THE MAHOMMEDANS OF YUNNAN.
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.
The Mahommedans of Yunnan have a tradition of their origin, which is
curious, but mythical. The governor and the hadji at Momien stated,
in substance, that their forefathers came from Arabia to China one
thousand years ago, in the reign of the emperor Tung-huon-tsong, who
had sent his chief minister, Khazee, to Tseeyoog(?) to implore help
against the rebel Oung-loshan. Three thousand men were accordingly
sent, and the rebellion was crushed by their assistance. Their former
compatriots refused to receive them back, as having been defiled by a
residence among pork-eating infidels, so they settled in China, and
became the progenitors of the Chinese Mahommedans. This information
was furnished in the form of answer to questions put by me carefully
written, and translated into Chinese, and Sladen also procured a
Chinese document, giving substantially the same account.[29] It will
be seen that the variations of this from the account furnished to
General Fytche are important;[30] but as the name of the emperor
Tung-huon-tsong differs but slightly from that of Hiun-tsong of the
Tung dynasty, against whom Ngan-Loshan[31] rebelled, it seems possible
to connect this account with Chinese history. His son Sutsung, A.D.
757, was rescued from his difficulties by the arrival of an embassy
from the khalif Abu Jafar al Mansur, the founder of Bagdad, accompanied
by auxiliary troops, who were joined by Ouigoors and other forces
from the West. It must be added that my informants, while claiming
Arab descent, stated clearly that their more immediate ancestors had
migrated from Shensi and Kansu to Yunnan about one hundred and fifty
years ago. History, however, shows the early growth and rapid increase
in China of a large Mahommedan population, whom the Chinese term
Hwait-ze; the name Panthay or Pansee being of Burmese origin.
As to the derivation of this term, several theories have been
suggested. Major Sladen gives Puthee as a Burmese term for Mahommedans
generally. Garnier says that the word Pha-si, which the Burmese have
corrupted into Pan-thé, according to Colonel Phayre, is the same as
Parsi or Farsi, which in India is applied to the Mahommedans, and that
this denomination is very ancient, as Colonel Yule pointed out that in
a description of the kingdom of Cambodia, translated by A. Remusat, a
religious sect is described, called Pâssi, who were distinguished by
wearing white or red turbans, and by refusing to drink intoxicating
liquors, or to eat in company with the other sects; but that
distinguished Chinese scholar, Sir T. Wade, derives the term Panthay
from a Chinese word Pun-tai, signifying the aboriginal or oldest
inhabitants of a country; and Garnier mentions that a people called
Penti are found on the eastern side of the Tali Lake, and in the plain
of Tang-tchouen, to the north of Tali. They are a mixed race, descended
from the first colonists sent into Yunnan by the Mongols, after the
conquest of the country by the generals of Kublai Khan.
Mr. Cooper tells us that the term Pa-chee, or white flag party, as
distinguished from the Hung-chee, or red flag, or imperialists,
was also used to designate the rebels in the north of Yunnan, and
Garnier frequently applies these terms to the contending parties. The
termination _-ze_ in the name Hwait-ze, as in Mant-ze, Thibetans,
Miaout-ze, hill tribes, and Khwait-ze, foreigners, seems always to
imply political and tribal separation from Chinese proper. These
names occur in the curious prophecy of the Four -Ze Wars, quoted by
Cooper.[32]
From the account of China compiled in the middle of the ninth century
by Abu Zaid, from the reports of Arab traders, it is evident that his
countrymen had long resorted to China. Even then the Arab community of
Hang-chew-fu (Khanfu) was of great importance: it possessed a separate
judge, appointed by the emperor of China, and we are told that the
Mahommedan, Christian, Jewish, and Parsee population massacred in
A.D. 878 numbered one hundred and twenty thousand. Mahommedanism was
little known among the Tartars before the time of Chengis-khan, but
his conquests were the means of bringing a considerable population of
Uigurs into Shensi and Kansu; and the faith of the Prophet had spread
amongst this tribe long before the Tartar conquest of China.
The vigorous trading and political intercourse subsisting between China
and their mother country kept alive the religious life and social
individuality of these immigrants. This large addition of population
to their co-religionists already derived from the contingents of the
khalifs, and the Arab traders, accounts for the number of Mahommedans
which Marco Polo noted during his residence in China (1271-1295). In
his description of the people on the western border of Shensi, where
the celebrated mart of Singui was situated, and his account of Singan,
and Carajan, a part of Yunnan, he describes the Mahommedans as forming
a considerable part of the foreign population.
