A WHITE ELEPHANT.

207

with its jerking pace, and the one I chose, although a female, moving with an exceptionally easy gait. The elephant-driver, on my noticing that its head was salmon-coloured speckled with darker spots, assured me that if it had been a male, it would have been honoured as a white elephant, and presented to the King of Siam. My eyes had become so inflamed with the constant glare from the white paths, and from peering at the small figures on the silver rim of the prismatic compass, that I was obliged to give up night-work as far as possible, and on my return to England I had to commence wearing spectacles.

The next morning we started at 6 A.M., all feeling much better for our long halt at Kiang Hsen. The boys were

met.

City enclosure. Sketch of an entrance to Kiang Hsen.

quite rejuvenated, and walked along briskly under their umbrellas in the fresh morning air, singing scraps of songs as they went, joking with each other, and with all whom they When tired by a long journey they become jaded, and walk as if they have tar on their feet. After passing two caravans of laden cattle conveying the goods of some immigrants from Zimmé, we halted at a village to purchase fresh vegetables, but could only procure a few onions. Some of the trees had sprouted after the rain on the 21st, and everything was looking fresher than before.

Starting again, we passed some men carrying eel-spears, and stopped for breakfast at Kyoo Pow on the banks of the Meh Chun, where we bought some bringals and mustardleaves. Many doves were cooing in the trees, and did not

208

EMIGRANTS FROM LAPOON.

go into a pie, as I refused to let the boys have the gun to shoot them. We likewise saw a few green paroquets.

After breakfast we were off again, the elephant-men carrying leafy branches to shelter their eyes, as we were proceeding due west. We passed another caravan of laden cattle, and halted for the night at Ban Meh Kee. I had thoroughly enjoyed the journey-being mounted on an easier beast, and having a complete holiday, as I had previously surveyed the

route.

Next day we woke up with the thermometer marking 57°, and were off before 6 A.M. An hour later we met a caravan of sixty-three laden oxen conducted by Burmese Shans on their way to Kiang Tung. The leading oxen had masks, embroidered with beads, on their faces, surmounted by peacocks' tails. We then entered the evergreen forest-where the gibbons were wailing, and doing wondrous feats of agility, outleaping Leotard at every spring-and halted for breakfast amongst some gigantic kanyin and thyngan trees.

In the afternoon we made a short march to our former halting-place at Meh Khow Tone. The gadflies in the forest were nearly an insupportable nuisance. These vampires were so intent upon drawing blood, that they never moved as my hand slowly approached to crunch them. They are noiseless on the wing, and painless in their surgery. One is unaware of their presence until a ruddy streak appears on one's clothing. The elephants constantly scraped up the dust with their trunks to blow at the flies, where they could not reach them with the leafy branches that they carried. Our boys hurried along, armed like the elephants, slashing at the flies on their shoulders and backs. We were all glad to reach the camp.

Shortly before halting we passed several hundred emigrants from Lapoon, squatting down and enjoying their mid-day rest, with their packs by their side, and their oxen grazing close by. A great part of their baggage was borne by the men on shoulder-bamboos.

We were off before six the next morning, and after passing fifteen Kiang Tung Shans on their way back from Maulmain with their purchases, a Chinaman carrying three

BEAUTIFUL SCENERY.

209

huge iron pots for distilling, and caravans of forty cattle carrying the goods of some of the Lapoon emigrants, we entered the Yung Leh rice-fields. Rain had evidently

fallen since we passed through them on our way to Kiang Hsen; the scene was changed as by an enchanter's wand, and had now the aspect of spring. Young leaves were sprouting on the trees, even the evergreens were decked with them, while the leaf-dropping bamboos looked quite fresh, the rain having freed them from their coatings of dust. Paddy-birds had arrived, and were perched in flocks upon some of the trees, making them in the morning mist look a mass of white blossoms. Five great jo-jas (slate-coloured cranes) strutted through the plain, companies of caravan Shans were dotted about, under temporary mat shelters, with their packs stacked by their sides, and large herds of cattle were grazing in the distance. The mist rising and falling as it cleared off the valley, gave us beautiful peeps at houses nestled in the orchards, which framed either side of the plain. The whole scene formed an ideal landscape, the realisation of an artist's dream-a scene to which one would fain recur.

After halting for a quarter of an hour at the monastery in Ban Doo, to bargain with the abbot for some magical and medicinal books, we hurried along to the ford of the Meh Khoke, crossed the river, and were welcomed by our old friend the jo-ja, who still acted as sentinel to the rest-house. outside Kiang Hai.

