The Mission to Siam, and Hué the Capital of Cochin China, in the Years 1821-2

Towards evening we got into our boats, intending to visit a point of land which promised to afford us specimens of rock, but we found that we were not able to reach it, especially as we were at a great distance from the ship, and were threatened with a storm.

On the following morning we sailed round the island, and thus ascertained the dimensions stated above.

We continued to proceed northwards among innumerable islands, many of which, by their position with regard to each other, would seem to form extensive bays and well-sheltered harbours. The tides in some places are very strong and irregular. They rise to a very uncommon height for these latitudes. In some places the sea was observed to be not less than fifteen feet below high water-mark.

On the following day we landed on several small, rocky islands, off the southern extremity of Fu-kok. We found them composed of huge masses of sandstone. The surface of this sandstone was hollowed out into numerous shallow cavities; it presented considerable varieties in granular aspect and contained nodules of flint, quartz, &c.

We had been much exposed to a powerful sun during this day, the bad effect of which I soon after was destined to experience, having been laid up for some days with fever, which rendered me totally incapable of attending to any thing. We continued our course through the islands, sometimes keeping to the windward of them altogether, and at other times passing through narrow straits, with fine deep passages between the islands. Nothing could be more picturesque than the prospect which these islands afforded on such occasions. Mr. Crawfurd went on shore on one of them, and brought off specimens of granite and quartz-rock, of which it was entirely composed. The islands, however, immediately near to this were composed of variegated sand-stone.

On the 21st of March, about sun-set, some Chinese junks were seen riding at anchor in the harbour of Siam, and there, the same evening, we cast anchor. On the 22d, the pilot of a Chinese junk came on board, and represented that it would be necessary to send to Packnam, a village at the mouth of the river, for a pilot; he was doubtful whether the ship could pass the bar. The chief mate set out for this place in the morning, with a letter from Mr. Crawfurd for the chief person of the place. He was hospitably entertained during the night by the chief, and returned on the following day, with a small present of fruit from him, but no letter. In the meanwhile they had referred to Bankok, and a pilot was ordered to attend us.

25th.– We weighed anchor, with a light, fair wind, and attempted to pass the bar, but stuck on a bank of mud, after clearing the principal bar, which is of sand. Here the ship lay quite easy and upright, supported on one side by props till next tide. At low water there were but six feet on the bar. About 5 p.m. the ship begun to float again, and after touching now and then, got over without much difficulty as the tide made. The entrance is tolerably well marked out by lines of fishing-stakes. The mouth of the river forms an angle with the entrance from the harbour, so that the former is not perceptible until you are close to it. The river gradually opens upon the view; it is called Menam: it is about a mile and a half in breadth at its mouth. After passing two or three short reaches, we anchored opposite to the town of Packnam. The river is here about three-quarters of a mile in breadth, and very deep; the banks are low, and covered with woods.

CHAPTER III

Interpreter arrives. – Requested to land the Guns. – Entertained by a Chief. – Physiological Remarks on the Siamese. – Progress to Bankok. – A floating Bazar. – Bankok described. – The Governor General’s Letter to the King delivered to a Chief. – A suspicious Attempt made to get Possession of the Presents. – Interview with one of the Ministers. – Disgusting Servility of his Attendants. – Negotiations respecting the Performance of the Court Ceremonies. – Proceed to the Palace. – Addressed in good Latin by a Native. – Observations on the Road to the Audience. – Description of the Audience.

March 26th.– Early in the morning, a man, dressed somewhat in the style of an European sailor, came off, and stated that he had been sent from Bankok to act as interpreter, and to accompany us to the capital. This was one of that degraded, but self-important class of society, well known in India under the general title of Portuguese, a title to which a hat and one or two other articles of clothing in the European fashion would seem to give every black man, every native, and every half caste, an undisputed claim. Our visitor bore the characteristic national features of the Siamese, amongst whom he had been born; he spoke the Portuguese language with ease and fluency, but English very imperfectly. He said, that the chief of Packnam requested that the guns might be landed, as the ship could not otherwise be permitted to proceed upwards without an order from court to that effect. It was observed, that the Portuguese frigate did not land her guns; he replied, that such was a special indulgence from the court. Mr. Crawfurd was, at the same time, invited on shore to dinner, the chief representing that he had received orders to entertain all persons of the rank of ambassadors or envoys during their stay within his jurisdiction. Very little notice was taken of, and no direct communication was held with, the interpreter.

