CHAPTER XX

BHAMO, THE SOUTHERN TOWNSHIPS, AND MÖNG MIT

South of Bhamo when we took the country was a Shan State known as Möng Leng, and adjacent to it and separating it from the district of the Ruby Mines was another Shan State named Möng Mit. The two together covered a large area, including the lower valley of the Shwèli and stretching from the southern boundary of Bhamo to the northern and north-western limits of the Northern Shan States of Tawngpeng and North Hsenwi. Neither of them was included in the list of Shan States proper. They were much mixed up with the adjacent British districts Bhamo Katha and the Ruby Mines. They were little interested in the politics of the Shan States; and being more easily accessible to the Burmese and very open to Kachin raids, they had not much cohesion or independence. For these reasons they were not placed under the jurisdiction of the Superintendent of the Northern Shan States, but were dealt with by the Commissioner of the Northern Division.

At the time of the annexation the Sawbwa of Möng Mit had died. His heir, a minor, was under the tutelage of the _Amats_, or ministers, who formed a council to rule the State; which, as well as its neighbour, Möng Leng, was in great disorder. The diverse races which people this country, Kachins and Palaungs[52] in the hills, Burmans and Shans in the more open parts, make it hard to govern. In Möng Leng there was in 1886-7 no central authority. In Möng Mit the administration was very feeble. The Kachins were in the ascendancy. They were ousting the Palaungs, and trampled on the more peaceful villagers of the plains. But even the Kachins had no cohesion and obeyed no central authority. Each chief did what seemed best in his own eyes; he raided and blackmailed every village that lay within reach of his hills. The formation of the country, a jumble of hills covered with dense jungle, through which the drainage of the higher ranges forces its way naturally, produced an unruly race. The only open tract of any extent is the valley of the Lower Shwèli from Myitson to the Irrawaddy at Pyinlebin.

Early in 1886 one Hkam Leng came to the Deputy Commissioner of the Bhamo district which touches Möng Leng on the south, and claimed to be recognized as the chief of both Möng Leng and Möng Mit. He was told that his claim would be inquired into, and that meanwhile he should remain quietly in Katha. Towards the end of the year, however, growing impatient, he went to Möng Mit and presented himself to the people as their Sawbwa. But they rejected him without ceremony. He applied to the Deputy Commissioner for assistance without success, and then became irreconcilable and a centre of disturbance.

The ministers of Möng Mit, on the other hand, were loyal and helpful. To the extent of their power--not much, it is true--they gave active assistance to the British force which occupied the Ruby Mines in 1886-7. In April, 1887, the Chief Commissioner being at Mogok, the headquarters of the Ruby Mines district, received the ministers of Möng Mit there and inquired into the facts. Finding that the title of the young Sawbwa was good, he confirmed him in his position. It was decided to appoint a regent, assisted by the ministers, to govern the State until the young chief should come of age. The boundaries of Möng Mit territory were defined, and Hkam Leng was formally warned against overstepping them, while at the same time he was assured that if he came in and made submission to the Government he should be recognized as chief of Möng Leng. In despite of this he attacked villages in Möng Mit and endeavoured to establish himself by force of arms.

During 1887 he continued in open hostility. Several small expeditions had to be made against him; and the southern border of the Bhamo district, as well as the Möng Leng country and the Kachins in all the hills about, were kept in a restless state. As it was found impossible to reconcile him, Hkam Leng was outlawed and the Möng Leng country partitioned. The northern part was added to the Bhamo district as the Upper Sinkan township; the remainder was made over to Möng Mit, to which it had at one time been subject.

