THE SIAMESE MALAY STATES. 57 



in damages and ordered to pay $30 or some such amount. 

 Against this decision he had appealed to the Council-General at 

 Bangkok and an answer was expected in a few weeks. Klings 

 cannot exist without litigation and I should think that the 

 Siamese judicial system is well calculated to satisfy them. It 

 must be a great luxury to be able to appeal to Bangkok in any 

 trivial matter even if there are no results. While waiting I 

 noticed a Sikh orderly being measured against the wall for his 

 descriptive roll as a British subject. He was wearing a specially 

 high turban and I asked what his height for the Register was. 

 I was told 5 feet 8 inches, but having removed his turban and 

 boots he only reached 5 feet 4 inches. A large number of 

 Sikhs were formerly employed at Tongkah but they were found 

 troublesome and have been replaced by Siamese, only a few 

 orderlies being retained. When the consular business was 

 finished we inspected the Club where we saw some new Penang 

 papers brought by the Petrel. We then paid a surreptitious 

 visit to the office of " the Royal Siamese Posts and Telegraphs." 

 I asked for stamps but was informed that they were not kept 

 and letters must be forwarded on board. We did not ask to 

 telegraph anywhere as we had been told that the telegraph 

 posts and wires which run along the new road lead nowhere. 

 In the afternoon Mr. Clunies came and fetched us with a buggy 

 and dogcart. He drove me while Mr. Peel followed in his 

 pony cart. We drove through the principal streets of the town. 

 We passed over one new plank bridge but all the rest were 

 rotten and there were great pits in the road. Bridges are said 

 to be repaired only on the occasion of a wedding. "We drove 

 some distance along the projected new road to the town of the 

 future on raised turfy land through brushwood. Everywhere 

 were excavations for tin. Chinese graves, some newly dug — in 

 spite of the new regime — were also plentiful in the brushwood. 

 We then walked half a mile till we came to a mangrove swamp 

 — then back along a cart track with the deepest ruts I ever saw 

 till we struck the main road to the up-country mines. This 

 road might easily be put in good order but nothing is done to it 

 and there are deep holes in it. Up the valley is a wonderful 

 aqueduct built of scaffold poles by Chinese some years ago which 

 is said to be seven miles long: and 100 feet high. We were 