How strong a position this sect had obtained under the reign of Kublai
appears from Marco Polo’s statement that the provincial governments
were entrusted to Tartars, Christians, and Mahommedans. The invasion
of Burma and the sieges of Singan and Fun-ching were entrusted to
Mahommedan generals. The story of Bailo Achmed, the great minister of
finance, is the most striking illustration of the Mahommedan influence,
although the discovery of his crimes brought the khan’s anger upon
the Saracens, and led to their being prohibited the practices as to
marriage and slaughter of animals, enjoined by their religion. This
check could only have been temporary, and as we find Mahommedans
filling high places of trust, both civil and military, it can be fairly
conjectured that after the conquest of Yunnan these enterprising
soldiers and traders established themselves in the colonies planted in
the new province.
In the early part of the fourteenth century, Rashid-ood-deen, Vizier
of Persia, mentions Karajang or Yunnan province, and states that the
inhabitants were all Mahommedans. Ibn Batuta, who visited China in the
middle of the same century, found in every large town Mahommedans,
who were mostly rich merchants. In all the provinces there was a town
belonging to them, each of which usually possessed a mosque, market,
a cell for the poor, and a kadi and sheikh ul Islam, while in some
districts they were exceedingly numerous.
The Jesuit fathers, in the seventeenth century, make frequent mention
of the Chinese Mahommedans. Le Compte, writing to Cardinal de Bouillon
in 1680, says, “that they had been six hundred years in the country
undisturbed, because they quietly enjoyed their liberty without seeking
to propagate their religion, even by marriages, out of their own
kindred, even in places where they were most numerous, and longest
settled, as in the provinces north of the Hoang Ho, and in towns along
the canal, where they had built mosques, differing altogether from
Chinese architecture. They were regarded as foreigners, and frequently
insulted by the Chinese.”
The oppression to which they were subjected after the second Tartar
conquest began to show itself as early as the beginning of the
eighteenth century, when their mosques were destroyed by the populace
of Hang-chow in Hu-quang province, notwithstanding the efforts of the
magistrates to protect them. At an earlier period, however, about
1651, they had been deprived by the Tartar emperor, Chunchi, of the
honours enjoyed by some of their number in connection with the Board
of Mathematics. This change of policy, thus begun, caused a rebellion,
which broke out in the reign of Kien-hung, 1765-71, on the western
frontier, and spread to the province of Kansu. The rebels resisted
the imperial forces with great valour, but were ultimately subdued.
The Abbé Grosier, writing subsequently to this event, says, “that for
some time past the Mahommedans seem to have been more particularly
attentive to the care of extending their sect.”[33]
The method they resorted to was the free use of their wealth in
purchasing children to bring up as Mahommedans. During the terrible
famine which devastated the province of Quangtong in 1790, they
purchased ten thousand children from poor parents; these were educated,
and, when grown up, provided with wives and houses, whole villages
being formed of these converts. This system has been followed by them
to the present day, so that large numbers of the faithful are of
Chinese origin; and we found instances of it at Momien. According to
Garnier, the sultan of Tali was a Chinese orphan, adopted and educated
by a wealthy Mahommedan. Yunnan appears, from the _Pekin Gazette_,
to have been the scene of almost incessant insurrections from 1817
to 1834, attributable, in all probability, to the Mahommedan element
in the population. During one rebellion, in 1828, the leader had an
imperial seal engraved, and issued manifestoes summoning the people
to join his standard. At the same time, the mixed populations of this
province appear to have been always distinguished by an independent and
insubordinate spirit, which often defied the central authority. Some
towns were even governed by elective municipal councils, only nominally
ruled by the mandarins.
Grutzlaff mentions that during his residence in China, in 1825-1832,
they had several mosques in Chekiang, Pechili, Shensi, and Shansu;
but as they had occasionally joined the rebels of Turkistan, the
government viewed them with a jealous eye. Nevertheless, some of
their number filled offices of high trust. He also states that many
of them performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, and brought back Arabian
MSS. of the Koran, which a few could read imperfectly, that they
were by no means bigoted nor proselytising, and that they venerated
Confucius. These Mahommedans of Northern China and Turkistan include
the people called Toonganees, who are said to trace their origin to
a large body of Uigurs, who were transplanted to the vicinity of the
North Wall, under the rule of the Thang dynasty, between the seventh
and tenth centuries. These settlers were encouraged to intermarry
with the Chinese women, and after this, when, following the example
of their fellow tribesmen, they embraced Islam, they still retained
this practice, although careful to bring up all their children in the
Faith. Though a mixed race, they are distinguished from both Manchoos
and Chinese by their intelligent countenances and superior strength.
