Identifier: englishgoverness00leonuoft (find matches)
Title: The English governess at the Siamese court : being recollections of six years in the royal palace at Bangkok
Year: 1873 (1870s)
Authors: Leonowens, Anna Harriette, 1834-1914
Subjects: Thailand -- Social life and customs
Publisher: Boston : J.R. Osgood
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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of several varieties,and the famous gold of Bhangtaphan. Forty differentkinds of rice are named, but these may properly be re-duced to four classes, — the Common or table, the Small-grained or mountain, the Glutinous, and the Vermilionrice. From the glutinous rice arrack is distilled. Theareca, or pinang-nut, and the betel, are used almost uni-versally, chewed with lime, the lime, — being dyed withturmeric, which imparts to it a rich vermilion tint; theareca-nut is also used in dying cotton thread. The characteristic traits of the Siamese Court are hau-teur, insolent indifference, and ostentation, the naturalfeatures and expression of tyranny; and every artificethat power and opulence can devise is employed to inspirethe minds of the common people with trembling awe anddevout veneration for their sovereign master. Though thelate Sujirenie King wisely reformed certain of the stun-ning customs of the court with more modest innovations, • In Siam reserved as a royal appropriation.
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THE KINGDOM OF SIAM. 295 nevertheless he rarely went abroad without extrava-gant display, especially in his annual visitations to thetemples. These were j)erforraed in a style studiouslycontrived to strike the beholder with astonishment andadmiration. The royal state barge, one hundred cubits long, besidebeing elaborately carved, and inlaid with bits of crystal,porcelain, mother-of-pearl, and jade, is richly enamelledand gilt. The stem, wliich rises ten or eleven feet fromthe bows, represents the naglia mustakha sapta, the seven-headed serpent or alligator. A phrasat, or elevated throne(also termed 2yh7a-the-nan(/), occupies the centre, supportedby four pillars. The extraordinary beauty of the inlayingof shells, mother-of-pearl, crystal, and precious stones ofevery color, the splendor of the gilding, and the eleganceof the costly kinkob curtains with which it is hung,combine to render this one of the most striking andbeautiful objects to be seen on the Meinam. The bargeis usually manu

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