The Chinese do not cultivate the paddy-fields to any great extent, but buy the rice from the producers and bring it to the Bangkok market. The _seri_-leaf, which is used so extensively in Siam, is cultivated in the betel-gardens. It is a vine trained on poles, and the leaf, which is a bright green, tender and juicy, resembles the leaf of the morning-glory vine, and is cultivated with great care. Decayed fish is used as a fertilizer, and consequently the breezes which blow over these gardens are not “spicy breezes,” but, on the contrary, very offensive, obliging one in passing to suspend respiration for a time. The leaves are picked when young and tied up in bundles, and carried round for sale in little boats. This leaf, covered with a pink lime paste and a little tobacco and betel-nut added, is rolled up cross-wise and chewed. The consequence is, their teeth are black as coal and the mouth is always full of red saliva, which runs out of the mouth over the chin, and is almost as disgusting as the practice of tobacco-chewing amongst Americans. The Presbyterians have done no special work amongst the Chinese proper in Siam. There are a number of elderly Chinamen in the mission churches, but many of the male members are Siamo-Chinese. In the mission boarding-school for boys more than half the number are sons of Chinamen, and they are the brightest and most encouraging pupils. Many of the missionaries hold the opinion that China proper is the legitimate field in which to teach Christianity to the Chinese. It is very difficult to get educated Chinese teachers in Siam. The Rev. Wm. Dean, D.D., was the first missionary to the Chinese in Siam. He was sent out by the Baptist Association, and arrived in Bangkok July 18, 1835. This venerable father, now in his seventy-seventh year, is still doing active service for the Master in this part of his vineyard. He stood alone for many years, but recently he has been reinforced by the arrival of the Rev. L. A. Eaton. The Chinese all learn enough of the Siamese language to make themselves understood, and they can get a saving knowledge of the truth through the medium of the Siamese language if their hearts are so inclined. Already both Siamese and Chinese in Siam are accepting the gospel, so that we see the dawn of that glorious time promised when “the heathen” will “be given as an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession” to Christ. PART II. VARIETIES OF SIAMESE LIFE. CHAPTER VII. _A SIAMESE WEDDING._