PEGU  , a

town and former capital of Lower Burma, giving its name to a district and a division . The town is situated on a river of the same name, 47 M . N.E. of Rangoon by rail; pop . (Igor), 14,132 . It is still surrounded by the old walls, about 40 ft. wide, on which have been built the residences of the British officials . The most conspicuous object is the Shwemaw-daw pagoda, 324 ft. high, considerably larger and even more holy than the Shwe-dagon pagoda at Rangoon . Pegu is said to have been founded in 573, as the first capital of the Talaings; but it was as the capital of the Toungoo dynasty that it became known to Europeans in the 16th century . About the middle of the 18th century it was destroyed by Alompra; but it rose again, and was important enough to be the scene of fighting in both the first and second Burmese Wars . It gave its name to the province (including Rangoon) which was annexed by the British in 1852 . The district, which was formed in 1883, consists of an alluvial tract between the Pegu Yoma range and the Sittang river: area, 4276 sq. m.; pop . (1901), 339,572, showing an increase of 43% in the decade . Christians numbered nearly 9000, mostly Karens .

Almost the only

crop grown is rice, which is exported in large quantities to Rangoon . The district is traversed by the railway, and also crossed by the Pegu-Sittang canal, navigable for 85 m., with locks . The division of Pegu comprises the five districts of Rangoon city, Hanthawaddy, Tharrawaddy, Pegu and Prome, lying east of the Irrawaddy: area 13,084 sq. m.; pop . (1901), 1,820,638 . Pegu has also given its name to the Pegu Yoma, a range of hills running north and south for about 200 m., between the Irrawaddy and Sittang rivers . The height nowhere exceeds 2000 ft. but the slopes are steep and rugged . The forests yield teak and other valuable timber . The Pegu river, which rises in this range, falls into the Rangoon river just below Rangoon city, after a course of about 18o m .