20 COGG1N BROWN : MINES & MINERAL RESOURCES OF YUNNAN. 



in the direct line of the old trade route which has been 

 used for centuries, and it is certainly the direction 

 followed by Marco Polo at the end of the thirteenth 

 century, and so vividly described by the famous Vene- 

 tian. It forms part of the Imperial highway by which 

 officials from Pekin reach these remote parts of the 

 Republic, and by it the Burmese missions travelled 

 when they conveyed the tribute from the kings of 

 Burma to the emperors of China. Pull accounts of 

 it are to be found in the writings of Anderson, Margary, 

 Babcr, Gill, Jack, Davies, Ryder, Lord Ronaldshay, and 

 many others. After crossing the level plains of the 

 Irrawaddy from Bhamo the road enters mountainous 

 country beyond Mo-mouk and proceeds along the south 

 bank of the Ta-ping river, through thickly wooded 

 and very hilly country until the frontier is reached at 

 Ku-li-hka, after crossing which it descends to the level 

 plains of the Chinese Shan State of Kan-ngai. An 

 alternative and older road proceeds along the north bank 

 of the Ta-ping, but it also conies down into the Kan- 

 ngai plains near Man-yun (the scene of the murder of 

 Consul G. A. R. Margary in 1876), a few miles from the 

 other. The overland telegraph line used to proceed 

 along this road but has now been taken across to the 

 other. For some years after the opening of the new 

 road the muleteers engaged in the trans-frontier trade 

 preferred to travel by the older and better known route, 

 which although slightly longer and more difficult was 

 convenient because supplies were easily obtained and 

 grazing grounds were available. The tendency now is 

 for caravans to take to the new road. In my own 

 experience this has been so, and I am inclined to put 

 it down to the gradual formation of groups of houses 

 with hostelries kept by Yunnanese Chinese chiefly, who 

 cater for the wants of the men and animals in the cara- 

 vans ; and also to the excellent nature of the road 

 itself and the bridges, which are kept in repair by the 

 engineers of the Bhamo district. 



For two or three marches beyond the frontier the road crosses 



the Kan-ngai plains, and the gradient is easy enough, 



