SIAMESE LIFE AND CUSTOMS
The impression which most travellers in Siam have received in regard to
the moral characteristics of the people has been generally favorable,
and is on the whole confirmed by the judgment of foreigners who have
been longer resident among them. They have, of course, the defects and
vices which are to be expected in a half savage people, governed through
many generations by the capricious tyranny of an Oriental despotism. And
the climate and natural conditions of the country are not suited to
develop in them the hardier and nobler virtues. Industry and
self-sacrifice can hardly be looked for as characteristics of people to
whom nature is so bountiful as to require of them no exertion to provide
either food or raiment. And, on the other hand, with the sloth and
inactivity to which nature invites, the animal passions, by indulgence,
often become fierce and overmastering. But it seems to be agreed that if
the Siamese lack the industry and economy of their neighbors, the
Chinese, they have not the passionate and sometimes treacherous
character of the Malays. To the traveller they seem inoffensive, almost
to timidity, and with a more than ordinary share of "natural affection."
One of the Roman Catholic missionaries, quoted in Bowring, says,
"Parents know how to make themselves extremely beloved and respected,
and Siamese children have great docility and sweetness. Parents answer
to princes for the conduct of their children; they share in their
chastisements, and deliver them up when they have offended. If the son
takes flight, he never fails to surrender himself when the prince
apprehends his father or his mother, or his other collateral relations
older than himself, to whom he owes respect." Bowring himself testifies
that "of the affection of parents for children and the deference paid by
the young to the old, we saw abundant evidence in all classes of
society. Fathers were constantly observed carrying about their offspring
in their arms, and mothers engaged in adorning them. The king was never
seen in public by us without some of his younger children near him; and
we had no intercourse with the nobles where numbers of little ones were
not on the carpets, grouped around their elders, and frequently
receiving attention from them."
[Illustration: SIAMESE WOMEN.]
The large sums frequently expended in the decoration of the little
children with anklets and bracelets and necklaces and chains of gold
(often hundreds of dollars in value and constituting their sole
costume), are another proof of the same parental fondness. The great
beauty of the children has attracted the notice of almost all
travellers, and they seem as amiable as they are beautiful. Their skins
are colored with a fine powder, of a deep, golden color, and an aromatic
smell. "In the morning, Siamese mothers may be seen industriously
engaged in _yellowing_ their offspring from head to heel. So universal
is the custom, that in caressing the children of the king or nobles, you
may be certain to carry away yellow stains upon your dress. A small
quantity mingled with quick-lime makes a paste of a bright pink color,
of which the consumption is so large for spreading on the betel-leaves
which are used to wrap around the areca-nut, that I have seen whole
boat-loads moving about for sale amidst the floating bazaars on the
Meinam. This _curcuma_ or Indian saffron is known to be the coloring
matter in the curries, mulligatawnies and chutnees of India"--and is
thus seen to be available for the inside as well as the outside of men.
The relations between the sexes seem to be characterized by propriety
and decorum; and though polygamy is permitted and practised by the
higher classes, and divorce is easy and somewhat frequent, yet, "on the
whole," says Bowring, "the condition of woman is better in Siamese than
in most Oriental countries. The education of Siam women is little
advanced. Many of them are good musicians, but their principal business
is to attend to domestic affairs. They are as frequently seen as men in
charge of boats on the Meinam. They generally distribute alms to the
bonzes, and attend the temples, bringing their offerings of flowers and
fruit. In the country they are busied with agricultural pursuits. They
have seldom the art of plying the needle, as the Siamese garments almost
invariably consist of a single piece of cloth."
Of the acuteness and wit of a people, the best evidence is to be found
in their familiar proverbs, and the following may be cited (from
Bowring) in illustration of their shrewd sense and Chinese aptitude for
seizing nature's hints.
[Illustration: SIAMESE ROPE-DANCER.]
"When you go into a wood, do not forget your wood-knife.
"An elephant though he has four legs may slip; and a doctor is not
always right.
"Go up by land, you meet a tiger; go down by water, you meet a
crocodile.
"If a dog bite you, do not bite him again."
Between the luxury and splendor of the king's court and the poverty of
the common people there is of course the greatest and most painful
contrast. The palaces of the king are filled with whatever the wealth
and power of their owner can procure. The hovels of the common peasants
are bare and comfortless, the furniture consisting only of a few coarse
vessels of earthenware or wicker-work, and a mat or two spread upon the
floor. In houses of a slightly better class will be found carpenter's
tools, a movable oven, various cooking utensils, both in copper and
clay, spoons of mother-of-pearl, plates and dishes in metal and
earthenware, and 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.
Probably the most reliable witnesses to the true character of the
Siamese are those Protestant missionaries whose lives are passed in
intimate association with the people and devoted to doing them good.
From a recent book written by one of these, Miss M. L. Cort,[10] we
shall obtain a fair idea of life in Siam and of certain customs dear to
the common people.
"Women enjoy greater liberty than in almost any other Oriental land. You
meet them everywhere; and in the bazaars and markets nearly all the
buying and selling is done by them. As servants and slaves, too, they
are seen performing all sorts of labor in the open streets. Still, they
are downtrodden and considered infinitely inferior to men. It is a
significant fact that although boys have been educated for past
centuries in the Buddhist monasteries, there are not and have never
been, so far as I can learn, any native schools for girls. Quite a
number, however, learn to read in their own families, but such knowledge
is looked upon as a superfluous accomplishment, and they are not
encouraged in it, neither is any one ashamed to acknowledge her
ignorance of books.
"The Siamese are a pleasant, good-natured people, but lazy and indolent
to the utmost degree, and vain, shallow, and self-conceited. Their
greatest vices are lying, gambling, immorality, and intemperance,
although the latter is strictly forbidden by one of the commandments in
their Buddhist decalogue."
The Siamese are deplorably susceptible to the evil effects of alcohol
and opium. Physically they are a small and rather weakly race, and the
effect of strong drink upon them is shown in the rapid deterioration of
their bodily health; while their temperament, which is by nature light,
timid, and gay, becomes morose and sullen under the same influence. The
terrible inroads which were at one time made on the health and
well-being of the people from the too-abundant use of arrack, a native
spirit distilled from rice, brought these truths vividly before the
minds of the authorities, and led to the adoption of stringent
regulations affecting the sale of that spirit, to the loss and much to
the regret of the Chinese dealers who had acquired a monopoly of the
trade. A still more determined crusade was undertaken against
opium-smoking, which was even held to be a blacker and more pernicious
habit than swilling arrack. Strict laws prohibiting the practice were
passed and enforced; and any ill-starred Siamese now found pipe in hand
has the choice given him of either denationalizing himself by adopting
the Chinese pig-tail, and paying an annual tax as an alien, or of
suffering death. In this traffic also the purveyors are Chinese, who,
while protesting, perhaps too much, against the importation of the drug
into their own country, show no compunction whatever in distributing it
broadcast among the people of other nations.
Returning to Miss Cort's account: "The dress of the Siamese," she
writes, "is very simple and comfortable, consisting of a waist-cloth,
jacket, and scarf, and sometimes a hat and sandals. If all would at all
times wear the native dress there would be no occasion for
fault-finding. But as a nation they do not know what shame is, and as
the climate is mild and pleasant, and the majority of the people poor
and careless, their usual dress consists of a simple waist-cloth,
adjusted in a very loose and slovenly manner; while many children until
they are ten or twelve years old wear no clothing whatever. When
foreigners first arrive in Siam they are shocked almost beyond
endurance at the nudity of the people; and although they constantly
preach a gospel of dress, their influence in this respect seems less
apparent than in almost any other. Not until Siam is clothed need she
expect a place among respectable, civilized nations.
