ON SIAMESE LITERATURE. 391 



rate only ! But the Siamese have an advantage which was not enjoyed 

 in the latter instance, the potency of charms which ghosts even cannot 

 withstand ! Thus does superstition deceive both the senses and the per- 

 ceptive faculties of the mind. 



There are also games called Ki LepJirop, where persons display their 

 bravery and agility by entering a circus, where an enraged elephant with 

 its keeper on its back is confined, and by avoiding him after having pro- 

 voked him. In the middle of the space is a strong bamboo mat stretched 

 out and lying on strong posts connected by cross beams. The mat is 

 about the height of the elephant's forehead, so that when the combatant or 

 rather exhibiter, as he only carries a fan in his hand, has provoked the 

 animal and is pursued, he runs below this canopy while the elephant rushes 

 and strikes his head against the beams — his eyes being above the mat and 

 his tusks below, so that the man escapes. Amongst the amusements of this 

 pleasure-loving people, may those convivial parties be reckoned, made for 

 the express purpose of cementing eternal friendship betwixt those who 

 assemble at them, and where the parties pledge each other in deep 

 draughts of lau or arrack, over a drawn weapon inserted in a bowl of that 

 beverage and in which each also inserts a finger. It partakes not of the 

 nature of a secret association, but is a public and noisy assembly. Equals 

 only can well engage in such a party with any hope that the mutual 

 pledge of support will be fulfilled, and even then as it is not until the cup 

 has well circulated that professions of brotherly love and of mutual 

 aid are made ; their oaths must be liable to evaporate in the process of 

 sobering. 



Literary Amusements. 



The Siamese challenge each other to trials of improvisitorial skill — such 

 are questions and replies in verse — and discussions on Bali learning. 

 Some one also of a party repeats the name of an animal, tree, or any sub- 

 stance, and the person who accepts the challenge must give the name of one 

 of the same genus, having a like termination— and the trial is kept up 



