THE ENGLISH GOVERNESS AT THE SIAMESE COURT

BEING RECOLLECTIONS OF SIX YEARS IN THE ROYAL

IN THE ROYAL PALACE AT BANGKOK

BY

ANNA HARRIETTE LEONOWENS. 

With Illustrations, FROM PHOTOGRAPHS PRESENTED TO THE AUTHOR BYTHE KING OF SIAM. 

[Illustration: Gateway Of the Old Palace. ]

TO MRS. KATHERINE S. COBB. 

I have not asked your leave, dear friend, to dedicate to you these pagesof my experience in the heart of an Asiatic court; but I know you willindulge me when I tell you that my single object in inscribing your namehere is to evince my grateful appreciation of the kindness that led youto urge me to try the resources of your country instead of returning toSiam, and to plead so tenderly in behalf of my children. 

I wish the offering were more worthy of your acceptance. But toassociate your name with the work your cordial sympathy has fostered, and thus pleasantly to retrace even the saddest of my recollections, amid the happiness that now surrounds me, --a happiness I owe to thegenerous friendship of noble-hearted American women, --is indeed aprivilege and a compensation. 

I remain, with true affection, gratitude, and admiration, Your friend, A. H. L. 

26th July, 1870. 

PREFACE. 

His Majesty, Somdetch P'hra Paramendr Maha Mongkut, the Supreme King ofSiam, having sent to Singapore for an English lady to undertake theeducation of his children, my friends pointed to me. At first it waswith much reluctance that I consented to entertain the project; but, strange as it may seem, the more I reflected upon it the more feasibleit appeared, until at length I began to look forward, even with a glowof enthusiasm, toward the new and untried field I was about to enter. 

The Siamese Consul at Singapore, Hon. W. Tan Kim-Ching, had writtenstrongly in my favor to the Court of Siam, and in response I receivedthe following letter from the King himself:--

"ENGLISH ERA, 1862, 26th February. GRAND ROYAL PALACE, BANGKOK. 

"To MRS. A. H. LEONOWENS:--

"MADAM: We are in good pleasure, and satisfaction in heart, that you arein willingness to undertake the education of our beloved royal children. And we hope that in doing your education on us and on our children (whomEnglish, call inhabitants of benighted land) you will do your bestendeavor for knowledge of English language, science, and literature, andnot for conversion to Christianity; as the followers of Buddha aremostly aware of the powerfulness of truth and virtue, as well as thefollowers of Christ, and are desirous to have facility of Englishlanguage and literature, more than new religions. 

"We beg to invite you to our royal palace to do your best endeavormentupon us and our children. We shall expect to see you here on return ofSiamese steamer Chow Phya. 

"We have written to Mr. William Adamson, and to our consul at Singapore, to authorize to do best arrangement for you and ourselves. 

"Believe me

"Your faithfully, (Signed)

"S. S. P. P. MAHA MONGKUT. "

About a week before our departure for Bangkok, the captain and mate ofthe steamer Rainbow called upon me. One of these gentlemen had forseveral years served the government of Siam, and they came to warn me ofthe trials and dangers that must inevitably attend the enterprise inwhich I was embarking. Though it was now too late to deter me from theundertaking by any arguments addressed to my fears, I can neverthelessnever forget the generous impulse of the honest seamen, who said:"Madam, be advised even by strangers, who have proved what sufferingsawait you, and shake your hands of this mad undertaking. " By the nextsteamer I sailed for the Court of Siam. 

In the following pages I have tried to give a full and faithful accountof the scenes and the characters that were gradually unfolded to me as Ibegan to understand the language, and by all other means to attain aclearer insight into the secret life of the court. I was thankful tofind, even in this citadel of Buddhism, men, and above all women, whowere "lovely in their lives, " who, amid infinite difficulties, in thebosom of a most corrupt society, and enslaved to a capricious and oftencruel will, yet devoted themselves to an earnest search after truth. Onthe other hand, I have to confess with sorrow and shame, how far we, with all our boasted enlightenment, fall short, in true nobility andpiety, of some of our "benighted" sisters of the East. With many ofthem, Love, Truth, and Wisdom are not mere synonyms but "living gods, "for whom they long with lively ardor, and, when found, embrace with joy. 

Those of my readers who may find themselves interested in the wonderfulruins recently discovered in Cambodia are indebted to the earliertravellers, M. Henri Mouhot, Dr. A. Bastian, and the able Englishphotographer. James Thomson, F. R. G. S. L. , almost as much as tomyself. 

To the Hon. George William Curtis of New York, and to all my other truefriends, abroad and in America, I feel very grateful. 

And finally, I would acknowledge the deep obligation I am under to Dr. J. W. Palmer, whose literary experience and skill have been of so greatservice to me in revising and preparing my manuscript for the press. A. H. L. 

CONTENTS. 

 I. ON THE THRESHOLD II. A SIAMESE PREMIER AT HOME III. A SKETCH OF SIAMESE HISTORY IV. HIS EXCELLENCY'S HAREM AND HELPMEET V. THE TEMPLES OF THE SLEEPING AND THE EMERALD IDOLS VI. THE KING AND THE GOVERNESS VII. MARBLE HALLS AND FISH-STALLS VIII. OUR HOME IN BANGKOK IX. OUR SCHOOL IN THE PALACE X. MOONSHEE AND THE ANGEL GABRIEL XI. THE WAYS OF THE PALACE XII. SHADOWS AND WHISPERS OF THE HAREM XIII. FA-YING, THE KING'S DARLING XIV. AN OUTRAGE AND A WARNING XV. THE CITY OF BANGKOK XVI. THE WHITE ELEPHANT XVII. THE CEREMONIES OF CORONATION XVIII. THE QUEEN CONSORT XIX. THE HEIR-APPARENT. --ROYAL HAIR-CUTTING XX. AMUSEMENTS OF THE COURT XXI. SIAMESE LITERATURE AND ART XXII. BUDDHIST DOCTRINE, PRIESTS, AND WORSHIP XXIII. CREMATION XXIV. CERTAIN SUPERSTITIONS XXV. THE SUBORDINATE KING XXVI. THE SUPREME KING: HIS CHARACTER AND ADMINISTRATION XXVII. MY RETIREMENT FROM THE PALACEXXVIII. THE KINGDOM OF SIAM XXIX. THE RUINS OF CAMBODIA. --AN EXCURSION TO THE NAGHKON WATT XXX. THE LEGEND OF THE MAHA NAGHKON

[Illustration: Fac-Simile of Letter from present Supreme King of Siam:Transcription follows:]

Amarinde WinschleyPalace BangkokMarch 6th 1869

Mrs. A. H. LeonowensNew York

Dear Madam, I have great pleasure in condescending to answer your sympathisingletter of 25th November last wherein the sorrowful expressions of yourheart in relation to my most beloved Sovereign Father in demise which isa venerated burden and I have left to this day and ever more shall bearthis most unexpressable loss in mind, with the deepest respect andlamentation, and resignation to the will of divine Providence;--are veryloyal to you too to ful, and share your grief in behalf the affectionyou have for your royal pupils, and the kind remembrances you have madeof them in your letter, loves you too with that respect and love yourare held in ther esteem, for such disinterestioness in impartingknowledge to them during your stay here with us. I have the pleasurealso, to mention you that our Government in counsel has elected me toassume the reins of Government notwithstanding my juvenility; and I ampleased to see the love the people have for me, most undoubtedly arisingfrom the respect and veneration they have had for my beloved royalFather and I hope to render them prosperity and peace, and equalmeasure, they have enjoyed since the last reign in return. 

May you and your beloved children be in the peace of the divineProvidence. 

I beg to remain, Yours sincerely

Somdetch Phra Chulalonkorn Klou Chow-yu HuaSupreme King of Siamon 114th day of reign

I. ON THE THRESHOLD. 

MARCH 15, 1862. --On board the small Siamese steamer Chow Phya, in theGulf of Siam. 

I rose before the sun, and ran on deck to catch an early glimpse of thestrange land we were nearing; and as I peered eagerly, not through mistand haze, but straight into the clear, bright, many-tinted ether, therecame the first faint, tremulous blush of dawn, behind her rosy veil; andpresently the welcome face shines boldly out, glad, glorious, beautiful, and aureoled with flaming hues of orange, fringed with amber and gold, wherefrom flossy webs of color float wide through the sky, paling asthey go. A vision of comfort and gladness, that tropical March morning, genial as a July dawn in my own less ardent clime; but the memory of tworound, tender arms, and two little dimpled hands, that so lately hadmade themselves loving fetters round my neck, in the vain hope ofholding mamma fast, blinded my outlook; and as, with a nervous tremorand a rude jerk, we came to anchor there, so with a shock and a tremor Icame to my hard realities. 

The captain told us we must wait for the afternoon tide to carry us overthe bar. I lingered on deck, as long as I could dodge the fiery spearsthat flashed through our tattered awning, and bear the bustle and theboisterous jests of some circus people, our fellow-passengers, who cameby express invitation of the king to astonish and amuse the royalhousehold and the court. 

Scarcely less intelligent, and certainly more entertaining, than thesewere the dogs of our company, -? brutes of diverse temperament, experience, and behavior. There were the captain's two, Trumpet and Jip, who, by virtue of their reflected rank and authority, held places ofprivilege and pickings under the table, and were jealous and overbearingas became a captain's favorites, snubbing and bullying their moreaccomplished and versatile guests, the circus dogs, with skipper-likegrowls and snarls and snaps. And there was our own true Bessy, --aNewfoundland, great and good, --discreet, reposeful, dignified, fastidious, not to be cajoled into confidences and familiarities withstrange dogs, whether official or professional. Very human was hergentle countenance, and very loyal, I doubt not, her sense ofresponsibility, as she followed anxiously my boy and me, interpretingwith her heart the thoughts she read in our faces, and responding withher sympathetic eyes. 

In the afternoon, when we dined on deck, the land was plainly visible;and now, as with a favoring tide we glided toward the beautiful Meinam("Mother of Waters"), the air grew brighter, and the picture lived andmoved; trees _grew_ on the banks, more and more verdure, monkeys swungfrom bough to bough, birds flashed and piped among the thickets. 

Though the reddish-brown water over the "banks" is very shallow at lowtide, craft of moderate burden, with the aid of a pilot, cast anchorcommonly in the very heart of the capital, in from ten to twelve fathomsof water. 

The world has few rivers so deep, commodious, and safe as the Meinam;and when we arrived the authorities were contemplating the erection ofbeacons on the bar, as well as a lighthouse for the benefit of vesselsentering the port of Bangkok. The stream is rich in fish of excellentquality and flavor, such as is found in most of the great rivers ofAsia; and is especially noted for its _platoo_, a kind of sardine, soabundant and cheap that it forms a common seasoning to the laborer'sbowl of rice. The Siamese are expert in modes of drying and salting fishof all kinds, and large quantities are exported annually to Java, Sumatra, Malacca, and China. 

In half an hour from the time when the twin banks of the river, in theirraiment of bright green, seemed to open their beautiful arms to receiveus, we came to anchor opposite the mean, shabby, irregular town ofPaknam, or Sumuttra P'hra-kan ("Ocean Affairs"). Here the captain wentashore to report himself to the Governor, and the officials of thecustom-house, and the mail-boat came out to us. My boy became impatientfor _couay_ (cake); Moonshee, my Persian teacher, and Beebe, my gayHindostanee nurse, expressed their disappointment and disgust, Moonsheebeing absurdly dramatic in his wrath, as, fairly shaking his fist at thetown, he demanded, "What is this?"

Near this place are two islands. The one on the right is fortified, yetwithal so green and pretty, and seemingly so innocent of bellicosedesigns, that one may fancy Nature has taken peculiar pains to heal andhide the disfigurements grim Art has made in her beauty. On the other, which at first I took for a floating shrine of white marble, is perhapsthe most unique and graceful object of architecture in Siam; shininglike a jewel on the broad bosom of the river, a temple all of purestwhite, its lofty spire, fantastic and gilded, flashing back the glory ofthe sun, and duplicated in shifting, quivering shadows in the limpidwaters below. Add to these the fitful ripple of the coquettish breeze, the burnished blazonry of the surrounding vegetation, the budding charmsof spring joined to the sensuous opulence of autumn, and you have ascene of lovely glamour it were but vain impertinence to describe. Earthseemed to have gathered for her adorning here elements moreintellectual, poetic, and inspiring than she commonly displays to paganeyes. 

These islands at the gateway of the river are, like the bank in thegulf, but accumulations of the sand borne down before the torrent, that, suddenly swollen by the rains, rushes annually to the sea. The one onwhich the temple stands is partly artificial, having been raised fromthe bed of the Meinam by the king P'hra Chow Phra-sat-thong, as a workof "merit. " Visiting this island some years later, I found that thistemple, like all other pyramidal structures in this part of the world, consists of solid masonry of brick and mortar. The bricks made here areremarkable, being fully eight inches long and nearly four broad, and offine grain, --altogether not unlike the "tavellae" brick of the Egyptiansand ancient Romans. There are cornices on all sides, with steps toascend to the top, where a long inscription proclaims the name, rank, and virtues of the founder, with dates of the commencement of the islandand the shrine. The whole of the space, extending to the low stonebreakwater that surrounds the island, is paved with the same kind ofbrick, and encloses, in addition to the P'hra-Cha-dei ("The Lord'sDelight"), a smaller temple with a brass image of the sitting Buddha. Italso affords accommodation to the numerous retinue of princes, nobles, retainers, and pages who attend the king in his annual visits to thetemple, to worship, and make votive offerings and donations to thepriests. A charming spot, yet not one to be contemplated with unalloyedpleasure; for here also are the wretched people, who pass up and down inboats, averting their eyes, pressing their hard, labor-grimed handsagainst their sweating foreheads, and lowly louting in blind awe tothese whited bricks. Even the naked children hush and crouch, and laytheir little foreheads against the bottom of the boat. 

His Majesty Somdetch P'hra Paramendr Maha Mongkut, the late SupremeKing, contributed interesting _souvenirs_ to the enlargement andadornment of this temple. 

The town, which the twin islands redeem from the ignominy it otherwisedeserves, lies on the east bank of the river, and by its long lines oflow ramparts that face the water seems to have been at one timesubstantially fortified; but the works are now dilapidated andneglected. They were constructed in the first instance, I am told, withfatal ingenuity; in the event of an attack the garrison would find themas dangerous to abandon as to defend. Paknam is indebted for itsimportance rather to its natural position, and its possibilities ofimprovement under the abler hands into which it is gradually falling, than to any advantage or promise in itself; for a more disgusting, repulsive place is scarcely to be found on Asian ground. 

The houses are built partly of mud, partly of wood, and, as in those ofMalacca, only the upper story is habitable, the ground floor being theabode of pigs, dogs, fowls, and noisome reptiles. The "Government House"was originally of stone, but all the more recent additions have beenshabbily constructed of rough timber and mud. This is one of the fewhouses in Paknam which one may enter without mounting a ladder or aclumsy staircase, and which have rooms in the lower as well as in theupper story. 

The Custom-House is an open _sala_, or shed, where interpreters, inspectors, and tidewaiters lounge away the day on cool mats, chewingareca, betel, and tobacco, and extorting moneys, goods, or provisionsfrom the unhappy proprietors of native trading craft, large or small;but Europeans are protected from their rascally and insolent exactionsby the intelligence and energy of their respective consuls. 

The hotel is a whitewashed brick building, originally designed toaccommodate foreign ambassadors and other official personages visitingthe Court of Siam. The king's summer-house, fronting the islands, is thelargest edifice to be seen, but it has neither dignity nor beauty. Anumber of inferior temples and monasteries occupy the background, andare crowded with a rabble of priests, in yellow robes and with shavenpates; packs of mangy pariah-dogs attend them. These monasteries consistof many small rooms or cells, containing merely a mat and wooden pillowfor each occupant. The refuse of the food, which the priests beg duringthe day, is cast to the dogs at night; and what _they_ refuse is left toputrefy. Unimaginable are the stenches the sun of Siam engenders in suchconditions. 

A village so happily situated might, under better management, become athriving and pleasing port; but neglect, cupidity, and misrule haveshockingly deformed and degraded it. Nevertheless, by its picturesquesite and surroundings of beauty, it retains its hold upon the regretfuladmiration of many Europeans and Americans, who in ill health have foundstrength and cheer in its sea-breezes. 

We heartily enjoyed the delightful freshness of the evening air as weglided up the Meinam, though the river view at this point is somewhatmarred by the wooden piers and quays that line it on either side, andthe floating houses, representing elongated A's. From the deck, at aconvenient height above the level of the river and the narrow serpentinecanals and creeks, we looked down upon conical roofs thatched withattaps, and diversified by the pyramids and spires and fantastic turretsof the more important buildings. The valley of the Meinam, not over sixhundred miles in length, is as a long deep dent or fissure in thealluvial soil. At its southern extremity we have the climate andvegetation of the tropics, while its northern end, on the brow of theYunan, is a region of perpetual snow. The surrounding country isremarkable for the bountiful productiveness of its unctuous loam. Thescenery, though not wild nor grand, is very picturesque and charming inthe peculiar golden haze of its atmosphere. I surveyed with more andmore admiration each new scene of blended luxuriance andbeauty, --plantations spreading on either hand as far as the eye couldreach, and level fields of living green, billowy with crops of rice andmaize, and sugar-cane and coffee, and cotton and tobacco; and the wideirregular river, a kaleidoscope of evanescent form and color, whereland, water, and sky joined or parted in a thousand charming surprisesof shapes and shadows. 

The sun was already sinking in the west, when we caught sight of a tallroof of familiar European fashion; and presently a lowly white chapelwith green windows, freshly painted, peeped out beside two pleasantdwellings. Chapel and homes belong to the American Presbyterian Mission. A forest of graceful boughs filled the background; the last faint raysof the departing sun fell on the Mission pathway, and the gentle swayingof the tall trees over the chapel imparted a promise of safety andpeace, as the glamour of the approaching night and the gloom and mysteryof the pagan land into which we were penetrating filled me with anindefinable dread. I almost trembled, as the unfriendly clouds drove outthe lingering tints of day. Here were the strange floating city, withits stranger people on all the open porches, quays, and jetties; theinnumerable rafts and boats, canoes and gondolas, junks, and ships; thepall of black smoke from the steamer, the burly roar of the engine, andthe murmur and the jar; the bewildering cries of men, women, andchildren, the shouting of the Chinamen, and the barking of thedogs, --yet no one seemed troubled but me. I knew it was wisest to hidemy fears. It was the old story. How many of our sisters, how many of ourdaughters, how many of our hearts' darlings, are thus, without friend orguide or guard or asylum, turning into untried paths with untold storiesof trouble and pain!

We dropped anchor in deep water near an island. In a moment the riverwas alive with nondescript craft, worked by amphibious creatures, halfnaked, swarthy, and grim, who rent the air with shrill, wild jargon asthey scrambled toward us. In the distance were several hulks of Siamesemen-of-war, seemingly as old as the flood; and on the right towered, tier over tier, the broad roofs of the grand Royal Palace ofBangkok, --my future "home" and the scene of my future labors. 

The circus people are preparing to land; and the dogs, running to andfro with anxious glances, have an air of leave-taking also. Now theChina coolies, with pigtails braided and coiled round their low, receding brows, begin their uncouth bustle, and into the small hours ofthe morning enliven the time of waiting with frantic shouts andgestures. 

Before long a showy gondola, fashioned like a dragon, with flashingtorches and many paddles, approached; and a Siamese official mounted theside, swaying himself with an absolute air. The red _langoutee_, orskirt, loosely folded about his person, did not reach his ankles; and tocover his audacious chest and shoulders he had only his own brownpolished skin. He was followed by a dozen attendants, who, the momentthey stepped from the gangway, sprawled on the deck like huge toads, doubling their arms and legs under them, and pressing their nosesagainst the boards, as if intent on making themselves small by degreesand hideously less. Every Asiatic on deck, coolies and all, prostrateshimself, except my two servants, who are bewildered. Moonshee covertlymumbles his five prayers, ejaculating between, _Mash-Allah! A Tala-yeakia hai?_ [Footnote: "Great God! what is this?"] and Beebe shrinks, anddraws her veil of spotted muslin jealously over her charms. 

The captain stepped forward and introduced us. "His Excellency Chow PhyaSri Sury Wongse, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Siam!"

Half naked as he was, and without an emblem to denote his rank, therewas yet something remarkable about this native chief, by virtue of whichhe compelled our respect from the first glance, --a sensibly magneticquality of tone or look. With an air of command oddly at variance withhis almost indecent attire, of which he seemed superbly unconscious, hebeckoned to a young attendant, who crawled to him as a dog crawls to anangry master. This was an interpreter, who at a word from his lord beganto question me in English. 

"Are you the lady who is to teach in the royal family?"

On my replying in the affirmative, he asked, "Have you friends inBangkok?"

Finding I had none, he was silent for a minute or two; then demanded:"What will you do? Where will you sleep to-night?"

"Indeed I cannot tell, " I said. "I am a stranger here. But I understoodfrom his Majesty's letter that a residence would be provided for us onour arrival; and he has been duly informed that we were to arrive atthis time. "

"His Majesty cannot remember everything, " said his Excellency; theinterpreter added, "You can go where you like. " And away went master andslaves. I was dumfoundered, without even voice to inquire if there was ahotel in the city; and my servants were scornfully mute. My kind friendthe captain was sorely puzzled. He would have sheltered us if he could;but a cloud of coal-dust and the stamping and screaming of a hundred andfifty Chinamen made hospitality impracticable; so I made a little bedfor my child on deck, and prepared to pass the night with him under acanopy of stars. 

The situation was as Oriental as the scene, --heartless arbitraryinsolence on the part of my employers; homelessness, forlornness, helplessness, mortification, indignation, on mine. Fears and misgivingscrowded and stunned me. My tears fell thick and fast, and, weary anddespairing, I closed my eyes, and tried to shut out heaven and earth;but the reflection would return to mock and goad me, that by my own act, and against the advice of my friends, I had placed myself in thisposition. 

The good captain of the Chow Phya, much troubled by the conduct of theminister, paced the deck (which usually, on these occasions, he left tothe supercargo) for more than an hour. Presently a boat approached, andhe hailed it. In a moment it was at the gangway, and with robust, heartygreetings on both sides, Captain B----, a cheery Englishman, with around, ruddy, rousing face, sprang on board; in a few words ourpredicament was explained to him, and at once he invited us to share hishouse, for the night at least, assuring us of a cordial welcome from hiswife. In the beautiful gondola of our "friend in need" we were pulled byfour men, standing to their oars, through a dream-like scene, peculiarto this Venice of the East. Larger boats, in an endless variety of formand adornment, with prows high, tapering, and elaborately carved, andpretty little gondolas and canoes, passed us continually on the rightand left; yet amid so many signs of life, motion, traffic, bustle, thesweet sound of the rippling waters alone fell on the ear. No rumbling ofwheels, nor clatter of hoofs, nor clangor of bells, nor roar and screamof engines to shock the soothing fairy-like illusion. The double charmof stillness and starlight was perfect. 

"By the by, " broke in my cheery new friend, "you'll have to go with meto the play, ma'm; because my wife is there with the boys, and thehouse-key is in her pocket. "

"To the play!"

"O, don't be alarmed, ma'm! It's not a regular theatre; only acatchpenny show, got up by a Frenchman, who came from Singapore afortnight since. And having so little amusement here, we are gratefulfor anything that may help to break the monotony. The temporaryplayhouse is within the palace grounds of his Royal Highness Prince KromLhuang Wongse; and I hope to have an opportunity to introduce you to thePrince, who I believe is to be present with his family. "

The intelligence was not gratifying, a Siamese prince had too latelydisturbed my moral equilibrium; but I held my peace and awaited theresult with resignation. A few strokes of the oars, seconded by theswift though silent current, brought us to a wooden pier surmounted bytwo glaring lanterns. Captain B---- handed us out. My child, startledfrom a deep sleep, was refractory, and would not trust himself out of myfond keeping. When finally I had struggled with him in my arms to thelanding, I saw in the shadow a form coiled on a piece of stripedmatting. Was it a bear? No, a prince! For the clumsy mass of reddish-brown flesh unrolled and uplifted itself, and held out a human arm, witha fat hand at the end of it, when Captain B---- presented me to "hisRoyal Highness. " Near by was his Excellency the Prime Minister, in theidentical costume that had disgraced our unpleasant interview on theChow Phya; he was smoking a European pipe, and plainly enjoying ourterrors. My stalwart friend contrived to squeeze us, and even himself, first through a bamboo door, and then through a crowd of hot people, toseats fronting a sort of altar, consecrated to the arts of jugglery. Anumber of Chinamen of respectable appearance occupied the more distantplaces, while those immediately behind us were filled by the ladies andgentlemen of the foreign community. On a raised dais hung with kincob[Footnote: Silk, embroidered with, gold flowers. ] curtains, the ladiesof the Prince's harem reclined; while their children, shining in silkand ornaments of gold, laughed, prattled, and gesticulated, until thejuggler appeared, when they were stunned with sudden wonder. Under theeaves on all sides human heads were packed, on every head its cherishedtuft of hair, like a stiff black brush inverted, in every mouth itsdelicious cud of areca-nut and betel, which the human cattle ruminatedwith industrious content. The juggler, a keen little Frenchman, pliedhis arts nimbly, and what with his ventriloquial doll, his empty bagfull of eggs, his stones that were candies, and his candies that werestones, and his stuffed birds that sang, astonished and delighted hisunsophisticated patrons, whose applauding murmurs were diversified byfamiliarly silly shrieks--the true Siamese Did-you-ever!--from behindthe kincob curtains. 

But I was weary and disheartened, and welcomed with a sigh of relief theclosing of the show. As we passed out with our guide, the glare of manytorches falling on the dark silent river made the swarthy forms of theboatmen weird and Charon-like. Mrs. B---- welcomed us with a pleasantsmile to her little heaven of home across the river, and by thesimplicity and gentleness of her manners dispelled in a measure myfeeling of forlornness. When at last I found myself alone, I would havesought the sleep I so much needed, but the strange scenes of the daychased each other in agitating confusion through my brain. Then Iquitted the side of my sleeping boy, triumphant in his dreamlessinnocence, and sat defeated by the window, to crave counsel and helpfrom the ever-present Friend; and as I waited I sank into a tumultuousslumber, from which at last I started to find the long-tarrying dawnclimbing over a low wall and creeping through a half-open shutter. 

II. A SIAMESE PREMIER AT HOME. 

I started up, arranged my dress, and smoothed my hair; though no waternor any after-touches could remove the shadow that night of gloom andloneliness had left upon my face. But my boy awoke with eager, questioning eyes, his smile bright and his hair lustrous. As we knelttogether by the window at the feet of "Our Father, " I could not but askin the darkness of my trouble, did it need so bitter a baptism as oursto purify so young a soul?

In an outer room we met Mrs. B---- _en déshabillé_, and scarcely sopretty as at our first meeting, but for her smile, remarkable for itssubtile, evanescent sweetness. At breakfast our host joined us, and, after laughing at our late predicament and fright, assured me of thatwhich I have since experienced, --the genuine goodness of the Prince KromLhuang Wongse. Every foreign resident of Bangkok, who at any time hashad friendly acquaintance or business with him, would, I doubt not, joinme in expressions of admiration and regard for one who has maintainedthrough circumstances so trying and under a system so oppressive anexemplary reputation for liberality, integrity, justice, and humanity. 

Soon after breakfast the Prime Minister's boat, with the slaveinterpreter who had questioned me on the steamer, arrived to take us tohis Excellency's palace. 

[Illustration: THE PRIME MINISTER. ]

In about a quarter of an hour we found ourselves in front of a lowgateway, which opened on a wide courtyard, or "compound, " paved withrough-hewn slabs of stone. A brace of Chinese mandarins of ferociousaspect, cut in stone and mounted on stone horses, guarded the entrance. Farther on, a pair of men-at-arms in bass-relief challenged us; and nearthese were posted two living sentries, in European costume, but withoutshoes. On the left was a pavilion for theatrical entertainments, oneentire wall being covered with scenic pictures. On the right of thisstood the palace of the Prime Minister, displaying a semicircular_façade_; in the background a range of buildings of considerable extent, comprising the lodgings of his numerous wives. Attached to the largestof these houses was a charming garden of flowers, in the midst of whicha refreshing fountain played. His Excellency's residence abounded withinin carvings and gildings, elegant in design and color, that blended andharmonized in pleasing effects with the luxurious draperies that hung inrich folds from the windows. 

We moved softly, as the interpreter led us through a suite of spacioussaloons, disposed in ascending tiers, and all carpeted, candelabraed, and appointed in the most costly European fashion. A superb vase ofsilver, embossed and burnished, stood on a table inlaid withmother-of-pearl and chased with silver. Flowers of great variety andbeauty filled the rooms with a delicious though slightly oppressivefragrance. On every side my eyes were delighted with rare vases, jewelled cups and boxes, burnished chalices, dainty statuettes, --_objets de virtu_, Oriental and European, antique and modern, blendingthe old barbaric splendors with the graces of the younger arts. 

As we waited, fascinated and bewildered, the Prime Minister suddenlystood before us, --the semi-nude barbarian of last night. I lost mypresence of mind, and in my embarrassment would have left the room. Buthe held out his hand, saying, "Good morning, _sir_! Take a seat, _sir_!"which I did somewhat shyly, but not without a smile for his comical"sir. " I spied a number of young girls peeping at us from behindcurtains, while the male attendants, among whom were his youngerbrothers, nephews, and cousins, crouched in the antechamber on allfours. His Excellency, with an expression of pleased curiosity, and thatsame grand unconsciousness of his alarming poverty of costume, approached us nearly, and, with a kindly smile patting Boy on the head, asked him his name. But the child cried aloud, "Mamma, come home!Please, mamma, come home!" and I found it not easy to quiet him. 

Presently, mustering courage for myself also, I ventured to express mywish for a quiet house or apartments, where I might be free fromintrusion, and at perfect liberty before and after school-hours. 

When this reasonable request was interpreted to him--seemingly in a fewmonosyllables--he stood looking at me, smiling, as if surprised andamused that I should have notions on the subject of liberty. Quicklythis look became inquisitive and significant, so that I began to fancyhe had doubts as to the use I might make of my stipulated freedom, andwas puzzled to conjecture why a woman should wish to be free at all. Some such thought must have passed through his mind, for he saidabruptly, "You not married!"

I bowed. 

"Then where will you go in the evening?"

"Not anywhere, your Excellency. I simply desire to secure for myself andmy child some hours of privacy and rest, when my duties do not requiremy presence elsewhere. "

"How many years your husband has been dead?" he asked. 

I replied that his Excellency had no right to pry into my domesticconcerns. His business was with me as a governess only; on any othersubject I declined conversing. I enjoyed the expression of blankamazement with which he regarded me on receiving this somewhat defiantreply. "_Tam chai!_" ("Please yourself!") he said, and proceeded to paceto and fro, but without turning his eyes from my face, or ceasing tosmile. Then he said something to his attendants, five or six of whom, raising themselves on their knees, with their eyes fixed upon thecarpet, crawled backward till they reached the steps, bobbed their headsand shoulders, started spasmodically to their feet, and fled from theapartment. My boy, who had been awed and terrified, began to cry, and Itoo was startled. Again he uttered the harsh gutturals, and instantly, as with an electric shock, another half-dozen of the prostrate slavessprang up and ran. Then he resumed his mysterious promenade, stillcarefully keeping an eye upon us, and smiling by way of conversation. Itwas long before I could imagine what we were to do. Boy, fairlytortured, cried "Come home, mamma! why don't you come home? I don't likethat man. " His Excellency halted, and sinking his voice ominously, said, "You no can go!" Boy clutched my dress, and hid his face and smotheredhis sobs in my lap; and yet, attracted, fascinated, the poor littlefellow from time to time looked up, only to shudder, tremble, and hidehis face again. For his sake I was glad when the interpreter returned onall fours. Pushing one elbow straight out before the other, in themanner of these people, he approached his master with such a salutationas might be offered to deity; and with a few more unintelligibleutterances, his Excellency bowed to us, and disappeared behind a mirror. All the curious, peering eyes that had been directed upon us from everynook and corner where a curtain hung, instantly vanished; and at thesame time sweet, wild music, like the tinkling of silver bells in thedistance, fell upon our ears. 

To my astonishment the interpreter stood boldly upright, and began tocontemplate his irresistible face and figure in a glass, and arrangewith cool coxcombry his darling tuft of hair; which done, he approachedus with a mild swagger, and proceeded to address me with a freedom whichI found it expedient to snub. I told him that, although I did notrequire any human being to go down on his face and hands before me, Ishould nevertheless tolerate no familiarity or disrespect from any one. The fellow understood me well enough, but did not permit me to recoverimmediately from my surprise at the sudden change in his bearing andtone. As he led us to the two elegant rooms reserved for us in the westend of the palace, he informed us that he was the Premier'shalf-brother, and hinted that I would be wise to conciliate him if Iwished to have my own way. In the act of entering one of the rooms, Iturned upon him angrily, and bade him be off. The next moment thishalf-brother of a Siamese magnate was kneeling in abject supplication inthe half-open doorway, imploring me not to report him to his Excellency, and promising never to offend again. Here was a miracle of repentance Ihad not looked for; but the miracle was sham. Rage, cunning, insolence, servility, and hypocrisy were vilely mixed in the minion. 

Our chambers opened on a quiet piazza, shaded by fruit-trees in blossom, and overlooking a small artificial lake stocked with pretty, sportivefish. 

To be free to make a stunning din is a Siamese woman's idea of perfectenjoyment. Hardly were we installed in our apartments when, with apell-mell rush and screams of laughter, the ladies of his Excellency'sprivate Utah reconnoitred us in force. Crowding in through the half-opendoor, they scrambled for me with eager curiosity, all trying at once toembrace me boisterously, and promiscuously chattering in shrillSiamese, --a bedlam of parrots; while I endeavored to make myselfimpartially agreeable in the language of signs and glances. Nearly allwere young; and in symmetry of form, delicacy of feature, and fairnessof complexion, decidedly superior to the Malay women I had beenaccustomed to. Most of them might have been positively attractive, butfor their ingeniously ugly mode of clipping the hair and blackening theteeth. 

The youngest were mere children, hardly more than fourteen years old. All were arrayed in rich materials, though the fashion did not differfrom that of their slaves, numbers of whom were prostrate in the roomsand passages. My apartments were ablaze with their crimson, blue, orange, and purple, their ornaments of gold, their rings and brilliants, and their jewelled boxes. Two or three of the younger girls satisfied myWestern ideas of beauty, with their clear, mellow, olive complexions, and their almond-shaped eyes, so dark yet glowing. Those among them whowere really old were simply hideous and repulsive. One wretched croneshuffled through the noisy throng with an air of authority, and pointingto Boy lying in my lap, cried, "_Moolay, moolay!_" "Beautiful, beautiful!" The familiar Malay word fell pleasantly on my ear, and I wasdelighted to find some one through whom I might possibly control thedisorderly bevy around me. I addressed her in Malay. Instantly myvisitors were silent, and waiting in attitudes of eager attention. 

She told me she was one of the many custodians of the harem. She was anative of Quedah; and "some sixty years ago, " she and her sister, together with other young Malay girls, were captured while working inthe fields by a party of Siamese adventurers. They were brought to Siamand sold as slaves. At first she mourned miserably for her home andparents. But while she was yet young and attractive she became afavorite of the late Somdetch Ong Yai, father of her present lord, andbore him two sons, just as "moolay, moolay" as my own darling. But theywere dead. (Here, with the end of her soiled silk scarf she furtivelywiped a tear from her face, no longer ugly. ) And her gracious lord wasdead also; it was he who gave her this beautiful gold betel-box. 

"But how is it that you are still a slave?" I asked. 

"I am old and ugly and childless: and therefore, to be trusted by mydead lord's son, the beneficent prince, upon whose head beblessings, "--clasping her withered hands, and turning toward that partof the palace where, no doubt, he was enjoying a "beneficent" nap. 

"And now it is my privilege to watch and guard these favored ones, thatthey see no man but their lord. "

The repulsive uncomeliness of this woman had been wrought by oppressionout of that which must have been beautiful once; for the spirit ofbeauty came back to her for a moment, with the passing memories thatbrought her long-lost treasures with them. In the brutal tragedy of aslave's experience, --a female slave in the harem of an Asiandespot, --the native angel in her had been bruised, mutilated, defaced, deformed, but not quite obliterated. 

Her story ended, the younger women, to whom her language had beenstrange, could no longer suppress their merriment, nor preserve thedecorum due to her age and authority. Again they swarmed about me likebees, plying me pertinaciously with questions, as to my age, husband, children, country, customs, possessions; and presently crowned theinquisitorial performance by asking, in all seriousness, if I should notlike to be the wife of the prince, their lord, rather than of theterrible Chow-che-witt. [Footnote: Chow-che-witt, --"Prince oflife, "--the supreme king. ]

Here was a monstrous suggestion that struck me dumb. Without replying, Irose and shook them off, retiring with my boy into the inner chamber. But they pursued me without compunction, repeating the extraordinary"conundrum, " and dragging the Malay duenna along with them to interpretmy answer. The intrusion provoked me; but, considering their beggarlypoverty of true life and liberty, of hopes and joys, and loves andmemories, and holy fears and sorrows, with which a full and trueresponse might have twitted them, I was ashamed to be vexed. 

Seeing it impossible to rid myself of them, I promised to answer theirquestion, on condition that they would leave me for that day. Immediately all eyes were fixed upon me. 

"The prince, your lord, and the king, your Chow-che-witt, are pagans, " Isaid. "An English, that is a Christian, woman would rather be put to thetorture, chained and dungeoned for life, or suffer a death the slowestand most painful you Siamese know, than be the wife of either. "

They remained silent in astonishment, seemingly withheld from speakingby an instinctive sentiment of respect; until one, more volatile thanthe rest, cried, "What! not if he gave you all these jewelled rings andboxes, and these golden things?"

When the old woman, fearing to offend, whispered this test question inMalay to me, I laughed at the earnest eyes around, and said: "No, noteven then. I am only here to teach the royal family. I am not like you. You have nothing to do but to play and sing and dance for your master;but I have to work for my children; and one little one is now on thegreat ocean, and I am very sad. "

Shades of sympathy, more or less deep, flitted across the faces of myaudience, and for a moment they regarded me as something they couldneither convince nor comfort nor understand. Then softly repeating_Poot-thoo! Poot-thoo!_ "Dear God! dear God!" they quietly left me. Aminute more, and I heard them laughing and shouting in the halls. 

Relieved of my curious and exacting visitors, I lay down and fell into adeep sleep, from which I was suddenly awakened, in the afternoon, by thecries of Beebe, who rushed into the chamber, her head bare, her finemuslin veil trampled under her feet, and her face dramaticallyexpressive of terror and despair. Moonshee, her husband, ignorant alikeof the topography, the language, and the rules of the place, had bymistake intruded in the sacred penetralia where lounged the favorite ofthe harem, to the lively horror of that shrinking Nourmahal, and thegeneral wrath of the old women on guard, two of whom, the ugliest, fiercest, and most muscular, had dragged him, daft and trembling, tosummary inquisition. 

I followed Beebe headlong to an open sala, where we found thatrespectable servant of the Prophet, his hands tied, his turban off, woe-begone but resigned; faithful and philosophic Moslem that he was, heonly waited for his throat to be cut, since it was his _kismut_, hisperverse destiny, that had brought him to such a region of _Kafirs_, (infidels). Assuring him that there was nothing to fear, I despatched amessenger in search of the interpreter, while Beebe wept and protested. Presently an imposing personage stalked upon the scene, whose appearancematched his temper and his conduct. This was the judge. In vain I stroveto explain to him by signs and gestures that my servant had offendedunwittingly; he could not or would not understand me; but stormed awayat our poor old man, who bore his abuse with the calm indifference ofprofound ignorance, having never before been cursed in a foreignlanguage. 

The loafers of the yards and porches shook off their lazy naps andgathered round us; and among them came the interpreter, insolentsatisfaction beaming in his bad face. He coolly declined to interfere, protesting that it was not his business, and that the judge would beoffended if he offered to take part in the proceedings. Moonshee wascondemned to be stripped, and beaten with twenty strokes. Here was anend to my patience. Going straight up to the judge, I told him that if asingle lash was laid upon the old man's back (which was bared as Ispoke), he should suffer tenfold, for I would immediately lay the matterbefore the British Consul. Though I spoke in English, he caught thefamiliar words "British Consul, " and turning to the interpreter, demanded the explanation he should have listened to before he pronouncedsentence. But even as the interpreter was jabbering away to theunreasonable functionary, the assembly was agitated with what the Frenchterm a "sensation. " Judge, interpreter, and all fell upon their faces, doubling themselves up; and there stood the Premier, who took in thesituation at a glance, ordered Moonshee to be released, and permittedhim at my request to retire to the room allotted to Beebe. While theslaves were alert in the execution of these benevolent commands, theinterpreter slunk away on his face and elbows. But the old Moslem, assoon as his hands were free, picked up his turban, advanced, and laid itat the feet of his deliverer, with the graceful salutation of hispeople, "Peace be with thee, O Vizier of a wise king!" The mild andvenerable aspect of the Moonshee, and his snow-white beard falling lowupon his breast, must have inspired the Siamese statesman with abidingfeelings of respect and consideration, for he was ever afterwardindulgent to that Oriental Dominie Sampson of my little household. 

Dinner at the Premier's was composed and served with the sameincongruous blending of the barbaric and the refined, the Oriental andthe European, that characterized the furniture and adornments of hispalace. The saucy little pages who handled the dishes had cigarettesbetween their pouting lips, and from time to time hopped over the headsof Medusæ to expectorate. When I pointed reproachfully to the doublepeccadillo, they only laughed and scampered off. Another detachment ofthese lads brought in fruits, and, when they had set the baskets ordishes on the table, retired to sofas to lounge till we had dined. Butfinding I objected to such manners, they giggled gayly, performedseveral acrobatic feats on the carpet, and left us to wait on ourselves. 

Twilight on my pretty piazza. The fiery sun is setting, and long pencilsof color, from palettes of painted glass, touch with rose and gold thelow brow and downcast eyes and dainty bosom of a bust of Clyte. Beebeand Moonshee are preparing below in the open air their evening meal; andthe smoke of their pottage is borne slowly, heavily on the hot stillair, stirred only by the careless laughter of girls plunging andpaddling in the dimpled lake. The blended gloom and brightness withoutenter, and interweave themselves with the blended gloom and brightnesswithin, where lights and shadows lie half asleep and half awake, andlife breathes itself sluggishly away, or drifts on a slumberous streamtoward its ocean of death. 

III. A SKETCH OF SIAMESE HISTORY. 

Before inducting the reader to more particular acquaintance with hisExcellency Chow Phya Sri-Sury Wongse Samuha-P'hra Kralahome, I havethought that "an abstract and brief chronicle" of the times of thestrange people over whom he is not less than second in dignity andpower, would not be out of place. 

In the opinion of Pickering, the Siamese are undoubtedly Malay; but amajority of the intelligent Europeans who have lived long among themregard the native population as mainly Mongolian. They are generally ofmedium stature, the face broad, the forehead low, the eyes black, thecheekbones prominent, the chin retreating, the mouth large, the lipsthick, and the beard scanty. In common with most of the Asiatic races, they are apt to be indolent, improvident, greedy, intemperate, servile, cruel, vain, inquisitive, superstitious, and cowardly; but individualvariations from the more repulsive types are happily not rare. In publicthey are scrupulously polite and decorous according to their own notionsof good manners, respectful to the aged, affectionate to their kindred, and bountiful to their priests, of whom more than twenty thousand aresupported by voluntary contributions in Bangkok alone. Marriage iscontracted at sixteen for males, and fourteen for females, and polygamyis the common practice, without limit to the number of wives except suchas may be imposed by the humble estate or poverty of the husband; thewomen are generally treated with consideration. 

The bodies of the dead are burned; and the badges of mourning are whiterobes for those of the family or kinfolk who are younger than thedeceased, black for those who are older, and shaven heads for all whoare in inferior degrees connected with the dead, either as descendants, dependents, servants, or slaves. When a king dies the entire population, with the exception of very young children, must display this tonsorialuniform. 

Every ancient or famous city of Siam has a story of its founding, wovenfor it from tradition or fable; and each of these legends isdistinguished from the others by peculiar features. The religion, customs, arts, and literature of a people naturally impart to theirannals a spirit all their own. Especially is this the case in theOrient, where the most original and suggestive thought is half disguisedin the garb of metaphor, and where, in spite of vivid fancies and fierypassions, the people affect taciturnity or reticence, and delight in themetaphysical and the mystic. Hence the early annals of the Siamese, orSajamese, abound in fables of heroes, demigods, giants, and genii, andafford but few facts of practical value. Swayed by religious influences, they joined, in the spirit of the Hebrews, the name of God to the titlesof their rulers and princes, whom they almost deified after death. Butthe skeleton sketch of the history of Siam that follows is ofcomparatively modern date, and may be accepted as in the main authentic. 

In the year 712 of the Siamese, and 1350 of the Christian era, Phya-Othong founded, near the river Meinam, about sixty miles from theGulf of Siam, the city of Ayudia or Ayuthia ("the Abode of the Gods");at the same time he assumed the title of P'hra Rama Thibodi. Thiscapital and stronghold was continually exposed to storms of civil warand foreign invasion; and its turreted battlements and ponderous gates, with the wide deep moat spanned by drawbridges, where now is a forest ofgreat trees, were but the necessary fences behind which court andgarrison took shelter from the tempestuous barbarism in the midst ofwhich they lived. But before any portion of the city, except that facingthe river, could boast of a fortified enclosure, hostile enterpriseswere directed against it. Birman pirates, ascending the Meinam informidable flotillas, harassed it. Thrice they ravaged the countryaround; but on the last of these occasions great numbers of them werecaptured and put to cruel death by P'hra Rama Suen, successor toThibodi, who pursued the routed remnant to the very citadel ofChiengmai, then a tributary of the Birman Empire. Having made successfulwar upon this province, and impressed thousands of Laotian captives, henext turned his arms against Cambodia, took the capital by storm, slewevery male capable of bearing arms, and carried off enormous treasuresin plate gold, with which, on his return to his kingdom, he erected aremarkable pagoda, called to this day "The Mountain of Gold. "

P'hra Rama Suen was succeeded by his son Phya Ram, who reigned fourteenyears, and was assassinated by his uncle, Inthra Racha, the governor orfeudal lord of the city, who had snatched the reins of government andsent three of his sons to rule over the northern provinces. At the deathof Inthra Racha, in 780, two of these princes set out simultaneously, with the design of seizing and occupying the vacant throne. Mounted onelephants, they met in the dusk of evening on a bridge leading to theRoyal Palace; and each instantly divining his brother's purpose, theydismounted, and with their naked swords fell upon each other with suchfury that both were slain on the spot. The political and socialdisorganization that prevailed at this period was aggravated by thevulnerable condition of the monarchy, then recently transferred to a newline. Princes of the blood royal were for a long time engaged, brotheragainst brother, in fierce family feuds. Ayuthia suffered gravely fromthese unnatural contentions, but even more from the universal licenseand riot that reigned among the nobility and the proud proprietors ofthe soil. In the distracted and enfeebled state of all authority, royaland magisterial, the fields around remained for many years untilled; andthe only evidence the land presented of the abode of man was here andthere the bristling den of some feudal chief, a mere outlaw and dacoit, who rarely sallied from it but to carry torch and pillage wherever therewas aught to sack or burn. 

In 834 the undisputed sovereignty of the kingdom fell to another P'hraRama Thibodi, who reigned thirty years, and is famous in Siamese annalsfor the casting of a great image of Buddha, fifty cubits high, of goldvery moderately alloyed with copper. On an isolated hill, in a sacredenclosure, he erected for this image a stately temple of the purestwhite marble, approached by a graceful flight of steps. From the ruinsof its eastern front, which are still visible, it appears to have hadsix columns at either end and thirteen on each side; the easternpediment is adorned with sculptures, as are also the ten metopes. 

P'hra Rama Thibodi was succeeded by his son, P'hra Racha Kuman, whosereign was short, and chiefly memorable for a tremendous conflagrationthat devastated Ayuthia. It raged three days, and destroyed more than ahundred thousand houses. 

This monarch left at his death but one son, P'hra Yot-Fa, a lad oftwelve, whose mother, the Queen Sisudah-Chand, was appointed regentduring his minority. 

The devil of ambition has rarely possessed the heart of an Eastern queenmore absolutely than it did that of this infamous woman, --infamous evenin heathen annals. She is said to have graced her exalted station alikeby the beauty of her person and the charm of her manner; but in pursuitof the most arbitrary and audacious purposes she moved with therecklessness their nature demanded, and with equal impatience trampledon friend and rival. Blind superstition was the only weak point in hercharacter; but though her deference to the imaginary instructions orwarnings of the stars was slavish, it does not seem to have deterred herfrom any false or cruel course; indeed, a cunning astrologer of hercourt, by scaring her with visionary perils, contrived to obtain amonstrous ascendency over her mind, only to plunge her into crime moredeeply than by her own weight of wickedness she might have sunk. Sheordered the secret assassination of every member of the royal household(not excepting her mother and sisters), who, however mildly, opposed herwill. Besotted with fear, that fruitful mother of crime, she ended byputting to death the young king, her son, and publicly calling herparamour (the court astrologer, in whose thoughts, she believed, werehidden all the secrets of divination) to the throne of the P'hrabatts. 

This double crime filled the measure of her impunity. The nobilityrevolted. The strength of their faction lay, not within the palace, which was filled with the queen's parasites, but with the feudalproprietors of the soil, who, exasperated by the abominations of thecourt, only waited for a chance to crush it. One day, as the queen andher paramour were proceeding in a barge on their customary visit to herprivate pagoda and garden, --a paradise of all the floral wonders of thetropics, --a nobleman, who had followed them, hailed the royal gondola, as if for instructions, and, being permitted to approach, suddenlysprang upon the guilty pair, drew his sword, and dispatched them both, careless of their loud cries for help. Almost simultaneously with theperformance of this tragic exploit, the nobles offered the crown to anuncle of the murdered heir, who had fled from the court and taken refugein a monastery. Having accepted it and assumed the title ofMaha-Charapât Racha-therat, he invaded Pegu with a hundred thousandmen-at-arms, five thousand war elephants, and seven thousand horse. Withthis mighty host he marched against Henzawadi, the capital of Pegu, laying waste the country as he went with fire and sword. The king ofPegu came out to meet him, accompanied by his romantic and intrepidqueen, Maha Chandra, and supported by the few devoted followers that onso short a notice he could bring together. In consideration of thisgreat disparity of forces, the two kings agreed, in the chivalric spiritof the time, to decide the fortune of the day by single combat. Hardlyhad they encountered, when the elephant on which the king of Pegu wasmounted took fright and fled the field; but his queen promptly took hisplace, and fighting rashly, fell, speared through the right breast. Shewas borne off amid the clash of cymbals and flourish of trumpets thathailed the victor. 

Maha-Charapât Racha-therat was a great prince. His wisdom, valor, andheroic exploits supplied the native bards with inspiring themes. By hismagnanimity he extinguished the envy of the neighboring princes andtransformed rivals into friends. Jealous rulers became his willingvassals, not from fear of his power, but in admiration for his virtues. Malacca, Tenasserim, Ligor, Thavai, Martaban, Maulmain, Songkhla, Chantaboon, Phitsanulok, Look-Kho-Thai, Phi-chi, Savan Khalok, Phechit, Cambodia, and Nakhon Savan were all dependencies of Siam under hisreign. 

In the year 1568 of the Christian era the Siamese territory was invadedand laid under tribute by a Birman king named Mandanahgri, who must havebeen a warrior of Napoleonic genius, for he extended his dominion as faras the confines of China. It is remarkable that the flower of his armywas composed of several thousand Portuguese, tried troops in gooddiscipline, commanded by the noted Don Diego Suanes. These, like thefamous Scotch Legion of Gustavus Adolphus in the Thirty Years' War, weremercenaries, and doubtless contributed importantly to the success of theBirman arms. Theirs is by no means the only case of Portuguese soldiersserving for hire in the armies of the East. Their commander, Suanes, seems to have been a brave and accomplished officer, and to have beenintrusted with undivided control of the Birmese forces. 

Mandanahgri held the queen of Siam and her two sons as hostages for thepayment of the tribute he had levied; but the princes were permitted toreturn to Siam after a few years of captivity in Birmah, and in 1583their captor died. His successor struggled with an uncle for possessionof the throne, and the king of Siam, seizing the opportunity, declaredhimself independent; wherefore a more formidable army was shortly sentagainst him, under command of the eldest son of the king of Birmah. Butone of the young princes who had been led into captivity by Mandanahgrinow sat on the throne of Siam. In his youth he had been styled "theBlack Prince, " a title of distinction which seems to have fitted hischaracteristics not less appropriately than it did those of the EnglishEdward. Undismayed by the strength and fury of the enemy, he attackedand routed them in a pitched battle, killing their leader with his ownhands, invaded Pegu, and besieged its capital; but was finally compelledto retire with considerable loss. The Black Prince was succeeded by "theWhite King, " who reigned peacefully for many years. 

The next monarch especially worthy of notice is P'hra Narai, who sentambassadors to Goa, the most important of the Portuguesetrading-stations in the East Indies, chiefly to invite the Portuguese ofMalacca to establish themselves in Siam for mutual advantages of trade. The welcome emissaries were sumptuously entertained, and a Dominicanfriar accompanied them on their return, with costly presents for theking. This friar found P'hra Narai much more liberal in his ideas thanlater ambassadors, even to this day, have found any other ruler of Siam. He agreed not only to permit all Portuguese merchants to establishthemselves anywhere in his dominions, but to exempt their goods andwares from duty. The Dominican monks were likewise invited to buildchurches and preach Christianity in Siam. 

Soon after this extraordinary display of liberal statesmanship P'hraNarai narrowly escaped death by a strange conspiracy. Four or fivehundred Japanese adventurers were secretly introduced into the countryby an ambitious feudal proprietor, who had conceived the mad design ofdethroning the monarch and reigning in his stead; but the king, warnedof the planned attack upon the palace, seized the native conspirator andput him to death. The Japanese, on the contrary, were enrolled as a kindof praetorian guard, or janissaries; in this character, however, theirpride and power became so formidable that the king grew uneasy anddisbanded them. 

P'hra Narai, from all accounts, was a man to be respected and esteemed. The events and the _dramatis personae_ of his reign form a story soromantic, so exceptional even in Eastern annals, that, but for theundoubted authenticity of this chapter of Siamese history, it would beincredible. It was during his reign that the whimsical attempt was madeby Louis XIV. To conquer Siam and proselyte her king. An extraordinaryspectacle! One of the most licentious monarchs of France, who to thelast breathed an atmosphere poisoned with scepticism, and more thanBuddhism itself subversive of the true principles of Christianity, issuddenly inspired with an apparently devout longing to be the instrumentof converting to the true faith the princes of the East. To this end heemploys that wily, powerful, and indefatigable body of daring priests, the Jesuits, who were then in the very ardor of their missionaryschemes. 

Ostensibly for the purpose of propagating the Gospel, but with morereality aspiring to extend their subtile influence over all mankind, this society, with means the most slender and in the face of obstaclesthe most disheartening, have, with indomitable courage and supernaturalpatience, accomplished labors unparalleled in the achievements of mind. Now, in the wilds of Western America, taming and teaching races of whoseexistence the world of refinement had never heard; now climbing the icysteeps and tracking the wastes and wildernesses of Siberia, or with theevangel of John in one hand and the art of Luke in the other, bringinglife to the bodies and souls of perishing multitudes under a scorchingequatorial sun, --there is not a spot of earth in which Europeancivilization has taken root where traces of Jesuit forethought andcareful, patient husbandry may not be found. So in Siam, we discover amonarch of consummate acumen, more European than Asiatic in his ideas, sedulously cultivating the friendship of these foreign workers ofwonders; and finally we find a Greek adventurer officiating as primeminister to this same king, and conducting his affairs with that abilityand success which must have commanded intellectual admiration, even ifthey had not been inspired and promoted by motives of integrity towardthe monarch who had so implicitly confided in his wisdom and fidelity. 

Constantine Phaulkon was the son of respectable parents, natives of theisland of Cephalonia, where he was born in 1630. The geography, if notthe very name, of the kingdom whose affairs he was destined to directwas quite unknown to his compatriots of the Ionian Isles, --even when asa mariner, wrecked on the coast of Malabar, he became a fellow-passengerwith a party of Siamese officials, his companions in disaster, who werereturning to their country from an embassy. The facile Greek quicklylearned to talk with his new-found friends in their own tongue, and byhis accomplishments and adroitness made a place for himself in theiradmiration and influence, so that he was received with flatteringconsideration at the Court of P'hra Narai, and very soon invited to takeservice under government. By his sagacity, tact, and diligence in themanagement of all affairs intrusted to him, he rapidly rose in favorwith his patron, who finally elevated him to the highest post of honorin the state: he was made premier. 

The star of the Cephalonian waif and adventurer had now mounted to thezenith, and was safe to shine for many years with unabated brilliancy;to this day he is remembered by the expressive term _Vicha-yen_, "thecool wisdom. " The French priests, elated at his success, spared nopromises or arts to retain him secretly in their interest. Undercircumstances so extraordinary and auspicious, the plans of the Jesuitsfor the conversion of all Eastern Asia were put in execution. From theVatican bishops were appointed, and sent out to Cochin China, Cambodia, Siam, and Pegu, while the people of those several kingdoms were yetprofoundly ignorant of the amiable intentions of the Pope. FrancisPallu, M. De la Motte Lambert, and Ignatius Cotolendy were therespective exponents of this pious idea, under the imposing titles ofBishops of Heliopolis, Borytus, Byzantium, and Metellopolis, --allFrenchmen, for Louis XIV. Insisted that the glory of the enterpriseshould be ascribed exclusively to France and to himself. 

But all their efforts to convert the king were of no avail. The Jesuits, however, opened schools, and have ever since labored assiduously andwith success to introduce the ideas and the arts of Europe into thosecountries. 

