The Pacification of Burma

by C. H. T. Crosthwaite

It was not until the 4th of April that the force began to march for Lawksawk. It moved by very easy stages. The various bands of marauders posted along the route to harass the march fled as the expedition advanced. These ruffians had been working in concert with dacoit gangs in the districts below the hills, who had thus been able to resist the British troops; but now, finding themselves liable to be taken in the rear, very soon surrendered to the military post at Wundwin, an unexpected but very useful result of Mr. Hildebrand's action. Before the column reached Lawksawk the Sawbwa Saw Waing fled. The town was occupied on the 11th of April. Temporary arrangements were made for administering the State by putting in charge a Burman, Bo Saing, who had held office under the King's Government and was acceptable to the people, and the force turned its face towards Hopong.

Meanwhile fighting had been renewed in the south-east. Möngnai returned from Karenni with some men lent to him by Sawlapaw and drove Twet Nga Lu out of Kengtawng. Laikha, Möngkung, and Kehsi Mansam, who had been invited by Mr. Hildebrand to come to Hoypong to meet Möngnai and Möngpawn with a view to their reconciliations, put their own interpretation on this invitation and attacked Möngpawn in force. Peremptory orders were sent to them to withdraw. When the force entered Hopong on the 17th of April, the day appointed for meeting Möngpawn and the Limbin Prince, the town was found in ruins and all but deserted. The Limbin had not come, and Möngpawn was occupied in defending himself against his enemies. The intelligence received showed that Laikha and his allies had not obeyed the order to withdraw their men. Finding that an engagement was in progress a few miles off, Mr. Hildebrand and Mr. Scott with forty Mounted Infantry and fifty Punjabis under Major Swetenham rode for the scene of the fight, which went on for a short time unchecked by the arrival of the British party. The opposing forces had stockaded positions on the opposite slopes of a small valley, and were firing briskly on each other. Möngpawn was induced to cease firing. The Assistant Superintendent, Mr. Scott, went up to the stockade of the attacking party, and the leaders were soon persuaded to withdraw their men, who for their part were only too glad to go to their homes. When the British retired to Möngpawn in the evening, they left the opposing leaders mingled together in good-humoured talk, bragging of the desperate deeds of valour performed in the combat.

Padaung Ladies—Shan States.

A few days were spent at Möngpawn. The Sawbwa Hkun Ti is described as a man of strong character, "the moving spirit in the Limbin Confederacy." He was quite ready, however, to give up this coalition and to transfer his allegiance to the Queen-Empress. He advised the despatch of a party to Möngnai to hoist the British flag and to bring in the Limbin Prince. The rains were now well on, and marching had become very difficult. It was decided, therefore, not to take the whole force but to send the Assistant Superintendent with fifty rifles under Lieutenant Wallace to Möngnai. The Superintendent with the main body marched back to Fort Stedman.

Mr. Scott was detained for some days in Möngpawn waiting for rations. The time was well employed. Two of the minor chiefs, Naungmawn (a brother of Möngpawn) and Möngsit (Möngpawn's son-in-law, and half-brother of Mawknai), came and tendered their allegiance. Others offered their submission by messenger and promised to meet the Assistant Superintendent at Möngnai, which they said was the place of assemblage for the Shan States from ancient times. More than this, very friendly relations were established during this halt between the people and the troops. The Myozas (headmen) from the neighbouring villages came round every evening for rifle-practice with the officers; and it is recorded that Möngpawn and his brother made very good shooting. The troops were paraded and manœuvred for their entertainment. Notwithstanding these courtesies, however, no promise to surrender the Limbin Prince could be obtained from these chiefs. "It must depend," they said, "on his own decision." They suggested that better terms should be offered to him. "This was an instance," says Mr. Hildebrand, "of the way in which the Shan chiefs cling together, and of the sanctity they attach to an oath." Although the Limbin's cause and the ideas on which it was based were hopelessly lost, they would not coerce him to surrender.

On the 2nd of May Mr. Scott's party began their march, and entered Möngnai on the 5th, having suffered from heavy and incessant rain all the way. After crossing the Mewettaung Range, they entered a level valley which extends to Kengtawng on the south-east and up northward as far as Laikha. The altitude of this valley is about 4,000 feet. It is the centre of the silk cultivation, the eggs and larvæ being imported periodically from the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Szechuen. When the party passed through the whole district had been ravaged by men from Laikha, and only a few almost empty villages survived. Twet Nga Lu from Kengtawng had also been at work, and on the last march of seventeen miles into Möngnai most of the villages were found in ruins. They had been burnt by his marauders two months before.

The description of Möngnai at this time is worth quoting (Mr. Hildebrand's Report, June 22, 1887, par. 97).

"From the north there is a long avenue-like approach to Möngnai. The walls of the ancient city still exist in a very dilapidated state. They are about 20 feet high and machicolated. The city was about 1,000 yards square, and there remain signs of extensive suburbs. Everything, however, has been destroyed. Of ten thousand houses only three hundred (mostly recently built) remain; out of one hundred and twenty monasteries only three are left standing. The Sawbwa himself lives in a bamboo house, instead of the former teak-wood haw (palace). The interior of the city walls is all jungle-grown."