They have always evinced special aptitude for mercantile speculations,
like their southern brethren. They have also shown themselves to be
excellent warriors in the successful rebellion of Turkistan, and that
which broke out in 1861 in Kansu, and under Abdul Jaffier threatened to
be as successful as the revolt of Yunnan.
In the course of the present century, the Faithful appear to have
multiplied in Yunnan more rapidly than in the northern provinces.
Colonel Burney tells us that in 1831 almost the whole of the Chinese
traders who visited the Burmese capital were Mahommedans, except a few
who imported hams. Some of them could speak a little Arabic, and one
read to him passages from the Koran; but none of them could tell him
whence they derived their origin.
As far as appearance goes, there are strong traces of descent from a
non-Chinese and, we may say, Turkish stock visible among the present
Mahommedans of Western China. Garnier remarks that “the Mussulmans of
Arab origin are tolerably numerous, and many are to be met with who
manifest very markedly the principal traits of Arabs, some preserving
the ancestral type in great purity. But the majority cannot be readily
distinguished from Chinese, except by their superior stature, greater
physical strength, and more energetic physiognomies. Although they only
contract matrimonial alliances with those of their own creed, they
commonly take Chinese women as concubines. Hence a large infusion of
Chinese blood, notwithstanding which they have preserved almost all the
warlike qualities of their ancestors.” Mr. Cooper describes a merchant
who called upon him as “a splendid specimen of the Yunnan Mahommedan,
standing over six feet; his countenance was singularly haughty and
noble, and his manner peculiarly gentle and dignified.” His long black
moustache and hair, hanging in a huge tail almost to the ground, are
also particularly noticed.
The leading men met with by us at Momien were well-made, athletic,
and of a goodly height, the governor standing six feet three inches.
They were fair-skinned, with high cheek-bones, and slightly oblique
eyes, their cast of countenance being quite distinct from the Chinese.
In fact, the general type of face recalled that of the traders who
come down to Calcutta from Bokhara and Herat. They generally wore
moustaches, but depilated the rest of the face, while their long
hair was coiled in the folds of huge white turbans. The only other
distinctive article of dress was a bright orange-coloured waistband,
which usually supported a silver-mounted dagger. As a rule they
abstained from intoxicating drink, and smoking opium or tobacco; but
some were lax in these particulars. Our strict Mussulmans rather
despised them for laxity in worship as well, and the native doctor,
who was a fanatic, declared that they were not true believers at
all. On the whole, the conclusion which may be fairly arrived at as
to their origin is, that to the descendants of a possible Arab stock
have been added a considerable number of Turkish emigrants, who, in
truth, constitute the main origin of the Mahommedan population in
Yunnan. A number of Chinese proper have from time to time been added
to this community, which, in all places, seems to have included the
wealthiest and best class of the population. The rebellion in Yunnan
seems to have been brought about solely by the oppression to which the
Mahommedans were subjected by the mandarins. Their proud independent
spirit would not brook the tyranny and extortion universally practised
by the official class, from which they were excluded. The mandarins,
according to their wont, secretly hounded the mob on to their rich
and respectable enemies, riots were provoked, and their mosques were
destroyed, as at Momien, where a handsome building, constructed after
plans brought home from Mecca, had existed before the war. Thus their
religious hatred was aroused, as the ruined temples and Buddhist
monasteries testified, and both interest and revenge for insults
to their religion led to a universal and well-planned rising. As
the insurrection which broke out in 1855 spread, the Chinese towns
and villages which resisted were pillaged, and the male population
massacred; while the women were spared to minister to the passions of
the undisciplined soldiery, and children were captured to be brought up
as Mussulmans; but all the places which yielded were spared.
