CHINESE JUNKS--MECHANIC ARTS OF SIAM--AMUSEMENTS--DANCING
SNAKES--ANNUAL OATH OF ALLEGIANCE--DESCRIPTION OF THE
CAPITAL--EMBASSY FROM COCHIN-CHINA--EDUCATION IN SIAM--PALACE.
The climate of Siam is more healthy than that of Batavia.
Notwithstanding the great heat of the climate, and the vast quantity
of uncleaned and undrained land, epidemics do not often prevail; yet
the spasmodic cholera, a few years since, swept off upward of sixty
thousand inhabitants.
During our stay, the weather has been clear and serene, a breeze
visiting us about the middle of the day; yet the thermometer has
ranged 93°, and has frequently been 94° and 95°. No one has been sick,
excepting of complaints in the bowels, occasioned by a change of diet.
The profuse perspiration under which we suffered, day and night,
considerably exhausted our strength. Those pests of all swampy
countries, moschetoes and other insects, have not appeared in such
vast quantities as they do in the rainy season, nor reptiles, which
then abound every where; nor is the heat so great as it will be within
the next four or five months, when the thermometer will rise from 100°
to 103°; yet, it is said, the climate then is not more unhealthy than
it is at present. Where the ship lies, the thermometer has not risen
above 84°, and prevailing winds have been from the southward, blowing
fresh the most part of the time, with a considerable sea. During the
heat of the day, notwithstanding bathing is resorted to, and the
natives are often seen with a wet cloth on their shoulders, to keep
them cool and mitigate the effects of a scorching sun; yet it is a rare
circumstance to see any of them with a covering on the head, excepting
the women-pedlars on the river, who wear a palm-leaf hat, the exact
shape of a milk-pan reversed; this is kept on the head by means of a
frame-work, made of split rattan; their dress also is different from
other women’s being a tight cotton jacket, with sleeves, and the usual
waist-cloth worn by both sexes.
It is surprising how few of the mechanic arts are here practised,
excepting those which are connected with the building of junks and
boats; and in this case, strickly speaking, there are but two or three
employed. The carpenter, who builds the vessel, makes the masts and
wooden anchors, and the very few blocks that are used; pumps are not
known, for the water is bailed out from vessels of one thousand tons
burden. They go to market and buy their mats to make sails, which are
spread out on the ground within certain pegs, which give the proper
dimensions and shape; the bolt-rope is then sowed on, being made of
a species of very coarse strong grass, abounding every where; and
the sailmakers, being the sailors of the vessel, make the cordage
generally, and assist in making the immense cables. Blacksmiths are
necessarily employed to make bolts, and calkers are indispensable.
[Sidenote: CHINESE JUNKS.]
A true Chinese junk is a great curiosity; the model must have been
taken originally from a bread-trough, being broad and square at both
ends--when light, (I speak of a large one,) it is full thirty feet
from the surface of the water to the tafferel, or the highest part of
the poop. Forward, a wide clear space intervenes, where the cable is
worked, there being a stage erected, some twelve or fifteen feet above
the forecastle, on which they help to work and keep a lookout for sail.
The mainmast is a most enormous stick of teak or other hard wood, big
enough for a line-of-battle ship, on which they hoist an enormous sail,
which generally takes all the crew, consisting of at least a hundred or
a hundred and fifty men; when they wish to lower it, it is necessary
to send a number of men on the bamboo poles, which stretch from side
to side, to assist in its descent. A small mast, the after or mizen
mast, is placed on one side, not in the centre as in other vessels,
but stepped or secured on the deck. The enormous cable is hove up by
a common windlass, without the assistance of pauls, stretching from
side to side of the vessel, through the bulwarks. The centre of the
vessel is at least fifteen or twenty feet lower than the tafferel,
open for the most part amidships, planks being placed here and there
to step on. There is tier upon tier of cabins aft. The hold is divided
into compartments and made water proof; these are hired or owned by
the shippers, so that each one keeps his goods separately; and in case
the vessel spring a leak, in any particular part, it is more easily
repaired. The caboose is on one side; and their meals, as at home, are
made of rice and salt or fresh vegetables, and perhaps a little fish,
and of every cheap article, however unsavoury, served up in a great
number of small saucers.
