"The river is the great thoroughfare for business and for pleasure. It is covered with boats of all sorts and kinds. The walls of the city are from fifteen to thirty feet high, and twelve feet thick; but I suppose the heavy guns of modern times could knock them down in a very short time," added the professor.
"What is that opening into the river?" asked Felix, who had kept his tongue very quiet so far.
"That is a canal," replied Achang, as the professor did not reply. "I have been here three times, and once I went up that canal. There are only a few good streets in the city, and inside business is carried on by the canals."
"As Paris is to France, and Paris is France, so Bangkok is Siam; and that is the reason why the commander goes no farther. Now we have come to the wall, and you can see the outside town."
"The houses here are all on stilts, as in Sumatra and Borneo," observed Scott. "Some of them are built over the water."
"It is said here that the city suffered terribly from the ravages of cholera; and when the king found out that the disease was caused by the bad drainage of the houses, he ordered his people to build on the river, where the drainage would dispose of itself," said Professor Giroud. "This story was told me by a Frenchman here, but I cannot vouch for the truth of the statement."
"Can you tell me, Achang, why they build their houses on piles in this country?" asked Morris.
"Because they have waterations here."
"Have what?" demanded the questioner, while all the party laughed except the Bornean. "I never heard of waterations before."
"When the water rise up high," Achang explained.