BASSEIN, a British district on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, under the jurisdiction of the Chief Commissioner of Burmah, lies between 15° and 18° N. lat., and 94° and 96° E. long. It is bounded on the N. by the districts of Kyouk Phoo and Myanoung, on the E. by the district of Rangoon, and on the S. and W. by the Bay of Bengal. A mountain range called the Anouk-phet Toung-myeng stretches through the district from north to south along the coast. The principal river of the district is the Ira wadi, which debouches on the sea at its eastern extremity through a delta intersected with salt water creeks, among which the Pymalaw, Deay Pyoo, Thekadoung, and Nga Woon or Bassein River rank as important arms of the sea. Shagay-gyee and Engyay-gyee are the only two lakes in the district. The delta of the Irawadi forms, wherever cultivable, a vast sheet of rice, with cotton, sesamum, and tobacco as subsidiary crops. Bassein district has an area of 8954 square miles, of which only 351 are cultivated. In 1871-72 the population amounted to 316,883, residing in 65,722 houses, and inhabiting 1554 villages, of whom 213,816, or 67 per cent, were Buddhists, 78,684 aborigines, 20,810 Christians, 2119 Mahometans, 723 Hindus, and 12 Pârsis. Density of population, 34 - 03 per square mile. The population consisted of 31,369 agriculturists, and 285,464 non-agriculturists. Total revenue in 1870- 71, £118,672, of which £36,676, or 30 per cent., was derived from land. Principal towns and villages in Bassein—(1), Bassein, population 19,577; (2), Lay-myethna, 5325; (3), Pantanaw, 5876; (4), Yaygyee, 4893; (5), Nga-thainkhyoung, 3178; (6), Kang-yeedaing, 1500, (7), Shweloung, 1317; (8), Myoung-mya, 1477; (9), Nga-poo-tau, 981; and (10), Kyoon-pyaw, 1655....