Dr Hamilton's Account of' the Frontier, $c. 201 



Art. II. — An Account of the Frontier between the Southern 

 part of Bengal and the Kingdom of Ava. By Francis 

 Hamilton, M.D.F.R.S. & F.A.S. Lond. & Edin. Com- 

 municated by the Author. 



In two former papers I have given an account of this 

 Frontier, so far as connected with the territories of the tribes 

 called Tripura and Saksah, which occupy chiefly the banks of 

 the Gomuti and Karnaphuli. I shall now proceed south 

 from the latter, and give an account of the frontier so far as 

 connected with the tribe, which the Bengalese call Joomea 

 Mugg. In the first place, I shall give some account of this 

 people, and of the tribes dependent, and then I shall give 

 some account of the territory they possess. 



The invasion of the province of Chatigang by the troops 

 of Ava in 1794, and the giving up of the several refugees 

 that had fled from Arakan (Rakhain) for protection, had oc- 

 casioned a very general alarm among the Joomea Mulcts ; 

 for there can be no doubt that these people came from Rak- 

 hain, the language and customs of which they retain un- 

 changed. This terror made them in general unwilling to ac- 

 knowledge any connection with Arakan, although the more 

 intelligent among them acknowledged the name Marama, 

 which the people of Rakhain assume. In common conversa- 

 tion, however, they called themselves men of the hills 

 (Taumgsah,) or of the rivers (Khiaungsah ;) the former from 

 their cultivating hills, and the latter from their using the tor- 

 rents for a conveyance. It is true, indeed, that they would 

 appear to have retired from their original country about the 

 middle of the last century, that is, between thirty and forty 

 years before the conquest of Rakhain by the King of Ava, 

 while the refugees that were delivered up were insurgents, 

 who had risen against the government of Ava ten years after 

 the conquest. They were not in general aware that this 

 would make any difference in the disposition of the English 

 to protect them ; and no doubt they had received many new 

 colonists, not only at the conquest, but on every occasion of 

 discontent that afterwards arose. The opinion, indeed, which 



