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.
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.