244 Mission to the Court of Siam. [No. 99, 



to any of their prejudices, will tend to break down the 

 hitherto insurmountable objection to any intercourse with the 

 interior of the kingdom. 



March Wth. — Went round part of the town, and along an 

 excellent bazar well supplied with fish, vegetables, meats, 

 manufactures, and drugs ; in short, a continued line of shops for 

 a mile and a quarter down the left bank of the river, and 

 notwithstanding their religious objections to slaughtering bul- 

 locks, the same favour is not extended to pigs, of which it is 

 said, not less than two or three hundred are daily slaughtered 

 in Bankok alone. A few paces off the main street was a cage 

 for some of the public women, with a row of twelve or fourteen 

 small rooms, perhaps six feet by four, opening into a common 

 verandah of about four feet wide, and perhaps six feet high, closed 

 in front with bars like the cage of a wild beast. After break- 

 fast, I sent to the Praklang for a copy of the Laos letter, and 

 was fortunate enough to catch him just on the point of starting 

 for Pack-nam ; he gave a copy of the letter, and said he had 

 given orders to the Pra-pi-pat, his deputy, and Pia-taip to settle 

 the Jaung-Kieufs business. Radsithee came in the evening 

 to say, Chowkoon-booden would prefer seeing me to-morrow 

 morning, and knowing, that he is looked on as a man of 

 great ability and has much influence in the council here, I 

 took an opportunity of letting him know my sentiments. 



March \hth. — Crossed over to Chow-pya-koon-booden's this 

 morning, and found him with his deputy and some other officers 

 engaged in the important duty of looking at some dancing girls, 

 with a band of music close to him, and about sixty people 

 each knocking together two pieces of hard bamboo, and I 

 should think not less than 2000 spectators ; the noise was of 

 course stunning. We were seated on chairs below his dais, 

 on which was his deputy crouched at the foot of his couch, and 

 Radsithee, who acted as intermediate interpreter, though Mr. 

 Hunter speaks familiarly with him on ordinary occasions. He 

 asked me at entering, after returning my salute, when I 

 intended to start ; I said it was my intention to have started 

 to-morrow, but I was detained for the letters to the Laos chiefs. 

 The banging and noise of the bamboos and music continued ; we 



