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Chiang Rai,
Chiang Kawng, Lamphun, Nan
From the top
of Nangle an excellent view is obtained of the surrounding
country; but to clear it was a heavy task, as the top was broad
and flat, and the trees were large. Two of them I left as signal
trees, and then descended to Chieng Rai and connected Dawi
Tat Tawng (hill with golden pagoda).
Chieng Rai
is a walled city and claims to be very old. The old Governor is
very ill, and the town is much neglected, being overgrown with jungle.
We have had a lot of trouble from this place, as they would not
give a man to assist, nor even sell rice, laying down that the tops
of the hills should not be cleared of trees.
Before I stop
the work for the season there is one more high mountain I must ascend.
Leaving Chieng Rai the next day, after crossing the pass
which is so low that one scarcely perceives it, I encamp at Ban
Mechan, from which place Dawi Tung is seen distincly.
This is the name given to a mass of mountain, from a pagoda built
on the peak overlooking a perpendicular limestone precipice, and
which is a place of annual pilgrimage for the Shans from
the surrounding country. The highest point of the range is known
as Changmup, which we are about to attempt. I push on through
the Shan village of Ban Buelai and encamp at the foot of
the hill is a metal image about eighteen inches high, said to be
that of a king who became a hermit. There is one thing to be said,
he could not have selected a healthier place for a hermitage. Out
of the range of malaria, among oak-trees, with an excellent view
over the Chieng Senn plain and the massive mountains beyond.
Hair twisted in a knot upright. The carving at the pedestal are
the travelling accompaniments, of a tea-pot, spitoon, basket as
used by the Mussurs on thier backs, baskets as slung on the
shoulders, cooking-pot, in taking up quarters in a comfortable house.
I have been through a lot of trouble, in which I could not have
had better assistance than that given me by Phra Sarisdi.
The triangulation
round Siam was started with great difficulty, but still a
start has been made. To prevent delays in taking the field I resolve
on remaining in Chieng Senn for the rainy season.
After seeing
my things in the house, I go off to complete some work on a small
hill south, about two miles away. While taking a round of angles,
I am horrified to see my quarters in flames. Nothing can be done,
so I finish my work, and then descend to find my place burnt to
the ground. Most of the things were saved, but Phra Sarisdi
lost everything except the clothes he had on. This was a terrible
position for him to be in after a severe season's work; however,
worse was yet to happen.
Nai Tat,
brother to Phra Sarisdi, had started for M. Sing,
selecting his own route. He had not been gone six days, when Phra
Sarisdi came and woke me up at twelve o'clock at night to communicate
the horrible news of the cowardly murder of his brother. The poor
lad was the quietest of all the Siamese I had ever known, and it
was impossible that he could have given any reason for this cowardly
outrage. It came upon him quite suddenly. There was not the slightest
indication of any trouble before-hand, and he had been twice before
to the place where he was murdered. I make arrengements to go to
Hawng Luk to make inquiries. The chief officials of the guard-stations
met me on the way and begged that I would not go to Hawng Luk,
as there was a plot to murder me as well, and my steps had been
dogged for the last month by assassins.
I had ten men
from Chieng Senn with rusty flint-locks, and the poor fellows
would have proved themselves handy enough, but it was more than
likely that would only add to the complications, so I returned to
Chieng Senn to devise means of bringing these cowardly ruffians
to justice.
Nai Tat
was no novice at jungle-travelling Years ago he accompanied the
French officers when they were travelling over Chieng Kawng,
Luang Phrabang, and Hua Punn Ha Tang Hok, with every
assistance from the Siamese Government , and when they were hatching
and plotting the ruin of Siam.
He was provided
with sufficient money for the purchase of provisions and for the
hiring of guides. He passed through Hawng Luk, a general
rendezvous of a great number of dacoits from the Salwin,
and encamped beyond M. Ko, the Governor of which place was a Kerrn.
This is almost a sufficient guarantee of the man's goodness. Nai
Tat saw about thirty men, among whom he recognized some as from
Hawng Luk, pass in the moonlight the evening before the murder.
