CHAPTER I.

[Illustration: MANDALAY, THE CAPITAL OF INDEPENDENT BURMA; FROM MANDALÉ

HILL. _Frontispiece._]

MANDALAY TO MOMIEN:

A NARRATIVE

OF THE

TWO EXPEDITIONS TO WESTERN CHINA

OF 1868 and 1875

UNDER

COLONEL EDWARD B. SLADEN

AND

COLONEL HORACE BROWNE.

BY

JOHN ANDERSON, M.D.EDIN., F.R.S.E., F.L.S., F.Z.S.

FELLOW OF CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY;

CURATOR OF IMPERIAL MUSEUM AND PROFESSOR OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY,

MEDICAL COLLEGE, CALCUTTA;

MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC OFFICER TO BOTH EXPEDITIONS.

WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

London:

MACMILLAN AND CO.

1876.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS,

STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

PREFACE.

Seven years have elapsed since the date of the expedition which

furnishes the subject of the larger portion of this work. Its results

have been recorded, but can hardly be said to have been published, in

the official reports of the several members, printed in India, and not

accessible to the general reader.

The public interest in the subject of the overland route from Burma

to China, called forth by the repulse of the recent mission and the

tragedy which attended it, has suggested the present publication. It is

hoped that a compendious and popular account of the expedition of 1868

will be acceptable, if only as an introduction to the simple narrative

of the mission of this year, commanded by Colonel Horace Browne. The

statement of the difficulties which beset our advance in 1868 will

prepare the reader to estimate the opposition which, under a changed

political condition of the country, compelled the mission under Colonel

Browne to return without accomplishing its object.

The narrative of our experiences of the border country between Bhamô

and Yunnan, and its motley population, has been supplemented from

materials collected by Colonel Sladen, including a catalogue of Kakhyen

deities obtained by him, and which will be found in the Appendix, along

with a Panthay account of the origin of the Chinese Mahommedans. To

him, as well as to my fellow travellers, Captain Bowers and Mr. Gordon,

I gladly record my obligations for the information that has been

derived from them.

For many details illustrating the condition of Yunnan and the

Mahommedan revolt in that province, I am indebted to the volumes,

issued by the French government, which contain the results of the

French expedition from Saigon to Yunnan, under Lagrée, Garnier, and

Carné, whose premature loss their country has to deplore, and to the

travels of that enterprising pioneer of commerce, Mr. T. T. Cooper.

No one can treat of the border lands of Cathay without deriving

assistance from the stores of knowledge collected and arranged by the

erudite editor of ‘Marco Polo,’ Colonel Yule, to whom I tender my

tribute of admiration and indebtedness.

My observations on the Kakhyens are confirmed by the learned Monsig.

Bigandet, the annotator of the ‘Life of Gaudama,’ who was the first

European to visit those hill tribes, and who communicated his

experiences to the columns of the leading Rangoon journal. The reader

will find among the appendices a valuable note by the same author, on

Burmese bells, especially those of Rangoon and Mengoon.

The list of Chinese deities given in the Appendix has been translated

from the original by the well-known Chinese scholar, Professor Douglas,

of the British Museum, who has kindly added an explanatory note. The

appended vocabularies may prove interesting to philologists.

The illustrations of the country and people as far as Ponsee have been

executed from photographs taken by Major Williams and myself, while the

views of the country to the east are reproductions of sketches which

fairly claim the merit of accurate delineation of its features.

The map illustrating the topography of the district travelled has

been based upon surveys made during the expedition by Mr. Gordon and

a Burmese surveyor, and a second has been added to show the general

relations of our Indian empire to Western China, with the various

routes which have been explored or projected, including those followed

by the French expedition, and by Margary from the terminus of the boat

journey to Bhamô.

The journal of our ill-fated companion, recently published in

China, and received in this country when this work was completed,

unfortunately does not carry him on to Tali-fu, but his impressions of

the country beyond this point have been briefly summarised in these

pages.

The scientific reader will perhaps be inclined to complain that the

following pages do not contain more of the results of the proper work

of a naturalist. Of these, a full and illustrated report, unavoidably

delayed by absence from this country, is in active preparation. This

will be published by the aid of the Indian government, given at the

instance of the Chief Commissioner of British Burma, the Hon. Ashley

Eden, by whom the opening up of the overland route to China, as a

measure beneficial to the province administered by him, has ever been

strongly advocated.

J. A.

6 ROYAL TERRACE, EDINBURGH,

_December 31, 1875_.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

FIRST EXPEDITION:--CHAPTERS I. to XI.

SECOND EXPEDITION:--CHAPTERS XII. to XVI.

PAGES

CHAPTER I.

MANDALAY TO BHAMÔ. 1-36

Overland trade of Burma and China--Early notices--English

travellers--Burmese treaty of 1862--Dr. Williams--Objects of the

expedition--Its constitution--Arrival at Mandalay--Second coronation

of the king--The suburbs--The bazaars--Mengoon--Burmese

navigation--Shienpagah--Coal mines--The third defile--Sacred

fish--Tagoung and Old Pagan--Ngapé--Katha--Magnetic battery--The

first Kakhyens--The Shuaybaw pagodas--The second defile--View of

Bhamô

CHAPTER II.

BHAMÔ. 37-66

Arrival at Bhamô--Our quarters--The town--The Woon’s house--The

Shan-Burmese--Kakhyen man-stealing--The environs--Old

Tsampenago--Legendary history--The Shuaykeenah pagodas--The Molay

river--The first defile--Delays and intrigues--Sala--The new Woon--Our

departure--Tsitkaw--Mountain muleteers--The Manloung lake--The

phoongyee’s farewell

CHAPTER III.

KAKHYEN HILLS. 67-86

Departure from Tsitkaw--Our cavalcade--The hills--A false

alarm--Talone--First night in the hills--The tsawbwa-gadaw--Ponline

village--A death dance--The divination--A meetway--Nampoung gorge--A

dangerous road--Lakong bivouac--Arrival at Ponsee--A Kakhyen coquette

CHAPTER IV.

PONSEE CAMP. 87-124

Desertion of the muleteers--Our encampment--Visit of hill

chiefs--Sala’s demands--A mountain excursion--Messengers from

Momien--Shans refuse presents--Stoppage of

supplies--Ill-feeling--Tsawbwa of Seray--St. Patrick’s Day--Retreat of

Sala--The pawmines of Ponsee--A burial-ground--Visit to the

Tapeng--The silver mines--Approach of the rains--Hostility of

Ponsee--Threatened attack--Reconciliation--A false start--Letters from

Momien--A hailstorm--Circular to the members of the mission--Beads and

belles--Friendly relations with Kakhyens--Their importance

CHAPTER V.

THE KAKHYENS. 125-154

The Kakhyens or Kakoos--The clans--Their chiefs--Mountain

villages--Cultivation and crops--Personal appearance--Costume--Arms

and implements--Female dress and ornaments--Women’s

work--Sheroo--Morals--Marriage--Music--Births--Funerals--Religion--

Language--Character--How to deal with them--Our party

CHAPTER VI.

MANWYNE TO MOMIEN. 155-188

Departure from Ponsee--Valley of the Tapeng--A curious crowd--Our

khyoung--Matins--The town of Manwyne--Visit to the haw--The

tsawbwa-gadaw--An armed demonstration--Karahokah--Sanda--The chief and

his grandson--Muangla--Shan burial-grounds--The Tahô--A murdered

traveller--Mawphoo valley--Muangtee--Nantin--Valley of Nantin--The hot

springs--Attacked by Chinese--Hawshuenshan volcano--Valley of

Momien--Arrival at the city

CHAPTER VII.