"The old-fashioned shave, which left a patch of stiff bristles on the
top of the head, like a shoe-brush, is no longer the universal style.
European trims are fashionable in the capital, and some of the young men
are trying to cultivate the mustache, while the women let their hair
cover the whole head and dress it with cocoanut oil. They shave their
foreheads, rub beeswax on their lips, powder their faces, and perfume
their bodies. They bend their joints back and forth to make them supple,
and give the elbow a peculiarly awkward twist which they consider very
graceful.
"Their salutations are decidedly peculiar. The old style is to get down
on all fours, and then resting on the knees, raise the clasped hands
three times above the head, and also bow the head forward until the brow
touches the floor. They kiss with their noses, by pressing them against
their friends', and saying 'Very fragrant, very fragrant!' while they
take long, satisfied sniffs. Many are now learning to shake hands and
make graceful bows like Europeans, but the imported kiss is not yet in
vogue, and I do not see that it ever can be until betel is discarded,
for at present the nose is a more kissable feature of the Siamese face
than the mouth.
"The people are exceedingly fond of jewelry, and often their gold
chains and rings are the only adornment the body can boast. Many a young
girl refuses to wear a jacket because it would cover up her chains,
which are worn as a hunter carries his game-bag, over one shoulder and
under the arm. She prefers a scarf which she can arrange and rearrange,
and thus display the glitter of her golden ornaments. They wear a great
many gold rings, and their ear-rings are often costly and beautiful.
They also have gold armlets and anklets and charms encircling neck and
waist, and the higher ranks now wear gold girdles with jewelled clasps.
The jewelry is of odd and unique designs--snake-bracelets; necklaces of
gold turtles, fish and flowers, set with gems; dragon-headed rings, with
diamond, emerald, or ruby eyes, and a tongue that moves. Some rings have
little birds poised upon them, with out-spread wings and sparkling with
jewels; golden elephants, and many other rich and costly designs....
"All ordinary Siamese houses must have three rooms; indeed, so important
is this number considered to the comfort of the family, that the suitor
must often promise to provide three rooms ere the parents will let him
claim his bride. There is the common bedroom, an outer room where they
sit during the day and receive their visitors, and the kitchen. Let me
begin at the latter and try to describe the dirty, dingy place. Having
no godliness, the next thing to it, cleanliness, is entirely lacking.
There is a rude box filled with earth, where they build the fire and do
what they call the cooking; that is, they boil rice and make curry, and
roast fish and bananas over the coals. There is no making of bread or
pie, of cake or pudding; no roasts, no gravies, no soups. Even
vegetables are seldom cooked at home, but are prepared by others and
sold in the markets, or peddled in the streets. There they buy boiled
sweet potatoes, green corn, and preserved fruits, curries, roasted fish,
and ants, peanuts, and bananas, sliced pineapples, and melons, and
squash. Pickled onions and turnips are sold in the streets of Bangkok
just as pickled beets are in Damascus. Curry is made of all sorts of
things, but is usually a combination of meat or fish, and vegetables. If
you want an English name for it that all can understand, you must call
it a stew. The ingredients are chopped very fine or pounded in a mortar,
especially the red peppers, onions, and spices. The pre-dominant flavor
is red pepper, so hot and fiery that your mouth will smart and burn for
half an hour after you have eaten it. Still many of the curries are very
good, and with steamed rice furnish a good meal. But sometimes a 'broth
of abominable things is in their vessels,' as for instance, when they
make curry of rats or bats, or of the flesh of animals that have died of
disease, and they flavor it with _kapick_, a sort of rotten fish, of
which all Siamese are inordinately fond. It is unrivalled in strength of
fragrance and flavor. Siam is unique in that she possesses two of the
most abominable things, and yet the most delicious, if we believe what
we hear, and they are the durian, a large fruit found only on this
peninsula, and 'kapick,' which I hope is not found anywhere outside of
Siam.
