PRESENTS.
To show the extreme indelicacy, in truth, grossness, of these people, even among the higher classes, the captain of the port, Piedade, was sent to me from the praklang, to say that the envoy from the United States would of course make a present, as Mr. Crawford and the Portuguese consul had done on a similar occasion; being placed in rather a delicate situation, in regard to the treaty, having two troublesome points unsettled, I complied with this piece of spunging, and gave a hundred silver dollars, which were presented to the praklang in the course of the afternoon, in a gold vase, by the general of artillery, Benedito, with a complimentary message from me, wishing that his children might be useful members of society, virtuous and happy, &c. It was highly ludicrous, yet most disgusting, to see the general of the eleven ranks of nobility, who stands second in order, viz.: a phaya, crawling like a dog on all fours, dressed in a striped silk cloak, bound round with heavy gold lace, of the fashion of the fifteenth century, shoving the vase before him, till he came to the praklang, and delivering it, making his obeisance to the ground with hands united; then backing out of “the presence,” in the same degrading position, till he reached me, to return the great man’s thanks. The vase was then taken just beyond our table, (one step below, for every step, in fact, has its appropriate rank,) and delivered to two persons, one of whom, I suppose, was the treasurer, the other the Moorish or Chuliah secretary, who always makes his appearance, crawling on all fours, with his black paper, slate, and pencil, whenever there is any business to be transacted. The money was counted within our sight, and reported to the praklang to be all right!!! It was but a few days previous to this, that an elegant gold watch, set in pearls, two cases of silks, and four elegant fillagreed silver baskets, edged with gold, and ornamented with enamelled figures, had been presented by me to the praklang, which I intended to deliver at the conclusion of the treaty; but he having obtained information, by some means, that I had a present for him, sent Piedade to inquire of what it consisted, and the cost; the next day he returned, with the eldest son of the praklang, who is one of the four household officers of the king, being the second in rank, and called, “Luang-nai-Sit,” requesting to have them examined and an inventory taken, which was done; a hint was then thrown out by the captain of the port, that it would facilitate my business, if the praklang had his presents. It was evidently improper to give them, until those intended for the king were presented; but I complied with it, satisfied in my own mind it was done by command. They were presented the same afternoon, on gold vases, when I went to discuss certain points in the treaty.
The king’s presents, consisting of silks, elegant watches set in pearls, and very superior silver fillagreed baskets, with gold rims, and enamelled with birds and flowers, were shown at the same time, at their request, and an inventory of them taken also; again they inquired the cost of them, made some remarks respecting the colour of the silk, and said that some other colour would have suited the king better; that the reason why they were ordered to examine the articles was, to know if they were suitable presents to give the king. Having expressed some slight degree of indignation at their gross conduct, they said, such were their orders from the praklang, and that Major Burney—who succeeded Mr. Crawford, in finally making a better treaty with them than was ever made before, although it was effected after a long negotiation, by the sacrifice of the personal liberty of the king of Quedah, and their great fear of the English government, who possess the key of their country, in holding possession of most of the strong holds of the Burman empire, as well as Malacca and Singapore, and their possessions at Pulo Penang—brought, among other articles, a parcel of painted boxes, &c., which they rejected. After a slight personal knowledge of three weeks only with this people, I infer that they are extremely disingenuous and fickle-minded, because many articles of the treaty, passed and agreed upon in the evening, have the following day been subverted, or the strength of the language so materially weakened, as to take away nearly its whole force. That they are great intriguers, past history will confirm: the present king, the illegitimate son of the late monarch, by the sudden death of his father, aided by bribes, placed himself on the throne, to the exclusion of the eldest legitimate son, who, on the death of his father, fled the place, and became a Talapoy to save his life. Cha-fa-Nooi, the next in succession, has a small stipend allowed him, and lives in what is called the Portuguese fort, opposite the city: his life is safe, as long as his eldest brother lives.
That these people are highly superstitious, is shown by their constant watching for the flight of vultures, and the worshipping of idols; and the ten thousand follies attached to the Budhist religion, is sufficient evidence. That they are servile, is a necessary consequence, arising out of their despotic government. Subordination of rank is carried to a most degrading and revolting point; true politeness therefore is destroyed; they are abject in the extreme to superiors, and most insolent and disdainful to inferiors. It appears to be impossible for an inferior, to stand erect and manly, in presence of a superior: they are sluggish, ignoble and crouching. A people who are habitually crawling upon their knees and elbows, and performing “the knock-head ceremony,” cannot be otherwise than ungraceful and inelegant in their manners. If they were allowed to carry arms, they would be constrained to be civil and polite to each other; but custom sanctions the right of avenging private wrongs. They are a most extravagantly vain people; are reputed to be very deficient in courage; excessively lascivious and immoral; of which proofs are presented at every step. Temporary marriages are so notorious, that to sell a daughter wholly to a stranger, or for a stipulated term of time, is as common among the middling and lower classes of people, as to sell any common commodity, usually to be found in a bazar. Custom has also fixed a certain price for a certain rank. It is said by Mr. Gutzlaff, that they are in expectation of the coming of the Saviour of mankind, and that the people who are to effect a change in their religion, are to come from the West, (meaning Europe and America.)
