Transcriber's Note Superscript text is indicated by caret signs, e.g. 18^{TH}. TRAVELS IN THE CENTRAL PARTS OF INDO-CHINA (SIAM), CAMBODIA, AND LAOS. [Illustration: Drawn by M. Bocourt, from a Photograph. THE KING AND QUEEN OF SIAM.] TRAVELS IN THE CENTRAL PARTS OF INDO-CHINA (SIAM), CAMBODIA, AND LAOS, DURING THE YEARS 1858, 1859, AND 1860. BY THE LATE M. HENRI MOUHOT, FRENCH NATURALIST. IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. I. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, 1864. LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARING CROSS. DEDICATION. TO THE LEARNED SOCIETIES OF ENGLAND, WHO HAVE FAVOURED WITH THEIR ENCOURAGEMENT THE JOURNEY OF M. HENRI MOUHOT TO THE REMOTE LANDS OF SIAM, LAOS, AND CAMBODIA. I trust that the members of those scientific societies who kindly supported and encouraged my brother in his travels and labours, will receive favourably the documents collected by the family of the intrepid traveller, whom death carried off in the flower of his age, in the midst of his discoveries. Had he been able to accomplish fully the end at which he aimed, it would certainly have been to you that he would have offered the fruits of his travels: he would have felt it his first duty to testify his gratitude and esteem to the worthy representatives of science in that great, free, and generous English nation who adopted him. Half English by his marriage, M. Mouhot still preserved his love for his own country: there, however, for various reasons he did not receive the encouragement he anticipated, and it was on the hospitable soil of England that he met with that aid and support, which not only her scientific men, but the whole nation, delight in affording to explorations in unknown countries, ever attended by perils and hardships. The journal of the unfortunate traveller shows his feelings of affection for the two countries which he loved equally, and his devotion to science, art, and the progress of civilization. I therefore feel it an imperative duty to express to you and to the whole English nation the sentiments of gratitude to which this good and loyal Frenchman so often gave utterance, while engaged in the work to which he spontaneously devoted himself, and in which he was sustained by your counsels and assistance.