Upon reaching Kam Peng Pet
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After all, do the authorities
here believe in the advantages of trade? I cannot solve this
question. Meanwhile we are in a rapid, and the boatmen, surprised
with the extra energy required of them, plunge into the water,
and with a good deal of noise get us over the first rapid. The
rapids follow one another pretty frequently: there being thirty-three
within a distance of about fifty miles. None of them are dangerous,
and beyond the delay occasioned they cause us no inconvenience.
The scenery is very beautiful; there is a legend that at Keng
Sawi
, a party of men from a town near the present M. Li, anxious
to reach in a hurry the temple, now in ruins on the bank of the
Me Ping, constructed a raft and actually shot over the precipice
on the left bank of the river.
0There seems little doubt that
the ruined temple once belonged to the Lawas who occupied these
hills. There are but few Lawas left now, and they are found on
the country to the west, and are engaged chieftly in melting iron.
A little distance from the river there are some old rice-fields,
where one may get a shot at a deer, or if the sportsman is not
careful, at an old woman instead, through his mistaking her in
the jungle for game. This unfortunate error happened not long
since, but the old dame was not much the worse for it. Curious
to say, each attempt of the Chieng Mai people to settle in this
part of the country, resulted in the settlers being "dacoited."
Sometimes dacoits give trouble, and murders have been committed
by them. At the same time there cannot be much danger, for I
have seen a solitary individual on a raft constructed from half
a dozen bamboos, sailing down the river. Europeans have never
been meddled with, although hundreds of thousands of rupees are
taken up in boats every year. Below Ban Mukla the rapids cease
and the plain of Chieng Mai is entered. It was once the bottom
of a lake. There is not an acre fit for rice cultivation that
has not been laid out in fields, whilst the system of irrigation
is most elaborate. The plain is about ninety miles long and five
broad. Lampan is the neighbouring province to Chieng Mai, and
it is difficult in some places to ascertain where the boundaries
of the provinces come to contact. A graceful pagoda, Dawi Kung,
on a small hill, attracts our attention. It was once in better
order, and was associated with state ceremonies of the Chief of
Chieng Mai
when he passed this way. This is fast becoming a memory
of the past, and the pagoda is sadly neglected. The historical
records of the province are now offered to the spirits, and thousands
of palm leaf documents tipped with gold in teak boxes are under
the rocks on the bank of the river. This part of our journey
is not interesting, as we drag our weary way along in the boat.
M. Hawt, the end of the land
route from Burmah, is the most important point passed. Here I
met a number of Kamuks with the beautiful metal drums which always
have round the rim figures of frogs, and from that circumstance
are called Kawng Kop (frog-drums). The Kamuks, originally from
the mountain country of Luang Phrabang, are the men who do all
the hard work in the teak-forests. After years of toil their
great ambition is to posses themselves of one of these drums,
and take it to their village. After years of toil their great
ambition is to possess themselves of one of these drums, and take
it to their village. The drums are made in the Red Karen country,
and in Siam are used only in ceremonies in connection with the
King.
At the mouth of the Nam Kan
there is a rather numerous village of lepers, but as they are
allowed to wander over the country, and go even to the markets
of Chieng Mai, there is no particular isolation. Here we enjoy
a very fine view of the mountains. To the west is Dawi Intanon,
height 8,450 feet, the highest peak in the Chieng Mai province,
and since the French aggression, the highest mountain in Siam.
Then the magnificent peak of Dawi Sutep, which is only eight
miles from Chieng Mai, stands boldly out with the glittering pagoda,
half way up the mountain. We soon arrive in Chieng Mai, and are
lost in the hundred of boats of all shapes and sizes that are
found here.
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