_March twenty-eighth._ This morning, it being very high water, we entered on the canal which runs near to the southern wall of the city; passing along it, about a mile and a quarter, we turned to the left, and proceeding along about the same distance, we again shot out into the main river: thus taking a complete circuit of the city. The wall is about twenty feet in height; not a piece of cannon was seen, nor even a solitary sentry taking his weary round; but a number of canals passed under the wall, and were filled with market-boats: there are no portcullises ready to drop, in case of a rebellion, or the invasion of an enemy; these canals, therefore, offer a ready and easy entrance. The houses in the suburbs in many places, are built immediately against the walls. No defence could be made, against even a small disciplined force, for there is no regular military force in the kingdom; the soldiers are never drilled with muskets, the government being unwilling to trust them with arms in their hands: their mode of warfare is altogether desultory. Many parts of the canal which surrounds the city, were much crowded with pedlars’ boats, containing coarse cloth, paper, brass, and iron utensils, &c.; others with salt, sapan-wood, cotton in small baskets, areca-nut, siri-leaf, chunam, coloured with turmeric, dried fish, oil, sugar, balachang, fresh pork, fish, fruit, and vegetables. The back of the city bore, altogether, a rural appearance; the banks were thickly settled, people of all ages were bathing, washing at the same time their simple dresses; children were seen asleep in short square-net hammocks, and the mother lying at full length on a mat, chewing areca-nut, or smoking a cigar, propelling with her foot the hanging cradle; the cat and dog lay stretched also at full length on the platform, overcome with the intense heat of the day; the banks were, however, well shaded by the many trees which occupied every vacant place. The mango, now fully laden with its oblong green fruit; the religious fig-tree with its broad and pointed leaf; the plantain bending beneath the weight of its fruit; the areca-palm with its slender and regular stem, and brush-like head; and the useful cocoa-nut and bamboo, were seen towering in every direction. We visited a number of the king’s boat-houses, and saw a canoe one hundred and five feet long, made from a single teak-tree, excepting the high curved stem and stern; we saw also, hundreds of useless boats, most of them intended for war, while others were for pleasure, being neatly gilded about each quarter. The war-boats would be altogether useless in a sea-fight. [Sidenote: TEMPLE OF WAT-CHAN-TONG.]