the Carey a and of half a dozen different species of 
 " mangrove, the fruit of the sea cocoanut, and the peel of a species of ebony 
 " all abound in tannic acid." The dj'e-producing plants are numerous. The 
 shoe flower, the juice of the cashew tree, the fruit of the Melastoma, the 
 h'liit oi the Diospijros mollis,' the fruit of the Cherhulia terminalia mixed 
 with an iron clay and the juice of the Jatropha curcas give black : the 
 Ruellia indigofera gives blue : the sawdust of the jack {Artocarpus integrifolia), 
 boiled with alum as a mordant, is used as a yellow dye, and with wild indigo 
 for a green, but the colour is not durable. Towards the east in the valley of 
 the Tenasserim is found the Sapan {CcBsalpinia sapan), giving an excellent 
 red dye ; this, owing to the facilities of communication, is taken down to 
 Mergui in the Mergui district. The Kareng most usually prepare then- red 
 dyes from the roots of the Morinda. 
 
 A species of Hibiscus from which ropes are made abounds on the tidal 
 shores, rivers and creeks and the Sida acuta, S. stipulata and Urena lohata 
 all affording a good fibre are abundant. 
 
 The animals and animal products differ but little from those of the 
 ,,. , Malay Peninsula generally. Elephants are found in 
 
 ima mg om. ^^^ northern portion and are said to visit the sea annu- 
 ally but are rarely caught. Two if not three species of rhinoceros are 
 known to exist, and are hunted solely for their horns which are bought by 
 weight by the Chinese for exportation. The tapu- though rarely seen is, 
 according to the late Colonel Burney, known to exist, and the orang- 
 outang is reported to be found on the Lek-khat-toung mountain on the 
 seaboard. According to the late Dr. Morton, wild oxen, two species of tiger, 
 
 t Dr. Heifer's second report 1839, p. 23.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 689 
 
 .species of tiger, several species of leopard, the sambiir, daray, barking, 
 and mouse deer, the Malay bear, the ant-cater, five or six sorts of 
 monkeys, porcupine, wild hog, several of the civet tribe, and three species 
 of squirrel all exist here. Amongst birds, the horn-bill, the flesh of which 
 is prized by the mountaineers, the Burmese peacock, the silver and black 
 peacock, pheasant, jungle fowl, pelican, wild duck, whistling and cotton teal, 
 curlew, snipe, plover, quail, imperial and green pigeons and doves are all 
 found, as well as king-fishers, snake birds, love birds, orioles, bulbuls, minas 
 (four species) tailor birds, owls and man,y others. Fish in great variety 
 abound on the coast and in the rivers and are taken all the year round for 
 home consumption and for exportation. The whale is rarely seen but 
 skates and sharks pursue their prey along shore. The pomfret, sole, 
 mullet, mango fish, mackerel, barbel, herring, a species of thnjssa, sardines 
 and carp abound besides numerous other kinds. The coasts and estuaries 
 are thronged with sheU fish, oysters, mussels, cockles, crabs, etc. In the 
 rivers crocodiles are numerous. Lizards of several kinds exist and many 
 species of snakes, but comparatively few are venomous. The sandy 
 beaches of the coast and of the Islands are frequented by tm'tles and the 
 eggs are eagerly sought for : the right of collecting them is sold by the 
 government. 
 
 The cool season commences at the close of the rains in October and 
 Climate continues until the middle of February when the hot 
 
 weather prevails until the rains which usually begin in 
 the middle of May and continue till the middle of October. The weather 
 during much of the cool season is pleasant and enjoyable, the thermometer 
 scarcely ever reaching 90° in the shade and occasionally in the early 
 mornings falling as low as 56°. For a month after the close of the rains 
 the atmosphere is peculiarly fresh and clear. The prevailing winds during 
 this season are easterly, and are often of very considerable force. During 
 the months of December, January and February dense fogs prevail in the 
 mornings till about nine o'clock and it is at this season that the greatest 
 thermometric range is observed, occasionally as much as 30° in one day. 
 Towards the middle of February the weather rapidly becomes warmer but 
 the sea breeze along the coast relieves the intense heat. In April there 
 are occasional squalls of wind und rain from the south-east and about the 
 middle of May the wind veers round to the S.W., there are usually violent 
 thunderstorms, and the S.W. monsoon sets in. After this there is rarely 
 any electric disturbance till October when the, rainy season ends in much 
 the same way as it began. 
 
 87
 
 690 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The rainfall and average temperature are given in the following table 
 
 
 K 
 
 UNFALL, 
 
 IN INCHES 
 
 
 AVEEAGE TEMPERATURE IN THE SHADE. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 May. 
 
 July. 
 
 December. 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 .d 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r^ 
 
 o_j 
 
 ft 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 03 
 
 33 
 
 o 
 
 "rf 
 
 oj 
 
 CO 
 
 g 
 
 03 
 
 03 
 CO 
 
 a 
 
 
 03 
 
 g" 
 
 03 
 01 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 a 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 Ed 
 
 a 
 
 
 d 
 
 
 •-5 
 
 HS 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 ;3 
 
 CO 
 
 C5 
 
 
 CC (M cc 
 
 Not giveu. 
 
 m 
 
 (M 
 
 
 1867 
 
 27-85 
 
 160-15 
 
 2-75 
 
 190-75 
 
 
 1868 
 
 11-10 
 
 175-30 
 
 7-30 
 
 193-70 
 
 72 
 
 90 
 
 81 
 
 70 
 
 86 
 
 85 
 
 60 
 
 90 
 
 87 
 
 1869 
 
 13-10 
 
 157-85 
 
 19-60 
 
 190-55 
 
 77 
 
 88 
 
 86 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 79 
 
 65 
 
 88 
 
 83 
 
 1870 
 
 22-80 
 
 156-50 
 
 6-30 
 
 185-60 
 
 70 
 
 83 
 
 81 
 
 75 
 
 79 
 
 79 
 
 65 
 
 85 
 
 84 
 
 1871 
 
 39-80 
 
 175-00 
 
 14-10 
 
 229-30 
 
 76 
 
 88 
 
 80 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 78 
 
 64 
 
 82 
 
 76 
 
 1872 
 
 24-30 
 
 132-80 
 
 6-40 
 
 163-50 
 
 76 
 
 84 
 
 81 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 78 
 
 66 
 
 84 
 
 78 
 
 1873 
 
 9-30 
 
 184-67 
 
 11-57 
 
 205-54 
 
 78 
 
 88 
 
 86 
 
 75 
 
 78 
 
 77 
 
 67 
 
 83 
 
 81 
 
 1874 
 
 51-32 
 
 144-52 
 
 17-50 
 
 213-34 
 
 76 
 
 82 
 
 81 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 79 
 
 69 
 
 83 82 
 
 1875 
 
 22-30 
 
 194-70 
 
 1-13 
 
 .228-30 
 
 76 
 
 83 
 
 81 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 80 
 
 67 
 
 82 79 
 
 1876 
 
 41-12 
 
 165-15 
 
 15-25 
 
 221-32 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 __ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1877 
 
 23-40 
 
 17-75 
 
 10-30 
 
 21-12 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 Average temperature in the shade. 
 
 
 May. 
 
 July. 
 
 December. 
 
 
 g 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 Year, 
 
 1 
 
 OS 
 
 g 
 
 g 
 
 "3 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 pi 
 g 
 
 'Si 
 
 g 
 
 g 
 
 '3 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 OS 
 
 g 
 
 si 
 '3 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 +3 
 
 .*a 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 -M 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 03 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 03 
 
 03 
 
 03 
 
 o 
 
 03 
 
 a 
 
 o3 
 0) 
 
 0) 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 
 03 
 
 o 
 
 1-3 
 
 1876 . . 
 
 81-60 
 
 76-40 
 
 89-20 
 
 72-70 
 
 7805 
 
 73-00 
 
 84-40 
 
 71-50 
 
 84-80 
 
 64-40 
 
 88-00 
 
 55-50 
 
 1877 . . 
 
 91-8 
 
 75-5 
 
 98- 
 
 72- 
 
 82- 
 
 73-8 
 
 86- 
 
 72- 88-9 
 
 72-4 
 
 90- 
 
 65* 
 
 The country . having at different periods formed a portion of the 
 „. . dominions of the kings of Siam, of Pegu and of Ava its 
 
 ^^ °^^' history is involved in much obscurity. The first, settlers 
 
 were probably Siamese but at a very early date a colony of Arakauese was
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 691 
 
 established who have made their mark on the language. The earliest 
 written accounts of the country state that the Burman king Na-ra-pad-dee- 
 tsee-thoo, who came hither more as a preacher of religion than as a con- 
 queror, founded Kyek-hlwot in Khwe-doung bay not far from the mouth of 
 the Tavoy river in 1200 A.D., the first city ever built in this district. He 
 also built the pagoda on Tavoy point which is the oldest of which there 
 are any records, and was, probably, the first to place Booddhism on a 
 permanent base in this region. Anxious to connect the foundations of 
 their religion with the great Athawka the Booddhist writers assert that in 
 315 B.C. this king ordered the construction of a pagoda in what is now 
 Tavoy town. Many years later the country was subject to the king of 
 Siam and still later to the soverigns of Pegu, from whom it passed to the 
 kings of Burma, but it was continually suffering from invasions from 
 Siam. About 1752 the ruler of Tavoy set himself up for an independent 
 prince and made .overtures to the British government, which had made 
 many endeavours to obtain settlements east of Hindustan, but the terms 
 proposed were too exorbitant from a pecuniary point of view, and in 1757 
 Ensign Lister proposed to Aloung-bhoora, then king of Burma, a treaty one 
 of the terms of which was a pledge on the part of the English not to assist 
 the king of Tavoy.* 
 
 Soon after this Tavoy again became a province of Siam but in 1759 it 
 surrendered to Aloung-bhoora the great Burman conqueror. In 1760 a 
 British mission was despatched to Pegu to obtain amongst other things, 
 remuneration for 'the loss of a ship belonging to Captain Whitehill 
 which had been forcibly taken by the Burmese and employed against 
 the king of Tavoy. From this time until the treaty of Yandaboo the 
 country was torn by rebellions and by incursions by the Siamese : in 1791 
 one Myat Poo rebelled against the Burmans but being worsted escaped 
 with many of the inhabitants across the eastern mountains, and in 1824 
 Meng Kyaik followed his example. In the first Anglo-Bm"mese war in 
 1824 an expedition was despatched against this part of the Burmese Empire. 
 It consisted of details of the 89th Kegiment and 7th M. N. I. under the 
 command of Lieut-Colonel Miles. The detachment arrived at Tavoy on 
 the 8th September and took possession of the town, aided by some of the 
 officers of the Burmese garrison who seized the governor and his family and 
 made them over to the British. For some time nothing occurred to dis- 
 tm-b our possession l)ut in 1829 a revolt broke out, headed by Moung Da, the 
 former governor, which was at once put down and since then the district 
 has remained without disturbance a portion of the British Empire in India. 
 For some years a detachment of troops was stationed in the town of Tavoy 
 but this was subsequently withdrawn and the district is now guarded 
 solely by police. 
 
 None of the pagodas are of any great size nor are any objects of great 
 
 veneration to Burmans and Talaing generally but several 
 
 agocas. ^^.^ ^^ ancient date and are the resorts of numerous 
 
 pilgi'ims from the district at certain seasons when crowds assemble to 
 
 jn'ostrate themselves before the holy relics which these buildings are 
 
 * Bayfield in Pcmberton. lu some accounts it is stated that there was an agreement that 
 aid should be given against the king of Tavoy, hut from the general conduct of tlie Burmese it 
 it is more probable that the account in the text is the most correct .
 
 692 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 thought to contain, to repeat sentences in honour of Gaudama, for a 
 Booclclhist cannot, in strictness, be said to pray, and to dance and sing 
 and amuse themselves as at a fair. The most famous is the Sheug Moot- 
 tee a few miles south of Tavoy, which contains an image and near which 
 are a stone and a banyan tree, all three supposed to have been miraculously 
 floated together across the ocean from India : it is 58 feet high and 300 
 feet in circumference at the base. On Tavoy point at the mouth of the Tavoy 
 river on the right bank is the Sheng-maw, only nine feet high, founded 
 in 1204 A.D. and said to contain a tooth of Gaudama. North of Tavoy is 
 the Sheng-dha-way 77 feet high of very early date, built on the spot on 
 which a holy relic of Gaudama alighted after flying through the air when 
 released by its possessor. In addition to these there are ten pagodas in 
 the town and suburbs of Tavoy and 19 in the district, all of more or 
 less sanctity and some supposed to be of great age, each of which has its 
 history in which there is more fiction than truth. 
 
 The area under cultivation is barely more than one-seventieth of the 
 A"ricnlture whole area of the district, yet there are 3,550 square 
 
 " ■ . miles of uncultivated culturable waste waiting for popula- 
 
 tion. The absence of roads and other means of communication, the few 
 attractions to immigrants, for equally good if not better soil is found in the 
 more accessible Amherst district to the north, whflst the valley of the 
 Irrawaddy afibrds a more convenient as well as more fertile site for agricul- 
 tural settlers, who come mainly from Upper Burma, render it almost cer- 
 tain that it is to its mineralogical and forest resources that Tavoy must 
 trust for its develoi3ment. Believed from oppression by its cession to England 
 in 1824, the cultivated area soon increased though the increase was slow : in 
 1855-56 the area of land under cultivation, other than toungya, was 37,360 
 acres, or rather over 53 square miles : in 1864-65 it had risen to 46,782, 
 acres or rather over 72 square miles. 
 
 The area under each kind of crop during each of the last ten years has 
 been in acres : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 It 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 
 
 
 a> 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 .^ 
 
 
 oj 
 
 a 
 
 ■a 
 
 
 <^ 
 
 
 o 
 
 0) 
 
 Si 
 
 eg 
 
 "S 
 be 
 
 a> 
 
 
 V 
 sij 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 OQ 
 
 ■o 
 
 fe 
 
 H 
 
 !> 
 
 fCl 
 
 ft 
 
 Ph 
 
 ^ 
 
 18C8 
 
 42,700 
 
 36 
 
 
 
 
 276 
 
 * 
 
 3,105 
 
 198 
 
 • 6,811 
 
 1869 
 
 42,001 
 
 67 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 343 
 
 * 
 
 3.093 
 
 193 
 
 4,544 
 
 1870 
 
 41,376 
 
 75 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 261 
 
 1,575 
 
 3,114 
 
 194 
 
 5,842 
 
 1871 
 
 42,821 
 
 52 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 208 
 
 1,567 
 
 3,123 
 
 223 
 
 6,005 
 
 1872 
 
 43,999 
 
 36 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 250 
 
 1,831 
 
 3,134 
 
 221 
 
 6,267 
 
 1873 
 
 44,694 
 
 28 
 
 — 
 
 380 
 
 4 
 
 211 
 
 1,841 
 
 3,313 
 
 177 
 
 7,643 
 
 1874 
 
 46,607 
 
 39 
 
 — 
 
 335 
 
 6* 
 
 222 
 
 1,787 
 
 3,374 
 
 180 
 
 6,833 
 
 1875 
 
 46,775 
 
 68 
 
 
 340 
 
 8 
 
 155 
 
 1,797 
 
 3,416 
 
 176 
 
 8,040 
 
 3876 
 
 47,074 
 
 92 
 
 io 
 
 300 
 
 4 
 
 229 
 
 1,800 
 
 3,528 
 
 176 
 
 7,70-i 
 
 1877 
 
 48,067 
 
 87 
 
 3 
 
 315 
 
 5 
 
 172 
 
 1,805 
 
 3,573 
 
 169 
 
 8,885 
 
 * lucluded in mixed fruit trees.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 G93 
 
 These figures do not include hill-garden cultivation of which there' 
 were from 8,000 to 9,000 acres every year. The soil is by no means rich 
 and the average out-turn of rice is about 1,270 lbs. to an acre. 
 
 The banks of the river within the range of the tides when they are low 
 enough to be overllowed are generally cultivated with the Dhanee or Nipa 
 palm, a most valuable product. " Its leaves aflbrd materials for thatching 
 " houses, the extracted juice is drank or converted into molasses, its flower 
 "is made into a preserve, its fruit is eaten, audits roots bind together the 
 *' soil on which it grows, whilst its dry branches serve for the fuel with which 
 " its juice is boiled down into sugar." The betel-nut tree is extensively 
 cultivated for local consumption. If the soil in which the seed is planted 
 is suited to it it generally grows to a height of about three feet during the 
 first year and about half of that during each of the succeeding years till it 
 has reached its full growth. In its seventh year it commences bearing, and 
 continues for about 30 j^ears when it is cut down. The fruit is gathered at 
 the end of the rains, when it is husked and soaked for some three days ; it 
 then becomes of a reddish colour. 
 
 In fruits and fruit trees the district is particularly rich, doorians, 
 mangoes, tamarinds, jack, mangosteen, lichi, guavas, pawpaw, pine- 
 apples, plantains, pierardia, custard-apples, oranges, sweet limes, shad- 
 dock, citron, pomegranates, melons, cashew-nuts, and other kinds are found 
 in abundance. 
 
 The agricultural stock during the last decennial period is shewn to 
 have been : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 05 
 
 
 tD 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 "3 
 
 o 
 
 ft 
 
 
 03 
 
 a3 
 
 -a 
 
 to 
 
 
 so 
 
 M 
 
 .4 
 
 DO 
 
 to 
 
 1 
 
 § 
 
 o 
 
 
 N 
 
 O 
 
 cc 
 
 £ 
 
 u 
 
 s 
 
 PQ 
 
 1868 . . 
 
 23,924 
 
 2,700 
 
 303 
 
 1,115 
 
 296 
 
 3,835 
 
 1,333 
 
 1869 . . 
 
 25,700 
 
 3,170 
 
 416 
 
 1,076 
 
 330 
 
 2,791 
 
 1,515 
 
 1870 . . 
 
 27,040 
 
 3,362 
 
 408 
 
 910 
 
 350 
 
 2,709 
 
 1,596 
 
 1871.. 
 
 27,024 
 
 3,909 
 
 585 
 
 702 
 
 354 
 
 2,957 
 
 1,653 
 
 1872 . . 
 
 28,742 
 
 4,637 
 
 436 
 
 639 
 
 380 
 
 3,171 
 
 1,711 
 
 1873 . . 
 
 27,238 
 
 4,680 
 
 382 
 
 876 
 
 375 
 
 3,315 
 
 1,702 
 
 1874 . . 
 
 28,456 
 
 5,076 
 
 477 
 
 962 
 
 408 
 
 3,345 
 
 1,737 
 
 1875 . , 
 
 27,831 
 
 4,833 
 
 522 
 
 712 
 
 452 
 
 3,561 
 
 1.847 
 
 1876 . . 
 
 25,369 
 
 6,160 
 
 687 
 
 1,015 
 
 451 
 
 3,419 
 
 1,874 
 
 1877 . . 
 
 26,003 
 
 6,637 
 
 549 
 
 1,042 
 
 502 
 
 3,910 
 
 1,944 
 
 Cows, bulls and bullocks have more than and goats have nearly doubled, 
 and the number of carts and boats has largely increased, but the number of 
 bufl'aloes and of ploughs has remained almost stationary. This might be 
 expected from the small increase in land under rice and the small size of 
 the holdings. A pair of buiYaloes and a plough are necessary for the culti- 
 vation of a holding of two acres and are sullicient for the cultivation of a 
 holding of ten acres. As the increase in land under rice is to a considerable 
 extent due to the gradually increasing size of the farms as adjacent waste
 
 694 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 land is brought under the plough, and as on an average separate properties 
 cover an area of a few acres onlj-, the increase in ploughs and plough-beasts 
 does not keep pace with the increase in tillage, whilst the increase in boats, 
 carts and draught-beasts does. 
 
 The average prices of produce and labour" are given in the annual 
 Administration Reports as, in rupees : — 
 
 
 Per Maund of 80 11:)s. 
 
 Each. 
 
 Datly 
 
 Hire. 
 
 
 
 Per Man. 
 
 Each. 
 
 
 I/abourers. 
 
 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 (C 
 
 
 r^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 B 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 6)3 
 
 i 
 
 4 
 
 3 " 
 
 "3 
 
 •3 
 
 3 
 
 n 
 
 ■*3 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 m 
 
 fi- 
 
 (U 
 
 n 
 
 OQ 
 
 6 
 
 o 
 
 K 
 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 Ks. A. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 Es. A. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 A. P. 
 
 1868 
 
 2 
 
 2 D 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 40 
 
 40 
 
 1 4 
 
 6 
 
 1 8 
 
 6 
 
 18G9 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 .50 
 
 40 
 
 1 4 
 
 6 
 
 1 8 
 
 7 
 
 1870 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 45 
 
 40 
 
 1 4 
 
 (3 
 
 1 8' 
 
 6 
 
 1871 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 45 
 
 40 
 
 1 4 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 1872 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 12 8 
 
 45 
 
 40 
 
 1 4 
 
 8 
 
 1 8 
 
 7 
 
 1873 
 
 2 6 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 12 8 
 
 45 
 
 40 
 
 1 4 
 
 8 
 
 1 8 
 
 7 
 
 1874 
 
 2 8 
 
 4 
 
 1 4 
 
 12 8 
 
 45 
 
 30 
 
 1 4 
 
 8 
 
 1 8 
 
 7 
 
 1875 
 
 • 2 4 
 
 4 
 
 1 4 
 
 12 8 
 
 45 
 
 30 
 
 1 4 
 
 8 
 
 1 8 
 
 8 
 
 187G 
 
 . 2 4 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 12 8 
 
 45 
 
 30 
 
 1 4 
 
 8 
 
 1 8 
 
 7 
 
 1877 
 
 2 10 
 
 4 
 
 1 4 
 
 12 8 
 
 45 
 
 30 
 
 1 4 
 
 8 
 
 1 8 
 
 7 
 
 Though there has been a gradual rise in the price of all articles of food yet 
 the prices of draught and plough cattle and the rate of wages and the cart 
 and boat-hire have remained veiy much the same. In the Amherst district, 
 which lies to the north of and adjoins Tavoj', the hire of a boat is more than 
 four times as high ; this is jDrobably due to the fact that in Amherst the 
 passenger traffic is comparatively large and the boatmen are Chittagonians, 
 whereas in Tavoy people do not travel nearly so much and when they do 
 go about it is in their own boats ; in short there is little or no demand for 
 boat service. Buffaloes are extraordinarily cheap and curiously more so 
 than in the more mountainous Mergui district on the south and of less 
 value than bullocks, whereas in parts of the rich delta of the Irrawaddy 
 they are twice the price of plough or draught bullocks. 
 
 As a general rule the land is worked by the proprietor but sometimes 
 by tenants. Mortgages are not common : in some cases, mostly in order to 
 obtain money wherewith to pay off debts, an usufructuary mortgage 
 is entered into and in this case the mortgagee holds the land for a fixed period 
 receiving no other return for his money ; in others, and this is so especially 
 where the owner embarks in trade, the land is mortgaged as security for the 
 money lent and passes to the mortgagee at the expiration of a fixed period 
 if principal and interest are not paid. Sometimes the mortgagee handing 
 over the money enters into possession and so remains until the principal is 
 repaid. In the first and last cases the mortgagee usually pays the land 
 revenue. There are but few landholders who employ labourers; when 
 they do the wages are generally paid in grain, the value of which amounts 
 to about Rs. 7 a month, and in addition the labourers are fed and housed ; 
 the hiring lasts for two months at the commencement and for three at the 
 close of the season. Tenancies are usually created by parol agreement, 
 though in some instances written agreements are prepared : as a general
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 695 
 
 rule the tenant holds the land from year to year paying the land revenue 
 and a rent in kind, the rent varying but the average being the equivalent of 
 about Es. 2 an acre. Tenants are of the same class and as well off as pro- 
 prietors, and the land that is let out is the most productive, for poor 
 land is not readily taken and if worked at all must be worked by the owner. 
 The land is gradually tending to accummulate into larger properties but 
 very slowly and mainly owing to the falling in of mortgages, for it is land- 
 holders and not urban money-lenders who here advance funds to needy 
 cultivators. Few permanent residents in town own lands which they rent 
 out and never visit, but it is by no means uncommon for working land- 
 holders to live in town between working season and working season. In 
 some the average holdings are tending slowly to increase from five acres, 
 the present area, by the mortgage of land to neighbouring landholders and 
 not by residents in towns investmg their savings in land and deriving their 
 income from the rent, which is to low to repay them'. 
 
 A densely-wooded and mountainous country, difficult of access to 
 foreigners and offering few attractions to immigrants, 
 Population. suffering for some centuries from almost continual wars, 
 
 rebellions and marauding incursions, this district has never been thickly 
 inhabited. It is doubtful who were the first settled, but tradition points to 
 a colony of Ai-akanese near Tavoy and is supported by some dialectic 
 peculiarities in the language of the present inhabitants who, except in the 
 hills where a few Kareng have patches of cultivation, are almost exclusively 
 native Burmans and Talaing. From, the annual official returns it appears 
 that in 1855-56 the population numbered 52,807, souls, who in 1864-65 
 had increased to 62,427, and in 1872, when a regular census was carefully 
 taken, to 71,827 occupying 12,849 houses in 227 villages, which gives three 
 villages to each 1,000 square miles and not quite ten souls per square mile. 
 From the nature of the country by far the larger portion of the inhabitants 
 are collected in the valley of the Tavoy river, where almost the whole of the 
 arable land is found. The Kareng numbered 5,748, the Talaing 3,797 only 
 and the Burmese 59,361. The Chinese though not so numerous as in the 
 slightly larger, more accessible and to them more attractive, district of 
 Mergui to the south, numbered 1,554, and the remainder of the population 
 was made up of about 400 Hindoos, about 700 Mahomedans and a few 
 Shan, Indo-Portuguese and others. Of agriculturists (that is those engaged 
 in the cultivation of the soil, herdsmen, dealers in cattle and other cognate 
 occupations) there were 31,218, of whom 29,926 or 41*66 per cent, of the 
 whole population, a larger proportion than in any other district of the 
 province except Thayet, were tillers of the ground, and of these only 
 11,659 were males over 20 years of age, so that the average area of tho 
 farms may be taken as 5"48 acres. The number employed in mechanical 
 arts such as bricklayers, carpenters, lime-burners, blacksmiths, jewellers, 
 makers and sellers of pottery, turners, carvers and gilders, weavers, millers, 
 &c., and the number of dealers in vegetable and animal food and in drinks 
 and stimulants, was 19,867 ; of merchants, traders, petty shop-keepers, Sec, 
 that is those engaged in trade and commerce, there were only 1,952, 
 whilst of women having no special occupation, persons having no ostensible 
 trade or occupation from which they derivo an income, chihU'en, &c., there 
 were 16,919. Government servants, professional persons and persons in
 
 696 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEEJl. 
 
 service make up the remainder. The children not over six years of age 
 were 15,434 in number (of whom 7,191 were males and 7,243 females) 
 or 21'49 percent, of the whole population. Exclusive of Tavoy only three 
 villages contained over 1,000 inhabitants, 27 from 500 to 1,000, 75 from 
 200 to 500, and 121 less than 200. One noticeable feature is. that the 
 women exceed the men in number, and this is the only district in the 
 province in which this was found to be the case. 
 
 The annual returns shew the population as having been in : — 
 
 
 Adults. 
 
 Childeen under 
 
 Total. 
 
 "3 
 
 
 
 
 TWELVE. 
 
 
 o 
 H 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 3 
 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 
 a 2, 
 
 1868 . . 
 
 16,835 
 
 19,511 
 
 16,950 
 
 15,453 
 
 33,785 
 
 34,964 
 
 68,749 
 
 9-54 
 
 18C9 . . 
 
 
 17,399 
 
 20,467 
 
 16,969 
 
 14,949 
 
 34,368 
 
 95,416 
 
 69,784 
 
 9-69 
 
 1870 
 
 
 18,190 
 
 21,009 
 
 16,581 
 
 14,719 
 
 34,771 
 
 35,728 
 
 70,499 
 
 9 79 
 
 1871 .. 
 
 
 18,499 
 
 21,226 
 
 16,885 
 
 14,884 
 
 35,384 
 
 36,110 
 
 71,494 
 
 9-92 
 
 1872 . . 
 
 
 18,96<i 
 
 22,023 
 
 16,793 
 
 14,674 
 
 35,759 
 
 36,697 
 
 72,456 
 
 1006 
 
 1873 
 
 
 19,244- 
 
 22,677 
 
 17,201 
 
 14,817 
 
 36,445 
 
 37,494 
 
 73,939 
 
 10-26 
 
 1874 .. 
 
 
 19,677 
 
 23,012 
 
 17,485 
 
 15,305 
 
 37,162 
 
 38,317 
 
 75,479 
 
 10-48 
 
 1875 . . 
 
 
 20,195 
 
 23,401 
 
 17,672 
 
 15,618 
 
 37,867 
 
 39,019 
 
 76,886 
 
 10-67 
 
 1876 .. 
 
 
 20,623 
 
 24,038 
 
 17,853 
 
 15,352 
 
 38,476 
 
 39,390 
 
 77,866 
 
 10-81 
 
 1877 .. 
 
 
 21,624 
 
 24,504 
 
 18,058 
 
 15,536 
 
 39,682 
 
 40,040 
 
 79,722 
 
 10-98 
 
 Towns 
 
 The fact that there are more adult females than males and more juvenile 
 males than females, and this steadily year by year, is remarkable. 
 
 The only town in the district is Tavoy situated on the left bank of the 
 river of the same name, about 35 miles from its mouth 
 and about seven or eight miles in a du-ect line, from the 
 seacoast from which it is separated by a range of hills. Its site is low, 
 but slopes gently towards the river ; the central and higher portion is about 
 12 feet above high-water mark but the north, south and west portions are 
 flooded at high-water and swampy during the rains. On- the west it is 
 flanked by the river but on the other three sides the valley is open, 
 unencumbered with jungle vegetation and extensively cultivated with rice. 
 In the neighbourhood are no large bodies of water or swampy lands but the 
 level character of the valley, the heavy rainfall, and the embanking in of 
 the water for rice cultivation render the surrounding country to some 
 extent marshy. The town is well laid out, with three principal streets 
 running north and south, intersected at right angles at pretty regular 
 intervals by four main cross streets. West of Victoria road the houses 
 are generally arranged in rows with but little space between the gable- 
 ends ; in the rest of the town they are principally built in separate enclosures 
 and are shaded with fruit and other trees. In the centre is a large 
 open square unoccupied by houses where formerly was the fort within 
 which were the barracks for the troops — a detachment from Maulmain 
 gradually decreased in strength and finally withdrawn — and the various 
 public buildings. The walls of the fort were of brick and it was partly sur- 
 rounded by a deep trench and with an entrance in each face. The 
 houses, with few exceptions, are constructed of wood or of bamboos and are 
 raised on posts and thatched with dhanee leaves.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 697 
 
 The present town was founded in 1751 and some years later 
 it was enlarged. There were continual wars between the Peguans and 
 the Siamese and subsequently between the Burmese and the Siamese 
 in all of which the town suffered. During the first Burmese war it was 
 surrendered to the British by the second in command, who made the 
 governor and his family prisoners and handed them over to the English. 
 Five years after the cession of the country by the treaty of Yandaboo a 
 rebellion broke out which was speedily suppressed, and the walls were sub- 
 sequently, and partly consequently, levelled. 
 
 The population in 1873 was 14,575 souls, of whom 6,823 were males 
 and 7,752 females. It was composed of 69 Christians, 762 natives of India, 
 12,490 Burmese and Talaing and 1,254 others, principally Chinese. In 
 1877 it was 14,795. Its municipal revenue in the latter year was Es. 11,458 
 It contains court-houses, a police-office and police-stations, post-office, 
 hospital and dispensary, bazaars and a gaol. 
 
 The police employed in the town, exclusive of the guards over the lock- 
 up and treasury, consisted, in 1877, of two subordinate officers and 16 men. 
 
 Besides Tavoy there were, in 1877, 308 villages, the largest of which 
 did not contain 3,000 inhabitants. 
 
 With its only port not easy of access, with a small and poor population, 
 with but sorry means of communication in the interior 
 Trade. ^^^^ above all producing little for export, the sea-borne 
 
 trade of the district has never been large and is almost entirely confined to 
 Siam and the Straits ; and of in-land trade there is none. The principal 
 imports are piece-goods and other cotton manufactures, raw silk, tea, and 
 such articles as are naturally required by the mixed population of a small 
 town, as crockery, glass-ware, cocoanuts, wines and liqueurs, steel, pro- 
 visions and oilman's stores, &c., and all in small quantities. 
 
 88
 
 698 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The total value of the imports and exports, the duty realized and the 
 tonnage of vessels which entered and cleared during each of the last ten 
 years was : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 (M 
 
 CM 
 
 o 
 
 00 
 
 CO 
 
 
 '8 
 
 •eg'Bniiox 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 OS 
 lO 
 
 i-H 
 
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 CD 
 
 iH, 
 
 00 
 
 
 <» 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C-1 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 oo" 
 
 
 r^ 
 
 TjT 
 
 
 s. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TH 
 
 r-i 
 
 fH 
 
 CO 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 m 
 
 "^ 
 
 00 
 
 t~ 
 
 in 
 
 to 
 
 •jaqnttiM 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 •* 
 
 TH 
 
 g 
 
 
 CO , 
 TH 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 [^ 
 
 tH 
 
 cs 
 
 o 
 
 OS 
 
 CJS 
 
 00 
 
 > 
 
 1 
 
 ■eSvunoj, 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 e 
 
 ^^q 
 
 s 
 
 g 
 
 o 
 
 fn 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 TjT 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 e» 
 
 <s 
 
 cm" 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r-i 
 
 CM 
 
 CO 
 
 eo 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 lO 
 
 t- 
 
 CO 
 
 ■rn 
 
 CO 
 
 iH 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 •jaqum^ 
 
 
 [ 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 s 
 
 co 
 
 CO 
 
 § 
 
 § 
 
 CO 
 
 51 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 eq 
 
 Ol 
 
 _, 
 
 T-4 
 
 o 
 
 5! 
 
 ^ 
 
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 (M 
 
 ■•* 
 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 o 
 
 
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 rt 
 
 
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 cn 
 
 
 
 
 •moi, 
 
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 <35 
 
 o" 
 
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 cn 
 
 
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 os" 
 
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 th" 
 
 
 
 
 
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 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
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 rH 
 
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 H 
 
 •si.ioclxa; 
 
 CD 
 
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 3 
 
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 r-H 
 
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 ^. 
 
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 00 
 
 
 
 
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 eq 
 
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 M 
 
 1 
 
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 M 
 
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 ■^ 
 
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 t> 
 
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 1 
 
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 o" 
 
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 1 
 
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 « 
 
 
 
 
 
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 s 
 
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 m 
 
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 m 
 
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 cm" 
 in 
 
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 co 
 
 
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 ct 
 
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 « 
 
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 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 in 
 
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 00 
 
 I-( 
 
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 IH 
 
 00
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 699 
 
 Besidesthis small trade with foreign ports there is a still smaller coast- 
 ing trade with Maulmain and Eangoon ; dhanee leaves and jaggery, earthen 
 pots and water bottles, doorians and other fruits are carried along the 
 coast, whilst English silk and cotton handkerchiefs, chintzes, silk and cotton 
 velvets and piece-goods come from Maulmain, and tamarinds, chillies, onions, 
 peas, gram and tobacco come from Eangoon. The vessels employed in the 
 coasting trade are principally junks and kattoos owned by Burmans and 
 Chinese of whom some reside in Tavoy. 
 
 The two principal manufactures are salt and earthen pots. The salt 
 . is made from seawater, partly by evaporation and partly 
 
 lues. i^y boiling, and is consumed entirely in the district. 
 The pots are made in and near Tavoy town, partly for local use and partly for 
 export along the coast. The clay is brought from near Mro-houng, the site 
 of an ancient city the ruined walls of which still exist, about nine miles up 
 the river. On the spot it sells for 12 annas and at Tavoy for Es. 2-8 
 a boat-load of 3,650 lbs. which mixed with about one-third part of 
 sand will make about 200 pots. These take about 15 days to complete and 
 sell at an average of Es. 18 the 100. 
 
 The Imperial revenue raised in the district in 1853-54, the first year 
 for which returns are available, w^as Es. 99,170, ten 
 
 Revenue. ^^^^.^ ^^^^^, -^ ^^^^ p^^_ 167,590, in 1873-74 Es. 215,450 
 
 and in 1.877-78 Es. 227,367. 
 
 The Imperial and Provincial revenues divided out into their main 
 heads and the incidence of taxation per head of population were, during 
 each of the last ten years : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 'a 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■s 
 
 
 <D 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 s 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 p< 
 
 
 
 
 
 -a 
 
 S3 
 
 Teab 
 
 3 
 
 $ 
 
 
 > 
 
 
 CD 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 a 
 
 
 <D 
 
 o 
 
 a . 
 
 
 d) 
 
 
 a 
 
 m <^ 
 
 
 > 
 
 S 
 
 
 U 
 
 m ^ 
 
 ° s, 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 o 
 
 ©^H 
 
 
 u 
 
 'p. 
 
 +3 
 
 
 Si 
 
 a >i 
 
 cm 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 
 •a 
 
 4J 
 
 p, 
 
 © o 
 
 3 a 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 d 
 
 
 CD 
 
 X 
 
 s 
 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 O 
 
 M 
 
 PR 
 
 « 
 
 H 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 H 
 
 fu 
 
 
 
 Es. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Ks. 
 
 Ks. 
 
 Ks. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1868-69 
 
 91,394 
 
 44,843 
 
 2,744 
 
 6,819 
 
 3,900 
 
 11,267 
 
 22.251 
 
 
 193,894 
 
 71,185 
 
 2 11 5 
 
 1869-70 
 
 91,879 
 
 46,380 
 
 2,744 
 
 6,515 
 
 3,900 
 
 13,311 
 
 21,286 
 
 10,676 
 
 198,501 
 
 69,784 
 
 2 13 6 
 
 1870-71 
 
 91,878 
 
 48,159 
 
 2,326 
 
 6,052 
 
 3,900 
 
 7,820 
 
 20,445 
 
 12,206 
 
 192,222 
 
 70,499 
 
 2 9 10 
 
 1871-72 
 
 88,243 
 
 49,381 
 
 1,770 
 
 5,895 
 
 10,400 
 
 13,645 
 
 19,711 
 
 11,642 
 
 198,560 
 
 71,494 
 
 2 12 5 
 
 1872-73 
 
 90,226 
 
 50,723 
 
 2,877 
 
 6,042 
 
 10,400 
 
 12,454 
 
 25,430 
 
 9,453 
 
 207,605 
 
 72,456 
 
 2 13 10 
 
 1873-74 
 
 91,501 
 
 51,900 
 
 2,392 
 
 6,261 
 
 10,400 
 
 16,095 
 
 27,542 
 
 9,257 
 
 215,448 
 
 73,939 
 
 2 14 10 
 
 1874-75 
 
 94,383 
 
 53,065 
 
 2,579 
 
 6,850 
 
 9,100 
 
 16,503 
 
 22,968 
 
 12,031 
 
 217,479 
 
 75,479 
 
 2 14 1 
 
 1875-76 
 
 94,782 
 
 54,745 
 
 2,003 
 
 6,955 
 
 9,100 
 
 13,889 
 
 16,537 
 
 11,174 
 
 210,085 
 
 76,886 
 
 2 a 8 
 
 1870-77 
 
 96,191 
 
 55,097 
 
 2,415 
 
 7,137 
 
 9,100 
 
 18,511 
 
 19,991 
 
 12,140 
 
 221,482 
 
 77,866 
 
 2 13 7 
 
 1877-78 
 
 98,006 
 
 57,026 
 
 2,253 
 
 7,355 
 
 2,650 
 
 14,800 
 
 30,920 
 
 14,287 
 
 227,367 
 
 79,122 
 
 2 13 11
 
 700 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The gross receipts and the cost of officials of all kinds during the same 
 period were, in rupees : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Gross receipts. 
 
 Cost of officials. 
 
 1868-69 
 1869-70 
 1870-71 
 1871-72 
 1872-73 
 1873-74 
 1874-75 
 1875-76 
 1876-77 
 1877-78 
 
 
 
 
 
 193,894 
 198,501 
 192,152 
 198,560 
 207,610 
 215,448 
 217,479 
 210,085 
 221,482 
 227,367 
 
 62,473 
 60,622 
 91,878 
 61,407 
 56,446 
 61,571 
 64,317 
 68,387 
 73,177 
 77,691 
 
 Besides the Imperial and Provincial revenue a so-called local revenue 
 is raised from various sources, such as the renting out of market- stalls, 
 subscriptions and donations to the hospital and dispensary, an assessment 
 levied on land in some of the towns, pound fines and fees, cattle-market 
 fees, ferry fees, and a cess of five per cent, on the land revenue and fishery 
 and net tax. The amount so levied has been, during each of the last ten 
 years, in rupees : — 
 
 
 
 "3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 '3 
 
 
 -13 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 !3 
 
 TS 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 U 
 
 
 a 
 
 c3 
 
 -6 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 53 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 
 
 
 
 T^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 PL, 
 
 H 
 
 fi 
 
 Q 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1868 .. 
 
 
 
 
 10,331 
 
 257 
 
 198 
 
 4,612 
 
 15,398 
 
 1869 .. 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 10,177 
 
 236 
 
 1 9'^'s r 
 
 4,766 
 
 15,179 
 
 1870 .. 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 8,878 
 
 305 
 
 Z^a^ 1 
 
 4,784 
 
 13,967 
 
 1871 .. 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 9,695 
 
 341 
 
 L^ a -2 i J 
 
 4,623 
 
 14,659 
 
 1872 .. 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 9,638 
 
 323 
 
 4,729 
 
 14,690 
 
 1873 .. 
 
 
 
 428 
 
 9,296 
 
 409 
 
 sHSfi; 1 
 
 4,808 
 
 14,941 
 
 1874 .. 
 
 
 
 689 
 
 9,533 
 
 369 
 
 ^ I 
 
 4,977 
 
 15,558 
 
 1875 .. 
 
 
 
 1,057 
 
 — 
 
 10,016 
 
 219 
 
 5,902 
 
 17,194 
 
 1876 .. 
 
 
 
 960 
 
 — 
 
 10,213 
 
 311 
 
 5,080 
 
 16,564 
 
 1877 .. 
 
 
 
 959 
 
 10,226 
 
 694 
 
 273 
 
 5,179 
 
 17,331 
 
 The district was formerly administered by a Deputy Commissioner and 
 
 six Goung-gyoop in charge of " districts " together with 
 
 Administration. ^ Tsit-ke or native Judge for the town, Thoogyee of circles 
 
 and Goungs of clusters of villages. This system in its general features still
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 701 
 
 remains in force*, the main changes being that the " districts " of the 
 gomig-gyoop have been amalgamated into three townships, — the north-east, 
 occupying the whole of that portion of the valley of the Tenasserim which 
 lies within the limits of this district ; the south-east, extending from the 
 south along the left bank of the Tavoy river nearly to Tavoy town and 
 stretching eastward to the Nwa-la-bo range which separates the valley of 
 the Tavoy from that of the Tenasserim ; and the west, comprising the 
 whole country between the seacoast and the Tavoy river, f In charge of each 
 is an Extra Assistant Commissioner. 
 
 Up to 1861-62 the Police force consisted of the Thoogyee, goung, kye- 
 dan-gyee and two peons which were allowed to each Goung-gyoop, whilst 
 in the town of Tavoy there were five Goung (one for each quarter), six 
 jemadars and 43 peons, whose salary amounted to Es. 7,800 a year and 
 who on emergency did duty on the river and were sometimes detached into 
 
 * In addition to his other duties the Deputy Commissioner is now ex-officio Collector of 
 Customs. 
 
 t Whilst the Gazetteer wa.3 going through the press the three townships have been made into 
 four (General department notification No. 89, dated 29th March 1878), but no change is made in 
 the text as the account of many circles had been printed and they had been described according 
 to their position in the old townships. 
 
 The boundaries of the new toiunsMps are thtis given i7i the notification : — 
 
 The Central township is bounded on the north by the Za-ha stream, by a straight line from 
 the source of the Za-ha stream to the source of the Tha-bhyo stream, by the Tha-bhyo stream, 
 by the Khwe-tsay stream and by a straight line from the som-ce of the Khwe-tsay stream to the 
 nearest point of the Eastern hills ; on the west by the Tavoy river ; on the south by the Htan- 
 beng-shoung stream, by a strait line from the source of that stream to the source of the Hien-da 
 stream, by the Hien-da stream, by a straight line from the mouth of the Hien-da stream to the 
 mouth of the Nga Pook Ta-ye stream, by the Nga Pook Ta-ye stream and by a straight line from 
 the source of the Nga Pook Ta-ye stream to the nearest point of the Eastern hills ; and on the east 
 by the Eastern hills. 
 
 The South-east township is bounded on the north by the southern boundary of the Central 
 township ; on the west by the Tavoy river and the sea ; on the south by the Ee-it stream, by a 
 straight line from the source of the Ee-it stream to the source of the Thaj'et-ngoot stream, by the 
 Thayet-ngoot stream, and by a straight line from the mouth of the Thayet-ngoot stream to the 
 nearest point of the Eastern hills ; on the east by the Eastern hills. 
 
 The Northern township is bounded on the north by the Kyouk-ta-yan stream and the Ma-lwai 
 range of hills ; on the west by the sea; on the south by the Nga-bjiet-nee stream, by a straight 
 line from the source of that stream to the som-ce of the Kwai-gya stream, by the Kwai-gya stream 
 and by the northern boundary of the Central township ; on the east by the Eastern range of 
 hills. 
 
 The "Western township is bounded on the north by the southern boundary of the Northern 
 township to the west side of the Tavoy river ; on the west by the sea ; on the south by the sea ; 
 on the east by the Tavoy river. 
 
 To this township also belong the Northern, Middle, and Southern Moscos, Corn Island, Cap 
 Island and Reef Island. 
 
 Old Toicnships 
 
 Circles. 
 
 Neic Toicnships 
 
 West 
 
 . . Za-dee . . . . " 
 
 
 North-east . . 
 
 . . Ka-laing-oung 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . . Kha-moung-thway . . 
 
 -Northern. 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . . Moung-mai-shouug . . 
 
 
 West 
 
 . . Ra-laing . . 
 
 
 Town 
 
 . , Two town circles 
 
 
 North-east . . 
 
 .. Za-ha 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . . Lek-wai-ky won 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Za-lwon .. 
 
 -Central. 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . . Kvouk-maw 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Pouk-taiiig 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . . Met-ta (North) . . , 

 
 702 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 the interior of the district, or province as it was then called, whilst the 
 goung also collected the " Municipal", or as then denominated the " Night- 
 watch", tax. On the formation of the new Police the whole system was 
 changed. The Extra Assistant Commissioners and Thoogyee no longer 
 j)erformed any regular Police duties ; the goung remained as rm-al Police, 
 and the town Police force was swept away, the goung of quarters only 
 being retained. The new body which formed a portion of a general Police 
 force for the whole province was placed under a Superintendent generally 
 subordinate to the Deputy Commissioner, and was entrusted with the 
 detection and prevention of crime and the arrest of offenders together with 
 the duty of furnishing guards for the treasmy, lock-up, &c., escorts for 
 prisoners and the protection of the town. The body thus employed in 
 1877 was one Superintendent, 20 subordinate officers and 178 men, of 
 whom 10 were river police. Of this number three officers and 27 men were 
 employed as guards over buildings and as escorts for jn-isoners and two 
 officers and 16 men (paid from the Municipal Funds) in the town, leaving 
 16 officers and 135 men for ordinary police work, that is one man to every 
 53 square miles and every 580 inhabitants and one officer to every eight 
 men. The cost of the force in that year was Es. 49,628. 
 
 The census taken in 1872 shewed that this district was by no means 
 backward in education, that is to say in the spread of a knowledge of 
 reading and writing, for which it is indebted to the Booddhist monks and 
 to the American Baptist Missionaries who have so long laboured here. Of 
 the population 20-55 per cent, of those under 12 years of age, 46*23 of 
 between 12 and 20, and 41*54 of those above 20 could read and write or 
 were under instruction, whilst of the females of those ages 1*62, 5*23 and 
 1'45 per cent, could do so. 
 
 In 1868 a school was opened in Tavoy to which the State gave a grant- 
 in-aid, and in 1875 this was converted into a State district school. In 
 
 Old Toivnships. 
 
 Circles. 
 
 New Townships. 
 
 North-east . . 
 
 . . Moot-htee 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 , Kya-eng . . 
 
 
 South-east . . 
 
 . Gnj-oung-tsen 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . . Thayet-huit-khwa . . 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . . Oot-too . . 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . Pan -daw . . 
 
 
 Ditto 
 Ditto 
 
 Tshee-daw 
 . Ra-gnay 
 
 -South. 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . Ka-guyoon-kywon . . 
 
 
 North-east . . 
 
 . . Met-ta (South) 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . Kyouk-dweng 
 
 
 South-east . . 
 
 . Ka-zee . . 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . Tomig-hyouk 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . Ka-dwai . . 
 
 
 West 
 
 . Moung-ma-gan 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Ka-myaw-keug 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Eng-won 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . Eng-zouk 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Shwe-kywon . . | 
 
 -West. 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Loung-loon 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . Khadat-ngay 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . Khadat-gyee 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . Kyat-yek-dweug 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . Kyouk-uee-maw 

 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 703 
 
 1876-77 it had 69 pupils on the rolls with an average daily attendance of 61. 
 The charges during the year were Es. 4,628 and the cost of educating each 
 pupil Es. 75-14-0. There is also a Kareng Mixed Normal school aided by 
 the State by a grant of Es. 448-8-0. In 1876-77 it had 20 pupils on the rolls. 
 
 The hospital and dispensary in Tavoy is a wooden building with a 
 shingled roof, raised nine feet from the ground on posts and well ventilated. 
 In 1877, 3,616 patients, of whom 126 were in-patients, were treated, i^rin- 
 cipally for fevers, rheumatic affections, ophthalmia, respiratory affections 
 and diseases of the digestive system. The income, exclusive of the State 
 grant and the grant from the Municipal Fund, was Es. 273. 
 
 The prison was originally called a gaol when the town was a place 
 of transportation for convicts from Hindustan. On the penal settlement 
 on the Andaman Islands being established no more Indian convicts were 
 sent here and the gaol was, soon afterwards, reduced to a district lock-up. 
 In 1873-74 a new prison was completed and the Civil Medical Officer placed 
 in executive charge and it was raised to the status of a gaol. In 1877 170 
 convicts, 48 under-trial prisoners and 17 debtors were confined, whilst the 
 total daily average was 56. Every one of the female prisoners was married. 
 The total cost was Es. 6,404 or Es. 108-8-0 per head, considerably less than 
 in any one of the three preceding years. The gross receij^ts from gaol 
 labom- with the value of the plant and articles in store were Es. 6,358, but 
 as the expenditm-e was Es. 5,064 the nett gain was only Es. 1,294. 
 
 TAVOY ISLAND. — An island oif the coast of Tenasserim somewhat 
 to the south of the mouth of the river Tavoy. In 1875 it was transferred 
 from the Tavoy to the Mergui district. It extends from 12° 55' N. to 13^" 13' 
 N. and is about two miles in breadth and about 18 in length, extending 
 N. by W. and S. by E., of middling height, with a peak in the centre and 
 another at the southern end. On the east there is a good and safe harbour 
 with good water and wood, called Port Owen. The caves in the hiJIs are 
 largely tenanted by the edible-nest-building swallow {Colocalia fuciphaga) 
 and the right to take the nests is leased out by the State. The bii'ds 
 build in the dark cavernous limestone recesses of the rocks and their 
 nests are of two kinds, light and dark, the latter being the most prized 
 the former having the birds' feathers mixed with the viscous substance, 
 issuing from the crop and beak, of which the nests are made. The nests 
 are gathered by means of a long bamboo pole with an iron fork at one 
 extremity and a lighted torch at both, the one to shew the nest and the 
 other to shew the barefooted collector where he may secm-ely tread. They 
 are much prized by the Chinese who boil them down into a nutritious 
 soup and nearly all those collected are exported to the Straits and to 
 China. 
 
 TAW-BYA. — A sub-tribe of Pwo Kareng. See Mo-jjgha. 
 
 TAW-DAN. — A revenue cu'cle in the Meng-bra toA^nship, Akyab 
 district. In 1876-77 the population was 3,368, the land revenue Es. 3,545, 
 the capitation tax Es. 2,341 and the gross revenue Es. 6,103. 
 
 TAW-DAW-KYOUNG.— A small village in the Bhan-byeng circle, 
 Thayet township, Thayet district, containing about 50 houses. For- 
 merly a Thoogyee was appointed to the circle which contained this and 
 five other villages of which Pouk-taw was the largest but he was dismissed
 
 704 BEITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 in 1861 and his circle united to Bhan-byeng. The inhabitants are mainly 
 employed in rice and hill garden cultivation. 
 
 TAW-GAN. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (west) township of 
 the Akyab district. In 1876-77 the population was 2,118, the land revenue 
 Es. 6,637, the capitation tax Es. 2,330 and the gross revenue Es. 9,319. 
 The principal village is Ma-yen-peng-reng. 
 
 TAW-GYEE. — A river in the Bassein district which has its source in 
 the Arakan mountains and after a tortuous com-se of some 30 miles, the 
 first part of which is in a general S.E. direction and the last almost due 
 south, falls into the Myit-ta-ra river near its mouth, having, nine miles above, 
 sent off some of its waters due eastward to the Bassein river through the 
 Ee-gyaw-gyee, by which also it receives the flood tide. 
 
 TAW-HAING. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-doung township, Prome 
 district, lying between the Kyee-thay and Gnyoung-tsa-re circles on the west 
 and south and the Shwe-nat-toung or Kho-lan hills on the east, of which 
 the eastern portion is under rice cultivation the western portion being hilly 
 and covered with forest. The largest village is Tha-khwot-koon in the south, 
 but Ma-gyee-bouk and Kan-thoon-thseng in the north are populous places. 
 The inhabitants are principally rice cultivators, gardeners and tari drawers. 
 In 1876-77 the population was 1,934, the land revenue Es. 2,165, the 
 capitation tax Es. 2,110 and the gross revenue Es. 4,297. 
 
 TAW-HMWON. — A village on the Pwon stream in the Kwon-oon 
 circle, Thayet township, Thayet district, containing 50 houses. It is 
 close to Ee-bwek in the same cu-cle and to Taw-daw-kyoung in the Bhan- 
 byeng circle, the inhabitants of all of which are mostly cultivators. 
 
 TAW-KA-MA. — A revenue cii-cle on Bhee-loo-gywon in the Amherst 
 district occupying the southernmost portion of the old township of Daray. 
 It is a long, narrow strip of flat alluvial plain, 6,276 acres in extent much 
 of which is still covered with mangrove jungle, lying between the sea on 
 the west and the Tsai-ba-la creek on the east, having the Kwon-raik circle 
 on the north and the sea on the south. It now includes some land at its 
 northern end which, when the circles were first formed by Captain Phayre, 
 was assigned to Kwon-raik. The soil generally is fertile but some is damaged 
 by the entrance of seawater. In 1868 the population was 472, the land 
 revenue Es. 7,155 and the capitation tax Es. 545. In 1877 these were 659, 
 Es. 9,045 and Es. 695 respectively. 
 
 TAW-KHA-EAN.— A Talaing village in the Taw-koo circle, An-gyee 
 township, Eangoon district, pleasantly situated amongst clumps of bamboos 
 and groves of fruit trees, about four miles west of Taw-koo. Here also are 
 the ruins of one of the 37 great pagodas of An-gyee. The inhabitants, who 
 are principally cultivators and salt-boilers, numbered 1,092 in 1878. 
 
 TAW-KOO. — A revenue circle in the An-gyee township of the Eangoon 
 district, carved out of La-wa-dee and Htan-ma-naing some years ago. In 
 1876-77 the population was 2,440, the land revenue was Es. 21,101, the 
 capitation tax Es. 3,928 and the gross revenue Es. 25,049. The principal 
 villages are Taw-koo and Taw-kha-ran. 
 
 TAW-KOO.— A large Talaing village in the Taw-koo circle, An-gyee 
 township, Eangoon district, on a stream of the same name, about five miles
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 705 
 
 from its mouth, built upon a ridge of high sandy ground which has evidently 
 at one time been the seabeach. The houses are shaded by groves of fine 
 fruit trees amongst which J'almyra palms abound. There are numerous 
 monasteries and zayat, or public rest-houses, and the ruins of a large and 
 ancient pagoda, one of the 37 great pagodas of An-gyee erected over the 
 spot where the holy relic which now reposes under the Shwe Tshan-daw 
 at Twan-te rested upon its jomiiey from the seacoast to Kha-beng (near 
 Twan-te). In 1878 it had 1,341 mhabitants. 
 
 TAW-LA- TAI. — A village in the circle of the same name, the head- 
 quarters of the Hlaing township on the right bank of the Hlaing at the 
 mouth of the Bhaw-lay. It contains a court-house, forest-office and police- 
 station. It consists of three adjoining villages of which Taw-la-tai, the 
 westernmost, had 562 inhabitants in 1878-79. 
 
 TAW-LEE. — A revenue circle in the Prome district on the right bank 
 of the Shwe-lay between the Nga-paw and Pa-dek-myoung ch'cles. There is 
 a little rice cultivation along the banks of the Taw-lee stream, a tributary 
 of the Shwe-lay, especially near its mouth where is the village of Taw-lee, 
 but the largest village is Pyan-khyee-tek up amongst the hills in the north. 
 The inhabitants are engaged chiefly in cultivating cotton and garden pro- 
 duce. In 1876-77 the population was 1,045, the land revenue Pis. 612, the 
 capitation tax Es. 1,383 and the gross revenue Pis. 2,045. 
 
 TAW-MA. — A large village in the Kama township, Thayet district, 
 with 649 inhabitants, lying in 19° 8' 20" N. and 95° 5' 20" E., iri 
 the lower portion of the valley of the Ma-htoon and between that river 
 and the Pan-deng hills to the S.W., close to the former. Until 1861 it was 
 the residence of a Thoogyee but in that year it was joined to Kyouk- 
 tsoung. 
 
 TAW-NOUK-LAY. — A revenue circle in the Mergui district at the 
 mouth of the Tenasserim river south of Mergui. In 1876-77 the population 
 was 2,233, the land revenue was Es. 8,422, the capitation tax Es. 1,384 
 and the gross revenue Es. 9,806. 
 
 TAW-POO-LWAI. — A village in the La-wa-dee circle, An-gyee town- 
 ship, Eangoon district, with 610 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 TAW-TA-NEE. — A revenue circle in the Pya-poon township of the 
 Thoon-khwa district on the seacoast between the P_ya-poon and To (or 
 China Bakeer) rivers. The inhabitants are largely engaged in fish- 
 ing. 
 
 TAW-TA-NO. — A village in the Kywon-pa-douk circle, Shwe-loung 
 township, Thoon-khwa district on the Wa-khay-ma stream and opposite 
 the village of Wa-khay-ma {q.v.) with 575 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 TAW-TOO. — A village lying on the eastern border of the Meng-byeng 
 circle of the Kyouk-hpyoo district, south of the town of Chcduba. A con- 
 siderable quantity of rice is grown in the neighbourhood. In 1877 it had 
 613 inhal)itants. 
 
 TAY-GYEE-GOON. — A village in the Koou-daw circle, Myanoung 
 township, Henzada district, about 16 miles west of the Irrawaddy. In 1878 
 it had 523 inhabitants. 
 
 89
 
 70G BltlTISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 TAY-GOON. — A village in the Shwe-domig township, Prome district^ 
 just to the south of the town of Shwe-doung of which it forms almost a 
 suburb, there being only a few rice fields betweejithe two. 
 
 TAY-GOON. — A revenue circle in theKe-gyee township, Bassein district, 
 occupying the angle formed by the junction of the Shwe-gnyoung-beng 
 stream with the Bassein river, with an area of about 48 square miles. It 
 may be described as a large open plain for the most part waste but with 
 tracts of rice cultivation in the centre and west ; near the Bassein river the 
 country is undulating and the soil gravelly. The inhabitants are Burmese, 
 mainly, and are very largely engaged in fishing as an occupation. The 
 largest village is Ma-gyee-goon in 17° 3' 30" N. and 94°58'E. on the Ta-bhoo 
 stream, a tributary of the Bassein river and the northern boundary of the 
 circle, in one of the large patches of rice cultivation. There are a few 
 dry-weather cart roads and many good footpaths to the villages. 
 
 TA-ZAN. — A revenue circle in the Mye-dai township, Thayet dis- 
 trict, 17 square miles in extent, of which only 238 acres are cultivated, 
 and of these 16G are on the hills and spurs of the Pegu Roma. The popula- 
 tion is small and is spread about in small hamlets the largest containing 
 about 40 houses. The Thoogyce died in 1871 and this circle was placed 
 under the Thoogyee of Pya-lo. The products are rice, maize, sessamum 
 and plantains. 
 
 TEK-PYOUK. — A revenue circle in the Toung-ngoo district to the 
 west of the Tsit-toung river, well cultivated towards the east but hilly 
 towards the west. The principal trees are Pyeng-gado {Xylia dolahifonnis), 
 Pyeng-ma {Lagerstrvcmia refihue) and Tsit {Alhizzia alata). It is traversed 
 by the main road from Toung-ngoo to Pegu. In 1877 the poimlation was 
 3,809, the land revenue was Es. 3,288, the capitation tax Rs. 2,868 and 
 the gross revenue PiS. 6,320. 
 
 TENASSEPiIM. — A river in the Mergui district formed by the junction 
 at the town of Tenasserim of two streams known by the same name and dis- 
 tinguished as the "Great " and the "Little ". The Bhan rises in the northern 
 slopes of the hills which divide Mergui from Tavoy and flows northward for 
 68 miles in a narrow valley bounded on the west by the Nwa-la-bo and on 
 the east by the Myeng-mo-lek-khat mountains ; rounding the northern slopes 
 of the latter it bends eastward and at Met-ta joins another river, which has 
 its sources in the extreme north of the Tavoy district. The two, now known 
 as the Great Tenasserim, continue southwards for 230 miles between the 
 Myeng-mo-lek-khat and the great range which marks the boundary between 
 British and Siamese territory. Here it turns to the west and 40 miles 
 further on receives the waters of the Little Tenasserim, the two continuing 
 to the sea as the Tenasserim. 
 
 There are several outlets to this river : the two principal ones are separat- 
 ed from each other by Mergui island and the southernmost of all falls into 
 Auckland bay about 25 miles south of Mergui the intermediate space being 
 divided into numerous islands by anastomosing creeks. Large boats can 
 ascend as far as Tenasserim, but above this point canoes and even rafts can 
 barely pass. Above Tenasserim the larger river flows " through an alluvial 
 " valley, varying in breadth from five to 20 miles, having a level or slightly 
 " undulating surface but covered with dense jungle, except where Karengor
 
 BRITISH BUllMA GAZETTEER. 707 
 
 *' Siamese have made small clearings. The banks are generally high and 
 " nearl}^ perpendicular; in some parts, however, the course of the river is 
 *' through low lands, and there are many islands in its bed giving the scenery a 
 " picturesque character. The channel is in some places so narrowed as to 
 *' occassion rapids which are passed with difficult}^ at certain periods."* The 
 tide is felt ten miles above Tenasserim. 
 
 The Little Tenasserim is formed by the junction, about 32 miles above 
 Tenasserim, of the Thien-khwou and the Nga-won. The Thien-khwon has 
 its source in the main range in about 11° 38' N. and flows through a highly 
 mountainous country in a general W.N.W. direction, with one largo bend 
 to the S.W., for about 50 miles to near Tsa-khai village. The Nga-won 
 rises in an angle formed by the main range and a spur running out from 
 the Khow Phra hill towards the N.N.W. in about 11° 14' N. and runs north- 
 ward for about 50 miles in a much straighter course than the Thien-khwon 
 but through a very similar country. From the junction of these two 
 streams the Little Tenasserim runs N.N.W. for some 40 odd miles to the 
 Great Tenasserim, on reaching which it has attained a breadth of 118 yards. 
 Both of these streams are fed by numerous mountain torrents of no great 
 importance pouring down between the ravines formed in the wilderness of 
 forest-covered hills through which they flow. 
 
 TENASSERIM.— A town in the Mergui district of the Tenasserim 
 division in 18' 8' N. and 98° 55' E. : the head-quarters of a township of the 
 same name. It is built on a neck of land on the left bank at the confluence 
 of the Great and Little Tenasserim 33 miles from the mouth of the river 
 and 40 south-east of the town of Mergui on a rock of old red sandstone 
 and upon the sides and along the lower slopes of an irregular hill about 200 
 feet high : the surrounding countr}- is a mass of small hills covered with 
 dense forest. 
 
 Once a large and important city it has, owing to conquest by the 
 Burmese and since then until 1835 to the repeated attacks of the Siamese, 
 dwindled to a village of 66G (in 1877) inhabitants of mixed Burmese and 
 Siamese race and of Booddhist religion. Beyond a few pagodas it contains 
 no brick or masonry buildings of any kind. 
 
 Being surrounded by hills it is often enveloped in the mornings in a 
 dense fog when the thermometer falls to 72°. At midda3% when the mists 
 have been dispersed by the sun the thermometer marks from 90° to 100°, 
 and these great changes make the climate mihcalthy. 
 
 It was founded by the Siamese in the yeav 1373 A.D., and a stone 
 pillar, now extant, was, tradition asserts, erected as a memorial of its 
 foundation. The pillar bears no inscription of any kind but a Burmese 
 legend relates that a woman was buried alive under it as an oll'eriug to 
 the gods for the future success of the town. It was surrounded by a mud 
 wall faced with brick, the foundations of which are still visible, built in the 
 form of an octagon and enclosing an area of about four square miles. The 
 walls long remained in a dilapidated condition and were eventually pulled 
 down by Captain (now General) McLeod and the bricks used in buikhng a 
 gaol at Mergui. The accounts given by old travellers of the wealth, 
 population and trade of this town are hardly credible for, owing to the 
 nature of the surrounding country, the suburbs can have been but small 
 
 * I'luuoab'b Gazetteer of Southern India.
 
 708 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and no very large population could be congregated in an area of four square 
 miles. There are no magnificent pagodas nor any signs of its ancient 
 greatness, and a few miles below the town a reef of rocks runs right across 
 the river over which a moderately-sized ship's cutter can hardly pass in 
 April and at no season could a vessel drawing more than six feet cross it. 
 It is, however, recorded by a very competent authority* that in 1825 the 
 Bombay cruiser TJietis sailed up as far as Tenasserim. In 1759 it was 
 taken by the Burmese conqueror Aloung-bhoora, and some years later the 
 inhabitants were put to the sword by the Burmese governor, the Daing- 
 won. From that time till the occupation of the country by the British 
 it remained, owing to the continual inroads of the Siamese, a petty village, 
 a state from which even now it has not recovered. 
 
 TENASSEEIM. — A township in the Mergui district extending south- 
 wards in a comparatively narrow strip between the great eastern range of 
 mountains and the Pa-law township, and lower down the Le-gnya township, 
 on the west to the sources of the Little Tenasserim. The head-quarters are 
 at Tenasserim at the junction of the Little and the Great Tenasserim. 
 Mountainous and forest-clad there is but little cultivated land and the 
 population, mainly Kareng, is sparse. In 1877 the land revenue was 
 Es. 6,710, the capitation tax Es. 4,178 and the gross revenue Es. 10,888 : 
 in the same year the number of inhabitants was 6,516. It contains only 
 four revenue circles. 
 
 TENASSEEIM. — A circle in the extreme west of the township of the 
 same name in the Mergui district, lying round about the village of Tenas- 
 serim. In 1877 the population was 2,378, the land revenue Es. 3,860, the 
 capitation tax Es. 1,440 and the gross revenue Es. 5,300. 
 
 TENG-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Mye-dai township, Thayet 
 district, with an area of 134 square miles. The revenue derived from this 
 tract of country in 1872 was Es. 3,450 of which Es. 1,530 were from 
 land and Es. 1,920 from capitation tax : the population in the same year 
 was 4,159 souls of whom about two-thirds were Burmans. The number of 
 buffaloes was comparatively large — 1,566 out of the 2,414 head of cattle in 
 the circle. In 1871 the Peng-ga-daw circle was placed under the Thoogyee 
 of Teng-daw. The products are sessamum, cotton, cutch.and silk: about 
 40 toungya are planted with mulberry trees and the annual yield of silk is 
 estimated at about 500 lbs. In 1877 the land revenue was Es. 2,209, the 
 capitation tax Es. 2,918, the gross revenue Es. 5,237 and the population 
 5,853. 
 
 TENG-GYEE. — A river in the Prome district which rises in the Pegu 
 Eoma mountains, in the acute angle formed by the Neepa-tshe spm- with 
 the main range which it leaves at the Thoon-myeng-tsaing peak, and after 
 flowing for some distance in a north-westerly direction between the main 
 range on the east and the spur on the south-west receiving the waters of 
 numerous mountain torrents turns west and joins the South Na-weng near 
 the village of Eat-thit. Its two largest affluents are the Bhan-boung and the 
 Myit-loung, both of which rise in the hills to the south and after traversing 
 a comparatively open tract of country past numerous small villages join it 
 close together three or four miles from its mouth not far from the village 
 
 * General McLeod to whose account of the Teuasserim clivisiou I am deeply indebted.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 709 
 
 of Myo-cloung. To this village small boats can ascend the Teng-gyee in 
 the rainy season. The banks of the stream are steep and the bed rocky. 
 On its banks are found valuable forest trees ; Teak, Pyeng-gado {Xylia 
 clolahriformis or Iron ivood, more durable even than teak), and Cutch {Acacia 
 catechu). The distance from the source to the mouth in a dii'ect line is 
 about 23 or 24 miles, but the actual length is much greater owing to its 
 winding amongst the mountains. 
 
 THA-BOUNG. — A township in the Bassein district extending across 
 the Arakan mountains to the seacoast on the west. To the south is the 
 Nga-poo-taw towaiship of the same district, separated from it by the Kwon- 
 khyoung and the Than-dwai on the east of the hills and by the Tsheng-ma 
 stream on the west, and east of the Nga-won, on the other side of the Da-ga 
 or Ewe, is the Thee-kweng tow^nship. The strip between the Nga-won river 
 and the Roma is separated from the Pie-gyee township by the Bho-daw 
 stream, whilst that on the other side of the mountains stretches up north- 
 ward to the Khwa which divides Bassein from Sandoway. The whole of 
 the centre and the greater part of the western portion is mountainous, 
 forest-clad and uncultivated. The richest circles are Kweng-hla and 
 Keng-lat. In 1861 it was carved out of several other townships. The 
 head-quarters are at Tha-boung on the Nga-w^on. It is divided into 14 
 revenue circles. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years have 
 been : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, in Rs 
 
 1874 
 
 . . 29,838 
 
 .. 86,225 
 
 1875 
 
 .. 27,631 
 
 .. 95,125 
 
 1876 
 
 .. 31,388 
 
 . . 94,375 
 
 1877 
 
 . . 29,832 
 
 . . 86,039 
 
 1878 
 
 .. 29,391 
 
 .. 78,327 
 
 THA-BOUNG. — A revenue circle in the township of the same name 
 in the Bassein district separated from Tsit-ta-ran on the north-east by the 
 Ka-gnyeng-khyoung, from Zee-bhyoo-kweng on the south-west by the 
 Thien or 0-blio stream and from Bhaw-mee on the north-west by the crest 
 of the Arakan Pioma. On the south-east the circle is bounded by the Nga- 
 won river. The country on the north-west is mountainous and forest-clad 
 and such regular cultivation as exists is found near the Nga-won and near 
 the villages. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, 
 
 IN KUPEES. 
 
 Tear. 
 
 
 ci) 
 
 TO 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o a 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 9 
 g 
 
 o 
 
 c3 
 
 13 
 
 a 
 
 
 IS 
 
 "3 
 
 
 p3 
 
 cS 
 
 ^ 
 
 O 
 
 ci 
 
 a 
 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 
 pq 
 
 M 
 
 - < 
 
 H 
 
 t^ 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 1871 . . 
 
 1,609 
 
 796 
 
 — 
 
 2,405 
 
 3,505 
 
 2,612 
 
 135 
 
 6,252 
 
 1875 . . 
 
 1,555 
 
 804 
 
 — 
 
 2,359 
 
 3,675 
 
 2,712 
 
 180 
 
 6,567 
 
 1876 . . 
 
 1,616 
 
 733 
 
 17 
 
 2,366 
 
 3,654 
 
 2,622 
 
 180 
 
 6,456 
 
 1877 . . 
 
 1,673 
 
 733 
 
 18 
 
 2,424 
 
 3,727 
 
 2,557 
 
 180 
 
 6,465 
 
 1878 . . 
 
 1,614 
 
 769 
 
 21 
 
 2,404 
 
 2,788 
 
 2,460 
 
 180 
 
 5,482
 
 710 BRITISH BUKMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 Abea, in acres. 
 
 
 
 Agricultural 
 
 STOCK. 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 "2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 S to 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 '•^ Is 
 
 
 CS 
 
 
 <D 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 "3 
 o 
 
 Is 
 
 
 
 to 
 CD 
 
 CO 
 
 1 
 
 -a 
 
 O 
 
 CO 
 
 O 
 
 
 t3 
 
 C5 
 
 • 
 
 H 
 
 fq 
 
 u 
 
 EQ 
 
 Ph 
 
 o 
 
 Ph 
 
 M 
 
 187-4 
 
 2,004 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 2,022 
 
 1,327 
 
 303 
 
 29 
 
 186 
 
 136 
 
 275 
 
 63 
 
 1875 
 
 2,137 
 
 18 
 
 13 
 
 2,168 
 
 1,245 
 
 265 
 
 4 
 
 127 
 
 113 
 
 320 
 
 49 
 
 1876 
 
 2,139 
 
 20 
 
 13 
 
 2,172 
 
 1,226 
 
 218 
 
 4 
 
 118 
 
 129 
 
 299 
 
 43 
 
 1877 
 
 2,156 
 
 23 
 
 4 
 
 2,183 
 
 1,728 
 
 396 
 
 16 
 
 368 
 
 80 
 
 192 
 
 91 
 
 1878 
 
 1,683 
 
 21 
 
 20 
 
 1,724 
 
 1,-582 
 
 270 
 
 6 
 
 242 
 
 294 
 
 190 
 
 92 
 
 THA-BOUNG. — A village in the circle and township of the same name, 
 of which it is the head-quarter station, in the Bassein district on the right 
 hank of the Bassein river about 30 miles above Bassein and at the mouth 
 of the Ka-gnjeng-kh3'oung. It is a poor and untidy village, with a police- 
 station and a court-house on the river bank. In 1877 it had 604 inhabitants. 
 To the west of the village and separated from it b}^ rice-fields is a small 
 swampy lake. 
 
 THA-BOUNG. — The northernmost circle in the Donabyoo township 
 of the Thoon-khwa district. In 1877-78 the cultivated area was 1,055 
 acres, the population 1,689 and the capitation tax Rs. 1,435. 
 
 THA-BYAI-KY^VON.— A village in the Mee-khyoung-dek circle, Ram- 
 ree township, Kyouk-hpyoo district, south-east of the Ean-bouk stream. 
 The inhabitants who are principally rice cultivators numbered 649 souls in 
 1877. 
 
 THA-BYE-GAN. — A village in the Poo-gan-doung eu-cle, Than-lyeng 
 township, Piangoon district, with 740 inhabitants in 1878-79. 
 
 THA-BYE-GOON. — A village in the Poo-gan-doung circle, Angyee 
 township, Piangoon district, with 665 inhabitants in 1878-79. 
 
 THA-BYE-GYEE-TSOO.— A revenue circle in the Prome district to 
 the east of Poung-day. In 1877 the population was 322, the land revenue 
 Es. 307 and the capitation tax Es. 431. 
 
 THA-BYE-HLA. — A largo village in the circle of the same name in 
 the Kyoon-pyaw township, Bassein district, on the western bank of the 
 river Da-ga and 13 miles east of Nga-thaing-khyoung. In 1877 it had 2,304 
 inhabitants. It was formerly the head-quarters of the Extra Assistant 
 Commissioner in charge of the Mye-noo township which was broken up 
 in 1861. 
 
 THA-BYE-HLA. — A village in the Oung-beng-tha circle, Ta-pwon 
 township, Ilenzada (Tharrawaddy) district, lying a short distance to the west 
 of the road from Poung-day to Ta-pwon. In 1877 it had 501 inhabitants.
 
 lilUTISH BUKIMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 711 
 
 THA-BYE-HLA. — A revenue circle in the Prome district, about a mile 
 north of the Wai-gyee river and six east of the Eug-ma swamp. In 1877 
 the population was 303, the land revenue Es. 323 and the capitation tax 
 Rs. 345. 
 
 THA-BYE-HLA. — A revenue circle in the Mye-noo township, now 
 joined to Pte-gyec in the Bassein district, with an area of about 90 square 
 miles, on the right bank of the Da-ga river. There is a fair amount of rice 
 cultivation scattered about the circle in patches near the villages but in 
 many parts the laud is low and swampy. The inhabitants are extensively 
 engaged in fishing. None of the villages are large or of much importance. 
 There is a fair cart road sku-ting the Da-ga to the east. 
 
 The population and revenue dm-ing each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Bevenue, in rupees. 
 
