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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 5, p. 195.

FORESTS I95 Township. Total area. Cultivated. Akyab .. 62 30 Rathedaung. ,269 237 Ponnagyun . 704 io6 Pauktaw 496 127 Minbya 480 104 Kyauktaw 3° 116 Myohaung 1,329 152 Maungdaw .426 128 Total 5,136 I,ooo The principal crop is rice, covering 931 square miles in 1903--4. It is all of the kaukkyi or cold-season variety no mayin or hot-season rice is grown. Tobacco and sugar-cane are little cultivated, except on the Lemro, east of Myohaung. There are 32 square miles of garden culti- vation, for the most part in the Rathedaung, Maungdaw, and Myohaung townships. Chillies cover 4,000 acres, half of which are in the Kyauk- taw and Rathedaung townships; mustard is grown on about 2,300 acres in the Rathedaung and Maungdaw townships. The area under cotton has decreased rapidly. Flax for making rope is cultivated to a very small extent in Maungdaw. The dani palm is grown throughout the tidal region, the leaves being used for thatch, while the fermented juice or sap is the principal intoxicant consumed by the people. The average area of a holding is 9 acres. As the figures given above show, the area under cultivation has of late years increased largely. Akyab has proved a paradise to the emigrant from Chittagong, who is of a more frugal and industrious dis- position than his Arakanese neighbour, and is steadily ousting the latter as cultivator and landowner. As a very large area of cultivable land is still available, there is every prospect of further rapid extension of culti- vation. Good land being plentiful in ordinary years, there has been little scope for agricultural advances. The buffaloes bred locally are, as a rule, superior to the plough bullocks. The price of an ordinary plough buffalo has been estimated at Rs. 75 and that of a bullock at Rs. 45. Sheep-breeding is not prac- tised; but goats are reared in numbers, chiefly by people from Chitta- gong and other natives of India, though no trouble is taken to improve the breeds by selection or otherwise. The grazing-grounds reserved are small in size, and are scattered throughout the District. The Forest department has only recently extended its operations over the District. There are a few teak plantations, which were started by private enterprise in 1872-4. One at Myauktaung comprises an area of 35 acres, and another at Nagara about 50 acres. The timbers mostly in demand at Akyab, the chief market, are pyingado (Xylia dolabriformnis), pyinma (Lagerstroemia Flos 02