A vivid travelogue and ethnographic account by British explorer Archibald Ross Colquhoun, documenting his journey through the little-known Shan States of present-day Myanmar. Offering a rare glimpse into a region then largely closed to Westerners, the book combines firsthand observations of Shan geography, customs, and society with a broader historical context, including a historical sketch contributed by Holt S. Hallett and an introduction by Terrien de Lacouperie tracing the origins of the Shan people. Illustrated with fifty-five engravings and accompanied by a folded map, Colquhoun’s work stands as both an adventure narrative and an important early study of an ethnic group caught between the expanding British Empire and the fading authority of Burmese and Chinese powers.

1970, New York, Paragon Book Reprint, green cloth, 392 pp., very good condition