Irrawaddy River

“ After a winding course over rocks and shoals, through unexplored Shan States and savage hills where head-hunting is still fitfully pursued, the Chindwin joins the Irrawaddy above Pakôkku. Passing between banks clad with dense forest, we desecrated with steam and smoke silent reaches glamorous with romance. The march of progress is gradually dissipating the mist which yet still clings to this river of ancient story. Here and there a court-house or a military police post marks the advance of civilization. ”

“ It stretches from north to south in one vast plain, forming the valley of the Irrawaddy, and is divided by that river into two nearly equal portions. This country is protected from inundation by immense embankments, so that almost the whole area is suitable for rice cultivation. ”

“ Other lakes are the Paunglin lake in Minbu district, the Inma lake in Prome, the Tu and Duya in Henzada, the Shahkègyi and the Inyègyi in Bassein, the sacred lake at Ye in Tenasserim, and the Nagamauk, Panzemyaung and Walonbyan in Arakan. The Meiktila lake covers an area of some 5 sq. m., but it is to some extent at least an artificial reservoir. In the heart of the delta numerous large lakes or marshes abounding in fish are formed by the overflow of the Irrawaddy river during the rainy season, but these either assume very diminutive proportions or disappear altogether in the dry season. ”

“ Above Myitkyina small steamers can reach the confluence at the height of the flood with some difficulty, but when the water is lower they cannot pass the Mawkan rapid, just above Mawme, and the navigation of the river above Myitkyina is always difficult. The journey from Bhamo to Sinbo can be made during the rains in native boats, but it is always difficult and sometimes dangerous. It is never done in less than five days and often takes twelve or more. As a natural source of irrigation the value of the Irrawaddy is enormous, but the river supplies no artificial systems of irrigation. ”

“ For a thousand miles the Irrawaddy is alive with traffic, and on its banks have settled the greater proportion of the population of the country, for with the exception of a few isolated towns and settlements, which are surrounded by cultivated areas of limited extent, the whole country away from the river-banks is densely covered by scrub jungle and primeval forest, practically uninhabited and uncultivable. ”

“ We make our way up the Irrawaddy by one of the splendid steamers of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, and in due time we land at Mandalay, and climb the steep bank of the river, and there we are with our few boxes, strangers in a strange land, knowing nobody belonging to the place, not a word of the Burmese language, with no mission house to turn into, no native Christians, and, worst of all, no native helpers. ”

“ A strong swimmer can cross from bank to bank. Leaving the wharves and the Hard of Mandalay thronged by steamers, launches and Burmese craft, the Irrawaddy glides past Ava, renowned in history, Sagaing, a typical Burmese town embosomed in tamarind groves, Myingyan, a busy port, Pakôkku, a trade centre near the mouth of the Chindwin river, Pagan, with its silent array of pagodas, Yenangyaung, redolent of earth-oil, Magwe, Minbu, the fort at Minhla, the old frontier pillars recalling memories of Dalhousie, the great Governor-General, Thayetmyo ”

“ Rangoon gradually faded from view; we were ploughing the main artery of the Irrawaddy, and our worthy navigator took a short cut, which may have saved time, but was in the end far from conducive to the comfort of the men.
Sunset came upon us in a creek notorious for its elephantine and ravenous mosquitoes, for when that fiery orb sank in the western sky, the captain had no choice but to anchor.
Navigation of a river required the utmost caution even by day; by night any attempt in that direction would have been foolhardy. ”

“ It is not till one leaves Rangoon that he sees the beauty of Burmah. The banks of the Irrawaddy, like those of the Hoogly, are low and jungly; but as we glide from the river into the sea, and turn southward, the shores begin to rise, till after a few hours' sail we might be on the coast of Wales or of Scotland. The next morning found us at anchor off the mouth of the Salwen River. The steamers of the British India Company stop at all the principal ports, and we were now to pass up the river to Maulmain. ”

“ The surface of the ground is much cut up by ravines which fill and dry up according to the rise and fall of the river. When the Irrawaddy is at its height the lower portion of the town is flooded, and the country all round is a sheet of water, but usually for no very long time. Here or hereabouts has long been the terminus of a great deal of the land commerce from China. For years after its annexation by Great Britain in 1885 the trade routes were unsafe owing to attacks from Kachins. ”

“ IRRAWADDY, or Irawadi, the principal river in the province of Burma, traversing the centre of the country, and practically running throughout its entire course in British territory. It is formed by the confluence of the Mali and N’mai rivers (usually called Mali-kha and N’mai-kha, the kha being the Kachin word for river) in 25° 45′ N. The N’mai is the eastern branch. ”

“ The most important of the plains lie in the south and south-west portions of Prome, and extend along the whole length of the railway that runs between the towns of Paungdē and Prome; they are mostly under cultivation, and those in the south are watered by a series of streams forming the Myit-ma-kha or upper portion of the Hlaing. There are in addition large tracts of land covered by tree-jungle which are available for cultivation. The principal river is the Irrawaddy, which intersects the district from north to south ”

“ The greatest fisheries are those of the Irrawaddy Delta where definite sections of streams and creeks are leased to master fishermen. In these areas, fish are caught by means of weirs and traps fixed in the water. In free river and in sea fisheries, also of considerable importance, fees are levied on nets and fishing implements. On account of the destruction of life involved, the fisherman's occupation is regarded with disfavour by pious Buddhists. ”

“ That place stood on the face of a sloping hill and, as the Irrawaddy was here but 600 yards broad, a good view was obtained of the fortifications. The principal stockade was in the form of a square, about a mile on each face, mounting a considerable number of guns--especially on the side facing the river; and a succession of stockades extended for a mile farther along the banks. The great work was crowded with men. In front of the town lay a large fleet of war boats, and larger craft with stores. ”

“ It is considered equal to oak for ship-building, and has some resemblance to it in its timber; many vessels trading between this country and India are constructed of it. That which grows near the banks of the Godavery is beautifully veined, closer in the grain, and heavier than other varieties. “On the banks of the river Irrawaddy, in the Birman empire, the teak forests are unrivalled; and they rise so far over the jungle or brushwood, by which tropical forests are rendered impenetrable, that they seem almost as if one forest were raised on gigantic poles over the top of another. ”

“ The Irrawaddy, which traverses the district for 46 miles, is the principal navigable river. Another important river is the Hlaing, which runs through the district from north to south, receiving from the east, through numerous channels, the drainage of the Pegu Yoma Mountains, which fertilizes the plain on its eastern bank. There are twenty-three teak forests and four fuel reserves in the district, covering an area of 817 square miles. Among the wild animals generally found in the mountains are the elephant, rhinoceros, bison, and various kinds of feathered game. ”

“ Down stream, boats rush with more speed than safety. Up stream, the voyage is laboriously effected by towage from the bank. If the rope slips, the toil of days is lost in a few minutes. Emerging at Pashaw, named by an illustrious visitor [3] the Ruby Gate of the Irrawaddy, the river flows peaceably past Bhamo. A few miles below that town lies the Second Defile, not so strait and winding as the first but bound between beetling crags and set with dangerous eddies and whirlpools. ”

“ Besides the tributaries which have been specified, the Irrawaddy is fed by unnumbered mountain torrents of whose nomenclature the tediousness shall not be inflicted on the reader.
Rangoon River. The Rangoon river is important solely on account of the port after which it is called. Rising in the Prome district some 150 miles from its mouth, under the name of Myitmaka it flows through Prome and Tharrawaddy, taking further down the name of Hlaing, and passes Rangoon, twenty-one miles from the sea. ”

“ On the west, between the Pegu and the Arakan Yomas, stretches the Irrawaddy delta, a vast expanse of level plain 12,000 sq.m. in area falling in a gradual unbroken slope from its apex not far south of Prome down to the sea. This delta, which includes the districts of Bassein, Myaungmya, Thôngwa, Henzada, Hanthawaddy, Tharrawaddy, Pegu and Rangoon town, consists almost entirely of a rich alluvial deposit, and the whole area, which between Cape Negrais and Elephant Point is 137 m. wide, is fertile in the highest degree. ”

“ To the east of the Irrawaddy, which bisects the district, it is low-lying and marshy. To the west it rises to a higher level, and is mostly dry. Except in the hills inhabited by the Kachin tribes there are practically no villages off the line of the Irrawaddy. ”

“ Just below the confluence of the Mali and N’mai rivers the Irrawaddy is from 420 to 450 yds. wide and about 30 ft. deep in January at its deepest point. Here it flows between hills, and after passing the Manse and Mawkan rapids, reaches plain country and expands to nearly 500 yds. at Sakap. At Myitkyina it is split into two channels by Naungtalaw island, the western channel being 600 yds. wide and the eastern 200. The latter is quite dry in the hot season. At Kat-kyo, 5 or 6 m. below Myitkyina, the width is 1000 yds., and below this it varies from 600 yds. ”

“ A branch runs to Katha, on the Irrawaddy, below Bhamo, with which there is connection by ferry. Between Mandalay and Sagaing there is still a gap in the system. As soon as funds are available the Irrawaddy must be bridged, and through communication established from Rangoon to Myit-kyina. Even more important [Pg 240] than the railway were two great irrigation schemes for watering the dry districts of Mandalay and Shwebo. ”

“ As the delta of the Irrawaddy embraces an area of 94,000 square miles, with an alluvial and fertile soil throughout, producing in great abundance rice, cotton, cutch, teak, minerals, and mineral oils, and, as not more than 3000 miles of this rich district of country is as yet under cultivation, it presents an enormous field for the development of maritime and other branches of commerce. ”

“ All these lower water-ways of the Irrawaddy are tidal, for they are quite close to the sea, and at high water the land is scarcely raised at all above the water level. Mango-trees, dwarf palms, and reeds fringe the muddy banks, on which, raised upon poles and built partly over the water, are the huts of the fishermen, who, half naked, ply their calling in quaintly-shaped, dug-out canoes. To the north of the principal creek which connects Rangoon with Bassein stretches a vast plain of fertile "paddy" land, where each year is grown that enormous crop of rice which forms Burma's chief export. ”

“ THE HATRED OF THE QUEEN A Story of Burma
Most wonderful is the Irawadi, the mighty river of Burma. In all the world elsewhere is no such river, bearing the melted snows from its mysterious sources in the high places of the mountains. The dawn rises upon its league-wide flood; the moon walks upon it with silver feet. It is the pulsing heart of the land, living still though so many rules and rulers have risen and fallen beside it, their pomps and glories drifting like flotsam dawn the river to the eternal ocean that is the end of all—and the beginning. ”

“ Very interesting also are the rafts, composed of logs of teak and pyingado, which, cut in the forests far inland, are constructed in the creeks, as the forest streams are called, and are then launched into the Irrawaddy upon their voyage of often many weeks before Rangoon is reached. ”

“ The country ismostly hilly, largely covered with forests. Of the numerous mountain peaks, the highest reaches an elevation of 15,000 feet. The largest river is the Irawadi, flowing from its unknown source in the snows of Tibet, over a course of 1,100 miles to the Bay of Bengal. ”

“ The westward movement of the solid block of old rocks forming the Shan plateau, meeting the southerly creep towards India of the Tibetan plateau, has formed the sigmoidal curves of the Irrawaddy valley, the general north-south trend of the oil-fields, the Arakan and Chindwin ridges and even the western sea shore, all features of relief roughly parallel to one another in direction and at right angles to the great earth movements in which they originated. ”

“ Piercing this rampart, the Irrawaddy enters the First Defile, a gloomy, savage, rock-bound gorge, thirty-five miles in length. The Defile is narrow, tortuous, romantically beautiful, in places of un-fathomed depth. Rocks in mid-stream, sudden abrupt curves, seething whirlpools, render navigation difficult and hazardous. In the dry season, with care but without in-superable risk, launches steam up and down the Defile, their movements strictly regulated, under statutory sanction, by the civil authorities at Bhamo in telegraphic communication with Sinbo. ”