 Ye.vk. 
 
 to 
 
 5 
 g 
 
 i4 
 
 '3 
 c 
 
 h-5 
 
 i 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 es 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 g 
 
 "ea 
 
 ■s 
 
 EH 
 
 1871 .. 
 
 1875 .. 
 
 1876 .. 
 
 1877 .. 
 
 1878 .. 
 
 3,641 
 4,182 
 4,396 
 4,593 
 5,005 
 
 2,263 
 2,462 
 2,691 
 2,821 
 3,095 
 
 5,904 
 6,644 
 7,087 
 7,414 
 8,100 
 
 4,502 
 7,411 
 7,746 
 7,877 
 8,216 
 
 6,627 
 6,930 
 7,245 
 7,505 
 7,577 
 
 3,725 
 3,450 
 3,360 
 3,370 
 3,065 
 
 14,854 
 17,791 
 18,351 
 18,752 
 18,858 
 
 The area under cultivation and the agricultm-al stock during the same 
 period were : — 
 
 
 Area, in acres. 
 
 
 Agkicultukal stock. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 ^ w 
 
 'O 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 CO 
 
 a a 
 
 ,a o 
 
 03 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 r3 'n 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 S^'S 
 
 
 
 •1 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 « o 
 3 
 
 C3 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 1 
 
 Cow 
 and b 
 
 xn. 
 
 CO 
 
 XD 
 
 X, 
 
 o 
 
 tn 
 1 
 
 1874 
 
 3,542 
 
 313 
 
 6 
 
 3,861 
 
 1,013 
 
 711 
 
 8 
 
 137 
 
 246 
 
 269 
 
 22 
 
 1875 
 
 4,854 
 
 1,073 
 
 19 
 
 5,946 
 
 1,2J5 
 
 1,514 
 
 14 
 
 215 
 
 265 
 
 443 
 
 64 
 
 1876 
 
 5,096 
 
 1,096 
 
 9 
 
 6,201 
 
 1,862 
 
 2,493 
 
 219 
 
 576 
 
 333 
 
 923 
 
 253 
 
 1877 
 
 5,253 
 
 1,136 
 
 13 
 
 6,402 
 
 1,960 
 
 3,921 
 
 863 
 
 741 
 
 529 
 
 994 
 
 321 
 
 1878 
 
 5,407 
 
 1,263 
 
 9 
 
 6,679 
 
 1,880 
 
 9,546 
 
 664 
 
 1,082 
 
 584 
 
 3,065 
 
 196 
 
 The principal villages are Pyeng-ma-beng-hla, Thoung-rwa and Tha- 
 bye-hla. 
 
 THA-BYE-KA. — A village in the-Wcng-kywon cu-clo, Oo-reet-toung 
 (east) township, Akyab district, on the eastern bank of the Khyan-koou-dan 
 stream witli 552 inhabitants in 1877.
 
 712 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 THA-BYE-KHYOUNG.— A village in the Ta-gay circle of the Gnyoung- 
 doon township, Thoon-khwa district, on the Irrawaddy ahout eight miles 
 north of Gnyoung-doon. In 1878 it had 679 inhahitants. 
 
 THA-BYENG-TSOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Kama township, 
 Thayet district, six square miles in extent. Of the 1,000 culturahle acres 
 about 500 are actually under cultivation and in 1872 furnished a revenue 
 of Rs. 360, the capitation tax furnishing Rs. 490 more. The population 
 was a little under 500 souls. In 1870 the hereditary Thoogyee resigned on 
 account of insufficiency of income and this circle was then placed under 
 the Nat-mee Thoogyee and in the same year the two combined circles 
 w^ere joined to Toon. The products are rice, tobacco, chillies, onions, 
 sessamum, plantains and maize. 
 
 THA-BYE-POUNG-GYEE.— A revenue circle in the Poung-day town- 
 ship, Prome district, stretching up northwards from Wek-poot past Thit- 
 tshien-goon. The northern part is under rice. Eeng-daik-tan and Piwa-hla 
 are the most populous villages. The northern portion, Eeng-daik-tan, was 
 formerly an independent village tract. In 1877 the population was 2,783, 
 the land revenue Rs. 2,347, the capitation tax Rs. 2,695 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 5,117. 
 
 THA-BYE-ROON.— A village m the Myo-dweng circle of the Henzada 
 (Tharrawaddy) district, about two miles east of the R. and I. V. (State) 
 Railway. In 1877 it had 555 inhabitants. 
 
 THA-BYOO. — A revenue circle in the Donabyoo township of the Thoon- 
 khwa district, 70 square miles in extent. In 1877-78 the area under cultiva- 
 tion was 6,750 acres, the population was 5,728, the land revenue Rs. 11,916, 
 the capitation tax Rs. 6,043 and the gross revenue Rs. 20,474. 
 
 THA-BYOO. — A village on the left bank of the river Pegu in the 
 Gnyoung-beng circle of the Pegu township, Rangoon district, about eight 
 miles below Ka-wa. In 1878 it had a population of 797 souls, who were 
 chiefly Talaing. 
 
 THA-BYOO-KYWON.— A small village in the Kywon-ga-le circle, 
 Hpoung-leng township, Rangoon district. In 1878 it had 519 inhabitants. 
 
 THA-DWOT. — A small stream in the Prome district which rises in the 
 Neepa-tshe spur of the Pegu Roma and, flowing south-west, falls into the 
 Too, one of the numerous anastomosing channels which unite the Zay above 
 and the Myit-ma-kha below theEng-ma lake, with the Wai-gyee or Shwe-lay 
 iq.v.). Its banks are moderately steep and its bed sandy and gravelly. On 
 its banks, especially amongst the hills, are found Bhan-bhwai {Careya 
 arhorea), Pyeng-ga-do {Xylia dolahriformis), Eng-gyeng {Hopea suava), Eng 
 {DipterocarpiLS tuberculatus) and Sha {Acacia catechu). 
 
 THA-GA-RA. — The northern township of the Toung-ngoo district 
 extending from the frontier southwards on both banks of the Tsit-toung to 
 the Toung-ngoo township on the west, and the Bhoom-ma-wad-dee township 
 on the east, and stretching from the Pegu Roma mountains eastward to the 
 western borders of the Toung-ngoo hill tracts sub-division which com- 
 mences at the western slopes of the Poung-loung range. On the west the 
 country is hilly, intersected by the numerous spurs thrown off by the 
 boundary range and clothed with dense tree and bamboo forest, where
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 713 
 
 are found Teak, Pyeng-ma, Sha, Thit-tsee and Eng besides other trees of 
 economical value. On the east the country consists of a narrow strip of 
 level i)lain, partly ^cultivated with rice and elsewhere covered with tree and 
 grass forest, intersected by numerous fair-weather cart tracks. On the 
 west bank a fairly good road runs from the south towards the frontier. 
 None of the villages are large or of great importance. For the protection 
 of the country a chain of police-posts extends from east to west a few 
 miles below the frontier line. 
 
 The inhabitants numbered 13,018 in 1878, and during the same year 
 the land revenue was Es. 3,457, the capitation tax Rs. 9,503 and tbe gross 
 revenue Rs. 14,092. The township is divided into sis revenue circles. The 
 head-quarters are at Pie-too in the Kai-leng circle, to the west of the Tsit- 
 toung. 
 
 THA-GA-EA. — A revenue circle in the Toung-ngoo district, on the left 
 bank of the Tsit-toung south of Myo-hla. The country is generally level 
 and some rice cultivation is carried on near the river bank. In 1878 the 
 population was 738, the land revenue Rs. 96, the capitation tax Rs. 546 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 736. 
 
 THA-HPAN-KHYO. — A revenue circle in the Poung-day township, 
 Prome district, between the town of Poung-day and the river Kyat. It 
 contains only one large village, which is an extension of Poung-day itself. 
 In 1878 the population was 2,413, the land revenue Rs. 2,401, the capita- 
 tion tax Rs. 2,348 and the gross revenue Rs. 5,074, 
 
 THA-HPAN-KHYO. — A revenue circle in the Prome district about six 
 miles east of the head of the Engma swamp. In 1878 the population was 
 8,430, the land revenue Rs. 2,757, the capitation tax Rs. 3,782 and the 
 gross revenue Rs. 6,568. 
 
 THA-HPAN-KHYO. — A large village in the circle of the same name, 
 Poung-day township, Prome district, two miles north-east of Poung-day. 
 In 1878 it had 2,133 inhabitants. 
 
 THA-HTOON. — A township lying in the north-western corner of the 
 Tha-htoon sub-division of the Amherst district. On the north, beyond the 
 K_yoon-iek creek, is the Shwe-gyeng district ; on the east, beyond the Kyouk- 
 tsa-rit and Bheng-laing rivers, the Hpagat township ; on the south and 
 separated by the Gaw and the lower portion of the Tsha or Tha-htoon river 
 is the Martaban township ; and on the west, bc.yond the Bhee-leng river, 
 lies the Shwe-gyeng district. Stretching up northwards, near the eastern 
 border of the township, is a range of hills, a continuation of the Martaban 
 mountains, which ri&cs from the gap through which the river Gaw Hows, 
 and attaining its greatest altitude near Tha-htoon gradually sinks and 
 disappears, near the Kyoon-iek, in the Ka-ma-thaing hill. East of this line 
 of hills there is a narrow strip of forest-clad and but slightly-cultivated 
 coimtry, closed in on the east by the Kyouk-tsa-rit and lower down l)y the 
 Bheng-laing formed l)y the junction of the Kyouk-tsa-rit with the iJoon'-tha- 
 mie. Stretching away westward to the Bhee-leng are extensive plains, 
 partially under rice but liable to inundation and, therefore, to a great extent 
 unculturable. This inundation is partly due to the spill of the Bhee-leng 
 directly over its banks and formcrlv indirectly through the Kyoon-iek which 
 
 90
 
 714 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 runs from the Bliee-leng to the Kyouk-tsa-rit. "When the Bhee-leng enters 
 in flood the Kyouk-tsa-rit ahiiost certainly does so also and its waters bank 
 up those coming in through the Kyoon-iek and thus the northern portion of 
 the Tha-htoon plain became flooded and as all the outlets are into the Bhee- 
 leng the water could not escape. Some of it, if the rise was high, found its 
 way over the low rising ground which divides the plain into a northern or 
 Thien-tshiep portion and a southern or Tha-htoon portion and, added to the 
 rainfall, flooded that also, as the mouths of the Tha-htoon and other rivers 
 have been gradually choked by the silt brought up by the tide. An embank- 
 ment has been thrown across the northern extremity of the plain from the 
 Ka-ma-thaing hill to the high bank of the Bhee-leng at Doon-won and this 
 now affords some protection, but other embankments are wanted and the 
 outlet channels require improving. At present, except in some spots, if the 
 rice is planted before the rains in the hopes of its having grown sufficiently 
 before the floods to overtop them the grain is destroyed by field-mice ; if 
 later the plants are submerged and killed. 
 
 Kunning almost parallel to the hills and at no great distance from 
 them on their western side is the Tha-htoon river, which after passing 
 Tha-htoon turns westward and flows past Kaw-than towards the sea. 
 Between this river and the hills are the most important villages, 
 Mye-nee-goon and Thien-tshiep which with smaller intermediate ones form 
 a long and almost continuous line. The township is divided into five 
 revenue circles and in 1877 produced a gross revenue of Es. 54,106, of 
 which Es. 33,213 were derived from the land and Es. 28,093 from the capi- 
 tation tax. In that year the population numbered 21,955 souls. 
 
 THA-HTOON. — A revenue circle in the township of the same name in 
 the Amherst district, in which is Tha-htoon, the head-quarter station of the 
 township and of the sub-division. In 1877 the population was 3,650, the 
 land revenue Es. 5,964 and the capitation tax Es. 7,527. 
 
 THA-HTOON.— A town, with 3,126 inhabitants in 1877, in the Amherst 
 district, the head-quarters of the township and of the sub-division of the 
 same name, situated on the eastern edge of the Tha-htoon plain on the 
 lower slopes of the line of hills which form the western watershed of the 
 rivers Kyouk-tsa-rit and Bheng-laing and facing the extensive Dhe-ba-rien 
 valley. 
 
 The town now is small and of but little importance but it is one of 
 the earliest mentioned in Talaing history. Some centuries before Christ 
 it was the capital of an independent kingdom, inhabited it would seem by 
 people of an Indian stock from Talingana a name which remains in 
 " Talaing " the designation amongst the Burmese of the Peguans, called by 
 themselves *'Moon." In the native histories the foundation of the city 
 is stated to have taken place in the 17th century B.C., but the first account 
 on which any reliance can be placed is that which relates to the arrival of 
 Thawna and Oot-tara, missionaries sent to Suvarna-bhoom-mie by the great 
 Booddhist council held in 241 B.C., who lauded at Tha-htoon when it was 
 a seaport town, a position taken from it by the gradual upheaval of the 
 coast. Some centuries later a religious envoy was sent hence to Ceylon to 
 learn more perfectly the doctrines of the Booddha and to procure copies of 
 the Pee-ta-gat or Booddhist scriptures. After this the town gradually
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 715 
 
 decreased in wealth and in importance and its place was taken by Pegu, 
 founded in the sixth century A.D. by Tha-ma-la and Wee-ma-la, sons of the 
 king of Tha-htoon, who had been driven out of their father's kingdom. 
 *' The city appears to have been laid out on the general plan of ancient 
 " Indian cities, a plan which has been followed in the modern capital of 
 ** Burma. The ground plan of the outer rampart is a square or oblong 
 "within which is an open space of about 153 feet, and then a second but 
 " lower wall, or rampart, and moat. The east and west inner walls are 
 " each 7,700 feet long, while those on the north and south are about 
 "4,000 feet each, enclosing a space of about 700 acres. The angles, how- 
 " ever, are not exact right angles. In the centre of the city is the fortified 
 " royal citadel, measimng from north to south 1,080 feet, and from east 
 "to west 1,150 feet. This was for the defence of the palace, the 
 " * throne-room' being, as is now the case at the Burmese capital, nearly 
 " the centre point of the city. There are two gates or spaces for entrance 
 " in the northern and southern faces of the rampart, but it is impossible 
 " to say how many on the eastern or western. Of the citadel no remains 
 " exist save those of a small pagoda at one corner, the shape of which is 
 " not discernible. The walls are of earth and in some places much 
 "worn away, but some i)laces appear to have been faced with rough 
 " stones." 
 
 At about the end of the 10th century, A-naw-ra-hta, king of Bm-ma, 
 overran and annexed Pegu and though no mention is made of the siege 
 and capture of Pegu, the capital, the taking of Tha-htoon is described at 
 length in the Burmese histories. After this Tha-htoon ceased to be of any 
 importance. 
 
 " The chief remains of pagodas are situated between the site of the 
 " citadel and the south wall. At present, the largest is a modern one, of 
 " the usual form, built over an old one ; near it are three square ones. The 
 " principal of these lies on the eastern side of the great pagoda and though 
 " fast falling into decay still exhibits signs of having once been a beautiful 
 " and eleboratc structure. It is built entirely (as are almost all pagodas 
 " in that part of the country which was inhabited by the Talaing) of hewn 
 " laterite. The lower base is 104 feet square and 18 feet high ; the second 
 " storey 70 feet square and IGh feet high ; above this is another storey, 48 
 " feet square and 12 feet high,'upon which, again, there is a round pagoda, 
 " the whole structure being about 85 feet in height, but as the two last 
 " parts, viz., the thu'd storey and bell, have been re-built it is impossible to 
 " say what was the original" height. I believe that the three square storeys 
 " were in all about 45 feet but, judgmg from another unrepau'cd pagoda, 
 " I am of opinion that the bell was more squat than the present, and more 
 " in the shape of a round stiipa or topee. The whole face of the pagoda has 
 " been carved in patterns, but the most remarkable part is the second 
 " storey to which access is given by four flights of steps, one in the centre 
 " of each face. About half way up the face are recesses about four inches 
 " deep and two feet three and a half inches by two feet three inches. Into 
 "these are let red clay entablatures on which various figures are depicted 
 " in relief. Few now remain, and they are much multilated : the scenes and 
 " costumes depicted however are very curious. A few 1 have copied roughly 
 " and will encleavour to describe : —
 
 716 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " (1.) — Four hideous and bearded individuals, riding closely packed 
 on the back of an elephant, are pelted with stones by two youths on foot 
 behind with their waistclotlis tucked up. One of the figures on the elephant 
 has his hair done in a knot on the forehead, like a Shan or Karen g ; but the 
 youths behind have a large knot at the back, — a fashion not now known 
 anywhere in Burma or eastwards (though usual in Orissa, I believe)." 
 
 " (2). — Eepresents an equestrian figure with royal head-dress on the 
 left, whilst on the right is a standing figure with a royal dress to whom 
 an attendant appears to be talking. The ground- work of the piece is a 
 series of wavy lines." 
 
 " (3). — A small side-piece represents a prince kneeling and offering a 
 kind of candelabra." 
 
 " (4). — A prince or governor sitting under umbrellas with a man 
 kneeling on the left and talking to him with a smile on his countenance. 
 In front of the kneeling figure is something which looks like a small box. 
 The head of the prince has been knocked off, but I am inclined to think 
 from the dress that it is only a governor. Below is a pony tied to a post 
 and an attendant kneeling. Both kneeling figures have their hair done 
 in a large knot at the side and the upper figure has a sort of halo round 
 his head ; but otherwise the clothing is a simple waistcloth, but tucked 
 up, — an unusual thing when in the presence of a great man." 
 
 " (5). — Is much mutilated and all that can be discerned is a woman 
 kneelmg before a standing prince whilst in front is a man on a four-wheeled 
 cart drawn by a pony." 
 
 " (6). — In the upper part are a man and woman, well dressed, riding on 
 a four-wheeled cart drawn by ponies. The shape of the cart is curious. 
 Below is a potter's shop, shewing a man turning the wheel whilst one 
 forms the pot and another, behind, kneads a lump of clay. Pots stand 
 on the shelves. All the figures have enormous knots of hair at the back 
 of the head." 
 
 " (7). — A princess seated amongst her women, whilst one of them has 
 got hold of the end of a rope round the neck of a man below the floor. 
 The women all wear the Burmese petticoat. What this represents I 
 cannot conceive, unless it is connected with a curious custom of the Talaing. 
 In every house there is a room where the girls sleep and in the floor of 
 this there is a hole. When young men go courting they come under the 
 house and, putting their hands through the hole, wake uj) the j'oung lady 
 inside. She, by a certain sign or feel of the hand, immediately knows if 
 it is the right man ; should another man come for whom she does not 
 care, woe betide him." 
 
 " (8). — A king seated on his throne with an attendant standing on each 
 side, with the usual hair knot and short tucked-up waist-cloth." 
 
 " (9). — A king seated on a throne with persons kneeling before him. In 
 the background a man is undergoing punishment with the elbow*." 
 
 " (10.) — This is broken in two but the upj)er compartment shews a man 
 in a garden or forest holding an enormous serpent, half of which has been 
 broken off ; below, a prince is seated on the ground, wliilst three j)rincesses 
 
 * The person to be punished is made to kneel down and bend forward and is struck on the 
 hack between the shoulders and somewhat lower by the elbow of the puuisher : the pain 
 caused is great.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 717 
 
 ' kneel on his left, one behind the otlrer. All have a head-dress of " Nagas " 
 ' heads, but the cloths are of the Burmese or Talaing style. I note that 
 ' Dr. Hunter observed a figure similar to that in the upper compartment in 
 ' one of the Orissan rock-cut temples and was unable to conjecture the 
 ' meaning of it. 
 
 " (11). — On the left, is a king seated on his throne, whilst an attendant, 
 ' kneeling, announces the arrival of a queen, who appears on the right, 
 ' carried aloft in a seat on the shoulders of four men. Her head-dress is very 
 ' grand and her countenance grave. Behind appear umbrellas, fans and 
 ' fly-fiapi^ers. 
 
 " (12). — A prince standing on the back of a man who is stretched on the 
 ' ground. A figure in front has hold of a man's hair with one hand whilst 
 the other holds a sword. Behind are two kneeling women and around are 
 elephants, bufialoes, pigs and other animals. Bas-reliefs of a very similar 
 nature are depicted opposite page 164 of Colonel Yule's Mission to Ava as 
 set round platforms in a monastery at Amarapoora, but these were cut in 
 sandstone." 
 
 " There can be no doubt that this is one of the most remarkable pagodas 
 in Burma j but I very much fear that the date of its building cannot now be 
 decided, except by opening it, unless some information can be got from the 
 Talaing who once lived on the spot but who emigrated in a bod}^ to Siam 
 in the time of Aloung-bhoora (Alompra). The shape of it is said by 
 Sinhalese jDriests who have visited it to be identical with that of the 
 Sinhalese pagodas or dagopas. Are we, then, to assign it to Booddhaga- 
 sha's era ? If so, it must be about 1,380 years old. Another curious 
 question also arises, — how is it that the Talaing and Burmese have rejected 
 this shape of pagoda, if it be the orthodox one, and at what date did they 
 reject it ? It may be that there were two forms brought from Ceylon and 
 that the present one suited their eye (which abhors a straight line) better 
 than the square." 
 
 " Near this pagoda arc some large stones covered with writing but so 
 worn as to be unreadable : the letters, however, appear to be Talaing. On 
 the eastern side of the pagoda is a fine deep tank, about 200 feet square, at 
 the bottom of which it is said there is a great bell. 
 
 " Near the centre of the west side of the town, and outside of the inner 
 wall, is a tank about 150 feet square ; and at the north-east angle, between 
 the outer and inner walls, is also another large tank. There arc also a 
 good many remains of old pagodas, almost all of the square shape, but 
 very dilapidated and shewing signs of having been opened by Touugthoo 
 and others in their search for hidden treasure. To the east of the pagoda 
 tank is an acre or two of ground thickly covered with remains of small 
 pagodas, three or four feet high, composed of laterite rings growing 
 gradually smaller, and surmounted b}' a block in the shape of the large bud 
 at the end of a plantain bunch. It is not known what these pagodas arc 
 as they are not seen elsewhere near large pagodas or in numbers. Some 
 have been opened and found to contain a deposit of bits of charcoal and 
 broken pots. It may have been the custom to erect them over the ashes 
 of relatives, or they may have been erected by the victorious army of 
 Anaw-ra-hta." * 
 
 *NotGS by Mr. St. John, formcrlj- Assistant Comruissioucr of Tha-btoou.
 
 718 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 THAI-DAW. — A revenue circle in the south-eastern corner of the 
 Thayet township, Thayet district, on the right bank of the Irrawaddy. Out 
 of the 11 square miles contained in the circle no less than eight are 
 unculturable, and of the remaining three rather over one is actually under 
 cultivation, part of it by hill clearings. In 1872 the population numbered 
 1,886 and in 1877 1,695 souls, of whom a large number live in the village 
 of Htoon-doung on the bank of the river near a hill from which limestone 
 is quarried. Exclusive of lime, the products are rice, plantains and custard- 
 apples. The revenue derived from this circle in 1872 aggregated Rs. 1,920, 
 viz., Es. 410 from land, Rs. 100 from fisheries and Rs. 1,410 from capitation 
 tax. In 1877 the land revenue was Es. 446, the capitation tax Rs. 1,788 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 2,406. 
 
 THAI-GAN. — A revenue circle in the Ra-thai-doung township of the 
 Akyab district. In 1877 the population was 6,564, the land revenue 
 Es. 15,942, the capitation tax Es. 5,750 and the gross revenue Es. 22,508. 
 
 THAI-GOON. — An inland village in the Dai-da-rai circle, Pya-poon 
 township, Thoon-khwa district, about four miles from the To and south of 
 Dai-da-rai. In 1878 it had 601 inhabitants. 
 
 THAI-GOON.— A village of only 346 inhabitants in 1878 in the Tha- 
 hpan-khyo circle, Poung-day township, Prome district, west of Poung-day 
 and close to the left bank of the Shwe-lay or Wek-poot stream and on the 
 Eangoon and Irrawaddy Valley (State) Eailway, where the Extra Assistant 
 Commissioner in charge of the township now resides and hold his Court, 
 having been transferred thither from Poung-day shortly after an Assistant 
 Commissioner was stationed in that town. It contains a court-house, 
 police-station, market and railway- station. 
 
 THAI-HPYOO. — A small village in the Zhe-khyoung circle, Bassein 
 township, Bassein district on the west bank of the Pai-beng river and about 
 four miles east of Bassein. In 1878 it had 505 inhabitants. 
 
 THAI-HPYOO. — A river in the Henzada (Tharawaddy) district which 
 has its source in the Pegu Eoma and after a south and west course of about 
 24 miles falls into the Myit-ma-kha or Hlaing at Bhee-leng. 
 
 THAI-HPYOO. — A river in the Shwe-gyeng district, which rises in the 
 hills north of Bhee-leng and flows for some distance parallel to the Bhee- 
 leng river. When in about the latitude of Bhee-leng it turns westward and, 
 flowing through the low country and during the rains united with the 
 numerous creeks in that tract and navigable there by large boats, it falls 
 into the Tsit-toung at its mouth a little south of the Ka-dat. 
 
 THAI-HPYOO-KHYOUNG.— A village in the Myaing-gyee circle of the 
 Hpa-gat township, Amherst district with 534 inhabitants in 1877- 
 
 THAI-KHYOUNG. — A revenue circle in the south-eastern township of 
 the Tavoy district, sparsely inhabited by Kareng and with very little cul- 
 tivated area, in which is grown mainly sessamum and betel-nut trees. It 
 is now joined to Toung-byouk. 
 
 THA-KHWOT-KOON.— A village in the Taw-haing circle of the Shwe- 
 doung township, Prome district, in 18^^ 34' 5" N. and 95^" 15' 50" E. between 
 the Irrawaddy and the Shwe-nat-toimg hills, about eight miles east of the
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 719 
 
 former and a mile and a half from the crest of the latter and eight miles 
 S.E. of Kyee-thay, with which as with most of the siirromiding villages it is 
 connected by good dry-weather cart roads. In 1878 it had 540 inhabitants. 
 
 THA-KHWOT-PENG.— A tidal creek in the Rangoon district, in 
 English generally called the Bassein creek. It forms a channel between 
 the Rangoon and the China Bakeer or To rivers, the entrance on the side of 
 the former being about 10 miles from its mouth. From thence it follows a 
 S.S.W. course and del)ouches upon the To about two and a half miles from 
 the sea. The direct distance between its mouths is 19 miles but its length 
 is 25. During the rainy season this creek has a steady current downwards, 
 and its water is sweet but muddy : at other periods of the year it is affected 
 by the tide from the Rangoon river and from the To which meet near the 
 mouth of the Htan-ma-naing, about seven miles from the Rangoon river. 
 During the springs in the di-y season two small bores are formed, that from 
 the To being the larger. Throughout the creek there is a depth of about 
 tw^o fathoms at low water, but the entrance from the Rangoon river is 
 obstructed by shoals and the river steamers have to wait for about half flood 
 before they can enter. During the dry season this creek is the only practic- 
 able route between Rangoon and the Irrawaddy for steamers and large boats. 
 The banks are steep, muddy and covered with low forest. 
 
 THAI-KYAI. — A revenue circle in the Prome district between the North 
 and South Na-weng rivers near their junction. In 1878 the population was 
 591, the land revenue Rs. 291, the capitation tax Rs. 450 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 751. 
 
 THA-LAY. — A revenue circle in the Oo-reet-toung (east) township of 
 the Akyab district. In 1876-77 the population was 1,282, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 1,407, the land revenue Rs. 4,656 and the gross revenue Rs. 6,311. 
 
 THA-LE-DAN. — A river in the Pa-doung township, Prome district, 
 which falls into the Irrawaddy at the village of Tha-le-dan, from which it 
 takes its name, and is formed by the junction, at the village of Ma-toung 
 situated amongst the hills, of two streams, the North and the South Tha-le- 
 dan. 
 
 The North Tha-le-dan rises in the Arakan mountains at the foot of the 
 spur along which passes the Toung-goop road into Arakan, and just below 
 the Tha-byc halting-place. Winding amongst the hills and receiving the 
 waters of many mountain torrents it reaches, four or five miles from the 
 Irrawaddy, a comparatively level and cultivated tract where it turns east- 
 ward. It is navigable for boats during the rains for a short distance. It 
 traverses a country rich in teak and other forest timber, of w^hich largo 
 quantities are every rainy season floated down to the Irrawaddy. The 
 area of the country drained by this river and its tributaries is about 210 
 square miles. The South Tha-le-dan, which is never navigable by boats, 
 rises in the Arakan hills considerably to the south of the source of the 
 North Tha-le-dan and flows in a north-easterly direction to that river. The 
 hills amongst which it wanders are covered with Teak {Tcctona grandls), 
 Pyeng-gado {Xyla dolabnformis) and Htouk-kyan {Tenninalia macrocnrpa) 
 and the timber is floated down it to Ma-toung and thence by the North Tha- 
 le-dan to the Irrawaddy.
 
 720 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 THA-LE-DAN. — A village hi the Pa-doimg township, Prome district, 
 in 18° 33' 10" N. and 95° 8' 30" E. on the right bank of the Irrawaddy at the 
 mouth of the Tha-le-dan river. The inhabitants are mainly cultivators, 
 and traders who supply the boatmen and raftsmen on the river and the 
 inhabitants of the inland villages. 
 
 THA-LOO-DOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district, 
 near the centre of Ramree island, with an area of 15 square miles and a 
 population in 1875 of 3,315 souls, principally Arakanese, The land revenue 
 in that year amounted to Es. 4,122 and the capitation tax Es. 3,717. The 
 principal manufactures are indigo, pots for salt-boiling and sugar : 23 sugar 
 mills were at work in 1875. In 1877 the pojmlation was 3,261, the land 
 revenue Es. 4,097, the capitation tax Es. 3,625 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 7,927. 
 
 THA-LOON-DOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Oo-reet-toung (east) 
 township of the Akyab district. In 1876-77 the population was 928, the 
 capitation tax Es. 1,125, the land revenue Es. 3,729 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 5,079. 
 
 THA-LOUNG-BYENG. — A revenue circle in the Meng-wa township of 
 the Akyab district. In 1876-77 the population was 2,519, the capitation 
 tax Es. 3,144, the land revenue Es. 3,721 and the gross revenue Es. 7,077. 
 
 THA-MAING. — A large village in the Eangoon district about one and 
 a half miles to the east of the Hlaing river in 17° 1' 20" N. and 96° 27' E. 
 on the Eangoon and Irrawaddy Valley (State) Eailway, near an extensive 
 rice plain in cultivating which and in petty trading the inhabitants are 
 chiefly engaged. In 1878 it had a population of 891 souls. 
 
 THA-MAING.— A village in the Ka-baing circle, Henzada township 
 of the Henzada district, about 12 miles west of Henzada which had 664 
 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 THA-MAN-DE-WA, — A revenue circle in the Nga-poo-taw township, 
 Bassein district, extending northwards from the Myit-tara river betw^een 
 the Arakan hills and the Bassein. The general aspect of this circle is 
 undulating and hilly, consisting of low hills reaching back to the Arakan 
 Roma and rising in height to the north and west and covered with bamboos 
 and tree forest. The south-eastern parts includes Long island, a long 
 stretch of jungly ground with a low line of hills along its eastern side 
 parallel to the shore. This island divides the Bassein river into two 
 channels, the eastern of which only is navigable by large vessels, and in 
 this are some formidable rocks called the Scsostris rocks, which have eight 
 feet of water over them. The Mjdt-tara is the only river of any importance. 
 The circle contains no large villages ; the inhabitants are mainly cultivators 
 and fishermen. Near the two villages of Tha-man-de-w^a in 16° 25' N. and 
 94° 45' and Kyouk-theng-bhaw, a short distance above it, is found a 
 considerable quantity of limestone which is worked by the neighbouring 
 inhabitants. At Kyouk-theng-bhaw the quantity is considerable but near 
 Tha-man-dewa " the quantity is inexhaustible, the quality good, and the 
 " access easy."* 
 
 * Mr. Blauford of the Geological Survey of India.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 721 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 POPDLATION. 
 
 Revenue, in EppEES. 
 
 Tear, 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 ac 
 
 
 
 .13 cs 
 
 o S 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 2 
 
 c3 
 
 c3 
 
 ■73 
 
 a 
 
 ci 
 
 03 
 
 < 
 
 3 
 
 
 n 
 
 M 
 
 H 
 
 >-q 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 1874 .. 
 
 906 
 
 1,678 
 
 2,584 
 
 4,057 
 
 2,895 
 
 684 
 
 7,636 
 
 1875 .. 
 
 973 
 
 1,746 
 
 2,719 
 
 4,686 
 
 3,000 
 
 1,200 
 
 8,886 
 
 1876 .. 
 
 1,011 
 
 1,801 
 
 2,812 
 
 5,417 
 
 3,087 
 
 1,260 
 
 9,764 
 
 1877 .. 
 
 1,089 
 
 1,834 
 
 2,923 
 
 5,432 
 
 3,127 
 
 570 
 
 9,129 
 
 1878 .. 
 
 992 
 
 1,877 
 
 2,869 
 
 6,059 
 
 3,077 
 
 1,314 
 
 10,450 
 
 The area under cultivation and the agricultural stock during the same 
 period were : — 
 
 
 Area, IN acres. 
 
 Agricultural stock. 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 'o3 CO 
 
 o a 
 
 o 
 
 
 |l 
 
 ■^ a 
 o 3 
 
 
 . 
 
 to 
 
 60 
 
 
 to 
 
 3 
 O 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 1874 
 1875 
 1876 
 
 1877 
 1878 
 
 2,759 
 3,085 
 3,564 
 3,474 
 3,942 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 14 
 14 
 16 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 6 
 5 
 
 23 
 
 2,764 
 3,117 
 3,584 
 3,493 
 3,981 
 
 1,764 
 1,816 
 1,311 
 1,611 
 1,417 
 
 50 
 57 
 57 
 204 
 44 
 
 10 
 4 
 5 
 
 1,158 
 1,272 
 1,576 
 944 
 1,044 
 
 167 
 235 
 238 
 209 
 
 178 
 
 442 
 470 
 476 
 359 
 356 
 
 70 
 129 
 126 
 
 94 
 
 105 
 
 THAM-BAN-DENG. — A revenue circle in the Prome district on the right 
 bank of the Irrawaddy a short distance below Pa-doung and including several 
 islands in the river, on one of which, Mya-tsien-kywon, is the largest village 
 in the circle, named after the island. The inhabitants of the circle are 
 petty traders, cultivators and fishermen and in 1877 numbered 1,952 souls. 
 In that year the land revenue was Rs. 1,915, the capitation tax Es. 1,893 
 and the gross revenue Es. 4,219. 
 
 THAM-BHA-EA.— A revenue circle in the Ka-ma township, Thayet 
 district, in the valley of the Ma-htoon river, with an area of 13 square 
 miles, of which about 1,G00 acres arc cultivated, a population of 2,690 
 souls, principally Burmans, and a gross revenue of Es. 3,3G0 in 1872. 
 Its largest village is Tham-bha-ra on the banks of the Ma-htoon, con- 
 taining 5G7 inhabitants. Until 1858 Ec-nan-tha, which now forms a 
 portion of Tham-bha-ra, was under a separate Thoogyee on whose death 
 in that year the two circles were amalgamated. In 1872 0-shit-goon 
 ( q. V. ) was placed under the Thoogyee of this circle. In 1877 the land 
 revenue was Es. 3,507, the capitation tax Es. 2,915, the gross revenue 
 Es. 6,741 and the population 2,690. 
 
 91
 
 722 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 THAM-BHA-EA. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Tha3'et district on the banks of the Ma-htoon with 567 inhabitants in 
 1878, principally cultivators and wood-cutters. 
 
 THAM-BHA-YA-DAING.— A village in the Ee-gyaw circle, Henzada 
 township, Henzada district, on the west or right bank of the Irrawaddy a 
 few miles above Henzada and four miles east of Oot-hpo. The majority of 
 the inhabitants, of whom there were 1,275 in 1878, are petty traders or 
 gardeners who cultivate cotton, sessamum, tobacco and vegetables. 
 
 THAM-BHA-YA-KHOON.— A village in the Ee-gyee circle of the 
 Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district, about two miles east of the Irrawaddy. 
 In 1877 it had 617 inhabitants. 
 
 THAM-BHOO-LA. — A revenue circle in the Mye-dai township, Thayet 
 district, composed of some 17 or more registered circles. The area 
 is about 200 square miles of which some ten are cultivated and of these 
 only about 30,000 acres are under regular cultivation, the rest being toungya. 
 The revenue in 1872 amounted to Es. 7,630, of which Es. 3,170 were derived 
 from the land and Es. 4,460 from capitation tax. The inhabitants in the 
 same year numbered 11,275 souls of whom 1,388 were Khyeng, and the 
 cattle in the cncle were shewn in the census returns as 5,279 head, of which 
 4,621 were bullocks. There are a considerable number of villages. Nwa-hta 
 was formerly a separate circle, the last Thoogyee of which, before the 
 annexation of Pegu, sold his birthright for a pony to the Thoogyee of Tham- 
 bhoo-la who was transported for life in 1866. Hpoung-ro and Gnyoung-bhoo- 
 kliek, which constituted the Hpoung-ro circle, were joined to Tham-bhoo-la 
 in the same year on the death of the then Thoogyee. Before 1853 Tham- 
 bhoo-la was the head- quarters of the Kaw-tham-bee Taik Thoogyeeship, an 
 indej)endent jurisdiction under the Myo-thoogyee or Myo-won of Mye-dai. 
 
 The products are rice, sessamum, excellent cotton, plantains, maize 
 and cutch. In 1877 the population was 11,034, the capitation tax Es. 5,763, 
 the land revenue Es. 5,205 and the gross revenue Es. 11,300. 
 
 THAM-BHOO-LA. — A small village in the circle of the same name in 
 the Mye-dai township, Thayet district, on the Pa-de stream, between and 
 close to Ewa-thit and Thayet-tsoo, the three together containing about 
 150 houses. A force of the Frontier Police is stationed here. In the 
 Burmese time it was the head-quarters of the Kaw-tham-bee Taik Thoo- 
 gyee, the last of whom built a very fine monastery, subsequently used by 
 the British as a barrack, which is now rapidly falling into deca3^ This 
 Thoogj^ee, Moung Poon Oung, escaped to Upper Burma on the annexation, 
 carrying off many of the inhabitants, and was made Thoogj'^ee of that por- 
 tion of his old circle which is north of the frontier line. For some years 
 after the annexation a detachment of troops from Thayetmj^o was stationed 
 here, this was subsequently relieved by a detachment of the Pegu Light 
 Infantry, a local battalion. The military were finally withdrawn in 1861 
 since when Tham-bhoo-la has been a police-post. 
 
 TPIA-MEE-HLA. — A revenue circle in the Oo-reet-touug (west) town- 
 ship of the Akyab district. In 1876-77 the population was 4,053, the 
 capitation tax Es. 3,260, the land revenue Es. 4,091 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 7,610.
 
 BRITISH BUllMA GAZETTEER. 723 
 
 THA-MEE-HLA-JJYENG.— A revenue circle in the lla-tiiai-douug 
 township, Akyab district. In 1877 the population was 8,012, the capita- 
 tion tax Iis. 3,884, the land revenue Es. 7,0G6 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 10,938. 
 
 THA-MEE-HLA-KYWON.— ^S'ee Diamond Island. 
 
 THA-NAT-PENG.— A village in the Pegu circle, Pegu township, Ran- 
 goon district, on the Pegu and Tsit-touug canal. In 1878 it had 691 
 inhabitants. 
 
 THA-NAT-PENG. — A village in the Paing-kywon circle, Pegu town- 
 ship, Piaugoon district, with COl inhabitants in 1878-79. 
 
 THAN-DWAI. — A river in the Bassein district formed by the junction 
 of the Kyek-too-rwe Ee-gyaw and the Ta-la-khwa and Kjx^k-too-rwe rivers. 
 The Kyek-too-rwe Ee-gyaw leaves the Kyouk-khoung-gj^ee river about five 
 miles from its mouth and flows southwards. After a winding com-se of 
 about eight miles it is joined by the Ta-la-khwa from the westward, and three 
 miles further on by the Kyek-too-rwe from the same direction. For 14 
 miles more, receivmg the waters of the Nga-khwa and Mai-za-lee from the 
 west and communicating by creeks with the Hpek-rai on the east, it con- 
 tinues to flow southwards, when it bends sharply to the east and, joined by 
 the Kwon at the elbow of the cmwe and by the Hpek-rai itself a little 
 further on, falls into the Bassein river just o^jposite the northern end of 
 Nga-poo-taw island. Large vessels can enter the mouth of this stream, and 
 ascend as far as the Kwon, a distance of about six miles ; the largest native 
 boats can go up about 14 miles further as far as the mouth of the Ta- 
 khwon, one of the channels by which it communicates wdth the Hpek-rai ; 
 above this point only small boats can i^ass with the flood tide, and these, 
 owing to the overhanging foliage cannot use masts. Across the mouth is 
 a bar with 20 feet of water mside of which the depth of the stream increases 
 to 40 feet, gradually decreasing to 28 at the mouth of the Kwon. 
 
 THA-NEE. — A river in the Prome district, flowing through the Pa-doung 
 township on the western bank of the Irrawaddy. It rises in the eastern 
 slopes of the Ai'akan mountains in the extreme north-western angle of the dis- 
 trict and after running in an easterly direction in a narrow valley between two 
 spurs for some 20 miles it turns south-south-east, rounding the foot of the 
 southern spur which confined it, and falls into the Irrawaddy near the village 
 of Pai-gyee, after receiving the waters of many tributaries, the two largest 
 of which are the Bhoo-ro and the Kyouk-bhoo. The latter portion of its 
 course is through cultivated plains. Its l)anks are steep and the bed towards 
 the source is rocky. In the rainy season boats of 80 bushels burden can 
 ascend for about 20 miles as far as the village of Zaj'at-hla. Teak and other 
 valuable timber is met with on its banks and dming the rains is brought 
 down into the Irrawaddy to be rafted. 
 
 THAN-HTIEP.— A tidal creek m the Thoon-khwa district ; a branch 
 of the To or China Bakeer which, with the Doon-ran (a similar branch) forms 
 the large island known by as Hmaw-bhee Island. The northern mouth 
 of this creek is marked by several islands of which that called Htwon-paw 
 is the largest, comprising an area of four or five square miles. From the 
 southern extremity of this island to the sea (a distance of about nine miles)
 
 724 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 the Tban-btiep runs in a direction nearly due south. It is tidal throughout 
 and at ebb tide in the month of February the water is sweet at about seven 
 miles from the sea and at that time even near the mouth it is merely 
 brackish. The banks are somewhat steep and muddy and are everywhere 
 covered with dense forest. 
 
 THAN-HTOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district on 
 the north-eastern coast of Ramree island and on the south bank of the 
 Meng-yat, with an area of 38 square miles and a population of 2,677 souls 
 in 1877. Sugar-cane is largely grown and the principal manufactures are 
 sugar — 53 sugar mills were at work in 1875, — salt and earthen pots for salt- 
 boiling. The land revenue in 1877 was Es. 2,741 the capitation tax 
 lis. 8,077 and the gross revenue Rs. 6,635. 
 
 THAN-KHYOUNG. — A revenue cu'cle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district on 
 the south-west coast of Ramree island, 22 square miles in extent, cultivated 
 largely with sugar-cane, for crushing which 285 mills were at work in 1875. 
 In 1877 the population numbered 8,040 souls, the land revenue was Rs. 
 3,082, the capitation tax Rs. 3,060 and the gross revenue Rs. 6,264. 
 Petroleum is found near the coast towards the north-west. 
 
 THAN-LYENG. — A town in the Rangoon district. See Syriam. 
 
 THAN-LYENG. — A Sub-division of the Rangoon district. See Syriam. 
 
 THAN-LYENG. — A township in the Rangoon district lying between 
 the seacoast and the Pegu river and bounded on the west by the Rangoon 
 river and on the east by the Pegu township ; it is divided into ten revenue 
 circles. The head-quarters are at Syriam. 
 
 THAN-LYENG-MYOMA.— A revenue circle in the Than-lyeng town- 
 ship of the Rangoon district opposite the town of Rangoon. In 1877 the 
 population was 4,484, the capitation tax was Rs. 5,065, the land revenue 
 Rs. 16,378 and the gross revenue Rs. 21,780. 
 
 THAN-LYET-TSWON.— The northern circle of the Tha-boung township, 
 Bassein district, having an area of about 61 square miles, with patches of 
 rice cultivation towards the south-east but for the most i^art uncultivated 
 and hilly. The inhabitants are mainly Burmans who live by cultivation 
 and by making and trading in a red dye extracted from the roots of the 
 Neepa-htse ( Morlnda citrifolia) and ropes from the fibres of the Shaw tree. 
 In 1877 the population was 2,051, the capitation tax was Rs. 2,895, the 
 land revenue Rs. 3,731 and the gross revenue Rs. 6,828. 
 
 THA-NWON-THA-NAW.— A village in the circle of the same name 
 in the Henzada township, Henzada district, on the banks of the Nat-hmaw 
 stream. In 1877 it had 1,152 inhabitants. 
 
 THA-NWON-THA-NAW.— A revenue circle in the southern part of the 
 Henzada township of the Henzada district lying to the west of Doo-ra, nearly 
 the whole of which is under rice cultivation.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 725 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, in bupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 C3 
 
 to 
 
 tn 
 
 
 
 -*^ 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 j3 
 
 a 
 2 
 
 J 
 
 "3 
 
 a 
 
 
 '3 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 (5 
 
 w 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 >^ 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 1874 
 
 1,032 
 
 423 
 
 6 
 
 1,461 
 
 4,240 
 
 1,367 
 
 5,607 
 
 1875 
 
 1,137 
 
 391 
 
 6 
 
 1,534 
 
 4,557 
 
 1,525 
 
 6,082 
 
 1876 
 
 1,317 
 
 436 
 
 6 
 
 1,789 
 
 4,616 
 
 1,607 
 
 6,223 
 
 1877 
 
 1,370 
 
 449 
 
 6 
 
 1,825 
 
 4,020 
 
 1,540 
 
 5,560 
 
 1878 
 
 1,333 
 
 655 
 
 6 
 
 2,038 
 
 4,635 
 
 1,722 
 
 6,357 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultiu'al stock 
 
 
 
 Area, 
 
 N ACRE 
 
 s. 
 
 
 
 Stock. 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 
 to 
 
 o 
 
 -^ .2 
 
 CO "3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 03 
 O 
 
 
 C3 
 
 -2 
 
 cS 
 O 
 
 C5 
 
 
 03 
 
 03 
 
 o 
 
 60 
 
 pi 
 
 m 
 O 
 
 1874 
 
 2,382 
 
 30 
 
 2 
 
 2,414 
 
 251 
 
 366 
 
 10 
 
 130 
 
 233 
 
 114 
 
 5 
 
 1875 
 
 2,505 
 
 16 
 
 — 
 
 2,521 
 
 255 
 
 268 
 
 10 
 
 190 
 
 193 
 
 99 
 
 16 
 
 1876 
 
 2,505 
 
 25 
 
 — 
 
 2,530 
 
 327 
 
 413 
 
 — 
 
 104 
 
 209 
 
 115 
 
 5 
 
 1877 
 
 2,505 
 
 25 
 
 — 
 
 2,530 
 
 337 
 
 435 
 
 — 
 
 110 
 
 239 
 
 124 
 
 6 
 
 1878 
 
 2,505 
 
 31 
 
 — 
 
 2,536 
 
 366 
 
 507 
 
 — 
 
 120 
 
 282 
 
 103 
 
 7 
 
 THA-EAING. — A revenue circle in the Donabj^oo township of the 
 Thoon-khwa district east of thelrrawaddy extensively cultivated on the north 
 and west, but with forest land towards the east and south. It has some 
 small lakes, dry during the hot weather, important only as fisheries. In 1877 
 the population was 8,782, the land revenue Es. 18,755, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 8,635 and the gross revenue Es. 28,507. 
 
 THA-EA-WAW.— A village in the Tha-ra-waw-toung-let cii'cle of the 
 Tsan-rwe township, Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district, on the east or left 
 bank of the Irrawaddy. In 1877 it had 584 inhabitants. 
 
 THA-EA-WAW-TOUNG-LET.— A revenue circle in the Henzada 
 (Tharrawaddy) district on the left bank of the Irrawaddy low and subject to 
 periodical inundations, except near the bank of the river where the principal 
 cultivation is found. In 1877 the population was 8,122, the land revenue 
 Es. 8,311, the capitation tax Es. 7,525 and the gross revenue Es. 21,440. 
 The cii'cle contains many swamps and small lakes which are leased out as 
 fisheries and produce a large revenue to the State. 
 
 THA-EAW-BOON.— A tidal creek in the Bassein district joining the 
 Myoung-mya and Ewe. It leaves the former about a mile cast of the town 
 of the same name and runs due south for about 12 miles, joining the Ewe 
 about a mile above Da-rai-bouk. At low tide it has little or no water in it..
 
 726 BRITISH BUllMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 THA-RE-KOON-BOUNG.— A revenue circle in the Naaf township of the 
 Akyab district on the seacoast at the mouth of the Naaf estuary, containing 
 4,880 acres of land, of which 2,939 were under cultivation in 1874-75, pro- 
 ducing a land revenue of Rs. 5,759. In 1875-7G the population numbered 
 2,948 souls, and the capitation tax amounted to Pis. 2,820. In 1877 the 
 population was 4,111, the land revenue was Es. 6,389, the capitation tax 
 Es. 3,868 and the gross revenue Es. 10,717. 
 
 THA-EET-KHYOUNG.— A vihage the Tha-ret-preng circle of the Ea- 
 thai-doung township, Akyab district, on the eastern bank of the stream of 
 the same name. In 1877 it had 798 inhabitants. 
 
 THA-EET-KHYOUNG.— A small river in the Henzada (Tharrawaddy) 
 district of the Pegu division, which rises in the Pegu Eoma and uniting 
 with the Baw-beng forms the Wek-khyoung, a tributary of the Meng-boo 
 which itself falls into the Myit-ma-kha or Hlaing. The banks are steep 
 and the bed rocky and it is not navigable for boats but it taps a large teak 
 tract in which other valuable timber is found. 
 
 THA-EET-KYWON. — A revenue circle in the Oo-reet-toung (east) 
 township of the Akyab district. In 1876-77 the population was 1,716, the 
 capitation tax Es. 2,140, the land revenue Es. 6,015 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 8,508. 
 
 THA-EET-PEENG. — A revenue circle in the Ea-thai-douug township 
 of the Akyab district. In 1876-77 the population was 1,698, the capita- 
 tion tax Es. 1,880, the land revenue Es. 3,197 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 5,331. 
 
 THAEEAWADDY.— A new district formed in 1878 out of all that 
 portion of Henzada lying to the east of the Irrawaddy except the A-hpyouk 
 and Paing-kywon circles which are still included in the Za-lwon township of 
 Henzada. The head-quarters are at Thoon-tshay on the stream of the 
 same name where it is crossed by the Eangoon and Irrawaddy Valley 
 (State) Eailway. The statistics of this new district are included in those of 
 Henzada, q. v. 
 
 THA-EWOT-MYAIK.— A tidal creek in the Shwe-loung township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, joining the Irrawaddy and the Bala or Kyoon-toon rivers 
 the former of which it leaves at about 12 miles north of the village of Kywou- 
 pya-that. Its length is about five miles and it is broad and deep enough for 
 
 steamers. 
 
 THA-EWOT-THWOT.— A tidal creek in the Shwe-loung township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, about six miles long, connecting the Pya-ma-law and the 
 Kywon-pa-doot. It is navigable at all seasons by river steamers. 
 
 THA-TSEE, — A village in the Pyeng-da-raw circle, Pya-poon town- 
 ship, Thoon-khwa district, on the Pya-poon river and about a mile from 
 Pya-poon. In 1878 it had 540 inhabitants. 
 
 THA-TSEE. — A revenue circle in the southern part of the Henzada 
 township, Henzada district, lying to the west of Tha-nwon-tha-naw, formerly 
 subject to periodical inundations, but now rendered culturable by the con- 
 struction of embankments.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 727 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, in rupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 a 
 ce 
 
 a 
 
 tc 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 cS 
 
 3 
 
 "o 
 H 
 
 '2 
 
 a 
 .2 
 
 ci ^ 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 1874 
 1875 
 1876 
 1877 
 1878 
 
 2,656 
 2,037 
 3,184 
 2,567 
 2,915 
 
 1,198 
 
 486 
 
 1,343 
 
 1,384 
 
 2,656 
 3,235 
 3,670 
 3,910 
 4,302 
 
 8,139 
 
 4,556 
 
 11,234 
 
 11,281 
 
 11,368 
 
 3,227 
 1,525 
 3,427 
 3,375 
 3,607 
 
 11,366 
 6,081 
 14,661 
 14,656 
 14,975 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultui-al stock : — 
 
 
 Area, i> 
 
 acres. 
 
 
 Stock. 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 a 
 
 i 
 
 
 CO 
 
 <1> 
 o 
 
 ^;2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <D m 
 
 P.-I 
 
 
 
 ai 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 en 
 
 
 
 U 
 
 .2 o 
 
 ci 
 o 
 
 S« 
 
 ^-3 
 
 1 
 
 ID 
 
 tc 
 
 S 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 
 M 
 
 o 
 
 S 
 
 El 
 
 W 
 
 O ci 
 
 C5 
 
 Oh 
 
 o 
 
 Ph 
 
 M 
 
 1874 
 
 4,740 
 
 22 
 
 24 
 
 4,786 
 
 787 
 
 5.56 
 
 8 
 
 227 
 
 459 
 
 219 
 
 10 
 
 1875 
 
 6,353 
 
 68 
 
 4 
 
 6,425 
 
 797 
 
 632 
 
 — 
 
 52 
 
 488 
 
 313 
 
 — 
 
 1876 
 
 6,392 
 
 67 
 
 5 
 
 6,464 
 
 857 
 
 1,107 
 
 6 
 
 132 
 
 692 
 
 383 
 
 — 
 
 1877 
 
 6,405 
 
 67 
 
 9 
 
 6,481 
 
 887 
 
 1.329 
 
 6 
 
 182 
 
 811 
 
 393 
 
 
 
 1878 
 
 6,427 
 
 66 
 
 8 
 
 6,501 
 
 921 
 
 1,430 
 
 6 
 
 192 
 
 853 
 
 395 
 
 — 
 
 THAY. — A small stream in the Thayet district, unnavigahle for boats, 
 ■which rises in the INf^'it-myeng-deng spur and flows southward into the 
 Bhwot-lay a little to the east of the mouth of the Sha-pyan. The bed is sandy 
 and the banks moderately high and covered with Eng {Dipterocarpus tiiber- 
 culatus) and other timber. 
 
 THA-YA-GOON. — A village in the Hpek-rai circle, Kyan-kheng town- 
 ship, Henzada district, about six miles west of the Irrawaddy. In 1877 
 it had 643 inhal)itants. 
 
 THAY-BHYOO-GYEE. — A small and unnavigable stream on the west 
 bank of the Irrawaddy which rises in the Khyee-pa spur and falls into the 
 Pa-nee, itself a tributary of the Ma-htoon. Its banks are moderately steep 
 and its bed sandy, muddy and gravelly. Teak, Cutch and Eng {Diptero- 
 carpiis tuhcrculatas) are found on its banks. 
 
 THAYET. — The name of the upper portion of the Pai-beng creek in the 
 Bassein district. 
 
 THAYET. — A revenue circle in the Thayet township, Thayet district, 
 two square miles in extent of which about 400 acres are under cultivation 
 and 100 more are culturable. Including the town and cantonment of 
 Thayetmyo, which arc in this circle, the population numbered in 1872
 
 728 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 15,142 souls, of whom 10,804 were Burmans, the remainder being principally 
 Europeans (the troops and officers) and natives of India (the native troops 
 and the camp-followers with a few settlers). The imperial revenue is 
 derived largely from capitation tax which in 1872 produced Rs. 8,410 when 
 the land revenue was Es. 210 and the fishery and net tax Es. 300. In the 
 Burmese time there was no village or talk thoogyee as the town was the 
 residence of the myo-thoogyee or governor of Thayet. The products are 
 ric'e, sessamum, maize and tobacco. 
 
 The population in 1876 exclusive of the troops and camp-followers, 
 was 10,427, the land revenue Pis. 778, the capitation tax Es. 7,835 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 26,859. 
 
 THAYET. — The northern district of the Pegu division. On the east 
 is the Toung-ngoo district, now a portion of the Tenasserim division, on 
 the south the Prome district and on the west the Sandoway district of the 
 Arakan division. Lying immediately to the south of the independent 
 kingdom of Burma the district touches the frontier line of the province, 
 demarcated in 1853 after the annexation of the delta of the Irrawaddy 
 by Lord Dalhousie. The Governor-General directed that the British 
 frontier should run as nearly as possible due east and west from a point 
 on the left bank of the Irrawaddy six statute miles north of the flag-staff 
 at Mye-dai, where the British had their most northern or advanced post. 
 This point was found to be in IQ"" 29' 3". A pillar was erected bearing 
 inscriptions in Burmese and English characters, the latter as follows : — 
 
 " This pillar marks the northern boundary of the British province of 
 "Pegu, laid down by the officers of the Deputy Quartermaster-General's 
 ** staff of the force in Pegu and examined and confirmed in person by the 
 *' Marquess of Dalhousie, K. T., Governor-General of India, on the 28th 
 " December 1853. The boundary line runs due east from this point, 
 " crossing the Ken-nyee river at Ledoogwai, over the Yoma range of hills 
 " at Tattay, and down to the village of Mai-haw on the Sittang river 
 " from whence it proceeds due east to the summit of the Poung-loung 
 " range of mountains. Latitude of boundary 19° 29' 3"." Due west, on 
 the right bank, a similar masonry pillar was erected the inscriptions on 
 which were nearly identical with those on the eastern. The English, after 
 the words " 28th December 1853," runs thus : — " The boundary line runs 
 " due west from this point, crosses the Letmashedouug, Podotoung, 
 *' Pandengtoung, and Tengdouk range of hills, on each of which pillars 
 " has {sic) being erected. The line cuts the Kyeedoung peak and proceeds 
 " from thence due west till it joins the water-shed of the Arakan mountains. 
 " Latitude of the boundary 19° 29' 3"." 
 
 On the extreme west the country was found to be impassable and no 
 boundary marks exist west of that at Kyee-doung, nine miles from the 
 water-shed of the Arakan range. Between this point, which is a little 
 south of 19° 30' , and the right "bank of the Irrawaddy ten other pillars of 
 dry stones were built up at distances varying from three to six miles. 
 On the east 13 similar pillars were placed on a line trending slightly south- 
 wards, at intervals of from about two to rather more than ten miles, the 
 last in this district being at Tat-tai on the summit of the Pegu Eoma 
 mountains ; beyond that point the frontier line was continued across the 
 head of what was subsequently called the Toung-ngoo district. The
 
 BRITISH BUKMA GAZETTEER. 729 
 
 extreme length of the northern boundary of the Thayet district from the 
 Arakan to the Roma mountains is about 93 miles. The western limit 
 follows the crest of the Ai-akan hills southwards to the root of the Bhee-la 
 spur. The southern boundary follows, generally, water-sheds which in the 
 Burmese time were the boundaries of jurisdictions. Its length from the 
 Arakan mountains along the crest of the spur which receives in succession 
 the names of the Bhee-la, the Wek-khyan and the Toung-myouk-theng- 
 gan as far as the source of the Ea-tha-ya stream and thence along the 
 course of that rivulet to its mouth in the Irrawaddy at the village of 
 Zee-aing is 36 miles. To the eastward it extends from the mouth of the 
 Za-lwon (three miles higher up) along the bed of that stream to the Roou- 
 bhyoo-goon spur and then following the crest of the Pa-teng-kyouk-poon, 
 sometimes northwards and sometimes eastwards, in a general E. N. E. 
 direction, it strikes the Pegu Roma mountains at a spot 58 miles from the 
 Irrawaddy measured along the line. Measured in a direct line the distance 
 from the root of the Bhee-la spur of the Arakan mountains on the west to 
 that of the Pa-teng-kyouk-poon spur of the Pegu Roma on the east is 74 
 miles, the actual length of the boundary line being, as shewn above, 94 miles. 
 The Pegu Roma from the root of the Pa-teng-kyouk-poon spur northwards 
 to the frontier forms the eastern limit of the district. The total area 
 according to the Topographical survey conducted by Captains Fitzroy and 
 Edgcome is 2,396 square miles. 
 
 The general appearance and the physical and climatic characteristics 
 Physical aspect ^^ ^^^^ district are widely different from those of any 
 other portion of Pegu except, perhaps, some of the 
 adjacent portions of Prome. Here there are no wide open plains or vii'gin 
 tracts of level land waiting for the plough such as may be seen lower down 
 the valley of the Irrawaddy ; the face of the country, where it does not 
 rise into mountains, is everywhere broken by low ridges of hills, many of 
 them so gravelly and destitute of fruitful soil as to be useless for cultivation. 
 In the narrow valleys between these hills the rice cultivator reaps a 
 precarious harvest and with much greater trouble and exj^ense than has 
 to be undergone to obtain an almost certain return by the cultivators 
 further south. From the Irrawaddy, which traverses the centre of the 
 district, to the boundary chains east and west the ground rises by a 
 succession of hills, each range being generally higher than the one next to 
 it on the side of the river, though in some cases the ridges near the river 
 bank are higher than some of those more inland. This is especially the 
 case in the southern portion near Ka-ma on the right bank where the 
 spurs which run down to the river overtop those behind them. Higher up 
 on the left bank near the village of Pya-lo, the Tsa-ga-doung is conspicuous, 
 still further north, on the opposite side below Thayetmyo, is the Htoon- 
 doung rising to 600 feet and at the frontier is the still higher range of the 
 Myeng-ba hills. 
 
 The Arakan mountains are a portion of the great Himalayan spur 
 which stretches down to Pagoda point. In that part 
 
 Mountains. which separates Thayet from the country lying to tbe 
 
 west the ridge does not rise to a greater height than from 4,000 to 5,000 feet, 
 its most elevated points being Kyee-doung on the northern frontier line 
 Nat-oo-doung and Shwc-doung-mouug-hnit-ma, a double peak. The summit 
 
 92
 
 730 BRITISH BUUMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 is generally a sharp ridge from which start numerous spurs at right angles 
 to the water-shed but at Kyee-doung there are two main ridges of nearly 
 equal height and nearly parallel to each other. The furious storms which 
 sweep along the higher slopes and swirl round the crest keep them bare 
 of large trees and forest growth but from a few hundred feet below the summit 
 as far as the base the sides of the hills are covered with bamboos and fine 
 trees. Major Allan's surveying party, when laying down the frontier line 
 in 1853, ascended the Kyee-doung peak and in his report that officer 
 remarks that : — " The Arakan hills when visited, presented the usual 
 " appearance of all tropical hills — the scenery picturesque, consisting of 
 " grassy slopes edged by deep woods, and watered by fine though slender 
 " streams, the climate temperate. In the month of May, at noon, the 
 " thermometer stood at 84° in the shade." 
 
 There are four passes across this range into the Sandoway district 
 which, however, are passable only by persons on foot and that during the 
 dry season and which are but seldom used. The most southern leads 
 from the village of Kaing-gyee-myoung in the Tsee circle of the Ka-ma 
 township up the ravine of the Ma-de stream to the village of Mai-za-lee in 
 Ai-akan. The distance may be roughly estimated at from 30 to 40 miles, 
 travellers generally sleeping three nights on the road, on which are twelve 
 halting-places at which water can be obtained. During the last Burmese 
 war and for some years subsequently this route was much used, many of 
 the inhabitants of Ka-ma taking refuge in Arakan from the cruelties of the 
 Burmese officials during the war, and for some time after the annexation 
 fleeing from the state of anarchy which inevitably followed until the British 
 officials had crushed the bands of marauders who were left behind by the 
 flying Burmese generals. As the country became more settled most of 
 those who had gone away returned and since then the road is scarcely 
 ever used except by bad characters who consider that a temporary seclu- 
 sion in the remote forests of Arakan would be of advantage to them. The 
 route by the next pass northwards starts from the village of Kwa-thit on 
 the Hlwa stream in the Pai-myouk circle of the Meng-doon township and 
 debouches on the other side at the village and police-post of Meng-dai on 
 the La-moo stream : the distance is about 30 miles. The third and fom-th 
 are close together and are known by the same name — Ma-ee. One leaving 
 the village of Eeng-rwa in the Kyan circle of the Meng-doon township 
 leads to the village of Leng-dee on the Ma-ee river in Sandoway, traversing 
 a distance of between 30 and 40 miles in which there are 25 halting-places 
 where water can be obtained ; the other, called the upper Ma-ee pass, 
 is the shorter of the two and leads from the village of Kaing-gyee in the 
 Ta-goung-nek circle of the Meng-doon township to the village of Leng-dee 
 in Sandoway ; this is more frequented than the other three and yet not 
 more than 20 people pass over it during the year. 
 
 The Eastern Eoma mountains which separate this district from Toung- 
 ngoo are an isolated chain which forms the water-shed between the Irrawaddy 
 and Tsit-toung rivers. Commencing in Upper Burma the range runs 
 southwards and after reaching a height of some 2,000 or 3,000 feet is lost 
 in the plains of the delta near Rangoon. That portion of it which forms 
 the eastern boundary of Tliayet nowhere exceeds a height of 2,000 feet 
 above the sea, and for the most part is several hundred feet lower. The
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 731 
 
 main range and the principal spurs are tolerably level along their summits 
 but they rise occasionally into isolated high hills, the sides of which are so 
 steep that the summits are almost inaccessible. They are entirely covered 
 by dense forest in which bamboos of the larger kinds from 70 to 80 feet in 
 height and five inches or more in diameter predominate. Water is foimd in 
 almost all the small valleys and ravines at all times of the year and the pools 
 abound with a black-looking fish which the Burmans call Nga-yan {Ophioce- 
 2)halus sj).). During the dry season there is a striking dissimilarity between 
 the eastern and the western slopes. On the latter the trees are mostly 
 leafless, the undergrowth is parched and the soil is arid and at this season 
 therefore the wild animals generally pass over to the eastern slopes which 
 remain green and shady. These mountains are traversible at almost all 
 points during the dry season by foot passengers, unladen cattle -and 
 elephants, and the paths are used by dealers in cattle and silk. The route 
 which is generally followed starts from the village of Thek-ngay-byeng in 
 the Peng-ga-daw circle of the Mj^e-dai township and leads to the frontier 
 police-post at Bhoora-goon on the Toung-ngoo side, a distance of from 20 to 
 30 miles. A road leading by a more southern route from Thayetmyo to 
 Toung-ngoo has been projected and surveyed and the road partly made. 
 This starts from the village of Gnyoung-beng-kj-eng near the south-eastern 
 corner of the Mye-dai township and passing along the top of the spur 
 which forms the water-shed between the Pa-de stream and its affluent 
 the Alay and then along the main ridge of the Roma for a short distance 
 to the root of the spur which forms the water-shed between the Tshwa and 
 Kyek-sha rivers in the Toung-ngoo district it follows that and strikes 
 the village of Tsee-let-to about six miles from Toung-ngoo and 61^ from 
 Gnj'oung-beng-kyeng. 
 
 The Irrawaddy traverses the district from north to south cuttmg it 
 into two slightly unequal portions of which the larger is 
 ^'^^"" on the right bank; entering at the frontier of the 
 
 province it leaves this district to enter Prome just above the Hpo-oo hill 
 within sight of the town of Prome, having traversed a distance of 43 
 miles as the crow flies. Within these limits its greatest breadth between 
 the permanent or rainy weather banks is about three miles and its narrowest, 
 between Pya-lo on the left and the Poo-hto hill, some IG miles below Tha3'et- 
 mj^o on the right bank, is not more than a mile. Its banks are everywhere 
 high, in some places hills rising steeply from the water's edge, and 
 nowhere is there any overspill during the rains inundating large tracts of 
 country as is the case lower down in its course. The dry- weather channel 
 varies during the course of years but the variations generally are slow. 
 In 1855 when the militarj^ station of Thayetmyo was formed the river at 
 all seasons ran immediately under its site, now, in 1879, during the dry 
 weather there is between the high bank on which the station is situated 
 and the water'^s edge a sandbank half a mile or more wide. Other 
 instances of the changes in its course may be found in the only two islands 
 of any size which occur in the district, Re-baw opposite the town of Thayet- 
 mj'O and Gnyoung-beng-tshiep between the village of that name and Ka-ma. 
 In the dry season on the river falling the former is connected with the 
 left bank, the latter with right. Eigbty years ago the river when full 
 flowed on the other sides of those islands. The navigable channel varies
 
 732 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 considerably owing to the shiftings of the sands yet there are but few 
 places, even when the river is at its lowest in January, February and 
 March, in which a fathom of water cannot be found. The worst spot is 
 near the mouth of the Bhwot-lay where sometimes only four or five feet of 
 water are found for a few days in the year. 
 
 The drainage from the two boundary water-sheds finds its way to the 
 Irrawaddy by three main streams on the west and by two on the east : the 
 Pwon, the Ma-htoon and the Ma -de on the one hand and the Kye-nee and 
 the Bhwot-lay on the other. The Pwon is an insignificant stream which 
 rises in Upper Burma to the westward of the Myeng-ba hill and entering 
 British territory near the village of Myeng-byeng joins the Irrawaddy after 
 a course of a few miles just above the town of Thayet. With a strong 
 current and sudden rises and falls in the rains in the dry weather it falls 
 to a tiny stream running often beneath banks of sand. The Ma-htoon or 
 Meng-doon rises north of British territory between two lofty peaks of the 
 Arakan mountains and flowing in a south-easterly direction traverses the 
 frontier line before it descends from the higher range, and falls into the 
 Irrawaddy just above Ka-ma about 50 miles in a direct line from the point 
 where it crosses the northern frontier : owing to its numerous sinuosities 
 however it has in that distance flowed over a course of some 150 miles. 
 During the dry season small boats can always ascend as high as Meng-doon 
 12 miles south of the frontier and throughout the rains boats of the largest 
 size can generally navigate it : the amount of water contained between its 
 banks being dependent upon the rainfall in the hills its rises and falls are 
 sudden and rapid and the current is so strong that in the rains it takes 10 or 
 12 days to ascend from its mouth to Meng-doon. Large quantities of the 
 produce of its fertile valley are brought down to the Irrawaddy on bamboo 
 rafts and logs of teak timber are floated down it singly and rafted in the 
 Irrawaddy. It has three main affluents, the Moo, the Hlwa and the Pa-nee. 
 The Moo rises in Upper Burma and passing to the north of Meng-doon 
 joins the Ma-htoon close to that town : it flows all the year round and 
 brings down a considerable volume of water during the rains. The Pa-nee 
 is a large stream which also rises in Upper Burma and entering British 
 territory near the village of Khwe-douk has thence a direct course of about 
 30 miles till it joins the Ma-htoon a few miles above its mouth at the 
 village of Tham-bha-ra. It is navigable for boats during the rains but is 
 little used owing to the rapidity of its current and to its sudden rises and 
 falls. The Hlwa is a mountain stream which rises near the Shwe-doung 
 peak and flows in a due easterly direction into the Ma-htoon : during the 
 dry season it is a trickling brook. The Ma-de flows from almost the sum- 
 mit of the Arakan range nearly due west of Ka-ma and joins the Irrawaddy 
 at that town after a nearly direct course of 30 miles. It is navigable for 
 large boats for some distance above Ka-ma but during the wet season only ; 
 during the dry season it is not navigable at all even for rafts which 
 during the rains bring down large quantities of produce. It has numerous 
 affluents the most important of which are the Nga-wek and the Moon-ta 
 down which teak timber is floated during the rains. Of the two eastern 
 affluents of the Irrawaddy in this district the Kye-nee rises in the Roma 
 range in Upper Burma and after running for some distance nearly due 
 west it trends to the south and falls into the Irrawaddy just below the site
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 733 
 
 of the old fort at Mye-dai, after a course within the district of about 16 
 miles in a direct line. It brings down a considerable volume of water but 
 is not navigable nor is timber floated down it on account, it is said, of 
 obstructions in its course in Upper Burma. The Bhwot-lay is so called 
 from the village at its mouth, but higher up in its course it is known as 
 the Pa-de. During the dry weather it is only a few inches deep and in 
 some places flows under sandbanks. In the rains it brings down a large 
 volume of water but is unnavigable for boats owing to its sudden rises and 
 falls and to the rapidity of its current, but at this season a considerable 
 quantity of timber is floated down it and its affluents, the larger of which 
 are the Khyoung-goung-gyee, the Rangoon and the Thaing-bhyoo. In many 
 places after the fall consequent on the cessation of the rains dams 
 of sand are every year skilfully constructed to retain the water in pools 
 several feet deep and some hundred yards in length, the water being 
 used for irrigation. Near its mouth it is spanned by a substantial wooden 
 bridge 450 feet in length across which runs the Rangoon and Mye-dai road. 
 
 " The district of Thayet, comprising that portion of the Irrawaddy 
 ** valley between the frontier in 19° 30' and the parallel 
 
 Geology*. t, ^j Xa-ma (or thereabouts) is very simple in its geological 
 
 " structm-e, though it maybe said to fm-nish an epitome (geological) of the 
 *' province inasmuch as an exhaustive description of it would leave little 
 *' to be added to complete the descriiDtion of the main geological features 
 *' of Pegu. 
 
 " On the east and west the district is bounded respectively by the Pegu 
 " and Arakan ranges, the rocks composing the latter being the older of the 
 " two geologically; whilst much of the intervening ground is occupied by 
 *' rocks of more recent age than either. 
 
 " I will briefly, therefore, describe the rocks from west to east, or in 
 ** their ascending order, geologically speaking ; but for any detailed account 
 " of them, the Records of the Geological Survey maybe consulted (No. 4 for 
 " 1869 ; No. 1 for 1870 ; and No. 2 for 1871), and the maps of the province 
 " now preparing for publication in the office of the Geological Survey!. 
 
 " The Arakan range at the frontier (including the subordinate ranges 
 " outside the central axis, one of which, the Kyee-doung, or eastern Arakan 
 " range as it is called in one map, is of scarcely inferior proportions) 
 " consists of a group of argillaceous and silicious beds of very varied 
 " mineral character, in places displaying a very high degree of metamor- 
 " phism, but as a rule presenting a merely sub-schistose appearance or 
 *' even beyond induration little appearance of direct metamorphism what- 
 " ever. The typical schistose groups of the bed are in fact of very local 
 " development and are mainly confined to the vicinity of serpentine and 
 " to the argillaceous portion of the group constituting the main axis of 
 *' the range. These sub-schistose beds are somewhat soft and traversed 
 *' by occasional thin seams of quartz, and as far as known are infossiliferous, 
 *' though under more favorable circumstances for examination it is very 
 " probable that organic remains may be detected in them, as in such forest 
 " clad-mountains as these all effective search for such is next to impossible. 
 
 * Furnished to the Deputy Commissioner, Thayet district, by W. Theobald, of the Geological 
 
 Survey of India (Ed.). 
 
 t Since published (Ed.).
 
 734 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " East of the main range the Kyee-doung range presents very similar 
 " features, but leaving this and crossing the range between Pa-thee (a 
 " village three miles from the frontier on a feeder of the Ma-htoon) and 
 " Kondeinzu {Koon-daing-tsoo) (Kong-deng-keng on map) a group of silicions 
 " beds comes in much traversed by small veins of calcite, many of the 
 ** beds being hard and coarse silicious grits, very harsh, and often covered 
 " on their weathered surface with a ferruginous glaze which imparts a 
 *' peculiar appearance to them. 
 
 " In the vicinity of Kondeinzu {Koon-daing-tsoo) an enormous thickness 
 " of beds of very varied character comes in, both sandstone and shells 
 " regularly intercalated with one another, and varying from a foot to one 
 " inch in thickness — prevailing colour blueish or grey. The coarser beds 
 " are white speckled, which white speckled beds may be said to distinguish 
 " the upper axials, as the whole group has been termed. This portion of 
 *' the group contains a little limestone, though it is only hereabouts met 
 ** with in loose blocks, and was not noted in situ. Further to the south, in 
 " the bed of the Hlwa stream, a fine section of these beds is seen, display- 
 " ing a thickness of nearly 4,000 feet ; but beyond an indeterminate cardita 
 " and a few other fossils in indifferent preservation no clue to the precise 
 " age of the beds has been obtained — a single specimen of halobia indicat- 
 " ing a Jurassic age was found in limestone more to the south, probably 
 " from a bed corresponding somewhat to the horizon of the " cardita " bed 
 " in the Hlwa section (?;K?e Geological Records, No. 2 of 1871). This group of 
 " axials does not extend much beyond 50 miles from the frontier, south of 
 " which the Arakan range consists wholly of beds more or less altered and 
 " indurated of nummulitic age. In my paper in the Eecords loc. cit. on the 
 " 'axials of western Prome,' the upper axials are shewn to rest on a series 
 " of shaly beds, which, at the time, I considered identical with the altered 
 *' shales met with to the south, and which are well displayed in the cuttings 
 " on the Prome and Toung-goop road.* Subsequent investigation, however, 
 " has enabled me to correct this view ; and the axial group really terminates 
 " north of the Toung-goop road ; and thence to Cape Negrais the range 
 " consists of newer rocks. Considerable difficulty, however, attaches to 
 " the precise demarcation of the limits of two groups of rocks of not very 
 " dissimilar mineral character, and very deficient in fossils, in a country 
 •' which may not inaplty be described as of the wildest and most impene- 
 " trable character. 
 