Hkam Leng, however, was by no means disposed of. He lurked for the most part in the Kachin Hills to the east of the Möng Leng country, and was frequently in the villages along the upper reaches of the Sinkan. To him another restless spirit was soon allied. In 1886 the two sons of the Hmethaya Prince, one of King Mindon's numerous progeny, had made themselves prominent in resisting the British Government. Their cause was taken up by a notable guerilla leader, Shwè Yan, who raised their standard in the Ava district. Driven out of Ava at the end of 1886, they took hiding in Mandalay, where a plot was hatched for supporting their claims. The conspiracy was discovered and the leaders arrested. The younger Prince was captured and sent to school in Rangoon. The elder, Saw Yan Naing, escaped to Hsenwi, and failing to get help there retired to the mountainous and very difficult country on the borders of Tawnpeng and Möng Mit. There he made his quarters in a strong position not easy to approach, and gathered round him a band of discontented and desperate characters. No attempt was made during 1887-8 to dislodge him, and he contented himself with threatening Möng Mit. He was invited to surrender, and favourable terms were offered to him. The only wish was to relieve the country from his presence. But he would have no truck with us.

Early in 1889 reports came in from Bhamo and other sources that Saw Yan Naing and Hkam Leng had agreed to unite forces and make simultaneous attacks on various points in the north. They were reported to be enlisting the aid of Kachin tribesmen, Chinese bandits from across the border, and Burmese outlaws. Risings were to be organized in the Upper Sinkan township and a descent made on Möng Mit. Even the date for the rising was fixed. Whether there was any systematic concert or not was never ascertained, but a good many outbreaks occurred without any visible connection and of no great magnitude, but enough, taken all together, to harass both soldiers and police, as well as those responsible for the administration. From the Ruby Mines district as early as the last week in December had come reports of a gathering, headed by Saw Yan Naing, at Manpun, in the hills, three marches from the town of Möng Mit. A detachment from the Hampshire Regiment was sent from Bernard Myo, the Cantonment of the Ruby Mines, to Möng Mit, to garrison the town, while the State levies went out to act against the body of rebels at Manpun.

Meanwhile Lieutenant Nugent, who was in command at Möng Mit, hearing that there were some dacoits a few miles off, went with sixteen men of the Hampshires to attack them. The dacoits were strongly posted. Lieutenant Nugent and one private were killed and six men wounded. The remaining nine men, encumbered with the wounded, had to retire. This disaster happened on the 14th of January. Lieutenant Nugent was a young officer without experience of the country, and he ought not to have been left without some one capable of advising him.

It was promptly retrieved. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Archibald Colquhoun, getting together troops and police, renewed the attack on the enemy's position and drove them out with much loss. On the 20th of January the village or town of Twingé, on the Irrawaddy, was taken and burnt by one of Hkam Leng's adherents. No attempt was made on Möng Mit after that date, and no formidable bands were encountered, although the Ruby Mines districts and the adjacent parts of Möng Mit were harassed by small gangs of robbers. A feeling of anxiety, however, prevailed and begat alarming rumours. The imagination of Shans, Burmans, and perhaps of other nervous persons, is fertile in the matter of numbers, and loves to deal in large figures. At the end of January hostile gatherings at different points, amounting to nearly two thousand men--a quite impossible number--were reported from Mogok, the headquarters of the Ruby Mines district. With a view to allaying these apprehensions the garrisons there and at Möng Mit were strengthened.

The Chief Commissioner thought it best, under the circumstances, to place the control in the hands of one man, and at his request Sir George White appointed Colonel Cockran, of the Hampshires, to command all the troops and military police in the disturbed area, with orders to take the measures necessary for the peace of the country and for the destruction of such gangs as might be found. Up to the end of March, however, no important action was taken, as no large body of the enemy had been located.

On the 30th of March a column under Major Garfit, of the Hampshire Regiment, was dispatched against Saw Yan Naing, who was still at Binbong, near Manpun. Four stockades were taken without loss on our side, and Saw Yan Naing and his following fell back for the time. The Chief Commissioner intended, and had arranged with the Major-General commanding, that this column should remain in Binbong and the neighbourhood at least till the middle of April, in order to make our influence felt in these wild parts and to co-operate with a police force which had been sent through Mönglong, a sub-State of Hsipaw, lying south-west of Möng Mit, and also to join hands with Lieutenant Daly, the Superintendent of the Northern Shan States, who was ordered to come with military police through Tawnpeng. Unfortunately the officer commanding misunderstood his instructions, and leaving Binbong on the 6th of April returned to Möng Mit. The expedition consequently was not very fruitful of results, and Saw Yan Naing returned to the neighbourhood and took up his quarters at Manton a little farther north.

