4
mountainous country. In easy country Lisaw transport is far inferior to mules. If the Lisaw smokes opium at all, he generally smokes it badly. He will sleep out anywhere, and will snore all night with nothing but a piece of goat skin between himself and deep snow, at a height of 9,000 feet.
I had no sort of trouble with any of the Lisaw with whom I had to deal, and I should say that they are easier to get on with than Kachins.
The Lisaws are scattered and disunited, and are not I think capable of serious resistance to any one. The Lisaw "rebellion" which occurred two years ago in this part of the country was purposely much exaggerated by the Chinese mandarins in search of buttons and promotions.
On the 7th March, we marched east from Lan Ma, following up the stream and over a wild mountain range by a pass known as Kan Tsai Ling (8,700 feet). From one point in the ascent there is a fine view of the Kan Liang Pass and of the range which forms the British frontier. We then passed back into the Shweli Basin and descended through forest, with the monastery of Ying Feng Ssu, a well-known place of local pilgrimage, perched on a conspicuous wooded spur 3,000 feet above us on our right; descending further we struck the valley of Tien Tang, or the west branch of the Shweli River, near the small market of La Hsing. Like all the upper waters of the Shweli, the river is 30-40 yards broad, very clear and cold, and nearly everywhere fordable in dry weather, and only 1-3 feet deep, flowing swiftly over a bottom of slippery stones. The valley of the Tien Tang is about 14 miles broad, and is well peopled and cultivated.
Following up this valley we passed into the territory of the Tien Tang Headman Tsai, about 14 miles before reaching Ying Pan Market, which consists of forty wattle bamboo huts. The Headman's house is near this, and he came out to see me.
He represents the eighth generation of Chiefs of Tien Tang, his ancestors, who were of Chinese origin, having established themselves at Tien Tang in the reign of Hung Wu of the Ming dynasty. Like all other Chinese Chiefs in this country, his ancestor was a military adventurer. The little territory of Tien Tang is divided into six "pai's," or parishes, each containing four or five hamlets of five to twenty families. There are not more than 300 families in the whole of Tsai's jurisdiction. Tsai himself is a dirty, opium-smoking Chinese, of about 45 years of age, in no way to be distinguished from the ordinary villager. I gave him some whisky, which he appreciated, and he then supplied me with a number of details concerning the country round about. Finally, after having commissioned his nephew, a squat youth in straw sandals, to look after me, the Lord of the Valley shambled back to his opium couch with a bottle of his new Scotch acquaintance under his arm.
We continued up the valley by a good road, and camped at the hamlet (ten families) of Ta Ping Ti, on a terrace 300 feet above the Tien Tang stream. This is near the north end of the valley, and there is a good view of the hills forming the crest of the N'maikha watershed.
The next day, passing the village of Ma Li Pa (thirty families), 14 miles from and 250 feet below Ta Ping Ti, we ascended an upland valley in a northerly direction. On both sides of Ma Li Pa the tops of the hills were covered with snow. The track which we followed was good, even for mules, right up to the crest of the water-divide at the pass of Pan Wa, 8 miles from Ta Ping Ti. After Ma Li Pa we only passed one village about 6 miles from the pass, but there were extensive patches of cultivation, and the valley, until close to its head, was open, and covered with bracken and pine trees. This road is often followed by Lisaws and petty Chinese traders. The first village on the N'maikha side is said to be Chang Yin Kot, which is about as far from the Pan Wa divide as Pan Wa is from Ta Ping Ti; 7 miles farther on is Lu Pi. Both these are Lisaw villages.
From Pan Wa Pass there is a view of the head of the valley of the Chipway tributary of the N'maikha, and of a range of snow-clad peaks known as the Chung Shan, which must be at least 12,000 feet, jutting out from the water-parting towards the N'maikha. The most conspicuous peak bears due north from the Pan Wa Pass, which on the Tien Tang or Chinese side is overshadowed by a high peak of about 10,000 feet, which hangs over Ma Li Pa. The Chipway is known to the Chinese as the Chih Fei River. The N'maikha seems to be generally unknown to them under that name, and they refer to it as the Ta or Chin Chiang ("great or gold river"). The Lisaws from the head-waters of the Chipway are said not to number more than 100 families. They come to Tien Tang to get supplies, as one would expect, seeing that the Pan Wa Pass is easy travelling in comparison with the Kachin country below them. Mules can get as far as Lu Pi by this route, but not beyond, into the Kachin country near the N'maikha, without previous road repairs. Walking could, it is said, get from Tien Tang to the banks of the N'maikha in four days, but few or none of the Tien Tang people seem ever to have been so far. Parties of Kachins, however, come to Ying Pan market two or three times a year to purchase iron, which is mined in small quantities in the valley near the Ta Ping Ti.
