The current of the Mekong, as we have already stated, flows with great rapidity, and renders navigation slow and laborious. It took M. Mouhot five days to pass the island of Ko-Sutin; and the rate of velocity increasing as he advanced to the northward, he was seldom able to accomplish more than two miles a day. On arriving at the rapids and cataracts he was compelled to abandon his boats and embark, with his followers and stores, in light canoes; and even these it was necessary at times to carry ashore, and convey along the bank on men’s shoulders until a smooth part of the river was gained. At Pemptielan Mouhot landed, and delivered to its mandarin a letter from the king, ordering him to furnish the traveller with all the appliances requisite for his overland journey. He immediately started him on his way with a suitable number of waggons drawn by oxen, but the soil in the forests was so marshy that they were continually sinking in some deep slough, from which they could be extricated only by the greatest exertions. Thus their progress was limited to sixty miles in five days. At length he reached the village of Brelum, in the centre of a district occupied by the savage Stiêns. Here, in order to study their manners and the physical features of the country, he remained three months, though it is difficult to conceive of a situation less pleasing to or suitable for a man of European culture. The gloomy forests around were infested with elephants, rhinoceroses, tigers, buffaloes, and wild boars. More formidable, because less easily avoided, were the snakes, scorpions, and centipedes which swarmed in every direction, and constantly made their way into the houses. Brelum, however, is the seat of a Roman Catholic mission, and from its head, Father Guilloux, the traveller received a cordial hospitality which alleviated the dreariness of his sojourn. ~RESIDENCE AT PEMPTIELAN.~ He describes the Stiêns as dwelling in villages, each of which forms a distinct and independent community. They love “the deep shade of the pathless woods,” where they live on the products of their bow and arrows. They work with great skill in iron and ivory; and the women weave and dye a delicate stuff, which they wear in the form of a long loose scarf. In the neighbourhood of their villages, if the country be open, they cultivate various kinds of vegetables and fruit-trees, as well as rice, maize, and tobacco. In the fields thus planted they spend the rainy season, building small huts, raised above the swampy ground on piles--a protection at once from the swollen waters and the leeches, the latter of which are a plague of no inconsiderable proportions. ~THE RICE CULTIVATION.~