I ILLINOI S UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Brittle Books Project, 2013. COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION In Public Domain. Published prior to 1923. This digital copy was made from the printed version held by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was made in compliance with copyright law. Prepared for the Brittle Books Project, Main Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2013 .................... r ._ .:- <: = sx . a :... ::: ..:.. ! ! s ' F d is \ _; 4y'Nyv ( . . ", - -. v w. .. .. as o y. THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY 915.93 ,Srn 9 h 2. FIVE YEARS IN SIAM VOL. II. PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE LONDON rLIBRAY OF rTHE LUNIVERSITY OF LINO OFF SAM ROI YAWT-THE THREE HUNDRED PEAKS Five Years in Siam FROM 1891 TO 1896 BY H. WARINGTON SMYTH M.A., LL.B., F.G.S., F.R.G.S. FORMERLY DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MINES IN SIAM WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR IN TWO VOLUMES-VOL. II. LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 1898 9\ 5. K CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME CHAPTER PIAGE XV. THE MALAY PENINSULA (continued). WEST COAST 1 West Coast Provinces: Paklao, Geibi, Trang, Pang Nga, Takuapa [Kopa], Renawng. XVI THE MALAY PENINSULA (continued). EAST COAST 34 Petchaburi to Champawn-Old trade routes. XVILI THE MALAY PENINSULA. EAST COAST (continued) 57 Champawn to Langsuan and Chaiya. XVIII. THE MALAY PENINSULA. EAST COAST (continued) 82 Chaiya to Sungkla (Singora) -The Tale Sap and Patalung. XIX. THE MALAY PENINSULA. EAST COAST (continued) 122 Sungkla to Lakawn. XX. THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA . . . .. .141 The Coast-Bangplasoi to Chantabun and Krat. XXI. THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA (continued) . . . 169 Chantabun: The French occupation-Gem districts in M. Klung and M. Krat-Shan diggers. XXII. THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA (continued) . . 198 Battambong : Gem districts - 'Prattabong' -The Tale Sap-Siemrap-Nakawn Wat and the Ruins. XXIII. SIAM IN 1896-7. . .. ........ . 240 Recent Siamese Legislation. 814930 [6] CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME APPENDICES APPENDIX PAGE I. TIDES AND WINDS ON THE ME NAM . . .. 261 II. SHIPPINGe AND TRADE OF BANGKOK . . . . . 268 III. DETAILS OF RICE EXPORT . .. ...... 277 IV. DETAILS OF TEAK EXPORT ... ....... 278 V. ESTIMATE OF REVENUE .. . ....... 284 VI. DETAILS OF CATTLE EXPORT . . ..... 285 VII. TRADE IN THE LAO STATES . .. ...... 286 VIII. THE KEN AND LAO REED INSTRUMENTS . . .. 289 IX. MERGUI PEARL FISHERY . . .. . .. .295 X. TIN PRODUCTION OF PUKET ... ....... 298 XI. ITEMS OF REVENUE OF TRANG AND PALEAN . . 298 XII. EXPORTS OF WEST COAST PROVINCES . ...... 298 XIII. DETAILS OF PEPPER EXPORT .. ..... . 299 XIV. SIAMESE NAMES FOR THE WINDS .. . ..... 300 XV. SOME AIRS OF SIAM ........... 301 XVI. BIRDS.. . .............. 308 XVII. SOME FEATURES COMMON TO SIAMESE AND ANCIENT CRAFT 312 GLOSSARY . . . . . ..... . . . 319 LIST OF AUTHORITIES ... . .... ..323 INDEX . . 325 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME II FULL-PA GE ILLUSTBATIONS Off Sam Roi Yawt-The Three Hundred Peaks . . Frontispiece Siamese of Sungkla ... . ...... to face p. 94 A Fellow Traveller off Chantabun .. . ...... 164 In the Rainy Season . .......... ,, 218 ILLUSTBATIONS IN TEXT Da and Jungle Knives ... . One-ox Plough . . ... . .... Entrance to Pang Nga . . . . . . Leaving Pang Nga ... Rama Sun, who causes Thunder .. . Nang Macha Nu, a Sea-nymph ...... Chaolai Peak . . . . . . . . . Under Sam Roi Yawt . . . . . . . Four Reefs-Thirty-six Hours off Sam Roi Yawt . Light Airs, off South Horn .. . Champawn Harbour ... . Birds'-Nest Island, off Sawi . . . PAGE . . . 1 . . . 5 . . . 14 . . . 17 . . . 33 . . . 34 . . . 38 . . . 42 . . . 43 . . . 45 . . . 47 . . . 53 [8] LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME II PAGE Collecting Edible Birds' Nests . . . . ... . . . 55 Edible Nest of Peale's Swiftlet . . ..... . .. 56 Si Vi Wan, a Giant . . . . ..... . 57 The Entrance to Langsuan River ... ....... 59 On the March . ............ . 67 A Seaside Monastery ............ 71 Beating to Windward . ........... .. 82 The Barrier Bank of the Tung Ranawt .. ...... 88 Off the Tung Ranawt . .... . ....... . 89 The Harbour Side, Singora . .......... 96 Siamese House, Singora . . .. . . . .. . 97 The Entrance to the Inland Sea .. ........ 98 Sungkla Fishing Stakes . . . .. . . .. . . 101 In Singora Harbour ............ 103 In the Inland Sea . . . . . . . . .. 113 Praya Nak, Lord of Serpents, at Singora . . .... . 121 North Wall, Lakawn . ............ . 125 Wat Pratat, Lakawn .......... . .. 127 Kek, or Lakawn Reaping-hook . .. ...... .. 129 Wheel, Lakawn Tin-cart . . .. . . . . .. .. 133 Entrance to the Inland Sea . . . . . . .. 141 A Rua Pet, off Double Head . . . . . . . . 149 The Hermit's Shrine, Siracha .. ..... ... . 152 Running past Kaw Lan ... .... . .. . 154 Annamite Settlement, Chantabun . . . . . .. . 173 The Three Peaks, from Chantabun River .. ..... 175 Gem Miners' Village, Nawong .. ........ . 188 Gula Miner .. ............ 202 Gula Horseman, Pailin . . . . . . . .. 203 The North Gate, Battambong . . . . . . . . 222 The Battambong River . . .. . . . .. . 223 Migratory Villages-Winter up the River .. ..... 225 Migratory Villages-Summer on the Lake . . . . 226 Irrigation Wheel, Siemrap . .......... 229 The South-east Angle, Nakawn Wat ........ . 234 A Gable, Angkor . ............. 235 The ' Promise' leaving Chantabun Estuary . . . .. . 239 The Palace, Bangkok . ... ......... 259 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME II Five-reed Organ .. . .. .. .. . . Six-reed Organ .. . Bark Strap . . . . . .. .. . . Kens . . . . . The Ken Reed . . .. . Orang Laut boat . .. . Egyptian Vessel . . . . . . . . . . African Corn Ship . . . ...... . Wooden Junk Anchor . .. . . Egyptian Canoeist . . . . . . .... . Siamese Canoeist . . .. . . Steering Nile Boat . .. . . . .. . .... . Siamese Procession Barge . ....... . Rudders of Rua Chalom . .. ..... Rudder of Roman Wheat Ship . .. . .. . Egyptian Rudder . . .... . ..... MAPS AND PLANS Chart of the Bandon Bight . . .. Chart of the Inner Gulf and the Coast to Chantabun Map of the Gem Districts of Chantabun. . . Map of the Malay Peninsula 70 to 13� 30". . S . . 81 . . . 143 . to facep. 178 . end of vol. [9] PAGE 290 291 292 293 294 312 312 313 315 316 316 316 316 317 317 317 DA AND JUNGLE KNIVES CHAPTER XV THE MALAY PENINSULA-WEST COAST PAKLAO, KABI, TRANG, PANG NGA, TAKUAPA, RENAWNG CERTAIN concessions had been granted for the working of some lignite beds which outcrop on the mainland, and towards the end of the month, when our work was done, we started across to visit the various localities, and see to the erection of boundary marks and other matters. A small steamer belonging to the Rajah of Trang, and called' Pra Muang,' was placed at our disposal, and she arrived just after the break of the monsoon. She was a smart little white-painted boat, with pole masts, seventy- five feet in length, with fourteen feet beam and six feet draft. She had a high freeboard, which enabled her to steam fast even in rough water, and we never travelled under nine knots. She was commanded by a very decent Malay saranq, who had been much at sea, and had a crew of six smart Trang men. The discipline and order of everything was perfect, and made it a pleasure to be on board her. VOL. II B THE MALAY PENINSULA Our first destination was Paklao,i on the eastern side of the Junk Ceylon Bight. We steamed up past the grass patches and woods and bays of Pulo Panjang in the wildest monsoon weather. A small junk passed us under reefed canvas; but for this the desolation was complete. Abeam the sullen hills hid their heads in cloud; ahead, in the driving rains, the limestones reared their peaks and precipices above the breaking seas. Their shapes made them look like icebergs. As we got nearer we could see their summits were covered with low dwarfed bushes; they were so steep as to be quite inaccessible, and in many places they rose sheer out of five fathoms of water. In time we became more used to their appearance, but then we gazed and gazed and were never tired of looking at them. We anchored under the lee of Kaw Mak and rode to two anchors all night, and next morning sought our way in between the two huge limestone crags called Sawng- pinawng, 'The Brothers,' which flank the entrance to Paklao River. We left the 'Pra Muang' outside the river to two anchors, and went in to try and get a native boat to take us up to the village. The gale freshened up with renewed vigour, and it was all we could do to get off again. The little whaler of the ' Pra Muang' was a trifle crank and small for such events. I pulled stroke, and Nai Suk steered, encouraging us alternately in Siamese and English with such effect that we reached the ship in flying style. Our visit to the site of the concession at Ban Kiret revealed very little of the extent or value of the so-called coal bed, as nothing had been done to open it up, and the few outcrops were now under water. We, however, accomplished our chief purpose, in correcting the errors in our existing plans, and selecting the positions for the 1 The Pulao of Crawfurd's map. CHAP. XV LEAVING PAKLAO boundary marks, as well as in gathering other information which was required in Bangkok. Paklao was a rather miserable village, with a drunken headman-an unusual phenomenon-and some good tiger stories. We were told that ten men had been killed by tigers in as many months, but our proposals to try and bring the enemy to account were not received with enthusiasm. The elephants were fine animals here, and' the villages inland looked more flourishing. The most striking feature was the open grassy valley, which lay before us stretching away to the north-east from Bah Kiret, between the massive hills to the south and the low heights on the north. It suggests a very possible high road across to the Bandon River. As we were returning by night down the river from Paklao we met Praya Srisdi, 2 who was on his way to cross the peninsula to Lakawn and investigate some of the misdeeds of the governor of that province. He was in a boat manned by 'blue-jackets' from the gunboat, and we just made her out in the dusk as she passed up the other side before the wind. He came alongside, and we lit cheroots beneath the kajang and talked for five minutes, as well as we could in the din of the rain and wind. There is a reef across the entrance ot the river which compels vessels usually to lie outside, but a deep passage through it near the centre only needs marking to enable craft to go in and anchor in shelter in four fathoms of water. Our next destination was Muang Bi, the chief town of the newly created province written both Gerbi and Krabi, locally known as Bi. The whole of this territory formerly belonged to the great and famous province of Lakawn, but SPrince Damrong's energetic private secretary, and latterly his Majesty's. B2 CHAP. Xv THE MALAY PENINSULA for administration purposes some of the outlying sub- divisions, such as Bandon, have been taken from it, and this and Muang Kiri, which lies between them, have been elevated from mere collections of ampur ships to the dignity of Muangs. Poor Muang Bi is still nominally under the Governor of Lakawn, though practically under the 'special commissioner' at Puket, 'between the two,' re- marked a communicative native, as he slapped his palms together on a hapless mosquito, ' Bi is like that'; and he opened his hands and displayed the bleeding remains of the little insect. Some sixteen thousand unfortunates are undergoing this process in Muang Bi. We had fortunately a lull when we found our way into the river across the wide sand bar which extends out into G erbi Bay. With only ten feet there is apt to be a heavy swell, and the marks are none too easy to pick up. We had the advantage of Capt. Weber's experience, and he conned the little ship in past Sand Island, and round Rocky Point, where we lay snugly off the police station in four fathoms. This station, erected by the Rajah, had lately been taken over by the Government-i.e. the 'special commissioner,' and was consequently going rapidly to ruin. Away to the southward stretch low islands of mangrove, at high water all awash, at low tide banks of reeking mud, where innumerable crabs run in and out, and solitary crocodiles lie basking. The winding waterways which lead behind the coast line from here to Trang, and from Trang to Keda, form an intricate system unknown to any but the Malays, whose scattered khampongs are occasionally met with along their banks. Facing the sea itself stretches of spotless sand are the home of the casuarina and the cocoanut, and are broken here and there by the entrance to a wide river, or the outcrop of a mass of limestone. Behind this protecting sea-wall there is no solid land for sometimes many miles, CHAP. XV THE NIPA PALM only the shadeless, scraggy mangrove, and the sound of the mud sucking in the sun. The rain and wind were heavy once again when Nai Suk and I went away in the little whaler to the Muang, a pretty village situated near some limestones, beyond the eternal mangroves of the lower river. The cocoanut and the nipa palms are largely cultivated. The long graceful leaves of the latter, grown in the swamps between the outer mangrove and the lowest land available for padi cultivation, are largely exported from all the western provinces as attaps for roofing purposes to Puket and Penang. The number amounts to several million every year, and many of the growers and exporters among the ONE-OX PLOUGH dwellers in the winding creeks are worth thousands of dollars. The fruit, which is a hard bundle of rather succulent nuts, is often used for filling up embankments, or improving landing-places where some sort of founda- tion is required. The famous' nipa wine seems but little made in these parts at the present day, which is, perhaps, as well. Though live stock is plentiful and is largely exported, elephants are scarce at Bi; so, having finished at Klong Hin work similar to that at Ban Kiret, we had to go on by water to our next destination, but first steamed over to Puket to lay in a further stock of firewood and to land Captain Weber, who had business there. Sorry, indeed, CHAP. XV THE MALAY PENINSULA we were to miss the genial cheery shipmate whose chaff and kindness had made him a favourite with both Malays and Siamese. For entering the Kasi a River, one of the most important of the larger waterways, we had got a pilot from Krabi, a right royal old Malay, who was accompanied by his son and one retainer. As we steamed in next morning on the early flood, the sun shone out and warmed us for the first time for a week. Inside the river we found ourselves in a network of endless lagunes, wide bays, and intricate channels... We stopped abreast the chief village, Ban Lem Kroat, and the headmen came off in their canoes. Some of these men, who accompanied us up to Podam, the scene of our next piece of work, took to chaining as if they had been at it all their lives. They brought their own boats in tow of us, but they slept on board at night, and added variety to the evening concert. One of the maps in our possession was a sore trouble to us all. It was a plan furnished to the Siamese Government by a gentleman (a countryman of mine) who had applied for the lease of mining rights over the lands defined in it. The plan had been accepted, and the lease granted, and we were now there to verify the information it contained as we had done with the others. We inquired officially and unofficially. We examined and cross-examined every one we met. We sent to distant headmen. We cajoled, we threatened. We wasted half our cheroots in attempting bribery. We even tried the magic spell of whisky. But it was all to no result. We could never hear of the place for which we were now so anxiously seeking. We began to feel our reputation was at stake, and it got upon our nerves. In the middle of the night, when, unable to sleep for thinking of it, I would go on deck, there was Nai Suk s The Cassai of Crawfurd, the only map in which it occurs. CHAP. Xv AN INGENIOUS MAP poring over a chart by the light of the riding lamp, and Nai Dau talking in rising tones with a Malay. ' What are you doing-why don't you turn in?' I would ask testily, pretending not to know. 'Oh! plau-nothing whatever,' they would answer, 'only we thought we had got a clue.' The ship must have been most uncomfortable those few days. At last we found it was ruining our tempers, and, more important, our appetites; and in a moment of in- spiration we decided to put.the thing in the hands of the Commissioners at Puket, and go on our way. We never found the place. The Commissioners never found the place, though they sent special expeditions in its search. It never has been found. It never existed, except on that piece of paper. It was a purely imaginary map, and, as such, highly creditable, for it had names and hills and rivers all complete. The draughtsman almost deserved to raise some money on it. But the most charm- ing part of the whole was the bland way in which my countryman afterwards admitted the 'mistake' when charged with it. It was an instructive episode. We dropped our pilots over the stern into their canoes, when we steamed out of the Kasi bound to Trang. There was a sea on the bar, and from the rate they had to bail it looked as if we should have to run back and pick them up. But we saw them pass inside all right before we were clear. Passing inside the Vogels we steered for the southern end of Pulo Lanta, and rounding it saw a fine sight of white limestone precipices, against the lurid blackness of the rain-clouds, piling up above the land to leeward. Going on by a difficult northern passage we got into the Trang River after nightfall, and by the aid of the marks erected by the Rajah, and careful attention to the lead, anchored off the Muang in two fathoms before midnight. CHAP. XV THE MALAY PENINSULA The Siamese language cannot compare with the Malay in musical qualities. It has often been insisted that Malay is the Italian of the East, and one never felt the truth of this so much as on such a night as this. The steady pump of the engine aft, the splash of the ripples forward, the occasional clank of the steering chain, and the bursts of shrill piping from the far dark line of jungle, all formed a fitting accompaniment to the long drawling calls of the leadsmen in the chains and the low 'Lagare!' * of the helmsman peering at the binnacle. And who that has listened to such a nocturne can forget its magic, more lasting than the spells of Chopin or even of Beethoven ! Trang is the Tarangue of the Portuguese. The present Rajah, Praya Rasada, is a Chinaman, known familiarly as Simbi. His two brothers are the Rajahs of Renawng and Langsuan, but neither can equal him in energy, popularity, or good nature. He has travelled in Burma, visited Java, and is at home in the Straits. Of his own initiative he introduced the Burma village system into his province. In 1892 he moved his capital bodily down river to be near the sea. At the time of our visit, ten miles of road had been completed, six large wells had been sunk, and bricked and covered in; a gaol, a court-house, and a landing pier had been built, and hundreds of acres of padi land had been cleared and drained round the new town. The old capital, Kontani (Captain Low's Khoantani), was being connected with the new one, Kantan, and also with the great pepper district of Taptieng, by the opening of new roads, and the repair of old ones. All the work was thorough. Dacoity had practically disappeared. Even the secret societies, which generally work their own sweet will in Siam, had received a warning in the total suppression of one of their number to which a murder had been traced. The site for the town of Kantan had been selected on 4 ' Steady !' CHAP. xv A MODEL STATE the flanks of some pretty hills about six miles from the sea, where the anchorage in the river gave two fathoms at low water, a depth quite sufficient for any of the small coast vessels running to these ports. The entrance to the river was systematically marked with buoys and beacons. The arrangements of the gaol were excellent-it was remarkably cleanly kept. There was no overcrowding, and the women and sick folk had separate wings. The prisoners were all employed on Government work for certain hours of the day. A strong gang was working on the roads; a brick kiln, a carpenter's shop, and a sawing yard were also attached to the gaol. The court-house contained a number of large rooms filled with benches and seats, all made in the prison shops; the magistrate having a raised daYs at the upper end, and there being a good sala for people to wait in. A lower court was instituted for minor cases, where half the ordinary fees were charged. The only fault about all this, to my mind, was that it was encouraging litigation, the evil results of which are only too apparent in India at the present time, and have already begun to be seriously felt in the consular courts at Bangkok. It was characteristic of the Rajah that he had sent all his magistrates at his own personal expense to Penang, to attend the police courts there for at least a week, and so observe the usual routine carried on in them. The police were a smartly set-up body of Sikhs and Siamese, and up-country stations were being established. Cleanliness was one of the Rajah's hobbies, and supervising earthworks another, and the embankments and bridges we crossed on the way to Taptieng showed that no scamping was possible with him. Any one who has travelled in the provinces of Siam will realise what an extraordinary contrast Trang presented to the rest of the country. But even then the distant murmur of disapproval was beginning. The 'Special CHAP. XV THE MALAY PENINSULA Commissioner,' who had never been to the place, was of course opposed to these very revolutionary measures. The roads were being countermanded. The money grants were being withdrawn. In fact, the Rajah was already regarded as a source of disquiet and an object of suspicion. He bore it all good-humouredly, but was naturally anxious about the future. What lack of advance there has been since then cannot be laid at his door. The Rajah must be credited with having perceived that, under existing conditions, the Siamese States could not compete with the States under British protection to the southward, where every inducement was held out to industrious immigrants to settle. With the falling prices in tin and pepper, the heavy royalties, and the additional expenses entailed by the lack of communications, and often unsettled government, it was inevitable that a stream of emigrants should flow away to those States where they could be certain of moderate royalties, good roads, and absolute security of life and property. He made it, there- fore, his object to try to provide these things in Trang. It is now the most populous of the west coast provinces, and has over forty thousand people. The one thing necessary to permanent success is the hearty co-operation of the Siamese Government. It is doubtful if the facts were recognised in Bangkok, a place where men and things are fearfully and wonderfully liable to misrepresentation. The pepper plantations round the Taptieng district give the country a delightful aspect of cultivation which it is rare to see in Siam. The lateritic soil seems peculiarly adapted to pepper cultivation, and is thought highly of by the Chinese; for one reason, the concretionary nodules, which are familiar in it, are very useful for adding weight to the pepper, by a little judicious mixing. There are ten thousand Chinamen in the district, the town itself containing about one third of that number. It 10 CHAP. X CHINESE IN TRANG is a filthy place, as all Chinese towns are, and the inhabitants stared at us as only Chinese do. The Rajah took us into the headquarters of one of the principal secret societies, where he was on good terms with the chief officers. We were elaborately introduced, and I must confess to having been favourably impressed with the style and appearance of our hosts, as well as the cleanliness of the place. There is something strong and imposing in Chinese architecture and ornament which is certainly attractive. From the police station above the town we saw distinctly the low-lying pass over to Patalung, and away northward the main range dwindled to quite small dimensions towards Lakawn. This was the route mentioned by Captain Low by which Ligor (Lakawn) could be reached in seven stages. Tun Sun, mentioned by Dr. Anderson as the terminus of a trans-peninsular trade route in the sixth century, has not, so far as I am aware, been identified, though, from its description as being on the western side of the narrowest part of the peninsula, it is more than likely to have been near Trang. The detail regarding the wine for which it was famous, which, as Dr. Anderson points out, was pro- bably that from the nipa palm, is not of much assistance, as that plant is found the whole way from Tavoi to Keda. The population of the Taptieng district in the days when pepper was $25 a pikul was twice what it is now. Then the Chinese planters made and maintained their own roads; now it was impossible, and, with the exception of those the Rajah had taken in hand lately, they had all become obliterated and impassable. We were treated to a full recital of all grievances by a representative deputation of the chief planters, followed by an elaborate tiffin at the house of an old man who was one of the first settlers in Trang. Neither the Nais nor I were particularly fond of the messy concoctions with which hospitable Chinamen had so 11 CHAP. Xv THE MALAY PENINSULA often regaled us, and we had lived too long not to have a particular horror of pig. So we were constrained to depend on the only undoubtedly clean dishes before us, boiled rice and pineapple shavings. It was a very small incident, but it amused the kind-hearted Rajah, and never shall I forget the combined scorn and wonder with which he shouted, ' What ! not eat PORK !' as he dived once more into the savoury dishes spread before him. Another horror at these entertainments is the neat brandy of a fiery nature of which one is always pressed to partake during the hottest hours of the most sweltering days. The revenue of Trang 5 is dependent on the exports of tin, pepper, pigs, and altaps, on the land tax, and on the gambling, opium, and liquor farms, which in all Chinese communities give the most important returns. Palean, a small province to the southward, with a population of less than five thousand, is also under the Rajah of Trang. There are a few Chinese, who produce a little pepper, but the majority of the inhabitants are Malay fishermen, who are chiefly concerned in the export of attaps to Penang and Puket. Neither Palean nor Trang is very strong in tin, the export varying from fifty to eighty tons a year only. The main range is so comparatively unimportant at this point, and the preponderance of flat country so marked, that the future of the district depends rather on its agricultural value. Recognising this fact, the Rajah proposed to the Govern- ment that the usual three years' immunity from taxes allowed to people taking up new land should be extended to six. In view of the density of the jungle covering the country, and of the necessity of encouraging settlers, 5 About $54,000 (6,0001.) exclu- from the Rajah spending the re- sive of farms. Of this the Govern- maining twelfth on the province. ment pocketed 1, under pressure 12 CRAP. XV LOSS OF THE 'SETTHI ' it seems a pity that the proposal was not taken into more serious consideration. Captain Low mentions that the chief exports were, in 1824, tin, a little ivory, birds' nests, hogs, poultry, and rice. The amounts cannot have been very large, as he puts the population at only three thousand. Then, as now, the trade was chiefly with Penang. Some prospecting has been done to the north of the Trang River on an outcrop of lignite. Although it improves in depth, there is a considerable amount of pyrites, and from the experiments made with it in steam launches it seems to coke a great deal, and fails to keep up the steam pressure. There is a total thickness of 10 ft. 3 in., the beds of coal material being separated by bands of indurated clay. The thickest seam is 42 in., and it is also the best in quality. The outcrop is on the edge of the mangrove swamps, and the water is a serious difficulty. Our instructions took us no farther south, and so when we had finished at Trang we were practically beginning our homeward journey. We spent a rough night and morning making for Puket, and arrived there with all on board sick, with the exception of one or two. At Puket we learned the news of the' Setthi's'loss, and aswe had reckoned on her to take us from Takuapa to Renawng, the event threatened to interfere seriously with our movements. Owing to the strength of the monsoon, and the fact that the heavy sea running would be on the beam, and that we should have a rocky shore under our lee the whole way, I decided not to risk the ' Pra Muang' up the coast. A sailing boat of half her tonnage is in my eyes a far safer and more seaworthy craft in heavy weather than any mall steamer of the size of the ' Pra Muang.' Accordingly we steamed away northward with the in- tention of going overland vid Pang Nga to Takuapa, and 13 CHAP. XV THE MALAY PENINSULA eventually anchored off the picturesque islands at the mouth of Pang-Nga River. This our last night was one of the wildest I remember: we rode to two anchors, and had constantly to veer out more chain. Next morning we bade farewell to the sarang and his men and started away up river. There are, as usual, end- less creeks and channels running in various directions through the mangrove swamps and joining the Paklao, Pang Nga, and Takua-tung streams with one another and the sea, so that they are all in a measure connected. This entrance is the principal one and the deepest, and we ENTRANCE TO PANG NGA found good anchorage for small craft, with three fathoms of water and perfect protection right in the river. Leaving the Takua-tung branch on our left, and edging away through side creeks to the westward, we eventually reached the real Pang Nga River. Here the bottom was firm granite gravel, the tailings from the tin mines, which have silted up the central mouth of the river until it has become comparatively useless. We passed some stupen- dous limestone cliffs, and then, as the valley opened out, we came on houses nestling among their palm planta- tions. From the landing-place we walked up an excellent road, well shaded and well kept, for about a mile to the 14 CHAP. XV A PEACEFUL SPOT Rajah's residence, which is just to the south of the Chinese market and the main part of the little town. On each side of the narrow fertile valley the precipices of limestone ran north and south scarcely a mile apart, like vast walls fronting the world to keep out its turmoil. The gale roar- ing about their pinnacles and the clouds clinging round their turrets fought in vain to get down into the quiet. Northward above the town the gigantic walls seem almost to meet, and then they fall away a bit, giving a distant view of the granites of the Kao Dau Muak Lek range which forms the frontier between Pang Nga and Takua- pa. In those far hills is worked the tin, and from them have come the thousands of tons of tailings which have so effectually silted up the river. The little narrow valley seemed like a cathedral close, where those in search of rest might find it. The air of peace about it was quite captivating, and the Nais, whose hearts were rejoiced by the evidences of Siamese civilisation around them, have never failed to remember Pang Nga as the loveliest of the places we saw. The population, which has been on the whole but little disturbed from without, seems to consist mostly of pukka Siamese, who cannot exceed seven thousand in number. Among the half-Malay people farther south the Buddhist monasteries are rare and insignificant. There the Mahomedanism of the Malay and cowardly supersti- tions of the Chinamen strive for the mastery. Here, at last, the yellow robes passed us again, and the Nais bent their heads and raised their bands to them in mingled reverence and pleasure, and the Prachadis and Wats seemed endowed with an unusual charm. The Rajah was on his dying bed at the time of our visit, but he sent us kindly messages, and all his people vied with one another in making us comfortable. The air of 15 CHAP. xv THE MALAY PENINSULA hearty welcome with which we were treated was very plea- sant, and the cleanliness of the tumniep, the cheerful con- tentxnent of the people, and the promptitude with which everything was carried out showed that the old man still wielded his authority, although Laid, widow'd of the power in his eye That bow'd the will. He was present at the reception of Captain Low in 1824. From the time he became Rajah he exercised an unusual influence in his narrow valley home. His own people spoke warmly of him for a good man, and foreigners spoke well of him for an enlightened one. His straightforward- ness and honesty were a byword. He had had his sorrows, for he had seen the output of tin sink to ten tons a year, and he had seen Puket rise to the first importance both as the port and as the administrative centre of the surround- ing States. And he had met with the discouragements which are the lot of men of his calibre in the East. Our stay in Pang Nga was short, as there was no delay in getting the elephants, a great number being owned in the place. The first day's march took us up the lower shoulder of the granite range; the limestones, which could be plainly seen dipping off the granite, being left behind. Instead of branching eastward along the trans-pen- insular trail, we held on roughly due north into the wild forest scenery of the high land. After seeing some of the hill workings we camped at Ka Ngawk. To the west lay the unimportant little province of Takuatung, the population of which is apparently not more than five or six thousand. In Takuatung, as its name implies,6 a considerable amount of alluvial tin has been worked, which has been 6 Lit. 'Tin in the plain.' 16 CHAP. xv MARCH FROM PANG NGA generally exported through Pang Nga, and accounts for more than half of the amount credited to that place. The next day's march was over the ridge into the Takua-pa watershed. We followed down a tumbling stream rushing among enormous granite boulders, and passed many rough hill workings, deep buried in the forest, to Kapong, the headquarters of the mining from which the province has got its name. Part of the way we followed the clearing made some years ago by the order of the Siamese Government for the telegraph wire which was to have connected the whole of the peninsula with Bangkok, and afforded an alterna- tive to the Saigon and Tavoi lines. The clearings were ' Lit.' Tin in the forest.' VOL. II C 17 CHAP. xv THE MALAY PENINSULA made at great expense through all the provinces over hill and dale, and through swamp and forest by the local Rajahs, and the posts of mai takien 8 put up throughout them. The materials were purchased and were taken to the various points, and there left. The fatal lack of deci- sion which has cost Siam so much intervened once more. The wires, the insulators, and all the gear lie rusting or are being stolen, all up and down the country, and wild elephants amuse themselves butting down the posts, while the country cries out for communications. From Kapong we sent back our elephants, to Rover's great satisfaction, for he found them unsympathetic fellow- travellers, always trying to kick him, or whisking their tails out at him, often stamping and snorting in a highly irritated manner, and quite refusing all friendly overtures. Even when he cried 'pax' to struggle for his life to get across the torrent, some brute would make a dart at him. Strongly as he disliked steam winches and sirens on shipboard, he became fully convinced that elephants were the most generally objectionable. Now buffalo, on the other hand, were the best fun imaginable; he had only to stalk a young one on the edge of the jungle, and then make a spring in what he regarded as best tiger-form, to put the whole herd in an uproar. They ploughed the ground and snorted, and formed up in line with their heads down. Then away he galloped barking to their flank, keeping them wheeling first one way, then the other; and when all were tired out he could sit down with his tongue out, and laugh to see what a temper they were in. He was never allowed to play this game with oxen, but buffaloes in the jungle were considered legitimate sport, on account of their atrocious manners to strangers. Captain Low mentions this tened form of the name in use in wood under the name mai Kheum, the peninsula. an error for mai 'Kien, the shor- 18 CHAP. XV MISGOVERNMENT As the rains had fairly broken, the stream had risen sufficiently to float dug-out canoes, and we engaged some Chinamen who had just come up with rice to take us and our barang down to Takuapa. The rapacity of these people, and the way they quarrelled over their money, was most unpleasant. Our method of navigation was new to me. Each boat had a crew of one man, whose position was quite aft. She was trimmed considerably by the head. Owing to the amount of tailings the stream ran over a fairly firm bottom at a great pace, and to turn his craft the man slipped off astern, and held on, thus acting as a pivot on which the boat was swung by the stream, until she was straight. He then got on the end again, and away she glided till the next turn. The valley twisted in all directions through the densely wooded hills. As we descended more streams came in, the water widened and deepened and the hills fell back, and poling had to be resorted to. We passed boats and villages, and endless pine-apple gardens, until we reached the Muang. For filth and mismanagement this place ran Puket very fine. Once, subsequently, when discussing the condition of the various western provinces with his Majesty, he observed,' I noticed at Takuapa that they had taken much more care to hide things from me than in any other place I visited. They always try to hide a great deal from me, he added, smiling, 'but there was very much to be hidden there.' All the usual symptoms of inefficient government existed; unsatisfied litigants, unsettled claims, and untried prisoners. The police, who numbered twenty-four all told, were underpaid and overworked. They were ill- clad, disgracefully housed, and worse armed. Scattered in twos and threes about the province, they were so out- c2 19 CHAP. XV THE MALAY PENINSULA numbered by the coolie class, of whom there were pro- bably eight thousand, that, incapable of mutual support, they were practically useless for purposes of keeping order. Mining affairs were in inextricable confusion, and we heard endless complaints. The acting Governor and his officials were evidently incapable of dealing with the in- tricate and technical character of a large proportion of the questions brought before them. While litigants com- plained to us of the delays and the unfair decisions they were expected to submit to, the officials themselves con- fessed to us their own incompetence, and begged us for advice, in the winning way customary in the East when there is no intention whatever of following one's coun- sel, but merely a wish to disarm and be rid of one as rapidly and peacefully as possible. The mines are scattered throughout the southern part of the province, from the sea to the boundaries of Lakawn, and, as the name of the province implies, they are generally situated in deep jungle, and are reached by rough-and-tumble forest paths, over which only elephants can travel. With the disadvantages of bad government, high royalties, and communications such as would appal miners generally, Takuapa yet exports from six to seven hundred tons of tin a year. As in the other western provinces, rice and opium are the chief articles of import, the latter being supplied from Penang through Puket. Rice and fruit are grown in sufficient quantities only to supply the Siamese population, which can hardly exceed twenty thousand in the whole province, and the miners are thus almost entirely supplied from without. A few junks were employed in the trade, but the greater part was done by the two steamers then working on the coast, and running between Penang, Puket, Takuapa, Renawng, Mergui, and Rangun. Our arrival was slightly inoppor- tune. The loss of a rice-laden junk and the non-arrival of 20 CHAP. XV BESIEGED BY FLOODS the ' Setthi' had reduced the stores of the kongsis very seriously, and the news we brought of the total loss of the latter vessel created something like consternation. The Chinese taukes were extremely anxious, as both rice and opium were now very low, and the coolie class was already becoming clamorous and restive. We were invaded by a crowd of anxious inquirers, and a message was sent over- land to Puket to hasten up stores in some way or other. The violence of the monsoon precluded the hope of any junks reaching the estuary for some time, and, as the other steamer was not yet due, it was hoped the gunboat in Puket might be sent up, at all events with opium, which all seemed to consider more essential to the main- tenance of order than even rice; at a pinch it was thought it might be got overland. Necessary steps were taken to get in the elephants for our march to Renawng, and in the meantime we had plenty to do gathering information. We were fortunate in being lodged in a fairly new tumniep, for the violence of the weather was such that, had it been any older, we could not have found a dry spot in it. As it was, some part of our roof came off every night, and we slept about the floor between the lines of drip under water- proofs and Chinese umbrellas. The water rose steadily every day, until the plain was covered, and the only spot where one could walk for exercise was the summit of the little pagoda hill overlooking the turbid yellow river. Two or three of our elephants were able to reach us, but the majority could not come in, and we were as effectually shut in as if besieged. Every morning we went up to our quarterdeck walk on the hill, and looked to windward at the hurrying scud, and to leeward at the blue shrouded mountains in hopes of seeing some sign of a break. But ever the roar of the gale came up from out the plain, and moaned along the hillsides, filling the whole air; ever the yellow water spread abroad over the green country, and 21 CHAP. Xv THE MALAY PENINSULA ever the bedraggled bamboos swayed, and the palm tops bent and lurched along the sky. We had a short break one evening, when the weary foliage hung restfully, and a great silence fell upon the land. Then rose gently, with gathering strength, the chorus of life once more: the birds piped and called, and the dogs barked; the cocks stood up and crowed, and the children's laughter and men's voices went up to the genial sunshine. In the market they were making merry with gong and cracker over a Chinese wedding, and farther up the slope came the more musical sounds of rejoicing over a Siamese top-knot cutting at the monastery. The heart of man and beast rejoiced. And then the clouds drove up again, and the plain hid itself from the thunder of the gale. One seemed alone with the universe, uplifted on that wind-swept mount, and all the rest but a fair dream that was gone. The rainfall at Takuapa, or Kopa, as it is called for short, is far greater than that of Puket or any place on the west coast farther south. From 70 30' N. lat. downwards the influence of the monsoon becomes less and less until, as is known, the contrast of the seasons in the Straits is very slightly marked. Both Trang and Junk Ceylon are well within the range of the monsoons, but the rainy season is not so serious matter in either, as it is when Takuapa is reached in the 9th parallel. From here northward the full force is felt, and, like it, Renawng and Tenasserim get their full share. Our imprisonment threatened to become tedious. We beguiled the evenings by very successful concerts, and Nai Suk told stories to an admiring crowd, which squatted round him as he sat on the end of his camp bed. In the art of story-telling he had a graphic touch and an elo- 2 CHAP. XV AMUSEMENTS AT KOPA quence which were little short of genius, and, though I was often unable to follow him in the more intricate passages, one could interpret his gesticulations, and the expressions on the attentive faces upturned towards him. We also attended a tam bun, or merit-making function, at a neighbouring monastery, where the good people made us very welcome, and we all contributed our share of labour towards a small pagoda. Our elephants provided a little entertainment by obtaining access to some fruit plantations and making handsome meals off bananas, jack fruit, pine apples, sugar- cane, and other items, to the tune of half a ton or so. There were the owners to be pacified, and the elephants to be punished: the former I handed over to the ingenious Nai Suk, with the result that they went away highly satisfied, and swearing eternal friendship, and the latter were put to stand alone in the sun, which fortunately came out for a couple of hours. They were allowed to eat nothing, and as they stood there on three legs, slowly swinging their trunks, and covering themselves with dust in the last stage of boredom, they looked penitence itself -the hypocrites. Inter alia, I was much surprised to see the youth of the place indulge in a game of a kind of ' hide and seek.' Such energy is most unwonted, and we could not but wonder how the game came into fashion in Takuapa. There was only one European' in the place, and he had been there twenty-three years. He was not an English- man, though, like most men in the East, he talked English. Without interests and without energy or ambition, his mind seemed almost to have ceased to act. His habits and ideas were no longer those of the Western; he seemed to think from the native point of view. Perhaps, a quarter of a century before, he came there full of life and fun, and had taught the youngsters of those days the game. CHAP. XV 23 THE MALAY PENINSULA It was pitiable enough to see, but his was not the only case of the sort to be met with in Siam. The amount expended in the province by the Govern- ment hardly exceeded the salary of the policeman; the acting governor was completely under Praya Tip Kosa, his only business to remit revenue. Generally the condition of Takuapa was miserable enough, and, possibly from long oppression and misgovern- ment, the people seemed to have lost the fire and character which made them such lusty fighting folk in the days of the Burmese wars, when it is recounted that even their women turned out to give the foe a fitting reception, and one took command, and, like a Joan of Arc, smote her country's enemies hip and thigh, and drove them out with heavy loss. At the end of a week, after much difficulty, some balls of opium were brought in from Puket by land, and a few days later the 'Cornelia,' the other steamer trading on the coast, called in. Doing the work of two vessels, she was crowded with people, and there was literally no sitting room on her decks. There must have been three hundred native passengers on board, and anything in the shape of panic must have been disastrous. The boats had room, perhaps, for fifty, but they could never have been cleared away. Fortunately the weather suddenly moderated, and we had a spell of calm. The harbour of Kopa is a very fine one, consisting of a magnificent estuary protected from the sea by a series of islands, behind which vessels can lie in depths varying from four to seven fathoms. The chief entrance is to the north, round Kopa Head. The deep-water channel runs thence in a southerly direction for some twenty miles to the mouth of the Kopa River proper, where the local trading craft, which are, of course, never of very deep draft, lie in two fathoms, some fourteen miles below the 24 CHAP. XV town. The tin, which is smelted, weighed, and stamped at the town, is brought down in barges to the anchorage. The return journey, with the rice cargo, often occupies two days or more in the flood season. West of this anchorage about six miles is the southern entrance to the inlet, which is used a good deal by coasters. There is, however, a dangerous sand-bar with only two fathoms on it lying out three or four miles, flanked by treacherous shoals; and the strong tides and heavy sea which constantly run here, combined with the absence of good leading-marks, make it a very unsafe passage to attempt in any but the finest weather. While the rich provinces of Bandon and Lakawn to the east have long suffered from the want of good harbours, it is astonishing that nothing has been done by the Siamese to connect them with Kopa, and improve the wonderful harbour nature has here provided. It is true that the river at the town is being silted up by the tailings from the mines, and by several old hulks which the administration is too indifferent to clear away; but these things could be remedied. Some years ago the machinery was got out, and the clearings were made for a lighthouse on Kopa Head, but nothing further was done; the materials are rusting away and the clearings have grown up again. It is with the greatest difficulty the Government has been got to sanction the placing of a buoy on one of the most dangerous sunken rocks in the fairway. Beyond this nothing has been done for the place, and yet with a couple of buoys to mark the channel in the southern entrance, and a beacon on each of the four most dangerous spots in the main fairway of the inlet, Kopa could at trifling cost be made the first harbour in Siam, and the port of the whole of this part of the peninsula. Neither Chantabun nor Sungkla has the pos- sibilities of Kopa, neither has such depth of water or such commodious anchorage, neither is so well situated with KOPA ESTUARY 25 CHAP. Xv THE MALAY PENINSULA regard to foreign markets, and neither has such fine provinces at the back of it. During the pearling excitement at Mergui in 1892, some banks of shell were discovered under the lee of Kopa Head, and Praya Tip Kosa seems to have done a little towards exploiting them.9 Some of the Mergui pearlers approached Praya Tip with a view to prospecting and working shell in Siamese waters, but he asked for a royalty of 30 per cent. on shell and half the pearls, terms which were impossible. It is a curious fact that, so far as is known, no pearl oysters are found in Siamese waters except in Kopa estuary; and in the bights inside Junk Ceylon, and other of the large islands south- ward, where the depths of water, and the relative position of banks and islands, seem exactly suited to the growth of shell, none have so far been discovered. The overland journey from Takuapa to Renawng would have occupied us ten days even had the numerous creeks been fordable. There are a few small villages scattered along the trail, but the population is very scanty. The steamer did the distance in ten hours. The skipper was a kind-hearted peppery Dane of education and experience, who had been many years in the East, and had read and observed much in the course of his life. Like nearly all of his countrymen who are to be met in the East, he was a gentleman and a man of ideas. Such indeed are the characteristics of the Danes who form the little community 9 The banks are from six to deducting the price of apparatus nine fathoms deep, and the shells and cost of work, left a profit of are found to be of inferior quality $700 to $800. The pearls were to those from deeper banks, the said to be small and not numerous, mother-of-pearl being pitted and but I fancy no one knew what the marked. The work could be special commissioner derived from carried on for five or six hours at them. A lease was also given to low water for some sixteen days in some Manilla men, at the exorbi- the month. The result of three tant royalty of 35 per cent. on months' work with two pumps was shell, and some 5,000 pairs were 3,000 pairs of shell, which, after obtained. 26 CHAP. XV THE RAJAH OF RENAWNG which is so influential and popular in Bangkok. They understand us better and are more like us than any other people, and they enter into our pursuits and our ideas, joining in our sports, too, with no little skill and success. Among them many Englishmen have found their warmest friends, for Danes and English generally pull together as by a common understanding. At Renawng we were cordially welcomed by the Rajah, Praya Setthi, and his secretary, Dr. Gunn. The hospitality of Renawng has long been proverbial with British officials in the Tenasserim provinces. More recently the price of tin has fallen, and the special commissioner at Puket has commenced to have his say in the place, with the result that the Rajah has been compelled to retrench; the roads show signs of disrepair, a large coolie emigration is now yearly taking place, and there are other signs that Renawng's best days are over. The Rajah was long the most enlightened ruler in the peninsula. From a tiny fishing village he made the place into an important mining centre. Landing-stages, smelting- houses, first-class roads, and charming bungalows sprang into being in the pretty semicircle of hills to the north-east of the river mouth. A regular system of mining regula- tions was established, an efficient police force was created, and justice was meted out to all. The natural result was that when the King visited Renawng during his peninsular tour he found it in the most flourishing condition. From that time the central Government began to interfere with the Rajah, and the chief commissioner was given the power to meddle in his own way, with what results might be antici- pated. The Rajah's experience and capacity have fortunately been recently recognised by his appointment to the com- missionership of Champawn. I saw a good deal of the old gentleman subsequently, when he was summoned to Bangkok to assist the committee appointed by the Legislative Council CHAP. XV 27 THE MALAY PENINSULA to consider the draft of the Mining Regulation submitted by our department. He was the only member of the committee who made any pretension to punctuality. His quiet deferential manner always marked him as an unusual man, and he never spoke except when specially asked for his opinion. It was invariably worth the asking for, in strik- ing contrast to the many opinions which were volunteered. The Siamese and Malay population of Renawng con- sists of only about 7,000 persons. There is very little rice grown in the province, and the villages are poor, scattered, and generally lie along the banks of the stream, or among the wide creeks and inlets which run intothe country behind the outer coast-line. The people are of the usual type of the peninsula people we had everywhere met, and had the same nasal twang. The girls wore the old-fashioned long locks of hair over their ears, the rest of the hair being cut short and standing upright in the usual way. The men seemed to prefer the Malay sarong to the Siamese panung, and had generally the restrained manners of the former. It was curious, as showing how largely the prosperity of Renawng had had to do with Chinamen, that Dr. Gunn, the Rajah's right-hand man, scarcely spoke a word of Siamese. The interior of Renawng is mountainous, there being some high granite peaks not a dozen miles back from the coast line. The streams are thus short and unimportant, but at their outfalls they become fairly large salt-water estuaries, where one may travel miles by boat among man- grove swamps relieved by spotless sandbanks and lofty islet peaks, where fishing villages nestle in lonely spots among the palms. The mines are chiefly situated in the neighbourhood of the village of Hat Sompen, about eight miles inland from the town. The alluvial lower down has been almost entirely worked out, and the granite range itself is being attacked 28 CHAP. XV just as in Puket and Takuapa. In Renawng, however, the granite is peculiarly white, soft and decomposed, and the tin runs through it in the finest particles, almost invisible to the eye. Some large quartz veins have been observed, but they are generally poor and unmineralised, although in their neighbourhood there is often a rich dissemination of cassiterite. The valley has been the scene of great activity, and presents a remarkable appearance. Piles of tailings, wide fans of detritus, deep gashes and high pinnacles of rock, contrast with the deep green of the forest- clad mountain sides. Through the driving rain mists we caught the blurred outlines of sloping kongsi roofs, of winding watercourses, and tall aqueducts bridging the chasms. Everything was deeply stained with red and yellow, except some of the higher faces of the granite which stood out in white against the sombre scene. Every one was hard at work, taking every advantage of the heavy rain, stirring in the sluices, strengthening weak banks, and plying their crowbars on the rock faces, while the thundering streams did their work, and steadily piled up the tin stuff in the sluices. One could not but admire the perseverance of many of these men, whose scent for the tin was as keen and unerring as that of Cornish miners. Unlike the coolies, who dig out the alluvial paddocks with as much intelligence as that with which buffaloes plough the soil, they are miners every inch of them, and work with their heads, following up every indication of ore however slight, and turning their hands to anything. They know the best bark for a launder, and the most lasting timber for an aqueduct; they can hew and shape them, and their eye is quick to trace the line for a new watercourse along the contour of the hills. And when they come to handle the tin stuff, it is with the glisten of the eye of the true miner, who loves it for its beauty. The greatest order prevailed everywhere. Every RENAWNG MINES 29 CHAP. XV THE MALAY PENINSULA kongsi had its name written up upon the sett, the boundaries of which were clearly defined The average size of each grant was ten olongs, about thirteen acres, and it was valid for one year. Water sources and rights, rights of way, &c., were all clearly defined, and trespass was punishable by fine in the Rajah's court. The Rajah himself, as well as all the chief miners, was very strong on the necessity of lowering the heavy royalties, and our proposals for the new regulations met, as usual, with every approval. Owing to the abandon- ment of the alluvial, and the great distance to some of the hill mines, as well as increased price of labour, affairs were not promising. A few new districts were being opened up, notably to the southward and in the gorge of the Hat Sompen stream, but what success has attended them I have not heard. The output of tin has been seriously declining, and at the time of our visit had fallen to about three hundred and fifty tons a year. In the first week in June we left Renawng for the little unimportant division of Muang Kra, now more generally known as Pakchan.' The Pakchan is a tidal estuary over fifty miles in length. It is navigable for craft drawing nine feet, and its scenery gives it the character rather of a northern fiord than of a tropical inlet. For ocean-going ships very extensive dredging would be necessary both out- side the entrance and in many places higher up. The statement which I have seen made, that the harbour is a magnificent port, thirty miles long and with over five and six fathoms of water, is quite misleading, as it omits the one- and two-fathom patches at the entrance, and the extensive shoals all the way up above Maliwun. The estuary can hardly be called a river, for it is only fed at its northern end by a tortuous stream or two rising less than thirty miles away. For the greater part of its course it is 1Probably 'the sandal-wood forest.' 30 CHAP. XV ON THE PAKCHAN from two to three miles wide, and the flanking heights rising in places two thousand feet into the banks of cloud which herald the monsoon give it an air of magnitude which make it a fitting frontier to the Indian Empire. On my way up, Mr. Kenny, the subdivisional officer, and Mr. Ross Clunis, who had been working in the division for the Indian Geological Survey, very kindly piloted me round the interesting mineral outcrops at Maliwun, where I saw such lodes as I had not before seen in the peninsula. At Kra, the river which forms the frontier is a pretty winding stream flowing along a padi-growing valley some miles in width. The British Burman and the Siamese converse with one another across the stream, and ' frontier' incidents are rare, although the two were long such foes, and in old days did their best, with the heartiest goodwill, to exterminate one another. As though nature sought to restore the balance, dysentery was raging among the people and carrying off members of every household, making it a veritable valley of sorrow. Nothing is more pitiful than to see these simple folk going down before an epidemic in utter helplessness, too ignorant and too broken in spirit to attempt to combat it. There were in the little province probably about five thousand people, but one would expect that they were not increasing fast. In two marches we crossed to Champawn. Four baby elephants accompanied their parents, and added con- siderably to our responsibilities. They usually started in great spirits, charging one another, and rushing on ahead screaming at the fun. Now and then we came upon one who had been butted into a watercourse, where he whimpered for assistance. There was much ado to get him out, and then off he went to be revenged, and just at a steep place, with a sudden scream, he would rush at his opponent, catching him full in the side, and then stand on the edge, his little eyes twinkling as he watched the 31' CHAP. XV THE MALAY PENINSULA other tumble down the slope. One was forcibly reminded of tactics at school. The change from the cold wet weather of the west side of the peninsula to the dry climate on the lee side of the hills was most grateful. The low clouds could be seen hanging on the watershed, but in the wide plain the air was warm and the earth dry and hard under foot; it is only later that the rains penetrate right across. We were nearly all suffering from long-continued malarial dyspepsia, but basking in the warmth of Champawn recovered us rapidly. It is unnecessary to describe the short journey across the isthmus, which has been already thoroughly investigated by those interested in the canal scheme. The watershed is low and the distance short, and modern engineers would doubtless find but little comparative difficulty in cutting through it; the scheme has fallen through for other reasons, probably not unconnected with politics. Whether the gain to shipping would be sufficient to make the concern pay is one of those subjects which may be commended to debating societies which have dis- posed of Cromwell and vivisection. In Champawn everything was thoroughly Siamese to our eyes again, the high gabled roofs, the lug-rigged rua pets, the wide plain, and the gaunt sugar palms we had not seen for so long. For some days we camped at the mouth of the river, waiting for the steamer which was to take us to Bangkok. As she did not appear, we eventually left on board an upward-bound rua pet, which with a fair wind landed us in the Bangkok river in three days. The steamer called in for us after we had left, and, arriving in Bangkok before us, we were duly reported' missing' by a hasty local journal. Oddly enough a similar report about my brother, who had come from India on three months' leave to look me up, and had gone up country for a little shikar, greeted my eyes on my arrival at Paknam. He was said to have 32 CrAP. XV been lost for twelve days in the Dawng Praya Yen, and, knowing what that meant in the rains, I selected stores and men to go off next morning after him, and went straight up to Bangkok to obtain the necessary leave that night. He was sitting in my verandah. Then telegrams flowed in from his adjutant and other people, for which- hardest cut of all--he had to pay. Two days after our return the whole of my party was down with remittent fever, and for several months more than half our number were on the sick list. It has been frequently observed that men who have stood out well during the journey knock up on their return from the jungle to Bangkok. We had been away nearly three months beyond our time, but one soon learns that a month, more or less, is not important in Siam. RAMA SUN, WHO CAUSES THUNDER RAMA SUN, WHO CAUSES THUNDER VOL. II ' MISSING ' 33 CHAP. Xv D NANG MACHA NU, A SEA-NYMPH CHAPTER XVI MALAY PENINSULA (CO inuPed)-EAST COAST FROM BANGKOK TO PRAN, Kuwl, BANGTAPHAN, PATIYU, AND CHAMPAWN-OLD TRADE ROUTES. Sun, wind, and cloud shall fail not from the face of it, tinging, ringing spin drift, nor the ulmar flying free.' DURING the summer of 1896 the Mining Regulation be- came temporarily blocked in its passage through the Legis- lative Council by other measures which were under consider- ation, and the absence of the King in Java made it probable that there would not be a very rapid advance in business. Thus a long-sought opportunity presented itself for getting some reliable information about the tin-mining industry on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula. 1The Last Chantry. OUR SEVEN-TONNER To enable us to form our plans for carrying into effect the Regulation when it should be passed, it was necessary for us to know accurately the geographical positions of the more important mining districts, approximately the amount of the surveying and demarcating work to be done, the meteorological characteristics, and the best months for work in each. As regards the west coast, we had already obtained the required information, but it is evidence of the extreme difficulty of communication in Siam that of the east coast our knowledge on these points was very meagre, and the few export returns we had from local officials told us as little as possible. The Government professed their inability to place one of their own vessels at my disposal for the work, and the two small local steamers, running on the east coast in the south-west monsoon, did not call at the required ports, and could not be made to fit in with the visiting and investigations to be carried out at each place. Land travelling by elephant or cart was out of the question, owing to the rains and the enormous time it would occupy. Thrown thus upon my own resources, I at last succeeded in hiring a boat of about seven tons called 'Kalamazoo,' built originally as a steam launch, and converted into a sailing boat. Her dimensions were 39 ft. over all, 7 ft. extreme beam, and 4 ft. 9 in. draft. She had very little freeboard, a fair-sized cabin, 11 ft. long with 7 ft. head- room, and a small folks'le. She was rigged with battened lug sails of the handy Chinese pattern, and she leaked like a sieve. We overhauled her from stem to stern, and we caulked and painted her assiduously, but she always leaked with a will, especially when working in a sea-way. We were some days getting our stores on board. No one who has not done it knows the number of things to be thought of in preparing a little craft of the sort for sea; D2 CHAP. XVI 35 THE MALAY PENINSULA no one but a yachtsman knows the pleasure of it. Every- thing must be foreseen, every circumstance provided for, and nothing can be left to chance. Spare sails and rigging, ground tackle and ship's stores, water and provisions, charts and instruments, as well as the outfit for the small boat, were, with the Berthon dinghy, at last all stowed on board in their places. We were ready for sea on June 20, but the skipper was on his back with fever, so it was not till the 23rd we got away. The rains were excessively heavy, with strong southerly winds, and it certainly looked anything but promising for our narrow leaky little ship, with her fever- stricken skipper and her amateurish crew; although the old hands, Yen and Deng Lek, could be relied on for their seamanship, neither Master Cheerful, who went as my assistant, nor the two other fellows we had on board, Don and Kong, had had much experience. The Siamese are, however, born to the water, and take to boats and under- stand them by intuition; so there was every reason to be confident that they would turn out the smart seamen that they did. But we were not strong in navigation, even of the roughest description, if the skipper should be incapacitated. Our first sniff of salt water was not encouraging, and we got so swept by the short steep tidal waves beating out to the bar that we had no choice but to run back into shelter. It moderated in the night, and, in company with a number of other craft, whom we rapidly weathered, and pursued by dense clouds of mosquitoes, we dropped across with the ebb, and beat out clear of the bar ere it freshened up again. At four o'clock we were snugly reefed. The moon had set in an inky bank of clouds, leaving no light but the flashing phosphorescence of the breakers, and the helms- man was left to enjoy alone the glory of the morning watch at sea. 36 CHAP. XVI When dawn broke it was blowing hard, and the crew were a curious sight, laid out asleep across the cabin-top, clutching instinctively with chin and fingers at the weather combing as we rolled and lurched. The little craft, how- ever, behaved well, and restored the confidence lost last night; the long rollers of the open sea gave her time to rise, and, though she was wetter than a good sea boat should be, we shipped no heavy water, and it became evident that with careful handling we could weather anything we might meet with in the gulf. We anchored that morning early in the lovely harbour of Kaw Si-chang, and remained three days, while the jubi- lant skipper, whom the first breath of sea air had trans- formed into a new man, completed his convalescence with good friends on Kaw Kam. Outside the monsoon blew hard, and the terrific north- west squalls, which accompany it, broke daily over the islands with the wildest fury. On the 27th we sailed away on our long 600 miles beat to windward, and on the 29th, having lain a day at Kaw Lan collecting pineapples and water-melons, we started across the gulf. That night we put the boat to the worst trial she ever had. Vast black clouds had been forming all day over the Petchaburi Bight, extending in dark flashing masses across the gulf to leeward, and coming gradually up against the wind to us. At 5.15 we were twenty miles from the western land, and it was evident we were in for it. We battened down, laid her head to the north, so as to have the southerly sea astern, which would be better than pressing her into a head sea, and took in all sail. It struck us at 5.30, and laid us over, blinded and in almost complete darkness. The rapidity of the changes in force and direction, especially when far from the land, constitute the chief danger of these squalls. As the din was too great for talking, we made sail bit by bit 37 WILD WEATHER CHAP. XVI THE MALAY PENINSULA to give her steerage way by signal. We humoured our visitor on our beam ends for an hour, and then the thunder gave up, and the wind settled back to W.S.W. We spent the night beating against a lively cross sea under double reefs. We had no supper, and were pretty wet and cold, but it was at least healthy. At sunrise we were well to windward of the banks of Chaolai, and but two miles from the Peaks, off which we soon anchored, and got a jovial and welcome meal. The weather, I am aware, is not an interesting topic to landsmen, but at sea, and especially on a coast such as this, where there are no aids to navigation, no buoys or pilots, lights, tugs, or lifeboats, the weather, with all its lightning changes, has not only a lively interest from an artistic point of view, but its study is of the utmost importance, and may make all the difference between success and sudden and complete extinction. We had these squalls so regularly during the voyage that the afternoon ' squall-drill' became a regular institu- tion, over which the crew got extremely smart, and we should have felt quite dull without our daily bit of excite- ment. When up under the land they were not so fierce, and the rain and thunder were more moderate, so that we could often see some way, and generally managed to carry 38 CHAP. XVI THE SOU'-WEST MONSOON a bit of canvas right through them. The monsoon, blow- ing from May to October, is, along the coast, not so steady in direction as it is farther out. During the night the wind may generally be expected to come off the land W.S.W., W., and, as the season gets later, even N.W. in direction. As the bright clear morning advances, it backs between nine and noon to the S., S.S.E., or S.E. Thus, in beating down the coast the Siamese use the night wind to give them a long leg out to sea, and as that fails, and the sea breeze freshens, they come round on the port tack, and reach in along the land. They thus are fairly well under the shore by the time the big squalls, which have been collecting over the highest peaks among the hills, begin to swarm down to renew their attacks on the sea- faring children of men. In this way, if, as often happens for weeks at a time, these changes keep their regularity, pretty rapid progress against the monsoon can be made, even by the round- bottomed native craft. We were very unlucky, and came in for fresh southerly wind lasting for days at a time right in our teeth, and raising considerable sea. We thus had no favouring slants, and no shelter, and the beat down to Champawn against it, and the strong northerly current, which, at this time of the year, is met with on this coast, occupied us the best part of ten days. The coast may be described as a succession of vast, sweeping bays, twenty to thirty miles and more in length, separated from one another by bold lofty promontories of limestone, whose ragged outlines stand far out into the gulf, detached and quite distinct from the main range hills of the peninsula. Such, in the order we passed them, are the peaks of Petchaburi,2 Chaolai, Sam Roi Yawt, Kaw Lak, 2 M. Mouhot, in his account of take, and states that these lime- Petchaburi, fallsinto his usual mis- stones are 'extinct volcanoes,' and CMAP. x VI 39 THE MALAY PENINSULA and Lem Chong Pra. The Siamese geologists have suc- ceeded in solving the question of the relations of these outlying limestone masses in a most masterly manner, and without any of the bitter controversy which has so often distinguished the investigations of Western scientists. It appears that the giant Mong Li and his wife, who lived on this coast, had each, unknown to the other, promised their daughter in marriage to Chao Lai and Chao Muang Chin (Lord of China) respectively. When she was of marriageable age, both the suitors arrived the same day to claim her hand. Mong Li, who had evidently strict notions of the nature of a promise not general in the East, with rather unnecessary haste cut his daughter in two, that the visitors might each have an equal share. Chao Lai, however, with a self-denial which did him credit, summarily effaced himself with his da as soon as he found he had a rival, and the Peak of Chao Lai is the remains of his body. Part of the unhappy damsel is still recognised in Kaw Norn San off Sam Roi Yawt. Kaw Chang and Kaw Kong, on the other side of the gulf, are the elephant and the ox-cart by which the wedding presents were being brought, and, if further evidence of the sad history is required, it will be found that Sam Roi Yawt is what remains of the offerings of fruit and cakes, brought, in conformity with Buddhist usage, for the holy man who was to have blessed the marriage. The expressions made use of by Chao Muang Chin are not recorded, but he seems to have returned home without more ado. Sam Roi Yawt forms the southern limit of what sailors regard as the inner gulf. North of this the villages, which are under Petchaburi province, are frequent. From them, at this season, numbers of craft are engaged in the pla tu fishery. There are no real harbours between the Petchaburi 'have taken in cooling those sin- gular forms peculiar to scoria and 40 CHAP. VI basalt.' He is blindly copied by almost every writer since his day. THE COAST NEAR PRAN River and the Sam Roi Yawt excepting Pran, which may be entered at high water by boats drawing no more than six feet. Fairly sheltered anchorages for small craft may, how- ever, be found in the S.W. monsoon off the Petchaburi River, to which the Chaolai banks give some protection, under the headland just north of Pran Rocks, and off Pran River. The fishing craft take the ground easily, and in case of bad weather are beached at high water or are run inside the nearest stream mouth, of which there are several along the coast. Inland, the frontier range retires to the west, and the numerous subsidiary spurs form a beautiful background of light and shade to the habitable country which, to the northward, behind Chaolai, culminates in the rich plains of Petchaburi. There is no place of equal importance for a long way south, the small townships of Pran, Kuwi, Bangta- phan and Patiyu being but insignificant villages,3 presided over by an ampur, with a slightly larger population of fishermen, chiefly Chinese, at the mouths of their streams. The shortness of the courses of the streams does not favour the deposition of rich soil, and, though the average rainfall is not as large as in most parts 4 of Siam, the floods are sudden and violent, and the narrow strip of country between the mountains and the sea offers no facili- ties for the formation of rich deltaic deposits. It is thus natural that the exports from this district should be almost entirely rattans, dammar, sappan-wood, kang wood, for training the pepper in the north, and kapi and dried pla tu -the products of the jungle and the sea. 3 The total population of these not probably exceed one acre to districts cannot exceed 16,000 every square mile of country. souls, of which the province of Pran 4 Dr. Keith (Journal of the has about 6,000, and the others Royal Asiatic Soc.) gives the rain- 10,000 between them. The total fall at Bangtaphan for 1890 as area under cultivation for wet rice, sixty-eight inches. This probably hill rice, tobacco, bananas, betel is slightly below the average, as nut, cocoanut, and pineapple does 1890 was a dry year everywhere. CHAP. XVI 41 THE MALAY PENINSULA The mineral produce of this part of the east coast has never been great; alluvial tin is known at Bangtaphan, and up the Champawn River, near the junction of the central granites and the flanking Cambrian rocks, but so far it has never been worked commercially, as has been done in Ratburi to the north and Langsuan to the south. Gold is found, as throughout Indo-China, in alluvial sands, just sufficient in quantity to reward the easy-going native for a day or two's washing here and there. Of the large out- crops of gold-bearing quartz reported by the 'Gold Fields of Siam' Company, which was to have worked Bangtaphan as the biggest thing ever discovered, practically nothing is known, after an expenditure of a capital of 150,0001. With its protected anchorage inside Kaw Ta Kut, and its advantage for watering ships, Sam Roi Yawt has, from time immemorial, been a recognised point of departure to the seafarers of the gulf. The jagged peaks, named aptly 'The Three Hundred,' are often visible for fifty miles on either side, and they dominate the gulf like towers and pinnacles of a vast cathedral. Their aspect is 42 CHAP. XVI OFF SAM ROT YAWT 4 always weird and solemn, whether in the deep blue of the sunny morning, or nursing their rain clouds and sending forth their tempest, marching in anger through the distance, with peal on peal of thunder crashing among their crags. 