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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:55:04 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/44681-0.txt b/44681-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1dd80a2 --- /dev/null +++ b/44681-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3868 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44681 *** + + NOTES OF + A JOURNEY ON THE UPPER MEKONG, SIAM. + + + BY + H. WARINGTON SMYTH, + OF THE ROYAL DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND GEOLOGY, BANGKOK. + + + WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PUBLISHED FOR + THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY + BY + JOHN MURRAY, 50, ALBEMARLE STREET, LONDON. + 1895. + + + + +[Illustration: THE RAPIDS AT THE GATES OF CHIENG KONG, MEKONG RIVER.] + + + + +PREFACE. + + +I have put together the following account of a recent journey made for +the Siamese Government to the Mekong valley, chiefly for the reason +that at the present moment, when the French have "rectified" their +boundaries on the north and east of Siam to the extent of some 85,000 +square miles, more interest than usual will probably be felt in the +character of the country and the people, of whom there are not too +many reliable accounts to be found. At the same time, I feel very +strongly that there are others whose descriptions will be far more +valuable than my own, owing to their longer residence in the country, +and the greater extent of their explorations. I refer especially to +Messrs. McCarthy, Archer, and Beckett, who have done difficult and +extensive work in all parts of Siam and the Laos states; and there is +certainly no European, and probably no Siamese, that knows so much of +the configuration of the north-east as does Mr. McCarthy, who, carried +on by an apparently deep love of jungle-life, has aroused the +admiration of the Siamese and Laos at Luang Prabang by his hardihood +and energy, and the results of whose work were a constant source of +admiration to me, as I went on and saw the wildness and difficulty of +the country. + +The object of my journey was primarily the examination, for the +Siamese Government, of a supposed very rich deposit of gems (rubies +and sapphires), lately discovered on the left bank of the Mekong, +opposite Chieng Kong. My orders were to return by Luang Prabang, +Nongkhai, and Khorat, and to visit and report on all mineral deposits +of which I could get information, gathering all geological data which +were possible. The time allowed was six months, and I was not to leave +the general line of march prescribed by more than 60 miles. I need +hardly say--and every one who knows what jungle-travelling is will +understand--that my programme, to be thoroughly carried through over +the large extent of country marked out, might well occupy six years +instead of months; and that such a hurried exploration in a country +covered densely with forest--which, next perhaps to snow, is the +greatest enemy to the science of geology--could not but be +unsatisfactory to one's self. + + H. Warington Smyth. + + + + +GLOSSARY. + + Pak = mouth of a river; _e.g._ Pak Oo, mouth of river Oo. + Nam = river; _e.g._ Nam Oo, river Oo (_a_ always long, as in +_barn_). + Hoay = mountain torrent. + Keng = rapid; _e.g._ Keng Fapa, Fapa rapid. + Luang = great or chief; _e.g._ Keng Luang, the great rapid. + Doi _or_ puh = Siam word Kao = hill. + Ban _or_ Bang = house or village (used indiscriminately). + Sala = rest-house. + Muang = town or township, often district or province. + Chow Muang = literally, chief of the township = governor. + Klong = stream or canal. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PART I. + Bangkok to Muang Nan + + PART II. + Muang Nan to Muang Chieng Kong + + PART III. + Muang Chieng Kong to Muang Luang Prabang + + PART IV. + Luang Prabang (March, 1893) + + PART V. + Nongkhai to Khorat and Bangkok (April and May, 1893) + + Appendix + + + + +MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. + + The Rapids at the Gates of Chieng Kong, Mekong River + The Meinam below Chainat + Loaded Rice-Boats lying in Bangkok + Rua Pet + Rua Nua + Rua Nua from Fore End + Boat hollowed out of Trunk ready to be soaked in River + Boat opened out over Fire, Ribs and Knees in + Rice-Boats and Floating House, Paknam Pho + A Rice-Boat, flying light + Rice-Raft, Nam Oo + Wat Chinareth (Central Tower from West) + A Sala in the Nan Forests + Khorat Plateau. Entrance to Forest Dong Phya Yen + Gorge Nam Pgoi + The Paddy-Fields, Hin Valley + Wat Ben Yeun, M. Sa + East Gate of Nan + Laos Bag, of Striped Cloth + Kao Neo Wicker Baskets + Axe for hollowing Boats + Dipper for Water + A Hill Monastery, M. Le + View from M. Le, looking north-west across the Nam Nan and Watershed +of Meinam Khong + Map--Route from Muang Ngob on the Nam Nan to Muang Chieng Kong on +the Mekong River + A Gem-Digger's Clearing, Chieng Kong + Camp at the Fa Pa Rapids + One of our Elephants, with Howdah on + The Leading Mule + A Head Man--Stern View + A Head Man--Side View + A Haw--Packs dismounted + Laos Boat + Illustration of Oar and Steering-Gear + Double Boat + Village above Paku, Mekong + Forty-Five Feet Boat, Nam Oo + Map--Part of the Mekong + Khache Hill Clearings; Rapids above Pak Beng, Mekong + Dhâp and Sheath + Jungle Knives + Mouth of Nam Suung, above Luang Prabang + Approach to Luang Prabang from North + Wat Chieng Tong + Pa Chom Si, Luang Prabang + Plan of Luang Prabang and River + Stone Implements + Government Offices, Luang Prabang + Keng Kang, Nam Oo. The Plunge off the Left Bank + Keng Luang + Ascending Keng Luang, Nam Oo + Fishing Stakes and Shelters, Nam Oo + Rudder + Boats Fishing + Last of the Hills above Wieng Chan + The Ruins of Wat Prakaon, Wieng Chan + Niche and Statue + South-West Angle, Wat Susaket, Wieng Chan + Bell + Bell-Clapper and Joint + Bamboo Bell + Four-Sok Kan (1 Inch to Feet) + Two-Sok Kan + Air-Chamber + Kien + The North Gate and Nam Nun, Khoraat + Map--The Central Part of the Kingdom of Siam + + + + +NOTES OF A JOURNEY ON THE UPPER MEKONG, SIAM. + + + + +PART I. + +BANGKOK TO MUANG NAN. + + +Early in December, 1892, we left Bangkok--myself, three Siamese +assistants, and a sergeant's guard as escort, and coolies. At Muang +Chainat, owing to the rapid fall of the river, I had to send back the +Navy launch, which was drawing 3 feet 6 inches; a month earlier she +might have got nearly up to M.[1] Pechai. At Paknam Pho, where the Nam +Pho and Meiping meet, after a good deal of bargaining I secured a _rua +nua_, or north-land boat, to take me on. Boat-travelling in Siam is +much the same everywhere; and in their boat-life, it may be said, the +Siamese have attained a high degree of civilization. Very often the +boat is the home of the family, and after the rains they moor +alongside the bank and cultivate tobacco, cotton, or melons on the +slope on which the rich loam of the floods has settled down; after the +rice harvest they will set out laden with paddy for Bangkok, returning +later on with salt or other luxuries from the south. The Chinese, who +are the most energetic people in the country, carry on extensive +trading in this way. They use a very large double-ended kind of boat, +known as "rice-boat," which has a long cylindrical roof of closely +plaited work impervious to rain, extending from just before the +helmsman to within 10 feet of the bows, where the two or three oarsmen +toil at the long oars. As in all the Siamese boats, the oar is slung +in a grommet, which is turned round the top of a small pole firmly let +into the gunwale at the lower end. This gives the end of the oar +sufficient height inboard, and the oarsman stands to his work facing +forward, the outer hand on a small handle turned at right angles to +the oar, as in the Chinese sampans one sees in the straits. With a big +heavy boat, the action, with a sharp jerk at the end of the stroke, is +not pretty; but in the small _rua chang_ (or sampan) of the city the +motion is exactly that of the gondolier, and with the swaying motion +of the inside leg, which is often quite free, is extremely pretty. It +must be confessed the grommet principle, which at least keeps the oar +in its place, makes the work much easier than the slippery crutch in +which the gondolier at Venice works his long oar, and which proves a +great source of difficulty to the beginner in the art. This method is +known by the Siamese as "chaw"- (or "chow"-)ing. + +[Illustration: THE MEINAM BELOW CHAINAT.] + +[Illustration: LOADED RICE-BOATS LYING IN BANGKOK.] + +Next in size and usefulness to the "rice-boats" (which are generally +about 40 feet long, 10 feet 4 inches beam, with 6 feet 4 inches +extreme draught when loaded, and carry twenty koyans of rice) comes +the _rua pet_, which is a great favourite with the Siamese. It is +cleaner lined than the rice-boat, the cabin arrangement being the +same; that is, the long roof, the deck at the level of the gunwale +going fore and aft, and the storage-room all below, reached by taking +out the neatly fitting pieces of deck, which are made to fit into the +main cross-beams. The helmsman has a slightly raised attap roof over +his head, and he (or she, for the wife and the children down to six +years old can steer as well as the father) looks out from under this +and over the long low roof in front. The steering is done with a +rudder shipped in the usual way on the stern-post, while in the big +rice-boat it is generally on the quarter (if under sail, on the lee +quarter), kept in position by a rope grommet at the head, and another +lanyard put through an eye bored lower down. In both kinds of craft a +finely peaked calico lugsail is used with a fair wind--the matting, of +which the junks and local coast-luggers make their sails, being never +seen inland. The size of the _rua pet_ is generally 40 feet over all, +8 feet 4 inches beam, and 3 feet 4 inches draught loaded; a new one +will cost 300 to 320 ticals, say £26. Teak is largely used in the +construction, and when finished the whole is covered with a coating of +_chunam_, a mixture of oil from the Mai Yang (a magnificently +proportioned tree common in the forest), with dammar oil, which gives +a beautiful red varnish to the hull. + +[Illustration: RUA PET.] + +A third distinct type of boat is the _rua nua_ ("nua" meaning north, +and "rua" boat), which seems to be rather a Laos than a Siamese form. +It is hardly accurate to call them distinctively "Laos boats," as is +often done, as the real "Laos boat," used both on the Mekong and in +the Laos states proper on the Meinam, is simply a long dug-out canoe, +60 feet long, with an extreme beam of 4 feet. The _rua nua_ is a much +more highly developed type, and is in construction as elaborate as +those above mentioned. It is generally longer than the _rua pet_. My +boat was 56 feet 10 inches over all, with a beam of 10 feet, and +carried the owner and his crew of four men, with myself and twenty +Siamese. At night a few of us slept on shore, in the Salas or +rest-houses of the monasteries, or on the banks of sand. The stem and +stern posts are made of huge chocks of teak, the bottom flat of three +or four huge planks running the whole length of the boat if possible. +Right aft is a high-roofed and very comfortable house in which the +steersman lives; sitting on his high stool, and looking over the usual +plaited roof along the centre of the boat, he turns his long +steering-oar, which reaches far out astern over the port quarter. The +fore-deck of the boat is outrigged on each side to a considerable +distance, while a gangway runs round the centre roof outside for the +man to pole along. Up the Meiping these boats are generally ornamented +with a long high snout of timber out forward, and a high forked tail +astern. + +[Illustration: RUA NUA.] + +Of small craft the variety is endless--from the small canoes which +hawk _kanoms_, or cakes of rice, sugar, and coconut, to the small +roughly roofed boats which will just hold the owner and his wife and +child if they balance carefully, or the long snake-like boats which +are favourites with the monks at the monasteries. The people usually +build their own boats, and are very good hands at it; and one may see +them in all states of construction,--hollowed out with laborious +chipping ready for opening out over the fire, or already heated and +opened up, with knees and ribs being put in and pegged with wood (for, +like the Norwegians, they never use nails, and the result is great +durability); or ready with a six-inch "wash-streak" all round, and the +light deck at the gunwale level, which is the feature of the smallest, +if we except the _sampans_ and canoes of the capital. + +The fittings of the large species of craft above described are often +elaborate and almost yacht-like. A brass trimming to the gunwale, and +bright red prayer-papers, are generally to be seen on board of John +Chinaman. There will be pretty balustrades round the quarters where +the helmsman is, partly for show, partly to keep the small fry from +falling overboard. Curtains of plaited bamboo are hinged to the attap +roof above the helmsman, and when shut down will keep out rain or sun. +At the fore end the deck will shine with the polish given it by the +constant sitting or reclining of the crew, and inside the long low +roof, if there were only sufficient head-room, the floor would be +declared perfect for a dance. All round are lockers, in which cotton +stuffs are stored to take up-country, or betel-box, teapot, and +crockery are stowed; the comfort and luxury of some of these boats +could not be surpassed. + +[Illustration: RUA NUA FROM FORE END.] + +[Illustration: BOAT HOLLOWED OUT OF TRUNK READY TO BE SOAKED IN +RIVER.] + +[Illustration: BOAT OPENED OUT OVER FIRE, RIBS AND KNEES IN.] + +And how they do all enjoy life! There is no hurry; if going down +stream, they take it easy enough; and if going up, why overwork? A +week earlier or a week later makes no difference; and so, why not stop +and have some tea and chat as they pass some friendly village, or a +boat with whom last year perhaps they travelled in company for a +month? If the sun gets hot, they will tie up to the bank, and all +hands bathe, the children diving overboard like the best of them. If +it rains, tie up again, light up the fire and cook the rice and mix +the curry for supper; then out cigarettes all hands, and from the +cloud, to which even the stout five-year-old boy, who is the pet of +the ship, contributes his share, gaze complacently out into the damp +evening, where all the myriad life of jungle is piping shrilly in the +swaying bamboo clumps. No wonder these people are happy and +hospitable, ever ready with a joke. + +[Illustration: RICE-BOATS AND FLOATING HOUSE, PAKNAM PHO.] + +The journey to Muang Pechai took our _rua nua_ 19 days, and owing to +the falling state of the river, our old skipper had to lighten his +ship by selling off a lot of his salt; and even then she drew 3 feet, +and all hands had frequently to go overboard and haul over shallows. + +[Illustration: A RICE-BOAT, FLYING LIGHT.] + +Above the junction of the Meinam Yome and the Pechai River, the +villages which had thronged the bank gave way to a wild uninhabited +country--the villages few and poor, the paddy-fields far apart and +small. The river winds tortuously between clay banks 30 feet high and +crowned with the prickly bamboo or long grasses, or in places with +deep forests of fine timber. Here and there on the inside of the bend +would be extensive sandbanks, and on these, as being safer from wild +animals or fever, often three or four boats' crews would be camping at +night. On the concave side of the bend would be evidences of huge +falls of stuff, the result of the recent floods, with large trees or +bamboo clumps sticking out of the water. Of animal life there was +plenty--the apparently sluggish crocodile, which at the crack of a +rifle would leap his own length into the water; the familiar and +friendly long-tailed monkeys; or the white-headed fish-eagle, and +another big dark-coloured eagle with peculiarly hoarse cry. + +The order Herodiones is well represented, and I shot specimens of the +common heron (_Ardea cinerea_), and the great white heron or great +egret (_Ardea alba_); and in the low state of one's larder, which is +the normal condition in Siam, they were excellent eating. Of +kingfishers I saw two distinct forms--the smaller one (?), the pied +kingfisher of India; the larger with a stronger bill, black and white, +without the high colouring of the other. All these birds are very +common, and there are many smaller thin-legged birds running along the +sands. + +[Illustration: RICE RAFT, NAM OO.] + +As in all the rivers of Siam during and just after the rains, the +water is alive with fish, the most remarkable that I saw being the +"pla reum," a creature often over 3 feet long and the same in +depth--very broad-bodied, with a covering of large scales, the fins, +tail, and gills of a pinky red; head large and broad, with wide mouth +lined with fine rows of diminutive teeth, of which there are two lines +in the upper jaw. The tail is enormously powerful in the water, and, +until he is tired out, the drift-net used for catching him has a very +hard time of it. + +After reaching Muang Pichit, the villages occur more frequently again, +and are often palisaded; this is necessary for the protection of the +cattle, which are the favourite prey of the dacoits who wander about +in the valley of the Meinam all too freely, often with fine boats, +which in the daytime are peaceful trading craft to the eye, but at +night suddenly bristle with men. At the present time this kind of +business is an actual danger to the traders as well as to the peaceful +villagers; and at the time I went up, though the Minister of the North +(Prince Damrong) had just been on a tour to Pechai, they were +extremely bold all over the country. Once north of lat. 17° 40', and +in the Laos country, property is safer than in Eaton Square. + +One word as to the "wats," or monasteries, and the monks who inhabit +them. They are often misnamed "temples" and "priests;" but, as all who +know the customs of the Buddhist countries around will be aware, there +is no "priesthood" proper. These men are really retired from the world +for the purpose of such meditation as shall bring them as near to the +purity of their master and pattern Buddha as possible. Wherever there +are villages there are wats, supported by the contributions of the +inhabitants, who are bent on gaining merit by their good deeds to +these holy men. Like the monks of "merrie England" in years gone by, +there are good, bad, and indifferent; in many cases the prior is a +keen Pâli student and good musician, and a man of some ideas. The +yellow robe and the shaving of head and eyebrows is not exactly +fascinating at a close view, but among the monks I used to see many +very fine thoughtful faces; while I shall, I hope, always remember the +friendly evenings I spent after the day's voyage, sitting perched on +the bamboo flooring of the sala, high above the quiet stream, +listening to a duet played on their simple two-stringed fiddles. The +body is made of half a coconut-shell, over which the sounding-board is +placed. The string of the bow is between the two strings, and the +execution is wonderful. The airs, which are all handed down by ear, +are a very fast weird music, distinctly catchy, and one, "the trotting +pony," is a wonderfully sweet and descriptive air. Another instrument +is the _toka_, a hollow teak sounding-box with two strings stretched +over a number of bridges, on which the fingers of the left hand work +while the right twangs the strings: this joined in very well with the +fiddles. The intervals are not the same as ours, and the European ear +takes some time to get accustomed to the novelty; after a time, +however, one can sufficiently interpret the airs to get them on a +flute, whereon the proper intervals seem to enable one to get a +correct version of what before seemed rather a jargon. Another +favourite pursuit with the youthful monks is _tetakvoa_, a football of +open wicker-work, which is kept going by the dozen or so players +taking "full volleys" with knee or foot, and often "heading" the ball. +This, of course, is common in the villages too, but I did not see it +in the Laos states. + +It is the custom to bring up for the night, whenever possible, +alongside one of these wats, both on account of the convenience of +finding a good sala, and the greater security against robbers. There +is always a wide clear space beneath the trees which shade the +buildings of the monastery, and some of these quiet spots, from which, +as one walks up and down in the evening, one sees the long reach of +river reflecting the last light in the west, or, in the chilly +morning, the first streaks of dawn, are almost ideal places for +retirement and meditation. They, and the life which goes on within, +have been admirably described by Shway Yoe, in his book 'The Burman,' +one of the completest pictures which has ever been drawn of any +people; and the monastery life of Siam is almost identical. As the +monotonous but almost weird chant of the monks floated out across the +stream at sunset, we used to tie up for the night beneath: often it +would go far on into the night; and then long before day the great +gong would begin its clanging, and once more the chant rise among the +mists, and for us another day's poling would commence. + +In the Laos states there are many points of difference in the wats, +not only in the architecture (and the hill-wats become very simple, +with a few roughly baked bricks for the low walls, and a thatch roof +in place of the red or wood tiled roofs of Siam), but also in the +_régime_. Every boy, for instance, who goes to do his schooling at the +wat wears the yellow robe, which assumes thus almost the character of +the college gown at home, and until he has so worn it he has no title +to the name of "man." As in Siam, besides his letters, he learns the +elementary precepts taught by Buddha; but, as not in Siam, he often +goes out with his superiors into the jungle, with robe tucked up, to +hew wood or do other work for the support of the wat, which the +laymen, being too few or too poor, cannot do. + +During this month of December the north-east monsoon was blowing, but +we had curiously cloudy cool days nearly all the time, with, at the +start, slight rain at times. The minimum reading of the thermometer +was 42° Fahr. on the 22nd, just before sunrise. The two following +mornings we had 45° Fahr.; the maxima in the shade of the steersman's +house being 73°, 77°, and 76° on those days. 50°, 52.5°, 49°, 51°, +54°, 57°, 50°, and 57° were the minima for the next eight days, and +the maximum recorded was 85° at 1 p.m. At 9 a.m. the thermometer was +never above 64°. + +At Muang Phitsanulok, which stands along a very pretty sweep of water, +hid deep in its areca and banana palms, I spent a morning at wat +Chinareth. This was the nearest approach to a real piece of effective +architecture that I had seen since leaving, and I once more +experienced the feeling of exultation which one used to know at home, +when enjoying the lights and shadows of some old building where the +mind of man had worked with great result. An additional charm was the +colouring. The coloured tiles of the roofs of the wats are remarkable +in Bangkok; but far in the jungle, when the eye has become accustomed +to green for weeks, the wonderful yellow-red, picked off with green +borders, and the light-red lower buildings of the cloisters, were most +striking. The building was once very extensive, cruciform in shape, in +four distinct sections round the great central tower. The western +building is the only one in any sort of preservation, and south of it, +and at its south-western end, still stand the cloisters. Brick and +laterite blocks are the material used, the former in some cases, as in +the wall and the pillars of the cloister, being stuccoed. These little +pillars are only 6 feet high, and the roof is gabled, supported on +simple uprights, which rise from horizontal cross-beams resting on the +pillars; and so a very pretty and simple cloister walk is obtained. +The remains of such walks lie in every direction round the centre. As +for the western building itself, I was much delighted with the +interior. One enters a monk's doorway at the south-east corner from a +cloister, and is at first lost in gloom. At last the great black +columns, with their elaborate gilt ornamentation (the one decoration +they understand in Siam), grow out in the feeble light from the little +narrow windows in the low side walls. The lofty peaked roof, which +rises far into blackness, comes down gradually, sloping less steeply +to the columns, of which there are two rows, and so to the low walls, +thus as it were covering a nave and side aisles. At the eastern end +are placed the usual gilt statues of Buddha, of all shapes and +sizes--of which in one cloister alone I saw over thirty-six over 3 +feet high. Until these force themselves upon one's notice with all the +tawdry wreckage with which they are ornamented, the air of retirement +about the place is quite captivating. The central tower is some 60 +feet high, covered with niches, in which stand more "prahs," or +statues, and on the eastern side is a staircase up halfway to a +dome-shaped chamber. The entrance to this was in its day very prettily +panelled and gilded; now, alas! cobwebs and bats are legion. But the +whole effect, there almost lost in jungle, is memorable. + +[Illustration: WAT CHINARETH (CENTRAL TOWER FROM WEST).] + +At a smaller wat to the southward (wat Boria) there is a very fine +Buddha, on whose head and shoulders the light is thrown from a small +window in the roof. The effect is quite impressive, and does great +credit to the architect who designed it. This is by no means the only +place in Siam where the light is dexterously managed. + +[Illustration: A SALA IN THE NAN FORESTS.] + +[Illustration: KORAT PLATEAU. ENTRANCE TO FOREST DONG PHYA YEN.] + +Throughout this country the rivers, streams, and canals (or klongs) +are the highways, and the villages are built on their edge; the banks, +owing to the accumulations, the houses, and the preservative effect of +the palms in which the villages nestle, are often the highest points +in the country round--which in the rains becomes a series of vast +lakes, with islands here and there, and the houses standing out of the +water gaunt upon their long stilt-like piles of teak. In many parts +the buffaloes and oxen have to be driven away for miles to higher +ground; and one may meet whole villages moving with as many as forty +ox-carts in a gang, with spare oxen trotting behind their masters' +carts. + +We had met a good deal of teak being rafted down the lower part of the +river. The small rafts come through the innumerable klongs and creeks +from all directions, and then below Pichit and Paknam Pho the big +rafts are made up, and go off downwards with their crew of men, the +cock crowing merrily on the roof of the little bamboo shelter which is +their "deck-house." Passing sandbanks and shallows is often a very +difficult operation. Some three or four men go overboard astern with +long 8-feet stakes, to which the end of a long hawser is fast. The +sharpened ends they drive into the bottom, clinging on to the top end +as the strain comes on, till at last often it is too great, and the +stake is pulled over man and all. However, by degrees they will bring +the great floating mass to a standstill for the night, or, as the case +may be, they succeed in checking the after end sufficiently to keep it +to the current, while three or four more hands are working the long +transverse-set oars at the fore end in the direction required, and two +or three more will be using long poles to keep off the shallows; all +hands shout lustily the whole time. By this process, repeated hour by +hour, they travel slowly to Bangkok with the current. + +[Illustration: GORGE NAM PGOI.] + +Above Pichit we met but few rafts, and those only consisting of bamboo +and "mai kabao," which is much used for small work, such as tables, +and is brought down in small pieces, generally about 14 feet long. + +Muang Pechai is the chief town of a very extensive and important +province, which to the north-east reaches to the Mekong at Chieng Kan. +The Governor, Phya Pechai, is a fine, tall young man, who is (and this +is not too often the case in Siam) extremely popular with the people. +His evident honesty of purpose was apparent the first moment he spoke. +We had to stay here a few days to get the elephants together and buy +rice. Twelve _kanan_ (a coconut-shell) were selling at a _tical_, and +on the average each man consumes one _kanan_ per day. We laid in a +stock of 35 _thang_ (of 20 _kanan_), and were shortly after glad to +get off on our journey towards the distant hills. I should add that +this place is the starting-point for Paklai, on the Mekong, the trail +between these two places being the route generally followed by the +officials going to Luang Prabang. Apart from this it is not of much +importance, and, situated in the uninteresting plain, is subject to +high floods in the rains, as the water-marks on the piles of the +post-office and the school and court houses attest. + +Two days, passing through scrub jungle, brings the traveller to Ban +Nam Pi, where there are some iron "mines"--a series of shallow +diggings on an extensive deposit of limonite, which seems to be +"derivative" from surface decomposition. The quartz rock, which +generally underlies it, is probably a quartz sand which has been +metamorphosed under pressure into the hard material we now find. In, +or in close connection with the latter, the iron nodules are not to be +found, but near the surface, where the quartz has softened and looks +almost like a sandstone, the nodules occur in abundance. + +The great difficulty was to get any one to do any work, even in +clearing away _débris_, such is the fear of the "Pi," or spirits, who +are said to guard the mineral. Without the offer of a white bullock, +who ought first to be slain for their benefit, it was asserted that +the spirits would certainly interfere with any one attempting to do +any work. I was also told that when the iron ore is removed it brings +bad luck to any house in which it is stored, and that, if hung up on a +tree (certainly an odd place for stowing ores), it invariably causes +the death of the tree. An iron-shod bamboo is the only tool used, but +no work has been done for ages, and the small furnace which once +existed at the village is quite dilapidated. It was quite vain setting +to work myself, and giving out that I had made a permanent arrangement +with all the "Pi," even the most vicious, before leaving Bangkok; +nothing less than a royal proclamation will ever give the people +confidence enough to make the opening up of these places possible. + +On January 10 we were fairly under way for the north, high in hope and +spirits, as a party always is when the scenery begins to change, and +weary plains give way to lofty hill-ranges and distant peaks, with +cool clear streams splashing in the rocky watercourses. At Muang Fang +we came down to the Meinam once more, and camped in a very fine wat, +which none of us will ever forget; for we marched in, parched and +dusty, to find ourselves under orange trees loaded with fruit, and +then and there all hands almost bathed in the delicious cool juice. To +the south is a lovely semicircle of hills of schist, which turn the +river away to the west. To the north, the timber-clad heights rose +shoulder upon shoulder, far into the peaks of Kao Luet and Kao Taw, +dim with distance. We were at last fairly in the mountains and in the +Laos country. + +I do not wish to give what would perhaps be a wearying account of our +marches day after day, full of pleasure, of changing beauties, and of +memorable incidents as they were, but as succinctly as possible to +speak of the configuration of the country we passed through. + +We next day forded the river at Ban Taluat, and were in the province +of Nan. The trail on to Cherim (north-east) crosses a number of small +hills of clay slate, which form the outlying buttresses of the rougher +country to the north; the strike which I observed here and all the way +up on our northerly journey is pretty regularly north and south, the +dip westerly at about 25°, sometimes steeper. Water is scarce here, +and when we stopped for breakfast in the bed of a _hoay_ (or +mountain-stream) at 9, after about three hours' going, even the holes +in the sandy bed only gave us two or three pints of water; but, of +course, in January this is to be expected. To avoid the rough country +northward the trail crosses the Meinam once more, where its direction +is southerly, to Cherim, whence the march to M. Faek is a very long +and hilly one, over high ridges of clay slate, which carry one up over +1000 feet above the river. Some of the glimpses we got in the early +mornings, as we climbed upwards among the tall trunks, were quite +magnificent. These forests, in their winter clothing of reds and +yellows, with the tall grey trunks standing out clear against the deep +shadows behind, are, with the early morning or evening sun upon them, +perfectly gorgeous. As day dawns the rays climb down the heights above +you into the mists, which forthwith whirl and melt; and then, as you +rise above it all, there lies below on all sides a billowy sea of wild +forest, high on jagged ridges in the sunlight, or darkened in shadows +far down in the deep torrent valleys; in the blue distance eastward +the Nam Pat range lies dim, and north and west the eye loses itself +among endless cloud-capped ranges. + +The sala at Muang Faek is on the west side of the river, and consists +of a number of separate bamboo shelters; here we had to rest our +elephants, all eighteen of which were tired out by the climb from +Cherim, and we had to engage two more to reduce the weights on our +tired beasts. Elephants in Siam are never idle, and the animals I got +from Pechai, which belonged to the Minister of the Mining Department, +had all been hard at work hauling teak and such things before our +arrival. At Muang Faek there are a good many, and the two which now +joined us were a male and female of magnificent proportions. They had +a swinging gait, with which they travelled much faster than the +others, evidently not being accustomed to dragging heavy timber, but +to light weights and hard climbing. At first they didn't like their +new surroundings at all, and it was most curious to see how, when the +one began to trumpet and back out of the crowd, the other rushed up, +caressing him with her trunk all over, and even pushing it into his +mouth, and stood by him till he was pacified; but if she left his side +for a moment, round he whirled in search of her, and the mahout could +do nothing to stop him. I never saw them separated by more than twenty +yards the whole time they were with us; they had always to be loaded +and unloaded together, as they stood side by side, entwining their +trunks lovingly, and in the evening, after the march, they bathed +together and squirted one another in huge enjoyment. The howdahs are +simply rough saddles like big baskets, and are generally fitted with a +close plaited roof with a long peak before and behind, like those +fitted on the _kiens_, or ox-carts, of the plains. + +From M. Faek the trail, which is well trodden, passes along the steep +wooded banks of the Meinam, which, however, is here known as the Nam +Nan. The clay slate dips 65° W., and makes long black ridges in the +river-bed, which can be seen deep down in the clear water, or rising +in sharp crags above it, and forming the rapids, which make the river +a difficult highway at the best, and only navigable by the long narrow +dug-outs. + +It is a short march to Hoay Li, where there is a sala kept, as they +all are in Nan, in excellent condition; but there is a stream close +by. The next day's march was a heavy one, over more lofty ridges +without water, and it is, therefore, a good stopping-place. Leaving at +sunrise, the Laos guide and myself reached the small shelter at Hoay +Nai at one o'clock, the rest of my Siamese straggling in well blown an +hour later, and the elephants climbing down the steep watercourse at +three. This is generally the extent of a day's march, and the average +rate of jungle-travelling, allowing for stoppages, is never over 2½ +miles an hour, and a six hours' march is as much as the Siamese can +do; in these hills the elephants certainly do not do more than 2 miles +an hour. To the Laos trotting along on foot there is, however, no +limit that I ever discovered, even with the heavy loads which they +carry swung on a pole across the shoulder. With a couple of handfuls +of _kao nëo_, the hill-rice, which they steam over a pot into a +glutinous mass, very handy and portable for the day's march, and with +some dried fish and a banana, and a long pull at the fresh stream +water once in the day, they will go cheerily from morn till night, +swinging when necessary their long _dhâp_ (a sword of Burmese style, +which every man over sixteen carries if he be a man at all), to cut +and lop the branches and jungle which are for ever blocking the +tracks. This stopping-place was one of the wildest we were ever in; +nothing but jungle and mountains all around, the place itself a tiny +clearing in the bottom of a deep narrow ravine, where the monster +trunks climbed far above us, leaving only one little space of open +sky, from which at three o'clock the sun was shut out, and where at +half-past five night had fairly set in. A number of gangs going south +from Nan were camped here with us. + +Another, easy, march brought us to Muang Hin, over 1200 feet above +sea-level. Imagine a number of lovely villages clustering among their +coconut and areca palms, in a beautiful wide valley surrounded by +forests and hills, the glistening yellow paddy-stalks bright in the +afternoon sun, with the black backs of the buffalo moving lazily +about; the homely red of the little oxen, and the moving islands the +elephants make whisking the paddy in their trunks; with the village +sounds drifting down the quiet air--the distant drum at the monastery, +whose grey roof stands above the other houses, or the far-off "poot, +poot" of the "nok poot" in the jungle (a black bird, by the way, with +a long pheasant-like tail and light red wings)--and you have an idea +of the lovely scene which spread before us that evening as we emerged +from the hills. + +This valley runs parallel to the Nam Nan valley to the eastward, but +drains in exactly the opposite direction, the water running north and +turning into the Nam Nan considerably north of M. Sisaket. Three days +going down this lovely valley brought us through a rough piece of +limestone country to Muang Sa, where I stayed some days visiting +several places in the neighbourhood. This township is important, and +stands by the Nam Nan in a very fine paddy-growing plain, and is +better supplied with inhabitants than the country we had come through; +but even here the tigers are very bold, and often come right into the +villages. Small irrigation canals extend in all directions. + +[Illustration: THE PADDY-FIELDS, HIN VALLEY.] + +Like the quarrymen in North Wales, whenever there is a cry of "gold" +at Clogan, the Laos take every piece of yellow copper pyrites or iron +pyrites for gold, and we had several very hard days' travelling both +east and west after gold-mines of this description. + +The minimum readings for the last five days were 62°, 49°, 46°, +43°, and 45° Fahr., and going on one day's march over the plain to +Muang Nan, the capital of this great province, we had 60° as minimum +for several days. + +The salas stand outside the red-brick walls of Nan, and are only a few +hundred yards from the river, and here was every sign of prosperity; +every other family seems to own an elephant or two. The houses are +well built and enclosed in stout palisades; and besides the town +inside the walls, there is a very large number of houses between them +and the river. I saw numbers of dug-outs arriving with cotton, and +many too going away south. There are a few Burmese shopkeepers along +the east wall, their principal stock consisting of check-patterned +_panungs_ and _sarongs_ and small knickknacks, betel boxes, and a +little silver-work. A mule caravan of Haws from the north--as dirty +and ugly as the dirtiest Chinamen--were also anxious to sell Chinese +slippers, sheepskin coats, walnuts and sandals, and shortly after left +for the south, like others we had met at Muang Sa. From M. Sa I +gathered they were going to make westward toward M. Pray. Some of the +Burmese brought me some sapphires from Chieng Kong, and there were +some fine stones, but I was at the time surprised to find they had no +rubies. Coloured quartzes are also found in this neighbourhood, and +are cut for ornament. The rupee is the current coin, and the Burmese +shopkeepers and a Chinaman or two were the only people who would +exchange our money for us--at the rate of three salung to the rupee. + +[Illustration: WAT BEN YEUN, M. SA.] + +[Illustration: EAST GATE OF NAN.] + +The sight of Nan is the early morning market, to which before sunrise +the women are seen coming from all directions, wrapped in their long +plaids--for such, indeed, the Lao cloak is, both in pattern and mode +of wearing. The market is held within the walls in the open space, in +which stands the _sanam_, or court-house; this is surrounded on three +sides by wats, and on the west by the palace, a large house with no +very striking features. The women crouch along the sides in rows with +their baskets in front of them, as at Luang Prabang and at all the +markets one sees in this part of the peninsula. Fruit, biscuits, and +cakes, ready rolled cigarettes and flowers, are for sale, but the +quantities are very small. There is a muffled sound of subdued chatter +and laughter, and the scene is a very pretty one--till at last the +mists are gone, the sun is well up in the heavens, and the crowd melts +away as silently as it came. + +Once inside the walls the town may be described as countrified, the +houses standing in their own enclosures among their palms, where the +elephants twirl their trunks among the cocks and hens. Very fair roads +run at right angles to one another, but are always quiet and shady, +like country lanes. The chief business seems to be outside the town, +villages extending on all sides, and especially along the road to the +north, past the "old city," which is about one mile in that direction, +and where there are some very good substantial palisades still +standing, with the remains of a deep ditch and massive wall on the +north-west side, all of course very much grown over. The custom of +shaving the head all round, with the exception of the tuft at the top +which stands bristling straight on end, and gives a good grip to the +light-red or white turban which is often worn, is a cool and cleanly +one, and gives the men a smart appearance; the black tattooing, which +extends from the knee up to the middle of the body, is the other +distinctive feature throughout the province of Nan. They seldom wear +more than the panung and a short blue jacket, except in the early +mornings, when, with the thermometer at 50°, they shiver inside their +long plaids; as the day becomes warmer, the plaid is rolled up and +stowed in the bag, which is as indispensable as the _dhâp_, and goes +over one shoulder, carrying its owner's all--consisting of a small +basket of _kao neo_ for the day, some tobacco, and betel-nut, with +often a long-stemmed pipe and flint and steel. + +[Illustration: LAOS BAG, OR STRIPED CLOTH.] + +[Illustration: KAO NEO WICKER BASKETS.] + +The women tie their long hair up on the top of their heads, and when I +first got among them I was reminded of the same fashion at home, as +also by other points of resemblance one had not seen among the +Siamese--a light springy step, a pleasant-sounding voice, a well-cut +figure, and a rosy cheek. In some of the districts in the hills the +women suffer severely from goitre, and up the Nam Wa, a wild torrent +which joins the Nam Nan from the east, just below Muang Sa, three out +of every four of the women I saw had it. Up that river, too, I noticed +a lack of expression in the faces of the men and lads when in repose; +but they are rare hands at a joke, and then their faces light up +wonderfully. These men all wore short jackets to the waist, of blue +cloth, leaving a strip of tattooing between it and the blue panung. I +was astonished at the number of children I saw there, too, every man +we met in the jungle having some four or five of his sons with him. +Ten or even fifteen children is a number not uncommon for one woman, +while in Siam, as a rule, the number three is not exceeded. I imagine +the population must be now recovering from the effects of the +continual warfare which existed before Siam made its rule felt in the +north, and which no doubt accounts for the meagre population +throughout the entire peninsula. + +[Illustration: AXE FOR HOLLOWING BOATS.] + +[Illustration: DIPPER FOR WATER.] + +Of the joyful, kindly, and hospitable character of the Laos of Nan one +cannot say too much; I never saw a surly face or heard an angry word. +Their honesty is proverbial, and they are singularly temperate: +drinking _lao_ (which is distilled from rice to a large extent in Siam +itself), smoking opium, theft, and malice seem to have no attractions +for them. I believe every one who has travelled with and among them +will say the same, and will ever keep their memory stowed away in a +warm corner of the heart. + +The Rachawong was the official I saw most of--an upstanding, refined, +and gentlemanly looking man, with a touch of iron grey in his hair, a +firm step, a strong mouth, and high clear forehead. He gave me the +story of some recent trouble with Chow Sa (the Prince of Sa) without +any of that repetition, detail, or tinge of animosity one expects from +an uneducated or inferior mind when speaking of an enemy. + +Preparations were beginning for the cremation of the late "king" who +was just dead, but we left before the ceremony began. + +The punishment of death, which was inflicted for opium-smoking, +elephant-killing, or theft, has been replaced during the last few +years by a milder form; but it is noteworthy that in two years only +one man has been put in the prison at Nan. + +The music is a great contrast to that of the Siamese. At a dinner to +which I was invited at M. Sa, we had, to an accompaniment of three +bamboo flutes with very sweet low tones, a kind of duet sung by two +girls, each taking a verse in turn. The rather nasal notes would soar +up quite independently of the flutes, and then suddenly return to the +keynote, which was a lovely minor, and was sustained; then would come +a pause, with the delightful subdued refrain on the flutes again, ere +the other began. The subject was a war-song, on which they both +extemporized; but even my Siamese could not follow the words at all. +After a solo from one of the flutists, who, as usual, sang falsetto +(which is especially affected by the Siamese too in love-songs), he +and one of the damsels lighted tapers, and though in no dress but +their ordinary open dark blue jackets of panung, they performed +another kind of duet, accompanied by waving of hands and arms, and a +certain amount of not ungraceful attitudinizing. It seemed to be a +kind of sacred affair, with a slow dignified air, and they quite lost +themselves in it, though some of my Siamese were making running +comments in the usual style of the vulgar all over the world. + +As far as music goes, it was far more expressive and peaceful than +anything I had heard in Siam, as the others owned. I had with me as +assistant-surveyor a very accomplished young Siamese, who is an +excellent specimen of the best that Siam produces; he is a capital +musician after the fashion of his country, and used continually to +warble languishing love-airs to our great amusement, and also good +marching airs. He had a good ear, and soon picked up some of the Laos +tunes, and so one had good opportunities of comparing them. It was +curious, too, how he and several of the others took to English airs +they heard from me, even copying the sounds of the English words. The +proficiency of the Siamese "service" bands in Bangkok shows, too, that +they can master and appreciate our music. + +I have heard the Laos called "savages," which can only be said in +ignorance. They respect superiors, are devoted to their "chows," to +whom they are united by feudal ties, are obedient to their parents, +extremely hospitable, and perfectly honest. The stranger to them is no +enemy, but a creature that needs kindness, and invariably gets it. +Quarrelling is unknown. They respect their women, and, unlike the +Siamese, walk behind them and bear the heaviest load. They do the +jungle-work, and the women stay at home, weaving their silk panungs or +their horizontally striped petticoats at the loom beneath the house; +while the dogs, no longer vile pariahs, but cared for well, and of a +breed something like a sheepdog, sit by and watch the children play. + +Surely there is something besides savagery here. + + +[Footnote 1: M.= Muang.] + + + + +PART II. + + +MUANG NAN TO MUANG CHIENG KONG. + + +From Muang Nan my orders were to find the best route I could over the +watershed to M. Chieng Kong in the Mekong valley. As usual, the +information obtainable was very meagre. One trail goes west from Nan +till the valley of the Nam Ing is reached, when that stream is +followed down north; a second follows the Nam Nan northward, and +crosses the range north-north-westerly up the stream flowing down from +M. Yao; the third, which I selected, as showing one more of the Nam +Nan valley, follows that river up as far north as M. Ngob (lat. 19° +29'), when the direction becomes north-westerly over the rough country +which brings one to M. Chieng Hon and M. Chieng Kob. + +Leaving Nan on February 1, we followed a good tract among low but +precipitous and picturesque limestone hills, into a curiously +disforested country, where the only growth was bamboo, until we +dropped suddenly upon the river once more at Pak Ngao, where we camped +on the sandbank. We had by this time picked up, as one does in the +East, a considerable following. A Commissioner had been sent across +from Chieng Mai to accompany me up to Chieng Kong. What his actual +duties were I never discovered; he was very useful, however, in +helping me in various ways, but I would willingly have done without +him, for he was evidently one of that class of officials who grind the +people very tight when their superiors are out of sight. Another, the +brother of Chow Sa, by name Chow Benn Yenn, who was with me all the +time from Muang Sa until I reached Bangkok again, was the greatest +contrast to the former. He was a small, neatly made fellow of about +twenty-one, a splendid forest man, who, though a great swell in these +parts, travelled with only three or four lads with him, and could walk +the whole expedition off their legs. He knew and could imitate exactly +every forest sound, and as he trotted along the trail he gathered all +kinds of unlikely looking plants, which in the evening made excellent +additions to our curry. He was a born sportsman, and far more at his +ease sleeping out at night under his plaid, with his lads stretched +round him, than under any form of roof. The lads with him--for they +were mere boys--were like him, and treated him with the usual freedom +and familiarity peculiar to the Laos, but which if an order was given, +disappeared before complete obedience; and if the Chow wanted a drink +of water or half a handful of _kao neo_, they would go miles or give +their last crumbs to supply him, and many were the generous and +willing kindnesses I had to thank them for. + +We had also an official with his sons and a few men to carry their +loads from Nan, who acted as guides and a kind of walking letter of +introduction everywhere. They were a remarkably handsome lot, but the +old fellow himself used to come in very done up after the day's march. +Yet, like all the rest, he was never put out by hunger or weariness, +and would take his bag off his shoulder, throw down his long dhâp, +and squat on his heels and laugh again to think that he should be +tired and the youngsters not. + +From Pak Ngao, where we saw a few dug-outs shooting past down the +rapids, we next day passed over more of this disforested limestone +country, the dip of the rocks being westerly and very steep (50° to +60°), until we forded the river below M. Saipum. We passed through a +number of villages, with very pretty whitewashed monasteries, and high +palisades round them; the view to the north-east was a novel one, for +the usual foreground of yellow fields, with its dykes and ditches, and +its many watch-houses reared high on piles, was backed not by forest, +but by open expanses, with trees here and there, or low bamboo scrub, +and a dwarf range of bare hills behind. There is a red sandstone which +seems to underlie the limestone, and wherever that rock outcrops, the +soil is excessively thin and poor, and the denuding power of the rains +is very marked. That often accounts for low scrub jungle; but where +that is not present, as in the limestone country we had just crossed, +the absence of forest must, I fancy, be due to fires; and no doubt +when a fire is lit for the purpose of clearing ground for the hill +rice, it will, with a good breeze, clear square miles instead of +acres. I saw a great deal of this burning going on subsequently in the +Mekong valley, and I never saw results commensurate with the +destruction caused. + +The sala at M. Lim, where we slept, is on the east bank, the town +being opposite, and the "Chow Muang" or Governor came wading over with +the water up to his neck, and his clothes in a bundle on his head. +There are numbers of very fine ducks here, but, as usual, we had great +difficulty in getting any in exchange for money. They have not great +use for money here, as they themselves say, and they prefer their +ducks. This happens constantly, especially when buying rice. Each +village has enough for its consumption for the year, and very often no +more; and naturally they prefer to keep the necessaries of life to +having comparatively useless silver buried under their house. As the +country is opened up, this will no doubt change, but at present it is +not worth their while to grow more than they can consume themselves. + +Again, a few irresponsible travellers have been in the habit of +provisioning themselves at the expense of the villages without paying, +and the consequence is that when a European appears (or, indeed, often +a Siamese official), there is a general stampede into the jungle, and +everything is hidden away, for they expect nothing but robbery at his +hands. Until, after infinite pains, they are persuaded that they will +be dealt honestly by, and treated with the consideration which the +wildest from their own hills would never fail to show, you can get +nothing but negatives, and small blame to them. It is humiliating in +the extreme, after travelling with men for some weeks, to be asked one +night over the camp fire why the _nai farang_ (the foreign master) +doesn't kick and thrash the men on the march, or flog the Chow Muang +into handing over all the rice in the village, and do other not less +objectionable things. Yet such is the conduct expected of one, as a +matter of course, from the past repute of the _farang_ which travels +far, and no doubt also does suffer from exaggeration. Still, it shows +what our methods too often have been. With these people you get the +measure you mete to them; firmness is first of all necessary, but +brutality is lowering to all concerned, and never has done anything +but harm, and is more far-reaching than the contemptible authors of it +understand. + +Another day's march through a good deal of evergreen brings one, after +crossing the Nam Pur, flowing in from the east, to M. Chieng Kan. An +hour further north is M. Chieng Klan; and the confusion of the two +names is endless. The latter is the better stopping-place, though the +former is very prettily situated, on the bank of the Nam Nan, among +very fine clumps of bamboo and a great many banana palms and +sugar-cane plantations. Of the latter every man slings a couple of +stalks over his shoulder for the day's journey, and most refreshing +they are. The cakes of brown sugar made from them, of which one +generally takes a piece or two to give a taste to the _kao neo_, are +not considered good for the digestion, and quite rightly, and so only, +just enough is taken at a time to give a taste. The sugar from the +sugar palm of the plains, however, never has any evil results, and as +it has a pleasant flavour, when we got back to it in the Khorat +plateau, we consumed large quantities. + +[Illustration: A HILL MONASTERY, M. LE.] + +The next day M. Le was reached over sandy, undulating jungle country. +On foot one could easily have reached M. Ngob, but the elephants could +not do it, being, as I mentioned before, in bad condition. I was not +loth to rest the night here, it being one of the most beautiful of the +hill-enclosed valleys we had been in. From the sala we looked out over +the terraced paddy fields, with the winding silver of the river below, +and abruptly beyond it shoulder upon shoulder of heavily timbered +ranges rising into the peaks which divided us from the Chieng Hon +plain to' the west and north-west. Eastward, and just over us, were +low steep hills, on a spur of which was a small hill monastery, whence +the bells on the gables sent down a gentle tinkling as they were +swayed by the strong south-westerly breeze which was sweeping a watery +rustling sound out of the bamboos and coconut palms. + +The salas being small, the people of the village ran up in half an +hour one of their bamboo lean-to shelters for the men, but the Laos as +usual seemed to prefer lighting a fire and lying out in the open round +it m their cloaks, there being always one man sitting up on watch and +supplying fuel when necessary. + +M. Ngob is in a narrow hollow, which I should not care to visit in hot +weather, for the wind hardly gets into the place. We had nearly a +whole day's rest here. A mule caravan of Haws came in from the north +and rendered the otherwise peaceful air hideous with their loud, +hoarse talking. But for them a Laos village is singularly quiet; no +sounds but the quack, quack of the fat ducks who share the pools in +the stream with a few laughing children, the grunts of a family of +pigs, the occasional trumpet of an elephant who has been up to some +playful game or other of which the master does not approve, and the +steady thump, thump of the small foot rice mills, which the women work +apparently from morn till night. + +Before sunrise, as the sonorous chant rises from the wat, these mills +are at work too, and often the last thing at night one hears them +still. Mr. McCarthy has described them, but I may just mention that +they consist of a piece of tree-trunk hollowed into a funnel-shape, +into which the rice is put, and a long lever worked at the outer end +by the foot, the woman stepping on and off, fitted with a hammer-head +of wood, of which several of different sizes are used. And while the +mother works her loom close by, the two daughters will work the mill +and chat and chaff the passers-by. + +Minimum readings for the last four days, 52°, 55°, 57°, 58° Fahr. +The maximum in one of these salas is generally about 82° for this +month at 2 to 3 p.m. The winds were now south-westerly, very strong, +with bright fierce sun, but cumuli lying on the higher peaks after 4 +p.m., sometimes a slight shower falling from them. + +One mile north-west from M. Ngob, the Nam Nan,[2] here known as the +Nam Ngob (and actually the people did not know that it was the same +river as the Nam Nan below), runs over shallow pebble beds, where we +forded to the west side. This day's march is a very good example of +the kind of travelling to be done. The tracks over the hills are +either in the bed of the "hoays," or streams, far down in a perpetual +night, where the coldness of the water chills the feet and legs +through and through; or, after a steep climb, high up on narrow spurs +leading to the central range, where the forest is thick enough to keep +off all the wind but not the rays of the sun after 10 a.m. Once on +these ridges no water is to be had for half a day, and the stick of +sugar-cane or water-bottle of cold tea, the best of all beverages, is +worth its weight in gold. However, drinking on the march is a ruinous +habit. The Laos sensibly rinse the mouth when they can, and only drink +at the end of the day. + +[Illustration: VIEW FROM M. LE, LOOKING NORTH-WEST ACROSS THE NAM NAN +AND WATERSHED OF MEINAM KHONG.] + +Following up Hoay Sakeng over red sandstone rocks, the track then +climbs on to a long ridge, leading, with many rises and falls, to a +small gap in the range, about 1100 feet above the river. We met on the +way four pack oxen coming, with their pretty deep-toned bell, down the +path, and on reaching the summit had a most glorious view of the thick +forests of the Chieng Hon valley, with the small clearings here and +there and surrounded on all sides, as far as one could see in the dim +haze which accompanies the south-west wind, by hill ranges. Twenty +minutes down a steep drop at a run brought us into a different climate +and the most perfect valley I was ever in. Far above, the sun +glistened here and there on the wide-spreading fronds of huge +tree-ferns; for the rest; we were almost in darkness, with orchids and +great twisted creepers climbing on the tree-trunks dim above us. The +stream is known as Hoay Tok, and down its bed we stumbled, cutting +ourselves about on the rough outcrops, the strike of which, with a +steep westerly dip, was at right angles to our course, and made most +unpleasant travelling. Two hours more across a partially cultivated +plain, and we passed another Haw caravan encamped, and reached the +sala. The elephants did not arrive until 5 p.m., it having taken them +twelve hours to reach M. Chieng Hon. + +At M. Pechai I had bought some ponies. There are not many there, and +the choice was limited, while the price, forty to sixty ticals, was +heavy. These animals, as long as we were in flat country, were useful, +but they were not good mountaineers, and I found travelling on foot +much pleasanter, while, as a general rule, the more exercise men get +in these jungles, the healthier they are. On this day each one of my +Siamese assistants had a fall, for they, as a rule, stuck to their +ponies' backs, whatever the trail was like; this often means getting +one's face and hands tremendously knocked about, frequent +dismountings, slow progress, and endless bother, while it also stands +in the way of surveying or careful observation of the lie of the +ground. + +There was a very heavy, damp mist when we pushed on next day through +the Dong Choi, a magnificent forest, which almost covers this plateau +with the scenery of Hoay Tok continued, only on a larger and more +imposing scale. The size of the ferns, and especially of the +hart's-tongues, which clung in masses, with clumps of orchids, far up +on the bare trunks of the trees which form the roofing of branch and +leaf above, was quite astonishing to me. + +Camp was made by a small sala in a wild clearing at Sala Pangue, from +which the sun was early excluded by the hills and forest on the west, +which we were to cross on the morrow. The tired elephants had a +well-earned afternoon's rest. To give them time to get in before +sunset, next day we got under way at 3.30 a.m., every six or eight men +having a torch about eight feet long of split bamboo. These early +marches are a sort of scrambling dream, and should not be resorted to +except under compulsion, as, although the cool morning air is pleasant +for the first hour, every one soon gets very done up, and stumbles on +hazily. Sunrise puts new life into one, but the want of the early +morning sleep makes one feel the heat of the day far more. Moreover, +of course, nothing of the country is seen. We rose for an hour and a +half up over hills, and one or two of the ponies had some tremendous +falls, and were soon left struggling behind. At sunrise we were +descending once more among the wildest and most rugged scenes into the +valley of Nam Pote, and were now fairly in the Mekong drainage. This +was another of the wonderful valleys which are so common here; and the +temperature was just over 10° Fahr. below that of the hill ridges +when we left them at 6 a.m. About 8.30, after crossing and recrossing +the stream about thirty times, and being regularly chilled, I stopped +at a small sala, and was glad to bask in the sun. An hour and a half +later the others came up, and we breakfasted. Chow Benn Yenn's sharp +eyes had seen some deer and two tigers, but they were off in a moment. +Where the former is the latter follows, but neither will stay when he +detects the sound of man coming through the forest. The tiger takes +the greatest trouble to avoid a man, unless very famished. Often then +he is rendered bold enough to attack a solitary man, when squatting +down to eat his _kao neo_, and it is thus that accidents occur; but he +will seldom face two men, and that is why one always meets the Laos in +couples, if not in greater numbers. + +At 10.30 we continued down the valley; rock apparently red sandstone, +but so decomposed at its outcrop as to give no clue of reliable +character. Passed numbers of wild banana trees, which do not bear +fruit. They are very aggravating to tired men, who hear the cry of a +jungle fowl, and coming round a corner see the broad leaves of the +bananas; naturally we jump forward, thinking to get a rest and a bunch +of bananas, and, perhaps, a fowl or some eggs for the evening's +supper, but find nothing and no sign of man or fowl. + +The course is roughly north-west until the hills fall back, and the +valley opens on a flat piece of paddy land, bounded north and south by +lofty limestone rocks, with, to the west, a barrier caused by a steep +north and south ridge, over which lies M. Kob, but round which a long +_detour_ has to be made to the north-west, down the Nam Pote valley, +to where the Nam Kob meets it. Passing Ban Tam, Ban Prow, and Ban +Faek, prosperous-looking villages, we reached the junction at one +o'clock. After a brief rest in the shade, in another hour and a half, +after fording Nam Kob pretty frequently (making about the ninetieth +time we had been in the water that day), we reached the sala of M. +Kob. The others began to arrive about four o'clock, and the elephants +at 6.30, looking very sorry; and we had to give them a complete rest +next day. + +[Illustration: Map--Route from Muang Ngob on the Nam Nan to Muang +Chieng Kong on the Mekong River From a Compass Survey by H. Warington +Smyth, F.G.S. 1893.] + +From the character of the scenery here, and at the top of the Nam +Pote, where we struck it, I imagine the hills we came down among were +limestones overlying the sandstone again; all round the Muang are the +wildest and most fantastic peaks, and, with the steep heights hanging +immediately over it, it was more like a Norwegian valley than anything +I have seen. + +The wats here are very simple, the houses neat, but small; bricks are +baked in the valley, and the rice-mills thump cheerily and echo off +the hills all day. There were some pack oxen, which came over from the +westward; but the Laos who drove them, whether from distrust of us or +not, I do not know, would not converse with any of us. The bells of +these caravans as they go trotting down the valleys are beautiful. +First goes a large, deep-toned bell, swinging between the packs of the +leader; the next is a third above it; and the rear is brought up by a +treble bell. The little oxen trot in their order without other +guidance than that of the bells and an occasional shout, one man +leading, another to every five animals, and one to bring up the rear. +The baskets are hung on each side of the hump, with often an +ornamental erection between them; there are fore and aft stays of +leather, and these prevent the packs coming off when the animals are +climbing. We had met some before--and met and used others afterwards; +however pretty they look as they trot along, their bells tinkling far +over land and forest, they are not pleasant to travel with, especially +in the rains, when streams are all in flood, for it is impossible to +keep anything they carry at all dry. + +While we were resting here a fire occurred, and two houses were burnt +to the ground in about seven minutes. My Siamese, I must say, worked +very well and pluckily, the Laos seeming quite dazed by the +catastrophe. We cut down a row of banana palms, split up the trunks, +and threw them on the flames, by the water and moisture in them +beating down the fire, so that two neighbouring houses were saved, +with the outhouses, in which, in huge bins, the rice was stored. For +this last the poor fellows who only arrived home at night to find +their houses burned, were most grateful; they came to thank us, and I +was very much struck with the conduct of my people, who, beginning +with my boat-boy, a Mon, or Peguan (who at the fire and on every other +occasion had shown himself a very smart, handy, and good-hearted +fellow), selected what clothes they could spare, and sent the two Laos +men away loaded with raiment, and with tears of thankfulness in their +eyes. It gives an additional pleasure to work with men who can act +like that. + +Thermometer readings on the march from Sala Pangue were--3 a.m., 42° +Fahr.; 5.30 a.m., on the hills, 60°; 6.30 a.m., in Nam Pote valley, +50°; 9 a.m., ditto, 59°; noon, in the shade. Ban Faek, 87° Fahr. My +aneroids had both been injured by my careless people, and I could get +no reliable heights. + +From M. Kob the trail follows up the Nam Tan in a general +south-south-west direction, and crosses a low watershed into the bed +of the Hoay Chang Kong, another rocky stream disastrous to foot gear. +It then crosses low ridges and jungle, passing several small villages +to Ban Ton Kluay, 6½ hours' walk, though most of the people took 8, +and the elephants over 9. + +Thermometer minimum--54° at sunrise in heavy damp mist; strong +south-westerly breeze at noon; thick haze all day. + +Six hours from here, over flat country, past M. Chieng Len, and in a +general north-north-west direction from that place is M. Ngau, which +gives its name to the Nam Ngau flowing north-north-east to the Mekong, +and meeting it half a day's boat journey below Chieng Kong. We met a +number of traders from the north carrying their loads; they were +smoking long-stemmed pipes, and looked very Burmese in face. They wore +blue sailor-looking trousers, with red trimmings round the ankle, +where they were very loose, and small blue jackets with bead +trimmings, while some had marvellously wide straw hats; with their +uniformity of dress and its high colouring they made a very pretty +picture crossing the yellow paddy fields. + +The Chet Muang at Chieng Len was in trouble with the Nan authorities +because he is, unfortunately, under the disaffected Chow Sa, and far +away from there as he is, and utterly ignorant, as he protested, of +his proceedings, it seemed likely that he would be involved in the +disgrace of his chief. + +From M. Ngau the trail crosses the upper end of the long range which +forms the watershed of the Nam Ing and Nam Ngau, along the western +side of which for three days we travelled, sleeping at Muang Ing and +Ban Pakeng. From the latter place, leaving at a quarter to two in the +morning. Ban Lung was reached at a quarter to seven. Here we forded +Nam Ing, and crossed a burning plain almost entirely devoid of +vegetation for four hours more, and then in a huge and very +comfortable sala disposed of the contents of our haversacks with the +pleasant feeling of having reached our goal. Chow Benn Yenn meanwhile +had left us for a day or two's visiting at some other villages east of +Nam Ing which owed allegiance to Chow Sa. Consequently, when I got in, +there were only the Laos guide, my Mon boatman, and two lusty young +Siamese servants who had kept up; and, absurd as it may seem to +Western ideas, the Chieng Kong people took some hours to believe that +I was come on genuine Government business; for a man is measured in +these parts according to the number of his following, and until the +men and elephants turned up I was often looked at askance. This was +sometimes very amusing and sometimes not, especially when trying to +procure coconuts or bananas! The sense of hospitality was, however, +generally quick to prevail. + +The three days from Muang Ngau were through forest, the villages lying +mostly on our west in the flat land nearer the river. We passed +several forest fires, which where they approached the trail made very +hot travelling. + +The barrenness of the country between the Nam Ing at Ban Lung and +Chieng Kong seems to have been originally caused by fires. The only +cultivation was by a muddy stream at Ban Satan, a name which struck me +as particularly appropriate in such a wilderness. There is an absence +of water, I was afterwards told, which prevents cultivation of any +value, and owing to this the Burmese gem-diggers have given up trying +to follow indications of stones on this side. + +The first view of the Mekong fairly took one's breath away, the water +here spreading out into a wide placid river of half a mile in width, +winding slowly away among a few sandbanks until lost in the hills to +the south-east. Across, on the north, lies a long low series of hills, +from which the gem-bearing Hoays seem all to take their rise. + +Thermometer minimum last four days--59°, 64°, 60°, 58°; maximum in +sala, 90°, very thick haze all day, with strong breezes from south +towards noon. + + +[Footnote 2: The river evidently takes its rise from Doi Luang (a +large hill mass south of M. Hongsawadi), 19° 35' N., 101° 24' E.] + + + + +PART III. + +MUANG CHIENG KONG TO MUANG LUANG PRABANG. + + +Muang Chieng Kong became our head-quarters for ten days, and from +there I made a boat expedition to the Chieng Sen boundary, north-west; +and also one north and east inland, the object being the examination +of the gem deposit, its extent, character, and, if possible, its +value. + +From the Chieng Sen boundary at Hoay Nam Kung, extending for some +miles towards Chieng Kong, is a rapid piece of river tearing through a +series of gneissose and schistose rocks, which form high hills on +either bank. The gem-bearing gravel is not found until several basalt +sheets are encountered below Nam Ngau, a largish tributary flowing in +from the north. The hills on the left bank then become lower and more +distant, and these, consisting of a dark crystalline rock, the exact +mineralogical character of which has not yet been determined, seem to +be the source of all the stone-bearing gravels which are found +deposited in the streams flowing from them. The average thickness of +the gravel is 5 to 20 inches, and consists of quartz and fragments of +the crystalline rock above mentioned. The overburden is a reddish clay +soil of an average depth of 10 feet, through which the Burmese, who +are found wherever there are gems, sink large pits some 10 feet +square. A sharpened bamboo will be often first driven down to +ascertain if the gravel underlies the spot, it having been found very +capricious. + +Explorations were made in the neighbourhood for many years +before--about two years ago--the first paying gravel was found; the +Burmese relying all the time on the presence of what is known as +_nin_, small black stones which have turned out to be black spinel, +and are always to be found in close proximity to the sapphire. When +washing gravel in a stream these little water-worn crystals are found; +it will only need industry and time to find the gem gravel, which will +be somewhere near, although in part perhaps denuded away. The _nin_ +have been followed for years, and now there are over two hundred men +reaping the reward of their indefatigable patience. I found _nin_ and +struck gravel in all the streams flowing in on the left bank between +Nam Ngau and Hoay Pakham, which is the main scene of the operations at +present, and lies about 1 mile below Chieng Kong. On the right bank +there are apparently no signs whatever, except at Hoay Duk, a stream +exactly opposite Hoay Pakham; but only a few _nin_ are to be seen +here, and there is no water for washing purposes. East and north of +Hoay Pakham, again, are half a dozen more streams flowing, from that +side of the range I have spoken of as the source of the gravel, into +the Nam Hau, which eventually reaches the Mekong. Some of these have +been found to be rich, and on one the Burmese built their bamboo +villages and made their clearings; but after a fortnight's work the +places were abandoned as being terribly unhealthy, sunk deep in the +jungle valleys, and very difficult to get stores to. + +[Illustration: A GEM-DIGGER'S CLEARING, CHIENG KONG.] + +When the present large workings are exhausted, both those and the +streams towards Nam Ngau will get their fair share of attention, no +doubt. The distance between the extreme points where the gravel exists +and the limit of our present knowledge is over 10 miles, but within +that area it is not by any means continuous, and any attempt at +estimating the probable output and the extent of reserves could only +result in the most erroneous conclusions. Owing to the secrecy +observed by the Burmese in the matter among themselves, and the fact +that they usually travel long distances to find a market for their +better stones, the output up to the present of saleable stones is +merely a matter of conjecture, and is variously estimated by the +headmen as from 3 to 6 catties, say, over 22,000 carats perhaps. One +man showed me what he declared was the result of his year's +work--three good stones of rich colour and good water, for which he +expected to get 100, 60, and 50 Rs. respectively, and some forty small +ones (some of them of very poor colour), which after an hour's +bargaining one could certainly have got for 50 Rs. He had, besides, of +course, numberless fragments and scraps which were valueless. The +chances are, from what I saw, that this is a fair example of what the +average digger obtains; but it must be remembered that no information +voluntarily given by the Burmese on this head is ever reliable. They +invariably keep something in reserve, for they never feel quite +certain what the Englishman may be up to with his questioning; and +even among themselves the dodges resorted to to hide the exact truth +are very amusing. In buying stones one always has the worst produced +first, and after an exhaustive pick out of them all, presently, +slowly, out of infinite wraps of paper and cotton, come some better +ones, and after an hour or so the best are produced, and probably this +is the real extent of the man's stock; but if through impatience one +closes the bargains too early, the best are never produced, but will +be kept for the future, and will eventually be taken over to Rangoon, +or even Calcutta. + +In a few years' time there will, no doubt, be more men at work, and +larger areas of pits in work. At the present moment the ground in Hoay +Pakham has only been dug out for a distance of half a mile from the +flood level of the Mekong, with a breadth averaging 80 yards. Work is +only carried on in the morning, when the pit will be bailed out dry; +at noon the digging and washing ceases, and the men return home, and +sit all the afternoon in their houses chaffing, talking, and picking +over and enjoying the sight of their stones, in which they find great +delight. The washing consists simply of cleaning the basket of muddy +gravel with water, and picking over the remains twice by hand. The +operation is very quick, and the eye never misses the faintest sign of +colour. + +With regard to the rubies I had expected to find, from my own +observation, and subsequently from conversation with the diggers, I +soon saw that not only have none been ever found, but none of the +signs of the ruby as known at Chantabun or in Burma have been seen. A +Siamese official who had been sent here a year ago by the Government +to test and report on the place, seeing some small garnets, thought +they must be rubies, and thinking to advance himself at head-quarters, +bought a very fine Burmese ruby for 70 Rs., and sent it down with his +report as having been found in Chieng Kong! From this, of course, very +large hopes of the character of the find had been entertained: I fear +now he is somewhat in disgrace. Fever, due to the thick forest +standing high overhead all around, and the peculiar sickliness always +caused by the upturning of new soil, especially in the damp beds of +the streams, is very prevalent. + +The Burmese houses are very different from the Siamese and Laos--mere +bamboo shanties only lifted some 2 feet off the ground, but with all +sorts of handy little shelves, window-shutters, doors and lockers, +which are generally absent from the others; and in these, as being +easily and quickly constructed, the men always live at their diggings. +I do not know the character of the Burmese in this respect at home, +but in this country they are always overflowing with friendliness and +hospitality to any Englishman; and the headmen at Chieng Kong, +especially one by name Monghu, who became a general favourite with my +people, and who accompanied us and worked with us everywhere, I can +never forget. + +The Chow Muang here was lately dead, and just before we left the +cremation ceremonies began in the big square before the principal wat. +At night the place all round the funeral pyre was lighted with +candles; three or four of the head monks were reading in a kind of +chant from their Pali manuscripts from the tops of temporary bamboo +pulpits, and among the booths standing round; the people squatted in +their cloaks, listening to music or hearing descriptive songs and +stories, which now and then produced roars of laughter. In the day +sports were going on, and there was some very good boxing between the +champions of neighbouring villages, who at the end each got three +rupees, victor and vanquished alike. The men strip, and their names +and the places they hail from are given out. They then salute the +master of the ceremonies in the ordinary Laos fashion, touching the +ground with their forehead on bended knees, raising the clasped hands +to the head, and proceed to business. For some moments they warily +watch one another, stepping and dancing round with a good deal of +attitudinizing of an alarming description, by the extravagance of +which we can generally tell the best man. The blows are rather +round-armed, it is true, and kicking is allowed; but it is wonderfully +quiet and masterful, and when they warm to it, very hard rounds are +fought. The umpires squat round ready to separate the men, call time, +and generally see fair play, and at the end of each round the two men +squat down, and are offered water out of silver bowls, the bearer +respectfully on his knee handing them the ladle. The keenness of the +onlookers is tremendous, especially when the men are well matched; but +what produced most enthusiasm was a fight between boys of about ten +years old. The little fellows showed, I must say, a great deal of +pluck and more science than most of us did at that age at school; they +kept their tempers well, and at the end of each round their seconds, +stalwart fathers and uncles, were beside themselves with delight, +stroking their heads and dancing round them with tears of laughter +running from their eyes. + +There were some sword and sword-and-spear dances by two men in slow +time to music, with silver-handled weapons, and accompanied by the +gestures in which all these nations take such pleasure. + +During the time I was in Chieng Kong district the weather was getting +warmer. Up the river we had the minimum 54° three days running, just +after sunrise, at which time heavy mists shrouded the river valley, +and subsequently 56°, 58°, 60° were the minimum at the same time. +The maximum in the shade at the sala or under the coverings in the +boats was 91° at 1 p.m.