View across Muang Ken and the valley of the Meh Ping.
On a low plateau that rises some twelve feet above the fields, padouk trees were in flower, and numerous cattail orchids adorned the branches of the smaller trees. The Mai ma-kate, a shrub bearing both white and yellow jessamine-shaped flowers, and the Rangoon creeper, were frequently seen, as well as the tree bearing the gooseberry fruit, and a small tree with fruit resembling lemons in scent, colour, and shape. This latter fruit is held in high esteem by the Shans for its supposed healing qualities. I noticed the men plucking it as they went along, and scrubbing their skin with it. At one place, when passing some clumps of stunted trees, we came suddenly upon a group of Karen villagers, who, with their cloth blankets hooded over their heads and clutched round their bodies, reminded me strongly of pictures of gnomes in the Black Forest.
Hills west of the Meh Ping at 11.55 A.M. 23d May.
A little beyond Ban Huay Ngoo, we began to cross the plateau-topped spurs from Loi Chaum Haut, which, with the spurs from the eastern range, draw in and enclose the Meh Ngat in a defile. In crossing a stream near the village, my elephant gave a sudden plunge, and my last aneroid barometer came to grief, slipping off the mackintosh sheet upon which I was sitting, and tumbling to the ground; so I had to leave off taking intermediate heights between my boiling-point observations. This did not so much matter, as the Meh Ngat is an affluent of the Meh Ping, and I had no more water-partings to cross on the journey.
From the crest of the final spur, we had a magnificent view across the plain of Muang Ken to the plateau-topped hill, Loi Tat Muang Ken, which partly separates it from the Zimmé plain. Over the end of the hill and beyond it the splendid panorama extended along the broken hills lying to the west of the Meh Ping, and stretched as far as the eye could reach up the valley of the Meh Teng. Whilst I was sketching the view and taking angles to the hills, my companions were hurrying on to Ban Perng, so as to get breakfast ready by the time I reached that place. Ban Perng lies 21 miles from Zimmé, and is the principal village of Muang Ken, and the headquarters of the governor. My companions, whilst breakfasting under some fruit-trees, had been discomforted by a storm of rain which came pelting down upon them before they could remove into a house. My sketches had delayed me till long past noon, so the boys had to dish up a fresh meal for me. Whilst I was eating it, Dr M‘Gilvary and Mr Martin paid a visit to the governor, and brought him back with them for me to interrogate.
The governor was a distinguished-looking, white-haired old gentleman, very courteous in his manner, interested in his province, and perfectly willing to impart any information in his power. He said his Muang contained 400 houses, and over 400 fighting-men. The people gained their livelihood by cultivating rice, pepper, tobacco, and fruit-trees (chiefly oranges), and by fishing. Timber is only felled for local use, not for export.
On my asking if tea was cultivated in his district, he replied that it was not cultivated, but that it grew wild on some of the hills, notably on Loi Oo-um, one of the spurs of Loi Chaum Haut, and on the hills near Viang Dong, an ancient city on the Huay Chang Tai, situated six hours’ journey to the west of the Meh Ping. A great deal of tea was cultivated, according to him, on the hills to the east and the west of the Meh Khoke above the entrance of the Meh Fang. A ruined city called Viang Koo-an lay between the Meh Ping and Viang Dong; he knew of no other ruined cities in his neighbourhood.
The taxes are very light in this Muang, consisting of a basket of paddy for each basket sown; and the monopolies consist of only pork and tobacco. The monopolist takes a rupee and a half on each pig slaughtered for ordinary use, and one rupee if it is killed for spirit-worship; on tobacco he takes a quarter of a rupee on each hundred tobacco-plants. There are no spirit, opium, or gambling farms in the district; the people being addicted to none of these vices. A tax of ten rupees is levied on the sale of an elephant, half of which is paid by the seller and half by the purchaser.
Having thanked the governor for the information, we had the elephants loaded, and resumed our march. We shortly afterwards crossed the Meh Hau Prat (a stream 30 feet wide and 10 feet deep, with 1 foot of water), which drains the valley of Muang Ken. We then proceeded across several spurs from Loi Tat Muang Ken, and reached the Zimmé plain at 16 miles, near the village of Ban Hom Luang, in whose fields I halted to sketch the hills lying to the west of the Meh Ping, and to the south of the valley of the Meh Teng.