CHAPTER IV.

MANNERS, CUSTOMS, SUPERSTITIONS, AMUSEMENTS.

I

HAVE collected some extracts from the writings

of the earlier historians and travellers in Siam, whose narratives still retain much of their interest from the fact that the habits and customs of the Siamese have undergone few changes from the time of the first intercourse of Europeans down to the present hour.

Van Schenten, who lived, as he says, eight years in Siam, and wrote his memoirs in 1636, gives the following account of the King and the Government at that time existing:

"The King of Siam is quite absolute in his States; he is of an ancient and noble family, which has long ruled over the country. On important state occasions, it is customary for him to communicate his intentions to some of the higher nobility, called mandarins these mandarins assemble other officers, to whom they communicate the propositions made by the King, and all unite to consider the answer or remonstrance they shall send. Much respect is paid to the sovereign; he disposes of all the offices of the State, without regard to the birth of those on whom he bestows them: as, however, he takes places away for the smallest fault, his subjects serve him with the submission of slaves.

"His train is magnificent; he seldom appears in public, and even the highest nobles see him but seldom, and on certain appointed days. Upon the days of audience, his palace is richly adorned: the King seated on his throne, and all the nobility of the country kneeling before him with crossed hands and bowed heads: his guard is composed of three hundred men; his answers are received as oracles, and his orders exactly obeyed. Besides the Queen, he has a number of concubines chosen from among the most beautiful maidens of the country. He keeps a good table, but his religion forbids him to take wine, brandy, and strong potations, so that his ordinary beverage is water or cocoa-nut milk: the people would be greatly scandalized did their sovereign or his chief officers fail to observe this law.

"Sometimes he goes upon the river in barges, each of which has from eighty to one hundred rowers, besides the praos of the King, of which there are seven or eight. He is followed by three or four hundred others, holding the nobles: in the midst of each boat is a gilded pavilion, in which one may sit; and in this manner the King is frequently followed by fourteen or fifteen hundred persons. When he goes by land, it is in a gilded chair carried on men's shoulders: his guard, and those who compose the Court, follow in order, keeping entire silence, and all who meet them in the way are obliged to fall prostrate before them. Every year, during the month of October, he shows himself to his people-one day in a procession by water, another by land, when he

THE KING OF SIAM.

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repairs to the principal temples, followed by his whole Court; two hundred elephants lead the procession, each having three armed men, and followed by a band playing on musical instruments, trumpeters, and a thousand foot-soldiers well armed. The nobles follow, some among them having as many as eighty or one hundred followers; after them follow two hundred Japanese soldiers, the King's body-guard, his riding-horses and his elephants; then the officials of the Court, who carry fruit or other offerings to the idols; after them, the highest nobility, some of whom are even crowned: one of them bears the royal standard, another a sword, which is the emblem of justice. His Majesty then appears on a throne placed upon an elephant's back, surrounded by persons carrying parasols, and followed by the heirapparent. His ladies follow upon elephants, but in closed chairs, which screen them from sight: six hundred men close the procession, which usually consists of fifteen or sixteen thousand. When the King goes by water, two hundred nobles head the procession, each in his own barge, with from sixty to eighty rowers; four boats filled with musicians follow, and fifty richly-ornamented royal barges. After these come ten very magnificent barges, covered with gold even to the oars. The King is seated on a throne in the most splendid of the barges; on the fore part of the vessel one of the nobles bears the royal standard: the Prince and the King's ladies follow, with their suite: I reckoned four hundred and fifty boats in all. The people repair to the banks of the river, with joined hands and drooping heads,

showing the utmost respect and veneration for their sovereign. His revenue is several millions, drawn principally from the rice (which grows abundantly in this country), sapan wood (used as a red dye), tin, saltpetre, and lead; only the royal factors being allowed to sell these productions to foreigners, as also the gold, which they wash from the sand, and that which they procure from the mines. There are taxes upon foreign merchandize, governors and vassal princes paying tribute. He has also large profits from commerce with China and the Coromandel coast, which gives him at least two hundred catties of silver annually. There are many officials who collect these taxes, and the profits are usually applied to the building of idol temples, the surplus being put into the treasury of the Prince, who is supposed to be very rich. On the death of the King, his eldest brother succeeds; when he has no brothers, his eldest son should he have several brothers, they succeed one another according to seniority. Women do not succeed. The established rule is frequently set aside; the Princes who are most popular frequently rendering themselves masters of the State.

"The reigning King has thus usurped the throne, and has put to death his competitors, the better to secure to himself the possession of the empire. There is a written law, and a council of twelve judges, over which a thirteenth presides, regulates all civil and criminal affairs. There are other jurisdictions subordinate to the council, whose affairs are directed by attorneys and advocates, in the lengthy way which is customary in Holland: when an affair has

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been investigated, it is written as a procès verbal or narration, and sealed up, to be opened in the Council of Twelve. In criminal cases, when the crime is not fully proved, there are many ways of discovering the truth: sometimes the informer is obliged to plunge into the water and remain there; others are forced to walk barefoot over burning coals, to wash their hands in boiling oil, or to eat charmed rice. Sometimes two poles are fixed in the water; the two parties plunge in, and the one who remains longest between the poles gains his law-suit. When forced to walk over burning coals, a man presses their shoulders: if they get across without being burned, their innocence is considered proved. As to the charmed rice, it is prepared by the law doctors, who also give it to the counsel: if he can swallow it, he is pronounced innocent, and his friends bring him back in triumph, his accuser being punished severely: the last proof is the most usual of all. This prince has Mahometan and Malay soldiers in his service; but the Japanese are the most esteemed for their courage, and the Kings of Siam have always employed them as their principal force.

"The present King had become jealous of them, and put to death all of that nation who were found. in his kingdom; but they have again settled there for some time. The Siamese were in the army without pay a twentieth or a hundredth part of the people accorded to the King's wants; he provides officers to command them: besides this, the nobles maintain a number of soldiers who serve them in time of war. The King can put under arms one hundred thousand