initial commit of ebook 8678HEADmain

5 files changed, 10198 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/8678-8.txt b/8678-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..91100de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/8678-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10182 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The English Governess At The Siamese Court
+by Anna Harriette Leonowens
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
+Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
+header without written permission.
+
+Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
+eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
+important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
+how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
+donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: The English Governess At The Siamese Court
+
+Author: Anna Harriette Leonowens
+
+Release Date: August, 2005  [EBook #8678]
+[This file was first posted on July 31, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE ENGLISH GOVERNESS AT THE SIAMESE COURT ***
+
+
+
+
+E-text prepared by Lee Dawei, Michelle Shephard, David Moynihan, Charles
+Franks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+THE ENGLISH GOVERNESS AT THE SIAMESE COURT
+
+BEING RECOLLECTIONS OF SIX YEARS IN THE ROYAL
+
+IN THE ROYAL PALACE AT BANGKOK
+
+BY
+
+ANNA HARRIETTE LEONOWENS.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+With Illustrations,
+FROM PHOTOGRAPHS PRESENTED TO THE AUTHOR BY
+THE KING OF SIAM.
+
+
+[Illustration: Gateway Of the Old Palace.]
+
+
+
+
+TO MRS. KATHERINE S. COBB.
+
+I have not asked your leave, dear friend, to dedicate to you these pages
+of my experience in the heart of an Asiatic court; but I know you will
+indulge me when I tell you that my single object in inscribing your name
+here is to evince my grateful appreciation of the kindness that led you
+to urge me to try the resources of your country instead of returning to
+Siam, and to plead so tenderly in behalf of my children.
+
+I wish the offering were more worthy of your acceptance. But to
+associate your name with the work your cordial sympathy has fostered,
+and thus pleasantly to retrace even the saddest of my recollections,
+amid the happiness that now surrounds me,--a happiness I owe to the
+generous friendship of noble-hearted American women,--is indeed a
+privilege and a compensation.
+
+I remain, with true affection, gratitude, and admiration,
+
+Your friend, A. H. L.
+
+26th July, 1870.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+His Majesty, Somdetch P'hra Paramendr Maha Mongkut, the Supreme King of
+Siam, having sent to Singapore for an English lady to undertake the
+education of his children, my friends pointed to me. At first it was
+with much reluctance that I consented to entertain the project; but,
+strange as it may seem, the more I reflected upon it the more feasible
+it appeared, until at length I began to look forward, even with a glow
+of enthusiasm, toward the new and untried field I was about to enter.
+
+The Siamese Consul at Singapore, Hon. W. Tan Kim-Ching, had written
+strongly in my favor to the Court of Siam, and in response I received
+the following letter from the King himself:--
+
+
+"ENGLISH ERA, 1862, 26th February.
+GRAND ROYAL PALACE, BANGKOK.
+
+"To MRS. A. H. LEONOWENS:--
+
+"MADAM: We are in good pleasure, and satisfaction in heart, that you are
+in willingness to undertake the education of our beloved royal children.
+And we hope that in doing your education on us and on our children (whom
+English, call inhabitants of benighted land) you will do your best
+endeavor for knowledge of English language, science, and literature, and
+not for conversion to Christianity; as the followers of Buddha are
+mostly aware of the powerfulness of truth and virtue, as well as the
+followers of Christ, and are desirous to have facility of English
+language and literature, more than new religions.
+
+"We beg to invite you to our royal palace to do your best endeavorment
+upon us and our children. We shall expect to see you here on return of
+Siamese steamer Chow Phya.
+
+"We have written to Mr. William Adamson, and to our consul at Singapore,
+to authorize to do best arrangement for you and ourselves.
+
+"Believe me
+
+"Your faithfully, (Signed)
+
+"S. S. P. P. MAHA MONGKUT."
+
+
+About a week before our departure for Bangkok, the captain and mate of
+the steamer Rainbow called upon me. One of these gentlemen had for
+several years served the government of Siam, and they came to warn me of
+the trials and dangers that must inevitably attend the enterprise in
+which I was embarking. Though it was now too late to deter me from the
+undertaking by any arguments addressed to my fears, I can nevertheless
+never forget the generous impulse of the honest seamen, who said:
+"Madam, be advised even by strangers, who have proved what sufferings
+await you, and shake your hands of this mad undertaking." By the next
+steamer I sailed for the Court of Siam.
+
+In the following pages I have tried to give a full and faithful account
+of the scenes and the characters that were gradually unfolded to me as I
+began to understand the language, and by all other means to attain a
+clearer insight into the secret life of the court. I was thankful to
+find, even in this citadel of Buddhism, men, and above all women, who
+were "lovely in their lives," who, amid infinite difficulties, in the
+bosom of a most corrupt society, and enslaved to a capricious and often
+cruel will, yet devoted themselves to an earnest search after truth. On
+the other hand, I have to confess with sorrow and shame, how far we,
+with all our boasted enlightenment, fall short, in true nobility and
+piety, of some of our "benighted" sisters of the East. With many of
+them, Love, Truth, and Wisdom are not mere synonyms but "living gods,"
+for whom they long with lively ardor, and, when found, embrace with joy.
+
+Those of my readers who may find themselves interested in the wonderful
+ruins recently discovered in Cambodia are indebted to the earlier
+travellers, M. Henri Mouhot, Dr. A. Bastian, and the able English
+photographer. James Thomson, F. R. G. S. L., almost as much as to
+myself.
+
+To the Hon. George William Curtis of New York, and to all my other true
+friends, abroad and in America, I feel very grateful.
+
+And finally, I would acknowledge the deep obligation I am under to Dr.
+J. W. Palmer, whose literary experience and skill have been of so great
+service to me in revising and preparing my manuscript for the press. A.
+H. L.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+     I. ON THE THRESHOLD
+    II. A SIAMESE PREMIER AT HOME
+   III. A SKETCH OF SIAMESE HISTORY
+    IV. HIS EXCELLENCY'S HAREM AND HELPMEET
+     V. THE TEMPLES OF THE SLEEPING AND THE EMERALD IDOLS
+    VI. THE KING AND THE GOVERNESS
+   VII. MARBLE HALLS AND FISH-STALLS
+  VIII. OUR HOME IN BANGKOK
+    IX. OUR SCHOOL IN THE PALACE
+     X. MOONSHEE AND THE ANGEL GABRIEL
+    XI. THE WAYS OF THE PALACE
+   XII. SHADOWS AND WHISPERS OF THE HAREM
+  XIII. FA-YING, THE KING'S DARLING
+   XIV. AN OUTRAGE AND A WARNING
+    XV. THE CITY OF BANGKOK
+   XVI. THE WHITE ELEPHANT
+  XVII. THE CEREMONIES OF CORONATION
+ XVIII. THE QUEEN CONSORT
+   XIX. THE HEIR-APPARENT.--ROYAL HAIR-CUTTING
+    XX. AMUSEMENTS OF THE COURT
+   XXI. SIAMESE LITERATURE AND ART
+  XXII. BUDDHIST DOCTRINE, PRIESTS, AND WORSHIP
+ XXIII. CREMATION
+  XXIV. CERTAIN SUPERSTITIONS
+   XXV. THE SUBORDINATE KING
+  XXVI. THE SUPREME KING: HIS CHARACTER AND ADMINISTRATION
+ XXVII. MY RETIREMENT FROM THE PALACE
+XXVIII. THE KINGDOM OF SIAM
+  XXIX. THE RUINS OF CAMBODIA.--AN EXCURSION TO THE NAGHKON WATT
+   XXX. THE LEGEND OF THE MAHA NAGHKON
+
+[Illustration: Fac-Simile of Letter from present Supreme King of Siam:
+Transcription follows:]
+
+Amarinde Winschley
+Palace Bangkok
+March 6th 1869
+
+Mrs. A. H. Leonowens
+New York
+
+Dear Madam,
+
+I have great pleasure in condescending to answer your sympathising
+letter of 25th November last wherein the sorrowful expressions of your
+heart in relation to my most beloved Sovereign Father in demise which is
+a venerated burden and I have left to this day and ever more shall bear
+this most unexpressable loss in mind, with the deepest respect and
+lamentation, and resignation to the will of divine Providence;--are very
+loyal to you too to ful, and share your grief in behalf the affection
+you have for your royal pupils, and the kind remembrances you have made
+of them in your letter, loves you too with that respect and love your
+are held in ther esteem, for such disinterestioness in imparting
+knowledge to them during your stay here with us. I have the pleasure
+also, to mention you that our Government in counsel has elected me to
+assume the reins of Government notwithstanding my juvenility; and I am
+pleased to see the love the people have for me, most undoubtedly arising
+from the respect and veneration they have had for my beloved royal
+Father and I hope to render them prosperity and peace, and equal
+measure, they have enjoyed since the last reign in return.
+
+May you and your beloved children be in the peace of the divine
+Providence.
+
+I beg to remain,
+
+Yours sincerely
+
+Somdetch Phra Chulalonkorn Klou Chow-yu Hua
+Supreme King of Siam
+on 114th day of reign
+
+
+
+
+I. ON THE THRESHOLD.
+
+
+MARCH 15, 1862.--On board the small Siamese steamer Chow Phya, in the
+Gulf of Siam.
+
+I rose before the sun, and ran on deck to catch an early glimpse of the
+strange land we were nearing; and as I peered eagerly, not through mist
+and haze, but straight into the clear, bright, many-tinted ether, there
+came the first faint, tremulous blush of dawn, behind her rosy veil; and
+presently the welcome face shines boldly out, glad, glorious, beautiful,
+and aureoled with flaming hues of orange, fringed with amber and gold,
+wherefrom flossy webs of color float wide through the sky, paling as
+they go. A vision of comfort and gladness, that tropical March morning,
+genial as a July dawn in my own less ardent clime; but the memory of two
+round, tender arms, and two little dimpled hands, that so lately had
+made themselves loving fetters round my neck, in the vain hope of
+holding mamma fast, blinded my outlook; and as, with a nervous tremor
+and a rude jerk, we came to anchor there, so with a shock and a tremor I
+came to my hard realities.
+
+The captain told us we must wait for the afternoon tide to carry us over
+the bar. I lingered on deck, as  long as I could dodge the fiery spears
+that flashed through our tattered awning, and bear the bustle and the
+boisterous jests of some circus people, our fellow-passengers, who came
+by express invitation of the king to astonish and amuse the royal
+household and the court.
+
+Scarcely less intelligent, and certainly more entertaining, than these
+were the dogs of our company,-? brutes of diverse temperament,
+experience, and behavior. There were the captain's two, Trumpet and Jip,
+who, by virtue of their reflected rank and authority, held places of
+privilege and pickings under the table, and were jealous and overbearing
+as became a captain's favorites, snubbing and bullying their more
+accomplished and versatile guests, the circus dogs, with skipper-like
+growls and snarls and snaps. And there was our own true Bessy,--a
+Newfoundland, great and good,--discreet, reposeful, dignified,
+fastidious, not to be cajoled into confidences and familiarities with
+strange dogs, whether official or professional. Very human was her
+gentle countenance, and very loyal, I doubt not, her sense of
+responsibility, as she followed anxiously my boy and me, interpreting
+with her heart the thoughts she read in our faces, and responding with
+her sympathetic eyes.
+
+In the afternoon, when we dined on deck, the land was plainly visible;
+and now, as with a favoring tide we glided toward the beautiful Meinam
+("Mother of Waters"), the air grew brighter, and the picture lived and
+moved; trees _grew_ on the banks, more and more verdure, monkeys swung
+from bough to bough, birds flashed and piped among the thickets.
+
+Though the reddish-brown water over the "banks" is very shallow at low
+tide, craft of moderate burden, with the aid of a pilot, cast anchor
+commonly in the very heart of the capital, in from ten to twelve fathoms
+of water.
+
+The world has few rivers so deep, commodious, and safe as the Meinam;
+and when we arrived the authorities were contemplating the erection of
+beacons on the bar, as well as a lighthouse for the benefit of vessels
+entering the port of Bangkok. The stream is rich in fish of excellent
+quality and flavor, such as is found in most of the great rivers of
+Asia; and is especially noted for its _platoo_, a kind of sardine, so
+abundant and cheap that it forms a common seasoning to the laborer's
+bowl of rice. The Siamese are expert in modes of drying and salting fish
+of all kinds, and large quantities are exported annually to Java,
+Sumatra, Malacca, and China.
+
+In half an hour from the time when the twin banks of the river, in their
+raiment of bright green, seemed to open their beautiful arms to receive
+us, we came to anchor opposite the mean, shabby, irregular town of
+Paknam, or Sumuttra P'hra-kan ("Ocean Affairs"). Here the captain went
+ashore to report himself to the Governor, and the officials of the
+custom-house, and the mail-boat came out to us. My boy became impatient
+for _couay_ (cake); Moonshee, my Persian teacher, and Beebe, my gay
+Hindostanee nurse, expressed their disappointment and disgust, Moonshee
+being absurdly dramatic in his wrath, as, fairly shaking his fist at the
+town, he demanded, "What is this?"
+
+Near this place are two islands. The one on the right is fortified, yet
+withal so green and pretty, and seemingly so innocent of bellicose
+designs, that one may fancy Nature has taken peculiar pains to heal and
+hide the disfigurements grim Art has made in her beauty. On the other,
+which at first I took for a floating shrine of white marble, is perhaps
+the most unique and graceful object of architecture in Siam; shining
+like a jewel on the broad bosom of the river, a temple all of purest
+white, its lofty spire, fantastic and gilded, flashing back the glory of
+the sun, and duplicated in shifting, quivering shadows in the limpid
+waters below. Add to these the fitful ripple of the coquettish breeze,
+the burnished blazonry of the surrounding vegetation, the budding charms
+of spring joined to the sensuous opulence of autumn, and you have a
+scene of lovely glamour it were but vain impertinence to describe. Earth
+seemed to have gathered for her adorning here elements more
+intellectual, poetic, and inspiring than she commonly displays to pagan
+eyes.
+
+These islands at the gateway of the river are, like the bank in the
+gulf, but accumulations of the sand borne down before the torrent, that,
+suddenly swollen by the rains, rushes annually to the sea. The one on
+which the temple stands is partly artificial, having been raised from
+the bed of the Meinam by the king P'hra Chow Phra-sat-thong, as a work
+of "merit." Visiting this island some years later, I found that this
+temple, like all other pyramidal structures in this part of the world,
+consists of solid masonry of brick and mortar. The bricks made here are
+remarkable, being fully eight inches long and nearly four broad, and of
+fine grain,--altogether not unlike the "tavellae" brick of the Egyptians
+and ancient Romans. There are cornices on all sides, with steps to
+ascend to the top, where a long inscription proclaims the name, rank,
+and virtues of the founder, with dates of the commencement of the island
+and the shrine. The whole of the space, extending to the low stone
+breakwater that surrounds the island, is paved with the same kind of
+brick, and encloses, in addition to the P'hra-Cha-dei ("The Lord's
+Delight"), a smaller temple with a brass image of the sitting Buddha. It
+also affords accommodation to the numerous retinue of princes, nobles,
+retainers, and pages who attend the king in his annual visits to the
+temple, to worship, and make votive offerings and donations to the
+priests. A charming spot, yet not one to be contemplated with unalloyed
+pleasure; for here also are the wretched people, who pass up and down in
+boats, averting their eyes, pressing their hard, labor-grimed hands
+against their sweating foreheads, and lowly louting in blind awe to
+these whited bricks. Even the naked children hush and crouch, and lay
+their little foreheads against the bottom of the boat.
+
+His Majesty Somdetch P'hra Paramendr Maha Mongkut, the late Supreme
+King, contributed interesting _souvenirs_ to the enlargement and
+adornment of this temple.
+
+The town, which the twin islands redeem from the ignominy it otherwise
+deserves, lies on the east bank of the river, and by its long lines of
+low ramparts that face the water seems to have been at one time
+substantially fortified; but the works are now dilapidated and
+neglected. They were constructed in the first instance, I am told, with
+fatal ingenuity; in the event of an attack the garrison would find them
+as dangerous to abandon as to defend. Paknam is indebted for its
+importance rather to its natural position, and its possibilities of
+improvement under the abler hands into which it is gradually falling,
+than to any advantage or promise in itself; for a more disgusting,
+repulsive place is scarcely to be found on Asian ground.
+
+The houses are built partly of mud, partly of wood, and, as in those of
+Malacca, only the upper story is habitable, the ground floor being the
+abode of pigs, dogs, fowls, and noisome reptiles. The "Government House"
+was originally of stone, but all the more recent additions have been
+shabbily constructed of rough timber and mud. This is one of the few
+houses in Paknam which one may enter without mounting a ladder or a
+clumsy staircase, and which have rooms in the lower as well as in the
+upper story.
+
+The Custom-House is an open _sala_, or shed, where interpreters,
+inspectors, and tidewaiters lounge away the day on cool mats, chewing
+areca, betel, and tobacco, and extorting moneys, goods, or provisions
+from the unhappy proprietors of native trading craft, large or small;
+but Europeans are protected from their rascally and insolent exactions
+by the intelligence and energy of their respective consuls.
+
+The hotel is a whitewashed brick building, originally designed to
+accommodate foreign ambassadors and other official personages visiting
+the Court of Siam. The king's summer-house, fronting the islands, is the
+largest edifice to be seen, but it has neither dignity nor beauty. A
+number of inferior temples and monasteries occupy the background, and
+are crowded with a rabble of priests, in yellow robes and with shaven
+pates; packs of mangy pariah-dogs attend them. These monasteries consist
+of many small rooms or cells, containing merely a mat and wooden pillow
+for each occupant. The refuse of the food, which the priests beg during
+the day, is cast to the dogs at night; and what _they_ refuse is left to
+putrefy. Unimaginable are the stenches the sun of Siam engenders in such
+conditions.
+
+A village so happily situated might, under better management, become a
+thriving and pleasing port; but neglect, cupidity, and misrule have
+shockingly deformed and degraded it. Nevertheless, by its picturesque
+site and surroundings of beauty, it retains its hold upon the regretful
+admiration of many Europeans and Americans, who in ill health have found
+strength and cheer in its sea-breezes.
+
+We heartily enjoyed the delightful freshness of the evening air as we
+glided up the Meinam, though the river view at this point is somewhat
+marred by the wooden piers and quays that line it on either side, and
+the floating houses, representing elongated A's. From the deck, at a
+convenient height above the level of the river and the narrow serpentine
+canals and creeks, we looked down upon conical roofs thatched with
+attaps, and diversified by the pyramids and spires and fantastic turrets
+of the more important buildings. The valley of the Meinam, not over six
+hundred miles in length, is as a long deep dent or fissure in the
+alluvial soil. At its southern extremity we have the climate and
+vegetation of the tropics, while its northern end, on the brow of the
+Yunan, is a region of perpetual snow. The surrounding country is
+remarkable for the bountiful productiveness of its unctuous loam. The
+scenery, though not wild nor grand, is very picturesque and charming in
+the peculiar golden haze of its atmosphere. I surveyed with more and
+more admiration each new scene of blended luxuriance and
+beauty,--plantations spreading on either hand as far as the eye could
+reach, and level fields of living green, billowy with crops of rice and
+maize, and sugar-cane and coffee, and cotton and tobacco; and the wide
+irregular river, a kaleidoscope of evanescent form and color, where
+land, water, and sky joined or parted in a thousand charming surprises
+of shapes and shadows.
+
+The sun was already sinking in the west, when we caught sight of a tall
+roof of familiar European fashion; and presently a lowly white chapel
+with green windows, freshly painted, peeped out beside two pleasant
+dwellings. Chapel and homes belong to the American Presbyterian Mission.
+A forest of graceful boughs filled the background; the last faint rays
+of the departing sun fell on the Mission pathway, and the gentle swaying
+of the tall trees over the chapel imparted a promise of safety and
+peace, as the glamour of the approaching night and the gloom and mystery
+of the pagan land into which we were penetrating filled me with an
+indefinable dread. I almost trembled, as the unfriendly clouds drove out
+the lingering tints of day. Here were the strange floating city, with
+its stranger people on all the open porches, quays, and jetties; the
+innumerable rafts and boats, canoes and gondolas, junks, and ships; the
+pall of black smoke from the steamer, the burly roar of the engine, and
+the murmur and the jar; the bewildering cries of men, women, and
+children, the shouting of the Chinamen, and the barking of the
+dogs,--yet no one seemed troubled but me. I knew it was wisest to hide
+my fears. It was the old story. How many of our sisters, how many of our
+daughters, how many of our hearts' darlings, are thus, without friend or
+guide or guard or asylum, turning into untried paths with untold stories
+of trouble and pain!
+
+We dropped anchor in deep water near an island. In a moment the river
+was alive with nondescript craft, worked by amphibious creatures, half
+naked, swarthy, and grim, who rent the air with shrill, wild jargon as
+they scrambled toward us. In the distance were several hulks of Siamese
+men-of-war, seemingly as old as the flood; and on the right towered,
+tier over tier, the broad roofs of the grand Royal Palace of
+Bangkok,--my future "home" and the scene of my future labors.
+
+The circus people are preparing to land; and the dogs, running to and
+fro with anxious glances, have an air of leave-taking also. Now the
+China coolies, with pigtails braided and coiled round their low,
+receding brows, begin their uncouth bustle, and into the small hours of
+the morning enliven the time of waiting with frantic shouts and
+gestures.
+
+Before long a showy gondola, fashioned like a dragon, with flashing
+torches and many paddles, approached; and a Siamese official mounted the
+side, swaying himself with an absolute air. The red _langoutee_, or
+skirt, loosely folded about his person, did not reach his ankles; and to
+cover his audacious chest and shoulders he had only his own brown
+polished skin. He was followed by a dozen attendants, who, the moment
+they stepped from the gangway, sprawled on the deck like huge toads,
+doubling their arms and legs under them, and pressing their noses
+against the boards, as if intent on making themselves small by degrees
+and hideously less. Every Asiatic on deck, coolies and all, prostrates
+himself, except my two servants, who are bewildered. Moonshee covertly
+mumbles his five prayers, ejaculating between, _Mash-Allah! A Tala-yea
+kia hai?_ [Footnote: "Great God! what is this?"] and Beebe shrinks, and
+draws her veil of spotted muslin jealously over her charms.
+
+The captain stepped forward and introduced us. "His Excellency Chow Phya
+Sri Sury Wongse, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Siam!"
+
+Half naked as he was, and without an emblem to denote his rank, there
+was yet something remarkable about this native chief, by virtue of which
+he compelled our respect from the first glance,--a sensibly magnetic
+quality of tone or look. With an air of command oddly at variance with
+his almost indecent attire, of which he seemed superbly unconscious, he
+beckoned to a young attendant, who crawled to him as a dog crawls to an
+angry master. This was an interpreter, who at a word from his lord began
+to question me in English.
+
+"Are you the lady who is to teach in the royal family?"
+
+On my replying in the affirmative, he asked, "Have you friends in
+Bangkok?"
+
+Finding I had none, he was silent for a minute or two; then demanded:
+"What will you do? Where will you sleep to-night?"
+
+"Indeed I cannot tell," I said. "I am a stranger here. But I understood
+from his Majesty's letter that a residence would be provided for us on
+our arrival; and he has been duly informed that we were to arrive at
+this time."
+
+"His Majesty cannot remember everything," said his Excellency; the
+interpreter added, "You can go where you like." And away went master and
+slaves. I was dumfoundered, without even voice to inquire if there was a
+hotel in the city; and my servants were scornfully mute. My kind friend
+the captain was sorely puzzled. He would have sheltered us if he could;
+but a cloud of coal-dust and the stamping and screaming of a hundred and
+fifty Chinamen made hospitality impracticable; so I made a little bed
+for my child on deck, and prepared to pass the night with him under a
+canopy of stars.
+
+The situation was as Oriental as the scene,--heartless arbitrary
+insolence on the part of my employers; homelessness, forlornness,
+helplessness, mortification, indignation, on mine. Fears and misgivings
+crowded and stunned me. My tears fell thick and fast, and, weary and
+despairing, I closed my eyes, and tried to shut out heaven and earth;
+but the reflection would return to mock and goad me, that by my own act,
+and against the advice of my friends, I had placed myself in this
+position.
+
+The good captain of the Chow Phya, much troubled by the conduct of the
+minister, paced the deck (which usually, on these occasions, he left to
+the supercargo) for more than an hour. Presently a boat approached, and
+he hailed it. In a moment it was at the gangway, and with robust, hearty
+greetings on both sides, Captain B----, a cheery Englishman, with a
+round, ruddy, rousing face, sprang on board; in a few words our
+predicament was explained to him, and at once he invited us to share his
+house, for the night at least, assuring us of a cordial welcome from his
+wife. In the beautiful gondola of our "friend in need" we were pulled by
+four men, standing to their oars, through a dream-like scene, peculiar
+to this Venice of the East. Larger boats, in an endless variety of form
+and adornment, with prows high, tapering, and elaborately carved, and
+pretty little gondolas and canoes, passed us continually on the right
+and left; yet amid so many signs of life, motion, traffic, bustle, the
+sweet sound of the rippling waters alone fell on the ear. No rumbling of
+wheels, nor clatter of hoofs, nor clangor of bells, nor roar and scream
+of engines to shock the soothing fairy-like illusion. The double charm
+of stillness and starlight was perfect.
+
+"By the by," broke in my cheery new friend, "you'll have to go with me
+to the play, ma'm; because my wife is there with the boys, and the
+house-key is in her pocket."
+
+"To the play!"
+
+"O, don't be alarmed, ma'm! It's not a regular theatre; only a
+catchpenny show, got up by a Frenchman, who came from Singapore a
+fortnight since. And having so little amusement here, we are grateful
+for anything that may help to break the monotony. The temporary
+playhouse is within the palace grounds of his Royal Highness Prince Krom
+Lhuang Wongse; and I hope to have an opportunity to introduce you to the
+Prince, who I believe is to be present with his family."
+
+The intelligence was not gratifying, a Siamese prince had too lately
+disturbed my moral equilibrium; but I held my peace and awaited the
+result with resignation. A few strokes of the oars, seconded by the
+swift though silent current, brought us to a wooden pier surmounted by
+two glaring lanterns. Captain B---- handed us out. My child, startled
+from a deep sleep, was refractory, and would not trust himself out of my
+fond keeping. When finally I had struggled with him in my arms to the
+landing, I saw in the shadow a form coiled on a piece of striped
+matting. Was it a bear? No, a prince! For the clumsy mass of reddish-
+brown flesh unrolled and uplifted itself, and held out a human arm, with
+a fat hand at the end of it, when Captain B---- presented me to "his
+Royal Highness." Near by was his Excellency the Prime Minister, in the
+identical costume that had disgraced our unpleasant interview on the
+Chow Phya; he was smoking a European pipe, and plainly enjoying our
+terrors. My stalwart friend contrived to squeeze us, and even himself,
+first through a bamboo door, and then through a crowd of hot people, to
+seats fronting a sort of altar, consecrated to the arts of jugglery. A
+number of Chinamen of respectable appearance occupied the more distant
+places, while those immediately behind us were filled by the ladies and
+gentlemen of the foreign community. On a raised dais hung with kincob
+[Footnote: Silk, embroidered with, gold flowers.] curtains, the ladies
+of the Prince's harem reclined; while their children, shining in silk
+and ornaments of gold, laughed, prattled, and gesticulated, until the
+juggler appeared, when they were stunned with sudden wonder. Under the
+eaves on all sides human heads were packed, on every head its cherished
+tuft of hair, like a stiff black brush inverted, in every mouth its
+delicious cud of areca-nut and betel, which the human cattle ruminated
+with industrious content. The juggler, a keen little Frenchman, plied
+his arts nimbly, and what with his ventriloquial doll, his empty bag
+full of eggs, his stones that were candies, and his candies that were
+stones, and his stuffed birds that sang, astonished and delighted his
+unsophisticated patrons, whose applauding murmurs were diversified by
+familiarly silly shrieks--the true Siamese Did-you-ever!--from behind
+the kincob curtains.
+
+But I was weary and disheartened, and welcomed with a sigh of relief the
+closing of the show. As we passed out with our guide, the glare of many
+torches falling on the dark silent river made the swarthy forms of the
+boatmen weird and Charon-like. Mrs. B---- welcomed us with a pleasant
+smile to her little heaven of home across the river, and by the
+simplicity and gentleness of her manners dispelled in a measure my
+feeling of forlornness. When at last I found myself alone, I would have
+sought the sleep I so much needed, but the strange scenes of the day
+chased each other in agitating confusion through my brain. Then I
+quitted the side of my sleeping boy, triumphant in his dreamless
+innocence, and sat defeated by the window, to crave counsel and help
+from the ever-present Friend; and as I waited I sank into a tumultuous
+slumber, from which at last I started to find the long-tarrying dawn
+climbing over a low wall and creeping through a half-open shutter.
+
+
+
+
+II. A SIAMESE PREMIER AT HOME.
+
+
+I started up, arranged my dress, and smoothed my hair; though no water
+nor any after-touches could remove the shadow that night of gloom and
+loneliness had left upon my face. But my boy awoke with eager,
+questioning eyes, his smile bright and his hair lustrous. As we knelt
+together by the window at the feet of "Our Father," I could not but ask
+in the darkness of my trouble, did it need so bitter a baptism as ours
+to purify so young a soul?
+
+In an outer room we met Mrs. B---- _en déshabillé_, and scarcely so
+pretty as at our first meeting, but for her smile, remarkable for its
+subtile, evanescent sweetness. At breakfast our host joined us, and,
+after laughing at our late predicament and fright, assured me of that
+which I have since experienced,--the genuine goodness of the Prince Krom
+Lhuang Wongse. Every foreign resident of Bangkok, who at any time has
+had friendly acquaintance or business with him, would, I doubt not, join
+me in expressions of admiration and regard for one who has maintained
+through circumstances so trying and under a system so oppressive an
+exemplary reputation for liberality, integrity, justice, and humanity.
+
+Soon after breakfast the Prime Minister's boat, with the slave
+interpreter who had questioned me on the steamer, arrived to take us to
+his Excellency's palace.
+
+[Illustration: THE PRIME MINISTER.]
+
+In about a quarter of an hour we found ourselves in front of a low
+gateway, which opened on a wide courtyard, or "compound," paved with
+rough-hewn slabs of stone. A brace of Chinese mandarins of ferocious
+aspect, cut in stone and mounted on stone horses, guarded the entrance.
+Farther on, a pair of men-at-arms in bass-relief challenged us; and near
+these were posted two living sentries, in European costume, but without
+shoes. On the left was a pavilion for theatrical entertainments, one
+entire wall being covered with scenic pictures. On the right of this
+stood the palace of the Prime Minister, displaying a semicircular
+_façade_; in the background a range of buildings of considerable extent,
+comprising the lodgings of his numerous wives. Attached to the largest
+of these houses was a charming garden of flowers, in the midst of which
+a refreshing fountain played. His Excellency's residence abounded within
+in carvings and gildings, elegant in design and color, that blended and
+harmonized in pleasing effects with the luxurious draperies that hung in
+rich folds from the windows.
+
+We moved softly, as the interpreter led us through a suite of spacious
+saloons, disposed in ascending tiers, and all carpeted, candelabraed,
+and appointed in the most costly European fashion. A superb vase of
+silver, embossed and burnished, stood on a table inlaid with
+mother-of-pearl and chased with silver. Flowers of great variety and
+beauty filled the rooms with a delicious though slightly oppressive
+fragrance. On every side my eyes were delighted with rare vases,
+jewelled cups and boxes, burnished chalices, dainty statuettes,--
+_objets de virtu_, Oriental and European, antique and modern, blending
+the old barbaric splendors with the graces of the younger arts.
+
+As we waited, fascinated and bewildered, the Prime Minister suddenly
+stood before us,--the semi-nude barbarian of last night. I lost my
+presence of mind, and in my embarrassment would have left the room. But
+he held out his hand, saying, "Good morning, _sir_! Take a seat, _sir_!"
+which I did somewhat shyly, but not without a smile for his comical
+"sir." I spied a number of young girls peeping at us from behind
+curtains, while the male attendants, among whom were his younger
+brothers, nephews, and cousins, crouched in the antechamber on all
+fours. His Excellency, with an expression of pleased curiosity, and that
+same grand unconsciousness of his alarming poverty of costume,
+approached us nearly, and, with a kindly smile patting Boy on the head,
+asked him his name. But the child cried aloud, "Mamma, come home!
+Please, mamma, come home!" and I found it not easy to quiet him.
+
+Presently, mustering courage for myself also, I ventured to express my
+wish for a quiet house or apartments, where I might be free from
+intrusion, and at perfect liberty before and after school-hours.
+
+When this reasonable request was interpreted to him--seemingly in a few
+monosyllables--he stood looking at me, smiling, as if surprised and
+amused that I should have notions on the subject of liberty. Quickly
+this look became inquisitive and significant, so that I began to fancy
+he had doubts as to the use I might make of my stipulated freedom, and
+was puzzled to conjecture why a woman should wish to be free at all.
+Some such thought must have passed through his mind, for he said
+abruptly, "You not married!"
+
+I bowed.
+
+"Then where will you go in the evening?"
+
+"Not anywhere, your Excellency. I simply desire to secure for myself and
+my child some hours of privacy and rest, when my duties do not require
+my presence elsewhere."
+
+"How many years your husband has been dead?" he asked.
+
+I replied that his Excellency had no right to pry into my domestic
+concerns. His business was with me as a governess only; on any other
+subject I declined conversing. I enjoyed the expression of blank
+amazement with which he regarded me on receiving this somewhat defiant
+reply. "_Tam chai!_" ("Please yourself!") he said, and proceeded to pace
+to and fro, but without turning his eyes from my face, or ceasing to
+smile. Then he said something to his attendants, five or six of whom,
+raising themselves on their knees, with their eyes fixed upon the
+carpet, crawled backward till they reached the steps, bobbed their heads
+and shoulders, started spasmodically to their feet, and fled from the
+apartment. My boy, who had been awed and terrified, began to cry, and I
+too was startled. Again he uttered the harsh gutturals, and instantly,
+as with an electric shock, another half-dozen of the prostrate slaves
+sprang up and ran. Then he resumed his mysterious promenade, still
+carefully keeping an eye upon us, and smiling by way of conversation. It
+was long before I could imagine what we were to do. Boy, fairly
+tortured, cried "Come home, mamma! why don't you come home? I don't like
+that man." His Excellency halted, and sinking his voice ominously, said,
+"You no can go!" Boy clutched my dress, and hid his face and smothered
+his sobs in my lap; and yet, attracted, fascinated, the poor little
+fellow from time to time looked up, only to shudder, tremble, and hide
+his face again. For his sake I was glad when the interpreter returned on
+all fours. Pushing one elbow straight out before the other, in the
+manner of these people, he approached his master with such a salutation
+as might be offered to deity; and with a few more unintelligible
+utterances, his Excellency bowed to us, and disappeared behind a mirror.
+All the curious, peering eyes that had been directed upon us from every
+nook and corner where a curtain hung, instantly vanished; and at the
+same time sweet, wild music, like the tinkling of silver bells in the
+distance, fell upon our ears.
+
+To my astonishment the interpreter stood boldly upright, and began to
+contemplate his irresistible face and figure in a glass, and arrange
+with cool coxcombry his darling tuft of hair; which done, he approached
+us with a mild swagger, and proceeded to address me with a freedom which
+I found it expedient to snub. I told him that, although I did not
+require any human being to go down on his face and hands before me, I
+should nevertheless tolerate no familiarity or disrespect from any one.
+The fellow understood me well enough, but did not permit me to recover
+immediately from my surprise at the sudden change in his bearing and
+tone. As he led us to the two elegant rooms reserved for us in the west
+end of the palace, he informed us that he was the Premier's
+half-brother, and hinted that I would be wise to conciliate him if I
+wished to have my own way. In the act of entering one of the rooms, I
+turned upon him angrily, and bade him be off. The next moment this
+half-brother of a Siamese magnate was kneeling in abject supplication in
+the half-open doorway, imploring me not to report him to his Excellency,
+and promising never to offend again. Here was a miracle of repentance I
+had not looked for; but the miracle was sham. Rage, cunning, insolence,
+servility, and hypocrisy were vilely mixed in the minion.
+
+Our chambers opened on a quiet piazza, shaded by fruit-trees in blossom,
+and overlooking a small artificial lake stocked with pretty, sportive
+fish.
+
+To be free to make a stunning din is a Siamese woman's idea of perfect
+enjoyment. Hardly were we installed in our apartments when, with a
+pell-mell rush and screams of laughter, the ladies of his Excellency's
+private Utah reconnoitred us in force. Crowding in through the half-open
+door, they scrambled for me with eager curiosity, all trying at once to
+embrace me boisterously, and promiscuously chattering in shrill
+Siamese,--a bedlam of parrots; while I endeavored to make myself
+impartially agreeable in the language of signs and glances. Nearly all
+were young; and in symmetry of form, delicacy of feature, and fairness
+of complexion, decidedly superior to the Malay women I had been
+accustomed to. Most of them might have been positively attractive, but
+for their ingeniously ugly mode of clipping the hair and blackening the
+teeth.
+
+The youngest were mere children, hardly more than fourteen years old.
+All were arrayed in rich materials, though the fashion did not differ
+from that of their slaves, numbers of whom were prostrate in the rooms
+and passages. My apartments were ablaze with their crimson, blue,
+orange, and purple, their ornaments of gold, their rings and brilliants,
+and their jewelled boxes. Two or three of the younger girls satisfied my
+Western ideas of beauty, with their clear, mellow, olive complexions,
+and their almond-shaped eyes, so dark yet glowing. Those among them who
+were really old were simply hideous and repulsive. One wretched crone
+shuffled through the noisy throng with an air of authority, and pointing
+to Boy lying in my lap, cried, "_Moolay, moolay!_" "Beautiful,
+beautiful!" The familiar Malay word fell pleasantly on my ear, and I was
+delighted to find some one through whom I might possibly control the
+disorderly bevy around me. I addressed her in Malay. Instantly my
+visitors were silent, and waiting in attitudes of eager attention.
+
+She told me she was one of the many custodians of the harem. She was a
+native of Quedah; and "some sixty years ago," she and her sister,
+together with other young Malay girls, were captured while working in
+the fields by a party of Siamese adventurers. They were brought to Siam
+and sold as slaves. At first she mourned miserably for her home and
+parents. But while she was yet young and attractive she became a
+favorite of the late Somdetch Ong Yai, father of her present lord, and
+bore him two sons, just as "moolay, moolay" as my own darling. But they
+were dead. (Here, with the end of her soiled silk scarf she furtively
+wiped a tear from her face, no longer ugly.) And her gracious lord was
+dead also; it was he who gave her this beautiful gold betel-box.
+
+"But how is it that you are still a slave?" I asked.
+
+"I am old and ugly and childless: and therefore, to be trusted by my
+dead lord's son, the beneficent prince, upon whose head be
+blessings,"--clasping her withered hands, and turning toward that part
+of the palace where, no doubt, he was enjoying a "beneficent" nap.
+
+"And now it is my privilege to watch and guard these favored ones, that
+they see no man but their lord."
+
+The repulsive uncomeliness of this woman had been wrought by oppression
+out of that which must have been beautiful once; for the spirit of
+beauty came back to her for a moment, with the passing memories that
+brought her long-lost treasures with them. In the brutal tragedy of a
+slave's experience,--a female slave in the harem of an Asian
+despot,--the native angel in her had been bruised, mutilated, defaced,
+deformed, but not quite obliterated.
+
+Her story ended, the younger women, to whom her language had been
+strange, could no longer suppress their merriment, nor preserve the
+decorum due to her age and authority. Again they swarmed about me like
+bees, plying me pertinaciously with questions, as to my age, husband,
+children, country, customs, possessions; and presently crowned the
+inquisitorial performance by asking, in all seriousness, if I should not
+like to be the wife of the prince, their lord, rather than of the
+terrible Chow-che-witt. [Footnote: Chow-che-witt,--"Prince of
+life,"--the supreme king.]
+
+Here was a monstrous suggestion that struck me dumb. Without replying, I
+rose and shook them off, retiring with my boy into the inner chamber.
+But they pursued me without compunction, repeating the extraordinary
+"conundrum," and dragging the Malay duenna along with them to interpret
+my answer. The intrusion provoked me; but, considering their beggarly
+poverty of true life and liberty, of hopes and joys, and loves and
+memories, and holy fears and sorrows, with which a full and true
+response might have twitted them, I was ashamed to be vexed.
+
+Seeing it impossible to rid myself of them, I promised to answer their
+question, on condition that they would leave me for that day.
+Immediately all eyes were fixed upon me.
+
+"The prince, your lord, and the king, your Chow-che-witt, are pagans," I
+said. "An English, that is a Christian, woman would rather be put to the
+torture, chained and dungeoned for life, or suffer a death the slowest
+and most painful you Siamese know, than be the wife of either."
+
+They remained silent in astonishment, seemingly withheld from speaking
+by an instinctive sentiment of respect; until one, more volatile than
+the rest, cried, "What! not if he gave you all these jewelled rings and
+boxes, and these golden things?"
+
+When the old woman, fearing to offend, whispered this test question in
+Malay to me, I laughed at the earnest eyes around, and said: "No, not
+even then. I am only here to teach the royal family. I am not like you.
+You have nothing to do but to play and sing and dance for your master;
+but I have to work for my children; and one little one is now on the
+great ocean, and I am very sad."
+
+Shades of sympathy, more or less deep, flitted across the faces of my
+audience, and for a moment they regarded me as something they could
+neither convince nor comfort nor understand. Then softly repeating
+_Poot-thoo! Poot-thoo!_ "Dear God! dear God!" they quietly left me. A
+minute more, and I heard them laughing and shouting in the halls.
+
+Relieved of my curious and exacting visitors, I lay down and fell into a
+deep sleep, from which I was suddenly awakened, in the afternoon, by the
+cries of Beebe, who rushed into the chamber, her head bare, her fine
+muslin veil trampled under her feet, and her face dramatically
+expressive of terror and despair. Moonshee, her husband, ignorant alike
+of the topography, the language, and the rules of the place, had by
+mistake intruded in the sacred penetralia where lounged the favorite of
+the harem, to the lively horror of that shrinking Nourmahal, and the
+general wrath of the old women on guard, two of whom, the ugliest,
+fiercest, and most muscular, had dragged him, daft and trembling, to
+summary inquisition.
+
+I followed Beebe headlong to an open sala, where we found that
+respectable servant of the Prophet, his hands tied, his turban off,
+woe-begone but resigned; faithful and philosophic Moslem that he was, he
+only waited for his throat to be cut, since it was his _kismut_, his
+perverse destiny, that had brought him to such a region of _Kafirs_,
+(infidels). Assuring him that there was nothing to fear, I despatched a
+messenger in search of the interpreter, while Beebe wept and protested.
+Presently an imposing personage stalked upon the scene, whose appearance
+matched his temper and his conduct. This was the judge. In vain I strove
+to explain to him by signs and gestures that my servant had offended
+unwittingly; he could not or would not understand me; but stormed away
+at our poor old man, who bore his abuse with the calm indifference of
+profound ignorance, having never before been cursed in a foreign
+language.
+
+The loafers of the yards and porches shook off their lazy naps and
+gathered round us; and among them came the interpreter, insolent
+satisfaction beaming in his bad face. He coolly declined to interfere,
+protesting that it was not his business, and that the judge would be
+offended if he offered to take part in the proceedings. Moonshee was
+condemned to be stripped, and beaten with twenty strokes. Here was an
+end to my patience. Going straight up to the judge, I told him that if a
+single lash was laid upon the old man's back (which was bared as I
+spoke), he should suffer tenfold, for I would immediately lay the matter
+before the British Consul. Though I spoke in English, he caught the
+familiar words "British Consul," and turning to the interpreter,
+demanded the explanation he should have listened to before he pronounced
+sentence. But even as the interpreter was jabbering away to the
+unreasonable functionary, the assembly was agitated with what the French
+term a "sensation." Judge, interpreter, and all fell upon their faces,
+doubling themselves up; and there stood the Premier, who took in the
+situation at a glance, ordered Moonshee to be released, and permitted
+him at my request to retire to the room allotted to Beebe. While the
+slaves were alert in the execution of these benevolent commands, the
+interpreter slunk away on his face and elbows. But the old Moslem, as
+soon as his hands were free, picked up his turban, advanced, and laid it
+at the feet of his deliverer, with the graceful salutation of his
+people, "Peace be with thee, O Vizier of a wise king!" The mild and
+venerable aspect of the Moonshee, and his snow-white beard falling low
+upon his breast, must have inspired the Siamese statesman with abiding
+feelings of respect and consideration, for he was ever afterward
+indulgent to that Oriental Dominie Sampson of my little household.
+
+Dinner at the Premier's was composed and served with the same
+incongruous blending of the barbaric and the refined, the Oriental and
+the European, that characterized the furniture and adornments of his
+palace. The saucy little pages who handled the dishes had cigarettes
+between their pouting lips, and from time to time hopped over the heads
+of Medusæ to expectorate. When I pointed reproachfully to the double
+peccadillo, they only laughed and scampered off. Another detachment of
+these lads brought in fruits, and, when they had set the baskets or
+dishes on the table, retired to sofas to lounge till we had dined. But
+finding I objected to such manners, they giggled gayly, performed
+several acrobatic feats on the carpet, and left us to wait on ourselves.
+
+Twilight on my pretty piazza. The fiery sun is setting, and long pencils
+of color, from palettes of painted glass, touch with rose and gold the
+low brow and downcast eyes and dainty bosom of a bust of Clyte. Beebe
+and Moonshee are preparing below in the open air their evening meal; and
+the smoke of their pottage is borne slowly, heavily on the hot still
+air, stirred only by the careless laughter of girls plunging and
+paddling in the dimpled lake. The blended gloom and brightness without
+enter, and interweave themselves with the blended gloom and brightness
+within, where lights and shadows lie half asleep and half awake, and
+life breathes itself sluggishly away, or drifts on a slumberous stream
+toward its ocean of death.
+
+
+
+
+III. A SKETCH OF SIAMESE HISTORY.
+
+
+Before inducting the reader to more particular acquaintance with his
+Excellency Chow Phya Sri-Sury Wongse Samuha-P'hra Kralahome, I have
+thought that "an abstract and brief chronicle" of the times of the
+strange people over whom he is not less than second in dignity and
+power, would not be out of place.
+
+In the opinion of Pickering, the Siamese are undoubtedly Malay; but a
+majority of the intelligent Europeans who have lived long among them
+regard the native population as mainly Mongolian. They are generally of
+medium stature, the face broad, the forehead low, the eyes black, the
+cheekbones prominent, the chin retreating, the mouth large, the lips
+thick, and the beard scanty. In common with most of the Asiatic races,
+they are apt to be indolent, improvident, greedy, intemperate, servile,
+cruel, vain, inquisitive, superstitious, and cowardly; but individual
+variations from the more repulsive types are happily not rare. In public
+they are scrupulously polite and decorous according to their own notions
+of good manners, respectful to the aged, affectionate to their kindred,
+and bountiful to their priests, of whom more than twenty thousand are
+supported by voluntary contributions in Bangkok alone. Marriage is
+contracted at sixteen for males, and fourteen for females, and polygamy
+is the common practice, without limit to the number of wives except such
+as may be imposed by the humble estate or poverty of the husband; the
+women are generally treated with consideration.
+
+The bodies of the dead are burned; and the badges of mourning are white
+robes for those of the family or kinfolk who are younger than the
+deceased, black for those who are older, and shaven heads for all who
+are in inferior degrees connected with the dead, either as descendants,
+dependents, servants, or slaves. When a king dies the entire population,
+with the exception of very young children, must display this tonsorial
+uniform.
+
+Every ancient or famous city of Siam has a story of its founding, woven
+for it from tradition or fable; and each of these legends is
+distinguished from the others by peculiar features. The religion,
+customs, arts, and literature of a people naturally impart to their
+annals a spirit all their own. Especially is this the case in the
+Orient, where the most original and suggestive thought is half disguised
+in the garb of metaphor, and where, in spite of vivid fancies and fiery
+passions, the people affect taciturnity or reticence, and delight in the
+metaphysical and the mystic. Hence the early annals of the Siamese, or
+Sajamese, abound in fables of heroes, demigods, giants, and genii, and
+afford but few facts of practical value. Swayed by religious influences,
+they joined, in the spirit of the Hebrews, the name of God to the titles
+of their rulers and princes, whom they almost deified after death. But
+the skeleton sketch of the history of Siam that follows is of
+comparatively modern date, and may be accepted as in the main authentic.
+
+In the year 712 of the Siamese, and 1350 of the Christian era,
+Phya-Othong founded, near the river Meinam, about sixty miles from the
+Gulf of Siam, the city of Ayudia or Ayuthia ("the Abode of the Gods");
+at the same time he assumed the title of P'hra Rama Thibodi. This
+capital and stronghold was continually exposed to storms of civil war
+and foreign invasion; and its turreted battlements and ponderous gates,
+with the wide deep moat spanned by drawbridges, where now is a forest of
+great trees, were but the necessary fences behind which court and
+garrison took shelter from the tempestuous barbarism in the midst of
+which they lived. But before any portion of the city, except that facing
+the river, could boast of a fortified enclosure, hostile enterprises
+were directed against it. Birman pirates, ascending the Meinam in
+formidable flotillas, harassed it. Thrice they ravaged the country
+around; but on the last of these occasions great numbers of them were
+captured and put to cruel death by P'hra Rama Suen, successor to
+Thibodi, who pursued the routed remnant to the very citadel of
+Chiengmai, then a tributary of the Birman Empire. Having made successful
+war upon this province, and impressed thousands of Laotian captives, he
+next turned his arms against Cambodia, took the capital by storm, slew
+every male capable of bearing arms, and carried off enormous treasures
+in plate gold, with which, on his return to his kingdom, he erected a
+remarkable pagoda, called to this day "The Mountain of Gold."
+
+P'hra Rama Suen was succeeded by his son Phya Ram, who reigned fourteen
+years, and was assassinated by his uncle, Inthra Racha, the governor or
+feudal lord of the city, who had snatched the reins of government and
+sent three of his sons to rule over the northern provinces. At the death
+of Inthra Racha, in 780, two of these princes set out simultaneously,
+with the design of seizing and occupying the vacant throne. Mounted on
+elephants, they met in the dusk of evening on a bridge leading to the
+Royal Palace; and each instantly divining his brother's purpose, they
+dismounted, and with their naked swords fell upon each other with such
+fury that both were slain on the spot. The political and social
+disorganization that prevailed at this period was aggravated by the
+vulnerable condition of the monarchy, then recently transferred to a new
+line. Princes of the blood royal were for a long time engaged, brother
+against brother, in fierce family feuds. Ayuthia suffered gravely from
+these unnatural contentions, but even more from the universal license
+and riot that reigned among the nobility and the proud proprietors of
+the soil. In the distracted and enfeebled state of all authority, royal
+and magisterial, the fields around remained for many years untilled; and
+the only evidence the land presented of the abode of man was here and
+there the bristling den of some feudal chief, a mere outlaw and dacoit,
+who rarely sallied from it but to carry torch and pillage wherever there
+was aught to sack or burn.
+
+In 834 the undisputed sovereignty of the kingdom fell to another P'hra
+Rama Thibodi, who reigned thirty years, and is famous in Siamese annals
+for the casting of a great image of Buddha, fifty cubits high, of gold
+very moderately alloyed with copper. On an isolated hill, in a sacred
+enclosure, he erected for this image a stately temple of the purest
+white marble, approached by a graceful flight of steps. From the ruins
+of its eastern front, which are still visible, it appears to have had
+six columns at either end and thirteen on each side; the eastern
+pediment is adorned with sculptures, as are also the ten metopes.
+
+P'hra Rama Thibodi was succeeded by his son, P'hra Racha Kuman, whose
+reign was short, and chiefly memorable for a tremendous conflagration
+that devastated Ayuthia. It raged three days, and destroyed more than a
+hundred thousand houses.
+
+This monarch left at his death but one son, P'hra Yot-Fa, a lad of
+twelve, whose mother, the Queen Sisudah-Chand, was appointed regent
+during his minority.
+
+The devil of ambition has rarely possessed the heart of an Eastern queen
+more absolutely than it did that of this infamous woman,--infamous even
+in heathen annals. She is said to have graced her exalted station alike
+by the beauty of her person and the charm of her manner; but in pursuit
+of the most arbitrary and audacious purposes she moved with the
+recklessness their nature demanded, and with equal impatience trampled
+on friend and rival. Blind superstition was the only weak point in her
+character; but though her deference to the imaginary instructions or
+warnings of the stars was slavish, it does not seem to have deterred her
+from any false or cruel course; indeed, a cunning astrologer of her
+court, by scaring her with visionary perils, contrived to obtain a
+monstrous ascendency over her mind, only to plunge her into crime more
+deeply than by her own weight of wickedness she might have sunk. She
+ordered the secret assassination of every member of the royal household
+(not excepting her mother and sisters), who, however mildly, opposed her
+will. Besotted with fear, that fruitful mother of crime, she ended by
+putting to death the young king, her son, and publicly calling her
+paramour (the court astrologer, in whose thoughts, she believed, were
+hidden all the secrets of divination) to the throne of the P'hrabatts.
+
+This double crime filled the measure of her impunity. The nobility
+revolted. The strength of their faction lay, not within the palace,
+which was filled with the queen's parasites, but with the feudal
+proprietors of the soil, who, exasperated by the abominations of the
+court, only waited for a chance to crush it. One day, as the queen and
+her paramour were proceeding in a barge on their customary visit to her
+private pagoda and garden,--a paradise of all the floral wonders of the
+tropics,--a nobleman, who had followed them, hailed the royal gondola,
+as if for instructions, and, being permitted to approach, suddenly
+sprang upon the guilty pair, drew his sword, and dispatched them both,
+careless of their loud cries for help. Almost simultaneously with the
+performance of this tragic exploit, the nobles offered the crown to an
+uncle of the murdered heir, who had fled from the court and taken refuge
+in a monastery. Having accepted it and assumed the title of
+Maha-Charapât Racha-therat, he invaded Pegu with a hundred thousand
+men-at-arms, five thousand war elephants, and seven thousand horse. With
+this mighty host he marched against Henzawadi, the capital of Pegu,
+laying waste the country as he went with fire and sword. The king of
+Pegu came out to meet him, accompanied by his romantic and intrepid
+queen, Maha Chandra, and supported by the few devoted followers that on
+so short a notice he could bring together. In consideration of this
+great disparity of forces, the two kings agreed, in the chivalric spirit
+of the time, to decide the fortune of the day by single combat. Hardly
+had they encountered, when the elephant on which the king of Pegu was
+mounted took fright and fled the field; but his queen promptly took his
+place, and fighting rashly, fell, speared through the right breast. She
+was borne off amid the clash of cymbals and flourish of trumpets that
+hailed the victor.
+
+Maha-Charapât Racha-therat was a great prince. His wisdom, valor, and
+heroic exploits supplied the native bards with inspiring themes. By his
+magnanimity he extinguished the envy of the neighboring princes and
+transformed rivals into friends. Jealous rulers became his willing
+vassals, not from fear of his power, but in admiration for his virtues.
+Malacca, Tenasserim, Ligor, Thavai, Martaban, Maulmain, Songkhla,
+Chantaboon, Phitsanulok, Look-Kho-Thai, Phi-chi, Savan Khalok, Phechit,
+Cambodia, and Nakhon Savan were all dependencies of Siam under his
+reign.
+
+In the year 1568 of the Christian era the Siamese territory was invaded
+and laid under tribute by a Birman king named Mandanahgri, who must have
+been a warrior of Napoleonic genius, for he extended his dominion as far
+as the confines of China. It is remarkable that the flower of his army
+was composed of several thousand Portuguese, tried troops in good
+discipline, commanded by the noted Don Diego Suanes. These, like the
+famous Scotch Legion of Gustavus Adolphus in the Thirty Years' War, were
+mercenaries, and doubtless contributed importantly to the success of the
+Birman arms. Theirs is by no means the only case of Portuguese soldiers
+serving for hire in the armies of the East. Their commander, Suanes,
+seems to have been a brave and accomplished officer, and to have been
+intrusted with undivided control of the Birmese forces.
+
+Mandanahgri held the queen of Siam and her two sons as hostages for the
+payment of the tribute he had levied; but the princes were permitted to
+return to Siam after a few years of captivity in Birmah, and in 1583
+their captor died. His successor struggled with an uncle for possession
+of the throne, and the king of Siam, seizing the opportunity, declared
+himself independent; wherefore a more formidable army was shortly sent
+against him, under command of the eldest son of the king of Birmah. But
+one of the young princes who had been led into captivity by Mandanahgri
+now sat on the throne of Siam. In his youth he had been styled "the
+Black Prince," a title of distinction which seems to have fitted his
+characteristics not less appropriately than it did those of the English
+Edward. Undismayed by the strength and fury of the enemy, he attacked
+and routed them in a pitched battle, killing their leader with his own
+hands, invaded Pegu, and besieged its capital; but was finally compelled
+to retire with considerable loss. The Black Prince was succeeded by "the
+White King," who reigned peacefully for many years.
+
+The next monarch especially worthy of notice is P'hra Narai, who sent
+ambassadors to Goa, the most important of the Portuguese
+trading-stations in the East Indies, chiefly to invite the Portuguese of
+Malacca to establish themselves in Siam for mutual advantages of trade.
+The welcome emissaries were sumptuously entertained, and a Dominican
+friar accompanied them on their return, with costly presents for the
+king. This friar found P'hra Narai much more liberal in his ideas than
+later ambassadors, even to this day, have found any other ruler of Siam.
+He agreed not only to permit all Portuguese merchants to establish
+themselves anywhere in his dominions, but to exempt their goods and
+wares from duty. The Dominican monks were likewise invited to build
+churches and preach Christianity in Siam.
+
+Soon after this extraordinary display of liberal statesmanship P'hra
+Narai narrowly escaped death by a strange conspiracy. Four or five
+hundred Japanese adventurers were secretly introduced into the country
+by an ambitious feudal proprietor, who had conceived the mad design of
+dethroning the monarch and reigning in his stead; but the king, warned
+of the planned attack upon the palace, seized the native conspirator and
+put him to death. The Japanese, on the contrary, were enrolled as a kind
+of praetorian guard, or janissaries; in this character, however, their
+pride and power became so formidable that the king grew uneasy and
+disbanded them.
+
+P'hra Narai, from all accounts, was a man to be respected and esteemed.
+The events and the _dramatis personae_ of his reign form a story so
+romantic, so exceptional even in Eastern annals, that, but for the
+undoubted authenticity of this chapter of Siamese history, it would be
+incredible. It was during his reign that the whimsical attempt was made
+by Louis XIV. to conquer Siam and proselyte her king. An extraordinary
+spectacle! One of the most licentious monarchs of France, who to the
+last breathed an atmosphere poisoned with scepticism, and more than
+Buddhism itself subversive of the true principles of Christianity, is
+suddenly inspired with an apparently devout longing to be the instrument
+of converting to the true faith the princes of the East. To this end he
+employs that wily, powerful, and indefatigable body of daring priests,
+the Jesuits, who were then in the very ardor of their missionary
+schemes.
+
+Ostensibly for the purpose of propagating the Gospel, but with more
+reality aspiring to extend their subtile influence over all mankind,
+this society, with means the most slender and in the face of obstacles
+the most disheartening, have, with indomitable courage and supernatural
+patience, accomplished labors unparalleled in the achievements of mind.
+Now, in the wilds of Western America, taming and teaching races of whose
+existence the world of refinement had never heard; now climbing the icy
+steeps and tracking the wastes and wildernesses of Siberia, or with the
+evangel of John in one hand and the art of Luke in the other, bringing
+life to the bodies and souls of perishing multitudes under a scorching
+equatorial sun,--there is not a spot of earth in which European
+civilization has taken root where traces of Jesuit forethought and
+careful, patient husbandry may not be found. So in Siam, we discover a
+monarch of consummate acumen, more European than Asiatic in his ideas,
+sedulously cultivating the friendship of these foreign workers of
+wonders; and finally we find a Greek adventurer officiating as prime
+minister to this same king, and conducting his affairs with that ability
+and success which must have commanded intellectual admiration, even if
+they had not been inspired and promoted by motives of integrity toward
+the monarch who had so implicitly confided in his wisdom and fidelity.
+
+Constantine Phaulkon was the son of respectable parents, natives of the
+island of Cephalonia, where he was born in 1630. The geography, if not
+the very name, of the kingdom whose affairs he was destined to direct
+was quite unknown to his compatriots of the Ionian Isles,--even when as
+a mariner, wrecked on the coast of Malabar, he became a fellow-passenger
+with a party of Siamese officials, his companions in disaster, who were
+returning to their country from an embassy. The facile Greek quickly
+learned to talk with his new-found friends in their own tongue, and by
+his accomplishments and adroitness made a place for himself in their
+admiration and influence, so that he was received with flattering
+consideration at the Court of P'hra Narai, and very soon invited to take
+service under government. By his sagacity, tact, and diligence in the
+management of all affairs intrusted to him, he rapidly rose in favor
+with his patron, who finally elevated him to the highest post of honor
+in the state: he was made premier.
+
+The star of the Cephalonian waif and adventurer had now mounted to the
+zenith, and was safe to shine for many years with unabated brilliancy;
+to this day he is remembered by the expressive term _Vicha-yen_, "the
+cool wisdom." The French priests, elated at his success, spared no
+promises or arts to retain him secretly in their interest. Under
+circumstances so extraordinary and auspicious, the plans of the Jesuits
+for the conversion of all Eastern Asia were put in execution. From the
+Vatican bishops were appointed, and sent out to Cochin China, Cambodia,
+Siam, and Pegu, while the people of those several kingdoms were yet
+profoundly ignorant of the amiable intentions of the Pope. Francis
+Pallu, M. De la Motte Lambert, and Ignatius Cotolendy were the
+respective exponents of this pious idea, under the imposing titles of
+Bishops of Heliopolis, Borytus, Byzantium, and Metellopolis,--all
+Frenchmen, for Louis XIV. insisted that the glory of the enterprise
+should be ascribed exclusively to France and to himself.
