View of Loi Chaum Haut.
Half a mile beyond the village I caught sight of Loi Chaum Haut (the mountain with the top drawn in), an isolated mountain seemingly rising some 5000 or 6000 feet above the plain. It lies to the east of the Meh Ping, and is about 1000 feet lower than Loi Kiang Dow, the precipitous mountain that stands, a monarch amongst the hills, to the west of the river. A legend relates that formerly Loi Chaum Haut was higher than Loi Kiang Dow, and that this annoyed Phya In, who straightway pressed its head down until it was considerably lower than the more sacred Loi Kiang Dow, in which is the entrance to the Dewahs’ country, where the great genius Chow Kam Doang resides, who is the guardian spirit of the Zimmé States. At the close of Gaudama’s dispensation (a tha-tha-nah or 5000 years), Chow Kam Doang will be born as Phya Tam, and re-establish the Buddhist religion for the next tha-tha-nah.
According to another legend, Gaudama Buddha, in a former state of existence, was born on Loi Chaum Haut, and an aqueduct was constructed by the Yaks to bring water to him from Ang Sa Lome, a lake that is said to exist on the summit of Loi Kiang Dow. The aqueduct, unless it was a siphon, must have been 6000 or 7000 feet high, a creditable, but hardly credible, piece of engineering work.
The entrance to the Dewahs’ country is said to be by a cave that has its exit in Loi Kat Pee, a spur of Loi Kiang Dow. Not far from the cave a stream, 13 feet wide and 2½ feet deep, issues from the foot of the hill, and is doubtless connected with the stream in the cave. According to the legend: “After entering the cave and proceeding several hundred yards, you come to a stream, about chest-deep, on the other side of which is an image of pure gold, as large as life. Unless a man has superabundant merit he will instantly expire if he attempts to pass the stream. A month’s journey through the cave brings you to the Dewahs’ country and the city of the Yaks, which is ruled over by Chow Kam Doang. There you have but to wish to obtain all you can desire.”
This Vimana, or palace of the angels, is thus described in the ‘Book of Indra,’ one of the most ancient of the Siamese law books: “There is a celestial abode in the Dewah heavens, an aerial dwelling covered with gold and gems, with roofs resplendent with gold and jewellery and finials of crystal and pearl. The whole gleams with wrought and unwrought gold more brilliant than all the gems. Around its eaves plays the soft sound of tinkling golden bells. There dwelt a thousand lovely houris, virgins in gorgeous attire, decked with the richest ornaments, singing melodious songs in concert, whose resounding strains are ceaseless. This celestial abode is adorned with lotus lakes, and meandering rivers full of the five kinds of lotus, whose golden petals as they fade fill all the air with fragrant odours. Round the lakes are magnificent lofty trees growing in regular array, their leaves, their boughs, and their branches covered with sweet-scented blossoms, whose balmy fragrance fills the surrounding air with heart-delighting odours.”
The people of this fair palace, according to my informant, feed on angel’s food, which he materialised to a close resemblance of that described by Thomson in “The Castle of Indolence”—
“Whatever sprightly juice or tasteful food
On the green bosom of this earth are found,
And all old Ocean genders in his round: