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 CHAPTER IX

UBON TO LUANG PRABANG—MOUHOT AND OTHER EXPLORERS

URING the two months spent by Francis Gar- nier in making the flying visit to Pnom Penh described in the preceding chapter, the rest of the expedition had continued its explorations around. Ubon and to the north. The province of Ubon at this time supported a population estimated at 80,000 souls, and the chief object of interest was the salt-pans which supply the natives of the district with a large part of their livelihood. A patch of country some forty miles in length, on the plateau of Ubon, appears to cover great reservoirs of brine, and each dry season the salt is precipitated on the surface in the form of a white, powdery dust. This is collected by the natives, cleansed in water, and is once more precipitated in a purified condition in large caldrons, which are exposed to the rays of the sun. A single worker wins about fifteen pounds per diem, and the in- dustry is in full swing for a period of three months. As soon as the dry season shows signs of breaking, the ground from the surface of which the salt has been gathered is sown with rice; good crops are obtained, and the soil thus yields, as it were, two harvests annually to its owners.

On January 15th, Delaporte left Ubon and descended the Se-Mun, for the purpose of surveying the Mekong