luxury; but there is never the same exhilarating air or the same pure -water.
The
Commissioner's house is at the western end of the town, surrounded by
the sheds of the military detachment. At the back a very pretty garden
is being made ; and this and a new straight road, inland of the present
street and parallel with it, are the works of construction on hand. The
ground on each side of the new road— which, by its unlovely
straightness, carried one far away to similar ugliness in civilized
lands, and was the only unnatural thing we saw —is being eagerly
applied for by the Chinese; but a great drawback must for some time be
the absence of shade. The river is undoubtedly cutting into the soft
laterite bank here, and in a few years the old site will go down with a
run.
Prince
Prachak is a reformer ; lie is very keen in " reforming the Laos," but
is grieved to find they don't want to be reformed. He says—what is very
true—that their work is always desultory (one month they plant rice,
another they go fishing, another they wash gold in the sands), and that
they will not settle down into trades. They prefer, too, to play music
on their kans in the evenings to doing more useful things, and are, in
fact, lazy. But I fear it is not surprising, and that it will be some
time before the Laos take to trades.
The
Chinese shopkeepers import their goods from Bangkok through Khorat, and
the journey, in the matter of shoes or felt hats from London, increases
the price about one sailing at the first place, and two by the
time they reach Nongkhai. They show for sale calico goods of all
colours and patterns (as one sees in Bangkok for " pan-ungs," " pahs,"
etc.), shoes, sandals, belts, pots and pans, matches, Chinese
umbrellas, and teapots, the first mostly English, and as they sell
these well, they tell you with a grin they soon make their fortunes and
retire.
The
Avats are wretched little places, ill built and ill kept, the most
interesting thing being the bell of the principal wat, which is a huge
hollowed timber, some 3 feet in diameter and 7 feet high, hung to a
crossbar at the top. Struck end on with a stout pole, the sound is deep
and sonorous. This form, but usually smaller, is often used in Siam,
and for attaching to the necks of elephants or oxen (which
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