V 
Obituary . — David Thomas Gwynne- Vaughan . 
The object of the expedition is to make a scientific survey of the little- 
known country lying south of Siam and north of the protected States of 
the Malay Peninsula.’ 
As his experiences on the Malayan trip were of considerable interest, 
rather full extracts from his letters, above referred to, are given. 
Approaching Singapore , March 8, 1899. 
‘ I dread Singapore ; we have an appalling number of engagements to 
make there, in the least possible time. If nothing else, you have a peace- 
able time at sea, a time that I love, though Malayan has done its best to 
spoil this trip as Portuguese did my former one ; still I live in hopes of 
returning. If I do I am afraid this will upset the last chance of settling 
down and quiet work in England. I greatly fear the East, for was I not 
born a tramp- Royal ? ’ 
As we shall see, this anticipation was very far from being fulfilled. 
Bangkok , Siam , March , 1899. 
‘ I have dined at a Siamese Prince’s, Prince Naret, in dress clothes and 
a stick-up collar, eaten a splendid European dinner, conversed with his wife, 
who is a delightful little person, but she chews betel to such a degree that 
an average European would have a fit, and talked over the odds on the 
’Varsity boat-race with his son, Prince Charoon, an old Cambridge man 
and a very nice fellow too, while looking on at a Siamese dramatic per- 
formance commanded at the Prince’s house for our benefit, and that of the 
officers of a British warship at present in port. 
‘ Last night we dined on board the same, after having spent a long day 
at Ayuthia, the former capital of Siam, a wonderful place, a city which 
formerly contained about a million inhabitants, but now only a few majestic 
ruins scattered among a jungle only penetrable with difficulty. Huge 
palaces and temples, an image of Buddha 40-50 ft. high, and sitting at 
that, alone, huge, stately, and impassive in its vast unroofed and crumbling 
temple, while the irresistible jungle is steadily covering, destroying, and 
breaking down all things around it. I now know, as few do, what is meant 
by the “ The Letting in of the Jungle ”. I stood in the hand of this gigantic 
idol and declaimed “ The Karela, the bitter Karela”, &c. 
‘ The Malay is grievously misjudged in England. I distinctly like the 
race. They are a folk who are proud and sensitive, the only race in the 
East who look you straight in the face when they speak to you. In their 
manners they are naturally gentlemen. They admit a possible superiority 
in Englishmen, but hold all the Eastern races in strong contempt. It is 
true that they have some excusable little eccentricities, such as running 
amok and using their kris too freely, but then no race is altogether 
perfect.’ 
