[50] Under military regulations Captain O'Donnell, being in command of troops called Military Police, would have been unable to command regular troops, and thus his experience and ability would have been lost. This difficulty was easily avoided by Sir George White. [51] Captain O'Donnell's report. CHAPTER XX BHAMO, THE SOUTHERN TOWNSHIPS, AND MÖNG MIT South of Bhamo when we took the country was a Shan State known as Möng Leng, and adjacent to it and separating it from the district of the Ruby Mines was another Shan State named Möng Mit. The two together covered a large area, including the lower valley of the Shwèli and stretching from the southern boundary of Bhamo to the northern and north-western limits of the Northern Shan States of Tawngpeng and North Hsenwi. Neither of them was included in the list of Shan States proper. They were much mixed up with the adjacent British districts Bhamo Katha and the Ruby Mines. They were little interested in the politics of the Shan States; and being more easily accessible to the Burmese and very open to Kachin raids, they had not much cohesion or independence. For these reasons they were not placed under the jurisdiction of the Superintendent of the Northern Shan States, but were dealt with by the Commissioner of the Northern Division. At the time of the annexation the Sawbwa of Möng Mit had died. His heir, a minor, was under the tutelage of the _Amats_, or ministers, who formed a council to rule the State; which, as well as its neighbour, Möng Leng, was in great disorder. The diverse races which people this country, Kachins and Palaungs[52] in the hills, Burmans and Shans in the more open parts, make it hard to govern. In Möng Leng there was in 1886-7 no central authority. In Möng Mit the administration was very feeble. The Kachins were in the ascendancy. They were ousting the Palaungs, and trampled on the more peaceful villagers of the plains. But even the Kachins had no cohesion and obeyed no central authority. Each chief did what seemed best in his own eyes; he raided and blackmailed every village that lay within reach of his hills. The formation of the country, a jumble of hills covered with dense jungle, through which the drainage of the higher ranges forces its way naturally, produced an unruly race. The only open tract of any extent is the valley of the Lower Shwèli from Myitson to the Irrawaddy at Pyinlebin. [Illustration: GETTING A DHOOLIE UP AN AWKWARD BIT.] [Illustration: CLIMBING UP THE STEEP CHIN HILLS. Chin Campaign.]