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posting proclamations about the establishment of schools in the villages, and that a Chinese headman with four policemen, who had been left behind after the raid, had threatened them with Tengkeng's wrath if they came out to meet me, or gave me any information or help. Those who had been most impressed by the very present power of the Sawbwa had not dared to come, but they begged me to stay with them and save them from the oppression which they were suffering.
Chinese in Unadministered Territory.--On eutering the villages I went first to the headman's house in Upper Pienma, where the two deputies had stayed, but found that they had left hurriedly in the morning, apparently judging that discretion was indicated, whilst the soldiers were still visible as they wound up the mountain side leading to the Tengkeng Pass. Shortly after my arrival the Chinese headman appeared bearing gifts, and with an explanation that he had arrived the day before as the Sawbwa thought I might require some attention, a statement which was obviously untrue, as the Sawbwa could not possibly have heard of my approach, whilst the man had been living in the village for several months past. He asserted at the same time that he was the schoolmaster of the Chinese village of Kutan Ho, and I therefore suggested that I did not feel justified in depriving his scholars any longer of his services, a hint which he was not slow to accept, for he vanished with his pig and goat and was seen shortly afterwards toiling up the Tengkeng track, whilst his four policemen made strenuous efforts to retain him in his saddle by holding down his feet on either side of the mule.
After the departure of this Chinese representative there was a rapid change in the attitude of the people, the missing headmen promptly presented themselves, the villagers crowded round the tent, and there was a chorus of praise for Mr. Litton and Mr. Leveson, whilst they asked again and again why we had left them so long to the mercies of Tengkeng. They apparently take it for granted that they are British subjects, belonging to the "Myitkyina Prefect," and there is no doubt that Mr. Hertz would receive a warm welcome if he visited the country, for there is evidently constant communication with the administered hill tracts, and our officers are well known to them by repute. The storm had now reached its height, and my little tent was carried away from its moorings by the force of the wind, but in spite of the weather the entire population of the five villages must have paid me a visit during the three days to which my stay was prolonged owing to the closing of the passes.
Fuels of Raid.-A careful enquiry was held into the facts of the raid, and from the evidence received on all sides thero can be no doubt that the main facts were accurately reported in the petition enclosed in my despatch of the 24th February. It appears that the small house tax claimed by Tengkeng was waived several years ago by a foriner Paoshan magistrate, and the Chinese timber merchants took advantage of this concession to refuse the plank tax also, in the belief, I was assured, that the magistrate's action had been dictated by no consideration for the people, but by pressure from the Government of Burmah. Last year the Sawbwa sent an ultimatum calling for the payment of his dues, with the alternative of summary punishment. In the ninth Chinese moon they received news of an advance in force, and the villagers hurried to the head of the pass, where in the darkness they met Tengkeng and a force of from 400 to 500 men, chiefly Black Lisus, from the Upper Salween, armed with crossbows and poisoned arrows, but including also a number of Chinese with guns and a supply of powder. Their own arms were limited to their dhas, as they are dependent on Tengkeng for their gunpowder, and no presents have been received since the expedition of 1905. After a brief encounter in the pass, in which a few Pienma men were wounded but none killed, they beat a retreat, and from dawn until the sun was well up they held the single plank bridge which gives the only access to the hill on which Upper Pienna is built. Here they were defeated, and the villagers fled to the mountains, abandoning their homes to the Sawbwa, who at once burned six of them with their barns and all their possessions, at the same time destroying the village stockades, and looting their grain and their standing crops, including the opium-the ruins of the homesteads being still visible as evidence of the raid. Finding resistance useless, the headmen of the neighbouring villages then kotowed to the Sawbwa, who made a sojourn through them with his levies, and eventually departed when he felt that his influence had been secured.
List of Claims: Pienma.-I have drawn up a list of the claims and the damage in a separate list (Enclosure 2), and the losses occasioned by the burning of Upper Pienma are estimated approximately at 1.400 rupees; the looting by and provisioning of the levies in the other villages at 600 rupees; whilst the amount of house tax collected in excess of the 50 rupees--estimated as the correct toll in 1905—was about 500 rupees, making a total claim of 2,500 rupees.