'Ah ! how thou fermentest and elaboratest in thy great fermenting Vat and Laboratory of an Atmosphere, of a World-O Nature!' - o , ,/ '- '---fir �._ y -- _ .-- ,--- _ -;,.__ . _ e c " .: _ Jour r - .L s 'O ^- . S Yk Mt 3 Oil S4th Ai NJ{ _ !! Beating round to the southward we met angry weather, calling for constant vigilance, and for want of a reliable helmsman the skipper had the steering on his hands for a spell of thirty-six hours. We worked in along the shore of the lovely bays to avoid the outside current, passing a hamlet here and there, at the mouth of a moun- tainous stream, where a roof or two peeped out from behind its areca or cocoanut palms, and a boat lay upon the spotless 43 CHAP. XVI THE MALAY PENINSULA sand, or showed her mast from behind the sand bar of the little river. At the back of these villages, some mile or two, lies the little patch of open padi land where the crop of rice is grown; behind that again the dense forest, which climbs the lower slopes, up, on to the axial range, where the cicaca and tree beetles keep up their constant din, and the foot of man but seldom strays. The best harbour on the coast is that behind Kaw Lak. Guarded by the sentinel peaks at the entrance, it is a most ideal little anchorage to rest in; secure from all winds but the north-east, while from this protection may be obtained round the south side of the South Horn. Here the stretch of the white sand, and the peace and stillness of the scene in con- trast to the rough and tumble we had passed through, awoke in us quite an enthusiasm for the place. We found a dozen ru pets and other craft lying weather bound, all from a fortnight to three weeks out from Bangkok, their crews profoundly disgusted with the state of things outside, and burning joss-sticks galore. The men came up to look at us as we beat in, and were loud in praise of our having come through the weather which they said they could not face. We went ashore to the village to buy some food, and then, as so often happens among these kind-hearted country people, we returned laden with presents of fruit and vege- tables. From Kaw Lak to Bangtaphan the forest makes its way almost to the coast, and the trail is elbowed out on to the sands. At night the jungle cries and sounds come off to sea with the cold heavy-scented air, and their unutterable beauty is enhanced by the low accompaniment of the splashing waves; they made the music that one missed and hungered for so often and could so seldom get beside. But it is not all good, this off-shore breeze, and ships' crews lying oft the coast for any time have often suffered heavily from the fever which it brings. 44 CHAP. XVI We anchored at Bangtaphan, and got some good rain water from tanks belonging to the former mining company, who had a big and expensive establishment there. The people seemed to be all down with fever, doubtless owing to the poison in the klonq water, which is general at the beginning of the rains. The Peninsula Telegraph line was working to this point, but it is kept open with difficulty and expense. From here to Champawn we had better weather, and numbers of the craft had ventured out again, so we had the fun of racing them by day; and by night, when it blew a bit, the prayer papers they lit each time they tacked to propitiate the sea flared out cheerfully across the water, and made the watches less lonely to us. Each day we dropped old friends astern and overhauled new comrades, and all expressed astonishment at the weather-going qualities of our boat. The smartness and pluck with which some of them sailed their craft in the squalls aroused my admiration, and I always felt that praise from them was praise indeed. CHAP. XVI BANGTAPHAN 45 THE MALAY PENINSULA After passing the dense forest country farther north, it is always striking to come upon the open grass country of Patiyu, which extends almost to Champawn. It is said to be the result of a typhoon which, thirty years ago, attacked this piece of coast, in the same way as happened at Chain- pawn and at Chaiya more recently. The devastation would seem, from the complete openness of the country, to have been more complete in the former case. But it must be remembered that when the Lallang grass, which swarms on the site of a felled forest, and the yearly fires of the dry season, have had thirty years to work in, they are quite capable of largely extending the deforestisation begun, perhaps but partially, by a hurricane. These are the two great enemies of the forest, and year by year they advance with unerring certainty, completely altering the face of the country as they go, and changing its whole conditions of climate, rainfall, &c., in a way difficult to gauge, but very appreciable to those who live near. The village of Patiyu is difficult of access, owing to the shallowness of the bay behind Chong Pra Bawt, which is silting up rapidly. This and Ban San, under Lem Ten, a bit farther south, are two spots where, by getting close in, a small craft may obtain protection in the north-east mon- soon. It was at Patiyu 5 that Leal's land journey from Ligor ended, and it was then also an inconsiderable place. In Crawfurd's day, as now, it was known for its shrimps, and kapi, or ' Blachang,' as he calls it. It has always been under Champawn, and recently, on the death of the old chief, whom I saw in 1893, Praya Chaiya had both these districts on his hands as well as Bangtaphan and Kuwi. Praya Setthi, Rajah of Renawng, has now been appointed 5 For some reason Patiyu is Geography of Siam, and some credited with the name of Patavi others, linut I never heard it applied in the map of Mr. Grindrod's to the place. 46 CHAP. XVI A QUIET ANCHORAGE Commissioner of Champawn, and he has also Patiyu, Bang- taphan, and Kuwi under him. This is an admirable ar- rangement, as he is a sensible man, as the reader will re- member, and it relieves Praya Chaiya, who has already enough to do southward, of much worry and difficult work. At anchor off the mouth of Champawn River, we ex- perienced our first night's sleep since leaving Kaw Pai, on the other side of the gulf, and heartily we enjoyed it. One phase of our journey was over. We were about to enter on a more populous part of the peninsula, where Malay influence begins to be felt; where the central range lies farther back, the flat lands offer better facilities for crops, where tin-mining assumes some importance as an industry, and where the peculiar nasal dialects of the peninsula Siamese are more heard. Oar route thus far has more of historical than present interest; for along it, in the old days, passed the trade routes much used in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- turies, between Tenasserim and its port, Mergui, on the west side of the peninsula, and Ayuthia and Siam on the east. In those days of sailing ships and pirates, the overland way, vid Tenasserim, occupying ten or twelve days, was with reason, notwithstanding the fear of 'tigers and lions' which haunted timid minds, much preferred to the long 47 CHAP. XVI THE MALAY PENINSULA and dangerous voyage through the Straits of Malacca, and it became the high road for mails and travellers.6 The main road seems to have gone from Tenasserim up the river by dug-outs to a place called Jelinga or Jalinguer, E.N.E. of Mergui, on Klong Tsa-raw or Sarawa. Crawfurd's map in his 'Embassy to Siam' shows a direct overland route from Mergui to this place. From here it crossed the watershed, and followed down the valley of a stream to an important town called Phipri by Pallegoix and Pripri by Crawfurd. The former gives it the exact position relatively to the gulf and the Me Klawng which Petcha- buri occupies, and from the situation assigned to it, and the descriptions of its character and importance in Crawfurd and elsewhere, there can be no manner of doubt that Petchaburi is the place referred to. A second route from Jelinga led to a place called Pram, 'at which travellers embarked in boats for Ayu- thia.' This was probably the modern Pran, which stands by the sea on the next river south of Petcha- buri down which a trail might come; and, according to M. de Bourges's narrative,7 it lay between Phipri and Couir (Kuwi). The third terminated at a spot variously called Cuy, Couil, Kooiy and Queal, which is apparently the Couir of M. cle Bourges,7 the Kwi of Crawfurd,8 and the modern Kuwi. In Dr. Anderson's work,9 the already confused orthography of this name is further complicated by the name Kiu, which he gives it. A study of the context proves that this is an error for Kui, as Palle- goix is quoted in support of the spelling, while in his map a place called Kui (not Kiu) is placed to the 6 English Intercourse with s Journal of an Embassy to Siam in the Seventeenth Century, Siam, &c. London. 2nd Edit. Dr. Anderson. 1830. Vol. ii. p. 209 and map. 7 Relations du Voyage de Mon- English Intercourse with seigneur de Berythe, &c., 1683. Siam, &c. 48 CHAP. XVI CHAP. XVI ORTHOGRAPHY OF KUWI south of Phipri, and Lem Kui is shown in lat. 12�, the same as that assigned to Kwi Point by Craw- furd, and within two or three minutes of the correct position of the modern Kuwi. Although in the same work Dr. Anderson assigns to it 'much the same posi- tion as Chulai (Chaolai) in modern maps,' yet any doubt as to the place intended is removed by the study of a later passage' in which he refers to Kiu (sic) as being situated where the Sam Roi Yawt mountains 'approach the sea,' and 'there are a number of rocky islands. Such a description can in no manner apply to any place near Chaolai, which is forty miles from Sam Roi Yawt, and more than twenty from the nearest island, while it is in every way applicable to Kuwi, which nestles under the southern cliffs of Sam Roi Yawt. Moreover, the distance of this ' Kinu' from Bangkok is given at about 140 miles, almost exactly that of Kuwi, and the reference to the custom of watering vessels at the village of Sam Roi Yawt and at' Kinu' seems to clinch the matter, as Kuwi and Sam Roi Yawt are by ancient tradition the last places called at by outward-bound craft. A few miles to the south-west lies Kao Maun, the lowest of the passes over the great range, mentioned by Kempfer,2 and called correctly by Dr. Keith the pass of Koowi (Kuwi).3 Harris is incorrect in saying the Sam Roi Yawt are a portion of the main mountain range, for, as we have already seen, they are geographically and geologically distinct, and the trail between Kuwi and the south, and Pran and the north, passes in the flat country to the west of these peaks. The time taken by Bishop Berythe over the different stages is in no way an index to the S Introduction, p. 28. 3 Journal Royal Asiatic Soc. 2 Ibid. 1892. VOL. II E 49 THE MALAY PENINSULA distances, or to the time ordinarily taken by travellers doing the journey. He took fourteen days to reach Couir from Jelinga; ten days from Couir to Pran, five days, from Pran to Phipri; thence to the Me Nam two days which is reasonable, and five or six days to reach Ayuthia from the mouth of the Me Nam, a distance gene- rally covered in two to three days by ordinary boats taking advantage of the tides. The whole journey from Tenasserim to Ayuthia ordinarily took ten to sixteen days. In these countries, however, bad weather, floods, deep mud, collapse of transport, difficulties of provisioning and sickness, all have to be reckoned with, and may prolong journeys indefinitely; and the number of days given by him probably include the stoppages at the various places which are often necessary. The circuitous route may be easily accounted for by more direct trails being temporarily blocked or impass- able, and, travelling in August, he was in the middle of the rains. A fourth route went overland from Mergui to Jel- inga and thence across to a place called Xam4 (Chain) on the coast of the gulf, said to be south of Kin (sic) by Dr. Anderson. I have failed to find any trace of this name at the . present day. It was quite possibly the abbreviated name of a village which a person not ac- quainted with the language thought the true name. The laziness of the Siamese-for it can hardly be their sense of the value of time-leads to many strange abbrevia- tions, which form interesting instances of original poly- syllabic words in actual process of the disintegration which has formed the Chinese group of languages. Thus B'kawk for Bangkok, 'Lung for Patalung, Bang'than for Bangtaphan, and the like. * Dr. Robertson. CHAP. XVI THE PASS OF KUW1 Pallegoix 5 puts Xam in 120 50', Crawfurd 6 spells it Chain, and gives it about 13 degrees of latitude, probably copying Pallegoix, whose latitudes are notoriously unre- liable. The low pass of Kao Maun. visible to vessels at sea off Kaw Lak, and through which we could see the dense masses of monsoon clouds pouring their deluges on British territory forty miles away, was also much used. The route from Tenasserim lay up the little Tenas- serim River in a south-east direction, and then up Klong Tin Kuan, across the pass at a height of about 750 feet only, to a place called Bang Narom,7 in 110 50', the lati- tude of the harbour of Kaw Lak, where boats would be easily obtainable, or to Muang Kuwi. Mr. Leal, who crossed by this route from the east in 1826, mentions 8 that on the second day he reached a point at which a road branched off to the right, leading to Bang- taphan, the left continuing on to Mergui. Again, he states that a branch road was met with, leading east to Mergui. Some mistake has crept in here, as, going west, any road to Bangtaphan, which lies to the southward, must have gone off on the left hand south, and the east direction mentioned would have led away from Mergui; for east no doubt west was meant. It is interesting to note that the time taken by Mr. Leal and his large caravan over this journey was a fortnight, the month of March would be necessarily hot and there would be little water, but the trail would be in good order. Within recent years Dr. Keith crossed by this route 9 during June, and he describes what remains of the old SDescr. du Ray Thai, ou Siam. Jan. 25 and Feb. 8, 1826. 6 History of the Indian Archi- s Ibid. pelago, and Journal of an Embassy 9 Not by a more southerly to Siam. route, as stated by me in Geogr. ' The Government Gazette, Journal, vol. vi. No. 6. E2 51 CHAP. XVI THE MALAY PENINSULA cart trail. He had, as so often happens, fine weather on the east of the range and heavy rains on the west, and he took apparently nine days to reach Tenasserim from the east of the pass, and twelve from Bangtaphan. Farther south two old trails are said to have existed up the Little Tenasserim, one crossing at Krut, the other above Paron and down the Bangtaphan valley, while from the Lenya one crossed to Bangtaphan, and another in 100 59' to Champawn; all of them, as usual in these countries, fol- lowed the lines of drainage. The most southerly of all the trans-peninsular tracks connected with the Tenasserim provinces is the well-known one from Kra to Champawn, a trail coming into Kra from the upper waters of the Lenya northward. At Champawn we found that the season was very bad for fish; the whole bay is covered with the stakes of the pos, or fish-traps,' of which there are over sixty, but, so far, there was hardly any fish in them, and the drying stages, the salting pits and oil vats, were all empty. The place has never recovered from the typhoon of January 1892 when the sea invaded the sand stretch on which the village stands, and the people fled to the hill behind as their houses were blown away bit by bit. It used to be able to supply itself with cocoanuts: now but a few ragged, sorry-looking palms remain. It is a terribly wind-swept place at any time, for the south-west monsoon blows with particular violence across the narrow and com- paratively open isthmus, and I never saw it but it was blowing hard here, while from the north-east this place is even less protected. Although this village is properly called Taiyang,2 it is generally spoken of as Champawn, as it has a larger popu- ' Each trap costs 1,000 ticals ticals 800 (501.) a year. (601. to 701.) to erect, the upkeep of 2 Crawfurd's Tayung. boat and crew of seven men about CHAP. XVI BIRD'S NEST ISLANDS lation than the old town, whereat is the governor's residence ten miles higher up, and this is the port of the province. The old town is simply known as Muang, or 'the town,' a title used in each province all over Siam to designate the official residence of the governor or ampur. Like the Cornish 'church town,' it may consist of only half a dozen roofs, and there may be a town of ten thousand inhabitants close alongside, yet it still retains its title, and ranks first in the local estimation. Outside the bar lay several large junks, hoping in vain for a cargo of fish; and some rua chaloms, which draw less water, lay snugly abreast the village; several, however, [f when they learnt the news, proceeded to try their luck farther down the coast at Sawi and Langsuan. The islands, which are such a characteristic of the wind- swept bay of Champawn, are chiefly limestone continua- tions of Lem Chong Pra, and the steep islets lying off that headland. In these islands the edible birds' nests, loved of China- men, are collected. The Governor of Chaiya, who up to the end of 1896 farmed them of the Government at a rent of four hundred and twenty katis, or 2,2401. a year, has them protected against poaching by armed guards, and a fleet of more than twenty rua pets is kept up for their relief and 53 CHAP. XVI THE MALAY PENINSULA supply. They act as cruisers and guard boats at a cost of a hundred and ninety katis, or 1,0001. a year. The range over which these nests are found is extensive. From the Gulf of Tongkin to the Andamans, in the Gulf of Siam, among the Mergui Islands, and in the Malay Archipelago, wherever the steep-sided limestone islands stand up from the water's edge, there the little swift known as Peale's swiftlet (Collocalia spodiopygia) builds his shallow cup-like nest against the rock and in the caves. The silvery appearance of the nest, and the absence of all but the finest threads and attachments, make it look like a beautiful white gelatine. Converted into soup, it is like a tasteless vermicelli, although pronounced by Chinamen and Siamese as extra- ordinarily nutritious and strengthening for invalids. Collocalia Linchi (Horsfield's swiftlet) and C. esculenta, as well as Hirundinapus Indicus, are credited with being the clever architects of some of the edible nests, but I believe that although their nests are of much the same shape, and occur in similar localities, they are less sought for by the nest collectors, being considered to have a larger amount of vegetable matter mixed into them. The difference in colour of the nests, which gives rise to the distinctions in the market quality, is often caused by the fact that they are built by different varieties. The nests are gathered by the Siamese three 3 times a year, in January-February, in April-May, and in August. Care has to be taken to begin just when they are finished and before the eggs are laid; after an egg is once laid, if the nest be taken, the Siamese declare the birds will not build again. The question of the material with which they build, although long a puzzle to the Westerner, has never 3 In Borneo, where C. esculenta or four collecting seasons in the appears to be the most common year. Guillemard, Cruise of the variety, there are said to be two ' Marchessa.' b4 CUAe. Xyl EDIBLE NESTS troubled the mind of the Siamese, for he knows full well that at each flight the bird goes up to heaven to obtain it. The favourite positions for the nests are in the most inaccessible places, and especially in caves to which there are open-air shafts. The collector can often only reach them swinging in the bight of a rope, and he sweeps them down with the aid of a long bamboo. As the nests are valuable,4 it is often a great temptation to passing mariners to stop under the lee of an island and do a profitable morning's work. In three years Praya Chaiya's guards have caught as many as two hundred IC yI poachers, and now the guards generally open fire on any boat approaching an island in their charge nearer than a hundred yards, with the result that now and then boats in distress get unexpected contributions of lead ballast. It is an adventurous life, that of these island guards. Their cottages have a most romantic aspect, perched high upon the bare precipices, or nestling snugly on the little patch of shingle beneath a palm or two. The stories of wrecks and storms, of alarms and armed encounters, and of hardship and endurance connected with them, would form a strange chronicle, such as few callings could equal. 4 The best quality, which are quite white, 25s. per lb.; the lower, of a reddish colour, 15s. per lb. CHAP. XvI THE MALAY PENINSULA The population of Champawn is said to be about 30,000 all told, mainly Siamese, as only the fishing villages on the coast have any large percentage of Chinese. The revenue derived from land taxes, &c., up to the time Praya Chaiya took charge, was about 2601. only; but by stopping leakages and supervising accounts it was doubled the first year (1895-96), and will now doubtless show still greater improvement. The few figures with regard to revenue which I have been given at various times make me still wonder, I confess, where the money comes from that is spent by the Siamese in Europe. (Co(IoctI s/odlo/ S&') '1 SetU 56 CHAP. XVI SI VI WAN, A GIANT CHAPTER XVII THE MALAY PENINSULA-EAST COAST (continued) CHAMIPAWN TO LANGSUAN AND CHAIYA You have heard the beat of the far off shore And the thresh of the deep sea rain, You have heard the song how long? how long? Pull out on the trail again !' LEAVING Champawn, we beat through the low rounded islands to the south-east in blowy, rainy weather, and passed a wild night off the southern end of Sawi Bay. This great indentation gives protection to a number of fair- sized fishing villages, whose Po may be seen scattered all over its shallow waters. The chief villages lie on Klong The Seven Seas. THE MALAY PENINSULA Sawi, in the extreme south corner of the bay. At the northern end, Ilit is well protected by an island and the mud-banks from all winds, including the north-east. Klong Wisai, flowing in at the north-west, forms the boundary of Champawn and Langsuan Provinces. The scenery of the bay is remarkable, owing to jagged masses of weathered limestone which surround it, both in the islands to seaward and in the direction of the inland hills. About sunset a couple of smart-looking junks came out from under the tall headland of Lem Chang Hin. They stowed their mizens as it freshened up, and with their perfectly setting reefed main and foresails made a truly splendid sea picture, plunging into the head sea. They had each their big red flag flying at the fore, and there were four or five twelve-pound carronades in the waist, and on each quarter aft, on the high stern deck, was a stand of arms consisting of dozens of pikes and double-pointed pitchfork-looking articles. As darkness fell we passed to windward of them both, and gave them an encouraging wave. It was a thick, dirty night, during which we once or twice made them out cross-tacking in our wake. At sunrise they were well to leeward of us. Langsuan is dreaded by all seamen for the very dangerous coral reefs whieh lie off the coast, and the tide rips and overfalls outside were the worst we had seen. Small craft always do best by going inside them, and we brought up in one and a half fathoms close to the bar of the Langsuan River. From where we lay the aspect of the shore, with its bright-green plantations of cocoanut and banana palm, in contrast with the spotless stretch of beach and the red-brown cottage roofs, was quite enchanting. The crew sat forward by the hour gazing at it, and speculating as to what we should get to eat. They con- cluded it was well named Lang-suan, the garden of the CHAP. XVII ENTERING LANGSUAN lower, or south, country, for the air was laden with the smell of fruit. Having sounded the channel in the skiff, we crossed at high water after dark. It was a much harder matter than it looked, as, owing to the rains in the hills, the river was in flood, and coming out like a sluice right athwart the channel. We had the four chaus, or sweeps, going, while two men quanted. With the wind dead ahead the sails could not help us. Many times the current got the better of us and swept us on to the banks to the north, and each time we got off and went out to sea again and made a new - f Tt ce start. The marks ashore were invisible, and our only guide was afforded by a Chinese crew getting a rua chalom in, with the assistance of all their friends in port. They burned bright flares to appease the devil in that current, and when it caught and hurled them back their yells died in a melancholy howl, followed by a silence which was eloquent of disappointment. After two hours we succeeded in crossing the required five hundred yards, and dropped anchor as fairly exhausted as if we had just rowed a bumping race. As we emerged on deck in the morning a thought seemed to strike Nai Suk. He leaned over the side, 59 CHAP. XyII THE MALAY PENINSULA touched the water with his finger and applied it to his mouth. A grin spread all over him, he gave one shout, 'It's fresh ! ' and disappeared over the side. There was an exclamation forward, and a rush; not a man asked leave to quit the ship, yet the skipper found himself alone on board; and five human heads were bobbing about in the current, shouting and splashing, a hundred yards astern. It was all the skipper could do that morning to get any breakfast cooked; as soon as one man came on board, he would look back at the rushing brown torrent, hesitate, swiftly turn and dive back into it. Bathing is a passion with healthy Siamese; but salt water they will never touch, and for this reason our uninterrupted life at sea had been a martyrdom to them. This was the explanation of the singular lapse of discipline and decorum so unbecoming in a distant port. Paknam, the fishing village at the river mouth where we lay, was far from enchanting on a close acquaintance. Cholera had lately visited it; its male inhabitants were chiefly Chinamen. Everything was consequently' very filthy, and the season had brought them no plate to improve their tempers. The amusement which their barbaric manners and peninsular pronunciation caused my people did not improve matters between them, though, as a rule, we found both sides enjoyed the fun. Here, though the place swarmed with fowls, they would sell us nothing, and it was only the tender hearts of the women folk that got us any. Fortunately at this juncture the Rajah, as the governor is called in all the southern States, arrived from a fishing excursion up the coast with his family, laden with shark and skate, taking two men to lift them, Pla Kurau, like Cornish pollack, Pla nuat pram, small platu, and endless small fry of various kinds. It was amusing to see them, all hands, men, women, and children, up to the elbows in 60 CHAP. XVII THE PULL UP RIVER scaly slime, cutting, cleaning, and salting the whole day long. At evening the Rajah started for the Muang in his big chau boat, and we prepared to follow. Leaving the ever-reliable Yen in charge with Kong, I took Nai Suk, Deng Lek, and Don, with stores for a week, and started before sunset in the skiff. We had a good pull against the current, winding between the palm groves and past the durian forests for five hours. The cicadas piped their loudest, and the change to the fresh land sounds and scents put every one in high spirits. At such times discipline is relaxed, and the Siamese are at their best. Master Cheerful was always in the van, and however hilarious, it was noteworthy the respect with which the others treated his superior rank and wisdom. He could always joke and chaff without losing dignity, and they, too, never forgot themselves. Don, a half-Malay, with the sober look and quick spirit of his people, had a most inventive turn of mind for similes. Deng Lek was distinguished for his repartee, coupled with a remarkable power of observation of the things of nature, in which, indeed, many Siamese excel. The parallels they drew that evening between 'high life,' as they knew it, and our rougher surroundings, diversified by the individuality of each, were certainly entertaining. The otters and the long-tailed apes looked painfully shocked at the disturbance. The argumentative tones of the nok sarika dong, I believe, a minah, was constantly heard dis- puting our remarks. His cry has an irritating self-suffi- ciency of the 'My dear sir, I tell you you're talking nonsense' type; his sentences are interminably lengthy, and, as we heard him all up and down the river, we began to understand the irritability of our Paknam friends. For the Chinaman has a passion for his own voice, and it must be maddening to him, when on the river, to have to listen everlastingly to that conceited bird. 61 CHAP. XVII THE MALAY PENINSULA Langsuan is supposed to have a population of about 11,000, of whom probably 2,000 are Chinese, and the rest Siamese, though formerly there was a large Malay element.2 Situated as it is, at the narrowest part of the peninsula, where the central range is low, it receives an evenly distri- buted rainfall in both monsoons to the extent probably of 150 inches. Hence it comes that the great export of the province consists of cocoanuts, durians, mangostines, and other fruit, with fish, and some tin. Rice has to be imported. The present Rajah, who is a Chinaman and a brother of the governors of Renawng and Trang, on the west coast, farms the province, with the mines and the opium and liquor farms, for a lump sum. There is, at least, this advantage in the system, that the Government gets its governing done by a man who is interested in its development, and whose aim it must be to maintain law and order. It benefits the Government and the governor, but, unless properly controlled, it may be by no means so happy for the governed. And this is the trouble in Langsuan. The Rajah is by no means too sensible of his responsi- bilities. He exercises practically no control over the Chinamen, who carry on the government of the province under him, and a good deal of oppression is the result. Eighteen years of the steamy climate of Langsuan is, perhaps, not conducive to energy of any sort, and the Rajah's real or professed ignorance of everything in his province astonished me, accustomed as I was to evasion. He put us up in a brick building filthy with neglect, in the compound of his own 'palace,' a fair-sized country- house of similar material, boasting two stories. In the 2 At the hands of map-makers and included in Champawn or Langsuan receives little considera- Chaiya. tion, and is generally omitted 62 CHAP. XVII CHAP. XVII HUMOURS OF LANGSUAN morning he came round, late after his night at cards, and sat opposite me on the raised verandah, listening to the reading of my Kra. He interrupted here and there with jocularities, which he threw over the side, after his betel- juice, to the squatting crowd beneath. They took it up with a murmur of applause, and swayed their bodies from foot to foot with laughter. He dispensed his favours in right lordly manner, and they were accepted with clasped hands and bent heads in truly feudal style. He shot out questions there and jokes here, interspersed with conversation with me on my business, and on things in general. But to all my questions I only got 'Oooh, it's impossible to say,' 'A fair amount,' ' Not so much,' or 'I'll send for Kun Sen; he'll know, perhaps.' While waiting for our transport it was a curious side of life we had a glimpse of. The part of the building not appropriated to us was inhabited by a crowd of youngsters kept for the Lakon and Yike. They were under a son of the Rajah, who had been at school at Penang, and knew English. He was a fair specimen of that curious outcome of our influence in the Straits, an English Chinaman. He had an admirable opinion of himself, and was withal a genial youth, but had lacked that essential part of an English boy's education-a good licking. The Lakon and Yike lads, to all intents and purposes slaves, have a comfortable but not very edifying life. They have nothing to do by day but eat and sleep. They lie down all over the floor, with nothing for a bed but what they wear; they are taught no reading, no manners, and no discipline; they rise late, and wash little, and in short they scandalised my people horribly. Their interest in life centres wholly in the sing-song, repartee, or attitudinis- ing necessary for the performance before the Rajah, and they practise after the evening meal from sunset onwards. Inquisitive and irrepressible by day, they plagued us like 63 THE MALAY PENINSULA a swarm of flies. At night we could hear the long-drawn quavering voice, or the crash of the Malay chorus, in the heavy air, and the wild notes of the instruments tinkled and boomed in not unmusical melancholy on into the dawn. The MVluang itself, like most towns of the peninsula, was built well inland to be out of reach of the Chinese piratical junks, that even in the seventies were not so uncommon along the coast line. Its main street is a wide raised embankment, with a few low-lying Chinese houses along each side for a distance of some three hundred yards. There are half a dozen small shops, where sarongs, cheap lamps, nails, and thread are to be bought. Behind and beyond are the shady groves of the durian and the palm trees, for which Langsuan is famed, and the Siamese have their high raised houses scattered among them all through the pretty valley. The river has two main branches, the one rising from the great range some way to the southward near K'pam in Takuapa, the other in the Renawng hills. The journey from the mouth of the river can be shor- tened by leaving the boat at Bangalo and walking up by the straight raised path which runs west to the Muang, a distance of little over a mile. But with camping stores little is gained, as there are but few buffalo-carts, and the boat has in general to go on round the five-mile bend. The row of detached hills, which protect the valley from the sea, through which the river winds its tortuous course, seem to have preserved Langsuan from the ruin caused by the typhoons which have visited the provinces to north and south of it. The bare sides of some of these hills show that they have felt their fury, but the lowlands have not suffered. The mines lie principally in the valleys along the granite outcrops of the main range dividing the Rajah of Langsuan's territory from his brother's of Renawng. 'S4 CHAP. XVII CHAP. XVII THE LANGSUAN MINES They are worked by the governor on the same systems as are generally followed in Renawng and elsewhere, and consist of Mueng Kra and Maeng Sa.3 There are some 200 Chinese coolies employed at from $4- to $8 a month ; their work consists of the usual building and repairing of leats, damming and opening them according to the rain- fall, as well as the regular work of breaking ground, and washing the tin stuff. The Siamese agriculturists, when their crop is in, also do a spell of mining if the weather is propitious and the rain abundant. They apply to the Rajah for an advance of money and chankols, or other necessary tools, and then they set to work anywhere, and wash tin as long as the money, the water, or their inclina- tion lasts. The work depends entirely on the rainfall, and it is impossible to give an average of production for a month or even for a year, inasmuch as in a dry year practically no tin can be exported, and the output the next rainy month may double that of the year before. This uncertainty is the trouble of the whole of the east coast, and is the reason why so little mining has been done in Kaw Samui, Kaw Pungunn, and other places. The coolies do just as much agricultural as mining work, and it is stated the mines do not pay unless carried on in conjunction with rai clearing and planting. It is all done in most haphazard 'streamer' fashion, and they have no idea of regular or systematic ways, for which, indeed, there is fair excuse. The coolies in the alluvial workings were extraordinarily ignorant, and not even the headman of the kongsi could give any information as to the character of the karang he was working. The overburden in the alluvial deposits is over twelve feet in places, and the karang about one and a half feet in thickness. So much was the former mixed 3 Chapter XIV. VOL. II F 65 THE MALAY PENINSULA with it by the flooded streams, that it was impossible to get an idea of the richness of the tin layer itself. The output varies very much at the different mines.4 I did not receive a favourable impression of the mining prospects altogether. The difficulty of shipment, owing to the awkwardness of the bar and the dangerous character of the anchorage, is obvious. The ore has to be brought a long distance to the river at Ta Rua by elephant and then one or two days' journey to the town by boat, while up- ward-bound boats with stores take four days against the current. This with a really rich karang and good water supply need not matter, but under the circum- stances is a serious drawback. I was very much struck at the mines of Laihut, which lie half a day to the north of the Muang on a detached granite outcrop, with the sickly aspect of the coolies. Every man was suffering from enlarged spleen and liver, the result of the terrible fevers they contract here. They had without exception the ashy colour which in the sickly Chinaman is so ghastly. Of the many jungle death-traps we visited this looked the worst. One of the elephants we had on this occasion, a fine tusker fifty years of age, was the hero of a recent tiger fight. The tiger sprang at his head as he was feeding in the jungle, but missed his hold, and the elephant at once had him under his forefoot, and crushed him to death. Returning to Langsuan, we came in for a storm so fierce that when we got in the open jungle of the higher downs the elephants refused altogether to face it, and 4 Probably the total output in a quarter of that sum probably repre- good year may amount to 700 sents the profit. The original pikuls (833 cwt.), or about �2,330 outlay in elephants, boats, clear- at $30 a pikul. As all the mines ing, and building is always heavy, are in the Rajah's hands, the rich and a governor can work, of course, probably pay for the poor, and more cheaply than anybody else. after allowing all expenses, one 66 CHAP. XVII CHAP. XVII RETURN TO THE COAST in fact appeared unable to make way against it. The temperature fell, as is usual, about 26� (from 960 Fahr. to 700), and we sat drinking cocoanuts and smoking with the mahout to keep out the cold and damp. When we left Langsuan at last, our journey down river occupied but a little over two hours. We had a westerly gale with us, and scudded under the mizen 5 past the swaying palm gardens, and in and out of the sea- coast hills. It was high water when we reached our ship. The industrious Yen was sail-mending, and the SIt is a good Cornish custom always to have a mizen in an open boat, and when the boat is in use to keep it continually stepped. At sea, should wind and sea get up, it is extremely handy in keeping head to wind and waves, or working to windward under oars. In a river it is not in the way, as the big mast and sail are in a laden boat, and it may be extremely useful and save much time and labour F2 67 THE MALAY PENINSULA adventurous Kong away foraging up the coast, whence he returned in the evening with a haunch of venison. We set to work to get in our water, rice, fowls, cocoa- nuts, and salt fish, and then at once got under way with the ebbing tide, and after an hour's scraping, hauling, and shoving dropped anchor in deep water, and great were the yarns spun on the fo'c'sle head. The skipper was sickening for fever, but next morn- ing (Sunday, July 19) we were under way for Chaiya. We did a good day's sailing under small canvas, keeping inside the ugly-looking reefs to seaward, and running in two fathoms close along the shore, where thousands of dead trees stood gaunt and silent. Behind the beach are inland waterways known to the fishermen of the coast, whereby in their long low craft they can reach Pumriung, as the Muang is called, without going out to sea. Numbers of pelicans and ducks were to be seen off the klong mouths, and now often a swiftlet bound to its island home, but, as a rule, bird life was scanty. By sunset we were off Kao Kesung, with the dirtiest, rainiest sky imaginable all round, The tide here was flowing with us southward; about 10.30 we were in one and a quarter fathoms off Lem Sai, just about to bring up and wait for daylight. The water suddenly began to shoal, and we bore away to reach the two-fathom line marked on the chart outside. It still shoaled, and we wore ship to stand back on our course and anchor farther north, when, suddenly, she took the ground on hard sand; every effort to get her off was unsuccess- ful, and it was evident we must wait for the next flood. The wind was off shore, and, though a slight swell came out of the Bandon Bight, she ere long settled fairly quietly as the water left her. Next morning it was evident we had come in round the western end of a series of three parallel banks about 100 yards apart running W.N.W. and E.N.E., and on trying to reach 68 CHAP. XVII CHAP. XVII AWKWARD NAVIGATION deeper water had run aground on them on their inside edge while heading N. by E. We had eight inches of water under us at low tide, and there was two feet between the ridges. Our position was two miles E. 50 N. from Lem Sai. These banks have evidently been thrown up since the 1874 charts were made, and they were the first demonstration we had of the great changes going on along this coast of which we subsequently saw so much. It freshened up and blew smartly from the west, and the flood tide ran very strongly over the banks from the north; all hands worked with a will, wet but cheerful, and at 3 P.M. we were off at last. The great bight we had now to enter has by the chart a quar- ter of a fathom at low water all over it, but we had heard of a deep channel at Chaiya, marked by posts placed by the Governor along its southern edge. After a short search we picked up the outer one, and under double- reefed sails beat up the channel on a south-west course, keeping the stakes on our port hand. The channel is from 300 to 400 yards wide, and the shoal ground is fairly marked on each side by the coloration and the falls of water on its edges. The shallowest water we had was one and a half fathoms at the entrance; from there it deepened gradually to six fathoms off the Hat Sai, or sandbank, which rises seven feet above high water and forms a very distinct mark, as it always stands out white, even in the darkest weather. This is good anchorage, and from here the mouth of the Pumriung Klong lies N. 230 W. We anchored, and the skiff went away under small canvas sounding the channel, but the very rough tidal sea on the shallow ground made it impossible to go in. The work was, however, completed next morning at low water, when, excepting this channel, the whole bight as far as eye could reach seemed high and dry, and covered with countless duck, pelican, and heron. In the afternoon 69 THE MALAY PENINSULA without mishap we sailed into the river with the flood, and anchored in two fathoms about 400 yards from the en- trance, at the mouth of the small creek on which stands Pumriung,6 the principal village of Chaiya. A ruac pet came in with us, her sails all blown away, and looking much knocked about. After dusk we both hauled in to the creek a few hundred yards, and moored ship abreast the Governor's house. Shore-going friends have always said, ' Oh! well! you were always within sight of land, so you were all right.' But we found that, like many other good things, the sight of land which is neither lighted nor buoyed may be overdone; and staring for half the night through binoculars, on the qui vive for rocks and islands, and sounding for the young irresponsible shoals which are fashionable in these parts, is, with 104� of fever coursing merrily through your veins, quite an overrated amuse- ment. We remained a week in Chaiya, a week of rains and westerly gales, while we obtained the information we re- quired, and the skipper was made fit for sea again. Of all the places we were ever in this is one which claims the kindliest memories. The aspect of neatness and good order in the trim grass lawns and the rows of palms which greeted us here was in striking contrast to that of most other governors' residences in Siam. The welcome we received was of the heartiest, and we were ensconced in a charmingly built wooden bungalow where everything was as clean as in a coastguard cottage. The governor, Praya Chaiya, was away at Punpin,7 looking after Bandon 6 The Pum-ring of Crawfurd's tween Punpin, opposite to Junk map. Cf. chart at p. 81. Ceylon and Chaiya.' The word ' Crawfurd places Punpin with 'opposite' in the context seems approximate correctness in his somewhat misleading, as it map, and yet, at p. 154, speaks of implies that Punpin was on the a trans-peninsular trade route' be- west side of the peninsula oppo- 70 CHAP. XVII CHAP. XVII THE GOVERNOR OF CHAIYA affairs, the governor of that province being in disgrace over many matters. His son, Nai Kan, a brisk lad, re- ceived us in his stead, and the governor himself sud- denly arrived two days later to do the honours. The genial kindly influence of the man was evident, long before he arrived, in the cheerful faces and pleasant ways of his people, a sure enough sign in Siam; for the re- tainer strangely reflects the character of his chief, and his life is heaven or hell, as that of the lord's is good or bad. --- = _ ._----- ---' esd He is a remarkable man, and is one of the few Siamese I have met who can talk for hours in an interesting manner and give you a stream of information worth having the whole time. He is a good carpenter and mechanic, and as a lad went to sea, whence it comes that he is the best of Siamese sailors. He has a fine rua pet as his yacht, and manages her so well that they say she can site the island of Junk Ceylon. authors) to Punpin (within a few This was really the route from miles of Chaiya) across the Bight Pang Nga (Phoonga of some of Bandon. 71 THE MALAY PENINSULA beat anything in the gulf, and no other man knows the islands and shoals as he does. He has in like manner acquired his experiences ashore, and as a youngster has hunted elephants, like the jungle man-not to shoot them down like the barbarous African or the savage Christian, but catch and tame and utilise them, as it was meant they should be used by man. This is a sportsmanlike pursuit, and calls for far more skill and daring than shooting them dead as you might a hungry wolf. Three men do the work together. They start away into the forest, and must take to the forest life, must seek and track the herd, and without alarming it select their prey. They must cut and make their rattan cables twenty-five to thirty-five fathoms long, according to the size of the animal chosen; and then begins the long watching pursuit of the herd. Not a sound is made, not a dry stick broken, no fire is lit to boil the rice. It is tedious hungry work by night and day, but at last the chance occurs. The beast, a fine young tusker, is snoozing in the hot noontide in a bamboo brake, away from the others, one foot half off the ground. Silently and quickly the figure closes on him, in a moment the noose is deftly thrown over his foot; still he stands quiet till the coil of heavy rattan clatters on the ground, and the first rush begins. Wherever he goes in his fear now, the three dark forms are following, and the long rope drags heavily among the tree stumps. Each time he stops, his pursuers have a turn round the nearest tree, and, what with tugging, running, stumbling, and fright, he is pretty near exhausted by nightfall. If the men have any elephants they now bring them up to talk to him, and to calm and quiet him. Every dodge is resorted to to get another foot into a noose, and then, as he wearily plunges to right and left, wher- ever the ropes come against a tree a lashing is put on, shortening up the slack and giving him less play each time, until he is dead beat and fairly moored to a sub- 72 CHAP. XVII CHAP. XVll PURSUITS OF THE PEOPLE stantial tree-trunk. No fire is lit near him to frighten him, and some five hundredweight of dainty bamboos and luxuries are brought him daily, until he is growing accustomed to the figures that come and go, and sit in front of him and speak to him. This is the time when a kind-hearted man is invaluable, and when an unthoughtful or cruel one will most assuredly make an enemy for life. If the young elephant can be kept from moping and his sores, made by the rattans, from getting foul, he may live to carry the governor, or the King himself; but he will never to his death lose the impression of the man or the means employed to teach him his new life. The province contains a population of 43,000 souls, of whom some 20,000 are of Malay origin and retain the Malay habits but not the language, and the rest are almost entirely Siamese. The former always live upon the coast line, and follow the sea as their profession. There is a fairly large settlement at Pumriung itself. The houses are all built high on piles, and are clustered, in an untidy sort of way, most like the Annamite vil- lages on the other side of the gulf. But here are no pigs. The clean sand floor beneath is tenanted by cats and children, and by the women who weave the blue panungs and pakomas which are a feature of the place. Their boats are long narrow flat-bottomed craft with Malay clipper stems built entirely of maikien,8 brought from Bandon, and are rigged with the horizontally matted lug sail of the orang-laut type, which they declare is the only thing strong enough to stand the squalls of the bight. We saw some boats in course of construction in a shed used for the purpose. A large crowd stood round criti- cising, and one nearly finished was being polished till she shone again. The pla tu is never known on this coast south of Lang- 8 Mai takies. 73 THE MALAY PENINSULA suan, so there are no po south of that place, and seining, as we know it in England, is the usual method of catching fish; or a small net spread on bamboos is used by a man wading and pushing it before him. The bamboos which travel on the bottom have upturned ends like sleigh runners, and the fish get into the long deep pocket at the end of the net. The Siamese of the province are the rice producers, and a considerable acreage is under cultivation, which is increasing every year. A great set-back to agriculture was caused by the cattle plague, which about the year 1883 carried off hundreds of thousands of cattle in these provinces. It was preceded by a swarm of flies, and the year following there was a great deal of fever and sickness among the people, who had dried and eaten a good deal of the flesh of their lost cattle. Then in 1892 came the cyclonic storm which is still the talk of all. They describe how the sky, air, and sea seemed red as blood, how the wind came all ways at once, and the sea rose till the whole neighbourhood was two feet under water. No houses were left standing and but few trees, as the evidence of our eyes attested. The flood lasted an hour and then was gone, leaving the country littered with fish. A hundred people lost their lives here, and some fear was felt for the elephants, of whom the governor has about forty, but they had wisely retired at the first sign of difficulties. They stampeded en masse to the jungle, where their mahouts subsequently found them. The governor meanwhile rode it out in his rua pet under Kaw Pungunn, and weathered it without damage. The elephants have been used by the governor in an attempt to develop the timber of the forests, but without success, owing to the lack of good waterways for floating it down. Without these the expense of transport is too great. 74 CHAP. XVII PUMRIUNG TOWN A like result has attended his efforts at tin-mining at Plai Kapar up the Klong Chaiya. The ore is good in quality, but has so far been found only in small quantities which will not pay to work. The town itself must contain some 4,000 inhabitants of whom, to judge by the numbers who visited us, we must have known at least one-fourth. There are several good monasteries, which were a source of gratification to the orthodox Yen, who had begun to fear seriously for the spiritual welfare of the peninsula people. The cleanliness of the main street and the unusual neatness of the very roofs went far to prove, what I had begun to believe impossible, that the Siamese can be made to keep some- thing else clean besides their own persons. It was not surprising to hear that cholera is almost unknown here. The last time it occurred, many years ago, the Malays fitted out a boat with provisions, fruit, and money; sail was hoisted and the helm lashed, and in absolute silence she was started out to sea. Next evening, to everybody's horror, she was seen returning with a change of wind. Two sacrilegious ruffians as she came ashore pillaged her of all she had, but in a day both were dead of cholera, and the plague was stayed. Since that the only trouble here has been the fatal fever of the three hot months, with the usual high temperature and other symptoms. During the other months of the year, however, Chaiya seems remarkably healthy, and the governor, not without reason, regards his guest bungalow as somewhat of a sanatorium. It is perhaps in great part due to the sandy nature of the soil, the open position near the sea, and away from the heavy forests and malaria, with the coolness brought by the monsoons.9 The people certainly seemed healthier, body and soul, than many of s During our stay the thermo- and the temperature very pleasant; meter was unusuallylow and steady minimum 750 F., maximum 84�. 75 CHAP. XVII THE MALAY PENINSULA those we had met elsewhere; skin diseases were less common, and the complexion had the healthy sunburnt tint the absence of which in the Langsuan people was so marked, and which so contrasted with that of my well- tanned followers. It is interesting to note that part of the old wooden palisades, built to protect the place in the time of the wars with Burma, may still be seen around the town. At the date of Leal's visit (in 1827) the stockade still stood, and the town contained some 2,000 Siamese and a number of Chinese. The chief traffic, then as now, was in rice. The population of the province he put at 18,000 to 19,000. The Chaiya people have been good fighters, and only twenty years ago the governor was under the necessity of pursuing a gang of Chinese pirates out to sea. He over- hauled their vessel and compelled them to land on Kaw Mukapao, where he killed and captured the lot. He has effectually stopped dacoity in these parts, as, both Bandon and Chaiya being under him, it is now impossible for the dacoits to escape from one province to the other, relying on the mutual jealousies of local officials for protection, or at least for immunity from arrest, as happens in most parts of Siam where dacoity exists. Among Praya Chaiya's responsibilities is included a small tribe of Sakai,;' about four hundred in number, the remains of the aboriginal Melanesian (Negrito) element, which still inhabit the central jungles of the peninsula. The diminution of their numbers is, I believe, unlikely to be due to intermixture with the Malays, as suggested by some writers, for they are looked down upon by the com- paratively civilised Malays and Siamese as savages, in the 1 There are two tribes known Malays and Siamese. The latter in the peninsula, Sakai and are less black in complexion, have Semang; the former are plain straight hair, and are entirely dwellers of negro type, who often mountain people. have commercial dealings with the 76 CHAP. XVII LOCAL OPINION same way as the Ka tribes farther north are despised by the Lao. It is more likely that they are being gradually crowded out by these two races. They are very shy of strangers, as are the Kas, and if possible invariably bolt at the first sight of one, without any thought but that of getting away as quickly as possible; they live in most primitive fashion, using the blow-pipe as their chief weapon against animals. The effect of kind treatment has been that they have got over some of their natural timidity, and occasionally they come into Chaiya in the dry months. Their great trouble is a skin disease of some sort; they hate the sight or sound of the sea, but are unequalled as forest men. One of the Siamese put in charge of the bungalow during our stay to look after our wants was quite a remarkable production for a place of this sort. He knew many English words, and could read English moderately; he understood the use of the prismatic compass, and many other things which he had learned when accompanying Government survey parties as a mere coolie. But what astonished me more was to hear him holding forth, to the crowd who squatted on the grass outside smoking of an evening, on the greatness of the colonial possessions of these English, of the enormous territories of Canada and Australia, and the strategic and commercial advantages of Aden, Singapore, and Hong Kong. He was lost in admiration at the sense of these people from the far-away islands in having seized on such places, and he criticised their wisdom in allowing the French to occupy Madagascar. A discussion followed on the characters of the French, Germans, and British the various members of the crowd had met, and it may interest my countrymen to know that, although regarded as great drunkards, our coolness of manner in emergencies was regarded in a more favourable 77 CHAP. XVII THE MALAY PENINSULA light than the guttural profanities of the Germans or the excited gesticulations of the French they had seen. Several men were much impressed with the way the Britisher makes up his mind, and when the time comes acts without fuss or flurry. The taking of Upper Burma was cited as an instance, and every one became loud in praise of the way dacoity has been suppressed there, and roads, railways, and other public works developed in that country-a form of civilisation which, they had heard from travellers from Cambodia, was not in vogue in French colonial possessions. But when they came to theology the remarks were less gratifying. How was it possible that people so sensible in ordinary life should believe the Christian creed? by which, it was stated by the missionaries, all who do not believe, or who differ in opinion, will be burned in ever- lasting fire-a statement which appeared simply illogical. Like the Burman, the Siamese holds it 'presumptuous and unwarrantable, in view of the dark secrets which envelop the life of man from its dawning to its close, to set up each his individual opinion with dogmatic certainty as the only true form and the only one that can save.' 2 And what kind of priests, they argued, are they who come and preach, having all the time their wife and children with them? They may be doctors, or wise and learned men; but holy, no. On this score the French (Roman Catholic) priests had more pretensions, being celibate; but their fondness for the good red wine of their country was adversely criticised. I asked this geographer afterwards where he got his information, and he replied, 'Oh, Nai Korab, I found an old book of maps in Chao Khun's house, and I learned from that.' 'Yes,' soliloquised Nai Suk, who stood by, 'geography teaches all those things, for it includes all kinds of knowledge.' 2 The Burman. 