Page:Siam and Laos, as seen by our American missionaries (1884).pdf/538

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also he was in company with those who would not stop.

After eleven days from home we arrived at Cheung Rai. This is a small city of three hundred houses, population between two and three thousand. It is in the province of Cheung Mai, and its chief officers receive their appointment from the chief or king of this place. It is situated on the banks of the Ma-Kok, fifty or sixty miles from where that river joins the Ma-Kawng (or Cambodia) River. The large plain outside of the walls of the city is but thinly populated. The people are mostly fishermen. Only a small portion of the surrounding country is under cultivation, hence there are but few villages in its vicinity. Here we dismissed our elephants, and by noon on the following day had completed our preparations for the river-journey. During our delay there Mr. McGilvary was occupied with the numbers of people who visited us at our sala, preaching the gospel, distributing from our supply of Siamese books to those who could read, and gathering information concerning the country.

We set out again as soon as our boat and men were ready. Our passage down the Ma-Kok to the Cambodia River occupied two days, during which time we passed four or five small villages of twenty or thirty houses each. These were near to Cheung Rai, within three hours' journey