12 THE KING'S MAHOUT 



good curry is in a class apart ; but one must go to 

 India or the Far East to get it at its best. Some- 

 times the natives eat pork and oftentimes chicken, 

 but for the most part, rice and the fish curry con- 

 stitute their chief diet, supplemented by the fruit 

 of the country, of which there are many kinds— 

 mangosteen, mango, pineapple, banana, orange, 

 bread fruit, and that most healthful of all Siamese 

 fruits, the papaya, which grows back from the 

 water and is a greenish oval melon that suggests 

 cantaloupe w T hen opened. 



We did not get really outside of the Bangkok 

 city limits the first day of our up-river journey, 

 as we spent the night at the home of one of Choo's 

 admiring friends, in the centre of a little floating 

 community, where a " poey " was given in his 

 honor. Now a poey may take several different 

 directions of hilarity, but is always an excuse for 

 eating and gambling. The poey in honor of Choo 

 included about everything on the entertainment 

 catalogue. First was a feast which overflowed 

 from the house of Choo's friend into adjoining 

 ones, attended by two dozen men and women who 

 sat in groups on the floors eating a loud smelling 

 fish sauce with gusto— and with their fingers; 

 neither wine nor spirits were in evidence— the Sia- 

 mese as a rule drinking water. Then came ad- 

 journment to the river bank, where on a raised 



