and the peach and the cherry from English stock are
coming into bloom, there is this account in the official
annals : “ It is evident now that the Kachins in Bhamo
have realised that they have
found their masters, and are
prepared to settle down into
law-respecting, if not law-
abiding subjects. Government
by column has now died a
natural death ; the time for
that has passed, and what we
now require is to impose a
form of yoke which will be
found to press lightly, but
firmly, and above all continuously.
To bring this about
it is desirable to make the
hill tribes conscious of a presence
constantly in their midst,
instead of the bright meteoric
passage of a column, leaving
increased darkness behind it.
We require to establish a
p e rma n e n t centre for enlightenment
and domination,
A. P ED L A R t i • *11 i to which Kachins will be
able to come without obstruction from all parts and
at all times. Instead of having to undergo, whenever
they have a complaint to make, the expense
and discomfort of a visit to Bhamo, where heat and
dust and alien surroundings make the Kachin wretched,
and he wastes day after day at the court, fleeced by
petition writers, and worried by Burman underlings,
he wants to have a court held by a sympathetic
official, who knows his language well, and to which
he can go without ever leaving the shelter of his
hills.”