hich the British supremacy throughout Burma has grown. It
is a narrow strip of country lying between the Bay of Bengal and the high
range of hills which form the eastern boundary of the province towards
Siam. It comprises the districts of Mergui and Tavoy and a part of Amherst,
and includes also the Mergui Archipelago. The surface of this part of the
country is mountainous and much intersected with streams. Northward from
this lies the major portion of the Southern Shan States and Karen-ni and a
narrowing strip along the Salween of the Northern Shan States.

_Mountains._--Burma proper is encircled on three sides by a wall of
mountain ranges. The Arakan Yomas starting from Cape Negrais extend
northwards more or less parallel with the coast till they join the Chin and
Naga hills. They then form part of a system of ranges which curve north of
the sources of the Chindwin river, and with the Kumon range and the hills
of the Jade and Amber mines, make up a highland tract separated from the
great Northern Shan plateau by the gorges of the Irrawaddy river. On the
east the Kachin, Shan and Karen hills, extending from the valley of the
Irrawaddy into China far beyond the Salween gorge, form a continuous
barrier and boundary, and tail off into a narrow range which forms the
eastern watershed of the Salween and separates Tenasserim from Siam. The
highest peak of the Arakan Yomas, Liklang, rises nearly 10,000 ft. above
the sea, and in the eastern Kachin hills, which run northwards from the
state of Moeng Mit to join the high range dividing the basins of the
Irrawaddy and the Salween, are two peaks, Sabu and Worang, which rise to a
height of 11,200 ft. above the sea. The Kumon range running down from the
Hkamti country east of Assam to near Mogaung ends in a peak known as
Shwedaunggyi, which reaches some 5750 ft. There are several peaks in the
Ruby Mines district which rise beyond 7000 ft. and Loi Ling in the Northern
Shan States reaches 9000 ft. Compared with these ranges the Pegu Yomas
assume the proportions of mere hills. Popa, a detached peak in the Myingyan
district, belongs to this system and rises to a height of nearly 5000 ft.,
but it is interesting mainly as an extinct volcano, a landmark and an
object of superstitious folklore, throughout the whole of Central Burma.
Mud volcanoes occur at Minbu, but they are not in any sense mountains,
resembling rather the hot springs which are found in many parts of Burma.
They are merely c