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Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie
Burmah and the Burmese
Published by Good Press, 2021
EAN 4066338090768
Table of Contents
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BURMAH;
AN HISTORICO-SOCIAL SKETCH.
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BOOK I.
BURMAN CIVILISATION.
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CHAPTER I.
Geographical sketch—Character of the country—Climate—The river Irawadi—The Petroleum wells—The Saluen, &c.—Forests—Plants—Minerals—Animals—Races of Burmah—Character of the Burmese nation.
Before the war in 1824, 1825, and 1826, the empire of Burmah was the most considerable among those of the Indo-Chinese nations inhabiting the farther peninsula of India. Previous to the events of that campaign it comprehended the whole of the extensive region lying between the latitudes 9° and 27° N. At present, however, its limits are lat. 16° and 27° or 28° N., and long. 93° and 99° E. Its northern boundary is, even at the present day, imperfectly known; and we are in still greater uncertainty concerning the frontier to the east, in Upper Laos, partly subject to the king of Ava or Burmah. Berghaus is probably the most correct in following Sir Francis Hamilton,[2] who has done far more for the geography of these countries than any one else, and extending it to 100° E. long., about the parallel of 22° N. It is bounded on the west by the British provinces of Arakhan, Cassay, and Chittagong; to the north, by a portion of Assam and Thibet; to the north-east it has the Chinese province of Yunan; to the east, the independent Laos country and the British territory of Martaban; and to the south it has the kingdom of Siam and the Indian Ocean.