That the country suffered terribly in the struggle was proved to us
by the mute evidence of the deserted towns and villages, and from the
most southern border of the province to the farthest north we have the
reports of eye-witnesses of the fearful devastation. The contending
parties invoked the aid of the hill tribes, such as the Lolos, Lou-tse,
and Kakhyens, and these had to be rewarded for their services by
licensed pillage. Thus it happened that places on the debatable borders
were pillaged three times over, by the Red Flag, by the White Flag, and
by the marauders. In this way the towns of Sanda and Muangla had been
plundered by the Kakhyens after the Panthay invasion. The officers at
Momien told many stories of the conduct of their soldiers, which spoke
volumes of the misery brought on the peaceful inhabitants; but the
Chinese soldier is, by all accounts, as dangerous in peace to the towns
on which he is billeted as any enemy could be, and scenes of violence
and outrage accompany the march of the undisciplined ruffians under the
imperial banners wherever they go.
The exact order of events which led to the establishment of the
Mahommedan kingdom is somewhat uncertain; we could not, for want
of interpreters, gain trustworthy information. In the account of
the French expedition,[34] M. Garnier refers the commencement of
the rebellion to an outbreak of the Mahommedans, the cause of which
is not stated, and describes them as having instigated a riot in
1856, and pillaged the city of Yunnan-fu. The imperial authorities
thereupon determined to rid themselves of these intractable subjects
by a general massacre, which was ordered to take place on a given
day. This commenced at Hoching, a town between Li-kiang-fu and
Tali-fu, when upwards of a thousand Mahommedans were murdered; while
similar treacherous massacres followed in different places. A simple
bachelor or literatus of Moung-ho, named Tu-win-tsen or Dowinsheow,
a Chinese orphan who had been adopted by Mahommedans, rallied his
co-religionists. His followers at first numbered only forty, but their
ranks were speedily joined by fugitives from Hoching, Yung-pe, and
other places, till with six hundred men he attacked the ancient and
holy city of Tali-fu, which surrendered in 1857. Although Tali-fu is
a small town, the population of which did not at that time exceed
thirty-five thousand, the rich plain walled in by mountains, and
with a lake teeming with fish, stretching forty miles in length and
ten in breadth, maintained a population estimated before the war at
four hundred thousand. Garnier states that there were one hundred
and fifty villages, but the Old Resident numbers them at two hundred
and fifty-three. The mountains to the north and south close in upon
the lake, and the plain and city are accessible only by two strongly
fortified passes, Hiang-kwang and Hia-kwang, or, as the Burmese call
them, Shangwan and Shagwan. Thus Tali has been from the earliest
times a strong city; it was the capital of a kingdom at the invasion
of Kublai Khan, and is still regarded by the Thibetans, who make
pilgrimages to its vicinity, as the ancient home of their forefathers.
The Mahommedans made it their head-quarters, and it seemed likely
again to become the capital of an independent kingdom. Their success
was facilitated by the jealousy which existed between the pure Chinese,
mainly descended from immigrants from Sz-chuen, and the Minkia and
Penti mixed races, descended from the early colonists planted by the
Mongols, and probably by the later Tartar dynasty in 1679. These
tribes, inhabiting the eastern plains of Tali and other adjacent
districts, were despised, as being sprung from intermarriage with the
Shan and barbarous races, by the Chinese, as the true Creoles looked
down upon any in whose veins ran negro blood.[35] Hence they stood
aloof in the struggle between the Chinese and the Mahommedans; the
latter even succeeded in occupying Yunnan-fu for a short time, but were
speedily expelled. A local revolt, however, was organised there by a
Mahommedan hadji of great repute, called Lao-papa, who assassinated
the viceroy Pang, and was proclaimed emperor or sultan, but enjoyed
his dignity a very short time. Another Mahommedan, named Ma-kien, who,
before the war, had been a seller of barley-sugar, but had become a
soldier, and took the imperialist side, subdued Lao-papa in 1861,
and established the authority of another Lao, who had been appointed
viceroy. Ma-kien was named _ti-tai_, or commander of the forces, but an
officer called Leang, in the south of the province, refused to obey
his orders, and a little civil war ensued between their respective
partisans. The Mahommedans took advantage of this division in the camp
of the enemy to consolidate their power under their elected chief,
Tu-win-tsen, who was proclaimed sultan, or imam, in the year 1867.
