Myitkyina District, 1908
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
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Myitkyina District
District in the Mandalay Division of Upper Burma, the northernmost of the Province, lying between 24° 37' and 27° 20' N. and 96° o' and 98° 20' E., with an area of 10,640 square miles. Only the lower portion of the District is 'administered' ; over the upper portion, a tract of unexplored country about the head- waters of the Chindwin and Irrawaddy, comprising the Hukawng valley, Hkamti Long, and what is known as the Sana tract, no direct adminis- trative control is at present exercised. The ' administered ' area is bounded on the north-east by the Kumpi range of hills, which forms the northern watershed of the Shingaw valley ; on the north by the N'maikha down to the confluence where that stream joins with the Malikha to form the Irrawaddy, and thence by a geographical line running east and west at 35° 45' N. On the north-west it is bounded by the Hukawng valley ; on the west it is separated from the Upper Chindwin District by a geographical line running north and south- at 96° E., and by the Xanisaiig stream : and on the .south its borders march with Katha and Bhamo Districts.
The eastern boundary abuts on Viinnan. At its northern extremity, the dividing hne between the District and China is formed by the watershed between the drainage of the Irrawaddy on the one hand and of the ShweH and Taping on the other : farther south it follows the course of two streams, the Tabak flowing south and the Paknoi flowing north, which unite to form the Nantabet, an eastern tributary of the Irrawaddy, while about 5 miles south of Sima in the south-east of the District the border-line again takes the watershed between the Irrawaddy and the Taping, till Bhamo District is reached.
Physical aspects
With the exception of the actual basins of its main streams, Myit- kyina is mountainous throughout. The eastern Kachin Hills run down southwards from Tibet, and extend along the whole eastern border of the District, their breadth from aspects the foot to the crest (the Chinese boundary) being 30 to 35 miles, and their heights varying from 3,000 to 7,000 feet, but rising in places to peaks as high as 11,000 feet. On the western side of the broad Irrawaddy plain is the Kumon range, which stretches from the Hkamti country east of Assam southwards to the latitude of Kamaing (25° 30' N.), terminating near Mogaung in the Shwedaunggyi peak (5,750 feet). On its northern slopes the Chindwin, locally known as the Tanai, is supposed to have its source. South of Mogaung and the end of the Kumon range, from which they are separated by the valley of the Mogaung river, start the Kaukkwc Hills, in about 25° 10' N.
They run southwards in two diverging lines ; through the eastern branch, which skirts the Irrawaddy, that river forces its way and forms the third or upper defile ; the western spur separates the Kaukkwe valley from the Nanyin valley, which the Sagaing-Myitkyina railway follows, and is continued into Katha Dis- trict. Other ranges deserving of mention are the Loipyet, which separates the Nanyin and Indaw streams, starting at Kamaing ; and the hilly country which includes the Jade Mines tract, dividing the Uyu valley from the valleys of the Upper Mogaung and the Indaw. All this mass of upland is thickly clothed with jungle, and the scenery is in places magnificent.
Nearly the whole of the District lies within the basin of the Irra- waddy ; but while on the east the countr>- rises, with but a small break here and there, from the river to the hills on the Chinese frontier, and is drained by short direct tributaries, that part of the District lying on the west of the Irrawaddy, nearly three-quarters of the whole, drains by numerous streams into one large tributary, the Mogaung river, and is characterized by several valleys i)ossessing great possibilities ot culti- vation. The Irrawaddy, formed by the confluence of the Malikha and N'maikha streams in 25° 45' N., flows in a southerly course across the District, somewhat nearer to its eastern than its western border. Above Sinbo in the south of the District the country on either side is a luxu- riant plain, but at Sinbo the river enters the third or upper defile.
