Arakan

“ There are several passes over the Yoma mountains, the easiest being that called the Aeng route, leading from the village of that name into Upper Burma. The staple crop of the province is rice, along with cotton, tobacco, sugar, hemp and indigo. The forests produce abundance of excellent oak and teak timber.
The natives of Arakan trace their history as far back as 2666 B.C., and give a lineal succession of 227 native princes down to modern times. According to them, their empire had at one period far wider limits, and extended over Ava, part of China, and a portion of Bengal. ”

“ The details now forthcoming apply to the districts lying north of a line drawn from the southernmost point of Arakan to the Irawaddi; and they comprise the eastern extensions of the Arakan tribes, the parts about Manipur, and the complex, but important line of frontier between [Pg 30] the Indo-Chinese kingdoms, and the Indian portions of Bengal and Assam.
The first tribes that will be noticed are those which are most closely related to the inhabitants of Arakan.
NAGAS.
Locality.—South-east Assam, in the north-eastern portion of the mountain range between Assam and the Burmese empire. ”

“ A Chinese garrison is stationed here, and copper and iron are wrought in the neighbourhood by exiled Chinese criminals. Extensive cattle-breeding is carried on by the inhabitants.
AKYAR, a city and distact in the Arakan division of Burma. The city is situated at the confluence of the three large rivers Myu, Koladaing and Lemyu, and is the most flourishing city in the Arakan division. Originally it was a mere fishing village, but when the British government in 1826 removed the restrictions on trade imposed by the Burmese, Akyab quickly grew into an important seat of maritime commerce. ”

“ Monasteries are also very prominent in Burma, and they are usually boys' schools, both for young and adult people.
In the afternoon we visited the great Arakan Pagoda, a shrine which pilgrims of the Buddhist faith frequent from all over the world. It is built in the form of a square tower, rising in a series of terraces, growing smaller and ending in a finial at the summit. There are also battlements with finials capping the top. The whole is gilded and is very magnificent in appearance, even to the gilded figure of Buddha, which occupies the principal throne. ”

“ This country is protected from inundation by immense embankments, so that almost the whole area is suitable for rice cultivation. The chief mountains are the Arakan and Pegu Yoma ranges. The greatest elevation of the Arakan Yomas in Henzada, attained in the latitude of Myan-aung, is 4003 ft. above sea-level. Numerous torrents pour down from the two boundary ranges, and unite in the plains to form large streams, which fall into the chief streams of the district, which are the Irrawaddy, Hlaing and Bassein, all of them branches of the Irrawaddy. ”

“ His head-quarters were established at Arakan, where, probably, from ten to twelve thousand Burmans were assembled. Early in May, a division of this force crossed the Naf, and advanced to Rutnapullung, about fourteen miles south from Ramoo, where they took up [158] their position, and gradually concentrated their force to the extent of about eight thousand men, under the command of the four rajas of Arakan, Ramree, Sandaway, and Cheduba, assisted by four of the inferior members of the royal council, or atwenwoons, and acting under the orders of Bundoola, who remained at Arakan. ”

“ This fact, together with the shallowness of the sea-bottom around and connecting the Andamans with the Arakan Yoma Peninsula, suggests the inference that the former were at one time past the termination of a seaward extension from Cape Negrais of the Arakan Yoma Range—a conclusion that is in some degree emphasized by the zoological and botanical conditions common to the two. ”

“ Thatôn and Pegu were taken and the Talaings reduced to subjection. Arakan, which had been invaded and for a few years held by Shans, became tributary. For some two centuries the Pagan kingdom flourished. Marco Polo (1272—90) mentions the King of Mien (Burma) as "a very puissant Prince, with much territory, treasure, and people." But the traveller saw these glories fade, this strength diminish. He describes a battle at Yungchang between the Burmese and Kublai Khan's army. ”

“ THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN CHINS (EXCEPT KAMIS AND MROS) .
References :
HUGHES=" The Hill Tracts of Arakan." G. Hughes, Rangoon, 1881.
U. B. GAZETTEER = Condensation of a Report by Captain Rainey, Rangoon, 1890.
HOUGHTON = " Essay on the Language of the Southern Chins and its Affinities/' B. Houghton, Rangoon, 1892. RIGBY=" History of Operations in Northern Arakan and Yawdwin Chin Hills." Captain G. Rigby, Rangoon, 1897. KORPER=" Brief Description of the Po Ko Chin Tract." S. Korper, Rangoon, 1907.
Serial
No. Head. Brief description. Authority. Page. 1 2 3 4 5 1 Present habitat. ”

“ Temple writes—"The only derivation which strikes me as plausible, is from the Agyattaw Phaya, near which, on the island of Sittwé, a Cantonment was formed after the first Burmese war, on the abandonment of Mrohaung or Arakan town in 1825, on account of sickness among the troops stationed there. The word Agyattaw is spelt Akhyap-taw, whence probably the modern name."]
[1826.—"It (the despatch) at length arrived this day (3rd Dec. 1826) , having taken two months in all to reach us, of which forty-five days were spent in the route from Akyab in Aracan."—Crawfurd, Ava, 289.] ”

“ Phayre, that the Arakanese disclaim the title, and restrict it to a class held in contempt, viz. the descendants of Arakanese settlers on the frontier of Bengal by Bengali mothers. The proper names of foreign nations in any language do not require the sanction of the nation to whom they are applied, and are often not recognised by the latter. German is not the German name for the Germans, nor Welsh the Welsh name for the Welsh, nor Hindu (originally) a Hindu word, nor China a Chinese word. ”

“ On the north the slopes of Great Ararat hide the presence of Alagöz, while behind the needle form of Little Ararat all the barren chains and lonely valleys of Persia are outspread.... The evening grows, and the sun’s returning arc bends behind the dome of snow. The light falls between the two mountains, and connects the Little Ararat in a common harmony with the richening tints of the plain. There it stands on the further margin of the platform, the clean, sharp outline of a pyramid, clothed in hues of a tender yellow, seamed with violet veins. ”

“ The kingdom of Aracan has so extended a coast line that it seems to invite all commercial nations to trade. The climate is good, plague and other infectious diseases are unknown. The rich and fertile plains produce all the necessaries of life. Many tribes live in the pleasant valleys which afford pasturage to all sorts of wild and domestic animals. Horses are rarely seen. Horned buffaloes are employed for agricultural operations. Their anger is aroused at the sight of red. They let those whom they wish to attack pass quietly by and then gore them from behind with their murderous horns. ”

“ Ararat soars into space, a magnificent object, both peaks of the greater mountain, although almost merged by the perspective, being distinguishable by the naked eye. The bold snow bastion on the west is seen to the fullest advantage. But the Little Ararat is almost hidden by nearer outlines; and only the summit of that graceful cone is exposed. If the mountain of the Ark be without equal, or even rival, in a landscape which in all directions is sublime, it possesses at least a neighbour with many attributes in common—the Kuseh Dagh, beyond the plain of Alashkert. ”

“ The inhabitants of the kingdom of Pegu and Aracan are more black, yet bear a strong resemblance both to the Siamese and the Chinese. Those of Aracan put great value upon a forehead large and flat, and to render them so, they apply a plate of lead to the forehead of their children the minute they are born. Their nostrils are large, their eyes are small and lively, and their ears are of such length as to hang over their shoulders. ”

“ The name Ararat is unknown to the Armenians of the present day. The limits of the Biblical Ararat are not known, but they must have included the lofty Armenian plateau which overlooks the plain of the Araxes on the north, and that of Mesopotamia on the south. It is only natural that the highest and most striking mountain in the district should have been regarded as that upon which the Ark rested, and that the old name of the country should have been transferred to it. ”

