A thousand miles on an elephant in the Shan States

by Holt S. Hallett

To the north of the gap through which the road leads to Viang Pow (Pau) is a great plateau, the crest of which is edged by a narrow range of mural limestone cliffs called Loi Pa-Yat Pa-Yai, through which the Meh Pam passes in a gap after draining the plateau lying between the Meh Fang and the Meh Ping. To the south lies Loi Chaum Haut and its spurs, and to the east of them the beautiful province of Viang Pow, which I passed through on my return journey.

Whilst I was sketching the hills and fixing their positions, the villagers came crowding round me, and peeped from all directions at the picture I was making. When I had finished, I made the most of the opportunity by getting the head-men into the temple to make a map of the country with matches and bamboo strips on the floor. All were very good-natured, and I learned from them the position of the sources of the Meh Ping, Meh Teng, Meh Hang, Meh Pai, Meh Nium, Meh Pam, and other streams. All were intent upon my having correct information, and various villagers were sent for who had travelled in different parts of the country. After I had finished the map, Dr M‘Gilvary asked the people to listen quietly to him, and preached to them the glad tidings that the world was ruled by a God of love, and that belief in Him would relieve them from their gross fears and senseless superstitions.

In the afternoon we continued through the rice-plain for a couple of miles, and then passing through the southern gate of the palisaded city of Kiang Dow, entered the city, and shortly afterwards, turning to the right, left the enclosure by the east gate, and camped for the night on the bank of the Meh Ping.

A short distance before reaching the city, Dr M‘Gilvary noticed traces of what he believed to be petroleum on the bank of a small stream. In connection with this I may mention that Chow Rat, a first cousin of the Queen of Zimmé, who was intrusted with the settlement of Muang Fang, brought specimens of a black encrustation found in the district of Muang Fang, which Dr M‘Gilvary forwarded to a professor of Davidson College, North Carolina, who had it examined. It was pronounced to be indicative of rich petroleum wells. If petroleum exists at Kiang Dow as well as in Muang Fang, places 40 miles apart, the field is likely to be a large one; and other fields may be found to exist on the line of our proposed railway.

CHAPTER XXVII.

KIANG DOW—INVASIONS OF BURMESE SHANS—PRECIPITOUS HILLS—MUANG HĂNG UNDER THE BURMESE—VIANG CHAI—CATCH A KAMAIT—ENTERING MONASTIC LIFE—INQUISITIVE PEOPLE—REACH MUANG NGAI—VIEW UP THE RIVER—A SHAN PLAY—VISIT THE GOVERNOR—LEAVE MUANG NGAI—HOT SPRINGS—LOI PA-YAT PA-YAI—A STORM IN THE HILLS—DRAINAGE FLOWING IN THREE DIRECTIONS—UNDERGROUND STREAMS—DIFFICULT PASS—SINKAGE OF GROUND—A SACRED CAVE—LEGEND OF TUM TAP TOW—VISIT THE CAVE—AN UNPLEASANT NIGHT—LARGE GAME—THREATENED WITH BEHEADING—LEGEND OF THE HARE-LIP—BUILDING A HOUSE—CHINESE FORTS—TRICHINOSIS—REACH MUANG FANG.

The city of Kiang Dow, which is barely a quarter of a mile square, is situated 37 miles from Zimmé, and is 1254 feet above the sea. The whole province contains only 250 houses, 75 of which are in the enclosure. The city is said to have been resettled in 1809 by seven householders from Ban Meh Lim, which we passed eight miles from Zimmé, and was destroyed by Chow Phya Kolon, a Burmese Shan chief, in 1869 or 1870. On his retiring, it is said to have been at once reoccupied. According to the governor of Viang Pow, whom I subsequently met at that place, two invasions of the country occurred in recent years: one in 1868–69, when Chow Phya Kolon, the chief of Mokmai, a Burmese Shan State to the west of the Salween, burned six villages in his State; and another in 1872, when the same chief again invaded the district, and burned two villages. Chow Phya Kolon was said to be living in 1884 as an acolyte in a monastery in Moné.

About this time, 1868–72, there appears to have been a general downward pressure of the Ngios (Burmese Shans), for, besides the above-mentioned movements, Chow Phya Roy Sam—whose brother A-Chai is at present the chief of Muang Hăng, a State in the upper valley of the Meh Teng—burned Muang Ngai, and drove the Zimmé Shans out of the province in 1869; and as I have previously stated, the upper valleys of the Meh Ping, Meh Teng, and Meh Pai, have been resettled by Burmese Shans, and are under the rule of their chiefs.

Sketch of Loi Kiang Dow and Loi Nan.