VOYAGE FROM INDIA TO SIAM AND MALACCA. 151 



eleven o'clock, I let my boat float with the out-g-oing" tide of a 

 small aim of the river, which empties itself into the sea, near the 

 town of Pipli, so as to have an opportunity of reconnoitring- 

 this part of the country as well as the time would allow me to do. 

 At the extremity of the town, I passed one of the houses of rest, 

 which was illuminated. These houses of rest, g-enerally serve 

 the purpose of delivering' sermons or prayers. I could see 

 a young Talapoin sitting- in a hig-h, ornamented armchair ; he was 

 holding' a palaver ; on his knees lay one of their books, and before 

 him, on a wooden pedestal of one and a half yards hig'h, was fas- 

 tened some iron in the shape of a cresset, carrying- many burning- 

 lights. Behind him sat two old Talapoins and his andience were 

 lying on their knees before him, listening to him devoutly. I 

 continued my journey through the night, and everywhere I came 

 across some boats carrying torches. The people in these boats 

 were engaged to fish either with the angle or with nets, which 

 were tied at the four corners to two bamboo sticks, crossing 

 each other in the middle. These nets seemed to be very useful, 

 as they caught a great quantity of a kind of black broad 

 fish in the muddy soil, and the further I came the more boats I 

 saw and men eng'aged in different waj^s to catch these fish. There 

 was this remarkable fact to be observed, that wdierever there was 

 a temple or a dwelling' of any Talapoin, the water was crowded 

 with all sorts of fish, for neither near the temples nor in the 

 presence of any Talapoin may they catch fish. A Talapoin called 

 out to one of my servants, that he ought to know better than to 

 hit any fish in the presence of a Talapoin, because my servant had 

 as a pastime aimed at the fish with a thin bamboo stick. My 

 people caught many of these fish with their hands. 



I went down the river until the turning of the tide ; where- 

 upon I returned and went ashore near a temple in order to collect 

 new specimens for my Siamese Ch'ons. I found a kind of 

 JJidy amia, with included capsules, which are sometimes reckoned 

 among the Rhinanfhera by Linne. It had orbicular leaves, the 

 blossoms grew in verticils round the stalk, but they were not 

 much larger than the calyx, and woolly ; in this regard it re- 

 sembled the Leonitis. I came across a very rare kind of 

 Meloclu'a, with ripe seed. The trees forming the avenue were 

 Saraca, Ovieda, Mimosa, intermixed with the Fivus reli<iiosa. The 

 temple was very large, but ruined like all the others. The 



