BURMA, India, the largest province of British India, on the east side of the Bay of Bengal, at one time formed the greater portion of a native kingdom or empire, which is said to have extended from lat. 9° to 26° N., and from long. 92° to 104° E. Its greatest length was about 1,000 miles and its breadth 600, its area being then about 270,000 English square miles. In 1826 the provinces or divisions of Arracan and Tenasserim were occupied by the British, and in 1852 Pegu and the. province of Martaban shared the same fate. This portion was then known as. British Burma and con tinued to be so till in 1886 the rest of the king dom was annexed by Great Britain, when the two portions came to be designated Upper and Lower Burma, respectively. They now form together one province under a lieutenant-gov ernor and legislative council. Total area, about 231,000 square miles; population, over 12,000, 000, mainly Buddhists.
Lower Burma is to a large extent mountain ous in character, the only extensive level being in Pegu, where the valleys of the Irrawadi and Sittaung form an alluvial tract of about 10,000 square miles. The rainfall varies from less than 60 inches in Some places to 190 or more in others. About half the soil is believed to be cultivatable, but a comparatively small portion is as yet under cultivation, though agriculture is extending year by year Since the occupa tion of the country by the British it has rapidly increased in prosperity, and the revenue is generally greater than the expenditure. The imports and exports together exceed $84,500,000, the bulk of the trade being with Great Britain. The capital and principal port is Rangoon. Other towns are Moulmein, Akyab and Bassein. Upper Burma is on the whole similar in char acter to Lower Burma, but less productive, and has generally a smaller rainfall. It is rich in minerals,. including gold, silver, precious stones, marble, iron, lead, tin, antimony, arsenic, sul phur and petroleum. Only a few of these are worked. The chief precious stones are the ruby and the sapphire; amber and jade are also found. All precious stones used to be sent to
the royal treasury and strangers were prohibited from approaching the places where they were found. These districts are still the subject of special regulation under the British rule. The whole country is intersected by numerous streams, which, following the direction of the chief mountain chains, flow generally south to the Indian Ocean. The chief of these are the Irrawadi, the Salween and the Chindwin, which joins the Irrawadi, the combined stream being of great volume. The Irrawadi is of great value as a highway of communication and traffic, being navigable beyond Bhamo, near the Chinese frontier. In their upper courses the rivers flow through narrow valleys; in their lower courses they traverse low-lying districts, and in the rainy season often overflow their banks. Among the wild animals of the country are the elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, leopard, deer of various kinds and the wild hog. The rivers abound with fish. Of domestic animals we may mention the ox, buffalo, horse, elephant and cat. In the southern districts, owing to the numerous rivers, the soil is most productive. Here grow rice, sugar cane, tobacco, cotton, indigo and all the tropical fruits. Tea is cultivated in many of the more elevated parts. The forests pro duce timber of many sorts, including teak. A great part of the trade of the country is carried on by means of the Irrawadi River. From Bhamo goods are conveyed to China. Rice is the great crop (occupying about 80 per cent of the cultivated area), and this grain forms the chief export, others being teak, cotton and silk stuffs, petroleum, saltpetre, paper and lacquer ware. About 12,446 miles of roads are main tained, and the number of railway miles open is now about 1,000. From Rangoon two lines proceed north, one along the left bank of the Irrawadi, to Prome and Meaday, the other through the Sittaung Valley to Mandalay, and from that on the other side of the Irrawadi to Bhamo and Mogaung.