who made the first settlement in Ming Kwang. It appears that from early times the Tso family have been in the habit of interfering in Kachin affairs over in the N'maikla watershed. A tributary of the N'maikha—which I identify with some doubt as the Klan Sheng River—is known to the Ming Kwang Chinese as Kun Ma," or Rolling Horse River; and the legend is that once when, in the reign of Kang Hsi, early in the present dynasty, the Tso were on the war-path over the watershed, their General, Hsu Erh Ye, rode a very valuable horse, which tumbled down the precipice, and, rolling into the river, was seen no more.
Tso Erh Kuan, who met his death from a Mauser bullet at Hparé, was a Jingo, and seems to have had a great local reputation as a fighting man, though he was not well informed as regards modern weapons of precision. He was constantly in the habit, in alliance with Yang's people from Lower Ming Kwang, of trading, raiding, and smuggling as far as the N'aikha, and beyond. Now, it is quite impossible that the late Tso can have put in the field anything like the numbers which opposed Mr. Hertz. His people, all told, must be under 2,000, and they are all of them timid and simple-minded peasants, who certainly have no liking for villainous saltpetre. The fact seems to have been that Tso's reputation was such that he was able to collect round him all the dacoits, smugglers, and bad characters of the country-side, and it is an open secret that he received moral and material support from Teng Yuel. There is, I think, not the least fear that the present Teng Yueh officials, or the present heads of the Tso family, will take any action likely to cause a recurrence of such an incident as the Aparé fight. The Tso family is obviously out at elbows, and their control, even over villages on their own side, is of a very shadowy description.
On the 12th March, in very wet weather, I commenced an inspection of the upper waters of the Ming Kwang River by a march to the crest of the watershed at the pass known as Ta Ya Kou, which leads to Hparé. We ascended the valley along the banks of the main Ming Kwang River, known as the Ta Ho, for 14 miles, and then turned up a side valley in a north-west direction and ascended by a small stream known as the Cha Shan Ho. The track was a good mule-path, leading up a broad valley with patches of copse and bracken, and surrounded by snow-powdered mountains. We passed four or five Lisaw huts, until, at 6 miles, we mounted through dense bamboo jungle by a steep and difficult path to the lesser pass (8,900 feet), where, in the dense virgin forest, there is a small fort, about 20 feet square and 12 feet above ground, with a cellar 5 feet below the ground. This fort is loopholed and commands the approach from Hparé. It can only be entered from behind by an underground passage some 20 yards long, with two sharp corners in it. This fort was built by the Lower Ming Kwang Chief, Yang, after the fight with the British at Hparé in 1899. It is said to have employed 100 men for a month, and I can well believe it. Descending from the small pass through a wild forest we crossed the brook of Hsiao Tang Ho, and then, ascending over snow by a tedious but not difficult slope, reached the watershed at 9,500 feet, about 12 miles from Ta Chai. The summit of the pass is covered with forest trees and huge rhododendrons, festooned with lichen. The trees and the mist prevented anything like a view towards the N'maikha, and the damp was such that we quite failed to light a fire. There are no inhabitants between the main valley of the Ming Kwang and the top of the pass, except the few Lisaws mentioned above; but camping-grounds and the remains of fires prove that the route is frequently used. The first village on the N'maikba side is Shang P'a Li (Upper Hpare), which is said to be about as far from the divide as the divide is from the Ming Kwang River.
The general name used by the Chinese for the country on the N'maikha side, east of the Chung Shan i.e., the valley of the Upper Khan Sheng—is "Cha Shan" (Tea or Camelia Hills). Ming Kwang men occasionally go over to barter salt and cotton clothes to the Kachins for hemp, sandals, beeswax, "huang lien" (the rhizomes of a jungle plant used as medicine), and other jungle produce.
On the 13th March I struck camp from Ta Chai and proceeded up the main Ming Kwang Valley, here about 1 mile wide, with forest-clad hills on both sides. Here I noticed an old proclamation by the Teng Yueh official, which threw some light on the politics of Ming Kwang after the Eparé affair. This document recites a petition received from the widow of Tso Erh Kuan, in which she states that her husband having died in defence of his country, she wishes to spend the rest of her life in mourning. Her son was an infant, and the soldiers sent from Teng Yuch to Ming Kwang (there are none there now) were so disorderly that a lone woman like herself could no longer keep the public peace. It seems to have been in consequence of this that the lady's brother-in-law was appointed "regent."
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For the first 2 miles we passed pádi fields and three villages of the Tso clan; then the country became wilder, with only very sparse cultivation, but with extensive pastures.
