The number of Europeans present at the coronation proper of the present king were few, consisting of the consuls of the different treaty powers with their suites, the officers of H. B. M.’s gunboat Avon and a few others. The writer held at the time the seals of the United States consulate, and was the only representative of our government in the kingdom, and consequently received an invitation, which might not have been accorded to him as a mere missionary. The company of Siamese present was equally small, consisting only of the chief princes and nobles of the kingdom. The hour named was six A. M., but owing to some delay it was nearly eight when we passed into a small triangular court facing one of the doors of the inner audience-hall. In front of the door of the hall stood an elevated platform richly gilded, and upon that platform was placed a very large golden basin. Within that basin was a golden tripod or three-legged stool. Over the platform was a quadrangular canopy, and over the canopy was the nine-storied umbrella, tapering in the form of a pagoda. Over the centre of the canopy was a vessel containing consecrated water, said to have been prayed over nine times and poured through nine different circular vessels before reaching the top of the canopy. This water is collected from the chief rivers of Siam and at a point above tidal influence, and is constantly kept on hand in reservoirs near the temples in the capital. In the vessel was placed a tube or siphon, representing the pericarp of the lotus-flower after the petals have fallen off. [Illustration: HALL OF AUDIENCE, PALACE OF BANGKOK.] At a flourish of crooked trumpets resembling rams’ horns the king elect descended from the steps of the hall, arrayed in a simple waist-cloth of white muslin, with a piece of the same material thrown over his shoulders, and took his seat upon the tripod in the basin. A Brahman priest approached him and offered him some water in a golden lotus-shaped cup, into which he dipped his hand and rubbed it over his head. This was the signal for the pulling of a rope and letting loose the sacred water above in the form of a shower-bath upon his person. This shower-bath represents the _Tewadas_, or Buddhist angels, sending blessings upon His Majesty. A Buddhist priest then approached and poured a goblet of water over his person. Next came the Brahman priests and did the same. Next came the chief princes, uncles of the king; next two aged princesses, his aunts. The vessels used by these princes and princesses were conch-shells tipped with gold. Then came the chief nobles, each with a vessel of different material, such as gold, silver, pinchbeck, earthenware; then, last of all, the prime minister with a vessel of iron. This finished the royal bath.