OF SIAM 51 



alarmingly in the waves made by passing craft, 

 kettles, knives and babies adhered to its deck as if 

 fastened. 



As to the obliging nature and the friendliness 

 of these Siamese, an experience I had one night 

 will speak for itself. To save time I hired a steam 

 launch at Bangkok to tow us. If I were making 

 the trip over again at the same season I should 

 confine myself to human motive power, for at given 

 periods of the year the changing tides leave the 

 klawngs so shallow that the deeper-draught launch 

 scrapes the mud bottom more or less of the time : 

 and, with a Siamese crew, to scrape means to 

 stick, for urgency is an unknown element in their 

 mental equipment. We stuck in the mud with 

 such exasperating frequency that I always took ad- 

 vantage of good water, even though it came in the 

 night. Thus we travelled a great deal when others 

 were tied up sleeping— somewhat to the disgust of 

 my crew, even of Saw Swee Ann, who didn't like 

 to miss the evening of gossiping and smoking and 

 foraging ashore, in which he always indulged when 

 we laid up at a settlement. One night nearing 

 some houses we scraped bottom and soon the launch 

 stopped, but from the fact that we were well over 

 toward the side of the bank I believed it possible 

 to get off into the deeper water of the centre and 

 under way before the falling tide really held us. 



