THE
UPPER
BURMA GAZETTEER
CHAPTER
I
PHYSICAL
GEOGRAPHY
The northern
and north-eastern boundaries of Upper Burma have not yet been finally
demarcated. In general terms it may be said that Upper Burma lies between the
20th and 100th parallels of north latitude and between
the 92nd and 100th parallels of east longitude. The
greatest distance from east to west is about 500 miles; from north to south
about 450 miles. The area of the Upper Province is estimated at 83,473 square
miles and that of the Shan States, Northern and Southern, at a little over
40,000 square miles. On the north the boundaries are: the dependent State of
Manipur, the Naga and Chingpaw hills, and the Chinese province of Yünnan; on
the east the Chinese Province of Yünnan, the Chinese Shan States, the French
province of Indo- China, and the Siamese Tai (or Lao) States; on the south
Lower Burma; and on the west Arakan and Chittagong.
Within these boundaries,
but administered as semi-dependent States, are the Northern and Southern Shan
States, described separately; the State of Möng Mit (Momeik) with its
dependency, Möng Lang (Mohlaing), under the supervision of the Commissioner,
Mandalay Division; the State of Hkamti Long, which with the Kachin Hills north
of the confluence of the upper branches of the Irrawaddy is only indirectly
under administration; the States of Hsawng Hsup (Thaungthut) and Singkaling
Hkamti (Zinglein Khanti) in the Upper Chindwin district; and the Chin Hills
under a Political Officer.
Upper Burma is
portioned out into natural divisions by its more important rivers. The
Irrawaddy rises beyond its confines in the unexplored where India, Tibet, and
China meet and runs due southwards, dividing Upper Burma roughly into two equal
parts, east and west. After completing about two-thirds of its course through
the upper province, it is joined from the west by the Chindwin, the largest and
most important of its tributaries, which flows into it a few miles above the
town of Pakôkku. The Chindwin may be said to divide the northern portion of
Upper Burma west of the Irrawaddy into two halves. South of the fork the
country, which is for the most part dry and sandy, stretches away from the
western bank of the Irrawaddy to the eastern slopes of the Arakan Yomas and the
Southern Chin Hills. This tract comprises the districts of Minbu and Pakôkku.
From the junction of the Irrawaddy and Chindwin northwards the nature of the
country to the west of the latter river changes completely From the right bank
of the Chindwin the Chin Hills rise abruptly to merge themselves with the
Lushai and Naga Hills in the wide tract of mountainous country which forms the
whole of the Chindwin the land is comparatively level and stretches for the
most part over low ranges increase in height, until the whole tract between the
two rivers becomes a mass of hill country interested by mountain streams and
inhabited by semi –barbarous communities, whose country extends across the
main stream of the down on the eastern border of the Bhamo district and as far
down on the eastern side of the river as the State of Möng Mit (Momeik), where
it joins the northern extremity of the Shan Hills. The country to the east of
the Irrawaddy immediately above the frontier of the lower province corresponds
very closely with thaton the west of the
river in the same latitude. It comprises the districts of the Meiktila division
and the Magwe district of the Minbu division. It is comparatively dry and arid,
is intersected by forest –clad ridges, and is bounded on the east by the
rampart of the Shan plateau, which runs almost parallel to the Irrawaddy till
about the level of the town of Mandalay. Here the bend of the river brings it
close to the Shan Hills, and from this point north- wards the space between the
stream and the hills becomes gradually narrower and more confined.