+
+But all their efforts to convert the king were of no avail. The Jesuits,
+however, opened schools, and have ever since labored assiduously and
+with success to introduce the ideas and the arts of Europe into those
+countries.
+
+After some years P'hra Narai sent an embassy to the Court of Louis, who
+was so sensible of the flattery that he immediately reciprocated with an
+embassy of his own, with more priests, headed by the Chevalier De
+Chaumont and the Père Tachard. The French fleet of five ships cast
+anchor in the Meinam on the 27th of September, 1687, and the Chevalier
+and his reverend colleague, attended by Jesuits, were promptly and
+graciously received by the king, who, however, expressed his "fears"
+that the chief object of their mission might not prove so easy of
+attainment as they had been led to believe. As for Phaulkon, he had
+adroitly deceived the Jesuits from the first, and made all parties
+instruments to promote his own shrewd and secret plans.
+
+De Chaumont, disheartened by his failure, sailed back to France, where
+he arrived in 1688, in the height of the agitation attending the English
+Revolution of that year.
+
+Phaulkon, finding that he could no longer conceal from the Jesuits the
+king's repugnance to their plans for his conversion, placed himself
+under their direction and control; for though he had not as yet
+conceived the idea of seizing upon the crown, it was plain that he
+aspired to honors higher than the premiership. Then rumors of
+disaffection among the nobles were diligently propagated by the French
+priests, who, although not sufficiently powerful to dethrone the king,
+were nevertheless dangerous inciters of rebellion among the common
+people.
+
+Meanwhile the king of Johore, then a tributary of Siam, instigated by
+the Dutch, who, from the first, had watched with jealousy the
+machinations of the French, sent envoys to P'hra Narai, to advise the
+extermination or expulsion of the French, and to proffer the aid of his
+troops; but the proposition was rejected with indignation.
+
+These events were immediately followed by another, known in Siamese
+history as the Revolt of the Macassars, which materially promoted the
+ripening of the revolution of which the French had sown the seeds.
+Celebes, a large, irregular island east of Borneo, includes a district
+known as Macassar, the ruler of which had been arbitrarily dethroned by
+the Dutch; and the sons of the injured monarch, taking refuge in Siam,
+secretly encouraged the growing enmity of the nobles against the French.
+
+Meanwhile Phaulkon, by his address, and skilful management of public
+affairs, continued to exercise paramount influence over the mind of the
+king. He persuaded P'hra Narai to send another embassy to France, which
+arrived happily (the former having been shipwrecked off the Cape of Good
+Hope) at the Court of Louis XIV. in 1689. He also diligently and ably
+advanced the commercial strength of the country; merchants from all
+parts of the world were invited to settle in Siam, and factories of
+every nation were established along the banks of the Meinam. Both Ayudia
+and Lophaburee became busy and flourishing. He was careful to keep the
+people employed, and applied himself with vigor to improving the
+agriculture of the country. Rice, sugar, corn, and palm-oil constituting
+the most fruitful and regular source of revenue, he wisely regulated the
+traffic in those staples, and was studious to promote the security and
+happiness of the great body of the population engaged or concerned in
+their production. The laws he framed were so sound and stable, and at
+the same time so wisely conformable to the interests alike of king and
+subject, that to this day they constitute the fundamental law of the
+land.
+
+Phaulkon designed and built the palaces at Lophaburee, consisting of two
+lofty edifices, square, with pillars on all sides; each pillar was made
+to represent a succession of shafts by the intervention of salient
+blocks, forming capitals to what they surmounted and pedestals to what
+they supported. The apartments within were gorgeously gilt and
+sumptuously furnished. There yet remains, in remarkable preservation, a
+vermilion chamber looking toward the east; though, otherwise, a forest
+of stately trees and several broken arches alone mark the spot where
+dwelt in regal splendor this foreign favorite of P'hra Narai.
+
+He also erected the famous castle on the west of the town, on a piece of
+ground, near the north bank of the river, which formerly belonged to a
+Buddhist monastery.
+
+Finally, to keep off the Birman invaders, he built a wall, surmounted
+along its whole extent by a parapet, and fortified with towers at
+regular intervals of forty fathoms, as well as by four larger ones at
+its extremities on the banks of the river, below the two bridges. Its
+gates appear to have been twelve or thirteen in number, and the extent
+of the southern portion is fixed at two thousand fathoms. Suburban
+villages still exist on both sides of the river, and, beyond these, the
+religious buildings, which have been restored, but which now display the
+fantastic rather than the grand style which distinguished the
+architecture of this consummate Grecian, whom the people name with
+wonder,--all marvellous works being by them attributed to gods, genii,
+devils, or the "Vicha-yen."
+
+But the luxury in which the haughty statesman revelled, his towering
+ambition, and the wealth he lavished on his private abodes, joined to
+the lofty, condescending air he assumed toward the nobles, soon provoked
+their jealous murmurings against him and his too partial master; and
+when, at last, the king, falling ill, repaired to the premier's palace
+at Lophaburee, some of the more disaffected nobles, headed by a natural
+son of P'hra Narai and the two princes of Macassar, forced their way
+into the palace to slay the monarch. But the brave old man, at a glance
+divining their purpose, leaped from his couch and, seizing his sword,
+threw himself upon it, and died as his assassins entered.
+
+In the picturesque drama of Siamese history no figure appears so truly
+noble and brilliant as this king, not merely renowned by the glory of
+his military exploits and the happy success of his more peaceful
+undertakings, but beloved for his affectionate concern for the welfare
+of his subjects, his liberality, his moderation, his modesty, his
+indifference to the formal honors due to his royal state, and (what is
+most rare in Asiatic character) his sincere aversion to flattery, his
+shyness even toward deserved and genuine praise.
+
+Turning from the corpse of the king, the baffled regicides dashed at the
+luxurious apartment where Phaulkon slumbered, as was his custom of an
+afternoon, unattended save by his fair young daughter Constantia.
+Breaking in, they tore the sleeping father from the arms of his agonized
+child, who with piteous implorings offered her life for his, bound him
+with cords, dragged him to the woods beyond his garden, and there,
+within sight of the lovely little Greek chapel he had erected for his
+private devotions, first tortured him like fiends, and then, dispatching
+him, flung his body into a pit. His daughter, following them, clung fast
+to her father, and, though her heart bled and her brain grew numb
+between the gashes and the groans, she still cheered him with her
+passionate endearments; and, holding before his eyes a cross of gold
+that always hung on her bosom, inspired him to die like a brave man and
+a Christian. After that the lovely heroine was dragged into slavery and
+concubinage by the infamous Chow Dua, one of the bloodiest of the gang.
+
+Even pagan chroniclers do not fail to render homage to so brave a man,
+of whom they tell that "he bore all with a fortitude and defiance that
+astounded the monsters who slew him, and convinced them that he derived
+his supernatural courage and contempt of pain from the miraculous
+virtues of his daughter's golden cross."  After the death of the able
+premier, the Birmese again overran the land, laying waste the fields,
+and besieging the city of Ayuthia for two years. Finding they could not
+reduce it by famine, they tried flames, and the burning is said to have
+lasted two whole months. One of the feudal lords of Siam, Phya Tâk, a
+Chinese adventurer, who had amassed wealth, and held the office of
+governor of the northern provinces under the late king, seeing the
+impending ruin of the country, assembled his personal followers and
+dependants, and with about a thousand hardy and resolute warriors
+retired to the mountain fastness of Naghon Najok, whence from time to
+time he swooped down to harass the encampments of the Birmese, who were
+almost invariably worsted in the skirmishes he provoked. He then moved
+upon Bangplasoi, and the people of that place came out with gifts of
+treasure and hailed him as their sovereign. Thence he sailed to Rajong,
+strengthened his small force with volunteers in great numbers, marched
+against Chantaboon, whose governor had disputed his authority, and
+executed that indiscreet official; levied another large army; built and
+equipped a hundred vessels of war; and set sail--a part of his army
+preceding him overland--for Kankhoa, on the confines of Cochin China,
+which place he brought to terms in less than three hours. Thence he
+pushed on to Cambodia, and arriving there on the Siamese Sabâto, or
+Sabbath, he issued a solemn proclamation to his army, assuring them that
+he would that evening worship in the temple of the famous emerald idol,
+P'hra Këau. Every man was ordered to arm as if for battle, but to wear
+the sacred robe,--white for the laity, yellow for the clergy; and all
+the priests who followed his fortunes were required to lead the way into
+the grand temple through the southern portico, over which stood a
+triple-headed tower. Then the conqueror, having prepared himself by
+fasting and purification, clad in his sacred robes and armed to the
+teeth, followed and made his words good.  Almost his first act was to
+send his ships to the adjacent provinces for supplies of rice and grain,
+which he dispensed so bountifully to the famishing people that they
+gratefully accepted his rule.
+
+This king is described as an enthusiastic and indefatigable warrior,
+scorning palaces, and only happy in camp or at the head of his army. His
+people found in him a true friend, he was ever kind and generous to the
+poor, and to his soldiers he paid fivefold the rates of former reigns.
+But toward the nobles he was haughty, rude, exacting. It is supposed
+that his prime minister, fearing to oppose him openly, corrupted his
+chief concubine, and with her assistance drugged his food; so that he
+was rendered insane, and, imagining himself a god, insisted that
+sacrifices and offerings should be made to him, and began to levy upon
+the nobility for enormous sums, often putting them to the torture to
+extort treasure. Instigated by their infuriated lords, the people now
+rebelled against their lately idolized master, and attacked him in his
+palace, from, which he fled by a secret passage to an adjoining
+monastery, in the disguise of a priest. But the premier, to whom he was
+presently betrayed, had him put to death, on the pretext that he might
+cause still greater scandal and disaster, but in reality to establish
+himself in undisputed possession of the throne, which he now usurped
+under the title of P'hra-Phuthi-Chow-Luang, and removed the palace from
+the west to the east bank of the Meinam. During his reign the Birmese
+made several attempts to invade the country, but were invariably
+repulsed with loss.
+
+This brings us to the uneventful reign of Phen-den-Klang; and by his
+death, in 1825, to the beginning of the story of his Majesty, Maha
+Mongkut, the late supreme king, and my employer, with whom, in these
+pages, we shall have much to do.
+
+
+
+
+IV. HIS EXCELLENCY'S HAREM AND HELPMEET.
+
+
+When the Senabawdee, or Royal Council, by elevating to the throne the
+priest-prince Chowfa Mongkut, frustrated the machinations of the son of
+his predecessor, they by the same stroke crushed the secret hopes of
+Chow Phya Sri Sury Wongse, the present premier. It is whispered to this
+day--for no native, prince or peasant, may venture to approach the
+subject openly--that, on the day of coronation, his Excellency retired
+to his private chambers, and there remained, shut up with his chagrin
+and grief, for three days. On the fourth, arrayed in his court robes and
+attended by a numerous retinue, he presented himself at the palace to
+take part in the ceremonies with which the coronation was celebrated.
+The astute young king, who in his priestly character had penetrated many
+state secrets, advanced to greet him, and with the double purpose of
+procuring the adherence and testing the fidelity of this discontented
+and wavering son of his stanch old champion, the Duke Somdetch Ong Yai,
+appointed him on the spot to the command of the army, under the title of
+Phya P'hra Kralahome.
+
+This flattering distinction, though it did not immediately beguile him
+from his moodiness, for a time diverted his dangerous fancies into
+channels of activity, and he found a safe expression for his annoyance
+in a useful restlessness. But after he had done more than any of his
+predecessors to remodel and perfect the army, he relapsed into morbid
+melancholy, from which he was once more aroused by the call of his royal
+master, who invited him to share the labors and the honors of government
+in the highest civil office, that of prime minister. He accepted, and
+has ever since shown himself prolific in devices to augment the revenue,
+secure the co-operation of the nobility, and confirm his own power. His
+remarkable executive faculty, seconding the enlightened policy of the
+king, would doubtless have inaugurated a golden age for his country, but
+for the aggressive meddling of French diplomacy in the quarrels between
+the princes of Cochin China and Cambodia; by which exasperating measure
+Siam is in the way to lose one of her richest possessions, [Footnote:
+Cambodia.] and may in time become, herself, the brightest and most
+costly jewel in the crown of France.
+
+Such was Chow Phya Sri Sury Wongse when I was first presented to him: a
+natural king among the dusky forms that surrounded him, the actual ruler
+of that semi-barbarous realm, and the prime contriver of its arbitrary
+policy. Black, but comely, robust, and vigorous, neck short and thick,
+nose large and nostrils wide, eyes inquisitive and penetrating, his was
+the massive brain proper to an intellect deliberate and systematic. Well
+found in the best idioms of his native tongue, he expressed strong,
+discriminative thoughts in words at once accurate and abundant. His only
+vanity was his English, with which he so interlarded his native speech,
+as often to impart the effect of levity to ideas that, in themselves,
+were grave, judicious, and impressive.
+
+Let me conduct the reader into one of the saloons of the palace, where
+we shall find this intellectual sensualist in the moral relaxation of
+his harem, with his latest pets and playthings about him.
+
+Peering into a twilight, studiously contrived, of dimly-lighted and
+suggestive shadows, we discover in the centre of the hall a long line of
+girls with skins of olive,--creatures who in years and physical
+proportions are yet but children, but by training developed into women
+and accomplished actresses. There are some twenty of them, in
+transparent draperies with golden girdles, their arms and bosoms, wholly
+nude, flashing, as they wave and heave, with barbaric ornaments of gold.
+The heads are modestly inclined, the hands are humbly folded, and the
+eyes droop timidly beneath long lashes. Their only garment, the lower
+skirt, floating in light folds about their limbs, is of very costly
+material bordered heavily with gold. On the ends of their fingers they
+wear long "nails" of gold, tapering sharply like the claws of a bird.
+The apartment is illuminated by means of candelabras, hung so high that
+the light falls in a soft hazy mist on the tender faces and pliant forms
+below.
+
+Another group of maidens, comely and merry, sit behind musical
+instruments, of so great variety as to recall the "cornet, flute,
+sackbut, harp, psaltery, and dulcimer" of Scripture. The "head wife" of
+the premier, earnestly engaged in creaming her lips, reclines apart on a
+dais, attended by many waiting-women.
+
+From the folds of a great curtain a single flute opens the entertainment
+with low tender strains, and from the recesses twelve damsels appear,
+bearing gold and silver fans, with which, seated in order, they fan the
+central group.
+
+Now the dancers, a burst of joyous music being the signal, form in two
+lines, and simultaneously, with military precision, kneel, fold and
+raise their hands, and bow till their foreheads touch the carpet before
+their lord. Then suddenly springing to their feet, they describe a
+succession of rapid and intricate circles, tapping the carpet with their
+toes in time to the music. Next follows a miracle of art, such as may be
+found only among pupils of the highest physical training; a dance in
+which every motion is poetry, every attitude an expression of love, even
+rest but the eloquence of passion overcome by its own fervor. The music
+swelling into a rapturous tumult preludes the choral climax, wherein the
+dancers, raising their delicate feet, and curving their arms and fingers
+in seemingly impossible flexures, sway like withes of willow, and
+agitate all the muscles of the body like the fluttering of leaves in a
+soft breeze. Their eyes glow as with an inner light; the soft brown
+complexion, the rosy lips half parted, the heaving bosom, and the waving
+arms, as they float round and round in wild eddies of dance, impart to
+them the aspect of fair young fiends.
+
+And there sits the Kralahome, like the idol of ebony before the demon
+had entered it! while around him these elfin worshippers, with flushed
+cheeks and flashing eyes, tossing arms and panting bosoms, whirl in
+their witching waltz. He is a man to be wondered at,--stony and grim,
+his huge hands resting on his knees in statuesque repose, as though he
+supported on his well-poised head the whole weight of the Maha Mongkut
+[Footnote: "The Mighty Crown."] itself, while at his feet these brown
+leaves of humanity lie quivering.
+
+Is it all _maya_,--delusion? I open wide my eyes, then close them, then
+open them again. There still lie the living puppets, not daring to look
+up to the face of their silent god, where scorn and passion contend for
+place. The dim lights, the shadows blending with them, the fine harmony
+of colors, the wild harmony of sounds, the fantastic phantoms, the
+overcoming sentiment, all the poetry and the pity of the scene,--the
+formless longing, the undefined sense of wrong! Poor things, poor
+things!
+
+The prime minister of Siam enjoys no exemption from that mocking law
+which condemns the hero strutting on the stage of the world to cut but a
+sorry figure at home. Toward these helpless slaves of his nod his
+deportment was studiously ungracious and mean. No smile of pleased
+surprise or approbation ever brightened his gloomy countenance. True,
+the fire of his native ardor burns there still, but through no crevice
+of the outward man may one catch a glimpse of its light. Though he rage
+as a fiery furnace within, externally he is calm as a lake, too deep to
+be troubled by the skipping, singing brooks that flow into it. Rising
+automatically, he abruptly retired, bored. And those youthful, tender
+forms, glowing and panting there,--in what glorious robes might not
+their proper loveliness have arrayed them, if only their hearts had
+looked upward in freedom, and not, like their trained eyes, downward in
+blind homage.
+
+Koon Ying Phan (literally, "The Lady in One Thousand") was the head wife
+of the Premier. He married her, after repudiating the companion of his
+more grateful years, the mother of his only child, a son--the legitimacy
+of whose birth he doubted, and so, for a grim jest, named the lad _My
+Chi_, "Not So." He would have put the mother to death, but finding no
+real grounds for his suspicion, let her off with a public "putting
+away." The divorced woman, having nothing left but her disowned baby,
+carefully changed the _My Chi_ to _Ny Chi_ ("Not So" to "Master So
+"),--a cunning trick of pride, but a doubtful improvement.
+
+Koon Ying Phan had neither beauty nor grace; but her habits were
+domestic, and her temper extremely mild. When I first knew her she was
+perhaps forty years old,--stout, heavy, dark,--her only attraction the
+gentle expression of her eyes and mouth. Around her pretty residence,
+adjoining the Premier's palace, bloomed the most charming garden I saw
+in Siam, with shrubberies, fountains, and nooks, designed by a true
+artist; though the work of the native florists is usually fantastic and
+grotesque, with an excess of dwarfed trees in Chinese vases. There was,
+besides, a cool, shaded walk, leading to a more extensive garden,
+adorned with curious lattice-work, and abounding in shrubs of great
+variety and beauty. Koon Ying Phan had a lively love for flowers, which
+she styled the children of her heart; "for my lord is childless," she
+whispered.
+
+In her apartments the same subdued lights and mellow half-tints
+prevailed that in her husband's saloons imparted a pensive sentiment to
+the place. There were neither carpets nor mirrors; and the only articles
+of furniture were some sofa-beds, low marble couches, tables, and a few
+arm-chairs, but all of forms antique and delicate. The combined effect
+was one of delicious coolness, retirement, and repose, even despite the
+glaring rays that strove to invade the sweet refuge through the silken
+window-nets.
+
+This lady, to whom belonged the undivided supervision of the premier's
+household, was kind to the younger women of her husband's harem, in
+whose welfare she manifested a most amiable interest,--living among them
+happily, as a mother among her daughters, sharing their confidences, and
+often pleading their cause with her lord and theirs, over whom she
+exercised a very cautious but positive influence.
+
+I learned gladly and with pride to admire and love this lady, to accept
+her as the type of a most precious truth. For to behold, even afar off,
+"silent upon a peak" of sympathy, the ocean of love and pathos, of
+passion and patience, on which the lives of these our pagan sisters
+drift, is to be gratefully sensible of a loving, pitying, and sufficing
+Presence, even in the darkness of error, superstition, slavery, and
+death. Shortly after her marriage, Koon Ying Phan, moved partly by
+compassion for the wrongs of her predecessor, partly by the "aching
+void" of her own life, adopted the disowned son of the premier, and
+called him, with reproachful significance, P'hra Nah Why, "the Lord
+endures." And her strong friend, Nature, who had already knit together,
+by nerve and vein and bone and sinew, the father and the child, now came
+to her aid, and united them by the finer but scarcely weaker ties of
+habit and companionship and home affections.
+
+[Illustration: THE TEMPLE OF THE SLEEPING IDOL.]
+
+
+
+
+V. THE TEMPLES OF THE SLEEPING AND THE EMERALD IDOLS.
+
+
+The day had come for my presentation to the supreme king. After much
+preliminary talk between the Kralahome and myself, through the medium of
+the interpreter, it had been arranged that my straightforward friend,
+Captain B----, should conduct us to the royal palace, and procure the
+interview. Our cheerful escort arrived duly, and we proceeded up the
+river,--my boy maintaining an ominous silence all the while, except
+once, when he shyly confessed he was afraid to go.
+
+At the landing we found a large party of priests, some bathing, some
+wringing their yellow garments; graceful girls balancing on their heads
+vessels of water; others, less pleasing, carrying bundles of grass, or
+baskets of fruit and nuts; noblemen in gilded sedans, borne on men's
+shoulders, hurrying toward the palace; in the distance a troop of
+horsemen, with long glittering spears.
+
+Passing the covered gangway at the landing, we came upon a clean brick
+road, bounded by two high walls, the one on the left enclosing the abode
+of royalty, the other the temple Watt Poh, where reposes in gigantic
+state the wondrous Sleeping Idol. Imagine a reclining figure one hundred
+and fifty feet long and forty feet high, entirely overlaid with plate
+gold; the soles of its monstrous feet covered with bass-reliefs inlaid
+with mother-of-pearl and chased with gold; each separate design
+distinctly representing one of the many transmigrations of Buddha
+whereby he obtained Niphan. On the nails are graven his divine
+attributes, ten in number:
+
+1. Arahang,--Immaculate, Pure, Chaste.
+2. Samma Sam-Putho,--Cognizant of the laws of Nature, Infallible,
+   Unchangeable, True.
+3. Vicharanah Sampanoh,--Endowed with all Knowledge, all Science.
+4. Lukha-tho,--Excellence, Perfection.
+5. Lôk-havi-tho,--Cognizant of the mystery of Creation.
+6. Annutharo,--Inconceivably Pure, without Sin.
+7. Purisah tham-mah Sarathi,--Unconquerable, Invincible, before whom the
+   angels bow.
+8. Sassahdah,--Father of Beatitude, Teacher of the ways to bliss.
+9. Poodh-tho,--Endowed with boundless Compassion, Pitiful, Tender, Loving,
+   Merciful, Benevolent.
+10. Pâk-havah,--Glorious, endowed with inconceivable Merit, Adorable.
+
+Leaving this temple, we approached a low circular fort near the palace,
+--a miniature model of a great citadel, with bastions, battlements, and
+towers, showing confusedly over a crenellated wall. Entering by a curious
+wooden gate, bossed with great flat-headed nails, we reached by a stony
+pathway the stables (or, more correctly, the palace) of the White
+Elephant, where the huge creature--indebted for its "whiteness" to
+tradition rather than to nature--is housed royally. Passing these, we
+next came to the famous Watt P'hra Këau, or temple of the Emerald Idol.
+
+An inner wall separates this temple from the military depot attached to
+the palace; but it is connected by a secret passage with the most
+private apartments of his Majesty's harem, which, enclosed on all sides,
+is accessible only to women. The temple itself is unquestionably one of
+the most remarkable and beautiful structures of its class in the Orient;
+the lofty octagonal pillars, the quaint Gothic doors and windows, the
+tapering and gilded roofs, are carved in an infinite variety of emblems,
+the lotos and the palm predominating. The adornment of the exterior is
+only equalled in its profusion by the pictorial and hieroglyphic
+embellishment within. The ceiling is covered with mythological figures
+and symbols. Most conspicuous among the latter are the luminous circles,
+resembling the mystic orb of the Hindoos, and representing the seven
+constellations known to the ancients; these revolve round a central sun
+in the form of a lotos, called by the Siamese _Dok Âthit_ (sun-flower),
+because it expands its leaves to the rising sun and contracts them as he
+sets. On the cornices are displayed the twelve signs of the zodiac.
+
+The altar is a wonder of dimensions and splendor,--a pyramid one hundred
+feet high, terminating in a fine spire of gold, and surrounded on every
+side by idols, all curious and precious, from the bijou image in
+sapphire to the colossal statue in plate gold. A series of trophies
+these, gathered from the triumphs of Buddhism over the proudest forms of
+worship in the old pagan world. In the pillars that surround the temple,
+and the spires that taper far aloft, may be traced types and emblems
+borrowed from the Temple of the Sun at Baalbec, the proud fane of Diana
+at Ephesus, the shrines of the Delian Apollo; but the Brahminical
+symbols and interpretations prevail. Strange that it should be so, with
+a sect that suffered by the slayings and the outcastings of a ruthless
+persecution, at the hands of their Brahmin fathers, for the cause of
+restoring the culture of that simple and pure philosophy which nourished
+before pantheism!
+
+The floor is paved with diamonds of polished brass, which reflect the
+light of tall tapers that have burned on for more than a hundred years,
+so closely is the sacred fire watched. The floods of light and depths of
+shadow about the altar are extreme, and the effect overwhelming.
+
+The Emerald Idol is about twelve inches high and eight in width. Into
+the virgin gold of which its hair and collar are composed must have been
+stirred, while the metal was yet molten, crystals, topazes, sapphires,
+rubies, onyxes, amethysts, and diamonds,--the stones crude, or rudely
+cut, and blended in such proportions as might enhance to the utmost
+imaginable limit the beauty and the cost of the adored effigy. The
+combination is as harmonious as it is splendid. No wonder it is commonly
+believed that Buddha himself alighted on the spot in the form of a great
+emerald, and by a flash of lightning conjured the glittering edifice and
+altar in an instant from the earth, to house and throne him there!
+
+On either side of the eastern entrance--called _Patoo Ngam_, "The
+Beautiful Gate"--stands a modern statue; one of Saint Peter, with
+flowing mantle and sandalled feet, in an attitude of sorrow, as when "he
+turned away his face and wept"; the other of Ceres, scattering flowers.
+The western entrance, which admits only ladies, is styled _Patoo
+Thavâdah_, "The Angels' Gate," and is guarded by genii of ferocious
+aspect.
+
+At a later period, visiting this temple in company with the king and his
+family, I called his Majesty's attention to the statue at the Beautiful
+Gate, as that of a Christian saint with whose story he was not
+unfamiliar. Turning quickly to his children, and addressing them gently,
+he bade them salute it reverently. "It is Mam's P'hra," [Footnote:
+Saint, or Lord.] he said; whereupon the tribe of little ones folded
+their hands devoutly, and made obeisance before the effigy of Saint
+Peter. As often as my thought reverts to this inspiring shrine, reposing
+in its lonely loveliness amid the shadows and the silence of its
+consecrated groves, I cannot find it in my heart to condemn, however
+illusive the object, but rather I rejoice to admire and applaud, the
+bent of that devotion which could erect so proud and beautiful a fane in
+the midst of moral surroundings so ignoble and unlovely,--a spiritual
+remembrance perhaps older and truer than paganism, ennobling the pagan
+mind with the idea of an architectural Sabbath, so to speak, such as a
+heathen may purely enjoy and a Christian may not wisely despise.
+
+[Illustration: THE BEAUTIFUL GATE OF THE TEMPLE.]
+
+
+
+
+VI. THE KING AND THE GOVERNESS.
+
+
+In 1825 a royal prince of Siam (his birthright wrested from him, and his
+life imperilled) took refuge in a Buddhist monastery and assumed the
+yellow garb of a priest. His father, commonly known as Phen-den-Klang,
+first or supreme king of Siam, had just died, leaving this prince,
+Chowfa Mongkut, at the age of twenty, lawful heir to the crown; for he
+was the eldest son of the acknowledged queen, and therefore by courtesy
+and honored custom, if not by absolute right, the legitimate successor
+to the throne of the P'hra-batts. [Footnote: The Golden-footed.] But he
+had an elder half-brother, who, through the intrigues of his mother, had
+already obtained control of the royal treasury, and now, with the
+connivance, if not by the authority, of the Senabawdee, the Grand
+Council of the kingdom, proclaimed himself king. He had the grace,
+however, to promise his plundered brother--such royal promises being a
+cheap form of propitiation in Siam--to hold the reins of government only
+until Chowfa Mongkut should be of years and strength and skill to manage
+them. But, once firmly seated on the throne, the usurper saw in his
+patient but proud and astute kinsman only a hindrance and a peril in the
+path of his own cruder and fiercer aspirations. Hence the forewarning
+and the flight, the cloister and the yellow robes. And so the usurper
+continued to reign, unchallenged by any claim from the king that should
+be, until March, 1851, when, a mortal illness having overtaken him, he
+convoked the Grand Council of princes and nobles around his couch, and
+proposed his favorite son as his successor. Then the safe asses of the
+court kicked the dying lion with seven words of sententious scorn,--"The
+crown has already its rightful owner"; whereupon the king literally
+cursed himself to death, for it was almost in the convulsion, of his
+chagrin and rage that he came to his end, on the 3d of April.
+
+In Siam there is no such personage as an heir-apparent to the throne, in
+the definite meaning and positive value which attaches to that phrase in
+Europe,--no prince with an absolute and exclusive title, by birth,
+adoption, or nomination, to succeed to the crown. And while it is true
+that the eldest living son of a Siamese sovereign by his queen or queen
+consort is recognized by all custom, ancient and modern, as the
+_probable_ successor to the high seat of his royal sire, he cannot be
+said to have a clear and indefeasible right to it, because the question
+of his accession has yet to be decided by the electing voice of the
+Senabawdee, in whose judgment he may be ineligible, by reason of certain
+physical, mental, or moral disabilities,--as extreme youth, effeminacy,
+imbecility, intemperance, profligacy. Nevertheless, the election is
+popularly expected to result in the choice of the eldest son of the
+queen, though an interregnum or a regency is a contingency by no means
+unusual.
+
+It was in view of this jurisdiction of the Senabawdee, exercised in
+deference to a just and honored usage, that the voice of the oracle fell
+upon the ear of the dying monarch with a disappointing and offensive
+significance; for he well knew who was meant by the "rightful owner" of
+the crown. Hardly had he breathed his last when, in spite of the busy
+intrigues of his eldest son (whom we find described in the _Bangkok
+Recorder_ of July 26, 1866, as "most honorable and promising"), in spite
+of the bitter vexation of his lordship Chow Phya Sri Sury Wongse, so
+soon to be premier, the prince Chowfa Mongkut doffed his sacerdotal
+robes, emerged from his cloister, and was crowned, with the title of
+Somdetch Phra Paramendr Maha Mongkut.[Footnote: Duke, and royal bearer
+of the great crown.]
+
+For twenty-five years had the true heir to the throne of the
+P'hra-batts, patiently biding his time, lain _perdu_ in his monastery,
+diligently devoting himself to the study of Sanskrit, Pali, theology,
+history, geology, chemistry, and especially astronomy. He had been a
+familiar visitor at the houses of the American missionaries, two of whom
+(Dr. House and Mr. Mattoon) were, throughout his reign and life,
+gratefully revered by him for that pleasant and profitable converse
+which helped to unlock to him the secrets of European vigor and
+advancement, and to make straight and easy the paths of knowledge he had
+started upon. Not even the essential arrogance of his Siamese nature
+could prevent him from accepting cordially the happy influences these
+good and true men inspired; and doubtless he would have gone more than
+half-way to meet them, but for the dazzle of the golden throne in the
+distance which arrested him midway between Christianity and Buddhism,
+between truth and delusion, between light and darkness, between life and
+death.
+
+In the Oriental tongues this progressive king was eminently proficient;
+and toward priests, preachers, and teachers, of all creeds, sects, and
+sciences, an enlightened exemplar of tolerance. It was likewise his
+peculiar vanity to pass for an accomplished English scholar, and to this
+end he maintained in his palace at Bangkok a private printing
+establishment, with fonts of English type, which, as may be perceived
+presently, he was at no loss to keep in "copy." Perhaps it was the
+printing-office which suggested, quite naturally, an English governess
+for the _élite_ of his wives and concubines, and their offspring,--in
+number amply adequate to the constitution of a royal school, and in
+material most attractively fresh and romantic. Happy thought! Wherefore,
+behold me, just after sunset on a pleasant day in April, 1862, on the
+threshold of the outer court of the Grand Palace, accompanied by my own
+brave little boy, and escorted by a compatriot.
+
+A flood of light sweeping through the spacious Hall of Audience
+displayed a throng of noblemen in waiting. None turned a glance, or
+seemingly a thought, on us, and, my child being tired and hungry, I
+urged Captain B---- to present us without delay. At once we mounted the
+marble steps, and entered the brilliant hall unannounced. Ranged on the
+carpet were many prostrate, mute, and motionless forms, over whose heads
+to step was a temptation as drolly natural as it was dangerous. His
+Majesty spied us quickly, and advanced abruptly, petulantly screaming,
+"Who? who? who?"
+
+Captain B---- (who, by the by, is a titled nobleman of Siam) introduced
+me as the English governess, engaged for the royal family. The king
+shook hands with us, and immediately proceeded to march up and down in
+quick step, putting one foot before the other with mathematical
+precision, as if under drill. "Forewarned, forearmed!" my friend
+whispered that I should prepare myself for a sharp cross-questioning as
+to my age, my husband, children, and other strictly personal concerns.
+Suddenly his Majesty, having cogitated sufficiently in his peculiar
+manner, with one long final stride halted in front of us, and pointing
+straight at me with his forefinger, asked, "How old shall you be?"
+
+Scarcely able to repress a smile at a proceeding so absurd, and with my
+sex's distaste for so serious a question, I demurely replied, "One
+hundred and fifty years old."
+
+Had I made myself much younger, he might have ridiculed or assailed me;
+but now he stood surprised and embarrassed for a few moments, then
+resumed his queer march; and at last, beginning to perceive the jest,
+coughed, laughed, coughed again, and in a high, sharp key asked, "In
+what year were you borned?"
+
+Instantly I struck a mental balance, and answered, as gravely as I
+could, "In 1788."
+
+At this point the expression of his Majesty's face was indescribably
+comical. Captain B---- slipped behind a pillar to laugh; but the king
+only coughed, with a significant emphasis that startled me, and
+addressed a few words to his prostrate courtiers, who smiled at the
+carpet,--all except the prime minister, who turned to look at me. But
+his Majesty was not to be baffled so: again he marched with vigor, and
+then returned to the attack with _élan_.
+
+"How many years shall you be married?"
+
+"For several years, your Majesty."
+
+He fell into a brown study; then, laughing, rushed at me, and demanded
+triumphantly:--
+
+"Ha! How many grandchildren shall you now have? Ha, ha! How many? How
+many? Ha, ha, ha!"
+
+Of course we all laughed with him; but the general hilarity admitted of
+a variety of constructions.
+
+Then suddenly he seized my hand, and dragged me, _nolens volens_, my
+little Louis holding fast by my skirt, through several sombre passages,
+along which crouched duennas, shrivelled and grotesque, and many
+youthful women, covering their faces, as if blinded by the splendor of
+the passing Majesty. At length he stopped before one of the
+many-curtained recesses, and, drawing aside the hangings, disclosed a
+lovely, childlike form. He stooped and took her hand, (she naively
+hiding her face), and placing it in mine, said, "This is my wife, the
+Lady Tâlâp. She desires to be educated in English. She is as pleasing
+for her talents as for her beauty, and it is our pleasure to make her a
+good English scholar. You shall educate her for me."
+
+I replied that the office would give me much pleasure; for nothing could
+be more eloquently winning than the modest, timid bearing of that tender
+young creature in the presence of her lord. She laughed low and
+pleasantly as he translated my sympathetic words to her, and seemed so
+enraptured with the graciousness of his act that I took my leave of her
+with a sentiment of profound pity.
+
+He led me back by the way we had come; and now we met many children, who
+put my patient boy to much childish torture for the gratification of
+their startled curiosity.
+
+"I have sixty-seven children," said his Majesty, when we had returned to
+the Audience Hall. "You shall educate them, and as many of my wives,
+likewise, as may wish to learn English. And I have much correspondence
+in which you must assist me. And, moreover, I have much difficulty for
+reading and translating French letters; for French are fond of using
+gloomily deceiving terms. You must undertake; and you shall make all
+their murky sentences and gloomily deceiving propositions clear to me.
+And, furthermore, I have by every mail foreign letters whose writing is
+not easily read by me. You shall copy on round hand, for my readily
+perusal thereof."
+
+_Nil desperandum_; but I began by despairing of my ability to accomplish
+tasks so multifarious. I simply bowed, however, and so dismissed myself
+for that evening.
+
+One tempting morning, when the air was cool, my boy and I ventured some
+distance beyond the bounds of our usual cautious promenade, close to the
+palace of the premier. Some forty or fifty carpenters, building boats
+under a long low shed, attracted the child's attention. We tarried
+awhile, watching their work, and then strolled to a stone bridge hard
+by, where we found a gang of repulsive wretches, all men, coupled by
+means of iron collars and short but heavy fetters, in which they moved
+with difficulty, if not with positive pain. They were carrying stone
+from the canal to the bridge, and as they stopped to deposit their
+burdens, I observed that most of them had hard, defiant faces, though
+here and there were sad and gentle eyes that bespoke sympathy. One of
+them approached us, holding out his hand, into which Boy dropped the few
+coins he had. Instantly, with a greedy shout, the whole gang were upon
+us, crowding us on all sides, wrangling, yelling. I was exceedingly
+alarmed, and having no more money there, knew not what to do, except to
+take my child in my arms, and strive again and again to break through
+the press; but still I fell back baffled, and sickened by the
+insufferable odors that emanated from their disgusting persons; and
+still they pressed and scrambled and screamed, and clanked their horrid
+chains. But behold! suddenly, as if struck by lightning, every man of
+them fell on his face, and officers flew among them pell-mell, swingeing
+with hard, heavy thongs the naked wincing backs.
+
+It was with a sense of infinite relief that we found ourselves safe in
+our rooms at last; but the breakfast tasted earthy and the atmosphere
+was choking, and our very hearts were parched. At night Boy lay burning
+on his little bed, moaning for _aiyer sujok_ (cold water), while I
+fainted for a breath of fresh, sweet air. But God blesses these Eastern
+prison-houses not at all; the air that visits them is no better than the
+life within,--heavy, stifling, stupefying. For relief I betook me to the
+study of the Siamese language, an occupation I had found very pleasant
+and inspiring. As for Boy, who spoke Malay fluently, it was wonderful
+with what aptness he acquired it.
+
+When next I "interviewed" the king, I was accompanied by the premier's
+sister, a fair and friendly woman, whose whole stock of English was,
+"Good morning, sir"; and with this somewhat irrelevant greeting, a dozen
+times in an hour, though the hour were night, she relieved her pent-up
+feelings, and gave expression to her sympathy and regard for me.
+
+Mr. Hunter, private secretary to the premier, had informed me, speaking
+for his Excellency, that I should prepare to enter upon my duties at the
+royal palace without delay. Accordingly, next morning, the elder sister
+of the Kralahome came for us. She led the way to the river, followed by
+slave-girls bearing a gold teapot, a pretty gold tray containing two
+tiny porcelain cups with covers, her betel-box, also of gold, and two
+large fans. When we were seated in the closely covered basket-boat, she
+took up one of the books I had brought with me, and, turning over the
+leaves, came upon the alphabet; whereat, with a look of pleased
+surprise, she began repeating the letters. I helped her, and for a while
+she seemed amused and gratified; but presently, growing weary of it, she
+abruptly closed the book, and, offering me her hand, said, "Good
+morning, sir!" I replied with equal cordiality, and I think we bade each
+other good morning at least a dozen times before we reached the palace.
+
+We landed at a showy pavilion, and after traversing several covered
+passages came to a barrier guarded by Amazons, to whom the old lady was
+evidently well known, for they threw open the gate for us, and
+"squatted" till we passed. A hot walk of twenty minutes brought us to a
+curious oval door of polished brass, which opened and shut noiselessly
+in a highly ornate frame. This admitted us to a cool retreat, on one
+side of which were several temples or chapels in antique styles, and on
+the other a long dim gallery. On the marble floor of this pavilion a
+number of interesting children sat or sprawled, and quaint babies slept
+or frolicked in their nurses' arms. It was, indeed, a grateful change
+from the oppressive, irritating heat and glare through which we had just
+passed.
+
+The loungers started up to greet our motherly guide, who humbly
+prostrated herself before them; and then refreshments were brought in on
+large silver trays, with covers of scarlet silk in the form of a
+bee-hive. As no knife or fork or spoon was visible, Boy and I were fain
+to content ourselves with oranges, wherewith we made ourselves an
+unexpected but cheerful show for the entertainment and edification of
+those juvenile spectators of the royal family of Siam. I smiled and held
+out my hand to them, for they were, almost without exception, attractive
+children; but they shyly shrank from me.
+
+Meanwhile the "child-wife," to whom his Majesty had presented me at my
+first audience, appeared, and after saluting profoundly the sister of
+the Kralahome, and conversing with her for some minutes, lay down on the
+cool floor, and, using her betel-box for a pillow, beckoned to me. As I
+approached, and seated myself beside her, she said: "I am very glad to
+see you. It is long time I not see. Why you come so late?" to all of
+which she evidently expected no reply. I tried baby-talk, in the hope of
+making my amiable sentiments intelligible to so infantile a creature,
+but in vain. Seeing me disappointed and embarrassed, she oddly sang a
+scrap of the Sunday-school hymn, "There is a Happy Land, far, far away";
+and then said, "I think of you very often. In the beginning, God created
+the heavens and the earth."
+
+This meritorious but disjointed performance was followed by a protracted
+and trying silence, I sitting patient, and Boy wondering in my lap. At
+last she half rose, and, looking around, cautiously whispered, "Dear Mam
+Mattoon! I love you. I think of you. Your boy dead, you come to palace;
+you cry--I love you"; and laying her finger on her lips, and her head on
+the betel-box again, again she sang, "There is a Happy Land, far, far
+away!"
+
+Mrs. Mattoon is the wife of that good and true American apostle who has
+nobly served the cause of missions in Siam as a co-laborer with the
+excellent Dr. Samuel House. While the wife of the latter devoted herself
+indefatigably to the improvement of schools for the native children whom
+the mission had gathered round it, Mrs. Mattoon shared her labors by
+occasionally teaching in the palace, which was for some time thrown open
+to the ladies of her faithful sisterhood. Here, as elsewhere, the
+blended force and gentleness of her character wrought marvels in the
+impressible and grateful minds to which she had access.
+
+So spontaneous and ingenuous a tribute of reverence and affection from a
+pagan to a Christian lady was inexpressibly charming to me.
+
+Thus the better part of the day passed. The longer I rested dreaming
+there, the more enchanted seemed the world within those walls. I was
+aroused by a slight noise proceeding from the covered gallery, whence an
+old lady appeared bearing a candlestick of gold, with branches
+supporting four lighted candles. I afterward learned that these were
+daily offerings, which the king, on awakening from his forenoon slumber,
+sent to the Watt P'hra Këau. This apparition was the signal for much
+stir. The Lady Tâlâp started to her feet and fled, and we were left
+alone with the premier's sister and the slaves in waiting. The entire
+household seemed to awake on the instant, as in the "Sleeping Palace" of
+Tennyson, at the kiss of the Fairy Prince,--
+
+  "The maid and page renewed their strife;
+    The palace banged, and buzzed, and clackt;
+   And all the long-pent stream of life
+    Dashed downward in a cataract."
+
+A various procession of women and children--some pale and downcast,
+others bright and blooming, more moody and hardened--moved in the one
+direction; none tarried to chat, none loitered or looked back; the lord
+was awake.
+
+  "And last with these the king awoke,
+    And in his chair himself upreared,
+   And yawned, and rubbed his face, and spoke."
+
+Presently the child-wife reappeared,--arrayed now in dark blue silk,
+which contrasted well with the soft olive of her complexion,--and
+quickly followed the others, with a certain anxious alacrity expressed
+in her baby face. I readily guessed that his Majesty was the awful cause
+of all this careful bustle, and began to feel uneasy myself, as my
+ordeal approached. For an hour I stood on thorns. Then there was a
+general frantic rush. Attendants, nurses, slaves, vanished through
+doors, around corners, behind pillars, under stairways; and at last,
+preceded by a sharp, "cross" cough, behold the king!
+
+We found his Majesty in a less genial mood than at my first reception.
+He approached us coughing loudly and repeatedly, a sufficiently ominous
+fashion of announcing himself, which greatly discouraged my darling boy,
+who clung to me anxiously. He was followed by a numerous "tail" of women
+and children, who formally prostrated themselves around him. Shaking
+hands with me coldly, but remarking upon the beauty of the child's hair,
+half buried in the folds of my dress, he turned to the premier's sister,
+and conversed at some length with her, she apparently acquiescing in all
+that he had to say. He then approached me, and said, in a loud and
+domineering tone:--
+
+"It is our pleasure that you shall reside within this palace with our
+family."
+
+I replied that it would be quite impossible for me to do so; that, being
+as yet unable to speak the language, and the gates being shut every
+evening, I should feel like an unhappy prisoner in the palace.
+
+"Where do you go every evening?" he demanded.
+
+"Not anywhere, your Majesty. I am a stranger here."
+
+"Then why you shall object to the gates being shut?"
+
+"I do not clearly know," I replied, with a secret shudder at the idea of
+sleeping within those walls; "but I am afraid I could not do it. I beg
+your Majesty will remember that in your gracious letter you promised me
+'a residence adjoining the royal palace,' not within it."
+
+He turned and looked at me, his face growing almost purple with rage. "I
+do not know I have promised. I do not know former condition. I do not
+know anything but you are our servant; and it is our pleasure that you
+must live in this palace, and--_you shall obey_." Those last three words
+he fairly screamed.
+
+I trembled in every limb, and for some time knew not how to reply. At
+length I ventured to say, "I am prepared to obey all your Majesty's
+commands within the obligation of my duty to your family, but beyond
+that I can promise no obedience."
+
+"You _shall_ live in palace," he roared,--"you _shall _live in palace! I
+will give woman slaves to wait on you. You shall commence royal school
+in this pavilion on Thursday next. That is the best day for such
+undertaking, in the estimation of our astrologers."
+
+With that, he addressed, in a frantic manner, commands, unintelligible
+to me, to some of the old women about the pavilion. My boy began to cry;
+tears filled my own eyes; and the premier's sister, so kind but an hour
+before, cast fierce glances at us both. I turned and led my child toward
+the oval brass door. We heard voices behind us crying. "Mam! Mam!" I
+turned again, and saw the king beckoning and calling to me. I bowed to
+him profoundly, but passed on through the brass door. The prime
+minister's sister bounced after us in a distraction of excitement,
+tugging at my cloak, shaking her finger in my face, and crying, "_My di!
+my di!_" [Footnote: "Bad, bad!"] All the way back, in the boat, and on
+the street, to the very door of my apartments, instead of her jocund
+"Good morning, sir," I had nothing but _my di_.
+
+But kings, who are not mad, have their sober second-thoughts like other
+rational people. His Golden-footed Majesty presently repented him of his
+arbitrary "cantankerousness," and in due time my ultimatum was accepted.
+
+
+
+
+VII. MARBLE HALLS AND FISH-STALLS.
+
+
+Well! by this time I was awake to the realities of time, place, and
+circumstance. The palace and its spells, the impracticable despot, the
+impassible premier, were not the phantasms of a witching night, but the
+hard facts of noonday. Here were the very Apollyons of paganry in the
+way, and only the Great Hearts of a lonely woman and a loving child to
+challenge them.
+
+With a heart heavy with regret for the comparatively happy home I had
+left in Malacca, I sought an interview with the Kralahome, and told him
+(through his secretary, Mr. Hunter) how impossible it would be for me
+and my child to lodge within the walls of the Grand Palace; and that he
+was bound in honor to make good the conditions on which I had been
+induced to leave Singapore. At last I succeeded in interesting him, and
+he accorded me a gracious hearing. My objection to the palace, as a
+place of residence as well as of business, seemed to strike him as
+reasonable enough; and he promised to plead my cause with his Majesty,
+bidding me kindly "give myself no further trouble about the matter, for
+he would make it right."
+
+Thus passed a few days more, while I waited monotonously under the roof
+of the premier, teaching Boy, studying Siamese, paying stated visits to
+the good Koon Ying Phan, and suffering tumultuous invasions from my
+"intimate enemies" of the harem, who came upon us like a flight of
+locusts, and rarely left without booty, in the shape of trifles they had
+begged of me. But things get themselves done, after a fashion, even in
+Siam; and so, one morning, came the slow but welcome news that the king
+was reconciled to the idea of my living outside the palace, that a house
+had been selected for me, and a messenger waited to conduct me to it.
+
+Hastily donning our walking-gear, we found an elderly man, of somewhat
+sinister aspect, in a dingy red coat with faded facings of yellow,
+impatient to guide us to our unimaginable quarters. As we passed out, we
+met the premier, whose countenance wore a quizzing expression, which I
+afterward understood; but at the moment I saw in it only the
+characteristic conundrum that I had neither the time nor the talent to
+guess. It was with a lively sense of relief that I followed our
+conductor, in whom, by a desperate exploit of imagination, I discovered
+a promise of privacy and "home."
+
+In a long, slender boat, with a high, uneven covering of wood, we stowed
+ourselves in the Oriental manner, my dress and appearance affording
+infinite amusement to the ten rowers as they plied their paddles, while
+our escort stood in the entrance chewing betel, and looking more
+ill-omened than ever. We alighted at the king's pavilion facing the
+river, and were led, by a long, circuitous, and unpleasant road, through
+two tall gates, into a street which, from the offensive odors that
+assailed us, I took to be a fish-market. The sun burned, the air
+stifled, the dust choked us, the ground blistered our feet; we were
+parching and suffocating, when our guide stopped at the end of this most
+execrable lane, and signed to us to follow him up three broken steps of
+brick. From a pouch in his dingy coat he produced a key, applied it to a
+door, and opened to us two small rooms, without a window in either,
+without a leaf to shade, without bath-closet or kitchen. And this was
+the residence sumptuously appointed for the English governess to the
+royal family of Siam!
+
+And furnished! and garnished! In one room, on a remnant of filthy
+matting, stood the wreck of a table, superannuated, and maimed of a leg,
+but propped by two chairs that with broken arms sympathized with each
+other. In the other, a cheap excess of Chinese bedstead, that took the
+whole room to itself; and a mattress!--a mutilated epitome of a
+Lazarine hospital.
+
+My stock of Siamese words was small, but strong. I gratefully recalled
+the emphatic monosyllables wherewith the premier's sister had so berated
+me; and turning upon the king's messenger with her tremendous _my di! my
+di!_ dashed the key from his hand, as, inanely grinning, he held it out
+to me, caught my boy up in my arms, cleared the steps in a bound, and
+fled anywhere, anywhere, until I was stopped by the crowd of men, women,
+and children, half naked, who gathered around me, wondering. Then,
+remembering my adventure with the chain-gang, I was glad to accept the
+protection of my insulted escort, and escape from that suburb of
+disgust. All the way back to the premier's our guide grinned at us
+fiendishly, whether in token of apology or ridicule I knew not; and
+landing us safely, he departed to our great relief, still grinning.
+
+Straight went I to the Kralahome, whose shy, inquisitive smile was more
+and more provoking. In a few sharp words I told him, through the
+interpreter, what I thought of the lodging provided for me, and that
+nothing should induce me to live in such a slum. To which, with cool,
+deliberate audacity, he replied that nothing prevented me from living
+where I was. I started from the low seat I had taken (in order to
+converse with him at my ease, he sitting on the floor), and not without
+difficulty found voice to say that neither his palace nor the den in the
+fish-market would suit me, and that I demanded suitable and independent
+accommodations, in a respectable neighborhood, for myself and my child.
+My rage only amused him. Smiling insolently, he rose, bade me, "Never
+mind: it will be all right by and by," and retired to an inner chamber.
+
+My head throbbed with pain, my pulse bounded, my throat burned. I
+staggered to my rooms, exhausted and despairing, there to lie, for
+almost a week, prostrated with fever, and tortured day and night with
+frightful fancies and dreams. Beebe and the gentle Koon Ying Phan nursed
+me tenderly, bringing me water, deliciously cool, in which the fragrant
+flower of the jessamine had been steeped, both to drink and to bathe my
+temples. As soon as I began to recover, I caressed the soft hand of the
+dear pagan lady, and implored her, partly in Siamese, partly in English,
+to intercede for me with her husband, that a decent home might be
+provided for us. She assured me, while she smoothed my hair and patted
+my cheek as though I were a helpless child, that she would do her best
+with him, begging me meanwhile to be patient. But that I could not be;
+and I spared no opportunity to expostulate with the premier on the
+subject of my future abode and duties, telling him that the life I was
+leading under his roof was insupportable to me; though, indeed, I was
+not ungrateful for the many offices of affection I received from the
+ladies of his harem, who in my trouble were sympathetic and tender. From
+that time forth the imperturbable Kralahome was ever courteous to me.
+Nevertheless, when from time to time I grew warm again on the
+irrepressible topic, he would smile slyly, tap the ashes from his pipe,
+and say, "Yes, sir! Never mind, sir! You not like, you can live in
+fish-market, sir!" The apathy and supineness of these people oppressed
+me intolerably. Never well practised in patience, I chafed at the
+_sang-froid_ of the deliberate premier. Without compromising my dignity,
+I did much to enrage him; but he bore all with a _nonchalance_ that was
+the more irritating because it was not put on.
+
+Thus more than two months passed, and I had desperately settled down to
+my Oriental studies, content to snub the Kralahome with his own
+indifference, whilst he, on the other hand, blandly ignored our
+existence, when, to my surprise, he paid me a visit one afternoon,
+complimented me on my progress in the language, and on my "great
+heart,"--or _chi yai_, as he called it,--and told me his Majesty was
+highly incensed at my conduct in the affair of the fish-market, and
+that he had found me something to do. I thanked him so cordially that he
+expressed his surprise, saying, "Siamese lady no like work; love play,
+love sleep. Why you no love play?"
+
+I assured him that I liked play well enough when I was in the humor for
+play; but that at present I was not disposed to disport myself, being
+weary of my life in his palace, and sick of Siam altogether. He received
+my candor with his characteristic smile and a good-humored "Good by,
+sir!"
+
+Next morning ten Siamese lads and a little girl came to my room. The
+former were the half-brothers, nephews, and other "encumbrances" of the
+Kralahome; the latter their sister, a simple child of nine or ten.
+Surely it was with no snobbery of condescension that I received these
+poor children, but rather gratefully, as a comfort and a wholesome
+discipline.
+
+And so another month went by, and still I heard nothing from his
+Majesty. But the premier began to interest me. The more I saw of him the
+more he puzzled me. It was plain that all who came in contact with him
+both feared and loved him. He displayed a kind of passive amiability of
+which he seemed always conscious, which he made his _forte_. By what
+means he exacted such prompt obedience, and so completely controlled a
+people whom he seemed to drive with reins so loose and careless, was a
+mystery to me. But that his influence and the prestige of his name
+penetrated to every nook of that vast yet undeveloped kingdom was the
+phenomenon which slowly but surely impressed me. I was but a passing
+traveller, surveying from a distance and at large that vast plain of
+humanity; but I could see that it was systematically tilled by one
+master mind.
+
+
+
+
+VIII. OUR HOME IN BANGKOK
+
+
+Rebuked and saddened, I abandoned my long-cherished hope of a home, and
+resigned myself with no good grace to my routine of study and
+instruction. Where were all the romantic fancies and proud anticipations
+with which I had accepted the position of governess to the royal family
+of Siam? Alas! in two squalid rooms at the end of a Bangkok fish-market.
+I failed to find the fresh strength and courage that lay in the hope of
+improving the interesting children whose education had been intrusted to
+me, and day by day grew more and more desponding, less and less equal to
+the simple task my "mission" had set me. I was fairly sick at heart and
+ready to surrender that morning when the good Koon Ying Phan came
+unannounced into our rooms to tell us that a tolerable house was found
+for us at last. I cannot describe with what an access of joy I heard the
+glad tidings, nor how I thanked the messenger, nor how in a moment I
+forgot all my chagrin and repining, and hugged my boy and covered him
+with kisses. It was not until that "order for release" arrived, that I
+truly felt how offensive and galling had been the life I had led in the
+premier's palace. It was with unutterable gladness that I followed a
+half-brother of the Kralahome, Moonshee leading Boy by the hand, to our
+new house. Passing several streets, we entered a walled enclosure,
+abounding in broken bricks, stone, lime, mortar, and various rubbish.
+
+A tall, dingy storehouse occupied one side of the wall; in the other, a
+low door opened toward the river; and at the farther end stood the
+house, sheltered by a few fine trees, that, drooping over the piazza,
+made the place almost picturesque. On entering, however, we found
+ourselves face to face with overpowering filth. Poor Moonshee stood
+aghast. "It must be a paradise," he had said when we set out, "since the
+great Vizier bestows it upon the Mem Sahib, whom he delights to honor."
+Now he cursed his fate, and reviled all viziers. I turned to see to whom
+his lamentations were addressed, and beheld another Mohammedan seated on
+the floor, and attending with an attitude and air of devout respect. The
+scene reminded Boy and me of our old home, and we laughed heartily. On
+making a tour of inspection, we found nine rooms, some of them pleasant
+and airy, and with every "modern convenience" (though somewhat Oriental
+as to style) of bath, kitchen, etc. It was clear that soap and water
+without stint would do much here toward the making of a home for us.
+Beebe and Boy were hopeful, and promptly put a full stop to the
+rhetorical outcry of Moonshee by requesting him to enlist the services
+of his admiring friend and two China coolies to fetch water. But there
+were no buckets. With a few dollars that I gave him, Moonshee, with all
+a Moslem's resignation to any new turn in his fate, departed to explore
+for the required utensils, while the brother of the awful Kralahome,
+perched on the piazza railing, adjusted his anatomy for a comfortable
+oversight of the proceedings. Boy, with his "pinny" on, ran off in glee
+to make himself promiscuously useful, and I sat down to plan an attack.
+
+Where to begin?--that was the question. It was such filthy filth, so
+monstrous in quantity and kind,--dirt to be stared at, defied, savagely
+assaulted with rage and havoc. Suddenly I arose, shook my head
+dangerously at the prime minister's brother,--who, fascinated, had
+advanced into the room,--marched through a broken door, hung my hat and
+mantle on a rusty nail, doffed my neat half-mourning, slipped on an old
+wrapper, dashed at the vile matting that in ulcerous patches afflicted
+the floor, and began fiercely tearing it up.
+
+In good time Moonshee and his new friend returned with half a dozen
+buckets, but no coolies; in place of the latter came a neat and pleasant
+Siamese lady, Mrs. Hunter, wife of the premier's secretary, bringing her
+slaves to help, and some rolls of fresh, sweet China matting for the
+floor. How quickly the general foulness was purified, the general
+raggedness repaired, the general shabbiness made "good as new"! The
+floors, that had been buried under immemorial dust, arose again under
+the excavating labors of the sweepers; and the walls, that had been gory
+with expectorations of betel, hid their "damnéd spots" under innocent
+veils of whitewash.
+
+Moonshee, who had evidently been beguiled by a cheap and spurious
+variety of the wine of Shiraz, and now sat maudlin on the steps, weeping
+for his home in Singapore, I despatched peremptorily in search of Beebe,
+bedsteads, and boxes. But the Kralahome's brother had vanished,
+doubtless routed by the brooms.
+
+Bright, fresh, fragrant matting; a table neither too low to be pretty
+nor too high to be useful; a couple of armchairs, hospitably embracing;
+a pair of silver candlesticks, quaint and homely; a goodly company of
+pleasant books; a piano, just escaping from its travelling-cage, with
+all its pent-up music in its bosom; a cosey little cot clinging to its
+ampler mother; a stream of generous sunlight from the window gilding and
+gladdening all,--behold our home in Siam!
+
+I worked exultingly till the setting sun slanted his long shadows across
+the piazza. Then came comfortable Beebe with the soup and dainties she
+had prepared with the help of a "Bombay man." Boy slept soundly in an
+empty room, overcome by the spell of its sudden sweetness, his hands and
+face as dirty as a healthy, well-regulated boy could desire.
+Triumphantly I bore him to his own pretty couch, adjusted my hair,
+resumed my royal robes of mauve muslin, and prepared to queen it in my
+own palace.
+
+And even as I stood, smiling at my own small grandeur, came tender
+memories crowding thick upon me,--of a soft, warm lap, in which I had
+once loved to lay my head; of a face, fair, pensive, loving, lovely; of
+eyes whose deep and quiet light a shadow of unkindness never crossed; of
+lips that sweetly crooned the songs of a far-off, happy land; of a
+presence full of comfort, hope, strength, courage, victory, peace, that
+perfect harmony that comes of perfect faith,--a child's trust in its
+mother.
+
+Passionately I clasped my child in my arms, and awoke him with pious
+promises that took the form of kisses. Beebe, soup, teapot,
+candlesticks, teacups, and dear faithful Bessy, looked on and smiled.
+
+Hardly had we finished this, our first and finest feast, in celebration
+of our glorious independence, when our late guide of fish-market fame,
+he of the seedy red coat and faded yellow facings, appeared on the
+piazza, saluted us with that vacant chuckle and grin wherefrom no
+inference could be drawn, and delivered his Majesty's order that I
+should now come to the school.
+
+Unterrified and deliberate, we lingered yet a little over that famous
+breakfast, then rose, and prepared to follow the mechanical old ape. Boy
+hugged Bessy fondly by way of good-by, and, leaving Beebe on guard, we
+went forth. The same long, narrow, tall, and very crank boat received
+us. The sun was hot enough to daunt a sepoy; down the bare backs of the
+oarsmen flowed miniature Meinams of sweat, as they tugged, grunting,
+against the strong current. We landed at the familiar (king's) pavilion,
+the front of which projects into the river by a low portico. The roof,
+rising in several tiers, half shelters, half bridges the detached and
+dilapidated parts of the structure, which presents throughout a very
+ancient aspect, parts of the roof having evidently been renewed, and the
+gables showing traces of recent repairs, while the rickety pillars seem
+to protest with groans against the architectural anachronism that has
+piled so many young heads upon their time-worn shoulders.