After some years P'hra Narai sent an embassy to the Court of Louis, whowas so sensible of the flattery that he immediately reciprocated with anembassy of his own, with more priests, headed by the Chevalier DeChaumont and the Père Tachard. The French fleet of five ships castanchor in the Meinam on the 27th of September, 1687, and the Chevalierand his reverend colleague, attended by Jesuits, were promptly andgraciously received by the king, who, however, expressed his "fears"that the chief object of their mission might not prove so easy ofattainment as they had been led to believe. As for Phaulkon, he hadadroitly deceived the Jesuits from the first, and made all partiesinstruments to promote his own shrewd and secret plans. 

De Chaumont, disheartened by his failure, sailed back to France, wherehe arrived in 1688, in the height of the agitation attending the EnglishRevolution of that year. 

Phaulkon, finding that he could no longer conceal from the Jesuits theking's repugnance to their plans for his conversion, placed himselfunder their direction and control; for though he had not as yetconceived the idea of seizing upon the crown, it was plain that heaspired to honors higher than the premiership. Then rumors ofdisaffection among the nobles were diligently propagated by the Frenchpriests, who, although not sufficiently powerful to dethrone the king, were nevertheless dangerous inciters of rebellion among the commonpeople. 

Meanwhile the king of Johore, then a tributary of Siam, instigated bythe Dutch, who, from the first, had watched with jealousy themachinations of the French, sent envoys to P'hra Narai, to advise theextermination or expulsion of the French, and to proffer the aid of histroops; but the proposition was rejected with indignation. 

These events were immediately followed by another, known in Siamesehistory as the Revolt of the Macassars, which materially promoted theripening of the revolution of which the French had sown the seeds. Celebes, a large, irregular island east of Borneo, includes a districtknown as Macassar, the ruler of which had been arbitrarily dethroned bythe Dutch; and the sons of the injured monarch, taking refuge in Siam, secretly encouraged the growing enmity of the nobles against the French. 

Meanwhile Phaulkon, by his address, and skilful management of publicaffairs, continued to exercise paramount influence over the mind of theking. He persuaded P'hra Narai to send another embassy to France, whicharrived happily (the former having been shipwrecked off the Cape of GoodHope) at the Court of Louis XIV. In 1689. He also diligently and ablyadvanced the commercial strength of the country; merchants from allparts of the world were invited to settle in Siam, and factories ofevery nation were established along the banks of the Meinam. Both Ayudiaand Lophaburee became busy and flourishing. He was careful to keep thepeople employed, and applied himself with vigor to improving theagriculture of the country. Rice, sugar, corn, and palm-oil constitutingthe most fruitful and regular source of revenue, he wisely regulated thetraffic in those staples, and was studious to promote the security andhappiness of the great body of the population engaged or concerned intheir production. The laws he framed were so sound and stable, and atthe same time so wisely conformable to the interests alike of king andsubject, that to this day they constitute the fundamental law of theland. 

Phaulkon designed and built the palaces at Lophaburee, consisting of twolofty edifices, square, with pillars on all sides; each pillar was madeto represent a succession of shafts by the intervention of salientblocks, forming capitals to what they surmounted and pedestals to whatthey supported. The apartments within were gorgeously gilt andsumptuously furnished. There yet remains, in remarkable preservation, avermilion chamber looking toward the east; though, otherwise, a forestof stately trees and several broken arches alone mark the spot wheredwelt in regal splendor this foreign favorite of P'hra Narai. 

He also erected the famous castle on the west of the town, on a piece ofground, near the north bank of the river, which formerly belonged to aBuddhist monastery. 

Finally, to keep off the Birman invaders, he built a wall, surmountedalong its whole extent by a parapet, and fortified with towers atregular intervals of forty fathoms, as well as by four larger ones atits extremities on the banks of the river, below the two bridges. Itsgates appear to have been twelve or thirteen in number, and the extentof the southern portion is fixed at two thousand fathoms. Suburbanvillages still exist on both sides of the river, and, beyond these, thereligious buildings, which have been restored, but which now display thefantastic rather than the grand style which distinguished thearchitecture of this consummate Grecian, whom the people name withwonder, --all marvellous works being by them attributed to gods, genii, devils, or the "Vicha-yen. "

But the luxury in which the haughty statesman revelled, his toweringambition, and the wealth he lavished on his private abodes, joined tothe lofty, condescending air he assumed toward the nobles, soon provokedtheir jealous murmurings against him and his too partial master; andwhen, at last, the king, falling ill, repaired to the premier's palaceat Lophaburee, some of the more disaffected nobles, headed by a naturalson of P'hra Narai and the two princes of Macassar, forced their wayinto the palace to slay the monarch. But the brave old man, at a glancedivining their purpose, leaped from his couch and, seizing his sword, threw himself upon it, and died as his assassins entered. 

In the picturesque drama of Siamese history no figure appears so trulynoble and brilliant as this king, not merely renowned by the glory ofhis military exploits and the happy success of his more peacefulundertakings, but beloved for his affectionate concern for the welfareof his subjects, his liberality, his moderation, his modesty, hisindifference to the formal honors due to his royal state, and (what ismost rare in Asiatic character) his sincere aversion to flattery, hisshyness even toward deserved and genuine praise. 

Turning from the corpse of the king, the baffled regicides dashed at theluxurious apartment where Phaulkon slumbered, as was his custom of anafternoon, unattended save by his fair young daughter Constantia. Breaking in, they tore the sleeping father from the arms of his agonizedchild, who with piteous implorings offered her life for his, bound himwith cords, dragged him to the woods beyond his garden, and there, within sight of the lovely little Greek chapel he had erected for hisprivate devotions, first tortured him like fiends, and then, dispatchinghim, flung his body into a pit. His daughter, following them, clung fastto her father, and, though her heart bled and her brain grew numbbetween the gashes and the groans, she still cheered him with herpassionate endearments; and, holding before his eyes a cross of goldthat always hung on her bosom, inspired him to die like a brave man anda Christian. After that the lovely heroine was dragged into slavery andconcubinage by the infamous Chow Dua, one of the bloodiest of the gang. 

Even pagan chroniclers do not fail to render homage to so brave a man, of whom they tell that "he bore all with a fortitude and defiance thatastounded the monsters who slew him, and convinced them that he derivedhis supernatural courage and contempt of pain from the miraculousvirtues of his daughter's golden cross. " After the death of the ablepremier, the Birmese again overran the land, laying waste the fields, and besieging the city of Ayuthia for two years. Finding they could notreduce it by famine, they tried flames, and the burning is said to havelasted two whole months. One of the feudal lords of Siam, Phya Tâk, aChinese adventurer, who had amassed wealth, and held the office ofgovernor of the northern provinces under the late king, seeing theimpending ruin of the country, assembled his personal followers anddependants, and with about a thousand hardy and resolute warriorsretired to the mountain fastness of Naghon Najok, whence from time totime he swooped down to harass the encampments of the Birmese, who werealmost invariably worsted in the skirmishes he provoked. He then movedupon Bangplasoi, and the people of that place came out with gifts oftreasure and hailed him as their sovereign. Thence he sailed to Rajong, strengthened his small force with volunteers in great numbers, marchedagainst Chantaboon, whose governor had disputed his authority, andexecuted that indiscreet official; levied another large army; built andequipped a hundred vessels of war; and set sail--a part of his armypreceding him overland--for Kankhoa, on the confines of Cochin China, which place he brought to terms in less than three hours. Thence hepushed on to Cambodia, and arriving there on the Siamese Sabâto, orSabbath, he issued a solemn proclamation to his army, assuring them thathe would that evening worship in the temple of the famous emerald idol, P'hra Këau. Every man was ordered to arm as if for battle, but to wearthe sacred robe, --white for the laity, yellow for the clergy; and allthe priests who followed his fortunes were required to lead the way intothe grand temple through the southern portico, over which stood atriple-headed tower. Then the conqueror, having prepared himself byfasting and purification, clad in his sacred robes and armed to theteeth, followed and made his words good. Almost his first act was tosend his ships to the adjacent provinces for supplies of rice and grain, which he dispensed so bountifully to the famishing people that theygratefully accepted his rule. 

This king is described as an enthusiastic and indefatigable warrior, scorning palaces, and only happy in camp or at the head of his army. Hispeople found in him a true friend, he was ever kind and generous to thepoor, and to his soldiers he paid fivefold the rates of former reigns. But toward the nobles he was haughty, rude, exacting. It is supposedthat his prime minister, fearing to oppose him openly, corrupted hischief concubine, and with her assistance drugged his food; so that hewas rendered insane, and, imagining himself a god, insisted thatsacrifices and offerings should be made to him, and began to levy uponthe nobility for enormous sums, often putting them to the torture toextort treasure. Instigated by their infuriated lords, the people nowrebelled against their lately idolized master, and attacked him in hispalace, from, which he fled by a secret passage to an adjoiningmonastery, in the disguise of a priest. But the premier, to whom he waspresently betrayed, had him put to death, on the pretext that he mightcause still greater scandal and disaster, but in reality to establishhimself in undisputed possession of the throne, which he now usurpedunder the title of P'hra-Phuthi-Chow-Luang, and removed the palace fromthe west to the east bank of the Meinam. During his reign the Birmesemade several attempts to invade the country, but were invariablyrepulsed with loss. 

This brings us to the uneventful reign of Phen-den-Klang; and by hisdeath, in 1825, to the beginning of the story of his Majesty, MahaMongkut, the late supreme king, and my employer, with whom, in thesepages, we shall have much to do. 

IV. HIS EXCELLENCY'S HAREM AND HELPMEET. 

When the Senabawdee, or Royal Council, by elevating to the throne thepriest-prince Chowfa Mongkut, frustrated the machinations of the son ofhis predecessor, they by the same stroke crushed the secret hopes ofChow Phya Sri Sury Wongse, the present premier. It is whispered to thisday--for no native, prince or peasant, may venture to approach thesubject openly--that, on the day of coronation, his Excellency retiredto his private chambers, and there remained, shut up with his chagrinand grief, for three days. On the fourth, arrayed in his court robes andattended by a numerous retinue, he presented himself at the palace totake part in the ceremonies with which the coronation was celebrated. The astute young king, who in his priestly character had penetrated manystate secrets, advanced to greet him, and with the double purpose ofprocuring the adherence and testing the fidelity of this discontentedand wavering son of his stanch old champion, the Duke Somdetch Ong Yai, appointed him on the spot to the command of the army, under the title ofPhya P'hra Kralahome. 

This flattering distinction, though it did not immediately beguile himfrom his moodiness, for a time diverted his dangerous fancies intochannels of activity, and he found a safe expression for his annoyancein a useful restlessness. But after he had done more than any of hispredecessors to remodel and perfect the army, he relapsed into morbidmelancholy, from which he was once more aroused by the call of his royalmaster, who invited him to share the labors and the honors of governmentin the highest civil office, that of prime minister. He accepted, andhas ever since shown himself prolific in devices to augment the revenue, secure the co-operation of the nobility, and confirm his own power. Hisremarkable executive faculty, seconding the enlightened policy of theking, would doubtless have inaugurated a golden age for his country, butfor the aggressive meddling of French diplomacy in the quarrels betweenthe princes of Cochin China and Cambodia; by which exasperating measureSiam is in the way to lose one of her richest possessions, [Footnote:Cambodia. ] and may in time become, herself, the brightest and mostcostly jewel in the crown of France. 

Such was Chow Phya Sri Sury Wongse when I was first presented to him: anatural king among the dusky forms that surrounded him, the actual rulerof that semi-barbarous realm, and the prime contriver of its arbitrarypolicy. Black, but comely, robust, and vigorous, neck short and thick, nose large and nostrils wide, eyes inquisitive and penetrating, his wasthe massive brain proper to an intellect deliberate and systematic. Wellfound in the best idioms of his native tongue, he expressed strong, discriminative thoughts in words at once accurate and abundant. His onlyvanity was his English, with which he so interlarded his native speech, as often to impart the effect of levity to ideas that, in themselves, were grave, judicious, and impressive. 

Let me conduct the reader into one of the saloons of the palace, wherewe shall find this intellectual sensualist in the moral relaxation ofhis harem, with his latest pets and playthings about him. 

Peering into a twilight, studiously contrived, of dimly-lighted andsuggestive shadows, we discover in the centre of the hall a long line ofgirls with skins of olive, --creatures who in years and physicalproportions are yet but children, but by training developed into womenand accomplished actresses. There are some twenty of them, intransparent draperies with golden girdles, their arms and bosoms, whollynude, flashing, as they wave and heave, with barbaric ornaments of gold. The heads are modestly inclined, the hands are humbly folded, and theeyes droop timidly beneath long lashes. Their only garment, the lowerskirt, floating in light folds about their limbs, is of very costlymaterial bordered heavily with gold. On the ends of their fingers theywear long "nails" of gold, tapering sharply like the claws of a bird. The apartment is illuminated by means of candelabras, hung so high thatthe light falls in a soft hazy mist on the tender faces and pliant formsbelow. 

Another group of maidens, comely and merry, sit behind musicalinstruments, of so great variety as to recall the "cornet, flute, sackbut, harp, psaltery, and dulcimer" of Scripture. The "head wife" ofthe premier, earnestly engaged in creaming her lips, reclines apart on adais, attended by many waiting-women. 

From the folds of a great curtain a single flute opens the entertainmentwith low tender strains, and from the recesses twelve damsels appear, bearing gold and silver fans, with which, seated in order, they fan thecentral group. 

Now the dancers, a burst of joyous music being the signal, form in twolines, and simultaneously, with military precision, kneel, fold andraise their hands, and bow till their foreheads touch the carpet beforetheir lord. Then suddenly springing to their feet, they describe asuccession of rapid and intricate circles, tapping the carpet with theirtoes in time to the music. Next follows a miracle of art, such as may befound only among pupils of the highest physical training; a dance inwhich every motion is poetry, every attitude an expression of love, evenrest but the eloquence of passion overcome by its own fervor. The musicswelling into a rapturous tumult preludes the choral climax, wherein thedancers, raising their delicate feet, and curving their arms and fingersin seemingly impossible flexures, sway like withes of willow, andagitate all the muscles of the body like the fluttering of leaves in asoft breeze. Their eyes glow as with an inner light; the soft browncomplexion, the rosy lips half parted, the heaving bosom, and the wavingarms, as they float round and round in wild eddies of dance, impart tothem the aspect of fair young fiends. 

And there sits the Kralahome, like the idol of ebony before the demonhad entered it! while around him these elfin worshippers, with flushedcheeks and flashing eyes, tossing arms and panting bosoms, whirl intheir witching waltz. He is a man to be wondered at, --stony and grim, his huge hands resting on his knees in statuesque repose, as though hesupported on his well-poised head the whole weight of the Maha Mongkut[Footnote: "The Mighty Crown. "] itself, while at his feet these brownleaves of humanity lie quivering. 

Is it all _maya_, --delusion? I open wide my eyes, then close them, thenopen them again. There still lie the living puppets, not daring to lookup to the face of their silent god, where scorn and passion contend forplace. The dim lights, the shadows blending with them, the fine harmonyof colors, the wild harmony of sounds, the fantastic phantoms, theovercoming sentiment, all the poetry and the pity of the scene, --theformless longing, the undefined sense of wrong! Poor things, poorthings!

The prime minister of Siam enjoys no exemption from that mocking lawwhich condemns the hero strutting on the stage of the world to cut but asorry figure at home. Toward these helpless slaves of his nod hisdeportment was studiously ungracious and mean. No smile of pleasedsurprise or approbation ever brightened his gloomy countenance. True, the fire of his native ardor burns there still, but through no creviceof the outward man may one catch a glimpse of its light. Though he rageas a fiery furnace within, externally he is calm as a lake, too deep tobe troubled by the skipping, singing brooks that flow into it. Risingautomatically, he abruptly retired, bored. And those youthful, tenderforms, glowing and panting there, --in what glorious robes might nottheir proper loveliness have arrayed them, if only their hearts hadlooked upward in freedom, and not, like their trained eyes, downward inblind homage. 

Koon Ying Phan (literally, "The Lady in One Thousand") was the head wifeof the Premier. He married her, after repudiating the companion of hismore grateful years, the mother of his only child, a son--the legitimacyof whose birth he doubted, and so, for a grim jest, named the lad _MyChi_, "Not So. " He would have put the mother to death, but finding noreal grounds for his suspicion, let her off with a public "puttingaway. " The divorced woman, having nothing left but her disowned baby, carefully changed the _My Chi_ to _Ny Chi_ ("Not So" to "Master So"), --a cunning trick of pride, but a doubtful improvement. 

Koon Ying Phan had neither beauty nor grace; but her habits weredomestic, and her temper extremely mild. When I first knew her she wasperhaps forty years old, --stout, heavy, dark, --her only attraction thegentle expression of her eyes and mouth. Around her pretty residence, adjoining the Premier's palace, bloomed the most charming garden I sawin Siam, with shrubberies, fountains, and nooks, designed by a trueartist; though the work of the native florists is usually fantastic andgrotesque, with an excess of dwarfed trees in Chinese vases. There was, besides, a cool, shaded walk, leading to a more extensive garden, adorned with curious lattice-work, and abounding in shrubs of greatvariety and beauty. Koon Ying Phan had a lively love for flowers, whichshe styled the children of her heart; "for my lord is childless, " shewhispered. 

In her apartments the same subdued lights and mellow half-tintsprevailed that in her husband's saloons imparted a pensive sentiment tothe place. There were neither carpets nor mirrors; and the only articlesof furniture were some sofa-beds, low marble couches, tables, and a fewarm-chairs, but all of forms antique and delicate. The combined effectwas one of delicious coolness, retirement, and repose, even despite theglaring rays that strove to invade the sweet refuge through the silkenwindow-nets. 

This lady, to whom belonged the undivided supervision of the premier'shousehold, was kind to the younger women of her husband's harem, inwhose welfare she manifested a most amiable interest, --living among themhappily, as a mother among her daughters, sharing their confidences, andoften pleading their cause with her lord and theirs, over whom sheexercised a very cautious but positive influence. 

I learned gladly and with pride to admire and love this lady, to accepther as the type of a most precious truth. For to behold, even afar off, "silent upon a peak" of sympathy, the ocean of love and pathos, ofpassion and patience, on which the lives of these our pagan sistersdrift, is to be gratefully sensible of a loving, pitying, and sufficingPresence, even in the darkness of error, superstition, slavery, anddeath. Shortly after her marriage, Koon Ying Phan, moved partly bycompassion for the wrongs of her predecessor, partly by the "achingvoid" of her own life, adopted the disowned son of the premier, andcalled him, with reproachful significance, P'hra Nah Why, "the Lordendures. " And her strong friend, Nature, who had already knit together, by nerve and vein and bone and sinew, the father and the child, now cameto her aid, and united them by the finer but scarcely weaker ties ofhabit and companionship and home affections. 

[Illustration: THE TEMPLE OF THE SLEEPING IDOL. ]

V. THE TEMPLES OF THE SLEEPING AND THE EMERALD IDOLS. 

The day had come for my presentation to the supreme king. After muchpreliminary talk between the Kralahome and myself, through the medium ofthe interpreter, it had been arranged that my straightforward friend, Captain B----, should conduct us to the royal palace, and procure theinterview. Our cheerful escort arrived duly, and we proceeded up theriver, --my boy maintaining an ominous silence all the while, exceptonce, when he shyly confessed he was afraid to go. 

At the landing we found a large party of priests, some bathing, somewringing their yellow garments; graceful girls balancing on their headsvessels of water; others, less pleasing, carrying bundles of grass, orbaskets of fruit and nuts; noblemen in gilded sedans, borne on men'sshoulders, hurrying toward the palace; in the distance a troop ofhorsemen, with long glittering spears. 

Passing the covered gangway at the landing, we came upon a clean brickroad, bounded by two high walls, the one on the left enclosing the abodeof royalty, the other the temple Watt Poh, where reposes in giganticstate the wondrous Sleeping Idol. Imagine a reclining figure one hundredand fifty feet long and forty feet high, entirely overlaid with plategold; the soles of its monstrous feet covered with bass-reliefs inlaidwith mother-of-pearl and chased with gold; each separate designdistinctly representing one of the many transmigrations of Buddhawhereby he obtained Niphan. On the nails are graven his divineattributes, ten in number:

1. Arahang, --Immaculate, Pure, Chaste. 2. Samma Sam-Putho, --Cognizant of the laws of Nature, Infallible, Unchangeable, True. 3. Vicharanah Sampanoh, --Endowed with all Knowledge, all Science. 4. Lukha-tho, --Excellence, Perfection. 5. Lôk-havi-tho, --Cognizant of the mystery of Creation. 6. Annutharo, --Inconceivably Pure, without Sin. 7. Purisah tham-mah Sarathi, --Unconquerable, Invincible, before whom the angels bow. 8. Sassahdah, --Father of Beatitude, Teacher of the ways to bliss. 9. Poodh-tho, --Endowed with boundless Compassion, Pitiful, Tender, Loving, Merciful, Benevolent. 10. Pâk-havah, --Glorious, endowed with inconceivable Merit, Adorable. 

Leaving this temple, we approached a low circular fort near the palace, --a miniature model of a great citadel, with bastions, battlements, andtowers, showing confusedly over a crenellated wall. Entering by a curiouswooden gate, bossed with great flat-headed nails, we reached by a stonypathway the stables (or, more correctly, the palace) of the WhiteElephant, where the huge creature--indebted for its "whiteness" totradition rather than to nature--is housed royally. Passing these, wenext came to the famous Watt P'hra Këau, or temple of the Emerald Idol. 

An inner wall separates this temple from the military depot attached tothe palace; but it is connected by a secret passage with the mostprivate apartments of his Majesty's harem, which, enclosed on all sides, is accessible only to women. The temple itself is unquestionably one ofthe most remarkable and beautiful structures of its class in the Orient;the lofty octagonal pillars, the quaint Gothic doors and windows, thetapering and gilded roofs, are carved in an infinite variety of emblems, the lotos and the palm predominating. The adornment of the exterior isonly equalled in its profusion by the pictorial and hieroglyphicembellishment within. The ceiling is covered with mythological figuresand symbols. Most conspicuous among the latter are the luminous circles, resembling the mystic orb of the Hindoos, and representing the sevenconstellations known to the ancients; these revolve round a central sunin the form of a lotos, called by the Siamese _Dok Âthit_ (sun-flower), because it expands its leaves to the rising sun and contracts them as hesets. On the cornices are displayed the twelve signs of the zodiac. 

The altar is a wonder of dimensions and splendor, --a pyramid one hundredfeet high, terminating in a fine spire of gold, and surrounded on everyside by idols, all curious and precious, from the bijou image insapphire to the colossal statue in plate gold. A series of trophiesthese, gathered from the triumphs of Buddhism over the proudest forms ofworship in the old pagan world. In the pillars that surround the temple, and the spires that taper far aloft, may be traced types and emblemsborrowed from the Temple of the Sun at Baalbec, the proud fane of Dianaat Ephesus, the shrines of the Delian Apollo; but the Brahminicalsymbols and interpretations prevail. Strange that it should be so, witha sect that suffered by the slayings and the outcastings of a ruthlesspersecution, at the hands of their Brahmin fathers, for the cause ofrestoring the culture of that simple and pure philosophy which nourishedbefore pantheism!

The floor is paved with diamonds of polished brass, which reflect thelight of tall tapers that have burned on for more than a hundred years, so closely is the sacred fire watched. The floods of light and depths ofshadow about the altar are extreme, and the effect overwhelming. 

The Emerald Idol is about twelve inches high and eight in width. Intothe virgin gold of which its hair and collar are composed must have beenstirred, while the metal was yet molten, crystals, topazes, sapphires, rubies, onyxes, amethysts, and diamonds, --the stones crude, or rudelycut, and blended in such proportions as might enhance to the utmostimaginable limit the beauty and the cost of the adored effigy. Thecombination is as harmonious as it is splendid. No wonder it is commonlybelieved that Buddha himself alighted on the spot in the form of a greatemerald, and by a flash of lightning conjured the glittering edifice andaltar in an instant from the earth, to house and throne him there!

On either side of the eastern entrance--called _Patoo Ngam_, "TheBeautiful Gate"--stands a modern statue; one of Saint Peter, withflowing mantle and sandalled feet, in an attitude of sorrow, as when "heturned away his face and wept"; the other of Ceres, scattering flowers. The western entrance, which admits only ladies, is styled _PatooThavâdah_, "The Angels' Gate, " and is guarded by genii of ferociousaspect. 

At a later period, visiting this temple in company with the king and hisfamily, I called his Majesty's attention to the statue at the BeautifulGate, as that of a Christian saint with whose story he was notunfamiliar. Turning quickly to his children, and addressing them gently, he bade them salute it reverently. "It is Mam's P'hra, " [Footnote:Saint, or Lord. ] he said; whereupon the tribe of little ones foldedtheir hands devoutly, and made obeisance before the effigy of SaintPeter. As often as my thought reverts to this inspiring shrine, reposingin its lonely loveliness amid the shadows and the silence of itsconsecrated groves, I cannot find it in my heart to condemn, howeverillusive the object, but rather I rejoice to admire and applaud, thebent of that devotion which could erect so proud and beautiful a fane inthe midst of moral surroundings so ignoble and unlovely, --a spiritualremembrance perhaps older and truer than paganism, ennobling the paganmind with the idea of an architectural Sabbath, so to speak, such as aheathen may purely enjoy and a Christian may not wisely despise. 

[Illustration: THE BEAUTIFUL GATE OF THE TEMPLE. ]

VI. THE KING AND THE GOVERNESS. 

In 1825 a royal prince of Siam (his birthright wrested from him, and hislife imperilled) took refuge in a Buddhist monastery and assumed theyellow garb of a priest. His father, commonly known as Phen-den-Klang, first or supreme king of Siam, had just died, leaving this prince, Chowfa Mongkut, at the age of twenty, lawful heir to the crown; for hewas the eldest son of the acknowledged queen, and therefore by courtesyand honored custom, if not by absolute right, the legitimate successorto the throne of the P'hra-batts. [Footnote: The Golden-footed. ] But hehad an elder half-brother, who, through the intrigues of his mother, hadalready obtained control of the royal treasury, and now, with theconnivance, if not by the authority, of the Senabawdee, the GrandCouncil of the kingdom, proclaimed himself king. He had the grace, however, to promise his plundered brother--such royal promises being acheap form of propitiation in Siam--to hold the reins of government onlyuntil Chowfa Mongkut should be of years and strength and skill to managethem. But, once firmly seated on the throne, the usurper saw in hispatient but proud and astute kinsman only a hindrance and a peril in thepath of his own cruder and fiercer aspirations. Hence the forewarningand the flight, the cloister and the yellow robes. And so the usurpercontinued to reign, unchallenged by any claim from the king that shouldbe, until March, 1851, when, a mortal illness having overtaken him, heconvoked the Grand Council of princes and nobles around his couch, andproposed his favorite son as his successor. Then the safe asses of thecourt kicked the dying lion with seven words of sententious scorn, --"Thecrown has already its rightful owner"; whereupon the king literallycursed himself to death, for it was almost in the convulsion, of hischagrin and rage that he came to his end, on the 3d of April. 

In Siam there is no such personage as an heir-apparent to the throne, inthe definite meaning and positive value which attaches to that phrase inEurope, --no prince with an absolute and exclusive title, by birth, adoption, or nomination, to succeed to the crown. And while it is truethat the eldest living son of a Siamese sovereign by his queen or queenconsort is recognized by all custom, ancient and modern, as the_probable_ successor to the high seat of his royal sire, he cannot besaid to have a clear and indefeasible right to it, because the questionof his accession has yet to be decided by the electing voice of theSenabawdee, in whose judgment he may be ineligible, by reason of certainphysical, mental, or moral disabilities, --as extreme youth, effeminacy, imbecility, intemperance, profligacy. Nevertheless, the election ispopularly expected to result in the choice of the eldest son of thequeen, though an interregnum or a regency is a contingency by no meansunusual. 

It was in view of this jurisdiction of the Senabawdee, exercised indeference to a just and honored usage, that the voice of the oracle fellupon the ear of the dying monarch with a disappointing and offensivesignificance; for he well knew who was meant by the "rightful owner" ofthe crown. Hardly had he breathed his last when, in spite of the busyintrigues of his eldest son (whom we find described in the _BangkokRecorder_ of July 26, 1866, as "most honorable and promising"), in spiteof the bitter vexation of his lordship Chow Phya Sri Sury Wongse, sosoon to be premier, the prince Chowfa Mongkut doffed his sacerdotalrobes, emerged from his cloister, and was crowned, with the title ofSomdetch Phra Paramendr Maha Mongkut. [Footnote: Duke, and royal bearerof the great crown. ]

For twenty-five years had the true heir to the throne of theP'hra-batts, patiently biding his time, lain _perdu_ in his monastery, diligently devoting himself to the study of Sanskrit, Pali, theology, history, geology, chemistry, and especially astronomy. He had been afamiliar visitor at the houses of the American missionaries, two of whom(Dr. House and Mr. Mattoon) were, throughout his reign and life, gratefully revered by him for that pleasant and profitable conversewhich helped to unlock to him the secrets of European vigor andadvancement, and to make straight and easy the paths of knowledge he hadstarted upon. Not even the essential arrogance of his Siamese naturecould prevent him from accepting cordially the happy influences thesegood and true men inspired; and doubtless he would have gone more thanhalf-way to meet them, but for the dazzle of the golden throne in thedistance which arrested him midway between Christianity and Buddhism, between truth and delusion, between light and darkness, between life anddeath. 

In the Oriental tongues this progressive king was eminently proficient;and toward priests, preachers, and teachers, of all creeds, sects, andsciences, an enlightened exemplar of tolerance. It was likewise hispeculiar vanity to pass for an accomplished English scholar, and to thisend he maintained in his palace at Bangkok a private printingestablishment, with fonts of English type, which, as may be perceivedpresently, he was at no loss to keep in "copy. " Perhaps it was theprinting-office which suggested, quite naturally, an English governessfor the _élite_ of his wives and concubines, and their offspring, --innumber amply adequate to the constitution of a royal school, and inmaterial most attractively fresh and romantic. Happy thought! Wherefore, behold me, just after sunset on a pleasant day in April, 1862, on thethreshold of the outer court of the Grand Palace, accompanied by my ownbrave little boy, and escorted by a compatriot. 

A flood of light sweeping through the spacious Hall of Audiencedisplayed a throng of noblemen in waiting. None turned a glance, orseemingly a thought, on us, and, my child being tired and hungry, Iurged Captain B---- to present us without delay. At once we mounted themarble steps, and entered the brilliant hall unannounced. Ranged on thecarpet were many prostrate, mute, and motionless forms, over whose headsto step was a temptation as drolly natural as it was dangerous. HisMajesty spied us quickly, and advanced abruptly, petulantly screaming, "Who? who? who?"

Captain B---- (who, by the by, is a titled nobleman of Siam) introducedme as the English governess, engaged for the royal family. The kingshook hands with us, and immediately proceeded to march up and down inquick step, putting one foot before the other with mathematicalprecision, as if under drill. "Forewarned, forearmed!" my friendwhispered that I should prepare myself for a sharp cross-questioning asto my age, my husband, children, and other strictly personal concerns. Suddenly his Majesty, having cogitated sufficiently in his peculiarmanner, with one long final stride halted in front of us, and pointingstraight at me with his forefinger, asked, "How old shall you be?"

Scarcely able to repress a smile at a proceeding so absurd, and with mysex's distaste for so serious a question, I demurely replied, "Onehundred and fifty years old. "

Had I made myself much younger, he might have ridiculed or assailed me;but now he stood surprised and embarrassed for a few moments, thenresumed his queer march; and at last, beginning to perceive the jest, coughed, laughed, coughed again, and in a high, sharp key asked, "Inwhat year were you borned?"

Instantly I struck a mental balance, and answered, as gravely as Icould, "In 1788. "

At this point the expression of his Majesty's face was indescribablycomical. Captain B---- slipped behind a pillar to laugh; but the kingonly coughed, with a significant emphasis that startled me, andaddressed a few words to his prostrate courtiers, who smiled at thecarpet, --all except the prime minister, who turned to look at me. Buthis Majesty was not to be baffled so: again he marched with vigor, andthen returned to the attack with _élan_. 

"How many years shall you be married?"

"For several years, your Majesty. "

He fell into a brown study; then, laughing, rushed at me, and demandedtriumphantly:--

"Ha! How many grandchildren shall you now have? Ha, ha! How many? Howmany? Ha, ha, ha!"

Of course we all laughed with him; but the general hilarity admitted ofa variety of constructions. 

Then suddenly he seized my hand, and dragged me, _nolens volens_, mylittle Louis holding fast by my skirt, through several sombre passages, along which crouched duennas, shrivelled and grotesque, and manyyouthful women, covering their faces, as if blinded by the splendor ofthe passing Majesty. At length he stopped before one of themany-curtained recesses, and, drawing aside the hangings, disclosed alovely, childlike form. He stooped and took her hand, (she naivelyhiding her face), and placing it in mine, said, "This is my wife, theLady Tâlâp. She desires to be educated in English. She is as pleasingfor her talents as for her beauty, and it is our pleasure to make her agood English scholar. You shall educate her for me. "

I replied that the office would give me much pleasure; for nothing couldbe more eloquently winning than the modest, timid bearing of that tenderyoung creature in the presence of her lord. She laughed low andpleasantly as he translated my sympathetic words to her, and seemed soenraptured with the graciousness of his act that I took my leave of herwith a sentiment of profound pity. 

He led me back by the way we had come; and now we met many children, whoput my patient boy to much childish torture for the gratification oftheir startled curiosity. 

"I have sixty-seven children, " said his Majesty, when we had returned tothe Audience Hall. "You shall educate them, and as many of my wives, likewise, as may wish to learn English. And I have much correspondencein which you must assist me. And, moreover, I have much difficulty forreading and translating French letters; for French are fond of usinggloomily deceiving terms. You must undertake; and you shall make alltheir murky sentences and gloomily deceiving propositions clear to me. And, furthermore, I have by every mail foreign letters whose writing isnot easily read by me. You shall copy on round hand, for my readilyperusal thereof. "

_Nil desperandum_; but I began by despairing of my ability to accomplishtasks so multifarious. I simply bowed, however, and so dismissed myselffor that evening. 

One tempting morning, when the air was cool, my boy and I ventured somedistance beyond the bounds of our usual cautious promenade, close to thepalace of the premier. Some forty or fifty carpenters, building boatsunder a long low shed, attracted the child's attention. We tarriedawhile, watching their work, and then strolled to a stone bridge hardby, where we found a gang of repulsive wretches, all men, coupled bymeans of iron collars and short but heavy fetters, in which they movedwith difficulty, if not with positive pain. They were carrying stonefrom the canal to the bridge, and as they stopped to deposit theirburdens, I observed that most of them had hard, defiant faces, thoughhere and there were sad and gentle eyes that bespoke sympathy. One ofthem approached us, holding out his hand, into which Boy dropped the fewcoins he had. Instantly, with a greedy shout, the whole gang were uponus, crowding us on all sides, wrangling, yelling. I was exceedinglyalarmed, and having no more money there, knew not what to do, except totake my child in my arms, and strive again and again to break throughthe press; but still I fell back baffled, and sickened by theinsufferable odors that emanated from their disgusting persons; andstill they pressed and scrambled and screamed, and clanked their horridchains. But behold! suddenly, as if struck by lightning, every man ofthem fell on his face, and officers flew among them pell-mell, swingeingwith hard, heavy thongs the naked wincing backs. 

It was with a sense of infinite relief that we found ourselves safe inour rooms at last; but the breakfast tasted earthy and the atmospherewas choking, and our very hearts were parched. At night Boy lay burningon his little bed, moaning for _aiyer sujok_ (cold water), while Ifainted for a breath of fresh, sweet air. But God blesses these Easternprison-houses not at all; the air that visits them is no better than thelife within, --heavy, stifling, stupefying. For relief I betook me to thestudy of the Siamese language, an occupation I had found very pleasantand inspiring. As for Boy, who spoke Malay fluently, it was wonderfulwith what aptness he acquired it. 

When next I "interviewed" the king, I was accompanied by the premier'ssister, a fair and friendly woman, whose whole stock of English was, "Good morning, sir"; and with this somewhat irrelevant greeting, a dozentimes in an hour, though the hour were night, she relieved her pent-upfeelings, and gave expression to her sympathy and regard for me. 

Mr. Hunter, private secretary to the premier, had informed me, speakingfor his Excellency, that I should prepare to enter upon my duties at theroyal palace without delay. Accordingly, next morning, the elder sisterof the Kralahome came for us. She led the way to the river, followed byslave-girls bearing a gold teapot, a pretty gold tray containing twotiny porcelain cups with covers, her betel-box, also of gold, and twolarge fans. When we were seated in the closely covered basket-boat, shetook up one of the books I had brought with me, and, turning over theleaves, came upon the alphabet; whereat, with a look of pleasedsurprise, she began repeating the letters. I helped her, and for a whileshe seemed amused and gratified; but presently, growing weary of it, sheabruptly closed the book, and, offering me her hand, said, "Goodmorning, sir!" I replied with equal cordiality, and I think we bade eachother good morning at least a dozen times before we reached the palace. 

We landed at a showy pavilion, and after traversing several coveredpassages came to a barrier guarded by Amazons, to whom the old lady wasevidently well known, for they threw open the gate for us, and"squatted" till we passed. A hot walk of twenty minutes brought us to acurious oval door of polished brass, which opened and shut noiselesslyin a highly ornate frame. This admitted us to a cool retreat, on oneside of which were several temples or chapels in antique styles, and onthe other a long dim gallery. On the marble floor of this pavilion anumber of interesting children sat or sprawled, and quaint babies sleptor frolicked in their nurses' arms. It was, indeed, a grateful changefrom the oppressive, irritating heat and glare through which we had justpassed. 

The loungers started up to greet our motherly guide, who humblyprostrated herself before them; and then refreshments were brought in onlarge silver trays, with covers of scarlet silk in the form of abee-hive. As no knife or fork or spoon was visible, Boy and I were fainto content ourselves with oranges, wherewith we made ourselves anunexpected but cheerful show for the entertainment and edification ofthose juvenile spectators of the royal family of Siam. I smiled and heldout my hand to them, for they were, almost without exception, attractivechildren; but they shyly shrank from me. 

Meanwhile the "child-wife, " to whom his Majesty had presented me at myfirst audience, appeared, and after saluting profoundly the sister ofthe Kralahome, and conversing with her for some minutes, lay down on thecool floor, and, using her betel-box for a pillow, beckoned to me. As Iapproached, and seated myself beside her, she said: "I am very glad tosee you. It is long time I not see. Why you come so late?" to all ofwhich she evidently expected no reply. I tried baby-talk, in the hope ofmaking my amiable sentiments intelligible to so infantile a creature, but in vain. Seeing me disappointed and embarrassed, she oddly sang ascrap of the Sunday-school hymn, "There is a Happy Land, far, far away";and then said, "I think of you very often. In the beginning, God createdthe heavens and the earth. "

This meritorious but disjointed performance was followed by a protractedand trying silence, I sitting patient, and Boy wondering in my lap. Atlast she half rose, and, looking around, cautiously whispered, "Dear MamMattoon! I love you. I think of you. Your boy dead, you come to palace;you cry--I love you"; and laying her finger on her lips, and her head onthe betel-box again, again she sang, "There is a Happy Land, far, faraway!"

Mrs. Mattoon is the wife of that good and true American apostle who hasnobly served the cause of missions in Siam as a co-laborer with theexcellent Dr. Samuel House. While the wife of the latter devoted herselfindefatigably to the improvement of schools for the native children whomthe mission had gathered round it, Mrs. Mattoon shared her labors byoccasionally teaching in the palace, which was for some time thrown opento the ladies of her faithful sisterhood. Here, as elsewhere, theblended force and gentleness of her character wrought marvels in theimpressible and grateful minds to which she had access. 

So spontaneous and ingenuous a tribute of reverence and affection from apagan to a Christian lady was inexpressibly charming to me. 

Thus the better part of the day passed. The longer I rested dreamingthere, the more enchanted seemed the world within those walls. I wasaroused by a slight noise proceeding from the covered gallery, whence anold lady appeared bearing a candlestick of gold, with branchessupporting four lighted candles. I afterward learned that these weredaily offerings, which the king, on awakening from his forenoon slumber, sent to the Watt P'hra Këau. This apparition was the signal for muchstir. The Lady Tâlâp started to her feet and fled, and we were leftalone with the premier's sister and the slaves in waiting. The entirehousehold seemed to awake on the instant, as in the "Sleeping Palace" ofTennyson, at the kiss of the Fairy Prince, --

 "The maid and page renewed their strife; The palace banged, and buzzed, and clackt; And all the long-pent stream of life Dashed downward in a cataract. "

A various procession of women and children--some pale and downcast, others bright and blooming, more moody and hardened--moved in the onedirection; none tarried to chat, none loitered or looked back; the lordwas awake. 

 "And last with these the king awoke, And in his chair himself upreared, And yawned, and rubbed his face, and spoke. "

Presently the child-wife reappeared, --arrayed now in dark blue silk, which contrasted well with the soft olive of her complexion, --andquickly followed the others, with a certain anxious alacrity expressedin her baby face. I readily guessed that his Majesty was the awful causeof all this careful bustle, and began to feel uneasy myself, as myordeal approached. For an hour I stood on thorns. Then there was ageneral frantic rush. Attendants, nurses, slaves, vanished throughdoors, around corners, behind pillars, under stairways; and at last, preceded by a sharp, "cross" cough, behold the king!

We found his Majesty in a less genial mood than at my first reception. He approached us coughing loudly and repeatedly, a sufficiently ominousfashion of announcing himself, which greatly discouraged my darling boy, who clung to me anxiously. He was followed by a numerous "tail" of womenand children, who formally prostrated themselves around him. Shakinghands with me coldly, but remarking upon the beauty of the child's hair, half buried in the folds of my dress, he turned to the premier's sister, and conversed at some length with her, she apparently acquiescing in allthat he had to say. He then approached me, and said, in a loud anddomineering tone:--

"It is our pleasure that you shall reside within this palace with ourfamily. "

I replied that it would be quite impossible for me to do so; that, beingas yet unable to speak the language, and the gates being shut everyevening, I should feel like an unhappy prisoner in the palace. 

"Where do you go every evening?" he demanded. 

"Not anywhere, your Majesty. I am a stranger here. "

"Then why you shall object to the gates being shut?"

"I do not clearly know, " I replied, with a secret shudder at the idea ofsleeping within those walls; "but I am afraid I could not do it. I begyour Majesty will remember that in your gracious letter you promised me'a residence adjoining the royal palace, ' not within it. "

He turned and looked at me, his face growing almost purple with rage. "Ido not know I have promised. I do not know former condition. I do notknow anything but you are our servant; and it is our pleasure that youmust live in this palace, and--_you shall obey_. " Those last three wordshe fairly screamed. 

I trembled in every limb, and for some time knew not how to reply. Atlength I ventured to say, "I am prepared to obey all your Majesty'scommands within the obligation of my duty to your family, but beyondthat I can promise no obedience. "

"You _shall_ live in palace, " he roared, --"you _shall _live in palace! Iwill give woman slaves to wait on you. You shall commence royal schoolin this pavilion on Thursday next. That is the best day for suchundertaking, in the estimation of our astrologers. "

With that, he addressed, in a frantic manner, commands, unintelligibleto me, to some of the old women about the pavilion. My boy began to cry;tears filled my own eyes; and the premier's sister, so kind but an hourbefore, cast fierce glances at us both. I turned and led my child towardthe oval brass door. We heard voices behind us crying. "Mam! Mam!" Iturned again, and saw the king beckoning and calling to me. I bowed tohim profoundly, but passed on through the brass door. The primeminister's sister bounced after us in a distraction of excitement, tugging at my cloak, shaking her finger in my face, and crying, "_My di!my di!_" [Footnote: "Bad, bad!"] All the way back, in the boat, and onthe street, to the very door of my apartments, instead of her jocund"Good morning, sir, " I had nothing but _my di_. 

But kings, who are not mad, have their sober second-thoughts like otherrational people. His Golden-footed Majesty presently repented him of hisarbitrary "cantankerousness, " and in due time my ultimatum was accepted. 

VII. MARBLE HALLS AND FISH-STALLS. 

Well! by this time I was awake to the realities of time, place, andcircumstance. The palace and its spells, the impracticable despot, theimpassible premier, were not the phantasms of a witching night, but thehard facts of noonday. Here were the very Apollyons of paganry in theway, and only the Great Hearts of a lonely woman and a loving child tochallenge them. 

With a heart heavy with regret for the comparatively happy home I hadleft in Malacca, I sought an interview with the Kralahome, and told him(through his secretary, Mr. Hunter) how impossible it would be for meand my child to lodge within the walls of the Grand Palace; and that hewas bound in honor to make good the conditions on which I had beeninduced to leave Singapore. At last I succeeded in interesting him, andhe accorded me a gracious hearing. My objection to the palace, as aplace of residence as well as of business, seemed to strike him asreasonable enough; and he promised to plead my cause with his Majesty, bidding me kindly "give myself no further trouble about the matter, forhe would make it right. "

Thus passed a few days more, while I waited monotonously under the roofof the premier, teaching Boy, studying Siamese, paying stated visits tothe good Koon Ying Phan, and suffering tumultuous invasions from my"intimate enemies" of the harem, who came upon us like a flight oflocusts, and rarely left without booty, in the shape of trifles they hadbegged of me. But things get themselves done, after a fashion, even inSiam; and so, one morning, came the slow but welcome news that the kingwas reconciled to the idea of my living outside the palace, that a househad been selected for me, and a messenger waited to conduct me to it. 

Hastily donning our walking-gear, we found an elderly man, of somewhatsinister aspect, in a dingy red coat with faded facings of yellow, impatient to guide us to our unimaginable quarters. As we passed out, wemet the premier, whose countenance wore a quizzing expression, which Iafterward understood; but at the moment I saw in it only thecharacteristic conundrum that I had neither the time nor the talent toguess. It was with a lively sense of relief that I followed ourconductor, in whom, by a desperate exploit of imagination, I discovereda promise of privacy and "home. "

In a long, slender boat, with a high, uneven covering of wood, we stowedourselves in the Oriental manner, my dress and appearance affordinginfinite amusement to the ten rowers as they plied their paddles, whileour escort stood in the entrance chewing betel, and looking moreill-omened than ever. We alighted at the king's pavilion facing theriver, and were led, by a long, circuitous, and unpleasant road, throughtwo tall gates, into a street which, from the offensive odors thatassailed us, I took to be a fish-market. The sun burned, the airstifled, the dust choked us, the ground blistered our feet; we wereparching and suffocating, when our guide stopped at the end of this mostexecrable lane, and signed to us to follow him up three broken steps ofbrick. From a pouch in his dingy coat he produced a key, applied it to adoor, and opened to us two small rooms, without a window in either, without a leaf to shade, without bath-closet or kitchen. And this wasthe residence sumptuously appointed for the English governess to theroyal family of Siam!

And furnished! and garnished! In one room, on a remnant of filthymatting, stood the wreck of a table, superannuated, and maimed of a leg, but propped by two chairs that with broken arms sympathized with eachother. In the other, a cheap excess of Chinese bedstead, that took thewhole room to itself; and a mattress!--a mutilated epitome of aLazarine hospital. 

My stock of Siamese words was small, but strong. I gratefully recalledthe emphatic monosyllables wherewith the premier's sister had so beratedme; and turning upon the king's messenger with her tremendous _my di! mydi!_ dashed the key from his hand, as, inanely grinning, he held it outto me, caught my boy up in my arms, cleared the steps in a bound, andfled anywhere, anywhere, until I was stopped by the crowd of men, women, and children, half naked, who gathered around me, wondering. Then, remembering my adventure with the chain-gang, I was glad to accept theprotection of my insulted escort, and escape from that suburb ofdisgust. All the way back to the premier's our guide grinned at usfiendishly, whether in token of apology or ridicule I knew not; andlanding us safely, he departed to our great relief, still grinning. 

Straight went I to the Kralahome, whose shy, inquisitive smile was moreand more provoking. In a few sharp words I told him, through theinterpreter, what I thought of the lodging provided for me, and thatnothing should induce me to live in such a slum. To which, with cool, deliberate audacity, he replied that nothing prevented me from livingwhere I was. I started from the low seat I had taken (in order toconverse with him at my ease, he sitting on the floor), and not withoutdifficulty found voice to say that neither his palace nor the den in thefish-market would suit me, and that I demanded suitable and independentaccommodations, in a respectable neighborhood, for myself and my child. My rage only amused him. Smiling insolently, he rose, bade me, "Nevermind: it will be all right by and by, " and retired to an inner chamber. 

My head throbbed with pain, my pulse bounded, my throat burned. Istaggered to my rooms, exhausted and despairing, there to lie, foralmost a week, prostrated with fever, and tortured day and night withfrightful fancies and dreams. Beebe and the gentle Koon Ying Phan nursedme tenderly, bringing me water, deliciously cool, in which the fragrantflower of the jessamine had been steeped, both to drink and to bathe mytemples. As soon as I began to recover, I caressed the soft hand of thedear pagan lady, and implored her, partly in Siamese, partly in English, to intercede for me with her husband, that a decent home might beprovided for us. She assured me, while she smoothed my hair and pattedmy cheek as though I were a helpless child, that she would do her bestwith him, begging me meanwhile to be patient. But that I could not be;and I spared no opportunity to expostulate with the premier on thesubject of my future abode and duties, telling him that the life I wasleading under his roof was insupportable to me; though, indeed, I wasnot ungrateful for the many offices of affection I received from theladies of his harem, who in my trouble were sympathetic and tender. Fromthat time forth the imperturbable Kralahome was ever courteous to me. Nevertheless, when from time to time I grew warm again on theirrepressible topic, he would smile slyly, tap the ashes from his pipe, and say, "Yes, sir! Never mind, sir! You not like, you can live infish-market, sir!" The apathy and supineness of these people oppressedme intolerably. Never well practised in patience, I chafed at the_sang-froid_ of the deliberate premier. Without compromising my dignity, I did much to enrage him; but he bore all with a _nonchalance_ that wasthe more irritating because it was not put on. 

Thus more than two months passed, and I had desperately settled down tomy Oriental studies, content to snub the Kralahome with his ownindifference, whilst he, on the other hand, blandly ignored ourexistence, when, to my surprise, he paid me a visit one afternoon, complimented me on my progress in the language, and on my "greatheart, "--or _chi yai_, as he called it, --and told me his Majesty washighly incensed at my conduct in the affair of the fish-market, andthat he had found me something to do. I thanked him so cordially that heexpressed his surprise, saying, "Siamese lady no like work; love play, love sleep. Why you no love play?"

I assured him that I liked play well enough when I was in the humor forplay; but that at present I was not disposed to disport myself, beingweary of my life in his palace, and sick of Siam altogether. He receivedmy candor with his characteristic smile and a good-humored "Good by, sir!"

Next morning ten Siamese lads and a little girl came to my room. Theformer were the half-brothers, nephews, and other "encumbrances" of theKralahome; the latter their sister, a simple child of nine or ten. Surely it was with no snobbery of condescension that I received thesepoor children, but rather gratefully, as a comfort and a wholesomediscipline. 

And so another month went by, and still I heard nothing from hisMajesty. But the premier began to interest me. The more I saw of him themore he puzzled me. It was plain that all who came in contact with himboth feared and loved him. He displayed a kind of passive amiability ofwhich he seemed always conscious, which he made his _forte_. By whatmeans he exacted such prompt obedience, and so completely controlled apeople whom he seemed to drive with reins so loose and careless, was amystery to me. But that his influence and the prestige of his namepenetrated to every nook of that vast yet undeveloped kingdom was thephenomenon which slowly but surely impressed me. I was but a passingtraveller, surveying from a distance and at large that vast plain ofhumanity; but I could see that it was systematically tilled by onemaster mind. 

VIII. OUR HOME IN BANGKOK

Rebuked and saddened, I abandoned my long-cherished hope of a home, andresigned myself with no good grace to my routine of study andinstruction. Where were all the romantic fancies and proud anticipationswith which I had accepted the position of governess to the royal familyof Siam? Alas! in two squalid rooms at the end of a Bangkok fish-market. I failed to find the fresh strength and courage that lay in the hope ofimproving the interesting children whose education had been intrusted tome, and day by day grew more and more desponding, less and less equal tothe simple task my "mission" had set me. I was fairly sick at heart andready to surrender that morning when the good Koon Ying Phan cameunannounced into our rooms to tell us that a tolerable house was foundfor us at last. I cannot describe with what an access of joy I heard theglad tidings, nor how I thanked the messenger, nor how in a moment Iforgot all my chagrin and repining, and hugged my boy and covered himwith kisses. It was not until that "order for release" arrived, that Itruly felt how offensive and galling had been the life I had led in thepremier's palace. It was with unutterable gladness that I followed ahalf-brother of the Kralahome, Moonshee leading Boy by the hand, to ournew house. Passing several streets, we entered a walled enclosure, abounding in broken bricks, stone, lime, mortar, and various rubbish. 

A tall, dingy storehouse occupied one side of the wall; in the other, alow door opened toward the river; and at the farther end stood thehouse, sheltered by a few fine trees, that, drooping over the piazza, made the place almost picturesque. On entering, however, we foundourselves face to face with overpowering filth. Poor Moonshee stoodaghast. "It must be a paradise, " he had said when we set out, "since thegreat Vizier bestows it upon the Mem Sahib, whom he delights to honor. "Now he cursed his fate, and reviled all viziers. I turned to see to whomhis lamentations were addressed, and beheld another Mohammedan seated onthe floor, and attending with an attitude and air of devout respect. Thescene reminded Boy and me of our old home, and we laughed heartily. Onmaking a tour of inspection, we found nine rooms, some of them pleasantand airy, and with every "modern convenience" (though somewhat Orientalas to style) of bath, kitchen, etc. It was clear that soap and waterwithout stint would do much here toward the making of a home for us. Beebe and Boy were hopeful, and promptly put a full stop to therhetorical outcry of Moonshee by requesting him to enlist the servicesof his admiring friend and two China coolies to fetch water. But therewere no buckets. With a few dollars that I gave him, Moonshee, with alla Moslem's resignation to any new turn in his fate, departed to explorefor the required utensils, while the brother of the awful Kralahome, perched on the piazza railing, adjusted his anatomy for a comfortableoversight of the proceedings. Boy, with his "pinny" on, ran off in gleeto make himself promiscuously useful, and I sat down to plan an attack. 

Where to begin?--that was the question. It was such filthy filth, somonstrous in quantity and kind, --dirt to be stared at, defied, savagelyassaulted with rage and havoc. Suddenly I arose, shook my headdangerously at the prime minister's brother, --who, fascinated, hadadvanced into the room, --marched through a broken door, hung my hat andmantle on a rusty nail, doffed my neat half-mourning, slipped on an oldwrapper, dashed at the vile matting that in ulcerous patches afflictedthe floor, and began fiercely tearing it up. 

In good time Moonshee and his new friend returned with half a dozenbuckets, but no coolies; in place of the latter came a neat and pleasantSiamese lady, Mrs. Hunter, wife of the premier's secretary, bringing herslaves to help, and some rolls of fresh, sweet China matting for thefloor. How quickly the general foulness was purified, the generalraggedness repaired, the general shabbiness made "good as new"! Thefloors, that had been buried under immemorial dust, arose again underthe excavating labors of the sweepers; and the walls, that had been gorywith expectorations of betel, hid their "damnéd spots" under innocentveils of whitewash. 

Moonshee, who had evidently been beguiled by a cheap and spuriousvariety of the wine of Shiraz, and now sat maudlin on the steps, weepingfor his home in Singapore, I despatched peremptorily in search of Beebe, bedsteads, and boxes. But the Kralahome's brother had vanished, doubtless routed by the brooms. 

Bright, fresh, fragrant matting; a table neither too low to be prettynor too high to be useful; a couple of armchairs, hospitably embracing;a pair of silver candlesticks, quaint and homely; a goodly company ofpleasant books; a piano, just escaping from its travelling-cage, withall its pent-up music in its bosom; a cosey little cot clinging to itsampler mother; a stream of generous sunlight from the window gilding andgladdening all, --behold our home in Siam!

I worked exultingly till the setting sun slanted his long shadows acrossthe piazza. Then came comfortable Beebe with the soup and dainties shehad prepared with the help of a "Bombay man. " Boy slept soundly in anempty room, overcome by the spell of its sudden sweetness, his hands andface as dirty as a healthy, well-regulated boy could desire. Triumphantly I bore him to his own pretty couch, adjusted my hair, resumed my royal robes of mauve muslin, and prepared to queen it in myown palace. 

And even as I stood, smiling at my own small grandeur, came tendermemories crowding thick upon me, --of a soft, warm lap, in which I hadonce loved to lay my head; of a face, fair, pensive, loving, lovely; ofeyes whose deep and quiet light a shadow of unkindness never crossed; oflips that sweetly crooned the songs of a far-off, happy land; of apresence full of comfort, hope, strength, courage, victory, peace, thatperfect harmony that comes of perfect faith, --a child's trust in itsmother. 

Passionately I clasped my child in my arms, and awoke him with piouspromises that took the form of kisses. Beebe, soup, teapot, candlesticks, teacups, and dear faithful Bessy, looked on and smiled. 

Hardly had we finished this, our first and finest feast, in celebrationof our glorious independence, when our late guide of fish-market fame, he of the seedy red coat and faded yellow facings, appeared on thepiazza, saluted us with that vacant chuckle and grin wherefrom noinference could be drawn, and delivered his Majesty's order that Ishould now come to the school. 

Unterrified and deliberate, we lingered yet a little over that famousbreakfast, then rose, and prepared to follow the mechanical old ape. Boyhugged Bessy fondly by way of good-by, and, leaving Beebe on guard, wewent forth. The same long, narrow, tall, and very crank boat receivedus. The sun was hot enough to daunt a sepoy; down the bare backs of theoarsmen flowed miniature Meinams of sweat, as they tugged, grunting, against the strong current. We landed at the familiar (king's) pavilion, the front of which projects into the river by a low portico. The roof, rising in several tiers, half shelters, half bridges the detached anddilapidated parts of the structure, which presents throughout a veryancient aspect, parts of the roof having evidently been renewed, and thegables showing traces of recent repairs, while the rickety pillars seemto protest with groans against the architectural anachronism that haspiled so many young heads upon their time-worn shoulders. 