 " The dip of the beds of this group is usually high, and though there 
 " is great disturbance among them and local irregularity the general strike 
 " of the beds is pretty uniform and coincident with the prevailing strike of 
 " the range, that is, S.S.E. — N.N.W. The average breadth of this group is 
 " 12 miles, or a trifle less, measured at right angles from the dividing crest 
 " of the range. How far these beds extend to the westwards has not yet 
 " been ascertained, but probably to the same extent as to the eastward. 
 
 " To the eastward of these 'axials,' comes in a bed of rocks, shales, 
 " sandstones and limestone, of eocene age, varying in breadth from 16 
 " miles at the frontier where narrowest, to over 50 miles in the parallel of 
 •' Akouktoungt where they extend uninterruptedly from the river to the 
 
 * In the Prome district (Ed.). 
 
 t Akouk-toung is situated in the south of the Prome district (Ed.).
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 735 
 
 ** Arakan coast. The thickness of this nummulitic group is very consider- 
 " able, not falling far short of 4,000 feet, though it is not easy to form an 
 *« exact estimate from the absence of any well-marked divisions in so large 
 " a group which would facilitate one so doing. The group comprises shales 
 " and sandstone at the base in regular beds; the shales largely predomin- 
 " ating in this portion of the group. 
 
 "The shales are blue or grey, and as a rule singularly devoid of 
 " organic remains, though a few fish scales are found with them, 
 " and a few small nummulites are here and there met with. Above 
 *' these shales occur thick-bodded massive argillaceous sandstones well 
 " exhibited near the village of Hlwa, on the Ma-htoon stream below Meng- 
 " doon. Above these a thick series of sandstones and arenaceous shales, 
 " in many of which ill-preserved fossils occur, come in, which are fairly 
 " displayed on the road between Meng-doon and Eng-byee to the E.N.E. 
 " One of the highest beds of the group is a hmestone profusely charged in 
 " places with nummulites, and occasionally containing corals and shells 
 " among which pecteus are commonest. A good section of these higher 
 " beds of the nummulitic group occurs in the Tha-boo-la stream north of 
 ** the village, which need not be given in extenso, as it presents no 
 " particular features of interest. 
 
 " This portion of the nummuHtic group is mainly mteresting from 
 
 ** being that wherein the Thayetmyo coal is situated. This coal has been 
 
 " already reported on by Dr. Oldham, and it will suffice, therefore, to say 
 
 " that it occupies much the same position in Pegu that the Salt Eangc coals 
 
 " do in the Punjab, both being deposits of carbonaceous matter, more or 
 
 " less irregular and capricious in their development, and forming subordi- 
 
 " nate beds on the group of shales which normally seem to underlie the 
 
 '' widely-spread nummulitic limestone. The nummulitic hmestone is well 
 
 *' developed on the flank of the range running a little west of Hpoung-aing, 
 
 " a frontier village 21 miles from Thayetmyo. The hmestone here extends 
 
 " for nearly seven miles. West of this much nummulitic limestone crops 
 
 " out forming the surface of much of the country, and a second line of the 
 
 " same rock occurs, commencing from a point six miles W.S.W. from 
 
 '* Hpoung-aing and running with occasional interruptions for nearly 12 
 
 " miles, when it dies out a Httle to the east of Tha-boo-la. Beneath this 
 
 " several arenaceous and shaly beds occm* in places so profusely charged 
 
 " with nummulites as to approximate in character to a limestone, and 
 
 " which seem to pass into such a rock, but these beds are less common in 
 
 " the Thayetmyo district than further south and need not be here dwelt 
 
 *' upon. 
 
 *' These nummulitic rocks are confined to the west bank of the 
 ** Irrawaddy, i.e. within the limits of the province of Pegu. ' The Limestone 
 "hill 'as it is called, below Thayetmyo consists of an isolated mass _ of 
 " nummulitic strata, brought up by faults through the newer strata which 
 " constitute the whole surrounding country ; and, as was first pointed out 
 "by Dr. Oldham, though so close to the river no nummulitic rocks 
 " are exposed in its banks, which consist of the newer group. A few 
 " salt-springs rise within the area of the nummulitic group, but they 
 ** are comparatively rare, and at the present day of no practical import- 
 " ancc. * * *
 
 736 BRITISH BUllMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " Leaving the area occuj)ied by the nummulites in an easterly 
 direction, the whole country as far as, and inclusive of, the Pegu range 
 itself, consists of a new group of rocks of presumedly miocene age, save 
 a somewhat irregular area near the river, occupied by a still newer group 
 which will presently be described. 
 
 ** This vast group embraces beds of the most diverse mineral character, 
 except limestone, which is of extremely rare occurrence, and very local and 
 circumscribed. The sandstones vary from an incoherent rock to one 
 hard and compact, and many of the beds contain numerous fossils which 
 have not as yet been specifically identified, save in a few instances. The 
 general aspect of the fauna is, however, undoubtedly miocene ; but this 
 question may be passed over at present, as far as details are concerned. 
 
 " The shales of this group are generally blue and clunchy, those 
 towards the base being devoid of fossils, whilst some of the higher beds 
 abound in the most delicately preserved organisms, foraminifera and a 
 variety of shells, both univalve and bivalve, with an occasional fragment 
 of a pteropod or crab. This clay occurs in the river bank close to Kama 
 though here it is often concealed from view by the deposit of river silt 
 thrown down by the subsiding waters of the river, and also east of Allan- 
 myo not far from the village of Kyouk-khyoung-ga-le. Traces of this bed, 
 or of one very similar to it, are exposed nearly opposite to Prome, the 
 fine gorge above which place lies between rocks of this group, and 
 another bed, remarkably rich in fossils, occurs exactly opposite the circuit- 
 house, but which need not be further considered here. 
 
 " In several spots near Thayetmyo the sandstones contain fossils, but 
 not as a rule well preserved and often merely in the shape of ferruginous 
 casts. Occasionally, however, the sandstone matrix is extremely hard 
 and the fossils well preserved ; but from the character of the rock great 
 difficulty is experienced in extricatmg the shells, save in a fragmentary 
 condition. Close to the Lime hill on the river bank a hard sandstone 
 occurs, profusely charged with a curious orbitolite, or species of fora- 
 minifera, which when alive must have resembled nothing more than a 
 small and rather thin pancake, though, from the compactness of the 
 rock, nothing save fragmentary portions of a specimen can be obtained. 
 
 " In the gorge above Prome a thickness of these beds of upwards of 
 2,000 feet is displayed on the west bank of the river, and the entire 
 thickness of the group cannot safely be estimated at less than 4,000 feet. 
 
 " Several salt-springs rise through the beds of this group, the principal 
 of which are at Tsan-gyee near the frontier on the west bank, and Re-tsan 
 and Le-myoung on the east bank of the river, 13 miles N.E. of Kama. 
 
 " A hot spring occurs near the mouth of the Bhwot-lay stream four 
 miles from the ' Lime hill ' but as it occurs in the bed of the river it is 
 frequently covered over by sand. 
 
 " Nine and a half miles N.N.W. by N. from Kama is situated the spot 
 where the curious manifestation known as the ' Spirit Fire ' takes place. 
 Beyond a few stones in the jungle displaying traces of fire there is no 
 peculiarity about the spot ; and the fire is simply the result of the 
 ignition of hydrogen gas which here escapes from the earth. Hydrogen gas 
 is a common accompaniment of the brine springs throughout the province, 
 giving rise at Tsan-gyee and elsewhere to the furious ebullition the brine
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 737 
 
 " pools often display ; and in all such cases the gas may easily be ignited 
 " by applying a light to the surface of the pool at any point the gas may 
 *' be issuing from. 
 
 " \Yhere the gas rises in jungle and gets stored up in subterranean 
 " cracks a more or less uninterrupted supply is secured which, once ignited 
 " either by man or accidentally by the progress of a jungle fire, gives rise 
 '* to such a simple, but to the superstitious natives, portentous phenomenon 
 " as the ' Spirit Fire'. At the time of my visit the lire was extinct, but it is 
 " doubtless capable of revival periodically. 
 
 " On the important question of petroleum a few words will here suffice. 
 " At some two or three spots only on the west bank of the Irrawaddy is 
 " this mineral known to occur within the province of Pegu. 
 
 " One of these, from which oil of a very similar character to the 
 " Ee-nan-khyoung oil of Upper Burma has been within the last few years 
 " extracted, is situated n^ar the village of Pa-douk-beng seven miles N.N. W. 
 " from Thayetmyo. The oil is obtained from a well sunk through the soft 
 " miocene sands and shales which constitute the surface of the country in 
 " the neighbourhood. In all cases, however, the source of the oil, in my 
 " opinion, lies deeper and must be referred to some of the carbonaceous 
 *' beds associated with the nummulitic limestone; by the exposure of which 
 " beds to a process of subterraneous distillation at a considerable depth 
 " the mineral oil has been produced." 
 
 Petroleum is also obtained at Bhan-byeng about nine miles (by the 
 present road) west from the town of Thayetmyo ; of the oil obtained here 
 Mr. Theobald remarks elsewhere : — " The beds in which the oil occurs are 
 *' blue shales, with some few intercalated beds of hard, rather calcareous 
 " sandstone, and contain numerous fossils, costrea, tellina, area, solen, 
 " pecten (two species), cjiherea (?) conus, cyproa, tunitella, crabs' claws, a 
 " small barnacle, one or two branching corals, and teeth of two species of 
 " the shark family, characteristic of the great miocene formation of the 
 *' district, the distance from the nearest point of the nummulitic formation 
 " being four miles. The beds are on about the same geological horizon as 
 
 "those wherein the" "wells near Padouk-beng were sunk, and the 
 
 " entire intervening country seems to consist of the same beds dipping in 
 " different directions at unusually low angles." 
 
 " The geological position of the oil here is undoubtedly curious, as on 
 " the presumption that it originates in the under-lying nummulitic group 
 " a thickness of beds, speaking in roimd numbers, of some 2,000 feet and 
 " probably more must intervene between the source of the oil and the beds 
 " wherein it here finds its way to the surface. It is not my opinion that 
 " the entire intervening thickness of beds is necessarily saturated with oil 
 " but rather that it rises through these strata along certain lines of fracture 
 " and permeability (such as a crushed anticlinal would afford) till meeting 
 " with such porous beds as the more arenaceous of these clays are which 
 " here form the surface of the country, it becomes diffused among them in 
 " an irregular fashion. The soft shales and arenaceous beds dip all over 
 " this country at low angles as a rule, and from their yielding character 
 " give us indications of the condition or arrangement of the rocks far 
 " beneath tbem ; but the a])ove suppositions of mine, of the oil rising from 
 " a great depth to the surface along certain lines of disturbance, is in 
 
 Jo
 
 738 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 *' accordance with what may be presumed to be the condition of the lower 
 ^* strata, and tlie result of tliese deeply-seated forces and movements whose 
 " maximum effect we see in the elevation of the Arakan hills to the west." 
 " With the above diagnosis of the conditions under which the oil is 
 " here met with it is obvious that no trustworthy opinion can be formed 
 " beforehand of the success that would attend the sinking of a deep shaft, 
 " but that it all depends on the shaft being so sunk as to intercept tha 
 " path (so to speak) along which the oil, here seen diffused through the 
 " strata, rises from below ; in which case it is probable a fair amount of 
 " oil might be won." 
 
 That any very large supply of earth-oil would be obtained even by 
 more extensive working and by sinking deeper wells seems doubtful, for the 
 same geological authority, Mr. Theobald, has recorded : — " Presuming then 
 " that the American oil is produced by the same process of subterraneous 
 " distillation of carbonaceous beds as our Indian oil is supposed to be we 
 " have at once an adequate reason for the difference in production of the 
 " trickling wehs of Ava, which yield their supplies drop by drop, as it were, 
 " compared with the rush of oil frequently met with in America, and some- 
 " times possessing the force of an Artesian spring ; for the coal jBields of 
 " America almost as much exceed in their development the coal fields of 
 "Great Britain as those of Great Britain do the puny deposits of the 
 " nummulitic age wherein our Indian oils originate. I especially name 
 " the newer coals as I am unacquanited with any reason for supposing 
 " that any Indian Petroleum is derived from our more useful and workable 
 " coals of Palaeozoic age." 
 
 Both at Padouk-beng and at Bhan-byeng the oil labours under the 
 disadvantage of having to undergo several miles of extensive land carriage 
 before it can be brought to the place of shipment on the river bank. The 
 oil at Padouk-beng is thick and viscid like that which is obtained at 
 Ee-nan-khj^oung in Upper Burma, whilst that at Bhan-byeng is a pure 
 lubricating fluid of considerable value in Europe. 
 
 *' Above the group last described comes a small number of beds of no 
 " great thickness, but at jpresent of rather circumscribed area, but which 
 *' are interesting as being the source whence the large quantity of fossil- 
 " wood, so common in the form of rolled fragments in the gravels about 
 " Thayetmyo has been derived. An account of these beds is contained in 
 " the Records of the Geological Survey, No. 4 for 1869. 
 
 " The principal divisions of this group are an upper sand here and 
 "there gravelly and conglomeratic, and in places characterized by a pro- 
 " fusion of concretions of the hydrated peroxide of iron ; and a lower series 
 " of thin-bedded fine silty clay, with occasional strings of a coarse sand and a 
 *' few small pebbles. Both groups were formerly far more extensive than 
 " at present but denudation has reduced these to an area of about 700 
 " square miles ; a sixth of which may be occupied by the upper sand— the 
 " bed in which the fossil- wood of the district occurs in the shape of silicised 
 " trunks of trees, mineralized in situ and in places associated with fossil 
 " bones of mammalia, reptiles and cartilaginous fish teeth. These bones 
 " doubtless belong to the same fauna as that which has yielded the inter- 
 " esting fossils brought by Crawford from Ava, a list of which is contained 
 " in the catalogue of fossils in the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 739 
 
 " by the late Hugh Falconer M.D. As a rule, however, the bones found 
 " in the Thayet district are far less perfectly mineralized than those 
 " brought from Ava ; and in some spots where they are not uncommon so 
 " friable that few or none remain perfect or are able to withstand the action 
 " of the elements when no longer protected by the matrix of rock in which 
 " they occur — occasionally however a few small bones may be be found 
 " perfectly mineralized and indestructible by ordinary atmospheric action 
 <« _a good section of these sandy beds may be seen three miles east of 
 " Shwe-ban-daw or 15 miles east of Allanmyo and also between O-mouk 
 ♦' and Le-ma, 19 miles E.S.E. from Thayetmj'o. 
 
 " The fossil- wood in this group in not confined to the sand at the top 
 " as some pieces are found somewhat rarely dispersed throughout, both in 
 " the passage beds w^hich mtervene between the topmost divisions and the 
 " miocene beds below, and also in the upper sand, though not as far as 
 " is known in the fine clays beneath the sand ; but it is in this upper sand, 
 " apparently in the uppermost portion of it, that the fossil-wood abounds 
 " most, occurring in the form of trunks of trees silicified in situ, some of 
 " which cannot have been less than 50 or GO feet in length at the time they 
 " were encased in the sand. Perfectly as these logs have in many instances 
 " been silicified, the structure has to a great extent been obliterated by 
 " decay prior to their mineralization, and all that can be said of such 
 " specimens as I had examined microscopically at home is that the trees 
 ** are exogenous and not conifers. 
 
 " These trunks are nowhere bored by teredo or other molluscs, and 
 " this, taken in connection with their condition and surrounding, helps to 
 " point out the condition under which these sands were accumulated. The 
 " presence of mammalian remains alike points in the same direction, and 
 " supports the conclusion that, after a period during which marine con- 
 " ditions prevailed, as indicated by the fossils at the base of the group, a 
 " deposition of silty and ultimately sandy beds took place in fresh water, 
 " wherem the remains of animals were swept by rivers and the huge trunks 
 *' of trees floated about till water-logged and partially decayed, and which 
 " on sinkhig became then and there permeated and mineralized by silica 
 " held in solution by springs emptying into a great lake or system of lakes. 
 " To treat, however, on this more or less theoretical point is foreign to 
 " my present purpose ; and I will close the account of these beds by an 
 " extract from the Records, Part 4 for 1869, on the manufacture of iron 
 " formerly carried on in sundry spots within the area of these fossil- wood 
 *' gravels : — 
 
 " Next to the presence of silicified wood a remarkable development of 
 " concretionary peroxide of iron seems to characterize the sand I am 
 " describing. The ore occurs occasionally as a thin band up to perhaps a 
 ''thickness of three inches, breaking up or jointing into rhomboidal 
 " concretionary masses of different sizes and shapes. More usually the 
 " ore occurs in the form of variously-shaped concretions from one to four 
 " inches in length, though occasionally even larger. These concretions 
 *• are found both in the sand and the conglomerate to which last, when 
 " numerously developed, they impart a peculiar varnished look which might 
 " sometimes l)e ahnost styled (but for the technicality of the term) viscous 
 *' or slaggy.
 
 740 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 *' The more usual shape of these concretions is flattish oval or 
 " amygdaloidal, but they occur spherical, cuboidal, cylindrical with both 
 " flat and hemispherical ends, discoidal and in any intermediate forms, but 
 *' always symmetrically proportioned, and the result of a segregative action 
 " or process in the clayey and ferruginous components of the bed when in a 
 " plastic condition. 
 
 " Of whatever shape, however, their structure is extremely uniform, 
 " consisting of an external crust of concentric layers of brown hematite 
 " surrounding a kernel of pure white or yellowish clay, lying loose and 
 *' shrunken in the interior. 
 
 "Externally, these nodular concretions are roughened from the adhesion 
 *' of the sand enveloping them ; but this rough crust scales off readily, leaving 
 "their surface perfectly smooth. Internally they often present a blistered 
 " appearance from the mammilary crystallization of zenionite which lines 
 *' them becoming, on exposure to the atmosphere and rain, lustrous and 
 *' burnished. When the bed has been of too harsh a character to permit 
 ** the regular segregation of the ore, it is found lining sinuous cavities in 
 " the coarse matrix having flat approximated walls, evidently caused by 
 *' shrinkage, which gives such portions a very peculiar aspect and one 
 *' which simulates a viscous condition. In some places even a botryoidal 
 " structure is induced when the rock is less coarse. 
 
 " Under the Burmese rule this ore was extensively smelted 
 
 " Eemains of furnaces exist which were merely rectangular kihis cut in the 
 " firm alluvial clay of some steep bank which gave easy access at top for 
 " replenishing ore and fuel, and below for withdrawing the products. Such 
 " furnaces are numerous about Shwe-ban-daw, Kywon-ga-le, and Ee-baw 
 " together with slag heaps sometimes of no inconsiderable dimensions. 
 " Throughout the area of these upper sands however, slag may be found 
 " scattered about, as the iron- workers shifted their scene of operations 
 *' from spot to spot, wherever charcoal and ore were for the time most 
 " plentiful.* 
 
 " The works must in many cases have been conducted in the dry 
 ** season only, as the hearths of some furnaces still standing open into the 
 " beds of streams, which during the rains would certainly have found an 
 " entrance to them. The blowing aj^paratus was probably the effective 
 *' vertical cylinder bellows, formed of large bamboos, still in use in the 
 " district by blacksmiths ; but the oldest inhabitants could give me no 
 " particulars of the manufacture. * * * * 
 
 " West of the Irraw^addy a belt of these sands stretches from K5^ee- 
 *' doung, five miles N.N.W., from Thayetmyo in a slightly curved direction, 
 *' to a point on the Ma-htoon stream three miles north of Kama, but the 
 " group is here much broken up by denudation, the upper bed being often 
 " absent and the logs of siHcified w^ood derived from it lying scattered about 
 " and more or less rolled in the surface detritus and gravel overspreading 
 *' the country. 
 
 " No volcanic rocks occur in the Thayet district, except serpentine 
 " which constitutes the Byee-doung hill, on the Ma-htoon stream, six miles 
 
 * Sjanes speaks in his " Account of an embassy to the kingdom of Ava" published in 1800, 
 page 242, of having passed between Gnyouug-beng-tshiep and Mye-dai " Sambau famed for its 
 " iron mauufactury."
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 741 
 
 *' from the frontier, and stretches for nearly six miles in length in a 
 " N.N.E. direction. 
 
 " About a mile east of Tham-bha-ya-beng, and again about the same 
 " distance east of Thayet-tsan at spots lying respectively 23 and 25 miles 
 " E.S.E., about, from Thayetmyo two small patches occur of a rock having 
 " a most deceptive resemblance to a trap or greenstone. From the rock 
 " decaying at the surface into a deep black mould the hill, on the summit 
 " of which in either case the rock occurs, is knoM-n to the Burmese by the 
 " name of Mye-nek-toung (Black earth hill). A third locality occurs some 
 '' five miles to the S.E. of these two and here the bedded character of the 
 " rock is distinctly seen which is not the case in the other localities. The 
 " rock is in fact a local ash-bed or trap-ash, arranged under water but 
 " possessing the constitution of a greenstone whence the close resemblance 
 " to that rock of the compacter portions of the bed present. The bed no 
 " doubt is the result of some display of volcanic activity in the immediate 
 " neighbourhood during the accumulation of the miocene beds with which 
 " the ash-bed is associated, and connected doubtless with the same display 
 " of volcanic action as that to which the extinct crater of Poop-pa-doung in 
 " Upper Burma is due ; and probably when the intermediate country is 
 " better known, other spots may be discovered tending to unite the volcanic 
 " manifestations at these distant spots." 
 
 Brine-springs are found in many localities in the district but chiefly on 
 the west bank of the Irrawaddy. Most of them were worked and small 
 quantities of salt obtained from them under the Burman government by 
 evaporation and boiling, but this is an occupation which since the annexation 
 of Pegu has been entirely abandoned as unprofitable. On the east of the 
 river there were two sets of wells from each of which about 50 pots of 
 strong brine were obtained daily : one of 17 wells of considerable depth at 
 the village of Bwet-gyee about a mile from the bank of the Irrawaddy and 
 the other of four wells on the banks of the Tsha-dweng-khyoung (salt-well 
 creek) about two miles from the village of Taroop-beng. On the west there 
 were six : — near the village of Tsan-gj'ee yielding daily 14 pots ; near 
 Leng-gan yielding about ten pots ; near Poo-hto on the bank of the river 
 yielding 15 pots ; near Tha-hpan-gyo, about six miles from Ka-ma, yielding 
 30 pots, near Pien-nai-kweng also yielding 30 pots ; and near Kyouk-mai, 
 eight miles west of Ka-ma, yielding about 50 pots. 
 
 Extensive lime quarries exists in the Htoon-doung range (Lime hill) a few 
 miles south of Thayetmyo. The stone is taken to the villages of Htoon-doung 
 and Pie-tha-lieu on the river bank and there burnt. The average annual 
 production may be set down at about 900 tons. The lime, which is of su- 
 perior quality, is sold at the spot at from Rs. 8 to Rs. 13 per 100 baskets. 
 
 Six-sevenths of the district is covered with forest, most of it low and 
 scrubby. Bamboos abound but the more useful forest 
 
 Forests. trees are scarce except in the higher ranges of hills. 
 
 Teak is found nearly all over the district, but even the best is very inferior 
 and not to be compared with that which grows in the valleys of the rivers 
 Tsit-toung and Salween. Near the Irrawaddy the teak trees are invariably 
 short and crooked, but whether this is due to the soil and to climatic 
 influences or to the want of forest conservancy in the Burmese time 
 cannot be positively asserted. The best teak is on the eastern range of hills.
 
 742 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The following is a list of the useful trees which are commonly found in 
 the district, compiled from Dr. Brandis' list of woods : — 
 
 Botanical name. 
 
 Native name. 
 
 "Weight per cubic 
 foot in lbs. 
 
 Economic uses. 
 
 Tectona graudis (teak) . . 
 
 Kywon 
 
 40 to .51 
 
 Monopolized by Government, used ex- 
 tensively in ship-buildmg, for houses, 
 beams, furniture of every description, 
 and in the Indian Arsenals and Gun- 
 carriage manufactories. 
 
 Dipterocarpus tubercula- 
 tus. 
 
 Eng 
 
 55 
 
 Very common and much used in house- 
 building. When not exposed to damp 
 it is very durable. 
 
 Acacia catechu (cutch) . . 
 
 Sha 
 
 5G 
 
 Very common. Immense quantities are 
 annually consTimed in the manufacture 
 of cutch : used also for house posts, 
 handles &c., the heart-wood being ex- 
 ceedingly hard and durable. 
 
 Xylia dolabriformis (Iron 
 wood) . 
 
 Pyeng-ga-do . . 
 
 GO to 66 
 
 Common : more durable even than teak 
 but extremely hard to work and too 
 heavy to float. 
 
 Odiua wodier 
 
 Nabai 
 
 65 
 
 Used for oil-presses, sheaths of swords, &c. 
 Might be a valuable furniture wood. 
 
 Termiualia macroearpa . . 
 
 Htoulc-kyan 
 
 58 
 
 A large tree, very common : used in house- 
 building, but not very durable. 
 
 Blackwellia tomentosa . . 
 
 Myouk-khyaw . . 
 {Monkey's slip- 
 ping tree so culled 
 from its smooth 
 stem). 
 
 56 
 
 Common : wood tough, colour light-yel- 
 low, not very durable ; used for teeth of 
 harrows. 
 
 Vitex leucoxylou 
 
 Htouk-sha 
 
 42 
 
 Common : used for cart-wheels. 
 
 Tamai'indus indica 
 
 Magyee 
 
 • • 
 
 Fruit tree : wood little used. 
 
 Diospyros burmanica . . 
 
 Tay-beng 
 
 •• 
 
 Abundant. Black heavy wood used for 
 knife-handles and sheathes. 
 
 Hopea odorata 
 
 Theng-gan 
 
 G4 
 
 Very scarce. Dark heavy wood ; excellent 
 for boats. 
 
 Artocarpus claplasha . . 
 
 Toung-pien-nai . . 
 
 39 
 
 Ditto Ditto. 
 
 Nageia latifolia 
 
 Thit-meng 
 
 50 
 
 "SVhite and light ; close-grained. 
 
 Auogeissus acuminata . . 
 
 Roon-beug 
 
 50 to 57 
 
 Brown and heavy : used for pestles and 
 mortars. 
 
 Pongamia glabra 
 
 Theug-weng . . 
 
 • GO 
 
 Black heavy wood : used for ploughs and 
 harrows.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 713 
 
 Botanical name. 
 
 Native name. 
 
 Albizzia loLbck 
 
 Pterocarpus indicus 
 
 Ulmus integrifolia 
 
 Pentacme siamensis 
 
 Shorea obtusa 
 
 Bombax malabaricmu . . 
 
 Nauclea cordifolia 
 
 Albizzia lucida 
 
 Chikrassia tabiilaris 
 Vitex alata 
 
 Pancovia nibiginosa 
 
 Holari'hena codaga 
 Streblus aspera 
 
 Schleichera trijuga 
 
 Dalbergia cultrata 
 
 Careya arborea 
 
 Heterophragma adeno- 
 
 phylla. 
 Berrya amonilla 
 
 Koot-ko 
 
 Padouk 
 
 Myouk-tsLiep 
 
 Eug-gyeDg 
 
 Tbit-ya 
 
 Lek-pau 
 
 Hnaw-beng 
 
 Than-tbat 
 
 Reug-ma 
 Kyet-ro 
 
 Tsbiet-kbyoe 
 
 Lot-btoop-tbien 
 Oop-bnai 
 
 Gyo 
 
 Reng-daik 
 
 Bban-bbwai 
 
 Hpet-than 
 
 Hpet-won 
 
 48 
 GO 
 
 55 
 
 57 
 28 
 
 24 
 45 
 
 66 
 
 70 
 64 
 55 
 48 
 62 
 
 Economic uses. 
 
 Black and beavy: iised for cart-wbeels 
 
 and oil-presses. 
 Not plentiful. Red and heavy: used for 
 
 cart-wbcels. 
 Wbite and beavy : used by carvers for 
 
 images. 
 "White and beavy : used extensively for 
 
 building. 
 White and heavy : dm-able, iiscd for 
 
 building. 
 Light white wood, easily worked but 
 
 easily destructible : used for coffins. 
 Yellow and hgbt ; used for flooring and 
 
 rafters. 
 Black and heavy: used for cart-wheels, 
 
 pestles, A'c. 
 Yellow and heavy : iised for axles. 
 Yellow and heavy : strong and lasting, 
 
 used for house-posts, tool-handles, &c. 
 White and heavy, grain mottled : used 
 
 for house-posts. 
 White and light : used for soles of shoes. 
 White and light : used chopped up and 
 
 mixed with tobacco root for smoking. 
 White and heavy: used for anchors, 
 
 pestles, mortars, &c. 
 Heavy wood with red heart : used for 
 
 plough and cart-jDoles. 
 Red wood : used for carts, house-posts, 
 
 &c. 
 White and heavy : used for house-posts. 
 
 Reddish and be.avy : used for cart-axles 
 and for poles of ploughs and carts. 
 
 Here as elsewhere in the province the felUng within the Hmits of the 
 government forests of teak, thit-ka and thit-kha-do is forbidden, padouk 
 {Ptcrocarims indicus) can only be felled by persons who obtain a trade- 
 permit, that is permission to cut timber for sale on payment of duty, and 
 11 other kinds by persons who have trade-permits, or free-permits to cut 
 for their own use in a forest not more than three miles from their houses. 
 For many years these government forests extended between the Pegu Eoma 
 and a line drawn southwards from Mye-dai through the junction of the 
 Bhwot-lay and the Pa-de from the frontier southward throughout the 
 district on the left bank of the Irrawaddy but in 187G the w'hole of the 
 country west of the Irrawaddy was declared to be government forest 
 land. 
 
 But little wild large game is found in the central portion of the district, 
 due partly to the annual destruction l)y jungle fires of 
 all grass and underwood, and partly to the indiscriminate 
 
 Animal kingdom.
 
 744 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 shooting persevered in by the natives in season and out of season. A stray 
 tiger, a few leopards, wild cats and barking deer which are found almost 
 all over the district, constitute the few natives of the plains, except that the 
 Htameng or brow-antlered rusa, a splendid stag, is occasionally met with 
 in the comparatively open plains and rolling hills on the south-west of the 
 Mye-dai township. In the uninhabited mountain ranges to the east and 
 west are elephants, rhinoceros, tigers, black bear, leopards, sambm- deer 
 hog deer, barking deer and wild hog. Deaths from the bites of wild beasts 
 seldom occur. Occasionally a tiger is known to attack the small parties 
 of men who venture far into the Arakan hills in search of forest products, 
 and occasionally leopards kill and devour a bullock or a buffalo in the low- 
 lands. 
 
 Pea-fowl are scarce but silver pheasants are found in large numbers, 
 especially in the mountains. Jungle-fowl and painted-partridge, handsome 
 birds which perch on trees and have a shrill crow, are found all over the 
 district. From September to December snipe in small numbers may be 
 found in the rice swamps, but wild duck and teal find no resting-place 
 except in the Irrawaddy where, during the cold weather, they may some- 
 times be seen in large flocks. 
 
 " The avifauna of Burma is in general intermediate to that of India 
 " and the Malay peninsula, modified a good deal by local circumstances. 
 " Thayetmyo and the whole valley of the Irrawaddy above Poungday, where 
 " the annual rainfall is normally below 60 inches, has an avifauna more 
 " Indo-Chinese than the delta, and in many cases presents affinities to the 
 " birds of the dry plains of Upper India. Many of the bnds of the Thayet- 
 " myo district, have their range southwards abruptly limited and do not 
 " occur below the Prome district, nor are they replaced by slightly modified 
 *' species. The common partridge {F. Sinensis) and the crested pied 
 " cuckoo (O. Jacohinus), both common birds in Thayetmyo, may be quoted 
 " as instances." 
 
 Except in the Irrawaddy there are hardly any fish in the district. The 
 most plentiful kinds are the Hilsa or sable fish (Nga-tJta-louk) ; the Nga 
 khyeng, a kind of carp; Nga timing, another kind of carij; various species 
 of cat fish and the mullet. The Nga-rwe — one of the kinds of cat fish 
 — grows to an enormous size, some weighing as much as 365 lbs. are 
 credibly reported to be sometimes caught near Ka-ma, but never appear in 
 the market. The most profitable fisheries are those in lagoons amongst 
 sandbanks in the river, worked only during the dry seasons by means of 
 dams, nets and other implements. For such fisheries a yearly rent is 
 charged. For the privilege of fishing in the river the fishermen take out 
 a license, the cost of which varies with the net used. 
 
 Poisonous snakes are not uncommon but owing probably to the houses 
 being built on piles deaths from snake-bite are by no means frequent. 
 The poisonous snakes as far as is at present known are the Naja tripudians — 
 of which all six varieties described by Sir J. Fayrer are found and are called 
 by the Burmans Mice-liouk, Ngan-wa, Ngan-poot, Ngan-gya, Ngan-tsoung and 
 Ngan-hyouk — Ophiophagus elaps (Leng-wa), Hamadryas {Ngan-tsoung), 
 Bungarus fasciatus (Ngan-than-khice-tsicot), Callophis {Mu-e-kyeng-koimg) , 
 Bungarus coeruleus {Ngan-daw-slie), Daboia {Mice-hue), Echis carinata 
 {Mwe-hwe-a-tsit), Platurus fischeri {Tsheng-hyit-mwc).
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 745 
 
 Thayet lies on the southern edge of that middle Irrawaddy zone 
 the chief characteristic of which is its extreme dryness 
 
 Climate. ^^^^ compared with the delta on the south or the valley 
 
 of the upper portion of the river on the north. The climate here approxi- 
 mates generally to that of Upper Bui-ma and is as different from the climate 
 of the seaboard districts, as that of the Upper Provinces of India is 
 from the climate of Lower Bengal. The rain-fall is about one-fourth of 
 what it is in many places on the coast. 
 
 The following table shews the rain-fall during each of the last 
 15 years : — 
 
 8i8I 
 
 1 1 ISSSSSSSSI 
 
 lb i) 6) .* "5 33 tH 
 
 
 LUSl 
 
 oooiMi-tcoLoaso 
 1 1 1 ■ M6icjg-*=''-'' 
 
 
 9i8I 
 
 , 1 , ,g;S?JS3gS| 
 
 1 1 1 IcQ.^^oowi'aicol 
 
 CO 
 
 g 
 
 CO 
 
 9i8X 
 
 5-10 
 
 5-02 
 
 11-17 
 
 13-80 
 
 7-30 
 
 5-06 
 
 4-99 
 
 -28 
 
 §3 
 
 fi8T 
 
 1 1 S t- O) O r-l CO O ?' V I 
 1 1 • ' GO O O O C- CI ' 
 
 
 SVdl 
 
 1 1 1 ocoijiboco' 
 
 CM 
 
 CO 
 
 5i8l 
 
 O CO O O CTi CTi CO 
 I 1 |ScM'S<i-lCOr-|COl| 
 
 1 1 1 • c-AnOt-ooco •' 
 
 CM 
 
 Xi8T 
 
 C5 O O i-l 'H 2 S 
 1 1 iCM^C-OC-pC0| 
 
 1 1 1 • OOC-OOCIO '' 
 
 
 02,81 
 
 o o o C5 00 c5 
 
 1 CO 1 UOmCOOJt-rHO il 
 
 
 6981 
 
 1 1 .S§°co»?°|l 
 
 1 1 li^|<xcoOO<MOll 
 
 CO 
 CO 
 
 8981 
 
 1 1 ■ ■ oc-c='-<<ot-c>ji 
 
 
 1981 
 
 , , , S ^ 'O O CO CO rt m rH 
 1 1 1 • cROt-aOCSC>»CNrt 
 
 00 
 
 *^ 
 in 
 
 9981 
 
 3-00 
 13-52 
 7-17 
 8-07 
 1000 
 6-25 
 7-55 
 
 g 
 
 e 
 
 S98I 
 
 
 ac 
 
 lO 
 
 W8I 
 
 o o o o g o 
 1 1 1 I <^ <P <P V r' ^ \ \ 
 1 1 1 1 m> o w -K o II 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 G98T 
 
 in o ei o o t- t- 
 
 1 1 1 I rt Lo (?i g cp <r> « , 
 1 1 1 lincoCTOOocol 
 
 o 
 
 (M 
 
 1 
 
 January 
 
 February 
 
 March 
 
 April 
 
 May 
 
 Juuo 
 
 July 
 
 August 
 
 September 
 
 October 
 
 November ... 
 December ... 
 
 "3 
 o 
 
 9-1
 
 T4.Q BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Thayet is but rarely mentioned in the Burmese annals. In the 
 early dawning (semi-mytliical period) of Burmese history 
 History. ^^^ country of which Thayet forms a part appears to 
 
 have been inhabited by the Pyoo, one of the three tribes from whose 
 fusion the present Burman race has sprung, the other two being the Kanran 
 or Kanyan and the Thek. Sometimes the Pyoo and Thek are spoken of 
 as one tribe. In after years, when Indian missionaries had converted the 
 people to Booddhism and when each and every part of Indo-China received a 
 classical Pali name, taken generally from the names of countries mentioned 
 in the sacred books, the lower portion of the Thayet district belonged, it 
 would appear, to Tharekhettra (Prome) whilst the upper portion belonged 
 to Thoonaparanta (Tsa-goo, Tsa-leng) on the right or west bank of the 
 Irrawaddy and to Tam-pa-dee-pa (Pagan, Ava) on the left or east bank. 
 The dominons of the first Burman monarchy, the capital of which was at 
 Ta-goung, never extended so far south as Thayet but when the Prome 
 dynasty was founded by king Dwot-ta-boung, circa 444 B.C., this district 
 formed a portion of his territories. 
 
 On the destruction of the Prome dynasty, about the end of the first 
 century of the Christian era, Tha-moon-da-riet, the fugitive Prorue ruler, 
 escaped to, and remained a few years at, Meng-doon, where he built a city 
 on the site of the present town, and ruled for seven years. ^ He then 
 appointed his uncle as governor and going north founded a kingdom at 
 Pagan. Here he was succeeded by a scion of the old Ta-goung race and 
 the* kingdom flourished for more than 1,100 years. Dming that period 
 this district formed an integral portion of that monarchy. The last 
 king of Tha-moon-da-riet's dynasty appointed his son Meng-sheng-tsaw as 
 governor of Thayetmyo. His father Kyaw-tswa Meng was dethroned by 
 three Shan brothers one of whom established himself at Peng-ya. This 
 king's son founded a kmgdom at Tsa-gaing and both monarchies existed 
 contemporaneously for about 60 years, when another Shan chieftain con- 
 quered them both and carried away their ruling sovereigns. A descendant 
 of the old Ta-goung dynasty, named Tha-do-meng-bya, seized the oppor- 
 tunity and succeeded, in 1365, in re-estabhshing the Burman monarchy, 
 fixing his capital at Ava. During this period the ruler of Thayetmyo, 
 who had been left undistui'bed, was practically independent, as was the 
 ruler of Prome, one of the family of Thee-ha-thoo, son of Taroop-pye-meng 
 and brother of Meng-sheng-tsaw, who asserted, and for sometime main- 
 tained, his independence. At this period the Prome territories extended 
 almost up to Thayetmyo, the Nga-hlamg-deng creek on the east bank of 
 the Irrawaddy nearly opposite to the town of Thayetmyo having been 
 their northern limit. In the reign of the second king of Ava, Meng-gyee- 
 tswa, Thayetmyo, which was the king's birth-place, was a favoured portion 
 of his dominions. After his reign it is very seldom that mention is 
 made in Bm'mese history of any places in Thayetmyo, with the exception 
 of Mye-dai which is represented as being a strong fort, so strong that 
 hostile forces passing up and down the Irrawaddy generally left it in theii- 
 rear without attempting to besiege it. In course of years it was parcelled 
 out amongst various governors and so remained until the annexation of 
 Pegu by the British, when it was formed into a sub-division of the Prome 
 district.
 
 BEITISH BURMA GAZETTEEE. 
 
 747 
 
 Th« ordinary amount of Eevenue raised in the district under the 
 
 Eevenue, Burmese government for remission to the capital was 
 
 about Es. 50,000 : the largest amount of which there ia 
 any record, which was raised just before the annexation of Pegu, was 
 Es. 102,340. This was exclusive of the demands made on the people to 
 meet the want of the local officials, as none of the revenue came back to 
 them in the shape of salaries. 
 
 It was raised in different ways in different provinces : in Mye-dai the 
 owners of cattle were divided into three classes according to the number of 
 beasts they possessed and a rate fixed on each class, fishermen were taxed, 
 and landing, market, and brokerage fees were levied. In Thayetmyo the tax 
 was sometimes levied on cattle-owners, sometimes at so much per house, 
 sometimes on land, and was paid in kind and in lead, and at one tict.e dming 
 the reign of Koon-boung-meng, better known as Prince Tharrawaddy, the 
 revenue was altogether remitted and Thayetmyo was requii-ed to furnish, 
 equip and pay 500 soldiers. In Ka-ma the gross demand for each cii-cle 
 was fixed by the Myo-thoogyee and for the people of each village by the Taik- 
 thoogyee ; this quota the Ewa-thoogyee levied as best he could. 
 
 The imperial revenue demand in each year since Thayet formed an 
 independent district has been, in rupees : — 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 ■ts 
 
 
 d 
 
 
 °a 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 c"^ 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 c3 
 
 
 
 c3 
 
 
 <D 
 
 r! "^ 
 
 
 
 h^ 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 iz; 
 
 <1 
 
 H 
 
 1870-71 
 
 69,945 
 
 89,787 
 
 58,298 
 
 4,077 
 
 40,380 
 
 269,899 
 
 1871-72 
 
 67,530 
 
 97,320 
 
 54,102 
 
 4,426 
 
 40,624 
 
 271,976 
 
 1872-73 
 
 64,671 
 
 102,501 
 
 32,959 
 
 3,373 
 
 29,706 
 
 241.934 
 
 1873-74 
 
 83,623 
 
 105,736 
 
 32,631 
 
 3,507 
 
 36,710 
 
 270,645 
 
 1874-75 
 
 88,772 
 
 109,118 
 
 34,985 
 
 3,219 
 
 46,005 
 
 290,575 
 
 1875-76 
 
 96,038 
 
 111,171 
 
 39,772 
 
 3,056 
 
 52,336 
 
 310,213 
 
 18f 6-77 
 
 89,649 
 
 113,231 
 
 43,185 
 
 3,333 
 
 56,825 
 
 314.058 
 
 1877-78 
 
 100,763 
 
 123,343 
 
 43,563 
 
 8,598 
 
 48,655 
 
 318,122 
 
 The detail of the figures in the column headed " AU other items 
 
 was : — 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 fTS 
 
 ^ S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Gii 
 
 o 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 a^ 
 
 1 " 
 
 <D to g" 
 
 ■a ° ,- 
 
 a 
 
 e3 
 
 
 
 S 2 
 a 3 
 
 IS- 
 
 « o rf 
 
 Stamp 
 Suit 
 papc 
 
 u 
 
 CO 
 
 3 
 
 1870-71 
 
 14,138 
 
 460 
 
 7,272 
 
 16,492 
 
 2,018 • 
 
 40,380 
 
 1871-72 
 
 19,214 
 
 762 
 
 6,808 
 
 11,982 
 
 1,858 t 
 
 40,624 
 
 1872-73 
 
 10,690 
 
 263 
 
 7,540 
 
 11,199 
 
 14 
 
 29,706 
 
 1873-74 
 
 11,886 
 
 501 
 
 8,851 
 
 15,102 
 
 370 
 
 36,710 
 
 1874-75 
 
 16,605 
 
 342 
 
 10,130 
 
 18,887 
 
 41 
 
 46,005 
 
 1875-76 
 
 17,750 
 
 501 
 
 11.235 
 
 21,903 
 
 947 
 
 52,336 
 
 1876-77 
 
 13,370 
 
 251 
 
 23,582 
 
 17,899 
 
 1,723 
 
 56,825 
 
 1877-78 
 
 11,461 
 
 24 
 
 16,676 
 
 16,860 
 
 1,834 
 
 46,855 
 
 * lucludes lis. 1,541 Income tax auJ Ks. 49 Forest produce, 
 t Includes Es. 416 Income tax.
 
 748 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 In addition to this imperial revenue a so-called local revenue is raised 
 from a tax on land covered by buildings in certain towns, from market-stall 
 rents, a cess on the land and fishery revenue, and other sources. This 
 during the same period was : — 
 
 1870-71 
 
 1871-72 
 1872-73 
 1873-74 
 
 Es. 
 
 
 23,011 
 
 1874-75 
 
 28,310 
 
 1875-76 
 
 38,725 
 
 1876-77 
 
 40,295 
 
 1877-78 
 
 Eg. 
 42,820 
 44,134 
 53,775 
 55,179 
 
 The taxation per head of population was :- 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 Taxation 
 
 PES HEAD. 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 a 
 .2 
 
 Taxation 
 
 PEE HEAD. 
 
 Teae. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ft 
 
 Imperial. 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 
 ft 
 
 o 
 P-i 
 
 Imperial. 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 
 Es. A. P. 
 
 Es. A. P. 
 
 
 
 Es. A. P. 
 
 Es. A. p. 
 
 1870-71 . . 
 
 126,121 
 
 2 2 2 
 
 2 5 
 
 1874-75.. 
 
 143,321 
 
 2 5 
 
 2 5 1 
 
 1871-72 . . 
 
 132,604 
 
 2 9 
 
 2 4 4 
 
 1875-76.. 
 
 146,518 
 
 2 1 10 
 
 2 6 8 
 
 1872-73 . . 
 
 140,470 
 
 1 11 6 
 
 1 15 11 
 
 1876-77.. 
 
 147,228 
 
 2 3 2 
 
 2 7 11 
 
 1873-74 . . 
 
 142,533 
 
 1 14 4 
 
 2 2 10 
 
 1877-78.. 
 
 148,234 
 
 2 2 4 
 
 2 8 3 
 
 The actual collections never can agree with the demand, partly owing 
 to remissions which have to be made, partly to some portion of the demand 
 for one year being collected in the next and partly to defaulters. 
 
 The actual collections of imperial revenue and the cost of the civil 
 officials of all kinds was, in rupees : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 •« 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 ID 
 
 § 
 
 
 to 
 
 3 
 
 '3 
 
 § 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 o'2 
 
 a 
 
 > 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 *0 t3 
 
 1 
 
 
 a 
 
 O 
 
 
 a 
 
 S 
 
 
 =s-.a 
 
 OQ 
 
 
 "sa 
 
 »4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 •""S 
 
 o 
 
 
 o " 
 
 
 
 o " 
 
 
 
 U 
 
 O 
 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 1870-71 . . 
 
 66,709 
 
 269,899 
 
 1874-75 . . 
 
 75,187 
 
 290,575 
 
 1871-72 .. 
 
 84,904 
 
 271,976 
 
 1875-76 . . 
 
 79,385 
 
 310,213 
 
 1872-73 .. 
 
 124,818 
 
 241,934 
 
 1876-77 . . 
 
 251,723 
 
 317,755 
 
 1873-74 . . 
 
 99,425 
 
 270,645 
 
 1877-78 . . 
 
 84,577 
 
 320,482 
 
 Under their native government Burmans were accustomed to periodical 
 
 Population enumerations of the people as this was a necessity of 
 
 their fiscal and political system. Under the British 
 
 government such enumerations are annual. About the month of August 
 
 in each year the native tax-collector (Taik-thoogyee) of each circle prepares
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 749 
 
 a population-roll ehewing the name, age and occupation of every permanent 
 resident within his circle. As the Thoogyee and the people are accustomed 
 to this yearly process and as the rolls are connected with the collection of 
 the capitation tax, in which the Thoogyee has a personal interest, being 
 paid by a commission on the collections, these rolls are in the main 
 correct. 
 
 For rural circles they are probably as accurate as it is possible to make 
 them. In large towns, especially where there is a large floating population, 
 they are not so accurate ; but in all probability there is no part of India 
 which possesses such correct annual statistics of population as is furnished 
 by these rolls in British Burma. 
 
 In August 1872, in addition to the annual numbering of the people 
 by the Thoogyee, a regular census was taken for the first time. Its results 
 l^roved the general accm'acy of the annual returns. The population of the 
 district, as shewn by the annual returns for the fii'st year after the annexa- 
 tion compared with the same returns for the previous year, proves that 
 though the population of the district may not have increased with such 
 gigantic strides as that of other districts of the province which have greater 
 natural advantages it has still increased in a most remarkable manner 
 under British rule. If the scanty natural resources of the district are 
 taken into consideration the increase is perhaps the most remarkable in 
 the xDrovince. The district certainly possesses a larger proportion of popu- 
 lation to cultivated or culturable area than any other. 
 
 That it should retain such a large population, to whom the richer 
 districts of the delta offer so many more advantages is probably due to its 
 proximity to the frontier line and to its possessing a climate much more 
 like that of Upper Burma than is found in the fertile plains of the south. 
 
 In making a comparison between the earlier and the later population 
 returns those for 1854, the first year of our administration, may be rejected 
 as not entu'ely trustworthy. Those for 1855 may be taken as giving a 
 tolerably accurate estimate of the population for that year. 
 
 The increase in each township since then will be seen from the following 
 table : — 
 
 
 6 i lo 
 
 u <o O 
 
 o i cfl' 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 ^ ii tn 
 
 c3 t- CO 
 
 es sh c^ 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 O rH 
 
 00 
 
 <=2 
 
 >-.<ii 
 
 ^ t- 
 
 
 Township. 
 
 o tc.2 
 
 tion 
 
 ng 1 
 
 for 
 
 a a 
 ■S a „ 
 
 aS 
 .2 
 
 Remarks, 
 
 
 ^'■B a 
 
 ^'■^ a 
 
 ^■-B a 
 
 ^ o 
 
 
 
 Isl 
 
 |8l 
 
 
 P.5 
 
 
 
 p-> 
 
 Oi 
 
 Pi 
 
 Ph 
 
 
 Mye-dai 
 
 15,611 
 
 20,084 
 
 55,114 
 
 63,061 
 
 The difference of 16,346 souls between 
 the population rolls and the census 
 
 Thayetmyo 
 
 6,452 
 
 12,899 
 
 29,256 
 
 35,633 
 
 returns is accounted for by the popula- 
 tion of cantonments, the boat popula- 
 
 Meng-doon 
 
 9,506 
 
 14,993 
 
 25,540 
 
 26,165 
 
 tion and the floating population of 
 towns not being included in the for- 
 
 Ea-ma 
 
 11,363 
 
 14,379 
 
 30,560 
 
 31,957 
 
 mer. 
 
 Total.. 
 
 42,482 
 
 62,355 
 
 140,470 
 
 156,816 

 
 750 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The total male and female population according to ages was as 
 follows : — 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Not exceeding one year 
 
 Above one, but uot above six years 
 
 6 
 12 
 
 20 
 30 
 40 
 50 
 60 
 
 12 
 
 20 
 30 
 40 
 50 
 60 
 
 3,503 
 
 12,G38 
 
 11,089 
 
 10,439 
 
 14,893 
 
 13,129 
 
 8,118 
 
 4,155 
 
 3,408 
 
 3,504 
 
 12,409 
 
 10,329 
 
 10,876 
 
 13,440 
 
 10,476 
 
 6,726 
 
 4,030 
 
 3,704 
 
 7,007 
 25,047 
 21,.S68 
 21,315 
 28,333 
 23,605 
 14,844 
 8,185 
 7,112 
 
 Total 
 
 81,322 
 
 75,494 
 
 156,816 
 
 The number of each sex classed according to religion was 
 
 Religion. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Booddhists 
 
 
 69,992 
 
 67,260 
 
 Hindus 
 
 
 1,587 
 
 442 
 
 Christians 
 
 
 1,029 
 
 367 
 
 Maliomedans 
 
 
 910 
 
 264 
 
 Others, chiefly spirit worshippers 
 
 
 7,804 
 
 7,161 
 
 
 Total . . 
 
 81,322 
 
 75,494 
 
 Out of the total population of 156,816 souls, 107,086 or about two- 
 thirds were found to be dependent solely on agriculture. The number of 
 males above 20 years of age who were so occupied was 29,025. 
 
 The numbers belonging to the other principal classes of occupations 
 were : — 
 
 Coolies 
 
 6,655 
 
 Hawkers 
 
 4,473 
 
 Shopkeepers .. 
 
 3,943 
 
 Cutch boilers . . 
 
 1,321 
 
 Oil makers . . 
 
 213 
 
 Musicians and Actors 
 
 198 
 
 Brokers 
 
 177 
 
 Blacksmiths . . 
 
 153
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 751 
 
 The following tables shew the state of education, according to the 
 census of 1872, among the males and females of the different religious 
 persuasions : — 
 
 
 
 1— i u 
 
 
 
 
 
 *" 1 
 
 c u 
 
 S a 
 
 
 O H 02 
 
 _ » . 
 
 (^ Qi • 
 
 
 
 Religion. 
 
 otal male p 
 tion not e 
 ing 12 year 
 
 otal able to 
 or write, or 
 instruction 
 
 otal female 
 lation uni 
 3'ears of ag( 
 
 otal able to 
 or write, or 
 instruction 
 
 
 H 
 
 H 
 
 H 
 
 H 
 
 Booddhist 
 
 23,991 
 
 2,773 
 
 23,318 
 
 121 
 
 Hindoo 
 
 207 
 
 41 
 
 109 
 
 9 
 
 MaLomcdau . . 
 
 111 
 
 46 
 
 114 
 
 13 
 
 Christian 
 
 151 
 
 59 
 
 127 
 
 39 
 
 Others 
 
 2,687 
 
 18 
 
 2,511 
 
 1 
 
 Total 
 
 27,180 
 
 2,910 
 
 26,212 
 
 183 
 
 Religion. 
 
 Total male popula- 
 tion exceeding 12 
 years. 
 
 Total able to read 
 or wTite, or under 
 instruction. 
 
 Total female popu- 
 lation above 12 
 years of age. 
 
 Total able to read 
 or write, or under 
 instruction. 
 
 Booddhist 
 Hindoo 
 
 Mahomcdan . . 
 Christian 
 Others 
 
 40,001 
 
 1,380 
 
 709 
 
 875 
 
 5,117 
 
 31,538 
 595 
 402 
 743 
 290 
 
 42,942 
 
 273 
 
 150 
 
 210 
 
 5,017 
 
 803 
 18 
 20 
 
 105 
 
 1 
 
 Total 
 
 51,112 
 
 33,034 
 
 19,252 
 
 1,007 
 
 Of the total male Burman population above the age of 12 years about 
 two-thirds are able to read and write but among the female Burman 
 population above the same age only one in fifty is able to read and write. 
 This result is due to the admirable system (admirable as far as the male 
 population is concerned) of almost every boy being sent to spend some 
 portion of his early years in a monastery to be instructed by the Hpoon- 
 gyee or Booddhist monks in religion and in the arts of reading and writing. 
 Girls are excluded from this advantage.
 
 752 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The numbers of different nationalities according to the census were 
 as follows : — 
 
 Races. 
 
 Burmang 
 
 Khyeng 
 
 Natives of India 
 
 Europeans . . 
 
 Kareng 
 
 Indo-Bv;rmans 
 
 Eurasians 
 
 Shan 
 
 Chinese 
 
 Hebrews 
 
 Arakanese 
 
 Arabs 
 
 Talaing 
 
 Americans 
 
 AiistraUans . . 
 
 Parsees . . 
 
 Number. 
 
 Total 
 
 137,016 
 
 14,475 
 
 3,458 
 
 822 
 
 420 
 
 199 
 
 170 
 
 166 
 
 62 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 156,816 
 
 The population according to age and sex during each of the last eight 
 years according to the rolls of the Thoogye^ was : — 
 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 "eS 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 Over 12. 
 
 Under 
 12. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Over 12. 
 
 Under 
 12. 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 1870 
 
 37,453 
 
 26,873 
 
 64,326 
 
 36,327 
 
 25,468 
 
 61,795 
 
 126,121 
 
 1871 
 
 44,567 
 
 22,706 
 
 67,273 
 
 44,933 
 
 20,398 
 
 65,331 
 
 132,604 
 
 1872 
 
 44,857 
 
 26,811 
 
 71,668 
 
 42,861 
 
 25,941 
 
 68,802 
 
 140,470 
 
 1873 
 
 45,435 
 
 27,180 
 
 72,615 
 
 49,597 
 
 20,321 
 
 69,918 
 
 142,533 
 
 1874 
 
 48,487 
 
 24,918 
 
 73,405 
 
 48,364 
 
 21,552 
 
 69,916 
 
 143,321 
 
 1875 
 
 50,492 
 
 24,374 
 
 74,866 
 
 47,596 
 
 24,056 
 
 71,652 
 
 146,518 
 
 1876 
 
 49,210 
 
 25,982 
 
 75,192 
 
 49,329 
 
 22,707 
 
 72,036 
 
 147,228 
 
 1877 
 
 49,290 
 
 26,305 
 
 75,595 
 
 49,611 
 
 23,028 
 
 72,639 
 
 148,234 
 
 Notwithstanding the inhospitable character of the soil and notwith- 
 standing that the Upper Burma officials jealously prevent the removal of 
 women and children, cattle, and household implements from then* country, 
 this district annually receives a large accession to the number of its 
 inhabitants by immigration across the frontier. Eunning as the frontier 
 line does over hilly ground covered for the most part with densely-growing 
 forest the Burman officials are but partially successful in their efforts to 
 prevent the depopulation of their frontier districts. There the villages 
 are every year decreasing in number and but that such villages contain a 
 considerable number of men who are " wanted " by the police of British 
 Burma their sites would speedily be nothing but refuges for wild beasts. 
 There being no waste low-lying lands available for rice cultivation the
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 753 
 
 immigrants betake themselves at once to toungya. Some few settle down 
 as cotton clean*ers or general coolies in the towns of Thayet and Allan, 
 whilst a few, after a year or two, adopt the wiser course of passing on to the 
 richer districts lower down where their labour is so much more productive. 
 
 The great bulk of the population is of the pure Burman race, unmixed 
 with Talaing blood as in the delta of the Irrawaddy or with Shan blood as 
 in the upper portion of Burma Proper. Concerning the characteristics and 
 peculiarities of the Burman, mush need not be said ; his virtues which arc 
 many, and his failings which are not a few, are much the same here as in 
 every other part of his extensive country. He here, as elsewhere, displays 
 much spasmodic energy and general laziness ; much love of feasts and 
 shows ; much disregard of the sacredness of human life and much tender- 
 ness for the lives of inferior members of the animal kingdom ; much 
 arrogance and inconsiderateness when placed in higli position ; and last, 
 though not least, much general truthfulness, and amongst unsophisticated 
 villagers, the very un-oriental trait of being quite unable to tell a specious 
 falsehood, a trait which is as honourable to himself as it is convenient to 
 those who have the government of his country. His occupations are 
 cultivation on a small scale and petty trading. Actual poverty is almost 
 unknown but riches are never accumulated. If any individual does by a 
 stroke of good luck or by a most unusual exercise of thrift, amass a few 
 thousand rupees he is sure to spend the greater portion of it in the erection 
 of a pagoda or a monastery or some similar work of religious merit. 
 
 The Khyeng* of whom there are over 14,000 in this district are a 
 variety of the so-called Mongolian family who have never made for them- 
 selves a place in history and whose language and traditions may be said 
 to be unknown to any but themselves. They hold themselves to bo 
 descended from the two last-born of the goddess Hleeneu who, male and 
 female and coming from the same egg, married. When Hleeneu distri- 
 buted her gifts among her children no spot was left for her youngest but 
 inhospitable mountain ranges. These slie assigned to him and gave him 
 elephants and horses and cattle. By various artifices his elder brother, 
 the Burman, cheated him out of nearly everything and he was at last left 
 with fowls, goats and pigs only. Even his forest-covered hills were to a 
 certain extent taken from him and his race has never had a country of 
 its own but wanders over the mountain ranges. 
 
 A 'r' iiture "^^^^ principal crops cultivated have been, in acres : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 6 
 
 
 S 
 "o 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 C3 
 
 o 
 
 
 s 
 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 H 
 
 1870-71 .. 
 
 49,29-1 
 
 6,999 
 
 4,708 
 
 4,086 
 
 1871-72 .. 
 
 02,713 
 
 7,073 
 
 5,954 
 
 4,383 
 
 1872-73 
 
 G3,341 
 
 7,978 
 
 5,214 
 
 4,094 
 
 1873-74 .. 
 
 57,484 
 
 2,910 
 
 4,709 
 
 4,040 
 
 1874-75 
 
 58,019 
 
 8,041 
 
 4,164 
 
 3,439 
 
 1875-76 .. 
 
 59,556 
 
 7,949 
 
 5,331 
 
 3,332 
 
 187fi-77 
 
 61,143 
 
 8,182 
 
 4,079 
 
 3,076 
 
 1877-78 .. 
 
 08.844 
 
 8,325 
 
 3,944 
 
 4,387 
 
 /S'c't' >iuh. tit. Khijciifi.
 
 754 BiilTIHII CUKMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Of rice, the staple commodity of British Burma, this district produces 
 l)nt little. It is probably the only one in the province which not only 
 does not export but does not even grovi^ enough for its home consumption. 
 Traffic in grain here is exactly the reverse of what it is elsewhere. In 
 other districts rice flows to the marts on the river bank where it is dearest ; 
 here it is cheapest on the river-bank and dearest at places further removed 
 from the river. 
 
 There are five different methods of raising a crop vu : — 
 
 1st. — On the ordinary rice swamp-land in low-lying plains, where the 
 local fall of rain alone, or that assisted by natural drainage from neighbour- 
 ing high lands, is sufficient.* 
 
 Slid. — On lands which though level are so high that the drainage from 
 them of the local fall of rain is too rapid to allow of rice being raised by 
 such natural supply alone and for the irrigation of which in the rainy 
 season dams or water-courses have to be constructed.! 
 
 3yd. — On land near the river-bank which is submerged during the 
 highest rises of the river and cannot therefore be planted until the last 
 high rise of the river has subsided, t 
 
 4th. — In Toimgya or Hill clearings. 
 
 All the above are wet-weather crops. 
 
 5lJi^ — Ma-yeen a hot-weather crop raised by irrigation-works the water 
 being obtained by throwing dams across streams or by water-wheels. 
 
 For the w^et-weather crops, with the exception of Toungya, ploughing 
 operations are commenced about June or July as soon as the earth has 
 been thoroughly saturated with rain ; small nurseries of rice plants being 
 at the same time raised on plots which are generally on somewhat higher 
 land than the rest so that the amount of water in them can be regulated 
 from time to time. Eice here is never sown broad-cast in the fields but is 
 always planted out. 
 
 The ploughing apparatus is merely a harrow with long teeth. The 
 plougher stands on the bar and the harrow is dragged about the water- 
 sodden field till a smooth surface of mud is obtained. In land of the first 
 and second descriptions rice can be planted out as soon as the fields and 
 the young rice plants are ready, and this is generally in July and August. 
 On land of the third description the cultivator must wait mitil the last 
 liigh rise of the river has gone down, or he will very likely lose his crop 
 and have to plant a second time. This land is planted generally in 
 September. In November the wet-land rice harvest begins, and the crops 
 are o-enerally all got in by the end of the first week in December. 
 
 In Toungya the rice seed, which is of a different kind to wet-land rice, 
 is scattered broat-cast over the side of a hill about May or Jime and is 
 reaped in October. 
 
 The Ma-yeen, or irrigated hot-weather crop, is generally obtained by 
 throwing a dam across a stream in the dry season and leading the water 
 off above the dam by side channels over the fields. In some rare instances 
 two crops are thus obtained from the same ground in one year. 
 
 The Ma-yeen rice is planted in January, February and March and is 
 reaped about ihree months af terwards. 
 
 * Mogoung Lay— i.e. fields which derive I t Tshay Lay- from " Tsbay" a clam. 
 
 their supply fium the sky. | 1 Ta-tshay Lay.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 755 
 
 A considerable quantity of wet-weather rice land belongs to the second 
 class, i.e. it is dependent on dams and irrigation channels for its water 
 supply. Our system of government is probably not so favourable for the 
 construction and maintenance of such works as was the native regime. To. 
 make them or to keep them in a state of efficiency it is necessary that the 
 whole body of cultivators whose lands are benefited by them should annually 
 give their quota of labour. Under native rule some one of this number 
 was appointed to be headman* and he had summary power to compel 
 by the lash or by fine any refractory villager. Such a communal institu- 
 tion, useful as it is, can, however, hardly be brought into accord with 
 Anglo-Indian law. Among a considerable body of cultivators there generally 
 happen to be some who from idleness, or perhaps from a mere wanton 
 desire to exhibit their newly-acquired independence and to shew that they 
 cannot be made to work as they would be under Burman rule, will refuse 
 to contribute their quota of labour for the general good. Their neighbours 
 do not approve of having to do the work of others as well as their own, and 
 so the dam breaks down or the water channel silts up. 
 
 During the dry season some of the lands along the banks of the Ma- 
 litoon khyoung are irrigated by means of a very simple 
 
 ^water^wheel?^ ^^^ ingenious contrivance in the shape of a self-acting 
 
 water-wheel, which raises a continuous supply of water 
 
 to a height of some 30 feet. It is certainly unique in its way, as far as 
 
 Burma is concerned, and it is doubtful whether any precisely similar 
 
 contrivance is used any where else. 
 
 • The banks of the Ma-htoon, where a view can be obtained at once of 
 several of these spider-like machines in ceaseless motion, their shafts 
 humming loudly, and the waters splashing and sparkling all over them, 
 form a singularly interesting spectacle!. 
 
 The result of a number of experiments made to ascertain the j'ield 
 Yield of rice land ^^ wet-weatlier rice crops in this district, is that the 
 highest known yield is 82 baskets or bushels^ per acre 
 and that the average is only 42 bushels per acre. On lands which are 
 artificially irrigated and cropped in the dry season the yield is somewhat 
 greater, a series of experiments having shewn that it is almost invariably 
 between 59 and 70 baskets per acre, but the grain on such land is some- 
 what coarser than the wet-weather rice. The weight of a standard basket 
 of unhusked rice in the season that it is reaped is about 45 lbs. The j'icld 
 of an' acre therefore at 42 baskets is 1,890 lbs., or 23 maunds and 2 seers. 
 A basket of good unhusked rice if well cleaned will give 31 lbs. of rice.§ 
 
 * Tshay-daiiig. 
 t See suh. tit. Ma-htoon. 
 
 + The standard basket contains 2218- 19 cubic inches. 
 
 § The following was the result of an experiment made in the Gaol to ascertain tlic actual out- 
 turn in rice husking. A basket of unhusked rice weighing 45 lbs, 10 oz. produced : — 
 
 Clean rice 
 13ruken rice 
 Tonr, or rice dust 
 Chall 
 
 Ti)tal 
 
 lbs. 
 
 oz, 
 
 30 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 •lo 
 
 10
 
 756 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The produce of an acre in rice then amounts to 1,302 lbs., or 15 maunds 
 3G seers. The value of the grain on the spot varies much according 
 to the locality and the season. Generally speaking unhnsked rice is 
 cheapest at the river-bank and dearest in the interior ; but an extraordi- 
 narily good harvest will do much to equalize prices. The harvest of 1872 
 was an unusually good one, and unhusked rice sold at Rs. 50 per 100 basket 
 on the river bank, near the frontier ; Rs. 40 per 100 baskets lower down 
 the river ; and Rs. 60 per 100 baskets at Meng-doon. In 1870, when the 
 harvest was a bad one, it sold for Rs. 75 on the river-bank at Thayetmyo, 
 and went as high as Rs. 120 at Meng-doon. Taking the average produce to be 
 42 baskets per acre and the average price on the spot Rs. 60 per 100 baskets 
 the average value of the gross produce of an acre will be Rs. 25. 
 
 No less than 61 different kinds of rice are known to the cultivators 
 of this district. The following is a list of their Burmese names and the 
 character of each different kind of grain. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Grain bard 
 or soft. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Nga-hpyoo-ga-le 
 
 Hard 
 
 a 5 montlis' rice. 
 
 
 Nga-loo-kwot 
 
 do 
 
 a 6 Ditto. 
 
 
 Oo-shit .. .. : 
 
 do 
 
 a 4 Ditto. 
 
 
 Kwon-tsa 
 
 do 
 
 a 5 Ditto : grown only in 
 
 toungya. 
 
 Hnan-tlie 
 
 do 
 
 a 4 Ditto : Ditto. 
 
 
 I'yo-gyee 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Nga-loo 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Hie 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Hnan-wa 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Tsa-ba-hpyoo 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Mye-pai-dwe . . 
 
 do 
 
 a 2.} montbs' rice. 
 
 
 Da-gyeng-twe 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Lo-linan-pwa . . 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Khwon-nee-peng-to 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Neema 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Mo-reng 
 
 do 
 
 a touugya rico. 
 
 . 
 
 Kyien-thee . . 
 
 do 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 
 Eahaing 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Kouk-pyouk .. 
 
 do 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 
 Tlia-bye-roimg 
 
 do 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 
 Nga-tsan-hpyoo 
 
 am 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 
 Hle-tshan-nee 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Illc-tslian-hpyoo 
 
 do 
 
 
 4 
 
 Kwon-tsa-nee 
 
 do 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 Kwon-tsa-hpyoo 
 
 do 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 
 Kha-kliyeng . . 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Tlioon-ia-hpyoo 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Tshan-nee-ga-le 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Nga-kyouk . . 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Kouk-reng-hbyoo 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Kouk-reug-tlioon-la-hpyoo 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Hpyoo-myo , . 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Tshan-gyaw-bpyoo-ga-le 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Nga-loo 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 Kareng-gyaw 
 
 Middling .. 
 
 
 
 Nga-kyee 
 
 Soft 
 
 a 6 montbs' rice. 
 
 
 Koung-bgnyeng-nga-khyiet 
 
 do 
 
 a 5 Ditto. 
 
 
 Rwe-toop-reng-koung-bgnyeug 
 
 do 
 
 a 5 Ditto. 
 
 
 Nga-poot-gyee 
 
 do 
 

 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 757 
 
 Name. 
 
 Grain bard 
 or soft. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Kywet-tliwa . . 
 
 Soft 
 
 
 Hkaw-mai . . 
 
 do 
 
 
 Toung-karcng 
 
 do 
 
 a toungya rice. 
 
 Pwe-doop 
 
 do 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 Tsit-ta-goitng 
 
 do 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 Kyaw-tseiig . . 
 
 do 
 
 
 Kya-tliouiig-pwc 
 
 do 
 
 
 Re-thway 
 
 do 
 
 
 Pek-wa-gyoc . . 
 
 do 
 
 
 Peng-gwa 
 
 do 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 Loo-lipyoo . . 
 
 do 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 Mwe-tsoot-gyce 
 
 do 
 
 
 Tslian-nee 
 
 do 
 
 
 Thcc-htap .. 
 
 do 
 
 
 Kouk-lignyeng 
 
 do 
 
 
 Poot-wa-kouk-hgnyeng . . 
 
 do 
 
 
 Khaw-pai-kyouk-hgiijeng 
 
 do 
 
 
 Kya-thoung-bwe 
 
 do 
 
 
 Kyaw-zeng . . 
 
 do 
 
 
 Rwet-lien 
 
 do 
 
 
 Mwe-tsoot . . 
 
 do 
 
 Ditto. 
 
 Nga-kliyiep . . 
 
 do 
 
 
 The much and deservedly-abused system of toungya* cultivation 
 finds its stronghold in this district. About January or February the 
 toungya-cutter selects a piece of land on the slope of a hill which is covered, 
 and the more thickly the better, with baml)oos or tree jungle. Everything 
 growing upon it is felled with a dha, or heavy chopper, and is left on the 
 ground for a couple of months to be thoroughly dried. About April, or 
 any time before the first fall of rain, this is fired ; great care being required 
 in the meantime to see that it is not accidentally or mischievously set fire 
 to, as in such case the brush-wood only would be burnt, leaving the larger 
 trunks to encumber the ground. 
 
 Immediately after the first fall of rain the surface of the toungya is 
 " tickled " with a spud to allow the thick layer of ashes to amalgamate 
 with the soil. The seed is then scattered broad-cast. The usual crops 
 are rice and cotton, or sessamum and cotton, with numerous kinds of 
 vegetables. The toungya has to be carefully weeded during the rainy 
 months. The rice or sessamum is reaped in September or October and the 
 cotton then springs up and is ready for picking from December to April. 
 The average area of a toungya cultivated by one family is al)out two acres, 
 and the value of the produce varies from lis. 50 to 100. After the crops 
 are reaped the toungya is abandoned and left to relapse into jungle. The 
 cotton plants, however, generally maintain their vitality for another year 
 and yield a small crop of inferior cotton. 
 
 On some of the better lands the growth of jungle is so rapid that 
 toungya can be formed on the same spot every fourth year.f Generally, 
 however, toungya land is worked only every seventh year. 
 
 The cotton of Thayct is proba])ly the best that is produced in Indo- 
 China. Before the annexation of Pegu it was in great request among the 
 
 * Hill clearing from Toiing, a Hill — called " Jlioom " in Assam. 
 
 t Such lands arc generally of a ridi rod colour, and are called " kwon" lauds.
 
 758 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Chinese of Yuiian and Western China. The produce of the district was 
 monopolized by Chinese merchants who established factories for cleaning 
 it on the banks of the river ; from thence it was exported by boat to 
 Amarapoora and Bha-maw, and from the latter place on the backs of mules 
 to China. Its price then at Amarapoora used to be sometimes as much 
 as two and a half annas a pound. Since the annexation of Pegu the 
 course of the trade has changed and all the cotton of the district goes down 
 the Irrawaddy to Eangoon. The merits of the Thayet cotton appear to be 
 that it is exceedingly strong, its colour is good and its seeds are abundantly 
 enveloped in wool. Its demerits are that it is coarse and rather short and 
 most tenaciously attached to the seed. It is grown entirely in toungya* 
 i.e. in temporary clearings on the sides of hills. It is generally sown 
 together with rice or sessamum. These products are reaped about the 
 close of the rainy season (September and October). The cotton plants 
 then spring up and the cotton is ready for picking about January, February 
 and March. The plants are of two kinds, known to the Burmese as the 
 '' large " and the " early cotton. "t The early kind is a plant which does 
 not grow more than three or four feet high and its bolls are ripe in Decem- 
 ber and January. The large kind reaches a height of from six to ten feet 
 and its seed does not ripen until a month or two later. The produce of 
 the two kinds is hardly distinguishable. That which is grown in the Mye- 
 dai township 'on the east of the Irrawaddy, especially about Tham-boo-hla 
 is much superior to that grown on the west of the Irrawaddy, and is 
 probably the best cotton grown in Burma. The cotton is all carted 
 in its uncleaned state to the marts on the banks of the river. That 
 produced on the east of the Irrawaddy is brought to Allanmyo and Ewa- 
 toung ; that produced in the Thayet township is brought to Thayet-myo ; 
 while the produce of the Meng-doon and Ka-ma townships finds its way to 
 the town of Ka-ma. 
 
 At Allanmyo, Ewa-toung and Ka-ma there are extensive cotton-cleaning 
 factories where all the cotton that is brought to market is cleaned and 
 roughly baled before being exported to Kangoon. At Ka-ma cotton- 
 cleaning is not carried on, the cotton being sent down in its raw state to 
 Prome. 
 
 The cotton-cleaning machine w^hich is in universal use in Burma is a 
 simple and not very effective apparatus. It consists of a rough frame-work 
 of four posts, a bamboo pedal, a fly-wheel and two cylinders placed close 
 to one another, the upper one being a thin one of iron and the lower some- 
 what larger and of wood. The bamboo pedal is attached by a string to the 
 fly-wheel and the wooden cylinder has a handle at the end opposite to the 
 fly-wheel. The operator, standing in front of the apparatus, with one foot 
 works the pedal which communicates a rapid motion to the fly-wheel and 
 thence to the iron cylinder ; with one hand he turns the handle of the wooden 
 cylinder and with the other he feeds the machine, inserting small quantities 
 of cotton between the two cylinders which catch it up and whilst the wool 
 passes through between the cylinders the seed, which is too large to pass, 
 is separated from the wool and left behind. 
 
 * As toungya arc not mcasurecl the area under cotton cultivation cannot be given with 
 
 accuracy, 
 t Wa-gyce and Wa-ycng.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 759 
 
 With tliis apparatus one operator will clean about 12 viss (43 lbs.) of 
 raw cotton in a day, turning out about 4^ viss (16 lbs.) of cleaned cotton.* 
 
 There are about 4,000 of these machines at work in this district, 
 3,000 on the east side and 1,000 on the west side of the river. They are 
 in full work only for about half the year, cotton-cleaning in the rains, 
 when the cotton is damp and labour not so plentiful, being but little 
 carried on. A calculation based on the number of machines, the number 
 of days which they work in the year, and the amount which each 
 machine will clean in a day, makes the estimated amount of raw cotton 
 which is cleaned in a year 728,000 viss, or 1,153 tons. Taking the 
 average ratio of cleaned to uncleaned cotton to be 100 to 265, the amount 
 of cleaned cotton turned out in a year will amount to 274,717 viss 
 (435 tons). This is not all the produce of this district only, as small 
 quantities are smuggled across the frontier from Upper Burma. 
 
 The average price of raw cotton at the marts on the river l)ank during 
 the last few years has been Rs. 20 per 100 viss and of cleaued cotton 
 Es. 60 per 100 viss ; cart-hire from the interior costs about Rs. 5 for every 
 30 miles, an ordinary cart carrying about 150 viss at a time. 
 
