28 JOURNAL, NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY OF SIAM. Vol. I. 
In the paddy plains are chiefly Siamese, with colonies of Lao 
Puan and Lao Wiang intermixed ; and, usually on the outskirts of the 
true plains, are found colonies of Lao Song, easily recognised by their 
distinetive dress and dwellings. 
The third class of country is sparsely populated and is chiefly 
used by the inhabitants of the plains for the extraction of building 
material and fish stakes for export to the coast. 
. In the fourth class are found a few scattered Kariang hamlets ; 
while in the dense evergreen forest, comprising the fifth class, are 
found the Karangs, who are really primitive Kariangs, using a some- 
what different dialect and who, as a rule, cannot speak Siamese and 
sometimes fly from their dwellings on the approach of strangers. 
Tue Coast Line. 
In March 1909 I made a trip of some two weeks duration from 
Samut Song Kram to Petchaburi in small open boats, the coast line 
about there being only defined by the outer verge of mangroves, which 
are extending steadily seawards, and at low tide the mud flats are 
exposed for upwards a kilometre in breadth. At such times the fisher 
people go mud-sledging for shell fish, the sledge being composed of 
a box nailed to a plank, and the fisher, kneeling on the plank, uses one 
foot as a propeller. 
South of Lat. 13° 10’ N. the character of the coast changes, 
until in Lat. 12° 40' the limestone crags, which follow a general trend 
S. S. E., form seacliffs and islets. Between these points the coast is 
slowly eroding, judging from the Sugar-Palm trees J found either 
destroyed or growing on the verge of the sandy beaches. Having 
been warned that nothing lived on the mud coast, except mosquitoes, 
I foolishly took no gun. 
At the mouth of the Meklong or Ratburi river I saw large 
families of Otters (species unknown ) playing on the mud banks and 
among the mangroves at low tide; and along the coast, and principal- 
ly in the creeks in the extreme N. W. corner of the Gulf, found the 
Crab-eating Macaque (M. cynomolgus) acting up to its trivial name— 
eating crabs and other small denizens of the mud flats, and general- 
ly enjoying itself swimming snd diving in the brackish creeks. The 
fisher people complain that these monkeys frequently steal rice and 
other edibles from their houses. Whether they also steal drinking 
water, which the inhabitants have to bring from a considerable dis- 
