JOURNAL 



ASIATIC SOCIETY 



Account oj Ardkan.^ By Lieut. Phayre, Senior Assistant Com- 

 missioner, Arakan. 



Arahan Proper, called by the natives Ra-khoing-pyeCy or Ra-khoing 

 country, lies between 20° and 21° 10' N. Lat. on the sea coast ; in 

 the interior it extends to about 21° 40'. It is bounded on the west 

 by the Bay of Bengal and the estuary called Naf ; on the north, by 

 a range of mountains named We-la-toung, and by a line not well 

 defined running N. E. through a hilly country to the Kola-dan river ; 

 on the east by the Yu-ma mountains ; and on the south it is separated 

 from the district of Aeng, and the island of Ramhree, by various 

 straits and creeks. 



On the north, between Arakan and the Chittagong district, at 

 some distance from the sea-coast, there are several tribes living among 

 the hills and forests, who have hitherto remained independent of 

 the British government. Our authority extends up the Kola-dan 

 river, about 1 30 miles north from the town of Akyab, to the mouth of 

 a stream called the Oo-tha-lang, but beyond that, stretch mountains 

 and forests to the north-east, hitherto untrodden by civilized man, as 

 far as Munneepoor ; here live various savage tribes, who appear to 

 be in a constant state of warfare with each other. On the east our 

 boundary up to the Yu-ma mountains is only nominal. The tribes 



* We give the name Arakan as a general term to four districts, which by the natives 

 is restricted to what is the present district of Akyab. In this paper the name Arakan 

 is used in the latter sense. 



No. 117. New Series, No. 3.3. 4 n 



