559
#!
Hlaindet to
the Takaw
Ferry.
Mekong Routes.
The railway schemes of Messrs.
Colquhoun and Hallett.
28
and also a large local trade. Mr. Turner also says that the Burma-Kunlon line presents no immediate prospect of success owing to the lack of merchandise to convey--what is large for mule transport being small for an expensive railway. At present there are few articles of export and none He describes the road between in large quantities, and little promise of any. Shunning and Tali as bad, with only one place of importance on the way, the busy little town of Menghua-Ting, situated in a plain growing a large quantity of rice and opium. There is considerable agreement that Shunning has little trade except in the necessaries of life. But the country generally is not unfertile, for Prince Henry says that though the right bank of the Mekong is poor up to Mienning, beyond that town and up to Tali there are beautiful, populous, and very rich plains recalling that of Tunghai in south Yunnan. Lieutenant Roux goes even further, and, after referring to Mienning as a small town with a rather important trade with Burma, he says that beyond it he traversed one of the richest parts of Yunnan, passing through several important commercial centres such as Yincho, Shunning, and Menghua. Captain Daly holds that the area to be served by the Kunlon line will probably be eventually confined to western, central, and south Yunnan, with Shunning as the centre. The chief trade centres of west Yunnan are, he says, Yungchang and Lungling, a town south-east of Momieu, by which a large traffic used to pass. He believes that when the Kunlon line is opened the trading community of Lungling will move en masse to Kokang (which is, in Mr. Scott's opinion, the richest tract in the Shan States), with its thriving market town of Malipa (Tawnio), only 25 miles from Kunlon Ferry, and connected with Yungchang by a fairly good road. Panlong is another trading centre of importance not far from Kunlon. Other towns which the railway to Shunning would render more accessible are Tali (with Atentzu and Yungpei to the north) and Ssumao, from which it may possibly divert some trade. Indian yarn might be delivered in Yunnan vid Kunlon when the line is opened at least as cheaply as through Tonkin. Many officers and civilians, however, doubt whether the line can be a commercial success for many years, though Mr. Bagley, the chief engineer, expects that the traffic with the Shan States alone will make it pay.
No direct route from Kunlon to Yunnan-Fu has ever been explored. There is said to be a trade route vid Shagwe (on the Mekong), Chintong, and Gokia to Hsinhsing and thence to Yunnan-Fu, but the distance is not known. Even if the railway were constructed to Yincho, several marcbes would remain to be done by road. Only west Yunnan, then, need be considered as to trade and communications.
(c.) Hlaindet-Mone-Takaw Ferry Route.-This is the only path besides the Bhamo route that is much frequented. Ilaindet is 80 miles south of Mandalay, and the route to Takaw (vid Kyaniykon and Natit) occupies 21 days from Mandalay. Takaw, 130 miles south of Kunlon, is a narrow defile. From Takaw to Kenghung vid Kengtung takes 19 days. But the difficulties of this route are great. There are said to be fifteen ranges of mountains between Ilaindet and Kenghung, and the likin duties beyond Kenghung are stated to be heavy. In spite, however, of these drawbacks, Chinese caravans come to Mone from Tali-Fu, Puerh, Ssumao, and Yunnan-Fu.