This sort of verbal communication, on matters of business, did not augur well towards the success of our mission. We could not fail to remark, that the different personages who had as yet visited us, were either of very low rank, or of none at all, neither did they exhibit any mark by which they might be recognised as acting from authority. The chief, or, as the gentlemen of our party styled him, governor of Packnam, himself, to all appearance, of small political importance, being merely the head man of several poor fishing villages, did not condescend to visit us, or to hold other communication with us than that described. It was hinted that a man of some rank had been sent hither to receive us, but neither did this personage make his appearance. After breakfast, Captain M’Donnell went on shore to wait upon the chief of Packnam; he induced the latter to send a young man, a relation of his, on board. This man was received with much attention; he appeared to take little notice of the ship, or, indeed, of any thing else; he was naked from the waist upwards, and rather meanly dressed even for a Siamese; he partook of sweetmeats and spirits, and after inviting Mr. Crawfurd to go on shore, and conversing with the latter for about half an hour, he rose and departed, Mr. Crawfurd having agreed to visit the chief in the evening.

We accordingly set out in three different boats, Mr. Crawfurd and Captain Dangerfield having their servants, harkaras, silver sticks, state umbrellas, and dressed in the uniform of the Governor-General. A crowd of people, consisting of old men and women, and many children, were collected on the beach, and appeared to view us with considerable curiosity. The young man who had visited us on board, alone received us at the landing-place, from whence we walked through a narrow noisome lane, paved with wood, the distance of about fifty yards, to the chief’s house, a place of sorry appearance; we ascended by a flight of wooden steps into a small enclosed court, which opened behind into the house. In an open room, tawdrily ornamented with Chinese paper lanterns, Dutch glass, and scraps of painted paper, we found the chief, a tall, slender, rather elderly man, seated on a chair; he got up to welcome Mr. Crawfurd, and conducted him to a chair on his left. A table was placed in the centre of the room, and soon after we had taken our seats (we were luckily accommodated with chairs), a dinner, consisting of roast pork, roast ducks and fowls, and a pilaw, were brought in. The dishes were cooked after the European fashion, two or three native Christians who attended, to judge by their busy manner, being very anxious to approve themselves on the present occasion. We had dined before going on shore, but at the request of the chief, who, indeed, appeared to be very desirous of pleasing us, we sat down to table, accompanied by the interpreter already alluded to, but neither the chief nor any of his family partook of the entertainment. A crowd of people were collected in the court, and viewed us as we sat, evidently with considerable interest. Opposite to the chief sat the personage who had been sent to receive us; he was a good-looking, middle-aged man, a Malay, who had been once or twice in Bengal: we spent nearly two hours thus conversing on various subjects. On our getting up to depart, the chief rose and shook hands with all of us.

March 27.– No communication had arrived respecting permission for us to proceed to the capital. One of the king’s boats, which had been sent down for the purpose of taking Mr. Crawfurd to Bankok, returned this morning. This was a long and narrow boat, turned up at the bow and stern, bearing resemblance to a canoe, and provided with a sort of chair in the middle, over which a shed of mats had been erected. The rowers were numerous, but the accommodation trifling, as it could carry but one or two persons. It appeared not a little absurd that they should think of offering only this boat for the accommodation of a numerous party. It was doubtless expected that Mr. Crawfurd would go up alone.

