The Viceroy of Yunnan and Kuvichow gives an account of certain raiding: expeditions conducted by the Sha tribes in the prefectures of Kuangnan and Kuanghsi in the province of Yiinnay, Theaborigines in this tract of country are divided into numerous tribes, some of which are peaceful enough, but the majority of whom are too stupid to make a living by honest means and have
aborigines in the Ch'iupei district under long practised riding a8 profession, The the leadership of Lu Yi-sung have committed depredations on the Chinese settlers in the neighbourhood for a series of years, and frequent complaints of their outrageous behaviour have been lodged with the local authorities. The locality adjoins the province of Kuangsi, and the depredators are no sooner dislodged in one place than they berake themselves to another. During the second moon of the present Magistrate of Shihtoung stating that Lu eat & report was received from the Yi-sung had appeared in the district with 4 following of 300 men and w:" committing the gravest outrages against both life an rep A day or tivo later his following, had increased to five or six hundred men and wu attack was threatened upon the district town. A force of troops Was sent to oppose their progress, and after a eon test, the aborigines took refuge in wu empty house where they made preparations for standing a siege. One of the prominent actor son the side of the aborigines was shot through a hole m the wall, and two of the inmates were made According to their depositions, the object of the present movement was to test the strength of the new Magistrate. On receiving news ut the rising the Viceroy despatched " body of 300 soldiers under the command of a Brigadier General to check the insurgents, who by this time numbered over a thousand strong and were harrying the whole entntry. The General's small force was closely hemmed in by the aborigines, and: reinforcements had to be sent to his assistance. The Imperial forces altogether numbered 840 men divided into two battalions, and preparations were made for. a fresh onslaught upon the enemy. A skirmish took plice in which four of the Imperialists were killed and twenty others wounded. Lu Yi-sung entrenched himself in an almost inaccessible position on the borderland to the west of of Kuangsi and the North of Tongking. It was feared that he might succeed in' making the place impregnable and might render hiaelf a source of great trouble on the frontier. In the end, however, he was dislodged and forced to retreat across the border into Kuangsi, where he intrenched himself at a place called Nalao in the Hsi-lin district. High rewards having been offered for his capture, he was arrested and sent into the Chinese camp, whence he was transmitted to the Viceroy, by whose orders he was instantly decapitated. Measures have been taken for restoring tranquillity in the district, those of the aborigines who had fled from their homes being brought back and induced to resume their former vocations.
4th November.
No papers of interest.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.