Mountains
Upper Burma is
encircled on three sides by a wall of mountain ranges. The Shan and Karen Hills
which run in parallel ridges for the most part almost due north and south from
the eastern boundary. In the Mandalay district the Shan Hills approach the
Irrawaddy. The hilly parts of this district, which form the greater portion of
its area, may be divided into two tracts, the northern and the eastern. The
northern consists of parallel ridges descending from the Ruby Mines district,
with peaks of from 2,000 to 3,600 feet; the eastern consists of the Pyinulwin
subdivision and forms a plateau of 3,500 feet above mean sea-level. Both of
these tracts geographically form part of the high-lands known as the great Shan
plateau, as does the Ruby Mines district, which, with the exception of the
riverain portion, is intersected by high ranges of hills with points here and
there of over 7,000 feet in height. In the west of this district the hill
ranges run north and south, but in the interior their course is approximately
east and west. In the Bhamo and Myitkyina districts there are four main ranges
of hills, the Eastern Kachin Hills running northward from the State of Möng Mit
(Momeik) to join the plateau which divides the basins of the Irrawaddy and the
Salween; the Kumôn range extending from the Hkamti Lông country east of Assam
to a point north of Mogaung; the Kaukkwe hills, which start from Mogaung and
run in a southerly direction to the plains in the west of the Irrawaddy valley;
and the jade Mines tract lying to the west of the Upper Mogaung stream and
extending across the watershed of the Uyu river as far as the Hukawng valley.
The Chin Hills form the western boundary of the Upper Province, as do the
Kachin, Shan, and Karen Hills on the west. These Chin Hills form a continuation of the Naga Hills which
constitute the eastern boundary of Assam, and southwards they are known as the
Arakan Yoma. The Pegu Yoma rises in the uplands of Kyauksè and Meiktila
districts and, running parallel to the Shan Hills, divides the basin of the
Irrawaddy from that of the Sittang. The Paunglaung range rises in the highlands
of the Shan plateau and divides the basin of the Sittang from that of the
Salween. This range, unlike the Pegu Yoma, which is insignificant, ranging between 800 and 1,200
feet, has peaks of considerable height, one at least reaching nearly 8,000
feet. This range sinks down into the plain of Thatôn. The easternmost range, which
divides the basin of the Salween from the Mèkhong, also runs north and south
and in its southerly portion divides British territory from the neighbouring
kingdom of Siam and farther south still forms the ridges of the Malay
Peninsula. In the extreme north all these ranges take their origin, or lose
themselves, in the Tibetan plateau.
Burma may
therefore be divided conveniently, but with no great precision, into, first,
Northern Burma, including the Chin and Kachin Hills with a thin and
miscellaneous alien population; second, Burma Proper, which is
practically the valley of the Irrawaddy after it ceases to be a gorge; and, third,
the Shan tributary States. Burma Proper is practically one great plain; the
hills are comparatively mere undulations, and the one considerable peak, Pôppa, is volcanic. Still it is very
different from the vast levels that stretch from the base of the Himalayas. It
is rather a rolling upland interspersed with alluvial basins and sudden ridges
of hills. The other two divisions are described separately below.
Irrawaddy River
Of the rivers
by far the most important is the Irrawaddy, for long the only great highway of
the country. It is described at some length in the British Burma Gazetteer
of 1880, as far as it was then known, that is to say, but there is still
considerable uncertainty as to the true source of the Irrawaddy, and the
adventurous journey of Prince Henri d'Orleans is merely tantalizing in so far
that it proves practically nothing, except that the conjectures of British
officers were right in a particular spot and may therefore be correct
throughout. But the actual sources are as uncertain as ever. The Irrawaddy is
formed by the confluence of two rivers, the Mali and the 'Nmai (the kha which is usually added to these is
simply the Kachin word for river and is better omitted, because it leads to
such tautologies as the Mali kha
river). They join about latitude 25o 45' at a distance by land from
Bhamo of about 150 miles. Up to this
point the river is navigable in the rains for streamers, though the Mansi rapid
just below Lapè, the Tangpè rapid immediately below the confluence, and the
third defile, offer constant difficulties. For over 900 miles, however, as far
as Bhamo, the river is navigable throughout the year.
In Kachin Mali
kha means big river, and the Burmese
call it Myit-gyi. The eastern branch, the 'Nmai kha, means bad river, and the
Burmese call it Myit-ngè, the small river. But, from the data given below, it
would appear that the Mali or western branch has really the smaller volume of
water, and that the 'Nmai river is the true Upper Irrawaddy. The native opinion
is merely the familiar oriental theory that a navigable river is a big river,
and that along which boats cannot ply a small one. The Mali can be navigated by
country boats all the year round as far as Sawan, whereas in consequence of the
rapids, impracticable even for dug-outs, the 'Nmai cannot be navigated at any
time. The Mali river is now approximately all known – its tributaries, the
villages and marches along its banks – and it is indisputably the same as the
Nam kiu (the Shan name for the Irrawaddy) surveyed by the late General
Woodthorpe in his trip to the Hkamti country in 1884-45.