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Claims of Tengkeng-In reporting on the house tax and plank tax claimed by Tengkeng in 1905, Mr. Litton and Mr. Leveson were both of opinion that it was (( difficult to assess the amount annually paid, and that neither Tengkeng nor the people themselves could give any exact figures; the total, however, was roughly estimated at 300 rupees, 50 rupees for the house tax and 250 rupecs for the toll on coffin planks, the latter being due entirely from the Chinese merchants in whose hands the trade is held. It would appear that the Sawbwa either minimised his claims in 1905 with the ulterior object of deceiving Shih Taotai, or that he decided to seize the opportunity of his successful expedition to inaugurate a new financial era in Pienma.
House Tax-Tengkeng has demanded from each beadman 5 taels (1 tael equals about 2 rupees), from each ordinary householder 175 taels; there are 229 ordinary houses and twelve headmen's houses in the group of villages, which represent items of 800 rupees and 120 rupees, or a total house tax of 920 rupees, as compared with the 50 rupees of five years ago, a sum which is obviously unjust and unreasonable having regard to the resources of the people.
Plank Tax.-I learn from two Chinese, who are interested in the trade, that about 500 coffin planks are now annually exported from the district. The Paoshan magistrate has affixed a proclamation in Pienma fixing this toll as one plank in twenty, although it has been as high as one in fifteen, or even one in ten in the past. The planks are worth from 25 to 60 taels in Tengyuch, and, at a valuation of 30 taels each, this tax would amount to, approximately, 1,500 rupees a-year. From the available evidence it appears extremely improbable that Tengkeng has ever realised more than a small fraction of this amount, and it is certain that no boards at all have been paid by the Chinese traders for the past two years.
Pienma and its People.The inhabited district of the unadministered territory lying in closest proximity to the Chinese frontier is generally known as the "Chashan Five Villages," the Lashi Kachins who inhabit this little belt of territory being known by the Chinese as Chashan, by themselves as Ngawehang, from the stream which flows at the foot of their homes, and from which their legends tell that the first of their race was born. There are actually six villages in the group (see Enclosure 2), recognising certain headmen, stoutly maintaining that they have no connection with China, and expressing a keen desire for active administration from the Government of Burmah. A state of feud exists between them and the Lashis, of similar race but slightly different dialect, inhabiting the twenty-six villages of the Lung-pang group (for list of these see Enclosure 3), including Hpare and Lagwe, to which claims have been put forward by the Mingkuang Sawbwas, though it is reported that no presents have been exchanged since 1905. The people appear to be in a higher state of civilisation than the Kachins of the administered hill-tracts, cultivating wet rice, tobacco, hemp, and opium; living in houses which are orderly and clean, and eating with Chinese chop-sticks, whilst most of them speak Chinese. The majority of houses are of bamboo wattle with thatched roofs and with a fire on the floor, from which the smoke finds a slow exit through the chinks in the walls, but a number of houses in Lower Pienma have recently replaced their thatch with tiles burned by Chinese from Mingkuang. The men wear long unbleached hempen robes, turbans and gaiters, and are never seen without their dhas, or two-handed swords; the women have generally adopted blue Chinese cloth for their clothes, with short skirts and turbans, and coils of cowries and beads round their waists and necks; their ears are also pierced in three places for large brass or silver hoops. Both men and women are strongly built, and have pleasant open faces, which compare favourably with their Lisu and Maru neighbours. There is an appearance of distinct prosperity in the Pienma group of villages, which produce sufficient grain and animals for their own needs, and earn an additional income by carrying planks. They attend no market, and depend on Chinese pedlars for their clothes. They told me that the twenty-six villages of the Hsiao-Chiang group were rich in comparison with them, and that the wild Marus across the snowy range were even higher in the scale of luxury, an opinion which was supported by the Chinese trader, who appears to have cornered this market.
Resources of Country.--I have already mentioned the mineral deposits of Mingkuang, which are proved to be of unusual mineral wealth, and it is therefore of interest to hear that there are deposits of silver, gold, and salt actually in the Pienma group. At Lung-tung Ho (west of U-tung) there are salt springs, which require only evaporation, and would supply a pressing need in those neighbouring districts now depending on the poor quality and inadequate supply obtained from Yun-lung Chou. Li Lao-pan, the enterprising Chinese, also reports coal in this district. The silver mines are to the east of U-tung, at Wu Tsung-ho, and it is reported that gold may be
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