CO129-331 - Public Offices - 1905 — Page 457

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I have already explained the reason why I did not pay any present direct to the Taotai. He appears to have thought that as the payment was to be postponed till the and that it would therefore frontier was settled he personally would never "touch" be more advantageous for him to report it as an offer of a public contribution which the British authorities have made under the influence of his, the Taotai's, skilful diplomacy. I see no objection to this, and, indeed, I think we should do all we can to support the Taotai.

(Translation.)

Inclosure 15 in No. 1.

I have, &c. (Signed)

G. LITTON.

Taolai Shih to Acting Consul Litton.

Tengyuch, May 28, 1905. HAVING received through his Excellency the Governor-General Ting the tele- graphic instructions of the Wai-wu Pu to proceed on a joint survey of the Northern Burmah~~- Yunnan frontier, and you, the Consul, having been commissioned by your Government on the same service, we proceeded to the border, and on the 2nd March met at Ku Yung, whence we examined the frontier, section by section, and concluded our work in the early part of May.

I have now the honour to reply to your despatch which I have received and which deals with the whole subject of the frontier, and in which you describe the geography of the districts visited.

[Here the Taotai quotes at length all the passages in my despatch under reply which deal with geography, names of villages, numbers of households, &c., which I need not repeat.-

-G. L]

Your remarks concerning the physical features of the mountains, the rivers and their sources, the various tribes and their villages are perfectly correct and entirely agree with my own observation; on these points I have nothing to add. But it appears to be inconsistent with the scope of our work that you should lay down that various places along the frontier should belong to Yunnan or to Burmah as the case may be. My duty was merely that of a joint examination; I have no authority to delimit the boundary; thus I need not argue the matter at great length.

But since you have stated that your Government instructed you to point out the water-divide between the NMaikha on the one hand and the Salween and the Shweli on the other, and have further mentioned that my instructions were to inquire what were the territories governed by our Chinese Chiefs, I must reply to you in detail on some points.

Now when we have to examine what are the respective boundaries of any given territories we should, by rights, proceed according to the original jurisdictions of the Governments concerned; we cannot define the frontier merely according to the courses of the rivers and such-like considerations. Thus on this occasion I, on proceeding to the frontier, in the first instance ordered the various Fu Yi (Headmen) to prepare and submit maps, for the purpose of affording evidence for our inquiry; these districts are the hereditary Governments of our Fu Yi, so there can be no mistake about their extent.

It appears from an examination of the maps submitted that the jurisdiction of Ku Yung extends to and includes Lun Ma and Tan Tsa, the Ta Cha Ho and the Lang Ya Shan; Tien Tan extends to and includes the villages of Chang Yin Kou, Chung Shan, and La Pi on the Upper Chipway; Ming Kwang extends to and includes Shih-jang, Pa Yang, Taw Gaw, To Yo, Tsaw Lang Na Ching, the Khan Sheng River, Tzu Chu, and Hparè; Ta Tang extends to and includes Chih Kaw and Shang Lou‡ (Gaw Yawm).

These maps have already been forwarded for your inspection and that of the Deputy Commissioner of Bhamo (Mr. Leveson), and no doubt you are clear as to their

contents.

* This Headman is usually known as the Tan Tea Fu Yi.-G. L.

+ These are villages on the left bank of the Ngaw Chang.-G. L.

So are these two.-G. L

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Again, according to my examination of his map, Teng Keng should by rights control up to and including Kang Fang, U Tung, and Pien Ma.

Now we may first exclude the villages beyond, .e., on the right bank of the Ngaw Chang, which I have already informed you are beyond the pale of civilized government, and also the villages of Ma Chang, Huang Te, Ma Kung.t &c., where your Government has already taken action in various cases, and where we do not further exercise control; with these exceptions it appears that, according to the Fu Yi's maps, the correct boundary is in fact as follows: from the sharp conical peak (Manung Pum) to the head of the Mo Shih Stream; then straight up to the Wei Ton (or "Crooked Head Moun- tain"); then across the Upper Chipway and along the Chang Chia Ridge,§ und so ascending the Kao Liang Kung Mountain, and descending to the Chiu Ko Taug or Khetmaw River; thence the line would follow up the Ngaw Chang or Hsiao Chiang "Little River") to its source in the Pan Chang Mountains.

While you speak of the various streams which flow into the N'Maikha River, it must be remembered that the N'Maikha River itself is not under the control of Myit- kyina in Burmah. The Ngaw Chang is a tributary of the N'Maikha, and all the country within, ie., on the left bank of the Ngaw Chang, is, as the records show,** under the government of our Chinese Fu Yi. This affords clear proof that we must not merely go by the geographical features.

You state that Lun Ma and Tan Tsa, being within, i.e., ou the Chinese side, of the watershed, should by rights belong to Yunnan, while all the valleys of the Tammaw and the Shih-ngaw should belong to Burmalı. With respect to this section of the frontier I am in agreement with you.

You state that the whole of the valley of the Tien Tan River should belong to Yünnan. This is correct, but I cannot wholly agree that all the Chipway Valley should belong to Burmah.

You state that the lofty range on the north-west side of Upper Ming Kwang Valley is connected with the Sisters Hill and the Pan Wa Pass, and that this is the water- parting between the Shweli and the N'Maikha; that all the streams on the east of this range flow to the Ming Kwang, and so to the Shweli River, while all the streams on the west of it flow into the N'Maikha, and so to the Irrawaddy. You state that this, if taken as the boundary, will be the true natural frontier.

I agree that your geographical description is correct; but if this line is to be taken as the frontier there are serious objections to it, having regard to the territories which by rights should be controlled by our Chinese Fu Yi. It appears, therefore, that this section must be reserved for future consideration and separate action,

Then, again, you state that Mr. Leveson, in concert with my deputy, Mr. Tai, made inquiries at Hparè, and that the Headmen of the village stated that they were not subject to China, and paid no taxes, and regarded the watershed as the frontier [here quoting in full my report of the evidence of the Hparè people; see my despatch]. "You go on to say that the evidence of the Hpare Headman is in accordance with your own observations, and that not only is the Fu Yi unable to control these villages, but is afraid even to visit them; that it is thus perfectly clear that the Fu Yi have never in fact administered them. You observed that the certificates of succession speak of the Fu Yi of "Hparè in Ming Kwang" and of "Tzu Chu in Ming Kwang," which is inex- plicable, as Tzu Chu and Hparè are more than 100 li distant from Ming Kwang; so, you ask, how can they be forced, so to say, into one and the same place? It is, you add, as though one were to speak of Yung Chang in Mandalay, or Mandalay in Yung Chang. Under these circumstances you request me to point out in what manner these Fu Yi do, in point of fact, control these villages.tt

When Mr. Leveson examined these people, Mr. Tai no doubt was present; but when Mr. Tai returned to my camp he reported that he did not understand the language of the tribes; that he, in fact, did not know what evidence the Headman had given, nor had he made any inquiries on the point.

I, too, summoned and examined the Headmen of Tzu Chu and other villages

* The Teng Kong map was never produced.-G. L.

Villages between the Chipway and Tummaw Rivers.-G. L

Mo Shih is the west source of the Tien Tan or west branch of the Shweli.-G. L.

Chang Chia Ridge is on the right bank of the Upper Chipway, just below Shik Pan--G. L.

1 Pan Chaug Mountain is a snow-clad ridge running east and west above the source of the Ngaw

Chang.-G. L.

See my note to Tactai of June 2.-6. L.

** The records may show this, the facts do not.-G. L.

tt The Taotai never really answers this question.--G, L.

See my note to Taotai, June 2.-G. L.