"There is no regularity about their meals, and they do not wait for one
another, but eat when they get hungry. In the higher families the men
always eat first and by themselves, and the wives and children and dogs
take what is left. The usual rule is for each one to wash his own
rice-bowl, and turn it upside down in a basket in a corner of the
kitchen, there to drip and dry till the next time it is needed. They eat
with their fingers, very few having so much even as a spoon.
[Illustration: SIAMESE LADIES AT DINNER.]
"The kitchen floors are nearly all made of split bamboos, with great
cracks between, through which they pour all the slops and push the dirt,
so there is no sweeping or scrubbing to do. Near the door are several
large earthen jars for water, which are filled from the river by the
women or servants as often as they get empty, and here they wash their
feet before they enter the house. They also use brass basins and trays a
great deal, but for lack of scouring they are discolored and green with
verdigris, and I cannot help thinking the use of such vessels is one
fruitful source of the dreadful sores and eruptions with which the whole
nation is afflicted."
It would be hopeless to endeavor to describe all the peculiarities of
native fashion and thought, many of which, indeed, are already
disappearing under the advancing tide of western civilization. Like all
idolatrous nations, the people are subject to rank superstitions and
curious fancies, some of them gross or brutal, but more often whimsical
in their extravagance. To express, for example, the duration of a _kop_,
one of the divisions of eternity, they say that when a stone ten miles
square, which is visited once a century by an angel who brushes it with
a gossamer web, is finally worn away, then a _kop_ is completed.
Compared with other Asiatic nations, the Siamese cannot be called cruel,
what pain they inflict comes in most cases from ignorance or obtuseness,
seldom from wantonness. Punishments, of course, involve whipping, and in
capital offences the victim loses his head in the old-fashioned way.
But, Miss Cort tells us, "after taking a soothing draught, provided by
merciful Buddhists who wish to make merit, the victim's eyes are
bandaged and his ears stuffed with mud, and thus he is at least
partially unconscious of the stroke that destroys his life.... Some
offenders, instead of being executed, are degraded from all titles and
rank, and condemned to cut grass for elephants for life. They are
branded on the forehead, and have to cut the grass themselves; no one is
allowed to help them, nor can they buy it with their own money." A
glance at the customs connected with birth, marriage, and death will be
interesting, and will serve to illustrate the peculiarities of Siamese
life.
"Marriages," says Sir John Bowring, "are the subject of much
negotiation, undertaken, not directly by the parents, but by
'go-betweens,' nominated by those of the proposed bridegroom, who make
proposals to the parents of the intended bride. A second repulse puts
the extinguisher on the attempted treaty; but if successful, a large
boat, gayly adorned with flags and accompanied by music, is laden with
garments, plate, fruits, betel, etc. In the centre is a huge cake or
cakes, in the form of a pyramid, printed in bright colors. The
bridegroom accompanies the procession to the house of his future
father-in-law, where the lady's dowry and the day for the celebration of
the marriage are fixed. It is incumbent on the bridegroom to erect or to
occupy a house near that of his intended, and a month or two must elapse
before he can carry away his bride. No religious rites accompany the
marriage, though bonzes are invited to the feast, whose duration and
expense depend upon the condition of the parties. Music is an invariable
accompaniment. Marriages take place early; I have seen five generations
gathered round the head of a family. I asked the senior Somdetch how
many of his descendants lived in his palace; he said he did not know,
but there were a hundred or more. It was indeed a frequent answer to the
inquiry in the upper ranks, 'What number of children and grandchildren
have you?' 'Oh, multitudes; we cannot tell how many.' I inquired of the
first king how many children had been born to him; he said, 'Twelve
before I entered the priesthood, and eleven since I came to the throne.'
I have generally observed that a pet child is selected from the group to
be the special recipient of the smiles and favors of the head of the
race.
"Though wives or concubines are kept in any number according to the
wealth or will of the husband, the wife who has been the object of the
marriage ceremony, called the Khan mak, takes precedence of all the
rest, and is really the sole legitimate spouse; and she and her
descendants are the only legal heirs to the husband's possessions.
