At the time of our arrival, smallpox had been raging in the city for twelve days, and had caused the death of seventy people. We visited house after house, and the disease seemed to be everywhere. Five and six deaths occurred each day during our stay: the pitiful screaming of the children suffering from the fell disease was heartrending. The deep boom of the chief’s gong, the finest-toned one that I ever heard, sounded nightly at about eleven o’clock, when the bodies were taken from the city for interment. Our servants and followers were utterly callous of the possibility of contagion—they had most likely all had the disease; and notwithstanding our injunctions to the contrary, ate and slept in infected houses. Had I been aware of the state of the city, I would have camped near the well at the entrance-gate. I have little doubt that Dr Cushing was infected with the disease whilst being shampooed by one of the interpreters, who had been sleeping and taking his meals at a house in which there were two or three cases of the disease. [Illustration: _Terra-cotta pedestal._ ] One day we strolled through the remains of two deserted cities, situated in a park-like forest neighbouring Penyow. Viang Meh Ta Lat lies adjacent to the town, and was built in two or three compartments. It contains ruins of temples and pagodas, and is upwards of a mile long. Viang Poo Lam, which lies to the north-east of Viang Meh Ta Lat, is surrounded by double ramparts, with a ditch separating them. The ditch is 60 feet in width at the top, 15 feet at the bottom, and 20 feet deep from the crest of the inner rampart, which is 5 feet high, and 15 feet from the outer rampart, which is 10 feet high. Amongst the ruins we came across several fine images of Buddha cut out of stone; and near one of the pagodas, saw some octagonal tiles, which measured 2 feet across, and were 2 inches thick—the largest I have seen in Indo-China. The neighbourhood must have been famous at one time for its pottery, for besides the tiles, I found the remains of a large and handsomely executed terra-cotta image and pedestal in the grounds of one of the monasteries in the city. The mutilated supporters to the pedestal are elephants and eagles, the latter representing “Garuda,” the sacred bird of Vishnu, in the Hindoo Pantheon, which was the mortal foe of the _nagas_ or dragons, and all the snake race. Whilst rambling about these cities I became nearly clothed with caterpillars—whether of the silk-worm or not I do not know—which were dangling in myriads by long threads from the branches of the trees.