It will be convenient to take the northern portion of the district first--that part, namely, which begins from 24° 37' N. and goes right up to the Chinese boundary. It now forms a separate charge, known as the Myitkyina district, but at the time we are writing of, was the Mogaung subdivision of the Bhamo district, and contained about 10,000 square miles of country, of which two-thirds were, and still are, forest. The level and valley lands along the Irrawaddy and its tributaries, mostly on the right bank, are fertile, yielding rice as the main crop; but even now, after twenty years of peace, the area cultivated is very small. It is given in the _Burma Gazetteer_ (vol. ii., p. 123) as twenty-eight square miles. The area in the hills tilled, after a primitive method, has not been estimated, but as there are between twenty and thirty thousand Kachins who live on its produce, it is probably larger. Of the wide forest area, part is in the low hill ranges, part in the plains. Twenty-five years ago, when there was not a road, the dense undergrowth and bamboo jungle, and in the lower lands the wide seas of elephant-grass, made the passage of men and transport animals most difficult and laborious. From a fiscal point of view Mogaung was supposed to be the most important part of the Bhamo district. The collection of a royalty on jade was farmed in the King's time for about Rs. 50,000, and there was also an income from the rubber-trees, mostly wild, but to a small extent cultivated. In March, 1886, a force accompanied by Captain Cooke, the Deputy Commissioner, made its way to Mogaung. The Deputy Commissioner reported that the "country was then, for the most part, brought under control and settled administration." This was a figurative and official way of saying that a person of local influence, by name Maung Kala, had been recognized and put in charge as a magistrate in the British service. After a very brief visit the Deputy Commissioner with the troops went back to Bhamo, and left Maung Kala to carry on the government as he best could, without police and with no military support nearer than Bhamo, which is at the least 150 miles from Mogaung, whether the journey is made by water or land. Even a handful of troops, lightly equipped, could not have been sent up in less than a fortnight. There was no telegraph to Mogaung. Maung Kala belonged to a family of great local influence, which had held office for several generations, and was reputed to be of Chinese descent. But whatever his influence, he was sure to make enemies in his endeavours to keep order and to collect revenues, and there was no visible force behind him. His reign was short, and he was soon assassinated.[41]