Marriages are permitted beyond the first degree of affinity. Divorce is
easily obtained on application from the woman, in which case the dowry
is restored to the wife. If there be only one child, it belongs to the
mother, who takes also the third, fifth, and all those representing odd
numbers; the husband has the second, fourth, etc. A husband may sell a
wife that he has purchased, but not one who has brought him a dowry. If
the wife is a party to contracting debts on her husband's behalf, she
may be sold for their redemption, but not otherwise."
One natural result of polygamy is, not only to take away from the beauty
and dignity of the marriage relation, but also to lessen the amount of
ceremony with which the marriage is celebrated. A Siamese of the higher
class is generally "so much married," that it is hardly worth his while
to make much fuss about it, or indulge in much parade on the occasion.
Accordingly the ceremonial would seem to be much less than that of
burial. For a man can die but once, and his funeral is not an event to
be many times repeated.
A singular custom connected with childbirth is described by Dr. Bradley,
a former American missionary. The occasion was the first confinement of
the wife of the late second king, in the year 1835. Dr. Bradley was
dining with a party of friends at the house of the Portuguese consul. He
says: "Just before we rose from table, a messenger from Prince
Chowfah-noi [the late second king] came, apologizing for his master's
absence from the dinner, and requesting my attendance on his wife in her
first parturition. The call for me, although silently given, was quickly
understood by all the party, and the interest which it excited was of
no ordinary character, because it indicated a violation of the sacred
rules, absurdities, and cruelties of Siamese midwifery, and that too by
the second man in the kingdom.
"I was obedient to the call, and was forthwith conducted thither in H.
R. Highness's boat after I had accompanied my wife to our home. The
prince was at the landing awaiting my arrival. His salutation in English
was most expressive, indicating peculiar pleasure in seeing me,
informing me that his wife had given birth to a daughter a little before
my arrival, and saying that in accordance with Siamese custom, she was
lying by a fire. He expressed great abhorrence of the custom, and
desired me to prevail upon his friends and the midwives to dispense with
it, and substitute the English custom. To confirm him still more in his
opinion that the English custom was incomparably the best, I spread
before him many arguments and appealed to humanity itself. He appeared
to enter fully into my views, saying that his wife was of the same
opinion, but expressed much fear that no improvement could be made in
her situation in consequence of the influence of the ex-queen, his
mother, and princesses and midwives.
"I was not allowed to see his wife until after his mother and princesses
had retired, which was not till quite late in the evening. The prince
went a little time before me to prepare the way, and then sent his
chamberlain to conduct me to the house of his wife, where he received me
and led me to the bedside of his suffering companion. She was
surrounded by a multitude of old women affecting wondrous wisdom in the
treatment of their patient. The fiery ordeal had indeed commenced, and
the poor woman was doomed to lie before a hot fire a full month. I found
the mother lying on a narrow wooden bench without a cushion, elevated
above the floor eight or ten inches, with her bare back exposed to a hot
fire about eighteen inches distant. The fire, I presume to say, was
sufficiently hot to have roasted a spare-rib at half the distance.
Having lain a little time in this position, she was rolled over and had
her abdomen exposed to the flame.
"With all the reasoning and eloquence I could employ, both through the
prince and speaking directly to them, I could not persuade the ignorant
women that it would be prudent to suspend their course of treatment,
even for a night, so that the sufferer might have a little quiet rest on
a comfortable bed. They said that the plan of treatment which I proposed
was entirely new to them, and that I was also a stranger, and therefore
it would not do at all to expose so honorable a personage to the dangers
of an _experiment_.
"The prince then informed me that this amount of fire was to be
continued three days, after which its intensity would have to be
doubled, and continued for 30 days, as it was the mother's first child.
The custom, he said, is to abridge the term to 25, 20, 18, 15, and 11
days, according to the number of children the woman has had.
"Having had a look at the infant princess lying in a neatly-curtained
bed, I retired from the place with scarcely any expectation that my
visit would effect any immediate good.
"I visited Chowfah-noi the next evening in company with Mrs. B. The
thought had occurred to me that she could probably exert more influence
with the females than I could, and that possibly she might induce them
to adopt my plan of practice in relation to the mother and the child. We
were heartily welcomed by his royal highness, who first took much
pleasure in showing us all his curiosities, and then gave us an
interview with his lady. She was still lying by a hot fire, and
complained much of soreness of the hips from pressure on the hard couch.
At first she seemed to be somewhat abashed at the presence of Mrs. B.,
whom she had never before seen. But it was not long ere that was all
exchanged for a good degree of intimacy, seeing that she was a woman
like herself. Mrs. B. prevailed on her to take some of my medicine and
to have the child put to the breast of its mother instead of giving it
up to a wet-nurse. But though she made the experiment in our presence,
there was no reason to think that it was continued.
"Two days later the prince sent for me in great haste, about 2 P.M., to
see his wife and child. I hastened to the palace, but was too late to do
anything for the child, as it had died a little before my arrival. The
prince was evidently much affected at the death of his first-born, and
there was much weeping among the relatives and servants, who had
congregated in multitudes in apartments adjacent to the room which the
mother occupied. The prince was very anxious concerning his wife, and
seemed to wish with all his heart to have her taken out of the hands of
native physicians and placed under my care. This he labored
indefatigably to accomplish for more than two hours, while I waited for
the result. But to his sorrow he at length reported that he could not
succeed, and said that his mother and sisters and physicians, together
with a multitude of conceited and headstrong old women, were too much
for him, and that he would be obliged to allow them to go on in their
own way, however hazardous the consequences. He wished me to give him
the privilege of sending for me if his wife should by her own physicians
be considered in a dangerous way. I had declined doing anything in the
case unless I could have the entire care of the patient, fearing that if
I attempted to administer while the native means were being employed, I
should bring reproach both upon European medical practice, and the dear
cause which I had espoused."
"Shaving the hair tuft of children is a great family festival, to which
relations and friends are invited, to whom presents of cakes and fruits
are sent. A musket-shot announces the event. Priests recite prayers, and
wash the head of the young person, who is adorned with all the ornaments
and jewels accessible to the parents. Music is played during the
ceremony, which is performed by the nearest relatives; and
congratulations are addressed, with gifts of silver, to the newly shorn.
Sometimes the presents amount to large sums of money. Dramatic
representations among the rich accompany the festivity, which in such
case lasts for several days.
[Illustration: BUILDING ERECTED AT FUNERAL OF SIAMESE OF HIGH RANK.]
"Education begins with the shaving the tuft, and the boys are then sent
to the pagodas to be instructed by the bonzes in reading and writing,
and in the dogmas of religion. They give personal service in return for
the education they receive. That education is worthless enough, but
every Siamese is condemned to pass a portion of his life in the temple,
which many of them never afterward quit. Hence, the enormous supply of
an unproductive, idle, useless race.
"When a Thaï (Siamese) is at the point of death the talapoins are sent
for, who sprinkle lustral water upon the sufferer, recite passages which
speak of the vanity of earthly things from their sacred books, and cry
out, repeating the exclamation in the ears of the dying, 'Arahang!
