BASSE IN DISTRICT.
T92
they did not long keep possession of the
city.
of twelve days, Bassein was captured by a
command
of General Goddard.
restored to the Marathas
and
under the
By
the treaty of Salbai (1782) it was in 1818, on the overthrow and deposi-
tion of the last of the Peshwas,
was resumed by the English and
it
incorporated with Tirana District of the
Of
In 1780, after a siege
British army,
Bombay
Presidency.
old Bassein, the walls and ramparts remain in a state of good
Within the enclosure, the ruins of the cathedral of the
preservation.
Dominican convent, of the
Jesuit
Church of
St.
Paul,
and of
St.
—
Anthony’s Church, built as early as 1537, can still be identified {See Antiquities of Bassein. Dr. V) 3 Bombay, 1876.) Here was concluded, in 1802, the treaty by which the Peshwa agreed to maintain a British subsidiary force, thus virtually dissolving .
i.
the Maratha confederacy.
—
Bassein. District in Pegu Division, British Burma, lying between and 17° 45' N. lat, and between 94° 15' and 95° 28' e. long.
15° 45'
7047 square miles population in 1881, 389,419 souls. Bounded on the north by Henzada District lying east, and Sandoway west of the Arakan Hills on the south and west by the Bay of Bengal and on the east by Thongwa (Thun-Khwa) and a network of creeks. The area,
head-quarters of the District are at Bassein town, situated on the river
of the same name.
—
Physical Aspects Bassein District is in shape an irregular parallelogram, extending northwards from the Bay of Bengal, and divided into two very unequal parts by the Arakan hills. The western portion forms .
a narrow mountainous
strip
the eastern
a stretch of alluvial land
is
traversed by three large branches of the Irawadi (Irrawaddy), which flow
nearly parallel to one another into the sea.
and
largest portion as far south as
fertile
Of
Ngapiitaw
is
this tract, the northern
well watered
and very
the southern portion consists of cultivated plains and large
wastes of forest, gradually merging into low marshy ground, cut up into
numerous
islands by the network of tidal creeks uniting the
The
the Irawadi. river in about
lat.
coast-line stretches
and long. 94° 37' e., Cape Negrais thence it
17° 34' N.,
south-westerly direction to
mouths of
from the mouth of the
for
no
Gwa
miles in a
inclines south
by
east for 9 miles to Pagoda Point, the southern extremity of the Arakan In parts, the coast-line consists of a gently .shelving sandy beach, Hills.
backed by undulating
forest land;
enter the sea abruptly, forming coast
is
rocky.
From Mawdin
beyond Cape Negrais, where the hills a bold and rugged escarpment, the westwards, stretches
a
flat
beach,
bordered with grassy plains, which end in mangrove swamps, intersected The chief rivers are the Pyamalaw, in every direction by tidal inlets. with its two mouths, the Pyamalaw and the Pyinthalu the Rwe, with
—
the small Daye-bhyu
mouth
and the Bassein, with the Thekkay-thaung
