A
                     THOUSAND MILES ON AN ELEPHANT
                           IN THE SHAN STATES

  MAUNG HAUT TO KIANG HSEN
]

                                   A
                     THOUSAND MILES ON AN ELEPHANT
                           IN THE SHAN STATES

                                   BY

                     HOLT S. HALLETT, M. INST. C.E.

                           F.R.G.S., M.R.A.S.

     HONORARY MEMBER MANCHESTER AND TYNESIDE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETIES

                       WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
                          EDINBURGH AND LONDON
                                MDCCCXC

                         _All Rights reserved_

                                   TO

    THE AMERICAN MISSIONARIES IN BURMAH, SIAM, AND THE SHAN STATES,

                         I DEDICATE THIS BOOK,

                            AS A MARK OF THE

               HIGH ESTEEM IN WHICH I HOLD THE NOBLE WORK

                    THE AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSION AND

                   THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN MISSION

                           ARE ACCOMPLISHING

                    IN CIVILISING AND CHRISTIANISING

                       THE PEOPLE OF INDO-CHINA.

                                PREFACE.

The importance of the Eastern markets to European commerce has long been
recognised, and since the famous Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama
rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the close of the fifteenth century, and
the Portuguese occupied Malacca and established factories or trade
depots in Burmah at Martaban and Syriam, the trade of Western China and
Indo-China has been a prize which has attracted the commercial
aspirations of every maritime mercantile community in Europe.

In 1613, the Portuguese were ousted from Burmah, and six years later,
the English and Dutch established factories in that country. Some years
afterwards the Dutch were expelled, and in the middle of the next
century the French became our rivals for a short time. In 1756 the chief
of their factory was executed, and their factory was destroyed, never to
be resuscitated.

The first Englishman whose name is recorded in history as travelling in
Siam and the Shan States is Thomas Samuel, who happened to be at Zimmé
when that place was recaptured by the Burmese in 1615. In Purchas’s
‘Pilgrims’ it is related that he had proceeded from Siam to Zimmé “to
discover the trade of that country.” From that time to 1687, when the
English were turned out of Siam for killing some of the natives in a
scuffle, many English merchants resided there.

Whilst the coast of Burmah was under native dominion, our traders had to
content themselves with travelling along the great rivers; and it was
not until 1829, three years after we had annexed the Burmese provinces
of Tenasserim and Arakan, that steps were taken by us to establish
overland trade with Northern Siam, the Shan States, and China. In that
year Lord William Bentinck, the Governor-General of India, ordered a
mission to proceed, under Dr Richardson, from Maulmain to the Siamese
Shan States, to ensure friendly relations and trade in that direction;
and in 1837, Lord Auckland, then Governor-General, despatched Captain
(late General) MacLeod, _viâ_ Zimmé and Kiang Hung to China, with the
view of opening up trade with that country. Notwithstanding the
favourable reports of these and subsequent missions, and the frequent
petitions of our mercantile community asking for the connection of
Burmah with China by railway, no action has been taken by the Indian
Government in the sixty years that have elapsed since Dr Richardson’s
mission, for improving the overland routes leading from Burmah to the
great undeveloped markets which immediately border our possessions on
the east. Burmah might as well have remained for these sixty years in
native hands, for all the good that its acquisition has been to the
furtherance of our trade with the neighbouring regions.

When I retired from Government service at the end of 1879, the French
were again in the field. They had annexed the south-eastern corner of
Indo-China, had seized Cambodia from the Siamese, were determined to
wrest Tonquin from China, which they have since succeeded in doing, and
had openly avowed their intention to eject British trade from Eastern
Indo-China, and to do all they possibly could to attract the trade of
South-western, Southern, and Central China to French ports in Tonquin,
where prohibitive duties could be, and have since been, placed upon
British goods. It was under these circumstances that Mr Colquhoun and I
took up the question, placed the necessity of connecting India with
Burmah, Siam, and China before the public, and with the aid of the
mercantile community determined to carry out a series of
exploration-surveys to prove whether or not Burmah could be connected
with these countries by railway at a reasonable expense, and to select
the best route, financially and commercially, for the undertaking. The
present volume deals with my exploration-surveys in Siam and the Shan
States.

The country through which I passed, besides being of interest from a
commercial point of view, was at the time of my visit shrouded with that
glamour which invests all little-known regions; and an accurate
knowledge of its physical features and political relations promised to
be of great importance in view of the action of France in Tonquin, and
our threatened embroilment with that nation in Upper Burmah.

Before commencing the narrative of my journey, in which the manners,
customs, and habits of the people will be portrayed, I will, from
information recently acquired by myself and other travellers, and from
other sources, give a slight sketch of the ethnology and history of the
interesting races met with by me on my journey.

The first mention in history of Lower Indo-China is in the ‘Annamese
Chronicles,’ where it is stated that Founan—the early Chinese name for
Cambodia—in B.C. 1109 was under the rule of a native queen. The next we
hear of it is in A.D. 69, at the time when a Brahman from India, named
Prea Thong, who is said to have been the fugitive son of the sovereign
of Delhi, married the then ruling queen. This Brahman is believed to
have introduced Brahmanism, architecture, sculpture, and astronomy into
Cambodia. At that time Cambodia consisted of an agglomeration of seven
States, which were constantly at war with each other. On the death of
the Brahman’s son, the commander-in-chief of the army made an end of the
principalities, and was elected to the joint throne.

From B.C. 125 there are many accounts of embassies passing between China
and Cambodia, and the country seems rapidly to have reached a height of
prosperity and Eastern splendour. In the third century Chinese
ambassadors mention palaces, towers, and theatres having been erected
for the reception and amusement of the guests, and meeting merchants in
the ports from countries as far west as the Roman Empire. The people
were described by the Chinese as an active and robust small black race,
with long hair knotted on the top of the head; the rich wearing only a
silk loin-cloth, and the poor one of cotton. The women had
head-coverings, and decked themselves with beautifully wrought silver
jewellery set with precious stones. The men excelled in making
jewellery, gold and silver vases, furniture, and domestic utensils—and
were honest, and hated theft above all things. They worshipped Hindoo
gods, and offered up human sacrifices.

This small black race, the Cham or Siam, was of the Malay stock,
doubtless darkened by interbreeding with the Negrito aborigines, and
perhaps with Dravidian colonists from the Madras coast. Remnants of the
Negrito aborigines, evidently akin to the Australioids, are still found
in the hilly districts of the Malay Peninsula, as well as in some of the
adjacent islands: and the Kha, or Ka, in the neighbourhood of Luang
Prabang; the Trao, to the east of Bienhoa in Cochin China; the Hotha
Shans, in the Chinese Shan States; and one of the native races in
Formosa,—are, according to Professor Terrien de Lacouperie,
representatives of the same stock, and akin to the Tiao, a race of
pigmies, with whom the Chinese (Peh Sing tribes) became acquainted when
they entered North-eastern China more than 4000 years ago.

To the north of the Chams, the country from an early period was occupied
by the Lawa, a race with Mon affinities and probably of the Mon stock,
who, according to their own traditions, and the beliefs and traditions
of their neighbours, are the aborigines of the region stretching
southwards from Yunnan, and eastwards from the Salween to the Meh Kong,
and perhaps even to the China Sea. Many of the names of principalities
and deserted cities are said to have been derived from the Lawa; and
fierce battles were fought between them and the Shans before the former
were conquered or driven into the hills. In a few years the language of
this interesting race will be extinct, as the race have gradually been
absorbed into the Shan and Peguan population, and Shan as well as Lawa
is now being spoken in their few remaining distinct villages.

To the west of the Lawa were the Mon or Mun, a Mongoloid race of
Malaysian affinities, whose scattered tribes spread from Indo-China into
Western Bengal and Central India, where they are now known as Kolarian.
Their first kingdom in Lower Burmah was founded at Thatone, an ancient
seaport on the east of the Gulf of Martaban, by an Indian dynasty from
the Madras coast, in the sixth century B.C. About the end of the first
century of our era, Mon tribes drove the Burmese from Prome, which had
been their capital from B.C. 483. These tribes were probably descendants
of the Ngu race, including the Pang, Kuei, and Miao tribes, who, with
the Shan, Yang or Karen, and King or Chin tribes, formed the chief part
of the population of Central and Southern China during the struggle for
empire—604–220 B.C.—between the Dukes of Tsi, Dsin, Ts’in, and Tsoo,
which ended in the ruler of Ts’in becoming the first Supreme Emperor of
China. Some of the wars waged by Ts’in during this period seem to have
been wars of extermination; and many tribes must have sought safety by
moving southward and south-westward out of the area of turbulence. In
one campaign 240,000 heads are said to have been cut off; in another,
140,000; and in others, 60,000, 80,000, and 82,000 heads.

In A.D. 573, the Mon founded a separate kingdom at Pegu, which, with the
Thatone kingdom, was destroyed by the Burmese King of Pugan in the
middle of the eleventh century; from that time to 1287, when Pegu was
conquered by the Shan King of Martaban, Lower Burmah remained under the
Burmese. In 1540 it was reconquered by the latter, and formed part of
their empire for 200 years. In 1740 the Mon, aided by the Karen and Gwe
Shan, rebelled against Burmah, and, electing a Gwe Shan as their king,
commenced the great fight for supremacy, which lasted till 1757, and
left the Burmese supreme in the country until we annexed it.

The language of the Mon is now nearly extinct in Lower Burmah. The Mon
or Peguans, who sided with us during the first Burmese war, were
mercilessly ill-treated by the Burmese when we evacuated Martaban and
Pegu: those who did not escape into Tenasserim, Zimmé, and Siam, were
either murdered or forced to learn and speak the language of their
oppressors.

To the north of the Mon race, in the district of the Middle Irawadi, the
country was occupied from an early date by Burmese tribes of Tibetan
origin, who were gradually welded together by warlike Kshatriya princes,
who invaded the country from Northern India. According to the Tagaung
Raza Weng, their first capital in Burmah was founded at Tagaung by Abhi
Raja, one of the Sakya Rajas. This prince came from Kapilavastu with an
army, and, B.C. 923, built the city. One of his sons founded a dynasty
in Arakan, and a grandson established another at Kalê in the Kubo
valley. The destruction of the first monarchy at Tagaung was due to the
irruption of tribes, probably Shans, from the East. This is said to have
happened in the sixth century B.C.

About this time a second band of Kshatriyas arrived from Gangetic India,
whose chief, Daza Raja, married the widow of the queen of the last
dynasty, and some years later, B.C. 523, built old Pugan, near the site
of the ancient capital. His successor was expelled and driven south by
the Shans, and founded a new capital, B.C. 483, at Prome, in the north
of Lower Burmah. Upper Burmah was thus left in the possession of the
Shans, many of whose cities in the Shan States lying to the west of the
Salween were founded about this time. Moné is said to have been built as
early as B.C. 519.

Thirteen years after the Burmese were turned out of Prome by the Mon,
they created a new capital, A.D. 108, at Pugan, where the Burmese
monarchy continued until 1291, when it was expelled by the Shans, who
governed Burmah from that time until 1554. From thence until we annexed
the country, Upper Burmah was under Burmese rulers.

The Karen tribes who are found scattered amongst the hills in Burmah and
Siam from the latitude of Mandalay southwards, are called by the Burmese
Karen or Kayen; by their other neighbours they are known as Yang,
pronounced sometimes nasally as Nyang. These people are believed to have
been a branch of the Chau or Djow, which entered the north-west of China
about B.C. 1276. The Djow displaced the Shang dynasty in China B.C.
1122, and remained supreme over the agglomeration of principalities
forming the Chinese Empire until B.C. 336, when some of the States
acknowledged Ts’in as their lord. Djow was ultimately overthrown, in
B.C. 255, by the Prince of Ts’in, who took possession of Djow’s
sacrificial vessels and the nine tripods, the symbols of empire. During
their rule the Djow preserved their ancient faith in divination, and the
augurs in the courts of the principalities occupied a distinguished
position. No expedition or any business of importance was entered into
without first consulting the fates.

The Yang or Karen—who gave their name to the Yangtsze Kiang, and settled
on its banks—at the time of the destruction of Tsoo, the great
principality which covered Southern China, by the Shensi State of Ts’in,
B.C. 221, occupied the country to the south of the river in the
provinces of Kiangsu, Anhwei, and Kiangsi. They were driven away by the
Shan and Mon population of the eastern provinces, 210–206 B.C., and were
finally expelled from China by the Shan King of Nanchao, _viâ_
Yungchang, a city on the Bhamo route, A.D. 778. They have since spread
southwards into Lower Burmah and Siam. At the time they left China, they
are said to have numbered 200,000 families.

The traditions which are repeated from father to son in metrical verse
by the Yang, have evoked great interest among the American missionaries,
who have done such good work in converting them to Christianity. From
the creation until after the flood these traditions are intrinsically
the same as the Mosaic accounts. Some people firmly believe the Karen to
be the ten lost tribes of Israel; but as their ancestors are known to
have been in China some 550 years before the ten tribes were lost, it is
much more reasonable to believe that they received their traditions from
the Mohammedans of Yunnan, or that before their entrance into China they
followed the tracks of the Peh Sing tribes, and had their earlier home
in the neighbourhood of the Semite tribes, and there acquired their
knowledge. The two other races which have extended southwards from China
into Indo-China are the Jung and the Shan. The former was already on the
borders of China, and some of its tribes had settled about the southern
bend of the Hoang Ho at the time when the Peh Sing Chinese tribes
arrived from their long journey from the neighbourhood of Chaldea. The
Jung, according to Professor Terrien de Lacouperie, were originally of
the same white stock as ourselves, and have become hybrid by
intermixture with the neighbouring races. They were so warlike in their
disposition that their name became amongst the Chinese equivalent to
that of warriors. In the seventh century B.C. they were spread across
the north of China from the extreme west of Kansu to the neighbourhood
of Pekin. Many of their tribes were absorbed by the Ts’in—the Seres of
the Greeks and Romans—of the province of Shensi, whose State name Ts’in
has been by Europeans corrupted into China.

The people of Ts’in claimed kinship with the Niao-suk (Nila-Cakas or
black Sakœ), and with the Fei or Bod, the people of Tibet. About B.C.
770, Ts’in was incorporated in the agglomeration of dukedoms or States
forming the Djow dominion, and rapidly increased in strength by
conquest, and partly by the absorption of the neighbouring Jung tribes.
It then grew in power at the expense of the eastern States, and brought
them into subjection. It further carried its sway across the Yangtsze
B.C. 279, and conquered Tsoo. Its duke became Supreme Emperor of Ts’in
B.C. 220.

The Jung tribes which were not absorbed by Ts’in, gradually pressed
southwards amongst the Shan tribes in Szechuen, and are now found, under
the tribal names of Mo-so, Lissu, Lolo, La-hu, La-wa (Lahs and Wahs to
the north of Kiang Tung), &c., in the west of that province, and in
Yunnan, Kweichau, and the Shan States as far south as the latitude of
Zimmé, and as far west as the Salween river. These tribes speak a
Tibeto-Burmese language.