78 CHAP. XVII BANDON PROVINCE And I thought of the efforts of Sir Clements Markham and the Council of the Geographical Society to get Nai Suk's views accepted by educational bodies at home. For a few days we had the very pleasant company of Dr. and Mrs. Dunlop, whose mission own the Kalamazoo, and who had just come from a missionary tour in Lakawn by a small upward-bound Siamese steamer; and his com- ments on affairs in that province were of great interest. The governor in a few days returned to Pun Pin. This place is on a klong, a night's journey by boat over the great flats from Pumriung, on the frontier of the pro- vinces and on the main north and south trail. To the north of it lies the considerable padi land which forms the best part of Chaiya; to the south, the jungled valley of the Bandon River, the finest stream of this part of the penin- sula. The governor of Bandon, having, of late years, paid into Bangkok less than 4001. as the revenue of the province, had been temporarily suspended; and Praya Chaiya, whose energy and honesty are recognised at head- quarters, had been appointed Commissioner of the Province, with the result that by the same methods as in Champawn the amount had been nearly doubled in one year. The Malay element seems to have been comparatively small in Bandon (or Kanchanadit, as the Siamese know it), and of its population of 22,000 an unusually large part are Chinamen from Hainan Hokien and Kwantung, who are engaged in the export of timber, rattans, and skins, and the other jungle produce in which the densely wooded province abounds; and quite a fleet of Chinese- owned junks is engaged in this trade. The river itself has two main branches, one rising near the head waters of the Paklao stream to the south-west, and the other, the eastern, rising farther south in the province of Lakawn on the west of the Lakawn range. A glance at the map will show the great range of the peninsula, which dominates in 79 CHAP. XVII THE MALAY PENINSULA the north, is, between the ninth and tenth parallels, re- duced to small proportions and runs along the western seaboard. At the same time a new range starts on the east, and abreast of Lakawn city, the old Ligor; its peaks are 6,000 feet in height, and it is within a few miles of the coast. There is thus an extensive valley between the two ranges opening to the north into the Bandon Bight, and it is this valley which the Bandon River drains. According to public tradition, a chau-boat can ascend the eastern branch to its source and then go down the Trang River to the west coast without a portage; the dis- tance being given as 170 miles. A route greatly used in the old days, for sending the tin of the west coast to Bangkok, was up the Pan Nga or Paklao River, and then down the Bandon Valley by the other branch. I should have wished, had time permitted, to follow up these routes myself, but, owing to the absence of any tin-mining south of the bight, I had no excuse for going. The river will undoubtedly play a large and important part in the de- velopment of the province. It is a pity that during the north-east monsoon the shallows off the river mouth are so dangerous. In the finest weather Bandon takes some get- ting into, especially for craft not knowing the channel, and vessels exceeding six feet draft cannot approach with safety. Lignite has long been known a few miles south of Ban Sum on Klong Sinla, and recently a syndicate has been formed to work it in the neighbourhood of the out- crop. The land is low-lying; water will be the great difficulty, and in the north-east monsoon sea transport will not be available. There is considerable bamboo jungle all round, presenting no difficulties for a tram line to the nearest water carriage at Takien Sa. The promoters hope to deliver coal in Bangkok at a cost of $5 a ton, and to sell for steam launches, &c., at $9 to $10, but I have not heard what success has attended the experiments that 80 CHAP. XVII were to be made with the coal, and the place has not been explored properly as yet. Throughout these portions of the peninsula the Fever (or Devil) Nettle (Urtica crenulata)3 is very common. Its almost imperceptible stinging hairs are the terror of every jungle man, and when travelling inland our mahouts con- stantly warned us to be on our guard not to come in contact with it. At one point on the Kra-Champawn trail a whole party of Burmese are said to have perished, during the old wars, as a result of becoming entangled in it, and then rushing into the stream to allay the agony. Urtica heterophyll,3 which is not so serious in its effects, is also found. Cf. Sir Joseph Hooker's Himalayan Journals. VOL. II. COAL CHAP. xVII BEATING TO WINDWARD CHAPTER XVIII THE MALAY PENINSULA-EAST COAST (continued) CHAIYA TO SUNGKLA (SINGORA)-THE TALE SAP AND PATALUNG The sweetest way to me is a ship's upon the sea. THE skipper having been patched up for the voyage to Sungkla, we got out of the river on the night of July 27. The governor had warned us against attempting to go out at night, but the skipper, relying on the efficiency of his leadsman and on the accuracy of his own observations, and fearing the tide would be too far ebbed at daylight, continued out into the inky blackness. As we beat out against the south-westerly wind, it was a case of literally feeling our way. Whenever the water shoaled to 1 fathom we tacked. But we failed entirely to find the deep channel, and at dawn dis- SAMUI STRAIT covered we had been set by the flood tide some 24 miles inside the Hat Sai, a position we hastened to get out of. We had gained little ground, but much wisdom. It blew half a gale of wind all day, and in five hours, at a steady six knots, we were inside the Kaw Talui group of islands, and close under the splendid limestone peaks of Lem Gila. Here it blew a gale off the land, and we were reduced to three-reefed mainsail only, running past the wonderful jagged rock and forest scenery, and the extraordinary sec- tions of contorted strata, which make this one of the most interesting spots in the gulf. From this elbow of the peninsula two series of islands run out to sea in a north- erly direction. The western, or Kaw Talui, group is of limestone with abrupt crags and pinnacles, of the usual fantastic weathered forms so often described, rising in every conceivable shape. They are the northerly continuation of the series on the mainland of which Lem Gila forms the last link. The scenery, especially at the northern end, is among the most curious in nature, so numerous are these sharp islets; and they form the abode of countless numbers of the little swiftlets. The eastern, or Kaw Samui and Kaw Pungunn, group, rising to an altitude of over 2,000 feet, consists of enormous comparatively flat-topped outcrops of the granites which are so striking a feature of the peninsula, and which appear in the neighbourhood of Kaw Pi to be responsible for the folding of the limestones there so conspicuous. Kaw Pun- gunn, the northernmost island, is under the province of Chaiya, and has a population of less than a thousand, chiefly Siamese. Tin has been worked there, but the lack of a sufficient water supply has prevented systematic develop- ment. Gold, it is said, used to be washed in some quan- tity, but of late years has not been found. Kaw Samui belongs to Lakawn, and is inhabited very largely by Chinese. There must be some 3,000 people on the island, G2 83 CHAP. XVIII THE MALAY PENINSULA the principal settlements being on the north-west, north, and south-east. The communications of the island are by paths along the coast line, the interior being hilly and forested as the mainland itself, and the general run of the ranges right across from north-west to south-east. A pass goes over the north-west corner from Si Pa Yai (Big forest) to Ao Menam (River bay). The south-west corner is the point from which, as a rule, the people ferry across to the mainland. The anchorages are bad, and the presence of coral patches makes the coast dangerous to those unacquainted with it. Cocoa-nuts, pigs, and buffalo are the great export, the latter breeding in large numbers in the forest-covered valleys, and having, a few years ago, sold for 2s. a head. The occasional visits of Bangkok steamers have somewhat improved the price of late. These vessels are, however, on the whole, successfully boy- cotted by the Chinese, who keep the trade as much as pos- sible in their own hands all along this coast. A dozen big junks are owned by one kongsi in Kaw Samui alone, and the effort recently made by the Blue Funnel (Ocean) Line to get something of the trade has ended in failure, to a large extent owing to the high freights they charged. The two small steamers engaged between Singora and Bangkok in the south-west monsoon are able to run, because one is owned by Praya Chaiya and the other by a Siamese of influence in Bangkok. An outsider has at present very little chance. The tin at Kaw Samui occurs in a karang about five inches thick, principally on the west, in the neighbour- hood of Si Pa Yai, and there again the rapidity with which the water runs off has prevented regular work. The ore is in insufficient quantity to pay for the extensive works which would be necessary to control the water supply.' SThe revenue from the farms of the island at present amounts to about 60 katis (3201.). 84 CHAP. XVIII CHar. xvmIIi UNDER THE LAKAWN RANGE We kept wide of the coast, going through South Channel to avoid the influence of the land on the wind, but at 5 P.M. had to haul in a bit to pass close under Kao Kwang, which loomed black against the last light of the stormy sky. There is a rock unmarked in the charts 14 mile due east of Plai Dam, with three feet on it at low water. Being right in the fairway, it is very dangerous. After a night of tremendous squalls and flat calms, we were south of Lem Kwang at daybreak, close in to the long sands, and for two days we worked with light winds along the land. It is one long beach the whole way, with regular bottom and deep water close in. It is fringed with that beautiful tree the casuarina, which, with its firlike characteristics, I suppose exercises more powerful fascina- tion on the Westerner than any other in the tropics. It always chooses a romantic, secluded spot where the voice of the sea is never silent, and the sough of the slightest air through its sensitive wire-like leaves makes it indeed the harp of the forest. Behind lies the jungle, except in places where a klong comes out, and a few houses stand among the palms. We had unmistakably reached a new order of things; no rua pets or ruac chaloms were to be seen, but all the boats were long Malay canoes, crowded with men and seine nets, or low freshwater-looking craft evidently hailing from the great lake. The vast towering range to the westward was for ever wrapt in clouds, and effectually cut off the regular monsoon, giving us calms and light airs, varied by occa- sional squalls and rain, One night, at anchor, we were awakened by a bang and a shout on deck. We were up in a moment, and found a large dug-out under sail right .alongside us. At first we thought they were trying to board us, but, from the exclamations of astonishment and the profuse apologies which proceeded from them, it was evident that they had run into us quite by accident. It 85 THE MALAY PENINSULA is hardly necessary to say that the helmsman was fast asleep, and had not seen our riding light until he had crashed into us, when to his consternation he found it was a farang's boat he had run into. Fortunately there was only a light air at the time, and, as every one seemed too sleepy to regard it otherwise than as an excellent joke, it was no good to be angry; and we parted in most amicable mood, they expressing the hope we might meet again, and we, that they would not make a constant practice of sleeping at the helm, as it would lessen the chances of their wish being pleasantly realised. The noise at night under our bottom from the pla linma, or dog's-tongue fish, was at times extraordinary. Though common in fresh water, I had not before heard them at sea. and their booming note, especially as we were moving fast, considerably startled me at first. We also had a few long-bodied little fish friends, always in our company, under the shadow of the ship's quarter, from which they darted out when anything was thrown overboard. They never left us, fair weather or foul, except when we entered fresh water off a river. Their numbers were now augmented by pla chalumat, rather like small dories. A few flying fish were started occasionally. Of por- poises or dolphins at this time we saw very few. When off the Lakawn Bight, and just within sight of the masts of junks lying off the river, we stood away to sea to round Lem Kolam Puk, the curious bar of sand which the north-east monsoon is throwing up by degrees round the mud flat of the Lakawn Bay, and which will undoubtedly in time create a new inland sea like the Singora one. The flats are extremely shallow, and, like the other bights on the coast here, are silting up very rapidly, to an extent on the outer banks of one fathom and at the river mouths of half a fathom since the 1 874 charts. 86 CHAP. XVIII CHAP. XVIII CHANGES IN THE COAST LINE The land is making everywhere, a fact which does not seem generally understood. In Mrs. Grindrod's very ex- cellent 'Geographical Summary of Siam' it is stated, of the islands off the Bandon Bight, that 'the condition of this part of the coast was once similar to that now presented by the lagoons and half-detached islands north of Singora.' This supposes that the land is receding, yet in 1840 Mr. F. A. Neale 2 ' sailed right through the channel between Ligor and the island of Tantalem' in the 'Victory,' a Siamese frigate of 1,400 tons, and he mentions that 'there was a fine creek or river off Talung' (Patalung). The reader will find some account below of the present condition of this channel and 'river,' and of the inland sea through which they sailed, which will show that the land is growing very fast, and that the fact is, the condition of the half-detached islands north of Singora was once similar to that now presented by the Kaw Samui and Talui groups. The land is also making rapidly in the kindred States of Tani, Jering, and Sai,3 south of Singora, where the coast line is of recent formation. The mainland on the other side of the bight was quite invisible, when, one sunset, we rounded the spit of Lem Kolam Puk- A dark strait of barren land; On one side lay the ocean, and on one Lay a great water. The shoals off the spit run far to the northward, and we passed it at a distance of two miles. For a sea-loving people no more beautiful wind-swept spot could be found than this. A number of fishermen live at Ban Lem and other villages at its southern end, their houses shaded by the wind-torn cocoanut palms and casuarinas, the only trees 2 Narrative of a Residence in Siam. London, 1852. s Geographical Journal, vol. iv. No. 3. 87 THE MALAY PENINSULA that have the hardihood to grow there. In the north- east monsoon these men follow their calling in the smooth water of the lagoons, to the west, and during the rest of the year their long boats will be met all up and down the coast lying bobbing on the seas, watching and waiting, or flying through the water in the direction of the jumping school of fish. From here we took two days to Sungkla, having baffling winds to contend with, and on one occasion we landed to have a nearer look at this singular coast. For ninety miles without a break runs the long sand barrier which protects the lowlands of Tung Ranawt and Kaw Yai (the Pulo Tantalem of old maps) from the fury of the China Sea. About halfway down, at Pak Ranawt and Pak Panang, two small creeks communicate with the sea from the inland waterways, and separate Kaw Yai from the Tung Ranawt; but it is only when the floods inland are high, and the sea outside is moderate, that small boats can go in or out of them. Standing on the top of this sand rampart we got a very good idea of the country inside. Far as the eye could reach to the moun- tains, forty miles away, the vast fen-lands extended, green with the sprouting padi near the scattered homesteads, 88 CHAP. XVIII THE RARRIER RANK and with the long lank grasses of the swamps. A few low isolated hills stood here and there, and only the wind in the reeds and the piping insects in the grass disturbed the silence. But in the north-east monsoon the thunder of the heavy surf drives miles inland across the waste. Along the Tung Ranawt the houses are few and far between, and hardly a tree is visible. Its chief inhabitants are the herds of elephants of the peculiar small breed called chang deng, from the reddish or brownish colour of their hair and bristles. They seldom exceed eight feet in height, and have peculiarly small heads and feet, and fat large bodies, and they are dreaded as being very ' duk,' or fierce. Like all wild elephants, they are addicted to marauding expeditions on the padi fields, and, unlike most, are not easily frightened off, so that in many places they have 'let in the jungle' on their Siamese neighbours, with such effect that they have acquired a very bad name for their love of interference with strangers. In captivity they always die, and there is no record of any having ever been tamed. The Siamese say the reason is that they CHAP. TVIHT THE MALAY PENINSULA are accustomed to the brackish water of the swamps, and a change to clear hill water kills them. Sanderson4 states that the elephant is very hardy, but, in Siam at least, he is notoriously sensitive to the change of food and water. It is elsewhere remarked how deadly hill water is to the man of the plains, and vice versa, and as far as my experience goes the elephant is just as susceptible as man in this respect, and I have little doubt there is more truth than appears at first sight in this explanation. On Kaw Yai below Pak Ranawt man holds his own against the marauders, and the coast is lined with villages and palm-trees. Hamilton speaks of it as 'a low un- inhabited island called Papier, reaching from Sangore within three leagues of Ligor River.' Along the beach by day crowds could be made out hauling seines or preparing boats for sea; at night the surf made a line of phosphorescent flame, and the torch flares of fishermen blazed at intervals. In coming south we had put back the seasons. Instead of the rains being far advanced, they were only just commencing. In this latitude, south of Lakawn, the south-west monsoon is late in making itself felt, and whereas in Chaiya and northward the rains had already fallen heavily, and in Lakawn the crop was growing high, in Patalung and Sungkla, and still more in Tani, the hot weather was ending with occasional heavy thunderstorms, and the young green was only sprouting. The highlands were still dry, for the thirsty earth had not drunk its fill of the refreshing rain, and the vegetation was yet parched enough to burn and smoke wherever the forest fires had their hold, or the jungle men were clearing their last rai for planting. Thus the last evening brought us the most wonderful Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts of India. London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1893. 90 CHAP. XVIII AN ERRATIC BUOY weird scenes shorewards. The red and yellow smoke of the distant fires, which hung in vast folds above the land, began to drift away to sea as the land breeze caught them, trailing with all imaginable colouring across our wake, and the great red sun sank as it might do behind dear distant London. In the middle watch we were in close proximity to thunder squalls, passing out to sea, and at 3 A.M., not- withstanding this lively state of things, Don was found placidly sleeping with the helm lashed, and the boat tearing away three or four points off her course. He was very little disconcerted, and doubtless it was not the first time; for the wakeful skipper, who had to treat the whole twenty-four hours as his watch, would seem to have fallen a-napping sometimes, though I think if you asked him he would hardly admit it. On the morning of August 2 we were off our port, and the hills of Sungkla lay ahead. Before noon, as the tide was making, we got on our bearings and com- menced to run in, relying on the 1874 chart, and a buoy and stakes ahead. They seemed to mark the channel on the bar, and were just in the right place according to the chart. The sea broke on each side of them as we got nearer, but the centre looked all right, until from 1 fathom we leapt suddenly to five feet of water. The banks here are quicksands, and the 'James and Mary' in the Hugli is not more dangerous. Down went the helm, in came the sheets, and off she clawed to sea, with half a dozen bumps by way of warning. The skipper talked little, for he evidently felt keenly the conduct of the buoy. Outside the boat was laid to and the skiff called away, and as she left the side Nai Suk, fearing that the in- tentions of the crew towards the unconscious buoy were not pacific, remarked in a conciliatory tone, 'It's the only 91 CHAP. XVIII THE MALAY PENINSULA buoy in the gulf between Bangkok and Sungkla; we might have guessed it was in the wrong place.' This combination of fine feeling for the buoy with real grasp of the philosophy of things as they are in the gulf threw a new light on the misleading position of the culprit, and when the channel was found half a mile farther north, and quite unmarked, it really seemed the natural thing to expect. All mariners entering Sungkla should beware of that buoy, and, before attempting to enter, sound the bar carefully. The skipper one day subsequently interviewed the governor on the subject, but he declined all responsibility in the matter. It had come there of itself in the north- east monsoon like the casuarina-trees,5 and all the rest of the wreckage which the China Sea is so fond of throwing ashore at Sungkla. He had once had it put to mark the passage, and it was not his fault if the latter shifted three or four times a year. It was out of the question to alter the buoy every time. Besides, every one knew, or ought to know. We had 1( fathom going in, and I shall never forget the lovely aspect of the harbour as it opened out before us. On the north-west rise the green heights of the red sandstone hills of Kao Deng; opposite lies the long sand- spit of Lem Sai, covered with a soft green turf beneath splendid groves of casuarinas that grow about the foot of the Pagoda Mount. Between them the harbour, alive with canoes and boats, widens out and offers a protected anchorage to all kinds of queer craft from north and south, lake and sea. We anchored opposite the first house at the entrance, whence the harbour-master, or Nai Dan (customs officer), SThese trees are supposed by ' Muang Yapun' (Japan) in ancient sohe Siamese to have come from days. 92 CHAP. XVIII came off, paddling his own canoe. Having informed him of our business, we moved farther up the harbour to the foot of the Pagoda Mount, a quiet berth half a mile below the town, and abreast of some fishing stakes and cottages. The Berthon boat was launched again, awnings and boat boom rigged, and everything made snug; and in the evening we went ashore to call on the Commissioner, happy in having reached our farthest port and attained this most lovely scene that lay around us. Singora,6 or Sungkla, as Siamese know it, was seized at the beginning of the century by Chinese from Amoy, led by the great-grandfather of the present governor, and for a long time they were little meddled with from Bangkok, under which they had placed themselves. The present Commissioner at Sungkla is Pra Vichit, who will be remembered as having been at the Siamese Legation in London three or four years ago. He has the provinces of Lakawn and Patalung as well under his jurisdiction. His energy and earnest desire to improve matters have wrought such changes in Sungkla that he has already won the heartfelt gratitude of the people. The governor himself, one of the most open-minded in the country, is a man of ideas, with considerable mechani- cal skill, and he has taken up eagerly Pra Vichit's plans for roads, hospitals, courthouses, improvement of prisons, and so forth. It is very evident, however, that they, like the governor of Chaiya, are hampered by the lack of adequate assistance, a trouble which is felt by all men endeavouring to carry out good work in the country. It is impossible to get reliable and efficient men to aid in the work when there are no adequate salaries forthcoming. Obliged to fall back upon the services of s For a good description of Teluban, Geographical Journal, Singora cf. Professor Henry vol. iv. No. 3. Louis's admirable paper on the SINGORA 93 CHAP. XVI THE MALAY PENINSULA inferiors, untrustworthy in every sense, the honest men have to keep as much work as possible in their own hands, with the result that they are soon overworked and ill, and matters fall into arrears. Among the methods of making money open to dishonest officials are: neglect in giving receipts for land tax, and collecting them again by threats of force, twice or even three times; refusing to give titles to people taking up new (forest) land to clear, without a bribe; tolls on boats; falsification in counterfoils of receipts given; incorrect measurements and entries of land, &c. &c.-malpractices that it is almost impossible for one person, with but two or three reliable assistants, to detect in the business of a large province. And wherever there are Chinamen there bribery is an epidemic, for the giving and taking of bribes is as necessary to the happiness of the Chinaman as are his pork and pigtail. The only remedy is for the Government to spend more money in the provinces, and to institute a sufficiently salaried Civil Service. In this way alone will such men as Pra Vichit, Praya Chaiya, Praya Setthi, and others of their type succeed, and such Augean stables as Lakawn be cleansed. Again, the abolition of the corv~e has very practical drawbacks in Sungkla, for the governor finds it almost impossible to get people to work, even at the fixed wage offered: He is powerless to enforce orders, for the people look upon abolition of corve as abolition of his right to give orders, and the only people he has undoubted com- mand over, and can use for work, are the gangs of convicts. It has often happened that work has been sanctioned from Bangkok to be done perhaps in a hurry, and then the money is not found, and a governor is told to settle. If he is a fair man he is out of pocket-if an unfair man, he does not pay for the work. Thus he often chafes under a natural feeling of isolation and neglect. Prince Damrong has done his best to get the import- 94 CHAP. XVIII SIAMESE OF SUNGKLA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILL NOIS THE POPULATION ance of the interior recognised in Bangkok, but until it is thoroughly understood by the Government that, as a preliminary, money has to be spent for a little, real reform will never come. The inclination, as already pointed out, is to regard the provinces as the proper sources from which the money may be systematically bled to pay for the glorification of Bangkok. Sungkla (the Sangore of Captain Hamilton7) is by far the most important place along the coast, and its possibilities as a harbour and its central position are greatly in its favour, both from a commercial and adminis- trative point of view. The population of the town and suburbs, including the very large Malay settlement on the west side of the harbour at Lem Son, which stands as Flushing does to Falmouth, is 10,000. The Malays retain their customs like those of Chaiya, but have lost their lan- guage and many other characteristics of the pukka Malay. They are indolent and heavy, and an unsatisfactory people on the whole, without the positive virtues of the Malay or the Siamese. It is curious that in Lakawn, to the north- ward, the Malays have preserved a proper pride of race, and still speak their own tongue and are in every way superior to the Chaiya and Sungkla men, for whom they profess a well-merited disdain. There are also a large number of Chinese traders who have practically got the monopoly of the local trade and own many junks. During the ' close' season of the year -the north-east monsoon-they buy up the produce from the poor growers, to whom they are in a position to dictate terms, and then despatch their junks, as oppor- tunity offers, to Singapore, Bangkok, and all the smaller ports on the coast. They are, as may be supposed, very 7 A New Account of the East Indies, by Captain A. Hamilton; 1688- 1723. Edinburgh, 1727. 2 vols. 8vo. CHAP. XVIII 95 THE MALAY PENINSULA averse to Europeans coming into the country, and, as there seems absolutely no likelihood of the Keda-Singora railway being ever finished at the present rate of progress, there is every probability that the Chinaman will be para- mount in the place for many years to come. It is noteworthy that, notwithstanding the number and influence of the Chinese, there is not in Sungkla, as else- where, any Chinese coolie class. The inhabitants live mostly along the western wall of the town, many of them inside, but the majority of them between it and the waterside. The Chinese in- fluence is most evident in the architecture, and it is by far the most substantially built place I have seen in Siam. The houses are all raised high to be above the water in the north-east monsoon, when it is 6 feet above its ordinary level. Narrow, lofty and crowded to- gether, they shoot up several stories in height, and the broken outline of red-tiled roofs, little square windows, and white walls, with the peeps of blue water to be caught through the narrow lanes, gives the place strangely the appearance of a fishing town in Europe. Back in the centre of the space inside the walls are the gardens and the monasteries; the eastern side is 96 CHAP. XVIII ARCHITECTURE quite neglected, for, as usual in Siam, every one likes to be as near as possible to the waterside, and that neigh- bourhood is therefore to be utilised for the new Govern- ment buildings, the hospital, &c. The wall itself is quite a feature of the place, and is in the best repair of any I have seen in the country. It stands about 15 feet high, and is not less than 10 feet thick. It is composed of a facing of sandstone set in lime mortar, the centre being 4. 1 I '... of sand and earth rubble, and the battlements with the double string-course below them of red brick, of which a very good quality is made here. The great gates, of which there are half a dozen at its different sides, are real architectural features, which, it is to be feared, will soon be gone like those in Korat, as the Chinese method of making the arch square-headed and dependent on cross- beams of timber is not conducive to durability in a hot damp climate, especially when so overloaded as many of VOL. 11 H 97 CHAP. XVIII THE MALAY PENINSULA these are. The great gate towards the landing stands not less than 40 feet high; its wooden doors are 25 feet in height, and the whole is really effective. Even the Siamese cottagers have devised an unusual style of building which gives their houses quite an archi- tectural merit, for, mortar being easily made, they stucco the walls, leaving the principal timbers showing, as in our old Elizabethan houses. The attap roof is retained, but the roof ridge is of red tiles. This gives a finish to the whole with a charming bit of colour, which shows up brightly against the green palm-leaves of .. . 1 ,h!--"! - ' - - 4 THE ENTRANCE TO THE INLAND SEA. the plantations they love to dwell in. The place is also blessed with good water, both from wells on its own sand peninsula, and better still from springs on Kao Deng opposite. The cleanliness of the streets and the excellence of the paths are also most exceptional. In the town the latter are of hard beaten earth and cement, and outside their sandy nature prevents their being muddy even in the worst weather, so that a walk is always possible. But most charming of all is the pagoda hill, where a fresh breeze is always to be found, and whence one of the loveliest views of land and water, hills and valleys is to be obtained. 98 CHAP. XVIII From here the town, with its coloured roofs and monas- teries and gardens, is laid out before you, and the channels to the inland sea and the shallows on the bar are visible. Many an hour the skipper spent there walking up and down, drinking in the beauty of the place. When we called on Pra Vichit we found that the King was expected on the 9th, returning from Java on his way to Bangkok, and that all the local officials were coming in to his reception, and we could not therefore go up country till his visit was over. This gave us a longer spell of idle- ness than we could otherwise have allowed ourselves; but we could not have had a more pleasant place to rest in, and with mails and newspapers and official correspondence, the time did not hang heavily. The crew of course enjoyed themselves as only Siamese know how, when there's plenty of fresh water to bathe in, and there's a Talat to go and gossip in. The market of Sungkla is a great institution, and we had not seen one more crowded or better stocked since Luang Prabang days, of which we were greatly re- minded. Here we came in for fruits that were over in Bangkok three months ago, and the best of all were the sweet Sungkla oranges. The chief drawback to the place was generally voted to be the coinage. The people acknowledge nothing but the dollar of the Straits, as the Lao of the north had refused everything but the rupee. Notwithstanding orders and edicts from the Commissioner, we could only get 60 atts for the tical instead of 64. The salung and fuang no one would accept ; and when they used the word ' fuang' they meant 2- atts instead of 8. Nai Suk was the only arith- metician equal to the desperate mental process necessary to buy the day's dinner, and he was kept busy by the appeals of the bewildered Deng Lek, who did the market- ing. At Chaiya and subsequently at Lakawn it was bad enough, but in Singora it was dempti entirely. Here is a H2 COINAGE 99 CHAP. XVIII THE MALAY PENINSULA summary of the discoveries which cost us much pain and humiliation : AT SINGORA AT LAKAWN AND CHAIYA 22 atts = 1 'fuang' 8 atts = 1 ' salung' 4 fuangs = 1 ' kawn' 2 salung = 1 ' kawn' 6 kawns = 1 tical There is, in addition, a quite superfluous yornpai, or rupia, the Indian rupee, worth three Bangkok salung, which occasionally comes in vid Tenasserim, to add to our distraction and despair. The other plague of Sungkla is its fishing stakes. From the time the innocent mariner crosses the bar to the time he sails away, they are a perpetual nightmare to him. Stretched right across the entrance from side to side run the uprights like some huge spider's-web, bending perhaps before the rushing flood, but anchored securely to the bottom and to each other by a network of rattan cables. On these the fishing nets are spread athwart the current, to the terror of fish and men alike. It is only on close approach that a way through presents itself, between two sets of overlapping stakes, and it is the lot of comparatively few of either species to unravel the puzzle without getting mixed up with some of them. Another kind of stake is set along the shore in shallow water. A barrier at right angles to the land compels the fish to pass round the end, where a huge dip net is spread by bamboos, and the wily Singorian sits aloft, smoking his buri in his shady bamboo turret, and at intervals during the day or night hoists the net up out of water, loaded with captives, by rattans led to his windlass. The bamboo spreads are just the right height to tear a hole in a boat's sail, and no amount of torches makes them visible at night. In the high-water season, as the water at the outside net gets too deep, he 100 CHAP. XVIII resorts to the inner turret. The ebbs are then very strong, and the sea on the bar is heavy. There are often numbers of big junks then lying laden in the harbour, awaiting a lull in the monsoon, and with 24 fathoms in the "passage they can seize their chance and slip out safely. There is little doubt the harbour could be rendered a good one. A breakwater from the north banks north of Kao Deng, where the water nowhere exceeds two fathoms, would not only give the protection it sadly needs to the entrance, but also deepen the channel and keep it under control. The quicksands would be the chief difficulty. SUNGKLA FISHING STAKES. Day after day dozens of boats came off to us, laden with men, women and children who wanted especially to see the Berthon dinghy, and incidentally to have a yarn, and in time their pronunciation presented less difficulty to us all. We allowed a lot of them to try the Berthon, pulling or under sail, for you may trust a Siamese in the most deli- cate of boats, such a perfect waterman is he, and so smart, swift and light in all his movements afloat. They were all loud in their praise of her; and this boat, and the fact that we disliked durians, were considered the two most remarkable things aboard of us. Our dinghy was worth its weight in gold, for the extra enjoyment that it gave, and the use it was to us in many THE HARBOUR 101 CHAP. XVIII THE MALAY PENINSULA ways. A dinghy is always a social addition to any voyage. Its snub nose and broad beaming countenance is always full of reckless jollity. And it has a refreshing self-assurance and disregard of the simplest rules of prudence. It is always getting into trouble, but always comes out without serious hurt. And then the invariable affection of a properly educated dinghy for its big friend is pretty, if irritating. When your back is turned it is sure to sidle up alongside and nestle against her quietly, rubbing its nose in her best new paint. It is true that, when there is a breeze, a sea, and a cross tide, a time at which its capers are the merriest, it jogs and jostles her so exuberantly that the sternest methods have to be resorted to to keep it at a proper dis- tance. But it is all in fun, and sociability is not too common in the world. Our friends sampled our cheroots, and made themselves at home, but they never bored us, and at the slightest hint were over the side and away homeward, to recount their experiences on board to their inquisitive friends. The most embarrassing part was the way in which they would come off laden with presents of provisions of every kind. It was out of the question to return present for present, and poor things, whose whole possessions any of the' boys' could have bought up with his month's wages, were quite distressed if we attempted to pay for what they brought; and at last they seemed to think themselves ill-used when we told them we would take no more presents from any one without paying for them at market rates. 'It is our custom, and we want to give the Nais something,' they objected. In an ill-fated moment we cured one or two sick people of fever andthe like, and the ship became uninhabitable for dried fish and durians. The crew also became very popular, for, in addition to their smart get-up, and the way they carried on in the skiff when it blew hard on their way to market, they acquired an enormous reputation for the style in which 102 CHAP. XVIII MALAY LUGGERS they lowered sail on the day we came in, and broke out the flags together later on, when we dressed ship for the King. The Singorians are accustomed, as a rule, to seeing things done in very leisurely way in the junks from Singapore, as also in those strange craft, from the Malay States southward, which they call Rua Ya Yap. We had met several of these craft at sea, but here we were able to satisfy our curiosity about them completely, as they were coming past us bound out and in. The boats have a general European look about the hull, and have transom sterns; but they are very wall-sided, with no easy curves, and are phenomenally crank. Over the stern is built out the marvellously lengthy superstructure which no Malay seems happy without; forward, again, a staging eight or ten feet in length takes the place of the ordinary bowsprit. They are rigged with two very slender masts, on each of which is set a square-cut dipping lug-sail of the orang laut type we had seen on the west coast. The sails are slung about one-third from the fore end of the yard, and the tack is set far forward; there are cringles in the luff for a spar- bowline to set it taut on a wind, with whole or reefed sails, and the sail must be dipped in going about. Anything more unhandy or more dangerous in these squally seas it would be difficult to devise. Most of them carry 103 CHAP. XVIII THE MALAY PENINSULA a large bundle of bamboos slung over the side about one foot above the water-line, partly as spare spars and partly for the sadly needed extra stability they give. In working on the coast they use their ground tackle a great deal, and, like the seamen of the classics, never fail to resort to it when in difficulties. Even then they seem to me unsafe, and in squalls in Sungkla harbour we often saw the wind lay them over until they were on their beam ends, and all their crews ran out up on to the weather side. Another peculiar style from Kalantan is the rua gola, with a lofty stem and stern port, almost Maltese in appearance. These boats are nearly always open. The long fishing canoes manned by the Siamese Malays who chiefly inhabit the villages on Lem Son, and whose settlements we have already seen scattered along the coast, are better boats, and with their large crews their dipping lugs are more quickly shifted, and they are generally handled well. The chau, or oar, used in Siam gives way entirely, except in the rua gola, to the Malay paddle, the long low form of boat in vogue being well adapted to it. The lake boats, of which numbers arrived daily, are generally dug-outs, floating very light indeed, and built up with wash-boards along the side, to keep out the short waves they have to meet. When fully loaded the lower hull is often almost completely under water, the super- structure alone being visible. The individuality of expres- sion in their bows is one of the most characteristic things about boats, those most lifelike of all inanimate objects; and the expression of disgust in the snub nose of the over- loaded lake boat struggling to keep out of the muddy brown water was most pathetic, while the light ones always wore a smile of derision as they passed by their unhappy sisters. For several days now we had hot, calm weather, with sea breezes prevailing by day, varied with westerly gales. 104 CHAP. xvI CHAP. XVTII A VISIT FROM THE KING We had 750 Fahr. in the cabins during the nights, and 90� on the hottest day at noon. This range was very small, and of course up country the extremes were greater. On the night of the 8th the King's yacht arrived outside, and next day he came in, in a great galley, with Prince Damrong, Prince Rabbi, and others who had been with him to Java. There was a reception in the governor's quarters; and his Majesty spoke to all whom he recognised, and fired off among them a number of those terror- creating questions of his. The governor of Lakawn, who is generally looked upon as a perfect tyrant in his own province, and holds all men in contempt, was in the royal presence charmingly ill at ease. He shifted from one foot to the other, opened and shut his hands, replying to the searching questions of the King in an undertone, into his boots, and seemed generally thoroughly tame. His Majesty appeared to be a bit surprised at the small size of the craft commanded by the skipper, but I believe if he had had half a chance he would have gone for a cruise in her himself. Java, and long rides on the mountain sides, had set him up wonderfully, and he went off walking round the town inspecting everything, visiting all the chief monasteries, and learning all he could of the place. He left again the same night, and we were then free to continue our work. The province of Sungkla has a population of 60,000, chiefly agricultural Siamese and fishing Malays; but the Malay language does not prevail until we get farther south. Coffee-planting has been attempted by the late Mr. Harrison, who in 1891 planted 35,000 trees at a place thirty miles up the Keda road from Sungkla, forty-five miles distant from Keda. Of these, last year, Mr. Ramsay, his late partner, informed me 30,000 were living. 105 THE MALAY PENINSULA Although there were as yet no berries, the trees looked well, the leaves being in many cases of the unusual length of fourteen inches. The great difficulty here, as elsewhere, is that of labour. The local people will not work, and out of ten villages with which Mr. Harrison contracted for clearing the ground only three fulfilled their engagements. With the other seven he was powerless to deal; there was no legal authority to back him, and the governor dared not and could not do anything. With the present want of coolie regulations, it is impossible to import Kling or Chinese labour, and the reply of the Siamese Government to representations on the subject is that the present arrangement for labour is good enough, and they do not wish fobr foreign coolies in the country. If the industry be properly encouraged, the rolling uplands of Sungkla should undoubtedly prove favourable to the coffee plant, as the climate is equable, and the soil, a deep rich loam, is remark- ably productive. But the active animosity of local officials, whose interests are against the foreign planter, and the apathy displayed by the central government are not encouraging. Another enemy to planting in the future will be the undergrowth, which springs up whenever the forest has been burnt down for rai. The ground is used only one or two seasons, and then the young saplings grow and the deer begin to feed there; to catch them, fire is often again set to the young growth, destroying all but the bamboos, which are consequently ousting the big timber, and which will make clearing an impossibility for future planters. This burning is going on so extensively in the forests of this province that the elephants have all to be sent south to the neighbouring provinces for food. The father of the present governor owned a large number of these animals, but had to pay seventy to the King to clear off his debts. All these seventy are now kept in the Chana and 106 CHAP. XVIII CHAP. XVIII PRICES OF ELEPHANTS Tepa forests, where there are some two or three hundred altogether. They are visited once or twice a month to see that they are thriving, but beyond this they give no trouble for their up-keep. There are about a hundred elephants owned in the province, and the best price ruling for a handsome tusker who is also a good carrier is about $500, or 561.; an average animal fetching $400, or 451. The former should carry 9- cwt. with his mahout and saddle, the latter 8 cwt., which is very little more than the weight of food they eat per day. It is interesting to compare these figures with those in the Lao States, where elephants are even more ex- tensively used. Prices at Nan and on the Mekawng varied (in 1893) from 241. to 321. a head, farther west the price for an average animal is as high again as 501., and in Chieng Mai a really experienced teak-hauling elephant with good tusks may fetch Rs. 3,000, about 1501. In those mountain districts, where long and rough journeys are performed, the weight of load is only about one third of that which is usual in the tin States of the peninsula, seldom exceeding 300 lbs., or, at most, 3 cwt., which would be considered absurd in the peninsula. The heavy loads mentioned are only ventured on when the journeys are comparatively short, and the animals must be well fed and have good saddles. The elephants we saw in Sungkla were badly equipped in the last respect. The saddles were often carelessly made, and, though certainly light, were insufficiently supplied with the usual supply of skins and mats to save the back. In the way in which its two separate panniers dispose of the weight upon the ribs, this saddle is an excellent type for heavy loads, but from its low position it is atrocious to ride in. A small barrel- roof of bark n as fitted on many. I did not see any mahouts here armed with the usual 107 THE MALAY PENINSULA spiked goad; they seemed to prefer a loaded cane, the heavy root forming the hitting end, the top having a twist for the handle, and with these they kept the animals well in order. Our elephants here, accustomed to their heavy load, had not the quick gait of some of the Lao animals, but maintained fairly well the 2- miles an hour which is the average speed of the elephant, and indeed of all caravan travelling in Siam, and which is rarely exceeded for a long trip, when fords, obstructions, and other things are taken into consideration, except by the independent pedestrian. Here, as elsewhere in the peninsula, it is a mark of disrespect to be given a female elephant to ride. In the old days, Burmans and Shins used to travel all the way down to Sungkla and Lakawn to buy elephants, marching back with them up the peninsula, and taking a year or two over the expedition, but this traffic has nearly ceased, although now and then some are exported to Calcutta by way of Keda. The tin mines lie in the hills 15 to 30 miles south- west of Sungkla. Our party consisted of the same four who went up to Langsuan, plus the Rawng Muang, an official sent to assist us generally, who was a very decent fellow, barring his devotion to durians, which was painful. As we got among the rougher inland people he was invaluable in interpreting the dialect, which quite nonplussed even the scholarly Nai Suk. Leaving the town across the baking flats, between the hills and the southern end of the inland sea, we passed a wide expanse of reeking mud, which the mahouts declared was the Keda road. As soon as we rose a bit among some charming villages, where we bought fruit and drank cocoanuts in the shady salas, the road became really good, only broken occasionally by gaps where floods had carried 108 CHAP. XVII TRA VELLING INLAND it away, and the elephants sank to their bellies in the ooze and slime. Beyond the hills and village of Nam Noi we branched to the right of the road across wide alluvial lands to a place called Hlt Sai, by a sluggish stream up which boats can come from the lake. The last part of the march across the burning plain and through the smoke of the jungle fires was intensely hot, and the bathe behind the crocodile fence in the stream was delightful, though the water was brown and warm. This is a Government post and revenue station, and is well situated for its purpose, being in the centre of a fertile, though not yet largely inhabited, tract. Having obtained what local information we needed there, we struck across the line of the Keda road towards the hills, visiting all the mining districts, both on the west and eastern slopes, fetching a compass back to the Nam Noi on the high road, and thence down to our head- quarters, Sungkla, again. We had some warm marching and tremendous duckings from the thunderstorms which broke in the highlands every afternoon, and we walked our friend the Rawng Muang off his legs. Very little washing was being done at the time of our visit, the only work in hand being stripping off the over- burden, sluice-building, and other preparations for the rains, which were as yet insufficient to give a good supply of water. Moreover, a large number of men, who would be engaged in streaming later in the season, were giving the last touches to their newly cleared rai up on the hillsides, spreading the ashes, burning a few last heaps, or finishing their fences, to be ready for planting. The most important working was at Mueng Hin Lek Fai, where a smelting furnace and the kongsi buildings 8 occupy a ledge on the 8 The streamers who work in bring in their ore and sell it here the neighbourhood are wont to at about $15 a pikul. The total CHAP. XVIII 109 THE MALAY PENINSULA hillside in the midst of some finely timbered hills, whence charcoal is easily obtained. The stream has generally sufficient water to enable regular work to go on nearly all the year round. The valley bottom has evidently been worked over to a shallow depth in former times, but the kcarang at present being sought has about 10 feet of over- burden lying on it. It is from about 1 foot 8 inches to 2 feet 4 inches in thickness, and yields a fine black ore. Some twenty hands reside on the kongsi, Chinamen and Siamese, all with the dirty sickly appearance of sufferers from fever, and all cursed with abnormally congested livers. The governor has a share in this and other concerns- as, very often being the only capitalist in the country, he is the only person who can be looked to to assist in the development of undertakings which demand more outlay than the average man can contrive. Whether any governor should ever be commercially interested in things of the sort in his own province is another story. In this case, if he did not do it, there would be no mining. After all, there is some use in the much abused capitalist. Those who hope for his abolition in this country might do well to go and study what it is to be without him, in some of the out-of-the-way provinces of Siam. From this wild spot we marched eastward, up the valley of the Ting Po stream works, where a number of men were clearing and stripping. The karang is very near the surface, but patchy, and the workings are un- important. From that valley, where the views were, owing to output from the furnace is in bad $37 in stamp fees, or $877 in all, seasons 100 slabs a year, or, say, more than half, before coming to 60 cwt., value about $1,500; of his working and transport expenses. this the Tauke pays roughly $60 In good years this output is more a year rent; $300 to the governor, than doubled. who has a i share; $480 royalty; 110 CHAP. XVIII IN THE HILLS the amount of 'rai clearing which had been done, very lovely, we crossed the low granitic ridge into the valley leading out north to Nam Noi. This ridge has evidently been extensively worked for tin, and was very much cut up by old pits and rubbish heaps. We met numbers of wayfarers, chiefly women and girls, carrying loads of rice -'san they call it in their short way here, instead of Kao san-over to Hin Lek Fai, marching with bare legs through the rushing torrent. Entering the valley we passed large numbers of rai clearings both on the hills and in the valley still in process of clearing and burning. At Wat Na Nom there are two sets of workings-at Kao Kan Lao on the west, and Rong Chom to the south- in the valley we descended into. The former was worked in the granite rock as Mueng Kra, but has been deserted recently owing to the abrupt death of eight men working there, all within a space of three days. Such notice from the spirits could not be ignored, and no one has been near the place since. Camp here was disturbed by our big elephant, who, as the ground was all level, could find no pillow for his weary head, and consequently passed a sleepless night which did not improve his temper. He cursed his mahout in low rumbles all next day. The lower end of the valley is thickly populated and well cultivated, and we met large numbers of people, with robust and healthy good looks, very different to the wretched miners above. We had as fellow-travellers men and women carrying fruit, rice, &c., to sell in Sungkla market, and we were astonished at the weight they carry down constantly, in all weathers, for a return of often less than a shilling, boys and girls having as much as half a hundredweight, and the grown-ups more. Theywere willing to hap (i.e., carry a load) all the way to Lakawn or Keda for $2. And yret we accuse them of being an idle race. We next visited Kok Chang, near Nam Noi, which 111 CHAP. XVIII THE MALAY PENINSULA can only be worked in the height of the rains, as water is scarce on the hillsides, where the ore occurs in the highly decomposed rock. We obtained some very beauti- ful crystals of 'wood' tin, which the miners generally put aside and keep as curiosities. There was a furnace here,9 larger than those on the west coast, of the usual iron-bound clay construction, but they only turned out a small amount per annum. The smelting-house and kongsi were sur- rounded with the most formidable triple fence of thorns and prickles I have ever made acquaintance with. It was absolutely impenetrable except by the small winding path we were suffered to enter by. Inside there was, to our surprise, a neat plantation of bananas and an extensive vegetable garden. The garrison consisted of thirty-seven pariahs, commanded by an old woman, who explained that the precautions were against robbers. If I had not been solemnly assured that the place was owned by the governor, I should have felt certain we were in a very pretty dacoit den. And we still wonder which of the pariahs was head gardener. On the hills to the north of Nam Noi limonite is worked by persons desirous of possessing a new knife or two, but no one makes a business of it. The general impression left on my mind is that very extensive water-storage works will be necessary before any large output of tin can be expected from Sungkla. On our return we were not twenty-four hours in Sungkla before we started off again for Patalung. It was impossible to take the 'Kalamazoo' through the inland sea, as at this season there is not enough water in the channels. Consequently we had to take a long flat-bottomed five- 'Like that at Mueng Hin Lek furnace. Cf. Prof. H. Louis on Fai, this furnace was of the now the Metallurgy of Tin, The rare Chinese Tonga pattern-a Mineral Industry, vol. v. 1896. simple air furnace, which hasibeen Scientific Publishing Company: generally superseded by the blast New York and London. 112 CHAP. XVIII THE INLAND SEA oared dug-out, and, with a crew of so-called Malays from the Lem Son settlements, we started on one of the oddest voyages we ever made. It blew a gale of wind from the west, and our crew was a libel on the true Malay, and the laziest, slowest, most lubberly set I was ever in a boat with. Being accustomed to the paddle, which was useless in the breeze blowing, they were no good with the long oars, and displayed no adaptability. We lay a whole afternoon under Lem Son waiting for it to moderate, and watching the porpoises fighting in the tideway. We IN THE INLAND SEA. brought up on the shallow shore at the north end of Kaw Yaw for supper, and the men refused to go on until the wind should veer more southerly and the threatening sky clear up a bit. To complicate matters, the skipper was on his back with fever, almost unable to move. At 1 A.M. we pushed on across the open piece of water known as Rat Pumi, and at dawn reached the mouth of the channel, known as Klong Pakraw, which runs between the mainland on the west and a series of islands of flat alluvial character on the east known as Kaw Yuen, Kaw Nangkumm, and Kaw Mak, VOL. II I CHAP. XVIII 113 THE MALAY PENINSULA which are separated from one another by narrow water- ways. There is another channel, wider but shallower, to the east of the islands, between them and Kaw Yai, which connects Rat Pumi with the inner end of Tale Sap, but it is not so deep as Klong Pakraw. This klong is, for the greater part of its course, a quarter of a mile wide, with two fathoms of water in places. The land covers a far greater area than the maps show, and the waterways between the islands, though looking fairly wide here and there, are generally intricate and shallow, and, in many places, are silting up at a rate of from two to three inches a year. The two north and south running channels remain deeper, as they have to carry off a large quantity of water in the flood season. After passing numbers of poor-looking fishing villages, we found the klong narrowed to 200 yards or less, and to be known as Klong Pakcha. Numbers of waterways run off eastward, but there is no open water as indicated by the maps. The klong opens into the inner sea at a large village known as Pakpayun, a lovely spot, where a low ridge of hills runs across, making a narrow channel. The westerly wind rushed furiously through it, raising quite a little sea, against which some lake boats were beating pluckily. The village, like all in the neighbourhood, is of the style fashionable with our ancestors at the time when lake dwellings were de rigueur, but it is possibly less rheumatic, and has the desirable addition of many cocoa- nut palms. Instead of those aggressive beasts with which Mr. E. T. Reid has made us acquainted in the pages of 'Punch,' as disturbing the peace of mind of our fore- fathers, the modern lake-dweller has only the churlish crocodile and the playful porpoise to contend with, both of which we saw in the klong in considerable numbers. Beyond Pakpayun the inland sea extends its shallows 114 CHAP. XV1II CAVE DWELLERS! farther north than the eye can reach. To the north-east the view is broken by the sharp outlines of the limestone islands of Kaw Si Kaw-ha, the southernmost and smallest of the birdsnests groups. On page 11 of Dr. Kean's 'Eastern Geography' there is an astonishing announce- ment that these islands are inhabited by Troglodytes, who 'are born, live, and die in the caves with which the archipelago everywhere abounds, occupied exclusively in collecting and preparing for the Chinese market the edible swallows' nests covering the walls of their rocky dwell- ings.' The statement is based on the veracious evidence of Mr. Davidson and MM. Deloncle and Macey. How charmingly appropriate! Lake-dwellers and cave-dwellers within twenty miles of one another ! What invaluable geological facts we might learn from these mysterious persons! How we might startle the civilised world, if they were only amenable to the peaceful influence of cheroots, and could speak Siamese! Our first eager inquiries encouraged hopefulness. 'Indeed, yes,' we were told, certain of the caves were inhabited-the nest-col- lectors daren't go into them: the dwellers there were very duk and nasty to visitors. Then to our chagrin we found they were only very ordinary pi (spirits), and not even so bad as those met with in the forests of the main range. In our haste we were inclined to exclaim that all men are liars; but we reflected that inexperience and interpreters are a combination invented of the evil one, especially for the propagation of sensationalism at the expense of the truth. 'As,' remarked the considerate Nai Suk, 'you, no doubt, found when you first went up country.' The life of the birdsnest island guards is strange enough, in good sooth, to need no further elaboration, living there, as they do, cut off from the world for months at a time with only an occasional visit from a boat's crew intent on robbing i2 115 CHAP. XVII THE MALAY PENINSULA nests, whom they are constrained to receive with buck- shot. North of Pakpayun, towards the islands, as well as in the klong itself, the shallows are dotted with fishing stages. There is the usual line of small stakes or scrub to direct the fish to the desired spot, and on the stage is a large inverted triangle of bamboos, turning through an arc of about 200 on its apex. At the outer angle are fixed the bamboo spreads for the dip-net, and at the inner a counter- poise weight which enables the fisherman to hoist his net above water with little effort. They are used mostly at night, and at this time little was being caught but shrimps. North, to the low alluvial island of Kaw Prap, where we stopped for supper, the bottom is hard sand with about two feet of water on it. As the wind had moderated at night, we pushed on. The lake people always anchor by ramming a bamboo into the mud and making the boat fast to that, and it was not until late we got off the hard sand bottom and could bring up in good holding mud. We had great difficulty in making our crew go ahead at all, but by the next morning we were abreast of Patalung, or 'Lung. As soon as the conspicuous needle of limestone on the Kok Talu 1 range inland bore west by north we stood in to the south side of the low point known as Lumpumm, and after no little trouble found one of the two reed-covered mouths of the Klong. The water is extremely shallow in both, and in the southern, though the best, we had great difficulties in entering, the boat drawing little as she did. It is impossible for any craft of over a foot draught to get in or out, and the rate of deposition of material here is remarkable, Lumpumm itself being a deltaic deposit of only six years' growth. Every self-respecting river in these parts regards the possession of a bar as one 'Kok Talu-probably Kao ok talu, abbreviated as usual by these easy- going folks. 116 CHAP. XvIII PATALUNG PROVINCE of the first conditions of existence; such a hold has the fashion got that no streamlet, however insignificant, dare be without one, and those which can afford it possess a delta with mouths and shifting channels complete. Klong Lumpumm is the envy of its neighbours, debouching as it does into a shallow lake, where there are no strong tidal currents to disturb its plans of advancement. As we have seen, in Mr. F. A. Leal's day there was a considerable creek here; in seventy years it has reached a high stage of river civilisation, and no one can now accuse it of not being in the first rank of fashion. Muang Talung, cut off as it is from the outside world, is a quiet little place, with not more than 3,000 people, lying along the shady banks of the stream. It reminded me of Siemrap, partly by the sandy bottom and clear water of the river, and partly by the clumps of bamboo and palm on either side. Many of the houses are pretty and stuccoed as in Singora; there is a long raised path or causeway above flood-line, passing up the left bank to the governor's residence, the new court-house, and the market. Besides the governor and his second there is a deputy commissioner under the commissioner of Singora, and Prince Damrong's reforms have been pushed on with vigour. The province contains about 40,000 people, all agriculturists, rice being grown on the islands, and fruit along the mountains to the west. The garden rice is planted close to the lake, where it is easily irrigated from the stream, and subse- quently is transplanted to higher ground. The rains begin here earlier than at Sungkla, as it is farther west, and nearer to the main range. The rice tax does not much exceed 1,0001. a year. There are no ox-carts in the province, no ponies, and no Chinamen; and there are only about eight elephants available for transport. 117 CHAP. XVII THE MALAY PENINSULA Owing to its inaccessibility the tin along the hills has never been worked, although it occurs in alluvial gravels, close to the surface in many places. They call it here Takua dam or Takua Kao, according as it is black or light in colour, though Takua properly means lead, and is generally applied to galena. There is a tradition that the stream is connected at its source with the Trang River, and that they are one and the same. The old maps generally show a water connection across the peninsula. From inquiries it would seem as if the watershed is comparatively flat and low and swampy (like that found by Professor Louis between the Benara Telubin and Kelantan Rivers farther south), and the two rivers rise probably in near proximity, and not far from the Bandon River. It was grievous to have to leave without visiting the place, but circumstances would not allow it. The governor is a quiet, pleasant little fellow, who thinks that the chief glory of the British nation consists in the pineapples of Penang and the flourishing appearance of Singapore, the shipping of that place having evidently impressed him. His name and title read 'Phya Apin Bairaks chak Kra Weechit tra pepit pukdee piri ya paka Puh Somdetch Ratchakan Muang Patalung,' and he bears it bravely and apparently without effort. What fairly nonplussed the skipper was the immoderate terms in which the deputy commissioner and Nai Suk praised Bangkok for its water. It is a curious prejudice the Siamese have in favour of the Me Nam water; they prefer it to anything both for washing and drinking, and I fancy no European will ever understand their preference. Doubtless it has more taste than most rivers, and its density may lend to it the merit which sparrows find in dust and cows in gate-posts, but it was always a puzzle to me. That most unpraiseworthy amusement of cock-fighting 118 CHAP. XVIII CHAP. xvII HOW THE LAKE WAS MADE seems to flourish in Talung, but it is probably about the only form of vice. We saw a number of crocodile skulls in a wayside sala put there to wai the spirits; and indicative of a still more curious frame of mind is the method of disposing of the dead. The body is placed out in the jungle, on a high platform of branches in the trees, and is rather a startling and unpleasant thing to come across. The governor is making burial obligatory now, but when they can the good people still do it on the sly. The Tale sap2 is thus accounted for locally. A man and wife had a son, and they prayed the Phra Chao that he might rise to be a great man, high and mighty, rich and powerful, and they lived at Talung by the sea. There was only a sandbank at Kaw Yai and the islands were not then, and the vessels could come and go to Talung by many channels. One day the boy disappeared, none knew whither. Many years after a great Chinese junk, gilded and flagged, put in to Patalung, and in the great mandarin who landed in state the aged couple recognised their long- lost son. And they went forward eagerly to greet and bless him; but he, with disdain in his face, cast them off and would not own them, nor accost them. Then they cursed him for his unfilial conduct, and prayed that ruin should fall upon him and humble him. And it became very dark, and a great storm arose, and the ship went down at her moorings with all on board. The valuable goods and the massive chests were washed hither and thither, and they now remain in the islands of Kaw Nangkumm and the others near it, as evidence of the punishment which the Phra Chao sends to unfilial sons.3 2 Sap, according to Nai Suk, a 3 There are few traditions in decree of Providence- a thing Siam which do not bear some caused by the command of the evidence of the early Chinese in- Phra Chao. fluence which has so profoundly 119 THE MALAY PENINSULA It blew a westerly gale while we lay in Patalung, and it was curious to see the shallow water churned up into a dirty brown red far to the horizon. At this end of the Tale the water is nearly, if not quite, fresh. The Pak Ranawt lies out of sight to the north-east, but, as already remarked, is only open to the sea in the winter monsoon. The klong from there, which goes north through the Tung Ranawt, can at low-water season be solely used by light boats; it forms the only highway between Lakawn and the south generally available, excepting a long d6tour by inland elephant trail, and to keep it open it will soon be necessary to dredge it. The Tale noi, or little lake, at the north end is extremely shallow,4 and is surrounded by numerous villages of Siamese. It is generally said to be a nest of robbers, and the people give it a wide berth. Our remarkable crew were extremely loth to face the breeze that was blowing, but we succeeded in getting them off by threatening to leave them. Returning to Sungkla, we visited the limestone islands, but as it was broad day we saw no pi. With a tall lug- sail our long shallow dug-out made tremendous speed, and we reached our yacht at 2.30 A.M. Our arrival was a surprise. Yen was, of course, at his post, but Kong had taken the skiff and gone to the theatre affected the civilisation of the country; and this forms no ex- ception. The story owes its origin, doubtless, to one of the violent typhoons which visit this coast at rare intervals, and which invari- ably, in some measure, alter the features of the coast line. It may well be that one particular event of the kind wrought very extensive changes along what then formed the outer banks, and consequently affected the conditions of naviga- tion to an extent which would be certain deeply to impress a mari- time people. 4 Two feet at low-water season. The rise of the coast throughout the neighbourhood has been so rapid that it may be doubted if the tetrital deposits of the rains, seconded by the action of the on- shore monsoons, great as their effect must be, are sufficient alone to account for it. It would seem that an independent geological elevation of the land has been in progress. 120 CHAP. xvII CHAP. XVIII A COURT-MARTIAL 121 in Nai Suk's best coat and hat, and just before sunrise the skipper had the pleasure of watching him steal in and replace those articles. The court-martial which sat next day found he had secured one of the best front-row seats, and seemed to have fully impressed Sungkla society with his importance. The sentence of the court was therefore a light one. On August 21 our work was done, and we sailed from the beautiful Sungkla northward, with a small crowd of our friends watching us from the beach. CHAPTER XIX THE MALAY PENINSULA-EAST COAST (continued) SUNGKLA TO LAKAWN So dealt God's waters with us Beneath the roaring skies, So walked his signs and marvels All naked to our eyes.' THE lateness of the season, and the pressing character of the work waiting us in Bangkok, decided us not to attempt going on south to Patani. It was out of the question to traverse the long distances to the mines in the time at our disposal, while the north-westerly winds, which were already becoming too frequent, made Tani an undesirable port forty miles to leeward. Thus it was we headed northward close-hauled along the coast. During the night it blew heavily with rain, and we were under five-reefed main and four-reefed fore- sails. The next day was a good instance of the kind of thing to be met with in the gulf: we were reefing or making sail every few hours, the wind never keeping the same force for long. It is for this constant change that the Chinese lug-sail is so handy. At noon on August 23 we were well into the Lakawn Bight, looking out for the 1The Seven Seas. LAKAWN ROAD river mouth. A number of junks lay close in, and we beat in towards them and anchored just outside them. The native craft make a practice of contentedly lying in the mud at low water. It is a queer custom in such an open roadstead, but fairly safe at this season. If a north- westerly swell does roll in, the shallow flats break it, with their soft yielding mud, in such a way that the farther in the better. Still it is no place to be in when there is any chance of an on-shore gale, for there is no shelter for an ordinary vessel for eighty miles; it is entirely exposed, and an awful sea rolls in upon the banks. Leal's narrative mentions the openness of the roadstead, and the danger of the projecting shoals off Kolam Puk. The three-fathom line was about two and a half miles from the river. We went off in the skiff in the afternoon at low water to learn the way in to the Klong Paya, and found some Singora friends lying off the entrance, and they gave us quite an ovation. Farther south another stream, Klong Pakawn, is used for larger boats, and most of the tin comes down that way from considerably south of Lakawn. A few miles up a cross klong joins the two. At 2 A.M. we loaded up the skiff with a week's camp stores and started up the river for Lakawn city, with Yen and Don, leaving Deng Lek on board for a change. We thus in great measure cheated the sun, but not the mosquitoes. It took us five hours' steady pulling against the current to reach the sala at Wat Tepo. We passed, as day broke, a considerable Malay village at Ban Tassak, where lay numbers of lake boats, also the ribs of many large coast craft, which now could not possibly get in or out of this 'sludgy smudgy creek.' The entrance is filling up at a rate of five inches a year, and all the banks are creeping out to sea proportionately. Whereas fair-sized craft could some years ago get up to Wat Tepo, now only 123 CHAP. XIX THE MALAY PENINSULA canoes can thread their way so far up its tortuous course. The country we passed was green with the long grasses and the well-grown padi, showing that the rainy season here was well advanced. Having cooked and disposed of breakfast before an admiring crowd, we walked up to call on the governor by the wide roadway which connects the Muang with the Chinese market and landing-place. The approach to the town is lined with magnificent peepul-trees, and the ruins of pagodas and monasteries, walls and gateways, attest to its former importance in the days when it was a port for ships. Old Hamilton says there were many 'Pagan temples in it which have steeples built very high in form of very sharp pyramids.' The town itself was 'built of bamboos and thatched with reeds,' as at this day, and it produced 'abundance of tin.' An uncommon aspect is given to the scene by the way in which the women carry on their heads basket piled on basket to a weight often of 75 lbs. In most parts of Siam the head is regarded as almost sacred, and you should never even stroke a youngster's hair; 2 much less is it to be used for carrying burdens. Thus the contrast here is striking, and the general effect of the grouping and colouring and the wide shaded spaces, with the dark complexions and comely stature of the women folk, both Malay and Siamese, was much more like a bit of India than of Siam. Around the great brick wall of the city runs a deep moat, some fifty yards wide and thirteen or fourteen feet deep. The wall itself is about four miles round, and is mainly of red brick, and more massive and lofty than those either at Nan or Korat; but, unlike those places, there are no handsome gateways, and the only entrances which appear to be of ancient date are at the north and south ends of the city, and these were evidently more for defence than 2 Of. The Tonsure Ceremony. Capt. G. E. Gerini. 