The language of the country must first be learned, and at least a partial knowledge obtained of the Mandarin and Fo-kien languages of China. Missionaries should also be well acquainted with the peculiar doctrines of the Budhists, which they are labouring to subvert: free schools should be established; a printing-press put in operation, and those children should be preferred who have never attended the schools of the Talapoys. Although a good wife contributes in a thousand ways to the comfort and convenience of the missionary, yet the prejudices of the people they visit should be consulted, at least for the present; for the Siamese are firm in their opinion, that the vow of perpetual celibacy should be observed by all who bear the title of priests, of Christians as well as worshippers of Budha. All missionaries should also have some knowledge of medicine and surgery. CHAPTER XVIII. CHINESE JUNKS--MECHANIC ARTS OF SIAM--AMUSEMENTS--DANCING SNAKES--ANNUAL OATH OF ALLEGIANCE--DESCRIPTION OF THE CAPITAL--EMBASSY FROM COCHIN-CHINA--EDUCATION IN SIAM--PALACE. The climate of Siam is more healthy than that of Batavia. Notwithstanding the great heat of the climate, and the vast quantity of uncleaned and undrained land, epidemics do not often prevail; yet the spasmodic cholera, a few years since, swept off upward of sixty thousand inhabitants. During our stay, the weather has been clear and serene, a breeze visiting us about the middle of the day; yet the thermometer has ranged 93°, and has frequently been 94° and 95°. No one has been sick, excepting of complaints in the bowels, occasioned by a change of diet. The profuse perspiration under which we suffered, day and night, considerably exhausted our strength. Those pests of all swampy countries, moschetoes and other insects, have not appeared in such vast quantities as they do in the rainy season, nor reptiles, which then abound every where; nor is the heat so great as it will be within the next four or five months, when the thermometer will rise from 100° to 103°; yet, it is said, the climate then is not more unhealthy than it is at present. Where the ship lies, the thermometer has not risen above 84°, and prevailing winds have been from the southward, blowing fresh the most part of the time, with a considerable sea. During the heat of the day, notwithstanding bathing is resorted to, and the natives are often seen with a wet cloth on their shoulders, to keep them cool and mitigate the effects of a scorching sun; yet it is a rare circumstance to see any of them with a covering on the head, excepting the women-pedlars on the river, who wear a palm-leaf hat, the exact shape of a milk-pan reversed; this is kept on the head by means of a frame-work, made of split rattan; their dress also is different from other women’s being a tight cotton jacket, with sleeves, and the usual waist-cloth worn by both sexes.