1864.] The Question of British Trade with Western China. 409 



Their character is as wild as the mountains they inhabit. The 

 converts to Christianity, extraordinary as has been the success of Dr. 

 and Mrs. Mason among these tribes, are as yet, comparatively too 

 few to alter the general character of the Karen chiefs and people. 



4. Passing over the Salween valley, and approaching the northern 

 portions of the Cambodia, there are found Shan States tributary to 

 Burmah, and acknowledging their vassalage, with, in reality, the inverse 

 ratio of their distance from the Burmese capital. To the west of 

 these Shan States are others whose comparative proximity to the 

 Irrawaddy makes them more substantially submissive to the Burmese 

 Government. The Salween may be said to be the line westwards of 

 which the sovereignty is real, while eastwards it is merely nominal.. 

 The Tsaubwas, or hereditary rulers of these various states, are in- 

 dependent of each other, and it is this fact with the frequent strifes 

 between them, and even between the several members of one Tsaubwa's 

 family, that explains the success of the Burman policy in regard to 

 them, which is simply " divide et impera." 



Crossing the Cambodia, other Shan States are met with, tributary to 

 China, and finally the north boundary of Siamese territory, the west 

 of Annam, and the southern limits of China Proper, are separated by 

 Shans whose allegiance to either of these three Powers, is very ill- 

 defined. 



The most important matter, perhaps, for consideration in this divi- 

 sion, is the position of the part of China we desire to reach, viz. 

 Yunan and Sechuen. 



Unfortunately the province of Yunan has for some eight years past 

 been the scene of a tierce struggle between the orthodox Chinese and 

 Tartar officials on the one hand, and the Mohammedan insurgents 

 on the other. To quote my letters dated from Bamo in 1863 — " The 

 Mussulman Chinese, or ' JPansees,' as they are called, seem to have 

 first suffered what they deemed oppression and persecution. The 

 fierce tenets of their faith soon led them to resistance, and being but 

 a handful in the midst of their Buddhist fellow-subjects, they had to 

 fly en masse to the jungles and hills, whence they commenced a dacoi- 

 ty-war on the Chinese towns and villages. The Mussulmans were 

 bound together by their common peril, and afforded another instance 

 of the strengthening influence of a vigorous religious belief, by the 

 success they everywhere met with in combating their numerous, but 



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