OF SIAM 53 



breed of native I did find inland was less depend- 

 able and very much less honest, not honest at all 

 in fact. 



Always, where we could, we tied up for the night 

 at the house of an " umper " (a small official who 

 answers to the Government for the peace of his 

 settlement), and as I was travelling under the pro- 

 tection of the king, we were never molested by 

 thieves with which the klawngs are well infested. 

 On the rivers, on the klawngs, always as we jour- 

 neyed, we came at intervals to joss houses for 

 worshipful Chinamen, rest houses for pilgrim 

 Buddhist priests, and " prachadis " standing to 

 emphasize this people's unending propitiation of 

 their patron gods. If there is a dominant trait 

 in Siamese character it is that of " making merit." 

 The one thought of their religious life is to do 

 something that will temper the ill fortune which, 

 the philosophy of life Buddha teaches, is pretty 

 sure to come mortal's way. Hence, always the 

 Siamese is seeking favor in the eyes of those im- 

 mortals whom he believes able to influence his joys 

 and his sorrows ; therefore over all Siam you will 

 find little spire-shaped monuments (prachadis), 

 built to propitiate the gods, to make merit, and 

 rudely fashioned after the slender peaks of the 

 " wats," which are convents for the Buddhist 

 priests and worshipful temples for the people. 