The Shan race, known by the self-names of Tai, Pai, Lao, &c., occupies
an area of country six times as large as the United Kingdom; yet, owing
to the trading propensities of the race, the dialects spoken by the
Shans differ so slightly that travellers from the Tonquin hills,
Kwangsi, Yunnan, and Bhamo can converse with people at Zimmé and at
Bangkok.

In the earliest times we hear of the Shans under their tribal names
stretching across China from east to west, and occupying the country
between the Yangtsze and the Hoang Ho. From 1766 to 1122 B.C. they are
supposed to have been the dominant power in China, since the Shang, or
traders, the ruling dynasty during that period, were presumably of their
race. Later on they spread over Southern China, forming a large
ingredient in the kingdoms of Tsoo, Tsen or Tien, and Nan-Yueh, and
extended into the valleys of the Irawadi, Salween, Meh Nam, and Meh
Kong.

The last of their tribes to leave Central China for Indo-China appear to
have been the Chau Tai or Siamese, who were expelled from their seat in
Kiangsi and Anhwei in the tenth century of our era. They were driven to
the south-west into Kwangsi and Kweichau, where some of their tribes are
still found, and a large body ultimately migrated into the Shan States
to the south of Kiang Hsen.

In the latter half of the thirteenth century the country occupied by the
Shans was in a state of turmoil and unrest. The ancient principalities
in Yunnan had been conquered by Kublai Khan 1253–54; the Shan States to
the south and west of Yunnan had been attacked, and a consequent great
displacement of the population occurred. At that time the agglomeration
of States formed by the Ngai Lao or Lao Shans stretched southwards from
the latitude of Kiang Hsen to the northern confines of Cambodia or
La-Wek, which then included a number of principalities in the valley of
the Meh Nam, as well as in that of the Meh Kong. About 1281, according
to the Shan records at Zimmé, the Prince of Kiang Hsen advanced
southwards and conquered Lapoon, and in 1294 founded the present city of
Zimmé. The Lapoon Shans fled into Martaban, and, headed by one of
themselves, attacked the Burmese governor, slew him, and made their
leader Wa-re-ru King of Martaban, A.D. 1281. Six years later, this Shan
king conquered Pegu, and Shan kings reigned over the joint kingdom from
that time until they were conquered by the Burmese in 1540. Upper Burmah
was likewise under Shan kings from A.D. 1290 to 1554.

It was about the time of the conquest of Lapoon, according to Siamese
history, that the Siamese were expelled from Kiang Hai by the Prince of
Sittang. The Siamese fled southwards, and founded a new capital at Muang
Pehp or Pet, opposite the present city of Kamphang Pet on the Meh Ping.
In 1320 they deserted that city and founded another in the
neighbourhood, and thirty-one years later migrated to the south, built
their new capital at Ayuthia, on the site of a deserted Cambodian city
called Viang Lek, founded dukedoms or _Muangs_ at Soo-pan-Boo-ree and
Lop-Boo-ree, and joined the confederation formed by the Ngai Lao States,
over which the King of Sukkhothai was then suzerain. This king had
attacked Cambodia in 1296, pillaged its cities in the valley of the Meh
Nam, driven the Cambodians to the eastward, and thus rendered the
country available for the Siamese settlements.

As time went on the Siamese became the predominant State in the kingdom,
and entered on frequent wars of aggression with Cambodia, Annam, Vieng
Chang, and Zimmé. In 1546, six years after the Burmese King of Toungoo
had conquered Pegu, the Siamese commenced the series of wars with Burmah
which ended in nearly exterminating the population of both countries.

Every able-bodied man who did not take refuge in flight was forced into
the ranks, either to defend his country, or to attack that of his
neighbours, or the neighbours of the power to which his own State was
tributary. Armies, from forty thousand to two hundred thousand men
strong, ravaged the land, and swept away, as in a great net, those of
the inhabitants who were not killed in battle. In vast tracts not a man,
woman, or child remained; and elephants, rhinoceroses, tigers, deer,
wild cattle, and other wild animals took possession of the devastated
country. At length the Mon armies of Burmah, who hated forced service,
mutinied, and, taking their wives and children with them, fled into
Siam; and Zimmé, which had been under Burmah, except in times of
rebellion, from 1558 to 1774, threw off the yoke and asked for the
protection of Siam. To such an extent was the population thinned out by
the incessant warfare, that when we annexed the Burmese province of
Tenasserim, which borders Siam and Zimmé, we found in it barely seventy
thousand souls.

Burmah is blessed with a fruitful soil and a bounteous rainfall. It only
requires increased population to make it the garden of the East; and
every chief commissioner, from Sir Arthur Phayre downwards, has
advocated its connection with China by railway, as the means for
supplying that want from the most industrious and enterprising people in
Asia, the Chinese.

I take this opportunity to record my deep sense of gratitude to the Rev.
J. N. Cushing, D.D., and the Rev. D. M‘Gilvary, D.D., who accompanied me
as comrades and interpreters during part of my explorations, for their
friendly endeavour to secure the success of my undertaking; and I have
much pleasure in expressing my heartfelt appreciation of the frank
cordiality and unwearying kindness accorded me by all the American
Missionaries and Missionary Ladies during my stay in the country.

                               CONTENTS.

                               CHAPTER I.

                                                                    PAGE
 Dr Cushing’s arrival—A-heng—Leave Shoaygoon—Gold and silver
   carried—Flood of 1877—A bad driver—Dog offered to demons—Soused
   in the Hlineboay—Hlineboay—Traders—Mr Bryce’s party—Asked to
   join parties—Dr Cushing in charge of commissariat—Labelling and
   sorting baskets—The luggage—Medicines—Karen interpreter—Loading
   the elephants—Portow and Loogalay—Madras boys good fighters,        1

                               CHAPTER II.

 Surveying—Thankful for a halt—Leave Hlineboay—Karen houses
   infested with bugs—Halt near well—Rigging up shelter for the
   night—Tent left behind—Teak-forest—Yunnanese—A scare—Exploding
   bamboos—Trees 130 feet high—A mid-day halt—The British
   guard-house—A night camp—Glutinous rice, mode of cooking and
   carriage—Elephants feeding—Heavy dew—Journey down the Yembine
   valley—Motion of elephants—Difficult surveying—A practical
   joke—Railway to Rangoon and Mandalay—Heathen Karens—No longer a
   missionary—Difficulty in converting Buddhists—Venison for
   dinner—Stung by bees—Pass between the Thoungyeen and the
   Salween—Trees 25 feet in circumference—Limestone cliffs—Offering
   to the dead—Descent to the Thoungyeen—The ford,                     9

                              CHAPTER III.

 Rev. D. Webster’s party detained—Siamese officials expect
   bribes—Photographic plates all spoilt—Visit from Karens—Joined
   by the B.B. party—Siamese police post—Gorges in the Thoungyeen
   and Meh Nium—Rapids stop navigation—Forests and elephants—Dwarf
   races—Kamook and Kamait slaves hired by our foresters—Migration
   of Laos from Tonquin—The Khas of Luang Prabang—Sacrifices to
   demons—Drinking the health of strangers—King of Siam allows
   slave-hunting—Missionaries required in the Meh Kong valley—Leave
   the guard-house—Crossing the water-parting—Wild tea—Karen
   villages built distant from road—Country formerly
   lacustrine—Shelter for the night—Heavy rain—A shower-bath in
   bed—Elephants crossing steep hills—Wild animals—Reach the Meh
   Nium—Karen pigs—Remains of a lake-bottom—The Maing Loongyee
   plain—Epidemic of smallpox—Villages tabooed—Arrive at Maing
   Loongyee—Moung Hmoon Taw’s house—A timber prince and the
   money-lenders,                                                     19

                               CHAPTER IV.

 Maing Loongyee traversed by war-paths—Dr Richardson’s visit—Price
   of slaves—Dr Cushing’s visit—Raided by Karennis—The city and
   suburbs—Visit the governor—The Shan States—Government—Succession
   to the throne—Titles—Modes of execution—Zimmé formerly extended
   from the Salween to the Meh Kong—The governor and his
   brother—The bazaar—Distributing seeds—Information from
   foresters—Collecting vocabularies—Moung Loogalay—Portow—A
   magician—Dr Cushing at work and exasperated—Visit to ancient
   city and to the earth-hills—Crossing the river—A dangerous
   walk—Pine-trees—Number of Lawa, Karen, and Shan
   villages—Population—A Karen dance—Enticing a
   Lawa—Description—Similarity between Kamook and Lawa
   languages—Visit to the governor—Effect of a telegram—Elephants
   hired for forest work from Karens—Mode of attack of male and
   female elephants,                                                  30

                               CHAPTER V.

 Leave Maing Loongyee—A hundred-foot waterfall—A beautiful
   hill-torrent—A lugubrious tale—Gibbons—Gigantic tree-ferns—Shans
   cruel elephant-drivers—Method of driving—Droves of pigs and
   laden cattle—Loi Pwe—An accident—Wild raspberries—Shans
   bartering goods—The Meh Laik valley—A fall of 2049 feet—Paths
   for the railway—Lawa villages—Aborigines—Burial custom—Human
   sacrifices in the Shan States and China—Legend concerning the
   conquest of the Lawas by the Shans—The virgin of the
   lotus-flower—Gaudama sacrificed to as the goddess of
   mercy—Sacrifices to ancestors and demons—Similarity of
   superstitions in ancient Chaldea and the Shan
   States—Photographing Lawas—Clothing worn for decency’s
   sake—Costume of Lawas—Cold nights—View of the
   hills—Bau-gyee—Iron-mines guarded by demons—A young blacksmith,    42

                               CHAPTER VI.

 Path for a railway—Lawa Sivas—Legends of Poo-Sa and Ya-Sa, and of
   Me-lang-ta the Lawa king—Story of a Yak—Descent from the Bau
   plateau—A courageous lady—Weird country—Ruby-mines—Reach Muang
   Haut—Cabbages—Tobacco-cutting—A bobbery—Fable of the peacock and
   the crow—Sketching the country—Conversing by signs—Interviewing
   the head-man—Boat-hire on the Meh Nam—Cost of
   carriage—Rainfall—Produce of fields—A Shan temple—Method of
   making images—Bargain for boats—Temperature in sun and shade,      56

                              CHAPTER VII.

 Leave Muang Haut—Legend of the rapids—Footprints of Buddha—Power
   of accumulated merit—Indra’s heaven—River
   scenery—Fishing-dams—Loi Pah Khow—Large fish—Naked boatmen—A
   pleasant retreat—Wars between the Burmese and Shans—A
   sugar-press—Silver-mines—Path for the railway—Water-wheels—The
   tiger-head mountain—Pleasant mornings—A river scene—Chanting
   prayers—The valley of the Meh Li—Country-house of the chief of
   Lapoon—Viang Htau—Visit to a monastery,                            69

                              CHAPTER VIII.

 Description of Shan houses—Cabalistic
   charms—Superstition—Ancestral and demon worship—Shan dynasties
   in Burmah—Zimmé under the Burmese—Rules for
   house-building—Possessing a ghoul—The shadow spirit—Kissing with
   the nose—Furniture—Meals—Chinese chop-sticks—Spinsters—Weaving
   and embroidery—Dyes—Chinese hongs—Fishing—Revolt against
   Burmah—Zimmé and Lapoon deserted—A rest-house—Shan
   dialects—Entrance of the Meh Hkuang—Musical water-wheels—Brick
   and tile works—Houses for the demons—Houses imbedded in
   gardens—Light-coloured buffaloes—My first hunt in Burmah—A fine
   pagoda—Approach to the city—Arrive at Zimmé—American
   Presbyterian missions in Siam and Zimmé,                           80

                               CHAPTER IX.

 Our reception—The Mission-house—A beautiful view—A repast—Rev. J.
   Wilson—Ancient boundaries of Zimmé—City of Zimmé—Population—The
   bridge—An hermaphrodite—Youthful Dianas—Female dress—The
   market—Shops—The palace—Visit the king—Discussion about the
   railway—Prisoners in chains—Visit a princess—Shan embroidery—A
   great trader—Amount of caravan traffic—Number of elephants—Boat
   traffic,                                                           94

                               CHAPTER X.

 Chow Oo-boon, a spirit-medium—Consulting ancestral spirits—An
   exorcist—Spirit of witchcraft—Ill-treating a patient—Treatment
   of witches—False charges—Missionary destroys an image—Execution
   of Christians—Proclamation in favour of Christians—Missionaries
   protect witches—Undermine superstition—Ghosts perching on
   trees—A missionary ghost—Headless demons—A demoniac,              105

                               CHAPTER XI.

 Visit the Siamese commissioner—Description and dress of
   Siamese—Deceitful officials—Prince Prisdang’s letter—Pie-crust
   promises—A mountebank—Call on the Princess—Treaty of 1874—Siam’s
   relation to Shan States—Former obstacles to trade removed—Visit
   from Chow Oo-boon—Assassinating a lover—Shan queen in English
   dress—Fast and easy-going elephants prized—Kian Yuen, an old
   capital—A Chinese pagoda—City of the flower-garden—Muang La
   Maing, the site of the first Zimmé Shan city—Ascent of Loi Soo
   Tayp—The pagoda of the emerald rice-bowl—Pagoda slaves—Dr
   M‘Gilvary joins my party—Visiting Burmese foresters—Religious
   buildings erected by the Burmese,                                 113

                              CHAPTER XII.

 Dinner at the Princess’s—Arrangements for start completed—A
   passport—Our pavilion—The Zimmé plain—Leave Zimmé—Canal
   irrigation—Halt at Muang Doo—The Chows astray—Camp-dinners and
   cookery—Excellent Madras servants—Alteration in Jewan—Courtship,
   marriage, and divorce—Kumlung, or family patriarch and
   priest—Price of slaves—Slave-bondage—Foreign marriages—Serfdom
   in Zimmé—Formation of clans—Government masters in Siam—Crown
   commoners,                                                        125

                              CHAPTER XIII.

 Paying for supplies—Land and teak-forests belong to chiefs—Land
   rent—Light taxation—Leave Muang Doo—Upper Meh Hkuang—Ascend a
   plateau—A surprise—Luong Hkort—The Meh Hkort—Pass between the
   drainage of the Meh Ping and Meh Kong—Precaution against
   demons—Shans will not travel alone—A scare for
   tigers—Head-dressing and tattooing of Zimmé Shans—Charms let in
   the flesh—A quiet race—Villagers responsible for loss and crime
   in neighbourhood—Must not leave village without
   permission—Surveying under difficulties—The little elephant’s
   fun—The Meh Wung and Meh Ping—A vast plain depopulated—Timidity
   of elephants—Residence for demons—Reach Viang Pa Pow,             133

                              CHAPTER XIV.

