Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/202

 BASSE IN DISTRICT.

T92

they did not long keep possession of the

city.

of twelve days, Bassein was captured by a

command

of General Goddard.

restored to the Marathas



and

under the

By

the treaty of Salbai (1782) it was in 1818, on the overthrow and deposi-

tion of the last of the Peshwas,

was resumed by the English and

it

incorporated with Tirana District of the

Of

In 1780, after a siege

British army,

Bombay

Presidency.

old Bassein, the walls and ramparts remain in a state of good

Within the enclosure, the ruins of the cathedral of the

preservation.

Dominican convent, of the

Jesuit

Church of

St.

Paul,

and of

St.

—

Anthony’s Church, built as early as 1537, can still be identified {See Antiquities of Bassein. Dr. V) 3 Bombay, 1876.) Here was concluded, in 1802, the treaty by which the Peshwa agreed to maintain a British subsidiary force, thus virtually dissolving .

i.

the Maratha confederacy.

—

Bassein. District in Pegu Division, British Burma, lying between and 17° 45' N. lat, and between 94° 15' and 95° 28' e. long.

15° 45'



7047 square miles population in 1881, 389,419 souls. Bounded on the north by Henzada District lying east, and Sandoway west of the Arakan Hills on the south and west by the Bay of Bengal and on the east by Thongwa (Thun-Khwa) and a network of creeks. The area,







head-quarters of the District are at Bassein town, situated on the river

of the same name.

—

Physical Aspects Bassein District is in shape an irregular parallelogram, extending northwards from the Bay of Bengal, and divided into two very unequal parts by the Arakan hills. The western portion forms .

a narrow mountainous

strip



the eastern

a stretch of alluvial land

is

traversed by three large branches of the Irawadi (Irrawaddy), which flow

nearly parallel to one another into the sea.

and

largest portion as far south as

fertile



Of

Ngapiitaw

is

this tract, the northern

well watered

and very

the southern portion consists of cultivated plains and large

wastes of forest, gradually merging into low marshy ground, cut up into

numerous

islands by the network of tidal creeks uniting the

The

the Irawadi. river in about

lat.

coast-line stretches

and long. 94° 37' e., Cape Negrais thence it

17° 34' N.,

south-westerly direction to

mouths of

from the mouth of the



for

no

Gwa

miles in a

inclines south

by

east for 9 miles to Pagoda Point, the southern extremity of the Arakan In parts, the coast-line consists of a gently .shelving sandy beach, Hills.

backed by undulating

forest land;

enter the sea abruptly, forming coast

is

rocky.

From Mawdin

beyond Cape Negrais, where the hills a bold and rugged escarpment, the westwards, stretches

a

flat

beach,

bordered with grassy plains, which end in mangrove swamps, intersected The chief rivers are the Pyamalaw, in every direction by tidal inlets. with its two mouths, the Pyamalaw and the Pyinthalu the Rwe, with

—

the small Daye-bhyu

mouth



and the Bassein, with the Thekkay-thaung