Momien had been captured three years before our visit, and the Shan
states on the Tapeng brought under the Mahommedan king, whose authority
extended over a considerable portion of the province. In the beginning
of 1868, the French found the government at Yunnan-fu administered _ad
interim_ by a mandarin of the blue button, named Song, the viceroy Lao
having recently died, and his successor, though appointed, not having
ventured to assume the perilous post. The office of commander-in-chief
was filled by Ma-kien, supported by a staff of Mahommedan officers,
whose costume and physiognomy marked them as different from the
Chinese. Lao-papa also resided in Yunnan, invested with rank and
honours, as the religious head of all the Mahommedans.[36] It does not
appear how this could be reconciled with the religious authority of
Sultan Suleiman, and it is plain that the Mahommedans were themselves
divided into two parties.
It is interesting to compare this account with that derived by Mr.
Cooper from information furnished him in the north of the province as
to the rebellious attitude assumed by the imperial viceroy, himself a
Mahommedan proselyte, who had actually concluded a treaty of partition
with the sultan of Tali, and corrupted the imperial troops sent to
quell the revolt with funds furnished by the sultan. We do not,
however, possess such information as will enable us to reconcile the
two accounts which present so many points of agreement and difference.
By a curious coincidence, that most enterprising traveller, having been
turned back by the impossibility of penetrating to Tali, was detained
at Weisee-fu, one hundred and twenty miles distant, at the very time
of our stay at Momien. The utter want of communication kept us in
perfect ignorance of his being comparatively so near at hand, and he
was equally unaware of our presence in Western Yunnan. Our information
as to the passage of the French mission was, if anything, worse, as
an obstructive falsehood is perhaps more aggravating than complete
ignorance. During the first week of July the governor communicated
the information that some six or eight months previously the French
expedition had come into collision with hostile tribes in the vicinity
of Kiang-hung, and had suffered severe losses; some of their number had
perished, and the remainder had arrived in a state of exhaustion and
want at a place called Thela, where they had been kindly received. This
information he declared to be authentic, and furnished by a relative
of his own, resident at Thela, who had purchased some of the arms and
other property taken from the French. As at that time the last news
received some time before our departure from Burma had stated the
party to be at Kiang-tong or Xiang-tong, a Laotian state tributary to
Burma, we could not help fearing that some disaster must have befallen
them. The statement may have been a distorted account of the detention
experienced by the French before reaching Kiang-hung, and the fact
that they were obliged to reduce their baggage, some of the articles
referred to as proof positive by the Panthays having perhaps come
from the superfluous stores, given or bartered away to the Laotians.
It does, as M. Gamier remarks, appear improbable that the governor,
who was a trusted officer of the sultan, should have received no
information as to the visit to Tali-fu of the party in the month of
March preceding.[37] On the other hand, it is difficult to imagine any
reason for his suppression of his knowledge of it, unless he feared
that we should be thereby inclined to mistrust the letters from the
sultan. As regards Garnier’s theory that the apparent welcome given
to us was intended to do away with any unfavourable impression which
might have been produced in the minds of foreigners by the sultan’s
refusal to see the French party, and ordering their instant departure,
it is much more probable that the French were regarded with strong
suspicion, and taken for spies. The fact that they had travelled under
Pekin passports, and had been guests of the viceroy _ad interim_ at
Yunnan-fu, was not in their favour; but worse than that was their
connection with the French missionaries, who were everywhere most
hostile to the Mahommedan cause. One of their number had been engaged
in the sacerdotal task of manufacturing gunpowder for the viceroy, and
had been blown up by his own petard; others had forwarded a memorial by
the medium of the French minister to the emperor in favour of Ma-kien,
as the only man capable of saving the province from the rebels. An
imperial reply to this, promising to aid him with troops and supplies,
was received before Garnier left Yunnan. It is more than probable that
this was known to the authorities at Tali, and, even independently of
the circumstance narrated by Mr. Cooper, would have operated against a
cordial reception of the French visitors.
At our first entrance into the country, without any passports whatever,
we, as commercial explorers, had appealed to the existing authorities,
and had refused to advance until their safe-conduct had been received.