124 CHAP. XIX LAKAWN CITY ornament, being pierced with embrasures for big guns and protected by curtains. It is now much grown over, and especially on the west side many ways have been broken through it. The town inside the wall is like some big garden of palm and fruit plantations, with jungle houses scattered among them. The remains of many Wats, bowled over by the Burmans, are seen crumbling to ruin. The unhappy Buddhas inside, under the temporary attap roofs, blink iT.1. N ,. - -i sadly in the gloom, with streaks of damp streaming down their faces, as though they wept for the glory that is departed. The great Wat of the place, Wat Pratat, is of great antiquity. Its chief feature is the pagoda, which stands nearly a hundred feet high. Its gilded point is one of the marks used by vessels coming in from the sea; but its reputation in the province depends on the fact that it casts no shadow. On two occasions when the skipper visited the Wat, sure enough there was no shadow to be seen, although the sun shone brightly-the unorthodox 125 CHAP. XIX THE MALAY PENINSULA Nai Suk said the reason was that it was noon. In shape it is unlike most of the Prachadis in Siam, for the lower part is bell-like and high-shouldered, resembling some of the zaydis of Lower Burma. Around the base stand numbers of smaller pagodas, ten to twenty feet in height and of the same general character, said to be 189 in number. The entrance into the area they occupy is through low- walled, high-roofed cloisters, and the ascent to the great pagoda is on the north 3 side, by a long low building, the roofs of which rise as they approach it. Inside, a flight of steep steps leads up, guarded at the base by weird dragon men, and above on the doors are seven-headed snakes and figures with many hands and faces, relics of the Brahmin influence for which Ligor was famous, and which extended at one time over the whole of this portion of the peninsula. A fire destroyed part of the roof last year, and it was being renovated by 'merit-makers,' not in the handsome red and gold of the old work, but with common white paint, which we warned the good people could bring but little merit. Below were some really good pictures worked in gold relief of Siddhartha leaving his sleeping wife and household and riding off with the Tewadas assist- ing him. The town itself teems with elephants and goats, which are always having rows, to the great delectation of the market folk. The effect of Malay tradition is grate- fully apparent in the absence of pigs and pariahs. There are some 5,000 people in the town, which has not grown since Leal's day, and of these probably 400 are in the monasteries, and such others as are not the governor's slaves are agriculturists. The chief himself was polite even to friendliness, and there was nothing to suggest the cruel outbursts of 3 The east is the most usual. 126 CHAP. XIX THE CHIEF temper for which he is famed among his people, except the line of the mouth when he had ceased speaking, and the occasional somewhat irritable manner of addressing his attendants. During our visit his manner was less loud and ostentatious than that of many of his class, and his knowledge of the mining affairs in his province was in marked contrast to that of the governor of Lang- suan. Still, the fact remains, that torture is practised to obtain evidence, and, although the easy-going people seldom take the trouble to hate any one, he is cordially feared and hated for his arbitrary ways throughout the province. Pra Vichit, whose sway extends thus far, has not yet had time to take the governor in hand, and he will have 127 CHAP. XIX THE MALAY PENINSULA his work cut out to control him. In Leal's time, it seems three or four commissioners were required to manage the reigning Chao Praya Lakawn, and even they produced little impression. The descendant merely faithfully follows the traditions of his family. Owing to its inaccessibility, to its want of ports and navigable waterways from coast to coast, Lakawn remains one of the least known and most primitive of the Siamese provinces. The people are tractable and warm- hearted in an unusual degree; they see few strangers, and are most old-fashioned in all their ways. They reap the rice ear by ear with the simple kek; they have no carts, and use no transport animals but elephants. Leal says that, owing to the Burmese wars, only 12,000 men were on the rolls at the time of his visit. Though the province is now much smaller than in his day-for Bandon on the north and Gerbi on the west have been taken from it-yet it has now 130,000 men on the rolls, and a total population of something like 300,000, of whom 200,000 live in the great fertile plain two days west of the mountains. The great want of the province is an outlet. Muang Kiri, a western subdivision, exports its tin by Takuapa. Pak- lao and Bandon are its other mouths, and are both in- different. There is a scheme to make a good road across to Trang, and this, indeed, is a practical plan. It has long been known as a transpeninsular route,4 and Trang can generally be got in and out of by small coasters. It is within easy reach of Penang and the Straits, and vessels need not face half the bad weather that they must meet with going to the other ports. Takuapa as a harbour is, however, far superior, and will take larger vessels than any other place, and its claims to be made the port of Lakawn should be seriously considered. When the fatal day -comes that * Chapter xvi. 128 CHAP. XIX CHAP. XIX RESOURCES OF LAKAWN Lakawn is to be opened up, and the poor population have to submit to being 'civilised '-Heaven help them !-there will be money to be made by some one there. It is intensely rich, with wide well-watered plains on both sides of the hills; the water-supply is never short, for the mountains catch the rains of both monsoons. With the most primitive appliances, without transport, and cut off from the world, it is yet growing more rice than any province of Siam, and the cultivation is increasing every year; it feeds more cattle than probably all the $amboo ro,, blrde -woa 1\ek0. jk a r hook . States south of it combined, and it outdoes Langsuan in fruit. The tin mines, which Leal declared were much neglected and said to be exhausted, are situated twenty miles south-west of the city, in a valley on the south-east slopes of the Kao Ron, and have, in the last fifty years, produced enormous quantities of ore. Tradition says they were first worked by Siamese as Muengq Len, and then the Chinamen came, some sixty years ago, and began the extensive paddock workings which have upturned the whole valley to a depth of 60 feet. At the time of our VOL. II K 129 THE MALAY PENINSULA visit there were five kongsis working, with about 350 men. The yearly output has recently fallen to less than 800 cwt., or a value of some $24,000; " but one kongsi had con- tributed nothing to the total, owing to the unwarrantable interference of the landlord, whom no rents, royalties, or joss sticks could appease-a devil, who attacked the men so that large numbers of them died. The karang under that fatal spot is rich and thick, and worth a few thousand pounds. But there it stands, in the midst of the gravel and boulder desolation round it, and the old tree, which is the home of the miserly spirit, waves its arms defiantly. The only other spot thus preserved is the pretty little monastery of Wat Ron Nai, which with its Bawt and buildings, amid green clusters of palms, stands high above the tumbled valley bottom. The prior complained of the way the Chinamen had been working into his ground and under his buildings. They had taken out many acres of consecrated ground, and were within fifteen feet of the Bawt, but he had been unable to obtain satisfaction, or protection from the officials. We pitied his simplicity, and sent for the Tauke, whose name was Chin Mac Fau, and as Macs generally have, he had the best thing in the place. No one else had dared do the necessary sacrilege, but he feared nothing, so long as he succeeded, and now he had twenty feet of karang ! We pointed out that it might be well to hedge against eventualities, such as that which befell Tauke Ten Paumar at the devils' tree, and a handsome present to the monastery and a little care about the Bawt might save him much unpleasantness. The idea coming from us as disinterested persons seemed to strike him, and Nai Suk's intimate knowledge of the ferocity of the devils of the Siamese religion, of which he knew nothing, was clinching. s 2,6001. 130 CHAP. XI WILD) CHINAMEN They are particular enough about their own devils, and neither shoes nor umbrellas will they allow down into their paddocks for fear of their being insulted. Siamese walk- ing about on the heaps in a sarong are sometimes captured by the coolies and made to pay a fine of $30 before being released. It is ridiculous that the people should allow such things, but the Chinese coolies are money-makers, and therefore protected by the officials, and sixty wild beasts from Kwangtung are an awkward crowd for a few Siamese countryfolk to deal with unaided. They were the wildest Chinamen we had ever met, these, and had mostly been imported direct by junks from the interior of Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and Hainam. They professed never to have seen a white creature like our skipper, and they were wonderfully inclined to friendliness, but their filthiness and manners surpassed anything we had met before. It is noteworthy how much more superstitious the low class of paddock-working coolie is than the skilled miner working the hillsides, who uses his intelligence in following up the tin. I never remember the latter having any terrors about the probable loss of the tin if a white man goes into his workings, while the former are all in a state of alarm if one is anywhere near. The karang in this valley is at a depth of from thirty to forty feet at the upper end of the valley, and from ten to thirty at other spots, and in one place was of the unusual thickness of thirty feet. It consists of a granitic gravel containing very large water-worn boulders, and has been derived from the denudation of the surrounding slopes, where the tin appears to be disseminated through the granite as we had seen it on the west coast. No hill workings have, however, yet been attempted, but with the exhaustion of the valley in the very near future the Chinese will no doubt be compelled to turn their attention to that form of mining. Several kongsis are working in K2 131 CHAP. XIX THE MALAY PENINSULA parallel valleys to the northward, but the mortality consequent on the clearing of the jungle has been very large. To encourage the enterprise necessary for the opening up of new districts some lowering of dues is essential, and we found the governor and the Taukes unanimous in their approval of the provisions in the mining regulation relating to prospecting, leases, dues, &c. At first every one declared that there was no tin on the other faces of the mountains, but as they got to know us, and found that our business was ultimately for their own benefit and not our own, astonishing enough as it was to their ideas, they became more communicative in their own odd way, and they admitted that there was tin known in many other spots (as indeed seemed natural), but that the difficulties of access and the expenses incidental to open- ing up new districts, with the road-clearing, jungle-felling, and kongsi-building necessary, had, so long as the Ron Valley held out, proved insuperable objections. With the end here so near, they all agree that those difficulties will have to be faced. Ban Ron is the tin market of the province, as well as the mining centre. All the tin is smelted in the Government smelting-house; each kongsi has its own time for smelting, and must provide its own charcoal and its own labour. The slabs are stamped, and royalty 6 and stamp fees 7 paid to the smelting officer, and then the tin is ready for the market. The miners were getting $30 a picul, and most of the tin was being exported by the buyers, chief among whom is the governor, to Bangkok for the Chinese market, and not, as in most other parts of the peninsula, to the Straits. A better price seems to be generally obtainable in China than in Singapore or Penang. The ore is generally of the fine black variety, running 6 Here, as elsewhere, paid in kind. 132 CHAP. XIX ' ,$1.12 per cwt. about 62- per cent., but fine crystals of' wood tin' are often found. Some of the waterwheel chain-pumps which keep the water from the paddocks are of unusual length, one being 120 feet, and considerable skill has been used in packing the walls of these deep open cast workings. The blast furnaces are on a slightly different pattern to those on the west coast, being rectangular in shape and of smaller capacity. The bellows are of the usual Chinese shape, but with very long stroke, one or two as much as ten feet, which necessitates the two men who work the piston walking rapidly up and down the whole \ Y etkLwI.tinl cart time. The smelting is nearly all done at night in four- hour watches, and is a pretty hard tax on men who have already completed their eight or ten hours in sun and rain in the paddocks. But it only comes at intervals, when the heaviest work, that of 'stripping' the overburden, is done, and the taking out and washing of the karang is going on. The tin is carried by carts, the only ones in the province, to Kokram, on the banks of Klong Pakawn, six hours distant. These carts are the property of the buyers, and, unlike the wonderfully constructed ships of the jungle used by the Siamese north of Kra, they are of most primi- THE MINES 133 CHAP. XIX THE MALAY PENINSULA tive make, as a sketch of their wheels will show; they are drawn by a single buffalo, and have a capacity of about 4 cwt. Our journey to the mines was performed with a comfort which we highly appreciated. Our four elephants were unusually handsome, well-made beasts, but one was a king of elephants, with every feature good, short neck, well-set head, small body, strong limbs, tufted tail, and good ears. His tusks nearly met at the points, and were perfect in symmetry, and he stood two inches less than ten feet at the shoulder. They were a genial lot of animals, and never allowed us to be dull for an instant. We also derived ad- vantage from Yen's presence, for he is a popular person wherever he goes, owing to his gentlemanly manners, and the mahouts all got very fond of him. Thus we obtained many favours through him which otherwise we should never have received. It was always noteworthy how well we got on with the people we met whenever he was with us. On the last day the mahout of the elephant he rode sat backwards in his place the whole of the journey, that he might converse with greater ease. As a sign of his lasting friendship we found him, at the end, dictating a spell, which Yen was writing down to learn when he had time, which he assured him would charm any girl he set his heart on. Our road to the mines lay out of the southern end of the city, and then in a S.S.W. direction through a rich plain of waving padi until we reached the jungle limit. The trail for many miles through this is wonderfully straight and even under foot, and I have no doubt it is a road of ancient date, for such a track in the jungle is most unusual, and I never remember its like. At intervals small salas occur, where a few women sat selling cocoanuts and fruit to passing wayfarers. In six hours we reached Ban Na, where, as it was late, 134 CHAP. XIX LAKAWN SCENES we camped, reaching Ron next day, after another six hours through deep jungle. At Na it was curious to see the smallest streams being navigated by canoes laden with fruit, &c.; and, on our way back, our elephants disputed the passage of the paths, which had all now become tor- rents rushing from the hills, with bare-legged foot travellers, and the canoes and boats of those who preferred to travel dry. The view from the plain beneath the western wall of the town indelibly impressed itself on the mind of at least one of our party. There is no green in the world like the tender green of the young padi, and there it lay unbroken for miles before us; there is no grace like the soft traceries of the swaying bamboos, and they swept the sky above and around us in the tearing breeze. Beyond, far away, of the deep bright blue that tells of the rains, towered the cloud-capped range, the good angel to which the province owes its richness and beauty. If this were to be a man's last, no more fitting remembrance could he take away. While in Lakawn we camped in the most charming of salas down by the stream at Wat Tepo. We had crowds of visitors, headed by the prior of the Wat, a well-in- formed man, whose chief distinction in Lakawn was his having been at a monastery in Bangkok. Here we used to watch the long Malay canoes coming up to the market with their fish. They are chiefly worked by women, though there is often a man, who acts as steersman. In the shallow tortuous stream, he stands up aft with a long bamboo, with which he dexterously steers her against the current. Forward, two or three women stand quanting her along, while the rest paddle their swift long strokes. They travel like steam-launches, and do the jour- ney from the sea in two hours. In the small boats coming from the villages below a tall damsel often stands aft 135 CHAP. XIx THE MALAY PENINSULA alone, wielding her long bamboo in a most fascinating manner; she is extremely skilful in foreseeing every cant the boat may receive from wind or current, and with her long graceful sweeps on one side or the other she can go within a hair's breadth of a snag or branch. In Patalung we saw it done a little, but nowhere is it such an art as in Lakawn. The Malays, who are the sea-going part of the popu- lation, are a distinctive feature of the place, as already remarked, and they retain the language and the Kris, and keep up constant intercourse by sea with Kalantan, from which they profess to come. The Chinamen are the miners and the petty traders, buit the latter are few in number, and reside chiefly at the market at Tapo by the stream. They are, like all their brethren in the peninsula, extremely reticent of all infor- mation with regard to trade. They fear to show their hands, lest the official class should hear more than they are meant to know, and exact more than their fair share; and the latter for their part resist inquiry in a like manner, for publicity with them too often means exposure. The lot of any person bent on gaining information is thus a difficult one, and the only way is to persuade your man that it is to his advantage that you know the truth, an operation which requires time and patience. Nai Suk's sister, a charming little lady of considerable ability, who is married to the governor's eldest son, was among our visitors. She is a person of some importance in Lakawn, and sent us splendid presents of mangostines and other fruit every day we were there. She seemed overjoyed to see her brother, and have a yarn about Bangkok and her old home and friends. At noon on August 26 we said good-bye to Lakawn, and, deeply laden with firewood and other stores, reached the mouth of the river in three hours. Above the man- 136 CHAP. XIX HOMEWARD BOUND grove swamps we passed numbers of sago-trees in flour- ishing condition, and here, as elsewhere, we saw numbers of monitors (Varanus salvator), known locally as hia, which came within three feet of the boat, and seemed quite fearless. This gigantic lizard is very common throughout the swamps of the maritime districts of Siam, and is often mistaken by a new-comer for crocodile. It is generally called 'iguana' where its name is not known. Its long forked tongue is used with great dex- terity in securing its prey, and its movements are as graceful in the water as they are clumsy on land. Large crocodiles, also, lay on the mud flats in the man- grove, and the monkeys scampered along the waterside. Some newly arrived junks lay in the roads, and among them a very oddly rigged rua ya yap, with a fore and aft mainsail, like that of a Straits Malay craft, and the raking foremast and dipping lug which properly belonged to her. In twenty minutes from the time we boarded the ' Kala- mazoo' the stores were in, dinghy stowed, and we were under way-sharp work, for they all knew they were home- ward bound. We had fair winds to the Bandon Bight, and there our weather wisdom was useful, for with the south-west wind we stood on one tack towards the squalls we saw brewing over Kao Kesong, and when they burst to the north of us we worked the northerly draft on their southern edge on the other tack into the mouth of the Pumriung channel. We lay outside all night, and beat in to Hat Sai with daylight. Thence the skiff went in for water and our mails, and we had contradicted a rumour we had heard of the total loss of Praya Chaiya's little steamer on her way up the coast. A last farewell to our kind friends and we were once more away northward, and in a few days off Chaolai Peak among the familiar fishing craft. Beyond 137 CHAP. XIX THE MALAY PENINSULA our fair share of squalls and a gale of wind off Cham- pawn, we met with few adventures; for the 'Angel of the Off-shore Wind' was with us. We put in at Sawi* and M. Patiyu for a quiet night, and at Bangtaphan for water. On September 6 at evening we had passed the treacherous banks off Lem Chaolai, beating against north- east winds. In the evening we headed away on our course for the Me Nam Bar, with the wind back at south and freshening with some sea. A whale passed close to us, rolling out his length in his own graceful way, and the whole crew watched him with breathless interest until he was far astern, when they resumed the dog-watch concert on the fo'c'sle. This had become an institution on our upward voyage when the weather was fine. The skipper would take the helm, and the rest lie on their backs for'ard singing all kinds of selections. Don, the tenor, sang the solos, the others joining in the choruses. His voice was good, and he gave the pathos of some of the Malay airs admirably. The melody in them, and the quick time in which they are given, are even more marked than in Siamese songs, and no music could better suit the sounding of the seas or the long-drawn humming of the shrouds, or better accord with the spirit of the life we led. Nai Suk was less addicted to love-songs than in the days of old-for was he not a married man, and had not our mails brought us news that he had a son and heir? Though for memory's sake he now and then warbled to us a touching ditty, he generally devoted himself to wonder- fully good imitations of Malay and Burmese songs, for the particular benefit of Don and Yen. His imitative powers 8 Halfway between Kaw Kula a fair-sized limestone islet, about and Lem Chang Hin a rock is sixty feet high and a hundred yards marked on the chart right in the across, covered with dense scrub. fairway, but we found this to be 138 CHAP. XIX A DOGWATCH CONCERT came out especially in his reproduction of the languages, of neither of which he knew more than a few words, and both of which are so distinct in character. Orchestral pieces were included, each man producing with his voice, in a manner no prosaic Western could ever attempt, the sound of some particular instrument. Nai Suk's toka was justly considered a masterpiece. Dirty weather interrupted the proceedings, and this bit of the gulf justified its reputation. We rolled heavily all night, running before the rising sea under reefed sails, and had one or two heavy gibes. To prevent our getting too near on to the lee shore we kept a good offing, sounding occasionally, and at 2.30 A.M. sighted the light. Very bad weather evidently lay to the east, and the sun rose with the most extraordinary colouring of the whole heavens. It was a morning worth remembering, a fitting climax to the sights we had seen. The tide had ebbed far, and the big seas we had run before all night were rising up over the check of the outer bar. We calculated that we had a fathom of water, and decided to risk the run in, rather than remain outside knocking about all day. As the water shoaled the high tops broke threateningly along the line, but the lead always gave us hope, and we kept steadily on, foaming on the high crests, against the tide, till imperceptibly we reached smoother water. The wind suddenly shifted to the north-west, but close-hauled to it setting all we could we still stemmed the current, ploughing past the stakes and through the crowds of fishing craft busy at their nets. In the grey cool morning, over which the day was broadening, the vast stretch of rough brown water seemed alive with boats, bobbing, plunging and jumping; and then as the light broke in, and things far off became distinct, and all the dull greys resolved into vivid colours, it grew a wondrous scene, and one that appealed to us 139 CHAP. XIX 140 THE MALAY PENINSULA CHAP. XIX perhaps the more, as there were no more nights like last night to be encountered. Abreast the Club House, that spot of many memories, our cruise was ended, and, need it be said, no sooner had the rattle of the anchor chain died away than the whole crew disappeared after it, into the depths of their dear Me Nam. But this time they had applied for leave. ENTRANCE TO THE INLAND SEA CHAPTER XX THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA THE COAST-BANGPLASOI TO CHANTABUN AND KRAT AFTER my return to Bangkok from the west coast of the peninsula in 1894, the Government decided to establish a branch office of the department at Puket, and the services of Mr. Ross Clunis were secured as superintendent. The mining regulations came up for discussion at the beginning of 1895, and in April the director, Mr. de Muiller, retired from the service. The loss of his experi- ence and ability was a very serious matter, and augured ill for future progress. To those who had worked with him it was a calamity. The grant of a large concession to a British subject in the gem district of Pailin in the beginning of 1895 resulted in a number of rather intricate questions, and in November, as other work was hanging fire, I once more, to my no small pleasure, found myself on my way out of Bangkok. THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA The Chantabun district has much to make it peculiarly attractive, and ever after reading M. Henri Mouhot's account of his sojourn there I had a strong desire to know more of it. His book 1 has always seemed to me the reflection of a peculiarly sensitive and charming dis- position. His appreciation of the forest life, of the wonder of the solitary nights, and the quaintness of his observa- tions, are delightful reading. The interior of Siam was, in his day, a terra incognita, and the journeys he performed called for a rare amount of pluck and endurance. The simple narrative often betrays the strain which was laid upon him, and towards the end there is pathe- tic evidence that the low diet, the worry, the fevers, and the complete isolation which every traveller there must undergo, were surely telling upon his health and spirits. Unfortunately, many of the illustrations have been spoiled by the artist, who, unacquainted with the East, has elaborated M. Mouhot's sketches out of all similarity to the reality. On the way to Chantabun, east of Kaw Samit, lies an island, Kaw Mon, which is among the places mentioned by M. Mouhot as being the seat of active volcanic action.2 Repeated inquiries had failed to produce any evidence in support of his statement about it, and I was extremely anxious to visit the spot. As the weekly steamer running to Chantabun would not avail to put me near it, I decided to sail down in my half-decked boat. As a result of some previous experience in a smaller boat, the ' Promise' was designed and built in 1893 for cruising in the river, and along the lovely east coast of the gulf. No pursuit seemed to repair the damages of existence in Bangkok so thoroughly and efficaciously. 1 Travels in the Central Parts Murray. 1864. 2 vols. of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia, 2 Vol. i. p. 147. Vol. ii., Ap- and Laos. London: John pendix, p. 248. 142 CIAP. XX Chart of THE INNER GULF and the coast to CHANTABUN. Soundings in fathoms thus:-...... to Heights in feet thus:-.............. 547! Walker & Boutall sc. I02 .. n __ 100 IOIo n x b H z 7 THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA She had to be a compromise, for she had to do many things. She must be small enough for handling in the river, light enough for pulling against strong tides, if necessary, and big enough to give sleeping space and room for stores. She must have draft enough to beat to windward, power enough to stand a sea, and must at the same time be shallow enough to cross the bar at most hours of the day, and to get in to the many shallow harbours along the coast. The dimensions hit upon were 22 feet over all length, 20 feet water-line length, 6 feet beam, and less than 3 feet draft. She was given the canoe-yawl form of hull, which has some undoubted advantages for small boats, especially when running before such seas as must often be encountered on the bar, where a sharp stem is preferable to any other. She was decked in, with the exception of a cockpit 9 feet long, which could be nearly all closed in by hatches. As a matter of fact, it was never really necessary to ship them. She had less than a ton of lead ballast, and about 300 square feet of sail. For weathering the squalls of the gulf she was yawl-rigged, and for handiness, for comfort and dryness in a seaway, no boat her size could beat her. She was built of teak, and reflected the greatest credit on her builder, a charming old Chinaman whom I like to remember, for I spent many pleasant half-hours in his building-yard among the teak shavings in the early mornings. She cost 201. to build, including all her copper, brass- work, and Muntz-metal sheathing; another 161. made her ready for sea. In the north-east monsoon season of 1893 she made a series of trips to the east coast, covering many hundred miles outside the bar, often in breezes which kept the Lukchin fishermen looking on ashore, and proving in every way a great success. In January 1894 the Bangkok Sailing Club came into existence, and that keen sportsman Mr. J. G. Scott C.I.E., 144 CHAP. XX MY CANOE-YAWL who was then her Majesty's Charg6 d'Affaires, became the first commodore. The ' Promise' gave the model for the large class of boats, and subsequently, under a later com- modore,3 Mr. Maurice de Bunsen, C.B., many a keen and exciting race was sailed in this class on the Paknam course, in which the old 'Promise ' got her share of winning flags, and many a cruise was made along the coast under the club's elephant burgee. Single-handed cruising in the East is a mistake. A touch of fever or a chill in the stomach may make one use- less any moment. Moreover, drawing water, cutting firewood and stocking the larder are liable to be lengthy and exhausting employments which demand the energies of more than one. Furthermore, it is desirable to keep up a certain amount of state, even in a twenty-footer. A solitary man is all right in the West, but without followers in the East he is regarded, not unjustly, with suspicion. For possible dealing with officials it is essential to have some one who can take a message; and a chief of a department quite alone would be an anomaly which the native mind could not possibly under- stand. So Deng Lek and Yen accompanied me, as being used to the boat and to one another; but their start was hampered by a most embarrassing amount of weeping on the part of fond relatives, who, though too polite to say so, evidently thought sailing a boat to Chantabun, combined with a journey to the dreaded gem districts, betokened the rash- ness of a madman. I explained that I was much too careful of my own skin to do anything unsafe, and promised faithfully to bring them back alive and well. We started from the Club House at Paknam one hazy 3 To this distinguished list of the able and popular Minister of commodores is now added the the United States in Siam. name of the Hon. John Barrett, VOL. IIL 145 CHAP. XX THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA blowy morning with a brassy sky to the eastward, and went out through the familiar south-east channel against a short head sea, which warned us to keep in along the land. The advantage of a breeze at starting is that weak places in the rigging quickly display themselves, and can be repaired forthwith. It was so chilly that we wore reefers and oilskins the whole day and were none too warm. Hardly a boat was to be seen outside; they were all under shelter. Here and there a fishing rua chalom lay under the lee of its fishing stakes with its long rudder stuck up aft, like a mizen sail, to keep the head to sea. Here and there stakes dotted the horizon out to the five-fathom line, and at this time of year many score of these po, or fish- traps, are erected in the clinging mud to catch the confiding pla tu, the most excellent of Eastern sea fish. The fish farmer's licence has to be obtained for each one, and a royalty of ten per cent. or more is paid him on the fish caught. The long radiating lines of stakes, whose part it is to guide the fish towards the central trap, offer no obstruction to the passage of a boat, but the central trap is an elaborate and substantial erection of plaited reeds and bamboos, a collision with which would be a different matter. Small flags or tufts of straw are placed on these, and serve to catch the eye at high water when they are nearly covered. From such traps come in a good year about six thousand tons of dried fish to swell the export list. The coast for twenty miles to the east is eminently uninteresting; the long line of mangrove is broken here and there by a collection of a few houses at the mouth of a creek, where the fishermen's boats run in, and mud and mosquitoes are intolerable. At night the only guide to navigation is the lead, and when the straw is being burned inland, sometimes a flare from the far-off padi fields shows up the shore line. The sea here in the south-west monsoon, which one would 146 CHAP. XX COASTING EASTWARD expect to be very dangerous, is checked and broken some- what by the muddy bottom. Right ahead, as the haze clears off, the splendid mass of the Bangplasoi mountain begins to add interest to the scene, and promise better things. Straight under its centre lies Anghin, the 'place of rocks,' a little knoll of granite outcrop, whereon stands a monastery or two, and behind which a largish fishing village lies. Europeans regard this as the Brighton of Bangkok, and several bungalows line the seaward side of the hill. For here at least are sands, sea waves, and fresh air. From the stone pier, where boats lie snugly on the beach, a lovely view of Lem Sa Muk, or Double Head, refreshes the eye wearied of the eternal flatness of Bangkok. In the great shallow bight of the Bangpakong River to the north, the flourishing and famous fishing centre of Bangplasoi thrusts its long pile piers out seaward across the mud wastes. A visit to this place is well worth while. Its population is little under eight thousand, and consists of Chinese, Siamese, and Lukchins.4 ' Coasting along shore,' says the loquacious Hamilton,5 'the first place we meet with is Bankasoy, a place not frequented by strangers, though it produces much agala and sapan woods, and elephants' teeth; but all are sent to the king, who, for all his gaudy titles, yet stoops to play the merchant. I suppose,' he soliloquises, 'he makes use of trading in honour of his kinsman Mercury, who super- intends merchandising, but was never reckoned a fair dealer, and in that point the king is nearly related to him; but Bankasoy is famous chiefly for making ballichang, a sauce made of dried shrimps, cod pepper, salt, and seaweed or grass, all well mixed, and beaten up to the consistency SThe term applied to children s A New Account of the East of Chinese fathers and Siamese Indies, already referred to. Edin. mothers. 1727. L2 CHAP. XX 147 THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA of thick mustard. Its taste and smell are both ungrateful to the nose and palate,' which is stating the truth with an unusual moderation which does the gallant captain credit. In Crawfurd's day it was 'a very considerable town,' and in the times of the Cambodian wars it was a fortified post. At the present time a large number of local marines are recruited by the Rawng Law, and the visitor will generally find one or two of these handy fellows, with both time and inclination, to guide him about the place. At high-water season, when the pla tu are plentiful, the long stages, which are many of them a quarter of a mile in length, are covered with tons of fish being salted and dried, and scores of the one-lugged fishing craft sally forth at night, or beat in under reefed sails against the roaring breeze of the early morning. In the south-west monsoon the mud is much en evidence, and dries far out. The boats then come sailing up the channels to their various piers before the wind, the men shoving and steering from behind, running on long wooden mud skates. The perfectly rounded bottoms of the boats enable them to navigate the mud at considerable speed, though the shape, of course, detracts much from their beating to windward at sea. The majority of these fisher folk are Lukchins, and, whatever churlishness the Chinaman is generally possessed of, these men always proved the most good-natured fellows. Possibly the intermarrying with the gentler Siamese is beginning to soften the boorishness of the Chinaman. However that may be, the keen interest they always displayed in our boats, and the friendly assistance they were ready to give, made them completely different people from, for instance, the Chinese coolies whom we sometimes met engaged in loading ships from the Bangkok lighters. Inland there are one or two monasteries shaded by splendid avenues of gigantic sugar-palms, which flourish exceedingly on the sandy soil. Beyond lies a wide tract 148 CHAP. XX of rich padi country, looking in harvest time like corn- fields at home, set off by clumps of trees and a low hill or two. From the bold outcrop of Double Head, round the granite cubes of Lem Ten, and along the white sands to Bang Pra, is one of the prettiest bits of coast imaginable for boating, with the lights and shades of the big mountain lying away inland. In the south-west monsoon this is all a lee shore, and should be avoided, but in the north-east smooth water and off-shore winds make it an ideal stretch of water. Bang Pra is a charming village, with a snug boat harbour formed by a bar of sand thrown up along its face, behind CHAP. xx BANG PLASOI 149 THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA which the stream runs northward to its mouth. The houses cluster along the side of the smooth lagoon, and between them, from the lane which forms the market, may be caught pretty peeps of blue water, yellow sand and dark hulls and masts. Inland the houses are more apart, standing each in its own dense plantation of banana, cocoanut, or betel palms, and good water is procurable from the wells which have been sunk. Some boat-building yards are supplied with the necessary mai takien from the jungles inland, and one may here see for oneself the substantial way in which the local rua pet, the favourite type of coast boat with the Siamese, is built.6 The timbers are very large and close together; not a nail is used in the construction, the hull being held together by hard-wood pegs of mai deny, and it will last thirty years before it has any right to a general overhaul. The boat is considered finished and the fitting offerings are made when the mainmast is stepped, and the main shrouds finally set up. This type of craft is on the whole a better sea boat than the longer, shallower and less beamy rua chalom which is generally built and used by the Chinese in the gulf.7 The rudder is hung in the usual way, and the rig consists invariably of two high-peaked standing lug-sails, of which the main or larger one is set on a raking mast stepped a little forward of the midship point, and the smaller fore- sail is set right in the 'eyes' of the boat. The standing rigging, and generally the main and peak halyards on the mainmast, are of rattan. The halyards run through sheaves in the mast, and the absence of a purchase makes hoisting and lowering hard work. The sail is consequently nearly always furled to the yard as it stands. Both sails are 6 The dimensions of one of the outside depth. She was to cost largest of these boats was 50 feet 19 catties, or 1001. over all, 13 feet beam, and 72 feet ' Chapter i. 150 CHAP. XX SIAMESE LUGGERS generally made of matting, and invariably have booms laced to the foot. Reefing is done by rolling up the boom by a cross-piece at the fore end, which serves both as a handle and to hold the grommet on the mast when the sail is set. In furling, the rolling is continued until the sail is rolled right up to the yard, the boom being pulled out forward in the process, until the whole looks like the long yard of a lateen. The yards are controlled by guys. In sailing, the foresail is not much trimmed, and it is seldom reefed, being to a large extent merely a steering sail to take the weight off the helm. The high flaring bow and overhang given to these boats is admirably adapted for the short tidal seas they must often go through, and in building our club boats a wrinkle was taken from them in this respect; and their sharp sterns gave us another valuable hint. It was interesting to watch the introduction of the overhang at home in all our racers, and not a few cruisers, after having been made familiar with it by such old-world boat architects as those in the Gulf of Siam.8 Excessive cut-away under the fore- foot has not been attempted in the Siamese boats, and consequently they have on the whole avoided the slamming in a head sea which has been noticeable in not a few of the modern type boats at home. There is an excellent sala at Bang Pra standing out at the head of the sand-bar, where a cool night can be spent in the hottest weather. On one occasion, when lying here the night, I was engaged in playing a little Lao ken, which I used to take about, to an admiring audience who did not tire of the monotony. I stopped at length for sheer weariness of my two tunes, and heard, amid the chorus of 'Go on, Nai,' ' Give us some more,' 'Play it again,' and the like, the sound of sobs coming s In this and some other fea- a little resemblance to the ships of tures the craft of the gulf bear not the Ancients, Appendix xvi. CHAP. XX 151 THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA from a distant corner. On investigation it proved to be a small child, who, it was explained, had come there with her parents from the Lao country some years before. She had gone to bed across the lagoon, when she caught the distant note of the ken, and nothing would do but she must come out and listen to the old music. It brought the beloved memories crowding back, and she was sobbing out her home-sick little heart. Poor child! I often wondered whether she ever heard the music she loved - I I- __ I- --52' again, or died, as too many of the Lao do away from home, longing for the far-off mountains. We lay off Bang Pra and got dry and warm in the evening sun, and next day, early, were running on down the coast, passing the lovely little pagoda and monastery off Siracha. This was the abode of an old recluse, whose fame for sanctity was widely spread. But small merit to him, for no one living there could be other than a saint. Outside, some six miles off, the long outline of the Si Chang group grew bright under the morning sun. Here, in the south-west monsoon, all vessels come to finish 152 CHAP. XX THE BANG PRA COAST loading up their cargoes after crossing the bar, and there is a snug and commodious anchorage under the lee of the main island. A few years ago the Court elected to make Kaw Si Chang fashionable, and roads and piers, villas and parks sprang into existence in reckless fashion. The place was overcrowded; there were no sanitary arrangements what- ever, fever of a regular malarial type broke out, and the place was again deserted. The parks are now grown over, the villas are decayed, the roads are gashed out by torrents, but the piers remain and the fever, and one splendid piece of teak-building in that portion of the royal palace which was finished. In 1893 the French flag was hoisted on the island, during the blockade, and it became for a time the head- quarters of Admiral Humann. The group was known to our old navigators as the Dutch islands, and the main island of Si Chang as Amsterdam. Crawfurd's account is interesting as showing that Kaw Kam, the large island forming the eastern side of the harbour, was then inhabited and cultivated with maize, cucumbers, gourds, and bananas. He reports 'fountains' of water on Si Chang, but except in the rainy season, when there is abundance of water, the fissures in the limestones of that island carry off every drop of moisture to a great depth. On Kaw Kam, on the other hand, the Anghin and Lem Ten granite crops up in contact with a metamorphic rock in which good water is found. That Kaw Si Chang is not successful as a sanitarium is largely due to the fact that all the bungalows and houses are on the lee side of the island, and are thus deprived of wind, and the air which reaches them is tainted with such malaria as may be in the jungle on the hillsides. Kaw Kam has quite a different tale to tell, and houses on the 153 CHAP. XX THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA summit there would enjoy untainted every wind of heaven, and one of the loveliest views of land and water to be had in the East. At present invalids can only live on board ship. One of the attractions of Kaw Si Chang, on paper, consisted in its connection with Bangkok by telegraph. During the whole of my time in Siam it never worked a day. It was true a cable was put down, and one end was fast in the island and the other on the mainland, but no message could ever be sent across it from the time of its completion. Yet telegraphic communication between the anchorage and the city has been one of the crying wants of the commercial community, and, I believe, they have even offered to bear a fair share of the expense. A slight breakwater run out on the reef which lies north and west of Kaw Kam is further needed to protect the harbour during the north-east monsoon, to which it is quite open. As things now are, the place is deserted during that 154 CHAP. XX THE SI CHANG ISLANDS season, and vessels must lie in the roads off Anghin under the mainland, twenty-four miles to windward. Running down the coast to Lem Krabang the flood tide made a considerable sea, and we went in behind the headland, as imposing as its name, to a snug anchorage for breakfast. A village lies at the stream mouth, and makes a good resting-place for sportsmen who design to pursue the doubtful duck in the big swamp which lies inland in a north-easterly direction. This ground may also be reached from Aokasu, the bay which lies abreast of Kaw Si Chang, and during the winter months some good sport may be had with teal, or quail, or snipe, and an occa- sional sambur, barking deer, or hare may be fallen in with, but always when you have nothing left larger than No. 6. The industry of the village is shaping small two-chao boats out of mai takien from the jungle inland; they are piled into rua pets, and sent to Bangkok half a dozen at a time. A wide shallow bay curves inwards with the usual lovely stretch of spotless sand, and here and there a village at the mouth of a klong, where the boats lie in the smooth lagoon inside, and where fresh fish or eggs may generally be bought, or some pigeon obtained with the gun. We had an exciting and fast run under reefed canvas past all these pretty spots, and between the high cone of Kaw Lan and the mainland. This island has a population of some hundred people, and has been cleared almost to its summit for pine-apple plantations, and these fruit and water melons are produced in such abundance that the good people victual your boat and will take nothing in return but some tobacco if you have it to spare. There is an admirable little harbour on the north-west side, which gives good shelter in south-westerly winds. North Lan and East Lan on the charts are locally known as Kaw Kram and Kaw Sak. Kaw Pai, the big island which lies six miles off, is uninhabited, and was for some CHAP. XX THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA time the quarantine station during the prevalence of the plague at Hong Kong, when a number of sheds were built in the charming cove at the north-east side. Good shelter may be had here from westerly winds. As its name implies, bamboos grow upon the island and give it a fresh and pleasant appearance. We closed rapidly with the big island of Kaw Kram. There is a capital boat harbour by the mainland, behind a small island at Klet Keo, which yields much-needed shelter to boats in this monsoon which have beat through the Kaw Kram Strait. Now and then, as we rose on a sea, we saw a cluster of masts lying snugly to their anchors. Similar shelter may be found in the two pretty indentations of Tung Plong and Tung Kitea, but in the south-west season they are best avoided, and the only shelter which can be advised is that at the northern end of Kaw Kram. Passing through the strait we were a good deal knocked about by the sea, which was a tall one for a small boat. It was with no little satisfaction we hauled up into the smooth water under Lem Putau. It is a much-vexed strait that inside Kaw Kram, and in the south-west monsoon is awkward enough to get through. We stood close-hauled, lying down to the strong squalls into the peaceful and quiet anchorage of Sata Hip, or Shelter Bay, a spot where in either monsoon a vessel may lie sheltered in three fathoms amid the most charming scenery, and within reach of good sport-turtle on Kaw Kram, and an occasional sambur which has swum the channel, and tiger and wild buffalo not two miles inland and sometimes close down upon the beach. A dozen boats lay wind-bound off the little village, and their crews came up to look at the strange white boat and have our report upon the weather. The sea running on the banks round the edge of the bay in the south-west monsoon is very heavy, and Mr. de 156 CHAP. XX OFF CAPE LIANT Bunsen and I once had an exciting beat out in a thirty- ton lugger which probably neither of us will forget. We had a strong breeze next day to take us on through Chong Mesan. This strait between Lem Sa Me San,9 or Cape Liant, and the islands which form its southern extension, was once famed as a resort of pirates, who lurked both here and at Chong Samit to the eastward and did a thriving trade with the local craft. With its nooks and sheltered spots, lying as it does like a gateway on the road to the western part of the gulf, it was admirably suited to their requirements. There is now a Rawng Law station at each place, which renders such practices impossible; but the sharks are said still to come to the surface by scores if a gun is fired, hoping the old days are returned. One enormous fellow came to take stock of us, but doubtless thought us rather insignificant. Strong tidal eddies are the other characteristic of this place, and many a chain and anchor has been lost here. From here our course lay across the wide bay which stretched nearly thirty miles in an unbroken sweep before us. Wishing to call at Rayawng, the greatest boat-building station on the coast, we headed in for Kaw Sakait, which the charts place just off the Rayawng River. We had light winds, and it was not till evening that we anchored off what we supposed was the desired haven. Going ashore in the Berthon, however, we soon found our mistake, there being only a small stream here, and a score or so of fishermen engaged in the manu- facture of kapi. Rayawng, we were informed, was farther on, and with an off-shore breeze we pushed on after supper. It was so dark we could see nothing, but five miles on we suddenly ran into one of the most appalling odours. The look-out man reported kapi on the port bow. Apparently there was very much exaggerated kapi, 9 In the charts wrongly called Sahemsan, the h and the m having been transposed. CHAP. XX THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA not a quarter of a mile distant. 'Stand by to let go anchor,' replied the officer of the watch: 'it's Rayawng.' Sure enough next morning we were right abreast the harbour. Directions for entering port of Rayawng in north-east monsoon: Steer E. 4 N. in three fathoms soundings until the smell of kapi becomes unbearable: then head right in boldly. In the south-west monsoon the directions are even easier-Don't. The river comes out from behind a sand-bar, like other places already mentioned, but on a larger scale. After the rainy season is over, when the quantity of fresh water is less, and when the heavy seas begin to come in from the gulf with the change of wind, the entrance with the aid of the on-shore gales closes up entirely until the following season, when the river forces its way out again at some weak spot along the sand-bar, which forthwith becomes the harbour mouth until the river changes it again. The place we entered at was two hundred yards east of the entrance of 1895, and half a mile from the pagoda which marks another old channel. The town, which has about two thousand in- habitants, is prettily placed upon the river side a couple of miles inland across the sand-dunes of the coast, and is the centre of a considerable rural population, of the best type of pukka Siamese, unadulterated by intercourse with Chinese or other foreigners. The valley it separated from Muang Kleng to the eastward by a range of hills rising to over two thousand feet, which add much to the scenery of the valley, and of which Kaw Samit is a southerly extension. A good deal of rice is grown, but the chief glories of Rayawng, after its rua pets and its kapi, are its ponies and its jungle woods, especially the zai takien from which the boats are built. The building season is the south-west monsoon. It is ushered in by a heavy sea and surf along the whole coast line, which comes on without any wind, and carries its 158 CHAP. XX warning sound far inland. Woe betide the boat caught out that tries to enter then. From that time to the arrival of the northerly winds Rayawng is practically cut off from the outside world, and the long line of heavy breakers rage along the open coast. At the commencement of the north-east monsoon a fleet of thirty or forty new boats lies ready to sally out. They are loaded with kapi, and it is a great occasion when they all start off racing for the best prices in the Bangkok market.' The ' carriage' road mentioned by Crawfurd as connect- ing this part of the coast with Bangplasoi is nothing more than a tolerable Kwien trail, which for the most part follows the coast line. A telegraph line has been erected all along this trail, but owing to its proximity to the sea in many places it seems to have seriously deteriorated in condition. The Rawng Law has an important station at Rayawng, and about five hundred men and lads are generally in training under the commanding officer, who is usually a Danish officer. There are six thousand men in the province who are liable to be called on to do their wen, or three months' training, after every twelve months; but they could doubtless not be all placed in the field properly armed, and they are, like the rest of the forces of Siam, under-officered. These stations are, however, very useful, for they suppress dacoity, and have a certain educational value. Discipline is inculcated, and the men learn a variety of useful things, while the youngsters are taught reading and writing as they would be in the monasteries at their homes. The one thing needed is more efficient officering. The rua chaloms which do the fishing from this place in the season, and which go to the other coast before this 1 The selling price of these boats runs from 10 to 15 catties (�50 to ~�80). RAYAWNG 159 CHAP. XX THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA becomes a lee shore, seem mostly filled with seine nets of the orthodox pattern that we know in England, and they even have little' tuck-boats' of the same build manned by a crew of three men. For a complete outfit there are thus ten men to the two boats. The people all treated us with a charming courtesy, which one has come to regard as one of the characteristics of the Siamese peasantry. The life at places like Rayawng is peculiarly un-Asiatic. It approaches far more to the island world of Wallace or Robert Louis Stevenson. There is nothing to remind the visitor that he is in the same continent as the warrior of Arabia or the fighting man of the North-West Frontier of India, as the black trader of India or the yellow labourer of China. In their pursuits and mode of life, in their colour, face, and build, and in their cheery easy-going disposition, they seem to have nothing in common with those peoples, and to possess far more of the characteristics of more southern islanders. Leaving early in the morning we had again light winds and calm, although a considerable southerly swell, which roared upon the long line of beach. Deng Lek whistled lustily. Yen intoned a doleful rhyme of invitation to the wind with which kite-fliers at Bangkok are wont to woo the gentle zephyr :- Oh come mother wind, We want you, come and blow, I'll cook you a little fish's head; You will enjoy it so. It was sometimes a pig's head, for what reason did not appear, unless because it rhymed well. I am not aware that he ever fulfilled his promise, conscientious as he was on most points. In the course of the day we passed several of the clumsy high-sided craft used along the coast of Cambodia 160 CHAP. XX and Cochin China, called by the Siamese rua ta, from the huge fishy eyes painted on their bows. Going through Chong Samit, the whole of the distant Chantabun mountains burst upon us from behind the russet- coloured headland we were rounding, and in the foreground of blue water lay the irregularly outlined and highly tinted islets of the Kaw Platin and Kaw Mon groups. No wonder Mouhot was enthusiastic. From the track of the steamers outside no idea of the beauty of this scene, the most charming in the gulf, can be obtained. We were accompanied by a shoal of porpoises playing in the bright sunlight that flashed in our eyes, when the laughing ripples, rovOVv TE KV/L LT(OV ivpLOLov 7cy0ao- a came up with the sea breeze. There were also the long-nosed dolphins (D. Sinensis) peculiar to the China seas, which are fairly common in the gulf. The two species seem always to be great friends, and are often seen together. The latter are often almost pink in colour, and their long snout gives them a curious appearance at a close view. They seemed rather to like the white hull of the boat, for they used to come and gambol round us, within reach of our oars. Yen says they are the souls of sinful men; but they looked far too happy for that. From the same authority I learned several facts new, I believe, to science-one, that mermaids bite. We saw comparatively few sea birds; a white eagle,2 a pair of cormorants, and the roseate tern in considerable numbers. It possibly breeds among the rocky islands and sandbanks of this coast. I had not seen this bird before in the gulf, the two species most often seen being: 2Haliaetus Leucogaster. SEA LIFE 161 'CHAP. XX VOL. II M THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA the black-naped 3 at sea, and the little Eastern tern 4 at the river mouths. In the south-west monsoon good anchorage can be found on the north side of Kaw Samit, opposite to the village. There are a fair number of villages all along the shore here, which shows the population has increased somewhat since Crawfurd's day. For the night we lay just inside Lem Terapim, where three defiant sugar-palms stand gaunt and independent, looking at the sea. The water was a mass of phosphorescent light, given out by millions of small pulsating acalephce. On this occasion I saw no sea-snakes (Hydridce), but often, on calm nights, a light held over the side attracted great numbers of these wonderfully marked but most wicked- looking creatures. Deaths appear to occur frequently from their bites among unwary people at the river mouths, especially in low-water season, when the sea-water begins to make its way in. The fishermen are seldom bitten, and are very quick in catching them by the head and flinging them far away, when they find them in their nets. The bite is said to be absolutely fatal. Large numbers may be often seen in calm weather, apparently enjoying the sun at the surface. Next morning we visited the two inner islands of the Kaw Mon group-Mon Nai, or inner Mon, and Mon Klang, or middle Mon. They are composed of a beautiful red granite, which is in many places brightly polished by the continued action of the sea. There is very foul ground all round, consisting entirely of granite boulders. On steering for Kaw Mon it came on to blow from E.N.E., and land- ing became out of the question. Passing as close to it as possible I could make out round polished surfaces similar to what we had just seen, the island evidently being a southern continuation of the outcrop which forms s Sterna Malanauchen. 4 Sterna Sinensis. 162 CHAP. XX MUANG KLENG the group. I confess I could see no trace of a volcano of any sort. Two or three pieces of pumice, less than four inches long, I found wedged into cracks in the granite at Mon Nai just above high-water mark. It blew fresh all day, and we had a hard beat up for Chantabun. We kept well out, clear of the dangerous foul ground of the Muang Kleng bight, and passed miles outside the curious circular harbour of Tung Kaben. Muang Kleng is not of much importance, except as marking the limit of the guaranteed portion of Siam to the east, and being the place where the King's ceremonial barge was brought from. This boat is made of one huge thingan tree, hollowed and opened out in the usual manner; she is a hundred and fifty feet long, and eleven feet beam, and she required three thousand men from Chantabun, Kratt, Kleng, and Rayawng to pull her to the sea. At the first attempt cholera broke out, and the people were all sent to their homes. The next season she was successfully hauled out. There is one even larger tree felled, but it is over twelve miles inland, and will pro- bably never be got out. Kleng is a dense jungle with a scanty population of less than ten thousand. In the hilly country inland some gold reefs occur, but although prospecting licences have been taken out, nothing reli- able can be said to be known of their character. The last hour before sunset found us careering across the bay immediately north of Lem Sing, the headland at the mouth of the Chantabun River. At the northern end of this bay a largish river comes out between the hills of the promontory of Lem Ling and the long casuarina and palm-fringed shore. Intricate inland waterways connect it with the Chantabun River and ultimately with the Nam Wen, a large estuary twenty-five miles south. The strong ebb prevented our getting into the river, and we anchored outside to await the flood. It blew hard all M2 163 CHAP. XX THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA night, and was so cold that from my blanket in the cockpit I envied the crew in their snug berth under the fore deck. At four o'clock we got under way to beat in on the flood. In the narrows we passed a few yards from the French gunboat' Vipere,' but it was so dark we could only see her light and guess how she lay. I was sorry to pass her in the night, as the commandant and first lieutenant were two old friends whom I knew well in Bangkok. The beat up the harbour was rendered most exciting by the strong wind and the presence of fishing stakes, as well as by the fact that I did not know the place. The wildest dawn broke over the clouded heights of Kao Sabab, and gradually lit up the peaks of Kao Sai Dao up among the stars. We got a lull about sunrise, and con- trived a hasty cup of coffee ere it freshened up again. With the boat-hook going on one side and the mop- handle on the other, we passed the shallow soundings at the top of the estuary, and were well into the river. The water was up level with the padi fields, which lay green and waving to the foot of the shadows of Kao Sabab, and with the gentle flood beneath us we continued tacking up the river. The stream is only about twenty yards wide, and I did not expect to get very far against a dead head wind, but as it blew hard, and the boat continued turning up the narrow channel in splendid fashion, we held on, and arrived about nine at the lower end of the town. Our method of arriving excited not a little interest, and the people came running across the fields to look at us, as nobody, it was said, had ever dreamt of beating up the Chantabun River against the monsoon; no native boat could have done it, and none other had ever tried it. We towed the dinghy the whole of the last three days, and with an ammunition box in the stern it towed so dry and light that it seemed to make not the slightest difference to our sailing. No collapsible boat that I know 164 CHAP. nX \ib LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY LLO THE KRAT COAST can compare with a Berthon for a combination of good looks, dryness, speed (both pulling and sailing), carrying power, and general handiness. Its only objection is that two skins are more difficult to mend than one; while on the other hand, if one is pierced, the other is there to keep the water out. The yawl was now laid up, and had her sails unbent and running rigging unrove, and resigned herself to rest for a couple of months while we went inland. Subsequently, on our return voyage in January, I went on southward to see something of the great island of Kaw Chang, which no one can have passed within sight of without longing to visit. From the entrance to Chantabun its peaks stand up on the high horizon like another Hong Kong. But, on near approach, it is found to be covered with the densest jungle to its highest points, nearly two thousand five hundred feet above the sea. It is the northernmost of a remarkable archipelago, of which the other most important islands are Kaw Kut and Kaw Kong. The scene in the Kaw Chang strait was very fine; eastward the flats of Krat, and the wide estuary of Tung Yai, or the great plain, lay in the noonday haze, and beyond them the massive range of the Kao Patat towered four thousand feet into the sky, dividing the gulf from the great Cambodian plain, which one could imagine parched and baking under the blazing sun over the other side. Southward lay temptingly the indefinable outlines of the archipelago; above us to the west stood the splendid precipices of Kaw Chang, and northward, ever keeping its watch over this part of the gulf, loomed Kao Sabab, backed by the blue distant peaks of Kao Sai Dao, fifty miles away. We were much struck with the density of the jungle and vast size of the timber growing right down to the sea, and the cries of both gibbons and hornbills, CHAP. XX 165 THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA which I had never met with so near the coast, came to us across the water. The rainfall of this part is generally a hundred and fifty inches, and the south-west monsoon blows with greater violence and regularity than in any other part of Siam. Heavy weather is often experienced for a fortnight or three weeks at a time, with rough sea and thick rain, and frequently it does not moderate for over thirty days. From abreast of the great island of Kaw Kut, in Lat. 11� 40', the Kao Patat range commences to run N.N.W. along the coast, growing in height and importance as it goes north, and completely cutting off the seaboard from the plain of Cambodia and Battambong to above the 13th parallel. Muang Krat is in the main a deltaic deposit due to the denudation of these hills, and both the Nam Wen and Tung Yai River are depositing large quantities of sediment yearly in the shallow estuaries at their mouths. Crawfurd declares that the coast range is here 'interrupted, leaving a considerable extent of level land as far as Chantabun.' Possibly the statement is largely responsible for the sup- position which has until recently been general, that Chan- tabun was the natural outlet of the Battambong plain. As a matter of fact, the coast line takes a considerable westerly trend from behind Kaw Chang, and the hill range retaining its general direction thus retires inland; but it in no way loses its importance, but continues to form a serious physical barrier to communication between the Me Kawng plains and the gulf. This fact has been pointed out by a recent writer, who shows that 'Chantabun is not, as has sometimes been erroneously supposed, the port and outlet of the provinces of Battambong and Siemrep.' S The hills of Kaw Kong appear to be the southern 5 Mr. J. S. Black, in the Geographical Journal, vol. viii. No. 5, p. 432. 