Figs. 149, 150, and 151 give an exact idea of the type and mode of dress of the Siamese. A piece of cloth, which they raise behind, and the two ends of which they fasten to their belt, is their only garment. The women wear besides a scarf across their shoulders. Apart from the delicacy of her features, a Siamese girl of from twelve to twenty need but little envy the conventional models of our statuary.
The Siamese are passionately fond of trinkets. Provided they glitter, it matters little whether they are real or false. They cover their women and their children with rings, bracelets, armlets, and bits of gold and silver. They wear them on their arms, on their legs, round their necks, in their ears, on their bodies, on their shoulders, everywhere they can place them. The king's son is so covered with them, that the weight of his clothes and jewellery is heavier than that of his body.
The greatest conjugal harmony seems to prevail in Siamese families. The wife is not kept secluded as in China, but shows herself everywhere. As a shadow to this picture, we must add that parents have a right to sell their children as slaves.
The Siamese have retained intact all the superstitions of the Hindoos and the Chinese. They believe in demons, in ogres, in mermaids, &c. They have faith in amulets, philtres, and in soothsayers. They support a king, a court, and a seraglio, with its numerous progeny. A second king possesses also his palace, his army, and his mandarins. Between these two kings and the people intervene twelve different ranks of princes, several classes of ministers, five or six of mandarins, and an endless series of governors and lieutenant-governors, all equally incapable and rapacious.
Like all degraded and servile nations, the inhabitants of Siam devote a great part of their existence to games and amusements.
[Illustration: 151.--SIAMESE LADIES DINING.]
M. Mouhot visited Udeng, the present capital of Cambodia. The houses of this town are made of bamboo, sometimes of planks. The longest street is nearly three-quarters of a mile long. The tillers of the soil and the hard-working classes, as well as the mandarins and the other employés of the government, dwell in the suburbs of the town. M. Mouhot met at every moment mandarins in litters or in hammocks followed by a swarm of slaves each carrying something; some, a red or yellow umbrella, the size of which is an indication of the rank and quality of its owner; others, boxes of betel. Horsemen, mounted on small active horses caparisoned in a costly manner and covered with little bells, and followed by a pack of slaves begrimed with dust and sweat, often took their turn in the panorama. He also noticed some light carts drawn by a couple of small but swift oxen. Elephants too, moving majestically forwards with outstretched ears and trunk, and stopped occasionally by the numerous processions which were wending their way to the pagodas to the sound of boisterous music.