74 NOTES ON THE SIAMESE PROVINCES OF KOOWI, &C. 



to the sea ; along the shore are many small collections of 

 fishermen's houses, and here and there are Chinese kongsis, 

 from all of which at the break of day boats issue to prosecute 

 the fishing close inshore. They use nets of every shape and 

 size almost entirely, and return about 10 o'clock, commonly 

 with good catches, which they dispose of at something like 

 three cents per lb., and what is not bought for immediate 

 consumption is salted and dried in the sun. The Chinamen 

 living in those kongsis on the beach are engaged in 

 catching prawns, which they do by dredging a very fine meshed 

 net along the sands, for the production of "blachang." At 

 night, too, one can see torches flitting about on the water, 

 the fisherman spearing the fish that are attracted to the 

 light. In the streams one comes across dams in which are 

 set all sorts of ingenious bamboo traps for fish. 



Means of Communication. 



The sea is the highway between these provincial towns and 

 Bangkok the capital. Some twenty years ago Chinese junks 

 end large boats of Siamese build crowded the Menam at 

 Bangkok bringing in the produce from the coasts all round the 

 gulf and carrying back products of civilization in return, but 

 now, although two or three are always riding at anchor in the 

 river at every village and town, they have been almost com- 

 pletely supplanted by small steamers flying at their stern the 

 white elephant, having long since passed that condition of 

 evidence required to carry the Union Jack. 



On land, the towns and villages lying along the coast are 

 connected by a path often winding along the beach, always 

 rough and uneven, wending its way across morasses and soft 

 miry paddy-fields, full of holes, crossing streams with neither 

 bridge nor ford, so that it is laborious travelling indeed, and 

 in the three southern Provinces fit for elephants only. Ele- 

 phants abound in these Provinces and are used for transport, 

 but in Koowi, where an elephant cannot be found, the roads 

 are much better, being well adapted for buffalo drays, which 

 are the sole means of transport. 



