Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume VIII, No. 5 [‎14r] (30/154)

JOURNEY ROUND SIAM.
433
The town of Battambong itself is a scattered village of about four
thousand inhabitants lying on both sides of the Sangkai stream, which,
when I was there during the dry season, did not contain enough water
to float an ordinary boat. Three miles beyond the town the cultivation
of rice ceases, and nothing is to be seen but a vast expanse of treeless,
grassy plain stretching out to the jungle which fringes the distant
horizon.
The imports are chiefly cotton cloth for the clothing of the popula
tion, and small quantities of other articles, such as lamps, slippers, silks,
looking-glasses, brass dishes, etc. The principal export is rice, and this
ON THE WAY TO THE GUEAT LAKE, EAST SIAM.
amounts to about £20,000 per annum, and fish to about £15,000. The
other exports are hides and horns, cardamums, mats, etc. The Siamese
share of the fisheries of the lake is quite insignificant compared with
that of Cambodia.
It is gratifying to learn that, in spite of the close connection which
exists geographically between Battambong and Saigon, the cloth trade
here is almost exclusively British, and is in the hands of two wholesale
British Indian dealers. It is an extraordinary fact that British goods
can be conveyed to Battambong overland from Bangkok, a long and
toilsome journey of two days by steamer and about twenty days by
bullock-cart, and yet undersell French goods in Battambong, though the
latter can in the rainy season be brought up by steamer from Saigon in
two days. In this season the Indian traders often get their cloth through
Saigon by paying a heavy transit duty. The bulk of the exports
naturally find their way to Saigon, but French imports are insignificant,
and consist chiefly of liqueurs and brandy, silk goods, and knickknacks.