190 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



journey was only 45 li, but owing to the heat and rough road we 

 all arrived very much fatigued and in sore need of a day's rest. 

 From all I could learn it would appear that the region in 

 the vicinity of the river from Monkong Ting to Romi Change, 

 after its conquest by the Chinese about a.d. 1775, was 

 divided into feudal states, and certain chieftains installed in 

 possession as rewards for services rendered during the struggle. 

 The chiefs, styled Shao-pes, hold hereditary office and are 

 directly responsible to Chinese authority for the good behaviour 

 of the people under their rule, also, if necessity arises, they 

 are bound to supply armed men to assist the Chifiese cause. 

 Lamas alone are exempt from such military duties ; ordinarily 

 the people of these feudal states are agriculturists. These 

 Shao-pes are subordinate to the Chinese military commander 

 stationed at Monkong Ting. The two chief Shao-pes reside, 

 one at Monkong Ting, the other at Che-lung, a village in the 

 mountains, 20 li removed from the left bank of the Hsaochin 

 Ho and 60 li below Monkong Ting. Another Shao-pe resides 

 at Ta-ching, 120 li to the north-east of Monkong Ting ; a 

 fourth at A'n-niu, a place in the mountains to the south-west 

 of the region controlled by the Che-lung Shao-pe. Beyond the 

 original grant of territory these feudal chiefs receive no rewards, 

 monetary or otherwise, from the Chinese. The system has 

 much to recommend it and evidently works very well. It keeps 

 the Chinese authority supreme, while it allows the native 

 people to be governed by their own recognized chiefs. The 

 difference between the chieftain of a semi-independent Chiarung 

 state and a Shao-pe appears to be that, whereas the former 

 is an absolute ruler over a territory long hereditary to his 

 tribe, the latter is more in the nature of an alien ruling over a 

 tract of country fiefed to his forbears by the Chinese, after they 

 conquered this region and broke up the Chiarung confederacy. 

 The territory occupied by these feudal states formerly belonged 

 to the Chiarung tribes, and the people are principally derived 

 from that stock. Chinese settlers have intermarried with 

 the natives, and in the vicinity of the main road the population 

 is mixed. The people living in the lower stretches of the 

 Hsaochin Ho are an inferior race, of poor physique, and most 

 abominably filthy. 



