The strangers were not invited to see the services inside the building, and therefore they remained where they were till the king came out and returned to his boat. The ceremony lasted about half an hour, and consisted of the repetition of prayers by the priests, and responses by the king; it was said to be not unlike the celebration of mass in a Catholic church, and it has been remarked by many visitors to the Far East that the forms of Buddhist worship have a considerable resemblance to those of Rome.
The king went to his boat, which was drawn up to the platform as before; and as soon as he was seated, the signal was given to the rowers to move on. Away they paddled to another temple, situated up one of the canals; and the other boats followed the royal one as rapidly as possible. By taking a path through some gardens near the temple, our friends reached a point on the bank of the canal where they could see all the boats as they went along.
After the procession had gone the boys wanted to ramble through the tall grass, but changed their minds when told that possibly they might encounter a cobra or some other deadly snake. Cobras are not unfrequently found around the Siamese temples; and though accidents are not of common occurrence, there are enough of them to make a stranger careful about his promenades.
It was past noon, and the heat of the sun was not of the lightest. The Doctor suggested a return to the hotel, and the boys were quite willing to accept it, as they wanted to think over the strange spectacle they had witnessed. They thought they had done quite enough for one day, and considered that they had been very fortunate in seeing the king, and witnessing one of the pageants for which Siam is celebrated.
On their way back in the boat, Frank asked the Doctor to tell him something about the use of the betel-nut. They had observed that the king was vigorously chewing the substance, which is to the Siamese what tobacco is to many Americans, and the ministers of state were following his example. All classes of people indulged in the amusement, and their mouths had a reddish appearance in consequence.
"The leaf of the betel-pepper," said the Doctor, "and the nut of the areca-palm are prepared as follows: the nut is sliced quite thin, and a little quicklime is sprinkled on it, so as to give it a pungent flavor, and the two substances are then wrapped in the leaf. In this form it is taken into the mouth and chewed, and the operation is generally performed with a very vigorous action of the jaws. The saliva has a reddish tint, and it is so bright that many strangers are deluded into the belief that the natives are spitting blood. The practice of chewing this substance began originally in the Malay peninsula, but it has gradually spread all over India, the countries of Indo-China, and the Malay Archipelago. Would you like to try it?"
The boys had the curiosity to make an experiment with the betel-nut; and, as soon as they reached the hotel, the Doctor made their wants known to the landlord. In a little while some of the substance was brought, and the youths ventured to chew it.
A very short trial was quite sufficient. They found the taste anything but agreeable; and Frank thought the same sensation could be had by dissolving in the mouth a piece of alum as large as a small pea, or a more extensive piece of lime. The delusion might be kept up by adding any common leaf and a few grains of pepper, and Fred was confident that it would require a long time for him to be accustomed to it. "Of course," said he, "one might learn in time to like betel, just as men in America learn to like tobacco; but, as far as I can judge, the taste of tobacco is the less disagreeable of the two."
The astringency of the betel-nut was removed from the tongues of the experimenters by a free use of the milk of green cocoa-nuts; and each of the boys made a quiet promise to himself that he would not learn to chew betel for anything in the world.