1863. ] A visit ta Xiengmai. 387 
A visit to Xiengmat, the principal City of the Laos or Shan States.— 
By Sir Rosert H. Scoompurer, At. #. k. S., Her Majesty's 
Consul ut Siam. 
It will be requisite before I read my remarks on Xiengmai to pre- 
face them by some observations. ‘The journey was undertaken to ac- 
quire some knowledge of the interior of Siam as far as the city of Xieng- 
mai,* called variously Changmai, Zimay, Zumay, and in the inflated 
language of the Asiatics, by the Burmese, “ the City of the Golden 
Palace,” although if such a splendid structure once existed, it must 
have been swept away, for nothing palatial did I observe in the struc- 
ture of any of the habitations in that city. 
From Xiengmai, I planned to turn eastward to Maulmain and by the 
Gulf of Bengal to Tavoy, and to return from thence by crossing the 
ereat mountain chain to Bangkok. 
His Majesty the first King had provided me with a royal letter, 
enjoining the authorities of the places through which we had to pass, 
to give us every assistance, and to provide us with provisions, where 
such were to be had, on the public account. ‘Two comfortable boats, 
the oarsmen dressed in the Royal livery, were placed at my disposal ; 
Mr. Clarke, one of the student interpreters of the Consulate, and two 
nephews of the King, sons of Prince Krom Lluang Wongsa, who were 
then residing with me in the Consulate, accompanied me. 
We left Bangkok on the 12th of December, 1859, rapidly progress- 
ing, but having passed the tidal waters, we found soon that we had 
started a fortnight too late for our heavy boats. The river was rapidly 
falling, and we had often to dig channels through the sandbanks to 
get along. 
On the 28th day after our departure from Bangkok, we reached 
Raheng the most southern of the Lao cities. Here we resolved at 
once to send the boats back to Bangkok, and to continue our journey 
over land on elephants. 
This mode ot travelling was certainly any thing but comfortable ; 
and although we had two ponies to vary it occasionally, the fourteen days 
which we reyuired to reach Lamboon were fatiguing and tedious 
* The late Bishop Palegoix explained to me that it was called Xiengmai, the 
new City, in contradistinction of the one which had been destroyed by the Baro- 
ma-zaxa-thirat in 1480, 