--the average 89°. But in the jungle, where the +south-west winds could not reach, the heat was very great, and the sun +was very fierce, especially on the great banks of sand, which are so +characteristic of the river. The height I make 1250 feet from the sea. + +These sands, over which we used to trudge for miles from stream to +stream, got so hot after 11 a.m. until about sunset, that the men +could not bear walking on them, and took to the water; the glare is +tremendous to the eyes. After sunset the rocks retained their heat so +that some long-haired Shan dogs we had with us would not lie or walk +upon them. There is a great deal of mica, iron pyrites, and magnetic +iron ore in these sands; and washing among the bushes, which in many +places fringe the higher parts, or some feet down, where a larger +gravel lies, one seldom fails to find a small speck or two of gold. +The water itself, at this season, rushes through a deep gorge between +the rocks and sandbanks, which form its flood-bed, a narrow but very +deep column of water, working out for itself, where a bluff rock sends +a huge eddy whirling inwards, broad bays often 50 yards across. While +the distance between the high-water level on the opposite sides of the +valley will be nearly half a mile, the stream itself will often work +through its deep channel only 200 yards, and even less in width. The +scale of things here is not so large as that below, where the volume +of water has increased; but the character of the river is much the +same. + +[Illustration: CAMP AT THE FA PA RAPIDS.] + +The camps we formed on the sand spits, lulled at night by the thunder +and roaring echoes from the rapids, were wild and beautiful in the +extreme. The jungle, too, was full of night sounds--the bark of the +deer or the "peep, peep" of the tiger, of which we often heard three +or four at a time; and in the morning their tracks were everywhere +upon the sands. It is curious and worth remarking that when one got 4 +or 5 miles inland on the left bank no traces of tiger were to be +found; while, on the other hand, the elephant tracks became very +numerous, and were really useful in threading the jungle; the +destruction they work among the trees is wonderful. They seem, +however, to avoid the tiger zone near the river, as the tigers in turn +prefer the waterside, the latter probably finding greater facility for +hunting deer there. There is no doubt that any one who has the +inclination, and no work and plenty of time, might have excellent +sport by watching for tigers at the drinking-places, which are +generally well marked, and are in retired bays, among rocks and +bushes. + +Bananas and coconuts are very scarce at Chieng Kong; and on the third +day after our arrival I had to send the elephants on their way home, +owing to want of wholesome young green food. This all points, with the +barrenness we noticed coming across the Nam Sug valley, to a bad soil. +They complain that in the hot months, May and April, it is terribly +hot and dry, and that "nothing grows;" meaning thereby, no doubt, +things do not grow well. + +[Illustration: ONE OF OUR ELEPHANTS, WITH HOWDAH ON.] + +The departure of our elephants was a day of mourning to all of us. The +mahouts, very rough Siamese, burnt as black as Hindus, with long locks +of hair hanging round their necks, had been very good fellows, and, +however long their days, had never complained. All those who have +travelled with elephants feel the fascination of the beasts, with +their quiet, patient, and sagacious way of treating life; the merry +twinkle which sparkles from the small, sharp eyes, and the endless +little pranks they are ever ready for; and after some weeks of +travelling many a tired and weary day together, this becomes quite an +affection; and be sure, if you are fond of an elephant he knows it, +and reciprocates it very soon. So we were all very sorry to see them +swing off for the south again. + +The voyage from Chieng Kong down to Luang Prabang (or Muang Luang, the +"great town," as it is usually called) occupies five days if there are +no interruptions; the return journey takes from ten to fifteen days +against the current, there being a number of bad rapids. The scenery +is magnificent, and far surpasses anything I saw on the Mekong below. +The river has cut its way almost at right angles to the strike of the +rock, a series of schists which appear to have been considerably +distorted, until the neighbourhood of the Nam Oo is reached, when the +limestones which form the splendid scenery of that river come in. The +latter rocks are also seen on the right bank of the big river, where +it takes its southerly course south of Ban Soap Ta (one day from +Chieng Kong), and there seems to be on the top of a synclinal. They +are always characterized in this country by the peculiar dense +forests, like the Dong Phya Yen in Lower Siam, the Dong Choi round +Chieng Hon, and another one we touched in the valley of the Nam Ngau, +east of the Nam Ing, known as Pa Kung Ngau, where the sun never enters +owing to the dense foliage, and the elephant tracks form the only +paths. We took twelve days going down, making on the way some short +expeditions into the country. The inactivity in the boats soon made +itself felt, and after five days there were ten men sick out of the +twenty Siamese, six with fever and the others with sores, to which +they are very liable, any scratch or wound of the slightest +description, especially about the feet or legs, always giving rise to +them; in fact, I kept one knife on purpose for lancing these things. +Wherever we go sick people are brought, and the chief ailments among +the Laos were fever, affections of the eyes, and dysentery. The latter +is generally taken in hand too late, and ends fatally. + +The first day from Chieng Kong we brought up on the south bank, at the +mouth of the Nam Ngau I have already mentioned; and I was two nights +away with only two or three men visiting some gold washings in the bed +of the river. The percentage is extremely small, and is the same in +character though not so rich as in the Mekong sands. The usual small +fee of two rupees a year is paid by each man. They work waist deep in +the cold rushing stream, and cannot go on for more than ten minutes at +a time. A basket is sunk under water with one foot upon it, and the +gravel from the bank prized out into it with the usual iron-shod +bamboo; it is then lifted out, carried ashore, and washed. This +operation, here and throughout the Mekong district, is done by a man +standing in the water, with a wooden tray in front of him, shaped like +a Chinaman's peaked hat, the diameter 30 inches, and depth at the +centre 5 inches. As it floats on the water, moored by a string to a +stone, the basket of gravel is emptied into it, and the larger stones +picked out. A rotary motion is given to the pan by the continual +shifting of the hands from right to left; at the same time the water +is expelled, or dipped up, and sent running round the edge by a +depression of the rim being sent round "against the sun," until all +the light material is gone. What remains is usually a little magnetic +iron ore, with a speck or two of very fine "float" gold for every four +baskets of 14 inches diameter and 3½ inches depth. It is then washed +carefully into a small oblong box, in which it is carried home and +handed over to the women who, I am told (for I never saw it done), use +mercury obtained from Chinese merchants for the subsequent freeing of +the gold. On the way to Nongkhai we met several gangs of men, +generally seven or eight in number, living in their boats and engaged +in washing in this way in the sands of the river, in which, according +to all I could gather, the gold seems to be redeposited in small +quantities by every year's flood season. + +[Illustration of Chinese peaked hat] + +What the gold prospects of the country are, there have been no +sufficient trials to show, but with the advent of the French on the +banks of the river we may soon know something more on this head. The +Laos consider they do very well if they get 2 hun per man in a day (5 +hun = 1 fuang or 1/8 tical); but their work is very intermittent, and +the search for gold seems to have the proverbial effect upon them, for +in several cases I found their assertions were not over-truthful. + +Up such rivers as the Nam Beng, Nam Ngau, Nam Oo, and Nam Suung, the +gold seems to be in old water deposits which extend beyond the present +stream beds, and will probably be found to cover considerable areas in +the valley bottoms. + +Both calcite and quartz exist in great abundance in the mountain +ranges we came in contact with, and to the denudation of these two +minerals a great deal of the alluvial gold presumably owes its origin, +as well as perhaps from the crystalline limestones. I was, however, +unable ever to lay hands on an undoubted gold-bearing vein of either +character, nor could I get any information of occurrence of the metal, +except in alluvial sands and gravels. Some large nuggets have been +found up the Nam Beng and Nam Oo, and up the former river a Chinaman +from Luang Prabang had tried systematic working of a kind. After six +months' work he lost 200 ticals; and when a Chinaman loses money, +especially in a country where money will go so far, the chances are +that no one else will make their fortunes. I subsequently found at Pak +Beng that the Kache he had employed had swallowed all the decent-sized +gold obtained! This is another instance of the difficulties the miner +has to meet with in Siam; and with fevers, superstition, robbery, and +physical difficulties, the list is a rather alarming one. + +This valley of the Nam Ngau is inhabited by people known as Lus. They +wear their heads shaved, except for the top tuft, like all the Nan +men, with enormously loose and wide blue trousers, often trimmed round +the ankle with red; short blue jackets with beads and touches of red; +and red, green, or white turbans. They are magnificently made men, +with very pleasant countenances, tattooed as usual from knee to waist, +but, when clothed, more like the stage-pirate; in fact, a gang of +them, with the long dhâps and an old flintlock or two among them, +standing chatting, laughing, and smoking their long-stemmed pipes, +would make an ideal buccaneer's crew. + +At Ban Muang, where we slept each night, the people were the most +friendly I had met; some fifty of them came out to greet us on our +arrival, and we had an orchestra of four flutes in the evening to play +us to sleep. The children and women were extremely pretty. Some +distance south of this place the forest already mentioned as Pe Kung +Ngau begins. Men travelling in it, and even the people living on its +skirts, are subject to a very violent fever, which causes complete +prostration in a few hours, and is generally fatal. The face and +breast become quite yellow, presumably owing to the stoppage of the +bile-duct. + +A big dyke has lately been cut from the Nam Ngau to take the water to +the eastern side of the valley for purposes of irrigation. Its depth +and width are about 10 feet, and it must be some miles long. All the +men from the villages turned out to work, and it proved a heavy +undertaking. This valley seems to be all under Muang Sa, and Chow Benn +Yenn found himself among his friends. + +[Illustration: THE LEADING MULE.] + +We met another gang of Haws, who made night hideous by discovering the +mules had strayed, and every man and boy among them shrieking, +howling, beating gongs, and firing guns by way of attracting them back +to the camp. It was a pleasant night, with one of my men raving and +shouting with fever till dawn. + +[Illustration: A HEAD MAN--STERN VIEW.] + +[Illustration: A HEAD MAN--SIDE VIEW.] + +At Ban Soap Ta, or Pak Ta, we were in the Province of Luang Prabang. +The village is most beautifully situated on the left bank of the +river, just below where the wild torrent of the Nam Ta falls into it. +There is a regular street all down the village, with deep ditches on +each side, between the road and the scattered houses. We met numerous +Kache from inland--a perfectly wild people, wearing only the smallest +strip of cloth, with a long metal hairpin stuck through the hair +rolled up behind, and often a flower in the lobe of the ear. They are +short and fleshy, and, though not prepossessing, we subsequently found +some of them to be good hard workers, and quiet, simple creatures. The +inhabitants of the village were not so smart as our Southern Laos or +the Lus we had just left; some of them wore slight whiskers, and one +or two had thin beards, and there are a good many stout men among +them. + +[Illustration: A HAW--PACKS DISMOUNTED.] + +[Illustration: LAOS BOAT.] + +We here changed boats, our other craft returning with their crews to +Chieng Kong. These boats are mere dug-out canoes, some 60 feet long as +a rule, with 4 feet beam. They are fitted all along amidships with a +light framework of split bamboos, standing up from the gunwale in a +barrel shape. On and tied to these are rectangular-shaped pieces of +bamboo plaiting, of a primitive character, stuffed with dead leaves, +about 8 feet by 6 feet, of which two form the sides, and a third the +roof, overlapping them. Two lots together give a good long cabin, and +sitting on the light bamboo decking fitted at the level of the +gunwale, one has 3 to 4 feet of head room. One's gear goes in +underneath, and the men's cooking and camping gear will be stored aft. +Two-thirds of the way aft an open space is left, and the decking is +discontinued, and here, going through a rapid, bailing is resorted to. + +For going down river the most distressingly primitive oars are used, +two or three men pulling at them, working in a grommet. The steersman +stands aloft astern, with a rudder 6 or 9 feet in length, which he +places in a loop on one quarter or the other. To help the speedier +turning of the boat in rapids, a long oar is fitted to work +athwart-ship out over the stern, and the power of these two is very +great, but not too much for the places they are sometimes in. But the +most important and ingenious part is the fitting of bundles of long +bamboos round the gunwale outside. Three of these bundles will go to +the length of the boat, and they not only give the boat 1½ or 2 feet +more beam, and therefore great steadiness, but they act as breakwaters +outside her in the rapids, and as air-tight compartments when she is +swamped. They are turned up at the ends with the boat's run; but they +hide her very effectually, so that she looks more like a bamboo raft +than a boat. + +[Illustration: ILLUSTRATION OF OAR AND STEERING-GEAR.] + +In going up stream, these bamboo bundles are cut adrift, and long +bamboos are used for poling from the fore-deck; the boats winding in +and out among the rocks upon the edges, using the swift back currents +with such effect that, except on the very rapid parts of the river, +the upward journey averages a rate of 3 miles an hour. At the rapids, +the boats must be often unloaded and hauled over, this occupying a +whole day. + +In the flood season, from June to October, the whole river valley is a +sea of swift turbid water, often 40 feet above the level of the dry +season, as is attested by the hulls of wrecked boats, gigantic tree +stems, and water marks, which one sees to that height upon the crags +among the sandbanks. Then the boats work their way up among the trees +and bushes on the jungle edge. Below Luang Prabang, a double boat is +used for going down river, and one gets a wide deck upon it of 10 feet +beam; in these, besides the crew of five men, seven men could live +comfortably, while in the single boats, with the crew of four men, +four more make rather close quarters. + +[Illustration: DOUBLE BOAT.] + +A great deal of rice goes clown the Mekong and Nam Oo for the supply +of Luang Prabang from the hills, that town not being able to supply +itself. This rice goes down in tremendously big bamboo rafts, which +look like floating villages; they are often some 120 feet long and 30 +feet beam. They are allowed to go almost entirely with the current, +there being eight or ten long oars rigged out ahead and astern, worked +by as many men, for canting the craft in either direction to avoid +rocks or eddies. There is a drawing in Mr. Colquhoun's book (which, I +believe, is taken from Garnier's work) which gives a good idea of a +small one shooting a rapid. They are very unwieldy, bad to steer, and +not too easy to take down these places. + +[Illustration: VILLAGE ABOVE PAKU, MEKONG.] + +Small dug-outs of a pretty shape are used in great numbers for fishing +purposes; the boat drifts down broadside to the stream, one man being +at either end with a paddle gently working in one hand, the foot often +helping, and the other holding a line to the net. In these the famous +_pla bûk_ are caught. The weight of an average one is over 130 lbs. +The Laos say they are not common below Nong Khai, and that they +believe them to breed in the retired spots between there and Luang +Prabang. M. Pavie considers they come all the way from the sea, but I +do not at present know his data; they are certainly known at Bassac. +The _pla reum_ is another large fish, often over 120 lbs. in weight, +which is also known on the Meinam. Both are caught extensively, and +are sold cut up in steaks in the markets. + +[Illustration: FORTY-FIVE FEET BOAT, NAM OO.] + +[Illustration: PART OF THE MEKONG.] + +Leaving Pak Ta, the river turns south among a series of schists, +until, after passing the very fine lofty peak of Pa Mon, it resumes +its easterly direction among a lot of wild rapids. We reached for the +night a temporary village on the north bank, where a number of Laos, +engaged in buying rice from the Khache, were encamped. A very wild +night of thunderstorms and squalls of wind. The next day was the +grandest we had on the Mekong, for the hills close in and form a +magnificent gorge, the effect of which was heightened by the wild rain +mists which were whirling among the mountains, as the sun rose ahead +of us with almost indescribable greens, yellows, and reds. This +wonderful scene, and the presence here and there of the little wooden +houses, perched high up in their clearings by the Khache where the big +trees lay in all directions, or of small villages clustering in +apparently inaccessible places, again carried one back to the wilds of +Norway. We shot the big rapids of Keng La, and reached Ban Pak Beng +that evening. In another day, passing three difficult rapids, Ban +Tanun is reached; from which in three days, sleeping at Bans Kokare +and Lataen, Muang Luang was in sight ahead at sunset, with the +fantastic limestones of the Nam Oo over the stern, and wrapped in +thick mists. Our slow speed was due to the constant change of boats +and crews. + +[Illustration: KHACHE HILL CLEARINGS; RAPIDS ABOVE PAK BENG, MEKONG.] + +From Ban Tanun I made a three-days' tramp south-west over to the plain +of Muang Hongsawadi, to visit the volcanoes marked on Mr. McCarthy's +map. The track is very rough, up the bed of the Hoay Tap for some +hours, and then over the watershed, from the summit of which, owing to +fires having cleared away the jungle, a magnificent view was to be had +to the south-west over the valley. The contrast between the rugged +uncompromising character of the Mekong valley behind, and the peaceful +expanse of cultivation nestling below us was delightful. The villages +are all of substantially built houses; the people are a smart, tidy, +and pleasant race of Laos, and they are very rich in cattle and +elephants; rice is cheap, and oranges, pomaloes, and other fruit were +plentiful. The Governor, who was subject to Luang Prabang, is said to +be a hundred and twenty years of age, and as his house is some miles +from the sala, he sent a message asking me to excuse his calling. + +[Illustration: DHÂP AND SHEATH.] + +[Illustration: JUNGLE KNIVES.] + +West-north-west about 5 miles is the Pak Fai Mai, as the Laos call the +two volcanic vents which, elevated at not more than 200 feet above the +plain, are situated in a thin bamboo jungle. Each of the vents is +about 200 yards long, sloping slightly in a direction 20° east of +south, and 70 to 80 yards wide; the southerly one is the least +inactive of the two. Slight smoke rises in several places, but for the +most part one can walk about on the bottom anywhere, except at the +south-eastern end, where there is a series of largish cracks, whence +smoke and free sulphurous acid rise in small quantities; here the +ground is very hot, and 2 feet in the cracks are red hot, and one can +light a bamboo at them. There were traces of the action of +sulphuretted hydrogen or of carbonic acid, and the crust of sulphur at +the openings may be due to the decomposition of the former gas. I +could neither hear nor see of there having been any great activity at +any time in the past, but the existence of a present dormant volcanic +action is evident. Why this vent has occurred in the position it has +is not obvious; there is no apparent line of dislocation, nor has it +chosen the valley proper.[3] In the rains there is, I was told, a good +deal of steam rising, as is natural, and more spluttering and activity +than we saw. At the northern end there were traces of elephants on the +slag (which is everywhere highly coloured from iron chloride); they +are proverbially afraid of fire, so it may be inferred that the +activity is not great. Southward the vent, which from the slag surface +to the top of its sides is not more than 30 feet, is advancing, and +the blackened stumps of newly fallen trees and bamboo clumps lie +about, with marks of recent falls in the bank. + +[Illustration: MOUTH OF NAM SUUNG, ABOVE LUANG PRABANG.] + +The weather was now getting hot, March being the worst month in this +district. Thermometer minimum (for three days south of Ban Tanun) +72°, maximum in the sala 94°. Distant thunder in the evenings +muttering continually. This weather continued, with thick haze air, +till we reached Luang Prabang. We had fresh south-westerly winds +blowing very hot, and at night rain squalls. Our first impression of +the town was not good; after a long day's pulling, helping the men, +who were very tired with the heat, we got in at dusk. The temperature +ashore, in the streets, or on the sand slope, was oppressive; but +when, after some supper, we went up to call on Phra Prasada, the +Commissioner appointed from Bangkok, and there enjoyed some real +coffee and the luxury of a punkah, in the fine new Government offices +he had just finished building, and heard the bugles ringing out all +round, and the weird march music of the kans, which are more played in +this province than almost any other, we forgot the heat in the +pleasures of the change of life. + +[Illustration: APPROACH TO LUANG PRABANG FROM NORTH.] + +Throughout my stay in this locality, the help we received from the +Commissioner, who is full of energy, was enormous. He has undoubtedly +done a great deal, practically, for the welfare of the people here, +and was most popular; and he has also made extensive collections of +the produce of the province, which will soon be in Bangkok. He is a +man of observation and ideas, absolutely straight, and without any +humbug in his disposition. I was surprised to find that he could read +English well, and talk it moderately, and still more to find this has +all been acquired since he came to the north as Commissioner seven +years ago. This of itself shows an unusual man, and I record it +because it is not often realized that there are such men among the +Siamese. His time was up, and Phya Pechai was appointed to the post +just before I left, and he came south before the trouble with France +reached its climax lately. + + +[Footnote 3: This valley drains into the Nam Ngum, and so into the +Mekong. The big mass of Doi Luang to the south is the division between +the Meinam and Mekong drainages here.] + + + + +PART IV. + +Luang Prabang (March, 1893). + + +Making expeditions in various directions, Luang Prabang was our +head-quarters for about three weeks. Of all the country round, the +town itself seems to be the hottest place, and to be away in the +jungle was infinitely preferable to staying in the bungalow, where at +sunset the thermometer was generally still at 92°. Unlike Nan, Chieng +Mai, or Korat, there is no wall around the town, which is the usual +collection of substantial teak houses, and large roomy monasteries, of +which one-half are in ruins. The latter, however, show signs of some +fine gilding and decorative work, and a good deal of architectural +effort has been expended upon them. They have been allowed, after the +strange custom of the Buddhists, to fall to rack and ruin without an +attempt being made to save them; because, one would think, by some +strange mistake, the repairing of a monastery makes no merit, though +building a brand-new one, however third-rate in style or bad in +finish, is one of the highest of merit-making acts. + +The chief points one notices in which these wats differ from those in +Nan are, the generally low effect, the roofs rising less strikingly +than that, for instance, at Muang Sa; the raising at the centre of the +roof of what at a distance looks not unlike the lantern of a college +hall, which is merely an exterior addition, and does not admit light +or air; the small-scale[4] buildings, of which there are often several +in the enclosure, which are best described as being like tiny chapels +with vaulted roof, in which, of course, innumerable "phras" stand at +the inner end, and which are usually about 14 feet in length, and +beautifully proportioned; the small pedestals, which are disposed +about on all sides, in a niche in which the small phra is always to be +seen; and, finally, the substantial character of the stone enclosure +which surrounds the monastery buildings, with often an effective porch +at the entrance. In the curves of roof and eaves they show a real +artistic sense. The materials used are brick, covered with stucco, +timber, and wood tiles; and, where an arch is attempted, it is always +supported by a horizontal beam in the Chinese fashion, with the space +above usually filled in, or else a perpendicular goes up from it. It +is curious that there are no signs of any knowledge of true arches in +these states. + +[Illustration: WAT CHIENG TONG.] + +The main feature of the Muang is the central hill known as Kao Chom Pu +Si, a bluff of limestone standing up out of the red sandstone plain on +which the town is built; its longer axis is parallel with the river, +from which it is less than a quarter of a mile distant. On the summit +is a small wat, with a lofty pagoda pinnacle visible for miles round; +a huge drum hung here is struck every hour by a monk, and its boom +rolls down all over the valley. What with it and the bugles and other +wats' gongs, one is never at a loss to know the time. The town is +clustered round the hill, and, except on the south, there is water in +almost each direction, the Nam Kan coming winding into the big river +from the east, just to the north. + +[Illustration: PA CHOM SI, LUANG PRABANG.] + +The people, among whom slavery was abolished a few years ago by Phya +Surasak, who went up as the Siamese general to quiet the Black Flags, +are a very independent race, and, possibly mindful of a powerful past, +think somewhat of themselves, and do very little manual labour. The +men, I regret to own, are very much addicted to opium; stealing is not +absolutely unknown, and generally the code of morals is not as severe +as in Nan. The women, instead of the timidity and shyness to which we +had been accustomed so far (so that, when they could, we always found +the women bolt into the jungle at the sight of strangers, or at least +retire), showed a very free and easy manner, and are much addicted to +giggling and chatter. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF LUANG PRABANG AND RIVER.] + +The industrious sounds of the foot rice-mills are hardly ever to be +heard in the town; and the market, instead of taking place in the +early dawn, that the day's work may not be interfered with, lasts +roughly from dawn to sunset, with the exception of an hour or two at +noon. All down the main street, which runs between the hill and the +river, the ladies sit behind their baskets, flirting with the men, who +cruise up and down with apparently not much else to do. This market is +a very big affair, and besides the usual endless fruit, cigarettes and +flowers, there are huge steaks of pla reum, ducks, ducks' and hens' +eggs, pigs dead and alive, opium lamps, Japanese matches, needles and +pins, cotton, coarse cotton cloth, tobacco, and a fair sprinkling of +Manchester goods. Among the people one sees besides the Laos of the +place, are Nan Laos, Lus, or Khache, and various hill tribes +remarkable for their scanty clothing,[5] Chinese, Shan traders from up +the Nam Oo, Haws, and Burmese. At the time of my visit, the French +consulate was across on the other side of the river, M. Ducant being +in charge there. There is also a French store with all sorts of French +goods, connected with the "Syndicat du Haut Laos." These goods I found +most unpopular with the people, and when I bought one or two things +for my men (päs, as they call them, for throwing over the shoulder +like a mantle, or for sarongs), they refused to have them, saying the +people had told them they were "no good,"--one reason being they would +not wash. The imports of this store, brought by boat down the Nam Nua +and Nam Oo from Tongking, amounted in February and March, 1893, to +19,841 francs' worth. The Commissioner, and my own observation in part +confirmed it, told me that the store has to be heavily subsidized, and +is not successful, the goods not being wanted by the Laos, who make +their own rough cotton stuffs for hard work, and their own silk +finery, and find these more lasting and efficient for the work for +which they are wanted. The Frenchmen told me they often lose valuable +cargoes in the rapids in the Nam Oo. While on this subject, I may say +that small tricolours and medals are freely given in all directions to +any native who will take them. I found at Nong Khai that the +Commissioner had some hundreds of these small flags which had been +brought him by the Laos there at different times as having been given +them by the Frenchmen, naively remarking that they could "find no use +for them," and so they would give them to the Commissioner, if any +good to him. These flags are also given largely to the monks, to +ornament their wats with, with "Vive la France!" inscribed across +them. + +[Illustration: STONE IMPLEMENTS.] + +Beyond these, I saw no signs of French commerce among the people. The +Nam Nua and Nam Oo route over from Jonking, though a rough one, no +doubt answers its purpose on the whole, and to M. Pavie, the Minister +at Bangkok, who has travelled the country extensively, and has left +kindly memories behind him, belongs the credit of it. Another +Frenchman who has done good work in the neighbourhood is Dr. Massé, +who lately died of fever going down the Mekong. For years he carefully +and enthusiastically studied the geology of the district, and he has +been able to determine the age of the Luang Prabang series; all his +specimens (including some coal and beautifully sharp stone implements) +and his papers are, I believe, in M. Pavie's hands, and will prove of +enormous interest. + +The party at the French Consulate, whether owing to their mode of +life, or the climate, did not look well at all; and from the headaches +and fevers which laid hold of the people with me while at M. Luang I +am not surprised. In justice to the place, it must be owned, March is +the hottest month. I did not see any cases of the famous Luang Prabang +fever, which has carried off so many. Like that usual in Dong Choi, +the temperature rises very fast and very high, and, if fatal, is +generally so after two or three days. + +[Illustration: GOVERNMENT OFFICES, LUANG PRABANG.] + +There is, or was, a police force in the town recruited from the Laos, +but their duties are very light. Fights or quarrelling are unknown, +whatever other faults there may be, and the most important part of the +police duties is to keep a watch for fires. Only one occurred while we +were there, and the promptitude with which the buglers went sounding +out the alarm from all the guard-stations and the men turned out was +most creditable; luckily there was no wind, and it was got under very +quickly. + +The head-quarters, as far as the Siamese Government was concerned, +were in a newly built set of offices, standing in a large +drill-ground; the whole thing was done by the soldiers and the people +of the place under Prah Prasadah's orders and watchful eye. It is +built of teak, with red-tiled roofing, and consists of a front hall, +long offices on both sides, and at the back sleeping-rooms and more +offices. Here, in the evenings, took place regular concerts, to +several of which we went for an hour or two. The people of Luang +Prabang are undoubted music-lovers to a high degree, and night after +night, after the major and lieutenants had messed, the musicians +arrived in the hall, squatted down, and began, sometimes the wailing +Laos music, sometimes the quick jig tunes of Siam. The instruments +consisted of two two-stringed violins, a high-pitched flageolet, and +one or sometimes two _kans_, a kind of reed-organ carried about by the +player, who is the bellows. Sometimes the bamboo reeds are over 6 feet +in length, but they are light; the mouth is applied at a mouthpiece +toward the lower end, where the fingers play on each side, there being +two sets of reeds side by side. The instrument is held upright in +front or slightly inclined over the shoulder, and the sweetness of the +tones is wonderful. This usually forms a bass, and smaller ones with +shorter reeds accompany the voice well. It would be no exaggeration to +say that nearly every household in Luang Prabang possesses one, +sometimes two. A most striking thing it is at night, far into the +early hours, to hear the distant kans from all sides playing in the +houses, now and then drowned by the nearer approach of one whose +master has been out calling late, and goes striding down the road with +perhaps three or four more friends in single file behind, playing a +march tune with all his lungs like any Highland piper. One of my +pleasant memories of life will ever be those evenings when turning in, +after the hot day in the verandah, one listened to the sound of the +_kans_ passing homeward, and rising and falling on the night-air. What +with the evening bugles, too, and the drum upon the hill, and the +cocks and _nok poots_, who never fail to announce the hours 9 p.m., +midnight, 3 a.m., and 6 a.m., whether in the jungles or among the +dwellings of man, a light sleeper would complain bitterly. + +In the concerts at the new offices there were often _kan_ solos; while +the orchestra, when in full swing, was accompanied by clapping of +hands and the tinkle of metal; the songs, albeit curious, were not to +me so enjoyable, though very much so to the Laos. A number of pretty +damsels, in their most gorgeous silks, sat round busily chewing +betel-nut; these would be asked to give a subject, and one with a good +deal of blushing would give in a loud tone her subject. The orchestra +struck up, and the singer had to make the best he could of it on the +spot; and judging by the laughter and general approbation after each +verse, he was generally successful. But we all failed signally to +understand the words--the language here differing very much from that +of Nan, of which we had begun to pick up some; while, when sung, it is +even more incomprehensible. What with the attractions of music, their +love and battle songs, and perhaps other things, the Laos of Luang +Prabang keep late hours, and are late to turn out. + +The Chow Luang and Chow Huanar, with whom I exchanged visits, are +pleasant, open-countenanced men, and after a second visit became quite +jovial. The latter helped me a great deal in my work, and I was sorry +to say good-bye. Their houses were large teak buildings, but the Chow +Luang is building one of brick. + +[Illustration: KENG KANG, NAM OO. THE PLUNGE OFF THE LEFT BANK.] + +Our longest expedition from here was up the Nam Oo, which comes in +from the north-east. The scenery of this river is very fine, as all +the way from Muang Ngoi, to which we went, it winds through abrupt +limestone peaks and ranges, covered with dense forest, and often +overhanging the deep quiet river below. But the rapids scattered along +its course are furious, and, owing to the shallow water and +innumerable sunken rocks, are very dangerous, while quite a high sea +runs in them. They differ from most of the big Mekong rapids in that +they are caused by rough sloping bottoms of rock ridges, over which +the water tears its way. In the great river the majority of the rapids +are simply owing to the narrowing of the channel, with possible big +rock obstructions rising out of a depth which, with a 20-fathom line, +often gave no bottom (this in low-water season). In these the +acceleration of speed and commotion are caused by the enormous +pressures behind, and the frictions below, and the force of the back +eddies, which go tearing in toward any little or big opening in the +banks of rock, and come sweeping back again in wave-like rushes or in +whirlpools. "Rapid" is often a misnomer; for what with whirlpools, the +sudden capricious rushes of water boiling up in a mound of spray, and +flowing wildly in apparently any direction but the one by which it +will eventually get out, and the great back eddies and counter +currents below, the boat, alternately dragged to the right bank, spins +round on the edge of a whirlpool, hurries over on a mass of foam to +the left side, and there caught and hurried up the side again, or +swirled off downwards into another whirlpool, spends several minutes +in passing down a hundred yards, though every hand is straining at the +oars, and steersman and bow-oar are lugging for dear life to keep her +straight, and save her ends from being caught up on the rocks at which +she is hurled. + +Such are many of the worst of the Mekong rapids, which will prove too +much for any number of steamers, extending often, as they do below +Chieng Kan, for miles. Even the great rushes of solid water, and +converging lines of breakers of the rapids, where, as in the Keng +Luang below Luang Prabang, the already compressed water has to fight +its way over a shelving bank of huge shingle, of which each stone is +often as big as an average Laos house, will prove easier to navigate. +But in the Nam Oo the shallowness of the water is the danger, and +there is often, as in Keng Luang two days up, a fall straight over a +dioritic ledge of 3 feet. This class of rock it is which forms the +rapids, and when the limestone hills retire from the river edge, and +low-lying, round-topped hills less densely jungled, come in, one may +look out for a rapid and change of formation. + +[Illustration: KENG LUANG.] + +The villages up this river are very poor, except in ducks, which are +seen swimming merrily about in all the quiet reaches, and not a few of +the rapids. As to buying them, it was almost impossible, though it was +the only form of fresh food obtainable. We could hardly get the people +to take money, and had to barter, though we were rather short of +things ourselves. It is odd how difficult it is to get tea, and as our +Bangkok tea had given out, hot water, with sometimes a few herbs[6] +picked by Chow Benn Yenn, had to take its place. He also produced a +dish of butterflies' bodies one evening with the curry, but they had, +to my mind, not much flavour. He also had a weakness for a species of +cricket, which he cooked by throwing on the fire, and then devoured. +Frogs, too, are eaten by the Laos, they going to the extent of eating +the body as well as legs of the _ongan_ when the rains begin. The +Siamese also eat the _kob_, a small frog, of which the legs are +certainly very good; and when the French gunboats were in Bangkok they +were not to be got in the markets for love or money. + +Up and down this river a considerable trade in hill rice takes place +between the hill villages and Luang Prabang, and we met greater +numbers of boats than on the Mekong; they were most of them ascending +at the time, with three men, or in the longer craft four, poling. The +bamboo is placed against the outside shoulder; the man, facing aft and +leaning low, runs the boat up till he reaches the deck-house; he then +brings in the pole hand-over-hand until he has it about the middle, +and then with the arms straight up above his head, to keep the bamboo +over the head of his fellow, goes forward again. This business, +continued for hour on hour, is very hard work indeed, as any one who +tries it will discover; and the light narrow boat rolls a good deal, +making foothold at times very difficult, and no one wearing shoes +could stay on board for two minutes. + +Going up the rapids is far more dangerous than descending, for the +boat has to be poled and often hauled round right angles of rock just +outside which a tall hollow sea is jumping in a roaring cataract. If +the bows be once caught, away she goes broadside, and nothing will +stop her, and all hands at the tow-line go too. It is in this way that +all the swampings, as a rule, take place; but, except in Keng Kang, it +is seldom that any one is drowned. It is really astonishing at what a +rate these fellows run their boats with their poles up the most +difficult places, and then, holding on for a moment under the lee of a +rock, all hands but the steersman go overboard with the rope, and +fight from rock to rock in any speed or depth of current, avoiding +always the big waves. One soon learns to have a respect for these +exploits, for they mean having one's breath knocked out of one pretty +frequently, and a few good bumps and cuts, which, sad to say, have a +way of leaving some discomfort behind. But Laos and Siamese alike are +never known to grumble, and after a bout of the kind they squat down +above the rapid, light cigarettes, and laugh with enjoyment. + +Fishing on the Nam Oo is very largely practised, the best time being +at the end of the rains, when the fish swarm. Across the heads of the +rapids are rows of stakes, and every twenty yards will be a fishing +shelter, just above a gap in the stakes, through which the fish are +expected to find their way. These shelters are light constructions, +built on groups of stakes, ballasted with stones, and strongly +buttressed on the lower sides. Notwithstanding these precautions, +however, when the river rose after heavy rains, which had already (in +March) begun higher up, and which delayed us very seriously, we saw +several of these shelters carried away bodily down stream. On the +upper side is a platform, on which the inhabitants (for they often +live, a whole family of them, in these places) may take the air. A +single bamboo with a handrail forms a connection with the long line of +stakes, by which they may reach the other shelters or get on shore; +but a small dug-out always lies moored below as well. Step inside the +house and all is dark, the light being carefully excluded, except +where it enters through a large hole in the floor; the _yah kah_, a +long jungle grass, with which the houses are always roofed, is carried +on each side right down to the water level, and the light thus only +enters through the water. Thus every fish for twelve feet down is +clearly seen, and there two men will sit smoking silently and gazing +intently by the hour into the water, every now and then hoisting out a +broad dip-net, spread by bamboos, with their prey. A spear is also +sometimes used. It is curious to see these people, with wife and +family, living on the narrow strip of flooring which goes round the +hole--in fact, the latter occupies most of the house; but they seem +very comfortable, and smoke, and cook, and feed, and sleep on a strip +3 feet wide with great complacency. The women were very much like the +little shy Ka Kaws, and smoked their long pipes and dressed just as +elaborately in their dark blue, with the same ornamented head-dresses. +However, most of these houses at this time of year were not inhabited, +and I only saw one or two families at home. + +[Illustration: ASCENDING KENG LUANG, NAM OO.] + +[Illustration: FISHING STAKES AND SHELTERS, NAM OO.] + +Muang Ngoi, at which there was a Siamese military station, is most +beautifully situated among precipitous hills; it is one of the +prettiest places we saw, well-built, tidy, with a street (as generally +in towns in the province of Luang Prabang) running parallel with the +river. Immediately over it almost hang the limestones, all round +except on the east, up which the people grow their rice in the narrow +valley. Up here goes the trade route toward the Black River, and down +the track I met coming staggering in under their heavy loads many Ka +Kaws--women, girls, and boys. I call them Ka Kaws[7] for want of a +more accurate name; the Siamese called them all Khache, or Khamus, +which they are not. No one can discriminate among the infinite numbers +of these tribes, nor can they do it themselves, except with neighbours +of the next valleys. + +They wore the prevailing blue; the women's head-gear often a tall, +blue cloth, with a little red showing at top, beads and shells. Large +rings, of four and more inches in diameter, hang from the ears, of +which the lobes are made very big. The weights they carry are +enormous; from casually lifting them I should say they were 45 to 50 +pounds. The basket is held by a band which passes over the forehead; +the result is a stooping gait, the arms being swung across the body, +as a sailor's, as they walk or almost jog along. Two or three men +usually accompany the carriers; and the latter, even boys and girls, +have a terribly worn appearance. Yet greet them with the usual +questions: "Where are you bound for?" or "Where are you come from?" +"How many days out?" "Are you tired?" etc., and they reply with the +merriest laugh and smile, which is almost touching. Their faces have +very little of the Laos in them, or of the Chinese or Haws, and are +round and kind in expression. + +The Siamese troops, only some twenty-five in number, were of fine +physique; but it is a fact (not a political statement) that +"aggression" and "advance" are utterly contrary to the purposes of the +frontier stations kept up by the Siamese Government. + +We obtained bananas at one or two places and sugar-cane, and on the +way down, as the latter does not grow at Luang Prabang, we loaded our +boats deep with the canes, which were, however, short and not very +juicy. However, we kept the larder going with cormorants, which were +in great numbers both here and down the Mekong. + +This brings me to the birds I was able to identify[8] while in the +Mekong drainage. Commonest were these same _cormorants_, which the +Laos call "crow duck," owing to their black colour and love for the +water. The large cormorant was continually to be seen sitting on +isolated rocks, often with his wings hung up to dry, in which position +he would suffer us to come very close. The small cormorants were +common in flocks, seldom singly, and, on our approach, would dive away +out of sight, not one remaining. Not expecting to see them, it was a +great pleasure to come across the beautiful little _terns_ swooping +and rushing over the water. One was either the whiskered tern or the +white-winged black tern--I think probably the latter, as the greyish +colour predominated with the dull-red bill and legs. They were +generally in back waters and temporary lakes formed in the sandbanks +by the fall of the river, and were in flocks. I did not secure any. +The black-billed tern--larger than the former, with its easily +distinguished orange-yellow bill and red feet, I got a specimen of. +They were fairly common, but even in March and April I found no nests. + +Of the kingfishers I only saw on the Mekong one or two specimens of +the pied bird. Crossing from the Meinam, however, there was a very +small one we frequently met in the mountain streams flowing down to +that river, which would suddenly fly off up stream with a low whistle. +I did not procure any, but from its size it was probably the little +three-toed kingfisher. Another we constantly saw perched on a bamboo +overhanging the water, or poising in the air, must have been, from its +high colouring, the little Indian kingfisher. + +Of herons, I saw, and shot, the large white heron (as on the Meinam), +singly and in flocks, on the sand-banks; the common heron, generally +stalking singly on the sand-spits, and hard to get near; the purple, +of which I saw two couples in the lowlands: the little black-billed +white heron, in flocks on the flat by the paddy fields; the cattle +egret, walking about with the buffaloes, or perched on their backs; +and the pond heron, which one would almost stumble upon, so invisible +was he on the ground, till away he sped aloft, and then the white +wings were clear cut against the blue sky overhead. + +Of eagles, there was the osprey, with his white head, hovering after +fish, and a larger bird in swamps near the jungle, with white and +darting broad tail, and the upper plumage and breast brown, presumably +the bar-tailed fishing eagle. I saw some small species too, but never +shot any, and, except the black eagle in the forest-covered hills +soaring above us on the wing, and a large, slow, sluggish bird, like +that we saw on the Meinam, with a hoarse cry (qu. steppe eagle), I +seldom got a good view of them. + +Adjutants, which they call _nok karien_, I saw in flocks of four, six, +or eight in the paddy fields of the Chieng Kong, Nam Ngau, and Khorat +plains. They were fairly tame, but with the rifle I could not get +nearer than 200 yards; the whistle of a bullet sent them sluggishly +flopping their great wings 50 yards or so on, and to follow them was +an endless pursuit. + +Pea-fowl are very common here and on the Nam Nan. + +Often and often, far overhead above the jungle, would come the +measured sound which the great pied hornbill makes with each sweep of +the wings, an indescribable sound, half a "whirr" and half the +"whistle of a sword swept through the air." They were always in +couples, and flew high. + +The white ibis, walking about in flocks in shallow water, and the +little cotton teal goose, also in flocks, in swampy back waters, who +would dive and disappear to a man, I saw several times. + +Two specimens of the large grey-headed imperial pigeon, with chestnut +back and wing coverts, were shot by my Tuon boatman in the hills above +the Meinam. The common "wood pigeon" is seen and heard all through +Siam. In the open plains and jungles a dove, of which I shot many for +breakfast, was very common; this seems to be the Malay spotted dove. + +There are other doves common in different parts of Siam, and wagtails +and sandpipers innumerable, but I cannot now name them. + +As to the _nok poot_, with his slight crest, dull red-wing coverts and +long dark green tail feathers, and his habit of drinking where he +finds water, and of running swiftly off into the low jungle, he must, +I think, be a pheasant. This is absolutely the commonest bird in the +country, and that "poot, poot" sound is never silent for long; at +night I have often heard a chorus of this sound from out the jungle +all round, and always at the hours of cock crow, _i.e._ 9 p.m., +midnight, 3, and 6 a.m., as mentioned above. The cock in this country +is used for a timepiece at night, as well as a fighting champion by +day, and not a boat or an ox-cart, caravan, or a cottage in the whole +country but has its cock. One result of this cockfighting mania is +very funny: the birds become pets, as dogs and cats do with us, and +the small boys go out walking with these things carried lovingly in +their arms; you may see them stroking them and looking longingly into +their ugly faces as if they found some expression therein. But their +end is generally in a curry, and very tough they make it. This form of +sport is on the whole most outrageously general in Siam proper. + +The total population of Luang Prabang, including that portion of the +province on the right bank, was just over 98,500. In the town itself +there cannot be more than about 9000; this only includes the Laos +proper, and not Lus, La was, or Khache.[9] It is difficult to judge of +the town, which straggles along the three or four main roads that have +recently been made around the central hill, and far beyond them out +into the plain, both inland, up the Nam Kan, and down the Mekong. +North of the town are also numbers of fairly large and prosperous +villages. The broadening out of the river here, the absence of rapids, +and the retirement to the eastward of the hill range, which forms a +sort of amphitheatre around the little plain, seems to have attracted +settlers from an early time. Still, either owing to the laziness of +the inhabitants or, as I think more probably, to the poverty of the +soil (which is the same barren red sandstone mentioned above), there +is certainly not much cultivation done here or on the other side of +the big river, where there is low-lying land behind the small range +which immediately abuts on the river there. The jungle, too, is itself +very thin and dwarfed. I hardly think laziness will account for this, +for peaceful tending of rice crops would be far easier work than +poling and struggling up Nam Oo rapids, which is the way the people +get their rice at present, going right up into the hills for it. Some +really beautiful silver-work is done, but fishing and killing pigs +seem to be the chief industry. There is a breed of the finest-shaped +and fiercest goats I have ever seen, which wander about the streets +and hill, and give the pariah dogs a rough time; but I did not see +that any other use was made of them. + +The day we left, a letter arrived from the king in Bangkok, and was +received in great state by the Chow Luang; it was carried in state +down the road with gorgeous umbrellas above and flutes playing before. +This was _re_ the appointment of Phya Pechai as Commissioner--the +last. + +The minimum temperature for these three weeks[10] was 61° up the Nam +Oo; the average minimum for ten days up that river, 64°; the average +maximum in the deck-house of the boat, 85°. The lowest maximum for +any day was 71°, but it was a "saft" day, with a solid deluge for +thirty-six hours. (The Laos cannot work in the rain; they shiver to +such an extent that the whole boat vibrates, so we spent a day sitting +in the boats. In this case I had 3 feet 3 inches head-room, 2 feet 4 +inches extreme elbow-room, the boat being only 45 feet long.) + +The maximum in Luang Prabang I did not get, being there very little by +day; the temperature in the jungle is much lower. Strong, hot winds +from south-west and thick haze was the rule except before the storms, +when the air became sultry, and then it blew a gale of wind from +north-west to north. The rains were beginning. Aneroid, which was +unreliable, 28.60 inches to 28.45 before squalls. + +The first day out, going south from Luang Prabang, one of our double +boats filled and sank, ruining maps, notes, and other things. We +awaited the arrival of another at Pak Si, from whence one of our Laos +boatmen had also to be sent back. He had apparently abscess in the +liver; I could do nothing for him, and he sank rapidly. The stream +Hoay Si, a few miles inland, comes tumbling over a fine fall, where a +number of beautiful travertine terraces have been formed below, in +which the pools are of intense blue. All the trees, branches, twigs, +and leaves within reach of the foam are being encrusted with carbonate +of lime, and the effect is very beautiful, with the luxuriant growth +around. + +Five days brought us to Paklai, whence the trail goes over to M. +Pechai on the Meinam. The journey up takes a fortnight, for this long +north and south reach is full of serious rapids. Two days and three +days below Luang Prabang are the rapids of Keng Seng and Keng Luang. +In the former, which tears over a rough bottom, my boat was completely +swamped, but was kept afloat by her bamboos. The latter is a very fine +sight, and is a narrow contraction, with a rough, inclined bottom; the +water tumbles off the bluff domes of the east bank in cascades of +foam, and from the west it is driven off in three hollow ridge-like +waves. In the centre, at first quietly, and with accelerating pace +goes the main mass, getting narrower, until with three huge +undulations, which send a boat half her length out of water as she +jumps down them, it tears into the embrace of the two raging, broken +currents coming off the banks, and there it leaps and foams and +thunders, echoing off the big black crystalline rocks from age to age. +Many boats are lost here, and just below lay the battered remains of a +fine craft of 65 feet, smashed from stem to stern. The Laos show +considerable sense in always taking breakfast before they try one of +these rapids, however early in the morning. + +South of Keng Luang the river bed is narrow, and flows very fast among +slate rocks, dipping very steeply (50°, 60°, and upwards), west for +many miles, limestone hills lying back some way from the river. These +long reaches are very wild, with no sign of man. Birds, crocodiles, +and tigers, with occasional pig, "sua pah" or leopard, and deer reign +and fight and feed along the jungled banks. + +Above Paklai begin the first wooded islands, of which there are many +below, and the whole river widens out and hills fall back. Here I was +able to get soundings with a 20-fathom line, and above the fine +limestone mass which distinguishes Ban Liep, we had 19, 17, 8, 6, 5, +3, and 2 fathoms as the river spread out; below it it narrowed down a +bit, and we had over 10 fathoms most of the way to Paklai, with now +and then 6 and 8. Paklai is a pretty little place, and is the official +port of departure for the north. There are good salas and elephant +stables, and a clearing by the river, a good landing in a creek among +the rocks, and plenty of boats and people. But here for the first time +we had the abominable little "luep," small black flies, which are a +far more irritating torture than mosquitos, and attack one's hands and +face by thousands. They are worst just about sunset as a rule, and +smoke or a strong breeze are the only things to keep them away, and to +sleep in a curtain of linen is absolutely necessary. The rains bring +them and most other jungle plagues. + +From here the river begins to turn away to the south-east, with quite +a new phase of Mekong scenery--placid reaches half a mile wide, with +gently sloping banks, the hills low and gentle in their curves, more +like some upper reaches in the Meinam, or a bit of Thames. The change +was delightful, as it always is, and continued for two days to Chieng +Kan, with only one break at Keng Mai, a rapid over a shallow, shelving +bank, where the water storms with a bar of white crests right across, +like sea breaking on a reef. Decks were cleared and the hands set +baling, and we all went through in style, but the cook's boat, which +got the least bit athwart the current, was caught in the rough water, +and swamped with our rice. The depths down to the town are 1, 2, up to +5 fathoms. + +Chieng Kan is built along the southern bank (for here the river begins +an east-north-east course), with a fine paddy-growing plain behind it, +and is about a mile long, with an indifferent road passing along it. +The most remarkable things about the place are the immense numbers of +coconut palms, and the cheapness of the fruit;[11] the number of +Burmese British subjects (who out of the kindness of their hearts +supplied one with any amount of provisions); and the fact that the +Laos women cut their hair short like the Siamese. The people are a +friendly, pleasant race. A good deal of fishing is done here, and in +poling the small craft up stream, a small rudder is used over the +outside (in this case starboard) quarter to prevent the boat running +round, as also at Luang Prabang and Nongkhai. These rudders are fixed, +and do their work alone as a rule, but are sometimes in bigger boats +fitted with a yoke and long bamboo tiller (as used together in +Norwegian boats), the latter reaching to the fore deck. Sometimes in +the evening, as the people lie tending their fish-baskets, the boats +look, with their up-turned ends and small shelter (in which the man's +clothes or his net, with its weights and buoys, may be put) which +stands almost amidships, like a distant gondola. + +[Illustration: RUDDER.] + +[Illustration: BOATS FISHING.] + +This province, which is under Pechai, is undoubtedly very rich in +mineral, but the distances and difficulties of transport are at +present against its development. There is a rich, alluvial gold +deposit northward, and a variety of ores occur south toward M. Loey, +including massive iron-ore beds. + +After some stay, we set out with fresh boats and crews, and were five +days passing the wild rapids between here and Wieng Chan. The river +finds its way among low hills in a narrow, deep channel between +clay-slate rocks alternating with sandstones and conglomerates with a +general easterly dip. The rapids are of the whirlpool and eddy +character, and extend for miles on end; the water is in places +confined to a width of 150 feet, and the rushes, boilings, spinnings, +and general deafening pandemonium which results is astounding; not one +place is like another, nor one whirlpool like the next. Numbers of +boats never get through here, as they, in spinning round in a +whirlpool or sudden explosion of water, get their ends ashore and +smashed on the rocks. It was a most tiring time for the men, deep down +in the heat of this great rock ditch, with no wind to cool the air, +and above on either hand a good half-mile of rocks and vast spaces of +sand shimmering in the hot sun. + +[Illustration: LAST OF THE HILLS ABOVE WIENG CHAN.] + +Just above Wieng Chan the hills disappear. The last of them are a +flat-bedded red sandstone, passing into a conglomerate, the huge slabs +lying in rows beside the water. The river opens out between them into +a beautiful wide lake, known as the Hong Pla Buk, from the numbers of +those big fish caught here. The scene on a quiet evening was +beautiful, with the terns dipping and darting about us. Here in the +deep still water, we heard again, as we used to do in the Meinam, the +"talking" of the _Pla liu ma_ (dog's-tongue fish) beneath the boat; it +is a grunt similar to that of the gurnard, only very much louder and +more sonorous, and you may hear several at a time chattering away +under you. + +Camped on some of these huge sandstone blocks, we had a good +opportunity of watching the polishing power of the wind-swept sand, +which, next to the rushing water, with its enormous burden of +sediment, is the agent by which all the rock surfaces of the Mekong +get the wonderful polish which makes them so peculiar. The exterior +appearances are often entirely deceptive, and the sun glistens off +them as off a looking-glass. Yet the points and pinnacles, especially +among the schists, are terribly sharp, often cutting the feet like +knives. The polish the red granite takes just west of this, and the +beauty of the veined limestone boulders further north, are a delight +to look at. + +At Wieng Chan, on the north bank, hardly a hill is in sight; all round +plains, bamboos, and palms. The site of the old city, which was +destroyed in 1827 by the Siamese for rebellion, is a mass of +jungle-covered ruins. The remains of the old brick wall, and of the +great Wat Prakaon, are very fine; the latter rises from a series of +terraces, up which broad flights of steps lead, and is of large +proportions. The effect of height is increased by the perpendicular +lines of the tall columns, which support the great east and west +porticos, and which line the walls along the north and south; the +windows between the latter being small, and narrower at top than at +the bottom, also lead the eye up. A second outer row of columns once +existed, and the effect must have been very fine. Now the roof is +gone, and the whole structure crowned by a dense mass of foliage, as +is the case with all the remains of smaller buildings not yet +destroyed. One very beautiful little pagoda at the west end is now +encased in a magnificent peepul tree which has grown in and around it, +and has preserved it in its embrace. There are remains of several +deep-water tanks, and the grounds, which were surrounded by a brick +wall, must once have been beautiful. But the best thing at Wieng Chan, +or the old city, as they call it, is the gem of a monastery known as +Wat Susaket. It is a small building, the wat itself, of the usual +style, with the small lantern rising from, the central roof, as at +Luang Prabang. The walls are very massive, and, with the height +inside, the place was delightfully cool; all round the interior from +floor to roof the walls are honeycombed with small niches in rows, in +which stand the little gilt "prahs," looking out imperturbably, +generally about 8 inches in height. + +[Illustration: THE RUINS OF WAT PRAKAON, WIENG CHAN.] + +[Illustration: NICHE AND STATUE.] + +Round this building outside runs a rectangular cloister, which faces +inwards, and here, at one time, the monks were living among the +statues which stand round the walls, many of these 3 and more feet +high, while the walls too are ornamented with niches similar to those +inside the main building. In the centre of each side there is a +gateway surmounted by a gable, there being also similar ornaments at +each corner. The beauty and the retired air of the court inside could +not be surpassed, and the effect of the green grass, the white walls, +the low-reaching red-tiled roofs, and the deep shadows is charming; +there is nothing flat, nothing vulgarly gaudy, and very little that is +out of repair. And here, as is most noticeable in the remains of the +other buildings about, the proportions are perfect. In this the ruined +remains of Wieng Chan surpass all the other buildings I have seen in +Siam, and bear witness to a true artistic sense in the builders. +Though the old city is not inhabited, and the site thereof seems under +a curse, the villages along the bank of the river, both above and +below, have a flourishing appearance, and the paths along the river, +with their cool shade, were full of people. + +[Illustration: SOUTH-WEST ANGLE, WAT SUSAKET, WIENG CHAN.] + +Leaving Wieng Chan, we had our last and most curious experience of the +Meinam Kong and its wanton ways. A vast mass of heavy thunderclouds +lay to the east, south-east, and south, and into this, as happens in +the rainy season, a strong draught of air, first from south-west, then +west, and then north-west, was blowing. This began to freshen, and +with two square sails I got rigged to my ship we made very good way, +until it began blowing really hard and a sea got up, the water being +here over half a mile in width, with 2, 3, and 5-fathom soundings; we +then had to strike sail, while astern a vast cloud of sand, twigs, +leaves, and even pebbles, came sweeping along with a roar. The other +three boats were, when we saw them last, just broaching to, all close +together. The Laos, who face rapids or elephants with composure, quite +lost their heads, and the only use to be made of them was to set them +to hang on to the deck-house, which was being carried out of the ship. +She tried very hard to swamp herself, for when the squall came up the +strength was terrific, and the seas hollow and breaking solidly. +However, by keeping her stern to it, we shot on through the thick +darkness, frequently belaboured with missiles, and after a great deal +of difficulty in weathering a lee shore we got round a point and +brought up, after two rattan ropes had been carried away. Meantime +many dug-outs passed us waterlogged and adrift, and when at last the +wind got to the north and fell not a boat was in sight. Except our +own, every other craft in the river had been swamped, including our +other three boats, which were carried broadside into the lee shore we +had got round, and had a handsome battering. Everything in them was +full of water, while the men escaped and sat on shore till it was all +over, and when they arrived at Ban Bar, where we lay for the night, +they did not seem to have enjoyed the fun at all. + +This village is more Siamese than Laos in appearance; there are +numbers of Chinamen of unprepossessing appearance and manners, who +kept shops and pariahs. The latter was a nuisance we had been +comparatively free from; in fact, on the upper river, at Chieng Kong, +there were very decent breeds to be seen, and Chow Benn Yenn got from +one of his villages a beautiful black-and-tan collie, exactly like a +good specimen at home, with the exception that he had a short tail +like a manx cat. It was a beautiful dog and a capital sporting animal. +The long black-haired and black-tongued "Chow" dog we saw several +times, and also small, brown, long-haired animals with high, curled +tails. A peculiarity about these dogs was that, being accustomed to +the Laos _kao neo_, when we got back to Siam and _kao chow_ (the +ordinary rice), they would have none of it. + +The next day we reached Nongkhai, and were very cordially welcomed by +Krom Prachak, a brother of the king, who is Commissioner. The town +owes its existence to the fall of Wieng Chan, and is scattered along +the south bank; there is a considerable number of Chinamen keeping +shops here, and to them and its character as the official centre, it +owes its importance. The houses extend all along the river-side for a +mile and a half, mostly well shaded by areca and coconut palms. Here +once more, on the great plain lying to the south, we saw the tall, +gaunt sugar palms standing against the sky, and again saw the _kiens_, +or ox-carts, with their long, black hoods, wending their slow way in +single file, the groaning, grunting, and shrieking, which accompanies +their every movement and jerk, coming slowly down the wind. Here once +more, sad to say, we came across a character most of us have known in +Siam--the _kamoë_, or thief--and we hadn't been an hour in the place +before he had begun work. Here, too, we again heard the horrid sound +of chains, dragged along the hot, dusty road by wretched, emaciated +creatures carrying water--hardly strong enough to lift the chains at +their ankles. And here, again, were, among the decent houses, dirty, +squalid cottages and drunkenness. The fact is, the cattle-driving +people of the plains become by their occupation different in character +to the mountaineers; it was very noticeable, striking right upon them +here, how much more stolid and less expressive their faces are, how +black and muddy--or dusty if the rain keeps off--they become in their +long, slow rides upon their carts, and, in general, how like their own +sleepy, blinking buffaloes they become--as, too, one may see in the +great plains of India. The circumstances and conditions of life are +all different; and drinking slow-running mud, which they +euphemistically call water, sloshing laboriously through seas of +reeking bog and swamp, and enduring the tormenting bites of +innumerable huge flies, which attack elephants, buffaloes, oxen, +horses, and men indiscriminately, but untiringly, must result in a +differently developed man from that built up by mountain marches, high +aloft on dry hillsides or deep down in cold stream beds, leaping from +rock to stone or plunging into the rushing water, where life is a +perfect fight. Not that the plains are always so disagreeable; given +the dry, cool months of December and January, travelling in them +becomes a luxury; but there is never the same exhilarating air or the +same pure water. + +The Commissioner's house is at the western end of the town, surrounded +by the sheds of the military detachment. At the back a very pretty +garden is being made; and this and a new straight road, inland of the +present street and parallel with it, are the works of construction on +hand. The ground on each side of the new road--which, by its unlovely +straightness, carried one far away to similar ugliness in civilized +lands, and was the only unnatural thing we saw--is being eagerly +applied for by the Chinese; but a great drawback must for some time be +the absence of shade. The river is undoubtedly cutting into the soft +laterite bank here, and in a few years the old site will go down with +a run. + +Prince Prachak is a reformer; he is very keen in "reforming the Laos," +but is grieved to find they don't want to be reformed. He says--what +is very true--that their work is always desultory (one month they +plant rice, another they go fishing, another they wash gold in the +sands), and that they will not settle down into trades. They prefer, +too, to play music on their kans in the evenings to doing more useful +things, and are, in fact, lazy. But I fear it is not surprising, and +that it will be some time before the Laos take to trades. + +The Chinese shopkeepers import their goods from Bangkok through +Khorat, and the journey, in the matter of shoes or felt hats from +London, increases the price about one _salung_ at the first place, and +two by the time they reach Nongkhai. They show for sale calico goods +of all colours and patterns (as one sees in Bangkok for "panungs," +"pahs," etc.), shoes, sandals, belts, pots and pans, matches, Chinese +umbrellas, and teapots, the first mostly English, and as they sell +these well, they tell you with a grin they soon make their fortunes +and retire. + +The wats are wretched little places, ill built and ill kept, the most +interesting thing being the bell of the principal wat, which is a huge +hollowed timber, some 3 feet in diameter and 7 feet high, hung to a +crossbar at the top. Struck end on with a stout pole, the sound is +deep and sonorous. This form, but usually smaller, is often used in +Siam, and for attaching to the necks of elephants or oxen (which +invariably have a bell), there are clappers hung on a string on each +side, which keep up a continual tinkle. Fixed on a bent bamboo, the +same form of bell is used by fishermen on the shore end of their set +lines to give warning of a big fish or other disturbance. There is +always a slit up, about a quarter of the way, slightly wider at the +top, on each side. + +[Illustration: BELL.] + +The weather from the time we left Luang Prabang to the time we reached +Nongkhai had the unsettled character of the beginning of the rains, +though it was only April month. South-westerly winds and haze by day, +low heavy clouds in the evenings, and thunderstorms of great violence, +with strong squalls of wind shifting round by west and north-west to +north at night, making sleep impossible while they lasted, and +generally driving into the boats everywhere. The lowest and highest +readings of the thermometer were, on the same day when we arrived at +Chieng Kan, after some heavy storms, 63° Fahr. at sunrise, 104° at 2 +p.m. in the boats. For the rest of the time, the average minimum was +72°, generally half an hour before sunrise. The average maximum in +the shade, 92° (in the boats). In the shady sala, on the tree-covered +bank at Nongkhai, we never had over 89°, and, whether owing to the +advent of the rains or not I do not know, it was much cooler and +pleasanter than Luang Prabang had been, and all our sick men, with one +or two exceptions, mended entirely; while at the former place (as too +in the case of Mr. Archer's party) everyone had had turns of fever or +bad headaches. + +[Illustration: BELL-CLAPPER AND JOINT.] + +[Illustration: BAMBOO BELL.] + +The coinage here was once more the tical, with only an occasional +rupee. At Luang Prabang the two, with their small silver subdivisions, +are both taken; but in Nan no Siamese money would pass, strings of +areca nut being used for small change, as cowries are at Luang +Prabang. + +_Note on the "Kan."_ + +The Kan, the reed-organ used so much among the northern Lao tribes, is +remarkable for the sweetness of its tones, and the fact that the +intervals of the notes are correct according to our musical ideas, and +have a true key-note, the pitch of the instrument depending on its +length. + +Thus the five-sok kan (9 feet 4 inches long) is in the key of G--one +sharp. + +The four-sok kan (6 feet 8 inches) in the key of D--two sharps. + +The two-sok kan (3 feet 4 inches) in the key of F--one flat. + +These are the lengths most usual, but six soks is sometimes used; it +possesses very fine low tones, but requires powerful lungs, although +the notes are produced by inspiration and respiration. + +The number of reeds never exceeds fourteen, and the arrangement of +notes is as follows, numbering the reeds in couples from the mouth of +the little air-chamber:--The two reeds, 1, are played with the thumb; +left 1 being the key-note; right 2 being the lower octave of the same. +The octave thus goes from right 2, to 3, 4, 5 and 6 left (or right 3, +which is the same) on to right 4, 5, and back to the thumb note on +left 1. + +[Illustration: FOUR-SOK KAN (1 INCH TO 2 FEET).] + +[Illustration: TWO-SOK KAN.] + +Below the key-note right 2 come left 2 and right 1, and above the +upper key-note, right 6 and 7 and left 7; thus, in the D kan of four +soks, we get-- + +[Illustration: Notes on a musical stave, denoted as "LEFT." and +"RIGHT."] + +There are no sharps or flats possible, and only half filling the +holes, as in a fife, will not produce them, the note being got by the +vibration of small tongues of metal fitted in the side of the reed. +Hence, possibly, the epithet "monotonous," which has been generally +given them; and hence the fact that a good player generally has more +than one. Their playing is very fast and effective, but is at first +hard to follow or properly understand. The mouth-piece is made of the +fruit of the _mai lamut_, and being very hard, takes a lot of work in +being hollowed out, and will receive a good polish outside; two +parallel slits are cut along the top and bottom, and the two rows of +bamboos fitted in, and the whole made airtight with beeswax. In case +of damage to one of the reeds, it is quite simple to undo the grass +bands which are put round at intervals, to remove the beeswax, and +take out the reed; often a gentle flick on the reed will set the metal +tongue vibrating again when momentarily out of order. The reeds, by +being put over the fire, are often very prettily marked. + +[Illustration: AIR-CHAMBER.] + +They can hardly be obtained in Siam, except where Laos are situated. + +The Wieng Chan men, who are all over the country since the city was +destroyed and they were sent south, are the best makers and players, +and a few colonies of them are to be met with in the neighbourhood of +Bangkok. This fact of their love for this highest of Indo-Chinese +instruments, coupled with the fine remains of the old city, certainly +support the idea that at Wieng Chan there was civilization and taste +ahead of those of the surrounding places. + +With regard to the music, it is impossible, without a long study of +it, to say more than that they are very fond of the minor, that they +use the octaves very much in playing, that the key-note may often be +heard down for a long time, and the time is generally a rapid horse's +trot, or quick march. At Nongkhai, I heard two men play a most +beautiful and stately march which made one's flesh creep; it was all +in the major, and in some parts irresistibly reminded one of the +famous march in _Saul_. One of these was a six-sok instrument, and the +effect surpassed anything I've heard in the country. They were on +their way to a marriage-festival when I met them in the road; they had +no fiddles or flutes with them, and were followed by a number of +people marching with them to their airs. They willingly stopped, +squatted down, and gave us half an hour's concert in the shade. + + +[Footnote 4: Called "weehan," or shrine.] + +[Footnote 5: Such as the Ka Hoks.] + +[Footnote 6: Termed, when so drunk, "yah," or medicine. It is slightly +pungent, and is said to be good in dysentery, and especially for +keeping off fever in malarious places.] + +[Footnote 7: Probably they were Kuis.] + +[Footnote 8: By the help of E. W. Oates' capital handbook to the +'Birds of British Burmah.'] + +[Footnote 9: The Khache, or Khamus, are very much confused with the +Lawas, and are much like them.] + +[Footnote 10: To the end of March.] + +[Footnote 11: Eight for a fuang = one-eighth of a tical, or 7½ cents +of a dollar. At Pechai we got one for a fuang.] + + + + +PART V. + +NONGKHAI TO KHORAT AND BANGKOK (_April and May_, 1893). + + +From Nongkhai we left in regular rainy weather for Khorat, with 14 +"kiens" or ox-carts, there being two oxen and a driver to each. Twelve +of these are about equal in carrying capacity to sixteen elephants as +loaded for hilly country--two extra we had for sick men, of whom we +still had two unable to walk; and these two, moreover, were the best +protected with charms of all the men with us. These charms were small +wooden _prahs_, very roughly cut, which they sew up in a bag of calico +and wear round the neck and arm. No amount of chaff will persuade them +that these things will not protect them from falling trees, and +_dhâp_ (or sword) cuts, as well as the _Pi_ of the forest or river. +Another danger from which they declared these things protected the +whole party, were the mermaids in the Mekong. Against these creatures +I was constantly warned when having a swim, especially above Luang +Prabang; they described them as the "women of the water," who would +drag a man down and drown him. Where could this notion have come from, +so singularly like our own stories?