A company of Yunnan Chinese with a caravan of twenty-six ponies camped close to our rest-house. The head-man told me that they had brought with them silk thread, straw hats, and copper pans, and had come from Nah Hseh (Yunnan Fu). Altogether, they would be six months absent, but two months of that time would be spent in selling their goods, in purchasing salt, betel-nut, &c., for sale and barter amongst the Karens, and in bartering for and purchasing the cotton they intended to carry back with them. The journey from Kiang Hai to Yunnan Fu takes them six weeks.
The cotton costs them 5 rupees a muen (25 lb.), and fetches 20 rupees at Yunnan Fu. The cost of carriage, including collection for each muen, is therefore 15 rupees, or (with exchange at sixteen pence for a rupee) £89, 12s. a ton. Assuming Lakon as the centre of their collecting ground, the average distance a ton would have to be conveyed to Yunnan Fu if carried by railway, would be 665 miles; and the cost for the journey, at a penny a mile, would be £2, 15s. 5d., or—if we allow £9, 12s. a ton for the cost of collection, and £80 as the present cost of carriage—nearly twenty-nine times as cheap as the cost by caravan.
Dr Cheek, a son-in-law of Dr M‘Gilvary, who was for some years stationed at Zimmé as medical officer attached to the American Presbyterian Mission, interested himself in collecting information concerning the country, and caravan traffic. In a book termed ‘Siam and Laos,’ recently published by the American Presbyterian Mission Board, he states, in an article written before I explored the country, that—
“Sir Arthur Phayre represents the Laos (Shan) ‘traders as industrious, energetic, possessing a marvellous capacity for travelling as petty merchants, and longing for free trade.’ My own knowledge, after a residence of several years in Cheung Mai (Zimmé), confirms this official statement.
“The agricultural richness of the plain is known. The forests of valuable timber clothing the hills and mountains are another source of wealth. A large proportion of the teak timber shipped from Maulmain comes from the Zimmé forests. The mineral resources of this Laos country are varied and extensive: deposits of many of the useful and precious metals are known to exist; iron, copper, zinc, lead, silver, antimony, nickel, and gold are found in greater or less abundance. Coal has been found along the river (Meh Ping) after heavy rains, and petroleum has also been discovered.
“The importance of Zimmé is not, however, sufficiently indicated by a statement of the productions and population of the province. Its resources can never be fully developed if it is in the future to remain so cut off from the rest of the world as it always has been. The problem of a direct trade-route connecting China with the British possessions in India, is at the present time attracting much interest. The route across northern Yunnan, viâ Bhamo, into Burmah, has been sufficiently investigated to ascertain that for overland commerce to any considerable amount it is impracticable. It remains to discover the best route possible through the Laos (Zimmé Shan) country.
“To one who is aware of the extent of the trade that exists and has been carried on for many generations between Zimmé and Yunnan, and of the ready access to Zimmé from Maulmain, the discussion of the possibility of discovering a trade-route connecting South-western China and British Burmah seems superfluous. The caravan of Yunnan traders coming yearly to Zimmé clearly demonstrates the existence of a trade-route, and this native track is probably available for a much more extensive overland transportation of merchandise than at present exists.
“The Yunnan caravans bring silk and opium, iron and copper utensils, and other articles, which they exchange principally for cotton. This caravan trade has materially increased within the past few years, though I have been informed that years ago it was much more extensive than it is now. The gradual recuperation of Yunnan, consequent upon the restoration of order there, probably explains this recent increase of trade.
“The fact that a party of ten or twelve men with a caravan of sixty or seventy mules makes this journey from Tali in Yunnan, viâ Kiang Hung and Kiang Tung, to Zimmé, is a sufficient indication of the safety of the route. A caravan of sixty mules will ordinarily carry merchandise to the value of 12,000 to 15,000 dollars, occasionally a larger amount. Most of the Yunnan traders who come to Zimmé come from the neighbourhood of Tali.”
Such is the opinion of an exceptionally intelligent and scientific observer, who has traversed the Zimmé States in various directions, has studied the capabilities of the country, and has lived amongst the people for many years. In another place he gives the population as follows: “The entire population of the five Laos (Siamese Shan) provinces tributary to Siam is estimated at about 2,000,000;” and he states that “a recent census of the houses throughout the province of Cheung Mai (Zimmé) gave the number of 97,000, and the census was not at that time (the time Dr Cheek saw it) complete; the population of the entire province is not under 600,000.”[[4]]