A Thousand Miles on an Elephant in the Shan States

Abstract

MR. HALLETT'S journeys in Burmah, Siam, and the Shan States, in search of the best path to connect Burmah with China and Siam, were performed partly by boat, and partly on the back of elephants. The problem before him was a difficult one, owing to the geography of Central Indo-China being unknown at the time of his visit. He has filled up a great blank in the map of this interesting region, and has proved that a practicable route for the railway exists, chiefly through great and fertile plains, to the populous parts of the Chinese province of Yunnan, and thence through Southern into Central China. The project has been for some years before the public, and has received the unanimous support of the manufacturing and mercantile communities, who have constantly, through the Chambers of Commerce, pressed the matter upon the attention of the Government. The Siamese section of the line, and several important branches, are now being surveyed and estimated for the King of Siam by English engineers, and are likely soon to be taken in hand.

A Thousand Miles on an Elephant in the Shan States.

By Holt S. Hallett. (London and Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1889.)