Natural-History Collectors. 7037 



the middle of their immense forests, latitude precisely as indicated 

 above, where 1 have passed the most favourable season for col- 

 lecting insects and land shells. Notwithstanding the King of Cam- 

 bodia having given me a letter, in which he gave orders to all 

 chiefs of (Skok Khmer) the Cambodia villages to furnish me with the 

 means of transport for my journey, I have had much trouble to 

 arrive here, as frequently neither chariots nor buffaloes were to 

 be found in the hamlets through which I passed ; besides, the Cam- 

 bodian being the worst of all the species of animals found on the 

 globe, like the ass, the only means of bringing him out of his state of 

 lethargy, bordering on stupidity, is by beating him. This will give 

 you a slight idea of the manner in which I have accomplished my 

 journey, which lasted a whole month, three times as long as I could 

 have made it on foot. 



On the 21st of July, after having reached Pinhalu, a village nine 

 miles from the capital, I went down the large branch of the Mekong, 

 as far as Polompa, a commercial city peopled with Chinese, at 

 the conflux of two rivers. I then went up the great Cambodia 

 River ; the waters of it were still low, as all through the country the 

 rainy season is more than two months later than usual. The 

 Mekong is covered with islands, many of them eight or nine miles in 

 length and more than a mile in breadth, such is the large and beauti- 

 ful island of Ko-huten, which I reached in five days ; judge then of 

 the width of this river, which I consider to be about three miles. 

 Pelicans are found upon it often in troops of more than fifty together, 

 and especially the sandy parts are covered with an immense number 

 of storks, sea-swallows and other aquatic birds. The general aspect 

 of this mighty river is, however, more gloomy than gay ; its water 

 running with the rapidity of a torrent undoubtedly is most imposing, 

 but that is all. Few boats are seen upon its waters, and its shores 

 are nearly desert, the forests being more than a mile distant from 

 them, and long grass or heaps of earth, which undermined by water 

 fall down on the least noise ; this is for the most part what is seen or 

 heard. 



The Menam is much more animated in its general aspect. The 

 rapids and cataracts commence at about thirty or forty leagues north 

 of Ko-huten, on the confines of Lao, where it is necessary to quit 

 large barges and take canoes, which you are frequently obliged to 

 transport on men's shoulders, as well as the baggage, before getting 

 over those passages. The current of the Mekong is so strong that at 

 certain seasons you can only make about a mile a day, and at times 