5
The Tien Tang branch of the Shweli has three head-streams:
1. The stream which comes from the Pan Wa Pass.
2. The Mo Shih Ho, a brook a little to the west which springs from the same mountain from which flows the chief sources of the Chipway River.
3. The main source flows from the hills north of Ta Ping Ti, at a point on the watershed just opposite the Chung Shan, and, passing the hamlet of Hei Tzu Wan, joins 1 and 2 at Ma Li Pa. There is said to be a difficult track, impassable for mules, over the watershed at the back of the Hei Tzu Wan to the Chung Shan.
On the 10th March we climbed up the steep hills east of Ta Ping Ti, through patches of cultivation, to 8,800 feet in 2-1/2 hours' march, and so descended by a broad, cultivated, lateral valley, with several villages, into the Ming Kwang Plain. Heavy rain caused us at 12:30 to take refuge in a temple at Shang Ho Si, the last village before debouching on the plain. This pass is easily practicable for laden mules. The next day we crossed the Ming Kwang branch of the Shweli, and ascended the Ming Kwang Plain for 6 miles, passing the dirty little market of Ying Pan Kai, to Tu Chai ("main village"), the residence of the Tso family. The plain is from 1 to 2 miles broad; the river was 45 yards wide where we forded, and 1 to 3 feet deep. It is fordable nearly everywhere in the Ming Kwang Plain. Along its banks, as along the banks of the Tien Tang stream, there is abundance of good camping ground, grass, fuel, and water, and of such ordinary supplies as rice, maize, fowls, ducks, mutton, cattle, in sufficient quantities for a small party.
The Ming Kwang Valley is now divided between two "fu yi," or hereditary Chiefs. Lower Ming Kwang is the patrimony of the Yang family, who have their headquarters at I Ya Tang, a village on the opposite side of the valley to Shang Ho Si, and about 1 mile below it. Their portion of the valley is divided into three "fan," or parishes—upper, middle, and lower—and consists of about seventy hamlets, with 6,000-7,000 inhabitants. There is much padi and other cultivation and a considerable head of cattle in the valley. Many of the people are engaged in the cutting and transport of wood from the surrounding hills to Teng Yueh. The ancestor of the Yangs is said to have been a military official who came from Teng Yueh in the Ming dynasty. The Yangs have now little more than an empty title, and the people of this part of the valley pay the ordinary land tax to the Teng Yueh Sub-Prefect.
The Upper Ming Kwang Valley belongs to the Tso family, but they have only about fifteen villages, with a population of 300 odd families. The present "fu yi," or Chief, is a youth of 18, and is the son of Tso Erh Kuan (Tso the Second), who was killed at Hpare in Mr. Hertz's affair, in February 1899. The affairs of the family are now managed by the brother of the late (uncle of the present) head of the family. I was well received, and lodged in the Tso clan ancestral temple, where the various members of the family came to visit me. Their temple is at the back of their yamên, which is a filthy and rambling structure resembling a succession of pigsties; the village, of some seventy families, consists of hovels made of bamboo wattle, but there seems to be abundance of cultivation and supplies. It is, however, clear that the political and economical affairs of the family are in a very decadent condition. The "regent" is a man of some intelligence but of little energy, except in pulling at his opium-pipe; and I doubt if Burma will ever have any further trouble from the military aspirations of the Tso clan.
Most of the Tso clan's peasantry are "nu shou," or crossbowmen, who do not pay ordinary land tax. It would appear that they were originally a sort of limitrophe colonist, whose lands and status were recognized by the Chinese Government on condition that they defended the frontier. The Tso family is a branch of the Teng clan, originally seated near Chengtu, in Ssuchuan, but which early moved to Tsao Chiang, in the Mekong Valley, and in the Yun Lung Sub-prefecture of Yunnan. The name was then changed to Tso. At the end of the Ming dynasty Tso Wan Hsiang came from Tsao Chiang, and carved out as his patrimony the upper Ming Kwang Valley, from which he expelled Lisaws and others. It is also to be noted that there are vague traditions of Burmese (not Shans) having formerly inhabited parts of this country. Tso Wan Hsiang gained the honorary and hereditary title of "Suan Fu Su," generally conferred only on Chiefs of the first class, and his descendants bear the title to this day. The present youth is twelfth in descent from the Wan Hsiang.