+
+
+
+
+IX. OUR SCHOOL IN THE PALACE.
+
+
+The fact is remarkable, that though education in its higher degrees is
+popularly neglected in Siam, there is scarcely a man or woman in the
+empire who cannot read and write. Though a vain people, they are neither
+bigoted nor shallow; and I think the day is not far off when the
+enlightening influences applied to them, and accepted through their
+willingness, not only to receive instruction from Europeans, but even to
+adopt in a measure their customs and their habits of thought, will raise
+them to the rank of a superior nation. The language of this people
+advances but slowly in the direction of grammatical perfection. Like
+many other Oriental tongues, it was at first purely monosyllabic; but as
+the Pali or Sanskrit has been liberally engrafted on it, polysyllabic
+words have been formed. Its pronouns and particles are peculiar, its
+idioms few and simple, its metaphors very obvious. It is copious to
+redundancy in terms expressive of royalty, rank, dignity--in fact, a
+distinct phraseology is required in addressing personages of exalted
+station; repetitions of word and phrase are affected, rather than
+shunned. Sententious brevity and simplicity of expression belong to the
+pure spirit of the language, and when employed impart to it much dignity
+and beauty; but there is no standard of orthography, nor any grammar,
+and but few rules of universal application. Every Siamese writer spells
+to please himself, and the purism of one is the slang or gibberish of
+another.
+
+[Illustration: A PUPIL OF THE ROYAL SCHOOL.]
+
+The Siamese write from left to right, the words running together in a
+line unbroken by spaces, points, or capitals; so that, as in ancient
+Sanskrit, an entire paragraph appears as one protracted word,
+
+"That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along."
+
+When not written with a reed on dark native paper, the characters are
+engraved with a style (of brass or iron, one end sharp for writing, the
+other flat for erasing) on palm-leaves prepared for the purpose.
+
+In all parts of the empire the boys are taught by priests to read,
+write, and cipher. Every monastery is provided with a library, more or
+less standard. The more elegant books are composed of tablets of ivory,
+or of palmyra leaves delicately prepared; the characters engraved on
+these are gilt, the margins and edges adorned with heavy gilding or with
+flowers in bright colors.
+
+The literature of the Siamese deals principally with religious topics.
+The "Kammarakya," or Buddhist Ritual,--a work for the priesthood only,
+and therefore, like others of the Vinnâyâ, little known,--contains the
+vital elements of the Buddhist Moral Code, and, _per se_, is perfect; on
+this point all writers, whether partial or captious, are of one mind.
+Spence Hardy, a Wesleyan missionary, speaking of that part of the work
+entitled "Dhammâ-Padam," [Footnote: Properly _Dharmna_,--"Footsteps of
+the Law."] which is freely taught in the schools attached to the
+monasteries, admits that a compilation might be made from its precepts,
+"which in the purity of its ethics could hardly be equalled from any
+other heathen author."
+
+M. Laboulaye, one of the most distinguished members of the French
+Academy, remarks, in the _Débats_ of April 4, 1853, on a work known by
+the title of "Dharmna Maitrî," or "Law of Charity":--
+
+"It is difficult to comprehend how men, not aided by revelation, could
+have soared so high and approached so near the truth. Beside the five
+great commandments,--not to kill, not to steal, not to commit adultery,
+not to lie, not to get drunk,--every shade of vice, hypocrisy, anger,
+pride, suspicion, greed, gossip, cruelty to animals, is guarded against
+by special precepts. Among the virtues commended we find, not only
+reverence for parents, care for children, submission to authority,
+gratitude, moderation in time of prosperity, resignation and fortitude
+in time of trial, equanimity at all times, but virtues unknown to any
+heathen system of morality, such as the duty of forgiving insults, and
+of rewarding evil with good."
+
+All virtues, we are told, spring from _maitrî_, and this _maitrî_ can
+only be rendered by charity and love.
+
+"I do not hesitate," says Burnouf, in his _Lotus de la Bonne Loi_, "to
+translate by 'charity' the word _maitrî_, which expresses, not merely
+friendship, or the feeling of particular affection which a man has for
+one or more of his fellow-creatures, but that universal feeling which
+inspires us with good-will toward all men and a constant willingness to
+help them."
+
+I may here add the testimony of Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire: "I do not
+hesitate to add," he writes, "that, save the Christ alone, there is not
+among the founders of religion a figure more pure, more touching, than
+that of Buddha. His life is without blemish; his constant heroism equals
+his conviction; and if the theory he extols is false, the personal
+examples he affords are irreproachable. He is the accomplished model of
+all the virtues he preaches; his abnegation, his charity, his
+unalterable sweetness, never belie themselves. At the age of twenty-nine
+he retires from the court of the king, his father, to become a devotee
+and a beggar. He silently prepares his doctrine by six years of
+seclusion and meditation. He propagates it, by the unaided power of
+speech and persuasion, for more than half a century; and when he dies in
+the arms of his disciples, it is with the serenity of a sage who has
+practised goodness all his life, and knows that he has found Truth."
+
+Another work, as sacred and more mystic, is the "Parajikâ," read in the
+temples with closed doors by the chief priests exclusively, and only to
+such devotees as have entered the monastic schools for life.
+
+Then there are the "P'ra-jana Para-mita," (the "Accomplishment of
+Reason," or "Transcendental Wisdom,)" and other works in abstruse
+philosophy. The "Lalita Vistara" contains the life of Buddha, and is
+esteemed the highest authority as to the more remarkable events in the
+career of the great reformer. The "Saddharma-pundikara" (or _pundariki_
+in Ceylon), "The White Lotos of the True Religion," presents the
+incidents of Buddha's life in the form of legend and fable.
+
+The "Ganda-Veyuha," but little known, consists of remarkable and very
+beautiful forms of prayer and thanksgiving, with psalms of praise
+addressed to the Perfection of the Infinite and to the Invisible, by
+Sakya Muni, the Buddha. The "Nirwana" treats of the end of material
+existence, and is universally read, and highly esteemed by Buddhists as
+a treatise of rare merit.
+
+But the most important parts of the theological study of the Siamese
+priesthood are found in a work revered under the titles of "Tautras" and
+"Kala-Chakara,"--that is, "Circles of Time, Matter, Space"; probably a
+translation of the Sanskrit symbolic word, _Om_, "Circle." There are
+twenty-two volumes, treating exclusively of mystics and mystical
+worship.
+
+The libraries of the monasteries are rich in works on the theory and
+practice of medicine; but very poor in historical books, the few
+preserved dealing mainly with the lives and actions of Siamese rulers,
+oddly associated with the genii and heroes of the Hindoo mythology. Like
+the early historians of Greece and Rome, the writers are careful to
+furnish a particular account of all signs, omens, and predictions
+relating to the several events recorded. They possess also a few
+translated works in Chinese history.
+
+The late king was an authority on all questions of religion, law, and
+custom, and was familiar with the writings of Pythagoras and Aristotle.
+
+The Siamese have an extravagant fondness for the drama, and for poetry
+of every kind. In all the lyric form predominates, and their
+compositions are commonly adapted for instrumental accompaniment. Their
+dramatic entertainments are mainly musical, combining rudely the opera
+with the ballet,--monotonous singing, and listless, mechanical dancing.
+Dialogue is occasionally introduced, the favorite subjects being
+passages from the Hindoo Avatars, the epic "Ramayana," and the
+"Mahabharata"; or from legends, peculiar to Siam, of gods, heroes, and
+demons. Throughout their literature, mythology is the all-pervading
+element; history, science, arts, customs, conversation, opinion,
+doctrine, are alike colored and flavored with it.
+
+With so brief and meagre a sketch of the literature of Siam, I would
+fain prepare the reader to appreciate the peculiarities of an English
+classical school in the Royal Palace at Bangkok. In Siam, all schools,
+literary societies, monasteries, even factories, all intellectual and
+progressive enterprises of whatever nature and intention, are opened and
+begun on Thursday, "One P'ra Hatt"; because that day is sacred to the
+goddess of Mind or Wisdom, probably the Hindoo Saraswati. On the
+Thursday appointed for the opening of my classes in the palace, one of
+the king's barges conveyed us across the Meinam. At the landing I was
+met by slave-girls, who conducted me to the palace through the gate
+called Patoo Sap, "Gate of Knowledge." Here I was received by some
+Amazons, who in turn gave notice to other slave-girls waiting to escort
+us to a pavilion--or, more correctly, temple--dedicated to the wives and
+daughters of Siam. [Footnote: _Watt Khoon Choom Manda Thai_,--"Temple of
+the Mothers of the Free."] The profound solitude of this refuge,
+embowered in its twilight grove of orange and palm trees, was strangely
+tranquillizing. The religion of the place seemed to overcome us, as we
+waited among the tall, gilded pillars of the temple. On one side was an
+altar, enriched with some of the most curious and precious offerings of
+art to be found in the East. There was a gilded rostrum also, from which
+the priests daily officiated; and near by, on the summit of a curiously
+carved trunk of an old Bho tree, [Footnote: The sacred tree under which
+Guadama discoursed with his disciples.] the goddess of Mind presided.
+
+The floor of this beautiful temple was a somewhat gaudy mosaic of
+variegated marble and precious stones; but the gilded pillars, the
+friezes that surmounted them, and the vaulted roof of gilded arabesques,
+seemed to tone down the whole to their own chaste harmony of design.
+
+In the centre of the temple stood a long table, finely carved, and some
+gilt chairs. The king and most of the nobler ladies of the court were
+present, with a few of the chief priests, among whom I recognized, for
+the first time, his Lordship Chow Khoon Sâh.
+
+His Majesty received me and my little boy most kindly. After an interval
+of silence he clapped his hands lightly, and instantly the lower hall
+was filled with female slaves. A word or two, dropped from his lips,
+bowed every head and dispersed the attendants. But they presently
+returned laden, some with boxes containing books, slates, pens, pencils,
+and ink; others with lighted tapers and vases filled with the white
+lotos, which they set down before the gilded chairs.
+
+At a signal from the king, the priests chanted a hymn from the
+"P'ra-jana Para-mita"; [Footnote: "Accomplishment of Reason," or
+"Transcendental Wisdom."] and then a burst of music announced the
+entrance of the princes and princesses, my future pupils. They advanced
+in the order of their ages. The Princess Ying You Wahlacks ("First-born
+among Women"), having precedence, approached and prostrated herself
+before her royal father, the others following her example. I admired the
+beauty of her skin, the delicacy of her form, and the subdued lustre of
+her dreamy eyes. The king took her gently by the hand, and presented me
+to her, saying simply, "The English teacher." Her greeting was quiet and
+self-possessed. Taking both my hands, she bowed, and touched them with
+her forehead; then, at a word from the king, retired to her place on the
+right. One by one, in like manner, all the royal children were presented
+and saluted me; and the music ceased.
+
+His Majesty then spoke briefly, to this effect: "Dear children, as this
+is to be an English school, you will have to learn and observe the
+English modes of salutation, address, conversation, and etiquette; and
+each and every one of you shall be at liberty to sit in my presence,
+unless it be your own pleasure not to do so." The children all bowed,
+and touched their foreheads with their folded palms, in acquiescence.
+
+Then his Majesty departed with the priests; and the moment he was fairly
+out of sight, the ladies of the court began, with much noise and
+confusion, to ask questions, turn over the leaves of books, and chatter
+and giggle together. Of course, no teaching was possible in such a din;
+my young princes and princesses disappeared in the arms of their nurses
+and slaves, and I retired to my apartments in the prime minister's
+palace. But the serious business of my school began on the following
+Thursday.
+
+On that day a crowd of half-naked children followed me and my Louis to
+the palace gates, where our guide gave us in charge to a consequential
+female slave, at whose request the ponderous portal was opened barely
+wide enough to admit one person at a time. On entering we were jealously
+scrutinized by the Amazonian guard, and a "high private" questioned the
+propriety of admitting my boy; whereat a general tittering, and we
+passed on. We advanced through the noiseless oval door, and entered the
+dim, cool pavilion, in the centre of which the tables were arranged for
+school. Away flew several venerable dames who had awaited our arrival,
+and in about an hour returned, bringing with them twenty-one scions of
+Siamese royalty, to be initiated into the mysteries of reading, writing,
+and arithmetic, after the European, and especially the English manner.
+
+It was not long before my scholars were ranged in chairs around the long
+table, with Webster's far-famed spelling-books before them, repeating
+audibly after me the letters of the alphabet. While I stood at one end
+of the table, my little Louis at the other, mounted on a chair, the
+better to command his division, mimicked me with a fidelity of tone and
+manner very quaint and charming. Patiently his small finger pointed out
+to his class the characters so strange to them, and not yet perfectly
+familiar to himself.
+
+About noon, a number of young women were brought to me, to be taught
+like the rest. I received them sympathetically, at the same time making
+a memorandum of their names in a book of my own. This created a general
+and lively alarm, which it was not in my power immediately to allay, my
+knowledge of their language being confined to a few simple sentences;
+but when at last their courage and confidence were restored, they began
+to take observations and an inventory of me that were by no means
+agreeable. They fingered my hair and dress, my collar, belt, and rings.
+One donned my hat and cloak, and made a promenade of the pavilion;
+another pounced upon my gloves and veil, and disguised herself in them,
+to the great delight of the little ones, who laughed boisterously. A
+grim duenna, who had heard the noise, bustled wrathfully into the
+pavilion. Instantly hat, cloak, veil, gloves, were flung right and left,
+and the young women dropped on the floor, repeating shrilly, like truant
+urchins caught in the act, their "ba, be, bi, bo."
+
+One who seemed the infant phenomenon of the royal harem, so juvenile and
+artless were her looks and ways, despising a performance so rudimentary
+as the a, b, c, demanded to be steered at once into the mid-ocean of the
+book; but when I left her without pilot in an archipelago of hard words,
+she soon showed signals of distress.
+
+At the far end of the table, bending over a little prince, her eyes
+riveted on the letters my boy was naming to her, stood a pale young
+woman, whose aspect was dejected and forlorn. She had entered
+unannounced and unnoticed, as one who had no interest in common with the
+others; and now she stood apart and alone, intent only on mastering the
+alphabet with the help of her small teacher. When we were about to
+dismiss the school, she repeated her lesson to my wise lad, who listened
+with imposing gravity, pronounced her a "very good child," and said she
+might go now. But when she perceived that I observed her curiously, she
+crouched almost under the table, as though owning she had no right to be
+there, and was worthy to pick only the crumbs of knowledge that might
+fall from it. She was neither very young nor pretty, save that her dark
+eyes were profound and expressive, and now the more interesting by their
+touching sadness. Esteeming it the part of prudence as well as of
+kindness to appear unconscious of her presence, and so encourage her to
+come again, I left the palace without accosting her, before his Majesty
+had awakened from his forenoon nap. This crushed creature had fallen
+under the displeasure of the king, and the after chapters of her story,
+which shall be related in their proper connection, were romantic and
+mournful.
+
+
+
+
+X. MOONSHEE AND THE ANGEL GABRIEL.
+
+
+Our blue chamber overlooked the attap roofs of a long row of houses,
+badly disfigured by the stains and wear of many a wet season, in which
+our next neighbor, a Mohammedan of patriarchal aspect and demeanor,
+stored bags of sugar, waiting for a rise in the market. This worthy paid
+us the honor of a visit every afternoon, and in the snug little eastern
+chamber consecrated to the studies and meditations of my Persian teacher
+propounded solemn problems from the Alkoran.
+
+Under Moonshee's window the tops of houses huddled, presenting forms
+more or less fantastic according to the purse or caprice of the
+proprietors. The shrewd old man was not long in finding tenants for all
+these roofs, and could even tell the social status and the means of
+each. It tickled his vanity to find himself domiciled in so aristocratic
+a quarter. Our house--more Oriental than European in its
+architecture--was comparatively new, having been erected upon the site
+of the old palace, the _débris_ of which had furnished the materials of
+which it was constructed. Among the loose slabs of marble and fragments
+of pottery that turned up with the promiscuous rubbish every day, we
+sometimes found surfaces of stone bearing Siamese or Cambodian
+inscriptions; others with grotesque figures in bass-relief, taken from
+the mythology of the Hindoos. Had these relics a charm for Moonshee, and
+was he animated by the antiquarian's enthusiasm, that he delved away
+hour after hour, unearthing, with his spade, bricks and stones and tiles
+and slabs? I was at a loss to account for this new freak in the old man;
+but seeing him infatuated with his eccentric pursuit, and Boy enraptured
+over grubs and snails and bits of broken figures, the resurrections of
+the nimble spade, I left them to their cheap and harmless bliss.
+
+One evening, as I sat musing in the piazza, with my book unopened on my
+lap, I heard Boy's clear voice ringing in happy, musical peals of
+laughter that drew me to him. On the edge of a deep hole, in a corner of
+the compound, sat Moonshee, an effigy of doleful disappointment, and
+beside him stood the lad, clapping his little hands and laughing
+merrily. The old child had taken the young one into his confidence, and
+by their joint exertions they had dug this hole in search of treasure;
+and lo! at the bottom lay something that looked like a rusty purse. With
+a long look and a throbbing heart Moonshee, after several empty hauls,
+had fished it up; and it was--a toad! a huge, unsightly, yellow toad!
+
+"May the foul fiend fly away with thee!" cried the enthusiast in his
+rage, as he flung the astonished reptile back into the pit, and sat down
+to bewail his _kismut_, while Boy made merry with his groans.
+
+For some days the spade was neglected, though I observed, from the
+cautious drift of his remarks at the conclusion of our evening lesson,
+that Moonshee's thoughts still harped on hidden treasure. The fervid
+imagination of the child had uncovered to his mind's eye mines of
+wealth, awaiting only the touch of the magic spade to bare their golden
+veins to the needs of his Mem Sahib and himself. There was no dispelling
+his golden visions by any shock of hard sense; the more he dreamed the
+more he believed. But the spot? the right spot? "Only wait."
+
+Another week elapsed, and Boy and I worked harder than ever in our
+school in the cool pavilion. I had flung off the dead weight of my
+stubborn repinings, and my heart was light again. There were delightful
+discoveries of beauty in the artless, childish faces that greeted us
+every morning; and now the only wonder was that I had been so slow to
+penetrate the secret of their charm. That eager, radiant elf, the
+Princess Somdetch Chow Fâ-ying, [Footnote: "First-Born of the Skies."]
+the king's darling (of whom, by and by, I shall have a sadder tale to
+tell), had become a sprite of sunshine and gladness amid the sombre
+shadows of those walls. In her deep, dark, lustrous eyes, her simple,
+trusting ways, there was a springtide of refreshment, a pure, pervading
+radiance, that brightened the darkest thing it touched. Even the grim
+hags of the harem felt its influence, and softened in her presence.
+
+As Boy was reciting his tasks one morning before breakfast, Moonshee
+entered the room with one of his profoundest salaams, and an expression
+at once so earnest and so comical that I anxiously asked him what was
+the matter. Panting alike with the eagerness of childhood and the
+feebleness of age, he stammered, "I have something of the greatest
+importance to confide to you, Mem Sahib! Now is the time! Now you shall
+prove the devotion of your faithful Moonshee, who swears by Allah not to
+touch a grain of gold without your leave, in all those bursting sacks,
+if Mem Sahib will but lend him ten ticals, only ten ticals, to buy a
+screw-driver!"
+
+"What in the world can you want with a screw-driver, Moonshee?"
+
+"O Mem, listen to me!" he cried, his face glowing with the very rapture
+of possession; "I have discovered the exact spot on which the old duke,
+Somdetch Ong Yai, expired. It is a secret, a wonderful secret, Mem
+Sahib; not a creature in all Siam knows it."
+
+"Then how came you by it," I inquired, "seeing that you know not one
+word of the language, which you have bravely scorned as unworthy to be
+uttered by the Faithful, and of no use on earth but to confound
+philosophers and Moonshees?"
+
+"_Sunnoh, sunnoh!_ [Footnote: "Listen, listen!"] Mem Sahib! No human
+tongue revealed it to me. It was the Angè Gibhrayeel. [Footnote: The
+Angel Gabriel.] He came to me last night as I slept, and said, 'O son of
+Jaffur Khan! to your prayers is granted the knowledge that, for all
+these years, has been denied to Kafirs. Arise! obey! and with humility
+receive the treasures reserved for thee, thou faithful follower of the
+Prophet!' And so saying he struck the golden palms he bore in his hand;
+and though I was now awake, Mem Sahib, I was so overpowered by the
+beauty and effulgence of his person, that I was as one about to die. The
+radiant glory of his wings, which were of the hue of sapphires, blinded
+my vision; I could neither speak nor see. But I felt the glow of his
+presence and heard the rustle of his pinions, as once more he beat the
+golden palms and cried, 'Behold, O son of Jaffur Khan! behold the spot
+where lie the treasures of that haughty Kafir chief!' I arose, and
+immediately the angel flashed from my sight; and as I gazed there
+appeared a luminous golden hen with six golden chickens, which pecked at
+bits of blazing coal that, as they cooled, became nuggets of pure gold.
+When suddenly I beheld a great light as of _rooshnees_, [Footnote:
+Fire-balls.] and it burst upon the spot where the hen had been; and then
+all was darkness again. Mem Sahib, your servant ran down and placed a
+stone upon that spot, and kneeling on that stone, with his face to the
+south, repeated his five Kalemahs." [Footnote: Thanksgivings.]
+
+I am ashamed to say I laughed; whereat the old man was so mortified that
+he vowed the next time the angel appeared to him, he would call us all
+to see. I accepted the condition; and even promised that if I saw the
+nuggets of pure gold that Gabriel's chickens pecked, I would immediately
+accommodate him with the ten ticals to invest in a screw-driver. So
+perfect was his faith in the vision, that he accepted the promise with
+complete satisfaction.
+
+Not many nights after this extraordinary apparition, we were aroused by
+Beebe and her husband calling, "Awake, awake!" Thinking the house was on
+fire, I threw on my dressing-gown and ran into the next room with Boy in
+my arms. There was indeed a fire, but it was in a distant corner of the
+yard. The night was dark, a thick mist rose from the river, and the
+gusty puffs of wind that now and then swept through the compound caused
+the wood fire to flare up and flicker, casting fitful and fantastic
+shadows around. Moonshee stared, with fixed eyes, expecting every moment
+the reappearance of the supernatural poultry; but I, being as yet
+sceptical, descended the stairs, followed by my trembling household, and
+approached the spot.
+
+On a remnant of matting, with a stone for a pillow, lay an old Siamese
+woman asleep. Driven by the heat to the relief of the open air, she had
+kindled a fire to keep off the mosquitoes.
+
+"Now, Moonshee," said I, "here is your Angel Gabriel. Don't you ever
+again trouble me for ticals to invest in screw-drivers."
+
+
+
+
+XI. THE WAYS OF THE PALACE.
+
+
+The city of Bangkok is commonly supposed to have inherited the name of
+the ancient capital, Ayudia; but in the royal archives, to which I have
+had free access, it is given as Krung Thèp'ha Maha-Nakhon Si-ayut-thia
+Maha-dilok Racha-thani,--"The City of the Royal, Invincible, and
+Beautiful Archangel." It is ramparted with walls within and without,
+which divide it into an inner and an outer city, the inner wall being
+thirty feet high, and flanked with circular forts mounted with cannon,
+making a respectable show of defence. Centre of all, the heart of the
+citadel, is the grand palace, encompassed by a third wall, which
+encloses only the royal edifice, the harems, the temple of Watt P'hra
+Këau, and the Maha P'hrasat.
+
+The Maha Phrasat is an immense structure of quadrangular façades,
+surmounted by a tall spire of very chaste and harmonious design. It is
+consecrated; and here dead sovereigns of Siam lie in state, waiting
+twelve months for their cremation; here also their ashes are deposited,
+in urns of gold, after that fiery consummation. In the Maha Phrasat the
+supreme king is crowned and all court ceremonies performed. On certain
+high holidays and occasions of state, the high-priest administers here
+a sort of mass, at which the whole court attend, even the chief ladies
+of the harem, who, behind heavy curtains of silk and gold that hang from
+the ceiling to the floor, whisper and giggle and peep and chew betel,
+and have the wonted little raptures of their sex over furtive, piquant
+glimpses of the world; for, despite the strict confinement and jealous
+surveillance to which they are subject, the outer life, with all its
+bustle, passion, and romance, will now and then steal, like a vagrant,
+curious ray of light, into the heart's darkness of these tabooed women,
+thrilling their childish minds with eager wonderment and formless
+longings.
+
+Within these walls lurked lately fugitives of every class, profligates
+from all quarters of the city, to whom discovery was death; but here
+their "sanctuary" was impenetrable. Here were women disguised as men,
+and men in the attire of women, hiding vice of every vileness and crime
+of every enormity,--at once the most disgusting, the most appalling, and
+the most unnatural that the heart of man has conceived. It was death in
+life, a charnel-house of quick corruption; a place of gloom and solitude
+indeed, wherefrom happiness, hope, courage, liberty, truth, were forever
+excluded, and only mother's love was left.
+
+The king [Footnote: All that is here written applies to Maha Mongkut,
+the supreme king, who died October, 1868; not to his successor (and my
+pupil), the present king.] was the disk of light and life round which
+these strange flies swarmed. Most of the women who composed his harem
+were of gentle blood,--the fairest of the daughters of Siamese nobles
+and of princes of the adjacent tributary states; the late queen consort
+was his own half-sister. Beside many choice Chinese and Indian girls,
+purchased annually for the royal harem by agents stationed at Peking,
+Foo-chou, and different points in Bengal, enormous sums were offered,
+year after year, through "solicitors" at Bangkok and Singapore, for an
+English woman of beauty and good parentage to crown the sensational
+collection; but when I took my leave of Bangkok, in 1868, the coveted
+specimen had not yet appeared in the market. The cunning
+_commissionnaires_ contrived to keep their places and make a living by
+sending his Majesty, now and then, a piquant photograph of some British
+Nourmahal of the period, freshly caught, and duly shipped, in good order
+for the harem; but the goods never arrived.
+
+Had the king's tastes been Gallic, his requisition might have been
+filled. I remember a score of genuine offers from French demoiselles,
+who enclosed their _cartes_ in billets more surprising and enterprising
+than any other "proposals" it was my office to translate. But his
+whimsical Majesty entertained a lively horror of French intrigue,
+whether of priests, consuls, or _lionnes_, and stood in vigilant fear of
+being beguiled, through one of these adventurous sirens, into fathering
+the innovation of a Franco-Siamese heir to the throne of the celestial
+P'hrabatts.
+
+The king, as well as most of the principal members of his household,
+rose at five in the morning, and immediately partook of a slight repast,
+served by the ladies who had been in waiting through the night; after
+which, attended by them and his sisters and elder children, he descended
+and took his station on a long strip of matting, laid from one of the
+gates through all the avenues to another. On his Majesty's left were
+ranged, first, his children in the order of rank; then the princesses,
+his sisters; and, lastly, his concubines, his maids of honor, and their
+slaves. Before each was placed a large silver tray containing offerings
+of boiled rice, fruit, cakes, and the seri leaf; some even had cigars.
+
+A little after five, the Patoo Dharmina ("Gate of Merit," called by the
+populace "Patoo Boon") was thrown open and the Amazons of the guard
+drawn up on either side. Then the priests entered, always by that
+gate,--one hundred and ninety-nine of them, escorted on the right and
+left by men armed with swords and clubs,--and as they entered they
+chanted: "Take thy meat, but think it dust! Eat but to live, and but to
+know thyself, and what thou art below! And say withal unto thy heart, It
+is earth I eat, that to the earth I may new life impart."
+
+Then the chief priest, who led the procession, advanced with downcast
+eyes and lowly mien, and very simply presented his bowl (slung from his
+neck by a cord, and until that moment quite hidden under the folds of
+his yellow robe) to the members of the royal household, who _offered_
+their fruit or cakes, or their spoonfuls of rice or sweetmeats. In like
+manner did all his brethren. If, by any chance, one before whom a tray
+was placed was not ready and waiting with an offering, no priest
+stopped, but all continued to advance slowly, taking only what was
+freely offered, without thanks or even a look of acknowledgment, until
+the end of the royal train was reached, when the procession retired,
+chanting as before, by the gate called Dinn, or, in the Court language,
+_Prithri_, "Gate of Earth."
+
+After this, the king and all his company repaired to his private temple,
+Watt Sasmiras Manda-thung, [Footnote: "Temple in Memory of Mother."] so
+called because it was dedicated by his Majesty to the memory of his
+mother. This is an edifice of unique and charming beauty, decorated
+throughout by artists from Japan, who have represented on the walls, in
+designs as diverse and ingenious as they are costly, the numerous
+metempsychoses of Buddha.
+
+Here his Majesty ascended alone the steps of the altar, rang a bell to
+announce the hour of devotion, lighted the consecrated tapers, and
+offered the white lotos and the roses. Then he spent an hour in prayer,
+and in reading texts from the P'ra-jana Para-mita and the
+P'hra-ti-Mok-sha.
+
+This service over, he retired for another nap, attended by a fresh
+detail of women,--those who had waited the night before being dismissed,
+not to be recalled for a month, or at least a fortnight, save as a
+peculiar mark of preference or favor to some one who had had the good
+fortune to please or amuse him; but most of that party voluntarily
+waited upon him every day.
+
+His Majesty usually passed his mornings in study, or in dictating or
+writing English letters and despatches. His breakfast, though a repast
+sufficiently frugal for Oriental royalty, was served with awesome forms.
+In an antechamber adjoining a noble hall, rich in grotesque carvings and
+gildings, a throng of females waited, while his Majesty sat at a long
+table, near which knelt twelve women before great silver trays laden
+with twelve varieties of viands,--soups, meats, game, poultry, fish,
+vegetables, cakes, jellies, preserves, sauces, fruits, and teas. Each
+tray, in its order, was passed by three ladies to the head wife or
+concubine, who removed the silver covers, and at least seemed to taste
+the contents of each dish; and then, advancing on her knees, she set
+them on the long table before the king.
+
+But his Majesty was notably temperate in his diet, and by no means a
+gastronome. In his long seclusion in a Buddhist cloister he had acquired
+habits of severe simplicity and frugality, as a preparation for the
+exercise of those powers of mental concentration for which he was
+remarkable. At these morning repasts it was his custom to detain me in
+conversation relating to some topic of interest derived from his
+studies, or in reading or translating. He was more systematically
+educated, and a more capacious devourer of books and news, than perhaps
+any man of equal rank in our day. But much learning had made him morally
+mad; his extensive reading had engendered in his mind an extreme
+scepticism concerning all existing religious systems. In inborn
+integrity and steadfast principle he had no faith whatever. He sincerely
+believed that every man strove to compass his own ends, _per fas et
+nefas_. The _mens sibi conscia recti_ was to him an hallucination, for
+which he entertained profound contempt; and he honestly pitied the
+delusion that pinned its faith on human truth and virtue. He was a
+provoking _mélange_ of antiquarian attainments and modern scepticism.
+When, sometimes, I ventured to disabuse his mind of his darling scorn
+for motive and responsibility, I had the mortification to discover that
+I had but helped him to an argument against myself: it was simply "my
+peculiar interest to do so." Money, money, money! that could procure
+anything.
+
+But aside from the too manifest bias of his early education and
+experience, it is due to his memory to say that his practice was less
+faithless than his profession, toward those persons and principles to
+which he was attracted by a just regard. In many grave considerations he
+displayed soundness of understanding and clearness of judgment,--a
+genuine nobility of mind, established upon universal ethics and
+philosophic reason,--where his passions were not dominant; but when
+these broke in between the man and the majesty, they effectually barred
+his advance in the direction of true greatness; beyond them he could
+not, or would not, make way.
+
+Ah, if this man could but have cast off the cramping yoke of his
+intellectual egotism, and been loyal to the free government of his own
+true heart, what a demi-god might he not have been among the lower
+animals of Asiatic royalty!
+
+At two o'clock he bestirred himself, and with the aid of his women
+bathed and anointed his person. Then he descended to a breakfast-
+chamber, where he was served with the most substantial meal of the
+day. Here he chatted with his favorites among the wives and concubines,
+and caressed his children, taking them in his arms, embracing them,
+plying them with puzzling or funny questions, and making droll faces
+at the babies: the more agreeable the mother, the dearer the child.
+The love of children was the constant and hearty virtue of this
+forlorn despot. They appealed to him by their beauty and their
+trustfulness, they refreshed him with the bold innocence of their ways,
+so frolicsome, graceful, and quaint.
+
+From this delusive scene of domestic condescension and kindliness he
+passed to his Hall of Audience to consider official matters. Twice a
+week at sunset he appeared at one of the gates of the palace to hear the
+complaints and petitions of the poorest of his subjects, who at no other
+time or place could reach his ear. It was most pitiful to see the
+helpless, awe-stricken wretches, prostrate and abject as toads, many too
+terrified to present the precious petition after all.
+
+At nine he retired to his private apartments, whence issued immediately
+peculiar domestic bulletins, in which were named the women whose
+presence he particularly desired, in addition to those whose turn it was
+to "wait" that night.
+
+And twice a week he held a secret council, or court, at midnight. Of the
+proceedings of those dark and terrifying sittings I can, of course, give
+no exact account. I permit myself to speak only of those things which
+were but too plain to one who lived for six years in or near the palace.
+
+In Siam, the king--Maha Mongkut especially--is not merely enthroned, he
+is enshrined. To the nobility he is omnipotence, and to the rabble
+mystery. Since the occupation of the country by the Jesuits, many
+foreigners have fancied that the government is becoming more and more
+silent, insidious, secretive; and that this midnight council is but the
+expression of a "policy of stifling." It is an inquisition,--not overt,
+audacious, like that of Rome, but nocturnal, invisible, subtle,
+ubiquitous, like that of Spain; proceeding without witnesses or warning;
+kidnapping a subject, not arresting him, and then incarcerating,
+chaining, torturing him, to extort confession or denunciation. If any
+Siamese citizen utter one word against the "San Luang," (the royal
+judges), and escape, forthwith his house is sacked and his wife and
+children kidnapped. Should he be captured, he is brought to secret
+trial, to which no one is admitted who is not in the patronage and
+confidence of the royal judges. In themselves the laws are tolerable;
+but in their operation they are frustrated or circumvented by arbitrary
+and capricious power in the king, or craft or cruelty in the Council. No
+one not initiated in the mystic _séances_ of the San Luang can depend
+upon Siamese law for justice. No man will consent to appear there, even
+as a true witness, save for large reward. The citizen who would enjoy,
+safe from legal plunder, his private income, must be careful to find a
+patron and protector in the king, the prime minister, or some other
+formidable friend at court. Spies in the employ of the San Luang
+penetrate into every family of wealth and influence. Every citizen
+suspects and fears always his neighbor, sometimes his wife. On more than
+one occasion when, vexed by some act of the king's, more than usually
+wanton and unjust, I instinctively gave expression to my feelings by
+word or look in the presence of certain officers and courtiers, I
+observed that they rapped, or tapped, in a peculiar and stealthy manner.
+This I afterward discovered was one of the secret signs of the San
+Luang; and the warning signal was addressed to me, because they imagined
+that I also was a member of the Council.
+
+_En passant_, a word as to the ordinary and familiar costumes of the
+palace. Men and women alike wear a sort of kilt, like the _pu'sho_ of
+the Birmans, with a short upper tunic, over which the women draw a broad
+silk scarf, which is closely bound round the chest and descends in long,
+waving folds almost to the feet. Neither sex wears any covering on the
+head. The uniform of the Amazons of the harem is green and gold, and for
+the soldiers scarlet and purple.
+
+There are usually four meals: breakfast about sunrise; a sort of tiffin
+at noon; a more substantial repast in the afternoon; and supper after
+the business of the day is over. Wine and tea are drunk freely, and
+perfumed liquors are used by the wealthy. An indispensable preparation
+for polite repast is by bathing and anointing the body. When guests are
+invited, the sexes are never brought together; for Siamese women of rank
+very rarely appear in strange company; they are confined to remote and
+unapproachable halls and chambers, where nothing human, being male, may
+ever enter. The convivial entertainments of the Court are usually given
+on occasions of public devotion, and form a part of these.
+
+
+
+
+XII. SHADOWS AND WHISPERS OF THE HAREM.
+
+
+As, month, after month, I continued to teach in the palace,--especially
+as the language of my pupils, its idioms and characteristic forms of
+expression, began to be familiar to me,--all the dim life of the place
+"came out" to my ken, like a faint picture, which at first displays to
+the eye only a formless confusion, a chaos of colors, but by force of
+much looking and tracing and joining and separating, first objects and
+then groups are discovered in their proper identity and relation, until
+the whole stands out, clear, true, and informing in its coherent
+significance of light and shade. Thus, by slow processes, as one whose
+sight has been imperceptibly restored, I awoke to a clearer and truer
+sense of the life within "the city of the beautiful and invincible
+angel."
+
+Sitting at one end of the table in my school-room, with Boy at the
+other, and all those far-off faces between, I felt as though we were
+twenty thousand miles away from the world that lay but a twenty minutes'
+walk from the door; the distance was but a speck in space, but the
+separation was tremendous. It always seemed to me that here was a
+sudden, harsh suspension of nature's fundamental law,--the human heart
+arrested in its functions, ceasing to throb, and yet alive.
+
+[Illustration: PRESENTATION OF A PRINCESS.]
+
+The fields beyond are fresh and green, and bright with flowers. The sun
+of summer, rising exultant, greets them with rejoicing; and evening
+shadows, falling soft among the dewy petals, linger to kiss them
+good-night. There the children of the poor--naked, rude, neglected
+though they be--are rich in the freedom of the bounteous earth, rich in
+the freedom of the fair blue sky, rich in the freedom of the limpid
+ocean of air above and around them. But within the close and gloomy
+lanes of this city within a city, through which many lovely women are
+wont to come and go, many little feet to patter, and many baby citizens
+to be borne in the arms of their dodging slaves, there is but cloud and
+chill, and famishing and stinting, and beating of wings against golden
+bars. In the order of nature, evening melts softly into night, and
+darkness retreats with dignity and grace before the advancing triumphs
+of the morning; but here light and darkness are monstrously mixed, and
+the result is a glaring gloom that is neither of the day nor of the
+night, nor of life nor of death, nor of earth nor of--yes, hell!
+
+In the long galleries and corridors, bewildering with their everlasting
+twilight of the eye and of the mind, one is forever coming upon shocks
+of sudden sunshine or shocks of sudden shadow,--the smile yet dimpling
+in a baby's face, a sister bearing a brother's scourging; a mother
+singing to her "sacred infant," [Footnote: P'hra-ong.] a slave sobbing
+before a deaf idol. And O, the forlornness of it all! You who have never
+beheld these things know not the utterness of loneliness. Compared with
+the predicament of some who were my daily companions, the sea were a
+home and an iceberg a hearth.
+
+How I have pitied those ill-fated sisters of mine, imprisoned without a
+crime! If they could but have rejoiced once more in the freedom of the
+fields and woods, what new births of gladness might have been
+theirs,--they who with a gasp of despair and moral death first entered
+those royal dungeons, never again to come forth alive! And yet have I
+known more than one among them who accepted her fate with a repose of
+manner and a sweetness of smile that told how dead must be the heart
+under that still exterior. And I wondered at the sight. Only twenty
+minutes between bondage and freedom,--such freedom as may be found in
+Siam! only twenty minutes between those gloomy, hateful cells and the
+fair fields and the radiant skies! only twenty minutes between the
+cramping and the suffocation and the fear, and the full, deep, glorious
+inspirations of freedom and safety!
+
+I had never beheld misery till I found it here; I had never looked upon
+the sickening hideousness of slavery till I encountered its features
+here; nor, above all, had I comprehended the perfection of the life,
+light, blessedness and beauty, the all-sufficing fulness of the love of
+God as it is in Jesus, until I felt the contrast here,--pain, deformity,
+darkness, death, and eternal emptiness, a darkness to which there is
+neither beginning nor end, a living which is neither of this world nor
+of the next. The misery which checks the pulse and thrills the heart
+with pity in one's common walks about the great cities of Europe is
+hardly so saddening as the nameless, mocking wretchedness of these
+women, to whom poverty were a luxury, and houselessness as a draught of
+pure, free air.
+
+And yet their lot is light indeed compared with that of their children.
+The single aim of such a hapless mother, howsoever tender and devoted
+she may by nature be, is to form her child after the one strict pattern
+her fate has set her,--her master's will; since, otherwise, she dare not
+contemplate the perils which might overtake her treasure. Pitiful
+indeed, therefore, is the pitiless inflexibility of purpose with which
+she wings from her child's heart all the dangerous endearments of
+childhood,--its merry laughter, its sparkling tears, its trustfulness,
+its artlessness, its engaging waywardness; and in their place instils
+silence, submission, self-constraint, suspicion, cunning, carefulness,
+and an ever-vigilant fear. And the result is a spectacle of unnatural
+discipline simply appalling. The life of such a child is an egg-shell on
+an ocean; to its helpless speck of experience all horrors are possible.
+Its passing moment is its eternity; and that overwhelmed with terrors,
+real or imaginary, what is left but that poor little floating wreck, a
+child's despair?
+
+I was often alone in the school-room, long after my other charges had
+departed, with a pale, dejected woman, whose name translated was
+"Hidden-Perfume." As a pupil she was remarkably diligent and attentive,
+and in reading and translating English, her progress was extraordinary.
+Only in her eager, inquisitive glances was she child-like; otherwise,
+her expression and demeanor were anxious and aged. She had long been out
+of favor with her "lord"; and now, without hope from him, surrendered
+herself wholly to her fondness for a son she had borne him in her more
+youthful and attractive days. In this young prince, who was about ten
+years old, the same air of timidity and restraint was apparent as in his
+mother, whom he strikingly resembled, only lacking that cast of pensive
+sadness which rendered her so attractive, and her pride, which closed
+her lips upon the past, though the story of her wrongs was a moving one.
+
+It was my habit to visit her twice a week at her residence, [Footnote:
+Each of the ladies of the harem has her own exclusive domicile, within
+the inner walls of the palace.] for I was indebted to her for much
+intelligent assistance in my study of the Siamese language. On going to
+her abode one afternoon, I found her absent; only the young prince was
+there, sitting sadly by the window.
+
+"Where is your mother, dear?" I inquired.
+
+"With his Majesty up stairs, I think," he replied, still looking
+anxiously in one direction, as though watching for her.
+
+This was an unusual circumstance for my sad, lonely friend, and I
+returned home without my lesson for that day.
+
+Next morning, passing the house again, I saw the lad sitting in the same
+attitude at the window, his eyes bent in the same direction, only more
+wistful and weary than before. On questioning him, I found his mother
+had not yet returned. At the pavilion I was met by the Lady Tâlâp, who,
+seizing my hand, said, "Hidden-Perfume is in trouble."
+
+"What is the matter?" I inquired.
+
+"She is in prison," she whispered, drawing me closely to her. "She is
+not prudent, you know,--like you and me," in a tone which expressed both
+triumph and fear.
+
+"Can I see her?" I asked.
+
+"Yes, yes! if you bribe the jailers. But don't give them more than a
+tical each. They'll demand two; give them only one."
+
+In the pavilion, which served as a private chapel for the ladies of the
+harem, priests were reading prayers and reciting homilies from that
+sacred book of Buddha called _Sâsânâh Thai_, "The Religion of the Free";
+while the ladies sat on velvet cushions with their hands folded, a vase
+of flowers in front of each, and a pair of odoriferous candles, lighted.
+Prayers are held daily in this place, and three times a day during the
+Buddhist Lent. The priests are escorted to the pavilion by Amazons, and
+two warriors, armed with swords and clubs, remain on guard till the
+service is ended. The latter, who are eunuchs, also attend the priests
+when they enter the palace, in the afternoon, to sprinkle the inmates
+with consecrated water.
+
+Leaving the priests reciting and chanting, and the rapt worshippers
+bowing, I passed a young mother with a sleeping babe, some slave-girls
+playing at _sabâh_ [Footnote: Marbles, played with the knee instead of
+the fingers.] on the stone pavement, and two princesses borne in the
+arms of their slaves, though almost women grown, on my way to the palace
+prison.
+
+If it ever should be the reader's fortune, good or ill, to visit a
+Siamese dungeon, whether allotted to prince or peasant, his attention
+will be first attracted to the rude designs on the rough stone walls
+(otherwise decorated only with moss and fungi and loathsome reptiles) of
+some nightmared painter, who has exhausted his dyspeptic fancy in
+portraying hideous personifications of Hunger, Terror, Old Age, Despair,
+Disease, and Death, tormented by furies and avengers, with hair of
+snakes and whips of scorpions,--all beyond expression devilish. Floor it
+has none, nor ceiling, for, with the Meinam so near, neither boards nor
+plaster can keep out the ooze. Underfoot, a few planks, loosely laid,
+are already as soft as the mud they are meant to cover; the damp has
+rotted them through and through. Overhead, the roof is black, but not
+with smoke; for here, where the close steam of the soggy earth and the
+reeking walls is almost intolerable, no fire is needed in the coldest
+season. The cell is lighted by one small window, so heavily grated on
+the outer side as effectually to bar the ingress of fresh air. A pair of
+wooden trestles, supporting rough boards, form a makeshift for a
+bedstead, and a mat (which may be clean or dirty, the ticals of the
+prisoner must settle that) is all the bed.
+
+In such a cell, on such a couch, lay the concubine of a supreme king and
+the mother of a royal prince of Siam, her feet covered with a silk
+mantle, her head supported by a pillow of glazed leather, her face
+turned to the clammy wall.
+
+There was no door to grate upon her quivering nerves; a trap-door in the
+street overhead had opened to the magic of silver, and I had descended a
+flight of broken steps of stone. At her head, a little higher than the
+pillow, were a vase of flowers, half faded, a pair of candles burning in
+gold candlesticks, and a small image of the Buddha. She had brought her
+god with her. Well, she needed his presence.
+
+I could hardly keep my feet, for the footing was slippery and my brain
+swam. Touching the silent, motionless form, in a voice scarcely audible
+I pronounced her name. She turned with difficulty, and a slight sound of
+clanking explained the covering on the feet. She was chained to one of
+the trestles.
+
+Sitting up, she made room for me beside her. No tears were in her eyes;
+only the habitual sadness of her face was deepened. Here, truly, was a
+perfect work of misery, meekness, and patience.
+
+Astonished at seeing me, she imagined me capable of yet greater things,
+and folding her hands in an attitude of supplication, implored me to
+help her. The offence for which she was imprisoned was briefly this:--
+
+She had been led to petition, through her son, [Footnote: A privilege
+granted to all the concubines.] that an appointment held by her late
+uncle, Phya Khien, might be bestowed on her elder brother, not knowing
+that another noble had already been preferred to the post by his
+Majesty.
+
+Had she been guilty of the gravest crime, her punishment could not have
+been more severe. It was plain that a stupid grudge was at the bottom of
+this cruel business. The king, on reading the petition, presented by the
+trembling lad on his knees, became furious, and, dashing it back into
+the child's face, accused the mother of plotting to undermine his power,
+saying he knew her to be at heart a rebel, who hated him and his dynasty
+with all the rancor of her Peguan ancestors, the natural enemies of
+Siam. Thus lashing himself into a rage of hypocritical patriotism, and
+seeking to justify himself by condemning her, he sent one of his judges
+to bring her to him. But before the myrmidon could go and come,
+concluding to dispense with forms, he anticipated the result of that
+mandate with another,--to chain and imprison her. No sooner was she
+dragged to this deadly cell, than a third order was issued to flog her
+till she confessed her treacherous plot; but the stripes were
+administered so tenderly, [Footnote: In these cases the executioners are
+women, who generally spare each other if they dare.] that the only
+confession they extorted was a meek protestation that she was "his
+meanest slave, and ready to give her life for his pleasure."
+
+"Beat her on the mouth with a slipper for lying!" roared the royal
+tiger; and they did, in the letter, if not in the spirit, of the brutal
+sentence. She bore it meekly, hanging down her head. "I am degraded
+forever!" she said to me.
+
+When once the king was enraged, there was nothing to be done but to wait
+in patience until the storm should exhaust itself by its own fury. But
+it was horrible to witness such an abuse of power at the hands of one
+who was the only source of justice in the land. It was a crime against
+all humanity, the outrage of the strong upon the helpless. His madness
+sometimes lasted a week; but weeks have their endings. Besides, he
+really had a conscience, tough and shrunken as it was; and she had, what
+was more to the purpose, a whole tribe of powerful connections.
+
+As for myself, there was but one thing I could do; and that was to
+intercede privately with the Kralahome. The same evening, immediately on
+returning from my visit to the dungeon, I called on him; but when I
+explained the object of my visit he rebuked me sharply for interfering
+between his Majesty and his wives.
+
+"She is my pupil," I replied. "But I have not interfered; I have only
+come to you for justice. She did not know of the appointment until she
+had sent in her petition; and to punish one woman for that which is
+permitted and encouraged in another is gross injustice." Thereupon he
+sent for his secretary, and having satisfied himself that the
+appointment had not been published, was good enough to promise that he
+would explain to his Majesty that "there had been delay in making known
+to the Court the royal pleasure in this matter"; but he spoke with
+indifference, as if thinking of something else.
+
+I felt chilled and hurt as I left the premier's palace, and more anxious
+than ever when I thought of the weary eyes of the lonely lad watching
+for his mother's return; for no one dared tell him the truth. But, to do
+the premier justice, he was more troubled than he would permit me to
+discover at the mistake the poor woman had made; for there was good
+stuff in the moral fabric of the man,--stern rectitude, and a judgment,
+unlike the king's, not warped by passion. That very night [Footnote: All
+consultations on matters of state and of court discipline are held in
+the royal palace at night.] he repaired to the Grand Palace, and
+explained the delay to the king, without appearing to be aware of the
+concubine's punishment.
+
+On Monday morning, when I came to school in the pavilion, I found, to my
+great joy, that Hidden-Perfume had been liberated, and was at home again
+with her child. The poor creature embraced me ardently, glorifying me
+with grateful epithets from the extravagant vocabulary of her people;
+and, taking an emerald ring from her finger, she put it upon mine,
+saying, "By this you will remember your thankful friend." On the
+following day she also sent me a small purse of gold thread netted, in
+which were a few Siamese coins, and a scrap of paper inscribed with
+cabalistic characters,--an infallible charm to preserve the wearer from
+poverty and distress.
+
+Among my pupils was a little girl about eight or nine years old, of
+delicate frame, and with the low voice and subdued manner of one who had
+already had experience of sorrow. She was not among those presented to
+me at the opening of the school. Wanne Ratâna Kania was her name ("Sweet
+Promise of my Hopes"), and very engaging and persuasive was she in her
+patient, timid loveliness. Her mother, the Lady Khoon Chom Kioa, who had
+once found favor with the king, had, at the time of my coming to the
+palace, fallen into disgrace by reason of her gambling, in which she had
+squandered all the patrimony of the little princess. This fact, instead
+of inspiring the royal father with pity for his child, seemed to attract
+to her all that was most cruel in his insane temper. The offence of the
+mother had made the daughter offensive in his sight; and it was not
+until long after the term of imprisonment of the degraded favorite had
+expired that Wanne ventured to appear at a royal _levée_. The moment the
+king caught sight of the little form, so piteously prostrated there, he
+drove her rudely from his presence, taunting her with the delinquencies
+of her mother with a coarseness that would have been cruel enough if she
+had been responsible for them and a gainer by them, but against one of
+her tender years, innocent toward both, and injured by both, it was
+inconceivably atrocious.
+
+On her first appearance at school she was so timid and wistful that I
+felt constrained to notice and encourage her more than those whom I had
+already with me. But I found this no easy part to play; for very soon
+one of the court ladies in the confidence of the king took me quietly
+aside and warned me to be less demonstrative in favor of the little
+princess, saying, "Surely you would not bring trouble upon that wounded
+lamb."
+
+It was a sore trial to me to witness the oppression of one so
+unoffending and so helpless. Yet our Wanne was neither thin nor pale.
+There was a freshness in her childish beauty, and a bloom in the
+transparent olive of her cheek, that were at times bewitching. She loved
+her father, and in her visions of baby faith beheld him almost as a god.
+It was true joy to her to fold her hands and bow before the chamber
+where he slept. With that steadfast hopefulness of childhood which can
+be deceived without being discouraged, she would say, "How glad he will
+be when I can read!" and yet she had known nothing but despair.
+
+Her memory was extraordinary; she delighted in all that was remarkable,
+and with careful wisdom gathered up facts and precepts and saved them
+for future use. She seemed to have built around her an invisible temple
+of her own design, and to have illuminated it with the rushlight of her
+childish love. Among the books she read to me, rendering it from English
+into Siamese, was one called "Spring-time." On translating the line,
+"Whom He loveth he chasteneth," she looked up in my face, and asked
+anxiously: "Does thy God do that? Ah! lady, are _all_ the gods angry and
+cruel? Has he no pity, even for those who love him? He must be like my
+father; _he_ loves us, so he has to be _rye_ (cruel), that we may fear
+evil and avoid it."
+
+Meanwhile little Wanne learned to spell, read, and translate almost
+intuitively; for there were novelty and hope to help the Buddhist child,
+and love to help the English woman. The sad look left her face, her life
+had found an interest; and very often, on _fête_ days, she was my only
+pupil;--when suddenly an ominous cloud obscured the sky of her transient
+gladness. Wanne was poor; and her gifts to me were of the riches of
+poverty,--fruits and flowers. But she owned some female slaves; and one
+among them, a woman of twenty-five perhaps (who had already made a place
+for herself in my regard), seemed devotedly attached to her youthful
+mistress, and not only attended her to the school day after day, but
+shared her scholarly enthusiasm, even studied with her, sitting at her
+feet by the table. Steadily the slave kept pace with the princess. All
+that Wanne learned at school in the day was lovingly taught to Mai Noie
+in the nursery at night; and it was not long before I found, to my
+astonishment, that the slave read and translated as correctly as her
+mistress.
+
+Very delightful were the demonstrations of attachment interchanged
+between these two. Mai Noie bore the child in her arms to and from the
+school, fed her, humored her every whim, fanned her naps, bathed and
+perfumed her every night, and then rocked her to sleep on her careful
+bosom, as tenderly as she would have done for her own baby. And then it
+was charming to watch the child's face kindle with love and comfort as
+the sound of her friend's step approached.
+
+Suddenly a change; the little princess came to school as usual, but a
+strange woman attended her, and I saw no more of Mai Noie there. The
+child grew so listless and wretched that I was forced to ask the cause
+of her darling's absence; she burst into a passion of tears, but replied
+not a word. Then I inquired of the stranger, and she answered in two
+syllables,--_My ru_ ("I know not").
+
+Shortly afterward, as I entered the school-room one day, I perceived
+that something unusual was happening. I turned toward the princes' door,
+and stood still, fairly holding my breath. There was the king, furious,
+striding up and down. All the female judges of the palace were present,
+and a crowd of mothers and royal children. On all the steps around,
+innumerable slave-women, old and young, crouched and hid their faces.
+
+But the object most conspicuous was little Wanne's mother, manacled, and
+prostrate on the polished marble pavement. There, too, was my poor
+little princess, her hands clasped helplessly, her eyes tearless but
+downcast, palpitating, trembling, shivering. Sorrow and horror had
+transformed the child.
+
+As well as I could understand, where no one dared explain, the wretched
+woman had been gambling again, and had even staked and lost her
+daughter's slaves. At last I understood Wanne's silence when I asked her
+where Mai Noie was. By some means--spies probably--the whole matter had
+come to the king's ears, and his rage was wild, not because he loved the
+child, but that he hated the mother.
+
+Promptly the order was given to lash the woman; and two Amazons advanced
+to execute it. The first stripe was delivered with savage skill; but
+before the thong could descend again, the child sprang forward and flung
+herself across the bare and quivering back of her mother.
+
+_Ti chan, Tha Moom! [Footnote: Tha Mom or Moom, used by children in
+addressing a royal father.] Poot-thoo ti chan, Tha Mom!_ ("Strike _me_,
+my father! Pray, strike me, O my father!")
+
+The pause of fear that followed was only broken by my boy, who, with a
+convulsive cry, buried his face desperately in the folds of my skirt.
+
+There indeed was a case for prayer, any prayer!--the prostrate woman,
+the hesitating lash, the tearless anguish of the Siamese child, the
+heart-rending cry of the English child, all those mothers with
+grovelling brows, but hearts uplifted among the stars, on the wings of
+the Angel of Prayer. Who could behold so many women crouching,
+shuddering, stupefied, dismayed, in silence and darkness, animated,
+enlightened only by the deep whispering heart of maternity, and not be
+moved with mournful yearning?
+
+The child's prayer was vain. As demons tremble in the presence of a god,
+so the king comprehended that he had now to deal with a power of
+weakness, pity, beauty, courage, and eloquence. "Strike _me_, O my
+father!" His quick, clear sagacity measured instantly all the danger in
+that challenge; and though his voice was thick and agitated (for,
+monster as he was at that moment, he could not but shrink from striking
+at every mother's heart at his feet), he nervously gave the word to
+remove the child, and bind her. The united strength of several women was
+not more than enough to loose the clasp of those loving arms from the
+neck of an unworthy mother. The tender hands and feet were bound, and
+the tender heart was broken. The lash descended then, unforbidden by any
+cry.
+
+
+
+
+XIII. FÂ-YING, THE KING'S DARLING.
+
+
+"Will you teach me to draw?" said an irresistible young voice to me, as
+I sat at the school-room table, one bright afternoon. "It is so much
+more pleasant to sit by you than to go to my Sanskrit class. My Sanskrit
+teacher is not like my English teacher; she bends my hands back when I
+make mistakes. I don't like Sanskrit, I like English. There are so many
+pretty pictures in your books. Will you take me to England with you, Mam
+cha?" [Footnote: "Lady, dear."] pleaded the engaging little prattler.
+
+"I am afraid his Majesty will not let you go with me," I replied.
+
+"O yes, he will!" said the child with smiling confidence. "He lets me do
+as I like. You know I am the Somdetch Chow Fâ-ying; he loves me best of
+all; he will let me go."
+
+"I am glad to hear it," said I, "and very glad to hear that you love
+English and drawing. Let us go up and ask his Majesty if you may learn
+drawing instead of Sanskrit."
+
+With sparkling eyes and a happy smile, she sprang from my lap, and,
+seizing my hand eagerly, said, "O yes! let us go now." We went, and our
+prayer was granted.
+
+Never did work seem more like pleasure than it did to me as I sat with
+this sweet, bright little princess, day after day, at the hour when all
+her brothers and sisters were at their Sanskrit, drawing herself, as the
+humor seized her, or watching me draw; but oftener listening, her large
+questioning eyes fixed upon my face, as step by step I led her out of
+the shadow-land of myth into the realm of the truth as it is in Christ
+Jesus. "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God"; and I felt
+that this child of smiles and tears, all unbaptized and unblessed as she
+was, was nearer and dearer to her Father in heaven than to her father on
+earth.
+
+This was the Somdetch Chowfa Chandrmondol, best known in the palace by
+her pet name of Fâ-ying. Her mother, the late queen consort, in dying,
+left three sons and this one daughter, whom, with peculiar tenderness
+and anxiety, she commended to the loving kindness of the king; and now
+the child was the fondled darling of the lonely, bitter man, having
+quickly won her way to his heart by the charm of her fearless innocence
+and trustfulness, her sprightly intelligence and changeful grace.
+
+Morning dawned fair on the river, the sunshine flickering on the silver
+ripples, and gilding the boats of the market people as they softly glide
+up or down to the lazy swing of the oars. The floating shops were all
+awake, displaying their various and fantastic wares to attract the
+passing citizen or stranger. Priests in yellow robes moved noiselessly
+from door to door, receiving without asking and without thanks the alms
+wherewith their pious clients hoped to lay up treasures in heaven, or,
+in Buddhist parlance, to "make merit." Slaves hurried hither and thither
+in the various bustle of errands. Worshippers thronged the gates and
+vestibules of the many temples of this city of pagodas and _p'hra-
+cha-dees_, and myriads of fan-shaped bells scattered aeolian melodies on
+the passing breeze. As Boy and I gazed from our piazza on this strangely
+picturesque panorama, there swept across the river a royal barge filled
+with slaves, who, the moment they had landed, hurried up to me.
+
+"My lady," they cried, "there is cholera in the palace! Three slaves are
+lying dead in the princesses' court; and her Highness, the young
+Somdetch Chow Fâ-ying, was seized this morning. She sends for you. O,
+come to her, quickly!" and with that they put into my hand a scrap of
+paper; it was from his Majesty.
+
+"MY DEAR MAM,--Our well-beloved daughter, your favorite pupil, is
+attacked with cholera, and has earnest desire to see you, and is heard
+much to make frequent repetition of your name. I beg that you will favor
+her wish. I fear her illness is mortal, as there has been three deaths
+since morning. She is best beloved of my children.
+
+"I am your afflicted friend,
+
+"S. S. P. P. MAHA MONGKUT."
+
+In a moment I was in my boat. I entreated, I flattered, I scolded, the
+rowers. How slow they were! how strong the opposing current! And when we
+did reach those heavy gates, how slowly they moved, with what suspicious
+caution they admitted me! I was fierce with impatience. And when at last
+I stood panting at the door of my Fâ-ying's chamber--too late! even Dr.
+Campbell (the surgeon of the British consulate) had come too late.
