Provincial Geographies of India/Volume 4/Chapter 4
CHAPTER IV
MOUNTAINS AND HILLS
People who speak and write of Burma as a rule get their impressions from the most highly developed, and therefore most easily accessible, deltaic region and Irrawaddy valley. But the land of plains and swamps is but a fraction of Burma which is mainly a country of rugged hills and mountains. Though the topmost heights are far below the towering peaks of central Asia, there are many mountains of quite respectable eminence.
East of the Irrawaddy, starting from the north, the Eastern Kachin Hills run southward from Tibet occupying the eastern part of Putao, Myitkina and Bhamo and dividing those districts from China, a maze of hills and mountains some 30 to 35 miles in breadth, with peaks 3000, 7000 and 11,000 feet in height. South of these are the hills of the Ruby Mines, with the outstanding peaks of Taungme (7544 feet) and Shwe-u-daung (6231 feet). Bernardmyo, hard by, is on a height of nearly 6000 feet and Mogók, the centre of the ruby-mining industry, is about 4000 feet above the sea. The hills dividing Burma proper from the Shan States rise to heights of 4700 feet in Mandalay, 5000 feet at Nat-teik in Kyauksè, and 6000 feet in Yamèthin. Rising from the plains of Myingyan are isolated groups of hills. Popa (5000 feet) in the south-west of the district, a double peak of volcanic origin, has already been mentioned as a conspicuous landmark. It is also famous as the haunt of nats[1] of great repute.
In Yamèthin rises the Pegu Yoma, running thence southward approximately through the middle of Lower Burma and forming the watershed between the Irrawaddy and the Sittang. Its heights are inconsiderable, hardly exceeding 2000 feet. Gradually declining, it ends with the hill crowned by the Shwe Dagôn Pagoda at Rangoon.
Fig. 19. Shwe Dagôn Pagoda.
To the east, on the great Shan plateau, itself averaging in height from 3000 to 4000 feet, are countless hills and many mountain chains. Dividing North and South Hsenwi is the Loi-Hpa-Tan range, with the high peak of Loi-sak (6000 feet); in east Hsipaw, the Loi-Pan group, rising to nearly 7000 feet; in South Hsenwi, Loi-Leng (9000 feet). In Tawngpeng to the northward, a mass of hills, the loftiest range rises to 7500 feet. East of the Salween, the hilly tract of Kokang has heights of over 7000 feet; south of this is a tangled maze of hills. In the Southern Shan States, five separate ranges run approximately north and south with many conspicuous peaks, Sindaung and Myinmati (each 5000 feet) on the western border; Ashe-myin-anaukmyin in the Menetaung range; Loi Maw and Loi Mai (each 8000 feet).
East of the Pegu Yoma, in Toungoo the Paunglaung and Nattaung ranges rise above 5000 feet. The Paunglaung continues southward into Thatôn. On the Siamese border are the hills forming the Salween district, with heights from 3000 to 5000 feet. Thatôn and Amherst have the Dawna range and the Taung-nyo range which ends as the Martaban Hills; and in Thatôn the Kelatha Hills take off from the Paunglaung and attain heights of 3650 feet. Further south, the inland parts of Tavoy and Mergui consist of hill ranges extending eastward to the frontier of Siam, in which the highest peaks are Myinmoletkut (6800 feet) and Nwalabo (nearly 6000 feet).
West of the Irrawaddy, the Kinwun range runs from Hkamti-lōng, east of Assam, culminating in the peak of Shwe-daung-gyi (5750 feet) near Mogaung. South of Mogaung are the Kauk-kwe Hills and the Loi-yet range. Further south, Katha has many hills, the best defined ranges being the Minwun which takes off from Taungthônlôn far to the north, with the height of Maing-thôn (5450 feet) and the Gangaw, parallel to the Irrawaddy, rising to 4400 feet.
In the extreme north, on the edge of Tibet, are superb chains of mountains culminating in a mighty peak, as yet unnamed, 19,764 feet in height, at the limit of the Putao district. Other peaks in or on the borders of Putao attain heights of 11,000, 12,000 and 14,000 feet. The district itself, save for the plain of Hkamti-lōng, is a mass of hills and mountains. In the north-west, on the borders of Singaling
Fig. 20. The road to Kalaw.
Hkamti, lofty hills separate Burma from Assam. Here is Nwemauktaung or Saramati (12,557 feet), long regarded as the highest peak in Burma but now known to be dwarfed by the giant of Putao. From this mass of hills branches the Pôndaung range, running southward through Upper and
Lower Chindwin and Pakôkku, with heights from 2000 to _0058.png)
Fig. 21. Sketch map of Putao.
The Chin Hills, bordering on Assam and Manipur, have already been mentioned as nothing but a maze of mountains. The main ranges run north and south, the principal being the Letta or Tang, the Inbuklang, and the Kong Klang, varying from 5000 to 9000 feet in height. West of Pakôkku, the southern part of the Chin Hills has heights from 5000 to 7000 feet, with the great peak of Mt Victoria (10,400 feet). In the Arakan Hill Tracts, the heights dwindle to 3000 and 3500 feet, but the best defined range, Kyaukpan-daung, rises to 4500 feet. Taking off from the Chin Hills, skirting Minbu, the Arakan Yoma separates Arakan from the plains of Irrawaddy and ends at Cape Negrais. Other ranges in Arakan are the Mayu, between the Naaf and Mayu rivers, and two ranges between the Kaladan and Mayu.
As pointed out in the chapter on Geology, the orographical relief of Burma is still a rough expression of relatively young earth movements, although the rock folds, since their formation, have been superficially scored and mutilated by recent weather action, and the underground structure has thus been obscured, just as a description of the country must necessarily be obscured by the use of many unfamiliar names. The westward movement of the solid block of old rocks forming the Shan plateau, meeting the southerly creep towards India of the Tibetan plateau, has formed the sigmoidal curves of the Irrawaddy valley, the general north-south trend of the oil-fields, the Arakan and Chindwin ridges and even the western sea shore, all features of relief roughly parallel to one another in direction and at right angles to the great earth movements in which they originated.
- ↑ See p. 129.