Four Young Explorers; Or, Sight-Seeing in the Tropics by Oliver Optic (best romantic novels to read .TXT) 📗

and the principal[188] observance is the chewing of betel, winding up with a feast to all the friends. Priests are sometimes called in to say prayers, and sprinkle the couple with consecrated water.

"The Siamese believe that the arteries of the body are filled with air, and that disease is caused by some disturbance in these internal breezes. A wind blows on the heart, and bursts it, causing death by 'heart failure.' Almost everything is pressed into the materia medica for service, including such things as cats' eyes, the bile of snakes, sea-shells, horns, and probably dogs' tails, kittens' teeth, and monkeys' tongues. Doctors are paid by the job, and not by the number of visits. The price of a cure is agreed upon; and if the patient dies, or fails to get better, the physician gets nothing.

"After poor people, dying, have been kept a few days, they are cremated, as in India; but they keep a high noble nearly a year before they commit his remains to the fire. When called upon, a Siamese farmer or other person is compelled by law to furnish transportation and board to travelling officials. The law of debit and credit is curious, and amounts to actual slavery. A man may borrow money, and give his person for security. If he fails to pay as agreed, the creditor can put him in irons, if need be, and compel him to work for him till the debt is discharged,—the principal only, for his labor is the equivalent of the interest.

"Missionaries are sent here from America, includ[189]ing many female physicians; and they have a great deal of influence among the natives.

"The present king of Siam is Chulalongkorn I. The former system of having the country ruled by two kings has been abolished, and the present monarch is the only king; and I never could find out what the second king was for. The throne is now hereditary, but the king formerly had the privilege of naming his own successor. Chulalongkorn is an amiable and dignified ruler, well educated, and speaks English fluently. The laws are made by the king in connection with a council of ministers. The forty-one provinces of the kingdom are in charge of commissioners appointed by the king. Such a thing as justice is hardly known, and what there is of it is very badly managed. Thieving and plundering are carried on almost without check in Bangkok, which includes about all there is of Siam except a great deal of spare territory, and property is very unsafe there. I think I have wearied you, Mr. Commander, and ladies and gentlemen."

"Not at all!" shouted several.

"Did you ever see the Siamese twins, General Noury?" inquired Uncle Moses.

"I never did; but I have read about them, and looked them up this morning," replied the lecturer. "They were born in Siam in 1811, but their parents were Chinese. I don't quite understand in what manner they were united."

"There was a ligament, which looked something[190] like a small wrist, reaching from one to the other at the breast-bones. Their garments were open enough to enable the spectators to see this connection. There was a great deal of speculation among the doctors about them, I remember, and it was even proposed to separate them with the knife; but that was never done, for it would have spoiled the exhibition business," the trustee explained.

"They were purchased of their mother at Meklong by an American in 1829, and taken to the United States, where they were exhibited all over the country, and then taken to England. It was a good speculation to Mr. Hunter and to Chang and Eng, the twins; for they all made their fortunes. They were married to two sisters, and settled in North Carolina, where they had children. They lost their property in the Civil War, and again exhibited themselves in England in 1869. They died in 1874, one living two hours and a half after the death of the other."

The general retired from the rostrum; and the party separated, Mrs. Mingo ascending the fore-rigging, while the others went to various parts of the ship to see the shores, which were still in sight.[191]

CHAPTER XXI ON THE VOYAGE TO SAIGON

The steamer was obliged to descend the Menam at less than half speed, to avoid running down any of the multitude of boats and vessels that thronged the river, and because the stream was so crooked.

"How far do you think Bangkok is from the Gulf, Captain Ringgold?" asked the general, at the close of the session.

"About twenty miles," replied the commander.

"One description of the city that I have read makes it forty miles, another twenty-six, and three others make it twenty miles," added the pacha; "and I suppose the last is the right distance."

"I have come to that conclusion after consulting all the books we have on the subject. You have said the second king of Burma had been abolished, General; are you confident that such is the case? We certainly did not see him, and I did not hear anything about him," added the captain.

"In the first place, I consider Chambers excellent authority, and you have the latest edition in the library, and the date is last year; and it says in so many words that the second has been done away with. The king who was the father of Chulalong[192]korn died in 1868. His prime minister was a progressive man, who introduced many reforms in Siam; and I am sure that he could not have helped seeing the absurdity of the second king. The present king is well educated, and also a progressive man, as his father was not. I am sorry we did not look the matter up, which we might easily have done with the assistance of the missionaries. But I am satisfied that I was correct in regard to the statement."

In the course of another hour the ship came to the mouth of the river. Crocodiles appear to prefer the mouth of a stream, and a considerable number were seen at the entrance to a canal or cut-off. The pilot stopped the screw, and backed it, in order to avoid a collision with a couple of vessels in the channel. As the two vessels were under sail, it looked as though it would be some time before the channel was clear; and the "Big Four" hastened to their staterooms for their repeating-rifles.

