1841. J Account of Arakan. 689 



of the throne. At length the Burmese, on the invitation of Tlian- 

 dau'we, who was the Myo-thoo-ggee, or head fiscal officer, invaded and 

 conquered the country. The reigning king at that period was Ma-lia- 

 tha-ma-ta, and his son Re-bhau is still living in Amerapoora. 



In various parts of Arakan there are traces of a much more exten- 

 sive population than it contains at present. The ruins of the ancient 

 temple of Maha-muni, built entirely of stone, the sites of former 

 cities shewn by the remains of tanks and ruined pagodas, the ex- 

 tensive stone walls at the old capital, certainly tell of a more flou- 

 rishing kingdom than what the British found it; but we have no 

 satisfactory evidence of the Arakan kings having subjugated Burmah 

 and Siam, much less China ! Of the conquest of a part of Bengal, we 

 have credible historical evidence. At Dacca, I believe are still to be found 

 the remains of a Bhudhist dze-di, or pagoda, which can only be at- 

 tributed to the conquering Arakanese. The name Tsef-ta-goung, of 

 which Chittagong is a corruption, is Burmese, and the descendants 

 of people of Tipperah brought hence from that country, still survive. 

 There are also some villages of Shan descent, but those people were 

 most probably brought from the Shan population, which is to be found 

 located west of the river Ara-wa-ti. 



The Burmese established their head-quarters at the old capital. 

 For a ie'w years their government was undisturbed, but at length 

 rebellions were stirred up by an individual called by the English King- 

 berringy* who was the son of Than-dau-we^ the Myo-thoo-gyee^ who had 

 first invited the Burmese into the country. Many of the Arakanese 

 fled into the neighbouring British province of Chittagong, and thus 

 quarrels arose on the frontier. At length the Burmese having provoked 

 the British government by several acts of aggression, Arakan was in- 

 vaded by the English, who accompanied by a number of the former 

 inhabitants, conquered it with ease, and entered the capital May 1825, 

 since which period it has been annexed to the British Indian empire. 



Arakan is divided into 160 circles, of which 148 are denominated 

 kywn, or islands, being situated in the low lands, and 12 are called 

 khyoung, or stream, being in the hill districts. They contain a total of 



* Properly Khyeng-byan, lit. '^ Khyeng -return," so called because he was the first- 

 bom after his father returned from the Khyeng hills. A son of Khyeng-byan died in 

 Alcyab, A. D. 1840. 



