QUEER INCIDENTS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 19, 30 October 1942, Page 3

QUEER INCIDENTS

REMOTE PARTS OF ASIA ADVENTURES EN UPPER BURMA Just before the Japanese entered Rangoon the writer of 'the following article, David Maurice, then employed by Imperial Chemical industries, assisted a Russian expert to destroy industrial installations. He then joined the expeditionary forces at Mandalay as a captain of transport. Below, he describes his journey from Mandalay to Calcutta. Oil leaving Mandalay, I took with me two Chinese families who had been bombed out and they did the cooking for me on the way. On April 17 we reached the entrance to the defile where the river runs through a steep gorge, at times between two mighty Avails of rock. We stayed several days at the entrance to the defile waiting for the water to fall. We had stopped near a Kashin village and the natives had probably heard, rumours of a war, but they had certainly never before seen more than one boat at a time. Naitiyes' Queer Axes They evidently spied on us, because next day a few lone scouts appeared and, on a walk, I ran into two or, three lads chopping wood. I sat down and. although they went away, three reappeared and ono started cutting down a small tree. The3 T have a peculiar axe, like a small hoe and make a slanting cut down and a wonderfully smooth and straight cut across, forming an acute angle. I took the axe and chopped a bit over- and underarm, rather a bad parody on the way we cut down trees. When I looked up they'd disappeared, but soon returned with him with the village. They all went into fits of laughter at my woilk.

A Ferocious Ghiild I also went further afield and visited another village. I'd never heard of these people before. Their customs are different from those of the Shans, Kacliin and the Burmese, who live nearby, though they now inter-marry with the other tribes to some extent. They arc more longlimbed than the other hill people and quite handsome. Some of the women are beautiful. In the house I visited Ji saw a girl of about. 19 perfect in face and figure.

These people have very sharp swords, about two feet long. The girl's young brother, a kicl of eight or nine, must have thought I. stared too hard, for he made a lunge at me with a spear and would have got home only it was too long for him. The family threw him out of the room, and his father, who could speak Burmese, said, "Oh, he's like that, he once cracked open the head of one of his playmates with a sword." Nice child! He sidled into the room again, and I tried all my charm on him, and it's the onh' time I've failed to win a child. On leaving he followed mc and made another lunge with the spear, and, when I grabbed it, he let go and ran at me with a sword he'd picked up. I had to shoot him or flee. so I ran back to the village for sanctuary. His father gave him a perfunctory sort of slap and sent a bodyguard with mc to the boat in case he broke out again. After that I quite believe their story of the origin of the race. It appeals that a few hundred years ago, from a certain district in China, the Emperor brought some 25 families who were skilled in the work to look after the royal elephants. They were a proud people and not even the Emperor himself could obtain one of their women. They were also clannish and would suffer any torture rather than hurt one of the clan. The Emperor was the proud possessor of a sacred white elphant, without blemish and he therefore enjoyed tlie favour of the gods.

One daj- in a tit of caprice or temper, a boy of 9 cut off jta.il of the white elephant. The clan realised that an immediate flight was the only alternative to being boiled in oil. That night they set out and travelled for months till they came to the wild and inaccessible country on the bariks of the deUle, where they felt themselves safe. On May 3 I reached Myitkyina in the later afternoon, and found, to my horror., that Bhamo had just fallen and everything was in a flat spin. Our troops were retreating and piling up at. Waingmaw, three miles below and across the river, while there were about 2000-odd Chinese waiting to go the other

way, where there was a mule track into Yunnan, China. We reached a big village named Sailow, and the Japanese bombed it just as we left next day and lat-; er we reached another big village Sadon, where we did not stay, beng afraid of bombing. Sure enough, next morning avc heard it bombed. My group were a little band of engineers ami carpenters who stayed, behind to save instruments and see their folk well started off. Once we got on the road we travelled faster than the others and passed most of the women and children. Entomologist's Paradise All this: country, as well as the defile country, is an entomologist's dream of Paradise. There are all kinds of bugs and butterflies and [ think it is unexplored orchid coun-; try. On May 11 we reached Kanbardee. A passing detachment, of the Chinese Army had shot a pig. We atjp what they didn't use and there's not much of a pig that the Chinese Army leavqs. Next dawe reached Kooyong or

Kuj T uan, in China, and found that the Chinese Government had sent free rice which the villages had ready cooked for us. We set out. again for Tengyuah. On nearing Tengyuah we heard that the Japanese were there, only five miles away from us. We retraced our steps and went round in a wide semi-circle and crossed the Salween River and so to Paoslian, which we ! reached on May 22. When we got to the Salween we found that the j bridge had been destroyed. by order | of the Government, and also the ferry boat, in case the Japanese should make a thrust the way we had come. We made a raft of nine bamboos and were just completing this when a detachment of Chinese came along and commandeered the raft as they were going to rejoin their army unit. Comedy of a Raft As the raft would take only about three at a time and as "'there ware 50 or so of them, it looked as though! we would be there for ever. I determined to end the argument and grabbed a shoe in each hand and

walked boldly out on to the raft to give a lead. I promptly went through the raft up to the knees, fell forward and dropped the shoes in the water. Everyone roared with laughter. That broke the dangerous tension, and after a couple of the soldiers j had ferried me. across they took it in turns to ferry a couple of our men and a couple of theirs until we were all across. From Paoslian the Y.B.R. took me by lorry to Kunming, where I arrived on May 26. The Chinese felt that I had helped them considerably by bringing over their personnel from Myitkyin to Waingmaw, and wouldn't let me spend any money. I found the Americans;, too, very generous. They brought me free from Kunming to Dinjan by army transport, plane (U.S. Army). I arrived in Calcutta on June 12.