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IMPORTANCE OF THE QUESTION.

French or British enterprise will win the much-coveted prize.

It will be strange indeed if, with the advantage we now possess by the annexation of Upper Burmah and its Shan States, the press, the mercantile community, the manufacturers, and working classes of this kingdom, cannot induce the Government to make or guarantee the sections of our railway to China which lie in British territory, and thus throw open for British commerce the most magnificent, unopened, and available market in the world.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

LEAVE RAHENG-ISLANDS-ZIMMÉ SHANS IN RAHENG-SIAMESE WOMEN -MISLEADING STRANGERS-"SOW" AND "RAT" POLITE TERMS-REACH KAMPHANG PET-SALUTED WITH STONES-FOUND DEAD-BURMESEVISIT THE GOVERNOR-THE FLOOD-POPULATION-A FEMALE INTERPRETER-LEAVE KAMPHANG PET-CULTIVATION-REACH PAK NAM PO-TOUNGTHOO PEDLARS-NAVIGATION ON THE MEH NAM-LOOPLINE TO OOTARADIT — GAMBLING-HOUSE-A FRENCHIFIED MONKSKETCHING A BEARDED SIAMESE SIZE OF THE DELTA-JOURNEY TO BANGKOK-A LONG STREET OF VILLAGES-REACH BANGKOK.

WE left Raheng early in the morning of June 13th, and after forcing our way through the double file of boats which lined the banks, passed the fine plastered brick building, somewhat resembling Salween House at Maulmain, where the governor resides, and halted to sketch the south-eastern hills near Ban Ta Kare. A mile and a half farther I got a capital view of the hillocks lying to the east of the city. Seven miles from Raheng the villages forming its suburbs came to an end, and in the next sixteen miles we saw only two small villages or hamlets.

3.6* Hand-dredge.

The quicksand in the bed of the river during this stage of the journey, and as far south as the junction of the Meh Ping with the Meh Nam, was a constant cause of delay, as boat after boat had to dredge its way across drifting sandbanks, which closed up as they passed. The hand-dredge used consisted of a blade formed of a teak plank three and a half feet long and one foot deep, with a handle rising two

771H

49)

BEHIND

ORAHENG

86

436

DREDGING A CHANNEL.

and a half feet above it. One man pressed down the handle, and three or four others drew the blade along by two pieces of cord fastened through holes near its end. The remainder

View of hills looking east at 218 miles from Ban Kow Nome Wan.

of the men of the three boats aided the action of the dredge by loosening the sand with large teak-wood roofing shingles.

Owing to the swift current and drifting sandbanks, the

MISLEADING STRANGERS.

437

passage up-stream is very tedious, and boats from Bangkok to Raheng take between thirty and thirty-five days in the dry season. The river varies between 700 and 1000 feet in breadth; but at one place opposite a small hillock below the revenue station of Dan Wung Chow, which is situated at the border of Raheng with Kamphang, it is contracted for some distance to 400 feet. Near here we halted for the night, having made 17 miles in the day.

The province of Raheng is mainly occupied by descendants of Zimmé Shans, owing to its having formerly been part of the kingdom of Zimmé. Even in the city, more than half the people are Zimmé Shans and Peguans. As we proceeded southwards from Raheng, the daintily dressed Zimmé women, with their neat coiffure and pleasant faces, rapidly gave place to slovenly brazen-faced Siamese females, often made more repulsive by their recently shaven heads being covered with short bristles. All of these women whom we addressed on our way to Bangkok, asking the names of villages or for other information, answered us cheekily, and never by any chance digressed into the paths of truth. men were but little better; and we had frequently to inquire the name of a village from half-a-dozen separate people before I considered it safe to enter it in my field-book. My steersman seemed to enjoy the game, and constantly hailed the women and small girls passing by in their little dugout canoes, the women as sow-ey and the girls as rat-eysow being the polite Siamese term for a woman, and rat for a girl.

The

The following morning we continued for five miles through islands. Below the last island the villages became more numerous, fringing both banks for three miles out of the six to Kamphang Pet. Carts were seen in these villages, the first we had encountered since we left Burmah: they were remarkable for the size of their spoked wheels, which were fully six feet in diameter. Just before reaching Kamphang Pet we halted for a few minutes at Muang Ko, an extensive village on the opposite bank of the river, built on the site of an ancient city. The village possesses a fine temple and large pagoda. To the north of the village a

stream called Krong Suen Ma enters the river, down which much teak is floated from the western hills.

Shortly after anchoring for the night at Kamphang Pet, whilst the boys were preparing dinner in the gloaming, a shower of stones was flung at the boat by some lads from the bank. All my men were quickly after them, but failed to catch the urchins, who retreated but to return and salute the boat in the same manner several times during the evening. As Veyloo happened to be hurt by one of the missiles, and a fresh supply of ducks and fowls was required, I determined to look up the governor before starting the next morning. Ten of my fowls had died since we left Zimmé, being found by the boys dead in the morning, and being considered unfit for my consumption, had been eaten by the boatmen. Fowls are apt to die a natural death, but rarely in such swift succession. I had been rendered suspicious by seeing the eagerness with which the boatmen besought Veyloo to give them a duck which had been found dead that morning, instead of chucking it overboard, as he threatened to do. I therefore told him to carefully skin it and see whether its neck had been dislocated, and this was found to be the case. I had that duck for breakfast, and need scarcely say no more fowls and ducks were found dead during the journey.

Near the governor's house I met Moung Byay, one of our Burmese subjects, and his wife, and had a chat with them. After some talk, he said he would be glad if I would come and put up with him for a day or two at his house at Wung Pa Tat, when he could give me a good deal of information about the country. I thanked him, and replied that I was sorry I could not afford the time, and said I would be much obliged if he would come and interpret for me at the governor's. He told me that the great flood of 1878 had risen ten and a half feet on his fields, which lay about a gunshot to the west of the river. The country to the east was higher, and the flood there was less than five feet in depth.

On reaching the governor's, I found him in the company of half-a-dozen of his head-men. He received me courteously, and appeared anxious to do what he could for me.