MOMIEN. 189-222

Momien--The town of Teng-yue-chow--Aspect and condition--An official

reception--Return visit--Government house--A Chinese tragedy--The

market--Jade manufacture--Minerals--Mines of Yunnan--Stone

celts--Cattle--Climate--Environs--The waterfall--Pagoda

hill--Shuayduay--Rock temples--Ruined suburbs--City

temples--Four-armed deities--Boys’ school--A grand feast--The

loving-cup--The tsawbwa-gadaw of Muangtee--Keenzas--The Chinese poor

CHAPTER VIII.

THE MAHOMMEDANS OF YUNNAN. 223-247

Their origin--Derivation of the term “Panthay”--Early

history--Increase in numbers--Adoption of children--The

Toonganees--Physical characteristics--Outbreak of the

revolt--Tali-fu--Progress of revolt--The French expedition--Overtures

from Low-quang-fang--Resources of the Panthays--Capture of

Yunnan-fu--Prospects of their success--Our position--The governor’s

presents--Preparations for return

CHAPTER IX.

THE SANDA VALLEY. 248-273

Departure from Momien--Robbers surprised--At Nantin--Our ponies

stolen--We slide to Muangla--A pleasant meeting--The Tapeng

ferrymen--A valley landscape--Negotiations at Sanda--The Leesaws--A

Shan cottage--Buddhist khyoungs--For fear of the nats--The limestone

hill--Hot springs of Sanda--The footprint of Buddha--A priestly

thief--The excommunication--The chief’s farewell--Floods and

landslips--Manwyne priests--A Shan dinner party--The

nunnery--Departure from Manwyne--The Slough of Despond

CHAPTER X.

THE HOTHA VALLEY. 274-312

The mountain summit--A giant glen--Leesaw village--The wrong

road--Priestly inhospitality--Town of Hotha--A friendly chief--The

Namboke Kakhyens--The Hotha market--The Shan people--The

Koshanpyi--The Tai of Yunnan--Their personal

appearance--Costume--Equipment--The Chinese Shans--Silver hair

ornaments--Ear-rings--Torques, bracelets, and rings--Textile

fabrics--Agriculture--Social customs--Tenure of land--Old Hotha--A

Shan-Chinese temple--Shan Buddhism--The fire festival--Eclipse of the

sun--Horse worship--Ancient pagodas--Roads from Hotha

CHAPTER XI.

FROM HOTHA TO BHAMÔ. 313-332

Adieu!--Latha--Namboke--The southern hills--Muangwye--Loaylone--The

Chinese frontier--Mattin--Hoetone--View of the Irawady plain--A

slippery descent--The Namthabet--The Sawady route--A solemn

sacrifice--A retrospective survey

CHAPTER XII.

INTERMEDIATE EVENTS. 333-349

Appointment of a British Resident at Bhamô--Increase of native

trade--Action of the king of Burma--Burmese quarrel with the Seray

chief--British relations with the Panthays--Struggle in

Yunnan--Li-sieh-tai--Imperialist successes--European gunners--Siege of

Momien--Fall of Yung-chang--Prince Hassan visits England--Fall of

Tali-fu--Sultan Suleiman’s death--Massacre of Panthays--Capture of

Momien--Escape of Tah-sa-kon--Capture of Woosaw--Suppression of

rebellion--Imperial proclamation--Li-sieh-tai, commissioner of Shan

states--Re-opening of trade routes--Second British mission--Action of

Sir T. Wade--Appointment of Mr. Margary--Members of

mission--Acquiescence of China and Burma

CHAPTER XIII.

SECOND EXPEDITION. 350-378

Start of mission--Arrival at Mandalay--The Burmese pooay--Posturing

girl--Reception by the meng-gyees--Audience by the king--Departure of

mission--Progress up the river--Reception at Bhamô--British

Residency--Mr. Margary--Account of his journey--The Woon of

Bhamô--Entertains Margary--Chinese puppets--Selection of route--Sawady

route--Bullock carriage--Woon of Shuaygoo--Chinese surmises--Letters

to Chinese officials--Burmese worship-day

CHAPTER XIV.

SAWADY. 379-399

The _hun pooay_--Mission proceeds to Sawady--Visit from Woon--Rumoured

opposition--The Woon as a musician--Sawady village--Royal

orders--Baggage difficulties--Arrival of Mr. Clement Allan--Paloungto

chief--Kakhyen pilfering--Abandon route--Adopt Ponline route--Reasons

for change--Tsaleng Woon--Departure of mission to Tsitkaw--Elias and

Cooke proceed to Muangmow--Dolphins--Up the Tapeng--Tahmeylon--Arrive

at Tsitkaw

CHAPTER XV.

THE ADVANCE. 400-427

Residence at Tsitkaw--View from our house--The Namthabet--Junction

of the rivers--Arrival of the Woon--Conference of

tsawbwas--Hostages--Kakhyen women--Rifle practice--A night alarm--A

curious talisman--We leave Tsitkaw--Camp at Tsihet--Burmese

guard-house--Lankon, Ponline--Camp on the Moonam--Hostile

rumours--Camp on the Nampoung--Departure of Margary for

Manwyne--Escape of hostages--Letter from Margary--We enter China--Camp

on Shitee Meru--Burmese vigilance--Visit to Seray--Conference with

Seray tsawbwa--Suspicious reception--Return to camp--Burmese

barricades

CHAPTER XVI.

REPULSE OF MISSION. 428-454

Appearance of enemy--Murder of Margary--Friendly tsawbwas--Mission

attacked--Woonkah tsawbwa bought over--The jungle fired--Repulse of

attack--Incidents of the day--Our retreat--Shitee--Burmese

reinforcements--Halt at guard-house--Retreat on Tsitkaw via

Woonkah--Elias and Cooke’s visit to Muangmow--Li-sieh-tai--Return of

Captain Cooke--Elias at Muangmow--Father Lecomte and the Mattin

chief--A forged letter--The Saya of Kauntoung--Reports regarding

Margary--The commission of inquiry--Return of Elias--Visit to the

second defile--Mission’s return to Rangoon

APPENDICES.

I. A Note by Bishop Bigandet, on Burmese Bells 455

II. Origin of Mahommedanism in China; from Chinese Document 456

III. Deities worshipped by Kakhyens 457-459

IV. Deities in a Hotha Shan Temple 460-463

V. VOCABULARIES:--Kakhyen, Shan, Leesaw, and Poloung 464-473

INDEX 475-479

LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

MAP OF COUNTRY TRAVERSED.

GENERAL MAP, WITH ROUTES.

PLAN OF MOMIEN; BY BURMESE SURVEYOR.

MANDALAY, THE CAPITAL OF INDEPENDENT BURMA; FROM

MANDALÉ HILL _Frontispiece._

_From a photograph by_ COLONEL SLADEN.

_To face page_

THE DEVA-FACED CLIFF, SECOND DEFILE OF THE IRAWADY 34

_From a photograph by the_ AUTHOR.

ROCKY BARRIER ON THE FIRST OR UPPER DEFILE OF THE IRAWADY 55

_From a photograph by_ MAJOR WILLIAMS.

KAKHYEN WOMEN 74

_From a photograph by_ MAJOR WILLIAMS.

OUR CAMP AT PONSEE 89

_From a photograph by_ MAJOR WILLIAMS.

KAKHYEN MEN--KAKHYEN MATRONS 125

_From photographs by_ MAJOR WILLIAMS.

KAKHYEN AND SHAN PIPES, MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 134

_From photographs._

NANTIN VALLEY, TOWN OF MUANGTEE TO THE LEFT 178

_From a sketch by the_ AUTHOR.

EXTINCT VOLCANO OF HAWSHUENSHAN; FROM SUMMIT OF MOMIEN HILL 186

_From a sketch by the_ AUTHOR.

WITHIN THE WALLS OF MOMIEN OR TENG-YUE-CHOW 192

_From a sketch by the_ AUTHOR.

