TSEKOU TO KHAMTI 



probably its great-grandmother; and on all sides rose a babel of songs 

 and jovial mirth. Yet withal there was nothing brutal in this extra- 

 ordinary bacchanalian orgy ; perfect cordiality reigned throughout. 



Imagine the effect on this crew of the sudden apparition of eight 

 fisfures, strang-e of feature and in divers garbs, armed and un- 

 announced, dropping from the mountain into their very midst. 



Their moment of stupefaction was a short one. Hospitality 

 was evidently in the ascendant. Drink was offered to us, and we 

 were given to understand by signs that they would accompany us 

 to the village. So, under this novel escort, none too steady on 

 their legs, surrounded by a medley of lances, swords, and bamboos, 

 and a hubbub of strange cries, we made a triumphal entry into Delou. 



Here we were able to buy rice, fowls, and potatoes ; and after 

 passing a somewhat broken night owing to Sao's setting fire to the 

 bamboo screen, and to minor disturbing visitants, we resumed our 

 descent on the i 7th (November) at a more deliberate pace. Our next 

 camping ground happened to be on the borders of a tobacco field. 

 The morning light shone upon bare stalks: our men were the locusts. 

 Finding this godsend, they had thanked Providence and fallen to. 



We discoursed with the two men of Moam, previously 

 mentioned, in tagrs of all the dialects at our command, and learned 

 from them that the country known to the Kioutses by the name of 

 Moam was called Khamti, with a capital named Khamtidon, and 

 they proposed to precede us and announce our coming to the king. 



We conjectured that these two Thais were deputies of the chiet 

 of Khamti, and that the supremacy of the latter embraced the 

 Kioutses of this district, since they were at free quarters in the 

 villages which they entered, and requisitioned carriers with the 

 tone of authority. The lead which the)^ were convoying was in 

 small pigs like those sold at Luang-Prabang, and similar, both 

 u 305 