The vessels are kept in a most filthy condition, and can be scented a
long way off. Scenes of the grossest debauchery are practised on board
these junks; and gambling is carried on to a great extent. They are
called either male or female, according to the shape--the former being
sharp aft, if not forward; but these are considered to be illegitimate
upstarts of modern date, and are not the true Chinese junk. The female
has an enormous broad convex stern, there being a hollow or cavity,
where the broad, clumsy, grating-like rudder is placed; it probably
recedes two feet from the quarters to the sternpost. They are generally
painted white and red, perhaps blue, and the two enormous eyes of
vigilance are ever to be seen on each bow. On the stern, all the art of
the painter is exhausted by a profusion of meretricious ornaments--an
eagle, or what is intended for one, occupies the centre of the stern,
surrounded by all sorts of non-descript figures, and on one side of the
counter is a Josh, or god of wealth, resembling in shape Toby Filpot,
besides a great variety of indescribable nothings.
The boat is exceedingly stout and clumsy, and an exact counterpart of
the junk, being of an oblong square, nearly flat, and propelled by a
long oar, placed on a swivel.
Another kind of mechanics, are tin and leather-dressers, which,
strange to say, are always to be found in the same shop. The makers of
qualtahs, or iron pots and pans, which are a very neat, light article,
and little liable to be broken, owing to the ductility or toughness of
the iron. These pots are sold at a cheap rate, and are preferred to all
cast-iron vessels imported from Europe. Some iron is also made into
small bars or pieces. There are also makers of sandals, which articles
are worn only by the Chinese. The tin-ware is very neatly made, and
the patterns show a good deal of taste; but it is useless to put on
the fire, as there is no alloy mixed with it. The leather is died a
common red, made of deer-skin, and smoothed by a black stone, the size
of a brick; it is used for mattresses, pillows, &c. House-carpenters,
canoe, and boat builders, and a few makers of musical instruments, with
a little coarse pottery, and a few ordinary knives and locks, comprise
all the mechanic arts that have fallen within my knowledge. Gold and
silversmiths, I have nowhere seen; if there were any, who possessed
such ingenuity, they would be seized upon by the king or his officers,
and employed in their service. The gold vessels, containing areca,
cigars, &c., &c., are carried to every place they visit, by the princes
and higher officers of government, are made at the palace, and can only
be used by the king’s favourites. I have seen a few rude hand-looms in
operation; but the fabrics, both of silk and cotton, were very ordinary.
They import their brass ware and silk stuffs from China and Surat,
and their cotton and woollen goods, cutlery, &c., principally from
Singapore. Even the Talapoys’ razors for shaving their heads, are
imported from Canton: they are made of thin brass, of a curved shape,
about two inches wide throughout, and six inches long, fixed into a
coarse wooden handle. The mechanic arts are carried on almost wholly
by the industrious Chinese. The common houses are of bamboo, with
attap roofs; some are built of wood, and few of brick; but with few
exceptions, they all stand upon high piles. They are thus raised, in
consequence of the inundation of the river, to make them more secure
against depredations, to keep them dry, and to avoid the numerous
reptiles. The bridges which cross the canals, are generally a single
plank; some few have timbers laid on apartments of wood or brick,
planked, and about six feet wide, but an arched bridge is nowhere to
be seen. Roads there are none; and the only carriages are those owned
by the king, which are brought out only on some great occasions, and
are never seen beyond the walls of the city; of course, there is
scarcely any use for horses or elephants. The Menam with its thousands
of boats, and the numerous canals and branches of the river, make the
communication every where cheap and easy, and compensate in a great
measure, for the want of roads.
The principal amusement of the inhabitants, within their houses, is
singing and playing on musical instruments, of various kinds: their
singing is of a plaintive and melancholy cast, and they display
considerable taste in its execution: but there is too much monotony,
too much sameness in it; still they have got beyond the point of being
pleased with mere sound, like the Chinese. Their musical instruments
are very numerous: I have been able to describe but few; the music
produced by them is very different from the vocal, being cheerful
and lively. Playing chess is also a pastime. Dancing girls are kept
for the amusement of the women of the higher classes. Tumblers,
rope-dancers and actors, are considered necessary appendages for a
complete establishment. Gambling is carried to great excess by the
Siamese and Chinese; and the revenue derived from it, as will be seen
in a statement of the revenue, is of considerable importance to the
government. Flying kites is a favourite amusement with all, especially
with the Talapoys, and a great number of them may be seen employed,
in this way, at all hours of the day. Playing shuttlecock with their
feet, three on a side, is much practised by them, as well as the laity;
and in their houses, and even within their temples, they spend a large
portion of their time at chess. These amusements, together with chewing
areca, smoking cigars, begging, and sleeping, leave but little time for
devotion and study.
