CHAPTER XVIII.
The East of Louang Prabang—Notes of Travels—Observations from Bangkok to Laos—End of the Journal—Death of the Traveller.
The dress of the Laotians differs little from that of the Siamese. The people wear the langouti and a little red cotton waistcoat, or often nothing at all. Both men and women go barefoot: their head-dresses are like the Siamese. The women are generally better-looking than those of the latter nation: they wear a single short petticoat of cotton, and sometimes a piece of silk over the breast. Their hair, which is black, they twist into a knot at the back of the head. The houses are built of bamboos and leaves interwoven and raised upon stakes, and underneath is a shelter for domestic animals, such as oxen, pigs, fowls, &c.
Drawn by M. Janet Lange, from a Sketch by M. Mouhot
LAOTIAN WOMAN.
The dwellings are, in the strictest sense, unfurnished, having neither tables nor beds, nor, with few exceptions, even vessels of earth or porcelain. They eat their rice made into balls out of their hands, or from little baskets plaited with cane, some of which are far from unartistic.
The crossbow and sarbacane are the arms used in hunting, as well as a kind of lance made of bamboo, and sometimes, but more rarely, the gun, with which they are very skilful.
A RHINOCEROS-HUNT.