On the morning
of the 15th June, unconscious of danger, he was moving up to the
pass leading to M. Lemm, from which place he intended to
continue a traverse which he had left unfinished there. Without
any warnign, shots were fired, and he fell wounded through the body,
general firing took place, and the carriers threw down their loads
and bolted.
When Nai
Tat fell he was not dead, so the brutes proceeded to mutilate
him by cutting off his fingers and ears and then cutting his throat.
They then rifled his pockets, took the buttons off his coat, took
his watch and chain, and carried off the loads of the twenty-eight
men. Among the baggage was a chronometer and sextant. His companion,
a lad of eighteen, who was learning the work, happened to be among
the carriers at the time. The assassins deliberately fired at him,
but he escaped to M. Ko, the Governor of which place treated himkindly
and gave him an escort, himself accompanying him to the scene of
the murder. He declared that in all his life that he had never seen
such brutality; they helped to bury Nai Tat, and then returned
to Chieng Senn.
I forwarded
a telegram to Mr. Scott, the Superintendent of the Shan States,
but unfortunately he had been transferred to Lashio. After
some time measures were taken to investigate this brutal murder,
committed in broad daylight by a crowd of rufians. But the only
result of the energetic inquiry was a vague statement that somebody
had done it. There the diabolical scene closes, a striking example
of talent and energy in the detection of crime.
I sent Phra
Sarisdi to Bangkok, in order to enable him to get over
the terrible misfortune that had befallen him, and as all my people
had fever, decided on remaining for the rainy season at Chieng
Mai. This I did very reluctantly, as it meant delays when I
should again take the field. I saw my party off, and on the 5th
July went to Chieng Kawng to form an estimate of the difficulties
and obstructions I was to encounter when I renewed the work after
the rainy season.
On the 5th
July I left Chieng Senn . The current being very strong,
I went down the magnificent river, the Me Kawng, and in less
than six hours reached Chieng Kawng .
Chieng Kawng,
a city with a wall on three sides, and exposed on the riverside,
looks as though surrounded by mountains, and one would little suspect
that beyond the low hills on the south is the expansive plain of
the Me Ing.
The pagoda
seen at the end of the hills to the west is a monument to a famous
Burmese warrior, who died on his return to Burmah, after
a succeessful expedition to Luang Phrabang. Lepers live there
now. The whole of the forest covering the low range of hills is
of teak, possibly the finest teak forest in Siam. A strange
peculiarity about teak is that there are no forests on the left
bank of the Me Kawng; just as though the great river was
a natural division of some sections at least of the flora of Indo-China.
Round about
Chieng Kawng new excitements have started in the way of sapphire-hunting,
but none of the stones are of any great value. In many localities
over the province of Nan precious stones are reported, and
at M. Sa, a town just south of Nan, they are said
to be in great quantities M. Sa contains over a thousand
resident Burmese, attracted there as much for the precious stones
as for the teak, perhaps rather more than for the teak, for it is
a well-known fact that the Chief of M. Nan has made it a
ruling principle not to give any leases of forests to Burmans, one
of whom was clever rascal enough to forge his seal to a document,
giving a lot of trouble. I have taken in the position and hope to
complete arrangements for the renewal of work next year.
On the 13th
of July I left Chieng Kawng , and traversed the route along
the base of the hills. It is an excellent road. Nearing Ban Tung
Yang, we go over the low pass between the valley of the Me
Ing and Me Lao. The pass is not more than one hundred
and fifty feet above Chieng Rai.
In the vicinity
of the pass are the ruins of an old town, and peculiar limestone
rocks a couple of hundred feet high. There is also a sacred footprint
on the top of a hill hard by. The west approach has very heavy jungle
and cane-brakes, and an open space with shale awakens a feeling
of superstitious awe. It is said to be the haunt of spirits, and
there is a legend that a number of Haw (Chinese) were massacred
here in days gone by.
Reasoning from
analogy, it is very likely to afford a happy hunting-ground to the
geologist when he comes this way, for he will find the fossils of
the same monster-reptiles as have been found in similar localities.
About eighty years ago, the Burmese army went over this pass, and
ravaged the valley of the Me Ing, destroying Phra Yao
and M. Terng. It is only a few years ago that M. Terng
was re-established. It is a great teakwood district, and antimony
is found in great quantities, also gold.
Descending
to the valley of the Me Lao, the Path goes through long grass,
and the heat is very great, as there is not a breath of air, and
the heavy rains have flooded the country.
On the 17th
of July I reach Chieng Rai and feel much relief, as there
is a chance of my getting an elephant to ride on. I have not been
able to shake off the fever, and the rains have made it very heavy
walking in some places. After a few day's rest I move off from Chieng
Rai, along a route which the Siamese Government had carefully
surveyed for a railway.
A line of spirit-levels
has been run throughout Siam, from Bangkok to Chieng
Senn. From the heights given by Colonel Woodthrope of Pahom
Pok and Chieng Dao, I determined those of Chieng Mai
and Chieng Senn, and through the courtesy of Mr. Bethage,
the Director-General of Railways, I was able to compare them, and
the comparisons showed that our results agreed very well together.
The routefollowed is a well-beaten one for traffic, and men with
loads, bullocks, elephants, and the mules and donkeys of the Haw
(Chinese) are met with from October to May, passing and re-passing.
Wieng Papao
is the most important place on the route. It was established some
forty years ago, when the Siamese army fell back from Chieng
Tung. Here, again, were established the Pi Pawk, those
useful members of the community when a settlement is wanted. They
are comfortably housed, and the pomelo and other fruit-trees are
numerous. The opposition to the people has afforded the missionaries
an excellent opportunity, and the earnest and amiable Dr. McGilveroy,
of the American Presbyterian Mission, makes the most of his Christians
among them.
Beyond Wieng
Papao are some hot springs on the Me Lao, and near them
is a track leading to M. Wang and M. Nan. After leaving
the hot springs, the route ascends a mountain which is a formidable
obstacle to railway construction, and passes over a height of about
3,400 feet above sea-level.
On the 27th
of July I reached Chieng Mai. There was quite a European
community established there. The railway engineers were added to
the former residents, and besides the missionaries, there were now
about a dozen, they were enough to make the place lively, and I
came in the midst of some pony-races which all Chieng Mai
were out to see, including the old Chief.
I was able
to find quarters in a comfortable house belonging to Dr. Cheek,
and there I "recessed" during the rains, finishing the
computations in connection with the work, and making preparationsfor
the continuation of a triangulation which had been begun under great
difficulties and obstruction.
Chieng Mai
for centuries has held an important place, and at the present time
its importance is attributed to the richness of its teak forests.
It may be that now Europeans take an interest in the place chiefly
on that account, but when the teak forests are exhausted, which
they are likely to be at no distant date, there will be many other
reasons why Chieng Mai will still be important. The daily
market is a very interesting institution, carried on by women, of
whom there must be at least from four to five thousand engaged in
the traffic.
It is no unusual
thing to see an elephant striking down the market a midst a crowd
of Yang (Karens), Ngios (Shans from the Salwin), Kerrns
(from Chieng Tung), Kamuks from across the Nam
Kawng, and even Tai from the distant Sipsawng Chu-Tai
, and Haw traders from Yiwnan. Good order and
the best humour prevail among the people, and the scene is very
interesting. Chieng Mai is the chief town of the Lao Pung
Dam (black-bellied,)so-called because they are tatooed from
the knees to the waist. The other provinces of Lao Pung Dam
are Lampun, Lakawn, Lam Pang, Nan, and
Pre. The two former of these were always associated with
Chieng Mai , in fact Lakawn Lam Pang was the most
important, and it was by chiefs of that district that Chieng
Mai and Lampun were founded.
