VOYAGE FROM INDIA TO SIAM AND MALACCA 125 



sent a big- sloop with one of his ministers and a Portuguese 

 Mandarin in his service, that they might bring- his compliments 

 to the captain and take him to his residence, trom which we were 

 still at a distance of four German miles. I was particularly 

 struck with the slavish respect, which the subalterns observe 

 towards the hig-her officers, for never a subaltern would speak 

 to the hig-her officer, without folding- -his hands and lifting' them 

 up to his mouth or his forehead, and often they crept on their 

 knees, to do the same thing' which we are accustomed to 

 perform standing-. Towards evening- there came a g-reat 

 number of butterflies, hornets, wasps, and dragonflies and 

 some kinds of bugs flying to our ship, the best among those which 

 I caught, was the biggest Papilio I had ever seen. During 

 these days we advanced but little and the longed-for land 

 remained at such a distance that I could not go on shore. 

 Nevertheless we were greeted by the mosquitos, but they were 

 not very numerous. 



8. — We advanced a little quicker over the muddy gTOund 

 during these two days, though the current was against us and 

 the water fell so low, that it was only a few feet deep at low tide 

 but this could not be a great hindrance to us any more because the 

 neighbourhood of the land helped us considerably in tug-ging up 

 our ship. We had at last the good fortune to enter the Bangkok 

 river, and in the afternoon I went on shore in a small boat. The 

 coast is very flat, and as it was just low-tide, I could walk along 

 the shore, which is overgrown with dense forests. The first 

 plant I came across was Panicum coloiiwii. It grew amongst the 

 Rhizophora candelaria, which was here only a small shrub, lying- 

 in the water. In a smaller arm of the river, which we entered 

 on account of the greater facility it offered for landing, I often 

 saw Cerhera Mangas* and in the muddy soil there was almost 

 no other plant to be seen than Verbesina hijiora. There was a 

 Dolichos climbing upon the trees ; it had greenish blossoms in 

 an umbel and the pods were more than half a foot in length ; 

 they were also broad and had at both ends a double keel. 

 These pods, as long as they were still green, were covered with 

 shiny stiff hair closely pressed against the pod ; this hair stuck to 

 one's finger and burnt much stronger than Dolichos mucuua 

 urens and prusens, the colour was of a beautiful orange-red. f 

 * C. OdoUum L, f Evidently Miicitna. 



