Chapter III

Rev. D. Webster’s party detained—Siamese officials expect
bribes—Photographic plates all spoilt—Visit from Karens—Joined
by the B.B. party—Siamese police post—Gorges in the Thoungyeen
and Meh Nium—Rapids stop navigation—Forests and elephants—Dwarf
races—Kamook and Kamait slaves hired by our foresters—Migration
of Laos from Tonquin—The Khas of Luang Prabang—Sacrifices to
demons—Drinking the health of strangers—King of Siam allows
slave-hunting—Missionaries required in the Meh Kong valley—Leave
the guard-house—Crossing the water-parting—Wild tea—Karen
villages built distant from road—Country formerly
lacustrine—Shelter for the night—Heavy rain—A shower-bath in
bed—Elephants crossing steep hills—Wild animals—Reach the Meh
Nium—Karen pigs—Remains of a lake-bottom—The Maing Loongyee
plain—Epidemic of smallpox—Villages tabooed—Arrive at Maing
Loongyee—Moung Hmoon Taw’s house—A timber prince and the
money-lenders, 19

CHAPTER IV.

Maing Loongyee traversed by war-paths—Dr Richardson’s visit—Price
of slaves—Dr Cushing’s visit—Raided by Karennis—The city and
suburbs—Visit the governor—The Shan States—Government—Succession
to the throne—Titles—Modes of execution—Zimmé formerly extended
from the Salween to the Meh Kong—The governor and his
brother—The bazaar—Distributing seeds—Information from
foresters—Collecting vocabularies—Moung Loogalay—Portow—A
magician—Dr Cushing at work and exasperated—Visit to ancient
city and to the earth-hills—Crossing the river—A dangerous
walk—Pine-trees—Number of Lawa, Karen, and Shan
villages—Population—A Karen dance—Enticing a
Lawa—Description—Similarity between Kamook and Lawa
languages—Visit to the governor—Effect of a telegram—Elephants
hired for forest work from Karens—Mode of attack of male and
female elephants, 30

CHAPTER V.

Leave Maing Loongyee—A hundred-foot waterfall—A beautiful
hill-torrent—A lugubrious tale—Gibbons—Gigantic tree-ferns—Shans
cruel elephant-drivers—Method of driving—Droves of pigs and
laden cattle—Loi Pwe—An accident—Wild raspberries—Shans
bartering goods—The Meh Laik valley—A fall of 2049 feet—Paths
for the railway—Lawa villages—Aborigines—Burial custom—Human
sacrifices in the Shan States and China—Legend concerning the
conquest of the Lawas by the Shans—The virgin of the
lotus-flower—Gaudama sacrificed to as the goddess of
mercy—Sacrifices to ancestors and demons—Similarity of
superstitions in ancient Chaldea and the Shan
States—Photographing Lawas—Clothing worn for decency’s
sake—Costume of Lawas—Cold nights—View of the
hills—Bau-gyee—Iron-mines guarded by demons—A young blacksmith, 42

CHAPTER VI.

Path for a railway—Lawa Sivas—Legends of Poo-Sa and Ya-Sa, and of
Me-lang-ta the Lawa king—Story of a Yak—Descent from the Bau
plateau—A courageous lady—Weird country—Ruby-mines—Reach Muang
Haut—Cabbages—Tobacco-cutting—A bobbery—Fable of the peacock and
the crow—Sketching the country—Conversing by signs—Interviewing
the head-man—Boat-hire on the Meh Nam—Cost of
carriage—Rainfall—Produce of fields—A Shan temple—Method of
making images—Bargain for boats—Temperature in sun and shade, 56

CHAPTER VII.

Leave Muang Haut—Legend of the rapids—Footprints of Buddha—Power
of accumulated merit—Indra’s heaven—River
scenery—Fishing-dams—Loi Pah Khow—Large fish—Naked boatmen—A
pleasant retreat—Wars between the Burmese and Shans—A
sugar-press—Silver-mines—Path for the railway—Water-wheels—The
tiger-head mountain—Pleasant mornings—A river scene—Chanting
prayers—The valley of the Meh Li—Country-house of the chief of
Lapoon—Viang Htau—Visit to a monastery, 69

CHAPTER VIII.