166 CHAP. XX PRODUCTS OF KRAT termination of the Kao Patat upheaval. In the great bay behind the island, which affords the best shelter on the coast, and to the northward, a number of rivers debouch, which drain from Cambodian territory some way inland. Their courses are, like those of the Nam Wen and Tung Yai, comparatively short, but, owing to the heavy rain- fall, their volume is considerable, and they are, many of them, navigable for small craft for some distance from the sea, where they assume the proportions of important estuaries. There is a large fishing industry at Kaw Kong, and numbers of fishing villages are scattered along the coast and up the more important inlets, having considerable trade with Bangkok. The population is a very mixed one, consisting of Siamese, Cambodians, Annamites, and Chinese, with a small Malay element, now hardly distinguishable, the result of the piratical expeditions from the opposite peninsula, which were frequent as late as the middle of the century. Gamboge is indigenous to the islands of Kaw Chang, Kaw Kong, Kaw Rong, and parts of the mainland of Krat. It is the resinous product of the Ton Rong, or 'Rong' tree of the Guttiferae tribe, generally considered to be Stalagmides cambogioides. Like nearly all forest trees, it is straight and without branches for at least two- thirds of its height, although it is otherwise of small dimensions, seldom exceeding fifty feet in height. The resin is collected in the rainy season in much the same way as the dammar oil, with some important exceptions. Instead of a pocket, spirals are cut in the bark, sometimes two or three in the year, from a little above a man's height to the ground, and a bamboo is placed at the bottom of each to collect the resin as it slowly trickles down, whence it is poured into small bamboos of a uniform size. In these it is allowed to solidify, and can be taken out 167 CHAP. XX THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA subsequently by cracking the bamboo off over a fire. The tapping is all done in the height of the rainy season, which on this coast is very heavy, and the product is shipped to Bangkok as soon as the fine weather sets in with the north-east monsoon. The great difficulty appears to be in the prevention of rain-water, and consequent discoloration, getting into the resin, which, when honey- combed by the presence of water, is reduced in value between $12 and $18 a pikul.5 Extensive plantations of pepper were at one time planned in Kaw Chang and Kaw Kong, but, unfortunately, owing to a variety of causes which have injuriously affected the pepper trade at Chantabun, they have not been suc- cessful. In the wide shallows of Krat and elsewhere the herbi- vorous cetacea known as the dugong is found. He is locally known as the sea-pig, and his oil is much ap- preciated-but then, as Yen pointed out, what can you expect of people who have so few Wats. No decent Buddhist could kill a creature that suckled its young and cried over it just like a human being. In the great estuary of Paknam Wen the people cut large quantities of firewood, which is shipped to Bangkok in lorchas and local boats for steam-launch fuel; this appears to be a growing industry. And now let us turn inland. 6 The country folk get about 68 ticals ($40*80) per pikul from the local traders, and the local market price is roughly 112 ticals ($67.20) per pikul [Mr. Beckett in Trade Report for 1893]. The best quality or 'pipe gamboge' of Siam analyses:- Resin . . . 72.2 Resin . . . 64.8 Arabin . . . 23 Arabin . . . 20*2 Fecula . . . Fecula . . . 5"6 SLignin . . . Lignin . . . 5.3 Moisture . . 48 , ( Moisture . . 41 100 o 100 168 CHAP. xx CHAPTER XXI THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA (continued)-CHANTABUN THE FRENCH OCCUPATION-THE GEM DISTRICTS IN MUANG KLUNG AND KRAT-THE SHAN DIGGERS WE were most hospitably entertained at Chantabun by Messrs. Sinclair and Hall, the officers of the Siam Ex- ploring Company. They had a cook who made buttered eggs like a dream, fit to rival Trinity kitchens. I first called on the commandant at the French poste, which stands on the site of the old Siamese Rawng Law quarters above the town. It consisted of a trench six to eight feet deep, and an earthwork of a similar height, surrounding a rectangular space with a length of about a hundred and fifty yards and a width of considerably less. Small field guns were mounted at the angles, and, inside, the French garrison in occupation was quartered in the grass-thatched bun- galows they found there. A tidy road connected it with the river-side, and a small clearing had been made outside for a drill and croquet ground. The garrison consisted of Commandant Arlabosse, with the rank of chef de bataillon, a commissaire, and a doctor, two captains, four lieutenants, and four native officers, with 300 tirailleurs-Annamites; one lieutenant and twenty-five men of the Artillerie de Marine; and a captain and subaltern and seventy-five men of Infanterie de Marine. THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXI Such was the truth of 'the formidable forts mounted with big guns' which were reported by some home papers. The commandant was a man of charming courtesy, and by reason of his wide experience in many parts of the world had much that was interesting to say. The next call was on the governor, an old friend. His expressive countenance makes him the best of companions, and he talks English idiomatically and forcibly. In linguistic powers his sons are in no way behind him, and between them they can tackle most of the European languages likely to be useful. Having informed each of my business, and requested the usual transport of the last, I returned to await the rest of our party, who were to come on from Bangkok by steamer. These were Mr. G. R. Ainslie, of the Borneo Company, who, in search of change and of information, consented to accompany me to the mines, and that most important individual, generally known as the 'big Deng.' No expedition was complete without him, as to a lusty person and a strong constitution he added a garrulous tongue, which was of more use than many Kras, and saved one a vast amount of trouble. Wherever he went before, there was sure to be a royal reception. The only anxiety was what he had said last. It was very pleasant to have no need to extol one's own virtues, and at the end of a long day to be able to. accept the homage of the population and to feel that they really thought one was an important personage and that expostulation would be vain. Rover, alas! was no longer the inseparable com- panion of the march. He had long been ailing, as the hill men do, from want of mountain air and exercise, in Bangkok; and, notwithstanding the advice of an admirable 170 A SAD FAREWELL vet., he grew weaker, and one morning, at the end of the rains, just as the sun rose up, my old fellow-traveller lay down with a great cry and died. He had just looked up with his big brown eyes and recognised me, and flopped his tail, and then his head fell back. Although of a forgiving disposition, I believe he never forgot an unkindness. Very popular with native children, and Messrs. Deng and their families, with whom he was most gentle, he had a stern manner with bill collectors, and strangers who came by night. He was indeed one to miss sorely. He had some quaint views of men and things, and a keenly developed sense of humour, which added to the charm of his companionship. He was a devoted friend, and when one was ill with fever he never left the bedside. His singular affection was often very grateful. Chom, Deng's little child, cried over him, and put a cross and flowers on the grave, remarking 'it was the custom for all farangs.' He was often credited with possessing the soul of a farang. Chantabun is a lovely place to wait in at this time of year; it is less to be commended in the rains. Previous to the opening up of the gem mines some thirty years ago, the town was little more than an agri- cultural village. It has now from four to five thousand inhabitants, of whom over a thousand are the descendants of former Annamite immigrants, and the rest mostly Chinese shopkeepers and Shans and Burmese connected with the mines. The Siamese of the province, who, as a rule, prefer living among their gardens or plantations out in the country to congregating together in crowded streets, number about twenty-five thousand, and among the pepper plantations and fishing villages there are some four or five thousand more Chinese and Annamites. 171 CHAP. XXI THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXI The Annamites in Chantabun, although in many ways not unlike the Siamese, retain their rather ugly long blue dress, and are nearly all converts to the Roman Church. Pere Cuaz, the French priest, to whom I paid a visit, has been here over ten years, and never expects to return home. I watched the school children come streaming through the room we sat in to wai him good night ere going home, and I thought I understood him when, turning from them, he said, 'My life is here.' His predecessor, Mouhot's friend, died at the age of over seventy, after nearly half a century of work in the place, and the result of the devotion of these two men to their flock is apparent in the fine church whose spire looks out upon the country round, and in the evident effect of their teaching upon the Annamite population. These people are industrious and thrifty, and among other occupations they make an admirable class of coloured mat, for which Chantabun is now justly famed. The good father's sway is undisputed, and when the governor professes himself unable to provide transport, an Annamite boat and crew can always be got with his assistance. The women work no less than the Siamese, and the first time I experienced it it went much against the grain to be chau-ed for ten hours at a stretch in one of their heavy open boats by three women, a task which would never be given to womenfolk by Siamese. The dislike with which all the other races regard the Annamites is marked, and, as they are very peaceful, is somewhat hard to account for. Above the Annamite quarter, which is on a lovely bend of the river, the market stretches along the right bank as far as the laterite hill on which the fort is placed. It is a narrow stone-flagged street of many irre- gularities and much uncleanliness. Here the Chinamen sit in their shop fronts, Tongsu and Gula gem diggers swagger with their das upon their 172 CHAP. xxi CHANTABUN TOWN 173 shoulders, dandified Burman gem buyers clatter along the pavement in their shoes, and a few British Indians conduct a wordy warfare over their goods. Pepper is laid out drying on mats across the roadway, and pigs, fruit, mud, and naked children scattered about the street combine to make locomotion precarious. The backs of the houses on one side are built out on tall piles above the level of the river at the highest season, and the view of the town from that side when the water is low is peculiar. In the neighbourhood of the town, plantations of areca, cocoanut, durian, and mangosteen surround the villages, and pineapples and, on higher ground, tobacco are added to the luxuries of life. The French occupation had apparently very little affected the commerce of the place. After the first scare, people returned to their ordinary avocations, and, as on the whole excellent order has been maintained among the troops, but few difficulties seem to have arisen. In the enforced absence of any Siamese police force, the commandant has frequently lent the assistance of his men THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXI to the governor, especially in some cases where rowdy Chinese secret societies had to be dealt with. But apart from this the French have rigidly refrained from any in- terference in the affairs of the place, and except for an occasional bathing party, or non-commissioned officer walking down the street, one would hardly know that they were there. Ever since the beginning of the occupation a fortnightly steamer has been subsidised to run from Saigon to Chantabun and Bangkok, but, beyond a few hundred tons of teak shipped to Saigon for the dockyard authorities, her only cargoes have been stores for the troops at Chantabun. She has carried a few passengers, among whom the greater number were invalided soldiers; but notwithstanding her superior accommodation, she does not seem to have in the least affected the trade of the little local steamer that has run on the coast for years. With regard to registration of Chinese as French subjects, it would appear that when this curious device was being practised at Korat and elsewhere, in M. Pavie's time, the names of applicants to the number of over a thousand were provisionally received at the poste, but no registration papers were actually granted. The matter was apparently to be referred to the authorities at Saigon before further steps were taken. After the riot among the Chinese secret societies which subsequently occurred, nothing further seems ever to have been done with the Chantabun applicants; perhaps they were thought to be too much of a handful. There were, however, a dozen Chinese who possessed these convenient documents, and I met one at Ban Kacha who admitted he had been born in China and had lived in Siam for the last thirty years. The whole plain, in the lower parts of which a good deal of padi is cultivated, is dominated by the long granite 174 CHANTABUN VALLEY ridge of Kao Sabab on the east, and the three peaks of Kao Sai Dao to the north. Westward a number of low laterite plateaus, fifty feet or so above the surrounding country, form the centre of a considerable population and the pepper-growing district of Ban Kacha. On one of these, overlooking the lower reaches of the river, are the fine remains of the old brick fortress erected by Praya Bodin to check the Cambodians. They are very similar to those at Battambong and Siemrap. A small hill known as Kao Ploi Wen, the 'hill of gems,' is interesting, being an outcrop of basaltic character considerably decomposed, in which large crystals of dark-green corundum, some 22 and 3 inches across, have been frequently found, and in which augite occurs very prominently. From the pagoda at the top of the hill there is a wonderful view over the surrounding garden country, of distant blue sea and capes and inlets on one side, and dark mountain masses on the other. CHAP. XXI 175 THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. xxI At the foot there is a monastery, where the abbot, who is an ecclesiastic of importance, and a fine chatty man, made us at home for a long while in the cool with cocoanuts, oranges, and burls rolled in lotus-leaves. His taste in cheap clocks and gaudy lamps was, however, grievous. Pepper-growing is indulged in on a small scale on favourable spots throughout the neighbourhood. Every here and there among the villages we came upon the pretty large-leaved vines, which the red loam of the district seems to suit. There are said to be as many as two million vines in Chantabun, and a quarter of that number in Krat; the average yield in a good year, when there is no worm or other disease on the plant, is reckoned to be a pikul of berries to every hundred trees, of which about two-thirds are fit to be sold as white pepper, the remainder being of lighter and inferior quality, and going to form the second class, or black pepper. The white pepper is produced by having the black coating removed by washing in water; the black, which only finds a market as a rule among the Chinese, is allowed to retain its coat. The export is entirely in the hands of the British firms in Bangkok, and the subsidised French steamer which has run between Saigon and Chantabun since 1893 has, as might be expected, entirely failed to divert the trade to that over-tariffed port. In 1892 planting was being extended, and, owing to the excellent quality of the berry, which the soil and climatic conditions appear to produce, there was every prospect of an increase in the trade. But the low and fluctuating prices of the London market, the fall in exchange, and the increasing value of labour in the country districts have since contributed to the failure of a number of the Chinese planters; and 176 CHAP. xxI PRODUCTS OF CHANTABUN figures 1 show conclusively that there is a gradual falling off in the export, and it begins to look as if pepper will shortly share the fate of sugar, which was at one time a staple export of the country, and is now largely imported. Coffee cultivation in Chantabun has been most success- ful as regards quality. Unfortunately it has not been attempted on a sufficient scale to succeed commercially, simply for lack of capital. The other chief productions of Chantabun are a certain number of skins and horns, a small quantity of the aromatic eagle (agila) wood obtained from the heart of Aquilaria Agallocha and cardamoms, which are exported in some quantity, and have a wide reputation, as they had in Crawfurd's days.2 Although in the deep jungle country fever is of course prevalent, the climate of Chantabun is far preferable to that of most parts of Siam I have been in. While it is on the whole very damp in the south-west monsoon, the moist heat of the Me Nam plain is never experienced, and the rainy season is generally cool. The delightful invigoration of the north-east monsoon is nowhere felt to greater advantage, and with the fresh morning winds of December and January roaring down from the hills Chantabun is perfect. The early showers and thunderstorms which gather about the mountains make the hot season of short duration, and keep the air at that time comparatively fresh. Our objective was now the ruby districts lying in the district of Klung, and the province of Krat, on the other side of Kao Sabab. ' Appendix XIII., Pepper Ex- astonish those who have experi- port. enced the difficulty of acquiring 2 The general accuracy of the reliable information from the information collected by Crawfurd people of the country, more especi- on this, and nearly every other ally as it had all to be acquired subject of interest in Siam, must through interpreters. VOL. II N 177 THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXI There were three ways open to us-one by a trail round the northern end of that mountain, one by a creek uniting the Chantabun River with the Nam Wen, and one by sea. The second of these I had already traversed on a previous occasion, and in the south-west monsoon, when the hill trails are impassable and the sea outside is heavy, it is the best of the three. The creek is known as Klong Plet, and is large and deep enough at high water for the boats in use in the district to pass through it. Ban Yao, a Christian Annamite settlement, is conveniently situated on the way. Both this and the sea route converge in the great estuary of the Nam Wen, and, a few hours up Klong Wen, Tok Narong is reached, whence a Kwien track goes to the Nawong diggings. Farther up, a mile or two, stands Ban Klong, which connects with Wat Tokprum. Intending to attack the district from the northernmost workings at Bo 3 Wen, about seventeen miles east-north- east of Chantabun, we sent our barang round to Nawong by sea under the two Dengs, while we started overland. The governor professed his inability to help us with the necessary packmen, wishing apparently to get us safely away by sea, and to be no more bothered. A polite but rather sharp note produced a quite proper number of apologies, but nothing more useful; and meanwhile, with the aid of the Burmese headman, we obtained the services of three individuals as far as Bo Wen. One of them had never carried packs before, and gave out at an early stage, but Ainslie's Siamese boy rose to the occasion and finished the stage. We each travelled luxuriously on ponies, although, for the most part, the country we traversed was scarcely suited to them, and we did as much walking as riding. For the first seven miles the trail followed the main track up the valley to the Pailin mines, and we had evidence of the number of people passing up and down in 3 ' Bo ' is the local Shan pronunciation of the Siamese Baw. 178 13 Ho Klong Sri O l 0 I. 2400 Ialker Boutall s. THE GEM DISTRICTS OF CHANTABUN Scale of Miles I0 o Io 20 Ruby diggings............................ Sapphire ............... ............ Trails.. ..... K. = Klong. M = Muang. M Krat o O 102 I02 12 OF THE z Fl:' CHAP. XXI THE TRAIL TO THE MINES the constant caravans we met, consisting both of oxen and Shan packmen. At one or two places on the track, such as Sala Kai Kong, a kind of local A.B.C. shop, where travellers step up and get a cup of curry or a stick of sugarcane, quite a thriving business is done by the betel-chewing damsels, and a rest and a little gossip may be indulged in. We branched off east at Ban Makam and crossed the spurs of some low hills north of Sabab in an open jungle, in which were numbers of buffalo but few other signs of life. The watershed (13 m.) is not high, and about sunset we reached Klong Wen a mile beyond, and crossed it by a high bridge. This stream, which we have seen at Paknam Wen, rises some miles farther north in the Kao Patat. We were now in Muang Klung, the easterly sub- division of the province of Chantabun. By a dim moon- light, rendered more doubtful and deceptive by the enormous trees it had to struggle through, we at last reached the welcome clearing of Bo Wen. This was a typical gem diggers' settlement, and the few houses were inhabited entirely by British Shans and a few Lao from about Ubon, who are hired as labourers. The Shans are practically the only people who stand the climate of the mines for any time. The existence of gems has been known to the Siamese probably for some centuries, but it was not until the rigid secrecy which the Government had formerly enforced 4 was somewhat relaxed that an immigration of these indefatigable gem miners. commenced, and fresh discoveries began to be reported every day. The Shan seems by nature designed for the pursuit of gems. He is bitten with the roving spirit, and in addition he has the true instinct of the miner, to whom the mineral he lives to pursue possesses a subtle charm, which constrains 4 Crawfurd, Embassy to Siam, vol. ii. p. 173, &c. N2 179 THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXI him never to rest or weary of its search against all odds. The sentiment is quite different to the avarice of the victims of a gold mania. The skill of the Gula is no less than his energy. He detects colour and recognises quality with a rapidity and accuracy to which few attain. No Siamese, no Lao, no Chinaman can compete with him. The Burman is about his equal, but has not his industry or constitution, and is therefore chiefly found in the capacity of middleman, buying and exporting. At first whole parties were decimated by the fever. Not one in thirty returned to the sea alive. But there were others to take their place, and gradually the clearing of the jungle, the improvement of communications, the superior shelter, and the comforts which were introduced had their effect; and although the mines still have an evil name, and the opening up of each new district calls for further sacrifices, the rate of mortality among the Shans is now comparatively moderate. Neither Chinese, Cam- bodians, nor Siamese can, however, live long in any of the districts, and both the Lao and Chawngs,5 who are in and about the mines in some numbers, suffer considerably, and seldom remain long in one district. The Europeans on the staff of the company which leased the Nawong mines from the Government may be said to have been almost driven out by fever, although lodged comparatively well, and stationed in by no means the worst district. Should the Shans therefore leave for any reason, there is no other force which can be utilised to do the necessary work. The departure of these people would be the doom of the mines. They are necessary, if only to bury the others. This is a point which experts from other countries, who have schemes for the future working of these districts, will do well to keep in mind. SAn aboriginal hill tribe living on the flanks of the Kao Patat, answering to the Ka of the north. 180 THE SHAN DIGGERS The Siamese often style the gem-mining Shans Tongsu, but there are very few real Tongsus among them. Euro- peans have usually called them Burmese, but beyond the fact that they come from the Burmese Shin States the term is not applicable to more than an extremely small percentage, and the application of the name to his face would not be considered flattering by the average Shan. The term Gula, which is most commonly used of the Shans in Siam both by the people of the country and by them- selves, appears to be in reality the Burmese word Kula, foreigner. The Gula digger is proud and independent. He cherishes the freedom of his life, and he brooks not much official interference. Restraints which may be applied to the African negro will not do for him. When the company came to Nawong, diggers were notified (inter alia) that if they worked on the company's territory they must sell stones to its agents, at prices to be settled by the latter. This was felt to be an infringement of the right to sell in open market, and was resented. Thereafter the company attempted to enforce the right of search on the persons and belongings of the diggers. Rather than submit they left en masse, some for the Pailin mines, others for their homes in Burma. The result was that, out of two thousand eight hundred diggers whom the company found in and about Nawong, a couple of hundred were left when we visited the place; and at Bo Yaw, instead of twelve to fifteen hundred men, there were fifty-four at our visit. Thus the Gula will be seen to be an individual whose susceptibilities must be taken into some consideration. Such powerful organisations as the Borneo Company have found by experience in the north that the way to succeed in the development of new industries in a new country is to work in harmony with the native element, and not in spite of it. Although the officials of the present 181 CHAP. XXI THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXI company who are on the spot recognise the fact pretty fully, there is, perhaps, some danger of its being lost sight of by far-away European capitalists. It is curious to find the whole mining population talking Siamese, even among themselves. One is prepared to recognise in them members of the Tai race, but it had not struck one that their own language was so similar to Siamese that they would invariably speak it intelligibly to oneself after a few months in the country. The different settlements are all under local headmen, who keep order with the assistance of the heads of house- holds. Nearly all are, of course, British subjects, and the headmen derive their powers ultimately from the British Consulate in Bangkok. Law and order is, as a rule, admirably maintained even in the most out-of-the-way spots. An evildoer is recognised as an enemy to the community, and is fined, put in chains, or banished from the mine as may be necessary to satisfy its feelings. On the whole this works well. Although all go armed, there are few disputes. The presence of these armed bands all over the country has resulted, west of the Patat, in the almost total disappearance of big game, which has wisely retired to the security of the mountain country; and dacoity has at the same time been suppressed. The last gang that attempted raiding in the neighbourhood of Tokprum was cut up by the Gulas, to the great satisfaction of the farmers of Krat. The Siamese Government has, on the whole, very little to do amongst the miners, and wisely interferes very little. A Siamese official is here and there met with, but in all questions of finding shelter, obtaining transport, and the like, the Shan headman is responsible. I was much struck with the cheerfulness and promp- titude with which these people assisted us everywhere, contrasting in a marked manner with the unwilling, and 182 SHAN HOSPITALITY often insufficient, aid obtained from the more suspicious and dilatory Siamese officials. Our reception at Baw Wen was a case in point. The headman, hearing us arrive, came out, and at once took us into his house, saying to his wife, ' Nai ma leo,' ' The nai has arrived,' as if we had been expected for a month past. A space was cleared on the raised shelf in the men's half, a box was set up and covered with a white cloth, and here we supped. The house was of the usual Shan pattern. built of bamboo, with split bamboo flooring, and a high shelf running round the inside, whereon the family lived by day, and whereon at night were accommodated the Lao lads who formed our host's working party. Here we all slept in rows, some twelve of us; and above, from a cunningly devised niche, a Buddha gazed down upon us all the night. The first thing in the morning flowers and a little rice were placed before the figure in the shrine. There were some half a dozen similar houses in the clearing, which stood on the south slope of a hill, guarded all round by the forest-covered heights, where from the dark background tall trunks stood out in relief, and the hornbills croaked and the gibbons whooped by day, and where after sunset the whole chorus of the jungle went up into the night, and the cicada and tree beetles whirred and trilled their loudest. Bo Wen, known to the Siamese as Bo or Baw Yat, from the stream (a tributary of the Nam Wen) on which the clearing stands, is a collective name used to embrace a number of small workings in the neighbourhood.6 The diggings are in the stream beds, and are all of the 6 These are Sai Kao, where and Klong Wen. A certain amount most of the inhabitants at Bo Wen of confusion has existed on the work, Klong Loat and Klong Lek subject of these places. There are to the northward, and Wen Lang only about 70 men in the whole below the junction of Klong Yat district. 183 CHAP. XXI THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXI same character. About one-third of the stones found are inferior sapphires, but generally west of the Patat all the marketable stones are rubies. One man told me the best work he ever did here was one fortnight, when with five others he got thirteen hundred rupees' worth of stones. Taphan Hin lies about three miles to the eastward of the Bo Wen workings, and is situated on a stream draining, not into the Nam Wen, but into a tributary of the Tung Yai River of Muang Krat, called Klong Sitaw. The divide between the two rivers is low at this point. No sapphires have been found in the ruby layer. About -a score of men were at work. The headman had been about two years at the place, the whole of the first year being spent in cutting a dyke through a barrier of quartz grit to carry off the water from the gem ground. The second year's work resulted in from four to five thousand rupees' worth of stones. The decomposition of the rock here was very remark- able. Where it comes within reach of the hammer it is generally hard and ringing. But in places, and noticeably just below the ruby layer, although its appearance was just as fresh, it was surprising to find the hammer sink right into it. It was the exact counterpart of the hard structure close by, with every grain and crystal apparently in its place; yet it all crumbled to dust in one's hands. It was the best example of the rapid and complete disintegration being wrought by a high temperature and by a heavy rainfall that we saw. The ruby gravel of Bo Wen and Taphan Hin consists of a base of tenacious clay, with fragments of the more or less undecomposed rocks of the country. Strictly it does not appear to be an alluvial deposit, for many of the fragments do not appear to be water-worn to any extent. A re-deposition of the decomposed products of the hillsides, due to the action of running water when the streams were 184 THE RUBY GRAVEL at their highest, has doubtless taken place in the valley bottoms. We find the gem layer only five to ten inches thick and under some three to twelve feet of clay over- burden, which is lighter at the surface and denser in the lower part. But it is not until the lower land is reached, at such places as Wat Tokprom, that the true alluvial gravel, brought a considerable distance and deposited by water action, is found. The bed-rock is a basalt, and the hills around are of hard quartz grit; the basalt is in all stages of decomposition, in juxtaposition with the ruby layer; and this layer is composed of a base which is a decomposition product of the same rock, and is full of fragments of it in various stages of disintegration. The deduction is that the basalt must be the original matrix of the gems. But here, as in Chieng Kawng, I could find no evidence of their having been found in situ, although I may say, in support of the contention, I have commonly seen some of the minerals which generally accompany them, such as hercynite and augite at other places, standing out boldly from the fresh surface of the basalts. In addition to rubies, sapphires, opaque corundum, and quartz, Professor Louis mentions zircon in two varieties, ilmenite and topaz, as being found in the gem layer of Bo Wen. The Lao, of whom our host had three or four as hired hands, were a peculiar short thick-set people. Their home was the neighbourhood of Ubon on the Lower Me Kawng, and the contrast in physical appearance between them and the Lao of Nan or the Upper Me Kawng was most striking. These are the people who have caused French writers on the Me Kawng such woful disappoint- ment. But that they cannot be as lazy as they are repre- sented is obvious from the fact that large numbers of them leave their homes for three and four years at a time, ' Cf. The Mineralogical Magazine, vol. x. No. 48, already referred to. 185 CHAP. XXI THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. xxI and travel a distance of some two hundred and fifty miles acrossthe arid wastes, north of the Tale Sap, simply in search of a moderate wage and some employment. The work and the life are in themselves certainly not attractive, and the nature of the employment they obtain precludes any possibility of their making a fortune by the discovery of a valuable gem. Although occasional daccities are credited to them, especially on the Pailin side, all those we came in contact with were pleasant, easy-going fellows, who on further acquaintance proved to have a large share of the Lao characteristics. They could sing and play the ken, and it was with no little pleasure that I once more listened to the story of The Peacock and the Pigeon, to the accom- paniment of the old weird music. From Bo Wen we obtained three fresh packmen, and started due south for Wat Tokprum, scarcely more than four miles off in a direct line. We crossed the steep- sided hills of Sawng Pinawng, through a jungle track which can have been seldom used. The many large trees which had fallen made getting the ponies along a difficult business, and called for considerable use of the knife. We passed the old workings of Bo Sisiet, or Sichet, on a stream of that name, so called from the character of the stones found there, which were of poor quality. Wat Tokprum is a monastery near a village of that name on the left bank of the Nam (or Klong) Wen, which we here struck again. It is the centre of some alluvial ruby diggings where a few good stones have been found, but not in sufficient quantities to pay. We were now fairly in Muang Klung, a southern subdivision of Chantabun Province. The foot hills of the Kao Patat were behind us, and before us lay flat open country diversified with low jungle-covered laterite ridges. There is a considerable population of Siamese who cultivate padi in the former, and a little pepper on the flanks of the latter. 186 JUNGLE COURTESIES The sala at the Wat I remembered with affection for the shelter it once gave on a rainy night, and we again camped here, and found it no less pleasant. We had a number of the usual visitors-an old Tongsu, the monks and their pupils, and several of the neighbours. Com- pared with the big-bodied Shlins and the stout southern Lao, the small-headed, small-featured Siamese of the district seemed a far more slender people. A fair amount of comfort seemed to be enjoyed by them. In the evening I went round to a farmer's house across the field, where some music was going on to the accompaniment of the pouncing rice-mill. I found a genial old fellow with a well-bred family, who gave me a cordial reception. He and I fell to talking about the district, and he gave me a lot of information while his children took turn and turn about to come and be introduced, and listen at a respectful distance. The rice-mill was kept industriously at work under the outhouse, and the clear notes of the toka con- tinued echoing off the distant trees. The buffalo kwiens here were unusually well finished, with beautifully veined hard woods wrought into them, and highly ornamented coverings and mat linings; and the animals were decorated with sweet-toned metal bells, a great improvement on the wooden or bamboo bells generally in use. The next day, on the wayto Nawong, eleven miles south- south-east of us, we passed Ban Angek, Idem (or Ilem), and Bo Din Deng, at all of which some digging has been done. At the last some sapphires of poor quality have been found, but although it has not been thoroughly ex- plored it is said to promise well for rubies. We continued down the main trail which leads from this district to Ban Klong, on the Nam Wen, whence there is a trail to Ban Yao round the south end of Kao Sabab to Chantabun. Later we struck eastward, along a good trail to Nawong, passing, as we neared it, some 187 CHAP. XXI THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA ICHAP. XXI ruined villages, which, as already explained, have since the coming of the company been entirely deserted. At Nawong we found that during the last twelve months, since the company had delegated its authority to a Tongsu, diggers were beginning to return and the settlement seemed to be reviving. The people here explained at some length the why and wherefore of the position they had assumed towards 1Vai Compani, as they called it. They declared that if the Nai Pasi, the chief farmer of the various taxes, who is the paramount power of the place, is one of themselves, the average digger will return; but, on the other hand, if Nai Compani insists on carrying out farang ideas, with the assistance of a farang staff, the diggers would continue to hold aloof. The only reason I could extract from them was that the digger was ' afraid' of the farang. It seemed a kind of general suspicion, or distrust, which they could not put into words, but which, childish as it may appear to us, is one of those barriers which it takes so much tact to remove. 188 CHAP. XXT THE POSITION OF THE DIGGERS The former action of Nai Compani, and the liberties which are generally taken by the kind of European who was too often, from the necessity of the case, employed by the company, had, undoubtedly, much to do with this peculiar feeling of suspicion. Mr. Hall, or Nai Sun, 'the tall Nai,' as he was known, had lived long among the people since the troublous times of Nai Compani's activity, and by a rare tact and gentleness, surprising to them in so big a man, had in great part won their confidence; but the news that a chief manager had arrived in Chantabun on behalf of the company, of whom little or nothing was known, and that new plans were on the tapis, seemed to have aroused all the old feelings again. They pointed out that the presence of Europeans of a certain class at the mines was bound to end in rows. They were ready enough to oblige in every way a pukka Nai like Nai Sun; but they showed the native perception of the difference between him and the class of European of unknown antecedents which is common enough in the East, and declared that they would not submit to be subject to the arrogance of that species as long as they could help it. If the company would refrain from thrusting distaste- ful farangs upon them at the mines, and from inflicting on them vexatious regulations with regard to the sale of stones, they declared their willingness to do business with the company's buyers, and in matters of trade to meet it in every way. They suggested that if the company were to go in for buying on a large scale, sending their own native agents round the mines with so much in hand at a time, they would in a short space oust the middle men who now do the buying at the mines, and get practically the whole business into their hands. In support of this state- ment they pointed out that between leaving the mines and 189 THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXI reaching the Calcutta market a stone changes hands many times, while the company could take them straight from the digger to Calcutta. The local buyer, who prowls about the diggings, gives the diggers absurdly small prices, and the latter, easy-going and thriftless as they often are, do not seem to grudge him one whit the enor- mous profit they are aware he will make on reaching Chantabun. Quite another kind of merchant, who lives in a comfortable house in the town, relieves the up-country buyer when he comes in with the result of his last journey; and this is the man who does the exporting, and who makes the largest profit. The diggings at Nawong differ very much from those at Bo Wen. In the first place no sapphires, and no opaque corundum verging on the sapphire colour, has ever been found there. The basalt appears to be absent from the sur- face, but is found some way below. The hills are so low as to be mere undulations, and are not more than fifty feet above the gem flats. The ruby layer is practically at the surface. The gems are said to have been first discovered by some Cambodians who were ploughing, and who turned up handfuls of rubies without understanding their value. Knowing Tongsu pedlars who were in the neighbourhood kept quiet about it, and some fortunes were made before the news got abroad. The ruby layer consists of a white clay from nine to fifteen inches thick. The overburden, which seldom exceeds from six to fifteen inches, is of similar material, but of lighter specific gravity, and often has a yellow tinge. Scattered through the gem dirt are lumps of quartz and what look like concretionary nodules of clay stone hardened by a certain percentage of iron. These seem to take the place of the quartz grit familiar elsewhere; they are called by the diggers re ploi, s Stones bought for 150 rupees rupees in Chantabun and 400 at the mines often sell for 250 rupees in Calcutta. 190 THE NAWONG DIGGINGS and are regarded as certain indications of the presence of gems. The rock, of which the clay is the decomposition product, never seems here to occur in the gem layer, in more or less undecomposed fragments, as it does in the Bo Wen or Chieng Kawng districts, the re ploi being the nearest approach to it. The gem area is patchy, and seems to have suffered extensive denudation. The gem layer at the edges of the productive area comes right to the surface, having been denuded of its overburden; the next stage was doubtless its own removal. There is a lack of water in the dry season in some parts of the gem area which is very inconvenient, and interferes considerably with regular work. The village of Nawong is a little over two hundred feet above the sea, and is in the province of Krat. It lies in a slight hollow among the workings, known as Bo Mai, San- chan, Paka, Sawng Ko, Klong Lot, and Nawng Boa. At this season it was hot and sheltered, and there was a good deal of fever. It is regarded as being by no means worked out, and as having a better future before it than the sapphire diggings at Pailin, which they seem to think are now at the summit of their prosperity, and must ere long begin to take the downward grade. Our next objective was the hill working at Klong Kwang, and, sending our stores and our ponies direct to Bo Yaw, we started lightly equipped with three pack- men for the former place. This march revealed one of the most beautiful bits of country, and, as the leeches, ticks, and mosquitoes which generally swarm were at this time of year few and far between, it was most enjoyable. The trail goes about north-east, crossing the Klong Sitaw Yai, the principal stream draining this part of the country into the Tung Yai River. The stream is here deep and sluggish, but is not navigated owing to the snags and 191 CHAP. XXI THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXI crocodiles which make it dangerous for frail dug-out canoes. On each side of the river the deep jungle is inhabited by gibbons, hornbills, hawks, and apparently several species of forest owl. Here and there welcome open stretches are met with of grass and swamp, where buffalo do congregate, or of padi land and bamboo, where the wood pigeon coo peacefully, and pretty views are to be had of the Kao Patat over the tall dark monster trees. Crossing Klong Kwang, and subsequently Klong Chantung, a rapid- flowing mountain tributary, the trail turns more north- erly through the dense forest of the foot hills of the Kao Patat, which are now close above to the eastward, Here, as the name of the stream implies, sambur abound, and the tracks of the honey bear are fairly common. As soon as our arrival in the hollow was known in the village, the pu yai, or elders, came out, in the absence of the headman, and we were given the use of a wing of the house of one Mong Chong Yiie, whose decidedly charm- ing and pretty Shan wife did all she could to make us comfortable. We had to submit to the good-natured scrutiny of a jovial crowd of diggers, to whom the mecha- nism of our guns was a source of much joy. A tribute to the character of Nai Sun, of whom we heard much at this place, was the warmth of the reception we met with from the pariahs who had known him both here and at Nawong. One fine rough-haired Shan dog called ' Achar,' belonging to our hostess, who had been much attached to Hall, and who had a reputation for fero- city among the Gulas, gave great delight to the crowd by the pleasure he showed at our arrival. He subsequently followed us about and played with us everywhere, and when we left was tied up in a perfect network of ropes to keep him from following us. His mistress could not bear to part with him. The village of Bang Kwang is situated in the narrow 192 hill valley through which the stream makes its way to the lowlands, amidst the densest forest, and in the rains is a perfect fever-trap. Most of the diggers then emigrate to Nawong, and other more open places, where work can be carried on. The character of the gem deposit, as might be expected from its position, resembles that of Bo Wen rather than that of Nawong; but it differs from it in some re- markable points. The dark basaltic rock crops up once more, but two new minerals are found in some quantities in the gem gravel-garnet 9 in large fragments sometimes an inch and a quarter long, and magnetite in largish water- worn pieces looking at first very like nin. The former are locally known as Ut-don, and are peculiar to Bo Kwang. They are of very fine deep colour when held up to the light, and have a certain market value with the diggers, who cut them and sell them as rubies to the unwary. The Gula regards this as a world where man must live by his wits, and sees no harm in profiting by the want of experi- ence of a fellow-man. I have known a European, who gave up a permanent post in Bangkok to go gem-mining, put his whole earnings into the purchase of some thousand carats of glass. The men he dealt with found that glass pleased him as much as the real article, and that he was ready to pay for glass, so glass, of beauteous ruby and sapphire colours, without a flaw, they gave him in large quantities. It was not for them to quarrel with his predilection. In buying stones, it is well to remember you are enter- ing the arena to pit your knowledge against the other man's. He regards it as a sporting contest, and he would fleece or ruin his dearest friend as part of the game, if his dearest friend were fool enough to let him do it. The moment you bargain about a stone, a trial of strength (or � Mr. L. Fletcher and Mr. Prior, have kindly examined all these of the South Kensington Museum, specimens. VOL. II O BO KW ANG 193 CHAP XXI THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXI knowledge) has begun between you, as much as if you were boxing or fencing. Everything is forgotten but the object in view, to protect yourself and get home on the person of your opponent. Your eye must be in training too, and if you have not looked at a stone for six months, get some one else to do your buying for you, or you will be badly hit. The diggings immediately about the village of Bo Kwang were fairly shallow, but farther up the valley they were ten to twelve feet deep. A great amount of labour had been expended in cutting trenches for the diversion of the stream, to which the enormous roots of the forest trees offered the greatest obstruction. A little tunnelling had in places been attempted from the pit bottoms. About a hundred men were working regularly. They did not go out till the sun was well up-about nine o'clock, and mostly returned again about 2 P.M., although some who were busy sinking to the ruby layer stayed out until four or five o'clock, when the long shadows of the surrounding forest and the chill evening air drove them in. The gambling-farmer's establishment was next door to us, and thither in the evening the greater part of the community repairs. It is as much a part of the daily routine as the saunter to the club is in European settle- ments, and the gamble here takes the place of the inevitable whist. Perfect order generally prevails, although towards the end, usually about nine o'clock, some excitable parties begin to 'Oh' and 'Ah' and generally ejaculate with chagrin or the contrary, as luck fails or favours them. The smug satisfaction apparent in the faces of one or two rather corpulent elders, who doubtless would lose nothing as long as their simple fellow-tribesmen continued to frequent the gambling house with becoming regularity, was somehow not a pleasant thing to see. Except the gems, the village is productive of nothing. 194 VILLAGE GONGS Everything has to be brought, and that on men's backs, eighteen miles from Nawong. Every well-to-do household possesses a fine-toned gong, and their splendid notes, ringing out constantly against the wall of forest, certainly give a homely, civilising feel- ing, even in that far-away spot. They do not seem to strike the hours, or to be rung on any other principle. Every owner of a gong gives his treasured possession a few whacks whenever he remembers it and is within reach, as much to show his neighbours its fine quality as to keep the evil spirits off. Certainly no decent evil spirit could do anything unkind with those lovely echoes ringing in his ears. Bo Yaw is about eleven miles by the trail in a S.S.E. direction, a quiet morning's walk. It is a dozen miles E.N.E. from Nawong and is over a hundred feet higher, and is (or was) the centre of a number of diggings known as Bo Seno, Panet, Chanak, Paha, Takwang, Tabat, and Kum, which once rivalled Nawong in importance. A nice little bungalow and many ruined villages stand as monuments to the activity of Nai Com ani. The fifty odd individuals who are now working in the district are scattered about in small parties over a large tract of ground, and the old clearings, where the many pits attest to the former industry of a large mining population, are becoming choked with the young scrub. The ruby-bearing ground is very irregular, and appears to occur at several levels. One of the best ruby grounds is the actual bed of the principal klong, which is known as Klong Chanak, and which receives nearly all water from the other gem-dig- gings round. It would appear as if a certain amount of re-deposition is actually going on here, from the denu- dation of the edges of the old higher-level deposits, such as those in the neighbourhood of Bo Kum. These appear to have much the character of the other o2 195 CHAP. XXI THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXI hill deposits, such as Bo Wen and Bo Kwang; angular and sub-angular fragments of undecomposed rock are included in the gem layer, and they apparently antedate the present lines of drainage.' We made a short stay of two days, going round the district, and getting plenty of pigeon for the pot. All the inhabitants of the diminutive village came to see us, and we doctored the usual percentage for fever and sluggish livers, while the children licked the milk-tin, smoked our cigarettes, and generally assisted to make life enjoyable. The headman here, Mong Kam Yi, was a keen geographer, and he brought us what was certainly the most remarkable geographical triumph, a map of the whole gem district from Pailin to the sea, with all the trails, hills, and rivers laid down in startling colours. It was evidently the work of his life, and he was justly proud of it. Although the pictures of hills and villages were rather weird, the relative positions of the main points showed considerable accuracy, and there was an amount of information about the various kiongs which certainly no other map contains. So much did the subject interest him that he had followed many streams to their source to find out where they rose. Our next destination was the Pailin district, on the other side of the Patat. There are only two trails used- that from Chantabun, and that from Ban Tabat at the back of Bo Yaw, over to Ho Klong, on the Battambong River. The latter was the one we had planned to go by, but owing l The basalts of Chantabun and basalts here vary from a magma Krat appear to be of comparatively basalt (Limburgite) of small por- recent geological age, and are much phyritic olivines in very fine- less altered than those on the Me grained base of augite magnetite Kawng. The hard quartz grit, and glass, to a combination of which is so characteristic of the small porphyritic olivine and neighbourhood of the basalts here augite in fine-grained base of in Supan and in the Nam Ing purple augite magnetite and Valley, is probably an altered felspar. They appear to be all of sandstone metamorphosed by con- very similar character. tact with the eruptive rocks. The 196 CHAP. xxi CROSSING THE PATAT RANGE 197 to its steepness the transport presented some little difficulty. However, seven men sufficed for our loads, and, sleeping one night in the sala at Ban Tabat, we climbed to the top next morning. The summit of the pass is about two thousand feet above the sea, and from a spot a couple of hundred feet below a magnificent view was obtained over the whole of Krat to the big inland-stretching estuaries, the heights of Kaw Chang, and the sparkling sea. It was quite worth coming for. There is a fine waterfall on the lower shoulders of the hill, and the tough quartz grit crops out in amazingly sharp hard masses on which the hammer could make no impres- sion. Indeed, in trying to get a fresh fracture, I broke the hammer, and the rock rang like a piece of metal. Then, as we shot down over the opposite side, there in front once more lay the valley of the Me Nam Kawng. THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. xxII CHAPTER XXII THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA (continued)-BATTAMBONG GEM DISTRICTS-' PRATTABONG '-THE TALE SAP-SIEMRAP- NAKAWN WAT AND THE RUINS. THE descent on the eastern side is very precipitous, and the ponies who were not accustomed to the sort of work had often some difficulty in keeping their feet. The trail follows down the course of the clear rocky stream known as Klong San, until it reaches the lower valleys, where there are a few Chawng rai clearings, and where paths diverge. It then follows a fine stream called Klong Yai, which becomes the Sangke or Battambong River in the plains below, to Ho Klong, the principal gem-digging village of the district. We camped at Ban Bon, an extensive forsaken village, and reached Ho Klong next morning. The whole way down Klong Yai we passed gem- diggings some twelve or more feet deep, and up the side streams lay several outpost villages of enterprising Gulas, who have followed the gem gravel up to its highest point in the mountain valleys. A good deal of work is actually done in the stream bed, close down to the hard bed rock. The rocks are of the same general character as those we had observed on the west.' SChapter XXI. 198 CHAP. XXII RUBIES EAST OF THE PATAT In the only general accounts to be found of the gem mines of this corner of Siam 2 it is stated as a curious fact that rubies are only found on the west or Chantabun side, and only sapphires on the east or Battambong slope of the Kao Patat, which is thus stated to form a distinct line of demarcation between the ruby and the sapphire zones. This is so far from being the case that the whole of the workings at Ho Klong and on the Klong Yai are for rubies, and the stones are generally superior in quality to the Nawong and Klong Kwang gems on the west of the range, and the diggings are thought more highly of. A very small percentage of the gems found are sapphires, but they are opaque and poorly coloured, and are never of good quality. Some four hundred Gulas are engaged in these diggings, and in the few years which have elapsed since the dis- covery of the ruby layer at this place in 1892 the valley has been burrowed over for many miles of its length, deep trenches have been cut, and stone dykes have been built to deflect the water, entailing a large amount of very difficult labour. There were several parties of men working in the bed of the Klong Yai itself, among the boulders and in the shingle; but they complained that the rubies here were small and much waterworn, as was natural. The largest stones come from the workings highest up the valleys; but the gem stratum is of course not of very great width in the narrow valley bottoms.3 The production of stones here as elsewhere was uncer- tain. With regard to the streams north and south of this, the general opinion is that gems appear to be scarce 2 The Times Letters from Indo- layer 2 ft. from the top, 7 ft.; blue China, 1896. Geogr. Journ. vol. and red ruby gravel, the coloration viii. No. 5. being due to clay which formed the s A typical section was topsoil base, 2 ft. 6 in. 1 ft.; red clay, with a boulder 199 THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXII or altogether absent. Small black crystals of magnetite which are looked upon as the signs of the gems, like the nin or hercynite of Chieng Kawng, and are called Ki ploi at Bo Kwang and Bo Dineo, are found in several places, but have not so far resulted in the discovery of fresh gem deposits, although they may be regarded as indications of a layer of decomposition products not unsimilar to that which is familiar in the gem diggings. The Kamnan, a veteran traveller who had visited London in his day and thought Rangun and Bangkok no better than jungle villages, received us and put us up in the sala which contained the village shrine. A large brass Buddha gazed upon us from a gaudy altarpiece, and the faithful came to strike the pendent gongs swinging in the wind. We were naturally a little reluctant to feed and sleep and live in such a place, but it was evidently regarded as the correct thing, so we could not refuse, but it was a trifle like camping in the choir of a church. We were open, as usual, to the whole main street, and opposite us was the village hotel, where gossiping, bartering, smoking, tattooing, sleeping, and eating went on all day. Ho Klong is supplied with rice by buffalo-cart from Battambong, fifty miles off, and with fruit by an occasional Cambodian packman from the villages in the plain below, who may also bring a bit of unfrequent pig or venison. An instant rush is made upon him, and in a twinkling he stands in the pathway relieved of all his burdens, and he has to go round afterwards to collect the money. An elephant is also kept plying between Hoklong and Pailin; but altogether, as may be supposed, prices rule high. In the mornings the place was quiet and empty; every one was out digging, and the entrances to the houses were closed with open lattice-work shutters, as 200 CAUSES OF FEVER an indication that nobody was at home. The mutual confidence and the respect for order displayed by the inhabitants of a Shan gem-digging village are in marked contrast to the views on these subjects prevalent in gold- mining villages of a similar character recruited from 'civilised' nations. Hoklong has a great reputation among its inhabitants for health, and they affirmed that they suffered neither from the fevers of the Nawong side nor the cholera epidemics which have been experienced at Pailin. Any comparative virtue the stream may have is probably due to the fact that the sun gets in fairly well to it on some parts of its upper course. For the sun is the surest purifier in the tropics. The fact remained, however, that when we left for the twenty-mile walk to Pailin some of our party had symptoms of fever. We had to camp on the road owing to the slow- ness of the packmen, and on arriving at Bo Din Nio both Ainslie and Yen were down with bad attacks of remittent fever. Out of respect for the feelings of our friends at Ho Klong, I should add that it is quite likely they brought it over with them from the Nawong side. The change of water is undoubtedly one of the commonest causes of fever, for what reason others are in a better position to say. It was always noticeable that plain dwellers from Bangkok succumbed where the limpid mountain water babbled over the rocks most innocently. Total immersion in bathing and drinking cold water were nearly always certain to bring on bad attacks; sluicing the water over the body with a bucket, and always boiling drinking water and making tea, are considered reasonable safeguards. The Lao Dam of the hills bathe anywhere and everywhere in their own country, but the sluicing method is the most usual in the rest of Siam with natives of experience. Even the change from one valley to the 201 CHAP. xxII THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXII other, or from one watershed to another, for purposes of settlement, proves fatal to many. On the Tenasserim we found numbers of Siamese children whose parents had emigrated, and had died within a year or two of fever, leaving such children as survived on the neighbours' hands. This is one of the most cogent reasons that keep the races of Indo-China from mingling and travelling more than they do. The hardiness of the Shans enables them, by the aid of a judicious amount of opium, to travel with comparative immunity where the ordinary Lao, Cambodian, or Siamese dare not go. And as with the plain-dweller, so with the hillman: the change to the mountains is not more fatal to the one than the change to the plains is to the other. The Pailin diggings are divided into two districts, Bo Yaka, which has been regarded as the headquarters, and Bo Din Nio, which lies nearly five miles south and is the more populous of the two. They are connected by a good road, equipped with bridges V/ and comfortable salas at intervals. J Order and neatness reign supreme, and comfort and a certain luxury are apparent in all the villages. Here, from the squalor of south-east Indo- �China, one is transported to the smartness of a village in Upper Burma. The bells on the gables of GULA MINERg L MINER the many-roofed Pungyi Kyoung, or on the high angel-guarded masts, tinkle in the strong easterly wind; the little gongs in the building ring at intervals through the day and night; the tall pagoda on the hill above looks down on the palm-fringed street, where pink 'passohs' and broad Shan hats glance in the sun, and pretty Shan maidens wear roses in their hair. 202 BO DIN NIO VILLAGE The two districts are divided into thirteen ampurships, all called after the names of the various diggings near which the villages are situated, and large clearings have been made in their vicinity, where wild tapioca, chillies, and cardamums grow, and where a tall solitary forest tree stands high above the scrub here and there, from which the LL__ Y G ULLkorseman gaudy Barbat utters its 'tok, tok, tok,' echoing long into the moonlit night. From our commodious sale of Thingan wood standing on the slope of the pagoda hill, the sounds of the cheerful village life came up to us, mingled with the roar of the monsoon wind in the hundreds of square miles of forest 203, CHAP. XXII THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXI that lay below. By day whimsical ponies came about us, biting and kicking one another and standing on their hind legs boxing. In the evening their duty was to carry their masters in all the pride of red trappings and gaudy yellow tassels up and down the village street, to the clatter of long das. Their training is peculiar. As a bashful colt the Pailin pony roams wild with its soft-eyed little mother until it is caught one fine day and has a collar of bells put on it, and must trot up and down with a lot of other ponies whose owners are showing off in the cool of the evening. Let loose again, he trots and gallops about the village, gets his nose rubbed by the children in the shop windows, chases the pariahs, rolls in the road at any time in a cloud of dust, has a few fights with other youngsters of his own age, and grows healthy and shaggy, until one day caught for another lesson from a long-haired Gula. At night the watch gongs broke the stillness, and set the whole pariah pack a-howling for half an hour, the majority of whom, after a little preliminary tuning led by an experienced singer, nearly always hit on the exact note of the last gong which sounded. And how grateful was the silence which followed! There have been apparently two distinct ruby layers about Bo Din Nio, one closer to the surface, and at a much higher level than the other. The shallow gravel has of course been in most parts nearly worked out, but the women and children even continue to do a little searching here and there, and occasionally find a stone or two. The deep workings at Bo Klong Yang, south and west of Bo Din Nio, were the most interesting, and so much heavy work has been done that it is now nearly worked out. The section below the top soil is reddish clay sixteen feet, gem gravel four feet, with a blue clay base containing 204 SAPPHIRE DIGGINGS the large semi-decomposed pebbles, so often described already, which are looked upon here as a sure indication of gems. The magnetite known as ki ploi occurs with the deep and shallow deposits. Between this and Loi Kio to the west a band of un- productive country intervenes for a mile or so, and then the gem layer is found productive again at a depth of eighteen feet, and the fragments in the gem layer are more highly decomposed. Farther west, towards the hills, the gem layer is very uncertain, the hard rock coming up nearer to the surface with less decomposition matter overlying it, owing, doubtless, largely to water action. In some places in the diggings of this district the gem earth was entirely absent, or only came in on one side. Wherever the sinking to be done exceeds a few feet, the Gula of Pailin likes to have it done for him by Ubon and Bassac Lao, like our friends at Bo Wen, who are employed in considerable numbers.4 North and eastward down the valley work was not going on so actively, but the view behind was very typical-the short strong-limbed Lao working hard, the gay Gulas, in their gaudy passohs, squatting and smoking over their pits, the long-armed bamboo lifts working as busily as semaphores, and the dark-green jungle and straight white stems towering up above it all. There was little sound but the creaking of the lifts and the hammering of the busy little copper- smith in the tall forest trees. It is curious that no stones have been found beyond Klong Noi, the stream on the left bank of which Bo Din Nio stands, although they have been worked right up to the left bank ; and the limit to the north They sink about ten inches a and six feet in diameter, and with day through the stiff overburden, twenty inches of gem gravel yield receiving from one to two ticals on an average thirty to forty (is. 4d. to 2s. 8d.) for twenty inches. ticals' (21. to 21. 13s.) worth of The pits are generally between four stones. 205 CHAP. XXII THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXII appears to be a granite dyke which cuts in through the quartzite at the ford at the lower end of the Klong Kawan district. Our stay at Bo Din Nio was not entirely enjoyable, owing to the state of our fever patients, with whom severe measures had to be adopted. When we went on to Bo Yaka they were put on elephants, and we had an escort of twenty horsemen in their loose blue trousers, gaudy Shan jackets, big hats, tassels, trappings, guns and das-in short, full dress-headed by the Kamnan, a most respect- able and venerable-looking old gentleman, who was so gentle in his speech and deferential in his manner that it was not surprising to hear that he was said to be the greatest rascal in Pailin. At the village boundary twenty more riders from Bo Yaka came out to meet us, and, with a crowd on foot, and the band of the Pue5 in front, we made a triumphal entry of sorts into Bo Yaka. For this is the good people's way with visitors-whom they think they may get something out of. Pending disputes with Nai Compani made it desirable for the headmen to impress us. And they succeeded. The autocrat, who was practically Sawbwa o this far-away little Shan State, was the small short man with a wrinkled face, who met us at the entrance to the sala, clad in the most beautiful silks. He was known as Mong Keng, or more familiarly on the mines as Nai Pasi.6 Fourteen years before, after half a dozen successive lessees had failed, he took the lease of the mines from the Governor of Battambong. The Siamese official who was placed at Pailin died, like nearly all who have tried residing there. Mong Keng, who was then British headman appointed by the British Consulate in Bangkok for consular purposes, such as collecting deceased estates, 5 Answers to the Siamese Lakon. 6 Pasi-lit. Customs; the Nai Pasi is the farmer of the revenues. 