A thousand miles on an elephant in the Shan States

by Holt S. Hallett

For six miles above Loi Meh Pa Neh the east bank is likewise lined with houses, imbedded, as is usual in Siam and its Shan States, in beautiful gardens containing palms, mangoes, tamarinds, and other trees. We halted for the night near a building erected on piles over the water at Ban Tat, for the monks of the neighbouring temple to repeat, at the time of the full and new moons, the ritual appointed to cleanse them from their sins, which, if report is to be believed, are by no means few.

From Ban Tat I sketched Loi Luong Sam Huay—the great hill-spur which juts out from the western hills, ending nearly due west of Raheng, and separates the Meh Tak from the Meh Tau. It is by this spur that the railway from Maulmain to Raheng would gradually descend from the crest of the pass over the spinal range which separates the drainage of the Salween river from that of the Meh Ping. The direction of the spur for some miles is due east and west, and it seems—particularly on its southern side—eminently fitted for the easy development of a railway to the pass. The pass is only 2400 feet above the level of the sea, or about 2000 feet above Raheng, and only 1770 feet above the bank of the Thoungyeen river at our frontier, which lies only 37 miles to the west of Raheng.

When the country through which this portion of the line will run is fully explored and accurately surveyed and levelled, it will probably be found that both the distance and estimated cost given by Mr Colquhoun and myself in our Report to the Government and the Chambers of Commerce, is considerably in excess of what will actually be required; because, in estimating this portion of the railway, we have assumed a length of 80 miles, or more than double the direct distance, and for 53 miles of the length have allowed about double the amount per mile that railways have cost in Burmah.

From Ban Tat we proceeded leisurely, stopping at several of the villages, to Raheng. The city and its straggling suburbs—some 10 miles in length—are beautifully wooded, lining the banks from 212 to 222 miles. The villages on the west bank are smaller and farther apart than those on the east bank, on which the city is built.

We halted at 215 miles, about half a mile above the house of the governor, opposite the house of Mr Stevens—an English pleader who had been for some years in the country, and is concerned in the timber trade.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE FORMER GOVERNOR IN LEAGUE WITH DACOITS—TROUBLE ON THE FRONTIER—DACOITING BOATS—ADVICE TO A MISSIONARY—THE GOVERNOR OF PETCHABURI—A PETITION TO THE KING—ROBBING THE PEOPLE—MISGOVERNMENT OF A SIAMESE PROVINCE—MISSIONARY’S OPINION OF THE KING—EXTRAORDINARY FLOODS IN SIAM—THE SEASONS—FLOOD OF 1878: VILLAGES WASHED AWAY—FLOOD OF 1831—ENTERING THE PALACE IN BOATS—BOAT-JOURNEYS FROM AND TO BANGKOK.

As soon as the boats were made fast to the bank, I called on Mr Stevens, and fortunately found him at home. He proved a highly intelligent man, well acquainted with the people and their manners and customs. He said the governor of Raheng was the pick of the flock of Siamese officials, and one of the few that was allowed an adequate salary, which had been granted him by the king so that he might not be induced to take to the evil practices of his predecessor, which had given rise to frequent complaints on the part of the British Government.

The late governor was a bandit in disguise. He was notoriously in league with the dacoits who infested his province, which neighbours our frontier, and his proceedings had been laid bare in a police case which was reported in the English newspaper at Bangkok. In the issue for March 1873 it was related that two men, Tah and Nai Ruan, whilst at a theatre near the governor of Raheng’s residence, seeing the servants of one of the new governor’s deputies loading a boat with goods, learned that the deputy was going to Bangkok. They then proceeded to a rest-house in a neighbouring village, and informed five others of their crew, one of whom was named Chi. Whilst conversing on the matter, Chi remarked to Tah: “When Pra Intakeeree [the former governor] was still in Taht [Raheng] we were in the habit of committing robberies, selling the plunder, and dividing the money thus acquired with Pra Intakeeree. If at any time complaints were made against us, Pra Intakeeree assisted us, and exonerated us from criminality. This ally of ours is now under accusation at Bangkok; we have no protector; we cannot enter the town, and must wander hither and thither in concealment: we must commit and multiply daring robberies, and thus make it manifestly true that Pra Intakeeree was not the patron of thieves. This will be the cause of his return to Taht, to be again our patron and protector.” They accordingly waylaid the boat, fired into it, wounded the deputy and one of his children and killed a slave, and afterwards plundered the boat.

I heard many similar stories of the governors of the Siamese provinces. For instance, one of the missionaries whom I met in Bangkok was loud in his complaints about the evil doings of the governor of Petchaburi, a missionary station to the west of the Gulf of Siam, who was a brother of the Foreign Minister. He told me that when talking with the abbot of the monastery at that place about the power of Christianity in inducing men to lead virtuous lives, the abbot turned smilingly to him and begged him to concentrate all his labours upon the governor, because that personage was the perpetrator, by himself or by his crew, of most of the ill deeds in the province.