Their appearance thus armed created a sensation on the upper deck, and all the party secured positions where they could see the sport. Mrs. Belgrave manifested some anxiety when she saw the arms, for she was somewhat afraid of such weapons.

"What are you going to do, Louis?" she asked as her son passed her.

"Don't you see that there are a dozen crocodiles at the mouth of that cut-off, mother?" replied Louis. "We are going to shoot some of them."

"But you can't get them if you do kill them."[193]

"We don't want to get them. They are not good for anything to us."

"Then, why do you want to kill them? They do you no harm," protested the lady.

"But they would if they got the chance. Suppose by any accident some one should fall overboard; those brutes would snap the person up as a fish snaps the bait," answered Louis. "In Borneo they are regular man-eaters, more dangerous than sharks; and I have no doubt they are the same here. As I told you, they pay so much a foot for killing them in that island. Ask the pilot how it is here, mother."

Achang was called, and was asked to inquire of the Siamese if the crocodiles were dangerous. He promptly replied that they were not only dangerous, but a nuisance; for they went ashore and swallowed all small animals, and even attacked a cow. The lady offered no further objection. She only hoped the Nimrods would not shoot each other; and they descended to the platform of the gangway, which had not yet been hoisted up, and the crack of their rifles was soon heard.

Each of the rifles could send out nine bullets, fixed ammunition, contained in cartridges, nine of which was the capacity of the magazine. Those on deck watched the group of saurians; but Louis fired the first shot, and immediately there was a sensation among the reptiles. One of them made a spring, and came over on his back.

"Mr. Belgrave fired that shot," said Achang to[194] the hunter's mother. "He is dead shot, and he never miss his aim."

"There is another turning over on his back," added the lady.

"I think Mr. McGavonty fired that one; for he is a dead shot too, but not quite so sure as Mr. Belgrave," said Achang; and he was correct in his supposition. Both of them hit the crocodile in the eye.

The next report that reached the ears of the party was followed by five more in quick succession; and the Bornean explained that the hunter had missed his aim five times out of six, but his victim turned over after the last one.

"Mr. Scott is better with lasso than with rifle," criticised Achang, with a smile.

The next shot caused the fourth of the reptiles to upset himself on the water, and then the screw of the ship began to turn again. The crocodile's reasoning powers did not seem to be well developed, as Mrs. Belgrave suggested when she saw one of their number killed; for they might have known there was mischief in the air. The Nimrods came on deck, and then carried their rifles to their staterooms, where the commander required them to lock up the weapons in their closets.

The third officer was ordered to have the gangway hoisted up when he returned to the deck, and the ship proceeded to sea. The weather was pleasant, and not very warm for the tropics; in fact, they[195] had suffered more from the heat in New York and in Von Blonk Park than in Bangkok, though it is sometimes extremely hot there. The south-west monsoon cooled the air where they were, though the sun poured down its blistering rays.

There was an awning over the platform where the conferences were held, and another over the after part of the promenade deck. But the former, with its arm-chairs, was the most desirable location to be had; and in a short time the company had seated themselves there without any call to attend a lecture. As soon as deep water was indicated by the soundings, the pilot was discharged, and the captain then gave out the course south by east. Everything was in working order on board; and the commander joined the party on the promenade, as it had always been called before Conference Hall was located there. It commanded the best view on both sides, though not forward, where it was obstructed by the pilot-house.

"What have you seen in Bangkok, Miss Blanche, that the absentees have not seen?" asked Louis, who had seated himself at her side, after patting Miss Mingo, whom she was holding in her lap.

"A great many things," she replied. "One was the royal barge, which they said was rowed or paddled by one hundred and fifty men; but a good many of us did not believe it contained so many."

"I have read about it, though I did not see it. It is said to be one hundred and fifty feet long, and[196] the book I read said it was paddled by one hundred and twenty men," added Louis. "But it does not make much difference, and the books do not agree in regard to a great many things in this part of the world. What did you think of the people you saw, Miss Blanche?"

"A lady and gentleman were pointed out to us by one of the kind missionaries who guided us, and I could hardly tell which was the lady and which the gentleman till I had studied them a while," returned the fair maiden. "Both of them wore what appeared to be trousers; but it proved to be a cloth as big as a sheet wound around the waist, and so disposed about the legs as to look like trousers; but the garment was the same on both of them. The lady had something like a shawl, which was passed over the left shoulder, and under the right arm, with some kind of a jacket under it. The gentleman wore a sort of tunic, which was regularly buttoned up in front like a coat. The hair of each was shaved off close to the head, except a tuft on the crown, which was bunched up. They wore no ornaments of any kind, perhaps because it was not a dress occasion. I saw one woman who had a kind of necklace on the top of the shawl."

"I saw a woman's band of five pieces, and the music they made was not bad," added Louis.

"I heard a band like that; but I could not tell whether they played a tune or improvised their music. The missionaries took us into the garden of[197] a nobleman, where we saw what was