 The only oil seed grown in the district is the Scssamitni Indicum (the 
 Indian Til). This is grown both in toungya and on level land ; when 
 grown in toungya it is sown generally with cotton at the commencement 
 of the rainy season. May or June, and is reaped in September or October ; 
 when grown on level land it is sown about September or October and 
 reaped about December and January. 
 
 Chillies are extensively cultivated ; sometimes on the slopes of hills, 
 but generally on the alluvial flats in the bed of a stream which are more 
 or less under water during the rains and dry in the dry season only. 
 The Burmans shew great care in their cultivation of this plant. The 
 soil is industriously harrowed and pulverized and kept clear of weeds until 
 the crop is off the ground. The seedlings are planted after the close of 
 the rams and the crop is gathered in March and April. The maximum 
 produce of an acre is about 300 viss (1,095 lbs). 
 
 On the cultivation of onions and garlic also an unusual amount of 
 care is bestowed by Burmans. They are grown invariably in the beds of 
 streams during the dry weather. 
 
 This is the largest tobacco-growing district in Burma. The plant is 
 grown chiclly on banks in the Irrawaddy which are submerged during the 
 rains and in the beds of the smaller streams. Some foreign varieties have 
 been introduced and are flourishing. Considerable care is shewn in the 
 cultivation of the plant, but the native method of drying the loaf iu the 
 sun takes away from the value of the produce. The largest outturn per 
 acre is about 400 viss (1,460 lbs). 
 
 One of the products of the district is cutch or Catechu, which is 
 extracted from the inner wood of the Acacia catechu by cutting it up in 
 small chips, boiling the chips in water, evaporating the solution to the 
 consistency of syrup over a lire, and then exposing it to the air to harden. 
 It is cut up into squares of about nine inches in breadth and length and 
 
 * Tlio out-tuni is more in the case of the Mye-dai cotton. At Tliayct-myo 280 viss (9 cwt.) 
 of raw cotton will turn out 100 viss (3 cwt. 2 1 llis.) of cleaned euttou, whilst 200 viss (8 cwt. 1 lbs.) 
 of Mye tlai coUou will yive lOO viss of cleaned cotton.
 
 760 BUITISII BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 three inches in thickness, wrapped np in leaves and carted to the river 
 bank for conveyance to Eangoon. The two districts of Prome and Thayet- 
 myo supply the greater portion of the cutch which is manufactured in 
 British Burma. Previous to the annexation of Pegu the production of 
 this article in Burma appears to have been small, the wants of the local 
 market being soon supplied and the exports being almost nothing. Since 
 the annexation, however, the manufacture both in Upper and British Bur- 
 ma has gone on increasing rapidly. The cutch-making season proper 
 lasts from October to March ; very little is made from July to September 
 and hardly any at all from April to June. 
 
 A cutch tree three feet in girth at the base is considered to have 
 arrived at maturity and to be in the best condition for making cutch. It 
 takes a tree from ten to 20 years, according to the nature of the ground 
 to reach this size. Those situated in the valleys near water grow faster 
 than those on more elevated ground. Owing to the vigour with which the 
 manufacture of cutch has been carried on during the last few years the 
 number of trees in available localities is sensibly diminishing. A cutch 
 tree to be useful to a cutch manufacturer must be situated within an easy 
 distance, say three or four miles miles, from water during the di"y season. 
 Owing to the growing scarcity of trees in such localities, the cutch manu- 
 facturers began felling small under-sized trees, thereby imperilling the 
 supplies of future years and a system of forest conservancy with regard to 
 cutch has been introduced. 
 
 Sericulture is carried on in the Teng-daw and Peng-ga-daw circles 
 in the township of Mye-dai ; Kyouk-hpyoot in the township of Ka-ma ; 
 Ban-goon in the township of Thayet ; and Shwe-doung in the township of 
 Meng-doon. All these, with the exception of Ban-goon, are situated on 
 the lower slopes of the Arakan mountains west of the Irrawaddy, or of the 
 Pegu Pioma range east of the Irrawaddy. In Ban-goon the culture is 
 carried on in the alluvial valley of the Pa-nee stream. 
 
 The species of the mulberry plant on which the worms are fed has not 
 yet been identified by any competent botanist*. It is a thin lanky shrub 
 throwing out several vertical shoots from near the ground and growing to 
 a height in the most favourable localities of from eight to ten feet. It 
 bears no perceptible fruit and is propagated by cuttings.! 
 
 In Mye-dai the plant is sometimes grown in toungya everywhere else 
 it is grown on level land. After about three years it ceases to produce 
 good and succulent leaves and is then abandoned. 
 
 When mulberry leaves fail the worms are kept alive with the leaves 
 oii\\Q Broussonciia papiirifera, an abundant wild plant, but the silk they 
 produce when fed on this is comparatively worthless. 
 
 Very little silk is reeled on the west of the Irrawaddy, the eggs being 
 exported to the silk-growing localities on the east, the best silk being 
 
 * The Honorary Secretary, Eangoon Agricultiu'e Society, and Mr. Scott, Ciu-ator to the 
 Botanical Gardens, Calcutta, have pronounced it not to be the Moms Indica, but have not declared 
 to what species it does belong. 
 
 t The Bui-mau name is Po-tsa-beug — literally " worms' food tree." It is not indigenous, 
 i.e. it is never found in a wild state. Concerning the period at which, and the country from which, 
 this tree and the silkworm were first introduced into Burma nothing definite can be ascertained 
 from the traditions of the pcoi^le. It is sui^poacd to have been introduced by the valley of the 
 Irrawaddy from China.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 761 
 
 obtained on the oast whilst the lands on the west of the river produce the 
 best eggs. 
 
 The price of the silk varies from Es. 15 to Es. 10 per viss (3"65 lbs)*. 
 The silkworm is a multivoltine, running its cycle of existences in 
 from 47 to 50 days, of w^hich it passes in the egg eight to 11 days, in the 
 worm stage 30 days, in the cocoon eight days, and as a moth one day. Its 
 true specific name is doubtful. It has been called Bomhyx Arakanensis. 
 
 The largest area that can be ploughed by a cultivator w^ith a single 
 pan- of bufialoes in this district is estimated to be five 
 
 ize o arms. acres ; a pair of bullocks will plough rather less. The 
 
 actual average area of the rice cultivator's farm amounts only to 3 acres 
 10 annas 6 pies. A 200-baskct plot is considered to be the ordinary amount 
 which one man and a pair of bullocks will cultivate. The area of this 
 according to king Aloung-tsee-thoo's standard! would be 3 acres 9 annas 6 
 pies corresponding very nearly with what is now found to be the average 
 size of the cultivators' holdings. 
 
 According to the statements of the best informed natives the money 
 ,, , , , . . value of the expenses of cultivating a 200-basket plot 
 
 Cost of cultivation. „„^ „„ f^n^,„„ o j. 
 
 are as loilows : — 
 
 1 Hire of bullocks or value of bullocks' laboiu- 
 
 2 Five baskets of seed rice at 0-8-0 per basket 
 
 3 Hire of ploughs or value of cultivator's labour 
 
 4 His food 
 
 5 Hire of 20 women for planting a;t J basket of rice per woman 
 
 6 Feeding the women 
 
 7 Hire of 22 reapers at J basket each 
 
 8 Feeding the reapers 
 
 Total 
 
 Rs. 
 
 A. 
 
 P. 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 69 
 
 If the cultivation yields 200 baskets of rice the value of the crop in 
 an ordinary year when rice sells at Es. 70 per 100 baskets will be 
 Es. 140. As a rule, however, cultivation is never carried on by hired 
 labom- and the only part of the work that is not done entu-ely by the 
 cultivator and his own family is that of planting and reaping and in this 
 as often as not the cultivators mutually assist one another. If rice has 
 to be paid to the planters and reapers it is not paid untU after the crop 
 has been got in and threshed. 
 
 * Mr. Blecliyiiden observes with regard to the BiuTnese silk that the thread is much thicker 
 than Bengal silk, being n^eled with twice the number of cocoons, and that though there was no 
 market for such silk m India, it would fetch in London from 10 to 11 shillings a pound. 
 
 t The " Ta-ya-geng". or " Pay" as it was called in the olden time, is said to have been defined by 
 king Aloung-tsee-thoo -147 B.E. 1058 A.D., and is a square equal to 280 Enghsh feet, or acres 1-12-9. 
 
 The Burmans have, or had in former days, three recognized cubit measures. The Than-doung, 
 measuring 24 Burmese or 18 EngUsh inches ; the Tsheug-daing-toung, measuring 28 Burmese or 
 21 English inches ; and the Lay-bhwai-toung, measuring 32 Burmese or 24 English inches. 
 Seven Lay-bhwai cubits made one " Ta," twenty Ta made one " Gyo," and a square measuring 
 a " Gyo'' on each side was a " Pay" or " Ta-va-geng." 
 
 96
 
 762 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The agricultural stock during each of the last eight years was : — 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 c3 
 
 c3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 00 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 to 
 
 3 CO 
 
 '7S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (B 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 OJ 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 so 
 
 
 
 tc 
 
 tn 
 
 f 
 
 O 
 
 oats. 
 
 a 
 
 
 M 
 
 o 
 
 m 
 
 Ph 
 
 Q 
 
 P-* 
 
 fq 
 
 o 
 
 1870-71 
 
 8,354 
 
 61,396 
 
 304 
 
 5,661 
 
 15,253 
 
 15,781 
 
 870 
 
 Not given. 
 
 1871-72 
 
 9,666 
 
 67,990 
 
 443 
 
 6,962 
 
 16,502 
 
 19,024 
 
 1,028 
 
 
 1872-73 
 
 10,795 
 
 73,227 
 
 527 
 
 7,736 
 
 17,789 
 
 20,584 
 
 1,074 
 
 
 1873-74 
 
 11,250 
 
 75,718 
 
 403 
 
 9,646 
 
 18,431 
 
 21,627 
 
 809 
 
 
 1874-75 
 
 11,415 
 
 73,865 
 
 292 
 
 9,726 
 
 18,655 
 
 22,280 
 
 883 
 
 557 
 
 1875-76 
 
 12,388 
 
 77,546 
 
 417 
 
 10,083 
 
 19,206 
 
 23,766 
 
 756 
 
 641 
 
 1876-77 
 
 13,333 
 
 82,806 
 
 302 
 
 9,574 
 
 19,547 
 
 24,577 
 
 903 
 
 676 
 
 1877-78 
 
 15,011 
 
 86,843 
 
 231 
 
 9,609 
 
 20,204 
 
 25,575 
 
 994 
 
 634 
 
 and the prices of produce and labour for the same period were : — 
 
 
 Wages per 
 
 DIEM. 
 
 
 Pee Maund op 80 lbs. 
 
 Each. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Teae. 
 
 
 
 -a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 "3 
 
 
 
 
 <D 
 
 i3 
 .a 
 
 CO 
 
 a 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 •6 
 
 
 i 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 i 
 
 o 
 
 
 3 
 o 
 
 o 
 "3 
 
 ri 
 
 
 m 
 
 P 
 
 o 
 
 s 
 
 
 v^ 
 
 
 O 
 
 CO 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ffl 
 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 P. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 P. 
 
 Rs. A. P. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 P. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 P. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 Rs. A. 
 
 1870-71 
 
 1 8 
 
 7 
 
 1 8 
 
 2 4 
 
 
 
 3 8 
 
 
 
 3 2 
 
 1 15 
 
 
 
 5 11 
 
 
 
 45 
 
 65 
 
 1871-72 
 
 1 8 
 
 7 
 
 1 8 
 
 2 5 
 
 4 
 
 3 5 
 
 4 
 
 4 6 1 
 
 1 2 
 
 6 
 
 8 12 
 
 3 
 
 50 
 
 60 
 
 1872-73 
 
 1 8 
 
 7 
 
 1 8 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 5 4 
 
 
 
 4 6 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 5 9 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 50 
 
 1873-74 
 
 1 8 
 
 7 
 
 1 8 
 
 2 3 
 
 
 
 5 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 6 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 5 9 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 50 
 
 1874-75 
 
 1 8 
 
 7 
 
 1 8 
 
 2 10 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 50 
 
 1875-76 
 
 1 8 
 
 8 
 
 1 8 
 
 2 10 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 G 10 
 
 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 1870-77 
 
 1 8 
 
 6 
 
 1 8 
 
 2 10 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 Not given 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 6 10 
 
 u 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 1877-78 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 1 8 
 
 3 9 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 3 8 
 
 1 e 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 The buffaloes are increasing in number very rapidly partly by breeding 
 and partly by importation from the southward. They do not thrive so well 
 as in the more humid delta and are employed chiefly in the fields along 
 the bank of the Irrawaddy and its larger affluents. Cows, bulls and bullocks, 
 on the other hand, will endure a far drier climate and though they have 
 greatly increased in number the increase has not been so great as amongst 
 buffaloes. Both buffaloes and bullocks are used mainly for agricultural 
 and draught purposes and the larger increase in the number of the former 
 is, no doubt, due to the larger increase in the cultivation of the lower and 
 moister lands. 
 
 The murrains which carry off so many head of agricultural beasts in 
 the seacoast tracts are rare here and when a spreading disease does 
 break out the people themselves establish a system of quarantine.^ The 
 following diseases are known and distinguished : — Einderpest (Kyouk- 
 pouk-na ; literally small-pox) : MaHgnant sore throat (Kyiet-na) : Pleuro- 
 pneumonia (Thai-gyce-oo-roung ; literally liver-big-bowel-swell) : Foot and
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 763 
 
 mouth disease (Sba-ua-khwa-na ; literally tongue-disease hoof-disease) : 
 Anthrax fever (Doung-thau-na). 
 
 In the prices of most articles there has been a complete revolution 
 during the last 20 years. The usual price of unhusked 
 Prices. ^.-gg before the annexation of Pegu was from Es. 20 to 
 
 PiS. 25 per 100 bushels ; latterly it has been from Pis. 50 to PiS. 60 and even 
 more. Sessamum seed ranged from Pis. 50 to Pis. 125 ; during the last few 
 years it has fluctuated between PiS. 180 and Pis. 380. Uncleaned cotton 
 was sold at from Es. 5 to Es. 10 per 100 viss (365 lbs.) lately it has ranged 
 between Es. 17 and Es. 28. Cutch sold at from Es. 3 to Es. 10 now it 
 fetches from Es. 15 to Es. 24. Chillies cost Es. 5 now they sell at Es. 7 
 in Meng-doon where they are chiefly grown but rise sometimes to Es. 28 at 
 the marts on the bank of the Irrawaddy. Onions cost Es. 5 i^er 100 viss 
 in the Burmese time ; now they cost Es. 8 or Es. 10 at Meng-doon, but rise 
 sometimes to Es. 40 on the bank of the Irrawaddy. Tobacco cost Es. 10 
 per 100 viss ; now it ranges between Es. 20 and Es. 30. Bullocks sold 
 for Es. 10 each ; now for Es. 50. A male buffalo fetched Es. 15 ; now 
 it costs from Es. 50 to Es. 60. Thus it is in plough cattle that there has 
 been the greatest increase and this is undoubtedly due to the increase 
 in the area under the plough, itself the result of a more settled and 
 reasonable government. 
 
 On the annexation of Pegu a frontier custom-house was established 
 at Mj'e-dai and dues were levied on the export and 
 import of certain articles. The exports on which dues 
 were levied and the rates of such dues were — rice, an anna a basket {5s. 
 per ton) ; rice in the husk half that rate ; salt, four annas a maund (14.s. 2d. 
 per ton) ; betel-nut and all preparations of fish, 10 per cent. ad. vcdorem. 
 Dues at the rate of 10 per cent, ad valorem were levied on imports of 
 all kinds with the exception of coin, precious stones, cotton, grain and 
 pulse and living animals, which were free, and teak timber and spirits 
 for which special rates were provided by Act XXX. of 1854. Dues were 
 levied at these rates until June 1863. In the mean time the trade which 
 crossed the frontier had more than doubled. The total value was, in : — 
 
 Frontier trade. 
 
 
 Imports. 
 
 Exiiorts. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1855-56 
 1862-G3 
 
 Rs. 
 1,494,970 
 
 3,8G6,000 
 
 Rs. 
 
 2,157,280 
 4,496,450 
 
 Rs. 
 
 3,052,260 
 8,302,450 
 
 This source of revenue was abandoned by the treat}' made with the 
 king of Burma on the 10th November 1862. That treaty provided for 
 an optional abolition of inland customs on both sides of the frontier and 
 it likewise granted the boon of freedom from sea-customs duties to goods 
 landed in Eangoon for transport into Upper Burma. The English govern- 
 ment did not wait for the expiry of the year mentioned in Article 7 of
 
 764 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER^ 
 
 the treaty but on the 23rd June 1863 ceased to collect customs dues upon 
 the frontier. About four years afterwards (May 1867) the Burmese 
 government, though it would not abolish the duties taken on their side of the 
 frontier, made a considerable reduction in the rates. The duty on imports 
 was reduced from Rs. 10 to Rs. 5 per cent, ad valorem and export duties 
 hitherto levied at Es. 6 per cent, were reduced to Rs. 5 per cent, ad valorem. 
 Later in the same year, October 1867, the Burmese government bound itself 
 by treaty to levy no more than the above reduced rates for a period of 10 
 years, the British government agreeing not to re-impose the frontier customs 
 "duties as long as the Burmese government should collect only the 5 per cent. 
 ad valorem duties. 
 
 The conclusion of the treaty had a stimulating effect upoaa the trade 
 passing by the Irrawaddy between British and Upper Burma. Although 
 duties have ceased to be levied on the British side an establishment is still 
 maintained to register the value of goods carried by boats and steamers 
 and the returns shew that the value of the trade so registered was in 
 1866-67 Rs. 11,174,690, and in the succeeding year more than double that, 
 or Rs. 23,632,910 ; and the total value of the trade during the succeeding 
 
 years was — 
 
 
 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1868-69 
 
 19,552,870 
 
 1873-74 
 
 . 23,291,405 
 
 1869-70 
 
 20,223,880 
 
 1874-75 
 
 . 26,484,135 
 
 1870-71 
 
 22,073,610 
 
 1875-76 
 
 . 25,949,561 
 
 1871-72 
 
 21,590,990 
 
 1876-77 
 
 . 27,289,480 
 
 1872-73 
 
 23,434,224 
 
 1877-78 
 
 . 31,828,251 
 
 The principal articles of export are betel-nuts, cotton twist and yarn, 
 crockery- ware, nga-pee or dried and salted fish and fish paste, piece-goods 
 (cotton, woollen and silk), rice husked and unhusked, salt and raw silk; 
 and of import are cotton (raw), home-made cotton and silk piece-goods, 
 indigo, safflower, cutch, grain, hides, jaggery and molasses, gums and 
 resins, lac, oil-seeds, lacquered-ware, petroleum, ponies, jade, precious 
 stones, pickled tea and wheat. 
 
 The only places in the district which can be dignified with the name 
 
 Towns ^^ towns are Thayet-myo, Allan-myo, Rwa-toung, Ka-ma 
 
 and Meng-doon. 
 
 Thayet-myo (Lat. 19° 18' 6" Long. 95° 16' 18") with a population of 
 10,170 souls, is entirely a creation of British rule and has arisen round 
 the military cantonments. It contained in the Burmese time only 200 or 
 800 houses. It is situated on high undulating laud on the river bank. 
 The site is dry, gravelly and healthy. It has a well-built masonry market 
 which gives a yearly increasing revenue. At the northern end of the 
 town where non-inflammable roofs have been made compulsory all the 
 houses are good and substantial. This town is the head-quarter station 
 of the district. There are three civil and criminal courts, the Deputy 
 Commissioner's, Assistant Commissioner's and that of a Myo-ook (Extra 
 Assistant Commissioner). There is also a Cantonment Magistrate for the 
 Cantonment. The Cantonment of Thayet-myo was founded in 1854, the 
 troops which during the war were garrisoned at Prorne having been moved 
 there during that year.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 765 
 
 Allan-myo (Lat. 19° 22' 50", Long. 95° 17' 20") so called after Major 
 Allan*, the Officer of the Madras Quartermaster-General's Department 
 who demarcated the frontier line, is a new town which has taken the place 
 of the old Biirman town of Mye-dai. The fort at Mye-dai having been 
 occupied by British troops a native village sprang up just to the south of 
 it on the opposite side of the Kye-nee-khyoung which here enters the 
 Irrawaddy. The situation being a favourable one as an outlet for the 
 produce of a large tract on the east of the river the village rapidly rose 
 into a town. It was at one time in a most crowded and filthy condition 
 but has since been extended and improved. A substantial market has 
 been built. An Assistant Commissioner who is also ex-officio Assistant 
 Collector of Customs resides here. In 1878 the number of inhabitants 
 was 6,8-11. 
 
 Rwa-toung (Lat. 19° 19' 20" Long. 95° 18' 45") on the bank of the 
 Irrawaddy is just opposite to the cantonments of Thayet-mj'o. It has a 
 population of 3,696 souls of whom many are engaged in cotton-cleaning. 
 A Myo-ook (Extra Assistant Commissioner) has his court here. 
 
 Ka-ma or Ka-ma cum Gywon-douug is situated on the right bank of 
 the Irrawaddy in Lat. 19° 1' 0" Long. 95° 11' 0", at the mouth of the 
 Ma-de river ; the town to the south of the stream being Gywon-doung and 
 that to the north, Ka-ma. 
 
 It is prettily situated on low hills most of them crowned by a pagoda 
 or a monastery. It has a population of 3,244 souls of whom all are cultiva- 
 tors or petty traders. The town is a short distance below the mouth of 
 the Ma-htoon and all the surplus produce of the valley of that river 
 consisting of tobacco, chillies, onions, cutch and cotton, that does not go 
 straight down to Prome is disposed of here. A Myo-ook (Extra Assistant 
 Commissioner) holds his court here. 
 
 Meng-doon (Lat. 18° 20' 12" Long. 94° 4' 78") is a pretty little town 
 on high land on one of the bends of the Meng-doon or Ma-htoon river within 
 a few miles of the foot of the Arakan mountains. It has not increased 
 under British rule having formerly been the seat of government of a Won 
 with his numerous staif. It contains a population of 4,213 souls, chiefiy 
 engaged in agriculture. A Tsit-kai (Extra Assistant Commissioner 2nd 
 class) has his court here. 
 
 Just prior to the annexation the district was administered by the fol- 
 lowing officials of the higher ranks : — A Won (an official 
 Administratiou. ^^ ^^^ ^j^-^.^l ^.^^^^j.^^. ^^ Meug-doon ; Myo-thoogycc or pro- 
 vincial governors who arc olficials of the fourth-class at Tha3'et-myo, Mye-dai, 
 Ka-ma, and Gnyoung-beng-tshiep, and Taik-thoogyee or heads of circles 
 in the five circles between Mye-dai and Gnyoung-beng-tshiep. All these 
 were independent of each other and subordinate only to theu' respective 
 " Myo-tsa " or " eaters of districts " that is princes of the blood or court 
 favourites at Amarapoora to whom the revenues of the tract were assigned. 
 During the war of 1852 not one of these leading officials espoused the cause 
 
 * " A-lan" in Burmese means a "flag" and most Biirmaus connect the name with the 
 fact of this being the most ailvanccil post at whicli the British flag was hoisted. 
 
 t I have not been able to trace any appuintraont of a Won-douk or official of the second 
 rank, and Hlwot-daw Mong-gyee or officials of the first rank never rule proviuces but remain 
 at the capital as " cabinet ministers."
 
 766 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 of the English. During the war of 1825-26 many men who had held higli 
 rank in the Bm*man service joined the winning side on the supposition 
 that what the British had once taken they would keep ; and when Pegu was 
 ultimately evacuated the lot of such of these men as could not get away to 
 the British provinces of Tenasserim and Arakan was a cruel one : both they 
 themselves and their families were generally put to death by the Burman 
 government. Dreading a repetition of such conduct on our part in 1852 
 all Burmans of high rank steadfastly maintained their allegiance to the 
 national cause and retired as om* troops advanced ; dragging with them 
 wherever it was possible, as in some frontier districts, the w^hole of the 
 population. The only officials of the old regime who were available to carry 
 on the administration of the country were the lowest of all, the rwa-thoo- 
 gyee or heads of villages. 
 
 The first Commissioner of Pegu, Major (now Sir A. P.) Pliayre, was 
 strongly in favour of maintaining all these petty village officials in their 
 former position and allowing their appointments to continue to be held 
 by hereditary succession ; the rule which was thus laid down was sometimes 
 perhaps abused, for any person, however small his abilities and qualifica- 
 tions might be, who could establish the shadow of a claim to an hereditary 
 village thoogyeeship had the appointment conferred upon him and some 
 few who had no valid title to the distinction managed to get themselves 
 and their villages on to the hereditary list.* 
 
 Every village which from the information available at the time of 
 annexation was believed to have been a registered village at the settlement 
 of 1783 A.D. was entered in our rolls as a separate fiscal unit. No less 
 than 256 village tracts were so registered and whenever a man put forward 
 hereditary claims to the headship of any of such villages that is to be a 
 riva (village) thoogj^ee, he received the appointment and received also a step 
 in official rank by being dubbed a " toi/v-thoogyee", or headman of a circle. t 
 
 For some years these petty officials clung wdth considerable tenacity 
 to their appointments, but in process of time as perquisites decreased 
 whilst work increased, when the villagers refused to be squeezed as 
 formerly and the Deputy Commissioner became more exacting in his 
 demands for reports and returns which the Thoogyee was seldom able to 
 j)repare himself and for the preparation of which, therefore, he had to pay, 
 these hereditary officials began to find that their position was no longer 
 what it had been. Instead of being autocrats with power to levy taxes as 
 they liked they were nothing but under-paid and hard-worked underlings. 
 Under these circumstances many of them came to the conclusion that 
 their appointments were not worth holding. Advantage has been taken 
 of vacancies to amalgamate these small village tracts and the number 
 of separate Kevenue Circles or Thoo-gyeeships in 1870 was 81, and the 
 
 * At the settlement of 1783 A.D., the lowest division made was the registered village tract 
 which might contain one or more actual villages, and an herecUtary village Thoogyee was 
 ai^pointed to each registered village. 
 
 t The words talk (administrative circle) and taik-thoogyee (headman of an administrative 
 circle) thus acquired somewhat different meanings to those which they had under Biirmese rule. 
 Under the Burmese government the word " taik " meant what its etjinology denotes viz., a 
 collection of administrative units, the units being the village tracts, but under English rule the 
 lowest units have been styled " taik". Now however that these units are being amalgamated 
 oiir " taik " again approaches its original meaning.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 767 
 
 number of Tboogyce has Bince been reduced to 47. After the annexation 
 the officials appointed for the Civil, Criminal and Revenue administration of 
 the district, the head- quarters being then at Prome, were one or more Assist- 
 ant Commissioners at Thayet-m3^o, a Collector of Customs at Mj-e-dai, Myo- 
 ook (now called Extra Assistant Commissioners) at Mye-dai, Thayet-myo, 
 Bhwot-lay, Gnyoung-beng-tshiep, Meng-doon, Meng-dat, Ka-ma and Myei- 
 wad-dee and the Thoogyee of circles who had only revenue and police powers. 
 Subsequently Meng-dat was joined to Meng-doon and in 1861, on the form- 
 ation of the existing police force, the Myo-ook and Thoogyee were deprived 
 of police powers, and the number of the former reduced, Bhwot-lay and 
 Gnj'oung-beng-tshiep being amalgamated with Mye-dai, and Mya-wad-dee 
 with Ka-ma. At the same time the Pegu Light Infantry, a local corps, 
 was broken up and its place taken by the police, bodies of whom relieved 
 its four detachments in this district, at Tham-boo-la and Kadeng-ma- 
 tha on the east and Meng-doon and Ee-myit on the west bank of the Irra- 
 waddy. 
 
 In 1870 Thayet was separated from Prome and formed into a separate 
 district as it was found that, owing to the increased prosperity of the country 
 and the increased work which j-ear by year is thrown on to the shoulders 
 of the Deputy Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioner of Prome whilst 
 occupied with important administrative duties at and near Prome was 
 unable to pay that attention which was desirable to frontier politics or to 
 keep strict watch over the frontier freebooters w^ho made constant inroads 
 on our territory from Upper Burma. At present the administration 
 of the district is conducted by a Deputy Commissioner at Thaj-et who is 
 ex-officio Collector of Customs ; an Assistant Commissioner at Allan-myo 
 w^ho is also Assistant Collector of Customs, an Assistant Commissioner at 
 Thayet,. four Extra Assistant Commissioners at Thayet-myo, Piwa-toung, 
 Ka-ma and Meng-doon, and the Thoogyee of ckcles. Under the Deputy 
 Commissioner is a Superintendent of Police in charge of about 845 men, 
 subordinate officers and constables, stationed at various points in the 
 district, who is aided l)y an Assistant Superintendent. 
 
 THAYET-HNIT-KHWA. — A revenue cii'cle of about 12 square miles in 
 extent south of Gnyoung-tsee, in the south-eastern to\\'nship of the Tavoy 
 district, sparsely populated and not much cultivated. Eice is the principal 
 produce. In 1877 the population was 983, the land revenue was Es. 2,55*2, 
 the capitation tax Es. 716 and the gross revenue Es. 3,395. 
 
 THAYET-MYO.— A township in the Thayet district between latitude 
 19° 29' 3" and 19' 5' 0" north, and longitude 95' 16' 30" and 94° 45' east. 
 It contains an area of 192 square miles and is bounded on the north by 
 Upper Bm-ma, on the west by the township of Meng-doon, on the east by 
 the Ii'rawaddy and on the south by the township of Ka-ma. 
 Its cultivated area in 1871-72 was — 
 
 Acres. 
 Kico land . . . . . . 8,0G5 
 
 Garden land . . . . . . 795 
 
 Miscellaneous . . . . . . 1,034 
 
 Total . . 10,49i
 
 768 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 It contained also 1,506 toungya and 2,160 trees assessed separately. 
 The revenue was — 
 
 Laud .. .. .. Rs, 7,747 
 
 Capitation tax .. .. ,, 23,967 
 
 Fisheries .. .. ,, 522 
 
 Total .. Rs. 32,236 
 
 The population by the Census of 1872 was 35,633 of whom 30,524 
 were Burmans, 3,183 natives of India, 821 Eiu'opeans, 678 Ivhj^eng, 58 
 Chinese and 369 of other races. 
 
 It contained the following cattle : — 
 
 Buffaloes .. .. .. .. 364 
 
 Bulls, bullocks and cows . . . . 14,741 
 
 Total . . 15,105 
 
 It has 49 registered village tracts which are now divided among nine 
 Thoogyee. In 1878-79 the population was 19,498 and the gross revenue, 
 Es. 25,700. 
 
 The present township of Thayet-myo corresponds nearly with what was 
 the Myo-thoogyeeship of Thayet-myo in the Burmese time. The frontier 
 line, however, cut off about one-third of the old Myo-thoogyeeship which 
 it left to Upper Burma. This part is known in Upper Burma as the 
 district of Thayet-gyan.* The present township has received additions 
 from Mye-dai and Ka-ma. In 1859 so much of the old Mye-dai Anouk-bhek 
 cu'cle as is below the frontier line, forming our circle of Mya-tsa-gauag, 
 was taken away from Mye-dai and made over to Thayet-myo. In the same 
 year the circle of Bhan-goon which had always belonged to Ka-ma was also 
 joined to Thayet; and in 1871 the ckcle of Nga-tshaw was taken from Ka-ma 
 and given to Thayet. 
 
 During the last century the interior divisions of the township of Thayet- 
 myo have undergone more changes than those of any other part of the 
 district. In the time of king Tsheng-goo-meng (1138 B.E., 1776 A.D.)— 
 the debauched grandson of the great Aloung-bhoora — one Moung To was 
 hereditary Myo-thoogyee of Thayet-myo and the Mj^o-thoogyeeship was 
 divided into three circles (Talk) under Taik-ook. The three circles and 
 their Taik-ook were — 
 
 Toung-bhek circle, under Moung Hpa, containing 83 villages. 
 Myouk-bhek circle, under Moung Shwe Loo, containg 33 villages. 
 Myoma circle, under the Myo-thoogyee himself, containing 33 vil- 
 lages. 
 
 The Toung-bhek and Myouk-bhek circles were separated by the Pwon- 
 khyoung. The two Taik-ook had before this held their offices hereditarily 
 for two or three generations. 
 
 In the oppression which prevailed in Tsheng-goo-meng's time the popu- 
 lation decreased and when Bhodaw-bhoora j)repared the Doomsday-book 
 in 1145 B.E. (1783 A.D.) there were found to be only 63 inhabited villages. 
 Of these 36 were entered as registered villages in the Doomsday-book, 
 the headmen of these villages, the Myo-thoogyee, one Tsa-khyee and two 
 
 * Gyau or Kyan, Burmese — Anglice, "left."
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 769 
 
 Taik-hmoo making the number of hereditary officials up to 40. The 
 Myo-thoogyeeship remained hereditary in the family of Moung To with one 
 interval only up to the time of annexation. Moung To was succeeded by 
 his son Moung Po and Moung Po by his son Moung Thaing. This Moung 
 Thaing was a great favourite of king Tharrawaddy who gave him higher 
 titles and insignia of rank than were given to any other Mj^o-thoogyee. 
 His father Moung Po with 500 men from Thayet fought under the Ban-doo-la 
 in the war of 1825-26, first in Arakan and then in Pegu, and as his men 
 wasted away he attempted to raise another 500 in Thayet but was unsuc- 
 cessful as the people had become terrified and deserted their villages to 
 avoid the conscription. 
 
 In the Poo-gan Meng's time (1846 — 53), which was a period of the most 
 flagrant corruption and extortion, the Myo-thoogyee, Moung Thaing, lost 
 the office which had been held by his family for several generations. Every 
 appointment in the kingdom was then openly sold to the highest briber of the 
 junta which exercised all the powers of government.* Two men, Moung 
 Bo and Moung Myat-tha-oo in succession bid higher than Moung Thaing for 
 the Myo-thoogyeeship, and he therefore had to retire for a time, but he was 
 reinstated in 1852 when the breaking out of the war rendered it necessary 
 for the Burmese government to secure the services of men of influence and 
 note. He retired to Upper Burma at the close of the war. His son 
 succeeded him in the Myo-thoogyeeship of so much of Thayet-myo as has 
 been left to Upper Burma. 
 
 When king Hpa-gyee-daw was on the throne (1182 B.E., 1820 A.D.) he 
 appointed his brother the Koon-boung Prince, afterwards king Tharra- 
 waddy, to be Mj^o-tsa of Thayet-myo. When the Koon-boung Prince 
 ascended the throne he made his son, the Pa-khan-meng, Myo-tsa ; and on 
 the death of the latter, his son, the Hpo-hla Prince, succeeded him. 
 When the Poo-gan Prince succeeded his father Koon-boung Tha-yet was 
 given to one of his sisters, called the Tsoo-bhoora, afterwards the chief 
 consort of her brother the late king. 
 
 In the year 1200 B.E. ( 1838 A.D. ), just after the accession of king 
 Tharrawaddy when his son the Pa-khan-meng was Myo-tsa of Thayet, 
 the hereditary Taik-hmoo were dismissed and the Mj'o-thoogyeeship was 
 divided into five Taik-thoogyeeships among which the 36 registered villages 
 were distributed as follows : — 
 
 Taik-thoogyeeship 
 m 1-200,'B.E. 
 
 Registered villages. 
 
 Name of present cu-cle in 
 which village is situated. 
 
 Myouk-bhek • , 
 
 Ma-toung-da 
 
 Re-bwek 
 
 Pouk-taw 
 
 Kwon-oon . . 
 
 Toop-kaing . . 
 
 Pa-nga 
 
 Taw-taw-kyoung 
 
 
 Bhan-byeng. 
 
 Kwon-oon. 
 
 Bhan-byeng. 
 
 Kwon-oon. 
 
 Bhan-byeng. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 The members were — 
 
 The Alay-nau-ma-(law Queen. 
 The Kyouk-padoung Mcng-gycc, Moung 
 Shwc Kyce. 
 
 The Pabai Atweng-won. 
 
 The Tsam-pa-na-go Atweng-won, Moung Po. 
 The Shwc-doung-won, Moung Hmoon. 
 The Kyee-won, Moung Bhwa. 
 
 97
 
 770 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Taik-thoogyeeship 
 in 1200, B.E. 
 
 Registered villages. 
 
 Name of present circle in 
 which village is situated. 
 
 Kbyoung-ro 
 
 Meng-dai 
 
 Meng-dai. 
 
 
 Le-daing-tseng 
 
 Thai-daw. 
 
 
 Thai-daw 
 
 Do. 
 
 Myit-khyoung 
 
 Re-bhyoo 
 
 Re-bhyoo. 
 
 
 Hman-deng-gyee 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 Nga-law-ka . . 
 
 Tsa-aing. 
 
 
 Tsheng-dai . . 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 Lek-pan-tshiep 
 
 Re-bhyoo. 
 
 
 Kbyeng-tsouk 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 0-sbit-goon 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 Hman-deng-ngay 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 Htan-roon . . 
 
 do. 
 
 
 Kyee-daing . . 
 
 do. 
 
 
 Rwa-tomig . . . . . . ' . . 
 
 do. 
 
 
 Oon-ba-la . . 
 
 do. 
 
 Myoma 
 
 Myeng-ba . . 
 
 Bhan-byeng. 
 
 
 Ka-gnyit-kye 
 
 do. 
 
 
 Myouk-kywot 
 
 do. 
 
 
 Tbayet-myeng 
 
 do. 
 
 
 Pwon-kbyoung 
 
 do. 
 
 
 Ta-zee-goiik 
 
 Upper Burma. 
 
 
 Tsit-tba 
 
 do. 
 
 
 Oon-nai-tai-gyee 
 
 do. 
 
 
 Pwon-ngay . . 
 
 Nga-hlaing-gyoon . 
 
 Toung-bhek 
 
 Hpouug-ga-daw 
 
 Upper Bmma. 
 
 
 Hpoung-aing 
 
 Nga-hlaing-gyoon . 
 
 
 Meng-rwa . . 
 
 do. 
 
 
 PwoD-gyee . . 
 
 do. 
 
 
 Nga-hlaiug-gyoon 
 
 do. 
 
 When we made our list of registered villages immediately after the annex- 
 ation several not entitled to that distinction were included. Thus the four 
 quarters of the town of Thayet-myo have each been entered as a registered 
 village. The following villages also which were not in the list of 1200 B.E. 
 appear in the present list : — Kyouk-aing, Re-baw-kywon, Moon-za-lee, Rwa- 
 thit, Pyeen-doung, Tsa-aing and Pe-kha-deng-tee-too-beng. Pwon-khyoung 
 and Oon-nai-tai-gyee which were in the list of 1200 are not in our list. 
 
 THAYET-MYO.— The head-quarters station of the Thayet district lying 
 in 19° 18' 16" N. Lat. and 95° 16' 18" E. Long., on the right bank of the 
 Irrawaddy about 11 miles south of the northern frontier of the province. 
 The town together with the military cantonment, where the frontier force 
 in Pegu is quartered, is situated near the centre of an extensive and 
 gently undulating plain, well raised above the river, the limit of which to 
 the north is defined by a small range of hills opposite Mye-dai and to the 
 south by a second and very similiar range which stretches from the 
 Irrawaddy in a north-westerly direction and which nowhere rises to a 
 greater elevation than 800 feet, its average height being considerably less. 
 The undulating plain is formed entii-ely of sand and gravel similar to, and 
 a continuation of, that which is seen well-exposed on the banks of the 
 river at this spot. The gravel is composed, principally, of much-rolled 
 and rounded pebbles of quartz, of many varieties of granites, of hard 
 silicious slates and of nodules of ferruginous sands. In it are found
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 771 
 
 numerous, and occasionally very large, masses of silicified wood (chiefly 
 though not exclusively endogenous) and, though rarely, fossilized hones. 
 It occurs in regular layers associated with sand and occasionally with 
 earthy shaly beds. Though for the most part loosely aggregated and but 
 shghtly coherent the sands and gravel are sometimes found cemented into 
 hard conglomerates and sandstone by peroxide of iron, forming a dark red 
 ferruginous bed. 
 
 In the rainy season when the Irrawaddy, then one and a half miles wide, 
 rolls immediately beneath the cantonment and everything is green and fresh 
 the aspect of the place is pleasant but in the dry season, when every blade 
 of grass is burnt up, the surrounding hills are half obscured by haze and 
 the smoke of the jungle-fires, and the river has retreated to its dry weather 
 channel on the left bank leaving an extensive sandbank the glare from 
 which increases the heat, the place generally wears a parched, dreary and 
 suffocated appearance. 
 
 The name ' Thayet-myo ' in its present form signifies " Mango city " 
 but this is said to be a corruption or abbreviation of its original name of 
 That-yet which, according to a legend, is derived from one of its early 
 rulers, who, fearing that if his sons grew to manhood they would rebel 
 against him, killed them as soon as they were born and hence his city 
 obtained the name of That-yet-myo or * City of slaughter'. At last his 
 favourite queen when enceinte determined that if she gave birth to a son she 
 would preserve its life ; as soon as the child was born she changed it for the 
 daughter of one of her attendants whom she sent away with her owti son 
 to Toung-tseen Taing-da (north of Meng-doon) ; here the young prince was 
 brought up as became his birth. When the king of Thayet grew old his 
 enemies attempted to seize his capital and finding himself put to great 
 straits he lamented that he had killed all his sons who might now have 
 aided him. The queen who had preserved her son seized the opportunity 
 and receiving the king's assurance that he would not injure the young man 
 she sent for the prince who assembled a force, routed his father's enemies 
 and restored to him his territories. The place where the young prince 
 halted before entering Thayet-myo is still called Meng-dai or Prince's tent. 
 
 Although the existence at Thayet-myo of one of the Shwe-moot-taw 
 pagodas said to have been erected by Asoka, or as he is called in the 
 Burmese histories ' Theeree Dhamma Thawka ', in 520 B.C. is cited as a 
 proof that in those early days it was a town of importance yet it holds 
 really but a low position as regards antiquity amongst other places in the 
 district. Thayet-myo rose to importance only on the downfall of the Pagan 
 monarchy. It was founded about 1306 A.D. by Meng-sheng-tsaw, son of 
 Kyaw-tswa the last king of Pagan, who built in it a fort and a palace and 
 becoming lord of Thayet ruled over as much of the surrounding country 
 as he could bring under his sway, but in nominal subordination to the 
 three Shan brothers who had overthrown his father. In 1333 A.D., the 
 king of Arakan attacked and captured Thayet-myo and carried off to Arakan 
 Meng-tsheng-tsaw, his wife, their three sons and some daughters. Sub- 
 sequently they were released and went to Pan-ya where one of the Shan 
 brothers was reigning ; one of the daughters, Tsaw-oom-ma, was possessd 
 of extraordinary beauty and became the wife of four succesnive sovereigns 
 of Pan-j-u, the last of whom was Tha-do-meng-bya, the founder of Ava, on
 
 772 BKITISH BURMA GAZETTEER, 
 
 whose death in 1367 A.D. her brother Ta-ra-bya-tsaw-kai was elected king 
 and assumed the name of Meng-g-yee-tswa-tsaw-kai. He appointed one of 
 his brothers to be governor of Prome and another to be governor of Myeng- 
 tsaing. In 1373 A.D. the king of Arakan who had conquered Thayet-myo 
 died and the inhabitants of that country offered the throne to the now 
 powerful king of Ava who appointed his uncle Tsaw-mwon-gyee to be 
 tributary king. In the midst of his power the king of Ava did not forget 
 Thayet-myo. He built the Shwe-yen-goung pagoda, since carried away by 
 the river, as a thank-offering for the preservation of his life when carried 
 away ca^Dtive and he founded the Shwe-thek-lwot pagoda which still stands. 
 In the course of years the town gradually sank in prosperity and size 
 and on the annexation of Pegu by the British in 1853 contained only 200 
 or 300 houses. 
 
 The rapid increase of the town since the annexation is mainly due to the 
 fact that it is the frontier military station. The cantonment, which was 
 founded in 1854, covers one and a half square miles of ground and is situated 
 on slightly undulating ground on the bank of the Irrawaddy just north of the 
 town. Dm'ing the war which preceded the annexation the main body of troops 
 above Eangoon was stationed at Prome with a detachment at Mye-dai on the 
 left bank of the Irrawaddy opposite to Thayet-myo. It was at first intended 
 that the main frontier force should be placed at Nwa-ma-yan, a pleasant spot 
 a few miles below Prome, but fever having broken out on the first removal of 
 the troojDS from Prome Nwa-ma-yan was held to be unhealthy and Thayet- 
 myo, to the exclusion of Mye-dai, was selected as the frontier military station, 
 and the frontier brigade in Pegu has been stationed there ever since. There 
 is some difference of opinion as to whether the best selection possible was 
 made. Though a healthy station Thayet-myo is enclosed on the west and 
 south by ranges of hills which impede the circulation of air and shut out 
 the cool south-westerly breezes which blow during the hottest portion of 
 the year, whilst on the other hand the two hills near the old fort of Mye-dai 
 and the new town of Allan-myo on the opposite bank of the river are com- 
 paratively cool and salubrious and on these hills has been formed a sanitary 
 camj) to which the troops in Thayet-myo are moved on the aj)pearance of 
 epidemic disease in the garrison. From a military point of view also 
 Mye-dai is, it would seem, a better site than Thayet-myo. A distinguished 
 officer in one of his reports remarks — " I am convinced that the whole of 
 ' our frontier force is on the wrong side of the river" and " All military men 
 ' must concur in opinion that the position of our infantry force is a false 
 ' one at Thayet-myo, that it is on the wrong side of the river. Our pro- 
 ' posed main line of communication from our base at Eangoon by a trunk 
 ' road is on the opposite (or left bank) of the river and no military operations 
 ' are possible on the right bank (or Thayet-myo side). In this view I find 
 ' myself materially supported by a memorandum by the Major-General 
 ' commanding the division. In the 6th paragraph he writes — * A force is 
 ' ' thus left alone on the side where it is obviously least likely to be attacked 
 * ' or useful and where, under present circumstances, it is probable that it 
 ' ' would, on a sudden outbreak, find itself, at least for a time, forced into 
 ' ' inaction. The troops at Thayet-myo are in a position to act with the 
 ' ' minimum of advantage to themselves and the maximum of advantage 
 ' ' to the enemy. As things now are there are no boats in which troops
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 773 
 
 ** * could be moved across in case of necessity, there is no cover on the 
 *' ' opposite bank under which they could land, and there is absolutely noth- 
 " * ing to prevent the enemy using then best endeavours to ojopose a crossing.' 
 *' Furthermore the General points out that ' from the breadth of the 
 *' ' Irrawaddy it is impossible to close its passage, especially at night, by guns 
 " ' from one side of the river and thus a large force might pass down stream 
 "' in boats.' " The same officer adds that in his opinion as a military 
 engineer " our position at Thayet-myo is unsatisfactory in the that it 
 " leaves the head of the trunk road uni^rotected, and that it cannot prevent 
 " a hostile force from marchmg down on Prome." Various plans have 
 been suggested for remedying the existing state of affairs, the two most 
 important being (a) to keep the main body of troops at Thaj'et-myo with 
 a strong detachment at Mj^e-dai, and (h) to remove the main body to Mye-dai 
 retaining a strong detachment in Thayet-myo. The objections to the 
 latter plan seem to be mainly that the government would have to forego 
 the large sums of money spent at Thayet-myo in erecting and imin-oving 
 the fort and in providing the excellent existing accommodation for 
 troops. 
 
 The strength of the military force at this station has varied with years 
 in a decreasing ratio, and at present consists of a field battery of artillery, 
 a wing of a European regiment and a native infantry corps, all on the 
 strength of the army of the Madi-as presidency. To the north of the 
 cantonment on the bank of the river is a small fort, containing the arsenal 
 and commissariat stores, which has lately been improved and strengthened 
 and rendered capable of containing the women and children of the garrison 
 and being held by a small force in the event of the troops having to move 
 out of the cantonment. In its former condition with its great length of 
 parapet and small guard it would have been of little use against even a 
 determined Asiatic enemy. 
 
 As is always the case in a town in the neighbom-hood of a military 
 cantonment the inhabitants are of numerous races, Europeans, Indo- 
 Europeans, Hmdoos, Chinese, Parsis, Jews, Afghans, Mahomedans of 
 various races as Moguls, Suratees, etc., Burmans, Shan and Arakanese. 
 
 None of the published retm'ns classify the inhabitants according to 
 races but the total population during the last 15 years is given in the 
 following table : — 
 
 1863 .. .. 6,854 
 
 1864 .. .. 7,443 
 
 1865 .. .. 7,766 
 
 1866 .. .. 8,543 
 
 1867 .. .. 8,906 
 
 1868 .. .. 8,474 
 
 1869 .. .. 8,607 
 
 1870 .. .. 9,053 
 
 The temperature from May to October is generally equable. From 
 November to the beginning of March the thermometer ranges between 
 42" at night and 84° in the hottest part of the day ; from March to May 
 
 * These figures include the floating population and the troops and camp-followers living in 
 the cautoumeut. 
 
 1871 .. .. 8,379 
 
 1872 .. .. 15,142* 
 
 1873 .. .. 9,918 
 
 1874 .. .. 9,851 
 
 1875 .. .. 9,830 
 
 1876 .. .. 10,427 
 
 1877 .. .. 10,701 
 
 1878 .. .. 10,000
 
 774 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 it sometimes goes up to 111° in the shade; the nights and mornings are 
 nevertheless generally cool and pleasant, the thermometer marking some- 
 times 66° in the early mornings. 
 
 The thermometric range since 1866 is given below : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 1867 
 1868 
 1869 
 1870 
 1871 
 1872 
 1873 
 1874 
 1875 
 1876 
 
 Rainfall, in inches. 
 
 10-00 
 7-47 
 6-40 
 
 12-38 
 8-75 
 7-23 
 5-36 
 9-12 
 
 10-81 
 3-99 
 
 30-25 
 33-75 
 20-50 
 26-15 
 40 02 
 29-35 
 28-25 
 30-57 
 37-21 
 26-10 
 
 Oft 
 
 4-80 
 9-10 
 6-30 
 2-60 
 6-08 
 3-33 
 9-81 
 12-78 
 5-27 
 8-70 
 
 Average temperature in the shade. 
 
 45-05 
 50-15 
 33-20 
 41-13 
 54-85 
 39-91 
 43-42 
 52-47 
 53-29 
 33-79 
 
 May. 
 
 66 
 81 
 78 
 78 
 78 
 79 
 80 
 
 91 
 94 
 91 
 89 
 93 
 99 
 98 
 
 July. 
 
 Not given. 
 
 78 
 
 87 
 
 81 
 
 83 
 
 77 
 
 86 
 
 77 
 
 85 
 
 77 
 
 85 
 
 76 
 
 89 
 
 77 
 
 88 
 
 77 
 
 87 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 December. 
 
 71 
 
 76 
 83 
 79 
 81 
 80 
 80 
 79 
 
 
 
 
 
 Average temperature in 
 
 THE SHADE. 
 
 
 
 
 
 May. 
 
 July. 
 
 December. 
 
 Year. 
 
 f maxi- 
 eadings. 
 
 
 eg 
 
 2 
 
 bib 
 
 a 
 
 .A 05 
 
 S a 
 
 •■2 in 
 
 a WD 
 
 a a 
 
 a 
 ■'B 
 
 ti 
 .3 
 
 'B 
 
 a| 
 
 •rH CO 
 
 a w) 
 
 a| 
 
 03 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 •rt 
 
 a 
 2 
 
 
 O w 
 
 s a 
 
 a 
 
 a s 
 
 -a 
 
 CQ 
 1 
 
 la 
 
 o3 a 
 
 <B a 
 
 CD 
 -a 
 
 •+3 
 
 tn 
 
 o 
 
 .a 3 
 
 03 a 
 
 "a 
 
 a a 
 
 g a 
 
 CO 
 
 -a 
 
 o 
 
 
 g 
 
 S 
 
 w 
 
 hJ 
 
 s 
 
 S 
 
 s 
 
 Hi 
 
 S 
 
 g 
 
 w 
 
 t^ 
 
 1876 . . 
 
 98-40 
 
 82-69 
 
 105-00 
 
 76-03 
 
 87-19 
 
 78-87 
 
 90-00 
 
 76-00 
 
 83-80 
 
 56-77 
 
 86-00 
 
 52-00 
 
 1877 . . 
 
 107-00 
 
 79-00 
 
 111-00 
 
 72-00 
 
 89-50 
 
 77-00 
 
 93-00 
 
 74-00 
 
 84-200 
 
 59-00 
 
 88-60 
 
 54-80 
 
 Thayet-myo since its first occupation as a military station has had 
 the reputation of being a very healthy locality for European troops. In 
 one of the earliest reports, written by Dr. Eankine, the following remarks 
 occur : — " The ratio both of admissions and deaths to strength in H. M's. 
 " 29th Regiment is moderate if not low, and speaks well for the climate 
 " of the station in relation to European constitutions." Dr. Eankine
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 775 
 
 then proceeds to shew that the death-rate of the regiment was much 
 lower than that of other regiments serving in Bengal and to point out 
 that the sickness and mortality had decreased with each year of residence 
 since its arrival from that Presidency. At this early period the native 
 troops were by no means so fortunate. They suffered severely from fever 
 and bowel-complaints which carried off great numbers and necessitated 
 the invaliding of others, but this appears to have been in great part due to 
 the diet and accommodation for when these were improved the mortality 
 and sickness at once commenced to decrease and the native regiments now 
 enjoy excellent health. At first the climate seemed inimical to European 
 women and children, especially to the latter, whose annual death-rate 
 during the first three years averaged 153 per 1,000, but this also was 
 found to be due to bad diet and accommodation. The station is now one 
 of the healthiest occupied by troops of the Madras presidency. In 1871 
 the death-rate amongst the European troops was only 11 per 1,000 and 
 amongst the native troops six per 1,000, and in 1872 it fell to 5"6 and 2*8 per 
 1,000 respectively. 
 
 The most common diseases both amongst the troops and the inhabitants 
 are paroxysmal fevers, dysentery, diarrhoea, and rheumatism, acute and 
 chronic. Disease of the liver occurs amongst the European troojjs but is 
 not so prevalent as in India proper : the native Burmans rarely suffer from 
 this form of disease. Boils and pustular eruptions on the skin are common 
 to Europeans, especially on first arrival, and though never serious are 
 sufficiently troublesome. 
 
 Eegarding the wells Dr. Sinclair, Chemical Examiner states — " The 
 " whole place is impregnated with sodium chloride, and to such an extent 
 ** at some spots as to indicate the existence of beds of it at no great dis- 
 *' tance from the surface. This sodium chloride gives rise to the brackish- 
 ** ness of the water. Lime and magnesia are especially abundant, both as 
 " sulphates and carbonates. These make the water hard and to some 
 " degree unpalatable. Alum, peroxide of iron and phosphates make up 
 ** the remaining mineral constituents." 
 
 The town contains a well-built masonry bazaar or market, a district 
 gaol, a circuit-house and court-houses. Besides the De^raty Commissioner, 
 an Assistant Commissioner and an Extra Assistant Commissioner are 
 stationed here. The Deputy Commissioner is ex-ofjlcio Collector of 
 Customs, the customs establishment being maintained on a small scale 
 mainly to register the value of goods carried by boats and steamers as, 
 consequent on a commercial treaty with the king of Burma, no duties have 
 been levied since the 23rd June 1863. 
 
 The Municipal revenue is derived from the rent of market-stalls, assess- 
 ments on houses and other sources and the amounts actually collected in 
 1871-72 and in 1878-79 were Es. 19,390 and Es. 24,69G, respectively, the 
 expenditure during these years being Es. 8,780 and Es. 19,367. 
 
 The gaol, which is a large substantial building erected in 1869, is built 
 on the radiating system and is surrounded by a strong masonry wall. 
 In former years the district gaol was at Prome, then the head-quarters 
 of what are now the Prome and Thaj-et districts, but it was thought more 
 advisable to place it near the military force at Tbayet-myo, the advan- 
 tages resulting therefrom being held to outweigh the disadvantages
 
 776 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 arising from having a large number of prisoners congregated together so 
 much nearer to the frontier. It is the district gaol for both the Thayet 
 and Prome districts for convicts sentenced to not more than two years 
 imprisonment, but on the one hand its proximity to the frontier rendering 
 it an undesirable place of confinement for long-term convicts and on the 
 other the system in force in the province necessitating the massing together 
 in ''central gaols" of all criminals sentenced to lengthened periods of 
 confinement, all delinquents to whom more than two years imprisonment 
 has been awarded are transferred to Eangoon. The average daily number 
 of prisoners confined in 1871 was 552 and in 1872 483. In 1878 the 
 Prome Lock-up was abolished and all sentenced prisoners were sent either 
 to this gaol or to Piangoon. 
 
 In 1877 the daily average number of each class confined and the total 
 daily average of the whole gaol were : — 
 
 
 Daily average of each class. 
 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Convicts 
 
 Prisoners iinder trial 
 
 Debtors and persons imprisoned for breach of the Excise Act . . 
 
 446 
 5 
 5 
 
 9 
 1 
 
 455 
 5 
 6 
 
 Total daily average 
 
 456 
 
 10 
 
 466 
 
 The cost per head of average strength during 1874 and the three succeeding 
 years was Es. 53-6-10, Pis. 44-3-6, Es. 49-6-2 and Es. 46-15-3 respectively. 
 
 This gaol is on the whole healthy. The daily average number of sick 
 in 1877 was only 12 and the ratio of deaths from all causes per cent, of 
 average strength was 5*49. The principal disease is fever, remittent and 
 intermittent. 
 
 The prisoners are employed in cotton-cleaning, spinning and weaving, 
 husking rice, pressing oil (sessamum), weaving bamboo mats, making coir 
 and ropes, stone-breaking, carpentry, blacksmiths' work, etc. An ice 
 machine was started in 1878 to supply, on payment, ice to the troops, 
 hospitals and private residents. 
 
 Up to April 1870 Thayet-myo was the head-quarters of the Thayet 
 division of the Prome district, with an Assistant Commissioner in charge, 
 subordinate to the Deputy Commissioner of Prome, but from that date it 
 has been the head-quarters of the Deputy Commissioner of the then formed 
 Thayet district. 
 
 THAYET-MYOUNG.— Alarge revenue circle in the Prome district in the 
 extreme south-eastern corner of the Pa-doung township, on the right bank 
 of the Kha-wa stream. The western portion is hilly and covered with 
 forest, the eastern, where most of the villages are found, is cultivated with 
 rice. In 1876 the population numbered 1,796, the land revenue was 
 Es. 3,744, the capitation tax Es. 2,448 and the gross revenue Es. 6,457.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 777 
 
 THAYET-MYOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Sbwe-lay township of 
 the Prome district, lying amongst the higher "western slopes of the Pegu 
 Pioma mountains, and extending westwards as far as the Pa-dek-myoung 
 stream. It now includes Bhan-bhwai-goon on the east as well as Thayet- 
 myoung. In the high hills forming its eastern boundary is the som-ce of the 
 Shwe-lay river. Such cultivation as there is is of rice and cotton and is 
 carried on in toungya near the villages. The surface of the country here as 
 in the Thien-goon ch-cle just to the south (q.v.) is covered with forest in 
 which teak abounds. For manj^ j'ears these valuable forests, estimated as 
 covering an area of 70 square here and in the neighbouring circles, 
 were preserved almost intact owing to the Shwe-lay river being blocked 
 up in the plains west of Poung-day which rendered it impossible to bring 
 out logs of timber, but since the annexation of Pegu the government have 
 taken charge of these as reserved teak forests and the channels in the 
 plains having been cleared and improved timber is annually brought 
 out. This tract was described by Dr. Brandis, then Superintendent of 
 Forests in this province, as "probably one of the richest teak forests in 
 " Pegu." A disadvantage is the scarcity of water in the drj'- season near 
 the best teak localities. In 1876-77 the population numbered 1,478 souls, 
 the land revenue was Pis. 597, the capitation tax was Ks. 1,868 and the 
 gross revenue PiS. 2,830. 
 
 THAYET-NGOOT.— A revenue circle in the north-east township of 
 the Tavoy district, with a very small population of Kareng and hardly any 
 cultivation. Sessamum seeds and cardamoms constitute the principal 
 produce. It is now joined to Metta. 
 
 THAYET-PEXG-TAT.— A revenue circle in the Shwe-gyeng district 
 occupying the south-eastern portion of the Kyouk-gyee township, east of 
 the Tsit-toung river. It has an area of about 200 square miles and a 
 population in 1876 of 1,969 souls who are principally Kareng. The area 
 under cultivation is very small. The land revenue in 1876 was Rs. 624, 
 the capitation tax Pis. 843 and the gross revenue Pis. 1,499. 
 
 THAYET-PENG-TSHIEP.— A village in the Kyek-taik cu'cle, Mo- 
 gnyo township, Henzada (Tharrawaddv) district, on the east bank of the 
 Khwe stream with 696 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 THAYET-PYENGT — A narrow revenue circle in the Pia-thai-doung 
 tovviiship, Akyab district, extending eastward from the Ma-yoo hills to 
 the west bank of the Ma-yoo river, between the A-guoo-maw circle on the 
 south and the Kyeng-kywon circle on the north. In 1877 the land revenue 
 was Rs. 3,197, the capitation tax Rs. 1,880, the gross revenue Rs. 5,331 
 and the population 1,698. 
 
 THAYET-THA-MIEN.— The name of a circle and of a village in the 
 Shwe-gyeng district. See Tkoo-ijai-tlia-mee. 
 
 THEE -DA. — A river in the Bassein district. See Kyouk-khyoung-ga-lc. 
 
 THEE-GOON.— A village in the Thayetmyo district. See Tsa-aing. 
 
 THEE-KWENG. — A revenue circle in the east central part of the 
 Thee-kweng township of the Bassein district, bounded on the north and 
 west by the Pan-ma-wa-dce, and with Kway-lway on the south and lem- 
 mai on the east, with an approximate area of 45 square miles. 
 
 98
 
 778 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 
 Revenue, 
 
 IN BUPEES. 
 
 Year. 
 
 XD 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 § 
 
 CO 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 bO 
 
 ,4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 § 
 
 O 
 
 "3 
 
 TS 
 
 .■§ 
 
 O 
 
 "cS 
 
 
 ii 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 =3 
 
 '^ 
 
 S 
 
 o 
 
 cS 
 
 S? 
 
 J^ 
 
 o 
 
 
 m 
 
 M 
 
 <J 
 
 H 
 
 t^ 
 
 O 
 
 < 
 
 H 
 
 1874 . . 
 
 1,734 
 
 2,977 
 
 
 4,711 
 
 7,404 
 
 4,470 
 
 250 
 
 12,160 
 
 1875 . . 
 
 1,806 
 
 3,097 
 
 50 
 
 4,953 
 
 10,036 
 
 4,800 
 
 250 
 
 15,086 
 
 1876 .. 
 
 1,946 
 
 3,275 
 
 39 
 
 5,260 
 
 10,508 
 
 5,390 
 
 250 
 
 16,148 
 
 1877 . . 
 
 2,935 
 
 2,916 
 
 51 
 
 5,902 
 
 10,609 
 
 5,512 
 
 250 
 
 16,371 
 
 1878 . . 
 
 2,892 
 
 2,843 
 
 42 
 
 5,777 
 
 13,116 
 
 5,432 
 
 250 
 
 18,798 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock during the same 
 period : — 
 
 
 Area, in 
 
 ACRES. 
 
 
 
 
 Agricultural stock 
 
 
 
 
 ni 
 
 
 
 
 
 'S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 <C O 
 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 c 
 
 
 03 
 
 CO 
 
 1i 
 
 ^3 
 S3 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 
 ■c^ 
 
 a 
 
 eS 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 eS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1-s 
 
 
 s 
 
 •i-H 
 
 3 
 
 "o 
 
 !§ 
 
 o 
 
 ^ 
 S 
 
 CD 
 6D 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 08 
 
 O 
 
 
 f 
 
 O 
 
 S 
 
 H 
 
 « 
 
 o 
 
 02 
 
 Oh 
 
 o 
 
 Oh 
 
 m 
 
 1874 
 
 3,815 
 
 17 
 
 5 
 
 3,837 
 
 1,742 
 
 758 
 
 27 
 
 1,895 
 
 195 
 
 1,102 
 
 460 
 
 1875 
 
 5,176 
 
 48 
 
 8 
 
 5,232 
 
 1,912 
 
 1,109 
 
 20 
 
 2,361 
 
 253 
 
 1,198 
 
 578 
 
 1876 
 
 5,410 
 
 54 
 
 19 
 
 5,483 
 
 2,374 
 
 1,281 
 
 15 
 
 2,318 
 
 428 
 
 999 
 
 629 
 
 1877 
 
 5,476 
 
 50 
 
 16 
 
 5,542 
 
 2,643 
 
 1,420 
 
 15 
 
 2,231 
 
 480 
 
 886 
 
 663 
 
 1878 
 
 6,779 
 
 74 
 
 11 
 
 6,864 
 
 3,119 
 
 658 
 
 13 
 
 321 
 
 601 
 
 1,107 
 
 619 
 
 -The name of the upper portion of the Pan-ma- 
 
 the Bassein district, 
 district on the east, 
 The northern bound- 
 Meng-ma-naing and 
 
 THEE-KWENG 
 wa-dee (q.v.) 
 
 THEE-KWENG.— A township in the east of 
 having Kyoon-pyaw on the north, the Thoon-khwa 
 Myoung-mya on the south and Bassein on the west, 
 ary is formed by the Daga river, the eastern by the 
 Za-lai-taw creeks and the southern by the M3"oung-m3'a. It is divided into 
 two unequal portions by the Pan-ma- wa-dee which traverses it from N.E. 
 to S.W. and unites the Meng-ma-naing and the Myoung-mya streams. 
 The face of the country is generally level with slight undulations here and 
 there. A large part is covered with forest but portions are well cultivated 
 with rice. It is divided into ten revenue circles. The head-quarters are 
 at Ivan-g3^ee-doung on the Daga. In 1876-77 the number of inhabitants 
 was 51,946, the land revenue was Es. 130,395, the capitation tax Rs. 54,600 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 196.094.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 779 
 
 THEE-KWENG. — A village in the circle and township of the same 
 name on the southern bank of the Pan-ma-wa-dee, 32 miles east of Bassein. 
 In 1878 it had 539 inhabitants. 
 
 THEE-THA-PiO. — A revenue ckcle in the Gyaing Attaran township 
 of the Amherst district, lying between the Toung-gnyo hills on the west 
 and the Attaran on the east, with the Mai-roung circle on the north and 
 the Kyaik-ma-raw circle on the south. The Toung-gnyo hills descend more 
 suddenly into the plains on this side than on the west and there is no 
 continuous belt of up-land at their base. The surface of the circle presents 
 a number of small plains many much flooded by the waters of the 
 Attaran and of its affluents from the westward. Here and there are 
 patches of up-land. The soil is naturally poor and is rendered worse by 
 the constant floods. The inhabitants are mainly natives of India, who have 
 settled down here chiefly for the sake of the pasturage, Talaing and Shan, 
 with a sprinkling of Burmans and Chinamen. The Indians come from 
 various parts of India and are industrious but htigious : many of them 
 are transported convicts or their descendants. The principal village is 
 Pien-nai-goon. In 1876-77 the inhabitants numbered 1,725, the land 
 revenue was Es. 2,366 and the capitation tax Rs. 1,773. 
 
 THEK-KAW. — A revenue circle in the Amherst district, in the Bhee- 
 loo-gywon township, on the eastern side of the hills which traverse that 
 island. On the east is the Salween, on the north the Ka-hgnyaw circle 
 and on the south Kha-raik-thit. Bo-nek which is now included was 
 formerly independent but was added to it in 1851 as the commission was 
 too small to support a Thoogyee. The village of Nat-maw also, which 
 appears to have been at one time under a separate Thoogyee more 
 probably for police than for revenue purposes, has been joined to this 
 circle. The total area is 5,298 acres ; the soil is about the most unpro- 
 ductive in Bhee-loo-gywon. In 1876-77 it had 1,811 inhabitants, the 
 laud revenue was Pts. 3,864 and the capitation tax Es. 1,743. 
 
 THEK-NGAY. — A creek in the Bassein district flowing between the 
 Bassein and Pan-ma-wa-dee rivers and forming the north-eastern boundary 
 of Nga-poo-taw island. It is about five miles long and is navigable by 
 river steamers which take this route when proceeding to and from Bassein 
 and Rangoon via the Myoung-mya. 
 
 THEK-NGAY-BYENG. — A revenue circle in the Henzada district on 
 the right bank of the Irrawaddy opposite Htien-daw. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 
 
 Revence, 
 
 IN RUPEES, 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 § 
 
 
 
 
 <D 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 •a 
 
 
 -^ 
 
 i 
 
 -a 
 
 
 g 
 
 u 
 
 .a 
 
 •s 
 
 § = 
 
 S*"" 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 
 PQ 
 
 M 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 i-q 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 1874 
 
 5,998 
 
 993 
 
 81 
 
 7,072 
 
 5,081 
 
 7,092 
 
 5,760 
 
 17,933 
 
 1875 
 
 6,353 
 
 931 
 
 81 
 
 7,365 
 
 5,372 
 
 7,637 
 
 8,588 
 
 21,597 
 
 1876 
 
 6,353 
 
 937 
 
 139 
 
 7,429 
 
 3,746 
 
 7,725 
 
 8,498 
 
 19.969 
 
 1877 
 
 6,605 
 
 1,037 
 
 104 
 
 7,746 
 
 5,820 
 
 7,900 
 
 8,431 
 
 22,151 
 
 1878 
 
 6,804 
 
 1,121 
 
 192 
 
 8,117 
 
 5,922 
 
 8,220 
 
 8,514 
 
 22,656
 
 780 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and the area under cultivation and agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 Area, in acres. 
 
 
 Agricultural 
 
 STOCK, 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 Rice land 
 including 
 
 fallow. 
 
 ■T3 
 
 a 
 a 
 
 c3 
 
 Vliscellane- 
 )us cultiva- 
 ion. 
 
 "o 
 
 pi 
 
 Bullocks, 
 
 cow, and 
 
 bulls. 
 
 DO 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 to 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 XD 
 1 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 H 
 
 W 
 
 
 O 
 
 PL, 
 
 ^ 
 
 Ph 
 
 n 
 
 1874 
 
 1,243 
 
 108 
 
 2,033 
 
 3,384 
 
 579 
 
 1,147 
 
 14 
 
 131 
 
 352 
 
 258 
 
 174 
 
 1875 
 
 1,574 
 
 140 
 
 1,842 
 
 3,556 
 
 950 
 
 1,212 
 
 6 
 
 243 
 
 531 
 
 290 
 
 183 
 
 1876 
 
 1,445 
 
 144 
 
 981 
 
 2,570 
 
 970 
 
 1,252 
 
 5 
 
 162 
 
 564 
 
 302 
 
 157 
 
 1871 
 
 1,551 
 
 162 
 
 1,883 
 
 3,896 
 
 980 
 
 1,287 
 
 — 
 
 180 
 
 583 
 
 310 
 
 163 
 
 1878 
 
 1,711 
 
 191 
 
 2,329 
 
 4,231 
 
 1,014 
 
 1,378 
 
 — 
 
 254 
 
 614 
 
 825 
 
 166 
 
 THEK-NGAY-BYENG.— A village in the Tha-noon-tha-naw circle 
 of the Henzada township, Henzada district, about 12 miles south-west of 
 Henzada, on the Nat-maw stream. In 1877 it had 881 inhabitants. 
 
 THEK-NGAY-THOUNG.— The eastern mouth of the Bassein river, 
 leaving the main channel opposite Long Island. 
 
 THEK-NGAY-THOUNG.— A large village with 1,019 inhabitants in 
 1877, in the Nga-poo-taw township, Bassein district, in 15° 58' 30" N., and 
 94° 35' E. This village, with its southern neighbour, Oon-khyoung, which 
 in reality forms a part of it, lies on the right bank of the Thek-ngay-thoung 
 river, on a large island which separates the Thek-ngay-thoung from the 
 Bassein, at the mouth of the Gway khyoung which unites these two. 
 The inhabitants are principally fishermen, and salt and nga-i^ee-makers, 
 with some cultivators and tradesmen, carpenters, blacksmiths, etc. The 
 principal exports are rice, salt, and nga-pee, the two last of which are 
 made here. The strip of plain along the coast at this place affords ground 
 suitable for rice cultivation, and produces an abundance of excellent grass 
 on which the numerous cattle feed. During the fishing season many of 
 the inhabitants go out and form temporary fishing hamlets such as Tha- 
 may-bhyoo above and Thoung-ga-le below. 
 
 THENG-BHA-KAING. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district 
 on the eastern coast of Piamree island, south of Ean-byai-myoma (south), 
 about 14 square miles in area with a population of 1,441 souls. The 
 principal products are salt, indigo and sugar. Twenty-eight sugar-mills 
 were at work in 1875. In 1877 the land revenue w^as Es. 1,426, the 
 capitation tax Es. 1,597 and the gross revenue Es. 4,256. 
 
 THENG-BHAW-GYENG.— A quarter of the town of Bassein on the 
 ■west bank of the Bassein river. 
 
 THENG-BOON-TAN. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (west) 
 township, Akyab district, which in 1877-78 had a population of 1,121 
 souls. In that year the capitation tax was Es. 1,487, the land revenue 
 Es. 4,384 and the gross revenue Es. 6,114. 
 
 THENG-BOON-TAN. — A village in the circle of the same name in 
 the Oo-ree-toung (west) township of the Akyab district, on the southern 
 bank of the Theng-boon-tan stream. In 1877 it had 769 inhabitants.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 781 
 
 THENG-GA-NEK. — A revenue circle in the Kyoiik-hpyoo district on 
 the south-eastern coast of Ramree island just north of Nga-kho-byeng, with 
 an area of ten square miles cultivated mainly with rice, and an Arakanese 
 population of 1,330 souls. The land revenue in 1877 amounted to Es. 1,378, 
 the capitation tax to Es. 1,327 and the gross revenue to Es. 2,774. 
 
 THENG-GA-NEK.— A village with about 672 inhabitants on the east 
 coast of Eamree island in the circle of the same name, about a mile inland 
 and a short distance north of the Hoon stream. 
 
 THENG-GAN-KYWON. — A revenue circle in the southern part of 
 the Myoung-mya township, Bassein district, extending between the Thek- 
 ngay-thoung and Ewe channels from the sea to the La-bwot-ta natural 
 canal. It is flat and level and has a sandy soil and where uninhabited it is 
 covered with a thin and scattered forest. Like all this part of the country 
 it is cut up into small islands by numerous creeks. The inhabitants are 
 mainly engaged in fishing and nga-pee making, a very few finding employ- 
 ment in agriculture. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 a 
 
 (2 
 
 Revenue, in rupees. 
 
 Yeab 
 
 
 a 
 a 
 
 o5 
 
 g 
 S 
 
 Is 
 o 
 H 
 
 1874 
 
 1875 
 
 1876 ' .. 
 
 1877 
 
 1878 
 
 626 
 675 
 746 
 729 
 603 
 
 736 
 1,053 
 781 
 822 
 729 
 
 1,022 
 1,100 
 1,095 
 1,032 
 1,047 
 
 6,400 
 5,876 
 1,977 
 2,946 
 3,212 
 
 8,158 
 8,029 
 3,853 
 4,800 
 4,988 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock during the same 
 period : — 
 
 
 
 Area, in acres 
 
 
 
 
 Agricultural 
 
 STOCK. 
 
 
 
 
 ni 
 
 
 
 
 
 -d 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 
 
 1^ 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■N 
 
 01 to 
 
 a -3 
 
 3 
 
 a 
 
 es 
 
 a 
 S 
 
 to 
 
 la 
 o 
 
 o 
 la 
 SO 
 
 pi 
 
 o 
 
 
 03 
 P. 
 
 Si 
 
 73 
 
 to 
 
 OB 
 
 -** 
 
 03 
 
 t 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 P 
 
 O 
 
 s 
 
 H 
 
 W 
 
 o 
 
 m 
 
 Ph 
 
 o 
 
 CL| 
 
 M 
 
 1874 
 
 708 
 
 
 10 
 
 718 
 
 194 
 
 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 55 
 
 19 
 
 1876 
 
 997 
 
 11 
 
 24 
 
 1,032 
 
 274 
 
 8 
 
 — 
 
 64 
 
 84 
 
 57 
 
 43 
 
 1876 
 
 735 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 755 
 
 303 
 
 22 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 38 
 
 65 
 
 78 
 
 1877 
 
 753 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 770 
 
 305 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 30 
 
 27 
 
 1878 
 
 687 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 700 
 
 356 
 
 136 
 
 14 
 
 61 
 
 • 85 
 
 85 
 
 86
 
 782 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 THENG-GAN-GOON.— A village in the Tsa-doo-thee-ree-goon circle, 
 Tsan-rwe townshijo, Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district, on the north bank 
 of the Thoon-tshay stream, with 506 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 THENG-GAN-TOUNG.— A village in the Ee-gyee (south) circle, 
 Ee-gyee township, Bassein district, on the southern bank of the Ee-gyee 
 stream, a branch of the Da-ga, six miles south-east of Nga-thaing-khyoung. 
 In 1877 it had 1,405 inhabitants. 
 
