ent me, in which case England will find
a coveted pretext to add Yunnan to her Burmese Empire." Then, addressing
myself to the noisiest, I indulged in some sarcastic speculations upon
his probable family history, deduced from his personal peculiarities,
till he looked very uncomfortable indeed. Thereupon I gravely bowed to
them, and, leaving them in dumb astonishment, walked on over the bridge.
They probably thought I was rating them in Manchu, the language of the
Emperor. Two boys staggering under loads of firewood did not escape so
easily, but were detained and a log squeezed from each wherewith to
light the likin fires.

A steep climb of another 3000 or 4000 feet over hills carpeted with
bracken, with here and there grassy swards, pretty with lilies and
daisies and wild strawberries, and then a quick descent, and we were in
the valley of Tengyueh (5600ft.). A plain everywhere irrigated, flanked
by treeless hills; fields shut in by low embankments; villages in
plantations round its margin; black-faced sheep in flocks on the
hillsides; and, away to the right the crenellated walls of Tengyueh. A
stone-flagged path down the centre of the plain led us into the town. We
entered by the south gate, and, turning to the left, were conducted into
the telegraph compound, where I was to find accommodation, the clerk in
charge of the operators being able to speak a few words of English. I
was an immediate object of curiosity.

CHAPTER XX.

THE CITY OF TENGYUEH--THE CELEBRATED WUNTHO SAWBWA--SHAN SOLDIERS.

I was given a comfortable room in the telegraph offices, but I had
little privacy. My room was thronged during all the time of my visit.
The first evening I held an informal and involuntary reception, which
was attended by all the officials of the town, with the dignified
exception of the Brigadier-General. The three members of the Chinese
Boundary Commission, which had recently arranged with the British
Commission the preliminaries to the delimitation of the boundary between
Burma and China, were here, disputing with clerks, yamen-runners, and
chair-coolies for a sight of my photographs and curiosities. The
telegraph Manager Pen, Yeh (the magistrate), and a stalwart soldier
(Colonel Liu), formed the Commission, and they retain hallowed
recollections of the benignity of the Englishmen, and the excellence of
their champagne. Colonel Liu proved to be the most enlightened member of
the party. He is a tall, handsome fell