[Sidenote: DANCING SNAKES.]
A few days since, a Siamese came into the yard, and desired to exhibit
some dancing snakes; he uncovered a basket, and drew out with his naked
hand several of a large size, and of the most venomous kind known in
India, the cobra de capello--they were full six feet in length, and
large in proportion; he had eight in the basket, and took out three or
four at a time, and suffered them to run about: he would then touch one
slightly on the body, as he was retreating, which caused him instantly
to turn his head backward toward the tail. The head, from being round
and small in proportion to the body, was quickly expanded to the width
of full three, and probably five inches in length, showing a crown or
circle in the centre; the head was nearly flat, his forked tongue was
thrust out with great rapidity, and he kept vibrating from side to
side, and his keen fiery eye shot forth most terrific glances; but he
made a most noble and graceful, although frightful appearance.
The exhibitor kept a cloth moving, a short distance in front of his
eyes, and the snake, in endeavouring to elude it, so that he might
spring upon his adversary, kept in a dancing motion. Having tied two or
three of the largest round his neck, and put the head of one of them
in his mouth, the exhibition ended. Being satisfied that the fangs
were extracted, or otherwise they could not be handled with impunity, I
suffered two of them to run between my feet, but they did not offer to
molest me or any one else.
The water used for domestic purposes is taken, with all its impurities,
from the river, in water-tight buckets, neatly and strongly woven; it
is put into unglazed earthen jars of thirty or forty gallons, and is
suffered to settle in the best way it can, without any foreign aid.
The filth of half a million of people, which is all emptied into the
river, renders it most impure, and dead bodies are frequently thrown
in to save the expense of burning. In a family, where no garments
are mended--in which there is no baking or ironing of clothes; no
stocking nor shoes worn, and the washing and drying of their simple
garments, done at the river, does not occupy a month in a year--no
books read, and no writing done--a large portion of the time of the
females must, of course, be spent in sleep and idleness. This is the
life led by the Siamese women of a good condition, they having in fact
no occupation--this must be the true “dolce farniente” of the Italians,
and a sorry one it is.
They wear no jewels, these being used altogether by the children,
their dress consisting only of a waist and breast cloth of dark silk.
A little music, the dancing girls, actors, and tumblers, occasionally
exhibited, chess, colouring their skin yellow with turmeric, and
anointing the tuft of unshorn hair on the top of their head; scandal,
with frequent dissensions, the natural consequence of a plurality
of wives; no riding out, seldom paying visits, and rarely diverting
themselves with shopping, the almost unvaried repetition, from day
to day, of the same dull round of occupations and amusements, cause
their lives to drag on wearily, heavily, and listlessly. Long nails
being considered a sort of patent of nobility by the Siamese, as well
as the Chinese and Cochin-Chinese, draw a certain line of distinction
between the vulgar, who are obliged to wear short ones and work
for their living, and the higher orders. Those of the latter are
carefully preserved from being broken, but not quite so much pains
being taken to keep them clean, they are generally disgusting in their
appearance--some of them are full two inches in length, and are put
into cases of bamboo or metal on retiring to rest. The female actresses
wear silver-pointed cases to them, which curve backward with a high
sweep, nearly touching the wrist.
The higher orders of nobility, in fact, all who are allowed to crawl
as far as the lowest place within the palace, and all the officers
of state, must pay a morning and an evening visit to the “Lord of
the White Elephant,” to his “_golden-footed majesty_,” “the master
of all men’s lives.” Not to attend regularly, is considered a mark
of disrespect and disaffection to the king: sickness, or some great
calamity, only, is good cause for excuse.
Regularly, at half past eight in the morning, the praklang passed the
mission house, having about a dozen paddles to his long canoe, sitting
cross-legged or sidewise under the palm-leaf awning, or reclining on a
carpet and cushions, a slave crouching on all fours in front of him,
administering to his comforts in lighting a cigar, or helping him to
areca. His palanquin (or rather a lacquered hand-barrow) protected
from the rays of the sun by a large umbrella, was carried in the same
boat, so as to be in readiness, on landing, to carry his unwieldy
person to the palace. About noon, he returned. Between six and seven,
he again regularly passed, and returned again usually about midnight.