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mountainous country. In easy country Lisaw transport is far inferior to mules. If the Lisaw smokes opium at all, he generally smokes it badly. He will sleep out anywhere, and will snore all night with nothing but a piece of goat skin between himself and deep snow, at a height of 9,000 feet.
I had no sort of trouble with any of the Lisaw with whom I had to deal, and I should say that they are easier to get on with than Kachins.
The Lisaws are scattered and disunited, and are not I think capable of serious resistance to any one. The Lisaw "rebellion" which occurred two years ago in this part of the country was purposely much exaggerated by the Chinese mandarins in search of buttons and promotions.
On the 7th March, we marched east from Lan Ma. following up the stream and over a wild mountain range by a pass known as Kan Tsai Ling (8,700 feet). From one point in the ascent there is a fine view of the Kan Liang Pass and of the range which forms the British frontier.. We then passed back into the Shweli Basin and descended through forest, with the monastery of Ying Feng Ssu, a well-known place of local pilgrimage, perched on a conspicuous wooded spur 3,000 feet above us on our right; descending further we struck the valley of Tien Tang, or the west branch of the Shweli River, near the small market of La Hsing. Like all the upper waters of the Shweli, the river is 30-40 yards broad, very clear and cold, and nearly every- where fordable in dry weather, and only 1-3 feet deep, flowing swiftly over a bottom of slippery stones. The valley of the Tien Tang is about 14 miles broad, and is well peopled and cultivated.
Following up this valley we passed into the territory of the Tien Tang Headman Tsai, about 14 miles before reaching Ying Pan Market, which consists of forty wattle bamboo huts. The Headman's house is near this, and he came out to see me.
He represents the eighth generation of Chiefs of Tien Tang, his ancestors, who were of Humanese origin, having established themselves at Tien Tang in the reign of Hung Wu of the Ming dynasty. Like all other Chinese Chiefs in this country, his ancestor was a military adventurer. The little territory of Tien Tang is divided into six "pai's," or parishes, each containing four or five hamlets of five to twenty families. There are not more than 300 families in the whole of Tsai's jurisdiction. Tsai himself is a dirty, opium-smoking Chinese, of about 45 years of age, in no way to be distin. guished from the ordinary villager. I gave him some whisky, which he appreciated, and he then supplied me with a number of details concerning the country round about. Finally, after having commissioned his nephew, a squat youth in straw sandals, to look after me, the Lord of the Valley shambled back to his opium couch with a bottle of his new Scotch acquaintance under his arm.
We continued up the valley by a good road, and camped at the hamlet (ten families) of Ta Ping Ti, on a terrace 300 feet above the Tien Tang stream. This is near the north end of the valley, and there is a good view of the hills forming the crest of the N'maikha watershed.
The next day, passing the village of Ma Li Pa (thirty families), 14 miles from and 250 feet below Ta Ping Ti, we ascended an upland valley in a northerly direction. On both sides of Ma Li Pa the tops of the fulls were covered with snow. The track which we followed was good, even for mules, right up to the crest of the water-divide at the puss of Pani Wa, 8 miles from Ta Pin Ti. After Ma Li Pa we only passed one village about 6 miles from the pass, but there were extensive patches of cultivation, and the valley, until close to its head, was open, and covered with bracken and pine trees. This road is often followed by Lisaws and petty Chinese traders. The first village on the N'maikha side is said to be Chang Yin Kot, which is about as far from the Pan Wa divide as Fan Wa is from Ta Ping Ti; 7 miles farther on is Lu Pi. Both these are Lisaw villages.
From Pan Wa Pass there is a view of the bead of the valley of the Chipway tributary of the N'maikha, and of a range of snow-clad peaks known as the Chung Shan, which must be at least 12,000 feet, jutting out from the water-parting towards the N'maikha. The most conspicuous peak bears due north from the Pan Wa Pass, which on the Tien Tang or Chinese side is overshadowed by a high peak of about 10,000 feet, which hangs over Ma Li Pa. The Chipway is known to the Chinese as the Chih Fei River. The N'maikha seems to be generally unknown to them under that name, and they refer to it as the Ta or Chin Chiang ("great Or gold river"). The Lisaws from the head-waters of the Chipway are said not to number more than 100 families. They come to Tien Tang to get supplies, as one would expect, seeing that the Pan Wa Pass is easy travelling in comparison with the Kachin country below them. Mules can get as far as Lu Pi by this route, but not beyond, into
5
A man
the Kachin country near the N'maikha, without previous road repairs. walking could, it is said, get from Tien Tang to the banks of the N'maikha in four days, but few or none of the Tien Tang people seem ever to have been so far. Parties of Kachins, however, come to Ying Pan market two or threetimes a year to purchase iron, which is mined in small quantities in the valley near the Ta Ping Ti.
