RAILWAYS. 37 



scheme for a line starting from Moulmein in Lower Burma, running 

 eastwards to Raheng in Siam, and thence north up the Menam 

 valley and through Kengtung and Kcnghung to Ssu-mao in Southern 

 Yunnan. This scheme has many very obvious disadvantages, and 

 was rendered unnecessary by the annexat ion of Upper Burma 

 in 1885. The Upper Burma Railways reached Mandalay in 1889, 

 and as trade at that time had temporarily left the ancient Bhamo- 

 Teng-yueh route, owing to tribal disorders and consequent danger 

 of travelling, and was then entering Burma by the K union ferry 

 over the Salween into the Shan States, attention was naturally 

 directed in this direction first. In 1895 the construction of the 

 Mandalay-Kunlon railway was ordered, and in 1903 the construc- 

 tion of the line up to Lashio was completed. Already in 1893 the 

 northern extension of the line from Mandalay was opened to Katha, 

 which is the nearest point on the existing railway system in communi- 

 cation all the year round with Bhamo. 



The French Line. — The approach of the Burma Railways towards 

 the Yunnan border had not passed unnoticed by the French authori- 

 ties as may be seen on reference to Prince Henri d'Orleans' writings 

 in 1895, or to Governor-General Doumer's speeches in 1897, and 

 in April 1898 the Chinese Government granted to the French 

 Government, or to a company which the latter might designate, 

 the right to make a railway from the frontier of Tongking to 

 Yunnan Fu. The world already possessed a. fairly complete know- 

 ledge of the regions of China proper adjoining Indo-China. The 

 magnificent expeditions of Francis Gamier, who, later sacrificed 

 his life in the furtherance of such work, and of many others, had 

 helped towards this end. In 1898 the voluminous report of the 

 Lyons Mission appeared. It contains a number of papers on the 

 trade and industries of Western China by various experts deputed 

 to China by the Lyons Chamber of Commerce. 



From December 1897 to July 1898 Leclere, a chief engineer 

 of the Mining Service, toured in Yunnan, Kuei-chou and Kuang-si 

 under orders which he has reproduced as follows : " II s'agissait 

 de visiter les regions qui seront desservics par le prolongement 

 des voies ferrees de I'lndo-Chine. et d'apprecier rimportance du 

 traffic qui naitra par l'exploration des richesses minerales." Before 

 this Rocher had shown that Yunnan was exceptionally rich in 

 mineral deposits but it remained for Leclere to give the first detailed 

 accounts of them. 



