Throughout this mountainous region elephants are the only means of transport. Every village, consequently, possesses one of these valuable animals; some no fewer than fifty or a hundred. Otherwise, intercommunication would be impossible for seven months out of the twelve. “The elephant,” says Mouhot, “ought to be seen on these roads, which I can only call devil’s pathways, and are nothing but ravines, ruts two or three feet deep, full of mud; sometimes sliding with his feet close together on the wet clay of the steep slopes, sometimes half-buried in mire,--an instant afterwards mounted on sharp rocks where one would think a Blondin alone could stand; striding across enormous trunks of fallen trees, crushing down the smaller trees and bamboos which oppose his progress, or lying down flat on his stomach, that the cornacs (drivers) may the easier place the saddle on his back; a hundred times a day making his way, without injuring them, between trees where there is barely room to pass; sounding with his trunk the depth of the water in the streams or marshes; constantly kneeling down and rising again, and never making a false step. It is necessary, I repeat, to see him at work like this in his own country, to form any idea of his intelligence, docility, and strength, or how all these wonderful joints of his are adapted to their work--fully to understand that this colossus is no rough specimen of Nature’s handiwork, but a creature of especial amiability and sagacity, designed for the service of man.” After leaving Korat, Mouhot crossed five considerable rivers--the Menam-Chie, the Menam-Leuye, the Menam-Ouan, the Nam-Pouye, and the Nam-Houn,--all tributaries of the mighty Mekong; and the last-named river he once more reached, at Pak Lay, in lat. 19° 16′ 58″, on June the 24th, 1861. The Mekong here is much broader than the Menam at Bangkok, and dashes through the mountain ravine with the impetuosity of a torrent and the roar of the sea. Its navigation between Pak Lay and Luang Prabang is interrupted by several rapids. ~AT LUANG PRABANG.~ Luang Prabang, where Mouhot arrived on the 25th of July, is a pleasantly-situated town, occupying an area of one square mile, and containing a population of eight thousand. The mountains which, both above and below it, enclose the broad and copious Mekong, form at this point a kind of circular valley or amphitheatre, nine miles in diameter, and, with their woods, and luxuriant verdure, and lawny slopes, combine in a picturesque panorama, reminding one of the Alpine lakes. The town extends on both banks of the stream, but chiefly on the left bank, where the houses surround an isolated mount about three hundred and fifty feet in height, covered by a pagoda.[*] [*] A fuller description of Luang Prabang, as given by Garnier, who visited it six years after Mouhot, will be found on page 78. ~THE RIVER NAM KAN.~