There is an
absence of all accurate information about the 'Nmai river. It has been mapped
as far as 'Nsentaru, where the channel makes a sudden turn to the west after
flowing from the north. Above 'Nsentaru the general direction of the 'Nmai as
it comes down from the north is known, but the river itself is shortly lost
behind high mountains, and as to the course north of this no trustworthy
information is to be had. "Nobody goes there" is the extent of native
information, and the mountains seem to be as wild and unengaging as the
inhabitants. Captain L.E. Eliot says: "There does not appear to be any
trade at all, and the 'Nmai kha north
of 'Nsentaru probably degenerates into a furions mountain torrent, dashing
through profound gorges and quite impracticable even for rafts of the lightest
kind." There appears not even to be a track along its banks.
The old idea
was that the river bifurcated some way farther up and that one of its branches
flowed from the Naungsa lake lying to the east. This was the version given by
the native explorer Alaga, who was sent up in the year 1880 to endeavour to
determine the sources of the Irrawaddy. He, however, only got a very few days
inland in the country between the two rivers and was then turned back by the
Kachins. It is significant that no Chinaman or Kachin seems ever to have seen
or even heard of this lake, and the march of Prince Henri d'Orleans,
corroborated by the researches lower down of Lieutenant Pottinger, finally
disprove the existence of any lake, or, at any rate, of any considerable lake.
Considerable doubt seems now also to be thrown on the assumption that the 'Nmai
had its source farther north than the Mali and drained a country a country with
a heavier snowfall. In support of this theory Lieutenant A. Blewitt of the
King's Royal Rifles instanced the fact that at the confluence the water of the
'Nmai is 6 degree colder than that of the Mali. This, however, may well be due,
as it is in the Salween, to the narrowness of the valley through which the
'Nmai flows, which prevents the sun from shining on the river for more than a
few hours daily. Lieutenant Blewitt took the following measurements of depths
and velocities at the confluence in January 1891: –
The Irrawaddy
main river in a straight reach of water about 3 miles below Mawkan rapid.
Breadth of actual water, 420 yards. Eight soundings taken in as straight a line
as the boatmen can manage –
Sounding in feet…
Angles to position…
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
12
½
|
23½
|
29½
|
26½
|
31½
|
27½
|
21½
|
11
|
|
14½
|
42o
|
64o
|
74½o
|
79o
|
79o
|
77o
|
76o
|
From the above
it was evident that either the boat had not kept a straight course, or that the
angles were incorrectly taken, since the last three are an impossibility. The
angles were unfortunately taken by a native surveyor with a prismatic compass
instead of a plane-table. The current at the right bank was practically nil and became gradually swifter towards
the left bank. The rate of the whole was little under 2 miles an hour. The
sectional area of the river-bed was roughly 20,160 square feet.
Measurements of the 'Nmai
kha or Myit-Ngè, the eastern branch of
the Irrawaddy, taken about 1 mile above the confluence.
Breadth water … … 165 yards
Temperature … … 56o
Pace of
current … … 3¾
miles an hour.
Sectional area
of river-bed … 6,600 square feet.
Estimated
volume … 32,257 cubic feet per second.
Six soundings
in a straight line were in fee –
First
|
Second
|
Third
|
Fourth
|
Fifth
|
Sixth
|
6½
|
11½
|
15
|
18½
|
19
|
14½
|
True data were
very difficult to get owing to the swiftness of the current under the left
bank. The last sounding of 14 feet was taken close under the bank.
Measurements of the Mali kha, or Myit-gyi, the
western branch of the Irrawaddy, taken about 1 mile above the confluence.
Breadth water … … 150 yards
Temperature … … 61o
Pace of
current … … 3¾
miles an hour.
Sectional area
of river-bed … 4,000 square feet.
Estimated
volume … 23,108 cubic feet per second.
