Page:Provincial geographies of India (Volume 4).djvu/30

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GENERAL DESCRIPTION
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the coast is indented by tidal creeks fringed by the ever-recurring mangrove and dani palm forests. North-east lies broken, hilly country, covered with dense woods. Kyaukpyu includes the large islands of Cheduba and Ramree. Akyab, the headquarters of the Division, is one of the principal ports of the Province with a magnificent harbour.

Chin Hills. (4) The Chin Hills include the district of that name in the Sagaing Division, the Pakôkku Chin Hills, and the Arakan Hill District, covering an area of some 12,000 square miles. This country occupies the western corner of Upper Burma, bounded on the north by Manipur, on the west by the Lushai Hills, on the south by Akyab, on the east by Upper Chindwin and Pakôkku. It is a mass of mountains intersected by deep valleys with no plain country whatever. In the Chin Hills district and the Pakôkku Hills, the ranges run from north to south, varying in height from 5000 to 9000 feet; the highest peak, Mt Victoria, in the Pakôkku Chin Hills, rises to 10,400 feet. In the Arakan Tracts, the hills do not average more than 3000 to 3500 feet in height. The whole Chin country is covered with dense forest, including pines and other trees of temperate climes, and in places glowing with masses of rhododendron. The savage mountaineers have been brought into subjection with much difficulty and are kept in order by military police posts. The headquarters are at Falam. Another principal post is Fort White, named after Sir George White, famous as the defender of Ladysmith.

The Shan States. (5) The great tract known as the Shan States extends along the eastern border of Upper Burma from 19° 20' to 24° 9' N. and from 96° 13' to 101° 9' E., covering an area of 54,728 square miles. It stretches eastward across the Salween as far as the Mèkong river to China, French Indo-China and Siam. In the north it marches with China; in the south with Lower Burma and Karenni. Its general aspect is that of a high plateau rising