THE TRANS-SALWEEN STATES
With the capture of Twet Nga Lu and the subjugation of the Red Karens
all serious trouble in the Shan States west of Salween ended. Writing
in July, 1890, the Superintendent of the Southern Shan States was able
to say:--
"During the year under report, which extends from the beginning of
June, 1889, the Shan States have been perfectly quiet. Nowhere have
there been any revolts, nowhere any insubordination or sedition; hardly
anywhere, except along the frontier with Burma, any dacoities or gang
robberies." (Report on the Shan States for 1889-90 by Mr. (now Sir
George) Scott.)
Pretenders had become convinced that they could not succeed against the
chiefs who had been confirmed in possession by the Sovereign Power,
and they settled down to make the best of things. The floating army
of ruffians who had supplied the fighting material in past times had
disappeared, and contrived to pick up a living in more peaceful ways.
"They make very good show-figures in a Sawbwa's processions, with their
tattooing from ankle to throat and their chest and arms bossed all over
with armlets and charms let in below the skin. They are also admirable
letter-carriers to distant States. They know all roads, they are afraid
of nobody, and they seem to be able to trudge from dawn to sunset for
an indefinite number of days.... It is certain, however, that the
States are infinitely quieter than they have been at any time since the
death of King Mindon, and probably quieter than they have been at all."
(_Ibid._)
The year 1889 therefore offered a good opportunity for attending to
Trans-Salween affairs.
Early in this year the question of the frontier line which was to limit
our responsibilities eastward was anxiously considered. Some of the
States west of the Salween which had already come under our protection
held or claimed ground east of the river. There were others lying
wholly east of the Salween which had been subject to the dominion of
Burma although they had been loosely held. Of these the most important,
Kengtung and Kang Hung, held, or claimed to hold, territory east of the
Mekong.
It will be easily understood that the Government was not eager to lay
hold of more territory than it was bound in honour to accept as the
successor of the Burmese dynasty. We had already taken as much as we
could administer or garrison with efficiency. Our authority was now
definitely established up to the Salween. The country lying between
that river and the Mekong was known to be mountainous, unhealthy, and
unprofitable, destitute of roads, a succession of steep mountain ranges
which made travelling most laborious. To maintain even a handful of
troops in that region would be costly. Revenue, there would be none.
It was asked where were our responsibilities to end? It was not easily
answered. The problem had several sides--the military, the political,
and the administrative. From the soldiers' point of view the arguments
in favour of making the Salween our eastern boundary had considerable
force. The river gave a clear and definite frontier drawn from north
to south. The advance of a possible enemy through the country between
the Mekong and the Salween could not, from the nature of the ground,
be made without much difficulty; whereas the defence would have, in
the wide plateau with its rolling prairies on the west of the Salween,
an admirable position, with easy communications open to the Irrawaddy
Valley.
Looking at the matter, moreover, from a broader point of view, it was
doubtful whether the British dominion in India was not outgrowing
its strength. In 1886 the annexation of Upper Burma added, roughly,
120,000 square miles to the area for which the Government of India
was responsible. Of this, roughly speaking, 20,000 square miles lay
across the Salween. Before Upper Burma was added to the Empire it had
been argued by a great military authority that if we were seriously
threatened by an enemy beyond the frontier of India, it would be
necessary to recall the garrison of British Burma and to let that
province go for the time. If there were any foundation for this opinion
the difficulty in the event supposed would be very much increased by
the addition of the new province. For no addition had been made to
the army in India since the annexation. There were strong reasons,
therefore, for not going a yard farther than was necessary. The advance
beyond the Salween meant the inclusion of some 20,000 square miles of
very difficult country and the possible neighbourhood of a troublesome
power.
In support of the military arguments it was urged that the Salween was
designed by nature for a boundary. It cut its way, in a line running
almost due north and south, through steep mountains and rocks. It was
not navigable in its upper reaches; the mouth and the navigable portion
of the river were in our hands. But as a matter of fact, however
adapted by its natural formation for such a purpose, the Salween has
not been able to limit the spread of any race or power that has settled
on its banks. On the north the Chinese hold both banks. The Shans have
settled indiscriminately on either side. It proved no obstacle to
the extension of the Burmese power to the eastward. In short, so far
from having been "an uncompromising natural boundary," as it has been
called, it has not been a boundary at all except for a short length of
about sixty miles where it divides the Lower Burma Salween district
from Siamese territory. Moreover, it is a timber-floating river. The
teak cut on either bank must be rafted down to Moulmein; and hence
disputes would be sure to arise. Rivers, as a rule, are held to be bad
boundaries, and the Salween is no exception.
At first sight the strategical objections to crossing the Salween
appeared to derive support from a consideration of the relations to
foreign powers which might follow. It was not desired to take any step
which might in the near future bring us into contact with France, and
thus add a new factor to the frontier problems of our Indian Empire.
The Government was even more anxious to avoid action which might give
offence to Siam, or have the appearance of want of consideration in
our dealings with that somewhat unreasonable power.
Further examination, however, led to a doubt as to the soundness of
these views. Supposing that the British Government, influenced by these
motives, decided to decline responsibility for these Trans-Salween
States, what would become of them? Even Kengtung, the most powerful,
could not stand alone. China and Siam might be invited to absorb them,
and thus a belt of territory might be placed between our boundary and
that of French dominion in Tonquin China. But China, it was believed,
had no wish to increase her responsibilities in these regions, where
her authority was very weak. Siam might be willing enough, but her
rule would be feeble and unstable, and not welcome to the Shans. Both
countries on this frontier were more likely to lose than to gain. If,
with the view of avoiding the inconveniences that might arise from
becoming conterminous with a great Western Power in these distant
countries, we should invite Siam or China, or both, to relieve us of
the charge of the Trans-Salween country, what security was there that
either of these powers would retain the territory given to them? We
might be creating the very conditions we wished to avert. The result
of a cautious policy of this kind might be to make our dominion
conterminous with that of France, not on or beyond the Mekong but on
the Salween itself--an intolerable position.