 A Chinese fortification—Chinese army destroyed by famine—Viang Pa
   Pow—Kiang Tung Lawas—Witch villages—An intelligent prince—Best
   direction for railway—Purchase an ox for food—An ancient
   lake—Leave Pa Pow—Upper gorge of the Meh Low—Kiang Tung Lawas a
   Jung tribe, and distinct from Bau Lawas—Burmese Shans—Cattle
   with nose-bags and masks—Effect of soil on foliage—Surprises in
   the jungle—Temple at Bau Meh Pik—Offerings to deceased
   ancestors—The valley of the Meh Sooay a
   game-preserve—Indications of gold—Road to Viang Pow—Lower gorge
   of the Meh Low—Portow, the little elephant’s playmate—Loi
   Kook—Loi Chang Shans returning from frontier duty—Unwarrantable
   action of Chinese general—Kiang Hung Shans Burmese subjects in
   1886—Removal of capital—Kiang Hung annexed by British in
   1888—Shans dread entering deserted temples—Deceased monks
   classed as demons—Worshipping deceased monks—Suicide of a
   princess and two of her maids—Soused by an elephant—Courtesy of
   the Chow Hona of Kiang Hai—An immense plain,                      142

                               CHAPTER XV.

 Princes in their best clothes—A procession—Reach Kiang
   Hai—Dilapidated houses—The Meh Khoke—Ngios from Moné—Kiang
   Hai—Former Siamese capital—Early history of Siam—Visit he
   chief—Population—Ruined cities—Arrangement between British Shans
   and Siamese Shans—Recent encroachment of Siamese—Name entered as
   benefactor in royal annals—Visit from La-hu—Oval faces—known by
   their petticoats—Monosyllabic languages difficult to
   translate—La-hu a Lolo tribe—Comparison of vocabularies,          154

                              CHAPTER XVI.

 A state visit from chief—Insignia of office—Plentiful
   rainfall—Rain-clouds from the north—Only silver coins—Indian
   money—Frontier dues—Ferry toll—Fishing as a livelihood—Salt and
   cowries as small change—Tricks with the currency in Siam—Robbing
   the poor—A footprint of Buddh—A monk spoilt by the ladies—Ruined
   temples strewn with bronze images—Carl Bock’s loot—The emerald
   Buddh—A tattooed Laos Shan—Madras boys taken for ogres—Marching
   in single file—Scene at the ford—Cheap provisions—Chinese
   caravans—Cost of carriage—Opinion of Dr Cheek as to the
   prospects for a Burmah-China railway—Population of Siamese Shan
   States—Protection of caravan—Birds and monkeys dying of
   grief—Second visit from the La-hu—Marriage customs—Divorce—Gold
   in the Kiang Tung Lawa country—Fishing by torchlight,             162

                              CHAPTER XVII.

 Leave Kiang Hai—A hot spring—Elephants without
   tusks—Elephant-driving—Danger when driver is careless—A large
   rice-plain—Bargaining with the abbot at Muang Doo—Bloodthirsty
   flies—Elephants as tool-users—Inhospitable ancestral
   spirits—Game plentiful—Utterances of tigers—A magnificent
   forest—A stink-wood—Water-parting between the Kiang Hai and
   Kiang Hsen plains—Brave butterflies—A field for an
   entomologist—Psyche in Burmah—A Central Asian belief—Three
   sacred hills—Buddha and Confucius—Legend of Loi Htong—Valley of
   the Meh Chan—Pass to Muang Fang—Kiang Hsen plain—Siamese
   aggression—Deserted cities of Manola—Tigers—Attack on Kiang Hsen
   in 1794—Wild animals—Legend of Muang Nŏng—Thunderstorm—Flooded
   country—Leaning pagoda—Reach Kiang Hsen,                          177

                             CHAPTER XVIII.

 The Meh Kong at Kiang Hsen—Ringworm—Extensive ruins—Description of
   city—Importance of situation for trade—Chinese settlers from
   Ssuchuan, Kweichau, and Yunnan—Projected railway—Surveys being
   made by King of Siam—Excursions from Kiang
   Hsen—Teak-forests—Robbing an image—Legend of Kiang
   Mee-ang—Ancient cities—Comparison between ancient Britons and
   Shans—Ancient principality of Tsen—Kiang Hung—Destruction of
   Kiang Hsen—Carried away captives—Treachery in war—Population of
   Zimmé chiefly slaves—Kiang Hsen reoccupied in 1881—Resettling
   it—Action of King of Siam—Friendly footing of missionaries—View
   across the Kiang Hsen plain—Flooded country—Leave for Kiang
   Hai—A white elephant—Branches as
   sunshades—Elephant-flies—Emigrants from Lapoon—Beautiful
   scenery—Mr Archer’s description of traffic along the route,       190

                              CHAPTER XIX.

 At Kiang Hai—Ferocious dog—Chinese pack-saddles and mules—Routes
   from China—Articles of merchandise—Richness of Kiang Hsen
   plain—Visit the Chow Hona—Man killed by wild elephant—Chiefs
   wish for railway—Would help by granting wood for bridges and
   sleepers—Kamooks for labourers—Chinese Shans and Chinese would
   flock in for hire—Easiest route for loop-line to Zimmé—Trees
   laden with women and children—Dr M‘Gilvary purchases an
   elephant—Receives present from Chow Hona—Sunday
   service—Unselfishness of Dr M‘Gilvary—Lapoon
   immigrants—Death-rate of immigrants—Boxing—A woman in
   chains—Leave Kiang Hai—Young elephants a nuisance—A
   yellow-turbaned monk—Fireworks—Whistling rockets—Gigantic
   rockets at funerals—A lovely Lolo-Lawa woman—Spring
   blossoms—Cross the water-parting between the Meh Low and the Meh
   Ing—Hot springs—Houses erected for us—Fisheries—Arrive at Muang
   Hpan—Formation of a settlement—Emigrants to Kiang Hsen in
   1887—Prosperity of country—Mr Archer’s opinion—The father of the
   state—Like a Highlander—Deserted cities—An ancient
   Christian—Viang Poo Ken—Rapid decay of buildings in a moist
   climate—Ants at work—Damming streams for fisheries—Injury to
   drainage—The Meh Ing a sluggish stream—A hare—Oppressive
   atmosphere—Searching for water—Boiling mud to make tea—A
   distressing march—City of Chawm Taung—A celebrated
   temple—Buddhist legend—A golden image sixty feet high—Legend of
   Penyow—A Buddh forty-five feet high—Gaudama existing formerly as
   Indra—A Shan Rachel—Reach Penyow,                                 211

                               CHAPTER XX.

 Settled by Lakon—Population—Smallpox—Tutelary spirits—Ancient
   cities—Trade-routes and cost of transport—The centre of Ping
   States—A Lakon prince—Views about railway—Smallpox
   raging—Callousness of natives—Dr Cushing infected—Deserted
   cities—Famous for pottery—Gambling currency—Gambling games in
   Siam—Fighting crickets, fish, and cocks—Cock-crowing in
   Indo-China—Variation in times of new year—Gambling monopoly in
   Siam—Proclamation of the king—Gambling chief cause of
   slavery—Parents selling children into slavery—Slavery not
   abolished—Proclamation issued to delude foreigners—Position of
   people daily growing worse—A money-lender buying injustice from
   princes and nobles—Encouraging gambling—Gambling-house
   jails—State of Siamese Government monopolies—Effect of _corvée_
   labour—Burdensome taxation—No justice—General
   demoralisation—Shan States better governed,                       230

                              CHAPTER XXI.

 Leave Penyow—Wild roses—An inundated country—Royal funeral
   buildings—Posts two hundred feet long—Collection and uses of
   wood-oil—Description of daily meals—Water-parting between the
   Meh Kong and Meh Nam—Path for railway—A dead forest—Reach Muang
   Ngow—Settled by Lakon—Karen villages—Teak-forests—Four thousand
   Burmese destroyed—A distributing centre for Muang Nan and Muang
   Peh—Deficient rainfall—Burmese pedlars—Immigrants from Kiang
   Hung—A terrible din—The eclipse—Buddhist legend—Elephants should
   rest after noon during hot season—Leave Muang Ngow—Railway from
   Bangkok to Kiang Hung crosses no hill-range—Battle-field—The
   stone gate—Water-parting between the Meh Ngow and Meh Wung—A
   jolting elephant—Ban Sa-det—Offerings for the monks—Presents for
   the children—The Buddhist Lent—Lights for evil spirits—The
   demon’s lent—Offerings to the naiads—Illuminating the river—King
   of Siam lighting fireworks—Scaring the spirits—Offerings to
   naiads and demons in case of sickness—Trial by
   water—Superstition against saving drowning folk—Descent of the
   rain-god Indra—Libations—The water-feast—Bathing the
   images—Scene in the temple—Waking the gods with
   water—Propitiating the Lawa genii—The warming of Buddh—A
   dousing—A compliment—Calling the spirits to witness—Leave Ban
   Sa-det—Ruby-mines—Reach Lakon,                                    246

                              CHAPTER XXII.

 Lakon and Lapoon date from the sixth century—Description of
   Lakon—A Christian judge—Law and justice—Punishments commuted to
   fines—Legend of the dipped prince—Legend of Lakon—A modern
   joke—Legend of the ring lake—The god of medicine—The Aswins
   mending an old man—Origin of quack-doctors—A Siamese
   doctor—Theory of disease—Medicines—174 ingredients in a
   dose—Draughts for the poor, pills for the rich—Medicines by
   pailful—Empirics—Belief in demons and witches—Mode of payment by
   the job—No cure, no pay—Fee to the god of medicine—Priests to
   the demons—Sacrifices—Contamination from lepers—Smallpox and
   vaccination—Filthy dwellings and furniture—No pillow-cases or
   sheets—Killing bugs—Villages on the Meh Wung—Dr Neis’s
   survey—Karen Christians—Rev. D. Webster—Dr Cushing ill—Eagerness
   for work—Malarious fevers—Numerous Karens in British Shan
   States—Trade of Lakon—Visit the chief—Cheap labour for the
   railway—Great heat—Burst of the monsoon,                          267

                             CHAPTER XXIII.

 Prince Bigit’s expected visit—Leave Lakon—Cicadas and their
   music—A battle-field—Duplicate kings of Siam—Truant elephants—Dr
   Cushing has smallpox—A beautiful dale—A dangerous
   pass—Water-parting between the Meh Wung and Meh Ping—Number of
   villages in the Zimmé plain—The Mai Cha-lau tree—Pagoda on Loi
   Tee—A cart-road—Reach Lapoon—The great temple and celebrated
   pagoda—Lapoon built like Aladdin’s palace—Description of
   city—Deserted for forty years—Visit the chief—Leave Lapoon—Scene
   on the road—Reach Zimmé—Report of the R.G.S. on my survey,        283

                              CHAPTER XXIV.

 House for Dr Cushing built in two days—Fumigation and
   disinfection—Bribery and extortion at frontier
   guard-house—Travellers delayed—Mr Webster’s journey—Trade
   between Zimmé, Bangkok, and Maulmain; enhancement of
   prices—Comparison between Russia and Siam—Oppression and tyranny
   causes cunning and deceit—Siamese the greatest liars in the
   East—An amusing interview with a prince—Religious buildings in
   Zimmé—Description of monasteries—Bargaining with an
   abbot—Palm-leaf books—Evil practices of monks—Sentencing the
   descendants of criminals to slavery—Begging for meals—Giving, a
   privilege—Rules for the acolytes—Shaving the head and
   eyebrows—Teaching in a monastery—Learning manners,                294

                              CHAPTER XXV.

 Leave Zimmé without interpreters—Borrow a tent—Reach Ban Pang
   Kai—The cry of gibbons—Legend—A primitive pagoda—Three kinds of
   pagodas—Description—Low plateau dividing Meh Low from Meh
   Wung—Branch railway from Lakon—The head sources of Meh Wung—A
   storm—Teak—Reach Muang Wung—Cockle’s pills—A temple at
   night—Tower muskets—A plague of flies—Moosurs—Dr Cushing leaves
   for Bangkok—His excellent arrangement—Translator of the Bible
   into Shan—Loss of Shan interpreters—Mr Martin joins party—Bau
   Lawas in Southern Siam—Arrival of Mr Gould—Elephant
   titles—Dinner at the Martins’—A present of cigars,                306

                              CHAPTER XXVI.

 Leave for Muang Fang—The temple of the white elephants—Training
   elephants—Evening service in a temple—Legend of Wat Pra
   Non—Snake and Siva worship—Caravans—Stick-lac trees not cut
   down—The 400 footprints of Buddha—Wild tea—Visit to Shan
   ladies—Low dresses—Rules of hospitality—Worshipping the manes—A
   zylophone—Implements of expectant Buddha—Straining water—Legends
   of Loi Chaum Haut and Loi Kiang Dow—The palace of the
   angels—Demons cannot harm Christians—Christianity a great
   boon—Accident to aneroid—A vicious elephant—Foot-and-mouth
   disease—Snares for demons—A panorama of hills—Sources of the Meh
   Ping and Meh Teng—A river passing under a mountain—Muan Hang an
   ancient lake-basin—Rival claims of Ping Shans and British Shans
   or Ngio—The upper defile of the Meh Ping—A moonlight
   scene—Entangling demons at the frontier—A Chinese fort—Loi
   Pa-Yat Pa-Yai—Mapping the country—Dr M‘Gilvary’s sermon—Reach
   Kiang Dow—Petroleum at Kiang Dow and Muang Fang,                  315

                             CHAPTER XXVII.

 Kiang Dow—Invasions of Burmese Shans—Precipitous hills—Muang Hang
   under the Burmese—Viang Chai—Catch a Kamait—Entering monastic
   life—Inquisitive people—Reach Muang Ngai—View up the river—A
   Shan play—Visit the governor—Leave Muang Ngai—Hot springs—Loi
   Pa-Yat Pa-Yai—A storm in the hills—Drainage flowing in three
   directions—Underground streams—Difficult pass—Sinkage of
   ground—A sacred cave—Legend of Tum Tap Tow—Visit the cave—An
   unpleasant night—Large game—Threatened with beheading—Legend of
   the hare-lip—Building a house—Chinese forts—Trichinosis—Reach
   Muang Fang,                                                       334

                             CHAPTER XXVIII.

 Muang Fang—Deserted for 200 years—Proclamation resettling the
   province—Population—Settlements of Ngio ousted by Siamese—Land
   yielding 250-fold—Ruined cities—320 ruined temples—Purloining
   images—Mr Archer’s report—Method of forming new
   settlements—Separation of races in the cities—Colonies of
   refugees and captives—Chinese Shans as labourers—City sacked by
   the Burmese—Governor and wife drown themselves—Cost of
   carriage—Dr Tiger the hunter—Bargain for a dagger—Sworn
   brothers—Cambodian and Karen ceremonies—The augury of
   fowl-bones—Passing merit by cotton-threads—First hair-cutting in
   Siam—Lao marriage—Visit the ruined cities—Fallen idols—Putting
   fugitives in chains—A deer-hunt—Sketching the hills—Visit to Ban
   Meh Hang—Out of provisions—Fever and dysentery—Mahout attacked
   by vicious elephant—Spreading cattle-disease,                     347

                              CHAPTER XXIX.

