230 Mission to the Court of Siam. [No. 99. 



service from them, as they have no time to acquire any by 

 extortion. We were then taken to see the large guns, one of 

 which, in particular, a brass one, was cast by the nobles, the 

 king superintending. The mould was placed upright, and sur- 

 rounded by stairs on all sides, the princes and great officers 

 were all seated round with bellows and smelting pots ; when the 

 metal was ready, at a signal given by the king they all ran up the 

 steps with their pots, and poured the contents into the mould. 

 This gun is probably not less than seventeen or eighteen 

 feet long, and the bore about six and a half inches in diameter. 

 There were a great number of good iron guns of different 

 calibers, piled up in sheds, in various parts of the palace enclo- 

 sure, and a good many others mounted in a shed near the wall. 

 We then visited the white elephant, one male now only remain- 

 ing of the five which were here at the time of Mr. Crawford's 

 Mission ; he is a large handsome animal, much like the one in 

 Ava, excepting that from vice he has broken off both his tusks 

 nearly close to the jaw. They made some inquiries about the 

 one in Maulmain, which is very much darker than this, though 

 said to be an Isadan. From the elephant-shed, which is close to 

 the river, outside the palace enclosure, we embarked in the boats 

 which had come round for us, and returned home. In the 

 evening the Praklang sent for Mr. Hunter to inquire how I was 

 pleased with my reception, who told him that I was highly 

 pleased with every thing. 



February \Sth. — To-day I returned the visit of the Portuguese 

 Consul, Mr. Marcelleeno. In the evening Coon-Sit called on his 

 way to the palace, where he and a number of others, who are 

 honored with the title of " ma-lik," or little dogs, nightly attend 

 from about 9 or 10 o'clock till 1 in the morning, when all the news 

 of the city is talked over ; sometimes they are detained even later. 

 He asked me how I sat in the presence of, and how I addressed, 

 the king of Ava ; I told him, I sat as I had done yesterday at 

 the palace, and addressed the king as familiarly as I did him 

 now ; he confessed it was better than the way they were obliged 

 to lie here like dogs. There has been an absurd story current 

 in the town to-day of an attempt I wished to make on the 

 king's life ; it was said, I had brought three boxes as presents, 



