[40] Yule’s ‘Marco Polo,’ vol. ii. (1875), p. 244.

[41] See page 73. The name of the village was understood by us, on that occasion, to be the same as that of the district, viz. Ponline.

CHAPTER XVI.
REPULSE OF MISSION.

Appearance of enemy—Murder of Margary—Friendly tsawbwas—Mission attacked—Woonkah tsawbwa bought over—The jungle fired—Repulse of attack—Incidents of the day—Our retreat—Shitee—Burmese reinforcements—Halt at guard-house—Retreat on Tsitkaw via Woonkah—Elias and Cooke’s visit to Muangmow—Li-sieh-tai—Return of Captain Cooke—Elias at Muangmow—Father Lecomte and the Mattin chief—A forged letter—The Saya of Kaungtoung—Reports regarding Margary—The commission of inquiry—Return of Elias—Visit to the second defile—Mission’s return to Rangoon.

We were all astir with early daylight on February 22nd, and prepared our baggage for the advance to Manwyne; but about seven o’clock large bodies of armed men were observed on the heights above us hurrying downwards in the direction of Shitee, as if to cut off our retreat. There was no mistaking their hostile purpose, and the Burmese immediately detached parties to occupy the positions which they had fortified, one being above the camp, and another thrown forward to a point of the road leading to Seray, which commanded the next hollow and the opposite ridge. The Woonkah tsawbwa came into the camp, and communicated to Colonel Browne a report which received almost instant confirmation. The tsare-daw-gyee appeared with a very serious countenance, and produced two letters received from the Burmese agents at Manwyne. They briefly narrated the horrible murder of Mr. Margary on the previous day at Manwyne; his writer and other attendants were also reported to have been killed. No particulars were given; but the tsare-daw-gyee was warned that we were about to be attacked, and that it would be for his own interest to detach himself by some miles from the English, failing which precaution he would incur the same danger, although the Chinese bore no ill-will to him and his party. The Burmese officer, however, promptly addressed himself to the defence of the camp, and we went up with him to the spur just above to reconnoitre, while the Sikhs took up a position behind a long low boulder lying at the western end of the camp, which served as a natural breastwork, whence they commanded the road by which we had come. The friendly Kakhyen tsawbwas of Woonkah and Wacheoon had hastened away to bring up reinforcements, and the mules were driven down into the grassy hollow below the camp. These preparations had not been completed when the enemy opened fire from all sides but one. The assailants had descended the ridge, hidden by the forest which, as already described, surrounded our position on two sides. This had masked their advance, and served as a perfect cover for them, the report and smoke of their fire-arms alone showing their whereabouts; it was plain, however, that they were in force to the south and east, and they evidently selected our party as the object of attack, avoiding the Burmese, who, however, actively returned the fire. Presently some of the assailants, led by a Chinese brandishing a long trident, rushed out from the jungle to the smaller open space. The Sikhs at once opened fire on them, which drove them behind whatever cover could be found, and stopped any further advance for a time. As soon as they were hidden, our men ceased firing. This seemed to embolden the enemy, and a second detachment rushed down and distributed themselves among the bushes. A brisk and well-aimed volley drove them out in a mass, up the narrow entrance to the road. One man at least was seen to fall dead, and others, wounded, were dragged up by their companions. For some hours, firing from the men concealed in the forest continued on all three sides. As these Kakhyens and Chinese only raised their firelocks to the side of the head, looked for a second forwards, and then fired, the bullets went over our heads. The steady firing of the Sikhs at last seemed to be too much for the enemy, and about 2 P.M. they were seen retreating along the ridge above, and the firing to the south ceased. As they were retreating, we fired on them at about a thousand yards’ range, and this evidently astonished them, as they rushed past, stooping at the exposed points where the fire told. When everything seemed quiet, and the road appeared clear, the mules were brought up from the hollow, and the muleteers hastened to get the loads ready. While this was being done, a party of our Kakhyens made a rush to the open space, where one of the enemy had been seen to fall, and returned with his head, which was tied up by the pig tail to a tree. It was subsequently reported that he was a Chinese officer, but his dress and appearance hardly indicated such rank. Before the preparations for a start were completed, the enemy returned in much greater force, and reoccupied the coverts, and it was estimated that they were at least five hundred strong. Firing recommenced from the heights and the forest around, and our position appeared to be completely surrounded, except on the side of the descent to the Nampoung valley. The question of abandoning the baggage and effecting a retreat by this, the only line left open, was mooted, but the tsare-daw-gyee urged delay, and his men as well as ourselves maintained a steady fire on the enemy.

The Woonkah tsawbwa, with a number of his men, had returned to the camp just before the first repulse of the enemy, and he informed Colonel Browne that the Seray chief had offered him five hundred rupees if he would join in the attack on us. The drift of this remark was at once seen by Colonel Browne, who promptly offered him ten thousand rupees if he could succeed in bringing off all the baggage. It was difficult for the Kakhyen’s mind to conceive so large an amount of coin, and the tsare-daw-gyee had to make him comprehend it by stating that he would receive “three basketfuls of silver.”