IX. OUR SCHOOL IN THE PALACE. 

The fact is remarkable, that though education in its higher degrees ispopularly neglected in Siam, there is scarcely a man or woman in theempire who cannot read and write. Though a vain people, they are neitherbigoted nor shallow; and I think the day is not far off when theenlightening influences applied to them, and accepted through theirwillingness, not only to receive instruction from Europeans, but even toadopt in a measure their customs and their habits of thought, will raisethem to the rank of a superior nation. The language of this peopleadvances but slowly in the direction of grammatical perfection. Likemany other Oriental tongues, it was at first purely monosyllabic; but asthe Pali or Sanskrit has been liberally engrafted on it, polysyllabicwords have been formed. Its pronouns and particles are peculiar, itsidioms few and simple, its metaphors very obvious. It is copious toredundancy in terms expressive of royalty, rank, dignity--in fact, adistinct phraseology is required in addressing personages of exaltedstation; repetitions of word and phrase are affected, rather thanshunned. Sententious brevity and simplicity of expression belong to thepure spirit of the language, and when employed impart to it much dignityand beauty; but there is no standard of orthography, nor any grammar, and but few rules of universal application. Every Siamese writer spellsto please himself, and the purism of one is the slang or gibberish ofanother. 

[Illustration: A PUPIL OF THE ROYAL SCHOOL. ]

The Siamese write from left to right, the words running together in aline unbroken by spaces, points, or capitals; so that, as in ancientSanskrit, an entire paragraph appears as one protracted word, "That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along. "

When not written with a reed on dark native paper, the characters areengraved with a style (of brass or iron, one end sharp for writing, theother flat for erasing) on palm-leaves prepared for the purpose. 

In all parts of the empire the boys are taught by priests to read, write, and cipher. Every monastery is provided with a library, more orless standard. The more elegant books are composed of tablets of ivory, or of palmyra leaves delicately prepared; the characters engraved onthese are gilt, the margins and edges adorned with heavy gilding or withflowers in bright colors. 

The literature of the Siamese deals principally with religious topics. The "Kammarakya, " or Buddhist Ritual, --a work for the priesthood only, and therefore, like others of the Vinnâyâ, little known, --contains thevital elements of the Buddhist Moral Code, and, _per se_, is perfect; onthis point all writers, whether partial or captious, are of one mind. Spence Hardy, a Wesleyan missionary, speaking of that part of the workentitled "Dhammâ-Padam, " [Footnote: Properly _Dharmna_, --"Footsteps ofthe Law. "] which is freely taught in the schools attached to themonasteries, admits that a compilation might be made from its precepts, "which in the purity of its ethics could hardly be equalled from anyother heathen author. "

M. Laboulaye, one of the most distinguished members of the FrenchAcademy, remarks, in the _Débats_ of April 4, 1853, on a work known bythe title of "Dharmna Maitrî, " or "Law of Charity":--

"It is difficult to comprehend how men, not aided by revelation, couldhave soared so high and approached so near the truth. Beside the fivegreat commandments, --not to kill, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to lie, not to get drunk, --every shade of vice, hypocrisy, anger, pride, suspicion, greed, gossip, cruelty to animals, is guarded againstby special precepts. Among the virtues commended we find, not onlyreverence for parents, care for children, submission to authority, gratitude, moderation in time of prosperity, resignation and fortitudein time of trial, equanimity at all times, but virtues unknown to anyheathen system of morality, such as the duty of forgiving insults, andof rewarding evil with good. "

All virtues, we are told, spring from _maitrî_, and this _maitrî_ canonly be rendered by charity and love. 

"I do not hesitate, " says Burnouf, in his _Lotus de la Bonne Loi_, "totranslate by 'charity' the word _maitrî_, which expresses, not merelyfriendship, or the feeling of particular affection which a man has forone or more of his fellow-creatures, but that universal feeling whichinspires us with good-will toward all men and a constant willingness tohelp them. "

I may here add the testimony of Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire: "I do nothesitate to add, " he writes, "that, save the Christ alone, there is notamong the founders of religion a figure more pure, more touching, thanthat of Buddha. His life is without blemish; his constant heroism equalshis conviction; and if the theory he extols is false, the personalexamples he affords are irreproachable. He is the accomplished model ofall the virtues he preaches; his abnegation, his charity, hisunalterable sweetness, never belie themselves. At the age of twenty-ninehe retires from the court of the king, his father, to become a devoteeand a beggar. He silently prepares his doctrine by six years ofseclusion and meditation. He propagates it, by the unaided power ofspeech and persuasion, for more than half a century; and when he dies inthe arms of his disciples, it is with the serenity of a sage who haspractised goodness all his life, and knows that he has found Truth. "

Another work, as sacred and more mystic, is the "Parajikâ, " read in thetemples with closed doors by the chief priests exclusively, and only tosuch devotees as have entered the monastic schools for life. 

Then there are the "P'ra-jana Para-mita, " (the "Accomplishment ofReason, " or "Transcendental Wisdom, )" and other works in abstrusephilosophy. The "Lalita Vistara" contains the life of Buddha, and isesteemed the highest authority as to the more remarkable events in thecareer of the great reformer. The "Saddharma-pundikara" (or _pundariki_in Ceylon), "The White Lotos of the True Religion, " presents theincidents of Buddha's life in the form of legend and fable. 

The "Ganda-Veyuha, " but little known, consists of remarkable and verybeautiful forms of prayer and thanksgiving, with psalms of praiseaddressed to the Perfection of the Infinite and to the Invisible, bySakya Muni, the Buddha. The "Nirwana" treats of the end of materialexistence, and is universally read, and highly esteemed by Buddhists asa treatise of rare merit. 

But the most important parts of the theological study of the Siamesepriesthood are found in a work revered under the titles of "Tautras" and"Kala-Chakara, "--that is, "Circles of Time, Matter, Space"; probably atranslation of the Sanskrit symbolic word, _Om_, "Circle. " There aretwenty-two volumes, treating exclusively of mystics and mysticalworship. 

The libraries of the monasteries are rich in works on the theory andpractice of medicine; but very poor in historical books, the fewpreserved dealing mainly with the lives and actions of Siamese rulers, oddly associated with the genii and heroes of the Hindoo mythology. Likethe early historians of Greece and Rome, the writers are careful tofurnish a particular account of all signs, omens, and predictionsrelating to the several events recorded. They possess also a fewtranslated works in Chinese history. 

The late king was an authority on all questions of religion, law, andcustom, and was familiar with the writings of Pythagoras and Aristotle. 

The Siamese have an extravagant fondness for the drama, and for poetryof every kind. In all the lyric form predominates, and theircompositions are commonly adapted for instrumental accompaniment. Theirdramatic entertainments are mainly musical, combining rudely the operawith the ballet, --monotonous singing, and listless, mechanical dancing. Dialogue is occasionally introduced, the favorite subjects beingpassages from the Hindoo Avatars, the epic "Ramayana, " and the"Mahabharata"; or from legends, peculiar to Siam, of gods, heroes, anddemons. Throughout their literature, mythology is the all-pervadingelement; history, science, arts, customs, conversation, opinion, doctrine, are alike colored and flavored with it. 

With so brief and meagre a sketch of the literature of Siam, I wouldfain prepare the reader to appreciate the peculiarities of an Englishclassical school in the Royal Palace at Bangkok. In Siam, all schools, literary societies, monasteries, even factories, all intellectual andprogressive enterprises of whatever nature and intention, are opened andbegun on Thursday, "One P'ra Hatt"; because that day is sacred to thegoddess of Mind or Wisdom, probably the Hindoo Saraswati. On theThursday appointed for the opening of my classes in the palace, one ofthe king's barges conveyed us across the Meinam. At the landing I wasmet by slave-girls, who conducted me to the palace through the gatecalled Patoo Sap, "Gate of Knowledge. " Here I was received by someAmazons, who in turn gave notice to other slave-girls waiting to escortus to a pavilion--or, more correctly, temple--dedicated to the wives anddaughters of Siam. [Footnote: _Watt Khoon Choom Manda Thai_, --"Temple ofthe Mothers of the Free. "] The profound solitude of this refuge, embowered in its twilight grove of orange and palm trees, was strangelytranquillizing. The religion of the place seemed to overcome us, as wewaited among the tall, gilded pillars of the temple. On one side was analtar, enriched with some of the most curious and precious offerings ofart to be found in the East. There was a gilded rostrum also, from whichthe priests daily officiated; and near by, on the summit of a curiouslycarved trunk of an old Bho tree, [Footnote: The sacred tree under whichGuadama discoursed with his disciples. ] the goddess of Mind presided. 

The floor of this beautiful temple was a somewhat gaudy mosaic ofvariegated marble and precious stones; but the gilded pillars, thefriezes that surmounted them, and the vaulted roof of gilded arabesques, seemed to tone down the whole to their own chaste harmony of design. 

In the centre of the temple stood a long table, finely carved, and somegilt chairs. The king and most of the nobler ladies of the court werepresent, with a few of the chief priests, among whom I recognized, forthe first time, his Lordship Chow Khoon Sâh. 

His Majesty received me and my little boy most kindly. After an intervalof silence he clapped his hands lightly, and instantly the lower hallwas filled with female slaves. A word or two, dropped from his lips, bowed every head and dispersed the attendants. But they presentlyreturned laden, some with boxes containing books, slates, pens, pencils, and ink; others with lighted tapers and vases filled with the whitelotos, which they set down before the gilded chairs. 

At a signal from the king, the priests chanted a hymn from the"P'ra-jana Para-mita"; [Footnote: "Accomplishment of Reason, " or"Transcendental Wisdom. "] and then a burst of music announced theentrance of the princes and princesses, my future pupils. They advancedin the order of their ages. The Princess Ying You Wahlacks ("First-bornamong Women"), having precedence, approached and prostrated herselfbefore her royal father, the others following her example. I admired thebeauty of her skin, the delicacy of her form, and the subdued lustre ofher dreamy eyes. The king took her gently by the hand, and presented meto her, saying simply, "The English teacher. " Her greeting was quiet andself-possessed. Taking both my hands, she bowed, and touched them withher forehead; then, at a word from the king, retired to her place on theright. One by one, in like manner, all the royal children were presentedand saluted me; and the music ceased. 

His Majesty then spoke briefly, to this effect: "Dear children, as thisis to be an English school, you will have to learn and observe theEnglish modes of salutation, address, conversation, and etiquette; andeach and every one of you shall be at liberty to sit in my presence, unless it be your own pleasure not to do so. " The children all bowed, and touched their foreheads with their folded palms, in acquiescence. 

Then his Majesty departed with the priests; and the moment he was fairlyout of sight, the ladies of the court began, with much noise andconfusion, to ask questions, turn over the leaves of books, and chatterand giggle together. Of course, no teaching was possible in such a din;my young princes and princesses disappeared in the arms of their nursesand slaves, and I retired to my apartments in the prime minister'spalace. But the serious business of my school began on the followingThursday. 

On that day a crowd of half-naked children followed me and my Louis tothe palace gates, where our guide gave us in charge to a consequentialfemale slave, at whose request the ponderous portal was opened barelywide enough to admit one person at a time. On entering we were jealouslyscrutinized by the Amazonian guard, and a "high private" questioned thepropriety of admitting my boy; whereat a general tittering, and wepassed on. We advanced through the noiseless oval door, and entered thedim, cool pavilion, in the centre of which the tables were arranged forschool. Away flew several venerable dames who had awaited our arrival, and in about an hour returned, bringing with them twenty-one scions ofSiamese royalty, to be initiated into the mysteries of reading, writing, and arithmetic, after the European, and especially the English manner. 

It was not long before my scholars were ranged in chairs around the longtable, with Webster's far-famed spelling-books before them, repeatingaudibly after me the letters of the alphabet. While I stood at one endof the table, my little Louis at the other, mounted on a chair, thebetter to command his division, mimicked me with a fidelity of tone andmanner very quaint and charming. Patiently his small finger pointed outto his class the characters so strange to them, and not yet perfectlyfamiliar to himself. 

About noon, a number of young women were brought to me, to be taughtlike the rest. I received them sympathetically, at the same time makinga memorandum of their names in a book of my own. This created a generaland lively alarm, which it was not in my power immediately to allay, myknowledge of their language being confined to a few simple sentences;but when at last their courage and confidence were restored, they beganto take observations and an inventory of me that were by no meansagreeable. They fingered my hair and dress, my collar, belt, and rings. One donned my hat and cloak, and made a promenade of the pavilion;another pounced upon my gloves and veil, and disguised herself in them, to the great delight of the little ones, who laughed boisterously. Agrim duenna, who had heard the noise, bustled wrathfully into thepavilion. Instantly hat, cloak, veil, gloves, were flung right and left, and the young women dropped on the floor, repeating shrilly, like truanturchins caught in the act, their "ba, be, bi, bo. "

One who seemed the infant phenomenon of the royal harem, so juvenile andartless were her looks and ways, despising a performance so rudimentaryas the a, b, c, demanded to be steered at once into the mid-ocean of thebook; but when I left her without pilot in an archipelago of hard words, she soon showed signals of distress. 

At the far end of the table, bending over a little prince, her eyesriveted on the letters my boy was naming to her, stood a pale youngwoman, whose aspect was dejected and forlorn. She had enteredunannounced and unnoticed, as one who had no interest in common with theothers; and now she stood apart and alone, intent only on mastering thealphabet with the help of her small teacher. When we were about todismiss the school, she repeated her lesson to my wise lad, who listenedwith imposing gravity, pronounced her a "very good child, " and said shemight go now. But when she perceived that I observed her curiously, shecrouched almost under the table, as though owning she had no right to bethere, and was worthy to pick only the crumbs of knowledge that mightfall from it. She was neither very young nor pretty, save that her darkeyes were profound and expressive, and now the more interesting by theirtouching sadness. Esteeming it the part of prudence as well as ofkindness to appear unconscious of her presence, and so encourage her tocome again, I left the palace without accosting her, before his Majestyhad awakened from his forenoon nap. This crushed creature had fallenunder the displeasure of the king, and the after chapters of her story, which shall be related in their proper connection, were romantic andmournful. 

X. MOONSHEE AND THE ANGEL GABRIEL. 

Our blue chamber overlooked the attap roofs of a long row of houses, badly disfigured by the stains and wear of many a wet season, in whichour next neighbor, a Mohammedan of patriarchal aspect and demeanor, stored bags of sugar, waiting for a rise in the market. This worthy paidus the honor of a visit every afternoon, and in the snug little easternchamber consecrated to the studies and meditations of my Persian teacherpropounded solemn problems from the Alkoran. 

Under Moonshee's window the tops of houses huddled, presenting formsmore or less fantastic according to the purse or caprice of theproprietors. The shrewd old man was not long in finding tenants for allthese roofs, and could even tell the social status and the means ofeach. It tickled his vanity to find himself domiciled in so aristocratica quarter. Our house--more Oriental than European in itsarchitecture--was comparatively new, having been erected upon the siteof the old palace, the _débris_ of which had furnished the materials ofwhich it was constructed. Among the loose slabs of marble and fragmentsof pottery that turned up with the promiscuous rubbish every day, wesometimes found surfaces of stone bearing Siamese or Cambodianinscriptions; others with grotesque figures in bass-relief, taken fromthe mythology of the Hindoos. Had these relics a charm for Moonshee, andwas he animated by the antiquarian's enthusiasm, that he delved awayhour after hour, unearthing, with his spade, bricks and stones and tilesand slabs? I was at a loss to account for this new freak in the old man;but seeing him infatuated with his eccentric pursuit, and Boy enrapturedover grubs and snails and bits of broken figures, the resurrections ofthe nimble spade, I left them to their cheap and harmless bliss. 

One evening, as I sat musing in the piazza, with my book unopened on mylap, I heard Boy's clear voice ringing in happy, musical peals oflaughter that drew me to him. On the edge of a deep hole, in a corner ofthe compound, sat Moonshee, an effigy of doleful disappointment, andbeside him stood the lad, clapping his little hands and laughingmerrily. The old child had taken the young one into his confidence, andby their joint exertions they had dug this hole in search of treasure;and lo! at the bottom lay something that looked like a rusty purse. Witha long look and a throbbing heart Moonshee, after several empty hauls, had fished it up; and it was--a toad! a huge, unsightly, yellow toad!

"May the foul fiend fly away with thee!" cried the enthusiast in hisrage, as he flung the astonished reptile back into the pit, and sat downto bewail his _kismut_, while Boy made merry with his groans. 

For some days the spade was neglected, though I observed, from thecautious drift of his remarks at the conclusion of our evening lesson, that Moonshee's thoughts still harped on hidden treasure. The fervidimagination of the child had uncovered to his mind's eye mines ofwealth, awaiting only the touch of the magic spade to bare their goldenveins to the needs of his Mem Sahib and himself. There was no dispellinghis golden visions by any shock of hard sense; the more he dreamed themore he believed. But the spot? the right spot? "Only wait. "

Another week elapsed, and Boy and I worked harder than ever in ourschool in the cool pavilion. I had flung off the dead weight of mystubborn repinings, and my heart was light again. There were delightfuldiscoveries of beauty in the artless, childish faces that greeted usevery morning; and now the only wonder was that I had been so slow topenetrate the secret of their charm. That eager, radiant elf, thePrincess Somdetch Chow Fâ-ying, [Footnote: "First-Born of the Skies. "]the king's darling (of whom, by and by, I shall have a sadder tale totell), had become a sprite of sunshine and gladness amid the sombreshadows of those walls. In her deep, dark, lustrous eyes, her simple, trusting ways, there was a springtide of refreshment, a pure, pervadingradiance, that brightened the darkest thing it touched. Even the grimhags of the harem felt its influence, and softened in her presence. 

As Boy was reciting his tasks one morning before breakfast, Moonsheeentered the room with one of his profoundest salaams, and an expressionat once so earnest and so comical that I anxiously asked him what wasthe matter. Panting alike with the eagerness of childhood and thefeebleness of age, he stammered, "I have something of the greatestimportance to confide to you, Mem Sahib! Now is the time! Now you shallprove the devotion of your faithful Moonshee, who swears by Allah not totouch a grain of gold without your leave, in all those bursting sacks, if Mem Sahib will but lend him ten ticals, only ten ticals, to buy ascrew-driver!"

"What in the world can you want with a screw-driver, Moonshee?"

"O Mem, listen to me!" he cried, his face glowing with the very raptureof possession; "I have discovered the exact spot on which the old duke, Somdetch Ong Yai, expired. It is a secret, a wonderful secret, MemSahib; not a creature in all Siam knows it. "

"Then how came you by it, " I inquired, "seeing that you know not oneword of the language, which you have bravely scorned as unworthy to beuttered by the Faithful, and of no use on earth but to confoundphilosophers and Moonshees?"

"_Sunnoh, sunnoh!_ [Footnote: "Listen, listen!"] Mem Sahib! No humantongue revealed it to me. It was the Angè Gibhrayeel. [Footnote: TheAngel Gabriel. ] He came to me last night as I slept, and said, 'O son ofJaffur Khan! to your prayers is granted the knowledge that, for allthese years, has been denied to Kafirs. Arise! obey! and with humilityreceive the treasures reserved for thee, thou faithful follower of theProphet!' And so saying he struck the golden palms he bore in his hand;and though I was now awake, Mem Sahib, I was so overpowered by thebeauty and effulgence of his person, that I was as one about to die. Theradiant glory of his wings, which were of the hue of sapphires, blindedmy vision; I could neither speak nor see. But I felt the glow of hispresence and heard the rustle of his pinions, as once more he beat thegolden palms and cried, 'Behold, O son of Jaffur Khan! behold the spotwhere lie the treasures of that haughty Kafir chief!' I arose, andimmediately the angel flashed from my sight; and as I gazed thereappeared a luminous golden hen with six golden chickens, which pecked atbits of blazing coal that, as they cooled, became nuggets of pure gold. When suddenly I beheld a great light as of _rooshnees_, [Footnote:Fire-balls. ] and it burst upon the spot where the hen had been; and thenall was darkness again. Mem Sahib, your servant ran down and placed astone upon that spot, and kneeling on that stone, with his face to thesouth, repeated his five Kalemahs. " [Footnote: Thanksgivings. ]

I am ashamed to say I laughed; whereat the old man was so mortified thathe vowed the next time the angel appeared to him, he would call us allto see. I accepted the condition; and even promised that if I saw thenuggets of pure gold that Gabriel's chickens pecked, I would immediatelyaccommodate him with the ten ticals to invest in a screw-driver. Soperfect was his faith in the vision, that he accepted the promise withcomplete satisfaction. 

Not many nights after this extraordinary apparition, we were aroused byBeebe and her husband calling, "Awake, awake!" Thinking the house was onfire, I threw on my dressing-gown and ran into the next room with Boy inmy arms. There was indeed a fire, but it was in a distant corner of theyard. The night was dark, a thick mist rose from the river, and thegusty puffs of wind that now and then swept through the compound causedthe wood fire to flare up and flicker, casting fitful and fantasticshadows around. Moonshee stared, with fixed eyes, expecting every momentthe reappearance of the supernatural poultry; but I, being as yetsceptical, descended the stairs, followed by my trembling household, andapproached the spot. 

On a remnant of matting, with a stone for a pillow, lay an old Siamesewoman asleep. Driven by the heat to the relief of the open air, she hadkindled a fire to keep off the mosquitoes. 

"Now, Moonshee, " said I, "here is your Angel Gabriel. Don't you everagain trouble me for ticals to invest in screw-drivers. "

XI. THE WAYS OF THE PALACE. 

The city of Bangkok is commonly supposed to have inherited the name ofthe ancient capital, Ayudia; but in the royal archives, to which I havehad free access, it is given as Krung Thèp'ha Maha-Nakhon Si-ayut-thiaMaha-dilok Racha-thani, --"The City of the Royal, Invincible, andBeautiful Archangel. " It is ramparted with walls within and without, which divide it into an inner and an outer city, the inner wall beingthirty feet high, and flanked with circular forts mounted with cannon, making a respectable show of defence. Centre of all, the heart of thecitadel, is the grand palace, encompassed by a third wall, whichencloses only the royal edifice, the harems, the temple of Watt P'hraKëau, and the Maha P'hrasat. 

The Maha Phrasat is an immense structure of quadrangular façades, surmounted by a tall spire of very chaste and harmonious design. It isconsecrated; and here dead sovereigns of Siam lie in state, waitingtwelve months for their cremation; here also their ashes are deposited, in urns of gold, after that fiery consummation. In the Maha Phrasat thesupreme king is crowned and all court ceremonies performed. On certainhigh holidays and occasions of state, the high-priest administers herea sort of mass, at which the whole court attend, even the chief ladiesof the harem, who, behind heavy curtains of silk and gold that hang fromthe ceiling to the floor, whisper and giggle and peep and chew betel, and have the wonted little raptures of their sex over furtive, piquantglimpses of the world; for, despite the strict confinement and jealoussurveillance to which they are subject, the outer life, with all itsbustle, passion, and romance, will now and then steal, like a vagrant, curious ray of light, into the heart's darkness of these tabooed women, thrilling their childish minds with eager wonderment and formlesslongings. 

Within these walls lurked lately fugitives of every class, profligatesfrom all quarters of the city, to whom discovery was death; but heretheir "sanctuary" was impenetrable. Here were women disguised as men, and men in the attire of women, hiding vice of every vileness and crimeof every enormity, --at once the most disgusting, the most appalling, andthe most unnatural that the heart of man has conceived. It was death inlife, a charnel-house of quick corruption; a place of gloom and solitudeindeed, wherefrom happiness, hope, courage, liberty, truth, were foreverexcluded, and only mother's love was left. 

The king [Footnote: All that is here written applies to Maha Mongkut, the supreme king, who died October, 1868; not to his successor (and mypupil), the present king. ] was the disk of light and life round whichthese strange flies swarmed. Most of the women who composed his haremwere of gentle blood, --the fairest of the daughters of Siamese noblesand of princes of the adjacent tributary states; the late queen consortwas his own half-sister. Beside many choice Chinese and Indian girls, purchased annually for the royal harem by agents stationed at Peking, Foo-chou, and different points in Bengal, enormous sums were offered, year after year, through "solicitors" at Bangkok and Singapore, for anEnglish woman of beauty and good parentage to crown the sensationalcollection; but when I took my leave of Bangkok, in 1868, the covetedspecimen had not yet appeared in the market. The cunning_commissionnaires_ contrived to keep their places and make a living bysending his Majesty, now and then, a piquant photograph of some BritishNourmahal of the period, freshly caught, and duly shipped, in good orderfor the harem; but the goods never arrived. 

Had the king's tastes been Gallic, his requisition might have beenfilled. I remember a score of genuine offers from French demoiselles, who enclosed their _cartes_ in billets more surprising and enterprisingthan any other "proposals" it was my office to translate. But hiswhimsical Majesty entertained a lively horror of French intrigue, whether of priests, consuls, or _lionnes_, and stood in vigilant fear ofbeing beguiled, through one of these adventurous sirens, into fatheringthe innovation of a Franco-Siamese heir to the throne of the celestialP'hrabatts. 

The king, as well as most of the principal members of his household, rose at five in the morning, and immediately partook of a slight repast, served by the ladies who had been in waiting through the night; afterwhich, attended by them and his sisters and elder children, he descendedand took his station on a long strip of matting, laid from one of thegates through all the avenues to another. On his Majesty's left wereranged, first, his children in the order of rank; then the princesses, his sisters; and, lastly, his concubines, his maids of honor, and theirslaves. Before each was placed a large silver tray containing offeringsof boiled rice, fruit, cakes, and the seri leaf; some even had cigars. 

A little after five, the Patoo Dharmina ("Gate of Merit, " called by thepopulace "Patoo Boon") was thrown open and the Amazons of the guarddrawn up on either side. Then the priests entered, always by thatgate, --one hundred and ninety-nine of them, escorted on the right andleft by men armed with swords and clubs, --and as they entered theychanted: "Take thy meat, but think it dust! Eat but to live, and but toknow thyself, and what thou art below! And say withal unto thy heart, Itis earth I eat, that to the earth I may new life impart. "

Then the chief priest, who led the procession, advanced with downcasteyes and lowly mien, and very simply presented his bowl (slung from hisneck by a cord, and until that moment quite hidden under the folds ofhis yellow robe) to the members of the royal household, who _offered_their fruit or cakes, or their spoonfuls of rice or sweetmeats. In likemanner did all his brethren. If, by any chance, one before whom a traywas placed was not ready and waiting with an offering, no prieststopped, but all continued to advance slowly, taking only what wasfreely offered, without thanks or even a look of acknowledgment, untilthe end of the royal train was reached, when the procession retired, chanting as before, by the gate called Dinn, or, in the Court language, _Prithri_, "Gate of Earth. "

After this, the king and all his company repaired to his private temple, Watt Sasmiras Manda-thung, [Footnote: "Temple in Memory of Mother. "] socalled because it was dedicated by his Majesty to the memory of hismother. This is an edifice of unique and charming beauty, decoratedthroughout by artists from Japan, who have represented on the walls, indesigns as diverse and ingenious as they are costly, the numerousmetempsychoses of Buddha. 

Here his Majesty ascended alone the steps of the altar, rang a bell toannounce the hour of devotion, lighted the consecrated tapers, andoffered the white lotos and the roses. Then he spent an hour in prayer, and in reading texts from the P'ra-jana Para-mita and theP'hra-ti-Mok-sha. 

This service over, he retired for another nap, attended by a freshdetail of women, --those who had waited the night before being dismissed, not to be recalled for a month, or at least a fortnight, save as apeculiar mark of preference or favor to some one who had had the goodfortune to please or amuse him; but most of that party voluntarilywaited upon him every day. 

His Majesty usually passed his mornings in study, or in dictating orwriting English letters and despatches. His breakfast, though a repastsufficiently frugal for Oriental royalty, was served with awesome forms. In an antechamber adjoining a noble hall, rich in grotesque carvings andgildings, a throng of females waited, while his Majesty sat at a longtable, near which knelt twelve women before great silver trays ladenwith twelve varieties of viands, --soups, meats, game, poultry, fish, vegetables, cakes, jellies, preserves, sauces, fruits, and teas. Eachtray, in its order, was passed by three ladies to the head wife orconcubine, who removed the silver covers, and at least seemed to tastethe contents of each dish; and then, advancing on her knees, she setthem on the long table before the king. 

But his Majesty was notably temperate in his diet, and by no means agastronome. In his long seclusion in a Buddhist cloister he had acquiredhabits of severe simplicity and frugality, as a preparation for theexercise of those powers of mental concentration for which he wasremarkable. At these morning repasts it was his custom to detain me inconversation relating to some topic of interest derived from hisstudies, or in reading or translating. He was more systematicallyeducated, and a more capacious devourer of books and news, than perhapsany man of equal rank in our day. But much learning had made him morallymad; his extensive reading had engendered in his mind an extremescepticism concerning all existing religious systems. In inbornintegrity and steadfast principle he had no faith whatever. He sincerelybelieved that every man strove to compass his own ends, _per fas etnefas_. The _mens sibi conscia recti_ was to him an hallucination, forwhich he entertained profound contempt; and he honestly pitied thedelusion that pinned its faith on human truth and virtue. He was aprovoking _mélange_ of antiquarian attainments and modern scepticism. When, sometimes, I ventured to disabuse his mind of his darling scornfor motive and responsibility, I had the mortification to discover thatI had but helped him to an argument against myself: it was simply "mypeculiar interest to do so. " Money, money, money! that could procureanything. 

But aside from the too manifest bias of his early education andexperience, it is due to his memory to say that his practice was lessfaithless than his profession, toward those persons and principles towhich he was attracted by a just regard. In many grave considerations hedisplayed soundness of understanding and clearness of judgment, --agenuine nobility of mind, established upon universal ethics andphilosophic reason, --where his passions were not dominant; but whenthese broke in between the man and the majesty, they effectually barredhis advance in the direction of true greatness; beyond them he couldnot, or would not, make way. 

Ah, if this man could but have cast off the cramping yoke of hisintellectual egotism, and been loyal to the free government of his owntrue heart, what a demi-god might he not have been among the loweranimals of Asiatic royalty!

At two o'clock he bestirred himself, and with the aid of his womenbathed and anointed his person. Then he descended to a breakfast-chamber, where he was served with the most substantial meal of theday. Here he chatted with his favorites among the wives and concubines, and caressed his children, taking them in his arms, embracing them, plying them with puzzling or funny questions, and making droll facesat the babies: the more agreeable the mother, the dearer the child. The love of children was the constant and hearty virtue of thisforlorn despot. They appealed to him by their beauty and theirtrustfulness, they refreshed him with the bold innocence of their ways, so frolicsome, graceful, and quaint. 

From this delusive scene of domestic condescension and kindliness hepassed to his Hall of Audience to consider official matters. Twice aweek at sunset he appeared at one of the gates of the palace to hear thecomplaints and petitions of the poorest of his subjects, who at no othertime or place could reach his ear. It was most pitiful to see thehelpless, awe-stricken wretches, prostrate and abject as toads, many tooterrified to present the precious petition after all. 

At nine he retired to his private apartments, whence issued immediatelypeculiar domestic bulletins, in which were named the women whosepresence he particularly desired, in addition to those whose turn it wasto "wait" that night. 

And twice a week he held a secret council, or court, at midnight. Of theproceedings of those dark and terrifying sittings I can, of course, giveno exact account. I permit myself to speak only of those things whichwere but too plain to one who lived for six years in or near the palace. 

In Siam, the king--Maha Mongkut especially--is not merely enthroned, heis enshrined. To the nobility he is omnipotence, and to the rabblemystery. Since the occupation of the country by the Jesuits, manyforeigners have fancied that the government is becoming more and moresilent, insidious, secretive; and that this midnight council is but theexpression of a "policy of stifling. " It is an inquisition, --not overt, audacious, like that of Rome, but nocturnal, invisible, subtle, ubiquitous, like that of Spain; proceeding without witnesses or warning;kidnapping a subject, not arresting him, and then incarcerating, chaining, torturing him, to extort confession or denunciation. If anySiamese citizen utter one word against the "San Luang, " (the royaljudges), and escape, forthwith his house is sacked and his wife andchildren kidnapped. Should he be captured, he is brought to secrettrial, to which no one is admitted who is not in the patronage andconfidence of the royal judges. In themselves the laws are tolerable;but in their operation they are frustrated or circumvented by arbitraryand capricious power in the king, or craft or cruelty in the Council. Noone not initiated in the mystic _séances_ of the San Luang can dependupon Siamese law for justice. No man will consent to appear there, evenas a true witness, save for large reward. The citizen who would enjoy, safe from legal plunder, his private income, must be careful to find apatron and protector in the king, the prime minister, or some otherformidable friend at court. Spies in the employ of the San Luangpenetrate into every family of wealth and influence. Every citizensuspects and fears always his neighbor, sometimes his wife. On more thanone occasion when, vexed by some act of the king's, more than usuallywanton and unjust, I instinctively gave expression to my feelings byword or look in the presence of certain officers and courtiers, Iobserved that they rapped, or tapped, in a peculiar and stealthy manner. This I afterward discovered was one of the secret signs of the SanLuang; and the warning signal was addressed to me, because they imaginedthat I also was a member of the Council. 

_En passant_, a word as to the ordinary and familiar costumes of thepalace. Men and women alike wear a sort of kilt, like the _pu'sho_ ofthe Birmans, with a short upper tunic, over which the women draw a broadsilk scarf, which is closely bound round the chest and descends in long, waving folds almost to the feet. Neither sex wears any covering on thehead. The uniform of the Amazons of the harem is green and gold, and forthe soldiers scarlet and purple. 

There are usually four meals: breakfast about sunrise; a sort of tiffinat noon; a more substantial repast in the afternoon; and supper afterthe business of the day is over. Wine and tea are drunk freely, andperfumed liquors are used by the wealthy. An indispensable preparationfor polite repast is by bathing and anointing the body. When guests areinvited, the sexes are never brought together; for Siamese women of rankvery rarely appear in strange company; they are confined to remote andunapproachable halls and chambers, where nothing human, being male, mayever enter. The convivial entertainments of the Court are usually givenon occasions of public devotion, and form a part of these. 

XII. SHADOWS AND WHISPERS OF THE HAREM. 

As, month, after month, I continued to teach in the palace, --especiallyas the language of my pupils, its idioms and characteristic forms ofexpression, began to be familiar to me, --all the dim life of the place"came out" to my ken, like a faint picture, which at first displays tothe eye only a formless confusion, a chaos of colors, but by force ofmuch looking and tracing and joining and separating, first objects andthen groups are discovered in their proper identity and relation, untilthe whole stands out, clear, true, and informing in its coherentsignificance of light and shade. Thus, by slow processes, as one whosesight has been imperceptibly restored, I awoke to a clearer and truersense of the life within "the city of the beautiful and invincibleangel. "

Sitting at one end of the table in my school-room, with Boy at theother, and all those far-off faces between, I felt as though we weretwenty thousand miles away from the world that lay but a twenty minutes'walk from the door; the distance was but a speck in space, but theseparation was tremendous. It always seemed to me that here was asudden, harsh suspension of nature's fundamental law, --the human heartarrested in its functions, ceasing to throb, and yet alive. 

[Illustration: PRESENTATION OF A PRINCESS. ]

The fields beyond are fresh and green, and bright with flowers. The sunof summer, rising exultant, greets them with rejoicing; and eveningshadows, falling soft among the dewy petals, linger to kiss themgood-night. There the children of the poor--naked, rude, neglectedthough they be--are rich in the freedom of the bounteous earth, rich inthe freedom of the fair blue sky, rich in the freedom of the limpidocean of air above and around them. But within the close and gloomylanes of this city within a city, through which many lovely women arewont to come and go, many little feet to patter, and many baby citizensto be borne in the arms of their dodging slaves, there is but cloud andchill, and famishing and stinting, and beating of wings against goldenbars. In the order of nature, evening melts softly into night, anddarkness retreats with dignity and grace before the advancing triumphsof the morning; but here light and darkness are monstrously mixed, andthe result is a glaring gloom that is neither of the day nor of thenight, nor of life nor of death, nor of earth nor of--yes, hell!

In the long galleries and corridors, bewildering with their everlastingtwilight of the eye and of the mind, one is forever coming upon shocksof sudden sunshine or shocks of sudden shadow, --the smile yet dimplingin a baby's face, a sister bearing a brother's scourging; a mothersinging to her "sacred infant, " [Footnote: P'hra-ong. ] a slave sobbingbefore a deaf idol. And O, the forlornness of it all! You who have neverbeheld these things know not the utterness of loneliness. Compared withthe predicament of some who were my daily companions, the sea were ahome and an iceberg a hearth. 

How I have pitied those ill-fated sisters of mine, imprisoned without acrime! If they could but have rejoiced once more in the freedom of thefields and woods, what new births of gladness might have beentheirs, --they who with a gasp of despair and moral death first enteredthose royal dungeons, never again to come forth alive! And yet have Iknown more than one among them who accepted her fate with a repose ofmanner and a sweetness of smile that told how dead must be the heartunder that still exterior. And I wondered at the sight. Only twentyminutes between bondage and freedom, --such freedom as may be found inSiam! only twenty minutes between those gloomy, hateful cells and thefair fields and the radiant skies! only twenty minutes between thecramping and the suffocation and the fear, and the full, deep, gloriousinspirations of freedom and safety!

I had never beheld misery till I found it here; I had never looked uponthe sickening hideousness of slavery till I encountered its featureshere; nor, above all, had I comprehended the perfection of the life, light, blessedness and beauty, the all-sufficing fulness of the love ofGod as it is in Jesus, until I felt the contrast here, --pain, deformity, darkness, death, and eternal emptiness, a darkness to which there isneither beginning nor end, a living which is neither of this world norof the next. The misery which checks the pulse and thrills the heartwith pity in one's common walks about the great cities of Europe ishardly so saddening as the nameless, mocking wretchedness of thesewomen, to whom poverty were a luxury, and houselessness as a draught ofpure, free air. 

And yet their lot is light indeed compared with that of their children. The single aim of such a hapless mother, howsoever tender and devotedshe may by nature be, is to form her child after the one strict patternher fate has set her, --her master's will; since, otherwise, she dare notcontemplate the perils which might overtake her treasure. Pitifulindeed, therefore, is the pitiless inflexibility of purpose with whichshe wings from her child's heart all the dangerous endearments ofchildhood, --its merry laughter, its sparkling tears, its trustfulness, its artlessness, its engaging waywardness; and in their place instilssilence, submission, self-constraint, suspicion, cunning, carefulness, and an ever-vigilant fear. And the result is a spectacle of unnaturaldiscipline simply appalling. The life of such a child is an egg-shell onan ocean; to its helpless speck of experience all horrors are possible. Its passing moment is its eternity; and that overwhelmed with terrors, real or imaginary, what is left but that poor little floating wreck, achild's despair?

I was often alone in the school-room, long after my other charges haddeparted, with a pale, dejected woman, whose name translated was"Hidden-Perfume. " As a pupil she was remarkably diligent and attentive, and in reading and translating English, her progress was extraordinary. Only in her eager, inquisitive glances was she child-like; otherwise, her expression and demeanor were anxious and aged. She had long been outof favor with her "lord"; and now, without hope from him, surrenderedherself wholly to her fondness for a son she had borne him in her moreyouthful and attractive days. In this young prince, who was about tenyears old, the same air of timidity and restraint was apparent as in hismother, whom he strikingly resembled, only lacking that cast of pensivesadness which rendered her so attractive, and her pride, which closedher lips upon the past, though the story of her wrongs was a moving one. 

It was my habit to visit her twice a week at her residence, [Footnote:Each of the ladies of the harem has her own exclusive domicile, withinthe inner walls of the palace. ] for I was indebted to her for muchintelligent assistance in my study of the Siamese language. On going toher abode one afternoon, I found her absent; only the young prince wasthere, sitting sadly by the window. 

"Where is your mother, dear?" I inquired. 

"With his Majesty up stairs, I think, " he replied, still lookinganxiously in one direction, as though watching for her. 

This was an unusual circumstance for my sad, lonely friend, and Ireturned home without my lesson for that day. 

Next morning, passing the house again, I saw the lad sitting in the sameattitude at the window, his eyes bent in the same direction, only morewistful and weary than before. On questioning him, I found his motherhad not yet returned. At the pavilion I was met by the Lady Tâlâp, who, seizing my hand, said, "Hidden-Perfume is in trouble. "

"What is the matter?" I inquired. 

"She is in prison, " she whispered, drawing me closely to her. "She isnot prudent, you know, --like you and me, " in a tone which expressed bothtriumph and fear. 

"Can I see her?" I asked. 

"Yes, yes! if you bribe the jailers. But don't give them more than atical each. They'll demand two; give them only one. "

In the pavilion, which served as a private chapel for the ladies of theharem, priests were reading prayers and reciting homilies from thatsacred book of Buddha called _Sâsânâh Thai_, "The Religion of the Free";while the ladies sat on velvet cushions with their hands folded, a vaseof flowers in front of each, and a pair of odoriferous candles, lighted. Prayers are held daily in this place, and three times a day during theBuddhist Lent. The priests are escorted to the pavilion by Amazons, andtwo warriors, armed with swords and clubs, remain on guard till theservice is ended. The latter, who are eunuchs, also attend the priestswhen they enter the palace, in the afternoon, to sprinkle the inmateswith consecrated water. 

Leaving the priests reciting and chanting, and the rapt worshippersbowing, I passed a young mother with a sleeping babe, some slave-girlsplaying at _sabâh_ [Footnote: Marbles, played with the knee instead ofthe fingers. ] on the stone pavement, and two princesses borne in thearms of their slaves, though almost women grown, on my way to the palaceprison. 

If it ever should be the reader's fortune, good or ill, to visit aSiamese dungeon, whether allotted to prince or peasant, his attentionwill be first attracted to the rude designs on the rough stone walls(otherwise decorated only with moss and fungi and loathsome reptiles) ofsome nightmared painter, who has exhausted his dyspeptic fancy inportraying hideous personifications of Hunger, Terror, Old Age, Despair, Disease, and Death, tormented by furies and avengers, with hair ofsnakes and whips of scorpions, --all beyond expression devilish. Floor ithas none, nor ceiling, for, with the Meinam so near, neither boards norplaster can keep out the ooze. Underfoot, a few planks, loosely laid, are already as soft as the mud they are meant to cover; the damp hasrotted them through and through. Overhead, the roof is black, but notwith smoke; for here, where the close steam of the soggy earth and thereeking walls is almost intolerable, no fire is needed in the coldestseason. The cell is lighted by one small window, so heavily grated onthe outer side as effectually to bar the ingress of fresh air. A pair ofwooden trestles, supporting rough boards, form a makeshift for abedstead, and a mat (which may be clean or dirty, the ticals of theprisoner must settle that) is all the bed. 

In such a cell, on such a couch, lay the concubine of a supreme king andthe mother of a royal prince of Siam, her feet covered with a silkmantle, her head supported by a pillow of glazed leather, her faceturned to the clammy wall. 

There was no door to grate upon her quivering nerves; a trap-door in thestreet overhead had opened to the magic of silver, and I had descended aflight of broken steps of stone. At her head, a little higher than thepillow, were a vase of flowers, half faded, a pair of candles burning ingold candlesticks, and a small image of the Buddha. She had brought hergod with her. Well, she needed his presence. 

I could hardly keep my feet, for the footing was slippery and my brainswam. Touching the silent, motionless form, in a voice scarcely audibleI pronounced her name. She turned with difficulty, and a slight sound ofclanking explained the covering on the feet. She was chained to one ofthe trestles. 

Sitting up, she made room for me beside her. No tears were in her eyes;only the habitual sadness of her face was deepened. Here, truly, was aperfect work of misery, meekness, and patience. 

Astonished at seeing me, she imagined me capable of yet greater things, and folding her hands in an attitude of supplication, implored me tohelp her. The offence for which she was imprisoned was briefly this:--

She had been led to petition, through her son, [Footnote: A privilegegranted to all the concubines. ] that an appointment held by her lateuncle, Phya Khien, might be bestowed on her elder brother, not knowingthat another noble had already been preferred to the post by hisMajesty. 

Had she been guilty of the gravest crime, her punishment could not havebeen more severe. It was plain that a stupid grudge was at the bottom ofthis cruel business. The king, on reading the petition, presented by thetrembling lad on his knees, became furious, and, dashing it back intothe child's face, accused the mother of plotting to undermine his power, saying he knew her to be at heart a rebel, who hated him and his dynastywith all the rancor of her Peguan ancestors, the natural enemies ofSiam. Thus lashing himself into a rage of hypocritical patriotism, andseeking to justify himself by condemning her, he sent one of his judgesto bring her to him. But before the myrmidon could go and come, concluding to dispense with forms, he anticipated the result of thatmandate with another, --to chain and imprison her. No sooner was shedragged to this deadly cell, than a third order was issued to flog hertill she confessed her treacherous plot; but the stripes wereadministered so tenderly, [Footnote: In these cases the executioners arewomen, who generally spare each other if they dare. ] that the onlyconfession they extorted was a meek protestation that she was "hismeanest slave, and ready to give her life for his pleasure. "

"Beat her on the mouth with a slipper for lying!" roared the royaltiger; and they did, in the letter, if not in the spirit, of the brutalsentence. She bore it meekly, hanging down her head. "I am degradedforever!" she said to me. 

When once the king was enraged, there was nothing to be done but to waitin patience until the storm should exhaust itself by its own fury. Butit was horrible to witness such an abuse of power at the hands of onewho was the only source of justice in the land. It was a crime againstall humanity, the outrage of the strong upon the helpless. His madnesssometimes lasted a week; but weeks have their endings. Besides, hereally had a conscience, tough and shrunken as it was; and she had, whatwas more to the purpose, a whole tribe of powerful connections. 

As for myself, there was but one thing I could do; and that was tointercede privately with the Kralahome. The same evening, immediately onreturning from my visit to the dungeon, I called on him; but when Iexplained the object of my visit he rebuked me sharply for interferingbetween his Majesty and his wives. 

"She is my pupil, " I replied. "But I have not interfered; I have onlycome to you for justice. She did not know of the appointment until shehad sent in her petition; and to punish one woman for that which ispermitted and encouraged in another is gross injustice. " Thereupon hesent for his secretary, and having satisfied himself that theappointment had not been published, was good enough to promise that hewould explain to his Majesty that "there had been delay in making knownto the Court the royal pleasure in this matter"; but he spoke withindifference, as if thinking of something else. 

I felt chilled and hurt as I left the premier's palace, and more anxiousthan ever when I thought of the weary eyes of the lonely lad watchingfor his mother's return; for no one dared tell him the truth. But, to dothe premier justice, he was more troubled than he would permit me todiscover at the mistake the poor woman had made; for there was goodstuff in the moral fabric of the man, --stern rectitude, and a judgment, unlike the king's, not warped by passion. That very night [Footnote: Allconsultations on matters of state and of court discipline are held inthe royal palace at night. ] he repaired to the Grand Palace, andexplained the delay to the king, without appearing to be aware of theconcubine's punishment. 

On Monday morning, when I came to school in the pavilion, I found, to mygreat joy, that Hidden-Perfume had been liberated, and was at home againwith her child. The poor creature embraced me ardently, glorifying mewith grateful epithets from the extravagant vocabulary of her people;and, taking an emerald ring from her finger, she put it upon mine, saying, "By this you will remember your thankful friend. " On thefollowing day she also sent me a small purse of gold thread netted, inwhich were a few Siamese coins, and a scrap of paper inscribed withcabalistic characters, --an infallible charm to preserve the wearer frompoverty and distress. 

Among my pupils was a little girl about eight or nine years old, ofdelicate frame, and with the low voice and subdued manner of one who hadalready had experience of sorrow. She was not among those presented tome at the opening of the school. Wanne Ratâna Kania was her name ("SweetPromise of my Hopes"), and very engaging and persuasive was she in herpatient, timid loveliness. Her mother, the Lady Khoon Chom Kioa, who hadonce found favor with the king, had, at the time of my coming to thepalace, fallen into disgrace by reason of her gambling, in which she hadsquandered all the patrimony of the little princess. This fact, insteadof inspiring the royal father with pity for his child, seemed to attractto her all that was most cruel in his insane temper. The offence of themother had made the daughter offensive in his sight; and it was notuntil long after the term of imprisonment of the degraded favorite hadexpired that Wanne ventured to appear at a royal _levée_. The moment theking caught sight of the little form, so piteously prostrated there, hedrove her rudely from his presence, taunting her with the delinquenciesof her mother with a coarseness that would have been cruel enough if shehad been responsible for them and a gainer by them, but against one ofher tender years, innocent toward both, and injured by both, it wasinconceivably atrocious. 

On her first appearance at school she was so timid and wistful that Ifelt constrained to notice and encourage her more than those whom I hadalready with me. But I found this no easy part to play; for very soonone of the court ladies in the confidence of the king took me quietlyaside and warned me to be less demonstrative in favor of the littleprincess, saying, "Surely you would not bring trouble upon that woundedlamb. "

It was a sore trial to me to witness the oppression of one sounoffending and so helpless. Yet our Wanne was neither thin nor pale. There was a freshness in her childish beauty, and a bloom in thetransparent olive of her cheek, that were at times bewitching. She lovedher father, and in her visions of baby faith beheld him almost as a god. It was true joy to her to fold her hands and bow before the chamberwhere he slept. With that steadfast hopefulness of childhood which canbe deceived without being discouraged, she would say, "How glad he willbe when I can read!" and yet she had known nothing but despair. 

Her memory was extraordinary; she delighted in all that was remarkable, and with careful wisdom gathered up facts and precepts and saved themfor future use. She seemed to have built around her an invisible templeof her own design, and to have illuminated it with the rushlight of herchildish love. Among the books she read to me, rendering it from Englishinto Siamese, was one called "Spring-time. " On translating the line, "Whom He loveth he chasteneth, " she looked up in my face, and askedanxiously: "Does thy God do that? Ah! lady, are _all_ the gods angry andcruel? Has he no pity, even for those who love him? He must be like myfather; _he_ loves us, so he has to be _rye_ (cruel), that we may fearevil and avoid it. "

Meanwhile little Wanne learned to spell, read, and translate almostintuitively; for there were novelty and hope to help the Buddhist child, and love to help the English woman. The sad look left her face, her lifehad found an interest; and very often, on _fête_ days, she was my onlypupil;--when suddenly an ominous cloud obscured the sky of her transientgladness. Wanne was poor; and her gifts to me were of the riches ofpoverty, --fruits and flowers. But she owned some female slaves; and oneamong them, a woman of twenty-five perhaps (who had already made a placefor herself in my regard), seemed devotedly attached to her youthfulmistress, and not only attended her to the school day after day, butshared her scholarly enthusiasm, even studied with her, sitting at herfeet by the table. Steadily the slave kept pace with the princess. Allthat Wanne learned at school in the day was lovingly taught to Mai Noiein the nursery at night; and it was not long before I found, to myastonishment, that the slave read and translated as correctly as hermistress. 

Very delightful were the demonstrations of attachment interchangedbetween these two. Mai Noie bore the child in her arms to and from theschool, fed her, humored her every whim, fanned her naps, bathed andperfumed her every night, and then rocked her to sleep on her carefulbosom, as tenderly as she would have done for her own baby. And then itwas charming to watch the child's face kindle with love and comfort asthe sound of her friend's step approached. 

Suddenly a change; the little princess came to school as usual, but astrange woman attended her, and I saw no more of Mai Noie there. Thechild grew so listless and wretched that I was forced to ask the causeof her darling's absence; she burst into a passion of tears, but repliednot a word. Then I inquired of the stranger, and she answered in twosyllables, --_My ru_ ("I know not"). 

Shortly afterward, as I entered the school-room one day, I perceivedthat something unusual was happening. I turned toward the princes' door, and stood still, fairly holding my breath. There was the king, furious, striding up and down. All the female judges of the palace were present, and a crowd of mothers and royal children. On all the steps around, innumerable slave-women, old and young, crouched and hid their faces. 

But the object most conspicuous was little Wanne's mother, manacled, andprostrate on the polished marble pavement. There, too, was my poorlittle princess, her hands clasped helplessly, her eyes tearless butdowncast, palpitating, trembling, shivering. Sorrow and horror hadtransformed the child. 

As well as I could understand, where no one dared explain, the wretchedwoman had been gambling again, and had even staked and lost herdaughter's slaves. At last I understood Wanne's silence when I asked herwhere Mai Noie was. By some means--spies probably--the whole matter hadcome to the king's ears, and his rage was wild, not because he loved thechild, but that he hated the mother. 

Promptly the order was given to lash the woman; and two Amazons advancedto execute it. The first stripe was delivered with savage skill; butbefore the thong could descend again, the child sprang forward and flungherself across the bare and quivering back of her mother. 

_Ti chan, Tha Moom! [Footnote: Tha Mom or Moom, used by children inaddressing a royal father. ] Poot-thoo ti chan, Tha Mom!_ ("Strike _me_, my father! Pray, strike me, O my father!")

The pause of fear that followed was only broken by my boy, who, with aconvulsive cry, buried his face desperately in the folds of my skirt. 

There indeed was a case for prayer, any prayer!--the prostrate woman, the hesitating lash, the tearless anguish of the Siamese child, theheart-rending cry of the English child, all those mothers withgrovelling brows, but hearts uplifted among the stars, on the wings ofthe Angel of Prayer. Who could behold so many women crouching, shuddering, stupefied, dismayed, in silence and darkness, animated, enlightened only by the deep whispering heart of maternity, and not bemoved with mournful yearning?

The child's prayer was vain. As demons tremble in the presence of a god, so the king comprehended that he had now to deal with a power ofweakness, pity, beauty, courage, and eloquence. "Strike _me_, O myfather!" His quick, clear sagacity measured instantly all the danger inthat challenge; and though his voice was thick and agitated (for, monster as he was at that moment, he could not but shrink from strikingat every mother's heart at his feet), he nervously gave the word toremove the child, and bind her. The united strength of several women wasnot more than enough to loose the clasp of those loving arms from theneck of an unworthy mother. The tender hands and feet were bound, andthe tender heart was broken. The lash descended then, unforbidden by anycry. 

XIII. FÂ-YING, THE KING'S DARLING. 

"Will you teach me to draw?" said an irresistible young voice to me, asI sat at the school-room table, one bright afternoon. "It is so muchmore pleasant to sit by you than to go to my Sanskrit class. My Sanskritteacher is not like my English teacher; she bends my hands back when Imake mistakes. I don't like Sanskrit, I like English. There are so manypretty pictures in your books. Will you take me to England with you, Mamcha?" [Footnote: "Lady, dear. "] pleaded the engaging little prattler. 

"I am afraid his Majesty will not let you go with me, " I replied. 

"O yes, he will!" said the child with smiling confidence. "He lets me doas I like. You know I am the Somdetch Chow Fâ-ying; he loves me best ofall; he will let me go. "

"I am glad to hear it, " said I, "and very glad to hear that you loveEnglish and drawing. Let us go up and ask his Majesty if you may learndrawing instead of Sanskrit. "

With sparkling eyes and a happy smile, she sprang from my lap, and, seizing my hand eagerly, said, "O yes! let us go now. " We went, and ourprayer was granted. 

Never did work seem more like pleasure than it did to me as I sat withthis sweet, bright little princess, day after day, at the hour when allher brothers and sisters were at their Sanskrit, drawing herself, as thehumor seized her, or watching me draw; but oftener listening, her largequestioning eyes fixed upon my face, as step by step I led her out ofthe shadow-land of myth into the realm of the truth as it is in ChristJesus. "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God"; and I feltthat this child of smiles and tears, all unbaptized and unblessed as shewas, was nearer and dearer to her Father in heaven than to her father onearth. 

This was the Somdetch Chowfa Chandrmondol, best known in the palace byher pet name of Fâ-ying. Her mother, the late queen consort, in dying, left three sons and this one daughter, whom, with peculiar tendernessand anxiety, she commended to the loving kindness of the king; and nowthe child was the fondled darling of the lonely, bitter man, havingquickly won her way to his heart by the charm of her fearless innocenceand trustfulness, her sprightly intelligence and changeful grace. 

Morning dawned fair on the river, the sunshine flickering on the silverripples, and gilding the boats of the market people as they softly glideup or down to the lazy swing of the oars. The floating shops were allawake, displaying their various and fantastic wares to attract thepassing citizen or stranger. Priests in yellow robes moved noiselesslyfrom door to door, receiving without asking and without thanks the almswherewith their pious clients hoped to lay up treasures in heaven, or, in Buddhist parlance, to "make merit. " Slaves hurried hither and thitherin the various bustle of errands. Worshippers thronged the gates andvestibules of the many temples of this city of pagodas and _p'hra-cha-dees_, and myriads of fan-shaped bells scattered aeolian melodies onthe passing breeze. As Boy and I gazed from our piazza on this strangelypicturesque panorama, there swept across the river a royal barge filledwith slaves, who, the moment they had landed, hurried up to me. 

"My lady, " they cried, "there is cholera in the palace! Three slaves arelying dead in the princesses' court; and her Highness, the youngSomdetch Chow Fâ-ying, was seized this morning. She sends for you. O, come to her, quickly!" and with that they put into my hand a scrap ofpaper; it was from his Majesty. 

"MY DEAR MAM, --Our well-beloved daughter, your favorite pupil, isattacked with cholera, and has earnest desire to see you, and is heardmuch to make frequent repetition of your name. I beg that you will favorher wish. I fear her illness is mortal, as there has been three deathssince morning. She is best beloved of my children. 

"I am your afflicted friend, "S. S. P. P. MAHA MONGKUT. "

In a moment I was in my boat. I entreated, I flattered, I scolded, therowers. How slow they were! how strong the opposing current! And when wedid reach those heavy gates, how slowly they moved, with what suspiciouscaution they admitted me! I was fierce with impatience. And when at lastI stood panting at the door of my Fâ-ying's chamber--too late! even Dr. Campbell (the surgeon of the British consulate) had come too late. 