WATERFALL OF THE TAHÔ; MOMIEN IN THE DISTANCE 208

_From a sketch by the_ AUTHOR.

VALLEY OF SANDA, LOOKING WESTWARD FROM THE HILL BEHIND THE TOWN 254

_From a sketch by the_ AUTHOR.

SHAN HEAD-DRESS, BRACELETS, AND EAR ORNAMENTS 296

_From photographs._

POSTURING GIRL AT MANDALAY 354

_From a photograph by the_ AUTHOR.

VIEW IN BHAMÔ 364

_From a photograph by_ MAJOR WILLIAMS.

TSITKAW, ON THE TAPENG, LOOKING TOWARDS THE KAKHYEN HILLS 401

_From a photograph by the_ AUTHOR.

[Illustration: A MAP OF the ROUTES TRAVERSED BY THE EXPEDITIONS OF

1868 AND 1875

_Stanford’s Geographical Estabᵗ 55 Charing Cross._

London; Macmillan & Cᵒ.]

[Illustration: A MAP OF SOUTH-WESTERN CHINA Showing routes TRAVERSED &

PROPOSED.

_Stanford’s Geographical Estabᵗ. 55 Charing Cross._

London; Macmillan & Cᵒ.]

[Illustration: PLAN OF MOMIEN (TENG-YUE-CHOW)

_Stanford’s Geogˡ. Estabᵗ. 55 Charing Cross, London._

London; Macmillan & Cᵒ.]

MANDALAY TO MOMIEN.

CHAPTER I.

MANDALAY TO BHAMÔ.

Overland trade of Burma and China--Early notices--English

travellers--Burmese treaty of 1862--Dr. Williams--Objects of

the expedition--Its constitution--Arrival at Mandalay--Second

coronation of the king--The suburbs--The bazaars--Mengoon--Burmese

navigation--Shienpagah--Coal mines--The third defile--Sacred

fish--Tagoung and Old Pagan--Ngapé--Katha--Magnetic battery--The first

Kakhyens--The Shuaybaw pagodas--The second defile--View of Bhamô.

For some years previous to the date of the expedition of which the

progress is narrated in these pages, the attention of British merchants

at home and in India had been directed to the prospect of an overland

trade with Western China. Most especially did this interest the

commercial community of Rangoon, the capital of British Burma, and the

port of the great water highway of the Irawady, boasting a trade the

annual value of which had increased in fifteen years to £2,500,000.

The avoidance of the long and dangerous voyage by the Straits and

Indian Archipelago and a direct interchange of our manufactures for

the products of the rich provinces of Yunnan and Sz-chuen might well

seem to be advantages which would richly repay almost any efforts to

accomplish this purpose.

One plan, then as now, zealously insisted upon by its promoter, Captain

Sprye, was the construction of a railway connecting British Burma and

China via Kiang-Hung, on the Cambodia river, and the frontier position

or reputed town of Esmok.

But as it was, and still is, necessary to send a surveying expedition

over an unknown and alien country, as a preliminary, this project,

whether chimerical or not, could not compete with the immediate

possibility of opening a trade by way of the river Irawady and the

royal city of Mandalay.

Although before 1867 but four English steamers with freight had

ascended the river to the capital, harbingers of the numerous flotilla

now plying on the Irawady, it was known that a regular traffic existed

between Mandalay and China, especially in the supply of cotton to the

interior, which was reserved as a royal monopoly.

This trade was reported to be mainly carried on by caravans traversing

the overland route via Theinnee to Yunnan. According to the itineraries

of the Burmese embassy in 1787, the distance is six hundred and

twenty miles, and forty-six hills and mountains, five large rivers

and twenty-four smaller ones, had to be traversed in the tedious

journey of two months. But an unbroken chain of tradition and history

indicated the natural entrepot of the commerce between Burma and China

to be at or near Bhamô,[1] on the left bank of the upper Irawady, and

close to the frontier of Yunnan.

The Burmese annals testified that during several centuries this had

been the passage from China to Burma either for invading armies or for

peaceful caravans. The most recent Burmo-Chinese war had arisen out

of the grievances of Bhamô Chinese merchants, and the treaty of peace

that was signed at Bhamô in 1769 stipulated that the “gold and silver

road” between the two countries should be reopened. Mutual embassies

had consequently journeyed between Pekin and Ava, and almost all had

proceeded by way of the Irawady and Bhamô.

European travellers and traders had early discerned the importance of

this channel of intercourse, which seems to have been alluded to by the

great Venetian, Marco Polo, under the name of Zardandan.

The old documents of Fort St. George record that the English and

Dutch had factories in the beginning of the seventeenth century at

Syriam, Prome, and Ava, and at a place on the borders of China, which

Dalrymple supposes to have been Bhamô. According to this authority,

some dispute arose between the Dutch and Burmese, and on the former

threatening to call in the aid of the Chinese, both the English and

Dutch were expelled from Burma. In 1680 the reputation of this field

for mercantile enterprise seems to have again attracted the attention

of the authorities at Fort St. George, and four years afterwards one

Dod, trading to Ava, was instructed to inquire into the commerce of

the country, and to request that a settlement might be sanctioned at

Prammoo, on the borders of China. This mission was unsuccessful, and

Prammoo cannot with certainty be identified, but the strong similarity

of the name seems to point to Pan-mho or Bhamô.

Coming down to more recent and certain data, we find that Colonel

Symes, H.E.I.C.’s envoy to Ava in 1795 (and who was accompanied by

that able geographer, Dr. Buchanan), states that an extensive trade,

chiefly in cotton, existed between Ava and Yunnan. “This commodity was

transported up the Irawady to Bhamô, where it was sold to the Chinese

merchants, and conveyed partly by land and partly by water into the

Chinese dominions. Amber, ivory, precious stones, betel-nut, and the

edible birds’ nests from the Eastern Archipelago, were also articles

of commerce. In return, the Burmans procured raw and wrought silks,

velvets, gold-leaf, preserves, paper, and utensils of hardware.” Both

the researches of Wilcox and the journal of Crawford’s embassy to Ava

in 1826 referred to the trade and routes by Bhamô, and the Bengal

government in 1827 published a map containing the best procurable

information about the Burmo-Chinese frontier.

Colonel Burney, who was Resident at the court of Ava in 1830, published

a large number of valuable contributions to the history, geography,

and resources of Upper Burma, and accurate itineraries of the Theinnee

and Bhamô routes to China. Our experience demonstrated the accuracy of

the latter as far as Momien, and it may be inferred that the remainder

will be found equally exact. Pemberton[2] seems to have been the

first to fully realise that--to use his own words--“the province of

Yunnan, to which the north-eastern borders of our Indian empire have

now so closely approximated, has become from this circumstance and

our existing amicable relations with the court of Ava an object of

peculiar interest to us.” In the same year Captain Hannay accompanied

a Burmese mission to Mogoung, and for the first time Bhamô was

accurately described by an eye-witness, and much valuable information

gained respecting the trade then carried on between Ava and China. His

description of the importance of the town, however, differed widely

from that of Drs. Griffiths and Bayfield, who visited it two years

later.[3]

Hannay gives the reported number of houses as one thousand five

hundred, while the latter travellers estimated town and suburbs as

containing five hundred and ninety-eight houses, “neither good nor

large,” which latter description is more in keeping with the present

condition of the town.

In 1848 Baron Otto des Granges published a short survey of the

countries between Bengal and China, showing the great commercial and

political importance of Bhamô, and the practicability of a direct trade

overland between Calcutta and China.

In this paper the far-seeing author advocated the equipment of a small

expedition to ascertain the mercantile relations of the country about

Bhamô, to examine the mineral wealth of Yunnan, and to enter into

negotiations with the Chinese merchants.