 Leave Muang Fang—My comrades hunting—Those boys again:
   panic-stricken fisherwomen—Water-parting between the Meh Ping
   and Meh Kong—Railway from Zimmé to Muang Fang and Kiang Hsen—A
   freak of nature—Tree eight feet broad—A deer-lick—Bed without
   dinner—Illness of missionaries—Sitting on a snake—Head or tail,
   query—Emigrants carrying spinning-wheels—Cross the Meh Ngat—A
   beautiful plain—Viang Pow—Visit from the governor—Ngio
   raids—Lolo and Karen villages—Effect of monopolies—People
   deserting Muang Fang—Officials collecting taxes for
   monopolists—No gambling and opium dens—Cost of carriage—Export
   of rice—One son-in-law in one house—Trade-routes—Leave Viang
   Pow—The defile of the Meh Ngat—Accident to aneroid—A fine
   view—An aristocratic governor—Population—Wild tea—Light
   taxation—Free from vices—Put up with a Shan convert—Women well
   treated amongst the Shans—Cutch-trees—Reach Zimmé,                360

                              CHAPTER XXX.

 Offering to the good influences—The spirit in sleep—The ceremony
   of Tum Kwun—Spirit-worship of Ping Shans—Arrangements for
   leaving—Visit Siamese prince—A Gatling gun as an
   ornament—Railway routes—Number of fighting-men—Dismiss
   Loogalay—Pretty pagodas—Boxing and wrestling—The bridge
   breaks—Presents from Chow Oo-boon—A lover’s lute—Lace prized—Dr
   Cushing’s views on the Ping Shans—Connection with
   Siam—Taxation—_Corvée_ labour—Serfs—Slaves purchased from Red
   Karens—Debt slaves in chains—Religion—Field for missionaries,     373

                              CHAPTER XXXI.

 Apathy of Siamese officials—Proposal to survey passes between Siam
   and Burmah—Mr Webster’s offer—Preparations for boat-journey to
   Bangkok—Boats and crew—Kindness of missionaries—Leave
   Zimmé—Number of villages—Shan embroideries—Buying petticoats—An
   evening bath—Shameless women—Preparing for the rapids—More
   bargains—Scrambling for beads—Enter the defile—Magnificent
   scenery—Geological changes—Underground rivers—Subsidence and
   periods of unrest—An earthquake-belt—Limestone cliffs—A Chinese
   smuggler—Roped down the rapids—Picturesque cliffs—Precipices a
   mile high—A waterfall—Three pagodas—Offerings to demons—Spirits
   of the jungle—Forming spirit-clans—Alluring travellers to
   death—Lascivious spirits—M‘Leod’s route—Shooting dangerous
   rapids—Kamook lumber-men—The pillar-rock—Pass to Ban Meh
   Pik—Sketching the governor—Path to Maulmain—Searching for
   rubies—A sambhur deer—Leave the defiles—Entrance of the Meh
   Wung—Paths for the railway—Silver-mines—Reach Raheng,             390

                             CHAPTER XXXII.

 The former governor in league with dacoits—Trouble on the
   frontier—Dacoiting boats—Advice to a missionary—The governor of
   Petchaburi—A petition to the king—Robbing the
   people—Misgovernment of a Siamese province—Missionary’s opinion
   of the king—Extraordinary floods in Siam—The seasons—Flood of
   1878: villages washed away—Flood of 1831—Entering the palace in
   boats—Boat-journeys from and to Bangkok,                          406

                             CHAPTER XXXIII.

 Growth of foreign competition for trade—Need for new markets—India
   and China as markets—Necessity for cheap communications—Action
   taken by Mr Colquhoun and myself—probable effects of the
   Indo-Siam-China railway—Indo-Burmese connection in course of
   construction—Reasons for choosing Maulmain as terminus for
   connection with China—Siamese section now under survey—Effects
   of connecting Maulmain with Siamese railway—Cost of
   connection—Prospective advantages—Caravan-routes from Maulmain
   to Raheng—Estimate for branch to our frontier—Approximate
   estimate for continuing the branch to Raheng—Comparison between
   proposed British and Russian railways—British interests in
   Siam—Mr Satow’s letter—Sir Arthur Phayre’s opinion on our duty
   to protect Siam—Connection of Burmah and Siam by railway the
   best form of support—Cannot allow Siam to be absorbed by
   France—Effect of such absorption upon Burmah—Opinions of Sir
   Charles Bernard—Cannot afford to hand over our markets to
   France—Opinion of Sir Henry Yule—Paying prospects of the branch
   to the frontier—Sir Richard Temple’s opinion—The most promising
   of all future railway lines—Effect of proposed lines—Sir Charles
   Bernard’s project—Comparison between Maulmain and Bhamo
   routes—Takaw route—Kun Lôn ferry routes—The Maulmain route or
   nothing—Importance of the question,                               414

                             CHAPTER XXXIV.

 Leave Raheng—Islands—Zimmé Shans in Raheng—Siamese
   women—Misleading strangers—“Sow” and “rat” polite terms—Reach
   Kamphang Pet—Saluted with stones—Found dead—Burmese—Visit the
   governor—The flood—Population—A female interpreter—Leave
   Kamphang Pet—Cultivation—Reach Pak Nam Po—Toungthoo
   pedlars—Navigation on the Meh Nam—Loop-line to
   Ootaradit—Gambling-house—A Frenchified monk—Sketching a bearded
   Siamese—Size of the delta—Journey to Bangkok—A long street of
   villages—Reach Bangkok,                                           435

                              CHAPTER XXXV.

 Mr Scott—Visit to the legation—Adepts at intrigue—Mr Alabaster on
   Siam—Everything taxed—The revenue—_Corvée_ labour—Impoverishing
   the people—The old school dying out—The iron-road a magician’s
   wand—King Stork—Putting a stop to cattle-theft—A piquant
   story—Cattle-lifting by officials—A lingering lawsuit—Extorting
   confessions—Torture at the police courts—The last day’s
   agony—Unlawful imprisonment—Inside a prison—Immorality of
   princes—Fit companions—Brothels in Bangkok—Selling
   relations—Chanting prayers—Flogging women—The biggest liars and
   thieves—Slavery in Bangkok,                                       445

                             CHAPTER XXXVI.

 Mr Colquhoun’s arrival—Prince Devan—Character of the king—Visit to
   Prince Devan—Memorandum on the railways—Grant required for
   further exploration—Interview with the king—Terms required by
   syndicates—Siam’s credit—The connection with Burmah—Excursion
   into Eastern Siam—Nai Sin—An official of 2500 marks—Poo
   Bah—Golden opportunities—Trumpery fortifications—After the
   storm—The Bang Pa Kong river—Legend of the Kow Din—An infatuated
   monk—Chinese in Siam—Estimate of population—Chinese immigrants
   and their descendants—Marking the people—Unscrupulous Government
   masters—Their little games—A vast plain—Little
   cultivation—Lovely scenery—Tramway to the goldmines—Return to
   Bangkok—Dr M‘Gilvary’s opinion upon the projected railways—One
   of the grand works of the century,                                454

                                APPENDIX.

 BURMAH-SIAM-CHINA RAILWAY.—RESOLUTIONS OF CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE,     464

 INDEX,                                                              475

                             ILLUSTRATIONS.

                                                                    PAGE
 PORTOW,                                                               6
 AN EXECUTION,                                                        33
 VIEW LOOKING WEST DOWN PASS AT 10.53 A.M. 14TH FEB.,                 44
 LOI PWE SEEN OVER A SPUR AT 9.57 A.M. 15TH FEB.,                     45
 MEH LAIK VALLEY AND GORGE AT 1.3 P.M. 15TH FEB.,                     47
 A VIRGIN OF THE LOTUS-FLOWER,                                        51
 VIEW ACROSS THE MEH HTO AND MEH LAIK VALLEYS AT 10.54 A.M. 15TH
   FEB.,                                                              53
 A YAK,                                                               57
 A SIAMESE KING,                                                      59
 VIEW TO THE SOUTH FROM A HILLOCK BEHIND MUANG HAUT,                  64
 VIEW FROM NEAR BAN HSOPE KYEM,                                       72
 LOI HOO-A SOO-A WITH LOI PAH KUNG IN THE BACKGROUND,                 77
 VIEW FROM THE TOP OF LOI NOI AT 8 A.M. 23D FEB.,                     78
 DOMESTIC UTENSILS,                                                   85
 SPINNING IMPLEMENTS,                                                 86
 VIEW OF LOI SOO TAYP FROM BAN MEH KA,                                91
 A SHAN GHOST,                                                       111
 A SHAN HOUSE,                                                       134
 A TA-LAY-OW,                                                        137
 VIEW OF LOI MOK AND THE HEAD OF THE MEH WUNG AT 4.42 P.M. 10TH
   MARCH,                                                            140
 THE LITTLE ELEPHANT’S FUN,                                          148
 BAMBOO SHOULDER-TRESTLE,                                            150
 VIEW OF LOI POO-AY AT 1.3 P.M. 14TH MARCH,                          151
 VIEW OF LOI KOOK LOI CHANG AT 1.3 P.M. 14TH MARCH,                  152
 VIEW UP THE MEH KHOKE FROM THE SALA AT KIANG HAI,                   157
 A LA-HU YOUTH,                                                      160
 A CROWNED BUDDHA,                                                   166
 FISHING IMPLEMENTS,      168,                                       169
 DROP-NET,                                                           176
 VIEW OF LOI PONG PRA BAT AT 11.11 A.M. 18TH MARCH,                  178
 VIEW OF LOI HTONG, LOI YA TOW, AND LOI TA, AT 2.34 P.M. 19TH
   MARCH,                                                            182
 VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF THE MEH CHUN AT 3.57 P.M. 19TH MARCH,         185
 VIEW OF LOI CHANG NGO AT 4.49 P.M. 20TH MARCH,                      186
 PHYA IN OR INDRA,                                                   187
 THE KOO TOW,                                                        188
 VIEW OF LOI CHAN FROM KIANG HSEN,                                   191
 VIEW OF HILLS EAST OF THE MEH KONG RIVER,                           192
 THE GREAT BEND OF THE MEH KONG FROM KIANG HSEN,                     193
 RUINS AT KIANG HSEN,                                                194
 PLASTER DECORATION ON PILLARS,                                      195
 VIEW OF WESTERN HILLS,                                              197
 A SHAN HOUSE IN KIANG HSEN,                                         203
 VIEW OF HILLS WEST OF KIANG HSEN PLAIN FROM PAGODA ON HILL,         206
 CITY ENCLOSURE. SKETCH OF AN ENTRANCE TO KIANG HSEN,                207
 CHINESE PACK-SADDLE,                                                212
 VIEW UP THE MEH KHOKE FROM KIANG HAI,                               217
 ROCKET-STICK OF BAMBOO, FORMED INTO A WHISTLE AT THE TOP,           219
 PHYA NYAK, THE KING OF SERPENTS AND DRAGONS,                        227
 TERRA-COTTA PEDESTAL,                                               233
 PHYA KHRUT OR GARUDA, THE KING OF EAGLES,                           234
 EVIL SPIRITS,                                                       259
 A DRYAD,                                                            260
 PUNISHMENTS IN THE BUDDHIST HELLS,                                  263
 VIEW OF HILLS EAST OF LAKON,                                        270
 A SHAN QUEEN,                                                       291
 VIEW OF THE HILLS TO THE NORTH-EAST OF ZIMMÉ FROM PEN YUK,          307
 OX DRAWING TIMBER IN FOREST,                                        308
 VIEW OF THE HEAD OF THE BASIN OF THE MEH WUNG,                      309
 VIEW OF THE KYOO HOO LOW AND HILLS EAST OF MEH WUNG,                310
 VIEW OF LOI MUN MOO PASS AND HILLS EAST OF MEH WUNG,                310
 IMPLEMENTS FOR THE USE OF EXPECTANT BUDDHAS,                        322
 VIEW OF LOI CHAUM HAUT,                                             323
 HILLS TO THE NORTH OF THE ZIMMÉ PLAIN FROM THE MEH TENG,            327
 VIEW OF LOI KIANG DOW FROM THE MEH TENG,                            328
 VIEW OF HILLS NORTH-WEST OF THE ZIMMÉ PLAIN FROM THE MEH TENG,      329
 LOI CHAUM HAUT FROM BAN MEH MEH,                                    331
 VIEW OF LOI PA-YAT PA-YAI,                                          332
 SKETCH OF LOI KIANG DOW AND LOI NAN,                                335
 VIEW UP THE VALLEY OF THE MEH PING FROM MUANG NGAI,                 339
 VIEW LOOKING SOUTH-WEST FROM MUANG FANG,                            349
 JUNCTION OF THE MEH FANG AND MEH KHOKE VALLEYS,                     356
 VIEW UP THE MEH FANG VALLEY FROM BAN MEH HANG,                      358
 VIEW ACROSS MUANG KEN AND THE VALLEY OF THE MEH PING,               367
 HILLS WEST OF THE MEH PING AT 11.55 A.M. 23D MAY,                   368
 VIEW OF HILLS WEST OF THE ZIMMÉ PLAIN AT 4.24 P.M. 23D MAY,         371
 HANUMAN, KING OF MONKEYS,                                           376
 PROM OR BRAHMA,                                                     376
 PHYA LAK,                                                           377
 PHYA WET SAWAN (VISHNU),                                            377
 SIAMESE WRESTLERS,                                                  386
 PEE POK-KA-LONG (JUNGLE DEMONS),                                    398
 LOI PA KHUN BAIT,                                                   400
 EXTREMITY OF SPUR FROM THE WEST RANGE,                              401
 SKETCH AT 188½ MILES FROM BAN PAH YANG NEUR,                        403
 SKETCH AT 196½ MILES FROM BAN MEH NYAH,                             404
 HAND-DREDGE,                                                        435
 VIEW OF HILLS LOOKING EAST AT 218 MILES FROM BAN KOW NOME WAN,      436
 SKETCH AT 216½ MILES FROM BAN TA KARE,                              436
 VIEW LOOKING WEST FROM KAMPHANG PET,                                440
 LOI KOW CHUNG,                                                      440
 LOI KOW CHUNG,                                                      441
 LOI KOW LUONG,                                                      442
 VIEW FROM THE JUNCTION OF THE MEH NAM,                              443

                            _LIST OF MAPS._

 SOUTHERN CHINA AND INDO-CHINA, SHOWING PROPOSED
   FRENCH AND ENGLISH RAILWAYS,                    _To face title-page_
 MAULMEIN TO MAINGLOONGYEE,                         _To face page_     9
 MAINGLOONGYEE TO MAUNG HAUT,                          „     „        43
 MAUNG HAUT TO KIANG HSEN,                             „     „        69
 KIANG HAI TO LAKON,                                   „     „       219
 LAKON TO ZIMMÉ,                                       „     „       283
 ZIMMÉ TO B. MEH HANG,                                 „     „       315
 ,                                                     „     „       392

          A THOUSAND MILES ON AN ELEPHANT IN THE SHAN STATES.

