[32] ‘Pioneer of Commerce,’ p. 352.
[33] Grosier’s ‘China,’ vol. iv. p. 270.
[34] ‘Voyage d’Exploration,’ tome i. p. 455, &c.
[35] ‘Voyage d’Exploration,’ tome i. p. 518.
[36] ‘Voyage d’Exploration,’ tome i. p. 455.
[37] ‘Voyage d’Exploration,’ tome i. p. 514, note.
CHAPTER IX.
THE SANDA VALLEY.
Departure from Momien—Robbers surprised—At Nantin—Our ponies stolen—We slide to Muangla—A pleasant meeting—The Tapeng ferrymen—A valley landscape—Negotiations at Sanda—The Leesaws—A Shan cottage—Buddhist khyoungs—For fear of the nats—The limestone hill—Hot springs of Sanda—The footprint of Buddha—A priestly thief—The excommunication—The chief’s farewell—Floods and landslips—Manwyne priests—A Shan dinner party—The nunnery—Departure from Manwyne—The Slough of Despond.
At the last our departure from Momien seemed doubtful, owing to the difficulty of finding porters, and men were forcibly impressed into the service. Any demur as to a particular box or complaint of the weight of their loads was silenced by a torrent of abuse from the Panthays, who, to these persuasives, sometimes added severe blows. About 8 A.M. on July 13th we started, waving our adieus to the governor, who had come out on the town wall to bid us farewell. The guard gave him a feeble cheer in Hindustani, which they again repeated as we marched out of the bazaar gate and set our faces westwards. Two Panthay officers, who had been our constant visitors, accompanied us for nearly a mile, and at parting they burst into tears. After we had gone a long way, and turned back to take a last look at Momien, we saw the two figures, standing on the same spot, gazing wistfully after us.
In a short time it began to rain in torrents, and the roads became very slippery, especially for men carrying heavy loads, so that we soon went ahead of the porters. At the descent into the Nantin valley, the road was as if it had been well oiled. Ponies and pedestrians slid down the steep hill-path in wild confusion, many of the party coming to serious grief. A little Chinese girl, who had been presented to the jemadar and his wife, as a return for his exertions in the mosque services, accompanied us, tied in a small bamboo chair on a pony. As the beast was quite at liberty to choose his own course, the terror and screams of the small neophyte were most piteous. At the scene of the attack made on the upward journey—marked still by some of our empty boxes—we passed the bodies of two men who had been recently killed and cast on the roadside. Halting at the hot spring to wait for the porters, we learned that these were the corpses of Chinese robbers, who had been caught, by the Panthay vanguard, crouching in the jungle with long spears, ready to stick the first mule passing, and had been summarily disposed of by them. Near Nantin all were requested to wait and allow the rear-guard to close up, as we were about to pass a favourite lurking-place for robbers.