“ At twenty minutes to seven, when the summit of Little Ararat was about on a level with the eye, we paused for awhile and turned towards the prospect, now opening to a wider range. The day was clear, and promised warmth; above us the snowy dome of Ararat shone in a cloudless sky. The landscape on either side of the beautiful pyramid lay outspread at our feet; from north-east, the hidden shores of Lake Sevan, to where the invisible seas of Van and Urmi diffused a soft veil of opaline vapour over the long succession of lonely ranges in the south-east and south. ”

“ The story of Arachi's state spread up and down the river, and when the borrower demanded the hand of Koran, the daughter of the chief of the Putani ("The Fishers of the River") , she came to him without much palaver, though she was rather young.
A straight and winsome girl well worth the thousand rods and the twenty bags of salt which the munificent Arachi promised, by Death, devils, and a variety of gods, should be delivered to her father when the moon and the river stood in certain relative positions. ”

“ The Arawaks proper were physically an undersized, weakly people, peaceable agriculturists, by far the most civilized of all Guiana peoples, being skilful weavers and workers in stone and gold. The chief tribes which may be called Arawakan are the Anti, Arawak, Barre, Goajiro, Guana, Manaos, Maneteneri, Maipuri, Maranho, Moxo, Passé, Piro and Taruma. ”

“ The long north-western slope of the Ararat fabric assumes the character of a dark and narrow promontory rising on an opposite shore. From the east, beyond the train of the Little Ararat, a cold mist—may it be from the Caspian?—is slowly wafted over the steppe, and the illusion is complete. Into those liquid spaces sweep the basal vaultings of Alagöz—the boulder-strewn declivities [229] which we keep on our right hand, and which seem to embody on a typical scale that quality of hopeless sterility which is characteristic of vast portions of the continent. ”

“ Accordingly, the king of Aracan took the field with an immense army, having 80,000 of his own native subjects, mostly armed with firelocks, 10,000 Peguers who fought with sword and bucklers, and 700 elephants with castles carrying armed men. Besides these, he sent 200 sail of vessels to sea, carrying 4000 men, ordering this fleet to join that of Gonzalez, and to be under his command. According to the treaty, Gonzalez, with the combined fleet, was to prevent the Moguls from passing to the kingdom of Balua, till the king of Aracan could march there with his army for its protection ”

“ Beyond a few fields, planted with cotton, we again entered the open desert, and pursued our way over the crumbling mud. A rude and winding track leads towards the river through patches of dusty desert shrubs. Ararat fills the landscape, and is rarely seen to greater advantage than from such tracts of naked land. On our left hand rose a buttress of the Sevan mountains which had been a landmark from the slopes of Ararat. It is composed of a sandy rock of various hues, which has weathered into fanciful shapes. ”

“ The only foreigners now in Arracan are the servants of the East India Company, who, both civil and military, spoke of the priests (or pondis, as they are termed) as being an unpresuming, well-disposed set of men, never interfering with the concerns of others, unless applied to as arbitrators, when they exercise their judgment with impartiality. The 'Mughs,' in their manners, are perfectly free from the servile hypocrisy of their western neighbours, and equally unlike them as to probity—their words being generally to be taken ”

“ No pains nor expense were spared to equip this favourite general for the field, and by the approach of the season for active exertions, it was estimated that fifty thousand men were collected for the advance upon Rangoon, who were to exterminate [191] the invaders, or carry them captives to the capital, where the chiefs were already calculating on the number of slaves who were, from their source of supply, to swell their train. Reports of the return of the Arakhan army soon reached Rangoon, but some period elapsed before any certainty of its movements was obtained. ”

“ At last we arrived over Mount Ararat. I knew where I was, by the tongues of flame which encircled the mount like a wreath. They were the altars of the fire-worshipping Parsees—the source of Baku's eternal fires; and Danesh was one of the great spirits of the flame-adoring heathen. On the summit of Mount Ararat was a magnificent palace—to describe its splendors is impossible to the human tongue! Its walls were covered with the names of those persons who have been happy, and have thanked God therefor. The letters in which the names are written are so radiant, they make night as light as day. ”