Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/470

 BIMLIPATAM ZAMINDARI AND TOWN.

46 o

it forms a township. The western portion of the under the Burmese, a separate township called formerly cut off from the rest of the island by the Seibala whose northern end has now entirely silted up. The centre

which District

constituted,

island

Daray, creek,

of the

from north to south is occupied by a range of wooded and pagoda-topped hills, sending out spurs which traverse the extensive island

alluvial plains to the east

and

The

west.

head-quarters of Bilu-Gywon

are at Chaung-zun, situated in a dip of the hills in the centre of the island,

where there is an artificial reservoir. Between Chaung-zun and the northern end of the island, in the Ka-nyaw Hills, is a hot saline spring, used in cases of rheumatism and skin diseases. The villages are generally large against

and straggling; and owing

living in houses

a Talaing prejudice

to

not facing the north, most of the dwellings

direction. The island is intersected by creeks, which produce to be exported at little expense. The chief crop is rice. There are two roads in the island. Under the Burmese, this township, exclusive of Daray, was divided into twelve ‘Ywa,’ meaning

look

in

enable

that

its

in this instance tracts of country divided off for fiscal purposes,

each placed under a Thug}'L

and

After the cession of Tenasserim to the

and the re-peopling of the township, the revenue divisions In 1848, Captain (now Sir Arthur) Phayre, the Deputy Commissioner, fixed the boundaries of the circles,

British,

became

tribal instead of territorial.

retaining as far as possible the limits certain cases, as

when

as a hardship, the

of the

the reduction of a

Ywa was

Eighteen

divided.

ancient

Thugyfs

divisions.

circles

but the number was reduced in 1868 to 15, and is now (1883) 12. Rice cultivation has very considerably increased. In 1848,

number of acres under

In

might be felt were thus formed,

office

the

was 15,225 ; in 1858, it was 27,606 ; in and in 1881, 46,469. 1868, 32,545 ; in 1873, 42,318 ; in 1876, 41,274 Gross revenue (1881), ^^14,891, of which ^10,760 was derived from the land. Bilu-gywon means Caco-demon Island,’ the name being derived from traditions of former cannibal inhabitants. Bimlipatam. Zam'mddri in Vizagapatam District, Madras Presidency. Houses, 24,329, grouped into 119 villages, all zaminddrt. Population (1881) 106,267, namely, 53,645 males and 52,622 females. tillage



‘

—

Hindus numbered 104.953; Muhammadans, 962;

Roman

Catholics, 343; ‘others,’

Bimlipatam. Eat.

17° 53'

—Town

in

Christians, mostly

Area, 211 square miles.

9.

Vizagapatam

15" N., long. 83° 29' 50"

District, E.



Madras Presidency.

houses, 1735; population

(1881) 8582, namely, 7991 Hindus, 359 Muhammadans, and 232 Situated on the coast 18 miles north-east of Vizagapatam, Christians.

and 454 south-west from

Calcutta.

Municipal revenue

incidence of municipal taxation, including population,

is.

8|d.

The amount

tolls,

in

1881,^1102



per head of rateable

allotted for sanitary purposes in