A thousand miles on an elephant in the Shan States

by Holt S. Hallett

This branch alone would open out to our seaport of Maulmain the nine million inhabitants of Siam and its Shan States, and would, together with the Siamese line to Kiang Hsen, greatly decrease the cost of carriage to our British Shan States lying to the east of the Salween, which are believed to contain about one and a half million inhabitants. It would likewise greatly decrease the cost of carriage to the Chinese province of Yunnan, and thus, by lowering the prices, tend greatly to increase the number of our customers. The journey from Maulmain to our frontier at Myawadi, on the Thoungyeen river, is performed by porters in four days, and by cattle caravans in about eight days.

In referring to the route from Myawadi to Raheng, the ‘British Burmah Gazetteer’ states that “the route between them, being much frequented, is clear and open, and the journey can thus be performed in two days.”

The hills between the Thoungyeen and Raheng were surveyed for the King of Siam some years before my visit; and the copy of the survey, which was lent me by the governor of Raheng, showed no less than eleven distinct caravan-routes crossing the hills: the passes crossed are said to be low, the greatest height attained by Mr Ross on his journey from Maulmain viâ Myawadi to Raheng did not exceed 2400 feet above sea-level; and I was informed by some of our leading foresters who worked the forests in these hills, that the routes traversing them were quite as easy as those crossing the range which separates Maulmain from our frontier at Myawadi.

Myawadi lies 60 miles east of Maulmain, 40 miles west of Raheng, and 630 feet above the level of the sea. It is separated from Maulmain by a range of hills over which the caravans clamber by a pass having its summit 1600 feet above sea-level, or 800 feet lower than the pass between Myawadi and Raheng. The ascent, however, from Myawadi to the crest of the Raheng pass is reduced by 630 feet—the height that Myawadi lies above the sea; and the descent to Raheng by 400 feet—its height above the sea-level.

Sir Charles Bernard, when chief commissioner of Burmah, estimated the cost of connecting Maulmain with our frontier station of Myawadi by railway at 105 lakhs of rupees, which, at the present rate of exchange, 1s. 4¼d., is equivalent to £710,938, or less than three-quarters of a million sterling; and he informed me that he had received a letter from Mr Satow, our consul-general in Siam, giving his opinion that “Siam would be ready to carry out its part of the Burmah-Siam railway if the Government of India expressed its willingness to connect the two countries by railway at the frontier.”

As Myawadi is one-third less distant from Raheng than from Maulmain, and the country to be crossed is barely more difficult than to Maulmain, it is not likely that the cost of the section from Myawadi to Raheng would exceed that of the portion from Maulmain to Myawadi: therefore the expense of joining the terminus of our section at Myawadi with the Siamese main line at Raheng would not exceed three-quarters of a million sterling; and the whole of the branch, from the main line to Maulmain, would not cost more than one and a half million sterling.

Unlike the projected and partially completed Russian line across Asia, which passes through the great deserts and wastes neighbouring the north of the Chinese dominions, our line would traverse the richest part of Asia. It would, as already stated, foil the designs of the French, who are striving to oust our trade from Southern China and Central Indo-China, and would give us vast markets for the future expansion of British and British-Indian commerce.[^[25]]

The British stake in Siam already exceeds that of any other nation. According to Mr Satow, our fellow-subjects trading and working in that country comprise about ten thousand souls; and in his letter to Earl Granville, dated Bangkok, May 7, 1885, he stated that “nine-elevenths of the total export trade [of Siam], valued at nearly £1,650,000, is with Hong Kong and Singapore, and must contribute greatly to the prosperity of those two colonies. Of the imports, about £340,000 represents English manufactures; £200,000 products of British India; while Hong Kong sends goods, partly of British, partly of Chinese origin, to about the same value. From the Straits Settlements produce is imported to the value of £22,000, making in all £762,000, or over three-quarters of a million sterling.

“The imports from the continent of Europe are valued at £164,000, and from the United States £50,000. If we suppose the imports from Hong Kong to be equally divided between goods of British and Chinese origin, the result will be, articles produced in Great Britain and British possessions to the value of £640,000, against £314,000 from the continent of Europe, the United States, and China combined.

“The commercial interests of Great Britain in Siam, as compared with the rest of the world, are consequently—In fixed capital, as 2 to 1; in steamers, as 8 to 1; in exports, as 9 to 2; in imports, as 2 to 1.