+
+There was no need to prolong that anxious wail in the ear of the deaf
+child, "P'hra-Arahang! P'hra-Arahang!" [Footnote: One of the most sacred
+of the many titles of Buddha, repeated by the nearest relative in the
+ear of the dying till life is quite extinct.] She would not forget her
+way; she would nevermore lose herself on the road to Heaven. Beyond,
+above the P'hra-Arahang, she had soared into the eternal, tender arms of
+the P'hra-Jesus, of whom she was wont to say in her infantine wonder and
+eagerness, _Mam cha, chân râk P'hra-Jesus mâk_ ("Mam dear, I love your
+holy Jesus.")
+
+As I stooped to imprint a parting kiss on the little face that had been
+so fair to me, her kindred and slaves exchanged their appealing
+"P'hra-Arahang" for a sudden burst of heart-rending cries.
+
+An attendant hurried me to the king, who, reading the heavy tidings in
+my silence, covered his face with his hands and wept passionately.
+Strange and terrible were the tears of such a man, welling up from a
+heart from which all natural affections had seemed to be expelled, to
+make room for his own exacting, engrossing conceit of self.
+
+Bitterly he bewailed his darling, calling her by such tender, touching
+epithets as the lips of loving Christian mothers use. What could I say?
+What could I do but weep with him, and then steal quietly away and leave
+the king to the Father?
+
+"The moreover very sad & mournful Circular [Footnote: From the pen of
+the king.] from His Gracious Majesty Somdetch P'hra Paramendr Maha
+Mongkut, the reigning Supreme King of Siam, intimating the recent death
+of Her Celestial Royal Highness, Princess Somdetch Chowfa Chandrmondol
+Sobhon Baghiawati, who was His Majesty's most affectionate & well
+beloved 9th Royal daughter or 16th offspring, and the second Royal child
+by His Majesty's late Queen consort Rambery Bhamarabhiramy who deceased
+in the year 1861. Both mother and daughter have been known to many
+foreign friends of His Majesty.
+
+"To all the foreign friends of His Majesty, residing or trading in Siam,
+or in Singapore, Malacca, Pinang, Ceylon, Batavia, Saigon, Macao,
+Hong-kong, & various regions in China, Europe, America, &c. &c....
+
+"Her Celestial Royal Highness, having been born on the 24th April, 1855,
+grew up in happy condition of her royal valued life, under the care of
+her Royal parents, as well as her elder and younger three full brothers;
+and on the demise of her royal mother on the forementioned date, she was
+almost always with her Royal father everywhere day & night. All things
+which belonged to her late mother suitable for female use were
+transferred to her as the most lawful inheritor of her late royal
+mother; She grew up to the age of 8 years & 20 days. On the ceremony of
+the funeral service of her elder late royal half brother forenamed, She
+accompanied her royal esteemed father & her royal brothers and sisters
+in customary service, cheerfully during three days of the ceremony, from
+the 11th to 13th May. On the night of the latter day, when she was
+returning from the royal funeral place to the royal residence in the
+same sedan with her Royal father at 10 o'clock P.M. she yet appeared
+happy, but alas! on her arrival at the royal residence, she was attacked
+by most violent & awful cholera, and sunk rapidly before the arrival of
+the physicians who were called on that night for treatment. Her disease
+or illness of cholera increased so strong that it did not give way to
+the treatment of any one, or even to the Chlorodine administered to her
+by Doctor James Campbell the Surgeon of the British Consulate. She
+expired at 4 o'clock P.M., on the 14th May, when her elder royal half
+brother's remains were burning at the funeral hall outside of the royal
+palace, according to the determined time for the assembling of the great
+congregation of the whole of the royalty & nobility, and native &
+foreign friends, before the occurrence of the unforeseen sudden
+misfortune or mournful event.
+
+"The sudden death of the said most affectionate and lamented royal
+daughter has caused greater regret and sorrow to her Royal father than
+several losses sustained by him before, as this beloved Royal amiable
+daughter was brought up almost by the hands of His Majesty himself,
+since she was aged only 4 to 5 months, His Majesty has carried her to
+and fro by his hand and on the lap and placed her by his side in every
+one of the Royal seats, where ever he went; whatever could be done in
+the way of nursing His Majesty has done himself, by feeding her with
+milk obtained from her nurse, and sometimes with the milk of the cow,
+goat &c. poured in a teacup from which His Majesty fed her by means of a
+spoon, so this Royal daughter was as familiar with her father in her
+infancy, as with her nurses.
+
+"On her being only aged six months, his Majesty took this Princess with
+him and went to Ayudia on affairs there; after that time when she became
+grown up His Majesty had the princess seated on his lap when he was in
+his chair at the breakfast, dinner & supper table, and fed her at the
+same time of breakfast &c, almost every day, except when she became sick
+of colds &c. until the last days of her life she always eat at same
+table with her father. Where ever His Majesty went, this princess always
+accompanied her father upon the same, sedan, carriage, Royal boat, yacht
+&c. and on her being grown up she became more prudent than other
+children of the same age, she paid every affectionate attention to her
+affectionate and esteemed father in every thing where her ability
+allowed; she was well educated in the vernacular Siamese literature
+which she commenced to study when she was 3 years old, and in last year
+she commenced to study in the English School where the schoolmistress,
+Lady L---- has observed that she was more skillful than the other royal
+Children, she pronounced & spoke English in articulate & clever manner
+which pleased the schoolmistress exceedingly, so that the schoolmistress
+on the loss of this her beloved pupil, was in great sorrow and wept
+much.
+
+".... But alas! her life was very short. She was only aged 8 years & 20
+days, reckoning from her birth day & hour, she lived in this world 2942
+days & 18 hours. But it is known that the nature of human lives is like
+the flames of candles lighted in open air without any protection above &
+every side, so it is certain that this path ought to be followed by
+every one of human beings in a short or long while which cannot be
+ascertained by prediction, Alas!
+
+"Dated Royal Grand Palace, Bangkok, 16th May, Anno Christi 1863."
+
+
+Not long after our darling Fâ-ying was taken from us, the same royal
+barge, freighted with the same female slaves who had summoned us to her
+death-bed, came in haste to our house. His Majesty had sent them to find
+and bring us. We must hurry to the palace. On arriving there, we found
+the school pavilion strangely decorated with flowers. My chair of office
+had been freshly painted a glaring red, and on the back and round the
+arms and legs fresh flowers were twined. The books the Princess Fâ-ying
+had lately conned were carefully displayed in front of my accustomed
+seat, and upon them were laid fresh roses and fragrant lilies. Some of
+the ladies in waiting informed me that an extraordinary honor was about
+to be conferred on me. Not relishing the prospect of favors that might
+place me in a false position, and still all in the dark, I submitted
+quietly, but not without misgivings on my own part and positive
+opposition on Boy's, to be enthroned in the gorgeous chair, whereof the
+paint was hardly dry. Presently his Majesty sent to inquire if we had
+arrived, and being apprised of our presence, came down at once, followed
+by all my pupils and a formidable staff of noble dowagers,--his sisters,
+half-sisters, and aunts, paternal and maternal.
+
+Having shaken hands with me and with my child, he proceeded to enlighten
+us. He was about to confer a distinction upon me, for my "courage and
+conduct," as he expressed it, at the death-bed of her Highness, his
+well-beloved royal child, the Somdetch Chow Fâ-ying. Then, bidding me
+"remain seated," much to the detriment of my white dress, in the sticky
+red chair, and carefully taking the ends of seven threads of unspun
+cotton (whereof the other ends were passed over my head, and over the
+dead child's books, into the hands of seven of his elder sisters), he
+proceeded to wind them round my brow and temples. Next he waved
+mysteriously a few gold coins, then dropped twenty-one drops of cold
+water out of a jewelled shell, [Footnote: The conch, or chank shell] and
+finally, muttering something in Sanskrit, and placing in my hand a small
+silk bag containing a title of nobility and the number and description
+of the roods of lands pertaining to it, bade me rise, "Chow Khoon Crue
+Yai"!
+
+My estate was in the district of Lophaburee and P'hra Batt, and I found
+afterward that to reach it I must perform a tedious journey overland,
+through a wild, dense jungle, on the back of an elephant. So, with wise
+munificence, I left it to my people, tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses,
+wild boars, armadillos, and monkeys to enjoy unmolested and untaxed,
+while I continued to pursue the even tenor of a "school-marm's" way,
+unagitated by my honorary title. In fact, the whole affair was
+ridiculous; and I was inclined to feel a little ashamed of the
+distinction, when I reflected on the absurd figure I must have cut, with
+my head in a string like a grocer's parcel, and Boy imploring me, with
+all his astonished eyes, not to submit to so silly an operation. So he
+and I tacitly agreed to hush the matter up between us.
+
+Speaking of the "chank" shell, that is the name given in the East Indies
+to certain varieties of the _voluta gravis_, fished up by divers in the
+Gulf of Manaar, on the northwest coast of Ceylon. There are two kinds,
+_payel_ and _patty,_--the one red, the other white; the latter is of
+small value. These shells are exported to Calcutta and Bombay, where
+they are sawed into rings of various sizes, and worn on the arms, legs,
+fingers, and toes by the Hindoos, from whom the Buddhists have adopted
+the shell for use in their religious or political ceremonies. They
+employ, however, a third species, which opens to the right, and is rare
+and costly. The demand for these shells, created by the innumerable
+poojahs and pageants of the Hindoos and Buddhists, was formerly so great
+that a bounty of sixty thousand rix dollars per annum was paid to the
+British government for the privilege of fishing for them; but this
+demand finally ceased, and the revenue became not worth collecting. The
+fishing is now free to all.
+
+
+
+
+XIV. AN OUTRAGE AND A WARNING.
+
+
+One morning we were startled by a great outcry, from which we presently
+began to pick out, here and there, a coherent word, which, put together,
+signified that Moonshee was once more in trouble. I ran down into the
+compound, and found that the old man had been cruelly beaten, by order
+of one of the premier's half-brothers, for refusing to bow down before
+him. Exhausted as he was, he found voice to express his sense of the
+outrage in indignant iteration. "Am I a beast? Am I an unbelieving dog?
+O son of Jaffur Khan, how hast thou fallen!"
+
+I felt so shocked and insulted that I went at once, and without
+ceremony, to the Kralahome, and complained. To my surprise and disgust,
+his Excellency made light of the matter, saying that the old man was a
+fool; that he had no time to waste upon such trifles; and that I must
+not trouble him so often with my meddling in matters of no moment, and
+which did not concern me.
+
+When he was done with this explosion of petulance and brow-beating, I
+endeavored to demonstrate to him the unfairness of his remarks, and the
+disadvantage to himself if he should appear to connive at the ruffianly
+behavior of his people. But I assured him that in future I should not
+trouble him with my complaints, but take them directly to the British
+Consul. And so saying I left this unreasonable prime minister, meeting
+the cause of all our woes (the half-brother) coming in as I went out.
+That same evening, as I sat in our little piazza, where it was cooler
+than in the house, embroidering a new coat for Boy to wear on his
+approaching birthday, I felt a violent blow on my head, and fell from my
+chair stunned, overturning the small table at which I was working, and
+the heavy Argand lamp that stood on it.
+
+On recovering my senses I found myself in the dark, and Boy, with all
+his little strength, trying to lift me from the floor, while he
+screamed, "_Beebe maree! Beebe maree!_" [Footnote: Maree, "Come here"
+(Malay).] I endeavored to rise, but feeling dizzy and sick lay still for
+a while, taking Louis in my arms to reassure him.
+
+When Beebe came from the river, where she had been bathing, she struck a
+light, and found that the mischief had been done with a large stone,
+about four inches long and two wide; but by whom or why it had been
+thrown we could not for some time conjecture. Beebe raised the
+neighborhood with her cries: "First my husband, then my mistress! It
+will be my turn next; and then what will become of the _chota baba
+sahib?_" [Footnote: The little master.] But I begged her to have done
+with her din and help me to the couch, which she did with touching
+tenderness and quiet, bathing my head, which had bled so profusely that
+I sank, exhausted, into a deep sleep, though the sight of my boy's pale,
+anxious face, as he insisted on sharing Beebe's vigil, would have been
+more than enough to keep me awake at any other time. When I awoke in the
+morning, there sat the dear little fellow in a chair asleep, but
+dressed, his head resting on my pillow.
+
+I now felt so much better, though my head was badly swollen, that I rose
+and paid a visit to Moonshee, who was really ill, though not dying, as
+his wife declared. The shame and outrage of his beating was the occasion
+of much sorrow and trouble to me, for my Persian teacher now begged to
+be sent back to Singapore, and I thought that Beebe could not be
+persuaded to let him go alone, though my heart had been set on keeping
+them with me as long as I remained in Siam. It was in vain that I tried
+to convince the terrified old man that such a catastrophe could hardly
+happen again; he would not be beguiled, but, shedding faithful tears at
+the sight of my bandaged head, declared we should all be murdered if we
+tarried another day in a land of such barbarous Kafirs. I assured him
+that my wound was but skin-deep, and that I apprehended no further
+violence. But all to no purpose; I was obliged to promise them that they
+should depart by the next trip of the Chow Phya steamer.
+
+I deemed it prudent, however, to send for the premier's secretary, and
+warn him, in his official capacity, that if a repetition of the outrage
+already perpetrated upon members of my household should be attempted
+from any quarter, I would at once take refuge at the British consulate,
+and lodge a complaint against the government of Siam.
+
+Mr. Hunter, who was always very serious when he was sober and very
+volatile when he was not, took the matter to heart, stared long and
+thoughtfully at my bandaged head and pallid countenance, and abruptly
+started for the premier's palace, whence he returned on the following
+day with several copies of a proclamation in the Siamese language,
+signed by his Excellency, to the effect that persons found injuring or
+in any way molesting any member of my household should be severely
+punished. I desired him to leave one or two of them, in a friendly way,
+at the house of my neighbor on the left, the Kralahome's half-brother;
+for it was he, and no other, who had committed this most cowardly act of
+revenge. The expression of Mr. Hunter's face, as the truth slowly dawned
+upon him, was rich in its blending of indignation, disgust, and
+contempt. "The pusillanimous rascal!" he exclaimed, as he hurried off in
+the direction indicated.
+
+"The darkest hour is just before day." So the gloom now cast over our
+little circle by Moonshee's departure was quickly followed by the light
+of love in Beebe's tearful eyes as she bade her husband adieu. "How
+could she," she asked, "leave her Mem and the _chota baba sahib_ alone in
+a strange land?"
+
+
+
+
+XV. THE CITY OF BANGKOK.
+
+
+Ascending the Meinam (or Chow Phya) from the gulf, and passing Paknam,
+the paltry but picturesque seaport already described, we come next to
+Paklat Beeloo, or "Little Paklat," so styled to distinguish it from
+Paklat Boon, a considerable town higher up the river, which we shall
+presently inspect as we steam toward Bangkok. Though, strictly speaking,
+Paklat Beeloo is a mere cluster of huts, the humble dwellings of a
+colony of farmers and rice-planters, it is nevertheless a place of
+considerable importance as a depot for the products of the ample fields
+and gardens which surround it on every side. The rice and vegetables
+which these supply are shipped for the markets of Bangkok and Ayudia. At
+Paklat Beeloo that bustle of traffic begins which, more and more as we
+approach the capital, imparts to the river its characteristic aspect of
+activity and thrift,--an animated procession of boats of various form
+and size, deeply laden with grain, garden stuffs, and fruits, drifting
+with the friendly helping tide, and requiring little or no manual labor
+for their navigation, as they sweep along tranquilly, steadily, from
+bank to bank, from village to village.
+
+Diverse as are the styles and uses of these boats, the most convenient,
+and therefore the most common, are the Rua-keng and the Rua-pêt. The
+former resembles in all respects the Venetian gondola, while the Rua-pêt
+has either a square house with, windows amidships, or (more commonly) a
+basket cover, long and round, like the tent-top of some Western wagons.
+The dimensions of many of these boats are sufficient to accommodate an
+entire family, with their household goods and merchandise, yet one
+seldom sees more than a single individual in charge of them. The tide,
+running strongly up or down, affords the motive-power; "the crew" has
+but to steer. Often unwieldy, and piled clumsily with cargo, one might
+reasonably suppose their safe piloting to be a nautical impossibility;
+yet so perfect is the skill--the instinct, rather--of these almost
+amphibious river-folk, that a little child, not uncommonly a girl,
+shall lead them. Accidents are marvellously rare, considering the
+thousands of large, heavy, handsome keng boats that ply continually
+between the gulf and the capital, now lost in a sudden bend of the
+stream, now emerging from behind a screen of mangroves, and in their
+swift descent threatening quick destruction to the small and fragile
+market-boats, freighted with fish and poultry, fruit and vegetables.
+
+From Paklat Beeloo a great canal penetrates directly to the heart of
+Bangkok, cutting off thirty miles from the circuitous river route. But
+the traveller, faithful to the picturesque, will cling to the beautiful
+Meinam, which will entertain him with scenery more and more charming as
+he approaches the capital,--higher lands, a neater cultivation, hamlets
+and villages quaintly pretty, fantastic temples and pagodas dotting the
+plain, fine Oriental effects of form and color, scattered Edens of
+fruit-trees,--the mango, the mangostein, the bread-fruit, the durian the
+orange,--their dark foliage contrasting boldly with the more lively and
+lovely green of the betel, the tamarind, and the banana. Every curve of
+the river is beautiful with an unexpectedness of its own,--here the
+sugar-cane swaying gracefully, there the billow-like lights and shadows
+of the supple, feathery bamboo, and everywhere ideal paradises of
+refreshment and repose. As we drift on the flowing thoroughfare toward
+the golden spires of Bangkok, kaleidoscopic surprises of summer salute
+us on either hand.
+
+Presently we come to Paklat Boon, a place of detached cottages and
+orchards, fondly courting the river, the pretty homesteads of husbandmen
+and gardeners. Here, too, is a dock-yard for the construction of royal
+barges and war-boats, some of them more than eighty feet long, with less
+than twelve feet beam.
+
+From Paklat Boon to Bangkok the scene is one of ever-increasing
+splendor, the glorious river seeming to array itself more and more
+grandly, as for the admiration of kings, and proudly spreading its
+waters wide, as a courtier spreads his robes. Its lake-like expanses,
+without a spiteful rock or shoal, are alive with ships, barks, brigs,
+junks, proas, sampans, canoes; and the stranger is beset by a flotilla
+of river pedlers, expertly sculling under the stern of the steamer, and
+shrilly screaming the praises of their wares; while here and there, in
+the thick of the bustle and scramble and din, a cunning, quick-handed
+Chinaman, in a crank canoe, ladles from a steaming caldron his savory
+chow-chow soup, and serves it out in small white bowls to hungry
+customers, who hold their peace for a time and loll upon their oars,
+enraptured by the penetrating brew.
+
+Three miles below the capital are the royal dock-yards, where most of
+the ships composing the Siamese navy and merchant marine are built,
+under the supervision of English shipwrights. Here, also, craft from
+Hong-Kong, Canton, Singapore, Rangoon, and other ports, that have been
+disabled at sea, are repaired more thoroughly and cheaply than in any
+other port in the East. There are, likewise, several dry-docks, and, in
+fact, an establishment completely equipped and intelligently managed. A
+short distance below the dock-yards is the American Mission, comprising
+the dwellings of the missionaries and a modest school-house and chapel,
+the latter having a fair attendance of consuls and their children. Above
+the dock-yards is the Roman Catholic establishment, a quiet little
+settlement clustered about a small cross-crowned sanctuary.
+
+Yet one more bend of the tortuous river, and the strange panorama of the
+floating city unrolls like a great painted canvas before us,--piers and
+rafts of open shops, with curious wares and fabrics exposed at the very
+water's edge; and beyond and above these the magnificent "watts" and
+pagodas with which the capital abounds.
+
+These pagodas, and the _p'hra-cha-dees_, or minarets, that crown some of
+the temples, are in many cases true wonders of cunning workmanship and
+profuse adornment--displaying mosaics of fine porcelain, inlaid with
+ivory, gold, and silver, while the lofty doors and windows are overlaid
+with sculptures of grotesque figures from the Buddhist and Brahminical
+mythologies. Near the Grand Palace are three tall pillars of elegant
+design, everywhere inlaid with variegated stones, and so richly gilt
+that they are the wonder and the pride of all the country round. These
+monuments mark the places of deposit of a few charred bones that once
+were three demigods of Siam,--the kings P'hra Rama Thibodi, P'hra Narai,
+and P'hra Phya Tak, who did doughty deeds of valor and prowess in
+earlier periods of Siamese history.
+
+The Grand Royal Palace, the semi-castellated residence of the Supreme
+King of Siam, with its roofs and spires pointed with what seem to be the
+horns of animals, towers pre-eminent over all the city. It is a great
+citadel, surrounded by a triplet of walls, fortified with many bastions.
+Each of the separate buildings it comprises is cruciform; and even the
+palace lately erected in the style of Windsor Castle forms with the old
+palace the arms of a cross, as the latter does with the Phrasat,--and so
+on down to an odd little conceit in architecture, in the Chinese style
+throughout.
+
+In front of the old palace is an ample enclosure, paved, and surrounded
+with beautiful trees and rare plants. A gateway, guarded by a pair of
+colossal lions and two gigantic and frightful nondescripts, half demon,
+half human, leads to the old palace, now almost abandoned. Beyond this,
+and within the third or innermost wall, is the true heart of the
+citadel, the quarters of the women of the harem. This is in itself a
+sort of miniature city, with streets, shops, bazaars, and gardens, all
+occupied and tended by women only. Outside are the observatory and
+watch-tower.
+
+Some of the grandest and most beautiful temples and pagodas of Siam are
+in this part of the city. On one side of the palace are the temples and
+monasteries dedicated to the huge Sleeping Idol, and on the other the
+mass of buildings that constitute the palace and harem of the Second
+King. From these two palaces broad streets extend for several miles,
+occupied on either side by the principal shops and bazaars of Bangkok.
+
+Leaving the Grand Palace, a short walk to the right brings us to the
+monuments, already mentioned, of the three warrior kings. From noble
+pedestals of fine black granite, adorned at top and bottom with cornices
+and rings of ivory, carved in mythological forms of animals, birds, and
+flowers, rise conical pillars about fifty feet high.
+
+The columns themselves are in mosaic, with diverse material inlaid upon
+the solid masonry so carefully that the cement can hardly be detected.
+No two patterns are the same, striking effects of form and color have
+been studied, and the result is beautiful beyond description. Close
+beside these a third pillar was lately in process of erection, to the
+memory of the good King P'hra-Phen-den Klang, father of his late
+Majesty, Somdetch P'hra-Paramendr Maha Mongkut.
+
+On the outer skirt of the walled town stands the temple Watt Brahmanee
+Waid, dedicated to the divinity to whom the control of the universe has
+been ascribed from the most ancient times. His temple is the only shrine
+of a Brahminical deity that the followers of Buddha have not dared to
+abolish. Intelligent Buddhists hold that he exists in the latent forces
+of nature, that his only attribute is benevolence, though he is capable
+of a just indignation, and that within the scope of his mental vision
+are myriads of worlds yet to come. But he is said to have no form, no
+voice, no odor, no color, no active creative power,--a subtile,
+fundamental principle of nature, pervading all things, influencing all
+things. This belief in Brahma is so closely interwoven with all that is
+best in the morals and customs of the people, that it would seem as
+though Buddha himself had been careful to leave unchallenged this one
+idea in the mythology of the Hindoos. The temple includes a royal
+monastery, which only the sons of kings can enter.
+
+Opposite the Brahmanee Watt, at the distance of about a mile, are the
+extensive grounds and buildings of Watt Sah Kâte, the great national
+burning-place of the dead. Within these mysterious precincts the
+Buddhist rite of cremation is performed, with circumstances more or less
+horrible, according to the condition or the superstition of the
+deceased. A broad canal surrounds the temple and yards, and here, night
+and day, priests watch and pray for the regeneration of mankind. Not
+alone the dead, but the living likewise, are given to be burned in
+secret here; and into this canal, at dead of night, are flung the rash
+wretches who have madly dared to oppose with speech or act the powers
+that rule in Siam. None but the initiated will approach, these grounds
+after sunset, so universal and profound is the horror the place
+inspires,--a place the most frightful and offensive known to mortal
+eyes; for here the vows of dead men, howsoever ghoulish and monstrous,
+are consummated. The walls are hung with human skeletons and the ground
+is strewed with human skulls. Here also are scraped together the horrid
+fragments of those who have bequeathed their carcasses to the hungry
+dogs and vultures, that hover, and prowl, and swoop, and pounce, and
+snarl, and scream, and tear. The half-picked bones are gathered and
+burned by the outcast keepers of the temple (not priests), who receive
+from the nearest relative of the infatuated testator a small fee for
+that final service; and so a Buddhist vow is fulfilled, and a Buddhist
+"deed of merit" accomplished.
+
+Bangkok, the modern seat of government of Siam, has (according to the
+best authorities) two hundred thousand floating dwellings and shops,--to
+each house an average of five souls,--making the population of the city
+about one million; of which number more than eighty thousand are
+Chinese, twenty thousand Birmese, fifteen thousand Arabs and Indians,
+and the remainder Siamese. These figures are from the latest census,
+which, however, must not be accepted as perfectly accurate.
+
+The situation of the city is unique and picturesque. When Ayudia was
+"extinguished," and the capital established at Bangkok, the houses were
+at first built on the banks of the river. But so frequent were the
+invasions of cholera, that one of the kings happily commanded the people
+to build on the river itself, that they might have greater cleanliness
+and better ventilation. The result quickly proved the wisdom of the
+measure. The privilege of building on the banks is now confined to
+members of the royal family, the nobility, and residents of acknowledged
+influence, political or commercial.
+
+At night the city is hung with thousands of covered lights, that
+illuminate the wide river from shore to shore. Lamps and lanterns of all
+imaginable shapes, colors, and sizes combine to form a fairy spectacle
+of enchanting brilliancy and beauty. The floating tenements and shops,
+the masts of vessels, the tall, fantastic pagodas and minarets, and,
+crowning all, the walls and towers of the Grand Palace, flash with
+countless charming tricks of light, and compose a scene of more than
+magic novelty and beauty. So oriental fancy and profusion deal with
+things of use, and make a wonder of a commonplace.
+
+A double, and in some parts a triple, row of floating houses extends for
+miles along the banks of the river. These are wooden structures,
+tastefully designed and painted, raised on substantial rafts of bamboo
+linked together with chains, which, in turn, are made fast to great
+piles planted in the bed of the stream. The Meinam itself forms the main
+avenue, and the floating shops on either side constitute the great
+bazaar of the city, where all imaginable and unimaginable articles from
+India, China, Malacca, Birmah, Paris, Liverpool, and New York are
+displayed in stalls.
+
+Naturally, boats and canoes are indispensable appendages to such houses;
+the nobility possess a fleet of them, and to every little water-cottage
+a canoe is tethered, for errands and visits. At all hours of the day and
+night processions of boats pass to and from the palace, and everywhere
+bustling traders and agents ply their dingy little craft, and proclaim
+their several callings in a Babel of cries.
+
+Daily, at sunrise, a flotilla of canoes, filled with shaven men in
+yellow garments, visits every house along the banks. These are the
+priests gathering their various provender, the free gift of every
+inhabitant of the city. Twenty thousand of them are supported by the
+alms of the city of Bangkok alone.
+
+At noon, all the clamor of the city is suddenly stilled, and perfect
+silence reigns. Men, women, and children are hushed in their afternoon
+nap. From the stifling heat of a tropical midday the still cattle seek
+shelter and repose under shady boughs, and even the prows cease their
+obstreperous clanging. The only sound that breaks the drowsy stillness
+of the hour is the rippling of the glaring river as it ebbs or flows
+under the steaming banks.
+
+About three in the afternoon the sea-breeze sets in, bringing
+refreshment to the fevered, thirsty land, and reviving animal and
+vegetable life with its compassionate breath. Then once more the
+floating city awakes and stirs, and an animation rivalling that of the
+morning is prolonged far into the night,--the busy, gay, delightful
+night of Bangkok.
+
+The streets are few compared with the number of canals that intersect
+the city in all directions. The most remarkable of the former is one
+that runs parallel with the Grand Palace, and terminates in what is now
+known as "Sanon Mai," or the New Road, which extends from Bangkok to
+Paknam, about forty miles, and crosses the canals on movable iron
+bridges. Almost every other house along this road is a shop, and at the
+close of the wet season Bangkok has no rival in the abundance of
+vegetables and fruits with which its markets are stocked.
+
+I could wish for a special dispensation to pass without mention the
+public prisons of Bangkok, for their condition and the treatment of the
+unhappy wretches confined in them are the foulest blots on the character
+of the government. Some of these grated abominations are hung like
+bird-cages over the water; and those on land, with their gangs of living
+corpses chained together like wild beasts, are too horrible to be
+pictured here. How European officials, representatives of Christian
+ideas of humanity and decency, can continue to countenance the apathy or
+wilful brutality of the prime minister, who, as the executive officer of
+the government in this department, is mainly responsible for the
+cruelties and outrages I may not even name, I cannot conceive.
+
+The American Protestant missionaries have as yet made no remarkable
+impression on the religious mind of the Siamese. Devoted, persevering,
+and patient laborers, the field they have so faithfully tilled has
+rewarded them with but scanty fruits. Nor will the fact, thankless
+though it be, appear surprising to those whose privilege it has been to
+observe the Buddhist and the Roman Catholic side by side in the East,
+and to note how, even on the score of doctrine, they meet without a jar
+at many points. The average Siamese citizen, entering a Roman Catholic
+chapel in Bangkok, finds nothing there to shock his prejudices. He is
+introduced to certain forms and ceremonies, almost the counterpart of
+which he piously reveres in his own temple,--genuflections,
+prostrations, decorated shrines, lighted candles, smoking incense, holy
+water; while the prayers he hears are at least not less intelligible to
+him than those he hears mumbled in Pali by his own priests. He beholds
+familiar images too, and pictures of a Saviour in whom he charitably
+recognizes the stranger's Buddha. And if he happen to be a philosophic
+inquirer, how surprised and pleased is he to learn that the priests of
+this faith (like his own) are vowed to chastity, poverty, and obedience,
+and, like his own, devoted to the doing of good works, penance, and
+alms. There are many thousands of native converts to Catholicism in
+Siam; even the priests of Buddhism do not always turn a deaf ear to the
+persuasions of teachers bound with them in the bonds of celibacy,
+penance, and deeds of merit. And those teachers are quick to meet them
+half-way, happily recommending themselves by the alacrity with which
+they adopt, and make their own, usages which they may with propriety
+practise in common, whereby the Buddhist is flattered while the
+Christian is not offended. Such, for example, is the monastic custom of
+the uncovered head. As it is deemed sacrilege to touch the head of
+royalty, so the head of the priest may not without dishonor pass under
+anything less hallowed than the canopy of heaven; and in this Buddhist
+and Roman Catholic accord.
+
+The residences of the British, French, American, and Portuguese Consuls
+are pleasantly situated in a bend of the river, where a flight of wooden
+steps in good repair leads directly to the houses of the officials and
+European merchants of that quarter. Most influential among the latter is
+the managing firm of the Borneo Company, whose factories and warehouses
+for rice, sugar, and cotton are extensive and prosperous.
+
+The more opulent of the native merchants are grossly addicted to
+gambling and opium-smoking. Though the legal penalties prescribed for
+all who indulge in these destructive vices are severe, they do not avail
+to deter even respectable officers of the government from staking heavy
+sums on the turn of a card; and long before the game is ended the
+opium-pipe is introduced. One of the king's secretaries, who was a
+confirmed opium-smoker, assured me he would rather die at once than be
+excluded from the region of raptures his pipe opened to him.
+
+
+
+
+XVI. THE WHITE ELEPHANT.
+
+
+It is commonly supposed that the Buddhists of Siam and Birmah regard the
+Chang Phoouk, or white elephant, as a deity, and worship it accordingly.
+The notion is erroneous, especially as it relates to Siam. The Buddhists
+do not recognize God in any material form whatever, and are shocked at
+the idea of adoring an elephant. Even Buddha, to whom they undoubtedly
+offer pious homage, they do not style "God" but on the contrary maintain
+that, though an emanation from a "sublimated ethereal being," he is by
+no means a deity. According to their philosophy of metempsychosis,
+however, each successive Buddha, in passing through a series of
+transmigrations, must necessarily have occupied in turn the forms of
+white animals of a certain class,--particularly the swan, the stork, the
+white sparrow, the dove, the monkey, and the elephant. But there is much
+obscurity and diversity in the views of their ancient writers on this
+subject. Only one thing is certain, that the forms of these nobler and
+purer creatures are reserved for the souls of the good and great, who
+find in them a kind of redemption from the baser animal life. Thus
+almost all white animals are held in reverence by the Siamese, because
+they were once superior human beings, and the white elephant, in
+particular, is supposed to be animated by the spirit of some king or
+hero. Having once been a great man, he is thought to be familiar with
+the dangers that surround the great, and to know what is best and safest
+for those whose condition in all respects was once his own. He is hence
+supposed to avert national calamity, and bring prosperity and peace to a
+people.
+
+[Illustration: A WAR ELEPHANT ]
+
+From the earliest times the kings of Siam and Birmah have anxiously
+sought for the white elephant, and having had the rare fortune to
+procure one, have loaded it with gifts and dignities, as though it were
+a conscious favorite of the throne. When the governor of a province of
+Siam is notified of the appearance of a white elephant within his
+bailiwick, he immediately commands that prayers and offerings shall be
+made in all the temples, while he sends out a formidable expedition of
+hunters and slaves to take the precious beast, and bring it in in
+triumph. As soon as he is informed of its capture, a special messenger
+is despatched to inform the king of its sex, probable age, size,
+complexion, deportment, looks, and ways; and in the presence of his
+Majesty this bearer of glorious tidings undergoes the painfully pleasant
+operation of having his mouth, ears, and nostrils stuffed with gold.
+Especially is the lucky wight--perhaps some half-wild woodsman--who was
+first to spy the illustrious monster munificently rewarded. Orders are
+promptly issued to the woons and wongses of the several districts
+through which he must pass to prepare to receive him royally, and a wide
+path is cut for him through the forests he must traverse on his way to
+the capital. Wherever he rests he is sumptuously entertained, and
+everywhere he is escorted and served by a host of attendants, who sing,
+dance, play upon instruments, and perform feats of strength or skill for
+his amusement, until he reaches the banks of the Meinam, where a great
+floating palace of wood, surmounted by a gorgeous roof and hung with
+crimson curtains, awaits him. The roof is literally thatched with
+flowers ingeniously arranged so as to form symbols and mottoes, which
+the superior beast is supposed to decipher with ease. The floor of this
+splendid float is laid with gilt matting curiously woven, in the centre
+of which his four-footed lordship is installed in state, surrounded by
+an obsequious and enraptured crowd of mere bipeds, who bathe him,
+perfume him, fan him, feed him, sing and play to him, flatter him. His
+food consists of the finest herbs, the tenderest grass, the sweetest
+sugar-cane, the mellowest plantains, the brownest cakes of wheat, served
+on huge trays of gold and silver; and his drink is perfumed with the
+fragrant flower of the _dok mallee_, the large native jessamine.
+
+Thus, in more than princely state, he is floated down the river to a
+point within seventy miles of the capital, where the king and his court,
+all the chief personages of the kingdom, and a multitude of priests,
+both Buddhist and Brahmin, accompanied by troops of players and
+musicians, come out to meet him, and conduct him with all the honors to
+his stable-palace. A great number of cords and ropes of all qualities
+and lengths are attached to the raft, those in the centre being of fine
+silk (figuratively, "spun from a spider's web"). These are for the king
+and his noble retinue, who with their own hands make them fast to their
+gilded barges; the rest are secured to the great fleet of lesser boats.
+And so, with shouts of joy, beating of drums, blare of trumpets, boom of
+cannon, a hallelujah of music, and various splendid revelry, the great
+Chang Phoouk is conducted in triumph to the capital.
+
+Here in a pavilion, temporary but very beautiful, he is welcomed with
+imposing ceremonies by the custodians of the palace and the principal
+personages of the royal household. The king, his courtiers, and the
+chief priests being gathered round him, thanksgiving is offered up; and
+then the lordly beast is knighted, after the ancient manner of the
+Buddhists, by pouring upon his forehead consecrated water from a
+chank-shell.
+
+The titles reserved for the Chang Phoouk vary according to the purity of
+the complexion (for these favored creatures are rarely true
+albinos,--salmon or flesh-color being the nearest approach to white in
+almost all the historic "white elephants" of the courts of Birmah and
+Siam) and the sex; for though one naturally has recourse to the
+masculine pronoun in writing of a transmigrated prince or warrior, it
+often happens that prince or warrior has, in the medlied mask of
+metempsychosis, assumed a female form. Such, in fact, was the case with
+the stately occupant of the stable-palace at the court of Maha Mongkut;
+and she was distinguished by the high-sounding appellation of Mââ Phya
+Seri Wongsah Ditsarah Krasâat,--"August and Glorious Mother, Descendant
+of Kings and Heroes."
+
+For seven or nine days, according to certain conditions, the Chang
+Phoouk is fêted at the temporary pavilion, and entertained with a
+variety of dramatic performances; and these days are observed as a
+general holiday throughout the land. At the expiration of this period he
+is conducted with great pomp to his sumptuous quarters within the
+precincts of the first king's palace, where he is received by his own
+court of officers, attendants, and slaves, who install him in his fine
+lodgings, and at once proceed to robe and decorate him. First, the court
+jeweller rings his tremendous tusks with massive gold, crowns him with a
+diadem of beaten gold of perfect purity, and adorns his burly neck with
+heavy golden chains. Next his attendants robe him in a superb velvet
+cloak of purple, fringed with scarlet and gold; and then his court
+prostrate themselves around him, and offer him royal homage.
+
+When his lordship would refresh his portly person in the bath, an
+officer of high rank shelters his noble head with a great umbrella of
+crimson and gold, while others wave golden fans before him. On these
+occasions he is invariably preceded by musicians, who announce his
+approach with cheerful minstrelsy and songs.
+
+If he falls ill, the king's own leech prescribes for him, and the chief
+priests repair daily to his palace to pray for his safe deliverance, and
+sprinkle him with consecrated waters and anoint him with consecrated
+oils. Should he die, all Siam is bereaved, and the nation, as one man,
+goes into mourning for him. But his body is not burned; only his brains
+and heart are thought worthy of that last and highest honor. The
+carcass, shrouded in fine white linen, and laid on a bier, is carried
+down the river with much wailing and many mournful dirges, to be thrown
+into the Gulf of Siam.
+
+In 1862 a magnificent white--or, rather, salmon-colored--elephant was
+"bagged," and preparations on a gorgeous scale were made to receive him.
+A temporary pavilion of extraordinary splendor sprang up, as if by
+magic, before the eastern gate of the palace; and the whole nation was
+wild with joy; when suddenly came awful tidings,--he had died!
+
+No man dared tell the king. But the Kralahome--that man of prompt
+expedients and unfailing presence of mind--commanded that the
+preparations should cease instantly, and that the building should vanish
+with the builders. In the evening his Majesty came forth, as usual, to
+exult in the glorious work. What was his astonishment to find no vestige
+of the splendid structure that had been so nearly completed the night
+before. He turned, bewildered, to his courtiers, to demand an
+explanation, when suddenly the terrible truth flashed into his mind.
+With a cry of pain he sank down upon a stone, and gave vent to an
+hysterical passion of tears; but was presently consoled by one of his
+children, who, carefully prompted in his part, knelt before him and
+said: "Weep not, O my father! The stranger lord may have left us but for
+a time." The stranger lord, fatally pampered, had succumbed to
+astonishment and indigestion.
+
+A few days after this mournful event the king read to me a curious
+description of the defunct monster, and showed me parts of his skin
+preserved, and his tusks, which in size and whiteness surpassed the
+finest I had ever seen. His (that is, the elephant's) eyes were light
+blue, surrounded by salmon-color; his hair fine, soft, and white; his
+complexion pinkish white; his tusks like long pearls; his ears like
+silver shields; his trunk like a comet's tail; his legs like the feet of
+the skies; his tread like the sound of thunder; his looks full of
+meditation; his expression full of tenderness; his voice the voice of a
+mighty warrior; and his bearing that of an illustrious monarch.
+
+That was a terrible affliction, to the people not less than to the king.
+
+On all occasions of state,--court receptions, for example,--the white
+elephant, gorgeously arrayed, is stationed on the right of the inner
+gate of the palace, and forms an indispensable as well as a conspicuous
+figure in the picture.
+
+When the Siamese ambassadors returned from England, the chief of the
+embassy--a man remarkable for his learning and the purity of his
+character, who was also first cousin to the Supreme King--published a
+quaint pamphlet, describing England and her people, their manners and
+customs and dwellings, with a very particular report of the presentation
+of the embassy at court. Speaking of the personal appearance of Queen
+Victoria, he says: "One cannot but be struck with the aspect of the
+august Queen of England, or fail to observe that she must be of pure
+descent from a race of goodly and warlike kings and rulers of the earth,
+in that her eyes, complexion, and above all her bearing, are those of a
+beautiful and majestic white elephant."
+
+
+
+
+XVII. THE CEREMONIES OF CORONATION.
+
+
+On the morning of the 3d of April, 1851, the Chowfa Mongkut, after being
+formally apprised of his election by the Senabawdee to the supreme
+throne, was borne in state to a residence adjoining the Phrasat, to
+await the auspicious day of coronation,--the 15th of the following
+month, as fixed by the court astrologers; and when it came it was hailed
+by all classes of the people with immoderate demonstrations of joy; for
+to their priest king, more sacred than a conqueror, they were drawn by
+bonds of superstition as well as of pride and affection.
+
+The ceremony of coronation is very peculiar.
+
+In the centre of the inner Hall of Audience of the royal palace, on a
+high platform richly gilded and adorned, is placed a circular golden
+basin, called, in the court language, _Mangala Baghavat-thong_, "the
+Golden Circlet of Power." Within this basin is deposited the ancient
+_P'hra-batt_, or golden stool, the whole being surmounted by a
+quadrangular canopy, under a tapering, nine-storied umbrella in the form
+of a pagoda, from ten to twelve feet high and profusely gilt. Directly
+over the centre of the canopy is deposited a vase containing consecrated
+waters, which have been prayed over nine times, and poured through nine
+different circular vessels in their passage to the sacred receptacle.
+These waters must be drawn from the very sources of the chief rivers of
+Siam; and reservoirs for their preservation are provided in the
+precincts of the temples at Bangkok. In the mouth of this vessel is a
+tube representing the pericarp of a lotos after its petals have fallen
+off; and this, called _Sukla Utapala Atmano_, "the White Lotos of Life,"
+symbolizes the beauty of pure conduct.
+
+The king elect, arrayed in a simple white robe, takes his seat on the
+golden stool. A Brahmin priest then presents to him some water in a
+small cup of gold, lotos-shaped. This water has previously been filtered
+through nine different forms of matter, commencing with earth, then
+ashes, wheaten flour, rice flour, powdered lotos and jessamine, dust of
+iron, gold, and charcoal, and finally flame; each a symbol, not merely
+of the indestructibility of the element, but also of its presence in all
+animate or inanimate matter. Into this water the king elect dips his
+right hand, and passes it over his head. Immediately the choir join in
+an inspiring chant, the signal for the inverting, by means of a pulley,
+of the vessel over the canopy; and the consecrated waters descend
+through another lotos flower, in a lively shower, on the head of the
+king. This shower represents celestial blessings.
+
+A Buddhist priest then advances and pours a goblet of water over the
+royal person from the bed of the Ganges. He is then arrayed in regal
+robes.
+
+On the throne, which is in the south end of the hall, and octagonal,
+having eight seats corresponding to eight points of the compass, the
+king first seats himself facing the north, and so on, moving eastward,
+facing each point in its order. On the top step of each seat crouch two
+priests, Buddhist and Brahmin, who present to him another bowl of water,
+which he drinks and sprinkles on his face, each time repeating, by
+responses with the priests, the following prayer:--
+
+
+_Priests_. Be thou learned in the laws of nature and of the universe.
+
+_King_. Inspire me, O Thou who wert a Law unto thyself!
+
+_P_. Be thou endowed with all wisdom, and all acts of industry!
+
+_K_. Inspire me with all knowledge, O Thou the Enlightened!
+
+_P_. Let Mercy and Truth be thy right and left arms of life!
+
+_K_. Inspire me, O Thou who hast proved all Truth and all Mercy!
+
+_P_. Let the Sun, Moon, and Stars bless thee!
+
+_K_. All praise to Thee, through whom all forms are conquered!
+
+_P_. Let the earth, air, and waters bless thee!
+
+_K_. Through the merit of Thee, O thou conqueror of Death! [Footnote:
+For these translations I am indebted to his Majesty, Maha Mongkut; as
+well as for the interpretation of the several symbols used in this and
+other solemn rites of the Buddhists.]
+
+
+These prayers ended, the priests conduct the king to another throne,
+facing the east, and still more magnificent. Here the insignia of his
+sovereignty are presented to him,--first the sword, then the sceptre;
+two massive chains are suspended from his neck; and lastly the crown is
+set upon his head, when instantly he is saluted by roar of cannon
+without and music within.
+
+Then he is presented with the golden slippers, the fan, and the umbrella
+of royalty, rings set with huge diamonds for each of his forefingers,
+and the various Siamese weapons of war: these he merely accepts, and
+returns to his attendants.
+
+The ceremony concludes with an address from the priests, exhorting him
+to be pure in his sovereign and sacred office; and a reply from himself,
+wherein he solemnly vows to be a just, upright, and faithful ruler of
+his people. Last of all, a golden tray is handed to him, from which, as
+he descends from the throne, he scatters gold and silver flowers among
+the audience.
+
+The following day is devoted to a more public enthronement. His Majesty,
+attired more sumptuously than before, is presented to all his court, and
+to a more general audience. After the customary salutations by
+prostration and salutes of cannon and music, the premier and other
+principal ministers read short addresses, in delivering over to the king
+the control of their respective departments. His Majesty replies
+briefly; there is a general salute from all forts, war vessels, and
+merchant shipping; and the remainder of the day is devoted to feasting
+and various enjoyment.
+
+Immediately after the crowning of Maha Mongkut, his Majesty repaired to
+the palace of the Second King, where the ceremony of subordinate
+coronation differed from that just described only in the circumstance
+that the consecrated waters were poured over the person of the Second
+King, and the insignia presented to him, by the supreme sovereign.
+
+Five days later a public procession made the circuit of the palace and
+city walls in a peculiar circumambulatory march of mystic significance,
+with feasting, dramatic entertainments, and fireworks. The concourse
+assembled to take part in those brilliant demonstrations has never since
+been equalled in any public display in Siam.
+
+
+
+
+XVIII. THE QUEEN CONSORT.
+
+
+When a king of Siam would take unto himself a wife, he chooses a maiden
+from a family of the highest rank, and of royal pedigree, and, inviting
+her into the guarded circle of his women, entertains her there in that
+peculiar state of probation which is his prerogative and her
+opportunity. Should she prove so fortunate as to engage his preference,
+it may be his pleasure to exalt her to the throne; in which event he
+appoints a day for the formal consummation of his gracious purpose, when
+the principal officers, male and female, of the court, with the priests,
+Brahmin as well as Buddhist, and the royal astrologers, attend to play
+their several parts in the important drama.
+
+The princess, robed in pure white, is seated on a throne elevated on a
+high platform. Over this throne is spread a canopy of white muslin,
+decorated with white and fragrant flowers, and through this canopy are
+gently showered the typical waters of consecration, in which have been
+previously infused certain leaves and shrubs emblematic of purity,
+usefulness, and sweetness. While the princess is thus delicately
+sprinkled with compliments, the priests enumerate, with nice
+discrimination, the various graces of mind and person which henceforth
+she must study to acquire; and pray that she may prove a blessing to her
+lord, and herself be richly blessed. Then she is hailed queen, with a
+burst of exultant music. Now the sisters of the king conduct her by a
+screened passage to a chamber regally appointed, where she is divested
+of her dripping apparel, and arrayed in robes becoming her queenly
+state,--robes of silk, heavy with gold, and sparkling with diamonds and
+rubies. Then the king is ushered into her presence by the ladies of the
+court; and at the moment of his entrance she rises to throw herself at
+his feet, according to the universal custom. But he prevents her; and
+taking her right hand, and embracing her, seats her beside him, on his
+right. There she receives the formal congratulations of the court, with
+which the ceremonies of the day terminate. The evening is devoted to
+feasting and merriment.
+
+A Siamese king may have two queens at the same time; in which case the
+more favored lady is styled the "right hand," and the other the "left
+hand," of the throne. His late Majesty, Maha Mongkut, had two queens,
+but not "in conjunction." The first was of the right hand; the second,
+though chosen in the lifetime of the first, was not elevated to the
+throne until after the death of her predecessor.
+
+When the bride is a foreign princess, the ceremonies are more public,
+being conducted in the Hall of Audience, instead of the Ladies' Temple,
+or private chapel.
+
+The royal nuptial couch is consecrated with peculiar forms. The mystic
+thread of unspun cotton is wound around the bed seventy-seven times, and
+the ends held in the hands of priests, who, bowing over the sacred
+symbol, invoke blessings on the bridal pair. Then the nearest relatives
+of the bride are admitted, accompanied by a couple who, to use the
+obstetrical figure of the indispensable Mrs. Gamp, have their parental
+quiver "full of sich." These salute the bed, sprinkle it with the
+consecrated waters, festoon the crimson curtains with flowery garlands,
+and prepare the silken sheets, the pillows and cushions; which done,
+they lead in the bride, who has not presided at the entertainments, but
+waited with her ladies in a screened apartment.
+
+On entering the awful chamber, she first falls on her knees, and thrice
+salutes the royal couch with folded hands, and then invokes protection
+for herself, that she may be preserved from every deadly sin. Finally,
+she is disrobed, and left praying on the floor before the bed, while the
+king is conducted to her by his courtiers, who immediately retire.
+
+The same ceremony is observed in nearly all Siamese families of
+respectability, with, of course, certain omissions and variations
+adapted to the rank of the parties.
+
+After three days the bride visits her parents, bearing presents to them
+from the various members of her husband's family. Then she visits the
+parents of her husband, who greet her with costly gifts. In her next
+excursion of this kind her husband (unless a king) accompanies her, and
+valuable presents are mutually bestowed. A large sum of money, with
+jewels and other finery, is deposited with the father and mother of the
+bride. This is denominated _Zoon_, and at the birth of her first child
+it is restored to the young mother by the grandparents.
+
+The king visits his youthful queen just one month after the birth of a
+prince or princess. She present the babe to him, and he, in turn, places
+a costly ring on the third finger of her left hand. In like manner, most
+of the relatives, of both families, bring to the babe gifts of money,
+jewels, gold and silver ornaments, etc., which is termed _Tam Kwaan_.
+Even so early the infant's hair is shaved off, except the top-knot,
+which is permitted to grow until the child has arrived at the age of
+puberty.
+
+
+
+
+XIX. THE HEIR-APPARENT.--ROYAL HAIR-CUTTING.
+
+
+The Prince Somdetch Chowfa Chulalonkorn [Footnote: The present Supreme
+King.] was about ten years old when I was appointed to teach him. Being
+the eldest son of the queen consort, he held the first rank among the
+children of the king, as heir-apparent to the throne. For a Siamese, he
+was a handsome lad; of stature neither noticeably tall nor short; figure
+symmetrical and compact, and dark complexion. He was, moreover, modest
+and affectionate, eager to learn, and easy to influence.
+
+His mother dying when he was about nine years old, he, with his younger
+brothers, the Princes Chowfa Chaturont Rasmi and Chowfa Bhangurangsi
+Swang Wongse, and their lovely young sister, the Princess Somdetch
+Chowfa Chandrmondol ("Fâ-ying"), were left to the care of a grand-aunt,
+Somdetch Ying Noie, a princess by the father's side. This was a
+tranquil, cheerful old soul, attracted toward everything that was bright
+and pretty, and ever busy among flowers, poetry, and those darlings of
+her loving life, her niece's children. Of these the little Fâ-ying
+(whose sudden death by cholera I have described) was her favorite; and
+after her death the faithful creature turned her dimmed eyes and
+chastened pride to the young prince Chulalonkorn. Many an earnest talk
+had the venerable duchess and I, in which she did not hesitate to
+implore me to instil into the minds of her youthful wards--and
+especially this king that was to be--the purest principles of Christian
+faith and precept. Yet with all the freshness of the religious habit of
+her childhood she was most scrupulous in her attendance and devotions at
+the temple. Her grief for the death of her darling was deep and lasting,
+and by the simple force of her love she exerted a potent influence over
+the mind of the royal lad.
+
+[Illustration: THE HEIR-APPARENT.]
+
+A very stern thing is life to the children of royalty in Siam. To watch
+and be silent, when it has most need of confidence and freedom,--a
+horrible necessity for a child! The very babe in the cradle is taught
+mysterious and terrible things by the mother that bore it,--infantile
+experiences of distrust and terror, out of which a few come up noble,
+the many infamous. Here are baby heroes and heroines who do great deeds
+before our happier Western children have begun to think. There were
+actual, though unnoticed and unconscious, intrepidity and fortitude in
+the manœuvres and the stands with which those little ones, on their own
+ground, flanked or checked that fatal enemy, their father. Angelic
+indeed were the spiritual triumphs that no eye noted, nor any smile
+rewarded, save the anxious eye and the prayerful smile of that sleepless
+maternity that misery had bound with them. But even misery becomes
+tolerable by first becoming familiar, and out of the depths these royal
+children laughed and prattled and frolicked and were glad. As for the
+old duchess, she loved too well and too wisely not to be timid and
+troubled all her life long, first for the mother, then for the children.
+
+Such was the early training of the young prince, and for a time it
+availed to direct his thoughts to noble aspirations. From his studies,
+both in English and Pali, he derived an exalted ideal of life, and
+precocious and inexpressible yearnings. Once he said to me he envied the
+death of the venerable priest, his uncle; he would rather be poor, he
+said, and have to earn his living, than be a king.
+
+"'Tis true, a poor man must work hard for his daily bread; but then he
+is free. And his food is all he has to lose or win. He can possess all
+things in possessing Him who pervades all things,--earth, and sky, and
+stars, and flowers, and children. I can understand that I am great in
+that I am a part of the Infinite, and in that alone; and that all I see
+is mine, and I am in it and of it. How much of content and happiness
+should I not gain if I could but be a poor boy!"
+
+He was attentive to his studies, serene, and gentle, invariably
+affectionate to his old aunt and his younger brothers, and for the poor
+ever sympathetic, with a warm, generous heart. He pursued his studies
+assiduously, and seemed to overcome the difficulties and obstacles he
+encountered in the course of them with a resolution that gained strength
+as his mind gained ideas. As often as he effectually accomplished
+something, he indulged in ecstasies of rejoicing over the new thought,
+that was an inspiring discovery to him of his actual poverty of
+knowledge, his possibilities of intellectual opulence. But it was clear
+to me--and I saw it with sorrow--that for his ardent nature this was
+but a transitory condition, and that soon the shock must come, against
+the inevitable destiny in store for him, that would either confirm or
+crush all that seemed so fair in the promise of the royal boy.
+
+When the time came for the ceremony of hair-cutting, customary for young
+Siamese princes, the lad was gradually withdrawn, more and more, from my
+influence. The king had determined to celebrate the heir's majority with
+displays of unusual magnificence. To this end he explored the annals and
+records of Siam and Cambodia, and compiled from them a detailed
+description of a very curious procession that attended a certain prince
+of Siam centuries ago, on the occasion of his hair-cutting; and
+forthwith projected a similar show for his son, but on a more elaborate
+and costly scale. The programme, including the procession, provided for
+the representation of a sort of drama, borrowed partly from the
+Ramayana, and partly from the ancient observances of the kings of
+Cambodia.
+
+The whole royal establishment was set in motion. About nine thousand
+young women, among them the most beautiful of the concubines, were cast
+for parts in the mammoth play. Boys and girls were invited or hired from
+all quarters of the kingdom to "assist" in the performance. Every nation
+under the sun was represented in the grand procession. In our school the
+regular studies were abandoned, and in their place we had rehearsals of
+singing, dancing, recitation, and pantomime.
+
+An artificial hill, of great height, called Khoa-Kra-Lâât, was raised in
+the centre of the palace gardens. On its summit was erected a golden
+temple or pagoda of exquisite beauty, richly hung with tapestries,
+displaying on the east the rising sun, on the west a moon of silver. The
+cardinal points of the hill were guarded by the white elephant, the
+sacred ox, the horse, and the lion. These figures were so contrived that
+they could be brought close together and turned on a pivot; and thus the
+sacred waters, brought for that purpose from the Brahmapootra, were to
+be showered on the prince, after the solemn hair-cutting, and received
+in a noble basin of marble.
+
+The name given to the ceremony of hair-cutting varies according to the
+rank of the child. For commoners it is called "Khone Chook"; for the
+nobility and royalty, "Soh-Khan," probably from the Sanskrit _Sôh Sâhtha
+Kam_, "finding safe and sound." The custom is said to be extremely
+ancient, and to have originated with a certain Brahmin, whose only
+child, being sick unto death, was given over by the physicians as in the
+power of evil spirits. In his heart's trouble the father consulted a
+holy man, who had been among the earliest converts to Buddhism, if aught
+might yet be done to save his darling from torment and perdition. The
+venerable saint directed him to pray, and to have prayers offered, for
+the lad, and to cause that part of his hair which had never been touched
+with razor or shears since his birth to be shaved quite off. The result
+was a joyful rescue for the child; others pursued the same treatment in
+like cases with the same effect, and hence the custom of hair-cutting.
+The children of princes are forbidden to have the top-knot cut at all,
+until the time when they are about to pass into manhood or womanhood.
+Then valuable presents are made to them by all who are related to their
+families by blood, marriage, or friendship.
+
+When all the preparations necessary to the successful presentation of
+the dramatic entertainment were completed, the king, having taken
+counsel of his astrologers, sent heralds to the governors of all the
+provinces of Siam, to notify those dignitaries of the time appointed for
+the jubilee, and request their presence and co-operation. A similar
+summons was sent to all the priests of the kingdom, who, in bands or
+companies, were to serve alternately, on the several days of the
+festival.
+
+Early in the forenoon of the auspicious day the prince was borne in
+state, in a gorgeous chair of gold, to the Maha Phrasat, the order of
+the procession being as follows:--
+
+First came the bearers of the gold umbrellas, fans, and great golden
+sunshades.
+
+Next, twelve gentlemen, superbly attired, selected from the first rank
+of the nobility, six on either side of the golden chair, as a body-guard
+to the prince.
+
+Then, four hundred Amazons arrayed in green and gold, and gleaming
+armor.
+
+These were followed by twelve maidens, attired in cloth of gold, with
+fantastic head-gear adorned with precious stones, who danced before the
+prince to the gentle monotonous movement of the _bandos_. In the centre
+of this group moved three lovely girls, of whom one held a superb
+peacock's tail, and the two others branches of gold and silver,
+sparkling with leaves and rare flowers. These damsels were guarded by
+two duennas on either side.
+
+After these stalked a stately body of Brahmins, bearing golden vases
+filled with _Khoa tôk_, or roasted rice, which they scattered on either
+side, as an emblem of plenty.
+
+Another troop of Brahmins with bandos, which they rattled as they moved
+along.
+
+Two young nobles, splendidly robed, who also bore gold vases,
+lotos-shaped, in which nestled the bird of paradise called Nok
+Kurraweèk, the sweetness of whose song is supposed to entrance even
+beasts of prey.
+
+A troop of lads, the rising nobility of Siam, fairly covered with gold
+collars and necklaces.
+
+The king's Japanese body-guard.
+
+Another line of boys, representing natives of Hindostan in costume.
+
+Malayan lads in costume.
+
+Chinese lads in costume.
+
+Siamese boys in English costume.
+
+The king's infantry, headed by pioneers, in European costume.
+
+Outside of this line marched about five thousand men in long
+rose-colored robes, with tall tapering caps. These represented
+guardian-angels attending on the different nations.
+
+Then came bands of musicians dressed in scarlet, imitating the cries of
+birds, the sound of falling fruit, and the murmur of distant waters, in
+the imaginary forest they were supposed to traverse on their way to the
+Sacred Mount.
+
+The order of the procession behind the golden sedan in which the prince
+was borne, was nearly as follows:--
+
+Next after the chair of state came four young damsels of the highest
+rank, bearing the prince's betel-box, spittoon, fan, and swords. Then
+followed seventy other maidens, carrying reverently in both hands the
+vessels of pure gold, and all the insignia of rank and office proper to
+a prince of the blood royal; and yet more, holding over their right
+shoulders golden fans.
+
+In the train of these tripped troops of children, daughters of the
+nobility, dressed and decorated with fantastic splendor.
+
+Then the maids of honor, personal attendants, and concubines of the
+king, chastely dressed, though crowned with gold, and decorated with
+massive gold chains and rings of great price and beauty.
+
+A crowd of Siamese women, painted and rouged, in European costume.
+
+Troops of children in corresponding attire.
+
+Ladies in Chinese costume.
+
+Japanese ladies in rich robes.
+
+Malay women in their national dress.
+
+Women of Hindostan.
+
+Then the Kariens.
+
+And, last of all, the female slaves and dependants of the prince.
+
+At the foot of the hill a most extraordinary spectacle was presented.
+
+On the east appeared a number of hideous monsters, riding on gigantic
+eagles. These nondescripts, whose heads reached almost to their knees,
+and whose hands grasped indescribable weapons, are called Yâks. They are
+appointed to guard the Sacred Mount from all vulgar approach.
+
+A little farther on, around a pair of stuffed peacocks, were a number of
+youthful warriors, representing kings, governors, and chiefs of the
+several dependencies of Siam.
+
+Desirous of witnessing the sublime ceremony of hair-cutting, they
+cautiously approach the Yâks, performing a sort of war dance, and
+chanting in chorus:--
+
+_Orah Pho, cha pai Kra Lâât_. "Let us go to the Sacred Mount!"
