There is here an immense plain, almost a desert, which in the best season takes six days to cross with elephants, and twelve with waggons. As for us, we set out on the 5th March, and only reached Muang-Kabine on the 28th; and oh! what we suffered from ennui, from heat, from attacks of mosquitoes, and want of water. In addition to these miseries my feet became like a jelly; and, when we arrived at our destination, I could scarcely drag myself along, or keep up with the slow but regular step of the buffaloes. Some days before reaching Muang-Kabine we had to ford a small river, the Bang-Chang, and here we obtained some good water; but all the rest of the journey we had nothing but the water from the muddy pools, serving for baths and drinking-places to all the buffaloes of the caravan. When I drank it, or used it for cooking or tea, I purified it with a little alum, a better method than filtering. Every day some accident happened to our waggons, which was one cause of our being so long on the road. On our arrival at Muang-Kabine we found great excitement prevailing on account of a recent discovery of gold-mines, which had attracted to the place a number of Laotians, Chinese, and Siamese. The mines of Battambong, being less rich, are not so much frequented. From Muang-Kabine I continued my route to Paknam, where I hired a boat to take me to Bangkok. [Illustration: Drawn by M. Sabatier, from a sketch by M. Mouhot. VIEW IN THE GULF OF SIAM.] The first day’s navigation was very tedious, the water being shallow, and the sand-banks in many places bare, but the day following we were able to lay aside our poles, and take to the oars. The stream takes a bend towards the south, and empties itself into the gulf a little above Petrin, a district which produces all the sugar of Siam, which is sold at Bangkok. This canal connects the Menam and the Bang-Chang, which afterwards takes the name of Bang-Pakong; it is nearly sixty miles in length, and was the work of a clever Siamese general, the same who, twenty years ago, retook Battambong from the Cochin-Chinese. He is also noted for having constructed a fine road from Paknam to Ongcor-Borige, the place where the great inundations have their limit. This road I could not make use of, for at this season I should have found neither water nor grass for my oxen. On the banks of the Bang-Pakong are several Cambodian villages, peopled by prisoners from Battambong; and along the canal, on either side, is a mixed, and for this country numerous population, of Malays, Laotians from the peninsula, and Laotians from Vien-Chan, a district on the banks of the Mekong, north-east of Korat, and now depopulated by frequent revolts.