At the death of any member of the royal family the funeral ceremonies become a matter of national importance. If it is the king who is dead the whole country is in mourning; all heads are shaved. The ceremonies at the cremation of the body of the late first king lasted from the 12th of March (1870) till the 21st of the same month. The king of Cheung-mai came from his distant home among the Laos to be present on the occasion; and the pomp and expense of the ceremony, for which preparations had been more than a year in progress, surpassed anything that had been known in the history of Siam. The following description of the funeral of one of the high commissioners who negotiated the English treaty, and who died a few days after the signing of the treaty, was furnished to Sir John Bowring by an eye-witness. The ceremonies at the royal funeral were not dissimilar, though on a more extensive scale.
"The building of the men, or temple, in which the burning was to take place, occupied four months, during the whole of which time between three and four hundred men were constantly engaged. The whole of it was executed under the personal superintendence of the 'Kalahome.'
"It would be difficult to imagine a more beautiful object than this temple was, when seen from the opposite side of the river. The style of architecture was similar to that of the other temples in Siam; the roof rising in the centre, and thence running down in a series of gables, terminating in curved points. The roof was covered entirely with scarlet and gold, while the lower part of the building was blue, with stars of gold. Below, the temple had four entrances leading directly to the pyre; upon each side, as you entered, were placed magnificent mirrors, which reflected the whole interior of the building, which was decorated with blue and gold, in the same manner as the exterior. From the roof depended immense chandeliers, which at night increased the effect beyond description. Sixteen large columns, running from north to south, supported the roof. The entire height of the building must have been 120 feet, its length about fifty feet, and breadth forty feet. In the centre was a raised platform, about seven feet high, which was the place upon which the urn containing the body was to be placed. Upon each side of this were stairs covered with scarlet and gold cloth.
"This building stood in the centre of a piece of ground of about two acres extent, the whole of which ground was covered over with close rattan-work, in order that visitors might not wet their feet, the ground being very muddy.
"This ground was enclosed by a wall, along the inside of which myriads of lamps were disposed, rendering the night as light as the day. The whole of the grounds belonging to the adjoining temple contained nothing but tents, under which Siamese plays were performed by dancing-girls during the day. During the night, transparencies were in vogue. Along the bank of the river, Chinese and Siamese plays (performed by men) were in great force, and to judge by the frequent cheering of the populace, no small talent was shown by the performers, which talent in Siam consists entirely in obscenity and vulgarity.
"All approaches were blocked long before daylight each morning, by hundreds—nay, thousands of boats of every description in Siam, sampans, mapet, mak'êng, ma guen, etc., etc.; these were filled with presents of white cloth, no other presents being accepted or offered during a funeral. How many shiploads of fine shirting were presented during those few days it is impossible to say. Some conception of the number of boats may be had from the fact that, in front of my floating house I counted seventy-two large boats, all of which had brought cloth.
"The concourse of people night and day was quite as large as at any large fair in England; and the whole scene, with the drums and shows, the illuminations and the fireworks, strongly reminded me of Greenwich Fair at night. The varieties in national costume were considerable, from the long flowing dresses of the Mussulman to the scanty pan-hung of the Siamese.
"Upon the first day of the ceremonies, when I rose at daylight, I was quite surprised at the number and elegance of the large boats that were dashing about the river in every direction. Some of them with elegantly-formed little spires (two in each boat) of a snowy-white, picked out with gold, others with magnificent scarlet canopies with curtains of gold, others filled with soldiers dressed in red, blue, or green, according to their respective regiments, the whole making a most effective tableau, far superior to any we had during the time the embassy was here.
"Whilst I was admiring this scene I heard the cry of Sedet (the name of the king when he goes out), and turning round, beheld the fleet of the king's boats sweeping down. His majesty stopped at the men, where an apartment had been provided for him. The moment the king left his boat, the most intense stillness prevailed—a silence that was absolutely painful. This was, after the lapse of a few seconds, broken by a slight stroke of a tom-tom. At that sound every one on shore and in the boats fell on his knees, and silently and imperceptibly the barge containing the high priest parted from the shore at the Somdetch's palace, and floated with the tide toward the men. This barge was immediately followed by that containing the urn, which was placed upon a throne in the centre of the boat. One priest knelt upon the lower part of the urn, in front, and one at the back. (It had been constantly watched since his death.) Nothing could exceed the silence and immovability of the spectators. The tales I used to read of nations being turned to statues were here realized, with the exception that all had the same attitude. It was splendid, but it was fearful. During the whole of the next day, the urn stayed in the men, in order that the people might come and pay their last respects.
"The urn, or rather its exterior cover, was composed of the finest gold, elegantly carved and studded with innumerable diamonds. It was about five feet high and two feet in diameter.