Looking at the matter from an administrative and local point of view,
the Chief Commissioner was against stopping short of the frontier
claimed by the King of Burma. It was argued that our new subjects,
whether in Burma proper or in the Shan States, would not understand
such a policy, and that it would have a bad effect on their feelings
towards us. We might dignify it by the names of prudence and
forbearance; they would ascribe it to fear and weakness. To them we
should seem to have lifted a burden too heavy for our strength. We were
afraid of going into places which the King had held and prepared for us.
This, however, might be disputed, or treated as a question of
sentiment. But the practical objections were evident and insuperable.
[Illustration: THE EASTERNMOST POINT OF THE BRITISH-INDIAN EMPIRE.
Reach of the Mé Khong where our boundary marches with French
Indo-China.]
Looking to the character of the country lying between the Salween and
the Mekong, it was certain to be the refuge of all the discontent and
outlawry of Burma. Unless it was ruled by a Government not only loyal
and friendly to us, but thoroughly strong and efficient, this region
would become a base for the operations of every brigand leader like
Twet Nga Lu, or pretender such as Saw Yan Naing, where they might
muster their followers and hatch their plots to raid British territory
when opportunity offered. To those responsible for the peace and order
of Burma such a prospect was not pleasant.
These arguments prevailed, and it was decided to accept without
flinching the full burden of responsibility which fell on us as
standing in the King of Burma's place.
The States east of the Salween which were under the King of Burma came
under two categories: those which were governed directly by their own
chiefs or Sawbwas, and those which were subordinate parts of certain
Cis-Salween States. Kang Hung and Kengtung came in the first class, and
were the most important of the Burmese possessions east of the Salween.
Their position may be roughly judged by the tribute paid to the King
and the contingent they were bound to supply to the royal army. The
tribute consisted of gold blossoms and cups, candles, bales of silk,
ponies, and embroidered pillows; and it was due not only to the King
and the heir-apparent, but to the members of the Hlutdaw, or Cabinet.
Kang Hung sent tribute every third year, while Kengtung sent nearly
thrice the value every year. The former State furnished a contingent
of 2,500 men, half musketeers and half spearmen, and maintained seven
posts on the southern frontier of from 60 to 100 men. The latter's
contingent was of the same strength; but seven guards, with garrisons
of from 50 to 200 men, had to be maintained by Kengtung on the southern
frontier.
Kang Hung was the largest in area of the Trans-Salween States connected
with Burma. The greater and the richer part lay to the east of the
Mekong, and was overlapped on the north-east and east by Chinese
territory. It was divided into twelve "panna," or townships, six of
which lay on the east and six on the west of the river. The six _panna_
on the east were more under the influence of China than those on the
west. Nevertheless, it is said that when Upper Burma was annexed there
were no Chinese settlers in the eastern _panna_, and no interference of
any kind by China with the administration of the country. Although in
1885 the King of Burma, in his secret treaty with the French, purported
to cede Kang Hung to France, he had lost hold of Kang Hung altogether
at that time, and he had no power then or previously to dispose of it
without China's consent, although China did not meddle with the local
Government.
Kengtung, which adjoins Kang Hung on the south, has had something of
a history. About the middle of last century the Siamese invaded it.
They were routed, and did not care to try a second venture. Later on it
was the first State to revolt against Thebaw's exactions. The people,
led by their chief, attacked the Burman Resident, and put him and his
escort to the sword. The similar revolt at Möngnai about the same
time gave King Thebaw as much as he could do, and Kengtung was left
alone. It has been related in Chapter XV how the Shan chieftains met at
Kengtung and formed a Confederacy under the Limbin Prince. The chief
of Kengtung had intrigued previously with the Myingun Prince with the
object of inducing him to be their chief. As he was unable to come, the
Limbin Prince was invited to lead. It was not the Burmese dynasty, but
the person of King Thebaw they wished to be quit of.
When the Limbin Confederacy dissolved and Möngnai and the leading
Cis-Salween States came under the British flag, the Kengtung Sawbwa
should have come with them. There were, however, influences which
kept him aloof. The chief who had taken the lead against Thebaw had
just died. His son, who was Sawbwa in 1888-9, was a mere boy, only
thirteen years of age. The country between Kengtung and Möngnai,
through which he would have had to pass to meet Mr. Hildebrand, had
been much disturbed and was unsafe. It was well known that his father
had invited the Myingun Prince to head the revolt against Thebaw. As
the party of resistance to British rule in Burma regarded the Myingun
as their leader, it was possible that Kengtung might not be welcomed by
the British authorities. These apprehensions, however, would have had
little force had it not been for Saw Waing, the ex-Sawbwa of Lawksawk,
who, with an armed following, had taken refuge in Kengtung, and had
obtained much influence over the young chief. If a representative from
the Chief Commissioner could have gone immediately to Kengtung he would
have submitted at once; for he had no chance of standing alone, and
he knew it. But it took time to decide our policy, and determine the
course to be followed regarding the easternmost dependencies of Burma.
It was not wonderful that the boy-Sawbwa and his advisers should await
events.
South of Kengtung, lying partly between it and the Mekong and partly
across that river, was a small State called Chieng Kong. This State was
believed at the time to be subordinate to Kengtung and to follow the
fortunes of the larger State.
The small districts which were formerly governed directly by Burma
had been annexed by Kengtung about the time of his revolt against the
King. They were not of importance, except that one of them, Hsenyawt,
contained the chief ferry over the Salween and included land on both
banks of the river. The other, Hsenmawng, was a small circle entirely
surrounded by Kengtung land. These two little tracts had in the King's
time been administered by Burmese officials, probably in connection
with the customs levied on the ferry traffic.
