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 among the victors. Hundreds died of hunger, or fell by the way on that awful march which was to lead them to a lifelong captivity. Vien Chan, wrecked and shattered, was left to the forest and to the wild things of the jungle, after everything portable had been looted from it. The dream of an independent Laos was ended for ever. To this day children are cowed into obedience throughout the Laos country by the whispered name of the Praya Mitop, the Siamese General who commanded this bloody punitive expedition.

The dread of being overtaken by the rains caused de Lagrée to push on from Vien Chan with as little delay as possible, and twenty miles up-stream a narrow gorge suc- ceeded by difficult rapids was encountered. Progress was slow, and on April 8th the rapid of Keng Kan neces- sitated the abandonment of the boats, the explorers walk- ing up the left bank to Sanghao, limping bare-shod over burning rocks and through thorny jungles, and taking five painful hours to cover a distance of six miles. New boats were obtained, and at Ban Kuklao, reached on April 11th, other craft which had been sent to meet them were found. Next day the last of the rapids was passed, and at Chieng Kang the Mekong once more expanded as the explorers won free from the mountainous zone through which for so many miles they had been following it.

For some time the Frenchmen had been greatly per- turbed by rumours of a party of English explorers, some forty strong, which was said to have cut in above them from Burma. So far the members of de Lagrée's expe- dition had been passing, for the most part, through