OF SIAM 49 



ble success. I have seen freight boats of large size 

 and heavily laden with padi (rice) moving along 

 the klawngs propelled by two men, one bow and one 

 stern. In open rivers these padi boats sometimes, 

 with a fair wind, hoist sail. 



I have said that Saw was an expert waterman, 

 but that does not sufficiently describe the skill he 

 displayed in taking us safely around the many 

 turns of the klawngs, and in avoiding collision 

 with the innumerable and often recklessly piloted 

 craft we were continuously meeting. Seldom have 

 I had a more interesting trip than through these 

 klawngs, literally alive in parts with boats of all 

 sizes, carrying crews of men, women and children. 

 Every now and again we passed a settlement, and 

 always there was human life on the water and 

 jungle-life along the banks. Now we come to a 

 squat, heavily laden rice-boat moving ponderously, 

 yet steadily under the two oars of its crew of one 

 Chinaman and a single Simo-Chinese. Then an im- 

 portant looking house-boat with teak instead of the 

 usual atap top covering, and crew of four China- 

 men, stripped to the buff, working industriously, 

 passes us moving smartly; on its deck stretch 

 two smoking Siamese officials coming down from 

 the Burman border to report at Bangkok. Again, 

 a freighter, carrying squared logs of teak, is creep- 

 ing along its laborious way, turning corners awk- 



4 