The scenery here is wild and picturesque ; the river in the rains becomes a foaming mass of dull white : in one place, known as the ' Gates,' the stream is pent up in a rocky channel, only 50 yards wide, formed by two projecting rocks below which are two huge whirlpools. In flood-time this obstruction stops navigation of any kind, and launches can negotiate it only in the dry season. The Irrawaddy's most impor- tant tributary in the District is the Mogaung river (or Nam Kawng), which rises beyond the ' administrative ' border in the north, and flows past Kamaing and Mogaung in a general south-easterly direction, entering the main river about 15 miles north of Sinbo. At Kamaing it is joined by the Indaw, which runs a north-easterly course from the Indawgyi Lake ; and at Mogaung by the Nanyin (or Nam Yang), which comes with the railway from Katha District also in a north- easterly direction. The only tributary of any importance on the left bank of the Irrawaddy is the Nantabet, which rises on the Chinese border and flows due west into the main river about half-way between Myitkyina and Sinbo.
The Indawgyi Lake, the largest in Burma, lies between 25° 5 and 25° 20' N. and 96° 18' and 96° 23" E., near the south-west corner of the District, and has an area of nearly 80 square miles. It is surrounded on three sides by ranges of hills, but has an outlet, the Indaw river, on the north. The lake abounds in fish and the valley is fertile ; but it is only beginning to recover from the devastation caused by the Kachin rising in 1883.
The hill ranges consist of metamorphic and crystalline rocks, on which eocene and miocene trap have been deposited. Limestone, .sandstone, clays, and ferruginous conglomerates are met with. The soil in the plains near the Irrawaddy is alluvial clay and loam, and is very fertile. The jade, amber, and other mines found in the older formations are referred to below.
The vegetation is luxuriant, but, except for forest i)urposes, has not been exhaustively studied. Covering a considerable range of altitude, it must of necessity be varied. Much of the plain land consists of stretches of elephant-grass, and bamboos are very abundant.
The District possesses a varied and numerous fauna, including the elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, leopard, bear (Tibetan and Malayan), bison {Bos gaurus), tsine or hsaing {Bos sondaicus), sdmbar, hog deer, barking-deer, serow (called by Burmans the jungle goat), wild hog, wild dog, jungle cat, monkeys (including the gibbon), and the por- cupine.The climate of Myitk.\ina tVoni December to March is pleasant. It is very cold at times, but along the Irrawaddy and other valleys the mornings at this season are spoilt by heavy fogs, which do not lift till 9 or 10 o'clock. The rains are heavy, and from June to Octo- ber the climate cannot be said to be healthy, malarial fever being prevalent even in the town. The mean maximum temperature from November to the end of February is about 73°, and the mean mini- mum temperature during the same period about 56, the averages for the rest of the year being about 88"^ and 71° respectively. No official register of temperature is kept. The annual rainfall of the last eight years, as registered at Myitkyina, averaged 75 inches, and at Mogaung 80 inches.
History
The part of the District lying west of the Irrawaddy and the plain on the east of the river once formed the old Shan principality of Mongkawng (Mogaung). In Ney Elias's History of the Shans we are informed that this region was in early ages inhabited by a people called Nora, who were consider- ably more civilized than their neighbours, and had a reputation as a learned class. Of these people Francis Buchanan Hamilton states that they called themselves Tai Long (or Great Shans) and spoke a dialect little different from that of Siam : and it is a fact that at the present day the Siamese understand the vernacular spoken in this neighbourhood better than the more adjacent Tai dialects of the Southern Shan States. The first Sawbwa of Mongkawng, accord- ing to the chronicle, was Sam Long Hpa (1215), who made extensive conquests in all directions, and ruled over territory stretching from Hkamti Long to Shwebo, and extending into the country of the Nagas and Mishmis.
Until 1557 the principality was more or less under Chinese influence ; but in that year it was invaded by an ex- pedition from Pegu, and thereafter was subject to Burma or inde- pendent, according to the strength of the reigning monarch, till it was finally subjugated in 1796 and governed by wins sent from the court of Ava. The Shans broke out into rebellion early in the nine- teenth century ; and the important walled village of waingmaw, just below Myitkyina on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, was destroyed by a Burmese expedition from Bhamo in 1810. The final blow to the dependency came from the Kachins, who began to press down from the north about fifty or sixty years ago. The Shans gradually became exhausted, and in 1883 a rebellion fostered by a man named Haw Saing, who professed to be the re-incarnation of a legendary Shan prince, established Kachin predominance.