arahang!' (a mystical word implying the purity or exemption of Buddha
from concupiscence). When the dying has heaved his last breath the whole
family utter piercing cries, and address their lamentations to the
departed: 'O father benefactor! why leave us? What have we done to
offend you? Why depart alone? It was your own fault. Why did you eat the
fruit that caused the dysentery? We foretold it; why did not you listen
to us? O misery! O desolation! O inconstancy of human affairs!' And they
fling themselves at the feet of the dead, weep, wail, kiss, utter a
thousand tender reproaches, till grief has exhausted its lamentable
expressions. The body is then washed and enveloped in white cloth; it is
placed in a coffin covered with gilded paper, and decorated with tinsel
flowers. A daïs is prepared, ornamented with the same materials as the
coffin, but with wreaths of flowers and a number of wax-lights. After a
day or two the coffin is removed, not through the door, but through an
opening specially made in the wall; the coffin is escorted thrice round
the house at full speed, in order that the dead, forgetting the way
through which he has passed, may not return to molest the living. The
coffin is then taken to a large barge, and placed on a platform,
surmounted by the daïs, to the sound of melancholy music. The relations
and friends, in small boats, accompany the barge to the temple where the
body is to be burnt. Being arrived, the coffin is opened and delivered
to the officials charged with the cremation, the corpse having in his
mouth a silver tical (2_s._ 6_d._ in value) to defray the expenses. The
burner first washes the face of the corpse with cocoanut milk; and if
the deceased have ordered that his body shall be delivered to vultures
and crows, the functionary cuts it up and distributes it to the birds of
prey which are always assembled in such localities. The corpse being
placed upon the pile, the fire is kindled. When the combustion is over,
the relatives assemble, collect the principal bones, which they place in
an urn, and convey them to the family abode. The garb of mourning is
white, and is accompanied by the shaving of the head. The funerals of
the opulent last for two or three days. There are fireworks, sermons
from the bonzes, nocturnal theatricals, where all sorts of monsters are
introduced. Seats are erected within the precincts of the temples, and
games and gambling accompany the rites connected with the dead."
At the death of any member of the royal family the funeral ceremonies
become a matter of national importance. If it is the king who is dead
the whole country is in mourning; all heads are shaved. The ceremonies
at the cremation of the body of the late first king lasted from the 12th
of March (1870) till the 21st of the same month. The king of Cheung-mai
came from his distant home among the Laos to be present on the occasion;
and the pomp and expense of the ceremony, for which preparations had
been more than a year in progress, surpassed anything that had been
known in the history of Siam. The following description of the funeral
of one of the high commissioners who negotiated the English treaty, and
who died a few days after the signing of the treaty, was furnished to
Sir John Bowring by an eye-witness. The ceremonies at the royal funeral
were not dissimilar, though on a more extensive scale.
"The building of the _men_, or temple, in which the burning was to take
place, occupied four months, during the whole of which time between
three and four hundred men were constantly engaged. The whole of it was
executed under the personal superintendence of the 'Kalahome.'
"It would be difficult to imagine a more beautiful object than this
temple was, when seen from the opposite side of the river. The style of
architecture was similar to that of the other temples in Siam; the roof
rising in the centre, and thence running down in a series of gables,
terminating in curved points. The roof was covered entirely with
scarlet and gold, while the lower part of the building was blue, with
stars of gold. Below, the temple had four entrances leading directly to
the pyre; upon each side, as you entered, were placed magnificent
mirrors, which reflected the whole interior of the building, which was
decorated with blue and gold, in the same manner as the exterior. From
the roof depended immense chandeliers, which at night increased the
effect beyond description. Sixteen large columns, running from north to
south, supported the roof. The entire height of the building must have
been 120 feet, its length about fifty feet, and breadth forty feet. In
the centre was a raised platform, about seven feet high, which was the
place upon which the urn containing the body was to be placed. Upon each
side of this were stairs covered with scarlet and gold cloth.
"This building stood in the centre of a piece of ground of about two
acres extent, the whole of which ground was covered over with close
rattan-work, in order that visitors might not wet their feet, the ground
being very muddy.
"This ground was enclosed by a wall, along the inside of which myriads
of lamps were disposed, rendering the night as light as the day. The
whole of the grounds belonging to the adjoining temple contained nothing
but tents, under which Siamese plays were performed by dancing-girls
during the day. During the night, transparencies were in vogue. Along
the bank of the river, Chinese and Siamese plays (performed by men) were
in great force, and to judge by the frequent cheering of the populace,
no small talent was shown by the performers, which talent in Siam
consists entirely in obscenity and vulgarity.
