Luang Prabang

“ A journey of many days in a dug-out canoe down one of the most beautiful rivers of that country gave me a delightful opportunity of becoming acquainted with the domestic life of the Lao-Shans—surely among the most attractive and hospitable races in the world. Leaving my canoe at the charming little Laos capital, Luang Prabang, I proceeded down the Mekong on a raft and visited the ruins of the obliterated kingdom of Vien-chan. ”

“ In describing the river between Kiang Khong and Luang Prabang he says: “The river is a mile wide in places, and where the channel is narrowed it rushes along with frightful rapidity. Mountains rise from either bank to the height of three or four thousand feet. The river fills the bottom of a long winding valley, and as we glided swiftly down it there seemed to move by us the panorama of two half-erect, ever-changing landscapes of woodland verdure and blossom. ”

“ They exchanged scientific notes, and it appeared that Duyshart had surveyed the course of the Cambodia or Mekong for one hundred and twenty miles above Luang Prabang.
A few hours after this interesting rencontre, the French expedition crossed the boundary-line of the kingdom of Luang Prabang, and reached the extremity of the great rapid of Keng Sao. Successfully steering their course through its rocks and islets, they arrived at Pak Lay, a romantically-situated village, buried in the deep shadows of the primeval forest. ”

“ This usually forms a bass, and smaller ones with shorter reeds accompany the voice well. It would be no exaggeration to say that nearly every household in Luang Prabang possesses one, sometimes two. A most striking thing it is at night, far into the early hours, to hear the distant kans from all sides playing in the houses, now and then drowned by the nearer approach of one whose master has been out calling late, and goes striding down the road with perhaps three or four more friends in single file behind, playing a march tune with all his lungs like any Highland piper. ”

“ Our first duty in Lūang Prabāng was to report to the French authorities, M. Vackle, the Commandant Supérieur, and M. Grant, the Commissaire. They had been notified from Bangkok of our coming, and received us with genuine French hospitality. We never met two more perfect gentlemen. They even offered us a house; but, as the abbot of the principal monastery was a personal friend of mine, they yielded to our preference to stop with him, but only on the ground that there would be more comfort and room for our men. ”

“ For centuries Siam had occupied the right bank of the Mekong, and her troops had crossed the river and occupied the left bank. Luang-Prabang was in the hands of the Siamese, who had also established posts at Stung-treng and elsewhere. Friction occurred between the French agents and Siamese soldiery. After the death of Inspector Crosgurin on the 5th of June 1893 the French government occupied Stung-treng and Khong. France demanded explanations and redress at Bangkok, but the court refusing concessions, an ultimatum was presented to the king by M. Pavie, French minister to Siam. ”

“ A great deal of rice goes clown the Mekong and Nam Oo for the supply of Luang Prabang from the hills, that town not being able to supply itself. This rice goes down in tremendously big bamboo rafts, which look like floating villages; they are often some 120 feet long and 30 feet beam. They are allowed to go almost entirely with the current, there being eight or ten long oars rigged out ahead and astern, worked by as many men, for canting the craft in either direction to avoid rocks or eddies. ”

“ As he remarked, no more amiable, docile population exists—a people possessed of æsthetic and musical tastes, who are entitled to the epithet, "the Greeks of the Indo-Chinese peninsula." There is another strip south of Luang Prabang, right down between the mountains and the Mekong, into which no Englishman has ever been ”

“ Immigrants from Kiang Hung, belonging to a branch of the Shans known as Lus, have formed settlements in the country between Muang Peh and Kiang Khong, as well as in the valley of the Meh Oo, a river that enters the Meh Kong from the north near the city of Luang Prabang.
The city of Muang Ngow is fringed with, and partially hidden by, fine fruit-trees; the gardens being rendered beautiful by handsome clumps of cocoa-nut and areca palms. The sala being in a filthy condition, and surrounded by a large caravan of laden cattle, we camped in the gardens. ”

