Moze Island

Moze Island ( မဇဲကၽြန္း)

Close to northern coast of the Akyab Island (  In Arakan or Rakhing which was occupied by Burma since 1784 ) separated only by the width of the Moze River, which is about 3miles in extent, stands the Moze Island. It is in the form of an irregular quadrilateral, having an area of 51 square miles. Running down the length of the island in the direction from north to south, nearer the eastern border than the western, is a low range of hills known as Uggataung. But in addition to this there are also small low- lying ridges scattered about in various parts of the island, some rising gently from the surrounding plain, while others are more precipitous resembling lofty walls put up in defense of a city.

Tradition has it that Buddha in one of his many previous incarnations roamed about the forests of Arakan as Elephant King. One day a terrific rain storm swept over the country and poor animal was compelled to run about in search of a suitable shelter. When he came to this island, the rain stopped (မိုးစည္း၊စဲသည္). From this fact alone the place was subsequently called Moze island (မိုးစည္းကၽြန္း) , later young generations call it (မဇဲကၽြန္း).