1840.] Mission to the Court of Siam. 229 



more state and ceremony, and of longer and more friendly 

 nature as regards the time of its continuance, (lasting one hour 

 and 20 minutes) and number of questions put, than has been 

 granted to any Mission for many years, which I presume may 

 be attributed to the more just idea they now have of the power 

 and resources of the British Government. The conquest of Ava, 

 and the long retention of the provinces, are however the only- 

 data on which they form their estimate, in addition to the per- 

 sonal character of Mr. Hunter, who, in a residence of 14 or 

 15 years, at first under very trying circumstances, has, by 

 honorable dealings and a proper degree of self-respect, obtained 

 for himself great influence with the king and officers of Govern- 

 ment, and (by the influential people to whom he has familiar 

 access) a nearer approach, as far as their ignorance and arro- 

 gance would permit them, to a more just appreciation of our 

 relative rank in the scale of nations. On leaving the hall we 

 visited one or two of the richest Kyoungs, or convents for 

 the priests, the gilding and gold ornaments of some of which 

 were solid and expensive ; one of the chandeliers, of which 

 there were many suspended from the high roofs of the build- 

 ing, was pointed out to me as having cost 100/. in London. 

 In the same Kyoung is the famous image, said by the Siamese 

 to be one entire emerald, of about 18 inches or two feet high, 

 which was pronounced by Mr. Finlayson to be either Chinese 

 figure-stone or a peliotrope, but as it is raised on a pyramidical 

 pedestal (richly gilt and inlaid with gold) of about 16 or 20 feet 

 high, it is difficult to say what it is. The whole of the outside 

 of the building is also gilt, and inlaid with stained glass, and the 

 appearance is altogether rich and unique ; round the edifice are a 

 number of grotesque figures of fabulous animals. From this we 

 visited a second, somewhat inferior to the first. My Burman fol- 

 lowers have remarked, that there is not a pagoda or priests house, 

 that they can hear of, in Bankok, that has not been built by the 

 king, or some of the very highest officers of the kingdom ; who, 

 as they remark, can oblige the poor people to do the work* 

 whilst they take the credit ; and there is no doubt, that though 

 the Siamese do not perhaps extort money from the lower orders 

 in the way the Burmans do, they exact so much more personal 