There was no need to prolong that anxious wail in the ear of the deafchild, "P'hra-Arahang! P'hra-Arahang!" [Footnote: One of the most sacredof the many titles of Buddha, repeated by the nearest relative in theear of the dying till life is quite extinct. ] She would not forget herway; she would nevermore lose herself on the road to Heaven. Beyond, above the P'hra-Arahang, she had soared into the eternal, tender arms ofthe P'hra-Jesus, of whom she was wont to say in her infantine wonder andeagerness, _Mam cha, chân râk P'hra-Jesus mâk_ ("Mam dear, I love yourholy Jesus. ")

As I stooped to imprint a parting kiss on the little face that had beenso fair to me, her kindred and slaves exchanged their appealing"P'hra-Arahang" for a sudden burst of heart-rending cries. 

An attendant hurried me to the king, who, reading the heavy tidings inmy silence, covered his face with his hands and wept passionately. Strange and terrible were the tears of such a man, welling up from aheart from which all natural affections had seemed to be expelled, tomake room for his own exacting, engrossing conceit of self. 

Bitterly he bewailed his darling, calling her by such tender, touchingepithets as the lips of loving Christian mothers use. What could I say?What could I do but weep with him, and then steal quietly away and leavethe king to the Father?

"The moreover very sad & mournful Circular [Footnote: From the pen ofthe king. ] from His Gracious Majesty Somdetch P'hra Paramendr MahaMongkut, the reigning Supreme King of Siam, intimating the recent deathof Her Celestial Royal Highness, Princess Somdetch Chowfa ChandrmondolSobhon Baghiawati, who was His Majesty's most affectionate & wellbeloved 9th Royal daughter or 16th offspring, and the second Royal childby His Majesty's late Queen consort Rambery Bhamarabhiramy who deceasedin the year 1861. Both mother and daughter have been known to manyforeign friends of His Majesty. 

"To all the foreign friends of His Majesty, residing or trading in Siam, or in Singapore, Malacca, Pinang, Ceylon, Batavia, Saigon, Macao, Hong-kong, & various regions in China, Europe, America, &c. &c. .. . 

"Her Celestial Royal Highness, having been born on the 24th April, 1855, grew up in happy condition of her royal valued life, under the care ofher Royal parents, as well as her elder and younger three full brothers;and on the demise of her royal mother on the forementioned date, she wasalmost always with her Royal father everywhere day & night. All thingswhich belonged to her late mother suitable for female use weretransferred to her as the most lawful inheritor of her late royalmother; She grew up to the age of 8 years & 20 days. On the ceremony ofthe funeral service of her elder late royal half brother forenamed, Sheaccompanied her royal esteemed father & her royal brothers and sistersin customary service, cheerfully during three days of the ceremony, fromthe 11th to 13th May. On the night of the latter day, when she wasreturning from the royal funeral place to the royal residence in thesame sedan with her Royal father at 10 o'clock P. M. She yet appearedhappy, but alas! on her arrival at the royal residence, she was attackedby most violent & awful cholera, and sunk rapidly before the arrival ofthe physicians who were called on that night for treatment. Her diseaseor illness of cholera increased so strong that it did not give way tothe treatment of any one, or even to the Chlorodine administered to herby Doctor James Campbell the Surgeon of the British Consulate. Sheexpired at 4 o'clock P. M. , on the 14th May, when her elder royal halfbrother's remains were burning at the funeral hall outside of the royalpalace, according to the determined time for the assembling of the greatcongregation of the whole of the royalty & nobility, and native &foreign friends, before the occurrence of the unforeseen suddenmisfortune or mournful event. 

"The sudden death of the said most affectionate and lamented royaldaughter has caused greater regret and sorrow to her Royal father thanseveral losses sustained by him before, as this beloved Royal amiabledaughter was brought up almost by the hands of His Majesty himself, since she was aged only 4 to 5 months, His Majesty has carried her toand fro by his hand and on the lap and placed her by his side in everyone of the Royal seats, where ever he went; whatever could be done inthe way of nursing His Majesty has done himself, by feeding her withmilk obtained from her nurse, and sometimes with the milk of the cow, goat &c. Poured in a teacup from which His Majesty fed her by means of aspoon, so this Royal daughter was as familiar with her father in herinfancy, as with her nurses. 

"On her being only aged six months, his Majesty took this Princess withhim and went to Ayudia on affairs there; after that time when she becamegrown up His Majesty had the princess seated on his lap when he was inhis chair at the breakfast, dinner & supper table, and fed her at thesame time of breakfast &c, almost every day, except when she became sickof colds &c. Until the last days of her life she always eat at sametable with her father. Where ever His Majesty went, this princess alwaysaccompanied her father upon the same, sedan, carriage, Royal boat, yacht&c. And on her being grown up she became more prudent than otherchildren of the same age, she paid every affectionate attention to heraffectionate and esteemed father in every thing where her abilityallowed; she was well educated in the vernacular Siamese literaturewhich she commenced to study when she was 3 years old, and in last yearshe commenced to study in the English School where the schoolmistress, Lady L---- has observed that she was more skillful than the other royalChildren, she pronounced & spoke English in articulate & clever mannerwhich pleased the schoolmistress exceedingly, so that the schoolmistresson the loss of this her beloved pupil, was in great sorrow and weptmuch. 

". .. . But alas! her life was very short. She was only aged 8 years & 20days, reckoning from her birth day & hour, she lived in this world 2942days & 18 hours. But it is known that the nature of human lives is likethe flames of candles lighted in open air without any protection above &every side, so it is certain that this path ought to be followed byevery one of human beings in a short or long while which cannot beascertained by prediction, Alas!

"Dated Royal Grand Palace, Bangkok, 16th May, Anno Christi 1863. "

Not long after our darling Fâ-ying was taken from us, the same royalbarge, freighted with the same female slaves who had summoned us to herdeath-bed, came in haste to our house. His Majesty had sent them to findand bring us. We must hurry to the palace. On arriving there, we foundthe school pavilion strangely decorated with flowers. My chair of officehad been freshly painted a glaring red, and on the back and round thearms and legs fresh flowers were twined. The books the Princess Fâ-yinghad lately conned were carefully displayed in front of my accustomedseat, and upon them were laid fresh roses and fragrant lilies. Some ofthe ladies in waiting informed me that an extraordinary honor was aboutto be conferred on me. Not relishing the prospect of favors that mightplace me in a false position, and still all in the dark, I submittedquietly, but not without misgivings on my own part and positiveopposition on Boy's, to be enthroned in the gorgeous chair, whereof thepaint was hardly dry. Presently his Majesty sent to inquire if we hadarrived, and being apprised of our presence, came down at once, followedby all my pupils and a formidable staff of noble dowagers, --his sisters, half-sisters, and aunts, paternal and maternal. 

Having shaken hands with me and with my child, he proceeded to enlightenus. He was about to confer a distinction upon me, for my "courage andconduct, " as he expressed it, at the death-bed of her Highness, hiswell-beloved royal child, the Somdetch Chow Fâ-ying. Then, bidding me"remain seated, " much to the detriment of my white dress, in the stickyred chair, and carefully taking the ends of seven threads of unspuncotton (whereof the other ends were passed over my head, and over thedead child's books, into the hands of seven of his elder sisters), heproceeded to wind them round my brow and temples. Next he wavedmysteriously a few gold coins, then dropped twenty-one drops of coldwater out of a jewelled shell, [Footnote: The conch, or chank shell] andfinally, muttering something in Sanskrit, and placing in my hand a smallsilk bag containing a title of nobility and the number and descriptionof the roods of lands pertaining to it, bade me rise, "Chow Khoon CrueYai"!

My estate was in the district of Lophaburee and P'hra Batt, and I foundafterward that to reach it I must perform a tedious journey overland, through a wild, dense jungle, on the back of an elephant. So, with wisemunificence, I left it to my people, tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses, wild boars, armadillos, and monkeys to enjoy unmolested and untaxed, while I continued to pursue the even tenor of a "school-marm's" way, unagitated by my honorary title. In fact, the whole affair wasridiculous; and I was inclined to feel a little ashamed of thedistinction, when I reflected on the absurd figure I must have cut, withmy head in a string like a grocer's parcel, and Boy imploring me, withall his astonished eyes, not to submit to so silly an operation. So heand I tacitly agreed to hush the matter up between us. 

Speaking of the "chank" shell, that is the name given in the East Indiesto certain varieties of the _voluta gravis_, fished up by divers in theGulf of Manaar, on the northwest coast of Ceylon. There are two kinds, _payel_ and _patty, _--the one red, the other white; the latter is ofsmall value. These shells are exported to Calcutta and Bombay, wherethey are sawed into rings of various sizes, and worn on the arms, legs, fingers, and toes by the Hindoos, from whom the Buddhists have adoptedthe shell for use in their religious or political ceremonies. Theyemploy, however, a third species, which opens to the right, and is rareand costly. The demand for these shells, created by the innumerablepoojahs and pageants of the Hindoos and Buddhists, was formerly so greatthat a bounty of sixty thousand rix dollars per annum was paid to theBritish government for the privilege of fishing for them; but thisdemand finally ceased, and the revenue became not worth collecting. Thefishing is now free to all. 

XIV. AN OUTRAGE AND A WARNING. 

One morning we were startled by a great outcry, from which we presentlybegan to pick out, here and there, a coherent word, which, put together, signified that Moonshee was once more in trouble. I ran down into thecompound, and found that the old man had been cruelly beaten, by orderof one of the premier's half-brothers, for refusing to bow down beforehim. Exhausted as he was, he found voice to express his sense of theoutrage in indignant iteration. "Am I a beast? Am I an unbelieving dog?O son of Jaffur Khan, how hast thou fallen!"

I felt so shocked and insulted that I went at once, and withoutceremony, to the Kralahome, and complained. To my surprise and disgust, his Excellency made light of the matter, saying that the old man was afool; that he had no time to waste upon such trifles; and that I mustnot trouble him so often with my meddling in matters of no moment, andwhich did not concern me. 

When he was done with this explosion of petulance and brow-beating, Iendeavored to demonstrate to him the unfairness of his remarks, and thedisadvantage to himself if he should appear to connive at the ruffianlybehavior of his people. But I assured him that in future I should nottrouble him with my complaints, but take them directly to the BritishConsul. And so saying I left this unreasonable prime minister, meetingthe cause of all our woes (the half-brother) coming in as I went out. That same evening, as I sat in our little piazza, where it was coolerthan in the house, embroidering a new coat for Boy to wear on hisapproaching birthday, I felt a violent blow on my head, and fell from mychair stunned, overturning the small table at which I was working, andthe heavy Argand lamp that stood on it. 

On recovering my senses I found myself in the dark, and Boy, with allhis little strength, trying to lift me from the floor, while hescreamed, "_Beebe maree! Beebe maree!_" [Footnote: Maree, "Come here"(Malay). ] I endeavored to rise, but feeling dizzy and sick lay still fora while, taking Louis in my arms to reassure him. 

When Beebe came from the river, where she had been bathing, she struck alight, and found that the mischief had been done with a large stone, about four inches long and two wide; but by whom or why it had beenthrown we could not for some time conjecture. Beebe raised theneighborhood with her cries: "First my husband, then my mistress! Itwill be my turn next; and then what will become of the _chota babasahib?_" [Footnote: The little master. ] But I begged her to have donewith her din and help me to the couch, which she did with touchingtenderness and quiet, bathing my head, which had bled so profusely thatI sank, exhausted, into a deep sleep, though the sight of my boy's pale, anxious face, as he insisted on sharing Beebe's vigil, would have beenmore than enough to keep me awake at any other time. When I awoke in themorning, there sat the dear little fellow in a chair asleep, butdressed, his head resting on my pillow. 

I now felt so much better, though my head was badly swollen, that I roseand paid a visit to Moonshee, who was really ill, though not dying, ashis wife declared. The shame and outrage of his beating was the occasionof much sorrow and trouble to me, for my Persian teacher now begged tobe sent back to Singapore, and I thought that Beebe could not bepersuaded to let him go alone, though my heart had been set on keepingthem with me as long as I remained in Siam. It was in vain that I triedto convince the terrified old man that such a catastrophe could hardlyhappen again; he would not be beguiled, but, shedding faithful tears atthe sight of my bandaged head, declared we should all be murdered if wetarried another day in a land of such barbarous Kafirs. I assured himthat my wound was but skin-deep, and that I apprehended no furtherviolence. But all to no purpose; I was obliged to promise them that theyshould depart by the next trip of the Chow Phya steamer. 

I deemed it prudent, however, to send for the premier's secretary, andwarn him, in his official capacity, that if a repetition of the outragealready perpetrated upon members of my household should be attemptedfrom any quarter, I would at once take refuge at the British consulate, and lodge a complaint against the government of Siam. 

Mr. Hunter, who was always very serious when he was sober and veryvolatile when he was not, took the matter to heart, stared long andthoughtfully at my bandaged head and pallid countenance, and abruptlystarted for the premier's palace, whence he returned on the followingday with several copies of a proclamation in the Siamese language, signed by his Excellency, to the effect that persons found injuring orin any way molesting any member of my household should be severelypunished. I desired him to leave one or two of them, in a friendly way, at the house of my neighbor on the left, the Kralahome's half-brother;for it was he, and no other, who had committed this most cowardly act ofrevenge. The expression of Mr. Hunter's face, as the truth slowly dawnedupon him, was rich in its blending of indignation, disgust, andcontempt. "The pusillanimous rascal!" he exclaimed, as he hurried off inthe direction indicated. 

"The darkest hour is just before day. " So the gloom now cast over ourlittle circle by Moonshee's departure was quickly followed by the lightof love in Beebe's tearful eyes as she bade her husband adieu. "Howcould she, " she asked, "leave her Mem and the _chota baba sahib_ alone ina strange land?"

XV. THE CITY OF BANGKOK. 

Ascending the Meinam (or Chow Phya) from the gulf, and passing Paknam, the paltry but picturesque seaport already described, we come next toPaklat Beeloo, or "Little Paklat, " so styled to distinguish it fromPaklat Boon, a considerable town higher up the river, which we shallpresently inspect as we steam toward Bangkok. Though, strictly speaking, Paklat Beeloo is a mere cluster of huts, the humble dwellings of acolony of farmers and rice-planters, it is nevertheless a place ofconsiderable importance as a depot for the products of the ample fieldsand gardens which surround it on every side. The rice and vegetableswhich these supply are shipped for the markets of Bangkok and Ayudia. AtPaklat Beeloo that bustle of traffic begins which, more and more as weapproach the capital, imparts to the river its characteristic aspect ofactivity and thrift, --an animated procession of boats of various formand size, deeply laden with grain, garden stuffs, and fruits, driftingwith the friendly helping tide, and requiring little or no manual laborfor their navigation, as they sweep along tranquilly, steadily, frombank to bank, from village to village. 

Diverse as are the styles and uses of these boats, the most convenient, and therefore the most common, are the Rua-keng and the Rua-pêt. Theformer resembles in all respects the Venetian gondola, while the Rua-pêthas either a square house with, windows amidships, or (more commonly) abasket cover, long and round, like the tent-top of some Western wagons. The dimensions of many of these boats are sufficient to accommodate anentire family, with their household goods and merchandise, yet oneseldom sees more than a single individual in charge of them. The tide, running strongly up or down, affords the motive-power; "the crew" hasbut to steer. Often unwieldy, and piled clumsily with cargo, one mightreasonably suppose their safe piloting to be a nautical impossibility;yet so perfect is the skill--the instinct, rather--of these almostamphibious river-folk, that a little child, not uncommonly a girl, shall lead them. Accidents are marvellously rare, considering thethousands of large, heavy, handsome keng boats that ply continuallybetween the gulf and the capital, now lost in a sudden bend of thestream, now emerging from behind a screen of mangroves, and in theirswift descent threatening quick destruction to the small and fragilemarket-boats, freighted with fish and poultry, fruit and vegetables. 

From Paklat Beeloo a great canal penetrates directly to the heart ofBangkok, cutting off thirty miles from the circuitous river route. Butthe traveller, faithful to the picturesque, will cling to the beautifulMeinam, which will entertain him with scenery more and more charming ashe approaches the capital, --higher lands, a neater cultivation, hamletsand villages quaintly pretty, fantastic temples and pagodas dotting theplain, fine Oriental effects of form and color, scattered Edens offruit-trees, --the mango, the mangostein, the bread-fruit, the durian theorange, --their dark foliage contrasting boldly with the more lively andlovely green of the betel, the tamarind, and the banana. Every curve ofthe river is beautiful with an unexpectedness of its own, --here thesugar-cane swaying gracefully, there the billow-like lights and shadowsof the supple, feathery bamboo, and everywhere ideal paradises ofrefreshment and repose. As we drift on the flowing thoroughfare towardthe golden spires of Bangkok, kaleidoscopic surprises of summer saluteus on either hand. 

Presently we come to Paklat Boon, a place of detached cottages andorchards, fondly courting the river, the pretty homesteads of husbandmenand gardeners. Here, too, is a dock-yard for the construction of royalbarges and war-boats, some of them more than eighty feet long, with lessthan twelve feet beam. 

From Paklat Boon to Bangkok the scene is one of ever-increasingsplendor, the glorious river seeming to array itself more and moregrandly, as for the admiration of kings, and proudly spreading itswaters wide, as a courtier spreads his robes. Its lake-like expanses, without a spiteful rock or shoal, are alive with ships, barks, brigs, junks, proas, sampans, canoes; and the stranger is beset by a flotillaof river pedlers, expertly sculling under the stern of the steamer, andshrilly screaming the praises of their wares; while here and there, inthe thick of the bustle and scramble and din, a cunning, quick-handedChinaman, in a crank canoe, ladles from a steaming caldron his savorychow-chow soup, and serves it out in small white bowls to hungrycustomers, who hold their peace for a time and loll upon their oars, enraptured by the penetrating brew. 

Three miles below the capital are the royal dock-yards, where most ofthe ships composing the Siamese navy and merchant marine are built, under the supervision of English shipwrights. Here, also, craft fromHong-Kong, Canton, Singapore, Rangoon, and other ports, that have beendisabled at sea, are repaired more thoroughly and cheaply than in anyother port in the East. There are, likewise, several dry-docks, and, infact, an establishment completely equipped and intelligently managed. Ashort distance below the dock-yards is the American Mission, comprisingthe dwellings of the missionaries and a modest school-house and chapel, the latter having a fair attendance of consuls and their children. Abovethe dock-yards is the Roman Catholic establishment, a quiet littlesettlement clustered about a small cross-crowned sanctuary. 

Yet one more bend of the tortuous river, and the strange panorama of thefloating city unrolls like a great painted canvas before us, --piers andrafts of open shops, with curious wares and fabrics exposed at the verywater's edge; and beyond and above these the magnificent "watts" andpagodas with which the capital abounds. 

These pagodas, and the _p'hra-cha-dees_, or minarets, that crown some ofthe temples, are in many cases true wonders of cunning workmanship andprofuse adornment--displaying mosaics of fine porcelain, inlaid withivory, gold, and silver, while the lofty doors and windows are overlaidwith sculptures of grotesque figures from the Buddhist and Brahminicalmythologies. Near the Grand Palace are three tall pillars of elegantdesign, everywhere inlaid with variegated stones, and so richly giltthat they are the wonder and the pride of all the country round. Thesemonuments mark the places of deposit of a few charred bones that oncewere three demigods of Siam, --the kings P'hra Rama Thibodi, P'hra Narai, and P'hra Phya Tak, who did doughty deeds of valor and prowess inearlier periods of Siamese history. 

The Grand Royal Palace, the semi-castellated residence of the SupremeKing of Siam, with its roofs and spires pointed with what seem to be thehorns of animals, towers pre-eminent over all the city. It is a greatcitadel, surrounded by a triplet of walls, fortified with many bastions. Each of the separate buildings it comprises is cruciform; and even thepalace lately erected in the style of Windsor Castle forms with the oldpalace the arms of a cross, as the latter does with the Phrasat, --and soon down to an odd little conceit in architecture, in the Chinese stylethroughout. 

In front of the old palace is an ample enclosure, paved, and surroundedwith beautiful trees and rare plants. A gateway, guarded by a pair ofcolossal lions and two gigantic and frightful nondescripts, half demon, half human, leads to the old palace, now almost abandoned. Beyond this, and within the third or innermost wall, is the true heart of thecitadel, the quarters of the women of the harem. This is in itself asort of miniature city, with streets, shops, bazaars, and gardens, alloccupied and tended by women only. Outside are the observatory andwatch-tower. 

Some of the grandest and most beautiful temples and pagodas of Siam arein this part of the city. On one side of the palace are the temples andmonasteries dedicated to the huge Sleeping Idol, and on the other themass of buildings that constitute the palace and harem of the SecondKing. From these two palaces broad streets extend for several miles, occupied on either side by the principal shops and bazaars of Bangkok. 

Leaving the Grand Palace, a short walk to the right brings us to themonuments, already mentioned, of the three warrior kings. From noblepedestals of fine black granite, adorned at top and bottom with cornicesand rings of ivory, carved in mythological forms of animals, birds, andflowers, rise conical pillars about fifty feet high. 

The columns themselves are in mosaic, with diverse material inlaid uponthe solid masonry so carefully that the cement can hardly be detected. No two patterns are the same, striking effects of form and color havebeen studied, and the result is beautiful beyond description. Closebeside these a third pillar was lately in process of erection, to thememory of the good King P'hra-Phen-den Klang, father of his lateMajesty, Somdetch P'hra-Paramendr Maha Mongkut. 

On the outer skirt of the walled town stands the temple Watt BrahmaneeWaid, dedicated to the divinity to whom the control of the universe hasbeen ascribed from the most ancient times. His temple is the only shrineof a Brahminical deity that the followers of Buddha have not dared toabolish. Intelligent Buddhists hold that he exists in the latent forcesof nature, that his only attribute is benevolence, though he is capableof a just indignation, and that within the scope of his mental visionare myriads of worlds yet to come. But he is said to have no form, novoice, no odor, no color, no active creative power, --a subtile, fundamental principle of nature, pervading all things, influencing allthings. This belief in Brahma is so closely interwoven with all that isbest in the morals and customs of the people, that it would seem asthough Buddha himself had been careful to leave unchallenged this oneidea in the mythology of the Hindoos. The temple includes a royalmonastery, which only the sons of kings can enter. 

Opposite the Brahmanee Watt, at the distance of about a mile, are theextensive grounds and buildings of Watt Sah Kâte, the great nationalburning-place of the dead. Within these mysterious precincts theBuddhist rite of cremation is performed, with circumstances more or lesshorrible, according to the condition or the superstition of thedeceased. A broad canal surrounds the temple and yards, and here, nightand day, priests watch and pray for the regeneration of mankind. Notalone the dead, but the living likewise, are given to be burned insecret here; and into this canal, at dead of night, are flung the rashwretches who have madly dared to oppose with speech or act the powersthat rule in Siam. None but the initiated will approach, these groundsafter sunset, so universal and profound is the horror the placeinspires, --a place the most frightful and offensive known to mortaleyes; for here the vows of dead men, howsoever ghoulish and monstrous, are consummated. The walls are hung with human skeletons and the groundis strewed with human skulls. Here also are scraped together the horridfragments of those who have bequeathed their carcasses to the hungrydogs and vultures, that hover, and prowl, and swoop, and pounce, andsnarl, and scream, and tear. The half-picked bones are gathered andburned by the outcast keepers of the temple (not priests), who receivefrom the nearest relative of the infatuated testator a small fee forthat final service; and so a Buddhist vow is fulfilled, and a Buddhist"deed of merit" accomplished. 

Bangkok, the modern seat of government of Siam, has (according to thebest authorities) two hundred thousand floating dwellings and shops, --toeach house an average of five souls, --making the population of the cityabout one million; of which number more than eighty thousand areChinese, twenty thousand Birmese, fifteen thousand Arabs and Indians, and the remainder Siamese. These figures are from the latest census, which, however, must not be accepted as perfectly accurate. 

The situation of the city is unique and picturesque. When Ayudia was"extinguished, " and the capital established at Bangkok, the houses wereat first built on the banks of the river. But so frequent were theinvasions of cholera, that one of the kings happily commanded the peopleto build on the river itself, that they might have greater cleanlinessand better ventilation. The result quickly proved the wisdom of themeasure. The privilege of building on the banks is now confined tomembers of the royal family, the nobility, and residents of acknowledgedinfluence, political or commercial. 

At night the city is hung with thousands of covered lights, thatilluminate the wide river from shore to shore. Lamps and lanterns of allimaginable shapes, colors, and sizes combine to form a fairy spectacleof enchanting brilliancy and beauty. The floating tenements and shops, the masts of vessels, the tall, fantastic pagodas and minarets, and, crowning all, the walls and towers of the Grand Palace, flash withcountless charming tricks of light, and compose a scene of more thanmagic novelty and beauty. So oriental fancy and profusion deal withthings of use, and make a wonder of a commonplace. 

A double, and in some parts a triple, row of floating houses extends formiles along the banks of the river. These are wooden structures, tastefully designed and painted, raised on substantial rafts of bamboolinked together with chains, which, in turn, are made fast to greatpiles planted in the bed of the stream. The Meinam itself forms the mainavenue, and the floating shops on either side constitute the greatbazaar of the city, where all imaginable and unimaginable articles fromIndia, China, Malacca, Birmah, Paris, Liverpool, and New York aredisplayed in stalls. 

Naturally, boats and canoes are indispensable appendages to such houses;the nobility possess a fleet of them, and to every little water-cottagea canoe is tethered, for errands and visits. At all hours of the day andnight processions of boats pass to and from the palace, and everywherebustling traders and agents ply their dingy little craft, and proclaimtheir several callings in a Babel of cries. 

Daily, at sunrise, a flotilla of canoes, filled with shaven men inyellow garments, visits every house along the banks. These are thepriests gathering their various provender, the free gift of everyinhabitant of the city. Twenty thousand of them are supported by thealms of the city of Bangkok alone. 

At noon, all the clamor of the city is suddenly stilled, and perfectsilence reigns. Men, women, and children are hushed in their afternoonnap. From the stifling heat of a tropical midday the still cattle seekshelter and repose under shady boughs, and even the prows cease theirobstreperous clanging. The only sound that breaks the drowsy stillnessof the hour is the rippling of the glaring river as it ebbs or flowsunder the steaming banks. 

About three in the afternoon the sea-breeze sets in, bringingrefreshment to the fevered, thirsty land, and reviving animal andvegetable life with its compassionate breath. Then once more thefloating city awakes and stirs, and an animation rivalling that of themorning is prolonged far into the night, --the busy, gay, delightfulnight of Bangkok. 

The streets are few compared with the number of canals that intersectthe city in all directions. The most remarkable of the former is onethat runs parallel with the Grand Palace, and terminates in what is nowknown as "Sanon Mai, " or the New Road, which extends from Bangkok toPaknam, about forty miles, and crosses the canals on movable ironbridges. Almost every other house along this road is a shop, and at theclose of the wet season Bangkok has no rival in the abundance ofvegetables and fruits with which its markets are stocked. 

I could wish for a special dispensation to pass without mention thepublic prisons of Bangkok, for their condition and the treatment of theunhappy wretches confined in them are the foulest blots on the characterof the government. Some of these grated abominations are hung likebird-cages over the water; and those on land, with their gangs of livingcorpses chained together like wild beasts, are too horrible to bepictured here. How European officials, representatives of Christianideas of humanity and decency, can continue to countenance the apathy orwilful brutality of the prime minister, who, as the executive officer ofthe government in this department, is mainly responsible for thecruelties and outrages I may not even name, I cannot conceive. 

The American Protestant missionaries have as yet made no remarkableimpression on the religious mind of the Siamese. Devoted, persevering, and patient laborers, the field they have so faithfully tilled hasrewarded them with but scanty fruits. Nor will the fact, thanklessthough it be, appear surprising to those whose privilege it has been toobserve the Buddhist and the Roman Catholic side by side in the East, and to note how, even on the score of doctrine, they meet without a jarat many points. The average Siamese citizen, entering a Roman Catholicchapel in Bangkok, finds nothing there to shock his prejudices. He isintroduced to certain forms and ceremonies, almost the counterpart ofwhich he piously reveres in his own temple, --genuflections, prostrations, decorated shrines, lighted candles, smoking incense, holywater; while the prayers he hears are at least not less intelligible tohim than those he hears mumbled in Pali by his own priests. He beholdsfamiliar images too, and pictures of a Saviour in whom he charitablyrecognizes the stranger's Buddha. And if he happen to be a philosophicinquirer, how surprised and pleased is he to learn that the priests ofthis faith (like his own) are vowed to chastity, poverty, and obedience, and, like his own, devoted to the doing of good works, penance, andalms. There are many thousands of native converts to Catholicism inSiam; even the priests of Buddhism do not always turn a deaf ear to thepersuasions of teachers bound with them in the bonds of celibacy, penance, and deeds of merit. And those teachers are quick to meet themhalf-way, happily recommending themselves by the alacrity with whichthey adopt, and make their own, usages which they may with proprietypractise in common, whereby the Buddhist is flattered while theChristian is not offended. Such, for example, is the monastic custom ofthe uncovered head. As it is deemed sacrilege to touch the head ofroyalty, so the head of the priest may not without dishonor pass underanything less hallowed than the canopy of heaven; and in this Buddhistand Roman Catholic accord. 

The residences of the British, French, American, and Portuguese Consulsare pleasantly situated in a bend of the river, where a flight of woodensteps in good repair leads directly to the houses of the officials andEuropean merchants of that quarter. Most influential among the latter isthe managing firm of the Borneo Company, whose factories and warehousesfor rice, sugar, and cotton are extensive and prosperous. 

The more opulent of the native merchants are grossly addicted togambling and opium-smoking. Though the legal penalties prescribed forall who indulge in these destructive vices are severe, they do not availto deter even respectable officers of the government from staking heavysums on the turn of a card; and long before the game is ended theopium-pipe is introduced. One of the king's secretaries, who was aconfirmed opium-smoker, assured me he would rather die at once than beexcluded from the region of raptures his pipe opened to him. 

XVI. THE WHITE ELEPHANT. 

It is commonly supposed that the Buddhists of Siam and Birmah regard theChang Phoouk, or white elephant, as a deity, and worship it accordingly. The notion is erroneous, especially as it relates to Siam. The Buddhistsdo not recognize God in any material form whatever, and are shocked atthe idea of adoring an elephant. Even Buddha, to whom they undoubtedlyoffer pious homage, they do not style "God" but on the contrary maintainthat, though an emanation from a "sublimated ethereal being, " he is byno means a deity. According to their philosophy of metempsychosis, however, each successive Buddha, in passing through a series oftransmigrations, must necessarily have occupied in turn the forms ofwhite animals of a certain class, --particularly the swan, the stork, thewhite sparrow, the dove, the monkey, and the elephant. But there is muchobscurity and diversity in the views of their ancient writers on thissubject. Only one thing is certain, that the forms of these nobler andpurer creatures are reserved for the souls of the good and great, whofind in them a kind of redemption from the baser animal life. Thusalmost all white animals are held in reverence by the Siamese, becausethey were once superior human beings, and the white elephant, inparticular, is supposed to be animated by the spirit of some king orhero. Having once been a great man, he is thought to be familiar withthe dangers that surround the great, and to know what is best and safestfor those whose condition in all respects was once his own. He is hencesupposed to avert national calamity, and bring prosperity and peace to apeople. 

[Illustration: A WAR ELEPHANT ]

From the earliest times the kings of Siam and Birmah have anxiouslysought for the white elephant, and having had the rare fortune toprocure one, have loaded it with gifts and dignities, as though it werea conscious favorite of the throne. When the governor of a province ofSiam is notified of the appearance of a white elephant within hisbailiwick, he immediately commands that prayers and offerings shall bemade in all the temples, while he sends out a formidable expedition ofhunters and slaves to take the precious beast, and bring it in intriumph. As soon as he is informed of its capture, a special messengeris despatched to inform the king of its sex, probable age, size, complexion, deportment, looks, and ways; and in the presence of hisMajesty this bearer of glorious tidings undergoes the painfully pleasantoperation of having his mouth, ears, and nostrils stuffed with gold. Especially is the lucky wight--perhaps some half-wild woodsman--who wasfirst to spy the illustrious monster munificently rewarded. Orders arepromptly issued to the woons and wongses of the several districtsthrough which he must pass to prepare to receive him royally, and a widepath is cut for him through the forests he must traverse on his way tothe capital. Wherever he rests he is sumptuously entertained, andeverywhere he is escorted and served by a host of attendants, who sing, dance, play upon instruments, and perform feats of strength or skill forhis amusement, until he reaches the banks of the Meinam, where a greatfloating palace of wood, surmounted by a gorgeous roof and hung withcrimson curtains, awaits him. The roof is literally thatched withflowers ingeniously arranged so as to form symbols and mottoes, whichthe superior beast is supposed to decipher with ease. The floor of thissplendid float is laid with gilt matting curiously woven, in the centreof which his four-footed lordship is installed in state, surrounded byan obsequious and enraptured crowd of mere bipeds, who bathe him, perfume him, fan him, feed him, sing and play to him, flatter him. Hisfood consists of the finest herbs, the tenderest grass, the sweetestsugar-cane, the mellowest plantains, the brownest cakes of wheat, servedon huge trays of gold and silver; and his drink is perfumed with thefragrant flower of the _dok mallee_, the large native jessamine. 

Thus, in more than princely state, he is floated down the river to apoint within seventy miles of the capital, where the king and his court, all the chief personages of the kingdom, and a multitude of priests, both Buddhist and Brahmin, accompanied by troops of players andmusicians, come out to meet him, and conduct him with all the honors tohis stable-palace. A great number of cords and ropes of all qualitiesand lengths are attached to the raft, those in the centre being of finesilk (figuratively, "spun from a spider's web"). These are for the kingand his noble retinue, who with their own hands make them fast to theirgilded barges; the rest are secured to the great fleet of lesser boats. And so, with shouts of joy, beating of drums, blare of trumpets, boom ofcannon, a hallelujah of music, and various splendid revelry, the greatChang Phoouk is conducted in triumph to the capital. 

Here in a pavilion, temporary but very beautiful, he is welcomed withimposing ceremonies by the custodians of the palace and the principalpersonages of the royal household. The king, his courtiers, and thechief priests being gathered round him, thanksgiving is offered up; andthen the lordly beast is knighted, after the ancient manner of theBuddhists, by pouring upon his forehead consecrated water from achank-shell. 

The titles reserved for the Chang Phoouk vary according to the purity ofthe complexion (for these favored creatures are rarely truealbinos, --salmon or flesh-color being the nearest approach to white inalmost all the historic "white elephants" of the courts of Birmah andSiam) and the sex; for though one naturally has recourse to themasculine pronoun in writing of a transmigrated prince or warrior, itoften happens that prince or warrior has, in the medlied mask ofmetempsychosis, assumed a female form. Such, in fact, was the case withthe stately occupant of the stable-palace at the court of Maha Mongkut;and she was distinguished by the high-sounding appellation of Mââ PhyaSeri Wongsah Ditsarah Krasâat, --"August and Glorious Mother, Descendantof Kings and Heroes. "

For seven or nine days, according to certain conditions, the ChangPhoouk is fêted at the temporary pavilion, and entertained with avariety of dramatic performances; and these days are observed as ageneral holiday throughout the land. At the expiration of this period heis conducted with great pomp to his sumptuous quarters within theprecincts of the first king's palace, where he is received by his owncourt of officers, attendants, and slaves, who install him in his finelodgings, and at once proceed to robe and decorate him. First, the courtjeweller rings his tremendous tusks with massive gold, crowns him with adiadem of beaten gold of perfect purity, and adorns his burly neck withheavy golden chains. Next his attendants robe him in a superb velvetcloak of purple, fringed with scarlet and gold; and then his courtprostrate themselves around him, and offer him royal homage. 

When his lordship would refresh his portly person in the bath, anofficer of high rank shelters his noble head with a great umbrella ofcrimson and gold, while others wave golden fans before him. On theseoccasions he is invariably preceded by musicians, who announce hisapproach with cheerful minstrelsy and songs. 

If he falls ill, the king's own leech prescribes for him, and the chiefpriests repair daily to his palace to pray for his safe deliverance, andsprinkle him with consecrated waters and anoint him with consecratedoils. Should he die, all Siam is bereaved, and the nation, as one man, goes into mourning for him. But his body is not burned; only his brainsand heart are thought worthy of that last and highest honor. Thecarcass, shrouded in fine white linen, and laid on a bier, is carrieddown the river with much wailing and many mournful dirges, to be throwninto the Gulf of Siam. 

In 1862 a magnificent white--or, rather, salmon-colored--elephant was"bagged, " and preparations on a gorgeous scale were made to receive him. A temporary pavilion of extraordinary splendor sprang up, as if bymagic, before the eastern gate of the palace; and the whole nation waswild with joy; when suddenly came awful tidings, --he had died!

No man dared tell the king. But the Kralahome--that man of promptexpedients and unfailing presence of mind--commanded that thepreparations should cease instantly, and that the building should vanishwith the builders. In the evening his Majesty came forth, as usual, toexult in the glorious work. What was his astonishment to find no vestigeof the splendid structure that had been so nearly completed the nightbefore. He turned, bewildered, to his courtiers, to demand anexplanation, when suddenly the terrible truth flashed into his mind. With a cry of pain he sank down upon a stone, and gave vent to anhysterical passion of tears; but was presently consoled by one of hischildren, who, carefully prompted in his part, knelt before him andsaid: "Weep not, O my father! The stranger lord may have left us but fora time. " The stranger lord, fatally pampered, had succumbed toastonishment and indigestion. 

A few days after this mournful event the king read to me a curiousdescription of the defunct monster, and showed me parts of his skinpreserved, and his tusks, which in size and whiteness surpassed thefinest I had ever seen. His (that is, the elephant's) eyes were lightblue, surrounded by salmon-color; his hair fine, soft, and white; hiscomplexion pinkish white; his tusks like long pearls; his ears likesilver shields; his trunk like a comet's tail; his legs like the feet ofthe skies; his tread like the sound of thunder; his looks full ofmeditation; his expression full of tenderness; his voice the voice of amighty warrior; and his bearing that of an illustrious monarch. 

That was a terrible affliction, to the people not less than to the king. 

On all occasions of state, --court receptions, for example, --the whiteelephant, gorgeously arrayed, is stationed on the right of the innergate of the palace, and forms an indispensable as well as a conspicuousfigure in the picture. 

When the Siamese ambassadors returned from England, the chief of theembassy--a man remarkable for his learning and the purity of hischaracter, who was also first cousin to the Supreme King--published aquaint pamphlet, describing England and her people, their manners andcustoms and dwellings, with a very particular report of the presentationof the embassy at court. Speaking of the personal appearance of QueenVictoria, he says: "One cannot but be struck with the aspect of theaugust Queen of England, or fail to observe that she must be of puredescent from a race of goodly and warlike kings and rulers of the earth, in that her eyes, complexion, and above all her bearing, are those of abeautiful and majestic white elephant. "

XVII. THE CEREMONIES OF CORONATION. 

On the morning of the 3d of April, 1851, the Chowfa Mongkut, after beingformally apprised of his election by the Senabawdee to the supremethrone, was borne in state to a residence adjoining the Phrasat, toawait the auspicious day of coronation, --the 15th of the followingmonth, as fixed by the court astrologers; and when it came it was hailedby all classes of the people with immoderate demonstrations of joy; forto their priest king, more sacred than a conqueror, they were drawn bybonds of superstition as well as of pride and affection. 

The ceremony of coronation is very peculiar. 

In the centre of the inner Hall of Audience of the royal palace, on ahigh platform richly gilded and adorned, is placed a circular goldenbasin, called, in the court language, _Mangala Baghavat-thong_, "theGolden Circlet of Power. " Within this basin is deposited the ancient_P'hra-batt_, or golden stool, the whole being surmounted by aquadrangular canopy, under a tapering, nine-storied umbrella in the formof a pagoda, from ten to twelve feet high and profusely gilt. Directlyover the centre of the canopy is deposited a vase containing consecratedwaters, which have been prayed over nine times, and poured through ninedifferent circular vessels in their passage to the sacred receptacle. These waters must be drawn from the very sources of the chief rivers ofSiam; and reservoirs for their preservation are provided in theprecincts of the temples at Bangkok. In the mouth of this vessel is atube representing the pericarp of a lotos after its petals have fallenoff; and this, called _Sukla Utapala Atmano_, "the White Lotos of Life, "symbolizes the beauty of pure conduct. 

The king elect, arrayed in a simple white robe, takes his seat on thegolden stool. A Brahmin priest then presents to him some water in asmall cup of gold, lotos-shaped. This water has previously been filteredthrough nine different forms of matter, commencing with earth, thenashes, wheaten flour, rice flour, powdered lotos and jessamine, dust ofiron, gold, and charcoal, and finally flame; each a symbol, not merelyof the indestructibility of the element, but also of its presence in allanimate or inanimate matter. Into this water the king elect dips hisright hand, and passes it over his head. Immediately the choir join inan inspiring chant, the signal for the inverting, by means of a pulley, of the vessel over the canopy; and the consecrated waters descendthrough another lotos flower, in a lively shower, on the head of theking. This shower represents celestial blessings. 

A Buddhist priest then advances and pours a goblet of water over theroyal person from the bed of the Ganges. He is then arrayed in regalrobes. 

On the throne, which is in the south end of the hall, and octagonal, having eight seats corresponding to eight points of the compass, theking first seats himself facing the north, and so on, moving eastward, facing each point in its order. On the top step of each seat crouch twopriests, Buddhist and Brahmin, who present to him another bowl of water, which he drinks and sprinkles on his face, each time repeating, byresponses with the priests, the following prayer:--

_Priests_. Be thou learned in the laws of nature and of the universe. 

_King_. Inspire me, O Thou who wert a Law unto thyself!

_P_. Be thou endowed with all wisdom, and all acts of industry!

_K_. Inspire me with all knowledge, O Thou the Enlightened!

_P_. Let Mercy and Truth be thy right and left arms of life!

_K_. Inspire me, O Thou who hast proved all Truth and all Mercy!

_P_. Let the Sun, Moon, and Stars bless thee!

_K_. All praise to Thee, through whom all forms are conquered!

_P_. Let the earth, air, and waters bless thee!

_K_. Through the merit of Thee, O thou conqueror of Death! [Footnote:For these translations I am indebted to his Majesty, Maha Mongkut; aswell as for the interpretation of the several symbols used in this andother solemn rites of the Buddhists. ]

These prayers ended, the priests conduct the king to another throne, facing the east, and still more magnificent. Here the insignia of hissovereignty are presented to him, --first the sword, then the sceptre;two massive chains are suspended from his neck; and lastly the crown isset upon his head, when instantly he is saluted by roar of cannonwithout and music within. 

Then he is presented with the golden slippers, the fan, and the umbrellaof royalty, rings set with huge diamonds for each of his forefingers, and the various Siamese weapons of war: these he merely accepts, andreturns to his attendants. 

The ceremony concludes with an address from the priests, exhorting himto be pure in his sovereign and sacred office; and a reply from himself, wherein he solemnly vows to be a just, upright, and faithful ruler ofhis people. Last of all, a golden tray is handed to him, from which, ashe descends from the throne, he scatters gold and silver flowers amongthe audience. 

The following day is devoted to a more public enthronement. His Majesty, attired more sumptuously than before, is presented to all his court, andto a more general audience. After the customary salutations byprostration and salutes of cannon and music, the premier and otherprincipal ministers read short addresses, in delivering over to the kingthe control of their respective departments. His Majesty repliesbriefly; there is a general salute from all forts, war vessels, andmerchant shipping; and the remainder of the day is devoted to feastingand various enjoyment. 

Immediately after the crowning of Maha Mongkut, his Majesty repaired tothe palace of the Second King, where the ceremony of subordinatecoronation differed from that just described only in the circumstancethat the consecrated waters were poured over the person of the SecondKing, and the insignia presented to him, by the supreme sovereign. 

Five days later a public procession made the circuit of the palace andcity walls in a peculiar circumambulatory march of mystic significance, with feasting, dramatic entertainments, and fireworks. The concourseassembled to take part in those brilliant demonstrations has never sincebeen equalled in any public display in Siam. 

XVIII. THE QUEEN CONSORT. 

When a king of Siam would take unto himself a wife, he chooses a maidenfrom a family of the highest rank, and of royal pedigree, and, invitingher into the guarded circle of his women, entertains her there in thatpeculiar state of probation which is his prerogative and heropportunity. Should she prove so fortunate as to engage his preference, it may be his pleasure to exalt her to the throne; in which event heappoints a day for the formal consummation of his gracious purpose, whenthe principal officers, male and female, of the court, with the priests, Brahmin as well as Buddhist, and the royal astrologers, attend to playtheir several parts in the important drama. 

The princess, robed in pure white, is seated on a throne elevated on ahigh platform. Over this throne is spread a canopy of white muslin, decorated with white and fragrant flowers, and through this canopy aregently showered the typical waters of consecration, in which have beenpreviously infused certain leaves and shrubs emblematic of purity, usefulness, and sweetness. While the princess is thus delicatelysprinkled with compliments, the priests enumerate, with nicediscrimination, the various graces of mind and person which henceforthshe must study to acquire; and pray that she may prove a blessing to herlord, and herself be richly blessed. Then she is hailed queen, with aburst of exultant music. Now the sisters of the king conduct her by ascreened passage to a chamber regally appointed, where she is divestedof her dripping apparel, and arrayed in robes becoming her queenlystate, --robes of silk, heavy with gold, and sparkling with diamonds andrubies. Then the king is ushered into her presence by the ladies of thecourt; and at the moment of his entrance she rises to throw herself athis feet, according to the universal custom. But he prevents her; andtaking her right hand, and embracing her, seats her beside him, on hisright. There she receives the formal congratulations of the court, withwhich the ceremonies of the day terminate. The evening is devoted tofeasting and merriment. 

A Siamese king may have two queens at the same time; in which case themore favored lady is styled the "right hand, " and the other the "lefthand, " of the throne. His late Majesty, Maha Mongkut, had two queens, but not "in conjunction. " The first was of the right hand; the second, though chosen in the lifetime of the first, was not elevated to thethrone until after the death of her predecessor. 

When the bride is a foreign princess, the ceremonies are more public, being conducted in the Hall of Audience, instead of the Ladies' Temple, or private chapel. 

The royal nuptial couch is consecrated with peculiar forms. The mysticthread of unspun cotton is wound around the bed seventy-seven times, andthe ends held in the hands of priests, who, bowing over the sacredsymbol, invoke blessings on the bridal pair. Then the nearest relativesof the bride are admitted, accompanied by a couple who, to use theobstetrical figure of the indispensable Mrs. Gamp, have their parentalquiver "full of sich. " These salute the bed, sprinkle it with theconsecrated waters, festoon the crimson curtains with flowery garlands, and prepare the silken sheets, the pillows and cushions; which done, they lead in the bride, who has not presided at the entertainments, butwaited with her ladies in a screened apartment. 

On entering the awful chamber, she first falls on her knees, and thricesalutes the royal couch with folded hands, and then invokes protectionfor herself, that she may be preserved from every deadly sin. Finally, she is disrobed, and left praying on the floor before the bed, while theking is conducted to her by his courtiers, who immediately retire. 

The same ceremony is observed in nearly all Siamese families ofrespectability, with, of course, certain omissions and variationsadapted to the rank of the parties. 

After three days the bride visits her parents, bearing presents to themfrom the various members of her husband's family. Then she visits theparents of her husband, who greet her with costly gifts. In her nextexcursion of this kind her husband (unless a king) accompanies her, andvaluable presents are mutually bestowed. A large sum of money, withjewels and other finery, is deposited with the father and mother of thebride. This is denominated _Zoon_, and at the birth of her first childit is restored to the young mother by the grandparents. 

The king visits his youthful queen just one month after the birth of aprince or princess. She present the babe to him, and he, in turn, placesa costly ring on the third finger of her left hand. In like manner, mostof the relatives, of both families, bring to the babe gifts of money, jewels, gold and silver ornaments, etc. , which is termed _Tam Kwaan_. Even so early the infant's hair is shaved off, except the top-knot, which is permitted to grow until the child has arrived at the age ofpuberty. 

XIX. THE HEIR-APPARENT. --ROYAL HAIR-CUTTING. 

The Prince Somdetch Chowfa Chulalonkorn [Footnote: The present SupremeKing. ] was about ten years old when I was appointed to teach him. Beingthe eldest son of the queen consort, he held the first rank among thechildren of the king, as heir-apparent to the throne. For a Siamese, hewas a handsome lad; of stature neither noticeably tall nor short; figuresymmetrical and compact, and dark complexion. He was, moreover, modestand affectionate, eager to learn, and easy to influence. 

His mother dying when he was about nine years old, he, with his youngerbrothers, the Princes Chowfa Chaturont Rasmi and Chowfa BhangurangsiSwang Wongse, and their lovely young sister, the Princess SomdetchChowfa Chandrmondol ("Fâ-ying"), were left to the care of a grand-aunt, Somdetch Ying Noie, a princess by the father's side. This was atranquil, cheerful old soul, attracted toward everything that was brightand pretty, and ever busy among flowers, poetry, and those darlings ofher loving life, her niece's children. Of these the little Fâ-ying(whose sudden death by cholera I have described) was her favorite; andafter her death the faithful creature turned her dimmed eyes andchastened pride to the young prince Chulalonkorn. Many an earnest talkhad the venerable duchess and I, in which she did not hesitate toimplore me to instil into the minds of her youthful wards--andespecially this king that was to be--the purest principles of Christianfaith and precept. Yet with all the freshness of the religious habit ofher childhood she was most scrupulous in her attendance and devotions atthe temple. Her grief for the death of her darling was deep and lasting, and by the simple force of her love she exerted a potent influence overthe mind of the royal lad. 

[Illustration: THE HEIR-APPARENT. ]

A very stern thing is life to the children of royalty in Siam. To watchand be silent, when it has most need of confidence and freedom, --ahorrible necessity for a child! The very babe in the cradle is taughtmysterious and terrible things by the mother that bore it, --infantileexperiences of distrust and terror, out of which a few come up noble, the many infamous. Here are baby heroes and heroines who do great deedsbefore our happier Western children have begun to think. There wereactual, though unnoticed and unconscious, intrepidity and fortitude inthe manœuvres and the stands with which those little ones, on their ownground, flanked or checked that fatal enemy, their father. Angelicindeed were the spiritual triumphs that no eye noted, nor any smilerewarded, save the anxious eye and the prayerful smile of that sleeplessmaternity that misery had bound with them. But even misery becomestolerable by first becoming familiar, and out of the depths these royalchildren laughed and prattled and frolicked and were glad. As for theold duchess, she loved too well and too wisely not to be timid andtroubled all her life long, first for the mother, then for the children. 

Such was the early training of the young prince, and for a time itavailed to direct his thoughts to noble aspirations. From his studies, both in English and Pali, he derived an exalted ideal of life, andprecocious and inexpressible yearnings. Once he said to me he envied thedeath of the venerable priest, his uncle; he would rather be poor, hesaid, and have to earn his living, than be a king. 

"'Tis true, a poor man must work hard for his daily bread; but then heis free. And his food is all he has to lose or win. He can possess allthings in possessing Him who pervades all things, --earth, and sky, andstars, and flowers, and children. I can understand that I am great inthat I am a part of the Infinite, and in that alone; and that all I seeis mine, and I am in it and of it. How much of content and happinessshould I not gain if I could but be a poor boy!"

He was attentive to his studies, serene, and gentle, invariablyaffectionate to his old aunt and his younger brothers, and for the poorever sympathetic, with a warm, generous heart. He pursued his studiesassiduously, and seemed to overcome the difficulties and obstacles heencountered in the course of them with a resolution that gained strengthas his mind gained ideas. As often as he effectually accomplishedsomething, he indulged in ecstasies of rejoicing over the new thought, that was an inspiring discovery to him of his actual poverty ofknowledge, his possibilities of intellectual opulence. But it was clearto me--and I saw it with sorrow--that for his ardent nature this wasbut a transitory condition, and that soon the shock must come, againstthe inevitable destiny in store for him, that would either confirm orcrush all that seemed so fair in the promise of the royal boy. 

When the time came for the ceremony of hair-cutting, customary for youngSiamese princes, the lad was gradually withdrawn, more and more, from myinfluence. The king had determined to celebrate the heir's majority withdisplays of unusual magnificence. To this end he explored the annals andrecords of Siam and Cambodia, and compiled from them a detaileddescription of a very curious procession that attended a certain princeof Siam centuries ago, on the occasion of his hair-cutting; andforthwith projected a similar show for his son, but on a more elaborateand costly scale. The programme, including the procession, provided forthe representation of a sort of drama, borrowed partly from theRamayana, and partly from the ancient observances of the kings ofCambodia. 

The whole royal establishment was set in motion. About nine thousandyoung women, among them the most beautiful of the concubines, were castfor parts in the mammoth play. Boys and girls were invited or hired fromall quarters of the kingdom to "assist" in the performance. Every nationunder the sun was represented in the grand procession. In our school theregular studies were abandoned, and in their place we had rehearsals ofsinging, dancing, recitation, and pantomime. 

An artificial hill, of great height, called Khoa-Kra-Lâât, was raised inthe centre of the palace gardens. On its summit was erected a goldentemple or pagoda of exquisite beauty, richly hung with tapestries, displaying on the east the rising sun, on the west a moon of silver. Thecardinal points of the hill were guarded by the white elephant, thesacred ox, the horse, and the lion. These figures were so contrived thatthey could be brought close together and turned on a pivot; and thus thesacred waters, brought for that purpose from the Brahmapootra, were tobe showered on the prince, after the solemn hair-cutting, and receivedin a noble basin of marble. 

The name given to the ceremony of hair-cutting varies according to therank of the child. For commoners it is called "Khone Chook"; for thenobility and royalty, "Soh-Khan, " probably from the Sanskrit _Sôh SâhthaKam_, "finding safe and sound. " The custom is said to be extremelyancient, and to have originated with a certain Brahmin, whose onlychild, being sick unto death, was given over by the physicians as in thepower of evil spirits. In his heart's trouble the father consulted aholy man, who had been among the earliest converts to Buddhism, if aughtmight yet be done to save his darling from torment and perdition. Thevenerable saint directed him to pray, and to have prayers offered, forthe lad, and to cause that part of his hair which had never been touchedwith razor or shears since his birth to be shaved quite off. The resultwas a joyful rescue for the child; others pursued the same treatment inlike cases with the same effect, and hence the custom of hair-cutting. The children of princes are forbidden to have the top-knot cut at all, until the time when they are about to pass into manhood or womanhood. Then valuable presents are made to them by all who are related to theirfamilies by blood, marriage, or friendship. 

When all the preparations necessary to the successful presentation ofthe dramatic entertainment were completed, the king, having takencounsel of his astrologers, sent heralds to the governors of all theprovinces of Siam, to notify those dignitaries of the time appointed forthe jubilee, and request their presence and co-operation. A similarsummons was sent to all the priests of the kingdom, who, in bands orcompanies, were to serve alternately, on the several days of thefestival. 

Early in the forenoon of the auspicious day the prince was borne instate, in a gorgeous chair of gold, to the Maha Phrasat, the order ofthe procession being as follows:--

First came the bearers of the gold umbrellas, fans, and great goldensunshades. 

Next, twelve gentlemen, superbly attired, selected from the first rankof the nobility, six on either side of the golden chair, as a body-guardto the prince. 

Then, four hundred Amazons arrayed in green and gold, and gleamingarmor. 

These were followed by twelve maidens, attired in cloth of gold, withfantastic head-gear adorned with precious stones, who danced before theprince to the gentle monotonous movement of the _bandos_. In the centreof this group moved three lovely girls, of whom one held a superbpeacock's tail, and the two others branches of gold and silver, sparkling with leaves and rare flowers. These damsels were guarded bytwo duennas on either side. 

After these stalked a stately body of Brahmins, bearing golden vasesfilled with _Khoa tôk_, or roasted rice, which they scattered on eitherside, as an emblem of plenty. 

Another troop of Brahmins with bandos, which they rattled as they movedalong. 

Two young nobles, splendidly robed, who also bore gold vases, lotos-shaped, in which nestled the bird of paradise called NokKurraweèk, the sweetness of whose song is supposed to entrance evenbeasts of prey. 

A troop of lads, the rising nobility of Siam, fairly covered with goldcollars and necklaces. 

The king's Japanese body-guard. 

Another line of boys, representing natives of Hindostan in costume. 

Malayan lads in costume. 

Chinese lads in costume. 

Siamese boys in English costume. 

The king's infantry, headed by pioneers, in European costume. 

Outside of this line marched about five thousand men in longrose-colored robes, with tall tapering caps. These representedguardian-angels attending on the different nations. 

Then came bands of musicians dressed in scarlet, imitating the cries ofbirds, the sound of falling fruit, and the murmur of distant waters, inthe imaginary forest they were supposed to traverse on their way to theSacred Mount. 

The order of the procession behind the golden sedan in which the princewas borne, was nearly as follows:--

Next after the chair of state came four young damsels of the highestrank, bearing the prince's betel-box, spittoon, fan, and swords. Thenfollowed seventy other maidens, carrying reverently in both hands thevessels of pure gold, and all the insignia of rank and office proper toa prince of the blood royal; and yet more, holding over their rightshoulders golden fans. 

In the train of these tripped troops of children, daughters of thenobility, dressed and decorated with fantastic splendor. 

Then the maids of honor, personal attendants, and concubines of theking, chastely dressed, though crowned with gold, and decorated withmassive gold chains and rings of great price and beauty. 

A crowd of Siamese women, painted and rouged, in European costume. 

Troops of children in corresponding attire. 

Ladies in Chinese costume. 

Japanese ladies in rich robes. 

Malay women in their national dress. 

Women of Hindostan. 

Then the Kariens. 

And, last of all, the female slaves and dependants of the prince. 

At the foot of the hill a most extraordinary spectacle was presented. 

On the east appeared a number of hideous monsters, riding on giganticeagles. These nondescripts, whose heads reached almost to their knees, and whose hands grasped indescribable weapons, are called Yâks. They areappointed to guard the Sacred Mount from all vulgar approach. 

