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diff --git a/57253-0.txt b/57253-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..db7f7f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/57253-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2929 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57253 *** + + + + + + + + + +PEEPS AT MANY LANDS + +SIAM + + + + +LIST OF VOLUMES IN THE PEEPS AT MANY LANDS SERIES + +EACH CONTAINING 12 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR PRICE +1/6+ EACH +NET POST FREE 1/10 + +BURMA +CANADA +EGYPT +ENGLAND +FRANCE +HOLLAND +HOLY LAND +ICELAND +INDIA +ITALY +JAPAN +MOROCCO +SCOTLAND +SIAM +SOUTH AFRICA +SOUTH SEAS +SWITZERLAND + + +THE WORLD + +Containing 37 full-page illustrations in colour + +PRICE +3/6+ NET +POST FREE 3/10 + + +PUBLISHED BY +ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK +SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W. + + +AGENTS + +AMERICA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + 64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK + +CANADA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD. + 27 RICHMOND STREET WEST, TORONTO + +INDIA MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD. + MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY + 309 BOW BAZAAR STREET, CALCUTTA + +AUSTRALASIA OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, MELBOURNE + + +[Illustration: A TYPICAL CANAL SCENE. _Chapter II._] + + + + +PEEPS AT MANY LANDS + +SIAM + +BY +ERNEST YOUNG, B.SC. + +HEAD MASTER OF THE LOWER SCHOOL OF JOHN LYON, HARROW +FORMERLY OF THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, SIAM +AUTHOR OF "THE KINGDOM OF THE YELLOW ROBE," ETC. + +WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS +IN COLOUR + +BY +EDWIN A. NORBURY, R.C.A. + +LONDON +ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK +1908 + + +TO + +MY CHILD FRIEND, + +SYBIL MARJORIE COOPER, + +I AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATE THIS, MY FIRST +BOOK FOR CHILDREN + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I. A PEEP INTO SIAMESE HISTORY 1 + + II. IN EASTERN VENICE 5 + + III. DOWN THE RIVER 10 + + IV. THE CHILDREN 15 + + V. SCHOOLS 18 + + VI. AMUSEMENTS 22 + + VII. THE STORY OF BUDDHA 27 + + VIII. THE MONKS 34 + + IX. THE TEMPLES 39 + + X. THE SHAVING OF THE TOP-KNOT 44 + + XI. HOUSES 48 + + XII. FOOD AND DRESS 55 + + XIII. FISHING 56 + + XIV. RICE 60 + + XV. A PLOUGHING CEREMONY 65 + + XVI. ELEPHANTS 69 + + XVII. WHITE ELEPHANTS 75 + +XVIII. TRIAL BY ORDEAL 79 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +BY EDWIN A. NORBURY, R.C.A. + + +A TYPICAL CANAL SCENE _frontispiece_ + + FACING PAGE +A CORNER OF THE GRAND PALACE ENCLOSURE, BANGKOK 4 + +THE RIVER MARKET, BANGKOK 9 + +THE GULF OF SIAM--MOONLIGHT 16 + +A BUFFALO CART 25 + +A GROUP OF BUDDHIST MONKS 32 + +THE TEMPLE OF WAT POH 41 + +MOUNT PRABHAT 48 + +A FISHING-BOAT NEAR THE ISLAND PAGODA, PAKNAM 57 + +THE ANNUAL RICE-PLOUGHING FESTIVAL 64 + +AN ELEPHANT HUNT AT AYUTHIA 73 + +A RELIGIOUS WATER PROCESSION 80 + + +_Sketch-Map of Siam on p. viii._ + + +[Illustration: SKETCH-MAP OF SIAM.] + + + + +SIAM + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A PEEP INTO SIAMESE HISTORY + + +You have doubtless already learned in your history of England that at +one time this island home of ours was peopled by wild, uncivilized +tribes, who were driven away into the hills of the north and the west by +invaders who came to our shores from the lands on the other side of the +North Sea. At different times, Jutes, Saxons, Danes, and Angles poured +their warriors upon our coasts, killed the people, burnt their homes, +and stole their cattle. And one of these invading tribes, the Angles, +gave its name to a part of our island, which is to this day known as +England--that is, Angle-land, the land of the Angles. + +Now, in the same way, the people who live in Siam at the present time +are the descendants of invaders who swept into the country and drove the +original inhabitants into the hills. No one is quite certain where the +Siamese actually came from, but it is likely that their home was upon +the mountain-slopes of Tibet. Their ancestors were a wild and vigorous +race who tattooed themselves. They descended from the mountains and +settled in China, where they became a peaceable people, living upon +their farms, rearing their crops and tending their herds, and perhaps +thinking little of war and bloodshed any more. These people are known as +the _Shans_. Then, one day, there came down upon them a great horde of +invaders, who drove most of them away from their homes. Some stayed +behind as slaves; other wanderers travelled to the west and settled in +the country we now call Burma; and, finally, some of the exiles pushed +on to the valleys and hill-sides of Northern Siam, and these are the +people whose descendants we call the Siamese. The word "Siam" is really +the word "Shan," the name of the earliest settlers in the land. Amongst +the first of the European nations to visit this little-known country +were the Portuguese; and when they came home to Europe again, and told +their story of the people they had found in Further India, they both +spelled and pronounced the word "Shan" as "Siam," and that is how we get +the name. The Siamese never call themselves by this name. The native +name for the people is "Thai," which means "free," and the country of +Siam is to them always "Muang Thai"--that is, "the Land of the Free." + +We shall not stay here to tell the long story of how the Siamese, in the +course of many hundreds of years, have fought all the people upon their +borders--those who live in Cambodia, Pegu, Annam, and Burma. This +history is full of curious stories of brave and cruel men, two of whom +deserve just a word or two here. + +About the time when Charles II. was reigning in England, a Greek named +Constantine Phaulkon arrived in Siam. He had been wrecked, together with +a number of Siamese officials, upon the coast of India, and they had +invited him to visit their country. He accepted the invitation, and they +introduced him to the King. Phaulkon was a very clever man, and he +became the chief friend and adviser of the Sovereign. He built a fort +and a palace, and round the town that was then the capital he erected a +wall, which was strengthened at intervals by small towers. The ruins of +the palace built by this Greek are still to be seen in the old city. +Phaulkon grew so powerful that the Siamese princes and nobles got +jealous, and when the King became sick, so that he could no longer hold +the reins of power, the angry princes and their friends made up their +minds to get rid of the King's foreign favourite. One dark night +Phaulkon was summoned to attend a meeting of the chief men of the +country. He hurried to the palace, little thinking what was in store for +him. On his arrival he was seized and thrown into prison, and finally he +was tortured to death. + +Now, about a hundred years later, at a time when George III. was on the +throne of England, and when we were fighting the American colonists +because they would not pay the taxes we tried to impose upon them, +another foreigner rose to great power in Siam. This foreigner was a +Chinaman, named Phya Tak. The Burmese had invaded Siam, and had done a +great deal of damage. So Phya Tak got together an army, composed chiefly +of robbers and outlaws, and with these fierce soldiers he drove all the +Burmese away. When he had achieved this great victory, he came to +Bangkok, and caused himself to be crowned King of the country; and ever +since his day Bangkok has been the capital of Siam. Phya Tak did not +reign very long, for after a time he became mad. He fled to a monastery +and donned the robes of a priest. But this did not help him very much, +for the man who had been his chief friend and general murdered the mad +King and reigned in his stead. The usurper assumed the crown in 1782, +and the Sovereign who now rules over the country is his great-grandson. +The present King's full name and title is His Majesty Phrabat Somdetch +Phra Paramindr Maha Chula Lon Kawn Phra Chula Chom Klao Chao Yu Hua. He +became King when he was not quite seventeen years of age, and his health +at that time was so delicate that at first it was feared he would not +live. However, on the day that he was crowned it rained very heavily, +and then all his subjects felt very happy indeed; for if it rains when +the King is crowned, then will he certainly live for many years. And so +it has happened, for he is still alive, having reigned now about +twenty-nine years. + +[Illustration: A CORNER OF THE GRAND PALACE ENCLOSURE, BANGKOK.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +IN EASTERN VENICE + + +Bangkok, the present capital of Siam, has been called "the Venice of the +East," on account of its innumerable waterways. The whole place is +threaded with canals of every possible size and description. There are +canals that are like great broad thoroughfares, where huge boats may be +seen carrying to and fro rice, fruit, and other products of the fields +and orchards; and tiny little water-lanes, where the broad fronds of the +graceful coco-nut palm sweep down over the sluggish stream, where green +parrots scream at you from amongst green branches, and ugly dark +crocodiles lie asleep in the thick and sticky mud. + +Along the sides of the "streets" there are long lines of floating houses +in which the people live. Each house floats on a big raft, made of +separate bundles of bamboo. Thus, when the floating foundation begins to +rot, the bundles can be replaced one by one without disturbing the +people on the raft. The raft is loosely moored to big wooden stakes, +which are driven deep in the bed of the river, so that the houses rise +and fall with the tide. In front of the house there is always a little +platform or veranda, on which the people pass most of their time, and +where, if they pretend to keep a shop, they display the goods which they +wish to sell. It is on this platform that all the members of the family +take their bath. They dip a bucket or can into the water, draw it up, +and then pour the contents over their heads. + +When the occupant of one of these floating dwellings wishes to move, he +sends for no furniture van or cart; but he simply shifts his house, his +furniture, and his family all at the same time. If he be fairly +well-to-do, he hires a steam-launch, and the little vessel goes puffing +and screaming up or down the river or the canal, as the case may be, +dragging behind it the miniature Noah's ark, while on the platform the +little ones of the household are to be seen, bubbling over with +merriment at the novelty of their experience. If the owner of the house +be too poor to hire a steam-launch, he calls to his aid a number of +muscular friends and relatives, and then, with the aid of great +shovel-shaped paddles, they coax the home away to its new locality. + +Some of the people who live on the water do not inhabit floating houses, +but boats, and in these they can travel about from time to time as fancy +or business may direct. Many people spend the whole of their lives on +boats. They are born on a boat, reared on a boat, get their education +neglected on a boat, go a-courting on a boat, get married on a boat, and +never forsake the water till life is over and they set out on that long +mysterious journey, from which no boat or carriage will ever bring them +back. There is not much room in a boat, but the inhabitants thereof seem +perfectly contented with their lot; in fact, the Siamese seem to be +always and everywhere perfectly happy and contented: they are one of +the merriest and most cheerful people upon the face of the earth. + +The water population is quite complete in itself, and does not depend +upon those who dwell upon the land for any assistance whatever. There +are not only floating houses, but floating restaurants, floating +theatres, and even floating jails. The water population has its own +market-place upon the broad bosom of the great river that sweeps through +the centre of the capital. In the market the buyers and sellers are +chiefly women, for the women are much cleverer and much more energetic +than men. The market begins soon after midnight, and lasts till seven or +eight in the morning. During the dark hours of the night the boats are +massed together in such a way that scarcely an inch of water can be +seen. They are laden with fish, eggs, rice, and fruit. Each boat has a +little lamp at the prow, and in the soft yellow light that twinkles +above the polished surface of the stream, you can catch glimpses of the +black-haired, dark-skinned women busy with the vending of their +merchandise, and all the time laughing and chattering with the glee of a +carefree people. They are just like a party of merry children out on a +big picnic. As soon as the sun rises, off home they go, leaving a broad +and empty expanse of river where formerly there was a dense crowd of +little boats and busy women. + +[Illustration: THE RIVER MARKET, BANGKOK. _Page 7._] + +It very seldom happens that anyone falls overboard; and even if a person +does fall into the water it matters but little, for there is no Siamese +who cannot swim. When the children are ever so tiny, their mothers +fasten under their arms a big tin float. Then they throw the babies--for +they are nothing more--into the warm waters of the canal or river, where +they bob up and down like so many animated bits of brown cork upon the +surface of the stream. + +There are, of course, many people who, in the capital especially, live +upon land, and of their houses we shall say something in a later +chapter. The land part of the capital, except for the palace and the +temples, is not very interesting. The new brick houses and streets are +very ugly, and the old wooden houses and streets are very smelly. + +Some years ago there was an old horse-tram that used to run from the +palace to the place where the steamers are moored. But one day some +European engineers changed all that: they put up electric wires, and ran +electric trams. The natives were more than a little astonished. They +could see a car running along the road, and yet there was neither horse +nor man pushing or pulling. It completely passed their understanding to +make out how the tramcar managed to get along. At last they came to the +conclusion that it must be propelled by spirits. So they knelt down on +the ground, and prayed to the spirit in the wheels of the car as they +went swiftly and smoothly round. But not many of them ventured to get +inside. One evening the King and Queen came out of the palace, and went +for a ride in the new tram. And what the King had honoured was good +enough for his subjects. To-day the cars carry thousands of people in +many directions, for tram-lines have been laid through all the +principal streets of the capital. + +There are no native vehicles in the streets. Outside the capital there +are no roads, and the people travel everywhere by water. When roads were +first made in Bangkok, and carriages were wanted, the Siamese got their +vehicles from other countries. From Japan they got the _rickshaw_, a +kind of big mailcart, with a Chinaman between the shafts. The human pony +trots along very swiftly, and will carry you quite a long way for a +halfpenny. + +From India they got the _gharry_, a kind of four-wheeler, which is +fitted all the way round with sliding windows, something like those in +the door of a railway carriage, except that the frames of the windows +are oftener filled with Venetian shutters than with glass. The driver of +the _gharry_ is either a Malay or a Siamese. He wears a red fez cap and +a white linen jacket. When it rains he takes off his clothes and puts +them under the seat to keep them dry. As soon as the rain leaves off and +the sun comes out again, he stops the carriage, and dresses himself once +more. The harness is made of rope, and, as often as not, it breaks. Then +you have to wait while your coachman goes to the nearest shop or house +in order to beg a bit of string wherewith to repair the damage. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DOWN THE RIVER + + +Siam has only one great river that is entirely her own. It is marked on +English maps as the "Menam," but its real name is the "Menam Chow Phya." +The word "Menam" is made up of two words, _maa_ and _nam_, and means the +"mother of the waters." It is the name of every river and stream in the +country, and corresponds to our word "river." The Menam is not merely +the mother of the waters, but of the land also, for all the lower part +of Siam is one extensive plain, which has been built up by the mud, +gravel, and sand brought down from the mountains by the river. + +Suppose we get on board a steamer and sail from Bangkok down to the +mouth of the Menam. The distance from Bangkok to the mouth of the river, +measured as the crow flies, is only twelve miles, but so much does the +river twist and turn that we shall be three hours before we reach the +sea. But there is much to be seen in those three hours, and the time +passes away merrily enough. + +[Illustration: THE GULF OF SIAM--MOONLIGHT. _Page 10._] + +Everywhere there are boats--boats of all sizes and shapes, and without +number. Many of these belong to the Chinese, and bear upon the prow a +very realistic representation of an eye; for, says John Chinaman, "If +boat no got eye, how can him see?" Siamese boats are chiefly canoes, or +long, narrow, heavy _rua-changs_. Both classes of boats are built of +teak, a wood which is plentiful and cheap, and which is not attacked by +the so-called "white ant." The canoes are paddled in the ordinary way, +but they are very upsettable. Many of these will not even sit upright in +the water unless someone gets inside. Yet great fat men, whose weight +sinks the boat to the very edge of the water, and tiny children, whose +weight looks little more than nothing, can be seen at all hours of the +day darting here and there, like so many flies, on the surface of the +water. + +The _rua-changs_ are larger, and are used for carrying people about from +one part of the river to another. They serve the same purpose as our +omnibuses. The boatman, who is naked except for a cloth round the loins, +stands to his work like a Venetian gondolier. He has only one oar, which +works in a groove cut in the side of a short pole that is fixed on the +edge of the boat. With long graceful sweeps of the heavy oar the boatman +both steers and propels his craft at the same time. The passengers are +squatting under paper umbrellas, which keep off a little of the heat of +the sun, and blinking behind the blue spectacles that guard their eyes +from the powerful and painful reflection of the sun upon the shining +waters. + +As the capital is left behind the houses get fewer and fewer along the +banks, and the trees come right down to the edge of the river. On either +side of us, as the mouth is neared, there are dreary salt marshes, which +are often flooded by the sea when the tides are high. On the banks, the +fern-like attap-palm, that lover of the mud, bends over in graceful +curves to dip the ends of its long fronds in the dirty water. Just +behind, on firmer ground, rise the stately coco-nut and areca-nut +palms. An eastern saying states: "The coco-nut will not thrive far from +the sound of the human voice." Whether the coco-nut loves the sound of +the Siamese voice or not it is, perhaps, not possible to say, but +certain it is that the Siamese loves the coco-nut palm, on account of +the many useful things that he can get from it. The young coco-nut is +quite a different thing from that seen in our shops about +Christmas-time. In its early stages it resembles a huge, unripe green +plum. Outside there is a smooth green skin, like that on the outside of +the plum. Under the skin is a layer of thick white woody fibres, that +corresponds to the unripe part of the plum; and inside all there is a +kernel, corresponding to the kernel of the plum. At this stage there is +very little flesh in the nut, but a large supply of cool, sweet milk, +which makes a very delicious drink. If you want a coco-nut, you just +climb up a tree and take one. The owner of the tree will not mind, and +he would be neither surprised nor angry if you were even to go and ask +him for the loan of a knife wherewith to cut down his own coco-nuts. +When the fruit is ripe, the woody mass changes to a tangle of brown +fibres, that are stripped off to make coco-nut matting and other +articles, and the kernel ripens into the nut as we know it in the +English market. + +By this time we are at the mouth of the river. Here the current of the +river meets the sea. That current is bearing with it tons of fine sand +and soil. But the sea seems to say to the river, "Thus far, and no +farther." And so here all the muddy stuff in the river water is +deposited. In this way a bar has been formed, which blocks the river +mouth. At low tide there are only three feet of water over it, and even +during the highest tides there is never more than fifteen feet of water +on the bar. Hence very big steamers can never enter the Chow Phya, but +have to load and unload their cargoes by means of smaller boats, called +"lighters." About fifty years ago, when the Siamese were fighting the +people of Cambodia, they filled four large junks with stones, and sank +them in the river mouth to prevent the ships of their enemy from +reaching the capital. The junks have long since decayed, but the stones +have become welded together into such a heavy, solid mass that it would +take several charges of dynamite to remove the obstruction. + +The first steamer ever seen on the Menam belonged to a Scotchman, who +imported it from England because the King wanted to see one of the +"fire-ships" that he had heard so much about. When it arrived, the +Scotchman and the King quarrelled about the price, and the boat was sent +away again. But the next year the King's brother built a "steamer" +without the help of any European at all, just to show how clever he was, +and how they could do quite well without the Scotchman's boat. The new +vessel was forty-two feet long, and she had a funnel like a steamer; but +this was all a sham, for there were no fires or boilers. Instead, there +were paddle-wheels hidden inside the boat, and these were turned round +by Siamese serfs, who worked them after the fashion of a treadmill. +Everybody was hugely delighted, and the people were quite sure that the +boat was far superior to that which any European could possibly have +made. + +However, in 1855 the Siamese did really build a steamboat, though they +obtained the engines from New York. When the vessel was launched they +had a grand ceremony. The stern was decorated with the crown and the +royal umbrellas, and the deck-house was set apart for His Majesty's use. +The paddle-wheels were decorated with gold, and on the main mast flew +the royal standard. The builder was appointed captain, and so pleased +was the King with his new ship that he ordered three more vessels to be +built, one of which carried guns and was used for hunting pirates. + +The chief attraction at the mouth of the river is a magnificent pagoda, +known as "the Shrine in the Middle of the Waters." It stands on a little +island, is built of whitewashed stone and bricks, and is surrounded by +the buildings of the temple of which it forms a part. Here every year +boat-races are held, which provide a great deal of amusement, for by the +rules of the game you are allowed to upset your opponent if you can. +Hence the main idea is first to ram your rival's boat, and then, while +the crew are struggling in the water, to scuttle off as fast as you can +go. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CHILDREN + + +Siamese children can only be described in the language that an English +mother uses about her own small ones as they tumble over one another in +the nursery or in the garden--they are just "little dears." They laugh +merrily, avoid quarrelling, either in words or with blows, and are most +unselfish. The boy who has a new bicycle or a new watch will lend it in +turn to each of his playmates, quite content to see them enjoying what +was given to him for his own personal amusement. + +At first sight the children, with their straight black hair and their +brown faces, strike the white man as being rather funny-looking little +creatures. But after a while, when one has seen more of them, it is +recognised that they possess a distinct charm and beauty of their own. +Their features are quite different from those of the European, because +they belong to a different race of people. The Siamese are _Mongols_, as +are also the people of Japan, China, Burma, and Tibet. Their complexion +varies from a lightish yellow to dark brown. Their faces are rather +broad and flat; their cheek-bones stand out prominently; their noses are +small; their hair is long, lank, and jet-black; and their eyes are small +and set obliquely. Most Siamese children have very merry eyes--eyes that +have got a perpetual twinkle in them, and more than a suggestion of +mischief and roguishness. + +About a month after a child is born the little hair that is upon the +head is shaved off. A little later the new arrival receives a name. At +first every baby, whether a boy or a girl, has the same name. This +common name is "Dang," which means "red." "Yellow" would be a better +name, for all the babies are rubbed from head to foot with a yellow +paste, which produces a very bilious appearance. This yellow powder is +supposed to keep away mosquitoes, and as the dogs and cats are often +powdered as well as the babies, you may frequently see a yellow set of +wee creatures--animals and babies--rolling about together in the most +laughable fashion. Names are often changed, so that a boy who is "Leam" +to-day may be called "Chua" to-morrow. Sometimes the name is changed +because it is thought to be unlucky. If "Chua" is ill, the chances are +that there are certain spirits who do not like his name, so the parents +alter his name to "Mee," or something else, and then he gets well again. + +Smoking is commenced at a very early age, and every little boy has his +own tobacco supply and packet of cigarette-papers. As he trots to school +in the morning he puffs away vigorously, occasionally passing his +cigarette to a friend that he also may take a few whiffs. If the +cigarette is not finished when he arrives at school, he pinches off the +hot end and puts the rest behind one of his ears, as we might put a +pencil or a pen. As soon as school is over out come the matches and the +cigarettes again, and the little chimney puffs off home to lunch. + +When the Siamese young folks get up in the morning, they do not go to +the washstand to wash their hands and faces, for the simple reason that +there are no washstands. They go outside the house to a large jar of +water, and then throw the water over hands and faces with a coco-nut +dipper. No towels are used, as the hot air soon dries up the water. The +teeth are not brushed, for they have been stained black, and it would be +a pity to wash the colour off. The hair is not combed, as it has all +been shaved except for a little tuft on the top of the head, and that is +tied in a knot, and not often combed. + +When breakfast is over the children go off to play, the baby being +carried by the big sister, not in the arms, but sitting on the hip of +the bearer, as on a pony. The girls play at keeping houses. They make +dishes of clay and mud, and dry them in the sun; gather herbs, and +flowers, and weeds, and pretend that these are cakes and sweetmeats. For +dolls they use small clay images that have been whitewashed. The dolls +are put in tiny cradles and covered over with scraps of cloth. The +cradles are made of network fixed on to a small oblong frame, like a +picture-frame. The boys go fishing for crabs in the mud, and when the +baskets are full of crabs, they pelt one another with warm, soft mud, +just as we pelt one another with snow in the winter-time. When they feel +sufficiently tired and dirty, they take a plunge into the water, and +come up again clean, smiling, and happy. + +There are many games played both by men and boys, and about some of +these you will hear in a later chapter. + +The Siamese children are very obedient and respectful to their parents, +teachers, and those who are older than themselves. They never dream of +arguing with those set in authority over them. They respect rank as well +as age, but they have at the same time a certain amount of independence +of character which prevents them becoming servile. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SCHOOLS + + +Siamese children, when very young, are but little troubled by either +clothes or schools. They spend their time riding on buffaloes, climbing +trees, smoking cigarettes, paddling canoes, eating and sleeping. But at +some time in life many boys go to school. There is no compulsion. If a +boy does not want to go, he can stay away. Yet most boys, both in the +remote country districts and in the busy, crowded capital, have learned +something. Perhaps the delights of climbing trees and smoking cigarettes +pall after a time, or perhaps the boy is ambitious, and wants to get on +in the world. If so, he must at least learn to read, write, and "do +sums." Whatever be the reason, it does happen that practically every +Siamese boy goes to school. His attendance is not regular and not +punctual, but in the course of a few years he manages to learn certain +things that are of use to him. + +Siamese schools are situated in the cool, shady grounds of the temple. +They are generally plain sheds or outhouses. The teachers are usually +the priests, but here and there a lay head master may be found. In such +a case the master, like the boys, is not overburdened with clothes. A +piece of cloth is draped about his legs, but the upper part of his body +is generally bare. If he possesses a white linen coat, such as Europeans +wear in a hot country, he takes it off when he enters the building and +hangs it up, so that it shall not get dirty while he is teaching. He +generally smokes the whole time, and when he is not smoking he is +chewing betel-nut. + +The children sit cross-legged on the ground, tailor-fashion. There are +no chairs or desks, and if there were the children would sit +cross-legged upon them just the same. All learn to read. Now the Siamese +language is what is called a _tonic_ language--that is, the meaning of +any word depends on the _tone_ with which it is pronounced. For +instance, the word _ma_ can be pronounced in three ways, and has, +therefore, three meanings--namely, "come," "horse," and "dog." If, +therefore, you called out to a friend, "Come here!" in the wrong tones, +you might insult him by saying, "Dog, here!" and so on. You might wish +to say to a farmer, "Can I walk across your _field_?" If you were to +pronounce the last word in the wrong tone, it might mean, "Can I walk +across your _face_?" a request that might lead to trouble, especially if +the farmer were a big man. Some of the syllables have as many as five +tones, and the foreigner finds it exceedingly difficult to express his +meaning correctly. As the correct meaning of a word depends on the +particular accent with which it is uttered, all reading must be done +aloud to be enjoyed. Each scholar in the school learns his own +particular page or lesson independently of the others, and the many +voices blend into one, rising and falling from time to time in a not +unmusical hum, sometimes loud and full, when the master is vigilant and +the scholars are energetic; often soft and feeble, when the master is +dreaming on the floor or lounging in the sun, and his pupils are getting +weary of their monotonous task. + +Slates and pencils are used for writing, though the best pupils use lead +pencils. In a village school ink is never seen. + +Arithmetic up to short division is taught in some schools, but in many +others no arithmetic at all is taught, for the simple reason that the +teacher does not know any. As for bills of parcels and recurring +decimals, and all the other horrible things that men do with figures, +they are unknown and undreamt of. + +Sometimes a little grammar is learned if the master knows anything of +the subject, and all who expect to be thought wise must learn pages of +the sacred books off by heart, and must be able to repeat them without +hesitation or error. They do not understand a word of what they are +saying, for the sacred books are written in a dead language that nobody +speaks and few understand. + +And that is all. There is no geography, history, or science. There are +no workshops, laboratories, or drawing-classes. + +There is no furniture of any description, no diagrams, blackboards, or +desks. I once went into a school, where I saw each child sitting +placidly on the ground with a small box in front of him, on which he +placed his slate or book. It was a curious sight. There were about forty +of these boxes, all procured in the native market, and bearing on their +sides varied announcements as to the excellence of Pear's soap and +Cadbury's cocoa. + +The school opens at nine. The boys arrive between ten and eleven, and +the head master puts in his appearance when he has finished his +breakfast. The only part of the unwritten time-table that is punctually +kept is the time for closing. + +In the capital there are now a number of schools that are quite well +organized and taught, and even in some of the villages things are slowly +improving. + +Where English masters are employed some attempt has been made to teach +English games. To these the boys take very quickly. Cricket is the +favourite game, and some of the boys soon become as clever as their +teachers. I shall never forget the first cricket-match, played between a +team of Siamese boys and a number of young Hindus who had picked up the +game in India. Each side brought a crowd of spectators of its own +nationality. Under one clump of trees the swarthy Hindu crowd were +gathered, wearing clean turbans and long picturesque robes, with their +eyes all aglow and their faces all afire with excitement. Near at hand +the lighter-coloured, more sparsely clad Siamese congregated, less +excitable, but more genial and pleasant to look upon. Everywhere +gathered the dealers in cigarettes, the carriers of teapots, the +vendors of ginger-beer and curry. The game baffles description, but I +can never think of it without remembering the policeman in the road, who +got hit on the bare foot with the ball, and refused to restore it until +two-and-twenty cricketers, in various dialects and with yet more varied +actions, managed to persuade the wounded officer that they had never +meant to hurt him. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AMUSEMENTS + + +The Siamese have practically no games which, like football and hockey, +involve a great deal of physical exertion. They like to take their +pleasures quietly, on account of the great heat. The chief amusement is +gambling in some form or other. Little boys catch crickets, and bring +them to school in match-boxes. In play-time they dig a little hole in +the ground, put the crickets in the hole, and make them fight, meanwhile +betting their knives, cigarettes, and other small possessions on the +result of the combat. + +Sometimes there are cock-fights. As there are few or no watches with +which to time the rounds, a time-measurer of another kind is used. This +consists of a small bowl that floats in water. There is a little hole in +the bottom of the bowl, through which water slowly enters. When the bowl +is filled to a certain point it sinks, and then the round is over. + +Perhaps the most curious of the contests that are employed as means of +gambling is that between two fighting fish. The fighting fish is a +species of small carp about the size of a stickleback. It has beautiful +peacock-blue sides and ruby-coloured fins. These fish are kept in glass +bottles, and are trained to attack their own image as seen in a +looking-glass. When two of them meet each other in a big bowl of water, +the way in which they manoeuvre to get hold of one another is most +ridiculous, and the way they bite whenever they get the chance is +perfectly atrocious. All the time the fight is going on the spectators +lay wagers on the result. + +In March, when the winds are strong, kite-flying is indulged in by +grown-up people as well as children. There is always great excitement at +a kite-flying contest. Two men stand close together. One man sends his +kite up, and when it is well in the air the second man sends his aloft. +The kites have no tails, but they fly steadily. When the two kites are +near each other, one man gives his string a peculiar jerk. This makes +his kite jump over the other one, descend a little way, and then come up +on the other side. In this way the strings attached to the two kites get +entangled. By alternately pulling in and releasing the strings they are +made to saw one another. The man whose kite-string is first cut through +loses the game. On many of the kites whistles are fastened, and as the +kites sweep through the air shrill piercing sounds accompany their +flight. + +Another popular amusement is "football," which is nothing like our game +of the same name. The ball is only about six or seven inches in +diameter. It is very light, as it is made of a few pieces of twisted +cane. Any number of people can play, from two upwards. The players stand +in a ring facing each other. One of them sends the ball into the air, +and the person nearest to it, when it descends, must send it up again. +He may do this with his head, shoulder, knee, or foot, but he must not +touch the ball with his hands. If the ball falls just behind the +player's back, he judges the distance without turning round, catches the +ball on the back of his heel, and so brings it back into the circle and +towards another player. There are no goals, and, in fact, no scoring of +any kind. The game ends when the players are tired. Sometimes a weary +one will drop out of the game, lie down for a while for a rest, and then +rejoin the circle when he feels refreshed. New-comers may join the game +at any moment. About the only amusement not associated with gambling is +the theatre. There is only one fixed theatre in the capital. In the days +when there was neither gas nor electric light it was only open on +moonlit nights, for without the light of the moon the people would have +had to go home in the dark. As a rule, theatrical performances take +place at private houses at times of weddings, or funerals, or on other +occasions of private rejoicing or sorrow. + +[Illustration: A BUFFALO CART.] + +There are no men players except the clowns. The other parts are taken by +women. The plays, if acted from beginning to end, would last for weeks; +but, as everybody knows the whole of every drama, only small portions +are acted at a time. The better the people know the selection that is +played, the better they like it. The actresses move about from one side +of the stage to the other, twisting their heads, arms, and legs about in +a slow and curious fashion, which is their way of dancing. They do not +speak. The story is told by a chorus of people, who screech out the +tale, to the accompaniment of the weirdest of bands. It sounds like a +mixture of drums, brass trays, and bagpipes. + +As a fixed theatre is not necessary, the plays can be acted anywhere. A +space for the stage is marked out on the ground with mats. Round the +mats sit the band and the chorus. The spectators sit or stand quite near +the players, and sometimes an odd baby gets loose, and wanders about +amongst the feet of the angels and demons, who are strutting quaintly in +the mat-encircled area. When the man who beats the drums or bangs the +brass trays has had enough, some little boy in the audience will come +and take his place, and so allow the weary musician a little rest. + +There is of course, no scenery, and the audience has to draw very +largely on its imagination as the performance proceeds. Suppose that a +Siamese company were going to play "Robinson Crusoe." This is the kind +of thing that would happen. One actress would come on the stage with a +pole fastened to her chest. From the top of a pole a little flag would +fly. The rest of the troupe would stand, two by two, behind the maiden +with the pole. Last of all would come another actress, bearing another +pole and flag, and with a rudder tied to her back. The long string of +people gathered together in this way would represent a ship and its +passengers. The voyage would now begin by the company rolling round the +edges of the mats in a very slow and measured manner. Presently the +storm would arise. The drummers would bang, the brass-tray beaters would +hammer, and the bagpipe-blowing gentlemen would nearly burst themselves. +The chorus would howl, and all the little boys and girls in the audience +would join in, and outdo the professional howlers easily, as you may +imagine. Everyone would fall flat down on the stage, and that would be a +shipwreck. In a second or two the drowned sailors would get up and walk +off the stage, and no one would think it at all funny. Poor old +Robinson, left to himself, would find the goat, and the goat would be +one of the actresses, who would walk about on two legs, wearing a mask +that would look just as much like a monkey as a goat, and with two horns +on her head. The goat would circulate about the stage, dancing exactly +like a human being, and the spectators would help the actress by +believing that she really was a goat, and so everybody would be +satisfied. When Robinson wanted to hide himself in a wood, he would walk +to the edge of the stage, and hold a branch of a tree in front of his +face. This would mean that he was quite hidden. If anyone pretended to +see him, they would probably hear some very rude remarks from the rest +of the audience, who would not wish to have their innocent amusement +spoiled by a clever young critic. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE STORY OF BUDDHA + + +The religion of the Siamese is Buddhism. It is so called after the +Buddha who was its founder and first missionary. The Buddha lived so +many, many years ago that we know very little about him. For centuries +after his death wonderful stories were told about his power, his +kindness, and his great wisdom. As the stories passed from mouth to +mouth they became more and more marvellous, and at the present time +there are scores of tales about him that are little better than +fairy-stories. In the following account of this great and holy man the +known facts of his life and some of the legends about himself and his +doings are interwoven. It must be remembered that the Buddha was a man +who did actually live upon the earth, and that, though the fables about +him are unbelievable by us, yet these fables are useful as showing us +what other people thought about their wise and saintly teacher. + +About five hundred years before the birth of Christ the Buddha was born +at a small village in India, only a few days' journey from Benares, the +sacred city of the Hindus. His father was the Rajah of the tribe of +Sakyas. The boy's family name was Gautama, and under this name we shall +oftenest speak of him in this chapter. But his followers never use the +name Gautama, thinking it too familiar and intimate. They always speak +of him under some title, such as "the Lion of the Tribe of Sakya," "the +Happy One," "the Conqueror," "the Lord of the World," "the King of +Righteousness," and so on. When he was only seven days old his mother +died, and he was brought up by his aunt. + +The boy was quiet and thoughtful, and seemed to take no pleasure in +hunting or in practising any of those exercises which would fit him to +lead his tribe in war. His friends and relatives and the great Sakya +nobles were very cross at this, because they feared that, when their +enemies should attack them, the young prince would be found unequal to +lead them in their conflicts. So they went to his father, and complained +that the boy did nothing but follow his own pleasures, and that he +learned nothing useful. When Gautama heard of this, he asked the King, +his father, to fix a day on which he could show his skill and strength +in all the manly arts. On the appointed day thousands of people thronged +to the place that had been chosen to see what the Prince could do. He +surprised every one, for he could ride the fiercest horses and fling the +heaviest spears. He shot arrows with a bow that 1,000 men could not +bend, and the sound of whose twanging was heard 7,000 miles away. After +this the people held their peace and wondered. + +When he was nineteen he married his cousin, a girl singularly beautiful +and good. For the next ten years after that we know nothing at all about +him, but we are sure that he lived a quiet, peaceful life, treating all +around him with gentleness and courtesy, and thinking little about +sickness or sorrow. One day, when he was about twenty-nine years old, +he was driving to the pleasure-grounds when he saw a man broken down by +age--weak, poor, and miserable--and he asked the man who was driving his +chariot to explain the sight. To which the charioteer replied that all +men who live to a great age become weak in mind and body, just like the +poor old wreck they had seen in the street. Another day he saw a man +suffering from disease, and again the charioteer explained that all men +have to suffer pain. A few days later he saw a dead body, and learned +for the first time--a fact that had been kept from him through all the +days of his childhood and his manhood even up to that hour--that all +human beings must die. + +Gautama was very sad when he thought of the misery that there is in the +world, and he began to wonder if it could not all be done away with. He +made up his mind to go away secretly and become a hermit. He would live +away from towns and crowds, and see if he could not discover a way to +lessen the sorrows of his fellow-men. + +Just about this time his son was born. He loved this son very dearly, +but he thought that if he were to find the path to happiness, he would +have to free himself from all earthly ties and relations. One night he +went into the room where his wife lay sleeping. There, in the dim yellow +light of the lamp, he saw the mother and the child. The mother's hand +rested caressingly on the head of the little baby; flowers were strewn +upon the floor and around the bed. He wanted to take the tiny mite in +his arms and kiss it ere he went away; but he was afraid of waking +either of the slumberers, so he took one last, long, loving look at them +both, and then fled into the night, accompanied only by Channa, his +charioteer. Under the full light of the July moon he sped away, having +given up his home, his wealth, and his dear ones to become an outcast +and a wanderer. + +Then there appeared to him Mara, the evil one, who tempted him to give +up his plans for a lonely life. Mara promised him, if he would return to +wealth and worldly ease, to make him in seven days the sole ruler of the +world. But Gautama was not to be persuaded, and the evil one was +defeated. + +The prince and the charioteer rode on for many miles until they came to +the banks of a certain river. There Gautama stopped. Taking his sword, +he cut off his long flowing locks and gave them to Channa, telling him +to take them, his horse, and his ornaments back to the town of his +birth, in order that his friends and his relatives might know exactly +what had happened to him. Channa was loath to leave his master, but was +obliged to obey him. + +When Channa had departed, Gautama sought the caves where the hermits +dwelt. There he stayed a while, fasting and doing penance, in the hope +of finding out in this way the true road to happiness and righteousness. +So long did he go without food, and so severely did he inflict torture +on himself, that one day he fell down exhausted. Every one thought he +was dead, but he recovered after a little while. It seemed to him, when +he once more regained consciousness, that this life of self-denial and +hardship did not lead to that which he was seeking. So he left off +fasting, and took his food again like an ordinary man. This disgusted +the few disciples who had been living with him in retirement, and they +all fled away and left him to himself. When they had gone, he strolled +down to the banks of the neighbouring river. As he went along, the +daughter of one of the villagers offered him some food. He took it, and +sat down under the shade of a large tree. This tree is known to all +Buddhists as the Bo-tree, and is as sacred to them as the cross is to +Christians. While sitting under the tree, Gautama thought seriously +about the past and the future. He felt very disappointed with his +failure and at the loss of his late friends. The evil one came to him +again, and whispered to him of love and power, of wealth and honour, and +urged him to seek his home, his wife, and his child. For forty-nine days +and nights Gautama sat under the Bo-tree, his mind torn with the +conflict as to what was his duty. At the end of that time his doubts +vanished, his mind cleared, the storm was over, and he had become the +"Buddha"--that is, the "Enlightened One." He knew now that it was his +duty to go and preach to people the way to happiness and peace, to show +them how to avoid misery, and how to conquer even death itself. It would +take too long now to tell you what it was that the Buddha preached to +those who would listen to him. Some time when you are older you must +read this for yourself in another book. + +Gautama now returned to Benares, and addressed a great crowd of angels, +men, and animals. Each man in the multitude, no matter what his language +might be, understood the words of the speaker, and even the birds of the +air and the beasts of the field knew that the wise man spoke to them, +too. He remained in the neighbourhood of Benares for a long time, +gathering round him a number of men and women, who were determined to do +as he told them. When the rainy season was over, he dismissed them, +sending them away in all directions to carry his gospel to whomsoever +they should meet. He himself went to his native land, his father having +sent to say that he was now old, and would like to see his son again +before he died. His uncles were very angry with him, and when he arrived +at the town where his father lived, they offered him no food. So in the +early morning he took his begging-bowl and went out to beg his daily +meal. When his father heard of this he was very cross, for he thought it +a disgrace that the King's son should walk like a common beggar from +house to house asking alms. The King met the Buddha and reproached him, +but anger soon was lost in love, and the father, taking the son's bowl, +led him to the palace. + +The people in the palace crowded to meet them. But Gautama's wife +remained in her own room waiting for him to come to her, in a place +where she could welcome him alone. Presently he asked for her, and, +learning where she was, he went to see her, accompanied by a few +disciples. As soon as his wife saw him, she fell weeping at his feet. +Somehow she knew, almost without looking at him, that he was changed, +that he was wiser and holier than any man she had ever met. After a +time he spoke to her of his message to men, and she listened earnestly +to his words. She accepted his teaching, and asked to be allowed to +become a nun. The Buddha was not at first inclined to permit this, but +at last he yielded to her entreaties, and his wife became one of the +first of the Buddhist nuns. + +For forty-five years the Buddha worked as a missionary in the valley of +the Ganges, till the time of his end came, and he passed away from +earth. As he lay dying, he said to his cousin Ananda, who had been a +loving and faithful disciple, "O Ananda, do not let yourself be +troubled; do not weep. Have I not told you that we must part from all we +hold most dear and pleasant? For a long time, Ananda, you have been very +near to me by kindness in act, and word, and thoughtfulness. You have +always done well." And again speaking to the same disciple, he +exclaimed, "You may perhaps begin to think that the word is ended now +that your teacher is gone; but you must not think so. After I am dead +let the law and the rules of the Order which I have taught you be a +teacher to you." + +He passed away leaving behind him many who sorrowed for his death. And +after all these years temples are still built in his honour; monks still +follow the rules that he laid down; and men and women lay flowers upon +his altars, bend before his images, and carry his teachings in their +hearts. + +[Illustration: A GROUP OF BUDDHIST MONKS. _Chapter VIII._] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MONKS + + +Siam has been called the "Kingdom of the Yellow Robe," on account of the +presence everywhere of large numbers of monks, all of whom wear the +yellow robe. Every man in Siam enters a monastery at some time or other +in his life, and lives as a monk for a period varying from a few months +to many years, or even for the whole of his life. The usual age for +entering the priestly circle is about