BURMA EXPEDITION 1867-1868 An eye-witness manuscript journal and account (with accompanying photographs) of the exploratory expedition up the Irrawaddy river to Upper Burma led by Major Edward B. Sladen in 1868, written by Theodosius Stewart, a merchant appointed to accompany the expedition by the Rangoon Chamber of Commerce, 63 pages (36pp., recto and verso on diary paper headed 'Rough Diary or Scribbling Journal' covering period from 2 December 1867 to 25 Feb. 1868; 27pp. on plain paper, recto only, held with split pins), ink on paper, some edges frayed, folio, [December 1867-May 1868]; with a typescript copy PHOTOGRAPHS A group of 12 albumen prints of Burma, including Kachin groups (2, taken at Bhamo), landscape on the Irrawaddy in Southern China ('40 miles above Burma'), the Great Bell of Dhammazedi ('Great Bell', with note identifying two Europeans in the images as Stewart and Captain Williams, who took the photo), Mandalay (4, one with loss to one corner), a fine 'Bell Pagoda', and others, [c.1868] A group of approximately 25 autograph letters signed written by Stewart from India, to his mother, noting money worries, cholera outbreak and illness, hunting trips, a ballooning accident, etc. upwards of 50 pages, old folds, some in envelopes, most stamped with date, 1847-1851, together with a large nut carved with 2 portraits of Stewart and his name 'Theo Stewart' (group) Footnotes: EYE-WITNESS MANUSCRIPT ACCOUNT OF MAJOR SLADEN'S 1868 EXPEDITION UP THE IRRAWADDY RIVER TO BHAMO TO EXPLORE NEW TRADING ROUTES TO CHINA. The journal was written by Theodosius Stewart, who had 'been appointed by the Rangoon Chamber of Commerce to represent them at the Mission or Expedition to China via Bamoo'. The early entries record his preparations and first meeting with Major Sladen (11 Jan. 'Dressed to see His Majesty and walked to the Residency to go with Capt. Sladen... Called on Dr. Williams [see photos] and gave the sapphire James & Co. entrusted to my care', before the departure from Mandalay on 13 January. By 19 January there are worries that the 'evil-disposed Chinese at Bamo [Bhamo] should send word to their looting friends to be ready to pounce upon us...', prior to their arrival in the town on 20 Jan. ('lots of Chinese and Shan.... had a deputation of three gold umbrellas who were rec'd in state with our noble army ranged on either side of the deck...'). Throughout he records many bird shooting trips (24 Jan., 'Old woman said we would go to hell for doing'), local colour (15 Jan., 'Saw a small China boy kicking a bunch of feathers tied together keeping it up with one foot or another...'; 'A man came on board drunk and beat some one. He was taken off, tried, condemned and nearly executed... Sladen rescued him - he is sent round town... with a drum, his crime declared and then to get stick'; 21 Jan. 'Smoking opium is a general propensity, and drinking shamsu... the inhabitants have consequently a sleepy, drunken, dissipated, sulky look...Can't get a pony'). On 23 January after dinner there was a commotion, and 'it was a tiger; he had killed a woman in a verandah with a blow of his paw and dragged her off to the jungle close by... the bleeding body of the slaughtered woman with her distracted family jesticulating crying screaming.... formed a picture fortunately seldom seen and never to be forgtten'. There are many references on interactions with local ethnic groups. On 30 Jan. 'The Kachins will take all they can get, by fair means and take the rest by force - a very treacherous race... Williams and Anderson went to photograph some Kachins [?perhaps photos in this lot]. They were rough and rude - demanded money'. Stewart records Sladen's total focus on the main object of the expedition (31 Jan., 'Trade, Sir! business, the opening up of the route and developing the resources of the country', and that 'Scientific subjects and specimens are all very well... but there is plenty of time for that when the road is open...'), and throughout mentions what local produce is sold, and by whom (silver, copper, jewellery, etc.). The members of the mission... 'consisted of Captain Williams, as engineer; Dr. Anderson, as medical officer... with Captain Bowers and Messrs. Stewart [our author] and Burn as delegates from the commercial community of Rangoon... while the command of the whole was entrusted to Major Sladen, Political Resident at Mandalay' (John Anderson, Mandalay to Momien: A Narrative of the Two Expeditions to Western China of 1868 and 1875, Under Colonel Edward B. Sladen and Colonel Horace Browne, 1876). Stewart's personal account adds interesting day to day detail, and personal opinions to the official report by Major Sladen, 'Expedition from, Burma, via the Irrawaddy and Bhamo, to South-Western China', published in The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Vol.41, 1871. Provenance: Theodosius Stewart (Londonderry, 1824-Daarjeeling, 1884), merchant and author of the manuscript; his daughter Eva Hodges (nee Stewart), wife of Walter H. Hodges (1868-1938), who acted as assistant to the Political Officer at Sikkim from 1890 to 1917; by family descent to current owner. 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