I have put
together the following account of a recent journey made for the Siamese
Government to the Mekong valley, chiefly for the reason that at the
present moment, when the French have " rectified " their boundaries on
the north and east of Siam to the extent of some 85,000 square miles,
more interest than usual will probably be felt in the character of the
country and the people, of whom there are not too many reliable
accounts to be' found. At the same time, I feel very strongly that
there are others whose descriptions will be far more valuable than my
own, owing to their longer residence in the country, and the greater
extent of their explorations. I refer especially to Messrs. McCarthy,
Archer, and Beckett, who have done difficult and extensive work in all
parts of Siam and the Laos states; and there is certainly no European,
and probably no Siamese, that knows so much of the configuration of the
north-east as does Mr. McCarthy, who, carried on by an apparently deep
love of jungle-life, has aroused the admiration of the Siamese and Laos
at Luang Prabang by his hardihood and energy, and the results of whose
work were a constant source of admiration to me, as I went on and saw
the wildness and difficulty of the country.
The
object of my journey was primarily the examination, for the Siamese
Government, of a supposed very rich deposit of gems (rubies and
sapphires), lately discovered on the left bank of the Mekong, opposite
Chieng Kong. My orders were to return by Luang Prabang, Nongkhai, and
Khorat, and to visit and report on all mineral deposits of which I
could get information, gathering all geological
Flickr
Stumbleupon
Scribd