 THENG-KHYOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo district 
 on the north-east coast of Eamree, west of Ma-dai island, 18 square miles 
 in extent with a population of 2,125 souls. Sugar-cane is grown and a 
 coarse sugar manufactured in this circle and 26 mills were at work in 
 1875. The land revenue in 1877 was Es. 3,829, the capitation tax Es. 2,377 
 and the gross revenue Es. 6,442. 
 
 THE-PYA.— A clan of the Bghai family of Kareng ; so called by the 
 Gaikho. See Kareng-nee. 
 
 THIEN. — A small river in the Bassein district which rises in the 
 Arakan mountains and after a S.S.E. course of about ten miles falls into 
 the Bassein at the village of Kyoung-kweng. It is 50 feet wide at the 
 mouth and seven feet deep and its bed is sandy and muddy ; its banks are 
 covered with fine timber. The water is somewhat brackish. There is a 
 pass across the Arakan hills from the source of this river. 
 
 THIEN-GOON. — A revenue circle in the Myanoung township, Henzada 
 district, now including Ko-eng, which extends from the Arakan Eoma down 
 the valley of the Pa-daw eastwards to the Kwon-daw and Pa-daw cu'cles, 
 almost to the plain country bordering the Irrawaddy. The whole area con- 
 sists of undulating ground and of hills which increase in height towards the 
 main range and are covered with dense bamboo and tree forest, containing 
 Teak {Tectona grandis), Eng {Dipterocarpiis tubercidatus), Pyeng-gado 
 {Xylia dolabriformis) and Sha (Acacia catechu), in which roam elephants, 
 bison, wild cow, tiger, hog and deer. In the vicinity of the villages small 
 patches of rice cultivation are met with. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, 
 
 IN RUPEES 
 
 
 Tear. 
 
 
 to 
 a 
 
 S 
 
 m 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 o 
 
 ■73 
 
 3 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 1874 
 
 1,412 
 
 24 
 
 298 
 
 1,734 
 
 1,537 1,935 
 
 — 
 
 3,472 
 
 1875 
 
 1,557 
 
 30 
 
 364 
 
 1,951 
 
 1,792 
 
 2,175 
 
 — 
 
 3,967 
 
 1876 
 
 1,419 
 
 29 
 
 381 
 
 1,820 
 
 1,867 
 
 2,072 
 
 20 
 
 3,959 
 
 1877 
 
 1,500 
 
 26 
 
 392 
 
 1,918 
 
 1,990 
 
 2,060 
 
 20 
 
 4,070 
 
 1878 
 
 1,529 
 
 51 
 
 289 
 
 1,869 
 
 1,846 
 
 2,207 
 
 22 
 
 4,075
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER, 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock : — 
 
 783 
 
 
 Area, in 
 
 ACRES. 
 
 
 
 Agricultural 
 
 STOCK. 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 ri 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 to 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 
 .2 1 
 m 1^ 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 e3 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 tc 
 
 
 S.2 
 
 1 
 
 « 
 
 o 
 
 !a 
 
 --5 a 
 "5 '^ 
 
 
 § 
 
 O 
 
 
 S 
 
 ^ 
 
 <5 
 
 H 
 
 M 
 
 M 
 
 s 
 
 O 
 
 »-H 
 
 1874 
 
 1,550 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 1,559 
 
 481 
 
 433 
 
 332 
 
 191 
 
 210 
 
 1875 
 
 1,691 
 
 9 
 
 — 
 
 1,700 
 
 578 
 
 642 
 
 211 
 
 293 
 
 278 
 
 1876 
 
 1,743 
 
 14 
 
 1 
 
 1,758 
 
 342 
 
 688 
 
 152 
 
 817 
 
 258 
 
 1877 
 
 1,839 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 1,851 
 
 735 
 
 882 
 
 253 
 
 389 
 
 253 
 
 1878 
 
 1,872 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 1,884 
 
 882 
 
 932 
 
 215 
 
 377 
 
 302 
 
 THIEN-KHYOUNG.— A village in the Kyouk-khyoung circle, Hmaw- 
 bhee township, Rangoon district, in a very extensive tract of rice land 
 about half a mile up a small creek which falls into the Poo-zwon-doung 
 river, divided into two distinct parts or groups of houses some little 
 distance apart. The inhabitants, who numbered 1,798 in 1878, are 
 principally engaged in rice-cultivation and in trading. 
 
 THIEN-PA-GA. — A revenue circle in the Meng-bra township, Akyab 
 district. In 1877-78 the population was 1,443, the capitation tax was 
 Pis. 1,887, the land revenue Rs. 2,637 and the gross revenue Rs. 4,656. 
 
 THIEN-T0UNG-PY00-T300.— A village in the Koo-la-pan-zeng 
 cu'cle in the Ra-thai-doung township of the Akyab district, on the western 
 bank of the Tseng-deng stream. In 1877 it had 544 inhabitants. 
 
 THIT-GNYO-GOON.— A large village in the Shwe-myeng-deng circle, 
 Bassein township, Bassein district, on the left bank of the Bassein river, 
 in 16° 47' 30" N. and 94° 49' E., about a mile above the town of Bassein. 
 A considerable number of large glazed pots are manufactm-ed here for 
 the Rangoon and Bassein markets (the process is described sub. tit. 
 Manufactures ; Bassein district). Of late years the manufacture of 
 ornamental pottery-ware has been introduced but the designs are more 
 florid than graceful. 
 
 THIT-HPYOO-BENG.— A revenue circle in the Re-gyee to^iiship, 
 Bassein district, to the S.E. of Htan-beng-gyo from which it is separated 
 by the Oot-hpo. It has an area of about 21 square miles and is weU 
 cultivated with rice, but at spots in the extreme east and west there are 
 low hills. The inhabitants are mainly engaged in agriculture and some 
 are fishermen. There are Kood fair-weather cart roads.
 
 784 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years werei 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, i 
 
 N RUPEES 
 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 
 on tax. 
 
 to 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 eg 
 
 bb 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 p-H 
 
 'T3 
 
 
 o 
 
 cS 
 
 
 Ph 
 
 !-< 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 o 
 
 CS 
 
 a 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 fq 
 
 M 
 
 H 
 
 H^l 
 
 O 
 
 < 
 
 H 
 
 1874 .. 
 
 3,014 
 
 329 
 
 3,343 
 
 7,898 
 
 4,052 
 
 1,310 
 
 13,260 
 
 1875 .. 
 
 3,095 
 
 557 
 
 3,652 
 
 8,233 
 
 4,345 
 
 1,310 
 
 13,888 
 
 1876 .. 
 
 3,236 
 
 493 
 
 3,729 
 
 8,410 
 
 4,372 
 
 2,110 
 
 14,892 
 
 1877 .. 
 
 3,535 
 
 270 
 
 3,805 
 
 9,087 
 
 4,755 
 
 2,110 
 
 15,952 
 
 1878 .. 
 
 3,570 
 
 572 
 
 4,142 
 
 9,295 
 
 4,762 
 
 2,114 
 
 16,171 
 
 and the area under cultivation and agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 AbEA, in ACRES. 
 
 Agricultural stock. 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Yeak. 
 
 .3 
 - ^ 
 
 
 
 
 OJ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 So 
 
 i 
 
 c3 
 
 3 
 
 "o 
 
 00 
 
 a> 
 
 la 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 08 
 
 DC 
 
 o 
 
 DQ 
 
 o 
 
 
 t= 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 M 
 
 O 
 
 m 
 
 fX| 
 
 o 
 
 PL, 
 
 M 
 
 1874 
 
 4,841 
 
 7 
 
 4,848 
 
 825 
 
 2,088 
 
 4 
 
 84 
 
 330 
 
 704 
 
 11 
 
 1875 
 
 5,107 
 
 16 
 
 5,123 
 
 1,218 
 
 4,413 
 
 — 
 
 163 
 
 416 
 
 927 
 
 73 
 
 1876 
 
 5,179 
 
 16 
 
 5,195 
 
 1,280 
 
 2,522 
 
 2 
 
 148 
 
 436 
 
 970 
 
 18 
 
 1877 
 
 5,519 
 
 32 
 
 5,551 
 
 1,664 
 
 2,533 
 
 3 
 
 23 
 
 469 
 
 981 
 
 19 
 
 1878 
 
 5,661 
 
 34 
 
 5,695 
 
 1,067 
 
 2,622 
 
 6 
 
 40 
 
 473 
 
 1,175 
 
 6 
 
 THIT-KYEE-DENG. — A river -which rises in the Myit-myeng-doung 
 spur and falls into the Na-weng in the Prome district at Htan-goon six 
 or seven miles from its mouth. In the hot season this stream is dry but 
 in the rains small boats can ascend it as far as the village of Lay-rwa. 
 In some places the banks are steep in others low and flat, the bed is muddy. 
 Eng {Dipterocarpus tiiherculatus) is found near its source but for the last 
 seven miles of its course it flows through the tract of cultivated low land 
 which lies along both banks of the Na-weng from a little east of the junction 
 of the north and the south Na-weng to the Irrawaddy. 
 
 THIT-MEE-TSOO. — A small revenue circle in the Prome district about 
 13 miles east of Prome. In 1877 the population was 174, the land revenue 
 was Rs. 296 and the capitation tax was Es. 178. 
 
 THIT-MEE-TSOO. — A revenue circle in the south-eastern angle of the 
 Ka-ma township, Thayet district, running up northwards between Toung- 
 tsa-gaing and Htouk-ma, two circles under the same Thoogyee. Out of
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 785 
 
 the 15,360 acrts wliicli form the tract about 700 only are cultivated and 
 some 600 more cultm-able. In 1872 the population numbered 1,006 souls 
 and the revenue aggregated Es. 1,550. In 1877 the population was 1,023, 
 the land revenue was Es. 817 the capitation tax Es. 1,070 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 1,980. 
 
 THIT-NA-BHA.— A village in the Le-myet-hna circle of the Ta-pwon 
 township, Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district, lying on both banks of the 
 Mai streamlet. In 1878 it had 1,075 inhabitants. 
 
 THIT-NAN-THA. — A small stream in the Toung-ngoo district forming 
 the northern boundary of the Kan- nee circle and the southern of the Kwon- 
 oon circle. It rises in the Thit-poot hills and after a westerly course of 
 about 16 miles falls into the Tsit-toung some distance north of Toung-ngoo 
 at the village of Kareng. In the rains it is navigable for a short distance 
 by boats of from 20 to 25 feet long, its bed is rocky. 
 
 THIT-NEE-DAW.— A river in the Prome district, also called Dha- 
 thwai-kyouk (q.v.). 
 
 THIT-NEE-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Poung-day township, 
 Prome district. In 1877 the population was 3,197, the land revenue was 
 Es. 2,515, the capitation tax Es. 3,192 and the gross revenue Es. 9,952. 
 It now includes 10 of the old village tracts. 
 
 THIT-POOT. — A small stream in the northern portion of the Prome 
 district not navigable by boats which rises in the long spur of the Eoma 
 mountains that forms, in that part of the country, the boundary between 
 the Prome and Thayet districts, and, flowing due south down a narrow 
 valley or more properly a long ravine for a little more than six miles, falls 
 into the north Na-weng near the village of Tham-ba-ya-goon. 
 
 THIT-TA-EA. — A village in the Ta-pwon circle, Henzada (Tharrawaddy) 
 district, about two miles west of the Eangoon and Irrawaddy valley (State) 
 Eailway. In 1878 it had 903 inhabitants. 
 
 THIT-TSHIEN-GOON.— A revenue circle in the Prome district east 
 of Tsa-bay-gan, rich in rice cultivation. Its largest village is Shwe-daw. In 
 1877 the population was 1,913, the land revenue was Es. 2,559, the 
 capitation tax Es. 2,133 and the gross revenue Es. 4,748. 
 
 THOO-HTE. — A river in the Sandoway district which has its sources 
 in the Arakan hills, and after a winding course towards the west falls into 
 the sea about 10 miles south of Tree point. 
 
 THOO-HTE. — The northern revenue circle in the central. Myoma, 
 or Sandoway township, of the Sandoway district, extending along the 
 banks of the Thoo-hte stream from the Arakan mountains to the sea. 
 Two or three miles across on the coast it spreads out to 24 miles wide 
 amongst the spurs of the Arakan Eoma mountains and covers an estimated 
 area of 340 square miles. It has a population of 3,593 souls, mainly 
 Arakanese, who cultivate more than half of the small culturable area. The 
 principal products are rice, tobacco and sessamum. The land revenue in 
 1875 was Es. 4,205 and the capitation tax Es. 2,866. In 1877 these 
 were Es. 4,481 and Es. 2,821 respectively and the gross revenue was 
 Es. 7,322. 
 
 99
 
 786 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 THOO-HTE-KWENG.— A village in the Kyouk-taing-pyeiig circle, 
 Than-lyeng township, Eangoon district, with 569 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 THOO-NGAY-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Mro-hoiing township, 
 Akyab district. In 1877-78 the population was 1,059, the land revenue 
 was Es. 2,941, the capitation tax Es. 1,400 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 4,488. 
 
 THOON-KHWA. — A village in the La-wa-dee circle, Au-g^^ee town- 
 ship, Eangoon district, with 979 inhabitants in 1878, who are chiefly 
 cultivators and pot-makers. The village is situated at the junction of the 
 Taw-pa-lwai and Ka-ma-ka-lwon streams about one and a half miles south- 
 west of Kwon-khyan-goon. It has only been in existence since the first Anglo- 
 Burmese war but many of the former inhabitants of Taw-ta-nee and of 
 Ka-ma-ka-lwon have, since the annexation of Pegu, returned from Tenas- 
 serim, whither they had fled, and established themselves here. 
 
 THOON-KHWA. — A village in the Ewon (east) circle of the Eangoon 
 district with a population of about 725 souls, mainly Talaing, on the creek 
 of the same name in 16° 42' 30" N. and 95° 49' E. The inhabitants are 
 principally engaged in trading, fishing and nga-pee-making. 
 
 THOON-KHWA. — A revenue circle in the Nga-poo-taw township, 
 Bassein district, occupying the northern end of the island in the mouth of 
 the Bassein river bet^veen the Bassein and the Thek-ngay-thoung mouths ; 
 on the south and west it is bounded by the Pywon-wa natural canal. Its 
 area is about 38 square miles of which but little is cultivated. The inhabit- 
 ants, Talaing with a sprinklmg of Kareng, Burmans and Shan, are chiefly 
 engaged in sea-fishing and in making salt. At the northern end of the 
 circle magnesian carbonate of lime and various kinds of sandstone rise 
 abruptly to the surface forming small hills from 50 to 100 feet in height and 
 excessively steep on the western side towards the Bassein river. At the 
 village of Thit-poot an outcrop of green-tinted sandstone stretches across the 
 Thek-ngay-thoung. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, 
 
 [N RUPEES 
 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 
 
 oa 
 
 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 6C 
 
 
 
 
 (g ti 
 
 5 M 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 S-l 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 and 
 
 .13 >=* 
 
 a> 
 
 3 
 
 "o 
 
 
 m 
 
 M 
 
 < 
 
 H 
 
 ^ 
 
 u 
 
 <1 
 
 H 
 
 1874 . . 
 
 174 
 
 75 
 
 1,605 
 
 1,854 
 
 1,978 
 
 2,287 
 
 6,655 
 
 10,920 
 
 1875 . . 
 
 200 
 
 73 
 
 1,506 
 
 1,779 
 
 2,581 
 
 2,257 
 
 3,054 
 
 7,892 
 
 187G .. 
 
 172 
 
 82 
 
 1,529 
 
 1,783 
 
 2,810 
 
 2,270 
 
 3,596 
 
 8,676 
 
 1877 .. 
 
 273 
 
 82 
 
 1,648 
 
 2,008 
 
 3,410 
 
 2,435 
 
 2,897 
 
 8,742 
 
 1878 . . 
 
 258 
 
 144 
 
 1,617 
 
 2,019 
 
 3,979 
 
 2,502 
 
 1,576 
 
 8,057
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 787 
 
 and the area 
 
 under cultivation and the 
 
 agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 
 
 Area, in 
 
 
 Agricultural stock. 
 
 
 
 
 ACRES. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 g to . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Under ri 
 
 hiclndin 
 
 lallow 
 
 so 
 
 Cows, b 
 ad bullo 
 
 03 
 
 1 
 
 in 1 
 
 o 
 
 in 
 
 03 
 O 
 
 
 
 pq 
 
 cS 
 
 1 Ph ^ 1 
 
 Ph 
 
 fQ 
 
 1874 
 
 1,435 
 
 564 
 
 
 . t 
 11 44 84 , 
 
 259 
 
 131 
 
 1875 
 
 1,781 
 
 540 
 
 13 
 
 9 133 
 
 175 
 
 283 
 
 148 
 
 1876 
 
 1,934 
 
 569 
 
 11 
 
 — 64 
 
 39 
 
 176 
 
 120 
 
 1877 
 
 2,369 
 
 639 
 
 15 
 
 6 91 
 
 54 
 
 311 
 
 200 
 
 1878 
 
 2,715 
 
 692 
 
 27 
 
 3 85 
 
 59 
 
 157 
 
 226 
 
 THOON-KHWA. — A small stream in the Eangoon district which flows 
 past Thoou-khwa village and taps a tract of rice land. It is navigable for 
 boats of about 300 baskets burden at all times and seasons and is tidal for 
 the last six miles of its course. Its banks are low and muddy and fringed 
 with tree forest. 
 
 THOON-KHWA. — A tidal creek in the Alay-kywon at the entrance to 
 the Bassein river, varying from 100 to 300 feet in width and navigable by 
 large boats. 
 
 THOON-KHWA. — A township in the district of the same name divided 
 into four revenue cu'cles. The country is generally low and well-cultivated, 
 the principal product is rice. The population in 1877 was 27,318, the 
 land revenue Rs. 55,779, the capitation tax Es. 32,436 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 186,038. 
 
 THOON-KHWA. — A revenue ch-cle in the district of the same name 
 in the southern portion of the Thoon-khwa to^^•nship. Extensive plains 
 for the most part form the larger portion of this circle which towards the 
 south are under rice but on the north from the lowness of the ground 
 and from the extensive ponds and swamps are uusuited for cultiva- 
 tion but afford occupation to fishermen. In 1877 the population was 
 11,397, the land revenue was Rs. 31,976, the capitation tax Rs. 13,775 and 
 the gross revenue Rs. 68,831. 
 
 THOON-KHWA. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Thoon-khwa district on the Ma-oo-beng river about eight miles south of 
 Ma-oo-beng, the head-quarters of the Extra Assistant Commissioner in 
 charge of the Thoon-khwa township. It contains a police-station and a 
 court-house. The inhabitants, who numbered 855 in 1877-78, are mostly 
 fishermen who leave the village during the working season and return 
 during the rains. 
 
 THOON-KHWA.— A district of the Pegu division, formed in 1875, lying 
 between Bassein on the west and Rangoon on the cast and extending from 
 the Bay of Bengal to Henzada in the north. The whole face of the country is 
 flat and intersected by a net-work of muddy tidal creeks and almost equally 
 muddy rivers all communicating directly or indirectly with the Irrawaddy
 
 788 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 which traverses the district from north to south ; of these some are almos!; 
 dry at low tides, leaving exposed banks of foetid mud, whilst others are 
 navigable by river steamers at all seasons of the year, at low tide neaps 
 s well as at high tide springs, and all are more or less fringed with forest. 
 Owing to the continuous deposit of silt the country along the margins of 
 the water-courses is raised and the district is thus divided into a congeries 
 of basin-like islands. ' ' 
 
 The principal rivers are the To or China-bakir, the Pya-poon, the 
 Kyoon-toon or Da-la and the Irrawaddy. The To leaves 
 
 Rivers. ^-^q Kyoon-toon at Kyoon-ka-yeng and falls into the Bay 
 
 of Bengal by three mouths, the To, the Than-htiep and the Doon-ran, 
 about 70 miles from its origin. At its narrowest part it is about 500 yards 
 broad and at its widest about a mile ; the depth varies from two and a half 
 to nine fathoms. During the dry season river steamers reach the 
 Irrawaddy through this channel. The Pya-poon leaves the To near Hpo- 
 doot and varies in depth from three to 12 feet. The Kyoon-toon leaves the 
 Irrawaddy about 10 miles below Gnyoung-doon at about the same place as 
 the To, and flows S.S.W. to the sea. It is navigable by river steamers for 
 some distance from its source but it then shallows considerably ; in it 
 are many islands. The Irrawaddy enters the district in the extreme north 
 and throwing off numerous branches it falls into the Bay of Bengal west 
 of the Kyoon-toon. The creeks are of all sizes, from broad, deep streams 
 navigable by steamers to narrow passages barely wide enough or deep 
 enough to allow the passage of a canoe. Almost every-where the banks 
 are fringed with tree forest. 
 
 The whole tract is alluvial and the geology is precisely similar to that 
 
 Geology. of the west of Eangoon and the east of Bassein. 
 
 The coastline is generally marked by sandy patches or by the foetid 
 mud or sand and mud of the mangrove swamps, and with the exception of a 
 patch of ''newer alluvium", that is the deposit thrown down by the 
 existing Irrawaddy, the whole district consists of " older alluvial clay " of 
 a very homogeneous nature "differing mainly from the older clay of the 
 " Gangetic basin by being less rich in lime but otherwise resembling it in 
 " general appearance and mode of deposition and arrangement." Under 
 certain conditions of exposure and weathering it assumes an imperfect 
 lateritic appearance superficially. This older clay rests on a considerable 
 deposit of sand or gravel " varying much with the locality. At Gnyoung- 
 " doon, at the top of the tide-way, this bottom bed consists of clean sand with 
 " a few small quartz pebbles sparingly dispersed here and there through it ; 
 " and it is the presence of this under-bed of sand which so greatly favours 
 " the abrasion of the channel of the Gnyoung-doon stream and is the indirect 
 " cause of the broad shallow just below the junction of that stream with the 
 " Irrawaddy." 
 
 Of forest trees there are few of any real importance at present, but 
 Eeng-daik {Dalbergia cultrata), Pyeng-ma {Lagcrstroemia regina) and Ka- 
 gnyeng {Dipterocarpus Icevis) are found towards the north. No State 
 forests or reserves exist anywhere. 
 
 The inhabitants are principally Burmans and Kareng and number only 
 38"97 to the square mile. It is thus -the most sparsely populated district in 
 Pegu, yet it is more largely inhabited than any district out of that division.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 789 
 
 The following table gives the number of inhabitants in each year since 
 the district was formed, according to the latest available returns. 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 OS 
 
 ■* 
 
 
 
 
 
 >o 
 
 I-l 
 
 t^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 "*^ 
 
 »o 
 
 MS 
 
 
 
 
 •s^jsiqppoog; 
 
 00 
 
 o 
 
 s" 
 
 
 
 
 
 rH 
 
 (M 
 
 (M 
 
 
 
 
 W 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 
 cc 
 
 
 ■snnp9aioTi'Bi\[ 
 
 
 (M 
 
 CO 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 X 
 
 'i* 
 
 
 
 •snpnTjj 
 
 O 
 
 t~ 
 
 lO 
 
 
 
 
 # 
 
 # 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 
 •smsi'jsi.iqo 
 
 r-H 
 (M 
 
 r-l 
 rH 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 t- 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 OJ 
 
 
 
 
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 00 
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 00 
 
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 lO 
 
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 C5 
 
 
 
 
 
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 _; 
 
 
 00 
 
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 3 
 
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 c~ 
 
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 2 
 
 03 
 
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 1-1 
 
 OS_ 
 
 
 
 Pi 
 
 
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 «D 
 
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 o 
 
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 ^ 
 
 
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 00 
 
 
 
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 I-H 
 
 
 
 
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 CO 
 
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 s 
 
 
 
 -I* 
 
 C75 
 
 IM 
 
 
 Houa 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 00 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 •spai5[ .laq^O 
 
 CO 
 
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 us 
 
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 T-i 

 
 790 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Towns and vil- 
 
 There has thus been an important increase and one which evidently 
 is seriously affected by the excess of immigration over emigration. As 
 regards arrivals in and departures from a district the returns may be 
 accepted as fairly accurate, and they show a very large difference in favour 
 of the district. There is no doubt that some shewn amongst both classes 
 are not new-comers from or out-goers to other provinces or foreign states 
 but it is certain that there has been an influx of men from Upper Burma,, 
 whilst the floods in 1876 induced many to leave the northern portion of 
 Eangoon to settle in Dai-da-rai and other places in Thoon-khwa where land 
 was easily obtainable. It is therefore very doubtful if population will 
 continue to increase at the same rate as has hitherto obtained. 
 
 The largest town is Gnyoung-doon, with 9,290 inhabitants, on the left 
 bank of the Irrawaddy at the western mouth of the 
 Pan-hlaing creek, here called the Gnyoung-doon. It 
 owes its existence almost to the increased trade brought 
 about by the annexation of Pegu and the removal of the vexatious restric- 
 tions imposed by the Burmese. The inhabitants are mainly traders and 
 brokers and it is a general rendezvous of boat-owners ; those coming down- 
 wards bringing grain, tea (pickled), oils, vegetables and silk and those com- 
 ing from below, salt, nga-pee, piece-goods, crockery and earthenware, &c. 
 
 Pan-ta-naw is a much smaller place, east by south of Gnyoung-doon, 
 also on the bank of one of the mouths of the Irrawaddy near the mouth of 
 the Bhaw-dee stream. The inhabitants who numbered 5,824 in 1877-78, 
 are mainly brokers and traders who deal in the large quantity of nga-pee 
 brought up from the lower country and disposed of here for export north- 
 wards. 
 
 Donabyoo is on the right bank of the Irrawaddy some distance above 
 Gnyoung-doon and contains a population in 1877-78 of 4,099 souls. ■ Dming 
 the first Anglo-Burmese war it was stockaded and defended, at first success- 
 fully, by the Maha Ban-doo-la but w^as abandoned by the Burmans when he 
 was killed by the bursting of a shell. No attempt to hold it against the 
 English was made in the second war. 
 
 Ma-oo-beng, the head-quarters, is little more than a village built on 
 low ground and noteworthy principally on account of the mosquitos which 
 torment the inhabitants. According to the latest published returns the dis- 
 trict contains 783 other villages. 
 
 The total revenue demand during the first year was Es. 1,024,306 
 
 ■p and in 1877-78, the latest year for which returns have 
 
 been published, Es. 1,243,371. The following table 
 shews under what heads there was the largest increase : — 
 
 
 
 '13 
 
 
 
 cS ai fl 
 
 ars 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 o s 
 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 Ph 
 
 §■^3 
 
 cS 
 
 ^q 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 Capitati 
 and lai 
 sessme 
 lieu. 
 
 Excise 
 spirits 
 drugs 
 
 
 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 1875-76 
 
 347,92 8 
 
 327,946 
 
 2,131 
 
 1,825 
 
 209,685 
 
 88,241 
 
 46,556 
 
 1,024,306 
 
 1876-77 
 
 377,86 6 
 
 325,686 
 
 539 
 
 1,793 
 
 218,570 
 
 72,803 
 
 50,721 
 
 1,047,978 
 
 1877-78 
 
 403,310 
 
 448,666 
 
 1,744 
 
 1,263 
 
 224,908 
 
 115,364 
 
 48,116 
 
 1,243,371
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 791 
 
 In addition to this Imperial revenue there are Local Funds raised 
 and spent in the district. 
 
 The following table shews the gross revenue and the incidence per head 
 of population : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Incidence 
 
 Imperial and 
 Provincial 
 
 Local. 
 
 Total. 
 
 per head. 
 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 
 Es. A. P. 
 
 1875-76 
 
 1,024,306 
 
 35,050 
 
 1,059,356 
 
 186,810 
 
 5 10 9 
 
 1876-77 
 
 1,047,978 
 
 77,135 
 
 1,125,113 
 
 202,034 
 
 5 9 1 
 
 1877-78 
 
 1,243,371 
 
 67,713 
 
 1,311,084 
 
 210,975 
 
 6 3 5 
 
 The pr 
 
 incipal crops cultivated 
 
 were, in acres 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TO 
 
 tn 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 
 
 
 OT 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 QJ 
 
 
 03 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r-i 
 
 
 
 <0 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 M 
 
 S 
 
 •;3 
 
 O 
 ^ 
 
 ai 
 
 cS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 OQ 
 
 ft 
 
 P4 t > 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 1875-76 
 
 
 163,664 
 
 
 191 
 
 22,391 
 
 120 
 
 186,370 
 
 1876-77 
 
 
 177,405 
 189,635 
 
 246 
 
 183 
 
 25,717 
 
 399 
 159 
 
 203,521 
 
 1877-78 
 
 18,741 8,289 
 
 217,253 
 
 Thus except fruit trees, vegetables and rice, hardly anjihing is grown. 
 This is the only district entirely free from toungya. The land is not very 
 fertile and much less so than in the neighbouring districts of Bassein, 
 Henzada and Eangoon, and this for every kind of crop grown in all four. 
 
 The agricultural stock has naturally increased with the extension of 
 cultivation. 
 
 
 
 'O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 c3 
 
 TO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 YEaR. 
 
 CO 
 
 S 03 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <u 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 TO 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 .a 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 fe'3 
 
 
 TO 
 
 to 
 
 CD 
 
 o 
 
 in 
 1 
 
 
 « 
 
 o 
 
 ai 
 
 Cm 
 
 U 
 
 tH 
 
 m 
 
 1875-76 
 
 24,875 
 
 7,888 
 
 435 
 
 5,986 
 
 6,572 
 
 8,331 
 
 7,349 
 
 1876-77 
 
 25,842 
 
 8,510 
 
 393 
 
 6,022 
 
 6,772 
 
 12,333 
 
 8,563 
 
 1877-78 
 
 28,120 
 
 9,425 
 
 462 
 
 6,125 
 
 5,234 
 
 14,127 
 
 8,147
 
 792 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 Nowliere in Pegu are there so few cows, bulls and bullocks as com- 
 pared with buffaloes. 
 
 The district is divided into three sub-divisions, Ma-oo-beng, Pantanaw 
 
 , inistration ^^^^ Gnj^oung-doon and these again into six townships 
 
 two in each, viz., Thoon-khwa and Pya-poon, Gnyoung- 
 
 doon and Donabyoo, Pantanaw and Shwe-loung. In addition to the officers 
 
 in charge of these tracts of country there are a Superintendent of Police 
 
 and a Civil Medical Officer. 
 
 During the first Anglo-Burmese war no resistance was offered to the 
 British Army in this district as it exists at present except at Donabyoo. 
 Early in 1825 the troops advanced from Eangoon, the land column under 
 the Commander-in-Chief moving up the valley of the Hlaing and the 
 water column under Brigadier Cotton making its way to the Irrawaddy ; 
 Sir Archibald Campbell's march was unopposed, the Tharawaddy Meng, a 
 brother of the reigning sovereign who some years later ascended the throne 
 after a successful rebellion, retiring as the British advanced. The Ban- 
 doo-la, who had commanded Burmese armies in Manipur and in Ai-akan, 
 threw himself into Donabyoo which he strongly fortified ; the main stock- 
 ade commanded the river and was protected by two others lower down. 
 General Cotton's force arrived on the 7th March 1825, and having landed 
 advanced in two columns to the attack. The first stockade was carried 
 but the other two were defended with greater obstinacy. Captains Ptose and 
 Cannon were killed and the greater number of the troops engaged killed 
 or wounded. General Cotton thereupon withdrew his force and applied to 
 the Commander-in-Chief for reinforcements. Sir Archibald Campbell at 
 once returned to Sa-ra-wa (Tha-ra-waw) and passing his troops across the 
 Irrawaddy, an operation which took five days, established his head-quarters 
 at Henzada. After a two days halt, during which a detachment under 
 Colonel Godwin was sent against the Kyee Won-gyee whose troops escaped 
 before the British came across them, Sir Archibald Campbell moved down 
 the right bank to Donabyoo where he arrived on the 25th March. Batteries 
 were at once erected, the works being greatly impeded by sorties of the 
 enemy, and on the 1st April the enfilading batteries and on the 2nd the 
 breaching batteries opened fire. Very shortly the enemy was observed to 
 be in full retreat and an advance being ordered the stockades with a large 
 quantity of stores and guns were captured. The Maha Ban-doo-la had been 
 killed the day before by the bursting of a shell whilst he was inspecting the 
 works. The united columns then continued their advance without opposi- 
 tion. At Taroop-maw envoys came in asking the British Commander to 
 halt and enter into peace negotiations, but Sir A. Campbell declined to stop 
 the advance. During the second war Donabyoo was undefended but after 
 the occupation of Prome one Nga Myat Htoon, an ex-Thoogyee of a small 
 circle, succeeded in collecting a body of men and openly defied the British, 
 capturing our boats passing up and down the river, ravaging the country, 
 pillaging every village which furnished fuel to the steamers, driving off 
 thousands of people and cattle and rendering all regular government 
 impossible. Captain Hewett I.N., surprised and defeated a large body 
 which had collected in Donabyoo and in the early part of January 1853 
 this town was again attacked and the enemy driven out, but the British 
 force on movinc^ into the interior was forced to retire. On the news reach-
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 793 
 
 ing Rangoon in February 1853 a force of which Captain Loch, C.B. E.N., 
 assumed command, consisting of 158 seamen, 62 marines, 300 men of 
 the 67th B.N.I, under Major Minchin, with two three-pounders from 
 E.I.C. steamer Phlegethon, was despatched to operate against Myat Htoon. 
 Landing at Donabyoo the column advanced into the jungles towards the 
 chieftain's stronghold but were taken in flank and driven back, Captain 
 Loch, mortally wounded, being among the first to fall. " Out of 225 
 " Europeans who advanced to the attack six were left dead on the field and 
 " 53 were wounded. The loss of the Bengal Regt. amounted to five men 
 "killed and 18 wounded ; in all 82 casualties."* At this period Captain 
 Fytche, who had been appointed to the civil charge of the Bassem district 
 and had arrived from Sandoway in January, almost unaided b}^ the weak 
 military garrison in Bassein but well supported by a small and valuable 
 force of seamen furnished by Captain Rennie from the Zenobia and 
 Nemesis, was occupied in clearing his district of the marauding parties, 
 remnants of the Burmese forces, which still infested it. The result partly 
 of this second repulse of a British force and partly of Captain Fj^tche's opera- 
 tions in the south was an immediate accession of strength to Myat Htoon. 
 Sir John Cheape who was commanding in Prome now descended the river 
 in person in command of a force composed of 200 men of the Ro3"al Irish 
 under Major Wigston, who had distinguished himself in the operations in 
 the neighlDOurhood of Prome, 200 men of the King's Own Light Infantry 
 under Captain Irby, a company of the 67th B.N.I, under Captain Hicks, 
 200 men of the 4th Sikh local regiment under Major Armstrong, 70 
 sappers, two guns and some rocket-tubes, and landing at Henzada advanced 
 against the enemy but before coming across him made a flank movement 
 to the eastward and striking the Irrawaddy at Za-lwon proceeded down the 
 river to Donabj^oo. Here he was joined on the 6th March by reinforce- 
 ments from Rangoon consisting of 130 men of the Staffordshire Volunteers 
 under Major Holdich, two mortars and some commissariat stores, and on the 
 7th the force advanced. In the meanwhile Captain Fytche, who had left 
 Bassein with 90 seamen and marines, four guns and 2,000 Burmans and 
 Kareng and was moving on Myat Htoon from the south by three different 
 roads, came across and drove in his outposts on the 3rd, but was subsequently 
 forced to retire. From the 3rd to the 17th but little was done, the force 
 under Captain Fytche being too to weak to attack alone and Sir John 
 Cheape finding greater difficulties in his way than he expected. On the 
 17th the two forces moved on towards Myat Htoon's position ; Captain 
 Fytche encountered little resistance but Sir John Cheape's advance was 
 strongly though ineffectually opposed. Numerous breast-works had been 
 thrown up and the Burmans fought well behind them. The works were 
 at last carried and the enemy dispersed. The British loss during the 
 expedition was severe, 12 officers and 95 men being wounded and two 
 European officers, one Native officer and 18 warrant officers, non-commis- 
 sioned officers and rank and file being killed. Myat Htoon himself escaped, 
 but gave no more trouble and the country gradually settled down. 
 
 THOON-TSHAY.— A village of 961 inhabitants in 1878 on the stream 
 of the same name, an affluent of the Hlaing, in the south, and now 
 
 * Laurie's " Pegu." 
 
 100
 
 794 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 the head-quarters of the Tharrawaddy district. It contains a court- 
 house and police-stations and is on the Kangoon and Irrawaddy Valley 
 (State) Kailway. The American Baptist Mission has a station in the 
 village. 
 
 It was occupied by Sir Archibald Campbell without resistance on the 
 26th February 1825 on his advance towards the north during the first 
 Anglo-Burmese war and the column halted here for two days till it was 
 rejoined by two native battalions which had been left behind at Hlaing 
 lower down the valley. Lat. 17° 36' 47" N. ; Long. 95° 50' 59" E. 
 
 THOON-TSHAY. — A revenue circle in the Tharrawaddy district, in 
 the extreme south, about 64 square miles in extent. In the west the 
 ground is low and cultivated with rice but towards the east it is very hilly, 
 the hills being off-shoots from the Pegu Eoma and covered with valuable 
 timber. The inhabitants are principally Burmans, of whom many are 
 engaged in the fisheries in the neighbourhood. The circle was transferred 
 from Rangoon some years ago. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, 
 
 IN RUPEES. 
 
 Years. 
 
 tn 
 
 
 OQ 
 
 a> 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 on tax. 
 
 i 
 l-l 
 
 
 
 
 bc 
 
 .£3 
 
 
 
 ■§ 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 C3 
 
 
 
 
 c3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o< 
 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 M 
 
 < 
 
 O 
 
 iJ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 1874 
 
 6,935 
 
 1,658 
 
 76 
 
 8,669 
 
 17,437 
 
 8,994 
 
 5,000 
 
 31,431 
 
 1875 
 
 8,301 
 
 1,658 
 
 700 
 
 10,659 
 
 20,551 
 
 9,757 
 
 4,410 
 
 34,718 
 
 1876 
 
 7,384 
 
 2,639 
 
 962 
 
 10,985 
 
 20,920 
 
 9,832 
 
 5,147 
 
 35,899 
 
 1877 
 
 6,549 
 
 2,383 
 
 2,331 
 
 11,263 
 
 21,373 
 
 9,788 
 
 5,075 
 
 36,229 
 
 1878 
 
 7,980 
 
 2,980 
 
 1,384 
 
 12,294 
 
 22,892 
 
 10,904 
 
 10,695 
 
 44,491 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 Area, in 
 
 ACRES. 
 
 
 
 Agricultural 
 
 STOCK. 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 '9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 li 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 eg 
 
 
 
 
 
 Years. 
 
 
 
 00 
 
 S 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 3 d 
 
 O 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 i 
 
 
 O 
 
 W § 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 S 60 
 t3 CI 
 
 
 o 
 m 
 
 -3 
 o 
 
 ^ 
 
 s 
 
 
 <D 
 0) 
 
 03 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 O 
 
 
 P 
 
 o 
 
 i 
 
 H 
 
 m 
 
 u 
 
 M 
 
 Oh 
 
 O 
 
 CL| 
 
 n 
 
 1874 
 
 5,528 
 
 76 
 
 195 
 
 5,899 
 
 1,145 
 
 1,242 
 
 41 
 
 351 
 
 657 
 
 843 
 
 69 
 
 1875 
 
 11,789 
 
 84 
 
 80 
 
 11,953 
 
 1,266 
 
 1,482 
 
 6 
 
 40 
 
 1,046 
 
 954 
 
 62 
 
 1876 
 
 12,083 
 
 55 
 
 63 
 
 12,201 
 
 1,340 
 
 1,479 
 
 8 
 
 47 
 
 1,078 
 
 652 
 
 64 
 
 1877 
 
 12,177 
 
 57 
 
 156 
 
 12,390 
 
 1,420 
 
 1,516 
 
 10 
 
 64 
 
 1,203 
 
 705 
 
 70 
 
 1878 
 
 13,219 
 
 59 
 
 68 
 
 13,338 
 
 1,428 
 
 1,530 
 
 12 
 
 70 
 
 1,220 
 
 700 
 
 76
 
 BBITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 795 
 
 THOO-YAI-THA-MEE.— A village on the right bank of the Tsit-toung 
 river about 30 miles below Shwe-gyeng ; the head-quarters of the Extra 
 Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Shwe-gyeng township. It 
 contains a substantial and commodious court-house and a police-station, 
 and a pagoda at which a festival is held annually in November in 
 honour of the founder, a princess who, having lost her betrothed, a Siamese 
 prince, lived a life of celibacy and of charity. In 1878 it had 907 
 inhabitants. 
 
 THOO-YAI-THA-MEE.— More commonly called Thayet-tha-mien. 
 A revenue circle in the Shwe-gyeng district extending along the right 
 bank of the Tsit-toung river as far as the Tsit-toung sub-division and 
 containing the large village of Thoo-yai-tha-mee or Thayet-tha-mien, the 
 head-quarters of the township. It has an area of about 200 square miles 
 and a population in 1878 of 6,460 souls, principally Talaing. In 1877 
 the capitation tax was Rs. 6,235, the land revenue Rs. 2,869 and the 
 gross revenue, the greater portion of which was derived from the fisheries, 
 Rs. 20,084. 
 
 THOUK-RE-GAT. — A river in the Toung-ngoo district which rises in 
 19° 28' N. Lat. amongst the wilderness of mountains to the east of the 
 Tsit-toung river and after flowing southwards for some miles turns 
 west on leaving the hills about 20 miles east of Toung-ngoo and joins the 
 Tsit-toung five miles south of that town, draining an area of about 1000 
 square miles. Its former name was Mya-khyoung or " emerald stream " 
 from its greenish colour, but this was changed to Thouk-re-gat, circa 
 1191 A. D., when King Na-ra-pa-dee-tsee-thoo drank of its waters. Its 
 numerous feeders have their sources in the slopes of mountain ranges 
 with an average elevation of 4000, rising in some places to 7000, feet, and 
 keep it so well supplied that it is but little affected by the extreme drought 
 of the hot weather, and its waters are always clear, cool and refreshing. 
 Between its upper course and the Tsit-toung river is enclosed a mountain 
 tract nearly 20 miles wide and rising to an elevation of 4000 feet. From 
 its mouth to the foot of the hills, where it takes its westerly bend and where 
 it receives the waters of the Kyai and Myit-ngan, its bed is of sand mixed 
 with granite boulders, beyond that it is very rocky. On the whole of the 
 hilly country which it drains teak was at one time extensively spread 
 but a vast amount has been destroyed by the hill-clearings of the Kareng ; 
 wherever the slopes of the hills are too steep for Toungya cultivation 
 there and there only teak has been preserved. Pyeng-ga-do (Xylia 
 dolahraformis) is found in large quantities as well as Garuga pinnata, SJiorca 
 ohtusa, Corclia sjy. and Gmelina arborca. For commercial purposes, however, 
 the value of these forests is limited on account of the broken slopes of the 
 valleys and the rocky nature of the bed of the main stream and of its 
 tributaries. In the plains and lower hills nearer its mouth teak is found 
 interspersed with Eng {Diptcrocarpm tuhcrcidatus) and other green forest 
 trees. A good deal of teak and other timber, canes, bamboos and sessamum 
 are brought down this river to the Tsit-toung. 
 
 THOUNG-DAN. — A revenue circle in the Kj^ouk-khyoung-ga-le town- 
 ship, now joined to Le-myet-hna, in the Bassein district, about 100 square 
 miles in extent, comprising the hilly and mountainous country on the east
 
 796 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 of the Arakan Eoma between the Mai-za-lee stream on the north and the 
 Kyouk-khyoung-ga-le on the south. Eastwards, towards the Bassein river 
 which forms the eastern boundary of the circle, are plains fairly well 
 cultivated and i^assing into low swampy land. The inhabitants are mainly 
 agriculturists, petty traders and fishermen. It contains several large 
 vSlages — Kyouk-khyoung, Tsan-rwa, Kek-koo-ma-gyee-beng-tsoo and Lek- 
 pan-beng. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, in eupees. 
 
 Tear. 
 
 g 
 
 § 
 
 o § 
 
 "3 
 "o 
 H 
 
 '6 
 
 a 
 
 _o 
 
 "§ • 
 
 o 1> 
 
 18 
 
 1874 
 1875 
 1876 
 
 1877 
 
 1878 
 
 6,609 
 7,076 
 7,155 
 7,071 
 7,036 
 
 1,520 
 482 
 439 
 401 
 
 377 
 
 9 
 21 
 22 
 20 
 15 
 
 8,138 
 7,579 
 7,616 
 7,492 
 7,428 
 
 6,034 
 6,393 
 6,844 
 6,840 
 6,620 
 
 8,775 
 8,870 
 8,662 
 8,420 
 7,892 
 
 2,080 
 2,080 
 2,080 
 2,099 
 2,080 
 
 16,889 
 15,343 
 17,586 
 17,359 
 16,592 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 Area, in acres. 
 
 Agricultural stock. 
 
 Teae. 
 
 Under rice 
 including 
 fallow. 
 
 
 § . 
 
 "3 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 m 03 
 
 O 13 
 
 o a 
 
 ■73 
 i3Q 
 
 
 cS 
 
 to 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 pq 
 
 1874 
 
 3,492 
 
 100 
 
 127 
 
 3,719 
 
 1,515 
 
 2,311 
 
 15 
 
 7 
 
 393 
 
 386 
 
 105 
 
 1875 
 
 4,025 
 
 190 
 
 154 
 
 4,369 
 
 1,551 
 
 1,559 
 
 27 
 
 158 
 
 600 
 
 546 
 
 195 
 
 1876 
 
 3,955 
 
 213 
 
 125 
 
 4,293 
 
 2,019 
 
 1,790 
 
 50 
 
 97 
 
 491 
 
 497 
 
 263 
 
 1877 
 
 3,969 
 
 207 
 
 162 
 
 4,338 
 
 1,680 
 
 1,663 
 
 49 
 
 156 
 
 543 
 
 964 
 
 353 
 
 1878 
 
 3,965 
 
 209 
 
 182 
 
 4,356 
 
 1,751 
 
 1,80S 
 
 74 
 
 96 
 
 484 
 
 942 
 
 107 
 
 THOUNG-DOO. — A tidal creek in the extreme southern portion of the 
 Shwe-lomig township, Bassein district, between the Ka-ka-ran and the 
 Pyeng-tha-loo or eastern mouth of the Pya-ma-law which it meets near its 
 mouth. It is at all times navigable by the largest boats. 
 
 THOUNG-GA-LE. — A tidal creek (the western half of which is called 
 Hnget-kywon) in the lower portion of the Nga-poo-taw township, traversing 
 the large island in the mouth of the Bassein river and running between
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 797 
 
 the main and the Thek-ngay-thoung mouths, varying from 80 to 200 feet 
 in width and at low water having a depth of from one and a half to 
 three fathoms. The banks are low and muddy and covered with rank 
 jungle. 
 
 THOUNG-GYEE.— A village in the Mo-bya (north) circle of the 
 Thee-kweng township, Bassein district, on the southern bank of the Da-ga 
 river. In 1878 it had 512 inhabitants. 
 
 THOUNG-RWA. — A village in the Tha-bye-hla circle, Kyoon-i:)yaw 
 township, Bassein district, on both banks of the Ee-gyee, a branch of the 
 Da-ga, and eight miles south-east of Nga-thaing-khyoung. In 1878 it had 
 724 inhabitants. 
 
 THOUNG-GYENG.— A river in the Amherst district, forming its 
 northern boundary and separating it from territories nominally if not 
 actually belonging to the kingdom of Siam. Its source is in 16° 27' 47'' 
 N. and 98° 50' 50" E. and its course to the Salween, a distance of 197 
 miles, is about N.N.W. Like most rivers that drain mountainous tracts 
 its breadth varies considerably : below the Hmaing-lwon-gyee, a large 
 affluent from the north which unites with it close to its mouth, the breadth 
 is as much as 1000 feet, above it there are places where it does not exceed 
 100. From Mya-wa-dee, an old and once fortified town, now a village, on 
 the left bank in 16' 42' 15" N. and 98° 32' 30" E. to its mouth there are 
 47 rapids and falls down which the water rushes with great velocity 
 rendering navigation impossible ; besides these rapids there are rocky 
 gorges formed by the meeting of spm-s from the opposite ranges. This 
 river is of importance as the outlet for the timber brought down from 
 the rich teak forests which cover the mountains amongst which it and 
 its tributarj^ the Hmaing-lwon-gyee, flow, but the working of these is a 
 tedious and expensive operation owing to the great distance over which 
 the timber has to be floated before it reaches the Salween and to the 
 obstructions in the course of the river. The dragging of the logs to the 
 banks of the Thoung-gyeng, or of such of its tributaries as admit of 
 floating, is done during the rains and the cool months of the dry season ; 
 from this time to the end of the rains the logs are left lying on the banks 
 and are then floated down in batches of some thousands at a time, all 
 loose and singly, and the foresters close the rear with boats, rafts and 
 elephants pushing on the logs that lie behind or extricating those jammed 
 between the rocks. It is an advantage of this stream that although it 
 is of considerable size it is so shallow that soon after the rains elephants 
 can march along its bed without interruption ; this shallowness, however, 
 renders it necessary that the logs should not be rafted and should be 
 followed by a working party and prevents greater progress than at the 
 rate of about two miles a day. The time required to float the timber from 
 the upper forests to the Salween is estimated at four months. 
 
 THOUNG-TAIK. — A revenue cu-cle in the Kj-oung-goon township, 
 now joined to Tsam-bay-roon, in the Bassein district, about 69 square miles 
 in extent, on the east bank of the Da-ga river, which here winds consider- 
 ably in sudden and sharp curves. The surface of the country is generally 
 flat but is not extensively cultivated. In the western portion of the circle 
 is a lake some three miles long by half a mile broad which in the rains
 
 798 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 communicates with the Da-ga ; in the dry weather it has some five feet of 
 water in it. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, 
 
 IN RUPEES. 
 
 Teab. 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 02 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 !-i . 
 
 
 
 c8 
 
 w> 
 
 ^i 
 
 
 
 
 a a 
 
 O D 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 Q 
 
 o M 
 
 'cS 
 
 n3 
 
 -S M 
 
 -3 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 S 
 
 ^^ 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 §-- 
 
 —1 -tn 
 
 o 
 
 
 m 
 
 M 
 
 H 
 
 a 
 
 Q 
 
 <! 
 
 H 
 
 1874 
 
 1,8G7 
 
 1,692 
 
 
 8,559 
 
 2,542 
 
 3,830 
 
 410 
 
 6,782 
 
 1875 
 
 2,191 
 
 1,944 
 
 — 
 
 4,135 
 
 8,288 
 
 4,802 
 
 120 
 
 13,210 
 
 1876 
 
 2,i94 
 
 2,095 
 
 2 
 
 4,591 
 
 6,000 
 
 4,912 
 
 120 
 
 11,032 
 
 1877 
 
 2,995 
 
 2,285 
 
 — 
 
 5,280 
 
 6,245 
 
 5,225 
 
 120 
 
 11,590 
 
 1878 
 
 3,008 
 
 2,536 
 
 — 
 
 5,544 
 
 7,688 
 
 5,827 
 
 1,211 
 
 14,726 
 
 and the area 
 
 under cultivation and the agr 
 
 icultural stock :- 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 Area, in ackes. 
 
 
 Agricultural 
 
 STOCK. 
 
 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 JS' 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 as 
 
 "^ o 
 
 c8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 
 
 "3 
 
 -9 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 DO 
 
 CQ 
 
 
 I.s3 
 
 s 
 
 .2 o 
 
 o 
 
 so 
 5 
 
 g^ 
 
 ,§^ 
 
 60 
 
 S 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 
 u 
 
 o 
 
 ^ 
 
 H 
 
 fp 
 
 o 3 
 
 OQ 
 
 Ph 
 
 O 
 
 s 
 
 pq 
 
 1874 
 
 1,213 
 
 445 
 
 
 1,658 
 
 685 
 
 427 
 
 
 129 
 
 84 
 
 159 
 
 80 
 
 1875 
 
 8,960 
 
 1,207 
 
 322 
 
 5,489 
 
 679 
 
 370 
 
 4 
 
 145 
 
 93 
 
 237 
 
 47 
 
 1876 
 
 2,983 
 
 848 
 
 179 
 
 4,010 
 
 944 
 
 809 
 
 3 
 
 62 
 
 142 
 
 489 
 
 59 
 
 1877 
 
 2,977 
 
 892 
 
 276 
 
 4,145 
 
 1.126 
 
 523 
 
 10 
 
 97 
 
 123 
 
 515 
 
 68 
 
 1878 
 
 3,288 
 
 1,814 
 
 — 
 
 5,102 
 
 1,118 
 
 599 
 
 11 
 
 161 
 
 148 
 
 529 
 
 55 
 
 TO. — A tidal creek or mouth of the Irrawaddy known in the charts as 
 the China-bakir. It leaves the Kyoon-toon or Dala river at the village of 
 Kywon-khareng and after running in a south-easterly direction for about 
 70 miles falls into the gulf of Martaban between the Rangoon and the 
 Than-htiep rivers. It varies in width from 500 yards to one mile, and in 
 depth from two and a half to nine fathoms at low water. The banks from 
 the mouth to Taw-ta-nee are very low and muddy and a great portion of the 
 country it traverses is inundated during the rains ; above that village the 
 banks are steep and covered with grass and tree jungle. For about 16 miles 
 from its mouth the water is salt during floods. During the dry weather 
 at spring tides a bore is formed, sometimes over 18 inches in height, which 
 flows up the Tha-khwot-i3eng or Bassein creek. From the mouth of the 
 Tha-khwot-peng northwards it is navigable throughout but below this, 
 towards the sea, a bar renders it unnavigable. From the Tha-khwot-peng 
 upwards it forms the dry-season route for steamers and large boats from 
 Rangoon to the Irrawaddy. 
 
 TO-KHYOUNG-GYEE.— A village in the Rangoon district on the 
 Poo-zwon-doung river about 12 miles from its mouth, surrounded by a very
 
 BBITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 799 
 
 extensive tract of rice land. The inhabitants, who are principally Talaing, 
 are largely engaged in rice cultivation and some are gardeners and others 
 traders. Lat. 16° 15' 30" N. Long. 96° 16' E. 
 
 TO-MA-YAN. — A revenue circle in the Pya-poon township, Thoon- 
 khwa district. In 1877 the land revenue was Es. 28,720, the capitation 
 tax Es. 5,170, the gross revenue Es. 39,634 and the population 3,007 
 souls. 
 
 TOUNG-BHEKJ^YWON.— A revenue circle in the Meng-bra township, 
 Akyab district. In 1877-78 the population was 1,804, the capitation tax 
 Es. 2,440, the land revenue Es. 3,259 and the gross revenue Es. 5,894. 
 
 TOUNG-BHEK-MYO.— The descriptive name of the southern town- 
 ship of the Sandoway district, occupying the whole of the country between 
 the Arakan Eoma and the Bay of Bengal from the Tsa-wa river southwards 
 to the Khwa, the boundary of the district. It has an area of 1,290| square 
 miles and is divided into six revenue circles. The whole sm-face of the 
 country is exceedingly mountainous and all the rivers that drain it, except 
 the Khwa, have a general east and west direction and are small and 
 unimportant ; the Khwa forms a good harbour but the entrance is impractic- 
 able for large vessels owing to a bar as its mouth. 
 
 In 1875 this township had a cultivated area of 9,831 acres as follows : — 
 
 Acres. 
 
 Rice land under cultivation under annual assessment . . . . 6,393 
 
 Do. do. fallow do. do. do. do. . . . . 123 
 
 Do. do. under lease or Revenue settlement for more than one year 
 
 and paying revenue . . . . . . . . 795 
 
 Toungya at 1-8-0 per acre . . . . . . . . 242 
 
 Do. at 1-4-0 do. . . . . . . . . 750 
 
 Garden and orchard laud under annual assessment . . . , 501 
 
 Miscellaneous cultivation subject to annual assessment ,. 1,027 
 
 Total .. 9,831 
 
 The principal products other than rice are tobacco, sessamum, sugar- 
 cane, dhanee, plantains, cotton, pepper, madder, mulberry, pan-vines, 
 cocoanuts and miscellaneous vegetable products. 
 
 The exports from the township consist of sessamum oil and seed, silk, 
 madder, cotton, sugar, torches, nga-pee, dried and salt fish, turtle eggs 
 and a few head of cattle. 
 
 The imports mainly consist of cotton, wollcn and silk piece-goods 
 and twist, dyed and undyed, lacquered ware, and miscellaneous articles of 
 no intrinsic value. 
 
 The most important of the forest products in this township is the 
 wood-oil derived from the Dipterocarpns tuherculatus and another species 
 of the same genus, D. alatus, which is used by the people in the manufacture 
 of torches. 
 
 There are no made roads : communication is maintained during the 
 dry weather with Bassein and the northern parts of the coast by means of 
 small country-built boats which coast along witbin sight of land ; internal 
 communication is maintained along the beds of mountain streams and the 
 little embankments dividing the rice fields, passable enough in the dry 
 weather for foot passengers but exceedingly difficult and dangerous during
 
 800 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 the monsoon months when these streams become perfect torrents ; during 
 this season the township is practically shut out from all communication. 
 
 A foot-track leads towards the Bassein district which is traversed by 
 cattle-dealers, pedlers and a considerable number of natives of India who 
 for financial reasons choose this route for reaching Bassein where they seek 
 and obtain employment as coolies during the rice-shipping season. 
 
 Communication between the head-quarters of the Extra Assistant 
 Commissioner and the head-quarter station of the district (Sandoway) is kept 
 up by a police patrol weekly, and the few letters, principally Government 
 correspondence, are conveyed by it ; the journey takes a week each way. 
 
 The people are mainly occupied in tilling the soil, in fishing for the 
 supply of home wants, and in the preparation of nga-pee which they barter 
 and sell in order to meet their other little requirements. Soon after the 
 close of the harvest numbers of families are occupied in the manufacture 
 of torches, wood-oil being obtainable in large quantaties ; the manufacture 
 is not confined to adults but is carried on by the entire family. Each 
 adult can make 50 torches per diem and the average market value of them 
 is from Es. 8 to Es. 10 per mille whilst the oil usually fetches Es. 2 per 
 maund of 82 lbs. 
 
 In the Sandoway district silk-worm rearing is wholly confined to 
 this township and is principally carried on by people who make hill clear- 
 ings and grow miscellaneous products such as sugar-cane, cotton, vegetables, 
 &c. ; the total area devoted to the cultivation of the mulberry tree as food 
 for the worms in 1875 was a trifle under 10 acres, and the number of jjer- 
 sons engaged in this branch of industry in the same year was 94. The silk 
 is reeled and put in skeins and for the most part is used in the manufac- 
 ture of home-spun fabrics, a small quantity only finding its way to Bassein 
 the major part being disposed of within the district. The average value 
 of the silk obtained is from Es. 18 to Es. 22 per viss (lbs. 3"65). The 
 madder is exported to the Bassein district. 
 
 Weaving is carried on by the female members of every household, the 
 fabrics woven being simply to meet home wants. 
 
 The gross revenue in 1874-75 amounted toEs. 26,779, and was derived 
 from the followins; sources : — 
 
 Rs. 
 
 Land revenue 
 
 Capitation tax 
 
 Salt tax 
 
 Net tax 
 
 Turtle-banks 
 
 Timber duty 
 
 Excise on liquors and di'Ugs 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 
 In 1877-78, the two northern circles having in the interval been trans- 
 ferred to the Central township, the land revenue was Es. 6,994, the capita- 
 tion tax Es. 9,046 and the gross revenue Es. 21,304. The poj^ulation in 
 that year numbered 9,919. 
 
 TOUNG-BHO-GYEE.— A small village in the Pa-doung township. 
 Promo district, about 12 miles west of the Irrawaddy, opposite Promc, on 
 
 • • • • 
 
 13,372 
 
 
 119 
 
 • • • • 
 
 20 
 
 • • *^ 
 
 815 
 
 
 4 
 
 • • • • 
 
 220 
 
 .. 
 
 756 
 
 Total 
 
 26,779
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 801 
 
 a little streamlet, a tributary of the Bhoo-yo, across which a dam has been 
 thrown and the water stored for the irrigation of the neighbouring rice 
 fields. 
 
 About three miles up this streamlet earth-oil has been discovered and 
 wells sunk, one of which in 1872 was fairly successful, though it was then 
 by no means certain whether it would pay to deepen the shaft and continue 
 the working and it has since been abandoned. 
 
 TOUNG-BHO-HLA. — A small revenue circle in the Tharrawaddy dis- 
 trict north of Lek-pa-dan, the greater part of the rice cultivation of which 
 is towards the west. Cutch is here made from the Sha {Acacia catechu) trees 
 found growing in the circle. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population, 
 
 Revenue, in rupees. 
 
 Yeak. 
 
 a 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 .2 • 
 
 
 
 c3 
 
 bb 
 
 
 
 
 c3 c3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r^ 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 o 
 
 03 
 
 
 _e3 
 
 
 m 
 
 M 
 
 H 
 
 h^ 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 1874 
 
 2,642 
 
 1,667 
 
 2 
 
 4,317 
 
 8,447 
 
 4,155 
 
 12,502 
 
 1875 
 
 2,613 
 
 1,851 
 
 10 
 
 4,474 
 
 11,045 
 
 4,543 
 
 15,588 
 
 1876 
 
 2,676 
 
 1,926 
 
 77 
 
 4,679 
 
 10,880 
 
 4,650 
 
 15,530 
 
 1877 
 
 3,179 
 
 2,072 
 
 4 
 
 5,255 
 
 12,441 
 
 4,900 
 
 17,341 
 
 1878 
 
 3,402 
 
 2,054 
 
 113 
 
 5,569 
 
 12,777 
 
 5,238 
 
 18,015 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock 
 
 
 Area, in acres. 
 
 Agricultural stock. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^i 
 
 'TS 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 uder ric 
 including 
 fallow. 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 (D 
 
 a . 
 (K to 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 CD 
 O 
 
 o a 
 
 
 CO 
 
 to 
 
 m 
 
 -a 
 
 CD 
 
 o 
 
 
 P 
 
 O 
 
 S 
 
 H 
 
 m 
 
 O 03 
 
 cc 
 
 Ph 
 
 O 
 
 Ph 
 
 1874 
 
 4,780 
 
 17 
 
 5 
 
 4,802 
 
 1,345 
 
 760 
 
 10 
 
 243 
 
 701 
 
 730 
 
 1875 
 
 6,214 
 
 64 
 
 84 
 
 6,345 
 
 1,425 
 
 955 
 
 4 
 
 177 
 
 750 
 
 795 
 
 1876 
 
 6,746 
 
 42 
 
 28 
 
 6,816 
 
 1,452 
 
 1,047 
 
 6 
 
 193 
 
 804 
 
 801 
 
 1877 
 
 7,060 
 
 40 
 
 43 
 
 7,143 
 
 1,504 
 
 1,324 
 
 15 
 
 271 
 
 966 
 
 858 
 
 1878 
 
 7,240 
 
 88 
 
 35 
 
 7,313 
 
 1,516 
 
 1,484 
 
 25 
 
 265 
 
 1,061 
 
 860 
 
 TOUNG-BHO-HLA.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 31' 45" 
 north and 95° 33' 40" east on the right bank of Way-gyee river between 
 the villages of Loung-gyee and Way-gyee. 
 
 TOUNG-BOON. — A revenue circle in the Be La-maing township, 
 Amherst district, just south of Kaw-dwot, and extending inland from the 
 seacoast ; it is now joined to Taiug-ka-maw. It has a small population of 
 agriculturists, mainly Talaing.
 
 802 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 TOUNG-BOON. — A village in the circle of the same name, Re La-maing 
 township, Amherst district, with a population of 750 souls in 1877-78. 
 
 TOUNG-BYOUK. — A river in the Tavoy district formed by the junction 
 of numerous torrents which rise in the range of mountains forming the eastern 
 water-shed of the Tavoy valley, close to and north of the great Myeng-mo- 
 lek-khat hill. It falls into the Tavoy river about 30 miles below Tavoy 
 through a mouth about half a mile wide. A few miles before it disembogues 
 it describes a semi-circle southwards with a radius of about three miles. At 
 high-water it is navigable by boats for a considerable distance. 
 
 TOUNG-BYOUK. — A revenue circle in the south-eastern township of 
 the Tavoy district with a few Kareng inhabitants and but little cultivated. 
 The principal products are betel-nuts and sessamum. In 1877-78 the 
 population was 1,397, the capitation tax Es. 1,181, the land revenue Es. 683 
 and the gross revenue Es. 1,898. 
 
 TOUNG-GNYO. — A river in the Tharrawaddy and Prome districts form- 
 ing in parts of its course the boundary between the two, and there called the 
 Kyat or the Kan-tha. It has its sources in the western slopes of the Pegu 
 Eoma between the Poon-doung and the Toung-gnj'o spurs : it first takes a 
 southerly and then a south-westerly course and falls into the Myit-ma-kha. 
 In the rains boats can pass up for some distance. The main road from 
 Poung-day to Ta-pwon crosses this river near the village of Tha-hpan-goon 
 and a wooden bridge of two spans of 60 feet and two of 12 feet was completed 
 some years ago at a cost of Es. 7,920 to replace one swept away by the teak 
 logs and rubbish from the forests tapped by this stream brought down during 
 a heavy flood. The river has now silted up and the water flows round the 
 bridge on both sides thus cutting it off from the banks and rendering it 
 useless. The country about the sources and the upper course contains some 
 of the finest teak tracts in the district. 
 
 TOUNG-GNYO. — A revenue circle in the north-eastern corner of the 
 Tharrawaddy district in the Ta-pwon township, on the upper course of the 
 Toung-gnyo river. Almost the whole of the circle consists of undulating 
 ground and hills which increase in height as they reach the Eoma and 
 are covered with tree forest amongst which, especially on the Toun-gnyo 
 and its tributaries, is found Teak {Tectona grandis). 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population, 
 
 Revenue, in rupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 CO 
 
 
 CD 
 
 
 
 § 
 
 
 
 cS 
 
 to 
 
 O M 
 
 
 
 c8 • 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 -3 
 
 -a 
 
 a 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 o 
 
 « 
 
 cS ^ 
 
 o 
 
 
 n 
 
 K> 
 
 < 
 
 H 
 
 1-^ 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 1874 
 
 2,478 
 
 362 
 
 368 
 
 3,208 
 
 932 
 
 2,681 
 
 3,615 
 
 1875 
 
 2,279 
 
 446 
 
 423 
 
 3,148 
 
 1,111 
 
 2,760 
 
 3,871 
 
 1876 
 
 2,631 
 
 538 
 
 650 
 
 3,819 
 
 1,114 
 
 2,826 
 
 3,940 
 
 1877 
 
 2,532 
 
 502 
 
 428 
 
 3,462 
 
 1,128 
 
 2,916 
 
 4,044 
 
 1878 
 
 2,476 
 
 381 
 
 430 
 
 3,287 
 
 1,222 
 
 3,053 
 
 4,275
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock :- 
 
 803 
 
 
 Area, in ackes. 
 
 
 Agkicultural 
 
 3T0CK. 
 
 
 Yeak. 
 
 01 &0 
 
 .2 a 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 4i 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 ri'S & 
 
 a 
 
 
 o 
 
 -^ ^ 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 S^ 5 
 fl a c3 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 Mr-- ^ 
 
 fe ;:i o 
 o S^ 
 
 tD 
 
 m 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 
 j_j-rH .« 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 pq 
 
 
 P-l 
 
 O 
 
 p^ 
 
 1874 
 
 1,051 
 
 9 
 
 1,060 
 
 714 
 
 365 
 
 _ 
 
 303 
 
 304 
 
 1875 
 
 1,463 
 
 3 
 
 1,466 
 
 631 
 
 88 
 
 10 
 
 268 
 
 244 
 
 1876 
 
 1,439 
 
 4 
 
 1,443 
 
 797 
 
 179 
 
 12 
 
 365 
 
 387 
 
 1877 
 
 1,849 
 
 4 
 
 1,353 
 
 1,055 
 
 218 
 
 48 
 
 273 
 
 477 
 
 1878 
 
 1,453 
 
 7 
 
 1,460 
 
 1,038 
 
 115 
 
 59 
 
 265 
 
 868 
 
 TOUNG-GNYO. — A revenue circle in the Mro-houng township, Akyab 
 district. In 1877-78 the population was 1,295, the capitation tax Es. 1,642, 
 the land revenue Rs. 4,777 and the gross revenue Es. 6,683. 
 
 TOUNG-GNYO.— A vHlage in the Ta-gnyek cii-cle, about 13 miles 
 south-east of Mergui with 539 inhabitants in 1878, all cultivators. 
 
 TOUNG-GOON ZEE-GOON.— A revenue circle in the Ta-pwon town- 
 ship, Tharrawaddy district, the greater portion of which is covered with grass 
 and tree forest amongst which Teak {Tectona grandis) and Sha {Acacia 
 catechu) are found. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, in rupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 
 
 § 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 db 
 a 
 
 2 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 "S 
 
 a 
 
 c3 
 
 "3 
 
 
 a 
 
 c3 
 
 ;=; g 
 
 o 
 
 C3 
 
 e3 J 
 
 o 
 
 
 pq 
 
 M 
 
 < ^ 
 
 H 
 
 i-:i 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 1874 
 
 5,724 
 
 16 
 
 11 
 
 5,751 
 
 4,014 
 
 5,253 
 
 9,267 
 
 1875 
 
 5,755 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 5,763 
 
 5,873 
 
 5,375 
 
 11,248 
 
 1876 
 
 6,512 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 6,524 
 
 5,987 
 
 5,913 
 
 11,900 
 
 1877 
 
 5.040 
 
 5 
 
 47 
 
 7,092 
 
 5,971 
 
 6.480 
 
 12,451 
 
 1878 
 
 7,402 
 
 4 
 
 68 
 
 7,469 
 
 6,000 
 
 6,765 
 
 12,765 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 Area, in acres. 
 
 
 Agricultubai. stock. 
 
 
 03 to 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 -2^ 
 
 73 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 nder ric 
 Iicludin 
 allow. 
 
 a' 
 1 
 
 13 
 
 .2 3 
 
 "3 
 'o 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 ows, bu 
 md bi 
 ocks. 
 
 a 
 2 o 
 
 73 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 1 
 
 73 
 
 3 
 O 
 
 tn 
 O 
 
 
 p.„_ 
 
 C! 
 
 S 
 
 Eh 
 
 pq 
 
 o - 
 
 02 
 
 (U 
 
 O 
 
 Ph 
 
 pq 
 
 1874 
 
 2,734 
 
 30 
 
 — 
 
 2,764 
 
 1,187 
 
 1,364 
 
 20 
 
 8 
 
 889 
 
 873 
 
 12 
 
 1875 
 
 4,165 
 
 42 
 
 81 
 
 4,288 
 
 1,137 
 
 1,389 
 
 20 
 
 — 
 
 765 
 
 827 
 
 15 
 
 1876 
 
 4,265 
 
 44 
 
 91 
 
 4,400 
 
 1,335 
 
 1,568 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 836 
 
 956 
 
 16 
 
 1877 
 
 4,289 
 
 32 
 
 96 
 
 4,417 
 
 1,887 
 
 1,513 
 
 20 
 
 30 
 
 843 
 
 968 
 
 16 
 
 1878 
 
 4,351 
 
 24 
 
 48 
 
 4,423 
 
 1,100 
 
 1,647 
 
 21 
 
 31 
 
 957 
 
 1,064 
 
 19
 
 804 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 TOUNG-GOOP. — A village on the left bank of the river of the same 
 name, about six miles from its mouth, in the Sandoway district, the head- 
 quarters of the northern township. It contains a court-house, police-station 
 and telegraph office. The main route across the Arakan Eoma from 
 Pa-doung debouches at this town. In 1877 the population was 2,219 souls. 
 
 TOUNG-GOOP. — A revenue circle in the northern township of the 
 Sandoway district, on the river of the same name. With a large area only 
 a small portion is cultm^able, about half of which, or between 3,000 and 
 4,000 acres are cultivated. The inhabitants are mainly Arakanese. Rice 
 and tobacco are the principal products. The population and capitation tax 
 in 1875 and the land revenue in 1874-75 were 4,215, Rs. 3,622 and 
 Rs. 5,216. The name which signifies ** bent hill" is derived from a 
 peculiarly curved spur of the Arakan Roma lying within the limits of the 
 circle. In 1877 the population was 4,432, the capitation tax Rs. 3,768 
 and the land revenue Rs. 5,700. 
 
 TOUNG-GOOP. — A river which rises in the Sandoway district in the 
 western slopes of the Arakan hills and flowing past the large village of 
 the same name falls into the open sea a little to the south of the southern 
 end of Ramree. Two large low islands intersect its course and divide its 
 mouth into three channels. 
 
 TOUNG-KHYOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung(east) town- 
 ship, Akyab district. In 1877-78 the population was 2,433, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 3,095, the land revenue Rs. 8,921 and the gross revenue Rs. 12,595. 
 
 TOUNG-LAY. — A revenue circle in the Prome district on the Teng-gyee 
 river. The inhabitants are principally cultivators. There are a few patches 
 of regular rice cultivation principally near the village of Toung-lay in the 
 west ; the rest of the circle eastward is extremely hilly and covered with dense 
 forest. In 1877 the population was 1,332, the capitation tax Rs. 614, 
 the land revenue Rs. 391 and the gross revenue Rs. 1,080. 
 
 TOUNG-LAY.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 51' 55' N. and 95° 
 45' 20" E. on the bank of the Teng-gyee river and at the foot of a subsidiary 
 spur of the Pegu Roma mountains. 
 
 TOUNG-LOON. — A revenue circle in the Tsam-bay-roon township, now 
 united to Kyoung-goon, in the Bassein district on the right bank of the Da-ga, 
 between that river and the Hmaw-the, with an area of about 28 square 
 miles. It is extensively cultivated with rice except in the south-eastern 
 portion where the ground is somewhat high and undulating and is covered 
 with tree forest. The inhabitants are mainly agriculturists but a small 
 revenue is derived from fisheries. Kyoon-pyaw, the head-quarters of the 
 township, is the largest town and in 1878 had a population of 2,835 souls. 
 Pyeng-khya-tshiep higher up the Da-ga is a large village. There are 
 good fair-weather cart roads throughout the circle, and along the high 
 ground to the south-east the road is passable at all seasons.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 805 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, in rupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 to 
 
 O o 
 
 r-. <S 
 
 'i 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 21 
 
 -i 
 
 
 u 
 
 U 
 
 < 
 
 "o 
 
 es 
 
 O 
 
 <! 
 
 o 
 
 
 M 
 
 Ui 
 
 
 H 
 
 >-l 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 1874 
 
 5,063 
 
 907 
 
 71 
 
 6,041 
 
 12,112 
 
 8,145 
 
 1,081 
 
 21,338 
 
 1875 
 
 5,950 
 
 991 
 
 81 
 
 7,022 
 
 13,263 
 
 9,285 
 
 1,010 
 
 23,558 
 
 1876 
 
 6,551 
 
 1,135 
 
 83 
 
 7,769 
 
 12,094 
 
 9,222 
 
 700 
 
 22,016 
 
 1877 
 
 6,966 
 
 1,191 
 
 114 
 
 8,271 
 
 12,960 
 
 9,750 
 
 700 
 
 23,410 
 
 1878 
 
 7,041 
 
 1,064 
 
 105 
 
 8,210 
 
 13,062 
 
 9,645 
 
 230 
 
 22,937 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 Area, in acres. 
 
 
 Agricultural 
 
 STOCK. 
 
 
 
 Tear. 
 
 
 
 a> 
 
 
 m 
 
 "3 «^ 
 
 n3 
 OS CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Under i 
 cludin 
 
 a 
 
 C5 
 
 0) m 
 
 "3 
 
 O 
 
 '1 
 
 « to 
 
 
 03 
 O 
 
 60 
 3 
 O 
 
 en 
 
 o 
 
 PQ 
 
 1874 
 
 7,210 
 
 115 
 
 
 7,325 
 
 1,709 
 
 1,808 
 
 62 
 
 856 
 
 345 
 
 878 
 
 147 
 
 1875 
 
 7,927 
 
 118 
 
 — 
 
 8,045 
 
 1,159 
 
 2,558 
 
 46 
 
 163 
 
 452 
 
 908 
 
 165 
 
 1876 
 
 7,215 
 
 123 
 
 — 
 
 7,338 
 
 1,048 
 
 2,127 
 
 26 
 
 130 
 
 500 
 
 982 
 
 159 
 
 1877 
 
 7,882 
 
 216 
 
 — 
 
 8,098 
 
 1,030 
 
 2,124 
 
 33 
 
 102 
 
 412 
 
 822 
 
 132 
 
 1878 
 
 8,086 
 
 215 
 
 — 
 
 7,041 
 
 1,102 
 
 4,160 
 
 130 
 
 194 
 
 549 
 
 1,181 
 
 141 
 
 TOUNG-LOON-GNYO.— A village in the Prome district which adjoins 
 Meng-rwa and forms the eastern outskirts of the town of Shwe-doung. 
 
 TOUNG-LOON-TSOO.— A village in the Anouk-bhek circle, Henzada 
 township, Henzada district, on the west bank of the Irrawaddy and about 
 half a mile south of Henzada. In 1877-78 it had 3,081 inhabitants. 
 
 TOUNG-MA-GYEE. — A revenue circle on the coast of the Sandoway 
 district, in the south-eastern corner of the central or Sandoway township. 
 It contains a little rice cultivation and has a population of 1,394 souls. 
 In 1877-78 the land revenue was Es. 1,299 and capitation tax Es. 1,806. 
 
 TOUNG-NGOO. — A township in the Toung-ngoo district on the west 
 bank of the Tsit-toung, stretching inland to the Pegu Eoma and having 
 the Tha-ga-ra township on the north and the Ze-ya-wa-dee township on 
 the south. The whole of the west is intersected by the numerous spurs 
 thrown ofif by the Pegu Eoma mountains and is drained by many small 
 torrents, many of which unite to form the Kha-boung, a stream which joins 
 the Tsit-toung a little south of the town of Toung-ngoo. Between the hills 
 and the river are well-cultivated rice plains. About nine miles from the 
 river, in the latitude of Toung-ngoo, on the bank of the Kha-boung where it 
 leaves the hills, is the old town of Toung-ngoo founded in 1279 A. D., by Tha-
 
 806 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 won-gyee and Tba-wou-ngay on the site of a still more ancient city. The 
 level portion of the township is traversed by numerous fair-weather cart 
 tracks and a road is being constructed from Toung-ngoo westwards across 
 the Eoma mountains to Thayet-myo. Excluding the town the number 
 of inhabitants in 1877-78 was 16,982 and the gross revenue Es. 24,475. 
 
 TOUNG-NGOO. — The head -quarters of the district of the same name on 
 the right bank of the Tsit-toung river, 170 miles from Rangoon by land and 
 295 miles by water and about 37 miles in a direct line from the northern 
 frontier. It is regularly laid out and contains a good bazaar, court-houses, 
 gaol, hospital and dispensary, a Roman Catholic chapel, an Anglican 
 church, Baptist schools, and several police-stations. A redoubt com- 
 pleted in 1864 in the form of a square with four salient angles on which are 
 mounted eight guns is situated on the south-east of the town proper and 
 in the Cantonment are the barracks of the garrison, ordinarily consisting of 
 a wing of an European regiment, a regiment of Native Infantry and a 
 battery of Artillery. About a mile and a half north of the town a small 
 stream empties itself into the Tsit-toung and about two miles south the 
 Kha-boung joins that river. On the west, inside the old wall, is a small 
 sheet of water about one and a half miles in length and half a mile in 
 breadth, and surrounding the town is the old fosse 170 feet broad which, dur- 
 ing the rains, always contains water. The site of the town is slightly higher 
 than the level of the surrounding country, which is open and cultivated, in 
 some places covered with low jungle and during the rainy season, when the 
 water is retained in the rice fields, becomes an extensive marsh. Large 
 suburbs, chiefly to the east and south, are included within the municipal 
 limits. The first town founded on the present site was Dwa-ya-wa-dee now 
 known as Myo-gyee, a suburb of the existing town, which was built towards 
 the end of the fifteenth century by a usurper named Meng-gyee-gnyo who 
 subsequently, in 1510 A. D., founded Toung-ngoo or, as it was then called, 
 Ke-too-ma-tee. Inside the waUs he built a palace, the ruins of which are still 
 in existence, and converted loathsome swamps into four ornamental lakes. 
 During the second Burmese war the town sm-rendered to the British who 
 took possession without firing a shot. In 1873 the population, exclusive of 
 the military garrison and camp-followers, numbered 10,195 souls, and in 
 1872 the gross municipal revenue was Rs. 7,190. In 1877-78 the popula- 
 tion was 12,414 and the revenue Rs. 59,470. A faiidy good road extends 
 from the town northwards towards the frontier, and another southwards to 
 Htan-ta-beng village on the bank of the Tsit-toung. 
 
 TOUNG-NGOO. — A district in the extreme north of the Tenasserim 
 division, 6,354 square miles in extent, bounded on the north by Upper 
 Burma from which it is separated by a line of masonry pillars marking 
 the boundary line fixed by Lord Dalhousie when he annexed Pegu after 
 the second Anglo-Burmese war ; on the west by a high range of mountains 
 known as "the great water-shed" ; on the south by the Shwe-gj'eng district, 
 its limits in this direction being marked by the Rouk-thwa-wa and the Kwon 
 streams ; and on the west by the Pegu Roma. In 1861 was added to it 
 from Rangoon a tract of mountainous and densely-wooded country called 
 Bhaw-nee, lying along the eastern slopes of the Pegu Roma south of the 
 Kwon river, but some years ago this was joined to Shwe-gyeng.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 807 
 
 Traversing the district are three mountain ranges — the Pegu Roma on 
 the west and the Poung-loung and " Great water-shed " 
 oini aiiis. ^^, ^g -^ ^g sometimes called the " Nat-toung Range " on 
 
 the east of the Tsit-toung, — all having a general north and south direction 
 but the Poung-loung range trending eastward to meet the Nat-toung on the 
 south. The Pegu Roma commence to rise above the surrounding country 
 nearly abreast of Re-me-theng in Uj)per Burma : the general direction of 
 the chain before entering British territory is S. by W. and after that about 
 5° E. of S. : it attains its greatest height beyond the southern limits of 
 Toung-ngoo but in this district some of its more lofty peaks are 1,200 feet 
 above the sea, and the average elevation is between this and 800 feet. 
 Towards the south the spurs spread out considerably, but further north the 
 hills are lower and the forest with which they are covered is deciduous so 
 that, notwithstanding the steepness of the slopes, some of the tracks across 
 from Toung-ngoo to the valley of the Irrawaddy offer, during the dry season, 
 but few obstacles to the passage of animals. The hills between the great 
 water-shed and the Tsit-toung have an alititude ranging from 2,000 to 3,500 
 feet, farther to the east are higher ranges their tops covered with pine 
 forests and rising from 4,000 to 6,000 feet with a bold outline and exceed- 
 ingly steep flanks, while still further to the eastward are the Nat-toung 
 mountains looming in all their massive grandeur, with the magnificent 
 Nat-toung, a very triton among minnows, proudly lifting his bare head 
 8,000 feet above the sea and towering above a succession of lower hills 
 and spurs of every conceivable size and shape which lie between him and 
 his big-brethren to the north. On the eastern side of this main chain is 
 seen the Salween coursing to the S.E. at a distance of only 12 miles, the 
 intervening mountains having much the same character and appearance 
 as those to the westward. The innumerable congeries of spurs abutting 
 from the main systems, and forming the water-courses in the gorges 
 down their flanks, have no general direction but appear to be thrown up 
 in masses perfectly bewildering. The difficulty that these subordinate 
 hills oppose to a i^assage through the country may be gathered from the 
 fact that though the distance from Toung-ngoo to Nat-toung is not more 
 than 25 or 30 miles it is a six days trip, and from Nat-toung to the Salween, 
 12 miles off, a four days journey. The general appearance of these hills 
 as seen from Toung-ngoo has been thus described by Dr. Mason. " The 
 ' granite mountains of Toung-ngoo on the east exhibit an almost perfectly 
 ' crystaline structure. They are not rounded like the mountains of 
 
 * Scotland nor have they the flat summits of the Cape Table mountains. 
 
 * They do not rise in mural masses like the hills of Missouri, nor m pointed 
 
 'peaks like the mountains of Ceylon Look at a fine specimen of 
 
 ' Derbyshire spur, cover it, in imagination, with a thin moss and then 
 ' fancy all the parts uniformly expanded a thousand-fold. The result will 
 ' be a Toung-ngoo mountain ridge as seen some eight or 10 miles distant 
 ' across a deep valley with a turbulent stream in the gorge. The prisms, 
 ' with their sharp edges lying uppermost, often appear as perfect as in 
 ' cabinet specimens, while the trees and gigantic bamboos on their sides 
 ' are no larger in the vision than the lowest moss. 
 
 " On some of the faces of the crystals, when thrown up to the horizon, 
 ' may be seen here and there a Kareng village, the long single house
 
 808 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 "looking like a little box laid on a shelf; while the roads from one 
 " to another are frequently on the edges of cubes which lift only triangular 
 " prisms above the surface, the path scarcely wide enough for two to walk 
 " abreast, with a smooth descent on each side at an angle of 45 degrees. 
 *' The roads down and over these crystals often defy the skill of an elephant 
 " to follow them and to reach a point not six miles distant is not uncom- 
 ** monly the work of a whole wearisome day." 
 
 The whole of the rest of the district lies between the two main ranges 
 of mountains and forms the upper portion of the valley of the Tsit-toung, 
 which on the east has an average breadth of not more than five miles 
 while on the west it stretches a distance of some 20 miles till it reaches 
 the Roma range or some of its innumerable spurs. Near the frontier the 
 valley to the west of the river " has an exceedingly rugged appearance, 
 " and so irregular is the country that cultivation can only be carried on 
 ** on the banks of the various small streams and on the cleared patches on 
 *' the side of the hills."* The country is here wild and difficult but a few 
 miles below the frontier " the Pegu hills recede giving place to plains in 
 " the vicinity of the river which gradually widen as Toung-ngoo is 
 *' approached, carrying with them a continuous level strip on the opposite 
 " bank of four or five miles in width, beyond which the mountains rise 
 " with great rapidity. To the south of Toung-ngoo the plains increase in 
 " breadth by the diverging com-se of the river. A large tract of wild 
 " country, about 25 miles in width, is thus left on their west"* from which 
 rise the numerous spurs of the Roma range already alluded to. 
 
 The Tsit-toung, the only large river, rises in Burmese territory in the 
 „. hills south-east of Ava about 25 miles north of Gnyoung- 
 
 '^^"^ ■ rwe in 21° 20' N. and 9G° 55' E. and falls into the sea at 
 
 the head of the Gulf of Martaban after a total course of 350 miles, of 
 which about one half are in the Province, but the stream is so tortuous 
 that the development of the last 175 miles is little short of 300. South 
 of the frontier line the banks are high and hilly nearly to Toung-ngoo, 
 below which they are uniformly low on the west whilst on the east the 
 hills abut on them in several places. Throughout its com*se it is, in the 
 dry season, shallow and full of shoals, but with efficient pilots steamers of 
 very light draught can ascend as far as Htan-ta-beng whence there is a 
 good bridged road to Toung-ngoo. In the rains it rises from 18 to 24 
 feet, and is then navigable for steamers of considerable draught but is at 
 present unapproachable for such vessels either by its mouth or any other 
 channel. Three miles below the town of Toung-ngoo the Bhoom-ma-wa- 
 dee Re-gyaw leaves the parent stream on the east to re-unite with it lower 
 down, forming a largo island some 20 miles in length. 
 
 The tributaries of the Tsit-toung, which are important only in as much 
 as they develop the natural resources which the district possesses and none 
 of which ever completely dry up, are, on the west, the Tshwa, the Kha-boung, 
 the Hpyoo and the Kwon, and on the east, the Bheng-byai, Kan-nee, Thouk- 
 re-gat and Rouk-thwa-wa. Those which descend from the Roma carry with 
 them such quantities of earthy matter as to form along their winding com-se 
 to the Tsit-toung high borders of silt which are so much raised above the 
 general levels of the adjacent parts of the valley as to be free from inundation. 
 
 * Lieut. Williams' Report on the geography of Pegu.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 809 
 
 The Tshwa rises in the Pegu Roma and after an easterly course of 
 60 miles falls into the Tsit-toung about 2i miles north of the town of 
 Toung-ngoo. In the rains boats of from 30 to 35 feet in length can ascend 
 as far as Ayo-doung, a village situated amongst the spurs of the Roma 
 some distance inland. All along its course are found sandstone and other 
 rocks. A considerable quantity of teak is annually floated down this 
 stream to the Tsit-toung and the inhabitants of the hill villages send 
 down raw silk, the produce of the silk-worms which they breed. 
 
 The Kha-boung rises in the Pegu Roma on the northern edge of the 
 Thit-pa-loo spur, from the southern slope of which flows the Hpyoo. 
 After a course of 68 miles it falls into the Tsit-toung two and a half miles 
 south of Toung-ngoo. In the rains boats of 100 baskets burthen can ascend 
 as far as the small village of Tsan-re which lies hidden amongst the hiUs : 
 towards the source the banks are steep and the bed rocky. It is an outlet 
 for much teak and areca-nuts and for some sessamum seed. Its name is 
 derived from the Kha-boung {Stryclmos nux vomica) which is plentiful as a 
 large tree in the forests on its banks. 
 
 The Hpyoo rises in the Pegu Roma on the southern slope of the Thit- 
 pa-loo spur and falls into the Tsit-toung 28 miles south of Toung-ngoo, 
 near the village of Oot-hpyat, after a south-easterly course of 70 miles : in 
 the rains good- sized boats can ascend as far as Meng-lan, beyond which 
 it is impracticable owing to the rocky nature of its bed ; the banks are 
 steep and the bed rocky and sandy. A small quantity of teak and a consider- 
 able quantity of raw silk find their way down this stream. Its name is 
 derived from a colony of Hpyoo, or Pyoo, who settled on its banks, probably 
 coming from Prome of which, according to Burmese history, they were the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 The Kwon rises in the Pegu Roma ; it has an easterly course of about 
 60 miles and falls into the Tsit-toung 50 miles south of. Toung-ngoo. Its 
 bed is extremely rocky but a good deal of teak and raw silk are brought 
 down as well as Iron-wood (Xylia dolabriformis), Theng-gan (Hopea odorata), 
 used for boats, and Thit-ya {Shorea rohusta) used in the construction of 
 carts, oil-mills and rice-mills. 
 
 The Bheng-byai rises in the Poung-loung range and after a south- 
 westerly course reaches the Tsit-toung 30 miles north of Toung-ngoo ; it 
 is not navigable by boats but it renders accessible a considerable quantity 
 of teak. 
 
 The Thouk-re-gat rises in the main chain to the eastward and after 
 flowing in a southerly direction for some 35 miles on the east of the 
 Poung-loung hills turns west and passing through this range empties 
 itself into the Tsit-toung some five miles south of Toung-ngoo. Receiving 
 as it does the waters of several perennial streams, fed from inexhaustible 
 reservoirs in the mountains, it is but little afl'ected by the extreme drought 
 of the hot season and its waters are always clear, cool and refreshing. 
 It owes its present name to a tradition of its waters having once been 
 drank by Nara-pa-dee-tsee-thoo, king of Pagan, who is said to have 
 visited Toung-ngoo in 1191 A.D. : its ancient name was Mya-khyoung or 
 " Emerald stream " due to the greenish hue of its waters. Large quanti- 
 ties of Teak {Tectona fprmdis) Theng-gan {Hopea odorata) canes, mats, 
 bamboos and sessamum seeds are brought down this river. 
 
 102
 
 810 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The Eouk-thwa-wa rises in the Poung-loung range and falls into the 
 Tsit-toung about six miles north of the village of Moon in the Shwe-gyeng 
 district. It is an outlet for a considerable quantity of areca-nuts and for 
 a little teak and other minor products. The Kan-nee also rises in the 
 Poung-loung range and falls into the Tsit-toung about five miles north of 
 Toung-ngoo. A moderate quantity of teak, boats, bamboos and sessamum 
 find tlieir way to Toung-ngoo by this stream. 
 
 The soil of the valley of the Tsit-toung is a tenaceous and arenaceous 
 Geology alluvium which towards the frontier is bounded by rising 
 
 ground composed of the clayey beds and superincum- 
 bent sands of the fossil group on which Mr. Theobald, in the records of 
 the Geological Survey of India, Vol. X. part 2, pages 73 et sequentia, 
 remarks : — 
 
 "There are satisfactory grounds for assuming that the fossil-wood group 
 "originally extended as far south as Rangoon, and that sundry traces of 
 " its presence beneath the gravelly surface accumulations may be detected 
 " along the line of the outer skirts of the Pegu Yomah, after leaving Eangoon 
 " long before the principal remnants of the beds still existing are met with 
 " in Eastern Prome. On the eastern or Martaban side, however, of the 
 " Pegu Yomah, the removal of the fossil- wood sand appears to have been 
 " more complete as I not only failed to find any fragments of fossil-wood 
 " myself, but ascertained by repeated enquiries that none such were known 
 " to occur to villagers who are perfectly familiar with the silicified wood or 
 " 'Engynchouk' from the use which is made of it, as a substitute for flint, 
 " wherever it occurs. On nearing from the south the banks of the Kaboung 
 '' Chowcig {Kha-houng-khyoiLng),-^h.\c]i falls into the Sittoung {Tsit-toung) 
 " a little below Tonghoo {Toung-ngoo) near Lat. 18° 53', I first heard of 
 " fossil-w^ood, which, I was told, occm-red not rarely northwards of the 
 " Kaboung {Kha-houng) and I first detected small fragments of fossil-wood 
 " within a few miles of the Kaboung {Kha-houng) on its right or southern 
 *' bank, where, however, such fragments are scarce and small. Crossmgthe 
 " Kaboung {Kha-houng) at a spot about two miles north-west of Tha-bhet- 
 " kway {Tha-hhek-khice) and 15 miles west of the confluence of the Kaboung 
 " {Kha-houng) large masses of fossil-wood are seen scattered over the hill 
 " side, some of which are three or four feet in length, and derived apparently 
 " from a single huge stem broken in pieces by its own weight as the soft 
 " sand in which it was originally entombed was removed in an irregular 
 " manner by atmospheric action. From this place for a distance of 25 
 " miles northwards fossil- wood is not rare at a variety of spots scattered 
 " in the outer hills ; after which, though the same beds seem to prevail to 
 " the frontier, the fossil-wood is absent. As a rule, the uppermost or fossil- 
 " wood beds are chiefly met with along the outer hillp, giving place by degrees 
 " as we proceed west to the underlying beds of the Prome group ; but near 
 " the frontier, in the Magoo Choung just above its junction with the Choung- 
 " ma-nay* {Khyoung-ma-ngay) and higher up the stream still nearer the 
 " Yomah, that is, within three or four miles of it, large pieces of fossil-wood 
 
 * " The names Magoo and Choung-ma-nay are not given in the map (Fitzroy's) but the former 
 " nearly corresponds in position with the stream called Hsokay (one probably being an affluent 
 " of the other) whilst the Khyoung-ma-ngay is probably identical with the Kyouk-ma-hseng of the 
 •' map."
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 811 
 
 " are seen, showing that much of this ground was overspread by the incoher- 
 
 " ent fossil-wood beds, though now next to wholly removed by denudation. 
 
 " Throughout this area the rocks are not well seen, being masked by 
 " detritus and overspread with dense tree forest. The dips are rather more 
 " irregular than is usually the case with the older groups, and from the 
 " nature of these upper sands, it is far from easy to say whether or pot any 
 " material unconformity exists between them and the often highly inclined 
 " beds whereon they rest ; from analogy I am, however, inclined to think 
 " that there is little unconformity between them, as on the western side 
 " of the range these uppermost beds have participated in the movements 
 " which have affected those beneath them, and to which the general 
 *' disintegration of this incoherent group may be largely due. The area 
 " in Tonghoo {Toung-ngoo) mainly occupied by these beds may be roughly 
 " estimated as not far short of 700 square miles, of which eighty miles is 
 " composed of outliers east of the Sittoung (Tsit-toung) flanking the Poung- 
 " loung range. 
 
 " I have already mentioned the great similarity which exists between 
 *' a tract of country composed of the lower or more argillaceous beds of this 
 " group and an ordinary alluvial plain ; and this similarity may be well 
 " seen between the Kaboung {Kha-houng) and the frontier, and were our 
 " observations to be restricted it would often be impossible to decide to which 
 " group the beds composing the surface of the country belonged ; but in all 
 " such cases we have only to extend our examination and we sooner or later 
 " come to the boundary of the alluvium if moving towards the east or, if 
 " in the opposite direction, we soon find the seeming alluvium or clayey 
 " champaign country give place insensibly to the low outlying hills of the 
 •' Yomah, composed of the same materials. This may be seen throughout 
 " the whole country lying north and south of the village of Amot-kyee-kon 
 " (A-hmat-gijee-goon) on the Hswah Choung {Tsliiva Khijoung) where it de- 
 " bouches from the hills, and we may here traverse miles of perfectly level 
 " tree forest seemingly alluvial but which in reaUty lies within the area of 
 "the clayey beds of this group, denuded of its uppermost sands. lam 
 " inclined to think that these clayey beds are rather more developed as 
 " respects thickness in the Tonghoo {Toung-ngoo) district than they are in 
 " Prome, and are perhaps a trifle coarser and less homogeneous. One of the 
 " best sections I know of these beds is on the main road running from Ton- 
 " ghoo to the frontier, between the villages of Nyoung Kyat {Gnijoung-kyat) 
 " and Myohla, where the road descends from the high plateau formed by 
 " these clays to the alluvial plain of the Sittoung {Tsit-toung) one and three 
 " quarter miles south-west of the latter village. The deposit is here seen 
 " to consist of a thick bed of sandy clay, devoid of any distinct bedding, and 
 " with but a few small pebbles dispersed through it. Locally these pebbles 
 " are com.moner, as they may sometimes be seen on the sm-face weathered 
 "out of the clay, though their presence is exceptional. It is commoner 
 " to find a little grouty laterite strewed over the surface and in places the 
 " clay itself is converted at the surface into tolerably compact laterite quite 
 " undistinguishable from the laterite pertaining to the newer deposits on 
 " the opposite side of the Sittoung {Tsit-toung) further to the south near 
 " Shuaygheen {Shwe-gijeug). This leads me to notice one of the most 
 " curious and deceptive instances of change of mineral character in the
 
 812 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 " present group that I am acquainted with, though it is of local character 
 " and dependent on the conditions under which the deposit here origi- 
 ** nated. 
 
 " As a matter of fact little or no laterite, certainly nothing like a con- 
 
 " tinuous deposit, occurs from north of the village of Paday (Pa-de) to the 
 
 " frontier, a distance of 28 miles. Towards the frontier the alluvial plain of 
 
 " the Sittoung (Tsit-toung) is bounded by rising ground, most of it exceedingly 
 
 " flat, arid and uninhabited in consequence, composed of the clayey beds and 
 
 *' superincumbent sands of the fossil-wood group. The sandy beds, however, 
 
 " do not extend south of the Fyeng-tha-le Choung {Pyeng-thee-la) which 
 
 "enters the Sittoung {Tsit-toung) IQ^ ■milQQ below the frontier. South of 
 
 " this these sandy beds have been removed by denudation and the alluvium 
 
 " is thence bounded by the crystalline and gneissose rocks of the Poung- 
 
 " loung range. East of the village of Paday (Pa-de), however, a small 
 
 " outlier of the group has survived, on the end of which stands the Kannee 
 
 " Pagoda overlooking the Sittoung {Tsit-toung) and a little further south a 
 
 " a more considerable outlier which stretches below Tonghoo {Toung-Jigoo) to 
 
 " close on the banks of the Thouk-yay-gat {Thouk-re-gat) river. These two 
 
 " outliers are, lithologically considered, typical laterite, distinguishable only 
 
 " from the great belt of laterite met with south of Kyouk-kyee by being in 
 
 '* places charged with huge boulders which greatly reduce the lateritic 
 
 "cement wherein they are embedded; but a close examination of these 
 
 " interesting deposits has convinced me that, geologically speaking, they 
 
 " are portions of the fossil- wood group and the extreme termination of 
 
 " the group to the south on the eastern side of the Sittoung {Tsit-toung), 
 
 " denudation having entirely swept away the group on that side of the 
 
 "river below the junction of the Thouk-yay-gat {Thouk-re-gat) in Lat. 
 
 " 18° 53'. The lithological constitution of both these outliers is the same 
 
 " and to it in part may be due their preservation when the less coherent 
 
 " portion of the group was removed by denudation. The bulk of the 
 
 " deposit may be described as a sandy clay, differing but httle from that 
 
 " met with to the north of the Sittoung {Tsit-toung) within the area of this 
 
 "group; but an additional feature it here presents is the great number 
 
 " of pebbles contained in it which, weathering out, give the appearance 
 
 " of the country being composed of gravel beds; where, however, a section 
 
 " is displayed it is seen that the gravel is merely a surface accumulation, 
 
 "the result of denudation, which has removed the finer sand and clay 
 
 " and left the surface encumbered with the pebbles originally dissem- 
 
 " inated through the bulk of the rock. This can be well seen along the line 
 
 " of road between Kannee and Kon-meng-eing {Koon-meng-aing) and thence 
 
 " to Paday. The same may be said of the road south from Kon-meng-eing 
 
 " {Koon-meng-aing) to Hlay-myoung and thence to the well-known Pagodas 
 
 " at Myar-soh-ni-moung, five miles east-south-east of Tonghoo on the north 
 
 " bank of the Thouk-yay-gat. North of Hlay-myoung it is not usual to find 
 
 " stones in the clay larger than would be ordinarily called pebbles, and which 
 
 " in the aggregate might be termed gravel ; but between Hlay-myoung and 
 
 " Myar-soh-ni-moung these stones in many spots give place to the coarsest 
 
 " shingle with pebbles averaging three or four inches in length, and not 
 
 "rarely containing boulders six or eight inches or more long. Where this 
 
 " coarser shingle is most abundant the clayey element is proportionately
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 813 
 
 *• diminiBlied and the rock passes into what may be called a mortar bed of 
 '* the coarsest shingle cemented into a compact rock by a sandy ferruginous 
 " clay or laterite : in fact this laterite, though I have said it belongs to the 
 " fossil-wood group, is undistinguishable from the laterite of Martaban to 
 •' the South, of a newer date, and the reason is, doubtless, either that both 
 *' are derived from the waste of the same rocks in the Poung-loung hills 
 " to the eastward, or what may partly be the case, the newer laterite is 
 " largely composed of detritus produced by the denudation of the lateritious 
 " beds of the present group. 
 
 " The cause of this great difference in lithological character in these 
 ** beds from that anywhere noticed to the westward seems to me sufi&ciently 
 ** obvious, and lies in the fact that the Poung-loung range of hills formed the 
 " eastern shore of that Pliocene, and in part probably Post Pliocene, sea, 
 " wherein the whole fossil-wood group was deposited ; and that these coarse 
 " outliers are the remants of a zone of similar character which fringed its 
 " shores wherever they were favourable for its production ; and it is quite 
 " within the bounds of the probable that the coarse shingle and boulders I 
 " have described as scattered over the hill slopes in western Prome, especially 
 " along the Mudday {Ma-de) Choung, may be the debris of a similar local 
 " deposit, now too much broken up and denuded to be cognisable as such, 
 *' but which originally marked the western shores of the Post Pliocene sea 
 " and coincided in general terms with the line of the outer hills of the 
 " Arakan range, which would give a breadth of open sea in the parallel of 
 " Tonghoo of about 100 miles., 
 
 •' No fossil-wood, to my knowledge, occurs east of the Sittoung, though 
 " I am aware that a contrary statement has been made by natives to Major 
 " Lloyd at Tonghoo ; but after examining the ground for the express purpose 
 " I am unable to confirm the fact. The fossil-wood where plentiful is com- 
 "monly used as a flint, and I have noticed in this district a man when 
 " questioned if he knew of any fossil- wood in the neighboui-hood put on a 
 " blank look of not comprehending what fossil-wood was but when its use 
 " was explained to him as used for procuring a light at once say ' yes, there 
 " is plenty of that stone' which on examination has proved to be a siiicious 
 '* rock, equally useful no doubt, but totally unlike the article sought. Certain 
 " it is, I was never able myself either to find or hear of any fossil- wood being 
 " found east of the Sittoung (Tsit-toimg) and none I beUeve exists there. 
 
 " Very little if any of the peculiar nodular oxide of iron which so charac- 
 " terises the uppermost bed of this group in Eastern Prome, occurs in Ton- 
 " ghoo, but it would seem to be represented by some irregular tabular masses 
 " of manganese ore which occur in some of the beds of sandstone forming 
 " the low range of hills dividing the Yaynay {Re-ne), and Seing Choung 
 " {Tsaing Khyoung), from the Sittoung. This ore occurs in irregular strati- 
 " form masses of an inch or two in thickness and in irregular nodules often 
 " sub-botryoidal in character and of a black colour, and is composed, accord- 
 " ing to an analysis by Mr. Tween, as follows: — 
 
 Loss on heating . . . . . . 4 
 
 Oxide of manganese . . . . . . 28 
 
 Iron . . . . . . . . 3 2 
 
 Clay and sand . . " . . . . 64 8 
 
 100
 
 814 BRITIBH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 To the westward this fossil- wood group is bounded by the " Pegu 
 " group" in which the bulk of the Pegu Koma is comprised, of upper ter- 
 tiary age covering probably the whole of the geological epochs known as 
 Miocene and Pliocene, whilst to the eastward, confining it within much 
 narrower limits on the left bank of the Tsit-toung, are the gneissose rocks of 
 the Poung-loung range, of the age of which nothing is known. Of the 
 Bo-called granite mountains east of Toung-ngoo, Mr. Theobald, in the work 
 already cited, page 140, observes. " The connexion of a granite or granitoid 
 " rock with a distinctly schistose group of beds may be seen on the road from 
 " Tonghoo to Layto, where the schistose and crystalline characters of the 
 " beds are seen to give place insensibly to the granitoid habit, huge masses 
 " of the latter tj^pe of rock being seen weathering out of the softer bed of 
 " the former character. I am not sufficiently familiar with the area of this 
 " granitoid rock to pronounce confidently that none of it is true granite, but 
 " 1 am greatly inclined to question if any is." 
 
 Limestone appears in various places east of the Tsit-toung river, and 
 north-east of Toung-ngoo a light grey marble is quarried for lime. 
 
 The Toung-ngoo forests west of the Tsit-toung are situated on the 
 
 Forests Kwon, Hpyoo, Bhan-loung, Kha-boung, Tshwa, Myo- 
 
 hla and Doung-hla-gnya rivers. Some of these are 
 
 confined to the borders of these streams m the lower plains, and some of 
 
 tliem extend up into the Koma hills, occupying the narrow ridges and slopes 
 
 of some of the lower heights. 
 
 The lower Kwon forests commence on the Kwon about midway 
 between the confluence of that river with the Tsit-toung and the foot of the 
 hills. This part of the valley consists of beds of sand resting on laterite, 
 and where it is not cultivated the low ground free from forest is covered 
 with wild sugar-cane. The forests consist of Dalbergia, Barringtonia, 
 Acacia, Bombax, &c. The water-mark on the trunks of the trees shews 
 that the forests are liable to inundation but on slight elevations composed 
 of a sandy soil teak is found ; at first the trees are small but on pursuing 
 the course of the stream towards the hills very fine timber is seen growing 
 on its high sandy borders along with other fine timber as Pentaptera, Xylia 
 and Melicocca, an occasional wood-oil tree, and Blackwellia a tall tree 
 with light-coloured smooth bark that is never absent from the teak forests. 
 
 At the foot of the hills the Upper Kwon forests commence and are 
 found on low ranges of hills composed of a sandy kind of slate clay ; 
 occasionally the laterite of the valley rises a short distance on the foot of 
 the outer hills but soon disappears on their abrupt declivities to the evident 
 improvement of the teak timber. The ordinary soft slaty rock of the hills 
 then appears and above this the ridge is crowned with a narrow belt of 
 teak together with the other trees with which it is usually associated 
 except the wood-oil tree which is confined to the dry alluvial banks of the 
 lower streams. 
 
 The only good forests on the Hpyoo are situated near the falls, those 
 below the falls having been very much worked. They are situated on low 
 hills at the base of the Eoma range lying close to the bank of the stream 
 about two miles from the village of Meng-lan and extend from thence for 
 the space of three or four miles to the falls : they were here at one time 
 extensive but have been much exhausted. Above the falls where the
 
 BKITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 815 
 
 forests have not been worked there is a large quantity of teak timber. 
 The teak here grows on the same kind of slaty rock covered with the same 
 •rich but light sandy soil as in the Kwon forests. 
 
 The Bhan-loung takes its rise in some low ground situated between the 
 Hpyoo and the Kwon and on its banks is a small forest situated on alluvial 
 soil similar to that of the lower Kwon. The forest extends from the banks 
 of the Bhan-loung nearly to those of the Hpyoo about three or four miles 
 distant and to within six miles of the Tsit-toung. From its close vicinity 
 to the Tsit-toung and the convenience with which timber may be carried 
 away this forest has been greatly worked. 
 
 There are no teak forests on the banks of the Kha-boung after it 
 reaches the plains but about three miles west of Tha-bek-khwe teak trees 
 begin to appear on the summits of the low hills on tbe north bank of the 
 stream and continue at intervals for four or five miles when occasional 
 teak trees are found on both sides. The most numerous trees composing 
 the forests are Xylia, Pentaptera and teak, nearly in the order they are 
 here given ; after these come Semecarpus, Nauclea, ^gloe, and Cedrela toona. 
 Strychnos is so plentiful in the forests on this stream as a large tree as to 
 give its name to the stream itself, Kha-boung being the Burmese name of 
 Strychnos nux vomica. Teak continues to occupy a second or third place in 
 the forests for several days journey up to the source of the stream and at 
 the pass between Toung-ngoo and Prome occasionally appearing on the 
 narrow ridges to the exclusion of most other trees, except Xylia and Pentap- 
 tera. The soil is here the same as that of the higher Kwon and Hpyoo 
 forests, namely a light grey sandy, but rich soil resting upon and passing 
 into slate clay of a sandy structure and friable consistence. 
 
 The forests on the Tshwa commence on the north bank at the village 
 of A-hmat-gyee-goon, to the west of which there is a low ridge consisting 
 of a river sediment 30 or 40 feet in thickness resting on laterite and 
 some 50 feet or so at its highest part above the level of the plains. Along 
 this ridge or high bank, which follows the course of the stream and is 
 occasionally intersected by it, some fine teak trees occur in straggling 
 clumps. The forests on the north side of the river follow the borders of 
 its tributaries which drain the low but undulating plains to the foot 
 of the hills about nine miles distant. Thoroughout this tract teak is 
 found scattered about more or less on the higher ground. The belt of 
 forest occupied at intervals by teak along the main river is on an average 
 half a mile broad, in some places more and in some less. Intervals of two 
 or three miles occur without teak, followed by a succession of small forests 
 or patches where teak is the prevailing tree for a similar space of two 
 or three miles and in this way the forest extends for several days 
 journey along the banks of the stream. In one place small round flat hills 
 of laterite protrude through the soil on which are stunted scraggy trees of 
 Dipterocarpus alatus, Biichanania, Shorea and Rondcletia tinctoria but no 
 teak, although the latter of large size grows on the light sedimentary soil 
 at their foot. On the south bank of the river a similar chain of small 
 forests are found to that described on the north bank, extending to the 
 banks of the Tsit-toung, a distance of about 12 miles. The trees here 
 associated with teak are Xylia dolabriformis , Pentaptera glabra, Terminalia 
 chebala, Careya arborea, Strychnos, Hamiltonia, Nauclea cordifolia, &c.
 
 816 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The forests east of the Tsit-toung are situated in the small branching 
 and winding valleys of the Kouk-thwa-wa, Thouk-re-gat and other streams 
 descending from the Poung-loung mountains and the great water-shed. 
 
 The valley of the Kouk-thwa-wa at its exit towards the Tsit-toung forms, 
 for a few miles, broad plains partially cultivated ; these plains are open 
 towards the Tsit-toung but enclosed to the east by broad low hills composed 
 of laterite, with forests of Dipterocarpus alatus and Melanorrhcea usita- 
 tissima. The teak forests are situated in the valleys beyond these hills, 
 where the soil is comj^osed of sediment washed down from the hills, and 
 commencing at a distance of eight or ten miles from the Tsit-toung extend 
 eastward along the course of the narrow valleys to a distance of 16 miles 
 from the Tsit-toung, branching off in various directions ; they stretch 
 towards the north for about eight miles from the Kouk-thwa-wa. The teak 
 is widely dispersed throughout these valleys, growing along with Melicocca, 
 Careya and other trees with which it is usually associated ; some of the 
 finest Pyeng-ma (Lagerstroemia regince) in the province is found in these 
 forests. 
 
 The Thouk-re-gat forests are situated in the valley of the Thouk-re-gat, 
 a stream of considerable size rising within the Poung-loung mountains. 
 The teak forests are confined to the valleys lying between the small hills 
 at the foot of the mountains ; they commence about six miles south-east 
 of Toung-ngoo and extend from thence along the valleys on both sides of the 
 hills for about six miles. Throughout these valleys teak is found growing 
 in a light dry sandy but rich soil washed down from the neighbouring hills. 
 The higher hills are composed of soft granite, the lower of laterite. The 
 trees found with teak in these forests are Shorea rohusta, Melicocca trijuga, 
 Walsura piscidia, Pentaptera and Xylia. These are all very plentiful and 
 afford excellant timber. 
 
 The Kan-nee forests lie in a valley separated from that of the Thouk-re- 
 gat by broad rounded arid hills of laterite with forests of Dipterocarpus alatus, 
 Melanorrhcea and Diospyros melanoxylon. Descending into the Kan-nee 
 valley teak of large growth is found along with Shorea, Xylia, Melicocca 
 and Pentaptera of great size, the three last extending to the banks of the 
 Tsit-toung, while the teak and Shorea extend up the course of the valley 
 still attended by the other trees already mentioned as well as Macroclina 
 hookerii, Cedrela toona, Odina ivodier and Bassia sp. The Kan-nee forests 
 commence at about the distance of five or six miles from the Tsit-toung, not 
 far from the village of Kan-nee, and extend to the eastward along the course 
 of the valleys of the river and its branches : the soil is rich alluvium rest- 
 ing on laterite. 
 
 The Kareng forests are situated in a valley of the same name about eight 
 miles north of Kan-nee. The two valleys are separated by similar low hills 
 of laterite to those already described, having in addition to the trees already 
 noticed several species of Gardenia. The teak forests extend eastward 
 along the valley and are confined to the alluvial soil. The other trees 
 found with teak are Shorea, Pentaptera, Melicocca and Xylia, the three last 
 of gigantic growth, extending to the banks of the Tsit-toung. 
 
 The Thit-nan-tha forests extend along the course of the valleys of that 
 river and its tributaries for 10 or 12 miles from the Tsit-toung. The 
 south side of the valley is formed by a low ridge of granite extending from
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 817 
 
 the mountains on the east at the head of the valley to within a few miles 
 of the Tsit-toung; while the northern side is formed of broad undulating 
 hills of laterite which, likewise, ramify through the middle of the valley. 
 The laterite is covered with Dipterocarjms alatus, Melanorrhxa, Diospyros, 
 Eondeletia and Gardenia, together with Acacia catechu. The granite hills 
 do not present much difference from the vegetation of the valley. On them 
 are Callicarpa arhorea, Strychnos, and Menispermum. In the valleys and 
 alluvial flats between the hills and along the course of the streams teak 
 is found together with two species of Pentaptera, Melicocca, Walsura and 
 Shorea as before. These forests formerly extended right down the delta of 
 the valley but have been cleared away to make room for rice cultivation for 
 a distance of some miles from the Tsit-toung. North of this are two small 
 forests on the Kwe-thay and the Bheng-byai rivers. 
 
 For house purposes the trees most commonly used are Eng {Dipterocar- 
 pus tiiberculatus) Pyeng-ma {Largerstroemia regina) Pj^eng-ga-do {Xylia-dola- 
 hriformis) and Hlee-tsa (L. tomentosa) and for boat-building, Theng-gan 
 {Ho'peaodorata)Ko\m.g-\\m.oo{Parashorea Stellata.) Toung-bien (Artocarpus 
 echinatus) and Ka-gnyeng [Dipterocarpus alata). Cart-wheels are generally 
 made of Theng-gan and Padouk {Pterocarpus indicus). 
 
 It is more than doubtful if Toung-ngoo ever was for any length of 
 time an independent kingdom. According to the palm- 
 History, jg^^ histories A-thaw-ka (Asoka) in 321 B.C., sent for 
 the chiefs of Toung-ngoo and giving them various relics of Gaudama 
 directed them to transport them to Toung-ngoo and to erect pagodas over 
 them. Accordingly four small pagodas were built, each seven and a h-alf 
 feet high, two eight miles to the east and two 20 miles to the west of 
 the present town, and a report made to A-thaw-ka who signified his 
 approval. From this time till the close of the twelfth century of the 
 Christian era the history of Toung-ngoo is blank : the story of A-thaw-ka, 
 the pagodas and relics evidently have been invented by some historian, 
 more pious than truthful, who desired to connect his country with the 
 earliest spread of Booddhism to Indo-China. 
 
 In 1191 Na-ra-pa-dee-tsee-thoo, king of Pagan, whose name appears in 
 Tavoyan, Talaing, Burman and Toung-ngoo histories and who is everywhere 
 described as a religious monarch who did much firmly to establish 
 Booddhism in Burma and the adjacent countries, came down the Irrawaddy 
 and sailing out to sea entered the Tsit-toung and ascended as far as Toung- 
 ngoo in search, it is said, of the pagodas built some 1,500 years before by 
 order of A-thaw-ka. The pagodas were found, but overgrown with trees 
 and brushwood, and were cleaned and repaired and raised to 45 feet in 
 height. Na-ra-pa-dee-tsee-thoo appointed as governor his favom-ite minis- 
 ter, or according to some his son, Nanda-thoo-ree-j-a, to whom he had given 
 his daughter to wife, and proceeded to Tavoy. At this ^^eriod therefore 
 Toung-ngoo was subject to Pagan. 
 
 Nanda-thoo-ree-ya soon died and was succeeded in the government 
 by his son, Meng-hla-tsaw, who in his turn was succeeded by his son 
 Tha-won-lek-ya who removed the seat of government to a spot on the 
 banks of the Tshwa, a tributary of the Tsit-toung, about 20 miles north of 
 the presf^nt Toung-ngoo, and founded a large town which he calted Kya- 
 khat-wa -da-ran. The country increased in prosperity until 1256 A.D., 
 
 103
 
 818 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 when Wa-rie-yoo, the king of Martaban, marched northwards and invaded 
 Toung-ngoo, and having taken Tha-won-lek-ya jDrisoner sent him to Byoo, 
 a village about 14 miles south of Shwe-gyeng.* Here two sons were born 
 to him, Tha-won-gyee and Tha-won-ngay. Before his death he directed 
 them to go to Ze-ya-wa-ta-na and to build a city on the ruins which they 
 would find near the banks of a large affluent of the Tsit-toung. In 1278, 
 after their father's death, they ascended the Tsit-toung but, mistaking 
 their father's instructions, they went up the Kha-boung instead of the 
 Tshwa and finding some ruins near its source they built a town on the 
 spur of a hill, which they called " Toung-ngoo " from toung, a hill, and 
 ngoo a j)rojecting spur. This was in 1279 and is most probably the event to 
 which Sangermano alludes when he says that Toung-ngoo was founded by a 
 prince of Pagan in 1252 A.D., Tha-won-gyee and Tha-won-ngay being 
 a noble of the Pagan court. At about the same time that these two 
 princes founded Toung-ngoo a man called Kareng-ba, by some supposed 
 to have been a Karengby others a Burman so nick-named from his having 
 adopted a Kareng lad, established a settlement on the eastern bank of the 
 Tsit-toung which was called Kareng-myo or Kareng city. The brothers 
 having heard of this and finding that the site which they had selected was 
 too small entered into communication with Kareng-ba, and the three 
 agreed to found a new town which they did in 1299 A.D., and called it 
 Dha-gnya-wa-dee. 
 
 Tha-won-gyee was declared king, Tha-won-ngay heir-apparent and 
 Kareng-ba prime minister. 
 
 The Pagan kingdom had commenced to fall to pieces in 1250 A.D., 
 and the reigning sovereign had been unable to come to Tha-won-lek-ya's 
 aid when he was attacked by Wa-rie-yoo, and for many years the whole 
 country was in confusion, prince warring with prince, and usurper after 
 usurper being murdered by some false ally or by some other pretender and 
 numerous petty rulers declaring themselves independent. Tomig-ngoo thus 
 remained without interference from the north or from the south and Tha- 
 won-gyee was enabled to consolidate his kingdom. 
 
 Tha-won-gyee was murdered in 1317 A.D., after a reign of 18 years, 
 by his brother, Tha-won-ngay, at a place on the bank of the Tsit-toung to 
 this day called Noung-byeng-tshiep. Tha-won-ngay, who ascended the 
 throne after murdering his brother, died of fever in 1324 after a reign of 
 seven years, leaving a widow and an infant son. The widow fearing 
 Kareng-ba plotted against him unsuccessfully and was, with her son, put 
 to death, when Kareng-ba declared himself king and appointed one 
 Theng-pan-ka as his prime minister. Kareng-ba died in 1342 A.D., after 
 a reign of 18 years and was succeeded by his son-in-law, Lek-ya-ze-ya- 
 theng-gyaw, whose younger brother Htouk-lek-ya wrested the government 
 from him in 1344 A.D., and was in his turn deposed two years later by 
 Theng-pan-ka who usurped the throne. Notwithstanding the internal 
 disturbances which accompanied these successful murders the Toung-ngoo 
 kingdom had greatly increased in power, many Burmans having fled thither 
 at the successive usurpations which at about the same time took place 
 
 • Dr. Masou, in bis work in Burma (2ncl Edit. p. 64) states that it was the first governor's son 
 who founded Kya-khat-wa-da-ran and who was taken prisoner by Wa-rie-yoo. The palm-leaf 
 histories from which the account in the text was taken have it grandson.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 819 
 
 in what is now Upper Burma, and it had been still further strengthened 
 by the advent of numerous Booddhist monks who had escaped from the 
 massacres ordered by the infidel prince Tho-han-bwa in Ava, and Theng- 
 pan-ka sent embassies to the rulers of Pegu, Burma* and Siam. This 
 is evidently the Thien-pa-ka of Dr. Mason, but by that author he is 
 called the third king and is said to have acquii'ed five Shan provinces 
 whereas according to three palm-leaf histories obtained from some learned 
 monks in Toung-ngoo he is represented as the sixth monarch and as 
 having had a peaceful reign of 17 years. He died in 1363 A.D., and was 
 succeeded by his son Pyaw-khyee-gyee, who at the time of his father's 
 death was staying with the king of Pegu. Pyaw-khyee-gyee entered 
 into an alliance with the Talaing king who was at enmity with the rulers 
 of Ava and Prome, the latter of whom like so many other petty princes had 
 declared himself independent, and having thus incurred their displeasure he 
 was invited to Prome and was there treacherously murdered. His son Pyaw- 
 khyee-ngay and his nephew Tsaw-ka-det who had accompanied him escaped 
 and for three months were engaged in wresting the throne of Toung-ngoo 
 from the regent, who on hearing of the king's death had seized it. Pyaw- 
 khyee-ngay was proclaimed king in 1370 A.D., and in 1374 was succeeded 
 by Tsaw-ka-det who, hated by his people, was murdered in 1378 by a 
 Hpoon-gyee who seized the sceptre. 
 
 Whilst on his way to pay a visit to the king of Ava his Shan subjects 
 rebelled and seized Toung-ngoo ; he returned at once and succeeded in 
 recapturing the royal city when he put all the Shan to death. He was 
 succeeded in 1392 A.D. by his son Tsaw-oo, who after reigning for a year 
 was, on account of his youth the chronicles say but without accounting for 
 the power of interference exercised, deposed by the king of Ava, and one 
 Ta-ra-pya aj^pointed in his stead. Ta-ra-pya was succeeded in 1403 by 
 Goung-gyee whose first act after ascending the throne was to order a general 
 massacre of the Shan. For some time he governed well but becoming 
 childish his people dethroned him in 1406 A.D., and put Theng-kha-ra 
 on the throne. This king died of disease after a reign of four years and 
 was succeeded by his son and namesake Theng-kha-ra II. who was murder- 
 ed by the Shan in 1411 A. D., the second year of his reign. Tsaw-lwot- 
 peng-ka-ra prince of Pa-doung was the next king, but whether he was 
 elected by the people or owed his elevation to usurpation or to appointment 
 from Ava is uncertain, but Pa-doung being a town on the Irrawaddy below 
 Prome his title would lead to the idea that it was by appointment. Having 
 paid a visit to the king of Ava he felt so annoyed at the want of respect 
 shewn to him at the court of that monarch that on his return he declared 
 war and conquered several of the states tributary to Ava. Some years 
 later he made an alliance with the king of Pegu, the great Ka-za-dliie-rit, 
 to whom he gave his daughter in marriage, and in 1417+ the two 
 sovereigns attacked Prome. The army of the king of Toung-ngoo consist- 
 ing of 20,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry and 200 elephants, under the 
 command of Thamaing Pa-j'oon crossed the Roma, whilst that of the king 
 
 • In the Burman histories the King of Burma is said to have exacted presents from Theng- 
 pa-ka, probably with as much truth as is contained the Burmese account of the close of the first 
 Anglo-Burmese war. 
 
 t Mason says in 1428, or one year after the date given in this account as that of his death.
 
 820 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 of Pegu, composed of 5,000 men in 700 boats, commanded by Ba-gnya 
 Pa-thien, ascended the Irrawaddy. Prome was taken and with it much 
 booty including the Eoyal white elephant. Tsaw-lwot-peng-ka-ra died 
 in 1427 A. D. after a reign of 15 years from fever contracted whilst out 
 hunting. 
 
 From this time until the reign of Ze-ya-thoora II., in the commence- 
 ment of the sixteenth century, the interference in the affairs of the kingdom 
 both by the king of Ava and by the king of Pegu was continual, and the 
 kings of Toung-ngoo were little else than governors appointed sometimes 
 by one power sometimes by the other. The Pa-doung-meng was succeeded 
 by his son Oozana but next year the king of Pegu came up the river and 
 having encamped at the mouth of the Kha-boung creek sent for Oozana 
 and put him in confinement and placed upon the throne Tsaw-oo, who 
 had been dethroned in 1393 A.D. by the king of Ava. On returning to 
 his capital the king of Pegu made Oozana ruler over some of his own 
 districts. Some years afterwards the king of Ava sent an expedition 
 against Toung-ngoo and king Tsaw-oo was killed in action. In 1437 
 Tshara-hpyoo was appointed king by the sovereign of Ava : he died in 1443 
 A. D. and was succeeded by his son Goung-ngay, who was treacherously 
 murdered by his brother-in-law, Nay-kyaw-deng in 1451 A. D. Nay-kyaw- 
 deng was celebrated for his dissolute habits and was finally killed by one of 
 his followers, whose sister he had dishonoured in his presence. In 1458 
 A. D, Ze-ya-thoo-ra L, governor of Toung-dweng, was appointed king by the 
 king of Ava without prejudice to his former appointment as governor of a 
 province. Seven years afterwards however he removed him and sent the 
 Mye-dai prince, Ze-ya-theng-gyan, as king. When the king of Burma died 
 Ze-ya-theng-gyan tlarew off all allegiance to the court of Ava upon which 
 an expedition was sent against him. He sought and obtained assist- 
 ance from the king of Pegu but in a pitched battle which took place 
 in 1470 A. D. near the mouth of the Kha-boung the allied forces were 
 worsted and the Toung-ngoo king taken prisoner. He was taken to Ava 
 and subsequently pardoned and entrusted with the government of two dis- 
 tricts in the Ava dominions. In succession to Ze-ya-theng-gyan Tsee-thoo- 
 kyaw-deng was proclaimed king. He was succeeded by his son Tsee-thoo- 
 ngay in 1481 A. D., who, four years later was killed by Meng-gyee-gnyo 
 who usurped the government and was recognized by the kings of Pegu 
 and Siam. He and his successor, Ta-beng-shwe-htee, raised the kingdom 
 of Toung-ngoo to the highest point it ever reached. 
 
 Shortly after ascending the throne he was involved in war with Pegu 
 and after signally defeating the Peguan army which had entered his 
 territories he invaded the enemy's country and gained another brilliant 
 victory : for this service in humiliating his hereditary foe, the king of Ava 
 gave Meng-gyee-gnyo the title of Ze-ya-thoo-ra, by which he is known in 
 history, and sent him all the insignia of royalty. He transferred his 
 capital to the site of the present city of Toung-ngoo where he built a city, 
 employing it is said 107,424 persons in the work, which he called Ke-too- 
 ma-tee or " possessed of the royal standard". The city was finished 
 in 1510 A. D. and he then assumed the title of Maha-thee-ree-ze-ya-thoora, 
 shortly after which Nara-pa-dee, king of Ava, assisted by a Shan Tsaw-bwa, 
 sent an expedition against him which was completely routed, and the
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 821 
 
 independence of the Toung-ngoo kingdom was secured by the defeat of 
 Nara-pa-dee and the capture of Ava by Shan in 1526 A. D. Ze-ya-thoo-ra 
 died in 1530 A. D. when 72 years old, after a reign of 45 years and was suc- 
 ceeded by his son Meng-ta-ra-shwe-htee or Ta-beng-shwe-htee the greatest of 
 all the Toung-ngoo sovereigns. He invaded;Pegu four times, the first three 
 expeditions which he headed failing. The fourth and successful attempt 
 took place in 1538. He overran the whole kingdom and was proclaimed 
 king of Pegu, and appointed a Shan named Meng-ya-theng-ga-thoo as 
 governor of Toung-ngoo. Meng-ya-theng-ga-thoo died in 1548 and was 
 succeeded by Thee-ha-thoo a younger son of Ta-beng-shwe-htee. Ta-beng- 
 shwe-htee was murdered in 1550 and rebellion at once broke out. His 
 eldest son Bhoo-reng-noung retired on Toung-ngoo and being refused 
 admission by Thee-ha-thoo invested the place and eventually captured it, 
 and having succeeded in overcoming his enemies was proclaimed king of 
 Pegu under the title of Tsheng-hpyoo-mya-sheng. Meng-rai-kyaw-teng 
 was appointed governor of Toung-ngoo and on the death of his uncle, 
 Tsheng-hpyoo-mya-sheng, in 1581 the kings of Arakan and of Burma 
 intrigued with him, but he disclosed their plans. In 1599 he attacked the 
 king of Pegu who surrendered and was with the hen-apparent taken to 
 Toung-ngoo. Boves, a Jesuit, writing in 1600 thus speaks of the war — 
 " It is a lamentable thing to see the banks of the rivers set with infinite 
 " fruit-bearing trees now overwhelmed with the ruins of gilded temj^les 
 " and noble edifices ; the ways and fields full of skulls and bones of 
 " wretched Peguans, killed or famished and cast into the rivers in such 
 " numbers that the multitude of carcases prohibiteth the way and passage 
 " of any ships : to omit the burnings and massacres committed by this, 
 " the crudest tyrant that ever breathed."* 
 
 The king of Pegu and the heir-apparent were, as has been said, carried 
 off to Toung-ngoo : shortly afterwards the king of Siam with a view of restor- 
 ing the king to his throne besieged Toung-ngoo but was obliged to withdraw, 
 when the king of Pegu was put to death, to prevent any fresh-invasion, on 
 the principle that there can be no dispute when the cause is removed. 
 
 This prince who had assumed the name of Maha-thee-ha-thoo-ra- 
 dhamma-raza built the golden palace in Toung-ngoo, the ruins of which 
 are still to be seen, repaired and beautified the lakes excavated by 
 Ze-ya-thoo-ra II. and erected the Shwe Tshan-daw pagoda. He died in 
 1606 A. D. and was succeeded by his son,.Nat-sheng-noung-thee-ree-maha- 
 dhamma-raza, the last king of Toung-ngoo. Pegu had been utterly despoil- 
 ed and as the power of that kingdom sank that of their hereditary rivals 
 and fierce foes, the Burmese, rose. Pegu was in great disorder. Philip 
 de Brito y Nicote' had seized the country in the name of the king of 
 Portugal and entered into an alliance with Maha-thee-ha-thoo-ra-dliamma- 
 raza but he quarrelled wuth Nat-sheng-noung-theeree-maha-dhamma-raza, 
 and captured Toung-ngoo. Pegu was eventually conquered by the king of 
 Burma in 1612 and Toung-ngoo never regained its independence. 
 
 Out of a total area of 6,854 square miles only 59 are actually under 
 
 Agriculture cultivation. The major portion of the district is hilly 
 
 and the population is sparse, and a good deal of such 
 
 agriculture as there is is carried on in toungya. Of rice some 30 kinds are 
 
 • Boves in Purchase, ii, 1748.
 
 822 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 grown in the lowlands, some yielding a soft and sweet grain for home 
 consumption, others a harder grain more fitted for export. The Kareng 
 of the hills have distinctive names for more than 40 kinds of all shades 
 from pearly white to jet black. 
 
 In the plains the seed is either sown broadcast in the inundated 
 fields, or is sown in nurseries and transplanted in June and is not reaped 
 till December. In the hills the grain is planted in cleared spots in April 
 whilst the ground is still dry and the harvest is gathered in some portions 
 of the district as early as August, in others a month or two later. Tobacco 
 thrives well and cotton flourishes. Wheat has been tried with success 
 and the culture of English potatoes has succeeded almost beyond the 
 expectations formed. Sessamum is grown in the hill clearings and sugar- 
 cane in the plains. Mulberry is cultivated both by Kareng and Yabaing 
 but principally east of the Tsit-toung. 
 
 The area under the principal crops during each of the last 10 years 
 is given, in acres, in the following table : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 trees. 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 <i3 
 
 CO 
 
 s 
 
 O 
 
 (X> 
 
 u 
 
 o 
 O 
 
 •3 
 
 u 
 
 Vegetables. 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 1868-69 
 
 29,412 
 
 57 
 
 36 
 
 217 
 
 1,074 
 
 1,709 
 
 43 
 
 1869-70 
 
 
 33,987 
 
 200 
 
 102 
 
 211 
 
 1,186 
 
 1,415 
 
 49 
 
 1870-71 
 
 
 28,933 
 
 528 
 
 70 
 
 174 
 
 866 
 
 3,368 
 
 73 
 
 1871-72 
 
 
 29,711 
 
 217 
 
 72 
 
 162 
 
 1,120 
 
 1,083 
 
 89 
 
 1872-73 
 
 
 30,450 
 
 135 
 
 92 
 
 227 
 
 1,049 
 
 1,167 
 
 61 
 
 1873-74 
 
 
 30,986 
 
 221 
 
 115 
 
 66 
 
 1,868 
 
 371 
 
 86 
 
 1874-75 
 
 
 31,015 
 
 180 
 
 208 
 
 22 
 
 902 
 
 1,168 
 
 30 
 
 1875-76 
 
 
 31,294 
 
 69 
 
 227 
 
 20 
 
 1,195 
 
 771 
 
 24 
 
 1876-77 
 
 
 32,188 
 
 70 
 
 143 
 
 41 
 
 1,222 
 
 909 
 
 U 
 
 1877-78 
 
 
 32,537 
 
 220 
 
 199 
 
 24 
 
 834 
 
 1,080 
 
 7 
 
 As might be expected from the physical configuration of the country 
 the area under rice increases very slowly. Before the annexation, as 
 shewn by the small revenue derived from it, it was very small. The 
 fluctuations in the other crops are very great, the most stationary being 
 tobacco. These are usually grown on sandbanks and in the beds of rivers 
 left dry after the rains are over and in places where elephant grass springs 
 up and is annually cleared, as along the borders of the rivers, being allowed 
 to grow again when the crop sown is reaped. Inundations are particularly 
 favourable to it as increasing the richness of the soil by depositing alluvium
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 823 
 
 and by destroying the rice plants on lowland thus driving the owners to 
 this kind of cultivation as a makeshift. 
 
 The agricultural stock, according to the returns in the Administration 
 reports was : — 
 
 
 
 -3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ji 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 ^3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 "3 
 
 
 a 
 
 dS 
 
 P. 
 
 
 m 
 
 Sao 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 %^ 
 
 s 
 
 ^ 
 
 60 
 
 1 
 
 § 
 
 O 
 
 
 PP 
 
 Q 
 
 m 
 
 s 
 
 O 
 
 Ph 
 
 CP 
 
 1868-69 
 
 7,833 
 
 4,763 
 
 671 
 
 3,315 
 
 2,998 
 
 5,884 
 
 396 
 
 1869-70 
 
 8,V43 
 
 4,936 
 
 610 
 
 3,110 
 
 3,007 
 
 6,131 
 
 438 
 
 1870-71 
 
 8,305 
 
 5,383 
 
 600 
 
 3,200 
 
 3,114 
 
 6,250 
 
 397 
 
 1871-72 
 
 8,521 
 
 6,182 
 
 580 
 
 2,253 
 
 3,479 
 
 6,068 
 
 495 
 
 1872-73 
 
 8,942 
 
 5,555 
 
 610 
 
 2,285 
 
 3,546 
 
 6,099 
 
 480 
 
 1873-74 
 
 9,875 
 
 6,318 
 
 625 
 
 2,396 
 
 3,521 
 
 6,058 
 
 415 
 
 1874-75 
 
 9,590 
 
 6,384 
 
 630 
 
 2,350 
 
 3,107 
 
 6,176 
 
 303 
 
 1875-76 
 
 9,962 
 
 6,153 
 
 620 
 
 1,136 
 
 3,141 
 
 6,266 
 
 254 
 
 1876-77 
 
 10,110 
 
 5,768 
 
 495 
 
 1,120 
 
 3,179 
 
 6,255 
 
 281 
 
 1877-78 
 
 11,434 
 
 6,477 
 
 316 
 
 1,283 
 
 3,388 
 
 6,270 
 
 301 
 
 Of late the number of plough cattle has increased with greater strides 
 than formerly and this without an equivalent increase in plough land, 
 whereas the number of animals more used for draught and the number 
 of carts and of ploughs especially, has not been so largely added to, and 
 this is perhaps mainly due to an increase in the area of the holdings. 
 
 Here as everywhere else in the province prices have risen considerably 
 during the last 30 or 40 years, whilst the wealth of the people and the 
 security of life and property have increased. The rise was rapid just 
 before and immediately after the annexation but has been slow since and 
 by no means uniform. The value of rice has risen by about 25 per cent, 
 whilst the price of cattle has fallen, buffaloes having on an average cost 
 Es. 60 each in 1868 and Rs. 50 each in 1878 and plough bullocks Es. 50 
 and Es. 45 in those years respectively. The price of fish, the principal 
 article of food after rice, was Es. 0-8-0 a seer of 401bs. in 1878 as in 1868. 
 
 The amount transmitted from this district to the prince or Court 
 
 official to whom it had been gi'anted as the source of his 
 
 revenues was, just before the annexation of Pegu : — 
 
 Rs. 
 
 1 — House (family) tax paid by Burmaus and Kareng . . 26,220 
 2 — Tax on rice land levied according to the number of yokes 
 
 of oxen required to plough it . . . . . . 810 
 
 3— Tax on fisheries . . . . . . . . 1,220 
 
 4 — Tax on Betel-nut trees and other palm tree plantations . . 1,680 
 5 — Brokers licenses and amounts obtained from miscellaneous 
 
 sources . . . . . . . . . . 130 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 Total 
 
 30,060 
 
 The local officials received all fines and fees in judicial proceedings 
 besides what they could exact from the people. On the occupation of the 
 country by the British customs duties were imposed, the brokers tax was
 
 824 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 swept away, the other taxes were altered and all judicial receipts were 
 credited direct to the state, and in 1855-56 the revenues, including that 
 derived from customs, amounted to Es, 94,050 or about Rs. 2-11-0 per 
 head of population. In 1863 the customs duties were abolished in accordance 
 with the terms of a commercial treaty concluded with H. M. the King of 
 Burma and at first this considerably affected the revenue but in 1873 the 
 gross receipts under all heads amounted to Rs. 188,360 or slightly more than 
 double the sum realized 18 years earlier and in 1877-78 to Rs. 256,465. 
 The following table shews the increase under each main head : — 
 
 
 1855-56. 
 
 1873-74 
 
 1877-78. 
 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Es. 
 
 Land 
 
 26,310 
 
 33,525 
 
 34,732 
 
 Capitation 
 
 25,870 
 
 47,291 
 
 52,498 
 
 Fisheries . . . . 
 
 4,690 
 
 10,859 
 
 13,253 
 
 Customs 
 
 13,940 
 
 
 
 Excise 
 
 150 
 
 53,337 
 
 61,574 
 
 All other items 
 
 23,690 
 
 43,345 
 
 94,408 
 
 Total 
 
 94,050 
 
 188,357 
 
 256,465 
 
 The amounts under each main head during each of the last 10 years 
 have been, in rupees : — 
 
 Ybab. 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 &» 
 
 OJ 
 
 Sh 
 
 
 s 
 
 fe 
 
 H 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 O 
 
 
 s 
 
 fl 
 
 
 a 
 
 P^ 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 c3 
 
 
 CS 
 
 C3 
 
 .22 
 
 M 
 
 J~^ 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 t! 
 
 
 1-3 
 
 O 
 
 f^ 
 
 H 
 
 <! 
 
 H 
 
 ^ 
 
 O 
 
 1868-69 
 
 32,337 
 
 42,452 
 
 7,361 
 
 34,861 
 
 40,233 
 
 157,244 
 
 32,525 
 
 189,769 
 
 1869-70 
 
 32,671 
 
 44,017 
 
 7,741 
 
 30,101 
 
 37,506 
 
 152,036 
 
 26,881 
 
 178,917 
 
 1870-71 
 
 31,949 
 
 43,901 
 
 7,546 
 
 34,546 
 
 46,852 
 
 164,794 
 
 30,616 
 
 195,410 
 
 1871-72 
 
 32,263 
 
 45,108 
 
 7,451 
 
 41,483 
 
 34,871 
 
 181,176 
 
 32,725 
 
 213,901 
 
 1872-73 
 
 32,835 
 
 46,918 
 
 10,733 
 
 41,824 
 
 43,672 
 
 185,982 
 
 36,830 
 
 222,812 
 
 1873-74 
 
 33,525 
 
 47,291 
 
 10,859 
 
 53,337 
 
 43,345 
 
 188,357 
 
 37,995 
 
 226,352 
 
 1874-75 
 
 33,191 
 
 49,125 
 
 10,372 
 
 55,815 
 
 46,755 
 
 195,158 
 
 64,961 
 
 260,119 
 
 1875-76 
 
 32,864 
 
 47,444 
 
 10,395 
 
 63,591 
 
 44,464 
 
 198,758 
 
 62,488 
 
 261,246 
 
 1876-77 
 
 34,292 
 
 48,030 
 
 10,838 
 
 59,729 
 
 64,945 
 
 217,834 
 
 66,337 
 
 284,171 
 
 1877-78 
 
 34,732 
 
 62,498 
 
 13,253 
 
 61,574 
 
 94,408 
 
 256,465 
 
 58,004 
 
 314,469 
 
 The land revenue has remained nearly stationary and this is due to 
 the small increase in the cultivated area. The receipts from the capitation
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 825 
 
 tax have risen with the iucrease in the population, and the larger amount 
 received on account of the fisheries is to some extent due to a change in 
 the system of leasing them, from issuing licenses at fees fixed by the 
 Deputy Commissioner to selling the licenses by auction. The excise 
 revenue has almost doubled, and this is the result of a larger consumption 
 of opium and spirituous and fermented liquors and to the increase in the 
 number of shops for the vend of these articles. In 1868-69 there was 
 one opium shop in which 300 seers of opium were sold and one for the 
 sale of spirits. In 1877-78 there was one shop for the sale of opium in 
 which 390 seers were sold (558 seers having been sold in 1875-76 and the 
 sudden decrease being attributed to smuggling) and seven shops for the 
 vend wholesale of spirits of kinds and six for the retail sale of wine and 
 beer. The very large increase in the Local Fund receipts which com- 
 menced in 1874-75 and has generally continued is the result of the 
 establishment of a Municipality in Toung-ngoo, which in that year raised 
 a revenue of Rs. 35,470, the revenue of the town in 1873-74 having been 
 Es. 15,661. 
 
 In 1855-56, a year or two after the annexation of Pegu, this district, 
 
 Poptdation. which had then much the same limits as now, had a 
 
 population of 34,957 souls of whom 17,255 were males 
 
 and 17,702 females. In 1873 the number had risen to 82,318 of whom 
 
 42,178 were males and 40,140 females. At the census taken in 1872 it 
 
 was found that the numbers of the Indo-Chinese races were : — 
 
 Burmans 
 Kareng 
 Shan 
 Toung-thoo 
 
 51,213 
 
 15,857 
 
 7,986 
 
 300 
 
 Talaing 
 Arakanese 
 
 Khyeug 
 
 449 
 
 2,252 
 
 3,243 
 
 92 
 
 The Yabaing and Shan are more numerous here than in any other part 
 of the province and they alone require a separate notice. The Yabaing 
 are nominally Booddhists and have priests and monasteries of their own 
 but their Booddhism holds but lightly to them and in sickness and trouble 
 they propitiate the Nat or tutelary spirits of the hills, the streams and the 
 forests. They are found almost entirely on the slopes of the Pegu Pioma 
 and their principal employment is the cultivation of the mulberry tree 
 and the rearing of silk-worms. As far as is known they speak Burmese 
 with here and there a few^ peculiarities in their pronunciation of the language 
 and they themselves declare that they belong to the same family whilst 
 their dress and general appearance bears out their assertion. As regards 
 civilization they hold perhaps an intermediate place between the Burmans 
 and the Kareng and are as ignorant as the latter of all useful and 
 mechanical arts and attend to agriculture simply to obtain sufticient 
 food for home consumption. Nothing of their history and traditions is 
 known. 
 
 Fifteen or sixteen years ago the Shan numbered only about 250 souls. 
 They all or nearly all speak Burmese and their children learn to read 
 Burmese only ; their numbers are continually being increased by immi- 
 gration. A number of this race under the Gnyoung-ywe Tsaw-bwa have 
 settled in a suburb of Toung-ngoo. 
 
 According to the returns published in the annual Administration 
 Reports, which are derived from the reports and returns of the Thoogyee 
 
 104
 
 826 
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 of circles and may be accepted as fairly accurate, the population during 
 each of the last 10 years has been : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Childeen 
 
 UNDER 12. 
 
 
 ID 
 
 P4 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 omen. 
 
 CO 
 
 "3 
 
 g 
 
 3 
 
 il 
 
 
 a 
 
 ^ 
 
 S 
 
 ^ 
 
 H 
 
 iz; 
 
 1868-69 
 
 21,586 
 
 21,422 
 
 17,586 
 
 16,356 
 
 76,950 
 
 9-55 
 
 1869-70 
 
 
 
 22,187 
 
 21,965 
 
 17,980 
 
 17,125 
 
 79,257 
 
 10-00* 
 
 1870-71 
 
 
 
 22,287 
 
 21,397 
 
 17,981 
 
 16,741 
 
 78,406 
 
 12-18 
 
 1871-72 
 
 
 
 21,953 
 
 21,466 
 
 18,001 
 
 17,010 
 
 78,430 
 
 12-34 
 
 1872-73 
 
 
 
 22,345 
 
 21,739 
 
 19,011 
 
 17,919 
 
 81,014 
 
 12-70 
 
 1873-74 
 
 
 
 22,649 
 
 21,959 
 
 19,529 
 
 18,181 
 
 82,318 
 
 12-95 
 
 1874-75 
 
 
 
 22,928 
 
 23,119 
 
 19,512 
 
 18,764 
 
 84,323 
 
 13-27 
 
 1875-76 
 
 
 
 22,815 
 
 21,782 
 
 20,079 
 
 19,233 
 
 83,909 
 
 13-20 
 
 1876-77 
 
 
 
 23,117 
 
 22,438 
 
 19,798 
 
 19,050 
 
 84,403 
 
 13-27 
 
 1877-78 
 
 
 
 24,543 
 
 23,405 
 
 21,127 
 
 20,153 
 
 89,228 
 
 14-04 
 
 The principal manufactures are raw silk, saltpetre and gunpowder. 
 Manufactures ^^^^ Yabaing and Kareng cultivate the mulberry exten- 
 sively and supply the market with raw silk. The 
 saltpetre manufacture is carried on by the Kareng in the north-eastern por- 
 tion of the district. From various caverns in the hills they dig out earth 
 highly charged with nitrate of lime, due to the decomposition of bats dung 
 (the Kareng name for saltpetre is bla-ay " bat dung"), and to this is added a 
 strong lye made from straw-ashes ; the resulting liquor is strained and 
 boiled down till the saltpetre crystallises. The bats dung furnishes the 
 nitrate of lime and the lye the carbonate of potash, which give an insoluble 
 carbonate of lime and the soluble nitrate of potash. The manufacture is 
 carried on once a year only, and each operation seems to exhaust the 
 supply formed in the 30 caves in the Ha-shwie and Pa-doung country 
 where the salt is made ; the annual yield may be roughly estimated at 
 lbs. 5,500. The salt is used in the manufacture of gunpowder which is 
 made by most of the wild tribes in the north-eastern portion of the district : 
 the sulphur is obtained from the Shan to the north and north-east of 
 British territory and the charcoal is made on the spot. The exact propor- 
 tions in which the three ingredients are mixed has not been ascertained nor 
 is it known whether any particular wood is preferred for the charcoal. 
 Some of the north-eastern tribes are said to be able to turn out as good 
 guns as the Shan but this is extremely doubtful. 
 
 The only town in the district is Toung-ngoo, on the right bank of the 
 
 rp Tsit-toung river, some 36 miles from the northern 
 
 '™'' boundary of the province, in 18° 55' 24" N. and 96° 31' 4" 
 
 E., and about 170 miles north of the sea in a direct line but 295 miles 
 
 * In 1869-70 Bhaw-nee -w'ith an area of 1,696 square miles and a very sparse population was 
 transferred to Shwe-gyeng.
 
 BBITLSH BURMA GAZETTEER. 827 
 
 by the river, built on a site from 200 to 300 feet above the sea level and but 
 slightly raised above the surrounding country, which is open and cultivated, 
 in some places covered with low jungle where the vegetation consists of 
 long grass and shrubs, and during the rains becomes a vast marsh. The 
 town proper is enclosed by a huge square earthwork fortification faced with 
 brick each of the sides being one and a quarter miles in length, and each in 
 former years pierced with several gate-ways, the position of more than 
 one of which is now visible, the whole being surrounded by a shallow fosse 
 170 yards broad and alwaj-s containing water during the rains. Exten- 
 sive suburbs, chiefly to the south, are included within the municipal 
 limits. The town is regularly laid out and is clean and well kept, the houses 
 are, with few exceptions, built of timber and bamboos with floors raised 
 from two to eight feet from the ground. At the south-east angle of the 
 town a square redoubt, 400 feet square in the interior, on which are mount- 
 ed eight guns, was constructed in 1864 ; here are the magazine and the 
 civil treasury as well as military stores of all kinds. The ordinary garrison 
 of the town consists of a wing of an European regiment, a Native infantry 
 regiment and a battery of artillery. The principal public buildings are a 
 market-place, a gaol, the barracks for the troops, the court-houses and 
 the hospital and dispensary. 
 
 In 1877 the town had a population, exclusive of the garrison and 
 camp-followers, of 13,087 souls, and a Municipal income of Rs. 66,030. 
 
 A noticeable feature about this district is the large proportion of 
 villages with less than 200 inhabitants of which at the census there 
 were found to be 589 out of the total of 650, and 13 only with more 
 than 1,000 inhabitants. The number of villages in 1877-78 had risen to 
 681. 
 
 Of these there are but few : about six miles west of Toung-ngoo is 
 Dha-gnya-wa-dee founded in 1279 A.D., once a place 
 m&tns^^^^"^^'^^^ ^^' °f considerable importance the ruins of which are still 
 traceable but it is now represented only by a few ham- 
 lets outside the former walls. Some 24 miles N. W. of Toung-ngoo, at 
 Tshwa, are the ruins of another ancient town, the first mentioned in Toung- 
 ngoo history, founded in 1194 by Nan-da-thoo-ree-ya the son-in-law and 
 minister of Nara-pa-dee-tsee-thoo king of Pagan. South of Toung-ngoo 
 and 31 miles from it is Ze-j^a-wa-dee, founded in 1550 by Bhoo-reng- 
 noung the heir-apparent to the throne of Pegu to which he succeeded 
 de jure that year but de facto not for some little time later after defeating 
 the rebellious governor of Tsit-toung who had usurped the sovereignty 
 on the murder of Ta-beng-shwe-htee. The ruins of the town and of a 
 fort of considerable size are all that remain to attest its former grandeur. 
 
 The trade is entirely free, neither import nor export duties being now 
 Trade levied. The exports are principally betel-nuts, nga- 
 
 pee or fish-paste, dried fish, tobacco, silk, cotton and 
 woollen piece-goods, raw silk and salt ; and the principal imports, timber 
 lacquered-ware, pickled tea, sessamum oil, silk and cotton piece-goods, 
 jaggery and molasses, cutch, stick-lac, chillies, garlic and onions, and cattle • 
 and ponies. The bulk of the export trade finds an exit by the Tsit-toung 
 river. An increasing trade is carried on overland with the Shan states 
 whence caravans come every year bringing stick-lac and other articles
 
 828 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and purchasing betel-nut largely. The value of the trade in 1872-73 and 
 
 in 1877-78 was : — 
 
 Exports. Imports. Total. 
 
 Es. Es. Es. 
 
 1872-73 .. 553,770 1,248,650 1,797,420 
 1877-78 .. 571,870 2,600,780 3,172,650 
 
 The general principles of the administration of the district have but 
 Administration little changed since the first occupation of the country 
 
 by the British. Then as now a Deputy Commissioner 
 was in charge with Myo-ook under him in charge of townships, both 
 grades of officers exercising judicial and revenue powers; under the Myo-ook 
 or Extra Assistant Commissioners were Thoogyee of circles, revenue 
 officers who collected the taxes but were at the same time generally 
 responsible for the quiet and good order of their tracts, Goung of groups 
 of villages who were mainly employed in police duties, and Kye-dan-gyee 
 of villages who aided both Goung and Thoogyee. The administrative 
 strength now consists, exclusive of the Thoogyee and other subordinate 
 officials, of six Extra Assistant Commissioners in charge of townships, an 
 Extra Assistant Commissioner for the town of Toung-ngoo and two Assistant 
 Commissioners, the whole subordinate to the Deputy Commissioner. In 
 addition to these there are a Superintendent of Police under the general 
 control of the District Officer, a Civil Surgeon, and Executive Officers of 
 the Public Works and Forest Departments. 
 
