Sporting Notes in the Far East. 199 



The English Community here are more than civil, and I am 

 convinced that they will do anything for a stranger, within reason, 

 to further sport. The coverts at Kohkram are very thick, and 

 there is consequently a good deal of trouble in driving the deer. 

 There is an anchorage off the island, but it is not so secure that 

 you can afford to ignore bad weather. 



So much for the shooting ; and as Siam is a curious and out of 

 the way country, I think I will leave sport, and jot down a few 

 impressions that I received during our only too short stay on 

 the river. 



To begin with, I cannot help remarking that I was most dis- 

 appointed in the far-famed white elephants : for instead of seeing 

 (as I expected) pure white animals, I was shown on the contrary, 

 half a dozen mouse-coloured brutes, covered with a lot of cream 

 looking blotches, which reminded one more of an elephant affected 

 with leprosy if such could be the case than of an animal set 

 forth for admiration. 



Cremation in Bangkok I am told is compulsory ; but for the 

 poor who cannot afford to pay for their relatives' bodies undergoing 

 that process, there is the alternative of throwing their naked dead 

 into an open yard in the middle of the city, where their bones are 

 picked clean by hosts of greedy tame vultures, preserved for the 

 purpose : the many remains, being periodically collected into heaps, 

 and burnt in portions at the government expense. 