If the overturn of an idle, superstitious and debauched priesthood like the Talapoys, (or Talapoins,) who are said to amount to upward of ten thousand generally, in Bang-kok and its neighbourhood, can be effected, what a glorious field will there be opened, to enlighten a nation who are not blood-thirsty or revengeful, but naturally mild and tractable, and exceedingly charitable to distressed objects. They are willing to be instructed, and gladly accept of any books in their own language, which are presented to them. A better form of government would of course make them a better people, but they are now bowed down by oppression, and their highly productive soil is almost untilled, because the hard earnings of the labourer are wrung from him by the rapacious cruelty of his rulers. I omitted to say, that during the evening’s entertainment at the praklang’s, a brown, highly varnished, and gilt seat, was brought in and covered with carpets, cushions, &c., and placed on the floor a short distance from where we were sitting, and shortly after, (preceded by crawling slaves,) a sword-bearer, others carrying highly wrought gold vases, containing areca and a water goblet, a small tea apparatus, &c.; then followed the prince Cha-fa-Nooi, or Mom-fa Nooi, and, without any ceremony whatever, took possession of the seat without noticing in any degree the praklang: when the prince entered, the praklang left his usual seat, which was of the same height as the prince’s, and seated himself on the floor, with his feet resting on a broad landing, leading to the upper floor: this is an acknowledgment of inferiority in rank. On this landing, at his feet, reposed the praklang’s son and brother, and a step below, were his chubah, secretary, &c., &c.: actors beneath the last, and a host of crawlers. The prince retired after sitting a short time, but without noticing his host, who immediately returned to the upper or highest seat.
During the afternoon of the feast of the entertainment, the supercargo, a Chuliah, belonging to the English brig Highland Chief, Captain Henry, from Madras, came crawling in on all fours from the inner gate, and presented, on salvers, some coarse Indian calicoes and lawns. They were received with a sullen air, and I could not perceive that the slightest notice was taken of them, when the praklang was informed of the present. This same supercargo was one of the crouchers, placed on the seat with the captain of the port, when we paid the introductory visit to the minister.
FOX-BATS.
I went to visit the great resort of the fox-bats, on a branch of the river leading to the sea. We found them in immense numbers within the grounds owned by mendicant Talapoys, whereon were many temples in a state of ruin. These birds were hanging by their claws, head downward, where they remain during the day, occupying the limbs of many hundreds of large trees. Having procured some, we measured one, and found it was forty-three inches in length, measuring from one extremity of its wings to the other: it has the head of a fox; the body is covered with long hair, and it has a most unsavoury, strong, foxy smell; it uses its teeth when fighting, but its main defence is in a hooked claw, placed at the middle joint of the wings, by which it occasionally suspends itself. In walking about the grounds of the pagodas, we observed hundreds of small conical mounds, which had been moulded by a form made of plantain stock, and surmounted by small paper flags fastened to a slender rod; these were said to be offerings made by some votaries of Budhistical nonsense.
In passing up the river a day or two since, we saw a snake of about twelve feet in length, and about eight inches in circumference; he was swimming about close to our boat, and did not appear to notice us, excepting when we struck at him with a paddle. Crows, vultures, and sparrows, abound every where, and we find the former very annoying to us, occupying the trees in the area of our house, pouncing upon the cooks’ premises, continually, and carrying off large pieces of meat or fish. The most common reptiles about our premises are lizards; several beautiful species are found every where. We have, among others, the tokay or ghecko in great numbers. This name is given to it here from its singular harsh and monotonous cry, which sounds like its name, to-kay. Throughout the night, these noises are made at intervals, probably of half an hour, commencing with a loud cry, and gradually growing weaker, making pauses of perhaps five or six seconds, between the cries; they are repeated from three to nine or ten times before exhaustion takes place. These reptiles are frequently seen eighteen inches in length, having red and light-green spots, with many tubercles. Fish are abundant in the Menam, and the Siamese, notwithstanding their pretended aversion to taking animal life, do not hesitate to eat fish, flesh, or fowl, if it is killed for them. All these articles are sold daily. Beef is not to be had but there is plenty of pork. Fruit is by no means abundant here at this season, although this is said to be the greatest fruit country in all Asia. A few small mangoes have made their appearance, but the stones are so large that little fruit is to be found on them. We have seen no oranges excepting those brought by China junks—a few poor watermelons and guavas, which are a tasteless fruit, and plantains, bananas, and cocoa-nuts: the latter are in abundance, and the water from the young ones is very refreshing.