[12] South of Luang Prabang, one +heard very little of these damsels, and much more of the _pla bûk_. +On one occasion I pitched one of these charms overboard, and the +owner, who was sick, promptly got well next day, to his no small +astonishment. + +Following the telegraph line, the great trail to Khorat is 211 miles +or so, but _detours_ have often to be made in search of villages which +are generally off the main track some little distance, and this is +necessary for commissariat purposes. For traders, the journey +generally occupies 16 to 21 days, according to the condition of the +oxen and state of the weather. When it rains, no advance is possible, +as, unlike the buffaloes, the oxen cannot work in rain, and hate it, +and seem to lose all their pluck; besides which, the yoke working on +the damp neck tends to produce bad sores. + +The _kiens_, of which we frequently met long caravans, are the ships +of this desert--for such this plain is often for days at a time. +Nothing but wood is used in the construction, as the bumping and +straining is too great for any metal fastenings. The body of the +carriage proper is very light, like a cariole in shape; the pole to +which the yoke is attached spreading and passing along to the rear +underneath. The wheels, which are very broad, and the heaviest things +in the whole, turn on an axletree of hard wood (_Mai Kabao_, sometimes +_Mai Deng_), which is fitted in a socket of solid wood under the car, +at the inner end, and at the outer to an "outrigger," which is lashed +at its end to cross-pieces firmly placed at right angles at the front +and rear ends of the car. Thus the weight is distributed on many +points; a few ready-cut extra pieces of mai kabao are taken, and when +with a lurch and a dive one of the axletrees gives way, the +"outrigger" is unlashed at one end, and pulled outwards till the +axletree comes out of its socket; it is then pulled out of the wheel, +and a new one fitted in in a quarter of an hour. Similarly, lashings +may now and then give way, but a new one is put on in five minutes. +Over all a closely plaited cover is fitted, with a long peak forward, +reaching out over where the driver sits on the pole; and in this a man +may sleep protected from sun and rain. The length of the car is about +7 feet and 3 feet wide. Travelling in it is only possible to a person +who is accustomed to it, the jerking being so tremendous. If there +were roads it would be possible with some degree of comfort, and, +though dusty, they keep cool inside. + +[Illustration: KIEN.] + +The oxen are capital animals for their purpose, and when tired and +hungry can be turned loose with a certainty that in a quarter of an +hour they will have satisfied themselves; the moment they have had +enough, even of the rankest grass, they are ready to go on; their +patience and perseverance, even in the worst swamps, pestered with +flies and leeches, is wonderful. A frisky one, however, can do no end +of damage, and can kick and plunge and drag the _kien_, even when +loaded, at a gallop over any kind of country, and even the rein in his +nose will not hold him. On occasions of this sort, some damage is +often done to the cart, and delay occasioned. Their kick is very +quick, and pretty severe. They are always used by the Laos, though +seldom used by the Siamese of the south. + +The buffalo, which wallows in the water all over Siam, is generally +kept for working the rice or sugar mills, and is only occasionally +used by the Laos in a larger cart of the same kind; but he is very +surly, wilful, and erratic. Large droves of them are taken south from +the Nongkhai neighbourhood, where their price is 12 to 15 ticals, to +Khorat, where their price is double; the demand for them and oxen +being very great in that neighbourhood. The best ponies come from the +neighbourhood of M. Chulabut, but they are also very cheap round +Khorat. At the former place, I saw some capital beasts, and from that +neighbourhood and the south at Pachim the cheapest ponies are +obtainable. Prices for a good carrier range from 50 to 100 ticals, +though an average pony of three years old, which will carry one fairly +well in ordinary jungle work, may be obtained for 35 to 40 ticals. +They are very small, and have a peculiar fast trot, which makes rising +in the saddle impossible; the Siamese or Laos always sit tight in the +saddle, legs almost touching the ground. At Chulabut, I saw a small +creature of ten hands which was very wild, and the owner wanted to get +rid of him for 8 ticals; he was a wonderful little beast, and very +fiery. Another I was offered for 20, and another for 30; but they +would be useless for Europeans. + +For two days we travelled fairly easily, leaving the slight +cultivation near Nongkhai, and travelling through low, shadeless +jungles, passing here and there salt-boiling pans, at which the most +work is done after the rainy season, there being at other times no +water. The salt covers the ground in an efflorescence, and that +produced by the villages is coarse and bitter. The soil in the jungles +is sandy, there being gentle undulations on the northern side, on +which the sand is deepest; on the southern the trail going over rough +laterite. In the depressions occur the _nongs_, or swamps, of which +the plateau is full, and which in the wet weather, with their mud and +deep water, make travelling almost (and in most places quite) +impossible. In the neighbourhood of the main streams, which all run +from west to east to the Mekong, villages are established, and the +scrub jungle gives place to the welcome bamboo clumps and the high +betel and coconut palms, which, like church spires at home, announce +to the traveller far away that he is approaching the habitations of +men. + +The absence of good water, and the change in it, made several of the +men very ill, and on the third morning I found one of the original +invalids, who had had a lot of fever on the Mekong, had every sign of +abscess in the liver. I knew at Khorat there might be a doctor, so +took two men with me, with three _kiens_ and their drivers, pushed on, +and arrived in nine days. The man recovered there, and was well enough +to go on with us from Khorat afterwards. + +I had heard so much of the goodness of the trail following the +telegraphic clearing all the way, and of the bridges and salas, that I +was very much surprised at the reality. It was the worst track we had +followed, and there were only two salas which had roofs on them the +whole way, one having been put up at his own expense by an officer at +Chulabut. The rest were blackened stumps, and solitary corner posts, +from which every bit of roofing and flooring had been removed; two of +these having just roof enough to keep out the dew, but no more. +Cheerless places enough to reach an hour after sunset, after having +marched all day in the scorching morning sun and the deluge of rain +which came every afternoon and continued most of the night. + +However, though after the Hill Laos, their "white-bellied" brethren of +the plains were in some ways disappointing, I am bound to say that the +men who were driving our kiens behaved splendidly; one of them was +formerly a sergeant, and knew his drill and the English words of +command once used in the Siamese army well. He was the lightest and +warmest-hearted man I ever travelled with, besides being, what is not +too common in the East, a really smart man. He was the headman of our +caravan, and I had told him that I must get on as fast as was possible +to Khorat, and he must help; he jumped at it. I asked him how quick we +could do it from Soug Prue. "Ten days." I told him, in that case we +could also do it in nine, and he was delighted, and used to turn us +out at four o'clock with his loud _sawang lëo_ (daylight come), long +before there was a sign of light, and then laugh and say, "Nine days, +master." And so, whatever the weather, however long we stood waiting +in the rain for the oxen to rest their necks before goading them on +again, none of these men with me ever thought of growling; and the +Siamese were the same. The pony I had brought on soon got a sore back, +so there was not much riding, except when it came to swimming a +stream. + +The bridges were three in number only; one was possible, the other two +were unfortunately not connected with the southern bank, so that in +one case at Meinam Chieng Kun, the waggons, after having the oxen +taken out, are hauled over the loose flooring of the bridge and +dropped at the end into five feet of mud and water; in the other every +one avoids the bridge altogether. Now, at very small expense, for the +labour can be obtained for the necessary time from the neighbourhood, +good bridges might be erected all along this route; as it is, the +journey, as soon as the waters begin to rise, is of the most difficult +and arduous kind for all these caravans. + +Krom Prachak is very eager for a light railway from Khorat to +Nongkhai. At least years must elapse before it can be done, but in +three months a good cart-road might be made, pile bridges put up, and +salas repaired; then it would be possible to judge of the chances of +such a railway, and the groundwork for it would be already laid. At +the present moment this undulating country, which should be easy to +travel, is worse provided with communications than the greater part of +the hill villages in Nan, and infinitely worse provided with shelter +than in the most out-of-the-way mountain valleys north. Yet, wherever +we went, the same kindly Laos welcome was given us, except in places +where there were Siamese settlements near by, and friction had +probably occurred among the petty officials. + +Some of the villages, to which we went slightly off the trail, such as +Ban Tum, between the Nam Puang and Meinam Si (both big streams, very +deep and swift when the water rises, flowing through extensive paddy +plains and swamps), Chulabut one day south of it, and Ban Bodibun just +north of Khorat, were perfect gem villages, rich in palms, rice, and +cattle, with kindly people, who did all in their power to overfeed us +before we started. At the former places, where there were Siamese +officials, everything was very neat, and the relations between them +and the Laos seemed to be most happy. This is, naturally, not always +the case; but I am bound to say that, wherever the official is one of +some standing, this state of things is the usual one. Cultivation goes +on round the villages; but as soon as one gets a couple of miles away, +the sandy jungle or the _nongs_ resume their sway. The latter are the +most peculiar feature of the region, and cover a vast area, which is +larger to the eastward. Some of them are merely small swamps, with +shallow water and long reeds, extending over a surface of one or two +square miles; others, again, are extensive areas, in which water and +reeds are the only object the eye meets for miles, with here and there +a little green island, where trees exist, and, in the distance, the +low, long, green line of the jungle along its edge; an ideal home for +the various herons, and other long-legged waders, but, alas! also +tenanted by leeches and by flies, who attacked us all. The poor little +oxen, at the end of a few miles, especially if the sun came out for a +little in the burning way it does between rains, were covered with +clouds of the latter, their necks and nose, humps and legs, smeared +with blood. No resting is possible, for every moment a stop is made +the deeper everything sinks into the mud; so it is plunging and +struggling to the next little island, where we would stop and cook +breakfast with a score of other weary mud-bespattered carts. Besides +these, we also met some pack-oxen going north to get salt; but as the +water was out everywhere, they would have to wait before returning +south. One may roughly say that the salt efflorescence occupies the +low grounds, between the slightly higher laterite jungle ridges, which +are yet just higher than the surface of the _nongs_. The villages in +the neighbourhood are generally wretchedly dirty and untidy in +appearance; the growth is only stunted bamboo, and the whole place +uninviting enough. + +The cold weather, with its advantages of dryness and absence of +insects, has also the disadvantage that water is very scarce. When we +crossed, the whole low-lying area may be said to have been under +water, but water of such a description that it was only here and there +that it was fit for man to drink; while in the sandy forests the +water, all perforating through, drained off at once, and the lower +ends of the track, where it began to rise toward the ridges, were, on +the other hand, lakes of mud. Thus, between endless seas of bad water +and long miles of sand, the water question remains almost as serious +in the rains as in the dry weather. The villages, as a rule, have a +well, and the water from the wells is fair. + +The method of travelling usually adopted with the _kiens_ is an early +start at dawn, and a journey of some 300 sen (7½ miles), when a stop +is made to feed man and beast; and, if going easily, a start will not +be made until 3 or 4 p.m., when another 300 sen will be done before +night--a speed of 15 miles a day, occupying about 6 hours, at about +100 sen (2½ miles) an hour. This is very fair work for ox-carts over +a well-worn track, which is, of course, much rougher and harder to +travel than the jungle itself, the ruts spreading wide for a breadth +of 30 yards or so, and being of any depth that a _kien_ wheel can dig +to. But this exceeds the average. + +Being in a hurry, we did about 21 miles a day for nine days, but had +three relays of oxen. This involved--at about 8 to 10 hours' +travelling by day, with the delays necessary to get new oxen, two +half-day rests, and fording the streams (where the waggons had to be +often carried over on the men's shoulders)--a good deal of night +travelling, which in rain, and heavy trails full of pitfalls, does not +commend itself as a rule. It will be seen, therefore, that the rate of +travelling is slow, and would be sufficiently increased for all +present purposes by improvements in the trail, and at the crossing of +the rivers. Men who are walking have, of course, the advantage, and +sometimes do 24 or 25 miles a day with their packs. The latter are +usually carried on the two ends of a long bamboo, and are fitted with +legs below, so that, stooping down, the weight is at once taken off +the shoulder. When he wants to rest, out of one of his panniers the +man takes his mat to sit on, and lays it between the panniers, and +over the pole above he places the _bai larn_ (a covering of palm +leaves sewn together, some 6 feet by 5 feet) to keep off the sun or +rain, and this is his house while he is on his journey. _Dhâps_ are +rare here, and heavy knives are used for cutting down jungle to place +round at night, or leaves to place under the bed. From travellers of +this sort, going south, we often bought wild honey, in long bamboos--2 +feet of a 3-inch diameter bamboo selling for a fuang. They sometimes +set traps, and are successful in catching rabbits. + +There are a few deer to be heard, and tigers are rare, except round +Chulabut, where a man was killed after we had left, the day the main +body arrived there. + +We picked up a rather curious fellow-traveller when about six days +from Khorat, and he accompanied us to within a day of the town. This +was a rather decent-looking pariah dog, of quite remarkable character. +Unasked he joined us, and trotting often with me in advance, or half a +mile ahead, or right behind us all, his short sharp bark might be +continually heard in the jungle to right or left as he hunted his +breakfast. Of what this consisted I never knew, but he kept himself in +fair condition, for he got very little from us, poor thing, as we did +not want to encourage him; he got more kicks than ha'pence. But he +stuck to us, and even when we overhauled other parties going south, +instead of stopping and going leisurely with them, he always came on +with us. He was evidently accustomed to travelling, and knew the +trail, for he was often absent half a day, but would turn up in the +evening, and lie near us for the night. When we halted, and placed the +waggons round us, and the men put their sleeping-mats underneath them, +he would come as near the fire as he dare to get dry and warm. +Sometimes in the heat at noon, when the sun had been blazing upon us +in the sandy jungle, we would come upon him lying in a _nong_, with +only his eyes nose, and mouth out of water; while in the rain he +plodded stolidly along, and would sit down and wag his dripping tail +when he saw we were going to camp. + +[Illustration: THE NORTH GATE AND NAM NUN, KHORAT.] + +At length we saw the high line of foliage topped by palms which marks +Khorat, and through seas of mud, arrived on the bank of the Nam Nun, +which flows along the northern wall of the city. Across the ford were +groups of waggons encamped to the number of about fifty, and by an old +wat under the shade a busy market was going on. The Commissioner here, +Phra Prasadit, is the same stamp of man as the Commissioner at Luang +Prabang: one of those energetic, warm-hearted, and cheerful men who +make such excellent governors. He was kindness itself to us, and all +the men under him reflected it. In Siam, where every man has in +proportion to his importance numbers of others attached to him by a +kind of feudal relationship, and where his office clerks and his +lieutenants all have a personal connection with him, and almost form +part of his family, the influence which can be exerted is unbounded, +and by the expressions of face of the inferiors the superior may be +judged. Moreover, the Commissioner in Khorat is a man of ideas, has +been in Europe, and has a good knowledge of English and a fair +knowledge of French, and in all political questions in these countries +he takes a great interest; and thus his company was very pleasant. + +The centre of the town we found not yet recovered from an extensive +fire; all round the four sides run the lofty red-brick walls, with +gates in the centre of each side, protected by round towers at the +flanks, in which laterite blocks have been extensively used. The whole +is much dilapidated and overgrown, and the moat outside has become +nearly filled up. The Commissioner had then 3000 men at work clearing +it out again. This will probably enormously benefit the town, which at +present may be described as an accumulation of houses, mainly in +ruins, jungle patches, and swamps, on every side of which rises the +great mound on which the walls stand, and which effectually shuts in +every drop of water, and in the rains transforms the whole area into a +lake. With openings made under the walls to drain off the water into +the moat, and with a raising of the level inside, an enormous +improvement will be effected. As the town stands well on a slight rise +above the plain level, and is surrounded with similar ridges covered +only with beautiful turf going miles towards the south, south-west, +and south-east, it may become a healthy and attractive place. The +plain around is dotted with villages; for many miles the soil +certainly produces a fine clean rice and abundance of fruit. Going out +in the morning along any of the great trails to the west, north, or +east, one passes among crowds of camped _kiens_, and among villages +and markets, the latter always held along one side of the road. At the +time we were there mangoes were in full swing, and all the women's +baskets full of them, bananas, coconuts, ready-rolled cigarettes, +brown cakes of palm sugar of an excellent quality, and very often the +fruit of the sugar palm, which is very much enjoyed. To the south and +west the trails are really like beautiful roads, for they go through a +pretty red sand soil, leading to the flat-bedded sandstones of the +hills, which makes good walking, and, even when swamped with a foot of +water, never causes mud. On the north and east, however, on slightly +lower ground, these sandy ridges are less frequent; the villages, when +possible, are built on them for health and convenience, while the +paddy is grown below. The trails on these sides, passing chiefly +through this low land, are in the rains two or three feet deep in +thick, clinging mud. + +If the houses of the Thai (in which for the moment we may include the +Siamese and Laos together) are in the city badly situated in swamp and +jungle, and badly kept in repair, the houses of the Chinese are very +different; they are the flourishing part of the community. There are +some thousands of them here and in the neighbourhood, nearly all +shopkeepers, and outside the west gate, and along the main trail on +each side, they have a regular village. The street is narrow between +the open shop-fronts, and the road paved with baulks of timber. They +drive a large trade among the people coming in from the distant parts, +in calico stuffs, coloured sarongs and panungs, brasswork for betel +boxes, trays, etc., umbrellas, sandals (the latter soles of leather +with a strap coming up inside the great toe, and dividing and passing +off on each side, which are used all over the north); hats of straw, +felt, or strips of palm leaf; bells for oxen, tins of Swiss milk, +matches, needles and threads, wire and nails, cheap chains, a few +tools of European type, coloured yarns, white jackets and singlets, +towels, and even soap: all are imported from Bangkok. Yet, with the +present difficulties of transport through the Dong Phya Yen, the +Chinamen are doing a flourishing business. + +[Illustration: SANDAL] + +The Chinese houses are peculiar; a rectangular building being first +built of large unbaked mud bricks, with pillars rising like chimneys +at each end. Outside, several feet higher, and resting on these +pillars, is constructed a _yah kah_, or grass roof. Big fires are +kindled inside to dry the place; and the result is a very cool +dwelling. The grass roofing is brought very often far out, overhanging +the front, and this makes a shop front with the house behind. + +These houses are usually on the roadsides, the two principal ones +running north and south, and east and west, connecting the gates, and +meeting about the centre. The latter road is about a mile long, the +former less. The central market is carried on all day in a large +roofed building near the centre of the city, and all up the road sit +the yellow-faced Chinamen smoking their long-stemmed pipes in the shop +fronts, and with the aid of their wives (generally Siamese, and good +business women) bargaining with the long-haired, dark burned men from +the plains, to whom the beauties of the shops in Khorat are a great +delight. From these main roads one may have quite an extensive ride or +walk without going outside the walls, in lovely lanes, lying deep down +between high banks of shrubs and grasses (and sometimes 4 feet deep in +water). These lanes are quite a feature of the country outside, too, +and, with the long grassy slopes referred to above, would make Khorat +the centre of delightful excursions in the cool months. + +The journey from Khorat to Saraburi on the Nam Sak, whence Bangkok can +be reached in two days, occupies as a rule six or seven days only. But +when, after the main body had come up and had a day's rest, we bade +good-bye to the unceasing kindness of the Commissioner, and at the end +of the first day's march, which had begun pleasantly through lanes and +villages, found ourselves up to our necks in water, it was evident we +should take longer. We had to trend to the southward to get upon the +high ground out of the water, and with constant delays, owing to the +impassable state of the rivers, it was fourteen days before we got to +Saraburi. + +Leaving the beautiful villages outside Khorat, deep in their thick +clusters of areca palms, which in places form perfect forests of tall +stems supporting the arched roof of leaves far overhead, and making a +perpetual cool shade, we had two days alternately over flat sandstone +beds and flooded lowlands, where the water was for hours at a time up +to our thighs, and at one place for half a mile up to our necks. Our +nights were wretched, as the rain was perpetual, and the waggons could +not arrive at the monasteries, where we put up, till long after +midnight; the men lay sleeping round, hungry and damp, lots of them +too tired to eat their supper when we got it ready, about 2 a.m. + +These monasteries, built, as they were in days of old in our own Fen +country, upon little islands, are often the only things above the vast +surrounding lakes of water. The houses in the villages, built high on +piles, keep dry. Raised above the ground some two or three feet, are +generally long timber walks, made of solid felled trees, the top side +being slightly shaved down, on which the monks may walk out dry and +clean in the morning rounds to get their food. These walks are +attached to the wats in all the plains of the country, and when the +traveller strikes one, he knows a wat, with its welcome sala or +resthouse, is near. + +The trail follows the Khorat river to nearly its source in the +limestones of the "Dong Phya Yen" forest; it then strikes across the +forest, descending the spurs of the plateau to the elbow made by the +Nam Sak, which turns away at Keng Koi in a west-south-westerly +direction to the Meinam. This trail in the forest is greatly worn by +the pack oxen, by which alone the thick forest can be penetrated, and +in the rains is a series of narrow tracks winding in and out between +the trees, consisting of frightfully slippery mud. The oxen have a way +of walking in each other's footsteps, and the result is a series of +ridges, like those on a sandbank at low water; but the ridges are +greasy mud, and the depressions deep pitfalls. Thus in the wet weather +the oxen constantly have heavy falls, and no one can get through +without finding himself often on his nose or on his back. + +The forest proper begins at Chanteuk, a small village, in the +neighbourhood of which are some copper mines. These are open works, +and as no one has worked there lately, were, when we passed through, +brim full of water. On the Khorat side of this place are two fords, to +cross which huge tree-trunks lie over the water, the growth along the +bamboo being extraordinarily dense. Between them is a sala, which +fortunately was in moderate condition, as we were delayed there two +days in pouring rain, the river having risen ten feet in one night, as +I measured next morning. Our quinine was nearly at an end; one man was +quite prostrated with fever; and our eight days' store of rice was +nearly done, all our chickens gone, the horses useless with sore +backs, and the thirty-eight oxen carrying the packs suffering with +coughs and sores. To get out we built two rafts; one was carried away +on her first journey, the ropes going; and the other proved so slow +that, as the distance was some hundred yards in the then state of the +water, it would have taken us two days to get all over. But, to our +great satisfaction, the river fell. + +At Chanteuk we got some rice and _platieng_, salt-fish, which the +Siamese eat with their rice, and can live on for any length of time. +Then, instead of going down the great trail, where a party of two men +and a woman we met had just left two of their number dead of fever in +the road, I took a drier, if longer route to the south. Our +resting-places were Ban Kanong Pra, Ban Tachang, Hoay Sai, and Muak +Lek Nua, whence we reached Keng Koi. + +The scenery of this forest is most peculiar, and by no means inviting, +especially in the continuous heavy rain, when the traveller is +attacked by ticks and leeches, flies, and red ants seeking a dry +place. The villages are the wretchedest collections of huts, the +people mostly very poor; and one constantly wondered how any soul +could live in these tiny clearings in the midst of a vast area where, +for the most part, the sun never comes, when he might be in healthy, +open country. We could seldom get even a banana. Undulating in all +directions lies the forest, with now and then a sheet of limestone +precipice towering among the drifting rains; the paths,[13] just wide +enough for an ox, continually obstructed by lately fallen trees, round +which a _detour_ must be cut in the semi-darkness; and all the while +the dull roar of the rain upon the leaves, with the prospect of a +camp, wet through, in long six-feet grasses for the night. At Ban Mai +we emerged from the forest, and found a clean village with a lot of +cheerful, chatty Laos, who sent three men on with us to Keng Koi--the +smartest set of men we had seen since leaving the Mekong. + +At Pak Prio, a morning's walk beyond, we found the embankment of the +railway to Khorat so far advanced as to have a mile of rails laid +above the place, and a locomotive standing almost finished in a shed, +to which my men as they came by fell upon their knees and offered the +customary Siamese "salaam," by raising the clasped hands to the +forehead. The oxen, which had reached a stream we crossed with ease a +few hours before above Keng Koi, found it impassable, and were delayed +two days there. My poor fellows, soaked through and through, and with +no chance of getting snug at night, had to sleep and live for two days +of pouring rain in the sala; but, being near home, were as jolly as +could be. The temperature was some 4° higher at night, and mosquitos, +which we had not seen for over five months, were most obnoxious; and +from the strong south-west winds blowing, it was evident we were once +more near the gulf. + +One day's pulling and half a day's steaming, and Bangkok was in sight, +with the French _Lutin_ and H.M.S. _Swift_ lying off the Legations. +This was the first evidence we had had of there being political +troubles. From fording the swollen streams, from continual tumbles in +mud and water, and from constant rain, we found nearly everything on +the pack oxen had been ruined that could be--photographs and other +things. It is a most clumsy way of travelling, without doubt, and the +time and labour spent in loading up every morning is enormous. The +weights on the two sides must be adjusted accurately, the two men +lifting them on a bamboo, through the middle, to test the balance and +spending often ten minutes in getting one pair of panniers ready. Then +there are constant falls, and often these are not discovered until +miles have been traversed, and a careful search has to be made in +ditches, streams, and mud for hours at a time. Besides this, the pace +is wretchedly slow. This belt of the Dong Phya Yen, which can only be +passed by animals, thus equipped, is a practical barrier to +communication, leaving out of consideration the superstition with +which the forest is, with much reason owing to its fevers, regarded, +and the badness of the roads within it. The Khorat Railway becomes +thus a work of the greatest importance to the whole plateau. To +complete its usefulness, one or two passable cart-roads will do all +that is necessary for that piece of undoubtedly hopeful country. + +The Nam Sak, which the railway leaves at Keng Koi, is also a valuable +river, inasmuch as, apart from the large tobacco crops towards its +source, the valley is one richer in minerals than any other piece of +country like it in Siam, and in the rainy season the question of +transport is a fairly easy one. What struck me very much on descending +the Nam Sak was the thickness of the population all along the banks, +as compared with anything we had seen in the north. The beauty of the +wats--always built on points of land round which the stream wound its +turbid way--was also striking, and quite impressive. In the manners of +the majority, and their loud talking, it was also clear that we were +no longer among the gentle Laos of Nan or the musicians of Luang +Prabang; but the comfort and luxury of the people were such as far +exceeded anything we had seen since we left the Meinam at Pechai. + +The weather all the way from Nongkhai to Muak Lek Nua (end of April +and May) was south-westerly winds, moderate to fresh, falling at +night. Mornings fine, with heavy cumuli in the south-west and west, +which gradually spread, and became dark flashing thunder-clouds. Heavy +rain after 2 p.m., beginning with a heavy squall of wind shifting to +the west and north-west, and once or twice round to north-east, whence +it blew hard for an hour. Rain generally lasted most of the night. +Thermometer--average minimum reading, 70° Fahr.; maximum, 91° in the +shade. + +From Muak Lek Nua we descended into the Meinam valley, and found in +the plains but slight showers, and fresh south-westerly wind lasting +long into the night. Thermometer--minimum reading while in Pak Prio, +74°. + +The result of so much wading made itself rather severely felt in a few +days on most of us, and we had sores on our legs and feet for some +time afterwards, so that it was almost impossible to get shoes on. +This was no doubt partly owing to low diet, and partly to the cuts and +wounds to the bare feet which every one gets wading where he cannot +see his way, made worse by the blistering effect of the occasionally +fierce sun, to keep off which palm leaves wrapt round the foot are +excellent. With regard to the fevers, I would say, don't give quinine +every day, as then in emergency its effect is less powerful, and the +constitution is too accustomed to it; keep it until men feel a bit +down, or when in very bad places or bad weather. It will last longer, +and do more. In the high fevers of the dense forests, which prostrate +a man very suddenly, emetics are the most reliable cure. + +In a country abounding in snakes, it is not a little remarkable that +our party only saw four the whole time. Again, though often in wild +elephant tracks, none of us ever either saw or heard one. Two tigers, +a few deer, and monkeys (which are not timid) were the only animals +which were seen in the forests--a very sufficient proof, where their +tracks are to be seen on every hand, and they can be heard around all +night, of the care with which they avoid meeting man. Of course the +great thickness of the vegetation, where the man in front of you is +often out of sight even in the path, in great measure also accounts +for it, and it is this which prevents Siam being such a field for the +sportsman as it would otherwise be. + +There is one subject especially which it struck me often would make an +interesting inquiry for any one who understands the subject--the +comparison of the patterns and colours, both in the silk and +cotton-work of the Laos districts; such as the check patterns in the +panungs and cloaks in Nan, the former remarkable for a large use of a +bright yellow, which, to the unaccustomed eye is rather flaring, the +latter for its red shades; the horizontal and generally narrow stripes +of the Luang Prabang petticoats (in which, again, the best effect is +due to yellow); and the extremely taking panungs of Khorat, which are +thought very much of by the Siamese. They are of one colour, with a +border at the ends, blue, a delicate pink flesh colour, and a light +red being the commonest. + +_Note on Gold and Silver at Luang Prabang._ + +All over the Laos states silver ornaments, as well as such articles as +betel-boxes, trays, etc., are very common among the chiefs, and at +Luang Prabang gold is likewise often seen used in place of silver for +such things. The question is often raised as to how and where these +metals have been obtained in such quantities in the past, that even +tribute has been paid in ornaments made of them from olden times. +Certainly the gold has always been found in alluvial sands, nor did I +ever hear of its being known in veins or veags, nor did I ever find +any traces of its so occurring. I believe its chief source must be the +series of crystalline schists, which is an extensive one, and I +incline to the idea, from the smallness of the quantities extracted +from the sands, that it is probably sparsely disseminated through +these rocks as well as through the quartz and possibly the calcareous +veins, and that it will never be found in them in sufficient +quantities to pay working. The patient streams have worked away for +ages denuding and carrying away these rocks, and separating and +depositing the gold, and all they have effected as far as the latter +goes is that they have deposited infinitesimal quantities of it only, +with larger quantities of the other minerals, such as magnetic iron +ore, iron pyrites, etc. Decomposition and disintegration of the latter +may be in places freeing more gold, and the yearly floods bring down +their small addition, but yet even the Lao worker hardly finds it +worth his while to work the sands, and the apathy displayed in the +matter everywhere is partly without doubt accounted for by the poverty +of the results obtained. And where the native worker gets such poor +results, will the European miner get better? + +The gold in the Mekong is generally extremely fine and much +water-worn, and is usually found below a sharp turn in the river, +where the water runs strong. As regards the silver, it has been found +native, but in such very small quantities that it cannot have supplied +the whole country. The whole of Siam, however, is rich in galena, +often of a very argentiferous character, and it may possibly have been +found with other sulphides as well, but there can be little doubt that +most of it has been extracted from galena. In some parts of the +Northern Laos States this has been a regular industry. Small blast +furnaces of baked mud are used, and when reduced the metal is run off +in pigs and put in a reverberatory furnace with charcoal. This is +sometimes done (but clumsily enough) further south, but little +interest is manifested as a rule in these matters. Nowadays money is +often melted down for working into ornaments. + + +[Footnote 12: It no doubt primarily arises from the danger and +strength of the eddies.] + +[Footnote 13: There are a few elephant tracks.] + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +At the Meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on February 24, 1894, +an account of Mr. Warington Smyth's journey by the President, Mr. +Clements R. Markham, C.B., was read by Mr. Probyn. Before the reading +of the paper, the President said-- + +The paper we are to hear this evening is on exploration on the Upper +Mekong, in Siam, by Mr. Herbert Warington Smyth, who is serving under +the Siamese Government. Siam is from many points of view a most +interesting country, more particularly for us at the present time, and +it is observable that until about nine years ago, when Mr. Holt +Hallett read his paper, we had scarcely in this Society heard anything +of Siam except as to the exploration of the Mekong by our gold +medallist, Lieut. Garnier. We had only had scattered notices in +previous years from Sir Robert Schomburgk and Sir Harry Parkes. But +latterly we have received most important communications from Lord +Lamington in 1891 and Mr. Curzon last year, and I think that not only +this Society, but the nation generally, owes a debt of gratitude to +Lord Lamington and Mr. Curzon for having so persistently, so +patriotically, and so ably kept a question of such importance to +England before the Government and the public. It was in 1887 that Mr. +McCarthy, after surveying Siam for several years, favoured us with a +most interesting communication. He was the first to describe to us the +geographical and the general features of the country; and I believe I +am right in saying it was through the advice and the persuasion of Mr. +McCarthy that this young and modest explorer, Mr. Warington Smyth, was +induced to send us his paper, which we shall listen to this evening. + +Unfortunately, he will be unable to read it himself; he is still--I +won't say better employed, because I don't think any one can be better +employed than in reading a paper before this Society, but he is quite +as well employed in preparing in Siam for further exploration, and I +am glad to say that, as the paper is in manuscript, or the condensed +version which we are obliged to use, a friend of Mr. Warington Smyth +and an old schoolfellow, Mr. Probyn, has very kindly undertaken to +read it. + +After the reading of the paper, the following discussion took place:-- + +Lord LAMINGTON: I think I may say that if Mr. Warington Smyth had been +here he would have considered it a great compliment to have had his +lecture listened to by so large an audience, and I may also say you +will not think your time wasted while listening to the paper. We owe a +debt of gratitude to Mr. Probyn for having undertaken to read a paper +so full of names to which he must be unaccustomed. With regard to the +paper, no description I have read has recalled to me so vividly the +scenes in that part of the world. Mr. Smyth has shown himself not only +a geologist, but a close observer of natural history and human customs +in every variety and form. He has represented to us most fully all the +scenery, and given us a vivid description of Siamese and Laos life. I +am glad that he corroborates what I myself would state, the gentleness +of the Laos tribes. I don't know who has called them barbarians, but I +cannot imagine a people less deserving of such a title. I am not quite +sure of the definition of civilization, and in their own way it may +not be Western, but in all kindness and honesty they are as worthy to +be called civilized as any that could be found in the human race. I +almost wish he had told us more about the mineralogical wealth of the +country. I am not certain how far we may gather that the sapphire +mines are of any great value, but from the mere fact of these Burmans +coming over and thinking it worth while to take long journeys to sell +their stones, and from their being of the first water, we may assume +that when these mines are worked in a more efficacious manner they +will prove to be of value. Another interesting part of his paper +refers to the navigation of the Mekong from north of Luang Prabang and +down south as far as Nong Khai. From Chieng Kong, where he first +touched it, to Chieng Kan, we may assess its value as a navigable +river, that is to say, for any boats of size to carry cargoes. His +estimate is borne out by the report of Mr. Archer, and so also his +statement on the commerce of Luang Prabang gives us a true idea of its +worth, which is practically _nil_. Of course, we know the French are +anxious to obtain possession of that place, as they consider it of +first-class importance. Both Mr. Archer and Prince Henri d'Orleans +think it, as a commercial centre, valueless for attracting any +European capital. That part of the Mekong which may be considered +navigable is from Chang Tang to Khong, further than Mr. Warington +Smyth went. The French have now carried some stern-wheel steamers +piecemeal up to these waters; the result of their enterprise only the +future can show. With regard to the fishing methods of the natives, I +may just say that these arrangements may be very well when you are +descending the river, but they are the greatest inconvenience when +ascending, as they form a formidable barrier if there is a strong +current, and when you have to face this rigid fence of bamboos, it +then becomes a matter of great difficulty to force the boat through. + +Mr. Warington Smyth mentioned the difficulties made by the mud; this, +of course, in the wet season renders all travelling impossible. The +sliminess of the mud is almost inconceivable, and I can recollect, +when between Chieng Upeng and Mung Sai, I used when climbing to keep +on all fours, and probably slip down until arrested by a twist in the +path; and it was amusing to see the efforts made by boys and men to +mount the slimy slopes. This was in the dry season; in the wet season +travelling with loaded animals becomes impossible throughout the +greater part of the Indo-China peninsula. Mr. Archer came across from +Chieng Kong into the Nam Nan valley; now Mr. Warington Smyth describes +the country from Nong Khai to Khorat; and there is an account waiting +to be published by, Mr. Beckett, of the diplomatic service, of a +journey still further down the Mekong and along the Nam Mun river to +Khorat. We are thus in possession of descriptions of a country that, +owing to political exigencies, will play an important part in the +future, and all information we derive concerning it must be very +valuable to us. + +I apologize for addressing you at such length, and thank you for your +kind remarks about my efforts to instruct public opinion about Siam. I +imagine I must be a lineal descendant of Cassandra, because I have +noticed that all I have said has been disregarded. I am glad to see +Mr. Curzon has torn himself away from the charms of the allotment +question. He has given much information, and has asked many searching +questions in Parliament with reference to Siam, and has been +successful in eliciting some valuable information. + +Hon. George Curzon: Lord Lamington has indulged in some amiable chaff +at the expense of the House of Commons, to which we are accustomed on +the part of those noblemen who belong to the upper chamber. I may tell +him, in reply, that what concerns us much more than the question of +allotments for the parishes in England is the question of the future +political allotment of Siam. My interest in Siam is more than a purely +physical or geographical interest in the country; and all those who +belong to the country, or have a friendly concern in it, may rest +assured that neither Lord Lamington or I will abate any effort for its +fair treatment in the politics of the future. I don't know that I have +much right, perhaps none, to address you at all this evening, because, +in the first place, I have not been upon these upper parts of the +river Mekong which have been visited and so admirably described +successively by Lord Lamington and in the paper this evening. My own +acquaintance with the Mekong is limited to its lower portion, where it +flows through Cochin-China, Cambodia, and at Pnom Penh, the capital of +Cambodia, sends northwards a branch that disembogues into the lake +Tali Sap. Now, this Mekong river is one of the most remarkable rivers +in the world, whether contemplated in the lower parts, where it +spreads out in broad tranquil reaches from 200 yards to half a mile in +width; or whether you examine its middle sections, where, as we have +been told this evening, the French are finding furious and stormy +rapids; or whether you go northward beyond the exploration of Lord +Lamington and Mr. Warington Smyth, the river pursues its course +unknown and unexplored far away, amid the mountain masses of Western +China and Tibet. This river Mekong seems to me, during the last +twenty-five years, to illustrate a lesson, ever since 1865-6, when the +French expedition under Lagree, Garnier, and De la Porte went up the +river to explore it,--one of the most heroic of expeditions in its +conception and execution, and most pathetic in its result, undertaken +by pioneers. Ever since then it has had an extraordinary fascination +for Frenchmen--so much so, that they have claimed for themselves a +sole right of interest in the Mekong, no matter what reports may be +brought home by travellers, commercial agents, or explorers, as to the +unnavigability of the river. They have maintained these ideas to the +present day, and I cannot imagine a more interesting study than that +of the parts which the great rivers of Asia, the Euphrates, Oxus, +Ganges, and Mekong, have taken in history not merely by their +geographical features or commercial aspect, but by what I may call +their moral influences, exercised on the moulding of the peoples and +on the destinies of empires. We have heard a most interesting paper +from Mr. Smyth. He has given us a most faithful and vivid account of +boat life, raft life, camp life, village life, and jungle life in +Siam, and, as Lord Lamington said, has given us not only a faithful, +but a singularly attractive, picture of the various tribes who inhabit +that country. I was glad to hear what Lord Lamington said about these +Laos peoples, because there is too great a tendency in the world to +assume that, because the tribes of little-known and comparatively +unexplored districts have not all the abominable manners of +civilization, they must necessarily be described as barbarians. As he +remarked, no more amiable, docile population exists--a people +possessed of æsthetic and musical tastes, who are entitled to the +epithet, "the Greeks of the Indo-Chinese peninsula." There is another +strip south of Luang Prabang, right down between the mountains and the +Mekong, into which no Englishman has ever been; and, looking to the +fact that the French have taken possession of it, I don't suppose we +are likely to go there. Further down is a curious people called +Ladans, amongst whom an adventurer, either French or Italian, +established himself a short time ago, called himself king, and, I +believe, wanted to appear in the "Almanack de Gotha;" but, having +retired for a short time, on his return found his subjects unwilling +to receive him, and the kingdom has disappeared. The interest to us in +this room is not that of acquisition or conquest, but a friendly +sympathetic interest in the Oriental people who are playing their own +part in the world, in proportion as they come into the mesh of British +trade. I was interested to hear about Manchester goods at Luang +Prabang, seeing the advantages the French have for shipping by Hanoi +and up the Black river. You would never expect Manchester goods there, +and the fact that they are there means, not only that they ought to be +kept there, but ought to be seen all over the peninsula. I am pleased +to say that Mr. Smyth, in the latter part of his journey, travelled +over a line that is to be taken by the railway from Khorat to Bangkok, +of which I saw the embankments. It was largely the anticipation of the +results of that railway that induced the French to go on, for the flow +of trade has been for some time past from the Mekong river +south-westwards. They want to divest it towards their possessions. +Conceive how it will be emphasized if you have a railway instead of +the carts that take goods laboriously by the way Mr. Smyth described! +I am sorry that there is difficulty about this railway--that the +contractor has had a dispute with the Siamese Government; but I hope +that this will be settled, and, at all events, that Siam will make the +railway. A year ago I was in Siam, and the king told me he meant to +take the railway to Kong Khai. It will be the best thing for the +salvation of his country, and there is no Englishman present who does +not wish to see Siam strong, independent, and wealthy, and capable of +holding its own. For my own part, I shall never cease to feel the +greatest and warmest interest in that singularly attractive country, +and my own opinion is, that it is the duty of every British Government +to see that the integrity of that country is not wiped out, and that +its vitality is maintained. + +Mr. F. Verney: I have the honour of being connected with Siam by being +a member of the Siamese legation. I have watched with intense interest +the advance of that country, and have been concerned in its connection +with Europe even more than with Siam itself. I can thoroughly confirm +everything that has been said by Lord Lamington on the one side and +Mr. Curzon on the other, from what I have heard, not from what I have +seen. I was in Siam for a very short time, and was treated there with +the greatest possible kindness and hospitality. To judge fairly the +civilization of that country, we should take, not our own standard of +civilization only, but a wider standard applicable to communities +differing entirely in their origin, their histories, and in their +development from our own, and it is very gratifying to hear a man in +Mr. Curzon's position in the House of Commons express his opinions in +the emphatic and eloquent language to which we have just listened. It +is true that only recently England has awakened to the extreme +importance of that distant country. It was not until the other day +that Englishmen had an idea that Siam produced anything much besides +twins, but this cynical ignorance is rapidly disappearing. You cannot +listen to travellers like Lord Lamington and Mr. Curzon (and when Mr. +Warington Smyth comes back we shall listen to him) without finding out +that there is a great deal both of material and what we may call moral +progress in that distant country. Let me say one word as regards his +Majesty the King of Siam, on whose character and personality so much +depends. For many years past the king has been known as a man of wide +interests, of a very high order of intelligence, and of an unusual +charm of manner. He comes of a family distinguished in the past both +for statesmanship and scientific culture. A member of his family was +one of the greatest astronomers in the East; another was described to +me by one of the greatest Oriental travellers, and perhaps the most +cultivated linguist in Germany, as being the master of more languages +than any other man he had met; and you may be assured that the royal +family of Siam will produce many more distinguished men. There are +members studying at Oxford, others at our public schools, growing up +surrounded by all the best English influences. Let us hope that Siam +and England will go hand-in-hand, and that other countries in Europe +will come round to see that this is not a country for invasion or +annexation, but worthy of support and sympathy, on account of its +people, its products, its achievements in the past, and its +possibilities for the future. + +Mr. Louis: I am afraid I can add very little to what Mr. Warington +Smyth has said, because my explorations were in a diametrically +opposite direction. I had the pleasure of his company when exploring +some diamond and ruby mines in the south-east, and this was more +interesting to me as my knowledge of mineralogy was acquired under Mr. +Warington Smyth's father. On one point only I have to differ from Mr. +Warington Smyth--as to the Burmese way of washing rubies and +sapphires. It is not at all to my mind the crude, rough way he +mentions. Their baskets are the most beautifully finished work made of +bamboo in thin strips, and handled with all the deftness and practised +skill of an Australian or Californian gold-washer; they scarcely ever +miss a gem, so far as I could see, much bigger than a pin's head. As +regards the geology of these districts on the east of Chantabun, the +formation is simply gravel from 2 to 5 feet deep overlying the trap +rocks, and these gems have been worn out of the trap rocks by natural +agencies. Mr. Smyth describes the gems as coming from a black +crystalline rock very similar to that I have mentioned. This formation +seems to be quite different from the white limestone occurring in +Burma. I should like to mention one thing that must have struck very +few when hearing Mr. Smyth's paper; it not only gives a wonderfully +accurate description of the people, but is an accurate reflex of his +own plucky and cheery nature; very few can have any idea of the real +hardships and difficulties and dangers involved in such an expedition. +It takes an Englishman to go through such dangers and hardships, and +then write such a bright account of everything as Mr. Smyth has done. + +The President: I am sure the meeting will agree with me that we have +never in this hall heard so graphic and so picturesque an account of +this little-known region as is contained in Mr. Warington Smyth's +paper. Mr. Smyth is evidently a keen observer of nature, and has the +gift of sympathy--of being able to place himself in the position of +the people with whom he travels and whom he comes across, as well as a +kindly feeling for the animals serving with him. These are very high +qualities. His narrative is so lively and cheery, that we can hardly +realize the amount of hardship and danger the journey entailed. These +are all admirable qualifications, which are due almost entirely, I +have no doubt, to his own individuality; but perhaps we may put +something down to his education. Mr. Warington Smyth was a Westminster +boy, like his father before him, who was a valued member of our +Council. I cannot help taking this opportunity of saying that there +are very few places of learning in this country that have done in +times past so much for geography as that glorious old school which +nestles round the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. Richard Hakluyt, the +father of English Geography, was a Westminster boy; Edmund Gunter, the +first introducers of the use of Napier's logarithms; Neville +Maskelyne, to whom we owe the Nautical Almanac; Dr. Vincent, one of +our greatest comparative geographers, were all Westminster boys; and +one of the seven founders of this Society, and two of your Presidents, +were also Westminster boys. Now we find a Westminster boy training +himself, hereafter to be a great explorer, and perhaps discoverer. Let +us wish him all success in his career, and I am sure the meeting will +desire me to convey to him a hearty and unanimous vote of thanks. + +[Illustration: Map--THE CENTRAL PART OF THE KINGDOM OF SIAM. Showing +the route of MR. H. Warington Smyth.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Notes of a Journey on the Upper +Mekong, Siam, by H. 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Warington Smyth + +Release Date: January 16, 2014 [EBook #44681] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOTES OF JOURNEY ON UPPER MEKONG *** + + + + +Produced by the volunteers of Project Gutenberg Thailand. +Proofreading by users emil, LScribe, brianjungwi, rikker, +wyaryan, netnapit.tasakorn, Saksith. PGT is an affiliated +sister project focusing on public domain books on Thailand +and Southeast Asia. Project leads: Rikker Dockum, Emil +Kloeden. (This file was produced from images generously +made available by The Internet Archive.) + + + + + + + + + + NOTES OF + A JOURNEY ON THE UPPER MEKONG, SIAM. + + + BY + H. WARINGTON SMYTH, + OF THE ROYAL DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND GEOLOGY, BANGKOK. + + + WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PUBLISHED FOR + THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY + BY + JOHN MURRAY, 50, ALBEMARLE STREET, LONDON. + 1895. + + + + +[Illustration: THE RAPIDS AT THE GATES OF CHIENG KONG, MEKONG RIVER.] + + + + +PREFACE. + + +I have put together the following account of a recent journey made for +the Siamese Government to the Mekong valley, chiefly for the reason +that at the present moment, when the French have "rectified" their +boundaries on the north and east of Siam to the extent of some 85,000 +square miles, more interest than usual will probably be felt in the +character of the country and the people, of whom there are not too +many reliable accounts to be found. At the same time, I feel very +strongly that there are others whose descriptions will be far more +valuable than my own, owing to their longer residence in the country, +and the greater extent of their explorations. I refer especially to +Messrs. McCarthy, Archer, and Beckett, who have done difficult and +extensive work in all parts of Siam and the Laos states; and there is +certainly no European, and probably no Siamese, that knows so much of +the configuration of the north-east as does Mr. McCarthy, who, carried +on by an apparently deep love of jungle-life, has aroused the +admiration of the Siamese and Laos at Luang Prabang by his hardihood +and energy, and the results of whose work were a constant source of +admiration to me, as I went on and saw the wildness and difficulty of +the country. + +The object of my journey was primarily the examination, for the +Siamese Government, of a supposed very rich deposit of gems (rubies +and sapphires), lately discovered on the left bank of the Mekong, +opposite Chieng Kong. My orders were to return by Luang Prabang, +Nongkhai, and Khorat, and to visit and report on all mineral deposits +of which I could get information, gathering all geological data which +were possible. The time allowed was six months, and I was not to leave +the general line of march prescribed by more than 60 miles. I need +hardly say--and every one who knows what jungle-travelling is will +understand--that my programme, to be thoroughly carried through over +the large extent of country marked out, might well occupy six years +instead of months; and that such a hurried exploration in a country +covered densely with forest--which, next perhaps to snow, is the +greatest enemy to the science of geology--could not but be +unsatisfactory to one's self. + + H. Warington Smyth. + + + + +GLOSSARY. + + Pak = mouth of a river; _e.g._ Pak Oo, mouth of river Oo. + Nam = river; _e.g._ Nam Oo, river Oo (_a_ always long, as in +_barn_). + Hoay = mountain torrent. + Keng = rapid; _e.g._ Keng Fapa, Fapa rapid. + Luang = great or chief; _e.g._ Keng Luang, the great rapid. + Doi _or_ puh = Siam word Kao = hill. + Ban _or_ Bang = house or village (used indiscriminately). + Sala = rest-house. + Muang = town or township, often district or province. + Chow Muang = literally, chief of the township = governor. + Klong = stream or canal. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PART I. + Bangkok to Muang Nan + + PART II. + Muang Nan to Muang Chieng Kong + + PART III. + Muang Chieng Kong to Muang Luang Prabang + + PART IV. + Luang Prabang (March, 1893) + + PART V. + Nongkhai to Khorat and Bangkok (April and May, 1893) + + Appendix + + + + +MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. + + The Rapids at the Gates of Chieng Kong, Mekong River + The Meinam below Chainat + Loaded Rice-Boats lying in Bangkok + Rua Pet + Rua Nua + Rua Nua from Fore End + Boat hollowed out of Trunk ready to be soaked in River + Boat opened out over Fire, Ribs and Knees in + Rice-Boats and Floating House, Paknam Pho + A Rice-Boat, flying light + Rice-Raft, Nam Oo + Wat Chinareth (Central Tower from West) + A Sala in the Nan Forests + Khorat Plateau. Entrance to Forest Dong Phya Yen + Gorge Nam Pgoi + The Paddy-Fields, Hin Valley + Wat Ben Yeun, M. Sa + East Gate of Nan + Laos Bag, of Striped Cloth + Kao Neo Wicker Baskets + Axe for hollowing Boats + Dipper for Water + A Hill Monastery, M. Le + View from M. Le, looking north-west across the Nam Nan and Watershed +of Meinam Khong + Map--Route from Muang Ngob on the Nam Nan to Muang Chieng Kong on +the Mekong River + A Gem-Digger's Clearing, Chieng Kong + Camp at the Fa Pa Rapids + One of our Elephants, with Howdah on + The Leading Mule + A Head Man--Stern View + A Head Man--Side View + A Haw--Packs dismounted + Laos Boat + Illustration of Oar and Steering-Gear + Double Boat + Village above Paku, Mekong + Forty-Five Feet Boat, Nam Oo + Map--Part of the Mekong + Khache Hill Clearings; Rapids above Pak Beng, Mekong + Dhâp and Sheath + Jungle Knives + Mouth of Nam Suung, above Luang Prabang + Approach to Luang Prabang from North + Wat Chieng Tong + Pa Chom Si, Luang Prabang + Plan of Luang Prabang and River + Stone Implements + Government Offices, Luang Prabang + Keng Kang, Nam Oo. The Plunge off the Left Bank + Keng Luang + Ascending Keng Luang, Nam Oo + Fishing Stakes and Shelters, Nam Oo + Rudder + Boats Fishing + Last of the Hills above Wieng Chan + The Ruins of Wat Prakaon, Wieng Chan + Niche and Statue + South-West Angle, Wat Susaket, Wieng Chan + Bell + Bell-Clapper and Joint + Bamboo Bell + Four-Sok Kan (1 Inch to Feet) + Two-Sok Kan + Air-Chamber + Kien + The North Gate and Nam Nun, Khoraat + Map--The Central Part of the Kingdom of Siam + + + + +NOTES OF A JOURNEY ON THE UPPER MEKONG, SIAM. + + + + +PART I. + +BANGKOK TO MUANG NAN. + + +Early in December, 1892, we left Bangkok--myself, three Siamese +assistants, and a sergeant's guard as escort, and coolies. At Muang +Chainat, owing to the rapid fall of the river, I had to send back the +Navy launch, which was drawing 3 feet 6 inches; a month earlier she +might have got nearly up to M.[1] Pechai. At Paknam Pho, where the Nam +Pho and Meiping meet, after a good deal of bargaining I secured a _rua +nua_, or north-land boat, to take me on. Boat-travelling in Siam is +much the same everywhere; and in their boat-life, it may be said, the +Siamese have attained a high degree of civilization. Very often the +boat is the home of the family, and after the rains they moor +alongside the bank and cultivate tobacco, cotton, or melons on the +slope on which the rich loam of the floods has settled down; after the +rice harvest they will set out laden with paddy for Bangkok, returning +later on with salt or other luxuries from the south. The Chinese, who +are the most energetic people in the country, carry on extensive +trading in this way. They use a very large double-ended kind of boat, +known as "rice-boat," which has a long cylindrical roof of closely +plaited work impervious to rain, extending from just before the +helmsman to within 10 feet of the bows, where the two or three oarsmen +toil at the long oars. As in all the Siamese boats, the oar is slung +in a grommet, which is turned round the top of a small pole firmly let +into the gunwale at the lower end. This gives the end of the oar +sufficient height inboard, and the oarsman stands to his work facing +forward, the outer hand on a small handle turned at right angles to +the oar, as in the Chinese sampans one sees in the straits. With a big +heavy boat, the action, with a sharp jerk at the end of the stroke, is +not pretty; but in the small _rua chang_ (or sampan) of the city the +motion is exactly that of the gondolier, and with the swaying motion +of the inside leg, which is often quite free, is extremely pretty. It +must be confessed the grommet principle, which at least keeps the oar +in its place, makes the work much easier than the slippery crutch in +which the gondolier at Venice works his long oar, and which proves a +great source of difficulty to the beginner in the art. This method is +known by the Siamese as "chaw"- (or "chow"-)ing. + +[Illustration: THE MEINAM BELOW CHAINAT.] + +[Illustration: LOADED RICE-BOATS LYING IN BANGKOK.] + +Next in size and usefulness to the "rice-boats" (which are generally +about 40 feet long, 10 feet 4 inches beam, with 6 feet 4 inches +extreme draught when loaded, and carry twenty koyans of rice) comes +the _rua pet_, which is a great favourite with the Siamese. It is +cleaner lined than the rice-boat, the cabin arrangement being the +same; that is, the long roof, the deck at the level of the gunwale +going fore and aft, and the storage-room all below, reached by taking +out the neatly fitting pieces of deck, which are made to fit into the +main cross-beams. The helmsman has a slightly raised attap roof over +his head, and he (or she, for the wife and the children down to six +years old can steer as well as the father) looks out from under this +and over the long low roof in front. The steering is done with a +rudder shipped in the usual way on the stern-post, while in the big +rice-boat it is generally on the quarter (if under sail, on the lee +quarter), kept in position by a rope grommet at the head, and another +lanyard put through an eye bored lower down. In both kinds of craft a +finely peaked calico lugsail is used with a fair wind--the matting, of +which the junks and local coast-luggers make their sails, being never +seen inland. The size of the _rua pet_ is generally 40 feet over all, +8 feet 4 inches beam, and 3 feet 4 inches draught loaded; a new one +will cost 300 to 320 ticals, say £26. Teak is largely used in the +construction, and when finished the whole is covered with a coating of +_chunam_, a mixture of oil from the Mai Yang (a magnificently +proportioned tree common in the forest), with dammar oil, which gives +a beautiful red varnish to the hull. + +[Illustration: RUA PET.] + +A third distinct type of boat is the _rua nua_ ("nua" meaning north, +and "rua" boat), which seems to be rather a Laos than a Siamese form. +It is hardly accurate to call them distinctively "Laos boats," as is +often done, as the real "Laos boat," used both on the Mekong and in +the Laos states proper on the Meinam, is simply a long dug-out canoe, +60 feet long, with an extreme beam of 4 feet. The _rua nua_ is a much +more highly developed type, and is in construction as elaborate as +those above mentioned. It is generally longer than the _rua pet_. My +boat was 56 feet 10 inches over all, with a beam of 10 feet, and +carried the owner and his crew of four men, with myself and twenty +Siamese. At night a few of us slept on shore, in the Salas or +rest-houses of the monasteries, or on the banks of sand. The stem and +stern posts are made of huge chocks of teak, the bottom flat of three +or four huge planks running the whole length of the boat if possible. +Right aft is a high-roofed and very comfortable house in which the +steersman lives; sitting on his high stool, and looking over the usual +plaited roof along the centre of the boat, he turns his long +steering-oar, which reaches far out astern over the port quarter. The +fore-deck of the boat is outrigged on each side to a considerable +distance, while a gangway runs round the centre roof outside for the +man to pole along. Up the Meiping these boats are generally ornamented +with a long high snout of timber out forward, and a high forked tail +astern. + +[Illustration: RUA NUA.] + +Of small craft the variety is endless--from the small canoes which +hawk _kanoms_, or cakes of rice, sugar, and coconut, to the small +roughly roofed boats which will just hold the owner and his wife and +child if they balance carefully, or the long snake-like boats which +are favourites with the monks at the monasteries. The people usually +build their own boats, and are very good hands at it; and one may see +them in all states of construction,--hollowed out with laborious +chipping ready for opening out over the fire, or already heated and +opened up, with knees and ribs being put in and pegged with wood (for, +like the Norwegians, they never use nails, and the result is great +durability); or ready with a six-inch "wash-streak" all round, and the +light deck at the gunwale level, which is the feature of the smallest, +if we except the _sampans_ and canoes of the capital. + +The fittings of the large species of craft above described are often +elaborate and almost yacht-like. A brass trimming to the gunwale, and +bright red prayer-papers, are generally to be seen on board of John +Chinaman. There will be pretty balustrades round the quarters where +the helmsman is, partly for show, partly to keep the small fry from +falling overboard. Curtains of plaited bamboo are hinged to the attap +roof above the helmsman, and when shut down will keep out rain or sun. +At the fore end the deck will shine with the polish given it by the +constant sitting or reclining of the crew, and inside the long low +roof, if there were only sufficient head-room, the floor would be +declared perfect for a dance. All round are lockers, in which cotton +stuffs are stored to take up-country, or betel-box, teapot, and +crockery are stowed; the comfort and luxury of some of these boats +could not be surpassed. + +[Illustration: RUA NUA FROM FORE END.] + +[Illustration: BOAT HOLLOWED OUT OF TRUNK READY TO BE SOAKED IN +RIVER.] + +[Illustration: BOAT OPENED OUT OVER FIRE, RIBS AND KNEES IN.] + +And how they do all enjoy life! There is no hurry; if going down +stream, they take it easy enough; and if going up, why overwork? A +week earlier or a week later makes no difference; and so, why not stop +and have some tea and chat as they pass some friendly village, or a +boat with whom last year perhaps they travelled in company for a +month? If the sun gets hot, they will tie up to the bank, and all +hands bathe, the children diving overboard like the best of them. If +it rains, tie up again, light up the fire and cook the rice and mix +the curry for supper; then out cigarettes all hands, and from the +cloud, to which even the stout five-year-old boy, who is the pet of +the ship, contributes his share, gaze complacently out into the damp +evening, where all the myriad life of jungle is piping shrilly in the +swaying bamboo clumps. No wonder these people are happy and +hospitable, ever ready with a joke. + +[Illustration: RICE-BOATS AND FLOATING HOUSE, PAKNAM PHO.] + +The journey to Muang Pechai took our _rua nua_ 19 days, and owing to +the falling state of the river, our old skipper had to lighten his +ship by selling off a lot of his salt; and even then she drew 3 feet, +and all hands had frequently to go overboard and haul over shallows. + +[Illustration: A RICE-BOAT, FLYING LIGHT.] + +Above the junction of the Meinam Yome and the Pechai River, the +villages which had thronged the bank gave way to a wild uninhabited +country--the villages few and poor, the paddy-fields far apart and +small. The river winds tortuously between clay banks 30 feet high and +crowned with the prickly bamboo or long grasses, or in places with +deep forests of fine timber. Here and there on the inside of the bend +would be extensive sandbanks, and on these, as being safer from wild +animals or fever, often three or four boats' crews would be camping at +night. On the concave side of the bend would be evidences of huge +falls of stuff, the result of the recent floods, with large trees or +bamboo clumps sticking out of the water. Of animal life there was +plenty--the apparently sluggish crocodile, which at the crack of a +rifle would leap his own length into the water; the familiar and +friendly long-tailed monkeys; or the white-headed fish-eagle, and +another big dark-coloured eagle with peculiarly hoarse cry. + +The order Herodiones is well represented, and I shot specimens of the +common heron (_Ardea cinerea_), and the great white heron or great +egret (_Ardea alba_); and in the low state of one's larder, which is +the normal condition in Siam, they were excellent eating. Of +kingfishers I saw two distinct forms--the smaller one (?), the pied +kingfisher of India; the larger with a stronger bill, black and white, +without the high colouring of the other. All these birds are very +common, and there are many smaller thin-legged birds running along the +sands. + +[Illustration: RICE RAFT, NAM OO.] + +As in all the rivers of Siam during and just after the rains, the +water is alive with fish, the most remarkable that I saw being the +"pla reum," a creature often over 3 feet long and the same in +depth--very broad-bodied, with a covering of large scales, the fins, +tail, and gills of a pinky red; head large and broad, with wide mouth +lined with fine rows of diminutive teeth, of which there are two lines +in the upper jaw. The tail is enormously powerful in the water, and, +until he is tired out, the drift-net used for catching him has a very +hard time of it. + +After reaching Muang Pichit, the villages occur more frequently again, +and are often palisaded; this is necessary for the protection of the +cattle, which are the favourite prey of the dacoits who wander about +in the valley of the Meinam all too freely, often with fine boats, +which in the daytime are peaceful trading craft to the eye, but at +night suddenly bristle with men. At the present time this kind of +business is an actual danger to the traders as well as to the peaceful +villagers; and at the time I went up, though the Minister of the North +(Prince Damrong) had just been on a tour to Pechai, they were +extremely bold all over the country. Once north of lat. 17° 40', and +in the Laos country, property is safer than in Eaton Square. + +One word as to the "wats," or monasteries, and the monks who inhabit +them. They are often misnamed "temples" and "priests;" but, as all who +know the customs of the Buddhist countries around will be aware, there +is no "priesthood" proper. These men are really retired from the world +for the purpose of such meditation as shall bring them as near to the +purity of their master and pattern Buddha as possible. Wherever there +are villages there are wats, supported by the contributions of the +inhabitants, who are bent on gaining merit by their good deeds to +these holy men. Like the monks of "merrie England" in years gone by, +there are good, bad, and indifferent; in many cases the prior is a +keen Pâli student and good musician, and a man of some ideas. The +yellow robe and the shaving of head and eyebrows is not exactly +fascinating at a close view, but among the monks I used to see many +very fine thoughtful faces; while I shall, I hope, always remember the +friendly evenings I spent after the day's voyage, sitting perched on +the bamboo flooring of the sala, high above the quiet stream, +listening to a duet played on their simple two-stringed fiddles. The +body is made of half a coconut-shell, over which the sounding-board is +placed. The string of the bow is between the two strings, and the +execution is wonderful. The airs, which are all handed down by ear, +are a very fast weird music, distinctly catchy, and one, "the trotting +pony," is a wonderfully sweet and descriptive air. Another instrument +is the _toka_, a hollow teak sounding-box with two strings stretched +over a number of bridges, on which the fingers of the left hand work +while the right twangs the strings: this joined in very well with the +fiddles. The intervals are not the same as ours, and the European ear +takes some time to get accustomed to the novelty; after a time, +however, one can sufficiently interpret the airs to get them on a +flute, whereon the proper intervals seem to enable one to get a +correct version of what before seemed rather a jargon. Another +favourite pursuit with the youthful monks is _tetakvoa_, a football of +open wicker-work, which is kept going by the dozen or so players +taking "full volleys" with knee or foot, and often "heading" the ball. +This, of course, is common in the villages too, but I did not see it +in the Laos states. + +It is the custom to bring up for the night, whenever possible, +alongside one of these wats, both on account of the convenience of +finding a good sala, and the greater security against robbers. There +is always a wide clear space beneath the trees which shade the +buildings of the monastery, and some of these quiet spots, from which, +as one walks up and down in the evening, one sees the long reach of +river reflecting the last light in the west, or, in the chilly +morning, the first streaks of dawn, are almost ideal places for +retirement and meditation. They, and the life which goes on within, +have been admirably described by Shway Yoe, in his book 'The Burman,' +one of the completest pictures which has ever been drawn of any +people; and the monastery life of Siam is almost identical. As the +monotonous but almost weird chant of the monks floated out across the +stream at sunset, we used to tie up for the night beneath: often it +would go far on into the night; and then long before day the great +gong would begin its clanging, and once more the chant rise among the +mists, and for us another day's poling would commence. + +In the Laos states there are many points of difference in the wats, +not only in the architecture (and the hill-wats become very simple, +with a few roughly baked bricks for the low walls, and a thatch roof +in place of the red or wood tiled roofs of Siam), but also in the +_régime_. Every boy, for instance, who goes to do his schooling at the +wat wears the yellow robe, which assumes thus almost the character of +the college gown at home, and until he has so worn it he has no title +to the name of "man." As in Siam, besides his letters, he learns the +elementary precepts taught by Buddha; but, as not in Siam, he often +goes out with his superiors into the jungle, with robe tucked up, to +hew wood or do other work for the support of the wat, which the +laymen, being too few or too poor, cannot do. + +During this month of December the north-east monsoon was blowing, but +we had curiously cloudy cool days nearly all the time, with, at the +start, slight rain at times. The minimum reading of the thermometer +was 42° Fahr. on the 22nd, just before sunrise. The two following +mornings we had 45° Fahr.; the maxima in the shade of the steersman's +house being 73°, 77°, and 76° on those days. 50°, 52.5°, 49°, 51°, +54°, 57°, 50°, and 57° were the minima for the next eight days, and +the maximum recorded was 85° at 1 p.m. At 9 a.m. the thermometer was +never above 64°. + +At Muang Phitsanulok, which stands along a very pretty sweep of water, +hid deep in its areca and banana palms, I spent a morning at wat +Chinareth. This was the nearest approach to a real piece of effective +architecture that I had seen since leaving, and I once more +experienced the feeling of exultation which one used to know at home, +when enjoying the lights and shadows of some old building where the +mind of man had worked with great result. An additional charm was the +colouring. The coloured tiles of the roofs of the wats are remarkable +in Bangkok; but far in the jungle, when the eye has become accustomed +to green for weeks, the wonderful yellow-red, picked off with green +borders, and the light-red lower buildings of the cloisters, were most +striking. The building was once very extensive, cruciform in shape, in +four distinct sections round the great central tower. The western +building is the only one in any sort of preservation, and south of it, +and at its south-western end, still stand the cloisters. Brick and +laterite blocks are the material used, the former in some cases, as in +the wall and the pillars of the cloister, being stuccoed. These little +pillars are only 6 feet high, and the roof is gabled, supported on +simple uprights, which rise from horizontal cross-beams resting on the +pillars; and so a very pretty and simple cloister walk is obtained. +The remains of such walks lie in every direction round the centre. As +for the western building itself, I was much delighted with the +interior. One enters a monk's doorway at the south-east corner from a +cloister, and is at first lost in gloom. At last the great black +columns, with their elaborate gilt ornamentation (the one decoration +they understand in Siam), grow out in the feeble light from the little +narrow windows in the low side walls. The lofty peaked roof, which +rises far into blackness, comes down gradually, sloping less steeply +to the columns, of which there are two rows, and so to the low walls, +thus as it were covering a nave and side aisles. At the eastern end +are placed the usual gilt statues of Buddha, of all shapes and +sizes--of which in one cloister alone I saw over thirty-six over 3 +feet high. Until these force themselves upon one's notice with all the +tawdry wreckage with which they are ornamented, the air of retirement +about the place is quite captivating. The central tower is some 60 +feet high, covered with niches, in which stand more "prahs," or +statues, and on the eastern side is a staircase up halfway to a +dome-shaped chamber. The entrance to this was in its day very prettily +panelled and gilded; now, alas! cobwebs and bats are legion. But the +whole effect, there almost lost in jungle, is memorable. + +[Illustration: WAT CHINARETH (CENTRAL TOWER FROM WEST).] + +At a smaller wat to the southward (wat Boria) there is a very fine +Buddha, on whose head and shoulders the light is thrown from a small +window in the roof. The effect is quite impressive, and does great +credit to the architect who designed it. This is by no means the only +place in Siam where the light is dexterously managed. + +[Illustration: A SALA IN THE NAN FORESTS.] + +[Illustration: KORAT PLATEAU. ENTRANCE TO FOREST DONG PHYA YEN.] + +Throughout this country the rivers, streams, and canals (or klongs) +are the highways, and the villages are built on their edge; the banks, +owing to the accumulations, the houses, and the preservative effect of +the palms in which the villages nestle, are often the highest points +in the country round--which in the rains becomes a series of vast +lakes, with islands here and there, and the houses standing out of the +water gaunt upon their long stilt-like piles of teak. In many parts +the buffaloes and oxen have to be driven away for miles to higher +ground; and one may meet whole villages moving with as many as forty +ox-carts in a gang, with spare oxen trotting behind their masters' +carts. + +We had met a good deal of teak being rafted down the lower part of the +river. The small rafts come through the innumerable klongs and creeks +from all directions, and then below Pichit and Paknam Pho the big +rafts are made up, and go off downwards with their crew of men, the +cock crowing merrily on the roof of the little bamboo shelter which is +their "deck-house." Passing sandbanks and shallows is often a very +difficult operation. Some three or four men go overboard astern with +long 8-feet stakes, to which the end of a long hawser is fast. The +sharpened ends they drive into the bottom, clinging on to the top end +as the strain comes on, till at last often it is too great, and the +stake is pulled over man and all. However, by degrees they will bring +the great floating mass to a standstill for the night, or, as the case +may be, they succeed in checking the after end sufficiently to keep it +to the current, while three or four more hands are working the long +transverse-set oars at the fore end in the direction required, and two +or three more will be using long poles to keep off the shallows; all +hands shout lustily the whole time. By this process, repeated hour by +hour, they travel slowly to Bangkok with the current. + +[Illustration: GORGE NAM PGOI.] + +Above Pichit we met but few rafts, and those only consisting