Siam : The Land of the White Elephant as It Was and IsBacon, George B. (George Blagden)
History
Siam : The Land of the White Elephant as It Was and Is
Bacon, George B. (George Blagden)
Thailand -- Description and travel; Thailand -- History
"The scene between Koh Arat and Koh Yai, in the midst of which we were
at anchor the next morning, is most charming. The distance from one to
the other is about one mile. Arat is a small island rising very abruptly
many hundred feet above the sea. At the top is a rock of a conical form,
which seems on the point of rolling down with a tremendous crash into
the sea. Koh Yai is a much larger island, and hence its name. A little
before us was the cape Samaasarn, shielded against the sea by immense
white rocks. Just as the sun was rising Soot Chin Dah invited me to
accompany him to Koh Yai for a morning exercise. Our fine boat was
manned with nineteen men, and we went off in princely style. We coasted
some distance and then landed; whence we walked a long way, first on a
sandy beach and then among rocks composed of marine shells interlaid
with coral and shells of infinite variety. The land was all one unbroken
jungle. Much of the small timber was of a thorny kind, which seemed to
bid defiance to human invasion. Our men were chiefly engaged in picking
up shells suitable for gambling purposes. On our return we touched at
Arat, where I amused myself a little time in climbing around craggy and
stupendous rocks. After two hours we returned to our junk well prepared
for breakfast. The hired cook, which Luang Nai Sit had the goodness to
provide for me, had my food all ready, consisting of a broiled chicken,
salt and fresh eggs, and rice with tea. Soot Chin Dah eats by himself,
sometimes in one place and sometimes in another. His food is very neatly
served for him in a circular wooden tray. It is prepared by a Portuguese
cook, and served by his inferior brother. When he is done eating, his
brother, serang, assistant serang, and cook eat of the remainder,
sitting on the deck. They use neither knife, fork, nor spoon, their
fingers serving the purposes of these instruments. The helmsman and his
mate, who are masters of the junk, and country-born Portuguese, eat by
themselves in the style of the Siamese. The crew clan together in
eating according to their nameless distinctions. Their main dependence
is rice and fish. The former they eat out of the bark of a plantain tree
rolled up at the sides and one end in the shape of a scoop shovel, or
out of a most filthy-looking basket or cocoanut shell. There are three
females on board who eat in the hold, where they remain almost
constantly from morning to night. In the evening they come out to enjoy
the fresh air, and have a most voluble chat with the men.
"About noon we anchored close to the shore of Sem Poo Chow, which is an
abrupt and lofty promontory. Here three wild hogs made their appearance.
Having looked upon us a few minutes they disappeared. It seemed
wonderful that they could inhabit such a bluff, for a misstep would
plunge them into the abyss below.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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