As we approached nearer to the watershed the scenery became very grand. The valley itself consists of wide bracken slopes, with patches of grass and marsh dotted with clumps of bamboo and oak scrub; pheasants abounded, and I shot several of the large wood-snipe. At 5 miles from Tar Chai we passed a wide lateral valley formed by the Hsiao Tang Ho River (see above), up which runs the track to Tzá Chu. The huts of Lisaw peasants and a few recent Chinese squatters were spread about, and we passed several shepherd's encampments. All around us were great forest-clad hills with snow-powdered summits. At 7 miles, still marching east, we passed another stream, the Lai Shih Tou Ho, which flows down from the divide. At 8 miles we passed the Lisaw hamlet of She Li Shu (ten houses) situated on the further side of the Ming Kwang stream, and shortly after through a gap in the hills to the north-east we caught a glimpse of the snow-clad Salwen divide with peaks rising to 12,000 feet. Here the Ming Kwang Valley contracts for about 4 miles, and bearing round to the north we entered on the narrow plain (1 mile broad) of Ta Chu Pa, which leads straight up to the head-waters of the Ta Ho, or Ming Kwang, River, undoubtedly the true source of the Shweli. Ta Chu Pa is sparsely inhabited by some twenty Lisaw families. We passed the house of the local headman subject to Ming Kwang, and after a march of 13 miles camped by a stockade at 7,300 feet. Inside the stockade we found the Chinese agent of a Teng Yueh coffin-wood firm, "Fu Sheng Hsiang," who arranges for the transport of the timber from the banks of the Ngaw Chang, tributary of the N'maikha, to Teng Yueh, mostly on the backs of Ming Kwang coolies. He complained bitterly of having to live in such a place, like Ovid among the Getae, stockaded against bandits and wolves, and with no society but that of a few Lisaw. Personally I found the Chu Pa Valley a delightful spot. There was hardly any cultivation, the whole being covered with bamboo jungle, marshes and bracken, where there was excellent pheasant shooting. The mountain scenery all round the valley is especially grand and impressive. There is excellent camping ground, and abundance of water, fuel and grass, but no supplies. As regards the bandits, it is undoubtedly true that the whole of this country and the Upper Salwen Valley are unsafe and infested by small bands of Chinese outlaws and "black" Lisaws, who are impelled by famine to resort to pillage on passing coolies. I met two small parties of these gentry, but saw little of them save their heels; they would seem to be respecters of persons. I do not think that a prudent and well-armed foreigner runs much danger of being attacked. At Ta Chai I was solemnly assured that there were forty robbers on the pass above Chu Pa; I got to Chu Pâ, and then, according to the Chinaman there, these forty had dwindled down to four, and when, on the next day, I ascended the pass itself not one even of these four men in buckram put in an appearance.
The coffin-wood firm mentioned above has recently spent 600 rupees in making the pass of Ta Ho Toú ("source of the main river") and the track beyond it down to the Ngawchang River passable for mules; the agent valued the turnover of his firm at about 6,000 rupees annually.
The day after arriving at Ta Cha I resolved to follow up this track to the watershed. We marched up the right bank of the Ta Ho, here little more than a brook, and over some marshy land, and then through a very dense bamboo brake in a narrow gorge between cliffs—a fit place for treasons, stratagems and spoils. Leaving on our right a trail which leads east to the Salwen divide, we ascended in a northerly direction. The weather was very bad, sleet and snow falling continuously. The dense forest through which we passed was soaked and dripping with moisture, and the rough track was a foot deep in slush, snow, and mud. It would be hardly passable for mules except in dry weather. After three and a half hours we reached the watershed at the Ta Ho Toú pass, 9,100 feet, in a very bedraggled condition. The source of the Ming Kwang River, and therefore of the Shweli, is a few miles to the east-north-cast of this pass. By this route there is constant communication between Ming Kwang and the Upper Ngaw Chang. The first village reached on the maikho side is Pien Ma, which appears to be a Kachin village at a considerable elevation, as the Chinese say it is as cold as Ta Chu Pa. Pien Ma is two days' journey for a man from Ta Chu Pa, the night being spent in a cave; but laden mules require three days. Mules, I was told, can go beyond Pien Ma, descending to I Tung, a Kachin village on the banks of the Hsiao Chiang (small river) which I identify with the Ngaw Chang. I was told that it was possible to follow up the Hsiao Chiang for four or five days until the Ni Mo River is reached, after which the
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