A little farther on, around a pair of stuffed peacocks, were a number ofyouthful warriors, representing kings, governors, and chiefs of theseveral dependencies of Siam. 

Desirous of witnessing the sublime ceremony of hair-cutting, theycautiously approach the Yâks, performing a sort of war dance, andchanting in chorus:--

_Orah Pho, cha pai Kra Lâât_. "Let us go to the Sacred Mount!"

Whereupon the Yâks, or evil angels, point their wonderful weapons atthem, chanting in the same strain:--

_Orah Pho, salope thâng pooang_. "Let us slay them all!"

They then make a show of striking and thrusting, and princes, rajahs, and governors drop as if wounded. 

The principal parts in the drama were assumed by his Majesty, and theirexcellencies the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Theking was dressed for the character of P'hra Inn Suen, the Hindoo Indra, or Lord of the Sky, who has also the attributes of the Roman Genius; butmost of his epithets in Sanskrit are identical with those of theOlympian Jove. He was attended by the Prime Minister, personating theSanskrit Saché, but called in Siamese "Vis Summo Kâm, " and the Ministerof Foreign Affairs as his charioteer, Ma Talee. His imperial elephant, called Aisarat, caparisoned in velvet and gold, and bearing thesupernatural weapons, --_Vagra_, the thunderbolts, --was led byallegorical personages, representing winds and showers, lightning andthunder. The hill, Khoa Kra Lâât, is the Sanskrit Meru, described as amountain of gold and gems. 

His Majesty received the prince from the hands of his nobles, set him onhis right hand, and presented him to the people, who offered homage. Afterward, two ladies of the court led him down the flight of marblesteps, where two maidens washed his feet with pure water in a goldbasin, and wiped them with fine linen. 

On his way to the Maha Phrasat he was met by a group of girls incharming attire, who held before him tufts of palm and branches of goldand silver. Thus he was conducted to an inner chamber of the temple, andseated on a costly carpet heavily fringed with gold, before an altar onwhich were lighted tapers and offerings of all descriptions. In his handwas placed a strip of palmyra leaf, on which were inscribed these mysticwords: "Even I was, even from the first, and not any other thing: thatwhich existed unperceived, supreme. Afterwards, I am that which is, andHe that was, and He who must remain am I. "

"Know that except Me, who am the First Cause, nothing that appears ordoes not appear in the mind can be trusted; it is the mind's Maya ordelusion, --as Light is to Darkness. "

On the reverse was inscribed this sentence:--

"Keep me still meditating on Thy infinite greatness and my ownnothingness, so that all the questions of my life may be answered and mymind abundantly instructed in the path of Niphan!"

In his hands was placed a ball of unspun thread, the ends of which werecarried round the sacred hill, and thence round the temple, and into theinner chamber, where it was bound round the head of the young prince. Thence again nine threads were taken, which, after encircling the altar, were passed into the hands of the officiating priests. These latterthreads, forming circles within circles, symbolize the mystic word _Om_, which may not escape the lips even of the purest, but must be meditatedupon in silence. 

Early on the third day all the princes, nobles, and officers ofgovernment, together with the third company of priests, assembled towitness the ceremony of shaving the royal top-knot. The royal sirehanded first the golden shears and then a gilded razor to the happyhair-cutter, who immediately addressed himself to his honorablefunction. Meanwhile the musicians, with the trumpeters andconch-blowers, exerted all their noisy faculties to beguile the patientheir. 

The tonsorial operation concluded, the prince was robed in white, andconducted to the marble basin at the foot of the Sacred Mount, where thewhite elephant, the ox, the horse, and the lion, guarding the cardinalpoints, were brought together, and from their mouths baptized him in thesacred waters. He was then arrayed in silk, still white, by women ofrank, and escorted to a golden pagoda on the summit of the hill, wherethe king, in the character of P'hra Inn Suen, waited to bestow hisblessing on the heir. With one hand raised to heaven, and the other onthe bowed head of his son, he solemnly uttered words of Pali, which maybe translated thus:--

"Thou who art come out of the pure waters, be thy offences washed away!Be thou relieved from other births! Bear thou in thy bosom thebrightness of that light which shall lead thee, even as it led thesublime Buddha, to Niphan, at once and forever!"

These rites ended, the priests were served with a princely banquet; andthen the nobility and common people were also feasted. About midday, twostandards, called _baisêe_, were set up within a circle of people. Theseare not unlike the _sawekra chât_, or royal umbrella, one of the fiveinsignia of royalty in Siam. They are about five cubits high, and havefrom three to five canopies. The staff is fixed in a wooden pedestal. Each circle or canopy has a flat bottom, and within the receptacle thusformed custom requires that a little cooked rice, called _k'ow k'wan_, shall be placed, together with a few cakes, a little sweet-scented oil, a handful of fragrant flour, and some young cocoanuts and plantains. Other edibles of many kinds are brought and arranged about the _baisêe_, and a beautiful bouquet adorns the top of each of the umbrella-likecanopies. 

Then a procession was formed, of princes, noblemen, and others, whomarched around the standards nine times. As they went, seven goldencandlesticks, with the candles lighted, were carried by princes, andpassed from one to another; and as often as they came in front of theprince, who sat between the standards, they waved the light before him. This procession is but another form of the _Om_ symbol. 

Afterwards the eldest priest or brahmin took a portion of the rice fromthe _baisêe_, and, sprinkling it with cocoanut water, gave the lad aspoonful of it. Then dipping his finger, first in the scented oil andthen in the fragrant flour, he touched the right foot of the prince, atthe same time exhorting him to be manly and strong, and to bear himselfbravely in "the conflict of feeling. "

Now presents of silver and gold were laid at the feet of the lad, --everyprince not of the royal family, and every nobleman and high officer inthe kingdom, being expected to appear with gifts. A chowfa mightreceive, in the aggregate, from five hundred thousand to a millionticals. [Footnote: A tical is equivalent to sixty cents. ] It should beremarked in this connection, that the late king commanded that carefulnote be kept of all sums of money presented by officers of hisgovernment to his children at the time of Soh-Khan, that the full amountmight be refunded with the next semi-annual payment of salary. But thisdecree does not relieve the more distinguished princes and endowednoblemen, who have acquired a sort of complimentary relationship to hisMajesty through their daughters and nieces accepted as concubines. 

The children of plain citizens, who cannot afford the luxury of a publichair-cutting, are taken to a temple, where a priest shaves the tuft, with a brief religious ceremony. 

Hardly had the prince recovered his wonted frame of mind, after an eventso pregnant with significance and agitation to him, when the timearrived for his induction into the priesthood. For this the rites, though simpler, were more solemn. The hair, which had been suffered togrow on the top of his young pate like an inverted brush, was now shornclose, and his eyebrows were shaven also. Arrayed in costly robes andornaments, similar to those worn at a coronation, he was taken in chargeby a body of priests at his father's palace, and by them conducted tothe temple Watt P'hra Këau, his yellow-robed and barefooted escortchanting, on the way, hymns from the Buddhist liturgy. At the thresholdof the temple another band of priests divested him of his fine robes andclad him in simple white, all the while still chanting. The circle beingcharacteristic of a Buddhist ceremonial, as the cross is of theirreligious architecture, these priests formed a circle, standing, andholding lighted tapers in their folded palms, the high-priest in thecentre. Then the prince advanced meekly, timidly, bowing low, to enterthe holy ring. Here he was received by the high-priest, and with theirhands mutually interfolded, one upon the other, he vowed to renounce, then and there, the world with all its cares and temptations, and toobserve with obedience the doctrines of Buddha. This done, he was cladafresh in sackcloth, and led from the temple to the royal monastery, Watt Brahmanee Waid; with bare feet and eyes downcast he went, stillchanting those weird hymns. 

Here he remained recluse for six months. When he returned to the world, and to the residence assigned him, he seemed no longer the impressible, ardent boy who was once my bright, ambitious scholar. Though stillanxious to prosecute his English studies, he was pronounced too old tounite with his brothers and sisters in the school. For a year I taughthim, from seven to ten in the evening, at his "Rose-planting House"; andeven from this distant place and time I look back with comfort to thosehours. 

XX. AMUSEMENTS OF THE COURT. 

Of all the diversions of the court the most polite, and at the same timethe most engrossing, is the drama. 

In a great sala, or hall, which serves as a theatre, the actors andactresses assemble, their faces and bodies anointed with a creamy, maize-colored cosmetic. Fantastic extravagance of attire constitutes thegreat gun in their arsenal of attractions. Hence ear-rings, bracelets, massive chains and collars, tapering crowns with wings, spangled robes, curious finger-rings, and, strangest of all, long tapering nails ofgold, are joined to complete their elaborate adornment. The play, inwhich are invariably enacted the adventures of gods, kings, heroes, genii, demons, and a multitude of characters mythical and fabulous, isoften performed in lively pantomime, the interludes being filled by astrong chorus, with songs and instrumental accompaniment. At other timesthe players, in grotesque masks, give burlesque versions of the graverepics, to the great amusement of the audience. 

Chinese comedies, termed Ngiu, attract the Siamese in crowds; but theforeign is decidedly inferior to the native talent. "Nang, " so called, is a sort of tableau, masked, representing characters from the Hindoomythology. Parts of the popular epic, Ramayana, are admirably renderedin this style. In front of the royal palace an immense transparentscreen, mounted on great poles, is drawn across the esplanade, andbehind this, at a moderate distance, great fires are lighted. Betweenthe screen and the fire masked figures, grotesquely costumed, enact thestory of Rama and Sita and the giant Rawuna, with Hanuman and his armyof apes bridging the Gulf of Manaar and piling up the Himalayas, whilethe bards, in measured story, describe the several exploits. 

A great variety of puppet-shows are contrived for the delectation of thechildren; and the Siamese are marvellously ingenious in the manufactureof toys and dolls, of porcelain, stone, wood, bark, and paper. They makepagodas, temples, boats, and floating houses, with miniature families tooccupy them, and all true to the life in every apartment and occupation;watts, with idols and priests; palaces, with kings, queens, concubines, royal children, courtiers, and slaves, all complete in costume andattitude. 

The royal children observe with grave formalities the eventful custom of"hair-cutting" for their favorite dolls; and dramas, improvised for theoccasion by ingenious slaves, are the crowning glory of those highholidays of toddling princes and princesses. 

The ladies of the harem amuse themselves in the early and late hours ofthe day by gathering flowers in the palace gardens, feeding the birds inthe aviaries and the gold-fishes in the ponds, twining garlands to adornthe heads of their children, arranging bouquets, singing songs of loveor glory, dancing to the music of the guitar, listening to their slaves'reading, strolling with their little ones through the parks and_parterres_, and especially in bathing. When the heat is leastoppressive they plunge into the waters of the pretty retired lakes, swimming and diving like flocks of brown water-fowl. 

Chess and backgammon, Chinese cards and dice, afford a continualdiversion to both sexes at the court, and there are many skilful playersamong them. The Chinese have established a sort of "lottery, " of whichthey have the monopoly. It is little better than a "sweat-cloth, " withthirteen figures, on which money is staked at the option of the gambler. The winning figure pays its stake thirty-fold, the rest is lost. 

Kite-flying, which in Europe and America is the amusement of childrenexclusively, is here, as in China and Birmah, the pastime of both sexes, and all ages and conditions of people. At the season when the south-windprevails steadily, innumerable kites of diverse forms, many of themrepresenting gigantic butterflies, may be seen sailing and darting overevery quarter of the city, and most thickly over the palace and itsappendages. Parties of young noblemen devote themselves with ardor tothe sport, betting bravely on results of skill or luck; and it is mostentertaining to observe how cleverly they manage the huge paper toys, entangling and capturing each other's kites, and dragging them disabledto the earth. 

Combats of bulls and elephants, though very popular, are not commonlyexhibited at court. At certain seasons fairs are held, where exhibitionsof wrestling, boxing, fencing, and dancing are given by professionalcompetitors. 

The Siamese, naturally imaginative and gay, cultivate music with greatzest. Every village has its orchestra, every prince and noble his bandof musicians, and in every part of Bangkok the sound of strangeinstruments is heard continually. Their music is not in parts like ours, but there is always harmony with good expression, and an agreeablevariety of movement and volume is derived from the diversity ofinstruments and the taste of the players. 

The principal instrument, the _khong-vong_, is composed of a series ofhemispherical metallic bells or cups inverted and suspended by cords toa wooden frame. The performer strikes the bells with two little hammerscovered with soft leather, producing an agreeable harmony. The hautboyplayer (who is usually a professional juggler and snake-charmer also)commonly leads the band. Kneeling and swaying his body forward andbackward, and from side to side, he keeps time to the movement of themusic. His instrument has six holes, but no keys, and may be eitherrough or smoothly finished. 

The _ranat_, or harmonicon, is a wooden instrument, with keys made ofwood from the bashoo-nut tree. These, varying in size from six inches byone to fifteen by two, are connected by pieces of twine, and so fastenedto a hollow case of wood about three feet in length and a foot high. Themusic is "conjured" by the aid of two small hammers corked with leather, like those of the khong-vong. The notes are clear and fine, and theinstrument admits of much delicacy of touch. 

Beside these the Siamese have the guitar, the violin, the flute, thecymbals, the trumpet, and the conch-shell. There is the _luptima_ also, another very curious instrument, formed of a dozen long perforated reedsjoined with bands and cemented at the joints with wax. The orifice atone end is applied to the lips, and a very moderate degree of skillproduces notes so strong and sweet as to remind one of the swell of achurch organ. 

The Laos people have organs and tambourines of different forms; theirguitar is almost as agreeable as that of Europe; and of their flutes ofseveral kinds, one is played with the nostril instead of the lips. Another instrument, resembling the banjo of the American negroes, ismade from a large long-necked gourd, cut in halves while green, cleaned, dried in the sun, covered with parchment, and strung with from four tosix strings. Its notes are pleasing. 

The _takhè_, a long guitar with metallic strings, is laid on the floor, and high-born ladies, with fingers armed with shields or nails of gold, draw from it the softest and sweetest sounds. 

In their funeral ceremonies the chanting of the priests is usuallyaccompanied by the lugubrious wailing music of a sort of clarionet. 

The songs of Siam are either heroic or amatory; the former celebratingthe martial exploits, the latter the more tender adventures, of heroes. 

Athletic games and the contests of the arena and the course form soconspicuous a feature in all ceremonies, solemn or festal, of thispeople, that a description of them may not with advantage be whollyomitted here. The Siamese are by nature warlike, and their governmenthas thoughtfully and liberally fostered those manly sports and exerciseswhich constitute the natural preparation for the profession of arms. Ofthese the most popular are wrestling, boxing (in which both sexes takepart), throwing the discus or quoit, foot-shuttlecock, and racing onfoot or horseback or in chariots; to which may be added vaulting andtumbling, throwing the dart, and leaping through wheels or circles offire. 

The professional athletes and gymnasts are exercised at a tender ageunder male or female trainers, who employ the most approved methods oflimbering and quickening and strengthening and toughening theirincipient champions, to whom, though well fed, sleep is jealouslyallowanced and intoxicating drinks absolutely forbidden. Their bodiesare rubbed with oils and unguents to render them supple; and a shortlangoutee with a belt forms the sum of their clothing. None but thechildren of Siamese or Laotians are admitted to the gymnasia. The codeof laws for the government of the several classes is strictly enforced, and nothing is permitted contrary to the established order andregulations of the games. Excessive violence is mercifully forbidden, and those who enter to wrestle or box, race or leap, for the prize, drawlots for precedence and position. 

The Siamese practise wrestling in its rude simplicity, the advantagebeing with weight and strength, rather than skill and address. Thewrestlers, before engaging, are rubbed and shampooed, the joints bentbackward and all the muscles relaxed, and the body and limbs freelyoiled; but after the latter operation they roll in the dust, or aresprinkled with earth, ground and sifted, that they may be grappled themore firmly. They are matched in pairs, and several couples contend atthe same time. Their struggles afford superb displays of the anatomy ofaction, and the perfection of strength and skill and fierce grace in thetrained animal. Though one be seized by the heel and thrown, --which theSiamese applaud as the climax of the wrestler's adroitness, --they stillstruggle grandly on the ground, a double Antæus of arms and legs, tillone be turned upon his back and slapped upon the breast. That is theaccepted signal of the victor. 

In boxing, the Siamese cover their hands with a kind of glove of ribbedleather, sometimes lined with brass. On their heads they wear a leatherturban, to protect the temples and ears, the assault being directedmainly at the head and face. Besides the usual "getting away" of theBritish bruiser, blows are caught with surprising address and strengthin the gloved hand. The boxer who by overreaching, or missing a blow hehas put his weight into, throws himself, is beaten; or he may surrenderby simply lowering his arms. 

The Siamese discus, or quoit, is round, and of wood, stone, or iron. Their manner of hurling it does not differ materially from that whichall mighty players have practised since Caesar's soldiers pitched quoitsfor rations. 

Quite otherwise, in its curious novelty, is their spirited andpicturesque sport of foot-shuttlecock, --a game which may be witnessedonly in Asia, and in the perfection of its skill and agility only inBirmah and Siam. 

The shuttlecock is like our own, but the battledore is the sole of thefoot. A number of young men form a circle on a clear plot of ground. Oneof them opens the game by throwing the feathered toy to the playeropposite him, who, turning quickly and raising his leg, receives it onthe sole of his foot, and sends it like a shot to another, and he toanother; and so it is kept flying for an hour or more, without oncefalling to the ground. 

Speed, whether of two legs or four, is in high estimation among theSiamese. Their public festivals, however solemn, are usually begun withraces, which they cultivate with ardor and enjoy with enthusiasm. Theyhave the foot-race, the horse-race, and the chariot-race. In the first, the runners, having drawn lots for places, range themselves across thecourse, and, while waiting for the starting signal, excite themselves byleaping. At the word "Go, " they make play with astonishing speed andspirit. 

The race of a single horse, "against time, " with or without saddle, is afavorite sport. The rider, scorning stirrup or bridle, grips the sidesof his steed with his knees, and, with his right arm and forefingerstretched eagerly toward the goal, flies alone, --an inspiring picture. Sometimes two horsemen ride abreast, and at full speed change horses byvaulting from one to the other. 

In the chariot-races from two to four horses are driven abreast, and theart consists in winning and keeping the advantage of ground withoutcollision. This kind of racing is not so common as the others. 

The favorite pastime of the late Second King, who greatly delighted inequestrian exercises and feats, was Croquet on Horseback, --a sport inwhich he distinguished himself by his brilliant skill and style, as hedid in racing and hunting. This unique equestrian game is playedexclusively by princes and noblemen. There are a number of small ballswhich must be croqueted into two deep holes, with the aid of longslender mallets. The limits of the ground are marked by a line drawnaround it; and the only conditions necessary to render the sportexciting and the skill remarkable are narrow bounds and restive steeds. 

The Siamese, like other Orientals, ride with loose rein and shortstirrups. Their saddles are high and hard, and have two large circularflaps, gilded and otherwise adorned, according to the rank of the rider. Cavaliers of distinction usually dress expensively, in imported stuffs, elaborately embroidered with silk and gold thread. They wear a smallcap, and sometimes a strip of red, like the fillet of the Greeks andRomans, bound round the brows. 

Prizes for the victors in the games and combats are of severalkinds, --purses of gold and silver, suits of apparel, umbrellas, and, more rarely, a gold or silver cup. 

In concluding this imperfect sketch, I feel that a word of praise is dueto the spirit of moderation and humanity which seems to govern suchexhibitions in Siam. Even in their gravest festivals there is an elementof cheerfulness and kindness, which tends to promote genial fellowshipand foster friendships, and by bringing together all sorts of people, otherwise separated by diversity of custom, prejudice, and interest, unquestionably avails to weld the several small states and dependenciesof Siam into one compact and stable nation. 

XXI. SIAMESE LITERATURE AND ART. 

At the head of the Siamese writers of profane history stands, I think, P'hra Alack, or rather Cheing Meing, --P'hra Alack being the generic termfor all writers. In early life he was a priest, but was appointedhistorian to the court, and in that capacity wrote a history of thereign of his patron and king, P'hra Narai, --(contemporary with LouisXIV. )--and left a very curious though unfinished autobiography. 

Seri Manthara, celebrated as a military leader, wrote nine books ofessays, on subjects relating to agriculture and the arts and sciences. Some of these, translated into the languages of Birmah and Pegu, arestill extant. 

Among a host of dramatic writers, Phya Doong, better known as P'hraKhein Lakonlen, is entitled to the first rank. He composed aboutforty-nine books in lyric and dramatic verse, besides epigrams andelegies. Of his many poems, the few that remain afford passages of muchelegance and sweetness, and even of sublimity, --almost sufficient toatone for the taint of grossness he derived from the licentiousimagination of his land and time. While yet hardly out of his infancy, he was laid at the feet of the monarch, and reared in the palace atLophaburee. Some dramatic pieces composed by the lad for his playmatesto act attracted the notice of the king, who engaged teachers toinstruct him thoroughly in the ancient literature of India and Persia. But he seems to have boldly opened a way for himself, instead offollowing (as modern Orientals, timid or servile, are so prone to do)the well-worn path of the old Hindoo writers. In his tragedy (which Isaw acted) of _Manda-thi-Nung_, "The First Mother, " there are passagesof noble thought and true passion, expressed with a power and beautypeculiarly his own. 

The entertainments of the theatre are devoured by the Siamese withinsatiable appetite, and the popular preference is awarded to thoseintellectual contests in which the tragic and comic poets compete forthe prize. The laughter or the tears of the sympathetic groundlings areaccepted as the expression of an infallible criticism, and by theirverdict the play is crowned or damned. The common people, such is theirpassion for the drama, get whole tragedies or comedies "by heart. " Everyday in the year, and in every street of Bangkok, and all along theriver, booths and floating salas may be seen, in which tragedy, comedy, and satirical burlesques, are enacted for the entertainment of greataudiences, who are thrilled, delighted, or amused. In compositionsstrictly dramatic the characters, as with us, speak and act forthemselves; but in the epic the poet recites the adventures of hisheroes. 

Judges are appointed by the king to determine the merits of new playsbefore they are performed at court; and on the grand occasion of thehair-cutting of the heir-apparent (now king) his late Majesty caused thepoem "Kraelasah" to be modernized and adapted to grace the ceremonies. 

P'hra Ramawsha, a writer highly esteemed, did wonders for the Siamesedrama. He translated the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and portions of theCambodian lyrics into Siamese; introduced masks, with magnificence ofcostume and ornament; substituted theatres, or rather salas, for thetemporary booth or the open plain; and elevated the matter and the styleof dramatic compositions from the burlesque and buffoonery to thesentimental and majestic. He was also the first to impart spirit andvariety to the dialogue, and to teach actors to express like artists, and not like mere animals, the strong _human_ passions of anger, love, and pity. The plays of P'hra Ramawsha are highly esteemed at court. Inhis management of amorous incidents and intrigues, he is, if notpositively refined, at least less gross than other Siamese dramatists. 

[Illustration: SIAMESE ACTOR AND ACTRESS. ]

The dress of the players is always rich, and in the fashion of that wornat court. The actors and actresses attached to the royal establishmentmake a splendid display in this respect, large sums being expendedannually on their costumes, jewels, and other adornings. 

The development of native genius and skill, in the direction of the finearts, has greatly declined, if it has not been absolutely arrested, since the reign of P'hra Narai, the enlightened founder of Lophaburee;and almost all the vestiges of art, purely national, to be found in thecountry now, may be traced to that golden age of Siam. The Siamese, though intelligent, clever, facile, and in a notable degree susceptibleto the influences of the beautiful in nature or in art, by no means slowor awkward in imitating the graceful products of European taste andindustry, are yet fettered by a peculiar oppression in their efforts toexpress in visible forms their artistic inspirations. No Siamese subjectis to be congratulated, who by his talent or his skill has won popularapplause in any branch of industry. No such man, having extraordinarycleverness or taste, dare display it to the public in works of novelutility or beauty; because he and his inventions may alike beappropriated, without reward or thanks, --the former to serve the king, the latter to adorn the palace. Many ply in secret their dangerouslygraceful callings, and destroy their work when it is done, rather thansee it wrested from them, and with it all that is left to them offreedom, to serve the whim of a covetous and cruel master. All thatP'hra Narai did to foster the sciences and arts in his land has beenundone by the ruinous selfishness of his successors; and of the fewsuicides recorded in the annals of Siam since his time, one of the mostremarkable is that of a famous painter, who poisoned himself the dayafter his installation at court. Thus all natural ambition has beenstupidly extinguished in the breasts of the artists of a land whoseremaining monuments attest her ancient excellence in architecture, sculpture, and painting. 

The most remarkable examples of Siamese painting are presented in thecartoons to be found on the walls of the ancient temples, decorated withthe brush before the introduction of wall-paper from Birmah. One that isstill to be seen in the Watt Kheim Mah, or Mai, is especiallynoticeable. This temple was built by the grandmother of the late MahaMongkut. The plant _kheim mai_ (indigenous to Siam), which bears alovely little blossom, was one of her favorite flowers, and she calledher temple by its name. Being a liberal patron of the arts, she employeda promising young painter named Nai Dang to decorate the Watt. The manwould hardly be remembered now but for a poem he wrote and dedicated tothe queen mother, in which her beauty and goodness are extolled. I couldlearn of him no more than that he was self-educated, and by unaidedperseverance attained a respectable proficiency in drawing and design. He had also a fair knowledge of chemistry as it is practised in theEast; but, aspiring to fame and fortune, he abandoned that study anddevoted himself exclusively to painting. For years he struggleddesperately against the discouragements of poverty in himself andignorance in his neighbors, but found his reward at last in thisengagement to embellish the walls of the Watt Kheim Mai. 

Nai Dang's must have been an original and independent mind, for hisconceptions in this cartoon are as bold as his handling is vigorous andeffective, while his colors are more true to nature than any that I haveseen in Chinese or Japanese art. 

He has grandly chosen for his subject the Birth of Buddha. The mother ofthe divine teacher being on a journey, is overtaken with the pangs ofchildbirth. Her attendants and slaves have gathered about her; but she, as if conscious of the august nature of the babe she is about to bestowupon the world, retires alone to the shade of an orange grove, where, clinging to the friendly boughs, with a look of blended rapture andpain, she gives birth to the great reformer. A few steps farther on, acircle of light is seen glowing round the feet of the infant, as itattempts to rise and walk alone. Next we find the child in a rusticcradle; a branch of the tree under which he is sleeping bends low, toshield him from the fierce rays of the sun, and his royal parents, beholding the miracle, kneel and adore him. Now he is a youthful prince, beautiful and gentle, troubled with pity for the poor, the afflicted, and the aged, as they rest by the roadside. And finally, as a hermit, hesits in the shade of a boh-tree, rapt in divine contemplation. 

It is a great work, full of imagination, truth, and power, if justlycontemplated by the light of a semi-barbaric age. Every figure isinstinct with character and action, and the whole is rendered withinfinite _naïveté_, as though it represented undisputed and familiarfacts. 

On the opposite wall another great cartoon represents the Hell of theBuddhists, with demons whose hideous heads are those of fabulous beastsand creeping things. As a work of imagination and force this is worthyto be the companion of the Birth of Buddha. 

The roof is painted as a firmament, --stars in a blue ground; and here itis that the charm of pure feeling and noble treatment is most apparent. With five colors the artist has produced all the variety we see. No castshadows are shown, the forms themselves are but partially shaded, yetwonderful harmony and beauty pervade the whole. All honor to Nai Dang!who alone, amid the national decay of art and culture, preserved thisgerm of glorious life and strength, wrapped in his own obscure, neglected life!

The practice of decorating walls and ceilings with paintings may betraced to a remote period in the history of Siamese art. In an ancienttemple at Lophaburee is a curious picture, of less merit than those ofNai Dang, representing the marriage of Buddha with the princess Thiwadi, beside many of the transmigrations of the Buddhas; and there areelsewhere one or two pictures well worthy of notice, by masters whosenames have not been kept in remembrance. Thus art in Siam hasdegenerated for want of kind, fostering patrons, and faithful, sympathetic chroniclers, till it has become a thing of mere tools andtechnics. 

Nevertheless, they still paint with some cleverness on wood, cloth, parchment, ivory, and plastic material, as well as on gold andsilver, --a sort of enamelling. They also retain a fair knowledge ofeffect in fresco, tracing the outline on the wet ground, and laying onthe color in a thin glue; in some of their later work of this kind thatI have seen, the idea of the designer is expressed with much vigor. 

Their mosaics, executed in colored porcelain of several varieties, glassof all kinds, mother-of-pearl, and colored marbles, represent chieflyflowers and sprays on a brilliant ground. The most remarkable work ofthis kind is, I imagine, that which is lavished on the temple Watt P'hraKëau, --the walls, pillars, windows, roofs, towers, and gates beingeverywhere overlaid with mother-of-pearl and ivory, and profuselygilded. The several façades are likewise inlaid with ivory, glass, andmother-of-pearl, fixed with cement in the mortar, which serves as abase. In all cases these works are characterized by a touchingsimplicity, which seems to struggle through much, that is obscure andillegible to get nearer to nature and truth. Most of the tiles employedin the roofing of temples and palaces are colored and gilt. 

[Illustration: SPIRE OF THE TEMPLE WATT-POH. ]

Among the older pictures, one in the Royal bedchamber of the abandonedpalace deserves a parting glance. It is a cartoon (much defaced, andhere and there re-touched by clumsy Chinese hands) of The First Sin. Inthe foreground a newly created world is rudely represented, and here areseveral illuminated figures, human but gigantic. One of these, discontented with his spiritual food, is seen tasting something, whichwe are told is "fragrant earth"; after which, in another figure, heappears to be electrified, and here his monstrous anatomy is depictedwith ludicrous attempts at detail. No one could tell me by whom or whenthis cartoon was painted, and the painting itself is so littleappreciated that I might never have seen or heard of it but for a happychance. 

A characteristic effect in the few great works by Siamese paintersappears in their management of shade. They impart to darkness apervading inner light or clearness, and heighten the effect of thedeeper shadows by permitting objects to be seen through them. Inaddition to the pictures I have described, one or two of some merit areto be found in the Watt Brahmanee Waid. 

The florid style of architecture seems to have been familiar to theSiamese from a very early period. Their palaces, temples, and pagodasafford innumerable examples of it, many of them not unworthy of Europeanart. They build generally in brick, using a cement composed of sand, chalk, and molasses, in which the skin of the buffalo has been steeped. Their structures are the most solid and durable imaginable. When themasons building a wall round the new palace at Ayuthia found theirbricks falling short, they tried in vain to detach a supply from theruined temples and walls of that ancient city. 

In the art of sculpture the Siamese are in advance of theircivilization. Not only in their palaces, temples, and pagodas, but intheir shops and dwellings likewise, and even in their ships and boats, all sorts of figures are to be seen, modelled and finished with more orless delicacy. 

XXII. BUDDHIST DOCTRINE, PRIESTS, AND WORSHIP. 

"The world is old, and all things old within it. " We plod a troddenpath. No truth is new to-day, save only that one which as a mantlecovers the face of God, lest we be blinded by the unveiled glory. Howmany of earth's departed great, buried out of remembrance, might havelived to-day in the love of the wise and just, had theirs but been thatperfect quickening which is the breath of his Spirit upon the heart, thegift that "passeth understanding!" The world's helpers must first becomeborrowers of God. The world's teachers must first learn of him that onlywisdom, which cometh not of books nor jealous cloister cells, but out ofthe heart of man as it opens yearningly to the cry of humanity, --theWisdom of Love. This alone may challenge a superior mind, prizing truthsnot merely for their facts, but for their motives, --motives for whichindividuals or great communities either act or suffer, --to explore witha calm and kindly judgment the spirit of the religion of the Buddhists;and not its spirit only, but its every look and tone and motion as well, being so many complex expressions of the religious character in all itspeculiar thoughts and feelings. 

"Who, of himself, can interpret the symbol expressed by the wings of theair-sylph forming within the case of the caterpillar? Only he who feelsin his own soul the same instinct which impels the horned fly to leaveroom in its involucrum for antennae yet to come. " Such a man knows andfeels that the potential works in him even as the actual works on him. As all the organs of sense are framed for a correspondent world ofsense, so all the organs of the spirit are framed for a correspondentworld of spirit; and though these latter be not equally developed in usall, yet they surely exist in all; else how is it that even theignorant, the depraved, and the cruel will contemplate the man ofunselfish and exalted goodness with contradictory emotions of pity andrespect?

We are prone to ignore or to condemn that which we do not clearlyunderstand; and thus it is, and on no better ground, that we deny thatthere are influences in the religions of the East to render theirfollowers wiser, nobler, purer. And yet no one of respectableintelligence will question that there have been, in all ages, individualpagans who, by the simplicity of their doctrine and the purity of theirpractice, have approached very nearly to the perfection of the Christiangraces; and that they were, if not so much the better for the religionthey had, at least far, far better than if they had had no religion atall. 

It is not, however, in human nature to approve and admire any course oflife without inquiring into the spirit of the law that regulates it. Normay it suffice that the spirit is there, if not likewise theletter, --that is to say, the practice. The best doctrine may become theworst, if imperfectly understood, erroneously interpreted, orsuperstitiously followed. 

In Egypt, Palestine, Greece, and India, the metaphysical analysis ofMind had attained its noontide splendor, while as yet experimentalresearch had hardly dawned. Those ancient mystics did much to promoteintellectual emancipation, by insisting that Thought should not beimprisoned within the mere outlines of any single dogmatic system; andthey likewise availed, in no feeble measure, to keep alive the heart inthe head, by demanding an impartial reverence for every attribute of themind, till, by converting these into symbols to impress the ignorant andstupid, they came at last to deify them. Thus, with the uninitiated, their system degenerated into an ignoble pantheism. 

The renascence of Buddhism sought to eliminate from the arrogant andimpious pantheisms of Egypt, India, and Greece a simple and purephilosophy, upholding virtue as man's greatest good and highest reward. It taught that the only object worthy of his noblest aspirations was torender the soul (itself an emanation from God) fit to be absorbed backagain into the Divine essence from which it sprang. The single aim, therefore, of pure Buddhism seems to have been to rouse men to an inwardcontemplation of the divinity of their own nature; to fix their thoughtson the spiritual life within as the only real and true life; to teachthem to disregard all earthly distinctions, conditions, privileges, enjoyments, privations, sorrows, sufferings; and thus to incite them tocontinual efforts in the direction of the highest ideals of patience, purity, self-denial. 

Buddhism cannot be clearly defined by its visible results today. Thereare more things in that subtile, mystical enigma called in the Pali_Nirwana_, in the Birmese _Niban_, in the Siamese _Niphan_, than aredreamed of in our philosophy. With the idea of Niphan in his theology, it were absurdly false to say the Buddhist has no God. His Decalogue[FOOTNOTE: Translated from the Pali. ] is as plain and imperative as theChristian's :--

I. From the meanest insect up to man thou shalt kill no animalwhatsoever. 

II. Thou shalt not steal. 

III. Thou shalt not violate the wife of another, nor his concubine. 

IV. Thou shalt speak no word that is false. 

V. Thou shalt not drink wine, nor anything that may intoxicate. 

VI. Thou shalt avoid all anger, hatred, and bitter language. 

VII. Thou shalt not indulge in idle and vain talk. 

VIII. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods. 

IX. Thou shalt not harbor envy, nor pride, nor revenge, nor malice, northe desire of thy neighbor's death or misfortune. 

X. Thou shalt not follow the doctrines of false gods. 

Whosoever abstains from these forbidden things is said to "observeSilah"; and whosoever shall faithfully observe Silah, in all hissuccessive metempsychoses, shall continually increase in virtue andpurity, until at length he shall become worthy to behold God, and hearhis voice; and so he shall obtain Niphan. "Be assiduous in bestowingalms, in practising virtue, in observing Silah, in performing Bavana, prayer; and above all in adoring Guadama, the true God. Reverencelikewise his laws and his priests. "

Many have missed seeing what is true and wise in the doctrine of Buddhabecause they preferred to observe it from the standpoint and in theattitude of an antagonist, rather than of an inquirer. To understandaright the earnest creed and hope of any man, one must be at leastsympathetically _en rapport_ with him, --must be willing to feel, and toconfess within one's self, the germs of those errors whose growth seemsso rank in him. In the humble spirit of this fellowship of fallibilitylet us draw as near as we may to the hearts of these devotees and theheart of their mystery. 

My interesting pupil, the Lady Tâlâp, had invited me to accompany her tothe royal private temple, Watt P'hra Këau, to witness the services heldthere on the Buddhist Sabâto, or One-thu-sin. Accordingly we repairedtogether to the temple on the day appointed. The day was young, and theair was cool and fresh; and as we approached the place of worship, theclustered bells of the pagodas made breezy gushes of music aloft. One ofthe court pages, meeting us, inquired our destination. "The Watt P'hraKëau, " I replied. "To see or to hear?" "Both. " And we entered. 

On a floor diamonded with polished brass sat a throng of women, the_élite_ of Siam. All were robed in pure white, with white silk scarfsdrawn from the left shoulder in careful folds across the bust and back, and thrown gracefully over the right. A little apart sat their femaleslaves, of whom many were inferior to their mistresses only in socialconsideration and worldly gear, being their half-sisters, --children ofthe same father by a slave mother. 

The women sat in circles, and each displayed her vase of flowers and herlighted taper before her. In front of all were a number of my youngerpupils, the royal children, in circles also. Close by the altar, on alow square stool, overlaid with a thin cushion of silk, sat thehigh-priest, Chow Khoon Sâh. In his hand he held a concave fan, linedwith pale green silk, the back richly embroidered, jewelled, and gilt. [Footnote: The fan is used to cover the face. Jewelled fans are marks ofdistinction among the priesthood. ] He was draped in a yellow robe, notunlike the Roman toga, a loose and flowing habit, closed below thewaist, but open from the throat to the girdle, which was simply a bandof yellow cloth, bound tightly. From the shoulders hung two narrowstrips, also yellow, descending over the robe to the feet, andresembling the scapular worn by certain orders of the Roman Catholicclergy. At his side was an open watch of gold, the gift of hissovereign. At his feet sat seventeen disciples, shading their faces withfans less richly adorned. 

We put off our shoes, --my child and I, --having respect for the ancientprejudice against them; [Footnote: "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. "] feeling not somuch reverence for the place as for the hearts that worshipped there, caring to display not so much the love of wisdom as the wisdom of love;and well were we repaid by the grateful smile of recognition thatgreeted us as we entered. 

We sat down cross-legged. No need to hush my boy, --the silence there, sosubduing, checked with its mysterious awe even his inquisitive youngmind. The venerable high-priest sat with his face jealously covered, lest his eyes should tempt his thoughts to stray. I changed my positionto catch a glimpse of his countenance; he drew his fan-veil moreclosely, giving me a quick but gentle half-glance of remonstrance. Thenraising his eyes, with lids nearly closed, he chanted in an infantile, wailing tone. 

That was the opening prayer. At once the whole congregation raisedthemselves on their knees and, all together, prostrated themselvesthrice profoundly, thrice touching the polished brass floor with theirforeheads; and then, with heads bowed and palms folded and eyes closed, they delivered the responses after the priest, much in the manner of theEnglish liturgy, first the priest, then the people, and finally alltogether. There was no singing, no standing up and sitting down, nochanging of robes or places, no turning the face to the altar, nornorth, nor south, nor east, nor west. All knelt _still_, with handsfolded straight before them, and eyes strictly, tightly closed. Indeed, there were faces there that expressed devotion and piety, the humblestand the purest, as the lips murmured: "O Thou Eternal One, Thouperfection of Time, Thou truest Truth, Thou immutable essence of allChange, Thou most excellent radiance of Mercy, Thou infinite Compassion, Thou Pity, Thou Charity!"

I lost some of the responses in the simultaneous repetition, and did butimperfectly comprehend the exhortation that followed, in which wasinculcated the strictest practice of charity in a manner so pathetic andso gentle as might be wisely imitated by the most orthodox of Christianpriests. 

There was majesty in the humility of those pagan worshippers, and intheir shame of self they were sublime. I leave both the truth and theerror to Him who alone can soar to the bright heights of the one andsound the dark depths of the other, and take to myself the lesson, to beread in the shrinking forms and hidden faces of those patient waitersfor a far-off glimmering _Light_, --the lesson wherefrom I learn, inthanking God for the light of Christianity, to thank him for its shadowtoo, which is Buddhism. 

Around the porches and vestibules of the temple lounged the Amazonianguard, intent only on irreverent amusement, even in the form of agrotesque and grim flirtation here and there with the custodians of thetemple, who have charge of the sacred fire that burns before the altar. About eighty-five years ago this fire went out. It was a calamity ofdireful presage, and thereupon all Siam went into a consternation ofmourning. All public spectacles were forbidden until the crime could beexpiated by the appropriate punishment of the wretch to whosesacrilegious carelessness it was due; nor was the sacred flame rekindleduntil the reign of P'hra-Pooti-Yaut-Fa, grandfather of his late Majesty, when the royal Hall of Audience was destroyed by lightning. From thatfire of heaven it was relighted with joyful thanksgiving, and so hasburned on to this day. 

The lofty throne, on which the priceless P'hra Këau (the Emerald Idol)blazed in its glory of gold and gems, shone resplendent in the forenoonlight. Everything above, around it, --even the vases of flowers and theperfumed tapers on the floor, --was reflected as if by magic in itskaleidoscopic surface, now pensive, pale, and silvery as with moonlight, now flashing, fantastic, with the party-colored splendors of a thousandlamps. 

The ceiling was wholly covered with hieroglyphic devices, --luminouscircles and triangles, globes, rings, stars, flowers, figures ofanimals, even parts of the human body, --mystic symbols, to be decipheredonly by the initiated. Ah! could I but have read them as in a book, construing all their allegorical significance, how near might I not havecome to the distracting secret of this people! Gazing upon them, mythought flew back a thousand years, and my feeble, foolish conjectures, like butterflies at sea, were lost in mists of old myth. 

Not that Buddhism has escaped the guessing and conceits of a multitudeof writers, most trustworthy of whom are the early Christian Fathers, who, to the end that they might arouse the attention of the sleepingnations, yielded a reluctant, but impartial and graceful, tribute to thelong-forgotten creeds of Chaldea, Phenicia, Assyria, and Egypt. Nevertheless, they would never have appealed to the doctrine of Buddhaas being most like to Christianity in its rejection of the claims ofrace, had they not found in its simple ritual another and a strongerbond of brotherhood. Like Christianity, too, it was a religion catholicand apostolic, for the truth of which many faithful witnesses had laiddown their lives. It was, besides, the creed of an ancient race; and themystery that shrouded it had a charm to pique the vanity even ofself-sufficient Greeks, and stir up curiosity even in Roman arroganceand indifference. The doctrines of Buddha were eminently fitted toelucidate the doctrines of Christ, and therefore worthy to engage theinterest of Christian writers; accordingly, among the earliest of thesemention is made of the Buddha or Phthah, though there were as yet few ornone to appreciate all the religious significance of his teachings. Terebinthus declared there was nothing in the pagan world to be comparedwith his (Buddha's) _P'hra-ti-moksha_, or Code of Discipline, which insome respects resembled the rules that governed the lives of the monksof Christendom; Marco Polo says of Buddha, "Si fuisset Christianus, fuisset apud Deum maximus factus"; and later, Malcolm, the devotedmissionary, said of his doctrine, "In almost every respect it seems tobe the best religion which man has ever invented. " Mark the "invented"of the wary Christian!

But errors, that in time crept in, corrupted the pure doctrine, anddisciples, ignorant or stupid, perverted its meaning and intent, andblind or treacherous guides led the simple astray, till at last the trueand plain philosophy of Buddha became entangled with the Egyptianmythology. 

Over the portal on the eastern facade of the Watt P'hra Këau is abass-relief representing the Last Judgment, in which are figures of adevil with a pig's head dragging the wicked to hell, and an angelweighing mankind in a pair of scales. Now we know that in the mythologyof ancient Egypt the Pig was the emblem of the Evil Spirit, and thisbass-relief of the Siamese watt could hardly fail to remind theEgyptologist of kindred compositions in old sculptures wherein the goodand bad deeds of the dead are weighed by Anubis (the Siamese Anuman orHanuman), and the souls of the wicked carried off by a pig. 

In the city of Arsinoe in Upper Egypt (formerly Crocodilopolis, nowMedinet-el-Fayum), the crocodile is worshipped; and a sacred crocodile, kept in a pond, is perfectly tame and familiar with the priests. He iscalled Suchus, and they feed him with meat and corn and wine, thecontributions of strangers. One of the Egyptian divinities, apparentlythat to whom the beast was consecrated, is invariably pictured with thehead of a crocodile; and in hieroglyphic inscriptions is represented bythat animal with the tail turned under the body. A similar figure iscommon in the temples of Siam; and a sacred crocodile, kept in a pond inthe manner of the ancient Egyptians, is fed by Siamese priests, at whosecall it comes to the surface to receive the rice, fruit, and wine thatare brought to it daily. 

The Beetle, an insect peculiarly sacred to the Buddhists, was theEgyptian sign of Phthah, the Father of Gods; and in the hieroglyphics itstands for the name of that deity, whose head is either surmounted by abeetle, or is itself in the form of a beetle. Elsewhere in thehieroglyphics, where it does not represent Buddha, it evidently appearsas the symbol of generation or reproduction, the meaning most ancientlyattached to it; whence Dr. Young, in his "Hieroglyphical Researches, "inferred its relation to Buddha. Mrs. Hamilton Gray, in her work on theSepulchres of Etruria, observes: "As scarabæi existed long before we hadany account of idols, I do not doubt that they were originally theinvention of some really devout mind; and they speak to us in stronglanguage of the danger of making material symbols of immaterial things. First, the symbol came to be trusted in, instead of the being of whom itwas the sign. Then came the bodily conception and manifestation of thatbeing, or his attributes, in the form of idols. Next, the representationof all that belongs to spirits, good and bad. And finally, thedeification of every imagination of the heart of man, --a written andaccredited system of polytheism, and a monstrous and hydra-headedidolatry. "

Such is the religious history of the scarabæus, a creature that so earlyattracted the notice of man by its ingenious and industrious habits, that it was selected by him to symbolize the Creator; and cutting stonesto represent it, [FOOTNOTE: Six rubies, exquisitely cut in the form ofbeetles, are worn as studs by the present King of Siam. ] he wore them intoken of his belief in a creator of all things, and in recognition ofthe Divine Presence, probably attaching to them at first no moremysterious import or virtue. There is sound reason for believing that inthis form the symbol existed before Abraham, and that its fundamentalsignification of creation or generation was gradually overbuilt witharbitrary speculations and fantastic notions. In theory it degeneratedinto a crude egoism, a vaunting and hyper-stoic hostility to nature, which, though intellectually godless, was not without that universalinstinct for divinity which, by countless ways, seeks with anever-present and importunate longing for the one sublimated and eternalsource from which it sprang. 

Through twenty-five million six hundred thousand Asongkhies, ormetempsychoses, --according to the overpowering computation of hispriests, --did Buddha struggle to attain the divine omniscience ofNiphan, by virtue of which he remembers every form he ever entered, andbeholds with the clear eyes of a god the endless diversities oftransmigration in the animal, human, and angelic worlds, throughout thespaceless, timeless, numberless universe of visible and invisible life. According to Heraclides, Pythagoras used to say of himself, that heremembered "not only all the men, but all the animals and all theplants, his soul had passed through. " That Pythagoras believed andtaught the doctrine of transmigration may hardly be doubted, but that heoriginated it is very questionable. Herodotus intimates that bothOrpheus and Pythagoras derived it from the Egyptians, but propounded itas their own, without acknowledgment. 

Nearly every male inhabitant of Siam enters the priesthood at least oncein his lifetime. Instead of the more vexatious and scandalous forms ofdivorce, the party aggrieved may become a priest or a nun, and thus thematrimonial bond is at once dissolved; and with this advantage, thatafter three or four months of probation they may be reconciled andreunited, to live together in the world again. 

Chow Khoon Sâh, or "His Lordship the Lake, " whose functions in the WattP'hra Këau I have described, was the High-Priest of Siam, and in highfavor with his Majesty. He had taken holy orders with the double motiveof devoting himself to the study of Sanskrit literature, and of escapingthe fate, that otherwise awaited him, of becoming the mere thrall of hismore fortunate cousin, the king. In the palace it was whispered that heand the late queen consort had been tenderly attached to each other, butthat the lady's parents, for prudential considerations, discountenancedthe match; "and so, " on the eve of her betrothal to his Majesty, herlover had sought seclusion and consolation in a Buddhist monastery. However that may be, it is certain that the king and the high-priestwere now fast friends. The latter entertained great respect for hisreverend cousin, whose title ("The Lake") described justly, as well aspoetically, the graceful serenity and repose of his demeanor. 

Chow Khoon Sâh lived at some distance from the palace, at the WattBrahmanee Waid. As the friendship between the cousins ripened, hisMajesty considered that it would be well for him to have thecontemplative student, prudent adviser, and able reasoner nearer to him. With this idea, and for a surprise to one to whom all surprises had longsince become but vanities and vexations of spirit, he caused to beerected, about forty yards from the Grand Palace, on the eastern side ofthe Meinam, a temple which he named _Rajah-Bah-dit-Sang_, or "The Kingcaused me to be built"; and at the same time, as an appendage to thetemple, a monastery in mediaeval style, the workmanship in bothstructures being most substantial and elaborate. 

The sculptures and carvings on the pillars and façades--half-fabulous, half-historical figures, conveying ingenious allegories of the triumphof virtue over the passions--constituted a singular tribute to theexemplary fame of the high-priest. The grounds were planted with treesand shrubs, and the walks gravelled, thus inviting the contemplativerecluse to tranquil, soothing strolls. These grounds were accessible byfour gates, the principal one facing the east, and a private portalopening on the canal. 

The laying of the foundation of the temple and monastery ofRajah-Bah-dit-Sang was the occasion of extraordinary festivities, consisting of theatrical spectacles and performances, a carnival ofdancing, mass around every corner-stone, banquets to priests, anddistributions of clothing, food, and money to the poor. The kingpresided every morning and evening under a silken canopy; and even thosefavorites of the harem who were admitted to the royal confidence wereprovided with tents, whence they could witness the shows, andparticipate in the rejoicings in the midst of which the good work wenton. After the several services of mass had been performed, and thecorner-stones consecrated by the pouring on of oil and water, [Footnote:Oil is the emblem of life and love; water, of purity. ] seven tall lampswere lighted to burn above them seven days and nights, and seventypriests in groups of seven, forming a perfect circle, prayedcontinually, holding in their hands the mystic web of seven threads, that weird circlet of life and death. 

Then the youngest and fairest virgins of the land brought offerings ofcorn and wine, milk, honey, and flowers, and poured them on theconsecrated stones. And after that, they brought pottery of allkinds, --vases, urns, ewers, goglets, bowls, cups, and dishes, --and, flinging them into the foundations, united with zeal and rejoicing inthe "meritorious" work of pounding them into fine dust; and while theinstruments of music and the voices of the male and female singers ofthe court kept time to the measured crash and thud of the wooden clubsin those young and tender hands, the king cast into the foundation coinsand ingots of gold and silver. 

"Do you understand the word 'charity, ' or _maitrî_, as your apostle St. Paul explains it in the thirteenth chapter of his First Epistle to theCorinthians?" said his Majesty to me one morning, when he had beendiscussing the religion of Sakyamuni, the Buddha. 

"I believe I do, your Majesty, " was my reply. 

"Then, tell me, what does St. Paul really mean, to what custom does heallude, when he says, 'Even if I give my body to be burned, and have notcharity, it profiteth me nothing'?"

"Custom!" said I. "I do not know of any _custom_. The giving of the bodyto be burned is by him esteemed the highest act of devotion, the purestsacrifice man can make for man. "

"You have said well. It is the highest act of devotion that can be made, or performed, by man for man, --that giving of his body to be burned. Butif it is done from a spirit of opposition, for the sake of fame, orpopular applause, or for any other such motive, is it still to beregarded as the highest act of sacrifice?"

"That is just what St. Paul means: the motive consecrates the deed. "

"But all men are not fortified with the self-control which should fitthem to be great exemplars; and of the many who have appeared in thatcharacter, if strict inquiry were made, their virtue would be found toproceed from any other than the true and pure spirit. Sometimes it isindolence, sometimes restlessness, sometimes vanity impatient for itsgratification, and rushing to assume the part of humility for thepurpose of self-delusion. "

"Now" said the King, taking several of his long strides in the vestibuleof his library, and declaiming with his habitual emphasis, "St Paul, inthis chapter, evidently and strongly applies the Buddhist's word_maitrî_, or _maikree_, as pronounced by some Sanskrit scholars; andexplains it through the Buddhist's custom of giving the body to beburned, which was practised centuries before the Christian era, and isfound unchanged in parts of China, Ceylon, and Siam to this day. Thegiving of the body to be burned has ever been considered by devoutBuddhists the most exalted act of self-abnegation. 

"To give all one's goods to feed the poor is common in this country, with princes and people, --who often keep back nothing (not even one_cowree_, the thousandth part of a cent) to provide for themselves ahandful of rice. But then they stand in no fear of starvation; for deathby hunger is unknown where Buddhism is preached and _practised_. 

"I know a man, of royal parentage, and once possessed of untold riches. In his youth he felt such pity for the poor, the old, the sick, and suchas were troubled and sorrowful, that he became melancholy, and afterspending several years in the continual relief of the needy andhelpless, he, in a moment, gave all his goods, --in a word, ALL, --'tofeed the poor. ' This man has never heard of St. Paul or his writings;but he knows, and tries to comprehend in its fulness, the Buddhist word_maitrî_. 

"At thirty he became a priest. For five years he had toiled as agardener; for that was the occupation he preferred, because in thepursuit of it he acquired much useful knowledge of the medicinalproperties of plants, and so became a ready physician to those who couldnot pay for their healing. But he could not rest content with soimperfect a life, while the way to perfect knowledge of excellence, truth, and charity remained open to him; so he became a priest. 

"This happened sixty-five years ago. Now he is ninety-five years old;and, I fear, has not yet found the truth and excellence he has been insearch of so long. But I know no greater man than he. He is great in theChristian sense, --loving, pitiful, forbearing, pure. 

"Once, when he was a gardener, he was robbed of his few poor tools byone whom he had befriended in many ways. Some time after that, the kingmet him, and inquired of his necessities. He said he needed tools forhis gardening. A great abundance of such implements was sent to him; andimmediately he shared them with his neighbors, taking care to send themost and best to the man who had robbed him. 

"Of the little that remained to him, he gave freely to all who lacked. Not his own, but another's wants, were his sole argument in asking orbestowing. Now, he is great in the Buddhist sense also, --not loving lifenor fearing death, desiring nothing the world can give, beyond the peaceof a beatified spirit. This man--who is now the High-Priest ofSiam--would, without so much as a thought of shrinking, give his body, alive or dead, to be burned, if so he might obtain one glimpse ofeternal truth, or save one soul from death or sorrow. "

More than eighteen months after the First King of Siam had entertainedme with this essentially Buddhistic argument, and its simple andimpressive illustration, a party of pages hurried me away with them, just as the setting sun was trailing his last long, lingering shadowsthrough the porches of the palace. His Majesty required my presence; andhis Majesty's commands were absolute and instant. "Find and fetch!" Nodelay was to be thought of, no question answered, no explanationafforded, no excuse entertained. So with resignation I followed myguides, who led the way to the monastery of Watt Rajah-Bah-dit-Sang. Buthaving some experience of the moods and humors of his Majesty, my mindwas not wholly free from uneasiness. Generally, such impetuous summoningforeboded an interview the reverse of agreeable. 

The sun had set in glory below the red horizon when I entered theextensive range of monastic buildings that adjoin the temple. Widetracts of waving corn and avenues of oleanders screened from view thedistant city, with its pagodas and palaces. The air was fresh and balmy, and seemed to sigh plaintively among the betel and cocoa palms thatskirt the monastery. 

The pages left me seated on a stone step, and ran to announce mypresence to the king. Long after the moon had come out clear and cool, and I had begun to wonder where all this would end, a young man, robedin pure white, and bearing in one hand a small lighted taper and a lilyin the other, beckoned me to enter, and follow him; and as we traversedthe long, low passages that separate the cells of the priests, the weirdsound of voices, chanting the hymns of the Buddhist liturgy, fell uponmy ear. The darkness, the loneliness, the measured monotone, distant anddreamy, all was most romantic and exciting, even to a matter-of-factEnglish woman like myself. 

As the page approached the threshold of one of the cells, he whisperedto me, in a voice full of entreaty, to put off my shoes; at the sametime prostrating himself with a movement and expression of the mostabject humility before the door, where he remained, without changing hisposture. I stooped involuntarily, and scanned curiously, anxiously, thescene within the cell. There sat the king; and at a sign from him Ipresently entered, and sat down beside him. 

On a rude pallet, about six and a half feet long, and not more thanthree feet wide, and with a bare block of wood for a pillow, lay a dyingpriest. A simple garment of faded yellow covered his person; his handswere folded on his breast; his head was bald, and the few blanched hairsthat might have remained to fringe his sunken temples had been carefullyshorn, --his eyebrows, too, were closely shaven; his feet were bare andexposed; his eyes were fixed, not in the vacant stare of death, but withsolemn contemplation or scrutiny, upward. No sign of disquiet was there, no external suggestion of pain or trouble; I was at once startled andpuzzled. Was he dying, or acting?

In the attitude of his person, in the expression of his countenance, Ibeheld sublime reverence, repose, absorption. He seemed to be communingwith some spiritual presence. 

My entrance and approach made no change in him. At his right side was adim taper in a gold candlestick; on the left a dainty golden vase, filled with white lilies, freshly gathered: these were offerings fromthe king. One of the lilies had been laid on his breast, and contrastedtouchingly with the dingy, faded yellow of his robe. Just over theregion of the heart lay a coil of unspun cotton thread, which, beingdivided into seventy-seven filaments, was distributed to the hands ofthe priests, who, closely seated, quite filled the ell, so that nonecould have moved without difficulty. Before each priest were a lightedtaper and a lily, symbols of faith and purity. From time to time one orother of that solemn company raised his voice, and chanted strangely;and all the choir responded in unison. These were the words, as theywere afterward translated for me by the king. 