of bamboo +and "mai kabao," which is much used for small work, such as tables, +and is brought down in small pieces, generally about 14 feet long. + +Muang Pechai is the chief town of a very extensive and important +province, which to the north-east reaches to the Mekong at Chieng Kan. +The Governor, Phya Pechai, is a fine, tall young man, who is (and this +is not too often the case in Siam) extremely popular with the people. +His evident honesty of purpose was apparent the first moment he spoke. +We had to stay here a few days to get the elephants together and buy +rice. Twelve _kanan_ (a coconut-shell) were selling at a _tical_, and +on the average each man consumes one _kanan_ per day. We laid in a +stock of 35 _thang_ (of 20 _kanan_), and were shortly after glad to +get off on our journey towards the distant hills. I should add that +this place is the starting-point for Paklai, on the Mekong, the trail +between these two places being the route generally followed by the +officials going to Luang Prabang. Apart from this it is not of much +importance, and, situated in the uninteresting plain, is subject to +high floods in the rains, as the water-marks on the piles of the +post-office and the school and court houses attest. + +Two days, passing through scrub jungle, brings the traveller to Ban +Nam Pi, where there are some iron "mines"--a series of shallow +diggings on an extensive deposit of limonite, which seems to be +"derivative" from surface decomposition. The quartz rock, which +generally underlies it, is probably a quartz sand which has been +metamorphosed under pressure into the hard material we now find. In, +or in close connection with the latter, the iron nodules are not to be +found, but near the surface, where the quartz has softened and looks +almost like a sandstone, the nodules occur in abundance. + +The great difficulty was to get any one to do any work, even in +clearing away _débris_, such is the fear of the "Pi," or spirits, who +are said to guard the mineral. Without the offer of a white bullock, +who ought first to be slain for their benefit, it was asserted that +the spirits would certainly interfere with any one attempting to do +any work. I was also told that when the iron ore is removed it brings +bad luck to any house in which it is stored, and that, if hung up on a +tree (certainly an odd place for stowing ores), it invariably causes +the death of the tree. An iron-shod bamboo is the only tool used, but +no work has been done for ages, and the small furnace which once +existed at the village is quite dilapidated. It was quite vain setting +to work myself, and giving out that I had made a permanent arrangement +with all the "Pi," even the most vicious, before leaving Bangkok; +nothing less than a royal proclamation will ever give the people +confidence enough to make the opening up of these places possible. + +On January 10 we were fairly under way for the north, high in hope and +spirits, as a party always is when the scenery begins to change, and +weary plains give way to lofty hill-ranges and distant peaks, with +cool clear streams splashing in the rocky watercourses. At Muang Fang +we came down to the Meinam once more, and camped in a very fine wat, +which none of us will ever forget; for we marched in, parched and +dusty, to find ourselves under orange trees loaded with fruit, and +then and there all hands almost bathed in the delicious cool juice. To +the south is a lovely semicircle of hills of schist, which turn the +river away to the west. To the north, the timber-clad heights rose +shoulder upon shoulder, far into the peaks of Kao Luet and Kao Taw, +dim with distance. We were at last fairly in the mountains and in the +Laos country. + +I do not wish to give what would perhaps be a wearying account of our +marches day after day, full of pleasure, of changing beauties, and of +memorable incidents as they were, but as succinctly as possible to +speak of the configuration of the country we passed through. + +We next day forded the river at Ban Taluat, and were in the province +of Nan. The trail on to Cherim (north-east) crosses a number of small +hills of clay slate, which form the outlying buttresses of the rougher +country to the north; the strike which I observed here and all the way +up on our northerly journey is pretty regularly north and south, the +dip westerly at about 25°, sometimes steeper. Water is scarce here, +and when we stopped for breakfast in the bed of a _hoay_ (or +mountain-stream) at 9, after about three hours' going, even the holes +in the sandy bed only gave us two or three pints of water; but, of +course, in January this is to be expected. To avoid the rough country +northward the trail crosses the Meinam once more, where its direction +is southerly, to Cherim, whence the march to M. Faek is a very long +and hilly one, over high ridges of clay slate, which carry one up over +1000 feet above the river. Some of the glimpses we got in the early +mornings, as we climbed upwards among the tall trunks, were quite +magnificent. These forests, in their winter clothing of reds and +yellows, with the tall grey trunks standing out clear against the deep +shadows behind, are, with the early morning or evening sun upon them, +perfectly gorgeous. As day dawns the rays climb down the heights above +you into the mists, which forthwith whirl and melt; and then, as you +rise above it all, there lies below on all sides a billowy sea of wild +forest, high on jagged ridges in the sunlight, or darkened in shadows +far down in the deep torrent valleys; in the blue distance eastward +the Nam Pat range lies dim, and north and west the eye loses itself +among endless cloud-capped ranges. + +The sala at Muang Faek is on the west side of the river, and consists +of a number of separate bamboo shelters; here we had to rest our +elephants, all eighteen of which were tired out by the climb from +Cherim, and we had to engage two more to reduce the weights on our +tired beasts. Elephants in Siam are never idle, and the animals I got +from Pechai, which belonged to the Minister of the Mining Department, +had all been hard at work hauling teak and such things before our +arrival. At Muang Faek there are a good many, and the two which now +joined us were a male and female of magnificent proportions. They had +a swinging gait, with which they travelled much faster than the +others, evidently not being accustomed to dragging heavy timber, but +to light weights and hard climbing. At first they didn't like their +new surroundings at all, and it was most curious to see how, when the +one began to trumpet and back out of the crowd, the other rushed up, +caressing him with her trunk all over, and even pushing it into his +mouth, and stood by him till he was pacified; but if she left his side +for a moment, round he whirled in search of her, and the mahout could +do nothing to stop him. I never saw them separated by more than twenty +yards the whole time they were with us; they had always to be loaded +and unloaded together, as they stood side by side, entwining their +trunks lovingly, and in the evening, after the march, they bathed +together and squirted one another in huge enjoyment. The howdahs are +simply rough saddles like big baskets, and are generally fitted with a +close plaited roof with a long peak before and behind, like those +fitted on the _kiens_, or ox-carts, of the plains. + +From M. Faek the trail, which is well trodden, passes along the steep +wooded banks of the Meinam, which, however, is here known as the Nam +Nan. The clay slate dips 65° W., and makes long black ridges in the +river-bed, which can be seen deep down in the clear water, or rising +in sharp crags above it, and forming the rapids, which make the river +a difficult highway at the best, and only navigable by the long narrow +dug-outs. + +It is a short march to Hoay Li, where there is a sala kept, as they +all are in Nan, in excellent condition; but there is a stream close +by. The next day's march was a heavy one, over more lofty ridges +without water, and it is, therefore, a good stopping-place. Leaving at +sunrise, the Laos guide and myself reached the small shelter at Hoay +Nai at one o'clock, the rest of my Siamese straggling in well blown an +hour later, and the elephants climbing down the steep watercourse at +three. This is generally the extent of a day's march, and the average +rate of jungle-travelling, allowing for stoppages, is never over 2½ +miles an hour, and a six hours' march is as much as the Siamese can +do; in these hills the elephants certainly do not do more than 2 miles +an hour. To the Laos trotting along on foot there is, however, no +limit that I ever discovered, even with the heavy loads which they +carry swung on a pole across the shoulder. With a couple of handfuls +of _kao nëo_, the hill-rice, which they steam over a pot into a +glutinous mass, very handy and portable for the day's march, and with +some dried fish and a banana, and a long pull at the fresh stream +water once in the day, they will go cheerily from morn till night, +swinging when necessary their long _dhâp_ (a sword of Burmese style, +which every man over sixteen carries if he be a man at all), to cut +and lop the branches and jungle which are for ever blocking the +tracks. This stopping-place was one of the wildest we were ever in; +nothing but jungle and mountains all around, the place itself a tiny +clearing in the bottom of a deep narrow ravine, where the monster +trunks climbed far above us, leaving only one little space of open +sky, from which at three o'clock the sun was shut out, and where at +half-past five night had fairly set in. A number of gangs going south +from Nan were camped here with us. + +Another, easy, march brought us to Muang Hin, over 1200 feet above +sea-level. Imagine a number of lovely villages clustering among their +coconut and areca palms, in a beautiful wide valley surrounded by +forests and hills, the glistening yellow paddy-stalks bright in the +afternoon sun, with the black backs of the buffalo moving lazily +about; the homely red of the little oxen, and the moving islands the +elephants make whisking the paddy in their trunks; with the village +sounds drifting down the quiet air--the distant drum at the monastery, +whose grey roof stands above the other houses, or the far-off "poot, +poot" of the "nok poot" in the jungle (a black bird, by the way, with +a long pheasant-like tail and light red wings)--and you have an idea +of the lovely scene which spread before us that evening as we emerged +from the hills. + +This valley runs parallel to the Nam Nan valley to the eastward, but +drains in exactly the opposite direction, the water running north and +turning into the Nam Nan considerably north of M. Sisaket. Three days +going down this lovely valley brought us through a rough piece of +limestone country to Muang Sa, where I stayed some days visiting +several places in the neighbourhood. This township is important, and +stands by the Nam Nan in a very fine paddy-growing plain, and is +better supplied with inhabitants than the country we had come through; +but even here the tigers are very bold, and often come right into the +villages. Small irrigation canals extend in all directions. + +[Illustration: THE PADDY-FIELDS, HIN VALLEY.] + +Like the quarrymen in North Wales, whenever there is a cry of "gold" +at Clogan, the Laos take every piece of yellow copper pyrites or iron +pyrites for gold, and we had several very hard days' travelling both +east and west after gold-mines of this description. + +The minimum readings for the last five days were 62°, 49°, 46°, +43°, and 45° Fahr., and going on one day's march over the plain to +Muang Nan, the capital of this great province, we had 60° as minimum +for several days. + +The salas stand outside the red-brick walls of Nan, and are only a few +hundred yards from the river, and here was every sign of prosperity; +every other family seems to own an elephant or two. The houses are +well built and enclosed in stout palisades; and besides the town +inside the walls, there is a very large number of houses between them +and the river. I saw numbers of dug-outs arriving with cotton, and +many too going away south. There are a few Burmese shopkeepers along +the east wall, their principal stock consisting of check-patterned +_panungs_ and _sarongs_ and small knickknacks, betel boxes, and a +little silver-work. A mule caravan of Haws from the north--as dirty +and ugly as the dirtiest Chinamen--were also anxious to sell Chinese +slippers, sheepskin coats, walnuts and sandals, and shortly after left +for the south, like others we had met at Muang Sa. From M. Sa I +gathered they were going to make westward toward M. Pray. Some of the +Burmese brought me some sapphires from Chieng Kong, and there were +some fine stones, but I was at the time surprised to find they had no +rubies. Coloured quartzes are also found in this neighbourhood, and +are cut for ornament. The rupee is the current coin, and the Burmese +shopkeepers and a Chinaman or two were the only people who would +exchange our money for us--at the rate of three salung to the rupee. + +[Illustration: WAT BEN YEUN, M. SA.] + +[Illustration: EAST GATE OF NAN.] + +The sight of Nan is the early morning market, to which before sunrise +the women are seen coming from all directions, wrapped in their long +plaids--for such, indeed, the Lao cloak is, both in pattern and mode +of wearing. The market is held within the walls in the open space, in +which stands the _sanam_, or court-house; this is surrounded on three +sides by wats, and on the west by the palace, a large house with no +very striking features. The women crouch along the sides in rows with +their baskets in front of them, as at Luang Prabang and at all the +markets one sees in this part of the peninsula. Fruit, biscuits, and +cakes, ready rolled cigarettes and flowers, are for sale, but the +quantities are very small. There is a muffled sound of subdued chatter +and laughter, and the scene is a very pretty one--till at last the +mists are gone, the sun is well up in the heavens, and the crowd melts +away as silently as it came. + +Once inside the walls the town may be described as countrified, the +houses standing in their own enclosures among their palms, where the +elephants twirl their trunks among the cocks and hens. Very fair roads +run at right angles to one another, but are always quiet and shady, +like country lanes. The chief business seems to be outside the town, +villages extending on all sides, and especially along the road to the +north, past the "old city," which is about one mile in that direction, +and where there are some very good substantial palisades still +standing, with the remains of a deep ditch and massive wall on the +north-west side, all of course very much grown over. The custom of +shaving the head all round, with the exception of the tuft at the top +which stands bristling straight on end, and gives a good grip to the +light-red or white turban which is often worn, is a cool and cleanly +one, and gives the men a smart appearance; the black tattooing, which +extends from the knee up to the middle of the body, is the other +distinctive feature throughout the province of Nan. They seldom wear +more than the panung and a short blue jacket, except in the early +mornings, when, with the thermometer at 50°, they shiver inside their +long plaids; as the day becomes warmer, the plaid is rolled up and +stowed in the bag, which is as indispensable as the _dhâp_, and goes +over one shoulder, carrying its owner's all--consisting of a small +basket of _kao neo_ for the day, some tobacco, and betel-nut, with +often a long-stemmed pipe and flint and steel. + +[Illustration: LAOS BAG, OR STRIPED CLOTH.] + +[Illustration: KAO NEO WICKER BASKETS.] + +The women tie their long hair up on the top of their heads, and when I +first got among them I was reminded of the same fashion at home, as +also by other points of resemblance one had not seen among the +Siamese--a light springy step, a pleasant-sounding voice, a well-cut +figure, and a rosy cheek. In some of the districts in the hills the +women suffer severely from goitre, and up the Nam Wa, a wild torrent +which joins the Nam Nan from the east, just below Muang Sa, three out +of every four of the women I saw had it. Up that river, too, I noticed +a lack of expression in the faces of the men and lads when in repose; +but they are rare hands at a joke, and then their faces light up +wonderfully. These men all wore short jackets to the waist, of blue +cloth, leaving a strip of tattooing between it and the blue panung. I +was astonished at the number of children I saw there, too, every man +we met in the jungle having some four or five of his sons with him. +Ten or even fifteen children is a number not uncommon for one woman, +while in Siam, as a rule, the number three is not exceeded. I imagine +the population must be now recovering from the effects of the +continual warfare which existed before Siam made its rule felt in the +north, and which no doubt accounts for the meagre population +throughout the entire peninsula. + +[Illustration: AXE FOR HOLLOWING BOATS.] + +[Illustration: DIPPER FOR WATER.] + +Of the joyful, kindly, and hospitable character of the Laos of Nan one +cannot say too much; I never saw a surly face or heard an angry word. +Their honesty is proverbial, and they are singularly temperate: +drinking _lao_ (which is distilled from rice to a large extent in Siam +itself), smoking opium, theft, and malice seem to have no attractions +for them. I believe every one who has travelled with and among them +will say the same, and will ever keep their memory stowed away in a +warm corner of the heart. + +The Rachawong was the official I saw most of--an upstanding, refined, +and gentlemanly looking man, with a touch of iron grey in his hair, a +firm step, a strong mouth, and high clear forehead. He gave me the +story of some recent trouble with Chow Sa (the Prince of Sa) without +any of that repetition, detail, or tinge of animosity one expects from +an uneducated or inferior mind when speaking of an enemy. + +Preparations were beginning for the cremation of the late "king" who +was just dead, but we left before the ceremony began. + +The punishment of death, which was inflicted for opium-smoking, +elephant-killing, or theft, has been replaced during the last few +years by a milder form; but it is noteworthy that in two years only +one man has been put in the prison at Nan. + +The music is a great contrast to that of the Siamese. At a dinner to +which I was invited at M. Sa, we had, to an accompaniment of three +bamboo flutes with very sweet low tones, a kind of duet sung by two +girls, each taking a verse in turn. The rather nasal notes would soar +up quite independently of the flutes, and then suddenly return to the +keynote, which was a lovely minor, and was sustained; then would come +a pause, with the delightful subdued refrain on the flutes again, ere +the other began. The subject was a war-song, on which they both +extemporized; but even my Siamese could not follow the words at all. +After a solo from one of the flutists, who, as usual, sang falsetto +(which is especially affected by the Siamese too in love-songs), he +and one of the damsels lighted tapers, and though in no dress but +their ordinary open dark blue jackets of panung, they performed +another kind of duet, accompanied by waving of hands and arms, and a +certain amount of not ungraceful attitudinizing. It seemed to be a +kind of sacred affair, with a slow dignified air, and they quite lost +themselves in it, though some of my Siamese were making running +comments in the usual style of the vulgar all over the world. + +As far as music goes, it was far more expressive and peaceful than +anything I had heard in Siam, as the others owned. I had with me as +assistant-surveyor a very accomplished young Siamese, who is an +excellent specimen of the best that Siam produces; he is a capital +musician after the fashion of his country, and used continually to +warble languishing love-airs to our great amusement, and also good +marching airs. He had a good ear, and soon picked up some of the Laos +tunes, and so one had good opportunities of comparing them. It was +curious, too, how he and several of the others took to English airs +they heard from me, even copying the sounds of the English words. The +proficiency of the Siamese "service" bands in Bangkok shows, too, that +they can master and appreciate our music. + +I have heard the Laos called "savages," which can only be said in +ignorance. They respect superiors, are devoted to their "chows," to +whom they are united by feudal ties, are obedient to their parents, +extremely hospitable, and perfectly honest. The stranger to them is no +enemy, but a creature that needs kindness, and invariably gets it. +Quarrelling is unknown. They respect their women, and, unlike the +Siamese, walk behind them and bear the heaviest load. They do the +jungle-work, and the women stay at home, weaving their silk panungs or +their horizontally striped petticoats at the loom beneath the house; +while the dogs, no longer vile pariahs, but cared for well, and of a +breed something like a sheepdog, sit by and watch the children play. + +Surely there is something besides savagery here. + + +[Footnote 1: M.= Muang.] + + + + +PART II. + + +MUANG NAN TO MUANG CHIENG KONG. + + +From Muang Nan my orders were to find the best route I could over the +watershed to M. Chieng Kong in the Mekong valley. As usual, the +information obtainable was very meagre. One trail goes west from Nan +till the valley of the Nam Ing is reached, when that stream is +followed down north; a second follows the Nam Nan northward, and +crosses the range north-north-westerly up the stream flowing down from +M. Yao; the third, which I selected, as showing one more of the Nam +Nan valley, follows that river up as far north as M. Ngob (lat. 19° +29'), when the direction becomes north-westerly over the rough country +which brings one to M. Chieng Hon and M. Chieng Kob. + +Leaving Nan on February 1, we followed a good tract among low but +precipitous and picturesque limestone hills, into a curiously +disforested country, where the only growth was bamboo, until we +dropped suddenly upon the river once more at Pak Ngao, where we camped +on the sandbank. We had by this time picked up, as one does in the +East, a considerable following. A Commissioner had been sent across +from Chieng Mai to accompany me up to Chieng Kong. What his actual +duties were I never discovered; he was very useful, however, in +helping me in various ways, but I would willingly have done without +him, for he was evidently one of that class of officials who grind the +people very tight when their superiors are out of sight. Another, the +brother of Chow Sa, by name Chow Benn Yenn, who was with me all the +time from Muang Sa until I reached Bangkok again, was the greatest +contrast to the former. He was a small, neatly made fellow of about +twenty-one, a splendid forest man, who, though a great swell in these +parts, travelled with only three or four lads with him, and could walk +the whole expedition off their legs. He knew and could imitate exactly +every forest sound, and as he trotted along the trail he gathered all +kinds of unlikely looking plants, which in the evening made excellent +additions to our curry. He was a born sportsman, and far more at his +ease sleeping out at night under his plaid, with his lads stretched +round him, than under any form of roof. The lads with him--for they +were mere boys--were like him, and treated him with the usual freedom +and familiarity peculiar to the Laos, but which if an order was given, +disappeared before complete obedience; and if the Chow wanted a drink +of water or half a handful of _kao neo_, they would go miles or give +their last crumbs to supply him, and many were the generous and +willing kindnesses I had to thank them for. + +We had also an official with his sons and a few men to carry their +loads from Nan, who acted as guides and a kind of walking letter of +introduction everywhere. They were a remarkably handsome lot, but the +old fellow himself used to come in very done up after the day's march. +Yet, like all the rest, he was never put out by hunger or weariness, +and would take his bag off his shoulder, throw down his long dhâp, +and squat on his heels and laugh again to think that he should be +tired and the youngsters not. + +From Pak Ngao, where we saw a few dug-outs shooting past down the +rapids, we next day passed over more of this disforested limestone +country, the dip of the rocks being westerly and very steep (50° to +60°), until we forded the river below M. Saipum. We passed through a +number of villages, with very pretty whitewashed monasteries, and high +palisades round them; the view to the north-east was a novel one, for +the usual foreground of yellow fields, with its dykes and ditches, and +its many watch-houses reared high on piles, was backed not by forest, +but by open expanses, with trees here and there, or low bamboo scrub, +and a dwarf range of bare hills behind. There is a red sandstone which +seems to underlie the limestone, and wherever that rock outcrops, the +soil is excessively thin and poor, and the denuding power of the rains +is very marked. That often accounts for low scrub jungle; but where +that is not present, as in the limestone country we had just crossed, +the absence of forest must, I fancy, be due to fires; and no doubt +when a fire is lit for the purpose of clearing ground for the hill +rice, it will, with a good breeze, clear square miles instead of +acres. I saw a great deal of this burning going on subsequently in the +Mekong valley, and I never saw results commensurate with the +destruction caused. + +The sala at M. Lim, where we slept, is on the east bank, the town +being opposite, and the "Chow Muang" or Governor came wading over with +the water up to his neck, and his clothes in a bundle on his head. +There are numbers of very fine ducks here, but, as usual, we had great +difficulty in getting any in exchange for money. They have not great +use for money here, as they themselves say, and they prefer their +ducks. This happens constantly, especially when buying rice. Each +village has enough for its consumption for the year, and very often no +more; and naturally they prefer to keep the necessaries of life to +having comparatively useless silver buried under their house. As the +country is opened up, this will no doubt change, but at present it is +not worth their while to grow more than they can consume themselves. + +Again, a few irresponsible travellers have been in the habit of +provisioning themselves at the expense of the villages without paying, +and the consequence is that when a European appears (or, indeed, often +a Siamese official), there is a general stampede into the jungle, and +everything is hidden away, for they expect nothing but robbery at his +hands. Until, after infinite pains, they are persuaded that they will +be dealt honestly by, and treated with the consideration which the +wildest from their own hills would never fail to show, you can get +nothing but negatives, and small blame to them. It is humiliating in +the extreme, after travelling with men for some weeks, to be asked one +night over the camp fire why the _nai farang_ (the foreign master) +doesn't kick and thrash the men on the march, or flog the Chow Muang +into handing over all the rice in the village, and do other not less +objectionable things. Yet such is the conduct expected of one, as a +matter of course, from the past repute of the _farang_ which travels +far, and no doubt also does suffer from exaggeration. Still, it shows +what our methods too often have been. With these people you get the +measure you mete to them; firmness is first of all necessary, but +brutality is lowering to all concerned, and never has done anything +but harm, and is more far-reaching than the contemptible authors of it +understand. + +Another day's march through a good deal of evergreen brings one, after +crossing the Nam Pur, flowing in from the east, to M. Chieng Kan. An +hour further north is M. Chieng Klan; and the confusion of the two +names is endless. The latter is the better stopping-place, though the +former is very prettily situated, on the bank of the Nam Nan, among +very fine clumps of bamboo and a great many banana palms and +sugar-cane plantations. Of the latter every man slings a couple of +stalks over his shoulder for the day's journey, and most refreshing +they are. The cakes of brown sugar made from them, of which one +generally takes a piece or two to give a taste to the _kao neo_, are +not considered good for the digestion, and quite rightly, and so only, +just enough is taken at a time to give a taste. The sugar from the +sugar palm of the plains, however, never has any evil results, and as +it has a pleasant flavour, when we got back to it in the Khorat +plateau, we consumed large quantities. + +[Illustration: A HILL MONASTERY, M. LE.] + +The next day M. Le was reached over sandy, undulating jungle country. +On foot one could easily have reached M. Ngob, but the elephants could +not do it, being, as I mentioned before, in bad condition. I was not +loth to rest the night here, it being one of the most beautiful of the +hill-enclosed valleys we had been in. From the sala we looked out over +the terraced paddy fields, with the winding silver of the river below, +and abruptly beyond it shoulder upon shoulder of heavily timbered +ranges rising into the peaks which divided us from the Chieng Hon +plain to' the west and north-west. Eastward, and just over us, were +low steep hills, on a spur of which was a small hill monastery, whence +the bells on the gables sent down a gentle tinkling as they were +swayed by the strong south-westerly breeze which was sweeping a watery +rustling sound out of the bamboos and coconut palms. + +The salas being small, the people of the village ran up in half an +hour one of their bamboo lean-to shelters for the men, but the Laos as +usual seemed to prefer lighting a fire and lying out in the open round +it m their cloaks, there being always one man sitting up on watch and +supplying fuel when necessary. + +M. Ngob is in a narrow hollow, which I should not care to visit in hot +weather, for the wind hardly gets into the place. We had nearly a +whole day's rest here. A mule caravan of Haws came in from the north +and rendered the otherwise peaceful air hideous with their loud, +hoarse talking. But for them a Laos village is singularly quiet; no +sounds but the quack, quack of the fat ducks who share the pools in +the stream with a few laughing children, the grunts of a family of +pigs, the occasional trumpet of an elephant who has been up to some +playful game or other of which the master does not approve, and the +steady thump, thump of the small foot rice mills, which the women work +apparently from morn till night. + +Before sunrise, as the sonorous chant rises from the wat, these mills +are at work too, and often the last thing at night one hears them +still. Mr. McCarthy has described them, but I may just mention that +they consist of a piece of tree-trunk hollowed into a funnel-shape, +into which the rice is put, and a long lever worked at the outer end +by the foot, the woman stepping on and off, fitted with a hammer-head +of wood, of which several of different sizes are used. And while the +mother works her loom close by, the two daughters will work the mill +and chat and chaff the passers-by. + +Minimum readings for the last four days, 52°, 55°, 57°, 58° Fahr. +The maximum in one of these salas is generally about 82° for this +month at 2 to 3 p.m. The winds were now south-westerly, very strong, +with bright fierce sun, but cumuli lying on the higher peaks after 4 +p.m., sometimes a slight shower falling from them. + +One mile north-west from M. Ngob, the Nam Nan,[2] here known as the +Nam Ngob (and actually the people did not know that it was the same +river as the Nam Nan below), runs over shallow pebble beds, where we +forded to the west side. This day's march is a very good example of +the kind of travelling to be done. The tracks over the hills are +either in the bed of the "hoays," or streams, far down in a perpetual +night, where the coldness of the water chills the feet and legs +through and through; or, after a steep climb, high up on narrow spurs +leading to the central range, where the forest is thick enough to keep +off all the wind but not the rays of the sun after 10 a.m. Once on +these ridges no water is to be had for half a day, and the stick of +sugar-cane or water-bottle of cold tea, the best of all beverages, is +worth its weight in gold. However, drinking on the march is a ruinous +habit. The Laos sensibly rinse the mouth when they can, and only drink +at the end of the day. + +[Illustration: VIEW FROM M. LE, LOOKING NORTH-WEST ACROSS THE NAM NAN +AND WATERSHED OF MEINAM KHONG.] + +Following up Hoay Sakeng over red sandstone rocks, the track then +climbs on to a long ridge, leading, with many rises and falls, to a +small gap in the range, about 1100 feet above the river. We met on the +way four pack oxen coming, with their pretty deep-toned bell, down the +path, and on reaching the summit had a most glorious view of the thick +forests of the Chieng Hon valley, with the small clearings here and +there and surrounded on all sides, as far as one could see in the dim +haze which accompanies the south-west wind, by hill ranges. Twenty +minutes down a steep drop at a run brought us into a different climate +and the most perfect valley I was ever in. Far above, the sun +glistened here and there on the wide-spreading fronds of huge +tree-ferns; for the rest; we were almost in darkness, with orchids and +great twisted creepers climbing on the tree-trunks dim above us. The +stream is known as Hoay Tok, and down its bed we stumbled, cutting +ourselves about on the rough outcrops, the strike of which, with a +steep westerly dip, was at right angles to our course, and made most +unpleasant travelling. Two hours more across a partially cultivated +plain, and we passed another Haw caravan encamped, and reached the +sala. The elephants did not arrive until 5 p.m., it having taken them +twelve hours to reach M. Chieng Hon. + +At M. Pechai I had bought some ponies. There are not many there, and +the choice was limited, while the price, forty to sixty ticals, was +heavy. These animals, as long as we were in flat country, were useful, +but they were not good mountaineers, and I found travelling on foot +much pleasanter, while, as a general rule, the more exercise men get +in these jungles, the healthier they are. On this day each one of my +Siamese assistants had a fall, for they, as a rule, stuck to their +ponies' backs, whatever the trail was like; this often means getting +one's face and hands tremendously knocked about, frequent +dismountings, slow progress, and endless bother, while it also stands +in the way of surveying or careful observation of the lie of the +ground. + +There was a very heavy, damp mist when we pushed on next day through +the Dong Choi, a magnificent forest, which almost covers this plateau +with the scenery of Hoay Tok continued, only on a larger and more +imposing scale. The size of the ferns, and especially of the +hart's-tongues, which clung in masses, with clumps of orchids, far up +on the bare trunks of the trees which form the roofing of branch and +leaf above, was quite astonishing to me. + +Camp was made by a small sala in a wild clearing at Sala Pangue, from +which the sun was early excluded by the hills and forest on the west, +which we were to cross on the morrow. The tired elephants had a +well-earned afternoon's rest. To give them time to get in before +sunset, next day we got under way at 3.30 a.m., every six or eight men +having a torch about eight feet long of split bamboo. These early +marches are a sort of scrambling dream, and should not be resorted to +except under compulsion, as, although the cool morning air is pleasant +for the first hour, every one soon gets very done up, and stumbles on +hazily. Sunrise puts new life into one, but the want of the early +morning sleep makes one feel the heat of the day far more. Moreover, +of course, nothing of the country is seen. We rose for an hour and a +half up over hills, and one or two of the ponies had some tremendous +falls, and were soon left struggling behind. At sunrise we were +descending once more among the wildest and most rugged scenes into the +valley of Nam Pote, and were now fairly in the Mekong drainage. This +was another of the wonderful valleys which are so common here; and the +temperature was just over 10° Fahr. below that of the hill ridges +when we left them at 6 a.m. About 8.30, after crossing and recrossing +the stream about thirty times, and being regularly chilled, I stopped +at a small sala, and was glad to bask in the sun. An hour and a half +later the others came up, and we breakfasted. Chow Benn Yenn's sharp +eyes had seen some deer and two tigers, but they were off in a moment. +Where the former is the latter follows, but neither will stay when he +detects the sound of man coming through the forest. The tiger takes +the greatest trouble to avoid a man, unless very famished. Often then +he is rendered bold enough to attack a solitary man, when squatting +down to eat his _kao neo_, and it is thus that accidents occur; but he +will seldom face two men, and that is why one always meets the Laos in +couples, if not in greater numbers. + +At 10.30 we continued down the valley; rock apparently red sandstone, +but so decomposed at its outcrop as to give no clue of reliable +character. Passed numbers of wild banana trees, which do not bear +fruit. They are very aggravating to tired men, who hear the cry of a +jungle fowl, and coming round a corner see the broad leaves of the +bananas; naturally we jump forward, thinking to get a rest and a bunch +of bananas, and, perhaps, a fowl or some eggs for the evening's +supper, but find nothing and no sign of man or fowl. + +The course is roughly north-west until the hills fall back, and the +valley opens on a flat piece of paddy land, bounded north and south by +lofty limestone rocks, with, to the west, a barrier caused by a steep +north and south ridge, over which lies M. Kob, but round which a long +_detour_ has to be made to the north-west, down the Nam Pote valley, +to where the Nam Kob meets it. Passing Ban Tam, Ban Prow, and Ban +Faek, prosperous-looking villages, we reached the junction at one +o'clock. After a brief rest in the shade, in another hour and a half, +after fording Nam Kob pretty frequently (making about the ninetieth +time we had been in the water that day), we reached the sala of M. +Kob. The others began to arrive about four o'clock, and the elephants +at 6.30, looking very sorry; and we had to give them a complete rest +next day. + +[Illustration: Map--Route from Muang Ngob on the Nam Nan to Muang +Chieng Kong on the Mekong River From a Compass Survey by H. Warington +Smyth, F.G.S. 1893.] + +From the character of the scenery here, and at the top of the Nam +Pote, where we struck it, I imagine the hills we came down among were +limestones overlying the sandstone again; all round the Muang are the +wildest and most fantastic peaks, and, with the steep heights hanging +immediately over it, it was more like a Norwegian valley than anything +I have seen. + +The wats here are very simple, the houses neat, but small; bricks are +baked in the valley, and the rice-mills thump cheerily and echo off +the hills all day. There were some pack oxen, which came over from the +westward; but the Laos who drove them, whether from distrust of us or +not, I do not know, would not converse with any of us. The bells of +these caravans as they go trotting down the valleys are beautiful. +First goes a large, deep-toned bell, swinging between the packs of the +leader; the next is a third above it; and the rear is brought up by a +treble bell. The little oxen trot in their order without other +guidance than that of the bells and an occasional shout, one man +leading, another to every five animals, and one to bring up the rear. +The baskets are hung on each side of the hump, with often an +ornamental erection between them; there are fore and aft stays of +leather, and these prevent the packs coming off when the animals are +climbing. We had met some before--and met and used others afterwards; +however pretty they look as they trot along, their bells tinkling far +over land and forest, they are not pleasant to travel with, especially +in the rains, when streams are all in flood, for it is impossible to +keep anything they carry at all dry. + +While we were resting here a fire occurred, and two houses were burnt +to the ground in about seven minutes. My Siamese, I must say, worked +very well and pluckily, the Laos seeming quite dazed by the +catastrophe. We cut down a row of banana palms, split up the trunks, +and threw them on the flames, by the water and moisture in them +beating down the fire, so that two neighbouring houses were saved, +with the outhouses, in which, in huge bins, the rice was stored. For +this last the poor fellows who only arrived home at night to find +their houses burned, were most grateful; they came to thank us, and I +was very much struck with the conduct of my people, who, beginning +with my boat-boy, a Mon, or Peguan (who at the fire and on every other +occasion had shown himself a very smart, handy, and good-hearted +fellow), selected what clothes they could spare, and sent the two Laos +men away loaded with raiment, and with tears of thankfulness in their +eyes. It gives an additional pleasure to work with men who can act +like that. + +Thermometer readings on the march from Sala Pangue were--3 a.m., 42° +Fahr.; 5.30 a.m., on the hills, 60°; 6.30 a.m., in Nam Pote valley, +50°; 9 a.m., ditto, 59°; noon, in the shade. Ban Faek, 87° Fahr. My +aneroids had both been injured by my careless people, and I could get +no reliable heights. + +From M. Kob the trail follows up the Nam Tan in a general +south-south-west direction, and crosses a low watershed into the bed +of the Hoay Chang Kong, another rocky stream disastrous to foot gear. +It then crosses low ridges and jungle, passing several small villages +to Ban Ton Kluay, 6½ hours' walk, though most of the people took 8, +and the elephants over 9. + +Thermometer minimum--54° at sunrise in heavy damp mist; strong +south-westerly breeze at noon; thick haze all day. + +Six hours from here, over flat country, past M. Chieng Len, and in a +general north-north-west direction from that place is M. Ngau, which +gives its name to the Nam Ngau flowing north-north-east to the Mekong, +and meeting it half a day's boat journey below Chieng Kong. We met a +number of traders from the north carrying their loads; they were +smoking long-stemmed pipes, and looked very Burmese in face. They wore +blue sailor-looking trousers, with red trimmings round the ankle, +where they were very loose, and small blue jackets with bead +trimmings, while some had marvellously wide straw hats; with their +uniformity of dress and its high colouring they made a very pretty +picture crossing the yellow paddy fields. + +The Chet Muang at Chieng Len was in trouble with the Nan authorities +because he is, unfortunately, under the disaffected Chow Sa, and far +away from there as he is, and utterly ignorant, as he protested, of +his proceedings, it seemed likely that he would be involved in the +disgrace of his chief. + +From M. Ngau the trail crosses the upper end of the long range which +forms the watershed of the Nam Ing and Nam Ngau, along the western +side of which for three days we travelled, sleeping at Muang Ing and +Ban Pakeng. From the latter place, leaving at a quarter to two in the +morning. Ban Lung was reached at a quarter to seven. Here we forded +Nam Ing, and crossed a burning plain almost entirely devoid of +vegetation for four hours more, and then in a huge and very +comfortable sala disposed of the contents of our haversacks with the +pleasant feeling of having reached our goal. Chow Benn Yenn meanwhile +had left us for a day or two's visiting at some other villages east of +Nam Ing which owed allegiance to Chow Sa. Consequently, when I got in, +there were only the Laos guide, my Mon boatman, and two lusty young +Siamese servants who had kept up; and, absurd as it may seem to +Western ideas, the Chieng Kong people took some hours to believe that +I was come on genuine Government business; for a man is measured in +these parts according to the number of his following, and until the +men and elephants turned up I was often looked at askance. This was +sometimes very amusing and sometimes not, especially when trying to +procure coconuts or bananas! The sense of hospitality was, however, +generally quick to prevail. + +The three days from Muang Ngau were through forest, the villages lying +mostly on our west in the flat land nearer the river. We passed +several forest fires, which where they approached the trail made very +hot travelling. + +The barrenness of the country between the Nam Ing at Ban Lung and +Chieng Kong seems to have been originally caused by fires. The only +cultivation was by a muddy stream at Ban Satan, a name which struck me +as particularly appropriate in such a wilderness. There is an absence +of water, I was afterwards told, which prevents cultivation of any +value, and owing to this the Burmese gem-diggers have given up trying +to follow indications of stones on this side. + +The first view of the Mekong fairly took one's breath away, the water +here spreading out into a wide placid river of half a mile in width, +winding slowly away among a few sandbanks until lost in the hills to +the south-east. Across, on the north, lies a long low series of hills, +from which the gem-bearing Hoays seem all to take their rise. + +Thermometer minimum last four days--59°, 64°, 60°, 58°; maximum in +sala, 90°, very thick haze all day, with strong breezes from south +towards noon. + + +[Footnote 2: The river evidently takes its rise from Doi Luang (a +large hill mass south of M. Hongsawadi), 19° 35' N., 101° 24' E.] + + + + +PART III. + +MUANG CHIENG KONG TO MUANG LUANG PRABANG. + + +Muang Chieng Kong became our head-quarters for ten days, and from +there I made a boat expedition to the Chieng Sen boundary, north-west; +and also one north and east inland, the object being the examination +of the gem deposit, its extent, character, and, if possible, its +value. + +From the Chieng Sen boundary at Hoay Nam Kung, extending for some +miles towards Chieng Kong, is a rapid piece of river tearing through a +series of gneissose and schistose rocks, which form high hills on +either bank. The gem-bearing gravel is not found until several basalt +sheets are encountered below Nam Ngau, a largish tributary flowing in +from the north. The hills on the left bank then become lower and more +distant, and these, consisting of a dark crystalline rock, the exact +mineralogical character of which has not yet been determined, seem to +be the source of all the stone-bearing gravels which are found +deposited in the streams flowing from them. The average thickness of +the gravel is 5 to 20 inches, and consists of quartz and fragments of +the crystalline rock above mentioned. The overburden is a reddish clay +soil of an average depth of 10 feet, through which the Burmese, who +are found wherever there are gems, sink large pits some 10 feet +square. A sharpened bamboo will be often first driven down to +ascertain if the gravel underlies the spot, it having been found very +capricious. + +Explorations were made in the neighbourhood for many years +before--about two years ago--the first paying gravel was found; the +Burmese relying all the time on the presence of what is known as +_nin_, small black stones which have turned out to be black spinel, +and are always to be found in close proximity to the sapphire. When +washing gravel in a stream these little water-worn crystals are found; +it will only need industry and time to find the gem gravel, which will +be somewhere near, although in part perhaps denuded away. The _nin_ +have been followed for years, and now there are over two hundred men +reaping the reward of their indefatigable patience. I found _nin_ and +struck gravel in all the streams flowing in on the left bank between +Nam Ngau and Hoay Pakham, which is the main scene of the operations at +present, and lies about 1 mile below Chieng Kong. On the right bank +there are apparently no signs whatever, except at Hoay Duk, a stream +exactly opposite Hoay Pakham; but only a few _nin_ are to be seen +here, and there is no water for washing purposes. East and north of +Hoay Pakham, again, are half a dozen more streams flowing, from that +side of the range I have spoken of as the source of the gravel, into +the Nam Hau, which eventually reaches the Mekong. Some of these have +been found to be rich, and on one the Burmese built their bamboo +villages and made their clearings; but after a fortnight's work the +places were abandoned as being terribly unhealthy, sunk deep in the +jungle valleys, and very difficult to get stores to. + +[Illustration: A GEM-DIGGER'S CLEARING, CHIENG KONG.] + +When the present large workings are exhausted, both those and the +streams towards Nam Ngau will get their fair share of attention, no +doubt. The distance between the extreme points where the gravel exists +and the limit of our present knowledge is over 10 miles, but within +that area it is not by any means continuous, and any attempt at +estimating the probable output and the extent of reserves could only +result in the most erroneous conclusions. Owing to the secrecy +observed by the Burmese in the matter among themselves, and the fact +that they usually travel long distances to find a market for their +better stones, the output up to the present of saleable stones is +merely a matter of conjecture, and is variously estimated by the +headmen as from 3 to 6 catties, say, over 22,000 carats perhaps. One +man showed me what he declared was the result of his year's +work--three good stones of rich colour and good water, for which he +expected to get 100, 60, and 50 Rs. respectively, and some forty small +ones (some of them of very poor colour), which after an hour's +bargaining one could certainly have got for 50 Rs. He had, besides, of +course, numberless fragments and scraps which were valueless. The +chances are, from what I saw, that this is a fair example of what the +average digger obtains; but it must be remembered that no information +voluntarily given by the Burmese on this head is ever reliable. They +invariably keep something in reserve, for they never feel quite +certain what the Englishman may be up to with his questioning; and +even among themselves the dodges resorted to to hide the exact truth +are very amusing. In buying stones one always has the worst produced +first, and after an exhaustive pick out of them all, presently, +slowly, out of infinite wraps of paper and cotton, come some better +ones, and after an hour or so the best are produced, and probably this +is the real extent of the man's stock; but if through impatience one +closes the bargains too early, the best are never produced, but will +be kept for the future, and will eventually be taken over to Rangoon, +or even Calcutta. + +In a few years' time there will, no doubt, be more men at work, and +larger areas of pits in work. At the present moment the ground in Hoay +Pakham has only been dug out for a distance of half a mile from the +flood level of the Mekong, with a breadth averaging 80 yards. Work is +only carried on in the morning, when the pit will be bailed out dry; +at noon the digging and washing ceases, and the men return home, and +sit all the afternoon in their houses chaffing, talking, and picking +over and enjoying the sight of their stones, in which they find great +delight. The washing consists simply of cleaning the basket of muddy +gravel with water, and picking over the remains twice by hand. The +operation is very quick, and the eye never misses the faintest sign of +colour. + +With regard to the rubies I had expected to find, from my own +observation, and subsequently from conversation with the diggers, I +soon saw that not only have none been ever found, but none of the +signs of the ruby as known at Chantabun or in Burma have been seen. A +Siamese official who had been sent here a year ago by the Government +to test and report on the place, seeing some small garnets, thought +they must be rubies, and thinking to advance himself at head-quarters, +bought a very fine Burmese ruby for 70 Rs., and sent it down with his +report as having been found in Chieng Kong! From this, of course, very +large hopes of the character of the find had been entertained: I fear +now he is somewhat in disgrace. Fever, due to the thick forest +standing high overhead all around, and the peculiar sickliness always +caused by the upturning of new soil, especially in the damp beds of +the streams, is very prevalent. + +The Burmese houses are very different from the Siamese and Laos--mere +bamboo shanties only lifted some 2 feet off the ground, but with all +sorts of handy little shelves, window-shutters, doors and lockers, +which are generally absent from the others; and in these, as being +easily and quickly constructed, the men always live at their diggings. +I do not know the character of the Burmese in this respect at home, +but in this country they are always overflowing with friendliness and +hospitality to any Englishman; and the headmen at Chieng Kong, +especially one by name Monghu, who became a general favourite with my +people, and who accompanied us and worked with us everywhere, I can +never forget. + +The Chow Muang here was lately dead, and just before we left the +cremation ceremonies began in the big square before the principal wat. +At night the place all round the funeral pyre was lighted with +candles; three or four of the head monks were reading in a kind of +chant from their Pali manuscripts from the tops of temporary bamboo +pulpits, and among the booths standing round; the people squatted in +their cloaks, listening to music or hearing descriptive songs and +stories, which now and then produced roars of laughter. In the day +sports were going on, and there was some very good boxing between the +champions of neighbouring villages, who at the end each got three +rupees, victor and vanquished alike. The men strip, and their names +and the places they hail from are given out. They then salute the +master of the ceremonies in the ordinary Laos fashion, touching the +ground with their forehead on bended knees, raising the clasped hands +to the head, and proceed to business. For some moments they warily +watch one another, stepping and dancing round with a good deal of +attitudinizing of an alarming description, by the extravagance of +which we can generally tell the best man. The blows are rather +round-armed, it is true, and kicking is allowed; but it is wonderfully +quiet and masterful, and when they warm to it, very hard rounds are +fought. The umpires squat round ready to separate the men, call time, +and generally see fair play, and at the end of each round the two men +squat down, and are offered water out of silver bowls, the bearer +respectfully on his knee handing them the ladle. The keenness of the +onlookers is tremendous, especially when the men are well matched; but +what produced most enthusiasm was a fight between boys of about ten +years old. The little fellows showed, I must say, a great deal of +pluck and more science than most of us did at that age at school; they +kept their tempers well, and at the end of each round their seconds, +stalwart fathers and uncles, were beside themselves with delight, +stroking their heads and dancing round them with tears of laughter +running from their eyes. + +There were some sword and sword-and-spear dances by two men in slow +time to music, with silver-handled weapons, and accompanied by the +gestures in which all these nations take such pleasure. + +During the time I was in Chieng Kong district the weather was getting +warmer. Up the river we had the minimum 54° three days running, just +after sunrise, at which time heavy mists shrouded the river valley, +and subsequently 56°, 58°, 60° were the minimum at the same time. +The maximum in the shade at the sala or under the coverings in the +boats was 91° at 1 p.m.--the average 89°. But in the jungle, where the +south-west winds could not reach, the heat was very great, and the sun +was very fierce, especially on the great banks of sand, which are so +characteristic of the river. The height I make 1250 feet from the sea. + +These sands, over which we used to trudge for miles from stream to +stream, got so hot after 11 a.m. until about sunset, that the men +could not bear walking on them, and took to the water; the glare is +tremendous to the eyes. After sunset the rocks retained their heat so +that some long-haired Shan dogs we had with us would not lie or walk +upon them. There is a great deal of mica, iron pyrites, and magnetic +iron ore in these sands; and washing among the bushes, which in many +places fringe the higher parts, or some feet down, where a larger +gravel lies, one seldom fails to find a small speck or two of gold. +The water itself, at this season, rushes through a deep gorge between +the rocks and sandbanks, which form its flood-bed, a narrow but very +deep column of water, working out for itself, where a bluff rock sends +a huge eddy whirling inwards, broad bays often 50 yards across. While +the distance between the high-water level on the opposite sides of the +valley will be nearly half a mile, the stream itself will often work +through its deep channel only 200 yards, and even less in width. The +scale of things here is not so large as that below, where the volume +of water has increased; but the character of the river is much the +same. + +[Illustration: CAMP AT THE FA PA RAPIDS.] + +The camps we formed on the sand spits, lulled at night by the thunder +and roaring echoes from the rapids, were wild and beautiful in the +extreme. The jungle, too, was full of night sounds--the bark of the +deer or the "peep, peep" of the tiger, of which we often heard three +or four at a time; and in the morning their tracks were everywhere +upon the sands. It is curious and worth remarking that when one got 4 +or 5 miles inland on the left bank no traces of tiger were to be +found; while, on the other hand, the elephant tracks became very +numerous, and were really useful in threading the jungle; the +destruction they work among the trees is wonderful. They seem, +however, to avoid the tiger zone near the river, as the tigers in turn +prefer the waterside, the latter probably finding greater facility for +hunting deer there. There is no doubt that any one who has the +inclination, and no work and plenty of time, might have excellent +sport by watching for tigers at the drinking-places, which are +generally well marked, and are in retired bays, among rocks and +bushes. + +Bananas and coconuts are very scarce at Chieng Kong; and on the third +day after our arrival I had to send the elephants on their way home, +owing to want of wholesome young green food. This all points, with the +barrenness we noticed coming across the Nam Sug valley, to a bad soil. +They complain that in the hot months, May and April, it is terribly +hot and dry, and that "nothing grows;" meaning thereby, no doubt, +things do not grow well. + +[Illustration: ONE OF OUR ELEPHANTS, WITH HOWDAH ON.] + +The departure of our elephants was a day of mourning to all of us. The +mahouts, very rough Siamese, burnt as black as Hindus, with long locks +of hair hanging round their necks, had been very good fellows, and, +however long their days, had never complained. All those who have +travelled with elephants feel the fascination of the beasts, with +their quiet, patient, and sagacious way of treating life; the merry +twinkle which sparkles from the small, sharp eyes, and the endless +little pranks they are ever ready for; and after some weeks of +travelling many a tired and weary day together, this becomes quite an +affection; and be sure, if you are fond of an elephant he knows it, +and reciprocates it very soon. So we were all very sorry to see them +swing off for the south again. + +The voyage from Chieng Kong down to Luang Prabang (or Muang Luang, the +"great town," as it is usually called) occupies five days if there are +no interruptions; the return journey takes from ten to fifteen days +against the current, there being a number of bad rapids. The scenery +is magnificent, and far surpasses anything I saw on the Mekong below. +The river has cut its way almost at right angles to the strike of the +rock, a series of schists which appear to have been considerably +distorted, until the neighbourhood of the Nam Oo is reached, when the +limestones which form the splendid scenery of that river come in. The +latter rocks are also seen on the right bank of the big river, where +it takes its southerly course south of Ban Soap Ta (one day from +Chieng Kong), and there seems to be on the top of a synclinal. They +are always characterized in this country by the peculiar dense +forests, like the Dong Phya Yen in Lower Siam, the Dong Choi round +Chieng Hon, and another one we touched in the valley of the Nam Ngau, +east of the Nam Ing, known as Pa Kung Ngau, where the sun never enters +owing to the dense foliage, and the elephant tracks form the only +paths. We took twelve days going down, making on the way some short +expeditions into the country. The inactivity in the boats soon made +itself felt, and after five days there were ten men sick out of the +twenty Siamese, six with fever and the others with sores, to which +they are very liable, any scratch or wound of the slightest +description, especially about the feet or legs, always giving rise to +them; in fact, I kept one knife on purpose for lancing these things. +Wherever we go sick people are brought, and the chief ailments among +the Laos were fever, affections of the eyes, and dysentery. The latter +is generally taken in hand too late, and ends fatally. + +The first day from Chieng Kong we brought up on the south bank, at the +mouth of the Nam Ngau I have already mentioned; and I was two nights +away with only two or three men visiting some gold washings in the bed +of the river. The percentage is extremely small, and is the same in +character though not so rich as in the Mekong sands. The usual small +fee of two rupees a year is paid by each man. They work waist deep in +the cold rushing stream, and cannot go on for more than ten minutes at +a time. A basket is sunk under water with one foot upon it, and the +gravel from the bank prized out into it with the usual iron-shod +bamboo; it is then lifted out, carried ashore, and washed. This +operation, here and throughout the Mekong district, is done by a man +standing in the water, with a wooden tray in front of him, shaped like +a Chinaman's peaked hat, the diameter 30 inches, and depth at the +centre 5 inches. As it floats on the water, moored by a string to a +stone, the basket of gravel is emptied into it, and the larger stones +picked out. A rotary motion is given to the pan by the continual +shifting of the hands from right to left; at the same time the water +is expelled, or dipped up, and sent running round the edge by a +depression of the rim being sent round "against the sun," until all +the light material is gone. What remains is usually a little magnetic +iron ore, with a speck or two of very fine "float" gold for every four +baskets of 14 inches diameter and 3½ inches depth. It is then washed +carefully into a small oblong box, in which it is carried home and +handed over to the women who, I am told (for I never saw it done), use +mercury obtained from Chinese merchants for the subsequent freeing of +the gold. On the way to Nongkhai we met several gangs of men, +generally seven or eight in number, living in their boats and engaged +in washing in this way in the sands of the river, in which, according +to all I could gather, the gold seems to be redeposited in small +quantities by every year's flood season. + +[Illustration of Chinese peaked hat] + +What the gold prospects of the country are, there have been no +sufficient trials to show, but with the advent of the French on the +banks of the river we may soon know something more on this head. The +Laos consider they do very well if they get 2 hun per man in a day (5 +hun = 1 fuang or 1/8 tical); but their work is very intermittent, and +the search for gold seems to have the proverbial effect upon them, for +in several cases I found their assertions were not over-truthful. + +Up such rivers as the Nam Beng, Nam Ngau, Nam Oo, and Nam Suung, the +gold seems to be in old water deposits which extend beyond the present +stream beds, and will probably be found to cover considerable areas in +the valley bottoms. + +Both calcite and quartz exist in great abundance in the mountain +ranges we came in contact with, and to the denudation of these two +minerals a great deal of the alluvial gold presumably owes its origin, +as well as perhaps from the crystalline limestones. I was, however, +unable ever to lay hands on an undoubted gold-bearing vein of either +character, nor could I get any information of occurrence of the metal, +except in alluvial sands and gravels. Some large nuggets have been +found up the Nam Beng and Nam Oo, and up the former river a Chinaman +from Luang Prabang had tried systematic working of a kind. After six +months' work he lost 200 ticals; and when a Chinaman loses money, +especially in a country where money will go so far, the chances are +that no one else will make their fortunes. I subsequently found at Pak +Beng that the Kache he had employed had swallowed all the decent-sized +gold obtained! This is another instance of the difficulties the miner +has to meet with in Siam; and with fevers, superstition, robbery, and +physical difficulties, the list is a rather alarming one. + +This valley of the Nam Ngau is inhabited by people known as Lus. They +wear their heads shaved, except for the top tuft, like all the Nan +men, with enormously loose and wide blue trousers, often trimmed round +the ankle with red; short blue jackets with beads and touches of red; +and red, green, or white turbans. They are magnificently made men, +with very pleasant countenances, tattooed as usual from knee to waist, +but, when clothed, more like the stage-pirate; in fact, a gang of +them, with the long dhâps and an old flintlock or two among them, +standing chatting, laughing, and smoking their long-stemmed pipes, +would make an ideal buccaneer's crew. + +At Ban Muang, where we slept each night, the people were the most +friendly I had met; some fifty of them came out to greet us on our +arrival, and we had an orchestra of four flutes in the evening to play +us to sleep. The children and women were extremely pretty. Some +distance south of this place the forest already mentioned as Pe Kung +Ngau begins. Men travelling in it, and even the people living on its +skirts, are subject to a very violent fever, which causes complete +prostration in a few hours, and is generally fatal. The face and +breast become quite yellow, presumably owing to the stoppage of the +bile-duct. + +A big dyke has lately been cut from the Nam Ngau to take the water to +the eastern side of the valley for purposes of irrigation. Its depth +and width are about 10 feet, and it must be some miles long. All the +men from the villages turned out to work, and it proved a heavy +undertaking. This valley seems to be all under Muang Sa, and Chow Benn +Yenn found himself among his friends. + +[Illustration: THE LEADING MULE.] + +We met another gang of Haws, who made night hideous by discovering the +mules had strayed, and every man and boy among them shrieking, +howling, beating gongs, and firing guns by way of attracting them back +to the camp. It was a pleasant night, with one of my men raving and +shouting with fever till dawn. + +[Illustration: A HEAD MAN--STERN VIEW.] + +[Illustration: A HEAD MAN--SIDE VIEW.] + +At Ban Soap Ta, or Pak Ta, we were in the Province of Luang Prabang. +The village is most beautifully situated on the left bank of the +river, just below where the wild torrent of the Nam Ta falls into it. +There is a regular street all down the village, with deep ditches on +each side, between the road and the scattered houses. We met numerous +Kache from inland--a perfectly wild people, wearing only the smallest +strip of cloth, with a long metal hairpin stuck through the hair +rolled up behind, and often a flower in the lobe of the ear. They are +short and fleshy, and, though not prepossessing, we subsequently found +some of them to be good hard workers, and quiet, simple creatures. The +inhabitants of the village were not so smart as our Southern Laos or +the Lus we had just left; some of them wore slight whiskers, and one +or two had thin beards, and there are a good many stout men among +them. + +[Illustration: A HAW--PACKS DISMOUNTED.] + +[Illustration: LAOS BOAT.] + +We here changed boats, our other craft returning with their crews to +Chieng Kong. These boats are mere dug-out canoes, some 60 feet long as +a rule, with 4 feet beam. They are fitted all along amidships with a +light framework of split bamboos, standing up from the gunwale in a +barrel shape. On and tied to these are rectangular-shaped pieces of +bamboo plaiting, of a primitive character, stuffed with dead leaves, +about 8 feet by 6 feet, of which two form the sides, and a third the +roof, overlapping them. Two lots together give a good long cabin, and +sitting on the light bamboo decking fitted at the level of the +gunwale, one has 3 to 4 feet of head room. One's gear goes in +underneath, and the men's cooking and camping gear will be stored aft. +Two-thirds of the way aft an open space is left, and the decking is +discontinued, and here, going through a rapid, bailing is resorted to. + +For going down river the most distressingly primitive oars are used, +two or three men pulling at them, working in a grommet. The steersman +stands aloft astern, with a rudder 6 or 9 feet in length, which he +places in a loop on one quarter or the other. To help the speedier +turning of the boat in rapids, a long oar is fitted to work +athwart-ship out over the stern, and the power of these two is very +great, but not too much for the places they are sometimes in. But the +most important and ingenious part is the fitting of bundles of long +bamboos round the gunwale outside. Three of these bundles will go to +the length of the boat, and they not only give the boat 1½ or 2 feet +more beam, and therefore great steadiness, but they act as breakwaters +outside her in the rapids, and as air-tight compartments when she is +swamped. They are turned up at the ends with the boat's run; but they +hide her very effectually, so that she looks more like a bamboo raft +than a boat. + +[Illustration: ILLUSTRATION OF OAR AND STEERING-GEAR.] + +In going up stream, these bamboo bundles are cut adrift, and long +bamboos are used for poling from the fore-deck; the boats winding in +and out among the rocks upon the edges, using the swift back currents +with such effect that, except on the very rapid parts of the river, +the upward journey averages a rate of 3 miles an hour. At the rapids, +the boats must be often unloaded and hauled over, this occupying a +whole day. + +In the flood season, from June to October, the whole river valley is a +sea of swift turbid water, often 40 feet above the level of the dry +season, as is attested by the hulls of wrecked boats, gigantic tree +stems, and water marks, which one sees to that height upon the crags +among the sandbanks. Then the boats work their way up among the trees +and bushes on the jungle edge. Below Luang Prabang, a double boat is +used for going down river, and one gets a wide deck upon it of 10 feet +beam; in these, besides the crew of five men, seven men could live +comfortably, while in the single boats, with the crew of four men, +four more make rather close quarters. + +[Illustration: DOUBLE BOAT.] + +A great deal of rice goes clown the Mekong and Nam Oo for the supply +of Luang Prabang from the hills, that town not being able to supply +itself. This rice goes down in tremendously big bamboo rafts, which +look like floating villages; they are often some 120 feet long and 30 +feet beam. They are allowed to go almost entirely with the current, +there being eight or ten long oars rigged out ahead and astern, worked +by as many men, for canting the craft in either direction to avoid +rocks or eddies. There is a drawing in Mr. Colquhoun's book (which, I +believe, is taken from Garnier's work) which gives a good idea of a +small one shooting a rapid. They are very unwieldy, bad to steer, and +not too easy to take down these places. + +[Illustration: VILLAGE ABOVE PAKU, MEKONG.] + +Small dug-outs of a pretty shape are used in great numbers for fishing +purposes; the boat drifts down broadside to the stream, one man being +at either end with a paddle gently working in one hand, the foot often +helping, and the other holding a line to the net. In these the famous +_pla bûk_ are caught. The weight of an average one is over 130 lbs. +The Laos say they are not common below Nong Khai, and that they +believe them to breed in the retired spots between there and Luang +Prabang. M. Pavie considers they come all the way from the sea, but I +do not at present know his data; they are certainly known at Bassac. +The _pla reum_ is another large fish, often over 120 lbs. in weight, +which is also known on the Meinam. Both are caught extensively, and +are sold cut up in steaks in the markets. + +[Illustration: FORTY-FIVE FEET BOAT, NAM OO.] + +[Illustration: PART OF THE MEKONG.] + +Leaving Pak Ta, the river turns south among a series of schists, +until, after passing the very fine lofty peak of Pa Mon, it resumes +its easterly direction among a lot of wild rapids. We reached for the +night a temporary village on the north bank, where a number of Laos, +engaged in buying rice from the Khache, were encamped. A very wild +night of thunderstorms and squalls of wind. The next day was the +grandest we had on the Mekong, for the hills close in and form a +magnificent gorge, the effect of which was heightened by the wild rain +mists which were whirling among the mountains, as the sun rose ahead +of us with almost indescribable greens, yellows, and reds. This +wonderful scene, and the presence here and there of the little wooden +houses, perched high up in their clearings by the Khache where the big +trees lay in all directions, or of small villages clustering in +apparently inaccessible places, again carried one back to the wilds of +Norway. We shot the big rapids of Keng La, and reached Ban Pak Beng +that evening. In another day, passing three difficult rapids, Ban +Tanun is reached; from which in three days, sleeping at Bans Kokare +and Lataen, Muang Luang was in sight ahead at sunset, with the +fantastic limestones of the Nam Oo over the stern, and wrapped in +thick mists. Our slow speed was due to the constant change of boats +and crews. + +[Illustration: KHACHE HILL CLEARINGS; RAPIDS ABOVE PAK BENG, MEKONG.] + +From Ban Tanun I made a three-days' tramp south-west over to the plain +of Muang Hongsawadi, to visit the volcanoes marked on Mr. McCarthy's +map. The track is very rough, up the bed of the Hoay Tap for some +hours, and then over the watershed, from the summit of which, owing to +fires having cleared away the jungle, a magnificent view was to be had +to the south-west over the valley. The contrast between the rugged +uncompromising character of the Mekong valley behind, and the peaceful +expanse of cultivation nestling below us was delightful. The villages +are all of substantially built houses; the people are a smart, tidy, +and pleasant race of Laos, and they are very rich in cattle and +elephants; rice is cheap, and oranges, pomaloes, and other fruit were +plentiful. The Governor, who was subject to Luang Prabang, is said to +be a hundred and twenty years of age, and as his house is some miles +from the sala, he sent a message asking me to excuse his calling. + +[Illustration: DHÂP AND SHEATH.] + +[Illustration: JUNGLE KNIVES.] + +West-north-west about 5 miles is the Pak Fai Mai, as the Laos call the +two volcanic vents which, elevated at not more than 200 feet above the +plain, are situated in a thin bamboo jungle. Each of the vents is +about 200 yards long, sloping slightly in a direction 20° east of +south, and 70 to 80 yards wide; the southerly one is the least +inactive of the two. Slight smoke rises in several places, but for the +most part one can walk about on the bottom anywhere, except at the +south-eastern end, where there is a series of largish cracks, whence +smoke and free sulphurous acid rise in small quantities; here the +ground is very hot, and 2 feet in the cracks are red hot, and one can +light a bamboo at them. There were traces of the action of +sulphuretted hydrogen or of carbonic acid, and the crust of sulphur at +the openings may be due to the decomposition of the former gas. I +could neither hear nor see of there having been any great activity at +any time in the past, but the existence of a present dormant volcanic +action is evident. Why this vent has occurred in the position it has +is not obvious; there is no apparent line of dislocation, nor has it +chosen the valley proper.[3] In the rains there is, I was told, a good +deal of steam rising, as is natural, and more spluttering and activity +than we saw. At the northern end there were traces of elephants on the +slag (which is everywhere highly coloured from iron chloride); they +are proverbially afraid of fire, so it may be inferred that the +activity is not great. Southward the vent, which from the slag surface +to the top of its sides is not more than 30 feet, is advancing, and +the blackened stumps of newly fallen trees and bamboo clumps lie +about, with marks of recent falls in the bank. + +[Illustration: MOUTH OF NAM SUUNG, ABOVE LUANG PRABANG.] + +The weather was now getting hot, March being the worst month in this +district. Thermometer minimum (for three days south of Ban Tanun) +72°, maximum in the sala 94°. Distant thunder in the evenings +muttering continually. This weather continued, with thick haze air, +till we reached Luang Prabang. We had fresh south-westerly winds +blowing very hot, and at night rain squalls. Our first impression of +the town was not good; after a long day's pulling, helping the men, +who were very tired with the heat, we got in at dusk. The temperature +ashore, in the streets, or on the sand slope, was oppressive; but +when, after some supper, we went up to call on Phra Prasada, the +Commissioner appointed from Bangkok, and there enjoyed some real +coffee and the luxury of a punkah, in the fine new Government offices +he had just finished building, and heard the bugles ringing out all +round, and the weird march music of the kans, which are more played in +this province than almost any other, we forgot the heat in the +pleasures of the change of life. + +[Illustration: APPROACH TO LUANG PRABANG FROM NORTH.] + +Throughout my stay in this locality, the help we received from the +Commissioner, who is full of energy, was enormous. He has undoubtedly +done a great deal, practically, for the welfare of the people here, +and was most popular; and he has also made extensive collections of +the produce of the province, which will soon be in Bangkok. He is a +man of observation and ideas, absolutely straight, and without any +humbug in his disposition. I was surprised to find that he could read +English well, and talk it moderately, and still more to find this has +all been acquired since he came to the north as Commissioner seven +years ago. This of itself shows an unusual man, and I record it +because it is not often realized that there are such men among the +Siamese. His time was up, and Phya Pechai was appointed to the post +just before I left, and he came south before the trouble with France +reached its climax lately. + + +[Footnote 3: This valley drains into the Nam Ngum, and so into the +Mekong. The big mass of Doi Luang to the south is the division between +the Meinam and Mekong drainages here.] + + + + +PART IV. + +Luang Prabang (March, 1893). + + +Making expeditions in various directions, Luang Prabang was our +head-quarters for about three weeks. Of all the country round, the +town itself seems to be the hottest place, and to be away in the +jungle was infinitely preferable to staying in the bungalow, where at +sunset the thermometer was generally still at 92°. Unlike Nan, Chieng +Mai, or Korat, there is no wall around the town, which is the usual +collection of substantial teak houses, and large roomy monasteries, of +which one-half are in ruins. The latter, however, show signs of some +fine gilding and decorative work, and a good deal of architectural +effort has been expended upon them. They have been allowed, after the +strange custom of the Buddhists, to fall to rack and ruin without an +attempt being made to save them; because, one would think, by some +strange mistake, the repairing of a monastery makes no merit, though +building a brand-new one, however third-rate in style or bad in +finish, is one of the highest of merit-making acts. + +The chief points one notices in which these wats differ from those in +Nan are, the generally low effect, the roofs rising less strikingly +than that, for instance, at Muang Sa; the raising at the centre of the +roof of what at a distance looks not unlike the lantern of a college +hall, which is merely an exterior addition, and does not admit light +or air; the small-scale[4] buildings, of which there are often several +in the enclosure, which are best described as being like tiny chapels +with vaulted roof, in which, of course, innumerable "phras" stand at +the inner end, and which are usually about 14 feet in length, and +beautifully proportioned; the small pedestals, which are disposed +about on all sides, in a niche in which the small phra is always to be +seen; and, finally, the substantial character of the stone enclosure +which surrounds the monastery buildings, with often an effective porch +at the entrance. In the curves of roof and eaves they show a real +artistic sense. The materials used are brick, covered with stucco, +timber, and wood tiles; and, where an arch is attempted, it is always +supported by a horizontal beam in the Chinese fashion, with the space +above usually filled in, or else a perpendicular goes up from it. It +is curious that there are no signs of any knowledge of true arches in +these states. + +[Illustration: WAT CHIENG TONG.] + +The main feature of the Muang is the central hill known as Kao Chom Pu +Si, a bluff of limestone standing up out of the red sandstone plain on +which the town is built; its longer axis is parallel with the river, +from which it is less than a quarter of a mile distant. On the summit +is a small wat, with a lofty pagoda pinnacle visible for miles round; +a huge drum hung here is struck every hour by a monk, and its boom +rolls down all over the valley. What with it and the bugles and other +wats' gongs, one is never at a loss to know the time. The town is +clustered round the hill, and, except on the south, there is water in +almost each direction, the Nam Kan coming winding into the big river +from the east, just to the north. + +[Illustration: PA CHOM SI, LUANG PRABANG.] + +The people, among whom slavery was abolished a few years ago by Phya +Surasak, who went up as the Siamese general to quiet the Black Flags, +are a very independent race, and, possibly mindful of a powerful past, +think somewhat of themselves, and do very little manual labour. The +men, I regret to own, are very much addicted to opium; stealing is not +absolutely unknown, and generally the code of morals is not as severe +as in Nan. The women, instead of the timidity and shyness to which we +had been accustomed so far (so that, when they could, we always found +the women bolt into the jungle at the sight of strangers, or at least +retire), showed a very free and easy manner, and are much addicted to +giggling and chatter. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF LUANG PRABANG AND RIVER.] + +The industrious sounds of the foot rice-mills are hardly ever to be +heard in the town; and the market, instead of taking place in the +early dawn, that the day's work may not be interfered with, lasts +roughly from dawn to sunset, with the exception of an hour or two at +noon. All down the main street, which runs between the hill and the +river, the ladies sit behind their baskets, flirting with the men, who +cruise up and down with apparently not much else to do. This market is +a very big affair, and besides the usual endless fruit, cigarettes and +flowers, there are huge steaks of pla reum, ducks, ducks' and hens' +eggs, pigs dead and alive, opium lamps, Japanese matches, needles and +pins, cotton, coarse cotton cloth, tobacco, and a fair sprinkling of +Manchester goods. Among the people one sees besides the Laos of the +place, are Nan Laos, Lus, or Khache, and various hill tribes +remarkable for their scanty clothing,[5] Chinese, Shan traders from up +the Nam Oo, Haws, and Burmese. At the time of my visit, the French +consulate was across on the other side of the river, M. Ducant being +in charge there. There is also a French store with all sorts of French +goods, connected with the "Syndicat du Haut Laos." These goods I found +most unpopular with the people, and when I bought one or two things +for my men (päs, as they call them, for throwing over the shoulder +like a mantle, or for sarongs), they refused to have them, saying the +people had told them they were "no good,"--one reason being they would +not wash. The imports of this store, brought by boat down the Nam Nua +and Nam Oo from Tongking, amounted in February and March, 1893, to +19,841 francs' worth. The Commissioner, and my own observation in part +confirmed it, told me that the store has to be heavily subsidized, and +is not successful, the goods not being wanted by the Laos, who make +their own rough cotton stuffs for hard work, and their own silk +finery, and find these more lasting and efficient for the work for +which they are wanted. The Frenchmen told me they often lose valuable +cargoes in the rapids in the Nam Oo. While on this subject, I may say +that small tricolours and medals are freely given in all directions to +any native who will take them. I found at Nong Khai that the +Commissioner had some hundreds of these small flags which had been +brought him by the Laos there at different times as having been given +them by the Frenchmen, naively remarking that they could "find no use +for them," and so they would give them to the Commissioner, if any +good to him. These flags are also given largely to the monks, to +ornament their wats with, with "Vive la France!" inscribed across +them. + +[Illustration: STONE IMPLEMENTS.] + +Beyond these, I saw no signs of French commerce among the people. The +Nam Nua and Nam Oo route over from Jonking, though a rough one, no +doubt answers its purpose on the whole, and to M. Pavie, the Minister +at Bangkok, who has travelled the country extensively, and has left +kindly memories behind him, belongs the credit of it. Another +Frenchman who has done good work in the neighbourhood is Dr. Massé, +who lately died of fever going down the Mekong. For years he carefully +and enthusiastically studied the geology of the district, and he has +been able to determine the age of the Luang Prabang series; all his +specimens (including some coal and beautifully sharp stone implements) +and his papers are, I believe, in M. Pavie's hands, and will prove of +enormous interest. + +The party at the French Consulate, whether owing to their mode of +life, or the climate, did not look well at all; and from the headaches +and fevers which laid hold of the people with me while at M. Luang I +am not surprised. In justice to the place, it must be owned, March is +the hottest month. I did not see any cases of the famous Luang Prabang +fever, which has carried off so many. Like that usual in Dong Choi, +the temperature rises very fast and very high, and, if fatal, is +generally so after two or three days. + +[Illustration: GOVERNMENT OFFICES, LUANG PRABANG.] + +There is, or was, a police force in the town recruited from the Laos, +but their duties are very light. Fights or quarrelling are unknown, +whatever other faults there may be, and the most important part of the +police duties is to keep a watch for fires. Only one occurred while we +were there, and the promptitude with which the buglers went sounding +out the alarm from all the guard-stations and the men turned out was +most creditable; luckily there was no wind, and it was got under very +quickly. + +The head-quarters, as far as the Siamese Government was concerned, +were in a newly built set of offices, standing in a large +drill-ground; the whole thing was done by the soldiers and the people +of the place under Prah Prasadah's orders and watchful eye. It is +built of teak, with red-tiled roofing, and consists of a front hall, +long offices on both sides, and at the back sleeping-rooms and more +offices. Here, in the evenings, took place regular concerts, to +several of which we went for an hour or two. The people of Luang +Prabang are undoubted music-lovers to a high degree, and night after +night, after the major and lieutenants had messed, the musicians +arrived in the hall, squatted down, and began, sometimes the wailing +Laos music, sometimes the quick jig tunes of Siam. The instruments +consisted of two two-stringed violins, a high-pitched flageolet, and +one or sometimes two _kans_, a kind of reed-organ carried about by the +player, who is the bellows. Sometimes the bamboo reeds are over 6 feet +in length, but they are light; the mouth is applied at a mouthpiece +toward the lower end, where the fingers play on each side, there being +two sets of reeds side by side. The instrument is held upright in +front or slightly inclined over the shoulder, and the sweetness of the +tones is wonderful. This usually forms a bass, and smaller ones with +shorter reeds accompany the voice well. It would be no exaggeration to +say that nearly every household in Luang Prabang possesses one, +sometimes two. A most striking thing it is at night, far into the +early hours, to hear the distant kans from all sides playing in the +houses, now and then drowned by the nearer approach of one whose +master has been out calling late, and goes striding down the road with +perhaps three or four more friends in single file behind, playing a +march tune with all his lungs like any Highland piper. One of my +pleasant memories of life will ever be those evenings when turning in, +after the hot day in the verandah, one listened to the sound of the +_kans_ passing homeward, and rising and falling on the night-air. What +with the evening bugles, too, and the drum upon the hill, and the +cocks and _nok poots_, who never fail to announce the hours 9 p.m., +midnight, 3 a.m., and 6 a.m., whether in the jungles or among the +dwellings of man, a light sleeper would complain bitterly. + +In the concerts at the new offices there were often _kan_ solos; while +the orchestra, when in full swing, was accompanied by clapping of +hands and the tinkle of metal; the songs, albeit curious, were not to +me so enjoyable, though very much so to the Laos. A number of pretty +damsels, in their most gorgeous silks, sat round busily chewing +betel-nut; these would be asked to give a subject, and one with a good +deal of blushing would give in a loud tone her subject. The orchestra +struck up, and the singer had to make the best he could of it on the +spot; and judging by the laughter and general approbation after each +verse, he was generally successful. But we all failed signally to +understand the words--the language here differing very much from that +of Nan, of which we had begun to pick up some; while, when sung, it is +even more incomprehensible. What with the attractions of music, their +love and battle songs, and perhaps other things, the Laos of Luang +Prabang keep late hours, and are late to turn out. + +The Chow Luang and Chow Huanar, with whom I exchanged visits, are +pleasant, open-countenanced men, and after a second visit became quite +jovial. The latter helped me a great deal in my work, and I was sorry +to say good-bye. Their houses were large teak buildings, but the Chow +Luang is building one of brick. + +[Illustration: KENG KANG, NAM OO. THE PLUNGE OFF THE LEFT BANK.] + +Our longest expedition from here was up the Nam Oo, which comes in +from the north-east. The scenery of this river is very fine, as all +the way from Muang Ngoi, to which we went, it winds through abrupt +limestone peaks and ranges, covered with dense forest, and often +overhanging the deep quiet river below. But the rapids scattered along +its course are furious, and, owing to the shallow water and +innumerable sunken rocks, are very dangerous, while quite a high sea +runs in them. They differ from most of the big Mekong rapids in that +they are caused by rough sloping bottoms of rock ridges, over which +the water tears its way. In the great river the majority of the rapids +are simply owing to the narrowing of the channel, with possible big +rock obstructions rising out of a depth which, with a 20-fathom line, +often gave no bottom (this in low-water season). In these the +acceleration of speed and commotion are caused by the enormous +pressures behind, and the frictions below, and the force of the back +eddies, which go tearing in toward any little or big opening in the +banks of rock, and come sweeping back again in wave-like rushes or in +whirlpools. "Rapid" is often a misnomer; for what with whirlpools, the +sudden capricious rushes of water boiling up in a mound of spray, and +flowing wildly in apparently any direction but the one by which it +will eventually get out, and the great back eddies and counter +currents below, the boat, alternately dragged to the right bank, spins +round on the edge of a whirlpool, hurries over on a mass of foam to +the left side, and there caught and hurried up the side again, or +swirled off downwards into another whirlpool, spends several minutes +in passing down a hundred yards, though every hand is straining at the +oars, and steersman and bow-oar are lugging for dear life to keep her +straight, and save her ends from being caught up on the rocks at which +she is hurled. + +Such are many of the worst of the Mekong rapids, which will prove too +much for any number of steamers, extending often, as they do below +Chieng Kan, for miles. Even the great rushes of solid water, and +converging lines of breakers of the rapids, where, as in the Keng +Luang below Luang Prabang, the already compressed water has to fight +its way over a shelving bank of huge shingle, of which each stone is +often as big as an average Laos house, will prove easier to navigate. +But in the Nam Oo the shallowness of the water is the danger, and +there is often, as in Keng Luang two days up, a fall straight over a +dioritic ledge of 3 feet. This class of rock it is which forms the +rapids, and when the limestone hills retire from the river edge, and +low-lying, round-topped hills less densely jungled, come in, one may +look out for a rapid and change of formation. + +[Illustration: KENG LUANG.] + +The villages up this river are very poor, except in ducks, which are +seen swimming merrily about in all the quiet reaches, and not a few of +the rapids. As to buying them, it was almost impossible, though it was +the only form of fresh food obtainable. We could hardly get the people +to take money, and had to barter, though we were rather short of +things ourselves. It is odd how difficult it is to get tea, and as our +Bangkok tea had given out, hot water, with sometimes a few herbs[6] +picked by Chow Benn Yenn, had to take its place. He also produced a +dish of butterflies' bodies one evening with the curry, but they had, +to my mind, not much flavour. He also had a weakness for a species of +cricket, which he cooked by throwing on the fire, and then devoured. +Frogs, too, are eaten by the Laos, they going to the extent of eating +the body as well as legs of the _ongan_ when the rains begin. The +Siamese also eat the _kob_, a small frog, of which the legs are +certainly very good; and when the French gunboats were in Bangkok they +were not to be got in the markets for love or money. + +Up and down this river a considerable trade in hill rice takes place +between the hill villages and Luang Prabang, and we met greater +numbers of boats than on the Mekong; they were most of them ascending +at the time, with three men, or in the longer craft four, poling. The +bamboo is placed against the outside shoulder; the man, facing aft and +leaning low, runs the boat up till he reaches the deck-house; he then +brings in the pole hand-over-hand until he has it about the middle, +and then with the arms straight up above his head, to keep the bamboo +over the head of his fellow, goes forward again. This business, +continued for hour on hour, is very hard work indeed, as any one who +tries it will discover; and the light narrow boat rolls a good deal, +making foothold at times very difficult, and no one wearing shoes +could stay on board for two minutes. + +Going up the rapids is far more dangerous than descending, for the +boat has to be poled and often hauled round right angles of rock just +outside which a tall hollow sea is jumping in a roaring cataract. If +the bows be once caught, away she goes broadside, and nothing will +stop her, and all hands at the tow-line go too. It is in this way that +all the swampings, as a rule, take place; but, except in Keng Kang, it +is seldom that any one is drowned. It is really astonishing at what a +rate these fellows run their boats with their poles up the most +difficult places, and then, holding on for a moment under the lee of a +rock, all hands but the steersman go overboard with the rope, and +fight from rock to rock in any speed or depth of current, avoiding +always the big waves. One soon learns to have a respect for these +exploits, for they mean having one's breath knocked out of one pretty +frequently, and a few good bumps and cuts, which, sad to say, have a +way of leaving some discomfort behind. But Laos and Siamese alike are +never known to grumble, and after a bout of the kind they squat down +above the rapid, light cigarettes, and laugh with enjoyment. + +Fishing on the Nam Oo is very largely practised, the best time being +at the end of the rains, when the fish swarm. Across the heads of the +rapids are rows of stakes, and every twenty yards will be a fishing +shelter, just above a gap in the stakes, through which the fish are +expected to find their way. These shelters are light constructions, +built on groups of stakes, ballasted with stones, and strongly +buttressed on the lower sides. Notwithstanding these precautions, +however, when the river rose after heavy rains, which had already (in +March) begun higher up, and which delayed us very seriously, we saw +several of these shelters carried away bodily down stream. On the +upper side is a platform, on which the inhabitants (for they often +live, a whole family of them, in these places) may take the air. A +single bamboo with a handrail forms a connection with the long line of +stakes, by which they may reach the other shelters or get on shore; +but a small dug-out always lies moored below as well. Step inside the +house and all is dark, the light being carefully excluded, except +where it enters through a large hole in the floor; the _yah kah_, a +long jungle grass, with which the houses are always roofed, is carried +on each side right down to the water level, and the light thus only +enters through the water. Thus every fish for twelve feet down is +clearly seen, and there two men will sit smoking silently and gazing +intently by the hour into the water, every now and then hoisting out a +broad dip-net, spread by bamboos, with their prey. A spear is also +sometimes used. It is curious to see these people, with wife and +family, living on the narrow strip of flooring which goes round the +hole--in fact, the latter occupies most of the house; but they seem +very comfortable, and smoke, and cook, and feed, and sleep on a strip +3 feet wide with great complacency. The women were very much like the +little shy Ka Kaws, and smoked their long pipes and dressed just as +elaborately in their dark blue, with the same ornamented head-dresses. +However, most of these houses at this time of year were not inhabited, +and I only saw one or two families at home. + +[Illustration: ASCENDING KENG LUANG, NAM OO.] + +[Illustration: FISHING STAKES AND SHELTERS, NAM OO.] + +Muang Ngoi, at which there was a Siamese military station, is most +beautifully situated among precipitous hills; it is one of the +prettiest places we saw, well-built, tidy, with a street (as generally +in towns in the province of Luang Prabang) running parallel with the +river. Immediately over it almost hang the limestones, all round +except on the east, up which the people grow their rice in the narrow +valley. Up here goes the trade route toward the Black River, and down +the track I met coming staggering in under their heavy loads many Ka +Kaws--women, girls, and boys. I call them Ka Kaws[7] for want of a +more accurate name; the Siamese called them all Khache, or Khamus, +which they are not. No one can discriminate among the infinite numbers +of these tribes, nor can they do it themselves, except with neighbours +of the next valleys. + +They wore the prevailing blue; the women's head-gear often a tall, +blue cloth, with a little red showing at top, beads and shells. Large +rings, of four and more inches in diameter, hang from the ears, of +which the lobes are made very big. The weights they carry are +enormous; from casually lifting them I should say they were 45 to 50 +pounds. The basket is held by a band which passes over the forehead; +the result is a stooping gait, the arms being swung across the body, +as a sailor's, as they walk or almost jog along. Two or three men +usually accompany the carriers; and the latter, even boys and girls, +have a terribly worn appearance. Yet greet them with the usual +questions: "Where are you bound for?" or "Where are you come from?" +"How many days out?" "Are you tired?" etc., and they reply with the +merriest laugh and smile, which is almost touching. Their faces have +very little of the Laos in them, or of the Chinese or Haws, and are +round and kind in expression. + +The Siamese troops, only some twenty-five in number, were of fine +physique; but it is a fact (not a political statement) that +"aggression" and "advance" are utterly contrary to the purposes of the +frontier stations kept up by the Siamese Government. + +We obtained bananas at one or two places and sugar-cane, and on the +way down, as the latter does not grow at Luang Prabang, we loaded our +boats deep with the canes, which were, however, short and not very +juicy. However, we kept the larder going with cormorants, which were +in great numbers both here and down the Mekong. + +This brings me to the birds I was able to identify[8] while in the +Mekong drainage. Commonest were these same _cormorants_, which the +Laos call "crow duck," owing to their black colour and love for the +water. The large cormorant was continually to be seen sitting on +isolated rocks, often with his wings hung up to dry, in which position +he would suffer us to come very close. The small cormorants were +common in flocks, seldom singly, and, on our approach, would dive away +out of sight, not one remaining. Not expecting to see them, it was a +great pleasure to come across the beautiful little _terns_ swooping +and rushing over the water. One was either the whiskered tern or the +white-winged black tern--I think probably the latter, as the greyish +colour predominated with the dull-red bill and legs. They were +generally in back waters and temporary lakes formed in the sandbanks +by the fall of the river, and were in flocks. I did not secure any. +The black-billed tern--larger than the former, with its easily +distinguished orange-yellow bill and red feet, I got a specimen of. +They were fairly common, but even in March and April I found no nests. + +Of the kingfishers I only saw on the Mekong one or two specimens of +the pied bird. Crossing from the Meinam, however, there was a very +small one we frequently met in the mountain streams flowing down to +that river, which would suddenly fly off up stream with a low whistle. +I did not procure any, but from its size it was probably the little +three-toed kingfisher. Another we constantly saw perched on a bamboo +overhanging the water, or poising in the air, must have been, from its +high colouring, the little Indian kingfisher. + +Of herons, I saw, and shot, the large white heron (as on the Meinam), +singly and in flocks, on the sand-banks; the common heron, generally +stalking singly on the sand-spits, and hard to get near; the purple, +of which I saw two couples in the lowlands: the little black-billed +white heron, in flocks on the flat by the paddy fields; the cattle +egret, walking about with the buffaloes, or perched on their backs; +and the pond heron, which one would almost stumble upon, so invisible +was he on the ground, till away he sped aloft, and then the white +wings were clear cut against the blue sky overhead. + +Of eagles, there was the osprey, with his white head, hovering after +fish, and a larger bird in swamps near the jungle, with white and +darting broad tail, and the upper plumage and breast brown, presumably +the bar-tailed fishing eagle. I saw some small species too, but never +shot any, and, except the black eagle in the forest-covered hills +soaring above us on the wing, and a large, slow, sluggish bird, like +that we saw on the Meinam, with a hoarse cry (qu. steppe eagle), I +seldom got a good view of them. + +Adjutants, which they call _nok karien_, I saw in flocks of four, six, +or eight in the paddy fields of the Chieng Kong, Nam Ngau, and Khorat +plains. They were fairly tame, but with the rifle I could not get +nearer than 200 yards; the whistle of a bullet sent them sluggishly +flopping their great wings 50 yards or so on, and to follow them was +an endless pursuit. + +Pea-fowl are very common here and on the Nam Nan. + +Often and often, far overhead above the jungle, would come the +measured sound which the great pied hornbill makes with each sweep of +the wings, an indescribable sound, half a "whirr" and half the +"whistle of a sword swept through the air." They were always in +couples, and flew high. + +The white ibis, walking about in flocks in shallow water, and the +little cotton teal goose, also in flocks, in swampy back waters, who +would dive and disappear to a man, I saw several times. + +Two specimens of the large grey-headed imperial pigeon, with chestnut +back and wing coverts, were shot by my Tuon boatman in the hills above +the Meinam. The common "wood pigeon" is seen and heard all through +Siam. In the open plains and jungles a dove, of which I shot many for +breakfast, was very common; this seems to be the Malay spotted dove. + +There are other doves common in different parts of Siam, and wagtails +and sandpipers innumerable, but I cannot now name them. + +As to the _nok poot_, with his slight crest, dull red-wing coverts and +long dark green tail feathers, and his habit of drinking where he +finds water, and of running swiftly off into the low jungle, he must, +I think, be a pheasant. This is absolutely the commonest bird in the +country, and that "poot, poot" sound is never silent for long; at +night I have often heard a chorus of this sound from out the jungle +all round, and always at the hours of cock crow, _i.e._ 9 p.m., +midnight, 3, and 6 a.m., as mentioned above. The cock in this country +is used for a timepiece at night, as well as a fighting champion by +day, and not a boat or an ox-cart, caravan, or a cottage in the whole +country but has its cock. One result of this cockfighting mania is +very funny: the birds become pets, as dogs and cats do with us, and +the small boys go out walking with these things carried lovingly in +their arms; you may see them stroking them and looking longingly into +their ugly faces as if they found some expression therein. But their +end is generally in a curry, and very tough they make it. This form of +sport is on the whole most outrageously general in Siam proper. + +The total population of Luang Prabang, including that portion of the +province on the right bank, was just over 98,500. In the town itself +there cannot be more than about 9000; this only includes the Laos +proper, and not Lus, La was, or Khache.[9] It is difficult to judge of +the town, which straggles along the three or four main roads that have +recently been made around the central hill, and far beyond them out +into the plain, both inland, up the Nam Kan, and down the Mekong. +North of the town are also numbers of fairly large and prosperous +villages. The broadening out of the river here, the absence of rapids, +and the retirement to the eastward of the hill range, which forms a +sort of amphitheatre around the little plain, seems to have attracted +settlers from an early time. Still, either owing to the laziness of +the inhabitants or, as I think more probably, to the poverty of the +soil (which is the same barren red sandstone mentioned above), there +is certainly not much cultivation done here or on the other side of +the big river, where there is low-lying land behind the small range +which immediately abuts on the river there. The jungle, too, is itself +very thin and dwarfed. I hardly think laziness will account for this, +for peaceful tending of rice crops would be far easier work than +poling and struggling up Nam Oo rapids, which is the way the people +get their rice at present, going right up into the hills for it. Some +really beautiful silver-work is done, but fishing and killing pigs +seem to be the chief industry. There is a breed of the finest-shaped +and fiercest goats I have ever seen, which wander about the streets +and hill, and give the pariah dogs a rough time; but I did not see +that any other use was made of them. + +The day we left, a letter arrived from the king in Bangkok, and was +received in great state by the Chow Luang; it was carried in state +down the road with gorgeous umbrellas above and flutes playing before. +This was _re_ the appointment of Phya Pechai as Commissioner--the +last. + +The minimum temperature for these three weeks[10] was 61° up the Nam +Oo; the average minimum for ten days up that river, 64°; the average +maximum in the deck-house of the boat, 85°. The lowest maximum for +any day was 71°, but it was a "saft" day, with a solid deluge for +thirty-six hours. (The Laos cannot work in the rain; they shiver to +such an extent that the whole boat vibrates, so we spent a day sitting +in the boats. In this case I had 3 feet 3 inches head-room, 2 feet 4 +inches extreme elbow-room, the boat being only 45 feet long.) + +The maximum in Luang Prabang I did not get, being there very little by +day; the temperature in the jungle is much lower. Strong, hot winds +from south-west and thick haze was the rule except before the storms, +when the air became sultry, and then it blew a gale of wind from +north-west to north. The rains were beginning. Aneroid, which was +unreliable, 28.60 inches to 28.45 before squalls. + +The first day out, going south from Luang Prabang, one of our double +boats filled and sank, ruining maps, notes, and other things. We +awaited the arrival of another at Pak Si, from whence one of our Laos +boatmen had also to be sent back. He had apparently abscess in the +liver; I could do nothing for him, and he sank rapidly. The stream +Hoay Si, a few miles inland, comes tumbling over a fine fall, where a +number of beautiful travertine terraces have been formed below, in +which the pools are of intense blue. All the trees, branches, twigs, +and leaves within reach of the foam are being encrusted with carbonate +of lime, and the effect is very beautiful, with the luxuriant growth +around. + +Five days brought us to Paklai, whence the trail goes over to M. +Pechai on the Meinam. The journey up takes a fortnight, for this long +north and south reach is full of serious rapids. Two days and three +days below Luang Prabang are the rapids of Keng Seng and Keng Luang. +In the former, which tears over a rough bottom, my boat was completely +swamped, but was kept afloat by her bamboos. The latter is a very fine +sight, and is a narrow contraction, with a rough, inclined bottom; the +water tumbles off the bluff domes of the east bank in cascades of +foam, and from the west it is driven off in three hollow ridge-like +waves. In the centre, at first quietly, and with accelerating pace +goes the main mass, getting narrower, until with three huge +undulations, which send a boat half her length out of water as she +jumps down them, it tears into the embrace of the two raging, broken +currents coming off the banks, and there it leaps and foams and +thunders, echoing off the big black crystalline rocks from age to age. +Many boats are lost here, and just below lay the battered remains of a +fine craft of 65 feet, smashed from stem to stern. The Laos show +considerable sense in always taking breakfast before they try one of +these rapids, however early in the morning. + +South of Keng Luang the river bed is narrow, and flows very fast among +slate rocks, dipping very steeply (50°, 60°, and upwards), west for +many miles, limestone hills lying back some way from the river. These +long reaches are very wild, with no sign of man. Birds, crocodiles, +and tigers, with occasional pig, "sua pah" or leopard, and deer reign +and fight and feed along the jungled banks. + +Above Paklai begin the first wooded islands, of which there are many +below, and the whole river widens out and hills fall back. Here I was +able to get soundings with a 20-fathom line, and above the fine +limestone mass which distinguishes Ban Liep, we had 19, 17, 8, 6, 5, +3, and 2 fathoms as the river spread out; below it it narrowed down a +bit, and we had over 10 fathoms most of the way to Paklai, with now +and then 6 and 8. Paklai is a pretty little place, and is the official +port of departure for the north. There are good salas and elephant +stables, and a clearing by the river, a good landing in a creek among +the rocks, and plenty of boats and people. But here for the first time +we had the abominable little "luep," small black flies, which are a +far more irritating torture than mosquitos, and attack one's hands and +face by thousands. They are worst just about sunset as a rule, and +smoke or a strong breeze are the only things to keep them away, and to +sleep in a curtain of linen is absolutely necessary. The rains bring +them and most other jungle plagues. + +From here the river begins to turn away to the south-east, with quite +a new phase of Mekong scenery--placid reaches half a mile wide, with +gently sloping banks, the hills low and gentle in their curves, more +like some upper reaches in the Meinam, or a bit of Thames. The change +was delightful, as it always is, and continued for two days to Chieng +Kan, with only one break at Keng Mai, a rapid over a shallow, shelving +bank, where the water storms with a bar of white crests right across, +like sea breaking on a reef. Decks were cleared and the hands set +baling, and we all went through in style, but the cook's boat, which +got the least bit athwart the current, was caught in the rough water, +and swamped with our rice. The depths down to the town are 1, 2, up to +5 fathoms. + +Chieng Kan is built along the southern bank (for here the river begins +an east-north-east course), with a fine paddy-growing plain behind it, +and is about a mile long, with an indifferent road passing along it. +The most remarkable things about the place are the immense numbers of +coconut palms, and the cheapness of the fruit;[11] the number of +Burmese British subjects (who out of the kindness of their hearts +supplied one with any amount of provisions); and the fact that the +Laos women cut their hair short like the Siamese. The people are a +friendly, pleasant race. A good deal of fishing is done here, and in +poling the small craft up stream, a small rudder is used over the +outside (in this case starboard) quarter to prevent the boat running +round, as also at Luang Prabang and Nongkhai. These rudders are fixed, +and do their work alone as a rule, but are sometimes in bigger boats +fitted with a yoke and long bamboo tiller (as used together in +Norwegian boats), the latter reaching to the fore deck. Sometimes in +the evening, as the people lie tending their fish-baskets, the boats +look, with their up-turned ends and small shelter (in which the man's +clothes or his net, with its weights and buoys, may be put) which +stands almost amidships, like a distant gondola. + +[Illustration: RUDDER.] + +[Illustration: BOATS FISHING.] + +This province, which is under Pechai, is undoubtedly very rich in +mineral, but the distances and difficulties of transport are at +present against its development. There is a rich, alluvial gold +deposit northward, and a variety of ores occur south toward M. Loey, +including massive iron-ore beds. + +After some stay, we set out with fresh boats and crews, and were five +days passing the wild rapids between here and Wieng Chan. The river +finds its way among low hills in a narrow, deep channel between +clay-slate rocks alternating with sandstones and conglomerates with a +general easterly dip. The rapids are of the whirlpool and eddy +character, and extend for miles on end; the water is in places +confined to a width of 150 feet, and the rushes, boilings, spinnings, +and general deafening pandemonium which results is astounding; not one +place is like another, nor one whirlpool like the next. Numbers of +boats never get through here, as they, in spinning round in a +whirlpool or sudden explosion of water, get their ends ashore and +smashed on the rocks. It was a most tiring time for the men, deep down +in the heat of this great rock ditch, with no wind to cool the air, +and above on either hand a good half-mile of rocks and vast spaces of +sand shimmering in the hot sun. + +[Illustration: LAST OF THE HILLS ABOVE WIENG CHAN.] + +Just above Wieng Chan the hills disappear. The last of them are a +flat-bedded red sandstone, passing into a conglomerate, the huge slabs +lying in rows beside the water. The river opens out between them into +a beautiful wide lake, known as the Hong Pla Buk, from the numbers of +those big fish caught here. The scene on a quiet evening was +beautiful, with the terns dipping and darting about us. Here in the +deep still water, we heard again, as we used to do in the Meinam, the +"talking" of the _Pla liu ma_ (dog's-tongue fish) beneath the boat; it +is a grunt similar to that of the gurnard, only very much louder and +more sonorous, and you may hear several at a time chattering away +under you. + +Camped on some of these huge sandstone blocks, we had a good +opportunity of watching the polishing power of the wind-swept sand, +which, next to the rushing water, with its enormous burden of +sediment, is the agent by which all the rock surfaces of the Mekong +get the wonderful polish which makes them so peculiar. The exterior +appearances are often entirely deceptive, and the sun glistens off +them as off a looking-glass. Yet the points and pinnacles, especially +among the schists, are terribly sharp, often cutting the feet like +knives. The polish the red granite takes just west of this, and the +beauty of the veined limestone boulders further north, are a delight +to look at. + +At Wieng Chan, on the north bank, hardly a hill is in sight; all round +plains, bamboos, and palms. The site of the old city, which was +destroyed in 1827 by the Siamese for rebellion, is a mass of +jungle-covered ruins. The remains of the old brick wall, and of the +great Wat Prakaon, are very fine; the latter rises from a series of +terraces, up which broad flights of steps lead, and is of large +proportions. The effect of height is increased by the perpendicular +lines of the tall columns, which support the great east and west +porticos, and which line the walls along the north and south; the +windows between the latter being small, and narrower at top than at +the bottom, also lead the eye up. A second outer row of columns once +existed, and the effect must have been very fine. Now the roof is +gone, and the whole structure crowned by a dense mass of foliage, as +is the case with all the remains of smaller buildings not yet +destroyed. One very beautiful little pagoda at the west end is now +encased in a magnificent peepul tree which has grown in and around it, +and has preserved it in its embrace. There are remains of several +deep-water tanks, and the grounds, which were surrounded by a brick +wall, must once have been beautiful. But the best thing at Wieng Chan, +or the old city, as they call it, is the gem of a monastery known as +Wat Susaket. It is a small building, the wat itself, of the usual +style, with the small lantern rising from, the central roof, as at +Luang Prabang. The walls are very massive, and, with the height +inside, the place was delightfully cool; all round the interior from +floor to roof the walls are honeycombed with small niches in rows, in +which stand the little gilt "prahs," looking out imperturbably, +generally about 8 inches in height. + +[Illustration: THE RUINS OF WAT PRAKAON, WIENG CHAN.] + +[Illustration: NICHE AND STATUE.] + +Round this building outside runs a rectangular cloister, which faces +inwards, and here, at one time, the monks were living among the +statues which stand round the walls, many of these 3 and more feet +high, while the walls too are ornamented with niches similar to those +inside the main building. In the centre of each side there is a +gateway surmounted by a gable, there being also similar ornaments at +each corner. The beauty and the retired air of the court inside could +not be surpassed, and the effect of the green grass, the white walls, +the low-reaching red-tiled roofs, and the deep shadows is charming; +there is nothing flat, nothing vulgarly gaudy, and very little that is +out of repair. And here, as is most noticeable in the remains of the +other buildings about, the proportions are perfect. In this the ruined +remains of Wieng Chan surpass all the other buildings I have seen in +Siam, and bear witness to a true artistic sense in the builders. +Though the old city is not inhabited, and the site thereof seems under +a curse, the villages along the bank of the river, both above and +below, have a flourishing appearance, and the paths along the river, +with their cool shade, were full of people. + +[Illustration: SOUTH-WEST ANGLE, WAT SUSAKET, WIENG CHAN.] + +Leaving Wieng Chan, we had our last and most curious experience of the +Meinam Kong and its wanton ways. A vast mass of heavy thunderclouds +lay to the east, south-east, and south, and into this, as happens in +the rainy season, a strong draught of air, first from south-west, then +west, and then north-west, was blowing. This began to freshen, and +with two square sails I got rigged to my ship we made very good way, +until it began blowing really hard and a sea got up, the water being +here over half a mile in width, with 2, 3, and 5-fathom soundings; we +then had to strike sail, while astern a vast cloud of sand, twigs, +leaves, and even pebbles, came sweeping along with a roar. The other +three boats were, when we saw them last, just broaching to, all close +together. The Laos, who face rapids or elephants with composure, quite +lost their heads, and the only use to be made of them was to set them +to hang on to the deck-house, which was being carried out of the ship. +She tried very hard to swamp herself, for when the squall came up the +strength was terrific, and the seas hollow and breaking solidly. +However, by keeping her stern to it, we shot on through the thick +darkness, frequently belaboured with missiles, and after a great deal +of difficulty in weathering a lee shore we got round a point and +brought up, after two rattan ropes had been carried away. Meantime +many dug-outs passed us waterlogged and adrift, and when at last the +wind got to the north and fell not a boat was in sight. Except our +own, every other craft in the river had been swamped, including our +other three boats, which were carried broadside into the lee shore we +had got round, and had a handsome battering. Everything in them was +full of water, while the men escaped and sat on shore till it was all +over, and when they arrived at Ban Bar, where we lay for the night, +they did not seem to have enjoyed the fun at all. + +This village is more Siamese than Laos in appearance; there are +numbers of Chinamen of unprepossessing appearance and manners, who +kept shops and pariahs. The latter was a nuisance we had been +comparatively free from; in fact, on the upper river, at Chieng Kong, +there were very decent breeds to be seen, and Chow Benn Yenn got from +one of his villages a beautiful black-and-tan collie, exactly like a +good specimen at home, with the exception that he had a short tail +like a manx cat. It was a beautiful dog and a capital sporting animal. +The long black-haired and black-tongued "Chow" dog we saw several +times, and also small, brown, long-haired animals with high, curled +tails. A peculiarity about these dogs was that, being accustomed to +the Laos _kao neo_, when we got back to Siam and _kao chow_ (the +ordinary rice), they would have none of it. + +The next day we reached Nongkhai, and were very cordially welcomed by +Krom Prachak, a brother of the king, who is Commissioner. The town +owes its existence to the fall of Wieng Chan, and is scattered along +the south bank; there is a considerable number of Chinamen keeping +shops here, and to them and its character as the official centre, it +owes its importance. The houses extend all along the river-side for a +mile and a half, mostly well shaded by areca and coconut palms. Here +once more, on the great plain lying to the south, we saw the tall, +gaunt sugar palms standing against the sky, and again saw the _kiens_, +or ox-carts, with their long, black hoods, wending their slow way in +single file, the groaning, grunting, and shrieking, which accompanies +their every movement and jerk, coming slowly down the wind. Here once +more, sad to say, we came across a character most of us have known in +Siam--the _kamoë_, or thief--and we hadn't been an hour in the place +before he had begun work. Here, too, we again heard the horrid sound +of chains, dragged along the hot, dusty road by wretched, emaciated +creatures carrying water--hardly strong enough to lift the chains at +their ankles. And here, again, were, among the decent houses, dirty, +squalid cottages and drunkenness. The fact is, the cattle-driving +people of the plains become by their occupation different in character +to the mountaineers; it was very noticeable, striking right upon them +here, how much more stolid and less expressive their faces are, how +black and muddy--or dusty if the rain keeps off--they become in their +long, slow rides upon their carts, and, in general, how like their own +sleepy, blinking buffaloes they become--as, too, one may see in the +great plains of India. The circumstances and conditions of life are +all different; and drinking slow-running mud, which they +euphemistically call water, sloshing laboriously through seas of +reeking bog and swamp, and enduring the tormenting bites of +innumerable huge flies, which attack elephants, buffaloes, oxen, +horses, and men indiscriminately, but untiringly, must result in a +differently developed man from that built up by mountain marches, high +aloft on dry hillsides or deep down in cold stream beds, leaping from +rock to stone or plunging into the rushing water, where life is a +perfect fight. Not that the plains are always so disagreeable; given +the dry, cool months of December and January, travelling in them +becomes a luxury; but there is never the same exhilarating air or the +same pure water. + +The Commissioner's house is at the western end of the town, surrounded +by the sheds of the military detachment. At the back a very pretty +garden is being made; and this and a new straight road, inland of the +present street and parallel with it, are the works of construction on +hand. The ground on each side of the new road--which, by its unlovely +straightness, carried one far away to similar ugliness in civilized +lands, and was the only unnatural thing we saw--is being eagerly +applied for by the Chinese; but a great drawback must for some time be +the absence of shade. The river is undoubtedly cutting into the soft +laterite bank here, and in a few years the old site will go down with +a run. + +Prince Prachak is a reformer; he is very keen in "reforming the Laos," +but is grieved to find they don't want to be reformed. He says--what +is very true--that their work is always desultory (one month they +plant rice, another they go fishing, another they wash gold in the +sands), and that they will not settle down into trades. They prefer, +too, to play music on their kans in the evenings to doing more useful +things, and are, in fact, lazy. But I fear it is not surprising, and +that it will be some time before the Laos take to trades. + +The Chinese shopkeepers import their goods from Bangkok through +Khorat, and the journey, in the matter of shoes or felt hats from +London, increases the price about one _salung_ at the first place, and +two by the time they reach Nongkhai. They show for sale calico goods +of all colours and patterns (as one sees in Bangkok for "panungs," +"pahs," etc.), shoes, sandals, belts, pots and pans, matches, Chinese +umbrellas, and teapots, the first mostly English, and as they sell +these well, they tell you with a grin they soon make their fortunes +and retire. + +The wats are wretched little places, ill built and ill kept, the most +interesting thing being the bell of the principal wat, which is a huge +hollowed timber, some 3 feet in diameter and 7 feet high, hung to a +crossbar at the top. Struck end on with a stout pole, the sound is +deep and sonorous. This form, but usually smaller, is often used in +Siam, and for attaching to the necks of elephants or oxen (which +invariably have a bell), there are clappers hung on a string on each +side, which keep up a continual tinkle. Fixed on a bent bamboo, the +same form of bell is used by fishermen on the shore end of their set +lines to give warning of a big fish or other disturbance. There is +always a slit up, about a quarter of the way, slightly wider at the +top, on each side. + +[Illustration: BELL.] + +The weather from the time we left Luang Prabang to the time we reached +Nongkhai had the unsettled character of the beginning of the rains, +though it was only April month. South-westerly winds and haze by day, +low heavy clouds in the evenings, and thunderstorms of great violence, +with strong squalls of wind shifting round by west and north-west to +north at night, making sleep impossible while they lasted, and +generally driving into the boats everywhere. The lowest and highest +readings of the thermometer were, on the same day when we arrived at +Chieng Kan, after some heavy storms, 63° Fahr. at sunrise, 104° at 2 +p.m. in the boats. For the rest of the time, the average minimum was +72°, generally half an hour before sunrise. The average maximum in +the shade, 92° (in the boats). In the shady sala, on the tree-covered +bank at Nongkhai, we never had over 89°, and, whether owing to the +advent of the rains or not I do not know, it was much cooler and +pleasanter than Luang Prabang had been, and all our sick men, with one +or two exceptions, mended entirely; while at the former place (as too +in the case of Mr. Archer's party) everyone had had turns of fever or +bad headaches. + +[Illustration: BELL-CLAPPER AND JOINT.] + +[Illustration: BAMBOO BELL.] + +The coinage here was once more the tical, with only an occasional +rupee. At Luang Prabang the two, with their small silver subdivisions, +are both taken; but in Nan no Siamese money would pass, strings of +areca nut being used for small change, as cowries are at Luang +Prabang. + +_Note on the "Kan."_ + +The Kan, the reed-organ used so much among the northern Lao tribes, is +remarkable for the sweetness of its tones, and the fact that the +intervals of the notes are correct according to our musical ideas, and +have a true key-note, the pitch of the instrument depending on its +length. + +Thus the five-sok kan (9 feet 4 inches long) is in the key of G--one +sharp. + +The four-sok kan (6 feet 8 inches) in the key of D--two sharps. + +The two-sok kan (3 feet 4 inches) in the key of F--one flat. + +These are the lengths most usual, but six soks is sometimes used; it +possesses very fine low tones, but requires powerful lungs, although +the notes are produced by inspiration and respiration. + +The number of reeds never exceeds fourteen, and the arrangement of +notes is as follows, numbering the reeds in couples from the mouth of +the little air-chamber:--The two reeds, 1, are played with the thumb; +left 1 being the key-note; right 2 being the lower octave of the same. +The octave thus goes from right 2, to 3, 4, 5 and 6 left (or right 3, +which is the same) on to right 4, 5, and back to the thumb note on +left 1. + +[Illustration: FOUR-SOK KAN (1 INCH TO 2 FEET).] + +[Illustration: TWO-SOK KAN.] + +Below the key-note right 2 come left 2 and right 1, and above the +upper key-note, right 6 and 7 and left 7; thus, in the D kan of four +soks, we get-- + +[Illustration: Notes on a musical stave, denoted as "LEFT." and +"RIGHT."] + +There are no sharps or flats possible, and only half filling the +holes, as in a fife, will not produce them, the note being got by the +vibration of small tongues of metal fitted in the side of the reed. +Hence, possibly, the epithet "monotonous," which has been generally +given them; and hence the fact that a good player generally has more +than one. Their playing is very fast and effective, but is at first +hard to follow or properly understand. The mouth-piece is made of the +fruit of the _mai lamut_, and being very hard, takes a lot of work in +being hollowed out, and will receive a good polish outside; two +parallel slits are cut along the top and bottom, and the two rows of +bamboos fitted in, and the whole made airtight with beeswax. In case +of damage to one of the reeds, it is quite simple to undo the grass +bands which are put round at intervals, to remove the beeswax, and +take out the reed; often a gentle flick on the reed will set the metal +tongue vibrating again when momentarily out of order. The reeds, by +being put over the fire, are often very prettily marked. + +[Illustration: AIR-CHAMBER.] + +They can hardly be obtained in Siam, except where Laos are situated. + +The Wieng Chan men, who are all over the country since the city was +destroyed and they were sent south, are the best makers and players, +and a few colonies of them are to be met with in the neighbourhood of +Bangkok. This fact of their love for this highest of Indo-Chinese +instruments, coupled with the fine remains of the old city, certainly +support the idea that at Wieng Chan there was civilization and taste +ahead of those of the surrounding places. + +With regard to the music, it is impossible, without a long study of +it, to say more than that they are very fond of the minor, that they +use the octaves very much in playing, that the key-note may often be +heard down for a long time, and the time is generally a rapid horse's +trot, or quick march. At Nongkhai, I heard two men play a most +beautiful and stately march which made one's flesh creep; it was all +in the major, and in some parts irresistibly reminded one of the +famous march in _Saul_. One of these was a six-sok instrument, and the +effect surpassed anything I've heard in the country. They were on +their way to a marriage-festival when I met them in the road; they had +no fiddles or flutes with them, and were followed by a number of +people marching with them to their airs. They willingly stopped, +squatted down, and gave us half an hour's concert in the shade. + + +[Footnote 4: Called "weehan," or shrine.] + +[Footnote 5: Such as the Ka Hoks.] + +[Footnote 6: Termed, when so drunk, "yah," or medicine. It is slightly +pungent, and is said to be good in dysentery, and especially for +keeping off fever in malarious places.] + +[Footnote 7: Probably they were Kuis.] + +[Footnote 8: By the help of E. W. Oates' capital handbook to the +'Birds of British Burmah.'] + +[Footnote 9: The Khache, or Khamus, are very much confused with the +Lawas, and are much like them.] + +[Footnote 10: To the end of March.] + +[Footnote 11: Eight for a fuang = one-eighth of a tical, or 7½ cents +of a dollar. At Pechai we got one for a fuang.] + + + + +PART V. + +NONGKHAI TO KHORAT AND BANGKOK (_April and May_, 1893). + + +From Nongkhai we left in regular rainy weather for Khorat, with 14 +"kiens" or ox-carts, there being two oxen and a driver to each. Twelve +of these are about equal in carrying capacity to sixteen elephants as +loaded for hilly country--two extra we had for sick men, of whom we +still had two unable to walk; and these two, moreover, were the best +protected with charms of all the men with us. These charms were small +wooden _prahs_, very roughly cut, which they sew up in a bag of calico +and wear round the neck and arm. No amount of chaff will persuade them +that these things will not protect them from falling trees, and +_dhâp_ (or sword) cuts, as well as the _Pi_ of the forest or river. +Another danger from which they declared these things protected the +whole party, were the mermaids in the Mekong. Against these creatures +I was constantly warned when having a swim, especially above Luang +Prabang; they described them as the "women of the water," who would +drag a man down and drown him. Where could this notion have come from, +so singularly like our own stories?[12] South of Luang Prabang, one +heard very little of these damsels, and much more of the _pla bûk_. +On one occasion I pitched one of these charms overboard, and the +owner, who was sick, promptly got well next day, to his no small +astonishment. + +Following the telegraph line, the great trail to Khorat is 211 miles +or so, but _detours_ have often to be made in search of villages which +are generally off the main track some little distance, and this is +necessary for commissariat purposes. For traders, the journey +generally occupies 16 to 21 days, according to the condition of the +oxen and state of the weather. When it rains, no advance is possible, +as, unlike the buffaloes, the oxen cannot work in rain, and hate it, +and seem to lose all their pluck; besides which, the yoke working on +the damp neck tends to produce bad sores. + +The _kiens_, of which we frequently met long caravans, are the ships +of this desert--for such this plain is often for days at a time. +Nothing but wood is used in the construction, as the bumping and +straining is too great for any metal fastenings. The body of the +carriage proper is very light, like a cariole in shape; the pole to +which the yoke is attached spreading and passing along to the rear +underneath. The wheels, which are very broad, and the heaviest things +in the whole, turn on an axletree of hard wood (_Mai Kabao_, sometimes +_Mai Deng_), which is fitted in a socket of solid wood under the car, +at the inner end, and at the outer to an "outrigger," which is lashed +at its end to cross-pieces firmly placed at right angles at the front +and rear ends of the car. Thus the weight is distributed on many +points; a few ready-cut extra pieces of mai kabao are taken, and when +with a lurch and a dive one of the axletrees gives way, the +"outrigger" is unlashed at one end, and pulled outwards till the +axletree comes out of its socket; it is then pulled out of the wheel, +and a new one fitted in in a quarter of an hour. Similarly, lashings +may now and then give way, but a new one is put on in five minutes. +Over all a closely plaited cover is fitted, with a long peak forward, +reaching out over where the driver sits on the pole; and in this a man +may sleep protected from sun and rain. The length of the car is about +7 feet and 3 feet wide. Travelling in it is only possible to a person +who is accustomed to it, the jerking being so tremendous. If there +were roads it would be possible with some degree of comfort, and, +though dusty, they keep cool inside. + +[Illustration: KIEN.] + +The oxen are capital animals for their purpose, and when tired and +hungry can be turned loose with a certainty that in a quarter of an +hour they will have satisfied themselves; the moment they have had +enough, even of the rankest grass, they are ready to go on; their +patience and perseverance, even in the worst swamps, pestered with +flies and leeches, is wonderful. A frisky one, however, can do no end +of damage, and can kick and plunge and drag the _kien_, even when +loaded, at a gallop over any kind of country, and even the rein in his +nose will not hold him. On occasions of this sort, some damage is +often done to the cart, and delay occasioned. Their kick is very +quick, and pretty severe. They are always used by the Laos, though +seldom used by the Siamese of the south. + +The buffalo, which wallows in the water all over Siam, is generally +kept for working the rice or sugar mills, and is only occasionally +used by the Laos in a larger cart of the same kind; but he is very +surly, wilful, and erratic. Large droves of them are taken south from +the Nongkhai neighbourhood, where their price is 12 to 15 ticals, to +Khorat, where their price is double; the demand for them and oxen +being very great in that neighbourhood. The best ponies come from the +neighbourhood of M. Chulabut, but they are also very cheap round +Khorat. At the former place, I saw some capital beasts, and from that +neighbourhood and the south at Pachim the cheapest ponies are +obtainable. Prices for a good carrier range from 50 to 100 ticals, +though an average pony of three years old, which will carry one fairly +well in ordinary jungle work, may be obtained for 35 to 40 ticals. +They are very small, and have a peculiar fast trot, which makes rising +in the saddle impossible; the Siamese or Laos always sit tight in the +saddle, legs almost touching the ground. At Chulabut, I saw a small +creature of ten hands which was very wild, and the owner wanted to get +rid of him for 8 ticals; he was a wonderful little beast, and very +fiery. Another I was offered for 20, and another for 30; but they +would be useless for Europeans. + +For two days we travelled fairly easily, leaving the slight +cultivation near Nongkhai, and travelling through low, shadeless +jungles, passing here and there salt-boiling pans, at which the most +work is done after the rainy season, there being at other times no +water. The salt covers the ground in an efflorescence, and that +produced by the villages is coarse and bitter. The soil in the jungles +is sandy, there being gentle undulations on the northern side, on +which the sand is deepest; on the southern the trail going over rough +laterite. In the depressions occur the _nongs_, or swamps, of which +the plateau is full, and which in the wet weather, with their mud and +deep water, make travelling almost (and in most places quite) +impossible. In the neighbourhood of the main streams, which all run +from west to east to the Mekong, villages are established, and the +scrub jungle gives place to the welcome bamboo clumps and the high +betel and coconut palms, which, like church spires at home, announce +to the traveller far away that he is approaching the habitations of +men. + +The absence of good water, and the change in it, made several of the +men very ill, and on the third morning I found one of the original +invalids, who had had a lot of fever on the Mekong, had every sign of +abscess in the liver. I knew at Khorat there might be a doctor, so +took two men with me, with three _kiens_ and their drivers, pushed on, +and arrived in nine days. The man recovered there, and was well enough +to go on with us from Khorat afterwards. + +I had heard so much of the goodness of the trail following the +telegraphic clearing all the way, and of the bridges and salas, that I +was very much surprised at the reality. It was the worst track we had +followed, and there were only two salas which had roofs on them the +whole way, one having been put up at his own expense by an officer at +Chulabut. The rest were blackened stumps, and solitary corner posts, +from which every bit of roofing and flooring had been removed; two of +these having just roof enough to keep out the dew, but no more. +Cheerless places enough to reach an hour after sunset, after having +marched all day in the scorching morning sun and the deluge of rain +which came every afternoon and continued most of the night. + +However, though after the Hill Laos, their "white-bellied" brethren of +the plains were in some ways disappointing, I am bound to say that the +men who were driving our kiens behaved splendidly; one of them was +formerly a sergeant, and knew his drill and the English words of +command once used in the Siamese army well. He was the lightest and +warmest-hearted man I ever travelled with, besides being, what is not +too common in the East, a really smart man. He was the headman of our +caravan, and I had told him that I must get on as fast as was possible +to Khorat, and he must help; he jumped at it. I asked him how quick we +could do it from Soug Prue. "Ten days." I told him, in that case we +could also do it in nine, and he was delighted, and used to turn us +out at four o'clock with his loud _sawang lëo_ (daylight come), long +before there was a sign of light, and then laugh and say, "Nine days, +master." And so, whatever the weather, however long we stood waiting +in the rain for the oxen to rest their necks before goading them on +again, none of these men with me ever thought of growling; and the +Siamese were the same. The pony I had brought on soon got a sore back, +so there was not much riding, except when it came to swimming a +stream. + +The bridges were three in number only; one was possible, the other two +were unfortunately not connected with the southern bank, so that in +one case at Meinam Chieng Kun, the waggons, after having the oxen +taken out, are hauled over the loose flooring of the bridge and +dropped at the end into five feet of mud and water; in the other every +one avoids the bridge altogether. Now, at very small expense, for the +labour can be obtained for the necessary time from the neighbourhood, +good bridges might be erected all along this route; as it is, the +journey, as soon as the waters begin to rise, is of the most difficult +and arduous kind for all these caravans. + +Krom Prachak is very eager for a light railway from Khorat to +Nongkhai. At least years must elapse before it can be done, but in +three months a good cart-road might be made, pile bridges put up, and +salas repaired; then it would be possible to judge of the chances of +such a railway, and the groundwork for it would be already laid. At +the present moment this undulating country, which should be easy to +travel, is worse provided with communications than the greater part of +the hill villages in Nan, and infinitely worse provided with shelter +than in the most out-of-the-way mountain valleys north. Yet, wherever +we went, the same kindly Laos welcome was given us, except in places +where there were Siamese settlements near by, and friction had +probably occurred among the petty officials. + +Some of the villages, to which we went slightly off the trail, such as +Ban Tum, between the Nam Puang and Meinam Si (both big streams, very +deep and swift when the water rises, flowing through extensive paddy +plains and swamps), Chulabut one day south of it, and Ban Bodibun just +north of Khorat, were perfect gem villages, rich in palms, rice, and +cattle, with kindly people, who did all in their power to overfeed us +before we started. At the former places, where there were Siamese +officials, everything was very neat, and the relations between them +and the Laos seemed to be most happy. This is, naturally, not always +the case; but I am bound to say that, wherever the official is one of +some standing, this state of things is the usual one. Cultivation goes +on round the villages; but as soon as one gets a couple of miles away, +the sandy jungle or the _nongs_ resume their sway. The latter are the +most peculiar feature of the region, and cover a vast area, which is +larger to the eastward. Some of them are merely small swamps, with +shallow water and long reeds, extending over a surface of one or two +square miles; others, again, are extensive areas, in which water and +reeds are the only object the eye meets for miles, with here and there +a little green island, where trees exist, and, in the distance, the +low, long, green line of the jungle along its edge; an ideal home for +the various herons, and other long-legged waders, but, alas! also +tenanted by leeches and by flies, who attacked us all. The poor little +oxen, at the end of a few miles, especially if the sun came out for a +little in the burning way it does between rains, were covered with +clouds of the latter, their necks and nose, humps and legs, smeared +with blood. No resting is possible, for every moment a stop is made +the deeper everything sinks into the mud; so it is plunging and +struggling to the next little island, where we would stop and cook +breakfast with a score of other weary mud-bespattered carts. Besides +these, we also met some pack-oxen going north to get salt; but as the +water was out everywhere, they would have to wait before returning +south. One may roughly say that the salt efflorescence occupies the +low grounds, between the slightly higher laterite jungle ridges, which +are yet just higher than the surface of the _nongs_. The villages in +the neighbourhood are generally wretchedly dirty and untidy in +appearance; the growth is only stunted bamboo, and the whole place +uninviting enough. + +The cold weather, with its advantages of dryness and absence of +insects, has also the disadvantage that water is very scarce. When we +crossed, the whole low-lying area may be said to have been under +water, but water of such a description that it was only here and there +that it was fit for man to drink; while in the sandy forests the +water, all perforating through, drained off at once, and the lower +ends of the track, where it began to rise toward the ridges, were, on +the other hand, lakes of mud. Thus, between endless seas of bad water +and long miles of sand, the water question remains almost as serious +in the rains as in the dry weather. The villages, as a rule, have a +well, and the water from the wells is fair. + +The method of travelling usually adopted with the _kiens_ is an early +start at dawn, and a journey of some 300 sen (7½ miles), when a stop +is made to feed man and beast; and, if going easily, a start will not +be made until 3 or 4 p.m., when another 300 sen will be done before +night--a speed of 15 miles a day, occupying about 6 hours, at about +100 sen (2½ miles) an hour. This is very fair work for ox-carts over +a well-worn track, which is, of course, much rougher and harder to +travel than the jungle itself, the ruts spreading wide for a breadth +of 30 yards or so, and being of any depth that a _kien_ wheel can dig +to. But this exceeds the average. + +Being in a hurry, we did about 21 miles a day for nine days, but had +three relays of oxen. This involved--at about 8 to 10 hours' +travelling by day, with the delays necessary to get new oxen, two +half-day rests, and fording the streams (where the waggons had to be +often carried over on the men's shoulders)--a good deal of night +travelling, which in rain, and heavy trails full of pitfalls, does not +commend itself as a rule. It will be seen, therefore, that the rate of +travelling is slow, and would be sufficiently increased for all +present purposes by improvements in the trail, and at the crossing of +the rivers. Men who are walking have, of course, the advantage, and +sometimes do 24 or 25 miles a day with their packs. The latter are +usually carried on the two ends of a long bamboo, and are fitted with +legs below, so that, stooping down, the weight is at once taken off +the shoulder. When he wants to rest, out of one of his panniers the +man takes his mat to sit on, and lays it between the panniers, and +over the pole above he places the _bai larn_ (a covering of palm +leaves sewn together, some 6 feet by 5 feet) to keep off the sun or +rain, and this is his house while he is on his journey. _Dhâps_ are +rare here, and heavy knives are used for cutting down jungle to place +round at night, or leaves to place under the bed. From travellers of +this sort, going south, we often bought wild honey, in long bamboos--2 +feet of a 3-inch diameter bamboo selling for a fuang. They sometimes +set traps, and are successful in catching rabbits. + +There are a few deer to be heard, and tigers are rare, except round +Chulabut, where a man was killed after we had left, the day the main +body arrived there. + +We picked up a rather curious fellow-traveller when about six days +from Khorat, and he accompanied us to within a day of the town. This +was a rather decent-looking pariah dog, of quite remarkable character. +Unasked he joined us, and trotting often with me in advance, or half a +mile ahead, or right behind us all, his short sharp bark might be +continually heard in the jungle to right or left as he hunted his +breakfast. Of what this consisted I never knew, but he kept himself in +fair condition, for he got very little from us, poor thing, as we did +not want to encourage him; he got more kicks than ha'pence. But he +stuck to us, and even when we overhauled other parties going south, +instead of stopping and going leisurely with them, he always came on +with us. He was evidently accustomed to travelling, and knew the +trail, for he was often absent half a day, but would turn up in the +evening, and lie near us for the night. When we halted, and placed the +waggons round us, and the men put their sleeping-mats underneath them, +he would come as near the fire as he dare to get dry and warm. +Sometimes in the heat at noon, when the sun had been blazing upon us +in the sandy jungle, we would come upon him lying in a _nong_, with +only his eyes nose, and mouth out of water; while in the rain he +plodded stolidly along, and would sit down and wag his dripping tail +when he saw we were going to camp. + +[Illustration: THE NORTH GATE AND NAM NUN, KHORAT.] + +At length we saw the high line of foliage topped by palms which marks +Khorat, and through seas of mud, arrived on the bank of the Nam Nun, +which flows along the northern wall of the city. Across the ford were +groups of waggons encamped to the number of about fifty, and by an old +wat under the shade a busy market was going on. The Commissioner here, +Phra Prasadit, is the same stamp of man as the Commissioner at Luang +Prabang: one of those energetic, warm-hearted, and cheerful men who +make such excellent governors. He was kindness itself to us, and all +the men under him reflected it. In Siam, where every man has in +proportion to his importance numbers of others attached to him by a +kind of feudal relationship, and where his office clerks and his +lieutenants all have a personal connection with him, and almost form +part of his family, the influence which can be exerted is unbounded, +and by the expressions of face of the inferiors the superior may be +judged. Moreover, the Commissioner in Khorat is a man of ideas, has +been in Europe, and has a good knowledge of English and a fair +knowledge of French, and in all political questions in these countries +he takes a great interest; and thus his company was very pleasant. + +The centre of the town we found not yet recovered from an extensive +fire; all round the four sides run the lofty red-brick walls, with +gates in the centre of each side, protected by round towers at the +flanks, in which laterite blocks have been extensively used. The whole +is much dilapidated and overgrown, and the moat outside has become +nearly filled up. The Commissioner had then 3000 men at work clearing +it out again. This will probably enormously benefit the town, which at +present may be described as an accumulation of houses, mainly in +ruins, jungle patches, and swamps, on every side of which rises the +great mound on which the walls stand, and which effectually shuts in +every drop of water, and in the rains transforms the whole area into a +lake. With openings made under the walls to drain off the water into +the moat, and with a raising of the level inside, an enormous +improvement will be effected. As the town stands well on a slight rise +above the plain level, and is surrounded with similar ridges covered +only with beautiful turf going miles towards the south, south-west, +and south-east, it may become a healthy and attractive place. The +plain around is dotted with villages; for many miles the soil +certainly produces a fine clean rice and abundance of fruit. Going out +in the morning along any of the great trails to the west, north, or +east, one passes among crowds of camped _kiens_, and among villages +and markets, the latter always held along one side of the road. At the +time we were there mangoes were in full swing, and all the women's +baskets full of them, bananas, coconuts, ready-rolled cigarettes, +brown cakes of palm sugar of an excellent quality, and very often the +fruit of the sugar palm, which is very much enjoyed. To the south and +west the trails are really like beautiful roads, for they go through a +pretty red sand soil, leading to the flat-bedded sandstones of the +hills, which makes good walking, and, even when swamped with a foot of +water, never causes mud. On the north and east, however, on slightly +lower ground, these sandy ridges are less frequent; the villages, when +possible, are built on them for health and convenience, while the +paddy is grown below. The trails on these sides, passing chiefly +through this low land, are in the rains two or three feet deep in +thick, clinging mud. + +If the houses of the Thai (in which for the moment we may include the +Siamese and Laos together) are in the city badly situated in swamp and +jungle, and badly kept in repair, the houses of the Chinese are very +different; they are the flourishing part of the community. There are +some thousands of them here and in the neighbourhood, nearly all +shopkeepers, and outside the west gate, and along the main trail on +each side, they have a regular village. The street is narrow between +the open shop-fronts, and the road paved with baulks of timber. They +drive a large trade among the people coming in from the distant parts, +in calico stuffs, coloured sarongs and panungs, brasswork for betel +boxes, trays, etc., umbrellas, sandals (the latter soles of leather +with a strap coming up inside the great toe, and dividing and passing +off on each side, which are used all over the north); hats of straw, +felt, or strips of palm leaf; bells for oxen, tins of Swiss milk, +matches, needles and threads, wire and nails, cheap chains, a few +tools of European type, coloured yarns, white jackets and singlets, +towels, and even soap: all are imported from Bangkok. Yet, with the +present difficulties of transport through the Dong Phya Yen, the +Chinamen are doing a flourishing business. + +[Illustration: SANDAL] + +The Chinese houses are peculiar; a rectangular building being first +built of large unbaked mud bricks, with pillars rising like chimneys +at each end. Outside, several feet higher, and resting on these +pillars, is constructed a _yah kah_, or grass roof. Big fires are +kindled inside to dry the place; and the result is a very cool +dwelling. The grass roofing is brought very often far out, overhanging +the front, and this makes a shop front with the house behind. + +These houses are usually on the roadsides, the two principal ones +running north and south, and east and west, connecting the gates, and +meeting about the centre. The latter road is about a mile long, the +former less. The central market is carried on all day in a large +roofed building near the centre of the city, and all up the road sit +the yellow-faced Chinamen smoking their long-stemmed pipes in the shop +fronts, and with the aid of their wives (generally Siamese, and good +business women) bargaining with the long-haired, dark burned men from +the plains, to whom the beauties of the shops in Khorat are a great +delight. From these main roads one may have quite an extensive ride or +walk without going outside the walls, in lovely lanes, lying deep down +between high banks of shrubs and grasses (and sometimes 4 feet deep in +water). These lanes are quite a feature of the country outside, too, +and, with the long grassy slopes referred to above, would make Khorat +the centre of delightful excursions in the cool months. + +The journey from Khorat to Saraburi on the Nam Sak, whence Bangkok can +be reached in two days, occupies as a rule six or seven days only. But +when, after the main body had come up and had a day's rest, we bade +good-bye to the unceasing kindness of the Commissioner, and at the end +of the first day's march, which had begun pleasantly through lanes and +villages, found ourselves up to our necks in water, it was evident we +should take longer. We had to trend to the southward to get upon the +high ground out of the water, and with constant delays, owing to the +impassable state of the rivers, it was fourteen days before we got to +Saraburi. + +Leaving the beautiful villages outside Khorat, deep in their thick +clusters of areca palms, which in places form perfect forests of tall +stems supporting the arched roof of leaves far overhead, and making a +perpetual cool shade, we had two days alternately over flat sandstone +beds and flooded lowlands, where the water was for hours at a time up +to our thighs, and at one place for half a mile up to our necks. Our +nights were wretched, as the rain was perpetual, and the waggons could +not arrive at the monasteries, where we put up, till long after +midnight; the men lay sleeping round, hungry and damp, lots of them +too tired to eat their supper when we got it ready, about 2 a.m. + +These monasteries, built, as they were in days of old in our own Fen +country, upon little islands, are often the only things above the vast +surrounding lakes of water. The houses in the villages, built high on +piles, keep dry. Raised above the ground some two or three feet, are +generally long timber walks, made of solid felled trees, the top side +being slightly shaved down, on which the monks may walk out dry and +clean in the morning rounds to get their food. These walks are +attached to the wats in all the plains of the country, and when the +traveller strikes one, he knows a wat, with its welcome sala or +resthouse, is near. + +The trail follows the Khorat river to nearly its source in the +limestones of the "Dong Phya Yen" forest; it then strikes across the +forest, descending the spurs of the plateau to the elbow made by the +Nam Sak, which turns away at Keng Koi in a west-south-westerly +direction to the Meinam. This trail in the forest is greatly worn by +the pack oxen, by which alone the thick forest can be penetrated, and +in the rains is a series of narrow tracks winding in and out between +the trees, consisting of frightfully slippery mud. The oxen have a way +of walking in each other's footsteps, and the result is a series of +ridges, like those on a sandbank at low water; but the ridges are +greasy mud, and the depressions deep pitfalls. Thus in the wet weather +the oxen constantly have heavy falls, and no one can get through +without finding himself often on his nose or on his back. + +The forest proper begins at Chanteuk, a small village, in the +neighbourhood of which are some copper mines. These are open works, +and as no one has worked there lately, were, when we passed through, +brim full of water. On the Khorat side of this place are two fords, to +cross which huge tree-trunks lie over the water, the growth along the +bamboo being extraordinarily dense. Between them is a sala, which +fortunately was in moderate condition, as we were delayed there two +days in pouring rain, the river having risen ten feet in one night, as +I measured next morning. Our quinine was nearly at an end; one man was +quite prostrated with fever; and our eight days' store of rice was +nearly done, all our chickens gone, the horses useless with sore +backs, and the thirty-eight oxen carrying the packs suffering with +coughs and sores. To get out we built two rafts; one was carried away +on her first journey, the ropes going; and the other proved so slow +that, as the distance was some hundred yards in the then state of the +water, it would have taken us two days to get all over. But, to our +great satisfaction, the river fell. + +At Chanteuk we got some rice and _platieng_, salt-fish, which the +Siamese eat with their rice, and can live on for any length of time. +Then, instead of going down the great trail, where a party of two men +and a woman we met had just left two of their number dead of fever in +the road, I took a drier, if longer route to the south. Our +resting-places were Ban Kanong Pra, Ban Tachang, Hoay Sai, and Muak +Lek Nua, whence we reached Keng Koi. + +The scenery of this forest is most peculiar, and by no means inviting, +especially in the continuous heavy rain, when the traveller is +attacked by ticks and leeches, flies, and red ants seeking a dry +place. The villages are the wretchedest collections of huts, the +people mostly very poor; and one constantly wondered how any soul +could live in these tiny clearings in the midst of a vast area where, +for the most part, the sun never comes, when he might be in healthy, +open country. We could seldom get even a banana. Undulating in all +directions lies the forest, with now and then a sheet of limestone +precipice towering among the drifting rains; the paths,[13] just wide +enough for an ox, continually obstructed by lately fallen trees, round +which a _detour_ must be cut in the semi-darkness; and all the while +the dull roar of the rain upon the leaves, with the prospect of a +camp, wet through, in long six-feet grasses for the night. At Ban Mai +we emerged from the forest, and found a clean village with a lot of +cheerful, chatty Laos, who sent three men on with us to Keng Koi--the +smartest set of men we had seen since leaving the Mekong. + +At Pak Prio, a morning's walk beyond, we found the embankment of the +railway to Khorat so far advanced as to have a mile of rails laid +above the place, and a locomotive standing almost finished in a shed, +to which my men as they came by fell upon their knees and offered the +customary Siamese "salaam," by raising the clasped hands to the +forehead. The oxen, which had reached a stream we crossed with ease a +few hours before above Keng Koi, found it impassable, and were delayed +two days there. My poor fellows, soaked through and through, and with +no chance of getting snug at night, had to sleep and live for two days +of pouring rain in the sala; but, being near home, were as jolly as +could be. The temperature was some 4° higher at night, and mosquitos, +which we had not seen for over five months, were most obnoxious; and +from the strong south-west winds blowing, it was evident we were once +more near the gulf. + +One day's pulling and half a day's steaming, and Bangkok was in sight, +with the French _Lutin_ and H.M.S. _Swift_ lying off the Legations. +This was the first evidence we had had of there being political +troubles. From fording the swollen streams, from continual tumbles in +mud and water, and from constant rain, we found nearly everything on +the pack oxen had been ruined that could be--photographs and other +things. It is a most clumsy way of travelling, without doubt, and the +time and labour spent in loading up every morning is enormous. The +weights on the two sides must be adjusted accurately, the two men +lifting them on a bamboo, through the middle, to test the balance and +spending often ten minutes in getting one pair of panniers ready. Then +there are constant falls, and often these are not discovered until +miles have been traversed, and a careful search has to be made in +ditches, streams, and mud for hours at a time. Besides this, the pace +is wretchedly slow. This belt of the Dong Phya Yen, which can only be +passed by animals, thus equipped, is a practical barrier to +communication, leaving out of consideration the superstition with +which the forest is, with much reason owing to its fevers, regarded, +and the badness of the roads within it. The Khorat Railway becomes +thus a work of the greatest importance to the whole plateau. To +complete its usefulness, one or two passable cart-roads will do all +that is necessary for that piece of undoubtedly hopeful country. + +The Nam Sak, which the railway leaves at Keng Koi, is also a valuable +river, inasmuch as, apart from the large tobacco crops towards its +source, the valley is one richer in minerals than any other piece of +country like it in Siam, and in the rainy season the question of +transport is a fairly easy one. What struck me very much on descending +the Nam Sak was the thickness of the population all along the banks, +as compared with anything we had seen in the north. The beauty of the +wats--always built on points of land round which the stream wound its +turbid way--was also striking, and quite impressive. In the manners of +the majority, and their loud talking, it was also clear that we were +no longer among the gentle Laos of Nan or the musicians of Luang +Prabang; but the comfort and luxury of the people were such as far +exceeded anything we had seen since we left the Meinam at Pechai. + +The weather all the way from Nongkhai to Muak Lek Nua (end of April +and May) was south-westerly winds, moderate to fresh, falling at +night. Mornings fine, with heavy cumuli in the south-west and west, +which gradually spread, and became dark flashing thunder-clouds. Heavy +rain after 2 p.m., beginning with a heavy squall of wind shifting to +the west and north-west, and once or twice round to north-east, whence +it blew hard for an hour. Rain generally lasted most of the night. +Thermometer--average minimum reading, 70° Fahr.; maximum, 91° in the +shade. + +From Muak Lek Nua we descended into the Meinam valley, and found in +the plains but slight showers, and fresh south-westerly wind lasting +long into the night. Thermometer--minimum reading while in Pak Prio, +74°. + +The result of so much wading made itself rather severely felt in a few +days on most of us, and we had sores on our legs and feet for some +time afterwards, so that it was almost impossible to get shoes on. +This was no doubt partly owing to low diet, and partly to the cuts and +wounds to the bare feet which every one gets wading where he cannot +see his way, made worse by the blistering effect of the occasionally +fierce sun, to keep off which palm leaves wrapt round the foot are +excellent. With regard to the fevers, I would say, don't give quinine +every day, as then in emergency its effect is less powerful, and the +constitution is too accustomed to it; keep it until men feel a bit +down, or when in very bad places or bad weather. It will last longer, +and do more. In the high fevers of the dense forests, which prostrate +a man very suddenly, emetics are the most reliable cure. + +In a country abounding in snakes, it is not a little remarkable that +our party only saw four the whole time. Again, though often in wild +elephant tracks, none of us ever either saw or heard one. Two tigers, +a few deer, and monkeys (which are not timid) were the only animals +which were seen in the forests--a very sufficient proof, where their +tracks are to be seen on every hand, and they can be heard around all +night, of the care with which they avoid meeting man. Of course the +great thickness of the vegetation, where the man in front of you is +often out of sight even in the path, in great measure also accounts +for it, and it is this which prevents Siam being such a field for the +sportsman as it would otherwise be. + +There is one subject especially which it struck me often would make an +interesting inquiry for any one who understands the subject--the +comparison of the patterns and colours, both in the silk and +cotton-work of the Laos districts; such as the check patterns in the +panungs and cloaks in Nan, the former remarkable for a large use of a +bright yellow, which, to the unaccustomed eye is rather flaring, the +latter for its red shades; the horizontal and generally narrow stripes +of the Luang Prabang petticoats (in which, again, the best effect is +due to yellow); and the extremely taking panungs of Khorat, which are +thought very much of by the Siamese. They are of one colour, with a +border at the ends, blue, a delicate pink flesh colour, and a light +red being the commonest. + +_Note on Gold and Silver at Luang Prabang._ + +All over the Laos states silver ornaments, as well as such articles as +betel-boxes, trays, etc., are very common among the chiefs, and at +Luang Prabang gold is likewise often seen used in place of silver for +such things. The question is often raised as to how and where these +metals have been obtained in such quantities in the past, that even +tribute has been paid in ornaments made of them from olden times. +Certainly the gold has always been found in alluvial sands, nor did I +ever hear of its being known in veins or veags, nor did I ever find +any traces of its so occurring. I believe its chief source must be the +series of crystalline schists, which is an extensive one, and I +incline to the idea, from the smallness of the quantities extracted +from the sands, that it is probably sparsely disseminated through +these rocks as well as through the quartz and possibly the calcareous +veins, and that it will never be found in them in sufficient +quantities to pay working. The patient streams have worked away for +ages denuding and carrying away these rocks, and separating and +depositing the gold, and all they have effected as far as the latter +goes is that they have deposited infinitesimal quantities of it only, +with larger quantities of the other minerals, such as magnetic iron +ore, iron pyrites, etc. Decomposition and disintegration of the latter +may be in places freeing more gold, and the yearly floods bring down +their small addition, but yet even the Lao worker hardly finds it +worth his while to work the sands, and the apathy displayed in the +matter everywhere is partly without doubt accounted for by the poverty +of the results obtained. And where the native worker gets such poor +results, will the European miner get better? + +The gold in the Mekong is generally extremely fine and much +water-worn, and is usually found below a sharp turn in the river, +where the water runs strong. As regards the silver, it has been found +native, but in such very small quantities that it cannot have supplied +the whole country. The whole of Siam, however, is rich in galena, +often of a very argentiferous character, and it may possibly have been +found with other sulphides as well, but there can be little doubt that +most of it has been extracted from galena. In some parts of the +Northern Laos States this has been a regular industry. Small blast +furnaces of baked mud are used, and when reduced the metal is run off +in pigs and put in a reverberatory furnace with charcoal. This is +sometimes done (but clumsily enough) further south, but little +interest is manifested as a rule in these matters. Nowadays money is +often melted down for working into ornaments. + + +[Footnote 12: It no doubt primarily arises from the danger and +strength of the eddies.] + +[Footnote 13: There are a few elephant tracks.] + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +At the Meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on February 24, 1894, +an account of Mr. Warington Smyth's journey by the President, Mr. +Clements R. Markham, C.B., was read by Mr. Probyn. Before the reading +of the paper, the President said-- + +The paper we are to hear this evening is on exploration on the Upper +Mekong, in Siam, by Mr. Herbert Warington Smyth, who is serving under +the Siamese Government. Siam is from many points of view a most +interesting country, more particularly for us at the present time, and +it is observable that until about nine years ago, when Mr. Holt +Hallett read his paper, we had scarcely in this Society heard anything +of Siam except as to the exploration of the Mekong by our gold +medallist, Lieut. Garnier. We had only had scattered notices in +previous years from Sir Robert Schomburgk and Sir Harry Parkes. But +latterly we have received most important communications from Lord +Lamington in 1891 and Mr. Curzon last year, and I think that not only +this Society, but the nation generally, owes a debt of gratitude to +Lord Lamington and Mr. Curzon for having so persistently, so +patriotically, and so ably kept a question of such importance to +England before the Government and the public. It was in 1887 that Mr. +McCarthy, after surveying Siam for several years, favoured us with a +most interesting communication. He was the first to describe to us the +geographical and the general features of the country; and I believe I +am right in saying it was through the advice and the persuasion of Mr. +McCarthy that this young and modest explorer, Mr. Warington Smyth, was +induced to send us his paper, which we shall listen to this evening. + +Unfortunately, he will be unable to read it himself; he is still--I +won't say better employed, because I don't think any one can be better +employed than in reading a paper before this Society, but he is quite +as well employed in preparing in Siam for further exploration, and I +am glad to say that, as the paper is in manuscript, or the condensed +version which we are obliged to use, a friend of Mr. Warington Smyth +and an old schoolfellow, Mr. Probyn, has very kindly undertaken to +read it. + +After the reading of the paper, the following discussion took place:-- + +Lord LAMINGTON: I think I may say that if Mr. Warington Smyth had been +here he would have considered it a great compliment to have had his +lecture listened to by so large an audience, and I may also say you +will not think your time wasted while listening to the paper. We owe a +debt of gratitude to Mr. Probyn for having undertaken to read a paper +so full of names to which he must be unaccustomed. With regard to the +paper, no description I have read has recalled to me so vividly the +scenes in that part of the world. Mr. Smyth has shown himself not only +a geologist, but a close observer of natural history and human customs +in every variety and form. He has represented to us most fully all the +scenery, and given us a vivid description of Siamese and Laos life. I +am glad that he corroborates what I myself would state, the gentleness +of the Laos tribes. I don't know who has called them barbarians, but I +cannot imagine a people less deserving of such a title. I am not quite +sure of the definition of civilization, and in their own way it may +not be Western, but in all kindness and honesty they are as worthy to +be called civilized as any that could be found in the human race. I +almost wish he had told us more about the mineralogical wealth of the +country. I am not certain how far we may gather that the sapphire +mines are of any great value, but from the mere fact of these Burmans +coming over and thinking it worth while to take long journeys to sell +their stones, and from their being of the first water, we may assume +that when these mines are worked in a more efficacious manner they +will prove to be of value. Another interesting part of his paper +refers to the navigation of the Mekong from north of Luang Prabang and +down south as far as Nong Khai. From Chieng Kong, where he first +touched it, to Chieng Kan, we may assess its value as a navigable +river, that is to say, for any boats of size to carry cargoes. His +estimate is borne out by the report of Mr. Archer, and so also his +statement on the commerce of Luang Prabang gives us a true idea of its +worth, which is practically _nil_. Of course, we know the French are +anxious to obtain possession of that place, as they consider it of +first-class importance. Both Mr. Archer and Prince Henri d'Orleans +think it, as a commercial centre, valueless for attracting any +European capital. That part of the Mekong which may be considered +navigable is from Chang Tang to Khong, further than Mr. Warington +Smyth went. The French have now carried some stern-wheel steamers +piecemeal up to these waters; the result of their enterprise only the +future can show. With regard to the fishing methods of the natives, I +may just say that these arrangements may be very well when you are +descending the river, but they are the greatest inconvenience when +ascending, as they form a formidable barrier if there is a strong +current, and when you have to face this rigid fence of bamboos, it +then becomes a matter of great difficulty to force the boat through. + +Mr. Warington Smyth mentioned the difficulties made by the mud; this, +of course, in the wet season renders all travelling impossible. The +sliminess of the mud is almost inconceivable, and I can recollect, +when between Chieng Upeng and Mung Sai, I used when climbing to keep +on all fours, and probably slip down until arrested by a twist in the +path; and it was amusing to see the efforts made by boys and men to +mount the slimy slopes. This was in the dry season; in the wet season +travelling with loaded animals becomes impossible throughout the +greater part of the Indo-China peninsula. Mr. Archer came across from +Chieng Kong into the Nam Nan valley; now Mr. Warington Smyth describes +the country from Nong Khai to Khorat; and there is an account waiting +to be published by, Mr. Beckett, of the diplomatic service, of a +journey still further down the Mekong and along the Nam Mun river to +Khorat. We are thus in possession of descriptions of a country that, +owing to political exigencies, will play an important part in the +future, and all information we derive concerning it must be very +valuable to us. + +I apologize for addressing you at such length, and thank you for your +kind remarks about my efforts to instruct public opinion about Siam. I +imagine I must be a lineal descendant of Cassandra, because I have +noticed that all I have said has been disregarded. I am glad to see +Mr. Curzon has torn himself away from the charms of the allotment +question. He has given much information, and has asked many searching +questions in Parliament with reference to Siam, and has been +successful in eliciting some valuable information. + +Hon. George Curzon: Lord Lamington has indulged in some amiable chaff +at the expense of the House of Commons, to which we are accustomed on +the part of those noblemen who belong to the upper chamber. I may tell +him, in reply, that what concerns us much more than the question of +allotments for the parishes in England is the question of the future +political allotment of Siam. My interest in Siam is more than a purely +physical or geographical interest in the country; and all those who +belong to the country, or have a friendly concern in it, may rest +assured that neither Lord Lamington or I will abate any effort for its +fair treatment in the politics of the future. I don't know that I have +much right, perhaps none, to address you at all this evening, because, +in the first place, I have not been upon these upper parts of the +river Mekong which have been visited and so admirably described +successively by Lord Lamington and in the paper this evening. My own +acquaintance with the Mekong is limited to its lower portion, where it +flows through Cochin-China, Cambodia, and at Pnom Penh, the capital of +Cambodia, sends northwards a branch that disembogues into the lake +Tali Sap. Now, this Mekong river is one of the most remarkable rivers +in the world, whether contemplated in the lower parts, where it +spreads out in broad tranquil reaches from 200 yards to half a mile in +width; or whether you examine its middle sections, where, as we have +been told this evening, the French are finding furious and stormy +rapids; or whether you go northward beyond the exploration of Lord +Lamington and Mr. Warington Smyth, the river pursues its course +unknown and unexplored far away, amid the mountain masses of Western +China and Tibet. This river Mekong seems to me, during the last +twenty-five years, to illustrate a lesson, ever since 1865-6, when the +French expedition under Lagree, Garnier, and De la Porte went up the +river to explore it,--one of the most heroic of expeditions in its +conception and execution, and most pathetic in its result, undertaken +by pioneers. Ever since then it has had an extraordinary fascination +for Frenchmen--so much so, that they have claimed for themselves a +sole right of interest in the Mekong, no matter what reports may be +brought home by travellers, commercial agents, or explorers, as to the +unnavigability of the river. They have maintained these ideas to the +present day, and I cannot imagine a more interesting study than that +of the parts which the great rivers of Asia, the Euphrates, Oxus, +Ganges, and Mekong, have taken in history not merely by their +geographical features or commercial aspect, but by what I may call +their moral influences, exercised on the moulding of the peoples and +on the destinies of empires. We have heard a most interesting paper +from Mr. Smyth. He has given us a most faithful and vivid account of +boat life, raft life, camp life, village life, and jungle life in +Siam, and, as Lord Lamington said, has given us not only a faithful, +but a singularly attractive, picture of the various tribes who inhabit +that country. I was glad to hear what Lord Lamington said about these +Laos peoples, because there is too great a tendency in the world to +assume that, because the tribes of little-known and comparatively +unexplored districts have not all the abominable manners of +civilization, they must necessarily be described as barbarians. As he +remarked, no more amiable, docile population exists--a people +possessed of æsthetic and musical tastes, who are entitled to the +epithet, "the Greeks of the Indo-Chinese peninsula." There is another +strip south of Luang Prabang, right down between the mountains and the +Mekong, into which no Englishman has ever been; and, looking to the +fact that the French have taken possession of it, I don't suppose we +are likely to go there. Further down is a curious people called +Ladans, amongst whom an adventurer, either French or Italian, +established himself a short time ago, called himself king, and, I +believe, wanted to appear in the "Almanack de Gotha;" but, having +retired for a short time, on his return found his subjects unwilling +to receive him, and the kingdom has disappeared. The interest to us in +this room is not that of acquisition or conquest, but a friendly +sympathetic interest in the Oriental people who are playing their own +part in the world, in proportion as they come into the mesh of British +trade. I was interested to hear about Manchester goods at Luang +Prabang, seeing the advantages the French have for shipping by Hanoi +and up the Black river. You would never expect Manchester goods there, +and the fact that they are there means, not only that they ought to be +kept there, but ought to be seen all over the peninsula. I am pleased +to say that Mr. Smyth, in the latter part of his journey, travelled +over a line that is to be taken by the railway from Khorat to Bangkok, +of which I saw the embankments. It was largely the anticipation of the +results of that railway that induced the French to go on, for the flow +of trade has been for some time past from the Mekong river +south-westwards. They want to divest it towards their possessions. +Conceive how it will be emphasized if you have a railway instead of +the carts that take goods laboriously by the way Mr. Smyth described! +I am sorry that there is difficulty about this railway--that the +contractor has had a dispute with the Siamese Government; but I hope +that this will be settled, and, at all events, that Siam will make the +railway. A year ago I was in Siam, and the king told me he meant to +take the railway to Kong Khai. It will be the best thing for the +salvation of his country, and there is no Englishman present who does +not wish to see Siam strong, independent, and wealthy, and capable of +holding its own. For my own part, I shall never cease to feel the +greatest and warmest interest in that singularly attractive country, +and my own opinion is, that it is the duty of every British Government +to see that the integrity of that country is not wiped out, and that +its vitality is maintained. + +Mr. F. Verney: I have the honour of being connected with Siam by being +a member of the Siamese legation. I have watched with intense interest +the advance of that country, and have been concerned in its connection +with Europe even more than with Siam itself. I can thoroughly confirm +everything that has been said by Lord Lamington on the one side and +Mr. Curzon on the other, from what I have heard, not from what I have +seen. I was in Siam for a very short time, and was treated there with +the greatest possible kindness and hospitality. To judge fairly the +civilization of that country, we should take, not our own standard of +civilization only, but a wider standard applicable to communities +differing entirely in their origin, their histories, and in their +development from our own, and it is very gratifying to hear a man in +Mr. Curzon's position in the House of Commons express his opinions in +the emphatic and eloquent language to which we have just listened. It +is true that only recently England has awakened to the extreme +importance of that distant country. It was not until the other day +that Englishmen had an idea that Siam produced anything much besides +twins, but this cynical ignorance is rapidly disappearing. You cannot +listen to travellers like Lord Lamington and Mr. Curzon (and when Mr. +Warington Smyth comes back we shall listen to him) without finding out +that there is a great deal both of material and what we may call moral +progress in that distant country. Let me say one word as regards his +Majesty the King of Siam, on whose character and personality so much +depends. For many years past the king has been known as a man of wide +interests, of a very high order of intelligence, and of an unusual +charm of manner. He comes of a family distinguished in the past both +for statesmanship and scientific culture. A member of his family was +one of the greatest astronomers in the East; another was described to +me by one of the greatest Oriental travellers, and perhaps the most +cultivated linguist in Germany, as being the master of more languages +than any other man he had met; and you may be assured that the royal +family of Siam will produce many more distinguished men. There are +members studying at Oxford, others at our public schools, growing up +surrounded by all the best English influences. Let us hope that Siam +and England will go hand-in-hand, and that other countries in Europe +will come round to see that this is not a country for invasion or +annexation, but worthy of support and sympathy, on account of its +people, its products, its achievements in the past, and its +possibilities for the future. + +Mr. Louis: I am afraid I can add very little to what Mr. Warington +Smyth has said, because my explorations were in a diametrically +opposite direction. I had the pleasure of his company when exploring +some diamond and ruby mines in the south-east, and this was more +interesting to me as my knowledge of mineralogy was acquired under Mr. +Warington Smyth's father. On one point only I have to differ from Mr. +Warington Smyth--as to the Burmese way of washing rubies and +sapphires. It is not at all to my mind the crude, rough way he +mentions. Their baskets are the most beautifully finished work made of +bamboo in thin strips, and handled with all the deftness and practised +skill of an Australian or Californian gold-washer; they scarcely ever +miss a gem, so far as I could see, much bigger than a pin's head. As +regards the geology of these districts on the east of Chantabun, the +formation is simply gravel from 2 to 5 feet deep overlying the trap +rocks, and these gems have been worn out of the trap rocks by natural +agencies. Mr. Smyth describes the gems as coming from a black +crystalline rock very similar to that I have mentioned. This formation +seems to be quite different from the white limestone occurring in +Burma. I should like to mention one thing that must have struck very +few when hearing Mr. Smyth's paper; it not only gives a wonderfully +accurate description of the people, but is an accurate reflex of his +own plucky and cheery nature; very few can have any idea of the real +hardships and difficulties and dangers involved in such an expedition. +It takes an Englishman to go through such dangers and hardships, and +then write such a bright account of everything as Mr. Smyth has done. + +The President: I am sure the meeting will agree with me that we have +never in this hall heard so graphic and so picturesque an account of +this little-known region as is contained in Mr. Warington Smyth's +paper. Mr. Smyth is evidently a keen observer of nature, and has the +gift of sympathy--of being able to place himself in the position of +the people with whom he travels and whom he comes across, as well as a +kindly feeling for the animals serving with him. These are very high +qualities. His narrative is so lively and cheery, that we can hardly +realize the amount of hardship and danger the journey entailed. These +are all admirable qualifications, which are due almost entirely, I +have no doubt, to his own individuality; but perhaps we may put +something down to his education. Mr. Warington Smyth was a Westminster +boy, like his father before him, who was a valued member of our +Council. I cannot help taking this opportunity of saying that there +are very few places of learning in this country that have done in +times past so much for geography as that glorious old school which +nestles round the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. Richard Hakluyt, the +father of English Geography, was a Westminster boy; Edmund Gunter, the +first introducers of the use of Napier's logarithms; Neville +Maskelyne, to whom we owe the Nautical Almanac; Dr. Vincent, one of +our greatest comparative geographers, were all Westminster boys; and +one of the seven founders of this Society, and two of your Presidents, +were also Westminster boys. Now we find a Westminster boy training +himself, hereafter to be a great explorer, and perhaps discoverer. Let +us wish him all success in his career, and I am sure the meeting will +desire me to convey to him a hearty and unanimous vote of thanks. + +[Illustration: Map--THE CENTRAL PART OF THE KINGDOM OF SIAM. Showing +the route of MR. H. Warington Smyth.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Notes of a Journey on the Upper +Mekong, Siam, by H. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Notes of a Journey on the Upper Mekong, Siam + +Author: H. Warington Smyth + +Release Date: January 16, 2014 [EBook #44681] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOTES OF JOURNEY ON UPPER MEKONG *** + + + + +Produced by the volunteers of Project Gutenberg Thailand. +Proofreading by users emil, LScribe, brianjungwi, rikker, +wyaryan, netnapit.tasakorn, Saksith. PGT is an affiliated +sister project focusing on public domain books on Thailand +and Southeast Asia. Project leads: Rikker Dockum, Emil +Kloeden. (This file was produced from images generously +made available by The Internet Archive.) + + + + + + + + + + NOTES OF + A JOURNEY ON THE UPPER MEKONG, SIAM. + + + BY + H. WARINGTON SMYTH, + OF THE ROYAL DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND GEOLOGY, BANGKOK. + + + WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PUBLISHED FOR + THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY + BY + JOHN MURRAY, 50, ALBEMARLE STREET, LONDON. + 1895. + + + + +[Illustration: THE RAPIDS AT THE GATES OF CHIENG KONG, MEKONG RIVER.] + + + + +PREFACE. + + +I have put together the following account of a recent journey made for +the Siamese Government to the Mekong valley, chiefly for the reason +that at the present moment, when the French have "rectified" their +boundaries on the north and east of Siam to the extent of some 85,000 +square miles, more interest than usual will probably be felt in the +character of the country and the people, of whom there are not too +many reliable accounts to be found. At the same time, I feel very +strongly that there are others whose descriptions will be far more +valuable than my own, owing to their longer residence in the country, +and the greater extent of their explorations. I refer especially to +Messrs. McCarthy, Archer, and Beckett, who have done difficult and +extensive work in all parts of Siam and the Laos states; and there is +certainly no European, and probably no Siamese, that knows so much of +the configuration of the north-east as does Mr. McCarthy, who, carried +on by an apparently deep love of jungle-life, has aroused the +admiration of the Siamese and Laos at Luang Prabang by his hardihood +and energy, and the results of whose work were a constant source of +admiration to me, as I went on and saw the wildness and difficulty of +the country. + +The object of my journey was primarily the examination, for the +Siamese Government, of a supposed very rich deposit of gems (rubies +and sapphires), lately discovered on the left bank of the Mekong, +opposite Chieng Kong. My orders were to return by Luang Prabang, +Nongkhai, and Khorat, and to visit and report on all mineral deposits +of which I could get information, gathering all geological data which +were possible. The time allowed was six months, and I was not to leave +the general line of march prescribed by more than 60 miles. I need +hardly say--and every one who knows what jungle-travelling is will +understand--that my programme, to be thoroughly carried through over +the large extent of country marked out, might well occupy six years +instead of months; and that such a hurried exploration in a country +covered densely with forest--which, next perhaps to snow, is the +greatest enemy to the science of geology--could not but be +unsatisfactory to one's self. + + H. Warington Smyth. + + + + +GLOSSARY. + + Pak = mouth of a river; _e.g._ Pak Oo, mouth of river Oo. + Nam = river; _e.g._ Nam Oo, river Oo (_a_ always long, as in +_barn_). + Hoay = mountain torrent. + Keng = rapid; _e.g._ Keng Fapa, Fapa rapid. + Luang = great or chief; _e.g._ Keng Luang, the great rapid. + Doi _or_ puh = Siam word Kao = hill. + Ban _or_ Bang = house or village (used indiscriminately). + Sala = rest-house. + Muang = town or township, often district or province. + Chow Muang = literally, chief of the township = governor. + Klong = stream or canal. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PART I. + Bangkok to Muang Nan + + PART II. + Muang Nan to Muang Chieng Kong + + PART III. + Muang Chieng Kong to Muang Luang Prabang + + PART IV. + Luang Prabang (March, 1893) + + PART V. + Nongkhai to Khorat and Bangkok (April and May, 1893) + + Appendix + + + + +MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. + + The Rapids at the Gates of Chieng Kong, Mekong River + The Meinam below Chainat + Loaded Rice-Boats lying in Bangkok + Rua Pet + Rua Nua + Rua Nua from Fore End + Boat hollowed out of Trunk ready to be soaked in River + Boat opened out over Fire, Ribs and Knees in + Rice-Boats and Floating House, Paknam Pho + A Rice-Boat, flying light + Rice-Raft, Nam Oo + Wat Chinareth (Central Tower from West) + A Sala in the Nan Forests + Khorat Plateau. Entrance to Forest Dong Phya Yen + Gorge Nam Pgoi + The Paddy-Fields, Hin Valley + Wat Ben Yeun, M. Sa + East Gate of Nan + Laos Bag, of Striped Cloth + Kao Neo Wicker Baskets + Axe for hollowing Boats + Dipper for Water + A Hill Monastery, M. Le + View from M. Le, looking north-west across the Nam Nan and Watershed +of Meinam Khong + Map--Route from Muang Ngob on the Nam Nan to Muang Chieng Kong on +the Mekong River + A Gem-Digger's Clearing, Chieng Kong + Camp at the Fa Pa Rapids + One of our Elephants, with Howdah on + The Leading Mule + A Head Man--Stern View + A Head Man--Side View + A Haw--Packs dismounted + Laos Boat + Illustration of Oar and Steering-Gear + Double Boat + Village above Paku, Mekong + Forty-Five Feet Boat, Nam Oo + Map--Part of the Mekong + Khache Hill Clearings; Rapids above Pak Beng, Mekong + Dhap and Sheath + Jungle Knives + Mouth of Nam Suung, above Luang Prabang + Approach to Luang Prabang from North + Wat Chieng Tong + Pa Chom Si, Luang Prabang + Plan of Luang Prabang and River + Stone Implements + Government Offices, Luang Prabang + Keng Kang, Nam Oo. The Plunge off the Left Bank + Keng Luang + Ascending Keng Luang, Nam Oo + Fishing Stakes and Shelters, Nam Oo + Rudder + Boats Fishing + Last of the Hills above Wieng Chan + The Ruins of Wat Prakaon, Wieng Chan + Niche and Statue + South-West Angle, Wat Susaket, Wieng Chan + Bell + Bell-Clapper and Joint + Bamboo Bell + Four-Sok Kan (1 Inch to Feet) + Two-Sok Kan + Air-Chamber + Kien + The North Gate and Nam Nun, Khoraat + Map--The Central Part of the Kingdom of Siam + + + + +NOTES OF A JOURNEY ON THE UPPER MEKONG, SIAM. + + + + +PART I. + +BANGKOK TO MUANG NAN. + + +Early in December, 1892, we left Bangkok--myself, three Siamese +assistants, and a sergeant's guard as escort, and coolies. At Muang +Chainat, owing to the rapid fall of the river, I had to send back the +Navy launch, which was drawing 3 feet 6 inches; a month earlier she +might have got nearly up to M.[1] Pechai. At Paknam Pho, where the Nam +Pho and Meiping meet, after a good deal of bargaining I secured a _rua +nua_, or north-land boat, to take me on. Boat-travelling in Siam is +much the same everywhere; and in their boat-life, it may be said, the +Siamese have attained a high degree of civilization. Very often the +boat is the home of the family, and after the rains they moor +alongside the bank and cultivate tobacco, cotton, or melons on the +slope on which the rich loam of the floods has settled down; after the +rice harvest they will set out laden with paddy for Bangkok, returning +later on with salt or other luxuries from the south. The Chinese, who +are the most energetic people in the country, carry on extensive +trading in this way. They use a very large double-ended kind of boat, +known as "rice-boat," which has a long cylindrical roof of closely +plaited work impervious to rain, extending from just before the +helmsman to within 10 feet of the bows, where the two or three oarsmen +toil at the long oars. As in all the Siamese boats, the oar is slung +in a grommet, which is turned round the top of a small pole firmly let +into the gunwale at the lower end. This gives the end of the oar +sufficient height inboard, and the oarsman stands to his work facing +forward, the outer hand on a small handle turned at right angles to +the oar, as in the Chinese sampans one sees in the straits. With a big +heavy boat, the action, with a sharp jerk at the end of the stroke, is +not pretty; but in the small _rua chang_ (or sampan) of the city the +motion is exactly that of the gondolier, and with the swaying motion +of the inside leg, which is often quite free, is extremely pretty. It +must be confessed the grommet principle, which at least keeps the oar +in its place, makes the work much easier than the slippery crutch in +which the gondolier at Venice works his long oar, and which proves a +great source of difficulty to the beginner in the art. This method is +known by the Siamese as "chaw"- (or "chow"-)ing. + +[Illustration: THE MEINAM BELOW CHAINAT.] + +[Illustration: LOADED RICE-BOATS LYING IN BANGKOK.] + +Next in size and usefulness to the "rice-boats" (which are generally +about 40 feet long, 10 feet 4 inches beam, with 6 feet 4 inches +extreme draught when loaded, and carry twenty koyans of rice) comes +the _rua pet_, which is a great favourite with the Siamese. It is +cleaner lined than the rice-boat, the cabin arrangement being the +same; that is, the long roof, the deck at the level of the gunwale +going fore and aft, and the storage-room all below, reached by taking +out the neatly fitting pieces of deck, which are made to fit into the +main cross-beams. The helmsman has a slightly raised attap roof over +his head, and he (or she, for the wife and the children down to six +years old can steer as well as the father) looks out from under this +and over the long low roof in front. The steering is done with a +rudder shipped in the usual way on the stern-post, while in the big +rice-boat it is generally on the quarter (if under sail, on the lee +quarter), kept in position by a rope grommet at the head, and another +lanyard put through an eye bored lower down. In both kinds of craft a +finely peaked calico lugsail is used with a fair wind--the matting, of +which the junks and local coast-luggers make their sails, being never +seen inland. The size of the _rua pet_ is generally 40 feet over all, +8 feet 4 inches beam, and 3 feet 4 inches draught loaded; a new one +will cost 300 to 320 ticals, say L26. Teak is largely used in the +construction, and when finished the whole is covered with a coating of +_chunam_, a mixture of oil from the Mai Yang (a magnificently +proportioned tree common in the forest), with dammar oil, which gives +a beautiful red varnish to the hull. + +[Illustration: RUA PET.] + +A third distinct type of boat is the _rua nua_ ("nua" meaning north, +and "rua" boat), which seems to be rather a Laos than a Siamese form. +It is hardly accurate to call them distinctively "Laos boats," as is +often done, as the real "Laos boat," used both on the Mekong and in +the Laos states proper on the Meinam, is simply a long dug-out canoe, +60 feet long, with an extreme beam of 4 feet. The _rua nua_ is a much +more highly developed type, and is in construction as elaborate as +those above mentioned. It is generally longer than the _rua pet_. My +boat was 56 feet 10 inches over all, with a beam of 10 feet, and +carried the owner and his crew of four men, with myself and twenty +Siamese. At night a few of us slept on shore, in the Salas or +rest-houses of the monasteries, or on the banks of sand. The stem and +stern posts are made of huge chocks of teak, the bottom flat of three +or four huge planks running the whole length of the boat if possible. +Right aft is a high-roofed and very comfortable house in which the +steersman lives; sitting on his high stool, and looking over the usual +plaited roof along the centre of the boat, he turns his long +steering-oar, which reaches far out astern over the port quarter. The +fore-deck of the boat is outrigged on each side to a considerable +distance, while a gangway runs round the centre roof outside for the +man to pole along. Up the Meiping these boats are generally ornamented +with a long high snout of timber out forward, and a high forked tail +astern. + +[Illustration: RUA NUA.] + +Of small craft the variety is endless--from the small canoes which +hawk _kanoms_, or cakes of rice, sugar, and coconut, to the small +roughly roofed boats which will just hold the owner and his wife and +child if they balance carefully, or the long snake-like boats which +are favourites with the monks at the monasteries. The people usually +build their own boats, and are very good hands at it; and one may see +them in all states of construction,--hollowed out with laborious +chipping ready for opening out over the fire, or already heated and +opened up, with knees and ribs being put in and pegged with wood (for, +like the Norwegians, they never use nails, and the result is great +durability); or ready with a six-inch "wash-streak" all round, and the +light deck at the gunwale level, which is the feature of the smallest, +if we except the _sampans_ and canoes of the capital. + +The fittings of the large species of craft above described are often +elaborate and almost yacht-like. A brass trimming to the gunwale, and +bright red prayer-papers, are generally to be seen on board of John +Chinaman. There will be pretty balustrades round the quarters where +the helmsman is, partly for show, partly to keep the small fry from +falling overboard. Curtains of plaited bamboo are hinged to the attap +roof above the helmsman, and when shut down will keep out rain or sun. +At the fore end the deck will shine with the polish given it by the +constant sitting or reclining of the crew, and inside the long low +roof, if there were only sufficient head-room, the floor would be +declared perfect for a dance. All round are lockers, in which cotton +stuffs are stored to take up-country, or betel-box, teapot, and +crockery are stowed; the comfort and luxury of some of these boats +could not be surpassed. + +[Illustration: RUA NUA FROM FORE END.] + +[Illustration: BOAT HOLLOWED OUT OF TRUNK READY TO BE SOAKED IN +RIVER.] + +[Illustration: BOAT OPENED OUT OVER FIRE, RIBS AND KNEES IN.] + +And how they do all enjoy life! There is no hurry; if going down +stream, they take it easy enough; and if going up, why overwork? A +week earlier or a week later makes no difference; and so, why not stop +and have some tea and chat as they pass some friendly village, or a +boat with whom last year perhaps they travelled in company for a +month? If the sun gets hot, they will tie up to the bank, and all +hands bathe, the children diving overboard like the best of them. If +it rains, tie up again, light up the fire and cook the rice and mix +the curry for supper; then out cigarettes all hands, and from the +cloud, to which even the stout five-year-old boy, who is the pet of +the ship, contributes his share, gaze complacently out into the damp +evening, where all the myriad life of jungle is piping shrilly in the +swaying bamboo clumps. No wonder these people are happy and +hospitable, ever ready with a joke. + +[Illustration: RICE-BOATS AND FLOATING HOUSE, PAKNAM PHO.] + +The journey to Muang Pechai took our _rua nua_ 19 days, and owing to +the falling state of the river, our old skipper had to lighten his +ship by selling off a lot of his salt; and even then she drew 3 feet, +and all hands had frequently to go overboard and haul over shallows. + +[Illustration: A RICE-BOAT, FLYING LIGHT.] + +Above the junction of the Meinam Yome and the Pechai River, the +villages which had thronged the bank gave way to a wild uninhabited +country--the villages few and poor, the paddy-fields far apart and +small. The river winds tortuously between clay banks 30 feet high and +crowned with the prickly bamboo or long grasses, or in places with +deep forests of fine timber. Here and there on the inside of the bend +would be extensive sandbanks, and on these, as being safer from wild +animals or fever, often three or four boats' crews would be camping at +night. On the concave side of the bend would be evidences of huge +falls of stuff, the result of the recent floods, with large trees or +bamboo clumps sticking out of the water. Of animal life there was +plenty--the apparently sluggish crocodile, which at the crack of a +rifle would leap his own length into the water; the familiar and +friendly long-tailed monkeys; or the white-headed fish-eagle, and +another big dark-coloured eagle with peculiarly hoarse cry. + +The order Herodiones is well represented, and I shot specimens of the +common heron (_Ardea cinerea_), and the great white heron or great +egret (_Ardea alba_); and in the low state of one's larder, which is +the normal condition in Siam, they were excellent eating. Of +kingfishers I saw two distinct forms--the smaller one (?), the pied +kingfisher of India; the larger with a stronger bill, black and white, +without the high colouring of the other. All these birds are very +common, and there are many smaller thin-legged birds running along the +sands. + +[Illustration: RICE RAFT, NAM OO.] + +As in all the rivers of Siam during and just after the rains, the +water is alive with fish, the most remarkable that I saw being the +"pla reum," a creature often over 3 feet long and the same in +depth--very broad-bodied, with a covering of large scales, the fins, +tail, and gills of a pinky red; head large and broad, with wide mouth +lined with fine rows of diminutive teeth, of which there are two lines +in the upper jaw. The tail is enormously powerful in the water, and, +until he is tired out, the drift-net used for catching him has a very +hard time of it. + +After reaching Muang Pichit, the villages occur more frequently again, +and are often palisaded; this is necessary for the protection of the +cattle, which are the favourite prey of the dacoits who wander about +in the valley of the Meinam all too freely, often with fine boats, +which in the daytime are peaceful trading craft to the eye, but at +night suddenly bristle with men. At the present time this kind of +business is an actual danger to the traders as well as to the peaceful +villagers; and at the time I went up, though the Minister of the North +(Prince Damrong) had just been on a tour to Pechai, they were +extremely bold all over the country. Once north of lat. 17 deg. 40', and +in the Laos country, property is safer than in Eaton Square. + +One word as to the "wats," or monasteries, and the monks who inhabit +them. They are often misnamed "temples" and "priests;" but, as all who +know the customs of the Buddhist countries around will be aware, there +is no "priesthood" proper. These men are really retired from the world +for the purpose of such meditation as shall bring them as near to the +purity of their master and pattern Buddha as possible. Wherever there +are villages there are wats, supported by the contributions of the +inhabitants, who are bent on gaining merit by their good deeds to +these holy men. Like the monks of "merrie England" in years gone by, +there are good, bad, and indifferent; in many cases the prior is a +keen Pali student and good musician, and a man of some ideas. The +yellow robe and the shaving of head and eyebrows is not exactly +fascinating at a close view, but among the monks I used to see many +very fine thoughtful faces; while I shall, I hope, always remember the +friendly evenings I spent after the day's voyage, sitting perched on +the bamboo flooring of the sala, high above the quiet stream, +listening to a duet played on their simple two-stringed fiddles. The +body is made of half a coconut-shell, over which the sounding-board is +placed. The string of the bow is between the two strings, and the +execution is wonderful. The airs, which are all handed down by ear, +are a very fast weird music, distinctly catchy, and one, "the trotting +pony," is a wonderfully sweet and descriptive air. Another instrument +is the _toka_, a hollow teak sounding-box with two strings stretched +over a number of bridges, on which the fingers of the left hand work +while the right twangs the strings: this joined in very well with the +fiddles. The intervals are not the same as ours, and the European ear +takes some time to get accustomed to the novelty; after a time, +however, one can sufficiently interpret the airs to get them on a +flute, whereon the proper intervals seem to enable one to get a +correct version of what before seemed rather a jargon. Another +favourite pursuit with the youthful monks is _tetakvoa_, a football of +open wicker-work, which is kept going by the dozen or so players +taking "full volleys" with knee or foot, and often "heading" the ball. +This, of course, is common in the villages too, but I did not see it +in the Laos states. + +It is the custom to bring up for the night, whenever possible, +alongside one of these wats, both on account of the convenience of +finding a good sala, and the greater security against robbers. There +is always a wide clear space beneath the trees which shade the +buildings of the monastery, and some of these quiet spots, from which, +as one walks up and down in the evening, one sees the long reach of +river reflecting the last light in the west, or, in the chilly +morning, the first streaks of dawn, are almost ideal places for +retirement and meditation. They, and the life which goes on within, +have been admirably described by Shway Yoe, in his book 'The Burman,' +one of the completest pictures which has ever been drawn of any +people; and the monastery life of Siam is almost identical. As the +monotonous but almost weird chant of the monks floated out across the +stream at sunset, we used to tie up for the night beneath: often it +would go far on into the night; and then long before day the great +gong would begin its clanging, and once more the chant rise among the +mists, and for us another day's poling would commence. + +In the Laos states there are many points of difference in the wats, +not only in the architecture (and the hill-wats become very simple, +with a few roughly baked bricks for the low walls, and a thatch roof +in place of the red or wood tiled roofs of Siam), but also in the +_regime_. Every boy, for instance, who goes to do his schooling at the +wat wears the yellow robe, which assumes thus almost the character of +the college gown at home, and until he has so worn it he has no title +to the name of "man." As in Siam, besides his letters, he learns the +elementary precepts taught by Buddha; but, as not in Siam, he often +goes out with his superiors into the jungle, with robe tucked up, to +hew wood or do other work for the support of the wat, which the +laymen, being too few or too poor, cannot do. + +During this month of December the north-east monsoon was blowing, but +we had curiously cloudy cool days nearly all the time, with, at the +start, slight rain at times. The minimum reading of the thermometer +was 42 deg. Fahr. on the 22nd, just before sunrise. The two following +mornings we had 45 deg. Fahr.; the maxima in the shade of the steersman's +house being 73 deg., 77 deg., and 76 deg. on those days. 50 deg., 52.5 deg., 49 deg., 51 deg., +54 deg., 57 deg., 50 deg., and 57 deg. were the minima for the next eight days, and +the maximum recorded was 85 deg. at 1 p.m. At 9 a.m. the thermometer was +never above 64 deg. + +At Muang Phitsanulok, which stands along a very pretty sweep of water, +hid deep in its areca and banana palms, I spent a morning at wat +Chinareth. This was the nearest approach to a real piece of effective +architecture that I had seen since leaving, and I once more +experienced the feeling of exultation which one used to know at home, +when enjoying the lights and shadows of some old building where the +mind of man had worked with great result. An additional charm was the +colouring. The coloured tiles of the roofs of the wats are remarkable +in Bangkok; but far in the jungle, when the eye has become accustomed +to green for weeks, the wonderful yellow-red, picked off with green +borders, and the light-red lower buildings of the cloisters, were most +striking. The building was once very extensive, cruciform in shape, in +four distinct sections round the great central tower. The western +building is the only one in any sort of preservation, and south of it, +and at its south-western end, still stand the cloisters. Brick and +laterite blocks are the material used, the former in some cases, as in +the wall and the pillars of the cloister, being stuccoed. These little +pillars are only 6 feet high, and the roof is gabled, supported on +simple uprights, which rise from horizontal cross-beams resting on the +pillars; and so a very pretty and simple cloister walk is obtained. +The remains of such walks lie in every direction round the centre. As +for the western building itself, I was much delighted with the +interior. One enters a monk's doorway at the south-east corner from a +cloister, and is at first lost in gloom. At last the great black +columns, with their elaborate gilt ornamentation (the one decoration +they understand in Siam), grow out in the feeble light from the little +narrow windows in the low side walls. The lofty peaked roof, which +rises far into blackness, comes down gradually, sloping less steeply +to the columns, of which there are two rows, and so to the low walls, +thus as it were covering a nave and side aisles. At the eastern end +are placed the usual gilt statues of Buddha, of all shapes and +sizes--of which in one cloister alone I saw over thirty-six over 3 +feet high. Until these force themselves upon one's notice with all the +tawdry wreckage with which they are ornamented, the air of retirement +about the place is quite captivating. The central tower is some 60 +feet high, covered with niches, in which stand more "prahs," or +statues, and on the eastern side is a staircase up halfway to a +dome-shaped chamber. The entrance to this was in its day very prettily +panelled and gilded; now, alas! cobwebs and bats are legion. But the +whole effect, there almost lost in jungle, is memorable. + +[Illustration: WAT CHINARETH (CENTRAL TOWER FROM WEST).] + +At a smaller wat to the southward (wat Boria) there is a very fine +Buddha, on whose head and shoulders the light is thrown from a small +window in the roof. The effect is quite impressive, and does great +credit to the architect who designed it. This is by no means the only +place in Siam where the light is dexterously managed. + +[Illustration: A SALA IN THE NAN FORESTS.] + +[Illustration: KORAT PLATEAU. ENTRANCE TO FOREST DONG PHYA YEN.] + +Throughout this country the rivers, streams, and canals (or klongs) +are the highways, and the villages are built on their edge; the banks, +owing to the accumulations, the houses, and the preservative effect of +the palms in which the villages nestle, are often the highest points +in the country round--which in the rains becomes a series of vast +lakes, with islands here and there, and the houses standing out of the +water gaunt upon their long stilt-like piles of teak. In many parts +the buffaloes and oxen have to be driven away for miles to higher +ground; and one may meet whole villages moving with as many as forty +ox-carts in a gang, with spare oxen trotting behind their masters' +carts. + +We had met a good deal of teak being rafted down the lower part of the +river. The small rafts come through the innumerable klongs and creeks +from all directions, and then below Pichit and Paknam Pho the big +rafts are made up, and go off downwards with their crew of men, the +cock crowing merrily on the roof of the little bamboo shelter which is +their "deck-house." Passing sandbanks and shallows is often a very +difficult operation. Some three or four men go overboard astern with +long 8-feet stakes, to which the end of a long hawser is fast. The +sharpened ends they drive into the bottom, clinging on to the top end +as the strain comes on, till at last often it is too great, and the +stake is pulled over man and all. However, by degrees they will bring +the great floating mass to a standstill for the night, or, as the case +may be, they succeed in checking the after end sufficiently to keep it +to the current, while three or four more hands are working the long +transverse-set oars at the fore end in the direction required, and two +or three more will be using long poles to keep off the shallows; all +hands shout lustily the whole time. By this process, repeated hour by +hour, they travel slowly to Bangkok with the current. + +[Illustration: GORGE NAM PGOI.] + +Above Pichit we met but few rafts, and those only consisting of bamboo +and "mai kabao," which is much used for small work, such as tables, +and is brought down in small pieces, generally about 14 feet long. + +Muang Pechai is the chief town of a very extensive and important +province, which to the north-east reaches to the Mekong at Chieng Kan. +The Governor, Phya Pechai, is a fine, tall young man, who is (and this +is not too often the case in Siam) extremely popular with the people. +His evident honesty of purpose was apparent the first moment he spoke. +We had to stay here a few days to get the elephants together and buy +rice. Twelve _kanan_ (a coconut-shell) were selling at a _tical_, and +on the average each man consumes one _kanan_ per day. We laid in a +stock of 35 _thang_ (of 20 _kanan_), and were shortly after glad to +get off on our journey towards the distant hills. I should add that +this place is the starting-point for Paklai, on the Mekong, the trail +between these two places being the route generally followed by the +officials going to Luang Prabang. Apart from this it is not of much +importance, and, situated in the uninteresting plain, is subject to +high floods in the rains, as the water-marks on the piles of the +post-office and the school and court houses attest. + +Two days, passing through scrub jungle, brings the traveller to Ban +Nam Pi, where there are some iron "mines"--a series of shallow +diggings on an extensive deposit of limonite, which seems to be +"derivative" from surface decomposition. The quartz rock, which +generally underlies it, is probably a quartz sand which has been +metamorphosed under pressure into the hard material we now find. In, +or in close connection with the latter, the iron nodules are not to be +found, but near the surface, where the quartz has softened and looks +almost like a sandstone, the nodules occur in abundance. + +The great difficulty was to get any one to do any work, even in +clearing away _debris_, such is the fear of the "Pi," or spirits, who +are said to guard the mineral. Without the offer of a white bullock, +who ought first to be slain for their benefit, it was asserted that +the spirits would certainly interfere with any one attempting to do +any work. I was also told that when the iron ore is removed it brings +bad luck to any house in which it is stored, and that, if hung up on a +tree (certainly an odd place for stowing ores), it invariably causes +the death of the tree. An iron-shod bamboo is the only tool used, but +no work has been done for ages, and the small furnace which once +existed at the village is quite dilapidated. It was quite vain setting +to work myself, and giving out that I had made a permanent arrangement +with all the "Pi," even the most vicious, before leaving Bangkok; +nothing less than a royal proclamation will ever give the people +confidence enough to make the opening up of these places possible. + +On January 10 we were fairly under way for the north, high in hope and +spirits, as a party always is when the scenery begins to change, and +weary plains give way to lofty hill-ranges and distant peaks, with +cool clear streams splashing in the rocky watercourses. At Muang Fang +we came down to the Meinam once more, and camped in a very fine wat, +which none of us will ever forget; for we marched in, parched and +dusty, to find ourselves under orange trees loaded with fruit, and +then and there all hands almost bathed in the delicious cool juice. To +the south is a lovely semicircle of hills of schist, which turn the +river away to the west. To the north, the timber-clad heights rose +shoulder upon shoulder, far into the peaks of Kao Luet and Kao Taw, +dim with distance. We were at last fairly in the mountains and in the +Laos country. + +I do not wish to give what would perhaps be a wearying account of our +marches day after day, full of pleasure, of changing beauties, and of +memorable incidents as they were, but as succinctly as possible to +speak of the configuration of the country we passed through. + +We next day forded the river at Ban Taluat, and were in the province +of Nan. The trail on to Cherim (north-east) crosses a number of small +hills of clay slate, which form the outlying buttresses of the rougher +country to the north; the strike which I observed here and all the way +up on our northerly journey is pretty regularly north and south, the +dip westerly at about 25 deg., sometimes steeper. Water is scarce here, +and when we stopped for breakfast in the bed of a _hoay_ (or +mountain-stream) at 9, after about three hours' going, even the holes +in the sandy bed only gave us two or three pints of water; but, of +course, in January this is to be expected. To avoid the rough country +northward the trail crosses the Meinam once more, where its direction +is southerly, to Cherim, whence the march to M. Faek is a very long +and hilly one, over high ridges of clay slate, which carry one up over +1000 feet above the river. Some of the glimpses we got in the early +mornings, as we climbed upwards among the tall trunks, were quite +magnificent. These forests, in their winter clothing of reds and +yellows, with the tall grey trunks standing out clear against the deep +shadows behind, are, with the early morning or evening sun upon them, +perfectly gorgeous. As day dawns the rays climb down the heights above +you into the mists, which forthwith whirl and melt; and then, as you +rise above it all, there lies below on all sides a billowy sea of wild +forest, high on jagged ridges in the sunlight, or darkened in shadows +far down in the deep torrent valleys; in the blue distance eastward +the Nam Pat range lies dim, and north and west the eye loses itself +among endless cloud-capped ranges. + +The sala at Muang Faek is on the west side of the river, and consists +of a number of separate bamboo shelters; here we had to rest our +elephants, all eighteen of which were tired out by the climb from +Cherim, and we had to engage two more to reduce the weights on our +tired beasts. Elephants in Siam are never idle, and the animals I got +from Pechai, which belonged to the Minister of the Mining Department, +had all been hard at work hauling teak and such things before our +arrival. At Muang Faek there are a good many, and the two which now +joined us were a male and female of magnificent proportions. They had +a swinging gait, with which they travelled much faster than the +others, evidently not being accustomed to dragging heavy timber, but +to light weights and hard climbing. At first they didn't like their +new surroundings at all, and it was most curious to see how, when the +one began to trumpet and back out of the crowd, the other rushed up, +caressing him with her trunk all over, and even pushing it into his +mouth, and stood by him till he was pacified; but if she left his side +for a moment, round he whirled in search of her, and the mahout could +do nothing to stop him. I never saw them separated by more than twenty +yards the whole time they were with us; they had always to be loaded +and unloaded together, as they stood side by side, entwining their +trunks lovingly, and in the evening, after the march, they bathed +together and squirted one another in huge enjoyment. The howdahs are +simply rough saddles like big baskets, and are generally fitted with a +close plaited roof with a long peak before and behind, like those +fitted on the _kiens_, or ox-carts, of the plains. + +From M. Faek the trail, which is well trodden, passes along the steep +wooded banks of the Meinam, which, however, is here known as the Nam +Nan. The clay slate dips 65 deg. W., and makes long black ridges in the +river-bed, which can be seen deep down in the clear water, or rising +in sharp crags above it, and forming the rapids, which make the river +a difficult highway at the best, and only navigable by the long narrow +dug-outs. + +It is a short march to Hoay Li, where there is a sala kept, as they +all are in Nan, in excellent condition; but there is a stream close +by. The next day's march was a heavy one, over more lofty ridges +without water, and it is, therefore, a good stopping-place. Leaving at +sunrise, the Laos guide and myself reached the small shelter at Hoay +Nai at one o'clock, the rest of my Siamese straggling in well blown an +hour later, and the elephants climbing down the steep watercourse at +three. This is generally the extent of a day's march, and the average +rate of jungle-travelling, allowing for stoppages, is never over 2-1/2 +miles an hour, and a six hours' march is as much as the Siamese can +do; in these hills the elephants certainly do not do more than 2 miles +an hour. To the Laos trotting along on foot there is, however, no +limit that I ever discovered, even with the heavy loads which they +carry swung on a pole across the shoulder. With a couple of handfuls +of _kao neo_, the hill-rice, which they steam over a pot into a +glutinous mass, very handy and portable for the day's march, and with +some dried fish and a banana, and a long pull at the fresh stream +water once in the day, they will go cheerily from morn till night, +swinging when necessary their long _dhap_ (a sword of Burmese style, +which every man over sixteen carries if he be a man at all), to cut +and lop the branches and jungle which are for ever blocking the +tracks. This stopping-place was one of the wildest we were ever in; +nothing but jungle and mountains all around, the place itself a tiny +clearing in the bottom of a deep narrow ravine, where the monster +trunks climbed far above us, leaving only one little space of open +sky, from which at three o'clock the sun was shut out, and where at +half-past five night had fairly set in. A number of gangs going south +from Nan were camped here with us. + +Another, easy, march brought us to Muang Hin, over 1200 feet above +sea-level. Imagine a number of lovely villages clustering among their +coconut and areca palms, in a beautiful wide valley surrounded by +forests and hills, the glistening yellow paddy-stalks bright in the +afternoon sun, with the black backs of the buffalo moving lazily +about; the homely red of the little oxen, and the moving islands the +elephants make whisking the paddy in their trunks; with the village +sounds drifting down the quiet air--the distant drum at the monastery, +whose grey roof stands above the other houses, or the far-off "poot, +poot" of the "nok poot" in the jungle (a black bird, by the way, with +a long pheasant-like tail and light red wings)--and you have an idea +of the lovely scene which spread before us that evening as we emerged +from the hills. + +This valley runs parallel to the Nam Nan valley to the eastward, but +drains in exactly the opposite direction, the water running north and +turning into the Nam Nan considerably north of M. Sisaket. Three days +going down this lovely valley brought us through a rough piece of +limestone country to Muang Sa, where I stayed some days visiting +several places in the neighbourhood. This township is important, and +stands by the Nam Nan in a very fine paddy-growing plain, and is +better supplied with inhabitants than the country we had come through; +but even here the tigers are very bold, and often come right into the +villages. Small irrigation canals extend in all directions. + +[Illustration: THE PADDY-FIELDS, HIN VALLEY.] + +Like the quarrymen in North Wales, whenever there is a cry of "gold" +at Clogan, the Laos take every piece of yellow copper pyrites or iron +pyrites for gold, and we had several very hard days' travelling both +east and west after gold-mines of this description. + +The minimum readings for the last five days were 62 deg., 49 deg., 46 deg., +43 deg., and 45 deg. Fahr., and going on one day's march over the plain to +Muang Nan, the capital of this great province, we had 60 deg. as minimum +for several days. + +The salas stand outside the red-brick walls of Nan, and are only a few +hundred yards from the river, and here was every sign of prosperity; +every other family seems to own an elephant or two. The houses are +well built and enclosed in stout palisades; and besides the town +inside the walls, there is a very large number of houses between them +and the river. I saw numbers of dug-outs arriving with cotton, and +many too going away south. There are a few Burmese shopkeepers along +the east wall, their principal stock consisting of check-patterned +_panungs_ and _sarongs_ and small knickknacks, betel boxes, and a +little silver-work. A mule caravan of Haws from the north--as dirty +and ugly as the dirtiest Chinamen--were also anxious to sell Chinese +slippers, sheepskin coats, walnuts and sandals, and shortly after left +for the south, like others we had met at Muang Sa. From M. Sa I +gathered they were going to make westward toward M. Pray. Some of the +Burmese brought me some sapphires from Chieng Kong, and there were +some fine stones, but I was at the time surprised to find they had no +rubies. Coloured quartzes are also found in this neighbourhood, and +are cut for ornament. The rupee is the current coin, and the Burmese +shopkeepers and a Chinaman or two were the only people who would +exchange our money for us--at the rate of three salung to the rupee. + +[Illustration: WAT BEN YEUN, M. SA.] + +[Illustration: EAST GATE OF NAN.] + +The sight of Nan is the early morning market, to which before sunrise +the women are seen coming from all directions, wrapped in their long +plaids--for such, indeed, the Lao cloak is, both in pattern and mode +of wearing. The market is held within the walls in the open space, in +which stands the _sanam_, or court-house; this is surrounded on three +sides by wats, and on the west by the palace, a large house with no +very striking features. The women crouch along the sides in rows with +their baskets in front of them, as at Luang Prabang and at all the +markets one sees in this part of the peninsula. Fruit, biscuits, and +cakes, ready rolled cigarettes and flowers, are for sale, but the +quantities are very small. There is a muffled sound of subdued chatter +and laughter, and the scene is a very pretty one--till at last the +mists are gone, the sun is well up in the heavens, and the crowd melts +away as silently as it came. + +Once inside the walls the town may be described as countrified, the +houses standing in their own enclosures among their palms, where the +elephants twirl their trunks among the cocks and hens. Very fair roads +run at right angles to one another, but are always quiet and shady, +like country lanes. The chief business seems to be outside the town, +villages extending on all sides, and especially along the road to the +north, past the "old city," which is about one mile in that direction, +and where there are some very good substantial palisades still +standing, with the remains of a deep ditch and massive wall on the +north-west side, all of course very much grown over. The custom of +shaving the head all round, with the exception of the tuft at the top +which stands bristling straight on end, and gives a good grip to the +light-red or white turban which is often worn, is a cool and cleanly +one, and gives the men a smart appearance; the black tattooing, which +extends from the knee up to the middle of the body, is the other +distinctive feature throughout the province of Nan. They seldom wear +more than the panung and a short blue jacket, except in the early +mornings, when, with the thermometer at 50 deg., they shiver inside their +long plaids; as the day becomes warmer, the plaid is rolled up and +stowed in the bag, which is as indispensable as the _dhap_, and goes +over one shoulder, carrying its owner's all--consisting of a small +basket of _kao neo_ for the day, some tobacco, and betel-nut, with +often a long-stemmed pipe and flint and steel. + +[Illustration: LAOS BAG, OR STRIPED CLOTH.] + +[Illustration: KAO NEO WICKER BASKETS.] + +The women tie their long hair up on the top of their heads, and when I +first got among them I was reminded of the same fashion at home, as +also by other points of resemblance one had not seen among the +Siamese--a light springy step, a pleasant-sounding voice, a well-cut +figure, and a rosy cheek. In some of the districts in the hills the +women suffer severely from goitre, and up the Nam Wa, a wild torrent +which joins the Nam Nan from the east, just below Muang Sa, three out +of every four of the women I saw had it. Up that river, too, I noticed +a lack of expression in the faces of the men and lads when in repose; +but they are rare hands at a joke, and then their faces light up +wonderfully. These men all wore short jackets to the waist, of blue +cloth, leaving a strip of tattooing between it and the blue panung. I +was astonished at the number of children I saw there, too, every man +we met in the jungle having some four or five of his sons with him. +Ten or even fifteen children is a number not uncommon for one woman, +while in Siam, as a rule, the number three is not exceeded. I imagine +the population must be now recovering from the effects of the +continual warfare which existed before Siam made its rule felt in the +north, and which no doubt accounts for the meagre population +throughout the entire peninsula. + +[Illustration: AXE FOR HOLLOWING BOATS.] + +[Illustration: DIPPER FOR WATER.] + +Of the joyful, kindly, and hospitable character of the Laos of Nan one +cannot say too much; I never saw a surly face or heard an angry word. +Their honesty is proverbial, and they are singularly temperate: +drinking _lao_ (which is distilled from rice to a large extent in Siam +itself), smoking opium, theft, and malice seem to have no attractions +for them. I believe every one who has travelled with and among them +will say the same, and will ever keep their memory stowed away in a +warm corner of the heart. + +The Rachawong was the official I saw most of--an upstanding, refined, +and gentlemanly looking man, with a touch of iron grey in his hair, a +firm step, a strong mouth, and high clear forehead. He gave me the +story of some recent trouble with Chow Sa (the Prince of Sa) without +any of that repetition, detail, or tinge of animosity one expects from +an uneducated or inferior mind when speaking of an enemy. + +Preparations were beginning for the cremation of the late "king" who +was just dead, but we left before the ceremony began. + +The punishment of death, which was inflicted for opium-smoking, +elephant-killing, or theft, has been replaced during the last few +years by a milder form; but it is noteworthy that in two years only +one man has been put in the prison at Nan. + +The music is a great contrast to that of the Siamese. At a dinner to +which I was invited at M. Sa, we had, to an accompaniment of three +bamboo flutes with very sweet low tones, a kind of duet sung by two +girls, each taking a verse in turn. The rather nasal notes would soar +up quite independently of the flutes, and then suddenly return to the +keynote, which was a lovely minor, and was sustained; then would come +a pause, with the delightful subdued refrain on the flutes again, ere +the other began. The subject was a war-song, on which they both +extemporized; but even my Siamese could not follow the words at all. +After a solo from one of the flutists, who, as usual, sang falsetto +(which is especially affected by the Siamese too in love-songs), he +and one of the damsels lighted tapers, and though in no dress but +their ordinary open dark blue jackets of panung, they performed +another kind of duet, accompanied by waving of hands and arms, and a +certain amount of not ungraceful attitudinizing. It seemed to be a +kind of sacred affair, with a slow dignified air, and they quite lost +themselves in it, though some of my Siamese were making running +comments in the usual style of the vulgar all over the world. + +As far as music goes, it was far more expressive and peaceful than +anything I had heard in Siam, as the others owned. I had with me as +assistant-surveyor a very accomplished young Siamese, who is an +excellent specimen of the best that Siam produces; he is a capital +musician after the fashion of his country, and used continually to +warble languishing love-airs to our great amusement, and also good +marching airs. He had a good ear, and soon picked up some of the Laos +tunes, and so one had good opportunities of comparing them. It was +curious, too, how he and several of the others took to English airs +they heard from me, even copying the sounds of the English words. The +proficiency of the Siamese "service" bands in Bangkok shows, too, that +they can master and appreciate our music. + +I have heard the Laos called "savages," which can only be said in +ignorance. They respect superiors, are devoted to their "chows," to +whom they are united by feudal ties, are obedient to their parents, +extremely hospitable, and perfectly honest. The stranger to them is no +enemy, but a creature that needs kindness, and invariably gets it. +Quarrelling is unknown. They respect their women, and, unlike the +Siamese, walk behind them and bear the heaviest load. They do the +jungle-work, and the women stay at home, weaving their silk panungs or +their horizontally striped petticoats at the loom beneath the house; +while the dogs, no longer vile pariahs, but cared for well, and of a +breed something like a sheepdog, sit by and watch the children play. + +Surely there is something besides savagery here. + + +[Footnote 1: M.