work, and a mat or two spread upon the floor, the difference of position upwards or downwards may be distinctly traced. Removed from the Removed from the very lowest ranks, in the Siamese houses will be found carpenters' tools, a moveable oven, various cooking utensils both in copper and clay, spoons of mother-of-pearl, plates and dishes in metal and earthenware, a large porcelain jar, and another of copper for fresh water. There is also a tea-set, and all the appliances for betel-chewing and tobacco-smoking, some stock of provisions and condiments for food.

A sauce called nam-phrik is used by all classes in Siam. It is prepared by bruising a quantity of red pepper in a mortar, to which are added kapi (paste of shrimps or prawns), black pepper, garlic, and onions. These being thoroughly mixed, a small quantity of brine and citron-juice is added. Ginger, tamarinds, and gourd seeds are also employed. The nam-phrik is one of the most appetite-exciting condiments.

The Siamese prepare considerable quantities of curry as their habitual food. These are generally so hot that they burn the mouth of a European. I recollect one of the Regents complaining bitterly that a sore mouth deprived him of the pleasures of the table: the wonder to me was that a sound mouth could tolerate such ardent comestibles as he habitually used. One of the eel tribe furnishes a material for fish curry which is specially esteemed-an eel said to be singularly sagacious, for it opens its mouth near holes where the currents of water pass, which convey to its gullet without other care or con

MEALS OF THE SIAMESE.

109

cern,-it being among the privileged who "while waiting are served,"-a supply all-sufficient for its appetite.

Fish, in the early stages of putridity, is mixed with a variety of exciting substances, such as capsicums and chillies, mynth, sprouts of the mango, the orange and citron trees, cocoa-nut milk, sugar: lard and pork fat are used to modify the stronger flavours.

The Siamese have learnt from the Chinese the art of salting and preserving eggs, which, in their estimate, rather improve than deteriorate by time. The egg is covered with a thick paste of ashes and lime. Eggs so prepared may be sent on long voyages, and have become a considerable article of export to California and other places.

The tables of the opulent are crowded with a succession of dishes. In our intercourse with the high authorities, it was their purpose to entertain us in European style-and wonderfully well did they succeed. On one occasion, however, I requested the Krom Hluang (King's brother) to give us a genuine Siamese repast. On arriving, we found the table spread in the accustomed and approved EuropeanOriental style, with an abundance of plate, glasses, wines, soups, fish, roasted and boiled meat, horsd'œuvres, with a variety of pastry, jellies, &c.; but, apart, the Prince had provided what he called a Siamese dinner for one, and I imagine the succession of dishes could have been scarcely less than sixty or seventy. He said he wished to gratify my curiosity, but that courtesy required him to entertain me according to the usages of my country, and not of Siam.

The ordinary meals of the Siamese are at 7 A.M. and 5P.M., but the more opulent classes have a repast at mid-day. The guests help themselves out of a common dish with spoons or with their fingers, using or not small earthenware plates which are before them.

Of the meals of the Siamese, Bishop Pallegoix says, "The Thai take their repasts seated on a mat or carpet. The dishes are in great brazen vases with a cover, over which a red cloth is placed; the meat is cut into small pieces, and the rice is kept apart in a large deep porringer on one side of the floor, while a great basin of water is on the other, having in it a drinking-cup. The guests have neither knives nor forks, but use a mother-of-pearl spoon to dip into the various dishes, of which after having eaten a sufficiency, they drink pure water or tea. To help themselves one after another from the same plate, to drink one after another from the same cup, has nothing strange. The husband is served at table by his wife. Social repasts are always silent, and seldom last more than a quarter of an hour. But no interruptions are permitted during meals, even in the case of dependents or slaves."*

Tea is nearly as generally used as in China. Coffee has made its way among the opulent classes. Arak is manufactured by the Chinese, and consumed furtively by the Siamese, though sobriety is certainly one of the virtues of the national character: but where a passion for strong drinks once takes pos

Pallegoix, i. 217-8.

session of a Siamese, it becomes irresistible, and almost invariably leads to his own perdition and the impoverishment of his family.

The Siamese, in cooking their rice, wash it four or five times, and place it in a pot or kettle filled with water: after boiling about three minutes, the water is poured out, the pot is placed upon a slow fire, where the rice is steamed without being burnt; its flavour is preserved; the different grains do not adhere to one another, or stick to the fingers when eaten. Rice is used by the poor as the main aliment of life; by the opulent, as an accompaniment to their meals, as bread in Europe. Glutinous rice is employed either in flour or grains; a favourite cake is thus prepared: the rice is cooked without water or steam; it is then sprinkled with condiments consisting of ginger and other spices; it is divided into small parcels, which are wrapped up in plantain leaves, and in twenty-four hours a sweet and vinous liquor exudes, when the cake is fit for eating: if kept longer they become intoxicating, and if distilled produce arak, which, subject to re-distillation, gives a strong and fragrant drink.

The-use of opium has greatly extended in Siam during the last thirty years. Its consumption among the Siamese has been prohibited by a severe edict of the King,* imposing heavy fines and degrading punishments on those who indulge in so pernicious a practice. It is farmed by a Chinese of great opulence, who has been raised to the rank of nobility;

* See Appendix.

and the annual importation is now about twelve hundred chests, most of which is smoked by the Chinese settlers. The fatal consequences of the habitual use of this drug is a frequent subject of representation from the Siamese priests, and the Catholic and Protestant missionaries; but to prevent its introduction and its consumption would seem to be beyond the powers of legislation, and perhaps the legalization of its import is a lesser evil than to allow an unlawful and irrepressible trade to extend itself, as it has done in China, where the native cultivation of the poppy must be allowed to afford strong evidence that the repeated injunctions against the dealers in and smokers of opium are not to be attributed wholly to a desire to prevent its use. The strong argument against the abolition of the opium farm is, that it is better that the trade should be under than beyond the control of the Government.

The seeds and leaves of the hemp are used as in India and Arabia,† and produce effects of exhilaration and depression resembling those caused by opium-smoking.

A nobleman never moves about without the bearer of his areca-box-the box called a xrob. Some of these are of solid gold, ornamented with jewels, and are among the customary presents of the King to the higher nobles. When a Siamese sits down, the xrob-bearer deposits it on the ground, so near that his master can conveniently reach it. It is in constant requisition.

On all state, ceremonial, or official occasions, a + Khashish.

* Bang.