CO129-116 - Sir MacDonnell - 1866 [11-12] — Page 180

2.

3

178

letter

project

affording

details of the

in question

was

sufficient to comence this officer that the

authenticity of the seals and

signatures

was

open

to doubt,

and immediately

on

his arrival

were set on

foot

here inquiries which elicited the following information. A blood fend has prevailed for many years past between the bhên

p blan

inhabiting the villages around

the market town of Sha Tsing 沙井

and the Rong i≤ clan,

which forms the population of

adjacent village. The Ch’ên clan,

an

being numerically stronger, and

also richer and more

influential

owing to the high literary rank

of their present head, Chên Kwei-

have been able to

toi

maintain

an ascendency over their

hostile neighbours, who have latterly been reduced to serious straits. The disorganized condition in which the Imperial authority has continued in this Province,

and particularly near the coast,

since the war of 1856.57 has allowed the system of "clan. fights"

to prevail almost uncontrolled, and in the district of Sun. On

especially this is the case. the prosecution of their warfare

In

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