The Tien Tang branch of the Shweli has three head-streams :~-
1. The stream which comes from the Pan Wa Pass.
2. The Mo Shih Ho, a brook a little to the west which springs from the same mountain from which flows the chief sources of the Chipway River.
3. The main source flows from the hills north of Ta Ping Ti, at a point on the watershed just opposite the Chung Shan, and, passing the hamlet of Hei Táo Wan, joias 1 and 2 at Ma Li Pa. There is said to be a difficult track, impassable for mules, over the watershed at the back of the Hei Táo Wan to the Chung Shan.
On the 10th March we climbed up the steep hills east of Ta Ping Ti, through patches of cultivation, to 8,800 feet in 24 hours' march, and so descended by à broad, cultivated, lateral valley, with several villages, into the Ming Kwang Plain. Heavy rain caused us at 12:30 to take refuge in a temple at Shang Ho Si, the last village before debouching on the plain. This pass is easily practicable for laden mules. The next day we crossed the Ming Kwang branch of the Shweli, and ascended the Ming Kwang Plain for 6 miles, passing the dirty little market of Ying Pan Kai, to Tu Chai ("main village "), the residence of the Tso family. The plain is from 1 to 2 miles broad; the river was 45 yards wide where we forded, and 1 to 3 feet deep. It is fordable nearly everywhere in the Ming Kwang Plain. Along its banks, as along the banks of the Tien Tang stream, there is abundance of good camping ground, grass, fuel, and water, and of such ordinary supplics as rico, maize, fowls, ducks, mutton, cattle, in sufficient quantities for a small party.
The Ming Kwang Valley is now divided between two "fu yi," or hereditary Chiefs. Lower Ming Kwang is the patrimony of the Yang family, who have their head-quarters at I Ya Tang, a village on the opposite side of the valley to Shang Ho Si, and about 1 mile below it. Their portion of the valley is divided into three "fan," or parishes-upper, middle, and lower-and consists of about seventy hamlets, with 6,000-7,000 inhabitants. There is much padi and other cultivation and a considerable head of cattle in the valley. Many of the people are engaged in the cutting and transport of wood from the surrounding hills to Teng Yueb. The ancestor of the Yangs is said to have been a military official who came from Teng Yuch in the Ming dynasty. The Yangs have now little more than an empty title, and the people of this part of the valley pay the ordinary land tax to the Teng Yueh Sub-Prefect."
The Upper Ming Kwang Valley belongs to the Iso family, but they have only about fifteen villages, with a population of 300 odd families. The present "fu yi," or Chief, is a youth of 18, and is the son of Tso Erh Kuan (Tso the Second), who was killed at Hparé in Mr. Hertz's affair, in February 1899. The affairs of the family are now managed by the brother of the late (uncle of the present) head of the family. I was well received, and lodged in the Tso clan ancestral temple, where the various members of the family came to visit me. Their temple is at the back of their yamên, which is a filthy and rambling structure resembling a succession of pigsties; the village, of some seventy families, consists of hovels made of bamboo wattle, but there seems to be abundance of cultivation and supplies. It is, however, clear that the political and economical affairs of the family are in a very decadent condition. The "regent" is a man of some intelligence but of little energy, except in pulling at his opium-pipe: and I doubt if Burmah will ever have any further frouble from the military aspira- tions of the Tso clan.
Most of the Tso clan's peasantry are "nu shou," or crossbowmen, who do not pay ordinary land tax. It would appear that they were originally a sort of limitrophe colonist, whose lauds and status were recognized by the Chinese Government on condition that they defended the frontier. The Tso family is a branch of the Teng clan, originally seated near Chengtu, in Ssuchuan, but which early moved to Tsao Chiang, in the Mekong Valley, and in the Yun Lung Sub-prefecture of Yüunan. The name was then changed to Tso. At the end of the Ming dynasty Tso Wan Hsiang came from Tsao Chiang, and carved out as his patrimony the upper Ming Kwang Valley, from which he expelled Lisaws and others. It is also to be noted that there are vague traditions of Burmese (not Shans) having formerly inhabited parts of this country. Tso Wan Hsiang gained the honorary and hereditary title of "Suan Fu Su," generally conferred only on Chiefs of the first class, and his descendants bear the title to this day. The present, youth is twelfth in descent from the Wan Hsiang
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