Among the queer articles of export from this place to China, are snake-skins, which are there used for musical instruments principally, and also for medicinal purposes. Many of the reptiles, from which these are taken, are of large size; and it is said are upward of thirty feet in length, and wide in proportion. The floating houses on the river, when sunk nearly to the water’s edge, by the decaying of the bamboos on which they rest, are frequently annoyed with them, for they are always in search of poultry. Among other methods of taking them, is this: a chicken is placed at the further end of a bamboo coop, near the door, over-night; a hole is made in this coop of a sufficient size to admit the entrance of a snake of fifteen or twenty feet in length; if the reptile enter, after having gorged himself with his prey, he is unable to get out, and is then easily killed. The skin is then dried, and rolls of it are found suspended from the ceiling of the floating shops. The entire carcasses of tigers are also exported to China, for the people of that country ignorantly suppose them to possess great medicinal qualities. Last year, sixty carcasses paid duties on exportation, besides a large number smuggled; they are generally in a very putrid state long before they are shipped.
The thick hide of the rhinoceros is also another article of export to the same country, and by a peculiar process, it is made into, and used as a nutritious jelly.
BUDHA—CANALS.
March twenty-seventh. Reconnoitring in my boat yesterday evening, on the left bank of the river, up one of the numerous canals, we saw under a common shed, a short distance from a wat or temple, a number of idols. We stepped on shore to examine them, and at the feet of the great idol, lay a poor wretch, dying with the confluent small-pox; his bloated features and his person, covered with pustules, made him a disgusting object; he had crawled thither that morning, and had brought half a dozen saucers of sweetmeats, cooked rice, and fruit, and placed them on the lap of Budha, praying no doubt most fervently, that he would be pleased to cure him of his foul disease: but his cries were of no avail to this gilded block of wood, although they lasted from morning until eventide; for he died that night, at the feet of Budha.
March twenty-eighth. This morning, it being very high water, we entered on the canal which runs near to the southern wall of the city; passing along it, about a mile and a quarter, we turned to the left, and proceeding along about the same distance, we again shot out into the main river: thus taking a complete circuit of the city. The wall is about twenty feet in height; not a piece of cannon was seen, nor even a solitary sentry taking his weary round; but a number of canals passed under the wall, and were filled with market-boats: there are no portcullises ready to drop, in case of a rebellion, or the invasion of an enemy; these canals, therefore, offer a ready and easy entrance. The houses in the suburbs in many places, are built immediately against the walls. No defence could be made, against even a small disciplined force, for there is no regular military force in the kingdom; the soldiers are never drilled with muskets, the government being unwilling to trust them with arms in their hands: their mode of warfare is altogether desultory. Many parts of the canal which surrounds the city, were much crowded with pedlars’ boats, containing coarse cloth, paper, brass, and iron utensils, &c.; others with salt, sapan-wood, cotton in small baskets, areca-nut, siri-leaf, chunam, coloured with turmeric, dried fish, oil, sugar, balachang, fresh pork, fish, fruit, and vegetables.
The back of the city bore, altogether, a rural appearance; the banks were thickly settled, people of all ages were bathing, washing at the same time their simple dresses; children were seen asleep in short square-net hammocks, and the mother lying at full length on a mat, chewing areca-nut, or smoking a cigar, propelling with her foot the hanging cradle; the cat and dog lay stretched also at full length on the platform, overcome with the intense heat of the day; the banks were, however, well shaded by the many trees which occupied every vacant place. The mango, now fully laden with its oblong green fruit; the religious fig-tree with its broad and pointed leaf; the plantain bending beneath the weight of its fruit; the areca-palm with its slender and regular stem, and brush-like head; and the useful cocoa-nut and bamboo, were seen towering in every direction. We visited a number of the king’s boat-houses, and saw a canoe one hundred and five feet long, made from a single teak-tree, excepting the high curved stem and stern; we saw also, hundreds of useless boats, most of them intended for war, while others were for pleasure, being neatly gilded about each quarter. The war-boats would be altogether useless in a sea-fight.
TEMPLE OF WAT-CHAN-TONG.
March thirtieth. Yesterday we visited a wat or pagoda, built by the present king, when he was prince Chroma Chiat; it is called wat-chan-tong, or “the temple of the golden sandal tree;” it is situated about six or seven miles from the outlet of Bang-kok Yai, into the Menam. The company consisted of the Rev. Mr. Jones, and Doctor Ticknor; a boat and rowers were sent to us by the praklang. The buildings are more substantial, and in better order, than any I have heretofore seen; hewn granite steps and pillars were about the principal entrances; the floors of the temples were of marble tessellated; the walls leading to the temples, and the dwellings of the Talapoys, were of square pieces of split granite; and there was a greater air of neatness about them, than any we have yet viewed. Noble banyan, and the religious fig-tree, shaded the walks; large porcelain figures of men, and non-descript beasts, embellished the fronts of churches, the entrances into the outer courts.
There are two islets near to the landing place, having on them miniature temples, and small images, overshadowed by noble banyan trees, which are to be found in great abundance every where in the vicinity of Bang-kok. It is one of the most curious of nature’s productions: each full-sized tree is a grove; for every branch, on reaching the ground, vegetates and increases to a large trunk, and these again send forth others, till, from old age and exhaustion, the parent dies, and the progeny gradually decay for want of sustenance, leaving a forest in ruins. It affords most beautiful walks, vistas, and cool recesses; and bears a small fig, which is scarlet when ripe, and affords a luxuriant repast to monkeys and peacocks, and other birds, which inhabit this father of trees, that shades and protects their young, in cool recesses, from a burning sun, where they sport and idle their leisure hours away, free from cares, excepting from the mischievous monkey, which robs them of their eggs, or the wily serpent, that beguiles them of their tender progeny.
The principal wat is occupied by a colossal figure of Budha, lying on his right side, supported by the elbow and hand, and seven square and triangular pillows, with ornamented ends of coloured glass. It is of the enormous length of sixty-three feet, having on its head a high peaked cap. The “phra-bat,” or “holy feet,” are each six feet nine inches in length, having five toes, all of equal length, being one less than the Budha of the Burmese. It is made of brick and stuccoed; but overlaid with heavy gilding, highly burnished. It was covered, on its exposed or left side, with yellow, or talapoy cloth, and canopied by an enormous yellow umbrella. Many priests and young students of the monastery accompanied us. They were asked why the idol was protected with cloths, and the umbrella? They replied, that the great Budha would be offended if neglected, and he ought to be kept warm. As the thermometer was little short of one hundred, and we were panting for breath, with the perspiration running from us in streams, they were told that all clothing was oppressive; but they said, they dared not neglect him. They were also asked, how long he was to lie? They said, about three thousand years, when Budha would be annihilated, or his authority rather would cease.