nineteen, and the shortest stay +that can be decently made is for two months. The person seeking +admission goes to the temple wearing his best clothes, and attended by a +crowd of friends and relatives, who take presents to the priests. The +presents include rice, fish, matches, fruit, cigars, betel-nut, +alarm-clocks, vases of flowers, incense sticks, and dozens of other +curious things. These are all distributed about the temple floor, till +the sacred building looks as though it were about to be the scene of a +glorified "jumble sale." + +Occasionally children enter the temple service and wear the yellow robe. +It often happens that when one of a boy's parents is cremated he becomes +a "boy-monk," because by this means he hopes to help his father in that +other world to which he has been called. As a rule, too, each monk has a +boy servant, or disciple, who cleans out his cell, and does other work +of a lowly character for him. Monks may not possess silver money, but +these disciples may receive it and spend it for the benefit of their +masters. + +In the early morning the big bell of the monastery calls the monk to +rise and go out to beg for his breakfast. He takes a big iron bowl in +his hands, holds it in front of him, and then with downcast head walks +slowly through the streets allotted to him. He may not wander into +another man's street, but must keep to his own. As he walks along, the +people come out of their houses and put food into the bowl. One puts in +a handful of rice, another a spoonful of curry. Someone else adds a few +bananas, or some stale fish, or some scraped coco-nut. The monk looks +neither to the right hand nor to the left, and gives no thanks to the +donor of the meal. By the time he gets back to the monastery it is no +exaggeration to say that his bowl often contains a very varied and weird +assortment of oddments. It looks rather "a mess," and there is not much +to be surprised at when we learn that some of the monks, who do not keep +the rules of their Order very strictly, throw all this motley assortment +of fish, flesh, fowl, and stale red-herrings to the dogs, afterwards +partaking of a rather more tempting breakfast that has been prepared for +them in the monastery. At certain times of the year only a few monks +from each monastery go in search of food. The others stay at home at the +temple. If a monk has rich relations, his disciple often receives for +him well-cooked and appetizing meals upon which to break his fast. + +When breakfast is over, the brethren of the yellow robe go into the +temple for service, after which there is work for those who care to do +it. The majority do nothing, a form of employment which suits the +average Siamese a great deal better than work. As the monks are drawn +from all classes of society, there are always amongst them some who can +repair the buildings or help in building boats, or even, perhaps, teach +in the school. + +At noon another meal is eaten; after that there is neither tea nor +supper, so that the monks get nothing more to eat until the next +morning. They manage to stifle their natural hunger by drinking tea, +chewing betel-nut, and smoking tobacco. + +Towards evening the priests bathe, either in the river or in some pond +in the temple grounds. As soon as it is dark they must confine +themselves within the monastery walls. Every evening at about half-past +six the bell rings to tell the monks that "locking-up" time has arrived. +The bells, which play so important a part as clocks in the temples, are +hung in a wooden framework, usually built in three stories. Strictly +speaking, it is not correct to say that the bells are rung. They are not +rung--they are beaten with a thick piece of wood. There are generally a +number of little boys playing about in the cool, shady grounds who are +only too willing at the proper time to scramble up the rickety wooden +ladders and hammer away on the bells with a lump of wood. + +From July to October, when the heavy rains fall, the priests meet +together in the evening and chant prayers. The only light in the temple +is that of dim candles or smoky lamps, and the dull rays fall on the +kneeling yellow-robed figures below, or lose themselves in the blackness +of the lofty roofs above, while there rolls out into the evening air the +rich, mellow notes of the voices in prayer. The frogs in the pond croak +a sonorous bass, the crickets add their chirpy treble, and the +fire-flies flash on shrub and palm, all adding their share to the +evening service. + +The cells in which the monks live are small whitewashed rooms, with +practically no furniture. There are a few mats, perhaps a bedstead--or, +failing that, a mattress on the floor--a few flowers, and an image of +the Buddha, the founder of their religion. In a little cupboard the monk +keeps a teapot and a few tiny cups, and he is always glad to give a +visitor as much tea as he can drink. Most likely he possesses a +chessboard and a set of chessmen, for most of the Siamese are fond of +this ancient game. + +The prayers and chants are written with a hard, fine point of ivory or +iron upon long strips of palm-leaf. The strips are held together by a +string or a piece of tape passed through a series of holes. The bundle +is gilded round the edges and carefully preserved in a chest. These +"books" are written in a language which the common people do not +understand, and, in fact, only those monks who stay long enough in the +temple service to learn the language have any idea what the chants are +about that they so diligently repeat. + +Amongst the few possessions which a monk may lawfully hold is a big fan +made of broad palm-leaves. This he is supposed to hold in front of his +face as he walks about, in order that he may keep his eyes from +beholding the things of the world. But as often as not, during the heat +of the day, he holds it over his head to shield him from the fierce rays +of the sun. And one can scarcely blame him, for he is not allowed to +wear a hat of any kind, and every bit of hair has been shaved off the +top of his head. + +There is a chief priest to each monastery, whose business it is to see +that the temple services are properly conducted, and that the monks +behave themselves in a becoming manner. If one of the brethren does +anything wrong, and his superior hears about it, punishment is sure to +follow. For a very serious offence the guilty one is expelled from the +monastery and handed over to the police. Such a man gets the severest +punishment allowed by the law. But if the offence is only a mild one, +then the punishment is a light one. The sinner will perhaps be set to +draw water, to sweep the temple courtyard, or to perform some other +menial duty usually undertaken by the ordinary servants. + +Some of the "sins" that the priest may not commit are very curious to +us, and many of them are, in fact, committed regularly without any +punishment following. For instance, it is a sin to sleep more than +twelve inches above the ground, to listen to music, to eat too much, to +sleep too long, to swing the arms when walking, to burn wood, to wink, +to slobber or make a noise when eating, to ride on an elephant, or to +whistle. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE TEMPLES + + +There are temples everywhere in Siam, some not much bigger than barns; +others, great buildings with high roofs and stately surroundings. Some +are quite new, gay in all their glory of gold and varied colour; others +are old, dirty, and crumbling to dust. Temples are not usually repaired; +they are built and then allowed to go to ruin. A temple is not a place +to worship in; for, strictly speaking, there is no one to worship. +Buddha does not ask for people to kneel to him. He was a man, not a god, +and he became holy because he lived a sinless life. Any other man who +lived a life like his would become a Buddha too. And a temple is not +built to pray in, because there is no one to whom to pray. Every man +must save himself by his own deeds, and Buddha does not pretend to hear +and answer prayers. In the temples sacred books are read, chants are +sung, and occasionally sermons are preached, but there is no worship and +no prayer quite in the way we understand and practise these things. + +To understand, then, why so many temples are built, you must know +something more about the Buddhist religion. Buddha taught that when we +die our souls pass into other bodies. If we have been very wicked in +this life, we may be reborn as cats, or toads, or beetles. If we have +been very good, we may reappear as nobles or princes, or perhaps live +in another world as angels. The man who has lived the perfect life, who +has neither thought, said, nor done anything wrong, goes to Nirvana, +where there is everlasting peace, and where no trouble, sorrow, or +sickness of any kind is ever known. When Nirvana is reached, the soul +rests for ever, and is not born again, either in the heavens or on the +earth. + +When a person dies, all the good and all the evil he has done are added +up, and a kind of balance is struck. The happiness or misery of the +person in his next life depends on whether he has a good or a bad +balance. There are many things that we may do in this life that go to +the good side of the account. To do these things is to "make merit." +Some actions only make a little merit; others make a great deal of +merit. One of the best ways of getting a big figure on the right side of +the account is, according to the priests, to build a temple. Hence, when +a man is rich enough, he builds a house for the Buddha, where his image +may be seen, his lessons learned, and his praises sung. But once the +temple is built, the matter is finished, and there is no need to repair +it. The Buddhist says that though the temples will crumble away, yet his +children will build others, so that there will always be plenty of +churches, and many opportunities of making merit in this way. + +[Illustration: THE TEMPLE OF WAT POH. _Chapter IX._] + +The Siamese word _wat_ means all the buildings enclosed in the sacred +wall, and includes the houses where the priests live, the holy buildings +where the images are kept, and numerous spiral ornaments that cover +relics. The most sacred of these buildings is the _bawt_. Near the four +corners, north, south, east, and west, there are four stones, carved in +the shape of the leaf of the Bo-tree, the tree under which Gautama +became Buddha. When the _bawt_ is erected, consecrated water is poured +over these stones, and evil spirits are thus for ever prevented from +entering. + +In the temple grounds there are always a number of graceful tapering +structures, which cover relics, or supposed relics. You will see some of +these in several of the pictures in this book. They sometimes stand +directly on the ground, but at other times the slender spires will be +found over the doorways, or even on the tops of the buildings. There is +a story which says that after Buddha's death one of his disciples gave +away all the property of the Teacher to the other followers. He meant to +keep nothing at all for himself, but on finding one of Buddha's teeth, +he looked longingly upon it, and then took it and quietly hid it in the +coil of hair which many Hindus wear upon the top of the head. One of the +gods in the heavens saw the deed, flew swiftly down to earth, snatched +the precious relic from its hiding-place, and buried it under a great +mound, which he built in a tapering fashion to resemble the tuft of hair +in which the tooth had been concealed. Others, however, say that the +shape of these relic mounds is due to the fact that Buddha told his +disciples, as he lay on his death-bed, to bury his bones under a mound +shaped like a heap of rice. + +The chief building has straight walls with rectangular openings for +windows. There are no beautiful arches, no carving, and no stained +glass. The roof is made in tiers, which overlap one another, and are +covered with beautiful coloured tiles--amber, gold, green, scarlet, and +blue. Groups of great teak pillars are so arranged that a cool and shady +walk surrounds the building. The outside, with the exception of the +roof, is whitewashed, and when the midday sun beats down upon the _wat_ +the place glitters and shines--one big splash of white crowned with +fantastic colours. + +Inside there is little light, and if the roof be high the rafters are +hidden in darkness. At the far end sits an enormous gilded image of +Buddha, surrounded by smaller images of himself and his disciples, some +with raised hands, as if about to speak; others with fans before their +faces, as if to shield them from the evils and the sorrows of the world. +The number of these images is sometimes very great. In one of the +temples in Ayuthia, the old capital, there are no fewer than 20,000 of +them. + +At the end of the ridge of the temple roof, at the corners of the +gables, and in many other places, there are graceful curved horns. These +represent the head of the Naga, or snake with seven heads, who curled +himself round the Teacher's body and shielded him with his seven heads +when he was attacked by the Evil One under the Bo-tree. + +In connexion with the temple there are one or more _salas_, or +rest-houses. To build a _sala_ is another way of making merit, and as it +costs less to put up one of these wooden rest-houses than to build a +temple, there are thousands of them in the country. They are to be +found upon the banks of the rivers and canals, in lonely parts of the +jungle, on waste land near the towns and villages--in fact, almost +anywhere and everywhere. They consist of a platform raised a few feet +above the ground, and covered by a roof which is supported on a few +poles. There are no walls or partitions. Here the traveller may rest, +eat, and sleep. He pays no rent, gets no comforts, and is often +interfered with by the local lunatic, the casual traveller, or a crowd +of merry, inquisitive children. He may not complain, for the slender +platform is free to all comers. + +One of the best-known temples in Bangkok is at the Golden Hill. This +hill is made of bricks and mortar, and stands about two hundred feet +high. Trees, shrubs, and creepers have grown over it, and it is not at +first easy to believe that the hill is the work of man. On the top is a +snow-white spire, and under the spire, in a gilded shrine, there is a +glass model of one of Buddha's teeth. For three days every year the +people come in thousands to worship this tooth. They buy a bit of +gold-leaf or a few wax flowers, and then they mount to the top of the +hill. There they stick the gold leaf on the iron railings round the +shrine, light the candles, throw the wax flowers into a big bonfire, and +bang a few drums. When they have completed all these little acts of +devotion, they go to the foot of the hill again. At the bottom a grand +fair is going on. There are lotteries of all kinds, tea-houses, crowds +of merry young men and women, dozens of yellow-robed priests, side-shows +with giant women and two-headed snakes. It is all laughter, chatter, and +enjoyment. + +In another temple there is an image of Buddha asleep. The idol is 175 +feet long, and has a whole building to itself. The gigantic figure is +made of brick and covered with gilded cement. It is 18 feet across the +chest; the feet are 5 yards long; the toes, which are each of equal +length, measure 1 yard. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SHAVING OF THE TOP-KNOT + + +Sometimes when the traveller is passing along one of the rivers or +canals he will hear the sound of merry music close at hand. He probably +pulls ashore, and goes to see what is happening. There is no need to +wait for invitations in this free-and-easy country. He makes his way to +the place where the band is doing its best to deafen all the poor +creatures within reach, and there he finds a motley crowd--men and women +in their best and brightest clothes, priests in their most brilliant +yellow, actresses with chalked faces and hideous masks, dogs, cats, and +children. Amongst the many people assembled together there is one child, +about eleven or thirteen years old, laden with jewellery--necklaces, +gold chains, armlets, bracelets, and anklets. It is on this child's +account that the people are feasting together, the theatre playing, and +the drums booming. We will suppose that the child is a boy. He is +holding a great party. The visitors have come to see him get his hair +cut! This, however, is not an ordinary visit to a barber, but a +ceremony as important as a wedding or a funeral. + +From the very earliest years the heads of the children are shaved +completely, with the exception of one little tuft in the centre of the +head. Each day this precious tuft is oiled and curled, a jewelled pin is +stuck through it, and a tiny wreath of freshly woven flowers is twined +around it. No scissors are ever allowed to touch the cherished lock +until the boy is eleven, thirteen, or fifteen years old, and by that +time it is often a foot or more long. + +When the parents think that the proper time has almost arrived for the +top-knot to be removed, they visit an astrologer, who fixes a lucky day +for the operation. If the hair were not cut off on a lucky day, and in +just the proper fashion, no one knows what terrible things might happen +to the child. He might become ill or insane, or he might die, or, worse +still, demons might come and live inside him. So extremely great care +has to be taken that all is done in a fitting manner. After the +astrologer has appointed the day, people are invited to be present at +the ceremonies. Actresses, priests, and friends are called together, and +for two or three days there are prayers and plays, feasts and fiddling. + +The performance is opened by the priests. They ascend to a platform some +feet above the ground, and sit down cross-legged like tailors on the +mats. They chant long passages from the sacred books, and ask the +spirits to be kind to the boy and to keep all evil away from him. While +they are chanting, they hold a piece of white thread in their hands. +One end of this thread is tied round the clasped hands of the child, and +as the priests call down blessings from above, these blessings pass +through the hands of the priests, along the thread, and so into the body +and soul of the boy. It works like a telegraph wire, and no one sees the +good influences flashing along the cotton. There is also a thread +fastened right round the house and the gardens to keep out the naughty +little demons that take a delight in spoiling the proceedings. + +On the second day, the chief person present takes a pair of scissors and +clips off the top-knot, after which a professional barber comes along +with a nice sharp razor, and the boy's head is shaved completely, so +that it looks very much like a new clean ostrich egg. The boy now +dresses himself in white robes, and the priests lead him to a seat +raised from the ground and shaded by a canopy of white cloth. First the +parents, then the relations, and last of all the friends, pour holy +water over the boy's head. Everybody likes to play his part, and there +the youngster sits in his drenched robes, as the crowd files by and half +drowns him with the water. When the last person has emptied the last +bowl, the boy is dressed in the gayest clothes that he possesses, or +that can be borrowed for the occasion, and is seated on a throne. On +each side of him is a stand laden with rice, fruit, flowers, and other +things. These are offerings to the spirits of the air. The band strikes +up; the people form a kind of procession, and walk round the child five +times. Each person carries a lighted candle, which is blown out when the +fifth turn is made. The smoke is wafted towards the young person on the +throne, and as it circles round his shaven crown, it bears towards him a +supply of courage and good luck sufficient to last him for the rest of +his life. + +All this time the child is probably more bored than delighted with the +honour paid to him. But the next part of the ceremony gives him every +satisfaction. It would please anybody. The relatives and friends present +money to the child, each giving according to his means, so that if the +boy has many rich relatives he gets quite a handsome sum. The gifts vary +in value from about half a crown to ten pounds. + +All is not yet over, for a long and jolly feast is the necessary +termination of the important event. The priests are served first. When +they have finished, the rest of the party fall rapidly and heartily upon +the multitude of tempting dishes that have been prepared. + +People who are very poor and have no friends merely go to a certain +temple and ask one of the priests to cut off the top-knot. Rich people, +on the other hand, spend enormous sums of money in entertaining their +friends and in giving presents. The gifts to a young princess on one of +these occasions amounted to £10,000. + +The hairs that have been cut off are separated into two bundles, long +and short. The short hairs are put into a little vessel made of +plantain-leaves, and sent adrift on the ebb-tide in the nearest canal or +river. As they float away, they carry with them all the bad temper, the +greediness, and the pride of their former owner. The shaven child gets a +new start in life, freed from all that was disagreeable in his +character. The long hairs are kept till he makes a pilgrimage to worship +at Buddha's footprint on the sacred hill at Prabhat. This footprint is +about as big, and exactly the same shape, as a bath. The hairs are given +to the priests, who are supposed to make them into brushes for sweeping +the footprint; but in reality so much hair is presented to the priests +each year that they are unable to use it all. They wait till the +pilgrims have gone home again, when they throw all the hair that they do +not want into a fire. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +HOUSES + + +The houses are built of wood, and are raised above the ground on piles, +so that when the rainy season comes and the plains are flooded, the +floors are left high and dry. In the dry season the cattle are stabled +under the houses. A stable under your bedroom is not perhaps the +pleasantest arrangement that could be imagined, but in parts of the +country there are bands of robbers who spend their evenings in stealing +cattle. When the robbers try to move the animals, the animals make a +noise, wake the owner, and give him a chance to prevent the theft. When +the country is flooded, the pony, who is generally a pet, is led up an +inclined plane to the little veranda, where it lives and is treated as a +member of the family. + +[Illustration: MOUNT PRABHAT. _Page 48._] + +The chief woods used in building houses are teak and bamboo. Teak is a +very hard wood. It is not affected by damp, and resists the attacks of +the so-called "white ant." + +The floors of the native houses are made of teak planks, or more usually +of plaited bamboo. Through the holes that are left, the air comes up +from below, keeping the rooms cool, but at the same time filling them +with most unpleasant odours. A great deal of the ordinary domestic +refuse is got rid of by the simple plan of pushing it through the holes +in the floor, and leaving it to rot in the space between the house and +the ground. + +Fortunately for the health of the inhabitants, pariah dogs abound +everywhere. They feed chiefly on this refuse, thus playing the part of +scavengers. The pariahs have no owners, and no one takes any care or +notice of them. They are thin and bony, frightfully ugly, fond of +barking at all hours of the day or the night, but not given to biting, +for they are thorough cowards. A hundred of them would run away from a +small boy, provided he had a big stick in his hand. + +The number of rooms in the house is always an odd one, for even numbers +are considered unlucky. A small house would contain at least three +rooms, which we may call the drawing-room, the bedroom, and the kitchen. +The third of these rooms will be described in the next chapter. + +The drawing-room contains no chairs, tables, pianos, or pictures. In +fact, it contains no furniture of any kind, with perhaps the exception +of a few mats on the floor, on which the people sit. When visitors +call, they are offered tea in tiny cups that hold about as much as a big +table-spoon. This tea, which is taken without milk or sugar, is of a +beautiful light golden colour, and has a faint but pleasant and +refreshing odour. The chief thing offered to the visitor is betel-nut, +the fruit of the tall, slender areca-palm. So important a part does the +betel-nut play in the daily life of the native, that, if possible, a +house is always built near a grove of areca-palms, in order that there +may be a never-failing supply of the nut. Betel is not eaten alone, but +with a mixture of turmeric, seri-leaf, lime, and tobacco. Chewing betel +produces copious supplies of blood-red saliva. If this is ejected upon +wood or stone, it leaves nasty rusty-red stains that cannot be removed +even by the most diligent scrubbing. Hence a spittoon is a very +necessary domestic article. Everybody chews; everybody possesses +spittoons. You will see them by the side of the mother rocking the +cradle, by the side of the teacher in the school, by the side of the +judge in the law courts, by the side of the priest as he chants his +matin or evensong in the temple, by the side of the King as he sits upon +his throne. + +In time, the teeth become coal-black. They are then regarded as being +much more beautiful than when they were white. A native saying runs: +"Any dog can have white teeth." In Bangkok the American dentists keep +supplies of false black teeth, and when a prince or a nobleman loses one +of his own teeth, he can buy another black one and so not spoil his +appearance. + +The second room of the house is the bedroom, which is also used as a +lumber-room, and where, if anyone be ill, a number of gilded images of +Buddha will be found. There are no bedsteads. People sleep on a kind of +mat placed on the floor. This is surrounded by curtains to keep out the +mosquitoes. Sleep would be quite impossible without some form of +protection against the bites of these wicked little creatures. + +When lying down, the head must not point to the west. The sun dies his +daily death in that part of the heavens, and the west is therefore an +unlucky direction. The sleeper must lie pointing north and south, and +then he will be quite sure of complete freedom from evil spirits and +angry demons during the dark hours of the night. + +The walls and floors of the houses, as we have seen, are made of wood. +The roofs are thatched with the leaf of the attap-palm. In the dry +season every part of the dwelling becomes excessively dry. A stray spark +will often set on fire one of these houses of grass and wood, and then, +one after another, other habitations fall a prey to the flames. There is +no fire brigade, and it would not be of any use if there were one, for +there is no public water-supply. When a fire breaks out, soldiers are +sent to the scene of the disaster, armed, not with rifles, but with +hatchets. As quickly as they can, they chop down a great many houses in +the neighbourhood of those that are on fire, and in this way prevent the +spread of the flames. + +The Siamese are a cleanly people as far as their bodies are concerned. +They bathe at least two or three times a day, but their houses are never +cleaned. Cobwebs grow thicker and thicker with dust, till they look +like ropes; insects of all kinds multiply without interference; +mosquito-nets become so caked with dirt that it is a wonder any +respectable mosquito ever wishes to go inside; floors are never +scrubbed; walls are never dusted. There is no such process as +spring-cleaning, except when a fire performs the deed, and sweeps away +house, refuse, and vermin, all at one and the same time. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +FOOD AND DRESS + + +The third necessary room in a Siamese house is the kitchen, where the +two daily meals are prepared. There are no cooking-ranges and no +fireplaces of European pattern. Food is cooked and water boiled over +small charcoal furnaces, usually made of earthenware. The little furnace +has the shape of a bucket. Half-way down there is a tray perforated with +holes, on which the charcoal is placed. Below the shelf, in one side of +the utensil, there is a hole. A draught is obtained by waving a fan +backwards and forwards in front of this hole. The air enters through the +aperture, ascends through the openings in the shelf, and so keeps the +lighted charcoal glowing. The earthenware pots in which the food is +cooked are supported by the top rim of the furnace. Every pot requires a +separate furnace to itself, but as rice is often the only food that +requires the application of heat, this causes but little difficulty, +and few kitchens would contain more than two or three of these simple +fireplaces. + +The chief food is rice. This is washed three or four times in different +changes of water, and then placed in cold water over the charcoal fire. +As soon as the water boils, it is poured away, and the cooking is +finished in the steam of the water left behind. When everything is +ready, the rice is turned out into a dish; each grain is swollen to +quite a large size, is dry, and as white as snow. + +With the rice various kinds of curry are eaten. They are made from +vegetables, fruit, and fish. Frog, decayed prawns, stale fish, and other +choice morsels figure in the menu. All the curries are highly flavoured +with vinegar, pepper, and strong-tasting spices. The Siamese are so +accustomed to these highly flavoured dishes that they would look upon a +meal of turkey and plum-pudding as utterly tasteless and insipid. One of +the sauces in common use contains chillies, stale prawns, black pepper, +garlic, onions, citron-juice, ginger, and brine! + +When the members of the family sit down to take a meal, they squat on +the floor. A big bowl of rice is placed in the centre of the ring, and +round it are arranged smaller basins of curry. Everybody helps himself, +so that the fastest eater gets the biggest share. Forks and knives are +not used, and very often spoons also are lacking. In such cases fingers +take the place of spoons, and they seem to serve the purpose equally +well. Of course, the fingers get greasy and sticky, but they can be put +in the mouth and licked clean again quite easily and quickly. + +Each member of the family knows how to cook--father, mother, and +children--for there are few dishes to prepare, and the preparation of +these is an art soon acquired. Two meals only are taken each day--one in +the morning and another in the early evening. Between whiles tea is +drunk, tobacco is smoked, and betel-nut is chewed. The hours for meals +are rather irregular, and often the hungry members do not wait for those +whose appetites are less keen, but begin as soon as ever the rice is +boiled. Amongst the rich the men eat first and by themselves. What they +leave serves for their wives and children, and the last remnants of all +are thrown to the dogs. + +As dessert there are many kinds of fruit, some of which are unknown in +this country. Amongst the most popular fruits are young coco-nuts; the +ripest of bananas; mangoes, that taste at first like a mixture of +turpentine and carrots, but which, after a few efforts, are found to be +as pleasant to the palate as the apple or the pear; mangosteens--little +sweet snow-white balls set in crimson caskets; durians, that smell like +bad drains, but taste, when one is used to them, like a mixture of +strawberries, ices, honey, and all other things that are pleasant to +eat. + +When the meal is over, each person washes his own rice-bowl, and turns +it upside down in a basket in the corner of the room to drip and dry +till it is needed again. + +Dress is a very simple matter. There are no such things as fashions. The +smallest children wear no clothing at all, except, perhaps, a necklace +of coral or beads. The garment worn as a covering for the lower part of +the body is the same for all--King and peasant, man, woman, and child. +As seen in pictures and photographs, it resembles a pair of baggy +knickerbockers. It consists of a long strip of coloured cloth, about the +same size and shape as a bath-towel. The method of draping it about the +body is not easily explained on paper. This much, however, may be said: +there are no pins, tapes, buttons, or fastenings of any kind; but the +_panoong_, as it is called, is so cleverly twisted and tied, that it can +be worn at all times and under all circumstances without any fear of it +ever becoming loose. You may run in it, sleep in it, or swim in it, and +you will always be perfectly cool and comfortable. This is the only +native garment for men, though in the capital, and in other places where +white men are seen, the people have learned to wear white linen jackets. +These are buttoned to the throat, and collars and shirts are not +required. Shoes and stockings are not known, except where the European +has taught their use. The soles of the feet get so hard that, in time, +they are like leather itself, and cut or wounded feet are very seldom +seen. + +The women wear a coloured scarf, called the _pahom_, wound round the +upper part of the body. This is the only addition to the costume of the +men ever invented by the ladies of Siam. As for hats, there are no such +things, except a few big straw-plaited erections that look like baskets +turned upside down, and which are worn by the women who sit selling +their goods in the markets. + +The _panoong_ and the _pahom_ are of brightly coloured material, and a +Siamese crowd is always a picturesque sight. According to one of the +many superstitions that prevail in the country, every day of the week is +under the rule of some particular planet, and to be fortunate throughout +the day one should wear garments and jewels of the same colour as the +ruling planet. Many rich people do actually observe this custom, and +wear red silk and rubies on Sundays in honour of the sun; white and +moonstones on Monday, the day of the moon; light red and coral on +Tuesday, the day of Mars; green and emeralds on Wednesday, the day of +Jupiter; stripes and cat's-eyes for Jupiter's Thursday; silver blue and +diamonds on Friday, when Venus rules; and dark blue and sapphires on +Saturday, when the chief planet is Saturn. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +FISHING + + +One of the chief commandments of the Buddhist religion is, "Thou shalt +not kill." This does not refer merely to the lives of human beings, but +to all creatures--mosquitoes, fleas, flies, or elephants. The reason for +the commandment is that, as we have already explained, when a person +dies, his soul is reborn again in another body, and this body may +possibly be that of some animal. Hence, if you kill a mosquito, you may +possibly be killing your own or some one else's long-deceased relative. +The rule about not taking life is very generally observed, but is +neglected in the case of fish. The Siamese excuses himself for fishing, +on the ground that he does not kill the fish. He only pulls them out of +the water; they die a natural death. + +[Illustration: A FISHING BOAT OFF THE ISLAND PAGODA OF PAKNAM] + +In Lower Siam fish forms an important part of the food of the people. In +Upper Siam it is looked upon as a great luxury, for the rivers in the +north are singularly poor in animal life. The absence of fish in the +streams of Upper Siam is probably due to the fact that in the dry season +the water is too shallow to allow the fish to live, and that in the wet +season the current, swollen by the heavy rains, is extremely rapid, and +drives them down-stream. + +Of the many methods employed for catching fish, the favourite one is by +means of enormous traps. These traps are made by fixing a number of +bamboos upright in shallow water. A long V-shaped neck is formed, which +is sometimes nearly a quarter of a mile long, and which leads by a +narrow opening into a square space measuring about sixty feet each way. +The fish swim along the V-shaped passage, and, having once entered the +square trap, few of them ever find the way out again. They are removed +from the trap every two or three days by means of nets. + +Many of the canals are bordered for miles with a weed which has a large +flat leaf. In places the mass of weeds is so thick that only a small +passage of water remains in the centre for the use of the boats. Under +the weeds fish are harboured. Bamboo stakes are fixed here and there in +the mud to keep the weeds from floating away. Once or twice a year men +surround a portion of this mass of floating water-plants with nets that +reach to the bottom of the canal. Thus the fish within the enclosed area +cannot escape. The stalks of the weeds are cut close down, and then the +whole net is drawn ashore, enclosing vast quantities of fish. Netting +fish in this way is not permitted in those places where the canal banks +pass in front of a temple, for opposite the grounds of a temple all life +is sacred, and the fish that live there are free from interference. + +A circular hand-net is also used for catching fish. For permission to +catch fish in this way a tax of fourteen pence for each net must be +paid. The fisherman stands on the bow of his canoe, and throws the net +with an easy swing into the water. It is pulled up by a string fastened +to the centre. The edges, which are weighted by a small chain, fall +together and enclose any fish which happen to have been lying beneath it +when it was thrown into the water. + +Prawns are plentiful. They are caught in nets of very small mesh. Two +boats go out together for a little distance from the shore, and then +separate. Between the boats a heavily weighted net is suspended. When +the net is stretched as far as possible, the boats move in towards the +shore, dragging it with them. In this way thousands of prawns and other +small fish are easily taken. The prawns are pounded into a paste with +salt, forming a mixture that tastes something like anchovy sauce. A +_fermented_ mixture of fish and shrimps is manufactured for export to +Singapore, Hong-Kong, and Java, where it is looked upon as a great +dainty by the Malays and the Chinese. + +Long poles are driven into the sand in those waters where mussels and +other shell-fish are abundant. After a while the poles are covered with +the shell-fish which have fastened on them. The poles are then pulled up +and scraped. + +"A canoe with a white board dipping into the water is paddled along near +the bank at night, and the startled fish, endeavouring to jump over it, +are caught in the air by a net which projects from the far side. We can +easily form some idea of the efficiency of this method, for as the +launch tows us up-stream, fish are continually jumping away from the +bows of the boat, and it will be unlucky if in the course of the day one +does not alight on board. Fine fish two or three pounds in weight may +thus be secured without trouble. Large numbers of fish are left in the +fields as the water goes down, and every pond is the scene of active +fishing operations. I have camped upon the bank of a river and imagined +that I heard waves breaking on a sandy shore, only to find that the +noise was caused by shoals of small fish jumping" (Thompson). + +One of the commonest fish is _plah-tu_, about the size of a herring. +When fresh, it tastes like trout; when smoked, it resembles kippered +herring. _Plah-tu_ is caught in the Gulf of Siam during the north-east +monsoon. The fishing-boats return in the early morning and transfer +their cargo to buffalo-carts, that carry it to the village. There the +fish are cleaned. The gills are removed, and these, together with all +the other refuse, are thrown into strong brine. The mixture of fishy +odds and ends is afterwards sold as "fish-sauce." + +There are mud-fish, that come up out of the water and crawl about in the +slime, and there is a fish that hides under the banks and shoots drops +of water at the flies that are hovering just above. This fish is an +excellent marksman, and brings down many a dainty morsel for his meal. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +RICE + + +Rice is the most important crop grown in Siam. It is almost the sole +food of everyone, from the King to the poorest peasant. Horses, cattle, +dogs, and cats are fed on it; beer and spirits are made from it; it is +eaten boiled, fried, stewed, and baked, in curries, cakes and sauces; it +is used at all festivals in connection with certain superstitions; and +both the opening and the closing of the season of cultivation are marked +by special holidays. A rich man invests his money in rice-fields; the +law courts spend most of their time settling quarrels about the +ownership of rice-land; and when a man has nothing else to talk about, +he talks about the next rice crop, just as in England we talk about the +weather. Most of the boats passing up and down the river carry rice; +most of the big steamers that leave the port are taking this valuable +and important food product to other lands. + +The whole of the land in the country is supposed to belong to the King, +but anybody who wishes to plant rice may go into the jungle and clear a +space of ground by burning down the long grass and the trees. For this +land the farmer pays no rent, and after a time he can claim it as his +own. He pays to the Government, however, a tax upon the land which he +cultivates. The farms are small, averaging about eight acres: such a +farm will comfortably support a family of four or five. + +When the ground has been cleared, the farmers wait for the rain, which +falls in torrents, and in due course makes the ground soft enough to +permit of ploughing. The plough is made of wood, and consists of a bent +stick stuck in a pointed wooden block. The plough cuts a shallow furrow +about two inches deep and five or six inches wide. It is drawn by +buffaloes, formidable-looking beasts with immense spreading horns, which +sometimes measure as much as eight or nine feet from tip to tip, +measured round the curve. + +When the field has been ploughed, it is harrowed with a square harrow +made of bamboo and provided with a number of straight wooden teeth. The +result of ploughing and harrowing the wet ground is to churn it up into +a kind of porridgy mess of slimy grey mud. + +Rice can only be grown where there is abundance of moisture. In Siam the +peasants depend for their water-supply upon the heavy rains, and then +upon the rise of the rivers after the rains have ceased. The floods not +merely provide water, but when they subside they leave behind them a +deposit of mud so rich and fertile that manuring is not necessary. + +There are forty different kinds of rice, of which about six are widely +cultivated in Siam. The natives divide all the known varieties into two +classes, which they call "field rice" and "garden rice." + +Field rice is grown in places where there is an exceptionally heavy +rainfall. The seed is scattered broadcast on the fields, and left to +grow without much more attention. As the water rises, the rice grows at +the same pace, and so always keeps its head above the surface. The rate +of growth of one variety is almost unbelievable. Plants have been known +to grow as much as a foot in twelve hours, and the final length of the +stalk is often as much as ten feet. + +Garden rice is carefully sown and tended. The seeds are first sown as +thickly as they can grow, in well-watered patches. They soon sprout, and +grow rapidly. When they are a few inches high they are pulled up and +made into bundles of a hundred or so, neatly tied together. The mud is +removed from the roots by a skilful kick which is given to the bundle as +it is drawn from the soil. The bundles are taken to the fields by men, +women, and children, and transplanted in long rows. The fields have been +covered with water and trampled into a thick mud by the hoofs of the +buffaloes. The young shoots are handed to the women and girls, and they +push the roots down into the soft mud, working very cleverly and +rapidly. A good worker can plant an acre in this way in about three +days. + +The method of reaping the rice depends on the state of the fields. If +the floods have gone, the rice is reaped with the sickle and bound into +sheaves. The sheaves are dried in the sun and then taken away in +buffalo-carts or in bullock-wagons. But if the fields are still under +water, the people row out in boats and canoes, cut off the ripe heads +with a sickle, and drop them into small baskets placed in the bottom of +the boat. The reapers are very careless, and drop much of the ripe grain +into the water. The rice is dried in bundles, placed on frames that have +been erected in the fields. The birds are kept away by boys, who are +armed with long whips. On the end of the lash they stick a pellet of +mud. When they crack the whip the mud flies off, and so clever are they +at this form of slinging that they rarely miss the bird at which they +aim. When the water has all gone from the fields, the long stalks that +have been left standing are burned. + +The threshing is done by buffaloes on a floor which is specially +prepared by covering it with a paste made of soil, cow-dung, and water. +After a few days the plaster sets into a hard, firm covering to the +ground. A pole is fixed in the centre, and two buffaloes, yoked side by +side, are made to walk round and round the pole, all the while treading +the grain under their feet. The threshing takes place on moonlight +nights, and is the occasion of much merriment. The children never dream +of going to bed. They play in the heaps of straw, or dance round the big +bonfires to the sound of fiddles, tom-toms, and drums. Their parents +chat and joke the long night through, and in the shadows the red ends +of their cigarettes gleam unceasingly, while the pale green fire-flies +flit to and fro, and seem to wonder what it is all about. When the +threshing is over, the farmer gives a feast to his neighbours to +celebrate the event. His heaps of grain are spread evenly over the +threshing floor, the straw is piled up in little stacks, and around all +is twined the usual white thread to keep away the evil spirits. + +To winnow the rice, it is thrown into the air by means of a wooden +spade, or poured from one wide, shallow basket to another. The wind +blows through the mixture of grain and chaff and carries the chaff away. +The grain is stored in large baskets made of cane and plastered outside +with mud. The rice is usually milled at home. The grain is placed in a +big hollow in a block of wood. There is a long lever, bearing at one end +a heavy wooden hammer. A girl jumps on the other end of the lever and so +lifts the hammer. She hops off again, and the hammer falls upon the rice +in the hollow block and smashes it up. For hours the women and girls +jump patiently on and off the long handle, and in any small village you +can hear the steady thump, thump, thump of the hammers from morning to +night. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A PLOUGHING CEREMONY + + +We have already described the way in which rice is cultivated in a land +where the success of the rice-crops means life to thousands of people. +It is not surprising to find, under these circumstances, that before the +planting of the rice takes place there is held each year a ceremony of +great importance. This is a "ploughing festival," and until the holiday +has been celebrated no one is supposed to begin the cultivation of his +rice-fields. + +[Illustration: THE ANNUAL RICE PLOUGHING FESTIVAL. _Page 65._] + +About March or April the rains arrive, and the farmer turns his thoughts +to the work that lies before him. An astrologer is consulted as to a +lucky day for the ploughing festival, and when this has been fixed every +one waits anxiously to see what will happen, for on this day much will +be learned about the prospects of the coming season. + +A certain Prince presides over the festival, and for the time being +represents the King. He wears a crown, has a royal umbrella, and even +receives a portion of the taxes. At one time his personal servants and +followers were allowed to take goods without paying for them from the +shops along the route which is followed by the procession. + +Early in the morning the Prince rises and puts on a special suit of +clothes of the richest material. Over his robes he wears a long cloak of +white net which is heavily embroidered with figures of fruit and +flowers, worked in gold and silver. Before he leaves his house he +entertains his friends, so that they may get a good look at him in all +his holiday finery. When he is quite ready he sits in a gilded chair, +and is carried on the shoulders of eight stalwart men. He is accompanied +by a crowd of noblemen, some of whom carry curious things that are +considered necessary for the success of the fête. Amongst these are a +royal umbrella, a large fan such as the priests carry, a sword decorated +with white flowers, and a small gold cow with a wreath of sweet-smelling +blossoms round its neck. + +In front of the state chair there are men in scarlet coats and +knickerbockers, beating the usual drums in the usual way. Soldiers in +old-fashioned uniforms, priests in yellow robes, nobles in cloth of +gold, and men and women of all classes dressed in the brightest colours, +pass slowly along in front of the bearers. Behind the chair are more +priests who blow weird sounds from horns and conch-shells, and last of +all a long string of sight-seers, all of whom are interested in what is +going to happen. + +With much merry noise, the procession wends its way to a piece of ground +outside the city walls. Here a few simple preparations have been made. +There is a roofed-in platform made of bamboo, attap-leaf, and boards, +and some rather soiled drapery of red and white cloth. In front of the +open booth are three bamboo-stakes, firmly fixed in the ground, and +marking out the space which the Prince has to plough. In a shed not far +away are the cream-coloured bullocks that are to draw the plough. A cord +of sacred cotton encircles the booth, the shed, and the selected +ground, and, as usual, keeps out all the evil spirits, who are simply +aching to get inside the thread, play tricks, and upset the proceedings. + +Within the guarded area is the wooden plough, similar to that described +in the last chapter, but gaily decorated with ribbons and flowers. +Moreover, the ends of the yoke and the end of the beam are both +beautifully carved, and where the yoke is fastened to the beam there is +a little gilded idol. + +When the Prince arrives on the ground he is shown three pieces of cloth. +They are folded up neatly, and look exactly alike, but they differ in +length. The Prince looks earnestly at the three little parcels, and +chooses one. If he chooses the longest piece of cloth, then there will +be little rain that year, and men will be able to let the _panoong_ drop +to the ankle. If he chooses the shortest, a wet season will follow, and +the men who work in the wet rice-fields will have to pull the _panoong_ +high above the knee. Having chosen the cloth, he fastens it round his +body, and is ready to begin ploughing. He holds the handle of the plough +and a long rod at the same time, and he has to guide the plough nine +times round the space marked out by the three bamboos. A nobleman walks +in front of the bullocks, sprinkling consecrated water on the ground. +After the third journey a number of old women take part in the +performance. They are the very oldest women that can be found, but they +are richly dressed, and when their work for the day is done, they are +allowed to keep their dresses as payment for their services. They carry +a gilded rod over the shoulder. From the ends of this rod are suspended +two baskets, one gilded and the other silvered. The baskets are filled +with consecrated grain. Three times more the plough is guided along the +proper path, the women following the Prince, and scattering the precious +seed to right and left. Everybody tries to get a few grains to mix with +the ordinary seed that is to be used in sowing the fields; for if the +consecrated seed be mixed with seed of the ordinary kind, then will the +harvest be much richer. + +Finally, the Prince makes three more journeys, after which he leaves the +ground. The sacred cord is broken, and the people rush about all over +the place, picking up any of the grains that they can find, and +carefully treasuring them for the good luck they will bring. + +But the ceremony is not yet over. There still remains one very important +deed to be done. The oxen are unyoked and led back to their shed, and in +front of them are placed small baskets made of banana-leaves, and filled +with different kinds of seed. One basket contains rice, another +grass-seed, another maize, and so on. If the bullocks eat up the maize +and leave the rice, then the rice-crops that year will be poor, and the +maize-crops will be good. Thus it happens that on this day the farmer +finds out what kind of weather he is going to have, and what kind of +grain will yield the richest crop. + +The Prince is carried back to his home again, with drums beating, horns +blowing, and