This rising started with the devastation of the Indawgyi valley, and culminated in the capture of Mogaung. The rebels were dispersed : but, as in Bhamo Dis- trict, the Burmese government was incapable of protecting its Shan subjects, who continued for several years to pay tribute to the local Kachin chiefs (duwas) in return for freedom from molestation, the amount varying from several buffaloes to a handful of salt. This was the state of Myitkyina when it passed into the hands of the British as a portion of Bhamo District. In February, 1886, the Deputy- Commissioner of Bhamo received the submission of the local officials at Mogaung ; but great difficulties were met with in the administra- tion of the country. The first inyo-ok was assassinated only two months after his arrival ; the Burman officer appointed in his place declined to stay at Mogaung unless supported by troops ; and his successor, one Po Saw by name, fled rather than meet the expedi- tion sent up there in 1887, and thereafter became openly rebellious.
He instigated the Lepai Kachins to oppose the column from Bhamo that had come to appoint his successor, and attacked Mogaung, but without success. In 1887 Mogaung was strongly stockaded, and made the head-quarters of the Mogaung subdivision of Bhamo Dis- trict. Po Saw made another attack on it in 1888, and caused some los'^s to the garrison. In 1888-9 four punitive expeditions were dis- patched under the direction of Sir George AMiite against the sur- rounding Kachin tribes, which accomplished their end with little loss, a post being established at Kamaing on the Mogaung river.
In 1891 the Myitkyina subdivision was formed. In 1890-r four columns were dispatched to bring the Kachins west of the river under direct control, one of which visited the Hukawng valley and the amber and jade mines, and met a column from Assam. Two of the expe- ditions sent to subdue the Kachins east of the Irrawaddy in 1891-:: encountered very considerable difficulties. One column captured the hill village of Sadon in the north-east of the District, and went on to explore the banks of the N'maikha ; in its absence the post at Sadon was besieged by the Kachins, and had to be relieved by a column which had been operating in the neighbourhood of Sima, south-east of Myitkyina town. In 1892-3 a military police column concen- trated at Talawgyi, a village due south of Myitkyina on the eastern bank of the Irrawaddy, and after some opposition established a post at Sima. On the very day Sima was reached Myitkyina was suddenly raided by the Sana Kachins, a tribe living beyond the ' administrative ' limit. The subdivisional officer's courthouse was burnt, and the iubahddr-\wa]ox of the Mogaung levy was shot dead. Meanwliilc the Kachins had enveloped Sima ; and Captain Morton, the com- mander of the expedition, was mortally wounded while witlidrawing a picket, and was with difficulty conveyed inside the fort by Surgeon- Major Lloyd, who afterwards received the Victoria Cross for his gallantry. Military police were then dispatched from Myitkyina, and a column which had been working south of the Taping was
sent up northwards to create a diversion; but it was nut until 1,200 rifles had been called up and considerable fighting (involving the death of several l:]uropean officers) had occurred, that the Kachins were finally scattered at Palap, south of .Sima. After the formation of Myitkyina District in 1895 an expedition was sent to punish the Sana Kachins for their raid on Myitkyina, and twenty-four villages were heavily fined. The last fighting was in 1899- 1900, when an expedition sent to explore the country east of the N"niaikha was cut off by a force of Chinese, who lost 70 killed and many wounded before they gave way.
Population
Nearly one-third of the population inhabiting the Kachin Hills in the east were only 'estimated' in 1901, owing to the impossibility of obtaining reliable supervision in that remote and backward area. The population of the District was returned as 51,021 in 1891 and 67,399 Its distribution in the latter year is shown in the following table : —
- Made up of 17,560 in the regularly enumerated and ^1,285 in tie
' estimated " areas.
Though the enumeration of 1901 was admittedly partial, it seems clear that a substantial increase in the population had taken place during the previous decade. There is a certain amount of immigration from China (including both Chinamen and Shan-Chinese), and to a smaller extent from the Shan States also. Rather more Buddhists than Animists were enumerated in the areas regularly dealt with in 1 901, but in the District as a whole Animists are in the majority. Kachin is the principal language, and Shan is more spoken than Burmese.