In 1862 the government of India, in the prospect of a treaty being

negotiated with the king of Burma, directed their Chief Commissioner,

Sir A. Phayre, to include in it, if possible, the reopening of the

caravan route from Western China by the town of Bhamô, and the

concession of facilities to British merchants to reside at that place,

or to travel to Yunnan, and for Chinese from Yunnan to have free access

to British territory, including Assam. The first of these objects was

to be effected by obtaining the king’s sanction to a joint Burmese and

British mission to China. A treaty was concluded whereby the British

and Burmese governments were declared friends, and trade in and through

Upper Burma was freely thrown open to British enterprise. It was

further stipulated that a direct trade with China might be carried

on through Upper Burma, subject to a transit duty of one per cent.

_ad valorem_ on Chinese exports, and _nil_ on imports. The proposal,

however, as to the joint mission was unsuccessful.

In the following year, Dr. Williams, formerly resident at the court of

Mandalay, obtained the royal permission to proceed as far as Bhamô,

where he arrived in February, after a journey of twenty-two days. His

object was to test the practicability of a route through Burma to

Western China, and the results of his experience led him to strongly

advocate the Bhamô routes as politically, physically, and commercially

the most advantageous.

His energetic advocacy led the mercantile community of Rangoon to

appreciate the importance of their own position, commanding, as it

does, the most ancient highway to Western China. His claim, however,

to have been the first to suggest this trade route must yield to

that of Otto des Granges; and the assertion that he was the first

Englishman who visited Bhamô could only have been made in ignorance or

forgetfulness of the labours of Hannay, Bayfield, and Griffiths.

When the commercial acuteness of the merchants was thus directed to the

possibilities of the overland trade, it might seem at first sight that

the stream could be tapped at Mandalay without following it up to the

borders of Yunnan.

But our growing intercourse with the capital of Burma made it known

that for twelve years the Burmo-Chinese trade via Bhamô, which in

1855 represented £500,000 per annum, had almost entirely ceased.

Whether this were owing to the effects of the Mahommedan rebellion

in Yunnan, or, as some alleged, to Burmese policy, was uncertain. It

was an additional problem, and the then Chief Commissioner, General

Fytche, anxiously pressed upon the government of India the importance

of solving it, and under the treaty of 1862 of thoroughly examining the

possibility and probable results of reopening the Bhamô trade route.

This enterprise might be deemed one of hereditary interest to the

descendant of that enterprising merchant-traveller, Mr. Fitch, who has

left an account of his visit to Pegu in 1586. The proposed expedition

was sanctioned by the government of India in September 1867, and the

consent of the king of Burma having been duly obtained, arrangements

were forwarded for the departure of the mission from Mandalay in

January 1868. The chief objects of the expedition were, to use the

words of General Fytche, “to discover the cause of the cessation of the

trade formerly existing by these routes, the exact position held by

the Kakhyens, Shans, and Panthays, with reference to that traffic, and

their disposition, or otherwise, to resuscitate it, also to examine the

physical conditions of these routes.”

Thus the duties to be discharged were multifarious, pertaining

to diplomacy, engineering, natural science, and commerce. These

accordingly were all represented among the members of the mission,

which consisted of Captain Williams, as engineer; Dr. Anderson, as

medical officer and naturalist; with Captain Bowers and Messrs. Stewart

and Burn as delegates from the commercial community of Rangoon.[4] A

guard of fifty armed police, with their inspector and native doctor,

formed an escort, while the command of the whole was entrusted to Major

Sladen, Political Resident at Mandalay. It is saying scarcely enough

to add that to the foresight, tact, and resolute patience displayed

by him as leader was due whatever measure of success was obtained. He

had already secured not only the consent but the co-operation of the

king. Written orders had been despatched to the _woon_, or governor,

of Bhamô, and to other places, to render all assistance. Besides these

verbal aids, the king placed at his disposal a royal steamer, named the

_Yaynan-Sekia_, better known as “The Honesty,” to convey the party to

Bhamô. On no former occasion had it been deemed prudent for steamers

to ascend save for a few miles above Mandalay; and great difference of

opinion existed as to the navigability of the upper Irawady in the dry

season by a steamer, though only drawing three feet of water.

In the morning of January 6, 1868, the steamer _Nerbudda_, which had

conveyed the party from Rangoon, made fast alongside the landing-place

of the present capital of Burma, three miles from the city, of which

only the golden spires could be seen above the trees. As our stay was

not to exceed three or four days, all the party remained on board until

it should be time to embark on the _Yaynan-Sekia_. Beyond a jetty used

by the Burmese in the floods, lay the royal steamer undergoing thorough

painting and cleaning for our reception. She was moored in a creek, the

royal naval depot, where numerous war-boats of the past and the present

fleet of royal steamers are laid up in ordinary. For nearly three miles

the river banks presented a busy scene. Native boats were loading or

discharging cargo; houses extended the whole distance, those nearer the

river being tenanted by fishermen. A large suburb stretched inland from

the shore; each house was surrounded by a vegetable garden enclosed

in a bamboo fence eight to ten feet high, while all were embosomed in

magnificent tamarind, plantain, and palm trees. The women were busily

engaged weaving silk putzos and tameins in various patterns.[5] Beyond

this suburb lay a large flat of alluvial land, devoted to rice fields,

some in stubble, from which the grain had just been reaped; in others

men and women were irrigating the young crop, now about six inches

high, three crops yearly being raised from these lands, which formed,

as it were, an island of cultivation, surrounded by houses.

The leader of the expedition, Major Sladen, came down to welcome us,

and we rode with him to the Residency, situated on the banks of a

canal, which runs parallel with the river, and halfway between it and

the city. The bank of the canal is lined with houses, and broad streets

lead to the city, over numerous strongly built timber bridges, the only

defect in which is that the alluvial banks of the canal frequently

give way, to the destruction of the bridges and interruption of the

traffic. Our road lay through a populous suburb of houses built of teak

and supported on piles. To the right lay a quarter occupied by the

_demi-monde_; to the left numerous khyoungs, or monasteries, reared

their graceful triple concave roofs. Phoongyees, or Buddhist monks,

abounded; so did pigs and dogs, both of which are fed daily by a dole

from the king, who, as a pious Buddhist, lays up a store of good works

by thus preserving animal life. These ubiquitous pigs have given rise

to a well-known saying, which tersely expresses the first impression

made on the European visitor by the precincts of the capital. Our stay

was too short to admit of more than a flying visit to Mandalay, its

palace and countless pagodas.

The city properly so-called lies about three miles from the Irawady,

on a rising ground below the hill Mandalé. It was founded, on his

accession in 1853, by the present king; and one of his motives for

quitting Ava, and selecting the new site, was to remove his palace

from the sight and sound of British steamers. The city is built on

the same plan as the old capital, described by Yule, and consists

of two concentric fortified squares. The outer is defended by lofty

massive brick walls, with earthworks thrown up on the inside. There

are four gates, over each of which rises a tower with seven gilded

roofs. Similar smaller towers adorn the wall at intervals. A deep moat

fifty yards broad has been completed since the date of our visit,

and now surrounds the walls. During the night, guard-boats, with

gongs beating, patrol its waters. When the king, in compliance with a

prophecy, was crowned a second time in 1874, he made the circuit of the

city in a magnificent war-boat, the splendour of which eclipses the

traditionary glory of the Lord Mayor’s barge. The actual ceremony of

the re-coronation took place on the 4th of June, at 8 P.M., the hour

pronounced propitious by the court of Brahmins.[6] Captain Strover

describes the ceremony as being to a great extent private, only the

various ministers of state and about eighty Brahmins being present.

Incantations and sprinkling of holy water brought from the Ganges

formed the chief part of the ceremony, after which his majesty was

supposed to have become a new king, barring the difficulty of years.