Unluckily, Lieutenant Daly was unable to leave his headquarters at Lashio until the 7th of April. He then proceeded to Tawnpeng in accordance with the orders he had received from the Chief Commissioner, directing him to co-operate if possible with the force acting against Saw Yan Naing. Lieutenant Daly had been instructed also to get into communication with the Prince, and to renew the offer of terms if he would surrender.

In January, when at Hsipaw, Lieutenant Daly had met a Shan who had been with Saw Yan Naing in July and August of the year preceding (1888); this man undertook to take letters to the pretender. He arrived at Möng Mit soon after the defeat of the band which had gathered near that place, and heard that the Prince had left Manpun after that encounter, in which one of his chief followers, besides many others, had fallen. The messenger, therefore, was unable to deliver the letters. However, in March Lieutenant Daly, being at Hsipaw, again met this man, and sent him off with fresh letters to the Prince. Again fortune was adverse. Major Garfit delivered his attack just before Lieutenant Daly's man reached Manpun, and the Prince had gone. However, he had not gone far, and was found by the messenger in Möng Mit territory, in a Palaung village. He had a following of one hundred men, more or less, of whom twenty were Burmans, the rest Shans and Kachins; none of them men of note. As Saw Yan Naing had been attacked only two or three days before by the column from Möng Mit, he was not disposed to trust the promises made to induce his surrender. Nevertheless, he behaved as a Prince should. The messengers were allowed to stay four days in his camp, and were hospitably treated.

They were then dismissed with a polite letter, to the effect that "he had not plotted against the Government, but that on account of his past offences he feared to come in, that he had no wish for Government alms" (an allowance had been offered to him); "and that he would take to flight if Lieutenant Daly came near his camp." He had married the daughter of a Kachin chief. It may be that beyond allowing himself to be made the centre of disturbance he had taken no active part in the movements made in his name. None the less his presence in British territory was the cause of trouble.

While these events were passing in Möng Mit a watchful eye had to be kept on other parts of the district. Towards the end of December, 1888, the Deputy Commissioner of Bhamo received news of the appearance of a Mintha, or prince of some kind, on the Molè River, north-east of Bhamo. This Prince gave out that he was in concert with Saw Yan Naing, and his plans may have been conceived with the design of acting with Saw Yan Naing and Hkam Leng. The rising appeared to be somewhat formidable. It was promptly met. Mr. Segrave, the Superintendent of Police, was sent out at once with a strong detachment of military police. He encountered the band, which was made up mainly of Chinese brigands and deserters from the Chinese army, on the 9th of January, 1889, and punished it severely, killing more than fifty men. The rest dispersed and escaped, probably over the Chinese border. The peace of the district north of Bhamo was not disturbed again during the year. The connection of this band with Saw Yan Naing was not established. In their camp were found papers showing that they were in communication with the leaders of the Mogaung malcontents, namely, the Sawbwa of Thama and Po Saw.

Hitherto it had been found impossible to post military police in the Upper Sinkan township. The difficulty of communication, especially in the rains, was great, and the climate very hurtful. The best possible arrangement was made by appointing a Kachin of much influence to act as magistrate and executive officer, and this man had been able to keep order, at least on the surface. His headquarters were at Sikaw. In December, 1888, Mr. Shaw, the Deputy Commissioner, visited Sikaw and also Si-u, an important village near the head of the Sinkan stream. He learnt that Hkam Leng, who was allied by marriage to the Kachin chiefs of the Lweseng and Tonhon range in the east of the township, was harboured by them, and from time to time came down to Si-u and levied contributions from the peasants. The Kachin magistrate had followed the Burman plan of shutting his eyes to that which it was inconvenient to see, and, lest he should incur his superior's displeasure, he said nothing about it. He was warned against permitting Hkam Leng to enter his township, and ordered to send speedy information to Bhamo if he should reappear. This warning had a good effect. Early in January, 1889, he reported that Hkam Leng had returned to Si-u, and was corresponding with a pretended Prince at Hpon Kan, a hill range thirty miles from Bhamo, a very nest of hornets. At the same time information was received from other sources that a large gathering of Chinese and Burmese, said to number five hundred men, were at Hpon Kan.