Our neutrality between the two contending parties had been most
carefully sifted by letters and envoys before we were made welcome at
Momien, and little more than a week after our arrival it was tested,
if not by the contrivance, certainly with the knowledge, of the
governor. One evening Moung Shuay Yah, in a mysterious manner, made
known the presence of an important visitor, namely, an officer sent
by Low-quang-fang, the officer who, in conjunction with Li-sieh-tai,
supported the imperial cause. He had brought a pony as a gift, and
desired to make our friendship, and provide us with a safe escort
on the return route, always provided we were unaccompanied by the
Panthays. Our leader declined an interview, and refused the pony,
stating that we were guests of the governor, and as such could not
confer with his enemies, except with his consent. We soon learned
that the governor was aware of the mission of this envoy, and that in
course of time a treaty was signed by which Low-quang-fang undertook
not to attack the Panthay possessions, or molest us on our return,
and was to be left undisturbed in the possession of a small customs
post; whether this was a ruse on the part of the Chinese partisans to
win our support, or of the Panthays to sound our real opinions, it is
impossible to say. At all events, it confirmed the conviction of the
governor in our good faith. The terms of the agreement, if true, were
another proof of the anxiety of the Panthays to re-open the western
trade routes, to which we doubtless mainly owed our friendly reception.
Gamier remarks that they had all along found it essential to keep open
the trade with Sz-chuen, and Mr. Cooper found Mahommedan merchants
unmolested in Chinese Yunnan. The king of Burma, not only as an ally,
but as a tributary of China, could not recognise the rebel sultan, nor
enter into political or commercial relations with him. The sultan, who
had visited Rangoon and Calcutta as a pilgrim to Mecca, may well have
been disposed to court the favour of those Feringhees whose power and
wealth he had witnessed in the City of Palaces. It is possible that
the hospitable governor of Momien was only amusing his guests with
complimentary mockeries, and that there was no intention of suffering
us to proceed to Tali, and see the real state of things in the
interior, the desolation of the province, and the scanty forces at the
disposal of the new power. Subsequent events have shown the instability
of the Panthay kingdom as soon as a regular and determined attack
was made on it by the imperial government; but as regards their then
condition, with the utmost respect for the memory of that distinguished
explorer, Lieutenant Gamier, it is impossible to overlook the fact that
he was strongly prejudiced against the Panthays, by their treatment
of him, as well as by the French missionaries, one of whom speaks of
the “detested yoke of the Mahommedans.” Garnier even attributes the
closing of the western traffic to the robberies of the Kakhyens and
the arbitrary oppression of the Panthays; who were, as our observation
showed, doing all they could to encourage the Burmese and Shans to
carry on the former traffic. It is possible that we were prejudiced by
kindness, and misled by outward appearances of strength; but whatever
the cause of the origin and progress of this rebellion, it is certain
that from the outset the rebels met with little direct resistance
from the imperial authorities, and the officials, with their few
adherents, were gradually driven from the fertile valleys of Western
Yunnan to more inaccessible fastnesses; thence they still maintained a
guerilla warfare, neither side ever bringing anything like a large or
well-appointed army into the field. The imperialist commanders, such
as Li-sieh-tai and Low-quang-fang, who were designated robber chiefs
by the Panthays, although really officials of the Pekin government,
could only harass their enemies by desultory attacks. Their followers,
if captured, were speedily tried and executed as robbers. We witnessed
more than sixteen executions of these poor wretches. The criminal was
led to the outskirts of the bazaar by a small escort, with music and
banners flying, and, with his hands tied behind his back, was made to
kneel by the side of the road. The executioner chopped off the head
usually at one blow; the body was buried on the spot, and the ghastly
head hung up by the gate of the town.
The superior prowess of the Panthays and the unanimity of their
councils, directed by the sultan of Tali-fu, were apparently carrying
all before them. During our stay at Momien, news was brought,
apparently authentic, of the capture by his army of the great city
of Yunnan-fu. The condition of Central Yunnan may be imagined from
the statements made in the proclamation announcing the fall of the
capital. In it are enumerated forty towns and one hundred villages as
having been taken and destroyed, and upwards of three hundred persons
being burned to death; while the losses of the Chinese, in various
fights, amounted to over twenty thousand men. The communications were,
however, interrupted by constant fighting on the road between Momien
and Yung-chang, two out of three messengers, with despatches from Tali,
being killed, while the Mahommedan convoys of specie, and presents sent
from the sultan to us, were stopped at Sheedin, near Yung-chang. During
our stay, a force of some hundreds of so-called soldiers, commanded by
our friend, the chief military officer, or _tah-zung-gyee_, marched
to repel an attack on the town and mines of Khyto; and as proofs of a
victory gained by them within a few days, two hundred ears were sent
into Momien, while they owned to a loss of forty men.
