106 
Mr. Minnegerode had dinner with us at the hotel* Later 
we went to a Siamese theatre, where the high-pitched, almost 
chanted dialoague was unintelligible and hence uninteresting 
to us, but the costumes and music worth the evening. The 
orchestra sat in a niche to one side of the stage, and consisted 
of two xyllophone-like instruments, a drum and a pair of cym- 
bals* Both men and women actors wore the curious high, pagoda- 
like head dresses, gilded, heavy silk costumes xki* plastered 
with artificial jewels. The audience was as good as the play, 
surprisingly juvenile however. There were some adults, but 
the vast majority were children, and some of them sat on the 
stage during the performance* 
After the theatre we went to How Thin Lau, a Chinese 
restaurant with a roof garden on the fourth floor, an danced 
to quite good jazz music until 12. SO. Bill enjoyed dancing 
with some of the little Siamese and Chinese^hostesses 1 ' of the 
establishment. 
June 21 - 
We called at the Legation in the morning, and went with 
Mr. Chapman to call on Phya Jolamark, the head of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. He was a little dubious about finding 
gibbons in Bangkok, a little disappointed that our time here 
is so short and he cannot take us to the jungle. He was I 
think, all prepared to lead our expedition to some grand country, 
and it is too bad we cannot follow him. 
He did take us to some Chinese bird stores, and in 
one of them we found three gibbons, one of them a baby one. 
One is gray, one yellow-white, and one black, and we bought 
them ell. When we came back to the hotel, and asked where we 
could keep them, the hotel manager had no suggestions whatever, 
so in spite of his pained protests we took them to our room. 
After lunch I took the baby out of the cage to play with her. 
She loves to hang around on f es neck, and is really the most 
appealing little animal I have seen for a long time. When I 
put her down on the floor or on the bed, she sticks out her 
tonge, spread her long arms, and runs to me as fast as she 
can. But when she has to go back in her cage, she cries like 
a human baby, and I wonder how long our neighbors in the hotel 
will enjoy her. 
Mr. Minnigerode took us for a drive around the city 
in the afternoon, taking us through the ?f original city", where 
are the Royal Palace and the many government buildings, and 
ending up at the Polo Club, where we met Dr. Jones, a vet, who 
offered to house our gibbons for us temporarily. 
July 22 - 
Up at quarter to six, and after a hasty cup of coffee 
in the room we went downstairs, met Mr. Minnigerode, and went 
with him for a motor boat ride through the klongs, or canals, 
of Bangkok. For many years there was no way of getting about 
the city except by canal, and the whole place is a web of them . 
We started down the Menam River, and turned off into a canal 
that took us way out to the outskirts of the city. Here was 
river life at its most industrious. Shops and houses make a 