The most numerous indigenous race is that of the Kachins, who form rather more than half the total population. They inhabit the hills on both sides of the Irrawaddy over all the northern and north-eastern parts of the District. The Lisaws, Szis, Lashis, and Marus are practi- cally all residents of the 'estimated' areas, and their numbers are not precisely known. Shans numbered 17,300 in 1901, including Shan- Chinese, who possess about a dozen villages. They are found for the most part in tlie Myitkyina plain. The Biirmans numbered only 6,600, living in the river valley, mostly in Shan villages. The total of Chinamen was 3,600, most of them traders in and near Mogaung and Myitkyina town.
A tribe peculiar to the District is the Hpons, who inhabit the third defile and a few villages north of it in the Mankin valley, and are indispensable to the keeping open of the river during the rains. They resemble the ordinary Shan-Burmans in dress and features, and appear to have been returned as such in 1901 ; but they have their own dialect, now dying out, and worship only the one great tiat of the hills. Natives of India numbered about 5,000 in 1 90 1, nearly four-fifths of whom were Hindus. The great part of this alien population is composed of military police and other Government and railway employes. There are, however, a certain number of Indian traders in Myitkyina town. Assuming that practically all the inhabi- tants of the 'estimated' areas were cultivators, about 52,700 people were dependent directly on agriculture in 1901, or 78 per cent, of the total population. Of these, more than 30,000 were probably supported by taiirigya (shifting) cultivation alone.
The last enumeration showed a total of 161 Christians in the District, of whom 116 were natives. The American Baptist Mission has a representative at Myitkyina and has opened a Kachin boys' school.
Agriculture
With respect to agriculture, the District may be divided into two portions : the level valley lands on the banks of the Irrawaddy and its tributaries, and the hills. In both regions the staple crop is rice, but there is a difference in the method in which it is grown. The best rice lands are those in the valley of the Nanyin, and, generally speaking, the soil in the river basins is extremely fertile, and, the rainfall being sufficient, rice is very easily grown ; indeed the ground will produce almost any- thing, as has been proved by the natives of India who live at Myitkyina. Rice is grown in the plains in the usual manner, that is, in embanked fields.
Another less common method of cultivation, which is also practised in the lowlands, consists in cutting down the jungle, firing it, ploughing the ashes into the soil, and then sowing the seed broadcast. Fields cultivated in this manner are known as lebok. A plot of land thus dealt with cannot be worked for more than two years, after which it lies fallow for some six or seven. Taungya is practised in the hills. In the case of cultivation of this kind, a hill-side is selected, the jungle on it is cut and burnt, and when the rains have begun the rice seed is dibbled into the ground, the crop being reaped in the cold season. It is a method confined to the hills, as its name signifies. Taungya land is cropped only twice as a rule, and is left fallow for 9 or 10 years subsequently.
The following tabic exhibits, in sciunre miles, the chief agricultural statistics of the District for 1903-4. The area cultivated excludes tamigya cultivation, which is the most prevalent form.
Rice covers the greater part of the cultivated area. A h'ttle tobacco is grown on the alluvium close to the river banks, and potatoes and gram have been tried successfully by natives of India at Myitkyina. On the hills, in addition to rice, crops of cotton, sesamum, and millet are produced, as well as opium for local consumption, and a little tea is grown in some of the hill villages on the west bank of the Irrawadd) .
The area under cultivation is steadily increasing, but, as the District has not yet been cadastrally surveyed, estimates made of the expansion are of little value. The growth is most noticeable in the Nanyin vallev, near the railway line, and in the region round the Indawgyi Lake. C)f new products, Havana tobacco and Mocha coffee have been introduced into the District. The former has proved successful, but it is still too soon to pass any opinion on the prospects of the latter. Peach-trees thrive in the Government experimental garden at Myitkyina, and yearly produce good crops ; but apples, plums, pears, and nectarines, all of which are being tried, have as yet yielded no results. A few years ago the agriculturists showed no disposition to take loans from Government, but this feeling has died out, and there is now no prejudice against this form of assistance. The loans made by the state are devoted for the most part to the purchase of plough cattle, and are recovered with little or no trouble. The amount advanced during the seven years ending 1905 averaged about Rs. 6,000 annually.