Kengtung had also appropriated the district of Möngpu, which had
belonged to the Möngnai Sawbwa, and an adjoining tract known as
Mönghsat, which Möngnai also claimed. So far the questions concerned
only the interests of our own feudatories.
Farther to the south, down the east bank of the Salween, lay four
small States--Möng Tang, Möng Hang, Möng Kyawt, and Möng Hta. These
four districts belonged to the Cis-Salween Sawbwa of Möngpan. Owing to
the action of the Siamese officials, who attempted to take possession
of them, there was trouble in 1888, and the Superintendent had been
sent across to arrange the disputed points with representatives of the
Siamese authorities. The Siamese, however, did not choose to appear.
They thought, it may be presumed, that having a bad case, or no case
at all, they had a better chance of success by diplomatic action. On
the spot, and with local evidence at hand to rebut them, it would have
been difficult to prove their assertions. Nothing could be done under
the circumstances but to inquire and report the facts. This was done.
The Government of India were satisfied that these divisions belonged to
Burma, and were part of the territory of the Möngpan Sawbwa. The Chief
Commissioner was authorised to put Möngpan in possession. Accordingly
Mr. Scott visited the districts and formally installed the Sawbwa. He
found that the residents were without exception Möngpan Shans. There
were no Lao inhabitants.
Until the dissolution of the Burmese authority in 1885, there had been
no thought or talk of Siamese interference. At that time, seeing the
chance of advancing their frontier to the Salween, an ambition they had
doubtless cherished, the Chiengmai officials had ordered the headmen of
these States to appear to swear fealty to Siam. They obeyed the order
as the only means of escaping destruction. They returned gladly to
their hereditary chieftain.
For five weeks after Mr. Scott's visit there was perfect quiet. How it
came about that this settlement was again disturbed is not quite clear.
The Siamese were bent on advancing their frontier to the Salween up to
the southern boundary of Kengtung. Seeing that Mr. Scott had returned
and had left no evidence of British authority in the shape of official
or garrison, the former game was repeated. The headmen of the four
States were again summoned "to drink the water of allegiance." Three of
them obeyed. The fourth, Möng Tang, sent a representative and wrote at
the same time to the Möngpan Sawbwa excusing his conduct on the ground
of _force majeure_, and promising to return to his lawful lord when
order was finally restored.
It was not until some time afterwards that the Siamese made overt
demonstrations by sending armed parties to the States, but the people
were very much alarmed and ceased all communication with the west of
the Salween. This reopening of the matter was not comprehended by the
Shans, and it did not help to enhance our reputation in the Shan States.
South-west of these Trans-Salween possessions of Möngpan, and separated
from them by a Siamese district called Mueng Fai, lie two districts,
Mehsakun and Möngmau, forming part of the territory of Mawkmai. The
history of these tracts illustrates the fluid state in which the
country on the borders of the Shan States and Siam was in 1887-9,
and for some time previously. Perhaps neither Burma nor Siam had any
established and acknowledged authority in these regions. In 1823
the chief of Mawkmai, Né Noi by name, who was distinguished by the
appellation of the Kolan (nine fathom) Sawbwa, was cast into prison in
the Burmese capital. He escaped, and returned to his country through
Eastern Karenni, in much the same way as the Hsipaw Sawbwa at a later
date. But he could not withstand the Burmese power; and crossing the
Salween, with the aid of Shans from Mawkmai he "carved," to use the
words of Mr. Scott's report, "the two States of Mehsakun and Möngmau
out of the jungle," and settled down there with his own people.
Here he lived for twenty years, until in 1873 he obtained a pardon and
went back to Mawkmai, leaving a nephew to govern the Trans-Salween
acquisitions. While he was at Mawkmai he was no peaceful neighbour, but
made himself feared by the Karennis on his south border and by the Laos
on the south and east. So far from being in any way subordinate to the
Siamese officials at Chiengmai, he attacked the Siamese district of
Mehawnghsawn and drove out the Shan, named Taiktaga San, who had been
placed there by the Chiengmai authorities. He bestowed the district
on his niece, by name Nang Mya. She was a lady with much force of
character, who in England, in the reign of King George V. would have
been a militant suffragette, and would have made short work of the
ministry by marrying them all out of hand. Nang Mya, probably feeling
the need of local knowledge and connections, dismissed her first
husband, who bore the not very imposing name of Pu Chang Se, recalled
her predecessor, Taiktaga San, from exile, and made him her consort.
When the Kolan (nine fathom) Sawbwa returned across the Salween to
Mawkmai, she and her new consort transferred their allegiance to the
Siamese Governor at Chiengmai, without opposition on the part of the
Mawkmai Sawbwa. Mehawnghsawn, it may be explained, is farther from
Mawkmai than from Chiengmai, and the Salween flows between.
This transaction, however, did not affect the districts of Mehsakun and
Möngmau, which remained under Mawkmai territory without question until
1888.
When the Red Karen chief, after the old Kolan's death, attacked
Mawkmai, Kun Noi, who was governing Mehsakun on his uncle's behalf,
behaved disloyally to his cousin, the rightful heir to Kolan, and
induced the Karenni to make him master of Mawkmai. How Kun Hmon was
restored to his position in Mawkmai by a British force has been told
above (Chapter XV, p. 184). He was unable, however, to regain the two
Trans-Salween districts, and it was not convenient at the moment to
send a party across to reinstate him. Kun Noi, having been ejected
from Mawkmai by the British, turned his thoughts to Siam and opened
communications with the Chiengmai authorities through his cousin,
the lady Nang Mya, who governed at Mehawnghsawn, with the view of
placing himself under their protection. This was the origin of the
Siamese pretensions to the Trans-Salween districts of Mawkmai. They
had no foundation in right. It had been for some time their ambition
to advance their frontier to the Salween, but as long as Burma had a
remnant of strength, they could not. They thought the time opportune
when the Burmese power had gone and the British had not yet made good
their hold. On the 6th of March, 1889, a band of men, some of whom were
militia from Chiengmai, came and occupied Tahwepon, the chief ferry
on the Salween in Mawkmai territory, and hoisted the elephant flag of
Siam, claiming the whole of the borderland lying east of the river for
the King of Siam.