“ The weather from the time we left Luang Prabang to the time we reached Nongkhai had the unsettled character of the beginning of the rains, though it was only April month. South-westerly winds and haze by day, low heavy clouds in the evenings, and thunderstorms of great violence, with strong squalls of wind shifting round by west and north-west to north at night, making sleep impossible while they lasted, and generally driving into the boats everywhere. ”

“ The extortion practised upon these kindly-dispositioned people has frequently driven them into revolt. In 1879 they joined the Chinese marauders in their attack upon the Laos; and also in 1887, when they sacked and destroyed Luang Prabang, the chief town and capital of the Shan State of that name.
The Khas, like all the hill tribes in Indo-China, offer sacrifices to evil spirits, who, according to them, are the cause of all the ills that man is heir to. In a single case of sickness as many as ten or twelve buffaloes, or other animals, are at times offered up. ”

“ Then the boats work their way up among the trees and bushes on the jungle edge. Below Luang Prabang, a double boat is used for going down river, and one gets a wide deck upon it of 10 feet beam; in these, besides the crew of five men, seven men could live comfortably, while in the single boats, with the crew of four men, four more make rather close quarters. ”

“ We remained in Lūang Prabāng six days, leaving it on May 14th. I was very loath to go so soon. The people were eager for books as well as for medicine. It was the one place where Siamese books were well understood. We could have disposed of basketfuls of the Scriptures, as Dr. Peoples did twenty-four years later. It is one of the anomalies of the twentieth century that when we finally were ready to establish a Christian mission, after the country had passed from non-Christian to Christian rulers, we could not get permission. ”

“ In giving the history of its destruction, he said that in 1778, four years after the Ping Shans had thrown off their allegiance to Burmah and become feudatory to Siam, the Lao Shans of Vieng Chang and Luang Prabang became tributary to Siam, and, urged on by Siam, besieged Kiang Hsen from 1794 to 1797.
During the siege the Lao forces were commanded by Phya Anoo, the chief of Vieng Chang, who, enraged at the long resistance, issued a proclamation declaring that every male found in the city should be put to death on its capture. ”

“ M. Garnier remarks that this was the first market, in the European sense of the word, which he had seen since leaving Pnom Penh. This sudden activity, he adds, and comparatively considerable commerce, to judge from the numerous and diverse types which at Luang Prabang represented all the nations of Indo-China and India, were obviously due less to a change of race or increased product of the soil than to a radical difference of government. The countries of Southern Laos, in their era of independence, had been celebrated for their wealth and commercial enterprise ”

“ Such are many of the worst of the Mekong rapids, which will prove too much for any number of steamers, extending often, as they do below Chieng Kan, for miles. Even the great rushes of solid water, and converging lines of breakers of the rapids, where, as in the Keng Luang below Luang Prabang, the already compressed water has to fight its way over a shelving bank of huge shingle, of which each stone is often as big as an average Laos house, will prove easier to navigate. ”

“ As for labour, as many Kamooks as would be required could be hired from Luang Prabang. Their wages for working in the teak-forests were fifty rupees a year and food, and the latter did not cost more than three rupees a month. Gangs of Chinese Shans from the Shan States to the east of Bhamo come every year to work in the Ping Shan States, and could be employed on the railway. Other Shans would doubtless stream in from Yunnan when once it was known that more labour was required, and that good wages would be paid. A great part of the labour in Kiang Tung is carried out by Chinese from Yunnan. ”

“ The country is mountainous, and the vegetation of the lower heights begins to assume a tropical aspect. From Luang Prabang the river cuts its way southwards for two degrees through a lonely jungle country among receding hills of low elevation. From Chieng Khan the river again turns eastwards along the 18th parallel, forcing its way through its most serious rapid-barrier, and receiving some important tributaries from the highlands of Tung Chieng Kum and Chieng Kwang, the finest country in Indo-China. In 104° E. the river resumes a southerly course through a country thinly peopled. ”

