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BIRMAH. 3
which will claim description, but do not form distinguishing
features of the country. Of the five chains
which are believed to exist, that which separates the
Birman empire from Bengal and the plains of Chittagong,
becomes gradually ower in the kingdom of
Arracan, and is lost in small hills before it reaches
Cape Negrais. It is known to the Birmans under
the name of Anou-pec-tou-miou, or the great western
hilly country. Its distance from the coast varies from
ten to a hundred miles. Of that which separates the
valley of Ava from the basin of the Thaluayn, little
is known. The principal range, surpassing all the
others in height as well as length, appears to be that
which separates Ava and Pegu from the great valley
of the Mei-nam, and stretching along the whole peninsula
of Malacca, terminates in Cape Romania, the
southernmost point of Asia. The valley of Siam is se-
parated from the river of Cambodia by a fourth range,
which is said to unite with the mountains of China in
lat. 22, and almost reaches the sea near the river of
Chantibond.* From Cape Liant, the coast takes a
S.E. direction to Cambodia Point, which is formed
of low land. The fifth and last chain, one of the
most considerable in Asia, proceeds from Yun-nan in
China, and taking a south-easterly direction, forms
the western boundary of Tonking and Cochin China.
The first of these rivers, the Irrawaddy (Erawady,
Era Wuddey, A-rah-wah-tee),-|- divides the territory
* " Chantibond is a mountainous country, forming the eastern
boundary of the kingdom of Siam, dividing it from Cambodia, and
situated at the head of the Gulf of Siam. The passage thence to
Cambodia is of short distance, a ridge of mountains dividing the
two countries." FINLAYSON'S Siam, p. 255.
t Malte Brun supposes the Irrawaddy to be the Ken-poo of
Thibet ; the Tsan-poo, which D'Anville considered as identical
with the river of Ava, being the Brahmapootra. It is believed to