SANDOWAY, a district in the south of the Arakan division of British Burmah, ceded to the British by treaty in 1826, embracing an area of 3667 square miles, and bounded on the north by the Ma-i river, on the west by the Bay of Bengal, on the east by the Arakan Mountains, and on the south by the Khwa river. The whole face of the country is mountainous, the Arakan range sending out spurs which reach down to the coast. Some of the peaks in the north attain an elevation of over 4000 feet. Not more than one-eighteenth part of the surface can be called plain ; and, except there, where rice cultivation is carried on, and on the hill-sides, where clearings are made for toungya or nomadic cultivation, the country is covered with dense forest. There is nothing in the district that can be called a river, the streams draining it being but mountain' torrents to within a few miles of the coast; the mouth of the Khwa forms a good anchorage for vessels of from 9 to 10 feet draught. So far as is known of the geology of the district, the rocks in the Yoma range and its spurs are metamorphic, and comprise clay, slates, ironstone, and indurated sandstone ; towards the south, ironstone, trap, and rocks of basaltic character are common ; veins of steatite and white fibrous quartz are also found in the district.

Only 135 square miles of the total area aro cultivable, and of these but 75 are cultivated. The chief crops are rice, sesamum, tobacco, cotton, sugar-cane, dhani palms, and yams. The revenue in 1883-84 was £13,978, tho land tax realizing £6749 of that amount. This mountainous and forest-clad country, with such a small cultivable area, is sparsely inhabited, the population as returned by the census of 1881 being only 64,010(males 32,706, females 31,304); of this number 56,458 were Buddhists. There are no towns with a population exceeding 2000. Sandowa', the chief town and headquarters, on the river of the same name, in 18° 27' 35" N. lat. and 94 24' 36" E. long., is a very ancient town, and is said to have been at one time the capital of a kingdom, or more probably of a potty chieftainship.