606 Excursions to the Eastward. [JulYj, 



men had a few muskets and swords. They practised singly occasion* 

 ally at a mark, using a rest, and that very fairly. When they saw the 

 sepoys also practising, but firing balls by sections, the novelty of the 

 exhibition seemed to have a due effect and deterred them from any 

 future display of their drill. 



24th. Until this date we had boisterous weather, volumes of clouds 

 rolling in from the sea and partly breaking in showers in their passage 

 to the hills. About eleven o'clock of this day twenty boats were descried 

 descending the river. These dropped anchor close to our camp but kept 

 a perfect silence, and the people in them would not answer our questions. 

 This proved to be the advance of a fleet escorting the young raja of 

 Ligor who had been sent to meet me. In about an hour afterwards 

 the sound of kettle drums announced the young chiefs approach. The 

 boat of the latter occupied the centre along with eight others, and the 

 stern was covered by a canopy like a carriage hood. About twenty 

 more boats were divided on the right and left wings. 



The large kettle drum in the centre one, the privileged instrument of 

 a governor of the first rank, was now struck louder and louder, and at 

 every pause the crews of all the boats shouted at the full extent of their 

 voices. The right centre boats were each manned by twenty sailors or 

 soldiers (for the Siamese make hardly any distinction betwixt these two 

 classes) dressed in coarse red cloth jackets, and the boats on the flanks 

 had similar complements of men, but these wore blue cloth jackets. In 

 general red is the color used by the near attendants on, or guard of the 

 king and his great officers ; common soldiers, if they do wear any 

 upper garments, which is not very often the case, have them of dark 

 colored woollen or cotton cloth. The chief, being a mere child of about 

 nine years of age, was accompanied by several nursery female atten- 

 dants to take care of his person and cook his food. This boy was ad- 

 dressed by his followers by the titles of Boot [putra or king's son]] 

 and chao nooee, the little lord*. He was carried from the landing- 

 place to the reception hall in a handsome litter, borne on men's shoul- 

 ders by means of four poles like the Tellicherry tonjon of India. The 

 whole of his men who had landed, being 300, then arranged themselves 

 in three lines, one line within the open verandah of the building and 

 two without, and in the peculiar attitude of their nation. About one 

 hundred of these men had muskets without bayonets, the use of this 

 last weapon being quite disregarded by the Siamese. The rest had 

 long swords. About one-half of the whole number had triangular 

 woollen cloth caps, the rest were uncovered. The whole were in fact 



* He has since [1837] become a courtier at BanJcoJc the capital of Siam. 



