Korat, the capital of the province of the same name, had a population of some thirty thousand. Dr. House was the first white person to visit the city, at least in modern times. The out journey was made by boat up the Meinam to Salaburi on an east branch of the stream two days above Ayuthia. There elephants were hired to carry the party with their burden of books and supplies. The course lay across country through the jungle and over the mountains, requiring seventeen days from Bangkok. In reporting home his safe return he wrote briefly: “I have not had time since my return to draw up a detailed account of all that befell me on the road, but I think I can promise you an interesting letter next time—that is, if a traveller’s tale of life in the woods, riding on elephants (being thrown from the back of one and lying at the mercy of the huge creature—with those great feet pawing the air six inches from my head), riding in buffalo carts, footing it, roughing it; now shooting deer or peacock, now entirely out of provisions and making a meal of rice and burnt coarse sugar; seeing great tiger tracks and hearing their cry, sleeping in the open air by the watch fire, three nights and four days without seeing human habitation—with divers other adventures, will interest you; or if accounts of the glad reception my books and gospel message seemed to receive in the many villages and hamlets and in the city, where no messenger with glad tidings had ever gone before.” He was well received by the governor of the province, whom he had previously met in Bangkok. Intercourse with the governor proved that the doctor could not only show him wonders of western knowledge but could discover to him facts in his own realm of interests. Salt being a rare commodity and the local product being coarse and black, Dr. House showed him how to purify it, greatly to his delight. As a mark of appreciation the governor had brought in from the country three unusually large elephants for the visitor to see; while reviewing them, the doctor called his attention to a fact of nature concerning elephants, viz.: that the height of an elephant is equal to just twice the girth of its foot. His host would not believe this until he had his men try the experiment on several animals. The doctor had also found that the elephant provides a reliable pedometer; as its walking gait is quite uniform, it is necessary only to measure the step of the particular beast (usually forty to forty-two inches) and then counting the number of paces per minute (usually seventy) the distance covered in a given time is easily calculated. An amusing incident occurred while the stranger was exploring the city, and Dr. House relates the story with an evident sense of humour: