lKBO-CILlNA. 



M 



The uplands are still covered with dense forest growths, chiefly 

 of leak, wipati, iron wood , rattan, bamboo, and several specie? of 

 iriuiinilVn.lL:- plant?-. LiAVt r down ibu alluvial |>lain~ utv \w\\ >uiu-d 

 for the culture of cotton, indigo, tobacco, sugar-cane, rice, and all 

 kind* of tropical fniil-. lint uwing to the scanty population, 

 scarcely fifteen per square mile, very little of the land has been re- 

 dainied, and the primeval jungle etill continues to afford a refuse to 

 the elephant, tiger, rhinoceros, wild boar, and large numbers of deer. 



The great bulk of the lowland population appears to by of 

 Burmese and Taking origin, sneaking the Burmese language, and 

 practicing Buddhist and Jain rites. There is, however, a large inkr- 

 mixture of natives of India, probably not less than 40,000, who arc 

 in about crjual proportions Muliamtm-il.Lii- :li 2 .1 Haul us and who 

 usually apeak Hengali. The hills are ^wl "-.-opi^l i yu U-w svaltered 

 aboriginal communities, mainly of Karen stock, conterminous on the 

 east side with the Siamese, and reaching north wards to the kindred 

 tribes in East Pegu and the Karen-ni country. Along the coast are 

 met a primitive, race of fishers known $• Silongs (Selougs), who also 

 occupy most of the Mcrgui archipelago, encamping during the mon- 

 soons on Ihe islnnda, and at other tktuea living in their boats or on 

 the beach. They appear to be an outlying branch of the Malay nice, 

 in the same low state of culture as the Qrung-Iaut or seafaring 

 Malays of th« pre-Mohammedan epoch. 



Topography.— By far tho most valuable part of Tenasseriinks 

 the northern division of Amherst, which borders on East Pegu, and 

 comprises the fertile alluvial plain of the Lower Sal win and its 

 delta. Here is situated the formerly important but now much 

 reduced town of Nnrtalmn, which gives its name to the neighbouring 

 gulf. Facing it on the Salwin estuary lies the present capital t Maul- 

 7rwiJi, a flourishing seaport, sheltered from the south-west monsoons 

 by the adjacent island of Betu, or Belugyun (Bhilu-ghaiwon). The 

 motley liurniese, Indian, Chinese, and European inhabitants of 

 Manlmain are mostly engaged in trade, exporting rice, teak, cotton, 

 and other local proditcl;? in exchange for European and Indian warns. 

 Some thirty miles down the coast Ik-* tin.* SiuU? L-;ilih ;v:-<>rt :md 

 watering-place of Amhtrat, which gives its name to the northern 

 district of Tcnasserim, and affords a refuge to the rich traders of 

 Maul main during the oppressive summer heats. 



The only other noteworthy centres of population are the small 

 inland town of Tcnaneritn t on the lower Tena£Rerini f whence both 

 the river and province take their name, and the small porta of 

 J/t*r^«f, 011 the delta of the same river, and Tavog at the head of 



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