76 Journal of the F.M.S. Museums. [Vol. X, 



palms, fruit trees, bamboos and patches of scrub and jungle 

 dotted about : in the distance were hills partly forest, partly 

 scrub-covered. Numerous and large herds of buffaloes 

 made rambling about nervous work for a solitary white 

 man. Mamoh contains several Chinese shops. Between 

 3 and 8 a.m. in the morning a dense shroud of mist always 

 lay over the country. 



On Mai'ch 1st we sent our men and baggage up to Tapli 

 in a small cargo boat. The Lord Lieutenant of the Monthon 

 (Puket) was expected and Mamoh had been making a land- 

 ing-place for his use : unfortunately it did not extend out 

 to low tide level but ended in mud two feet deep. The Lord- 

 Lieutenant did not go ashore at Mamoh. 



The journey from Mamoh to Tapli takes longer by 

 water than by land, but at high tide it is a pretty one as the 

 ricefields come right to the edges of the banks in places. 

 Tapli is the name of the landing place : the village beyond is 

 called Ban Wang Tapoh'-'. A fair-sized bridge was being 

 built over the stream along which it lies. (Klong Wang). 



The view from Tapli was very fine — westward across 

 the river lay ricefields with a few scattered houses and fruit 

 trees with low hills beyond : northwards the river winds 

 among flat ricefields coming from low hills many miles 

 away with beyond them a mountain range of about 2,000 ft. 

 running S.E. & N.W. Clumps of trees palms and bamboos 

 diversified the rice lands and in the evening with the low 

 light shining on the river and the hills a glorious deep grey- 

 blue or purple the vista was exquisite. 



The hills beyond the bungalow were covered with trees 

 and much bamboo and the undergrowth was very light. 

 Every morning the heavy white mist lay over the river 

 valley : the daily rise and fall of the stream was still con- 

 siderable (8-10 ft.). 



Having at length hired eleven elephants for our equip- 

 ment (the local animals carry a ridiculously small load) 

 I left TapU on foot at 10.20 a.m. on March 10th affer seeing 

 the first lot of our baggage well away. For the first five 

 kilometres to Eakchan village the trans-peninsular road-to- 

 be ran north through scrub and ricefields fallow under grass. 

 At the village which is the last for many miles was a police 

 station and a long bridge over a broad stream between high 

 banks — the Klong In Song which the road follows, a tribu- 

 tary of the Pakchan rising in the Central range not far from 

 the sources of the Klong Tasan, on the eastern side of the 

 divide, which runs to the Gulf of Siam south of Chumpom. 



Thence the road with the telegraph line passes through 

 uninteresting scrub, first eastwards, then south and again 

 east until it reaches the main range which is covered with 

 evergreen forest. The boundary between Renong and 

 Chumporn is 18 kilometres from Wang Tapoh : the pass 

 by which the road proceeds is low — only about two hundred 



9 Ban or Bang = House or Village. 



