This whole assembled multitude (with the exception of our party) crouched to the ground like base slaves, whenever any of the higher ranks passed. Along an extensive street, on one side, were play-houses erected, open to public use, in which were exhibited shows of all kinds, and fireworks might be seen nightly, within the enclosure surrounding the temporary funeral pile. His majesty was desirous we should witness the burning of the body on the funeral pile, which was to take place the seventh day after the procession;[A] but the ship was in want of provisions; the southwest monsoon was about commencing, which is generally attended with violent squalls and heavy rains, the ship was riding at anchor ten or twelve miles from the mouth of the river, in five and a half fathoms’ water, in a very exposed situation; and it was necessary to bring our water some forty miles, near the city, besides which, the only provisions to be obtained, were fowls, pork, and rice. [A] One of the sons of the wang-na watches at the temple, near the funeral pile, night and day, till the body is consumed; the ashes of the consumed body are then thrown into the river with many ceremonies; and the unconsumed bones are then delivered to the priests, and made into household gods. [Sidenote: BUDHISM IN SIAM.] The Budhist religion of Siam, according to historians, originated in Magadha, the modern Behar, in the sixth century, (or 542,) the founder being Gautama, the son of a prince, called Sudhodana. After many centuries it was introduced into Ceylon; and in the seventh century of the Christian era, first into Camboja, and from thence into Lao; and lastly, into Siam. Sommona Kodom, the cattle stealer, a Singalese, was the missionary who first propagated this religion in those countries. He is described as being benevolent in the _extreme_. He even carried his zeal so far, as to murder his whole family, (considering them as encumbrances upon his country,) so that he might maintain a greater number of priests. He was renowned for the daily mortifications of his body, his fastings, his prayers, his miracles, and the fantastic appearance he could assume--now swelling to the size of a mountain, and again shrinking to a mere atom. But notwithstanding he possessed great supernatural powers, he could not resist the cravings of an un-saint-like appetite; for eating a large quantity of pork one day, he died in a fit of anger, because he had transgressed one of his rules, and thereby set a bad example to his disciples. All professors of Budhism, whether of Tartary or Magadha origin, are atheists. They do not believe in one God, the creator of the universe. The leading doctrine of this religion, is that of the transmigration of souls.