+
+Whereupon the Yâks, or evil angels, point their wonderful weapons at
+them, chanting in the same strain:--
+
+_Orah Pho, salope thâng pooang_. "Let us slay them all!"
+
+They then make a show of striking and thrusting, and princes, rajahs,
+and governors drop as if wounded.
+
+The principal parts in the drama were assumed by his Majesty, and their
+excellencies the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The
+king was dressed for the character of P'hra Inn Suen, the Hindoo Indra,
+or Lord of the Sky, who has also the attributes of the Roman Genius; but
+most of his epithets in Sanskrit are identical with those of the
+Olympian Jove. He was attended by the Prime Minister, personating the
+Sanskrit Saché, but called in Siamese "Vis Summo Kâm," and the Minister
+of Foreign Affairs as his charioteer, Ma Talee. His imperial elephant,
+called Aisarat, caparisoned in velvet and gold, and bearing the
+supernatural weapons,--_Vagra_, the thunderbolts,--was led by
+allegorical personages, representing winds and showers, lightning and
+thunder. The hill, Khoa Kra Lâât, is the Sanskrit Meru, described as a
+mountain of gold and gems.
+
+His Majesty received the prince from the hands of his nobles, set him on
+his right hand, and presented him to the people, who offered homage.
+Afterward, two ladies of the court led him down the flight of marble
+steps, where two maidens washed his feet with pure water in a gold
+basin, and wiped them with fine linen.
+
+On his way to the Maha Phrasat he was met by a group of girls in
+charming attire, who held before him tufts of palm and branches of gold
+and silver. Thus he was conducted to an inner chamber of the temple, and
+seated on a costly carpet heavily fringed with gold, before an altar on
+which were lighted tapers and offerings of all descriptions. In his hand
+was placed a strip of palmyra leaf, on which were inscribed these mystic
+words: "Even I was, even from the first, and not any other thing: that
+which existed unperceived, supreme. Afterwards, I am that which is, and
+He that was, and He who must remain am I."
+
+"Know that except Me, who am the First Cause, nothing that appears or
+does not appear in the mind can be trusted; it is the mind's Maya or
+delusion,--as Light is to Darkness."
+
+On the reverse was inscribed this sentence:--
+
+"Keep me still meditating on Thy infinite greatness and my own
+nothingness, so that all the questions of my life may be answered and my
+mind abundantly instructed in the path of Niphan!"
+
+In his hands was placed a ball of unspun thread, the ends of which were
+carried round the sacred hill, and thence round the temple, and into the
+inner chamber, where it was bound round the head of the young prince.
+Thence again nine threads were taken, which, after encircling the altar,
+were passed into the hands of the officiating priests. These latter
+threads, forming circles within circles, symbolize the mystic word _Om_,
+which may not escape the lips even of the purest, but must be meditated
+upon in silence.
+
+Early on the third day all the princes, nobles, and officers of
+government, together with the third company of priests, assembled to
+witness the ceremony of shaving the royal top-knot. The royal sire
+handed first the golden shears and then a gilded razor to the happy
+hair-cutter, who immediately addressed himself to his honorable
+function. Meanwhile the musicians, with the trumpeters and
+conch-blowers, exerted all their noisy faculties to beguile the patient
+heir.
+
+The tonsorial operation concluded, the prince was robed in white, and
+conducted to the marble basin at the foot of the Sacred Mount, where the
+white elephant, the ox, the horse, and the lion, guarding the cardinal
+points, were brought together, and from their mouths baptized him in the
+sacred waters. He was then arrayed in silk, still white, by women of
+rank, and escorted to a golden pagoda on the summit of the hill, where
+the king, in the character of P'hra Inn Suen, waited to bestow his
+blessing on the heir. With one hand raised to heaven, and the other on
+the bowed head of his son, he solemnly uttered words of Pali, which may
+be translated thus:--
+
+"Thou who art come out of the pure waters, be thy offences washed away!
+Be thou relieved from other births! Bear thou in thy bosom the
+brightness of that light which shall lead thee, even as it led the
+sublime Buddha, to Niphan, at once and forever!"
+
+These rites ended, the priests were served with a princely banquet; and
+then the nobility and common people were also feasted. About midday, two
+standards, called _baisêe_, were set up within a circle of people. These
+are not unlike the _sawekra chât_, or royal umbrella, one of the five
+insignia of royalty in Siam. They are about five cubits high, and have
+from three to five canopies. The staff is fixed in a wooden pedestal.
+Each circle or canopy has a flat bottom, and within the receptacle thus
+formed custom requires that a little cooked rice, called _k'ow k'wan_,
+shall be placed, together with a few cakes, a little sweet-scented oil,
+a handful of fragrant flour, and some young cocoanuts and plantains.
+Other edibles of many kinds are brought and arranged about the _baisêe_,
+and a beautiful bouquet adorns the top of each of the umbrella-like
+canopies.
+
+Then a procession was formed, of princes, noblemen, and others, who
+marched around the standards nine times. As they went, seven golden
+candlesticks, with the candles lighted, were carried by princes, and
+passed from one to another; and as often as they came in front of the
+prince, who sat between the standards, they waved the light before him.
+This procession is but another form of the _Om_ symbol.
+
+Afterwards the eldest priest or brahmin took a portion of the rice from
+the _baisêe_, and, sprinkling it with cocoanut water, gave the lad a
+spoonful of it. Then dipping his finger, first in the scented oil and
+then in the fragrant flour, he touched the right foot of the prince, at
+the same time exhorting him to be manly and strong, and to bear himself
+bravely in "the conflict of feeling."
+
+Now presents of silver and gold were laid at the feet of the lad,--every
+prince not of the royal family, and every nobleman and high officer in
+the kingdom, being expected to appear with gifts. A chowfa might
+receive, in the aggregate, from five hundred thousand to a million
+ticals. [Footnote: A tical is equivalent to sixty cents.] It should be
+remarked in this connection, that the late king commanded that careful
+note be kept of all sums of money presented by officers of his
+government to his children at the time of Soh-Khan, that the full amount
+might be refunded with the next semi-annual payment of salary. But this
+decree does not relieve the more distinguished princes and endowed
+noblemen, who have acquired a sort of complimentary relationship to his
+Majesty through their daughters and nieces accepted as concubines.
+
+The children of plain citizens, who cannot afford the luxury of a public
+hair-cutting, are taken to a temple, where a priest shaves the tuft,
+with a brief religious ceremony.
+
+Hardly had the prince recovered his wonted frame of mind, after an event
+so pregnant with significance and agitation to him, when the time
+arrived for his induction into the priesthood. For this the rites,
+though simpler, were more solemn. The hair, which had been suffered to
+grow on the top of his young pate like an inverted brush, was now shorn
+close, and his eyebrows were shaven also. Arrayed in costly robes and
+ornaments, similar to those worn at a coronation, he was taken in charge
+by a body of priests at his father's palace, and by them conducted to
+the temple Watt P'hra Këau, his yellow-robed and barefooted escort
+chanting, on the way, hymns from the Buddhist liturgy. At the threshold
+of the temple another band of priests divested him of his fine robes and
+clad him in simple white, all the while still chanting. The circle being
+characteristic of a Buddhist ceremonial, as the cross is of their
+religious architecture, these priests formed a circle, standing, and
+holding lighted tapers in their folded palms, the high-priest in the
+centre. Then the prince advanced meekly, timidly, bowing low, to enter
+the holy ring. Here he was received by the high-priest, and with their
+hands mutually interfolded, one upon the other, he vowed to renounce,
+then and there, the world with all its cares and temptations, and to
+observe with obedience the doctrines of Buddha. This done, he was clad
+afresh in sackcloth, and led from the temple to the royal monastery,
+Watt Brahmanee Waid; with bare feet and eyes downcast he went, still
+chanting those weird hymns.
+
+Here he remained recluse for six months. When he returned to the world,
+and to the residence assigned him, he seemed no longer the impressible,
+ardent boy who was once my bright, ambitious scholar. Though still
+anxious to prosecute his English studies, he was pronounced too old to
+unite with his brothers and sisters in the school. For a year I taught
+him, from seven to ten in the evening, at his "Rose-planting House"; and
+even from this distant place and time I look back with comfort to those
+hours.
+
+
+
+
+XX. AMUSEMENTS OF THE COURT.
+
+
+Of all the diversions of the court the most polite, and at the same time
+the most engrossing, is the drama.
+
+In a great sala, or hall, which serves as a theatre, the actors and
+actresses assemble, their faces and bodies anointed with a creamy,
+maize-colored cosmetic. Fantastic extravagance of attire constitutes the
+great gun in their arsenal of attractions. Hence ear-rings, bracelets,
+massive chains and collars, tapering crowns with wings, spangled robes,
+curious finger-rings, and, strangest of all, long tapering nails of
+gold, are joined to complete their elaborate adornment. The play, in
+which are invariably enacted the adventures of gods, kings, heroes,
+genii, demons, and a multitude of characters mythical and fabulous, is
+often performed in lively pantomime, the interludes being filled by a
+strong chorus, with songs and instrumental accompaniment. At other times
+the players, in grotesque masks, give burlesque versions of the graver
+epics, to the great amusement of the audience.
+
+Chinese comedies, termed Ngiu, attract the Siamese in crowds; but the
+foreign is decidedly inferior to the native talent. "Nang," so called,
+is a sort of tableau, masked, representing characters from the Hindoo
+mythology. Parts of the popular epic, Ramayana, are admirably rendered
+in this style. In front of the royal palace an immense transparent
+screen, mounted on great poles, is drawn across the esplanade, and
+behind this, at a moderate distance, great fires are lighted. Between
+the screen and the fire masked figures, grotesquely costumed, enact the
+story of Rama and Sita and the giant Rawuna, with Hanuman and his army
+of apes bridging the Gulf of Manaar and piling up the Himalayas, while
+the bards, in measured story, describe the several exploits.
+
+A great variety of puppet-shows are contrived for the delectation of the
+children; and the Siamese are marvellously ingenious in the manufacture
+of toys and dolls, of porcelain, stone, wood, bark, and paper. They make
+pagodas, temples, boats, and floating houses, with miniature families to
+occupy them, and all true to the life in every apartment and occupation;
+watts, with idols and priests; palaces, with kings, queens, concubines,
+royal children, courtiers, and slaves, all complete in costume and
+attitude.
+
+The royal children observe with grave formalities the eventful custom of
+"hair-cutting" for their favorite dolls; and dramas, improvised for the
+occasion by ingenious slaves, are the crowning glory of those high
+holidays of toddling princes and princesses.
+
+The ladies of the harem amuse themselves in the early and late hours of
+the day by gathering flowers in the palace gardens, feeding the birds in
+the aviaries and the gold-fishes in the ponds, twining garlands to adorn
+the heads of their children, arranging bouquets, singing songs of love
+or glory, dancing to the music of the guitar, listening to their slaves'
+reading, strolling with their little ones through the parks and
+_parterres_, and especially in bathing. When the heat is least
+oppressive they plunge into the waters of the pretty retired lakes,
+swimming and diving like flocks of brown water-fowl.
+
+Chess and backgammon, Chinese cards and dice, afford a continual
+diversion to both sexes at the court, and there are many skilful players
+among them. The Chinese have established a sort of "lottery," of which
+they have the monopoly. It is little better than a "sweat-cloth," with
+thirteen figures, on which money is staked at the option of the gambler.
+The winning figure pays its stake thirty-fold, the rest is lost.
+
+Kite-flying, which in Europe and America is the amusement of children
+exclusively, is here, as in China and Birmah, the pastime of both sexes,
+and all ages and conditions of people. At the season when the south-wind
+prevails steadily, innumerable kites of diverse forms, many of them
+representing gigantic butterflies, may be seen sailing and darting over
+every quarter of the city, and most thickly over the palace and its
+appendages. Parties of young noblemen devote themselves with ardor to
+the sport, betting bravely on results of skill or luck; and it is most
+entertaining to observe how cleverly they manage the huge paper toys,
+entangling and capturing each other's kites, and dragging them disabled
+to the earth.
+
+Combats of bulls and elephants, though very popular, are not commonly
+exhibited at court. At certain seasons fairs are held, where exhibitions
+of wrestling, boxing, fencing, and dancing are given by professional
+competitors.
+
+The Siamese, naturally imaginative and gay, cultivate music with great
+zest. Every village has its orchestra, every prince and noble his band
+of musicians, and in every part of Bangkok the sound of strange
+instruments is heard continually. Their music is not in parts like ours,
+but there is always harmony with good expression, and an agreeable
+variety of movement and volume is derived from the diversity of
+instruments and the taste of the players.
+
+The principal instrument, the _khong-vong_, is composed of a series of
+hemispherical metallic bells or cups inverted and suspended by cords to
+a wooden frame. The performer strikes the bells with two little hammers
+covered with soft leather, producing an agreeable harmony. The hautboy
+player (who is usually a professional juggler and snake-charmer also)
+commonly leads the band. Kneeling and swaying his body forward and
+backward, and from side to side, he keeps time to the movement of the
+music. His instrument has six holes, but no keys, and may be either
+rough or smoothly finished.
+
+The _ranat_, or harmonicon, is a wooden instrument, with keys made of
+wood from the bashoo-nut tree. These, varying in size from six inches by
+one to fifteen by two, are connected by pieces of twine, and so fastened
+to a hollow case of wood about three feet in length and a foot high. The
+music is "conjured" by the aid of two small hammers corked with leather,
+like those of the khong-vong. The notes are clear and fine, and the
+instrument admits of much delicacy of touch.
+
+Beside these the Siamese have the guitar, the violin, the flute, the
+cymbals, the trumpet, and the conch-shell. There is the _luptima_ also,
+another very curious instrument, formed of a dozen long perforated reeds
+joined with bands and cemented at the joints with wax. The orifice at
+one end is applied to the lips, and a very moderate degree of skill
+produces notes so strong and sweet as to remind one of the swell of a
+church organ.
+
+The Laos people have organs and tambourines of different forms; their
+guitar is almost as agreeable as that of Europe; and of their flutes of
+several kinds, one is played with the nostril instead of the lips.
+Another instrument, resembling the banjo of the American negroes, is
+made from a large long-necked gourd, cut in halves while green, cleaned,
+dried in the sun, covered with parchment, and strung with from four to
+six strings. Its notes are pleasing.
+
+The _takhè_, a long guitar with metallic strings, is laid on the floor,
+and high-born ladies, with fingers armed with shields or nails of gold,
+draw from it the softest and sweetest sounds.
+
+In their funeral ceremonies the chanting of the priests is usually
+accompanied by the lugubrious wailing music of a sort of clarionet.
+
+The songs of Siam are either heroic or amatory; the former celebrating
+the martial exploits, the latter the more tender adventures, of heroes.
+
+Athletic games and the contests of the arena and the course form so
+conspicuous a feature in all ceremonies, solemn or festal, of this
+people, that a description of them may not with advantage be wholly
+omitted here. The Siamese are by nature warlike, and their government
+has thoughtfully and liberally fostered those manly sports and exercises
+which constitute the natural preparation for the profession of arms. Of
+these the most popular are wrestling, boxing (in which both sexes take
+part), throwing the discus or quoit, foot-shuttlecock, and racing on
+foot or horseback or in chariots; to which may be added vaulting and
+tumbling, throwing the dart, and leaping through wheels or circles of
+fire.
+
+The professional athletes and gymnasts are exercised at a tender age
+under male or female trainers, who employ the most approved methods of
+limbering and quickening and strengthening and toughening their
+incipient champions, to whom, though well fed, sleep is jealously
+allowanced and intoxicating drinks absolutely forbidden. Their bodies
+are rubbed with oils and unguents to render them supple; and a short
+langoutee with a belt forms the sum of their clothing. None but the
+children of Siamese or Laotians are admitted to the gymnasia. The code
+of laws for the government of the several classes is strictly enforced,
+and nothing is permitted contrary to the established order and
+regulations of the games. Excessive violence is mercifully forbidden,
+and those who enter to wrestle or box, race or leap, for the prize, draw
+lots for precedence and position.
+
+The Siamese practise wrestling in its rude simplicity, the advantage
+being with weight and strength, rather than skill and address. The
+wrestlers, before engaging, are rubbed and shampooed, the joints bent
+backward and all the muscles relaxed, and the body and limbs freely
+oiled; but after the latter operation they roll in the dust, or are
+sprinkled with earth, ground and sifted, that they may be grappled the
+more firmly. They are matched in pairs, and several couples contend at
+the same time. Their struggles afford superb displays of the anatomy of
+action, and the perfection of strength and skill and fierce grace in the
+trained animal. Though one be seized by the heel and thrown,--which the
+Siamese applaud as the climax of the wrestler's adroitness,--they still
+struggle grandly on the ground, a double Antæus of arms and legs, till
+one be turned upon his back and slapped upon the breast. That is the
+accepted signal of the victor.
+
+In boxing, the Siamese cover their hands with a kind of glove of ribbed
+leather, sometimes lined with brass. On their heads they wear a leather
+turban, to protect the temples and ears, the assault being directed
+mainly at the head and face. Besides the usual "getting away" of the
+British bruiser, blows are caught with surprising address and strength
+in the gloved hand. The boxer who by overreaching, or missing a blow he
+has put his weight into, throws himself, is beaten; or he may surrender
+by simply lowering his arms.
+
+The Siamese discus, or quoit, is round, and of wood, stone, or iron.
+Their manner of hurling it does not differ materially from that which
+all mighty players have practised since Caesar's soldiers pitched quoits
+for rations.
+
+Quite otherwise, in its curious novelty, is their spirited and
+picturesque sport of foot-shuttlecock,--a game which may be witnessed
+only in Asia, and in the perfection of its skill and agility only in
+Birmah and Siam.
+
+The shuttlecock is like our own, but the battledore is the sole of the
+foot. A number of young men form a circle on a clear plot of ground. One
+of them opens the game by throwing the feathered toy to the player
+opposite him, who, turning quickly and raising his leg, receives it on
+the sole of his foot, and sends it like a shot to another, and he to
+another; and so it is kept flying for an hour or more, without once
+falling to the ground.
+
+Speed, whether of two legs or four, is in high estimation among the
+Siamese. Their public festivals, however solemn, are usually begun with
+races, which they cultivate with ardor and enjoy with enthusiasm. They
+have the foot-race, the horse-race, and the chariot-race. In the first,
+the runners, having drawn lots for places, range themselves across the
+course, and, while waiting for the starting signal, excite themselves by
+leaping. At the word "Go," they make play with astonishing speed and
+spirit.
+
+The race of a single horse, "against time," with or without saddle, is a
+favorite sport. The rider, scorning stirrup or bridle, grips the sides
+of his steed with his knees, and, with his right arm and forefinger
+stretched eagerly toward the goal, flies alone,--an inspiring picture.
+Sometimes two horsemen ride abreast, and at full speed change horses by
+vaulting from one to the other.
+
+In the chariot-races from two to four horses are driven abreast, and the
+art consists in winning and keeping the advantage of ground without
+collision. This kind of racing is not so common as the others.
+
+The favorite pastime of the late Second King, who greatly delighted in
+equestrian exercises and feats, was Croquet on Horseback,--a sport in
+which he distinguished himself by his brilliant skill and style, as he
+did in racing and hunting. This unique equestrian game is played
+exclusively by princes and noblemen. There are a number of small balls
+which must be croqueted into two deep holes, with the aid of long
+slender mallets. The limits of the ground are marked by a line drawn
+around it; and the only conditions necessary to render the sport
+exciting and the skill remarkable are narrow bounds and restive steeds.
+
+The Siamese, like other Orientals, ride with loose rein and short
+stirrups. Their saddles are high and hard, and have two large circular
+flaps, gilded and otherwise adorned, according to the rank of the rider.
+Cavaliers of distinction usually dress expensively, in imported stuffs,
+elaborately embroidered with silk and gold thread. They wear a small
+cap, and sometimes a strip of red, like the fillet of the Greeks and
+Romans, bound round the brows.
+
+Prizes for the victors in the games and combats are of several
+kinds,--purses of gold and silver, suits of apparel, umbrellas, and,
+more rarely, a gold or silver cup.
+
+In concluding this imperfect sketch, I feel that a word of praise is due
+to the spirit of moderation and humanity which seems to govern such
+exhibitions in Siam. Even in their gravest festivals there is an element
+of cheerfulness and kindness, which tends to promote genial fellowship
+and foster friendships, and by bringing together all sorts of people,
+otherwise separated by diversity of custom, prejudice, and interest,
+unquestionably avails to weld the several small states and dependencies
+of Siam into one compact and stable nation.
+
+
+
+
+XXI. SIAMESE LITERATURE AND ART.
+
+
+At the head of the Siamese writers of profane history stands, I think,
+P'hra Alack, or rather Cheing Meing,--P'hra Alack being the generic term
+for all writers. In early life he was a priest, but was appointed
+historian to the court, and in that capacity wrote a history of the
+reign of his patron and king, P'hra Narai,--(contemporary with Louis
+XIV.)--and left a very curious though unfinished autobiography.
+
+Seri Manthara, celebrated as a military leader, wrote nine books of
+essays, on subjects relating to agriculture and the arts and sciences.
+Some of these, translated into the languages of Birmah and Pegu, are
+still extant.
+
+Among a host of dramatic writers, Phya Doong, better known as P'hra
+Khein Lakonlen, is entitled to the first rank. He composed about
+forty-nine books in lyric and dramatic verse, besides epigrams and
+elegies. Of his many poems, the few that remain afford passages of much
+elegance and sweetness, and even of sublimity,--almost sufficient to
+atone for the taint of grossness he derived from the licentious
+imagination of his land and time. While yet hardly out of his infancy,
+he was laid at the feet of the monarch, and reared in the palace at
+Lophaburee. Some dramatic pieces composed by the lad for his playmates
+to act attracted the notice of the king, who engaged teachers to
+instruct him thoroughly in the ancient literature of India and Persia.
+But he seems to have boldly opened a way for himself, instead of
+following (as modern Orientals, timid or servile, are so prone to do)
+the well-worn path of the old Hindoo writers. In his tragedy (which I
+saw acted) of _Manda-thi-Nung_, "The First Mother," there are passages
+of noble thought and true passion, expressed with a power and beauty
+peculiarly his own.
+
+The entertainments of the theatre are devoured by the Siamese with
+insatiable appetite, and the popular preference is awarded to those
+intellectual contests in which the tragic and comic poets compete for
+the prize. The laughter or the tears of the sympathetic groundlings are
+accepted as the expression of an infallible criticism, and by their
+verdict the play is crowned or damned. The common people, such is their
+passion for the drama, get whole tragedies or comedies "by heart." Every
+day in the year, and in every street of Bangkok, and all along the
+river, booths and floating salas may be seen, in which tragedy, comedy,
+and satirical burlesques, are enacted for the entertainment of great
+audiences, who are thrilled, delighted, or amused. In compositions
+strictly dramatic the characters, as with us, speak and act for
+themselves; but in the epic the poet recites the adventures of his
+heroes.
+
+Judges are appointed by the king to determine the merits of new plays
+before they are performed at court; and on the grand occasion of the
+hair-cutting of the heir-apparent (now king) his late Majesty caused the
+poem "Kraelasah" to be modernized and adapted to grace the ceremonies.
+
+P'hra Ramawsha, a writer highly esteemed, did wonders for the Siamese
+drama. He translated the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and portions of the
+Cambodian lyrics into Siamese; introduced masks, with magnificence of
+costume and ornament; substituted theatres, or rather salas, for the
+temporary booth or the open plain; and elevated the matter and the style
+of dramatic compositions from the burlesque and buffoonery to the
+sentimental and majestic. He was also the first to impart spirit and
+variety to the dialogue, and to teach actors to express like artists,
+and not like mere animals, the strong _human_ passions of anger, love,
+and pity. The plays of P'hra Ramawsha are highly esteemed at court. In
+his management of amorous incidents and intrigues, he is, if not
+positively refined, at least less gross than other Siamese dramatists.
+
+[Illustration: SIAMESE ACTOR AND ACTRESS.]
+
+The dress of the players is always rich, and in the fashion of that worn
+at court. The actors and actresses attached to the royal establishment
+make a splendid display in this respect, large sums being expended
+annually on their costumes, jewels, and other adornings.
+
+The development of native genius and skill, in the direction of the fine
+arts, has greatly declined, if it has not been absolutely arrested,
+since the reign of P'hra Narai, the enlightened founder of Lophaburee;
+and almost all the vestiges of art, purely national, to be found in the
+country now, may be traced to that golden age of Siam. The Siamese,
+though intelligent, clever, facile, and in a notable degree susceptible
+to the influences of the beautiful in nature or in art, by no means slow
+or awkward in imitating the graceful products of European taste and
+industry, are yet fettered by a peculiar oppression in their efforts to
+express in visible forms their artistic inspirations. No Siamese subject
+is to be congratulated, who by his talent or his skill has won popular
+applause in any branch of industry. No such man, having extraordinary
+cleverness or taste, dare display it to the public in works of novel
+utility or beauty; because he and his inventions may alike be
+appropriated, without reward or thanks,--the former to serve the king,
+the latter to adorn the palace. Many ply in secret their dangerously
+graceful callings, and destroy their work when it is done, rather than
+see it wrested from them, and with it all that is left to them of
+freedom, to serve the whim of a covetous and cruel master. All that
+P'hra Narai did to foster the sciences and arts in his land has been
+undone by the ruinous selfishness of his successors; and of the few
+suicides recorded in the annals of Siam since his time, one of the most
+remarkable is that of a famous painter, who poisoned himself the day
+after his installation at court. Thus all natural ambition has been
+stupidly extinguished in the breasts of the artists of a land whose
+remaining monuments attest her ancient excellence in architecture,
+sculpture, and painting.
+
+The most remarkable examples of Siamese painting are presented in the
+cartoons to be found on the walls of the ancient temples, decorated with
+the brush before the introduction of wall-paper from Birmah. One that is
+still to be seen in the Watt Kheim Mah, or Mai, is especially
+noticeable. This temple was built by the grandmother of the late Maha
+Mongkut. The plant _kheim mai_ (indigenous to Siam), which bears a
+lovely little blossom, was one of her favorite flowers, and she called
+her temple by its name. Being a liberal patron of the arts, she employed
+a promising young painter named Nai Dang to decorate the Watt. The man
+would hardly be remembered now but for a poem he wrote and dedicated to
+the queen mother, in which her beauty and goodness are extolled. I could
+learn of him no more than that he was self-educated, and by unaided
+perseverance attained a respectable proficiency in drawing and design.
+He had also a fair knowledge of chemistry as it is practised in the
+East; but, aspiring to fame and fortune, he abandoned that study and
+devoted himself exclusively to painting. For years he struggled
+desperately against the discouragements of poverty in himself and
+ignorance in his neighbors, but found his reward at last in this
+engagement to embellish the walls of the Watt Kheim Mai.
+
+Nai Dang's must have been an original and independent mind, for his
+conceptions in this cartoon are as bold as his handling is vigorous and
+effective, while his colors are more true to nature than any that I have
+seen in Chinese or Japanese art.
+
+He has grandly chosen for his subject the Birth of Buddha. The mother of
+the divine teacher being on a journey, is overtaken with the pangs of
+childbirth. Her attendants and slaves have gathered about her; but she,
+as if conscious of the august nature of the babe she is about to bestow
+upon the world, retires alone to the shade of an orange grove, where,
+clinging to the friendly boughs, with a look of blended rapture and
+pain, she gives birth to the great reformer. A few steps farther on, a
+circle of light is seen glowing round the feet of the infant, as it
+attempts to rise and walk alone. Next we find the child in a rustic
+cradle; a branch of the tree under which he is sleeping bends low, to
+shield him from the fierce rays of the sun, and his royal parents,
+beholding the miracle, kneel and adore him. Now he is a youthful prince,
+beautiful and gentle, troubled with pity for the poor, the afflicted,
+and the aged, as they rest by the roadside. And finally, as a hermit, he
+sits in the shade of a boh-tree, rapt in divine contemplation.
+
+It is a great work, full of imagination, truth, and power, if justly
+contemplated by the light of a semi-barbaric age. Every figure is
+instinct with character and action, and the whole is rendered with
+infinite _naïveté_, as though it represented undisputed and familiar
+facts.
+
+On the opposite wall another great cartoon represents the Hell of the
+Buddhists, with demons whose hideous heads are those of fabulous beasts
+and creeping things. As a work of imagination and force this is worthy
+to be the companion of the Birth of Buddha.
+
+The roof is painted as a firmament,--stars in a blue ground; and here it
+is that the charm of pure feeling and noble treatment is most apparent.
+With five colors the artist has produced all the variety we see. No cast
+shadows are shown, the forms themselves are but partially shaded, yet
+wonderful harmony and beauty pervade the whole. All honor to Nai Dang!
+who alone, amid the national decay of art and culture, preserved this
+germ of glorious life and strength, wrapped in his own obscure,
+neglected life!
+
+The practice of decorating walls and ceilings with paintings may be
+traced to a remote period in the history of Siamese art. In an ancient
+temple at Lophaburee is a curious picture, of less merit than those of
+Nai Dang, representing the marriage of Buddha with the princess Thiwadi,
+beside many of the transmigrations of the Buddhas; and there are
+elsewhere one or two pictures well worthy of notice, by masters whose
+names have not been kept in remembrance. Thus art in Siam has
+degenerated for want of kind, fostering patrons, and faithful,
+sympathetic chroniclers, till it has become a thing of mere tools and
+technics.
+
+Nevertheless, they still paint with some cleverness on wood, cloth,
+parchment, ivory, and plastic material, as well as on gold and
+silver,--a sort of enamelling. They also retain a fair knowledge of
+effect in fresco, tracing the outline on the wet ground, and laying on
+the color in a thin glue; in some of their later work of this kind that
+I have seen, the idea of the designer is expressed with much vigor.
+
+Their mosaics, executed in colored porcelain of several varieties, glass
+of all kinds, mother-of-pearl, and colored marbles, represent chiefly
+flowers and sprays on a brilliant ground. The most remarkable work of
+this kind is, I imagine, that which is lavished on the temple Watt P'hra
+Këau,--the walls, pillars, windows, roofs, towers, and gates being
+everywhere overlaid with mother-of-pearl and ivory, and profusely
+gilded. The several façades are likewise inlaid with ivory, glass, and
+mother-of-pearl, fixed with cement in the mortar, which serves as a
+base. In all cases these works are characterized by a touching
+simplicity, which seems to struggle through much, that is obscure and
+illegible to get nearer to nature and truth. Most of the tiles employed
+in the roofing of temples and palaces are colored and gilt.
+
+[Illustration: SPIRE OF THE TEMPLE WATT-POH.]
+
+Among the older pictures, one in the Royal bedchamber of the abandoned
+palace deserves a parting glance. It is a cartoon (much defaced, and
+here and there re-touched by clumsy Chinese hands) of The First Sin. In
+the foreground a newly created world is rudely represented, and here are
+several illuminated figures, human but gigantic. One of these,
+discontented with his spiritual food, is seen tasting something, which
+we are told is "fragrant earth"; after which, in another figure, he
+appears to be electrified, and here his monstrous anatomy is depicted
+with ludicrous attempts at detail. No one could tell me by whom or when
+this cartoon was painted, and the painting itself is so little
+appreciated that I might never have seen or heard of it but for a happy
+chance.
+
+A characteristic effect in the few great works by Siamese painters
+appears in their management of shade. They impart to darkness a
+pervading inner light or clearness, and heighten the effect of the
+deeper shadows by permitting objects to be seen through them. In
+addition to the pictures I have described, one or two of some merit are
+to be found in the Watt Brahmanee Waid.
+
+The florid style of architecture seems to have been familiar to the
+Siamese from a very early period. Their palaces, temples, and pagodas
+afford innumerable examples of it, many of them not unworthy of European
+art. They build generally in brick, using a cement composed of sand,
+chalk, and molasses, in which the skin of the buffalo has been steeped.
+Their structures are the most solid and durable imaginable. When the
+masons building a wall round the new palace at Ayuthia found their
+bricks falling short, they tried in vain to detach a supply from the
+ruined temples and walls of that ancient city.
+
+In the art of sculpture the Siamese are in advance of their
+civilization. Not only in their palaces, temples, and pagodas, but in
+their shops and dwellings likewise, and even in their ships and boats,
+all sorts of figures are to be seen, modelled and finished with more or
+less delicacy.
+
+
+
+
+XXII. BUDDHIST DOCTRINE, PRIESTS, AND WORSHIP.
+
+
+"The world is old, and all things old within it." We plod a trodden
+path. No truth is new to-day, save only that one which as a mantle
+covers the face of God, lest we be blinded by the unveiled glory. How
+many of earth's departed great, buried out of remembrance, might have
+lived to-day in the love of the wise and just, had theirs but been that
+perfect quickening which is the breath of his Spirit upon the heart, the
+gift that "passeth understanding!" The world's helpers must first become
+borrowers of God. The world's teachers must first learn of him that only
+wisdom, which cometh not of books nor jealous cloister cells, but out of
+the heart of man as it opens yearningly to the cry of humanity,--the
+Wisdom of Love. This alone may challenge a superior mind, prizing truths
+not merely for their facts, but for their motives,--motives for which
+individuals or great communities either act or suffer,--to explore with
+a calm and kindly judgment the spirit of the religion of the Buddhists;
+and not its spirit only, but its every look and tone and motion as well,
+being so many complex expressions of the religious character in all its
+peculiar thoughts and feelings.
+
+"Who, of himself, can interpret the symbol expressed by the wings of the
+air-sylph forming within the case of the caterpillar? Only he who feels
+in his own soul the same instinct which impels the horned fly to leave
+room in its involucrum for antennae yet to come." Such a man knows and
+feels that the potential works in him even as the actual works on him.
+As all the organs of sense are framed for a correspondent world of
+sense, so all the organs of the spirit are framed for a correspondent
+world of spirit; and though these latter be not equally developed in us
+all, yet they surely exist in all; else how is it that even the
+ignorant, the depraved, and the cruel will contemplate the man of
+unselfish and exalted goodness with contradictory emotions of pity and
+respect?
+
+We are prone to ignore or to condemn that which we do not clearly
+understand; and thus it is, and on no better ground, that we deny that
+there are influences in the religions of the East to render their
+followers wiser, nobler, purer. And yet no one of respectable
+intelligence will question that there have been, in all ages, individual
+pagans who, by the simplicity of their doctrine and the purity of their
+practice, have approached very nearly to the perfection of the Christian
+graces; and that they were, if not so much the better for the religion
+they had, at least far, far better than if they had had no religion at
+all.
+
+It is not, however, in human nature to approve and admire any course of
+life without inquiring into the spirit of the law that regulates it. Nor
+may it suffice that the spirit is there, if not likewise the
+letter,--that is to say, the practice. The best doctrine may become the
+worst, if imperfectly understood, erroneously interpreted, or
+superstitiously followed.
+
+In Egypt, Palestine, Greece, and India, the metaphysical analysis of
+Mind had attained its noontide splendor, while as yet experimental
+research had hardly dawned. Those ancient mystics did much to promote
+intellectual emancipation, by insisting that Thought should not be
+imprisoned within the mere outlines of any single dogmatic system; and
+they likewise availed, in no feeble measure, to keep alive the heart in
+the head, by demanding an impartial reverence for every attribute of the
+mind, till, by converting these into symbols to impress the ignorant and
+stupid, they came at last to deify them. Thus, with the uninitiated,
+their system degenerated into an ignoble pantheism.
+
+The renascence of Buddhism sought to eliminate from the arrogant and
+impious pantheisms of Egypt, India, and Greece a simple and pure
+philosophy, upholding virtue as man's greatest good and highest reward.
+It taught that the only object worthy of his noblest aspirations was to
+render the soul (itself an emanation from God) fit to be absorbed back
+again into the Divine essence from which it sprang. The single aim,
+therefore, of pure Buddhism seems to have been to rouse men to an inward
+contemplation of the divinity of their own nature; to fix their thoughts
+on the spiritual life within as the only real and true life; to teach
+them to disregard all earthly distinctions, conditions, privileges,
+enjoyments, privations, sorrows, sufferings; and thus to incite them to
+continual efforts in the direction of the highest ideals of patience,
+purity, self-denial.
+
+Buddhism cannot be clearly defined by its visible results today. There
+are more things in that subtile, mystical enigma called in the Pali
+_Nirwana_, in the Birmese _Niban_, in the Siamese _Niphan_, than are
+dreamed of in our philosophy. With the idea of Niphan in his theology,
+it were absurdly false to say the Buddhist has no God. His Decalogue
+[FOOTNOTE: Translated from the Pali.] is as plain and imperative as the
+Christian's :--
+
+I. From the meanest insect up to man thou shalt kill no animal
+whatsoever.
+
+II. Thou shalt not steal.
+
+III. Thou shalt not violate the wife of another, nor his concubine.
+
+IV. Thou shalt speak no word that is false.
+
+V. Thou shalt not drink wine, nor anything that may intoxicate.
+
+VI. Thou shalt avoid all anger, hatred, and bitter language.
+
+VII. Thou shalt not indulge in idle and vain talk.
+
+VIII. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
+
+IX. Thou shalt not harbor envy, nor pride, nor revenge, nor malice, nor
+the desire of thy neighbor's death or misfortune.
+
+X. Thou shalt not follow the doctrines of false gods.
+
+Whosoever abstains from these forbidden things is said to "observe
+Silah"; and whosoever shall faithfully observe Silah, in all his
+successive metempsychoses, shall continually increase in virtue and
+purity, until at length he shall become worthy to behold God, and hear
+his voice; and so he shall obtain Niphan. "Be assiduous in bestowing
+alms, in practising virtue, in observing Silah, in performing Bavana,
+prayer; and above all in adoring Guadama, the true God. Reverence
+likewise his laws and his priests."
+
+Many have missed seeing what is true and wise in the doctrine of Buddha
+because they preferred to observe it from the standpoint and in the
+attitude of an antagonist, rather than of an inquirer. To understand
+aright the earnest creed and hope of any man, one must be at least
+sympathetically _en rapport_ with him,--must be willing to feel, and to
+confess within one's self, the germs of those errors whose growth seems
+so rank in him. In the humble spirit of this fellowship of fallibility
+let us draw as near as we may to the hearts of these devotees and the
+heart of their mystery.
+
+My interesting pupil, the Lady Tâlâp, had invited me to accompany her to
+the royal private temple, Watt P'hra Këau, to witness the services held
+there on the Buddhist Sabâto, or One-thu-sin. Accordingly we repaired
+together to the temple on the day appointed. The day was young, and the
+air was cool and fresh; and as we approached the place of worship, the
+clustered bells of the pagodas made breezy gushes of music aloft. One of
+the court pages, meeting us, inquired our destination. "The Watt P'hra
+Këau," I replied. "To see or to hear?" "Both." And we entered.
+
+On a floor diamonded with polished brass sat a throng of women, the
+_élite_ of Siam. All were robed in pure white, with white silk scarfs
+drawn from the left shoulder in careful folds across the bust and back,
+and thrown gracefully over the right. A little apart sat their female
+slaves, of whom many were inferior to their mistresses only in social
+consideration and worldly gear, being their half-sisters,--children of
+the same father by a slave mother.
+
+The women sat in circles, and each displayed her vase of flowers and her
+lighted taper before her. In front of all were a number of my younger
+pupils, the royal children, in circles also. Close by the altar, on a
+low square stool, overlaid with a thin cushion of silk, sat the
+high-priest, Chow Khoon Sâh. In his hand he held a concave fan, lined
+with pale green silk, the back richly embroidered, jewelled, and gilt.
+[Footnote: The fan is used to cover the face. Jewelled fans are marks of
+distinction among the priesthood.] He was draped in a yellow robe, not
+unlike the Roman toga, a loose and flowing habit, closed below the
+waist, but open from the throat to the girdle, which was simply a band
+of yellow cloth, bound tightly. From the shoulders hung two narrow
+strips, also yellow, descending over the robe to the feet, and
+resembling the scapular worn by certain orders of the Roman Catholic
+clergy. At his side was an open watch of gold, the gift of his
+sovereign. At his feet sat seventeen disciples, shading their faces with
+fans less richly adorned.
+
+We put off our shoes,--my child and I,--having respect for the ancient
+prejudice against them; [Footnote: "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet,
+for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."] feeling not so
+much reverence for the place as for the hearts that worshipped there,
+caring to display not so much the love of wisdom as the wisdom of love;
+and well were we repaid by the grateful smile of recognition that
+greeted us as we entered.
+
+We sat down cross-legged. No need to hush my boy,--the silence there, so
+subduing, checked with its mysterious awe even his inquisitive young
+mind. The venerable high-priest sat with his face jealously covered,
+lest his eyes should tempt his thoughts to stray. I changed my position
+to catch a glimpse of his countenance; he drew his fan-veil more
+closely, giving me a quick but gentle half-glance of remonstrance. Then
+raising his eyes, with lids nearly closed, he chanted in an infantile,
+wailing tone.
+
+That was the opening prayer. At once the whole congregation raised
+themselves on their knees and, all together, prostrated themselves
+thrice profoundly, thrice touching the polished brass floor with their
+foreheads; and then, with heads bowed and palms folded and eyes closed,
+they delivered the responses after the priest, much in the manner of the
+English liturgy, first the priest, then the people, and finally all
+together. There was no singing, no standing up and sitting down, no
+changing of robes or places, no turning the face to the altar, nor
+north, nor south, nor east, nor west. All knelt _still_, with hands
+folded straight before them, and eyes strictly, tightly closed. Indeed,
+there were faces there that expressed devotion and piety, the humblest
+and the purest, as the lips murmured: "O Thou Eternal One, Thou
+perfection of Time, Thou truest Truth, Thou immutable essence of all
+Change, Thou most excellent radiance of Mercy, Thou infinite Compassion,
+Thou Pity, Thou Charity!"
+
+I lost some of the responses in the simultaneous repetition, and did but
+imperfectly comprehend the exhortation that followed, in which was
+inculcated the strictest practice of charity in a manner so pathetic and
+so gentle as might be wisely imitated by the most orthodox of Christian
+priests.
+
+There was majesty in the humility of those pagan worshippers, and in
+their shame of self they were sublime. I leave both the truth and the
+error to Him who alone can soar to the bright heights of the one and
+sound the dark depths of the other, and take to myself the lesson, to be
+read in the shrinking forms and hidden faces of those patient waiters
+for a far-off glimmering _Light_,--the lesson wherefrom I learn, in
+thanking God for the light of Christianity, to thank him for its shadow
+too, which is Buddhism.
+
+Around the porches and vestibules of the temple lounged the Amazonian
+guard, intent only on irreverent amusement, even in the form of a
+grotesque and grim flirtation here and there with the custodians of the
+temple, who have charge of the sacred fire that burns before the altar.
+About eighty-five years ago this fire went out. It was a calamity of
+direful presage, and thereupon all Siam went into a consternation of
+mourning. All public spectacles were forbidden until the crime could be
+expiated by the appropriate punishment of the wretch to whose
+sacrilegious carelessness it was due; nor was the sacred flame rekindled
+until the reign of P'hra-Pooti-Yaut-Fa, grandfather of his late Majesty,
+when the royal Hall of Audience was destroyed by lightning. From that
+fire of heaven it was relighted with joyful thanksgiving, and so has
+burned on to this day.
+
+The lofty throne, on which the priceless P'hra Këau (the Emerald Idol)
+blazed in its glory of gold and gems, shone resplendent in the forenoon
+light. Everything above, around it,--even the vases of flowers and the
+perfumed tapers on the floor,--was reflected as if by magic in its
+kaleidoscopic surface, now pensive, pale, and silvery as with moonlight,
+now flashing, fantastic, with the party-colored splendors of a thousand
+lamps.
+
+The ceiling was wholly covered with hieroglyphic devices,--luminous
+circles and triangles, globes, rings, stars, flowers, figures of
+animals, even parts of the human body,--mystic symbols, to be deciphered
+only by the initiated. Ah! could I but have read them as in a book,
+construing all their allegorical significance, how near might I not have
+come to the distracting secret of this people! Gazing upon them, my
+thought flew back a thousand years, and my feeble, foolish conjectures,
+like butterflies at sea, were lost in mists of old myth.
+
+Not that Buddhism has escaped the guessing and conceits of a multitude
+of writers, most trustworthy of whom are the early Christian Fathers,
+who, to the end that they might arouse the attention of the sleeping
+nations, yielded a reluctant, but impartial and graceful, tribute to the
+long-forgotten creeds of Chaldea, Phenicia, Assyria, and Egypt.
+Nevertheless, they would never have appealed to the doctrine of Buddha
+as being most like to Christianity in its rejection of the claims of
+race, had they not found in its simple ritual another and a stronger
+bond of brotherhood. Like Christianity, too, it was a religion catholic
+and apostolic, for the truth of which many faithful witnesses had laid
+down their lives. It was, besides, the creed of an ancient race; and the
+mystery that shrouded it had a charm to pique the vanity even of
+self-sufficient Greeks, and stir up curiosity even in Roman arrogance
+and indifference. The doctrines of Buddha were eminently fitted to
+elucidate the doctrines of Christ, and therefore worthy to engage the
+interest of Christian writers; accordingly, among the earliest of these
+mention is made of the Buddha or Phthah, though there were as yet few or
+none to appreciate all the religious significance of his teachings.
+Terebinthus declared there was nothing in the pagan world to be compared
+with his (Buddha's) _P'hra-ti-moksha_, or Code of Discipline, which in
+some respects resembled the rules that governed the lives of the monks
+of Christendom; Marco Polo says of Buddha, "Si fuisset Christianus,
+fuisset apud Deum maximus factus"; and later, Malcolm, the devoted
+missionary, said of his doctrine, "In almost every respect it seems to
+be the best religion which man has ever invented." Mark the "invented"
+of the wary Christian!
+
+But errors, that in time crept in, corrupted the pure doctrine, and
+disciples, ignorant or stupid, perverted its meaning and intent, and
+blind or treacherous guides led the simple astray, till at last the true
+and plain philosophy of Buddha became entangled with the Egyptian
+mythology.
+
+Over the portal on the eastern facade of the Watt P'hra Këau is a
+bass-relief representing the Last Judgment, in which are figures of a
+devil with a pig's head dragging the wicked to hell, and an angel
+weighing mankind in a pair of scales. Now we know that in the mythology
+of ancient Egypt the Pig was the emblem of the Evil Spirit, and this
+bass-relief of the Siamese watt could hardly fail to remind the
+Egyptologist of kindred compositions in old sculptures wherein the good
+and bad deeds of the dead are weighed by Anubis (the Siamese Anuman or
+Hanuman), and the souls of the wicked carried off by a pig.
+
+In the city of Arsinoe in Upper Egypt (formerly Crocodilopolis, now
+Medinet-el-Fayum), the crocodile is worshipped; and a sacred crocodile,
+kept in a pond, is perfectly tame and familiar with the priests. He is
+called Suchus, and they feed him with meat and corn and wine, the
+contributions of strangers. One of the Egyptian divinities, apparently
+that to whom the beast was consecrated, is invariably pictured with the
+head of a crocodile; and in hieroglyphic inscriptions is represented by
+that animal with the tail turned under the body. A similar figure is
+common in the temples of Siam; and a sacred crocodile, kept in a pond in
+the manner of the ancient Egyptians, is fed by Siamese priests, at whose
+call it comes to the surface to receive the rice, fruit, and wine that
+are brought to it daily.
+
+The Beetle, an insect peculiarly sacred to the Buddhists, was the
+Egyptian sign of Phthah, the Father of Gods; and in the hieroglyphics it
+stands for the name of that deity, whose head is either surmounted by a
+beetle, or is itself in the form of a beetle. Elsewhere in the
+hieroglyphics, where it does not represent Buddha, it evidently appears
+as the symbol of generation or reproduction, the meaning most anciently
+attached to it; whence Dr. Young, in his "Hieroglyphical Researches,"
+inferred its relation to Buddha. Mrs. Hamilton Gray, in her work on the
+Sepulchres of Etruria, observes: "As scarabæi existed long before we had
+any account of idols, I do not doubt that they were originally the
+invention of some really devout mind; and they speak to us in strong
+language of the danger of making material symbols of immaterial things.
+First, the symbol came to be trusted in, instead of the being of whom it
+was the sign. Then came the bodily conception and manifestation of that
+being, or his attributes, in the form of idols. Next, the representation
+of all that belongs to spirits, good and bad. And finally, the
+deification of every imagination of the heart of man,--a written and
+accredited system of polytheism, and a monstrous and hydra-headed
+idolatry."
+
+Such is the religious history of the scarabæus, a creature that so early
+attracted the notice of man by its ingenious and industrious habits,
+that it was selected by him to symbolize the Creator; and cutting stones
+to represent it, [FOOTNOTE: Six rubies, exquisitely cut in the form of
+beetles, are worn as studs by the present King of Siam.] he wore them in
+token of his belief in a creator of all things, and in recognition of
+the Divine Presence, probably attaching to them at first no more
+mysterious import or virtue. There is sound reason for believing that in
+this form the symbol existed before Abraham, and that its fundamental
+signification of creation or generation was gradually overbuilt with
+arbitrary speculations and fantastic notions. In theory it degenerated
+into a crude egoism, a vaunting and hyper-stoic hostility to nature,
+which, though intellectually godless, was not without that universal
+instinct for divinity which, by countless ways, seeks with an
+ever-present and importunate longing for the one sublimated and eternal
+source from which it sprang.
+
+Through twenty-five million six hundred thousand Asongkhies, or
+metempsychoses,--according to the overpowering computation of his
+priests,--did Buddha struggle to attain the divine omniscience of
+Niphan, by virtue of which he remembers every form he ever entered, and
+beholds with the clear eyes of a god the endless diversities of
+transmigration in the animal, human, and angelic worlds, throughout the
+spaceless, timeless, numberless universe of visible and invisible life.
+According to Heraclides, Pythagoras used to say of himself, that he
+remembered "not only all the men, but all the animals and all the
+plants, his soul had passed through." That Pythagoras believed and
+taught the doctrine of transmigration may hardly be doubted, but that he
+originated it is very questionable. Herodotus intimates that both
+Orpheus and Pythagoras derived it from the Egyptians, but propounded it
+as their own, without acknowledgment.
+
+Nearly every male inhabitant of Siam enters the priesthood at least once
+in his lifetime. Instead of the more vexatious and scandalous forms of
+divorce, the party aggrieved may become a priest or a nun, and thus the
+matrimonial bond is at once dissolved; and with this advantage, that
+after three or four months of probation they may be reconciled and
+reunited, to live together in the world again.
+
+Chow Khoon Sâh, or "His Lordship the Lake," whose functions in the Watt
+P'hra Këau I have described, was the High-Priest of Siam, and in high
+favor with his Majesty. He had taken holy orders with the double motive
+of devoting himself to the study of Sanskrit literature, and of escaping
+the fate, that otherwise awaited him, of becoming the mere thrall of his
+more fortunate cousin, the king. In the palace it was whispered that he
+and the late queen consort had been tenderly attached to each other, but
+that the lady's parents, for prudential considerations, discountenanced
+the match; "and so," on the eve of her betrothal to his Majesty, her
+lover had sought seclusion and consolation in a Buddhist monastery.
+However that may be, it is certain that the king and the high-priest
+were now fast friends. The latter entertained great respect for his
+reverend cousin, whose title ("The Lake") described justly, as well as
+poetically, the graceful serenity and repose of his demeanor.
+
+Chow Khoon Sâh lived at some distance from the palace, at the Watt
+Brahmanee Waid. As the friendship between the cousins ripened, his
+Majesty considered that it would be well for him to have the
+contemplative student, prudent adviser, and able reasoner nearer to him.
+With this idea, and for a surprise to one to whom all surprises had long
+since become but vanities and vexations of spirit, he caused to be
+erected, about forty yards from the Grand Palace, on the eastern side of
+the Meinam, a temple which he named _Rajah-Bah-dit-Sang_, or "The King
+caused me to be built"; and at the same time, as an appendage to the
+temple, a monastery in mediaeval style, the workmanship in both
+structures being most substantial and elaborate.
+
+The sculptures and carvings on the pillars and façades--half-fabulous,
+half-historical figures, conveying ingenious allegories of the triumph
+of virtue over the passions--constituted a singular tribute to the
+exemplary fame of the high-priest. The grounds were planted with trees
+and shrubs, and the walks gravelled, thus inviting the contemplative
+recluse to tranquil, soothing strolls. These grounds were accessible by
+four gates, the principal one facing the east, and a private portal
+opening on the canal.
+
+The laying of the foundation of the temple and monastery of
+Rajah-Bah-dit-Sang was the occasion of extraordinary festivities,
+consisting of theatrical spectacles and performances, a carnival of
+dancing, mass around every corner-stone, banquets to priests, and
+distributions of clothing, food, and money to the poor. The king
+presided every morning and evening under a silken canopy; and even those
+favorites of the harem who were admitted to the royal confidence were
+provided with tents, whence they could witness the shows, and
+participate in the rejoicings in the midst of which the good work went
+on. After the several services of mass had been performed, and the
+corner-stones consecrated by the pouring on of oil and water, [Footnote:
+Oil is the emblem of life and love; water, of purity.] seven tall lamps
+were lighted to burn above them seven days and nights, and seventy
+priests in groups of seven, forming a perfect circle, prayed
+continually, holding in their hands the mystic web of seven threads,
+that weird circlet of life and death.
+
+Then the youngest and fairest virgins of the land brought offerings of
+corn and wine, milk, honey, and flowers, and poured them on the
+consecrated stones. And after that, they brought pottery of all
+kinds,--vases, urns, ewers, goglets, bowls, cups, and dishes,--and,
+flinging them into the foundations, united with zeal and rejoicing in
+the "meritorious" work of pounding them into fine dust; and while the
+instruments of music and the voices of the male and female singers of
+the court kept time to the measured crash and thud of the wooden clubs
+in those young and tender hands, the king cast into the foundation coins
+and ingots of gold and silver.
+
+"Do you understand the word 'charity,' or _maitrî_, as your apostle St.
+Paul explains it in the thirteenth chapter of his First Epistle to the
+Corinthians?" said his Majesty to me one morning, when he had been
+discussing the religion of Sakyamuni, the Buddha.
+
+"I believe I do, your Majesty," was my reply.
+
+"Then, tell me, what does St. Paul really mean, to what custom does he
+allude, when he says, 'Even if I give my body to be burned, and have not
+charity, it profiteth me nothing'?"
+
+"Custom!" said I. "I do not know of any _custom_. The giving of the body
+to be burned is by him esteemed the highest act of devotion, the purest
+sacrifice man can make for man."
+
+"You have said well. It is the highest act of devotion that can be made,
+or performed, by man for man,--that giving of his body to be burned. But
+if it is done from a spirit of opposition, for the sake of fame, or
+popular applause, or for any other such motive, is it still to be
+regarded as the highest act of sacrifice?"
+
+"That is just what St. Paul means: the motive consecrates the deed."
+
+"But all men are not fortified with the self-control which should fit
+them to be great exemplars; and of the many who have appeared in that
+character, if strict inquiry were made, their virtue would be found to
+proceed from any other than the true and pure spirit. Sometimes it is
+indolence, sometimes restlessness, sometimes vanity impatient for its
+gratification, and rushing to assume the part of humility for the
+purpose of self-delusion."
+
+"Now" said the King, taking several of his long strides in the vestibule
+of his library, and declaiming with his habitual emphasis, "St Paul, in
+this chapter, evidently and strongly applies the Buddhist's word
+_maitrî_, or _maikree_, as pronounced by some Sanskrit scholars; and
+explains it through the Buddhist's custom of giving the body to be
+burned, which was practised centuries before the Christian era, and is
+found unchanged in parts of China, Ceylon, and Siam to this day. The
+giving of the body to be burned has ever been considered by devout
+Buddhists the most exalted act of self-abnegation.
+
+"To give all one's goods to feed the poor is common in this country,
+with princes and people,--who often keep back nothing (not even one
+_cowree_, the thousandth part of a cent) to provide for themselves a
+handful of rice. But then they stand in no fear of starvation; for death
+by hunger is unknown where Buddhism is preached and _practised_.
+
+"I know a man, of royal parentage, and once possessed of untold riches.
+In his youth he felt such pity for the poor, the old, the sick, and such
+as were troubled and sorrowful, that he became melancholy, and after
+spending several years in the continual relief of the needy and
+helpless, he, in a moment, gave all his goods,--in a word, ALL,--'to
+feed the poor.' This man has never heard of St. Paul or his writings;
+but he knows, and tries to comprehend in its fulness, the Buddhist word
+_maitrî_.
+
+"At thirty he became a priest. For five years he had toiled as a
+gardener; for that was the occupation he preferred, because in the
+pursuit of it he acquired much useful knowledge of the medicinal
+properties of plants, and so became a ready physician to those who could
+not pay for their healing. But he could not rest content with so
+imperfect a life, while the way to perfect knowledge of excellence,
+truth, and charity remained open to him; so he became a priest.
+
+"This happened sixty-five years ago. Now he is ninety-five years old;
+and, I fear, has not yet found the truth and excellence he has been in
+search of so long. But I know no greater man than he. He is great in the
+Christian sense,--loving, pitiful, forbearing, pure.
+
+"Once, when he was a gardener, he was robbed of his few poor tools by
+one whom he had befriended in many ways. Some time after that, the king
+met him, and inquired of his necessities. He said he needed tools for
+his gardening. A great abundance of such implements was sent to him; and
+immediately he shared them with his neighbors, taking care to send the
+most and best to the man who had robbed him.
+
+"Of the little that remained to him, he gave freely to all who lacked.
+Not his own, but another's wants, were his sole argument in asking or
+bestowing. Now, he is great in the Buddhist sense also,--not loving life
+nor fearing death, desiring nothing the world can give, beyond the peace
+of a beatified spirit. This man--who is now the High-Priest of
+Siam--would, without so much as a thought of shrinking, give his body,
+alive or dead, to be burned, if so he might obtain one glimpse of
+eternal truth, or save one soul from death or sorrow."
+
+More than eighteen months after the First King of Siam had entertained
+me with this essentially Buddhistic argument, and its simple and
+impressive illustration, a party of pages hurried me away with them,
+just as the setting sun was trailing his last long, lingering shadows
+through the porches of the palace. His Majesty required my presence; and
+his Majesty's commands were absolute and instant. "Find and fetch!" No
+delay was to be thought of, no question answered, no explanation
+afforded, no excuse entertained. So with resignation I followed my
+guides, who led the way to the monastery of Watt Rajah-Bah-dit-Sang. But
+having some experience of the moods and humors of his Majesty, my mind
+was not wholly free from uneasiness. Generally, such impetuous summoning
+foreboded an interview the reverse of agreeable.
+
+The sun had set in glory below the red horizon when I entered the
+extensive range of monastic buildings that adjoin the temple. Wide
+tracts of waving corn and avenues of oleanders screened from view the
+distant city, with its pagodas and palaces. The air was fresh and balmy,
+and seemed to sigh plaintively among the betel and cocoa palms that
+skirt the monastery.
+
+The pages left me seated on a stone step, and ran to announce my
+presence to the king. Long after the moon had come out clear and cool,
+and I had begun to wonder where all this would end, a young man, robed
+in pure white, and bearing in one hand a small lighted taper and a lily
+in the other, beckoned me to enter, and follow him; and as we traversed
+the long, low passages that separate the cells of the priests, the weird
+sound of voices, chanting the hymns of the Buddhist liturgy, fell upon
+my ear. The darkness, the loneliness, the measured monotone, distant and
+dreamy, all was most romantic and exciting, even to a matter-of-fact
+English woman like myself.
+
+As the page approached the threshold of one of the cells, he whispered
+to me, in a voice full of entreaty, to put off my shoes; at the same
+time prostrating himself with a movement and expression of the most
+abject humility before the door, where he remained, without changing his
+posture. I stooped involuntarily, and scanned curiously, anxiously, the
+scene within the cell. There sat the king; and at a sign from him I
+presently entered, and sat down beside him.
+
+On a rude pallet, about six and a half feet long, and not more than
+three feet wide, and with a bare block of wood for a pillow, lay a dying
+priest. A simple garment of faded yellow covered his person; his hands
+were folded on his breast; his head was bald, and the few blanched hairs
+that might have remained to fringe his sunken temples had been carefully
+shorn,--his eyebrows, too, were closely shaven; his feet were bare and
+exposed; his eyes were fixed, not in the vacant stare of death, but with
+solemn contemplation or scrutiny, upward. No sign of disquiet was there,
+no external suggestion of pain or trouble; I was at once startled and
+puzzled. Was he dying, or acting?
+
+In the attitude of his person, in the expression of his countenance, I
+beheld sublime reverence, repose, absorption. He seemed to be communing
+with some spiritual presence.
+
+My entrance and approach made no change in him. At his right side was a
+dim taper in a gold candlestick; on the left a dainty golden vase,
+filled with white lilies, freshly gathered: these were offerings from
+the king. One of the lilies had been laid on his breast, and contrasted
+touchingly with the dingy, faded yellow of his robe. Just over the
+region of the heart lay a coil of unspun cotton thread, which, being
+divided into seventy-seven filaments, was distributed to the hands of
+the priests, who, closely seated, quite filled the ell, so that none
+could have moved without difficulty. Before each priest were a lighted
+taper and a lily, symbols of faith and purity. From time to time one or
+other of that solemn company raised his voice, and chanted strangely;
+and all the choir responded in unison. These were the words, as they
+were afterward translated for me by the king.
+
+_First Voice._ Sâng-Khâng sârâ nang gâch' châ mi! (Thou Excellence, or
+Perfection! I take refuge in thee.)
+
+_All._ Nama Poothô sâng-Khâng sârâ nang gâch' châ mi! (Thou who art
+named Poot-tho!--either God, Buddha, or Mercy,--I take refuge in thee.)
+
+_First Voice._ Tuti âmpi sâng-Khâng sârâ nang gâch' cha mi! (Thou Holy
+One! I take refuge in thee.)