_First Voice. _ Sâng-Khâng sârâ nang gâch' châ mi! (Thou Excellence, orPerfection! I take refuge in thee. )

_All. _ Nama Poothô sâng-Khâng sârâ nang gâch' châ mi! (Thou who artnamed Poot-tho!--either God, Buddha, or Mercy, --I take refuge in thee. )

_First Voice. _ Tuti âmpi sâng-Khâng sârâ nang gâch' cha mi! (Thou HolyOne! I take refuge in thee. )

_All. _ Tè sâtiyâ sâng-Khâng sârâ nang gâch' châ mi! (Thou Truth, I takerefuge in thee. )

As the sound of the prayer fell on his ear, a nickering smile lit up thepale, sallow countenance of the dying man with a visible mild radiance, as though the charity and humility of his nature, in departing, left thelight of their loveliness there. The absorbing rapture of that look, which seemed to overtake the invisible, was almost too holy to gazeupon. Riches, station, honors, kindred, he had resigned them all, morethan half a century since, in his love for the poor and his longingafter truth. Here was none of the wavering or vagueness or incoherenceof a wandering, delirious death. He was going to his clear, eternalcalm. With a smile of perfect peace he said: "To your Majesty I commendthe poor; and this that remains of me I give to be burned. " And that, his last gift, was indeed his all. 

I can imagine no spectacle more worthy to excite a compassionateemotion, to impart an abiding impression of reverence, than the tranquildying of that good old "pagan. " Gradually his breathing became morelaborious; and presently, turning with a great effort toward the king, he said, _Chan cha pi dauni!_--"I will go now!" Instantly the priestsjoined in a loud psalm and chant, "P'hra Arahang sâng-Khâng sârâ nanggâch' châ mi!" (Thou Sacred One, I take refuge in thee. ) A few minutesmore, and the spirit of the High-Priest of Siam had calmly breatheditself away. The eyes were open and fixed; the hands still clasped; theexpression sweetly content. My heart and eyes were full of tears, yet Iwas comforted. By what hope? I know not, for I dared not question it. 

On the afternoon of the next day I was again summoned by his Majesty towitness the burning of that body. 

It was carried to the cemetery Watt Sah Kâte; and there men, hired to dosuch dreadful offices upon the dead, cut off all the flesh and flung itto the hungry dogs that haunt that monstrous garbage-field of Buddhism. The bones, and all that remained upon them, were thoroughly burned; andthe ashes, carefully gathered in an earthen pot, were scattered in thelittle gardens of wretches too poor to buy manure. All that was left nowof the venerable devotee was the remembrance of a look. 

"This, " said the King, as I turned away sickened and sorrowful, "is togive one's body to be burned. This is what your St. Paul had in hismind, --this custom of our Buddhist ancestors, this completeself-abnegation in life and in death, --when he said, 'Even if I give mybody to be burned, and have not charity [maitrî], it profiteth menothing. '"

[Illustration: Priests at Breakfast. ]

COMMON MAXIMS OF THE PRIESTS OF SIAM. 

Glory not in thyself, but rather in thy neighbor. 

Dig not the earth, which is the source of life and the mother of all. 

Cause no tree to die. 

Kill no beast, nor insect, not even the smallest ant or fly. 

Eat nothing between meals. 

Regard not singers, dancers, nor players on instruments. 

Use no perfume but sweetness of thoughts. 

Neither sit nor sleep in high places. 

Be lowly in thy heart, that thou mayst be lowly in thy act. 

Hoard neither silver nor gold. 

Entertain not thy thoughts with worldly things. 

Do no work but the work of charity and truth. 

Give not flowers unto women, but rather prayers. 

Contract no friendship with the hope of gain. 

Borrow nothing, but rather deny thy want. 

Lend not unto usury. 

Keep neither lance, nor sword, nor any deadly weapon. 

Judge not thy neighbor. 

Bake not, nor burn. 

Wink not. Be not familiar nor contemptuous. 

Labor not for hire, but for charity. 

Look not upon women unchastely. 

Make no incisions that may draw blood or sap, which is the life of manand nature. 

Give no medicines which contain poison, but study to acquire the trueart of healing, which is the highest of all arts, and pertains to thewise and benevolent. 

Love all men equally. 

Perform not thy meditations in public places. 

Make no idols of any kind. 

XXIII. CREMATION. 

As soon as his Majesty had recovered from his genuine convulsion ofgrief for the death of his sweet little princess, Somdetch Chow Fâ-ying, he proceeded, habited in white, with all his family, to visit thechamber of mourning. The grand-aunt of the dead child, who seemed themost profoundly afflicted of all that numerous household, still layprostrate at the feet of her pale cold darling, and would not becomforted. As his Majesty entered, silently ushered, she moved, andmutely laid her head upon his feet, moaning, _Poot-tho! Poot-tho!_There were tears and sighs and heart-wrung sobs around. Speechless, butwith trembling lips, the royal father took gently in his arms the littlecorpse, and bathed it in the Siamese manner, by pouring cold water uponit. In this he was followed by other members of the royal family, themore distant relatives, and such ladies of the harem as chanced to be inwaiting, --each advancing in the order of rank, and pouring pure coldwater from a silver bowl over the slender body. Two sisters of the kingthen shrouded the corpse in a sitting posture, overlaid it with perfumesand odoriferous gums, frankincense and myrrh, and, lastly, swaddled itin a fine winding-sheet. Finally it was deposited in a golden urn, andthis again in an-other of finer gold, richly adorned with preciousstones. The inner urn has an iron grating in the bottom, and the outeran orifice at its most pendent point, through which by means of a tap orstop-cock, the fluids are drawn off daily, until the _cadavre_ hasbecome quite dry. 

This double rim was borne on a gilt sedan, under a royal gilt umbrella, to the temple of the Maha Phrasat, where it was mounted on a graduatedplatform about six feet high. During this part of the ceremony, andwhile the trumpeters and the blowers of conch-shells performed theirlugubrious parts, his Majesty sat apart, his face buried in his hands, confessing a keener anguish than had ever before cut his selfish heart. 

The urn being thus elevated, all the insignia pertaining to the rank ofthe little princess were disposed in formal order below it, as though ather feet. Then the musicians struck up a passionate passage, ending in aplaintive and truly solemn dirge; after which his Majesty and all theprincely company retired, leaving the poor clod to await, in its pagangauds and mockery, the last offices of friendship. But not always alone;for thrice daily--at early dawn, and noon, and gloaming--the musicianscame to perform a requiem for the soul of the dead, --"that it may soaron high, from the naming, fragrant pyre for which it is reserved, andreturn to its foster parents, Ocean, Earth, Air, Sky. " With these isjoined a concert of mourning women, who bewail the early dead, extollingher beauty, graces, virtues; while in the intervals, four priests (whoare relieved every fourth hour) chant the praises of Buddha, bidding thegentle spirit "Pass on! Pass on!" and boldly speed through the labyrinthbefore it, "through high, deep, and famous things, through good and evilthings, through truth and error, through wisdom and folly, throughsorrow, suffering, hope, life, joy, love, death, through endlessmutability, into immutability!"

These services are performed with religious care daily for six months;[Footnote: Twelve months for a king. ] that is, until the time appointedfor cremation. Meanwhile, in the obsequies of the Princess Fâ-ying, arrangements were made for the erection of the customary_P'hra-mène_, --a temporary structure of great splendor, where the bodylies in state for several days, on a throne dazzling with gold andsilver ornaments and precious stones. 

For the funeral honors of royalty it is imperative that the P'hra-mènebe constructed of virgin timber. Trunks of teak, from two hundred to twohundred and fifty feet in length, and of proportionate girth, are felledin the forests of Myolonghee, and brought down the Meinam in rafts. These trunks, planted thirty feet deep, one at each corner of a square, serve as pillars, not less than a hundred and seventy feet high, tosupport a sixty-foot spire, an octagonal pyramid, covered with goldleaf. Attached to this pyramid are four wings, forty feet long, withhandsome porches looking to the cardinal points of the compass; herealso are four colossal figures of heroic myths, each with a lioncouchant at its feet. 

On one side of the square reserved for the P'hra-mène, a vast hall iserected to accommodate the Supreme King and his family while attendingthe funeral ceremonies. The several roofs of this temporary edifice havepeculiar horn-like projections at the ends, and are covered with crimsoncloth, while golden draperies are suspended from the ceiling. The entirespace around the P'hra-mène is matted with bamboo wicker-work, anddecorated with innumerable standards peculiar to Siam. Here and theremay be seen grotesque cartoons of the wars of gods and giants, and rudelandscapes supposed to represent the Buddhist's heaven, with lakes andgroves and gardens. Beyond these are playhouses for theatrical displays, puppet-shows, masquerades, posturing, somersaulting, leaping, wrestling, balancing on ropes and wires, and the tricks of professional buffoons. Here also are restaurants, or cook-shops, for all classes of peopleabove the degree of boors; and these are open day and night during theperiod devoted to the funeral rites. 

The grand lodge erected for the Second King and his household, at thecremation of his little niece, resembled that of his brother, theSupreme King, in the regal style of its decorations. 

The centre of the P'hra-mène is a lofty octagon; and directly under thegreat spire is a gorgeous eight-sided pyramid, diminishing byright-angled gradations to a truncated top, its base being fifty orsixty feet in circumference, and higher by twenty feet than thesurrounding buildings. On this pyramid stood the urn of gold containingthe remains of the royal child. Above the urn a golden canopy hung fromthe lofty ceiling, and far above this again a circular white awning wasspread, representing the firmament studded with silver stars. Under thecanopy, and just over little Fâ-ying's urn, the whitest and mostfragrant flowers, gathered and arranged by those who loved her best inlife, formed a bright odoriferous bower. The pyramid itself wasdecorated with rare and beautiful gifts, of glass, porcelain, alabaster, silver, gold, and artificial flowers, with images of birds, beasts, men, women, children, and angels. Splendid chandeliers suspended from theceiling, and lesser lights on the angles of the pyramid, illuminated thefuneral hall. 

These showy preparations completed, the royal mourners only waited forthe appointed time when the remains must be laid in state upon theconsecrated pyre. At dawn of that day, all the princes, nobles, governors, and superior priests of the kingdom, with throngs of basermen, women, and children, in their holiday attire, came to grace the"fiery consummation" of little Fâ-ying. A royal barge conveyed me, withmy boy, to the palace, whence we followed on foot. 

The gold urn, in an ivory chariot of antique fashion, richly gilt, wasdrawn by a pair of milk-white horses, and followed and attended byhundreds of men clad in pure white. It was preceded by two otherchariots; in the first sat the high-priest, reading short, pithyaphorisms and precepts from the sacred books; in the other followed thefull brothers of the deceased. A strip of silver cloth, six inches wide, attached to the urn, was loosely extended to the seats of the royalmourners in this second chariot, and thence to the chariot of the high-priest, on whose lap the ends were laid, symbolizing the mystic unionbetween death, life, and the Buddha. 

Next after the urn came a chariot laden with the sacred sandal-wood, thearomatic gums, and the wax tapers. The wood was profusely carved withemblems of the indestructibility of matter; for though the fireapparently consumes the pile, and with it the body, the priests arecareful to interpret the process as that by which both are endued withnew vitality; thus everything consecrated to the religious observancesof Buddhism is made to typify some latent truth. 

Then came a long procession of mythological figures, nondescripts drawnon small wooden wheels, and covered with offerings for the priests. These were followed by crowds of both sexes and all ages, bearing intheir hands the mystic triform flower, emblematic of the sacred circle, _Om_, or Aum. To hold this mystic flower above the head, and describewith it endless circles in the air, is regarded as a performance ofpeculiar virtue and "merit, " and one of the most signal acts of devotionpossible to a Buddhist. And yet, as the symbol of One great CentralSpirit, whose name it is profanation to utter, the symbol is strangelyat variance with the doctrines of Buddhism. 

The moment the strange concourse, human and mythological, began to move, the conch-shells, horns, trumpets, sackbuts, pipes, dulcimers, flutes, and harps rent the air with wild wailing; but above the din rose thedeep, booming, measured beat of the death-drums. Very subtile, andindescribably stirring is this ancient music, with its various weird andprolonged cadences, and that solemn thundering boom enhancing thepeculiar sweetness of the dirge as it rises and falls. 

Under the spell of such sounds as these the procession moved slowly tothe P'hra-mène. Here the urn was lifted by means of pulleys, andenthroned on the splendid pedestal prepared for it. The silver clothfrom the chariot of the high-priest was laid upon it, the ends droopingon the eastern and western sides to the rich carpet of the floor. Ahundred priests, fifty on either hand, rehearsed in concert, seated onthe floor, long hymns in Pali from the sacred books, principallyembodying melancholy reflections on the brevity and uncertainty of humanlife. After which, holding the silver cloth between the thumb andforefinger, they joined in silent prayer, thereby, as they suppose, communicating a saving virtue to the cloth, which conveys it to the deadwithin the urn. They continued thus engaged for about an hour, and thenwithdrew to give place to another hundred, and so on, until thousands ofpriests had taken part in the solemn exercises. Meanwhile the fouralready mentioned still prayed, day and night, at the Maha Phrasat. Aservice was likewise performed for the royal family twice a day, in anadjacent temporary chapel, where all the court attended, --including thenoble ladies of the harem, who occupy private oratories, hung withgolden draperies, behind which they can see and hear without being seen. As long as these funeral ceremonies last, the numerous concourse ofpriests is sumptuously entertained. 

At nightfall the P'hra-mène is brilliantly illuminated, within andwithout, and the people are entertained with dramatic spectacles derivedfrom the Chinese, Hindoo, Malayan, and Persian classics. Effigies of thefabulous Hydra, or dragon with seven heads, illuminated, and animated bymen concealed within, are seen endeavoring to swallow the moon, represented by a globe of fire. Another monster, probably the Chimæra, with the head and breast of a lion and the body of a goat, vomits flameand smoke. There are also figures of Echidna and Cerberus, the formerrepresented as a beautiful nymph, but terminating below the waist in thecoils of a dragon or python; and the latter as a triple-headed dog, evidently the canine bugaboo that is supposed to have guarded Pluto'sdreadful gates. 

About nine o'clock fireworks were ignited by the king's own hand, --avery beautiful display, representing, among other graceful forms, avariety of shrubbery, which gradually blossomed with roses, dahlias, oleanders, and other flowers. 

The flinging of money and trinkets to the rabble is usually the mostexciting of the pranks which diversify the funeral ceremonies of Siameseroyalty; in this _mal à propos_ pastime his Majesty took a lively part. The personal effects of the deceased are divided into two or more equalportions, one of which is bestowed on the poor, another on the priests;memorials and complimentary tokens are presented to the princes andnobles, and the friends of the royal family. The more costly articlesare ticketed and distributed by lottery; and smaller objects, such asrings and gold and silver coins, are put into lemons, which his Majesty, standing on the piazza of his temporary palace, flings among the sea ofheads below. There is also at each of the four corners of theP'hra-mène, an artificial tree, bearing gold and silver fruit, which isplucked by officers of the court, and tossed to the poor on every side. Each throw is hailed by a wild shout from the multitude, and followed bya mad scramble. 

In this connection the following "notification" from the king's handwill be intelligible to the reader. 

"THE NOTIFICATION

"In regard to the mourning distribution and donation in funeral serviceor ceremony of cremation of the remains of Her late Royal Highnesscelestial Princess Somdetch Chowfa Chandrmondol Sobhon Bhagiawati, [Footnote: Fâ-ying. ] whose death took place on the 12th May, AnnoChristi 1863. 

"This Part consisting of a glasscoverbox enclosing a idol of Chinesefabulousquadruped called 'sai' or Lion, covered with goldleaf ornamentedwith coined pieces of silver & rings a black bag of funeral ballsenclosing some pieces of gold and silver coins &c. , in funeral serviceof Her late Royal Highness the forenamed princess, the ninth daughter orsixteenth offspring of His Majesty the reigning Supreme King of Siam, which took place in ceremony continued from 16th to 21st day of FebruaryAnno Christi 1864. Prepared ex-property of Her late lamented RoyalHighness the deceased, and assistant funds from certain members of theRoyal Family, designed from his Gracious Majesty Somdetch P'hraParamendr Maha Mongkut, Her late Royal Highness' bereaved Royal father. Their Royal Highnesses celestial princes Somdetch Chowfa Chulalonkornthe full elder brother, Chowfa Chaturont Rasmi, and Chowfa BhangurangsiSwang-wongse, the two younger full brothers, and His Royal HighnessPrince Nobhawongs Krommun Maha-suarsivivalas the eldest half brother. Their Royal Highnesses twenty-five princes, Krita-bhinihar, GaganangYugol &c. The younger half-brothers, and their Royal Highnesses sevenprincesses, Yingyawlacks, Dacksinja, and Somawati, &c. , the eldersisters, 18 princesses, Srinagswasti, &c. , the younger half-sisters ofHer late Royal Highness the deceased, for friendly acceptance of--who isone of His present Siamese Majesty's friends who either have ever beenacquainted in person or through means of correspondence &c. Certain ofwhom have ever seen Her late Royal Highness, and some have beenacquainted with certain of her late Royal Highness the deceased's elderor younger brothers and sisters. 

"His Siamese Majesty, with his 29 sons, and 25 daughters above partlynamed, trusts that this part will be acceptable to every one of HisGracious Majesty's and their Royal Highnesses' friends who ever havebeen acquainted with his present Majesty, and certain of Their RoyalHighnesses or Her late Royal Highness the deceased, either in person orby correspondence, or only by name through cards &c. For a token ofremembrance of Her late Royal Highness the deceased and for feeling ofEmotion that this path ought to be followed by every one of human beingsafter long or short time, as the lights of lives of all living beingsare like flames of candles lighted in opening air without covering andProtecting on every side, so it shall be considered with great emotionby the readers. 

"Dated ROYAL FUNERAL PLACE. BANGKOK, 20th February, Anno Christi 1864. "

Thus twelve days were passed in feasting, drinking, praying, preaching, sporting, gambling and scrambling. On the thirteenth, the double urn, with its melancholy moral, was removed from the pyramid, and the innerone, with the grating, was laid on a bed of fragrant sandalwood, andaromatic gums, connected with a train of gunpowder, which the kingignited with a match from the sacred fire that burns continually in thetemple Watt P'hra Këau. The Second King then lighted his candles fromthe same torch, and laid them on the pyre; and so on, in the order ofrank, down to the meanest slave, until many hundreds of wax candles andboxes of precious spices and fragrant gums were cast into the flames. The funeral orchestra then played a wailing dirge, and the mourningwomen broke into a concerted and prolonged keen, of the mostear-piercing and heart-rending description. 

When the fire had quite burned itself out, all that remained of thebones, charred and blackened, was carefully gathered, deposited in athird and smaller urn of gold, and again conveyed in great state to theMaha Phrasat. The ashes were also collected with scrupulous pains in apure cloth of white muslin, and laid in a gold dish; afterward, attendedby all the mourning women and musicians, and escorted by a procession ofbarges, it was floated some miles down the river, and there committed tothe waters. 

Nothing left of our lovely darling but a few charred bits of rubbish!But in memory I still catch glimpses of the sylph-like form, half veiledin the shroud of flame that wrapped her last, but with the innocent, questioning eyes still turned to me; and as I look back into theirdepths of purity and love, again and again I mourn, as at first, forthat which made me feel, more and more by its sympathy, the peculiardesolation of my life in the palace. 

Immediately on the death of a Supreme King an order is issued for theuniversal shaving of the bristly tuft from the heads of all malesubjects. Only those princes who are older than their deceased sovereignare exempt from the operation of this law. 

Upon his successor devolves the duty of providing for the erection ofthe royal P'hra-mène--as to the proportions and adornment of which he issupposed to be guided by regard for the august rank of the deceased, andthe public estimation in which his name and fame are held. Royaldespatches are forthwith sent to the governors of four differentprovinces in the extreme north, where the noblest timber abounds, commanding each of them to furnish one of the great pillars for theP'hra-mène. These must be of the finest wood, perfectly straight, fromtwo hundred to two hundred and fifty feet long, and not less than twelvefeet in circumference. 

At the same time twelve pillars, somewhat smaller, are required from thegovernors of twelve other provinces; besides much timber in other formsnecessary to the construction of the grand funeral hall and its numeroussupplementary buildings. As sacred custom will not tolerate the presenceof pillars that have already been used for any purpose whatever, it isindispensable that fresh ones, "virgin trunks, " be procured for everynew occasion of the obsequies of royalty. These four great trunks arehard to find, and can be floated down the Meinam to the capital only atthe seasons when that stream and its tributaries are high. This isperhaps the natural cause of the long interval that elapses--twelvemonths--between the death and the cremation of a Siamese king. 

The "giant boles" are dragged in primitive fashion to the banks of thestream by elephants and buffaloes, and shipped in rafts. Arrived atBangkok, they are hauled on rollers inch by inch, by men working with arude windlass and levers, to the site of the P'hra-mène. 

The following description of the cremation, at Bejrepuri, of a man "inthe middle walks of life, " is taken from the _Bangkok Recorder_ of May24, 1866:--"The corpse was first to be offered to the vultures, ahundred or more. Before the coffin was opened the filthy and horriblegang had assembled, 'for wheresoever the carcass is, there will theeagles (vultures) be gathered together. ' They were perched on the ridgesof the temple, and even on small trees and bushes, within a few feet ofthe body; and so greedy were they that the sexton and his assistants hadto beat them off many times before the coffin could be opened. Theyseemed to know that there would be but a mouthful for each, if dividedamong them all, and the pack of greedy dogs besides, that waited fortheir share. The body was taken from the coffin and laid on a pile ofwood that had been prepared on a small temporary altar. Then the birdswere allowed to descend upon the corpse and tear it as they liked. For awhile it was quite hidden in the rush. But each bird, grabbing its partwith bill and claws, spread its wings and mounted to some quiet place toeat. The sexton seemed to think that he too was 'making merit' bycutting off parts of the body and throwing them to the hungry dogs, asthe dying man had done in bequeathing his body to those carrion-feeders. The birds, not satisfied with what they got from the altar, came downand quarrelled with the curs for their share. 

"While this was going on, the mourners stood waiting, with wax candlesand incense sticks, to pay their last tribute of respect to the deceasedby assisting in the burning of the bones after the vultures and dogs hadstripped them. The sexton, with the assistance of another, gathered upthe skeleton and put it back into the coffin, which was lifted by fourmen and carried around the funeral pile three times. It was then laid onthe pile of wood, and a few sticks were put into the coffin to aid inburning the bones. Then a lighted torch was applied to the pile, and therelatives and other mourners advanced, and laid each a wax candle by thetorch. Others brought incense and cast it on the pile. 

"The vultures, having had but a scanty breakfast, lingered around theplace until the fire had left nothing more for them, when they shooktheir ugly heads, and hopping a few steps, to get up a momentum, flappedtheir harpy wings and flew away. "

XXIV. CERTAIN SUPERSTITIONS. 

MY friend Maha Mongkut used to maintain, with the doctors and sophistsof his sect, that the Buddhist priesthood have no superstitions; thatthough they do not accept the Christian's "Providence, " they do believein a Creator (_P'hra-Tham_), at whose will all crude matter sprang intoexistence, but who exercises no further control over it; that man is butone of the endless mutations of matter, --was not created, but hasexisted from the beginning, and will continue to exist to all eternity;that though he was not born in sin, he is held by the secondary law ofretribution accountable for offences committed in his person, and thesehe must expiate through subsequent transmigrations, until, bysublimation, he is absorbed again into the primal source of his being;and that mutability is an essential and absolute law of the universe. 

In like manner they protest that they are not idolaters, any more thanthe Roman Catholics are pagans; that the image of Buddha, their Teacherand High-Priest, is to them what the crucifix is to the Jesuit; neithermore nor less. They scout the idea that they worship the white elephant, but acknowledge that they hold the beast sacred, as one of theincarnations of their great reformer. 

Nevertheless, no nation or tribe of all the human race has ever beenmore profoundly inoculated with a superstition the most depraving andmalignant than the Siamese. They have peopled their spiritual world withgrotesques, conceived in hallucination and brought forth in nightmare, the monstrous devices of mischief on the one hand and misery on theother, --gods, demons, genii, goblins, wraiths; and to flatter orpropitiate these, especially to enlist their tutelary offices, theycommit or connive at crimes of fantastic enormity. 

While residing within the walls of Bangkok, I learned of the existenceof a custom having all the stability and force of a Medo-Persic law. Whenever a command has gone forth from the throne for the erection of anew fort or a new gate, or the reconstruction of an old one, thisancient custom demands, as the first step in the procedure, that threeinnocent men shall be immolated on the site selected by the courtastrologers, and at their "auspicious" hour. 

In 1865, his Majesty and the French Consul at Bangkok had a gravemisunderstanding about a proposed modification of a treaty relating toCambodia. The consul demanded the removal of the prime minister from thecommission appointed to arrange the terms of this treaty. The kingreplied that it was beyond his power to remove the Kralahome. Afterward, the consul, always irritable and insolent, having nursed his wrath tokeep it warm, waylaid the king as he was returning from a temple, andthreatened him with war, and what not, if he did not accede to hisdemands. Whereupon, the poor king, effectually intimidated, took refugein his palace behind barred gates; and forthwith sent messengers to hisastrologers, magicians, and soothsayers, to inquire what the situationprognosticated. 

The magi and the augurs, and all the seventh sons of seventh sons, having shrewedly pumped the officers, and made a solemn show ofconsulting their oracles, replied: "The times are full of omen. Dangerapproaches from afar. Let his Majesty erect a third gate, on the eastand on the west. "

Next morning, betimes, pick and spade were busy, digging deep trenchesoutside the pair of gates that, on the east and west alike, alreadyprotected the palace. 

Meanwhile, the consul either quite forgot his threats, or cooled in thecuddling of them; yet day and night the king's people plied pick andspade and basket in the new foundations. When all was ready, the _SanLuang_, or secret council of Royal Judges, met at midnight in thepalace, and despatched twelve officers to lurk around the new gatesuntil dawn. Two, stationed just within the entrance, assume thecharacter of neighbors and friends, calling loudly to this or thatpassenger, and continually repeating familiar names. The peasants andmarket folk, who are always passing at that hour, hearing these calls, stop, and turn to see who is wanted. Instantly the myrmidons of the sanluang rush from their hiding-places, and arrest, hap-hazard, six ofthem--three for each gate. From that moment the doom of theseastonished, trembling wretches is sealed. No petitions, payments, prayers, can save them. 

In the centre of the gateway a deep fosse or ditch is dug, and over itis suspended by two cords an enormous beam. On the "auspicious" day forthe sacrifice, the innocent, unresisting victims--"hinds and churls"perhaps, of the lowest degree in Bangkok--are mocked with a dainty andelaborate banquet, and then conducted in state to their fatal post ofhonor. The king and all the court make profound obeisance before them, his Majesty adjuring them earnestly "to guard with devotion the gate, now about to be intrusted to their keeping, from all dangers andcalamities; and to come in season to forewarn him, if either traitorswithin or enemies without should conspire against the peace of hispeople or the safety of his throne. " Even as the last word of thisexhortation falls from the royal lips, the cords are cut, the ponderousengine "squelches" the heads of the distinguished wretches, and threeBangkok ragamuffins are metempsychosed into three guardian-angels(_Thevedah_). 

Siamese citizens of wealth and influence often bury treasure in theearth, to save it from arbitrary confiscation. In such cases a slave isgenerally immolated on the spot, to make a guardian genius. Amongcertain classes, not always the lowest, we find a greedy passion thatexpends itself in indefatigable digging for such precious _caches_, inthe environs of abandoned temples, or among the ruins of the ancientcapital, Ayudia. These treasure-seekers first pass a night near thesupposed place of concealment, having offered at sunset to the genius ofthe spot oblations of candles, perfumed tapers, and roasted rice. Theythen betake themselves to slumber; and in their dreams the genie isexpected to appear, and indicate precisely the hiding-place of hisgolden charge, at the same time offering to wink at its sacking inconsideration of the regular perquisite, --"one pig's head and twobottles of arrack. " On the other hand, the genie may appear in an angryaspect, flourishing the conventional club in a style that meansbusiness, and demanding by what right the intruders would tamper withhis charge; whereat sudden waking and dishevelled flight. 

Another and more barbarous superstition relates to premature delivery. In such a case the embarrassed mother calls in a female magician, whodeclares that an evil spirit has practised a spiteful joke upon themarried pair, with a design upon the life of the mother. So saying, shepops the still-born into an earthen pot, and with that in her left handand a sword in her right, makes for the margin of a deep stream, where, with an approved imprecation upon the fiend and a savage slash at themanikin, she tosses the pot and its untimely contents into the flood. 

By such witches as this, sorceries of all kinds are practised for fee. They are likewise supposed to be skilled in the art of healing, and arenotable compounders of love-philters and potions. 

The king supports a certain number of astrologers, whose duties consistin the prediction of events, whether great or small, from war or peaceto rain or drought, and in indicating or determining futurepossibilities by the aspect and position of the stars. The peopleuniversally wear charms and talismans, to which they ascribesupernatural virtues. A patient in fever with delirium is said to bepossessed of a devil; and should he grow frantic and unmanageable in theparoxysms, the one becomes a legion. At the close of each year, a threadof unspun cotton, of seven fibres, consecrated by priests, is reeledround all the walls of the palace; and from sunset until dawn acontinuous cannonading is kept up from all the forts within hearing, torout the evil spirits that have infested the departing year. 

XXV. THE SUBORDINATE KING

A second or subordinate kingship is an anomalous device or provision ofsovereignty peculiar to Siam, Cambodia, and Laos. Inferior in station tothe Supreme King only, and apparently deriving from the throne of thePhra-batts, to which he may approach so near, a reflected majesty andprestige not clearly understood by his subjects nor easily defined byforeigners, the Second King seems to be, nevertheless, belittled by thevery significance of the one exclusive privilege that should distinguishhim, --that of exemption from the customary prostrations before the FirstKing, whom he may salute by simply raising his hands and joining themabove his head. Here his proper right of royalty begins and ends. Thepart that he may play in the drama of government is cast to him in thenecessity, discretion, or caprice of his absolute chief next, and yet sofar, above him; it may be important, insignificant, or wholly omitted. Like any lesser _ducus_ of the realm, he must appear before his lordtwice a year to renew his oath of allegiance. In law, he is as mere asubject as the slave who bears his betel-box; or that other slave who, on his knees, and with averted face, presents his spittoon. In history, he shall be what circumstance or his own mind may make him: the shadowor the soul of sovereignty, even as the intellectual and moral weaknessor strength may have been apportioned between him and his colleague. From his rank he derives no advantage but the _chance_. 

[Illustration: The Princess of Chiengmai. ]

Somdetch P'hra Pawarendr Ramesr Mahiswarer, the subordinate king ofSiam, who died on the 29th of December, 1865, was the legitimate son ofthe supreme king, second of his dynasty, who reigned from 1809 to 1824. His father had been second king to his grandfather, "grand supreme" ofSiam, and first of the reigning line. His mother was "lawful first queenconsort"; and the late first or major king, Somdetch-P'hra ParamendrMaha Mongkut, was his elder full brother. Being alike legitimateoffspring of the first queen, these two lads were styled _SomdetchChowfas_, "Celestial Royal Princes"; and during the second and thirdreigns they were distinguished by the titles of courtesy pertaining totheir royal status and relation, the elder as Chowfa Mongkut, theyounger as Chowfa Chudha-Mani: _Mongkut_ signifying "Royal Crown, " and_Chudha-Mani_ "Royal Hair-pin. "

On the death of their father (in 1824), and the accession, by intrigue, of their elder half-brother, the Chowfa Mongkut entered the Buddhistpriesthood; but his brother, more ardent, inquisitive, and restless, took active service with the king, in the military as well as in thediplomatic department of government. He was appointed Superintendent ofArtillery and Malayan Infantry on the one hand; and on the other, Translator of English Documents and Secretary for EnglishCorrespondence. 

In a cautious and verbose sketch of his character and services, writtenafter his death by his jealous brother, the priest-king, wherein he isby turns meanly disparaged and damned with faint praise, we find thiscurious statement:--

"After that time (1821) he became acquainted with certain parties ofEnglish and East Indian merchants, who made their appearance or firstcommenced trading on late of second reign, after the former trade withSiam which had been stopped or postponed several years in consequence ofsome misunderstanding before. He became acquainted with certain parts ofEnglish language and literature, and certain parts of Hindoo or Bengalilanguage, as sufficient for some unimportant conversation with Englishand Indian strangers who were visitors of Siam, upon the latter part ofthe reign of his royal father; but his royal father did not know that hepossessed such knowledge of foreign language, which had been concealedto the native persons in republic affairs, whose jealousy seemed to bestrong against strangers, so he was not employed in any terms with thosestrangers foreign affairs, "--that is, during the life of his father, atwhose death he was just sixteen years old. 

Early in the third reign he was sent to Meeklong to superintend theconstruction of important works of defence near the mouth of theMeeklong River. He pushed this work with vigor, and completed it in1835. In 1842 he commanded successfully an expedition against theCochin-Chinese, and, in returning, brought with him to Siam manyfamilies of refugees from the eastern coast. Then he was commissioned bythe king to reconstruct, "after Western models, " the ancientfortifications at Paknam; and having to this end engaged a corps ofEuropean engineers and artisans, he eagerly seized the advantage thesituation afforded him, by free and intelligent intercourse with hisforeign assistants, to master the English language, --so that, at hisdeath, he notably excelled the first king in the facility with which hespoke, read, and wrote it, --and to improve his acquaintance with theWestern sciences and arts of navigation, naval construction andarmament, coast and inland defence, engineering, transportation, andtelegraphy, the working and casting of iron, etc. 

On the 26th of May, 1851, twelve days after the coronation of his elderbrother, the student and priest Maha Mongkut, he was called by theunanimous voice of "the king and council" to be Second King; andthroughout his subordinate reign his sagacious and alert inquiry, hisquick apprehension, his energetic and liberal spirit of improvement, engaged the admiration of foreigners; whilst his handsome person, hisgenerous temper, his gallant preference for the skilful and the brave, his enthusiasm and princely profusion in sports and shows, endeared himmore and more to his people. Maha Mongkut--at no time inclined to praisehim beyond his deserts, and least of all in the latter years of hislife, imbittered to both by mutual jealousy and distrust--wrote almosthandsomely of him under the pressure of this public opinion. 

"He made everything new and beautiful, and of curious appearance, and ofa good style of architecture, and much stronger than they had formerlybeen constructed by his three predecessors, the second kings of the lastthree reigns, for the space of time that he was second king. He hadintroduced and collected many and many things, being articles of greatcuriosity, and things useful for various purposes of military acts andaffairs, from Europe and America, China, and other states, and placedthem in various departments and rooms or buildings suitable for thosearticles, and placed officers for maintaining and preserving the variousthings neatly and carefully. He has constructed several buildings inEuropean fashion and Chinese fashion, and ornamented them with varioususeful ornaments for his pleasure, and has constructed two steamers inmanner of men-of-war, and two steam-yachts, and several rowingstate-boats in Siamese and Cochin-Chinese fashion, for his pleasure atsea and rivers of Siam; and caused several articles of gold and silverbeing vessels and various wares and weapons to be made up by the Siameseand Malayan goldsmiths, for employ and dress of himself and his family, by his direction and skilful contrivance and ability. He becamecelebrated and spread out more and more to various regions of theSiamese kingdom, adjacent States around, and far-famed to foreigncountries, even at far distance, as he became acquainted with many andmany foreigners, who came from various quarters of the world where hisname became known to most as a very clever and bravest Prince ofSiam. .. . 

"As he pleased mostly with firing of cannon and acts of Marine power andseamen, which he has imitated to his steamers which were made in mannerof the man-of-war, after he has seen various things curious and useful, and learned Marine customs on board the foreign vessels of war, hissteamers conveyed him to sea, where he has enjoyed playing of firing incannon very often. .. . 

"He pleased very much in and was playful of almost everything, someimportant and some unimportant, as riding on Elephants and Horses andPonies, racing of them and racing of rowing boats, firing on birds andbeasts of prey, dancing and singing in various ways pleasantly, andvarious curiosity of almost everything, and music of every description, and in taming of dogs, monkeys, &c. , &c. , that is to say briefly that hehas tested almost everything eatable except entirely testing of Opiumand play. 

"Also he has visited regions of Northeastern Province of Sarapury andGorath very often for enjoyment of pleasant riding on Elephants andHorses, at forests in chasing animals of prey, fowling, and playingmusic and singing with Laos people of that region and obtaining youngwives from there. "

What follows is not more curious as to its form of expression thansuspicious as to its meaning and motive. To all who know with whatpusillanimity at times the First King shrank from the approach ofChristian foreigners, --especially the French priests, --with whatservility in his moody way he courted their favor, it will appear ofvery doubtful sincerity. To those who are familiar with thecircumstances under which it was written, and to whom the attitude ofjealous reserve that the brothers occupied toward each other at the timeof the Second King's death was no secret, it may seem (even after dueallowance is made for the prejudices or the obligations of the priest)to cover an insidious, though scarcely adroit, design to undermine thehonorable reputation the younger enjoyed among the missionaries, and thecordial friendship with which he had been regarded by several of thepurest of them. Certainly it is suspiciously "of a piece" with otherpassages, quoted further on, in which the king's purpose to disparagethe merits of his brother, and damage the influence of his name abroad, is sufficiently transparent. In this connection the reader may derive aray of light from the fact that on the birth of the Second King's firstson, an American missionary, who was on terms of intimacy with thefather, named the child "George Washington"; and that child, the PrinceGeorge Washington Krom Mu'n Pawarwijagan, is the present Second King ofSiam. But to Maha Mongkut, and his "art of putting things":--

"He was rumored to be baptized or near to be baptized in Christianity, but the fact it is false. He was a Buddhist, but his faith and beliefchanged very often in favor of various sects of Buddhism by theassociation of his wives and various families and of persons who werebelievers in various sects of the established religion of the Siameseand Laos, Peguan and Burmese countries. Why should he become aChristian? when his pleasures consisted in polygamy and enjoyment, andwith young women who were practised in pleasant dancing and singing, andwho could not be easily given up at any time. 

"He was very desirous of having his sons to be English scholars and tobe learned the art of speaking, reading and writing in English well likehimself, but he said he cannot allow his sons to enter the ChristianMissionary-School, as he feared his descendants might be induced to theChristianity in which he did not please to believe. "

Pawarendr Ramesr had ever been the favorite and darling of his mother, and it was in his infancy that the seeds of that ignoble jealousy weresown between the royal brothers, which nourished so rankly and bore suchnoxious fruit in their manhood. From his tenderest years the youngerprince was remarkable for his personal beauty and his brightintelligence, and before his thirteenth birthday had already learned allthat his several masters could teach him. From an old priest, namedP'hra Naitt, I gathered many pleasant anecdotes of his childhood. 

For example, he related with peculiar pride how the young prince, thenbut twelve years old, being borne one day in state through the easterngate of the city to visit his mother's lotos-gardens, observed an oldman, half blind, resting by the roadside. Commanding his bearers tohalt, he alighted from his sedan and kindly accosted the poor creature. Finding him destitute and helpless, a stranger and a wayfarer in theland, he caused him to be seated in his own sedan, and borne to thegardens, while he followed on foot. Here he had the old man bathed, cladin fresh linen, and entertained with a substantial meal; and afterwardhe took his astonished client into his service, as keeper of his cattle. 

Later in life the generous and romantic prince diverted himself with theadventurous beneficence of Haroun al Raschid, visiting the poor indisguise, listening to the recital of their sufferings and wrongs, andrelieving them with ready largesse of charity and justice; and nothingso pleased and flattered him as to be called, in his assumed name of NakPratt, "the wise, " to take part in their sports and fêtes. Theaffectionate enthusiasm with which the venerable poonghee remembered hisroyal pupil was inspiring; and to see his eyes sparkle and his face glowwith sympathetic triumph, as he described the lad's exploits of strengthor skill in riding, fencing, boxing, was a fine sight. But it was withsaddened look and tone that he whispered to me, that, at the prince'sbirth, the astrologer who cast his horoscope had foretold for him anunnatural death. This, he said, was the secret of the watchful devotionand imprudent partiality his mother had always manifested for him. 

For such a prince to come into even the empty name of power was tobecome subject to the evil eye of his fraternal lord and rival, forwhose favor officious friends and superserviceable lackeys contended inscandalous and treacherous spyings of the Second King's every action. Yet, meanly beset as he was, he contrived to find means and opportunityto enlarge his understanding and multiply his attainments; and in theend his proficiency in languages, European and Oriental, became asremarkable as it was laudable. It was by Mr. Hunter, secretary to theprime minister, that he was introduced to the study of the Englishlanguage and literature, and by this gentleman's intelligent aid heprocured the text-books which constituted the foundation of hiseducational course. 

In person he was handsome, for a Siamese; of medium stature, compact andsymmetrical figure, and rather dark complexion. His conversation anddeportment denoted the cultivation, delicacy, and graceful poise of anaccomplished gentleman; and he delivered his English with a correctnessand fluency very noticeably free from the peculiar spasmodic effort thatmarked his royal brother's exploits in the language of Shakespeare. 

In his palace, which, he had rebuilt after the model of an Englishnobleman's residence, he led the life of a healthy, practical, andsystematic student. His library, more judiciously selected than that ofhis brother, abounded in works of science, embracing the latestdiscoveries. Here he passed many hours, cultivating a sound acquaintancewith the results of investigation and experiment in the Western world. His partiality for English literature in all its branches was extreme. The freshest publications of London found their way to his tables, andhe heartily enjoyed the creations of Dickens. 

For robust and exhilarating enjoyment, however, he had recourse tohunting expeditions, and martial exercises in the drilling of hisprivate troops. Punctually at daybreak every morning he appeared on theparade-ground, and proceeded to review his little army with scrupulousprecision, according to European tactics; after which he led hiswell-trained files to their barracks within the palace walls, where thesoldiers exchanged their uniform for a working-dress. Then he marchedthem to the armory, where muskets, bayonets, and sabres were brought outand severely scoured. That done, the men were dismissed till the morrow. 

Among his courtiers were several gentlemen of Siam and Laos, who hadacquired such a smattering of English as qualified them to assist theprince in his scientific diversions. Opposite the armory stood a prettylittle cottage, quite English-looking, lighted with glass windows, andequipped with European furniture. Over the entrance to this quainttenement hung a painted sign, in triumphant English, "WATCHES AND CLOCKSMADE AND REPAIRED HERE"; and hither came frequently the Second King andhis favorites, to pursue assiduously their harmless occupation of_horlogerie_. Sometimes this eccentric entertainment was diversifiedwith music, in which his Majesty took a leading part, playing with tasteand skill on the flute, and several instruments of the Laos people. 

Such a prince should have been happy, in the innocence of his pastimesand the dignity of his pursuits. But the same accident of birth andstation to which he owed his privileges and his opportunities imposedits peculiar disabilities and hindrances. His troubles were the troublesof a second king, who chanced to be also an ardent and aspiring man. Weary with disappointment, disheartened in his honorable longing forjust appreciation, vexed with the caprice and suspicions of his elderbrother; oppressed by the ever-present tyranny of the thought--so hardfor such a man to bear--that the woman he loved best in the land he wasinexorably forbidden to marry, because, being a princess of the firstrank, she might be offered and accepted to grace the harem of hisbrother; a mere prisoner of state, watched by the baleful eye ofjealousy, and traduced by the venal tongues of courtiers; dwelling in atorment of uncertainty as to the fate to which his brother's explosivetemper and irresponsible power might devote him, hoping for no repose orsafety but in his funeral-urn, --he began to grow hard and defiant, andthat which, in the native freedom of his soul, should have been hisnoble steadfastness degenerated into ignoble obstinacy. 

Among the innumerable mean torments with which his pride was persecutedwas the continual presence of a certain doctor, who, by the king'scommand, attended him at all times and places, compelling him to useremedies that were most distasteful to him. 

He was gallantly kind and courteous toward women; no act of cruelty toany woman was ever attributed to him. His children he ruled wisely, though somewhat sternly, rendering his occasional tenderness andindulgence so much the more precious and delightful to them. 

Never had Siam a more popular prince. He was the embodiment of the mosthopeful qualities, moral and intellectual, of his nation; especially washe the exponent and promise of its most progressive tendencies; and hispeople regarded him with love and reverence, as their trusty stay andsupport. His talents as a statesman commanded the unqualified admirationof foreigners; and it was simply the jealous and tyrannical temper ofMaha Mongkut that forced him to retire from all participation in theaffairs of government. 

At last the mutual reserve and distrust of the royal brothers broke outin open quarrel, provoked by the refusal of the First King to permit theSecond to borrow from the royal treasury a considerable sum of money. Onthe day after his order was dishonored, the prince set out with hiscongenial and confidential courtiers on a hunting expedition to the Laosprovince of Chiengmai, scornfully threatening to entrap one of the royalwhite elephants, and sell it to his Supreme Majesty for the sum he wouldnot loan. 

At Chiengmai he was regally entertained by the tributary prince of thatprovince; and no sooner was his grievance known, than the money herequired was laid at his feet. Too manly to accept the entire sum, heborrowed but a portion of it; and instead of taking it out of thecountry, decided to sojourn there for a time, that he might spend it tothe advantage of the people. To this end he selected a lovely spot inthe vicinity of Chiengmai, called Saraburee, itself a city of someconsideration, where bamboo houses line the banks of a beautiful river, that traverses teak forests alive with large game. On an elevation nearat hand the Second King erected a palace substantially fortified, whichhe named Ban Sitha (the Home of the Goddess Sitha), and caused a canalto be cut to the eastern slope. 

Here he indulged freely, and on an imposing scale, in his favoritepastime of hunting, and privately took to wife the daughter of the kingof Chiengmai, the Princess Sunartha Vismita. And here he was happy, onlyreturning to Bangkok when called thither by affairs of state, or to takethe semi-annual oath of allegiance. 

Among the prince's concubines at this time was a woman named Kliep, envious, intriguing, and ambitious, who by consummate arts had obtainedcontrol of his Majesty's _cuisine_, --an appointment of peculiarimportance and trust in the household of an Oriental prince. Findingthat by no feminine devices could she procure the influence she covetedover her master's mind and affections, she finally had recourse to anold and infamous sorcerer, styled Khoon Hâte-nah ("Lord of FutureEvents"), an adept of the black art much consulted by women of rank fromall parts of the country; and he, in consideration of an extraordinaryfee, prepared for her a variety of charms, incantations, philters, to beadministered to the prince, in whose food daily, for years, she mixedthe abominable nostrums. The poison did its work slowly but surely, andhis sturdy life was gradually undermined. His strength quite gone, andhis spirit broken, his despondency became so profound that he lost alltaste for the occupations and diversions that had once delighted him, and sought relief in restless changing from one palace to another, andin consulting every physician he could find. 

It was during a visit to his favorite residence at Saraburee that thesigns of approaching dissolution appeared, and the king's physician, fearing he might die there, took hurried steps to remove him to hispalace at Bangkok. He was bound in a sedan, and lowered from his highchamber in the castle into his barge on the canal at the foot of thecliff; and so, with all his household in train, transported to thepalace of Krom Hluang Wongse, physician to the king, and one of hishalf-brothers. Now miserably unnerved, the prince, once so patient, brave, and proud, threw his arms round his kinsman's neck, and, weepingbitterly, implored him to save him. But he was presently removed to hisown palace, and laid in a chamber looking to the east. 

That night the prince expressed a wish to see his royal brother. Theking hastened to his bedside in company with his Excellency Chow PhyaSri Sury-Wongse, the Kralahome, or prime minister; and then and there asilent and solemn reconciliation took place. No words were spoken; onlythe brothers embraced each other, and the elder wept bitterly. But fromthe facts brought to light in that impressive meeting and parting, itwas made plain that the Second King died by slow poison, administered bythe woman Kliep, --plain to all but the Second King himself, who died inignorance of the means by which the tragic prophecy of his horoscope hadbeen made good. 

In the very full account of his brother's death which Maha Mongkutthought it necessary to write, he was careful to conceal from the publicthe true cause of the calamity, fearing the foreign populace, and, mostof all, the Laotians and Peguans, who were devoted to the prince, andmight attach suspicion to himself, on the ground of his notoriousjealousy of the Second King. The royal physicians and the SupremeCouncil were sworn to secrecy; and the woman Kliep, and her accompliceKhoon Hâte-nah, together with nine female slaves, were tortured andpublicly paraded through the environs of Bangkok, though their crime wasnever openly named. Afterward they were thrown into an open boat, towedout on the Gulf of Siam, and there abandoned to the mercy of winds andwaves, or death by starvation. Among the women of the palace the currentreport was, that celestial avengers had slain the murderous crew witharrows of lightning and spears of fire. 

In his Majesty's account of the last days of his royal brother, we havethe characteristic queerness of his English, and a scarcely lesscharacteristic passage of Pecksniffian cant:--

"The lamentable patient Second King ascertained himself that hisapproaching death was inevitable; it was great misfortune to him and hisfamily indeed. His eldest son Prince George [Footnote: GeorgeWashington. ] Krom Mu'n Pawarwijagan, aged 27 years on that time, becamevery sick of painful rheumatism by which he has his body almost steadyon his seat and bed, immovable to and fro, himself, since the month ofOctober, 1865, when his father was absent from Bangkok, being at BanSitha as aforesaid. When his royal father returned from Ban Sitha hearrived at his palace at Bangkok on 6th December. He can only beinglifted by two or three men and placed in the presence of his father whowas very ill, but the eldest son forenamed prince was little better, sobefore death of his father as he can be raised to be stood by two menand can cribble slowly on even or level surface, by securing andsupporting of two men on both sides. 

"When his father became worse and approaching the point of death, uponthat time his father can see him scarcely; wherefore the Second King, onhis being worse, has said to his eldest and second daughters, the halfsisters of the eldest son, distempered so as he cannot be in thepresence of his father without difficulty, that he (the Second King)forenamed on that time was hopeless and that he could not live more thana few days. He did not wish to do his last will regarding his family andproperty, particularly as he was strengthless to speak much, andconsider anything deeply and accurately: he beg'd to entreat all hissons, daughters, and wives that none should be sorry for his death, which comes by natural course, and should not fear for misery ofdifficulty after his demise. All should throw themselves under theirfaithful and affectionate uncle, the Supreme King of Siam, forprotection, in whom he had heartfelt confidence that he will do well tohis family after his death, as such the action or good protection toseveral families of other princes and princesses in the royalty, whodeceased before. He beg'd only to recommend his sons and daughters, thatthey should be always honest and faithful to his elder full brother, theSupreme King of Siam, by the same affection as to himself, and that theyshould have much more affection and respect toward Paternal relativepersons in royalty, than toward their maternal relative persons, who arenot royal descendants of his ancestors. .. . 

"On the 29th December 1865, in the afternoon, the Second King invitedHis Majesty the Supreme King, his elder full brother, and his ExcellencyChow Phya Sri Sury-wongse Samuha P'hra-Kralahome, the Prime Minister, who is the principal head of the Government and royal cousin, to seatthemselves near to his side on his bedstead where he lay, and otherprincipals of royalty and nobility, to seat themselves in that roomwhere he was lying, that they might be able to ascertain his speech byhearing. Then he delivered his family and followers and the whole of hisproperty to His Majesty and His Excellency for protection and gooddecision, according to consequences which they would well observe. "

Not a word of that royal reconcilement, of that remorseful passion oftears, of that mute mystery of humanity, the secret spell of a burdenedmother's love working too late in the hearts, of her headstrong boys!Not a word of that crowning embrace, which made the subordinate kingsupreme, by the grace of dying and forgiving!

XXVI. THE SUPREME KING: HIS CHARACTER AND ADMINISTRATION. 

OF Somdetch P'hra Paramendr Maha Mongkut, ate Supreme King of Siam, itmay safely be said (for all his capricious provocations of temper andhis snappish greed of power) that he was, in the best sense of theepithet, the most remarkable of the Oriental princes of the presentcentury, --unquestionably the most progressive of all the supreme rulersof Siam, of whom the native historians enumerate not less than forty, reckoning from the founding of the ancient capital (Ayudia or Ayuo-deva, "the abode of gods") in A. D. 1350. 

He was the legitimate son of the king P'hra Chow-P'hra Pooti-lootlah, commonly known as Phen-den-Klang; and his mother, daughter of theyoungest sister of the King Somdetch P'hra Bouromah Rajah P'hra PootiYout Fah, was one of the most admired princesses of her time, and isdescribed as equally beautiful and virtuous. She devoted herselfassiduously to the education of her sons, of whom the second, thesubject of these notes, was born in 1804; and the youngest, her bestbeloved, was the late Second King of Siam. 

One of the first public acts of the King P'hra Pooti-lootlah was toelevate to the highest honors of the state his eldest son (the ChowfaMongkut), and proclaim him heir-apparent to the throne. He then selectedtwelve noblemen, distinguished for their attainments, prudence, andvirtue, --most conspicuous among them the venerable but energetic DukeSomdetch Ong Yai, --to be tutors and guardians to the lad. By these hewas carefully taught in all the learning of his time; Sanskrit and Paliformed his chief study, and from the first he aspired to proficiency inLatin and English, for the pursuit of which he soon found opportunitiesamong the missionaries. His translations from the Sanskrit, Pali, andMagadthi, mark him as an authority among Oriental linguists; and hisknowledge of English, though never perfect, became at least extensiveand varied; so that he could correspond, with credit to himself, withEnglishmen of distinction, such as the Earl of Clarendon and LordsStanley and Russell. 

In his eighteenth year he married a noble lady, descended from the PhyaTak Sinn, who bore him two sons. 

Two years later the throne became vacant by the death of his father; but(as the reader has already learned) his elder half-brother, who, throughthe intrigues of his mother, had secured a footing in the favor of theSenabawdee, was inducted by that "Royal Council" into power. Unequal tothe exploit of unseating the usurper, and fearing his unscrupulousjealousy, the Chowfa Mongkut took refuge in a monastery, and entered thepriesthood, leaving his wife and two sons to mourn him as one dead tothem. In this self-imposed celibacy he lived throughout the long reignof his half-brother, which lasted twenty-seven years. 

In the calm retreat of his Buddhist cloister the contemplative tastes ofthe royal scholar found fresh entertainment, his intellectualaspirations a new incitement. 

He labored with enthusiasm for the diffusion of religion andenlightenment, and, above all, to promote a higher appreciation of theteachings of Buddha, to whose doctrines lie devoted himself withexemplary zeal throughout his sacerdotal career. From the Buddhistscriptures he compiled with reverent care an impressive liturgy for hisown use. His private charities amounted annually to ten thousand ticals. All the fortune he accumulated, from the time of his quitting the courtuntil his return to it to accept the diadem offered by the Senabawdee, he expended either in charitable distributions or in the purchase ofbooks, sacred manuscripts, and relics for his monastery. [Footnote: "Onthe third reign he [himself] served his eldest royal half-brother, bysuperintending the construction and revision of royal sacred books inroyal libraries: so he was appointed the principal superintendent ofclergymen's acts and works of Buddhist religion, and selector ofreligious learned wise men in the country, during the thirdreign. "--_From the pen of Maha Mongkut_. ]

It was during his retirement that he wrote that notable treatise indefence of the divinity of the revelations of Buddha, in which he essaysto prove that it was the single aim of the great reformer to deliver manfrom all selfish and carnal passions, and in which he uses these words:"These are the only obstacles in the search for Truth. The most solidwisdom is to know this, and to apply one's self to the conquest of one'sself. This it is to become the _enlightened_, --the Buddha!" And heconcludes with the remark of Asoka, the Indian king: "That which hasbeen delivered unto us by Buddha, that alone is well said, and worthy ofour soul's profoundest homage. "

In the pursuit of his appointed ends Maha Mongkut was active andpertinacious; no labors wearied him nor pains deterred him. Before thearrival of the Protestant missionaries, in 1820, he had acquired someknowledge of Latin and the sciences from the Jesuits; but when theProtestants came he manifested a positive preference for their methodsof instruction, inviting one or another of them daily to his temple, toaid him in the study of English. Finally he placed himself under thepermanent tutorship of the Rev. Mr. Caswell, an American missionary;and, in order to encourage his preceptor to visit him frequently, hefitted up a convenient resting-place for him on the route to the temple, where that excellent man might teach the poorer people who gathered tohear him. Under Mr. Caswell he made extraordinary progress in advancedand liberal ideas of government, commerce, even religion. He neverhesitated to express his respect for the fundamental principles ofChristianity; but once, when pressed too closely by his reverendmoonshee with what he regarded as the more pretentious and apocryphalportions of the Bible, he checked that gentleman's advance with theremark that has ever been remembered against him, "_I hate the Biblemostly!_"

As High-Priest of Siam--the mystic and potential office to which he wasin the end exalted--he became the head of a new school, professingstrictly the pure philosophy inculcated by Buddha: "the law ofCompensation, of Many Births, and of final Niphan, " [Footnote:Attainment of beatitude. ]--but not Nihilism, as the word and the ideaare commonly defined. It is only to the idea of God as an _ever-active_Creator that the new school of Buddhists is opposed, --not to the Deityas a primal source, from whose thought and pleasure sprang all forms ofmatter; nor can they be brought to admit the need of miraculousintervention in the order of nature. 

