Siam is one of the hot countries where everything moves slowly. Our boat-trip of from thirty-six to forty-eight hours has made us glad to rest till evening. When it is cooler we will take a walk to the nearest mountain, which is about three-quarters of a mile from the mission compound. The road along the river-bank is forty or fifty feet wide and very smooth, and shaded on either side by beautiful trees. We pass several native houses, and come to a beautiful grassy plain, beyond which are rice-fields reaching to the foot of “The Mountain of the Highest Heaven.” On its summit stands the large royal summer palace, built by the late supreme king, whose white buildings glitter in the sun and form a beautiful contrast to the green ranges of distant hills. His Majesty and his court spend part of every year here. A paved walk with steps leads up the hill. Passing some plain two-story brick buildings, you come to the wide terraces and surrounding barracks of His Majesty’s private apartments, the walls of which are covered with rough paintings representing some of the Buddhistic fables. The floor of the king’s reception-room is paved with marble blocks about a foot square, and at one side is a raised seat for the king. Royalty in Siam never sits on a level with common people. A very pretty Brussels mat is placed for the king’s feet, and when he visits the palace a set of stuffed chairs covered with blue brocade satin are brought to ornament the place. There are a number of smaller buildings surrounding the palace for the numerous attendants of the king. On the very summit of the hill, separate from the palace, is a large audience-hall――a long, low room, almost entirely bare, with a semi-circular throne, consisting of four stone steps, at one end. Two large Siamese paintings――“The Reception of the French Ambassadors at Court” and “Bonzes Worshiping Gaudama”――are painted on the side-walls. There is also a round brick tower about thirty feet in height, used as an observatory. The view from this tower is enchanting――on one side extensive fields of ripened paddy, groves of sugar-palms and cocoanuts, with here and there a hill rising abruptly from the plain; the city, the river, the canals, and far off to the east the blue waters of the gulf; west and south there extend at least three distinct ranges of low, thickly-wooded hills. If it were earlier in the day we would ascend the mountain and visit the Buddhist temple and large pagoda near, and measure the great image of Buddha, each foot seven feet long, with fingers and toes as large around as the body of a stout person; but it is nearing sunset and we turn our faces homeward.