“ In the Lao provinces of Siam, which lie in the basin of the Meh Kong to the south of Luang Prabang, it is the rule amongst the Shans that a woman whose husband is absent must not offer hospitality. In all cases before hospitality is offered, the master of the house must first worship the manes by lighting taper candles, and incense, and offering prayers, the stranger waiting until the ceremony is finished. ”

“ Disputes with frontier tribes led to complications with France, who asserted that the Siamese were occupying territory that rightfully belonged to Annam, which was now under French protection. France, while assuring the British Government that she laid no claim to the province of Luang Prabang, which was situated on both banks of the upper Mekong, roughly between the 18th and 20th parallels, claimed that farther south the Mekong formed the true boundary between iam and Annam, and demanded the evacuation of certain Siamese posts east of the river. ”

“ Some large nuggets have been found up the Nam Beng and Nam Oo, and up the former river a Chinaman from Luang Prabang had tried systematic working of a kind. After six months' work he lost 200 ticals; and when a Chinaman loses money, especially in a country where money will go so far, the chances are that no one else will make their fortunes. I subsequently found at Pak Beng that the Kache he had employed had swallowed all the decent-sized gold obtained! This is another instance of the difficulties the miner has to meet with in Siam ”

“ Swine are reared, their flesh forming an important article of diet. Imports are inconsiderable, comprising chiefly cotton fabrics, garments and articles for domestic use. Trade is chiefly in the hands of the Chinese and is carried on for the most part with Siam. The Mekong is the chief artery of transit; elsewhere communication is afforded by tracks sometimes passable only for pedestrians. Luang-Prabang (q.v.) is the principal commercial town. Before the French occupation of Laos, it was split up into small principalities (muongs) of which the chief was that of Vien-Tiane. ”

“ The French have done much to render the river navigable. Steamers ply regularly from Saigon through Mytho to Pnompenh, and launches proceed from this place, the capital of Cambodia, to the Preapatano rapids, and beyond this a considerable portion of the distance to Luang Prabang, the journey being finished in native boats. ”

“ The most remarkable things about the place are the immense numbers of coconut palms, and the cheapness of the fruit; [11] the number of Burmese British subjects (who out of the kindness of their hearts supplied one with any amount of provisions) ; and the fact that the Laos women cut their hair short like the Siamese. The people are a friendly, pleasant race. A good deal of fishing is done here, and in poling the small craft up stream, a small rudder is used over the outside (in this case starboard) quarter to prevent the boat running round, as also at Luang Prabang and Nongkhai. ”

“ Small dug-outs of a pretty shape are used in great numbers for fishing purposes; the boat drifts down broadside to the stream, one man being at either end with a paddle gently working in one hand, the foot often helping, and the other holding a line to the net. In these the famous pla bûk are caught. The weight of an average one is over 130 lbs. The Laos say they are not common below Nong Khai, and that they believe them to breed in the retired spots between there and Luang Prabang. ”

“ We had to stay here a few days to get the elephants together and buy rice. Twelve kanan (a coconut-shell) were selling at a tical, and on the average each man consumes one kanan per day. We laid in a stock of 35 thang (of 20 kanan) , and were shortly after glad to get off on our journey towards the distant hills. I should add that this place is the starting-point for Paklai, on the Mekong, the trail between these two places being the route generally followed by the officials going to Luang Prabang. ”

“ I am sad and anxious; I long for my native land, for a little life; to be always alone weighs on my spirits.
LOUANG PRABANG.
Louang Prabang, 29th August, 1861.—My third servant, Song, whom I had engaged at Pakpriau, begged me to allow him to return to Bangkok in the suite of the Prince of Louang Prabang, who was going there to pay tribute. I did all I could to induce him to remain with me, but he seemed to have made up his mind to go; so I paid him his wages, and gave him a letter authorising him to [142] receive a further sum at Bangkok for the time occupied by his return journey. ”