THE WEST.
[CHAPTER XV.]
WOMEN, HAIR-CUTTING, AND SLAVERY.
The boys occupied themselves very industriously in writing for their friends at home the accounts of what they had seen and heard in Siam. They told of the trip to Ayuthia, and the visit to the elephant corral; of their stay at Bang-pa-in; of the journey down the river; and, finally, of the flotilla of boats and barges, and the state procession of the king to the temples. When they had brought the story down to the hour of writing, there was a day to spare before the closing of the weekly mail to Singapore, and thence to America.
Frank thought it was time for him to say something specially intended for Mary and Effie; he remembered his letter from Japan about the women of that country, and concluded that a similar missive from Siam would be quite in order. Then he recollected that he had seen fewer women in his walks and rides about Bangkok than when he strolled through the streets of Tokio and Kioto, and that in all probability he could not tell as much of the Siamese as of the Japanese women, for the simple reason that he had not learned so much about them. But he was determined to make the effort, and, after talking with the Doctor on the subject, he wrote as follows:
SIAMESE GENTLEMAN AND LADY.