!
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N'mai Kha at its confluence with the Telo, and thence westerly to the crest of the "divide" between the Nimai Kha and Mali Kha basins, and up along that water parting till the main ridge of the Nam Kiu mountains are reached; then south-west along the summit of that range and down any convenient northerly spur of it to the Lohit-Brahmaputra in the neighbourhood of Sati.
Owing to the wildness of the country and the people it cannot be denied that the demarcation of the line between the N'mai Kha-Telo confluence, and the crest of the Nam Kiu mountains would present considerable difficulty, but the distance, in an air line, is only some 50 miles and heliographic communication should be a fairly simple matter. The whole length of frontier line to be demarcated would, on the above basis, be about 300 miles, and it would, perhaps, be convenient to divide it into two sections, the southern from Manung Pum to the 'mai Kha-Telo confluence, and the northern from the Lohit Valley to the same point. On the southern section, all along the great Irrawaddy-Salween" divide," very few boundary marks would be necessary owing to the naturally impassable character of the range. (see "Geographical Journal," September 1908, pp. 257, 258). A pillar at each of the rare passes would suffice.
Seeing that the Pienma region is the point where China is, for the moment particularly concerned, in the matter of “ saving face," it is possible that by conceding to her the whole of the basin of the Hsiao Chiang as far down as its junction with the Khetmaw-kha and making the boundary run up the spur opposite the mouth of that stream to the peak before-mentioned marked 13,600 (west of Kangfang) and thence, as above described, to the main Irrawaddy-Salween divide," &c., and possibly also some territorial compensation in the "wild Wa" country south of the Nam-ting she might be induced to do "a deal" as regards the Chiutzu country and agree to the whole of the head-waters of the Irrawaddy being included in British territory. This would, perhaps, be the fairest and most satisfactory solution if it could be arranged, and would greatly facilitate the work of demarcation. The slight concession of territory on the right bank of the Hsiao Chiang would, in point of fact, provide us with a better froutier than the valley line up the course of the stream, suggested by
Taotai Shih.
1 attach a cutting from the "Peking and Tien-tsin Times," of the 6th March, 1911, containing an article by Mr. E. C. Young (above mentioned) which makes out a fairly good case for Great Britain, even as regards the actual Pienma valley.
I attach also a tracing of a part of the War Office map of Yunnan, of 1906, whercon I have added the Lohit ralley, so as to show the whole border-land between Manung Pum and the point where British administrated territory in Assam begins (viz., at Brahmakund on the Lohit). On this map I have shown the frontier-line as far as at present demarcated, the various proposed Chinese lines a short distance beyond that point, and the lines I have suggested in the foregoing note to mark the boundary right up to the borders of Assam.
I would also draw attention to the following works which throw light on the subject under consideration, viz. :---
"Tonquin to India," by Prince Henri d'Orléans, pp. 245, 269, 271, 273, 294, 319, 337, 396, 397, 398.
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Thibet, the Mysterious," by Sir Thomas Holdich, pp. 30, 211, 213, &c.
The "Geographical Journals," of August 1907, p. 152; September 1908, p. 239 ; October 1909, p. 363; December 1909, p. 608.
In conclusion, to revert to the particular point on which this note was based the reference by Mr. Hsia (the administrator of the Foreign Affairs Bureau at Yunnan-fu) to Sir E. Satow's despatch of the 30th January, 1904, is not, in point of fact, worthy of much consideration seeing that the conditions laid down in that despatch related to a state of things prior to a further joint examination of the frontier. That examination was carried out in 1905 and, consequent thereon, Sir E. Satow wrote a subsequent despatch (1st May, 1906), defining more clearly the line that Great Britain had decided to consider as the frontier, viz., the Irrawaddy-Shweli watershed to its junction with the main Irrawaddy-Salween watershed, and the latter thence northwards up to the confines of Thibet.
* Not printed.
M. E. WILLOUGHBY,
Military Attaché, Peking.
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