books, among the Buddhists. It may well be questioned whether it is wise and prudent to fling them to all the winds, as our missionaries fling their seed,' in the hope that some will fall into good ground and bring forth a hundred-fold.' No such seeds have hitherto fallen-no such good ground has yet welcomed those seeds. I doubt not the ultimate prevalence of truth-of Christian as of all other truth; but it is impossible to close one's eyes to the sad-the very sad, but most undoubted fact, that, spite of sacrifices the most heroic, zeal the most devoted, liberality the most unbounded, little, almost nothing, has been done. I ask not the discontinuance of missionary labours, but the calm consideration of the causes of failure-of the incredibly small returns for immensely great exertions.'

But the present King of Siam, before his accession to the throne, had been on friendly terms with the missionaries, and had gained through them his knowledge of the English language and Western sciences. Upon his accession he assured the missionaries and other foreigners of his protection.

The principal interest of the kingdom of Siam is confined to Bangkok. The approach to the city and the scene on the river are thus described:

The approach to Bangkok is equally novel and beautiful. The Meinam is skirted on the two sides with forest-trees, many of which are of a green so bright as to defy the powers of art to copy. Some are hung with magnificent and fragrant flowers; upon others are suspended a variety of tropical fruits. Gay birds, in multitudes, are seen on the branches in repose, or winging their active way from one place to another. The very sandbanks are full of life; and a sort of amphibious fish are flitting from the water, to be lost among the roots of the jungle-wood. On the stream all varieties of vessels are moving up and down, some charged with leaves of the atap palm, which at once adorn and cause them to be wafted by the wind along the water. A few huts of bamboo, with leaved roofs, are seen; and in the neighbouring creeks, the small boats of the inhabitants are moored. Here and there is a floating house, with Chinese inscriptions on scarlet or other gay-coloured paper; and at greater distances from one another are temples adjacent to the river, whose priestly occupants, always clad in yellow garments, their heads shaven bare, and holding a palm-leaf fan between their faces and the sun, sit in listless and unconcerned vacancy, or affected meditation, upon the rafts or railings which skirt the shore.

'But the houses thicken as you proceed; the boats increase in number; the noise of human voices becomes louder; and, one after another, pyramidical temples, domes, and palaces are seen towering above the gardens and forests. Over the perpetual verdure, so emeraldbright, roofs of many-coloured adornings sparkle in the sun. Sometimes white walls are visible, through whose embrasures artillery is peeping; multitudes of junks grotesquely and gaily painted, whose

Bangkok described—the King.

447 gaudy flags are floating in the breezes; each junk with the two great eyes which are never wanting in the prow; (No have eyes, how can see?' say the Chinese ;) square-rigged vessels, most of which carry the scarlet flag with the white elephant in the centre; while, on both sides of the river, a line of floating bazaars, crowded with men, women, and children, and houses built on piles along the banks, present all the objects of consumption and commerce. Meanwhile, multitudes of ambulatory boats are engaged in traffic with the various groups around. If it be morning, vast numbers of priests will be seen in their skiffs on the Meinam, with their iron pot and scrip, levying their contributions of food from the well-known devotees, who never fail to provide a supply for the multitudinous mendicants (if mendicants they can be called), whose code alike prohibits them from supplicating for alms, and from returning thanks when those alms are given.

'Seldom is music wanting to add to the interest of the scene. The opulent Siamese have invariably bands of musicians in their service; -the gongs of the Chinese, the sweet pipes of the Laos, the stringed and wind instruments of the native population, seem never still.

The city of Bangkok extends along the banks of the Meinam a distance of several miles, estimated from 50,000 to half a million, so imperfect are Oriental statistics. My impression, without any accurate means of knowledge, is that the population somewhat exceeds 300,000. Pallegoix says that it may be estimated at above 400,000 composed of

Sir John Bowring thus describes his reception by the King:In my reception by the King, I occupied a cushion in the centre, and in an exact line with the Prakalahom, or prime minister,-the minister for foreign affairs being one grade below. Etiquette requires that communications shall be made by an interpreter (and an attendant scribe recording all that passes) to the minister for foreign affairs, who conveys the words of the ambassador to the King; and the King's answer is returned through the same channel. The hall would, probably, contain two or three hundred dignitaries.

At the time of my reception, the governors of all the provinces adjacent to the capital were invited to attend. All wore their robes of ceremony, more or less splendid according to their rank. A passage was left in the centre of the hall, through which I walked, attended by my suite, and the captains and officers of Her Majesty's ships Grecian and Rattler; and we took our seats in the most advanced

position ever accorded to a foreign ambassador, or to the highest functionary not of the royal race. . .

'In the case of M. de Chaumont, in the time of Louis XIV., the presents from the King of France to the King of Siam were ostentatiously exhibited, and made a prominent subject in the ambassador's address. Knowing that such offerings are associated in the Oriental mind with the idea of tribute, I made no reference to a present from the Queen of England, consisting of a diamond watch, writing-ease, &c., which lay on the floor for presentation to the King; and I explained to his Majesty, privately, my reasons for avoiding the accustomed usage, which his Majesty very graciously appreciated,as, indeed, in all my relations with him, when I had occasion to convey to him the motives of my conduct, he was invariably willing to accept those explanations, and to assure me that he should attribute my proceedings not to any want of respect for himself, but to my sense of the duties I owed to my sovereign and my country. . . .

"There is a house in the palace, which has the inscription Royal Pleasure, in English, and characters in Sanscrit with the same meaning. This house is fitted up, for the most part, in European style, and is filled with various instruments, philosophical and mathematical; a great variety of Parisian clocks and pendules, thermometers, barometers, telescopes, microscopes, statues,-among which I remarked those of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, nearly of the size of life, in their Court costumes; pictures of celebrated individuals, a considerable collection of books, copying-machines, handsome writing-desks. . . .

