372 



HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL 



called to him to stop, telling him that a choki had been established by the 

 Burmese, and that each boat passing must pay two rupees. Koungjakay re- 

 plied, Shapuri belongs to the Company, you have no right to establish a 

 choki on it, and I will not allow you to search my boat ; upon which Naay's 

 people fired into the boat, and Koungjakay was killed : the boatmen imme- 

 diately pulled over to the Chittagong side, and reported the circum- 

 stance to the Thannadar, at Teh Naf, who brought the aiFair to the no- 

 tice of the Magistrate, Mr. Lee Warner, who sent a party of Sepoys to 

 take possession of the Island of Shapuri. This was immediately made known 

 to the Raja of ^ramw, who, after some dehberation, sent a detachment of 

 five hundred men to retake it, which they did, and this originated the 

 wan Previous, however, to resorting to open hostilities, negotiations were 

 attempted by the British Government, to settle the differences, and define tha 

 frontier of the two states, but in vain ; shortly after the declaration of war, 

 the Burmese entered' our provinces in force, and cut up a Detachment at 

 Ramuy under Captain Noton, when they stockaded themselves ; but as soon as 

 Sir A. Campbell took Rangoon^ they were recalled for the defence of Pegu, 



Division and Population. — The province of Aracan, as has been observed, 

 consists of four divisions, Aracan proper, Rainree, Saiidoway and Cheduba. At 

 the time of the first settlement of these districts, they were found to contain, 

 the first, fifty-eight villages or hamlets ; the second, twenty four ; the third, seven- 

 teen j and the last, ten j besides the capital of Aracan^ and the town ofRamree. 



The population of Aracan and its dependancies, Ramree, Cheduba, and 

 Sandowai/, does not, at present, exceed a hundred thousand souls, and may be 

 classed as follows : 



Mugs, six-tenths. ^ 



Musselmans, three-tenths, > Total, 100,000 souls. 



Burmese, one-tenth, j 