Lampun
is a walled city on the Nam Kuang, rather oval in shape,
three miles in circumference, the wats and pagodas are graceful,
and there is a large hanging gong, about six feet in diameter and
four inches thick, with an inscription on it. The old Governor has
made many miles of roadway in the province by simply heaping up
the clay, which is very stiff. In Lampun the people are left
very much to themselves. In the evenings it is common to hear the
young men serenading with sweet-toned guitars called pias; they
have four strings stretched along the tail-board which is attached
to the polished half of a cocoa-nut shell, and this again is placed
near the naked body. Placed in any other way the tones are not nearly
so sweet.
Lakawn Lam
Pang is an old walled city on each side of the Me Wang.
It seems a special hunting-ground for chinamen, who have been able
to annex the collecting of revenues. As a consequence, the people
are put to great hardship and oppresion. During seasons of drought
the people, having lost the knowledge of the making of irrigation
channels, suffer all the misery of famine.
Pre
is a walled town, about half a mile square. When founded it was
under Nan, but has now a separate jurisdiction under its
own chiefs. The walls are in a very dilapidated condition, overgrown
with jungle. It is on the left bank of the Me Yom, which
is about one thousand yards broad. The obstruction in the channel
of the river lower down, banks up the water, and during heavy rains
the town has been exposed to flood, which accounts for the dilapidated
condition of the walls.
Almost annually,
during March and April, the houses are set on fire with such persistent
regularity, as to suggest someting more than accident. To the east
of the town the Chinese have established themselves, and have introduced
gambling, opium-smoking, drinking, and every vice. As a consequence,
crime is frequent, and at the very gateway of the Governor, while
I was there, a Ngio pedlar was rubbed and murdered, without the
slightest trouble being taken to detect the criminal.
The administration
of justice is primitive. A dangerous criminal had got away, and
the services of his wife were enlisted to entice him into the town
to give evidence in the court, unconscious of his danger, was truck
on the forehead with a hammer used for marking timber. He was deliberately
done to death in the court-house.
At Pre
I met a very interesting Haw trader, named Suliman Narindini
(Chinese name, Ma Yiwe Tcheng). He had been a trader over the Lao
country for fifteen years, had been to Mecca, Bombay, Calcutta,
Rangoon, and several times to Maulmen. On this occasion he
was accompanied by Suliman Mailiki, whose Chinese name is
Ma Chaw, and who never travelled before. He was now meaning
to go to Bangkok, and thence to Mecca, returning by Maulmein.
A third of their companions was named Yusuf (Chinese name,
Naling Fang). They were of the Wahabi sect of Mahomedans,
and abhorred smoking, which I ascertained, when, in reply to the
polite invitation to "Baito" in his small tent,
I offered him a cigar, which he excused accepting on the ground
that his religion forbade the use of tobacco.
a curious circumstances
was the fact that in China the Mahomedans must use another name
besides their Mahomedan one. They claim to be Arabs. They had about
one hundred and eighty mules carrying chiefly opium and some wax.
As each mule had 133 1/3lbs. of load, there must have been at least
13,000 lbs. of opium; but to dispose of this was now their difficulty,
as the Chinese opium-farmer was waiting for them at Utaradit,
and they had the alternative of taking it back or of agreeing to
the opium-farmer's terms. But Suliman was already planning
another enterprise, and that was nothing less than a bold descent
on Maulmein. As he had been there "many times"
he possibly knew of a way or two of persuading the officials to
pass his goods.
There were
about fifty men, all looking well except Suliman Maliki,
who, not having travelled before, was suffering from fever. I gave
him some of Dr. Gowan's "Fever Cure," made by the doctor
himself, which I have reason to know is not now made as carefully
as by the doctor, which is to be regretted, as it was an excellent
remedy, and I never knew it to fail. among the muleteers were about
twenty "Kaffirs". the wages of the muleteers vary
from four to eight rupees a month.
The route followed
was:
We-Na-Sing,
which is on a lake, to Siching Chowng, three days.
Siching
Chowng to Tali, eight days.
Tali
to Puell, five days.