The paddlers on the numerous boats crouched low when he passed, as
they all do when passing by the king’s bathing-house on the river: he
never notices, in the slightest degree, their obeisance, but wo to them
if they omit it. The bath-house is of great length, painted red, and
decorated in front with numerous dwarf-trees and shrubs, and is used,
it is said, daily, by his hundreds of (some say, eight hundred) wives
and many scores of children, with their countless attendants.
[Sidenote: ANNUAL OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.]
Annually, every public officer renews his oath of allegiance to his
majesty, in the most horrid and revolting terms, calling down upon
himself every curse and punishment in the present and future world,
should he prove disloyal. At the commencement of the Chinese year,
every governor, or other important officer, even of the most distant
province, is obliged, on pain of death, to present himself at the
krong, or capital, for this purpose.
A few days after our arrival, the venerable bishop of the Roman
Catholic church sent a deputation to wait upon me, consisting of a
young French priest, who has been in the country about two years, and
a native Portuguese priest. The bishop sent an excuse for not paying a
visit in person, owing to his advanced age and great infirmities, and
requested me to call upon him, which I accordingly did in a few days
thereafter, in company with Mr. Silveira and Doctor Ticknor. He made
but few inquiries respecting his own country, which he had apparently
almost forgotten. He said he was born at Avignon, in 1760, left France
in the year 1786, and, with the exception of the time occupied by a
tedious passage, three months passed at Macao, and six months at Hué,
the capital of Cochin-China, he had been ever since in Siam. He was
very infirm, and in his second childhood: sans teeth, sight dim, sans
every thing. The house he lived in was very old and far from being
clean. The church was built of brick and stuccoed, having a very gaudy
and ordinary altar-piece, and destitute of images. It has been finished
but a few years, and is called Santa Assomption.
A college, erected within a few years since the church, and neatly
built of wood, stands near it, having about twenty students. It is
erected on high posts, and is one story high. This Christian campong
stands in the midst of palm and forest trees; and the situation is
altogether very rural and pleasant. It will bear no comparison with
its neighbours, the rich and gorgeous temples of Budha. The Catholic
churches in this country, since the first bishop arrived, in 1662,
have scarcely made any progress: the descendants of the Portuguese
constitute, I may say with propriety, all the Christians in the
kingdom; so say the Catholics themselves. All that can now be found
here, and in the vicinity, do not exceed, according to the most
zealous of that sect, thirteen hundred; but, according to a Protestant
Christian missionary, who resided here nearly three years, and numbered
them with considerable accuracy, they do not exceed four hundred. There
are four churches in this vicinity; three of them are merely long
sheds, in a wretched condition. In the campong of Santa Cruz, the walls
of a brick one are erected, near to the old shed of that name; but the
building will never be finished, for there are, already, evident signs
of dilapidation in many parts of it.
Of the splendid churches that once adorned the old capital of Jutaya,
there is but a small one now remaining, built out of the ruins of the
others; and in Camboja, where the Catholics once had a strong foothold,
they have dwindled to a mere name. The descendants of the Portuguese,
in whose veins courses the blood of the courageous adventurers with the
bold and fearless Vasco de Gama, who had the temerity first to double
the cape of Good Hope, and the cruel Albuquerque, are now crouching
slaves before the nobles of the country; and are employed only in
menial offices, with the exception of two, which give them a bare
subsistence.
[Sidenote: BUDHIST TEMPLES.]
The number of temples erected in the city and vicinity, I was unable
to ascertain: that they amount to several hundreds, (some report
from four to five hundred,) there cannot be a doubt. They occupy the
most conspicuous and beautiful spots on the bank of the Menam, on
its tributaries and numerous canals: you never lose sight of them;
frequently eight or ten are in view at the same moment. In the most
sequestered rural spots, they are always to be found; and wherever
a brick pathway leads into the depths of the forest, it is a sure
indication that there is a temple to be found. They are erected by
pious individuals generally, believing that it will be the means of
their souls being transmigrated into a higher and holier state of
existence, than would otherwise enjoy; they but most of them are built
from ostentatious motives.