with the same attendant crowd of soldiers, priests, +nobles, and peasants. Once upon a time the people really believed in the +ceremony, and what it was supposed to tell them. Even now many thousands +of them have great faith in the acts that have been performed; but as +education spreads, the belief in these quaint and picturesque ceremonies +will die out. It will, however, be long before they are entirely given +up, for they provide opportunities for a merry holiday; and if there is +one thing a Siamese loves more than another, it is a day of feasting and +merriment, a day when work is thought of as something belonging only to +the morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ELEPHANTS + + +The chief animal of Siam is the elephant. Elephants are found in great +numbers in the north, and also in the wide plains of the south, where +these plains are not cultivated, but are covered with jungle-grass, +brushwood, and bamboo. The Siamese elephant sometimes attains a height +of ten or eleven feet. Frequent measurements have proved the curious +fact that the height of an elephant is usually about twice the +circumference of its biggest foot. + +The driver of the elephant is called a _mahout_. When the _mahout_ +wishes to mount the beast, the elephant bends his right fore-leg to form +a step. As soon as the _mahout_ puts his foot on the step, the elephant +gives a jerk, and up goes the man on to his back. The driver sits +astride on the neck, for the elephant carries his head so steadily that +there is less motion there than in any other part of the body. The +driver is armed with a stick, at the end of which is a sharp-pointed +iron hook. When the elephant misbehaves himself he gets many a cruel +blow with the vicious weapon. + +The elephants are mostly used for work in the teak-forests. The males, +or tuskers, when well trained, are worth from £100 to £200 each. The +females are not usually employed in this work, and no elephants at all +are worked in hot weather between ten in the morning and three in the +afternoon. An elephant begins to work when it is about twenty-five years +of age, and is at its best at about seventy. At that age it can lift +with its tusks a log of wood weighing half a ton, and drag along the +ground a log weighing as much as three tons. Elephants are very +long-lived, sometimes living 150 years or more. + +In the forest the trees are felled by men who use heavy, long-handled +axes. This work is done in the wet season, so that the trees fall in +soft ground and do not get seriously damaged. The logs are arranged in +parallel rows by the elephants, and then each elephant is harnessed to a +log, which he proceeds to drag towards the stream. Young stems are +placed under the big logs to serve as rollers. The distance from the +forest to the river is often as much as ten miles, and is rarely less +than five miles. The elephants move very slowly--at a pace averaging +less than three miles an hour--and the process of taking the logs to the +river is therefore slow and tedious. When the elephant reaches the +river-bank he stacks the logs for the inspection of the men who come to +buy. They are marked in such a way that each merchant can, later on, +easily recognize his own property; then the elephants take them one by +one, and put them in the creek or river. They push them over boulders +and sandbanks, remove fallen trees out of the way, and, finally, bring +them where there is a good current, and they can be bound into rafts and +floated south. + +When the logs arrive at the saw-mills other elephants land them, and so +well do they understand their work that they rarely need the direction +of the _mahout_; they are so intelligent that when they hear the +dinner-bell sound for the workmen, they instantly drop their logs and +scamper off, screaming with joy, just like a lot of children let out of +school. + +They are up to all kinds of tricks. For instance, at night they are +turned loose to feed. A heavy, trailing chain is attached to them, and +as they move about, the chain drags on the ground and leaves a trail, by +means of which they are traced in the morning. But an elephant which has +made up its mind to run away has been known "to carefully gather up the +tell-tale chain and carry it for miles on its tusks." Again, each +elephant has a bell, and the driver recognizes the whereabouts of his +own elephant, even when afar off, by the sound of this bell. But some +elephants will remove the bell with their trunk, and then run away and +hide themselves. They frequently jerk a _mahout_ whom they do not like +on to the ground and trample on him. + +They can be used to make their lazy brothers work. In such cases a good +big tusker is employed. He digs his tusks into the side of the idle one, +and forces him to take up his log. Sometimes the beasts fight amongst +themselves, and then they seem to aim chiefly at biting off one +another's tails. + +They have to be humoured at their work or they turn sulky. They work +three days and rest three days. If they get ill, pills made of fiery +chillies are rubbed into the eyes. This is probably the only animal that +takes pills with its eyes. The animals get at least one bath a day. They +will not drag one log for a long distance; but having brought it, say, +for three-quarters of a mile, they go back and fetch another. When they +have collected a little pile all in the same place, they set off again, +carrying each of the logs about another three-quarters of a mile, and +returning for the rest. They never cross a bridge without first testing +it with one foot to see if they think that it is safe. They are afraid +of ponies, and by Siamese law, a pony meeting an elephant has to get out +of the way. + +Once or twice a year there is a big elephant-hunt at Ayuthia, the old +capital. At the beginning of the wet season orders are sent forth that +elephants are to be collected. A number of men traverse the plain where +the elephants have been allowed to roam unmolested, and drive them in +towards the town. + +[Illustration: AN ELEPHANT HUNT AT AYUTHIA. _Page 72._] + +People of all classes go to Ayuthia to see the fun--Princes and +peasants, Europeans and Asiatics, laymen and priests. There is a great +deal of excitement, particularly when the elephants are expected. +Presently an enormous tusker is seen. This is a tame elephant. He walks +slowly in front, and the crowd of wild elephants behind who have taken +him for their leader follow like a flock of sheep, except that they make +more noise. Round the outside of the herd there are other tame +elephants, carrying men on their backs who are armed with spears. At +last they reach the river. They stop for a moment, but the big tusker +marches on in front, and the others are pushing at the back, so into the +water they all go. They swim to the other side of the river, and there +the mounted elephants get the whole herd into line again, pretending all +the while to be their friends. Then the tusker marches into a big +enclosure set round with posts, and thence through a gateway into a +second enclosure. By this time some of the wild elephants have an idea +that they are being trapped, and they try to go back; but the +guard-elephants stand quite steady, and the men on their backs make good +use of their spears. So at last the captives are brought into a square +space surrounded by a high, thick wall, on which hundreds of spectators +are crowded, watching the operations. This ends the first day. + +The next morning half a dozen tuskers are led into the enclosure, or +_paneat_, as it is called. On the back of each elephant are two men, +provided with long coils of rope. They look for those young elephants +that they think can be trained to make strong and useful servants later +on. Having chosen one, they chase him about, and, after a time, succeed +in getting a noose under his foot, and in pulling the noose tightly up +above the knee. The other end of the coil is thrown to the men upon the +ground, and they make it fast to a post. When the youngster tries to run +about again, he finds that he is held tightly by one leg. He shows his +displeasure by the most heart-rending howls. As soon as a certain number +have been tied up to posts, a gate is opened in the enclosure, and the +uncaptured beasts are allowed to rush out on to the plain beyond. But +they are not permitted to go back to their homes in the jungle; a ring +of mounted elephants surrounds the plain and keeps them within bounds. + +The young ones in the _paneat_ are led out, one at a time, through a +narrow gate. A tame elephant leads the way, and another follows. Once +outside, three mounted elephants appear. One goes on each side of the +captive, and the third follows behind. The captive is fastened by his +neck to the necks of his brethren on either side, and in this +humiliating way he is led to the stables. There he is tied by the neck +and one leg to a post. After about three years he has lost his temper, +become gentle, and can then be taught to work. + +Other elephants are noosed in the open, but in the evening, after a +bathe in the river, the herd goes back to the _paneat_. When as many +elephants have been chosen as are wanted, the rest are set free, and +allowed to wander at liberty for another twelve months. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +WHITE ELEPHANTS + + +Siam has been called the "Land of the White Elephant," and no account of +the country would be complete which failed to take notice of these +peculiar animals. The national flag is a white elephant on a scarlet +ground; the mercantile flag is a white elephant on a blue ground; and on +every temple and official building this wonderful creature is fashioned +in stone, wood, and plaster. + +In former days the King did not feel himself fully a king unless he +possessed a white elephant, and he never hesitated about undertaking a +war in order to obtain one of these rare animals. There is a story that +Gautama was once a white elephant, and that his mother, in a dream, met +him in heaven in that shape. Another legend says that now and again in +the world's history a monarch appears who conquers and rules every +nation under the sun. This monarch is known by certain signs, and by the +possession of certain objects. Of seven particular things that he owns, +a white elephant is one, and without a white elephant he could not +become king of the world. Then many of the Siamese believe that the +animal is inhabited by the soul of some great man of the past, or by +that of someone yet unborn, who will in due time be a person of great +distinction. + +In former years no subject was allowed to keep a white elephant. If by +chance he found one, he hastened to present it to the King. If he dared +to try to keep it for himself, the King made war upon him and took it +away by force. + +Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a white elephant. The +animal is not really white, but only a little lighter in colour than the +ordinary elephant. Occasionally it is of the colour of dirty bath brick, +and it may have a few white hairs on its tail or its head. + +The news of the discovery of a white elephant always produced great joy +in the people and the King. The King sent a body of nobles and princes +to the place where the animal had been found, and where he was tethered +by silken cords. The ambassadors guarded the quadruped while +professional elephant-tamers taught it how to behave in the presence of +men and in the streets of a town. People went from all parts of the +country to visit it and take it presents. + +Meanwhile, in the capital, a palace was rapidly erected for the sublime +animal. When the palace was finished and the taming of the elephant +completed, a stately procession set out to meet it and bring it home. +The King headed the procession, and when he met the elephant he knelt +before it and gave it presents, after which he turned round and led the +way back to the capital. In the elephant's new residence there was a +wardrobe for his clothes, and covers of velvet and silk embroidered with +gold and jewels. On his head was fastened a gold plate bearing his name +and titles. He had a troupe of slaves and a party of priests, an +orchestra of musicians, and a number of dancing-girls, all specially set +apart for his instruction and amusement. When the elephant wanted to +sleep, the priests chanted slumber-songs; when he looked lively and +wakeful, the dancing-girls sang and danced to him. When he was hungry, +he was fed with the finest fruits and vegetables. As a rule this life of +laziness and luxury soon brought about his death. + +Only about thirty years ago, a party of hunters who were looking for +white elephants saw in the distance an elephant of excellent shape and +size, but of no particular colour. On examining it a little closer, they +fancied that it might be one of that rare kind for which they were +seeking. They took him away and washed the mud off him, and them to +their intense joy, they found that not only was he light in colour, but +that on his back there were a few hairs that were positively white. The +country went wild with joy. Bangkok was decorated with flags, and +illuminated at night. All the place was gay with banners, lights, and +music. The King went to meet the animal, and the priests read a long and +flattering address to it. + +The priests then baptized the animal and gave him his new name and +titles, which were very numerous, and which were written on a piece of +sugar-cane; this the elephant promptly swallowed. It was probably the +only part of the ceremony that gave him any pleasure. He was taken to +his new apartment, and there fed by kneeling servants, who offered him +food on dishes made of silver. + +Things are much changed now. When the last white elephant was +discovered, he was sent to Bangkok on a railway-truck. There was no +guard of honour, no procession, and the King only went to visit him when +he was lodged in the stables. On the way to the palace the new-comer +behaved himself very badly by walking up to a fruit-seller's stall--the +first it had ever seen--and eating up everything that was on it, almost +before the attendants had had time to notice what he was doing. +Nowadays, the white elephants are badly fed by miserable grooms. They no +longer have either priests or dancing-girls. The walls of their stables +are half in ruins, and the roofs are covered with dirt of great age and +thickness. Their food is only hay, leaves, and young bamboos. By the +side of each elephant is a cage; this is intended for a white monkey, +the fit and proper companion for the white elephant. But as white +monkeys are more rare than white elephants, all these cages are empty. + +Once a year each elephant is sprinkled with holy water by the priests, +and is made to listen to a number of long prayers. This is done to keep +away evil spirits, and so successful is the operation that it only needs +repeating once in twelve months. When one of the elephants dies, they +bring a white monkey, a few doctors, and a few priests, to visit the +deceased. By his side they dig a hole in the ground, in which incense is +burned. The body is covered with a white cloth, and then taken out of +the town and left to rot in a field. Later on the bones and tusks are +collected and preserved. For three days after the death of the quadruped +a number of priests remain praying in the stable, requesting the spirit +of the animal not to come back again and do any damage. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +TRIAL BY ORDEAL + + +It is a long time since anyone in England had to undergo "trial by +ordeal," but amongst the Early English it was no uncommon thing for a +man to try and prove his innocence when charged with crime by plunging +his hand into boiling water or by holding a red-hot piece of iron. This +was done in the church and before the priest. After a certain number of +days the wound was examined. If it had healed, the accused was innocent; +if it had not healed, he was guilty. + +Trial by ordeal in Siamese law-courts lasted down to quite recent times, +and even now ordeals are practised privately for various purposes. + +In one of the fire ordeals the accuser and the accused had to walk with +bare feet over a layer of live coals ten inches thick. The fire was made +in a ditch, ten feet long by twenty inches wide and twenty inches deep. +As the competitors walked over the red-hot coals, an official pressed +heavily on their shoulders to make them go slowly. At the end of the +trial the feet of the men were examined, and he who had no blisters, +either then or during the next fifteen days, won the case. If both were +unhurt, they had to undergo another ordeal by water; if both were burnt, +they were both fined. Only about forty years ago a trial of this kind +occurred at a law-court in one of the smaller towns of the interior. + +In the ordeal by diving, use was made of a pond or of the river itself. +Two stakes were fixed about ten feet away from each other. The parties +first said their prayers, and then entered the water with safety-ropes +fastened round their waists. They walked into the water until it reached +to their necks. Each laid hold of his stake, and then a long pole was +placed so that it was supported by the shoulders of both competitors. A +signal was given on a gong, and an official leant heavily on the pole +and pushed the heads of the parties under the water. He who remained +under the water the longer of the two was the winner. If both remained +under water longer than a fixed time, they were hauled up by the +safety-ropes and the case was dismissed. If the people who had +quarrelled were rich, they could employ people to dive for them, instead +of getting wet and breathless themselves; and there is a story told of a +man who once engaged a pearl-diver to represent him, and so won easily. +A trial of this kind occurred at the northern town of Chiengmai as late +as January, 1882. + +[Illustration: A RELIGIOUS WATER PROCESSION.] + +Phya Tak, the man whom we spoke about in the first chapter of this book, +once defeated the army of a rebel who was also a priest. When the rebel +was captured, a large number of yellow-robed brethren were taken with +him. The King called them all together, and as he could not tell the +innocent from the guilty, he said to them: "Those of you who confess +your guilt must leave the priesthood, but I will give you other clothes, +and set you free without punishment. Those who say they are innocent +must prove their innocence by the diving-test. If you fail in this +test, you will be executed." + +Many priests confessed at once that they had been helping the rebel +host. They were released as the King had promised. But many others swore +that they were innocent. The King sat on a chair on the river-bank and +watched the priests go down into the water one by one. Some of them +stayed under the water the proper length of time, and so proved +themselves not guilty; but others who failed were stripped of their +robes and executed on the spot. Their bodies were burnt; their ashes +were mixed with lime, and used to whitewash a part of a temple +structure. + +Sometimes melted lead was used in trial by ordeal. The contending +parties thrust their hands into molten lead, and he who was not burnt +won the case. Molten tin or boiling oil were used occasionally instead +of the molten lead. + +A regular method of settling disputes about money that had been lent was +the trial by swimming. The parties had to swim either across a stream or +against the current for a certain distance. The loser had to pay double +the sum in dispute. Half the amount paid was given to the winner, while +the other half was handed over to the Government as a fine. + +Trial by means of candles was more comfortable than trial by fire and +water. Two candles of exactly the same kind of wax, of the same weight, +and with wicks containing the same number of threads, were lit and +placed on suitable stands. The man whose candle burnt away first was the +loser. It is related of a certain nobleman that he was once asked to +seize the throne and get rid of a usurper who was reigning at the time. +He took two candles, one for himself and one for the usurper, and +watched them burn. His own candle won. Taking this to mean that he would +be successful, he raised an army, attacked the sovereign, defeated him, +and reigned in his stead. + +Then there were trials connected with eating and drinking. One of these +consisted in drinking water in which a sacred image had been bathed. If +any misfortune happened to the person within a fortnight after the day +he took the water he was declared guilty. In other cases rice was eaten; +this was given by the priest, and was mixed with drugs and other nasty +things. If the accused person was made sick by the dose, that proved him +to be guilty. This form of trial was practised until quite recently for +the detection of various small offences. A similar form of ordeal +existed in England as late as the middle of the thirteenth century. A +morsel of bread and cheese had to be eaten. It did no harm if the person +were innocent, but gave him convulsions if he were guilty. + +Tree-climbing was also indulged in for the discovery of culprits. For +this purpose a particular kind of tree was stripped of its bark, leaving +a very slippery stem underneath. A man could prove his innocence of the +charge brought against him by successfully "climbing the greasy pole." + +Before any of the diving-trials that we have mentioned take place, the +recorder reads out a long address to the "gods of all mountains, +streams, lakes, and creeks," for which he is paid about five shillings. +There is a similar address and a similar fee before any one of any of +the trials by fire. In this latter address the deities are asked to take +vengeance on the guilty. Amongst other pleasant things that the recorder +reads are the following words: + +"May the deities cause all the sinful, ferocious beasts who molest man +on this earth to arise and appear before the eyes of him who has said +what is false, making him shake and shiver with fright; may his skin +blister and his hair bristle on his head; may the terror of the +approaching danger appear on his countenance, and his limbs tremble as +he sees the glare of the brisk flames! + +"O God of Fire, so gloriously shining and mighty! scorch and blister him +as he enters the flames! + +"O God of Fire, radiant and mighty in these accumulated embers, scald, +blister, burn him, so that his guilt may appear evident before every +eye!" + + +THE END + + +BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD + + + + +OTHER BOOKS FOR BOYS & GIRLS + +ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR LIKE THE + +PEEPS AT MANY LANDS + + +PRICE +3/6+ EACH + +ALL WITH FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR + +_Large crown 8vo., cloth_ + + +By Lieut.-Col. A. F. MOCKLER-FERRYMAN + +THE GOLDEN GIRDLE + +With 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by ALLAN STEWART + + +By JOHN FINNEMORE + +THE WOLF PATROL + +A Story of Baden-Powell's Boy Scouts + +8 full-page Illustrations in colour by H. M. PAGET + +JACK HAYDON'S QUEST + +8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by J. JELLICOE + + +By DANIEL DEFOE + +ROBINSON CRUSOE + +With 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by JOHN WILLIAMSON + + +By STANLEY WATERLOO + +A TALE OF THE TIME OF THE CAVE MEN + +With 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by SIMON HARMON VEDDER + + +By ANDREW HOME + +BY A SCHOOLBOY'S HAND + +With 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by STRICKLAND BROWN + +FROM FAG TO MONITOR + +With 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by JOHN WILLIAMSON + + +By CAPTAIN COOK + +VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY + +With 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by JOHN WILLIAMSON + + +By MUNGO PARK + +TRAVELS IN AFRICA + +With 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by JOHN WILLIAMSON + + +By HUME NISBET + +THE DIVERS + +With 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by the Author + + +By the DUCHESS OF BUCKINGHAM AND CHANDOS + +WILLY WIND, AND JOCK AND THE CHEESES + +With 57 Illustrations by J. S. ELAND (9 full-page in Colour) + + +By ASCOTT R. HOPE + +STORIES + +With 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by DOROTHY FURNISS + + +By ANDREW HOME + +EXILED FROM SCHOOL + +With 8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by JOHN WILLIAMSON + + +By the Rev. R. C. GILLIE + +THE KINSFOLK AND FRIENDS OF JESUS + +With 16 full-page Illustrations in Colour and Sepia + + +PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W. + + +PRICE +6/-+ EACH + +ALL WITH FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR + +_Large square crown 8vo., cloth_ + + +By S. R. CROCKETT + +RED CAP ADVENTURES + +Being the Second Series of Red Cap Tales Stolen from the Treasure-Chest +of the Wizard of the North + +16 full-page Illustrations by ALLAN STEWART and others + + +By S. R. CROCKETT + +RED CAP TALES + ++Stolen from the Treasure-Chest of the Wizard of the North+ + +16 full-page Illustrations in Colour by SIMON HARMON VEDDER + + +Translated and Abridged by DOMINICK DALY + +THE ADVENTURES OF DON QUIXOTE + +12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by STEPHEN BAGHOT DE LA BERE + + +GULLIVER'S TRAVELS + +16 full-page Illustrations in Colour by STEPHEN BAGHOT DE LA BERE + + +By ASCOTT R. HOPE + +THE ADVENTURES OF PUNCH + +12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by STEPHEN BAGHOT DE LA BERE + + +By P. G. WODEHOUSE + +WILLIAM TELL TOLD AGAIN + +16 full-page Illustrations in Colour by PHILIP DADD + + +By JOHN BUNYAN + +THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS + +8 full-page Illustrations in Colour by GERTRUDE DEMAIN HAMMOND, R.I. + + +By Miss CONWAY and Sir MARTIN CONWAY + +THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF ART + +16 full-page Illustrations in Colour from Public and Private Galleries + + +By G. E. MITTON + +THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF STARS + +Preface by Sir DAVID GILL, K.C.B., with 16 full-page Illustrations (11 +in Colour) and 8 smaller figures in the text + + +By G. E. MITTON + +THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF LONDON + +12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by JOHN WILLIAMSON + + +By ELIZABETH W. GRIERSON + +THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF CELTIC STORIES + +12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by ALLAN STEWART + + +By ELIZABETH W. GRIERSON + +THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF EDINBURGH + +12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by ALLAN STEWART + + +By ELIZABETH W. GRIERSON + +CHILDREN'S TALES FROM SCOTTISH BALLADS + +12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by ALLAN STEWART + + +Edited by G. E. MITTON + +SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON + +12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by HARRY ROUNTREE + + +By HARRIET BEECHER STOWE + +UNCLE TOM'S CABIN + +8 full-page Illustrations in Colour and many others in the text + + +PRICE +6/=+ EACH + +ALL WITH FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR + +_Large square crown 8vo., cloth_ + + +ANIMAL AUTOBIOGRAPHIES + +EDITED BY G. E. MITTON + +Each volume deals entirely with the life-story of some one animal, and +is not merely a collection of animal stories. It is necessary to +emphasize this, as the idea of the series has sometimes been +misunderstood. Children who have outgrown fairy-tales undoubtedly prefer +this form of story to any other, and a more wholesome way of stimulating +their interest in the living things around them could hardly be found. + +Though the books are designed for children of all ages, many adults have +been attracted by their freshness, and have found in them much that they +did not know before. + +The autobiographical form was chosen after careful consideration in +preference to the newer method of regarding an animal through the eyes +of a human being, because it is the first aim of the series to depict +the world as animals see it, and it is not possible to do this +realistically unless the animal himself tells the story. + + +THE LIFE STORY OF + +A BLACK BEAR + +By H. PERRY ROBINSON + +With 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by J. VAN OORT + + +THE LIFE STORY OF + +A CAT + +By VIOLET HUNT + +With 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by ADOLPH BIRKENRUTH + + +THE LIFE STORY OF + +A DOG + +By G. E. MITTON + +With 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by JOHN WILLIAMSON + + +THE LIFE STORY OF + +A FOX + +By J. C. TREGARTHEN + +With 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by COUNTESS HELENA GLEICHEN + + +THE LIFE STORY OF + +A FOWL + +By J. W. HURST + +With 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by ALLAN STEWART and MAUDE +SCRIVENER + + +THE LIFE STORY OF + +A RAT + +By G. M. A. HEWETT + +With 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by STEPHEN BAGHOT DE LA BERE + + +THE LIFE STORY OF + +A SQUIRREL + +By T. C. BRIDGES + +With 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by ALLAN STEWART + + ++TANGERINE+: +A CHILD'S LETTERS FROM MOROCCO. +EDITED BY T. ERNEST WALTHAM · CONTAINING +ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS · SQUARE DEMY +OCTAVO · CLOTH · PRICE +3s. 6d.+ + + +"TANGERINE," AS THE NAME IMPLIES, DEALS WITH TANGIER, BUT NOT IN AN +HISTORICAL SENSE ONLY, BECAUSE THE PRETTY TITLE IS THE NAME GIVEN TO THE +LITTLE HEROINE WHO DESCRIBES, WITH OPEN EYES OF AMAZEMENT, ALL THE FUNNY +THINGS AND PEOPLE SHE MEETS WITH WHILE LIVING IN THAT STRANGE MOORISH +COUNTRY. + +HER LETTERS, AND THE MANY BEAUTIFUL AND UNIQUE PHOTOGRAPHS WHICH +ILLUSTRATE THEM, CARRY ONE BACK TO THE OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY TIMES, AND +IF THE ILLUSTRATIONS HAD NOT BEEN FROM ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPHS, IT WOULD HAVE +BEEN VERY DIFFICULT TO HAVE BELIEVED THAT THE OLD, OLD CUSTOMS COULD BE +SEEN TO-DAY SO NEAR TO OUR OWN COUNTRY AND UNMIXED WITH MODERN +CIVILIZATION. + +THE BOOK WILL ESPECIALLY INTEREST THE YOUNG, BECAUSE CHILDREN LOVE TO +HAVE INCIDENTS OF REAL LIFE PUT BEFORE THEM WHEN THEY HAVE BEEN SEEN +THROUGH THE EYES OF ANOTHER CHILD; BESIDES, TANGERINE'S LETTERS ARE FULL +OF QUAINT DOINGS AND LITTLE ADVENTURES WHICH MUST APPEAL TO THEM. + + +[Illustration: Decoration] + +ANIMAL AUTOBIOGRAPHIES + +EDITED BY + +G. E. MITTON + +EACH CONTAINING 12 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR + +SQUARE CROWN 8vo., CLOTH, GILT TOP + +PRICE +6/=+ EACH + + +THE LIFE STORY OF + +A BLACK BEAR + +BY H. PERRY ROBINSON + +With 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by J. VAN OORT + + +THE LIFE STORY OF + +A CAT + +BY VIOLET HUNT + +With 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by ADOLPH BIRKENRUTH + + +THE LIFE STORY OF + +A DOG + +BY G. E. MITTON + +With 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by JOHN WILLIAMSON + + +THE LIFE STORY OF + +A FOWL + +BY J. W. HURST + +With 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour + + +THE LIFE STORY OF + +A FOX + +BY J. C. TREGARTHEN + +With 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by COUNTESS HELENA GLEICHEN + + +THE LIFE STORY OF + +A RAT + +BY G. M. A. HEWETT + +With 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by STEPHEN BAGHOT DE LA BERE + + +THE LIFE STORY OF + +A SQUIRREL + +BY T. C. BRIDGES + +With 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by ALLAN STEWART + + The _Observer_ says: "That a great many children, and their elders, + too, take a continuous interest in the life-stories of animals has + been proved again and again, and therefore the idea of this series + is one which is sure to commend itself to a large circle of + readers. These volumes show that the happy idea has been very + happily carried out." + + ++SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON.+ EDITED BY G. E. +MITTON · CONTAINING TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS +IN COLOUR BY HARRY ROUNTREE. +LARGE SQUARE CROWN OCTAVO CLOTH · GILT TOP · PRICE +6s.+ + +THERE'S NO FRIEND LIKE AN OLD FRIEND, AND, AMONG ALL SCHOOLROOM +CLASSICS, "SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON" IS ONE OF THE OLDEST AND BEST KNOWN. +THE PRESENT VERSION IS TAKEN FROM ONE OF THE EARLIEST OF THE ENGLISH +EDITIONS, AND THOUGH A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF UNNECESSARY MATTER HAS BEEN CUT +OFF TO REDUCE IT WITHIN REASONABLE LIMITS, THE SLIGHTLY ARCHAIC FLAVOUR +OF THE LANGUAGE HAS BEEN RETAINED. + +HARRY ROUNTREE'S ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR ARE REALLY EXCELLENT, AND MAKE +ONE WISH IT HAD BEEN ONE'S OWN PRIVILEGE TO MEET THE BOOK FOR THE FIRST +TIME IN THIS GUISE. + + +THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF EDINBURGH + +BY ELIZABETH W. GRIERSON + +Containing 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour from Paintings by ALLAN +STEWART + +_Large Square Crown 8vo., Cloth, Gilt Top. Price_ +6s.+ + +"There have been many books written about Edinburgh, but none which +attempts to point out its attractions or explain its historical +associations in the way this one does for the benefit of young people. +The author comes down to the level of little folks; yet the style in +which she writes will not repel older people.... The volume is one which +is certain to prove popular with little folk."--_Scotsman._ + + +THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF LONDON + +BY G. E. MITTON + +Author of several volumes in "The Fascination of London" Series edited +by SIR WALTER BESANT + +Containing 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour by JOHN WILLIAMSON + +_Large Square Crown 8vo., Cloth, Gilt Top. Price_ +6s.+ + +"No better guide could our younger generation have. The book has been +written so dexterously that a child of ten years of age will at once be +attracted and be impatient to go on a voyage of discovery in that London +of which it knows little or nothing beyond the fact that it is a very, +very, big city. 'Pen Pictures of London' the book might be called, and +it will assuredly be in great demand at Christmas-time."--_Morning +Post._ + + +THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF STARS + +BY G. E. MITTON + +Author of "The Children's Book of London" + +With a Preface by SIR DAVID GILL, K.C.B. + +Containing about 20 full-page Illustrations (11 in Colour) and numerous +Diagrams in the Text + +_Large Square Crown 8vo., Cloth, Gilt Top. Price_ +6s.+ + +"This book about stars stirs one to something like enthusiasm, because +it is so obviously and so delightfully a book that ought to have been +written, and a book that has been well and lovingly +written."--_Tribune._ + + +CHILDREN'S TALES FROM SCOTTISH BALLADS + +BY ELIZABETH W. GRIERSON + +Containing 12 full-page Illustrations in Colour from Paintings by ALLAN +STEWART + +_Large Square Crown 8vo., Cloth, Gilt Top. Price_ +6s.+ + +"The author has singled out her stories well. _Black Agnace of Dunbar_ +is a stirring piece of writing, and if it and the other stories do not +fire the imagination of the rising generation, then we have surely +become a decadent race.... The illustrations are again by Mr. Stewart, +whose colouring is beautiful."--_Speaker._ + + +PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK, 4, 5, AND 6, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Siam, by Ernest Young + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57253 *** |