+
+_All._ Tè sâtiyâ sâng-Khâng sârâ nang gâch' châ mi! (Thou Truth, I take
+refuge in thee.)
+
+As the sound of the prayer fell on his ear, a nickering smile lit up the
+pale, sallow countenance of the dying man with a visible mild radiance,
+as though the charity and humility of his nature, in departing, left the
+light of their loveliness there. The absorbing rapture of that look,
+which seemed to overtake the invisible, was almost too holy to gaze
+upon. Riches, station, honors, kindred, he had resigned them all, more
+than half a century since, in his love for the poor and his longing
+after truth. Here was none of the wavering or vagueness or incoherence
+of a wandering, delirious death. He was going to his clear, eternal
+calm. With a smile of perfect peace he said: "To your Majesty I commend
+the poor; and this that remains of me I give to be burned." And that,
+his last gift, was indeed his all.
+
+I can imagine no spectacle more worthy to excite a compassionate
+emotion, to impart an abiding impression of reverence, than the tranquil
+dying of that good old "pagan." Gradually his breathing became more
+laborious; and presently, turning with a great effort toward the king,
+he said, _Chan cha pi dauni!_--"I will go now!" Instantly the priests
+joined in a loud psalm and chant, "P'hra Arahang sâng-Khâng sârâ nang
+gâch' châ mi!" (Thou Sacred One, I take refuge in thee.) A few minutes
+more, and the spirit of the High-Priest of Siam had calmly breathed
+itself away. The eyes were open and fixed; the hands still clasped; the
+expression sweetly content. My heart and eyes were full of tears, yet I
+was comforted. By what hope? I know not, for I dared not question it.
+
+On the afternoon of the next day I was again summoned by his Majesty to
+witness the burning of that body.
+
+It was carried to the cemetery Watt Sah Kâte; and there men, hired to do
+such dreadful offices upon the dead, cut off all the flesh and flung it
+to the hungry dogs that haunt that monstrous garbage-field of Buddhism.
+The bones, and all that remained upon them, were thoroughly burned; and
+the ashes, carefully gathered in an earthen pot, were scattered in the
+little gardens of wretches too poor to buy manure. All that was left now
+of the venerable devotee was the remembrance of a look.
+
+"This," said the King, as I turned away sickened and sorrowful, "is to
+give one's body to be burned. This is what your St. Paul had in his
+mind,--this custom of our Buddhist ancestors, this complete
+self-abnegation in life and in death,--when he said, 'Even if I give my
+body to be burned, and have not charity [maitrî], it profiteth me
+nothing.'"
+
+[Illustration: Priests at Breakfast.]
+
+
+
+
+COMMON MAXIMS OF THE PRIESTS OF SIAM.
+
+
+Glory not in thyself, but rather in thy neighbor.
+
+Dig not the earth, which is the source of life and the mother of all.
+
+Cause no tree to die.
+
+Kill no beast, nor insect, not even the smallest ant or fly.
+
+Eat nothing between meals.
+
+Regard not singers, dancers, nor players on instruments.
+
+Use no perfume but sweetness of thoughts.
+
+Neither sit nor sleep in high places.
+
+Be lowly in thy heart, that thou mayst be lowly in thy act.
+
+Hoard neither silver nor gold.
+
+Entertain not thy thoughts with worldly things.
+
+Do no work but the work of charity and truth.
+
+Give not flowers unto women, but rather prayers.
+
+Contract no friendship with the hope of gain.
+
+Borrow nothing, but rather deny thy want.
+
+Lend not unto usury.
+
+Keep neither lance, nor sword, nor any deadly weapon.
+
+Judge not thy neighbor.
+
+Bake not, nor burn.
+
+Wink not. Be not familiar nor contemptuous.
+
+Labor not for hire, but for charity.
+
+Look not upon women unchastely.
+
+Make no incisions that may draw blood or sap, which is the life of man
+and nature.
+
+Give no medicines which contain poison, but study to acquire the true
+art of healing, which is the highest of all arts, and pertains to the
+wise and benevolent.
+
+Love all men equally.
+
+Perform not thy meditations in public places.
+
+Make no idols of any kind.
+
+
+
+
+XXIII. CREMATION.
+
+
+As soon as his Majesty had recovered from his genuine convulsion of
+grief for the death of his sweet little princess, Somdetch Chow Fâ-ying,
+he proceeded, habited in white, with all his family, to visit the
+chamber of mourning. The grand-aunt of the dead child, who seemed the
+most profoundly afflicted of all that numerous household, still lay
+prostrate at the feet of her pale cold darling, and would not be
+comforted. As his Majesty entered, silently ushered, she moved, and
+mutely laid her head upon his feet, moaning, _Poot-tho! Poot-tho!_
+There were tears and sighs and heart-wrung sobs around. Speechless, but
+with trembling lips, the royal father took gently in his arms the little
+corpse, and bathed it in the Siamese manner, by pouring cold water upon
+it. In this he was followed by other members of the royal family, the
+more distant relatives, and such ladies of the harem as chanced to be in
+waiting,--each advancing in the order of rank, and pouring pure cold
+water from a silver bowl over the slender body. Two sisters of the king
+then shrouded the corpse in a sitting posture, overlaid it with perfumes
+and odoriferous gums, frankincense and myrrh, and, lastly, swaddled it
+in a fine winding-sheet. Finally it was deposited in a golden urn, and
+this again in an-other of finer gold, richly adorned with precious
+stones. The inner urn has an iron grating in the bottom, and the outer
+an orifice at its most pendent point, through which by means of a tap or
+stop-cock, the fluids are drawn off daily, until the _cadavre_ has
+become quite dry.
+
+This double rim was borne on a gilt sedan, under a royal gilt umbrella,
+to the temple of the Maha Phrasat, where it was mounted on a graduated
+platform about six feet high. During this part of the ceremony, and
+while the trumpeters and the blowers of conch-shells performed their
+lugubrious parts, his Majesty sat apart, his face buried in his hands,
+confessing a keener anguish than had ever before cut his selfish heart.
+
+The urn being thus elevated, all the insignia pertaining to the rank of
+the little princess were disposed in formal order below it, as though at
+her feet. Then the musicians struck up a passionate passage, ending in a
+plaintive and truly solemn dirge; after which his Majesty and all the
+princely company retired, leaving the poor clod to await, in its pagan
+gauds and mockery, the last offices of friendship. But not always alone;
+for thrice daily--at early dawn, and noon, and gloaming--the musicians
+came to perform a requiem for the soul of the dead,--"that it may soar
+on high, from the naming, fragrant pyre for which it is reserved, and
+return to its foster parents, Ocean, Earth, Air, Sky." With these is
+joined a concert of mourning women, who bewail the early dead, extolling
+her beauty, graces, virtues; while in the intervals, four priests (who
+are relieved every fourth hour) chant the praises of Buddha, bidding the
+gentle spirit "Pass on! Pass on!" and boldly speed through the labyrinth
+before it, "through high, deep, and famous things, through good and evil
+things, through truth and error, through wisdom and folly, through
+sorrow, suffering, hope, life, joy, love, death, through endless
+mutability, into immutability!"
+
+These services are performed with religious care daily for six months;
+[Footnote: Twelve months for a king.] that is, until the time appointed
+for cremation. Meanwhile, in the obsequies of the Princess Fâ-ying,
+arrangements were made for the erection of the customary
+_P'hra-mène_,--a temporary structure of great splendor, where the body
+lies in state for several days, on a throne dazzling with gold and
+silver ornaments and precious stones.
+
+For the funeral honors of royalty it is imperative that the P'hra-mène
+be constructed of virgin timber. Trunks of teak, from two hundred to two
+hundred and fifty feet in length, and of proportionate girth, are felled
+in the forests of Myolonghee, and brought down the Meinam in rafts.
+These trunks, planted thirty feet deep, one at each corner of a square,
+serve as pillars, not less than a hundred and seventy feet high, to
+support a sixty-foot spire, an octagonal pyramid, covered with gold
+leaf. Attached to this pyramid are four wings, forty feet long, with
+handsome porches looking to the cardinal points of the compass; here
+also are four colossal figures of heroic myths, each with a lion
+couchant at its feet.
+
+On one side of the square reserved for the P'hra-mène, a vast hall is
+erected to accommodate the Supreme King and his family while attending
+the funeral ceremonies. The several roofs of this temporary edifice have
+peculiar horn-like projections at the ends, and are covered with crimson
+cloth, while golden draperies are suspended from the ceiling. The entire
+space around the P'hra-mène is matted with bamboo wicker-work, and
+decorated with innumerable standards peculiar to Siam. Here and there
+may be seen grotesque cartoons of the wars of gods and giants, and rude
+landscapes supposed to represent the Buddhist's heaven, with lakes and
+groves and gardens. Beyond these are playhouses for theatrical displays,
+puppet-shows, masquerades, posturing, somersaulting, leaping, wrestling,
+balancing on ropes and wires, and the tricks of professional buffoons.
+Here also are restaurants, or cook-shops, for all classes of people
+above the degree of boors; and these are open day and night during the
+period devoted to the funeral rites.
+
+The grand lodge erected for the Second King and his household, at the
+cremation of his little niece, resembled that of his brother, the
+Supreme King, in the regal style of its decorations.
+
+The centre of the P'hra-mène is a lofty octagon; and directly under the
+great spire is a gorgeous eight-sided pyramid, diminishing by
+right-angled gradations to a truncated top, its base being fifty or
+sixty feet in circumference, and higher by twenty feet than the
+surrounding buildings. On this pyramid stood the urn of gold containing
+the remains of the royal child. Above the urn a golden canopy hung from
+the lofty ceiling, and far above this again a circular white awning was
+spread, representing the firmament studded with silver stars. Under the
+canopy, and just over little Fâ-ying's urn, the whitest and most
+fragrant flowers, gathered and arranged by those who loved her best in
+life, formed a bright odoriferous bower. The pyramid itself was
+decorated with rare and beautiful gifts, of glass, porcelain, alabaster,
+silver, gold, and artificial flowers, with images of birds, beasts, men,
+women, children, and angels. Splendid chandeliers suspended from the
+ceiling, and lesser lights on the angles of the pyramid, illuminated the
+funeral hall.
+
+These showy preparations completed, the royal mourners only waited for
+the appointed time when the remains must be laid in state upon the
+consecrated pyre. At dawn of that day, all the princes, nobles,
+governors, and superior priests of the kingdom, with throngs of baser
+men, women, and children, in their holiday attire, came to grace the
+"fiery consummation" of little Fâ-ying. A royal barge conveyed me, with
+my boy, to the palace, whence we followed on foot.
+
+The gold urn, in an ivory chariot of antique fashion, richly gilt, was
+drawn by a pair of milk-white horses, and followed and attended by
+hundreds of men clad in pure white. It was preceded by two other
+chariots; in the first sat the high-priest, reading short, pithy
+aphorisms and precepts from the sacred books; in the other followed the
+full brothers of the deceased. A strip of silver cloth, six inches wide,
+attached to the urn, was loosely extended to the seats of the royal
+mourners in this second chariot, and thence to the chariot of the high-
+priest, on whose lap the ends were laid, symbolizing the mystic union
+between death, life, and the Buddha.
+
+Next after the urn came a chariot laden with the sacred sandal-wood, the
+aromatic gums, and the wax tapers. The wood was profusely carved with
+emblems of the indestructibility of matter; for though the fire
+apparently consumes the pile, and with it the body, the priests are
+careful to interpret the process as that by which both are endued with
+new vitality; thus everything consecrated to the religious observances
+of Buddhism is made to typify some latent truth.
+
+Then came a long procession of mythological figures, nondescripts drawn
+on small wooden wheels, and covered with offerings for the priests.
+These were followed by crowds of both sexes and all ages, bearing in
+their hands the mystic triform flower, emblematic of the sacred circle,
+_Om_, or Aum. To hold this mystic flower above the head, and describe
+with it endless circles in the air, is regarded as a performance of
+peculiar virtue and "merit," and one of the most signal acts of devotion
+possible to a Buddhist. And yet, as the symbol of One great Central
+Spirit, whose name it is profanation to utter, the symbol is strangely
+at variance with the doctrines of Buddhism.
+
+The moment the strange concourse, human and mythological, began to move,
+the conch-shells, horns, trumpets, sackbuts, pipes, dulcimers, flutes,
+and harps rent the air with wild wailing; but above the din rose the
+deep, booming, measured beat of the death-drums. Very subtile, and
+indescribably stirring is this ancient music, with its various weird and
+prolonged cadences, and that solemn thundering boom enhancing the
+peculiar sweetness of the dirge as it rises and falls.
+
+Under the spell of such sounds as these the procession moved slowly to
+the P'hra-mène. Here the urn was lifted by means of pulleys, and
+enthroned on the splendid pedestal prepared for it. The silver cloth
+from the chariot of the high-priest was laid upon it, the ends drooping
+on the eastern and western sides to the rich carpet of the floor. A
+hundred priests, fifty on either hand, rehearsed in concert, seated on
+the floor, long hymns in Pali from the sacred books, principally
+embodying melancholy reflections on the brevity and uncertainty of human
+life. After which, holding the silver cloth between the thumb and
+forefinger, they joined in silent prayer, thereby, as they suppose,
+communicating a saving virtue to the cloth, which conveys it to the dead
+within the urn. They continued thus engaged for about an hour, and then
+withdrew to give place to another hundred, and so on, until thousands of
+priests had taken part in the solemn exercises. Meanwhile the four
+already mentioned still prayed, day and night, at the Maha Phrasat. A
+service was likewise performed for the royal family twice a day, in an
+adjacent temporary chapel, where all the court attended,--including the
+noble ladies of the harem, who occupy private oratories, hung with
+golden draperies, behind which they can see and hear without being seen.
+As long as these funeral ceremonies last, the numerous concourse of
+priests is sumptuously entertained.
+
+At nightfall the P'hra-mène is brilliantly illuminated, within and
+without, and the people are entertained with dramatic spectacles derived
+from the Chinese, Hindoo, Malayan, and Persian classics. Effigies of the
+fabulous Hydra, or dragon with seven heads, illuminated, and animated by
+men concealed within, are seen endeavoring to swallow the moon,
+represented by a globe of fire. Another monster, probably the Chimæra,
+with the head and breast of a lion and the body of a goat, vomits flame
+and smoke. There are also figures of Echidna and Cerberus, the former
+represented as a beautiful nymph, but terminating below the waist in the
+coils of a dragon or python; and the latter as a triple-headed dog,
+evidently the canine bugaboo that is supposed to have guarded Pluto's
+dreadful gates.
+
+About nine o'clock fireworks were ignited by the king's own hand,--a
+very beautiful display, representing, among other graceful forms, a
+variety of shrubbery, which gradually blossomed with roses, dahlias,
+oleanders, and other flowers.
+
+The flinging of money and trinkets to the rabble is usually the most
+exciting of the pranks which diversify the funeral ceremonies of Siamese
+royalty; in this _mal à propos_ pastime his Majesty took a lively part.
+The personal effects of the deceased are divided into two or more equal
+portions, one of which is bestowed on the poor, another on the priests;
+memorials and complimentary tokens are presented to the princes and
+nobles, and the friends of the royal family. The more costly articles
+are ticketed and distributed by lottery; and smaller objects, such as
+rings and gold and silver coins, are put into lemons, which his Majesty,
+standing on the piazza of his temporary palace, flings among the sea of
+heads below. There is also at each of the four corners of the
+P'hra-mène, an artificial tree, bearing gold and silver fruit, which is
+plucked by officers of the court, and tossed to the poor on every side.
+Each throw is hailed by a wild shout from the multitude, and followed by
+a mad scramble.
+
+In this connection the following "notification" from the king's hand
+will be intelligible to the reader.
+
+
+"THE NOTIFICATION
+
+"In regard to the mourning distribution and donation in funeral service
+or ceremony of cremation of the remains of Her late Royal Highness
+celestial Princess Somdetch Chowfa Chandrmondol Sobhon Bhagiawati,
+[Footnote: Fâ-ying.] whose death took place on the 12th May, Anno
+Christi 1863.
+
+"This Part consisting of a glasscoverbox enclosing a idol of Chinese
+fabulousquadruped called 'sai' or Lion, covered with goldleaf ornamented
+with coined pieces of silver & rings a black bag of funeral balls
+enclosing some pieces of gold and silver coins &c., in funeral service
+of Her late Royal Highness the forenamed princess, the ninth daughter or
+sixteenth offspring of His Majesty the reigning Supreme King of Siam,
+which took place in ceremony continued from 16th to 21st day of February
+Anno Christi 1864. prepared ex-property of Her late lamented Royal
+Highness the deceased, and assistant funds from certain members of the
+Royal Family, designed from his Gracious Majesty Somdetch P'hra
+Paramendr Maha Mongkut, Her late Royal Highness' bereaved Royal father.
+Their Royal Highnesses celestial princes Somdetch Chowfa Chulalonkorn
+the full elder brother, Chowfa Chaturont Rasmi, and Chowfa Bhangurangsi
+Swang-wongse, the two younger full brothers, and His Royal Highness
+Prince Nobhawongs Krommun Maha-suarsivivalas the eldest half brother.
+Their Royal Highnesses twenty-five princes, Krita-bhinihar, Gaganang
+Yugol &c. the younger half-brothers, and their Royal Highnesses seven
+princesses, Yingyawlacks, Dacksinja, and Somawati, &c., the elder
+sisters, 18 princesses, Srinagswasti, &c., the younger half-sisters of
+Her late Royal Highness the deceased, for friendly acceptance of--who is
+one of His present Siamese Majesty's friends who either have ever been
+acquainted in person or through means of correspondence &c. certain of
+whom have ever seen Her late Royal Highness, and some have been
+acquainted with certain of her late Royal Highness the deceased's elder
+or younger brothers and sisters.
+
+"His Siamese Majesty, with his 29 sons, and 25 daughters above partly
+named, trusts that this part will be acceptable to every one of His
+Gracious Majesty's and their Royal Highnesses' friends who ever have
+been acquainted with his present Majesty, and certain of Their Royal
+Highnesses or Her late Royal Highness the deceased, either in person or
+by correspondence, or only by name through cards &c. for a token of
+remembrance of Her late Royal Highness the deceased and for feeling of
+Emotion that this path ought to be followed by every one of human beings
+after long or short time, as the lights of lives of all living beings
+are like flames of candles lighted in opening air without covering and
+Protecting on every side, so it shall be considered with great emotion
+by the readers.
+
+"Dated ROYAL FUNERAL PLACE. BANGKOK, 20th February, Anno Christi 1864."
+
+
+Thus twelve days were passed in feasting, drinking, praying, preaching,
+sporting, gambling and scrambling. On the thirteenth, the double urn,
+with its melancholy moral, was removed from the pyramid, and the inner
+one, with the grating, was laid on a bed of fragrant sandalwood, and
+aromatic gums, connected with a train of gunpowder, which the king
+ignited with a match from the sacred fire that burns continually in the
+temple Watt P'hra Këau. The Second King then lighted his candles from
+the same torch, and laid them on the pyre; and so on, in the order of
+rank, down to the meanest slave, until many hundreds of wax candles and
+boxes of precious spices and fragrant gums were cast into the flames.
+The funeral orchestra then played a wailing dirge, and the mourning
+women broke into a concerted and prolonged keen, of the most
+ear-piercing and heart-rending description.
+
+When the fire had quite burned itself out, all that remained of the
+bones, charred and blackened, was carefully gathered, deposited in a
+third and smaller urn of gold, and again conveyed in great state to the
+Maha Phrasat. The ashes were also collected with scrupulous pains in a
+pure cloth of white muslin, and laid in a gold dish; afterward, attended
+by all the mourning women and musicians, and escorted by a procession of
+barges, it was floated some miles down the river, and there committed to
+the waters.
+
+Nothing left of our lovely darling but a few charred bits of rubbish!
+But in memory I still catch glimpses of the sylph-like form, half veiled
+in the shroud of flame that wrapped her last, but with the innocent,
+questioning eyes still turned to me; and as I look back into their
+depths of purity and love, again and again I mourn, as at first, for
+that which made me feel, more and more by its sympathy, the peculiar
+desolation of my life in the palace.
+
+Immediately on the death of a Supreme King an order is issued for the
+universal shaving of the bristly tuft from the heads of all male
+subjects. Only those princes who are older than their deceased sovereign
+are exempt from the operation of this law.
+
+Upon his successor devolves the duty of providing for the erection of
+the royal P'hra-mène--as to the proportions and adornment of which he is
+supposed to be guided by regard for the august rank of the deceased, and
+the public estimation in which his name and fame are held. Royal
+despatches are forthwith sent to the governors of four different
+provinces in the extreme north, where the noblest timber abounds,
+commanding each of them to furnish one of the great pillars for the
+P'hra-mène. These must be of the finest wood, perfectly straight, from
+two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet long, and not less than twelve
+feet in circumference.
+
+At the same time twelve pillars, somewhat smaller, are required from the
+governors of twelve other provinces; besides much timber in other forms
+necessary to the construction of the grand funeral hall and its numerous
+supplementary buildings. As sacred custom will not tolerate the presence
+of pillars that have already been used for any purpose whatever, it is
+indispensable that fresh ones, "virgin trunks," be procured for every
+new occasion of the obsequies of royalty. These four great trunks are
+hard to find, and can be floated down the Meinam to the capital only at
+the seasons when that stream and its tributaries are high. This is
+perhaps the natural cause of the long interval that elapses--twelve
+months--between the death and the cremation of a Siamese king.
+
+The "giant boles" are dragged in primitive fashion to the banks of the
+stream by elephants and buffaloes, and shipped in rafts. Arrived at
+Bangkok, they are hauled on rollers inch by inch, by men working with a
+rude windlass and levers, to the site of the P'hra-mène.
+
+The following description of the cremation, at Bejrepuri, of a man "in
+the middle walks of life," is taken from the _Bangkok Recorder_ of May
+24, 1866:--"The corpse was first to be offered to the vultures, a
+hundred or more. Before the coffin was opened the filthy and horrible
+gang had assembled, 'for wheresoever the carcass is, there will the
+eagles (vultures) be gathered together.' They were perched on the ridges
+of the temple, and even on small trees and bushes, within a few feet of
+the body; and so greedy were they that the sexton and his assistants had
+to beat them off many times before the coffin could be opened. They
+seemed to know that there would be but a mouthful for each, if divided
+among them all, and the pack of greedy dogs besides, that waited for
+their share. The body was taken from the coffin and laid on a pile of
+wood that had been prepared on a small temporary altar. Then the birds
+were allowed to descend upon the corpse and tear it as they liked. For a
+while it was quite hidden in the rush. But each bird, grabbing its part
+with bill and claws, spread its wings and mounted to some quiet place to
+eat. The sexton seemed to think that he too was 'making merit' by
+cutting off parts of the body and throwing them to the hungry dogs, as
+the dying man had done in bequeathing his body to those carrion-feeders.
+The birds, not satisfied with what they got from the altar, came down
+and quarrelled with the curs for their share.
+
+"While this was going on, the mourners stood waiting, with wax candles
+and incense sticks, to pay their last tribute of respect to the deceased
+by assisting in the burning of the bones after the vultures and dogs had
+stripped them. The sexton, with the assistance of another, gathered up
+the skeleton and put it back into the coffin, which was lifted by four
+men and carried around the funeral pile three times. It was then laid on
+the pile of wood, and a few sticks were put into the coffin to aid in
+burning the bones. Then a lighted torch was applied to the pile, and the
+relatives and other mourners advanced, and laid each a wax candle by the
+torch. Others brought incense and cast it on the pile.
+
+"The vultures, having had but a scanty breakfast, lingered around the
+place until the fire had left nothing more for them, when they shook
+their ugly heads, and hopping a few steps, to get up a momentum, flapped
+their harpy wings and flew away."
+
+
+
+
+XXIV. CERTAIN SUPERSTITIONS.
+
+
+MY friend Maha Mongkut used to maintain, with the doctors and sophists
+of his sect, that the Buddhist priesthood have no superstitions; that
+though they do not accept the Christian's "Providence," they do believe
+in a Creator (_P'hra-Tham_), at whose will all crude matter sprang into
+existence, but who exercises no further control over it; that man is but
+one of the endless mutations of matter,--was not created, but has
+existed from the beginning, and will continue to exist to all eternity;
+that though he was not born in sin, he is held by the secondary law of
+retribution accountable for offences committed in his person, and these
+he must expiate through subsequent transmigrations, until, by
+sublimation, he is absorbed again into the primal source of his being;
+and that mutability is an essential and absolute law of the universe.
+
+In like manner they protest that they are not idolaters, any more than
+the Roman Catholics are pagans; that the image of Buddha, their Teacher
+and High-Priest, is to them what the crucifix is to the Jesuit; neither
+more nor less. They scout the idea that they worship the white elephant,
+but acknowledge that they hold the beast sacred, as one of the
+incarnations of their great reformer.
+
+Nevertheless, no nation or tribe of all the human race has ever been
+more profoundly inoculated with a superstition the most depraving and
+malignant than the Siamese. They have peopled their spiritual world with
+grotesques, conceived in hallucination and brought forth in nightmare,
+the monstrous devices of mischief on the one hand and misery on the
+other,--gods, demons, genii, goblins, wraiths; and to flatter or
+propitiate these, especially to enlist their tutelary offices, they
+commit or connive at crimes of fantastic enormity.
+
+While residing within the walls of Bangkok, I learned of the existence
+of a custom having all the stability and force of a Medo-Persic law.
+Whenever a command has gone forth from the throne for the erection of a
+new fort or a new gate, or the reconstruction of an old one, this
+ancient custom demands, as the first step in the procedure, that three
+innocent men shall be immolated on the site selected by the court
+astrologers, and at their "auspicious" hour.
+
+In 1865, his Majesty and the French Consul at Bangkok had a grave
+misunderstanding about a proposed modification of a treaty relating to
+Cambodia. The consul demanded the removal of the prime minister from the
+commission appointed to arrange the terms of this treaty. The king
+replied that it was beyond his power to remove the Kralahome. Afterward,
+the consul, always irritable and insolent, having nursed his wrath to
+keep it warm, waylaid the king as he was returning from a temple, and
+threatened him with war, and what not, if he did not accede to his
+demands. Whereupon, the poor king, effectually intimidated, took refuge
+in his palace behind barred gates; and forthwith sent messengers to his
+astrologers, magicians, and soothsayers, to inquire what the situation
+prognosticated.
+
+The magi and the augurs, and all the seventh sons of seventh sons,
+having shrewedly pumped the officers, and made a solemn show of
+consulting their oracles, replied: "The times are full of omen. Danger
+approaches from afar. Let his Majesty erect a third gate, on the east
+and on the west."
+
+Next morning, betimes, pick and spade were busy, digging deep trenches
+outside the pair of gates that, on the east and west alike, already
+protected the palace.
+
+Meanwhile, the consul either quite forgot his threats, or cooled in the
+cuddling of them; yet day and night the king's people plied pick and
+spade and basket in the new foundations. When all was ready, the _San
+Luang_, or secret council of Royal Judges, met at midnight in the
+palace, and despatched twelve officers to lurk around the new gates
+until dawn. Two, stationed just within the entrance, assume the
+character of neighbors and friends, calling loudly to this or that
+passenger, and continually repeating familiar names. The peasants and
+market folk, who are always passing at that hour, hearing these calls,
+stop, and turn to see who is wanted. Instantly the myrmidons of the san
+luang rush from their hiding-places, and arrest, hap-hazard, six of
+them--three for each gate. From that moment the doom of these
+astonished, trembling wretches is sealed. No petitions, payments,
+prayers, can save them.
+
+In the centre of the gateway a deep fosse or ditch is dug, and over it
+is suspended by two cords an enormous beam. On the "auspicious" day for
+the sacrifice, the innocent, unresisting victims--"hinds and churls"
+perhaps, of the lowest degree in Bangkok--are mocked with a dainty and
+elaborate banquet, and then conducted in state to their fatal post of
+honor. The king and all the court make profound obeisance before them,
+his Majesty adjuring them earnestly "to guard with devotion the gate,
+now about to be intrusted to their keeping, from all dangers and
+calamities; and to come in season to forewarn him, if either traitors
+within or enemies without should conspire against the peace of his
+people or the safety of his throne." Even as the last word of this
+exhortation falls from the royal lips, the cords are cut, the ponderous
+engine "squelches" the heads of the distinguished wretches, and three
+Bangkok ragamuffins are metempsychosed into three guardian-angels
+(_Thevedah_).
+
+Siamese citizens of wealth and influence often bury treasure in the
+earth, to save it from arbitrary confiscation. In such cases a slave is
+generally immolated on the spot, to make a guardian genius. Among
+certain classes, not always the lowest, we find a greedy passion that
+expends itself in indefatigable digging for such precious _caches_, in
+the environs of abandoned temples, or among the ruins of the ancient
+capital, Ayudia. These treasure-seekers first pass a night near the
+supposed place of concealment, having offered at sunset to the genius of
+the spot oblations of candles, perfumed tapers, and roasted rice. They
+then betake themselves to slumber; and in their dreams the genie is
+expected to appear, and indicate precisely the hiding-place of his
+golden charge, at the same time offering to wink at its sacking in
+consideration of the regular perquisite,--"one pig's head and two
+bottles of arrack." On the other hand, the genie may appear in an angry
+aspect, flourishing the conventional club in a style that means
+business, and demanding by what right the intruders would tamper with
+his charge; whereat sudden waking and dishevelled flight.
+
+Another and more barbarous superstition relates to premature delivery.
+In such a case the embarrassed mother calls in a female magician, who
+declares that an evil spirit has practised a spiteful joke upon the
+married pair, with a design upon the life of the mother. So saying, she
+pops the still-born into an earthen pot, and with that in her left hand
+and a sword in her right, makes for the margin of a deep stream, where,
+with an approved imprecation upon the fiend and a savage slash at the
+manikin, she tosses the pot and its untimely contents into the flood.
+
+By such witches as this, sorceries of all kinds are practised for fee.
+They are likewise supposed to be skilled in the art of healing, and are
+notable compounders of love-philters and potions.
+
+The king supports a certain number of astrologers, whose duties consist
+in the prediction of events, whether great or small, from war or peace
+to rain or drought, and in indicating or determining future
+possibilities by the aspect and position of the stars. The people
+universally wear charms and talismans, to which they ascribe
+supernatural virtues. A patient in fever with delirium is said to be
+possessed of a devil; and should he grow frantic and unmanageable in the
+paroxysms, the one becomes a legion. At the close of each year, a thread
+of unspun cotton, of seven fibres, consecrated by priests, is reeled
+round all the walls of the palace; and from sunset until dawn a
+continuous cannonading is kept up from all the forts within hearing, to
+rout the evil spirits that have infested the departing year.
+
+
+
+
+XXV. THE SUBORDINATE KING
+
+
+A second or subordinate kingship is an anomalous device or provision of
+sovereignty peculiar to Siam, Cambodia, and Laos. Inferior in station to
+the Supreme King only, and apparently deriving from the throne of the
+Phra-batts, to which he may approach so near, a reflected majesty and
+prestige not clearly understood by his subjects nor easily defined by
+foreigners, the Second King seems to be, nevertheless, belittled by the
+very significance of the one exclusive privilege that should distinguish
+him,--that of exemption from the customary prostrations before the First
+King, whom he may salute by simply raising his hands and joining them
+above his head. Here his proper right of royalty begins and ends. The
+part that he may play in the drama of government is cast to him in the
+necessity, discretion, or caprice of his absolute chief next, and yet so
+far, above him; it may be important, insignificant, or wholly omitted.
+Like any lesser _ducus_ of the realm, he must appear before his lord
+twice a year to renew his oath of allegiance. In law, he is as mere a
+subject as the slave who bears his betel-box; or that other slave who,
+on his knees, and with averted face, presents his spittoon. In history,
+he shall be what circumstance or his own mind may make him: the shadow
+or the soul of sovereignty, even as the intellectual and moral weakness
+or strength may have been apportioned between him and his colleague.
+From his rank he derives no advantage but the _chance_.
+
+[Illustration: The Princess of Chiengmai.]
+
+Somdetch P'hra Pawarendr Ramesr Mahiswarer, the subordinate king of
+Siam, who died on the 29th of December, 1865, was the legitimate son of
+the supreme king, second of his dynasty, who reigned from 1809 to 1824.
+His father had been second king to his grandfather, "grand supreme" of
+Siam, and first of the reigning line. His mother was "lawful first queen
+consort"; and the late first or major king, Somdetch-P'hra Paramendr
+Maha Mongkut, was his elder full brother. Being alike legitimate
+offspring of the first queen, these two lads were styled _Somdetch
+Chowfas_, "Celestial Royal Princes"; and during the second and third
+reigns they were distinguished by the titles of courtesy pertaining to
+their royal status and relation, the elder as Chowfa Mongkut, the
+younger as Chowfa Chudha-Mani: _Mongkut_ signifying "Royal Crown," and
+_Chudha-Mani_ "Royal Hair-pin."
+
+On the death of their father (in 1824), and the accession, by intrigue,
+of their elder half-brother, the Chowfa Mongkut entered the Buddhist
+priesthood; but his brother, more ardent, inquisitive, and restless,
+took active service with the king, in the military as well as in the
+diplomatic department of government. He was appointed Superintendent of
+Artillery and Malayan Infantry on the one hand; and on the other,
+Translator of English Documents and Secretary for English
+Correspondence.
+
+In a cautious and verbose sketch of his character and services, written
+after his death by his jealous brother, the priest-king, wherein he is
+by turns meanly disparaged and damned with faint praise, we find this
+curious statement:--
+
+"After that time (1821) he became acquainted with certain parties of
+English and East Indian merchants, who made their appearance or first
+commenced trading on late of second reign, after the former trade with
+Siam which had been stopped or postponed several years in consequence of
+some misunderstanding before. He became acquainted with certain parts of
+English language and literature, and certain parts of Hindoo or Bengali
+language, as sufficient for some unimportant conversation with English
+and Indian strangers who were visitors of Siam, upon the latter part of
+the reign of his royal father; but his royal father did not know that he
+possessed such knowledge of foreign language, which had been concealed
+to the native persons in republic affairs, whose jealousy seemed to be
+strong against strangers, so he was not employed in any terms with those
+strangers foreign affairs,"--that is, during the life of his father, at
+whose death he was just sixteen years old.
+
+Early in the third reign he was sent to Meeklong to superintend the
+construction of important works of defence near the mouth of the
+Meeklong River. He pushed this work with vigor, and completed it in
+1835. In 1842 he commanded successfully an expedition against the
+Cochin-Chinese, and, in returning, brought with him to Siam many
+families of refugees from the eastern coast. Then he was commissioned by
+the king to reconstruct, "after Western models," the ancient
+fortifications at Paknam; and having to this end engaged a corps of
+European engineers and artisans, he eagerly seized the advantage the
+situation afforded him, by free and intelligent intercourse with his
+foreign assistants, to master the English language,--so that, at his
+death, he notably excelled the first king in the facility with which he
+spoke, read, and wrote it,--and to improve his acquaintance with the
+Western sciences and arts of navigation, naval construction and
+armament, coast and inland defence, engineering, transportation, and
+telegraphy, the working and casting of iron, etc.
+
+On the 26th of May, 1851, twelve days after the coronation of his elder
+brother, the student and priest Maha Mongkut, he was called by the
+unanimous voice of "the king and council" to be Second King; and
+throughout his subordinate reign his sagacious and alert inquiry, his
+quick apprehension, his energetic and liberal spirit of improvement,
+engaged the admiration of foreigners; whilst his handsome person, his
+generous temper, his gallant preference for the skilful and the brave,
+his enthusiasm and princely profusion in sports and shows, endeared him
+more and more to his people. Maha Mongkut--at no time inclined to praise
+him beyond his deserts, and least of all in the latter years of his
+life, imbittered to both by mutual jealousy and distrust--wrote almost
+handsomely of him under the pressure of this public opinion.
+
+"He made everything new and beautiful, and of curious appearance, and of
+a good style of architecture, and much stronger than they had formerly
+been constructed by his three predecessors, the second kings of the last
+three reigns, for the space of time that he was second king. He had
+introduced and collected many and many things, being articles of great
+curiosity, and things useful for various purposes of military acts and
+affairs, from Europe and America, China, and other states, and placed
+them in various departments and rooms or buildings suitable for those
+articles, and placed officers for maintaining and preserving the various
+things neatly and carefully. He has constructed several buildings in
+European fashion and Chinese fashion, and ornamented them with various
+useful ornaments for his pleasure, and has constructed two steamers in
+manner of men-of-war, and two steam-yachts, and several rowing
+state-boats in Siamese and Cochin-Chinese fashion, for his pleasure at
+sea and rivers of Siam; and caused several articles of gold and silver
+being vessels and various wares and weapons to be made up by the Siamese
+and Malayan goldsmiths, for employ and dress of himself and his family,
+by his direction and skilful contrivance and ability. He became
+celebrated and spread out more and more to various regions of the
+Siamese kingdom, adjacent States around, and far-famed to foreign
+countries, even at far distance, as he became acquainted with many and
+many foreigners, who came from various quarters of the world where his
+name became known to most as a very clever and bravest Prince of
+Siam....
+
+"As he pleased mostly with firing of cannon and acts of Marine power and
+seamen, which he has imitated to his steamers which were made in manner
+of the man-of-war, after he has seen various things curious and useful,
+and learned Marine customs on board the foreign vessels of war, his
+steamers conveyed him to sea, where he has enjoyed playing of firing in
+cannon very often....
+
+"He pleased very much in and was playful of almost everything, some
+important and some unimportant, as riding on Elephants and Horses and
+Ponies, racing of them and racing of rowing boats, firing on birds and
+beasts of prey, dancing and singing in various ways pleasantly, and
+various curiosity of almost everything, and music of every description,
+and in taming of dogs, monkeys, &c., &c., that is to say briefly that he
+has tested almost everything eatable except entirely testing of Opium
+and play.
+
+"Also he has visited regions of Northeastern Province of Sarapury and
+Gorath very often for enjoyment of pleasant riding on Elephants and
+Horses, at forests in chasing animals of prey, fowling, and playing
+music and singing with Laos people of that region and obtaining young
+wives from there."
+
+What follows is not more curious as to its form of expression than
+suspicious as to its meaning and motive. To all who know with what
+pusillanimity at times the First King shrank from the approach of
+Christian foreigners,--especially the French priests,--with what
+servility in his moody way he courted their favor, it will appear of
+very doubtful sincerity. To those who are familiar with the
+circumstances under which it was written, and to whom the attitude of
+jealous reserve that the brothers occupied toward each other at the time
+of the Second King's death was no secret, it may seem (even after due
+allowance is made for the prejudices or the obligations of the priest)
+to cover an insidious, though scarcely adroit, design to undermine the
+honorable reputation the younger enjoyed among the missionaries, and the
+cordial friendship with which he had been regarded by several of the
+purest of them. Certainly it is suspiciously "of a piece" with other
+passages, quoted further on, in which the king's purpose to disparage
+the merits of his brother, and damage the influence of his name abroad,
+is sufficiently transparent. In this connection the reader may derive a
+ray of light from the fact that on the birth of the Second King's first
+son, an American missionary, who was on terms of intimacy with the
+father, named the child "George Washington"; and that child, the Prince
+George Washington Krom Mu'n Pawarwijagan, is the present Second King of
+Siam. But to Maha Mongkut, and his "art of putting things":--
+
+"He was rumored to be baptized or near to be baptized in Christianity,
+but the fact it is false. He was a Buddhist, but his faith and belief
+changed very often in favor of various sects of Buddhism by the
+association of his wives and various families and of persons who were
+believers in various sects of the established religion of the Siamese
+and Laos, Peguan and Burmese countries. Why should he become a
+Christian? when his pleasures consisted in polygamy and enjoyment, and
+with young women who were practised in pleasant dancing and singing, and
+who could not be easily given up at any time.
+
+"He was very desirous of having his sons to be English scholars and to
+be learned the art of speaking, reading and writing in English well like
+himself, but he said he cannot allow his sons to enter the Christian
+Missionary-School, as he feared his descendants might be induced to the
+Christianity in which he did not please to believe."
+
+Pawarendr Ramesr had ever been the favorite and darling of his mother,
+and it was in his infancy that the seeds of that ignoble jealousy were
+sown between the royal brothers, which nourished so rankly and bore such
+noxious fruit in their manhood. From his tenderest years the younger
+prince was remarkable for his personal beauty and his bright
+intelligence, and before his thirteenth birthday had already learned all
+that his several masters could teach him. From an old priest, named
+P'hra Naitt, I gathered many pleasant anecdotes of his childhood.
+
+For example, he related with peculiar pride how the young prince, then
+but twelve years old, being borne one day in state through the eastern
+gate of the city to visit his mother's lotos-gardens, observed an old
+man, half blind, resting by the roadside. Commanding his bearers to
+halt, he alighted from his sedan and kindly accosted the poor creature.
+Finding him destitute and helpless, a stranger and a wayfarer in the
+land, he caused him to be seated in his own sedan, and borne to the
+gardens, while he followed on foot. Here he had the old man bathed, clad
+in fresh linen, and entertained with a substantial meal; and afterward
+he took his astonished client into his service, as keeper of his cattle.
+
+Later in life the generous and romantic prince diverted himself with the
+adventurous beneficence of Haroun al Raschid, visiting the poor in
+disguise, listening to the recital of their sufferings and wrongs, and
+relieving them with ready largesse of charity and justice; and nothing
+so pleased and flattered him as to be called, in his assumed name of Nak
+Pratt, "the wise," to take part in their sports and fêtes. The
+affectionate enthusiasm with which the venerable poonghee remembered his
+royal pupil was inspiring; and to see his eyes sparkle and his face glow
+with sympathetic triumph, as he described the lad's exploits of strength
+or skill in riding, fencing, boxing, was a fine sight. But it was with
+saddened look and tone that he whispered to me, that, at the prince's
+birth, the astrologer who cast his horoscope had foretold for him an
+unnatural death. This, he said, was the secret of the watchful devotion
+and imprudent partiality his mother had always manifested for him.
+
+For such a prince to come into even the empty name of power was to
+become subject to the evil eye of his fraternal lord and rival, for
+whose favor officious friends and superserviceable lackeys contended in
+scandalous and treacherous spyings of the Second King's every action.
+Yet, meanly beset as he was, he contrived to find means and opportunity
+to enlarge his understanding and multiply his attainments; and in the
+end his proficiency in languages, European and Oriental, became as
+remarkable as it was laudable. It was by Mr. Hunter, secretary to the
+prime minister, that he was introduced to the study of the English
+language and literature, and by this gentleman's intelligent aid he
+procured the text-books which constituted the foundation of his
+educational course.
+
+In person he was handsome, for a Siamese; of medium stature, compact and
+symmetrical figure, and rather dark complexion. His conversation and
+deportment denoted the cultivation, delicacy, and graceful poise of an
+accomplished gentleman; and he delivered his English with a correctness
+and fluency very noticeably free from the peculiar spasmodic effort that
+marked his royal brother's exploits in the language of Shakespeare.
+
+In his palace, which, he had rebuilt after the model of an English
+nobleman's residence, he led the life of a healthy, practical, and
+systematic student. His library, more judiciously selected than that of
+his brother, abounded in works of science, embracing the latest
+discoveries. Here he passed many hours, cultivating a sound acquaintance
+with the results of investigation and experiment in the Western world.
+His partiality for English literature in all its branches was extreme.
+The freshest publications of London found their way to his tables, and
+he heartily enjoyed the creations of Dickens.
+
+For robust and exhilarating enjoyment, however, he had recourse to
+hunting expeditions, and martial exercises in the drilling of his
+private troops. Punctually at daybreak every morning he appeared on the
+parade-ground, and proceeded to review his little army with scrupulous
+precision, according to European tactics; after which he led his
+well-trained files to their barracks within the palace walls, where the
+soldiers exchanged their uniform for a working-dress. Then he marched
+them to the armory, where muskets, bayonets, and sabres were brought out
+and severely scoured. That done, the men were dismissed till the morrow.
+
+Among his courtiers were several gentlemen of Siam and Laos, who had
+acquired such a smattering of English as qualified them to assist the
+prince in his scientific diversions. Opposite the armory stood a pretty
+little cottage, quite English-looking, lighted with glass windows, and
+equipped with European furniture. Over the entrance to this quaint
+tenement hung a painted sign, in triumphant English, "WATCHES AND CLOCKS
+MADE AND REPAIRED HERE"; and hither came frequently the Second King and
+his favorites, to pursue assiduously their harmless occupation of
+_horlogerie_. Sometimes this eccentric entertainment was diversified
+with music, in which his Majesty took a leading part, playing with taste
+and skill on the flute, and several instruments of the Laos people.
+
+Such a prince should have been happy, in the innocence of his pastimes
+and the dignity of his pursuits. But the same accident of birth and
+station to which he owed his privileges and his opportunities imposed
+its peculiar disabilities and hindrances. His troubles were the troubles
+of a second king, who chanced to be also an ardent and aspiring man.
+Weary with disappointment, disheartened in his honorable longing for
+just appreciation, vexed with the caprice and suspicions of his elder
+brother; oppressed by the ever-present tyranny of the thought--so hard
+for such a man to bear--that the woman he loved best in the land he was
+inexorably forbidden to marry, because, being a princess of the first
+rank, she might be offered and accepted to grace the harem of his
+brother; a mere prisoner of state, watched by the baleful eye of
+jealousy, and traduced by the venal tongues of courtiers; dwelling in a
+torment of uncertainty as to the fate to which his brother's explosive
+temper and irresponsible power might devote him, hoping for no repose or
+safety but in his funeral-urn,--he began to grow hard and defiant, and
+that which, in the native freedom of his soul, should have been his
+noble steadfastness degenerated into ignoble obstinacy.
+
+Among the innumerable mean torments with which his pride was persecuted
+was the continual presence of a certain doctor, who, by the king's
+command, attended him at all times and places, compelling him to use
+remedies that were most distasteful to him.
+
+He was gallantly kind and courteous toward women; no act of cruelty to
+any woman was ever attributed to him. His children he ruled wisely,
+though somewhat sternly, rendering his occasional tenderness and
+indulgence so much the more precious and delightful to them.
+
+Never had Siam a more popular prince. He was the embodiment of the most
+hopeful qualities, moral and intellectual, of his nation; especially was
+he the exponent and promise of its most progressive tendencies; and his
+people regarded him with love and reverence, as their trusty stay and
+support. His talents as a statesman commanded the unqualified admiration
+of foreigners; and it was simply the jealous and tyrannical temper of
+Maha Mongkut that forced him to retire from all participation in the
+affairs of government.
+
+At last the mutual reserve and distrust of the royal brothers broke out
+in open quarrel, provoked by the refusal of the First King to permit the
+Second to borrow from the royal treasury a considerable sum of money. On
+the day after his order was dishonored, the prince set out with his
+congenial and confidential courtiers on a hunting expedition to the Laos
+province of Chiengmai, scornfully threatening to entrap one of the royal
+white elephants, and sell it to his Supreme Majesty for the sum he would
+not loan.
+
+At Chiengmai he was regally entertained by the tributary prince of that
+province; and no sooner was his grievance known, than the money he
+required was laid at his feet. Too manly to accept the entire sum, he
+borrowed but a portion of it; and instead of taking it out of the
+country, decided to sojourn there for a time, that he might spend it to
+the advantage of the people. To this end he selected a lovely spot in
+the vicinity of Chiengmai, called Saraburee, itself a city of some
+consideration, where bamboo houses line the banks of a beautiful river,
+that traverses teak forests alive with large game. On an elevation near
+at hand the Second King erected a palace substantially fortified, which
+he named Ban Sitha (the Home of the Goddess Sitha), and caused a canal
+to be cut to the eastern slope.
+
+Here he indulged freely, and on an imposing scale, in his favorite
+pastime of hunting, and privately took to wife the daughter of the king
+of Chiengmai, the Princess Sunartha Vismita. And here he was happy, only
+returning to Bangkok when called thither by affairs of state, or to take
+the semi-annual oath of allegiance.
+
+Among the prince's concubines at this time was a woman named Kliep,
+envious, intriguing, and ambitious, who by consummate arts had obtained
+control of his Majesty's _cuisine_,--an appointment of peculiar
+importance and trust in the household of an Oriental prince. Finding
+that by no feminine devices could she procure the influence she coveted
+over her master's mind and affections, she finally had recourse to an
+old and infamous sorcerer, styled Khoon Hâte-nah ("Lord of Future
+Events"), an adept of the black art much consulted by women of rank from
+all parts of the country; and he, in consideration of an extraordinary
+fee, prepared for her a variety of charms, incantations, philters, to be
+administered to the prince, in whose food daily, for years, she mixed
+the abominable nostrums. The poison did its work slowly but surely, and
+his sturdy life was gradually undermined. His strength quite gone, and
+his spirit broken, his despondency became so profound that he lost all
+taste for the occupations and diversions that had once delighted him,
+and sought relief in restless changing from one palace to another, and
+in consulting every physician he could find.
+
+It was during a visit to his favorite residence at Saraburee that the
+signs of approaching dissolution appeared, and the king's physician,
+fearing he might die there, took hurried steps to remove him to his
+palace at Bangkok. He was bound in a sedan, and lowered from his high
+chamber in the castle into his barge on the canal at the foot of the
+cliff; and so, with all his household in train, transported to the
+palace of Krom Hluang Wongse, physician to the king, and one of his
+half-brothers. Now miserably unnerved, the prince, once so patient,
+brave, and proud, threw his arms round his kinsman's neck, and, weeping
+bitterly, implored him to save him. But he was presently removed to his
+own palace, and laid in a chamber looking to the east.
+
+That night the prince expressed a wish to see his royal brother. The
+king hastened to his bedside in company with his Excellency Chow Phya
+Sri Sury-Wongse, the Kralahome, or prime minister; and then and there a
+silent and solemn reconciliation took place. No words were spoken; only
+the brothers embraced each other, and the elder wept bitterly. But from
+the facts brought to light in that impressive meeting and parting, it
+was made plain that the Second King died by slow poison, administered by
+the woman Kliep,--plain to all but the Second King himself, who died in
+ignorance of the means by which the tragic prophecy of his horoscope had
+been made good.
+
+In the very full account of his brother's death which Maha Mongkut
+thought it necessary to write, he was careful to conceal from the public
+the true cause of the calamity, fearing the foreign populace, and, most
+of all, the Laotians and Peguans, who were devoted to the prince, and
+might attach suspicion to himself, on the ground of his notorious
+jealousy of the Second King. The royal physicians and the Supreme
+Council were sworn to secrecy; and the woman Kliep, and her accomplice
+Khoon Hâte-nah, together with nine female slaves, were tortured and
+publicly paraded through the environs of Bangkok, though their crime was
+never openly named. Afterward they were thrown into an open boat, towed
+out on the Gulf of Siam, and there abandoned to the mercy of winds and
+waves, or death by starvation. Among the women of the palace the current
+report was, that celestial avengers had slain the murderous crew with
+arrows of lightning and spears of fire.
+
+In his Majesty's account of the last days of his royal brother, we have
+the characteristic queerness of his English, and a scarcely less
+characteristic passage of Pecksniffian cant:--
+
+
+"The lamentable patient Second King ascertained himself that his
+approaching death was inevitable; it was great misfortune to him and his
+family indeed. His eldest son Prince George [Footnote: George
+Washington.] Krom Mu'n Pawarwijagan, aged 27 years on that time, became
+very sick of painful rheumatism by which he has his body almost steady
+on his seat and bed, immovable to and fro, himself, since the month of
+October, 1865, when his father was absent from Bangkok, being at Ban
+Sitha as aforesaid. When his royal father returned from Ban Sitha he
+arrived at his palace at Bangkok on 6th December. He can only being
+lifted by two or three men and placed in the presence of his father who
+was very ill, but the eldest son forenamed prince was little better, so
+before death of his father as he can be raised to be stood by two men
+and can cribble slowly on even or level surface, by securing and
+supporting of two men on both sides.
+
+"When his father became worse and approaching the point of death, upon
+that time his father can see him scarcely; wherefore the Second King, on
+his being worse, has said to his eldest and second daughters, the half
+sisters of the eldest son, distempered so as he cannot be in the
+presence of his father without difficulty, that he (the Second King)
+forenamed on that time was hopeless and that he could not live more than
+a few days. He did not wish to do his last will regarding his family and
+property, particularly as he was strengthless to speak much, and
+consider anything deeply and accurately: he beg'd to entreat all his
+sons, daughters, and wives that none should be sorry for his death,
+which comes by natural course, and should not fear for misery of
+difficulty after his demise. All should throw themselves under their
+faithful and affectionate uncle, the Supreme King of Siam, for
+protection, in whom he had heartfelt confidence that he will do well to
+his family after his death, as such the action or good protection to
+several families of other princes and princesses in the royalty, who
+deceased before. He beg'd only to recommend his sons and daughters, that
+they should be always honest and faithful to his elder full brother, the
+Supreme King of Siam, by the same affection as to himself, and that they
+should have much more affection and respect toward Paternal relative
+persons in royalty, than toward their maternal relative persons, who are
+not royal descendants of his ancestors....
+
+"On the 29th December 1865, in the afternoon, the Second King invited
+His Majesty the Supreme King, his elder full brother, and his Excellency
+Chow Phya Sri Sury-wongse Samuha P'hra-Kralahome, the Prime Minister,
+who is the principal head of the Government and royal cousin, to seat
+themselves near to his side on his bedstead where he lay, and other
+principals of royalty and nobility, to seat themselves in that room
+where he was lying, that they might be able to ascertain his speech by
+hearing. Then he delivered his family and followers and the whole of his
+property to His Majesty and His Excellency for protection and good
+decision, according to consequences which they would well observe."
+
+Not a word of that royal reconcilement, of that remorseful passion of
+tears, of that mute mystery of humanity, the secret spell of a burdened
+mother's love working too late in the hearts, of her headstrong boys!
+Not a word of that crowning embrace, which made the subordinate king
+supreme, by the grace of dying and forgiving!
+
+
+
+
+XXVI. THE SUPREME KING: HIS CHARACTER AND ADMINISTRATION.
+
+
+OF Somdetch P'hra Paramendr Maha Mongkut, ate Supreme King of Siam, it
+may safely be said (for all his capricious provocations of temper and
+his snappish greed of power) that he was, in the best sense of the
+epithet, the most remarkable of the Oriental princes of the present
+century,--unquestionably the most progressive of all the supreme rulers
+of Siam, of whom the native historians enumerate not less than forty,
+reckoning from the founding of the ancient capital (Ayudia or Ayuo-deva,
+"the abode of gods") in A.D. 1350.
+
+He was the legitimate son of the king P'hra Chow-P'hra Pooti-lootlah,
+commonly known as Phen-den-Klang; and his mother, daughter of the
+youngest sister of the King Somdetch P'hra Bouromah Rajah P'hra Pooti
+Yout Fah, was one of the most admired princesses of her time, and is
+described as equally beautiful and virtuous. She devoted herself
+assiduously to the education of her sons, of whom the second, the
+subject of these notes, was born in 1804; and the youngest, her best
+beloved, was the late Second King of Siam.
+
+One of the first public acts of the King P'hra Pooti-lootlah was to
+elevate to the highest honors of the state his eldest son (the Chowfa
+Mongkut), and proclaim him heir-apparent to the throne. He then selected
+twelve noblemen, distinguished for their attainments, prudence, and
+virtue,--most conspicuous among them the venerable but energetic Duke
+Somdetch Ong Yai,--to be tutors and guardians to the lad. By these he
+was carefully taught in all the learning of his time; Sanskrit and Pali
+formed his chief study, and from the first he aspired to proficiency in
+Latin and English, for the pursuit of which he soon found opportunities
+among the missionaries. His translations from the Sanskrit, Pali, and
+Magadthi, mark him as an authority among Oriental linguists; and his
+knowledge of English, though never perfect, became at least extensive
+and varied; so that he could correspond, with credit to himself, with
+Englishmen of distinction, such as the Earl of Clarendon and Lords
+Stanley and Russell.
+
+In his eighteenth year he married a noble lady, descended from the Phya
+Tak Sinn, who bore him two sons.
+
+Two years later the throne became vacant by the death of his father; but
+(as the reader has already learned) his elder half-brother, who, through
+the intrigues of his mother, had secured a footing in the favor of the
+Senabawdee, was inducted by that "Royal Council" into power. Unequal to
+the exploit of unseating the usurper, and fearing his unscrupulous
+jealousy, the Chowfa Mongkut took refuge in a monastery, and entered the
+priesthood, leaving his wife and two sons to mourn him as one dead to
+them. In this self-imposed celibacy he lived throughout the long reign
+of his half-brother, which lasted twenty-seven years.
+
+In the calm retreat of his Buddhist cloister the contemplative tastes of
+the royal scholar found fresh entertainment, his intellectual
+aspirations a new incitement.
+
+He labored with enthusiasm for the diffusion of religion and
+enlightenment, and, above all, to promote a higher appreciation of the
+teachings of Buddha, to whose doctrines lie devoted himself with
+exemplary zeal throughout his sacerdotal career. From the Buddhist
+scriptures he compiled with reverent care an impressive liturgy for his
+own use. His private charities amounted annually to ten thousand ticals.
+All the fortune he accumulated, from the time of his quitting the court
+until his return to it to accept the diadem offered by the Senabawdee,
+he expended either in charitable distributions or in the purchase of
+books, sacred manuscripts, and relics for his monastery. [Footnote: "On
+the third reign he [himself] served his eldest royal half-brother, by
+superintending the construction and revision of royal sacred books in
+royal libraries: so he was appointed the principal superintendent of
+clergymen's acts and works of Buddhist religion, and selector of
+religious learned wise men in the country, during the third
+reign."--_From the pen of Maha Mongkut_.]
+
+It was during his retirement that he wrote that notable treatise in
+defence of the divinity of the revelations of Buddha, in which he essays
+to prove that it was the single aim of the great reformer to deliver man
+from all selfish and carnal passions, and in which he uses these words:
+"These are the only obstacles in the search for Truth. The most solid
+wisdom is to know this, and to apply one's self to the conquest of one's
+self. This it is to become the _enlightened_,--the Buddha!" And he
+concludes with the remark of Asoka, the Indian king: "That which has
+been delivered unto us by Buddha, that alone is well said, and worthy of
+our soul's profoundest homage."
+
+In the pursuit of his appointed ends Maha Mongkut was active and
+pertinacious; no labors wearied him nor pains deterred him. Before the
+arrival of the Protestant missionaries, in 1820, he had acquired some
+knowledge of Latin and the sciences from the Jesuits; but when the
+Protestants came he manifested a positive preference for their methods
+of instruction, inviting one or another of them daily to his temple, to
+aid him in the study of English. Finally he placed himself under the
+permanent tutorship of the Rev. Mr. Caswell, an American missionary;
+and, in order to encourage his preceptor to visit him frequently, he
+fitted up a convenient resting-place for him on the route to the temple,
+where that excellent man might teach the poorer people who gathered to
+hear him. Under Mr. Caswell he made extraordinary progress in advanced
+and liberal ideas of government, commerce, even religion. He never
+hesitated to express his respect for the fundamental principles of
+Christianity; but once, when pressed too closely by his reverend
+moonshee with what he regarded as the more pretentious and apocryphal
+portions of the Bible, he checked that gentleman's advance with the
+remark that has ever been remembered against him, "_I hate the Bible
+mostly!_"
+
+As High-Priest of Siam--the mystic and potential office to which he was
+in the end exalted--he became the head of a new school, professing
+strictly the pure philosophy inculcated by Buddha: "the law of
+Compensation, of Many Births, and of final Niphan," [Footnote:
+Attainment of beatitude.]--but not Nihilism, as the word and the idea
+are commonly defined. It is only to the idea of God as an _ever-active_
+Creator that the new school of Buddhists is opposed,--not to the Deity
+as a primal source, from whose thought and pleasure sprang all forms of
+matter; nor can they be brought to admit the need of miraculous
+intervention in the order of nature.
+
+In this connection, it may not be out of place to mention a remark that
+the king (still speaking as a high-priest, having authority) once made
+to me, on the subject of the miracles recorded in the Bible:
+
+"You say that marriage is a holy institution; and I believe it is
+esteemed a sacrament by one of the principal branches of your sect. It
+is, of all the laws of the universe, the most wise and incontestable,
+pervading all forms of animal and vegetable life. Yet your God (meaning
+the Christian's God) has stigmatized it as unholy, in that he would not
+permit his Son to be born in the ordinary way; but must needs perform a
+miracle in order to give birth to one divinely inspired. Buddha was
+divinely inspired, but he was only _man_. Thus it seems to me he is the
+greater of the two, because out of his own heart he studied humanity,
+which is but another form of divinity; and, the carnal mind being by
+this contemplation subdued, he became the _Divinely Enlightened_."
+
+When his teacher had begun to entertain hopes that he would one day
+become a Christian, he came out openly against the idea, declaring that
+he entertained no thought of such a change. He admonished the
+missionaries not to deceive themselves, saying: "You must not imagine
+that any of my party will ever become Christians. We cannot embrace what
+we consider a foolish religion."
+
+In the beginning of the year 1851 his supreme Majesty, Prabat Somdetch
+P'hra Nang Klou, fell ill, and gradually declined until the 3d of April,
+when he expired, and the throne was again vacant. The dying sovereign,
+forgetting or disregarding his promise to his half-brother, the true
+heir, had urged with all his influence that the succession should fall
+to his eldest son; but in the assembly of the Senabawdee, Somdetch Ong
+Yai (father of the present prime minister of Siam), supported by
+Somdetch Ong Noi, vehemently declared himself in favor of the
+high-priest Chowfa Mongkut.
+
+This struck terror to the "illegitimates," and mainly availed to quell
+the rising storm of partisan conflict. Moreover, Ong Yai had taken the
+precaution to surround the persons of the princes with a formidable
+guard, and to distribute an overwhelming force of militia in all
+quarters of the city, ready for instant action at a signal from him.
