thinks of resenting an upset: he tosses his bark into the air, and it comes down quite dry; he then gets in, and proceeds as if nothing had happened. Of course the whole population—men, women, and children—can swim as easily as walk, and never think of being drowned.

These boats, whatever their size, are hollowed out of a single tree, so that the largest are never so broad that more than two can sit abreast, though some are from 30 to 40 feet in length. The royal balons used on state occasions are from 60 to 80 feet long, and about four broad. A high prow and poop fastened on the ends cause them to rise boldly to a considerable height, while in the middle they are not more than two feet above the water. These are highly ornamented with various devices, carved in the wood, and gilt; and in the centre of the boat there is a canopy hung with silk curtains, and capable of covering but one or two persons. The rest of the vessel is entirely occupied by the rowers, often forty or fifty in number. An eye-witness thus describes the aquatic procession of a CochinChinese embassy to Siam in these singular conveyances :

'About a week after the ambassador's arrival at Pak-nam, which is at the mouth of the river, the preparations for conveying him to the capital were completed by the Siamese government. We had now an opportunity of seeing those royal barges which so highly excited M. Chaumont's admiration nearly two centuries ago, and the pattern of which seems to have undergone little change. The weather was particularly calculated to display a procession of this kind to advantage. First came four long-boats, with numerous rowers in red jackets and conical caps of the same colour; then six richly-ornamented barges, each containing forty rowers, and furnished with gilded canopies, under which the assistants and suite of the ambassador were seated. In the centre of the procession was one with a conical canopy, magnificently curtained, and this contained the ambassador bearing the letter of the Cochin-Chinese monarch. Behind were balons similar in number and appearance to those which went before, making in all about twenty vessels. The rapidity of their movements, the regularity with which the numerous rowers raised and lowered their paddles, guided by the shrill notes of a song that might well be deemed barbarous, together with the grotesque forms, the brilliant colours, the gilded canopies, the showy attire of the men, and the loud exclamations of the spectators, gave to the transient scene an effect not easily described.'

This, however, was a comparatively small array: at the reception of the French embassy there were seventy or eighty balons, containing nearly 3000 souls.

When the British government in India sent Mr Crawford as ambassador to this court he was received with no such honour. It would seem that his Siamese majesty considered that the Marquis of Hastings, governing India as the representative of his Britannic Majesty, was a functionary whose ambassador could not possibly be worthy of the respect due to one coming directly from a crowned head. The following is in substance the account given by the gentlemen who composed this mission of their audience with the king:

'After our arrival at Bankok, several days were spent in negotiating with the ministers about the ceremonies to be observed at the presentation

at court, as the feelings of British subjects recoiled from the idea of servile prostration. It was at length agreed that the ambassador and his principal officers should take off their shoes at the door of the hall of audience; and that, on appearing in the royal presence, we should make a bow in the English manner, after which we were to take the seats pointed out to us, and make three salutations by folding the hands together, and raising them to the forehead. Above all, we were to be sure to bend our legs backwards under us, and take care that no portion of our lower extremities should meet the sacred view of his Siamese majesty.

'At half-past eight on the morning of the day appointed, a twelve-oared barge, furnished by the court, with the rowers dressed in scarlet uniforms, received the gentlemen of the mission to convey them to the palace; another contained their Indian attendants; and the sepoys of the escort were conveyed in the ship's launch. When we landed under the walls of the palace we found an immense concourse of people assembled to view the spectacle. The accommodation for conveying us from the boats consisted of palanquins, which were simply net - hammocks, furnished with an embroidered carpet, and hung upon two poles, carried by two men. On entering the second enclosure of the palace we were obliged to dismiss our military escort, and part with our side-arms; and at the third we had to put off our shoes, and leave behind our Indian attendants.

'Immediately within the hall of audience there was an immense Chinese screen, which concealed the interior of the apartment. On taking a few steps round it, however, we found ourselves suddenly in the presence of majesty. The hall was wide, lofty, and well-aired, apparently about sixty or eighty feet in length, and of proportionate breadth; the ceilings and walls painted chiefly in the forms of wreaths and festoons of various colours. The floor was covered with carpets of different hues and patterns. Twenty handsomely-painted wooden pillars, disposed in two rows, formed a kind of avenue from the door to the throne, which was at the farther end of the hall, and was veiled by a pair of very large curtains, extending across the whole breadth of the apartment, and composed of gilded tissue upon yellow cloth. In front were to be seen a number of singular ornaments, each consisting of a series of canopies or umbrellas, decreasing in size npwards, so as to form a cone, and all richly fringed with gold. Some had as many as seventeen tiers.