Five soundings
in a straight line were in fee –
First
|
Second
|
Third
|
Fourth
|
Fifth
|
3
|
5⅔
|
10
|
17
|
11½
|
Lieutenant
Blewitt thinks the rate of the current may have been a little over-estimated in
both cases, and the difficulty in keeping the rope taut naturally was against
accuracy. Nevertheless, the figures seem to prove that the 'Nmai river is the
larger of the two.
The two
volumes taken together give a total of 55,000 cubic feet per second at the
confluence, and the late Sir Henry Yule, in his introduction to Captain Gill's River
of Golden Sand, gives the estimated volume of the Irrawaddy at
Amarapura as 35,000 cubic feet per second. From what measurements this was
deduced is not stated, nor is the time of year given, so that a comparison of
the two sets of figures is impossible. The natives of Hkamti Lông refer to two
rivers east of their country called the Nam Tisan and the Phungmai. The Nam
Tisan is described as three days' journey from the Hkamti country, from which
it is separated by the Tchet Pum, and five days' more marching to the east brings
the traveler to the Noikôn range, from which silver is extracted, and to the
east of it flows the Nam Dumai or Phungmai. The Hkamti Shans are said to call
this expressly the eastern branch of the Irrawaddy, and the generally
similarity of the names Dumai, Phungmai, and 'Nmai, as used by Shans,
Khunnongs, and Kachins, tend to show the identity. The depth given by the
Hkamti Shans would also correspond with the probable depth of the 'Nmai river
in that latitude. They described it as not deep, but not fordable, or somewhat
deeper than the Mali kha about the
same latitude, which was ascertained by Wood-thorpe to be 5 feet. Besides this,
as Captain Eliott continues, the distance form the Hkamti country east to the
Phungmai, about 45 miles in a straight line, would approximately correspond
with where the 'Nami kha valley must
be, for the river cannot come farther from the east, since the position of the
Lu kiang, or Salween, is known in the
latitude of Bônga, and also lower down between Bhamo and Tali-fu. The Hkamti
Shans said there were two more big rivers to be crossed before reaching China,
and these would be the Lu kiang, or
Salween, and the Lan Ts'an kiang, or
Mè-khong. No doubt can remain now that the Lu kiang is identical with the Salween. Yule states that the chief
ground for discrediting the length of course ascribed to the Salween and its
Tibetan origin is its comparatively small body of water, and adds that this may
be due to its restricted basin, which is certainly no longer a disputable fact.
As far as is known, all the water up to within a few miles of the actual
Salween falls into the Irrawaddy drainage. It is the vast drainage of the
latter river, combining the Mali kha,
'Nmai kha, and Chindwin areas, that
makes it develop so rapidly into a noble river, and the same reasoning will
tend to make us look not very far for the sources of the river. It is now
nearly certain that the 'Nmai river, or main stream of the Irrawaddy has its source
not higher than 28o 30'. Yule calls the east branch of the Irrawaddy
in the introductory essay above referred to the Tchitom, Schete, Ku-ts'kiang,
and Khiu-shi Ho. These will probably prove to be the local Tibetan and Chinese
names for the 'Nmai of the Kachins, or for the streams which unite to form it.
It is at any rate definitely settled that the Irrawaddy has no connection with
the Sanpu, either by anastomosis, or in any more obvious way. Prince Henri
d'Orleans' account of his journey From Tonkin to India may quoted
here, since he says it is "by the sources of the Irrawaddy." His
journey commands admiration for his courage, his endurance, and the high
spirits which he maintained throughout, but his account of it, both in his
lecture before the Royal Geographical Society and in From Tonkin to India, is
most irritating in its inconclusiveness. It is characteristic of the Prince to
be irritating in the most varied way. It is impossible to determine from his
narrative what can be considered as the main stream of the Irrawaddy, and it
may be permitted to doubt whether the Prince formed any idea of the kind
himself. What is certain is that he confirms the information and the
conjectures of British explores, that a number of considerable streams early
join together and form two great rivers, destined to become the Irrawaddy lower
down. But which of these, streams is the main branch cannot be ascertained from
the Prince's book. All that is certain is that the 'Nmai and all its affluents
are savage torrents, while the Mali early becomes what may more justly be
called a river.
