HSIPAW or THIBAW is called by the Shans, and officially, Hsipaw, and also frequently Ong Pawng (the name of an old capital). The chief plain land is in the valley of the Nam Tu (Myit-nge), near Thibaw town, and the valley or strath of the Pyawng Kawng, Nawng Ping neighbourhood. Elsewhere the valleys are insignificant. The hills on the Mong Tung border reach their highest elevations in the peaks Loi Pan (6,848 ft.) and Loi Htan (6,270 f t.). To the north-west of Thibaw town, on the Tawng Peng border, Loi Lam rises to 6,486 ft. The valley of the Nam Tu marks the lowest point in the State at Thibaw town, about 1,400 ft., and rises on the east in Mong Tung to a plain level of about 2,500 ft., and on the west in Mong Long to a mass of hills with an average height of 4,500 ft., broken up by the Nam Yawn and Nam Kaw valleys, which are about 3,00o ft. above sea-level.
The chief river is the Nam Tu or Myit-nge. Between Thonze and Lawksawk (Yatsauk) it flows through a gorge between cliffs 3,00o to 4,000 ft. high. At the gorge of Gokteik the Nam Htang and the Nam Pase unite to form the Nam Kilt, which passes into the ground at the natural bridge where the Mandalay-Lashio rail way crosses the gorge, and reappears to join the Nam Tu. The
bed of the Nam KUt is about 1,50o ft. below the general level of the country. Coal of poor quality is found at various places.
The average maximum temperature at the beginning of April is about 96°, and the minimum about the same period 65°. The rainfall averages about 70 in. The chief crops are rice, cotton, sesame, tea in the hills, and thanat, the leaf of a tree used for the wrapper of the Burma, or "green" cheroot. Cotton cloth was formerly much more generally manufactured than it now is, and a coarse country paper is also made. The government cart road to Lashio passes through the centre of the State, and the Manda lay-Lashio railway also passes through the capital. Teak forests exist along the banks of the Nam Tu and in the Mang Lon States, but both have been practically exhausted, and will have to be closed for many years.