'Every foot of the hall was covered with prostrate courtiers, of whom every one, from the heir-apparent to the lowest officer, had his place assigned according to his rank. On our entrance the curtains were drawn aside, and about two yards behind it we perceived an arched niche about twelve feet above the floor. An obscure light was cast upon it evidently for effect; and in this was placed the throne, which was gilded all over, and had much the appearance of a handsome pulpit. Here sat the king, immovable as a statue, his eyes directed forwards, and his posture and general appearance corresponding exactly with the images of Buddha. He wore a gown or jacket of gold tissue with sleeves, a sceptre was placed near him, but his head was bare, and there was no appearance of a crown. The throne was hung round with the same sort of cloth that composed the curtains in front, but neither about the monarch nor his ministers did we observe jewels, pearls, or precious stones. On the floor at the

base of the throne large and elegant fans were waving, moved by persons behind the curtain.

'The whole multitude in the hall lay prostrate on the ground, their mouths almost touching it; not a limb moved, not an eye was turned toward us, not a whisper was breathed. The whole scene bespoke a temple crowded with religious votaries engaged in a solemn act of worship rather than the audience-chamber of an earthly monarch. Freeborn Britons naturally viewed it with mingled wonder and indignation.

'Shortly after we had performed our salutations as agreed on, the silence was broken by a voice behind the curtain reading aloud a list of the presents which had accompanied our credentials. The more portable part of these were to be seen on the left of the throne, for it is customary in Siam to acknowledge the gifts which a visitor has sent before him by exhibiting them at the first interview.

'The king now put several general questions to the ambassador; they were addressed in a grave, measured, and oracular tone, and were passed in whispers from one attendant to another till they reached the interpreter behind us, who delivered them in the Malay language, and transmitted the answers in a similar manner. The interview lasted about twenty minutes, when the king rose and turned as if to depart, and the curtains, moved by some unseen agency, closed on the throne. This was followed by a flourish trumpets, and a wild shout from the people, who immediately knocked their heads six times on the floor, after which the princes and ministers assumed a sitting posture.'

The Siamese consider funeral rites of the greatest importance, and the only honourable mode of disposing of the dead is burning. Malefactors, persons who die very suddenly, or of smallpox, and females enceinte, are excluded from this honour, and buried, because the mode of their death is considered indicative of their being under divine malediction. Children who die before the period of dentition are deemed of too little consequence to incur so much expense, and the bodies of the very poor are thrown into the river with little ceremony. Some, who hope for better times, bury their friends in the meantime, and as soon as they can afford it they exhume and burn them.

People of rank preserve the bodies of their relations for a longer or shorter period, according to their station, and embalm them after the imperfect knowledge they have of this process, bringing the body into the attitude of devotion; that is, kneeling with the hands folded and raised to the face. At the end of the allotted time it is carried to the precincts of a temple, where the pile has been prepared beneath a lofty shed of a pyramidal form. As the body approaches it is received by the priests, who conduct it towards the pile, saying: 'The body is mortal; may thy soul ascend to heaven, even as the flame rises upwards!'

"The coffin and bier together,' says Mr Finlayson, describing a funeral which he witnessed, 'were at least seven feet high, and wore a gay and lightsome aspect. The bier was covered with white cloth, and a white canopy, ornamented with fresh jessamine flowers, surmounted the richlygilded coffin.

"The first ceremony was the reading of passages from the Bali books, during which the place was crowded with talapoins of all ages, who appeared

to pay no attention whatever to the religious solemnities, but flocked around our party, exhibiting the greatest curiosity and familiarity. The reading being over, the priests dismantled the coffin and bier, the cloths being their own perquisites; and the body was washed by one of the secular attendants.

'The demeanour of the relatives was grave and decorous, but no expression of grief escaped from any of them, except one, who might well be called the chief mourner. She was the favourite daughter of the deceased; dressed in mourning—that is, in white—with her head shaved, and apparently in real distress, weeping bitterly at the sight of the corpse. The bier was now covered with wet earth, on which a heap of dry fuel was laid. The body was replaced in the coffin, and carried three times round the pile by the male relatives of the deceased, followed by the favourite daughter, uttering loud lamentations. It was then placed on the pile, a number of wax-tapers and incense-rods were distributed to the bystanders, and a priest, ejaculating a prayer, put the first light to the wood. The rest followed, and ourselves among the number, for we had been offered tapers,

and invited to join in the ceremony. As soon as the first flame ascended the daughter began to distribute money among the aged female recluses belonging to the establishment. Meanwhile, the male relations standing on each side of the pile tied part of their clothes in a bundle, and tossed them over it six times, taking great care not to let them fall to the ground. We could not learn the meaning of this fantastic performance, but it closed the ceremony.'

