3^4 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 



The topography of the country has been derived from personal obser- 

 vation, and the communications of Officers employed in the Quarter-Master's 

 or Survey Departments, and the population from a census, taken by Mr. Ro- 

 bertson and myself. My own experience, and frequent intercourse with the 

 most intelligent natives, have enabled me to offer a description of the pro- 

 ductions of the country, and the character of the people. 



The province of Aracan and its dependencies, Ramree, Cheduba, and 

 Sandaway, lie between eighteen and twenty-one degrees of north latitude, and 

 may be averaged at about sixty miles in breadth ; bounded on the east and 

 south by the Yumadang mountains, on the west by the Bay of Bengal, and on 

 the north, by the Naf, and the mountains of Wyli, at the source of the Mrosa, 

 covering an extent of about eleven thousand square miles, of which there are 

 not, at present, more than four hundred in a state of cultivation. The greater 

 part of the country, from the bottom of the mountains, drawn to the sea is a 

 Sunderban, and the only possible way of communicating with the different 

 villages, is by water. 



The Province of Aracan, exclusive of the capital, includes fifty -five vil- 

 lage divisions, or districts : each district, or division, containing, according to 

 its size, from two to sixty paras, or small villages : each division is placed 

 under the control of a Sirdar, who is held responsible for the good conduct 

 oi ihe patmdas of his division, who are, generally, appointed by the suffrage 

 of the villages. The town of Aracan was divided, by the Burmese, into 

 eight wards, according with the number of outlets from the fortifications, 

 each ward had its own Police, but all were placed under the Meosugri 

 and Acherang, of the city, who received the daily reports : if any complaint 

 was preferred, not cognizable by them, it was referred to the Judicial Court, 

 consisting of the Akwenwon, (Collector of land revenue) Akowon, (Collector 

 of Port Customs) two Chikaydos, law officers, and two Nakhandos, (royal 



