ABSTRACT
WHEN Upper Burma was annexed the first step towards the constitution of a well-ordered province was to parcel out the country into districts of such a size and with such boundaries that they could be conveniently administered. The wise course was followed of preserving the old native divisions, which had probably resulted from the teaching of experience and the nature of the country and differences of race. For few innovations vex a people more than changes in the boundaries of the units of jurisdiction which touch their daily life. Hence it came to pass that all the country between 23° 37° N. and the undefined line dividing Upper Burma from China and Thibet, somewhere about 28°N., was constituted the charge of a single Deputy Commissioner, with the China frontier as its eastern boundary, and as its western limit the Hukawng Valley, the Upper Chindwin district, and further south the Katha district. The headquarters of the Deputy Commissioner and of the military garrison were placed at the town of Bhamo, from which the district took its name.