                               CHAPTER I.

  DR CUSHING’S ARRIVAL—A-HENG—LEAVE SHOAYGOON—GOLD AND SILVER
    CARRIED—FLOOD OF 1877—A BAD DRIVER—DOG OFFERED TO DEMONS—SOUSED IN
    THE HLINEBOAY—HLINEBOAY—TRADERS—MR BRYCE’S PARTY—ASKED TO JOIN
    PARTIES—DR CUSHING IN CHARGE OF COMMISSARIAT—LABELLING AND SORTING
    BASKETS—THE LUGGAGE—MEDICINES—KAREN INTERPRETER—LOADING THE
    ELEPHANTS—PORTOW AND LOOGALAY—MADRAS BOYS GOOD FIGHTERS.

“Dr Cushing here, sahib! boat coming:” so gasped Veyloo and Jewan, my
Madras servants, as they came racing up the staircase of the teak-built
court-house at Shoaygoon, where I was enjoying a smoke whilst reclining
in my table-armed folding-chair. This chair, which was a miracle of
comfort and convenience, together with my camp-bedstead, had been
designed and constructed for me by A-heng, a very clever and honest
Chinese contractor, who for many years had been employed by me in
constructing bridges, court-houses, jails, bazaars, and various other
public buildings whilst I was in charge of the Tenasserim division of
Burmah. This division, measuring 630 miles in a north and south
direction, forms the eastern portion of Lower Burmah, and is bordered on
the east by Siam and the Siamese Shan States, through which I was about
to journey in search of the best route for a railway to connect Burmah
with South-western China.

Following the boys, who had rushed off as soon as they had given me the
news, I scrambled down the steep bank of the Salween river, which forms
the western boundary of the garden of the court-house, and reached the
water’s edge some minutes before the boat stranded at my feet.

“Here we are, together at last!” I exclaimed, as I helped my future
companion from the boat; “I do hope you are better. I was so glad you
succeeded in persuading the doctor to allow you to come,—I should have
been helpless without you.”

“Thanks; I feel better already, and hope to be all right in a day or
two,” said Dr Cushing. “Jungle-life was what I wanted: my illness,
although partly the after-effects of fever, was mainly due to being
cooped up for months at indoor work. Have you got the elephants?”

“Yes,” I replied, “they are at Hlineboay, and I have arranged for seven
carts to take our things there to-morrow. We can have them packed after
lunch, and see if we shall require more. Come along; the boys have lunch
ready.”

Meanwhile the boys had been welcoming Ramasawmy, Dr Cushing’s Madras
servant; and Shoay Wai and Portow, the Shan interpreters, who had been
hired for the expedition, were aiding the boatmen to unload the boat and
carry the things to the court-house.

The next morning, the 21st of January, we were away early, Dr Cushing
and I leading the way in the cart which carried our bedding and the
treasure; the latter consisting of fifteen bags, each containing a
hundred rupees, packed away in the tin boxes and waterproof bags amongst
my clothing, and a heavy burden of gold-leaf, which for safety I carried
on my person. How glad I was to place the gold in the custody of the
missionaries at Zimmé when I arrived there! Very few men would care to
be rich if they had to carry their wealth in bullion about them.

After continuing northwards along the river-bank for two miles we turned
eastward, crossing the low land that lies between the Salween and the
high laterite ground which separates it from the basin of the Hlineboay
river. The highest point passed by the cart-road between Shoaygoon and
Hlineboay is less than a hundred feet above the former place. The great
flood of 1877 rose two feet six inches above the bank of the Salween at
Shoaygoon, or to a level twenty feet above the ground in the interior;
but owing to the breadth of the valley and the slope of the country, the
flood-water passed off in a stream a mile in breadth and about ten feet
deep.

Leaving the valley, we proceeded over laterite ground, amongst small
trees and scrub-jungle. Before reaching the Hlineboay river we had been
pretty nearly jolted to death by our abominable driver, the worst and
most apathetic of his kind I have ever suffered from. The carts, as is
usual in Burmah, were springless, and ordinary jolts might be expected;
but this creature drove us against trees and over tree-roots a tyro
might have avoided. I was particularly annoyed, as Dr Cushing was only
just recovering from an attack of liver complaint. It was no use
expostulating (though expostulate we did), for there only came bang,
bang, bang over another tree-root. We had to laugh, the man seemed so
utterly irreclaimable. Loogalay, my half-breed Burmese Mohammedan, who
was walking by the cart, assured us that it was no use talking to the
man,—“He was _yainday_ (a country lout); born a bullock, and would die a
buffalo”—that is, he was born a bumpkin and would die a blockhead.

On passing near the village of Quanta, which is situated about eleven
miles from Shoaygoon, Dr Cushing called to me to hold my nose,—the
Karens, to propitiate the _nats_ (demons, gnomes, and fairies) of the
vicinity, had sacrificed a dog to them, and the air for a hundred yards
was reeking with the stench from the crucified remains.

A mile and a half farther on we entered the low ground bordering the
Hlineboay river, and shortly afterwards came to the stream. The banks,
even where cut away for the cart-road, were steep, and the ford was
narrow. Here was a chance for our Jehu. When racing down the bank,
instead of attending to the oxen he gazed back at the other carts. The
cattle, turning sharply at the ford, dragged the cart into the deep
water up-stream. We were soused up to our waists, our bedding was
drenched, and I incurred three hours’ unexpected labour in cleaning and
readjusting my surveying instruments, which would otherwise have been
ruined by their bath. Our Handy Andy was not in the least discomposed by
his achievement; it was an everyday feat to him: his countenance was a
picture of impassive stolidity; he showed no signs of being horrified or
even delighted at the effects of his carelessness. What could we do but
laugh? He was indeed born a bullock, and fast merging into the buffalo.
A mile and a half down-stream from the ford, skirting the river, brought
us to Hlineboay, where we put up in the court-house, which the _myook_,
or native judge and magistrate, had courteously placed at our disposal.

Hlineboay, a village of seven or eight hundred inhabitants, chiefly
Karens, being the headquarters of a township, contains a court-house and
police station. It lies at the junction of the thoroughfares from
Thatone and Maulmain to the Shan States and China, and is at the
navigation head of the Hlineboay river, and 111 miles distant by water
from Maulmain. In the dry season, which lasts for half the year, it has
a large local market and carries on a considerable trade. People
congregate there from all directions. Scattered before the court-house
you may see natives of India from Maulmain with cotton goods and twist;
Burmans and Talaigus from the same place, with oil, salt, dried and salt
fish, tinned provisions, and other commodities; Karen villagers with
fowls, ducks, and pigs from the neighbouring districts; Shan and
Toungthoo cattle-dealers from Thatone on their way to the Shan States;
Chinese with mule-caravans from Yunnan; parties of Shans from Zimmé,
with packs of beautifully worked silk garments, and others returning
with woollen and cotton piece-goods and sundry articles of peddlery: the
whole scene teeming with life and colour. In the rains trade becomes
slack, and the Myook moves his quarters to Shoaygoon, opposite which the
great teak-rafts drift down the Salween from Siam, the Shan States, and
Karenni to the timber-yards at Maulmain.

Moung Tsan Yan, the Myook, an old acquaintance of mine, came to see us
on our arrival, and told me that he had secured fourteen elephants, six
for our party and eight for that of Mr Bryce, the head manager of the
Bombay Trading Company, who had asked me to join parties with him, so
that we might travel together as far as Zimmé. Dacoits might be lurking
on the frontier: the more Europeans there were together, the less liable
should we be to attack. I accordingly halted until the 23d, when,
hearing that he was delayed, I determined to start, making short
journeys in order to enable his party to overtake us.

Dr Cushing kindly took over the commissariat from me, and we set to work
to sort and rearrange the baggage. Previous to leaving Maulmain I had
purchased forty _pahs_, or baskets made of pliable wicker-work, each
being about twenty inches long, fifteen inches broad, and ten inches
deep, which would fit easily into the howdah of an elephant. These,
after sorting, we labelled and numbered, entering the contents of each
in my note-book.

Method in packing saves a great deal of trouble and time when on a
journey. I never met a more methodical man than Dr Cushing. His
arrangements were admirable. Everything was kept in its place. Each
elephant load was stacked separately throughout the journey. Each driver
had charge of his own load, and was held responsible for it.

Stores for several weeks’ supply were packed separately, two _pahs_
together containing what was likely to be required each separate week;
and no other _pahs_, except those in charge of the cook, were allowed to
be opened without our consent. The cooking utensils, crockery, a dozen
of brandy for medicinal purposes, two dozen of whisky, and some of the
medicines, were packed in straw in small wooden cases. These, together
with the _pahs_, two waterproof bags, and a tin box for clothes and
money, my office-box, rugs, bedding, chairs, and camp-bedstead, and our
two selves, formed the load of the six elephants which were to convey us
and our belongings to Maing Loongyee, where fresh steeds had to be
procured.

The medicines, purchased by me chiefly in England, were the usual ones
carried in Indo-China. They consisted of quinine, Warburg’s tincture and
arsenic for fever, ipecacuanha, Dover’s powder and laudanum for
dysentery, Eno’s fruit-salt, Cockle’s pills and chlorodyne for lesser
ailments; pain-killer for dispelling the agony of bites from noxious
insects such as the huge dairy-keeping red ants that milk syrup from
plant-lice, centipedes and scorpions; Goa powder for ringworm, the most
general and contagious plague in the far East; and vaseline and
Holloway’s ointment for abrasions of the skin and ordinary casualties so
frequent on a journey. Dr Cushing was a doctor of souls: he knew, and
would know, nothing of physic; he abhorred it. His wife had been the
general practitioner on his former journeys. There was no help for it; I
must be the physician as well as the leader of the party.

  _Portow._
]

At daybreak on the 23d of January, having finished our packing and
procured a Karen guide who could speak Burmese and Talaing to serve as
my interpreter as far as Maing Loongyee, we had the elephants brought in
and loaded. Here Dr Cushing’s power as an organiser became apparent. The
baggage had been stacked into six loads, two smaller than the others for
the elephants which were to be ridden by us. The howdahs, however,
proved of unequal size, and some of them would not hold the tin boxes
and cases which were intended for them. The air was filled with
complaints and remonstrances. Each of the Karen mahouts, naturally,
wished his beast to carry less than its portion. Each objected to have
another burden foisted on him. Loogalay and Portow were worse than
useless: both made confusion worse by fussing about, tugging at the
Madras boys, and putting them out of temper by imperious commands mixed
with abuse. Ignorance, according to the copy-books, is boastful,
conceited, and sure. I never saw the proverb better exemplified than by
these two men throughout the journey. It was impossible, in Portow’s
opinion, that Portow could be mistaken; he knew everything; he was
always ready and eager to advise, and equally ready to jeer at and snub
any one else who ventured to do so: but although he had been the
head-man of his village, and was an egregious blockhead and an
egotistical bumpkin, he was eminently good-natured, and bore no malice
when plagued, as he frequently was, by our Madras boys.

Loogalay, or Moung Loogalay, as he liked to be called, was a hectoring,
swaggering blade, as gaily dressed as a game-cock, and as vain as an
actor. A well-built lad of about two-and-twenty, who had been brought up
in an English school, tall and good-looking, thoughtless, gay, and
careless, in his gaily coloured Burmese costume he looked the beau-ideal
of a dashing youth. His hair tied in a chignon on the top of his head,
and festooned with a loosely arranged silk kerchief; his _putso_, or
plaid, serving as a petticoat, with the end jauntily thrown over his
shoulder; his clean white cotton jacket with gold buttons, and the
flower stuck in his ear,—how could one help enjoying the sight of him,
however much one might be put out by his indolence!

Madras boys, particularly those who have been attached to the officers
of a native regiment, and have seen more or less of the world, generally
have a pretty good opinion of themselves. Some are good wrestlers, and
most of them can use their fists. Loogalay was employed as my henchman,
or _peon_—not to do domestic service, but to attend to my wants on the
journey; to pick up geological and botanical specimens, measure the
depth and breadth of streams, help me when photographing, and carry
instructions to the rest of the party. His salary was greater than that
of the boys, and he looked upon himself as head boss over them. Anyhow,
to him they were _kulahs_, his natural inferiors, mere savages or outer
barbarians; he was a _loo_—a man and a Burman. Instead of giving orders
as emanating from me, he constantly put their backs up by assuming
mastery over them, and issuing orders as from himself.

“Heh! Kulah! put those here, not there. What are you about?—_yainday!_”
he vociferated, as the boys were handing up the things to the
elephant-drivers. The boys treated his orders with sullen disdain, and
went on quietly attending to their business. Loogalay was stamping about
and slapping his thighs, becoming more flushed every minute, and looking
more and more like an enraged turkey-cock. I was enjoying the fun,
sitting quietly smoking in my chair up in the court-house, and would
have liked to have watched its further development. There is nothing
like a thunderstorm to clear the air, or a good determined school-fight
to put the young folk at their ease and knock sense into them. Dr
Cushing, however, being in charge of the marching arrangements, put an
end to the cabal by appearing on the scene and bundling Loogalay and
Portow off to attend on the other elephants.

With his presence order came out of chaos, and by half-past seven we
were ready to start. A quarter of an hour later Dr Cushing stepped off
the verandah of the court-house on to the head of his elephant, sprawled
over the greasy Karen mahout to the seat that had been prepared for him,
said good-bye to the Myook, and headed the train of elephants as they
commenced their journey.

  MAULMEIN TO MAINGLOONGYEE
]

                              CHAPTER II.

  SURVEYING—THANKFUL FOR A HALT—LEAVE HLINEBOAY—KAREN HOUSES
    INFESTED WITH BUGS—HALT NEAR WELL—RIGGING UP SHELTER FOR THE
    NIGHT—TENT LEFT BEHIND—TEAK-FOREST—YUNNANESE—A SCARE—EXPLODING
    BAMBOOS—TREES 130 FEET HIGH—A MID-DAY HALT—THE BRITISH
    GUARD-HOUSE—A NIGHT CAMP—GLUTINOUS RICE, MODE OF COOKING AND
    CARRIAGE—ELEPHANTS FEEDING—HEAVY DEW—JOURNEY DOWN THE YEMBINE
    VALLEY—MOTION OF ELEPHANTS—DIFFICULT SURVEYING—A PRACTICAL
    JOKE—RAILWAY TO RANGOON AND MANDALAY—HEATHEN KARENS—NO LONGER A
    MISSIONARY—DIFFICULTY IN CONVERTING BUDDHISTS—VENISON FOR
    DINNER—STUNG BY BEES—PASS BETWEEN THE THOUNGYEEN AND THE
    SALWEEN—TREES 25 FEET IN CIRCUMFERENCE—LIMESTONE CLIFFS—OFFERING
    TO THE DEAD—DESCENT TO THE THOUNGYEEN—THE FORD.

