Reaching M. Phimai in the
Khorat district
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We leave Ban Sawt with eight
elephants and twenty men, who carried all the things and instruments.
On the crest of a hill and by the side of the path are large
blocks of stone hewn into no particular shape. One is about fifteen
feet long, two feet deep, two feet broad at one end, and tapering
at the other to one foot. There are three or four others not
so large. The popular explanation is that they are the bed and
pillows of the original inhabitants, who were the Kamuks, when
the country was called Muang Ka Patum. I could not find any inscription,
but on the "pillow" the faint traces of lines were discernible.
We encamp on the side of a beautiful lake, Nawng Tang, at an
elevation of four thousand feet ablve sea-level. It is over a
mile long and half a mile broad, on the east side is a lime-cliff
about a hundred feet high. The lake is never dry, and on the
north-west and south the country slopes away. The medlar-trees
are in blossom, the cedars and pines are shooting forth new leaves,
and the slopes are clothed with fresh green grass, springing up
in the ashes of last year's growth. The origin of the lake is
said to be this: formerly there was a village where it now stands,
and a huntsman of that village shot a white-faced deer. That
night there was a great storm and earthquake, and the whole village
with its people was swallowed up by the water whch formed the
lake. A walk on the banks is most enjoyable; the deep blue sky
reflected in tis clear waters, the ducks swimming about, the intense
stillness amidst such loveliness, deepened the plesurable sensations
which the beauty of the surrounding landscape excited.
The "Temple lands"
of India exist here. The east of the lake is under the jurisdiction
of Wat Ma No Chieng Kang of Luang Phrabang. There are several
palces in Puann belonging to wats in Luang Phrabang and Nawng
Kai
, called Tai Okat.
If one had the time for it,
there would be a tolerable amount of sport in the beautiful country.
Partridges are plentiful, as also are pea-fowl, deer, and tigers.
We pass over the sites of many battlefields, and at Kunng Koi
we remark the traces of an old stockade. The country was well
worth fighting for. Presently we emerge on the plain Kunng Ma
Len, and encamp at Wat Bang Ang on the Nam Tang, a small stream,
but running in a channel cut through the palin, with banks over
a hundred feet deep, and about eight hundred yards across. The
valley is well suited for rice cultivation.
That the wats and pagodas have
been pillaged since I last saw them in April, 1884, I find, by
referring to my notes. I wrote: "On ascending the bank of
the stream (Nam Tang) we met with more surprises in regard to
the beauty of the country. A wast plain called Kunng Ma Len,
about six miles broad and ten ;long, and about 3,500 feet above
sea-level, stretches before oue vview as flat as a table, It was
covered with fine cattle, which in better days fed there in great
numbers. We rested under the shade of a pine-tree, and easily
distinguished the snake-like course of the pathway as it ascended
the gentle slope of a hill.
"On the right rose a particularly
beautiful pagoda, whose glittering whiteness was intensified by
contrast with the beautiful blue sky. It looked like some fair
spirit brooding over the stillness in midst of the loveliness
which surrounded it."
The pagoda now lies on its side,
having been turned over bodily. We passed over to the great cluster
of stone jars, and fixed the position of the highest bare knoll
near them, called Tumm Nawng Summ, 3,800 feet abovesea-level.
If the jars have anything to do with burial ceremonies, then
it was here that the remains of the chiefs were disposed of.
There is a limestone hill about
one hundred feet high, which has a small cave. The entrance shows
some traces of the rock having been chiselled. In the roof are
two openings, the roof having evidently fallen in. The limestone
peak is surrounded with low, undulating hills, and but for the
chasms near the cave a small reservoir could be formed to catch
the rain-water. Round the circumference of a semicircle about
six hundred yards in diameter are numbers of jars, but those on
the northern bare knoll are gigantic. It is impossible to conceive
them as having been lifted to their positions, they must have
been made in situ. Again some of the broken jars have nodules
of quartz embedded in them.
Continued
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