MEKONG ROUTES.-It appears desirable to devote a short section to those of the routes by the Mekong which do not go direct from Burma to China. The Mekong is navigable up to, and a little within, the borders of Yunnan, in passing through which it traverses for the most part wild soli- tudes where cultivation is impossible. Here and there on its banks are likin stations, with a few miserable cabins. Lieutenant Roux speaks of travelling near the river for eight days north from Dayakeu and passing two fine plains, Mong Pan and Mong Ka, situated amid wild and desolate mountains. Navigation is practicable in parts of the river, but rapids and cascades, especially those of Khong and Kemmarat, render through traffic impossible. One of the best known Burma-China railway schemes, that of Messrs. Colquhoun and Hallett, was designed to tap south-west China by the Kenghung route to Ssumao. Mr. Hallett has argued that any line to China
29
north of Mandalay is out of the question, and that the Chinese Government would not construct a railway from Kuulon to the Mekong because of the physical difficulties. The proposed line would go from Moulmein through Zimmé (in Siam), thence towards the Mekong, which would be touched at Kenghsen, and afterwards to Kenghung and Ssumao. It is contended that Ssumao is admirably situated for trade; that the railway can be constructed at a reasonable expense; that valuable plains would be opened to commerce; that the line would tap a rich and prosperous part of China and enable us to compete with France; and that, if the line were carried to Ssumao, this town would become the starting point of a railway system for south-west China. M. Chailley Bert remarks that this route is shorter and has less steep ascents than the laindet route, but it would traverse Siam and also a rough, mountainous, and little known country on the right bank of the Mekong, or clse abut on French Laos. It is worth noticing that the trade of the Upper Mekong is comparatively insignificant; only ten or eleven caravans passed through Zimmé from Yunnan in 1896, with goods valued at 2,250/. But the paramount objection to this scheme is the political one that the railway would traverse territory not under the control of the British Government, and this objection has become strengthened since the French advanced to the Mekong. It therefore appears unnecessary to criticise Messrs. Colquhoun and Hallett's statements about the richness and populousness of south-west Yunnan and the commercial importance of Ssumao, or their proposal for carrying a railway beyond Ssumao to the valley of the Yangtze. A railway even as far as Ssumao would be very long, and difficult and costly to construct, and could hardly compete successfully with lines from Haiphong and Bangkok. A Siamese railway to Korat is nearly completed.
Routes.
There are two Siamese routes, both passing through the Shan States. Siamese By the Mekong route traffic passes to Kenghung and Ssumao, but the difficulties are very great. By the Menam route boats can reach Zimmé in three weeks from Bangkok, though goods rarely take less than six weeks. But both these routes involve a long transit and a number of likin payments, which means a heavy price for laying down goods in Yunnan.
The French have attached importance to a route by the Mekong, but find The French navigation difficult. The valley of the Namu, which branches off from and the
Mekong. the Mekong above Luang Prabang, offers to commerce an easier and shorter way than that of the Upper Mekong, but its length is sufficiently great to be a drawback. It is said by a recent French writer that gunboats can go up to Luang Prabang and even to Kenghsen for at least part of the year, and it is claimed that this route is diverting trade from Siam to Cambodia and Cochin China. According to M. Macey, English products penetrate to the Upper Mekong by many routes, and the French hope to bring back to their territory the ancient caravans, and to establish agencies and depôts in Muong-Lu. Navigation is at present slow, but it is asserted that the im- provements projected will make the river navigable at any time on the borders of French territory. But M. Rocher and others declare that the Mekong will never be a way of penetration into China for the French at all comparable with the Red River, and that the sooner they renounce their illusions about it the better,
Kenghung via Ssumao to Yunnan-Fu.-The Mekong routes are directed Kenghung to towards Ssumao through Kenghung, the road from which reaches Ssumao, Yunnan.Fu. after traversing a rich cotton and tea country, in seven days. The whole journey from Kenghung to Yunnan-Fu takes 22 days, according to General Mesny, over very rugged roads. This route is known as the "great route.' Beyond Ssumao the country is extremely difficult, a belt of mountains 130 miles wide forming the watershed of the Red River and its chief tributaries. For eleven stages there are difficult ascents and descents. The road goes vid Puerh and Talang (an important market in south Yunnan) to Yuanchiang-chou, a squalid town in a malarious plain. (The Yuan River, or Upper Red River, has a sharp fall and steep and precipitous bluffs, and is never likely to serve the purposes of commerce.) The country traversed has many ruined villages, little cultivation, and a small population, mainly Shans and Lolos. Beyond Shibping-chou, a prosperous and important town, the road joins the main route from Tonkin to Yunnan-Fu. Kreitner suggested a railway by this route.
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