Surveying by time-distances and a prismatic compass, when on the march,
requires a steady hand, a quick judgment for selecting an object for
your angle, and a good memory. If the hand is unsteady, the ring of the
compass, which is balanced on a needle, will not come to rest. In a
jungle-clad country you must watch the foremost elephant as it winds
through the trees, and rapidly select the point for your next angle as
the animal is just passing from view. A good memory is required,
otherwise in noticing the trees, rocks, by-paths, width and depth of
streams, breadth of fields, size of villages, and taking sketches of,
and angles to, neighbouring hills, you will forget the object, twig,
branch or trunk of tree, that you have aimed at.

Having taken your angle, you must catch up the last elephant—for you are
taking your distances by the time it takes in passing over the
ground—and observe the time and your next angle on arriving at the
object you had formerly chosen. This constant observation, continuing
from dawn to dark with one interval for refreshment, is a great strain
upon one’s attention, and when joined with the necessity of taking
heights from the aneroid barometer, and temperatures from the
thermometer at every change of level, makes one thankful for a halt at
the foot or summit of a mountain pass, where one has to check the height
by the boiling-point thermometer.

For the first hour after leaving Hlineboay we passed over slightly
undulating ground, covered with stunted trees and scrub-jungle, and then
entered paddy-fields through which we proceeded to Quambee, a Talaing,
or Pwo, Karen village in a rice-plain over half a mile in breadth. To
the east of the plain amongst the forest appeared many isolated hills
and knolls, backed up by a boldly defined peaked range of hills, the
Dana Toung, distant about fifteen miles, which forms the water-parting
between the Thoungyeen and Salween rivers.

There being no _zayat_, or rest-house, in the village, and Karen houses
being generally infested with bugs, we decided to camp in a grove of
large trees in the vicinity of a well, from which we could draw water
for bathing and cooking. After the elephants were unloaded and we had
finished our supper, a shelter for the night was quickly formed with a
few bamboos, roofed with two large waterproof sheets which I luckily had
with me. My tent had been left behind in Maulmain through an oversight
of the boys; and although the Bombay Burmah party kindly brought it with
them to Hlineboay, it may be still at the latter place, as they had not
carriage sufficient to bring it farther. A tent is a cumbersome and
costly thing to carry about, and we managed very well for several months
without one.

The next day we resumed our short stages, hoping that Mr Bryce’s party
would catch us up. The country continued of much the same character as
between Hlineboay and Quambee—only, cultivated fields became rarer,
isolated hills more numerous, and teak-trees were frequently
interspersed in the forest. The first night from Quambee we spent in a
_zayat_ on the bank of the Hlineboay river.

Towards dark a party of Chinese from Yunnan, who had sold their goods at
Zimmé, came scampering by, armed with Shan _dahs_ or swords, spears, and
very antiquated horse-pistols. They were conducting a caravan of between
forty and fifty mules and ponies to Maulmain, intending to bring them
back laden with piece-goods and general articles of merchandise. They
ultimately camped about half a mile from us, as several times in the
evening we heard from that direction what we considered to be the
discharge of firearms. Chinamen were not likely to waste powder in
frightening off dacoits or wild beasts when they had any simpler,
equally efficient, and cheaper means at command; and next morning we
learnt our mistake in a very unexpected and alarming manner. We were
suddenly awakened by a fusillade of reports around our camp. I jumped
up, seized my Winchester, and rushed out, thinking that our party was
being attacked. I found the boys squatting quietly round the fire,
grinning like monkeys, and heaping on joints of green bamboos. The
liquid in the cavities turning to steam under the influence of heat,
caused them to explode, thus giving rise to the reports which had
startled us. The rascals had learnt the trick from Portow, and were
amusing themselves at our expense, being evidently bent on giving us a
good fright.

Leaving the _zayat_ a little before seven, we crossed the river and
clambered over a low hillock, and continued through the forest, with
teak-trees still appearing at intervals. Small hills and spurs from the
Kyouk Toung range were occasionally seen to the east, backed up by the
Yare-they-mare hill, a great spur of the Dana range, some four miles
distant. About half-past eight we crossed the Hlineboay river for the
last time, and shortly afterwards ascended 80 feet to the crest of the
high ground, 300 feet above sea-level, and seventeen miles from
Hlineboay, which forms the water-parting between the Hlineboay and
Yambine rivers.

Thence we passed through the forest, still occasionally with teak-trees,
following the course of the Yingan stream, with hills at times bordering
on either side, and halted at half-past eleven for breakfast by the side
of the stream, under a magnificent clump of _thyt-si_ trees, which
produce the celebrated black varnish. These monarchs of the forest, 130
feet in height, owing to great buttresses springing from the stem some
feet from the ground, were of enormous girth, and looked truly
magnificent. Here was a perfect place for a mid-day halt: hill, forest,
and water scenery all combined; a cool stream as a bath for the
elephants and ourselves; shelter from the heat of the sun; a pleasant
glade for a ramble whilst breakfast was being prepared. Nothing was
wanting but the songs of birds and the rippling chatter and laughter of
girls to make our picnic all that could possibly be desired. Day after
day, month after month, we enjoyed such picnics on our travels.

We struck camp at a quarter past two, and after a little more than an
hour’s journey, still following the stream, reached Teh-dau-Sakan, the
halting-place close to the Lanma-Gyee Garté, the last British police
post on our road to the Shan States—having thoroughly enjoyed our day.

The police station, which is situated twenty-four miles from Hlineboay,
consists of two thatched buildings built of bamboo, and surrounded with
a dilapidated stockade, which would have been useless as a defence
against dacoits. It was occupied by ten or twelve Madras constables, who
complained much of the feverishness of the locality, and begged for
quinine, saying they were out of it. I never met less intelligent men in
my life; they seemed to know nothing of the locality, and the idea of a
map was utterly incomprehensible to them—they had not been educated up
to it. There was no getting any information from them; the whole current
of their thoughts ran towards _carna_ and _pice_ (food and money), and
their bodily ailments.

We erected our shelter for the night about a hundred yards from the
station, in a grove of _thyt-si_ trees, each measuring from 30 to 40
feet in circumference five feet from the ground. A large party of Shans
from Lapoon encamped near us, and came over in the evening for a chat
with our men. Camp-fires were dotted around us in all directions. Each
elephant had, besides the mahout, an attendant to look after its wants,
lop branches off banian and other trees for its food, shackle its
fore-feet when we halted, and aid in its morning, noonday, and evening
bath.

Each couple of men built a fire for themselves, and kept it alight
during the night, partly for warmth and partly to scare wild beasts that
might be wandering around. Kouknyin, the glutinous rice eaten by the
Karens, is steamed, and not boiled. An earthen pot, or _chatty_, is
placed upon three stones or clods of earth, which serve as a tripod; on
the top of the pot is placed the basket containing the rice, and the
junction is made air-tight with a wet cotton rag. A fire is then lighted
under the pot, and the steam from the water in the pot rises into the
rice and cooks it. Whilst hot the rice is stuffed into joints of green
bamboos about a foot in length, and eaten when required. Joints of green
bamboos likewise serve them for kettles: placed slanting over a fire,
the water soon boils. The elephants feeding in the neighbourhood could
be heard crashing through the bushes, rending off branches that suited
their fancy. These animals were our sentinels, and would trumpet if a
tiger came roving in their neighbourhood.

It would have been pleasant to sit in the open air and watch the stars
as they twinkled through the trees, if it had not been for the heavy
dew which commenced to fall soon after sundown. Loogalay’s
mosquito-curtains, made of stout cotton cloth, were dripping wet the
next morning, and he came with a long face and wrung them out before
us. Portow merely jeered at him, and asked why he had not erected a
leaf-shelter, as the other men had done. It is worse than useless
complaining of the effects of one’s folly in a company of wits.

Next morning, the 26th of January, we ordered two of the elephants to be
got ready to take us on an excursion down the Yembine valley, the
farther end of which I had visited on a tour up the Salween. This would
give me a chance of learning to survey from the top of an elephant. At
first thoughts one would deem such a feat to be impossible; the pitching
and rolling of the huge beast, which goes along like a Dutch lugger in a
chopping sea, would prevent the compass being brought to rest, and most
likely jam it into one’s eye. Yet, by giving way to the swaying
movements of the brute, I managed to get as perfect results as when
surveying on foot. From thenceforth, during my land journeys, I surveyed
from the back of an elephant.

The boys, in packing our breakfast for us, perhaps out of fun, omitted
not only to put in my cigars, but also our knives, forks, and spoons,
forcing us to improvise some out of slips of bamboo to avoid having to
feed native-fashion, with our fingers.

Following the stream of the Yingan till it joined the Yembine, we
continued down the valley of the latter, accompanied by the mournful
wailing of the gibbons in the forest, the plain gradually opening out to
more than a mile in width, but contracting at times to a quarter of a
mile, as spurs jutted in from either side. After travelling for three
hours and a half, we halted for breakfast at the Karen village of
Nga-peur-dau, which is beautifully situated on the hillside to the south
of the valley.

The hills opposite the village were bold, and in some places
precipitous, appearing as though they had been punched up from below,
and were most likely mural limestone. Clay-slate, limestone, and
sandstone are the chief rocks in this part of the country. Silver,
copper, lead, and iron pyrites are found in Bo Toung, a hill some miles
to the north of Nga-peur-dau, and felspar and porphyry are met with
along the Salween some distance above Yembine.

We were now within eight miles of the village of Yembine, which is
situated at the junction of the Yembine with the Salween. After walking
about a mile and a half farther along the hillside, it became evident
that a railway could be carried from Yembine to Teh-dau-Sakan with the
greatest ease, meeting no difficulties in its path. I had previously
ascertained, by visiting Yembine, that the Salween could be crossed in
the defile to the south of it by a bridge of four or five hundred feet
span; and, from my former experience in the country, I was aware that a
line could be carried from the Rangoon and Mandalay Railway to this
crossing through one continuous plain. It remained to be seen whether
such a line could be continued along the course we were taking to
South-western China, or whether the better course lay eastwards from
Maulmain to Raheng, and thence northwards to the same goal.

We learnt from the Karen villagers that the Karens in the hamlets
scattered through this region, and those to the north and the east, are
still heathens, and I was glad to find that the missionaries are now on
their scent. Most of the Karens elsewhere in Lower Burmah have become
Christians, and the American Presbyterian and Baptist missionaries, who
have so well worked the field, are turning their attention to Upper
Burmah, Karenni, the Shan States, and Siam. I was amused by reading in a
missionary report some months ago the complaint of a missionary that all
the Karens in his district had embraced Christianity, and he had not
another one to convert. He was a pastor, but no longer a missionary.

The Karens, Shans, Kakhyens, and other hill tribes, who are
spirit-worshippers and not Buddhists, are the stocks from which converts
are produced in Burmah and Siam. If you wish to have Burmese Christians,
it is necessary to train them in mission schools from childhood. A
Burmese adult behaves like a goat in the sheep-fold. He skips in and out
as it suits him. Too often he merely enters to see what he can get from
the shepherd. It is said to cost more to convert a Burman than it does
to convert a Jew. A Roman Catholic missionary told me some years ago
that he very much doubted whether his mission had ever made a real
convert out of an adult Burman. As the sapling is bent, so the tree
grows.

Having finished the inspection, we returned to camp, where I regaled
myself with my long-wished-for smoke. The boys, when scolded for their
delinquencies, pretended to look chapfallen; but I am afraid I had a
twinkle in my eyes when rebuking them, as I saw the three convulsed with
laughter before they were many paces away. During our absence the other
elephant-drivers had shot a deer, and on our return presented us with a
leg. This was a delightful surprise, as we had been subsisting on fowls
and tinned provisions for several days.

The next day was Sunday, so we had a delightful day’s halt. I sent some
of the Karens off to the neighbouring villages to obtain sufficient
fowls and rice for our journey to Maing Loongyee, where we could obtain
a fresh supply. Veyloo and Jewan went off on a lark, but soon returned
in a dismal plight to seek my aid. In attempting to get honey, one had
been stung on the eyelid, the other on the neck. An application of Perry
Davis’s pain-killer acted like magic, taking away the pain; and a little
ointment sent them off again light-hearted—putting down their
punishment, I hope, to their yesterday’s conduct.

On Monday we started a little before seven, and followed the Yembine and
its branches to the crest of the pass over the range which divides the
drainage of the Salween from that of the Thoungyeen. The pass—32 miles
from Hlineboay—has its crest 612 feet above sea-level, or 446 feet above
our camp at Teh-dau-Sakan. On our way we met a party of Shans proceeding
to Maulmain. A descent of about 50 feet from the crest brought us to the
plateau, interspersed with detached hills, which is separated from the
narrow plain through which the Thoungyeen runs, by a row of cliff-faced
masses of limestone 1000 and 2000 feet in height, between which the
drainage of the country flows to the river.

Close to the northern foot of the pass we came to the Tee-tee-ko stream,
flowing through a pretty and pleasantly wooded valley, along which we
proceeded. Turning up a northern affluent, when the Tee-tee-ko turned to
the east on its way to the river, we halted for the night under some
noble Kanyin trees. These trees, from which a brown resin and superior
wood-oil is procured, have stems, often 25 feet in circumference, rising
straight as a dart 120 feet from the ground to the first branch. The
dense foliage completely shuts out the rays of the sun, thus affording a
splendid shade for a mid-day halt. You do not realise their enormous
size until from a distance you notice how dwarfed people camping under
them appear. An elephant by their side looks like a pig under an
ordinary tree.

The next morning, at a distance of two miles from the pass, we crossed
the Meh Pau, a stream 60 feet wide and 7 feet deep, which, flowing from
our right, enters the Thoungyeen some distance below the Siamese
guard-house and below our point of crossing. We then clambered up a
circular knoll rising 700 feet above the plateau, and had a fine view of
the Pau-kee-lay Toung—one of the precipitous limestone masses lying
three-quarters of a mile to the east. Descending from the knoll, which
is ascended by the track to save half a mile of extra distance, we
breakfasted on the bank of the Koo Saik Choung, just above its rapid
descent between two great limestone precipices to the river.

At the junction of one of the many roads which diverged to Karen
villages and the Thoungyeen from our track after leaving the pass, we
noticed the death-offering of some Sgau Karens belonging to a
neighbouring village. The offering was a propitiatory one to the spirit
of the deceased, and proffered in order to induce it not to return and
haunt the village. A silver coin had been placed in the ground beneath a
rudely carved figure, on the top of which narrow strips of red and white
cloth were hung; around the figure was a tiny fence, roofed in with a
small bamboo platform. Miniature jackets and trousers were suspended
from small poles at the sides of the fence. Food, which had been placed
on the platform, was no longer there—the thieving birds having most
likely deprived the poor ghost of it.

