CO129-445 - Public Offices - 1917 — Page 302

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fail to find a single opium-poppy. On arrival at Lungling, the consulate writer and I were entertained to a Chinese dinner-party in his yamên,

The discovery of only one solitary field of opium along the route between Nantien and Lungling must, I think, be taken as evidence of the strenuous efforts which have been made during the past few months to eradicate all traces of the prescribed plant; from one or two more talkative residents encountered en route I obtained admissions of a considerable recrudescence of cultivation during last year, but all agreed as to the thorough measures of suppression carried out since November last. In the T'engch'ung district, for instance, no less than three separate expeditions of eradication had been sent out, under territorial, military, and police officials respectively, and it is only just to place on record that their duties were performed in a very thorough manner.

The normal order of procedure was for my caravan, headed by the writer and myself, to take the lead, and for the Taoyin's more imposing party to bring up the rear. The 1st April was, however, appropriately celebrated by the failure of the Taoyin's party to keep touch with us at a parting of the ways, this added some 2 miles for them to the long and undulating road to Siangta. Thence to P'ingka is normally reckoned as a single though lengthy-stage for caravans at the Taoyin's request we split it into two, halting at the small hamlet of Huchiachal, 7,000 feet high, picturesquely situated in the midst of dense groves of bamboos. At Huchiachal we encountered our first rain, and thereafter we had not a single rainless day until the 19th April. From Pingka to Hankuai, high above the right bank of the Satween, with a magnificent view of the lofty mountains on the other side, was another long day's march.

The crossing of the Salween was a tedious business for so large a cavalcade; two bamboo rafts were provided, taking only some five mule-loads of ten men on each trip; the method of propulsion across the swift current was by a species of flat umbrella fashioned of stout Damboo; at each end of the craft an "oarsman" plied one of these cumbrous weapons by plunging it into the water and pulling it towards himself with powerful strokes.

Arrived at the left bank of the Salweer, we were in the Chênk'ang district; and at the head of the very long and stiff ascent from the river we were met by the local magistrate, Tang Te-ch'uan. a pleasant elderly official, who travelled with us until we left his jurisdiction. Tê-tang, where his official residence is, was our third halt after crossing the Salween; this place was made memorable for me by a sufficiently unhappy experience. Somewhere about A.M. a gale of wind, accompanied by torrents of rain, brought my tent down over my head, and my slumbers to a beautifully abrupt clo-e.

The town of Chênk'ang was reached next day. Formerly there was a Chinese Shan Sawbwa of Chenkung, but his downfall was brought about as the result of the Manchu viceroy, Hsi Liang's, policy for the gradual absorption of the Chinese Shan States into direct Chinese administration; and save for a few picturesque ruins of the Sawbwa's palace, the place is now shorn of any pomp and circumstance it may have once possessed.

and

Twelve days' travel, although for the most part along comparatively unfrequented routes, had now disclosed but one solitary field of opium-poppy, and I therefore decided on a somewhat raal, experiment. None of the four maps of annan which I took with me gave any indication of a road from Chénk'ang to Mienning, the next district town on my list, and the recognised routes between these two places are circuitous in the extreine, pass through either Shunning or Yünchow. I ascertained, however, that a road practicable for chairs existed, and elected to attempt it. Fortunately, by this time the Tengyueh Taoyin had resigned himself to accepting my lead, or he would almost certainly have protested. For five days we followed the rougliest of mountain paths, which had in many places to be prepared overnight for our transit by the felli. of trees and clearing of jungle. At noue of the intermediate halts, Pank'a, Maulung, Hup'o, and Manlai, we were assured, had a white traveller ever been seen, and I cannot recommend my example as one to be lightly followed. The only camping-ground to be found at Manlai was on a wind-swept spur projecting out of a deep ravine, and once again a sudden burricane brought my tent crashing down.

Below Manlai our route crossed the Namting River by a ford which would obviously be impracticable during the beavier rains of midsummer. At the Namting we quitted the Chênk ang district and entered the jurisdiction of the Chinese Shan Sawbwa of Kengia. During our six days of travel through Chenkang territory we had found no opium crops whatever, though I learnt that there had been a small harvest of the earliest sown poppy. The magistrate was said, however, to have heen inde- fatigable in the work of eradication, and I was assured-not by himself—that

since November of last year he had never been in residence at his post for five consecutive days.