The position of Eastern Karenni has been explained in the chapter
concerning events in that country. The people are numerous and all
Karen. In the thirty-eight villages in which they live there are
neither Shans nor Laos. The territory had been for many years in the
hands of the Karenni chief, and was colonized by his people, just
as the two districts north of it had been colonized by Mawkmai. It
formed the most profitable portion of the Karenni State, by reason of
its extensive and valuable teak forests. The capital required to work
the timber was found by British subjects from Moulmein, the Karennis
furnishing the labour. The timber trade was completely stopped by the
Siamese; the elephants employed on it seized and carried off. The
floating of the timber which had to be sent down to Moulmein by the
Salween was prevented, and communication between the east and west
banks prohibited by them. Such a state of affairs was most galling to
the Karennis and injurious to the dignity and to the revenues of their
chief.
Such was the condition of affairs in 1889, and it became necessary
to take action to prevent further mischief. It was decided by the
Government of India, in communication with the Foreign Office, to
appoint a Commission to survey the frontier and settle disputed points
with representatives of the Siamese. Accordingly, as soon as the
season permitted, a Commission was formed under Mr. Ney Elias, C.I.E.,
as chief. The members of the Commission were Mr. W. J. Archer, Her
Britannic Majesty's Vice-Consul at Chiengmai, Mr. J. G. (now Sir J.
George) Scott, Major E. G. Barrow (now Sir Edmund Barrow), Captain F.
J. Pink (now Colonel Francis J. Pink, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., Queen's
Royal West Surrey Regiment). A survey party from the Government
of India, under Captain H. M. Jackson, R.E., was attached to the
Commission. Surgeon J. K. Close was appointed to the medical charge,
with Dr. Darwin as his assistant. The escort, commanded by Major
Clarke, O.L.I., was composed of two companies of the Oxford Light
Infantry, two guns of a Mountain Battery, and a few rifles of the Shan
(military police) Levy.
Early in December the Commission met at Fort Stedman, and marching
down through Loikaw and Sawlôn, the Karenni capital, encamped near
Ywathit, at the ferry on the Salween called Ta Sanglè. Here they had
expected to meet the Commissioners who, it was understood, had been
appointed by the Bangkok Government to represent it. No one appeared,
however, with credentials from Siam. Whether this was a deliberate act
of discourtesy, or only a failure caused by the general debility of
the Siamese administration, may be questioned. Most probably it was an
instance of the common policy of Orientals and others with a weak case,
who prefer to plead before a distant and necessarily more ignorant
tribunal, rather than to submit their statements and evidence to a
well-informed officer on the spot. Perhaps, also, the advisers of the
Siamese Government avoided taking part in the inquiry in order that
they might refuse to be bound by an unwelcome finding.
Under these circumstances, Mr. Elias was forced to proceed in the
absence of the other side. The working season in these latitudes
is short, and to have delayed action would have played the Siamese
game and given them more time to harass the Karennis and appropriate
their property. Although no final decision could be arrived at, the
Commission could ascertain the facts, survey the country, and place the
matter in a clear light before the Government of India. At least we
should acquire an exact knowledge of the case, and be able to say what
we were fighting about. The business, therefore, was allowed to proceed.
A standing camp was formed at Ta Sanglè, and three parties, led by Mr.
Ney Elias, Mr. Archer, and Mr. J. G. Scott, respectively, started to
examine and survey the Karenni country. Ten months had passed since the
Siamese had appeared in these parts. The time occupied unavoidably in
a triangular correspondence between the Chief Commissioner in Burma,
the Government of India in Simla, and the Foreign Office at Whitehall,
had not been altogether wasted by the Siamese, who had endeavoured
to get the proverbial nine points of the law on their side. They had
established a series of posts along the Salween, all of them stockaded
and flying the white elephant flag of Siam. In each of these posts
were fairly large garrisons of from fifty to one hundred men, some
of them well armed Siamese troops, others Laos and Shans--men, these
latter, from the west of the Salween, who had sought refuge in Siamese
territory from the troublous times of the past years.
It was found that the frontier of Trans-Salween Karenni was clearly
defined by a range running from north to south, from fifteen to
five-and-twenty miles from the Salween. The inhabitants, almost all
Karens, had built their villages on this frontier range. As they live
by the rude method of cultivation known as _Taungya_, they frequently
move from one site to another to get fresh ground. The forests are
rich in teak, but the timber was worked not by the Karens, but by
Shans, or by Burmese traders from Moulmein. Everything went to show
that the country had been settled and opened up by the Red Karens, and
that the Siamese neither had nor pretended to have any rights over
it until the time of our expedition against Sawlapaw. From inquiries
made and from the number of their villages the Karen population was
estimated at between three and four thousand. The Siamese had taken a
very practical method of marking them for their own. All adult males
without exception had been tattooed on the forearm with the emblem of
an elephant, with a running number added below. At first it was thought
that this might help us to compute the number of people in the country.
But the tattooing had not been done systematically at the villages
where the people lived, but at markets and ferries as they chanced to
come from the villages around, to sell their produce or make purchases.
Thus while one man in a village might be branded with the number one
hundred, his neighbour in the same village might be numbered four
hundred. Without visiting every village, therefore, it was not possible
to learn the highest number reached, and for this there was not time.
Going north to the districts of Möngmau and Mehsakun, claimed by
Mawkmai, Mr. Elias was met by a major in the Siamese army, who claimed
to be a member of the Commission representing Siam. This gentleman
begged the question in dispute by welcoming Mr. Elias to Siamese
territory, but made no further contribution to its settlement. The
inquiry having convinced the Commission that the Mawkmai Sawbwa's
right to these districts was beyond doubt, he was permitted to resume
possession. He brought in his officials with an escort of his own
Shans, and the Siamese officers thereupon retired. Mawkmai's possession
was not disturbed again.
In the four States claimed by Möngpan events took a similar course. An
official representing Siam was found encamped close to Möng Tung, with
about one hundred and fifty men. He was requested to leave, as these
States were undoubtedly British territory and had been formally so
declared. He left without delay or reluctance, and the Möngpan Sawbwa
was put in possession, his nephew being appointed governor of the four
States, and entrusted with the task of restoring them to order and
prosperity. So far the Commission had completed their task. As the
Siamese had failed to co-operate, the decisions could not be regarded
as final. They were left, as the Bangkok Government may have intended,
to be reopened and disputed in London. Much information, however, had
been gathered about a country hitherto unknown, and a solid foundation
laid for a lasting settlement of our frontier with Siam. Captain
Jackson's party had worked with the energy for which he had already won
a reputation in three preceding seasons in the Cis-Salween States.
"In this his fourth season," wrote the Superintendent of the Southern
Shan States to the Chief Commissioner, "he had an exceedingly difficult
region to survey, and he has fixed on our charts an area which would
probably have exceeded the powers of any one whose physique was not in
equal proportion to his zeal."
Before the Commission had finished the settlement of this strip of
country from the south border of Eastern Karenni to the northern
frontier of Möng Tung, it had become evident that if they were to
complete their task the whole body could not visit Kengtung. Mr.
Scott, therefore, was deputed for this purpose, and left early in
February. He decided to start from Möngnai, where he proceeded in order
to procure transport. The lateness of the season made it above all
things necessary to march quickly, impossible with pack bullocks, the
ordinary transport of the Shans, which make thirty-four stages from
Möngnai to Kengtung. The Panthays (Chinese Mohammedans) with their
mules, do the same journey in twelve days. They march from daylight
to midday, and after a couple of hours' halt go on till sunset. Mules
have the advantage of bullocks in the matter of gear as well as in
speed and endurance. The loads are fastened not to the saddle, but to
a light wooden frame which fits into grooves on the saddle, and can be
lifted off in a minute and as easily replaced. The process of loading
and unloading is therefore greatly simplified, and much labour and
time saved. Moreover, baggage of all sorts and shapes can be loaded
on mules, whereas bullocks cannot carry any that will not fit into
their baskets. Then a mule will walk almost as fast as a man in heavy
marching-order, and will cover twelve or fifteen miles while a bullock
is doing his five; so that instead of waiting for their food after a
twelve-mile march until the bullocks hobble in when the sun is low, the
men will get their food half an hour after they reach camp. But Mr.
Scott has led us away from the business in hand in his enthusiasm for
mules.
Panthay mules are not to be found waiting on a stand like taxi-cabs. It
is not easy to get them for casual work. Mr. Scott, therefore, was kept
some time at Möngnai waiting for mules, and then could not get enough
and had to fill the gap with elephants. From Möngnai he went up north
by the Nam Teng Valley, crossing the Nam Teng at Ko-up, where a bamboo
bridge had been built over the river. The villages on both sides of the
river had been raided by the brigand Twet Nga Lu, whose story has been
told elsewhere (_vide_ Chapters XV and XVI).
East of the Nam Teng River in the State of Keng Tawng, "the country for
nearly twenty miles at a stretch," Mr. Scott reported, "is practically
a desert. Yet all along the road old wells and ruinous monasteries
and the grass-grown skeletons of former paddy-fields, to say nothing
of hill-clearings, showed that formerly there must have been a large
population here.... The handful of people who have so far returned to
Keng Tawng have settled twenty miles farther south, round the site of
the old capital. There is a magnificent banyan-tree, known far and wide
as Mai Hung Kan, at Maklang.... The adjoining monastery was burnt by
Twet Nga Lu's brigands, and not even the sanctity of the tree which
twenty men could not span, under whose branches a fair-sized village
might be built, has yet been able to persuade the monks to return.
There are not, in fact, enough of the pious in the neighbourhood to
support them."
Of the next State entered, Keng Hkam, the same story has to be told.
The Nam Pang, a stormy river which rises in the north near Lashio,
flows into the Salween near Keng Hkam. The valuable portion of this
district consists of an extensive plateau extending along the right
bank of the Nam Pang, where tobacco and sugar grow well, and very fine
rice-fields and extensive groves of palms made the country rich.
The State suffered greatly in the Twet Nga Lu's disturbances. The old
capital was absolutely destroyed, and nothing now remains but the ruins
of fine teak monasteries and some ornate pagodas absolutely falling to
pieces.
The chief had moved to a new town three or four miles off, but
intended, now order had been restored, to build again on the old site.
Many families had emigrated to the east of the Salween.
This chief, styled _Myoza_, accompanied Mr. Scott to Kengtung. His
avowed object was to improve his mind by travel, and to learn English
modes of procedure. It afterwards, however, appeared that he was
attracted more by the fame of the charms of a lady of the Kengtung
Royal Family than by a craving for knowledge. "He was successful in his
wooing," wrote Mr. Scott, "and it may be hoped that his bride will put
an end to the habit which he is developing of making inconsequent set
speeches. Otherwise he is in great danger of becoming an intolerable
young prig."
