Myelat
More actions
| Myelat | |
|---|---|
| HistoricalGrown here in the past; no recent record either way | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Regional Complex | Hindu Kush Himalaya |
| Growing Region | Shan Hills |
| Geography | |
| Country | Myanmar |
| Province/State | Shan State |
| Coordinates | 20.69, 96.62 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 8,500 km² |
| Terrain | Open rolling downs east of the range above the Burmese plains; approximately Kalaw, Pindaya, Ywangan and Pinlaung townships |
| Growing history | |
| Grown | until 1894[1] |
| Earlier names | Myelat Division; the Danu country |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Myelat is a historical cannabis growing area in the south-west of Shan State, Myanmar, on the uplands between the plains of Burma proper and the rest of the Shan States. In 1894 witnesses before the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission reported that the Danu of this country grew a few plants for the drug; one said it was "said that every man grows a few plants for his own consumption".[1][2] The area belongs to the Shan Hills growing region.
Geography
In 1908 the Myelat Division was a group of 15 Shan States, among them Pangtara, Yengan, Loilong and Hsamonghkam, bordering the Meiktila Division of Upper Burma. An Assistant Superintendent stationed at Hsamonghkam (Thamakan), near the road from Thazi to Taunggyi, had charge of them and also of Yawnghwe, which bordered the division on the east.[3][4] The Myelat lies east of the high range that separates it from Burma proper. It is a country of open rolling downs at a considerable altitude, large tracts of them almost treeless and rather dry.[5]
The area is drawn approximately on the present-day Kalaw, Pindaya, Ywangan and Pinlaung townships, about 8,500 km².
The Danu country
J. E. Bridges, the Commissioner of the Eastern Division, wrote to the Commission that Saw Maung, a former Sawbwa of Yawnghwe, had told him that 30 per cent of the Danu, "residents of the Myelat or intermediate States between Burma and the Shan States", smoked ganja. He thought much more could be learned by further inquiry, "especially in the Myelat and the Shan States".[1] In his oral evidence he placed the Danu country between Burma and the Shan States proper. Part of it was British territory and some of its villages lay in the Shan States. British officers seldom visited it, and the prohibition of the drug had not been enforced there.[1] In 1901 nearly 3,000 of the 4,771 people of Kyawkku, one of the Myelat states, were Danu.[6]
Cultivation
In the Danu country, Bridges said, "it is said that every man grows a few plants for his own consumption". He had heard that the growers rooted out the male plants and let only one of them stand. He thought the drug more commonly used there than among the Shans. He knew of cases in which Danu had been caught smuggling ganja into Burma, though he did not think the smuggling general.[1] Major Peile, the Inspector-General of Police, had also heard that ganja was cultivated among the Danu.[2] Saw Maung said that the Danu villages within his state grew and used the drug in the same way as the Shans, and did not grow the plant for fibre.[7]
The Commission wrote that the cultivation in the Danu and Shan country was "of the homestead kind", a few plants reared in each case for home consumption. It found the practice more common among the Danu than among the Shans. The produce, it wrote, seemed to be more than enough for home use, "for some quantity is smuggled into Burma".[8] It noted that Saw Maung did not know of the removal of the male plants that Bridges had been told of.[9]
Accessions
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See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Mr. J. E. Bridges, Commissioner of the Eastern Division". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. VII: Evidence of Witnesses from Bombay, Sind, Berar, Ajmere, Coorg, Baluchistan, and Burma. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. Burma witness no. 3, pp. 377–380 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Major Peile, Inspector-General of Police". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. VII: Evidence of Witnesses from Bombay, Sind, Berar, Ajmere, Coorg, Baluchistan, and Burma. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. Burma witness no. 20, p. 392 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ "Myelat Division". The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Vol. XVIII (New ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1908. p. 119 – via Digital South Asia Library.
- ↑ "Yawnghwe". The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Vol. XXIV (New ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1908. pp. 415–416 – via Digital South Asia Library.
- ↑ "Shan States, Southern". The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Vol. XXII (New ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1908. pp. 248–250 – via Digital South Asia Library.
- ↑ "Kyawkku". The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Vol. XVI (New ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1908. p. 83 – via Digital South Asia Library.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Saw Maung, ex-Sawbwa of Nyaungywe State". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. VII: Evidence of Witnesses from Bombay, Sind, Berar, Ajmere, Coorg, Baluchistan, and Burma. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. Burma witness no. 50, pp. 406–407 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. IV, "Extent of cultivation, and its tendency to increase or decrease", paras. 136–138, pp. 52–54 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. V, "Methods of cultivation and matters connected therewith", para. 211, pp. 80–81 – via Internet Archive.
