Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/213

 BASSE IN RIVER. These

the cleaned rice from the mills. ports of Burma.

There

203

rice mills are a feature in the

nothing like them in continental India

is

(except at Port Canning, and there the mills are a failure), where the rice

is

husked

vator before cultivator

is

in the interior of the Districts

it

is

sent

by the family of the cultiIn Burma, the

the market for disposal.

to

too well-to-do to

care about undertaking the trouble of

by the European worked by powerful machinery moved by steam and the coal which is required by them forms the main article of import from foreign countries into Akyab and husking the

rice,

and he leaves that

purchaser at the port of shipment.

to

The

be done

mills are



Bassein, the

Bassein

latter

importing also a certain

port

supplied with

is

all

steamers, which ply twice a

of

quantity

her other imports from

week through the narrow

Rangoon

salt.

in river

tidal creeks, lined

with mangrove jungle, which form the Burmese Sundarbans between

Rangoon and Bassein. These steamers belong to the Irawadi Company, and are specially constructed for the service. Light are in draught, in the dry weather they often stick fast in the

The

hours together.

Flotilla

as they

mud

for

steamers do a very large trade in the carriage

of passengers and cargo between

Rangoon and

Bassein, but

no record

of the actual value of the trade has as yet been attempted.’

Within the

last

few years telegraphic communication has been estab-

and Rangoon, and it is proposed mouth of the river, where ships call for orders.

lished between Bassein line to the

the municipal revenue of the town w'as ;^i2,859.

to extend the

In 1881-82,

Bassein was utterly

depopulated in the time of Alaungpaya (Alompra), and no trustworthy records of

its early history exist. It is said to have been founded in by Umtmadani, a Talaing princess. From the natural advantages of its site, it has always been a harbour of considerable importance, and is alluded to as Cosmin’ by Ralph Fitch and other travellers, who found Rangoon a small village. Cosmin is a corruption of

1249

a.d.

‘

‘

Kusiinanagara.

The

’

place was an important seaport as early as the

During the first Burmese war, the occupation of the town by the British was unopposed, the Burmese governor having set fire to it and retreated to Le-myet-hna. The population gradually returned, and the place was not abandoned till the conclusion of war, when the troops were withdrawn. During the second Burmese war, Bassein was finally taken by assault. The town has a charitable dispensary and two hospitals, one for Europeans and one for natives. A new hospital was built a few years ago. The total number of patients treated in 1876 was 3461, of whom 264, including 10 Europeans, were 1

2th century.

in-patients.

— River

in Irawadi Division, British Burma the most main channels by which the Irawadi reaches the sea. northern entrance, about 9 miles above Henzada town, is in the dry

Bassein.

westerly of the Its