1892.] Address. 77 



Hong Luk. Then diverging to the east he went on towards Tonquin, 

 through the Sipsong Pana, passing through nearly 300 miles of hitherto 

 quite unknown country and reaching French Territory at Muang Jheng. 

 Thence he went to Lai Chau on the Black River, which he descended 

 by boat to Cho Bo, the highest point navigable by steamers, owing to 

 a barrage of rocks. From here he went down through an open fertile 

 and thickly populated country to Hanoi. He was exceedingly well 

 received by the French officers he met ; and though his paper is entirely 

 geographical, some light is thi'own upon the unhealthy native of the 

 country and the difficulties the French have to contend against in set- 

 tling their new possessions. It also shows how the French possessions 

 are being advanced towards the line of the Mekong. Lord Lamington 

 found the greatest difference in salubrity and productiveness between 

 the Shan States and the country he passed through along the Black 

 River, the advantage being with the former. He made a very careful 

 survey of his route, and his complete map when published will be a 

 valuable addition to our knowledge of this part of our Eastern Trans- 

 Frontier. 



Mr. James McCarthy, Superintendent of Surveys in Siam, has 

 fixed the longitude of various places in Siam by telegraph, among them 

 Luang Prabang (Pagoda), 102° 05' 56" E., and Korat (Court House) 

 102° 06' 52" E. 



French Possessions. — The question of the navigability of the Me- 

 nam-Kong (commonly but erroneously called the Me-Kong ; its real 

 name being the Nam- Kong, or River Kong — Me, an affix meaning 

 mother) still continues to excite the interest of the French, with the 

 object of developing trade with the country about its upper waters. A 

 launch was to have been sent up with this object, but was unable to pass 

 the Kong rapids. It has been found that a steamer service could be 

 maintained all the year through for that part of the river comprised 

 between the junction of the Se-mun and the sea, and from July to 

 January or February for the part lying between Luang Prabang and 

 Kemmarat. The Siamese are also alive to the importance of steam 

 navigation on the upper part of the river, and are said to be arranging 

 for the transport of a launch from Bangkok. 



The Comptes Bendus of the Paris Societe de Geographie contain a 

 short account of an expedition made by Father Guignard, a missionary 

 in South Tonquin, to the upper part of the river Ngan-Kha or Song-Mo. 

 He stained from Ka-chai with a military reconnoitring party. The 

 river was navigable for three days in junks, after which canoes had to 

 be used and often had to be towed. At the ruined village of Cua Kao, 

 the Ngan Kha divides into the Nam Mo, going east, and the Nam Non f 