Seven days afterwards, the king went through the ceremony of taking

charge of the royal city. At nine in the morning a gun announced that

he had left the palace, and at half past another was fired, intimating

that he had entered the royal barge. The procession round the city

moat commenced from the east gate, and was led by the two principal

magistrates of Mandalay in gilded war-boats; then followed all the

princes in line, a short way in front of the state barge, and behind

the king came the ministers and officials. Troops lined the walls all

round the city, and cannon were placed every here and there at the

corners of the streets. Bands of music played as the procession passed,

and, altogether; the sight was most effective and unique. Having gone

right round the city, he left the royal barge at the east gate, and a

salute announced that he had re-entered the palace, and the ceremony

was finished. According to his majesty’s own statement, the ceremony

was a purely religious act.

The first square is inhabited by the officials, civil and military,

and the soldiers of the royal army. All the houses are in separate

enclosures, bordering broad, well kept streets; along the fronts

is carried the king’s fence, a latticed palisade, behind which the

subjects hide themselves when his majesty passes. During the day,

stalls are set up in the streets, and the various Burmese necessaries,

even to cloth, are sold, but at night all are cleared away and the

gates closed. The central or royal square is surrounded by an outer

stockade of teak timber twelve feet in height, and an inner wall.

Entrance is given by two gates opposite each other, opening into a

wide place, containing the government offices and the royal mint,

on one side; on the other, a wall runs across, and a large gateway,

opened only for the king, and a small postern give access to the palace

enclosure. All Burmese entering this take off their shoes. Within is a

wide open area, as large as a London square. On the opposite side rises

a building crowned by nine roofs richly gilded, and surmounted by a

golden _htee_, or umbrella, with its tinkling coronal of bells. This

marks the audience hall. All entering this are required to take off

their shoes, for the royal abode is sacred. The same rule applies to

all temples, and this unbooting is really a mark of religious respect,

due as much to the meanest khyoung as to the residence of the king.

This fact perhaps, if borne in mind, might soothe the ruffled feelings

of those who see in this unbooting a mark of degrading homage. To the

left is the abode of the white elephant, which, it may be said, is

scarcely distinguishable from any other elephant save by the paler hue

of the skin of the head. To the right is the royal arsenal, outside of

which the visitor would be now surprised by the sight of a completely

armed and equipped deck of a vessel, which serves as a school for naval

gunnery.

We were not admitted to an audience, nor did we see the royal gardens,

which, with the other palace buildings, lie to the rear of the central

hall. Dr. Dawson, as quoted in Mason’s ‘Burmah,’ describes the gardens

in glowing language, as “truly beautiful, and as picturesque as they

are grand.” Outside the walls of the city the suburbs, or unwalled

town, stretch away southward in broad streets, which converge towards

the Arracan pagoda; and in the distance the spires of pagodas mark the

site of Amarapura.

It is impossible to estimate the population, but it must exceed one

hundred thousand, to judge by the extent of ground covered by houses.

Between the city and Mandalay hill numerous khyoungs have been erected

by the queens and other members of the royal family, the teak pillars

and roof timbers of which are magnificently carved and richly gilt.

In passing through the enclosures of these monasteries, it is necessary

for equestrians to dismount and walk slowly through the sacred

precincts. On this side also there is a large stockaded enclosure, to

which the Shan caravans always resort. Here their wares, principally

_hlepét_, a sort of salted tea--not, however, made from the true tea

plant[7]--are disposed of by means of brokers. At the foot of Mandalay

hill is a temple with a large seated statue of Buddha, carved from

the white marble of the Tsagain hills. The hill itself is crowned by

a gilded pagoda, and a statue of Buddha. The Golden King stands with

outstretched finger pointing down to the golden htee that marks the

royal abode, the centre of the city and of the Burman kingdom.

On the hill is a vast colony of fowls, numbers of which are purchased

by the royal piety every morning, and maintained at the king’s expense.

The eastern side of the city is skirted by a long swamp, which forms a

lagoon in the rains. The Myit-ngé river, six miles to the south, may

be said to complete the insulation of the environs of the capital. Not

far from the Residency, but on the other side of the canal, there is

a large bazaar, enclosed with brick walls, which presents a most busy

scene. This may be said to be the principal enclosed market-place; but

there are other smaller cloth bazaars; and several quarters or streets

are occupied by special trades, a very noisy quarter being that of the

gold-beaters. The fondness for gilding which characterises the Burmese

causes an immense demand for gold-leaf, the gold used being principally

brought by the caravans from Yunnan. Another quarter is tenanted by

Chinese. By a curious coincidence, on the day of our arrival, a Chinese

caravan of two hundred mules arrived from Tali-fu. They had come by the

long overland Theinnee route, bringing hams, walnuts, pistachio-nuts,

honey, opium, iron pots, yellow orpiment, &c. We noticed many Suratees

among the inhabitants of the city. These acute and enterprising

traders come to Burma in great numbers, and are found everywhere busily

engaged in money-making. European adventurers of various nationalities

form an element in the population, small, but mischievous; it is hardly

to be wondered at if an ill impression of _kalas_[8] is formed by the

Burmese nobility and gentry, judging from the conduct of some of these

foreigners; while again they spread monstrous reports about the king,

his social and political habits and ideas, which find their way into

the Indian and English press.

The transshipment of ourselves and followers and baggage was

duly effected, and in the afternoon of the 18th of January the

_Yaynan-Sekia_ left her moorings. We only proceeded as far as Mengoon,

on the right bank, a few miles from the capital. Thus far we had the

company of Mr. Manouk, an Armenian gentleman, who held the office

of _kala woon_, or foreign minister. We duly visited the huge ruin

of solid brickwork, which, as Colonel Yule says, represents the

extraordinary folly of King Mentaragyi, the founder of Amarapura in

1787.

Intended for a gigantic pagoda, it was left unfinished, in consequence

of a prediction that its completion would be fatal to the royal

founder; the earthquake of 1839 split the huge cube of solid brickwork,

and it is now a fantastic ruin.

Yule gives the dimensions of the lowest of the five encircling

terraces as four hundred feet square; if completed, the whole edifice

would have been five hundred feet high. Near this is the great bell,

twelve feet high, and sixteen across at the lips, and weighing ninety

tons.[9]

The most interesting object is the Seebyo pagoda, built by the

grandson and successor of Mentaragyi in 1816, and named after his

wife. The substructure from which the pagoda rises is circular, and

consists of six successive concentric terraces. Each terrace is five

feet above the one below, and six feet in breadth, and is surrounded

by a stone parapet of a wavy design. In the niches of each terrace

are images, fabulous dragons, birds, and _beloos_, or monsters. By

a rough measurement the walled enclosure is four hundred yards in

circumference, but an open space of thirty-five yards deep intervenes

between the wall and the first terrace. The design of the pagoda is

intended to represent the mythical Myen Mhoo Doung, or Meru Mountain,

the central pillar of the universe, and the seven encircling ranges

of mountains, or the six continents, each of which is guarded by a

monster, the first by the dragon, the second by the bird Kalon. It

might be also suggested that those terraces may represent the six happy

abodes of nats which form successive Elysiums below the seat of Brahma.

From the rising ground above Mengoon a magnificent panorama unfolds

itself: the valley from the dry and treeless Tsagain hills, a few

miles to the rear, spreads out for fifteen miles in width to the

eastern line of mountains, which, emerging from the north bank of the

Myit-ngé, stretch away as far as the eye can reach to the north-east.

The long flowing sweep of these summits singularly contrasts with the

irregularly peaked outline of the Myait-loung hills, south of the

Myit-ngé. Immediately beneath the spectator, the Irawady, curving under

the western hills, broadens, till opposite to the capital its main

banks are nearly three miles and a half apart.

The river is broken up into channels by large islands, on one of

which the royal gardens are situated, and numerous sandbanks, exposed

in the dry season, and cultivated with tobacco and other crops. In

the foreground the various channels of the splendid river present an

animated spectacle of numerous canoes, timber rafts, and boats of

every form and size. In the middle distance, the golden roofs of the

city gates and of the many monasteries which cluster outside the red

city walls flash back the sunbeams. The fantastic forms of the many

roofed spires of the zayats and rest-houses, and the sparkling htees of

pagodas, everywhere perplex and please the eye, which looks from the

picturesque hill to the north, crowned by the gilded temple, to the

irregular outlines of the bazaar, stretching far down to the successive

line of the abandoned capitals. A glorious picture, especially when

the glowing orange tints of sunset are relieved by the rich purple of

the cloudlike distant hills!

From Mengoon the steamer made its unaccustomed way under the right

bank, passing sandbanks covered with numerous flocks of whimbrel,

golden plover, and snake-birds. Although at the present time both royal

and private steamers ply regularly between Mandalay and Bhamô, at the

dry season frequent delays, caused by grounding on sandbanks, make

the upward voyage of very uncertain duration. We as the pioneers had

to feel our way most cautiously, the water being very low. Our crew,

from captain to firemen, were to a man Burmese, and great was our

admiration of the coolness and skill shown by the skipper in navigating

the narrow channels; he seemed to have an almost instinctive intuition

of the depth of the water. It was no work of love on his part, as he

took no pains to disguise his dislike of the _kalas_, or foreigners,

and was devoid of the jovial openheartedness generally characteristic

of Burmese. A rich illustration of the character of the Burmese crew

was afforded us by the leadsman, who quitted his post, unobserved by

the captain. He provided, however, for the navigation, by telling

one of his fellows to sing out for him in his absence, and imaginary

depths, varying several feet, were accordingly shouted at intervals to

the unconscious captain, who steered accordingly--fortunately without

mishap. A court official accompanied us to see that the orders for

provision of firewood were duly obeyed, and to purvey boats in case

of the river proving unnavigable; but as no difficulties arose, he

had nothing to do save that he once showed his zeal by inflicting an

unmerciful beating on a village headman who failed to supply milk.

The banks of the river presented a succession of picturesque headlands,

fifty to sixty feet high, separated by luxuriant dells, each containing

a village. Between two such heights, covered with pagodas accessible

only by flights of steps, lay Shienpagah, a thriving town of some four

hundred houses. A brisk trade is here carried on in fish and firewood

for the capital, and salt procured from the swamps behind the sterile

Tsagain hills.[10] Above Shienpagah we changed our course to the other

side. The villages on the eastern bank seemed small and few, each

embowered among tall trees and groves of palmyra, mixed with a few

cocoa-nut palms, relieved by the bright, pale, tropical green of the

plantain. A broad alluvial flat extended to the low broken ranges of

the Sagyen and Thubyo-budo hills, from the former of which comes nearly

all the marble used in Mandalay. The distant Shan mountains rose beyond

another plain sparsely covered with lofty trees and richly cultivated.

Our course lay up a channel, skirting the long island and town of

Alékyoung, till the rounded hill of Kethung, dotted with white pagodas,

rose over the dense greenery in which nestled the village so called. On

the opposite bank lay Hteezeh, the village of oil merchants. A belt of

bright yellow sand, and then a fine green sward, led up from the river

to the village, shaded by noble palmyras and gigantic bamboos, which

formed a background to a river scene of exquisite colouring and beauty.

A mile or two above Alékyoung, the river narrowed, flowing in a stream

unbroken by islands or sandbanks. Soon the short well wooded Nâttoung

hills abutted on the right bank, in a pagoda-crowned headland, with

Makouk village at its base. On the opposite side, the small town of

Tsingu, once fortified, and still showing fragments of the old walls,

occupied another headland, marking the entrance of the third defile of

the Irawady.

From this point, for thirty miles, as far as Malé and Tsampenago, the

country on either bank is hilly, and covered to the water’s edge with

luxuriant forest. Winding in a succession of long reaches, the river

presents a series of lovely lake landscapes. The stream, one thousand

to fifteen hundred yards wide, flows placid and unbroken, save by the

gambols of round-headed dolphins. As, preceded by long lines of these

creatures, we steamed slowly along, each successive reach seemed barred

by wooded cliffs. Reminiscences of the lake scenery of the old country

were vividly awakened as we passed from one apparently land-locked

scene of beauty to another. The high irregular hills were clothed with

forest trees almost hidden by brilliant orchids and gigantic pendant

creepers. Palms of various kinds feathered the water’s edge. Here and

there fishing-villages peeped out, and everywhere graceful pagodas

and priests’ houses gleamed amid the foliage. Parroquets darted and

hornbills winged their heavy flight across the stream, while chattering

troops of long-tailed black monkeys escorted the unusual visitors along

the banks.

The chief object of interest is the little rocky island of Theehadaw,

which boasts the only stone pagoda in Burma, and is resorted to by

numbers of pilgrims at the great Buddhist festival in March. The

pagoda is of no great size, but is substantially built of greyish

sandstone admirably cut and laid in mortar. The building rises from

a quadrangular base, with a chamber facing the east and closed with

massive doors. The three other faces have false doors, and the sides

of all, as well as the angles, are adorned with quasi-Doric pilasters.

Our attention, like that of most pilgrims, was chiefly given to the

famous tame fish. Having supplied ourselves with rice and plantains,

the boatmen, called “Tit-tit-tit.” Soon the fish appeared, about fifty

yards off, and after repeated cries, they were alongside, greedily

devouring the offering of food. In their eagerness they showed their

uncouth heads and great part of their backs, to which patches of gold

leaf, laid on by recent devotees, still adhered. So tame were they that

they suffered themselves to be stroked, and seemed to relish having

their long feelers pulled. One fellow to whom a plantain skin was

thrown indignantly rejected it, and dived in disgust.

For three miles above and three below the island fishing is prohibited

by royal order, and the priests, who feed them daily, assured us that

the fish never stray beyond the boundaries of their sanctuary. An offer

of fifty rupees failed to secure a single specimen, but it may be

here told that on another occasion, under cover of night, and without

Burmese observation, one was hooked, and, though not easily, landed,

photographed, and duly preserved. Two miles above the island we stopped

at Thingadaw to coal. This is a depot for the produce of the coal

mines, which having been accidentally discovered by some hunters were

being worked by the king.

We set out to visit a newly opened mine, said to be two miles distant,

but failed to find it after a walk of two hours over a broken

undulating country covered with dense tree and bamboo jungle. The

soil is poor and sandy, save in hollows, which afford good grazing

to ponies and cattle. Fossilised wood abounds all over the surface,

and soft white and reddish sandstones crop out, so soft that the cart

wheels cut them into deep ruts. In these places the surface presented a

remarkable appearance, being covered with symmetrical pillars of soft

reddish sand, two inches high, and capped by a hard ashen-grey top of

the consistence of stone, and as large as a penny piece. The little

pillars in many places had crumbled away, and the soil was strewed

with the little caps, giving it the appearance of an ash heap. In a

later visit to the coal district, made from Kabyuet, a little south of

Theehadaw, we had the assistance of the headman of the mines, who was

most anxious to show us everything and secure a good report to the king.

At the first mine, called Lek-ope-bin, five miles from the river, the

coal-bed, six feet thick, crops out in a hollow, and dips south-west

at an angle of thirty-five degrees. A little to the north-east is the

Ket-zu-bin mine, said to yield the best coal. During our visit a few

men were quarrying the coal with common wood axes and wooden-handled

chisels, so that they could only win a small quantity of broken coal.

Under proper management these mines could give an abundant supply of

useful fuel. We learned that the sand of an adjacent stream is washed

for gold, and a single worker can make 303 _yuey_ = 3_s._ per diem.

The black sand of the Pon-nah, a stream falling into the Irawady, is

also washed for gold, which it is said to yield in large quantities at

a place two days’ journey up the stream.

