CHAPTER XVII
CANALS AND EMBANKMENTS
(I) Canals
Navigation. For navigation, the only important artificial waterway is the Twante canal, which rims for 22 miles from the Rangoon River by way of the Kanaungto creek to the Irrawaddy at Twante. When first constructed it was practicable only by boats and shallow-draught launches with which, in the busy season, it was overcrowded. Recently it has been deepened and widened; now its breadth is 300 feet, except at the chord cut from the Kanaungto creek to the Rangoon river which has a breadth of only 180 feet; and its depth is 6 feet below the level of ordinary Spring tides. Except the largest steamers all river craft adopt this alternative route instead of the Bassein creek[1]. Tolls are levied on all vessels using this canal. In 1920–21, the gross revenue amounted to £53,350.
In the Pegu district, the Pegu-Sittaing canal connects the Pegu and Sittaing rivers. A small canal in Thatôn, from the Sittang to the town of Kyaikto, as already noted, has been ruined by the bore of the Sittang. In Mandalay the Obo canal may also be mentioned.
Irrigation. From time immemorial, the dry tracts of Upper Burma have been watered by irrigation systems planned by native engineers, often with considerable ingenuity. Under the slack rule of Burmese kings many of these decayed or deteriorated. Very soon after the annexation, the attention of highly skilled officers of the Indian Irrigation Department was devoted to the improvement of native systems and the initiation of fresh projects on scientific lines. The Mandalay canal was first completed.
- ↑ See p. 27.