Although the Panthays were merciless in warfare--only those inhabitants
of the towns and villages who at once tendered their submission
being spared--they were desirous of establishing a firm and orderly
government: in all cases their officers protected the passage of
merchants, and dealt much more justly by them than the mandarins had
been accustomed to do; this was admitted by the Chinese and Shans,
who, though outwardly submissive, were at heart thoroughly opposed to
the new _régime_. Similar testimony is borne by the two travellers
already quoted, as regards the caravans trading with Sz-chuen and
Thibet. It seemed at this period almost certain that Yunnan would
become an independent kingdom, if indeed Sz-chuen and the northern
provinces were not also formed into a great Mahommedan empire, and the
same idea is recorded by Mr. Cooper, as having been the result of his
observations of the state of the country to the north.
For us, however, to attempt to advance was impossible; even if progress
had been safe, it would have been impolitic. Whether our presence at
Momien was an infraction of the Chinese treaty or no, it was made
necessary if any information as to the real state of the country was to
be obtained, and this had been the principal object of the expedition
set forth in the instructions.
The reader is earnestly requested to bear in mind that politically,
socially, and almost geographically, this border land of China had been
almost a _terra incognita_ before our arrival at Momien. We realised
the fact that we were in China indeed, but in a province which the
rebellion had almost converted into an independent kingdom; and from
which it seemed almost certain that the lingering remains of obedience
to the emperor at Pekin would be soon thoroughly erased. Our leader
was, therefore, very soon desirous of effecting a return, but the
governor, on various pretexts of securing our safety and communicating
with Tali, postponed our departure; and this although he insisted on
supplying the whole party with all necessaries during the whole time
of our stay. The kindly Tah-sakon was really busy preparing as good a
display of presents to his English friends as he could. As _de facto_
ruler of the country, we arranged with him the duties which should
be levied on future caravans, and received letters expressive of the
desire of the Panthay sultan’s government to enter into friendly
relations with our government, and to foster mutual trade. The governor
asked for and obtained two seals, wherewith to authenticate his future
letters, and gave in exchange an official seal and a vase of red ink,
the use of which would, he said, ensure the safe delivery of any
letters forwarded to him.
Our farewell visits were exchanged on the 11th of July, and the
good-natured governor, who was most sincerely sorry to part with his
guests, brought his presents. These consisted of seventy white jackets
and bamboo hats for our men, a mandarin’s full dress suit, figured
silk jackets, three fine straw hats covered with oilcloth for our
wear in the rain, silver-mounted daggers and spears, a gold and jade
chatelaine, and amber rosaries. The mandarin’s suit was his own, and he
had previously insisted on taking off the rings from his fingers, and
placing them in the same order on the fingers of his “English friend,”
whom he begged always to wear them for his sake.
Our departure was fixed for the 12th of July, the last advice of the
governor being that we should not loiter _en route_, and only pass one
night at each stage. A body of troops were to precede and another to
follow in our rear; as a further precaution it had been decided not to
employ mules but coolies to carry the baggage, as the engagement of
mules would have given some days’ warning to the hostile Chinese; for
the same reason the porters had not been engaged till the last--so that
our anticipated start was delayed by the insufficiency of porters, and
the need of cutting up old rafters to make poles for the few who did
appear. The governor was very wroth with his officers, and one of them,
an old Chinese, not a Panthay, pleaded in excuse that we were carrying
away a number of boxes filled with mud, and worthless weeds and
skins--the pursuit of natural history was by no means appreciated by
the people, except by the Kakhyens, who were ready enough to bring any
sort of animal or reptile they could catch. The same Chinese official
tried to represent that we were carrying back a number of boxes of
powder. As his object was evidently to make delays and mischief, other
officials were appointed to superintend our departure, and Sladen
thought it right to remove any possible ill-feeling from the kindly
governor’s mind by showing him that the stock of ammunition was only as
much as was needful for the escort; and we parted on the best terms.
[29] Vide Appendix II.
[30] ‘As. Soc. Proceedings,’ 1867, p. 176.
[31] Du Halde, i. p. 199.
[32] ‘Pioneer of Commerce,’ p. 352.
[33] Grosier’s ‘China,’ vol. iv. p. 270.
[34] ‘Voyage d’Exploration,’ tome i. p. 455, &c.
[35] ‘Voyage d’Exploration,’ tome i. p. 518.
[36] ‘Voyage d’Exploration,’ tome i. p. 455.
[37] ‘Voyage d’Exploration,’ tome i. p. 514, note.