“May blood flow out of every pore of my body, that my crime may be made manifest to the world; may all or any of these evils overtake me within three days, or may I never stir from the spot on which I now stand, or may the _hatsani_, or lash of the sky, (lightning,) cut me in two, so that I may be exposed to the derision of the people; or if I should be walking abroad, may I be torn to pieces by either of the four supernaturally endowed lions, or destroyed by poisonous herbs or venomous snakes. If when in the waters of the rivers or ocean, may supernatural crocodiles or great fishes devour me, or may the winds and waves overwhelm me; or may the dread of such evils keep me, during life, a prisoner at home, estranged from every pleasure, or may I be afflicted with the intolerable oppressions of my superiors, or may a plague cause my death; after which may I be precipitated into hell, there to go through innumerable stages of torture, among which may I be condemned to carry water over the flaming regions in open wicker baskets, to assuage the heat felt by Than-Wetsuan, when he enters the infernal hall of justice, and thereafter may I fall into the lowest pit of hell; or if these miseries should not ensue, may I after death migrate into the body of a slave, and suffer all the hardships and pains attending the worst state of such a being, during a period of years, measured by the sand of four seas; or may I animate the body of an animal, or beast, during five hundred generations; or be born an hermaphrodite five hundred times, or endure in the body of a deaf, blind, dumb, houseless beggar, every species of loathsome disease during the same number of generations, and then may I be hurried to varah, or hell, and there be crucified by Phria-yam, one of the kings of hell.” The Siamese are extremely capricious, in the standard value of witnesses; the oath of priests and men in office, bearing a preference over all others, while there are not less than twenty-eight in number, who are excluded, and declared to be incompetent; they are as follows: contemners of religion, persons in debt, the slaves of a party to a suit, intimate friends, idiots, those who do not hold in abhorrence the cardinal sins, among which are enumerated, besides theft and murder, drinking spirits, breaking prescribed fasts, and reposing on the mat or couch of a priest or parent, gamblers, vagrants, executioners, quack-doctors, play-actors, hermaphrodites, strolling musicians, prostitutes, blacksmiths, persons labouring under incurable disorders, persons under seven or above seventy, bachelors, insane persons, persons of violent passions, shoemakers, beggars, braziers, midwives, and sorcerers.