 For the first year or two after the annexation there were military 
 detachments in various places in the interior but by 1855-56 these had 
 all been withdrawn and the guardianship of the country as well as the 
 prevention and detection of crime and the arrest of offenders was entrusted 
 to the local officials of all grades, and to a body of 80 men and two officers 
 raised specially to guard the frontier. 
 
 In 1861 the existing Police force was raised and in 1878 it consisted of 
 37 subordinate officers and 391 men, and of these 35 officers and 330 men 
 were for general police duty in the district, including that of guarding the 
 whole frontier line and preventing the irruptions of bands of dacoits. 
 
 The present gaol was completed in 1870-71 but was occupied by 
 the prisoners for some time previously. It is laid out on the radiat- 
 ing principle with work-shops and cook-rooms &c. in the space between 
 the wards, the whole surrounded by a square wall. The buildings are 
 of brick with iron roofs and earthen floors, the prisoners sleeping on benches 
 two feet from the ground. Attached to the prison is a garden cultivated 
 by convicts from which are obtained all the vegetables consumed in the 
 
 gaol. 
 
 The old hospital and charitable dispensary has been converted into a 
 lock-hospital and a new hospital has been built. In 1877 the number 
 of patients treated was 6,959 of whom 317 were in-patients : the principal 
 diseases were dysentery and diarrhoea, ague, worms, rheumatic and chest 
 affections, syphilis, diseases of the eye, ulcers, scabies and injuries. 
 
 The education of the people is largely in the hands of the Booddhist 
 monks, the American Baptist missionaries and the Koman Catholic mission, 
 the State making grants-in-aid either in the form of gross payments or in
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 829 
 
 giving teachers and prizes. The various schools in the town of Toung- 
 ngoo are — The Kareng Young Men's Normal school of the Toung-ngoo 
 Institute, the Kareng female Normal school, the Kareng Colony day school 
 and the D'Oyley Burmese girls' school, all of which were founded and for 
 many years carried on by the late learned Dr. Mason, at one time of the 
 American Baptist mission. There are also a Kareng Normal school of the 
 American Baptist mission, a school for Burmese, Eurasians and Natives of 
 India under the Koman Catholic missionary, an S. P. G. school, a girls 
 school, and a Shan training school, besides the Monastic schools and 
 schools kept by lay Booddhists. In the district the Baptists have some 
 100 schools in various villages and the Eoman Catholics several. There 
 is also a State school of the middle class. Several years ago the mis- 
 sionaries considered that the district, as regards education, would not 
 compare unfavourably with any of its size, but the census taken in 1872 
 has shewn that as regards the knowledge of reading and writing — and it 
 entered into no deeper details — it compares not unfavourably with every 
 other district large or small. Taking into consideration only the Bood- 
 dhists, that is Burmans, Kareng, Shan, Yabaing and others of cognate 
 race and excluding all of those races who are Christians, the figures of 
 the census shew that of those able to read and write or under instruction 
 the percentages upon the whole of such population of the same age and sex 
 were : — 
 
 Male. 
 
 Female. 
 
 Not exceeding 
 12 years. 
 
 Between 12 
 and 20 years. 
 
 Above 20 
 years. 
 
 Not exceeding 
 12 years. 
 
 Between 12 
 and 20 years. 
 
 Above 20 
 years. 
 
 16-26 
 
 91-78 
 
 85-61 
 
 0-42 
 
 0-62 
 
 1-66 
 
 The rivers form the principal channels of communication during the 
 Communications. ^''"^^^^ ^"'^ *o ^o^^® extent all the year round, but during 
 the dry season carts can and do traverse the plains 
 from village to village. The " royal road " made by Tabeng-shwe-htee, the 
 Toung-ngoo monarch who conqured Pegu and ascended the throne of that 
 kingdom in 1587 A.D., from Pegu to Toung-ngoo with wells and rest-houses 
 here and there, has fallen into decay and though easily traceable is but a 
 cart track. Two new and important roads are however in course of con- 
 struction ; one leading from Rangoon to Toung-ngoo, and the other along 
 the frontier across the Pegu Pvoma hills from Toung-ngoo to Thayet-myo^ 
 the frontier station in the valley of the Irrawaddy. From Toung-nf^oo a 
 road leads to the village of Htan-ta-beng on the" bank of the Tsit-toun^y
 
 830 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 some seven and a half miles lower down, as far as which the river is 
 navigable by steamers of light draught if carefully piloted. 
 
 TOUNG-NGOO.— A village in the Prome district. See Htoon-hho. 
 
 TOUNG-NGOO. — A revenue circle in the Prome district. See Htoon- 
 hho. 
 
 TOUNG-KENG-KYWON.— A revenue circle in the Mro-houng township 
 Akyab district. In 1877-78 the population was 1,357, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 1,510, the land revenue Rs. 4,660 and the gross revenue Es. 6,768. 
 
 TOUNG-RWA. — A small revenue circle in the Ka-ma townshiij, Thayet 
 district, on the bank of the Irrawaddy to the north of the mouth of the Ma- 
 htoon river, three square miles in extent, of which about two are under 
 cultivation and one is unculturable. The population in 1877-78 was 849, 
 the capitation tax Rs. 978, the land revenue Rs. 1,830 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 3,062. For some years after the annexation of Pegu the 
 present circle was held by two Thoogyee : in 1783 Kyouk-o had a Thoo- 
 gyee of its own, but in 1828 he abandoned his tract which was added to 
 Won-lo-gaing. In 1862 the Won-lo-gaing Thoogyee died and his tract 
 was added to Toung-rwa. The products are rice, tobacco, sessamum and 
 plantains. 
 
 TOUNG-RWA.— A village with 663 inhabitants in 1878 m the Mo-tsee- 
 gyee circle, Ra-thai-doung township, Akyab district. 
 
 TOUNG-RWA. — A revenue circle of the Kyouk-hpyoo district, covering 
 an area of about 31 square miles in the southern portion of Man-oung 
 (Cheduba), with a population of 3,496 souls. Rice and tobacco are the 
 principal crops raised. In the north of the circle there is a hill supposed 
 by some to be volcanic but the eruptions according to Mr. Theobald of the 
 Geological Survey of India are due to marsh gas : to the southward 
 petroleum is found. Land revenue Rs. 3,324, capitation tax Rs. 3,575. 
 
 TOUNG-THA. — Hill tribes of Arakan so called by the Burmese but 
 including several distinct tribes as Shandoo, Kyaw, Mroo and Anoo, q. v. 
 
 TOUNG-TSA-GAING. — A revenue circle in the Ka-ma township, 
 Thayet district, with an area of 10,240 acres (8,000 unculturable), a revenue 
 in 1872 of Rs. 2,160 and a population in the same year of 998 souls. It is 
 situated in the south-eastern portion of the township to the immediate 
 north of the southern boundary of the district and on the right bank of the 
 Ma-de river. It comprises the ancient circles of Toung-tsa-gaing, Gnyan- 
 daw, Nga-mai and Kan-gnyeng-daing. In 1858 the Thoogyee of Toung- 
 tsa-gaing was dismissed and the Thoogyee of Kan-gnyeng-daing got the 
 two circles ; on the death of the Thoogyee of Gnyan-daw that circle was 
 joined to Nga-mai, and in 1866 the Thoogyee of Nga-mai was dismissed and 
 his two circles united to Toung-tsa-gaing and Kan-guyeng-daw. In 1871 
 this collection of circles was placed under the Thoogyee of Mya-wa-dee- 
 myo-ma and in 1872 when he was dismissed were, with Mya-wa-dee-myo- 
 ma, placed under the Htouk-ma Thoogyee. 
 
 TSA-AING. — A revenue circle in the Thayet township, Thayet 
 district, on the bank of the Irrawaddy to the immediate north of the town
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 831 
 
 of Thayet-myo, Laving an area of three square miles only with the com- 
 paratively large population of 1,716 souls of whom a few are Khyeng and 
 natives of India. One third of the tract is unculturable w'aste. The pro- 
 ducts are rice, sessamum, tobacco, chillies, onions, maize and plantains. 
 In 1877-78 the capitation tax was Rs. 1,825, the land revenue Rs. 497 and 
 the gross revenue Rs. 2,373. 
 
 TSA-AING.— A large village in 19° 19' 25" N. Lat., and 95° 15' 30" E. 
 Long., in the circle of that name in the Thayet-myo township, Thayet 
 district, on the right bank of the Irrawaddy at the mouth of the Ka-way 
 stream, just above the Thayet-myo cantonment, with 1,225 inhabitants 
 almost all Burmans ; near it is a patch of rice cultivation. 
 
 TSA-BA-TA. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (west) township of 
 the Akyab district. In 1877-78 the capitation tax was Rs. 2,037, the land 
 revenue Rs. 5,320, the gross revenue Rs. 7,665 and the population 1,685 
 souls. 
 
 TSA-BA-TAN. — A large village of over 100 houses in 19' 8' 20" 
 N. Lat., and 94° 53' 20" E. Long., in the Shwe-doung circle, in the 
 south of the Meng-doon township, Thayet district, on the Shoo streamlet 
 an afHuent from the south of the Hlwa. It was the principal village in an 
 independent Thoogyeeship up to 1861 when it was united to Shwe-doung. 
 
 TSA-BAY-GAN. — A revenue circle in the Poung-day township of the 
 Prome district. In 1877 the population was 3,459, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 3,535, the land revenue Rs. 3,715 and the gross revenue Rs. 7,276. 
 
 TSA-BAY-YOON.— .See Tsam-hay-roon. 
 
 TSA-BHO-KYWON. — A revenue circle in the Ra-thai-doung township, 
 Akyab district. In 1877-78 the land revenue was Rs. 4,632, the capitation 
 tax Rs. 1,392 the gross revenue Rs. 6,319 and the population 1,254 souls. 
 
 TSA-BYENG. — A small unnavigable stream in the Toung-ngoo district 
 which rises in the Pegu Roma range and after an easterly course of 14 miles 
 turns south-east and five miles further on flows into the Loon-ran, a tri- 
 butary of the Tshwa. There is a pass across the Roma the road to which 
 is up this stream and the Za-diep-hpo spur. 
 
 TSA-DAW-GYA. — A stream which rises in the southern slopes of the 
 spur forming the northern boundary of the Prome district on the east, 
 and flowing due south falls into the north Na-weng near the village of 
 Wek-toung. It is not navigable by boats, its bed is rocky and its banks 
 moderately steep and fringed wdth bamboo. It has a small tributary 
 joining it from the westward which flows through the most open of the valleys 
 formed by the numerous subsidiary spurs which stretch down from the 
 northern hills to the bank of the north Na-weng and the two together drain 
 an area of about 20 square miles. 
 
 TSA-DOO-THEE-REE-GOON.— A revenue circle in the Tharrawaddy 
 district adjohiing the Rangoon district and stretching westward from the 
 Pegu Roma mountains with a good deal of rice cultivation towards the 
 west.
 
 832 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — ■ 
 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 
 Revenue, in eupees. 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 aa 
 
 
 
 
 
 § 
 
 
 
 
 03 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 <D 
 
 o 
 
 
 '5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 pti 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 cS 
 
 cS 
 
 o 
 
 
 eq 
 
 M 
 
 < 
 
 EH 
 
 ►^ 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 1874 
 
 5,548 
 
 497 
 
 
 6,045 
 
 9,675 
 
 6,095 
 
 15,770 
 
 1875 
 
 6,259 
 
 997 
 
 39 
 
 7,295 
 
 14,713 
 
 7,316 
 
 22,029 
 
 1876 
 
 6,392 
 
 997 
 
 39 
 
 7,428 
 
 16,286 
 
 7,288 
 
 23,574 
 
 1877 
 
 7,491 
 
 532 
 
 170 
 
 8,193 
 
 16,186 
 
 7,618 
 
 23,794 
 
 1878 
 
 8,200 
 
 692 
 
 229 
 
 9,121 
 
 16,477 
 
 8,050 
 
 24,527 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock 
 
 
 Aeea, in 
 
 ACKES. 
 
 
 Agkiculturai stock. 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 t3 
 
 
 m 
 O 
 
 
 tn 
 
 
 QQ 
 
 p 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 fiii 
 
 
 c8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 SB 
 
 to 
 
 -3 
 
 Is 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 ^ 
 
 oi 
 O 
 
 
 t3 
 
 O 
 
 s 
 
 H 
 
 M 
 
 O 
 
 S 
 
 S 
 
 O 
 
 PM 
 
 M 
 
 1874 
 
 5,170 
 
 85 
 
 23 
 
 5,228 
 
 990 
 
 1,020 
 
 9 
 
 127 
 
 879 
 
 665 
 
 70 
 
 1875 
 
 7,982 
 
 126 
 
 14 
 
 8,122 
 
 1,148 
 
 960 
 
 64 
 
 365 
 
 1,053 
 
 738 
 
 50 
 
 1876 
 
 8,825 
 
 107 
 
 26 
 
 8,958 
 
 1,228 
 
 900 
 
 42 
 
 184 
 
 895 
 
 713 
 
 45 
 
 1877 
 
 8,705 
 
 138 
 
 14 
 
 8,857 
 
 1,308 
 
 1,171 
 
 49 
 
 340 
 
 1,340 
 
 730 
 
 42 
 
 1878 
 
 8,949 
 
 132 
 
 6 
 
 9,087 
 
 1,569 
 
 1,169 
 
 60 
 
 378 
 
 1,514 
 
 949 
 
 50 
 
 TSA-GOO. — An island forming a revenue circle of the Kyouk-hpyoo 
 district, off the south point of Eamree and opposite the mouth of the Toung- 
 goop river, called Ing-goo or Amherst island in the charts. It is about 11*5 
 square miles in extent and contains a population of 2,631 souls. Land 
 revenue Ks. 2,741, capitation tax Es. 2,692. 
 
 TSAING. — A revenue circle in the Toung-ngoo district, bordering 
 Upper Burma and extending eastwards from the Pegu Eoma. The country 
 consists of a mass of low hills covered with forest in which are found teak, 
 Theng-gan {Hopea odorata,) Thit-tse (Melanorrhoea usitatissima) and bamboos. 
 In 1877-78 the population was 917, the capitation tax Es. 569, the land 
 revenue Es. 155 and the gross revenue Es. 732. 
 
 TSAING-PYWON. — A revenue circle in the Le-myet-hna township, 
 Bassein district, about 52 square miles in extent. It is pretty extensively 
 cultivated in the southern portion but towards the west it is hilly and where 
 it extends over the Arakan Eoma is mountainous. A pass from the Toung
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 833 
 
 stream leads over the hills at an elevation of about 1,500 feet above the 
 sea. Towards the south-east the ground is low and subject to inundation. 
 The inhabitants are engaged in agriculture and in fishing. In 1877-78 the 
 population was 3,589, the land revenue Rs. 2,834, the capitation tax 
 Es. 3,967 and the gross revenue Es. 7,809. 
 
 TSAING-PYWON. — A village in the Dham-bhee circle of the Henzada 
 district, about a mile south-east of the Nga-won. In 1878 it had 1,059 in- 
 habitants. 
 
 TSA-KHAN-GYEE. — A village in the Kyoon-hpa circle, Henzada 
 township, Henzada district, about 10 miles west of Henzada. In 1877-78 
 it had 722 inhabitants. 
 
 TSA-KHAN-GYEE,— A village in the Prome district in 18° 26' 45" 
 N. and 95° 7' 20" E. half a mile north of the Kyat river, and about 
 three miles east of the southern end of Poung-day. The inhabitants are 
 chiefly rice cultivators. 
 
 TSAM-BAY-EOON.— A township in the Bassein district about 649 
 miles in extent. From the junction of the Daga and Bassein rivers this 
 township extends in a north-easterly direction as far as the Henzada district. 
 The Daga which in the north forms its north-western boundary flows 
 through it from about Thoung-rwa to Kyoung-goon from whence it forms its 
 southern limit. In the south-east a strip of country stretches along the 
 left bank of the Meng-ma-naing stream, separating the northern parts of 
 the Thee-kweng and Shwe-loung townships. The northern tract or that 
 portion which lies to the east of the Daga constituted formerly a separate 
 township, called Kyoung-goon, the Extra Assistant Commissioner in charge 
 living in the village of the same name. In the south-western corner the 
 country is undulating and to the north-east of this is a tract of rice 
 cultivation. Further north and east the land is in some parts low and 
 swampy in others covered with tree and grass jungle, passing, near the 
 junction of the Daga and Shwe-gnyoung-beng, into good rice land again, 
 succeeded by more marsh and jungle. In the north-east corner a large 
 area has been rendered available for rice by an embankment thrown up 
 along the Nga-won or Bassein river. 
 
 The Bassein, the Daga and the Shwe-gnyoung-beng are the largest and 
 most important streams ; a short portion only of the first, however, is 
 connected with this township. The head-quarters of the township are at 
 Kyoon-pyaw in 17° 17' N. and 95° 16' E. on the banks of the Daga. It is 
 divided into eight revenue circles and in 1877-78 had 43,820 inhabitants. 
 In that year the land revenue was Es. 65,147, the capitation tax Es. 48,393 
 and the gross revenue Es. 151,864. 
 
 TSAM-BAY-EOON. — A revenue ch'cle in the township of the same 
 name now joined to Kyoung-goon in the Bassein district, having an area 
 of about 55 square miles and lying on the right bank of the Daga river, 
 between that and the Shwe-gnyoung-beng. The country is generally low 
 and swampy and much intersected b}' creeks and but little rice cultivation 
 is carried on. The inhabitants are mainly employed in fishing from which 
 a large portion of the revenue of the circle is derived. There are good roads 
 across the plains in the dry weather but thc}' are impracticable in the rains. 
 
 105
 
 834 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, in rupees. 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 
 
 
 eS 
 
 a 
 
 <D 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 • f-i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 "§ 
 
 Q 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 
 TJ 
 
 _+» 
 
 o 
 
 "cs 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 (1 
 
 
 f3 
 
 p. 
 
 
 
 
 
 C8 
 
 o 
 
 
 03 
 
 ,—1 
 
 
 
 pq 
 
 M 
 
 H 
 
 H^ 
 
 o 
 
 <J 
 
 H 
 
 1874 .. 
 
 1,623 
 
 1,837 
 
 3,460 
 
 3,073 
 
 3,440 
 
 4,360 
 
 10,873 
 
 1875 .. 
 
 1,808 
 
 1,810 
 
 3,618 
 
 4,459 
 
 3,685 
 
 4,310 
 
 12,454 
 
 1876 .. 
 
 1,871 
 
 1.751 
 
 3,622 
 
 4,578 
 
 3,785 
 
 2,980 
 
 11,343 
 
 1877 .. 
 
 2,151 
 
 1,995 
 
 4,146 
 
 4,465 4,052 
 
 2,693 
 
 11,210 
 
 1878 .. 
 
 1,903 
 
 2,147 
 
 4,050 
 
 6,120 4,152 
 
 2,581 
 
 12,853 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 Area, in acres. 
 
 Agricultural stock. 
 
 Year. 
 
 qT o 
 
 S to 
 a—' 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 tn 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 H 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 d 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 0) 
 
 to 
 
 CO 
 
 CS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 pq 
 
 1874 
 1875 
 1876 
 1877 
 1878 
 
 2,001 
 2,852 
 2,998 
 2,870 
 3,957 
 
 12 
 
 45 
 34 
 40 
 40 
 
 20 
 20 
 11 
 21 
 28 
 
 2,033 
 2,917 
 3,043 
 2,932 
 4,025 
 
 1,893 
 1,904 
 1,893 
 1,408 
 1,334 
 
 684 
 684 
 684 
 545 
 591 
 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 4 
 14 
 
 693 
 693 
 693 
 191 
 293 
 
 322 
 322 
 322 
 269 
 349 
 
 425 
 625 
 625 
 621 
 698 
 
 134 
 141 
 132 
 65 
 306 
 
 TSAM-PA-NA-GO. — A circle in the Martaban township, Amherst 
 district, on the right hank of the Salween below the Bheng-laing river. 
 In 1877-78 the population was 4,402, the capitation tax Es. 4,327 and the 
 land revenue Es. 8,893. 
 
 TSAN-BOO-TSHEE-MEE. — A pagoda at Mergui on the hill in the cen- 
 tre of the town built at the commencement of the present century by the 
 Burman governor. 
 
 TSAN-GYEE.— A petty village in the Kyoo-byoo circle, Meng-doon 
 township, Thayet district, to the eastward of Meng-doon, about four miles 
 from the frontier, noteworthy only from the fact that near it is a salt well 
 known as the Pan-gnyo well, from which were formerly extracted about 14 
 pots of brine daily.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 835 
 
 TSAN-KENG. — A village in the Ta-gay circle, Gnyoiing-doon townshij^, 
 Tboon-khwa district, on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, a mile below Dona- 
 byoo, with 776 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 TSAN-KHYOUNG.— A village in the Ewa-toimg circle of the Mye-dai 
 township, Thayet district, which during the last few years has increased 
 largely. In 1878 it had 679 inhabitants, traders in cutch, sessamum seed 
 and cotton, agriculturists and cattle-dealers. 
 
 TSAN-EWA. — A village in the Thoung-dan circle, Le-myet-hna 
 township, Bassein district, on the southern bank of the Mai-za-lee, about 
 seven miles west of Le-myet-hna. In 1878 it had an agricultural popu- 
 lation of 744 souls. 
 
 TSAN-EWE.— A town of 1,193 inhabitants in the Henzada (Tharra- 
 waddy) district, on the Hlaing river, a short distance above the spot where it 
 enters the Eangoon district, the head-quarters of the Tsan-rwe town- 
 ship. It contains a court-house and a police-station. 
 
 TSAN-EWE.— The southern township of the Henzada (Tharrawaddy) 
 district, east of the Irrawaddy, to which some years ago was added the 
 Thoon-tshay circle of the Eangoon district. To the east the country is 
 mountainous and forest-clad producing teak and other valuable timber, but 
 to the west low and liable to inundation. It is traversed from north to 
 south by the Hlaing river which receives the drainage of the Pegu moun- 
 tains and communicates by creeks with the Irrawaddy on the west. The 
 population in 1878 was 62,859 and the land revenue was Es. 82,761. 
 
 TSAT-EO-GYA. — A revenue circle in the Kyai-let township of the 
 Akyab district adjoining Akyab. In 1878 the population was 823, the 
 capitation tax Es. 1,007, the land revenue Es. 4,143 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 5,420. 
 
 TSA-WA. — A revenue circle on the coast of the central township of 
 the Sandoway district, south of Sandoway, of considerable size with a 
 population of 2,795 souls, principally Arakanese, and producing a land 
 revenue of Es. 2,908 in 1874-75 and Es. 2,392 as capitation tax. Eice 
 is the main product and many of the villages along the coast as far Gaw 
 are partly supplied from this circle. In 1877 the population was 2,990, the 
 capitation tax Es. 2,408 and the land revenue Es. 3,078. 
 
 TSAW-KAI. — A revenue circle in the Prome district on the south 
 Na-weng just above its junction with the north Na-weug, it contains three 
 of the old village tracts. In 1877 the population was 3,027, the capitation 
 tax Es. 1,546, the land revenue Es. 1,840 and the gross revenue Es. 3,616. 
 
 TSAW-KAI. — A village in the Prome district on the south Na-weng 
 river about four miles above the mouth of the north Na-weng, on the 
 extreme north-east edge of a large rice tract which stretches down to 
 Prome. 
 
 TSEE-BENG. — A revenue circle in the Henzada district west of the 
 Irrawaddy and north-west of and adjoining the Oot-hpo circle containing a 
 good deal of land under rice cultivation.
 
 836 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, in kupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 
 "3 
 
 n3 
 
 
 'i 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 c8 
 
 cS 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 M 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 i-:i 
 
 u 
 
 H 
 
 1874 
 
 6,521 
 
 627 
 
 308 
 
 7,456 
 
 9,234 
 
 7,453 
 
 16,687 
 
 1875 
 
 7,263 
 
 152 
 
 37 
 
 7,452 
 
 9,435 
 
 7,605 
 
 17,040 
 
 1876 
 
 7,258 
 
 377 
 
 311 
 
 7,946 
 
 9,435 
 
 7,703 
 
 17,138 
 
 1877 
 
 7,938 
 
 879 
 
 285 
 
 8,062 
 
 9,523 
 
 7,820 
 
 17,343 
 
 1878 
 
 7,710 
 
 431 
 
 370 
 
 8,511 
 
 9,504 
 
 7,942 
 
 17,446 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 Area, in acres. 
 
 Agricultural stock. 
 
 
 ni 
 
 
 
 
 -TS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 4^- 
 
 
 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 pi 
 
 il 
 
 CO 
 
 1 
 
 60 
 
 1 
 
 to 
 § 
 
 1 
 
 
 P 
 
 dJ 
 
 Eh 
 
 pq 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 s 
 
 O 
 
 flH 
 
 m 
 
 1874 
 
 5,803 
 
 298 
 
 6,101 
 
 579 
 
 3,170 
 
 14 
 
 131 
 
 1,464 
 
 832 
 
 6 
 
 1875 
 
 5,926 
 
 305 
 
 6,231 
 
 510 
 
 3,195 
 
 6 
 
 243 
 
 1,337 
 
 813 
 
 14 
 
 1876 
 
 5,968 
 
 308 
 
 6,276 
 
 456 
 
 3,328 
 
 1 
 
 253 
 
 1,434 
 
 781 
 
 3 
 
 1877 
 
 5,972 
 
 322 
 
 6,294 
 
 471 
 
 3,366 
 
 2 
 
 269 
 
 1,472 
 
 812 
 
 3 
 
 1878 
 
 5,972 
 
 324 
 
 6,296 
 
 461 
 
 3,632 
 
 9 
 
 372 
 
 1,647 
 
 854 
 
 ~ 
 
 TSEE-DAING. — A revenue circle in the Prome district stretching 
 eastward from near the Zay stream. In 1877 the population was 291, the 
 capitation tax Es. 282, the land revenue Es. 290 and the gross revenue 
 Es. 598. 
 
 TSEE-GOON. — A village in the'Kyoung-kwee circle, Henzada township, 
 Henzada district, near the Kyoon-hpa stream, and about four miles north of 
 Henzada. In 1877-78 it had 614 inhabitants. 
 
 TSEE-KA. — A village in theHpan-kha-beng circle, Ta-pwon township, 
 Henzada (Tharrawaddy) district, on the east bank of the Irrawaddy, with 
 810 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 TSEEN-DOOT. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Oo-ree- 
 toung (east) township, Akyab district on the northern bank of the Tsee- 
 doot creek, about a quarter of a mile from its junction with the Khwe-koo 
 In 1878 it had 765 inhabitants. 
 
 river.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 837 
 
 TSEEN-DOOT. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (east) township, 
 Ak^yab district. In 1877-78 the population was 1,402, the capitation tax 
 was Rs. 1,965, the land revenue Rs. 4,961 and the gross revenue Rs. 7,542. 
 
 TSEEN-KHYOON.— A revenue circle of the Kyouk-hpyoo district 
 stretching across the northern end of Ramree island with an area of 24 
 square miles and a population of 2,569 souls. The principal product is 
 sugar, for the manufacture of which 126 mills were working in 1875. 
 Petroleum is found near the sea on the west. Laud revenue Rs. 3,453, 
 capitation tax Rs. 2,782. 
 
 TSEE-THA. — A village in the Pa-doung township of the Prome 
 district, in 18° 41' 20" N. and 95° 12' 30" E., on the right bank of the 
 Irrawaddy just below Pa-doung of which it forms almost one of the 
 suburbs. 
 
 TSEK-KAW.— A village in the Tha-byoo circle, Thoon-khwa district, 
 on the right bank of the Pantanaw river nearly opposite the mouth of 
 the Pan-hlaing creek, in 17° 3' 30" N. and 95° 41' 20" E., with 972 inhabit- 
 ants in 1878. 
 
 TSEK-KHAW. — A revenue circle in the Mye-boon township, Kyouk- 
 hpyoo district, amongst the islands at the mouth of the Dha-let river. 
 It has an area of 42 square miles and a population of 3,162 souls of whom 
 more than two thirds are collected in the villages of Kan-khoung-gyee and 
 Pouk-too-toung. It was formerly comprised within the Meng-bra township 
 of Akyab from which it was transferred in 1871. Land revenue Rs. 3,855, 
 capitation tax Rs. 2,770. 
 
 TSEK-LAI-DOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-gyeng township, 
 Shwe-gyeng district, east of the Tsit-toung river. In 1877-78 the popu- 
 lation was 3,207, the capitation tax Rs. 1,158, the land revenue Rs. 2,705 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 3,998. 
 
 TSHA-BYENG. — A small river which rises in the Arakan mountains 
 and traversing the northern portion of the Sandoway district from east to 
 west falls into the strait which separates Ramree island from the main land. 
 
 TSHA-BYENG. — A revenue circle in the northern township of the 
 Sandoway district. The inhabitants, who are chiefly Ai'akanese and num- 
 bered 1,048 in 1878, cultivate about one half of the culturable area which is 
 not one fiftieth of the whole circle. In 1878 the capitation tax was Rs. 1,020, 
 the land revenue Rs. 1,127 and the gross revenue Rs. 2,177. 
 
 TSHA-BYENG. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Sandoway district on both banks of the little Tsha-byeng stream, about 
 eight and a half miles from its mouth. In 1878 it had 701 inhabitants. 
 
 TSHA-DWENG.— A village at the foot of a spur of the Pegu Roma 
 mountains in the Peng-daw circle, Mye-dai township, Thayet district. 
 It is situated on the Tsha-dweng, a small stream which joins the Khyoung- 
 koung-gyee from the north ; near the village are four salt wells (hence the 
 name) which were worked in the Burmese time and used to yield some 50 
 pots of brine dail}^ After the annexation of Pegu salt-making was gradu- 
 ally given up as it became less and less profitable. The village now con- 
 tains about 60 houses.
 
 838 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 TSHA-GA. — A village in the Tha-raing circle of the Donabyoo 
 township, Thoon-khwa district, six miles north of Donabyoo and on the 
 other bank of the Irrawaddy with 1,335 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 TSHAI-TA-LA. — A revenue circle in the Prome district just east of 
 the town of Prome. In 1877 the population was 335, the capitation 
 tax Es. 370, the land revenue Ks. 655 and the gross revenue 1,121. 
 
 TSHA-MA-LOUK. — A village containing 902 inhabitants on the 
 bank of the Pan-hlaing river in the Thoon-khwa district, in 16" 59' N. 
 and 95° 48' 30" E. with well-made brick-laid streets and containing several 
 old pagodas and some fine monasteries and zayat or public rest-houses. 
 A good deal of nga-pee is made here and a large number of the inhabitants 
 are engaged in the fisheries during the dry season. 
 
 TSHA-TAING-MOOT.— A Talaing village in the Moot-kywon circle, 
 An-gyee township, Rangoon district, on a stream of the same name which 
 falls in to the Eangoon river three miles above the village of Moot. At the 
 time of the annexation of Pegu it contained only one or two families of 
 fishermen and the majority of the present inhabitants, who numbered 769 
 in 1878, have immigrated from Hmaw-won on the opxDOsite side of the 
 Rangoon river. 
 
 T SHAN-DAW. — A small pagoda on the hills on the left bank of the 
 Sandoway river about half a mile south of Sandoway, built in 784 A.D. 
 by king Gnyo-kheng to contain a hair of Gaudama. The inhabitants of 
 the town of Sandoway spend one day at this pagoda during March, June 
 and October every year, passing the other two days of the feasts at the 
 An-daw and Nan-daw pagodas. 
 
 TSHAN-DAW-SHENG.— A pagoda in the Akyab district on Borongo 
 or Mye-ngoo island. The foundation of the pagoda is attributed to a Naga 
 or dragon. Poo and Ta-j)aw, two brothers, of Ook-ka-la-bha in Pegu, having 
 visited Hindoostan obtained from Gaudama eight of his hairs which they 
 carried towards their own country. On arriving at the mouth of the Koo- 
 la-dan they were forced by tempestuous weather to anchor and the Naga 
 observing the divine effulgence of the relics assumed a human form and 
 received two of the hairs on condition of quieting the waves, a condition 
 which he loyally performed. The two hau's he buried in the ground raising 
 a mound of sand over them and many years later the existing building 
 was erected over the spot. 
 
 TSHAN-DAW-SHENG.— A pagoda in Tavoy 22 feet in height and 
 63 feet in circumference at the base, supposed to enclose some of the hau-s 
 of Gaudama and a pot and bedstead adorned with emeralds sent by the 
 king of Ceylon. 
 
 TSHA-POO-GAN. — A small village in the La-wa-dee circle, An-gyee 
 township, Rangoon district, which, with the neighbouring hamlets of 
 Ka-thit-goon and Thit-kya-goou, had a population of 527 souls in 1879, 
 Kareng, Burmans and Talaing. These three villages are situated on 
 the south-east edge of the Twan-te jungle (Taw-gyee). There was formerly 
 a Talaing town here, the lines of the old town wall still existing at a place 
 called Myo-goon on the edge of the forest a little to the north of Tsha-poo- 
 sau.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 839 
 
 TSHAT-THWA. — A revenue circle in the Southern township, Sando- 
 way district, extending from the coast to the Arakan mountains south 
 of Taing'gyo, having an estimated area of 121 square miles, with a good 
 deal of cultivation as compared with its size. It has a population of '■1,4:65 
 souls, mainly Burmese. The principal products of the circle are rice, and 
 sessamum. Land revenue Ks. 1,661, capitation tax Rs. 2,162. 
 
 TSHAT-THWA. — A village in the Southern township of the Sandoway 
 district, on the seacoast at the mouth of the Tshat-thwa river, about 16 
 miles south of the mouth of the Kyien-ta-lee. It has a mixed population of 
 658 souls, amongst whom Arakanese predominate. A small police force is 
 stationed here. Silk-worms are largely reared in the neighbourhood. 
 
 TSHAW-KO. — A clan of the Bghai tribe numbering about 4,500 souls, 
 living in the north-eastern part of the Toung-ngoo district, south-east of 
 the Gai-kho country and separated from the Ha-shwie by the great water- 
 shed between the Salween and Tsit-toung rivers. They are the most de- 
 graded of all the Kareng tribes with the rest of whom they have little or 
 no intercourse, hardly ever leaving theii' mountain fortresses except to make 
 raids on their neighbours, on whom, as well as on each other, they often 
 make most cruel and wanton attacks. Cutaneous disorders of the worst 
 kind prevail amongst them, scrofula and goitre are common, but fever and 
 bowel-complaints are their greatest scourge. Their most dangerous weapon 
 is the cross-bow from which they discharge poisoned arrows, the poison being 
 extracted from a tree known only to a few. The men wear close-fitting, 
 short, white breeches ornamented with red and black stripes : the women, 
 a short, dark petticoat, and a loose, brown, fringed jacket. Both sexes, 
 but more especially the women, wear many rude ornaments of lead about 
 the neck, and sometimes from 121bs. to islbs. of brass on the legs. Below 
 the knee round the calf the men wind from 100 to 300 yards of fine cord. 
 
 TSHAY-BENG. — A village in the Za-lwon circle, Za-lwon township, 
 Henzada district, about half a mile from Za-lwon. In 1878 it had 605 
 inhabitants. 
 
 TSHAY-HNIT-RWA. — A revenue circle in the Tharrawaddy district, 
 east of Mo-gnyo and extending to the Pegu Roma. To the east is undulating 
 ground passing into forest-clad hills on which are found Teak {Tcctona gran- 
 (lis), Pyeng-ga-do {X7jlia dolabriformis), Eng {DijJterocarpus tuherculatus) , 
 Htouk-kyan {Terminalia macrocarpa) and bamboo, and through which 
 roam elephant, bison, tiger, hog and deer. 
 
 The population and revenue dui'ing each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, in rupees. 
 
 Year. 
 
 C3 
 
 tc 
 
 ? 
 
 
 2 
 
 a 
 
 "S 
 
 
 
 a 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 
 o 
 
 <6 fl 
 
 
 3 
 o 
 
 
 eq 
 
 M 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 iJ 
 
 o^ 
 
 H 
 
 1H7-1 
 
 4.811 
 
 408 
 
 
 
 5,249 
 
 4,715 
 
 4,779 
 
 9,494 
 
 1875 
 
 4,8!)0 
 
 618 
 
 1 
 
 5,509 
 
 7,359 
 
 4,987 
 
 12,346 
 
 1876 
 
 5,3fi9 
 
 6f)8 
 
 2 
 
 6,039 
 
 7,774 
 
 5,.S86 
 
 13,160 
 
 1877 
 
 5,842 
 
 506 
 
 1 
 
 6,349 
 
 7,872 
 
 5,868 
 
 13,740 
 
 1878 
 
 6,057 
 
 604 
 
 10 
 
 6,671 
 
 8,293 6,175 
 
 14,468
 
 840 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 
 Area, ] 
 
 N ACRES. 
 
 
 Agricultural stock. 
 
 
 
 
 <P o 
 
 
 
 cc aj 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 .2 3 
 
 t3 
 
 
 
 ^ O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 c3 
 
 a-^ 
 
 
 
 ^3, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 fl M 
 
 '""' 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 ce fl 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 ce ] 
 ludi 
 ow. 
 
 c3 
 
 .2 9 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 C3 
 SO 
 
 "1 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 M) 
 
 M 
 
 CS 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 Ph "-' 
 
 O 
 
 g o 
 
 H 
 
 W 
 
 Q * 
 
 o 
 
 S 
 
 O 
 
 Ph 
 
 W 
 
 1874 
 
 2,760 
 
 25 
 
 65 
 
 2,850 
 
 1,740 
 
 525 
 
 — 
 
 200 
 
 811 
 
 850 
 
 
 1875 
 
 4,531 
 
 29 
 
 51 
 
 4,611 
 
 1,907 
 
 577 
 
 4 
 
 250 
 
 1,071 
 
 871 
 
 
 1876 
 
 4,798 
 
 31 
 
 50 
 
 4,879 
 
 2,105 
 
 641 
 
 12 
 
 260 
 
 1,157 
 
 966 
 
 .^ 
 
 1877 
 
 4,850 
 
 31 
 
 59 
 
 4,940 
 
 2,149 
 
 714 
 
 4 
 
 261 
 
 1,216 
 
 939 
 
 ^ 
 
 1878 
 
 5,162 
 
 29 
 
 49 
 
 5,240 
 
 2,143 
 
 824 
 
 
 251 
 
 1,198 
 
 1,052 
 
 
 TSHEE-AING. — A revenue circle in the Ka-ma township, Thayet 
 district, occupying the extreme north-east angle formed by the Irrawaddy 
 river on the east and the Ya-tha-ya stream on the south ; on the west and 
 north it is shut in by the Pa-gan hills. It has an area of three square miles 
 only, and only 228 acres of cultivation. In 1872 the population numbered 
 440 souls, and the revenue which it yielded in the same year was Es. 630. 
 In 1877-78 the population was 457, the capitation tax Rs. 463, the land 
 revenue Rs. 257 and the gross revenue Rs. 759. 
 
 TSHEE-BENG-KWENG.— A village in the Hpek-rai circle, Kyan- 
 kheng township, Henzada district, about two miles north of the Pa-ta-sheng. 
 In 1878 it had 609 inhabitants. 
 
 TSHEE-DAW. — A revenue circle in the south-eastern township of the 
 Tavoy district, producing principally rice, sessamum and cardamoms. A 
 small revenue is derived from the fishery and net tax. In 1877-78 the 
 population was 2,308, the capitation tax Rs. 1,792, the land revenue Rs. 2,281 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 4,279. 
 
 T SHE E -GOON. — A large village in the Ta-pwon township of the 
 Tharrawaddy district on the Irrawaddy Valley (State) Railway, with 1,789 
 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 TSHENG-BAIK. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (east) town- 
 ship, Akyab district. In 1877-78 the population was 2,721, the capitation 
 tax Rs. 3,562, the land revenue Rs. 11,206 and the gross revenue Rs. 15,529. 
 
 TSHENG-BAIK. — A cluster of villages known as Tsheng-baik north, 
 Tsheng-baik south and Mro-tee-na on the Kan river, in the Oo-ree-toung 
 (east) township of the Akyab district. Tsheng-baik south is the head- 
 quarters of the Thoogyee of the Tsheng-baik circle and in 1878 had 629 
 inhabitants. 
 
 TSHENG-DAI. — A revenue circle in the Prome district on the Irra- 
 waddy a few miles north of Pa-doung, well cultivated in the south and hilly 
 in the north, inhabited by cultivators, fishermen and traders, most of the 
 last living in the large village of Tsheng-dai on the river bank and the road 
 from Pa-doung to the village of Pyouk-tshiep opposite Prome. Re-byeng is 
 now included in this circle. In 1877 the population was 3,463, the capitation 
 tax Rs. 3,670, the land revenue Rs. 3,884 and the gross revenue Rs. 8,526.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 841 
 
 TSHENG-DAI. — A village in the Pa-doung township, Prome district, in 
 18° 45' 50" N. and 95° 17' 0" E. on the right bank of the Irrawaddy a short 
 distance above Pa-doung. The inhabitants are cultivators and petty traders. 
 
 TSHENG-DEK-MAW.— A village in the Pien-nai circle of the Oo-ree- 
 toung (east) township of the Akyab district, on the eastern bank of the 
 Tsheng-dek-maw river. On the map of the Akyab district published by the 
 Surveyor-General it is called Changdeimena. In 1878 it had 1,396 in- 
 habitants. 
 
 TSHENG-DOOP.— A revenue circle in the Mye-dai township, Thayet 
 district, with an area of 55 square miles. The principal products are rice, 
 sessamum and cotton. In 1877-78 the population was 2,739, the capitation 
 tax Es. 2,281, the land revenue Es. 3,417 and the gross revenue Es. 5 909. 
 
 TSHENG-HPYOO-KYWON.— A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung 
 (west) township, Akyab district. In 1877-78 the land revenue was Es. 8,256, 
 the capitation tax Es. 3,972, the gross revenue Es. 12,737 and the population 
 3,554 souls. 
 
 TSHENG-KHOUNG.— A viUage in the Tsheng-khoung circle, Ta-pwon 
 township, Tharrawaddy district, about two miles east of the Irrawaddy, 
 with 1,212 inhabitants in 1878, who are principally engaged in cultivation 
 and fishing, a few being traders. 
 
 TSHENG-KHOUNG.— A revenue circle in the Ta-pwon township, 
 Tharrawaddy district. The country is low and towards the west is subject 
 to inundation. 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were ; — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, 
 
 IN RUPEES. 
 
 Teak. 
 
 ID 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 6D 
 g 
 
 2 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 Is 
 
 "3 
 1 
 
 1874 
 
 1,412 
 
 24 
 
 298 
 
 1,734 
 
 1,537 
 
 1,935 
 
 _ 
 
 3,472 
 
 1875 
 
 1,557 
 
 30 
 
 364 
 
 1,951 
 
 1,792 
 
 2,175 
 
 
 
 3,976 
 
 1876 
 
 1,419 
 
 29 
 
 381 
 
 1,820 
 
 1,867 
 
 2,072 
 
 20 
 
 3,959 
 
 1877 
 
 1,500 
 
 29 
 
 392 
 
 1,918 
 
 1,990 
 
 2,060 
 
 20 
 
 4,070 
 
 1878 
 
 1,529 
 
 51 
 
 289 
 
 1,869 
 
 1,846 
 
 2,207 
 
 22 
 
 4,075 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock 
 
 
 
 Area, 
 
 IN ACRES. 
 
 
 Agricultural stock. 
 
 . Ybab. 
 
 •3 3 
 
 ri 
 
 a 
 
 QJ O 
 
 
 
 00 M 
 
 ?-3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bice land 
 eluding 
 low. 
 
 a 
 
 f-l 
 
 cS 
 
 to r- 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 I 
 
 pi 
 
 o a 
 
 O 03 
 
 00 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 0} 
 
 fc 
 
 S 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 1874 
 
 1,550 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 1,559 
 
 481 
 
 433 
 
 332 
 
 191 
 
 210 
 
 
 1875 
 
 1,691 
 
 9 
 
 — 
 
 1,700 
 
 578 
 
 642 
 
 211 
 
 293 
 
 278 
 
 
 1876 
 
 1,743 
 
 14 
 
 1 
 
 1,758 
 
 342 
 
 688 
 
 152 
 
 317 
 
 258 
 
 ^ 
 
 1877 
 
 1,839 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 1,851 
 
 735 
 
 882 
 
 253 
 
 389 
 
 253 
 
 ^ 
 
 ia78 
 
 1,872 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 1,884 
 
 882 
 
 932 
 
 215 
 
 377 
 
 302 
 
 
 106
 
 842 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 TSHENG-KHOUNG. — A large and tolerably compact village situated 
 at the mouth of the Sandoway river, about 15 miles below Sandoway. 
 The mail steamers usually land the mails here, lying some four miles off 
 in the offing. In 1877 it had 706 inhabitants. 
 
 TSHENG-KHOUNG. — A revenue circle in the central township, 
 Sandoway district, at the mouth of the Sandoway river, with a population 
 of Arakanese of 902 souls, and a small extent of cultivation. Land revenue 
 in 1874-75 Rs. 350 capitation tax and Es. 746. It is now included in 
 Za-dee-byeng. 
 
 TSHENG-MA. — A river in the Tha-boung township, Bassein district, 
 which rises in the Arakan mountains and flowing between the Tsheng-ma 
 and Nga-root-koung revenue circles falls into the Bay of Bengal at the village 
 of the same name in 16' 43' N. and 93° 26' 30" E. This stream is tidal for 
 five miles, as far as the mouth of the Kyien-nee, one of its tributaries, and 
 boats of about 80 baskets burden can at high tide get up thus far. 
 
 TSHENG-MA. — A revenue circle in the Tha-boung township, Bassein 
 district, with an approximate area of 192 square miles, lying between the 
 Bay of Bengal on the west and the Arakan mountains on the east, south of 
 the Ma-gyee stream. It is almost entirely devoid of cultivation and consists 
 generally of mountainous tracts covered with grass, bamboos and forest. 
 There are hardly any villages and the population is very sparse. The in- 
 habitants are chiefly engaged in boat-building and in fishing. In 1878 the 
 populatation was 1,104, the capitation tax Es. 1,020, the land revenue 
 Es. 555 and the gross revenue Es. 2,161. 
 
 TSHENG-MA-NAING.— A village in the Tsheng-khoung circle, Ta- 
 pwon township, Tharrawaddy district, on the east bank of the Irrawaddy 
 with 891 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 TSHENG-MA-0. — A revenue circle of the Prome district just north- 
 north-east of the Kan-bhee-la circle containing four of the old village tracts. 
 In 1877 the population was 645 the capitation tax Es. 653, the land 
 revenue Es. 921 and the gross revenue Es. 1,574. 
 
 TSHENG-MA-THE.— A village in the Dham-bhee circle, Henzada dis- 
 trict, about two miles south of the Nga-won. In 1878 it had 798 inhabit- 
 ants. 
 
 TSHENG-MYEE-TSHWAI.— A revenue cii-cle in the Prome district 
 lying to the east of the Prome hills, about eight miles south-east of Prome 
 measured in a direct line, and containing three of the old village tracts. 
 In 1877 the population was 926, the capitation tax Es. 910, the land 
 revenue Es. 808 and the gross revenue Es. 1,984. 
 
 TSHENG-MYEE-TSHWAI.— A village in the Prome district about 
 eleven miles in a dh'ect line south-east of Prome and about six miles north of 
 the Eng-ma lake. A small force of police is stationed in this village. 
 
 TSHENG-NAT-KHYOUNG.— A village in the Meng-byeng circle, on 
 Cheduba island. Eice is extensively grown in the neighbourhood and 
 exported to Akyab. In 1878 it had 763 inhabitants.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 843 
 
 TSHENG-RWA-KYOON.— A village in the Tslioon-lai circle, Kyan- 
 kheng township, Henzada district, on the bank of the Irrawaddy with 578 
 inhabitants in 1877-78. 
 
 TSHIEP-GYEE.— A village in the An-gyee township, Rangoon district, 
 with 790 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 TSHIEP-GYEE. — See Myoung-mya creek. 
 
 TSHIEP-THA.— A village in the Tshoon-lai circle, Kyan-kheng town- 
 ship, Henzada district, on the bank of the Irrawaddy. In 1877-78 it had 
 893 inhabitants. 
 
 TSHIEP-THA. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Thoon-khwa district 18 miles north-west of Ma-oo-beng, with 619 inhabitants 
 in 1878. 
 
 TSHIEP-THA.— A revenue circle in the Pya-poon township of the 
 Thoon-khwa district. During the rains the whole circle is inundated to 
 a greater or lesser extent according to the undulations of the ground. 
 After the water has fallen numerous small mudbanks appear and on 
 these rice is sown. Gardening and fishing form the principal occupation 
 of the inhabitants who in 1877 numbered 4,713 ; in that year the land 
 revenue was Es. 5,834, the capitation tax Rs. 5,138 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 14,112. 
 
 TSHOON-GOON.— A prettily situated village in the extreme south of 
 the Oot-hpo circle, Henzada district, on the right bank of the Tham-ba-ya- 
 daing at its junction with the Nga-won, with several pagodas and 
 monasteries. Immediately opposite, on the other bank of the Nga-won is 
 Myo-gweng where there is a Public Works Department inspection bunga- 
 low. In 1879 it had 174 inhabitants. 
 
 TSHOON-LAI.— A revenue circle in the north of the Kyan-kheng 
 township of the Henzada district, principally hilly with a small area 
 under rice cultivation. Some cotton is produced in this circle. 
 
 The population and the revenue during each of the last five years 
 were: — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 ] 
 
 Revenue, 
 
 IN EUPEES. 
 
 Year. 
 
 6 
 
 m 
 
 a 
 
 Others. 
 
 3 
 "o 
 H 
 
 3,654 
 
 
 
 Other 
 taxes. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1874 
 
 3,194 
 
 208 
 
 252 
 
 2,629 
 
 3,945 
 
 778 
 
 7,352 
 
 1875 
 
 3,415 
 
 230 
 
 264 
 
 3,909 
 
 2,594 
 
 3,935 
 
 768 
 
 7,297 
 
 1876 
 
 3,692 
 
 135 
 
 83 
 
 3,910 
 
 2,631 
 
 3,908 
 
 711 
 
 7,250 
 
 1877 
 
 3,636 
 
 147 
 
 159 
 
 3,942 
 
 2,959 
 
 3,965 
 
 714 
 
 7,638 
 
 1878 
 
 3,586 
 
 128 
 
 143 
 
 3,857 
 
 2,571 
 
 3,998 
 
 939 
 
 7,508
 
 844 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 Akea, in acres. 
 
 Agricultural stock. 
 
 Yeae. 
 
 Eice land in- 
 cluding fal- 
 low. 
 
 •73 
 
 a 
 a 
 1 
 
 Miscellane- 
 ous cultiva- 
 tion. 
 
 -i 
 
 "o 
 
 § 
 S 
 
 
 CO 
 
 00 
 
 1 
 
 CO 
 
 § 
 
 1 
 o 
 
 1874 
 1875 
 1876 
 1877 
 1878 
 
 1,248 
 1,255 
 1,258 
 1,263 
 1,270 
 
 57 
 19 
 36 
 40 
 40 
 
 392 
 380 
 401 
 579 
 358 
 
 1,697 
 1,675 
 1,695 
 1,882 
 1,668 
 
 689 
 657 
 700 
 816 
 909 
 
 199 
 199 
 187 
 211 
 211 
 
 5 
 12 
 
 25 
 
 93 
 175 
 365 
 419 
 
 446 
 
 120 
 123 
 346 
 320 
 379 
 
 65 
 110 
 
 81 
 77 
 
 85 
 
 TSHOO-PJT-KHYOUNG.— A village in the Lek-ya-maing circle, 
 Mro-houng township, Akyab district, on the western bank of the stream of 
 the same name, with 551 inhabitants in 1878. It is the residence of the 
 Thoogyee of the circle. 
 
 TSHWA. — A revenue circle in the Toung-ngoo district, stretching 
 eastwards from the Pegu Pioma and occupying the country drained by the 
 Tshwa river and the Loon-ran and its tributaries. The greater portion of 
 the circle is intersected by numerous offshoots from the Pegu Roma 
 mountains producing Teak, Sha (Acacia catechu) and other valuable trees, 
 but on the east there is a little rice cultivation. Silk-worms are reared to 
 a considerable extent in this circle. In 1877-78 the population was 2,973 
 the capitation tax Rs. 2,330, the land revenue Es. 469 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 2,823. 
 
 TSHWA. — A river in the Toung-ngoo district. It rises in the Pegu 
 Roma mountains and flowing towards the east for about 30 miles in a 
 narrow valley between the Aw-ga-le and the Ouk-khyeng-too spurs, which 
 send down numerous offshoots, and receiving the waters brought down by 
 many mountain torrents it turns up north round the foot of the Aw-ga-le 
 and joined by the Loon-ran inclines north-east and traversing a com- 
 paratively plain country falls into the Tsit-toung some 30 miles further on 
 about 24 miles north of Toung-ngoo. In the rains boats of from 30 to 35 
 feet in length can ascend as far as the village of Ayo-doung some 38 miles 
 from its mouth where the valley narrows considerably and whence their 
 further course is checked by the rocks and boulders in the bed of the 
 stream. The country which it drains produces teak and other valuable 
 timber of which large quantities are brought down annually for the Toung- 
 ngoo market together with raw silk prepared by the inhabitants who 
 breed silk-worms extensively. 
 
 TSIEN-DENG. — A revenue circle, in the Oo-ree-toung (west) township, 
 Akyab district. In 1877-78 the land revenue was Rs. 4,467, the capitation
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 845 
 
 tax Rs. 1,644, the gross revenue Es. 6,334 and the population 1,348 
 eouls. 
 
 TSIT-PENG. — A revenue circle in the western portion of the Hmaw- 
 bhee township of the Rangoon district, on the left bank of the Poo-zwon- 
 doung river, containing a large area of fertile and cultivated rice land. 
 In 1878 the population was 4,211, the capitation tax Rs. 4,675, the 
 land revenue Rs. 27,095 and the gross revenue Rs. 31,790. 
 
 TSIT-PENG. — A village in the Kyouk-taing-pyeng circle, Than-lyeng 
 township, Rangoon district, with 828 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 TSIT-PENG. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Rangoon district. In 1878 it had 754 inhabitants. 
 
 TSIT-PYA. — A village in the Ran-thek circle of the Ramree township 
 Kyouk-hpyoo district, with a population of 534 souls in 1878. Lime is 
 burned in the neighbourhood for export to Akyab. 
 
 TSIT-TOUNG.— A town in the Shwe-gyeng district on the left bank 
 of the Tsit-toung river in about 17° 25' N. and 96° 52' E., 50 miles below 
 Shwe-gyeng by the river, lying at the mouth of a small stream on low 
 ground which rises suddenly to the southward, forming a high laterite 
 bluff on which there is an ancient pagoda built on a laterite foundation and 
 where formerly stood the barracks inside the fort now unoccupied, and more 
 gradually to the eastward but on both sides shutting in the town : on the 
 high ground east of the town stands the wooden court-house with a straight 
 road leading up to it from the river bank. Stretching away to the north- 
 east along the stream are extensive plains. This town was for some years 
 after the annexation of the country the head-quarters both of the Tsit- 
 toung township and of the Tsit-toung division, but a few years ago the 
 Assistant Commissioner was transferred to the more central position of 
 Kyaik-hto about 13 miles inland. There is here a bazaar and a poHce- 
 post but it is not a thriving town nor one likely to make much progress as 
 it is not from its position suited for trade. In 1874 it had a small jjopula- 
 tion of 1,126 souls and in 1878 only 978. The inhabitants trade with the 
 Kareng and Toungthoo of the neighbouring hills. 
 
 TSIT-TOUNG.— A township in the Shwe-gyeng district south of the 
 Shwe-gyeng township, on both banks of the Tsit-toung river, the larger 
 portion being on the east ; on the west is Rangoon, and on the east and 
 south-east the Bhee-leng Kyaik-hto township. On the north-east the country 
 is hilly whilst to the south it is low and subject to inundation but on the 
 west exceedingly fertile. The princijial town is Tsit-toung founded circa 
 582 A.D., by Tha-ma-la, the first king of Pegu, on the left bank of the 
 Tsit-toung river at the mouth of the Kha-wa stream. A few miles lower 
 down is Weng-ba-daw at the entrance to the -Weng-ba-daw creek, which in 
 the rains leads to the flooded plains on the east and thus by various creeks 
 and channels to the Bhee-leng river and on to Maulmain. 
 
 TSIT-TOUNG. — This river, which is remarkable for its extraordinary 
 trumpet-shaped mouth, the velocity and dangerous nature of the tidal-wave 
 Avhich sweeps up it, the enormous quantity of silt held in suspension in 
 its waters and its tortuous course, not inaptly likened to the writhings
 
 846 BRITISH 5URMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 of a wounded snake frequently deviating to every point in the compass 
 ■within the distance of a few miles, rises in the hills in Upper Burma some 
 25 miles north-east of Ee-me-theng and about 130 above Toung-ngoo, 
 and flows southward through the Toung-ngoo and Shwe-gyeng districts, 
 and in the extreme south between Shwe-gyeng and Eangoon, till it reaches 
 the gulf of Martaban. Between Toung-ngoo and Htan-ta-beng, a village 
 some 10 miles lower down, it widens considerably and is difficult of 
 navigation owing to its winding channel and numerous sandbanks, and 
 in the dry weather is not here navigable by boats drawing more than 
 from two and half to three feet. Below this it narrows and the current 
 is rapid, and from Moon southwards to Shwe-gyeng the main impediments 
 to navigation are the many bends with sharp curves and the strong current. 
 South of Shwe-gyeng, where it receives from the eastward the united waters 
 of the Shwe-gyeng and the Moot-ta-ma streams, the river gradually widens, 
 and the current alone impedes the ascent of large boats. Soon after 
 passing Tsit-toung it takes a large serpentine curve west and south, and 
 then rapidly broadens till on nearing the gulf it is almost impossible to tell 
 where the river ends and the sea begins. With a breadth of seven or eight 
 miles at its mouth it rapidly contracts assuming the shape of a funnel. 
 The great tidal wave of the Indian ocean, joined by the tide coming up 
 from the the south-east along the coast of Tenasserim, rushes with 
 irresistible force into the mouth and with no lateral escape sweeps up the 
 river forming a bore with an angry foaming crest 20 feet high, and at springs 
 still from nine to 12 at Kha-ra-tsoo, which carries everything before it. 
 Following the crest is a heavy chop sea of sand and water, as dangerous 
 almost to boats as the curling wave which precedes it. Broken by the 
 large curve already alluded to the bore is no longer dangerous above 
 Weng-ba-daw. The tide is, in the dry season, felt even as high as Moon, 
 but in the rains owing to the greatly increased volume of water brought 
 down, as far as Shwe-gyeng only. Boats rarely pass below Kha-ra-tsoo at 
 the mouth of the Paing-kywon or Kha-ra-tsoo creek which, until the new 
 canal to Myit-kyo was opened, formed the highway of communication during 
 the rains and in the dry season for some 14 days in each month before, at, 
 and after springs, to the Pegu river and thence to Rangoon. During the 
 rainy season communication with Maulmain, which is at this period entire- 
 ly by boat, is kept up through the Weng-ba-daw creek, the entrance to 
 which is about seven miles below Tsit-toung. Above Kha-ra-tsoo are some 
 very extensive sandbanks covered by six or seven feet of water at neap 
 floods which, as the tide falls rapidly when the ebb sets in, necessitate 
 great care and attention in the boatmen proceeding up or down. The area 
 drained by this river between the Pegu Roma and the Poung-loung 
 mountains is about 22,000 square miles of which some 7,000 are in British 
 territory, and it has a total course of about 350 miles of which the last 
 175 are through British Burma ; the development of these 175 is little short 
 of 300. On the west the banks are uniformly low but on the east hills abut 
 on the river in several places. Its principal feeders are : on the west, the 
 Tshwa, the Khyoung-tsouk, the Kha-boung, the Hpyoo and the Kwon ; and 
 on the east, the Khwe-thai, the Thit-nan-tha, the Kan-nee, the Thouk-re- 
 gat, the Rouk-thwa-wa the Kyouk-gyee and the Shwe-gyeng and Moot-ta- 
 ma which unite at their mouths.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 847 
 
 By the inhabitants of the villages on the banks it is sometimes called 
 the Poung-loung and sometimes the Toung-ngoo river. 
 
 TSIT-TOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-gyeng district lying on 
 the left bank of the Tsit-toung river and on three sides of the town of that 
 name. It has an area of about 240 square miles and a j)opulation of 
 6,242 souls. It contains a large number of valuable fisheries. Large num- 
 bers of salt-boiling pots are made in this circle, the clay being brought from 
 above Shwe-gyeng but the manufacture taking place here for convenience 
 in selling. In 1878 the capitation tax was Ks. 5,625 and the land 
 revenue Es. 4,324. 
 
 TSIT-TA-EAN.— A village of 537 inhabitants in the Htouk-ma 
 revenue circle, Ka-ma township, Thayet district. It is situated on the bank 
 of the Irrawaddy at the mouth of the little Thwe-thouk rivulet in 18° 53' 45" 
 N. and 95° 13' 10" E. In 1868 the Thoogyee died and his village tract was 
 joined to Htouk-ma. 
 
 TSOO-LAI. — A slight elevation in the town of Eangoon, now in 
 Fytche Square, on which stands a pagoda erected to commemorate the 
 assembling together there of Ook-ka-la-bha, king of Twan-te, together with 
 the two Talaing, Poo and Tha-paw (bearers of the eight hairs from the 
 head of Gaudama subsequently enshrined under the Shwe Dagon pagoda), 
 and their followers, when in search of the site designated by Gaudama as 
 the final resting-place of the sacred hairs. 
 
 TSOUNG-KHWET. — A revenue circle in the Ta-pwon township, 
 Tharrawaddy district, extending westward from the Pegu Eoma, for the 
 most part hilly and covered with forest, containing Teak (Tectona grandis), 
 Eng {Dipterocarpus tuberculatiis) and Sha {Acacia catechu). 
 
 The population and revenue during each of the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, in rupees. 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 d 
 
 
 
 
 
 pi 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 
 
 <D 
 
 60 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^< 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 a 
 
 P< 
 
 
 
 
 c3 
 
 
 o 
 
 c3 
 
 e8 
 
 o 
 
 
 pq 
 
 W 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 1-5 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 1874 
 
 2,161 
 
 221 
 
 69 
 
 2,451 
 
 629 
 
 2,617 
 
 3,246 
 
 1875 
 
 2,566 
 
 188 
 
 61 
 
 2,815 
 
 771 
 
 2,810 
 
 3,581 
 
 1876 
 
 2,693 
 
 163 
 
 57 
 
 2,913 
 
 708 
 
 2,855 
 
 3,563 
 
 1877 
 
 2,723 
 
 162 
 
 60 
 
 2,945 
 
 695 
 
 2,875 
 
 3,570 
 
 1878 
 
 3,045 
 
 176 
 
 63 
 
 3,284 
 
 784 
 
 3,018 
 
 3,802
 
 848 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER, 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock 
 
 
 AeEA, in ACFvES. 
 
 Ageicultcbal stock. 
 
 Teak. 
 
 •2 3 
 
 a 
 
 C3 
 
 ella- 
 
 culti- 
 
 on. 
 
 
 0) 
 
 2| 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 § a 
 
 a 
 
 t> 03 -JS 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 
 2 o c3 
 
 
 
 aT-^ 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 m 
 
 
 2-5 o 
 
 t3 
 
 sp 
 
 o 
 
 
 o a 
 
 S) 
 
 5S 
 
 3 
 O 
 
 C3 
 O 
 
 
 •p^ "- 
 
 C5 
 
 
 H 
 
 pq 
 
 o «s 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 
 PM 
 
 m 
 
 1874 
 
 949 
 
 16 
 
 
 965 
 
 605 
 
 601 
 
 
 280 
 
 304 
 
 
 1875 
 
 1,305 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 1,221 
 
 798 
 
 514 
 
 100 
 
 318 
 
 319 
 
 
 1876 
 
 1,315 
 
 16 
 
 — 
 
 1,331 
 
 934 
 
 577 
 
 151 
 
 363 
 
 363 
 
 ^ 
 
 1877 
 
 1,321 
 
 18 
 
 — 
 
 1,339 
 
 987 
 
 646 
 
 181 
 
 386 
 
 379 
 
 
 1878 
 
 1,326 
 
 18 
 
 
 1344 
 
 978 
 
 481 
 
 224 
 
 511 
 
 439 
 
 
 TSW AY-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Pa-doung township, Prome 
 district, a short distance north-west of Pa-doung, containing a few villages, 
 the largest of which is Tsway-daw, and a small area of rice cultivation. 
 It is now joined to Ke-ma-nouk. 
 
 TSWON-PAF-KHYAING.— A revenue circle in the Kyouk-hpyoo 
 district, formed by a group of islands north of the town of Kyouk-hpyoo, 
 altogether about eight square miles in extent, with a small population of 
 445 souls. Land revenue Rs. 451, capitation tax Rs. 475. 
 
 TSWON-EAI. — A village in the Meng-bra township, Akyab district, on 
 the Khy an koon-daing river, the head-quarters of the Toung-bhek circle, 
 with 732 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 TUNIC-BGHAI. — A sub-tribe of Bghai Kareng. See Bghai-ka-tew. 
 
 TWAN-TE. — A creek in the Rangoon district which connects the 
 Moo-la-man with the To river, and flows past Twan-te as far as which it is 
 navigable for the largest boats at all seasons. The banks, which are covered 
 with grass jungle, are somewhat steep and the soil a sandy loam. 
 
 TWAN-TE. — A revenue circle in the west of the An-gyee township of 
 the Rangoon district. To the east is an extensive plain with very little 
 cultivation and to the west undulating ground thickly wooded. A large 
 number of pots are made in this circle near the village of Twan-te. 
 In 1879 the population was 5,777, the capitation tax Rs. 8,060, the land 
 revenue Rs. 7,795 and the gross revenue Rs. 18,793. 
 
 TWAN-TE. — A town in the Rangoon district with 1870 inhabitants 
 in 1879 in 16° 41' 30" N. and 96° 0'30" E., the head-quarters of the An-gyee 
 township, with a court-house and a police-station. It is pleasantly situated 
 at the northern extremity of the ' Twan-te Taw-gyee ' or ' great jungle ' on 
 the banks of the Twan-te stream about seven miles from its mouth in the 
 To or China Bakir. This stream is connected with the Rangoon river 
 by the Moo-la-man but the passage is very difficult for boats in the dry 
 weather. A few years ago a highway of communication existed between 
 Twan-te and Rangoon in the Ka-ma-oung or Dala creek, which is now 
 entirely blocked up.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 849 
 
 Twan-te occupies the site of an old Talaing town the walls of which 
 are still traceable, and the site of a " Nan-daw " or Palace is pointed out 
 by the inhabitants. In its immediate neighbourhood is the Shwe Tshan- 
 daw pagoda, an object of greater veneration to the Talaing than even the 
 Shwe Dagon at Rangoon, as it has never been kept up or improved by the 
 Burmans ars the latter has been {vide Skive Tshan-daiv). 
 
 Close to the town is a grove of seven Thwot-ta-bhat trees {Achras 
 sapota) the fruit of which was much valued by the Talaing monarchs. These 
 are said to be merely off- shoots of the old trees which were cut down by order 
 of the Talaing rulers when the Burmese conquered the country. Although 
 the high land behind the town is fertile and admirably adapted for cultiva- 
 tion very little use was made of it till after the annexation of Pegu. Since 
 then a considerable colony of Shan has settled here and these industrious 
 people, living together in Shan-tsoo about a mile south of the town, have 
 made extensive clearings. 
 
 Twan-te is celebrated for its large earthenware jars, supplying the 
 Eangoon market and indeed the greater portion of the delta of the 
 Irrawaddy : besides these the chief articles sold in the town are rice, betel- 
 leaf, coarse reed mats, largely used for placing under the cargo in ships 
 holds, dried fish, nga-pee, and a small quantity of sugar-cane and bam- 
 boos. 
 
 In 1858 a rebellion broke out here, headed by a fisherman, which was 
 speedily suppressed but not until the rebels had made themselves masters of 
 the town and seized the Extra Assistant Commissioner in charge. 
 
 WA-BHO. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (west) township, 
 Akyab district. In 1877-78 the population was 1,295, the capitation tax 
 Es. 1,942, the land revenue Pts. 4,860 and the gross revenue Es. 7,065. 
 
 WA-DAW.— A village in the Prome district in 18' 38' 20" N. and 
 95° 19' 45" E. on the main road from Eangoon to the frontier between 
 three and four miles S.S.E. of Shwe-doung, and between Wa-lay and 
 Ee-myek. A departmental rest-house has been built here by the Public 
 Works Department for inspecting officers. 
 
 WA-DAW-KWENG.— A village in the Le-myet-hna (north) cii'cle of 
 the Le-myet-hna township, Bassein district, about nine miles west of 
 Le-myet-hna with 572 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 WAI-HPA-DAN.— A village with about 1,360 inhabitants in 1878 in 
 the Darien circle on the southern coast of the Martaban township, Amherst 
 district. 
 
 WAI-KA-LEE. — A revenue circle in the Zaya township, Amherst, 
 district, on the bank of the river of the same name, extending to the sea- 
 coast a short distance north of the mouth of the Wa-kha-roo river. Its 
 inhabitants, who are not numerous, are mainly Talaing agriculturists. 
 In 1877-78 the population was 727, the capitation tax Es. 672 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 4,057. 
 
 WAI-GYEE. — A village in the Kyoon-pa-daw circle, Shwe-loung 
 township, Thoon-khwa district, on the Shwe-loung river about seven miles 
 south of Shwe-loung, with 613 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 WAI-GYEE.— A river in the Prome district. See Sime-lay. 
 
 107
 
 850 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 WA-KHA-ROO.— A small village of 620 inhabitants in 1878 near the 
 source of the river of the same name in the Amherst district, once a flom-ish- 
 ing town which gave its name to the river. The city walls and a large 
 pagoda of considerable antiquity remain. 
 
 WA-KHA-EOO. — A township in the Amherst district, lying between 
 the Toung-gnyo hills on the east and the sea on the west. To the north 
 is the Zaya township, separated from it by the Wa-kha-roo river, and on 
 the south the Re La-maing township, separated from it by the Tha-bye 
 stream. At its northern extremity it has a breadth of 15 miles but lower 
 down of seven miles only. Its extreme length is 28 miles. The chief 
 physical characteristics are extensive tracts of upland covered with tree 
 forest among which are scattered small rice plains of no great fertility. 
 There are extensive tracts damaged by salt water along the coast. Here 
 and there are lofty hills of granite and other igneous formations. The 
 great hindrance to the rapid development of the resources of this township 
 is its isolation and want of means of communication with the rest of the 
 district during a great part of the year. The township is indeed intersected 
 everywhere with large tidal creeks but most of them debouch in the open 
 sea and are, therefore, useless for native craft during the whole of the 
 more or less boisterous weather of the rainy season. A branch of the 
 Maulmain and Re road is now completed and connects Amherst with 
 Maulmain and this has done much for the northern portion of the town- 
 ship but as the distance between the two towns by road is 55 nailes whilst the 
 distance by water is only 30 miles which can be traversed in one tide the 
 road is not much used for traffic. The continuation of this road throughout 
 the length of the township and on to Re will be of great advantage. A canal 
 connecting the head-waters of the Wa-kha-roo with the creeks which flow 
 westward into the sea was once dug by the Daing-won, a Burman general 
 of local celebrity, but this has been neglected and has become useless. 
 
 At the time of its capture by the British the township was almost 
 depopulated. In the successive rebellions of the Talaing against the 
 Burmans and the constant predatory incursions of the Shan from the 
 south and east the whole population had either voluntarily gone over 
 or had been carried away captives to Siam. Now and then after the 
 British occupation some of the former inhabitants succeeded in eluding 
 the vigilance of the Siamese authorities and returned to their native 
 district but the great majority of the present inhabitants are Talaing who 
 have immigrated from Pegu and their descendants. 
 
 The township takes its name from Wa-kha-roo (Wan-kroo in Talamg) 
 near the source of the Wa-kha-roo river now a village but once a town 
 of importance. 
 
 WA-KHA-ROO. — A river in the Amherst district which has its source 
 in the western slopes of the Toung-gnyo spur and after a westerly course 
 of some 30 miles, generally through a hilly country, falls into the sea 
 just north of Amherst. For a few miles it is navigable by ships of the 
 largest burthen and its mouth forms a fine and safe harbour. It is the 
 boundary between the Wa-kha-roo and the Zaya townships. 
 
 WA-KHA-MAY. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Pya-poon township, Thoon-khwa district, on the river To about six miles
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 851 
 
 north-east of Pya-poon, with a population of 559 souls in 1878. The 
 inhabitants are employed in cultivation and and in cutting rattans which 
 find a ready sale being employed in the manufacture of the cables of 
 dhameng, or large fish traps, used on the coast. 
 
 WA-KHA-MAY. — A revenue circle in the Shwe-loung township, Thoon- 
 khwa district. In 1877-78 the population w^as 5,992, the capitation tax 
 Es. 7,700, the land revenue Es. 36,098 and the gross revenue Es. 53,496. 
 
 WA-KHAY-MA.— A village on both banks of the Wa-khay-ma in the 
 Shwe-loung township of the Thoon-khwa district. That portion which 
 lies on the north bank is called Taw-ta-no. The group of houses on the 
 southern bank contained 1,417 inhabitants in 1878 and Taw-ta-no contained 
 575. It is the largest village in the township and has a considerable 
 trade in rice and other articles. 
 
 WA-KHOOT. — A village on the eastern bank of the Pien-nai khyoung 
 in the Eng-ya-khyaing circle, Oo-ree-toung (east) township, Akyab district, 
 with 612 inhabitants in 1877-78. 
 
 WA-NEK-KOON. — A village in the Ma-hoo-ra circle, Hpoung-leng 
 township, Eangoon district, on the main road from Eangoon to Pegu, 
 with 576 inhabitants in 1878. There is here a Public Works Department 
 inspection bungalow. 
 
 WA-EOON-TSHIEP.— A village in the Ma-hlaing (east) circle of the 
 An-gyee township, Rangoon district, with 515 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 WE -DEE. — A revenue circle in the western township of the Tavoy 
 district, about nine square miles in extent of which under two are cultivated. 
 The principal products are grain and dhanee palms. It is now joined to 
 Eng-tsouk. 
 
 WEK. — A river in the Tharraw^addy district formed by the junction 
 of numerous mountain torrents and small streams, the two j)rincipal 
 being the Baw-beng and the Thayet, all having their sources in the 
 western slopes of the Pegu mountains towards the south of the Ta-pwou 
 and north of the Meng-gyee townships, which falls into the Meng-boo near 
 the village of Kan-ta-lee. 
 
 WEK-HLA-GA-LE.— A village in the Touug-bho-hla circle, Tsan-rwe 
 township, Tharrawaddy district, about eight miles east of the Myit-ma-kha, 
 with 910 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 WEK-HTEE-GAN.— A revenue circle in the Ma-ha-tha-man township, 
 Prome district, north of Prome. In 1877-78 the pojDulation was 1,850, 
 the capitation tax Es. 1,532, the land revenue Es. 2,015 and the gross 
 revenue Es. 3,913. 
 
 WEK-HTEE-GAN.— A small village in the Prome district on the 
 Kouk-khwai stream, an affluent of the Na-weng, and 12 miles N.E. of Prome 
 as the crow flies, situated on low swampy, sandy ground merging into forest. 
 In the first Burmese war of 1824-25, after the capture of Prome, Sir A. 
 Campbell detached a force of Madras Native infantry to di'ive the Bm-mans 
 back from the advanced position which they occupied in this village. The 
 result of this attempt was disastrous, and the troops were repulsed with 
 loss and forced to retire on Prome. In 1878 it had only 190 inhabitants.
 
 852 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 WEK-POOT. — A revenue circle in the Prome district, on the Wek-poot 
 or Shwe-lay river. The largest village is Wek-poot on the main road 
 from Poung-day to Prome ; Gyo-beng-hla just north of Wek-poot and 
 Ewa-hla rather more than a mile east of that village are the next in size. 
 In 1877-78 the population was 1,817, the capitation tax Es. 1,690, the 
 land revenue Es. 936 and the gross revenue Es.2,661. 
 
 WEK-POOT.— A village in the Prome district in 18° 29' 10" N. and 
 95° 28' 5" E. on the Wek-poot or Shwe-lay river. The main road 
 from Eangoon to the northern frontier of the province runs past the 
 village and crosses the river on an iron bridge resting on two masonry 
 abutments without piers. 
 
 WEK-POOT. — A river in the Prome district. See Shwe-lay. 
 
 WENG-BA-DAW. — A creek nearly dry in the dry season which joins 
 the Tsit-toung at Weng-ba-daw and, during the rains, communicates towards 
 the east with the numerous streams in the large plains south of Tsit-toung 
 and Kyaik-hto : at this season it forms a portion of the main route 
 for country boats to Maulmain from the towns on the Tsit-toung river and 
 from Pegu and Eangoon. At Weng-ba-daw it is spanned by a wooden 
 bridge. 
 
