Note 55 — Chapter XX · BHAMO, THE SOUTHERN TOWNSHIPS, AND MÖNG MIT

Nam Kham is the place where Mrs. Leslie Milne resided for fifteen months to gather materials for her charming book, "Shans at Home." Writing of the Northern Shans States she says (page 186): "Before the country was annexed to Great Britain, in 1886, each chief governed his own State, and the King of Burma was his overlord, to whom he was obliged to pay a heavy tribute. Burman officials terrorized over the Shans, and, owing to heavy and unjust taxation, the people were in a perpetual state of rebellion against their chiefs. The chiefs were constantly fighting amongst themselves, and were also trying to free themselves from the Burman rule." The condition of the country under Burma has been described in the historical chapter of her book, written by the Rev. Wilbur Willis Cochrane, of the American Baptist Mission. She goes on: "I should like to draw attention to the unhappy state of the people under the invasion of the Kachins, who were slowly but surely taking possession of the hill country." Then Mrs. Milne quotes from "Parliamentary papers for 1859-76." It is sufficient to give here only a part of the quotation: "They (the Kachins) have ousted many Shan tribes, and wherever they appear they assume the same character of 'lords of all they can reach,' only to be appeased by some form of 'blackmail.'... They inspire such terror that in the neighbouring plains no Burman or Shan will venture alone, or even in company, unarmed along the roads within their reach." "This state of affairs," Mrs. Milne concludes, "lasted until the British annexation, and our Government have worked what one might almost call a miracle; for, the first time since the beginning of Shan history, peace prevails all over the country."