After breakfast we entered the defile, and descended from the plateau in
the bed of the Koo Saik Choung, which falls 135 feet in the distance of
a mile in a series of gentle cascades, separated by ice-cold running
pools as clear as crystal; the towering precipices on either side
looming through the trees, with their crests hidden by the dense
foliage, and the natural colonnade formed by the evergreen forest
through which we were passing rendering the air delightfully cool. How
charming it would have been to have breakfasted in this pleasant retreat
among the lichen-covered limestone boulders, mosses, and ferns! Leaving
the defile, we followed the Thoungyeen down-stream past the Siamese
guard-station, which lies on the other bank—the river forming the
frontier—to the ford.

The river at the ford is 250 feet wide from bank to bank, with the
channel reduced to 70 feet by a great shoal of boulders, now uncovered,
stretching from the western bank. The current being swift and the water
chest-deep, some of the men were nearly swept away whilst crossing. The
boys went in up to their hips, and stood trembling, afraid to proceed
farther. I therefore told them to return to the strand, and I would send
elephants from the camp to bring them across.

The bank of the river is about 206 feet above mean sea-level at
Maulmain. After passing the ford, we crossed the Meh Tha Wah, passed the
guard-house, and camped about half a mile off, near the stream and some
rice-fields. As soon as the elephants were unloaded, I sent two back for
the boys; but meanwhile they had found their way to the ferry, and
crossed the river in a boat. The guard-house is 38 miles from Hlineboay.

                              CHAPTER III.

  REV. D. WEBSTER’S PARTY DETAINED—SIAMESE OFFICIALS EXPECT
    BRIBES—PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATES ALL SPOILT—VISIT FROM KARENS—JOINED BY
    THE B.B. PARTY—SIAMESE POLICE POST—GORGES IN THE THOUNGYEEN AND MEH
    NIUM—RAPIDS STOP NAVIGATION—FORESTS AND ELEPHANTS—DWARF RACES—KAMOOK
    AND KAMAIT SLAVES HIRED BY OUR FORESTERS—MIGRATION OF LAOS FROM
    TONQUIN—THE KHAS OF LUANG PRABANG—SACRIFICES TO DEMONS—DRINKING THE
    HEALTH OF STRANGERS—KING OF SIAM ALLOWS SLAVE-HUNTING—MISSIONARIES
    REQUIRED IN THE MEH KONG VALLEY—LEAVE THE GUARD-HOUSE—CROSSING THE
    WATER-PARTING—WILD TEA—KAREN VILLAGES BUILT DISTANT FROM
    ROAD—COUNTRY FORMERLY LACUSTRINE—SHELTER FOR THE NIGHT—HEAVY RAIN—A
    SHOWER-BATH IN BED—ELEPHANTS CROSSING STEEP HILLS—WILD ANIMALS—REACH
    THE MEH NIUM—KAREN PIGS—REMAINS OF A LAKE-BOTTOM—THE MAING LOONGYEE
    PLAIN—EPIDEMIC OF SMALLPOX—VILLAGES TABOOED—ARRIVE AT MAING
    LOONGYEE—MOUNG HMOON TAW’S HOUSE—A TIMBER PRINCE AND THE
    MONEY-LENDERS.

The _sala_, or traveller’s rest-house, we found occupied by the Rev.
David Webster, who with his wife and pretty little golden-haired
daughter was on his way to Zimmé by a route to the south of that we
intended taking. Mr Webster is a missionary of the American Baptist
Mission, which together with the American Presbyterian Mission has been
highly successful in civilising and converting the Karens in Burmah. He
was now on his way to the Siamese Shan States, as he had heard from some
of his converts that there were many Karens in Central Indo-China.

In Burmah he had only been able to hire elephants to carry them as far
as the frontier, and was therefore at the mercy of the Siamese official
in charge of the guard. He had omitted on principle to grease this petty
potentate’s palms, with the result that he had been detained waiting for
thirteen days. Having lost patience, he had endeavoured to hire the
elephants direct from the Karens instead of waiting for the
Jack-in-office to take action, but found the Karens were afraid to let
them on hire to him for fear of rousing their tyrant’s anger, or having
to part with a portion of the hire.

I stopped over the next day to allow the Bombay Burmah party to join us,
which they did in the afternoon. In the morning I unpacked my
photographic apparatus, and took views of the country, guard-station,
and Mr Webster’s party, which included several Karen girls who were
attached to their schools. When unpacking the dry plates, I was dismayed
to find many adhering to the tissue-paper covers, and all of them
spotted by damp. As I opened packet after packet on my journey, I found
them all in the same plight, and before I reached Zimmé ceased
photographing, and sent the views—some fifty in number—that I had taken,
to Mr Klier, the photographer in Rangoon, who had kindly promised to
develop them for me.

In the afternoon a Karen man with his little boy and girl came to visit
our camp. The children were greatly pleased with the bead necklaces
which I gave them. Messrs Bryce and Boss, who had with them ten
elephants and eleven ponies and mules—the latter purchased from the
Chinese caravan which had passed us when halting on the Hlineboay
river—arrived towards dusk, and camped near us.

The Siamese frontier post consists of five buildings, enclosed by a
bamboo stockade. The officer in charge of the Laos or Shan police did
not inquire for our passports, and allowed Mr Bryce’s large
treasure-guard to march by unquestioned. He had no hope of squeezing
anything out of the party, and therefore paid no attention to it.

Our intention had been to proceed from the guard-station down the
Thoungyeen to its junction with the Meh Nium, and up the latter river to
Maing Loongyee; but on inquiry we learnt that such a route was utterly
impracticable. The numerous rapids in both rivers rendered them
impassable for boats, and even for canoes. Neither elephants nor men
could follow the banks, as the rivers passed through great gorges—the
cliffs from both sides rising from their beds. We had therefore to turn
eastwards, and following branch valleys and spurs, cross the Karroway
Toung, or Parrot’s Hill, into the valley of the Meh Ngor, which enters
the Meh Nium above the defiles, through which it escapes from the hills.

A large amount of teak timber has for many years been taken from the
forests in the Thoungyeen valley. The Siamese had lately raised the tax
from five to six rupees a log: their revenue in 1884 from this source
amounted to upwards of two lakhs of rupees. Two hundred and sixty
elephants were at work in the forests, which, like other forests in
Siam, Karenni, and the Shan States, are worked by our Maulmain Burmese
foresters. There is a large sale amongst the foresters of tinned milk,
salmon, sardines, butter, and biscuits—all coming from Maulmain.

The Kamooks and Kamaits, who attend to the elephants and fell the
timber, belong to the dwarf races of Indo-China, and are brought by
their masters from their homes in the neighbourhood of Luang Prabang,
and hired to our foresters at from sixty to a hundred rupees a year;
each master keeping twenty-five rupees or more out of each year’s
salary, and the foresters find the men with food.

The Khas, who include the Kamooks and Kamaits, are doubtless the
aborigines of the country lying between the Meh Kong or Cambodia river,
and the Annam and Tonquin seaboard. They are supposed to have been
ousted from the plains and driven into the hills by hordes of Laos, an
eastern branch of the Shans, migrating from Tonquin when it was
conquered by the Chinese about B.C. 110.

According to the American missionaries who have visited Luang Prabang,
the Khas are harmless and honest but ignorant, and despised by their
Laos masters. Their villages are erected within stockades, on the
summits of the mountains. The majority, however, live in isolated
houses, which with their clearings stand out in bold relief against the
sky. They cultivate rice, cotton, tobacco, vegetables, fruit, and
betel-nut trees; collect stick-lac from the _pouk_ and _zi_ trees, and
gold from the torrent-beds; and prepare cutch for chewing with the leaf
of the seri vine, betel-nut, and lime. They are likewise great
cattle-breeders, and many of the fine buffaloes met with in Burmah have
been brought from Luang Prabang.

The Kha villages form the wealth of the Laos, who reside in the valley
of the Meh Kong, to the east of the river. The Khas are known to the
Siamese as Kha Chays, or slaves, and are treated as such. According to
the Laos chief of Luang Prabang, the seven tribes of Khas in his
territory are four times as numerous as his Laos subjects. Dr Neis, who
has traversed a great part of his State, believes this opinion to be
within the mark. Each Kha has to pay a tribute to his Laos or Siamese
master. Without the Khas, their lazy, pleasure-loving, opium-smoking
masters would have to work, or die of hunger. The extortion practised
upon these kindly-dispositioned people has frequently driven them into
revolt. In 1879 they joined the Chinese marauders in their attack upon
the Laos; and also in 1887, when they sacked and destroyed Luang
Prabang, the chief town and capital of the Shan State of that name.

The Khas, like all the hill tribes in Indo-China, offer sacrifices to
evil spirits, who, according to them, are the cause of all the ills that
man is heir to. In a single case of sickness as many as ten or twelve
buffaloes, or other animals, are at times offered up.

They do honour to their guests and distinguished visitors by calling
together the young men of the neighbourhood to drink their health in
rice-spirit. Those whom I met were happy, cheery, hard-working men with
pleasant faces, which, although flat, were not Mongolian, but, I think,
Dravidian in type. Their expression betokened freedom from care,
frankness, and good-nature. Those measured by me averaged four feet and
nine inches in height, and, like the Negritos of the Andaman Isles, few
exceed five feet. Their limbs were symmetrically formed, and altogether
the Khas looked vigorous, pliant, and active little men. The Kamooks
whom I saw, dressed in jackets and trousers dyed blue similar to those
worn by the Burmese Shans, and wore their long hair drawn back from
their forehead and fastened in a knot at the back of the head.

As long as the King of Siam allows the harmless hill tribes to the east
of the Meh Kong to be hunted down, and held and sold as slaves by his
subjects, so long should he be abhorred and placed in the same category
as the ferocious monsters who have been and are the ruling curses of
Africa. The sooner missionaries, American and English, are sent to Luang
Prabang, and other places in the valley of the Meh Kong, the sooner will
the King of Siam be shamed into putting a stop to the proceedings of the
slave-dealers, who, according to French travellers up the Meh Kong, are
fast depopulating the hills. There can be little doubt that the Khas,
being spirit-worshippers like the Karens, and not Buddhists, would flock
into the Christian fold in the same manner that the Karens have done.

During our stay near the guard-house, the temperature in the shade
varied between 46° and 81°, the extreme cold being at daybreak, and the
greatest heat at two o’clock in the afternoon.

On the morning of the 31st of January we left early, and following the
Meh Tha Wah, and its northern branch the Meh Plor, and crossing two
spurs for the sake of shortness, reached the summit of the pass over the
great spur that separates the drainage of the Meh Tha Wah from that of
the Meh Too, which enters the Thoungyeen two or three miles below the
guard-house—the crest of the pass being 46 miles distant from Hlineboay,
and 2060 feet above sea-level. The spur can easily be avoided by
following the valley of the Meh Too.

Leaving the pass, we descended along the Tsin-sway, or Elephant-tusk,
stream to the Meh Too, dropping 300 feet in the mile and a half.
Proceeding up the Meh Too, we camped for the night at the forty-ninth
mile.

The next morning we left early. A mile on, the stream forked, and we
followed the intervening spur, which gradually flattened out and spread
until we reached the foot of the pass over the Karroway Toung. A short
climb of 400 feet past an outcrop of limestone, led us to the crest,
2817 feet above the sea, and 52 miles from Hlineboay, from whence we had
a magnificent view of the country to the west. Here Mr Bryce’s party
passed us, and we did not see it again until we reached Maing Loongyee.

Having taken some photographs, we followed a rivulet and descended 260
feet in a mile to the Oo-caw, a small stream which flows eastwards into
the Meh Ngor, where we halted for breakfast. During the descent from the
pass the Shans brought me branches of the tea-plant, which was growing
wild in the hills. Its long narrow leaves reminded me of the willow. The
men told me that it was likewise found on the route from Maulmain to
Raheng, as well as in the ranges to the north of the pass right up to
China. Some of the plants were fully 15 feet in height.

From the Oo-caw we should have descended to the Meh Ngor, and followed
the stream to the Meh Nium, as Dr Richardson had done on his journey to
Zimmé in 1829; but the elephant-drivers said that the route was
overgrown, the Karens preferring to keep open the hill-path, along
which, owing to the shallowness of the streams, they could proceed
throughout the year. Since leaving the Thoungyeen we had met a few
parties of Karens, but had not seen any of their villages, as they build
them away from the main tracks.

From the Oo-caw the road passes over a series of great spurs, separated
by narrow steep-sided valleys, often merely a dip to the stream-bed.
From the crests of the main spurs, which were occasionally higher than
the summit of the pass, we had magnificent views of the country, which
has the appearance of the desiccated remains of a great rolling plateau,
the crest of the spurs following the wave-line across the main valley of
the Meh Ngor.

There can be no doubt that the hill-bounded plateaux and valleys in the
Shan States were at one time lakes, which were subsequently drained—some
by subterranean channels, the stream reappearing on the other side of
the hills, and others by great rifts made across the hills by earthquake
action. The numerous mineral and hot springs we passed, and the
earthquakes which still occur at times in the country, bespeak the
continuance of unrest near the surface.

After scrambling over six great spurs, we halted for the night near a
small mountain-stream. The strata seen since leaving the Thoungyeen had
been limestone, sandstone, and shales, each appearing at various times.
Many fine tree-ferns were noticed during the day.

The next day rain commenced at half-past three in the morning, and the
showers continued until noon. Our howdahs were without covers during
this stage of the journey, so we could not creep into them to escape
from the storms which occasionally happen in the hills. Our shelter for
the night consisted of a few lopped branches of trees, stuck in the
ground, serving as rafters and wall-plates for our covering of
waterproof sheets, while plaids hanging from the wall-plates formed the
walls. This was amply sufficient to keep off the heavy dewfall, but
enough care had not been spent on it to secure us from rain. I had
turned in much fatigued, having stayed up late inking over the pencil
notes in my field-book and writing up my journals, and had slept through
the first shower, when I was awakened at half-past five by Dr Cushing,
who told me I had better turn out as it was raining in torrents. I
merely replied “All right,” and went to sleep again. Soon the water
gathering on the waterproofs, which we had rigged up as a shelter,
weighed them down and came pouring on to my mosquito-curtains, and,
soaking through them, effectually brought me out of dreamland; but I got
no compassion from my companion, who absolutely roared with laughter at
my being ducked. A change of clothes and a peg of whisky were at hand,
and having lit a cigar, I was ready to crouch out the storm cheerfully.

Rain again commenced to pour down at seven o’clock, but we could not
afford to delay, so struck our camp and departed. After crossing four
spurs, we halted for breakfast at eleven near two deserted houses. The
path, owing to the rain, was rendered so slippery, and was so steep,
that the elephants at times had to slide down on their bellies, with
their legs stretching out behind and before them. To see these great
clumsy-looking brutes constantly kneeling down, crouching on their
haunches, and then rising again, as they ascended and descended the
hillsides, in order to keep their equilibrium and reduce the leverage;
never making a false step; putting one foot surely and firmly down
before lifting another, and moving them in no fixed rotation, but as if
their hind and fore quarters belonged to two independent bipeds; every
movement calculated with the greatest nicety and judgment,—forced one to
admire the sagacity and strength of the animals, and the wonderful
manner in which their joints are adapted to their work.