In this connection, it may not be out of place to mention a remark thatthe king (still speaking as a high-priest, having authority) once madeto me, on the subject of the miracles recorded in the Bible:

"You say that marriage is a holy institution; and I believe it isesteemed a sacrament by one of the principal branches of your sect. Itis, of all the laws of the universe, the most wise and incontestable, pervading all forms of animal and vegetable life. Yet your God (meaningthe Christian's God) has stigmatized it as unholy, in that he would notpermit his Son to be born in the ordinary way; but must needs perform amiracle in order to give birth to one divinely inspired. Buddha wasdivinely inspired, but he was only _man_. Thus it seems to me he is thegreater of the two, because out of his own heart he studied humanity, which is but another form of divinity; and, the carnal mind being bythis contemplation subdued, he became the _Divinely Enlightened_. "

When his teacher had begun to entertain hopes that he would one daybecome a Christian, he came out openly against the idea, declaring thathe entertained no thought of such a change. He admonished themissionaries not to deceive themselves, saying: "You must not imaginethat any of my party will ever become Christians. We cannot embrace whatwe consider a foolish religion. "

In the beginning of the year 1851 his supreme Majesty, Prabat SomdetchP'hra Nang Klou, fell ill, and gradually declined until the 3d of April, when he expired, and the throne was again vacant. The dying sovereign, forgetting or disregarding his promise to his half-brother, the trueheir, had urged with all his influence that the succession should fallto his eldest son; but in the assembly of the Senabawdee, Somdetch OngYai (father of the present prime minister of Siam), supported bySomdetch Ong Noi, vehemently declared himself in favor of thehigh-priest Chowfa Mongkut. 

This struck terror to the "illegitimates, " and mainly availed to quellthe rising storm of partisan conflict. Moreover, Ong Yai had taken theprecaution to surround the persons of the princes with a formidableguard, and to distribute an overwhelming force of militia in allquarters of the city, ready for instant action at a signal from him. 

Thus the two royal brothers, with views more liberal, as to religion, education, foreign trade, and intercourse, than the most enlightened oftheir predecessors had entertained, were firmly seated on the throne as"first" and "second" kings; and every citizen, native or foreign, beganto look with confidence for the dawn of better times. 

Nor did the newly crowned sovereign forget his friends and teachers, theAmerican missionaries. He sent for them, and thanked them cordially forall that they had taught him, assuring them that it was his earnestdesire to administer his government after the model of the limitedmonarchy of England; and to introduce schools, where the Siamese youthmight be well taught in the English language and literature and thesciences of Europe. [Footnote: In this connection the Rev. Messrs. Bradley, Caswell, House, Matoon, and Dean are entitled to specialmention. To their united influence Siam unquestionably owes much, if notall, of her present advancement and prosperity. Nor would I be thoughtto detract from the high praise that is due to their fellow-laborers inthe cause of Christianity, the Roman Catholic missionaries, who are, andever have been, indefatigable in their exertions for the good of thecountry. Especially will the name of the excellent bishop, MonseigneurPallegoix, be held in honor and affection by people of all creeds andtongues in Siam, as that of a pure and devoted follower of our commonRedeemer. ]

There can be no just doubt that, at the time, it was his sincere purposeto carry these generous impulses into practical effect; for certainly hewas, in every moral and intellectual respect, nobly superior to hispredecessor, and to his dying hour he was conspicuous for his attachmentto a sound philosophy and the purest maxims of Buddha. Yet we find inhim a deplorable example of the degrading influence on the human mind ofthe greed of possessions and power, and of the infelicities that attendit; for though he promptly set about the reforming of abuses in theseveral departments of his government, and invited the ladies of theAmerican mission to teach in his new harem, nevertheless he soon beganto indulge his avaricious and sensual propensities, and cast a jealouseye upon the influence of the prime minister, the son of his stanch oldfriend, the Duke Ong Yai, to whom he owed almost the crown itself, andof his younger brother, the Second King, and of the neighboring princesof Chiengmai and Cochin China. He presently offended those who, by theirresolute display of loyalty in his hour of peril, had seated him safelyon the throne of his ancestors. 

From this time he was continually exposed to disappointment, mortification, slights, from abroad, and conspiracy at home. Had it notbeen for the steadfast adherence of the Second King and the primeminister, the sceptre would have been wrested from his grasp andbestowed upon his more popular brother. 

Yet, notwithstanding all this, he appeared, to those who observed himonly on the public stage of affairs, to rule with wisdom, to consult thewelfare of his subjects, to be concerned for the integrity of justiceand the purity of manners and conversation in his own court, andcareful, by a prudent administration, to confirm his power at home andhis prestige abroad. Considered apart from his domestic relations, hewas, in many respects, an able and virtuous ruler. His foreign policywas liberal; he extended toleration to all religious sects; he expendeda generous portion of his revenues in public improvements, --monasteries, temples, bazaars, canals, bridges, arose at his bidding onevery side; and though he fell short of his early promise, he did muchto improve the condition of his subjects. 

For example, at the instance of her Britannic Majesty's Consul, theHonorable Thomas George Knox, he removed the heavy boat-tax that had sooppressed the poorer masses of the Siamese, and constructed good roads, and improved the international chambers of judicature. 

But as husband and kinsman his character assumes a most revoltingaspect. Envious, revengeful, subtle, he was as fickle and petulant as hewas suspicious and cruel. His brother, even the offspring of hisbrother, became to him objects of jealousy, if not of hatred. Theirfriends must, he thought, be his enemies, and applause bestowed uponthem was odious to his soul. There were many horrid tragedies in hisharem in which he enacted the part of a barbarian and a despot. Plainly, his conduct as the head of a great family to whom his will was a law ofterror reflects abiding disgrace upon his name. Yet it had thisredeeming feature, that he tenderly loved those of his children whosemothers had been agreeable to him. He never snubbed or slighted them;and for the little princess, Chow Fâ-ying, whose mother had been to hima most gentle and devoted wife, his affection was very strong andenduring. 

But to turn from the contemplation of his private traits, socontradictory and offensive, to the consideration of his public acts, soliberal and beneficent. Several commercial treaties of the firstimportance were concluded with foreign powers during his reign. In thefirst place, the Siamese government voluntarily reduced the measurementduties on foreign shipping from nineteen hundred to one thousand ticalsper fathom of ship's beam. This was a brave stride in the direction of asound commercial policy, and an earnest of greater inducements toenterprising traders from abroad. In 1855 a new treaty of commerce wasnegotiated with his Majesty's government by H. B. M. 's plenipotentiary, Sir John Bowring, which proved of very positive advantage to bothparties. On the 29th of May, 1856, a new treaty, substantially like thatwith Great Britain, was procured by Townsend Harris, Esq. , representingthe United States; and later in the same year still another, in favor ofFrance, through H. I. M. 's Envoy, M. Montigny. 

Before that time Portugal had been the only foreign government having aconsul residing at Bangkok. Now the way was opened to admit a residentconsul of each of the treaty powers; and shortly millions of dollarsflowed into Siam annually by channels through which but a few tens ofthousands had been drawn before. Foreign traders and merchants flockedto Bangkok and established rice-mills, factories for the production ofsugar and oil, and warehouses for the importation of European fabrics. They found a ready market for their wares, and an aspect of thrift andcomfort began to enliven the once neglected and cheerless land. 

A new and superb palace was erected, after the model of Windsor Castle, together with numerous royal residences in different parts of thecountry. The nobility began to emulate the activity and munificence oftheir sovereign, and to compete with each other in the grandeur of theirdwellings and the splendor of their _cortéges_. 

So prosperous did the country become under the benign influence offoreign trade and civilization, that other treaties were speedilyconcluded with almost every nation under the sun, and his Majesty foundit necessary to accredit Sir John Bowring as plenipotentiary for Siamabroad. 

Early in this reign the appointment of harbor-master at Bangkok wasconferred upon an English gentleman, who proved so efficient in hisfunctions that he was distinguished with the fifth title of a Siamesenoble. Next came a French commander and a French band-master for theroyal troops. Then a custom-house was established, and a "live Yankee"installed at the head of it, who was also glorified with a title ofhonor. Finally a police force was organized, composed of trusty Malayshired from Singapore, and commanded by one of the most energeticEnglishmen to be found in the East, --a measure which has done more thanall others to promote a comfortable sense of "law and order" throughoutthe city and outskirts of Bangkok. It is to be remembered, however, injustice to the British Consul-General in Siam, Mr. Thomas George Knox, that the sure though silent influence was his, whereby the minds of theking and the prime minister were led to appreciate the benefits thatmust accrue from these foreign innovations. 

The privilege of constructing, on liberal terms, a line of telegraphthrough Maulmain to Singapore, with a branch to Bangkok, has beengranted to the Singapore Telegraph Company; and finally a sanitarium hasbeen erected on the coast at Anghin, for the benefit of native andforeign residents needing the invigoration of sea-air. [Footnote: "HisExcellency Chow Phya Bhibakrwongs Maha Kosa Dhipude, the P'hraklang, Minister for Foreign Affairs, has built a sanitarium at Anghin for thebenefit of the public. It is for benefit of the Siamese, Europeans, orAmericans, to go and occupy, when unwell, to restore their health. Allare cordially invited to go there for a suitable length of time and behappy; but are requested not to remain month after month and year afteryear, and regard it as a place without an owner. To regard it in thisway cannot be allowed, for it is public property, and others should goand stop there also. "--_Advertisement, Siam Monitor_, August 29, 1868. ]

During his retirement in the monastery the king had a stroke ofparalysis, from which he perfectly recovered; but it left its mark onhis face, in the form of a peculiar falling of the under lip on theright side. In person he was of middle stature, slightly built, ofregular features and fair complexion. In early life he lost most of histeeth, but he had had them replaced with a set made from sapan-wood, --asecret that he kept very sensitively to the day of his death. 

Capable at times of the noblest impulses, he was equally capable of thebasest actions. Extremely accessible to praise, he indiscriminatelyentertained every form of flattery; but his fickleness was such that nocourtier could cajole him long. Among his favorite women was thebeautiful Princess Tongoo Soopia, sister to the unfortunate SultanMahmoud, ex-rajah of Pahang. Falling fiercely in love with her on herpresentation at his court, he procured her for his harem against herwill, and as a hostage for the good faith of her brother; but as she, being Mohammedan, ever maintained toward him a deportment of tranquilindifference, he soon tired of her, and finally dismissed her to awretched life of obsoleteness and neglect within the palace walls. 

The only woman who ever managed him with acknowledged edged success wasKhoon Chom Piem: hardly pretty, but well formed, and of versatile tact, totally uneducated, of barely respectable birth, --being Chinese on herfather's side, --yet withal endowed with a nice intuitive appreciationof character. Once conscious of her growing influence over the king, shecontrived to foster and exercise it for years, with but a slight rebuffnow and then. Being modest to a fault, even at times obnoxious to theimputation of prudishness, she habitually feigned excuses fornon-attendance in his Majesty's chambers, --such as delicate health, thenursing of her children, mourning for the death of this or thatrelative, --and voluntarily visited him only at rare intervals. In thecourse of six years she amassed considerable treasure, procured goodplaces at court for members of her family, and was the means of bringingmany Chinamen to the notice of the king. At the same time she lived incontinual fear, was warily humble and conciliating toward her rivalsisters, who pitied rather than envied her, and retained in her pay mostof the female executive force in the palace. 

In his daily habits his Majesty was remarkably industrious and frugal. His devotion to the study of astronomy never abated, and he calculatedwith respectable accuracy the great solar eclipse of August, 1868. 

The French government, having sent a special commission, under commandof the Baron Hugon le Tourneur, to observe the eclipse in Siam, the kingerected, at a place called _Hua Wânn_ ("The Whale's Head"), a commodiousobservatory, besides numerous pavilions varying in size andmagnificence, for his Majesty and retinue, the French commission, theGovernor of Singapore (Colonel Ord) and suite, who had been invited toBangkok by the king, and for ministers and nobles of Siam. Provision wasmade, at the cost of government, for the regal entertainment, in a townof booths and tabernacles, of the vast concourse of natives andEuropeans who followed his Majesty from the capital to witness thesublime phenomenon; and a herd of fifty noble elephants were broughtfrom the ancient city of Ayudia for service and display. 

The prospect becoming dubious and gloomy just at the time of firstcontact (ten o'clock), the prime minister archly invited the foreignerswho believed in an overruling Providence to pray to him "that he may bepleased to disperse the clouds long enough to afford us a good view ofthe grandest of eclipses. " Presently the clouds were partially withdrawnfrom the sun, and his Majesty observing that one twentieth of the diskwas obscured, announced the fact to his own people by firing a cannon;and immediately pipes screamed and trumpets blared in the royalpavilion, --a tribute of reverence to the traditional fable about theAngel Rahoo swallowing the sun. Both the king and prime minister, scorning the restraints of dignity, were fairly boisterous in theirdemonstrations of triumph and delight; the latter skipping from point topoint to squint through his long telescope. At the instant of absolutetotality, when the very last ray of the sun had become extinct, hisExcellency shouted, "Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!" and scientificallydisgraced himself. Leaving his spyglass swinging, he ran through thegateway of his pavilion, and cried to his prostate wives, "Henceforthwill you not believe the foreigner. "

But that other Excellency, Chow Phya Bhudharabhay, Minister for NorthernSiam, more orthodox, sat in dumfoundered faith, and gaped at the awfuldeglutition of the Angel Rahoo. 

The government expended not less than a hundred thousand dollars on thisscientific expedition, and a delegation from the foreign community ofBangkok approached his Majesty with an address of thanks for hisindiscriminate hospitality. 

But the extraordinary excitement, and exposure to the noxious atmosphereof the jungle, proved inimical to the constitution of the king. On hisreturn to Bangkok he complained of general weariness and prostration, which was the prelude to fever. Foreign physicians were consulted, butat no stage of the case was any European treatment employed. He rapidlygrew worse, and was soon past saving. On the day before his death hecalled to his bedside his nearest relatives, and parted among them suchof his personal effects as were most prized by him, saying, "I have nomore need of these things. I must give up my life also. " Buddhistpriests were constant in attendance, and he seemed to derive muchcomfort from their prayers and exhortations. In the evening he wrotewith his own hand a tender farewell to the mothers of his manychildren, --eighty-one in number. On the morning of his last day(October 1, 1868) he dictated in the Pali language a farewell address tothe Buddhist priesthood, the spirit of which was admirable, and clearlymanifested the faith of the dying man in the doctrines of the Reformer;for he hesitated not to say: "Farewell, ye faithful followers of Buddha, to whom death is nothing, even as all earthly existence is vain, allthings mutable, and death inevitable. Presently I shall myself submit tothat stern necessity. Farewell! for I go only a little before you. "

Feeling sure that he must die before midnight, he summoned hishalf-brother, H. R. H. Krom Hluang Wongse, his Excellency the primeminister, Chow Phya Kralahome, and others, and solemnly imposed uponthem the care of his eldest son, the Chowfa Chulalonkorn, and of hiskingdom; at the same time expressing his last earthly wish, that theSenabawdee, in electing his successor, would give their voices for onewho should conciliate all parties, that the country might not bedistracted by dissensions on that question. He then told them he wasabout to finish his course, and implored them not to give way to grief, "nor to any sudden surprise, " that he should leave them thus; "'tis anevent that must befall all creatures that come into this world, and maynot be avoided. " Then turning his gaze upon a small image of his adoredteacher, he seemed for some time absorbed in awful contemplation. "Suchis life!" Those were actually the last words of this most remarkableBuddhist king. He died like a philosopher, calmly and sententiouslysoliloquizing on death and its inevitability. At the final moment, noone being near save his adopted son, Phya Buroot, he raised his handsbefore his face, as in his accustomed posture of devotion; then suddenlyhis head dropped backward, and he was gone. 

That very night, without disorder or debate, the Senabawdee elected hiseldest son, Somdetch Chowfa Chulalonkorn, to succeed him; and the PrinceGeorge Washington, eldest son of the late Second King, to succeed to hisfather's subordinate throne, under the title of Krom P'hra Raja BowawnShathan Mongkoon. The title of the present supreme king (my amiable andvery promising scholar) is Prabat Somdetch P'hra Paramendr MahaChulalonkorn Kate Klou Chow-yu-Hua. 

About a year after my first ill-omened interviews with Maha Mongkut, andwhen I had become permanently installed in my double office of teacherand scribe, I was one day busy with a letter from his Majesty to theEarl of Clarendon, and finding that any attempt at partial correctionwould but render his meaning more ambiguous, and impair the strikingoriginality of his style, I had abandoned the effort, and set aboutcopying it with literal exactness, only venturing to alter here andthere a word, such as "I hasten with _wilful_ pleasure to write in replyto your Lordship's _well-wishing_ letter, " etc. Whilst I was thusevolving from the depths of my inner consciousness a satisfactorysolution to this conundrum in King's English, his Majesty's privatesecretary lolled in the sunniest corner of the room, stretching hisdusky limbs and heavily nodding, in an ecstasy of ease-taking. PoorP'hra-Alâck! I never knew him to be otherwise than sleepy, and his sleepwas always stolen. For his Majesty was the most capricious of kings asto his working moods, --busy when the average man should be sleeping, sleeping while letters, papers, despatches, messengers, mail-boatswaited. More than once had we been aroused at dead of night by noisyfemale slaves, and dragged in hot haste and consternation to the Hall ofAudience, only to find that his Majesty was, not at his last gasp, as wehad feared, but simply bothered to find in Webster's Dictionary someword that was to be found nowhere but in his own fertile brain; orperhaps in excited chase of the classical term for some trifle he was onthe point of ordering from London, --and that word was sure to be astranger to my brain. 

Before my arrival in Bangkok it had been his not uncommon practice tosend for a missionary at midnight, have him beguiled or abducted fromhis bed, and conveyed by boat to the palace, some miles up the river, toinquire if it would not be more elegant to write _murky_ instead of_obscure_, or _gloomily dark_ rather than _not clearly apparent_. And ifthe wretched man should venture to declare his honest preference for theordinary over the extraordinary form of expression, he was forthwithdismissed with irony, arrogance, or even insult, and without a word ofapology for the rude invasion of his rest. 

One night, a little after twelve o'clock, as he was on the point ofgoing to bed like any plain citizen of regular habits, his Majesty fellto thinking how most accurately to render into English the troublesomeSiamese word _phi_, which admits of a variety of interpretations. [Footnote: Ghost, spirit, soul, devil, evil angel. ] After puzzling overit for more than an hour, getting himself possessed with the word aswith the devil it stands for, and all to no purpose, he ordered one ofhis lesser state barges to be manned and despatched with all speed forthe British Consul. That functionary, inspired with lively alarm by sostartling a summons, dressed himself with unceremonious celerity, andhurried to the palace, conjecturing on the way all imaginablepossibilities of politics and diplomacy, revolution or invasion. To hisvexation, not less than his surprise, he found the king in dishabille, engaged with a Siamese-English vocabulary, and mentally divided between"deuce" and "devil, " in the choice of an equivalent. His preposterousMajesty gravely laid the case before the consul, who, though inwardlychafing at what he termed "the confounded coolness" of the situation, had no choice but to decide with grace, and go back to bed withphilosophy. 

No wonder, then, that P'hra-Alâck experienced an access of gratitude forthe privilege of napping for two hours in a snuggery of sunshine. 

"Mam-kha, " [Footnote: Kha, "your slave. "] he murmured drowsily, "I hopethat in the Chat-Nah [Footnote: The next state of existence. ] I shall bea freed man. "

"I hope so sincerely, P'hra-Alâck, " said I. "I hope you'll be anEnglishman or an American, for then you'll be sure to be independent. "

It was impossible not to pity the poor old man, --stiff with continualstooping to his task, and so subdued!--liable not only to be called atany hour of the day or night, but to be threatened, cuffed, kicked, beaten on the head, [Footnote: The greatest indignity a Siamese cansuffer. ] every way abused and insulted, and the next moment to be takeninto favor, confidence, bosom-friendship, even as his Majesty's moodmight veer. 

Alack for P'hra-Alâck! though usually he bore with equal patience hisgreater and his lesser ills, there were occasions that sharply tried hismeekness, when his weak and goaded nature revolted, and he rushed to asnug little home of his own, about forty yards from the Grand Palace, there to snatch a respite of rest and refreshment in the society of hisyoung and lately wedded wife. Then the king would awake and send forhim, whereupon he would be suddenly ill, or not at home, strategicallyhiding himself under a mountain of bedclothes, and detailing Mrs. P'hra-Alâck to reconnoitre and report. He had tried this primitive trickso often that its very staleness infuriated the king, who invariablysent officers to seize the trembling accomplice and lock her up in adismal cell as a hostage for the scribe's appearance. At dusk the poorfellow would emerge, contrite and terrified, and prostrate himself atthe gate of the palace. Then his Majesty (who, having spies posted inevery quarter of the town, knew as well as P'hra-Alâck himself what theillness or the absence signified) leisurely strolled forth, and, findingthe patient on the threshold, flew always into a genuine rage, andprescribed "decapitation on the spot, " and "sixty lashes on the bareback, " both in the same breath. And while the attendants flew right andleft, --one for the blade, another for the thong, --the king, stillraging, seized whatever came most handy, and belabored his bosom-friendon the head and shoulders. Having thus summarily relieved his mind, hedespatched the royal secretary for his ink-horn and papyrus, and beganinditing letters, orders, appointments, before scymitar or lash (whichwere ever tenderly slow on these occasions) had made its appearance. Perhaps in the very thick of his dictating he would remember theconnubial accomplice, and order his people to "release her, and let hergo. "

Slavery in Siam is the lot of men of a much finer intellectual type thanany who have been its victims in modern times in societies farther west. P'hra-Alâck had been his Majesty's slave when they were boys together. Together they had played, studied, and entered the priesthood. At oncebondman, comrade, classmate, and confidant, he was the very man to fillthe office of private secretary to his royal crony. Virgil made a slaveof his a poet, and Horace was the son of an emancipated slave. The Romanleech and chirurgeon were often slaves; so, too, the preceptor and thepedagogue, the reader and the player, the clerk and the amanuensis, thesinger, the dancer, the wrestler, and the buffoon, the architect, thesmith, the weaver, and the shoemaker; even the _armiger_ or squire was aslave. Educated slaves exercised their talents and pursued theircallings for the emolument of their masters; and thus it is to-day inSiam. _Mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur_, P'hra-Alâck!

The king's taste for English composition had, by much exercise, developed itself into a passion. In the pursuit of it he wasindefatigable, rambling, and petulant. He had "Webster's Unabridged" onthe brain, --an exasperating form of king's evil. The little dingy slipsthat emanated freely from the palace press were as indiscriminate asthey were quaint. No topic was too sublime or too ignoble for them. Allwas "copy" that came to those cases, -from the glory of the heavenlybodies to the nuisance of the busybodies who scolded his Majesty throughthe columns of the Bangkok Recorder. 

I have before me, as I write, a circular from his pen, and in the typeof his private press, which, being without caption or signature, may besupposed to be addressed "to all whom it may concern. " The Americanmissionaries had vexed his exact scholarship by their peculiar mode ofrepresenting in English letters the name of a native city (_Prippri_, orin Sanskrit _Bejrepuri_). Whence this droll circular, which begins witha dogmatic line:--

"None should write the name of city of Prippri thus--P'et cha poory. "

Then comes a pedantic demonstration of the derivation of the name from acompound Sanskrit word, signifying "Diamond City. " And the documentconcludes with a characteristic explosion of impatience, at oncecritical, royal, and anecdotal: "Ah! what the Romanization of Americansystem that P'etch' abury will be! Will whole human learned world becomethe pupil of their corrupted Siamese teachers? It is very far fromcorrectness. Why they did not look in journal of Royal Asiatic Society, where several words of Sanskrit and Pali were published continually?Their Siamese priestly teachers considered all Europeans as veryheathen; to them far from sacred tongue, and were glad to have Americanheathens to become their scholars or pupils; they thought they havetaught sacred language to the part of heathen; in fact, they themselvesare very far from sacred language, being sunk deeply in corruption ofsacred and learned language, for tongue of their former Laos andCambodian teachers, and very far from knowledge of Hindoostanee, Cinghalese, and Royal Asiatic Society's knowledge in Sanskrit, as theyare considered by such the Siamese teachers as heathen; called by themMit ch'a thi-thi, &c. , &c. , i. E. Wrongly seer or spectator, &c. , &c. "

In another slip, which is manifestly an outburst of the royal petulance, his Majesty demands, in a "displayed" paragraph:--

"Why name of Mr. Knox [Thomas George Knox, Esq. , British Consul] was notpublished thus: Missa Nok or Nawk. If name of Chow Phya Bhudharabhay isto be thus: P'raya P'oo t'a ra P'ie. And why the London was notpublished thus: Lundun or Landan, if Bejrepuri is to be publishedP'etch' abury. "

In the same slip with the philological protest the following remarkableparagraphs appear:--

"What has been published in No. 25 of Bangkok Recorder thus:--

"'The king of Siam, on reading from some European paper that the Popehad lately suffered the loss of some precious jewels, in consequence ofa thief having got possession of his Holiness' keys, exclaimed, "What aman! professing to keep the keys of Heaven, and cannot even keep his ownkeys!"'

"The king on perusal thereof denied that it is false. He knows nothingabout his Holiness the Pope's sustaining loss of gems, &c. , and has saidnothing about religious faith. "

This is curious, in that it exposes the king's unworthy fear of theFrench priesthood in Siam. The fact is that he did make the rather smartremark, in precisely these words: "Ah! what a man! professing to keepthe keys of Heaven, and not able to guard those of his own bureau!" andhe was quite proud of his hit. But when it appeared in the Recorder, hethought it prudent to bar it with a formal denial. Hence the politiclittle item which he sent to all the foreigners in Bangkok, andespecially to the French priests. 

His Majesty's mode of dealing with newspaper strictures (not alwaysjust) and suggestions (not always pertinent) aimed at his administrationof public affairs, or the constitution and discipline of his household, was characteristic. He snubbed them with sententious arrogance, leavenedwith sarcasm. 

When the Recorder recommended to the king the expediency of dispersinghis Solomonic harem, and abolishing polygamy in the royal family, hisMajesty retorted with a verbal message to the editor, to the purportthat "when the Recorder shall have dissuaded princes and noblemen fromoffering their daughters to the king as concubines, the king will ceaseto receive contributions of women in that capacity. "

In August, 1865, an angry altercation occurred in the Royal Court ofEquity (sometimes styled the International Court) between a Frenchpriest and Phya Wiset, a Siamese nobleman, of venerable years, butpositive spirit and energy. The priest gave Phya Wiset the lie, and PhyaWiset gave it back to the priest, whereupon the priest became noisy. Afterward he reported the affair to his consul at Bangkok, with theembellishing statement that not only himself, but his religion, had beengrossly insulted. The consul, one Monsieur Aubaret, a peppery andpugnacious Frenchman, immediately made a demand upon his Majesty for theremoval of Phya Wiset from office. 

This despatch was sent late in the evening by the hand of MonsieurLamarche, commanding the troops at the royal palace; and that officerhad the consul's order to present it summarily. Lamarche managed toprocure admittance to the penetralia, and presented the note at twoo'clock in the morning, in violation of reason and courtesy as well asof rules, excusing himself on the ground that the despatch was importantand his orders peremptory. His Majesty then read the despatch, andremarked that the matter should be disposed of "to-morrow. " Lamarchereplied, very presumptuously, that the affair required no investigation, as _he_ had heard the offensive language of Phya Wiset, and that personmust be deposed without ceremony. Whereupon his Majesty ordered theoffensive foreigner to leave the palace. 

Lamarche repaired forthwith to the consul, and reported that the kinghad spoken disrespectfully, not only of his Imperial Majesty's consul, but of the Emperor himself, besides outrageously insulting a Frenchmessenger. Then the fire-eating functionary addressed another despatchto his Majesty, the purport of which was, that, in expelling Lamarchefrom the palace, the King of Siam had been guilty of a politicalmisdemeanor, and had rudely disturbed the friendly relations existingbetween France and Siam; that he should leave Bangkok for Paris, and insix weeks lay his grievance before the Emperor; but should first proceedto Saigon, and engage the French admiral there to attend to anyemergency that might arise in Bangkok. 

His Majesty, who knew how to confront the uproar of vulgarity and follywith the repose of wisdom and dignity, sent his own cousin, the PrinceMom Rachoday, Chief Judge of the Royal Court of Equity, to M. Aubaret, to disabuse his mind, and impart to him all the truth of the case. Butthe "furious Frank" seized the imposing magnate by the hair, drove himfrom his door, and flung his betel-box after him, --a reckless impulse ofoutrage as monstrous as the most ingenious and deliberate brutalitycould have devised. Rudely to seize a Siamese by the hair is anindignity as grave as to spit in the face of a European; and the betel-box, beside being a royal present, was an essential part of the insigniaof the prince's judicial office. 

On a later occasion this same Aubaret seized the opportunity a royalprocession afforded to provoke the king to an ill-timed discussion ofpolitics, and to prefer an intemperate complaint against the Kralahome, or prime minister. This characteristic flourish of ill temper and badmanners, from the representative of the politest of nations, naturallyexcited lively indignation and disgust among all respectable dwellers, native or foreign, near the court, and a serious disturbance wasimminent. But a single dose of the King's English sufficed to soothe thespasmodic official, and reduce him to "a sense of his situation. "

"TO THE HON. THE MONSIEUR AUBARET, _the Consul for H. I. M. _

"SIR:--The verbal insult or bad words without any step more over fromlower or lowest person is considered very slight & inconsiderable. 

"The person standing on the surface of the ground or floor Cannot injurethe heavenly bodies or any highly hanging Lamp or glope by ejecting hisspit from his mouth upward it will only injure his own face withoutattempting of Heavenly bodies--&c. 

"The Siamese are knowing of being lower than heaven do not endeavor toinjure heavenly bodies with their spit from mouth. 

"A person who is known to be powerless by every one, as they who have noarms or legs to move oppose or injure or deaf or blind &c. &c. Cannot beconsidered and said that they are our enemies even for their madness invain--it might be considered as easily agitation or uneasiness. 

"Persons under strong desires without any limit or acting underillimited anger sometimes cannot be believed at once without testimonyor witness if they stated against any one verbally from such thestatements of the most desirous or persons most illimitedly angryhesitation and mild enquiry is very prudent from persons of considerablerank. "

_No signature. _

Never were simplicity with shrewdness, and unconscious humor withpathos, and candor with irony, and political economy with the sense ofan awful bore, more quaintly blended than in the following extraordinaryhint, written and printed by his Majesty, and freely distributed for thesnubbing of visionary or speculative adventurers:

"NOTICE. 

"When the general rumor was and is spread out from Siam, circulatedamong the foreigners to Siam, chiefly Europeans, Chinese, &c, in threepoints:--

"1. That Siam is under quite absolute Monarchy. Whatever her SupremeSovereign commanded, allowed, &c all cannot be resisted by any one ofhis Subjects. 

"2. The Treasury of the Sovereign of Siam, was full for money, like amountain of gold and silver; Her Sovereign most wealthy. 

"3. The present reigning Monarch of Siam is shallow minded and admirerof almost everything of curiosity, and most admirer of European usages, customs, sciences, arts and literature &c, without limit. He is fond offlattering term and ambitious of honor, so that there are now manyopportunities and operations to be embraced for drawing great money fromRoyal Treasury of Siam, &c. 

"The most many foreigners being under belief of such general rumour, were endeavoring to draw money from him in various operations, as aiminghim with valuable curiosities and expectations of interest, andflattering him, to be glad of them, and deceiving him in various ways;almost on every opportunity of Steamer coming to Siam, variousforeigners partly known to him and acquainted with him, and generallyunknown to him, boldly wrote to him in such the term of variousapplication and treatment, so that he can conclude that the chief objectof all letters written to him, is generally to draw money from him, evenunreasonable. Several instances and testimonies can be shown for beingexample on this subject--the foreigners letters addressed to him, comeby every one steamer of Siam, and of foreign steamers visiting Siam; 10and 12 at least and 40 at highest number, urging him in various ways; sohe concluded that foreigners must consider him only as a mad king of awild land!

"He now states that he cannot be so mad more, as he knows and observesthe consideration of the foreigners towards him. Also he now became ofold age, [Footnote: He was sixty-two at this time. ] and was very sorry tolose his principal members of his family namely, his two Queens, twice, and his younger brother the late Second King, and his late second sonand beloved daughter, and moreover now he fear of sickness of his eldestson, he is now unhappy and must solicit his friends in correspondenceand others who please to write for the foresaid purpose, that theyshould know suitable reason in writing to him, and shall not urge him asthey would urge a madman! And the general rumours forementioned are someexaggerated and some entirely false; they shall not believe such therumours, deeply and ascertainedly. 

"ROYAL RESIDENCE GRAND PALACE BANGKOK 2nd July 1867. "

And now observe with, what gracious ease this most astute anddiscriminating prince could fit his tone to the sense of those who, familiar with his opinions, and reconciled to his temper and his ways, however peculiar, could reciprocate the catholicity of his sympathies, and appreciate his enlightened efforts to fling off that tenaciousold-man-of-the-sea custom, and extricate himself from the predicament ofconflicting responsibilities. To these, on the Christian New Year's dayof 1867, he addressed this kindly greeting:--

"S. P. P. M. MONGKUT:

"Called in Siamese 'P'hra-Chomklau chao-yuhua' in Magadhi or language ofPali 'Siamikanam Maha Rajah, ' In Latin 'Rex Siamensium, ' In French 'LeRoi de Siam, ' In English 'The King of Siam' and in Malayan 'Rajah MahaPasah' &c. 

"Begs to present his respectful and regardful compliments andcongratulations in happy lives during immediately last year, and wishesthe continuing thereof during the commencing New Year, and ensuing andsucceeding many years, to his foreign friends, both now in Siam namely, the functionary and acting Consuls and consular officers of variousdistinguished nations in Treaty Power with Siam and certain foreignpersons under our salary, in service in any manner here, and severalGentlemen and Ladies who are resident in Siam in various stations:namely, the Priests, Preachers of religion, Masters and Mistresses ofSchools, Workmen and Merchants, &c, and now abroad in various foreigncountries and ports, who are our noble and common friends, acquaintedeither by ever having had correspondences mutually with us some time, atany where and remaining in our friendly remembrance or mutualremembrance, and whosoever are in service to us as our Consuls, viceconsuls and consular assistants, in various foreign ports. Let them knowour remembrance and good wishes toward them all. 

 * * * * *

"Though we are not Christians, the forenamed King was glad to arrivethis day in his valued life, as being the 22, 720th day of his age, during which he was aged sixty-two years and three months, and being the5, 711th day of his reign, during which he reigned upon his kingdom 15years and 8 months up to the current month. 

"In like manner he was very glad to see & know and hope for all hisRoyal Family, kindred and friends of both native and foreign, livingnear and far to him had arrived to this very remarkable anniversary ofthe commencement of Solar Year in Anno Christi 1867. 

"In their all being healthy and well living like himself, he begs toexpress his royal congratulation and respect and graceful regards to allhis kindred friends both native and foreign, and hopes to receive suchthe congratulation and expression of good wishes toward him and membersof his family in very like manner, as he trusts that the amity and graceto one another of every of human beings who are innocent, is a greatmerit, and is righteous and praiseworthy in religious system of allcivil religion, and best civilized laws and morality, &c. 

"Given at the Royal Audience Hall, 'Anant Samagome' Grand Palace, Bangkok, " etc. , etc. 

 * * * * *

The remoter provinces of Siam constitute a source of continual anxietyand much expense to the government; and to his Majesty (who, veryconscious of power, was proud to be able to say that the Malayanterritories and rajahs--Cambodia, with her marvellous cities, palaces, and temples, once the stronghold of Siam's most formidable andimplacable foes; the Laos country, with its warlike princes andchiefs--were alike dependencies and tributaries of his crown) it wasintolerably irritating to find Cambodia rebellious. So long as hisgovernment could successfully maintain its supremacy there, that countryformed a sort of neutral ground between his people and theCochin-Chinese; a geographical condition which was not without itspolitical advantages. But now the unscrupulous French had strutted uponthe scene, and with a flourish of diplomacy and a stroke of the penappropriated to themselves the fairest portion of that most fertileprovince. His Majesty, though secretly longing for the intervention andprotection of England, was deterred by his almost superstitious fear ofthe French from complaining openly. But whenever he was more thancommonly annoyed by the pretensions and aggressive epistles of hisImperial Majesty's consul he sent for me, --thinking, like all Orientals, that, being English, my sympathy for him, and my hatred of the French, were jointly a foregone conclusion. When I would have assured him that Iwas utterly powerless to help him, he cut me short with a wise whisperto "consult Mr. Thomas George Knox"; and when I protested that thatgentleman was too honorable to engage in a secret intrigue against acolleague, even for the protection of British interests in Siam, hewould rave at my indifference, the cupidity of the French, the apathy ofthe English, and the fatuity of all geographers in "setting down" theform of government in Siam as an "absolute monarchy. "

"_I_ an absolute monarch! For I have no power over French. Siam is likea mouse before an elephant! Am I an absolute monarch? What shall youconsider me?"

Now, as I considered him a particularly absolute and despotic king, thatwas a trying Question; so I discreetly held my peace, fearing less to beclassed with those obnoxious savans who compile geographies than toprovoke him afresh. 

"I have no power. " he scolded; "I am not absolute! If I point the end ofmy walking-stick at a man whom, being my enemy, I wish to die, he doesnot die, but lives on, in spite of my 'absolute' will to the contrary. What does Geographies mean? How can I be an absolute monarchy?"

Such a conversation we were having one day as he "assisted" at thefounding of a temple; and while he reproached his fate that he waspowerless to "point the end of his walking-stick" with absolute power atthe peppery and presumptuous Monsieur Aubaret, he vacantly flung goldand silver coins among the work-women. 

In another moment he forgot all French encroachments, and the imbecilityof geographers in general, as his glance chanced to fall upon a youngwoman of fresh and striking beauty, and delightful piquancy of ways andexpression, who with a clumsy club was pounding fragments ofpottery--urns, vases, and goglets--for the foundation of the _watt. _Very artless and happy she seemed, and free as she was lovely; but theinstant she perceived she had attracted the notice of the king, she sankdown and hid her face in the earth, forgetting or disregarding thefalling vessels that threatened to crush or wound her. But the kingmerely diverted himself with inquiring her name and parentage; and someone answering for her, he turned away. 

Almost to the latest hour of his life his Majesty suffered, in hismorbid egotism, various and keen annoyance, by reason of hissensitiveness to the opinions of foreigners, the encroachments offoreign officials, and the strictures of the foreign press. He wasagitated by a restless craving for their sympathy on the one hand, andby a futile resentment of their criticisms or their claims on the other. 

An article in a Singapore paper had administered moral correction to hisMajesty on the strength of a rumor that "the king has his eye uponanother princess of the highest rank, with a view to constituting her aqueen consort. " And the Bangkok Recorder had said: "Now, consideringthat he is full threescore and three years of age, that he has alreadyscores of concubines and about fourscore sons and daughters, withseveral Chowfas among them, and hence eligible to the highest posts ofhonor in the kingdom, this rumor seems too monstrous to be credited. Butthe truth is, there is scarcely anything too monstrous for the royalpolygamy of Siam to bring forth. " By the light of this explanation themeaning of the following extract from the postscript of a letter whichthe king wrote in April, 1866, will be clear to the reader, who, at thesame time, in justice to me, will remember that by the death of hisMajesty, on the 1st of October, 1868, the seal of secrecy was broken. 

"VERY PRIVATE POST SCRIPT. 

"There is a newspaper of Singapore entitled Daily News just publishedafter last arrival of the steamer Chowphya in Singapore, in which paper, a correspondence from an Individual resident at Bangkok dated 16th March1866 was shown, but I have none of that paper in my possession . .. I didnot noticed its number & date to state to you now, but I trust such thepaper must be in hand of several foreigners in Bangkok, may you haveread it perhaps--other wise you can obtain the same from any one or byorder to obtain from Singapore; after perusal thereof you will not beable to deny my statement forementioned more over as general people bothnative & foreigners here seem to have less pleasure on me & mydescendant, than their pleasure and hope on other amiable family to themuntil the present day. What was said there in for a princess consideredby the Speaker or Writer as proper or suitable to be head on my _harem_(a room or part for confinement of Women of Eastern monarch) [Footnote:A parenthetical drollery inspired by the dictionary. ] there is no leastintention occurred to me even once or in my dream indeed! I think if Ido so, I will die soon perhaps!

 * * * * *

"This my handwriting or content hereof shall be kept secretly. 

"I beg to remain

"Your faithful & well-wisher

"S. P. P. M. MONGKUT E. S. 

"on 5441th day of reign. 

"the writer here of beg to place his confidence on you alway. "

As a true friend to his Majesty, I deplore the weakness which betrayedhim into so transparent a sham of virtuous indignation. The "princess ofthe highest rank, " whom the writer of the article plainly meant, was thePrincess of Chiengmai; but from lack of accurate information he wasmisled into confounding her with the Princess Tui Duang Prabha, hisMajesty's niece. The king could honestly deny any such intention on hispart with regard to his niece; but, at the same time, he well knew thatthe writer erred only as to the individual, and not as to the main factof the case. The Princess of Chiengmai was the wife, and the PrincessTui Duang the daughter, of his full brother, the Second King, latelydeceased. 

Much more agreeable is it--to the reader, I doubt not, not less than tothe writer--to turn from the king, in the exercise of his slavishfunction of training honest words to play the hypocrite for ignoblethoughts, to the gentleman, the friend, the father, giving his heart aholiday in the relaxations of simple kindness and free affection, --as inthe following note:--

"Dated RANCHAUPURY 34th February 1865. 

"To LADY L---- & HER SON LUISE, _Bangkok_. 

"We having very pleasant journey . .. To be here which is a townshipcalled as above named by men of republick affairs in Siam, & called bycommon people as 'Parkphrieck' where we have our stay a few days & willtake our departure from hence at dawn of next day. We thinking of youboth regardfully & beg to send here with some wild aples & barries whichare delicate for tasting & some tobacco which were and are principalproduct of this region for your kind acceptance hoping this wild presentwill be acceptable to you both. 

"We will be arrived at our home Bangkok on early part of March. 

"We beg to remain

"Your faithful

"S. P. P. M. MONGKUT E. S. 

"in 5035th day of reign. 

"And your affectionate pupils

"YING YULACKS. MANEABHADAHORN. SOMDETCH CHOWFACHULALONKORK [Footnote: The present king. ]KRITAHINIHAR. PRABHASSOR. SOMAWATI. "

XXVII. MY RETIREMENT FROM THE PALACE. 

In 1864 I found that my labors had greatly increased; I had often towork till ten o'clock at night to accomplish the endless translationsrequired of me. I also began to perceive how continually and closely Iwas watched, but how and by whom it seemed impossible to discover. Amongthe inducements to me to accept the position of teacher to the royalfamily was his Majesty's assurance, that, if I gave satisfaction, hewould increase my salary after a year's trial. Nearly three years hadpassed when I first ventured to remind the king of this promise. To myastonishment he bluntly informed me that I had not given satisfaction, that I was "difficult" and unmanageable, "more careful about what wasright and what was wrong than for the obedience and submission. " And asto salary, he continued: "Why you should be poor? You come into mypresence every day with some petition, some case of hardship orinjustice, and you demand 'your Majesty shall most kindly investigate, and cause redress to be made'; and I have granted to you because you areimportant to me for translations, and so forth. And now you declare youmust have increase of salary! Must you have everything in this world?Why you do not make _them_ pay you? If I grant you all your petition forthe poor, you ought to be rich, or you have no wisdom. "

At a loss what answer to make to this very unsympathetic view of myconduct, I quietly returned to my duties, which, grew daily in varietyand responsibility. What with translating, correcting, copying, dictating, reading, I had hardly a moment I could call my own; and if atany time I rebelled, I brought down swift vengeance on the head of thehelpless native secretary. 

But it was my consolation to know that I could befriend the women andchildren of the palace, who, when they saw that I was not afraid tooppose the king in his more outrageous caprices of tyranny, imagined meendued with supernatural powers, and secretly came to me with theirgrievances, in full assurance that sooner or later I would see themredressed. And so, with no intention on my part, and almost without myown consent, I suffered myself to be set up between the oppressor andthe oppressed. From that time I had no peace. Day after day I was calledupon to resist the wanton cruelty of judges and magistrates, till atlast I found myself at feud with the whole "San Luang. " In cases oftorture, imprisonment, extortion, I tried again and again to excusemyself from interfering, but still the mothers or sisters prevailed, andI had no choice left but to try to help them. Sometimes I sent Boy withmy clients, sometimes I went myself; and in no single instance wasjustice granted from a sense of right, but always through fear of mysupposed influence with the king. My Siamese and European friends said Iwas amassing a fortune. It seemed not worth my while to contradict them, though the inference was painful to me, for in truth my championship wasnot purely disinterested; I suffered from continual contact with thesufferings of others, and came to the rescue in self-defence and in pityfor myself not less than for them. 

A Chinaman had been cruelly murdered and robbed by a favorite slave inthe household of the prime minister's brother, leaving the brother, wife, and children of the victim in helpless poverty and terror. Themurderer had screened himself and his accomplices by sharing the plunderwith his master. The widow cried for redress in vain. The ears ofmagistrates were stopped against her, and she was too poor to pay herway; but still she went from one court to another, until her importunityirritated the judges, who, to intimidate her, seized her eldest son, onsome monstrous pretext, and cast him into prison. This double crueltycompleted the despair of the unhappy mother. She came to me fairlyfrenzied, and "commanded" me to go at once into the presence of the kingand demand her stolen child; and then, in a sudden paroxysm of grief, she embraced my knees, wailing, and praying to me to help her. It wasnot in human nature to reject that maternal claim. With no littletrouble I procured the liberation of her son; but to keep him out ofharm's way I had to take him into my own home and change his name. Icalled him Timothy, which by a Chinese abbreviation became Ti. 

When I went with this woman and the brother of the murdered man to thepalace of the premier, we found that distinguished personage half nakedand playing chess. Seeing me enter, he ordered one of his slaves tobring him a jacket, into which he thrust his arms, and went on with thegame; and not until that was finished did he attend to me. When Iexplained my errand he seemed vexed, but sent for his brother, had along talk with him, and concluded by warning my unhappy _protégés_ thatif he heard any more complaints from them they should be flogged. Thenturning to me with a grim smile, he said: "Chinee too much bother. Goodby, sir!"

This surprised me exceedingly, for I had often known the premier toaward justice in spite of the king. That same evening, as I sat alone inmy drawing-room, making notes, as was my custom, I heard a slightnoise, as of some one in the room. Looking round, I saw, to myamazement, one of the inferior judges of the prime minister's courtcrouching by the piano. I asked how he dared to enter my houseunannounced. "Mam, " said he, "your servants admitted me; they know fromwhom I come, and would not venture to refuse me. And now it is for youto know that I am here from his Excellency Chow Phya Kralahome, torequest you to send in your resignation at the end of this month. "

"By what authority does he send me this message?" I asked. 

"I know not; but it were best that you obey. "

"Tell him, " I replied, unable to control my anger at the cowardly trickto intimidate me, "I shall leave Siam when I please, and that no manshall set the time for me. "

The man departed, cringing and crouching, and excusing himself. This wasthe same wretch at whose instigation poor Moonshee had been soshamefully beaten. 

I did not close my eyes that night. Again and again prudence advised meto seek safety in flight, but the argument ended in my turning my backon the timid monitor, and resolving to stay. 

About three weeks after this occurrence, his Majesty was going on anexcursion "up country, " and as he wished me to accompany my pupils, theprime minister was required to prepare a cabin for me and my boy on hissteamer, the Volant. Before we left the palace one of my anxious friendsmade me promise her that I would partake of no food nor taste a drop ofwine on board the steamer, --an injunction in the sequel easy to fulfil, as our wants were amply provided for at the Grand Palace, where we spentthe whole day. But I cite this incident to show the state of mind whichled me to prolong my stay, hateful as it had become. 

After this, affairs in the royal household went smoothly enough for sometime; but still my tasks increased, and my health began to fail. When Iinformed his Majesty that I needed at least a month of rest, and that Ithought of making a trip to Singapore, he was so unwilling that I shouldrate highly the services I rendered him, that he was careful to assureme I had not "favored" him in any way, nor given him satisfaction; andthat if I must be idle for a month, he certainly should not pay me forthe time; and he kept his word. Nevertheless, while I was at Singaporehe wrote to me most kindly, assuring me that his wives and children wereanxious for my return. 

After the sad death of the dear little princess, Chow Fâ-ying, the kinghad become more cordial; but the labor he imposed upon me was inproportion to the confidence he reposed in me. At times he required ofme services, in my capacity of secretary, not to be thought of by aEuropean sovereign; and when I declined to perform them, he would curseme, close the gates of the palace against me, and even subject me to theinsults and threats of the parasites and slaves who crawled about hisfeet. On two occasions--first for refusing to write a false letter toSir John Bowring, now Plenipotentiary for the Court of Siam in England;and again for declining to address the Earl of Clarendon in relation toa certain British officer then in Siam--he threatened to have me triedat the British Consulate, and was so violent that I was in real fear formy life. For three days I waited, with doors and windows barred, for Iknew not what explosion. 

After the death of the Second King, his Majesty behaved verydisgracefully. It was well known that the ladies of the prince's haremwere of the most beautiful of the women of Laos, Pegu, and Birmah; aboveall, the Princess of Chiengmai was famed for her manifold graces ofperson and character. Etiquette forbade the royal brothers to pry intothe constitution of each other's _sérail_, but by means most unworthy ofhis station, and regardless of the privilege of his brother, MahaMongkut had learned of the acquisition to the subordinate king'sestablishment of this celebrated and coveted beauty; and although shewas now his legitimate sister-in-law, privately married to the prince, he was not restrained by any scruple of morality or delicacy frommanifesting his jealousy and pique. [Footnote: See portrait, Chap. XXV. ]Moreover, this disgraceful feeling was fostered by other considerationsthan those of mere sensuality or ostentation. Her father, the tributaryruler of Chiengmai, had on several occasions confronted his aggressiveauthority with a haughty and intrepid spirit; and once, when MahaMongkut required that he should send his eldest son to Bangkok as ahostage for the father's loyalty, and good conduct, the unterrifiedchief replied that he would be his own hostage. On the summons beingrepeated in imperative terms, the young prince fled from his father'scourt and took refuge with the Second King in his stronghold of BanSitha, where he was most courteously received and entertained until hefound it expedient to seek some securer or less compromising place ofrefuge. 

The friendship thus founded between two proud and daring princes soonbecame strong and enduring, and resulted in the marriage of the PrincessSunartha Vismita (very willingly on her part) to the Second King, abouta year before his death. 

The son of the King of Chiengmai never made his appearance at the courtof Siam; but the stout old chief, attended by trusty followers, boldlybrought his own "hostage" thither; and Maha Mongkut, though secretlychafing, accepted the situation with a show of graciousness, andoverlooked the absence of the younger vassal. 

With the remembrance of these floutings still galling him, the SupremeKing frequently repaired to the Second King's palace on the pretext ofarranging certain "family affairs" intrusted to him by his late brother, but in reality to acquaint himself with the charms of several femalemembers of the prince's household; and, scandalous as it should haveseemed even to Siamese notions of the divine right of kings, the mostattractive and accomplished of those women were quietly transferred tohis own harem. For some time I heard nothing more of the Princess ofChiengmai; but it was curious, even amusing, to observe the serenecontempt with which the "interlopers" were received by the rivalincumbents of the royal gynecium, --especially the Laotian women, who areof a finer type and much handsomer than their Siamese sisters. 

Meantime his Majesty took up his abode for a fortnight at the SecondKing's palace, thereby provoking dangerous gossip in his ownestablishment; so that his "head wife, " the Lady Thieng, even made boldto hint that he might come to the fate of his brother, and die by slowpoison. His harem was agitated and excited throughout, --some of thewomen abandoning themselves to unaccustomed and unnatural gayety, whileothers sent their confidential slaves to consult the astrologers andsoothsayers of the court; and by the aid of significant glances andshrugging of shoulders, and interchange of signs and whispers, withfeminine telegraphy and secret service, most of those interested arrivedat the sage conclusion that their lord had fallen under the spells of awitch or enchantress. 

Such was the domestic situation when his Majesty suddenly and withoutwarning returned to his palace, but in a mood so perplexing as tosurpass all precedent and baffle all tact. I had for some time performedwith surprising success a leading part in a pretty little court play, ofwhich the well-meant plot had been devised by the Lady Thieng. Wheneverthe king should be dangerously enraged, and ready to let loose upon sometender culprit of the harem the monstrous lash or chain, I--at a secretcue from the head wife--was to enter upon his Majesty, book in hand, toconsult his infallibility in a pressing predicament of translation intoSanskrit, Siamese, or English. Absurdly transparent as it was, --perhapsthe happier for its very childishness, --under cover of this naive devicefrom time to time a hapless girl escaped the fatal burst of his wrath. Midway in the rising storm of curses and abuse he would turn withcomical abruptness to the attractive interruption with all the zest of ascholar. I often trembled lest he should see through the thinly coveredtrick, but he never did. On his return from the prince's palace, however, even this innocent stratagem failed us; and on one occasion ofmy having recourse to it he peremptorily ordered me away, and forbade mycoming into his presence again unless sent for. Daily, after this, oneor more of the women suffered from his petty tyranny, cruelty, andspite. On every hand I heard sighs and sobs from young and old; and nota woman there but believed he was bewitched and beside himself. 

I had struggled through many exacting tasks since I came to Siam, butnever any that so taxed my powers of endurance as my duties at thistime, in my double office of governess and private secretary to hisMajesty. His moods were so fickle and unjust, his temper so tyrannical, that it seemed impossible to please him; from one hour to another Inever knew what to expect. And yet he persevered in his studies, especially in his English correspondence, which was ever his solace, hispleasure, and his pride. To an interested observer it might haveafforded rare entertainment to note how fluently, though oddly, he spokeand wrote in a foreign language, but for his caprices, which at timeswere so ridiculous, however, as to be scarcely disagreeable. He wouldindite letters, sign them, affix his seal, and despatch them in his ownmail-bags to Europe, America, or elsewhere; and, months afterward, insist on my writing to the parties addressed, to say that theinstructions they contained were _my_ mistake, --errors of translation, transcription, anything but his intention. In one or two instances, finding that the case really admitted of explanation or apology from hisMajesty, I slyly so worded my letter, that, without compromising him, Iyet managed to repair the mischief he had done. But I felt this couldnot continue long. Always, on foreign-mail days, I spent from eight toten hours in this most delicate and vexatious work. At length the crashcame. 

The king had promised to Sir John Bowring the appointment ofPlenipotentiary to the Court of France, to negotiate, on behalf of Siam, new treaties concerning the Cambodian possessions. With characteristicirresolution he changed his mind, and decided to send a Siamese Embassy, headed by his Lordship P'hra Nan Why, now known as his Excellency ChowPhya Sri Sury-wongse. No sooner had he entertained this fancy than hesent for me, and coolly directed me to write and explain the matter toSir John, if possible attributing his new views and purpose to theadvice of her Britannic Majesty's Consul; or, if I had scruples on thathead, I might say the advice was my own, --or "anything I liked, " so thatI justified his conduct. 

At this distance of time I cannot clearly recall all the effect upon myfeelings of so outrageous a proposition; but I do remember that I foundmyself emphatically declining to do "anything of the kind. " Then, warnedby his gathering rage, I added that I would express to Sir John hisMajesty's regrets, but to attribute the blame to those who had had nopart in the matter, that I could never do. At this his fury wasgrotesque. His talent for invective was always formidable, and he triedto overpower me with threats. But a kindred spirit of resistance wasaroused in me. I withdrew from the palace, and patiently abided theissue, resolved, in any event, to be firm. 

His Majesty's anger was without bounds; and in the interval so fraughtwith anxiety and apprehension to me, when I knew that a considerableparty in the palace--judges, magistrates, and officers about the personof the king--regarded me as an eminently proper person to behead ordrown, he condescended to accuse me of abstracting a book that hechanced just then to miss from his library, and also of honoring andfavoring the British Consul at the expense of his American colleague, then resident at Bangkok. In support of the latter charge, he allegedthat I had written the American Consul's name at the bottom of a royalcircular, after carefully displaying my own and the Britishfunctionary's at the top of it. 

The circular in question, which had given just umbrage to the Americanofficial, was fortunately in the keeping of the Honorable [Footnote:Here the title is Siamese. ] Mr. Bush, and was written by the king's ownhand, as was well known to all whom it concerned. These charges, withothers of a more frivolous nature, --such as disobeying, thwarting, scolding his Majesty, treating him with disrespect, as by standing whilehe was seated, thinking evil of him, slandering him, and calling himwicked, --the king caused to be reduced to writing and sent to me, withan intimation that I must forthwith acknowledge my ingratitude andguilt, and make atonement by prompt compliance with his wishes. Thesecretary who brought the document to my house was accompanied by anumber of the female slaves of the palace, who besought me, in the nameof their mistresses, the wives of the "Celestial Supreme, " to yield, anddo all that might be required of me. 

Seeing this shaft miss its mark, the secretary, being a man ofresources, produced the other string to his bow. He offered to bribe me, and actually spent two hours in that respectable business; but finallydeparted in despair, convinced that the amount was inadequate to thecupidity of an insatiable European, and mourning for himself that hemust return discomfited to the king. 

Next morning, my boy and I presented ourselves as usual at the innergate of the palace leading to the school, and were confronted there by aparty of rude fellows and soldiers, who thrust us back with threats, andeven took up stones to throw at us. I dare not think what might havebeen our fate, but for the generous rescue of a crowd of the poorestslaves, who at that hour were waiting for the opening of the gate. Theserallied round us, and guarded us back to our home. It was, indeed, atime of terror for us. I felt that my life was in great danger; and sodifficult did I find it to prevent the continual intrusion of therabble, both men and women, into my house, that I had at length to barmy doors and windows, and have double locks and fastenings added. Ibecame nervous and excited as I had never been before. 

My first impulse was to write to the British Consul and invoke hisprotection; but that looked cowardly. Nevertheless, I did prepare theletter, ready to be despatched at the first attempt upon our lives orliberty. I wrote also to Mr. Bush, asking him to find without delay theobnoxious circular, and bring it to my house. He came that very evening, the paper in his hand. With infinite difficulty I persuaded the nativesecretary, whom I had again and again befriended in like extremities, toprocure for him an audience with the king. 

On coming into the presence of his Majesty, Mr. Bush simply handed himthe circular, saying, "Mam tells me you wish to see this. " The momentthe caption of the document met his eye, his Majesty's countenanceassumed a blank, bewildered expression peculiar to it, and he seemed tolook to my friend for an explanation; but that gentleman had none tooffer, for I had made none to him. 

And to crown all, even as the king was pointing to his brow to signifythat he had forgotten having written it, one of the little princessescame crouching and crawling into the room with the missing volume in herhand. It had been found in one of the numerous sleeping-apartments ofthe king, beside his pillow, just in time!

