the
beasts, with their quiet, patient, and sagacious way of treating life;
the merry twinkle which sparkles from the small, sharp eyes, and the
endless little pranks they are ever ready for; and after some weeks of
travelling many a tired and weary day together, this becomes quite an
affection; and be sure, if you are fond of an elephant he knows it, and
reciprocates it very soon. So we were all very sorry to see them swing
off for the south again.
The
voyage from Chieng Kong down to Luang Prabang (or Muang Luang, the "
great town," as it is usually called) occupies five days if there are
no interruptions; the return journey takes from ten to fifteen days
against the current, there being a number of bad rapids. The scenery is
magnificent, and far surpasses anything I saw on the Mekong below. The
river has cut its way almost at right angles to the strike of the rock,
a series of schists which appear to have been considerably distorted,
until the neighbourhood of the Nam Oo is reached, when the limestones
which form the splendid scenery of that river come in. The latter rocks
are also seen on the right bank of the big river, Avhere it takes its
southerly course south of Ban Soap Ta(one day from Chieng Kong), and
there seems to be on the top of a synclinal. They are always
characterized in this country by the peculiar dense forests, like the
Dong Phya Yen in Lower Siam, the Dong Choi round Chieng Hon, and
another one we touched in the valley of the Nam Ngau, east of the Nam
Ing, known as Pa Kung Ngau, where the sun never enters owing to the
dense foliage, and. the elephant tracks form the only paths. We took
twelve days going-down, making on the way some short expeditions into
the country. The inactivity in the boats soon made itself felt, and
after five days there were ten men sick out of the twenty Siamese, six
with fever and the others with sores, to which they are very liable,
any scratch or wound of the slightest description, especially about the
feet or legs, always giving rise to them; in fact, I kept one knife on
purpose for lancing these things. Wherever we go sick people are
brought, and the chief ailments among the Laos were fever, affections
of the-eyes, and dysentery. The latter is generally taken in hand too
late,, and ends fatally.
The
first day from Chieng Kong we brought up on the south, bank, at the
mouth of the Nam Ngau I have already mentioned; and I was two nights
away with only two or three men visiting some gold washings in the bed
of the river. The percentage is extremely
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