There is no peculiarity about the local breeds of cattle. The beast most in favour for agricultural purposes is the buffalo. Large numbers of cows are, however, bred for milch purposes by natives of India living at Myitkyina, Mogaung, Kamaing, Waingmaw, and Hopin. Practically no ponies and only a few goats are kept, but sheep are imported during the dry season from China. A large number of mules are brought in from China in the open season for hire as transport animals, but there is no mule-breeding within the District. No grazing grounds have been regularly defined. Fortunately, however, owing to the heavy rainfall and the scant dimensions of the cultivation, lack of fodder is unknown.
Very little land is irrigated in the District, the small weirs at Sinbo, Katcho, Waingmaw, Hopin, and other villages each supplying only a few acres. The total area returned as under irrigation in 1903-4 was 5 square miles, nearly all of which consists of rice lands in the Irrawaddy valley. The weir on the Nanlon stream near Waingmaw was built by Government in 1899 at a cost of Rs. 11,000. The Indawgyi Lake abounds with fish, but no other fisheries are of any importance.
Forests
Myitkyina possesses both hill and plain forests. The forests of the plains are much mixed with elephant-grass, and in the drier portions the characteristic trees are Dipterocarpus tuberculatus and species of Shorea, Butea, Sic, while by far the commonest tree in the moister portions is the silk-cotton tree {Bombax rnalabaricuni). The northern limit of teak is here reached, and very few trees are found north of Myitkyina town. A consequence of this is that where teak occurs it does not ascend the hills to any consider- able height, but is found chiefly just along their bases. The finest teak areas are near the Indawgyi Lake. Though a considerable quantity of india-rubber [Fici/s e/astica) nominally comes from Myit- kyina, it is in reality all collected beyond the ' administrative ' border and imported. The area under 'reserved' forests is 130 square miles, and the forest receipts in 1903-4 were if lakhs. AVith the exception of india-rubber, the trade in which has shrunk to very small propor- tions within the last two years, there are no minor forest products of importance.
Minerals
The principal minerals are jade, mined in the north-west of the District ; gold, found in the Irrawaddy ; rubies, extracted at Nanyaseik, 13miles above Kamaing on the Nanya stream ; and Minerals. bcorundum at Man we, on the Indaw stream. Beyond the ' administrative ' border there are amber-mines.
Jade is worked in quarries near Tawmaw and Hweka, close to the Upper Chindwin District, and in river-mines at Mamon on the Uyu chaung. The quarries at Tawmaw have produced immense quantities of the stone, but it does not approach in quality that obtained in boulders in the river banks or at the bottom of the stream. For the Burmese and Chinese market valuable jade has to satisfy rigid con- ditions of colour, transparency, brilliancy, and hardness. The Tawmaw stone, which is of a particular shade of dark green, satisfies the first condition, but fails in regard to the other three. The method of working the quarries is primitive.
The first fracture being brought about by the application of artificial heat followed by cold at night, crowbars are driven in and large blocks are obtained, which are broken up into a shape and size suitable for transport, either on mules to Kamaing or on bamboo rafts down the Uyu to Kindat. An ad vaIore?/i duty, of 2,3^ per cent, on the output is collected at Mogaung and Kindat. This duty averaged Rs. 50,000 during the last three years, the out-turn of jade in 1903 being 1,340 cwt., valued at Rs. 1,22,000.
The ruby tract at Nanyaseik is worked after a primitive fashion by Government Ucensees. The miners dig in shallow pits" scattered over a wide area, as the ruby-bearing soil {byon) occurs in pockets. The revenue from this source fluctuates very considerably, depressions following prosperous periods from time to time. It reached Rs. 33,000 in 1895-6, but dropped to Rs. 80 in 1902-3. The tract is now practically deserted.
The amber-mines are situated beyond the 'administrative' frontier in the Hukawng valley near the village of Maingkwan. The shafts dug for its extraction are only wide enough for a man to descend and ascend by steps, and are seldom more than 40 feet in depth. As with jade, amber is found in pockets, and a cluster of pits always shows the existence of such a pocket. The product, unlike jade, is bought only by the Burmans, and is by them used for the manufacture of trinkets and beads. The corundum mines at Manwe are worked in a similar manner, but are of little value. Gold-washing is fitfully carried on in the Irrawaddy by Shans, Chinese, and Burmans. A steam dredger has been at work since 1902 above Myitkyina dredging for gold, and the venture shows promise of success.