Just as this arrangement had been concluded, we heard the shouts of men, apparently coming up behind the southern spur, which was occupied by the enemy. The Burmese at first thought that this indicated the approach of a reinforcement which was hourly expected to arrive from Bhamô. Presently, however, the forest in front of them burst into a blaze, having been fired by the Shitee tsawbwa and his Kakhyens with those of Woonkah. This manœuvre proved most successful, and the enemy was speedily forced to retire, and as other coverts were successively fired below the heights by the Burmese, they were soon in full retreat along the heights, exposed to the fire of our rifles, which told on them at several open places. Firing, however, continued for some time below the heights, and on the side of the ridge commanding the Seray road a desultory fire was also kept up. The Burmese guard were here posted behind an earthwork, and kept the enemy at bay on that side; and after the southern spur and eastern heights were cleared, we took the Sikhs down to support the Burmese, and fired into the further hollow, the only remaining covert of the enemy.

All firing had nearly ceased by about five o’clock. The jungle on all other sides being now cleared and the road to Shitee open, the order was given to reload the mules. They were speedily brought up out of the hollow, where they had remained in safety, and all were soon loaded. Some mules and drivers had disappeared, but willing Kakhyens, either of Shitee or Woonkah, speedily shouldered the remaining loads, and the vacant pack saddles were heaped up and burned before we left. At the close of the day, though bullets had been flying about in all directions, the casualties on our side only amounted to three men slightly wounded, and a mule shot in the neck. The firing was mainly directed at the officers of the mission, and whenever we moved towards the baggage, bullets fell freely about us, while the Chinese shouted to the tsare-daw-gyee that they did not wish to kill his men, but the “foreign devils.” Our Burmese showed great spirit, and the tsare-daw-gyee, from first to last, was deserving of the highest praise. One of his men, while trying to drive out some Chinese, had his red turban carried off by the prongs of a trident, but succeeded in evading a more fatal thrust of the weapon. The loss of the enemy was variously reported, and it is impossible to give an accurate return. Some perished in the burning jungle, and so far as the reports afterwards furnished could be relied on, of the assailants about eight or ten were killed and thirty wounded. I noticed that young men not more than twenty years of age, and even boys, were numerous among their ranks. The well-known loud voice of the Seray pawmine was heard, and the tsawbwa’s son as well as the tsawbwa of Ponsee were said to have been present. The son of Seray was detected by the report of his double-barrelled gun, a present to his father at the time of the former expedition, both barrels of which were fired at once, making the double report easily distinguishable.

The letters received from Manwyne had stated that the party about to attack us was the vanguard of a force of three thousand men, whom the governor of Momien had despatched to oppose our progress. The reader will remember that our camp at Ponsee was menaced with attack, in April 1868, by the lawless Kakhyens of this very district, and, although on the other side of the mountain, our position on this occasion was close to that place. Numerous robberies had been previously reported in this district, and the attacking party undoubtedly consisted largely of the Ponsee and Seray Kakhyens. These belong to the Lakone tribe, while the clans of the Woonkah, Wacheoon, and Shitee chiefs, who rendered such faithful assistance, are offsets of the Cowlie tribe. With the Kakhyens were associated a number of Chinese rowdies or perhaps soldiers; but the assailants could hardly be reckoned other than local robbers, who thought that the Burmese would not resist, and that our own guards were too few, while the prospect of such a rich booty was enough to make them encounter the risks of a fight. The staunch defence, the effect produced by the long range of the rifles, and the bold diversion in our favour directed by the Shitee and Woonkah chiefs, who fired the jungle, combined to disappoint their expectations. It must not be understood from this that the subsequent reports of the advance of Chinese troops, and of hostility on the part of the Momien officials, are discredited. The frontier Chinese were strongly prejudiced against our entrance into Yunnan, and the Kakhyens and local robbers would be stimulated by the reported or actual advance of troops to anticipate any overt acts of hostility, and try to secure the rich booty for themselves.

When the baggage train had all moved safely off, escorted by some of the Burmese guard, we set out on the return to Shitee, followed by the Sikhs, the rear being brought up by the tsare-daw-gyee. Mr. Fforde, with a few of his men, remained for a short time, while the Burmese posted on the road to Seray held their position until all were clear off, then followed slowly after us to cover the retreat. We started at 5.30, and in half an hour reached Shitee, having met on the road some of the Burmese reinforcements which had come up from Bhamô. The baggage was all collected in a pile before the tsawbwa’s house, and the tsitkay-nekandaw, who commanded the newly arrived detachment, was posted with forty of his men behind an earthwork which they had thrown up, covering the approach to the village. Both the tsawbwa and the tsare-daw-gyee wished us to remain for the night at this place. The chief feared that the Chinese would come down and burn his village in revenge for his having aided us. The Burmese argued, that if the members of the mission continued the retreat, it would appear as though we were deserting the baggage, which could not be brought further that evening. The position of the village, situated on the slope of the mountain spur, and closely surrounded by dense jungle, seemed too much exposed to a night attack, and Colonel Browne decided to push on to the guard-house on the Nampoung. We started accordingly at 6.30, accompanied by the tsare-daw-gyee and some of the Burmese. It soon became very dark, and the descent down the rocky footpath, bordered on one side by a steep declivity, was tedious and dangerous. We could not see the stones or the edges of the track, and when passing through thick groves of trees, even a white pony right in front of me was invisible.