deg. 55' north latitude to the
Naga and Chingpaw, or Kachin hills, lying roughly between the 27th and 28th
degrees of north latitude; and from the Bay of Bengal on the west to the
Mekong river, the boundary of the dependent Shan States on the east, that
is to say, roughly, between the 92nd and 100th degrees of east longitude.
The extreme length from north to south is almost 1200 m., and the broadest
part, which is in about latitude 21 deg. north, is 575 m. from east to west. On
the N. it is bounded by the dependent state of Manipur, by the Mishmi
hills, and by portions of Chinese territory; on the E. by the Chinese Shan
States, portions of the province of Yunnan, the French province of
Indo-China, and the Siamese Shan, or Lao States and Siam; on the S. by the
Siamese Malay States and the Bay of Bengal; and on the W. by the Bay of
Bengal and Chittagong. The coast-line from Taknaf, the mouth of the Naaf,
in the Akyab district on the north, to the estuary of the Pakchan at
Maliwun on the south, is about 1200 m. The total area of the province is
estimated at 238,738 sq.m., of which Burma proper occupies 168,573 sq.m.,
the Chin hills 10,250 sq.m., and the Shan States, which comprise the whole
of the eastern portion of the province, some 59,915 sq.m.

_Natural Divisions._--The province falls into three natural divisions:
Arakan with the Chin hills, the Irrawaddy basin, and the old province of
Tenasserim, together with the portion of the Shan and Karen-ni states in
the basin of the Salween, and part of Kengtung in the western basin of the
Mekong. Of these Arakan is a strip of country lying on the seaward slopes
of the range of hills known as the Arakan Yomas. It stretches from Cape
Negrais on the south to the Naaf estuary, which divides it from the
Chittagong division of Eastern Bengal and Assam on the north, and includes
the districts of Sandoway, Kyaukpyu, Akyab and northern Arakan, an area of
some 18,540 sq.m. The northern part of this tract is barren hilly country,
but in the west and south are rich alluvial plains containing some of the
most fertile lands of the province. Northwards lie the Chin and some part
of the Kachin hills. To the east of the Arakan division, and separated from
it by the Arakan Yornas, lies the main body of Burma in the basin of the
Irrawaddy. This tract falls into four subdivisions. First, there is the
highland tract including the hilly country at the sources of the Chindwin
and the upper waters of t