Trade and Communication
There are no arts or manufactures worthy of mention. The Kachin women weave a strong cloth, and every Kachin makes his own rice-liquor {cheroo) ; but both weavmg communications. and brewing are on a very small scale, and neither the cloth nor the liquor is intended for other than home consumption. The import trade is entirely in the hands of natives of India and Chinese, the articles imported by railway from Lower Burma and Mandalay being salt, piece-goods, hardware, yarn, crockery, and matches for the Myitkyina and Mogaung bazars, which are the two principal distributing centres for those commodities. From Yunnan the Chinese bring in fruit, poultry, sheep, and manufactured articles, which for the most part take the form of pots and pans, umbrellas, rugs, and clothing. The exports are jade, amber, and india-rubber from the Hukawng valley, and teak-wood. The jade goes mostly to China and the other articles to Lower Burma.
The traffic in jade and rubber is chiefly in the hands of Chinese, who visit the jade-mines yearly in large numbers ; the timber trade is managed by an English firm. The total value of the imports from ^\'estern China in 1903-4, over what are known as the Waingmaw and Kazu routes, was about i\ lakhs, the corresponding figure for exports being about a lakh. Between the Kachins in the hills and the Shans in the plains there is some traffic in liijuor, oi)iuni, bait, and sesamum : but the instincts of the Kachins are not commercial, and at present there seems httle prospect of an expansion of trade in this direction. Maingna and AVaingmaw, east of the Irrawaddy, and Myitkyina, Mogaung, and Kamaing, west of the Irrawaddy, are the chief emporia of what Kachin trade there is. Owing to difficulty of transport, trade with China is not likely to increase in the immediate future.
Of communications the most noteworthy is the railway, which runs diagonally across the greater part of the centre of the District from the south-west, and, passing through Mogaung, has its terminus at Myitkyina. Next to the railway in importance comes the Irrawaddy, which is navigable all the year round by boats and small steamers between Watugyi and Simbo. Other waterways are, however, useful. The Mogaung stream can be used at all seasons by boats as far north as Laban, and during the rains by launches up to Kamaing ; the Indaw Lake and chaung are both navigable throughout the year by country boats ; and small country craft can ply on the Nantabet at all times of the year as far as Kazu.
The principal land communications are : the road from Waingmaw to Sadon and thence to China by two alternative routes, the first through Wawchon and the Kowlaing pass and the second by way of the Sansi gorge ; and the road from Waingmaw to Sima and thence by Palap to Sima-Pa in China. Graded mule-tracks have been made by the Public AVorks department to Sadon and Sima, the distance being 41 and 42 miles respectively; and other Government roads connect Maingna with Kwitu, a distance of 14 miles, Mogaung with Kamaing (27 miles), Kamaing with Nanyaseik (13 miles), Hopin on the railway line with Lonton on the Indawgyi Lake (28 miles), and Pungatong on the Sadon-Waingmaw road with Loingu on the N'maikha (18 miles). All these roads are partly bridged, but are unmetalled, and are maintained from Provincial funds. Rough mule-tracks connect Sadon with Sima and Sima with Nahpaw, and are cleared of jungle yearly by civil officers, the cost being met from Provincial funds. The tracks maintained from the District fund are : from Mogaung to Tapaw, 6 miles ; from Mogaung to Koywa, 5 miles ; and from Kamaing to Namlik village, 21 miles. Several ferries cross the Irrawaddy, the most important of which connects Myitkyina with the eastern bank.
Administration
For the purposes of administration the District is divided into two subdivisions : the Myitkyina subdivision and township ; and the Mogaung subdivision, comprising the Mogaung and Kamaing townships. The Kachin Hills are admin- istered under the Kachin Hill Tribes Regulation of 1895. In the Myitkyina township there are three civil officers' charges : the Sadon, Sima, and Myitkyina hill tracts. The first two arc under special civil officers stationed at Sadon and Sima, the last is in charge of the subdivisional police officer at Myitkyina. The hills west of the Irrawaddy are administered by the subdivisional officer of Mogaung and the township officer of Kamaing as civil officers. At the District head-quarters are the akunwun in subordinate charge of the revenue, and the treasury officer. Myitkyina is the head-quarters of the Executive Engineer in charge of the Myitkyina Public Works division, comprising the Myitkyina, Sadon, and Katha subdivisions ; and of the Deputy-Conservator of Forests in charge of the Myitkyina division, which, except for a small area in the west, is conterminous with the District.
