The English Governess at the Siamese Court | Page 4

a temple all of purest white, its
lofty spire, fantastic and gilded, flashing back the glory of the sun, and
duplicated in shifting, quivering shadows in the limpid waters below.
Add to these the fitful ripple of the coquettish breeze, the burnished
blazonry of the surrounding vegetation, the budding charms of spring
joined to the sensuous opulence of autumn, and you have a scene of
lovely glamour it were but vain impertinence to describe. Earth seemed
to have gathered for her adorning here elements more intellectual,
poetic, and inspiring than she commonly displays to pagan eyes.
These islands at the gateway of the river are, like the bank in the gulf,
but accumulations of the sand borne down before the torrent, that,
suddenly swollen by the rains, rushes annually to the sea. The one on
which the temple stands is partly artificial, having been raised from the
bed of the Meinam by the king P'hra Chow Phra-sat-thong, as a work of
"merit." Visiting this island some years later, I found that this temple,
like all other pyramidal structures in this part of the world, consists of
solid masonry of brick and mortar. The bricks made here are
remarkable, being fully eight inches long and nearly four broad, and of
fine grain,--altogether not unlike the "tavellae" brick of the Egyptians
and ancient Romans. There are cornices on all sides, with steps to
ascend to the top, where a long inscription proclaims the name, rank,
and virtues of the founder, with dates of the commencement of the
island and the shrine. The whole of the space, extending to the low
stone breakwater that surrounds the island, is paved with the same kind
of brick, and encloses, in addition to the P'hra-Cha-dei ("The Lord's
Delight"), a smaller temple with a brass image of the sitting Buddha. It

also affords accommodation to the numerous retinue of princes, nobles,
retainers, and pages who attend the king in his annual visits to the
temple, to worship, and make votive offerings and donations to the
priests. A charming spot, yet not one to be contemplated with
unalloyed pleasure; for here also are the wretched people, who pass up
and down in boats, averting their eyes, pressing their hard,
labor-grimed hands against their sweating foreheads, and lowly louting
in blind awe to these whited bricks. Even the naked children hush and
crouch, and lay their little foreheads against the bottom of the boat.
His Majesty Somdetch P'hra Paramendr Maha Mongkut, the late
Supreme King, contributed interesting souvenirs to the enlargement
and adornment of this temple.
The town, which the twin islands redeem from the ignominy it
otherwise deserves, lies on the east bank of the river, and by its long
lines of low ramparts that face the water seems to have been at one time
substantially fortified; but the works are now dilapidated and neglected.
They were constructed in the first instance, I am told, with fatal
ingenuity; in the event of an attack the garrison would find them as
dangerous to abandon as to defend. Paknam is indebted for its
importance rather to its natural position, and its possibilities of
improvement under the abler hands into which it is gradually falling,
than to any advantage or promise in itself; for a more disgusting,
repulsive place is scarcely to be found on Asian ground.
The houses are built partly of mud, partly of wood, and, as in those of
Malacca, only the upper story is habitable, the ground floor being the
abode of pigs, dogs, fowls, and noisome reptiles. The "Government
House" was originally of stone, but all the more recent additions have
been shabbily constructed of rough timber and mud. This is one of the
few houses in Paknam which one may enter without mounting a ladder
or a clumsy staircase, and which have rooms in the lower as well as in
the upper story.
The Custom-House is an open sala, or shed, where interpreters,
inspectors, and tidewaiters lounge away the day on cool mats, chewing
areca, betel, and tobacco, and extorting moneys, goods, or provisions
from the unhappy proprietors of native trading craft, large or small; but
Europeans are protected from their rascally and insolent exactions by
the intelligence and energy of their respective consuls.

The hotel is a whitewashed brick building, originally designed to
accommodate foreign ambassadors and other official personages
visiting the Court of Siam. The king's summer-house, fronting the
islands, is the largest edifice to be seen, but it has neither dignity nor
beauty. A number of inferior temples and monasteries occupy the
background, and are crowded with a rabble of priests, in yellow robes
and with shaven pates; packs of mangy pariah-dogs attend them. These
monasteries consist of many small rooms or cells, containing merely a
mat and wooden pillow for each occupant. The