They are of brick, and plastered; are one story in height, having
neither arch nor dome; of a square form, and the roof is covered with
neat coloured tiles, which gives them a gay appearance. At a first
view, one is deceived, by supposing that there are three or four roofs
to every building, as there are a series of them, which gradually
diminish in size, to the main roof. The fronts, or gable ends, are
laboriously and elegantly carved, with fanciful devices, and richly
gilded. The eaves, doors, and window-frames, are, more or less,
carved and gilt, painted and varnished. The doors and windows greatly
resemble the pointed, or Gothic style of architecture. A figure of
Budha, generally in a sitting posture, wearing the peaked crown, and
having the soles of his holy feet turned upward, occupies nearly one
entire end of the building, and is usually surrounded by votaries of
a small size. He is partially covered with yellow cloths, having a
high umbrella suspended over his head. Incense is occasionally burnt
before him. The ceiling of the roof, which is flat, is painted with
vermillion, ornamented with gilded stars. The entire sides, doors,
and window-shutters, are covered with figures, fruit, and fancy work
of various kinds--painted, varnished, and gilt. The floors of most of
the buildings are of cement, having neither galleries, benches, nor
seats of any kind, and scarcely a mat to kneel on. There are but few
public temples. The front and rear of all have a portico. China plates,
saucers, and common English crockery, stuck into plaster, intended
as ornaments, are seen on many of them; bits of coloured glass, also,
make up part of the ornaments around the doors and windows. The images
are either of brass or iron--brick plastered, and wood; but all richly
gilt and burnished. Two temples, of a lesser size, stand on either
side of the principal: they are generally not so highly ornamented.
Small pyramidal pagodas, of six or seven feet in height, and open
at the sides, surround these buildings, and contain two stones, or
rather slabs, standing about six inches apart; they are of the exact
shape of a bishop’s mitre. I repeatedly asked the use of them, or what
they were intended to resemble; but all professed their ignorance of
their origin. In them were generally found palm-leaves, containing
characters, written in the sacred or Bali and Siamese languages, strung
together in the centre, at a proper distance.
Small temples, or rather buildings, for various purposes, occupy the
fronts and sides, among which, in a distinct building, is the belfry,
which is ascended by a flight of steps, containing generally five or
six bells, having no tongues, but being sounded by means of a heavy
stick, or piece of metal.
Early in the morning, “when dying clouds contend with growing light;”
when the fox-bat is returning from his nightly wanderings, to suspend
himself on the holy fig trees, which lie scattered about the temples of
Budha, and like the midnight marauder, shrinks from the sacred light of
day; the tokay has ceased to send forth his harsh, loud, and monotonous
cry; the prowling tiger has retired to his lair; the tuneful birds have
chanted forth their first matins, or the labourer has returned to his
daily task; when every thing is hushed in the solemnity of night, in
the stillness of a temporary death, you are suddenly aroused by the din
of the pagan bells, sounding far and wide through the depths of the
surrounding palm-forests, summoning the worshippers of Gautama to early
prayers. In the confusion of the moment, between slumbering and waking,
you are transported, in imagination, to far distant lands, where the
Sabbath bell calls forth its votaries. But how great the contrast! One
summons to the worship of an imaginary god; the other to the worship of
the everlasting and true God, the Lord of all things--of light and life.
Pra-chadis, or thin tall spires, from twenty to sixty feet in height,
are in great numbers; and there is one at the krong or capital, which
towers to the height, probably, of a hundred and fifty feet. The houses
of the Talapoys are contiguous to the temples, and are generally
shaded by fruit and forest trees. Small temples, having a high roof,
and four wide avenues leading to the centre, for the burning of the
richer sort, and a raised platform in the open air, for those who can
only pay small fees, are placed at the most convenient spot near the
water. A long bath, or small pond, containing young alligators, seems
to be a necessary appendage to all temples. The grounds about the
front of many of the richer temples, are neatly and prettily laid out
with avenues, clumps of trees, shrubbery, &c. The priests derive a
considerable revenue by making small images, either of the unconsumed
bones of certain deceased persons, or else of common clay, gilt; and
also by writing on palm-trees, certain moral or religious sentences,
in the sacred language. The Indian lotus, with its broad leaf, is
nowhere neglected, but is found about every temple, growing from large
porcelain or stone vases, neatly, and sometimes elaborately wrought.
Every Siamese temple is not only a place for worship, but it is
likewise a monastery: females are in them, old and worn out, and their
characters are far from being respected. They only do menial offices,
dress in white, and have nothing to do with the worship in the temples.
As rice, their chief support, is abundant, it is but just that the
Talapoys should support them in their old age.
