New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-06-26
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
1Nnn-cHINEsE TRAVEL.

IN
.,,orosr rur suANs BY ARCHIBALD Ross COL
ouHoUS. with Introduction py n, iInIr g.
iAcouPERIE. and Historical SKETCH W noN'
UALLgrT scribner Wexford.
The sbans are an Indo-Chinese people occupying
. territory which is already coveted by TWO grea.
E,,onean Powers and because OF It's hatnrai
rasources and its position the borders OF Chlha
nust sooner or later fall under the protection VI
one of these Powers if it is not directly anheAeu
M. Colouhoun. who wrote "Aeross Chryse,' mas
for several years been endeavoring to rouse the
British Government to the Importance oil de'eiop
ing trade with the Shans and other peoples Oh tuo
border of British Burma and Hlnuostah' ms
experience in railroad engineering has given MN
special skill in discerning tho adaptabillty OF the
regions through which he passes for the CONSTRUCTION
of TRANSPORTATION routes and he possessesa cultvat
Oh Gift Of observation which stands him in good stead
WI sn canning the manners and customs OF strange
tribes His book on the Shans is composed III
novel and decidedly judicous manner Instead oil
examining for chronological and historical facts as
most travellers do, he has sought tho heip Oh
specialsts in those subjects. and thus while ne
copfues his work to what he has seen ana kno"n'
Professor Terrlen de Lacouperie gives an essay OH
aThe Cradle of the Shan Race and Mr.. Holt 5.
Hallett concludes the volume with an historical
sketch of the ShaLs
These people originated. according to Professor
Lacouperie in China Proper, some thousands OF
wears ago. Their migration isolated them, and
consequently they ceased to progress. and to-day 1t
is probable that many respects they are not more
advanced than even their ancestors before tho
Christian era. though their civilization has been
influenced more or less by the proximity OF more
barbarous tribes occupying the hill country on their
border Mr. COlquhoun describes the Shan country
as we'll watered, fertile, having genial climate
and capable of great things in the way OF produc-
ton. 1t u.s. like all semi-cvlized countries, only
scratched by its inhabitants. The Shans are
peaceful toerabIy Industrious, but unprogresslve
race. Slavery exists among them, but it is that OF
Oriental countries. mild in its bearing upon the
slaves who tor the most part treated as well as
all Moslem nations treat their slaves, while the
latter appear to be, and doubtless are. content
with their condition Some of the hill tribes, who
wear little or no clothing and quite savages In
their ignorance are physically much finer people
than the moro developed Shans. The latter have
no doubt been stunted Intellectually by the very
corrupt form of Buddhism which Is the prevalent
religion The Buddhist priests of the Shan
countries are as much travesty on the monachism
of Gantama as the medieval monks were upon. the
ascetcisrn of the Nitrian Desert in the patristic
period. They habitually violate the most vital
precepts of their creed. and in their sloth and
gluttony resemble the Greek priesthood of Russia
The Shans are whiskey drinkers, yet not intem-
perate. The Chinese have secured a monopoly of
this trade. and also of that in opium. and they
employ many stratagems to encourage the vile and
ruinons traffic in the drug. AS yet the people are
moral, the training of the young by their parents
being carefully attended TO, that OF the girls
especially. Mr.. ColQuhoun says "The girls are
kept at home under the immediate supervision OF
their mothers, who teach them to be industrious,
and train them from infancy in the requirement OF
common sense Nearly before they have left the
breast they seem to become farslghted little women
of the world 4. . They are entirely trusted by
their parents from their earliest years even when
they blossom into young women, chdperoHs are
aeYer a necesstyj yet immortality is far less GUS
tomary among them, am led TO believe IMAM III
any country in Europe"
The late King of Siam was anxious TO have the
Shan States, which have recently come under his
protection after renouncing the .Burmese rule
opened up The country is of the most fertile IN
the East. 1t produces much gold and other min
erals II possesses immense forests OF teak and
other valuable woods. Ii is thickly populated
And its contiguity to British Burma renders Its
development comparatively easy. Mr.. ColquhOun
advocates railroad which would connect Siam
with British Burmah on tho one hand, and funnan
on the other, and would prevent that diversion OF
the trade of this important region to Anam and Ton
effect. The establishment of the French protec-
torateover these latter countries must reinforce the
travellers arguments though unless the British
and Indian Governments exhibit more energy in the
matter than they have hitherto done. the prospect
is that France VIII steal march on them and thus
strengthen her hold upon China. while at the same
stroke threatening Siam and Thibet
Whether the so-caled blessings of Western civil
ization would indeed make the Siamese and Shans
happier, is perhaps moro problematcal question
than Mr.. Colquhoun thinks it. The gravanen of
his argument on behalf of development is really
contained in the observation that every fresh acre
of paddy land, every new minc, made possible in
Siam by the construction OF the IRON way, will
imply fresh hands in Manchester mills and growing
activity on Liverpool wbarves" Precisely, and
that accomplished nobody will care much whether
the Siamcse are happier or mere miserable than
before.
e Mr.. Colquhoun's book is well and thoroughly
illustrated it is handsomely printed in large clear
type on thick paper, is substantially bound and
taking it altogether 1t is an honest and conscen-
tiously composed book Of travels, though not
enlivened by much out-of-the-way incident and
almost void of the sporting element