The following
items are pieced together from the Prince's book, – A range with a pass of
3,600 mètres (11,812 feet) rose
between the Salween and an affluent to the right to it, which seems to be the
Pula Haw, though it is not expressly so stated. This was a little south of
latitude 28o. The two following days were employed in surmounting a
crest of 10,725 feet * * * When we exchanged this vegetation (thick bamboo
brake) it was for barer heights, among which often gleamed little grey, blue
lochs (any one of which may have been the Naung Sa), a scenery not unlike some
parts of the Pyrenees. * * * In the bottom of the valley we sighted the Kiu-Kiang, running over a shingle-bed,
blue as the Aar……… The inhabitants were of a gentle timid race, Kiu-tses, so named from the Kiu kiang,
though they styled themselves Turong
or Tulong and the river Tulong-Remai. The Prince crossed the
river [whose name the Kiu kiang may be compared with the Ku-ts kiang and the Khiu-shi ho (kiang and ho
both meaning river) as well as with the Nam
Kiu, the Shan name for the Irrawaddy] over a bamboo bridge made for him by
the Turongs. The river at this point was about 50 yards broad, with traces of a
rise of 40 feet in flood. This valley of the Kiu kiang, which we had now been threading for several days, with
many more to follow (from 10th to 30th October), gave an impression of greater
size than that of the Mèkhong,
since, though narrow at the bottom, it was bounded by mountains of receding
gradients, each with its own forest species, from palms below to ilex and
rhododendrons above. The march seems to have been much what it is along the
Salween in the Shan States; stretches along the bank with more shingle and bare
rock than sand; climbs up steep banks to avoid gorges; descents to torrents –
the Tatei, Madumadon, Geling, and Tukiu-mu are mentioned, mostly spanned
by liana bridges, which do not exist on the Salween affluents – with camps alternately on small beaches and steep
hillsides. The Prince marched 45 miles in the 20 days between leaving and
returning to the Kiu kiang, which when he finally marched
west was a broad sheet of water, swift noiseless and wonderfully clear. On the
30th October we reached at nightfall another confluence of two
torrents. One was the Lublu, the
other was the Neydu, or Telo – the great river of which we had
heard so much, its silent tide and tranquil depth. * * * It was a wretched
disappointment. Instead of level fields, hills and impenetrable forest as
before; instead of houses, crags as savage as any in the valley of the Kiu kiang.
* * * We had attained one of the principle feeders of the Irrawaddy. Like the Kiu kiang,
it did not come from far, but it brought a considerable body of water, and it
is the great number of these large tributaries that accounts for a river of the
size of the Irrawaddy in Burma. * * * The Dublo crossed (it was 32 yards wide),
we proceeded up the left bank of the big river * * * transferred ourselves to
the other (right) side of the river on rudely improvised bamboo rafts; the
water was quiet, deep, and of a grey-blue colour. For the two succeeding days
we climbed a steep and rugged track, catching sight through openings in the
woods of an amphitheatre of snow-covered mountains. In the west a high white
range running north-east and south –west was identified by us as the Alps of
Dzayul (Zayul, the land of the earthen pots), on the other side of which lies
the basin of the Upper Brahmaputra
in Tibet. Much of the travelling was in actual torrent-beds, a form of highway
familiar to most travelers who have crossed the Salween in the Shan States and
most destructive to boot-leather. Thus they climbed over into the basin of the Mali kha.