"The apartments of the females of the Royal Family are still further in the interior of the palace. In these more secluded places, no less than three thousand females are reputed to have their abode, among whom six hundred are called the wives or concubines of the King; the remaining two thousand four hundred being either ladies charged with official functions within the palace, or slaves and attendants upon the persons of the King's harem. It is said, there are beautiful gardens attached to the ladies' apartments; and there is a vast collection of treasures in gold, silver, precious stones, rich ornaments, and costly garments, distributed in various parts of the interior.'

Around the person of the King everything, however exalted elsewhere, is in a state of the most entire and reverential prostration. No one dares stand in the royal presence, or look upon the King's countenance. The reverence accorded to him, is that elsewhere accorded to the Divinity. He is master not only of the persons, but really of the property of his subjects. The present King was taught Latin by the French Catholic missionaries, principally by Pallegoix. English he began in 1845, principally availing himself of the United States missionaries. The late King had seven hundred wives.

The institution of a second King is one of the peculiarities of the Siamese usages. He is not charged with religious, as dis

The Harem-the Prime Minister.

449

tinguished from the civil functions of government, but exercises a species of secondary or reflected authority, the limits of which are not clearly defined. He is generally a brother or near relation of the King. The present Second King is a legitimate brother of the First King, a cultivated and intelligent gentleman, writing and speaking English with great accuracy.

One-third of the population of Siam are in the condition of slaves. The price of a slave varies according to age and sex: a fullgrown man is worth from eighty to one hundred and sixty ticals. The slavery to which these people are subjected is that of field labour; and on the whole, Bishop Pallegoix says they are treated kindly, and are better off than the domestic servants of Europe..

Of the present Prime Minister of Siam, Sir John Bowring gives a very high character. He thus speaks of him :

"His sagacity, his activity, his boldness, his directness of purpose and consistency of action, excited my admiration from my first intercourse, and that feeling was only strengthened by more intimate acquaintance. Whether called by the name of craft or cunning-but, after all, what is the highest wisdom but the best craft and cunning? -whether the object was selfish or patriotic, whether motives unworthy were concealed under conduct the most praiseworthy, I know not, and care not to know; but I deemed it a great privilege to have found such a Prime Minister at Bangkok, and I wish many a civilized nation were as well off for such public servants.

'He is one of the most candid persons in an argument, readily and frankly admitting the removal of a difficulty when he sees it has been explained.'

Our readers may have heard that the white elephant is held in extreme reverence at Siam. Sir John Bowring thus explains the cause of this :

'The real cause of the reverence in which the white elephant is held, is that he is supposed to be the incarnation of some future Buddha, and will therefore bring blessings on the country which possesses so great a treasure. Hence the white elephant is sought with intense ardour, the fortunate finder rewarded with honours, and he is treated with attention almost reverential. This prejudice is traditional, and dates from the earliest times. When a tributary king, or governor of a province, has captured a white elephant, he is directed to open a road through the forest for the comfortable transit of the sacred animal; and when he reaches the Meinam, he is received on a magnificant raft, with a chintz canopy, and garlanded with flowers. He occupies the centre of the raft, and is pampered with cakes and sugar....

'He wears a kind of diadem on his head, and gold rings on his tusks; he is served in golden vessels, and fed on sugar-cane and delicious fruits.

'When he goes to bathe, a numerous cortège accompanies him; one keeps time with music, and another holds over him the red parasol of state, used only by high dignitaries. His officers may not withdraw from his presence without a profound salutation; when sick, the King's physicians attend him, and talapoins visit him, to pray for his cure and sprinkle him with holy water. In spite of all these attentions, the white elephant is often in bad humour, and many a time would have killed the talapoins if they had not kept a respectful distance from the trunk and tusks of his lordship. The one kept at present is so intractable, that they have been obliged to cut off his tusks. Every evening he is entertained with music until his excellency goes to sleep. When he dies, the King and Court are in great affliction, and give him funeral honours according to his rank.'

Military science, judged of by any European standard, has not made much progress among the Chinese. Though frequently engaged in war with their neighbours, they are not a warlike nation. We extract a portion of what Sir John Bowring remarks on the army:

"Each division of the army has its silk or cloth banner, generally decorated with lions, dragons, or fabulous monsters. The royal flag has a white elephant on a scarlet ground, surrounded by a white edge. Every soldier has a piece of bamboo suspended from his neck, which he fills with water whenever he finds the opportunity; and he replenishes his sack and supplies his wants by indiscriminate pillage whenever his small provision of rice is exhausted.

It is said that the Siamese have been able to gather together armies of from two to three hundred thousand men, with some thousands of horses and a thousand elephants, to act against the Cambodians, Birmans, and other neighbouring enemies. But the last campaign which was undertaken against the Laos tribes was by no means fortunate; and, as far as I could learn from an English officer who accompanied it, the war was carried on in utter disregard of all intelligent strategy, and rather resembled the maraudings of wild tribes than any well-planned purpose.'

Of the marine, he says:

The Siamese marine consists of five hundred war-junks, and twenty square-rigged vessels: the latter are mostly under the command of Europeans. In the course of a few years, the nautical habits of the Siamese, encouraged by the presence of foreigners, will probably lead to the creation of a powerful navy-powerful as compared with any possessed by their neighbours.'

The second volume contains an account of the dependencies upon Siam, comprised in fifty-five pages, from which we find it impossible to make a single extract.