Burma : A Handbook of Practical Information - Khamkoo

RIVERS 17
otliei' creeks from tlio Irrawaddy, and villi tlie Pej^u
River and the Pazundaung Creek I'urnis the Rangoon
River.
The Sittang.—The Sittang is known in its upper course
as the Paunglaung, rises in the Shan Karen Hills, and runs
due north for over 50 miles, till it gets to the Burma
plain, when it turns south, and for over 300 miles twists
and writhes in its progress to the Bay of Martaban.
There it opens out into a wide, funnel-shaped moutli, like
the gape of a young bird. This estuary crushes in two
currents of the great tidal wave of the Indian Ocean, and
these, uniting and struggling, form the huge tidal wave
which sweeps at the rate of 12 miles an hour up the
Sittang. This bore, or Macareo as it was called by the
old writers, reaches a height of 9 to 12 feet, and has a
foaming crest of 20 feet. No boats can live in it except
at certain known points. Following the crest of the
wave is a heavy chop sea of sand and water, as dangerous
almost to boats as the curling wave which precedes it.
The winding course of the Sittang prevents the bore
from being dangerous far up the river, Owing to the
enormous quantity of silt carried down and driven back
by the tide, shoals and sand-banks make the whole of the
bay dangerous.
The Salween.—The Salween is the second river in the
province in point of size, and it is one of the most strikingly
picturesque in the world. It is believed to rise in the
mountains of Tibet, north of Lhassa, probably the farthest
off of the sheaf of rivers which take their source there.
For a distance of hundreds of miles the Irrawaddy and
the Mekhong rob it of all affluents, except the mountain
torrents from the ridges which wall it in on either side.
Between these giant barriers it flows along in an abyss,
which in some places the sun only strikes for a few hours
in the day. Nevertheless, there are long reaches where
the stream is as calm as the Irrawaddy, and as deep.
Unhappily, u. little to the south of the eighteenth parallel,
below the mouth of the Thaungyin, are the Hat-Gyi, the
Great Rapids, which extend over 10 miles, and make
navigation impossible. Nevertheless, steam launches put
on tlie river above could carry goods for 200 miles, and.