The Chief Commissioner was at Bhamo at the end of January. He arranged that a patrol of troops should visit Sikaw and Si-u at least once a month. Unfortunately something prevented the despatch of the military patrol, and on the 3rd of February the duty was entrusted to a party of fifty military police. On the 4th of February, at Malin, a village on the Sinkan River, about twenty miles from Si-u, the police came on a large body of rebels strongly stockaded. They attacked the stockade, but were repulsed, losing two men killed and ten wounded and all their baggage.

A strong column, consisting of 60 rifles of the Hampshire Regiment, 150 of the 17th Bengal Infantry, and two guns, left Bhamo as soon as news of this disaster came in. On the 7th of February, after driving in their outposts, this force engaged the enemy at Malin, where they were holding a strong position. They stood their ground with more than usual courage, and were not dislodged without some severe fighting, which cost us the loss of one officer and four men killed and eighteen wounded. The pursuit was carried for some distance, but they did not rally, and dispersed over the country. It was ascertained that this rising had been organized by Hkam Leng and Saw Yan Naing. In fact, the nucleus of the gang was a body of eighty or ninety men from the Prince's headquarters at Manpun joined by large numbers of villagers, some of their own free will, some under compulsion. The villages that furnished contingents were fined, the police force increased at the cost of the township, and the population as far as possible disarmed. No attempt was made to punish the individuals who had taken part in the business. Hkam Leng retired to his Kachin wife and allies in the hills.

Late in May an attempt was made to capture him, but it was frustrated by his Kachin supporters, who afterwards came down in force and occupied Si-u. On the 2nd of June they were attacked by troops and police and driven out, losing twenty-one killed. The police force in the Upper Sinkan was reinforced again. The rains being now at hand, further action had to be postponed.

Everything united to obstruct the work of bringing this part of the country into order. The hills and forests, the neighbourhood of the Chinese frontier, the character of the people, Kachins and Palaungs, who had to be dealt with piecemeal hill by hill, and had never submitted to any central control, all combined to make it a very hard task. The Burmese officials may have had some control over the tribes. But probably so long as they did not make too much disturbance the hill-men were left to do as they liked. When there is no government things arrange themselves, and a limit is automatically fixed which the raiding tribes cannot exceed without exhausting their preserves. The advent of the British cut the weak bonds by which the hill people had been held, and the appearance of Saw Yan Naing and Hkam Leng as active opponents of the foreign invaders gave them a rallying-point.

The first step towards peace was the capture or expulsion of these two leaders, both of whom, it may be noted, following the example of more enlightened princes, had cemented their alliances by marriage with Kachin ladies of rank. It was decided, therefore, so far as the northern part of the province was concerned, to devote the open season of 1889-90 to the complete subjugation of this tract of country. If possible, the two leaders were to be got rid of. In any case the recalcitrant Kachins and others were to be reduced to obedience and the authority of the Möng Mit State over its outlying parts affirmed. In the district north of Bhamo nothing called for immediate action. A strong body of seasoned Gurkhas from the Mogaung Levy under Captain O'Donnell could be detached to strengthen the column of troops provided from the Bhamo garrison.

It was arranged accordingly that one column should go to Si-u and move early in December against the Lwèseng and Ton Hon Kachins and then move on to Manpun; and that a second, starting from Möng Mit, should join the first at Manpun, while at the same time the Superintendent of the Northern Shan States (Lieutenant Hugh Daly) should move with some of the Shan Levy (Indian military police) through Hsenwi and act with the first two columns; and a fourth column, also of military police under Mr. H. F. Hertz, Assistant Superintendent of Police, should work up from the south-east through Möng Löng and along the Tawnpeng Möng Mit boundary.