Puell
to Smo, two days.
Smo
to Chieng Hung, six days.
Chieng Hung
to M. Sing, ten days.
M. Sing
to M. Lenn, six days.
M. Lenn
to Chieng Senn, four days.
They are intelligent
men, but it is impossible to get them to mark the route on the ground.
They seem to have no idea of direction. In this way the Lao
are very superior. Almost nay man can sit down and, with a stick,
trace on the ground the country gone over; and when it is examined
it is remarkable how well they have hit off the ground, direction,
and relative positions of places. Judging from the way in which
the shoes of the mules are worn they have come over a very rough
route indeed.
They wander
about disposing of their products from China-opium, wax, iron dishes,
iron in the rough, felts, and walnuts. They eventually find their
way to Maulmein, where they secure Manchester calicoes and
prints, which are exchanged locally for raw cotton and raw silk.
This is what their mules are laden with when leaving Chieng Tung.
Raw cotton is sold in Pre at 25 rupees for 133 lbs.
Nan
is the most flourishing of all the Lao Pung Dam division,
and in fact the most flourishing domain of Siam. The people
are well to do under their old chief, who was ruled justly and firmly
for upwards of sixty years. He is descended from the man who led
the Burmese army into an ambush on its way from Sa to Nan,
and was slaughtered in the stream now called Sam Pann. He
was about fourteen years of age when he fled with his father, a
refugee, before the Burmese army to Swankalok about A.D.
1815. About ten of his sons are holding important posts in the administration,
and none escape punishment who break the laws.
The walls of
the city are in an excellent state of preservation, and are about
two miles round. The rice-fields are cultivated to their full extent,
there being an excellent system of irrigation, which is not allowed
to fall into decay. Advantage was taken of a large swamp, and by
piling earth in a circle a reservoir was formed, which supplies
hundreds of acres of rice-fields, the soil being particularly productive.
By a simple calculation the number of men and women who annually
contribute rice to the common store in the city is sixty thousand,
of which fifty thousand are in that portion of Nan beyond
the Me Kawng.
There are thousands
of emigrants from Sip Sawng Panna, and Khamus from
Luang Phrabang, and a growing population of Meo and
Yao, for Nan is popular, and their government has
been just. The moment they fail in justice they are sure to fall
to pieces, in accordance with the natural law that governs human
affairs. Crime is suppressed rather drastically. Theft is punished
by decapitation, the argument being that nearly all robberies are
accompanied or followed by murder, and that in ten years possibly
not more than one man loses his life for theft alone, whereas if
they modified the law there would be many lives lost from this cause
alone in one year.
Near the source
of the Nam Nan, and in the vicinity of the watersheds, are
several salt-wells, from which an excellent supply of salt is obtained.
These wells are jealously guarded, and the fears of the people played
upon by stories of the punishments meted out by the spirits, to
those bold enough to try and work them. Certain people have the
privilege of working, and they pay one rupee for four muns, about
530 lbs. The wells are from thirty to forty feet deep, and it is
said three baskets of water produce one and a half baskets of salt.
In the rainy season they are constantly at work, but in the dry
season the wells run dry and work ceases. It must remain a puzzle
to know how they discovered the presence of salt, and had the wit
to sink the wells. The people say they are very ancient. The teak-forests
are the finest in Siam. There are, among other excellent
products of the woods and forests, gems, the existence of which
is reported from the different quarters, and when the geological
examination of the district takes place it will be found rich in
minerals.
The Lao
Pung Dam are under their own chiefs, who are appointed by the
King, and a Cief Commissioner from Bangkok resides at Chieng
Mai, with assistants at Nan, Lakawn, Lampun,
and Pre. There is an English Vice-Consul at Chieng Mai,
whose duties are to watch the trial of British subjects. Throughout
the whole of Siam there have benn for many years past great
numbers of Burmese scattered everywhere, carrying British goods
to the most secluded nooks, so that go where you would British trade
and British work was in evidence.
Other parts of the journey:
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