206 CHAP. XXII THE AUTOCRAT OF PAILIN effecting amicable settlements in small disputes, and forwarding more important ones to Bangkok, was then also appointed the chief Siamese official with the title of Luang. The farms, such as the gambling, opium, and liquor, were then held by various persons. By degrees Mong Keng not only got a large share of the local gem market into his own hands, but also the farms, until at last he united in his own person all the most important positions, official and otherwise, at the mines. He has had the appointing of the Kamnans, and the maintenance of order, and, supported by the veteran at Bo Din Nio, there is no doubt that he has done it most efficiently. Under his rule the villages have grown, the clearings have been extended, Pungyi Kyoungs and pagodas have been built, and great merit-making festivals have been instituted. On his liberality and open-handedness his reputation has largely depended, and that he has not failed in this the pue, the salas, the roads and bridges all attest. His sway has been patriarchal, and his power was so complete and unchallenged that even the grumblers, who presumably exist in every community, dared not lift their voices. But the cloud had risen on the horizon. The Siamese Government had granted the concession of the mines to the Siam Exploring Company, and Mong Keng was now their sub-lessee, threatened with a rise of rent, which he declared it impossible to pay. But it was very difficult to get him to quote statistics in support of this statement.7 I went out round all the diggings about Bo Yaka during our stay there, and was escorted by a truculent- looking son-in-law of Mong Keng's, who had the reputation SAfter much inquiry the follow- cholera earlier in the year ac- ing result as to population was counted for the small number of arrived at : Shans (and a few Bur- Lao, who generally muster from mese), 2,000; Lao, 700; women 2,000 to 3,000. folk and children, 500. A scare of 207 THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA cHAP. XXii of not sticking at trifles, and who, like his attendant, carried a loaded revolver in his right hand from the time he left his house to the time he returned to it. The principal working was a shallow one known as Bo Tongsu, where the gem earth is only two to three feet down. The men were working with iron-shod pikes to break out the gravel, and then using a half cocoanut shell and knife to scrape it over in search of stones. Owing to the distance from any stream they were working the gravel over in its dry state, an extremely difficult condition under which to detect the gems. Although missing small stones, they say larger ones seldom escape them. In the rainy season it is easier, and large numbers of sapphires were got here in the rainy season of 1895.8 This shallow gravel was highly coloured with oxide of iron, and contained small rounded and much-worn pebbles, and was evidently an alluvial deposit pure and simple. Large numbers of people were working including women folk, as the work is light; stone buyers and cake vendors come about chatting, and the time passes pleasantly enough. A good many have had one or two stones as the result of the day's work, worth six to eleven ticals apiece. In many parts small two-wheel carts drawn by two men were being used to carry the gem earth the half-mile or more to the river side for the less wasteful washing, when nothing of value is ever missed. Owing to the destruction of the under-scrub at these workings the appearance of the s Owing to the scattered nature rubies; one of 41 carats from one of the diggings and the quietness of the shallow diggings at Bo Yaka with which the buying and selling which was full of flaws; one of 18 of stones is conducted, it was im- carats of poor colour, and a third possible to form an accurate idea of 8.1 carats, a fine clear stone of of the weight of stones produced. good colour from Hoklong. They It is probable that in all the mines were valued at 2,500 ticals (1661.), combined about 15,000 ticals 500 ticals (341.), and 2,400 ticals (1,0001.) worth of rubies and (1601.) respectively. Their owners, sapphires are raised every day. of course, put double the value on The largest stones I saw were all them. 208 NATIVE PROSPECTING forest is magnificent, as the full height of the enormous tree-trunks is apparent to the eye. Some other deeper workings were also doing well at a depth of ten feet. The wash was much yellower, and the pebbles larger and more decomposed-here regarded as a bad sign. Speculation in claims is frequent; shallow pits are sunk, and the presence or absence of the gravel is found by ramming a bamboo down to it; a claim 6 feet by 6 feet will be bought by speculators for prices varying from 101. to 601. according to the district. In many cases the only prospecting done is a little tam bun, or merit-making, at the Pungyi IKyoung, and, relying on the value of his offerings, the prospector is able to state that a considerable thickness of gem gravel underlies his claim. When the buyer after a month's work finds it altogether absent, he does not appear to prosecute the vendor for obtaining money under false pretences, but rather to lament the poor fellow's lack of 'merit.' To accentuate this, it is possible he may cut him over the head with his da in some quiet place. A short way beyond Klong Yai, the Bo Yaka stream, and consequently just within the province of Chantabun, of which it here forms the boundary, some very fair rubies are obtained at what is known as Bo Ploi Deng, or the 'Ruby digging.' The depth of the gravel is never more than about eight feet, and it is generally worked only in the rainy season, owing to the want of water in the imme- diate neighbourhood at other times. During our stay we 'dined' with Mong Keng, and saw the ever-necessary pi e, quite the best part of which was the extemporary performance by precocious children from the audience, who took possession of the stage while the chief characters were still engaged in making up. Presents of meat and milk were poured in upon us. It accounts not a little perhaps for the Gula energy that VOL. II P 209 CHP. XXII THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXII beef and milk and even bread form such regular articles of diet, that there is a local bakery, and three or four of the inhabitants make it their business to buy cattle, and to supply milk and meat. This business is mostly in the hands of men of European descent, and to them we owed much ready assistance. It is not a very desirable exist- ence, and its hardships are many. They import a little brandy and other liquor, and in times of cholera scares doubtless deserve the two to three hundred per cent. profit which they make. All goods are imported from Chantabun by pack bullock, one piece of the trail over the divide being too rough for ox-carts in its present condition. One of the original schemes of the company was, I believe, to improve the trail again, and put up bridges at various points, where travelling is now impossible in the rains. The cost and risks of transport should, if this is effected, be much reduced. Cambodian bullocks1 are found to be unable to stand the wear and tear of pack work, and the small hardy Lao bullocks are much preferred. But it is a clumsy and inefficient kind of transport at the best. That from Battambong across the waterless plain is little better, and the bullock-carts often take a week and more getting to the mines; in the rains the trail is often practically impassable. It was obvious from what we heard that Mong Keng, after his long undisputed rule, could ill brook the dictation of Nai Compani, and that in the conflict of their interests which must follow one would inevit- ably go under. Many refused to believe that Mong Keng could ever be superseded. Yet two months after our visit the company's manager, utilising the under- Cows cost about 10s.; heifers, rinderpest has dislocated the trade, 5s.; and fully equipped pack and probably prices are now very bullocks about 11. 10s. The recent different. 210 FALL OF MONG KENG current of dissatisfaction which existed some way below the surface of things, sublet the whole of the farms at Pailin, together with those of the Nawong or western district, to a syndicate consisting of four Shins of reputa- tion, who were connected with the gem-buying industry in Chantabun, and two Siamese. Mong Keng had proved in his first year an impossible lessee for the company. In the gem trade and in other innumerable ways he worked against them, and at the same time, as he declared his inability to pay a higher rent, the company were obliged from business con- siderations to attempt to better their position. The ousting of Mong Keng by a combination of his own countrymen was absolutely the only way of doing it, and Mr. Sinclair deserves every praise for a very sound view of the neces- sities of the case, and for the wit and boldness with which he overcame its difficulties. It is pardonable to feel a bit of sympathy for the men who had gambled with death in Pailin for fifteen years, and had seen the place grow, and who loved it so that the tears came to their eyes when they thought of leaving it-and their monopolies. But the position they not unnaturally adopted towards the company made it impossible for sentiment to have a place in the question. It was one more instance of the meeting of the East and of the West, the patriarchal despot and the limited liability company; and they were not compatible. The terms on which the syndicate were empowered to go up and oust Mong Keng were shortly :- That the syndicate should pay in advance the annual rent due from the company to the Government; that they should share equally with the company the profits of all farms, the accounts of which were to be regularly rendered to the company and which were to be charged with certain annual expenses connected with the company, and that P2 211 CHAP. XXII THE (CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXIi the syndicate should buy all stones for the company free of commission, guaranteeing to take back stones and pay expenses if the cost price should not be obtainable. There were certain other stipulations with regard to the responsibility of the various members of the syndicate and their heirs and assigns, and the arrangement was made for five or six years at the option of the syndicate. Success depended entirely on the population at the mines, and the degree of opposition which might be offered by Mong Keng's adherents, or by him in his capacity of British headman and chief Siamese official. There was some attempt at first to create a feeling of unrest among the mining population, and excite them by rumours as to what the syndicate, backed by the company, was going to do. This might have had disastrous results, by scaring away the Lao, and a larger part of the Shan population. After some preliminary friction it became fairly evident that as long as the official power rested with Mong Keng, and the power of the nai pasi was vested in the syndicate, a continual conflict of interests, dangerous among excitable parties of men all fully armed, must be the result. The miners were divided into two camps, neither of which was above high-handed action if it got the chance of asserting itself. Mong Sia, the head of the syndicate, had been inclined to underestimate Mong Keng's influence at the mines, as the result showed; and I still wonder that neither Mong Sia nor any others of his party got a stray bullet through their heads when they first went up to Pailin. The Siamese Government and the British Consulate both realised the dangerous state of affairs, and the proposal was made that Mong Sia, the head of the syndicate, should be made the official headman in Mong Keng's place. His want of popularity, and a certain lack of discretion, have, however, been so evident that the matter has been postponed. Mong Keng has in the mean- 212 THE NEW REGIME time resigned his official position, as he declared it was impossible for him to carry on the duties and meet the expenses of administration, such as paying the village Kamnans, etc., while not having any of the farms. The Siamese Government has now sent a special commissioner to reside at Pailin, and, while the various local Kamnans retain their authority, there is no British headman as yet appointed. While the government of the place is thus temporarily provided for, it is a great question who is going to do the necessary repairs to roads and bridges, or take the lead in the merit-making festivals which are of no less importance. Mong Keng had sufficient influence to levy contributions from the various villages for the greater part of the former, while no little he undertook at his own expense. For the latter it is the etiquette for the farmer of the opium and gambling to provide. But Mong Sia and the syndicate are neither of them sufficiently popular to wield Mong Keng's influence, and it may well be questioned whether with two parties, the syndicate and the company, both intent on making money out of the mines, either will find it suit their inclinations or their pockets to contribute their just share to the maintenance of public works. In fact, looking at the syndicate's agreement with the company, it is hard to see where the former are going to make sufficient for their daily rice.2 2 Mong Keng formerly paid the pendently of the profit from the Governor of Battambong about sale of stones, may be calculated 300 katis (1,6001.) for the mines to have been :- with all their farms. When the com- Ticals pany acquired the concession it was Gambling. . . 44,000 for a rental of over 2,0001., and Spirit and liquor . 7,000 this for the first year was all Mong Opium . . . 36,000 Keng paid. When the syndicate's Mining Licences offer to the company was rumoured 3 tics. per abroad, he reluctantly raised his man 15000 bid to 600 katis (3,2001.) When Mining Licences 1 the syndicate outbid him and took 2 tics. per over the farms in April 1896, the woman annual revenue of the mines, inde- 102,000 = 6,8001. 213 CHAP. XXII TIE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXII The arrangements come to with the syndicate regard- ing the purchase of gems showed that the manager of the company had practically anticipated the opinions we heard from the diggers at Nawong. He was convinced of the fatal effect which a European staff would have on the excitable Gula temperament, and wisely arranged to keep the company in the background, leaving all the symbols of power in the hands of their own people, while at the same time entering boldly on the gem-buying business- again through native buyers. His plan was to have an agency in Calcutta-the only gem market where there is a chance of a good business for Siamese stones, and especially sapphires. The company, with the large re- serves it would be in a position to command, would pro- bably be able in a short time to get the greater part of the gem trade into its hands, and to control as well the general trade of the mines. Our sick men gradually mended, but Deng Lek was added to the number. As Ainslie's holiday was at an end and he had to return to Bangkok, he agreed to take Yen and Den Lek down with him to Chantabun. The in- opportune birth of a sweet-mannered little elephant reduced the already small number of elephants at his disposal to one, as the mother was too much occupied with her responsibilities to be asked to start out marching and the youngster was not yet old enough to travel. Although still ill with fever, Ainslie, in a characteristic manner, put Yen, who was very weak, on the elephant with the barang, and Den Lek on his own pony, and tramped the whole fifty miles into Chantabun. Meanwhile, with Deng and five packmen, I turned my face east. Having been over all the mines, I was only waiting for some returns from Mong Keng regarding the population, and being within a hundred miles of the great ruins of Angkor, it seemed a good opportunity to 214 MARCH TO BATTAMBONG walk over and see them, as I had long ago vowed I would do if ever within reasonable distance. The fifty miles to Battambong takes lightly equipped parties two days and a few hours. For the first six miles travelling northwards the trail descends among the last foot hills of the Patat range, through a deep jungle of forest trees to the plains. Leaving the country of the sambur and the muntjac, it takes its way across the open shadeless kok jungle to the great grass plains, the home of the swamp deer and the herons. At the boundary between the two stands the Dan, or likin barrier-a sala and a few dust-covered cottages standing in the wide scorching track known as Sala Safak or Patu Makham (Makham Gate). Here in the old days Mong Keng levied ten per cent. dues on produce entering the mines, and on every cart or pack bullock passing through, with a royal disregard of the legality of such dues and the feelings of the peasantry which it will not be possible for the company to emulate. This forms the boundary of the district of Pailin, and large caravans are often camped here, resting after the waterless march in the dry season or the fight through the clinging mud of the rains. Through a mistake of the gentleman who pro- posed to be our guide, we failed to reach any water- hole the first night, and got upon the northern trail leading along the course of the Pailin River,3 which trends away northward and becomes the Konburi River lower down, and as such ultimately unites with the Battambong and the other main streams draining the north-western portion of the plain into the Tale Sap. Our guide main- tained it was the correct course, in spite of protests based on the direction, but when we were confronted with the stream and with a considerable Cambodian village on the SThe two streams which pass Bo Din Nio and Bo Yaka unite above Sala Safak. 215 CHAP. XXI THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXII second evening, he admitted his mistake. The dtour, though it cost us an extra day, was well worth making, as it disclosed where all the life of the forest had hidden itself; and the contrast between the gigantic forest trees along its steep banks, echoing the cries of endless birds, and the shadeless, voiceless wilderness of the scorch- ing scrub all round was striking. There were hornbills, peafowl, pelicans, and herons in thousands. The cheery cry of the nok kacha, the Chinese frankolin, was very fre- quent, and in the centre of a large swamp great flocks of duck lay floating, securely protected from the gunner by many furlongs of mud and reeds. Recent elephant tracks were the only sign of big game that we saw. We camped at Ban Kadawn, a Cambodian village, be- neath a mango tree. The headman and his son, who were almost the only people who spoke Siamese, came to me for medicine for the latter's right arm. It appears that three years before he and his brother went out together to meet a predatory tiger; they killed the beast, but the lad's arm was crushed and apparently broken in two places. A strong constitution pulled him through, and the arm had mended in its own way. The poor fellows thought I could put it straight with a pill, and they were much disappointed to hear that farangs have no medicines for such purposes. Though extraordinarily like the Siamese in physical appearance, the Cambodian has not much intelligence. He is a poor geographer for a jungle man, and has the crudest notions of relative distances. A few days' travelling in these plains makes this dul- ness quite intelligible. Our next day's march was a diagonal, to cut the trail that we had lost; and after a long day in grass above our heads, where the only sign of life was the nok kacha, we hit it about nightfall, and camped with some kindly brown- burned Cambodian buffalo-drivers. The water was too 216 CHAP. XXII THE CAMBODIAN PLAIN thick to pass through the filter, and ants and mosquitoes assisted in turning us out early next morning. Consider- ing the very crude state of my own temper on these occasions, I have never ceased to admire the wonderful equanimity with which the native meets every discomfort on the trail. The grande maniire of the Gula packman, whose position in the universe is after all a fairly humble one, is always gratifying to witness. One of our men, a wiry hardy figure, tattooed from neck to knee, who was pro- tected by an imposing array of charms of gems and gold- dust let in beneath his skin, to whom nevertheless the world had not been kind, had a royal way with him which neither hunger, heat, nor weariness ever affected. What- ever he may have felt, he invariably came in at a trot to the shade of our temporary resting-place. Depositing his pack with apparent reluctance, he looked slowly round, selected the most prominent spot, and sat him down cross- legged as if the whole forest was his own. Then from his sadly empty shoulder bag he brought out his little lacquer betel and tobacco boxes, removing the covers with a flourish like an invitation to the whole world to partake of his bounty. After all he had generally to borrow a smoke from one of us, but he did it with untold dignity. The plain round Battambong, or Prattabawng, as the town is locally known, is a sea of long grasses with an occasional tree or a distant hill to the south and west alone to break it. These tundras are much frequented by herds of the Lamang, or Eld's 4 deer, and the Cambodians have a most sporting way of riding them down on pony back. The heat of the middle of the day is chosen, and an extended line of a dozen or twenty elephants is formed, Not the Sambur Rusa Aristo- seems to confine itself entirely to telis, as stated in Geogr. Journ. the forest hill country. vol. viii. No. 5. The samnbur 217 THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXI some two hundred yards in rear of the line of ponies. There are thirty or forty of these, and they are ridden bareback, the riders having only a rope rein and a long knife. As the line advances, the branching horns of the deer are seen from the elephants, darting away ahead over the grass. A shout sends five or six ponies away at full speed, and though owing to the rough nature of the ground under the long grass many falls take place, the deer is often run down in a distance of from one to three miles, generally falling exhausted as the pony comes up with it and the rider springs off to cut its throat. The proportion which escape is naturally fairly large, amount- ing to about seven out of ten. The horns of the Lamang may be seen in nearly every house in Prattabawng, and are characterised by a small additional point on the curve of the brow tine which is very prominent. The whole of this grass country is subject to in- undation when the Tale Sap is at its highest level, and as a consequence not a bamboo is to be seen in it, until the town itself is reached. This is a big jungle village of about five thousand inhabitants, of whom some two thousand are Chinese, and one or two hundred Siamese. The agricultural population of this the most densely populated part of the province cannot much exceed fifteen thousand. The chief products are rice, and fish from the great lake.5 The rains from 1892 to 1896 were insufficient, and there was a general air of dirtiness and poverty among the people, the former doubtless owing largely to the fact that it was well on in the dry season, and there was practically no water nearer than the great lake. The curse of the country is the irregularity of the water supply, to control which no effort is made. In the rains and during the rise of the lake, which is raised by the 5 About 500,000 and 200,000 pikuls respectively. 218 IN THE RAINY SEASON OF THE WIVERrV: CHAP XXII THE RIVERS OF THE PLAIN flood waters of the Me Kawng twenty feet above its ordinary level, the province may be said to be under water. In the hot weather, the river trickles as a de- generate kind of fluid approaching to the condition of a decomposing solid, deep down between steep high banks, the resort of all the buffalo in the district, for whom there is not another puddle left. The rivers of these districts and of the Korat plateau all bear a family resemblance. They rise in the sombre fever-breeding shadows of the deep jungle; they splash forth over the rocks as cheery mountain brooks into the light and sun, becoming purified as they go ; they murmur softly and a little sadly between lofty banks over clear sand bottoms, giving freshness and comfort to the wayfarer, and then their speed slackens as they reach the melancholy plains, the sand gives place to mud, the clear cool water attains a thick consistency, the rotting vegetable and animal matter rises in bursting bubbles, and water which was once charged with fever becomes the breeding-place of other no less baneful evils. And in the rains they know no moderation, but cover the whole country round. Towards their source the people living on their banks suffer mostly from remittent fever, which is worst in the rainy season; in the plains below the intermittent type is more prevalent, and that in the hot season, and cholera and dysentery make their appearance. Yet to those streams the people owe the fish they so largely live on, and the rice they entirely depend on. They are nevertheless treacherous and uncanny friends. The condition of things in Prattabawng was in marked contrast to those at Pailin. A sure index to the general indolence is the fact that there is not a well in the place. Where the governors do not take the initiative in any useful work the unenterprising Cambodian serfs can hardly do so. The Governor, Phraya Katathawn, a tall good- 219 THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. xxII looking young fellow, takes more interest in the alluring amusements of the lakon, cock-fighting, lamang-hunting, and other local forms of sport, than in the condition of his people. But he is pleasant and affable, and his faults are such as time may cure. His income is probably not much less than 200,000 ticals (13,0001.) a year. He has a large following of officials, few, if any, of whom are salaried, and who consequently have to get their means of livelihood from the people, and now and then even find it necessary to forget their debts. They do not appear to be bad or cruel men, but they are the victims of necessity. The system is that the people must give to the officials; in return it is possible that the officials will protect their supporters if occasion arises. They are all improvident, governors and governed; they are all lazy and easy-going; they are all given to the pleasures of the moment, with reckless disregard of the future. The Cambodian is ever ready to sell himself for a couple of hundred ticals, with the full intention of bolting aften ten days. As long as the system of serfdom exists, and raising money for a gamble is such a facile business, slavery will continue to be the condition of the majority of the people, and the present difficulty of hiring men for any form of work will continue. There is no doubt that in reality all parties are ultimately the losers; the buyer could hire a hundred free men much cheaper in the long run than he can now buy and keep the same number of slaves, of whom ten per cent. run away or die every year. As said Thackeray: 'It is the worst kind of economy, slavery, that can be; the clumsiest and most costly domestic and agricultural machine that ever was devised;' it certainly seems so in Battambong. The only people who show any enterprise are the Chinese and a few Shan traders. It was curious to find that the former carry on their trade exclusively by the overland route to Bangkok. Every year a number of 220 BATTAMBONG TRADE bullock-cart caravans set out and cross the waterless wilderness to the north-east, taking over two months on the journey. The trail goes by Sissopon, Wattana and Prachim ont he Bang Pakong River, from which place there is water communication with Bangkok. The majority of imports come by this route, and were there trade facilities of any sort no doubt the entire export trade would go the same way. At present only joss sticks and small expensive nicknacks are imported from Saigon, the trade with that place being handicapped by the ex- cessive tariffs for which the French colonies are so widely famed, by the high freights charged by the steamers of the Messageries Fluviales which run during high-water season,6 and by the number of regulations which harass traders going in and out of French territory. It is eloquent proof of the barriers which the French protective policy erects against the commercial success of French colonies that the trade of Battambong should still follow the long overland route to Bangkok in preference to the natural one by water to Pnompen and Saigon, which occupies as many days as the other does weeks. If such is the result of the easy navigation of the great lake, it is permissible to doubt French assertions regarding the success which is to attend the efforts to tap the trade of south-western China, or even of the Lao States, by the toilsome and dangerous Me Kawng. And it is not surprising that the total value of the export and import trade of Battambong and Siemrap does not exceed 80,0001. a year. If the French colony had not set up the restrictions on trade which have brought about this result, Battambong and Siemrap would long ago have been practically French; and their interests would have been with French Cambodia on the south, instead of with Bangkok and Siam on the north, as is the case at present. 6 Thirty cents apikul for a 36 hours' risk. 221 CHAP. XXII 222 THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CAP. XXII In due time I called on the governor, at his residence inside the old walls which form the Kampeng.7 He made it evident that he did not like my way of strolling in unannounced. The Bangkok-Saigon telegraph line passes through the Muang, and the governor is apparently accustomed to receive telegraphic information regarding people who propose to do him the honour of visiting his capital. I sympathised with him, as the town was certainly not in a condition for the eyes of strangers, and stray THE NORTH GATE, BATTAMBONG pedestrians arriving unexpectedly have a way of hearing and seeing things they are not meant to know. I was extremely sorry to incommode him. My arrival with half a dozen packmen seemed to make him very suspicious of my real intentions, and at first he seemed inclined to disbelieve that I was the head of a department in Bangkok, and as ' This word is obviously the same as the Malay Kampong, but the Siamese have, as is usual, put the accent on the last syllable, which gives it a very different sound. THE GOVERNOR my tonkra was read he scanned me with obvious distrust, doubtless increased by the simplicity of the story that I was merely going to the great Nakawn Wat. From all accounts, however, he was not entirely unjustified in being a trifle suspicious, as his experience of Europeans has not always been fortunate. At last the congenial subject of lamang-hunting dispelled the clouds, and .I was sorry not to see him again on my return. He had then gone on a hunting expedition towards Sissopon with his whole -c,. 77-_ ____ ,ho following, and a caravan of 150 ox-carts requisitioned with their drivers and cattle from the peasants round. They got nothing for their pains, but possible loss of their rice, a good part of which was cut, waiting to be carried. A French official had been appointed some time previously in connection with the carrying out by Siam of the 1893 Treaty, and a Siamese Commissioner, Pra Sakda, was selected to confer with him for a period of twelve months. Pra Sakda was at the end of that time withdrawn. but M. Roland, the French agent, still remains. 223 CHAP. XXII THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA cAP. XXTI These two men got on admirably together, for M. Roland is one of those charming Frenchmen, of whom there are too few in Indo-China, with whom it is impossible to quarrel, and Pra Sakda is one of the most honest and sensible of the Siamese. I heard nothing but good of him in the district, but unfortunately, as too often happens with Siam's best men, he was never given the power he should have had. Yet on the fact that Siam can produce such men, and on the degree of influence they are to be allowed to acquire, largely depends her future existence. Hearing that the Messageries Fluviales steamer' Phoc- kien' had arrived in the lower river, we obtained a three- chau boat, and, leaving the packmen to await our return, descended the Sangke, or Battambong stream, to Pakpria, where she lay. At this point the Sangke falls into the Konburi River, which is the most important waterway of the north-western portion of the great plain. For the first five miles below Battambong we passed villages and houses, areca, cocoanut, and bamboo. But after this the banks became low, and the narrow winding stream cut its way through a muddy soil overgrown with dense low bushes, on which the floods had left a distinct high-water mark. These rivers are the home of the monitor and the otter; the crocodile prefers the seclusion of the swampy forest of the margin of the lake. In the narrow Sangke, occasional pelicans paddled themselves about, the pied kingfisher and the little Indian kingfisher were common, with another large highly coloured bird of the same family which appeared to be the Burmese stork-billed kingfisher (Pelargopsis Burmanica); the cattle egret, the little black-billed white heron, the pond heron, the large white heron, the grey and purple herons, and doubtless many other keen fishermen pursue their favourite pastime along the banks. In the wide deep Konburi River innumerable flocks of solemn pelicans covered the brown water, and spiral columns soared aloft 224 MIGRATORY VILLAGES in the afternoons, circling far out of reach of eyesight. In the water they seem to enjoy the company of the large cormorant, of whom there were always a dozen or so in every flock of a couple of hundred, and when aloft they were joined by various herons, the cormorant being far too fond of the water and too direct in his flight to waste his time circling in an aimless manner to the clouds, even to please his friend the pelican. But the queerest of things about the district are the fishing villages, which migrate 1 v ,- - -- \\ -' - /- - _ _ _- -i as the waters recede to the middle of the lake, returning when the floods begin to rise again to the more secure banks of the rivers. Needless to say they are of very light construction-chiefly grasses and bamboos, and they stand on high piles above the surrounding mosquito-breeding scrub. The lake itself cannot be said to have a shore line; its place is taken by a dense growth of low amphibious aquatic forest growing in thick mud. In the flood season, when the lake has a depth of over three fathoms, the greater part of this forest is practically submerged for many miles VOL. II Q 225 CHAP. XXII THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA cHAP. xxII inland. In the low-water season the greater part of the lake is only three feet deep, and then the far line of forest shows up on the horizon like a range of low dark cliffs. At this time the villages inland take suddenly to pieces, and travel in unshipshape craft down the rivers to the lake, where in a few days they rise again on their stilts, a mile or two, or more, from the forest marge, and in course of time become the scene of much industry, net- drying and fish-curing, and the centre of hosts of wheeling birds and crowding boats. In a few months the water is thick and foul, emitting unpleasant odours, and laden with the refuse of the fishing industry. The heavy squalls which precede the rains warn the inhabitants of the swaying villages to retire; a few boats get swamped, and the crews get out and walk to the nearest group of piles. Then, as the waters rise, the villages are packed up, the boats seek the river months, the birds fly inland, and the dirty oily expanse of water does its duty once more as the safety-valve of the Me Kawng. The lake appears to be silting up at the rate of several inches a year; the result in the future will probably be wider inundation and deeper channels as the bottom rises and the escaping waters have to erode their way to the Me Kawng; this has already occurred in parts of the other Tale Sap in the Malay peninsula. 226 THE GREAT LAKE The ' Phockien ' was a fine screw boat with a long pro- menade deck and every comfort. She drew about seven feet, and with less draft would be able to navigate the lake for many more months in the year than is now possible. The river had at this time nearly sixteen feet of water, and was as wide as Henley Reach ; the lake where we crossed it gave only ten feet, and was drying so fast that it was the steamer's last trip for the season. The commander was a Frenchman, and he had three French officers to assist him, and a large crew of Annamites. There was one European passenger besides myself, and he was the agent of the company. There were a dozen native passengers. Very few native boats were to be seen under way, and the lake had a melancholy deserted aspect, all the life being still in the rivers. A solitary bare hill marks the entrance to Siemrap, at the northern end of the lake; but its actual mouth, screened by the tree trunks, is only made visible by a beacon on a tree. The klong is a muddy winding ditch scarcely thirty feet in width, which suffices to take a boat through the belt of swampy forest to terra firma. There were only Deng and myself, and our kit was light; we rode over the eleven miles of plain to the little town of Siemrap upon trotting bullock-carts called K'ta, which are peculiar to the neighbourhood. The comfort enjoyed in this form of travelling is about equivalent to that of galloping across country on a Horse Artillery gun-carriage. The town is very pretty, standing along the banks of the winding sandy watercourse, and shaded in dense groves of areca palms. In the country round, dotted like green islets about the parched plain, the farm places are hidden in enormous bamboo clumps, and groups of gigantic palmyras, which flourish in the sandy soil; the more feathery palms cannot live in such arid spots, and in the town, where they are wanted for their nuts and the 227 CHAP. XXI THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. xxI shade they give, a constant stream of water is supplied to them by numerous irrigation wheels placed in the stream. These wheels are ingenious contrivances, and are worked on the undershot principle, their huge fanlike floats of split bamboo being carried constantly downward by the current: as each one emerges a little hollow bamboo tube fixed on the circumference of the wheel is raised full of water. Owing to the angle at which it is fixed when it passes over the highest point it commences to discharge its contents into a launder' fitted to catch the water and run it off into the plantation. These wheels exist elsewhere in Indo-China; I saw one of similar construc- tion near Takuapa in the Malay Peninsula, and they have been noted elsewhere.8 Apparently their home is likely to have been with the Malays rather than the Cambodians, as many of the former race have settled in various parts of Cambodia, and they are certainly the more ingenious people of the two. The uniformity of level of the Siemrap stream makes it possible to use the wheels all the dry season; for, unlike the Sangke and other rivers with a rise and fall of thirty feet, the banks are only six feet deep, and throughout the driest months of the year there is always a foot or two of clear water running along the sandy bottom. When the water is very low slight dams are used to concentrate it on the wheels, and they seldom stop for want of motive power. The town is credited with about 2,000 inhabitants, and the province with 10,000. There are half a dozen small stores, containing a few piece goods and coloured yarns, and a little ironware imported by way of Bangkok; Saigon goods are voted too expensive by the peasantry of Siemrap. The Talat, or market, is fairly stocked with e On the Me Ping and on the Moar River. Mr. Daly in Proc. R. G. S. vol. iv. No. 7. 228 native fruits, but there is no lively exchange even in these commodities. Even the rice produced has not a good reputation, as it is credited with a red grain, which cannot fetch good prices. Its extreme sandiness is the most noticeable feature of the soil; there is a gentle but appreciable in- cline all the way from the low sandstone hills to the north and east, which carries off the water rapidly to the f- | wheeI lake. The deposition of the finer sediment and the crea- tion of a rich alluvial earth are thus not possible, and except in the dense forest districts, where the impetuosity of the escaping water is checked, and a rich vegetable soil is gradually deposited, the district cannot compare in SDr. Morrison calculated that the whole of the business operations of the largest trading establishment in the town could be conducted with a working capital of 101. which gives a fair idea of the facts. j_.. SIEMRAP CHAP. XXII _ .cam.- . _.... .' ~li IlY~ x-/ A ._ -- -^..-' . M y it i .. w / _ _ 1 x'. w .r " _ ,._ s 1 J _ ' /- . i _- ^ i THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXII agricultural possibilities with the poorest portions of the Me Nam plain. Siemrap, like Battambong and Chantabun, was one of the places selected as an outpost against the Cambodians after the capture of the two lake provinces by the Siamese in 1795. Each town was fortified by a rectangular Kampeng built of laterite and brick, and with their tall gateways and picturesque touches of red in the midst of eternal green, they still form imposing memorials to the energy of Praya Bodin, the Siamese officer who erected them. Another trace of the Siamese garrisons remains in the large number of their descendants who are still found in the country. Many of the soldiers settled on the soil, and marrying Cambodian women formed little military colonies. Their children's children still bear unmistakably the like- ness of their ancestors, but they have long since adopted the speech of the people round them, and though Siamese is spoken officially, the people all talk Cambodian. The governor, it is to be feared, has not been a very creditable person, but the administration has fortunately for some time been in the hands of the commissioner, Pra Inasa, one of the most pleasant and gentlemanly of Siamese officials. He was appointed for three years to carry out the terms of the Treaty with France of 1893, and he has done it to the letter. We rested in the Tumniep on a pretty grass slope by the river. The fireflies flashed beyond the stream, and in a house among the palms the sad music rose and fell all night for one of its inmates who was dead. It was very expressive of deep sorrow, and the occasional single beat of a deep-toned drum gave it something of the dignity of a funeral march. When we left at dawn it still wailed its grief across the mist. A short drive of five miles in a K'ta, the last part 230 CHAP. xxii NAKAWN OR ANGKOR WAT through magnificent ton yangs, brought us suddenly to the wide moat surrounding the great ruins of Nakawn Wat. They have been figured and photographed until their appearance is now probably as well known as the west front of Durham Cathedral; but, as with that splendid building, the reality of the stern grey masonry far exceeds all possible expectations. Of the numerous and extensive ruins which remain scattered over four degrees of latitude and as many of longitude to attest to the power of the old Cambodian empire, that of Nakawn Wat is the most per- fect and best preserved. The ruins have been ably studied and described by Mouhot, Thomson, de Lagree and Garnier, and by many later writers. To the visitor from Siam, where all the great brick Wats of the last century and earlier, such as those at Ratburi, Ayuthia, and Pitsunalok, have been to a great extent copied from the Cambodian ruins, the form and details of the towers seem familiar. The snake ornamentation which is common in Siam on the gable ends, roof ridges, and elsewhere, and which marks the undoubted influence of Brahminism, is also very pro- minent at Nakawn Wat. But owing to the material of which it is built, the consummate skill with which the enormous blocks of sandstone are fitted together, the wonderful intricacy of the detail, and the grandeur and completeness of the design, the great Wat stands facile princeps of all buildings of its style. Recent investigation all goes to show that it was the earliest of the important works of the great building race of Cambodia, and that it was built as a Brahminical temple, and not for snake worship 1 or for Buddhism.2 Before its completion, how- ever, there is evidence that Buddhism became the religion of the court of the country, and it was converted to a SFergusson's History of Archi- 2 Garnier, Explorationde l'Indo- tecture; Tree and Serpent Wor- Chind, q.v. ship, q.v. 231 THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXI Buddhist shrine. As Thomson shows,3 the building was never actually finished, and when the empire was destroyed it remained incomplete in several of its parts. The majority of the other buildings, such as those of the city of Nakawn Tom, and elsewhere, were constructed apparently subsequently to the conversion. The characters of the Sanskrit inscriptions which remain, in which the forms of the letters are identical with those of Eastern India, show beyond all doubt that the building people were immigrants from India. They were apparently first a trading people forming distant settlements, factories, and colonies, and then, as the pressure of the advancing races on the north increased, a great migration to their colonies began, and they fought their way in among the weaker and more disorganised peoples of the south-western corner of Cambodia. The extensive remains of the fifth century at Hatien, near the sea, mark the course they took. They subjugated the inhabitants of the present plain of Cambodia, and spread their power and their arts as far as Korat. It is generally said that these people were the K'mer, but it has been suggested that the K'mer were really the Kamer (Siam, Karmen), the native race inhabiting this portion of Indo-China, and answering to the Kache and other Ka tribes, of the northern part, which the Tai (the Lao and Siamese) displaced in their descent into the valley of the Me Nam. According to this theory these Kamer were subjugated by the new arrivals, and formed the coolie force employed by the conquerors in the erection of their great buildings. They were not therefore the building race, except in so far as they provided the manual labour for the quarries on the roads, and for the erection of the masses of stonework. The brains which planned, the eyes that watched, and the arms that compelled were those of the not numerous but highly artistic conquering "Malacca, Indo-China, and China, q.v. 232 THE OLD BUILDERS race, and to them must be also due directly the remarkable sculptures of Nakawn Wat.4 The decadence of the race is marked by the substitution of laterite 5 for sandstone, and finally brick for laterite in the materials of the buildings. That it finally died out and disappeared before the assaults of war and sickness, leaving the Kamen much in the state in which it originally found them, is certainly a more reasonable supposition than that the present dull-witted Kamen, or Cambodians, are the direct descendants of the immigrants from India lapsed back into a state of savagery. The physiognomy, character, and traditions of the Kamen make it probable that they are an Indo-Chinese race, the same originally as the Mons or Talaings, with whom their language has much in common even at the present day, and from whom they were separated by the immigration of the Tai into central Siam. Of the several principal groups of ruins 6 in the neigh- bourhood of Nakawn Wat, those at Nakawn Luang, or the royal city,' are the most remarkable and extensive. The size of the moat round the walls, and the immense pro- portions and the solidity of the gateways, make the entrance to the city one of the most imposing scenes in the neigh- bourhood. An appreciation of the extent of the buildings can only be gained by visiting all the ruins of the district, and to do this adequately a week would be necessary to the most dilettante observer. A go of fever and lack of time prevented my making visits to them all, but there was food for months of reflection in a half of them. Not the least remarkable, although less showy, are the 4 This view is, I believe, taken by general till later. Captain Gerini. 6 Concisely enumerated by Mr. 5 In some of the early buildings Curzon in Geogr. Journ. vol. ii. laterite seems to have been used No. 3, p. 209. for foundations and lower courses ' Or Angkor Thom. of stonework, but its use was not 233 CHAP. XXII THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP,. XXII causeways and bridges which connected the buildings of old, and mark better than anything else the thoroughness of the old builders. The greater part of my time I spent at the great Wat, which, like all great and noble buildings, has the faculty of growing upon one the better one knows it. The multiplicity of the horizontal lines of the string- courses which ornament the lower story, the raised terrace on which the building stands, give a unique effect of size and solidity to the whole; and the massive stone roofing, the sloping lines of which assist in leading the eye upward and giving the necessary impression of height, seems to be one of the masterpieces of architecture. Not only does this roof play an important part in the orna- mentation of the design, but without it the building would long since have gone the way of all the others. It has proved the finest roof in architectural history: what other 234 AN UNIQUE ROOF has preserved the building entrusted to its charge through a thousand years of sun, rain, and wind in the way which this has done? What other could have defied the warping sunbeams and changing temperatures, and even the Q bursting powers of the insidious peepul t roots? The most vulnerable point of our churches, notwithstanding their stone vaultings, is the roof, and here this wondrous construction is as sound to-day as the foundation on which it -- stands. It is this roofing which makes Nakawn Wat incomparable, and which places it in a far higher rank than buildings of the pagoda shape, however elaborate, such as those at Boro-Bodor ,r or in Burma. A number of resident monks were living before the west front of the great building in little thatched cottages, like those usually attached to jungle monasteries. Among them were a considerable number of pilgrims from Korat and other places. These men complained bitterly of the treatment they received at the hands of French visitors coming to the Wat by the lake steamers from Cambodia, of whom some seventy or eighty arrive every year. They cut their names all over the ruins, and are surly and domineering to the monks, demanding little pras, or images, to take away as curios, and cursing and even striking them if they are not satisfied. They go by night with hatchets to knock off pieces of the ornamentation, and the bolder sort blow off pieces with their guns. A number of Gulas from Pailin were camped near us in a sala. There were a dozen men and a couple of women, who had done well in gems in the past year, and 235 CHAP. XXII THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXII therefore determined to set out and make a little merit by visiting the far-famed Wat all made of stone. We exchanged visits and tobacco, and their indignation at the condition the great building was allowed to get into was in striking contrast to the savagery of which the monks complained. As we all sat smoking in the evening before the cruciform steps of the main entrance, a Cam- bodian monk asked 8 why people came so far to see a building which was half grown over by the jungle, and inhabited by countless bats. The reply came from the old Tongsu who was on his knees gazing at the dark facade before him, 'I came because I had never seen it.' The reason was unintelligible to the dull Cambodian, but it was sufficient for the enterprising Shan. Not to have been to see with his own eyes and add to his sum of merit by worshipping in so sacred a place was an omission to be repaired as soon as he should have sold gems enough to go. His companions murmured their assent. They had just returned from placing the tapers before the western door- way, where they now flickered lighting up the shadows. As they settled themselves to their cheroots, one of the women, a kindly brave old lady, for whom the journey had had no terrors, broke out on the squatting monks around in vehement abuse which was good to hear: 'If we Gulas had such a Wat as that to tend, we should not let the bats and jungle deface it as you do. What do you here? Do you call it making merit sitting and doing nothing? This is not the way Gulas tambun.' s The rest of the party joined in heartily, and, what was more sur- prising, the crestfallen group of monks seemed to admit the righteousness of the outburst. Then ensued a series of exclamations from the Gula circle about the beauty of the s In Siamese, that being the language generally used between strangers, whatever their own tongue, throughout Siam. 9 Make merit. 236 SHAN ENTHUSIASTS building; they put the religious to one side for a moment, and gave themselves up to the contemplation of the artistic and historical. Their genuine appreciation of its beauties astonished me, for I had no idea that the native mind could regard a building from such a point of view. Wonder at the size and fitting of the stones one might expect, or astonishment at the labour it bore witness to; but in the Gulas the sense of the beautiful and the majestic caused by the architectural effect of the building had overcome all other impressions in a remarkable manner. The next morning, Christmas Day, when we rolled up our blankets at dawn, the monks had not yet begun their chanting, but our Gula friends were already at their devotions; their tapers burned at the great doorway, and their pink headgear and white jackets looked bright and cheerful in the half-light against the grand sombre mass behind. Doubtless it seldom looks down on a prettier- dressed group of devotees. A few hours later the effect of the candid criticism of the night before was already apparent. A number of monks were at work clearing the jungle in the inner court- yards with long das; one was already finished, and a cloud of smoke rolled up from the pile of branches which crackled in the centre. And the Gulas superintended with smiles of satisfaction. The return journey to Pailin was not eventful, and was pleasant enough. From Battambong we kept the more southerly track; if the heat was great and the mud thick to drink, there was the memory of what we had seen to occupy the mind, and the thought of the litt]e boat lying ready at Chantabun and the green cool sea beyond. From Pailin we took the direct track to Chantabun, a pretty journey among big trees and bamboo brakes, and along a few chawng clearings on the hillside. The trail, after skirting its eastern slopes, passes over the lowest part of the Kao Patat range 237 CHAP. XXI THE CAMBODIAN PENINSULA CHAP. XXII almost at the foot of the noble mass of Kao Sai Dao. The peaks are variously known among the Siamese-speaking people as Kao Sai Dao, Nam Kio, Sam Yawt, or Prabat, and they have many more names among the Cambodians. On the last morning, as we descended to the Chantabun valley, and an easterly gale roared about us, and tore the clouds across the moon in fragments, to my great astonish- ment, soon after sunrise we were met by emissaries of the governor, and a worthy Pra rode up breathlessly and fell upon his knees with profuse apologies for not having met me earlier. Buffalo-carts came out laden with sugarcane and cocoanuts, mats were spread in the villages, and in short it was evident that a triumphal progress was before us, which, however well merited by persons so distinguished, was certainly unexpected. There were mysterious allusions to my great knowledge on all subjects connected with the ills of the flesh, and by all accounts the governor displayed a solicitude for my welfare which was quite at variance with the indifference he had manifested when I left two months before. I began to suspect a mistake, but it was no good to suggest I was not the man whom they expected. And so, as these official attentions had not been too fre- quent with me recently, I condescended to fully excuse the good Pra for his dilatoriness, and Deng and I did our best to enjoy the luxuries at our disposal, an occupation in which the packmen, who graciously accepted the compliments and attentions paid us, joined us with a will. Thereafter we entered Chantabun in state, and no sooner had I repaired to the hospitable bungalow of Nai Compani than mes- sengers arrived in hot haste from the governor, begging that I would honour him by a visit as soon as ever I was rested. It was Sinclair who unravelled the mystery by asking if I had seen or heard anything of the distin- guished Australian traveller Dr. G. E. Morrison, who was expected over from Battambong. The cocoanuts and sugar- 338 CHAP. xxII A GRATIFYING RECEPTION 239 cane were meant for him, and as soon as I appeared along the trail the good people of course thought I must be the expected farang of note and wisdom, and never dreamt I had no right to the good things sent out. I kept my friend the governor undeceived until I walked round in the evening, and thanked him heartily for the handsome way in which he had made amends for his former omission. When the poor doctor arrived three weeks later no second enthusiasm could be raised. I had stolen his welcome; but I think he has forgiven me. /// I'11,1/ -_ - _ . SIAM IN 1896-7 CHAPTER XXIII SIAM IN 1896-7-RECENT LEGISLATION THE question which overshadowed all others in Siam when I left the country in November 1896 was that of the registration of Asiatic subjects carried on by the French consular officials. The system, with its resulting com- plications, had, since 1893, created a wholly new situation for which, as far as I am aware, there is no precedent in any country. It turns on Art. 4 of the Convention of October 3, 1893, which reads: 'The Siamese Government shall hand over to the French Minister at Bangkok or the French frontier authorities all the French Annamite and Laotian subjects of the left bank (of the Me Kawng) as well as the Cambodians detained under any pretext whatever. They shall set no obstacle in the way of the return to the left bank of the former inhabitants of that district.' The first part of this clause was inserted by the French under the impression that the Siamese had, according to the custom of JuIndo-China in old days, deported a number of prisoners of war into Siam whom they prevented from returning home. The clause contains no new provision as to the nationality of former inhabitants of the left bank. The first part refers to persons who were French subjects at the date of the convention, the second to another class of persons who had not that status. The latter were to be allowed to return to the left bank. Nothing is said of 240 CHAP. XXIII CHAP. XXIII THE CONVENTION OF '93 any of this class of persons who elected to stay in Siam. The silence of the convention on this point, and all known law and custom, would lead to the conclusion that they were to remain Siamese subjects. In further proof of this it may be added that a clause on this point was proposed on the French side in 1893, but dropped on the opposition of the Siamese; and the want of such a support to the position he had taken up was, at a later date, complained of by M. Pavie. The French interpretation has long been that sons or even grandsons of persons who came to the right bank, even though they have been born and domiciled in Siam, and have never been near the Me Kawng-who have their homes and property in Siam, and who in language and customs have become Siamese, and have no desire whatever to go elsewhere-that such people have, by the above clause, had their nationality altered, and have a right therefore to be registered as French subjects. The Siamese Government has always, as far as I have been able to discover, allowed all persons belonging to the left bank to return thither if they wished; but they have also always maintained that Article 4 cannot make French subjects or protected persons of those who elect to remain, much less of persons whose more or less remote ancestors crossed-or are said to have crossed-the Me Kawng. Any person who would pay the requisite fee, plus a little douceur according to his means, to the 'touts' who waited about Bangkok fishing for promising subjects, and who was ready to affirm that his ancestor came from the left bank, could get his registration paper without further proof being asked for. The simplicity of the ordeal had a charm for many, as may be supposed, especially for those wishing to evade military or other governmental service. It was in direct contrast to the vigorous inquiries made at the British Consulate of all who attempted to VOL. II R 241 SIAM IN 1896-7 evade the Siamese authorities by claiming to be British subjects. It is probable that the total number of people thus registered, and claimed to be protected by the ex-territorial jurisdiction of the French, does not exceed 6,000, including the Kas of the Nan highlands, and the Laos, Cambodians and Annamites. But the trouble caused by these people has been such that it is no exaggeration to say that the work of some of the departments has been doubled. The smallest matter in connection with the most dis- reputable of these people (and it is notorious that they included very many law-breaking individuals who found it convenient to flaunt a French paper in the face of the officials) was taken up by the French Consulate with vehemence. The registration papers granted by the French Consulate were not naturally, when they stood alone, accepted by the Siamese as conclusive proof of nationality. Registration is a formality required of a Frenchman; but if by error applied to the subject of another Power it does not transform him into a Frenchman. In the case of a person coming from Europe, it may be held as presumptive evidence of his nationality. But the case of an Asiatic born and domiciled in Siam, whose parents and grand- parents have lived in Siam, is entirely different, and the Siamese maintained that a registration paper-which could be obtained by mere assertion and paying of money -must be backed by some sort of proof, if the holder was to be regarded as the subject of another Power. In the meantime the continued aggressive action of certain French officials and commercial agents on what is known as the twenty-five kilometre zone, and on that part of the old province of Luang Prabang which lay on the right or Siamese bank of the Me Kawng, has brought about results most damaging to Siam, and has greatly weakened her power over these portions of her territories. 242 CHAP. XXIII THE TREATY OF '93 The articles of the Treaty of October 3, 1893, which affect them are as follows:- 'Article 3.-The Siamese Government shall construct no fortified post or military establishment in the provinces of Battambong and Siemrap, and within a radius of twenty- five kilometres on the right bank of the Mekong. 'Article 4.-Within the zones stipulated by Article 3 the police shall be carried on according to custom by the local authorities with the contingents strictly necessary. No armed force, regular or irregular, shall be maintained there. 'Article 5.-The Siamese Government undertakes to open negotiations within six months with the French Government with a view to the settlement of the Customs and commercial system of the territories specified in Article 3, and the revision of the Treaty of 1856. Until the conclusion of this agreement no Customs Duties shall be established within the zone specified in Article 14. The French Government shall continue to grant recipro- city to the products of the said zone. 'Article 6.-As the development of the navigation of the Mekong may entail certain works on the right bank, or establishments for relays of boats and stores of wood and coal, the Siamese Government engages to grant any necessary facilities for this purpose on the request of the French Government. 'Article 7.-French citizens, subjects, or those under French protection (ressortissants) shall travel and trade freely, if provided with a pass issued by the French authorities in the territories specified in Article 3. Reciprocal rights will be accorded to the inhabitants of the said zones.' It is obvious that the sovereignty of the King of Siam is here recognised over the territories specified in Article 3. How else can the Siamese Government enter into R2 243 CHAP. XXIII engagements with regard to the zones which are there enumerated? Certain limitations are placed before the exercise of that sovereignty; but there is no statement or implication of any further curtailment of the King of Siam's sovereign rights, or of any part of the 'said zones' being excluded from these clauses. The object of Articles 3 and 4 was to prevent the possibility of the Siamese attempting by force of arms to invade or recover any part of the country they had yielded to France, and the latter was aimed at preventing the formation of an efficient force under the guise of police. Yet, on the ground that they had no business in the 'zone ' and were infringing the treaty, postmen with their mails and Siamese civil officials have been arrested, or warned off, by the French 'commercial agents,' with such frequency that the Siamese power is practically abolished there. The French agents for 'local ' authority read' native born' (i.e. Lao) authority; and they further assumed that such native, or Lao, authorities were to be left with- out supervision by the Siamese. This course could only end in anarchy. There is no provision for it in the treaty, and the expression used, 'with the contingents strictly necessary,' shows that efficient police machinery was regarded by those who framed it as indispensable. Of that part of the old province of Luang Prabang which lay on the right bank no mention was made in the treaty, except in so far as part of it, on the river side, was in the twenty-five kilometre zone, and so came under clauses 3 to 7. Yet in September 1894 the second Governor of Luang Prabang crossed from the left or French bank of the Me Kawng, and established himself on the Siamese shore. At the same time two more officials from the French side crossed to Chaiburi and Hongsawadi in Siamese territory. 244 SIAM IN 1896-7 CHAP. XXII CHAP. xxIII FRENCH ENCROACHMENTS These people then commenced to collect taxes in the name of the 'King' of Luang Prabang, and arrested Siamese officials at Chieng Mai and Paklai, sending them, actually in chains, to Luang Prabang. The Siamese commissioner complained to the gover- nor of Luang Prabang, but could obtain no reply except a verbal one from the second governor that the matter was one they, the governors, could give no answer upon, but was one entirely between the French and Siam. The French 'commercial' agents have throughout acted as political agents; and from their commercial residences on the right bank they have wielded political power, over territory undoubtedly belonging to Siam, in a high-handed and domineering manner of which the home Government cannot be aware. The contention on which these actions are based by the French agents is that the governor of Luang Prabang was an independent 'King,' and as such continues to wield sovereignty on the right bank of the Me Kawng, the King of Siam having no right over that portion of the territory. As a matter of fact the title of ' King' has been com- monly given by European explorers to the chiefs of all the more important Lao provinces, such as Chieng Mai, Nan, Luang Prabang and Bassac, owing to a very general mis- conception of their titles, and none of these gentlemen would be able to control their astonishment if they were told they were independent monarchs. As has been shown by Lord Rosebery and proved by Mr. Curzon, neither the French Government nor the French writers on Indo-China ever before recognised any other sovereignty over Luang Prabang than that of the King of Siam. The convention, supplementary to the treaty of August 13, 1856, for the encouragement of commerce 245 SIAM IN 1896-7 between Annam and Luang Prabang, shows how the re- lations between Siam and Luang Prabang were regarded at that time. The convention was made with the Pleni- potentiary of the King of Siam ; it refers throughout to 'Siamese' in contradistinction to Frenchmen, to Siamese authorities at Luang Prabang and to 'judges nominated by the King of Siam'; once only does the official now designated King appear, and then by the less dignified but more appropriate title of ' Governor of the Province.' Subsequently, when the French Consular Agent was appointed at Luang Prabang, it was with the Siamese Government that the arrangements were made, and he had to communicate; and an analogy was even drawn by a committee of the Senate between Luang Prabang and 'Chieng Mai which is situated with regard to English possessions in a position analogous to that of Luang Prabang in regard to Annam.' Furthermore, it will be remembered that military ex- peditions have been sent by the King of Siam to Luang Prabang territory, which reoccupied Luang Prabang after it had been burnt by the Haw, and which on several occasions conducted operations against the marauders in the Luang Prabang territory lying to the east. The chief of Luang Prabang has always himself fully recognised the sovereignty of the King of Siam. The old chief was retired by the Siamese Government, as we have seen, in 1890, and the present chief, as well as thLe uparaj, the second governor, were both appointed from Bangkok, and paid homage to the King in Bangkok. All survey and other expeditions went there under the authority of the King of Siam alone; and the Royal Commissioner resident in Luang Prabang supervised the carrying out of the laws of the whole kingdom, punished the local chiefs, appointed commissioners under him, reviewed on appeal decisions of lower courts, and had the 246 CHAP. XXIII CHAP. XXII THE SIAMESE POSITION finest establishment of any chieftain; while it was only by letters in the name of the King of Siam that foreign explorers could travel and obtain assistance from the Luang Prabang authorities. In fact, Luang Prabang was in every way on precisely the same footing as Chieng Mai, Nan, Bassac, Korat, Sungkla, or Puket, where the Ka Luang, or Royal Commissioner, is the man who wields the power and administers the government; and the Chao Muang is the ornamental head-piece, and drinks the water of allegiance to the King of Siam at the hands of his commissioners with never-failing punctuality once in every six months. Hence it would appear that the King of Siam is still the sovereign over that part of Luang Prabang not ceded by the treaty, and is recognised as such by the silence of the treaty on the subject, except in so far as part of it comes 'within a radius of 25 kilometres on the right bank of the Mekong' (Art. 3). It is therefore competent to him to appoint whom he will to rule there in the place of the chief of Luang Prabang; and the latter could only collect taxes, and exercise such powers of sovereignty as his agents have done, by permission of the King of Siam. Two further consequences would follow if the French contention could be accepted. First, the treaty of 1893 would be inoperative with regard to Luang Prabang, for the King of Siam would have no power to cede another monarch's territory; and, secondly, the 'King' of Bassac would have to be recognised as independent also, and that part of the province of Bassac which lies on the left or French bank of the river would still be his, notwith- standing any treaty made by the King of Siam. But no such claim, it is hardly necessary to say, has been advanced. The Siamese Government has made constant and 247 SIAM IN 1896-7 repeated efforts to get these matters arranged on a logical and proper basis. It has addressed memoranda to M. Hanotaux and the Government in Paris, as well as to the French Minister in Bangkok. Its endeavours to arrive at some systematic understanding and its proposals for arbitration have not however until recently been responded to. Its task was designedly made more difficult by the persistent policy of misrepresentation adopted by the French Indo-Chinese press. Alarmist telegrams were constantly sent to Europe, with the object of alienating public sympathy from Siam, and giving rise to the im- pression that the state of affairs in the country demanded forcible action on the part of the neighbouring French Colonies. The glaring misstatements contained in the news fabricated in French Indo-China are now appreciated at their proper value in Europe, and it has therefore become unnecessary to give a detailed refutation of them here. The object of these tactics is well known. Notwith- standing the Eldorado optimistic French explorers had represented it to be, the Lao country acquired by France in 1893 has proved to be thinly populated, to be difficult of access, and to be an additional burden to the already distressed finances of the Indo-Chinese Empire. The Korat plateau and Battambong to which Colonial Frenchmen have been wont to look with longing eyes, notwithstanding the treaty of 1867 between France and Siam, are now pretty well known to hold out little hope of anything much better. Hence it is to Bangkok and the rich plain of the Me Nam that they now look as the only hope of their over-tariffed official-burdened colony. There is no con- cealment about it whatever, and every French paper in the East has long been full of exhortations for immediate advance. 