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 of islets, measures between seven and eight miles in width, while immediately above, the river is twelve miles across, though a little further up it narrows down again to its original breadth of about three and a-half miles.

Everything in this gigantic country," wrote Garnier, "breathes an unheard of force and clothes itself in over- whelming proportions." The land is thickly populated. and highly cultivated. The principal villages are Sit- andong and Khong, and with the Governor of the lat- ter place the expedition speedily established very friendly relations. For the rest the scanty trade consisted in the exportation of jungle produce obtained from the hill- tribes and brought to the river by means of a track lead- ing inland from its left bank.

The province of Tuli-Repu, on the right bank of the Mekong, was formerly a part of Kambodia, but the chief in charge of it having rebelled and obtained the support of Siam, it passed, without any formalitics of cession, un- der the dominion of Bangkok, as have so many other fragments of the ancient Khmer empire. After that event it became almost a desert, the mountainous parts being infested by lawless bands who lived chiefly by pil- lage, and Garnier saw in its annexation by France its only chance of salvation. This is an opinion which has since found much favour with French colonial statesmen, but even under the administration of France this part of the Mekong valley seems hardly likely to produce a trade of any remarkable proportions.

Using Khong as his base, de Lagrée ascended and ex- plored the Repu or Se-Lompu River, and on the banks