After the burning is completed, the fragments of bone are carefully collected, reduced to a paste, and formed into a small image of Buddha, which, after being gilded and finished by the priests, is either preserved by the relatives in their own dwelling or placed in one of the temples.

VIII.

Historic Records-Prospects of Siam.

The few leading facts of Siamese history which have been collected by Europeans are soon told. The earliest is the introduction of the Buddhist religion from Ceylon, which took place about the year 638. From that period till the present they reckon sixty-one reigns, which would give somewhat less than the European estimate for the average length of each reign. The early seat of government was at Lakoutai, on the borders of Lao; and Yuthia or Siam, the late capital, was founded in 1350 by the twenty-seventh king. Early in the sixteenth century we find the first notice of Siamese affairs by the Portuguese, some adventurers of this nation having conquered Malacca in 1511, and established friendly relations with Siam. About a century afterwards the Portuguese viceroy of Goa sent an embassy to this country, and the Dominican and Franciscan monks soon afterwards made their way into the kingdom.

About the year 1684 Constantine Phaulcon, one of the inferior servants of the East India Company, absconded in their debt, and so ingratiated himself with the Siamese king that he obtained possession of considerable

property belonging to the Company at Siam. Still further, this man, the son of an innkeeper at Cephalonia, was raised to the office of phra-klang or foreign minister of state. Probably through his influence, as well as the tactics of the Jesuits, his Siamese majesty was induced to send an embassy to Louis XIV., whose vanity was of course flattered, as Voltaire remarks, by such a compliment from a sovereign who had hitherto been ignorant of the very existence of France. In the same year Siamese ambassadors arrived in London, and concluded a commercial treaty with this country. Soon afterwards Louis XIV. sent the Chevalier Chaumont, at the head of a splendid embassy, to Siam, instructing him that he was to consider the conversion of the king to Christianity as the main object in view, and even urging the subject in his own letter to his majesty. The wily Phaulcon, in reply, delivered a message as from his royal master, expressing his thanks for the kind solicitude of the French monarch, but at the same time declining any change of the national religion as a thing that would be attended with insuperable difficulties.

Two years later, Louis XIV. sent a second embassy with a small fleet and five hundred soldiers. This was headed by La Loubere, who spent several months in Siam, and took much pains to make himself acquainted with the genius and manners of the people. But the French, through want of moderation in the beginning of their intercourse, and of energy, decision, and political courage in the sequel, missed the opportunity thus opened for establishing an empire in the East. In a revolution which took place in 1690, the reigning family lost the throne, the minister Phaulcon his life, and the French were expelled from the country. About the same time our connection with it was also dissolved. In 1687 there was a general massacre of the English at the port of Morgin, occasioned apparently by their own misconduct, and soon afterwards the factory which had existed for some time at Yuthia was finally abandoned.

From the date of these occurrences till the year 1767 there appears to have been no diplomatic intercourse between Siam and Europe, and the commercial negotiations were very inconsiderable. Meanwhile the Burmese found a pretext for war; they took the capital by assault and ravaged the country without mercy. The reigning king was slain, and his principal officers condemned to slavery. Stranger than all, in a people professing the same religion, the conquerors destroyed the temples, tortured or murdered the priests, and carried off the brazen images. The conquest of the country might be said to be entire; but the Siamese were not disposed to submit, and only waited the appearance of a leader to inspire them with hope and courage to shake off the hateful yoke.

Pe-ya-tai (often written Piatac), the son of a wealthy Chinese by a Siamese slave, had been brought up as a menial in the palace of the king, but had afterwards been intrusted with the government of a province, which he conducted with great credit to himself, at the same time that he amassed considerable wealth. During the ravages of the Burmans he had secured his riches in a remote quarter, and when famine supervened among the people, he fed the starving multitudes, and exhorted them to make an effort for their own deliverance. They rallied round his standard, and he led them on from victory to victory till the hostile bands were expelled, and his grateful followers proclaimed him their king. He chose Bankok