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his Treasury. With unprecedented celerity, a small but well-equipped force of 10,000 men under General Sir Harry Prendergast, V.C., crossed the frontier on 14th November; and after one not very serious encounter at Minhla, occupied Mandalay within a fortnight. The king and queen surrendered and were sent to India where they remained

Fig. 44. Summer-house where King Thebaw surrendered.

till Thebaw's death, a few years ago. The remnant of the Burmese kingdom was annexed and Burma once more became an undivided nation.

The pacification^[1] occupied the next four or five years. At the outset Upper Burma was in a state of anarchy. Dacoit^[2] bands infested the country-side. Chinese brigands

1. See Sir Charles Crosthwaite's book, The Pacification of Burma.
2. Technically, a dacoit is one of a body of five or more banded together for purposes of robbery.