The principal ceremonies devolve upon the priests, of whom there are quite a number present, both Buddhist and Brahman. The princess is copiously bathed in pure water, in which the leaves of a certain kind of tree supposed to possess purifying and healthful influences are put. Most of the time is spent in feasting, but on the third day she is placed on a small throne under a white canopy, where she is bathed with holy water, the priests reciting prayers the while. She is then conducted to a place where her wet clothes are laid aside, and she is arrayed in queenly costume, jewels and diamonds, and then displays herself to those in attendance.
Instances have occurred where the king had two queen-consorts. In such cases the one is called “the queen of the right hand” and the other “the queen of the left hand.” It has only happened about twice in Siamese history that the king has taken a foreign princess for his queen-consort.
THE SIAMESE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.
On the 21st of March, 1882, all the Siamese officials in the province met upon the top of the mountain nearest to the town of Petchaburee and drank the water of allegiance, pledging their loyalty to their sovereign. They met in the audience-hall belonging to the king’s country palace, which crowns the summit of this picturesque eminence. Upon the throne erected for the king an image of Lord Buddha was temporarily placed. Before the idol were burned incense-sticks and sacred candles made of yellow wax. Below the idol was a large brasen basin containing the water of allegiance. Across this basin were placed a sword, gun, spear and other warlike weapons; a cord was tied to the idol, and, passing around the basin of water, passed through the hands of a line of yellow-robed priests, whose vain repetitions in the Pali language were supposed to pass along the string to their gilded god. Before each priest was placed two large salvers containing a great variety of tempting-looking eatables, upon which, as soon as they had finished their prayers, they fell to work in good earnest. The repast finished, they brushed their teeth with the ends of soft sticks, lit their cigarettes and puffed away complacently while the oath was being administered.
The oath of allegiance is a long, horrible affair, which should they fail to keep, they said, “We beseech the power of the deities to plague with poisonous boils rapidly fatal and all manner of diseases the dishonorable, perverse and treacherous with untimely, wretched and appalling deaths, manifest to the eyes of the world; when we shall have departed this life from earth cause us to be sent and all to be born in the great hell, where we shall burn with quenchless fire for tens and hundreds of thousands of ages and limitless transmigrations; and when we have expiated our penalty there, and are again born into any world, we pray we may fail to find the least happiness in worlds of pleasurable enjoyments; let us not meet the god Buddha, the sacred teachings, the sacred priests that come to be gracious to animals, helping them escape misery, reach heaven and attain a succession of births and deaths; should we meet them, let them grant us no gracious assistance.” This is not all, but it is enough to show the fearfulness of the oath, to which the officials listened with apparent indifference.
The governor of the province, sitting upon his mat, with his vessels and ornaments of gold spread out before him, seemed the most indifferent of them all, and spent the greater portion of the time occupied by reading the oath in picking fleas from his favorite dog and in cracking them over his thumb. After the reading of the oath the various weapons were dipped into the water, which exercise was accompanied by the chanting of the priests and the blowing of conch-shells, after which all in authority drank of the water and sprinkled it upon their heads, bowing toward the idol and toward Bangkok, where the king resides. This ended the ceremony, and all departed to their homes.
CHAPTER XXI.
HISTORY OF THE MISSIONS IN SIAM AND LAOS.
The American trading-vessel, commanded by Captain Coffin, which in 1829 brought to this country the famous “Siamese Twins,” brought also an earnest appeal for aid in evangelizing that then almost unknown land of their birth.
The appeal came from the zealous German missionary Gutzlaff and his associate, the Rev. Mr. Tomlin, of the London Missionary Society, who six months before had made their way to Siam, where they found not only an open door, but a large and most inviting field, for missionary labor. Their own societies not encouraging their permanent occupation of this advanced post in heathendom, both these brethren urged the American churches to enter in and possess the land for Christ. In response to the appeal of Gutzlaff, which was specially addressed to them, the American Board of Foreign Missions instructed the Rev. David Abeel, then in China, to visit Siam with a view to its occupancy if he deemed it advisable.