+
+Thus the two royal brothers, with views more liberal, as to religion,
+education, foreign trade, and intercourse, than the most enlightened of
+their predecessors had entertained, were firmly seated on the throne as
+"first" and "second" kings; and every citizen, native or foreign, began
+to look with confidence for the dawn of better times.
+
+Nor did the newly crowned sovereign forget his friends and teachers, the
+American missionaries. He sent for them, and thanked them cordially for
+all that they had taught him, assuring them that it was his earnest
+desire to administer his government after the model of the limited
+monarchy of England; and to introduce schools, where the Siamese youth
+might be well taught in the English language and literature and the
+sciences of Europe. [Footnote: In this connection the Rev. Messrs.
+Bradley, Caswell, House, Matoon, and Dean are entitled to special
+mention. To their united influence Siam unquestionably owes much, if not
+all, of her present advancement and prosperity. Nor would I be thought
+to detract from the high praise that is due to their fellow-laborers in
+the cause of Christianity, the Roman Catholic missionaries, who are, and
+ever have been, indefatigable in their exertions for the good of the
+country. Especially will the name of the excellent bishop, Monseigneur
+Pallegoix, be held in honor and affection by people of all creeds and
+tongues in Siam, as that of a pure and devoted follower of our common
+Redeemer.]
+
+There can be no just doubt that, at the time, it was his sincere purpose
+to carry these generous impulses into practical effect; for certainly he
+was, in every moral and intellectual respect, nobly superior to his
+predecessor, and to his dying hour he was conspicuous for his attachment
+to a sound philosophy and the purest maxims of Buddha. Yet we find in
+him a deplorable example of the degrading influence on the human mind of
+the greed of possessions and power, and of the infelicities that attend
+it; for though he promptly set about the reforming of abuses in the
+several departments of his government, and invited the ladies of the
+American mission to teach in his new harem, nevertheless he soon began
+to indulge his avaricious and sensual propensities, and cast a jealous
+eye upon the influence of the prime minister, the son of his stanch old
+friend, the Duke Ong Yai, to whom he owed almost the crown itself, and
+of his younger brother, the Second King, and of the neighboring princes
+of Chiengmai and Cochin China. He presently offended those who, by their
+resolute display of loyalty in his hour of peril, had seated him safely
+on the throne of his ancestors.
+
+From this time he was continually exposed to disappointment,
+mortification, slights, from abroad, and conspiracy at home. Had it not
+been for the steadfast adherence of the Second King and the prime
+minister, the sceptre would have been wrested from his grasp and
+bestowed upon his more popular brother.
+
+Yet, notwithstanding all this, he appeared, to those who observed him
+only on the public stage of affairs, to rule with wisdom, to consult the
+welfare of his subjects, to be concerned for the integrity of justice
+and the purity of manners and conversation in his own court, and
+careful, by a prudent administration, to confirm his power at home and
+his prestige abroad. Considered apart from his domestic relations, he
+was, in many respects, an able and virtuous ruler. His foreign policy
+was liberal; he extended toleration to all religious sects; he expended
+a generous portion of his revenues in public improvements,--
+monasteries, temples, bazaars, canals, bridges, arose at his bidding on
+every side; and though he fell short of his early promise, he did much
+to improve the condition of his subjects.
+
+For example, at the instance of her Britannic Majesty's Consul, the
+Honorable Thomas George Knox, he removed the heavy boat-tax that had so
+oppressed the poorer masses of the Siamese, and constructed good roads,
+and improved the international chambers of judicature.
+
+But as husband and kinsman his character assumes a most revolting
+aspect. Envious, revengeful, subtle, he was as fickle and petulant as he
+was suspicious and cruel. His brother, even the offspring of his
+brother, became to him objects of jealousy, if not of hatred. Their
+friends must, he thought, be his enemies, and applause bestowed upon
+them was odious to his soul. There were many horrid tragedies in his
+harem in which he enacted the part of a barbarian and a despot. Plainly,
+his conduct as the head of a great family to whom his will was a law of
+terror reflects abiding disgrace upon his name. Yet it had this
+redeeming feature, that he tenderly loved those of his children whose
+mothers had been agreeable to him. He never snubbed or slighted them;
+and for the little princess, Chow Fâ-ying, whose mother had been to him
+a most gentle and devoted wife, his affection was very strong and
+enduring.
+
+But to turn from the contemplation of his private traits, so
+contradictory and offensive, to the consideration of his public acts, so
+liberal and beneficent. Several commercial treaties of the first
+importance were concluded with foreign powers during his reign. In the
+first place, the Siamese government voluntarily reduced the measurement
+duties on foreign shipping from nineteen hundred to one thousand ticals
+per fathom of ship's beam. This was a brave stride in the direction of a
+sound commercial policy, and an earnest of greater inducements to
+enterprising traders from abroad. In 1855 a new treaty of commerce was
+negotiated with his Majesty's government by H.B.M.'s plenipotentiary,
+Sir John Bowring, which proved of very positive advantage to both
+parties. On the 29th of May, 1856, a new treaty, substantially like that
+with Great Britain, was procured by Townsend Harris, Esq., representing
+the United States; and later in the same year still another, in favor of
+France, through H. I. M.'s Envoy, M. Montigny.
+
+Before that time Portugal had been the only foreign government having a
+consul residing at Bangkok. Now the way was opened to admit a resident
+consul of each of the treaty powers; and shortly millions of dollars
+flowed into Siam annually by channels through which but a few tens of
+thousands had been drawn before. Foreign traders and merchants flocked
+to Bangkok and established rice-mills, factories for the production of
+sugar and oil, and warehouses for the importation of European fabrics.
+They found a ready market for their wares, and an aspect of thrift and
+comfort began to enliven the once neglected and cheerless land.
+
+A new and superb palace was erected, after the model of Windsor Castle,
+together with numerous royal residences in different parts of the
+country. The nobility began to emulate the activity and munificence of
+their sovereign, and to compete with each other in the grandeur of their
+dwellings and the splendor of their _cortéges_.
+
+So prosperous did the country become under the benign influence of
+foreign trade and civilization, that other treaties were speedily
+concluded with almost every nation under the sun, and his Majesty found
+it necessary to accredit Sir John Bowring as plenipotentiary for Siam
+abroad.
+
+Early in this reign the appointment of harbor-master at Bangkok was
+conferred upon an English gentleman, who proved so efficient in his
+functions that he was distinguished with the fifth title of a Siamese
+noble. Next came a French commander and a French band-master for the
+royal troops. Then a custom-house was established, and a "live Yankee"
+installed at the head of it, who was also glorified with a title of
+honor. Finally a police force was organized, composed of trusty Malays
+hired from Singapore, and commanded by one of the most energetic
+Englishmen to be found in the East,--a measure which has done more than
+all others to promote a comfortable sense of "law and order" throughout
+the city and outskirts of Bangkok. It is to be remembered, however, in
+justice to the British Consul-General in Siam, Mr. Thomas George Knox,
+that the sure though silent influence was his, whereby the minds of the
+king and the prime minister were led to appreciate the benefits that
+must accrue from these foreign innovations.
+
+The privilege of constructing, on liberal terms, a line of telegraph
+through Maulmain to Singapore, with a branch to Bangkok, has been
+granted to the Singapore Telegraph Company; and finally a sanitarium has
+been erected on the coast at Anghin, for the benefit of native and
+foreign residents needing the invigoration of sea-air. [Footnote: "His
+Excellency Chow Phya Bhibakrwongs Maha Kosa Dhipude, the P'hraklang,
+Minister for Foreign Affairs, has built a sanitarium at Anghin for the
+benefit of the public. It is for benefit of the Siamese, Europeans, or
+Americans, to go and occupy, when unwell, to restore their health. All
+are cordially invited to go there for a suitable length of time and be
+happy; but are requested not to remain month after month and year after
+year, and regard it as a place without an owner. To regard it in this
+way cannot be allowed, for it is public property, and others should go
+and stop there also."--_Advertisement, Siam Monitor_, August 29, 1868.]
+
+During his retirement in the monastery the king had a stroke of
+paralysis, from which he perfectly recovered; but it left its mark on
+his face, in the form of a peculiar falling of the under lip on the
+right side. In person he was of middle stature, slightly built, of
+regular features and fair complexion. In early life he lost most of his
+teeth, but he had had them replaced with a set made from sapan-wood,--a
+secret that he kept very sensitively to the day of his death.
+
+Capable at times of the noblest impulses, he was equally capable of the
+basest actions. Extremely accessible to praise, he indiscriminately
+entertained every form of flattery; but his fickleness was such that no
+courtier could cajole him long. Among his favorite women was the
+beautiful Princess Tongoo Soopia, sister to the unfortunate Sultan
+Mahmoud, ex-rajah of Pahang. Falling fiercely in love with her on her
+presentation at his court, he procured her for his harem against her
+will, and as a hostage for the good faith of her brother; but as she,
+being Mohammedan, ever maintained toward him a deportment of tranquil
+indifference, he soon tired of her, and finally dismissed her to a
+wretched life of obsoleteness and neglect within the palace walls.
+
+The only woman who ever managed him with acknowledged edged success was
+Khoon Chom Piem: hardly pretty, but well formed, and of versatile tact,
+totally uneducated, of barely respectable birth,--being Chinese on her
+father's side,--yet withal endowed with a nice intuitive appreciation
+of character. Once conscious of her growing influence over the king, she
+contrived to foster and exercise it for years, with but a slight rebuff
+now and then. Being modest to a fault, even at times obnoxious to the
+imputation of prudishness, she habitually feigned excuses for
+non-attendance in his Majesty's chambers,--such as delicate health, the
+nursing of her children, mourning for the death of this or that
+relative,--and voluntarily visited him only at rare intervals. In the
+course of six years she amassed considerable treasure, procured good
+places at court for members of her family, and was the means of bringing
+many Chinamen to the notice of the king. At the same time she lived in
+continual fear, was warily humble and conciliating toward her rival
+sisters, who pitied rather than envied her, and retained in her pay most
+of the female executive force in the palace.
+
+In his daily habits his Majesty was remarkably industrious and frugal.
+His devotion to the study of astronomy never abated, and he calculated
+with respectable accuracy the great solar eclipse of August, 1868.
+
+The French government, having sent a special commission, under command
+of the Baron Hugon le Tourneur, to observe the eclipse in Siam, the king
+erected, at a place called _Hua Wânn_ ("The Whale's Head"), a commodious
+observatory, besides numerous pavilions varying in size and
+magnificence, for his Majesty and retinue, the French commission, the
+Governor of Singapore (Colonel Ord) and suite, who had been invited to
+Bangkok by the king, and for ministers and nobles of Siam. Provision was
+made, at the cost of government, for the regal entertainment, in a town
+of booths and tabernacles, of the vast concourse of natives and
+Europeans who followed his Majesty from the capital to witness the
+sublime phenomenon; and a herd of fifty noble elephants were brought
+from the ancient city of Ayudia for service and display.
+
+The prospect becoming dubious and gloomy just at the time of first
+contact (ten o'clock), the prime minister archly invited the foreigners
+who believed in an overruling Providence to pray to him "that he may be
+pleased to disperse the clouds long enough to afford us a good view of
+the grandest of eclipses." Presently the clouds were partially withdrawn
+from the sun, and his Majesty observing that one twentieth of the disk
+was obscured, announced the fact to his own people by firing a cannon;
+and immediately pipes screamed and trumpets blared in the royal
+pavilion,--a tribute of reverence to the traditional fable about the
+Angel Rahoo swallowing the sun. Both the king and prime minister,
+scorning the restraints of dignity, were fairly boisterous in their
+demonstrations of triumph and delight; the latter skipping from point to
+point to squint through his long telescope. At the instant of absolute
+totality, when the very last ray of the sun had become extinct, his
+Excellency shouted, "Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!" and scientifically
+disgraced himself. Leaving his spyglass swinging, he ran through the
+gateway of his pavilion, and cried to his prostate wives, "Henceforth
+will you not believe the foreigner."
+
+But that other Excellency, Chow Phya Bhudharabhay, Minister for Northern
+Siam, more orthodox, sat in dumfoundered faith, and gaped at the awful
+deglutition of the Angel Rahoo.
+
+The government expended not less than a hundred thousand dollars on this
+scientific expedition, and a delegation from the foreign community of
+Bangkok approached his Majesty with an address of thanks for his
+indiscriminate hospitality.
+
+But the extraordinary excitement, and exposure to the noxious atmosphere
+of the jungle, proved inimical to the constitution of the king. On his
+return to Bangkok he complained of general weariness and prostration,
+which was the prelude to fever. Foreign physicians were consulted, but
+at no stage of the case was any European treatment employed. He rapidly
+grew worse, and was soon past saving. On the day before his death he
+called to his bedside his nearest relatives, and parted among them such
+of his personal effects as were most prized by him, saying, "I have no
+more need of these things. I must give up my life also." Buddhist
+priests were constant in attendance, and he seemed to derive much
+comfort from their prayers and exhortations. In the evening he wrote
+with his own hand a tender farewell to the mothers of his many
+children,--eighty-one in number. On the morning of his last day
+(October 1, 1868) he dictated in the Pali language a farewell address to
+the Buddhist priesthood, the spirit of which was admirable, and clearly
+manifested the faith of the dying man in the doctrines of the Reformer;
+for he hesitated not to say: "Farewell, ye faithful followers of Buddha,
+to whom death is nothing, even as all earthly existence is vain, all
+things mutable, and death inevitable. Presently I shall myself submit to
+that stern necessity. Farewell! for I go only a little before you."
+
+Feeling sure that he must die before midnight, he summoned his
+half-brother, H. R. H. Krom Hluang Wongse, his Excellency the prime
+minister, Chow Phya Kralahome, and others, and solemnly imposed upon
+them the care of his eldest son, the Chowfa Chulalonkorn, and of his
+kingdom; at the same time expressing his last earthly wish, that the
+Senabawdee, in electing his successor, would give their voices for one
+who should conciliate all parties, that the country might not be
+distracted by dissensions on that question. He then told them he was
+about to finish his course, and implored them not to give way to grief,
+"nor to any sudden surprise," that he should leave them thus; "'tis an
+event that must befall all creatures that come into this world, and may
+not be avoided." Then turning his gaze upon a small image of his adored
+teacher, he seemed for some time absorbed in awful contemplation. "Such
+is life!" Those were actually the last words of this most remarkable
+Buddhist king. He died like a philosopher, calmly and sententiously
+soliloquizing on death and its inevitability. At the final moment, no
+one being near save his adopted son, Phya Buroot, he raised his hands
+before his face, as in his accustomed posture of devotion; then suddenly
+his head dropped backward, and he was gone.
+
+That very night, without disorder or debate, the Senabawdee elected his
+eldest son, Somdetch Chowfa Chulalonkorn, to succeed him; and the Prince
+George Washington, eldest son of the late Second King, to succeed to his
+father's subordinate throne, under the title of Krom P'hra Raja Bowawn
+Shathan Mongkoon. The title of the present supreme king (my amiable and
+very promising scholar) is Prabat Somdetch P'hra Paramendr Maha
+Chulalonkorn Kate Klou Chow-yu-Hua.
+
+About a year after my first ill-omened interviews with Maha Mongkut, and
+when I had become permanently installed in my double office of teacher
+and scribe, I was one day busy with a letter from his Majesty to the
+Earl of Clarendon, and finding that any attempt at partial correction
+would but render his meaning more ambiguous, and impair the striking
+originality of his style, I had abandoned the effort, and set about
+copying it with literal exactness, only venturing to alter here and
+there a word, such as "I hasten with _wilful_ pleasure to write in reply
+to your Lordship's _well-wishing_ letter," etc. Whilst I was thus
+evolving from the depths of my inner consciousness a satisfactory
+solution to this conundrum in King's English, his Majesty's private
+secretary lolled in the sunniest corner of the room, stretching his
+dusky limbs and heavily nodding, in an ecstasy of ease-taking. Poor
+P'hra-Alâck! I never knew him to be otherwise than sleepy, and his sleep
+was always stolen. For his Majesty was the most capricious of kings as
+to his working moods,--busy when the average man should be sleeping,
+sleeping while letters, papers, despatches, messengers, mail-boats
+waited. More than once had we been aroused at dead of night by noisy
+female slaves, and dragged in hot haste and consternation to the Hall of
+Audience, only to find that his Majesty was, not at his last gasp, as we
+had feared, but simply bothered to find in Webster's Dictionary some
+word that was to be found nowhere but in his own fertile brain; or
+perhaps in excited chase of the classical term for some trifle he was on
+the point of ordering from London,--and that word was sure to be a
+stranger to my brain.
+
+Before my arrival in Bangkok it had been his not uncommon practice to
+send for a missionary at midnight, have him beguiled or abducted from
+his bed, and conveyed by boat to the palace, some miles up the river, to
+inquire if it would not be more elegant to write _murky_ instead of
+_obscure_, or _gloomily dark_ rather than _not clearly apparent_. And if
+the wretched man should venture to declare his honest preference for the
+ordinary over the extraordinary form of expression, he was forthwith
+dismissed with irony, arrogance, or even insult, and without a word of
+apology for the rude invasion of his rest.
+
+One night, a little after twelve o'clock, as he was on the point of
+going to bed like any plain citizen of regular habits, his Majesty fell
+to thinking how most accurately to render into English the troublesome
+Siamese word _phi_, which admits of a variety of interpretations.
+[Footnote: Ghost, spirit, soul, devil, evil angel.] After puzzling over
+it for more than an hour, getting himself possessed with the word as
+with the devil it stands for, and all to no purpose, he ordered one of
+his lesser state barges to be manned and despatched with all speed for
+the British Consul. That functionary, inspired with lively alarm by so
+startling a summons, dressed himself with unceremonious celerity, and
+hurried to the palace, conjecturing on the way all imaginable
+possibilities of politics and diplomacy, revolution or invasion. To his
+vexation, not less than his surprise, he found the king in dishabille,
+engaged with a Siamese-English vocabulary, and mentally divided between
+"deuce" and "devil," in the choice of an equivalent. His preposterous
+Majesty gravely laid the case before the consul, who, though inwardly
+chafing at what he termed "the confounded coolness" of the situation,
+had no choice but to decide with grace, and go back to bed with
+philosophy.
+
+No wonder, then, that P'hra-Alâck experienced an access of gratitude for
+the privilege of napping for two hours in a snuggery of sunshine.
+
+"Mam-kha," [Footnote: Kha, "your slave."] he murmured drowsily, "I hope
+that in the Chat-Nah [Footnote: The next state of existence.] I shall be
+a freed man."
+
+"I hope so sincerely, P'hra-Alâck," said I. "I hope you'll be an
+Englishman or an American, for then you'll be sure to be independent."
+
+It was impossible not to pity the poor old man,--stiff with continual
+stooping to his task, and so subdued!--liable not only to be called at
+any hour of the day or night, but to be threatened, cuffed, kicked,
+beaten on the head, [Footnote: The greatest indignity a Siamese can
+suffer.] every way abused and insulted, and the next moment to be taken
+into favor, confidence, bosom-friendship, even as his Majesty's mood
+might veer.
+
+Alack for P'hra-Alâck! though usually he bore with equal patience his
+greater and his lesser ills, there were occasions that sharply tried his
+meekness, when his weak and goaded nature revolted, and he rushed to a
+snug little home of his own, about forty yards from the Grand Palace,
+there to snatch a respite of rest and refreshment in the society of his
+young and lately wedded wife. Then the king would awake and send for
+him, whereupon he would be suddenly ill, or not at home, strategically
+hiding himself under a mountain of bedclothes, and detailing Mrs.
+P'hra-Alâck to reconnoitre and report. He had tried this primitive trick
+so often that its very staleness infuriated the king, who invariably
+sent officers to seize the trembling accomplice and lock her up in a
+dismal cell as a hostage for the scribe's appearance. At dusk the poor
+fellow would emerge, contrite and terrified, and prostrate himself at
+the gate of the palace. Then his Majesty (who, having spies posted in
+every quarter of the town, knew as well as P'hra-Alâck himself what the
+illness or the absence signified) leisurely strolled forth, and, finding
+the patient on the threshold, flew always into a genuine rage, and
+prescribed "decapitation on the spot," and "sixty lashes on the bare
+back," both in the same breath. And while the attendants flew right and
+left,--one for the blade, another for the thong,--the king, still
+raging, seized whatever came most handy, and belabored his bosom-friend
+on the head and shoulders. Having thus summarily relieved his mind, he
+despatched the royal secretary for his ink-horn and papyrus, and began
+inditing letters, orders, appointments, before scymitar or lash (which
+were ever tenderly slow on these occasions) had made its appearance.
+Perhaps in the very thick of his dictating he would remember the
+connubial accomplice, and order his people to "release her, and let her
+go."
+
+Slavery in Siam is the lot of men of a much finer intellectual type than
+any who have been its victims in modern times in societies farther west.
+P'hra-Alâck had been his Majesty's slave when they were boys together.
+Together they had played, studied, and entered the priesthood. At once
+bondman, comrade, classmate, and confidant, he was the very man to fill
+the office of private secretary to his royal crony. Virgil made a slave
+of his a poet, and Horace was the son of an emancipated slave. The Roman
+leech and chirurgeon were often slaves; so, too, the preceptor and the
+pedagogue, the reader and the player, the clerk and the amanuensis, the
+singer, the dancer, the wrestler, and the buffoon, the architect, the
+smith, the weaver, and the shoemaker; even the _armiger_ or squire was a
+slave. Educated slaves exercised their talents and pursued their
+callings for the emolument of their masters; and thus it is to-day in
+Siam. _Mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur_, P'hra-Alâck!
+
+The king's taste for English composition had, by much exercise,
+developed itself into a passion. In the pursuit of it he was
+indefatigable, rambling, and petulant. He had "Webster's Unabridged" on
+the brain,--an exasperating form of king's evil. The little dingy slips
+that emanated freely from the palace press were as indiscriminate as
+they were quaint. No topic was too sublime or too ignoble for them. All
+was "copy" that came to those cases,-from the glory of the heavenly
+bodies to the nuisance of the busybodies who scolded his Majesty through
+the columns of the Bangkok Recorder.
+
+I have before me, as I write, a circular from his pen, and in the type
+of his private press, which, being without caption or signature, may be
+supposed to be addressed "to all whom it may concern." The American
+missionaries had vexed his exact scholarship by their peculiar mode of
+representing in English letters the name of a native city (_Prippri_, or
+in Sanskrit _Bejrepuri_). Whence this droll circular, which begins with
+a dogmatic line:--
+
+"None should write the name of city of Prippri thus--P'et cha poory."
+
+Then comes a pedantic demonstration of the derivation of the name from a
+compound Sanskrit word, signifying "Diamond City." And the document
+concludes with a characteristic explosion of impatience, at once
+critical, royal, and anecdotal: "Ah! what the Romanization of American
+system that P'etch' abury will be! Will whole human learned world become
+the pupil of their corrupted Siamese teachers? It is very far from
+correctness. Why they did not look in journal of Royal Asiatic Society,
+where several words of Sanskrit and Pali were published continually?
+Their Siamese priestly teachers considered all Europeans as very
+heathen; to them far from sacred tongue, and were glad to have American
+heathens to become their scholars or pupils; they thought they have
+taught sacred language to the part of heathen; in fact, they themselves
+are very far from sacred language, being sunk deeply in corruption of
+sacred and learned language, for tongue of their former Laos and
+Cambodian teachers, and very far from knowledge of Hindoostanee,
+Cinghalese, and Royal Asiatic Society's knowledge in Sanskrit, as they
+are considered by such the Siamese teachers as heathen; called by them
+Mit ch'a thi-thi, &c., &c., i.e. wrongly seer or spectator, &c., &c."
+
+In another slip, which is manifestly an outburst of the royal petulance,
+his Majesty demands, in a "displayed" paragraph:--
+
+"Why name of Mr. Knox [Thomas George Knox, Esq., British Consul] was not
+published thus: Missa Nok or Nawk. If name of Chow Phya Bhudharabhay is
+to be thus: P'raya P'oo t'a ra P'ie. And why the London was not
+published thus: Lundun or Landan, if Bejrepuri is to be published
+P'etch' abury."
+
+In the same slip with the philological protest the following remarkable
+paragraphs appear:--
+
+"What has been published in No. 25 of Bangkok Recorder thus:--
+
+"'The king of Siam, on reading from some European paper that the Pope
+had lately suffered the loss of some precious jewels, in consequence of
+a thief having got possession of his Holiness' keys, exclaimed, "What a
+man! professing to keep the keys of Heaven, and cannot even keep his own
+keys!"'
+
+"The king on perusal thereof denied that it is false. He knows nothing
+about his Holiness the Pope's sustaining loss of gems, &c., and has said
+nothing about religious faith."
+
+This is curious, in that it exposes the king's unworthy fear of the
+French priesthood in Siam. The fact is that he did make the rather smart
+remark, in precisely these words: "Ah! what a man! professing to keep
+the keys of Heaven, and not able to guard those of his own bureau!" and
+he was quite proud of his hit. But when it appeared in the Recorder, he
+thought it prudent to bar it with a formal denial. Hence the politic
+little item which he sent to all the foreigners in Bangkok, and
+especially to the French priests.
+
+His Majesty's mode of dealing with newspaper strictures (not always
+just) and suggestions (not always pertinent) aimed at his administration
+of public affairs, or the constitution and discipline of his household,
+was characteristic. He snubbed them with sententious arrogance, leavened
+with sarcasm.
+
+When the Recorder recommended to the king the expediency of dispersing
+his Solomonic harem, and abolishing polygamy in the royal family, his
+Majesty retorted with a verbal message to the editor, to the purport
+that "when the Recorder shall have dissuaded princes and noblemen from
+offering their daughters to the king as concubines, the king will cease
+to receive contributions of women in that capacity."
+
+In August, 1865, an angry altercation occurred in the Royal Court of
+Equity (sometimes styled the International Court) between a French
+priest and Phya Wiset, a Siamese nobleman, of venerable years, but
+positive spirit and energy. The priest gave Phya Wiset the lie, and Phya
+Wiset gave it back to the priest, whereupon the priest became noisy.
+Afterward he reported the affair to his consul at Bangkok, with the
+embellishing statement that not only himself, but his religion, had been
+grossly insulted. The consul, one Monsieur Aubaret, a peppery and
+pugnacious Frenchman, immediately made a demand upon his Majesty for the
+removal of Phya Wiset from office.
+
+This despatch was sent late in the evening by the hand of Monsieur
+Lamarche, commanding the troops at the royal palace; and that officer
+had the consul's order to present it summarily. Lamarche managed to
+procure admittance to the penetralia, and presented the note at two
+o'clock in the morning, in violation of reason and courtesy as well as
+of rules, excusing himself on the ground that the despatch was important
+and his orders peremptory. His Majesty then read the despatch, and
+remarked that the matter should be disposed of "to-morrow." Lamarche
+replied, very presumptuously, that the affair required no investigation,
+as _he_ had heard the offensive language of Phya Wiset, and that person
+must be deposed without ceremony. Whereupon his Majesty ordered the
+offensive foreigner to leave the palace.
+
+Lamarche repaired forthwith to the consul, and reported that the king
+had spoken disrespectfully, not only of his Imperial Majesty's consul,
+but of the Emperor himself, besides outrageously insulting a French
+messenger. Then the fire-eating functionary addressed another despatch
+to his Majesty, the purport of which was, that, in expelling Lamarche
+from the palace, the King of Siam had been guilty of a political
+misdemeanor, and had rudely disturbed the friendly relations existing
+between France and Siam; that he should leave Bangkok for Paris, and in
+six weeks lay his grievance before the Emperor; but should first proceed
+to Saigon, and engage the French admiral there to attend to any
+emergency that might arise in Bangkok.
+
+His Majesty, who knew how to confront the uproar of vulgarity and folly
+with the repose of wisdom and dignity, sent his own cousin, the Prince
+Mom Rachoday, Chief Judge of the Royal Court of Equity, to M. Aubaret,
+to disabuse his mind, and impart to him all the truth of the case. But
+the "furious Frank" seized the imposing magnate by the hair, drove him
+from his door, and flung his betel-box after him,--a reckless impulse of
+outrage as monstrous as the most ingenious and deliberate brutality
+could have devised. Rudely to seize a Siamese by the hair is an
+indignity as grave as to spit in the face of a European; and the betel-
+box, beside being a royal present, was an essential part of the insignia
+of the prince's judicial office.
+
+On a later occasion this same Aubaret seized the opportunity a royal
+procession afforded to provoke the king to an ill-timed discussion of
+politics, and to prefer an intemperate complaint against the Kralahome,
+or prime minister. This characteristic flourish of ill temper and bad
+manners, from the representative of the politest of nations, naturally
+excited lively indignation and disgust among all respectable dwellers,
+native or foreign, near the court, and a serious disturbance was
+imminent. But a single dose of the King's English sufficed to soothe the
+spasmodic official, and reduce him to "a sense of his situation."
+
+
+"TO THE HON. THE MONSIEUR AUBARET, _the Consul for H.I.M._
+
+"SIR:--The verbal insult or bad words without any step more over from
+lower or lowest person is considered very slight & inconsiderable.
+
+"The person standing on the surface of the ground or floor Cannot injure
+the heavenly bodies or any highly hanging Lamp or glope by ejecting his
+spit from his mouth upward it will only injure his own face without
+attempting of Heavenly bodies--&c.
+
+"The Siamese are knowing of being lower than heaven do not endeavor to
+injure heavenly bodies with their spit from mouth.
+
+"A person who is known to be powerless by every one, as they who have no
+arms or legs to move oppose or injure or deaf or blind &c. &c. cannot be
+considered and said that they are our enemies even for their madness in
+vain--it might be considered as easily agitation or uneasiness.
+
+"Persons under strong desires without any limit or acting under
+illimited anger sometimes cannot be believed at once without testimony
+or witness if they stated against any one verbally from such the
+statements of the most desirous or persons most illimitedly angry
+hesitation and mild enquiry is very prudent from persons of considerable
+rank."
+
+_No signature._
+
+
+Never were simplicity with shrewdness, and unconscious humor with
+pathos, and candor with irony, and political economy with the sense of
+an awful bore, more quaintly blended than in the following extraordinary
+hint, written and printed by his Majesty, and freely distributed for the
+snubbing of visionary or speculative adventurers:
+
+
+"NOTICE.
+
+"When the general rumor was and is spread out from Siam, circulated
+among the foreigners to Siam, chiefly Europeans, Chinese, &c, in three
+points:--
+
+"1. That Siam is under quite absolute Monarchy. Whatever her Supreme
+Sovereign commanded, allowed, &c all cannot be resisted by any one of
+his Subjects.
+
+"2. The Treasury of the Sovereign of Siam, was full for money, like a
+mountain of gold and silver; Her Sovereign most wealthy.
+
+"3. The present reigning Monarch of Siam is shallow minded and admirer
+of almost everything of curiosity, and most admirer of European usages,
+customs, sciences, arts and literature &c, without limit. He is fond of
+flattering term and ambitious of honor, so that there are now many
+opportunities and operations to be embraced for drawing great money from
+Royal Treasury of Siam, &c.
+
+"The most many foreigners being under belief of such general rumour,
+were endeavoring to draw money from him in various operations, as aiming
+him with valuable curiosities and expectations of interest, and
+flattering him, to be glad of them, and deceiving him in various ways;
+almost on every opportunity of Steamer coming to Siam, various
+foreigners partly known to him and acquainted with him, and generally
+unknown to him, boldly wrote to him in such the term of various
+application and treatment, so that he can conclude that the chief object
+of all letters written to him, is generally to draw money from him, even
+unreasonable. Several instances and testimonies can be shown for being
+example on this subject--the foreigners letters addressed to him, come
+by every one steamer of Siam, and of foreign steamers visiting Siam; 10
+and 12 at least and 40 at highest number, urging him in various ways; so
+he concluded that foreigners must consider him only as a mad king of a
+wild land!
+
+"He now states that he cannot be so mad more, as he knows and observes
+the consideration of the foreigners towards him. Also he now became of
+old age,[Footnote: He was sixty-two at this time.] and was very sorry to
+lose his principal members of his family namely, his two Queens, twice,
+and his younger brother the late Second King, and his late second son
+and beloved daughter, and moreover now he fear of sickness of his eldest
+son, he is now unhappy and must solicit his friends in correspondence
+and others who please to write for the foresaid purpose, that they
+should know suitable reason in writing to him, and shall not urge him as
+they would urge a madman! And the general rumours forementioned are some
+exaggerated and some entirely false; they shall not believe such the
+rumours, deeply and ascertainedly.
+
+"ROYAL RESIDENCE GRAND PALACE BANGKOK 2nd July 1867."
+
+
+And now observe with, what gracious ease this most astute and
+discriminating prince could fit his tone to the sense of those who,
+familiar with his opinions, and reconciled to his temper and his ways,
+however peculiar, could reciprocate the catholicity of his sympathies,
+and appreciate his enlightened efforts to fling off that tenacious
+old-man-of-the-sea custom, and extricate himself from the predicament of
+conflicting responsibilities. To these, on the Christian New Year's day
+of 1867, he addressed this kindly greeting:--
+
+
+"S.P.P.M. MONGKUT:
+
+"Called in Siamese 'P'hra-Chomklau chao-yuhua' in Magadhi or language of
+Pali 'Siamikanam Maha Rajah,' In Latin 'Rex Siamensium,' In French 'Le
+Roi de Siam,' In English 'The King of Siam' and in Malayan 'Rajah Maha
+Pasah' &c.
+
+"Begs to present his respectful and regardful compliments and
+congratulations in happy lives during immediately last year, and wishes
+the continuing thereof during the commencing New Year, and ensuing and
+succeeding many years, to his foreign friends, both now in Siam namely,
+the functionary and acting Consuls and consular officers of various
+distinguished nations in Treaty Power with Siam and certain foreign
+persons under our salary, in service in any manner here, and several
+Gentlemen and Ladies who are resident in Siam in various stations:
+namely, the Priests, Preachers of religion, Masters and Mistresses of
+Schools, Workmen and Merchants, &c, and now abroad in various foreign
+countries and ports, who are our noble and common friends, acquainted
+either by ever having had correspondences mutually with us some time, at
+any where and remaining in our friendly remembrance or mutual
+remembrance, and whosoever are in service to us as our Consuls, vice
+consuls and consular assistants, in various foreign ports. Let them know
+our remembrance and good wishes toward them all.
+
+
+     *      *      *      *       *
+
+"Though we are not Christians, the forenamed King was glad to arrive
+this day in his valued life, as being the 22,720th day of his age,
+during which he was aged sixty-two years and three months, and being the
+5,711th day of his reign, during which he reigned upon his kingdom 15
+years and 8 months up to the current month.
+
+"In like manner he was very glad to see & know and hope for all his
+Royal Family, kindred and friends of both native and foreign, living
+near and far to him had arrived to this very remarkable anniversary of
+the commencement of Solar Year in Anno Christi 1867.
+
+"In their all being healthy and well living like himself, he begs to
+express his royal congratulation and respect and graceful regards to all
+his kindred friends both native and foreign, and hopes to receive such
+the congratulation and expression of good wishes toward him and members
+of his family in very like manner, as he trusts that the amity and grace
+to one another of every of human beings who are innocent, is a great
+merit, and is righteous and praiseworthy in religious system of all
+civil religion, and best civilized laws and morality, &c.
+
+"Given at the Royal Audience Hall, 'Anant Samagome' Grand Palace,
+Bangkok," etc., etc.
+
+
+     *      *      *      *      *
+
+The remoter provinces of Siam constitute a source of continual anxiety
+and much expense to the government; and to his Majesty (who, very
+conscious of power, was proud to be able to say that the Malayan
+territories and rajahs--Cambodia, with her marvellous cities, palaces,
+and temples, once the stronghold of Siam's most formidable and
+implacable foes; the Laos country, with its warlike princes and
+chiefs--were alike dependencies and tributaries of his crown) it was
+intolerably irritating to find Cambodia rebellious. So long as his
+government could successfully maintain its supremacy there, that country
+formed a sort of neutral ground between his people and the
+Cochin-Chinese; a geographical condition which was not without its
+political advantages. But now the unscrupulous French had strutted upon
+the scene, and with a flourish of diplomacy and a stroke of the pen
+appropriated to themselves the fairest portion of that most fertile
+province. His Majesty, though secretly longing for the intervention and
+protection of England, was deterred by his almost superstitious fear of
+the French from complaining openly. But whenever he was more than
+commonly annoyed by the pretensions and aggressive epistles of his
+Imperial Majesty's consul he sent for me,--thinking, like all Orientals,
+that, being English, my sympathy for him, and my hatred of the French,
+were jointly a foregone conclusion. When I would have assured him that I
+was utterly powerless to help him, he cut me short with a wise whisper
+to "consult Mr. Thomas George Knox"; and when I protested that that
+gentleman was too honorable to engage in a secret intrigue against a
+colleague, even for the protection of British interests in Siam, he
+would rave at my indifference, the cupidity of the French, the apathy of
+the English, and the fatuity of all geographers in "setting down" the
+form of government in Siam as an "absolute monarchy."
+
+"_I_ an absolute monarch! For I have no power over French. Siam is like
+a mouse before an elephant! Am I an absolute monarch? What shall you
+consider me?"
+
+Now, as I considered him a particularly absolute and despotic king, that
+was a trying Question; so I discreetly held my peace, fearing less to be
+classed with those obnoxious savans who compile geographies than to
+provoke him afresh.
+
+"I have no power." he scolded; "I am not absolute! If I point the end of
+my walking-stick at a man whom, being my enemy, I wish to die, he does
+not die, but lives on, in spite of my 'absolute' will to the contrary.
+What does Geographies mean? How can I be an absolute monarchy?"
+
+Such a conversation we were having one day as he "assisted" at the
+founding of a temple; and while he reproached his fate that he was
+powerless to "point the end of his walking-stick" with absolute power at
+the peppery and presumptuous Monsieur Aubaret, he vacantly flung gold
+and silver coins among the work-women.
+
+In another moment he forgot all French encroachments, and the imbecility
+of geographers in general, as his glance chanced to fall upon a young
+woman of fresh and striking beauty, and delightful piquancy of ways and
+expression, who with a clumsy club was pounding fragments of
+pottery--urns, vases, and goglets--for the foundation of the _watt._
+Very artless and happy she seemed, and free as she was lovely; but the
+instant she perceived she had attracted the notice of the king, she sank
+down and hid her face in the earth, forgetting or disregarding the
+falling vessels that threatened to crush or wound her. But the king
+merely diverted himself with inquiring her name and parentage; and some
+one answering for her, he turned away.
+
+Almost to the latest hour of his life his Majesty suffered, in his
+morbid egotism, various and keen annoyance, by reason of his
+sensitiveness to the opinions of foreigners, the encroachments of
+foreign officials, and the strictures of the foreign press. He was
+agitated by a restless craving for their sympathy on the one hand, and
+by a futile resentment of their criticisms or their claims on the other.
+
+An article in a Singapore paper had administered moral correction to his
+Majesty on the strength of a rumor that "the king has his eye upon
+another princess of the highest rank, with a view to constituting her a
+queen consort." And the Bangkok Recorder had said: "Now, considering
+that he is full threescore and three years of age, that he has already
+scores of concubines and about fourscore sons and daughters, with
+several Chowfas among them, and hence eligible to the highest posts of
+honor in the kingdom, this rumor seems too monstrous to be credited. But
+the truth is, there is scarcely anything too monstrous for the royal
+polygamy of Siam to bring forth." By the light of this explanation the
+meaning of the following extract from the postscript of a letter which
+the king wrote in April, 1866, will be clear to the reader, who, at the
+same time, in justice to me, will remember that by the death of his
+Majesty, on the 1st of October, 1868, the seal of secrecy was broken.
+
+
+"VERY PRIVATE POST SCRIPT.
+
+"There is a newspaper of Singapore entitled Daily News just published
+after last arrival of the steamer Chowphya in Singapore, in which paper,
+a correspondence from an Individual resident at Bangkok dated 16th March
+1866 was shown, but I have none of that paper in my possession ... I did
+not noticed its number & date to state to you now, but I trust such the
+paper must be in hand of several foreigners in Bangkok, may you have
+read it perhaps--other wise you can obtain the same from any one or by
+order to obtain from Singapore; after perusal thereof you will not be
+able to deny my statement forementioned more over as general people both
+native & foreigners here seem to have less pleasure on me & my
+descendant, than their pleasure and hope on other amiable family to them
+until the present day. What was said there in for a princess considered
+by the Speaker or Writer as proper or suitable to be head on my _harem_
+(a room or part for confinement of Women of Eastern monarch) [Footnote:
+A parenthetical drollery inspired by the dictionary.] there is no least
+intention occurred to me even once or in my dream indeed! I think if I
+do so, I will die soon perhaps!
+
+
+     *      *      *      *      *
+
+"This my handwriting or content hereof shall be kept secretly.
+
+"I beg to remain
+
+"Your faithful & well-wisher
+
+"S. P. P. M. MONGKUT E. S.
+
+"on 5441th day of reign.
+
+"the writer here of beg to place his confidence on you alway."
+
+
+As a true friend to his Majesty, I deplore the weakness which betrayed
+him into so transparent a sham of virtuous indignation. The "princess of
+the highest rank," whom the writer of the article plainly meant, was the
+Princess of Chiengmai; but from lack of accurate information he was
+misled into confounding her with the Princess Tui Duang Prabha, his
+Majesty's niece. The king could honestly deny any such intention on his
+part with regard to his niece; but, at the same time, he well knew that
+the writer erred only as to the individual, and not as to the main fact
+of the case. The Princess of Chiengmai was the wife, and the Princess
+Tui Duang the daughter, of his full brother, the Second King, lately
+deceased.
+
+Much more agreeable is it--to the reader, I doubt not, not less than to
+the writer--to turn from the king, in the exercise of his slavish
+function of training honest words to play the hypocrite for ignoble
+thoughts, to the gentleman, the friend, the father, giving his heart a
+holiday in the relaxations of simple kindness and free affection,--as in
+the following note:--
+
+
+"Dated RANCHAUPURY 34th February 1865.
+
+"To LADY L---- & HER SON LUISE, _Bangkok_.
+
+"We having very pleasant journey ... to be here which is a township
+called as above named by men of republick affairs in Siam, & called by
+common people as 'Parkphrieck' where we have our stay a few days & will
+take our departure from hence at dawn of next day. We thinking of you
+both regardfully & beg to send here with some wild aples & barries which
+are delicate for tasting & some tobacco which were and are principal
+product of this region for your kind acceptance hoping this wild present
+will be acceptable to you both.
+
+"We will be arrived at our home Bangkok on early part of March.
+
+"We beg to remain
+
+"Your faithful
+
+"S. P. P. M. MONGKUT E. S.
+
+"in 5035th day of reign.
+
+"And your affectionate pupils
+
+"YING YULACKS.
+MANEABHADAHORN.
+SOMDETCH CHOWFA
+CHULALONKORK [Footnote: The present king.]
+KRITAHINIHAR.
+PRABHASSOR.
+SOMAWATI."
+
+
+
+
+XXVII. MY RETIREMENT FROM THE PALACE.
+
+
+In 1864 I found that my labors had greatly increased; I had often to
+work till ten o'clock at night to accomplish the endless translations
+required of me. I also began to perceive how continually and closely I
+was watched, but how and by whom it seemed impossible to discover. Among
+the inducements to me to accept the position of teacher to the royal
+family was his Majesty's assurance, that, if I gave satisfaction, he
+would increase my salary after a year's trial. Nearly three years had
+passed when I first ventured to remind the king of this promise. To my
+astonishment he bluntly informed me that I had not given satisfaction,
+that I was "difficult" and unmanageable, "more careful about what was
+right and what was wrong than for the obedience and submission." And as
+to salary, he continued: "Why you should be poor? You come into my
+presence every day with some petition, some case of hardship or
+injustice, and you demand 'your Majesty shall most kindly investigate,
+and cause redress to be made'; and I have granted to you because you are
+important to me for translations, and so forth. And now you declare you
+must have increase of salary! Must you have everything in this world?
+Why you do not make _them_ pay you? If I grant you all your petition for
+the poor, you ought to be rich, or you have no wisdom."
+
+At a loss what answer to make to this very unsympathetic view of my
+conduct, I quietly returned to my duties, which, grew daily in variety
+and responsibility. What with translating, correcting, copying,
+dictating, reading, I had hardly a moment I could call my own; and if at
+any time I rebelled, I brought down swift vengeance on the head of the
+helpless native secretary.
+
+But it was my consolation to know that I could befriend the women and
+children of the palace, who, when they saw that I was not afraid to
+oppose the king in his more outrageous caprices of tyranny, imagined me
+endued with supernatural powers, and secretly came to me with their
+grievances, in full assurance that sooner or later I would see them
+redressed. And so, with no intention on my part, and almost without my
+own consent, I suffered myself to be set up between the oppressor and
+the oppressed. From that time I had no peace. Day after day I was called
+upon to resist the wanton cruelty of judges and magistrates, till at
+last I found myself at feud with the whole "San Luang." In cases of
+torture, imprisonment, extortion, I tried again and again to excuse
+myself from interfering, but still the mothers or sisters prevailed, and
+I had no choice left but to try to help them. Sometimes I sent Boy with
+my clients, sometimes I went myself; and in no single instance was
+justice granted from a sense of right, but always through fear of my
+supposed influence with the king. My Siamese and European friends said I
+was amassing a fortune. It seemed not worth my while to contradict them,
+though the inference was painful to me, for in truth my championship was
+not purely disinterested; I suffered from continual contact with the
+sufferings of others, and came to the rescue in self-defence and in pity
+for myself not less than for them.
+
+A Chinaman had been cruelly murdered and robbed by a favorite slave in
+the household of the prime minister's brother, leaving the brother,
+wife, and children of the victim in helpless poverty and terror. The
+murderer had screened himself and his accomplices by sharing the plunder
+with his master. The widow cried for redress in vain. The ears of
+magistrates were stopped against her, and she was too poor to pay her
+way; but still she went from one court to another, until her importunity
+irritated the judges, who, to intimidate her, seized her eldest son, on
+some monstrous pretext, and cast him into prison. This double cruelty
+completed the despair of the unhappy mother. She came to me fairly
+frenzied, and "commanded" me to go at once into the presence of the king
+and demand her stolen child; and then, in a sudden paroxysm of grief,
+she embraced my knees, wailing, and praying to me to help her. It was
+not in human nature to reject that maternal claim. With no little
+trouble I procured the liberation of her son; but to keep him out of
+harm's way I had to take him into my own home and change his name. I
+called him Timothy, which by a Chinese abbreviation became Ti.
+
+When I went with this woman and the brother of the murdered man to the
+palace of the premier, we found that distinguished personage half naked
+and playing chess. Seeing me enter, he ordered one of his slaves to
+bring him a jacket, into which he thrust his arms, and went on with the
+game; and not until that was finished did he attend to me. When I
+explained my errand he seemed vexed, but sent for his brother, had a
+long talk with him, and concluded by warning my unhappy _protégés_ that
+if he heard any more complaints from them they should be flogged. Then
+turning to me with a grim smile, he said: "Chinee too much bother. Good
+by, sir!"
+
+This surprised me exceedingly, for I had often known the premier to
+award justice in spite of the king. That same evening, as I sat alone in
+my drawing-room, making notes, as was my custom, I heard a slight
+noise, as of some one in the room. Looking round, I saw, to my
+amazement, one of the inferior judges of the prime minister's court
+crouching by the piano. I asked how he dared to enter my house
+unannounced. "Mam," said he, "your servants admitted me; they know from
+whom I come, and would not venture to refuse me. And now it is for you
+to know that I am here from his Excellency Chow Phya Kralahome, to
+request you to send in your resignation at the end of this month."
+
+"By what authority does he send me this message?" I asked.
+
+"I know not; but it were best that you obey."
+
+"Tell him," I replied, unable to control my anger at the cowardly trick
+to intimidate me, "I shall leave Siam when I please, and that no man
+shall set the time for me."
+
+The man departed, cringing and crouching, and excusing himself. This was
+the same wretch at whose instigation poor Moonshee had been so
+shamefully beaten.
+
+I did not close my eyes that night. Again and again prudence advised me
+to seek safety in flight, but the argument ended in my turning my back
+on the timid monitor, and resolving to stay.
+
+About three weeks after this occurrence, his Majesty was going on an
+excursion "up country," and as he wished me to accompany my pupils, the
+prime minister was required to prepare a cabin for me and my boy on his
+steamer, the Volant. Before we left the palace one of my anxious friends
+made me promise her that I would partake of no food nor taste a drop of
+wine on board the steamer,--an injunction in the sequel easy to fulfil,
+as our wants were amply provided for at the Grand Palace, where we spent
+the whole day. But I cite this incident to show the state of mind which
+led me to prolong my stay, hateful as it had become.
+
+After this, affairs in the royal household went smoothly enough for some
+time; but still my tasks increased, and my health began to fail. When I
+informed his Majesty that I needed at least a month of rest, and that I
+thought of making a trip to Singapore, he was so unwilling that I should
+rate highly the services I rendered him, that he was careful to assure
+me I had not "favored" him in any way, nor given him satisfaction; and
+that if I must be idle for a month, he certainly should not pay me for
+the time; and he kept his word. Nevertheless, while I was at Singapore
+he wrote to me most kindly, assuring me that his wives and children were
+anxious for my return.
+
+After the sad death of the dear little princess, Chow Fâ-ying, the king
+had become more cordial; but the labor he imposed upon me was in
+proportion to the confidence he reposed in me. At times he required of
+me services, in my capacity of secretary, not to be thought of by a
+European sovereign; and when I declined to perform them, he would curse
+me, close the gates of the palace against me, and even subject me to the
+insults and threats of the parasites and slaves who crawled about his
+feet. On two occasions--first for refusing to write a false letter to
+Sir John Bowring, now Plenipotentiary for the Court of Siam in England;
+and again for declining to address the Earl of Clarendon in relation to
+a certain British officer then in Siam--he threatened to have me tried
+at the British Consulate, and was so violent that I was in real fear for
+my life. For three days I waited, with doors and windows barred, for I
+knew not what explosion.
+
+After the death of the Second King, his Majesty behaved very
+disgracefully. It was well known that the ladies of the prince's harem
+were of the most beautiful of the women of Laos, Pegu, and Birmah; above
+all, the Princess of Chiengmai was famed for her manifold graces of
+person and character. Etiquette forbade the royal brothers to pry into
+the constitution of each other's _sérail_, but by means most unworthy of
+his station, and regardless of the privilege of his brother, Maha
+Mongkut had learned of the acquisition to the subordinate king's
+establishment of this celebrated and coveted beauty; and although she
+was now his legitimate sister-in-law, privately married to the prince,
+he was not restrained by any scruple of morality or delicacy from
+manifesting his jealousy and pique. [Footnote: See portrait, Chap. XXV.]
+Moreover, this disgraceful feeling was fostered by other considerations
+than those of mere sensuality or ostentation. Her father, the tributary
+ruler of Chiengmai, had on several occasions confronted his aggressive
+authority with a haughty and intrepid spirit; and once, when Maha
+Mongkut required that he should send his eldest son to Bangkok as a
+hostage for the father's loyalty, and good conduct, the unterrified
+chief replied that he would be his own hostage. On the summons being
+repeated in imperative terms, the young prince fled from his father's
+court and took refuge with the Second King in his stronghold of Ban
+Sitha, where he was most courteously received and entertained until he
+found it expedient to seek some securer or less compromising place of
+refuge.
+
+The friendship thus founded between two proud and daring princes soon
+became strong and enduring, and resulted in the marriage of the Princess
+Sunartha Vismita (very willingly on her part) to the Second King, about
+a year before his death.
+
+The son of the King of Chiengmai never made his appearance at the court
+of Siam; but the stout old chief, attended by trusty followers, boldly
+brought his own "hostage" thither; and Maha Mongkut, though secretly
+chafing, accepted the situation with a show of graciousness, and
+overlooked the absence of the younger vassal.
+
+With the remembrance of these floutings still galling him, the Supreme
+King frequently repaired to the Second King's palace on the pretext of
+arranging certain "family affairs" intrusted to him by his late brother,
+but in reality to acquaint himself with the charms of several female
+members of the prince's household; and, scandalous as it should have
+seemed even to Siamese notions of the divine right of kings, the most
+attractive and accomplished of those women were quietly transferred to
+his own harem. For some time I heard nothing more of the Princess of
+Chiengmai; but it was curious, even amusing, to observe the serene
+contempt with which the "interlopers" were received by the rival
+incumbents of the royal gynecium,--especially the Laotian women, who are
+of a finer type and much handsomer than their Siamese sisters.
+
+Meantime his Majesty took up his abode for a fortnight at the Second
+King's palace, thereby provoking dangerous gossip in his own
+establishment; so that his "head wife," the Lady Thieng, even made bold
+to hint that he might come to the fate of his brother, and die by slow
+poison. His harem was agitated and excited throughout,--some of the
+women abandoning themselves to unaccustomed and unnatural gayety, while
+others sent their confidential slaves to consult the astrologers and
+soothsayers of the court; and by the aid of significant glances and
+shrugging of shoulders, and interchange of signs and whispers, with
+feminine telegraphy and secret service, most of those interested arrived
+at the sage conclusion that their lord had fallen under the spells of a
+witch or enchantress.
+
+Such was the domestic situation when his Majesty suddenly and without
+warning returned to his palace, but in a mood so perplexing as to
+surpass all precedent and baffle all tact. I had for some time performed
+with surprising success a leading part in a pretty little court play, of
+which the well-meant plot had been devised by the Lady Thieng. Whenever
+the king should be dangerously enraged, and ready to let loose upon some
+tender culprit of the harem the monstrous lash or chain, I--at a secret
+cue from the head wife--was to enter upon his Majesty, book in hand, to
+consult his infallibility in a pressing predicament of translation into
+Sanskrit, Siamese, or English. Absurdly transparent as it was,--perhaps
+the happier for its very childishness,--under cover of this naive device
+from time to time a hapless girl escaped the fatal burst of his wrath.
+Midway in the rising storm of curses and abuse he would turn with
+comical abruptness to the attractive interruption with all the zest of a
+scholar. I often trembled lest he should see through the thinly covered
+trick, but he never did. On his return from the prince's palace,
+however, even this innocent stratagem failed us; and on one occasion of
+my having recourse to it he peremptorily ordered me away, and forbade my
+coming into his presence again unless sent for. Daily, after this, one
+or more of the women suffered from his petty tyranny, cruelty, and
+spite. On every hand I heard sighs and sobs from young and old; and not
+a woman there but believed he was bewitched and beside himself.
+
+I had struggled through many exacting tasks since I came to Siam, but
+never any that so taxed my powers of endurance as my duties at this
+time, in my double office of governess and private secretary to his
+Majesty. His moods were so fickle and unjust, his temper so tyrannical,
+that it seemed impossible to please him; from one hour to another I
+never knew what to expect. And yet he persevered in his studies,
+especially in his English correspondence, which was ever his solace, his
+pleasure, and his pride. To an interested observer it might have
+afforded rare entertainment to note how fluently, though oddly, he spoke
+and wrote in a foreign language, but for his caprices, which at times
+were so ridiculous, however, as to be scarcely disagreeable. He would
+indite letters, sign them, affix his seal, and despatch them in his own
+mail-bags to Europe, America, or elsewhere; and, months afterward,
+insist on my writing to the parties addressed, to say that the
+instructions they contained were _my_ mistake,--errors of translation,
+transcription, anything but his intention. In one or two instances,
+finding that the case really admitted of explanation or apology from his
+Majesty, I slyly so worded my letter, that, without compromising him, I
+yet managed to repair the mischief he had done. But I felt this could
+not continue long. Always, on foreign-mail days, I spent from eight to
+ten hours in this most delicate and vexatious work. At length the crash
+came.
+
+The king had promised to Sir John Bowring the appointment of
+Plenipotentiary to the Court of France, to negotiate, on behalf of Siam,
+new treaties concerning the Cambodian possessions. With characteristic
+irresolution he changed his mind, and decided to send a Siamese Embassy,
+headed by his Lordship P'hra Nan Why, now known as his Excellency Chow
+Phya Sri Sury-wongse. No sooner had he entertained this fancy than he
+sent for me, and coolly directed me to write and explain the matter to
+Sir John, if possible attributing his new views and purpose to the
+advice of her Britannic Majesty's Consul; or, if I had scruples on that
+head, I might say the advice was my own,--or "anything I liked," so that
+I justified his conduct.
+
+At this distance of time I cannot clearly recall all the effect upon my
+feelings of so outrageous a proposition; but I do remember that I found
+myself emphatically declining to do "anything of the kind." Then, warned
+by his gathering rage, I added that I would express to Sir John his
+Majesty's regrets, but to attribute the blame to those who had had no
+part in the matter, that I could never do. At this his fury was
+grotesque. His talent for invective was always formidable, and he tried
+to overpower me with threats. But a kindred spirit of resistance was
+aroused in me. I withdrew from the palace, and patiently abided the
+issue, resolved, in any event, to be firm.
+
+His Majesty's anger was without bounds; and in the interval so fraught
+with anxiety and apprehension to me, when I knew that a considerable
+party in the palace--judges, magistrates, and officers about the person
+of the king--regarded me as an eminently proper person to behead or
+drown, he condescended to accuse me of abstracting a book that he
+chanced just then to miss from his library, and also of honoring and
+favoring the British Consul at the expense of his American colleague,
+then resident at Bangkok. In support of the latter charge, he alleged
+that I had written the American Consul's name at the bottom of a royal
+circular, after carefully displaying my own and the British
+functionary's at the top of it.
+
+The circular in question, which had given just umbrage to the American
+official, was fortunately in the keeping of the Honorable [Footnote:
+Here the title is Siamese.] Mr. Bush, and was written by the king's own
+hand, as was well known to all whom it concerned. These charges, with
+others of a more frivolous nature,--such as disobeying, thwarting,
+scolding his Majesty, treating him with disrespect, as by standing while
+he was seated, thinking evil of him, slandering him, and calling him
+wicked,--the king caused to be reduced to writing and sent to me, with
+an intimation that I must forthwith acknowledge my ingratitude and
+guilt, and make atonement by prompt compliance with his wishes. The
+secretary who brought the document to my house was accompanied by a
+number of the female slaves of the palace, who besought me, in the name
+of their mistresses, the wives of the "Celestial Supreme," to yield, and
+do all that might be required of me.
+
+Seeing this shaft miss its mark, the secretary, being a man of
+resources, produced the other string to his bow. He offered to bribe me,
+and actually spent two hours in that respectable business; but finally
+departed in despair, convinced that the amount was inadequate to the
+cupidity of an insatiable European, and mourning for himself that he
+must return discomfited to the king.
+
+Next morning, my boy and I presented ourselves as usual at the inner
+gate of the palace leading to the school, and were confronted there by a
+party of rude fellows and soldiers, who thrust us back with threats, and
+even took up stones to throw at us. I dare not think what might have
+been our fate, but for the generous rescue of a crowd of the poorest
+slaves, who at that hour were waiting for the opening of the gate. These
+rallied round us, and guarded us back to our home. It was, indeed, a
+time of terror for us. I felt that my life was in great danger; and so
+difficult did I find it to prevent the continual intrusion of the
+rabble, both men and women, into my house, that I had at length to bar
+my doors and windows, and have double locks and fastenings added. I
+became nervous and excited as I had never been before.
+
+My first impulse was to write to the British Consul and invoke his
+protection; but that looked cowardly. Nevertheless, I did prepare the
+letter, ready to be despatched at the first attempt upon our lives or
+liberty. I wrote also to Mr. Bush, asking him to find without delay the
+obnoxious circular, and bring it to my house. He came that very evening,
+the paper in his hand. With infinite difficulty I persuaded the native
+secretary, whom I had again and again befriended in like extremities, to
+procure for him an audience with the king.
+
+On coming into the presence of his Majesty, Mr. Bush simply handed him
+the circular, saying, "Mam tells me you wish to see this." The moment
+the caption of the document met his eye, his Majesty's countenance
+assumed a blank, bewildered expression peculiar to it, and he seemed to
+look to my friend for an explanation; but that gentleman had none to
+offer, for I had made none to him.
+
+And to crown all, even as the king was pointing to his brow to signify
+that he had forgotten having written it, one of the little princesses
+came crouching and crawling into the room with the missing volume in her
+hand. It had been found in one of the numerous sleeping-apartments of
+the king, beside his pillow, just in time!
+
+Mr. Bush soon returned, bringing me assurances of his Majesty's cordial
+reconciliation; but I still doubted his sincerity, and for weeks did not
+offer to enter the palace. When, however, on the arrival of the Chow
+Phya steamer with the mail, I was formally summoned by the king to
+return to my duties, I quietly obeyed, making no allusion to my
+"bygones."
+
+As I sat at my familiar table, copying, his Majesty approached, and
+addressed me in these words:--
+
+"Mam! you are one great difficulty. I have much pleasure and favor on
+you, but you are too obstinate. You are not wise. Wherefore are you so
+difficult? You are only a woman. It is very bad you can be so
+strong-headed. Will you now have any objection to write to Sir John, and
+tell him I am his very good friend?"
+
+"None whatever," I replied, "if it is to be simply a letter of good
+wishes on the part of your Majesty."
+
+I wrote the letter, and handed it to him for perusal. He was hardly
+satisfied, for with only a significant grunt he returned it to me, and
+left the apartment at once,--to vent his spite on some one who had
+nothing to do with the matter.
+
+In due time the following very considerate but significant reply
+(addressed to his Majesty's "one great difficulty ") was received from
+Sir John Bowring:--
+
+
+CLAREMONT, EXETER, 30 June, 1867.
+
+DEAR MADAM:--Your letter of 12th May demands from me the attention of a
+courteous reply. I am quite sure the ancient friendship of the King of
+Siam would never allow a slight, or indeed an unkindness, to me; and I
+hope to have opportunities of showing his Majesty that I feel a deep
+interest in his welfare.