Description of Shan houses—Cabalistic
charms—Superstition—Ancestral and demon worship—Shan dynasties
in Burmah—Zimmé under the Burmese—Rules for
house-building—Possessing a ghoul—The shadow spirit—Kissing with
the nose—Furniture—Meals—Chinese chop-sticks—Spinsters—Weaving
and embroidery—Dyes—Chinese hongs—Fishing—Revolt against
Burmah—Zimmé and Lapoon deserted—A rest-house—Shan
dialects—Entrance of the Meh Hkuang—Musical water-wheels—Brick
and tile works—Houses for the demons—Houses imbedded in
gardens—Light-coloured buffaloes—My first hunt in Burmah—A fine
pagoda—Approach to the city—Arrive at Zimmé—American
Presbyterian missions in Siam and Zimmé, 80

CHAPTER IX.

Our reception—The Mission-house—A beautiful view—A repast—Rev. J.
Wilson—Ancient boundaries of Zimmé—City of Zimmé—Population—The
bridge—An hermaphrodite—Youthful Dianas—Female dress—The
market—Shops—The palace—Visit the king—Discussion about the
railway—Prisoners in chains—Visit a princess—Shan embroidery—A
great trader—Amount of caravan traffic—Number of elephants—Boat
traffic, 94

CHAPTER X.

Chow Oo-boon, a spirit-medium—Consulting ancestral spirits—An
exorcist—Spirit of witchcraft—Ill-treating a patient—Treatment
of witches—False charges—Missionary destroys an image—Execution
of Christians—Proclamation in favour of Christians—Missionaries
protect witches—Undermine superstition—Ghosts perching on
trees—A missionary ghost—Headless demons—A demoniac, 105

CHAPTER XI.

Visit the Siamese commissioner—Description and dress of
Siamese—Deceitful officials—Prince Prisdang’s letter—Pie-crust
promises—A mountebank—Call on the Princess—Treaty of 1874—Siam’s
relation to Shan States—Former obstacles to trade removed—Visit
from Chow Oo-boon—Assassinating a lover—Shan queen in English
dress—Fast and easy-going elephants prized—Kian Yuen, an old
capital—A Chinese pagoda—City of the flower-garden—Muang La
Maing, the site of the first Zimmé Shan city—Ascent of Loi Soo
Tayp—The pagoda of the emerald rice-bowl—Pagoda slaves—Dr
M‘Gilvary joins my party—Visiting Burmese foresters—Religious
buildings erected by the Burmese, 113

CHAPTER XII.

Dinner at the Princess’s—Arrangements for start completed—A
passport—Our pavilion—The Zimmé plain—Leave Zimmé—Canal
irrigation—Halt at Muang Doo—The Chows astray—Camp-dinners and
cookery—Excellent Madras servants—Alteration in Jewan—Courtship,
marriage, and divorce—Kumlung, or family patriarch and
priest—Price of slaves—Slave-bondage—Foreign marriages—Serfdom
in Zimmé—Formation of clans—Government masters in Siam—Crown
commoners, 125

CHAPTER XIII.

Paying for supplies—Land and teak-forests belong to chiefs—Land
rent—Light taxation—Leave Muang Doo—Upper Meh Hkuang—Ascend a
plateau—A surprise—Luong Hkort—The Meh Hkort—Pass between the
drainage of the Meh Ping and Meh Kong—Precaution against
demons—Shans will not travel alone—A scare for
tigers—Head-dressing and tattooing of Zimmé Shans—Charms let in
the flesh—A quiet race—Villagers responsible for loss and crime
in neighbourhood—Must not leave village without
permission—Surveying under difficulties—The little elephant’s
fun—The Meh Wung and Meh Ping—A vast plain depopulated—Timidity
of elephants—Residence for demons—Reach Viang Pa Pow, 133