248 CHAP. XXIII CHAP. XXIIIm FRENCH COLONIAL POLICY The Anglo-French agreement of January 1896 was a rude blow to these hopes. But it was not suffered to damp them for long. The agreement, as already mentioned, was declared to be a betrayal of the rights of France, and an absurdity which could not stand, and might be ignored. At the same time the fact could not be lost sight of that it was an index to the policy of the Quai d'Orsay, which has never encouraged the reckless disregard of treaty obligations which is one of the characteristics of the French Colonial party. The guarantee of the Me Nam Valley at least showed that the home Government had no intention of any further aggressive action towards Siam, or of undertaking any new territorial responsibilities in that region. Under these circumstances, all whose ambition and prospects depended on the enlargement of French territory at the expense of Siam perceived that the only hope was to create a feeling of unrest, to alienate the sympathy of European nations from the Siamese, and then one day, by the adroit management of a quarrel, effect a coup which might force the French Government into a position from which they could not retreat. The visit of his Majesty to Europe will probably have done much to render the success of these tactics impossible. People now know what is the character and what are the aims of the King, and they refuse to believe in such a state of things as the Indo-Chinese press has invented for its own purposes. At the same time a more just appreciation of the actual facts of the case is being shown by the leading journals in Paris, and it is to be hoped that the outcome of his Majesty's visit to that capital will be a satisfactory arrangement of all differences-a result which will be to the interest of all parties concerned. The best reply to the slander of interested foes is to be found in the solid advance which has been made by the 249 SIAM IN 1896-7 Siamese Government since the Anglo-French guarantee of the Me Nam Valley in January 1896. In December 1895 it was pointed out in the ' Times' that if there were any certainty in the political future, and the integrity of the country could be guaranteed for a few years, the rulers, who were dispirited under the prevailing uncertainty, might be expected to bestir themselves in the effort to make the advance which was felt by all to be absolutely necessary to the future existence of the country. And so it has turned out. The advance of the last eighteen months has been so marked that in the opinion of the late Mr. Wolseley Lewis, a very competent judge, whose opinion is entitled to an unusual amount of respect, it far surpasses anything that Siam's best friends had dared hope for, and may well constitute a new departure in the history of the country. It would have been impossible a few years ago for the King to leave the country as he has recently done. It is satisfactory evidence of the reality of the sup- port which he can now rely on from his ministers that the Council of Regency has carried on the Government for the nine months of his absence with vigour and success. Briefly, the measures of the most importance which have been passed by the Legislative Council are : A Law of Evidence, 1896, which was a very necessary simplification of the existing rules on the subject, which were confused and impracticable to a degree. A Civil Procedure Act, and a transitory Law of Criminal Procedure, 1896, which were both much needed, with a Provisional Court ordinarrnce. The Pawn Shop Regulation, 1896. The Mining Regulation, Oct. 1896. The Harbour Regulation, 1897. The Regulation on Timber Marks, 1897. 250 CHAP. XXIII CHAP. XXIII RECENT LEGISLATION The Regency Act made necessary by the King's visit to Europe, which, however, only received the formal ap- proval of the Council. The Village Regulations, passed in May 1897. And a new Forest Regulation, 1897. Since 1895, a European Legal Adviser has been appointed to sit in the International Court, to give the judges his opinion on all matters of law. In the judg- ment it must be stated whether the decision is in accord with or against this opinion; and if the latter, the opinion must be recorded, so that if an appeal is made the argu- ments in it can be used by the appellant. This forms a long-necessary safeguard against the extraordinary decisions which formerly were too frequent, and is a new departure of great importance. The despatch of business, and the quality of the work done, has been much improved. The criminal procedure, which has been the greatest blot on Siamese administration, has been revolutionised, and the stain, as far as the capital is concerned, may be said to be almost entirely removed. The three Judicial Commissions appointed in 1896 were given powers for twelve months. The first had to dispose of unfinished cases still pending; the second, of cases not yet tried at all; and the third, of cases all the documents of which had been lost or destroyed.' These Commissions sat four days a week, visited the prisons, and disposed of nearly 2,000 cases. The time already spent in prison by the unfortunate people was allowed in computing the sentence, and in the first Com- mission over 200 were libcated as having already fulfilled their sentences. A new Commission was appointed at the end of 1896 to the Ayuthia provinces, armed with full powers to E.g. as often happens by white ants. 251 SlAM IN 1896-7 inspect prisons, institute inquiries, try cases, and even to try and punish the provincial judges if necessary, The Commission consisted of Mr. Kirkpatrick, the legal adviser, Prince Rabi, whom Oxford men will remember, and another Siamese gentleman. The work they have done has been so thorough, so impartial, and so novel that the country people look upon the Commission as the greatest thing that has ever been done among them. Judges who had condemned innocent men have had to undergo themselves the sentences they passed on their victims; and hundreds of innocent or untried folks have been brought out of prison, and sent rejoicing home. The results have been so remarkable, that similar methods are to be extended, it is hoped, throughout the country. Another important work is the Revision of the Criminal Code, for which a Committee was appointed in 1896. Of the Regulations passed by the Legislative Council, that with regard to the Pawnshops has been obstructed for nearly two years by the Consular body, of whom a small minority, consisting of the French and Portuguese representatives, refused to signify their approval of it. The chief source of difficulty was the amount of the fee. The Siamese proposed that the not exorbitant amount of 100 ticals (61. 13s. 4d.) should be required of all pawnbrokers, for the unanswerable reason that they considered there should be some restraint put on pawn- broking. The number of pawnshops in Bangkok has for years given rise to complaint and dissatisfaction among Europeans of all classes and nationalities, on the ground of the direct encouragement given by them, in the absence of all restrictions, to robbery and thieving of every kind. Now that the Siamese attempt to improve matters, those who are foremost in blaming them for their general in- action are the most prominent obstructionists. 252 CHAP. XXIII CHAP. XXIII PAWNSHOP REGULATION The objectors regard it as their duty rather to en- courage their subjects to make money than to consider the good of the community, or of the country to which they are accredited. The Consular body agreed to require a European Inspector of Pawnshops, and in this respect the Siamese Government were perfectly prepared to meet them. But the objectors further demanded that each nationality should have an inspector of its own-that for instance the thirty or forty Macao Chinamen, who with the exception of a few half-castes are almost the only persons in Siam whom the Portuguese Consul has to protect, should have a European Portuguese Inspector of their own. The objectors even went so far at first as to want to re- draft the whole regulation, until their confreres pointed out that their duties were fortunately not to legislate for Siam, but merely to guard against the possible curtailment of treaty rights. The story forms a good example of the unreasonable and unnecessary obstruction which can be caused by consular officials who are minded to interfere.2 The extension of the privileges of extra-territoriality to Asiatics seems to be an unfair and irrational widening of its original scope. There can, of course, be no question of its necessity in the case of Europeans under certain circumstances; but its indiscriminate extension to all classes of Asiatics bears undoubtedly very hardly on the Government of the country where it exists. Such an increase of its boundaries seems, when one has seen its results in practice, to be unsupported by the argu- ments of necessity or expediency, and to be rather an 2 The words of the late King on 'desired I would not allow any this subject to Sir John Bowring intemperate man to come and now read rather pathetically. He cause quarrels.' 253 SIAM IN 1896-7 unwarrantable addition to the difficulties it must anyhow impose on the administration. It is unfortunate, but perhaps unpreventable, that it places great power in the hands of men who are, in many cases, not fitted by nature or education to wield it. I have known an extensive and bitter correspondence to last for months on such a question as whether the Siamese Government had a right to grant a concession of mining land, a former concession of which had been cancelled for non-payment of rents and other departures from the terms of the agreement. The legality of the cancellation was not disputed, but the Consul contended that the land should have been kept open, to be regranted to his countryman the defaulter, should he again apply for it. Instances of this sort of argument could be multiplied to show that it is not always the Siamese who are unreason- able, and that extra-territoriality as it has been conducted in Siam is not an unmixed benefit to everybody. The mining regulation has been for twelve months in practically the same position. It was passed in October 1896, and was to have been put into force in April 1897; but the Consuls have referred it to their Governments for sanction, and it now has to wait.3 In the meantime the Mining Department is as good as abolished for all the good it can do, and things at Puket go from bad to worse. The King has recognised that financial reform is of the first necessity, and has in his own bold way announced his intention of having the whole question gone into by a capable authority, with the object ultimately of publish- ing a budget. Such an innovation cuts at the root of things; and Mr. Mitchell-Innes, of the Diplomatic Service, is the man who has been lent by the British Government s Under these circumstances it is impossible to give it in the Appendix, as was intended. 254 CHAP. XXIII FINANCIAL REFORM for this herculean task. This year he has been given the assistance of two able lieutenants, Mr. Grahamn and another British official from Burma, and it may safely be said that the work these gentlemen have before them is not only likely to be the most difficult, owing to the opposition they are bound to meet with, but also the most prac- tically useful, and, in its results to the country, the most far-reaching that has been entrusted to any Europeans. Already I understand the majority of the tax-collectors have been made into salaried officials, and control is being exercised generally over the collection of the revenue. One can imagine no deadlier blow at the sanctity of Tamniem. In the recent abolition of large numbers of the gambling dens, and the resolution to supersede gambling as a source of revenue by other and more wholesome taxes, the Government has not only cut deep at the great national vice, but has indirectly hit hard at slavery. The reform is, to my mind, one of the most important ever undertaken in Siam; and too much cannot be said in praise of the spirit which has prompted it. The Government has been in the past so particularly blind to the methods of collect- ing revenue, provided the results in ticals were satisfactory, that this marks a wide and most promising departure from the accustomed usage. It is not too much to say that half the slavery, and three-quarters of the crime about the capital, have been due to the reckless love of gambling. Far from being discouraged in the past, Chinese gambling-houses have been licensed in such numbers that even the well-in- tentioned could hardly ignore their invitation. There was no moderation for the Siamese, under such circumstances. He gambled to his last att; forgetful of all else, he stole anything he could. Here, again, the Chinese pawnbrokers were eager to encourage him. Openly, in the broad light 255 rHAP. XxIII SlAM IN 1896-7 of day, they cheerfully received all the stolen goods he could collect. And when that game was played out he could sell himself for another advance to the nearest chief. It was State aid to ruin with a vengeance. The police force of the capital, which, it has been already hinted, has long called for complete reorganisation, has at last been taken in hand. The first and most important point was the officering, and able European inspectors have now been engaged. They will not allow the force to loaf away its existence in the old way, and thus a great and very important change may be looked for. The policing of the country districts will be greatly improved by the village regulation, which is based on old Indo-Chinese lines, and which, it may be regarded as certain, will be very efficiently administered by Prince Damrong. A second hopeful step in the direction of the suppres- sion of dacoity is the appointment of a Danish officer, Major Schau, to the command of the gendarmerie of the interior, although his loss to the army will be very great. Unfortunately, so far, I believe, he has neither money nor men, and continues to reside in Bangkok, to the satis- faction of his many friends. The Survey Department is now engaged on a cadastral survey of the Me Nam Plain, and during Mr. McCarthy's absence in India and in Europe in connection with the outline map of Siam, now being published, Mr. Ronald Giblin has been in charge, and a considerable addition has been made to the staff of the department by the engage- ment of experienced men from India and Burma, whose services have been put at the disposal of the King by the Indian Government. The Forest Department has received similar reinforce- ments; and, as already pointed out, education is beginning to make a decided forward movement. 256 CHAP. XXIII CHAP. xxIII THE GENERAL ADVISER In all these matters the largest share of the credit is due to M. Rolin Jacquemyns, the general adviser to the Government, who against much opposition, both among Siamese and Europeans, has toiled with a loyalty and singleness of purpose which cannot but have their reward. He has had some, at least, of the work of nearly all the divisions of the Government on his shoulders, and his assistance and advice to the heads of the various depart- ments have been invaluable. His Majesty has, with his usual perspicacity, recognised in him a trusty friend, and has placed the utmost confidence in him. The result has been a far more rapid despatch of public business than was formerly possible. The visit of his Majesty to Europe may in many ways have very important consequences, not in the least of which will be that it will show his subjects, more clearly than anything else could do, that Siam cannot longer stand aside unaffected by the influences of modemrn Europe, as so many have still tried to hope; and that once for all, by the journey of the King, she is pledged to take her place among the nations and fulfil entirely the obligations which such a position imposes on her-or vanish from her place among them. The European heads of departments should, as a result, be less hampered and treated with less suspicion than has often been the case, and their reports and advice accepted with less indifference. It is to be hoped that the temptation to embark in the expenses of large armaments will be avoided. Such a force as already exists in the Rawng Law, properly equipped and officered, is sufficient for all the needs of the country, with the addition of half a dozen companies of well-paid military police for the interior. The political future is, it must be confessed, most uncertain, depending as it does so largely upon the Siamese themselves, and on VOL. II S 257 SIAM IN 1896-7 the health and strength of the King. The want of a fixed and united policy has been the greatest curse to the Government in the past. The jealousies and divisions existing in the Council have not yet by any means been got rid of. As long as they last, the only aim of the majority of the individuals composing the Cabinet is likely to be the humiliation of a rival. Not unfrequently in the past history of the country it has been sufficient for a prince-minister to know who was the originator of a measure, without inquiring its character or purport, for him to decide whether it should have his antagonism or his support. A generous patriotism, which can sink differences in the face of political necessity, is, as yet, a rare senti- ment in Siam. A brave and more far-seeing minority have already realised that the grasping meanness and selfish intriguing of the old Oriental system of govern- ment must give place to a new order of things. On them depends the future. The Anglo-French guarantee of the Me Nam Valley cannot be relied upon as permanent, for the first up- heaval in Europe will endanger its stability. It is an opportunity, and on the use or misuse of it which is made by the Siamese depends the ultimate fate of the country. For my part, I believe and sincerely hope that they will rise to the occasion. Shortcomings there have been in the policy and administration of Siam in the past, to which it is both useless and unwise to be blind, but which are due, as I have tried to show, to a variety of causes, among which climate, temperament, geographical and historical in- fluences, and the peculiar social conditions of Indo-China have played important parts. But the Siamese have achieved so much of actual advance in the last few years, and have displayed such remarkable abilities in many 258 CHaP. XXIII SIAM'S ADVANCE directions, that, looking dispassionately on the results, one cannot doubt that the extraordinary sympathy of the King for his people, backed by the ever-increasing activity of the most able and most earnest of his subjects, will be able to secure to Siam a new measure of independence, and will win for her an honoured place among commercial nations. I have rather laid stress on than avoided the sore points, because it is only by boldly facing the truth, by thorough and painful cleansing of the wound, that real advance is to be made, or sound health attained. The best augury for the future lies in the admirably fearless recognition of this fact shown by the King and the best of his administrators. Siam has the advantage of possessing in her King the right man in the right place. It is for the people, the official class, and all hands to follow him with singleness of purpose, and with the loyalty which they profess. - _____77B~l7c s2 259 CHAP. XXIII APPENDICES APPENDIX I TIDES AND WINDS ON THE ME NAM I. TIDE.-The tides in the Gulf of Siam present peculiari- ties which are at first very confusing to the observer; but some acquaintance with the system which they follow is abso- lutely necessary for those whose work, or pleasure, takes them upon the river or across the bar. Mr. E. B. Michell, whose name is remembered among rowing men as a winner of the Diamonds, made a close study of them for several consecutive years, and edited carefully compiled Tide Tables in 1894 and 1895, which contained some very valuable information. It is a great loss to the sea-going part of the community that, owing to Mr. Michell's leaving the country, the tables have not been continued. The only tables now in use are copies of records made some years ago at the lighthouse by the keeper who resided there, and who acted entirely on his own initiation. To find a tide, comparison is made with that of the same time of the moon's age four years, or a multiple of four years, before. The Siamese Government has done as little to obtain any sound information on the working of the tides as it has in other matters connected with shipping in the Port of Bangkok. Yet, without that shipping, and the trade of the port, Siam would now be French. The peculiarities referred to originate in the China Sea. At Hong Kong, and to a still greater extent in the Tongkin 262 TIDES AND WINDS ON THE ME NAM APP. I Gulf, the semi-diurnal tides are unequal in height and duration. One of the two tides, at certain times, becomes so weak that it entirely disappears, and the result is, that in the Gulf of Tongkin there is a single diurnal tide for six or eight days in the month, and in the Gulf of Siam for three or four. In the summer or south-west monsoon (April to Sep- tember) the principal of the two tides occurs at night; con- sequently the level of the Me Nam by day, especially at the approach of the summer solstice, is low, the ebb being only interrupted by the feeble day tide. In the north-east monsoon1 (October to March) this gradually alters, and the high tide will be experienced in the daytime, and the inland floods, which are coming down from October to January, run off during the night ebbs, which are very strong, often attaining over four knots. After the diurnal tide with its long periods has been running for a few days, a new tide begins to make about midway between the times of high water. From January to June the birth of this new tide occurs shortly after noon, but in the latter half of the year it is in the early morning.2 After a few days the new-born tide assumes greater strength, getting later each day. About the tenth day it reaches the importance as well as the hour of the chief of the semi-diurnal tides. For a few days it reigns as the only tide of the twenty-four hours; and then by degrees it begins to fail again, as did its predecessor, while a new young tide has sprung up to supplant it, and it dies on about the twenty- fourth day of its existence. As the equinoxes approach the differences between the inferior and superior tides are much less marked, and vessels may often cross the bar twice in the twenty-four hours, the depths being often over 13 feet for each. The difference is most marked at the time of the solstices. The highest tides usually occur shortly after new and full moon, but they are much influenced by the wind. Easterly 1 Cf. p. 264, Winds. Tables, 1894. Published by the SE. B. Michell. Bangkok Tide- Siam Free Press. THE TIDES OF THE ME NAM and north-easterly winds seem to drive the water from the China Sea into the gulf, and if no strong head wind is met by it in advancing up the gulf, the flood is often half a foot above its proper height. Westerly and north-westerly winds delay the flood tide in its passage up the gulf, and when blowing strongly lower very considerably the depth of the next high water at the bar, especially as the flood takes a westerly set at the top of the gulf, and so feels the retarding influence from that quarter. Strong northerly winds may lower the level of low water as strong southerly and south-easterly raise that of high water on the bar. The greatest depths occur in October, November, and December, when the morning tides rise to 14 feet 8 inches and 14 feet 10 inches, and even to 15 feet. The period of high water is generally of some duration, and at no time is there less than 9 or 10 feet. In March, April, and May there are comparatively few days in the month when 14 feet is reached, and there being very little fresh water coming down then, there is not 4 feet in the channel at low water. In the river, and minor inland water-ways and klongs connected with it, the behaviour of the tide is of no less im- portance to those who do their business in boats. The difference in time between high water at the bar and at Bangkok (30 miles higher) is, on the average, about three hours ; but the current often runs up for a space of from an hour and a quarter to an hour and three-quarters after the actual time of high water, and while the level is actually falling. Slack water occurs about two hours after high water, the edges beginning first to ebb, and in the meantime the current is running steadily up the klongs, wherever the level irk the river is above that of the water in them. In the months when the mean level of the river is lowest, February to May, the moment high water is reached, and the fall commences, the water in the klongs, being at a higher level, begins to run out into the main stream, and although 2(3 APP. I 264 TIDES AND WINDS ON THLE ME NAM Ap. i the momentum of the tidal wave still continues to cause an upward current in the river, the klongs will all be ebbing. In the high-water season (October to January) there is often no upward current in the main stream, owing to the amount of up-country fresh water coming down at a higher level than the tide. From the King's birthday, September 20, to Christmas Day ships can generally lie in the river to one anchor without swinging. This is the season of water festivals, and of cross- country navigation throughout the Me Nam plain. The klongs will be found to be flowing up for long periods before and after high water, on account of the high level of the water in the main river. Thus at all times of the year boating men can, by know- ing the state of the tides, make the klongs of great assistance to them; avoiding foul currents, and even obtaining fair streams in their stead. II. WINDS.- The winds of the inner gulf, or north of Lat. 12� 35', by no means always show the same phenomena as those to the south of that line. The end of the summer or south-west monsoon is signal- ised by cool fresh mornings with easterly winds towards the end of October. As the day advances it freshens to a strong breeze at nine or ten o'clock, dies away in the afternoon, and is occasionally followed by a southerly wind in the evening. A few more days of southerly wind are accompanied by bursts of heavy squalls, from north-east and north-west. In November the monsoon has fairly broken in the China Sea, and glorious cool mornings are the result on the Me Nam. Rowing men may have delightful pulls about the country, using the morning floods and returning with the later ebb. Sailing men should have their boats provisioned at Paknam in the first week of the month for trips along the eastern shores of the gulf; they will experience strong blows from north and north-east, occasional light breezes from north- west, bright skies, and lovely weather. The western side is now wet and stormy. WINDS OF THE INNER GULF At the end of January and in February the winds of the inner gulf are not so strong, and the general easterly direction is varied by southerly or south-easterly breezes in the evenings, and an occasional return for two or three mornings of the north-east. The sea is smooth as the winds are light and uncertain, and a few showers, known as 'mango showers,' fall, to encourage the fruit. At the end of February, in March and April, the mornings are hot and calm, and as the land gets heated strong sea breezes blow up from south towards evening, roaring gratefully long into the night. While the wind is light at Cape Liant, it is fresh at Kaw Si Chang, and very fresh at the bar, the draught thus increasing as it nears the hot Me Nam plain. Often, owing in part no doubt to the lowness of the water in these months, the worst sea of the year will be found on the outside banks. Small craft should use the south-east channel on such occasions, in preference to running in before the heavy sea outside the other. These winds are purely local, and do not reach far into the gulf. They are not monsoon winds, although they come from the south and west. They are a peculiar example of the phenomena of land and sea breezes, the latter intensified by the very heated condition of the now parched Me Nam plain, and the former almost obliterated, owing to the land retaining sufficient heat during the night to prevent the temperature falling below that of the gulf. On the east and west coasts, where the land is not so abnormally heated, the land and sea breezes alternate with the regularity and moderation which is more usual. Occasionally, when a few rain-squalls have burst at the end of April, and cooled the plains, a moderate land breeze will be experienced in the morning, calm at noon, and sea wind once more increasing towards night. In May comes the longed-for rain and the south-west monsoon broken by the Malay Peninsula; the date of its advent from the far-distant Indian Ocean is most uncertain. If the monsoon delays long into the month, the ravages of cholera become terrible among the people; the river is low, foul, and brackish, and the periodical cry for a water supply 265 APP. I 266 TIDES AND WINDS ON THE ME NAM APP. I is raised once more, to be once more forgotten when the towering cloud-banks form up around the horizon and the welcome rains come thundering down. An early monsoon generally means a dry June and July, a break in the rains which is no less a curse than late rains. In these months and August the monsoon is fairly regular, though varying in force. Violent north-westerly rain-squalls may be expected towards evening, and they generally last for less than an hour, and are followed by light winds for some hours from the land. The masses of vapour accompanying them always give ample warning to seamen. The barometer cannot be relied on to give any indication of bad weather, and except for the small diurnal variation it remains very steady. Strong breezes and high sea run on the east side of the inner gulf for eight or ten days together. The west side is now navigable. As the monsoon grows old and September approaches, the monsoon winds veer westerly and north-westerly. Heavy rains occur in August, September, and October, the annexed table showing an average for eight years of 7*44, 11.92, and 7.81 inches respectively, as against 6*69, 6*64, and 6*18 in the three preceding months. Throughout the summer, after heavy rain for some days the land gets so cooled that land breezes may prevail in the mornings, followed by calms in the afternoons. It will be gathered that both monsoons are on the whole uncertain and variable in the inner gulf. In a general way, however, it may be said that during the prevalence of the north-east monsoon in the China Sea (November to March) the winds will be most prevalent from N.N.E or east for the first three months, E.S.E and south for the latter part. April is a month of land and sea breezes. From May to October the south-west monsoon, mutilated by the high land of the peninsula, blows from S.S.W. and west, veering to west and north-west, and is accompanied by the fall of some fifty-four inches of rain at Bangkok. The lee shores of the inner gulf, at each season, like those in the gulf itself, experience bad weather and rough seas and rain; the wind- APP. I TEMPERATURE AND RAINFALL 267 ward shores are navigable, and have comparatively fine weather. Temperatures in Bangkok 1890 Maximum Minimum Rainfall Prevalent Wind Highest Average Lowest Average In. January . . . 89 82 58 70 0.50 N.E. February . . . 90 82 62 73 0.50 E. March . . . 94 91 71 76 0"00 S. April . . . 95 93 73 77 1*40 S. May. . . . 96 90 74 77 852 S. June. . . . 94 89 74 77 568 S.W. July . . . 93 90 73 76 401 S.W. August . . . 94 88 74 76 1214 S. & W. September . . 91 87 74 76 10*26 S. & W. October . . . 89 85 69 74 500 & W. to N.E. November . . 89 85 68 72 089 N.E. December . . 88 86 67 71 000 N.E. 48-903 3 Some 5 in. below the average, owing to failure of rain towards the end of the south- east monsoon. The rainfall of the previous year was very heavy, with 16 in. above the average. BANGKOKX RAINFALL, 1882-90 Total Year Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. for the Year In. In. In. In. In. In. In. In. In. In. In. In. In. 1882 0"50- 0"21 4.52 5.92 378 8*43 3107 1415 1156 1.50 - 5364 1883 - 0.63 - 3"06 744 969 2.10 576 857 3.44 152 - 43.21 1884 - - - - 700 5-29 3"57 6*18 849 3.23 - 3376 1885 0-10 3.62 0"12 135 1"52 8"88 '78 1096 1412 9.06 3*35 - 59*76 1886 - 0*52 095 072 772 8"49 1097 402 16.41 12.85 312 - 6577 1887 1*79 2*25 087 2"39 876 419 7.97 875 9.61 098 156 - 55*12 1888 6 - - - - - - - 1889 5.10 - 1.15 1.04 6.97 5.81 3 88 10.64 16.07 11.14 6-76 1.51 70.07 1890 050.5 O0 - 140 852 5"68 4"01 12*14 10*26 5.00 0-89 - 4890 Aver, per l14 107 047 2.49 669 6.64 6-18 744 1192 7-81 2.74 0*19 53*78 From January 1 to June 30, 7 inches. 5 No register kept. s Average for eight years. The only measurements of rainfall in the country have been made by private firms, or individuals, the above being 268 TIDES AND WINDS ON THE ME NAM APP. I due to the interest taken in the matter by the Borneo Company. It might well be expected that in a country so largely depen- dent on rainfall as Siam, and where the variations have such important influence on the yearly productions of and communi- cations with the various distant provinces, the Government would have instituted registering stations in all the provincial districts. But though large numbers of rain gauges were imported three or four years ago, I have never seen any results from them. APPENDIX II SHIPPING AND TRADE OF BANGKOK' TABLE A.-NATIONALITY OF SHIPS CLEARED FROM THE PORT or BANGKOK 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 Britishper cent. 60 69 67 84 87 66 70 68 74 French ,, 3.5 4.5 3 1 1 "2 "5 2*5 2*3 German ,, 19 15 22 5 7 21 11 10 11 Swedish & ,, 275 3 2.75 4 "9 3 8 17 5 11*1 Norwegian Great Britain has averaged over 72 per cent. of the shipping annually since 1888, and as regards the value of cargoes the statistics (Table E) show that a still larger per- centage has been carried by British vessels. French shipping has averaged annually 2*2 per cent. of the total, and the trade has declined. The increase in Swedish and Norwegian tonnage is due to both sailing ships and steamers, the former being entirely engaged in the teak trade. The junk trade does not exceed on the average 2 to 3 per cent. of the whole. ' This, it must be remembered, Cochin China (p. 221), and the does not represent the whole Siam considerable direct trade between trade. It omits the Frontier trade the Malay Peninsula States and of the Lao States (App. VII.), the the British ports of Rangun, small trade between the South- Penang, and Singapore (App. XII.) Eastern States and Cambodia and 18 Ships 269 6 17 56 9 12 12 6 3867 1888 Dollars 1880 ... 9,704,318 1881 ... 9,865,956 1882 ... 9,702,778 TABLE C.-ExPORTS FROM 1880-88 Dollars 1883 ... 9,207,709 1884 ... 11,194,572 1885 ... 9 436,728 Dollars 1886 ... 10,372,842 1887 ... 15,539,406 1888 ... 16,342,680 Ships Tons 284 228,499 2 17 92 11 52 13 1,594 8,998 73,867 7,978 21,632 9,198 British . Dutch . French . German Italian . Siamese . Swedish &) Norwegian Other Countries Total . 1 759 472 352,525 TABLE B.-SHIPPING CLEARED FROM THE PORT OF BANGKOKb 689 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 Tons Ships Tons Ships Tons Ships Tons Ships Tons Ships Tons Ships Tons Ships Tons 201,701 315 258,719 260 194,437 242 174,555 384 318,111 371 306,182 342 280,352 36 305,159 6,754 4 2,677 2 1,941 3 2,580 35 33,720 1 1,029 7,363 24 11,623 13 2,561 12 2,364 7 1,379 6 2,182 26 10,374 26 9,799 45,723 91 81,588 16 11,009 15 14,690 115 106,320 62 57,263 38 43,181 41 45,397 6,760 6 5,534 3 2,156 3 1,199 7 8,965 - - - - - - - 5,732 9 3,690 4 2,084 2 1,312 2 1,312 2 950 - - 4 1,892 0 7,641 20 13,583 10 8,532 4 1,957 24 15,932 55 34,856 112 73,030 64 45,570 /i 3,937 8 6,563 2 1,528 4 2,186 3 1,714 20 13,149 9 4,771 - - 285,611 477 383,977 310 224,248 285 200,843 577 487,453 516 414,582 527 411,708 475 410,216 i i 270 SHIPPING AND TRADE OF BANGKOK APP. II TABLE D.-PRINCIPAL EXPORTS FROM 18 Quantity Birds' nests tons 3 Buffalo hides . ,, 743 Bullocks . head 27,118 Cardamums . tons 152 Dried fish . ,, 6,789 Dried mussels ,, 908 Pepper . . ,, 918 Rice . . ,, 449,539 Salt fish . ~ Teak . . ,, 29,538 Teelseed . . ,, 1,009 Tin . . ,, 160 Treasure . . ,, - Woods other than teak, sapan, and 7,015 rosewood, &c. tons Other articles . ,, - Total - 88 Value � 14,75 20,58 60,394 13,914 84,657 16,099 53,693 2,104,849 156,772 8,129 14,549 10,008 34,294 130,972 2,723,871t 1889 1890 Quantity Value Quantity Value � � 7 13,184 - - 1,227 31,603 1,107 20,169 25,770 51,993 21,541 45,666 101 9,503 155 14,223 11,807 89,635 7,467 73,114 998 16,855 1,560 25,939 1,125 60,571 1,702 94,149 303,088 1,443,328 479,660 2,508,816 - - 4,286 27,402 43,146 254,149 38,735 200,178 2,668 22,604 3,356 24,819 149 9,641 148 13,047 116,103 - - 5,492 30,829 4,328 22,960 136,282 - 139,139 - 2,286,280 - 3,209,621 TABLE E.-VALUES OF EXPORTS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES FROM THE PORT OF BANGKOK 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 � � � � � � � � � Bombay . 12,584 24,215 14,367 16,103 - - 47,746 94,945 61,882 China. 21,574 18,714 15,680 6,670 5,537 10,503 - 9,364j 6,867 Coast. . 29,004 24,490 31,862 21,925 15,713 9,973 - 163,781 186,143 Europe . 566,690 504,046 514,612 86,650 76,252 354,708 - 33,540 120,982 Hong Kong 1,168,330 749,644 1,671,992 711,103 495,5 71 2,061,248 963,494 1,157,254 1,392,438 Saigon . - 9,001 13,775 10,501 - - - 73,763 21,650 Singapore . 895,131 911,270 893,171 831,203 746,647 1,648,563 1,007,567 924,773 1,039,984 countries 27,373 - 54,162 10,67 2 46,840 372,039 448,088 241,801 206,445 NOTES ON GENERAL EXPORTS, CHIEFLY JUNGLE PRODUCE, EXCLUDING RICE, TEAK, AND CATTLE 2 TABLE F.-WOODS OTHER THAN TEAK EXPORTED COMPRISE Sapan Rose Padu Iron Ebony Agilla Tons Tons Tons Tons Tons Tons 1888 1,372 4,643 970 1,709 290 26 1889 2,027 3,465 1,327 1,023 486 26 1890 1,377 1,533 917 226 172 13 2 Appendices III., IV., and VI. 1891 Quantity Value � 1,257 26,939 14,552 26,231 224 15,834 5,339 44,688 592 9,409 1,541 79,594 226,248 1,083,373 4,212 21,535 16,100 75,207 639 5,499 169 11,703 7,100 32,720 - 264,095 - 1,696,827 APP. II THE PORT OF BANGKOK 1892 Quantity Value � 6 7,676 1,144 20,005 16,144 27,390 176 10,505 808 11,054 1,617 22,407 1,175 53,432 198,022 956,075 6,284 37,494 14,637 62,793 3,188 23,108 173 9,041 7,297 31,825 113,705 - 1,386,510 EXPORTS 1893 1894 Quantity Value Quantity V 1,229 22,497 - 18,664 30,094 24,923 236 16,224 - 15,764 337,161 - 1,493 5,537 - 1,147 65,928 983 775,701 3,297,237 507,883 1,6 27,647 328,097 - 1 30,089 92,750 57,719 1 606 3,776 - 100 5,355 - -- 1 3,953 17,618 6,934 - 234,840 - 2 - 4,457,114 - 2,4 alue � 46,540 31,552 89,528 80,969 .60,003 .07,647 35,681 14,975 66,895 271 1895 Quantity Value � 21,612 43,040 889 464,431 48,994 31,237 1,576,801 137,050 296,107 280,770 46,842 287,383 2,699,230 1896 Quantity Value � 26,033 46,029 831 27,674 456,916 2,121,145 9,383 103,638 49,690 264,805 - 198,369 6,440 39,441 - 239,190 - 3,036,291 Sapan is used for dunnage for rice cargoes, and is a valuable dye wood. Bose, iron-wood, and ebony go exclusively to Hong Kong and China, for use in furniture-making. Padu is used for making coffins for the Chinese; it is hard and durable, and so suitable for the purpose for which it is exported to China. Agilla is used by the Chinese for medicinal purposes. Gumn-benjamin.-This resin is a product of the east bank of the Me Kawng. It is confined to a strip of forest hill country east of Luang Prabang between Lat. 190 and 210 and Long. 102� and 1050. It formerly reached Bangkok by the Nan route for the most part, the remainder coming by Nawng Kai and Korat. What influence the French occupation of Luang Prabang will have on the trade remains to be seen. Some 319 piculs (nearly 20 tons) were exported annually, valued at about $21,000 (or �2,700). The whole export went to London, and thence to Paris and Belgium, for manufacture into balsam. It is sometimes used locally for frankincense. Ivory from east of the Me Kawng, some 4 tons, $17,772 (or �2,289). 272 SHIPPING AND TRADE OF BANGKOK APP. II The export of sapan wood has fallen off greatly of late years. In 1884, 3,079 tons were exported. The forests of the Raheng districts, from which the greater part came, seem to have become exhausted, and the little that now comes down is mostly from Lakawn Lampun; the trees are torn up by the roots and floated down. Cutch, which grows in the Lakawn and Phre districts, is also falling off. It is a little used by Lao people to chew with betel; the use of the bark as a dye is little known. Dried fish, not included under the title ' Kapi,' and dried mussels chiefly go to Singapore; platu, a salt-water fish, caught, like the mussels, in the north end of the gulf, forms 85 per cent. of the former. Buffalo hides form quite an important article of export from all parts of the country. Buffalo bones are exported for refining of sugar at Hong Kong by percolation. Padi ash, refuse from the rice mills, is used by owners of white-rice mills for mixing with rice grain in mortar, and so cleaning for Californian importers. Rhinoceros, deers' horns, and tigers' bones are exported by Chinese for their supposed medicinal properties. Skins exported are tiger, snake (for drums), armadillo, and deer; with rays' and sharks' fins. TABLE G.-TEEL SEED Export has decreased, and prices have fallen. Tons � 1884 5,602 54,266 �12 a ton 1885 2,891 24,428 - 1886 4,639 38,691 - 1887 4,939 32,436 - 1888 1,009 7,234 �7 3s. a ton 1889 2,668 22,604 - 1890 3,356 24,819 - About 50 per cent. goes to Singapore, and over 40 per cent. to Hong Kong. That to Singapore goes mostly to Marseilles, for adulteration of olive oils. The teel shrub, which grows about 4 feet high, is known as Nga, and is cultivated round Ayuthia, the harvest being at the beginning of the rains (May or June). The oil is obtained from the seed by Chinese, and is largely used in the country in cakes and with food generally. IMPORTS TABLE H.-IMPORTS FROM 1880 TO 1888 Dollars Dollars 1880 ... 6,341,519 1885 ... 6,830,016 1881 ... 6,279,484 1886 ... 7,380,000 1882 ... 7,104,361 1887 ... 9,946,218 1883 ... 5,167,459 1888 ... 10,872,012 1884 ... 6,247,893 The imports depend mainly on the success of the rice crop. In a bad year fewer boats set out for the capital, and fewer cargoes of imports are taken back by them. The sales of padi are conducted exclusively on cash terms. Planters bring their padi down in their own boats when they hear prices are favourable, and are paid in cash on delivery at the wharf in ticals. These they either take back up country to bury under the house, or use for the purchase of piece goods, kerosene, or salt for the return voyage. The largest quantity of padi is brought down in June, July, andAugust, when the boats can work down the creeks and water- ways with the first floods, into the main river. This trade is of course largely dependent on the presence or absence of dacoit bands in the districts through which the boats have to pass, and the improvements in this respect effected by the Depart- ment of the Interior are all in favour of trade. VOL. II PADI SALES 273 APP. nI TABLE 1.-PRINCIPAL IMPORTS TO THE PORT OF BANGKOK 1888 Quantity Betel nuts - China goods.. . ... - Cocoa nuts .- Cotton manufactures . pieces 1,339,330 Cotton yarn . . . . bales 2,470 Crockery and glass ware - Gunny bags . . . bales 18,542 Hardware and cutlery . - Iron, steel, and machinery . Jewellery . -- Kerosene oil . . cases 132,310 Lamp oil . . cases - Liquors casks 119,817 Matches .. . . . . cases 4,412 Miscellaneous piece goods . . . Opium. . . . . chests 993 Silk goods . pieces 30,372 Sugar . . . . . tons 1,202 Treasure and gold leaf . Other articles . - 8 1889 Value Quantity � - 31,228 84,740 - - 5,827,860 342,202 1,319,476 31,974 4,643 77,260 11,073 14,807 26,008 35,282 29,897 13,307 82,912 26,325 23,572 712,090 311,626 1890 Value Qu � 14,313 135,446 19,453 6,0 356,581 57,471 46,137 48 107 ,, - 97,235 215,680 57,515 - 23,361 93,298 26,062 8,097 26,990 1,035 91,274 59,132 50,112 2,927 57,375 - 180,958 - 394,867 antity Value � I 31,491 19,595 165,587 067,549 29,129 403,184 5,143 58,427 15,379 95,079 - 34,696 - 131,440 250,031 69,790 - 30,917 11,526 25,978 1,440 118,292 - 61,572 1,180 30,166 - 995,003 - 346,462 Total . . . Quantity 2,551,710 5,833 256,610 32,972 10,157 1,200 3,747 1891 Value � 10,458 9,473 319,581 57,154 45,243 26,426 33,752 32,195 45,230 61,239 21,637 20,039 88,000 51,859 36,327 145,955 436,105 - 1,440,763 H h n d y 0 0 td C 1,812,002 1,593,257 2,631,020 TABLE I.-- PRINCIPAL IMPORTS TO THE PORT OF BANGKOK--continued 1892 Quantity Value � Betel nuts . . . . . - 14,939 China goods . . . . . - - Cocoa nuts . . . 8,460,738 27,226 Cotton manufactures . pieces - 292,601 Cotton yarn . . bales - 41,978 Crockery and glass ware . . - 35,197 Gunny bags . . bales 7,022 29,318 Hardware and cutlery .- 83,748 Iron, steel, and machinery . - 25,381 Jewellery . . . . . - 47,057 Kerosene oil . . cases 185,713 50,001 Lamp oil. . . . cases 21,366 15,684 Liquors . .. casks - - Matches . . . . cases 11,972 19,511 Miscellaneous piece goods . . - - Opium . . . chests 500 35,406 Silk goods . . pieces - 48,977 Sugar .. ..... tons 4,995 48,686 Treasure and gold leaf . . . - 66,593 Other articles .. ..... - 413,661 Total . . . .. - 1,295,964 1893 Quantity 3,324,939 21,534 175,794 28,636 16,322 791 2,820 1894 Value Quantity � 10,432 - 10,231 - 319,653 - 39,167 9,257 34,235 - 101,493 - 75,533 - 36,871 - 66,192 41,399 319,000 17,246 - 25,593 - 59,707 1,125 59,626 - 25,819 4,410 702,622 - 633,265 2,259,078 - Value � - 307,722 67,257 59,051 31,772 19,801 48,394 62,529 75,410 60,962 37,721 444,329 493,397 1,708,345 1895 Quantity Value 8,632 293,681 324,170 66,160 53,570 83,375 32,900 51,045 1896 Quantity Value � 6,592 320,851 230,541 46,991 72,213 35,639 36,653 54,865 - 69,035 - 77,129 1,001 85,288 1,327 99,931 - 70,490 - 88,298 5,010 44,910 4,241 39,707 - 491,458 - 554,257 - 697,304 - 768,214 - 2,069,705 - 2,104,432 H H - TABLE J.-VALUES OF IMPORTS FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES TO THE PORT OF BANGKOK M ) 1883 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 Bombay . . -- - 143,489 204,225 233,690 273,276 China . . . 4,345 10,256 6,633 4,089 8,968 28,185 - 83,606 34,708 d Coast . . . 16,542 19,244 33,686 21,353 27,819 25,312 - 21,521 23,012 Europe . . 21,632 59,679 57,136 54,919 86,675 - 84,784 - Hong Kong. . 509,263 417,799 775,845 389,555 300,440 652,156 376,000 498,702 544,056 d Singapore . 1,260,191 1,086,218 1,757,712 970,847 872,062 1,088,296 822,380 932,509 886,726 Other countries . 31 61 8 - - 321,640 220,956 309,671 342,654 Total 1,812,002 1,593,257 2,631,020 1,440,763 1,295,964 2,259,078 1,708,345 2,069,705 2,104,432 M 0 DETAILS OF RICE EXPORT APPENDIX III DETAILS OF RICE EXPORT TABLE A. Year Quantity Value Remarks Tons � 1885 217,179 980,864 1886 215,387 1,090,489 1887 402,046 1,918,783 1888 449,446 2,104,849 1889 303,088 1,443,328 Deficientrainfall, and consequent scarcity of padi 1890 479,660 2,508,816 1891 226,248 1,083,373 Lack of water in the canals made padi scarce 1892 198,022 956,075 Supplies limited, and prices high 1893 775,701 3,297,237 A good rainfall, and record export, notwithstand- ing the French blockade 1894 507,883 1,689,528 Indifferent seasons 1895 464,431 1,576,801 } 1896 456,916 2,121,145 TABLE B.-AMOUNT OF RICE EXPORTED TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES If Europe . . Hong Kong .1 Singapore . 1 South America 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 Tons Tons Tons Tons Tons Tons Tons 69,619 73,672 11,174 - 77,647 - - 80,458 277,610 109,635 - 361,072 - 80,892 117,696 102,609 - 203,602 - - - - 11,000 22,500 12,000 1896 Tons - 1 The want of uniformity in the Consular Reports makes the completion of the tables here, as elsewhere, impossible. Recent Reports are particularly incomplete. The average yearly crop is calculated to exceed 1,200,000 tons, of which some 700,000 tons are consumed in the country. With the improvement of irrigation and com- munications, and the establishment of security from dacoits, a much larger crop will be reaped in the future. 277 APP. III i DETAILS OF RICE EXPORT The market rice is grown in two ways: Na Suan, sown in nurseries at the corners of the fields and subsequently planted out by handfuls, the method usual about Bangkok and to Lat. 130 50'; and Na Muang, scattered broadcast in the fields and left to grow there, usual elsewhere. APPENDIX IV DETAILS OF TEAK EXPORT Siam teak Tons Sterling floated down value the Salween to Burma � Logs 95,348 -- 115,497 54,795 101,659 49,073 156,772 65,102 254,149 63,881 200,178 62,117 75,207 43,873 62,793 63,670 77,601 52,463 37,090 113,657 61,328 214,232 49,690 288,760 63,914 55,935 47,132 Destination, etc. 61 per cent. to Europe (nearly entirely Eng- land) 45 per cent. to Europe 25 percent. to Europe 66 per cent. to Europe 64 per cent. to Europe 59 per cent. to Europe, 40 per cent. to Hong Kong, (25 per cent.) Bombay and Singapore 33 per cent. to Europe, 61 per cent. to Hong Kong, (29 per cent.) Bombay and Singapore 23 per cent. to Europe, 72 per cent. to Bom- bay, (34 per cent.) Hong Kong and Singa- pore 35 per cent. to England, 62 per cent. to Bom- bay, Hong Kong, and Singapore 40 per cent. to Europe, 57 per cent to Bombay, Hong Kong, and Singapore; 1*5 per cent. went to Saigon 36 per cent. to Europe, 50 per cent. to Bombay, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and 01 per cent. to Saigon The figures are for first-class teak only. 1 The returns of the Siamese Customs show 30,089 tons, �92,750 sterling value ; the figures quoted are from a more reliable source. 2 The Customs returns show 57,719 tons, valued at �160,000. This includes miscel- laneous shipments of other than first-class wood by junks. SThe Customs returns show less teak by 12,000 tons, and a higher value by �80,000 than the figures quoted. The 61,328 tons are reliable, and exclude miscellaneous junk shipments. SThe Customs returns again disagree with those from local timber merchants, and give a value of �264,805 only. Year i . . .. 1 883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 18931 1894 18953 1896' 23,500 15,270 15,238 21,747 21,107 29,538 43,146 38,735 16,100 14,637 24,523 278 APP. I TEAK EXPORT The figures in the fifth column show the very large share of the Siamese teak taken by the British Empire. There is a large increase in recent years of shipments to Bombay. The low figures of 1891 and 1892 were due to bad floating years, owing to lack of rainfall, to depression of the London markets, and to a lively local demand in Bangkok, which was able to keep the three European steam saw mills fully employed. The quality of the Bangkok shipments has much improved in the last four years, since the business has become almost monopolised by three British firms. Prior to this, complaints had been made of the quality of the Siamese timber in London markets. Great care is now being taken in the selection of the wood, and the cube average length and straightness are greatly in favour of the timber now shipped, the first often reaching 50 feet, and the second seldom being below 28 feet. The Burma wood does not show so well in these respects owing to greater exhaustion of the forests on the Salwin watershed, so that the average of logs is not now so large. The amount shipped in any year is not, it may be remarked, proportional to the number of logs rafted past the duty station at Chainat. The former has increased rapidly since 1892, although the amount rafted down has varied but little. This increased export is due in part to falling off in local demand, and in part to the holding over of stock by merchants in previous years. Siamese teak appears now to have a firm hold of the home markets, although the British Admiralty and some other buyers still consider it less reliable, coarser, and less kindly in character, and more inclined to worm-holes and twisted heart, than the Burma wood, perhaps owing to its containing less of the essential oil, so valuable a property of teak. Yet it grows for the most part on the same hills, only on the eastern instead of the western watershed. The good conversion of the wood, however, is undoubtedly overcoming these objec- tions. There has been slight trouble in regard to the terms of 279 APP. IV DETA1LS OF TEAK EXPORT the leases granted by the Siamese Government to foresters. In 1893 a new form of lease instituted by the Commissioners at Chieng Mai, in place of that which had been in use since 1884, made the period of three years, which was complained of as too short, renewable up to a period of ten years. But it imposed certain duties on the lessee, such as planting four young trees for every tree felled,5 which, with the increased fees charged for ratification of leases,6 and other things, left the forester very little profit. Moreover, wages have increased, and the supply of Kamuk labour is falling off owing to the action of the French authorities in Luang Prabang. Whereas each elephant could formerly work out sixty logs a year, giving the forester about one rupee profit on each log, he can now only work out about thirty, owing to the increased distances over which logs have to be hauled. Many streams, formerly useless for floating teak, have recently had to be cleared at a cost of Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 30,000. Many small foresters consequently tried to economise by omitting to pay their coolies, and became so largely indebted to the Govern- ment for royalties that the 1893 leases provided for their payment by the purchaser. The recent tendency has been for the leases to get into the hands of the large and responsible firms, such as the Borneo Company, the Bombay Burma Corporation, and others. In 1895 a new form of lease of teak forests was sanctioned by the Siamese Government, and six important leases were accordingly issued to British subjects, who are investing large sums of money in them. The conditions of the new leases were briefly as follows: (1) all leases for a term of six years; (2) royalty at the rate of Rs. 4 (or 4s. 6d) a log for teak in the Me Nam Valley, and Rs. 8 (or 9s.) in the Salwin Valley; (3) girdling and felling by the lessee of trees of a girth less than six kams (25- inches) was forbidden; (4) lessee It has now been recognised by protection of young saplings. the Siamese Government that this 6 Rs. 200 to Rs. 500 annually, ac- precaution was quite insufficient cording to the size of the lease, of itself to protect the teak from and fees for all elephants, coolies, extermination, unless followed up &c., employed. by some method of inspection and 280 APP. IV FOREST LEASES to plant one tree in the place of every tree felled; (5) all hill cultivation within the limits of the forest was forbidden; (6) registration of property hammer-marks with a fee of Rs. 100 was compulsory; (7) all sales of teak timber to be by registered bill of sale; (8) payment of royalty to be guaranteed before timber passes the duty station; (9) work to be commen- ced within eight months of ratification by his Siamese Majesty's High Commissioner; (10) lease liable to cancellation for infringement of any of its conditions; (11) registration of permits with a fee of Rs. 25, of elephants with a fee of Rs. 3 each, and a fee of Rs. 5 for each overseer were compulsory; (12) absolute assignment or mortgage of the lease is prohibited, but permits to work the forest were allowed; (13) all timber lying in the forest at the expiration of the lease to revert to lessor, but if royalty has been paid a reasonable time to be given to work it out. These conditions were on the whole favourable both to lessor and lessee, but another form of lease has now been introduced by the Conservator of Forests, with the object of preventing the depletion of the forests in the near future. The 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 10th clauses of the 1895 lease are retained, but the new lease is divided into two parts, the first containing four clauses signed by the owner of the forest and by the lessee; and the second, fifteen clauses setting forth the conditions regulating the conservancy of the forest leased on which the Government of Siam by the Chief Commissioner agrees to recognise and ratify the lease. In the first part are the following new provisions : 1. No conversion of timber until royalty has been paid. 2. Extension of period of lease allowed if necessary for removal of timber unextracted and lying in the streams. 3. No girdling of teak during the twelve months imme- diately preceding the termination of the lease. In the second part the most important new restrictions are :- 1. Increase of girth from six kam (25 inches) to nine kam (38 inches). 2. Teak-trees to be girdled at least two years before felling. 281 APP. IV PIKAT RATE AND DUTY Duty ie Duty wSixs Duty Ticals Ticals Ticals Ticals Ticals I 0*50 1 0.75 2 1.00 0 75 3 1 00 4 1.25 1.40 4 2.00 6 2.65 2.00 6 2.50 8 3.75 2.65 8 365 10 440 3.50 10 440 12 5*55 4.00 12 4.75 18 6.40 4.75 16 6.40 22 8.00 5 65 20 7.65 26 8.48 7 65 24 8.75 30 10.40 8.75 28 10.40 34 12.00 Seven Duty Wlahs t Ticals Ticals 4 1.25 6 1.65 8 315 12 440 16 5*50 20 6.75 24 800 28 9*50 32 10*40 36 12 00 40 10.40 Eight DutyNineDuty jRemarks ti'Wahs Walis I Ticals Ticals Ticals Ticals 6 165 8 250 A kam = 4 in. A wah = 78 in. 8 250 10 350 Five kam means 21) in.in semi-girth, so that what is called a five-kam log 10 440 13 515 is actually 42j in. in girth. The usual selling price of teak is five 14 5515 16 550 pikat, i.e., timber is sold at five times the rate here mentioned. 20 675 22 7.65 Duty is charged on the pikat rate, as shown, and not on the selling value. 24 765 26 8.75 Very large logs are sold at fancy prices. A log eight wah by fourteen 28 950 32 1015 kam will fetch 800 ticals (�53 4s.) Such logs are used in boat-building, 32 1015 38 11.25 especially for boats' bottoms. Duty is chargedin ticals and decimals 36 1200 44 1350 of a tical 42 1300 50 16.00 48 16.00 60 17*65 KamThree Kam Wahs Ticals 5 6 1 7 2 8 3 9 4 10 5 11 6 12 7 13 8 14 12 15 16 Duty Four Duylahs Ticals Ticals 0"40 1 050 2 100 3 1.40 4 200 6 2*65 8 3.50 10 400 12 5"15 14 5 65 16 6.75 20 H H H NEW CONDITIONS 3. No teak-tree to be girdled unless there is another teak- tree in the vicinity able to cast its seeds on the ground covered by the tree to be felled. 4. A fine for each tree so damaged in felling as to be not worth extracting, or at the lessee's option payment of royalty and duty. 5. A fine for each teak-tree consumed or damaged by fire before reaching Paknam Po. 6. Permit-holder and lessee to be jointly responsible for all fines and penalties inflicted under the lease. 7. The Minister of the Interior to have the right of closing the forest or any part of it for sylvicultural purposes. 8. Option of the forest officer to claim all rejected logs on repayment of royalty paid by lessee on such logs. These new conditions have been accepted in toto by the two large British teak-trading companies, and their example is being followed, though somewhat tentatively, by the Burmese and Shan foresters. The conditions are generally approved of as removing numerous vexatious clauses as to the registra- tion of elephants, overseers, &c. But complaints have been made by the foresters and contractors of the hardship to them of the 4th, 7th, and 8th clauses in the second part. They would also prefer to have the extension of time for removal of logs fixed in all cases to twenty-four months, and not to be left to the discretion of the Conservator of Forests. As Mr. Beckett points out, these few clauses are doubtless hard upon foresters, but since the object of the new lease is to render the extraction of teak more difficult, their insertion can hardly be called a real grievance. The result of the new lease will probably be to throw the teak industry more and more into the hands of the big firms, to the exclusion of the small foresters. 283 APP. IV THE REVENUE APPENDIX V THE REVENUE may be approximately placed at about arrived at as under :- Custom Dues : Duty on spirituous liquors imported Duty on other imports . . . Duty on rice export . . . Duty on other exports . . . Other dues . . .. Farms and Monopolies : Bangkok opium farm . . . Country opium farms . . . Bangkok spirit farm . . . Country spirit farms . . . Gambling-houses . .. Pawnshops ...... . Brothels . . . Other Farms . . . Land tax . . . Other taxes and sources of revenue, inclu duties, Chinese poll-tax, etc. . . 2,000,0001. annually, . 8,400 . 41,000 . 9,600 . 12,000 . 29,000 � S156,000 . 100,000 S108,000 S 50,000 S100,000 S100,000 S30,000 S336,000 �100,000 �1,000,000 200,000 ding inland S . . 700,000 �2,000,000 The Financial Adviser is probably the only European who knows with anything like accuracy what the figures actually are at the present time. 284 APP. V APP. VI DETAILS OF CATTLE EXPORT APPENDIX VI DETAILS OF CATTLE EXPORT (ExcLusIvE OF MALAY PENINSULA) Singapore takes nearly the whole of the bullock export from Siam, a part going to Achin; and the trade has grown considerably since 1881, as the following figures will show :- 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 To British Burma 17,016 35,192 2,952 9,572 from Chieng Mai 4,027 ,, 17,268 from Siam 1 14,508 ,, To Singapore Number of head 5,681 6,835 8,335 10,537 12,654 14,141 15,265 27,118 25,770 21,541) 14,552 16,144 18,664 24,923 21,612 26,003 1 Burmese returns make an unnecessary distinction, for some reason not apparent, between 'Zimm6' (Chieng Mai) and 'Siam.' The figures here given for 1895 and 1896 represent the total from Siamese territory. The buyers have chiefly been British subjects from India. Klings, and lately a few Europeans, have been engaged in the business. The trade has received a severe blow from a disease stated to be rinderpest, which has this year ravaged the whole of central Siam, attacking both buffalo and oxen with such severity that the harvest prospects are seriously threatened. The disease, which has in former years devastated the Lao 285 DETAILS OF CATTLE EXPORT and Malay States, was pronounced by the Pasteur Laboratory to be anthrax, preventable by inoculation. Elephants died from it in numbers, but this does not fortunately seem to have been the case in the present year. APPENDIX VII TRADE IN THE LAO STATES Very few figures are obtainable in Siam on this subject, the only returns of the frontier trade coming from the Burma side. Trade with Maulmen Exports from Chieng Mai . ,, ,, west of Siam Total . . . 1885-7 � 343,779 81,520 1888-90 � 576,272 110,272 425,299 686,544 1890,' '92,'93 1894-6 � � 114,707 71,276 - 14,000 - 85,276 1 No returns in 1891. 1885-7 1888-90 1890, '92, '93 1894-6 � � � � Imports from Burma . 26,742 48,420 108,698 114,423 VALUE OF PRINCIPAL ARTICLES OF IMPORT FROM MAULMEN TO CHIENG MAI Cotton manufactures . Silk Woollen ,, . Metals . . . Treasure . . Other articles . Total value . . 1890 1892 � � 15,998 13,310 11,600 4,256 4,515 2,080 2,513 15,351 3,000 9,214 87,646 45,211 1893 � 9,632 4,748 1,599 5,986 3,796 25,761 1895 1896 � � 5,567 5,881 3,047 5,049 1,817 942 500 768 11,850 25,25.7 4,613 5,864 26,894- 43,761 . 286- APP. VI 1894 � 12,045 9,430 11,287 4,176 6,830 4L768 PRINCIPAL ARTICLES OF EXPORT FROM CHIENG MAI TO MAULMEN Teak . . logs Cattle . . head Mules and ponies Piece goods . yds Raw silk . lbs. Silk manufactured goods . yds Treasure . . Other articles Total value, excluding teak 1890 1892 1893 Quantity Value Quantity Value Quantity Value Quant � � I � 62,117 - 63,670 - 52,463 - 63,9] 2,440 5,460 9,572 19,080 4,027 9,920 1,2( 1,059 8,572 998 6,237 225 2,862 2 20,186 162 3,332 57 15,155 239 26,83 3,649 750 - 1,582 - 1,512 2,24 721 132 15,794 1,824 18,876 2,273 15,28 17,846 - 48 - 32,960 - 21,841 259 50,880 - 13,525 536 30,867 1894 1895 1891 ity Value QuantitY Value Quantity Value � � � 14 - 55,935 - 50,172 - 69 3,838 338 1,035 2,271 5,886 91 2,651 333 1,643 66 370 Z H 32 370 - - -- - 10 364 4,480 469 -r 37 1,399 628 57 4,930 474 o 18,199 - 16,147 - 17,210 626 - 174 - 364 27,447 - 19,525 - 24,304 TRADE IN THE LAO STATES Caravan Trade with the North (1) Haw or Chinese Panthay Mule Caravans from Yunan. Regular returns are not obtainable. The average number of these caravans arriving in the Lao States annually up to 1893 was fifteen with fifty animals in each, value from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 3,500 (some 2,5001.) These figures are now much smaller. The journey occupies thirty-three days to Chieng Tung, and fifteen to Chieng Mai. Thence it was customary to travel to Maulmen to purchase muslins, cam- brics and other light articles, several trips being often made in the season, each occupying about forty days. With the advent of the rains the caravans return northward with piece goods and edible birds' nests from Maulmen and betel from Chieng Mai. A few vary the route by visiting Nan and Pre to the east. The trade is declining owing to most of the caravans turning off at Chieng Tung into the British Shan States, from which it would seem that the efforts to encourage direct trade between China arid Burma are really bearing fruit. Under a dozen caravans arrived at Chieng Mai in 1896. (2) Shdn Bullock Caravans from Chieng Tung and other Shdn States.-The average number arriving annually appears to be about thirty-five with 150 animals, and about Rs. 3,000 worth of goods in each. These consist of lacquer and lacquered boxes, Shan cotton cloth, das, knives, chillies, and coarse paper, and the total average value of their imports is probably 5,2001. Some proceed down to Maulmen, and others to Lakawn Pre and Sukotai, quite south of the Lao States. The exports they take away are kapi, dried fish, betel nut, &c. This trade, notwithstanding the bad condition of the trails, is increasing. Each bullock carries from 90 lbs. to 110 lbs., and costs Rs. 25 to 30. (3) Shan and Tongsu (Toung thoo) packmen are also largely employed to supplement the bullock caravans. They carry 50 lbs. to 70 lbs. in their packs besides their rice, and get Rs. 15 to Rs. 20 for a journey of forty days. The Siamese Government have waived all import duties on the Shan and Burma frontier, but as long as communication 288 APP. VII App. VIi LAO TRADE WITH BANGKOK is so laborious - and expensive 3 trade cannot be expected to develop on a large scale, and is necessarily limited to articles of small bulk, and of superior and more costly quality. The few occasional caravans which used to arrive at Chieng Mai from Luang Prabang with silk, gum-benjamin, and pla bak roe have almost ceased since 1893. (4) Boat Trade with Bangkok.-By far the greater part of the imports to Chieng Mai and other Lao States come by this comparatively cheap but very lengthy route. The round journey occupies seventy days in the high water, and four to five months in the dry season. The imports by this route to Chieng Mai are valued as follows : � � Twist and yarns . 27,000 Salt . . . . 5,000 White shirtings . 16,000 Silk manufactures . 3,000 Cotton manufactures 26,000 Coloured prints . . 3,000 Dried and salt fish . 12,000 j Turkey red cloth . 3,000 �95,000 Miscellaneous articles are kerosene, hardware, lamps and matches (invariably Japanese), aniline dyes, guns and ammu- nition, and gold leaf, and the total value is estimated at 150,0001. The chief exports by this route besides teak (q.v.) are sticklac, cutch, which is increasing and is commonly used in Chieng Mai for chewing with betel, paduk, sapan, cedar, rosewood, ebony, and other forest products. APPENDIX VIII THE KEN AND LAO REED INSTRUMENTS The ken itself is limited to the Lao Kao-the eastern Lao of the Me Kawng Valley, especially of Luang Prabang and Wieng Chan. The home of the instrument appears to 2 A good idea of the difficulties The cost of transport by of the trails may be gathered from caravan from Burma to Chieng Mai Mr. Beckett's Report on the Trade is four to five times that by boat of Chiengmai for 1896. from Bangkok. VOL. II U 289 290 THE KEN AND LAO REED INSTRUMENTS APP. VIII be the mountainous country of Chieng Kwang, east and perhaps north of Luang Prabang, and it is undoubtedly a development of the curious five-reed and six-reed instruments to be found among the Musur and other hill tribes of the Sibsawng Punna. In Lower Siam it is not found, except among the settle- ments of Lao people which are to be met with here and there. I believe it is not played in Chieng Mai, and so near to the Me Kawng as Nan its place is taken by reed flutes, which are generally played in trios. In all these instruments the principal of the 'reed' described in Chapter X is adopted for the production of the L,1 L. L3 2 FIVE-REED ORGAN note, and the sweetness of tone which results is in striking contrast to the harsh sounds of the generality of Eastern wind instruments. Even in the hunting horns of the interior the same vibrating tongue of metal is used, and the same soft cooing note is produced. Considerable musical taste has been displayed in the selection of the intervals. In the simple five-reed instrument of the Musur here shown, the mouth-piece and air chamber is formed by a gourd, and the five pipes are inserted in open- ings cut in the top. Similar openings at the bottom allow the lower ends of the pipes to remain open. A caulking of beeswax is used to prevent any escape of wind round the pipes at these openings, as well as to hold the pipes in place. THE S1X-REED ORGAN As in all these instruments the pipes are not arranged in ascending or descending order, but the notes which in two instruments run:- and _ are arranged thus in the ascending order L 2, L 1, L 3, R 2. R 1. For convenience of reference, here and in every case the pipes are divided into R (Right) and L (Left) according as they SIX-BEED ORGAN are in the right or left row facing the player (the foreground and the background of the sketches), and each row is num- bered in order from the player (from left to right in the sketches). I have never heard this instrument played. In the six-reed instrument here shown 1 the pipes are of I The illustration is from one mington refer to it in their accounts kindly lent me by Colonel Wood- of the Musur. Proceedings Roy. thorpe. Both he and Lord La- Geo. Soc. vol. xiii. No. 12, and v2 291 APP. VIII Q 292 THE KEN AND LAO REED INSTRUMENTS APP. viii comparatively heavy bamboo, instead of light reeds, with the open joint always below the air chamber, and the lower end open; the mouth-piece and air chamber are of (a two pieces, one forming the whole length of the top, the other of the bottom. They fit so closely that in a new instrument the joint is hardly distinguishable. They are bound together by ingenious little straps of bark, and the usual BARK STRAP BARK STRAP caulking round the reeds is of wax. The notes, which are are arranged thus in the ascending order : L 2, L 3, R 3, R 2, L 1, R 1, the position of the octave notes being thus the same in each instrument. The fitting of the metal tongue of the reed is seen when the pipe is removed from the air chamber, and the tablet in which the tongue vibrates is drawn out of the slits in the bamboo pipe to one side. If the reed is out of repair this is easily done. It is a pretty illustration of the native deftness with the bamboo. In the ken we have a considerable advance on these instruments. There are fourteen pipes, which are symmetrically arranged, and have a very neat appearance. The mouth- piece and air chamber is the highly polished luk lamut, care- fully turned and finished off at the end, and sometimes is even made of ivory. The two rows of reeds are inserted in two long slits made in the top and bottom of the air chamber, and are carefully caulked in the usual way. It is noticeable that the speaking length of the tube is regulated by a slit cut on the inner side, and no longer by the length of the pipe itself. Thus a little pride in the appearance of the instrument is Geographical Journal, vol. vii. No. McCarthy, Colonel Woodthorpe, 6. In the instrument shown the and Prince Henri d'Orlians are no reed tongues are of bamboo, and doubt the most primitive form of not of metal. The Jew's harps of these instruments. split bamboo mentioned by Mr. possible, and the symmetry dear to the heart of the organ- builder in Europe is attained on a small scale. That the present form of the instrument is now stereo- typed is evident from the difficulty I had in getting any one LR &ca1C to make me one with sixteen reeds (and two octaves). The answer always was mai dai, it is impossible; mai k6e, it has not been customary. But I got one at length from an unusually enterprising Wieng Chan man who makes large numbers of kens for sale; but it is a four-sawk (6 ft. 8 in.) THE KEN 29. APP. Vill &w'F Ki.b tn 294 TIHE KEN AND LAO REED INSTRUMENTS APP. VIII instrument, and demands powerful lungs. A smaller size he maintained it was impossible to make of such compass. The ken, it will be seen, has the major diatonic scale, and begins on the relative minor below, and goes to the fourth above; and considerably greater variation can be obtained than with the five- and six-reed instruments. It is probably the only instrument of Indo-China on which chords or combinations of notes are ever produced. Four Sawk (6 ft. 8 in.) Ken, with two additional pipes.