ARACAN, ARRAKAN, RECCAN, ROSHAUN, YEEKE1N, or Moo, a country of Asia, situated on the Bay of Ben gal, to the east of the mouth of the Ganges. It is bounded on the north by AIeckley, on the east by the Birman empire, and on the south by Pegu. It stretches from the river Naff to Cape Negrais, and is nearly sur rounded by the range of lofty mountains, called An oupectoumiou. The air of Aracan is extremely salubri ous. The country is intersected with rivers and lakes, and is covered with wood of all kinds. The plains, which are exceedingly fertile, produce rice of an excel lent quality, and the mountains, green during the whole year, support a numerous breed of cattle. The trees produce the most delicious fruits, cocoa nuts, pine ap ples, oranges, and lemons of extraordinary size. From the want of horses, the land is cultivated by means of buffaloes, which, along with elephants and camels, are found in great numbers in the forests. Some mines of lead and tin are found in the mountains.
The southern part of Aracan is a wild and unculti vated desert, inhabited by tigers, elephants, and buffa loes, which have frustrated every attempt at cultivation. The northern part has been represented by Schooten, as one of the finest countries in the world, covered with opu lent and beautiful towns and with populous villages ; but the foreign and domestic wars in which Aracan has been engaged, have changed the appearance of the country.
A considerable trade was formerly carried on with Aracan by the Portuguese and Dutch, but it is now in the hands of the Mahometans, who are settled here in great numbers, and who exchange cloths, cotton, pep per, sandal wood, iron, steel, copper, skins, and procelain, for wood, lead, tin, stick-lac, elephants, elephants' teeth, and precious stones.
The natives of Aracan are distinguished by large and flat foreheads, which they produce during infancy by the application of a leaden plate. Their nostrils are ex tremely large, and their ears so long as to rest upon their shoulders. Their eyes are small and sparkling, and the complexion is rather darker than that of the Chinese and Siamese, whom, in other respects, they resemble. The common food of the inhabitants is rice ;
but. the delicacies of their table are rats, mice, serpents, and fish in the first stage of putrefaction. The dead bodies of the poor are thrown into the rivers, or exposed to birds of prey ; while those of the higher orders are honoured with a funeral pile ; and they regard it as an act of piety to accelerate the progress of a lingering disease. The religion of these savages is as barbarous as their manners. By means of a heated iron, they im print upon their arms the images of their domestic gods ; .and, during their processions of idols, the infatuated people throw themselves beneath the wheels of the cars that carry their paltry deities. The chief of the priest hood, which consists of three orders, resides in the island of Munay, and possesses great power ; the kings of Ara can stood uncovered in their presence, and surrendered the precedence in every ceremonial observance. The royal guard was said to have been composed of armed concubines. Strangers who happened to suffer shipwreck on the coast of Aracan, were kept as slaves, and treated with the greatest rigour. Their pirates infested the whole Gulf of Bengal, and, entering the mouths of the rivers, carried off numbers of slaves.
During the two last centuries, the kingdom of Aracan was frequently harassed by their enemies. The Moguls and Peguers had frequently carried their victorious arms into the heart of the country, and the Portuguese, as allies and as enemies, had established themselves in Aracan. The kingdom, however, always maintained its independence till the year 1783, when Minderajee, the sovereign of the Birman empire, conquered the country, and annexed it to his dominions. Aracan is now a pro vince of the Birman empire, and is governed by a may woon or viceroy. See Syme's Embassy to 'siva. Pen nant's Outlines of the Globe, vol. iii. Histoire Moderne des Indiens, torn. iii. p. 414. 445. 1756. Baron's Alit. Hist. vol. iii. p. 81. Pinkerton's Geography, vol. ii. p. 227. and BIR).1 AN Empire. 0-)