= Muang.] + + + + +PART II. + + +MUANG NAN TO MUANG CHIENG KONG. + + +From Muang Nan my orders were to find the best route I could over the +watershed to M. Chieng Kong in the Mekong valley. As usual, the +information obtainable was very meagre. One trail goes west from Nan +till the valley of the Nam Ing is reached, when that stream is +followed down north; a second follows the Nam Nan northward, and +crosses the range north-north-westerly up the stream flowing down from +M. Yao; the third, which I selected, as showing one more of the Nam +Nan valley, follows that river up as far north as M. Ngob (lat. 19 deg. +29'), when the direction becomes north-westerly over the rough country +which brings one to M. Chieng Hon and M. Chieng Kob. + +Leaving Nan on February 1, we followed a good tract among low but +precipitous and picturesque limestone hills, into a curiously +disforested country, where the only growth was bamboo, until we +dropped suddenly upon the river once more at Pak Ngao, where we camped +on the sandbank. We had by this time picked up, as one does in the +East, a considerable following. A Commissioner had been sent across +from Chieng Mai to accompany me up to Chieng Kong. What his actual +duties were I never discovered; he was very useful, however, in +helping me in various ways, but I would willingly have done without +him, for he was evidently one of that class of officials who grind the +people very tight when their superiors are out of sight. Another, the +brother of Chow Sa, by name Chow Benn Yenn, who was with me all the +time from Muang Sa until I reached Bangkok again, was the greatest +contrast to the former. He was a small, neatly made fellow of about +twenty-one, a splendid forest man, who, though a great swell in these +parts, travelled with only three or four lads with him, and could walk +the whole expedition off their legs. He knew and could imitate exactly +every forest sound, and as he trotted along the trail he gathered all +kinds of unlikely looking plants, which in the evening made excellent +additions to our curry. He was a born sportsman, and far more at his +ease sleeping out at night under his plaid, with his lads stretched +round him, than under any form of roof. The lads with him--for they +were mere boys--were like him, and treated him with the usual freedom +and familiarity peculiar to the Laos, but which if an order was given, +disappeared before complete obedience; and if the Chow wanted a drink +of water or half a handful of _kao neo_, they would go miles or give +their last crumbs to supply him, and many were the generous and +willing kindnesses I had to thank them for. + +We had also an official with his sons and a few men to carry their +loads from Nan, who acted as guides and a kind of walking letter of +introduction everywhere. They were a remarkably handsome lot, but the +old fellow himself used to come in very done up after the day's march. +Yet, like all the rest, he was never put out by hunger or weariness, +and would take his bag off his shoulder, throw down his long dhap, +and squat on his heels and laugh again to think that he should be +tired and the youngsters not. + +From Pak Ngao, where we saw a few dug-outs shooting past down the +rapids, we next day passed over more of this disforested limestone +country, the dip of the rocks being westerly and very steep (50 deg. to +60 deg.), until we forded the river below M. Saipum. We passed through a +number of villages, with very pretty whitewashed monasteries, and high +palisades round them; the view to the north-east was a novel one, for +the usual foreground of yellow fields, with its dykes and ditches, and +its many watch-houses reared high on piles, was backed not by forest, +but by open expanses, with trees here and there, or low bamboo scrub, +and a dwarf range of bare hills behind. There is a red sandstone which +seems to underlie the limestone, and wherever that rock outcrops, the +soil is excessively thin and poor, and the denuding power of the rains +is very marked. That often accounts for low scrub jungle; but where +that is not present, as in the limestone country we had just crossed, +the absence of forest must, I fancy, be due to fires; and no doubt +when a fire is lit for the purpose of clearing ground for the hill +rice, it will, with a good breeze, clear square miles instead of +acres. I saw a great deal of this burning going on subsequently in the +Mekong valley, and I never saw results commensurate with the +destruction caused. + +The sala at M. Lim, where we slept, is on the east bank, the town +being opposite, and the "Chow Muang" or Governor came wading over with +the water up to his neck, and his clothes in a bundle on his head. +There are numbers of very fine ducks here, but, as usual, we had great +difficulty in getting any in exchange for money. They have not great +use for money here, as they themselves say, and they prefer their +ducks. This happens constantly, especially when buying rice. Each +village has enough for its consumption for the year, and very often no +more; and naturally they prefer to keep the necessaries of life to +having comparatively useless silver buried under their house. As the +country is opened up, this will no doubt change, but at present it is +not worth their while to grow more than they can consume themselves. + +Again, a few irresponsible travellers have been in the habit of +provisioning themselves at the expense of the villages without paying, +and the consequence is that when a European appears (or, indeed, often +a Siamese official), there is a general stampede into the jungle, and +everything is hidden away, for they expect nothing but robbery at his +hands. Until, after infinite pains, they are persuaded that they will +be dealt honestly by, and treated with the consideration which the +wildest from their own hills would never fail to show, you can get +nothing but negatives, and small blame to them. It is humiliating in +the extreme, after travelling with men for some weeks, to be asked one +night over the camp fire why the _nai farang_ (the foreign master) +doesn't kick and thrash the men on the march, or flog the Chow Muang +into handing over all the rice in the village, and do other not less +objectionable things. Yet such is the conduct expected of one, as a +matter of course, from the past repute of the _farang_ which travels +far, and no doubt also does suffer from exaggeration. Still, it shows +what our methods too often have been. With these people you get the +measure you mete to them; firmness is first of all necessary, but +brutality is lowering to all concerned, and never has done anything +but harm, and is more far-reaching than the contemptible authors of it +understand. + +Another day's march through a good deal of evergreen brings one, after +crossing the Nam Pur, flowing in from the east, to M. Chieng Kan. An +hour further north is M. Chieng Klan; and the confusion of the two +names is endless. The latter is the better stopping-place, though the +former is very prettily situated, on the bank of the Nam Nan, among +very fine clumps of bamboo and a great many banana palms and +sugar-cane plantations. Of the latter every man slings a couple of +stalks over his shoulder for the day's journey, and most refreshing +they are. The cakes of brown sugar made from them, of which one +generally takes a piece or two to give a taste to the _kao neo_, are +not considered good for the digestion, and quite rightly, and so only, +just enough is taken at a time to give a taste. The sugar from the +sugar palm of the plains, however, never has any evil results, and as +it has a pleasant flavour, when we got back to it in the Khorat +plateau, we consumed large quantities. + +[Illustration: A HILL MONASTERY, M. LE.] + +The next day M. Le was reached over sandy, undulating jungle country. +On foot one could easily have reached M. Ngob, but the elephants could +not do it, being, as I mentioned before, in bad condition. I was not +loth to rest the night here, it being one of the most beautiful of the +hill-enclosed valleys we had been in. From the sala we looked out over +the terraced paddy fields, with the winding silver of the river below, +and abruptly beyond it shoulder upon shoulder of heavily timbered +ranges rising into the peaks which divided us from the Chieng Hon +plain to' the west and north-west. Eastward, and just over us, were +low steep hills, on a spur of which was a small hill monastery, whence +the bells on the gables sent down a gentle tinkling as they were +swayed by the strong south-westerly breeze which was sweeping a watery +rustling sound out of the bamboos and coconut palms. + +The salas being small, the people of the village ran up in half an +hour one of their bamboo lean-to shelters for the men, but the Laos as +usual seemed to prefer lighting a fire and lying out in the open round +it m their cloaks, there being always one man sitting up on watch and +supplying fuel when necessary. + +M. Ngob is in a narrow hollow, which I should not care to visit in hot +weather, for the wind hardly gets into the place. We had nearly a +whole day's rest here. A mule caravan of Haws came in from the north +and rendered the otherwise peaceful air hideous with their loud, +hoarse talking. But for them a Laos village is singularly quiet; no +sounds but the quack, quack of the fat ducks who share the pools in +the stream with a few laughing children, the grunts of a family of +pigs, the occasional trumpet of an elephant who has been up to some +playful game or other of which the master does not approve, and the +steady thump, thump of the small foot rice mills, which the women work +apparently from morn till night. + +Before sunrise, as the sonorous chant rises from the wat, these mills +are at work too, and often the last thing at night one hears them +still. Mr. McCarthy has described them, but I may just mention that +they consist of a piece of tree-trunk hollowed into a funnel-shape, +into which the rice is put, and a long lever worked at the outer end +by the foot, the woman stepping on and off, fitted with a hammer-head +of wood, of which several of different sizes are used. And while the +mother works her loom close by, the two daughters will work the mill +and chat and chaff the passers-by. + +Minimum readings for the last four days, 52 deg., 55 deg., 57 deg., 58 deg. Fahr. +The maximum in one of these salas is generally about 82 deg. for this +month at 2 to 3 p.m. The winds were now south-westerly, very strong, +with bright fierce sun, but cumuli lying on the higher peaks after 4 +p.m., sometimes a slight shower falling from them. + +One mile north-west from M. Ngob, the Nam Nan,[2] here known as the +Nam Ngob (and actually the people did not know that it was the same +river as the Nam Nan below), runs over shallow pebble beds, where we +forded to the west side. This day's march is a very good example of +the kind of travelling to be done. The tracks over the hills are +either in the bed of the "hoays," or streams, far down in a perpetual +night, where the coldness of the water chills the feet and legs +through and through; or, after a steep climb, high up on narrow spurs +leading to the central range, where the forest is thick enough to keep +off all the wind but not the rays of the sun after 10 a.m. Once on +these ridges no water is to be had for half a day, and the stick of +sugar-cane or water-bottle of cold tea, the best of all beverages, is +worth its weight in gold. However, drinking on the march is a ruinous +habit. The Laos sensibly rinse the mouth when they can, and only drink +at the end of the day. + +[Illustration: VIEW FROM M. LE, LOOKING NORTH-WEST ACROSS THE NAM NAN +AND WATERSHED OF MEINAM KHONG.] + +Following up Hoay Sakeng over red sandstone rocks, the track then +climbs on to a long ridge, leading, with many rises and falls, to a +small gap in the range, about 1100 feet above the river. We met on the +way four pack oxen coming, with their pretty deep-toned bell, down the +path, and on reaching the summit had a most glorious view of the thick +forests of the Chieng Hon valley, with the small clearings here and +there and surrounded on all sides, as far as one could see in the dim +haze which accompanies the south-west wind, by hill ranges. Twenty +minutes down a steep drop at a run brought us into a different climate +and the most perfect valley I was ever in. Far above, the sun +glistened here and there on the wide-spreading fronds of huge +tree-ferns; for the rest; we were almost in darkness, with orchids and +great twisted creepers climbing on the tree-trunks dim above us. The +stream is known as Hoay Tok, and down its bed we stumbled, cutting +ourselves about on the rough outcrops, the strike of which, with a +steep westerly dip, was at right angles to our course, and made most +unpleasant travelling. Two hours more across a partially cultivated +plain, and we passed another Haw caravan encamped, and reached the +sala. The elephants did not arrive until 5 p.m., it having taken them +twelve hours to reach M. Chieng Hon. + +At M. Pechai I had bought some ponies. There are not many there, and +the choice was limited, while the price, forty to sixty ticals, was +heavy. These animals, as long as we were in flat country, were useful, +but they were not good mountaineers, and I found travelling on foot +much pleasanter, while, as a general rule, the more exercise men get +in these jungles, the healthier they are. On this day each one of my +Siamese assistants had a fall, for they, as a rule, stuck to their +ponies' backs, whatever the trail was like; this often means getting +one's face and hands tremendously knocked about, frequent +dismountings, slow progress, and endless bother, while it also stands +in the way of surveying or careful observation of the lie of the +ground. + +There was a very heavy, damp mist when we pushed on next day through +the Dong Choi, a magnificent forest, which almost covers this plateau +with the scenery of Hoay Tok continued, only on a larger and more +imposing scale. The size of the ferns, and especially of the +hart's-tongues, which clung in masses, with clumps of orchids, far up +on the bare trunks of the trees which form the roofing of branch and +leaf above, was quite astonishing to me. + +Camp was made by a small sala in a wild clearing at Sala Pangue, from +which the sun was early excluded by the hills and forest on the west, +which we were to cross on the morrow. The tired elephants had a +well-earned afternoon's rest. To give them time to get in before +sunset, next day we got under way at 3.30 a.m., every six or eight men +having a torch about eight feet long of split bamboo. These early +marches are a sort of scrambling dream, and should not be resorted to +except under compulsion, as, although the cool morning air is pleasant +for the first hour, every one soon gets very done up, and stumbles on +hazily. Sunrise puts new life into one, but the want of the early +morning sleep makes one feel the heat of the day far more. Moreover, +of course, nothing of the country is seen. We rose for an hour and a +half up over hills, and one or two of the ponies had some tremendous +falls, and were soon left struggling behind. At sunrise we were +descending once more among the wildest and most rugged scenes into the +valley of Nam Pote, and were now fairly in the Mekong drainage. This +was another of the wonderful valleys which are so common here; and the +temperature was just over 10 deg. Fahr. below that of the hill ridges +when we left them at 6 a.m. About 8.30, after crossing and recrossing +the stream about thirty times, and being regularly chilled, I stopped +at a small sala, and was glad to bask in the sun. An hour and a half +later the others came up, and we breakfasted. Chow Benn Yenn's sharp +eyes had seen some deer and two tigers, but they were off in a moment. +Where the former is the latter follows, but neither will stay when he +detects the sound of man coming through the forest. The tiger takes +the greatest trouble to avoid a man, unless very famished. Often then +he is rendered bold enough to attack a solitary man, when squatting +down to eat his _kao neo_, and it is thus that accidents occur; but he +will seldom face two men, and that is why one always meets the Laos in +couples, if not in greater numbers. + +At 10.30 we continued down the valley; rock apparently red sandstone, +but so decomposed at its outcrop as to give no clue of reliable +character. Passed numbers of wild banana trees, which do not bear +fruit. They are very aggravating to tired men, who hear the cry of a +jungle fowl, and coming round a corner see the broad leaves of the +bananas; naturally we jump forward, thinking to get a rest and a bunch +of bananas, and, perhaps, a fowl or some eggs for the evening's +supper, but find nothing and no sign of man or fowl. + +The course is roughly north-west until the hills fall back, and the +valley opens on a flat piece of paddy land, bounded north and south by +lofty limestone rocks, with, to the west, a barrier caused by a steep +north and south ridge, over which lies M. Kob, but round which a long +_detour_ has to be made to the north-west, down the Nam Pote valley, +to where the Nam Kob meets it. Passing Ban Tam, Ban Prow, and Ban +Faek, prosperous-looking villages, we reached the junction at one +o'clock. After a brief rest in the shade, in another hour and a half, +after fording Nam Kob pretty frequently (making about the ninetieth +time we had been in the water that day), we reached the sala of M. +Kob. The others began to arrive about four o'clock, and the elephants +at 6.30, looking very sorry; and we had to give them a complete rest +next day. + +[Illustration: Map--Route from Muang Ngob on the Nam Nan to Muang +Chieng Kong on the Mekong River From a Compass Survey by H. Warington +Smyth, F.G.S. 1893.] + +From the character of the scenery here, and at the top of the Nam +Pote, where we struck it, I imagine the hills we came down among were +limestones overlying the sandstone again; all round the Muang are the +wildest and most fantastic peaks, and, with the steep heights hanging +immediately over it, it was more like a Norwegian valley than anything +I have seen. + +The wats here are very simple, the houses neat, but small; bricks are +baked in the valley, and the rice-mills thump cheerily and echo off +the hills all day. There were some pack oxen, which came over from the +westward; but the Laos who drove them, whether from distrust of us or +not, I do not know, would not converse with any of us. The bells of +these caravans as they go trotting down the valleys are beautiful. +First goes a large, deep-toned bell, swinging between the packs of the +leader; the next is a third above it; and the rear is brought up by a +treble bell. The little oxen trot in their order without other +guidance than that of the bells and an occasional shout, one man +leading, another to every five animals, and one to bring up the rear. +The baskets are hung on each side of the hump, with often an +ornamental erection between them; there are fore and aft stays of +leather, and these prevent the packs coming off when the animals are +climbing. We had met some before--and met and used others afterwards; +however pretty they look as they trot along, their bells tinkling far +over land and forest, they are not pleasant to travel with, especially +in the rains, when streams are all in flood, for it is impossible to +keep anything they carry at all dry. + +While we were resting here a fire occurred, and two houses were burnt +to the ground in about seven minutes. My Siamese, I must say, worked +very well and pluckily, the Laos seeming quite dazed by the +catastrophe. We cut down a row of banana palms, split up the trunks, +and threw them on the flames, by the water and moisture in them +beating down the fire, so that two neighbouring houses were saved, +with the outhouses, in which, in huge bins, the rice was stored. For +this last the poor fellows who only arrived home at night to find +their houses burned, were most grateful; they came to thank us, and I +was very much struck with the conduct of my people, who, beginning +with my boat-boy, a Mon, or Peguan (who at the fire and on every other +occasion had shown himself a very smart, handy, and good-hearted +fellow), selected what clothes they could spare, and sent the two Laos +men away loaded with raiment, and with tears of thankfulness in their +eyes. It gives an additional pleasure to work with men who can act +like that. + +Thermometer readings on the march from Sala Pangue were--3 a.m., 42 deg. +Fahr.; 5.30 a.m., on the hills, 60 deg.; 6.30 a.m., in Nam Pote valley, +50 deg.; 9 a.m., ditto, 59 deg.; noon, in the shade. Ban Faek, 87 deg. Fahr. My +aneroids had both been injured by my careless people, and I could get +no reliable heights. + +From M. Kob the trail follows up the Nam Tan in a general +south-south-west direction, and crosses a low watershed into the bed +of the Hoay Chang Kong, another rocky stream disastrous to foot gear. +It then crosses low ridges and jungle, passing several small villages +to Ban Ton Kluay, 6-1/2 hours' walk, though most of the people took 8, +and the elephants over 9. + +Thermometer minimum--54 deg. at sunrise in heavy damp mist; strong +south-westerly breeze at noon; thick haze all day. + +Six hours from here, over flat country, past M. Chieng Len, and in a +general north-north-west direction from that place is M. Ngau, which +gives its name to the Nam Ngau flowing north-north-east to the Mekong, +and meeting it half a day's boat journey below Chieng Kong. We met a +number of traders from the north carrying their loads; they were +smoking long-stemmed pipes, and looked very Burmese in face. They wore +blue sailor-looking trousers, with red trimmings round the ankle, +where they were very loose, and small blue jackets with bead +trimmings, while some had marvellously wide straw hats; with their +uniformity of dress and its high colouring they made a very pretty +picture crossing the yellow paddy fields. + +The Chet Muang at Chieng Len was in trouble with the Nan authorities +because he is, unfortunately, under the disaffected Chow Sa, and far +away from there as he is, and utterly ignorant, as he protested, of +his proceedings, it seemed likely that he would be involved in the +disgrace of his chief. + +From M. Ngau the trail crosses the upper end of the long range which +forms the watershed of the Nam Ing and Nam Ngau, along the western +side of which for three days we travelled, sleeping at Muang Ing and +Ban Pakeng. From the latter place, leaving at a quarter to two in the +morning. Ban Lung was reached at a quarter to seven. Here we forded +Nam Ing, and crossed a burning plain almost entirely devoid of +vegetation for four hours more, and then in a huge and very +comfortable sala disposed of the contents of our haversacks with the +pleasant feeling of having reached our goal. Chow Benn Yenn meanwhile +had left us for a day or two's visiting at some other villages east of +Nam Ing which owed allegiance to Chow Sa. Consequently, when I got in, +there were only the Laos guide, my Mon boatman, and two lusty young +Siamese servants who had kept up; and, absurd as it may seem to +Western ideas, the Chieng Kong people took some hours to believe that +I was come on genuine Government business; for a man is measured in +these parts according to the number of his following, and until the +men and elephants turned up I was often looked at askance. This was +sometimes very amusing and sometimes not, especially when trying to +procure coconuts or bananas! The sense of hospitality was, however, +generally quick to prevail. + +The three days from Muang Ngau were through forest, the villages lying +mostly on our west in the flat land nearer the river. We passed +several forest fires, which where they approached the trail made very +hot travelling. + +The barrenness of the country between the Nam Ing at Ban Lung and +Chieng Kong seems to have been originally caused by fires. The only +cultivation was by a muddy stream at Ban Satan, a name which struck me +as particularly appropriate in such a wilderness. There is an absence +of water, I was afterwards told, which prevents cultivation of any +value, and owing to this the Burmese gem-diggers have given up trying +to follow indications of stones on this side. + +The first view of the Mekong fairly took one's breath away, the water +here spreading out into a wide placid river of half a mile in width, +winding slowly away among a few sandbanks until lost in the hills to +the south-east. Across, on the north, lies a long low series of hills, +from which the gem-bearing Hoays seem all to take their rise. + +Thermometer minimum last four days--59 deg., 64 deg., 60 deg., 58 deg.; maximum in +sala, 90 deg., very thick haze all day, with strong breezes from south +towards noon. + + +[Footnote 2: The river evidently takes its rise from Doi Luang (a +large hill mass south of M. Hongsawadi), 19 deg. 35' N., 101 deg. 24' E.] + + + + +PART III. + +MUANG CHIENG KONG TO MUANG LUANG PRABANG. + + +Muang Chieng Kong became our head-quarters for ten days, and from +there I made a boat expedition to the Chieng Sen boundary, north-west; +and also one north and east inland, the object being the examination +of the gem deposit, its extent, character, and, if possible, its +value. + +From the Chieng Sen boundary at Hoay Nam Kung, extending for some +miles towards Chieng Kong, is a rapid piece of river tearing through a +series of gneissose and schistose rocks, which form high hills on +either bank. The gem-bearing gravel is not found until several basalt +sheets are encountered below Nam Ngau, a largish tributary flowing in +from the north. The hills on the left bank then become lower and more +distant, and these, consisting of a dark crystalline rock, the exact +mineralogical character of which has not yet been determined, seem to +be the source of all the stone-bearing gravels which are found +deposited in the streams flowing from them. The average thickness of +the gravel is 5 to 20 inches, and consists of quartz and fragments of +the crystalline rock above mentioned. The overburden is a reddish clay +soil of an average depth of 10 feet, through which the Burmese, who +are found wherever there are gems, sink large pits some 10 feet +square. A sharpened bamboo will be often first driven down to +ascertain if the gravel underlies the spot, it having been found very +capricious. + +Explorations were made in the neighbourhood for many years +before--about two years ago--the first paying gravel was found; the +Burmese relying all the time on the presence of what is known as +_nin_, small black stones which have turned out to be black spinel, +and are always to be found in close proximity to the sapphire. When +washing gravel in a stream these little water-worn crystals are found; +it will only need industry and time to find the gem gravel, which will +be somewhere near, although in part perhaps denuded away. The _nin_ +have been followed for years, and now there are over two hundred men +reaping the reward of their indefatigable patience. I found _nin_ and +struck gravel in all the streams flowing in on the left bank between +Nam Ngau and Hoay Pakham, which is the main scene of the operations at +present, and lies about 1 mile below Chieng Kong. On the right bank +there are apparently no signs whatever, except at Hoay Duk, a stream +exactly opposite Hoay Pakham; but only a few _nin_ are to be seen +here, and there is no water for washing purposes. East and north of +Hoay Pakham, again, are half a dozen more streams flowing, from that +side of the range I have spoken of as the source of the gravel, into +the Nam Hau, which eventually reaches the Mekong. Some of these have +been found to be rich, and on one the Burmese built their bamboo +villages and made their clearings; but after a fortnight's work the +places were abandoned as being terribly unhealthy, sunk deep in the +jungle valleys, and very difficult to get stores to. + +[Illustration: A GEM-DIGGER'S CLEARING, CHIENG KONG.] + +When the present large workings are exhausted, both those and the +streams towards Nam Ngau will get their fair share of attention, no +doubt. The distance between the extreme points where the gravel exists +and the limit of our present knowledge is over 10 miles, but within +that area it is not by any means continuous, and any attempt at +estimating the probable output and the extent of reserves could only +result in the most erroneous conclusions. Owing to the secrecy +observed by the Burmese in the matter among themselves, and the fact +that they usually travel long distances to find a market for their +better stones, the output up to the present of saleable stones is +merely a matter of conjecture, and is variously estimated by the +headmen as from 3 to 6 catties, say, over 22,000 carats perhaps. One +man showed me what he declared was the result of his year's +work--three good stones of rich colour and good water, for which he +expected to get 100, 60, and 50 Rs. respectively, and some forty small +ones (some of them of very poor colour), which after an hour's +bargaining one could certainly have got for 50 Rs. He had, besides, of +course, numberless fragments and scraps which were valueless. The +chances are, from what I saw, that this is a fair example of what the +average digger obtains; but it must be remembered that no information +voluntarily given by the Burmese on this head is ever reliable. They +invariably keep something in reserve, for they never feel quite +certain what the Englishman may be up to with his questioning; and +even among themselves the dodges resorted to to hide the exact truth +are very amusing. In buying stones one always has the worst produced +first, and after an exhaustive pick out of them all, presently, +slowly, out of infinite wraps of paper and cotton, come some better +ones, and after an hour or so the best are produced, and probably this +is the real extent of the man's stock; but if through impatience one +closes the bargains too early, the best are never produced, but will +be kept for the future, and will eventually be taken over to Rangoon, +or even Calcutta. + +In a few years' time there will, no doubt, be more men at work, and +larger areas of pits in work. At the present moment the ground in Hoay +Pakham has only been dug out for a distance of half a mile from the +flood level of the Mekong, with a breadth averaging 80 yards. Work is +only carried on in the morning, when the pit will be bailed out dry; +at noon the digging and washing ceases, and the men return home, and +sit all the afternoon in their houses chaffing, talking, and picking +over and enjoying the sight of their stones, in which they find great +delight. The washing consists simply of cleaning the basket of muddy +gravel with water, and picking over the remains twice by hand. The +operation is very quick, and the eye never misses the faintest sign of +colour. + +With regard to the rubies I had expected to find, from my own +observation, and subsequently from conversation with the diggers, I +soon saw that not only have none been ever found, but none of the +signs of the ruby as known at Chantabun or in Burma have been seen. A +Siamese official who had been sent here a year ago by the Government +to test and report on the place, seeing some small garnets, thought +they must be rubies, and thinking to advance himself at head-quarters, +bought a very fine Burmese ruby for 70 Rs., and sent it down with his +report as having been found in Chieng Kong! From this, of course, very +large hopes of the character of the find had been entertained: I fear +now he is somewhat in disgrace. Fever, due to the thick forest +standing high overhead all around, and the peculiar sickliness always +caused by the upturning of new soil, especially in the damp beds of +the streams, is very prevalent. + +The Burmese houses are very different from the Siamese and Laos--mere +bamboo shanties only lifted some 2 feet off the ground, but with all +sorts of handy little shelves, window-shutters, doors and lockers, +which are generally absent from the others; and in these, as being +easily and quickly constructed, the men always live at their diggings. +I do not know the character of the Burmese in this respect at home, +but in this country they are always overflowing with friendliness and +hospitality to any Englishman; and the headmen at Chieng Kong, +especially one by name Monghu, who became a general favourite with my +people, and who accompanied us and worked with us everywhere, I can +never forget. + +The Chow Muang here was lately dead, and just before we left the +cremation ceremonies began in the big square before the principal wat. +At night the place all round the funeral pyre was lighted with +candles; three or four of the head monks were reading in a kind of +chant from their Pali manuscripts from the tops of temporary bamboo +pulpits, and among the booths standing round; the people squatted in +their cloaks, listening to music or hearing descriptive songs and +stories, which now and then produced roars of laughter. In the day +sports were going on, and there was some very good boxing between the +champions of neighbouring villages, who at the end each got three +rupees, victor and vanquished alike. The men strip, and their names +and the places they hail from are given out. They then salute the +master of the ceremonies in the ordinary Laos fashion, touching the +ground with their forehead on bended knees, raising the clasped hands +to the head, and proceed to business. For some moments they warily +watch one another, stepping and dancing round with a good deal of +attitudinizing of an alarming description, by the extravagance of +which we can generally tell the best man. The blows are rather +round-armed, it is true, and kicking is allowed; but it is wonderfully +quiet and masterful, and when they warm to it, very hard rounds are +fought. The umpires squat round ready to separate the men, call time, +and generally see fair play, and at the end of each round the two men +squat down, and are offered water out of silver bowls, the bearer +respectfully on his knee handing them the ladle. The keenness of the +onlookers is tremendous, especially when the men are well matched; but +what produced most enthusiasm was a fight between boys of about ten +years old. The little fellows showed, I must say, a great deal of +pluck and more science than most of us did at that age at school; they +kept their tempers well, and at the end of each round their seconds, +stalwart fathers and uncles, were beside themselves with delight, +stroking their heads and dancing round them with tears of laughter +running from their eyes. + +There were some sword and sword-and-spear dances by two men in slow +time to music, with silver-handled weapons, and accompanied by the +gestures in which all these nations take such pleasure. + +During the time I was in Chieng Kong district the weather was getting +warmer. Up the river we had the minimum 54 deg. three days running, just +after sunrise, at which time heavy mists shrouded the river valley, +and subsequently 56 deg., 58 deg., 60 deg. were the minimum at the same time. +The maximum in the shade at the sala or under the coverings in the +boats was 91 deg. at 1 p.m.--the average 89 deg. But in the jungle, where the +south-west winds could not reach, the heat was very great, and the sun +was very fierce, especially on the great banks of sand, which are so +characteristic of the river. The height I make 1250 feet from the sea. + +These sands, over which we used to trudge for miles from stream to +stream, got so hot after 11 a.m. until about sunset, that the men +could not bear walking on them, and took to the water; the glare is +tremendous to the eyes. After sunset the rocks retained their heat so +that some long-haired Shan dogs we had with us would not lie or walk +upon them. There is a great deal of mica, iron pyrites, and magnetic +iron ore in these sands; and washing among the bushes, which in many +places fringe the higher parts, or some feet down, where a larger +gravel lies, one seldom fails to find a small speck or two of gold. +The water itself, at this season, rushes through a deep gorge between +the rocks and sandbanks, which form its flood-bed, a narrow but very +deep column of water, working out for itself, where a bluff rock sends +a huge eddy whirling inwards, broad bays often 50 yards across. While +the distance between the high-water level on the opposite sides of the +valley will be nearly half a mile, the stream itself will often work +through its deep channel only 200 yards, and even less in width. The +scale of things here is not so large as that below, where the volume +of water has increased; but the character of the river is much the +same. + +[Illustration: CAMP AT THE FA PA RAPIDS.] + +The camps we formed on the sand spits, lulled at night by the thunder +and roaring echoes from the rapids, were wild and beautiful in the +extreme. The jungle, too, was full of night sounds--the bark of the +deer or the "peep, peep" of the tiger, of which we often heard three +or four at a time; and in the morning their tracks were everywhere +upon the sands. It is curious and worth remarking that when one got 4 +or 5 miles inland on the left bank no traces of tiger were to be +found; while, on the other hand, the elephant tracks became very +numerous, and were really useful in threading the jungle; the +destruction they work among the trees is wonderful. They seem, +however, to avoid the tiger zone near the river, as the tigers in turn +prefer the waterside, the latter probably finding greater facility for +hunting deer there. There is no doubt that any one who has the +inclination, and no work and plenty of time, might have excellent +sport by watching for tigers at the drinking-places, which are +generally well marked, and are in retired bays, among rocks and +bushes. + +Bananas and coconuts are very scarce at Chieng Kong; and on the third +day after our arrival I had to send the elephants on their way home, +owing to want of wholesome young green food. This all points, with the +barrenness we noticed coming across the Nam Sug valley, to a bad soil. +They complain that in the hot months, May and April, it is terribly +hot and dry, and that "nothing grows;" meaning thereby, no doubt, +things do not grow well. + +[Illustration: ONE OF OUR ELEPHANTS, WITH HOWDAH ON.] + +The departure of our elephants was a day of mourning to all of us. The +mahouts, very rough Siamese, burnt as black as Hindus, with long locks +of hair hanging round their necks, had been very good fellows, and, +however long their days, had never complained. All those who have +travelled with elephants feel the fascination of the beasts, with +their quiet, patient, and sagacious way of treating life; the merry +twinkle which sparkles from the small, sharp eyes, and the endless +little pranks they are ever ready for; and after some weeks of +travelling many a tired and weary day together, this becomes quite an +affection; and be sure, if you are fond of an elephant he knows it, +and reciprocates it very soon. So we were all very sorry to see them +swing off for the south again. + +The voyage from Chieng Kong down to Luang Prabang (or Muang Luang, the +"great town," as it is usually called) occupies five days if there are +no interruptions; the return journey takes from ten to fifteen days +against the current, there being a number of bad rapids. The scenery +is magnificent, and far surpasses anything I saw on the Mekong below. +The river has cut its way almost at right angles to the strike of the +rock, a series of schists which appear to have been considerably +distorted, until the neighbourhood of the Nam Oo is reached, when the +limestones which form the splendid scenery of that river come in. The +latter rocks are also seen on the right bank of the big river, where +it takes its southerly course south of Ban Soap Ta (one day from +Chieng Kong), and there seems to be on the top of a synclinal. They +are always characterized in this country by the peculiar dense +forests, like the Dong Phya Yen in Lower Siam, the Dong Choi round +Chieng Hon, and another one we touched in the valley of the Nam Ngau, +east of the Nam Ing, known as Pa Kung Ngau, where the sun never enters +owing to the dense foliage, and the elephant tracks form the only +paths. We took twelve days going down, making on the way some short +expeditions into the country. The inactivity in the boats soon made +itself felt, and after five days there were ten men sick out of the +twenty Siamese, six with fever and the others with sores, to which +they are very liable, any scratch or wound of the slightest +description, especially about the feet or legs, always giving rise to +them; in fact, I kept one knife on purpose for lancing these things. +Wherever we go sick people are brought, and the chief ailments among +the Laos were fever, affections of the eyes, and dysentery. The latter +is generally taken in hand too late, and ends fatally. + +The first day from Chieng Kong we brought up on the south bank, at the +mouth of the Nam Ngau I have already mentioned; and I was two nights +away with only two or three men visiting some gold washings in the bed +of the river. The percentage is extremely small, and is the same in +character though not so rich as in the Mekong sands. The usual small +fee of two rupees a year is paid by each man. They work waist deep in +the cold rushing stream, and cannot go on for more than ten minutes at +a time. A basket is sunk under water with one foot upon it, and the +gravel from the bank prized out into it with the usual iron-shod +bamboo; it is then lifted out, carried ashore, and washed. This +operation, here and throughout the Mekong district, is done by a man +standing in the water, with a wooden tray in front of him, shaped like +a Chinaman's peaked hat, the diameter 30 inches, and depth at the +centre 5 inches. As it floats on the water, moored by a string to a +stone, the basket of gravel is emptied into it, and the larger stones +picked out. A rotary motion is given to the pan by the continual +shifting of the hands from right to left; at the same time the water +is expelled, or dipped up, and sent running round the edge by a +depression of the rim being sent round "against the sun," until all +the light material is gone. What remains is usually a little magnetic +iron ore, with a speck or two of very fine "float" gold for every four +baskets of 14 inches diameter and 3-1/2 inches depth. It is then washed +carefully into a small oblong box, in which it is carried home and +handed over to the women who, I am told (for I never saw it done), use +mercury obtained from Chinese merchants for the subsequent freeing of +the gold. On the way to Nongkhai we met several gangs of men, +generally seven or eight in number, living in their boats and engaged +in washing in this way in the sands of the river, in which, according +to all I could gather, the gold seems to be redeposited in small +quantities by every year's flood season. + +[Illustration of Chinese peaked hat] + +What the gold prospects of the country are, there have been no +sufficient trials to show, but with the advent of the French on the +banks of the river we may soon know something more on this head. The +Laos consider they do very well if they get 2 hun per man in a day (5 +hun = 1 fuang or 1/8 tical); but their work is very intermittent, and +the search for gold seems to have the proverbial effect upon them, for +in several cases I found their assertions were not over-truthful. + +Up such rivers as the Nam Beng, Nam Ngau, Nam Oo, and Nam Suung, the +gold seems to be in old water deposits which extend beyond the present +stream beds, and will probably be found to cover considerable areas in +the valley bottoms. + +Both calcite and quartz exist in great abundance in the mountain +ranges we came in contact with, and to the denudation of these two +minerals a great deal of the alluvial gold presumably owes its origin, +as well as perhaps from the crystalline limestones. I was, however, +unable ever to lay hands on an undoubted gold-bearing vein of either +character, nor could I get any information of occurrence of the metal, +except in alluvial sands and gravels. Some large nuggets have been +found up the Nam Beng and Nam Oo, and up the former river a Chinaman +from Luang Prabang had tried systematic working of a kind. After six +months' work he lost 200 ticals; and when a Chinaman loses money, +especially in a country where money will go so far, the chances are +that no one else will make their fortunes. I subsequently found at Pak +Beng that the Kache he had employed had swallowed all the decent-sized +gold obtained! This is another instance of the difficulties the miner +has to meet with in Siam; and with fevers, superstition, robbery, and +physical difficulties, the list is a rather alarming one. + +This valley of the Nam Ngau is inhabited by people known as Lus. They +wear their heads shaved, except for the top tuft, like all the Nan +men, with enormously loose and wide blue trousers, often trimmed round +the ankle with red; short blue jackets with beads and touches of red; +and red, green, or white turbans. They are magnificently made men, +with very pleasant countenances, tattooed as usual from knee to waist, +but, when clothed, more like the stage-pirate; in fact, a gang of +them, with the long dhaps and an old flintlock or two among them, +standing chatting, laughing, and smoking their long-stemmed pipes, +would make an ideal buccaneer's crew. + +At Ban Muang, where we slept each night, the people were the most +friendly I had met; some fifty of them came out to greet us on our +arrival, and we had an orchestra of four flutes in the evening to play +us to sleep. The children and women were extremely pretty. Some +distance south of this place the forest already mentioned as Pe Kung +Ngau begins. Men travelling in it, and even the people living on its +skirts, are subject to a very violent fever, which causes complete +prostration in a few hours, and is generally fatal. The face and +breast become quite yellow, presumably owing to the stoppage of the +bile-duct. + +A big dyke has lately been cut from the Nam Ngau to take the water to +the eastern side of the valley for purposes of irrigation. Its depth +and width are about 10 feet, and it must be some miles long. All the +men from the villages turned out to work, and it proved a heavy +undertaking. This valley seems to be all under Muang Sa, and Chow Benn +Yenn found himself among his friends. + +[Illustration: THE LEADING MULE.] + +We met another gang of Haws, who made night hideous by discovering the +mules had strayed, and every man and boy among them shrieking, +howling, beating gongs, and firing guns by way of attracting them back +to the camp. It was a pleasant night, with one of my men raving and +shouting with fever till dawn. + +[Illustration: A HEAD MAN--STERN VIEW.] + +[Illustration: A HEAD MAN--SIDE VIEW.] + +At Ban Soap Ta, or Pak Ta, we were in the Province of Luang Prabang. +The village is most beautifully situated on the left bank of the +river, just below where the wild torrent of the Nam Ta falls into it. +There is a regular street all down the village, with deep ditches on +each side, between the road and the scattered houses. We met numerous +Kache from inland--a perfectly wild people, wearing only the smallest +strip of cloth, with a long metal hairpin stuck through the hair +rolled up behind, and often a flower in the lobe of the ear. They are +short and fleshy, and, though not prepossessing, we subsequently found +some of them to be good hard workers, and quiet, simple creatures. The +inhabitants of the village were not so smart as our Southern Laos or +the Lus we had just left; some of them wore slight whiskers, and one +or two had thin beards, and there are a good many stout men among +them. + +[Illustration: A HAW--PACKS DISMOUNTED.] + +[Illustration: LAOS BOAT.] + +We here changed boats, our other craft returning with their crews to +Chieng Kong. These boats are mere dug-out canoes, some 60 feet long as +a rule, with 4 feet beam. They are fitted all along amidships with a +light framework of split bamboos, standing up from the gunwale in a +barrel shape. On and tied to these are rectangular-shaped pieces of +bamboo plaiting, of a primitive character, stuffed with dead leaves, +about 8 feet by 6 feet, of which two form the sides, and a third the +roof, overlapping them. Two lots together give a good long cabin, and +sitting on the light bamboo decking fitted at the level of the +gunwale, one has 3 to 4 feet of head room. One's gear goes in +underneath, and the men's cooking and camping gear will be stored aft. +Two-thirds of the way aft an open space is left, and the decking is +discontinued, and here, going through a rapid, bailing is resorted to. + +For going down river the most distressingly primitive oars are used, +two or three men pulling at them, working in a grommet. The steersman +stands aloft astern, with a rudder 6 or 9 feet in length, which he +places in a loop on one quarter or the other. To help the speedier +turning of the boat in rapids, a long oar is fitted to work +athwart-ship out over the stern, and the power of these two is very +great, but not too much for the places they are sometimes in. But the +most important and ingenious part is the fitting of bundles of long +bamboos round the gunwale outside. Three of these bundles will go to +the length of the boat, and they not only give the boat 1-1/2 or 2 feet +more beam, and therefore great steadiness, but they act as breakwaters +outside her in the rapids, and as air-tight compartments when she is +swamped. They are turned up at the ends with the boat's run; but they +hide her very effectually, so that she looks more like a bamboo raft +than a boat. + +[Illustration: ILLUSTRATION OF OAR AND STEERING-GEAR.] + +In going up stream, these bamboo bundles are cut adrift, and long +bamboos are used for poling from the fore-deck; the boats winding in +and out among the rocks upon the edges, using the swift back currents +with such effect that, except on the very rapid parts of the river, +the upward journey averages a rate of 3 miles an hour. At the rapids, +the boats must be often unloaded and hauled over, this occupying a +whole day. + +In the flood season, from June to October, the whole river valley is a +sea of swift turbid water, often 40 feet above the level of the dry +season, as is attested by the hulls of wrecked boats, gigantic tree +stems, and water marks, which one sees to that height upon the crags +among the sandbanks. Then the boats work their way up among the trees +and bushes on the jungle edge. Below Luang Prabang, a double boat is +used for going down river, and one gets a wide deck upon it of 10 feet +beam; in these, besides the crew of five men, seven men could live +comfortably, while in the single boats, with the crew of four men, +four more make rather close quarters. + +[Illustration: DOUBLE BOAT.] + +A great deal of rice goes clown the Mekong and Nam Oo for the supply +of Luang Prabang from the hills, that town not being able to supply +itself. This rice goes down in tremendously big bamboo rafts, which +look like floating villages; they are often some 120 feet long and 30 +feet beam. They are allowed to go almost entirely with the current, +there being eight or ten long oars rigged out ahead and astern, worked +by as many men, for canting the craft in either direction to avoid +rocks or eddies. There is a drawing in Mr. Colquhoun's book (which, I +believe, is taken from Garnier's work) which gives a good idea of a +small one shooting a rapid. They are very unwieldy, bad to steer, and +not too easy to take down these places. + +[Illustration: VILLAGE ABOVE PAKU, MEKONG.] + +Small dug-outs of a pretty shape are used in great numbers for fishing +purposes; the boat drifts down broadside to the stream, one man being +at either end with a paddle gently working in one hand, the foot often +helping, and the other holding a line to the net. In these the famous +_pla buk_ are caught. The weight of an average one is over 130 lbs. +The Laos say they are not common below Nong Khai, and that they +believe them to breed in the retired spots between there and Luang +Prabang. M. Pavie considers they come all the way from the sea, but I +do not at present know his data; they are certainly known at Bassac. +The _pla reum_ is another large fish, often over 120 lbs. in weight, +which is also known on the Meinam. Both are caught extensively, and +are sold cut up in steaks in the markets. + +[Illustration: FORTY-FIVE FEET BOAT, NAM OO.] + +[Illustration: PART OF THE MEKONG.] + +Leaving Pak Ta, the river turns south among a series of schists, +until, after passing the very fine lofty peak of Pa Mon, it resumes +its easterly direction among a lot of wild rapids. We reached for the +night a temporary village on the north bank, where a number of Laos, +engaged in buying rice from the Khache, were encamped. A very wild +night of thunderstorms and squalls of wind. The next day was the +grandest we had on the Mekong, for the hills close in and form a +magnificent gorge, the effect of which was heightened by the wild rain +mists which were whirling among the mountains, as the sun rose ahead +of us with almost indescribable greens, yellows, and reds. This +wonderful scene, and the presence here and there of the little wooden +houses, perched high up in their clearings by the Khache where the big +trees lay in all directions, or of small villages clustering in +apparently inaccessible places, again carried one back to the wilds of +Norway. We shot the big rapids of Keng La, and reached Ban Pak Beng +that evening. In another day, passing three difficult rapids, Ban +Tanun is reached; from which in three days, sleeping at Bans Kokare +and Lataen, Muang Luang was in sight ahead at sunset, with the +fantastic limestones of the Nam Oo over the stern, and wrapped in +thick mists. Our slow speed was due to the constant change of boats +and crews. + +[Illustration: KHACHE HILL CLEARINGS; RAPIDS ABOVE PAK BENG, MEKONG.] + +From Ban Tanun I made a three-days' tramp south-west over to the plain +of Muang Hongsawadi, to visit the volcanoes marked on Mr. McCarthy's +map. The track is very rough, up the bed of the Hoay Tap for some +hours, and then over the watershed, from the summit of which, owing to +fires having cleared away the jungle, a magnificent view was to be had +to the south-west over the valley. The contrast between the rugged +uncompromising character of the Mekong valley behind, and the peaceful +expanse of cultivation nestling below us was delightful. The villages +are all of substantially built houses; the people are a smart, tidy, +and pleasant race of Laos, and they are very rich in cattle and +elephants; rice is cheap, and oranges, pomaloes, and other fruit were +plentiful. The Governor, who was subject to Luang Prabang, is said to +be a hundred and twenty years of age, and as his house is some miles +from the sala, he sent a message asking me to excuse his calling. + +[Illustration: DHAP AND SHEATH.] + +[Illustration: JUNGLE KNIVES.] + +West-north-west about 5 miles is the Pak Fai Mai, as the Laos call the +two volcanic vents which, elevated at not more than 200 feet above the +plain, are situated in a thin bamboo jungle. Each of the vents is +about 200 yards long, sloping slightly in a direction 20 deg. east of +south, and 70 to 80 yards wide; the southerly one is the least +inactive of the two. Slight smoke rises in several places, but for the +most part one can walk about on the bottom anywhere, except at the +south-eastern end, where there is a series of largish cracks, whence +smoke and free sulphurous acid rise in small quantities; here the +ground is very hot, and 2 feet in the cracks are red hot, and one can +light a bamboo at them. There were traces of the action of +sulphuretted hydrogen or of carbonic acid, and the crust of sulphur at +the openings may be due to the decomposition of the former gas. I +could neither hear nor see of there having been any great activity at +any time in the past, but the existence of a present dormant volcanic +action is evident. Why this vent has occurred in the position it has +is not obvious; there is no apparent line of dislocation, nor has it +chosen the valley proper.[3] In the rains there is, I was told, a good +deal of steam rising, as is natural, and more spluttering and activity +than we saw. At the northern end there were traces of elephants on the +slag (which is everywhere highly coloured from iron chloride); they +are proverbially afraid of fire, so it may be inferred that the +activity is not great. Southward the vent, which from the slag surface +to the top of its sides is not more than 30 feet, is advancing, and +the blackened stumps of newly fallen trees and bamboo clumps lie +about, with marks of recent falls in the bank. + +[Illustration: MOUTH OF NAM SUUNG, ABOVE LUANG PRABANG.] + +The weather was now getting hot, March being the worst month in this +district. Thermometer minimum (for three days south of Ban Tanun) +72 deg., maximum in the sala 94 deg. Distant thunder in the evenings +muttering continually. This weather continued, with thick haze air, +till we reached Luang Prabang. We had fresh south-westerly winds +blowing very hot, and at night rain squalls. Our first impression of +the town was not good; after a long day's pulling, helping the men, +who were very tired with the heat, we got in at dusk. The temperature +ashore, in the streets, or on the sand slope, was oppressive; but +when, after some supper, we went up to call on Phra Prasada, the +Commissioner appointed from Bangkok, and there enjoyed some real +coffee and the luxury of a punkah, in the fine new Government offices +he had just finished building, and heard the bugles ringing out all +round, and the weird march music of the kans, which are more played in +this province than almost any other, we forgot the heat in the +pleasures of the change of life. + +[Illustration: APPROACH TO LUANG PRABANG FROM NORTH.] + +Throughout my stay in this locality, the help we received from the +Commissioner, who is full of energy, was enormous. He has undoubtedly +done a great deal, practically, for the welfare of the people here, +and was most popular; and he has also made extensive collections of +the produce of the province, which will soon be in Bangkok. He is a +man of observation and ideas, absolutely straight, and without any +humbug in his disposition. I was surprised to find that he could read +English well, and talk it moderately, and still more to find this has +all been acquired since he came to the north as Commissioner seven +years ago. This of itself shows an unusual man, and I record it +because it is not often realized that there are such men among the +Siamese. His time was up, and Phya Pechai was appointed to the post +just before I left, and he came south before the trouble with France +reached its climax lately. + + +[Footnote 3: This valley drains into the Nam Ngum, and so into the +Mekong. The big mass of Doi Luang to the south is the division between +the Meinam and Mekong drainages here.] + + + + +PART IV. + +Luang Prabang (March, 1893). + + +Making expeditions in various directions, Luang Prabang was our +head-quarters for about three weeks. Of all the country round, the +town itself seems to be the hottest place, and to be away in the +jungle was infinitely preferable to staying in the bungalow, where at +sunset the thermometer was generally still at 92 deg. Unlike Nan, Chieng +Mai, or Korat, there is no wall around the town, which is the usual +collection of substantial teak houses, and large roomy monasteries, of +which one-half are in ruins. The latter, however, show signs of some +fine gilding and decorative work, and a good deal of architectural +effort has been expended upon them. They have been allowed, after the +strange custom of the Buddhists, to fall to rack and ruin without an +attempt being made to save them; because, one would think, by some +strange mistake, the repairing of a monastery makes no merit, though +building a brand-new one, however third-rate in style or bad in +finish, is one of the highest of merit-making acts. + +The chief points one notices in which these wats differ from those in +Nan are, the generally low effect, the roofs rising less strikingly +than that, for instance, at Muang Sa; the raising at the centre of the +roof of what at a distance looks not unlike the lantern of a college +hall, which is merely an exterior addition, and does not admit light +or air; the small-scale[4] buildings, of which there are often several +in the enclosure, which are best described as being like tiny chapels +with vaulted roof, in which, of course, innumerable "phras" stand at +the inner end, and which are usually about 14 feet in length, and +beautifully proportioned; the small pedestals, which are disposed +about on all sides, in a niche in which the small phra is always to be +seen; and, finally, the substantial character of the stone enclosure +which surrounds the monastery buildings, with often an effective porch +at the entrance. In the curves of roof and eaves they show a real +artistic sense. The materials used are brick, covered with stucco, +timber, and wood tiles; and, where an arch is attempted, it is always +supported by a horizontal beam in the Chinese fashion, with the space +above usually filled in, or else a perpendicular goes up from it. It +is curious that there are no signs of any knowledge of true arches in +these states. + +[Illustration: WAT CHIENG TONG.] + +The main feature of the Muang is the central hill known as Kao Chom Pu +Si, a bluff of limestone standing up out of the red sandstone plain on +which the town is built; its longer axis is parallel with the river, +from which it is less than a quarter of a mile distant. On the summit +is a small wat, with a lofty pagoda pinnacle visible for miles round; +a huge drum hung here is struck every hour by a monk, and its boom +rolls down all over the valley. What with it and the bugles and other +wats' gongs, one is never at a loss to know the time. The town is +clustered round the hill, and, except on the south, there is water in +almost each direction, the Nam Kan coming winding into the big river +from the east, just to the north. + +[Illustration: PA CHOM SI, LUANG PRABANG.] + +The people, among whom slavery was abolished a few years ago by Phya +Surasak, who went up as the Siamese general to quiet the Black Flags, +are a very independent race, and, possibly mindful of a powerful past, +think somewhat of themselves, and do very little manual labour. The +men, I regret to own, are very much addicted to opium; stealing is not +absolutely unknown, and generally the code of morals is not as severe +as in Nan. The women, instead of the timidity and shyness to which we +had been accustomed so far (so that, when they could, we always found +the women bolt into the jungle at the sight of strangers, or at least +retire), showed a very free and easy manner, and are much addicted to +giggling and chatter. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF LUANG PRABANG AND RIVER.] + +The industrious sounds of the foot rice-mills are hardly ever to be +heard in the town; and the market, instead of taking place in the +early dawn, that the day's work may not be interfered with, lasts +roughly from dawn to sunset, with the exception of an hour or two at +noon. All down the main street, which runs between the hill and the +river, the ladies sit behind their baskets, flirting with the men, who +cruise up and down with apparently not much else to do. This market is +a very big affair, and besides the usual endless fruit, cigarettes and +flowers, there are huge steaks of pla reum, ducks, ducks' and hens' +eggs, pigs dead and alive, opium lamps, Japanese matches, needles and +pins, cotton, coarse cotton cloth, tobacco, and a fair sprinkling of +Manchester goods. Among the people one sees besides the Laos of the +place, are Nan Laos, Lus, or Khache, and various hill tribes +remarkable for their scanty clothing,[5] Chinese, Shan traders from up +the Nam Oo, Haws, and Burmese. At the time of my visit, the French +consulate was across on the other side of the river, M. Ducant being +in charge there. There is also a French store with all sorts of French +goods, connected with the "Syndicat du Haut Laos." These goods I found +most unpopular with the people, and when I bought one or two things +for my men (paes, as they call them, for throwing over the shoulder +like a mantle, or for sarongs), they refused to have them, saying the +people had told them they were "no good,"--one reason being they would +not wash. The imports of this store, brought by boat down the Nam Nua +and Nam Oo from Tongking, amounted in February and March, 1893, to +19,841 francs' worth. The Commissioner, and my own observation in part +confirmed it, told me that the store has to be heavily subsidized, and +is not successful, the goods not being wanted by the Laos, who make +their own rough cotton stuffs for hard work, and their own silk +finery, and find these more lasting and efficient for the work for +which they are wanted. The Frenchmen told me they often lose valuable +cargoes in the rapids in the Nam Oo. While on this subject, I may say +that small tricolours and medals are freely given in all directions to +any native who will take them. I found at Nong Khai that the +Commissioner had some hundreds of these small flags which had been +brought him by the Laos there at different times as having been given +them by the Frenchmen, naively remarking that they could "find no use +for them," and so they would give them to the Commissioner, if any +good to him. These flags are also given largely to the monks, to +ornament their wats with, with "Vive la France!" inscribed across +them. + +[Illustration: STONE IMPLEMENTS.] + +Beyond these, I saw no signs of French commerce among the people. The +Nam Nua and Nam Oo route over from Jonking, though a rough one, no +doubt answers its purpose on the whole, and to M. Pavie, the Minister +at Bangkok, who has travelled the country extensively, and has left +kindly memories behind him, belongs the credit of it. Another +Frenchman who has done good work in the neighbourhood is Dr. Masse, +who lately died of fever going down the Mekong. For years he carefully +and enthusiastically studied the geology of the district, and he has +been able to determine the age of the Luang Prabang series; all his +specimens (including some coal and beautifully sharp stone implements) +and his papers are, I believe, in M. Pavie's hands, and will prove of +enormous interest. + +The party at the French Consulate, whether owing to their mode of +life, or the climate, did not look well at all; and from the headaches +and fevers which laid hold of the people with me while at M. Luang I +am not surprised. In justice to the place, it must be owned, March is +the hottest month. I did not see any cases of the famous Luang Prabang +fever, which has carried off so many. Like that usual in Dong Choi, +the temperature rises very fast and very high, and, if fatal, is +generally so after two or three days. + +[Illustration: GOVERNMENT OFFICES, LUANG PRABANG.] + +There is, or was, a police force in the town recruited from the Laos, +but their duties are very light. Fights or quarrelling are unknown, +whatever other faults there may be, and the most important part of the +police duties is to keep a watch for fires. Only one occurred while we +were there, and the promptitude with which the buglers went sounding +out the alarm from all the guard-stations and the men turned out was +most creditable; luckily there was no wind, and it was got under very +quickly. + +The head-quarters, as far as the Siamese Government was concerned, +were in a newly built set of offices, standing in a large +drill-ground; the whole thing was done by the soldiers and the people +of the place under Prah Prasadah's orders and watchful eye. It is +built of teak, with red-tiled roofing, and consists of a front hall, +long offices on both sides, and at the back sleeping-rooms and more +offices. Here, in the evenings, took place regular concerts, to +several of which we went for an hour or two. The people of Luang +Prabang are undoubted music-lovers to a high degree, and night after +night, after the major and lieutenants had messed, the musicians +arrived in the hall, squatted down, and began, sometimes the wailing +Laos music, sometimes the quick jig tunes of Siam. The instruments +consisted of two two-stringed violins, a high-pitched flageolet, and +one or sometimes two _kans_, a kind of reed-organ carried about by the +player, who is the bellows. Sometimes the bamboo reeds are over 6 feet +in length, but they are light; the mouth is applied at a mouthpiece +toward the lower end, where the fingers play on each side, there being +two sets of reeds side by side. The instrument is held upright in +front or slightly inclined over the shoulder, and the sweetness of the +tones is wonderful. This usually forms a bass, and smaller ones with +shorter reeds accompany the voice well. It would be no exaggeration to +say that nearly every household in Luang Prabang possesses one, +sometimes two. A most striking thing it is at night, far into the +early hours, to hear the distant kans from all sides playing in the +houses, now and then drowned by the nearer approach of one whose +master has been out calling late, and goes striding down the road with +perhaps three or four more friends in single file behind, playing a +march tune with all his lungs like any Highland piper. One of my +pleasant memories of life will ever be those evenings when turning in, +after the hot day in the verandah, one listened to the sound of the +_kans_ passing homeward, and rising and falling on the night-air. What +with the evening bugles, too, and the drum upon the hill, and the +cocks and _nok poots_, who never fail to announce the hours 9 p.m., +midnight, 3 a.m., and 6 a.m., whether in the jungles or among the +dwellings of man, a light sleeper would complain bitterly. + +In the concerts at the new offices there were often _kan_ solos; while +the orchestra, when in full swing, was accompanied by clapping of +hands and the tinkle of metal; the songs, albeit curious, were not to +me so enjoyable, though very much so to the Laos. A number of pretty +damsels, in their most gorgeous silks, sat round busily chewing +betel-nut; these would be asked to give a subject, and one with a good +deal of blushing would give in a loud tone her subject. The orchestra +struck up, and the singer had to make the best he could of it on the +spot; and judging by the laughter and general approbation after each +verse, he was generally successful. But we all failed signally to +understand the words--the language here differing very much from that +of Nan, of which we had begun to pick up some; while, when sung, it is +even more incomprehensible. What with the attractions of music, their +love and battle songs, and perhaps other things, the Laos of Luang +Prabang keep late hours, and are late to turn out. + +The Chow Luang and Chow Huanar, with whom I exchanged visits, are +pleasant, open-countenanced men, and after a second visit became quite +jovial. The latter helped me a great deal in my work, and I was sorry +to say good-bye. Their houses were large teak buildings, but the Chow +Luang is building one of brick. + +[Illustration: KENG KANG, NAM OO. THE PLUNGE OFF THE LEFT BANK.] + +Our longest expedition from here was up the Nam Oo, which comes in +from the north-east. The scenery of this river is very fine, as all +the way from Muang Ngoi, to which we went, it winds through abrupt +limestone peaks and ranges, covered with dense forest, and often +overhanging the deep quiet river below. But the rapids scattered along +its course are furious, and, owing to the shallow water and +innumerable sunken rocks, are very dangerous, while quite a high sea +runs in them. They differ from most of the big Mekong rapids in that +they are caused by rough sloping bottoms of rock ridges, over which +the water tears its way. In the great river the majority of the rapids +are simply owing to the narrowing of the channel, with possible big +rock obstructions rising out of a depth which, with a 20-fathom line, +often gave no bottom (this in low-water season). In these the +acceleration of speed and commotion are caused by the enormous +pressures behind, and the frictions below, and the force of the back +eddies, which go tearing in toward any little or big opening in the +banks of rock, and come sweeping back again in wave-like rushes or in +whirlpools. "Rapid" is often a misnomer; for what with whirlpools, the +sudden capricious rushes of water boiling up in a mound of spray, and +flowing wildly in apparently any direction but the one by which it +will eventually get out, and the great back eddies and counter +currents below, the boat, alternately dragged to the right bank, spins +round on the edge of a whirlpool, hurries over on a mass of foam to +the left side, and there caught and hurried up the side again, or +swirled off downwards into another whirlpool, spends several minutes +in passing down a hundred yards, though every hand is straining at the +oars, and steersman and bow-oar are lugging for dear life to keep her +straight, and save her ends from being caught up on the rocks at which +she is hurled. + +Such are many of the worst of the Mekong rapids, which will prove too +much for any number of steamers, extending often, as they do below +Chieng Kan, for miles. Even the great rushes of solid water, and +converging lines of breakers of the rapids, where, as in the Keng +Luang below Luang Prabang, the already compressed water has to fight +its way over a shelving bank of huge shingle, of which each stone is +often as big as an average Laos house, will prove easier to navigate. +But in the Nam Oo the shallowness of the water is the danger, and +there is often, as in Keng Luang two days up, a fall straight over a +dioritic ledge of 3 feet. This class of rock it is which forms the +rapids, and when the limestone hills retire from the river edge, and +low-lying, round-topped hills less densely jungled, come in, one may +look out for a rapid and change of formation. + +[Illustration: KENG LUANG.] + +The villages up this river are very poor, except in ducks, which are +seen swimming merrily about in all the quiet reaches, and not a few of +the rapids. As to buying them, it was almost impossible, though it was +the only form of fresh food obtainable. We could hardly get the people +to take money, and had to barter, though we were rather short of +things ourselves. It is odd how difficult it is to get tea, and as our +Bangkok tea had given out, hot water, with sometimes a few herbs[6] +picked by Chow Benn Yenn, had to take its place. He also produced a +dish of butterflies' bodies one evening with the curry, but they had, +to my mind, not much flavour. He also had a weakness for a species of +cricket, which he cooked by throwing on the fire, and then devoured. +Frogs, too, are eaten by the Laos, they going to the extent of eating +the body as well as legs of the _ongan_ when the rains begin. The +Siamese also eat the _kob_, a small frog, of which the legs are +certainly very good; and when the French gunboats were in Bangkok they +were not to be got in the markets for love or money. + +Up and down this river a considerable trade in hill rice takes place +between the hill villages and Luang Prabang, and we met greater +numbers of boats than on the Mekong; they were most of them ascending +at the time, with three men, or in the longer craft four, poling. The +bamboo is placed against the outside shoulder; the man, facing aft and +leaning low, runs the boat up till he reaches the deck-house; he then +brings in the pole hand-over-hand until he has it about the middle, +and then with the arms straight up above his head, to keep the bamboo +over the head of his fellow, goes forward again. This business, +continued for hour on hour, is very hard work indeed, as any one who +tries it will discover; and the light narrow boat rolls a good deal, +making foothold at times very difficult, and no one wearing shoes +could stay on board for two minutes. + +Going up the rapids is far more dangerous than descending, for the +boat has to be poled and often hauled round right angles of rock just +outside which a tall hollow sea is jumping in a roaring cataract. If +the bows be once caught, away she goes broadside, and nothing will +stop her, and all hands at the tow-line go too. It is in this way that +all the swampings, as a rule, take place; but, except in Keng Kang, it +is seldom that any one is drowned. It is really astonishing at what a +rate these fellows run their boats with their poles up the most +difficult places, and then, holding on for a moment under the lee of a +rock, all hands but the steersman go overboard with the rope, and +fight from rock to rock in any speed or depth of current, avoiding +always the big waves. One soon learns to have a respect for these +exploits, for they mean having one's breath knocked out of one pretty +frequently, and a few good bumps and cuts, which, sad to say, have a +way of leaving some discomfort behind. But Laos and Siamese alike are +never known to grumble, and after a bout of the kind they squat down +above the rapid, light cigarettes, and laugh with enjoyment. + +Fishing on the Nam Oo is very largely practised, the best time being +at the end of the rains, when the fish swarm. Across the heads of the +rapids are rows of stakes, and every twenty yards will be a fishing +shelter, just above a gap in the stakes, through which the fish are +expected to find their way. These shelters are light constructions, +built on groups of stakes, ballasted with stones, and strongly +buttressed on the lower sides. Notwithstanding these precautions, +however, when the river rose after heavy rains, which had already (in +March) begun higher up, and which delayed us very seriously, we saw +several of these shelters carried away bodily down stream. On the +upper side is a platform, on which the inhabitants (for they often +live, a whole family of them, in these places) may take the air. A +single bamboo with a handrail forms a connection with the long line of +stakes, by which they may reach the other shelters or get on shore; +but a small dug-out always lies moored below as well. Step inside the +house and all is dark, the light being carefully excluded, except +where it enters through a large hole in the floor; the _yah kah_, a +long jungle grass, with which the houses are always roofed, is carried +on each side right down to the water level, and the light thus only +enters through the water. Thus every fish for twelve feet down is +clearly seen, and there two men will sit smoking silently and gazing +intently by the hour into the water, every now and then hoisting out a +broad dip-net, spread by bamboos, with their prey. A spear is also +sometimes used. It is curious to see these people, with wife and +family, living on the narrow strip of flooring which goes round the +hole--in fact, the latter occupies most of the house; but they seem +very comfortable, and smoke, and cook, and feed, and sleep on a strip +3 feet wide with great complacency. The women were very much like the +little shy Ka Kaws, and smoked their long pipes and dressed just as +elaborately in their dark blue, with the same ornamented head-dresses. +However, most of these houses at this time of year were not inhabited, +and I only saw one or two families at home. + +[Illustration: ASCENDING KENG LUANG, NAM OO.] + +[Illustration: FISHING STAKES AND SHELTERS, NAM OO.] + +Muang Ngoi, at which there was a Siamese military station, is most +beautifully situated among precipitous hills; it is one of the +prettiest places we saw, well-built, tidy, with a street (as generally +in towns in the province of Luang Prabang) running parallel with the +river. Immediately over it almost hang the limestones, all round +except on the east, up which the people grow their rice in the narrow +valley. Up here goes the trade route toward the Black River, and down +the track I met coming staggering in under their heavy loads many Ka +Kaws--women, girls, and boys. I call them Ka Kaws[7] for want of a +more accurate name; the Siamese called them all Khache, or Khamus, +which they are not. No one can discriminate among the infinite numbers +of these tribes, nor can they do it themselves, except with neighbours +of the next valleys. + +They wore the prevailing blue; the women's head-gear often a tall, +blue cloth, with a little red showing at top, beads and shells. Large +rings, of four and more inches in diameter, hang from the ears, of +which the lobes are made very big. The weights they carry are +enormous; from casually lifting them I should say they were 45 to 50 +pounds. The basket is held by a band which passes over the forehead; +the result is a stooping gait, the arms being swung across the body, +as a sailor's, as they walk or almost jog along. Two or three men +usually accompany the carriers; and the latter, even boys and girls, +have a terribly worn appearance. Yet greet them with the usual +questions: "Where are you bound for?" or "Where are you come from?" +"How many days out?" "Are you tired?" etc., and they reply with the +merriest laugh and smile, which is almost touching. Their faces have +very little of the Laos in them, or of the Chinese or Haws, and are +round and kind in expression. + +The Siamese troops, only some twenty-five in number, were of fine +physique; but it is a fact (not a political statement) that +"aggression" and "advance" are utterly contrary to the purposes of the +frontier stations kept up by the Siamese Government. + +We obtained bananas at one or two places and sugar-cane, and on the +way down, as the latter does not grow at Luang Prabang, we loaded our +boats deep with the canes, which were, however, short and not very +juicy. However, we kept the larder going with cormorants, which were +in great numbers both here and down the Mekong. + +This brings me to the birds I was able to identify[8] while in the +Mekong drainage. Commonest were these same _cormorants_, which the +Laos call "crow duck," owing to their black colour and love for the +water. The large cormorant was continually to be seen sitting on +isolated rocks, often with his wings hung up to dry, in which position +he would suffer us to come very close. The small cormorants were +common in flocks, seldom singly, and, on our approach, would dive away +out of sight, not one remaining. Not expecting to see them, it was a +great pleasure to come across the beautiful little _terns_ swooping +and rushing over the water. One was either the whiskered tern or the +white-winged black tern--I think probably the latter, as the greyish +colour predominated with the dull-red bill and legs. They were +generally in back waters and temporary lakes formed in the sandbanks +by the fall of the river, and were in flocks. I did not secure any. +The black-billed tern--larger than the former, with its easily +distinguished orange-yellow bill and red feet, I got a specimen of. +They were fairly common, but even in March and April I found no nests. + +Of the kingfishers I only saw on the Mekong one or two specimens of +the pied bird. Crossing from the Meinam, however, there was a very +small one we frequently met in the mountain streams flowing down to +that river, which would suddenly fly off up stream with a low whistle. +I did not procure any, but from its size it was probably the little +three-toed kingfisher. Another we constantly saw perched on a bamboo +overhanging the water, or poising in the air, must have been, from its +high colouring, the little Indian kingfisher. + +Of herons, I saw, and shot, the large white heron (as on the Meinam), +singly and in flocks, on the sand-banks; the common heron, generally +stalking singly on the sand-spits, and hard to get near; the purple, +of which I saw two couples in the lowlands: the little black-billed +white heron, in flocks on the flat by the paddy fields; the cattle +egret, walking about with the buffaloes, or perched on their backs; +and the pond heron, which one would almost stumble upon, so invisible +was he on the ground, till away he sped aloft, and then the white +wings were clear cut against the blue sky overhead. + +Of eagles, there was the osprey, with his white head, hovering after +fish, and a larger bird in swamps near the jungle, with white and +darting broad tail, and the upper plumage and breast brown, presumably +the bar-tailed fishing eagle. I saw some small species too, but never +shot any, and, except the black eagle in the forest-covered hills +soaring above us on the wing, and a large, slow, sluggish bird, like +that we saw on the Meinam, with a hoarse cry (qu. steppe eagle), I +seldom got a good view of them. + +Adjutants, which they call _nok karien_, I saw in flocks of four, six, +or eight in the paddy fields of the Chieng Kong, Nam Ngau, and Khorat +plains. They were fairly tame, but with the rifle I could not get +nearer than 200 yards; the whistle of a bullet sent them sluggishly +flopping their great wings 50 yards or so on, and to follow them was +an endless pursuit. + +Pea-fowl are very common here and on the Nam Nan. + +Often and often, far overhead above the jungle, would come the +measured sound which the great pied hornbill makes with each sweep of +the wings, an indescribable sound, half a "whirr" and half the +"whistle of a sword swept through the air." They were always in +couples, and flew high. + +The white ibis, walking about in flocks in shallow water, and the +little cotton teal goose, also in flocks, in swampy back waters, who +would dive and disappear to a man, I saw several times. + +Two specimens of the large grey-headed imperial pigeon, with chestnut +back and wing coverts, were shot by my Tuon boatman in the hills above +the Meinam. The common "wood pigeon" is seen and heard all through +Siam. In the open plains and jungles a dove, of which I shot many for +breakfast, was very common; this seems to be the Malay spotted dove. + +There are other doves common in different parts of Siam, and wagtails +and sandpipers innumerable, but I cannot now name them. + +As to the _nok poot_, with his slight crest, dull red-wing coverts and +long dark green tail feathers, and his habit of drinking where he +finds water, and of running swiftly off into the low jungle, he must, +I think, be a pheasant. This is absolutely the commonest bird in the +country, and that "poot, poot" sound is never silent for long; at +night I have often heard a chorus of this sound from out the jungle +all round, and always at the hours of cock crow, _i.e._ 9 p.m., +midnight, 3, and 6 a.m., as mentioned above. The cock in this country +is used for a timepiece at night, as well as a fighting champion by +day, and not a boat or an ox-cart, caravan, or a cottage in the whole +country but has its cock. One result of this cockfighting mania is +very funny: the birds become pets, as dogs and cats do with us, and +the small boys go out walking with these things carried lovingly in +their arms; you may see them stroking them and looking longingly into +their ugly faces as if they found some expression therein. But their +end is generally in a curry, and very tough they make it. This form of +sport is on the whole most outrageously general in Siam proper. + +The total population of Luang Prabang, including that portion of the +province on the right bank, was just over 98,500. In the town itself +there cannot be more than about 9000; this only includes the Laos +proper, and not Lus, La was, or Khache.