524 Visit to the Pakchan River. [No. 139. 



one and half mile in a N. W. direction, for the purpose of communi- 

 cating with the British Settlement of that name. The next day, 

 proceeding eight miles higher up the main river, we anchored in three 

 fathoms abreast the confluence of the great Kaman river, beyond which 

 the channel being much contracted by sand banks, the Steamer could 

 not proceed. From thence we moved in boats, and arrived at Pakchan 

 in eight hours ; the distance as surveyed by Captain R. Ross, command- 

 ing the Hoogly, being thirty miles. The river narrows gradually, 

 and from the great Kaman, passes through level country ; approaching 

 Pakchan, hills again appear, and it becomes very tortuous, at which 

 spot it is about 50 yards broad, with a rise and fall of tide of eight feet 

 at the springs. 



3. The governor of Pakchan, a Chinaman, informed Mr. Blundell, 

 that the chief of Peechapooree, who had been deputed by the Siam 

 government to meet him, had arrived at Pakchan punctually on the 1st 

 of March ; after waiting ten days, he had retired to Chimpohun, on the 

 plain of the east side of the peninsula. It was therefore determined that 

 Dr. Richardson, Assistant to the Commissioner, should go to the chief 

 and invite his return to the projected conference : accordingly, Dr. 

 Richardson and myself, with a few of our own followers, commenced our 

 journey on foot a little after 5 a. m., the prospect of crossing the penin- 

 sula being an object of peculiar interest. 



Following generally the course of a small stream called the Kraa, 

 which joins the main river at Pakchan, we proceeded by a good and 

 clear road of ten to fifteen feet wide through the jungle towards the 

 Kraa Pass, distant three miles in a N. E. direction. The road here turns 

 to the South of East and the Pass, which is not intricate, leads for some 

 distance along the bed of the rivulet, and terminates to the South-East 

 at six and five-sixth miles from Pakchan. Here the greatest altitude is 

 attained between the valley of the Pakchan and the alluvial plains on 

 the east side of the peninsula, for soon after, at eight hours and seven 

 minutes a.m., we came upon the waters of the Chimpohun, running in 

 an easterly direction towards the gulf of Siam, the country then be- 

 gins to slope gradually to the East ; at eight hours thirty-seven minutes 

 a. m., we halted two hours for refreshment by the side of the Chimpo- 

 hun, at a spot where there are three or four houses, having the name of 

 Bantapakchan. We here observed a canoe, which can be floated to 