On the 17th of January, we reached the northern entrance of the defile,

marked by two prominent headlands--the western one crowned by the

pagoda of Malé, or Man-lé, formerly Muang-lé, and the eastern by those

of the old Shan town of Tsampenago, above which none but Chinese could

formerly trade.[11]

Malé contains about three hundred houses, and is the customs port

for clearing boats bound from Bhamô to Mandalay, and the centre of a

considerable trade in bamboo mats, sesamum oil, and jaggery. From it we

beheld rising to the eastward the fine peaked mountains of Shuay-toung,

about six thousand feet high, on which snow is said to lie in the

winter.

Above Malé the river widens to a great breadth, with numerous islands,

as far as Khyan-Nhyat. Thence it contracts to an unbroken stream about

one hundred yards wide, flowing for twenty-two miles between high, well

wooded banks.

Having halted at Tsinuhat, a little village to the south of a long

promontory, on which are the ruins of Tagoung and Old Pagan, we made

a short excursion to the sites of these ancient capitals. According

to the Burmese chronicles, Tagoung was founded by Abhi-rája--of the

Shakya kings of Kappilawot--who fled before the invasion of his

country by the king of Kauthala or Oudh. After the death of Abhi-rája

the succession was disputed by his two sons. They agreed that each

should endeavour to construct a large building in one night, and that

the crown should belong to him whose building should be found completed

by the morning. As usual in legends, the younger son outwitted the

elder. He artfully set up a framework of bamboos and planks, covered

with cloth and whitewashed over, so as to present the semblance of a

finished building. The elder brother, believing himself to have been

vanquished by the aid of nats or demons, migrated to Pegu, and finally

settled in the city of Arracan (Diniawadee).

The younger son assumed the throne at Tagoung, and was succeeded by

thirty-three kings. An inroad of Tartars and Chinese, said to have

come from Kandahar,[12] destroyed the city and expelled the last of

the dynasty, who had married Nagazein, whose name indicates one of

the mythical serpent race. This event may be referred to the century

preceding the Christian era, and, according to the late Dr. Mason, must

have occurred after the Tartar conquest of Bactria.[13]

After the death of the Tagoung king, one portion of his people migrated

eastwards and founded the Shan states. Another, under the widowed

queen Nagazein, settled on the river Malé. After the advent of Gaudama

and the second overthrow of the cities of the Shakya kings, one of

their race, named Daza-Yázá, migrated to Malé, and, having there found

and married Nagazein, founded Upper or Old Pagan. A dense forest of

magnificent timber and thousands of seedling eng trees surrounds and

covers the sites and ruins of the ancient cities, of which nothing

now remains but low lines and shapeless masses of brickwork. Near

them stand pagodas of later date, still in tolerable preservation. Of

the most ancient within the bounds of Old Pagan, only a single wall

remained, behind a seated Buddha eight feet high. From the former we

obtained small metal images of Buddha, and from the pagoda in Old Pagan

bricks bearing in relief an image of Gaudama as the preceding Buddha.

One of these was exactly the same as that described by Captain Hannay.

Each bears an inscription in the old Devanagari character, beginning,

“Ye Dhammá.”

The ancient name of Tagoung is now borne by a little fishing-village

of forty houses. At the time of our passage the villagers were located

in temporary huts on a long sandbank, and busily engaged in preparing

ngapé or mashed salt-fish. The fishing stakes were fixed athwart a

deep narrow channel separating the sandbank from the village. Such

fishing-stations are numerous all along the river. Every morning

large quantities of fish are taken, and sold by weight to the makers

of ngapé. The fish, when cleaned, are packed between layers of salt

and trodden down by the feet in long baskets lined with the leaves of

the eng tree. While this narrative was being prepared for the press,

a suggestion was made in the columns of a most able weekly paper

that in the event of difficulties with Burma the Viceroy of India

should prohibit the exportation from British Burma of ngapé, “which

must be imported from the seaboard.” Undoubtedly there is a large

exportation from our territories, but the fish composing that curious

Burmese condiment, which, as Yule says, resembles “decayed shrimp

paste,” are caught in the Irawady. The upper river teems with fish;

fourteen species[14] were purchased by us at Tagoung, and the numerous

fishing-villages could probably render the capital independent of the

supply from British Burma.

The Shuay-mein-toung hills, on the right or western bank, opposite

Tagoung, are very high, and wooded to their summits, with white pagodas

peeping out amidst the dense foliage. A few miles to the north they

recede from the river, where, on the eastern bank, the isolated range

of the Tagoung-toung-daw, about twenty miles long and one thousand

feet high, runs almost parallel to the river, in its intervening

valley six miles wide. The Irawady is here studded with large islands,

covered with long grass and forest trees; during the rains they are

submerged, and become very dangerous to descending boats. A serpentine

course, following a broad deep channel to the east of the large island

of Chowkyoung, brought us to the town of Thigyain on the right bank,

opposite to the village of Myadoung on the left. This latter gives its

name to the district south of Bhamô. Here we were startled by the news

that the Woon of Bhamô, to whom we were accredited, had been killed

during a riot at Momeit, about thirty-six miles south-east of Myadoung.

The Woon had proceeded thither with a force of three hundred men to

collect taxes, when the Shans and Kkahyens broke out into revolt and

surrounded the royal troops, many of whom, with their leader, had been

killed. It was impossible not to feel a presentiment that this untoward

event would prove a source of delay, by compelling us to deal with

subordinates who would be timid, even if well disposed to assist. We

passed, hidden by an island, the mouth of the Shuaylee, three miles

above Myadoung, and halted at Katha, on the right bank, the largest

place met with since Shienpagah. It is a long town, containing at

least two hundred well-built timber houses, disposed in two parallel

streets, and surrounded by bamboo palisades with three gates. It is

the head-quarters of the woon of a considerable district, inhabited

by Shan-Burmese. Long hollows of rich alluvium cultivated for rice,

and closed in by undulating land covered with valuable forest trees,

including teak, separate the town from the western hills. Some cotton

is grown and tobacco largely raised on the islands and sandbanks. At

the time of our visit, a number of Shan merchants had arrived with

salted tea-leaves and other commodities. A few Yunnan Chinese, who had

probably come down the Shuaylee, were also in the town. The people

seemed well-clad and well-to-do, and the women were busily employed

in weaving and preparing coloured cotton yarns for the manufacture of

putzos and tameins.

A dense morning fog delayed our departure from Katha, and the whole

population of the town swarmed on board the steamer. After satisfying

their curiosity with the novelties of machinery, &c., we bethought

ourselves of amusing them with a magnetic battery. At first all held

back, but a few more venturous spirits leading the way, the operators

were speedily besieged by eager candidates for a shock. The grimaces

of each patient produced shouts of laughter. The good-humoured Shans

discovered or fancied that the shock was good for would-be parents;

some coaxed their timid wives to the front, while the matrons brought

up their pretty young daughters to obtain a share of the benefits

going. Above Katha the river is broken up by large islands into

tortuous, deep, and narrow channels. Large flocks of geese kept passing

us for nearly an hour, and the sandbanks and shores of the islands

were covered with varieties of wild ducks. As evening closed in, at

Shuaygoo-myo, immense flocks of _Herodias garzetta_, or the little

egret, were seen roosting in the tall grass and on the high trees,

which seemed illuminated by their white forms.

In this neighbourhood we saw several villages deserted for fear of the

Kakhyens, who had occupied some of the abandoned houses.