Accompanied by Mr. Rutherford, I went on shore in the evening, and strolled through the village. We found it difficult to land, it being now low water, and the banks consisting of soft mud. We ascended into a house built, as a great proportion of the village is, over the river. We passed thus from house to house, on elevated boards, till we reached dry land. We found the people remarkably civil, and even obliging. They received us with smiles, and seemed anxious to entertain us. The women were not less forward than the men on these occasions. They collected round us, talked, laughed, and expressed not the least apprehension. We found the houses dirty, and lumbered with billets of wood, with little provision for ease. Yet the people appeared to live in tolerable comfort, though their means of subsistence, if we except that which they derive from the river and the sea, was not very evident. There appeared a great paucity even of fish. Rice they seemed to have in abundance. They were well fed, and stout, but rather below the middle stature. They cut the hair close to the head, leaving a short tuft on the forehead, which they comb backward. There is no difference in this respect between the men and women, both cutting the hair off short. Europeans are not more attentive to render their teeth white, than the Siamese are to make them black. Amongst them black teeth only are considered beautiful, and it must be allowed that they succeed perfectly well in this species of ornament. This, together with the coarse red painting of the mouth and lips, which they derive from the constant eating of betel, catechu, and lime together, gives to them a disgusting appearance. The face of the Siamese is remarkably large, the forehead very broad, prominent on each side, and covered with the hairy scalp in greater proportion than I have observed in any other people. In some, it descends to within an inch or even less of the eye-brows, covers the whole of the temples, and stretches forwards to within nearly the same distance of the outer angle of the eye. The cheek bones are large, wide, and prominent. A principal peculiarity in the configuration of their countenance is the great size of the back part of the lower jaw. The corona process here projects outwards, so as to give to this part of the face an uncommon breadth. One would imagine, on a careless inspection, that they were all affected with a slight degree of goitre, or swelling of the parotid gland. A similar appearance is often observable in Malays. The people generally go naked from the waist upwards, sometimes throwing a piece of cloth over the shoulders. Old women in general expose the breast; but the young, and the middle aged, wrap a short piece of cloth round the chest, of sufficient length to form a single knot in front, thus leaving the shoulders and arms bare. From the loins to the knee, they wrap a piece of blue or other coloured cloth, over which the better sort wear a piece of Chinese crape, or a shawl.

The bazar, if a few scattered huts along a path may deserve that name, was extremely meagre. A few plantains, pumpkins, betel, tobacco, and jagory, were almost the only articles it afforded, by the sale of which a few old women contrived to gain a subsistence.

We proceeded to a monastic institution, situated on the bank of the river. The houses here are well built, spacious, and convenient. The whole is included in an extensive and open space of ground, kept clean and neat. The accommodation for the priests is excellent; the houses are well raised, the floors and walls made of boards. A neat temple occupies one extremity of the enclosure. The fraternity received us with great cheerfulness, and, at our request, readily admitted us into the interior of the temple. Here, raised to about the middle height of the edifice, on a broad platform or altar, we discovered about fifty gilded images of Buddha, all in the sitting posture. The principal image, considerably above the human stature, was placed behind, and over him was raised a sort of arched canopy of carved and gilded wood. The others were ranged close before him. On each corner of the altar, with their faces turned towards the images, clothed in the usual costume of their order, and in the attitude of devotion, stood two priests. The general form of the figure of Buddha was not essentially different from that worshipped by the natives of Ceylon. The hair is short and curled, the head surmounted by a flame or glory, the countenance placid, benign, and contemplative. They have given somewhat of a Siamese, or rather Tartar expression to the features, by rather prolonging the eyebrows, and giving an obliquity to the eye; the nose is more sharp, and the lips very thick.

The Buddha of the natives of Ceylon, on the contrary, is a complete model of the ancient Egyptian or Ethiopian countenance, from which their images never deviate in the slightest degree. There can be no question, however, that both nations intend to represent one and the same personage.

