1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Myitkyina

MYITKYINA, the most northerly of the districts of Upper Burma in the Mandalay division, separated from Bhamo district in 1895. It is cut up into strips by comparatively low parallel ranges of hills running in a general way north and south. The chief plain is that of Myitkyina, covering 600 sq. m. To the east of the Irrawaddy, which bisects the district, it is low-lying and marshy. To the west it rises to a higher level, and is mostly dry. Except in the hills inhabited by the Kachin tribes there are practically no villages off the line of the Irrawaddy. The Indawgyi lake, a fine stretch of water measuring 16 m. by 6, lies in the south-west of the district. A very small amount of cultivation is carried on, mostly without irrigation. Area, 10,640 sq. m.; estimated population (1901) 67,399, showing a density of six persons to the square mile. More than half the total are Kachins, who inhabit the hills on both sides of the Irrawaddy. The headquarters town, Myitkyina, had in 1901 a population of 3618. It is the limit of navigation on the Irrawaddy, and the terminus of the railway from Rangoon and Sagaing.