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
"Having spent a part of an hour in surveying the village, we followed
our honorable guide along the beach, among immense ferruginous and
quartz rocks having apparently been undermined by the restless ocean,
and these were interlaid with small seashells of great variety. On the
one hand we had the music of the roaring tide, on the other an admirable
jungle, overhanging the beach from the east, and thus protecting us from
the blaze of the rising sun, while the air was perfumed with many a
flower. Several boat-loads of Luang Nai Sit's retinue soon came off the
brig to the shore, which composed a company of fifty or more. At length
a boat came loaded with provisions for a picnic breakfast, all cooked
and duly arranged on salvers. The whole company (ourselves excepted) sat
down on the beach in three classes, and there partook of the repast with
a keen relish. Luang Nai Sit and his brothers ate by themselves; the
women, consisting of K'oon Klin, or wife of the chief, and her children
and other high blood attendants, ate by themselves. After these had
finished their breakfast, the multitude of dependents messed together.
Meanwhile the natives of the village and vicinity flocked in, loaded
with plantains, red peppers, cerileaves, cocoanuts, jack-fruit, etc.,
and presented them as tokens of respect to the son of their lord, the
p'rak'lang, and to him they bowed and worshipped on their hands and
knees. At 10 A.M. we returned to the brig in an uncovered boat, in
company with K'oon Klin and her train. Luang Nai Sit could not, of
course, return in the same boat with the women, as it would be a
violation of Siamese custom. He came in another boat behind us. The sun
was very powerful, and that, together with the crowd and confusion of
the company in the absence of their chief, quite overcame me in my
feebleness of health.
"At 11 A.M. our anchor was again weighed, and we sailed very pleasantly
before a gentle breeze, being continually in full sight of the mainland
at our left, and the islands of Koh Kram, Sewalan, and a number of
others on our right. The former is noted for the quantities of turtles
which are caught on its coasts, the latter is a cluster of verdant
spots, probably uninhabited by man. Much of the mainland which we have
as yet passed is mountainous, diversified with extensive plains, and
covered with lofty timber. With the aid of the brig's telescope we
descried several villages on the shore."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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