Instructions were given to the Sawbwas of Tawnpeng and North Hsenwi to take measures to stop the passage of fugitives through their States. There was a reasonable hope that these measures, although they might not effect the capture of the leaders, would establish the authority of the British Government and bring home to the people of this difficult tract the inconvenience of resistance.

The Bhamo column, commanded by Major Blundell, accompanied by Mr. G. W. Shaw, the Deputy Commissioner, left Bhamo on the 15th of December, 1889, for Sikaw. The tribes began to take in the situation. Twelve hills or groups of the Lakun tribe came to Sikaw to make formal submission, and one of their leading men volunteered to guide the force against Lwèseng. This was a good beginning. Major Blundell, sending forward a detachment to Si-u to keep the road open, left Sikaw on the 20th of December and marched on Lwèseng. A party of Gurkhas under Captain O'Donnell was ordered to take up a position at the ferries in the rear of the Lwèseng Range, which were said to be the only places where the Shwèli River could be crossed. Several other such points, however, were found, and at one of them were signs that the fugitives had already crossed over. While making this reconnaissance Captain O'Donnell's men were exposed to Kachin fire from the hills, and a very distinguished Gurkha officer (Kala Thapa Sing) fell.

The main body reached Lwèseng on the 22nd of December. A stockade across the road a mile from the village was defended by Kachins, and in taking it a native officer was killed and five men wounded. The village was found deserted, and was occupied by our men. There was some sniping from the hill-slope afterwards, and two were wounded. Next day the force advanced to Ton Hon. Two stockades erected across the road were defended, but were turned, with the loss of two men wounded, and Ton Hon was occupied without further fighting. But again the Kachins fired from the hills into the village, and one Gurkha was killed and another wounded. A halt was made at Ton Hon for some days in order to open communications with the Kachins, in the hope of bringing them to terms. The elders of Lwèseng and Ton Hon and other neighbouring villages came in. The Deputy Commissioner selected seven villages which had opposed the troops and harboured rebels, and imposed on them a fine of money (Rs. 2,500) and guns (50). By the 30th of December all the villages belonging to these tribes had submitted and part of the fine had been paid. The chiefs, however, still held aloof.

On the 3rd of January, 1890, the column left for Manton, leaving a Burmese civil officer, supported by a detachment of the 17th Bengal Infantry, to collect the balance of the fine. Manton was reached without any fighting on the 11th of January; and the column from Möng Mit marched in on the same day. The village was found deserted, and Saw Yan Naing had fled. He made his escape, it was said, into the Chinese territory of Chefan. On his road through Northern Hsenwi he just missed falling into the hands of Mr. Daly, who arrived at Manton on the 16th of January. Thus the three parties met and were able to exchange information. After a few days' halt Mr. Daly continued his tour through Hsenwi territory, while the Möng Mit and Bhamo columns waited at Manton for supplies. Some villages which had been hostile were visited; and as a large body of Kachins and Palaungs was reported to have gathered at Lanchein, a few miles south of Manton, where Saw Yan Naing had stayed on his flight, two detachments were sent out to disperse them. Stockades had been built across the road and were stubbornly defended by the enemy. Here Major Forrest, in leading one of the detachments, was severely wounded. The village was taken and destroyed, while the troops returned to Manton.

It was now decided that the Möng Mit party under Major Greenaway, with Mr. Daniell as civil officer, should move south to Manpun, while the Bhamo column remained at Manton. On the way Mr. Daniell was met by the headmen of the villages between Manton and Manpun who had come to tender their submission to the British Government. They were told that if Saw Yan Naing was with them he must be given up, and fines were imposed on those groups or circles of villages which were known to have given the rebel leaders active help.

