Kachin women and children of the upper Irrawaddy.
Warry persuaded Rimmer to return with him to the protection of the troops, and they joined the column on the 13th, before it left Tapaw, and entered Mogaung with it on the 14th of January. Evidently there was mischief on foot. The leaders of the expedition, on hearing the story, decided that before advancing further it would be wise to make Po Saw show his hand. The difficulty was to get a trustworthy man to carry a message to Mogaung. There was a Mussulman, a native of India, who had come up as an interpreter, with the force, Safdar Ali by name. He might have been a descendant of Sinbad the Sailor, for he had led a life of travel and adventure. He had traded in jade, and was familiar with many parts of the country. He spoke Burmese, Shan, and Kachin, in addition to his native Hindustani, and he had taken wives of the daughters of Heth in most of the bigger places. In consequence, or in spite, of these alliances he was on good terms with the people about, and could obtain intelligence of local affairs. Safdar Ali volunteered to take a letter to Po Saw, and with a native to show him the shortest road, he departed.
Meanwhile Captain Triscott and Major Adamson, with some Mounted Infantry, had gone out to examine the track, and found that for four or five miles it crossed a rice plain cut up by numerous muddy ditches which the baggage animals could not get over. Beyond this rice-ground rose some hills, at the foot of which was a morass, which the column would find very difficult to pass. They turned back to the camp, therefore, to collect labour to make the road passable. Safdar Ali, on his way back from Mogaung, overtook them, and reported that Po Saw had disappeared after the Chinaman's murder, and had gone, it was said, to raise the Kachins nearest to Mogaung. This was not cheering news, as Po Saw's influence with the Kachins had been relied upon as the means of establishing peaceable relations with them.
However, the other officials of the town had been helpful; boats had been sent down to Tapaw, and before the day ended, the nakan, or deputy magistrate, attended by the Kyaung Tagas and Payatagas (builders of monasteries and pagodas), arrived to pay their respects. They were reprimanded by Major Adamson for their neglect, and were directed to take steps at once to make the road passable. The poor men were evidently in fear and trembling, dreading the vengeance of Po Saw on the one hand and the wrath of the British Government on the other. However, the march next day was made without great difficulty: the ditches were filled up or bridged. The swamp proved a greater obstacle. Luckily there was an abundance of elephant-grass hard by. This was cut, and being spread thickly on the surface of the swamp, made a passable road.
After climbing the hill, the pagodas and monasteries of Mogaung became visible; and when the level ground round the town was reached, a number of the chief people were seen, who had come out to meet the British force and make their submission. On reaching the gates a conference was held with these, while the town was reconnoitred by the soldiers for a suitable camping-place.
The burgesses were evidently suffering from great fears. They dreaded the Kachins, to raise whom was the design of Po Saw. Under these circumstances it comforted them to learn that the British had come to stay, and that their town would not be left again without an English officer and a sufficient garrison. Major Adamson then proclaimed the offer of a reward of 1,000 rupees for the discovery and arrest of the murderer of Lon Pein, the Chinaman. He told them to have no fear of the British soldiers, and assured them that if the Myo-ôk Po Saw would return to his duty even now, he would be forgiven and restored to office. By this time, a good site having been found on a sand-bank at the upper end of the town, the whole column marched through the main street, that all might see its strength, and established the camp there.
Mogaung[45] was once the capital of a considerable Shan principality. In 1888 it could count only about three hundred houses. Standing on the bank at the confluence of two streams, it is washed by water on two sides. On the other two sides it was defended by a teak palisade in bad repair. The town is well planned, being, like Rangoon and Mandalay, laid out in squares, with brick-paved roads at right angles to each other, one main road, likewise paved, running through the middle. Many pagodas, substantial structures of brick, and large and handsome monasteries of teak, ornament the inside of the town and also the spaces outside the walls. A Buddhist bishop, with jurisdiction over the whole of the north part of the Bhamo district, had his seat at Mogaung in 1887-8.