Page 164 - A History of Siam

A HISTORY OF SUM
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whose influence thus extended to the confines of China.
The remaining Shan States had been practically independ-
ent since the of Nanda
break-up Bhureng's Empire.
The of Ava determined to control over
King regain
Burma's lost Shan This was effected with
possessions.
ease until Miiang Nai was reached. The Sawbwa 1 of
that State to Siam for aid.
appealed King Naresuen,
at the head of 100,000 men, marched northwards on his
last campaign.
At reinforcements were
Chiengmai large forthcoming,
and the King crossed the Salween in April 1605 with an
army of some 200,000 men.
On at the fell with a
arriving Miiang Hang King ill,
carbuncle on his cheek. that his end was
Realising near,
he sent for his who was still at
hastily brother, Mtlang
Fang. Prince Ekat'otsarot set out at once for Mtiang
Hang. Three days after his arrival there, on May the
"
1 6th, 1605, King Naresuen breathed his last. They
were and in their and in death
lovely pleasant lives, they
were not divided."
The little town of Miiang Hang is known to-day as a
local centre of the teak and also some
industry, enjoys
as a miniature Monte Carlo. Few of those
reputation
who resort there for business or reflect that in
pleasure
Mtlang Hang died the greatest warrior who ever sat upon
the throne of Siam.

King Naresuen was certainly a great man, and a King
whose memory all Siamese may well hold in honour.
His death, at the of was an inestimable
early age fifty,
loss to his
country.
The new King, Ekat'otsarot, abandoned the expedition
"
'The Shan title of Sawbwa is the same as the Siamese Chao Fa," meaning
Celestial Prince ; in Siam the title is reserved for sons of the King by a wife of
Royal blood.
*
Strictly sub rosa. Public gambling is not allowed in the Shan States.