Various cols are mentioned with no
heights given. The highest pass between the Salween and the Hkamti Lông valley was 3,600 mètres (11,812
feet). The first tributary of the Mali kha, or Nam Kiu, reached was the
Reunnam. We forded a broad and shallow river, the Reunnam; and it was hard to
believe ourselves at the base of the lofty mountain chains of Tibet. After this
a diversified woodland march ended for the day in a real village. Five houses,
each 90 feet long, placed parallel to one another, testified, with the barking
of dogs and grunting of pigs, to an approach of comparative civilization. On
the 10th November we debouched upon a fine sandy beach, ideal
camping-ground, by the shores of a considerable river, the Nam Tsam. The stream was 40 yards in width and expanded into a
small lake at the foot of a sounding cataract. The Reunnam seems to join the Nam Tsam about 27o 15' and
the united streams apparently enter the Nam
Kiu or Mali and about latitude
27o. The Nam Tsam was
crossed by a fish-dam, erected by Kiu-tses
(Turongs). Mountain rice culture
began to be visible in clearings of the woods, and felled trees laid
horizontally here and there assisted the path * * * As we drew near to
habitations, averting emblems reappeared, and we noticed a fenced elliptical tomb. This seems to
indicate that the Turongs are Chingpaw, or a least closely allied to
the Kachins, and indeed the
photograph which the Prince gives of a Kiu-tse
might be taken for a Kachin both
with regard to features, method of wearing the hair, dress, and, above all, the
linkin
dha. After crossing a number of streams, the Pandam, the Nam Lian,
the Nam Chow, all apparently easily
fordable, and staying for a night at Melekeu,
composed of pile-house sometimes 130 feet long, not unlike the Moï dwellings in Annam, the Prince at last entered the level plain of Hkamti Lông, which the Lissus or Lesus call Apon
(apparently their name for the Shans generally, which recalls the Manipuri name of the kingdom of Pong) and the Kiu-tses and Lutses and other Turongs
call Moam. A wide expanse of
apparent inundation, enveloping lagoons of land, but what to our eyes seemed
swamps, were no doubt paddy-fields. The Nam
Kiu, or Meli-remai of the Kiu-tses, the western branch of the
Irrawaddy * * was about 160 yards in width and 12 feet deep; water clear and
sluggish. We crossed without delay in five or six pirogues.
Here the
Prince had reached country known through the journeys of the late General Woodhorpe and Mr. Errol Grey. His journey shows that
the sources of the Irrawaddy certainly do not lie farther north than latitude
28o 30'; that the Mali kha or Nam Kiu is more of a river and that the 'Nmai kha is more of a
torrent and in its upper courses is frayed out into a mass of streams very much
like a chowrie or a cow's tail.
Unhappily, however, we still do not know which is the greater stream. Probably
the Mali river will come to be
looked upon as the main river, because it is both navigable and accessible.
There is an analogy for the smaller stream usurping the name in the Red River,
the Songkoi of Tongking, which at Hung Hwa,
where the Black River joins it, is the lesser of the two.
Tributaries of
the Irrawaddy. – Below the confluence the most
important tributaries of the Irrawaddy
are the Nam Kawng or Mogaung river, the Molè, and the Taping.
The first flows in on the right bank and, with its affluent, the Indaw river, is navigable for small
steamers, during the rains, for some distance from its mouth. The other two are
left bank affluents and are unnavigable to any distance. Farther south the Shweli, or Nam Mao, flows in from the Shan States and China and the Mèza comes in on the right bank. At Amarapura the Myit-ngè or Nam Tu comes
in from the Northern Shan States, but is not navigable for any great distance.
Below this at Myinmu the Mu river comes in on the right bank.
The main tributary, the Chindwin,
with its affluent, the Uyu, the Yu, and the Myittha, joins the Irrawaddy
some little distance above the town of Pakôkku.
It is navigable as far as Homalin
near the mouth of the Uyu at all
times of the year. The only other tributary of any note is the Môn, which joins on the right bank
about 12 miles above the station of Minbu.
Sittang. – The
Sittang river rises in the hills on the fringe of the Shan plateau, runs into
the Meiktila division, and does not attain any size until it reaches the Lower
Province. In its upper course it is known as the Paunglaung.
Salween.
– The Salween is probably unequalled
for wild and magnificent scenery by any river in the world, but it is, for the
present, unnavigated except in broken reaches above the Thaung Yin rapids in the Lower Province. It is probably an actually
longer river than the Irrawaddy, but
it is characteristic, not only for the narrowness of its valley, which is
little more than a ditch with banks varying in British territory from 3,000 to
6,000 feet high, but also for the limited width of the area which it drains.
Until it reaches Lower Burma the basin does not anywhere reach two parallels of
longitude in breadth. So far as is known, it receives no affluent north of Kokang, which is longer than a mountain
torrent, rising in the ranges on either side which form its water-shed, cramped
between the Irrawaddy and the Mèkhong.
to be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment