Irrawaddy

“ At Akauk-taung, where a spur of the Arakan hills end in a precipice 300 ft. high, the river enters the delta, the hills giving place to low alluvial plains, now protected on the west by embankments. From 17° N. lat. the Irrawaddy divides and subdivides, converting the lower portion of its valley into a network of intercommunicating tidal creeks. It reaches the sea in 15° 50′ N. lat. and 95° 8′ E. long., by nine principal mouths. The only ones used by sea-going ships are the Bassein and Rangoon mouths. The area of the catchment basin of the Irrawaddy is 158,000 sq. ”

“ Among the various ships lying in Prince’s Dock, none interested me more than the Irrawaddy, of Bombay, a “country ship,” which is the name bestowed by Europeans upon the large native vessels of India. Forty years ago, these merchantmen were nearly the largest in the world; and they still exceed the generality. They are built of the celebrated teak wood, the oak of the East, or in Eastern phrase, “the King of the Oaks.” The Irrawaddy had just arrived from Hindostan, with a cargo of cotton. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In the south lies the Delta of the Irrawaddy and the wide-stretching deltaic districts of Hanthawaddy, Insein, Pegu and Tharrawaddy. This vast expanse of country is a great alluvial plain. The true Delta includes all the districts of the Irrawaddy division, Bassein, Pyapôn, Ma-u-bin, Myaungmya, Henzada, a flat country intersected by countless rivers and creeks. [4] On the sea board and along the banks of streams and creeks are masses of mangrove and dani palm forest, tidal and swamp vegetation, elephant grass and savannah. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ As civilization advances, a much larger part of the trade of Central Asia will be sure to find its way to the sea through the valley of the Irrawaddy. Christianity always enters the heart of a nation along the lines of trade; so that Rangoon, near the mouth of the Irrawaddy, where Mr. and Mrs. Judson landed, and Bhamo, situated at the head of navigation, 840 miles up the river, where the American Baptists have recently planted a mission, are two of the most important strategical points for the conquest of all Asia. ”

“ It is my belief that our missionaries will meet with greater success in the fair land watered by the Irrawaddy than along the banks of the mighty Ganges, where a century’s labour has made but little lasting impression. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The captain of the vessel was an Englishman, as were also the three mates, master and boatswain. These officers lived astern in the cabin, where every Sunday they read the Church of England’s prayers, while the heathen at the other end of the ship were left to their false gods and idols. And thus, with Christianity on the quarter-deck, and paganism on the forecastle, the Irrawaddy ploughed 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Bassein, the chief town and port, is the capital of the district and division, and is situated on the eastern bank of the Bassein river, one of the main arteries by which the waters of the Irrawaddy discharge themselves into the sea. It forms an important seat of the rice trade with several steam rice mills, and has great capabilities both from a mercantile and a military point of view, as it commands the great outlet of the Irrawaddy. ”

“ You see, the great river runs from Rangoon very nearly due north, though with a little east in it; and extends along at the back of the districts I trade with; so that the Burmese are not very far from Manipur which, indeed, stands on a branch of the Irrawaddy, of which another branch runs nearly up to Rungpoor.
"We shall have big trouble with them, one of these days; indeed, we have had troubles already. You see, the Burmese are a great and increasing power, and have so easily conquered all their neighbours that they regard themselves as invincible. ”

“ The [311] force to be employed from Burma was to be nearly four thousand fighting men, besides some military police. The number of transport animals and of coolies necessary for such a body would be very great. Carts were useless after the first few marches from the Irrawaddy. Some fodder for ponies and bullocks might be procurable, but it was certain that once in the hills almost every ounce of food for man and beast would have to be sent up from the Irrawaddy Valley. ”

“ Above this the population of the Irrawaddy valley is mainly non-Burman, and it is clear that the Burmans, when they reached Tagaung in those far off days, must have descended from a region now mainly inhabited by Shans, Kachins, Marus and the like. The presence of the Kachins on the Upper Irrawaddy has been accounted for in the preceding paragraph. They are late comers from the north-west, just as the Shans, whose movements will be touched upon below, are migrants from the east. ”

“ 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 trade is carried on by means of large boats that come up the Irrawaddy to the town of Rainanghoung, a place inhabited by potters, who are constantly making the earthen jars in which the oil is kept. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Often at Prome and below Mandalay, rows of steamers have been held fast for days. Elsewhere, steamers have grounded and remained high and dry for months till released by the rise of the river. Meanwhile the vessel becomes a stationary dwelling round which the caretaker plants a little garden for profit and for pastime. In the rains, high rises flood the banks to the destruction of growing crops. At the same time, the silt deposited enriches the soil.
The scenery of the Irrawaddy has been often celebrated. It is declared to be "as stately as it is beautiful; as passionate as it is serene." ”

“ 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. ”

“ Burmese girl.
or market, they present a microcosm of Burmese life in many phases. Other steamer services ply in the Delta. On the main river, steamers move only by day, anchoring or tying up to the bank at night. Elsewhere they rush, day and night, through labyrinthine creeks, often crashing into the mangrove forests on the margin.
From the sea to Bhamo and two miles beyond, for a distance of 689 miles, the Irrawaddy is navigable by steamers at all times. But while in the rains it is a deep and magnificent river, some two miles wide at Bhamo, in the dry season its aspect changes. ”

“ After the capture of the Kemmendine stockades, the Burmese retired for a short time from the immediate vicinity of the British lines, and concentrated their forces at Donoobew, a strongly fortified town upon the Irrawaddy, about 60 miles to the northward of Rangoon. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Melloon stood on the opposite bank of the Irrawaddy; and letters had arrived from that town saying that a commissioner had arrived, from Ava, with full powers from the king to conclude a treaty of peace. Colonel Adair and Stanley, accordingly, were sent off the next morning to Melloon, to arrange for an immediate meeting for the commissioners. However, they could come to no arrangement, the Burmese leaders insisting that so important a business could only be carried on when a favourable day arrived ”

“ The boats belonging to the ships co-operated on all occasions, while the troops were carried to their destinations by the steamers.
A most important expedition was sent up the river Irrawaddy under the command of Captain Tarleton, on board the Medusa. He had with him three Company’s steamers. They proceeded to Konnoughee, a short distance below Proom, where a strong force, which appeared on shore, was put to flight by the shells thrown from the vessels. Higher up they found a Burmese army of 10,000 men assembled to guard the passage to Proom and the capital. ”

“ During the negociations which followed, the Burmese monarch had made vigorous preparations for its continuance; and when the armistice had nearly expired, in reply to the proposals made for peace by the British commanders, this haughty and laconic answer was given, “If you wish for peace, you may go away; but if you wish either money or territory, no friendship can exist between us. This is Burmese custom.” The reply was seconded by the advance of 60,000 Burmese troops along the banks of the Irrawaddy against the British and native Indian troops at Prome. ”

“ 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. ”