Nearly in the centre of this enclosure, a temporary building, of a pyramidal form, and constituted of successive stages, was then building. We were informed that this was intended to contain the funeral pile on which the body of a chief, who had died about five months before, was to be burnt in the course of another month; it being customary, amongst Siamese of rank, to preserve the bodies of their relations in their houses for a greater or shorter period, according to the rank of the deceased. Great preparations were now making for the approaching ceremony, and, in a building close by, we found some priests at work, painting devices for the occasion. These were principally grotesque figures of old men, monsters, serpents, &c.

In the course of the evening, we called upon the relative of the late chief. He seemed well pleased at our taking notice of the preparations that were going forward, and still more when I expressed a desire to see the body, which lay in one end of the room, behind a white screen. He immediately led us to the place, cast the screen aside, and exhibited an oblong box, covered with white muslin, and ornamented with green-coloured and gold-leaf fringe.

We proceeded along the bank for nearly two miles, on a paved path-way; the ground here being low and swampy. This village rarely exhibits more than two or three houses in depth from the river; yet, extending in a continuous line for several miles, the population must be very considerable. We passed several other handsome temples. It should be observed, that at the monastic institution mentioned above, there is a battery facing the river, but it cannot be said to command it. Here there are ten or twelve iron guns, mounted on decayed carriages, half sunk into the earth, and at present unserviceable.

March 28th.– The boat which had gone the day before returned during the night, and we now saw it in its usual place. The Malay, whom we had met at the house of the chief, and who had been sent to meet us, returned in it. He came on board in the course of the morning, and stated that the ship might proceed up the river, without delay or restriction of any sort. The anchor was accordingly immediately weighed, and though the tide was against us, we proceeded up with an easy breeze. The banks of the river were still very low; they were thickly planted with the attap, which gave them a picturesque appearance; in the background we observed the betel palm to grow in great abundance, and to appearance spontaneously, the ground being too low to admit of cultivation. Besides these, the jungle consisted of various species of Calamus, and of bamboo, and long grass. Proceeding farther up the river, extensive plains opened in prospect. They presented rather a steril aspect, the harvest having been lately gathered in. These plains occupy the left bank of the river, over which they were now elevated about eight or ten feet. We were given to understand, that in the rainy season they are covered with water, to the depth of two or three feet, and are therefore well adapted for the cultivation of rice. They appeared to extend as far as the eye could reach. Between them and the river, there is a narrow strip of jungle. Houses are interspersed along the bank, and surrounded by extensive plantations of areca palms, plantains, and a few cocoa-nut trees. The houses are small, but neat, consisting of one or two rooms, raised about three feet from the ground. The opposite side of the river is covered with jungle. The banks are tolerably steep, with very deep water, from thirty to sixty feet near to their edge. The mud is stiff, plastic, forming, in all probability, an excellent soil. The gentlemen of our party went on shore in the evening, as we lay at anchor, waiting the turn of tide. They shot several species of birds, amongst which were a beautiful Pigeon, a Minor, and the blue Jay of Bengal.

We saw the Adjutant, and several species of Falco flying about.

About sun-set, we again weighed anchor, and continued to proceed up the river till about midnight. We now began to be much molested with musquitoes.

March 29th.– We recommenced proceeding up the river at an early hour, and about 8 A.M. cast anchor nearly opposite to the middle of the town.