+
+As regards the diplomacy of European courts, it is but natural that
+those associated with them should be more at home, and better able to
+direct their course, than strangers from a distance, however personally
+estimable; and though, in the case in question, the mission of a Siamese
+Ambassador to Paris was no doubt well intended, and could never have
+been meant to give me annoyance, it was not to be expected he would be
+placed in that position of free and confidential intercourse which my
+long acquaintance with public life would enable me to occupy. In remote
+regions, people with little knowledge of official matters in high
+quarters often take upon themselves to give advice in great ignorance of
+facts, and speak very unadvisedly on topics on which their opinions are
+worthless and their influence valueless.
+
+As regards M. Aubaret's offensive proceedings, I doubt not he has
+received a caution [Footnote: Aubaret, French Consul at Bangkok, whose
+overbearing conduct has been described elsewhere.] on my representation,
+and that he, and others of his nation, would not be very willing that
+the Emperor--an old acquaintance of mine--should hear from my lips what
+I might have to say. The will of the Emperor is supreme, and I am afraid
+the Cambodian question is now referred back to Siam. It might have been
+better for me to have discussed it with his Imperial Majesty. However,
+the past is past. Personal influence, as you are aware, is not
+transferable; but when by the proper powers I am placed in a position to
+act, his Majesty may be assured--as I have assured himself--that his
+interests will not suffer in my hands.
+
+I am obliged to you for the manner in which you have conveyed to me his
+Majesty's gracious expressions.
+
+And you will believe me to be
+
+Yours very truly,
+
+JOHN BOWRING.
+
+
+No friend of mine knew at that time how hard it was for me to bear up,
+in the utter loneliness and forlornness of my life, under the load of
+cares and provocations and fears that gradually accumulated upon me.
+
+But ah! if any germ of love and truth fell from my heart into the heart
+of even the meanest of those wives and concubines and children of a
+king, if by any word of mine the least of them was won to look up, out
+of the depths of their miserable life, to a higher, clearer, brighter
+light than their Buddha casts upon their path, then indeed I did not
+labor in vain among them.
+
+In the summer of 1866 my health suddenly broke down, and for a time, it
+was thought that I must die. When good Dr. Campbell gave me the solemn
+warning all my trouble seemed to cease, and but for one sharp pang for
+my children,--one in England, the other in Siam,--I should have derived
+pure and perfect pleasure from the prospect of eternal rest, so weary
+was I of my tumultuous life in the East; and though in the end I
+regained my strength in a measure, I was no longer able to comply with
+the pitiless exactions of the king. And so, yielding to the urgent
+entreaties of my friends, I decided to return to England.
+
+It took me half a year to get his Majesty's consent; and it was not
+without tiresome accusations of ingratitude and idleness that he granted
+me leave of absence for six months.
+
+I had hardly courage to face the women and children the day I told them
+I was going away. It was hard to be with them; but it seemed cowardly to
+leave them. For some time most of them refused to believe that I was
+really going; but when they could doubt no longer, they displayed the
+most touching tenderness and thoughtfulness. Many sent me small sums of
+money to help me on the journey. The poorest and meanest slaves brought
+me rice cakes, dried beans, cocoanuts, and sugar. It was in vain that I
+assured them I could not carry such things away with me; still the
+supplies poured in.
+
+The king himself, who had been silent and sullen until the morning of my
+departure, relented when the time came to say good by. He embraced Boy
+with cordial kindness, and gave him a silver buckle, and a bag
+containing a hundred dollars to buy sweetmeats on the way. Then turning
+to me, he said (as if forgetting himself): "Mam! you much beloved by our
+common people, and all inhabitants of palace and royal children. Every
+one is in affliction of your departure; and even that opium-eating
+secretary, P'hra-Alâck, is very low down in his heart because you will
+go. It shall be because you must be a good and true lady. I am often
+angry on you, and lose my temper, though I have large respect for you.
+But nevertheless you ought to know you are difficult woman, and more
+difficult than generality. But you will forget, and come back to my
+service, for I have more confidence on you every day. Good by!" I could
+not reply; my eyes filled with tears.
+
+Then came the parting with my pupils, the women and the children. That
+was painful enough, even while the king was present; but when he
+abruptly withdrew, great was the uproar. What could I do, but stand
+still and submit to kisses, embraces, reproaches, from princesses and
+slaves? At last I rushed through the gate, the women screaming after me,
+"Come back!" and the children, "Don't go!" I hurried to the residence of
+the heir-apparent, to the most trying scene of all. His regret seemed
+too deep for words, and the few he did utter were very touching. Taking
+both my hands and laying his brow upon them, he said, after a long
+interval of silence, "_Mam cha klap ma thort!_"--"Mam dear, come back,
+please!" "Keep a brave and true heart, my prince!" was all that I could
+say; and my last "God bless _you!_" was addressed to the royal palace of
+Siam.
+
+To this young prince, Chowfa Chulalonkorn, I was strongly attached. He
+often deplored with me the cruelty with which the slaves were treated,
+and, young as he was, did much to inculcate kindness toward them among
+his immediate attendants. He was a conscientious lad, of pensive habit
+and gentle temper; many of my poor clients I bequeathed to his care,
+particularly the Chinese lad Ti. Speaking of slavery one day, he said to
+me: "These are not slaves, but nobles; they know how to bear. It is we,
+the princes, who have yet to learn which is the more noble, the
+oppressor or the oppressed."
+
+When I left the palace the king was fast failing in body and mind, and,
+in spite of his seeming vigor, there was no real health in his rule,
+while he had his own way. All the substantial success we find in his
+administration is due to the ability and energy of his accomplished
+premier, Phya Kralahome, and even his strength has been wasted. The
+native arts and literature have retrograded; in the mechanic arts much
+has been lost; and the whole nation is given up to gambling.
+
+The capacity of the Siamese race for improvement in any direction has
+been sufficiently demonstrated, and the government has made fair
+progress in political and moral reforms; but the condition of the slaves
+is such as to excite astonishment and horror. What may be the ultimate
+fate of Siam under this accursed system, whether she will ever
+emancipate herself while the world lasts, there is no guessing. The
+happy examples free intercourse affords, the influence of European
+ideas, and the compulsion of public opinion, may yet work wonders.
+
+On the 5th of July, 1867, we left Bangkok in the steamer Chow Phya. All
+our European friends accompanied us to the Gulf of Siam, where we
+parted, with much regret on my side; and of all those whose kindness had
+bravely cheered us during our long (I am tempted to write) _captivity_,
+the last to bid us God-speed was the good Captain Orton, to whom I here
+tender my heartfelt thanks.
+
+
+
+
+XXVIII. THE KINGDOM OF SIAM.
+
+
+With her despotic ruler, priest and king; her religion of
+contradictions, at once pure and corrupt, lovely and cruel, ennobling
+and debasing; her laws, wherein wisdom is so perversely blended with
+blindness, enlightenment with barbarism, strength with weakness, justice
+with oppression; her profound scrutiny into mystic forms of philosophy,
+her ancient culture of physics, borrowed from the primitive speculations
+of Brahminism;--Siam is, beyond a peradventure, one of the most
+remarkable and thought-compelling of the empires of the Orient; a
+fascinating and provoking enigma, alike to the theologian and the
+political economist. Like a troubled dream, delirious in contrast with
+the coherence and stability of Western life, the land and its people
+seem to be conjured out of a secret of darkness, a wonder to the senses
+and a mystery to the mind.
+
+And yet it is a strangely beautiful reality. The enchanting variety of
+its scenery, joined to the inexhaustible productiveness of its soil,
+constitutes a challenge to the charms of every other region, except,
+perhaps, the country watered by the great river of China. Through an
+immense, continuous level of unfailing fertility, the Meinam rolls
+slowly, reposefully, grandly, in its course receiving draughts from many
+a lesser stream, filling many a useful canal in its turn, and, from the
+abundance the generous rains bestow, distributing supplies of
+refreshment and fatness to innumerable acres.
+
+In a soil at once so rich and so well watered, the sun, with its
+vivifying heats, engenders a mighty vegetation, delighting the eye for
+more than half the year with endless undulations of grain and a great
+golden Eden of fruit. Its staples are solid blessings: rice, the
+Asiatic's staff of life; sugar, most popular of dietetic luxuries;
+indigo, most valuable of dyes; in the drier tracts, cotton, tobacco,
+coffee, a variety of palms (from one species of which sugar not unlike
+that of the maple is extracted), the wild olive, and the fig. Then there
+are vast forests of teak, that enduring monarch of the vegetable
+kingdom, ebony, satin-wood, eagle-wood; beside ivory, beeswax and honey,
+raw silk, and many aromatic gums and fragrant spices. And though the
+scenery is less various and picturesque than that of the regions of
+Gangetic India, where ranges of noble mountains make the land majestic,
+nevertheless nature riots here in bewildering luxuriances of vegetable
+forms and colors. Vast tracts, shady and cool with dense dark foliage;
+trees, tall and strong, spreading their giant arms abroad, with prickly,
+shining shrubs between, while parasites and creepers, wild, bright, and
+beautiful, trail from the highest boughs to the ground; the bamboo,
+shooting to the height of sixty feet and upward, with branches
+gracefully drooping; the generous, kind banana; fairy forests of ferns
+of a thousand forms; tall grasses, with their pale and plumy blossoms;
+the many-trunked and many-rooted banyan; the boh, sacred to
+Buddha,--all combine to form a garden that Adam might have dressed and
+kept, and only Eve could spoil.
+
+It is only when he approaches the borders of the land that the traveller
+is greeted by grand mountains, crowned with impenetrable forests, and
+forming an amphitheatre around the graceful plains. Along the coast the
+view is more diversified; islands, the most picturesque, and rich with
+diversified vegetation, make happy, striking contrasts, here and there,
+with the deep blue sea around them.
+
+The extent and boundaries of the kingdom and its dependencies have been
+variously described; but according to the statement of his Majesty Maha
+Mongkut, the dominion of his predecessors, before the possession of
+Malacca by the Portuguese, extended over the whole of the Malayan
+peninsula, including the islands of Singapore and Pinang, which at that
+time formed a part of the realm of the Rajah of Quedah, who still pays
+tribute to the crown of Siam. It was at the instigation of English
+settlers that the states of Johore, Singapore, Rambo, Talangore, Pahang,
+and Puah became subject to British rule; so that to-day the Siamese
+dominion, starting from the little kingdom of Tringamu, extends from the
+fourth to the twenty-second degree of north latitude, giving about 1,350
+miles of length, while from east to west its greatest breadth is about
+450 miles. On the north it is bounded by several provinces of Laos,
+tributaries of Ava and China; on the east by the empire of Anam; on the
+west by the sea and British possessions; on the south by the petty
+states of Pahang and Puah. Beyond Siam proper are the kingdom of Ligor
+and the four small states, Quedah, Patan, Calantan, and Yeingana; on the
+east a part of the kingdom of Cambodia, Muang Korat, and several
+provinces of Laos; on the north the kingdoms of Chiengmai, Laphun,
+Lakhon, Muang Phiëé, Muang Naun, Muang Loan, and Luang Phrabang. The
+great plain of Siam is bounded on the east by a spur of the Himalayan
+range, which breaks off in Cambodia, and is found again in the west,
+extending almost to the extremity of the Malayan states; on the north
+these two mountain ranges approach each other, and form that multitude
+of small hills which imparts so picturesque an aspect to the Laos
+country. This plain is watered by the river Meinam, [Footnote: "Mother
+of Waters,"--a common Siamese term for all large streams.] or Chow Phya,
+whose innumerable branches, great and small, and the many canals which,
+fed by it, intersect the capital in all directions, constitute it the
+high-road of the Empire. For many miles its banks are fringed with the
+graceful bamboo, the tamarind, the palm, and the peepul, the homes of
+myriads of birds of the land and of the water,--creatures of brilliant
+plumage and delightful song.
+
+Siam has some excellent harbors, though the principal one, on the gulf,
+is partially obstructed by great banks of sand that have accumulated at
+the mouth of the Chow Phya. Ships of ordinary burden, however, can cross
+these banks at high tide, and in a few hours cast anchor in the heart of
+the capital, in from sixty to seventy feet of water. Here they are snug
+and safe. Besides, the gulf itself is free from the typhoons so
+destructive to shipping on the China seas.
+
+In all the Malayan Islands there are numerous unimportant streams,
+which, though limited in their course, form excellent harbors at their
+debouchement on the coast. The eastern regions of Laos and Cambodia are
+watered by the river Meikhong, which has a course of nearly a thousand
+miles; but its navigation, like that of the Meinam at its mouth, is
+impeded by sand-banks. The smaller streams, Chantabun, Pet Rue, and Tha
+Chang, all run into the Meikhong, which, mingling its waters with those
+of the Meinam, flows through Chiengmai, receives the waters of
+Phitsalok, and then, diverging by many channels, inundates the great
+plain of Siam once every year, in the month of June. By the end of
+August this entire region has become one vast sheet of water, so that
+boats traverse it in every direction without injury to the young rice
+springing up beneath them.
+
+The climate of Siam is more or less hot according to the latitude; only
+continual bathing can render it endurable. There are but two seasons,
+the wet and the dry. As soon as the southwest monsoon sets in, masses of
+spongy _cumuli_ gather on the summits of the western mountains, giving
+rise to furious squalls about sunset, and dispersing in peals of thunder
+and torrents of refreshing rain. From the beginning to the end of the
+rainy season, this succession of phenomena is repeated every evening.
+The monsoon from the north brings an excess of rain, and the thermometer
+falls. With the return of the dry season the air becomes comparatively
+cool, and most favorable to health; this continues from October to
+January. The dews are extremely heavy in the months of March and April.
+At dawn the atmosphere is impregnated with a thick fog, which, as the
+sun rises, descends in dews so abundant that trees, plants, and grass
+drip as from a recent shower of rain.
+
+The population of Siam is still a matter of uncertainty; but it is
+officially estimated at from six to seven millions of souls, comprising
+Siamese or Thai-Malay, Laotians, Cambodians, Peguans, Kariens, Shans,
+and Loas.
+
+Siam produces enormous quantities of excellent rice, of which there are
+forty distinct varieties; and her sugar is esteemed the best in the
+world. Her rivers and lakes abound in fish, as well as in turtles and
+aquatic birds. The exports are rice, sugar, cotton, tobacco, hemp,
+cutch, fish (salted and dried), cocoanut oil, beeswax, dried fruits,
+gamboge, cardamoms, betel-nuts, pepper, various gums and barks,
+sapan-wood, eagle-wood, rosewood, krachee-wood, ebony, ivory, raw silk,
+buffalo-hides, tiger-skins, armadillo-skins, elephants' tusks and bones,
+rhinoceros bones, turtle-shells, peacocks' tails, bird's-nests,
+king-fishers' feathers, &c.
+
+The revenue arising from duties and tolls on imported and native produce
+being mostly collected in kind, only a small part is converted into
+specie; the rest is distributed in part payment of salaries to the
+dependants of the court, whose name is legion. Princes of the blood
+royal, high officers of state, provincial governors, and most of the
+judges, receive grants of provinces, districts, villages, and farms, to
+support their several dignities and reward their services; and the
+rents, fees, fines, bribes, and sops of these assignments are collected
+by them for their own behoof. Thus, to one man are given the fees, to
+another the fines or bribes, which custom has attached to his functions;
+to others are alloted offices, by virtue of which certain imposts are
+levied; to this man the land; to another the waters of rivers and
+canals; to a third the fruit-bearing trees. But money is distributed
+with a niggard hand, and only once a year. Every officer of revenue is
+permitted to pocket, and "charge to salary," a part of all that he
+collects in taxes, fines, extortions, bribes, gifts, and "testimonials."
+
+The rulers of Laos pay to the crown of Siam a tribute of gold and silver
+"trees," rings set with gems, and chains of solid gold. The trees, which
+appear to be composed entirely of the precious metals, are really
+nothing more than cylinders and tubes of tin, substantially gilt or
+plated, designed to represent the graceful clove-tree indigenous to that
+part of the country; the leaves and blossoms, however, are of solid gold
+and silver. Each tree is planted in an artificial gilt mound, and is
+worth from five hundred to seven hundred ticals, while the chains and
+rings are decorated with large and pure rubies.
+
+The raw silk, elephants' tusks, and other rare products of Siam, are
+highly prized by the Mohammedan traders, who compete one with another in
+shipping them for the Bombay markets. They are usually put up at
+auction; and, strange to say, the auctioneers are women of the royal
+harem, the favorite concubines of the First King. The shrewd Moslem
+broker, turning a longing eye upon the precious stores of the royal
+warehouses, employs his wife, or a trusty slave, to approach this
+Nourmahal or that Rose-in-bloom with presents, and promises of generous
+premium to her whose influence shall procure for the bidder the
+acceptance of his proposal. By a system of secret service peculiar to
+these traders, the amount of the last offer is easily discovered, and
+the new bidder "sees that" (if I may be permitted to amuse myself with
+the phraseology of the Mississippi bluff-player) and "goes" a few ticals
+"better." There are always several enterprising Stars of the Harem ready
+to vary the monotony by engaging in this unromantic business; and the
+agitation among the "sealed" sisterhood, though by no means boisterous,
+is lively, though all have tact to appear indifferent in the presence of
+their awful lord. The meagreness of the royal allowance of pin-money is
+the consideration that renders the prize important in the eyes of each
+of the competitors; and yet it is strange, in all the feminine vanity
+and vexation of spirit that the occasion engenders, how little of
+jealous bitterness and heartburning is directed against the lucky lady.
+The competitors agree upon a favorable opportunity to present the
+tenders of their respective clients to his Majesty. Each selecting the
+most costly and attractive of her bribes, and displaying them to
+advantage on a tray of gold, lays the written bid on the top; or with a
+shrewd device of the maternal instinct, so fertile in pretty tricks of
+artfulness, places it in the hands of a pet child, who is taught to
+present it winningly as the king descends to his midday meal. The
+attention of his Majesty is attracted by the display of showy toys; he
+deigns to inquire as to the donors; the "sealed proposals" are
+respectfully, and doubtless with more or less coquetry, pressed upon
+him; and the matter is then and there concluded, almost invariably in
+favor of the highest bidder. This semi-romantic mode of traffic was
+gravely encouraged by his late Majesty, for the benefit of his favorites
+of the harem; and great store of produce, of the finer varieties, was
+thus disposed of in the palace.
+
+The poll-tax on the Chinese, levied once in three years, is paid in
+bullion.
+
+The annual income of the public treasury rarely exceeds the outgo; but
+whatever the state of the exchequer, and of the funds reserved for the
+service of the state, the personal resources of the monarch are always
+most abundant. Nor do the great sums lavished upon his favorites and
+children deplete, in any respect, his vast treasures, because they are
+all supported by grants of land, monopolies of market, special taxes,
+tithes, _douceurs_, and other patrimonial or tributary provisions. A
+certain emolument is also derived from the valuable mines of the
+country, though, poorly worked as they are, but small importance has as
+yet been ascribed to these as a source of revenue; yet the gold of
+Bhangtaphan is esteemed the purest and most ductile in the world. Beside
+mines of iron, antimony, gold, and silver, there are quarries of white
+marble. The extraordinary number of idols and works of art cast in metal
+seems to indicate that these mines were once largely worked; and it is
+believed that the vast quantities of gold which for centuries has been
+consumed in the construction of images and the adornment of temples,
+pagodas, and palaces, were drawn from them. The country abounds in pits,
+bearing marks of great age; and there are also remains of many furnaces,
+which are said to have been abandoned in the wars with Pegu. Mineral
+springs--copious and, no doubt, valuable--are numerous in some parts of
+the country.
+
+The exports of Siam are various and profitable; and of the raw
+materials, teak timber is entitled to the first consideration. The
+domestic consumption of this most useful wood in the construction of
+dwellings, sacred edifices, ships, and boats, is enormous; yet the
+forests traversed by the great rivers seem inexhaustible, and the supply
+continues so abundant that the variations in the price are very slight.
+The advantage the country must derive from her extensive commerce in a
+commodity so valuable may hardly be overrated.
+
+Next in importance are the native sugars, rice, cotton, and silk, which
+find their way in large quantities to the markets of China and
+Hindostan. Among other articles of crude produce may be mentioned ivory
+[Footnote: In Siam reserved as a royal appropriation.] (a single fine
+tusk being often valued at five thousand dollars), wax, lead, copper,
+tin, amber, indigo, tobacco, honey, and bird's-nests. There are also
+precious stones of several varieties, and the famous gold of
+Bhangtaphan. Forty different kinds of rice are named, but these may
+properly be reduced to four classes, the Common or table, the
+Small-grained or mountain, the Glutinous, and the Vermilion rice. From
+the glutinous rice arrack is distilled. The areca, or pinang-nut, and
+the betel, are used almost universally, chewed with lime, the
+lime,--being dyed with turmeric, which imparts to it a rich vermilion
+tint; the areca-nut is also used in dying cotton thread.
+
+The characteristic traits of the Siamese Court are _hauteur_, insolent
+indifference, and ostentation, the natural features and expression of
+tyranny; and every artifice that power and opulence can devise is
+employed to inspire the minds of the common people with trembling awe
+and devout veneration for their sovereign master. Though the late
+Supreme King wisely reformed certain of the stunning customs of the
+court with more modest innovations, nevertheless he rarely went abroad
+without extravagant display, especially in his annual visitations to the
+temples. These were performed in a style studiously contrived to strike
+the beholder with astonishment and admiration.
+
+The royal state barge, one hundred cubits long, beside being elaborately
+carved, and inlaid with bits of crystal, porcelain, mother-of-pearl, and
+jade, is richly enamelled and gilt. The stem, which rises ten or eleven
+feet from the bows, represents the _nagha mustakha sapta_, the
+seven-headed serpent or alligator. A phrasat, or elevated throne (also
+termed _p'hra-the-nang_), occupies the centre, supported by four
+pillars. The extraordinary beauty of the inlaying of shells,
+mother-of-pearl, crystal, and precious stones of every color, the
+splendor of the gilding, and the elegance of the costly kinkob curtains
+with which it is hung, combine to render this one of the most striking
+and beautiful objects to be seen on the Meinam. The barge is usually
+manned by one hundred and fifty men, their paddles gilt and
+silver-tipped.
+
+[Illustration: A ROYAL BARGE]
+
+This government reproduces, in many of its shows of power, pride, and
+ostentation, a _tableau vivant_ of European rule in the darker ages,
+when, on the decline of Roman dominance, the principles of feudal
+dependence were established by barbarians from the North. Under such a
+system, it is impossible to ascertain, or to represent by any standards
+of currency, the amount of the royal revenues and treasures. But it is
+known that the riches of the Siamese monarch are immense, and that a
+magnificent share of the legal plunder drawn into the royal treasury is
+sunk there, and never returns into circulation again. The hoarding of
+money seems to be the cherished practice of all Oriental rulers, and
+even a maxim of state policy; and that the general diffusion of property
+among his subjects offers the only safe assurance of prosperity for
+himself and stability for his throne is the last precept of prudence an
+Asiatic monarch ever learns.
+
+The armies of Siam are raised on the spur of the moment, as it were, for
+any pressing emergency. When troops are to be called out, a royal
+command, addressed to all viceroys and governors, requires them to raise
+their respective quotas, and report to a commander-in-chief at a general
+rendezvous. These recruits are clothed, equipped with arms and
+ammunition, and "subsisted" with daily rations of rice, oil, etc., but
+are not otherwise paid. The small standing army, which serves as the
+nucleus upon which these irregulars are gathered and formed, consists of
+infantry, cavalry, elephant-riders, archers, and private body-guards,
+paid at the rate of from five to ten dollars a month, with clothing and
+rations. The infantry are armed with muskets and sabres; the cavalry,
+with bows and arrows as well as spears; but the spear, which is from six
+to seven feet long, is the favorite weapon of this arm of the service,
+and they handle it with astonishing dexterity. The king's private
+body-guards are well paid, clothed, and quartered, having their stations
+and barracks within the palace walls and near the most attractive
+streets and avenues, while other troops are lodged outside.
+
+It is customary to detain the families of conscripts in the districts to
+which they belong, as prisoners on parole,--hostages for the good
+conduct of their young men in the army; and for the desertion or
+treachery of the soldier, his wife or children, mother or sisters, as
+the case may be, are tortured, or even executed, without compunction or
+remorse. The long and peaceful reign of the late king, however, has
+almost effaced from the minds of the youth of Siam the remembrance of
+such monstrous oppressions.
+
+The Siamese are but indifferent sailors, their nautical excursions being
+mainly confined to short coasting trips, or boating in safe and familiar
+channels. The more adventurous export trade is carried on almost wholly
+by foreigners. About one thousand war-boats constitute the bulk of the
+navy. These are constructed from the solid bole of the teak-tree,
+excavated partly with fire, partly with the adze; and, while they are
+commonly from eighty to a hundred feet long, the breadth rarely exceeds
+eight or nine feet, though the apparent width is increased by the
+addition of a sort of light gallery. They are made to carry fifty or
+sixty rowers, with short oars working on a pivot. The prow, which is
+solid, has a flat terrace, on which, for the king's up-country
+excursions, they mount a small field-piece, a nine or a twelve pounder.
+There are also several men-of-war belonging to the government, built by
+European engineers.
+
+The number of vessels in the merchant marine cannot be great. Dwelling
+so long in peace and security at home, the tastes and the energies of
+the Siamese people have been confirmed, by their political
+circumstances, in that inclination toward agricultural rather than
+commercial pursuits which their geographical conditions naturally
+engender. The extreme fertility of the soil, watered by innumerable
+streams, and intersected in every direction by a network of capacious
+canals (of which the Klong Yai, Klong Bangkok-noi, and Klong P'hra-
+cha-dee, are the most remarkable); the generating heats of the climate;
+the teeming plains of the upper provinces, bulwarked by mighty
+mountains; and, above all, that magnificent mother, the Meinam, winding
+in her beauty and bounty through a vast and lovely vale to the sea, in
+her course subjecting all things to the enriching and adorning influence
+of her touch,--all combine by their irresistible inducements to
+determine the native to the tilling of the ground.
+
+Nothing can be more delightful than an excursion through the country
+immediately after the subsidence of the floods. Then nature is draped in
+hues as charming as they are various, from the palest olive to the
+liveliest green; broad fields wave with tall golden spires of grain, or
+are dotted with tufted sheaves heavy with generous crops; the refreshed
+air is perfumed with the fragrance of the orange, lemon, citron, and
+other tropical fruits and flowers; and on every side the landscape is a
+scene of lovely meadows, alive with flocks and herds, and busy with
+herdsmen, husbandmen, and gardeners.
+
+The most considerable of the many canals by which communication is
+maintained with all parts of the country is Klong Yai, the Great Canal,
+supposed to have been begun in the reign of Phya Tâk. It is nearly a
+hundred cubits deep, twenty Siamese fathoms broad, and forty miles long.
+Bangkok has been aptly styled "the Venice of the Orient"; for not only
+the villages thickly studding the banks of the Meinam, but the remoter
+hamlets as well, even to the confines of the kingdom, have each its own
+canals. In fact, the lands annually inundated by the Mother of Waters
+are so extensive, and for the most part lie so low, and the number of
+water-ducts, natural and artificial, is so great, that of all the
+torrents that descend upon the country in the months of June, July, and
+August (when the whole land is as a sea, in which towns and villages
+show like docks connected by drawbridges, with little islets between of
+groves and orchards, whose tops alone are visible), not a tithe ever
+returns to the ocean.
+
+The modern bridges of Siam, which are mostly of iron in the European
+style, are made to be drawn for the passage of the King's barge, since
+the royal head may not without desecration pass under anything trodden
+by the foot of man. The more ancient bridges, however, are of stone and
+brick; and here and there are strange artificial lakes, partly filled up
+with the debris of temples that once stood on their banks. Of roads
+there are but few that are good, and all are of comparatively recent
+construction.
+
+
+
+
+XXIX. THE RUINS OF CAMBODIA.--AN EXCURSION TO THE NAGHKON WATT.
+
+
+
+[Footnote: The Cambodian was, without doubt, in its day, one of the most
+powerful of the empires of the East. As to its antiquity, two opinions
+prevail,--one ascribing to it a duration of 1,300 years, the other of
+2,400. The native historians reckon 2,400 years from the building of the
+Naghkon Watt, or Naghkon Ongkhoor; but this computation, not agreeing
+with the mythological traditions of the country, which date from the
+Year of the World 205, is not accepted as authentic by the more learned
+Cambodians.]
+
+
+Our journey from Bangkok to Kabin derived its memorable interest from
+those features and feelings which join to compose the characteristic
+romance of Eastern travel by unhackneyed ways,--the wild freedom of the
+plain, the tortuous, suspicious mountain track, the tangled jungle, the
+bewildering wastes and glooms of an unexplored region, with their
+suggestions of peril and adventure, and especially that glorious
+participation in the enlargement and liberty of an Eastern wanderer's
+life which these afford. Once you begin to feel that, you will be happy,
+whether on an elephant or in a buffalo-cart,--the very privations and
+perils including a charm of excitement all unknown to the formal
+European tourist.
+
+The rainbow mists of morning still lay low on the plain, as yet unlifted
+by the breeze that, laden with odor and song, gently rocked the higher
+branches in the forest, as our elephants pressed on, heavily but almost
+noiselessly, over a parti-colored carpet of wild-flowers. Strange birds
+darted from bough to bough among the wild myrtles and limes, and great
+green and golden lizards gleamed through the shrubbery as we approached
+Siemrâp.
+
+The more extensive and remarkable ruins of Cambodia seem concentrated in
+this part of the country, though they are by no means confined to it,
+but are found widely scattered over the neighboring territories.
+
+From Sisuphon we diverged in a northeasterly direction, and at evening
+found ourselves in the quaint, antique town of Phanomsôk, half ruined
+and deserted, where the remains of a magnificent palace can still be
+traced.
+
+The country between Cambodia and Siam is an inclined plane falling off
+to the sea, beginning from the Khoa Don Rèke, or highlands of Korat,
+which constitutes the first platform of the terraces that gradually
+ascend to the mountain chain of Laos, and thence to the stupendous
+Himalayas.
+
+Khoa Don Rèke ("the Mountain, which Bears on the Shoulders," the
+Cambodian Atlas) includes in its domain the Dong Phya Fai ("Forest of
+the Lord of Fire"), whence many tributary streams flow into the
+beautiful Pachim River.
+
+At sunrise next morning we resumed our journey, and after a long day of
+toiling through treacherous marshes and tangled brushwood came at sunset
+upon an object whose presence there was a wonder, and its past a
+puzzle,--a ridge or embankment of ten or twelve feet elevation, which,
+to our astonishment, ran high and dry through the swampy lowlands. In
+the heart of an interminable forest it stretches along one side of the
+tangled trail, in some places walling it in, at others crossing it at
+right angles; now suddenly diving into the depths of the forest, now
+reappearing afar off, as if to mock our cautious progress, and invite us
+to follow it. The eye, wistfully pursuing its eccentric sweep, suddenly
+loses it in impenetrable shadows. There is not a vestige of any other
+ruin near it, and the long lines it here and there shows, ghostly white
+in the moonlight, seem like spectral strands of sand.
+
+Our guides tell us this isolated ridge was once the great highway of
+ancient Cambodia, that it can be traced from the neighborhood of Nohk
+Burree to Naghkon Watt, and thence to the very heart of Cochin China;
+and one assures us that no man has ever seen the end of it.
+
+So on we went, winding our devious way over pathless ground, now diving
+into shady valleys, now mounting to sunny eminences where the breeze
+blew free and the eye could range far and wide, but not to find aught
+that was human. Gradually the flowering shrubs forsook us, and dark
+forest trees pressed grimly around, as we traversed the noble stone
+bridges that those grand old Cambodians loved to build over
+comparatively insignificant streams. The moon, touching with fantastic
+light the crumbling arches and imparting a charm of illusion to the
+scene, the clear spangled sky, the startling voices of the night, and
+the influence of the unknown, the mysterious, and the weird, overcame us
+like a dream. Truly there is naught of the commonplace or vulgar in this
+land of ruins and legends, and the foretaste of the wonders we were
+about to behold met our view in the great bridges.
+
+Taphan Hin ("the Stone Bridge") and the finer and more artistic Taphan
+Thevadah ("the Angel's Bridge") are both imposing works. Arches, still
+resting firmly on their foundations, buttressed by fifty great pillars
+of stone, sup-port a structure about five hundred feet long and eighty
+broad. The road-bed of these bridges is formed of immense blocks or
+beams of stone, laid one upon another, and so adjusted that their very
+weight serves to keep the arches firm.
+
+In a clearing in the forest, near a rivulet called by the Cambodians
+_Sthieng Sinn_ ("Sufficient to our Need"), we encamped; and, having
+rested and supped, again followed our guides over the foaming stream,
+and recrossed the Stone Bridge on foot, marvelling at the work of a race
+of whose existence the Western nations know nothing, who have no name in
+history, yet who builded in a style surpassing in boldness of
+conception, grandeur of proportions, and delicacy of design, the best
+works of the modern world,--stupendous, beautiful, enduring!
+
+The material is mostly freestone, but a flinty conglomerate appears
+wherever the work is exposed to the action of the water.
+
+Formerly a fine balustrade crowned the bridge on both sides, but it has
+been broken down. The ornamental parts of these massive structures seem
+to have been the only portions the invading vandals of the time could
+destroy.
+
+The remains of the balustrade show that it consisted of a series of long
+quarry stones, on the ridges of which caryatidian pillars, representing
+the seven-headed serpent, supported other slabs grooved along the rim
+to receive semi-convex stones with arabesque sculptures, affording a
+hint of ancient Cambodian art.
+
+On the left bank we found the remains of a staircase leading down to the
+water, not far from a spot where a temple formerly stood.
+
+Next morning we crossed the Taphan Teph, or Heavenly Bridge,--like the
+Taphan Hin and the Taphan Thevadah a work of almost superhuman magnitude
+and solidity.
+
+Leaving the bridges, our native pilots turned off from the ancient
+causeway to grope through narrow miry paths in the jungle.
+
+On the afternoon of the same day we arrived at another stone bridge,
+over the Paleng River. This, according to our guides, was abandoned by
+the builders, because the country was invaded by the hostile hordes who
+destroyed Naghkon Watt. Slowly crumbling among the wild plantains and
+the pagan lotoses and lilies, these bridges seem to constitute the sole
+memorial, in the midst of that enchanting desolation, of a once proud
+and populous capital.
+
+From the Paleng River, limpid and cheerful, a day's journey brought us
+to the town of Siemrâp; and, after an unnecessary delay of several
+hours, we started with lighter pockets for the ruins of Naghkon Watt.
+
+Naghkon, or Ongkoor, is supposed to have been the royal city of the
+ancient kingdom of Cambodia, or Khaimain, of which the only traditions
+that remain describe in wild extravagances its boundless territory; its
+princes without number who paid tribute in gold, silver, and precious
+stuffs; its army of seventy thousand war elephants, two hundred thousand
+horsemen, and nearly six millions of foot soldiers; and its royal
+treasure-houses covering "three hundred miles of ground." In the heart
+of this lonely region, in a district still bearing the name of Ongkoor,
+and quite apart from the ruined temples that abound hard by, we found
+architectural remains of such exceeding grandeur, with ruins of temples
+and palaces which must have been raised at so vast a cost of labor and
+treasure, that we were overwhelmed with astonishment and admiration.
+
+What manner of people were these?
+
+Whence came their civilization and their culture?
+
+And why and whither did they disappear from among the nations of the
+earth?
+
+The site of the city is in itself unique. Chosen originally for the
+strength of its position, it yet presents none of the features which
+should mark the metropolis of a powerful people. It seems to stand aloof
+from the world, exempt from its passions and aspirations, and shunning
+even its thrift. Confronting us with its towering portal, overlaid with
+colossal hieroglyphics, the majestic ruin, of the watt stands like a
+petrified dream of some Michael Angelo of the giants--more impressive in
+its loneliness, more elegant and animated in its grace, than aught that
+Greece and Home have left us, and addressing us with a significance all
+the sadder and more solemn for the desolation and barbarism which
+surround it.
+
+Unhappily, the shocks of war, seconding the slowly grinding mills of
+time, have left but few of these noble monuments; and slowly, but
+ruthlessly, the work of destruction and decay goes on.
+
+Vainly may we seek for any chronicle of the long line of monarchs who
+must have swayed the sceptre of the once powerful empire of Maha
+Naghkon. Only a vague tradition has come down, of a celestial prince to
+whom the fame of founding the great temple is supposed to belong; and of
+an Egyptian king, who, for his sacrilege, was changed into a leper. An
+interesting statue, representing the latter, still stands in one of the
+corridors,--somewhat mutilated, but sufficiently well preserved to
+display a marked contrast to the physical type of the present race of
+Cambodians.
+
+The inscriptions with which some of the columns are covered are
+illegible; and if you question the natives as to the origin of Naghkon
+Watt, they will tell you that it was the work of the Leper King, or of
+P'hra-Inn-Suen, King of Heaven, or of giants, or that "it made itself."
+
+These magnificent edifices seem to have been designed for places of
+worship rather than of royal habitation, for nearly all are Buddhist
+temples.
+
+The statues and sculptures on the walls of the outer corridor are in
+alto relievo, and generally life-size. The statue of the Leper King, set
+up in a sort of pavilion, is moderately colossal, and is seated in a
+tranquil and noble attitude; the head especially is a masterpiece, the
+features being classic and of manly beauty.
+
+Approaching the temple of Ongkoor, the most beautiful and best preserved
+of these glorious remains, the traveller is compensated with full
+measure of wonder and delight for all the fatigues and hardships of his
+journey. Complete as is the desolation, a strange air of luxury hangs
+over all, as though the golden glow of sunshine amid the refreshing
+gloom were for the glory and the ease of kings.
+
+At each angle of the temple are two enormous lions, hewn, pedestal and
+all, from a single block. A flight of stone steps leads up to the first
+platform of terraces. To reach the main entrance from the north
+staircase we traverse a noble causeway, which midway crosses a deep and
+wide moat that seems to surround the building.
+
+The main entrance is by a long gallery, having a superb central tower,
+with two others of less height on each side. The portico of each of the
+three principal towers is formed by four projecting columns, with a
+spacious staircase between. At either extremity are similar porticos,
+and beyond these is a very lofty door, or gateway, covered with gigantic
+hieroglyphs, where gods and warriors hang as if self-supported between
+earth and sky. Then come groves of columns that in girth and height
+might rival the noblest oaks. Every pillar and every part of the wall is
+so crowded with sculptures that the whole temple seems hung with
+petrified tapestry.
+
+On the west side, the long gallery is flanked by two rows of almost
+square columns. The blank windows are cut out of the wall, and finished
+with stone railings or balconies of curiously twisted columns; and the
+different compartments are equally covered with sculptures of subjects
+taken from the Ramayâna. Here are Lakshman and Hanuman leading their
+warriors against Rawana,--some with ten heads, others with many arms.
+The monkeys are building the stone bridge over the sea. Rama is seen
+imploring the aid of the celestial protector, who sits on high, in grand
+and dreamy contemplation. Rama's father is challenging the enemy, while
+Rawana is engaged in combat with the leader of the many-wheeled
+chariots. There are many other figures of eight-handed deities; and all
+are represented with marvellous skill in grouping and action.
+
+[Illustration: Ruins of the Naghkon Watt.]
+
+The entire structure is roofed with tiers of hewn stone, which is also
+sculptured; and remains of a ceiling may still be traced. The
+symmetrical wings terminate in three spacious pavilions and this
+imposing colonnade, which, by its great length, height, and harmonious
+proportions, is conspicuous from a great distance, and forms an
+appropriate vestibule to so grand a temple.
+
+Traversing the building, we cross another and finer causeway, formed of
+great blocks of stone carefully joined, and bordered with a handsome
+balustrade, partly in ruins, very massive, and covered with sculptures.
+
+On either side are six great platforms, with flights of steps; and on
+each we find remains of the seven-headed serpent,--in some parts
+mutilated, but on the whole sufficiently preserved to show distinctly
+the several heads, some erect as if guarding the entrance, others drawn
+back in a threatening attitude. A smaller specimen is nearly perfect and
+very beautiful.
+
+We passed into an adytum, wardered by gigantic effigies whose mystic
+forms we could hardly trace; above us that ponderous roof, tier on tier
+of solid stone, upheld by enormous columns, and incrusted with strange
+carvings. Everywhere we found fresh objects of wonder, and each new
+spot, as we explored it, seemed the greatest wonder of all.
+
+In the centre of the causeway are two elegant pavilions with porticos;
+and at the foot of the terrace we come upon two artificial lakes, which
+in the dry season must be supplied either by means of a subterranean
+aqueduct or by everlasting springs.
+
+A balustrade not unlike that of the causeway, erected upon a sculptured
+basement, starts from the foot of the terrace and runs quite round the
+temple, with arms, or branches, descending at regular intervals.
+
+The terrace opens into a grand court, crowded with a forest of
+magnificent columns with capitals, each hewn from a single block of
+stone. The basement, like every other part of the building, is
+ornamented in varied and animated styles; and every slab of the vast
+pile is covered with exquisite carvings representing the lotos, the
+lily, and the rose, with arabesques wrought with the chisel with
+astonishing taste and skill. The porticos are supported by sculptured
+columns; and the terraces, which form a cross, have three flights of
+steps, at each of which are four colossal lions, reclining upon
+pedestals.
+
+The temple is thus seen to consist of three distinct parts, raised in
+terraces one above the other. The central tower of the five within the
+inner circle forms an octagon, with four larger and four smaller sides.
+On each of the four larger faces is a colossal figure of Buddha, which
+overlooks from its eminence the surrounding country.
+
+This combination of four Buddhas occurs frequently among the ruins of
+Cambodia. The natives call it _P'hra Mook Bulu_ ("Lord of Four Faces"),
+though not only the face, but the whole body, is fourfold.
+
+A four-faced god of majestic proportions presides over the principal
+entrance to the temple, and is called Bhrama, or, by corruption,
+_Phrâm_, signifying divine protection.
+
+As the four cardinal points of the horizon naturally form a cross,
+called "phram," so we invariably find the cross in the plan of these
+religious monuments of ancient Cambodia, and even in the corridors,
+intersecting each other at right angles. [Footnote: The cross is the
+distinctive character and sign for the Doctors of Reason in the
+primitive Buddhism of Kasyapa.] These corridors are roofed with great
+blocks of stone, projecting over each other so as to form an arch, and,
+though laid without cement, so accurately adjusted as to leave scarcely
+a trace of the joinings. The galleries of the temple also form a
+rectangle. The ceilings are vaulted, and the roofs supported by double
+rows of columns, cut from a single block.
+
+There are five staircases on the west side, five on the east, and three
+on each of the remaining sides. Each of the porticos has three distinct
+roofs raised one above the other, thus nobly contributing to the
+monumental effect of the architecture.
+
+In some of the compartments the entire space is occupied with
+representations of the struggle between angels and giants for possession
+of the snake-god, Sarpa-deva, more commonly called _Phya Naghk_. The
+angels are seen dragging the seven-headed monster by the tail, while the
+giants hold fast by the heads. In the midst is Vishnu, riding on the
+world-supporting turtle.
+
+The most interesting of all the sculptures at Naghkon Watt are those
+that appear to represent a procession of warriors, some on foot, others
+mounted on horses, tigers, birds, and nondescript creatures, each chief
+on an elephant at the head of his followers. I counted more than a
+thousand figures in one compartment, and observed with admiration that
+the artist had succeeded in portraying the different races in all their
+physical characteristics, from the flat-nosed savage, and the
+short-haired and broad-faced Laotian, to the more classic profile of the
+Rajpoot, armed with sword and shield, and the bearded Moor. A panorama
+in life-size of the diverse nationalities, it yet displays, in the
+physical conformation of each race, a remarkable predominance of the
+Hellenic type--not in the features and profiles alone, but equally in
+the fine attitudes of the warriors and horsemen.
+
+The bass-reliefs of another peristyle represent a combat between the
+king of apes and the king of angels, and if not the death, at least the
+defeat, of the former. On an adjoining slab is a boat filled with
+stalwart rowers with long beards,--a group very admirable in attitude
+and expression. In fact, it is in these bass-reliefs that the greatest
+delicacy of touch and the finest finish are manifest.
+
+On the south side we found representations of an ancient military
+procession. The natives interpret these as three connected allegories,
+symbolizing heaven, earth, and hell; but it is more probable that they
+record the history of the methods by which the savage tribes were
+reclaimed by the colonizing foreigners, and that they have an intimate
+connection with the founding of these monuments.
+
+One compartment represents an ovation: certain personages are seen
+seated on a dais, surrounded by many women, with caskets and fans in
+their hands, while the men bring flowers and bear children in their
+arms.
+
+In another place, those who have rejected the new religion and its
+priests are precipitated into a pit of perdition, in the midst of which
+sits the judge, with his executioners, with swords in their hands, while
+the guilty are dragged before him by the hair and feet. In the distance
+is a furnace, and another crowd of "infidels" under punishment. But the
+converted (the "born again") are conducted into palaces, which are
+represented on the upper compartments. In these happier figures the
+features as well as the attitudes denote profound repose, and in the
+faces of many of the women and children one may trace lines of beauty
+and tender grace.
+
+[Illustration: Sculptures of the Naghkon Watt.]
+
+On the east side a number of men, in groups on either hand, are in the
+act of dragging in contrary directions the great seven-headed dragon.
+One mighty angel watches the struggle with interest, while many lesser
+angels float overhead. Below is a great lake or ocean, in which are
+fishes, aquatic animals, and sea-monsters.
+
+On another panel an angel is seated on a mountain (probably Mount Meru),
+and other angels, with several heads, assist or encourage those who are
+contending for possession of the serpent. To the right are another
+triumphal procession and a battle scene, with warriors mounted on
+elephants, unicorns, griffins, eagles with peacocks' tails, and other
+fabulous creatures, while winged dragons draw the chariots.
+
+On the north side is another battle-piece, the most conspicuous figure
+being that of a chief mounted on the shoulders of a giant, who holds in
+each hand the foot of another fighting giant. Near the middle of this
+peristyle is a noble effigy of a royal conqueror, with long flowing
+beard, attended by courtiers with hands clasped on their breasts. These
+figures are all in _alto relievo_, and well executed.
+
+The greater galleries are connected with two smaller ones, which in turn
+communicate with two colonnades in the form of a cross; the roofs of
+these are vaulted. Four rows of square columns, each still hewn from a
+single block, extend along the sides of the temple. These are covered
+with statues and bass-reliefs, many of the former being in a state of
+dilapidation which, considering the extreme hardness of the stone,
+indicates great age, while others are true _chefs-d'oeuvre_.
+
+The entire structure forms a square, and every part is admirable both in
+general effect and detail. There are twelve superb staircases, the four
+in the middle having from fifty to sixty steps, each step a single slab.
+At each angle is a tower. The central tower, larger and higher than the
+others, communicates with the lateral galleries by colonnades, covered,
+like the galleries themselves with a double roof. Opposite each of the
+twelve staircases is a portico with windows resembling in form and
+dimensions those described above.
+
+In front of each colonnade connected with the tower is a dark, narrow
+chapel, to which there is an ascent of eight steps; each of these
+chapels (which do not communicate with each other) contains a gigantic
+idol, carved in the solid wall, and at its feet another, of the same
+proportions, sleeping.
+
+This mighty pile, the wondrous Naghkon Watt, is nearly three miles in
+circumference; the walls are from seventy to eighty feet high, and
+twenty feet thick.
+
+We wandered in astonishment, and almost with awe, through labyrinths of
+courts, cloisters, and chambers, encountering at every turn some new
+marvel, unheard of, undreamed of, until then. Even the walls of the
+outer courts were sculptured with whole histories of wars and conquests,
+in forms that seemed to live and fight again. Prodigious in size and
+number are the blocks of stone piled in those walls and towers. We
+counted five thousand and three hundred _solid_ columns. What a mighty
+host of builders must that have been! And what could have been their
+engines and their means of transport, seeing that the mountains from
+which the stone was quarried are nearly two days' journey from the
+temple?
+
+All the mouldings, sculptures, and bass-reliefs seem to to have been
+executed after the walls and pillars were in their places; and
+everywhere the stones are fitted together in a manner so perfect that
+the joinings are not easy to find. There is neither mortar nor mark of
+the chisel; the surfaces are as smooth as polished marble.
+
+On a fallen column, under a lofty and most beautiful arch, we sat, and
+rested our weary, excited eyes on the wild but quiet landscape below;
+then slowly, reluctantly departed, feeling that the world contains no
+monument more impressive, more inspiring, than, in its desolation, and
+yet wondrous preservation, the temple of Maha Naghkon Watt.
+
+Next morning our elephants bore us back to Siemrâp through an avenue of
+colonnades similar to that by which we had come; and as we advanced we
+could still descry other gates and pillars far in the distance, marking
+the line of some ancient avenue to this amazing temple.
+
+
+
+
+XXX. THE LEGEND OF THE MAHA NAUGKON
+
+[Footnote: Translated from a MS. presented to the author by the Supreme
+King of Siam.]
+
+
+Many hundreds of thousands of years ago, when P'hra Atheitt, the
+Sun-god, was nearer to earth than he is now, and the city of the gods
+could be seen with mortal eyes,--when the celestial sovereigns, P'hra
+Indara and P'hra Insawara, came down from Meru, the sacred mountain, to
+hold high converse with mortal kings, sages, and heroes,--when the moon
+and the stars brought tidings of good-will to men, and wisdom
+flourished, love and happiness were spread abroad, and sorrow,
+suffering, disease, old age, and death were almost banished,--there
+lived in Thaisiampois a mighty monarch whose years could hardly be
+numbered, so many were they and so long. And yet he was not old; such
+were the warmth and strength and vigor imparted by the near glories of
+the P'hra Atheitt, that the span of human life was lengthened unto a
+thousand, and even fifteen hundred years. The days of the King Sudarsana
+had been prolonged beyond those of the oldest of his predecessors, for
+the sake of his exceeding wisdom and goodness. But yet this King was
+troubled; he had no son, and the thought of dying without leaving behind
+him one worthy to represent his name and race was grievous to him. So,
+by the advice of the wise men of his kingdom, he caused prayers and
+offerings to be made in all the temples, and took to wife the beautiful
+Princess Thawadee.
+
+At that very time P'hra Indara, ruler of the highest heaven, dreamed a
+dream; and behold! in his sleep a costly jewel fell from his mouth to
+the lower earth; whereat P'hra Indara was troubled. Assembling all the
+hosts of heaven, the angels, and the genii, he showed them his dream,
+but they could not interpret it. Last of all, he told it to his seven
+sons; but from them likewise its meaning was hidden. A second time P'hra
+Indara dreamed, and yet a third time, that a more and more costly jewel
+had fallen from his lips; and at last, when he awoke, the interpretation
+was revealed to his own thought,--that one of his sons should condescend
+to the form of humanity, and dwell on the earth, and be a great teacher
+of men.
+
+Then the King of Heaven imparted to the celestial princes the meaning of
+the threefold vision, and demanded which of them would consent to become
+man.
+
+The divine princes heard, and answered not a word; till the youngest and
+best-beloved of Heaven opened his lips and spake, saying: "Hear, O my
+Lord and Father! I have yearned toward the race thou hast created out of
+the fire and flame of thy breast and the smoke of thy nostrils. Let me
+go unto them, that I may teach them the wisdom of truth."
+
+Then P'hra Indara gave him leave to depart on his mission of love; and
+all the hosts of heaven, knowing that he should never more gladden their
+hearts with his presence, accompanied him, sorrowful, to the foot of
+Mount Meru; and immediately a blazing star shot from the mount, and
+burst over the palace of Thaisiampois.
+
+That night the gracious Princess Thawadee conceived and became with
+child, and the P'hra Somannass was no longer a prince of the highest
+heaven.
+
+The Princess Thawadee had been the only and darling daughter of a mighty
+king, and still mourned her separation from her beloved sire. Her only
+solace was to sit in the phrasat of the Grand Palace, and look with
+longing toward her early home. Here, day after day, she sat with her
+maidens, weaving flowers, and singing low the songs of her childhood.
+When this became known abroad among the multitude, they gathered from
+every side to behold one so famed for her goodness and beauty.
+
+Thus by degrees her interest was aroused. She became thoughtful for her
+people, and presently found happiness in dispensing food, raiment, and
+comfort to the poor who flocked to see her.
+
+One day, as she was reposing in the porch after her customary
+benefactions, a cloud of birds, flying eastward, fell dead as they
+passed over the phrasat. The sages and soothsayers of the court were
+terrified. What might the omen be? Long and anxious were their counsels,
+and grievous their perturbations one with another; until at last an aged
+warrior, who had conquered many armies and subjugated kingdoms,
+declaring that as faithful servants they should lay the weighty matter
+before their lord, bade all the court follow him, and approached his
+sovereign, saying:--
+
+"Long live P'hra Chow P'hra Sudarsana, lord and king of our happy land,
+wherefrom sorrow and suffering and death are wellnigh banished! Let him
+investigate with a true spirit and a clear mind the matter we bring for
+judgment, even though it be to the tearing out of his own heart and
+casting it away from him."
+
+"Speak," said the King, "and fear not! Has it ever been thought that
+evil is dearer unto me than good? Even to the tearing out of my heart
+and casting it to dogs shall justice be rendered in the land."
+
+Then the sages, soothsayers, and warriors spake as with one voice: "It
+is well known unto the lord our King, that the Queen, our lovely lady
+Thawadee, is with child.
+
+"But what manner of birth, is this that she has conceived, in that it
+has already brought grief and death into the land? For as the Queen sat
+in the porch of the temple, a great flight of birds that hastened,
+thirsty, toward the valleys of the east, when they would have passed
+over the phrasat were struck dead, as by an unseen spirit of mischief.
+Let the King search this matter, and put away the strange thing of evil
+out of our land, lest it make a greater sorrow."
+
+When the King heard these words, he was sore smitten, and hung down his
+head, and knew not what to say; for the Queen, so gentle and beautiful,
+was very dear to him. But, remembering his royal word, he shook off his
+grief and took counsel with his astrologers, who had foretold that the
+unborn prince would prove either a glorious blessing or a dire curse to
+the land. And now, by the awful omen of the birds, they declared that
+the Queen had conceived the evil spirit Kala Mata, and that she must be
+put to death, she and the fiend with her.
+
+Then the King in council commanded that the sweet young Thawadee should
+be set upon a floating raft, and given to the mercy of winds and waves.
+
+But the brave chief who should have executed the sentence, overcome on
+beholding her beauty and innocence, interceded for her with the council;
+and it was finally decreed that, for pity's sake, and because the Queen
+was unconscious of any evil, she should not be slain, but "put away,"
+after the dreadful birth. To this the stricken monarch thankfully
+agreed.
+
+In due time the Queen was delivered of a male child, so beautiful that
+it filled all beholders with delight. His eyes were as sunshine, his
+forehead like the glow of the full moon, his lips like clustered roses,
+and his cry like the melody of many instruments; and the Queen loved
+him, and comforted herself with his beauty.
+
+When the mother was strong again, the infant prince being then about a
+month old, the sentence of the council was carried into effect, and the
+poor princess and her child were banished forever from the beloved land
+of Thaisiampois.
+
+Clasping her baby to her breast, she went forth, terrified and stunned.
+On and on, not knowing whither, she wandered, pressing her sleeping babe
+to her bosom, and moaning to the great gods above.
+
+Then P'hra Indara, king of highest heaven, came down to earth, assumed
+the form and garb of a Bhramin, and followed her silently, shortening
+the miles and smoothing the rough places, until she reached the bank of
+a deep and rapid stream. Here, as she sat down, faint and foot-sore, to
+nurse her babe, there came to her a grave and venerable pilgrim, who
+gently questioned her sorrows and comforted her with thrilling words,
+saying her child was born to bring peace and happiness to earth, and not
+trouble and death.
+
+Quickly Thawadee dried her tears, and consented to be led by the good
+old man, who had come to her as if from heaven. From under his garment
+he produced a shell filled with food from paradise, of which she partook
+with ecstasy; and gave her to drink water from everlasting springs, that
+overflowed her soul with perfect peace. Then he led her to a mountain,
+and prepared in the cleft of a rock a hiding-place for her and her
+child, and left her with a promise of quick return.
+
+For fifty years she dwelt in the cave, knowing neither trouble nor
+weariness nor hunger, nor any of the ills of life. The young Somannass,
+as the good Bhramin had named him, grew to be a youth of wondrous
+beauty. The melody of his voice tamed the wild creatures of the forest,
+and charmed even the seven-headed dragons of the lake in which his
+mother bathed him every morning. Then again P'hra Indara appeared to
+them in the form and garb of the aged Bhramin; and he rejoiced in the
+strength and beauty of the young Somannass, and his heart yearned after
+his beloved son. But, hiding his emotion, he held pleasant converse with
+the Queen, and begged to be permitted to take the boy away with him for
+a season. She consented; and instantly, as in a flash of lightning, he
+transported the prince into the highest heaven, and Somannass found
+himself seated on a glorious throne by the side of P'hra Indara the
+Divine, before whom the hosts of heaven bowed in homage.
+
+Here he was initiated in all the mysteries of life and death, with all
+wisdom and foresight. His celestial royal father showed him the stars
+coursing hither and thither on their errands of love and mercy; showed
+him comets with tails of fire flashing and whizzing through the
+centuries, spreading confusion and havoc in their path; showed him the
+spirits of rebellion and crime transfixed by the spears of the
+Omnipotent. He heard the music of the spheres, he tasted heavenly food,
+and drank of the river that flows from the footstool of the Most
+Highest.
+
+And so he forgot the forlorn Queen, his mother, and desired to return to
+earth no more.
+
+Then P'hra Indara laid his hand upon the brow of the lad, and showed him
+the generations yet to come, rejoicing in his prayers and precepts; and
+Somannass, beholding, stretched his arms to the earth again. And P'hra
+Indara promised to build him a palace hardly less grand and fair than
+the heavenly abode, a temple which should be the wonder of the world, a
+stupendous and everlasting monument of his love to men.
+
+So Somannass returned to the Queen, his mother; and P'hra Indara sent
+down myriads of angels, with Phya Kralewana, chief of angels, to build a
+dwelling fit for the heavenly prince. In one night it was done, and the
+rising sun shone on domes like worlds and walls like armies. And because
+the seven-headed serpent, Phya Naghk, had shown the way to the mines of
+gold and silver and iron, and the quarries of marble and granite, the
+grateful builders laid the sign of the serpent on the foundations,
+terraces, and bridges; but on the walls they left the effigy of the
+Queen Thawadee, the beautiful and bountiful lady.
+
+Then swift-winged angels flew to heaven, and, returning, brought fruits
+and flowers the most curious and exquisite; and immediately there
+bloomed a garden there, of such ravishing loveliness and perfume that
+the gods themselves delighted to visit it. Also they filled the great
+stables with white elephants and chargers. And then the angels
+transported Thawadee and Somannass to their new abode, the fame of which
+was so spread abroad that the great King Sudarsana, with all his court,
+and followers without number, and all his army, came to see it. And
+great was their astonishment to find again the fair and gentle Thawadee,
+who thus was reunited to her husband; and he took up his abode with her,
+and they lived together in love.
+
+But the Prince Somannass built temples, and preached, and taught the
+people, and healed their infirmities, and led them in the paths of
+virtue and truth.
+
+And the fame of his wisdom and goodness flew through all the lands, so
+that many kings became willing vassals unto him; but there came from a
+far-off country, where the heavens drop no rain, but where one great
+river suddenly floods the plains and then shrinks back into itself like
+a living thing, a king of lofty stature and exceeding craft. And the
+Prince Somannass was gracious toward him, and showed him many favors.
+But his heart was black and bad, and he would have turned the pure heart
+of the prince to worship the dragon and other beasts; wherefore
+Somannass changed him into a leper, and cast him out of his palace, and
+caused a stone statue to be made of him, which stands to this day, a
+warning to all tempters and evil-doers. And he caused the face of the
+great P'hra Indara to be carved on the north and on the south and on the
+east and on the west--so that all men might know the true God, who is
+God alone in heaven, Sevarg-Savan!
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE ENGLISH GOVERNESS AT THE SIAMESE COURT ***
+
+This file should be named 8678-8.txt or 8678-8.zip
+
+Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we usually do not
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
+even years after the official publication date.
+
+Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our Web sites at:
+https://gutenberg.org or
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
+Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
+eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
+can get to them as follows, and just download by date.  This is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext05 or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext05
+
+Or /etext04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92,
+91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.   Our
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If the value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text
+files per month:  1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+
+We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):
+
+eBooks Year Month
+
+    1  1971 July
+   10  1991 January
+  100  1994 January
+ 1000  1997 August
+ 1500  1998 October
+ 2000  1999 December
+ 2500  2000 December
+ 3000  2001 November
+ 4000  2001 October/November
+ 6000  2002 December*
+ 9000  2003 November*
+10000  2004 January*
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
+and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
+Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
+Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
+Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
+Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
+Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
+Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
+
+We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
+that have responded.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
+will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
+Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+In answer to various questions we have received on this:
+
+We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
+request donations in all 50 states.  If your state is not listed and
+you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
+just ask.
+
+While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
+not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
+donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
+donate.
+
+International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
+how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
+deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
+ways.
+
+Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
+
+ PROJECT GUTENBERG LITERARY ARCHIVE FOUNDATION
+ 809 North 1500 West
+ Salt Lake City, UT 84116
+
+Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
+method other than by check or money order.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
+the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
+[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154.  Donations are
+tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law.  As fund-raising
+requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
+made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information online at:
+
+https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from. If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this eBook,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     eBook or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the eBook (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only
+when distributed free of all fees.  Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by
+Michael S. Hart.  Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be
+used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be
+they hardware or software or any other related product without
+express permission.]
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END*
+
diff --git a/8678-8.zip b/8678-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e7f64d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/8678-8.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..de598df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #8678 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8678)