Finding the place by no means convenient to see the procession, owing to the lowness of the roof of the building, and being annoyed in some degree by the concourse of people who came to have a sight of us, (although they were altogether civil in their conduct,) I made known to the interpreter that we must remove from that place to one more commodious. Shortly after we went near to a part of the king’s palace: it was an open building standing on columns of about twenty feet square, having a tiled roof; mats were spread on a part of it for our accommodation. The praklang was there and a prince of Lao, &c., &c. The former shortly took leave to attend the procession, having seen that we were properly accommodated. At nine, or rather at three, in Siamese time, the procession commenced and continued about an hour and a quarter, in the following order:-- First: several hundred standard bearers (three hundred and eighty-four,) dressed in red embroidered cloth, wearing caps of the same material; the banners were of silk richly embroidered with gold of a triangular shape, bearing devices of dragons, serpents, &c., all neatly embroidered also. A band of music, consisting of drums, harmonicon and small hautboys, accompanied them. Second: a young rhinoceros of about four feet in height, drawn by a party of soldiers dressed in embroidered blue cloth long jackets, on a sledge or low carriage, having on his back a small gilded castle and containing in the centre a small bundle of Talapoy or yellow cloths. Third: two horses having two pairs of wings, about five feet in height, bearing similar castles with Talapoy cloths; one of them was spotted with red and the other with blue. Fourth: two gigantic cocks, with demons’ heads, having four wings, castles, &c., of various colours. Fifth: two four-winged elephants, full size, one white and one green, bearing castles and cloth, followed by a band of music. Sixth: two gigantic cocks with cocks’ heads, four wings, beasts’ tails, and partly human bodies, castles, &c., accompanied by a band of music; colours of these nondescripts were various. Seventh: two more with cocks’ bodies and tails, four wings, with elephants’ trunks and tusks, gilt castles and cloth. Eighth: two more cocks with four wings, castles, &c., but a little different from the seventh. Ninth: two cocks with griffin-legs and human arms, four wings, castle and cloth. Tenth: two cocks with long snouts, four wings, castle and cloth. Eleventh: two horses with dragons’ tails, four wings, castles, &c. Then came one hundred and twenty men carrying flowers made of yellow or Talapoy cloth, having artificial green leaves: they were of the shape of a sunflower and attached to bamboo-poles ten or twelve feet in length. Twelfth: two horses’ bodies, with elephants’ heads and snakes’ tails, four wings, castles, &c. Thirteenth: two cocks with horses’ bodies, four wings, castles, &c. Fourteenth: two lions, with deers’ horns, wings, castles, &c.