THAYETMYO  , a

town and district in the Minbu division of Upper Burma . The town is situated on the right bank of the Irrawaddy, opposite Allanmyo . Pop . (1901) 15,824 . The cantonment contains the wing of a British battalion and a native regiment . It enjoys a high reputation for healthiness . There is a special industry of silver work . The district has an area of 4750 sq. m.; pop . (1901) 239,706, showing a decrease of 4 per cent. in the decade . The total rainfall in 1905 was 41.30 in . On the west is the Arakan Yoma range, and on the east the Pegu Yomas; and the face of the country, where it does not rise into mountains, is every-where broken by low ranges of hills, many of which are barren and destitute of all vegetation . The greater part of the district is wooded, and the Yomas east and west are covered with forests, now mostly preserved .

The

chief river is the Irrawaddy, which traverses Thayetmyo from north to south . The drainage finds its way to the Irrawaddy by three main streams (the Pwon, Ma-htfln and Ma-de) on the west, and by two (the Kye-ni and Hput) on the east . Several salt and hot springs occur in many localities; petroleum is also found, and extensive lime quarries exist a few miles south of Thayetmyo . The principal wild animals are elephants, rhinoceros, tigers, leopards, black bears and wild hog . Silver pheasants and partridges are found in large numbers, especially in the mountains . The chief products are rice, cotton, oil-seeds and tobacco; cutch is also very abundant, and the manufacture of the dye-stuff is carried on extensively . Coal has been found in the district, and earth oil-wells exist, but neither coal nor oil has yet been extracted in any quantity . There are 403 sq. m. of reserved forest . Three oil-wells were sunk in 1883 at Pedaukpin, but they were found unprofitable and abandoned . On the annexation of Pegu by the British in 1852-53, Thayetmyo was formed into a subdivision of Prome district; and in 1870 it was erected into a separate jurisdiction and placed under a deputy-commissioner . It was formerly in the Irrawaddy division of Lower Burma, but was transferred to Upper Burma for administrative purposes in 1896 .