Mr. Bush soon returned, bringing me assurances of his Majesty's cordialreconciliation; but I still doubted his sincerity, and for weeks did notoffer to enter the palace. When, however, on the arrival of the ChowPhya steamer with the mail, I was formally summoned by the king toreturn to my duties, I quietly obeyed, making no allusion to my"bygones. "

As I sat at my familiar table, copying, his Majesty approached, andaddressed me in these words:--

"Mam! you are one great difficulty. I have much pleasure and favor onyou, but you are too obstinate. You are not wise. Wherefore are you sodifficult? You are only a woman. It is very bad you can be sostrong-headed. Will you now have any objection to write to Sir John, andtell him I am his very good friend?"

"None whatever, " I replied, "if it is to be simply a letter of goodwishes on the part of your Majesty. "

I wrote the letter, and handed it to him for perusal. He was hardlysatisfied, for with only a significant grunt he returned it to me, andleft the apartment at once, --to vent his spite on some one who hadnothing to do with the matter. 

In due time the following very considerate but significant reply(addressed to his Majesty's "one great difficulty ") was received fromSir John Bowring:--

CLAREMONT, EXETER, 30 June, 1867. 

DEAR MADAM:--Your letter of 12th May demands from me the attention of acourteous reply. I am quite sure the ancient friendship of the King ofSiam would never allow a slight, or indeed an unkindness, to me; and Ihope to have opportunities of showing his Majesty that I feel a deepinterest in his welfare. 

As regards the diplomacy of European courts, it is but natural thatthose associated with them should be more at home, and better able todirect their course, than strangers from a distance, however personallyestimable; and though, in the case in question, the mission of a SiameseAmbassador to Paris was no doubt well intended, and could never havebeen meant to give me annoyance, it was not to be expected he would beplaced in that position of free and confidential intercourse which mylong acquaintance with public life would enable me to occupy. In remoteregions, people with little knowledge of official matters in highquarters often take upon themselves to give advice in great ignorance offacts, and speak very unadvisedly on topics on which their opinions areworthless and their influence valueless. 

As regards M. Aubaret's offensive proceedings, I doubt not he hasreceived a caution [Footnote: Aubaret, French Consul at Bangkok, whoseoverbearing conduct has been described elsewhere. ] on my representation, and that he, and others of his nation, would not be very willing thatthe Emperor--an old acquaintance of mine--should hear from my lips whatI might have to say. The will of the Emperor is supreme, and I am afraidthe Cambodian question is now referred back to Siam. It might have beenbetter for me to have discussed it with his Imperial Majesty. However, the past is past. Personal influence, as you are aware, is nottransferable; but when by the proper powers I am placed in a position toact, his Majesty may be assured--as I have assured himself--that hisinterests will not suffer in my hands. 

I am obliged to you for the manner in which you have conveyed to me hisMajesty's gracious expressions. 

And you will believe me to be

Yours very truly, JOHN BOWRING. 

No friend of mine knew at that time how hard it was for me to bear up, in the utter loneliness and forlornness of my life, under the load ofcares and provocations and fears that gradually accumulated upon me. 

But ah! if any germ of love and truth fell from my heart into the heartof even the meanest of those wives and concubines and children of aking, if by any word of mine the least of them was won to look up, outof the depths of their miserable life, to a higher, clearer, brighterlight than their Buddha casts upon their path, then indeed I did notlabor in vain among them. 

In the summer of 1866 my health suddenly broke down, and for a time, itwas thought that I must die. When good Dr. Campbell gave me the solemnwarning all my trouble seemed to cease, and but for one sharp pang formy children, --one in England, the other in Siam, --I should have derivedpure and perfect pleasure from the prospect of eternal rest, so wearywas I of my tumultuous life in the East; and though in the end Iregained my strength in a measure, I was no longer able to comply withthe pitiless exactions of the king. And so, yielding to the urgententreaties of my friends, I decided to return to England. 

It took me half a year to get his Majesty's consent; and it was notwithout tiresome accusations of ingratitude and idleness that he grantedme leave of absence for six months. 

I had hardly courage to face the women and children the day I told themI was going away. It was hard to be with them; but it seemed cowardly toleave them. For some time most of them refused to believe that I wasreally going; but when they could doubt no longer, they displayed themost touching tenderness and thoughtfulness. Many sent me small sums ofmoney to help me on the journey. The poorest and meanest slaves broughtme rice cakes, dried beans, cocoanuts, and sugar. It was in vain that Iassured them I could not carry such things away with me; still thesupplies poured in. 

The king himself, who had been silent and sullen until the morning of mydeparture, relented when the time came to say good by. He embraced Boywith cordial kindness, and gave him a silver buckle, and a bagcontaining a hundred dollars to buy sweetmeats on the way. Then turningto me, he said (as if forgetting himself): "Mam! you much beloved by ourcommon people, and all inhabitants of palace and royal children. Everyone is in affliction of your departure; and even that opium-eatingsecretary, P'hra-Alâck, is very low down in his heart because you willgo. It shall be because you must be a good and true lady. I am oftenangry on you, and lose my temper, though I have large respect for you. But nevertheless you ought to know you are difficult woman, and moredifficult than generality. But you will forget, and come back to myservice, for I have more confidence on you every day. Good by!" I couldnot reply; my eyes filled with tears. 

Then came the parting with my pupils, the women and the children. Thatwas painful enough, even while the king was present; but when heabruptly withdrew, great was the uproar. What could I do, but standstill and submit to kisses, embraces, reproaches, from princesses andslaves? At last I rushed through the gate, the women screaming after me, "Come back!" and the children, "Don't go!" I hurried to the residence ofthe heir-apparent, to the most trying scene of all. His regret seemedtoo deep for words, and the few he did utter were very touching. Takingboth my hands and laying his brow upon them, he said, after a longinterval of silence, "_Mam cha klap ma thort!_"--"Mam dear, come back, please!" "Keep a brave and true heart, my prince!" was all that I couldsay; and my last "God bless _you!_" was addressed to the royal palace ofSiam. 

To this young prince, Chowfa Chulalonkorn, I was strongly attached. Heoften deplored with me the cruelty with which the slaves were treated, and, young as he was, did much to inculcate kindness toward them amonghis immediate attendants. He was a conscientious lad, of pensive habitand gentle temper; many of my poor clients I bequeathed to his care, particularly the Chinese lad Ti. Speaking of slavery one day, he said tome: "These are not slaves, but nobles; they know how to bear. It is we, the princes, who have yet to learn which is the more noble, theoppressor or the oppressed. "

When I left the palace the king was fast failing in body and mind, and, in spite of his seeming vigor, there was no real health in his rule, while he had his own way. All the substantial success we find in hisadministration is due to the ability and energy of his accomplishedpremier, Phya Kralahome, and even his strength has been wasted. Thenative arts and literature have retrograded; in the mechanic arts muchhas been lost; and the whole nation is given up to gambling. 

The capacity of the Siamese race for improvement in any direction hasbeen sufficiently demonstrated, and the government has made fairprogress in political and moral reforms; but the condition of the slavesis such as to excite astonishment and horror. What may be the ultimatefate of Siam under this accursed system, whether she will everemancipate herself while the world lasts, there is no guessing. Thehappy examples free intercourse affords, the influence of Europeanideas, and the compulsion of public opinion, may yet work wonders. 

On the 5th of July, 1867, we left Bangkok in the steamer Chow Phya. Allour European friends accompanied us to the Gulf of Siam, where weparted, with much regret on my side; and of all those whose kindness hadbravely cheered us during our long (I am tempted to write) _captivity_, the last to bid us God-speed was the good Captain Orton, to whom I heretender my heartfelt thanks. 

XXVIII. THE KINGDOM OF SIAM. 

With her despotic ruler, priest and king; her religion ofcontradictions, at once pure and corrupt, lovely and cruel, ennoblingand debasing; her laws, wherein wisdom is so perversely blended withblindness, enlightenment with barbarism, strength with weakness, justicewith oppression; her profound scrutiny into mystic forms of philosophy, her ancient culture of physics, borrowed from the primitive speculationsof Brahminism;--Siam is, beyond a peradventure, one of the mostremarkable and thought-compelling of the empires of the Orient; afascinating and provoking enigma, alike to the theologian and thepolitical economist. Like a troubled dream, delirious in contrast withthe coherence and stability of Western life, the land and its peopleseem to be conjured out of a secret of darkness, a wonder to the sensesand a mystery to the mind. 

And yet it is a strangely beautiful reality. The enchanting variety ofits scenery, joined to the inexhaustible productiveness of its soil, constitutes a challenge to the charms of every other region, except, perhaps, the country watered by the great river of China. Through animmense, continuous level of unfailing fertility, the Meinam rollsslowly, reposefully, grandly, in its course receiving draughts from manya lesser stream, filling many a useful canal in its turn, and, from theabundance the generous rains bestow, distributing supplies ofrefreshment and fatness to innumerable acres. 

In a soil at once so rich and so well watered, the sun, with itsvivifying heats, engenders a mighty vegetation, delighting the eye formore than half the year with endless undulations of grain and a greatgolden Eden of fruit. Its staples are solid blessings: rice, theAsiatic's staff of life; sugar, most popular of dietetic luxuries;indigo, most valuable of dyes; in the drier tracts, cotton, tobacco, coffee, a variety of palms (from one species of which sugar not unlikethat of the maple is extracted), the wild olive, and the fig. Then thereare vast forests of teak, that enduring monarch of the vegetablekingdom, ebony, satin-wood, eagle-wood; beside ivory, beeswax and honey, raw silk, and many aromatic gums and fragrant spices. And though thescenery is less various and picturesque than that of the regions ofGangetic India, where ranges of noble mountains make the land majestic, nevertheless nature riots here in bewildering luxuriances of vegetableforms and colors. Vast tracts, shady and cool with dense dark foliage;trees, tall and strong, spreading their giant arms abroad, with prickly, shining shrubs between, while parasites and creepers, wild, bright, andbeautiful, trail from the highest boughs to the ground; the bamboo, shooting to the height of sixty feet and upward, with branchesgracefully drooping; the generous, kind banana; fairy forests of fernsof a thousand forms; tall grasses, with their pale and plumy blossoms;the many-trunked and many-rooted banyan; the boh, sacred toBuddha, --all combine to form a garden that Adam might have dressed andkept, and only Eve could spoil. 

It is only when he approaches the borders of the land that the travelleris greeted by grand mountains, crowned with impenetrable forests, andforming an amphitheatre around the graceful plains. Along the coast theview is more diversified; islands, the most picturesque, and rich withdiversified vegetation, make happy, striking contrasts, here and there, with the deep blue sea around them. 

The extent and boundaries of the kingdom and its dependencies have beenvariously described; but according to the statement of his Majesty MahaMongkut, the dominion of his predecessors, before the possession ofMalacca by the Portuguese, extended over the whole of the Malayanpeninsula, including the islands of Singapore and Pinang, which at thattime formed a part of the realm of the Rajah of Quedah, who still paystribute to the crown of Siam. It was at the instigation of Englishsettlers that the states of Johore, Singapore, Rambo, Talangore, Pahang, and Puah became subject to British rule; so that to-day the Siamesedominion, starting from the little kingdom of Tringamu, extends from thefourth to the twenty-second degree of north latitude, giving about 1, 350miles of length, while from east to west its greatest breadth is about450 miles. On the north it is bounded by several provinces of Laos, tributaries of Ava and China; on the east by the empire of Anam; on thewest by the sea and British possessions; on the south by the pettystates of Pahang and Puah. Beyond Siam proper are the kingdom of Ligorand the four small states, Quedah, Patan, Calantan, and Yeingana; on theeast a part of the kingdom of Cambodia, Muang Korat, and severalprovinces of Laos; on the north the kingdoms of Chiengmai, Laphun, Lakhon, Muang Phiëé, Muang Naun, Muang Loan, and Luang Phrabang. Thegreat plain of Siam is bounded on the east by a spur of the Himalayanrange, which breaks off in Cambodia, and is found again in the west, extending almost to the extremity of the Malayan states; on the norththese two mountain ranges approach each other, and form that multitudeof small hills which imparts so picturesque an aspect to the Laoscountry. This plain is watered by the river Meinam, [Footnote: "Motherof Waters, "--a common Siamese term for all large streams. ] or Chow Phya, whose innumerable branches, great and small, and the many canals which, fed by it, intersect the capital in all directions, constitute it thehigh-road of the Empire. For many miles its banks are fringed with thegraceful bamboo, the tamarind, the palm, and the peepul, the homes ofmyriads of birds of the land and of the water, --creatures of brilliantplumage and delightful song. 

Siam has some excellent harbors, though the principal one, on the gulf, is partially obstructed by great banks of sand that have accumulated atthe mouth of the Chow Phya. Ships of ordinary burden, however, can crossthese banks at high tide, and in a few hours cast anchor in the heart ofthe capital, in from sixty to seventy feet of water. Here they are snugand safe. Besides, the gulf itself is free from the typhoons sodestructive to shipping on the China seas. 

In all the Malayan Islands there are numerous unimportant streams, which, though limited in their course, form excellent harbors at theirdebouchement on the coast. The eastern regions of Laos and Cambodia arewatered by the river Meikhong, which has a course of nearly a thousandmiles; but its navigation, like that of the Meinam at its mouth, isimpeded by sand-banks. The smaller streams, Chantabun, Pet Rue, and ThaChang, all run into the Meikhong, which, mingling its waters with thoseof the Meinam, flows through Chiengmai, receives the waters ofPhitsalok, and then, diverging by many channels, inundates the greatplain of Siam once every year, in the month of June. By the end ofAugust this entire region has become one vast sheet of water, so thatboats traverse it in every direction without injury to the young ricespringing up beneath them. 

The climate of Siam is more or less hot according to the latitude; onlycontinual bathing can render it endurable. There are but two seasons, the wet and the dry. As soon as the southwest monsoon sets in, masses ofspongy _cumuli_ gather on the summits of the western mountains, givingrise to furious squalls about sunset, and dispersing in peals of thunderand torrents of refreshing rain. From the beginning to the end of therainy season, this succession of phenomena is repeated every evening. The monsoon from the north brings an excess of rain, and the thermometerfalls. With the return of the dry season the air becomes comparativelycool, and most favorable to health; this continues from October toJanuary. The dews are extremely heavy in the months of March and April. At dawn the atmosphere is impregnated with a thick fog, which, as thesun rises, descends in dews so abundant that trees, plants, and grassdrip as from a recent shower of rain. 

The population of Siam is still a matter of uncertainty; but it isofficially estimated at from six to seven millions of souls, comprisingSiamese or Thai-Malay, Laotians, Cambodians, Peguans, Kariens, Shans, and Loas. 

Siam produces enormous quantities of excellent rice, of which there areforty distinct varieties; and her sugar is esteemed the best in theworld. Her rivers and lakes abound in fish, as well as in turtles andaquatic birds. The exports are rice, sugar, cotton, tobacco, hemp, cutch, fish (salted and dried), cocoanut oil, beeswax, dried fruits, gamboge, cardamoms, betel-nuts, pepper, various gums and barks, sapan-wood, eagle-wood, rosewood, krachee-wood, ebony, ivory, raw silk, buffalo-hides, tiger-skins, armadillo-skins, elephants' tusks and bones, rhinoceros bones, turtle-shells, peacocks' tails, bird's-nests, king-fishers' feathers, &c. 

The revenue arising from duties and tolls on imported and native producebeing mostly collected in kind, only a small part is converted intospecie; the rest is distributed in part payment of salaries to thedependants of the court, whose name is legion. Princes of the bloodroyal, high officers of state, provincial governors, and most of thejudges, receive grants of provinces, districts, villages, and farms, tosupport their several dignities and reward their services; and therents, fees, fines, bribes, and sops of these assignments are collectedby them for their own behoof. Thus, to one man are given the fees, toanother the fines or bribes, which custom has attached to his functions;to others are alloted offices, by virtue of which certain imposts arelevied; to this man the land; to another the waters of rivers andcanals; to a third the fruit-bearing trees. But money is distributedwith a niggard hand, and only once a year. Every officer of revenue ispermitted to pocket, and "charge to salary, " a part of all that hecollects in taxes, fines, extortions, bribes, gifts, and "testimonials. "

The rulers of Laos pay to the crown of Siam a tribute of gold and silver"trees, " rings set with gems, and chains of solid gold. The trees, whichappear to be composed entirely of the precious metals, are reallynothing more than cylinders and tubes of tin, substantially gilt orplated, designed to represent the graceful clove-tree indigenous to thatpart of the country; the leaves and blossoms, however, are of solid goldand silver. Each tree is planted in an artificial gilt mound, and isworth from five hundred to seven hundred ticals, while the chains andrings are decorated with large and pure rubies. 

The raw silk, elephants' tusks, and other rare products of Siam, arehighly prized by the Mohammedan traders, who compete one with another inshipping them for the Bombay markets. They are usually put up atauction; and, strange to say, the auctioneers are women of the royalharem, the favorite concubines of the First King. The shrewd Moslembroker, turning a longing eye upon the precious stores of the royalwarehouses, employs his wife, or a trusty slave, to approach thisNourmahal or that Rose-in-bloom with presents, and promises of generouspremium to her whose influence shall procure for the bidder theacceptance of his proposal. By a system of secret service peculiar tothese traders, the amount of the last offer is easily discovered, andthe new bidder "sees that" (if I may be permitted to amuse myself withthe phraseology of the Mississippi bluff-player) and "goes" a few ticals"better. " There are always several enterprising Stars of the Harem readyto vary the monotony by engaging in this unromantic business; and theagitation among the "sealed" sisterhood, though by no means boisterous, is lively, though all have tact to appear indifferent in the presence oftheir awful lord. The meagreness of the royal allowance of pin-money isthe consideration that renders the prize important in the eyes of eachof the competitors; and yet it is strange, in all the feminine vanityand vexation of spirit that the occasion engenders, how little ofjealous bitterness and heartburning is directed against the lucky lady. The competitors agree upon a favorable opportunity to present thetenders of their respective clients to his Majesty. Each selecting themost costly and attractive of her bribes, and displaying them toadvantage on a tray of gold, lays the written bid on the top; or with ashrewd device of the maternal instinct, so fertile in pretty tricks ofartfulness, places it in the hands of a pet child, who is taught topresent it winningly as the king descends to his midday meal. Theattention of his Majesty is attracted by the display of showy toys; hedeigns to inquire as to the donors; the "sealed proposals" arerespectfully, and doubtless with more or less coquetry, pressed uponhim; and the matter is then and there concluded, almost invariably infavor of the highest bidder. This semi-romantic mode of traffic wasgravely encouraged by his late Majesty, for the benefit of his favoritesof the harem; and great store of produce, of the finer varieties, wasthus disposed of in the palace. 

The poll-tax on the Chinese, levied once in three years, is paid inbullion. 

The annual income of the public treasury rarely exceeds the outgo; butwhatever the state of the exchequer, and of the funds reserved for theservice of the state, the personal resources of the monarch are alwaysmost abundant. Nor do the great sums lavished upon his favorites andchildren deplete, in any respect, his vast treasures, because they areall supported by grants of land, monopolies of market, special taxes, tithes, _douceurs_, and other patrimonial or tributary provisions. Acertain emolument is also derived from the valuable mines of thecountry, though, poorly worked as they are, but small importance has asyet been ascribed to these as a source of revenue; yet the gold ofBhangtaphan is esteemed the purest and most ductile in the world. Besidemines of iron, antimony, gold, and silver, there are quarries of whitemarble. The extraordinary number of idols and works of art cast in metalseems to indicate that these mines were once largely worked; and it isbelieved that the vast quantities of gold which for centuries has beenconsumed in the construction of images and the adornment of temples, pagodas, and palaces, were drawn from them. The country abounds in pits, bearing marks of great age; and there are also remains of many furnaces, which are said to have been abandoned in the wars with Pegu. Mineralsprings--copious and, no doubt, valuable--are numerous in some parts ofthe country. 

The exports of Siam are various and profitable; and of the rawmaterials, teak timber is entitled to the first consideration. Thedomestic consumption of this most useful wood in the construction ofdwellings, sacred edifices, ships, and boats, is enormous; yet theforests traversed by the great rivers seem inexhaustible, and the supplycontinues so abundant that the variations in the price are very slight. The advantage the country must derive from her extensive commerce in acommodity so valuable may hardly be overrated. 

Next in importance are the native sugars, rice, cotton, and silk, whichfind their way in large quantities to the markets of China andHindostan. Among other articles of crude produce may be mentioned ivory[Footnote: In Siam reserved as a royal appropriation. ] (a single finetusk being often valued at five thousand dollars), wax, lead, copper, tin, amber, indigo, tobacco, honey, and bird's-nests. There are alsoprecious stones of several varieties, and the famous gold ofBhangtaphan. Forty different kinds of rice are named, but these mayproperly be reduced to four classes, the Common or table, theSmall-grained or mountain, the Glutinous, and the Vermilion rice. Fromthe glutinous rice arrack is distilled. The areca, or pinang-nut, andthe betel, are used almost universally, chewed with lime, thelime, --being dyed with turmeric, which imparts to it a rich vermiliontint; the areca-nut is also used in dying cotton thread. 

The characteristic traits of the Siamese Court are _hauteur_, insolentindifference, and ostentation, the natural features and expression oftyranny; and every artifice that power and opulence can devise isemployed to inspire the minds of the common people with trembling aweand devout veneration for their sovereign master. Though the lateSupreme King wisely reformed certain of the stunning customs of thecourt with more modest innovations, nevertheless he rarely went abroadwithout extravagant display, especially in his annual visitations to thetemples. These were performed in a style studiously contrived to strikethe beholder with astonishment and admiration. 

The royal state barge, one hundred cubits long, beside being elaboratelycarved, and inlaid with bits of crystal, porcelain, mother-of-pearl, andjade, is richly enamelled and gilt. The stem, which rises ten or elevenfeet from the bows, represents the _nagha mustakha sapta_, theseven-headed serpent or alligator. A phrasat, or elevated throne (alsotermed _p'hra-the-nang_), occupies the centre, supported by fourpillars. The extraordinary beauty of the inlaying of shells, mother-of-pearl, crystal, and precious stones of every color, thesplendor of the gilding, and the elegance of the costly kinkob curtainswith which it is hung, combine to render this one of the most strikingand beautiful objects to be seen on the Meinam. The barge is usuallymanned by one hundred and fifty men, their paddles gilt andsilver-tipped. 

[Illustration: A ROYAL BARGE]

This government reproduces, in many of its shows of power, pride, andostentation, a _tableau vivant_ of European rule in the darker ages, when, on the decline of Roman dominance, the principles of feudaldependence were established by barbarians from the North. Under such asystem, it is impossible to ascertain, or to represent by any standardsof currency, the amount of the royal revenues and treasures. But it isknown that the riches of the Siamese monarch are immense, and that amagnificent share of the legal plunder drawn into the royal treasury issunk there, and never returns into circulation again. The hoarding ofmoney seems to be the cherished practice of all Oriental rulers, andeven a maxim of state policy; and that the general diffusion of propertyamong his subjects offers the only safe assurance of prosperity forhimself and stability for his throne is the last precept of prudence anAsiatic monarch ever learns. 

The armies of Siam are raised on the spur of the moment, as it were, forany pressing emergency. When troops are to be called out, a royalcommand, addressed to all viceroys and governors, requires them to raisetheir respective quotas, and report to a commander-in-chief at a generalrendezvous. These recruits are clothed, equipped with arms andammunition, and "subsisted" with daily rations of rice, oil, etc. , butare not otherwise paid. The small standing army, which serves as thenucleus upon which these irregulars are gathered and formed, consists ofinfantry, cavalry, elephant-riders, archers, and private body-guards, paid at the rate of from five to ten dollars a month, with clothing andrations. The infantry are armed with muskets and sabres; the cavalry, with bows and arrows as well as spears; but the spear, which is from sixto seven feet long, is the favorite weapon of this arm of the service, and they handle it with astonishing dexterity. The king's privatebody-guards are well paid, clothed, and quartered, having their stationsand barracks within the palace walls and near the most attractivestreets and avenues, while other troops are lodged outside. 

It is customary to detain the families of conscripts in the districts towhich they belong, as prisoners on parole, --hostages for the goodconduct of their young men in the army; and for the desertion ortreachery of the soldier, his wife or children, mother or sisters, asthe case may be, are tortured, or even executed, without compunction orremorse. The long and peaceful reign of the late king, however, hasalmost effaced from the minds of the youth of Siam the remembrance ofsuch monstrous oppressions. 

The Siamese are but indifferent sailors, their nautical excursions beingmainly confined to short coasting trips, or boating in safe and familiarchannels. The more adventurous export trade is carried on almost whollyby foreigners. About one thousand war-boats constitute the bulk of thenavy. These are constructed from the solid bole of the teak-tree, excavated partly with fire, partly with the adze; and, while they arecommonly from eighty to a hundred feet long, the breadth rarely exceedseight or nine feet, though the apparent width is increased by theaddition of a sort of light gallery. They are made to carry fifty orsixty rowers, with short oars working on a pivot. The prow, which issolid, has a flat terrace, on which, for the king's up-countryexcursions, they mount a small field-piece, a nine or a twelve pounder. There are also several men-of-war belonging to the government, built byEuropean engineers. 

The number of vessels in the merchant marine cannot be great. Dwellingso long in peace and security at home, the tastes and the energies ofthe Siamese people have been confirmed, by their politicalcircumstances, in that inclination toward agricultural rather thancommercial pursuits which their geographical conditions naturallyengender. The extreme fertility of the soil, watered by innumerablestreams, and intersected in every direction by a network of capaciouscanals (of which the Klong Yai, Klong Bangkok-noi, and Klong P'hra-cha-dee, are the most remarkable); the generating heats of the climate;the teeming plains of the upper provinces, bulwarked by mightymountains; and, above all, that magnificent mother, the Meinam, windingin her beauty and bounty through a vast and lovely vale to the sea, inher course subjecting all things to the enriching and adorning influenceof her touch, --all combine by their irresistible inducements todetermine the native to the tilling of the ground. 

Nothing can be more delightful than an excursion through the countryimmediately after the subsidence of the floods. Then nature is draped inhues as charming as they are various, from the palest olive to theliveliest green; broad fields wave with tall golden spires of grain, orare dotted with tufted sheaves heavy with generous crops; the refreshedair is perfumed with the fragrance of the orange, lemon, citron, andother tropical fruits and flowers; and on every side the landscape is ascene of lovely meadows, alive with flocks and herds, and busy withherdsmen, husbandmen, and gardeners. 

The most considerable of the many canals by which communication ismaintained with all parts of the country is Klong Yai, the Great Canal, supposed to have been begun in the reign of Phya Tâk. It is nearly ahundred cubits deep, twenty Siamese fathoms broad, and forty miles long. Bangkok has been aptly styled "the Venice of the Orient"; for not onlythe villages thickly studding the banks of the Meinam, but the remoterhamlets as well, even to the confines of the kingdom, have each its owncanals. In fact, the lands annually inundated by the Mother of Watersare so extensive, and for the most part lie so low, and the number ofwater-ducts, natural and artificial, is so great, that of all thetorrents that descend upon the country in the months of June, July, andAugust (when the whole land is as a sea, in which towns and villagesshow like docks connected by drawbridges, with little islets between ofgroves and orchards, whose tops alone are visible), not a tithe everreturns to the ocean. 

The modern bridges of Siam, which are mostly of iron in the Europeanstyle, are made to be drawn for the passage of the King's barge, sincethe royal head may not without desecration pass under anything troddenby the foot of man. The more ancient bridges, however, are of stone andbrick; and here and there are strange artificial lakes, partly filled upwith the debris of temples that once stood on their banks. Of roadsthere are but few that are good, and all are of comparatively recentconstruction. 

XXIX. THE RUINS OF CAMBODIA. --AN EXCURSION TO THE NAGHKON WATT. 

[Footnote: The Cambodian was, without doubt, in its day, one of the mostpowerful of the empires of the East. As to its antiquity, two opinionsprevail, --one ascribing to it a duration of 1, 300 years, the other of2, 400. The native historians reckon 2, 400 years from the building of theNaghkon Watt, or Naghkon Ongkhoor; but this computation, not agreeingwith the mythological traditions of the country, which date from theYear of the World 205, is not accepted as authentic by the more learnedCambodians. ]

Our journey from Bangkok to Kabin derived its memorable interest fromthose features and feelings which join to compose the characteristicromance of Eastern travel by unhackneyed ways, --the wild freedom of theplain, the tortuous, suspicious mountain track, the tangled jungle, thebewildering wastes and glooms of an unexplored region, with theirsuggestions of peril and adventure, and especially that gloriousparticipation in the enlargement and liberty of an Eastern wanderer'slife which these afford. Once you begin to feel that, you will be happy, whether on an elephant or in a buffalo-cart, --the very privations andperils including a charm of excitement all unknown to the formalEuropean tourist. 

The rainbow mists of morning still lay low on the plain, as yet unliftedby the breeze that, laden with odor and song, gently rocked the higherbranches in the forest, as our elephants pressed on, heavily but almostnoiselessly, over a parti-colored carpet of wild-flowers. Strange birdsdarted from bough to bough among the wild myrtles and limes, and greatgreen and golden lizards gleamed through the shrubbery as we approachedSiemrâp. 

The more extensive and remarkable ruins of Cambodia seem concentrated inthis part of the country, though they are by no means confined to it, but are found widely scattered over the neighboring territories. 

From Sisuphon we diverged in a northeasterly direction, and at eveningfound ourselves in the quaint, antique town of Phanomsôk, half ruinedand deserted, where the remains of a magnificent palace can still betraced. 

The country between Cambodia and Siam is an inclined plane falling offto the sea, beginning from the Khoa Don Rèke, or highlands of Korat, which constitutes the first platform of the terraces that graduallyascend to the mountain chain of Laos, and thence to the stupendousHimalayas. 

Khoa Don Rèke ("the Mountain, which Bears on the Shoulders, " theCambodian Atlas) includes in its domain the Dong Phya Fai ("Forest ofthe Lord of Fire"), whence many tributary streams flow into thebeautiful Pachim River. 

At sunrise next morning we resumed our journey, and after a long day oftoiling through treacherous marshes and tangled brushwood came at sunsetupon an object whose presence there was a wonder, and its past apuzzle, --a ridge or embankment of ten or twelve feet elevation, which, to our astonishment, ran high and dry through the swampy lowlands. Inthe heart of an interminable forest it stretches along one side of thetangled trail, in some places walling it in, at others crossing it atright angles; now suddenly diving into the depths of the forest, nowreappearing afar off, as if to mock our cautious progress, and invite usto follow it. The eye, wistfully pursuing its eccentric sweep, suddenlyloses it in impenetrable shadows. There is not a vestige of any otherruin near it, and the long lines it here and there shows, ghostly whitein the moonlight, seem like spectral strands of sand. 

Our guides tell us this isolated ridge was once the great highway ofancient Cambodia, that it can be traced from the neighborhood of NohkBurree to Naghkon Watt, and thence to the very heart of Cochin China;and one assures us that no man has ever seen the end of it. 

So on we went, winding our devious way over pathless ground, now divinginto shady valleys, now mounting to sunny eminences where the breezeblew free and the eye could range far and wide, but not to find aughtthat was human. Gradually the flowering shrubs forsook us, and darkforest trees pressed grimly around, as we traversed the noble stonebridges that those grand old Cambodians loved to build overcomparatively insignificant streams. The moon, touching with fantasticlight the crumbling arches and imparting a charm of illusion to thescene, the clear spangled sky, the startling voices of the night, andthe influence of the unknown, the mysterious, and the weird, overcame uslike a dream. Truly there is naught of the commonplace or vulgar in thisland of ruins and legends, and the foretaste of the wonders we wereabout to behold met our view in the great bridges. 

Taphan Hin ("the Stone Bridge") and the finer and more artistic TaphanThevadah ("the Angel's Bridge") are both imposing works. Arches, stillresting firmly on their foundations, buttressed by fifty great pillarsof stone, sup-port a structure about five hundred feet long and eightybroad. The road-bed of these bridges is formed of immense blocks orbeams of stone, laid one upon another, and so adjusted that their veryweight serves to keep the arches firm. 

In a clearing in the forest, near a rivulet called by the Cambodians_Sthieng Sinn_ ("Sufficient to our Need"), we encamped; and, havingrested and supped, again followed our guides over the foaming stream, and recrossed the Stone Bridge on foot, marvelling at the work of a raceof whose existence the Western nations know nothing, who have no name inhistory, yet who builded in a style surpassing in boldness ofconception, grandeur of proportions, and delicacy of design, the bestworks of the modern world, --stupendous, beautiful, enduring!

The material is mostly freestone, but a flinty conglomerate appearswherever the work is exposed to the action of the water. 

Formerly a fine balustrade crowned the bridge on both sides, but it hasbeen broken down. The ornamental parts of these massive structures seemto have been the only portions the invading vandals of the time coulddestroy. 

The remains of the balustrade show that it consisted of a series of longquarry stones, on the ridges of which caryatidian pillars, representingthe seven-headed serpent, supported other slabs grooved along the rimto receive semi-convex stones with arabesque sculptures, affording ahint of ancient Cambodian art. 

On the left bank we found the remains of a staircase leading down to thewater, not far from a spot where a temple formerly stood. 

Next morning we crossed the Taphan Teph, or Heavenly Bridge, --like theTaphan Hin and the Taphan Thevadah a work of almost superhuman magnitudeand solidity. 

Leaving the bridges, our native pilots turned off from the ancientcauseway to grope through narrow miry paths in the jungle. 

On the afternoon of the same day we arrived at another stone bridge, over the Paleng River. This, according to our guides, was abandoned bythe builders, because the country was invaded by the hostile hordes whodestroyed Naghkon Watt. Slowly crumbling among the wild plantains andthe pagan lotoses and lilies, these bridges seem to constitute the solememorial, in the midst of that enchanting desolation, of a once proudand populous capital. 

From the Paleng River, limpid and cheerful, a day's journey brought usto the town of Siemrâp; and, after an unnecessary delay of severalhours, we started with lighter pockets for the ruins of Naghkon Watt. 

Naghkon, or Ongkoor, is supposed to have been the royal city of theancient kingdom of Cambodia, or Khaimain, of which the only traditionsthat remain describe in wild extravagances its boundless territory; itsprinces without number who paid tribute in gold, silver, and preciousstuffs; its army of seventy thousand war elephants, two hundred thousandhorsemen, and nearly six millions of foot soldiers; and its royaltreasure-houses covering "three hundred miles of ground. " In the heartof this lonely region, in a district still bearing the name of Ongkoor, and quite apart from the ruined temples that abound hard by, we foundarchitectural remains of such exceeding grandeur, with ruins of templesand palaces which must have been raised at so vast a cost of labor andtreasure, that we were overwhelmed with astonishment and admiration. 

What manner of people were these?

Whence came their civilization and their culture?

And why and whither did they disappear from among the nations of theearth?

The site of the city is in itself unique. Chosen originally for thestrength of its position, it yet presents none of the features whichshould mark the metropolis of a powerful people. It seems to stand alooffrom the world, exempt from its passions and aspirations, and shunningeven its thrift. Confronting us with its towering portal, overlaid withcolossal hieroglyphics, the majestic ruin, of the watt stands like apetrified dream of some Michael Angelo of the giants--more impressive inits loneliness, more elegant and animated in its grace, than aught thatGreece and Home have left us, and addressing us with a significance allthe sadder and more solemn for the desolation and barbarism whichsurround it. 

Unhappily, the shocks of war, seconding the slowly grinding mills oftime, have left but few of these noble monuments; and slowly, butruthlessly, the work of destruction and decay goes on. 

Vainly may we seek for any chronicle of the long line of monarchs whomust have swayed the sceptre of the once powerful empire of MahaNaghkon. Only a vague tradition has come down, of a celestial prince towhom the fame of founding the great temple is supposed to belong; and ofan Egyptian king, who, for his sacrilege, was changed into a leper. Aninteresting statue, representing the latter, still stands in one of thecorridors, --somewhat mutilated, but sufficiently well preserved todisplay a marked contrast to the physical type of the present race ofCambodians. 

The inscriptions with which some of the columns are covered areillegible; and if you question the natives as to the origin of NaghkonWatt, they will tell you that it was the work of the Leper King, or ofP'hra-Inn-Suen, King of Heaven, or of giants, or that "it made itself. "

These magnificent edifices seem to have been designed for places ofworship rather than of royal habitation, for nearly all are Buddhisttemples. 

The statues and sculptures on the walls of the outer corridor are inalto relievo, and generally life-size. The statue of the Leper King, setup in a sort of pavilion, is moderately colossal, and is seated in atranquil and noble attitude; the head especially is a masterpiece, thefeatures being classic and of manly beauty. 

Approaching the temple of Ongkoor, the most beautiful and best preservedof these glorious remains, the traveller is compensated with fullmeasure of wonder and delight for all the fatigues and hardships of hisjourney. Complete as is the desolation, a strange air of luxury hangsover all, as though the golden glow of sunshine amid the refreshinggloom were for the glory and the ease of kings. 

At each angle of the temple are two enormous lions, hewn, pedestal andall, from a single block. A flight of stone steps leads up to the firstplatform of terraces. To reach the main entrance from the northstaircase we traverse a noble causeway, which midway crosses a deep andwide moat that seems to surround the building. 

The main entrance is by a long gallery, having a superb central tower, with two others of less height on each side. The portico of each of thethree principal towers is formed by four projecting columns, with aspacious staircase between. At either extremity are similar porticos, and beyond these is a very lofty door, or gateway, covered with gigantichieroglyphs, where gods and warriors hang as if self-supported betweenearth and sky. Then come groves of columns that in girth and heightmight rival the noblest oaks. Every pillar and every part of the wall isso crowded with sculptures that the whole temple seems hung withpetrified tapestry. 

On the west side, the long gallery is flanked by two rows of almostsquare columns. The blank windows are cut out of the wall, and finishedwith stone railings or balconies of curiously twisted columns; and thedifferent compartments are equally covered with sculptures of subjectstaken from the Ramayâna. Here are Lakshman and Hanuman leading theirwarriors against Rawana, --some with ten heads, others with many arms. The monkeys are building the stone bridge over the sea. Rama is seenimploring the aid of the celestial protector, who sits on high, in grandand dreamy contemplation. Rama's father is challenging the enemy, whileRawana is engaged in combat with the leader of the many-wheeledchariots. There are many other figures of eight-handed deities; and allare represented with marvellous skill in grouping and action. 

[Illustration: Ruins of the Naghkon Watt. ]

The entire structure is roofed with tiers of hewn stone, which is alsosculptured; and remains of a ceiling may still be traced. Thesymmetrical wings terminate in three spacious pavilions and thisimposing colonnade, which, by its great length, height, and harmoniousproportions, is conspicuous from a great distance, and forms anappropriate vestibule to so grand a temple. 

Traversing the building, we cross another and finer causeway, formed ofgreat blocks of stone carefully joined, and bordered with a handsomebalustrade, partly in ruins, very massive, and covered with sculptures. 

On either side are six great platforms, with flights of steps; and oneach we find remains of the seven-headed serpent, --in some partsmutilated, but on the whole sufficiently preserved to show distinctlythe several heads, some erect as if guarding the entrance, others drawnback in a threatening attitude. A smaller specimen is nearly perfect andvery beautiful. 

We passed into an adytum, wardered by gigantic effigies whose mysticforms we could hardly trace; above us that ponderous roof, tier on tierof solid stone, upheld by enormous columns, and incrusted with strangecarvings. Everywhere we found fresh objects of wonder, and each newspot, as we explored it, seemed the greatest wonder of all. 

In the centre of the causeway are two elegant pavilions with porticos;and at the foot of the terrace we come upon two artificial lakes, whichin the dry season must be supplied either by means of a subterraneanaqueduct or by everlasting springs. 

A balustrade not unlike that of the causeway, erected upon a sculpturedbasement, starts from the foot of the terrace and runs quite round thetemple, with arms, or branches, descending at regular intervals. 

The terrace opens into a grand court, crowded with a forest ofmagnificent columns with capitals, each hewn from a single block ofstone. The basement, like every other part of the building, isornamented in varied and animated styles; and every slab of the vastpile is covered with exquisite carvings representing the lotos, thelily, and the rose, with arabesques wrought with the chisel withastonishing taste and skill. The porticos are supported by sculpturedcolumns; and the terraces, which form a cross, have three flights ofsteps, at each of which are four colossal lions, reclining uponpedestals. 

The temple is thus seen to consist of three distinct parts, raised interraces one above the other. The central tower of the five within theinner circle forms an octagon, with four larger and four smaller sides. On each of the four larger faces is a colossal figure of Buddha, whichoverlooks from its eminence the surrounding country. 

This combination of four Buddhas occurs frequently among the ruins ofCambodia. The natives call it _P'hra Mook Bulu_ ("Lord of Four Faces"), though not only the face, but the whole body, is fourfold. 

A four-faced god of majestic proportions presides over the principalentrance to the temple, and is called Bhrama, or, by corruption, _Phrâm_, signifying divine protection. 

As the four cardinal points of the horizon naturally form a cross, called "phram, " so we invariably find the cross in the plan of thesereligious monuments of ancient Cambodia, and even in the corridors, intersecting each other at right angles. [Footnote: The cross is thedistinctive character and sign for the Doctors of Reason in theprimitive Buddhism of Kasyapa. ] These corridors are roofed with greatblocks of stone, projecting over each other so as to form an arch, and, though laid without cement, so accurately adjusted as to leave scarcelya trace of the joinings. The galleries of the temple also form arectangle. The ceilings are vaulted, and the roofs supported by doublerows of columns, cut from a single block. 

There are five staircases on the west side, five on the east, and threeon each of the remaining sides. Each of the porticos has three distinctroofs raised one above the other, thus nobly contributing to themonumental effect of the architecture. 

In some of the compartments the entire space is occupied withrepresentations of the struggle between angels and giants for possessionof the snake-god, Sarpa-deva, more commonly called _Phya Naghk_. Theangels are seen dragging the seven-headed monster by the tail, while thegiants hold fast by the heads. In the midst is Vishnu, riding on theworld-supporting turtle. 

The most interesting of all the sculptures at Naghkon Watt are thosethat appear to represent a procession of warriors, some on foot, othersmounted on horses, tigers, birds, and nondescript creatures, each chiefon an elephant at the head of his followers. I counted more than athousand figures in one compartment, and observed with admiration thatthe artist had succeeded in portraying the different races in all theirphysical characteristics, from the flat-nosed savage, and theshort-haired and broad-faced Laotian, to the more classic profile of theRajpoot, armed with sword and shield, and the bearded Moor. A panoramain life-size of the diverse nationalities, it yet displays, in thephysical conformation of each race, a remarkable predominance of theHellenic type--not in the features and profiles alone, but equally inthe fine attitudes of the warriors and horsemen. 

The bass-reliefs of another peristyle represent a combat between theking of apes and the king of angels, and if not the death, at least thedefeat, of the former. On an adjoining slab is a boat filled withstalwart rowers with long beards, --a group very admirable in attitudeand expression. In fact, it is in these bass-reliefs that the greatestdelicacy of touch and the finest finish are manifest. 

On the south side we found representations of an ancient militaryprocession. The natives interpret these as three connected allegories, symbolizing heaven, earth, and hell; but it is more probable that theyrecord the history of the methods by which the savage tribes werereclaimed by the colonizing foreigners, and that they have an intimateconnection with the founding of these monuments. 

One compartment represents an ovation: certain personages are seenseated on a dais, surrounded by many women, with caskets and fans intheir hands, while the men bring flowers and bear children in theirarms. 

In another place, those who have rejected the new religion and itspriests are precipitated into a pit of perdition, in the midst of whichsits the judge, with his executioners, with swords in their hands, whilethe guilty are dragged before him by the hair and feet. In the distanceis a furnace, and another crowd of "infidels" under punishment. But theconverted (the "born again") are conducted into palaces, which arerepresented on the upper compartments. In these happier figures thefeatures as well as the attitudes denote profound repose, and in thefaces of many of the women and children one may trace lines of beautyand tender grace. 

[Illustration: Sculptures of the Naghkon Watt. ]

On the east side a number of men, in groups on either hand, are in theact of dragging in contrary directions the great seven-headed dragon. One mighty angel watches the struggle with interest, while many lesserangels float overhead. Below is a great lake or ocean, in which arefishes, aquatic animals, and sea-monsters. 

On another panel an angel is seated on a mountain (probably Mount Meru), and other angels, with several heads, assist or encourage those who arecontending for possession of the serpent. To the right are anothertriumphal procession and a battle scene, with warriors mounted onelephants, unicorns, griffins, eagles with peacocks' tails, and otherfabulous creatures, while winged dragons draw the chariots. 

On the north side is another battle-piece, the most conspicuous figurebeing that of a chief mounted on the shoulders of a giant, who holds ineach hand the foot of another fighting giant. Near the middle of thisperistyle is a noble effigy of a royal conqueror, with long flowingbeard, attended by courtiers with hands clasped on their breasts. Thesefigures are all in _alto relievo_, and well executed. 

The greater galleries are connected with two smaller ones, which in turncommunicate with two colonnades in the form of a cross; the roofs ofthese are vaulted. Four rows of square columns, each still hewn from asingle block, extend along the sides of the temple. These are coveredwith statues and bass-reliefs, many of the former being in a state ofdilapidation which, considering the extreme hardness of the stone, indicates great age, while others are true _chefs-d'oeuvre_. 

The entire structure forms a square, and every part is admirable both ingeneral effect and detail. There are twelve superb staircases, the fourin the middle having from fifty to sixty steps, each step a single slab. At each angle is a tower. The central tower, larger and higher than theothers, communicates with the lateral galleries by colonnades, covered, like the galleries themselves with a double roof. Opposite each of thetwelve staircases is a portico with windows resembling in form anddimensions those described above. 

In front of each colonnade connected with the tower is a dark, narrowchapel, to which there is an ascent of eight steps; each of thesechapels (which do not communicate with each other) contains a giganticidol, carved in the solid wall, and at its feet another, of the sameproportions, sleeping. 

This mighty pile, the wondrous Naghkon Watt, is nearly three miles incircumference; the walls are from seventy to eighty feet high, andtwenty feet thick. 

We wandered in astonishment, and almost with awe, through labyrinths ofcourts, cloisters, and chambers, encountering at every turn some newmarvel, unheard of, undreamed of, until then. Even the walls of theouter courts were sculptured with whole histories of wars and conquests, in forms that seemed to live and fight again. Prodigious in size andnumber are the blocks of stone piled in those walls and towers. Wecounted five thousand and three hundred _solid_ columns. What a mightyhost of builders must that have been! And what could have been theirengines and their means of transport, seeing that the mountains fromwhich the stone was quarried are nearly two days' journey from thetemple?

All the mouldings, sculptures, and bass-reliefs seem to to have beenexecuted after the walls and pillars were in their places; andeverywhere the stones are fitted together in a manner so perfect thatthe joinings are not easy to find. There is neither mortar nor mark ofthe chisel; the surfaces are as smooth as polished marble. 

On a fallen column, under a lofty and most beautiful arch, we sat, andrested our weary, excited eyes on the wild but quiet landscape below;then slowly, reluctantly departed, feeling that the world contains nomonument more impressive, more inspiring, than, in its desolation, andyet wondrous preservation, the temple of Maha Naghkon Watt. 

Next morning our elephants bore us back to Siemrâp through an avenue ofcolonnades similar to that by which we had come; and as we advanced wecould still descry other gates and pillars far in the distance, markingthe line of some ancient avenue to this amazing temple. 

XXX. THE LEGEND OF THE MAHA NAUGKON

[Footnote: Translated from a MS. Presented to the author by the SupremeKing of Siam. ]

Many hundreds of thousands of years ago, when P'hra Atheitt, theSun-god, was nearer to earth than he is now, and the city of the godscould be seen with mortal eyes, --when the celestial sovereigns, P'hraIndara and P'hra Insawara, came down from Meru, the sacred mountain, tohold high converse with mortal kings, sages, and heroes, --when the moonand the stars brought tidings of good-will to men, and wisdomflourished, love and happiness were spread abroad, and sorrow, suffering, disease, old age, and death were almost banished, --therelived in Thaisiampois a mighty monarch whose years could hardly benumbered, so many were they and so long. And yet he was not old; suchwere the warmth and strength and vigor imparted by the near glories ofthe P'hra Atheitt, that the span of human life was lengthened unto athousand, and even fifteen hundred years. The days of the King Sudarsanahad been prolonged beyond those of the oldest of his predecessors, forthe sake of his exceeding wisdom and goodness. But yet this King wastroubled; he had no son, and the thought of dying without leaving behindhim one worthy to represent his name and race was grievous to him. So, by the advice of the wise men of his kingdom, he caused prayers andofferings to be made in all the temples, and took to wife the beautifulPrincess Thawadee. 

At that very time P'hra Indara, ruler of the highest heaven, dreamed adream; and behold! in his sleep a costly jewel fell from his mouth tothe lower earth; whereat P'hra Indara was troubled. Assembling all thehosts of heaven, the angels, and the genii, he showed them his dream, but they could not interpret it. Last of all, he told it to his sevensons; but from them likewise its meaning was hidden. A second time P'hraIndara dreamed, and yet a third time, that a more and more costly jewelhad fallen from his lips; and at last, when he awoke, the interpretationwas revealed to his own thought, --that one of his sons should condescendto the form of humanity, and dwell on the earth, and be a great teacherof men. 

Then the King of Heaven imparted to the celestial princes the meaning ofthe threefold vision, and demanded which of them would consent to becomeman. 

The divine princes heard, and answered not a word; till the youngest andbest-beloved of Heaven opened his lips and spake, saying: "Hear, O myLord and Father! I have yearned toward the race thou hast created out ofthe fire and flame of thy breast and the smoke of thy nostrils. Let mego unto them, that I may teach them the wisdom of truth. "

Then P'hra Indara gave him leave to depart on his mission of love; andall the hosts of heaven, knowing that he should never more gladden theirhearts with his presence, accompanied him, sorrowful, to the foot ofMount Meru; and immediately a blazing star shot from the mount, andburst over the palace of Thaisiampois. 

That night the gracious Princess Thawadee conceived and became withchild, and the P'hra Somannass was no longer a prince of the highestheaven. 

The Princess Thawadee had been the only and darling daughter of a mightyking, and still mourned her separation from her beloved sire. Her onlysolace was to sit in the phrasat of the Grand Palace, and look withlonging toward her early home. Here, day after day, she sat with hermaidens, weaving flowers, and singing low the songs of her childhood. When this became known abroad among the multitude, they gathered fromevery side to behold one so famed for her goodness and beauty. 

Thus by degrees her interest was aroused. She became thoughtful for herpeople, and presently found happiness in dispensing food, raiment, andcomfort to the poor who flocked to see her. 

One day, as she was reposing in the porch after her customarybenefactions, a cloud of birds, flying eastward, fell dead as theypassed over the phrasat. The sages and soothsayers of the court wereterrified. What might the omen be? Long and anxious were their counsels, and grievous their perturbations one with another; until at last an agedwarrior, who had conquered many armies and subjugated kingdoms, declaring that as faithful servants they should lay the weighty matterbefore their lord, bade all the court follow him, and approached hissovereign, saying:--

"Long live P'hra Chow P'hra Sudarsana, lord and king of our happy land, wherefrom sorrow and suffering and death are wellnigh banished! Let himinvestigate with a true spirit and a clear mind the matter we bring forjudgment, even though it be to the tearing out of his own heart andcasting it away from him. "

"Speak, " said the King, "and fear not! Has it ever been thought thatevil is dearer unto me than good? Even to the tearing out of my heartand casting it to dogs shall justice be rendered in the land. "

Then the sages, soothsayers, and warriors spake as with one voice: "Itis well known unto the lord our King, that the Queen, our lovely ladyThawadee, is with child. 

"But what manner of birth, is this that she has conceived, in that ithas already brought grief and death into the land? For as the Queen satin the porch of the temple, a great flight of birds that hastened, thirsty, toward the valleys of the east, when they would have passedover the phrasat were struck dead, as by an unseen spirit of mischief. Let the King search this matter, and put away the strange thing of evilout of our land, lest it make a greater sorrow. "

When the King heard these words, he was sore smitten, and hung down hishead, and knew not what to say; for the Queen, so gentle and beautiful, was very dear to him. But, remembering his royal word, he shook off hisgrief and took counsel with his astrologers, who had foretold that theunborn prince would prove either a glorious blessing or a dire curse tothe land. And now, by the awful omen of the birds, they declared thatthe Queen had conceived the evil spirit Kala Mata, and that she must beput to death, she and the fiend with her. 

Then the King in council commanded that the sweet young Thawadee shouldbe set upon a floating raft, and given to the mercy of winds and waves. 

But the brave chief who should have executed the sentence, overcome onbeholding her beauty and innocence, interceded for her with the council;and it was finally decreed that, for pity's sake, and because the Queenwas unconscious of any evil, she should not be slain, but "put away, "after the dreadful birth. To this the stricken monarch thankfullyagreed. 

In due time the Queen was delivered of a male child, so beautiful thatit filled all beholders with delight. His eyes were as sunshine, hisforehead like the glow of the full moon, his lips like clustered roses, and his cry like the melody of many instruments; and the Queen lovedhim, and comforted herself with his beauty. 

When the mother was strong again, the infant prince being then about amonth old, the sentence of the council was carried into effect, and thepoor princess and her child were banished forever from the beloved landof Thaisiampois. 

Clasping her baby to her breast, she went forth, terrified and stunned. On and on, not knowing whither, she wandered, pressing her sleeping babeto her bosom, and moaning to the great gods above. 

Then P'hra Indara, king of highest heaven, came down to earth, assumedthe form and garb of a Bhramin, and followed her silently, shorteningthe miles and smoothing the rough places, until she reached the bank ofa deep and rapid stream. Here, as she sat down, faint and foot-sore, tonurse her babe, there came to her a grave and venerable pilgrim, whogently questioned her sorrows and comforted her with thrilling words, saying her child was born to bring peace and happiness to earth, and nottrouble and death. 

Quickly Thawadee dried her tears, and consented to be led by the goodold man, who had come to her as if from heaven. From under his garmenthe produced a shell filled with food from paradise, of which she partookwith ecstasy; and gave her to drink water from everlasting springs, thatoverflowed her soul with perfect peace. Then he led her to a mountain, and prepared in the cleft of a rock a hiding-place for her and herchild, and left her with a promise of quick return. 

For fifty years she dwelt in the cave, knowing neither trouble norweariness nor hunger, nor any of the ills of life. The young Somannass, as the good Bhramin had named him, grew to be a youth of wondrousbeauty. The melody of his voice tamed the wild creatures of the forest, and charmed even the seven-headed dragons of the lake in which hismother bathed him every morning. Then again P'hra Indara appeared tothem in the form and garb of the aged Bhramin; and he rejoiced in thestrength and beauty of the young Somannass, and his heart yearned afterhis beloved son. But, hiding his emotion, he held pleasant converse withthe Queen, and begged to be permitted to take the boy away with him fora season. She consented; and instantly, as in a flash of lightning, hetransported the prince into the highest heaven, and Somannass foundhimself seated on a glorious throne by the side of P'hra Indara theDivine, before whom the hosts of heaven bowed in homage. 

Here he was initiated in all the mysteries of life and death, with allwisdom and foresight. His celestial royal father showed him the starscoursing hither and thither on their errands of love and mercy; showedhim comets with tails of fire flashing and whizzing through thecenturies, spreading confusion and havoc in their path; showed him thespirits of rebellion and crime transfixed by the spears of theOmnipotent. He heard the music of the spheres, he tasted heavenly food, and drank of the river that flows from the footstool of the MostHighest. 

And so he forgot the forlorn Queen, his mother, and desired to return toearth no more. 

Then P'hra Indara laid his hand upon the brow of the lad, and showed himthe generations yet to come, rejoicing in his prayers and precepts; andSomannass, beholding, stretched his arms to the earth again. And P'hraIndara promised to build him a palace hardly less grand and fair thanthe heavenly abode, a temple which should be the wonder of the world, astupendous and everlasting monument of his love to men. 

So Somannass returned to the Queen, his mother; and P'hra Indara sentdown myriads of angels, with Phya Kralewana, chief of angels, to build adwelling fit for the heavenly prince. In one night it was done, and therising sun shone on domes like worlds and walls like armies. And becausethe seven-headed serpent, Phya Naghk, had shown the way to the mines ofgold and silver and iron, and the quarries of marble and granite, thegrateful builders laid the sign of the serpent on the foundations, terraces, and bridges; but on the walls they left the effigy of theQueen Thawadee, the beautiful and bountiful lady. 

Then swift-winged angels flew to heaven, and, returning, brought fruitsand flowers the most curious and exquisite; and immediately therebloomed a garden there, of such ravishing loveliness and perfume thatthe gods themselves delighted to visit it. Also they filled the greatstables with white elephants and chargers. And then the angelstransported Thawadee and Somannass to their new abode, the fame of whichwas so spread abroad that the great King Sudarsana, with all his court, and followers without number, and all his army, came to see it. Andgreat was their astonishment to find again the fair and gentle Thawadee, who thus was reunited to her husband; and he took up his abode with her, and they lived together in love. 

But the Prince Somannass built temples, and preached, and taught thepeople, and healed their infirmities, and led them in the paths ofvirtue and truth. 

And the fame of his wisdom and goodness flew through all the lands, sothat many kings became willing vassals unto him; but there came from afar-off country, where the heavens drop no rain, but where one greatriver suddenly floods the plains and then shrinks back into itself likea living thing, a king of lofty stature and exceeding craft. And thePrince Somannass was gracious toward him, and showed him many favors. But his heart was black and bad, and he would have turned the pure heartof the prince to worship the dragon and other beasts; whereforeSomannass changed him into a leper, and cast him out of his palace, andcaused a stone statue to be made of him, which stands to this day, awarning to all tempters and evil-doers. And he caused the face of thegreat P'hra Indara to be carved on the north and on the south and on theeast and on the west--so that all men might know the true God, who isGod alone in heaven, Sevarg-Savan!