By the 25th of January all the headmen of the five hills or circles comprised in the south-western quarter of the Möng Mit State had made formal submission. On the 26th of January Mr. Hertz, who had marched from the south-east through Möng Löng with his military police, arrived in Manton. The rough country along the Taungbaing border had been entrusted to him to search--a duty he performed well, while as a by-work he constructed a very useful map of the ground. The Möng Mit column moved to Yabon, a village nearer to Möng Mit, and from its position a better base for operations. News was now received that Hkam Leng was in hiding in Sumput, a village north of the Shwèli. Major Greenaway, accompanied by Mr. Shaw, marched with a part of his force for Sumput by way of Molo, which ferry was reached on the 1st of February. Hkam Leng, however, had left Sumput, and Major Greenaway moved across the Shwèli to Kyungyaung.

Convinced by the experience of these operations that the mere movement of troops through the country was ineffectual, the Chief Commissioner decided to take rougher measures to bring home to the people of this tract the power of the Government, and to convince them that they could not support these disturbers of the peace with impunity. Orders were issued, therefore, to arrest and deport the headmen of the villages which aided and sheltered the two leaders. These orders reached Mr. Shaw at Kyungyaung and were executed at once. The headmen of twelve villages who had been most active were arrested and sent into Bhamo, and at the same time monthly fines were imposed on their villages. Similar measures were adopted under Mr. Daniell and Mr. Hertz's supervision in the circles which had befriended Saw Yan Naing. But in spite of the efforts of the civil and military officers, who spared neither themselves nor their men, the capture of Saw Yan Naing and Hkam Leng was not effected.

The open season was now drawing to a close. It seemed unlikely that further action on the lines followed hitherto would have much more success. The Chief Commissioner asked Brigadier-General Gatacre to visit the country with Mr. Shaw and see if they could advise any other measures more adapted to the nature of the case. Early in March, with a strong force, General Gatacre visited Si-u Ton Hon and Lwèseng, north of the Shwèli, and then went southward through Molo to Manton. He reported the country through which he passed to be quiet and the people to be submissive. Leaving a party of one hundred rifles, including forty Mounted Infantry, at Sipein with Mr. Shaw, to work the circles north of the Shwèli, and Mr. Daniell with one hundred rifles at Manton to work south of that river, he withdrew the remainder of the troops. Proclamations were issued, with the Chief Commissioner's approval, warning the people of the consequences of opposing the troops and promising reduction or remission of the fines that had been imposed if the leaders of the revolt were surrendered. On the 28th of March the headmen gave Mr. Shaw a formal engagement to observe the terms of the proclamation, and he was able to withdraw the troops and return to Bhamo.

Before the close of the operations the headman of Manton, who was one of the most obstinate adherents of Hkam Leng and had hitherto evaded arrest, was captured by the Kachins of the neighbouring circles and delivered to Mr. Daniell. He was deported to Mogok, the headquarters of the Ruby Mines district. All this country, it should be remembered, known as the Myauk-Kodaung (the northern nine hills), estimated to contain 2,500 square miles, belongs to the Möng Mit State. On the withdrawal of the troops an official of that State was left in charge with a force of the Sawbwa's militia to keep order. Before the British troops left the Kachin Sawbwas entered into solemn engagements to keep the peace, to shut their hills against Saw Yan Naing, and to obey the Möng Mit Sawbwa to whom they are subject.

Some progress had been made by the middle of 1889 towards the establishment of order. The root of the trouble, however, lay in the weakness of the Möng Mit administration. The most effectual measure undoubtedly would have been to place the State directly under the administration of a British officer. This method of meeting the difficulty was considered and set aside by the Chief Commissioner. In the earlier years of our rule there were strong reasons against absorbing any of these quasi-independent territories. It was our settled policy to maintain the Shan States in the position they enjoyed under the Burmese Government. The absorption of one of them would have alarmed the others just when we were striving to win their confidence and to bring them peacefully into the fold. For this reason mainly the Chief Commissioner refused to wipe out the Kalè State, although in that case there were much stronger reasons for adopting this course (_vide_