It is not possible here to follow the journey to Kengtung march by
march. It must suffice to give some idea of the country through which
the party had to go. From Keng Hkam to the Kaw Ferry on the Salween,
the road was easy enough, the only difficulties being caused by the
passage of the Nam Pang, across which, owing to the nature of the bed
of the stream, the pack animals could not swim, and had to be ferried
over. The Nam Teng, which was one hundred paces wide and twelve feet
deep under the eastern bank, would have been a cause of delay had not
the Shans thrown a bamboo bridge across the stream. This bridge built
by the villagers, in six days it was said, was crossed easily and
safely by the loaded transport mules. The bamboo is worth more to the
peasants than gold and silver and precious stones. With it a Burman
or Shan can do almost anything. For offence or defence, for house or
furniture, for carrying water or making a raft, the bamboo is equally
good.
Mr. Scott's party crossed the Salween at the Kaw Ferry, which is in the
small State of Hsenyawt, which is described as a simple chaos of hills
with probably not above a couple of hundred acres of flat paddy-land
in its whole area. The village, which exists for the ferry rather
than for any other reason, can hardly find room for more than two or
three houses in a cluster, and is consequently scattered over a square
mile or so of broken ground. On the other side of the Salween it is
uninhabited, and the road for some distance is very difficult, climbing
along the side of a gorge through which the Nam Leng runs. Mr. Scott
tells us that the Panthay traders carry picks and spades to make the
road as they go, and it is only their labour which has kept the route
open. From the ferry the road runs north-east to Hsenmawng, which is
another small State and town under the same man who governs Hsenyawt.
There are two routes to Kengtung from this place. One, the northern,
through Möng Ping, bears the proud title of _Lammadaw_ (the royal
road), and was always used in Burmese times; but landslips had made it
dangerous for animals, and fighting between rival leaders, for men. The
other road, which kept more to the south, passing through a district
named Möng Pu Awn, was perhaps longer but better, and was followed by
Mr. Scott. It follows a zigzag course. First north-east, to Hsenmawng,
then south-east to Möng Hsen, then north-west again to Kengtung. "East
of Hsenmawng," writes Mr. Scott, "is a simple sea of hills, range
behind range all the way to Kengtung. The main ridges run nearly due
north and south, and they with their spurs and sub-features, can hardly
be said to be broken by the valleys of Möng Pu Awn or of Möng Hsen.
It is a constant succession of ascents and descents the whole way to
Kengtung."
The mountains crossed were often of some height, and between the
altitudes of 3,500 and 5,000 feet were covered with pine forest. The
main range of Loi[40] Pè Möng, the great divide between the Salween and
the Mekong Valleys, which averages 6,000 feet, and rises in many places
to more than 7,000, carries no pine forests.
"On the spurs and sub-features, which stretch far away to the west,
forming what may be almost called a plateau--a very uneven one
certainly, cut up by gigantic gullies, and sprinkled with numerous
eminences, but still a rough sort of tableland--pine forest is the
prevailing growth, and seems to give place to oak and chestnut above
5,000 feet, which, however, is about the average of this high-land
plain. Notwithstanding the ruggedness of the country which is very
much like a Brobdingnagian ploughed field, the road is not by any
means bad. It is very fatiguing, but for a mule-track it is very much
better than the roads at many places in the Western States, where
the path climbs straight up the hillside with a Roman directness of
purpose, or follows stream beds and rocky gorges with a pertinacity
born of an ignorance of shoe-leather. Beyond the Salween the track
follows the line of the spurs, with the result that one very seldom
has a back-breaking climb. The credit of this natural engineering eye
seems to belong rather to the Panthay and Chinese merchants than to the
natives of the country; for farther south, where the Panthay caravans
pass but seldom, the paths follow the usual Shan system of going
straight from point to point." It was through a country of this sort
that the little party which was to receive the submission of its chief,
and settle his relations with the Sovereign Power, made its way. With
Scott were two other white men, Captain Pink, of the Queen's Royal West
Surrey Regiment, who was a member of the Commission, and Dr. Darwin,
a civil surgeon, in the service of the Burman Government. The escort
consisted of eighteen old soldiers, Sikhs of the Shan levy which had
lately been taken over by the army, and as many untrained recruits of
the same corps. There were besides a few Burmese clerks on Mr. Scott's
staff, some servants and camp-followers, the transport mules with their
Panthay drivers, a few elephants--which were more imposing though less
agile than the mules--and lastly the princely wooer in the shape of the
Myoza of Keng Hkam, with a tail of rough spear-men to give a touch of
romance to the cortège. Not a very imposing embassage, certainly, to
represent the majesty of England, and to require the allegiance of a
chief who ruled over twenty thousand square miles of country. But the
leaders had the right spirit, and not a man with them, from the trained
soldiers to the rough mule-drivers, but marched with his head high.
The town of Kengtung is about ten miles as the crow flies from the pass
over the Loi Pè Möng.
"It lies in a plain about twenty miles long and perhaps fifteen
broad. To the west and north this is perfectly flat and under paddy
cultivation; to the east and south are low grassy hills with swamps
in the hollows. The town is built on the western edge of this rolling
country and overlooks the paddy-lands. It is surrounded by a wall about
fifteen feet high, and machicolated at the top." (The wall and a moat
were constructed by the Burman King Alompra in the eighteenth century.)
"The bricks are insufficiently burnt, the wall is old and therefore
crumbled away in many places, so that it is picturesque rather than
formidable; moreover, some hills to the south-west would enable
field-guns to drop shells wherever they pleased over the _enceinte_.
