Page:Siam and Laos, as seen by our American missionaries (1884).pdf/482

 have been under the frescoing pencil of the sun and rain for a thousand years; castellated rocks with great columns of stalactites pendent on the gray walls; caves, crags and ravines with crystal cascades singing their solemn tune in lonely places. Nor is there destitution of vegetable life. In beautiful relief we find the rich green so peculiar to the tropics spread everywhere amongst this rugged scenery—trees, bushes, flowers, vines, ferns and mosses.

At the head of the rapids, and soon after passing out of the mountains, we get our first sight of a Laos village; and cheerful it is to come again amongst the habitations of men. During our two weeks' transit from this point to Cheung Mai we find a country having the same general features as that below the falls, with the exception of higher banks along the river; but here we have another type of people, entirely different in dress and address from those of the lower Menam. In common with the Siamese, they adhere to the Buddhist faith, adding also spirit-*worship. They have the same habit of betel-*chewing and the same forms of superstition, yet are a distinct race in customs and modes peculiar to themselves.

Many sights of exclusively new character are continuously meeting us too. The first that strikes the attention is the Laos system of water-*wheels, used for the irrigation of rice-fields and