The Imperial Gazetteer of India
Meyer, William Stevenson, Sir, 1860-1922.
Burn, Richard, Sir, 1871-1947.
Cotton, James Sutherland, 1847-1918.
Risley, Sir Herbert Hope, 1851-1911.
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New edition, published under the authority of His Majesty's secretary of state for India in council.
Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1908-1931 [v. 1, 1909]

257 SOUTHRN SHAN STATES
numbered 696,8oo, and Animists (mainly trans-Salween non-Shan tribes) 69,9oo. Comparatively few Musalmans and Hindus are found. Almost the only natives of India are Government servants and fol lowers. Christians numbered 1,528, Of whom 1,483 were natives. The American Baptist Mission has stations at Mongnai, in the eastern division, and at Kengtung. The population dependent upon agriculture in 1901 was 524,100, or 68 per cent. of the total; and of this total 262,2oo persons, or about half, were dependent almost wholly on taungya (shifting) cultivation.
Cultivation in the Southern Shan States may be grouped under three heads: irrigated crops, ` dry' field crops, and garden crops. There are no regularly constructed canals ; but advantage is taken of every stream in the country, and by means Agriculture. of weirs and small distribution channels, or water-wheels where the banks are high, large areas in the valleys are irrigated. Terraced fields also, fed by the waters of mountain brooks, are constructed with great labour wherever the ground allows, and the agricultural conditions are such that in some of the more favoured localities as many as three crops a year are gathered from irrigated land. The `dry crops,' of which the most important is taungya rice, depend upon the rainfall for the moisture they require. There is nothing peculiar to the
Southern Shan States in the methods of taungya cultivation, which have been described in the article on the NORTHERN SHAN STATES. Irrigation in the case of garden cultivation is effected mainly by hand from wells and other sources.
Rice is the staple food-grain; wheat is also grown, but chiefly for the use of the foreign residents. Potatoes, capsicums, and onions are produced in considerable quantities and exported; and other important crops are maize, millet, beans, sugar-cane, and gram. Cotton is cultivated over a large area, sesamum and ground-nuts are grown for the oil they produce, and the rhea plant for the sake of its fibre, which is in large demand among the local shoe- and sandal-makers. . On the higher ranges the cultivation of thanat trees, the leaves of which are used for cigar-wrappers, is extensive; and here poppy and indigo are also grown. Cinnamon is found in some of the States. Tobacco is a universal crop, and the Langhkii variety has a wide reputation. The principal garden crops are pineapples, bananas, oranges, limes and citrons, custard-apples, guavas, pomegranates, peaches, and plums; and English fruits have been tried with success at Taunggyi. In the hotter valleys coco-nut and areaa palms flourish. Tea is indigenous, though the leaf is of very poor quality, and coffee has been success- fully grown in Samka and Hsahtung.
With the increasing population the area under cultivation is gradually extending, but, except in the Myelat, no reliable statistics of the acreage
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ေဝႃးႁၢၼ်ၵႂၢမ်းတႆးဢၼ်လီလႆႈမႆၢတွင်း
Mongnai = မူိင်းၼႆၢး
Kengtung = ၵဵင်းတုင်
Samka = ၸၢမ်ၵႃး
Hsahtung = သထုင်ႇ