* Two Sawk (3 ft. 4 in.) Kens. and ____ ____ __ _ _--- - -_ - The notes f 11V@ i' '" I! THE KEN REE the varying le 2These two are arranged thus in the ascending order: R1, L2, R2, L3, L4, L5, L6,2 R3,2 R4, R5, Li1, R6, R7, L7. 'etat The reed may be reached by re- Fate moving the fastenings and the bees- wax round any particular pipe, and pushing it gently and firmly up through fretal the air chamber. It is even more deli- ongue cate than that of the six-reed instru- ment. And they stand the wear and tear of life on a jungle trail for years together. The reed flute of Nan depends, D like the true flute or flageolet, on ngth of the vibrations in the tube, which is are the same note, used a good deal as a drone. MERGUI PEARL FISHERY shortened or lengthened by the fingers opening or filling the holes in it. The metal reed of the ken is however retained. Of three of these instruments, used for the trio-playing which is usual in Nan, only one, unfortunately, arrived with me uninjured, and it is consequently impossible to give their relation and relative pitch to one another. It is the middle of the three, and has the whole octave:- Owing to the breadth of the finger stretch it is a difficult instrument to play in tune, especially the base flute of the trio. APPENDIX IX MERGUI PEARL FISHERY The Mergui pearl fishery is an institution of some antiquity. The Selungs 1 have worked the banks for certainly over a century, and have cleared them nearly all down to a depth of six fathoms. Turpin mentions the fishery, but although other references to the subject are to be found, no attempt to investigate it was apparently made until 1874, when Colonel Browne reported the existence of extensive banks in the archipelago. Dr. Anderson in 1881-82 was also able to add a few details as to locality, although there was no systematic fishery at the time. The Chinese and Malays, in whose hands the trade chiefly was, contrived to keep Government officials effectively in the dark for another ten years. They were the chief employers of the Selung divers, and paid for the shells as they were brought up, which, in the case of a smart diver, would number about twelve per hour. The rate of remunera- tion was supposed to be a trifle over one rupee per shell, but as it was generally made in rice, opium, liquor, or sweetmeats, A primitive sea-roving people answering to the Malay orang laut farther south. 295 APP. VIII MERGUI PEARL FISHERY the diver was invariably cheated to some extent. As the Selungs began to find inquirers more frequent, they were not so simple that they did not seize the occasion to raise their prices. Work was only possible for one or two hours at a time at lowest spring tides, i.e. some five or six days per month; and during the south-west monsoon it ceased entirely, owing to the thick condition of the water during that season. Three species of shell have generally been collected. The pearl oysters [Avicula (meleagrina) margaritifera], usually packed vertically in sharp ridges on the rock, attain to as much as eighteen inches in diameter, and are of beautiful mother-of- pearl. The Ostrea sinensis is apparently also found, and a third shell, called Sabula by the Siamese, yields the largest number of pearls, though of small size. It is thin and trans- parent, reminding one of a sheet of mica, and grows on the mud flats at the level of the lowest springs. They all invariably lie on the lee side of a bank or island, where the stir of the south-west monsoon will least affect them. Some of the finest shells fetched ten rupees in Mergui, but the general run were worth about one and a half rupees locally, and double that in Penang. They were also largely exported to Mandalay for mosaic work. It was calculated that about one pearl was found to every fifteen shells, but of these many were very small. The so-called 'golden' pearls, of a yellow amber tint, were most highly prized by the Burmese and Chinese, and the white gems could until recently be bought fairly cheaply. In 1891 the discovery of the extensive bank off Pawe Island, to the north-east, gave a great stimulus to the trade, and the output of pearls rose in value to half a lakh. They were in general small, but a few were obtained the size of dried peas. The larger ones, as a rule, were said to be of little value in the English market owing to their colour ; they fetched in Mergui from 50 rupees to 100 rupees. Of shells some 20,000 pairs were exported to Penang, valued at 40,000 rupees to 50,000 rupees. In that year the local Government leased the right to fish 296 APP. 1X EXPENSES OF PEARLING for pearls, pearl-shells (or mother-of-pearl), not less than six inches from heel to tip, and beche de mer by auction, dividing the coast line for that purpose into five geographical blocks. As a result of the success of the introduction, during the season 1891-92, of pumps and diving dresses, a number of pearlers from North Australian waters visited the fishery, and about a dozen of them remained behind to work upon the banks. A number of Manilla and Japanese divers were imported, and in the season of 1893-94 some sixty pumps in all were employed in the five blocks. Boats averaged about 520 shells, or one ton a month, or about 701. worth. There were fourteen working days in a month. Expenses had so increased that the only profit was on pearls, of which comparatively few had been found, and of those only two or three were first-class gems. The outlay was heavy. In addition to the little schooner or the native two-master necessary to each diver, the pump cost 1401., and the diver was paid 201. a ton, as well as a monthly wage equivalent to about 21. 10s. Being somewhat of a swell, he expected to be paid in advance, and to be provided with European food. His tender got about 51. a month, and there was the boat's crew to be paid and fed. Stores of every sort were of course expensive on the banks,. and then two dresses and, owing to the great depth, at least four lengths of pipe were necessary for the season. Most of the banks at the time of our visit had been cleared to a depth of eighteen and twenty fathoms, and from the number of cases of paralysis among the divers it was becoming evident that anything beyond twenty-two fathoms would probably be impossible. It was, I believe, generally admitted that this depth on the Mergui banks was as trying as twenty-five in Australian waters. The life of the oyster is said to be four years, and the best shells are two years old. If the creature is so short-lived one would expect that reproduction would be very rapid. The accounts of the way in which the banks are cleared of shell, wherever divers have been at work upon them, do not however argue in this direction. On the whole they point to the rapid exhaustion of the fishery. 297 APP. IX 298 PRODUCTION OF PUKET 1893-4 APP. x APPENDIX X THE PRODUCTION OF PUKET 1893-4 District Tons Cwts. Tongka .. . ....... 1,998 15 Naitu ... . ...... 109 17 Sitam . . . . . . . 3 7 Bangku ... . ...... 7 18 Tinlay0.. . . . . . 2 0 Paid in royalties .. ..... 424 12 Total . ..... 2,546 9 It may be taken that this output is now suffering reduc- tion every year. APPENDIX XI ITEMS OF REVENUE OF THE PROVINCES OF TRANG AND PALEAN 1893-4, EXCLUSIVE OF FARMS Dollars Tin: Royalty 1 in 6 . . .... 5,722 , stamp fees.. .. . . . 860 Pepper: Royalty 60 cents per picul . . 36,423 Pepper, Palean: Royalty 60 cents per picul. 2,220 Live stock (pigs) : Royalty 90 cents a head . 5,476 Attap : Royalty 60 cents a thousand . . 1,879 Attap, Palean: Royalty 60 cents a thousand 460 Land tax (about 40,000 rai,16,000 acres, at the usual rate of 30 cents [2 salung] per rai 1,200 [is. 8d. per acre]) 54,240 �6,026 APPENDIX XII EXPORTS OF WEST COAST PROVINCES 1893-4 TIN Province Tons Cwts. Puket ... ....... 2,546 9 Renawng .. ....... 353 1 Takuatung 43 0 Pangnga ...... Takuapa ... ....... 676 10 Total . . . 3,619 0 Of this the Siamese Government received about 608 tons as royalty; which sold for about $3849,500 in Penang. Deduct- WEST COAST TRADE ing expenses of freight, &c., the share of the Government came to about p345,400 on royalties, $34,748 on stamp fees, or a, total of 3$880,143, equivalent to at least 42,2401. The output, owing to the high charges, and other causes mentioned in Chapter XIV., is steadily declining. The total value of exports, including tin, live stock, pepper, attaps, &c., was about 350,0001. That of imports, including rice, opium, hardware, piece goods, gunny bags, petroleum, and such luxuries as brandy and tinned milk, probably little less. This trade, it must be noted, is entirely independent of that of Bangkok [App. II.], and is carried on directly with the British ports of Rangun, Mergui, and Penang. In estimating the British share of the Siam trade, this is not generally taken into account as it deserves to be. APPENDIX XIII PEPPER EXPORT FROM UPPER SIAM THE MALAY STATES) (EXCLUDING The figures show that no advance is unfortunately being made. 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 White 650 Black 475 1890 1891 1892 1893 18941White 633 Black 350tr 1894 e 1895 1896 Tons 1,046 1,436 951 1,553 918 1,125 1,702 1,541 1,175 1,147 983 889 831 Value Prices in dollars per picul, &c. � 53,893 74,221 56,646 95,731 53,693 60,571 94,149 79,594 53,482 65,928 31,552 31,257 27,674 SWhite 37*80 to 38-40 Black 1920 to 2160 SWhite 28.80 to 31-2 Black 16.80 to 19-20 White 1860 to 23*40 Black 10.20 { White 13.20 Black 6.0 to 9*60 White 13*50 to 15*90 299 APP. XII SIAMESE NAMES FOR THE WINDS APP. XIV APPENDIX XIV SIAMESE NAMES FOR THE WINDS Compass Point in Siamese N. . Nua . . . N.E. . Nua Tawan Awk . E. . Tawan Awk . . S.E. Tai Tawan Awk S. . Tai . . . S.W. . Tai Tawan Tawk . W. . Tawan Tawk. . N.W. . Nua Tawan Tawk. Name of Wind. Remarks. Lom Wau, from a Lao word -= cold.1 Lom Utkra or Utara. From Pali word Utara,' meaning northern. Lom Tawan Awk = lit, the sunrise. Lom Tapau, or, on the east side of the gulf, Hua Kao, as it is supposed to come off the mountain tops. Lom Salatan, from Malay word South.2 Lom Pataya.3 Lom Tawan Tawk = lit. sun- set. Lom Yego, or Patluang. A squall is known as Lom Fon = the rain wind. A cyclonic disturbance, which is rare in Siam, is called Lone Deng, owing to the red effects of sky colouring which accompany it. Payu is the usual name for a gale. SCaptain Gerini, in the Tonsure Ceremony as performed in Siam (p. 168), published in Bangkok 1895, transposes these two, but I think incorrectly. Pallegoix is undoubtedly mis- taken in calling Salatan North- West. 3 Captain Gerini gives also Lom Samphan for S.W. monsoon, so termed, as he says, because it is favourable for junks bound to China. I have not heard it used. 300 A SIAMESE AIR APPENDIX XV SOME AIRS OF SIAM PRAYA DON (SIAMESE) APP. XV 301 EIT' J J4 -"Ur LCft1 i J I i rt, ICI D i SOME I AIRS OF SIAM APP. XV I I s - _ _ -t l l (SIAMESE AIR) _JI lt IkI __ 2j I IJ I~ I I I :1 J _ _ I B0O2 A SIAMESE AIR PLAENG LO (SIAMESE) APP. XV 303 v rir fffj 1JJJ E[ soi I SOME AIRS OF SIAM (1 "II- i I TALUMPONG (SIAMESE) I i11 2 LAO AIR LAO AIR ! L1 Ii I: __, ! r -- - --- - lLL LAO AI3 304 APP. xy APP. xv LA O AIRS _ 4I.J I JI j I-~I -F Zn IIL W 7 . LAO AIR O6w 1- r i*i i i ..f .I...I: VOL. II Ji 305 SOME AIRS OF SIAM E $ i'IiIJ v~ Ij]jri I J II*5 MA YONG (SIAMESE) _ r ' t)lI rI r 306 n APP. 1S A SIAMESE AIR LIN LA KATUM (SIAMESE) -" W Z"z~~i�yrr ZffiZILtT.NY1 E Ia a1 I I II ii " 7 111 x2 APP. XV 307 i BIRDS APPENDIX XVI BIRDS THIS list is very incomplete, being only the result of the unsystematic observations of an ignoramus during a few inland trips. It is given in the hope that it may induce others to record their observations in this most interesting subject. Although the tropical birds are accused with some justice of never singing with the sweetness of our own friends at home, yet their peculiar and distinctive notes form the chief and most appropriate music of the jungle. Without the metallic ringing of the nightjars, the whooping of the owlets, the chatter of the minahs, the monotonous repetitions of the barbets, the merry crow of the jungle cock, or the highly self-satisfied put, put, put of the cheery and ever- present Burmese coucal, how lonely and desolate the forests would be! The nomenclature is from Mr. E. W. Oates's ' Handbook on the Birds of British Burma.' The Siamese names are generally copied from the cry of the bird. Both the musical and imitative faculties are so highly developed in the Siamese that they reproduce the character of the different cries with extraordinary exactitude, far surpassing us in this respect.' ADJUTANT. Leptoptilus Argala. Siam, Nokkarien. Me Kawng, and Korat and Me Nam plains. BARBET, crimson-gorgeted. The 'Coppersmith.' Xantho- lcema Hcemacephala. Me Nam and other parts of Siam. BAIRBET, gaudy. Chotorea Mystacophanus. Malay Penin- sula. BARBET, lineated. Cyanops Hodgsoni. Siam, Nok Kawau. Jungles throughout Siam; and probably several other species. BAYA. Ploceus Baya. Me Nam plain. 'Pallegoix has noted their remarkable powers of imitation. 308 APP. XVI BIRDS OBSERVED BITTERNS. Several which I was unable to distinguish. ULBUL, Burmese white-throated. Criniger griseiceps or gutturalis. Very noisy in open kok, &c. Korat plateau. BUNTING [?] crested. Melaphus Melanicterus. Me Nam plain. BUNTING, yellow-breasted. Emberiza Aureola. Me Nam plain. CORMORANT, large. Phalacrocorax Carbo. Siam, Ka nam (water crow). Me Nam plain and Me Kawng. CORMORANT, little. Phalacrocorax pygmerus. Me Kawng. COUCAL, Burmese. Gentrococcyx intermedius. Siam, Nok put. Throughout Siam. CRow, Burmese house. Corvus insolens. Siam, Ka. Me Nam plain. CUCKOO, Indian. Cuculus micropterus. Me Kawng; and several other species I have not distinguished. CURLEW. Numenius arquatus. Malay Peninsula. DOVE, Malay spotted. Turtur tigrinus. Siam, Nok kao. Me Nam plain, &c.; and many other species. EAGLE, bar-tailed fishing. Polioa'tus Ichthyatus. Upper Me Nam and Me Kawng. EAGLE, [?] Steppe. Aquila bifasciata. Me Kawng. EGRET, cattle. Bubulcus coromandus. All over Siam called Nok Yang, a name used for some herons. FRANCOLIN, Chinese. Francolinus chinensis. Siam, Nok Kacha. Korat plateau and Battambong, &c. FRIGATE BIRD, ? Fregata Aquila, or minor. In the gulf. GULL, great black-headed. Larus Ichthyatus. Me Nam plain. HAWKS. Harriers, Goshawks, and Sparrow-hawks I was unable generally to pay sufficient attention to. HERON, Blue Reef. Demiegretta sacra. Malay coast line. HERON, grey or common. Ardea cinerea. Siam, Nok/ quek. Me Nam and Me Kawng. HERON, large white. Herodias alba. Me Nam and Me Kawng. HERON, little black-billed white. Herodias Garzetta. Me Nam and Cambodian plains. HERON, pond. Ardeola Grayi. Whole of Siam. HERON, purple. Ardea purpurea. Me Nam plain. 309 APP. XvI HORNBILL, great pied. Dichoceros bicornis. Siam, Nok Nguak. Me Kawng, Malay and Cambodian Peninsulas. HORNBILL, small pied. Anthracoceros albirostris. Malay Peninsula. HORNBILL, solid billed. Rhinoplax vigil. Heard at Langsuan in Malay Peninsula. IBIS, Davidson's black. Graptocephalus Davisoni. Battam- bong plain. IBIS, white. Ibis melanocephala. Me Kawng and Me Nam plain. JUNGLE FOWL, common. Gallus ferrugineus. Siam, Khai pa. Mountain districts of Siam. KINGFISHER, little Indian. A lcedo bengalensis. Me Nam plain. KINGFISHER, pied. Ceryle rudis. Me Nam plain and Me Kawng. KINGFISHER, three-toed. Ceyx tridactyla. Nan. KaIL, Malayan. Eudynamis malayana. Throughout Siam. LAPWING, Burmese. Lobivanellus atronuchalis. Me Nam valley. LORIQUET, Indian. Loriculus vernalis. Malay Peninsula. MARTIN, Indian sand. Cotile sinensis. Upper Me Nam. MYNAH, Burmese talking. Gracula intermedia. Bangkok. MYNAH, glossy black. Calornis chalybea. Me Nam plain. MYNAH, yellow-crowned. Ampeliceps coronatus. Me Nam plain; and probably many others. NIGHTJAR, common Indian. Caprimulgus asiaticus. Nan. NIGHTJAR, Malay. Caprimulgus macrurus. Tenasserim frontier. OSPREY. Pandion Haliatus. Lower Me Nam. OwL. Several species of large horned owls. OWLETS. Also several species, especially collared pigmy. Glaucidium Brodiei. Tenasserim frontier. PEAFOWL. Pavo muticus. Siam, Nok Yung. Upper Me Nam, Me Kawng, and Malay Peninsula. PELICAN. Spotted billed. Pelecanus manillensis. Siam, Nok katung. In immense numbers in Tale Sap, Battam- bong, and on Bandon Bight, Malay Peninsula. 310 BIRDS APP. XVI BIRDS OBSERVED PIGEON, grey-headed imperial. Carpophaga griseicapilla. Me Nam, Me Kawng watershed; and many other varieties. PINTAIL. Dafila acuta. Krat plain. SAND-PIPERS. Probably several. SNIPE, common. Gallinago ccelestis. Me Nam plain; Malay Peninsula. SNIPE, painted. Bhynchcea capensis. Me Nam plain; Malay Peninsula. SNIPE, pintail. Gallinago stenura. Me Nam plain; Malay Peninsula. SPARRow, European tree. Passer montanus. Bangkok. SPARROW, [?] Indian house. Passer indicus. Bangkok and Ayuthia. STORK, white-necked. Dissura episcopus. Battambong plain. SWALLOW, common. Hirundo rustica. Upper Me Nam. SWIFT, Eastern palm. Cypselus infurmatus. Champawn. SWIFTLET, [?] Horsfield's. Collocalia Linchi. Champawn coast. SWIFTLET, Peale's. Collocalia spodiopygia. Champawn coast. TEAL, common. Querguedula Crecca. Siam, Pet nam. Me Nam plain; and probably the Garganey Teal Qu. Circia. TERN, black-bellied. Sterna melanogastra. Me Kawng. TERN, black-naped. Sterna melanauchen. The gulf. TERN, Indian river. Sterna Seena. Me Kawng. TERN, little eastern. S. Sinensis. The gulf. TERN, roseate tern. Sterna Dougalli. The gulf. VULTURE, Indian white-backed. Pseudocyps bengalensis. Me Nam Valley. WAGTAIL, black-backed. Motacilla leucopsis. Upper Me Nam. WEAVER-BIRD, golden. Plocealla javanensis. Me Nam plain. WOODPECKER, common, three-toed. Tiga javanensis. Korat plateau; and ether varieties. 311 APP. XVI 312 SIAMESE AND ANCIENT CRAFT APP. XVIII APPENDIX XVIII SOME FEATURES COMMON TO SIAMESE AND ANCIENT CRAFT IN the craft of the gulf and rivers of Siam many pecu- liarities still exist which present remarkable affinities to those of the ships of the early Mediterranean navigators with which Egyptian sculptures and the classical writers have made us familiar. Oi ugL~ut A) 1990 Egpta aa20oo. v"N,. (rons or A,,.) In regard to rig :-The most primitive type of craft we have noted is undoubtedly the orang laut boat of the Malay West Coast. The sail is the scarcely altered squaresail of the APP. XVIII OLD AND NEW FORESAILS ancients, set as a lugsail-i.e. slightly tilted, so that the foresheet comes close down to the deck and becomes the tack of the sail. To obtain more peak the yard is slung forward of the middle point. In more highly developed types of the lugsail the foot is cut up towards the leech, and the sail is given a shorter luff and a longer leech, until the high-peaked standing lug of the Siamese rua pet, or modern rater, is attained. The rua ya yap of the East Malay Coast is rigged with two orang laut sails, an improvement on the one sail rig which is noticeable in the Roman merchantmen. The one sail rig of the Egyptians and of most early navigators was found unhandy. The foresail was evolved owing to its useful- ness in running 'off' the wind, to prevent broaching toin bad weather, and to relieve the strain caused by the weather helm, which results on most points of sailing from carrying a mainsail alone, as well as for general steering purposes. AFRICAN CORNSHlp This was the drTeLOWV of St. Luke's account of St. Paul's voyage.' In the time of Commodus, as the 'artemon' of the old Venetians, and as the eighteenth-century 'trinchetta,' this sail became as large as, or larger than, the mainsail, no doubt to a great extent owing to the lifting power a sail in that position was found to exert. In a similar manner the foresails of the rua ya yap and of the junk have, from a mere steering sail like the foresail of the Siamese rua pet or of some of the Chinese rua chaloms of the gulf, become as large almost as the mainsail. ' Mistranslated ' mainsail.' Cf. Smith's Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul. London: Longmans, 1848. 313 314 SIAMESE AND ANCIENT CRAFT APP. XVIII The foresail of the junk of Southern China retains in its excessive forward rake a characteristic feature of the classical and even medieval headsails. The jib and staysail, it may be noticed, appear to be a European invention of the last three centuries, and have not yet reached many parts of the East, though seen occasionally in Malay craft of the Straits, and in some of the trawling junks on the Amoy and Hainan coasts. Egyptian nautical drawings give two specially interesting details which may be noted; the mainyard was almost in- variably of two pieces, spliced or fished, as is seen nowadays in most long lateen yards and in the main yards of the Siamese ma pets, and a boom is frequently seen at the foot of the sail, showing that the Egyptians had apparently an appreciation of the value of flat setting sails which appears not to have been enjoyed by the Romans, and in which until the last half of the present century we were very deficient in Europe. The Chinese, Malay, and Siamese seem to have followed the Egyptians rather than the Romans, and are never without the boom. The strengthening bands of rope seen across old Roman sails are applied in a slightly different manner in the junk, where the weight of the sail is distributed among the battens, and to the supporting ropes which pass sometimes in con- siderable numbers from one to the other, and to the main- yard; they are rendered necessary to a large extent by the loose texture of the matting of which the sails are mostly made. In the rua pet they form the skeleton to which the squares of matting are sewn. The old Karlrv or ri6N8poov is still alive as the junk's mizzen; it is now, as of old, of little importance except as a steering sail, and is as frequently stowed. In the hull there are some still more striking survivals. The overhanging ends and the similarity of stem and stern of the Egyptian craft have been perpetuated in all the more primitive sea and river craft of the East, for it is the simplest and most obvious form of boat. The heavy superstructures on the bow and stern of the THE SUPERSTRUCTURES classical ships, which became exaggerated in the craft of the middle ages, and still survive in a mutilated and more practical form in the steamship of 1898, live yet in the junk and larger rua chalom, with all their galleries, railings, and other pretty conceits in wood and paint, the eyes on the bows included. 'No have got eye, how can see ?' The galleries at the bow served in the classical craft 2 for the stowage of the anchors, for the orpo d;a or windlasses, and the 7rEcpayoy or capstans,3 just as they do in the junks of the present day. Like the ships of the Iliad, many junks are pXTo1rdppo, or red-cheeked, to this day; the anchor is still w,*., J,, ". often kEpooiroo, or single-fluked; the low waist is as con- spicuous now as it was in the trireme, and the Eastern helmsman on the Irawadi or the Me Nam sits as high and as comfortably as did his predecessor on the Nile, or the KvflEpvrr-rs beneath his &4Aao rov. In the matter of rudders there are to be seen in Siam specimens of every stage of development. The small boy steers his eight-foot canoe with a little paddle, as did the Egyptian fisherman figured on the tomb of Khnumhotpu. The Lakawn folks punt their round-bottomed craft with the very same gestures as the canoemen on the tomb of Ti. The long paddles of the great processional barges of the king 2 Smith's Voyage and Ship- oars with which the Roman ships wreck of St. Paul. were equipped on each side, which s From the derivation of the could always keep steerage way on word and the context in which it the vessel, and if necessary back occurs in Lucian, this seems a and pull her round at any moment. better rendering than that given The handspike and capstan appear by Mr. Smith. It is obvious that to be a very old power-giving paddles worked from the bows, as device among the Chinese, and, as suggested by him, would be in- Mr. Smith points out, there is efficient, and at the same time evidence that they were known to unnecessary substitutes, in helping the ancients. a vessel round in stays, for the 315 APP. XVIII 316 SIAMESE AND ANCIENT CRAFT APP. XVIII remind one of those of the larger Nile boats of the Pharaohs, and the fixed big-bladed oar of the Me Ping boats or the SIAMESE CANOEIST Rua Nua recalls that of the sailing vessel on the tomb of Api,4 or those figured in 'Arch6ologie Navale.' The remarkable STEERING NILE BOAT double rudders fitted to the quarters of the modern rua chalom in the Gulf of Siam carry one back to the *rr/Xha or SIAMESE PROCESSION BARGE gubernacula of the classics, or to the ships of the Norsemen 5 and of the Bayeux Tapestry. Even in the method of slinging SThe Dawn of Civilisation, G. Maspero. s Archdologie Navale, A. Jal, vol. i., Paris 1840. the rudder the brown sailors of the gulf might be accused of having taken a wrinkle from the early Egyptians, for the weight of the rudder is taken in just the same way by a "uL~e~eTs 01 perpendicular stoutly fixed in the gunwale, and the neck of the rudder is held in to the ship's side by a grommet, which only differs from the old one in being of rattan instead of hide or leather; and as the ancient gubernator hoisted his (i Rl1DDF., T NP . E NP: COMMouUS EGYPrIAN RUooza rudder out of water when in port, so the first duty of the Nai tai of the rua chalom, when his anchor is on the ground, is to let go the rudder lanyards and hoist his rudders out of water. RUDDERS 317 APP. XVIII 318 SIAMESE AND ANCIENT CRAFT APP. XVIII As long as the high stern post is in vogue, or the people are not skilled in working metal, the modern hinged rudder6 is hardly practicable. The junks have got over the difficulty by building a rudder case into the stern, into which a rudder- head of great size and strength is fixed; the rua pet, with its short stern-post, has adopted the metal fastening of our modern rudder; but the double rudder will probably long remain in the smaller rua chalom. In the great lake of Singora the tiller is often inserted on the aft side of the rudder-head, the helmsman sitting abaft his rudders as he is represented doing in the Norse ships in M. Jal's ' Memoire sur les Navires des Normands' as well as in some classical drawings. 6 Which apparently is not more than about 400 years old. 4,sui r cafue oCLu ~i 1u � sr c4 WCsErcL tji.t r na mt csFo" r'ar-utn tkl o w-1L 'vrcwrt *arczcu~arSOf ce as Soon- as ili L yK~an 4i-Scr, .ahl 319 GLOSSARY Ao: a bay. AtI: the copper coin value nth of a ticaL Attap : thatch made from the leaf of the Nipa palm. Ban: a house or farm place. Bang : a village. Baw : a pit, or shaft; so a mine working. Bawt: the chapel of a Wat, where the images of Buddha stand and the services are intoned. Betel: the fruit of the areca palm chewed with sirih, lime, tobacco, and other ingredients. Buri: native cigarette rolled in lotus or other leaf. Chao: a chief, e.g. Chao Muang, chief of township, or governor. Chau: the Siamese method of rowing in a standing-up position, looking forward; hence the oar used. Chieng: [Lao] a city = Burm. Keng or Kiang, Fr. Xieng. Chong: a strait. Da or Dap: the native two-handed sword. Dawng: a deep forest. Doi: [Lao] mountain. Dollar: here calculated at 2s. 2id. or 9 to the �. Hiue: [Lao] a mountain stream. Ka: lit. a slave [Lao and Siam], prefix to names of hill tribes. Kadjang : [Mal.] plaited covering in a boat. Kao : a hill. Kao: rice: so food, or a meal. Kao niio: glutinous [hill] rice. Kapi: Mal. Balachong, and Burm. Ngapi, a luxury made of an unutterable concoction of putrid fishiness. Kati: Chin. .13 lb. Av., or Siam. 24 lb. Av., or 80 ticals. Raw : island. Keng : a rapid. Keng: Anglo-Burm. for Chieng. Klong : a creek, stream, or canal; usually in low country. GLOSSARY Kok: open jungle, generally of small hardwood trees. Kongsi: generally the headquarters of any gang of Chinese coolies; a Chinese firm. Korab: used by every inferior to his superior with monotonous repetition-sahib. The amount of truth in any statement is in inverse ratio to the number of' korabs' it contains. Kra: Seal on official document; hence document itself. Kwien: the cart of the country districts. Lakawn: [old Siam] city; also written Nakawn. Lakon : theatrical performance; generally a pantomimic perform- ance by women with music. Lem: a headland. Luang : great or royal; an official ranking below Pra. Luk Chin: child of Chinese and Siamese parents. Mai: wood, e.g. mai takien, thingan wood. Me : [Lao] a river, like Nanm. Me Nam: a river; the main river of a district. Muang: township, residence of a governor; so province named after chief town. Mueng: [Mal. Pen.] a tin mine. Nai: master; applied to Europeans like the Indian 'sahib.' Among Siamese a prefix like the English 'Mr.,' but having more the meaning of the old-fashioned' Master.' Often used with Korab to Europeans. Nam: a river, used of waterways, of more importance than the klong or hiue, but not sufficiently large for the title Menam. Nawng : a swamp. Noi: little. Pa: a cloth; Pa Nung, the Siamese nether garment. Paknam: the mouth of a stream, whether it falls into the sea, a lake, or a larger river. Pi: nat or spirit. They live in the trees, the rivers, and the hills, all over the country, and are great obstructionists. Picul: 100 k~t'sChin., 50 katis Siam., 1333 lbs. Av, Pla : fish. Pra: a monk; a holy man; an image of Buddha; a high official ranking below Praya. Praya: Lord; a high official. Pu: [Lao] a hill. Rai: clearings made in the forests by felling and setting fire to the timber for cultivation of hill crops. Rawng Law: the Navy Department. 320 GLOSSARY Rua: a boat; e.g. Rua Nua, Northland boat, &c. Rupee: in Siam three-fourths of a tical. Sala: a rest-house usually attached to a monastery. Sarang: [Mal. naut.] native commander. Ta: landing place; e.g. Ta Rua, boat-landing-often at the limit of navigation of a stream. Tamniem: custom; the terror of the would-be reformer. Tauke : Chinese head man, who generally advances money to the coolies and practically owns them as slaves. Tical 1: about $0.60; throughout the book it is calculated at the low equivalent of is. 4d., or fifteen to the �. Ton: a tree; e.g. ton takien, the thingan tree. Ton kra: an official passport. Tumniep: a rest-house erected generally by officials, where sala accommodation is absent or insufficient. Wai: Siamese equivalent of the Indian salaam. The clasped hands are raised to the forehead; a crouching posture is assumed when anything is to be got by it. Wat : a monastery. Yai: great. Yike: farcical theatrical performance, with comic dialogue by men actors. 1 As the tical is best known under this spelling, it is here retained. With a view to consistency, the Siamese names of places are generally given, and the system of spelling adopted is that of the Royal Geographical Society. VOL. .I 321 323 AUTHORITIES QUOTED OR REFERRED TO ALABASTER, H., Wheel of the Law. ANDERSON, DR., English Intercourse with Siam in the Seventeenth Century. ARNOLD, SIR EDWIN, Light of Asia. ARTS, Soc. OF, Journals. ASIATIC SOCIETY, ROYAL, Journals. BABER, COLBOURNE, Report of the Grosvenor Mission. BECKETT, W. R. D., Report on Korat Plateau and Lower Mekawng. BLACK, J. S., Geographical Journal, vol. viii. No. 5. BLUE BOOK, On the Affairs of Siam, 1894. BOCK, CARL, Temples and Elephants. BOWER, CAPT., Geographical Journal, vol. i. No. 5. BOWRING, SIR JOHN, The Kingdom and People of Siam. CLIFFORD, H., Geographical Journal, vol. ix. No. 1. COLQUHOUN, A. R., Amongst the Shdns. CRAWFURD, Journal of an Embassy to Siam. CURZON, HON. GEORGE, Nineteenth Century. July 1893. Foreign Office Trade Reports, 1888-1896. GARNIER, FRANCIS, Exploration de l'Indo-Chine. Geographical Journals. GERINI, CAPT. G. E., The Tonsure Ceremony. GILL, CAPT., The River of Golden Sand. GORDON, ROBERT, C.E., Journal Soc. of Arts, No. 1998, vol. xxxix. GRINDROD, MRS., Siam: a Geographical Summary. GUILLEMARD, The Cruise of the Marchessa. HALLETT, H., A Thousand Miles on an Elephant. HAMILTON, CAPT. A., A New Account of the East Indies, 1688- 1723. HENRI, PRINCE D'ORLEANS, Around Tonkin, Geographical Journal, vol. viii. No. 6, and From Tonkin to India. HOOKER, SIR JOSEPH, Himalayan Journals. 324 AUTHORITIES QUOTED OR REFERRED TO JAL, A., Archdologie Navale. KEANE, PROF. A. H., Eastern Geography. KEITH, DR., Journal Royal Asiatic Soc., 1892. LAMINGTON, LORD, Proceedings R.G.S., vol. xiii. No. 12. LECKIE, C. S., Journal of the Society of Arts, vol. xlii. 1894. Louis, PROF. HENRY, Geographical Journal, vol. iv. No. 3; Mineralogical Magazine, vol. x. No.48; Phillips's Ore Deposits, 2nd edition, and The Mineral Industry, vol. v. 1896. Low, CAPT., Journal Asiatic Soc., vol. vii. pt. ii. MASPERO, G., The Dawn of Civilisation. MCCARTHY, J., Report on a Survey in Siam, and Proceedings R.G.S. MICHELL, E. B., Bangkok Tide Tables. MOUHOT, HENRI, Travels in Indo-China, NEALE, F. A., Narrative of a Residence in Siam. NORMAN, H., The Far East. OATES, E. W., The Birds of British Burma. PALLEGOIX, BP., Description du Royaume Tai ou Siam. Proceedings Royal Geographical Society. ROCKHILL, WOODVILLE, Geographical Journal, vol. iii. No. 5. SCOTT, J. G., C.I.E. [SHWAY YOE], The Burman. SMITH, J., Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul. SMYTH, H. W., Notes on a Journey on the Upper Mekong. Geographical Journal, vol. vi. Nos. 5 and 6. SWETTENHAM, F. A., Malay Sketches. TuRPIN, Histoire de Siam. VINCENT, FRANK, Land of the White Elephant. WOODTHORPE, COL., R.E., C.B., Geographical Journal, vol. vii. No. 6. YOUNG, E., The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe. YULE, COL., in GILL'S River of Golden Sand and Proceedings R.G.S., vol. vii. No. 2. BAY oF 7t H GAL e a Iron Le Tenusserml/ Ross / ! Pran Rocks A R CH I PE LAGO SKaw Tau 1285 Bonds Cora/ Shal/s 0Kaw Pungunn (TO ChaO/ya) 138 C2hayo Roads [}ia/ma 'Kaw Samui riaony a C adsL ts' SKolam P k REFERENCE NOTE British Territory J Siamese Territory . Present Prontier - --- AdminiserativeBoundaries -- Tradeltoutes a a58l4 Heights infeet M=Muang: Kl=Klong: K=Kaw Soilo o ites 40 b O YD 20 90 a0 SO Trais followoing the CoastLine are omitted London.o20 MlnorsyAlbemorle Street. 10 I- S I Z OC .r. INDEX BY MISS M. B. JACKSON AGRICULTURAL AGRICULTURAL and commercial de- partment, i. 27, 32-34, 54 Ainslie, Mr. G. R., ii. 170, 179, 201, 214 Anderson, Dr., ii. 11, 48-50, 295 Anghin, i. 12; ii. 146, 152, 154 Angkor, rumns at, i. 57, 82, 91, 271; ii. 214, 223, 231-237 Anglo-French Convention of Janu- ary 1896 and guarantee of the Me Nam valley, i. 133, 146-150,. 272, 279; ii. 249, 250, 258 Architecture of Siam, features of, i.81, 82, 91, 118, 201, 202; ii. 98, 231-235 Arlabosse, Commandant, ii. 170, 174 Army and military spirit, i. 27, 28, 30, 98, 261, 287; ii. 256 Ayuthia or 'Krung Kao,' the old capital, i. 19, 24, 55, 57-64, 66, 68, 212, 242, 244; ii. 47, 48, 50, 231, 252, 273, 311 BABER, Mr. Colborne, i. 138, 139, 296 Ban: Binghoa Wen, i. 45 Kacha, pepper-growing district of, ii. 175 Kanong Pra, i. 240 Klong, ii. 178, 188 Lem, ii. 87 Lem Kroat, ii. 6 Na, ii. 135 Pak Ta, village and river of, i. 176 BANGnOK Ban (continued): Ron, tin market of Lakawn pro- vince, ii. 132, 135 Tabat, gem diggings of, ii. 195, 197 Taluat, Lao village of, i. 100 Tanun, i. 179, 212 Yao, ii. 178, 188 Bandon : Bight, ii. 68, 80, 87, 137, 310 Province, ii. 4, 25, 70, 73, 76, 79, 80, 128 River, ii. 3, 79, 80, 118 Bang: Kwang, gem mining village of, ii. 193-196, 200 Pakong or Nakawn Nayok river (see that title) Pra, i. 253; ii. 148-151 Bangkok: Chinese Bangkok, i. 17 Consular Bangkok, i. 14-16 Official Bangkok : administra- tion and characteristics of; temperature and rainfall at, i. 17, 18, 23, 24, 30, 31, 35-37, 41, 48, 51, 53, 55-57, 59, 66, 67, 82, 85, 94, 98, 99, 105, 118-120, 124, 132, 133, 142, 149, 150, 154, 162, 167, 189, 191, 198, 203, 206, 212, 213, 215, 221, 231, 235, 242, 243, 246, 250, 259-261, 263, 265, 267, 268, 273, 278, 286- 288, 294, 301, 305, 311, 321- 323, 328; ii. 3, 9, 10, 17, 27, 32, 33, 44, 49, 50, 79-81, 84, 92-95, 99, 100, 118, 122, 135, BANGKOK Bangkok (continued): 136, 141-144, 146, 147, 153, 154, 158, 159, 163, 166, 170, 171, 174, 182, 193, 200, 201, 206, 207, 214, 220-222, 228, 240, 242, 247-249, 253, 256, 266, 267, 278, 284, 300, 310, 311 Port of: harbour regulations; shipping and trade of; chief exports and imports, i. 1-12, 50, 71, 208, 209, 286, 300; ii. 132, 167, 168, 176, 251, 261, 263, 268-279, 285, 289 Bangkolem Point, i. 265 Bangplasoi, fishing centre of, i. 30; ii. 146, 158 Bangtaphan, alluvial tin at, ii. 41, 42, 44-47, 50-52, 138 Bar of Siam, i. 2-4, 260, 263, 274; ii. 261-263, 265 Bassac, Lao province of, i. 204,213; ii. 205, 245, 247, 248 Battambong : Prattabawng, or Battambong, province and town, i. 58, 275; ii. 165, 166, 175, 200,206,210, 213, 215, 217-224, 230, 237, 238, 243, 248, 309-311 Sangke or Battambong river, ii. 197, 198, 215, 224, 228 Batten, Mr., Deputy Commissioner at Mergui, i. 311 Beckett, Mr., i. 254; ii. 283 Betche, Herr, i. 243 Bi, Gerbi, or Krabi province, i. 319; ii. 3-5, 128 Birds : i. 78, 159, 160, 215; ii. 61, 203, 224, 225, 308-311 Edible birds' nests, export of, ii. 53-55, 114, 115, 270, 288 Bo: Din Nio, district of Pailin gem diggings, ii. 200-207, 215 Klong Yang, gem diggings at, ii. 204 Ploi Deng, ruby diggings at,ii. 209 Sisiet or Sichet, gem mines of, ii. 186 Tongsu, principal working of Bo Yaka gem district, ii. 208 Wen, gem mines at, ii. 178, 179, 183-186,190,191,193,196,205 CHANTABUN Bo (continued) : Yaka, chief district of Pailin gem diggings, ii. 202,203,206- 210, 215 Yaw, gem mines at, ii. 181, 191, 195-197 Boat-building of Siam, excellence of, i. 5, 6, 43, 68, 81, 92-94, 161; ii. 73, 103, 104, 142-144, 149, 150, 154, 157, 312-318 Bombay Burma Corporation, i. 104; ii. 280 Borneo Company, i. 104; ii. 268, 280 Bory, Commander, i. 256, 260, 261, 263 Bower, Captain, i. 135, 139 Bunsen, Mr. Maurice de, C.B., Commodore of Bangkok Sailing Club, ii. 144, 155, 156 Burma, i. 7, 14, 19, 22, 34, 53, 71, 80, 91, 101, 104, 116-118, 140- 147, 153, 154, 175,191, 194, 248, 256, 271,,280, 281,295,296, 304, 311-316; ii. 8,24, 31, 76, 78, 108, 125, 126,128, 172, 173, 178,180, 181, 202, 255, 256, 257, 278, 279, 285, 286, 288, 296, 308, 309 CAMBODIAN PENINSULA, administra- tration, physical features, popu- lation, industries, products, and mining of, i. 15, 19, 22, 30, 36, 72, 82, 91, 140, 147, 189, 193, 194, 204, 249, 268, 269; ii. 78, 141-239, 240, 242, 309, 310 Campbell, Mr. Murray, i. 243, 247 Carter, Mr. A. C., i. 287 Cattle export, i. 50; ii. 285, 287 Chainat, Teak duty station at, i. 40, 69, 71; ii. 279 Chaiya, Malay province of, Govern- ment of, ii. 46, 53, 68-79, 83, 90, 93, 95, 99, 100 Cham or Xam, ii. 50, 51 Champawn, i. 5, 64; ii. 27, 31, 32, 39, 42, 45-47, 52, 53, 56-58, 79, 138, 311 Chantabun : French occupation of, i. 149, 150, 272, 274, 275; ii. 169, 170, 173-176 326 INDEX CHANTABUN Chantabun (continued): Province, town and river of- population, industries, pro- ducts, mines and climate of, i. 39, 55, 154, 243; ii. 25, 142, 144, 160, 162-167, 169-179, 187-190, 196, 197, 199, 209- 211, 214, 230, 237-239 Chantuk, i. 239, 242, 243, 247, 249, 251, 252 Chao : Bun Yun, i. 110, 111, 124, 130, 132, 176, 183 Lai, i. 190, 191 Sa, i. 110, 120 Chaolai, ii. 38, 39, 41, 49, 138 Chiamdo Chu or Nam Chu, a part of the Me Kawng (see that title) Chieng : Hawng valley and plain, i. 123, 129 Hung, capital of the Sibsawng Punna, i. 138, 141, 142, 144- 146, 176, 207, 256 Kan town and rapids, i. 98, 211, 212, 214-216 Kawng town and gem diggings, i. 116, 121, 123,125, 133, 152- 154, 157, 161, 164, 171, 174, 180, 181; ii. 185, 191, 200 Keng, State of, i. 145-152, 272 Kwang, i. 115, 170, 189, 213; ii. 290 Lap, i. 144, 145 Mai, Lao province of, i. 80, 110, 115, 117, 123, 161, 162, 171, 172, 174, 193, 203, 207; ii. 107, 245-247, 280, 285-290 Rai, i. 142 Sen, i. 115, 142, 157, 165, 194 Tung, i. 115, 145, 147, 206, 257; ii. 288 China and Chinamen, i. 5, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19, 26, 40, 52, 86, 89, 94, 113, 115, 119, 120, 130, 135, 140-146, 149-151, 166, 168, 169, 173-176, 179, 193, 194, 196, 198, 200, 202, 205, 208-210, 212,222, 226, 227, 233, 235, 237, 238, 245, 246, 250, 253, 256, 272, 279, 284- 287, 294, 301, 302, 305,314-321, 323, 325, 328, 329; ii. 8, 10-12, 15, 19, 21, 22, 28, 35, 41, 42, 50, DON 53, 54, 56, 59-66, 76, 79, 83, 84, 88, 92-97, 106, 110, 115, 117, 123, 124, 130-133, 136, 143, 146, 147, 149, 157, 160, 166,172-177, 180, 202, 218, 220, 224, 228, 232, 233, 241, 246, 248, 249, 253, 256, 259, 261, 263, 264, 266,270-273, 276, 284, 288, 294-296, 313-315 Chong : Mesan, ii. 156 Pra Bawt, ii. 46 Samit, ii. 156, 160 Clunis, Mr. Ross, ii. 31, 141 Coal mines, ii. 2, 13, 80, 81 Coffee, ii. 105, 106, 177 Colquhoun, Mr., i. 80-82, 88, 139, 141 Copper mines, i. 111, 215, 242, 243, 251, 252 Cotton growing, i. 117, 171, 183, 207; ii. 286 Council of Regency, ii. 250, 251 Crawfurd, Mr., i. 4; ii. 46, 48, 49, 51, 147, 152, 158, 161, 165, 177 Curzon, Mr., i. 270; ii. 246 DACOIT gangs, i. 40, 42, 48, 53, 75, 216, 233, 241, 278, 279, 310; ii. 8, 76, 112, .158, 182, 186, 256, 273, 277 Damrong, Prince, Minister of the Interior, i. 27, 34, 36, 75, 279, 315, 322; ii. 94, 105, 117, 256, 273, 283 Dawng : Choi, i. 123, 164 Praya Yen, i. 53, 55, 164, 176, 225, 233, 235, 244; ii. 33 Rek, i. 55 Dayul, i. 135-137 Deloncle's, M., policy, i. 257, 272; ii. 115 Deng Lek, the cook, ii. 36, 61, 99, 123, 144, 159, 178, 214 Deng Yai, or 'Big Deng,' 170, 171, 178 Devawongse, Prince, Minister for Foreign Affairs, i. 27, 259, 260 Develle's, M.,policy, i. 260,269-272 Don, the Malay, ii. 36, 61, 91, 123, 138, 139 INDEX 327 EDIBLE EDIBLE birds' nests: Birds (see that title) Educational Department, i. 27, 34, 35, 216, 287, 288; ii. 257 Elephant hunt in Ayuthia; habits, training, export, and value of Siamese elephants, i. 58-66, 102, 108, 109, 117; ii. 72, 73, 107, 108 FEVERs, i. 155, 164, 190, 194, 205, 206, 239, 245; ii. 177, 193, 201, 202, 214, 219 Financial Department, i. 27, 38, 322; ii. 56, 255, 256, 284 Fishing industry, i. 87-89, 181; ii. 53, 57, 60, 74, 88, 145-147, 225, 226 Foreign Office, i. 27, 149, 259, 261, 297 Forest Department, 1897, i. 69, 71, 104, 106, 121, 122; ii. 251, 257, 279-283 French: Chantabun occupied by, i. 149, 150, 272, 274, 275; ii. 169, 170, 173-176 Chieng Keng surrendered to; French guarantee of the Me Nam valley, i. 133, 145-151, 256, 272, 279; ii. 249, 250,258 Consulate at Korat, i. 249, 250, 251 Disputes with Siam in 1893 and 1896, i. 107, 117, 128, 129, 145, 146, 149, 150, 207-211, 213, 215, 242, 250, 255-276; ii. 152, 174, 175, 221, 223, 230, 240-250, 261, 268, 269, 271, 277, 280 Exploration of Yunan, i. 140, 141, 144, 210 Subsawng Chu Tai taken pos- session of by, i. 174, 191, 192 GARNIER, M. Francis, i. 88, 144, 210; ii. 231 Gem mines, i. 108, 153-156, 160; ii. 141, 144, 170-173, 176, 178-215 Ruby, i. 39, 46, 47, 67, 153, HAWS 154, 156; ii. 178, 184-186, 188, 190, 191, 194-196, 199, 204, 208, 209 Sapphires, i. 46, 153-156; ii. 184, 188, 190, 191, 199, 208, 214 Gerbi or Bi province (see that title) Giama Nu Chu or Salwin river (see that title) Giblin, Mr. Ronald, ii. 256 Gill, Captain, i. 135, 139 Gold, i. 57, 108, 111, 164-167, 169, 185; ii. 42, 83, 162, 180, 201 Government, corrupt officialism and dishonesty, reformation of; changes made in 1892 and 1896-1897; internal admini- stration and chief departments, i. 19-38, 54, 154, 275, 278, 280, 282-286, 288, 289, 293, 294, 304, 315, 320-323; ii. 3, 4, 18-20, 24, 25, 94, 95, 220, 250- 260 Graham, Mr., ii. 255 Great Trail or 'Tang Luang,' i. 239, 245, 247 Grindrod, Mrs., ii. 46, 87 Grosgurin, M., i. 258, 259, 268 Gula or Shan (see that title) Gum Benjamin, export of, i. 208; ii. 271, 289 Gun, Dr., ii. 27, 28 HALL, Mr., ii. 169, 189, 192, 193 Hamilton, Captain, i. 3, 57; ii. 90, 95, 124, 146 Harbour regulations, ii. 251 Harrison, Mr., ii. 105, 106 Hat: Kam, gold found on the sand- bank of, i. 165 Sai, Post and revenue station of, ii. 109, 137 - sandbank of, ii. 69, 83 Sompen, tin mines at, ii. 28, 30 Haws : Caravan trade of, i. 114-116, 293; ii. 288 Raids of, i. 115, 170, 185, 189- 193, 201, 204, 215,218; ii. 246 328 INDEX HEGGIE Heggie, Mr., i. 294, 295, 300, 303 Hin Valley, i. 109 Hinlap, i. 244, 245 Ho Klong, gem mining village, ii. 197-201, 208 Home Department, i. 36 Hong Kong, i. 299; ii. 77, 155,164, 261, 270-272, 276-278 Hong Sawadi, i. 179; ii. 245 Hue: Lek, i. 126, 127 Luang, i. 229 Nam Ngau (see that title) Pakham, i. 156 Pot, i. 129 Pung, i. 156 Sai, i. 126 Humann, Admiral, ii. 152 IDEM or Ilem, gem mining at, ii. 187 'Inconstant,' the, i. 260, 261, 263- 265, 271-274 Innes, Mr. Mitchel, financial ad- viser, ii. 255 Irawadi river, i. 137, 138, 193; ii. 315 Iron mines, i. 46, 98-100, 111; ii. 208 Ivory, export of, i. 208; ii. 13, 271 'J. B. SAY,' the s.s., i. 263, 265, 267, 268 Jacquemyns, M. Rolin, general adviser to Siamese Government, i. 27; ii. 257 Jelinga or Jalinguer, ii. 48, 50 Junk Ceylon Island, administra- tion of-tin mines on, i. 315-321, 323-330; ii. 2, 22, 26 KA or Ka Che tribes, i. 107, 122, 166, 171, 172,177-179, 184, 196, 200, 227, 245, 295, 296; ii. 77, 232, 242, 280 Kabin, i. 57, 301 Kamen, Kamer, or Cambodians. Cambodian peninsula (see that title) Kamuks, Ka tribes (see that title) KAW Kanburi, i. 39, 41, 46, 48, 52, 53, 278, 289 Kantan, new capital of Trang, ii. 8,9 Kao: Dau Muak Lek, tin mines of, ii. 15 Deng, red sandstone hills of, ii. 92, 98, 101 Kan Lao, tin working at, ii. 111 Kawn Sawan, i. 71 Kesung, ii. 68 Kilong, ii. 137 Kwang, ii. 85 Maun, ii 49, 51 Patat range, ii. 164-166, 179, 182, 184, 187, 192, 197, 199, 215, 237 Ploi Wen or 'Hill of Gems,' ii. 176 Ron, tin mining in valley of, ii. 130, 132 Sabab, ii. 163, 164, 175, 178, 179, 188 Sai Dao, i. 253; ii. 163, 164, 175, 238 Talung, i. 110 Kapong, tin mines of, ii. 17, 18 Karens, i. 42, 51, 107,179, 295, 296, 304, 305, 308-311 Kasi river, ii. 6, 7 Kaw tribe, i. 173, 174, 181 Kaw : Chang, ii. 164-167, 197 Chuen, lighthouse on, i. 1, 3 Kam, ii. 37, 152, 153 Kong, fishing industry at, ii. 164, 166, 167 Kram, ii. 154, 155 Kut, ii. 164, 165 Lak, ii. 39, 44, 51 Lan, ii. 37, 154 Mak, ii. 2, 113 Mon, ii. 142, 160-162 Mukapao, ii. 76 Nangkumm, ii. 113, 119 Pai, ii. 47, 154 Pi, ii. 83 Platin, ii. 160 Prap, ii. 116 Pungunn, ii. 65, 74, 83 Rong, ii. 166 Sak or East Lan, ii. 154 INDEX 329 KAW Kaw (continued): Sakait, ii. 156 Samit, i. 274; ii. 142, 157, 161 Samui, tin mines on, ii. 65, 83, 84, 87 Si Chang, i. 4, 12, 253; ii. 37, 151-154, 265 Si Kaw-ha, limestone islands of, ii. 114, 115 Ta Kut, ii. 42 Talui, ii. 83, 87 Yai or Pulo Tantalem, ii. 88, 90, 113, 119 Yaw, ii. 113 Yuen, ii. 113 Kawng, rapid barrier of, 211, 212, 255, 258 Keda, ii. 4, 11, 105, 108, 109, 111 Keda-Singora Railway, ii. 96 Keene, Professor, i. 55; ii. 114 Keith, Dr., ii. 49, 51, 52 Kelantan river, ii. 118 Kemerat, i. 212 Ken, a musical instrument. (See Music) Keng : Hau, rapids on the Me Kawng, i. 212 Hung or Chieng Hung (see that title) Kang, i. 189 Koi, i. 244, 253 La, rapids on the Me Kawng, i. 211, 212 Luang Rapids on the Me Kawng, i. 159, 184, 186, 211, 212, 214 King of Siam, H.M., i. 22, 23, 25- 27, 35, 36, 150, 154, 222, 243, 262, 267, 275; ii. 19, 34, 73, 99, 105, 244-251, 257, 259, 260, 264 Kirby, Captain, R.N., of H.M.S. 'Swift' at Bangkok, i. 242 Kirkpatrick, Mr., ii. 251, 252 Klet Keo, ii. 155 Klong : Chaiya. (See Chaiya) Chanak, ii. 196 Chantung, ii. 192 Hin, ii. 5 Kwang, ii. 191, 192, 199 KWANTUNG Klong (continued): Lot, gem working of, ii. 191 Noi, ii. 205 Pakawn, ii. 123, 133 Pakraw or Klong Pakchar, ii. 113-115 Paya, ii. 123 Plet, ii. 178 San, ii. 198 San Sep, i. 56 Sawi. (See Sawi) Sinla, ii. 80 Sitaw or Sitaw Yai. Klong Yai (see that title) Takron, i. 235 Tin Kuan, ii. 51 Toke, i. 92 Tsa Raw or Sarawa, ii. 48 Wen, or Nam Wen (see that title) Wisai, ii. 58 Yai, ii. 184, 192, 198, 199, 209 Klongs, silting of-value of the improvement of, i. 40-43, 56; ii. 263, 264; irrigation by Canal Company, i. 53-56 Kok Chang, tin mines at, ii. 111, 112 Kokruat, i. 247 Kolam Puk, ii. 123 Konburi river, ii. 215, 224 Kontani or Khoantani, old capital of Trang, ii. 8 Kopa, or Takuapa (see that title) Korat : Province and town of, physical features and industries of, i. 58, 147, 150, 179, 208, 209, 222-224, 229, 231-238, 242- 244, 247-251; ii. 97,125, 174, 219, 232, 235, 247, 248, 271, 308, 309, 311 Railway, i. 52, 167, 236 Kra, Pakchan (see that title) Krabi or Bi province (see that title) Krat, province and town of, ii. 162, 164-167, 176, 178, 182,184, 191, 196, 197, 311 Kunlon ferry, i. 142-144 Kuwi, Kui, or Couir, ii. 41, 46-51 Kwangsi, i. 115, 173; ii. 131 Kwantung, ii. 79, 131 330 INDEX LAGREE LAGREE, Captain Doudart de, i. 140, 141; ii. 231 Laihut, tin mines at, ii. 66 Lakawn, province and city of, administrative, commercial, and mining importance of, ii. 3,4, 11, 20, 25, 46, 79, 80, 83, 86, 87, 90, 93-95, 99, 100, 105, 108, 111, 120, 123-137, 272, 288, 315 Lamet race, i. 171 Lamington, Lord, i. 145 Lan Sang, or Luang Prabang (see that title) Lanessan, M., i. 257, 272 Langsuan, province, administra- tion, and tin mines of, ii. 8, 42, 53, 58, 62-67, 73, 74, 76, 108, 128, 129, 310 Lanten tribe, i. 172, 173 Lantsan Kiang river, or Me Kawng (see that title) Lao: Klang or 'Middle Lao,' i. 236 Pong Dam or Western Race, i. 125, 176, 193, 194, 231; ii. 201 Pung Kao or Eastern Race, i. 177, 179, 193, 194, 231, 232, 236, 246; ii. 289 States, administration, popula- tion, physical features, pro- ductions, trade, and musical instruments of, i. 19, 22, 33, 46, 68, 75, 80, 95-254, 281, 301; ii. 77, 99, 107, 108, 150, 151, 179, 180, 183, 185-187, 201, 202, 205, 210, 212, 221, 232, 240, 242, 244, 245, 248, 272, 285-295, 300 Lawa tribe, i. 171 Leal, Mr. F. A., i. 51; ii. 46, 51, 76, 117, 123, 127-129 Legislative Council, measures passed by, ii. 27, 34, 250-254, 256, 258 Lem: Chaolai, i. 274; ii. 138 Chong Pra, ii. 40, 53 Gila, limestone peak of, ii. 83 Kolam Puk, ii. 86, 87, 123 Krabang, i. 274; ii. 154 Kwang, ii. 85 Ling, i. 274; ii. 162 MALAY Lem (continued): Putau, ii. 155 Sa Me San, or Cape Liant (see that title) Sa Muk or Double Head, ii. 146, 148 Sai, ii. 68, 69, 92 Sing, ii. 162 Son, ii. 95, 104, 112, 113 Ten, ii. 46, 148, 152 Terapim, ii. 161 Lenya river, ii. 52 Lewis, Mr. Wolseley, ii. 250 Liant, Cape, or Lem Sa Me San, i. 1; ii. 156, 265 Ligor, or Lakawn (see that title) Lo Gi's tin mine near Puket, i. 323 Loi Kio, ii. 205 Lopburi, i. 55 Louis, Professor, ii. 185 Low, Captain, i. 315, 316, 318; ii. 11, 13, 16, 18 Lu tribe, i. 166, 169-176, 183, 194 Lu or Lutse Kiang, or Salwin river (see that title) Luang Prabang : Lao province of, French claims to, i. 128, 129, 149, 207, 208, 257, 268-272, 275; ii. 243- 248, 271, 280 Exports, imports, industries, and characteristics of, i. 98, 115, 158-160, 164, 166, 172, 174, 176-181, 183, 185-209, 212-214, 216, 217, 222, 232, 234; ii. 99, 271, 289, 290 Lumpumm, ii. 116, 117 Lung, or Patalung (see that title) Lung Kiang, or Shweli river (see that title) 'Lutin,' the, i. 259, 263, 273, 274 McCARTHY, Mr. James, Director of Surveys, i. 32, 33, 118, 139, 179-181, 189-191, 200, 203,204; ii. 256, 292 Macleod, Captain, R.N., i. 273, 275 Malay Peninsula, i 14, 19, 22, 23, 30, 34, 64, 67, 147, 148, 193, 194, 197, 279, 280, 307-330; ii. 1-140, 166, 226, 228, 265,285, 286, 295, 299, 300, 308-314 INDEX 331 INDEX MALIWUN Maliwun, mineral outcrops at, ii. 30, 31 Maulmen, port of, i. 104, 141, 143, 144; ii. 286-288 Me : Kawng, or Nam Chu, or Chiamdo Chu, or Lantsan Kiang, source, course, navigation, and indus- tries of, French claims on, i. 23, 67, 68, 72, 98,99, 104, 107, 117, 122, 129, 133, 134-147, 150-153, 157-161, 164, 166- 168, 171, 174, 176-178, 180, 181, 183, 187, 189, 193, 194, 204, 208-218, 222, 231, 234- 236, 251, 254-257, 259, 268- 270, 273, 275, 276, 309; ii. 107, 165, 185, 186, 196, 197, 219, 221, 226, 240, 241, 243, 245, 247, 248, 271, 289, 290, 308-311 Klawng, i. 51-53, 277; ii. 48 Ping, i. 69, 70, 72, 73, 142; ii. 316 Prachi, i. 254, 294 Wang, i. 69 Yom, rafting industry of, &c., i. 69, 73, 86, 92 Me Nam: Chao Praya or the Me Nam : Anglo-French guarantee of the Me Nam valley, i. 133, 147- 150, 272, 279; ii. 249, 250, 258 Kwa Noi, i. 51, 52 Kwa Yai, i. 45, 51, 52 Pichai, Me Nam Chao Praya, (see that title) Sisawat, i. 51, 53 Tides of, i. 2, 3, 40; ii. 261-264 Valley and plain, general features of, blockade of, i. 1-14, 19, 39-94, 100, 104, 106, 108,122, 128, 161, 191, 194, 204, 208, 209, 214, 242, 244, 255, 256, 259-267, 271-275; ii. 50, 118, 138, 140, 177, 230, 232, 256, 280, 308-311, 315 Winds of, i. 264-268 Meo tribe, i. 172, 174 Mergui or ' Muang Malit ' : Pearl fishery of, ii. 26, 295-297 Port of Tenasserim, i. 55, 311- 314, 318; ii. 20, 26, 47, 48, 50, 51, 54 MUENG Michell, Mr. E. B., ii. 261 Mining department, i. 33, 39, 46, 47, 67, 98-100, 107, 108, 111, 153-160, 164-167, 169, 185, 215, 242, 251, 252, 277, 294, 296-303, 316-320, 323-328; ii. 1-3, 6, 12- 17, 20, 25, 27-30, 34, 35, 42, 47, 62,64-66, 75, 80, 83, 84, 108-112, 117, 122, 123, 129-134,141, 144, 162, 170-172, 176, 178-215,222, 251, 254, 298, 299 Ministry of Justice, improvements in criminal procedure, i. 27, 32 ; ii. 251, 252 Monasteries or Wats, i. 7, 8, 34, 35, 43-45, 77, 78-86, 91, 93,118, 201, 202, 216-218, 282, 313; ii. 15, 75, 125, 126, 130, 176, 235 Mong : Kam Yi, headman at Bo Yaw, ii. 196 Keng or Nai Pasi, at Pailin, ii. 206, 207, 209-215 Sia, ii. 212, 213 Mons or Peguans (see that title) Morrison, Dr. G. E., i. 140, 175, 176, 232-235, 243, 247, 249-251; ii. 229, 238 Mouhot, M. Henri, i. 253; ii. 142, 160, 172, 231 Muak Lek, i. 246 Muang : Fang, i. 100, 105, 115 Fek, i. 100, 107, 108 Kawb, i. 129, 132 Kiri, tin mining at, ii. 4, 128 Kleng, ii. 157, 162 Klung (Chantabun), ii. 179, 187 Krat, Krat (see that title) Lai, i. 174, 191 Lem, i. 145 Lom Sak, i. 216 Ngob, i. 121-123 Ngoi, i. 181, 184, 185, 191 Puen, i. 189, 215 Sa, i. 108, 110, 111, 118, 124 Sing, capital of Chieng Keng, i. 145-147, 174 Talung or Patalung (see that title) Teng, i. 190, 191 Mueng Hin Lek Fai, tin smelting, furnace at, ii. 109-111 332 MULLER Miiller, Mr. J. W. E. de, i. 33; ii. 141 Music, native: Ken and Lao reed instruments, i. 79, 80, 98, 112, 113, 179, 196-200, 223, 251, 308; ii. 138, 139, 150, 151, 186, 289-295, 301-307 Musur or Mu-hso tribe, i. 172- 175, 198; ii. 290 NAI : Dau (Master Star), i. 97, 304, 313; ii. 7, 11, 15 Kloi, i. 97, 98, 313; ii. 11, 15 Suk (Master Cheerful), i. 97, 98, 132, 177, 186, 306, 309, 310, 313, 315; ii. 2, 5, 6, 11, 15, 22, 23, 36, 59-61, 78, 91, 99, 108, 115, 118, 120, 126, 131, 136, 138, 139 Naitu tin mines, i. 321, 324; ii. 298 Nakawn: Chasi, Chinese sugar district of, i. 40 Luang, Angkor (see that title) Nayok or Bangpakong river, i. 53, 55-58; ii. 146, 221 Sawan, i. 72 Tom, Angkor (see that title) Wat, Angkor (see that title) Nam: Beng, i. 166, 171 Chu or Chiamdo Chu, part of the Me Kawng (see that title) Ing, i. 133, 146, 164; ii. 196 Kan, i. 193 Mun, i. 231, 236 Nan, Me Nam Chao Praya (see that title) Ngau, i. 157, 158, 164, 166, 169, 176 Noi, ii. 109, 111, 112 Nua. i. 207 Pi, iron mines at, i. 98-100, 123 Po, i. 69, 72, 86, 92 Rawn valley, i. 303 Sak, i. 57, 242, 244 Sueng, i. 181 Ta, i. 171 Takron, i. 247 U, i. 145, 166, 174, 178, 181- 184, 194, 207, 209, 270, 293 PAKNAM Nam (continued): Wen, ii. 162, 165, 166, 178, 179, 183,184, 186, 188 Namkong or Salwin river (see that title) Nan, Lao principality of, i. 98, 103-106, 108, 110, 111, 114-124, 146, 157, 171, 172, 176, 193, 194, 200, 207, 215; ii. 107, 125, 186, 242, 245, 247, 271, 288, 290, 294, 295, 310 Navy department, or Rawng Law, i. 27, 29-32, 68, 261-267, 328, 329; ii. 147, 156, 158; 169, 258 Nawng : Boa, gem working of, ii. 191 Kai, i. 165, 190, 203, 204, 209, 217, 219, 220, 222-224, 226, 227, 235, 236 ; ii. 271 Nawong, gem mines at, ii. 178, 180, 181, 187-193, 195, 199,201, 211, 214 Neale, Mr. F. A., ii. 87 Nu or Lutse Kiang, or Salwin river (see that title) OATES, Mr. E. W., ii. 308 Orl6ans, Prince Henri d', i. 136- 139, 195, 198, 200, 209, 210; ii. 292 PAGODA MOUNT, Sungkla, ii. 92, 93, 98, 99 Pailin gem mines, i. 153; ii. 141, 179, 181, 186, 191, 196, 197, 200-215, 219, 235, 237 Pak: Bak, i. 182 Chong, i. 247 Panang, ii. 88 Ranawt, ii. 88, 90, 120 Si, i. 183 Pakchan or Kra, ii. 30, 31, 52, 134 Paklai, i. 98, 209, 214; ii. 245 Paklao (or Pulao), ii. 2, 3, 14, 79, 80, 128 Paknam, i. 5, 6, 260-263, 265, 268, 274; ii. 32, 144, 145, 264 Chieng Krai, i. 86 Koe Chai, i. 86, 87 Po, i. 69, 71, 73, 75 Wen, ii. 168, 179 INDEX 333 PAKPAYUN Pakpayun, village of, ii. 114, 115 Pakprio or Saraburi, i. 57, 235, 237-239, 241, 242, 244, 245, 250 Pakret, i. 68 Palean, ii. 12, 298 Pallegoix, Bp., ii. 48, 51, 300, 308 Pang Nga, state and town, i. 316, 317; ii. 13-17, 71, 80, 298 Patalung, or Talung, or Lung, ii. 11, 50, 87, 90, 93, 112, 116-120, 136 Patat Range, Kao Patat (see that title) Patiyu, ii. 41, 46, 47, 138 Pavie, M., i. 146, 147, 175, 191,204, 256, 259, 260,263, 268-270, 273, 274; ii. 174, 241, 248 PaweIsland,pearlfisheryoff, ii. 296 Pawnshops, ii. 251-253, 256, 284 Pearl fishery, Mergui (see under that title) Pechim, i. 301 Peguans or 'Mons,' i. 19, 30, 46, 52, 101, 194, 286; ii. 233 Penang, i. 312, 315, 317; ii. 5, 9,; 12, 13, 20, 63,118,129, 133, 296, 299 Pepper, i. 53; ii. 8, 10 12,167,172, 173, 175-177, 187, 270, 298, 299 Petchaburi, i. 40-42, 253, 278; ii. 37, 39-41, 48-50 Petriu, rice mills of, i. 57 Pichai: Rafting station of, i. 69, 75, 94, 95, 97, 98, 189, 214, 216 River, Me Nam Chao Praya (see that title) Pichit, fish netting at, i. 69, 72, 87-89 Pitsunalok, ancient capital of, i. 19, 86, 89-92; ii. 231 Podam, ii. 6 Police force of Bangkok, i. 36, 37; ii. 256 Postal and telegraphic department, i. 31, 32, 42, 53, 310, 311; ii. 17, 18, 45, 153, 158, 222 Pra: Inasa, Commissioner at Siem- rap, ii. 230 Prasada, Commissioner at Luang Prabang, i. 187, 188, 192, 193, 197, 202 PUNPIN Pra (continued): Prasadit, Commissioner at Korat i. 236, 238 Sakda, Commissioner at Battam bong, ii. 223, 224 Vechit, Commissioner at Sungkla, ii. 93, 94, 99, 128 Prachadi, mining at, i. 294-297, 300-303, 315 Prachak, Prince, Commissioner at Nawng Kai, i. 190, 222, 223, 227 Prachim, i. 57; ii. 221 Pran or Pram, ii. 41, 48-50 Prattabawng or Battambong (see that title) Praya: Bodin, ii. 175, 230 Chaiya, ii. 46, 47, 55, 56, 70- 72, 74-76, 79, 84, 93, 94, 137 Dejo, i. 190 Katathawn, ii. 219, 220, 222, 223 Mahamat, i. 189, 218 Pichai, i. 189, 190 Rasada, Raja of Trang, ii. 1, 7- 12 Rat, i. 189 Setthi, Raja of Renawng, ii. 27, 28, 30, 46, 62, 64, 94 Srisdi, Prince Damrong's secre- tary, i. 315; ii. 3 Surisak, i. 49, 190-192 Tip Kosa, Special Commissioner at Puket, i. 318, 320, 321; ii. 4, 7, 24, 26, 27 Pu : Bia, i. 214 Fai Mai, volcanic vents, so called, i. 179-181, 253 Public Works Department, i. 27, 31, 32, 311, 322 Puket, or Tongka, on Junk Ceylon Island, i. 304, 314-316, 318-321, 323, 328-330; ii. 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 16, 19-22, 24, 27, 29, 141, 247, 254, 298 Pulo: Lanta, ii. 7 Panjang, ii. 2 Pumriung or Pum-ring (Chaiya), ii. 68-70, 73, 79, 137 Punpin, ii. 70, 71, 79 334 INDEX RABBI RABBI, Prince, ii. 105, 252 Raheng, re-rafting and measuring station of the Me Ping, i. 69, 142; ii. 272 Railway department, i. 5, 31, 40-42, 52, 167, 236, 239, 241-247, 249, 250; ii. 96 Rajaburi or Ratburi province (see that title) Rajawong of Nan, i. 119, 120 Rangun, i. 2, 143, 315; ii. 20, 200 Rat Pumi, ii. 113 Ratbukao, i. 239, 247-249 Ratburi or Rajaburi province, i. 40, 41, 179, 277, 278, 289, 292-294, 297, 300, 304; ii. 42, 231 Rawng Law, Navy (see that title) Rayawng, i. 225; ii. 156-159, 162 Renawng, port of, i. 254, 314, 315, 319; ii. 8, 13, 20-22, 26-30, 46, 62, 64, 65, 298 Revenue, Financial department (see that title) Rice, growth and export of, i. 10, 42, 171, 174; ii. 13, 20, 28, 44, 74, 76, 117, 129, 157, 187, 218, 270, 273, 277, 278, 284, 288 Richelieu, Commodore de, i. 29, 30, 32, 261, 264, 266, 329 Rochet, M., i. 249-251 Rockhill, Mr. Woodville, i. 135, 139 Roland, M., ii. 223, 224 Rosebery, Lord, i. 147, 148, 255, 256, 258, 260, 270; ii. 246 Roy, Mr., i. 245, 246 Ruby mines, Gem mines (see that title) SAIGON, i. 140, 149, 210, 213, 263; ii. 17, 174, 176, 221, 228, 270, 278 Sakai, tribe of, ii. 76, 77 Sala, ii. 179 Salisbury, Lord, i. 143, 147, 148 Salungs, ii. 295, 296 Salwin, or Nu, or Lu, or Lutse Kiang, or Nam Kong, or Giama Nu Chu river, i. 104, 106, 107, 135-139, 142, 147; ii. 278-280 Sam Roi Yawt, ii. 39-42, 49 SISAWAT Sam Yawt or Kao Sai Dao peaks (see that title) Sanchan, gem working of, ii. 191 Sanderson, Mr., i. 60, 65; ii. 90 Sangke or Battambong river (see that title) Sapphire mines, Gem mines see that title) Saraburi or Pakprio (see that title) Sata Hip or Shelter Bay, ii. 155 Sawi, ii. 53, 57, 138 Sawng-pinawng, river and village of, i. 43, 44, 47, 50 Schau, Major, ii. 256 Scott, Mr. J. G., C.I.E., i. 143, 146, 175, 195; ii. 144 Serfdom and Corvee, i. 282-285; ii. 94, 220 Shan States, i. 107, 116, 125, 136, 138, 139, 141-144,147, 151,153- 157, 162, 170, 173, 193, 195, 215, 251, 293; ii. 108, 172, 173, 179- 183, 187, 188, 190, 192, 193,198, 199, 201-206, 209, 211, 212, 214, 217, 220, 235-237, 283, 288 Shunning Fu, i. 143 Shweli or Lung Kiang river, i. 139 Si: Chang, Kaw Si Chang (see that title) Kiu, Lao village of, i. 247 Siam Exploring Company, ii. 169, 207 Sibsawng : Chu Tai, i. 174, 189-192 Punna, i. 145, 169, 176, 271; ii. 290 Siemrap, town and province of, i. 271, 275; ii. 117, 166, 175, 221, 227-230, 243 Silk growing, i. 183, 201, 207, 208, 223; ii. 286, 287, 289 Simon's, Lieutenant, navigation of the Me Kawng, i. 210, 211, 213 Sinclair, Mr., ii. 169, 211, 238 Singapore, i. 2, 50, 149, 274, 299, 300, 312; ii. 77, 95, 103, 118, 133, 270, 272, 276-278, 285 Singora or Sungkla (see that title) Siracha, Pagoda and Monastery of, ii. 151 Sisawat or Me Nam Sisawat (see that title) INDEX 335 SISSOPON Sissopon, ii. 221, 223 Sitam, i. 324; ii. 298 Slade, Mr., i. 71, 106 Smiles, Mr., i. 33, 203 Songunn, i. 247, 249 Sterling, Mr., i. 146 Stung Treng, i. 168, 255 Sumao, i. 115, 142, 143 Sungkla or Singora, province and town, &c., i. 64; ii. 25, 82, 84, 86-88, 90-112, 117, 120, 121, 123, 247, 318 Supan, i. 39, 67, 97; ii. 196 Survey Department, i. 32, 33, 51, 66, 203, 266, 287; ii. 247, 256, 257 Swettenham, Mr. F. A., i. 179 'Swift,' H.M.S., i. 242, 260, 273 TA : Chang, i. 236 Chien Lu, i. 135 Rua, ii. 66 Tachin river, i. 40, 43, 278 Takuapa or Kopa, province of, i. 314, 324; ii. 13, 15, 17, 19-23, 25, 26, 29, 64, 128, 129, 228, 298 Takuatung, province of, i. 324; ii. 14, 16, 298 Tale Sap, i. 72; ii. 113, 186, 215, 218, 310 Tali Fu, i. 141, 143 Talung or Patalung (see that title) Tang Aw, i. 144, 210, 211 Tani, ii. 87, 90, 122 Tantalem, island of, ii. 87 Tap Kwang, i. 244 Taphan Hin, gem mining at, ii. 184, 185 Taptieng, pepper district of, ii. 8-11 Tarua or Keng Luang rapids (see that-title) Tavoi, i. 53, 310-312; ii. 11, 17 Taw Sun, i. 326 Teak trade, regulation of, i. 10, 52, 69-71, 104-107, 117, 121, 122, 133, 171; ii. 174, 251, 257, 268, 270, 278-283, 287, 289 Telegraphs : Postal and Tele- graphic Department (see that title) WAT Tenasserim, i. 42, 52, 55, 141, 160, 304, 307-313, 316; ii. 22, 27, 47, 48, 50-52, 100, 202, 310 Thoreux, Captain, i. 258, 259 Tibet, i. 134-139, 193, 293 Tin, i. 108, 277, 294-303, 316-320, 323-328; ii. 10, 12-17, 20, 25, 27-30, 34, 42, 45, 47, 62, 64-66, 75, 80, 83, 84, 108-112, 117, 123, 124, 129-134, 270, 298, 299 Tobacco growing, i. 53, 117, 171, 174, 183; ii. 174 Tok Narong, ii. 178 Tongka, Puket (see that title) Tongkin, i. 115, 129, 138, 140, 141, 145, 149, 154, 170, 175, 191, 193, 207-209, 257; ii. 54, 261, 262 Tongsu, Shan (see that title) Trang, province of, i. 315, 319; ii. 1, 4, 7-13, 22, 62, 80, 118, 128, 298 Tring Kanu, i. 22 Tseku, i. 137-139 Tung: Chieng Kum, i. 189, 190, 213, 218 Kaben, harbour of, ii. 162 Kitea, ii. 155 Mai Deng, i. 303 Plong, ii. 155 Ranawt, ii. 88, 89, 120 Yai, i. 53, 66; ii. 164-166, 184, 192 Turpin, i. 23, 57, 73; ii. 295 UBO, i. 233, 235, 236; ii. 179, 185, 205 Utaradit, i. 209, 212, 214 VIL, Captain, i. 263 Vilers, M. Le Myre de, i. 256, 272, 275, 276 Village regulations, ii. 251, 256 Vogels, ii. 7 WADDINGTON, M., i. 257, 269, 271 Walker, Colonel, i. 98 Wat : Chang, i. 57 336 INDEX WAT Wat (continued): Chinaret, i. 90 Luang, i. 217, 218 Prabang, i. 202 Prakeo, i. 217 Pratat, ii. 126 Ron Nai, ii. 130 Watana, gold-mining district of, i. 57, 301; ii. 221 'Wats' or monasteries (see that title) Weber, Captain, i. 321, 328, 329; ii. 4-6 Wen, Nam Wen river (see that title) Wieng Chan, province and capital of, i. 158, 189, 212, 213, 217, 218, 222; ii. 289, 293 YUNAN Winds : Me Nam, winds of, ii. 264-268 Siamese names for, ii. 300 Woodthorpe, Colonel, R.E, C.B., i. 137, 145, 175, 203; ii. 291, 292 YANG PI, i. 143 Yao and Yao Yin tribe, i. 172-174 Yen, 'the orthodox,' i. 303, 309, 314; ii. 36, 61, 67, 75, 120, 123, 133, 139, 144, 159, 160, 167, 201, 214 Yule, Colonel, i. 109 Yunan, i. 114, 115, 138, 140-144, 178, 193, 206, 210, 243; ii. 288 PRINTED BY SPOTTTSWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE LONDON VOL. II. INDEX 337 MR. MURRAY'S LIST OF WORKS OF TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE MRS. BISHOP'S (MISS BIRD) WORKS. THE GOLDEN CHERSONESE AND THE WAY THITHER. With Map and Illustrations. Post 8vo. 14*. JOURNEYS IN PERSIA AND KURDISTAN: with a Summer in the Upper Karun Region, and a Visit to the Nestorian Rayahs. Maps aid 36 Illus- trations. 2 vols. crown 8vo. 24s. THE JAPANESE ALPS: an Account of Climbing and Exploration in the iUnfamiliar Mountain Regions of Japan. By the Rev. WALTER WESTON, M.A., F.S.A., Member of the Alpine Club; late British Chaplain, Kobe, Japan. With Maps and Illustrations. Medium 8vo. 218. THE BIBLE IN SPAIN; or, The Journeys and Imprisonments of an English- man in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula. By GEORGE BoRRow. A New Edition, carefully Revised, with Notes and a Glossary, by the late RALPH ULICK BURKE, Author of 'A History of Spain.' With Map and Etchings by M. MANESSF. 2 vols. crown 8vo. 12s. PAUL DU CHAILLU'S WORKS. THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN. Summer and Winter Journeys through Sweden, Norway, Lapland, and Northern Finland. Map and 235 Illus- trations. 2 vols. 8vo. 36s. JOURNEY TO ASHANGO LAND, and Further Penetration into Equa- torial Africa. Illustrations. Post 8vo. 7s. 6d. THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS, with Adventures during Eleven Years of Travel. By H. W. BATES. With Coloured Plates and Illustrations. Medium 8vo. 21s.; or Abridged Edition, crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. THE PAMIRS : being a Narrative of a Year's Expedition on Horseback and on Foot through Kashmir, Western Tibet, Chinese Tartary, and Russian Central Asia. By the EARL OF DUNMORaE. With Maps and Illustrations. 2 vols. crown 8vo. 24s. THE PERSONAL ADVENTURES AND EXPERIENCES OF A MAGISTRATE DURING THE INDIAN MUTINY. By MARK THORNHILL. With Frontispiece and Plan. 12s. THE VOYAGE OF THE MARCHESA TO KAMSCHATKA AND NEW GUINEA. With Notices of Formosa and the Islands of the Malay Archipelago. By F. H. GUILLEEARD, M.D. New Edition. With Maps and 150 Illustrations. Medium 8vo. 21s. A WANDERING SCHOLAR IN THE LEVANT, By DAVID G- HOGARTH, Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. With Map and Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. ALONE WITH THE HAIRY AINU, or, 3,800 Miles on a Pack Saddle in Yezo, and a Cruise to the Kurile Island. By A. H. SAVAGE LANDOR. With Map, and many Illustrations by the Author. Medium 8vo. 18s. AMONG CANNIBALS : an Account of Four Years' Travels in Australia, and of Camp Life among the Aborigines of Queensland. By Dr. C. LUMHOLTZ. With Maps and 120 Illustrations. Medium 8vo. 24s. NOTES BY A NATURALIST DURING THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. 'CHALLENGER' ROUND THE WORLD IN THE YEARS 1872-1876. By Professor H. N. MOSELEY. With a Memoir of the Author, Portrait, Map, and numerous Woodcuts. Crown 8vo. 9s. THE HEART OF A CONTINENT: a Narrative of Travels in Manchuria, the Desert of Gobi, Turkestan, the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, the Pamirs, &c. From 1884-1894, By Captain FRANK YOUNGHU3BAND, C.I.E., Indian Staff Corps, Gold Medallist Royal Geographical Society. With Maps, Illustrations, &c. Medium 8vo. 21s. THE GREAT RIFT VALLEY : a Journey to Mount Kenya and Lake Baringo in British East Africa. By J. W. GREGORY, Of the Natural History Museum, S. Kensington. With Maps, Illustrations, &c. 8vo. 21s. London: JOHN MURRAY, Albemarle Street. MR. MURRAY'S EASTERN HANDBOOKS. CONSTANTINOPLE, BRISA, AND THE TROAD. Edited by General Sir CHARLES WILSON, RE., G.C.B. With Maps and Plans. 7s. 6d. 'The editor has availed himself of the best local talent, and brought the new volume thoroughly up to date.'-OXFOn MAGAZINE. EGYPT: THE NILE, THROUGH EGYPT, NUBIA, ALEXANDRIA, CAIRO, THE PYRAMIDS, THEBES, THE SUEZ CANAL, PENINSULA OF SINAI, THE OASES, THE FYOOM, &c. An Entirely New Edition. 3 beautifully drawn Maps and Plans, and Illustrated tables of Hieroglyphs, Cartouches and Divinities. 15s. 'We cannot say too much in praise of the excellent arrangement of this guide ... The maps are admirable.'-PALL MALL GAZETTE. 'In a word, not only is this the best handbook on Egypt, but it is probably the very best Mr. Murray has published in his large and famous series.'-DAILY CHRONICLE. ASIA MINOR, TRANSCAUCASIA, PERSIA, &C. An entirely New Work. Edited by Major-General Sir CHARLES WILSON, R.E., K.C.B. With assistance from Colonel CHERMSIDE, RE., C.B., Mr. D. G. HOGARTH, Professor W. RAMSAY, Colonel EVERETT, C.M.G., Lieutenant-Colonel HARRY COOPER, Mr. LIEVEY, and others. With numerous Maps. 18s. A traveller lately returned from Asia l inor writes in the Daily Chronicle: 'The information gathered in this handbook in a concise and well-arranged form is little short of marvellous-in its variety as well as with regard to its reliable accuracy.' HOLY LAND, SYRIA, PALESTINE, MOAB, &c. Edited by the Rev. HASKETT SMITH. With 29 Maps and Plans. 188. ' The most important in many ways of the foreign handbooks.'-SATURDAY REVIEW. INDIA. MURRAY'S HANDBOOK FOR INDIA AND CEYLON. 20s. With 50 Maps and Plans. An entirely new and compact Guide for the whole of India and Ceylon. 'The maps are admirably clear and at the same time full, and they are exceptionally numerous for a guide-book.'-GLASGOW HERALD. 'Far and away the best book of its kind.'-ScorsHAN. 'A valuable traveller's companion. No pains have been spared to render this excellent guide.book as comprehensive and as complete as possible.' HOME AND COLONIAL MAIL. 'Of the general arrangement of the book, and the skill with which an immense mass of interesting and valuable material has been crowded into a small space, it would be didcult to speak too highly.'-ST. JAMES8'S GAZETTE. JAPAN. MURRAY'S HANDBOOK. Fourth Edition. 20s. By BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAiN and W. B. MASON. With 10 Maps and a Plan of the Buddhist and Shinto Temples of Ikegami and Izumo. London: JOHN MURRAY, Albemarle Street. This book is a preservation facsimile produced for the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. It is made in compliance with copyright law and produced on acid-free archival 60# book weight paper which meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper). Preservation facsimile printing and binding by Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2013