"All approaches were blocked long before daylight each morning, by
hundreds--nay, thousands of boats of every description in Siam,
_sampans_, _mapet_, _mak'êng_, _ma guen_, etc., etc.; these were filled
with presents of white cloth, no other presents being accepted or
offered during a funeral. How many shiploads of fine shirting were
presented during those few days it is impossible to say. Some conception
of the number of boats may be had from the fact that, in front of my
floating house I counted seventy-two large boats, all of which had
brought cloth.
"The concourse of people night and day was quite as large as at any
large fair in England; and the whole scene, with the drums and shows,
the illuminations and the fireworks, strongly reminded me of Greenwich
Fair at night. The varieties in national costume were considerable, from
the long flowing dresses of the Mussulman to the scanty _pan-hung_ of
the Siamese.
"Upon the first day of the ceremonies, when I rose at daylight, I was
quite surprised at the number and elegance of the large boats that were
dashing about the river in every direction. Some of them with
elegantly-formed little spires (two in each boat) of a snowy-white,
picked out with gold, others with magnificent scarlet canopies with
curtains of gold, others filled with soldiers dressed in red, blue, or
green, according to their respective regiments, the whole making a most
effective _tableau_, far superior to any we had during the time the
embassy was here.
"Whilst I was admiring this scene I heard the cry of _Sedet_ (the name
of the king when he goes out), and turning round, beheld the fleet of
the king's boats sweeping down. His majesty stopped at the _men_, where
an apartment had been provided for him. The moment the king left his
boat, the most intense stillness prevailed--a silence that was
absolutely painful. This was, after the lapse of a few seconds, broken
by a slight stroke of a tom-tom. At that sound every one on shore and in
the boats fell on his knees, and silently and imperceptibly the barge
containing the high priest parted from the shore at the Somdetch's
palace, and floated with the tide toward the _men_. This barge was
immediately followed by that containing the urn, which was placed upon a
throne in the centre of the boat. One priest knelt upon the lower part
of the urn, in front, and one at the back. (It had been constantly
watched since his death.) Nothing could exceed the silence and
_immovability_ of the spectators. The tales I used to read of nations
being turned to statues were here realized, with the exception that all
had the same attitude. It was splendid, but it was fearful. During the
whole of the next day, the urn stayed in the _men_, in order that the
people might come and pay their last respects.
"The urn, or rather its exterior cover, was composed of the finest gold,
elegantly carved and studded with innumerable diamonds. It was about
five feet high and two feet in diameter.
"Upon the day of the burning the two kings arrived about 4 P.M. The
golden cover was taken off, and an interior urn of brass now contained
the body, which rested upon cross-bars at the bottom of the urn. Beneath
were all kinds of odoriferous gums.
"The first king, having distributed yellow cloths to an indefinite
quantity of priests, ascended the steps which led to the pyre, holding
in his hand a lighted candle, and set fire to the inflammable materials
beneath the body. After him came the second king, who placed a bundle of
candles in the flames; then followed the priests, then the princes, and
lastly the relations and friends of the deceased. The flames rose
constantly above the vase, but there was no unpleasant smell.
"His majesty, after all had thrown in their candles, returned to his
seat, where he distributed to the Europeans a certain number of limes,
each containing a gold ring or a small piece of money. Then he commenced
_scrambling_ the limes, and seemed to take particular pleasure in just
throwing them between the princes and the missionaries, in order that
they might meet together in the 'tug of war.'
"The next day the bones were taken out, and distributed among his
relations, and this closed the ceremonies. During the whole time the
river each night was covered with fireworks, and in Siam the pyrotechnic
art is far from being despicable."
FOOTNOTES:
[10] Siam: or, The Heart of Farther India. New York, 1886.