MEKONG,
or
Me Nam Kong
(pronounced
Kawng
), sometimes known as the Cambodia River, the great river of Indo-China, having its origin in the Tibetan highlands. It is the third or fourth longest river in Asia and the seventh or eighth in the world. It is about 2800 m. in length, of which 1200 flow through
portions of the Chinese Empire and Tibet and 1600 through French territory. Its sources are not definitely settled, but it is supposed to rise on the slopes of Dza-Nag-Lung-Mung in about
33° N., 93° E., at an altitude of 16,700 ft. above sea-level.
Throughout the greater part of its course in Tibet, where it is
called the Dza-Chu, it flows south-eastwards to Chiamdo, on the
great east and west caravan route from China to Lhasa. At
this point it is about 10,000 ft. above sea-level. From here
it flows southwards through little-known mountain wastes.
Below Dayul in lat. 29° it is known by the Chinese name
of Lantsan Kiang. For the next 300 m. of its course the Lantsan
Kiang, or, as it soon becomes known among the Thai peoples
inhabiting its rugged valley, the Mekong, is very little known to
us. The river flows beneath bare and rocky walls. A few scattered
villages of Lusus and Mossos exist in this region; there is
no trade from north to south. In 25° 18′ N. the Tali-Bhamo
caravan route, described by Colborne Baker, crosses the river
by one of those iron suspension bridges which are a feature of
Yun-nan, at a height of 4700 ft. above sea-level. From this
point to Chieng or Keng Hung, the head of the old confederacy
of the Sibsawng Punna or Twelve States, it is little known; the
fact that it falls some 900 ft. for each degree of latitude indicates
the character of the river. Under the provisions of the
Anglo-French agreement of January 1896, from the Chinese
frontier southwards to the mouth of the Nam Hok the Mekong
forms the frontier between the British Shan States on the west
and the territories acquired from Siam by France in 1893. By
the treaty of 1893, from that point southwards to about 13° 30′ N.
it is also the frontier between French Indo-China and Siam,
and a zone extended 25 kilometres inland from the right bank,
within which the Siamese government agreed not to construct
any fortified port or maintain any armed force. This 25 kilometre
neutral zone was abolished in 1905 when France surrendered
Chantabun to the Siamese, who in their turn ceded the
port of Krat and the provinces of Melupre and Bassac, together
with various trading concessions to France on the right bank
of the Mekong. Below the Siamese Shan town of Chieng Sen
the river takes its first great easterly bend to Luang Prabang,
being joined by some important tributaries. This portion is
obstructed by rapids. The country is mountainous, and the
vegetation of the lower heights begins to assume a tropical
aspect. From Luang Prabang the river cuts its way southwards
for two degrees through a lonely jungle country among receding
hills of low elevation. From Chieng Khan the river again turns
eastwards along the 18th parallel, forcing its way through its
most serious rapid-barrier, and receiving some important tributaries
from the highlands of Tung Chieng Kum and Chieng
Kwang, the finest country in Indo-China. In 104° E. the river
resumes a southerly course through a country thinly peopled.
At Kemarat (16° N.) the fourth serious rapid-barrier occurs,
some 60 m. in length, and the last at Khong in 14° N. From
here to its outfall in the China Sea the river winds for some
400 m. through the French territories of Cambodia and Cochin
China, and to its annual overflow these countries owe their
extraordinary fertility. The French have done much to render
the river navigable. Steamers ply regularly from Saigon through
Mytho to Pnompenh, and launches proceed from this place,
the capital of Cambodia, to the Preapatano rapids, and beyond
this a considerable portion of the distance to Luang Prabang, the
journey being finished in native boats.
(
J. G. Sc
)