This policy has not succeeded in Europe, where experience has shown that celibate ministers have accumulated vast wealth. The heir-presumptive to the throne has command of the navy, and of his private body guard of 5,000 men. The younger son is commander-in-chief of the army. He has also a body guard of 2,000 men. A standing army is maintained as a protection against rebellions. Crimes against the King's person are cruelly punished. The guilty party is tied up to a post and each soldier cuts off a piece of his flesh until nothing but the skeleton remains. The severity of the code in force proves that the nation is prone to crime. The law endeavours to deter crime by the threats of severe punishment. The soldiers are clad in satin and the uniforms of the officers are of velvet and silver. There are military schools in which children are trained at the public expense. The spirit of emulation is fostered by rewards which pander to the growing mind. They receive silk dresses and other accoutrements that flatter their vanity. Those who take no advantage from their lessons are dressed in linen. Christianity has made great progress in this land, but has had much to fight against. The ignorance of the idolatrous priests, and the foolish nature of their doctrines, have been favourable to the progress of Missionary enterprise. CHAPTER XIII. TONKIN. The intercourse between Siam and Tonkin requires special notice. The exact extent of Tonkin is not known accurately, but all travellers agree that it is a more densely populated country than France, and some imagine that it is of equal extent. Although situated in the tropics, it enjoys a climate of perpetual spring, and the air which by rights should be burning hot is cooled by the South and North winds which blow alternately for 6 months each in the year. The rainy season begins in April and lasts until August. At this season the leafy trees have their branches weighed down by masses of fruit, the countryside luxuriates in vegetation and promises a rich harvest of rice. There is neither corn nor grapes, but nature supplies their lack by other products. It is true that at times the land is stricken with sterility. The floods destroy the young crops and the drought changes the fertile earth into arid dust. A range of inaccessible mountains seems to act as a line of defence against foreign invasion. These mountains are clothed with forests containing many fruit trees and inhabited by tigers, deer, and elephants. The interior of the country is occupied by rising ground. The plains are watered by numerous rivers and canals form cheap and facile means of communication. Although the country has so many products of commercial value, the inhabitants give all their attention to fishing.