[9] It is difficult to judge of +the town, which straggles along the three or four main roads that have +recently been made around the central hill, and far beyond them out +into the plain, both inland, up the Nam Kan, and down the Mekong. +North of the town are also numbers of fairly large and prosperous +villages. The broadening out of the river here, the absence of rapids, +and the retirement to the eastward of the hill range, which forms a +sort of amphitheatre around the little plain, seems to have attracted +settlers from an early time. Still, either owing to the laziness of +the inhabitants or, as I think more probably, to the poverty of the +soil (which is the same barren red sandstone mentioned above), there +is certainly not much cultivation done here or on the other side of +the big river, where there is low-lying land behind the small range +which immediately abuts on the river there. The jungle, too, is itself +very thin and dwarfed. I hardly think laziness will account for this, +for peaceful tending of rice crops would be far easier work than +poling and struggling up Nam Oo rapids, which is the way the people +get their rice at present, going right up into the hills for it. Some +really beautiful silver-work is done, but fishing and killing pigs +seem to be the chief industry. There is a breed of the finest-shaped +and fiercest goats I have ever seen, which wander about the streets +and hill, and give the pariah dogs a rough time; but I did not see +that any other use was made of them. + +The day we left, a letter arrived from the king in Bangkok, and was +received in great state by the Chow Luang; it was carried in state +down the road with gorgeous umbrellas above and flutes playing before. +This was _re_ the appointment of Phya Pechai as Commissioner--the +last. + +The minimum temperature for these three weeks[10] was 61 deg. up the Nam +Oo; the average minimum for ten days up that river, 64 deg.; the average +maximum in the deck-house of the boat, 85 deg. The lowest maximum for +any day was 71 deg., but it was a "saft" day, with a solid deluge for +thirty-six hours. (The Laos cannot work in the rain; they shiver to +such an extent that the whole boat vibrates, so we spent a day sitting +in the boats. In this case I had 3 feet 3 inches head-room, 2 feet 4 +inches extreme elbow-room, the boat being only 45 feet long.) + +The maximum in Luang Prabang I did not get, being there very little by +day; the temperature in the jungle is much lower. Strong, hot winds +from south-west and thick haze was the rule except before the storms, +when the air became sultry, and then it blew a gale of wind from +north-west to north. The rains were beginning. Aneroid, which was +unreliable, 28.60 inches to 28.45 before squalls. + +The first day out, going south from Luang Prabang, one of our double +boats filled and sank, ruining maps, notes, and other things. We +awaited the arrival of another at Pak Si, from whence one of our Laos +boatmen had also to be sent back. He had apparently abscess in the +liver; I could do nothing for him, and he sank rapidly. The stream +Hoay Si, a few miles inland, comes tumbling over a fine fall, where a +number of beautiful travertine terraces have been formed below, in +which the pools are of intense blue. All the trees, branches, twigs, +and leaves within reach of the foam are being encrusted with carbonate +of lime, and the effect is very beautiful, with the luxuriant growth +around. + +Five days brought us to Paklai, whence the trail goes over to M. +Pechai on the Meinam. The journey up takes a fortnight, for this long +north and south reach is full of serious rapids. Two days and three +days below Luang Prabang are the rapids of Keng Seng and Keng Luang. +In the former, which tears over a rough bottom, my boat was completely +swamped, but was kept afloat by her bamboos. The latter is a very fine +sight, and is a narrow contraction, with a rough, inclined bottom; the +water tumbles off the bluff domes of the east bank in cascades of +foam, and from the west it is driven off in three hollow ridge-like +waves. In the centre, at first quietly, and with accelerating pace +goes the main mass, getting narrower, until with three huge +undulations, which send a boat half her length out of water as she +jumps down them, it tears into the embrace of the two raging, broken +currents coming off the banks, and there it leaps and foams and +thunders, echoing off the big black crystalline rocks from age to age. +Many boats are lost here, and just below lay the battered remains of a +fine craft of 65 feet, smashed from stem to stern. The Laos show +considerable sense in always taking breakfast before they try one of +these rapids, however early in the morning. + +South of Keng Luang the river bed is narrow, and flows very fast among +slate rocks, dipping very steeply (50 deg., 60 deg., and upwards), west for +many miles, limestone hills lying back some way from the river. These +long reaches are very wild, with no sign of man. Birds, crocodiles, +and tigers, with occasional pig, "sua pah" or leopard, and deer reign +and fight and feed along the jungled banks. + +Above Paklai begin the first wooded islands, of which there are many +below, and the whole river widens out and hills fall back. Here I was +able to get soundings with a 20-fathom line, and above the fine +limestone mass which distinguishes Ban Liep, we had 19, 17, 8, 6, 5, +3, and 2 fathoms as the river spread out; below it it narrowed down a +bit, and we had over 10 fathoms most of the way to Paklai, with now +and then 6 and 8. Paklai is a pretty little place, and is the official +port of departure for the north. There are good salas and elephant +stables, and a clearing by the river, a good landing in a creek among +the rocks, and plenty of boats and people. But here for the first time +we had the abominable little "luep," small black flies, which are a +far more irritating torture than mosquitos, and attack one's hands and +face by thousands. They are worst just about sunset as a rule, and +smoke or a strong breeze are the only things to keep them away, and to +sleep in a curtain of linen is absolutely necessary. The rains bring +them and most other jungle plagues. + +From here the river begins to turn away to the south-east, with quite +a new phase of Mekong scenery--placid reaches half a mile wide, with +gently sloping banks, the hills low and gentle in their curves, more +like some upper reaches in the Meinam, or a bit of Thames. The change +was delightful, as it always is, and continued for two days to Chieng +Kan, with only one break at Keng Mai, a rapid over a shallow, shelving +bank, where the water storms with a bar of white crests right across, +like sea breaking on a reef. Decks were cleared and the hands set +baling, and we all went through in style, but the cook's boat, which +got the least bit athwart the current, was caught in the rough water, +and swamped with our rice. The depths down to the town are 1, 2, up to +5 fathoms. + +Chieng Kan is built along the southern bank (for here the river begins +an east-north-east course), with a fine paddy-growing plain behind it, +and is about a mile long, with an indifferent road passing along it. +The most remarkable things about the place are the immense numbers of +coconut palms, and the cheapness of the fruit;[11] the number of +Burmese British subjects (who out of the kindness of their hearts +supplied one with any amount of provisions); and the fact that the +Laos women cut their hair short like the Siamese. The people are a +friendly, pleasant race. A good deal of fishing is done here, and in +poling the small craft up stream, a small rudder is used over the +outside (in this case starboard) quarter to prevent the boat running +round, as also at Luang Prabang and Nongkhai. These rudders are fixed, +and do their work alone as a rule, but are sometimes in bigger boats +fitted with a yoke and long bamboo tiller (as used together in +Norwegian boats), the latter reaching to the fore deck. Sometimes in +the evening, as the people lie tending their fish-baskets, the boats +look, with their up-turned ends and small shelter (in which the man's +clothes or his net, with its weights and buoys, may be put) which +stands almost amidships, like a distant gondola. + +[Illustration: RUDDER.] + +[Illustration: BOATS FISHING.] + +This province, which is under Pechai, is undoubtedly very rich in +mineral, but the distances and difficulties of transport are at +present against its development. There is a rich, alluvial gold +deposit northward, and a variety of ores occur south toward M. Loey, +including massive iron-ore beds. + +After some stay, we set out with fresh boats and crews, and were five +days passing the wild rapids between here and Wieng Chan. The river +finds its way among low hills in a narrow, deep channel between +clay-slate rocks alternating with sandstones and conglomerates with a +general easterly dip. The rapids are of the whirlpool and eddy +character, and extend for miles on end; the water is in places +confined to a width of 150 feet, and the rushes, boilings, spinnings, +and general deafening pandemonium which results is astounding; not one +place is like another, nor one whirlpool like the next. Numbers of +boats never get through here, as they, in spinning round in a +whirlpool or sudden explosion of water, get their ends ashore and +smashed on the rocks. It was a most tiring time for the men, deep down +in the heat of this great rock ditch, with no wind to cool the air, +and above on either hand a good half-mile of rocks and vast spaces of +sand shimmering in the hot sun. + +[Illustration: LAST OF THE HILLS ABOVE WIENG CHAN.] + +Just above Wieng Chan the hills disappear. The last of them are a +flat-bedded red sandstone, passing into a conglomerate, the huge slabs +lying in rows beside the water. The river opens out between them into +a beautiful wide lake, known as the Hong Pla Buk, from the numbers of +those big fish caught here. The scene on a quiet evening was +beautiful, with the terns dipping and darting about us. Here in the +deep still water, we heard again, as we used to do in the Meinam, the +"talking" of the _Pla liu ma_ (dog's-tongue fish) beneath the boat; it +is a grunt similar to that of the gurnard, only very much louder and +more sonorous, and you may hear several at a time chattering away +under you. + +Camped on some of these huge sandstone blocks, we had a good +opportunity of watching the polishing power of the wind-swept sand, +which, next to the rushing water, with its enormous burden of +sediment, is the agent by which all the rock surfaces of the Mekong +get the wonderful polish which makes them so peculiar. The exterior +appearances are often entirely deceptive, and the sun glistens off +them as off a looking-glass. Yet the points and pinnacles, especially +among the schists, are terribly sharp, often cutting the feet like +knives. The polish the red granite takes just west of this, and the +beauty of the veined limestone boulders further north, are a delight +to look at. + +At Wieng Chan, on the north bank, hardly a hill is in sight; all round +plains, bamboos, and palms. The site of the old city, which was +destroyed in 1827 by the Siamese for rebellion, is a mass of +jungle-covered ruins. The remains of the old brick wall, and of the +great Wat Prakaon, are very fine; the latter rises from a series of +terraces, up which broad flights of steps lead, and is of large +proportions. The effect of height is increased by the perpendicular +lines of the tall columns, which support the great east and west +porticos, and which line the walls along the north and south; the +windows between the latter being small, and narrower at top than at +the bottom, also lead the eye up. A second outer row of columns once +existed, and the effect must have been very fine. Now the roof is +gone, and the whole structure crowned by a dense mass of foliage, as +is the case with all the remains of smaller buildings not yet +destroyed. One very beautiful little pagoda at the west end is now +encased in a magnificent peepul tree which has grown in and around it, +and has preserved it in its embrace. There are remains of several +deep-water tanks, and the grounds, which were surrounded by a brick +wall, must once have been beautiful. But the best thing at Wieng Chan, +or the old city, as they call it, is the gem of a monastery known as +Wat Susaket. It is a small building, the wat itself, of the usual +style, with the small lantern rising from, the central roof, as at +Luang Prabang. The walls are very massive, and, with the height +inside, the place was delightfully cool; all round the interior from +floor to roof the walls are honeycombed with small niches in rows, in +which stand the little gilt "prahs," looking out imperturbably, +generally about 8 inches in height. + +[Illustration: THE RUINS OF WAT PRAKAON, WIENG CHAN.] + +[Illustration: NICHE AND STATUE.] + +Round this building outside runs a rectangular cloister, which faces +inwards, and here, at one time, the monks were living among the +statues which stand round the walls, many of these 3 and more feet +high, while the walls too are ornamented with niches similar to those +inside the main building. In the centre of each side there is a +gateway surmounted by a gable, there being also similar ornaments at +each corner. The beauty and the retired air of the court inside could +not be surpassed, and the effect of the green grass, the white walls, +the low-reaching red-tiled roofs, and the deep shadows is charming; +there is nothing flat, nothing vulgarly gaudy, and very little that is +out of repair. And here, as is most noticeable in the remains of the +other buildings about, the proportions are perfect. In this the ruined +remains of Wieng Chan surpass all the other buildings I have seen in +Siam, and bear witness to a true artistic sense in the builders. +Though the old city is not inhabited, and the site thereof seems under +a curse, the villages along the bank of the river, both above and +below, have a flourishing appearance, and the paths along the river, +with their cool shade, were full of people. + +[Illustration: SOUTH-WEST ANGLE, WAT SUSAKET, WIENG CHAN.] + +Leaving Wieng Chan, we had our last and most curious experience of the +Meinam Kong and its wanton ways. A vast mass of heavy thunderclouds +lay to the east, south-east, and south, and into this, as happens in +the rainy season, a strong draught of air, first from south-west, then +west, and then north-west, was blowing. This began to freshen, and +with two square sails I got rigged to my ship we made very good way, +until it began blowing really hard and a sea got up, the water being +here over half a mile in width, with 2, 3, and 5-fathom soundings; we +then had to strike sail, while astern a vast cloud of sand, twigs, +leaves, and even pebbles, came sweeping along with a roar. The other +three boats were, when we saw them last, just broaching to, all close +together. The Laos, who face rapids or elephants with composure, quite +lost their heads, and the only use to be made of them was to set them +to hang on to the deck-house, which was being carried out of the ship. +She tried very hard to swamp herself, for when the squall came up the +strength was terrific, and the seas hollow and breaking solidly. +However, by keeping her stern to it, we shot on through the thick +darkness, frequently belaboured with missiles, and after a great deal +of difficulty in weathering a lee shore we got round a point and +brought up, after two rattan ropes had been carried away. Meantime +many dug-outs passed us waterlogged and adrift, and when at last the +wind got to the north and fell not a boat was in sight. Except our +own, every other craft in the river had been swamped, including our +other three boats, which were carried broadside into the lee shore we +had got round, and had a handsome battering. Everything in them was +full of water, while the men escaped and sat on shore till it was all +over, and when they arrived at Ban Bar, where we lay for the night, +they did not seem to have enjoyed the fun at all. + +This village is more Siamese than Laos in appearance; there are +numbers of Chinamen of unprepossessing appearance and manners, who +kept shops and pariahs. The latter was a nuisance we had been +comparatively free from; in fact, on the upper river, at Chieng Kong, +there were very decent breeds to be seen, and Chow Benn Yenn got from +one of his villages a beautiful black-and-tan collie, exactly like a +good specimen at home, with the exception that he had a short tail +like a manx cat. It was a beautiful dog and a capital sporting animal. +The long black-haired and black-tongued "Chow" dog we saw several +times, and also small, brown, long-haired animals with high, curled +tails. A peculiarity about these dogs was that, being accustomed to +the Laos _kao neo_, when we got back to Siam and _kao chow_ (the +ordinary rice), they would have none of it. + +The next day we reached Nongkhai, and were very cordially welcomed by +Krom Prachak, a brother of the king, who is Commissioner. The town +owes its existence to the fall of Wieng Chan, and is scattered along +the south bank; there is a considerable number of Chinamen keeping +shops here, and to them and its character as the official centre, it +owes its importance. The houses extend all along the river-side for a +mile and a half, mostly well shaded by areca and coconut palms. Here +once more, on the great plain lying to the south, we saw the tall, +gaunt sugar palms standing against the sky, and again saw the _kiens_, +or ox-carts, with their long, black hoods, wending their slow way in +single file, the groaning, grunting, and shrieking, which accompanies +their every movement and jerk, coming slowly down the wind. Here once +more, sad to say, we came across a character most of us have known in +Siam--the _kamoe_, or thief--and we hadn't been an hour in the place +before he had begun work. Here, too, we again heard the horrid sound +of chains, dragged along the hot, dusty road by wretched, emaciated +creatures carrying water--hardly strong enough to lift the chains at +their ankles. And here, again, were, among the decent houses, dirty, +squalid cottages and drunkenness. The fact is, the cattle-driving +people of the plains become by their occupation different in character +to the mountaineers; it was very noticeable, striking right upon them +here, how much more stolid and less expressive their faces are, how +black and muddy--or dusty if the rain keeps off--they become in their +long, slow rides upon their carts, and, in general, how like their own +sleepy, blinking buffaloes they become--as, too, one may see in the +great plains of India. The circumstances and conditions of life are +all different; and drinking slow-running mud, which they +euphemistically call water, sloshing laboriously through seas of +reeking bog and swamp, and enduring the tormenting bites of +innumerable huge flies, which attack elephants, buffaloes, oxen, +horses, and men indiscriminately, but untiringly, must result in a +differently developed man from that built up by mountain marches, high +aloft on dry hillsides or deep down in cold stream beds, leaping from +rock to stone or plunging into the rushing water, where life is a +perfect fight. Not that the plains are always so disagreeable; given +the dry, cool months of December and January, travelling in them +becomes a luxury; but there is never the same exhilarating air or the +same pure water. + +The Commissioner's house is at the western end of the town, surrounded +by the sheds of the military detachment. At the back a very pretty +garden is being made; and this and a new straight road, inland of the +present street and parallel with it, are the works of construction on +hand. The ground on each side of the new road--which, by its unlovely +straightness, carried one far away to similar ugliness in civilized +lands, and was the only unnatural thing we saw--is being eagerly +applied for by the Chinese; but a great drawback must for some time be +the absence of shade. The river is undoubtedly cutting into the soft +laterite bank here, and in a few years the old site will go down with +a run. + +Prince Prachak is a reformer; he is very keen in "reforming the Laos," +but is grieved to find they don't want to be reformed. He says--what +is very true--that their work is always desultory (one month they +plant rice, another they go fishing, another they wash gold in the +sands), and that they will not settle down into trades. They prefer, +too, to play music on their kans in the evenings to doing more useful +things, and are, in fact, lazy. But I fear it is not surprising, and +that it will be some time before the Laos take to trades. + +The Chinese shopkeepers import their goods from Bangkok through +Khorat, and the journey, in the matter of shoes or felt hats from +London, increases the price about one _salung_ at the first place, and +two by the time they reach Nongkhai. They show for sale calico goods +of all colours and patterns (as one sees in Bangkok for "panungs," +"pahs," etc.), shoes, sandals, belts, pots and pans, matches, Chinese +umbrellas, and teapots, the first mostly English, and as they sell +these well, they tell you with a grin they soon make their fortunes +and retire. + +The wats are wretched little places, ill built and ill kept, the most +interesting thing being the bell of the principal wat, which is a huge +hollowed timber, some 3 feet in diameter and 7 feet high, hung to a +crossbar at the top. Struck end on with a stout pole, the sound is +deep and sonorous. This form, but usually smaller, is often used in +Siam, and for attaching to the necks of elephants or oxen (which +invariably have a bell), there are clappers hung on a string on each +side, which keep up a continual tinkle. Fixed on a bent bamboo, the +same form of bell is used by fishermen on the shore end of their set +lines to give warning of a big fish or other disturbance. There is +always a slit up, about a quarter of the way, slightly wider at the +top, on each side. + +[Illustration: BELL.] + +The weather from the time we left Luang Prabang to the time we reached +Nongkhai had the unsettled character of the beginning of the rains, +though it was only April month. South-westerly winds and haze by day, +low heavy clouds in the evenings, and thunderstorms of great violence, +with strong squalls of wind shifting round by west and north-west to +north at night, making sleep impossible while they lasted, and +generally driving into the boats everywhere. The lowest and highest +readings of the thermometer were, on the same day when we arrived at +Chieng Kan, after some heavy storms, 63 deg. Fahr. at sunrise, 104 deg. at 2 +p.m. in the boats. For the rest of the time, the average minimum was +72 deg., generally half an hour before sunrise. The average maximum in +the shade, 92 deg. (in the boats). In the shady sala, on the tree-covered +bank at Nongkhai, we never had over 89 deg., and, whether owing to the +advent of the rains or not I do not know, it was much cooler and +pleasanter than Luang Prabang had been, and all our sick men, with one +or two exceptions, mended entirely; while at the former place (as too +in the case of Mr. Archer's party) everyone had had turns of fever or +bad headaches. + +[Illustration: BELL-CLAPPER AND JOINT.] + +[Illustration: BAMBOO BELL.] + +The coinage here was once more the tical, with only an occasional +rupee. At Luang Prabang the two, with their small silver subdivisions, +are both taken; but in Nan no Siamese money would pass, strings of +areca nut being used for small change, as cowries are at Luang +Prabang. + +_Note on the "Kan."_ + +The Kan, the reed-organ used so much among the northern Lao tribes, is +remarkable for the sweetness of its tones, and the fact that the +intervals of the notes are correct according to our musical ideas, and +have a true key-note, the pitch of the instrument depending on its +length. + +Thus the five-sok kan (9 feet 4 inches long) is in the key of G--one +sharp. + +The four-sok kan (6 feet 8 inches) in the key of D--two sharps. + +The two-sok kan (3 feet 4 inches) in the key of F--one flat. + +These are the lengths most usual, but six soks is sometimes used; it +possesses very fine low tones, but requires powerful lungs, although +the notes are produced by inspiration and respiration. + +The number of reeds never exceeds fourteen, and the arrangement of +notes is as follows, numbering the reeds in couples from the mouth of +the little air-chamber:--The two reeds, 1, are played with the thumb; +left 1 being the key-note; right 2 being the lower octave of the same. +The octave thus goes from right 2, to 3, 4, 5 and 6 left (or right 3, +which is the same) on to right 4, 5, and back to the thumb note on +left 1. + +[Illustration: FOUR-SOK KAN (1 INCH TO 2 FEET).] + +[Illustration: TWO-SOK KAN.] + +Below the key-note right 2 come left 2 and right 1, and above the +upper key-note, right 6 and 7 and left 7; thus, in the D kan of four +soks, we get-- + +[Illustration: Notes on a musical stave, denoted as "LEFT." and +"RIGHT."] + +There are no sharps or flats possible, and only half filling the +holes, as in a fife, will not produce them, the note being got by the +vibration of small tongues of metal fitted in the side of the reed. +Hence, possibly, the epithet "monotonous," which has been generally +given them; and hence the fact that a good player generally has more +than one. Their playing is very fast and effective, but is at first +hard to follow or properly understand. The mouth-piece is made of the +fruit of the _mai lamut_, and being very hard, takes a lot of work in +being hollowed out, and will receive a good polish outside; two +parallel slits are cut along the top and bottom, and the two rows of +bamboos fitted in, and the whole made airtight with beeswax. In case +of damage to one of the reeds, it is quite simple to undo the grass +bands which are put round at intervals, to remove the beeswax, and +take out the reed; often a gentle flick on the reed will set the metal +tongue vibrating again when momentarily out of order. The reeds, by +being put over the fire, are often very prettily marked. + +[Illustration: AIR-CHAMBER.] + +They can hardly be obtained in Siam, except where Laos are situated. + +The Wieng Chan men, who are all over the country since the city was +destroyed and they were sent south, are the best makers and players, +and a few colonies of them are to be met with in the neighbourhood of +Bangkok. This fact of their love for this highest of Indo-Chinese +instruments, coupled with the fine remains of the old city, certainly +support the idea that at Wieng Chan there was civilization and taste +ahead of those of the surrounding places. + +With regard to the music, it is impossible, without a long study of +it, to say more than that they are very fond of the minor, that they +use the octaves very much in playing, that the key-note may often be +heard down for a long time, and the time is generally a rapid horse's +trot, or quick march. At Nongkhai, I heard two men play a most +beautiful and stately march which made one's flesh creep; it was all +in the major, and in some parts irresistibly reminded one of the +famous march in _Saul_. One of these was a six-sok instrument, and the +effect surpassed anything I've heard in the country. They were on +their way to a marriage-festival when I met them in the road; they had +no fiddles or flutes with them, and were followed by a number of +people marching with them to their airs. They willingly stopped, +squatted down, and gave us half an hour's concert in the shade. + + +[Footnote 4: Called "weehan," or shrine.] + +[Footnote 5: Such as the Ka Hoks.] + +[Footnote 6: Termed, when so drunk, "yah," or medicine. It is slightly +pungent, and is said to be good in dysentery, and especially for +keeping off fever in malarious places.] + +[Footnote 7: Probably they were Kuis.] + +[Footnote 8: By the help of E. W. Oates' capital handbook to the +'Birds of British Burmah.'] + +[Footnote 9: The Khache, or Khamus, are very much confused with the +Lawas, and are much like them.] + +[Footnote 10: To the end of March.] + +[Footnote 11: Eight for a fuang = one-eighth of a tical, or 7-1/2 cents +of a dollar. At Pechai we got one for a fuang.] + + + + +PART V. + +NONGKHAI TO KHORAT AND BANGKOK (_April and May_, 1893). + + +From Nongkhai we left in regular rainy weather for Khorat, with 14 +"kiens" or ox-carts, there being two oxen and a driver to each. Twelve +of these are about equal in carrying capacity to sixteen elephants as +loaded for hilly country--two extra we had for sick men, of whom we +still had two unable to walk; and these two, moreover, were the best +protected with charms of all the men with us. These charms were small +wooden _prahs_, very roughly cut, which they sew up in a bag of calico +and wear round the neck and arm. No amount of chaff will persuade them +that these things will not protect them from falling trees, and +_dhap_ (or sword) cuts, as well as the _Pi_ of the forest or river. +Another danger from which they declared these things protected the +whole party, were the mermaids in the Mekong. Against these creatures +I was constantly warned when having a swim, especially above Luang +Prabang; they described them as the "women of the water," who would +drag a man down and drown him. Where could this notion have come from, +so singularly like our own stories?[12] South of Luang Prabang, one +heard very little of these damsels, and much more of the _pla buk_. +On one occasion I pitched one of these charms overboard, and the +owner, who was sick, promptly got well next day, to his no small +astonishment. + +Following the telegraph line, the great trail to Khorat is 211 miles +or so, but _detours_ have often to be made in search of villages which +are generally off the main track some little distance, and this is +necessary for commissariat purposes. For traders, the journey +generally occupies 16 to 21 days, according to the condition of the +oxen and state of the weather. When it rains, no advance is possible, +as, unlike the buffaloes, the oxen cannot work in rain, and hate it, +and seem to lose all their pluck; besides which, the yoke working on +the damp neck tends to produce bad sores. + +The _kiens_, of which we frequently met long caravans, are the ships +of this desert--for such this plain is often for days at a time. +Nothing but wood is used in the construction, as the bumping and +straining is too great for any metal fastenings. The body of the +carriage proper is very light, like a cariole in shape; the pole to +which the yoke is attached spreading and passing along to the rear +underneath. The wheels, which are very broad, and the heaviest things +in the whole, turn on an axletree of hard wood (_Mai Kabao_, sometimes +_Mai Deng_), which is fitted in a socket of solid wood under the car, +at the inner end, and at the outer to an "outrigger," which is lashed +at its end to cross-pieces firmly placed at right angles at the front +and rear ends of the car. Thus the weight is distributed on many +points; a few ready-cut extra pieces of mai kabao are taken, and when +with a lurch and a dive one of the axletrees gives way, the +"outrigger" is unlashed at one end, and pulled outwards till the +axletree comes out of its socket; it is then pulled out of the wheel, +and a new one fitted in in a quarter of an hour. Similarly, lashings +may now and then give way, but a new one is put on in five minutes. +Over all a closely plaited cover is fitted, with a long peak forward, +reaching out over where the driver sits on the pole; and in this a man +may sleep protected from sun and rain. The length of the car is about +7 feet and 3 feet wide. Travelling in it is only possible to a person +who is accustomed to it, the jerking being so tremendous. If there +were roads it would be possible with some degree of comfort, and, +though dusty, they keep cool inside. + +[Illustration: KIEN.] + +The oxen are capital animals for their purpose, and when tired and +hungry can be turned loose with a certainty that in a quarter of an +hour they will have satisfied themselves; the moment they have had +enough, even of the rankest grass, they are ready to go on; their +patience and perseverance, even in the worst swamps, pestered with +flies and leeches, is wonderful. A frisky one, however, can do no end +of damage, and can kick and plunge and drag the _kien_, even when +loaded, at a gallop over any kind of country, and even the rein in his +nose will not hold him. On occasions of this sort, some damage is +often done to the cart, and delay occasioned. Their kick is very +quick, and pretty severe. They are always used by the Laos, though +seldom used by the Siamese of the south. + +The buffalo, which wallows in the water all over Siam, is generally +kept for working the rice or sugar mills, and is only occasionally +used by the Laos in a larger cart of the same kind; but he is very +surly, wilful, and erratic. Large droves of them are taken south from +the Nongkhai neighbourhood, where their price is 12 to 15 ticals, to +Khorat, where their price is double; the demand for them and oxen +being very great in that neighbourhood. The best ponies come from the +neighbourhood of M. Chulabut, but they are also very cheap round +Khorat. At the former place, I saw some capital beasts, and from that +neighbourhood and the south at Pachim the cheapest ponies are +obtainable. Prices for a good carrier range from 50 to 100 ticals, +though an average pony of three years old, which will carry one fairly +well in ordinary jungle work, may be obtained for 35 to 40 ticals. +They are very small, and have a peculiar fast trot, which makes rising +in the saddle impossible; the Siamese or Laos always sit tight in the +saddle, legs almost touching the ground. At Chulabut, I saw a small +creature of ten hands which was very wild, and the owner wanted to get +rid of him for 8 ticals; he was a wonderful little beast, and very +fiery. Another I was offered for 20, and another for 30; but they +would be useless for Europeans. + +For two days we travelled fairly easily, leaving the slight +cultivation near Nongkhai, and travelling through low, shadeless +jungles, passing here and there salt-boiling pans, at which the most +work is done after the rainy season, there being at other times no +water. The salt covers the ground in an efflorescence, and that +produced by the villages is coarse and bitter. The soil in the jungles +is sandy, there being gentle undulations on the northern side, on +which the sand is deepest; on the southern the trail going over rough +laterite. In the depressions occur the _nongs_, or swamps, of which +the plateau is full, and which in the wet weather, with their mud and +deep water, make travelling almost (and in most places quite) +impossible. In the neighbourhood of the main streams, which all run +from west to east to the Mekong, villages are established, and the +scrub jungle gives place to the welcome bamboo clumps and the high +betel and coconut palms, which, like church spires at home, announce +to the traveller far away that he is approaching the habitations of +men. + +The absence of good water, and the change in it, made several of the +men very ill, and on the third morning I found one of the original +invalids, who had had a lot of fever on the Mekong, had every sign of +abscess in the liver. I knew at Khorat there might be a doctor, so +took two men with me, with three _kiens_ and their drivers, pushed on, +and arrived in nine days. The man recovered there, and was well enough +to go on with us from Khorat afterwards. + +I had heard so much of the goodness of the trail following the +telegraphic clearing all the way, and of the bridges and salas, that I +was very much surprised at the reality. It was the worst track we had +followed, and there were only two salas which had roofs on them the +whole way, one having been put up at his own expense by an officer at +Chulabut. The rest were blackened stumps, and solitary corner posts, +from which every bit of roofing and flooring had been removed; two of +these having just roof enough to keep out the dew, but no more. +Cheerless places enough to reach an hour after sunset, after having +marched all day in the scorching morning sun and the deluge of rain +which came every afternoon and continued most of the night. + +However, though after the Hill Laos, their "white-bellied" brethren of +the plains were in some ways disappointing, I am bound to say that the +men who were driving our kiens behaved splendidly; one of them was +formerly a sergeant, and knew his drill and the English words of +command once used in the Siamese army well. He was the lightest and +warmest-hearted man I ever travelled with, besides being, what is not +too common in the East, a really smart man. He was the headman of our +caravan, and I had told him that I must get on as fast as was possible +to Khorat, and he must help; he jumped at it. I asked him how quick we +could do it from Soug Prue. "Ten days." I told him, in that case we +could also do it in nine, and he was delighted, and used to turn us +out at four o'clock with his loud _sawang leo_ (daylight come), long +before there was a sign of light, and then laugh and say, "Nine days, +master." And so, whatever the weather, however long we stood waiting +in the rain for the oxen to rest their necks before goading them on +again, none of these men with me ever thought of growling; and the +Siamese were the same. The pony I had brought on soon got a sore back, +so there was not much riding, except when it came to swimming a +stream. + +The bridges were three in number only; one was possible, the other two +were unfortunately not connected with the southern bank, so that in +one case at Meinam Chieng Kun, the waggons, after having the oxen +taken out, are hauled over the loose flooring of the bridge and +dropped at the end into five feet of mud and water; in the other every +one avoids the bridge altogether. Now, at very small expense, for the +labour can be obtained for the necessary time from the neighbourhood, +good bridges might be erected all along this route; as it is, the +journey, as soon as the waters begin to rise, is of the most difficult +and arduous kind for all these caravans. + +Krom Prachak is very eager for a light railway from Khorat to +Nongkhai. At least years must elapse before it can be done, but in +three months a good cart-road might be made, pile bridges put up, and +salas repaired; then it would be possible to judge of the chances of +such a railway, and the groundwork for it would be already laid. At +the present moment this undulating country, which should be easy to +travel, is worse provided with communications than the greater part of +the hill villages in Nan, and infinitely worse provided with shelter +than in the most out-of-the-way mountain valleys north. Yet, wherever +we went, the same kindly Laos welcome was given us, except in places +where there were Siamese settlements near by, and friction had +probably occurred among the petty officials. + +Some of the villages, to which we went slightly off the trail, such as +Ban Tum, between the Nam Puang and Meinam Si (both big streams, very +deep and swift when the water rises, flowing through extensive paddy +plains and swamps), Chulabut one day south of it, and Ban Bodibun just +north of Khorat, were perfect gem villages, rich in palms, rice, and +cattle, with kindly people, who did all in their power to overfeed us +before we started. At the former places, where there were Siamese +officials, everything was very neat, and the relations between them +and the Laos seemed to be most happy. This is, naturally, not always +the case; but I am bound to say that, wherever the official is one of +some standing, this state of things is the usual one. Cultivation goes +on round the villages; but as soon as one gets a couple of miles away, +the sandy jungle or the _nongs_ resume their sway. The latter are the +most peculiar feature of the region, and cover a vast area, which is +larger to the eastward. Some of them are merely small swamps, with +shallow water and long reeds, extending over a surface of one or two +square miles; others, again, are extensive areas, in which water and +reeds are the only object the eye meets for miles, with here and there +a little green island, where trees exist, and, in the distance, the +low, long, green line of the jungle along its edge; an ideal home for +the various herons, and other long-legged waders, but, alas! also +tenanted by leeches and by flies, who attacked us all. The poor little +oxen, at the end of a few miles, especially if the sun came out for a +little in the burning way it does between rains, were covered with +clouds of the latter, their necks and nose, humps and legs, smeared +with blood. No resting is possible, for every moment a stop is made +the deeper everything sinks into the mud; so it is plunging and +struggling to the next little island, where we would stop and cook +breakfast with a score of other weary mud-bespattered carts. Besides +these, we also met some pack-oxen going north to get salt; but as the +water was out everywhere, they would have to wait before returning +south. One may roughly say that the salt efflorescence occupies the +low grounds, between the slightly higher laterite jungle ridges, which +are yet just higher than the surface of the _nongs_. The villages in +the neighbourhood are generally wretchedly dirty and untidy in +appearance; the growth is only stunted bamboo, and the whole place +uninviting enough. + +The cold weather, with its advantages of dryness and absence of +insects, has also the disadvantage that water is very scarce. When we +crossed, the whole low-lying area may be said to have been under +water, but water of such a description that it was only here and there +that it was fit for man to drink; while in the sandy forests the +water, all perforating through, drained off at once, and the lower +ends of the track, where it began to rise toward the ridges, were, on +the other hand, lakes of mud. Thus, between endless seas of bad water +and long miles of sand, the water question remains almost as serious +in the rains as in the dry weather. The villages, as a rule, have a +well, and the water from the wells is fair. + +The method of travelling usually adopted with the _kiens_ is an early +start at dawn, and a journey of some 300 sen (7-1/2 miles), when a stop +is made to feed man and beast; and, if going easily, a start will not +be made until 3 or 4 p.m., when another 300 sen will be done before +night--a speed of 15 miles a day, occupying about 6 hours, at about +100 sen (2-1/2 miles) an hour. This is very fair work for ox-carts over +a well-worn track, which is, of course, much rougher and harder to +travel than the jungle itself, the ruts spreading wide for a breadth +of 30 yards or so, and being of any depth that a _kien_ wheel can dig +to. But this exceeds the average. + +Being in a hurry, we did about 21 miles a day for nine days, but had +three relays of oxen. This involved--at about 8 to 10 hours' +travelling by day, with the delays necessary to get new oxen, two +half-day rests, and fording the streams (where the waggons had to be +often carried over on the men's shoulders)--a good deal of night +travelling, which in rain, and heavy trails full of pitfalls, does not +commend itself as a rule. It will be seen, therefore, that the rate of +travelling is slow, and would be sufficiently increased for all +present purposes by improvements in the trail, and at the crossing of +the rivers. Men who are walking have, of course, the advantage, and +sometimes do 24 or 25 miles a day with their packs. The latter are +usually carried on the two ends of a long bamboo, and are fitted with +legs below, so that, stooping down, the weight is at once taken off +the shoulder. When he wants to rest, out of one of his panniers the +man takes his mat to sit on, and lays it between the panniers, and +over the pole above he places the _bai larn_ (a covering of palm +leaves sewn together, some 6 feet by 5 feet) to keep off the sun or +rain, and this is his house while he is on his journey. _Dhaps_ are +rare here, and heavy knives are used for cutting down jungle to place +round at night, or leaves to place under the bed. From travellers of +this sort, going south, we often bought wild honey, in long bamboos--2 +feet of a 3-inch diameter bamboo selling for a fuang. They sometimes +set traps, and are successful in catching rabbits. + +There are a few deer to be heard, and tigers are rare, except round +Chulabut, where a man was killed after we had left, the day the main +body arrived there. + +We picked up a rather curious fellow-traveller when about six days +from Khorat, and he accompanied us to within a day of the town. This +was a rather decent-looking pariah dog, of quite remarkable character. +Unasked he joined us, and trotting often with me in advance, or half a +mile ahead, or right behind us all, his short sharp bark might be +continually heard in the jungle to right or left as he hunted his +breakfast. Of what this consisted I never knew, but he kept himself in +fair condition, for he got very little from us, poor thing, as we did +not want to encourage him; he got more kicks than ha'pence. But he +stuck to us, and even when we overhauled other parties going south, +instead of stopping and going leisurely with them, he always came on +with us. He was evidently accustomed to travelling, and knew the +trail, for he was often absent half a day, but would turn up in the +evening, and lie near us for the night. When we halted, and placed the +waggons round us, and the men put their sleeping-mats underneath them, +he would come as near the fire as he dare to get dry and warm. +Sometimes in the heat at noon, when the sun had been blazing upon us +in the sandy jungle, we would come upon him lying in a _nong_, with +only his eyes nose, and mouth out of water; while in the rain he +plodded stolidly along, and would sit down and wag his dripping tail +when he saw we were going to camp. + +[Illustration: THE NORTH GATE AND NAM NUN, KHORAT.] + +At length we saw the high line of foliage topped by palms which marks +Khorat, and through seas of mud, arrived on the bank of the Nam Nun, +which flows along the northern wall of the city. Across the ford were +groups of waggons encamped to the number of about fifty, and by an old +wat under the shade a busy market was going on. The Commissioner here, +Phra Prasadit, is the same stamp of man as the Commissioner at Luang +Prabang: one of those energetic, warm-hearted, and cheerful men who +make such excellent governors. He was kindness itself to us, and all +the men under him reflected it. In Siam, where every man has in +proportion to his importance numbers of others attached to him by a +kind of feudal relationship, and where his office clerks and his +lieutenants all have a personal connection with him, and almost form +part of his family, the influence which can be exerted is unbounded, +and by the expressions of face of the inferiors the superior may be +judged. Moreover, the Commissioner in Khorat is a man of ideas, has +been in Europe, and has a good knowledge of English and a fair +knowledge of French, and in all political questions in these countries +he takes a great interest; and thus his company was very pleasant. + +The centre of the town we found not yet recovered from an extensive +fire; all round the four sides run the lofty red-brick walls, with +gates in the centre of each side, protected by round towers at the +flanks, in which laterite blocks have been extensively used. The whole +is much dilapidated and overgrown, and the moat outside has become +nearly filled up. The Commissioner had then 3000 men at work clearing +it out again. This will probably enormously benefit the town, which at +present may be described as an accumulation of houses, mainly in +ruins, jungle patches, and swamps, on every side of which rises the +great mound on which the walls stand, and which effectually shuts in +every drop of water, and in the rains transforms the whole area into a +lake. With openings made under the walls to drain off the water into +the moat, and with a raising of the level inside, an enormous +improvement will be effected. As the town stands well on a slight rise +above the plain level, and is surrounded with similar ridges covered +only with beautiful turf going miles towards the south, south-west, +and south-east, it may become a healthy and attractive place. The +plain around is dotted with villages; for many miles the soil +certainly produces a fine clean rice and abundance of fruit. Going out +in the morning along any of the great trails to the west, north, or +east, one passes among crowds of camped _kiens_, and among villages +and markets, the latter always held along one side of the road. At the +time we were there mangoes were in full swing, and all the women's +baskets full of them, bananas, coconuts, ready-rolled cigarettes, +brown cakes of palm sugar of an excellent quality, and very often the +fruit of the sugar palm, which is very much enjoyed. To the south and +west the trails are really like beautiful roads, for they go through a +pretty red sand soil, leading to the flat-bedded sandstones of the +hills, which makes good walking, and, even when swamped with a foot of +water, never causes mud. On the north and east, however, on slightly +lower ground, these sandy ridges are less frequent; the villages, when +possible, are built on them for health and convenience, while the +paddy is grown below. The trails on these sides, passing chiefly +through this low land, are in the rains two or three feet deep in +thick, clinging mud. + +If the houses of the Thai (in which for the moment we may include the +Siamese and Laos together) are in the city badly situated in swamp and +jungle, and badly kept in repair, the houses of the Chinese are very +different; they are the flourishing part of the community. There are +some thousands of them here and in the neighbourhood, nearly all +shopkeepers, and outside the west gate, and along the main trail on +each side, they have a regular village. The street is narrow between +the open shop-fronts, and the road paved with baulks of timber. They +drive a large trade among the people coming in from the distant parts, +in calico stuffs, coloured sarongs and panungs, brasswork for betel +boxes, trays, etc., umbrellas, sandals (the latter soles of leather +with a strap coming up inside the great toe, and dividing and passing +off on each side, which are used all over the north); hats of straw, +felt, or strips of palm leaf; bells for oxen, tins of Swiss milk, +matches, needles and threads, wire and nails, cheap chains, a few +tools of European type, coloured yarns, white jackets and singlets, +towels, and even soap: all are imported from Bangkok. Yet, with the +present difficulties of transport through the Dong Phya Yen, the +Chinamen are doing a flourishing business. + +[Illustration: SANDAL] + +The Chinese houses are peculiar; a rectangular building being first +built of large unbaked mud bricks, with pillars rising like chimneys +at each end. Outside, several feet higher, and resting on these +pillars, is constructed a _yah kah_, or grass roof. Big fires are +kindled inside to dry the place; and the result is a very cool +dwelling. The grass roofing is brought very often far out, overhanging +the front, and this makes a shop front with the house behind. + +These houses are usually on the roadsides, the two principal ones +running north and south, and east and west, connecting the gates, and +meeting about the centre. The latter road is about a mile long, the +former less. The central market is carried on all day in a large +roofed building near the centre of the city, and all up the road sit +the yellow-faced Chinamen smoking their long-stemmed pipes in the shop +fronts, and with the aid of their wives (generally Siamese, and good +business women) bargaining with the long-haired, dark burned men from +the plains, to whom the beauties of the shops in Khorat are a great +delight. From these main roads one may have quite an extensive ride or +walk without going outside the walls, in lovely lanes, lying deep down +between high banks of shrubs and grasses (and sometimes 4 feet deep in +water). These lanes are quite a feature of the country outside, too, +and, with the long grassy slopes referred to above, would make Khorat +the centre of delightful excursions in the cool months. + +The journey from Khorat to Saraburi on the Nam Sak, whence Bangkok can +be reached in two days, occupies as a rule six or seven days only. But +when, after the main body had come up and had a day's rest, we bade +good-bye to the unceasing kindness of the Commissioner, and at the end +of the first day's march, which had begun pleasantly through lanes and +villages, found ourselves up to our necks in water, it was evident we +should take longer. We had to trend to the southward to get upon the +high ground out of the water, and with constant delays, owing to the +impassable state of the rivers, it was fourteen days before we got to +Saraburi. + +Leaving the beautiful villages outside Khorat, deep in their thick +clusters of areca palms, which in places form perfect forests of tall +stems supporting the arched roof of leaves far overhead, and making a +perpetual cool shade, we had two days alternately over flat sandstone +beds and flooded lowlands, where the water was for hours at a time up +to our thighs, and at one place for half a mile up to our necks. Our +nights were wretched, as the rain was perpetual, and the waggons could +not arrive at the monasteries, where we put up, till long after +midnight; the men lay sleeping round, hungry and damp, lots of them +too tired to eat their supper when we got it ready, about 2 a.m. + +These monasteries, built, as they were in days of old in our own Fen +country, upon little islands, are often the only things above the vast +surrounding lakes of water. The houses in the villages, built high on +piles, keep dry. Raised above the ground some two or three feet, are +generally long timber walks, made of solid felled trees, the top side +being slightly shaved down, on which the monks may walk out dry and +clean in the morning rounds to get their food. These walks are +attached to the wats in all the plains of the country, and when the +traveller strikes one, he knows a wat, with its welcome sala or +resthouse, is near. + +The trail follows the Khorat river to nearly its source in the +limestones of the "Dong Phya Yen" forest; it then strikes across the +forest, descending the spurs of the plateau to the elbow made by the +Nam Sak, which turns away at Keng Koi in a west-south-westerly +direction to the Meinam. This trail in the forest is greatly worn by +the pack oxen, by which alone the thick forest can be penetrated, and +in the rains is a series of narrow tracks winding in and out between +the trees, consisting of frightfully slippery mud. The oxen have a way +of walking in each other's footsteps, and the result is a series of +ridges, like those on a sandbank at low water; but the ridges are +greasy mud, and the depressions deep pitfalls. Thus in the wet weather +the oxen constantly have heavy falls, and no one can get through +without finding himself often on his nose or on his back. + +The forest proper begins at Chanteuk, a small village, in the +neighbourhood of which are some copper mines. These are open works, +and as no one has worked there lately, were, when we passed through, +brim full of water. On the Khorat side of this place are two fords, to +cross which huge tree-trunks lie over the water, the growth along the +bamboo being extraordinarily dense. Between them is a sala, which +fortunately was in moderate condition, as we were delayed there two +days in pouring rain, the river having risen ten feet in one night, as +I measured next morning. Our quinine was nearly at an end; one man was +quite prostrated with fever; and our eight days' store of rice was +nearly done, all our chickens gone, the horses useless with sore +backs, and the thirty-eight oxen carrying the packs suffering with +coughs and sores. To get out we built two rafts; one was carried away +on her first journey, the ropes going; and the other proved so slow +that, as the distance was some hundred yards in the then state of the +water, it would have taken us two days to get all over. But, to our +great satisfaction, the river fell. + +At Chanteuk we got some rice and _platieng_, salt-fish, which the +Siamese eat with their rice, and can live on for any length of time. +Then, instead of going down the great trail, where a party of two men +and a woman we met had just left two of their number dead of fever in +the road, I took a drier, if longer route to the south. Our +resting-places were Ban Kanong Pra, Ban Tachang, Hoay Sai, and Muak +Lek Nua, whence we reached Keng Koi. + +The scenery of this forest is most peculiar, and by no means inviting, +especially in the continuous heavy rain, when the traveller is +attacked by ticks and leeches, flies, and red ants seeking a dry +place. The villages are the wretchedest collections of huts, the +people mostly very poor; and one constantly wondered how any soul +could live in these tiny clearings in the midst of a vast area where, +for the most part, the sun never comes, when he might be in healthy, +open country. We could seldom get even a banana. Undulating in all +directions lies the forest, with now and then a sheet of limestone +precipice towering among the drifting rains; the paths,[13] just wide +enough for an ox, continually obstructed by lately fallen trees, round +which a _detour_ must be cut in the semi-darkness; and all the while +the dull roar of the rain upon the leaves, with the prospect of a +camp, wet through, in long six-feet grasses for the night. At Ban Mai +we emerged from the forest, and found a clean village with a lot of +cheerful, chatty Laos, who sent three men on with us to Keng Koi--the +smartest set of men we had seen since leaving the Mekong. + +At Pak Prio, a morning's walk beyond, we found the embankment of the +railway to Khorat so far advanced as to have a mile of rails laid +above the place, and a locomotive standing almost finished in a shed, +to which my men as they came by fell upon their knees and offered the +customary Siamese "salaam," by raising the clasped hands to the +forehead. The oxen, which had reached a stream we crossed with ease a +few hours before above Keng Koi, found it impassable, and were delayed +two days there. My poor fellows, soaked through and through, and with +no chance of getting snug at night, had to sleep and live for two days +of pouring rain in the sala; but, being near home, were as jolly as +could be. The temperature was some 4 deg. higher at night, and mosquitos, +which we had not seen for over five months, were most obnoxious; and +from the strong south-west winds blowing, it was evident we were once +more near the gulf. + +One day's pulling and half a day's steaming, and Bangkok was in sight, +with the French _Lutin_ and H.M.S. _Swift_ lying off the Legations. +This was the first evidence we had had of there being political +troubles. From fording the swollen streams, from continual tumbles in +mud and water, and from constant rain, we found nearly everything on +the pack oxen had been ruined that could be--photographs and other +things. It is a most clumsy way of travelling, without doubt, and the +time and labour spent in loading up every morning is enormous. The +weights on the two sides must be adjusted accurately, the two men +lifting them on a bamboo, through the middle, to test the balance and +spending often ten minutes in getting one pair of panniers ready. Then +there are constant falls, and often these are not discovered until +miles have been traversed, and a careful search has to be made in +ditches, streams, and mud for hours at a time. Besides this, the pace +is wretchedly slow. This belt of the Dong Phya Yen, which can only be +passed by animals, thus equipped, is a practical barrier to +communication, leaving out of consideration the superstition with +which the forest is, with much reason owing to its fevers, regarded, +and the badness of the roads within it. The Khorat Railway becomes +thus a work of the greatest importance to the whole plateau. To +complete its usefulness, one or two passable cart-roads will do all +that is necessary for that piece of undoubtedly hopeful country. + +The Nam Sak, which the railway leaves at Keng Koi, is also a valuable +river, inasmuch as, apart from the large tobacco crops towards its +source, the valley is one richer in minerals than any other piece of +country like it in Siam, and in the rainy season the question of +transport is a fairly easy one. What struck me very much on descending +the Nam Sak was the thickness of the population all along the banks, +as compared with anything we had seen in the north. The beauty of the +wats--always built on points of land round which the stream wound its +turbid way--was also striking, and quite impressive. In the manners of +the majority, and their loud talking, it was also clear that we were +no longer among the gentle Laos of Nan or the musicians of Luang +Prabang; but the comfort and luxury of the people were such as far +exceeded anything we had seen since we left the Meinam at Pechai. + +The weather all the way from Nongkhai to Muak Lek Nua (end of April +and May) was south-westerly winds, moderate to fresh, falling at +night. Mornings fine, with heavy cumuli in the south-west and west, +which gradually spread, and became dark flashing thunder-clouds. Heavy +rain after 2 p.m., beginning with a heavy squall of wind shifting to +the west and north-west, and once or twice round to north-east, whence +it blew hard for an hour. Rain generally lasted most of the night. +Thermometer--average minimum reading, 70 deg. Fahr.; maximum, 91 deg. in the +shade. + +From Muak Lek Nua we descended into the Meinam valley, and found in +the plains but slight showers, and fresh south-westerly wind lasting +long into the night. Thermometer--minimum reading while in Pak Prio, +74 deg. + +The result of so much wading made itself rather severely felt in a few +days on most of us, and we had sores on our legs and feet for some +time afterwards, so that it was almost impossible to get shoes on. +This was no doubt partly owing to low diet, and partly to the cuts and +wounds to the bare feet which every one gets wading where he cannot +see his way, made worse by the blistering effect of the occasionally +fierce sun, to keep off which palm leaves wrapt round the foot are +excellent. With regard to the fevers, I would say, don't give quinine +every day, as then in emergency its effect is less powerful, and the +constitution is too accustomed to it; keep it until men feel a bit +down, or when in very bad places or bad weather. It will last longer, +and do more. In the high fevers of the dense forests, which prostrate +a man very suddenly, emetics are the most reliable cure. + +In a country abounding in snakes, it is not a little remarkable that +our party only saw four the whole time. Again, though often in wild +elephant tracks, none of us ever either saw or heard one. Two tigers, +a few deer, and monkeys (which are not timid) were the only animals +which were seen in the forests--a very sufficient proof, where their +tracks are to be seen on every hand, and they can be heard around all +night, of the care with which they avoid meeting man. Of course the +great thickness of the vegetation, where the man in front of you is +often out of sight even in the path, in great measure also accounts +for it, and it is this which prevents Siam being such a field for the +sportsman as it would otherwise be. + +There is one subject especially which it struck me often would make an +interesting inquiry for any one who understands the subject--the +comparison of the patterns and colours, both in the silk and +cotton-work of the Laos districts; such as the check patterns in the +panungs and cloaks in Nan, the former remarkable for a large use of a +bright yellow, which, to the unaccustomed eye is rather flaring, the +latter for its red shades; the horizontal and generally narrow stripes +of the Luang Prabang petticoats (in which, again, the best effect is +due to yellow); and the extremely taking panungs of Khorat, which are +thought very much of by the Siamese. They are of one colour, with a +border at the ends, blue, a delicate pink flesh colour, and a light +red being the commonest. + +_Note on Gold and Silver at Luang Prabang._ + +All over the Laos states silver ornaments, as well as such articles as +betel-boxes, trays, etc., are very common among the chiefs, and at +Luang Prabang gold is likewise often seen used in place of silver for +such things. The question is often raised as to how and where these +metals have been obtained in such quantities in the past, that even +tribute has been paid in ornaments made of them from olden times. +Certainly the gold has always been found in alluvial sands, nor did I +ever hear of its being known in veins or veags, nor did I ever find +any traces of its so occurring. I believe its chief source must be the +series of crystalline schists, which is an extensive one, and I +incline to the idea, from the smallness of the quantities extracted +from the sands, that it is probably sparsely disseminated through +these rocks as well as through the quartz and possibly the calcareous +veins, and that it will never be found in them in sufficient +quantities to pay working. The patient streams have worked away for +ages denuding and carrying away these rocks, and separating and +depositing the gold, and all they have effected as far as the latter +goes is that they have deposited infinitesimal quantities of it only, +with larger quantities of the other minerals, such as magnetic iron +ore, iron pyrites, etc. Decomposition and disintegration of the latter +may be in places freeing more gold, and the yearly floods bring down +their small addition, but yet even the Lao worker hardly finds it +worth his while to work the sands, and the apathy displayed in the +matter everywhere is partly without doubt accounted for by the poverty +of the results obtained. And where the native worker gets such poor +results, will the European miner get better? + +The gold in the Mekong is generally extremely fine and much +water-worn, and is usually found below a sharp turn in the river, +where the water runs strong. As regards the silver, it has been found +native, but in such very small quantities that it cannot have supplied +the whole country. The whole of Siam, however, is rich in galena, +often of a very argentiferous character, and it may possibly have been +found with other sulphides as well, but there can be little doubt that +most of it has been extracted from galena. In some parts of the +Northern Laos States this has been a regular industry. Small blast +furnaces of baked mud are used, and when reduced the metal is run off +in pigs and put in a reverberatory furnace with charcoal. This is +sometimes done (but clumsily enough) further south, but little +interest is manifested as a rule in these matters. Nowadays money is +often melted down for working into ornaments. + + +[Footnote 12: It no doubt primarily arises from the danger and +strength of the eddies.] + +[Footnote 13: There are a few elephant tracks.] + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +At the Meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on February 24, 1894, +an account of Mr. Warington Smyth's journey by the President, Mr. +Clements R. Markham, C.B., was read by Mr. Probyn. Before the reading +of the paper, the President said-- + +The paper we are to hear this evening is on exploration on the Upper +Mekong, in Siam, by Mr. Herbert Warington Smyth, who is serving under +the Siamese Government. Siam is from many points of view a most +interesting country, more particularly for us at the present time, and +it is observable that until about nine years ago, when Mr. Holt +Hallett read his paper, we had scarcely in this Society heard anything +of Siam except as to the exploration of the Mekong by our gold +medallist, Lieut. Garnier. We had only had scattered notices in +previous years from Sir Robert Schomburgk and Sir Harry Parkes. But +latterly we have received most important communications from Lord +Lamington in 1891 and Mr. Curzon last year, and I think that not only +this Society, but the nation generally, owes a debt of gratitude to +Lord Lamington and Mr. Curzon for having so persistently, so +patriotically, and so ably kept a question of such importance to +England before the Government and the public. It was in 1887 that Mr. +McCarthy, after surveying Siam for several years, favoured us with a +most interesting communication. He was the first to describe to us the +geographical and the general features of the country; and I believe I +am right in saying it was through the advice and the persuasion of Mr. +McCarthy that this young and modest explorer, Mr. Warington Smyth, was +induced to send us his paper, which we shall listen to this evening. + +Unfortunately, he will be unable to read it himself; he is still--I +won't say better employed, because I don't think any one can be better +employed than in reading a paper before this Society, but he is quite +as well employed in preparing in Siam for further exploration, and I +am glad to say that, as the paper is in manuscript, or the condensed +version which we are obliged to use, a friend of Mr. Warington Smyth +and an old schoolfellow, Mr. Probyn, has very kindly undertaken to +read it. + +After the reading of the paper, the following discussion took place:-- + +Lord LAMINGTON: I think I may say that if Mr. Warington Smyth had been +here he would have considered it a great compliment to have had his +lecture listened to by so large an audience, and I may also say you +will not think your time wasted while listening to the paper. We owe a +debt of gratitude to Mr. Probyn for having undertaken to read a paper +so full of names to which he must be unaccustomed. With regard to the +paper, no description I have read has recalled to me so vividly the +scenes in that part of the world. Mr. Smyth has shown himself not only +a geologist, but a close observer of natural history and human customs +in every variety and form. He has represented to us most fully all the +scenery, and given us a vivid description of Siamese and Laos life. I +am glad that he corroborates what I myself would state, the gentleness +of the Laos tribes. I don't know who has called them barbarians, but I +cannot imagine a people less deserving of such a title. I am not quite +sure of the definition of civilization, and in their own way it may +not be Western, but in all kindness and honesty they are as worthy to +be called civilized as any that could be found in the human race. I +almost wish he had told us more about the mineralogical wealth of the +country. I am not certain how far we may gather that the sapphire +mines are of any great value, but from the mere fact of these Burmans +coming over and thinking it worth while to take long journeys to sell +their stones, and from their being of the first water, we may assume +that when these mines are worked in a more efficacious manner they +will prove to be of value. Another interesting part of his paper +refers to the navigation of the Mekong from north of Luang Prabang and +down south as far as Nong Khai. From Chieng Kong, where he first +touched it, to Chieng Kan, we may assess its value as a navigable +river, that is to say, for any boats of size to carry cargoes. His +estimate is borne out by the report of Mr. Archer, and so also his +statement on the commerce of Luang Prabang gives us a true idea of its +worth, which is practically _nil_. Of course, we know the French are +anxious to obtain possession of that place, as they consider it of +first-class importance. Both Mr. Archer and Prince Henri d'Orleans +think it, as a commercial centre, valueless for attracting any +European capital. That part of the Mekong which may be considered +navigable is from Chang Tang to Khong, further than Mr. Warington +Smyth went. The French have now carried some stern-wheel steamers +piecemeal up to these waters; the result of their enterprise only the +future can show. With regard to the fishing methods of the natives, I +may just say that these arrangements may be very well when you are +descending the river, but they are the greatest inconvenience when +ascending, as they form a formidable barrier if there is a strong +current, and when you have to face this rigid fence of bamboos, it +then becomes a matter of great difficulty to force the boat through. + +Mr. Warington Smyth mentioned the difficulties made by the mud; this, +of course, in the wet season renders all travelling impossible. The +sliminess of the mud is almost inconceivable, and I can recollect, +when between Chieng Upeng and Mung Sai, I used when climbing to keep +on all fours, and probably slip down until arrested by a twist in the +path; and it was amusing to see the efforts made by boys and men to +mount the slimy slopes. This was in the dry season; in the wet season +travelling with loaded animals becomes impossible throughout the +greater part of the Indo-China peninsula. Mr. Archer came across from +Chieng Kong into the Nam Nan valley; now Mr. Warington Smyth describes +the country from Nong Khai to Khorat; and there is an account waiting +to be published by, Mr. Beckett, of the diplomatic service, of a +journey still further down the Mekong and along the Nam Mun river to +Khorat. We are thus in possession of descriptions of a country that, +owing to political exigencies, will play an important part in the +future, and all information we derive concerning it must be very +valuable to us. + +I apologize for addressing you at such length, and thank you for your +kind remarks about my efforts to instruct public opinion about Siam. I +imagine I must be a lineal descendant of Cassandra, because I have +noticed that all I have said has been disregarded. I am glad to see +Mr. Curzon has torn himself away from the charms of the allotment +question. He has given much information, and has asked many searching +questions in Parliament with reference to Siam, and has been +successful in eliciting some valuable information. + +Hon. George Curzon: Lord Lamington has indulged in some amiable chaff +at the expense of the House of Commons, to which we are accustomed on +the part of those noblemen who belong to the upper chamber. I may tell +him, in reply, that what concerns us much more than the question of +allotments for the parishes in England is the question of the future +political allotment of Siam. My interest in Siam is more than a purely +physical or geographical interest in the country; and all those who +belong to the country, or have a friendly concern in it, may rest +assured that neither Lord Lamington or I will abate any effort for its +fair treatment in the politics of the future. I don't know that I have +much right, perhaps none, to address you at all this evening, because, +in the first place, I have not been upon these upper parts of the +river Mekong which have been visited and so admirably described +successively by Lord Lamington and in the paper this evening. My own +acquaintance with the Mekong is limited to its lower portion, where it +flows through Cochin-China, Cambodia, and at Pnom Penh, the capital of +Cambodia, sends northwards a branch that disembogues into the lake +Tali Sap. Now, this Mekong river is one of the most remarkable rivers +in the world, whether contemplated in the lower parts, where it +spreads out in broad tranquil reaches from 200 yards to half a mile in +width; or whether you examine its middle sections, where, as we have +been told this evening, the French are finding furious and stormy +rapids; or whether you go northward beyond the exploration of Lord +Lamington and Mr. Warington Smyth, the river pursues its course +unknown and unexplored far away, amid the mountain masses of Western +China and Tibet. This river Mekong seems to me, during the last +twenty-five years, to illustrate a lesson, ever since 1865-6, when the +French expedition under Lagree, Garnier, and De la Porte went up the +river to explore it,--one of the most heroic of expeditions in its +conception and execution, and most pathetic in its result, undertaken +by pioneers. Ever since then it has had an extraordinary fascination +for Frenchmen--so much so, that they have claimed for themselves a +sole right of interest in the Mekong, no matter what reports may be +brought home by travellers, commercial agents, or explorers, as to the +unnavigability of the river. They have maintained these ideas to the +present day, and I cannot imagine a more interesting study than that +of the parts which the great rivers of Asia, the Euphrates, Oxus, +Ganges, and Mekong, have taken in history not merely by their +geographical features or commercial aspect, but by what I may call +their moral influences, exercised on the moulding of the peoples and +on the destinies of empires. We have heard a most interesting paper +from Mr. Smyth. He has given us a most faithful and vivid account of +boat life, raft life, camp life, village life, and jungle life in +Siam, and, as Lord Lamington said, has given us not only a faithful, +but a singularly attractive, picture of the various tribes who inhabit +that country. I was glad to hear what Lord Lamington said about these +Laos peoples, because there is too great a tendency in the world to +assume that, because the tribes of little-known and comparatively +unexplored districts have not all the abominable manners of +civilization, they must necessarily be described as barbarians. As he +remarked, no more amiable, docile population exists--a people +possessed of aesthetic and musical tastes, who are entitled to the +epithet, "the Greeks of the Indo-Chinese peninsula." There is another +strip south of Luang Prabang, right down between the mountains and the +Mekong, into which no Englishman has ever been; and, looking to the +fact that the French have taken possession of it, I don't suppose we +are likely to go there. Further down is a curious people called +Ladans, amongst whom an adventurer, either French or Italian, +established himself a short time ago, called himself king, and, I +believe, wanted to appear in the "Almanack de Gotha;" but, having +retired for a short time, on his return found his subjects unwilling +to receive him, and the kingdom has disappeared. The interest to us in +this room is not that of acquisition or conquest, but a friendly +sympathetic interest in the Oriental people who are playing their own +part in the world, in proportion as they come into the mesh of British +trade. I was interested to hear about Manchester goods at Luang +Prabang, seeing the advantages the French have for shipping by Hanoi +and up the Black river. You would never expect Manchester goods there, +and the fact that they are there means, not only that they ought to be +kept there, but ought to be seen all over the peninsula. I am pleased +to say that Mr. Smyth, in the latter part of his journey, travelled +over a line that is to be taken by the railway from Khorat to Bangkok, +of which I saw the embankments. It was largely the anticipation of the +results of that railway that induced the French to go on, for the flow +of trade has been for some time past from the Mekong river +south-westwards. They want to divest it towards their possessions. +Conceive how it will be emphasized if you have a railway instead of +the carts that take goods laboriously by the way Mr. Smyth described! +I am sorry that there is difficulty about this railway--that the +contractor has had a dispute with the Siamese Government; but I hope +that this will be settled, and, at all events, that Siam will make the +railway. A year ago I was in Siam, and the king told me he meant to +take the railway to Kong Khai. It will be the best thing for the +salvation of his country, and there is no Englishman present who does +not wish to see Siam strong, independent, and wealthy, and capable of +holding its own. For my own part, I shall never cease to feel the +greatest and warmest interest in that singularly attractive country, +and my own opinion is, that it is the duty of every British Government +to see that the integrity of that country is not wiped out, and that +its vitality is maintained. + +Mr. F. Verney: I have the honour of being connected with Siam by being +a member of the Siamese legation. I have watched with intense interest +the advance of that country, and have been concerned in its connection +with Europe even more than with Siam itself. I can thoroughly confirm +everything that has been said by Lord Lamington on the one side and +Mr. Curzon on the other, from what I have heard, not from what I have +seen. I was in Siam for a very short time, and was treated there with +the greatest possible kindness and hospitality. To judge fairly the +civilization of that country, we should take, not our own standard of +civilization only, but a wider standard applicable to communities +differing entirely in their origin, their histories, and in their +development from our own, and it is very gratifying to hear a man in +Mr. Curzon's position in the House of Commons express his opinions in +the emphatic and eloquent language to which we have just listened. It +is true that only recently England has awakened to the extreme +importance of that distant country. It was not until the other day +that Englishmen had an idea that Siam produced anything much besides +twins, but this cynical ignorance is rapidly disappearing. You cannot +listen to travellers like Lord Lamington and Mr. Curzon (and when Mr. +Warington Smyth comes back we shall listen to him) without finding out +that there is a great deal both of material and what we may call moral +progress in that distant country. Let me say one word as regards his +Majesty the King of Siam, on whose character and personality so much +depends. For many years past the king has been known as a man of wide +interests, of a very high order of intelligence, and of an unusual +charm of manner. He comes of a family distinguished in the past both +for statesmanship and scientific culture. A member of his family was +one of the greatest astronomers in the East; another was described to +me by one of the greatest Oriental travellers, and perhaps the most +cultivated linguist in Germany, as being the master of more languages +than any other man he had met; and you may be assured that the royal +family of Siam will produce many more distinguished men. There are +members studying at Oxford, others at our public schools, growing up +surrounded by all the best English influences. Let us hope that Siam +and England will go hand-in-hand, and that other countries in Europe +will come round to see that this is not a country for invasion or +annexation, but worthy of support and sympathy, on account of its +people, its products, its achievements in the past, and its +possibilities for the future. + +Mr. Louis: I am afraid I can add very little to what Mr. Warington +Smyth has said, because my explorations were in a diametrically +opposite direction. I had the pleasure of his company when exploring +some diamond and ruby mines in the south-east, and this was more +interesting to me as my knowledge of mineralogy was acquired under Mr. +Warington Smyth's father. On one point only I have to differ from Mr. +Warington Smyth--as to the Burmese way of washing rubies and +sapphires. It is not at all to my mind the crude, rough way he +mentions. Their baskets are the most beautifully finished work made of +bamboo in thin strips, and handled with all the deftness and practised +skill of an Australian or Californian gold-washer; they scarcely ever +miss a gem, so far as I could see, much bigger than a pin's head. As +regards the geology of these districts on the east of Chantabun, the +formation is simply gravel from 2 to 5 feet deep overlying the trap +rocks, and these gems have been worn out of the trap rocks by natural +agencies. Mr. Smyth describes the gems as coming from a black +crystalline rock very similar to that I have mentioned. This formation +seems to be quite different from the white limestone occurring in +Burma. I should like to mention one thing that must have struck very +few when hearing Mr. Smyth's paper; it not only gives a wonderfully +accurate description of the people, but is an accurate reflex of his +own plucky and cheery nature; very few can have any idea of the real +hardships and difficulties and dangers involved in such an expedition. +It takes an Englishman to go through such dangers and hardships, and +then write such a bright account of everything as Mr. Smyth has done. + +The President: I am sure the meeting will agree with me that we have +never in this hall heard so graphic and so picturesque an account of +this little-known region as is contained in Mr. Warington Smyth's +paper. Mr. Smyth is evidently a keen observer of nature, and has the +gift of sympathy--of being able to place himself in the position of +the people with whom he travels and whom he comes across, as well as a +kindly feeling for the animals serving with him. These are very high +qualities. His narrative is so lively and cheery, that we can hardly +realize the amount of hardship and danger the journey entailed. These +are all admirable qualifications, which are due almost entirely, I +have no doubt, to his own individuality; but perhaps we may put +something down to his education. Mr. Warington Smyth was a Westminster +boy, like his father before him, who was a valued member of our +Council. I cannot help taking this opportunity of saying that there +are very few places of learning in this country that have done in +times past so much for geography as that glorious old school which +nestles round the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. Richard Hakluyt, the +father of English Geography, was a Westminster boy; Edmund Gunter, the +first introducers of the use of Napier's logarithms; Neville +Maskelyne, to whom we owe the Nautical Almanac; Dr. Vincent, one of +our greatest comparative geographers, were all Westminster boys; and +one of the seven founders of this Society, and two of your Presidents, +were also Westminster boys. Now we find a Westminster boy training +himself, hereafter to be a great explorer, and perhaps discoverer. Let +us wish him all success in his career, and I am sure the meeting will +desire me to convey to him a hearty and unanimous vote of thanks. + +[Illustration: Map--THE CENTRAL PART OF THE KINGDOM OF SIAM. Showing +the route of MR. H. Warington Smyth.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Notes of a Journey on the Upper +Mekong, Siam, by H. 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