The wall follows the line of the rolling ground, and to the north and
south towers above the plain. To the west it has not this natural
advantage, and jungle affords admirable cover up to the dry ditch
which protects it on this side. To north-east and south swampy ground
covers the approach. The walls measure four and three-quarter miles
round, and have ten gates, which used to be covered by semicircular
arches. Only two of these arches, however, now remain, both on the
eastern face. There is very little level ground within the walls, and
only the northern half of the walled town is inhabited. Even this
portion is so overrun with trees as to be almost jungle, and there
are several large swamps among the houses. These supply the people
with water to drink and small mud-fish to eat. There are probably
seven or eight hundred houses within the walls, and many of these
are very substantial. Some are entirely built of brick; some have
brick basements and plank walling; and the number of bamboo houses is
very small. All the better-class houses are roofed with small tiles
made locally. To judge from the Sawbwa's audience-hall, these tiles
are not a very satisfactory protection against rain, but they at any
rate prevent the fires which do such frequent mischief in other Shan
towns. The monasteries are numerous, and some of them are adorned with
elaborate carving and wall paintings. They are much like the ordinary
Burmese or Shan Kyaung (monastery) in general architecture, but there
is an indefinable suggestion of Tartar influence about them. This is
particularly noticeable in the massive gateways which immediately
suggest the _paifang_ of China."
There was a very large colony of Shan Chinese to the east of the town.
They had large gardens and kept innumerable goats, pigs, ducks, and
fowls.
"Their houses are all built of bamboo, and their villages, like
those of China, are inconceivably dirty, though in their person the
inhabitants are clean enough."
To the industry of these people is due the manufacture of tiles and of
the pottery work, which is sold cheap and of great variety in Kengtung
bazaar. The inhabitants of the plain in which the city lies were,
Mr. Scott estimated, about twenty thousand. There were some military
surveyors in his party, but owing to the very critical state of affairs
for some time after the city was entered, it was thought better not to
send them out to survey.
Such, briefly, was the city of Kengtung when the small British
party entered its gates on the 14th of March, 1890. The elephants,
although they marched slowly, and may have been execrated at times on
that account, undoubtedly added pomp to the somewhat insignificant
procession which entered the city. What followed is best told in the
words of Mr. Scott's report. (Report on Southern Shan States for the
year 1889-90.)
"We were met at the edge of the plain by the Tawphaya, the Sawbwa's
cousin and Chief Minister, along with a number of the principal
officials, and marched in procession to the town. Great part of the
road was lined by villagers, who stood in many places three or four
deep to see us pass. We camped on the site of the old Burmese post,
and were visited almost immediately after our tents were pitched by
the Sawbwa and his half-brother, the Kyem Meung (heir-apparent). The
Sawbwa is sixteen, and looks older. The Kyem Meung's age is a matter of
dispute between the Ministers, his mother, and himself. Dates vary over
three years, but he looks a good deal younger than his brother.
"A formal return visit was paid to the Sawbwa next day. He is building
himself a new brick _haw_ (palace), and the old palace, which is a
dingy wooden erection, is said to be so rickety that it would have
infallibly collapsed with the number of people who were to be present
at the reception. We were therefore received in the court-house, which
looks rather like a railway goods shed outside, but has been rather
highly decorated within. The gilding is now, however, worn and tawdry.
There is a large gold throne at the farther end, enclosed within a
railing, and reached by folding doors from behind, like the Mandalay
_Yazapalin_, which it otherwise resembles in construction. The Sawbwa
and his brother sat on chairs in front of this, outside the railing,
and we were placed between them. There was an enormous gathering of
officials both of the town and the neighbourhood, and of the prominent
merchants of the town, and the conversation was kept up by these and
by the Kyem Meung, for the Sawbwa had never a word to say beyond Yes
or No. The merchants all talked of the opening up of communications
with the West, and particularly of the construction of a railway. Trade
at present is entirely with China. The old Chiengmai trade is greatly
interfered with, and almost put an end to by taxations, restrictions,
and imposts levied at the Siamese frontier posts. The general
impression received was that the merchant class and the bulk of the
ministers were delighted with the establishment of British authority
in Kengtung. There is a huge drum near the door of the audience-hall.
It is made of hide stretched on a wooden frame, and is about the size
of a puncheon. This is said to have been made by the 'hill-people,'
but by what hill-people and where, nobody knew. One stroke on this
_Sigyi_ announces that the Sawbwa has ascended the throne; two, that he
has left the palace to go through the town; and three strokes summon
all officials and armed men within hearing to the palace without an
instant's delay. We heard three strokes on this drum a good many times
during the next few days.
"On the night of the 16th of March, the second day after our arrival,
there was a _pwè_ (a posture dance) inside the Sawbwa's enclosure.
Eight of our Panthay mule-drivers, who had been out searching for stray
mules, went in after dark to buy cheroots at the usual bazaar. They
were set on by the Sawbwa's men. Most of them escaped, but one man
was seized, held with his face to the ground and shot in the back by
the Sawbwa himself. He was then set free and went back to his camp.
Two other shots were heard, and one of the Panthays has never since
been seen. The Panthay camp was some distance away in the plain, and
before I had got more than the excited account of one of the Panthays,
who fled from the palace to our camp, I had demanded, next morning,
an explanation from the Sawbwa, and the production of the man who
had fired the revolver. I got no explanation, except that the Sawbwa
had issued an order that none of our followers were to be allowed
to go about in the town wearing arms. In a country where every male
above six years wears a dagger, this was an absurdity. The order had
not, moreover, been communicated to our people. I therefore demanded
the surrender of the offender, and had issued this order before the
Panthays managed to summon up courage enough to denounce the Sawbwa
himself as the murderer. It was impossible to recede. It was necessary
for British prestige and for our own personal safety to settle the
case. Our followers expected to be massacred in their beds; the Sawbwa
feared that he would be seized in his palace, and filled it with armed
men. For two days the suspense was rather trying. I then announced that
if my orders were not complied with, I would march down to the _haw_
the next day. This brought up the Tawpaya and several other ministers,
with a petition that I would decide the case as it stood. They produced
no witnesses, and did not deny that the Sawbwa was the offender. I
therefore sentenced him to pay Rs. 500 compensation to the wounded man
and Rs. 1,500 if the missing man was not produced within five days
alive and well. This sentence, I informed them, was a concession to the
low state of their civilization and the ignorance of the Sawbwa. The
Rs. 500 were paid a couple of hours afterwards, and the Rs. 1,500 a few
days before we left.