There are no special civil judges. The subdivisional and township officers do all the civil work in their respective courts. Petty civil cases in the Kachin hill tracts are settled by the dinvas or headmen. Under the Kachin Hill Tribes Regulation of 1895 the Deputy-Com- missioner is vested with the powers of a Sessions Judge in cases arising in these tracts, the Commissioner confirming death sentences. The duwas are also allowed to settle petty criminal cases according to tribal custom. As in Bhamo District, the smuggling of opium from China and the Kachin Hills is very common, and the District is never wholly free from crimes of violence committed by the Kachins.
I'he revenue is made up of the thathameda tax, which is paid by the non-Kachin population at the rate of Rs. 10 per household; the tribute levied from Kachins at the rate of Rs. 5 per house in the tracts under the civil officers of Mogaung and Kamaing, and at a lower rate elsewhere ; land revenue paid by all cultivated lands in the plains : royalty on minerals ; and revenue from stamps, excise, and fisheries. Nearly all the land is state land, the revenue payable being the value of one-tenth of the gross produce (as fixed by the townshij) officer with the aid of assessors), except on lands given out on lease, on which a rate of Rs. 1-8 per acre is levied, these being the only surveyed lands in the District.
The growth of the revenue since the formation of the District is shown in the following table, in thousands of rupees : —
The thathameda, which is at present the main source of revenue,
increased from Rs. 46,000 in 1 900-1 to Rs. 73,000 in 1903-4.
The income of the District fund, which is derived chiefly from bazars and ferries, was Rs. 18,000 in 1903-4. No municipalities have been constituted.
Under the District Superintendent of police are z Assistant Super- intendenls in charge of the subdivisions, an inspeetor, 4 head con- stables, and 96 men. There are 4 civil police stations and an outpost, with the addition of village police at Lonton, Sinbo, Sadon, and Sima. The District is garrisoned by a strong force of military police, con- sisting of 9 British officers, 41 native officers, and 1,612 rank and file. Of these, 947 are stationed at Myitkyina ; and posts are held at Mogaung, Kamaing, Fort Harrison (Sadon), Fort Morton (Sima), and ^\'ayabu on the N'maikha, at each of which is an assistant commandant, also at Nahpaw (in the cold season), Lapye, ^Vaingmaw, Lonton, N'pum Bum, Sinbo, and Palawgyi. There is no jail, prisoners being sent to Katha when sentenced to imprisonment for a term exceeding one month.
The proportion of persons able to read and write was shown in 1901 as 28 per cent, in the case of males and 2 per cent, in the case of females, or 17 per cent, for both sexes together. These figures, however, leave out of consideration the population of the ' estimated ' tracts, where the number of literate persons must have been infinitesimal. A school for Kachin children is maintained by the American Baptist Mission, but most of the schools are monastic, and in the hill areas even the elementary teaching of the /fOfigyi kyaung is absent. In 1904 the institutions included one secondary, 21 primary, and 61 elementary (private) schools, with an attendance of 1,188 pupils (including 90 girls), as compared with 1,164 iri 1901. The expenditure on education in 1903-4 was Rs. 1,600, derived wholly from Provincial funds.
There are 6 hospitals, with accommodation for 67 in-patients. In 1903 the number of cases treated was 20,054, including 795 in-patients, and 300 operations were performed. 'Jlie total expenditure of Rs. 26,000 is derived almost wholly from Provincial funds. A number of patients were treated in the hospitals at the different military police outposts.
In 1903-4 the number of persons successfully vaccinated was 772, representing 11 per 1,000 of population.
[I. Errol Gray, Diary of a Journey to the Bar Khatnti Country and Sources of the Irrajvaddy (1893) ; Prince Henry of Orleans, Du Tonkin aux Indes (Paris, 1898).]