Two of our party set out to visit and make their first acquaintance

with those wild highlanders, who reminded them of the East Karens; they

were civil, but declined an invitation to the steamer, pleading that

they must rejoin their chief, but really fearing reprisals from the

Burmese. Of their kidnapping habits, several proofs were given, one

being in the person of a boy of Chinese extraction, who had been sold

by them to the village headman for twenty-five rupees. At our departure

in the morning, young women and boys raced along the river-side,

keeping up with us, to secure protection from the hillmen on the way

to their villages. We were also informed that the priests’ pupils who

collected food from village to village were obliged to creep along

under the high banks to escape the kidnappers. Subsequent experience

has shown that the villagers on the eastern shore, as far as Bhamô, are

in the habit of sleeping in boats moored in the river; only thus can

they be secure from the nocturnal raids of their dangerous neighbours.

Leaving Shuaygoo-myo, we passed the large island of Shuaybaw, with its

thousand pagodas, their bright golden htees strikingly contrasting with

the rich green massive foliage, above which they rose. The great pagoda

is about sixty feet high, enclosed on two sides by a richly carved

zayat of teak with an elaborately decorated roof, and a cornice of

small niches, containing seated marble Buddhas. Two broad paved ways,

one known as the Shuaygoo-myo and the other as the Bhamô entrance,

approach the pagoda, which is three quarters of a mile distant from

the river. Numerous zayats cluster round the central shrine, piled to

the ceiling with Buddhistic figures in metal, wood, and white marble,

offered by the worshippers who yearly throng this holy place sanctified

by the footprint of Gaudama.

Three miles above the island is the entrance to the second defile,

where the Irawady flows through a magnificent gorge piercing a range

of hills at right angles. For five miles the deep dark green current,

narrowed to three hundred yards, but deepening to one hundred and

eighty feet and more, is overhung by gigantic precipices. Their summits

are mostly covered with scanty stunted trees, but some rise bare, with

splintery peaks, and red, rocky escarpments; lower down their bold

sides are mantled in dark green forest, picked out here and there with

the fresher green of festooned clumps of bamboos, palms, and luxuriant

musæ. Little fishing-villages enclosed in bamboo palisades lie snugly

in the hollows. Entering the defile, we rounded a many-peaked hill on

the left bank, which rose precipitously four hundred feet, its outline

broken by huge black rocks standing out against the blue sky. The

little white pagoda of Yethaycoo, in front of a cave, and dominating

a grey limestone precipice one hundred and fifty feet in height,

looked across the gorge to a phoongyee’s house perched on high, and

accessible only by bamboo ladders. The most striking feature was the

great limestone precipice which rose like a gigantic wall eight hundred

feet from the water’s edge. This is the Deva-faced cliff celebrated in

the mythical history of Tsampenago. At its base the little pagoda of

Sessoungan was perched on a detached pyramid of limestone embowered

in fine trees. During the March festival many devotees scale the long

bamboo ladders which form the only access to the shrine. The Buddhist

love for preserving animal life is here manifested towards the large

monkeys (_Macacus assamensis_, M’Lelland), which, like the tame fish,

come when called, and devour the offerings of the devotees. Projecting

and depending from the precipice were huge masses of stalagmite

formation, seemingly liable to fall at any moment. Water was dripping

over them, and the natives say that during the rains the water pours

over the face of the precipice in a tremendous cascade, the roar of

which is deafening. It may well be so, for the echoes in the defile

are most wonderful, echoing and re-echoing in almost harmonious

reverberations. In the earliest morning the loud shouting of the

hoolock monkeys in the forest made the whole air resonant, as it was

taken up by another troop on the opposite bank, and echoed along the

hills and from cliff to cliff in a constant wave of sound, curiously

blended with which rang the shrill crowing of jungle cocks. As the

sun rose higher, a deep bass was supplied by the hum of innumerable

bees, whose pendant nests thickly studded the rocky projections of

the precipice. At the next turn of the river another pagoda, with a

handsome many-roofed zayat by its side, high on the western hills,

marked the northern entrance of the defile, and we soon passed the

ancient mart of Kaungtoung, celebrated for the repulse of the Chinese

invading army in 1769, and the treaty which thenceforward secured peace

and commerce between Burma and China. Subsequently it became a rival of

Bhamô as an emporium of Chinese trade by the valley of the Shuaylee and

the Muangmow route. The river now spread itself into a broad stream,

broken up by islands and sandbanks, but in some places not less than

a mile and half wide between the main banks. In front of the village

of Sawady a long stretch of sand was occupied by a large encampment of

Shan, Chinese, and other traders, a large fleet of boats lying ready to

convey the goods down the river.

[Illustration: THE DEVA-FACED CLIFF, SECOND DEFILE OF THE IRAWADY.]

Here we sighted Bhamô in the distance, situated on an elevated bank

overlooking the river, the htees of its few pagodas glistening brightly

in the setting sun. To the right the high range of the Kakhyen hills

was seen stretching away in an unbroken line to the east-north-east,

and on the left a low range of undulating tree-clad hills bent round to

join the western heights of the defile.

The almost level sweep of country, about twenty-five miles broad

between these limits, was closed in, about ten miles to the north, by

another low range, marking the upper _khyoukdwen_, or first defile, of

the Irawady.

[1] Pronounced “Bhamaw.”

[2] ‘Report on Eastern Frontier of British India,’ 1835.

[3] _Vide_ ‘Selection of Papers on the Hill Tracts between Assam and

Burmah,’ Calcutta, 1873.

[4] The Chamber of Commerce, under the able president, Mr. M’Call,

had been most active in urging the despatch of the mission, and had

subscribed £3000 for all expenses of their representatives, and for the

purchase of specimens of manufactures.

[5] The _putzo_ is a long narrow silken cloth of a chequered pattern,

which a Burman winds round him to form a suit of clothes. The _tamein_

is the feminine equivalent, partly of cloth, partly of silk, with a

zigzag pattern, the silken portions forming the skirt, which, according

to ancient custom, exposes one leg almost completely in walking.

[6] These Brahmins act as royal astrologers, who are consulted on all

great occasions. The Buddhist priests took no part in the ceremonial.

[7] It appears to be made from the leaves of _Elæodendron persicum_,

Persoön.

[8] _Kalas_, Burmese word for “foreigners.”

[9] See Appendix I.

[10] At this time about one million viss of salt were annually exported

up the river from Shienpagah, finding its way chiefly to Bhamô and to

Tsitkaw, for the supply of the Kakhyens and Shans. Lately, however,

English salt is beginning to take its place, and on my last voyage

up the Irawady, one flat from Mandalay carried nothing but salt. In

order to proceed to Tsitkaw, it is transshipped at Bhamô into small

boats, which carry only five thousand viss each, as the Tapeng is a

rapid river, and rather shallow during the dry weather. On salt from

Shienpagah, a duty is levied at Malé, Yuathét, and Bhamô, in addition

to a boat tax, and when it proceeds up the Tapeng, an additional impost

has to be paid at Tsitkaw, and a boat tax at Haylone and Tsitgna. (A

_viss_ = about 3 lbs.)

[11] Hannay, ‘Selection of Papers,’ Calcutta, 1873.

[12] In the ecclesiastical translation of the classical localities of

Indian Buddhism to Indo-China, which is current in Burma, Yunnan is

represented by Gandhara or Kandahár. Yule’s ‘Marco Polo,’ ii. p. 59,

edition of 1874.

[13] Colonel Yule remarks that “Tartars on the Indian frontier in those

centuries are surely to be classed with the Frenchmen whom Brennus led

to Rome” (‘Marco Polo,’ i. p. 12).

[14] _Wallago attu_, Bloch and Schn.; _Callichrous bimaculatus_,

M’Lelland; _Macrones cavasius_, H. B.; _Macrones corsula_, H. B.;

_Labeo calbasu_, H. B.; _Labeo churchius_, H. B.; _Cirrhina mrigala_,

H. B.; _Barbus sarana_, H. B.; _Barbus apogon_, C. and V.; _Carassius

auratus_, Linn.; _Catla buchanani_, C. and V.; _Rhotee cotio_, H. B.;

_Rhotee microlepis_, Blyth; _Notopterus kapirat_, Bonn.