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



February 20th. — I proposed, through Mr. Hunter, to meet the 

 Praklang and Chowkoon-booden together, as each appeared to 

 have a separate jurisdiction, and could not give an order on my 

 business without reference to the other. There was no objection 

 made to my proposition. The Praklang suggested that I ought 

 to visit Cromaluang-rak, the king's uncle, the head prince, who 

 would be prepared to see me on Friday; in the meantime, I 

 should have received my letters from Maulmain. I am most 

 anxious to get on a more intimate footing with the ministers, 

 but fear I cannot succeed before all the visits of ceremony are 

 got over. Old Benedito called in the afternoon, and told me 

 privately he had no doubt all my wishes would be complied 

 with ; he is however an insignificant old gossip. Coon-Sit came 

 also in the morning. 



February 22nd. — Called to-day, at 4 p.m., on Cromaluang- 

 rak, whose house is to the south of the palace enclosure, 

 about five minutes walk from the bank of the river. On the 

 way we crossed a new Nat, building by the king ; the pagodahs, 

 Kyoung's temple, rocks and small trees, (of which, much is in the 

 Chinese style,) may cover ten or twelve acres. Betwen the walls 

 of the palace and the house of the prince is the race-course, 

 where the horses are exercised, of which there were perhaps 

 twenty gallopping about for our amusement; there were also a 

 small Arab and Cutch horse in gilded saddles paraded, with 

 about fifteen or twenty elephants. Though this is the country 

 of elephants, I did not see one good looking animal ; some of 

 them were large,, and one with very large tusks we had seen 

 before in the palace. The horses are inferior to the elephants, 

 and apparently for no other purpose than to look at. Here we 

 were detained about twenty minutes, outside the prince's gate, 

 in an open shed, the native Christians, Benedito and Pascal, the 

 Praklang* s son, and some Siamese officers whom I did not know, 

 were also present. The prince's house is sadly out of repair, 

 and he is about building a new one. The hall in which he re- 

 ceived us, was a low room about forty feet long by twenty-five 

 broad, nothing at all rich or showy about it, except a curtain 

 cloth of gold. He was seated on a sort of low pedestal, like the 

 thrones of the Laos Isobaos, and a white umbrella behind him. 