The spot on which the present capital stands, and the country in its
vicinity, on both banks of the river for a considerable distance, were
formerly, before the removal of the court to its present situation,
called Bang-kok; but since that time, and for nearly sixty years past,
it has been named Sia yuthia, (pronounced See-ah you-tè-ah, and by the
natives, Krung, that is, the capital;) it is called by both names here,
but never Bang-kok; and they always correct foreigners when the latter
make this mistake. The villages which occupy the right hand of the
river, opposite to the capital, pass under the general name of Bang-kok.
[Sidenote: COCHIN-CHINESE AMBASSADOR.]
A Cochin-Chinese ambassador, with several junks, arrived here from
Longuar (alias Saigon) a few days before our arrival, being the same
mentioned previously. Ambassadors’ junks of both nations, whenever they
visit each other’s country, or pay their annual tribute to China, are
always well laden with goods, out and home, on account of the king or
his ministers; it is in part a trading expedition, and the secret is,
they are allowed to go duty free, as I have before stated.
[Sidenote: COCHIN-CHINA AND SIAM.]
The object of the emperor of Cochin-China, in this case, is blended
with a more serious piece of business; it is no less than to demand the
delivery, to them, of the person of the first minister of state, and
superintendant of Pegu, and the principalities of Laus and Camboja,
whose title is “Chan-phaya-bodin-desha;” he is a “meh-tap,” or
commander of the Siamese forces now in Camboja. It seems, in 1827, the
Siamese government oppressed the subjects of one of the Laos tributary
princes, Chow-vin-chan, to such a degree, that he was obliged to take
up arms in defence of his rights, against the neighbouring Siamese
government; this was the point to which the Siamese government wished
to force him, for the purpose of taking into possession his territory.
Hordes of soldiers were sent among them under the command of the said
Chan-phaya-bodin-desha, and they committed all sorts of enormities;
the country was stripped of its riches, and the inhabitants, fleeing
from the enemy, were shot down indiscriminately like wild beasts; this
process being found too tedious, thousands were packed into houses
and blown up with gunpowder; the younger women became the prey of
a licentious soldiery, and the smoking ruins of a peaceable people
marked the track of a band of savages, whose knives were steeped to
the hilt in the blood of their fathers and mothers, husbands, wives,
and children. Those who escaped were sent to the capital and sold as
slaves; thousands and thousands died on the rafts which floated them
down the Menam, with wounds, sickness, and starvation. In fact, the
country was made desolate, was in ruins: “He made a solitude and called
it peace.” The survivors were never more to see their country; their
soil was given to their savage invaders. In the midst of these horrible
excesses, an ambassador from the emperor of Cochin-China was sent to
the general in command, with the ostensible object of interposing
in behalf of Chow-vin-chan and his family, who had fled into their
territory--not from motives of compassion, I conceive, for the present
emperor of Cochin-China is an ignorant, blood-thirsty savage, and
pursues his enemy, where he dares, with an unrelenting hand. The
object was, in truth, to prevent the conquest of the kingdom of Laos
by Siam, which would give the Siamese a better chance of obtaining
a larger slice at a future day, which they had long contemplated
with eager and with gloating eyes. The Siamese commander, smarting
with all his wounds, and red-hot from the bloody battle-field, or to
speak less hyperbolically, not having filled a heavy purse from the
spoils of the conquered, anticipating a golden harvest from the onward
march, and feeling deeply indignant at the insidious policy of his
wily neighbours, ordered an instantaneous massacre of the envoy and
his suite of a hundred men, with the exception of one, who was sent
back to say, “I alone am left out of all my brethren.” Highly enraged
as was the emperor at the fell swoop of the embassy, and the gross
violation of the law of nations, he dissembled, not daring to wage a
war or revenge cruelty by cruelly; for his crazy, disjointed, and puny
government would probably crumble into atoms, the moment a large force
should quit the kingdom.
The Cochin-Chinese government are aware that the Tung-kinese, on the
north, are watching keenly for the first possible chance which offers
of freeing themselves from their despotic oppressors; the Cambojans on
the south are desirous also of measuring the length of their swords
with their hard task-masters, and the lower class of Cochin-Chinese,
which comprise nine hundred and ninety-nine of the thousand, are ripe
for a revolt; being ground to the earth by the higher orders. They are
ragged, filthy, and starving, from the gulf of Tung-king to the gulf
of Siam, and from the coast washed by the China sea, to the boundaries
of his “golden-footed majesty.” Year after year this demand has been
made and evaded, and so far from his Siamese majesty ever intending to
comply with it, he has lately sent this same “Meh-tap” into that part
of Camboja which fell to his majesty’s share in the division of that
kingdom with Cochin-China, to receive, and to protect from capture, the
many thousands of Cambojans, who have recently fled into the Siamese
territory. The ambassador paid his first visit a few days after his
arrival, to the chow-pia-praklang, and was treated with bare civility;
he was told, by order of his majesty, that a copy of the same letter
which was sent to his majesty the last year, was all the answer which
would be returned to the letter received from the emperor through
his hands. His audience with the king, which took place a few days
previously to ours, was marked by no distinguished honours; the pomp
and parade exhibited to us were dispensed with upon that occasion. It
is said by Mr. Silveira, and all others, that no embassy from a foreign
country ever had so favourable and honourable a reception as ours,
marked at the same time with the most extraordinary despatch ever known.
This same emperor of Cochin-China, this deep sympathizer in the wrongs
of the people of Lao, has lately persecuted to death a handful of poor
Roman Catholics, all who would not trample on the cross and renounce
Christianity. To conclude, the Chow-vin-chan and family were betrayed
into the hands of the Siamese. Sickness, distress of mind, and long
exposure to the elements, fortunately put an end to the prince. He
died in a cage, a few days before his cruel oppressors intended to
put him and his family to the most excruciating tortures; the heir
apparent escaped, but committed suicide by throwing himself from the
roof of a temple to the ground, rather than fall into the hands of his
blood-thirsty pursuers. The female part of the family receive a scanty
subsistance from the government and remain in the capital. Thus ended
the dynasty of Chow-vin-chan, adding another victim to the millions
that have heretofore perished, from the effect of inordinate ambition.
The barbarous conduct of the Siamese last year, in the Malay peninsula,
in sending hordes of soldiers, or rather common coolies, under the
command of the chow-pia praklang, which destroyed Patani, Singora, &c.,
plundering them of their property, and sending nearly five thousand
prisoners as slaves to this place, which had been given away, or “sold
in lots to suit purchasers;” the thousands that died from wounds, bad
treatment, and starvation--deserve the bitter execration of every
friend of humanity.
Education is carried to a very limited extent; a mere smattering
only is generally diffused among the Siamese, in reading, writing,
and arithmetic. The suan-pawn is in general use as an assistant in
making calculations. Those who wish to attain to a greater degree of
knowledge, more particularly in the Pali or sacred language, resort to
the monasteries of the Talapoys. In their composition, (if I may be
allowed to judge from the various articles of the treaty, being again
and again altered to make them clear and perspicuous,) they are fond
of being ambiguous in all their forms of expression. There was always
a disposition evinced to hint obscurely at things, like the Chinese,
rather than express their full meaning.
[Sidenote: HABITS OF THE SIAMESE.]
A plain unmasked style, in speaking or writing, is totally unknown
to a cringing people, born under a despotic government; but they
are rapidly becoming wiser. Their intercourse with the English and
Americans is gradually bringing about a more honest, manly, and open
mode of expressing themselves, both in speaking and writing; but it can
never be thoroughly effected under such a form of government as the
present. The lower classes of the people are obliged to make use of
gross flattery and adulation to their superiors, who again treat them
as slaves, using high authoritative language. Subordination in rank
is so strongly marked, that not the slightest appearance of equality
is to be seen. They attach a ridiculous importance to mere form and
ceremony. A Siamese, in the presence of a superior, either crouches to
the ground, or walks with his body bent. It seems utterly impossible
for him to sit or walk in an upright posture. Women are allowed more
freedom here, than in any other country where polygamy is tolerated.
They wear no veils, and almost hourly boat-loads of the wives of the
nobility were seen to pass; the curtains were drawn aside to satisfy
their curiosity, which always appeared to be more ardent than ours. The
lower orders of women, apparently, do most of the labours of the field,
and are employed in the boats on the river in great numbers. They are
the principal traders, and are said to be very shrewd and cunning.