"The incident was all the more embarrassing, because none of the
details of the Sawbwa's relations with the British Government had been
settled. He had been reduced to such a state of fear that it was only
by again threatening to march down to the _haw_ that I was able to
persuade him to come and discuss the terms under which he received a
_sanad_ of appointment from the British Government. When he did come,
however, his manner was much more satisfactory, and he accepted in
every detail the terms of the _sanad_ and promised to attend future
Durbars of the Shan chiefs. Other matters which had to be arranged with
him concerning his western frontier were also easily put in train for
settlement."
It is impossible to read this brief account without doing homage to
the well-considered audacity of Mr. Scott's action, which ended once
for all any inclination on the part of Kengtung to resist the British
Government.
During the next few days the terms of the Sawbwa's patent of
investiture were finally arranged. In his leisure time a wealth of
information regarding the province and its wonderful variety of races
was acquired by Mr. Scott, which it is regretted for the reader's sake
cannot be given here.
On the 29th of March, three days before the time fixed for leaving
Kengtung, a Durbar was held for the purpose of formally presenting
the chief with his patent of appointment. It was attended by all the
officials connected with the Kengtung State. The only foreigners
present were the princely wooer from Keng Hkam and the brother-in-law
of the Möngnai Sawbwa. But so large is the area of the State that
the assemblage was as numerous as if it had been a general Durbar of
the Shan States at Fort Stedman. Mr. Scott improved the occasion by
impressing on them that British supremacy meant peace and trade.
"As is usual with a speech in the Shan States, a running comment was
kept up in different parts of the audience on the various points
enumerated, and on the whole it seemed that their comprehension was
satisfactory and their resolution praiseworthy. The ministers promised
by the Sawbwa complete obedience to the Chief Commissioner in all
matters connected with the State; and the Sawbwa himself was divided
between admiration for the repeating carbine which he received as a
present and a laudable desire to be amiable."
The party left Kengtung on their return journey on the 1st of April,
and marched back by a southerly route through the four small States
belonging to Möngpan, where some disputes had arisen which required Mr.
Scott's orders. These questions were finally settled for the time at
least at Möngpan, and Mr. Scott then returned to Fort Stedman, which
he reached after an absence of six months, on the 6th of June, 1890.
He had been away on this distant work all the open season of 1889-90.
Although the Shan States in his immediate charge had not been visited
by the Superintendent, there had been no trouble. The Sawbwas as well
as the British administrators were putting aside warlike things, and
devoting their energies to the things of peace. The Lawksawk chief
had done us good service in 1899 by capturing the Setkya Mintha, a
pretender who had been a nuisance since the annexation. In 1890 he
broke up and captured most of the gang that followed a noted leader
Kyaw Zaw. The growth of wheat and other crops occupied the minds of
other Sawbwas, while the Chief Commissioner was devising a procedure
code to guide the Shan rulers in administering the law. It was
necessary to frame rules which should secure substantial justice and
at the same time should not be beyond the powers of the Shan judges to
comprehend. Communications between the States and Burma were vigorously
pushed on, although not quite as fast as the Superintendent wished and
in his enthusiasm thought possible.
The work done in 1889-90 was good and lasting. Although, owing to
the failure of the Siamese Government to take part in the inquiry, a
further Commission had to be appointed to settle and demarcate the
boundary, the decisions arrived at by Mr. Ney Elias were practically
confirmed, when the final demarcation was made in 1892-3 to some extent
by Mr. Hildebrand, but for the most part by Mr. H. G. A. Leveson,
of the Indian Civil Service and of the Burman Commission. The only
difference of importance was that the minor State of Chieng Kong, which
bestrode the Mekong and was supposed to be more or less tributary to
Kengtung, was, as regards the eastern or Trans-Mekong portion, of which
Möng Hsing was the chief town, assigned to Siam.
But before the Government at Bangkok had had time to receive the homage
of the Möng Hsing chief, the French crossed the Menam and obtained the
treaty of Chantabun from Siam, by which everything east of the Mekong
passed to France and Möng Hsing became French.
As to Kang Hung, in arranging matters with China we transferred all the
rights in this State on both sides the Mekong--the whole, in fact, of
the Sibsong Panna (or twelve provinces)--to China, on the condition
that she should never cede any part of it to another power. With an
almost indecent haste, China gave up a portion of the Kang Hung country
to France. As a protest, we refused to pay the decennial tribute of
gold flowers, which had been conceded to save the face of China after
the annexation, and demanded a revision of the eastern frontier of
Burma agreed with China in 1894. A new agreement was made in 1897 which
gave Burma a better boundary. It is not likely that new difficulties
will arise on this side, although the boundary has not been demarcated.
Trouble is more probable on the north, where no openings should be
left. China does not forget her claim to Burma.
Kengtung showed a proper sense of his duties after Mr. Scott's lesson
to him. The present Sawbwa, who was at the Delhi Durbar in 1903, is
reported to have said to one of the officers from Burma, "We thought
we were great men, but now we see that we are only monkeys from the
jungle." So Durbars, like other forms of adversity, may have their
uses, and quite as sweet.
FOOTNOTE:
[40] Loi in Shan means "mountain."