During our day and a-half through the jurisdiction of the Kengina Sawbwa we were escorted by his Shan-Chinese clerk, who was full of his recent visit to Rangoon, and Lashio in attendance on his master. The road from the left or south-east bank of the Namting River was a terribly steep nacent for some 3,000 feet, which we negotiated in pouring rain; this was succeeded by a hair-raising path-with an average breadth of 14 inches at the most-for some 5 miles along the edge of a precipice. After the heavy rain the surface of red laterite was so treacherously slippery that I felt safer on

sure-footed Yunnan pony than on my own legs.

Our next halt, the Shan village of Chepi, was on a route traversed more than twenty years ago by H. R. Davies, the standard authority on the province of Yunnan, and doubtless by other foreigners since; here for the first time I abandoned my tent, in favour of a comparatively clean temple.

on the

At this point we were met by a guard of honour sent out to meet us by the P'uêrl Taoyin, who had arrived at Mienning, our pre-arranged meeting-place, 11th April. I owe the noisy but efficient commandant a debt of gratitude for his thorough arrangements for my comfort at each of our halting places throughout the Mienning district.

the

For several days in succession I had seen nothing whatever of the Tengyueh Taoyin; at Chêpi, however, much to my surprise, he rode over to call on me. reason for the visit was only apparent when he propounded the astonishing request that as during seventeen days travel in his circuit we had only found one field of opium-poppy,

I would overlook it in my report to His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires.

On

my replying that, had we found one hundred I should be bound to report one hundred, and that I must equally report the one; he then suggested that I should add a rider that the field found was close to the scene of military operations against the offending Kachios. To this I rejoined that I had been over the country in question and he had not, and that I knew for a fact that the two places were at least two and a-half days' journey apart. Soon afterwards he took his leave, con-iderably crestfall-n.

April 14th: Shortly after leaving Chêpi the road to Mienning makes a very steep ascent of some 3,000 feet, on to a lofty shoulder, the view from which on a clear day must be magnificent, embracing extensive country in the jurisdiction of Shunning and Kengma, in the Tengyueh circuit, and Mienning in the Puerh circuit. On an open bit of grass land just beyond pillar marking the boundary, a large booth had been crected, and we were met by the Puerh Taoyin and the Mieming district magistrate, each of whom furnished a guard of honour The Puerh Taoyin, Lu-Pang-Shun, a Kiangsu man aged 56, has held office for the past twenty-one years in Yannan, and possesses a very thorough knowledge of the province. Two periods of service he has spent in Tengyueh, first as sub-prefect in Manchu times, and secondly as tautai under the Republic in 1913. The Mienning magistrate, Hsieh Yunan, has formerly held a billet in the War Office in Pekin; he struck me as being unusually intelligent and capable.

At Pingyehhsün, where we halted for the night, the two Taoyins came over to call. From the first, Mr. Lo showed up very favourably beside his Tengyueh colleague, and displayed a friendly acquiescence in my suggestions with regard to our joint tour.

The following day we reached the ancient walled city of Mienning, it habited by a mixed population of Chinese ani Sbans, while Lolos and uatives of several other tribes inhabit the surrounding villages. On arrival at the city, we were escorted for a sort of Jericho-tour round the walls before being conducted to the old lieutenant-general's yamón, especially done up for the occasion, where ample quarters were provided for both Taoyins and their escorts, and a refreshingly clean and well-aired suite of rooms was set apart for me.

My caravan had now been on the move for nineteen consecutive days; men and animals had, I felt, well earned a rest, and I accepted without compunction the friendly invitation of Lu Taoyin and the magistrate to stop over one day in Mienning. The first night they entertained the Tengyuen Taoyin and myself at dinner; the next day they gave me a bathing-party picnic at a hot sulphur spring some 3 miles outside

the town.

For the journey from Mienning to Szemao my first care was to ascertain the route followed by Lu Taoyin to the rendezvous; he bait conie, as I expected, by the most direct road through Chingku hsien (the modern name of Weiydant ing of Mauchu times) I asked Mr. Lu point- lank whether he had seen any opium cultivation ou his outward journey he replied that a few isolated patches had been sown at the beginning of the

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