The Mu[1] river, pursuing a southerly course almost parallel with the Irrawaddy, joins the main stream at Myinmu below Sagaing on the right bank. It is largely used for irrigation purposes and waters thousands of acres of rice fields.
The greatest affluent of all is the Chindwin. Rising as the Tanai in the Hukong valley, north-west of Myitkyina, it flows past the Shan States of Singaling Hkamti and Hsawnghsup, through the two Chindwin districts, past Kindat, Mawlaik, Mingin and Mônywa, pursuing a winding course, with many a curve and many an eddy, till it enters the Irrawaddy above Pakôkku. It is navigable by light draught steamers and launches as far as Kindat throughout the year and up to Homalin (330 miles) in the rains; regular steamer services have long been established. But its course is impeded by shallows and whirlpools. The upper reaches flow through brilliantly picturesque, savage country clouded by myths and legends. It is said that above a certain point on the Chindwin though there are snakes they are not venomous. Less easily credible is the report of a village whereof the people can transform themselves into tigers. The main tributaries of the Chindwin are the Yu, Myittha and Kyaukmyet from the west and the Uyu from the east. Of these the most important is the Myittha into which flow the Maw from the south and the Manipur from the north.
Further south, on the right bank, the Irrawaddy receives the Yaw, in Pakôkku, the Salin, Môn and Man, in Minbu; on the left bank, the Pin which rises on Popa and joins the main river above Yenangyaung, and the Yin which runs for 120 miles from Yamèthin through Magwe. Besides the tributaries which have been specified, the Irrawaddy is fed by unnumbered mountain torrents of whose nomenclature the tediousness shall not be inflicted on the reader.
- ↑ Pronounced like the note of the cow not of the cat.
