A PILGEIMAGE 67 



male relatives gathered to behold our expedition 

 set forth. And no doubt, with Phra Earn afoot 

 leading the procession, closely attended by his 

 group of body servants, we were a sight for the 

 gallery, as we wound our way through the town; 

 for it must not be supposed that the chief missed 

 such an opportunity of impressing the natives. 



We came out of the town at the end of the main 

 street, and under the king's deserted palace high 

 on the hill we paused while I photographed the 

 outfit. Then for the couple of days it required to 

 reach the jungle edge country, our road wound 

 through padi fields where water stood one or two 

 feet deep. Of our eleven carts, three were devoted 

 to Phra Eam's personal luggage, one to a wife of 

 his, and the remainder carried provisions and the 

 personal luggage of my interpreter, Nai Kawn, 

 and myself. The carts were truly primitive, with 

 long, narrow, high body (about a foot and a half 

 wide, by two feet high and six feet long) and a 

 wheel hub full two feet deep. The bullocks were 

 small, having withers raised, like all Asiatic 

 draught cattle, into a well developed hump, and 

 of no great strength; quite appropriate indeed to 

 the cart they hauled. Attached to the nose of each 

 was a small rope on which their drivers laid hold 

 as occasion needed ; but that was not often, for the 

 temperament of the cattle and of the natives 



