Siam : The Land of the White Elephant as It Was and Is

by George B. Bacon

Before leaving the palace we may pause a moment to hear a quaint tale of Oriental cunning by means of which a former king succeeded in obtaining the jar of sacred oil still preserved here with religious care. The story, as told in Cameron's book,[A] reminds one of the artful dodges employed by zealous monks of the Middle Ages to secure saints' relics with their profitable blessings. "When the English took possession of Ceylon," relates the author, "Tickery Bundah and two or three brothers—children of the first minister of the King of the Kandians—were taken and educated in English by the governor. Tickery afterward became manager of coffee plantations, and was so on the arrival of the Siamese mission of priests in 1845 in search of Buddha's tooth. It seems he met the mission returning disconsolate, having spent some £5,000 in presents and bribes in a vain endeavor to obtain a sight of the relic. Tickery learned their story, and at once ordered them to unload their carts and wait for three days longer, and in due time he promised to obtain for them the desired view of the holy tooth. He had a check on the bank for £200 in his hands at the time, and this he offered to leave with the priests as a guarantee that he would fulfil his promise; he does not say whether the check was his own or his master's, or whether it was handed over or not. Perhaps it was the check for the misappropriation of which he afterward found his way to the convict lines of Malacca. The Siamese priests accepted his undertaking and unloaded the baggage, agreeing to wait for three days. Tickery immediately placed himself in communication with the governor, and represented, as he says, forcibly the impositions that must have been practised upon the King of Siam's holy mission, when they had expended all their gifts and not yet obtained the desired view of the tooth.

[A] Our Tropical Possessions in Malayan India.

"The governor, who, Tickery says, was a great friend of his, appreciated the hardship of the priests, and agreed that the relic should be shown to them with as little delay as possible. It happened, however, that the keys of the mosque where the relic was preserved were in the keeping of the then resident councillor, who was away some eight miles elephant shooting. But the difficulty was not long allowed to remain in the way. Tickery immediately suggested that it was very improbable the councillor would have included these keys in his hunting furniture, and insisted that they must be in his house. He therefore asked the governor's leave to call upon his wife, and, presenting the governor's compliments, to request a search to be made for the keys. Tickery was deputed accordingly, and by dint of his characteristic tact and force of language, carried the keys triumphantly to the governor.

"The Kandy priests were immediately notified that their presence was desired, as it was intended to exhibit the great relic, and their guardian offices would be necessary. Accordingly, on the third day the mosque or temple was opened; and in the building were assembled the Siamese priests and worshippers with Tickery on the one side the Kandy or guardian priests on the other, and the recorder and the governor in the centre.

"After making all due offering to the tooth of the great deity, the Siamese head priest, who had brought a golden jar filled with otto of roses, desired to have a small piece of cotton with some of the otto of roses rubbed on the tooth and then passed into the jar, thereby to consecrate the whole of the contents. To this process the Kandy priests objected, as being a liberty too great to be extended to any foreigners. The Siamese, however, persevered in their requests, and the governor and recorder, not knowing the cause of the altercation, inquired of Tickery. Tickery, who had fairly espoused the cause of the Siamese, though knowing that in their last request they had exceeded all precedent, resolved quietly to gratify their wish; so in answer to the governor's interrogatory, took from the hands of the Siamese priest a small piece of cotton and the golden jar of oil. 'This is what they want, your honor; they want to take this small piece of cotton—so; and having dipped it in this oil—so; they wish to rub it on this here sacred tooth—so; and having done this to return it to the jar of oil—so; thereby, your honor, to consecrate the whole contents.' All the words of Tickery were accompanied by the corresponding action, and of course the desired ceremony had been performed in affording the explanation. The whole thing was the work of a moment. The governor and recorder did not know how to interpose in time, though they were aware that such a proceeding was against all precedent. The Kandy priests were taken aback, and the Siamese priests, having obtained the desired object, took from Tickery's hands the now consecrated jar, with every demonstration of fervent gratitude. The Kandy priests were loud in their indignation; but the governor, patting Tickery on the back said, 'Tickery, my boy, you have settled the question for us; it is a pity you were not born in the precincts of St. James', for you would have made a splendid political agent!'

"Tickery received next morning a douceur of a thousand rupees from the priests, and ever since has been held in the highest esteem and respect by the King of Siam, also by the Buddhist priests, by whom he is considered a holy man. From the King he receives honorary and substantial tokens of royal favor. He has carte blanche to draw on the King for any amount, but he says he has as yet contented himself with a moderate draft of seven hundred dollars."

There used to be a story current in Bangkok that every new king made it his pious care to set up in one of the royal temples a life-size image of Buddha of solid gold. Though we need not believe this tale, it would be hard to exaggerate the impression of lavishness and distinction produced upon the visitor to this city, full of temples. Nothing in great China or artistic Japan can compare with their peculiar brilliance or their wonderful array of color flashing in the tropical sunlight. We have no reason to repeat the enthusiastic descriptions which travellers never tire of giving, impressed as they are sure to be by an architecture which, with all its wealth and oddity of detail, harmonizes perfectly with the rich vegetation in the midst of which it is placed. Change and decay are, however, doing their part in reducing the picturesqueness of this strange city. No Oriental thinks of perpetuating a public monument by means of constant attention and repairs, and many of these gay edifices already lose their fine details by long exposure to the effects of a climate in which nothing endures long if left to itself. With the improvements introduced by the present king and his father are disappearing also many of those features of daily life in the capital which once heightened its oriental charm. A pleasure park has been made, in which, and on some of the new macadam roads about the city, the foreigners and richer natives drive in wheeled vehicles. So long, however, as the roads are covered by the annual inundations and made unserviceable for months at a time, the use of carriages must be almost as restricted here as that of horses in Venice. A more regrettable innovation is that of dress-coats, starched linens, and to some extent dresses, in the fashionable circles of Siam. Taken out of their easy and becoming costumes, and encased in ill-fitting and uncomfortable Western clothes, the Siamese nobles can hardly be said to have improved on the old days. With the removal of their nakedness the lower classes, too, are becoming more conscious, while contact with a higher civilization has introduced vices among them without always bringing in their train the Christian virtues of cleanliness and truth.

The population of Bangkok increases steadily with its prosperity and influence, and is to-day variously estimated at from three hundred thousand to half a million souls, nearly half of whom perhaps are Chinese. Its main article of export is rice, which goes not only to every country of Asia, but to Australia and America. Sugar and spices, as well as all products of tropical forests, are also largely exported. The customs returns of 1890 show a considerable improvement of the Bangkok trade over previous years, the exports being $19,257,728 against $13,317,696 for 1889, a difference of over $5,540,000; the imports of 1890 were $15,786,120, against $9,599,541 in 1889, a gain of more than six millions.

Gas and kerosene are both used for illumination, the former in the palaces of royalty and the nobility, where the electric light has also been introduced. Foreign steam engines and machinery are employed in increasing numbers, while iron bridges span many of the smaller canals, and steam dredges keep the river channel clear. Telegraphic communication has long since been established with the French settlement of Saigon, in Cochin China, and thus with the outer world, and since the British occupation of Burmah a line is promised from Rangoon into Siam. A railway has been commenced between Bangkok and Ayuthia, to extend thence to Korat, a total distance of 170 miles; but the overflow of the Meinam, which renders a considerable embankment or causeway along the river necessary, is a serious obstacle to its construction, while the great waterway itself renders a railroad less necessary in Siam than in other countries. Another line, from Bangkok to the mouth of the Pakong River, 36 miles southeast of the city, is also in contemplation; while a design exists to eventually connect Zimmé with the sea by a line running the whole length of the Meinam Valley.

Thus the beautiful city, in awaking from the dream of its old, narrow life, must become by degrees like other busy trade centres of the civilized world, cursed with its sins as well as blessed with its strength and excellence. The tastes and education of the present sovereign have led him to hasten, so far as a single will could, this progress toward modern methods of living. He has abolished the ancient custom of prostration in the presence of a superior, so that now a subject may approach even his king without abasement. He has by degrees put an end to slavery as a legalized institution, throughout the country, and although many of his poorer subjects are hardly better off under the system of forced service than as actual slaves, the change, if only in some sort one of name, is a change for the better. He strives to make Bangkok the pulse of the kingdom, through which the life-blood of its commerce and control must course, achieving by his polity that highly centred system of administration, without which no pure despotism can be either beneficial or successful.