270 YULE ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF BURMA. [Jan. 26, 1857. 



Indian Navy ; a sketch of part of tlie Aracan Yoma range and its 

 passes, by Capt. Yule ; and a re-arrangement of the Chinese frontier 

 and the Shan (or Laos) states, east of Burma, from the route- 

 surveys of Dr. Kichardson and Capt. Macleod, with additions from 

 other sources. 



A considerable error in the longitude of the Irawady at Prome and 

 upwards, as assigned in previous maps, was pointed out. The exist- 

 ence of this error had first been indicated as probable by Capt. Yule, 

 in a memoir on the Passes of the Yoma, submitted to the Govern- 

 ment of India in 1853. The surveys since made, have confirmed 

 this indication. 



A sketch was given of the political division of the Burmese 

 countries at four remarkable epochs, viz., circa 1500, 1580, 1824, 

 1854, illustrated by four comparative diagrams. In the first, these 

 regions were shown as divided into numerous kingdoms and princi- 

 palities, of which the chief were Ava, Pegu, Aracan, Tonngu. In 

 the second, Pegu was shown as predominant over nearly all. In 

 the third, Ava had reached the climax of its power, and reigned 

 over a territory, extending from the British district of Kungpur, on 

 the Brahmaputra, to the great river of Cambodia eastward, and to 

 the island of Junk-Ceylon southward, with a seaboard of 1200 miles. 

 In the fourth, Ava was shown again contracted, and cut off from the 

 sea in all directions, by many leagues of British territory. 



After a sketch of the natural mountain-boundaries of Burma, the 

 paper proceeded to the detailed descriptive geography of the 

 country, from the upper course of the Irawady downwards to the 

 8ea, including the British province of Pegu and the passes of the 

 Aracan Mountains. 



An attempt was then made, from various data, to estimate the 

 population ,of the Burmese empire. The general conclusion was, 

 that the population of Burma proper, say from lat. 24° down to our 

 Pegu frontier, is about 1,200,000, or less than 25 to the square mile ; 

 and that the population of the whole Burmese empire now probably 

 does not exceed three millions. This does not differ materially 

 from the estimate formed by the sagacity of Mr. Crawfurd, on the 

 more imperfect data which were available to him in 1827. 



An additional section of the paper gave a detailed sketch of the 

 Shan principalities, on the eastern frontier of Burma, respecting 

 which it is believed that no very lucid statement has yet been 

 brought together in print. The chief authorities for this sketch 

 were the journals of Dr. Richardson and Capt. Macleod, in the 

 records of the Foreign department at Calcutta. These have never 

 been published in full, as they meiited to have been. 



