WILD SPORTS OF BURMA 



AND ASSAM 



LOWER BURMA 



CHAPTER I 



IN 1826 Arrakan and Tenasserim, provinces of the ancient 

 kingdom of Burma, were ceded to us. In 1853 Martaban, 

 Pegu, and Bassein were annexed. In 1880 Lord DufFerin 

 made Upper Burma a portion of our vast possessions in the 

 East. Assam was also annexed in 1826. 



No great progress was made in Burma until the late Sir 

 Arthur Phayre became Chief Commissioner, but under him 

 it made strides unprecedented in the annals of our rule in 

 India, and now that the whole province from Yunan down to 

 nearly the Straits Settlement is ours, it may be fairly claimed 

 to be considered amongst the most flourishing of our posses- 

 sions, with a great future before it. 



Dr. Mason, a venerable missionary who spent a lifetime in 

 the country, quoting the words of a visitor, says : " It is a 

 beautiful country ; in it are views and patches of scenery, 

 green fields and green lanes, that lead back the mind to one's 

 own land. It is a beautiful land when seen on the coast, but 

 it is still more beautiful when seen amidst its mountain 

 streams, streams which cannot be surpassed in romantic 

 beauty even in the annals of poetry." Some of the noblest 

 rivers in the world, such as the Irrawady, Salween, Shwe"li, 

 Me"za, Myitnge, Mogaung, Mole, and Taeping (these last three 

 are the most important tributaries of the Irrawady), run 

 through its centre or skirt its boundaries, whilst small streams 

 like the Sittang, Shoayghein, Ghine, Attaran, and many 



