After a time there was a stir, and the announcement was made that the king was coming. The boys looked up the river in the direction of the palace, and, sure enough, there was the royal procession; and it was a sight that almost took away the breath of both Frank and Fred.
STATE BARGE OF THE KING OF SIAM.
There was a flotilla of a dozen or more boats and barges of the most gorgeous description our friends had ever seen. The largest of them was occupied by the king, and had a hundred and twenty men to row, or rather to paddle it. The boat was said to be fifty yards in length, but nobody was able to say positively what were its exact dimensions; at any rate, it was long enough and handsome enough to satisfy the most fastidious spectator. The rowers were in a double line, and in scarlet uniforms; at each stroke they raised their paddles high in air, and their movements were so timed that the paddles on both sides were dipped at exactly the same moment. The boat sat quite low in the water, and its stern had a sharp and high curve to it that doubtless made the middle of the craft appear lower than it really was. The bow was bent upwards as high as the stern, and Frank thought it could not be less than ten or twelve feet out of the water. It appeared to be much heavier than the stern, and was fantastically carved; the Doctor told the boys that the carving was intended to represent the Nagha Mustakha Sapta, or seven-headed serpent, which is one of the mythological deities of Siam.
Considerably nearer to the stern than the bow there was a sort of throne elevated on four pillars, and having a gorgeous canopy above it. On this throne the king was seated; the canopy had a spire like that of some of the temples, and consequently the seat in the barge possessed a certain religious character. Near him were attendants holding canopies not altogether unlike umbrellas, and at a distance these canopies suggested the appearance of golden cones. The boat was driven rapidly through the water by the powerful arms of its rowers, and their movements were timed by a man waving a huge baton, after the manner of the drum-major of a brass band. The other boats moved at the same speed; they were smaller than that of the king, some of them having no more than thirty or forty rowers; and they belonged to the Siamese nobles and ministers of state, who were required to accompany the king on his official visits to the temples.
The gilding and bright colors on the boats were fairly dazzling to the eyes of the young travellers. In all their travels hitherto, they had seen nothing half as gorgeous as this spectacle, and Frank was inclined to pinch himself to make sure he was not dreaming. He was destined to be still more astonished when told that the king's boat was inlaid with mother-of-pearl and crystal, and with sparkling shells and bright stones, so that it resembled a piece of jewellery for the use of a giant such as the world never saw. He wondered what must have been the cost of such a boat, but there was no one who could tell him.
A BODY OF THE ROYAL GUARDS.