As soon as breakfast was over we resumed our march, and crossing two
more spurs, descended from the last one to the Meh Ngor, a stream 100
feet broad with banks 18 feet high. After following this stream for a
mile, we camped for the night. Limestone and sandstone, with occasional
shales, were the only rocks previously noticed: here trap cropped up for
the first time, and teak-trees again appeared in the forest. We were now
66 miles from Hlineboay, and 396 feet above the sea.

Elephants, rhinoceroses, tigers, wild cattle larger than buffaloes,
elk-deer, pigs, and other wild animals, are said to abound in these
hills. We had heard tigers and deer round our camp nearly every night
since we left Teh-dau-Sakan. The boys were at first frightened, and used
to borrow my gun to scare the tigers away, but now had become accustomed
to the peril, and ceased bothering me. Pea-fowl were plentiful, as we
frequently heard them screeching in the morning.

Next morning, starting a little after seven, and skirting the stream for
four miles, we crossed the Meh Ngor not far from its junction with the
Meh Nium, and soon after entered the teak-clad Huay Ma Kok hills, which
separate the Meh Ngor from the Meh Laik. Up and down again we went over
hill and valley, instead of following the level path along the Meh Nium;
past the Huay Ma Kok, which is a circular subsidence or depression 150
feet wide and 20 feet deep, on the top of a spur, until we came to and
crossed the Meh Laik, by which we camped near a cliff of blue slate
rock. The rocks exposed in the latter part of the journey were indurated
clays and sandstones, both veined with quartz and shales and
conglomerates.

The following morning a two miles’ march over a hill in a dense mist
brought us to Meh Ka Tone, a good-sized house on the banks of the Meh
Nium. The river is here about 150 feet broad, with banks 12 feet high,
and water 3 feet deep. Meh Ka Tone lies 76 miles from Hlineboay, and 451
feet above sea-level.

The house belonged to a forester who was absent, having left a Kamook
slave in charge. Two Karen pigs, small, hairy, slate-coloured creatures,
with dark bristling manes, were tied up by perpendicular strings under
the house, so that they could neither lie down nor walk until the
strings were slackened. As we had been feeding on tinned meat for the
last two days, some of our fowls having been quietly appropriated by the
Karens, we tried hard to persuade the man to sell us one of the pigs and
a few of the fowls that were scuttling about, but all in vain,—they were
his master’s property, and he dared not part with them at any price
without his consent.

Resuming the march and proceeding up the valley, now and then crossing
hill-spurs and river-bends for the sake of shortness, at the
eighty-third mile we again entered cultivated land, near the deserted
village of Meh Kok, the site of which is now only marked by cocoa-nut
and mango trees. The crests of the main spurs of the ranges of hills on
either side appeared to be three miles distant; but on the west, a
curious parallel range or formation, rising some 500 or 600 feet above
the plain, lies between the main range and the river. On visiting these
hills from Maing Loongyee we found them a perfect maze of equal
elevation, looking like a gigantic Chinese puzzle, composed solely of
friable earth, and rapidly frittering away,—there could be no doubt that
we were looking at the remains of an old lake-bottom.

The plain, which is adorned with a great variety of flowering trees and
shrubs, like the rest of the country we had passed through, containing
much valuable timber besides teak, gradually increased in breadth as we
proceeded, and is a mile and a half wide at Maing Loongyee. Several
Karen and Lawa, and a few Shan, villages are dotted about it, but the
cultivation is insufficient for the wants of the people, most of whom
are engaged in forest operations. Rice has therefore to be imported from
Zimmé.

Many of the villages in the plain were placed under taboo, owing to an
outbreak of smallpox, a disease much dreaded by the hill tribes. The
paths leading to such villages are stopped by a branch of a tree being
thrown across them, and magical formulæ are stuck up in order to keep
the evil spirits who propagate the disease from the village. No stranger
dare enter a village so guarded. Should he do so, and death or illness
subsequently happen, he would be held responsible. Life, or the price of
life, for life, is exacted in such cases.

We halted for the night on the bank of the river, and starting early,
reached Maing Loongyee the next morning. Finding that the _zayat_, or
rest-house, was occupied by the Bombay Burmah Company, we despatched a
messenger to Moung Kin, a relation of the celebrated Moulmain forester
Moung Hmoon Taw, who works the Maing Loongyee teak-forests, and he at
once hospitably placed the best part of his premises at our disposal.
This arrangement proved very fortunate, as I was thus enabled to procure
the most reliable information about the country.

The dwelling-house consisted of three separate buildings, built of teak
and shingle-roofed, erected on a large square platform raised eight feet
from the ground on posts. The house was situated in a compound enclosed
by a stockade, separated from the river by a broad cattle-path, and
surrounded on two sides by an orchard fringed with a fine hedge of roses
eight feet in height. Two of the buildings on opposite sides of the
platform, separated from each other by a broad passage, served as
residences for the family. One of these, consisting of three rooms, was
handed over for our use. The third building was situated near the north
end of the platform, and served as a cook-house and servants’ quarters.
We felt quite in clover after our spell of camp life.

Moung Hmoon Taw, to whom the house belonged, was one of the kings of the
teak trade. During the last three years, owing to scarcity of rain, he
had been unable to float his timber out of the forests, and was
therefore unable to repay the loans he had received from the _Chetties_,
or Native of India Bankers. By no means alarmed at his position, he had
lately astonished the bankers by sending them a letter through his
solicitor demanding a further loan, and stating that unless he received
it at once, he would be unable to pay them the sums they had advanced
him. There was small doubt that the bankers would be compliant, as they
could not afford to lose the 25 lakhs of rupees (£200,000) that was then
due from him. The crash was, however, only put off for a time, as last
year he became bankrupt. Poor Moung Hmoon Taw! poor bankers! I know who
suffered most—_not_ Moung Hmoon Taw. The bankruptcy proceedings were
subsequently withdrawn.

                              CHAPTER IV.

  MAING LOONGYEE TRAVERSED BY WAR-PATHS—DR RICHARDSON’S VISIT—PRICE OF
    SLAVES—DR CUSHING’S VISIT—RAIDED BY KARENNIS—THE CITY AND
    SUBURBS—VISIT THE GOVERNOR—THE SHAN STATES—GOVERNMENT—SUCCESSION TO
    THE THRONE—TITLES—MODES OF EXECUTION—ZIMMÉ FORMERLY EXTENDED FROM
    THE SALWEEN TO THE MEH KONG—THE GOVERNOR AND HIS BROTHER—THE
    BAZAAR—DISTRIBUTING SEEDS—INFORMATION FROM FORESTERS—COLLECTING
    VOCABULARIES—MOUNG LOOGALAY—PORTOW—A MAGICIAN—DR CUSHING AT WORK AND
    EXASPERATED—VISIT TO ANCIENT CITY AND TO THE EARTH-HILLS—CROSSING
    THE RIVER—A DANGEROUS WALK—PINE-TREES—NUMBER OF LAWA, KAREN,
    AND SHAN VILLAGES—POPULATION—A KAREN DANCE—ENTICING A
    LAWA—DESCRIPTION—SIMILARITY BETWEEN KAMOOK AND LAWA LANGUAGES—VISIT
    TO THE GOVERNOR—EFFECT OF A TELEGRAM—ELEPHANTS HIRED FOR FOREST WORK
    FROM KARENS—MODE OF ATTACK OF MALE AND FEMALE ELEPHANTS.

The _muang_, or principality, called Maing Loongyee by the Burmese, and
Muang Nium by the Shans, is traversed by war-paths leading from Burmah
to Zimmé and Siam, along which great armies of invaders have passed; it
was, moreover, subject to frequent inroads of man-stealers from Karenni,
an independent State, which borders the _muang_ on the north-west.

Dr Richardson, who visited Maing Loongyee in 1829, three years after we
had annexed Maulmain, found it nearly deserted, containing, besides the
hill denizens, only 200 houses, distributed among eight villages: the
one occupying the site of the city had only ten or twelve dwellings in
it.

The teak-forests were then unworked, and its principal export was black
cattle—from 2000 to 8000 of these being yearly taken to Karenni and
exchanged for slaves, ponies, tin, and stick-lac. Seven bullocks were
bartered for a young man, and from eight to ten for a young woman; the
very best bullock being valued at five shillings.

When Dr Cushing passed through the _muang_ in 1870, the Burmese Shans,
now British Shans, and Karennis had recommenced their raids into the
country; and the Siamese Shans and our foresters had been shut up in the
city for six months, not daring to venture into the district except in
large bodies capable of defending themselves. These hostilities, lasting
nine or ten years, had ceased four years previous to my visit, and the
_muang_ was recovering from their effects.

The city, which is built in the form of a parallelogram placed nearly
true to the cardinal points, and stockaded on all four sides, measures
1740 feet from north to south, and 1050 feet from east to west. It lies
96 miles by road from Hlineboay, and is situated on a knoll, rising 15
feet above the plain and 635 feet above sea-level, in the northern angle
formed by the junction of the Meh Sa Lin with the Meh Nium. It is
occupied chiefly by Zimmé Shans, and contains 66 houses and two
monasteries.

Like all Zimmé Shan towns, it has a peculiar air of regularity and
neatness; the ends of the Shan houses invariably facing north and south,
and the edges of the roofs, when of leaf or thatch, being accurately
trimmed. The roads are well laid-out, ditched on either side, and
attended to. A strict system of conservancy is in force, and no refuse
is allowed to be heaped outside the houses and palisaded gardens.
Aqueducts convey water from the upper course of the Meh Sa Lin, and
distribute it through the town. The greater part of the cultivation in
the Shan States is carried on by means of such irrigating channels, and
in this way two crops of rice are raised in the vicinity of the town.

The suburbs, which are built at the north and west of the city, and
outside the stockade, include 104 houses, mostly well built and of teak,
chiefly occupied by our foresters and British Shan traders. Three
monasteries in the Burmese style, and a pagoda, have been built by the
Burmese _thitgoungs_, or head foresters, in the northern suburb, and
another monastery was in course of erection. The people of Maing
Loongyee are said to feed on teak, the teak timber trade forming their
chief means of support.

Having dismissed the elephants, we went into the city to call on the
Siamese official, who was acting as deputy-governor during the absence
of the chief at Bangkok. Chow Rat Sampan, the chief, a first cousin of
the late Queen of Zimmé, is looked upon as the ablest man in the
kingdom. Backed by the influence of the queen, he had gone to Bangkok to
get himself appointed second King of Zimmé by the Siamese monarch.

The Shan States are small kingdoms, each containing a number of
principalities or _muangs_. Each State is ruled in a patriarchal fashion
by a court, comprising the first and second kings and three other
princes of the blood-royal.

The succession to the throne primarily depends upon the person chosen by
the court and people being of princely descent—all such are called
_chow_ or prince; secondly, upon his influence and wealth, the number of
his serfs and slaves, business capacity, integrity, and his popularity
with the serfs; lastly, and now chiefly, upon his interest at the
Siamese court.

The first and second king usually select the other three chiefs, but
their choice has to be confirmed by the King of Siam. The governors of
Muang Nium, Muang Pai, Kiang Hai, and other principalities, are
appointed by the King of Zimmé, who, like the King of Nan, has been
granted the title of Chow Che Wit, or lord of life, by the King of Siam.
The chiefs of Lakon, Lapoon, Peh, Tern, and Luang Prabang have only the
title of Chow Hluang (Chow Luong or great prince). The title of Chow Che
Wit was only allowed to the King of Zimmé in 1883. A Chow Che Wit can
order a criminal to be decapitated. Chow Hluangs can only order
execution by piercing the heart with a spear.

The Siamese Shan State of Zimmé at the beginning of the eighteenth
century extended from the Salween to the Meh Kong. It had jurisdiction
over the whole of the States lying in the basins of the upper portions
of the Meh Nam, the Meh Ping, and the Meh Wung, comprising Zimmé, Nan,
Peh, Lapoon, Lakon, and Tern; their governors being appointed by the
King of Zimmé. The disruption of the kingdom resulted from the anarchy
reigning in the middle of the eighteenth century, when Zimmé, then
tributary to the Burmese, threw off its allegiance and became feudatory
to Siam. Zimmé has now hardly a nominal supremacy over Lapoon, Lakon,
and Tern, although the rulers are appointed from the same family; and
Nan and Peh are perfectly independent of it, owing allegiance only to
Siam.

  _An execution._
]

We found the Siamese potentate squatting cross-legged, like a great
apathetic indolent toad, upon a raised section of his covered verandah,
in company with his brother, the head-man of the Siamese frontier post
at Daguinseik. Daguinseik is the ford where the main track from Pahpoon
to Zimmé crosses the Salween. No greeting was accorded us, no approach
to the semblance of courtesy was shown us by these two unmannerly boors,
who, like all low-minded Jacks-in-office, considered arrogance and
incivility necessary in up-holding their dignity.

Dr Cushing, who accompanied me as interpreter on the expedition, was
naturally annoyed at the rudeness and grumpiness of our reception, and
was intentionally brusque in expressing our requirements. These
comprised six fresh elephants to carry us to Muang Haut, or, if
possible, to Zimmé. The governor, who had been up night after night at
the _poay_, or play, which was being given in honour of a youth who was
about to join the priesthood, merely yawned in our faces, and left the
answering to his brother.

We were assured that there would be great difficulty in getting our
elephants, as Mr Bryce’s party required ten, and would have to be served
first as they had arrived the day before us; that the elephants were a
long distance off working in the forests, and could not arrive for three
days at the earliest. I replied that every day was of importance to us,
that there were many elephants dawdling about the place, and that I saw
no necessity for us to be kept waiting. He said that the elephants I had
noticed belonged to the foresters, not to the Karens, and could not be
hired to us. We then departed without either of the human toads rising
from his haunches.

Meanwhile the boys had been rambling about the town making their
purchases and bargaining from stall to stall; everything was double, or
more than double, the Maulmain price, and hardly anything in the shape
of edibles was to be got. Pork had been sold off in the early morning;
no cattle had been killed, therefore beef was not to be had; fowls and
ducks were not sold at the stalls, but hawked round to the different
houses by the Karens who brought them in. Onions, beans, mustard-leaves,
and pumpkins were all the vegetables they could procure: these, with
eggs, dried fish, and wafer-bread, they had brought back with them. It
would have been only tinned meat again for dinner had not Moung Kin come
to the rescue and presented us with some fowls. At the same time, he
told us that he would have a cow milked, and we should have fresh milk
with our tea next day.

Disappointment came with the morning. The cow kicked the milk-pail over,
so we got no milk. Seeing how scarce vegetables were in the bazaar, and