68 PHRA RAM MAKES 



seemed fittingly harmonious, and mostly com- 

 mands were given by word of mouth. There were 

 two drivers to every yoke and they by turn talked 

 almost continuously to the bullocks. Now they 

 would beseech faster gait by such earnest, direct 

 appeal, as " your father left word with me that 

 you were to go on this journey "; again they would 

 threaten to expose the sluggard to the cow mother 

 and all the bullocks of Ratburi district ; and often 

 there came a singsong of entreaty in a peculiar, 

 whining tone which even Nai Kawn could not in- 

 terpret. Rarely did a driver lose patience and 

 upbraid his cattle ; and I do not recall an instance 

 of beating. But nothing quickened their steps. 



On the third day we came into a more or less 

 open section lying between the lowland and the 

 jungle edge, and then for ten days journeyed in 

 the most attractive country I saw at any time. 

 Here I had the only pleasing, outdoor camp life 

 of my Far Eastern experience. The country was 

 wooded, but neither densely, except in patches, nor 

 with large trees. Intervals were filled with bam- 

 boo clumps and bushes of various kinds— most of 

 the latter more beautiful to view than to touch. 

 And there was scarcely an hour when we were out 

 of the sound of cooing doves. I never saw so many 

 doves in my life, and my reputation as a mighty 

 hunter suffered seriously with my party, because 



