Sittang (or Paunglaung)

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This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.

Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.

Sittang (or Paunglaung)

River of Burma, flowing midway be- tween the valleys of the Irrawaddy and the Salween. It is separated from the former by the Pegu Yoma, and from the latter by the Paung- laung range of hills ; and it follow s, like both these streams, a southerly course. It rises east of Yamethin District at about 20° N. latitude, and is fed by affluents from the Yoma on the west, and from the Karen Hills and the Paunglaung range on the east. It winds through Toun- goo District, and between Pegu and Thaton, and spreads out almost imperceptibly, after a course of about 350 miles, into the northern apex of the Gulf of Martaban, at a point equidistant from the ports of Ran- goon and Moulmein. Its trend is more or less parallel to that of the Rangoon-Mandalay Railway, the oldest section of which (Rangoon to Toungoo) was originally known as the Sittang Valley line. Of the towns on its banks the two most important are Toungoo, the head- quarters of the District of that name, and Shwegyin, a municipality, formerly the head-quarters of what was known as the Shwegyin District. At Myitkyo, a village on its lower reaches, the Sittang is connected by the Pegu-Sittang Canal with the Pegu River on the west ; and farther south again, at Mopalin, the Sittang-Kyaikto Canai. unites it with Kyaikto and other portions of Thaton District in the south-east. Both these canals are primarily intended for navigation. There are no regular irrigation works connected with the Sittang. The river has not yet been bridged, but bridges are in course of construction at Toungoo and at the point where the railway to Moulmein crosses it. The river has long been remarkable for the bore or tidal wave which sweeps up its mouth from time to time and occasionally does considerable damage.