THE MEH KONG AT KIANG HSEN—RINGWORM—EXTENSIVE RUINS—DESCRIPTION OF CITY—IMPORTANCE OF SITUATION FOR TRADE—CHINESE SETTLERS FROM SSUCHUAN, KWEICHAU, AND YUNNAN—PROJECTED RAILWAY—SURVEYS BEING MADE BY KING OF SIAM—EXCURSIONS FROM KIANG HSEN—TEAK-FORESTS—ROBBING AN IMAGE—LEGEND OF KIANG MEE-ANG—ANCIENT CITIES—COMPARISON BETWEEN ANCIENT BRITONS AND SHANS—ANCIENT PRINCIPALITY OF TSEN—KIANG HUNG—DESTRUCTION OF KIANG HSEN—CARRIED AWAY CAPTIVES—TREACHERY IN WAR—POPULATION OF ZIMMÉ CHIEFLY SLAVES—KIANG HSEN REOCCUPIED IN 1881—RESETTLING IT—ACTION OF KING OF SIAM—FRIENDLY FOOTING OF MISSIONARIES—VIEW ACROSS THE KIANG HSEN PLAIN—FLOODED COUNTRY—LEAVE FOR KIANG HAI—A WHITE ELEPHANT—BRANCHES AS SUNSHADES—ELEPHANT-FLIES—EMIGRANTS FROM LAPOON—BEAUTIFUL SCENERY—MR ARCHER’S DESCRIPTION OF TRAFFIC ALONG THE ROUTE. Whilst the elephants were being unloaded and the servants were preparing breakfast, the Chow Phya, or district officer of Kiang Hai, who had been deputed to accompany us to Kiang Hsen, went to the Chow Hluang’s to inform him of our arrival, and we strolled to the bank of the Meh Kong, the Cambodia river of the French, to see the view. We found ourselves a few miles above the entrance of the Meh Khoke, which is here separated from the Meh Khum by a long hillock, called Loi Chan (the steep hill). Just below the mouth of the Meh Khoke, the Meh Kong commences its great eastern bend, which stretches through two degrees of latitude to Luang Prabang. The distance between Kiang Hsen and Luang Prabang by boat is about 200 miles, and the journey was performed by Dr M‘Gilvary in six days. The first day’s journey took him to Kiang Khong, a city of two or three thousand inhabitants, and the capital of a district under Muang Nan. 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. Only as we neared the city did we see rough and craggy mountain-peaks and barren towering precipices.” [Illustration: _View of Loi Chan from Kiang Hsen._ ]