Chiang Dao
Chaoh Phrayah Kralahom, who
as Phrayah Mahatep, was here some twelve years ago when settling
Chieng Senn, is the special Commissioner sent here to adjust the
troubles brought about by the so-called rebellion of the previous
years. He is very conservative and polite; fond of talking philosophy,
and of amusing himself by observing the effect produced on the
listeners.
Here my old enemy, fever, seized
me, and it does not enliven my journey as I jog on all day along
a very good road near the Me Ping. The road is not particularly
interesting until we reach Chieng Dao, an irregularly shaped village
with a rickety palisade all round it. The peak of Chieng Dao
stands boldly up, 7,160 feet above sea-level. It is a very imposing
limestone rock, as it springs almost perpendicularly from the
plain to a height of six thousand feet. It is visible from Chieng
Mai
, and nothing can persuade the people that there is a higher
hill, though there is clearly visible Dawi Intanon, rising 8,450
feet above sea-level, from a point a couple of miles below Chieng
Mai
. The people of Chieng Dao are known as Pu Pawk (spirit-people).
Taking advantage of the superstitions prevalent in the country,
a cunning lawgiver enacted that all such people must live together
in localities set apart for them. In border-lands there were
numerous places which had to be guarded by police, who practically
force the people to take up their abode there. The head-man of
the town is a minor price from Chieng Mai, and whenever he has
any official intercourse with the people, he recites a prayer
which keeps him from the influence of the spirits. When any one
is afflicted with a serious illness, it is attributed to the evil
influence of the spirits, and it is supposed that the troubling
spirit has entered into and taken possession of some man or woman
from whom it makes excursions and feels on their neighbours.
As the decline from illness is attributed to spirits feeding on
the liver, or heart, or some equally important portion of the
patient's system, the object is to search and find the man or
woman possessing the spirit. The unfortunate patient who, if
unconscious, is in all the better condition for investigation,
is plied with questions as to the whereabouts of the offender,
and if he mentions the name of his brother or father, or any one
else, the object of their suspicion is immediately driven from
the village, his house burnt, and he himself is glad to seek shelter
in one of the numerous settlements of the Pi Pawk.
Leaving Chien Dao, I met four
old ladies on a pilgrimage to Tumm Tap Tao (turtle cave). The
youngest was over sixty. They were dressed in white, in a sort
of nun's habit. They had walked from Lahawn, and had been to
Phrabat Si Rawi (four hundred footprints). They told me they
would not be sorry if they died when making their pilgrimages.
They gave into my care some few things, and commissioned me to
have them safely delivered at the cave to relieve them of their
loads. The scarcity of danger from wild animals along the regularly
beaten tracks, is shown by the fact that these old ladies can
travel about in this way, for they must often have to camp out
in jungles far from any village.
Approaching the main watershed
there are numerous limestone rocks cropping above the surface
of the ground from one hundred to two hundred feet high. They
are plentiful all over Northern Siam. From a distance they look
formidable enough, but these rocks always have easy passages among
them. The watershed, which is low, with a rough approach, has
great blocks of quartz cropping out all over, and beyond it on
the side of the path is a large cavern, the abode of some terrible
spirit. the watershed, which is low, with a rough approach, has
great blocks of quarts cropping out all over, and beyond it on
the side of the path is a large cavern, the abode of some terrible
spirit. The men amuse themselves with tumbling rocks into the
cavern and listening to the rumbling echoes far down in the darkness.
The descent which begins at the sacred cave is not a difficult
one to the palin of M. Fang, to Tumm Tap Tao, where there is a
very large swamp. Preparations are being made for the chief of
Chieng Mai, who is about to make a pilgrimage thither, if one
can so call a procession of one hundred and twenty elephants,
who carry the pilgrims, but their riders lead exactly the same
life as at Chieng Mai, with the exception of a pleasant and comfortable
journey, broken by a halt for two or three days and a general
hunt over the country, where game is plentiful. I hand over the
lady pilgrims' property and enter the sacred cave, which is far
from inviting, and contains numerous statues of Budda, and dark
recesses said to lead to all sorts of fabulous places.
Continued
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