The city of Bangkok is commonly supposed to have inherited the name of
the ancient capital, Ayudia; but in the royal archives, to which I have
had free access, it is given as Krung Thèp'ha Maha-Nakhon Si-ayut-thia
Maha-dilok Racha-thani,--"The City of the Royal, Invincible, and
Beautiful Archangel." It is ramparted with walls within and without,
which divide it into an inner and an outer city, the inner wall being
thirty feet high, and flanked with circular forts mounted with cannon,
making a respectable show of defence. Centre of all, the heart of the
citadel, is the grand palace, encompassed by a third wall, which
encloses only the royal edifice, the harems, the temple of Watt P'hra
Këau, and the Maha P'hrasat.
The Maha Phrasat is an immense structure of quadrangular façades,
surmounted by a tall spire of very chaste and harmonious design. It is
consecrated; and here dead sovereigns of Siam lie in state, waiting
twelve months for their cremation; here also their ashes are deposited,
in urns of gold, after that fiery consummation. In the Maha Phrasat the
supreme king is crowned and all court ceremonies performed. On certain
high holidays and occasions of state, the high-priest administers here
a sort of mass, at which the whole court attend, even the chief ladies
of the harem, who, behind heavy curtains of silk and gold that hang from
the ceiling to the floor, whisper and giggle and peep and chew betel,
and have the wonted little raptures of their sex over furtive, piquant
glimpses of the world; for, despite the strict confinement and jealous
surveillance to which they are subject, the outer life, with all its
bustle, passion, and romance, will now and then steal, like a vagrant,
curious ray of light, into the heart's darkness of these tabooed women,
thrilling their childish minds with eager wonderment and formless
longings.
Within these walls lurked lately fugitives of every class, profligates
from all quarters of the city, to whom discovery was death; but here
their "sanctuary" was impenetrable. Here were women disguised as men,
and men in the attire of women, hiding vice of every vileness and crime
of every enormity,--at once the most disgusting, the most appalling, and
the most unnatural that the heart of man has conceived. It was death in
life, a charnel-house of quick corruption; a place of gloom and solitude
indeed, wherefrom happiness, hope, courage, liberty, truth, were forever
excluded, and only mother's love was left.
The king [Footnote: All that is here written applies to Maha Mongkut,
the supreme king, who died October, 1868; not to his successor (and my
pupil), the present king.] was the disk of light and life round which
these strange flies swarmed. Most of the women who composed his harem
were of gentle blood,--the fairest of the daughters of Siamese nobles
and of princes of the adjacent tributary states; the late queen consort
was his own half-sister. Beside many choice Chinese and Indian girls,
purchased annually for the royal harem by agents stationed at Peking,
Foo-chou, and different points in Bengal, enormous sums were offered,
year after year, through "solicitors" at Bangkok and Singapore, for an
English woman of beauty and good parentage to crown the sensational
collection; but when I took my leave of Bangkok, in 1868, the coveted
specimen had not yet appeared in the market. The cunning
_commissionnaires_ contrived to keep their places and make a living by
sending his Majesty, now and then, a piquant photograph of some British
Nourmahal of the period, freshly caught, and duly shipped, in good order
for the harem; but the goods never arrived.
Had the king's tastes been Gallic, his requisition might have been
filled. I remember a score of genuine offers from French demoiselles,
who enclosed their _cartes_ in billets more surprising and enterprising
than any other "proposals" it was my office to translate. But his
whimsical Majesty entertained a lively horror of French intrigue,
whether of priests, consuls, or _lionnes_, and stood in vigilant fear of
being beguiled, through one of these adventurous sirens, into fathering
the innovation of a Franco-Siamese heir to the throne of the celestial
P'hrabatts.
The king, as well as most of the principal members of his household,
rose at five in the morning, and immediately partook of a slight repast,
served by the ladies who had been in waiting through the night; after
which, attended by them and his sisters and elder children, he descended
and took his station on a long strip of matting, laid from one of the
gates through all the avenues to another. On his Majesty's left were
ranged, first, his children in the order of rank; then the princesses,
his sisters; and, lastly, his concubines, his maids of honor, and their
slaves. Before each was placed a large silver tray containing offerings
of boiled rice, fruit, cakes, and the seri leaf; some even had cigars.
A little after five, the Patoo Dharmina ("Gate of Merit," called by the
populace "Patoo Boon") was thrown open and the Amazons of the guard
drawn up on either side. Then the priests entered, always by that
gate,--one hundred and ninety-nine of them, escorted on the right and
left by men armed with swords and clubs,--and as they entered they
chanted: "Take thy meat, but think it dust! Eat but to live, and but to
know thyself, and what thou art below! And say withal unto thy heart, It
is earth I eat, that to the earth I may new life impart."
Then the chief priest, who led the procession, advanced with downcast
eyes and lowly mien, and very simply presented his bowl (slung from his
neck by a cord, and until that moment quite hidden under the folds of
his yellow robe) to the members of the royal household, who _offered_
their fruit or cakes, or their spoonfuls of rice or sweetmeats. In like
manner did all his brethren. If, by any chance, one before whom a tray
was placed was not ready and waiting with an offering, no priest
stopped, but all continued to advance slowly, taking only what was
freely offered, without thanks or even a look of acknowledgment, until
the end of the royal train was reached, when the procession retired,
chanting as before, by the gate called Dinn, or, in the Court language,
_Prithri_, "Gate of Earth."
After this, the king and all his company repaired to his private temple,
Watt Sasmiras Manda-thung, [Footnote: "Temple in Memory of Mother."] so
called because it was dedicated by his Majesty to the memory of his
mother. This is an edifice of unique and charming beauty, decorated
throughout by artists from Japan, who have represented on the walls, in
designs as diverse and ingenious as they are costly, the numerous
metempsychoses of Buddha.
Here his Majesty ascended alone the steps of the altar, rang a bell to
announce the hour of devotion, lighted the consecrated tapers, and
offered the white lotos and the roses. Then he spent an hour in prayer,
and in reading texts from the P'ra-jana Para-mita and the
P'hra-ti-Mok-sha.
This service over, he retired for another nap, attended by a fresh
detail of women,--those who had waited the night before being dismissed,
not to be recalled for a month, or at least a fortnight, save as a
peculiar mark of preference or favor to some one who had had the good
fortune to please or amuse him; but most of that party voluntarily
waited upon him every day.
His Majesty usually passed his mornings in study, or in dictating or
writing English letters and despatches. His breakfast, though a repast
sufficiently frugal for Oriental royalty, was served with awesome forms.
In an antechamber adjoining a noble hall, rich in grotesque carvings and
gildings, a throng of females waited, while his Majesty sat at a long
table, near which knelt twelve women before great silver trays laden
with twelve varieties of viands,--soups, meats, game, poultry, fish,
vegetables, cakes, jellies, preserves, sauces, fruits, and teas. Each
tray, in its order, was passed by three ladies to the head wife or
concubine, who removed the silver covers, and at least seemed to taste
the contents of each dish; and then, advancing on her knees, she set
them on the long table before the king.
But his Majesty was notably temperate in his diet, and by no means a
gastronome. In his long seclusion in a Buddhist cloister he had acquired
habits of severe simplicity and frugality, as a preparation for the
exercise of those powers of mental concentration for which he was
remarkable. At these morning repasts it was his custom to detain me in
conversation relating to some topic of interest derived from his
studies, or in reading or translating. He was more systematically
educated, and a more capacious devourer of books and news, than perhaps
any man of equal rank in our day. But much learning had made him morally
mad; his extensive reading had engendered in his mind an extreme
scepticism concerning all existing religious systems. In inborn
integrity and steadfast principle he had no faith whatever. He sincerely
believed that every man strove to compass his own ends, _per fas et
nefas_. The _mens sibi conscia recti_ was to him an hallucination, for
which he entertained profound contempt; and he honestly pitied the
delusion that pinned its faith on human truth and virtue. He was a
provoking _mélange_ of antiquarian attainments and modern scepticism.
When, sometimes, I ventured to disabuse his mind of his darling scorn
for motive and responsibility, I had the mortification to discover that
I had but helped him to an argument against myself: it was simply "my
peculiar interest to do so." Money, money, money! that could procure
anything.
But aside from the too manifest bias of his early education and
experience, it is due to his memory to say that his practice was less
faithless than his profession, toward those persons and principles to
which he was attracted by a just regard. In many grave considerations he
displayed soundness of understanding and clearness of judgment,--a
genuine nobility of mind, established upon universal ethics and
philosophic reason,--where his passions were not dominant; but when
these broke in between the man and the majesty, they effectually barred
his advance in the direction of true greatness; beyond them he could
not, or would not, make way.
Ah, if this man could but have cast off the cramping yoke of his
intellectual egotism, and been loyal to the free government of his own
true heart, what a demi-god might he not have been among the lower
animals of Asiatic royalty!
At two o'clock he bestirred himself, and with the aid of his women
bathed and anointed his person. Then he descended to a breakfast-
chamber, where he was served with the most substantial meal of the
day. Here he chatted with his favorites among the wives and concubines,
and caressed his children, taking them in his arms, embracing them,
plying them with puzzling or funny questions, and making droll faces
at the babies: the more agreeable the mother, the dearer the child.
The love of children was the constant and hearty virtue of this
forlorn despot. They appealed to him by their beauty and their
trustfulness, they refreshed him with the bold innocence of their ways,
so frolicsome, graceful, and quaint.
From this delusive scene of domestic condescension and kindliness he
passed to his Hall of Audience to consider official matters. Twice a
week at sunset he appeared at one of the gates of the palace to hear the
complaints and petitions of the poorest of his subjects, who at no other
time or place could reach his ear. It was most pitiful to see the
helpless, awe-stricken wretches, prostrate and abject as toads, many too
terrified to present the precious petition after all.
At nine he retired to his private apartments, whence issued immediately
peculiar domestic bulletins, in which were named the women whose
presence he particularly desired, in addition to those whose turn it was
to "wait" that night.
And twice a week he held a secret council, or court, at midnight. Of the
proceedings of those dark and terrifying sittings I can, of course, give
no exact account. I permit myself to speak only of those things which
were but too plain to one who lived for six years in or near the palace.
In Siam, the king--Maha Mongkut especially--is not merely enthroned, he
is enshrined. To the nobility he is omnipotence, and to the rabble
mystery. Since the occupation of the country by the Jesuits, many
foreigners have fancied that the government is becoming more and more
silent, insidious, secretive; and that this midnight council is but the
expression of a "policy of stifling." It is an inquisition,--not overt,
audacious, like that of Rome, but nocturnal, invisible, subtle,
ubiquitous, like that of Spain; proceeding without witnesses or warning;
kidnapping a subject, not arresting him, and then incarcerating,
chaining, torturing him, to extort confession or denunciation. If any
Siamese citizen utter one word against the "San Luang," (the royal
judges), and escape, forthwith his house is sacked and his wife and
children kidnapped. Should he be captured, he is brought to secret
trial, to which no one is admitted who is not in the patronage and
confidence of the royal judges. In themselves the laws are tolerable;
but in their operation they are frustrated or circumvented by arbitrary
and capricious power in the king, or craft or cruelty in the Council. No
one not initiated in the mystic _séances_ of the San Luang can depend
upon Siamese law for justice. No man will consent to appear there, even
as a true witness, save for large reward. The citizen who would enjoy,
safe from legal plunder, his private income, must be careful to find a
patron and protector in the king, the prime minister, or some other
formidable friend at court. Spies in the employ of the San Luang
penetrate into every family of wealth and influence. Every citizen
suspects and fears always his neighbor, sometimes his wife. On more than
one occasion when, vexed by some act of the king's, more than usually
wanton and unjust, I instinctively gave expression to my feelings by
word or look in the presence of certain officers and courtiers, I
observed that they rapped, or tapped, in a peculiar and stealthy manner.
This I afterward discovered was one of the secret signs of the San
Luang; and the warning signal was addressed to me, because they imagined
that I also was a member of the Council.
_En passant_, a word as to the ordinary and familiar costumes of the
palace. Men and women alike wear a sort of kilt, like the _pu'sho_ of
the Birmans, with a short upper tunic, over which the women draw a broad
silk scarf, which is closely bound round the chest and descends in long,
waving folds almost to the feet. Neither sex wears any covering on the
head. The uniform of the Amazons of the harem is green and gold, and for
the soldiers scarlet and purple.
There are usually four meals: breakfast about sunrise; a sort of tiffin
at noon; a more substantial repast in the afternoon; and supper after
the business of the day is over. Wine and tea are drunk freely, and
perfumed liquors are used by the wealthy. An indispensable preparation
for polite repast is by bathing and anointing the body. When guests are
invited, the sexes are never brought together; for Siamese women of rank
very rarely appear in strange company; they are confined to remote and
unapproachable halls and chambers, where nothing human, being male, may
ever enter. The convivial entertainments of the Court are usually given
on occasions of public devotion, and form a part of these.