AN ACCOUNT OF A JOURNEY ACROSS THE MALAY PENINSULA. 39 



bananas and maize, which they sell down the river, and 

 besides they keep a good few buffaloes. I have no doubt 

 also they enjoy the security of property and freedom from 

 oppression under British protection. 



After they had finished their meal we set out again, the 

 young priests ' choiviwg' the boat while the old man reclined 

 within. Round about him, built in great piles were the 

 worthy man's presents from his parishioners, consisting of 

 great heaps of half roasted fish, baskets full of sweetmeats 

 and fancy cakes, bags of rice and bunches of bananas, 

 betel-nuts and coco-nuts ' galore/ in fact stores large enough 

 to hold a great priesthood eating for weeks. In fact, so full 

 was the boat of good things ( and I believe the priests were 

 quite as full ) that, although the boat was a fairly large one, 

 there was neither room to sit or stand, and it was quite a 

 treat to see the old priest's little boy scrambling amongst 

 those things to supply the betel-nut wants of his superior. 



The river got wider, deeper and flowed more slowly, but the 

 surrounding country was still of the same character — flat and 

 jungle-covered, with rounded hills here and there. By land- 

 ing some distance above Wat Keo and walking over a neck 

 of land, we were able to cut a good few miles of the river and 

 reach the 'Wat' that night, where w r e slept. A beautiful park 

 surrounds the abode of the priests, and the Wat is built after 

 the Burmese design, but all the priests are Siamese, some of 

 them coming from the Provinces on the East Coast. The vil- 

 lage of Wat Keo ( or Takay as it is called on the maps) has 

 about 400 inhabitants, mostly Siamese, and is surrounded by 

 large paddy fields and extensive pasture land. Nuan had 

 now an opportunity of fulfilling his vow, for in his hour of 

 danger he had promised the water spirit, at the first W^at he 

 reached, to make merit to the extent of ten ticals, but now 

 was quite convinced it was a rash promise and considered 

 three ticals quite enough. 



Next morning we left Wat Keo and proceeded further 

 down the river. Only two house-boats were available, both 

 belonging to local trading Chinamen, and these, practising 

 their usual policy on the stranger, extracted three times the 