In the course of our progress this morning, the various scenes upon the river afforded considerable interest. Numerous small canoes, for the most part carrying but one individual, small covered boats, &c., were plying in every direction. The market-hour was now approaching, and all seemed life and activity. Here one or more of the priests of Buddha were guiding their little canoe on its diurnal eleemosynary excursion. There an old woman hawked betel, plantains, and pumpkins. Here you saw canoes laden with cocoa-nuts, – there, groups of natives were proceeding from house to house, on their various occupations. But the most singular feature in the busy scene was the appearance of the houses, floating on the water, in rows about eight, ten, or more, in depth, from the bank. This novel appearance was peculiarly neat and striking. The houses were built of boards, of a neat oblong form, and towards the river provided with a covered platform, on which were displayed numerous articles of merchandise: fruit, rice, meat, &c. This was, in fact, a floating bazar, in which all the various products of China and of the country were exposed for sale. At either end the houses were bound to long bamboos driven into the river. They are thus enabled to move from place to place according as convenience may demand. Every house is furnished with a small canoe, in which they visit, and go from place to place to transact business. Almost all those collected in this quarter seem to be occupied by merchants, many of them very petty no doubt, and by tradespeople, as shoe-makers, tailors, &c. The latter occupations are followed almost exclusively by the Chinese. The houses are in general very small, consisting of a principal centre room, and one or two small ones, the centre being open in front, for the display of their wares. The houses are from twenty to thirty feet in length, and about half that space in breadth. They consist of a single stage, the floor raised above the water about a foot, and the roof thatched with palm leaves. At low water, when the stream is rapid, there appears to be but little business done in these shops. Their proprietors are then to be seen lolling or sleeping in front of their warehouses, or otherwise enjoying themselves at their ease. At all hours of the day, however, many boats are passing and repassing. They are so light and sharp in their form, that they mount rapidly against the stream. They are rowed with paddles, of which the long canoes have often eight or ten on each side. The number of Chinese appears to be very considerable; they display the same activity and industry here that they do wherever they are to be found. Their boats are generally larger, and rowed by longer paddles. They have a sort of cabin, made of basket-work, in the centre, which serves to contain their effects, and answers the purposes of a house. Many of them carry pieces of fresh pork up and down the river for sale.

The river at Bankok is about a quarter of a mile in breadth, without including the space occupied on each side by floating houses. It carries down a large body of water, and contains a large proportion of soft mud; its depth, even close to the bank, generally varies from six to ten fathoms, whilst its rapidity is about three miles an hour. As far as we could yet judge, not having been on shore, we suspected that by far the greater part of the population lived on the water, in floating houses, moveable from place to place. The inconveniences of a city built in this manner must be numerous. The houses are small, the accommodations trifling, and the occupants must be ever on their guard against accidents. A trifling population must in this way occupy a vast extent of ground. You look in vain for any thing better than a small, low hut, of one stage only in height. These little houses, or huts, it is true, are generally handsome and neat, but they make, on the whole, a paltry, though to us a novel, appearance. Their form is chiefly Chinese, as is also that of their temples.

In the course of the day, two children, about six years old, the son and nephew of the minister who conducts all the business carried on between the court and Europeans of every description, came on board to see the ship, bringing with them a present, consisting of sweetmeats and fruits. They were neatly dressed, from the waist downwards, and had their bodies slightly rubbed over with a yellowish colour, either turmeric or powdered sandal wood. They wore round the neck several ornaments of gold and precious stones, none of them of much value. Each had a long necklace of moon-stones set in gold thrown over the shoulder, and suspended from the neck a large, broad, golden ornament, studded with diamonds, sapphires, and rubies, all of inferior quality and of trifling value. Like all Indian children, they shewed a wonderful precocity of manners, conducting themselves with the greatest ease and propriety.

In the evening we were visited by a man of rank, second to the minister alluded to. He was an old, lively, and inquisitive man, upwards of sixty-five years of age. He came in one of the king’s boats, which was rowed by men dressed in coarse scarlet cloth.

This old gentleman conversed for some time with great ease and affability, inquired into the respective rank and occupation of the several gentlemen of the mission, and seemed to welcome us with great cordiality. He soon intimated that the object of his visit was to procure the letter from the Governor-General to the King. He had brought with him a handsome golden cup for its reception. On this, the letter, wrapt in gold tissue, was placed in his presence. On his expressing a wish to depart, Mr. Crawfurd took up the cup, and raising it to his head, proceeded through a double line of sepoys, with presented arms, drawn out for the occasion, to the gangway, from which he handed it down to one of the gentlemen of the mission placed in the chief’s boat to receive it. The latter delivered it to the chief, who placed it negligently on a piece of old carpet, on which he sat.