The most conspicuous objects which strike the eye of the traveller
on the Menam, besides the splendid wats, are the new palace, a large
watch-tower, and a prachade or tall thin spire, which is many feet
higher than any other building; all are situated within the walls
of the city. The palace itself, with its pagodas, and many other
buildings, is surrounded by a high wall, having strong gates, and
a guard of a miserable and undisciplined militia. The palace is a
handsome and extensive building of brick, and stuccoed; the doors and
windows are similar in style, taste, and outward decorations to the
better class of temples, and bear a strong resemblance to the Gothic
style of architecture. It has a high cupola, formed by a series of
roofs, or it rather resembles a conical umbrella diminishing in size
to the spire, which is without decorations, and rises to the height,
perhaps, of one hundred and sixty feet. The roof of the building has
also a diminishing series of roofs like the pagodas, and it is covered
with very neat coloured tiles. The cupola appears to be gilded upon
copper, or more probably slabs of tin.
The watchtower is of the height of the palace, and is an oblong square
building; the base is probably one hundred feet square, built of brick
and plastered, having a guard-house and strong gates; fifty feet
from the base commences the first look-out room, and there are two
others above it. In them are gongs and bells, which give notice of an
enemy, or a fire, or an insurrection of the people. The inhabitants
are at once informed by the sound of one of these instruments, of
the calamity which assails them, each one being appropriated to one
of these particular objects. A few days before the procession of
the wang-na took place, there arrived the governor of Ligor, whose
title is chow-phay-a-lakhow, alias Ligor; he commands one of the most
important provinces belonging to the Siamese, in the Malay peninsula,
is a Siamese by birth, a man of powerful talents, fond of Europeans,
and adopts all their improvements in the mechanic arts. His boats
are handsomely modelled, carrying two or three fore and aft sails;
they are coppered, carry a suitable number of cannon, and every thing
about them is in excellent order. The model is superior to that of the
king’s, having a greater breadth of beam, and they are of a greater
length. The soldiers are well and uniformly clothed, and well drilled
with the musket and the use of the bayonet, according to the tactics
of the Europeans. There is some trade from the port of Ligor, in what
is generally called the Malayan produce, viz.:--tins, black pepper,
rattans, rice, sapan-woods, &c., and several small cargoes of cotton
are taken away annually by Chinese junks. Four of his sons govern other
provinces in the peninsula; the eldest is governor of Quedah, the
former king of which now remains at Pulo Penang, or Prince of Wales
island.
Although the British agreed by treaty, on the cession to the Pulo
Penang, to protect him and his kingdom against any invasion by the
Siamese, yet the latter were suffered to capture Quedah, and the
British violated their treaty, for they offered no assistance. The
king fled to Penang for protection, demanded to be reinstated, and
was refused. Major Burney, in order to obtain a favourable commercial
treaty with the Siamese, agreed to keep him a prisoner, and he is now
in durance, living upon a small salary, under British protection. The
cause of the failure of Mr. Crawford’s mission, was his refusal to
deliver him to the Siamese, or confine him as a close prisoner.
The governor of Ligor was ordered here to attend the procession and
burning of the wang-na; and it was also necessary he should be here
at the commencement of the new year, to renew his oath of allegiance.
He is a powerful chief; the government is alarmed at the extent of
his power, but they dare not dispossess him of his government, or do
his person any violence, for his sons would most certainly avenge
his cause, and the king’s possessions in the Malay peninsula, would
probably be lost to him.
[Sidenote: TEA--RAINS.]
The Chinese, who are noted every where for their villanous tricks,
import large quantities of ordinary goods here, as well as those of a
good quality--among other articles is tea. A story I heard almost daily
in Canton, respecting the gross imposition practised upon foreigners in
this article, here proved to be true. It is a well-known fact, that all
the tea used in China, particularly about Canton, is bought up again,
“_fired anew_,” as it is termed, and coloured green; even black teas,
it is said, are thus coloured, by the use of smalts, and then exported
to various countries. Tea of a good quality is exceedingly scarce here,
and at a high price, notwithstanding the proximity to China, and the
great number of junks which enter here from all the maritime provinces
of that empire.
Until the ascension of the present king to the throne, it was a
custom with the sovereigns of the country to hold the plough at the
commencement of the rains, which generally take place at the latter end
of April or beginning of May; this is now dispensed with, and one of
the nobility is appointed instead of the monarch.
The rains continue till September, when the lower part of the Menam
begins to rise, and it is at its utmost height in November and
December: it then begins to subside. Its rise is generally from
twelve to sixteen feet, but two years since it rose to the height of
twenty-one feet.
The thermometer is occasionally as low as 73° in the months of December
and January, during the height of the northeast monsoon.
Vast numbers of boats and rafts, bringing in the productions of the
upper country, visited the capital during the flood above alluded to.