 WENG-BA-DAW. — A large village of over 1,000 inhabitants on the 
 left bank of the Tsit-toung river about eight miles below Tsit-toung at the 
 mouth of the Weng-ba-daw creek. It is the chief halting-place for boats 
 passing up the ,Tsit-toung. During the rains the Weng-ba-daw creek 
 which runs through the village and is spanned by a bridge near its 
 mouth forms the first portion of the route, then entirely by water, from the 
 Tsit-toung river to Maulmain. The inhabitants, who are partly Burmans 
 and partly Talaing, are engaged in agriculture, in salt manufacture and 
 as brokers, the village doing a thriving trade in grain brought from the 
 extensive plains to the eastward. 
 
 WENG-KYOON. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (east) township, 
 Abyab district. In 1877-78 the population was 1,492, the capitation tax 
 was Es. 1,882, the land revenue Es. 3,667 and the gross revenue Es. 5,767. 
 
 WENG-PYAING. — A revenue circle in the Salween Hill Tracts 
 district. In 1877-78 the population was 3,659, the capitation tax Es. 1,732 
 and the land revenue Es. 1,970. 
 
 WENG-EAW. — A river in the Amherst district which rises in the 
 eastern slopes of the Toung-gnyo spur near its bifurcation from the main 
 range and flows northwards to join the Za-mie. This, like nearly all the 
 rivers in this district, is formed by the junction of numerous small 
 mountain torrents none of which can claim to be the parent stream. The 
 upper portion of the vahey of this river is hilly but the lower part is a 
 wide plain with slight undulations and with numerous isolated masses of 
 grey limestone rock, often several miles long, rising abruptly to a height of 
 several hundred feet, the ground in the neighbourhood being generally 
 covered with dense evergreen forest. 
 
 WENG-TSIEN. — A revenue circle in Bhee-loo-gywon in the Amherst 
 district which now includes Moo-rit-gyee. It extends frm the Tsai-ba-la 
 stream on the west to the hills on the east, with Kha-raik-thit on the south
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 853 
 
 and Ewa-lwot on the north. These two circles origmally formed a portion 
 of Kha-raik-thit and were made into separate circles by Captain (now Sir 
 Arthur) Phayre in 1848. The northern and eastern portions are hilly but 
 in the south-west is a flat alluvial plain. In 1868 the land revenue 
 aggregated Es. 7,150 and the capitation tax Rs. 1,596; in that year the 
 population was 1,557. In 1877-78 these were Rs. 7,651, Rs. 2,100 and 
 2,151 respectively. 
 
 WENG-TSIEN. — A village in the circle of the same name in Bhee- 
 loo-gywon in the Amherst district adjoining Khyoung-tshoon, the head- 
 quarters of the township, of which it really forms a portion. In 1868 it 
 had 593 inhabitants and 698 in 1878. 
 
 WE-WA. — A small sept of the Sgaw Kareng tribe inhabiting the 
 country next to the Bghai and so called because their dialect is a mixture 
 of Sgaw and Bghai the word We-wa meaning "backwards and forwards". 
 They are in the lowest stage of civilization and till lately not a woman 
 knew how to weave ; the consequence is that they obtain their clothes from 
 other clans and have no distinctive dress, some wearing trowsers, some 
 Bghai tunics and some Sgaw or Pwo tunics. 
 
 WON-.DOUK-KWENG.— A village in the Hpek-rai circle, Kyan-kheng 
 township, Henzada district, west of the A-toon stream, with 652 inhabitants 
 in 1878. 
 
 WON-LO. — A revenue circle in the Prome district, on the bank of the 
 Irrawaddy just below the town of Pa-doung of which it forms an outskirt. 
 In 1877-78 the population was 1,788, the capitation tax Rs. 1,795, the land 
 revenue Rs. 457 and the gross revenue Rs. 3,890. 
 
 WON-TAY-THAI-GOON.— A village in the Lai-daw circle, Ta-pwon 
 township, Tharrawaddy district, about a mile west of the Rangoon and 
 Irrawaddy Valley (State) Railway with 696 inhabitants in 1877-78. 
 
 WOT-TSHENG.— A pagoda at Tenasserim on the bank of the Tenas- 
 serim river in the Mergui district, erected by the Siamese circa 1380 A.D. 
 
 YANDOON. — Sec Gnyoung-doon. 
 
 YANG-LAING. — A sub-tribe of the Bghai family of Kareng, so called 
 by the Shan. See Kareng-nee. 
 
 ZA-DEE. — A revenue circle in the western township of the Tavoy 
 district, thinly populated and sparsely cultivated. A small revenue is 
 derived from turtle-banks. In 1877-78 the population was 2,239, the 
 capitation tax Rs. 883, the land revenue Rs. 1,326 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 2,322. 
 
 ZA-DEE -BYENG. — A revenue circle in the central township of the 
 Sandoway district, on the left bank of the Sandoway river at its mouth, 
 about nine square miles in extent of which two are culturable. The 
 inhabitants, who numbered 2,375 souls in 1877, are principally Arakanese. 
 Rice is the principal article produced. In 1877-78 the capitation tax was 
 Rs. 1,816, the land revenue Rs. 1,782 and the gross revenue Rs. 3,690. 
 It is now included in Tsheng-goung. 
 
 ZA-DEE-BYENG. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 central township of the Sandoway district, about five miles from Sandoway,
 
 854 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 on the left bank of the Sandoway river and the right bank of the little 
 Myeng stream, with 1,404 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 ZA-HA. — A revenue circle in the north-eastern township of the Tavoy 
 district, very thinly inhabited and sparsely cultivated. It has an area of 
 about 24 square miles ; rice is the main product. In 1877-78 the popula- 
 tion was 502, the capitation tax Es. 386, the land revenue Rs. 2,409 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 2,937. 
 
 ZAING-GA-NAING. — A cluster of villages in the Rangoon district 
 on the right bank of the Pegu river opposite the town of Pegu. The popula- 
 tion in 1878-79 numbered 1,841 souls — Burmans, Talaing, Shan and 
 Kareng, who are engaged in rice cultivation and in petty trading. Further 
 north is old Zaing-ga-naing founded circa 1462 by the then reigning 
 sovereign ; the surrounding country is thickly covered with pagodas and 
 other sacred edifices. A short distance from Zaing-ga-naing was Ea-thai- 
 myo the remains of which, over-grown with jungle, are still in existence, 
 including enormous bricks and glazed tiles with figures of animals. Lat. 
 17° 19' 30" N. Long. 96° 33' 50" E. 
 
 ZAING-GA-NAING. — A revenue circle in the Pegu township of the 
 Eangoon district on the right bank of the Pegu river and extending for 
 some distance northwards into the hills formed by the spurs of the Pegu 
 Eoma range. Eice is grown in the neighbourhood of the villages and along 
 the bank of the Pegu river, elsewhere the country is hilly and jungly and 
 covered with bamboo and tree forest in which are Pyeng-ma {Lagerstroemin 
 regince), Pyeng-ga-do {Xylia dolahriformis) and Bhan-bhwai {Careya 
 arborea) : hog, deer, sambur, tiger and occasionally wild elephants are met 
 with. In 1877 the population was 8,903, the capitation tax Es. 11,428, 
 the land revenue Es. 22,957 and the gross revenue Es. 35,373. 
 
 ZA-LAI-DENG. — A revenue circle in the Ma-ha-tha-man township, 
 Prome district. In 1877 the population was 589, the capitation tax 
 Es. 642 and the land revenue Es. 1,383. 
 
 ZA-LAI-TAW. — A tidal creek in the extreme south-east corner of the 
 Shwe-loung township, Thoon-khwa district, running from the Irrawaddy to 
 the sea. It is about nine miles long, the upper portion of its course is 
 due west and the lower due south ; with the Irrawaddy and the Bay of 
 Bengal it forms the Za-lai-taw island. Boats going out to sea by the Irra- 
 waddy usually go down this creek. 
 
 ZA-LWON. — A revenue circle in the north-eastern township of the 
 Tavoy district. It has an area of about 40 square miles but is thinly 
 populated and sparsely cultivated, mainly with rice. In 1877-78 the 
 population was 1,345, the capitation tax Es. 966, the land revenue 
 Es. 2,089 and the gross revenue Es. 3,159. 
 
 ZA-LWON. — A township of the Heuzada district south of Henzada, 
 divided into two very unequal portions by the Irrawaddy, the larger lying to 
 the westward of that river. The principal town, where the Extra Assistant 
 Commissioner is stationed, is Za-lwon. 
 
 ZA-LWON. — A town in the township of the same name in the Henzada 
 district, on the right bank of the Irrawaddy, and lying between the bank of 
 the river and the main embankment. It contains a court-house, police-
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 855 
 
 station, and Public Works Department inspection bungalow. The bank is 
 yearly cut away by the river and the town is gradually, and of late 
 rapidly, being carried away so much to that in order to save the 
 materials the bazaar was pulled down in 1879. Close to the town is a 
 celebrated image which was carried off by the British during or after 
 the second Burmese war, and was subsequently returned. The Burmese 
 believe that the British were unable to melt it down and its voyage has 
 added greatly to its sanctity. In 1879 the town had 4,637 inhabitants. 
 
 ZA-LWON. — A revenue circle in the Za-lwon township, Henzada 
 district, on the right bank of the Irrawaddy river surrounding the town of 
 Za-lwon. The general aspect is that of a vast plain entirely under rice 
 cultivation. 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, in rupees. 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 n 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 i 
 
 
 i 
 
 a 
 
 0) 
 
 O 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 1874 .. 
 
 1875 .. 
 187G .. 
 
 1877 .. 
 
 1878 .. 
 
 4,380 
 3,719 
 4,379 
 3,841 
 4,234 
 
 551 
 552 
 
 582 
 531 
 556 
 
 4,931 
 4,271 
 4,961 
 4,372 
 4,790 
 
 455 
 
 476 
 470 
 484 
 437 
 
 4,450 
 4,485 
 4,587 
 4,152 
 4,250 
 
 2,019 
 1,212 
 1,137 
 2,544 
 2,097 
 
 6.924 
 6,173 
 6,194 
 7,180 
 7,384 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the agricultural stock : — 
 
 
 Area, in acres. 
 
 
 
 AORICULTDBAL 
 
 STOCK. 
 
 
 
 
 T3 
 
 
 
 
 
 rs 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Teab. 
 
 s 
 
 <i, o 
 
 a 
 
 C3 
 
 CO 
 
 S3 
 O 
 03 
 
 a 
 
 
 m 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 13 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 CD 
 
 o 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 M 
 
 1 
 
 J3 
 60 
 D 
 O 
 
 en 
 
 1 
 
 
 t3 
 
 ^ 
 
 S 
 
 H 
 
 w 
 
 a 
 
 C3 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 Pi 
 
 M 
 
 1874 
 
 199 
 
 24 
 
 
 223 
 
 13 
 
 336 
 
 19 
 
 37 
 
 114 
 
 23 
 
 46 
 
 1875 
 
 199 
 
 35 
 
 1 
 
 235 
 
 10 
 
 415 
 
 12 
 
 77 
 
 117 
 
 49 
 
 31 
 
 1876 
 
 200 
 
 26 
 
 2 
 
 228 
 
 36 
 
 471 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 183 
 
 79 
 
 35 
 
 1877 
 
 204 
 
 26 
 
 1 
 
 231 
 
 5 
 
 407 
 
 49 
 
 105 
 
 167 
 
 65 
 
 88 
 
 1878 
 
 194 
 
 24 
 
 — 
 
 218 
 
 8 
 
 528 
 
 19 84 
 
 102 
 
 14 
 
 82 
 
 ZA-MIE. — A small river in the Amherst district which rises in the 
 main range near the pass of the Three Pagodas in 15'' 18' N. and 98" 25' 29" E.
 
 856 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and flows for some 80 miles in a general N.N.W. direction to join the 
 Weng-raw and form the Attaran. The last 40 miles of its course are 
 navigable but the strong current renders the ascent difficult and foresters 
 only go further south than the 16th parallel of latitude. It is formed by 
 the junction of several streams, some of which are as much as 40 yards 
 broad but are shallow and fordable. 
 
 Z A-NOUNG-DAW. — A revenue circle in the Ma-ha-tha-man township, 
 Prome district. In 1878 the population was 238, the capitation tax 
 Es. 227 and the land revenue Es. 422. 
 
 ZAY. — A river in the Prome district. See Hlaing. 
 
 ZA-YA. — A township in the Amherst district lying immediately to the 
 south of the town of Maulmain and stretching along the left bank of the 
 Salween and the coast as far as the Wa-kha-roo river and extending 
 inland to the bank of the Attaran ; to the south is the Wa-kha-roo township, 
 and to the east the Gyaing Attaran. From north to south a range of hills 
 runs down the coastline leaving a fertile and well-cultivated strip of 
 country, nowhere more than 12 miles in breadth, between it and the sea, 
 drained by numerous small streams with a general east and west direction 
 none of which are of any importance. 
 
 ZA-YAT-GYEE. — A village in the Tsa-doo-thee-ree-goon circle, Tsan- 
 rwe township, Tharawaddy district, on the north bank of the river Thoon- 
 tshay with 998 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 ZA-YAT-HLA. — A revenue circle in the Pan-ta-naw township, Thoon- 
 khwa district. In 1877 the population was 6,384, the capitation tax 
 Es. 6,625 and the land revenue Es. 2,269. This circle is a vast plain 
 covered with tree and grass jungle with some rice cultivation, especially 
 at is northern end. 
 
 ZA-YAT-KOON. — A village in the Bhwai-beng-gan circle, Poung-day 
 township, Prome district, north-east of Poung-day with 520 inhabitants 
 in 1878. 
 
 ZA-EAI-ZAN. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Than-lweng township, 
 Amherst district. In 1878 the population was 960, the capitation tax 
 Es, 1,095 and the land revenue Es. 4,553. 
 
 ZA-EAI-ZAN. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Amherst district on the bank of the Gyaing, with 701 inhabitants in 
 1877. 
 
 ZA-THA-BYENG. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Amherst district on the right bank of the Gyaing, the head-quarters of the 
 Gyaing Than-lweng township. It is well laid out in bricked streets and 
 contains a court-house and a police-station. In 1878 it had 2,160 in- 
 habitants. 
 
 ZA-THA-BYENG. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Than-lweng town- 
 ship, Amherst district, extending northwards from the bank of the Gyaing 
 The principal village is Za-tha-byeng the head-quarters of the township. 
 In 1878 the population was 3,042, the capitation tax Es. 2,700 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 4,340.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 857 
 
 ZA-THENG. — A revenue circle in the Gyaing Than-lweng township, 
 of the Amherst district. In 1877-78 the population was 791, the capitation 
 tax Es. 805 and land revenue Es. 3,778. 
 
 ZEE-BENG-HLA. — A revenue circle in the Poung-day township, 
 Prome district, on the left bank of the Shwe-lay at the foot of the Pegu 
 Eoma mountains. In 1877 the population was 3,686, the capitation tax 
 was Es. 3,517 and the land revenue Es. 2,478. 
 
 ZEE-BENG-KWENG.— A village in the Daga circle, Ee-gyee town- 
 ship, Bassein district, on the northern bank of the Daga about eight miles 
 from its mouth, with 538 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 ZEE-BENG-TSHIEP.— A village in the Kywon-ga-le cii'cle, Hpoung- 
 leng township, Eangoon district, with 524 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 ZEE-BE NG-WA. — A village in the Kywon-ga-le circle, Hpoung-leng 
 township, Eangoon district, with 725 inhabitants in 1878-79. 
 
 ZEE-GOON. — A small village in the Tha-raing circle, Donabyoo 
 township, Thoon-khwa district, on the left bank of the Irrawaddy about 
 four miles north of Donabyoo, with 501 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 ZEE-HPYOO-GOON.— A village in the Pan-hlaing circle, An-gyee 
 township, Eangoon district, with 723 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 ZEE-HPYOO-KWENG.— A revenue circle in the Tha-boung town- 
 ship, Bassein district. In 1877 the population was 747, the capitation tax 
 Es. 937, the land revenue Es. 2,032 and the gross revenue Es. 3,072. 
 
 ZEE-HPYOO-TSHIEP.— A revenue circle in the Nga-poo-taw town- 
 ship of the Bassein district. The population and revenue during each of 
 the last five years were : — 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue, 
 
 N RUPEES 
 
 
 Yeak. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 aj 
 
 o3 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 i-< 
 
 
 > 
 
 o 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 aj 
 
 
 
 
 
 c3 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 JS 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 ce 
 
 a 
 
 
 o 
 
 •3 
 
 
 m 
 
 < 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 < 
 
 o 
 
 1874 
 
 666 
 
 530 
 
 1,196 
 
 2,243 1,457 
 
 2,319 
 
 6,019 
 
 1875 
 
 646 
 
 536 
 
 1,182 
 
 1,990 1,492 
 
 2,242 
 
 5,524 
 
 1876 
 
 542 
 
 510 
 
 1,052 
 
 1,417 \ 1,452 
 
 2,515 
 
 5,384 
 
 1877 
 
 883 
 
 200 
 
 1,083 
 
 1,221 1 1,480 
 
 2,132 
 
 4,833 
 
 1878 
 
 901 
 
 176 
 
 1,077 
 
 1,301 1 1,445 
 
 1,763 
 
 4,509 
 
 108
 
 858 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 and the area under cultivation and the aerricultural stock : — 
 
 
 Area, in acres. 
 
 
 
 Agricultueai 
 
 STOCK. 
 
 
 
 
 •a| 
 
 
 M 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 c3 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 Yeab. 
 
 §3 
 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 "Bi 
 
 6D 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Under 
 cludin 
 
 
 1 
 
 to 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 eg 
 Pi 
 m 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 1 
 
 f 
 
 o 
 
 to 
 O 
 
 1874 
 
 1,808 
 
 
 9 
 
 1,818 
 
 327 
 
 
 
 
 55 
 
 102 
 
 32 
 
 1876 
 
 1,587 
 
 
 4 
 
 1,592 
 
 675 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 104 
 
 168 
 
 90 
 
 1876 
 
 1,147 
 
 
 7 
 
 1,155 
 
 518 
 
 11 
 
 2 
 
 45 
 
 68 
 
 143 
 
 73 
 
 1877 
 
 970 
 
 
 9 
 
 980 
 
 458 
 
 11 
 
 7 
 
 58 
 
 63 
 
 93 
 
 90 
 
 1878 
 
 2,011 
 
 
 1 
 
 2,013 
 
 434 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 13 
 
 50 
 
 100 
 
 72 
 
 ZEE-HPYOO-ZAT. — A revenue ckcle in the Nga-poo-taw township, 
 Bassein district. In 1877 the population was 1,083, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 1,480, the land revenue Rs. 1,221 and the gross revenue Rs. 4,908. 
 
 ZEE-THOUNG. — A tidal creek in the Mai-kywon at the entrance to 
 the Bassein river, running southwards from the Kyouk-ka-lat creek to the 
 sea, navigable at all seasons by boats of from 40 to 60 feet in length. 
 
 ZEE-YA. — A revenue circle in the Mro-houng township, Akyab 
 district. In 1877-78 the population was 1,986, the capitation tax Rs. 2,997, 
 the land revenue Rs. 3,305 and the gross revenue Rs. 6,492. 
 
 ZE-MA-THWAY.— A revenue cii-cle in the south of the Tha-htoon 
 tovmship of the Amherst district. In 1877-78 the population was 2,806 
 and the land revenue Rs. 4,009. 
 
 ZENG-KYAIK. — A pagoda on the Zeng-kyaik hills north-west of 
 Martaban supposed to have been founded in the fourth centm-y B.C. and 
 to contain one of Gaudama's hairs. 
 
 ZENG-GYAIK. — A village in the Poung circle, Martaban township, 
 Amherst district, at the foot of the western slopes of the hills of the same 
 name, with 853 inhabitants in 1878. Strictly it is a name given in the 
 returns to a small group of villages so situated not one of which is named 
 Zeng-gyaik. 
 
 ZE-TA-WON. — A pagoda in a forest in the Mergui district visited 
 by many pilgrims annually in October, supposed to have been built circa 
 1208 A.D. by Na-ra-pa-dee-tsee-thoo who visited Mergui. 
 
 ZE-YA-WA-DEE. — A township in the Toung-ngoo district, divided 
 into four revenue circles, with a population of 22,835 souls in 1877, in 
 which year it produced a gross revenue of Rs. 40,616. 
 
 ZE-l^A-WA-DEE. — A revenue circle in the township of the same 
 name in the Toung-ngoo district. In 1877 the population was 9,071, the 
 capitation tax Rs. 6,752, the land revenue Rs. 5,660 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 14,635. 
 
 ZHE-GNYOUNG.— A village in the Pegu circle, Pegu township, 
 Rangoon district, with 612 inhabitants in 1878-79.
 
 BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 859 
 
 ZHE-GYEE. — A village in the Pegu circle, Pegu township, Rangoon 
 district, with 686 inhabitants in 1878-79. 
 
 ZHE-PA-THWAY. — A revenue circle in the An-gyee township, Pian- 
 goon district, on the seacoast, carved out of Moot-kywon a few years ago. 
 In 1878 the population was 4,448, the capitation tax Rs. 5,450, the land 
 revenue Es. 20,640 and the gross revenue PiS. 27,110. 
 
 ZIEN. — A revenue circle in the central township of the Sandoway 
 district extending inland from the mouth of the Sandoway river. It has an 
 estimated area of 70 square miles and had a poj)ulation, mainly Arakanese, 
 of 1,455 souls in 1877. The cultivated area which is mainly under rice 
 is under three square miles. In 1877-78 the capitation tax was Pis. 1,150, 
 the land revenue Pis. 2,363 and the gross revenue Es. 2,513. 
 
 ZOOT-THOOT. — A revenue circle in the Tsit-toung sub-division of 
 the Shwe-gyeng district, extending northwards from the seacoast along 
 the right bank of the Bhee-leng river. It has an area of about 110 square 
 miles and had a population of 4,573 souls in 1877-78, when the capitation 
 tax was Rs. 4,082 and the land revenue Es. 11,885.
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 A-DA. — A village in the Doora circle, Henzada township, Henzada 
 district, about three miles west of the Irrawadd}'- on the banks of a stream 
 of the same name which has its source in the Doora lake, with 1,112 
 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 A-GYEE-TAW. — Arevenue circle in theEa-thai-doung township, Akyab 
 district. In 1879 the population was 2,759, the land revenue Es. 7,152 
 and the gross revenue Es, 9,908. 
 
 A-HTOUNG. — A village in the Thoung-daik circle, Kyoon-pyaw. town- 
 ship, on the eastern bank of the Daga, near the north-east of the Bassein 
 district, with a population of 541 souls in 1878. 
 
 AIN-DA-POOEA.— ,See len-da-poora. 
 
 A-KYAW. — The population of this village {vide p. 30) was 1,002 in 
 
 1878. 
 
 A-Lx\-MYO. — A village in the Kan-goo circle, Donabyoo township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, about six miles north of Donabyoo with 506 inhabit- 
 ants m 1878. 
 
 ALAY-KYIVON. — A village in the Kyoung-kwee circle, Henzada town- 
 ship, Henzada district, between the Kyoon-toon and Kyoung-kwee streams, 
 about three miles north of Henzada, with 685 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 ALAY-THAN-GYAW. — A revenue circle in the Naaf township of the 
 Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 2,761, the land revenue Es. 
 5,087 and the gross revenue Es. 8,014. 
 
 A-LIEN-A-LAY. — A village in the Bhaw-lay circle, Hlaing township, 
 Eangoon (Han-tha-wa-dee) district, on the right bank of the Hlaing, with 
 532 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 A-MAI-KHENG. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (west) town- 
 ship, Akyab district. In 1879 the pojmlation was 1,415, the land revenue 
 Rs. 3,406 and the gross revenue Es. 5,247. 
 
 AMBAEEEE. — A revenue circle in the Kyai-let township, Akyab dis- 
 trict. In 1879 the population was 1,654 and the gross revenue Es. 10,002. 
 
 AMHEEST. — The town of Maulmain now forms a separate district 
 altogether independent of Amherst. 
 
 A-NAN-PYAING. — A village in the Keng-khj'oung circle, Zaya town- 
 ship, Amherst district, about seven miles from ^laulmain on the west of 
 the Amherst road near the Kyouk-ta-loon hill with 528 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 ANEMAY.— ^ee lem-mai. 
 
 A-NGOO-MAW. — A village on the southern bank of the Ma-yoo in the 
 A-ngoo-maw circle, Ea-thai-doung township, Akyab district, with 658 in- 
 habitants in 1878. The Thoogvee of the circle lives here.
 
 11. APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 A.-NGOO-Mx\W. — A revenue circle in the Ra-thai-doung township of 
 the Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 2,153, the land revenue 
 Rs. 5,674 and the gross revenue Rs. 8,040. 
 
 A-PENG-HNIT-TSHAY.— A village in the Tsam-bay-roon circle, 
 Kyoon-pyaw township, Bassein district, on the southern bank of the A-peng- 
 hnit-tshay creek, with 503 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 A-POUK-WA. — A village in the Theng-gan-nek circle, Koo-la-dan 
 township, Akyab district, on the right bank of the Koo-la-dan, with 863 
 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 A-TSEE. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Re La- 
 maing township, Amherst district, with 664 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 BHA-GOON-NA-RWA. — A village situated in the Koo-la-pan-zeng cir- 
 cle, Ra-thai-doung township, Akyab district, at the source of the Ma-yoo 
 river, with 682 inhabitants in 1878. The name is said to be derived from 
 Sanscrit and to mean^" dangerous by reason of tigers". 
 
 BHAN-BYENG. — A revenue circle in the Ma-ha-tha-man township, 
 Prome district. In 1877 the population was 328, the capitation tax Rs. 
 337, the land revenue Rs. 467 and the gross revenue Rs. 804. 
 
 BHOORA-KHYOUNG.— A village in the La-bwot-khyan (south) circle, 
 Shwe-loung township, Thoon-khwa district, with 803 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 BHOO-RA-MAW.— A village in the Thoo-hte circle of the Central 
 township, Sandoway district, on both banks of the Thoo-hte about ten miles 
 from its mouth, with 1,051 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 BHOORA-MYA. — A revenue circle in the Mro-houng township, Akyab 
 district. In 1879 the population was 1,806, the land revenue Rs. 4^450 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 6,680. 
 
 BHOOT-KHYOUNG. — A village in the cii-cle of the same name in the 
 Re-gyee township, Bassein district, on the left bank of the Nga-won about 
 six miles above Nga-thaing-khyoung, adjoining Doung-gyee. In 1878 it 
 had 522 inhabitants. 
 
 BHOOT-KO-YOUNG.— A revenue circle in the Ma-ha-tha-man town- 
 ship, Prome district, which now includes 12 of the old village tracts. In 
 1877 the population was 1,881, the capitation tax Rs. 1,990, the land re- 
 venue Rs. 2,782 and the gross revenue Rs. 4,772. 
 
 BO-GA-LE. — A village in the Pya-poon circle, Pya-poon township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, on the Kyoon-toon at the mouth of the Kyaik-pee, 
 with 786 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 BOO-DOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (east) township, 
 Akyab district, with 1,700 inhabitants and a gross revenue of Rs. 8,998 in 
 1879. 
 
 DHAM-BHEE. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Hen- 
 zada township, Henzada district, on the left bank of the Nga-won about 
 twelve miles from its mouth in the Irrawaddy, and about two miles 
 above the mouth of the Tham-bha-ya-daing, with 858 inhabitants, many 
 of whom are up-country men, in 1879.
 
 APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 111. 
 
 DAI-GOON, — A revenue circle in the Bassein district. In 1877 the 
 popidation was 2,429, the capitation tax Rs. 2,540, the land revenue Rs. 
 3,863 and the gross revenue Rs, 11,356, 
 
 DOUNG-GYEE.— A revenue circle in the Bassein district. In 1877 
 the population was 4,291, the capitation tax Rs. 4,862, the land revenue 
 Rs, 679 and the gross revenue Rs, 9,204. 
 
 DWA-RA-WA-DEE. — A revenue circle in the Toung-ngoo township, 
 Toung-ngoo district. In 1877 the population was 2,911, the capitation 
 tax Rs, 2,756, the land revenue Rs, 534 and the gross revenue Rs, 3,375, 
 
 DA-WAY-KHYOUNG.— A village in the Tsit-peng circle, Hmaw-bhee 
 township, Rangoon district, with 572 inhabitants in 1878, 
 
 DHA-BIEN, — A village in the Hpoung-leng towaiship, Rangoon dis- 
 trict, on both banks of the stream of the same name at its mouth in the 
 Pegu : that portion lying on the left bank is called North Dha-bien and is 
 in the Kha-ra-kywon circle, that lying on the other bank is the larger, 
 and is called South Dha-bien and is in the Dha-bien circle. In 1878 
 the two had 3,648 inhabitants, 
 
 EN-DA-POORA,— ^ee len-da-jjoora. 
 
 EN-GOON, — A village in the Bhwot-lay circle, Thayet district, with 
 691 inhabitants, principally rice cultivators, in 1878. 
 
 ENG-LAT. — A portion of the town of Kyan-kheng, q.v. 
 
 ENG-MA-NGAY, — A revenue circle in the Poung-day township, Prome 
 district, which includes five of the old village tracts. In 1877 the popula- 
 tion was 3,961, the capitation tax Rs, 4,050, the land revenue Rs, 4,876 
 and the gross revenue Rs. 14,795. 
 
 ENG-TA. — A village in the Tha-raing circle, Donabyoo township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, four miles inland from the Irraw^addy and about eight 
 miles north-east of Donabyoo, with 502 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 ENG-YA-KHYAING. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (east) 
 township, Akyab district, with 1,638 inhabitants in 1879, when the capita- 
 tion tax was Rs. 1,800, the land revenue Rs, 2,705 and the gi'oss revenue 
 Rs. 4,889. 
 
 EN-MAY.— ,S(?e lem-mai. 
 
 GOON-GNYENG-DAN.— A village in the Iltan-ta-beng circle, Thee- 
 kweng township, Bassein district, on the eastern bank of the Kyoon-toon, 
 near its source, with 530 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 GNYOUNG-BENG.— A village in the Pegu circle, Pegu township, 
 Rangoon district, with 637 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 GNYOUNG-KHYOUNG.— A village in the circle of the same name in 
 the Donabyoo township, Thoon-khwa district, on the right bank of the Irra- 
 waddy ten'miles south of Donabyoo, with 1,699 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 GNYOUNG-NEE. — A village in the Kyouk-taing-pyeng circle, Than- 
 lyeng (Syriam) township, Rangoon district, with 585 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 GNYOUNG-WAING.— A village in the Tsa-doo-thee-ree-goon circle, 
 Tsan-rwe township, Tharrawaddy district, on the bank of the Thoon-tshay, 
 with 693 inhabitants in 1878,
 
 IV. APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 GNYOUNG-WAING. — A village in the Thee-kweng circle, Thee-kweng 
 township, Bassein district, on the eastern bank of the Pan-ma-wa-dee, and 
 about 15 miles to the east of Bassein. In 1878 it had 865 inhabitants. 
 
 GNYOUNG-WAING. — A village in the Pegu circle, Pegu township, 
 Rangoon district, with 1,498 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 GYO-GYA-GAN. — A village in the Mo-tsa circle, Ta-pwon township, 
 Tharrawaddy district, about 16 miles east of the Irrawaddy with 293 
 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 HAN-THA-WA-DEE.— The district formerly known as Rangoon 
 has (1879) been completely separated from the town and is now thus called, 
 after the old Pegu kingdom which is thus called in Burmese. The head- 
 quarters are about to be transferred from Rangoon to Eng-tsien a few 
 miles to the north of Rangoon on the Rangoon and Irrawaddy Valley 
 (State) Railway. 
 
 HLAY-HLA. — A revenue circle in the Toung-ngoo township, Toung- 
 ngoo district. In 1877 the population was 3,991, the capitation tax Rs. 
 3,040, the land revenue Rs. 4,042 and the gross revenue Rs. 7,934. 
 
 HMAW-ZA.— Asmall village of 399 inhabitants, in 1877, in the Prome 
 district, about four miles east of Prome amongst the ruins of Tha-re-khet- 
 tra. the ancient capital of the Prome kingdom. Near the village is a 
 station on the Irrawaddy Valley (State) Railway. 
 
 HNAI-GYO. — A village in the circle of the same name, in the Dona- 
 byoo township, Thoon-khwa district, on the Nat-maw stream at its junction 
 with the Kan-ngoo-gyee, with 548 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 HNEE-MOOT. — A village in the Rwa-lwot circle, Bhee-loo-gywon town- 
 ship, Amherst district, on the southern bank of the Rwa-lwot stream, with 
 542 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 HNEE-PA-DAW. — A village on the Kwon-hla circle, Zaya township, 
 Amherst district, on a stream of the same name, with 590 inhabitants in 
 1878. 
 
 HNGEK-PYAW. — A village in the Kyoon-bouk circle, Pantanaw 
 township, Thoon-khwa district, at the mouth of the Hngek-pyaw, a tri- 
 butary of the Irrawaddy, with 579 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 HNIT-KAING. — A village in the circle of the same name, in the Wa- 
 kha-roo township, Amherst district, about four miles from Amherst, on the 
 Wa-kha-roo river, with 561 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 HPOON-KYWAI. — A revenue circle in the Mro-houng township, 
 Akyab district, with 1,357 inhabitants in 1879. In that year the land 
 revenue was Rs. 4,512, the capitation tax Rs. 1,737 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 6,301. 
 
 HPWAI-DA. — A revenue circle in the Koo-la-dan township, Akyab 
 district. In 1879 the population was 2,713, the capitation tax Rs. 3,057, 
 the land revenue Rs. 5,161 and the gross revenue Rs. 8,220. 
 
 HTAN-BENG-GOON.— A village in the Lweng-byeng circle, Mo-gnyo 
 township, Tharrawaddy district, on the bank of the Myit-ma-kha, with 
 801 inhabitants in 1878.
 
 APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. V. 
 
 HTAN-TA-BENG. — A village in the Doora circle, Henzada township, 
 Henzada district, about four miles west of the Irrawaddy on the bank of 
 the Doora lake, with 1,361 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 HTAN-TAW-GYEE. — A revenue circle in the Pegu township, Ean- 
 goon (Han-tha-wa-dee) district. The whole circle is a mass of forest-clad 
 hills with a few patches of rice land in the valleys. Most of the inhabit- 
 ants are Yabaing and gain their livelihood by cultivating toungya and 
 cutting bamboos. In 1878 the population was 3,844, the capitation tax 
 Es. 4,248, the land revenue Ks. 3,530 and the gross revenue Ks. 7,778, 
 
 HTAN-TAW. — A village in the Kyan-kheng circle, in the township 
 of the same name of the Henzada district, with 810 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 HTIEN-GOON. — A village in the Ma-hlaing (west) circle, An-gyee 
 township, Rangoon district, with 512 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 HTOON-DOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Koo-la-dan township, 
 Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 1,784, the capitation tax Rs. 
 1,728, the land revenue Rs. 3,724 and the gross revenue, Rs. 5,497. 
 
 HTOON-DOUNG.— A village in the Thai-daw circle, Thayetmyo town- 
 ship, Thayet district, a few miles below Thayetmyo, in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of some low hills containing limestone. The inhabitants, 
 who numbered 639 in 1878, are cultivators, wood-cutters, and lime- 
 b timers. 
 
 lE-THA-YA. — A village in the Rwon (east) [now called the Rwon] 
 circle, Than-lyeng (Syriam) township, Rangoon district, with 857 inhabit- 
 ants in 1878. 
 
 KA-BAI. — A revenue circle in the Tha-boung township, Bassein dis- 
 trict. In 1877 the population was 2,353, the capitation tax Rs. 2,397, the 
 the land revenue Rs. 2,366 and the gross revenue Rs. 9,434. 
 
 KA-GNYENG-KHYOUNG.— A village on the southern bank of the 
 stream of the same name in the Mee-hgnyo-toung circle, Ra-thai- 
 doung township, Akyab district, with 622 inhabitants in 1878. The Thoo- 
 gyee of the circle lives here. 
 
 KA-GNYENG-KWENG.— A village in the Tha-nai-tha-bouk circle, Za- 
 Iwon township, Henzada district, on the west bank of the Bya-gnya stream, 
 with 582 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 KA-KYA-BEK-PYOO-TSOO.— A village on the right bank of the Ma- 
 yoo in the Koo-la-pan-zeiig circle, Ra-thai-douug township, Akyab district, 
 with 640 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KA-LOUNG. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Pan-ta- 
 naw township, Thoon-khwa district, on the Bhawdee stream at its junction 
 with the Pan-ta-naw river about a mile north of Pan-ta-naw, with 987 
 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KA-LWENG. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Mer- 
 gui district on the Ka-lweug creek, three miles north-east of Mergui, with 
 891 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KA-MEE-KYVVAI. — A revenue circle in the Meng-bra township, Akyab 
 district. In 1879 the population was 1,581 and the gross revenue Rs. 6,725.
 
 VI. APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KAN-BYAY. — A revenue circle in the Meng-bra township, Akyab dis- 
 trict.. In 1879 the population numbered 1,621 and the gross revenue was 
 Bs. 6,443. 
 
 KAN-BYENG. — A revenue circle in the Ooo-ree-toung (east) township, 
 Akyab district, with 739 inhabitants and a gross revenue of Es. 5,221 in 
 1877. 
 
 KAN-HLA. — A village in the Lay-dee-kan-hla circle, Henzada town- 
 ship, Henzada district, west and in the immediate neighbourhood of 
 Henzada, with 946 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 KAN-TOUNG-GYEE.— A village in the Tset-khaw circle, Mre-boon 
 township, Kyouk-hpyoo district, near the mouth of the Dha-let, with a 
 population of 1,116 souls in 1878. A considerable quantity of rice is grown 
 in the neighbourhood for export to Akyab. 
 
 KARENG HILL TRACTS.— A division of the Toung-ngoo district. 
 The locality which, in 1876, was formed into this division is that portion of 
 the Toung-ngoo district lying to the eastward of the Tsit-toung river 
 which is inhabited by various tribes of Kareng. On the south it is bounded 
 by the Thouk-re-khat, on the north by the frontier line of the province, on 
 the west by the eastern water-shed of the Tsit-toung and on the east by the 
 crest of the Ga-moon range of mountains which form the boundary 
 of western Kareng-nee or the Red Kareng country : this tract, although 
 within our geographical boundaries, had never until 1876, been brought 
 under regular administrative control ; the tribes who occupy it are Bghai, 
 and Sgaw (Gai-kho) ; some of the former are quiet and industrious and have 
 been largely influenced by the teaching of the missionaries but the Tshaw- 
 kho sept and the Gai-kho are more unsettled. 
 
 The immediate cause for the extension of administrative and protective 
 measures was the distress to which the inhabitants had for several years 
 been exposed through the almost annual destruction of their crops by vast 
 hordes of rats which infested the country, eating up everything that came 
 in their way. To relieve the scarcity and ward off famine supplies of grain 
 were provided by the Toung-ngoo district officers and the expediency of 
 placing the tribes under more thorough and distinct control soon became 
 apparent. An Assistant Commissioner was placed in charge with a police 
 force of two European Inspectors, two first class and two second class 
 Sergeants, and 110 men. This force was at first principally engaged iti 
 cutting bridle-paths through the tract to open up communication between 
 the different police-stations (of which there are five besides one at Liep-tho 
 the head-quarter station of the division) and in building houses for them- 
 selves. The annual cost of the establishment for the administration of 
 this tract, exclusive of the pay of the Assistant Commissioner, is Rs. 28,000. 
 
 KA-WAI. — A village in the Kyoon-pa-doot circle, Shwe-loung township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, on a stream of the same name, with 895 inhabitants 
 in 1878. 
 
 KA-WEK. — A village in the Eng-za-ya circle, Thoon-khwa township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, on the Ma-oo-beng or To river, 19 miles from Ma-oo- 
 beng, opposite to the mouth of the Twan-te creek of the Rangoon district, 
 with 996 inhabitants in 1878.
 
 APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. Vll. 
 
 KAW-KAT. — A village in the Tlia-nai-tha-boiik circle, Za-lwon town- 
 ship, Henzada district, on the left bank of the Kaw-kat stream with 592 in- 
 habitants in 1879. The inhabitants are engaged in agriculture and trade, 
 large numbers of boats coming up from Pan-ta-naw in Thoou-khwa. The 
 construction of a road from this village to Za-lwon is under consideration. 
 
 KAY-THA-LA. — A village on the western bank of the Proon-shay 
 stream in the Proon-shay (or Pyoon-shay) circle, Meng-bra township, 
 Akyab district, with 562 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KHA-MOUNG-KHYOUNG.— A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-touug (east) 
 township, Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 1,806, the land 
 revenue Ks. 2,455 and the gross revenue Es. 4,809. 
 
 KHA-NOUNG-KWA.— A village in the A-gwon (south) [now called the 
 Ta-da] circle of the Than-lyeng (Syriam) township, Eangoon district, with 
 917 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KHA-OON-MAW.— A village in the Man-oung circle on Cheduba 
 island in the Kyouk-hpyoo district, north-east of the town of Cheduba, in 
 the neighbourhood of which a good deal of nga-pee is manufactured. In 
 1878 it had 586 inhabitants. 
 
 KHAT-TEE-YA.— A village lying on both banks of the stream of the 
 same name at the mouth of the Khat-tee-ya Re-gyaw, partly in the Ran- 
 goon (Han-tha-wa-dee) and partly in the Thoon-khwa district, with 2,166 
 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 KHOO. — A revenue circle in the northern township of the Sandoway 
 district to which is now added Pan-htaw. In 1877 the population was 
 2,857, the capitation tax Rs, 2,376, the land revenue Es. 2,791 and the 
 gross revenue Rs. 5,253. 
 
 KHOON-GNYENG-NWAY.— A village in the Than-rwa circle, Thayet- 
 myo township, Thayet district, with 597 inhabitants in 1878, whose prin- 
 cipal occupation is cultivating rice and sessamum. 
 
 KHOUNG-LOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Meng-bra township, 
 Akyab district. In 1879, the gross revenue was Rs. 8,076 and the popula-^ 
 tion 1,639. 
 
 KHWA-TSHOON.— A village in the Thce-gan circle, Ra-thai-doung 
 township, Akyab district, situated at the junction of the Ma-yoo, the Koo- 
 la-pan-zeng and the Tseng-deng-bwa. Iii 1878 it had 748 inhabitants. 
 
 KHWA-TSHOON. — A village in the Kywon-baw circle, Ra-thai-doung 
 township, Akyab district, situated at the junction ef the Ka-moung-doon, 
 Lek-ya-dek and Lek-wai-dek creeks. In 1878 it had 682 inhabitants. 
 
 KHWE-DOUK-KHYOUNG.— A revenue circle in the Ra-thai-doung 
 township of the Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 1,622, the 
 land revenue Rs. 4,684 and the gross revenue Rs. 6,418. 
 
 KHYA-RA-BENG. — A revenue cii-cle in the Shwe-lay township, Prome 
 district. In 1877 the population was 881, the capitation tax Rs. 1,042, 
 the land revenue Rs, 417 and the gross revenue Rs. 1,459. 
 
 KHYIET-TOUNG.— A village on the western bank of the Thai-dan, 
 Kyien circle, Meng-bra township, Akyab district, with 673 inhabitants 
 in 1878.
 
 Vlii. APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KHYOUK-RWA, — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Oot-hpo township, Henzada district, on the right bank of the Nga-won 
 where it receives the waters of the Nan-ga-thoo and makes its first great 
 bend southwards. The southern part of the village is called Khyouk-rwa 
 and the northern Keng-tat; they were formerly separate but have gradually 
 run into each other. In the Burmese time a small post was kept up in 
 the latter, whence the name. The bank is gradually being eaten away 
 by the river and in 1879 one of the numerous pagodas was pulled down just 
 in time to prevent its falling and carrying away the relic enshrined in 
 it. During high rises in the rains the whole village is under water and 
 the country behind is flooded, the water rushing in with considerable vio- 
 lence and finding its way out into the Nga-won, which curves round some 
 miles lower down as it were to meet it. In 1879 the two villages had 
 864 inhabitants. 
 
 KHYOUNG-BYA. — A village in the Dai-da-rai circle, Pya-poon, 
 township, Thoon-khwa district, two miles south of Dai-da-rai, with 935 
 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KHYOUNG-WA. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Kyan-kheng township, Henzada district, about four miles west of the Irra- 
 waddy with 483 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 KHYOUNG-DOUNG.~A revenue circle in the Ra-thai-doung town- 
 ship, Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 2,424, the land revenue 
 Rs. 5,518 and the gross revenue Rs. 8,490. 
 
 KHYOUNG-HPEE-LA. — A revenue circle in the Mro-houng town- 
 ship, Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 1,134, the land revenue 
 Rs. 3,470 and the gross revenue Rs. 5,907. 
 
 KO-HNIT-RWA. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Mo-gnyo township, Tharrawaddy district, on the Rangoon and Irrawaddy 
 valley (State) Railway and about 16 miles east of the Irrawaddy, with 1,487 
 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KOO-LA-BOON. — A revenue circle in the Mro-houng township, Akyab 
 district, with 1,426 inhabitants in 1879. In that year the land revenue was 
 Rs. 4,369 and the gross revenue Rs. 6,255. 
 
 KOO-LA-KHYOUNG.— A village in the Tha-ra-waw (north) circle, 
 Tsan-rwe township, Tharrawaddy district a little to the north of Tha-ra- 
 waw, with 1,263 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KOON-BOUNG-THA-RA-TSHIEP.— A village on the left bank of the 
 Koo-la-dan in the Oot-kywek circle, Mro-houng township, Akyab district, 
 with 860 inhabitants in' 1878. 
 
 KOON-DAN. — A village in the Gnyoung-khyoung circle, Donabyoo 
 township, Thoon-khwa district, about two miles from the Irrawaddy behind 
 the village of Gnyoung-khyoung, with 724 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KOUNG-KYAW-HTENG.— A revenue circle in the Mro-houng town- 
 ship, Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 1,489, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 1,782, the land revenue Rs. 5,686 and the gross revenue Rs. 7,471. 
 
 KOUNG-RAN. — A revenue circle in the Za-ya-wa-dee township, Toung- 
 ngoo district. In 1877 the population was 5,935, the capitation tax 
 Rs. 4,938, the land revenue Rs. 4,351 and the gross revenue Rs. 11,578.
 
 APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. IX. 
 
 KWA-HNEE. — A village in the Hmaw-won circle, Tban-lyeng (Syriam) 
 townsbiij, Kangoon district, with 623 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KWAN. — For places, especially in Amherst, the names of which com- 
 mence with Kwan See Ktoon. 
 
 KWE-MA. — A village in the Ewa-thit circle, Kyan-kheng township, 
 Henzada district, on the left bank of the Pa-ta-sheng, with 720 inhabitants 
 in 1879. 
 
 KWE-MA. — A village in the Kyouk-khyoung circle, Hmaw-bhee town- 
 ship, Eaugoon district, with 640 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KWENG-GOUK. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Oot-hpo township, Henzada district, lying on both banks of the Nan-ga-tboo, 
 not far from the lower slopes of the Arakan Eoma mountains. It is the 
 head-quarters of the Tboogyee and contains a police-station. In 1879 the 
 inhabitants numbered 1,003 souls. 
 
 KWON-KHYAN. — A village in the Lek-pa-dan circle, Tsan-rwe town- 
 ship, Tharrawaddy district, with 515 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KWON-KHYAN-GOON.— A village in the 0-bho circle, Kanoung town- 
 ship, Henzada district, close to the Irrawaddy and on the right bank. It 
 derives its name from the numerous betel gardens in the neighbourhood. 
 In 1879 it had 508 inhabitants. 
 
 KWON-TA-MOO. — A village in the Htoon-man circle, Za-ya township, 
 Amherst district, with 527 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYA-ENG. — A village in the Hpoung-gyee circle, Hpoung-leng town- 
 ship, Eangoon (Han-tha-wa-dee) district, with 548 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYAIK-KHA-NA. — A village in the Kywon-oo circle, Hmaw-bhee town- 
 ship, Eangoon (Han-tha-wa-dee) district, with 711 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYAIK-LAT. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Pya- 
 poon township, Thoon-khwa district, at the junction of the Pya-poon, Hpo- 
 douk and Kyaik-lat streams, with 2,649 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYAIK-PEE. — A village in the Kyoon-toon circle, Pya-poon township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, on the Kyoon-toon river about 60 miles from the sea, 
 with 520 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYAW-SHENG. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (east) town- 
 ship, Akyab district, with 1,542 inhabitants and a gross revenue of Es. 5,821 
 in 1879. 
 
 KYEK-POUNG. — A village in the Ta-kaing circle, Bassein township, 
 Bassein district, on a small creek and about two miles to the west of the 
 Bassein river eight miles below Bassein, with 524 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYA-NEE. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Tsan-rwe 
 township, Tharrawaddy district, with 606 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYEK-TAIK. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Mo- 
 gnyo township, Tharrawaddy district, on the southern bank of the lOiwe 
 stream, with 686 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYENG-KYWON. — A revenue circle in the Ea-thai-doung township, 
 Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 1,212, the land revenue 
 Es. 4,100 and the gross revenue Es. 6,433. 
 
 2
 
 X. APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KYE-NOOP-THEE.— A village on the right bank of the Ma-yoo in 
 the Koo-la-pan-zeng circle, Ra-thai-doung township, Akyab district, with 
 502 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYIEN, — Two revenue circles distinguished as East Kyien and West 
 Kyien now joined together, in the Meng-bra township of the Akyab district. 
 In 1879 the population numbered 4,148 and the gross revenue was 
 Es. 9,976. 
 
 KYIEN-KHWE-MAW. — A village on the stream of the same name 
 about a mile from its mouth, in the Kyien-khwe-maw circle, Oo-ree-toung 
 (east) township, Akyab district, with 763 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYIEN-KHWE-MAW. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (east) 
 township, Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 2,042, the land 
 revenue Rs. 3,678 and the gross revenue Rs. 6,221. 
 
 KYOON-BAW. — A revenue circle in the Ra-thai-doung township, 
 Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 2,805, the land revenue 
 Rs. 7,055 and the gross revenue Rs 10,242. 
 
 KYOON-HTA. — A village in the Pya-poon circle of the township of the 
 same name in the Thoon-khwa district at the head of the Kyoon-hta creek, 
 with 533 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYOON-HTIEN. — A village in the Pa-doung township, Prome district, 
 south of Pa-doung. In 1877 it had 639 inhabitants. 
 
 KYOON-GAN. — A village in the Rwon (west) [now called the Kyouk- 
 tan] circle, Thaulyeng (Syriam) township, Rangoon district, with 549 
 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYOON-KA-DWON. — A village in the Pyeng-da-ray circle, Pya- 
 poon township, Thoon-khwa district, on a stream of the same name about 
 six miles from the sea, with 734 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYOON-KA-NEE. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Myoung-mya township, Bassein district, on the southern bank of the 
 Khyoon-tsien creek, with 795 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYOON-KHA-RAING. — A village in the Kyoon-pa-daw circle, Shwe- 
 loung township, Thoon-khwa district, south-east of the village of Wai-gyee 
 and about a mile distant from the Wai-gyee river, with 560 inhabitants 
 in 1878. 
 
 KYOON-KOO. — A village in the Pya-poon circle of the township of 
 the same name in the Thoon-khwa district, about a mile distant from Pya- 
 poon, with 522 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYOON-00. — A revenue circle in the Hlaing township, Rangoon dis- 
 trict, adjoining Thoon-khwa and lying on the northern bank of the Pan- 
 hlaing. The cultivated portion is almost entirely in the south-east, the 
 remainder being covered with grass and tree forest and intersected by a net- 
 \vork of creeks the overflow from which swamps the country and renders 
 rice cultivation impossible. The villagers living on the bank of the Pan- 
 hlaing have large plantain gardens whilst those in the interior of the 
 uncultivated portion are generally fishermen. In 1878 the population 
 was 4,286, the capitation tax Rs. 4,388, the land revenue Rs. 12,875 and 
 the gross revenue Rs. 31,536.
 
 APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BUHMA GAZF/l'TEER. XI. 
 
 KYOON-TAING.— A village in the Zayat-hla circle, Pan-ta-naw town- 
 ship, Tlioon-khwa district, at the head of the Kyoon-taing creek on the 
 borders of Thoon-khwa and Bassein, with 903 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYOON-TA-MA.— A village in the Eng-za-ya circle, Thoon-khwa 
 township, Thoon-khwa district, on the bank of the Irrawaddy six miles 
 south of Gnyoung-doon, with 651 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYOON-TSIEN.— A village in the Kyoon-pa-doop circle, Shwe-loung 
 township, Thoon-khwa district, about a mile from Wa-khay-ma, with 537 
 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 KYOUK-GYEE-TSOO.— A village in the Pegu circle, Pegu township, 
 Eangoon district, with 542 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYOUNG-KWEE. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Henzada township of the Henzada district, about two miles west of the 
 Irrawaddy and two miles north of Henzada, on the bank of a small lake of 
 the same name. In 1879 it had 546 inhabitants. 
 
 KYOUNG-TAIK.— A village in the Myanoung circle, in the town- 
 ship of the same name in the Henzada district, not far from the right 
 bank of the Irrawaddy, with 579 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 KYOUK-TAW. — A revenue cu-cle in the Koo-la-dan township, Akyab 
 district. In 1879 the population was 1,560, the capitation tax lis. 1,917, 
 the land revenue PiS. 3,619 and the gross revenue PiS. 5,563. 
 
 KYOUK-TAW. — A village on the right bank of the Koo-la-dan in the 
 Kyouk-taw circle, Koo-la-dan township, Akyab district, with 1,080 inhabit- 
 ants in 1878. It is the head-quarters of the township and contains a court- 
 house, a market and a police-station. A little to the eastward is a hill 
 crowned with a pagoda said to cover the last bone {os coccygis) of Gauda- 
 ma's spine. 
 
 KYOUNG-GOON. — A village in the Myo-dweng circle, Mo-gnyo town- 
 ship, Tharrawaddy district, about a mile east of the Eangoon and Irrawaddy 
 Valley (State) Railway close to the Gj^o-beng-gouk station, with 646 in- 
 habitants in 1878. 
 
 KYOUNG-WAING.— A village in the Ma-hlaing (east) circle, An-gyee 
 township, Eangoon district, with 520 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 KYWAI-DEK. — A revenue circle in the Meng-bra township, Akyab 
 district. In 1879 the population was 1,581, the land revenue Es. 4,905 
 and the gross revenue Es. 6,725. 
 
 KYWAI-KYO. — A village on the right bank of the Ma-yoo, in the 
 Ngwe-doung circle, Ea-thai-doung township, Akyab district, with 640 in- 
 habitants in 1878. 
 
 KYWON-GA-LE. — A village in the Tsheng-goung circle, Ta-pwon 
 township, Tharrawaddy district, on the east bank of the Irrawaddy, im- 
 mediately opposite to Myanoung in Henzada, with 686 inhabitants in 1878. 
 The telegraph line here crosses the Irrawaddy by a submerged cable. 
 
 KYWON-GA-LE. — A revenue circle in the Ilpoung-leng township, 
 Eangoon (Han-tha-wa-dee) district, with a considerable area under rice. In 
 1878 the population was 3,987, the cajntation tax Es. 4,873, the land reve- 
 nue Es. 14,500 and the gross revenue Es. 19,373.
 
 liii. APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 KYWON-GOON. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Poiing-day township, Prome district, north-west of Poung-day, with 989 in- 
 habitants in 1877. 
 
 KYWON-GOON.— A village in the Kyoon-pa-daw circle, Shwe-loung 
 township, Thoon-lihwa district, on the Wai-gyee river, with 510 inhabit- 
 ants in 1878. 
 
 LA-HA-DHA-YEK.— A village in the Poo-gan-doung circle, Than- 
 lyeng (Syriam) township, Eangoon district, with 544 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 LA-HA-GYAW. — A village in the Kyoon-hpa circle, Henzada township, 
 Henzada district, on the bank of the La-ha-byeng-kyay marsh, ten miles 
 west of Henzada, with 718 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 LAMAING. — A village in the Gnyouug-beng-tha circle, Za-lwon town- 
 ship, Henzada district, two miles west of the Irrawaddy and a mile north 
 of the Gnyoung-beng-tha, with 715 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 LA-MOO-GYEE. — A village in the Wa-kha-may circle, Pya-poon town- 
 ship, Thoon-khwa district on the Pya-poon about fom- miles north-east of 
 Pya-poon, with 520 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 LAY-GYEE-KWENG. — A village in the Kyoon-hpa circle, Henzada 
 township, Henzada district, about ten miles west of Henzada, with 663 
 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 LEK-PA-DAN. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Tsan- 
 rwe township, Tharrawaddy district, about six miles east of the Myit-ma- 
 kha, and on the Eangoon and Irrawaddy Valley (State) Eailway, with 568 
 inhabitants in 1878. There are here a police-station and a Public Works 
 Department Inspection bungalow. 
 
 LEK-PAN-GOON. — A village in the Tsa-doo-thee-ree-goon circle, 
 Tsan-rwe township, Tharrawaddy district on the bank of the Thoon-tshay 
 with 629 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 LE-MEO. — A revenue circle in the Mro-houng township, Akyab 
 district. In 1879 the population was 2,683, the land revenue Es. 2,328 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 5,633. 
 
 LIEN-GOON. — A village in the Tha-nai-tha-bouk circle, Za-lwon town- 
 ship, Henzada district, on the eastern bank of the Tsheng-pyee stream, 
 with 734 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 LIEP-KHYOUNG. — A village in the Dham-bhee circle, Henzada town- 
 ship, Henzada district, on the left bank of the Nga-won about six miles 
 from its mouth in the Irrawaddy and about six miles above Dham-bhee, 
 with 589 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 LWENG-LYENG-EWA. — A village in the circle of the same name 
 in the Mo-gnyo township of the Tharrawaddy district, about a mile south 
 of the Tsheng-tshaing stream, with 1,366 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 MA-HA-THA-MAN. — A revenue circle in the township of the same 
 name in the Prome district to which is now joined Tha-tsee, In 1877 
 the population was 1,147, the capitation tax Es. 803, the land revenue 
 Es. 961 and the gross revenue Es. 1,764.
 
 APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. XIU. 
 
 MA-HLAING (East). — A revenue circle in the An-gj^ee township, 
 Rangoon (Han-tha-wa-dee) district. In 1878 the population was 3,165, the 
 capitation tax Rs. 4,333, the land revenue Es. 19,511 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 24,375. 
 
 MA-HLAING (West). — A revenue circle in the An-gyee township, 
 Rangoon (Ilan-tha-wa-dee) district. In 1878 the population was 6,475, the 
 the capitation tax Rs. 7,323, the land revenue Rs. 37,158 and the gross 
 revenue Rs. 46,861. 
 
 MAI-TSA-LEE. — A village in the Oot-hpo circle, Oot-hpo township, 
 Henzada district, on the bank of the Ka-gnyeng stream, with 488 inhabit- 
 ants in 1879. 
 
 MA-LEK-TO. — A village in the Thoon-khwa circle, Thoon-khwa 
 township, Thoon-khwa district, on the Ma-oo-beng, two miles north- 
 east of Thoon-khwa, with 818 inhabitants in 1878, who are almost all 
 fishermen. 
 
 MAULMAIN. — This town now forms a separate district independent 
 altogether of Amherst. 
 
 MAW-KHYE. — A village in the Mya-wa-dee circle, Houng-tha-raw 
 township, Amherst district, on the bank of the Thoung-gyeng near Mya- 
 wa-dee, with 803 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 MA-YAN-KHYOUNG.— A village in the Tha-boung circle, Donabyoo 
 township, Thoon-khwa district, on the Irrawaddy about two miles north 
 of Donabyoo, with 585 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 MA-YENG-BENG-RENG-RWA.-— A village on the eastern bank of 
 the Kya-ma-thouk stream, in the Taw-gan circle, Oo-ree-toung (west) 
 township, Akyab district, with 586 inhabitants in 1878. The Thoogyee 
 of the circle lives here. 
 
 MENG-BRA. — A village in the Kyien circle, Akyab district, the 
 head-quarters of the Meng-bra township with a court-house, a market and 
 a police-station. In 1878 it had 829 inhabitants. 
 
 MENG-GAN. — A revenue circle to which is now joined Kyek-kaing- 
 dan, in the Kyai-let township, Akyab district. In 1879 the population 
 of the two was 1,361, the land revenue Rs, 7,007 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 10,098. 
 
 MENG-RWA. — A village in the Poo-gan-doung circle, Than-lj^eng 
 (Syriam) township, Rangoon (Han-tha-wa-dee) district, with 546 inhabit- 
 ants in 1878. 
 
 MIET-THA-LENG.— A village in the Thoon-khwa township, Thoon- 
 khwa district, on the Pan-ta-bwot about five miles north of Kyaik-lat, 
 with 1,004 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 MO-GOUNG. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Thayet district, with 903 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 MO-HOOP. — A village in the Gnyoung-doon circle, Gnyoung-doon 
 township, Thoon-khwa district, about two miles south-east of Donabyoo, 
 with 589 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 MO-KHAING-GYEE.— A village in the Pegu circle, Pegu township, 
 Rangoon (Hau-tha-wa-dce) district, with 634 inhabitants in 1878.
 
 Xiv. APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 MO-MA-KHA. — A village in the Khat-tee-ya circle, Thoon-khwa 
 township, Thoon-khwa district, about two miles from the bank of the 
 Khat-tee-ya stream, with 540 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 MOO-KYEE. — A village in the circle in the same name in the Mar- 
 taban township, Amherst district, on the Kha-daing stream, with 530 
 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 MOO-RIT-GYEE. — A village in the Weng-tsien circle, Bhee-loo- 
 gyoon township, Amherst district, with 660 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 MOOT-TA-LA. — A village in the Pegu circle, Pegu township, Ran- 
 goon (Han-tha-wa-dee) district, with 567 inhabitants in 1877. 
 
 MOUNG-MA. — A village in the Hpa-goo (west) [now called the 
 Hpa-goo] circle, in the Than-lyeng (Syriam) township, Rangoon district, 
 with 1,529 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 MRO-HOUNG. — A revenue circle in the township of the same name 
 in the Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 4,273, the land 
 revenue Rs. 2,919 and the gross revenue Rs. 9,916. 
 
 MROUNG-BWAI-ZAI.— A village on the northern bank of the 
 Mroung-bwai stream in the Pai-beng-reng circle, Mro-houng township, 
 Akyab district, with 852 inhabitants in 1878. The Thoogyee of the circle 
 lives here. 
 
 MYAING. — A village in the Tha-nai-tha-bouk circle, Za-lwon town- 
 ship, Henzada district, on the Zwai-ka-raing stream, an afHuent of the 
 Nat-maw or Kyoon-hpa river, with 657 inhabitants in 1879. It can be 
 reached at all seasons by boats from Pyeng-ma-goon on the Nat-maw, 
 and a proposition for constructing a road between it and Za-lwon is under 
 consideration. 
 
 MYA-PA-DAING. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Houng-tha-raw township, Amherst district, with 666 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 MYEK-RAI-PYOO-TSOO.— A village in the Tha-rai-koon-boung 
 grant, in the Naaf township of the Akyab district, on the Chittagong road, 
 with 874 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 MYENG-TAI. — A village in the Za-lwon circle of the township of 
 the same name in the Henzada district, on the right bank of the Irrawaddy 
 about half a mile north of Za-lwon, with 575 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 MYE-NOO. — A village in the Ta-pwon circle of the township of the 
 same name in the Tharrawaddy district, about two miles north-west of 
 Ta-pwon with 701 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 MYIT-KYO. — A village in the Myanoung circle of the township of 
 the same name in the Henzada district, on the right bank of the Pa-ta- 
 sheng at its mouth, the river separating it from Kyan-kheng. Every 
 year during the dry season a temporary bridge is thrown across the 
 Pa-ta-sheng which is taken down before the rains or it would be swept 
 away by the large volume of water which then comes down from the 
 hills through this channel. In 1879 it had 1,252 inhabitants. 
 
 MYIT-THA-RWA. — A portion of Meng-gyee in the Re-kheng township, 
 Tharrawaddy district, with 1,743 inhabitants in 1878.
 
 APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. XV. 
 
 MYO-DWENG. — A village in the circle, of the same name in the Mo- 
 gnyo township, Tharrawaddy district, about eight miles east of the Ran- 
 goon and Irrawaddy Valley (State) Eaihvay, with 713 inhabitants in 1878. 
 It w^as once a walled city and the ca^^ital of Tharrawaddy. 
 
 MYO-KWENG.— A village in the Dham-bhee circle of the Henzada 
 township, Henzada district, on the left bank of the Nga-won, immediately 
 opposite the mouth of the Tham-bha-ya-daiug, with 890 inhabitants in 
 1879. There is here a Pubhc Works Department Inspection bungalow. 
 The telegraph line crosses the Nga-won from this village to Tshoon-goon. 
 
 MYOUK-PYENG. — A revenue circle in the Oo-ree-toung (east) town- 
 ship, Akyab district, with 1,775 inhabitants in 1879, when the gross 
 revenue was Pis. 4,307. 
 
 MYOUNG-PtWA.— A village inthe Kyek-taik circle, Mo-gnyo township, 
 Tharraw^addy district, on the north bank of the stream of the same name 
 with 519 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 MYO-WENG.— A village in the Pegu circle, Pegu township, Eangoon 
 (Han-tha-wa-dee) district, with 766 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 NAN-DAW-GOON.— A village in the Donabyoo circle, Donabyoo 
 township, Thoon-khwa district, on the bank of the Irrawaddy about two 
 miles below Donabyoo, with 732 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 NGA-KHOO-EA.— A village in the Mro-thit-khyoung circle, Naaf 
 township, Akyab district, on the Mro-thit, a tributary of the Naaf, about 
 one and a half miles from its mouth. In 1878 it had 795 inhabitants. 
 
 NGAN-KHYOUNG-PYOO-TSOO.— A village in the Meng-ga-la-gyee 
 circle, Naaf township, Akyab district, on the eastern bank of the Meng-ga- 
 la-gyee creek, three miles from it mouth. In 1878 it had 690 inhabitants. 
 
 NGA-PEE-TSHIEP.— A village in the Htan-beng-gyo circle, Re-gyee 
 township, Bassein district, on the left bank of the Nga-won about live 
 miles below Nga-thaing-khyoung. In 1878 it had 569 inhabitants. 
 
 NIEK-BAN. — A village in the Paing-kyoon circle, Pegu township, 
 Rangoon district, with 579 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 0-BHO.— A village in the Pegu circle, Pegu township, Rangoon (Han- 
 tha-wa-dee) district, with 574 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 OOK-KYWEK. — A revenue circle in the Koo-la-dan township, Akyab 
 district. In 1879 the population was 3,070, the capitation tax Rs. 3,775, 
 the land revenue Rs. 9,418 and the gross revenue Rs. 13,202. 
 
 OON-BENG.— A village in the Pya-poon circle, Pya-poon township, 
 Thoon-khwa district, about four miles north of Pya-poon, with 770 inhabit- 
 ants in 1878. 
 
 OUK-RE-GYAW.— A village in the Ma-hlaing (west) circle, An-gyee 
 township, Rangoon (Han-tha-wa-dee) district, with 504 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 PA-LOUNG-BYENG. — A revenue circle in the Meng-bra township, 
 Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 2,824 and the gross revenue 
 Rs. 6,820.
 
 XVI. APPENDIX TO THE liUITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 PIEN-NAI-GOON. — A village in the Thee-tha-ro circle, Gyaing At- 
 taran township, Amherst district, on the left bank of the Attaran, with 657 
 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 POON-NA-KYWON. — A revenue circle in the Koo-la-dan township, 
 Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 1,735, the land revenue 
 Ks. 3,403, the capitation tax Rs. 1,986 and the gross revenue Es. 5,403. 
 
 POUK-TAING. — A village in the Tshoon-lai circle, Kyan-kheng town- 
 ship, Henzada district, with 626 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 POUK-TAW. — A village in the circle of the same name in the Ta- 
 pwon township, Tharrawaddy district, about 11 miles east of the Myit-ma- 
 kha, with 595 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 POUNG-DAW-BEENG-PYOO-TSOO.— A large village on the eastern 
 bank of the Ma-yoo in the Koo-la-pan-zeng grant in the Ea-thai-doung 
 township, Akyab district, with 2,784 inhabitants in 1878. The whole grant 
 contains about 9,600 acres and is principally cultivated with tea. 
 
 POUNG-DAY. — A revenue circle in the township of the same name 
 in the Prome district. In 1877 the population was 3,961, the capitation 
 tax Es. 4,050, the land revenue Es. 2,304 and the gross revenue Es. 9,537. 
 
 PEA-KHYOUNG. — A revenue circle in the Meng-bra township, Akyab 
 district, to which is now joined Hteng-daing. In 1879 the population was 
 1,535 and the gross revenue Es. 6,543. 
 
 PEOO-MA-ASHE. — A village on the southern bank of the Proo-ma 
 stream in the Mro-thit-khyoung cu-cle,,Naaf township, Akyab district, with 
 719 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 PYENG-DA-EAY. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Pya-poon township, Thoon-khwa district, on the seacoast at the mouth of 
 the Kyoon-toon, with 949 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 PYOON-SHAY. — A revenue circle in the Meng-bra township, Akyab 
 district. In 1879 the poimlation numbered 3,117 and the gross revenue 
 was Es. 10,834. 
 
 EA-KHAING-KHYOUNG.— A village in the Ko-doung circle, An-gyee 
 township, Eangoon (Han-tha-wa-dee) district, with 724 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 EA-LA (East). — A revenue circle in the Koo-la-dan township, Akyab 
 district. In 1879 the population was 3,825, the capitation tax Es. 3,194, 
 the land revenue Es. 4,162 and the gross revenue Es. 7,731. 
 
 EA-LA (West). — A revenue circle in the Koo-la-dan township, Akyab 
 district to which is now added Koo-la-dan. In 1879 the population was 
 2,247, the capitation tax Es. 1,405, the land revenue Es. 2,159 and the 
 gross revenue Es. 3,568. 
 
 EANGOON. — The town of Eangoon now forms a separate district, 
 and the old Eangoon district is called Han-tha-wa-dee. 
 
 EAN-KHYOUNG.— A revenue circle in the Mro-houng township, 
 Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 2,822, the capitation tax 
 Es. 3,328, the land revenue Es. 4,499 and the gross revenue Es. 7,827.
 
 APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. XVll. 
 
 RAN-THEK-SHE.— A village of 586 inhabitants in 1878, in the Ran- 
 thek circle, Ram-ree township, Kyouk-hpyoo district. Limestone is burnt 
 in the neighbourhood for export to Akyab. 
 
 RAN-WA. — A revenue circle in the Mro-houng township, Akyab 
 district. In 1879 the population was 2,106, the capitation tax Rs. 2,697, 
 the land revenue Rs. 7,948 and the gross revenue Rs. 9,645. 
 
 RE-NAN-GYEE.— A village m the Mo-goung cu'cle, Thayet district, 
 with 744 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 RWA-BYEN. — A village in the Mo-goung circle, Thayet district, with 
 552 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 RWA-THIT. — A quarter of the town of Kyan-kheng. — q.v. 
 
 RWA-THIT. — A village in the Pan-hlaing circle, An-gyee township, 
 Rangoon (Han-tha-wa-dee) district, with 818 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 RWON-KHYOUNG-PYOO-TSOO.— A village on the eastern bank of 
 the Ran stream in the Bhwai-da circle, Mro-houng township, Akyab 
 district, with 637 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 SHENG-KYAW. — A revenue cii-cle in the Mro-houng township, Akyab 
 district. In 1879 the population was 2,879, the capitation tax Rs. 3,665, 
 the land revenue Rs. 10,289 and the gross revenue Rs. 13,963. 
 
 SHWE-HLE. — A village in the Bhaw-dee circle, Pan-ta-naw town- 
 ship, Thoon-khwa district, on the Bhaw-dee stream opposite the village of 
 Meng-ta-tsoo. In 1878 the two had 1,056 inhabitants. 
 
 SHWE-KHYOUNG-BYENG.— A village in the circle of the same 
 name in the central township of the Sandoway district, on the left bank 
 of the Sandoway river about a mile below Sandoway, with 621 inhabitants 
 in 1877. Soap-stone is obtainable in small quantities in the hills in the 
 neighbourhood and is used locally for pencils. 
 
 TA-MA-GAN. — A village in the Shwe-ban-daw circle, Mj^e-dai town- 
 ship, Thayet district, with 603 inhabitants in 1878, whose principal occu- 
 pation is cultivation and wood-cutting. 
 
 THA-BYE-KA. — A village on the left bank of the Tsan-koon-daing 
 river in the Weng-kywon circle, Oo-ree-toung (east) township, Akyab 
 district, with 552 inhabitants in 1878 ; it is the residence of the Thoogyee 
 of the circle. 
 
 THA-DA-GYEE.— A village on the right bank of the Koo-la-dan in 
 the Tsheng-mo circle, Mro-houng township, Akyab district, with 666 in- 
 habitants in 1878. 
 
 THAN-HTOUNG.— A revenue circle in the Koo-la-dan township, 
 Akyab district. In 1879 the population was 4,809, the capitation tax Rs. 
 4,041, the land revenue Rs. 7,651 and the gross revenue Rs. 11,693. 
 
 THA-TSEE.— A village in the Nat-maw cii-cle, Henzada township, 
 Henzada district, about four miles south-west of Henzada on the bank of 
 the Nat-maw stream, with 523 inhabitants in 1879. 
 
 TOUNG-BHO-HLA. — A village in the circle of the same name in the 
 Tsan-rwe township, Tharrawaddy district, about six miles from the Myit- 
 ma-kha, with 646 inhabitants in 1878.
 
 XViii. APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH BURMA GAZETTEER. 
 
 TOUNG-BOON. — A village in the Taing-ka-maw circle, Ee La-maing 
 township, Amherst district, on the northern bank of the stream of the same 
 name, with 750 mhabitants in 1878. 
 
 TSAING-TEE. — A village in the Pegu circle, Pegu township, Eangoon 
 (Han-tha-wa-dee) district, with 549 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 TSHENG-OON. — A village in the La-gwon-byeng circle, Hpoung- 
 leng township, Eangoon (Han-tha-wa-dee) district, with 548 inhabitants in 
 1878. 
 
 TSHIEN-0. — A revenue circle in the Koo-la-dan township, Akyab 
 district. In 1879 the population was 1,843, the capitation tax Es. 2,120, 
 the land revenue Es. 4,411 and the gross revenue Es. 6,540. 
 
 TSWON-EAI. — A village on the eastern bank of the Tsan-koon-daing 
 in the Toung-bhek circle, Meng-bra township, Akyab district ; the residence 
 of the Thoogyee of the circle, with 782 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 WE-LA-TOUNG.— A large village in the Mro-thit-khyoung circle, 
 Naaf township, Akyab district, lying on both banks of the Myo-thit stream. 
 That portion which is on the right bank is called West We-la-toung and 
 had 1,013 inhabitants in 1878, and that portion which is on the other bank 
 is called East We-la-toung and had 1,708 inhabitants in the same year. 
 
 YENG-MA-PYOO-TSOO.— A village on the eastern bank of the Ma- 
 yoo river in the Koo-la-pan-zeug grant in the Ea thai-doung township, 
 Akyab district, with 742 inhabitants in 1878. 
 
 ZA-LAT-HPYOO.— A revenue circle in the Ma-ha-tha-man township, 
 Prome district, which now includes Myeng-zeng-byeng. In 1877 the popu- 
 lation was 643, the capitation tax Es. 658, the land revenue Es. 607 and 
 the gross revenue Es. 1,434.
 
 E Tx Tx A T A. 
 
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 'cid ■ Mouug Ngaa.' 
 
 ,, '12,525' 
 
 '14,525.' 
 
 „ ' 12,668 • 
 
 ' 12,068.' 
 
 ,, 'reputed' , 
 
 ' leported.- 
 
 ,, 'south' ,, 
 
 ' north.' 
 
 ,, ' Akhyeug ' ,, 
 
 ' Akhyek.' 
 
 The mouth of the Daga is now closed by the em- 
 bankment.' 
 
 ' Qiiercu^ semiserrata,' 
 
 ' 6,900 ' 
 
 'Es. 40' 
 
 • Htien ' 
 
 ' Kyoixk-taw-ga ' 
 
 ' right ' 
 
 ' in 1876 of ' 
 
 ' north-east ' 
 
 ' southern ' 
 
 ' imaginae ' 
 
 ' Bya-gnya Kan and | 
 Bya-gnya liyaeug | 
 
 ' some ' 
 
 ' TnOTING-GYENG ' 
 
 read ' Pentace burmanica, 
 
 „ '9,290.' 
 
 ,, 'Rs. 140.' 
 
 ,, ' Lamoo.' 
 
 ,, ' Kyouk-ta-ga.' 
 
 ,, 'left.' 
 
 „ ' in 1878 of 8,495.' 
 
 ,, ' north-west.' 
 
 ,, -northern.' 
 
 ,, 'imagines.' 
 
 ' Bya-gnya Ean and 
 " Bya-gnya Kheug.' 
 
 ,, ' sum.' 
 
 ,, ' TnOUNG-YENG.'