1022 Mission to the Court of Siam. |~Dec. 



lOh. 5m. ; they did not overtake us till lh. 5m. No one of our party hav- 

 ing ever marched between this and Jung-Jung-Khay, we had some dif- 

 ficulty in finding the path, which we could only distinguish, amongst 

 the numbers of wild elephant tracks which cross the forest, by the few 

 marks of the traveller's knife on trees at long and uncertain intervals. At 

 2h. 35m. we lost all trace of these and our path at the same time, which 

 after unsuccessfully seeking for an hour and a half, were obliged to 

 return to a small stream we had crossed at 2h. 5m., and at four halted for 

 the night ; some of the people just at dark, discovered the path on the east 

 side of the stream. No teak timber since entering the ravine, on the 

 other side of the Zimee, a good many thengan trees of great size, and 

 other trees very high, with rather fewer bamboos. The wild elephants 

 from their tracks, seem exceedingly numerous in this part of the forest, 

 and the first of our people saw a herd to-day on the other side of the river. 



January 1st, 1839 — Halt. The neighbourhood of the innumerable 

 wild elephants has caused us an inconvenience I have feared for 

 some days; one of our elephants joined them in the night, the mahouts 

 having been in search of him all the morning, returned after noon, 

 having lost all trace of him on a bare hill some miles distant. I im- 

 mediately (after furnishing them with a portion of our very small quan- 

 tity of rice) despatched them again with other elephants, and to my 

 great joy, they returned about 6 o'clock having reclaimed him. We 

 have of course been constrained to halt here to day ; I had however in 

 the forenoon despatched the Siamese interpreter, some bearers, and 

 some Birmans for a supply of rice, to meet us at the next halting place; 

 they will I hope, finding we have not arrived there, come on to meet 

 us, as there is not a grain of rice in camp for breakfast, I have tied up 

 the elephants to night, and shall continue to do so till we are out of 

 the vicinity of the wild ones ; this arrangement will enable us to start 

 early in the morning, and give the elephants the whole afternoon to 

 feed, they can then be tied up, and branches cut for them ; though they 

 suffer from this plan when long continued at this season, when there is 

 little succulent food for them ; we shall in a few days be where we can 

 let them loose at night. 



January 2nd. — Karaung-tan. 5h. 20m., fourteen miles. By tying 

 up the elephants last night were enabled to start to-day at 7 a. m. The 

 first part of the march was over a broken country, repeatedly cross- 

 ing a stream about ancle-deep ; the jungle at times a little more open. 

 At lOh. 30m. were much disappointed at coming on the place where 

 our party sent off for rice had slept last night, giving us little hopes of 

 any thing to eat to-day. At llh, 10m. come on the Mccka-that, running 