In the account of his journey from Kiang Hsen to Kiang Hai in February 1887, Mr Archer, our consul at Zimmé, brings out the importance of the trade converging at Kiang Hai, and passing over the portion of the route we had traversed to the Burmese Shan States and China, along which we propose the railway to China should be carried. He states that "the road from Ban Me Khi (Meh Kee) to Chienghai (Kiang Hai) is probably the greatest and most important thoroughfare in the whole of the north of Siam, and the traffic here is comparatively very considerable in the course of a day I passed many caravans of pack-animals, some consisting of a long file of over a hundred bullocks.

210

DESCRIPTION OF TRAFFIC.

The greater proportion of the traders were Ngios (Burmese Shans) from Chiengtung (Kiang Tung), who came to purchase goods in Chiengmai and Lakhon (Zimmé and Lakon), chiefly cotton goods, iron, and salt. Very few of the Laos (Ping Shans) seem to venture into Chiengtung territory for trading purposes; in fact, it is apparent that the Laos cannot compete with the Ngio and Toungthoo traders and pedlars. This, again, is the route taken by the Ho, or Yunnanese traders, on their yearly trading expeditions to Moulmein (Maulmain)."

In another report Mr Archer gives the route now taken by Chinese caravans from Yunnan to Ootaradit (Utaradit), the city at the head of navigation for large boats on the Meh Nam. He says: "The route followed by this caravan was from Yunnan (Fu) to Puerh, Ssumao, Kiang Hung, Muang Long, Muang Lim, Kiang Hsen, Kiang Hai, Peh, and Utaradit or Tha-It. These caravans come down to Tha-It every year, but the greater part go eastward towards Chieng Mai (Zimmé), and some as far as British Burmah. These traders are pure Yunnanese, and are called Hō by the Siamese." It is interesting to know that this direct route from Yunnan Fu to Penyow, which lies between Kiang Hai and Peh, passes through the same places as our proposed railway from Maulmain, and will therefore greatly facilitate its survey.

CHAPTER XIX.

AT KIANG HAI-FEROCIOUS DOG-CHINESE PACK-SADDLES AND MULESROUTES FROM CHINA-ARTICLES OF

MERCHANDISE-RICHNESS OF KIANG HSEN PLAIN-VISIT THE CHOW HONA-MAN KILLED BY WILD ELEPHANT-CHIEFS WISH FOR RAILWAY-WOULD HELP BY GRANTING WOOD FOR BRIDGES AND SLEEPERS-KAMOOKS FOR LABOURERS― CHINESE SHANS AND CHINESE WOULD FLOCK IN FOR HIRE-EASIEST ROUTE FOR LOOP-LINE TO ZIMMÉ-TREES LADEN WITH WOMEN AND CHILDREN-DR M'GILVARY PURCHASES AN ELEPHANT-RECEIVES

-BOXING

PRESENT FROM CHOW HONA-SUNDAY SERVICE-UNSELFISHNESS OF DR M'GILVARY-LAPOON IMMIGRANTS-DEATH-RATE OF IMMIGRANTS A WOMAN IN CHAINS-LEAVE KIANG HAI-YOUNG ELEPHANTS A NUISANCE-A YELLOW-TURBANED MONK-FIREWORKSWHISTLING ROCKETS-GIGANTIC ROCKETS AT FUNERALS-A LOVELY LOLO-LAWA WOMAN-SPRING BLOSSOMS-CROSS THE WATER-PARTING BETWEEN THE MEH LOW AND THE MEH ING-HOT SPRINGS-HOUSES ERECTED FOR US-FISHERIES-ARRIVE AT MUANG HPAN-FORMATION OF A SETTLEMENT-EMIGRANTS TO KIANG HSEN IN 1887-PROSPERITY OF COUNTRY-MR ARCHER'S OPINION-THE FATHER OF THE STATE-LIKE A HIGHLANDER-DESERTED CITIES-AN ANCIENT CHRISTIANVIANG POO KEN-RAPID DECAY OF BUILDINGS IN A MOIST CLIMATE -ANTS AT WORK-DAMMING STREAMS FOR FISHERIES-INJURY TO DRAINAGE THE MEH ING A SLUGGISH STREAM-A HARE-OPPRESSIVE ATMOSPHERE-SEARCHING FOR WATER-BOILING MUD TO MAKE TEAA DISTRESSING MARCH --CITY OF CHAWM TAUNG-A CELEBRATED TEMPLE-BUDDHIST LEGEND-A GOLDEN IMAGE SIXTY FEET HIGHLEGEND OF PENYOWA BUDDH FORTY-FIVE FEET HIGH-GAUDAMA EXISTING FORMERLY AS INDRA-A SHAN RACHEL-REACH PENYOW.

WHILST the elephants were being unpacked, I approached the mule-loads of a large Chinese caravan encamped near our sala, to take the dimensions of a pack-saddle. The Yunnanese muleteers were some distance away, squatting on the banks of the river, enjoying their pipes and a chat, having left their