CHAPTER XVII.

Leave Kiang Hai—A hot spring—Elephants without tusks—Elephant-driving—Danger when driver is careless—A large rice-plain—Bargaining with the abbot at Muang Doo—Bloodthirsty flies—Elephants as tool-users—Inhospitable ancestral spirits—Game plentiful—Utterances of tigers—A magnificent forest—A stink-wood—Water-parting between the Kiang Hai and Kiang Hsen plains—Brave butterflies—A field for an entomologist—Psyche in Burmah—A Central Asian belief—Three sacred hills—Buddha and Confucius—Legend of Loi Htong—Valley of the Meh Chan—Pass to Muang Fang—Kiang Hsen plain—Siamese aggression—Deserted cities of Manola—Tigers—Attack on Kiang Hsen in 1794—Wild animals—Legend of Muang Nŏng—Thunderstorm—Flooded country—Leaning pagoda—Reach Kiang Hsen, 177