He was given thirty six slaves to wait on him, and two elephants. His house was small and poorly furnished. He was presented with twelve plates two large silver cups, four dozen table napkins and a daily allowance of two of yellow wax tapers. Such were the emoluments of Count Forbin, Admiral and Commander-in-chief of the forces of the Kingdom of Siam. This mean equipage can give some idea of what an Asiatic monarch considered to be luxury. It seems that Fortune, in retaining Count Forbin in the service of a nation incapable of profiting by his example, had foreseen that the chance would be given him of acting as the country's defender, as happened in the Macassar revolt which broke out two years later and of which the circumstances shall now be related. CHAPTER III. THE REVOLT OF THE MACASSARS. A people to whom the Kingdom of Siam had given refuge in their misfortunes, were the cause of an event that shook it to its foundations. The King of Macassar, a district in the island of Celebes, had been dethroned by the Dutch. One of his sons, escaping from the vengeance of the conquerors, had sought asylum in Siam. The King of Siam, attracted by the rank of the unfortunate prince, granted him land on which houses were built for him and his followers who had accompanied his flight. This locality which still retains its name of 'The field of the Macassars' was situated adjacent to that assigned to the Malays who were also a Mahommedan people. The benefits showered on the fugitive Prince only made him ungrateful, and when he ought to have sacrificed everything for his benefactor, he made an attempt on his life, in order to place the King's younger brother on the throne. The conspiracy was discovered and the author of it deserved severe punishment, but Narai overlooked the offence and magnanimously pardoned him. Daen (this was the name of the treacherous Prince) emboldened by impunity, considered himself more powerful than the Prince to whom he was so much indebted. Base characters regard clemency as a sign of weakness, not as a virtue. Humiliated by an unmerited pardon, he rendered himself still more unworthy by entering into a new conspiracy. As he needed fellow-conspirators for the execution of his evil designs, he corrupted by means of specious promises, the three Princes of Champa, who, like himself had sought refuge in Siam, after the death of their father to escape from the machinations of their brother, who having succeeded to the throne, would have in accordance with Mahommedan usage, laid violent hands on possible rivals.