August 1 0 .—The Mission received one hundred and seventy
two quans, with rice for a month. Nothing remarkable
occurred. Three or four .thieves aré executed every
week. His Excellency is rigorous in the execution o f justice,
and permits no one to escape. He says, that wretches
of this description are o f no manner of use to the public,
but, on the contrary, a burden. The Mandarin who
brought us up from Canju, has just been convicted of
bribery and corruption: the Governor has confiscated his
property, confined the persons of himself and his wife, and
put the heavy Cangue, or wooden collar, about their necks.
Th e Mandarin’s crime was withholding regular payment
from the labourers engaged on the canal of Athien, and
extorting money from the peasantry of the neighbouring
villages. The amount taken did not exceed one thousand
quans. In the evening, the Mission was invited to see the
elephants exercise. In passing the market-place, we were
told that three criminals had been executed there in the
morning: their wooden collars were still lying on the
ground. A s soon as we had reached the southern side of
the fort, the approach of his Excellency, mounted on his
favourite elephant, was announced by the heralds. A
mock fight was represented. The elephants, sixty in number,
charged a fence made o f fascines and branches of trees,
and defended by a line o f soldiers, discharging rockets and
smal}-arms. The elephants broke through it and pursued
those who defended it, until stopped by the riders. Good
order and discipline were preserved, and the commands for
advance and retreat given by trumpet and beat o f drum.
Another species o f mock-fight was afterwards exhibited.
The elephants were made to attack, two and two, the
efl%y ° f a lion and tiger spitting fire, and accompanied
by many soldiers discharging fire-arms. Very few of the
elephants ventured to attack these objects, but, in spite of
all the efforts of the riders, ran away. One o f the conductors
received twenty blows on the spot for not doing
his duty. His Excellency allowed his favourite elephant
to go through his exercise; the animal knelt, inclined his
head,, and made us an obeisance. He is thirty-seven years
old, and the Governor has had him twenty-five years.
After the amusements, we were treated with a. collation,
and the Governor held a long conference with us through
the Portuguese interpreter, Antonio. H e said he was going
to Court entirely on our account; to make ourselves in
the mean time comfortable, and that matters would, in
most respects, end according to our wishes, as his Majesty
seldom acted in opposition to his advice. His Excellency
asked whether it was probable there would be war between
the English and Siamese, on account o f the protection
which the former gave to the King o f Queda, under pretence
that he was their ally, while, in fact, he was a subject
and a tributary of Siam. I replied, that the English
were too powerful a people for the Siamese to attempt any
thing against. His Excellency said, that he supposed the
English had an eye on Junk-Ceylon, Pulo, Lada, Quedah,
and P e rak ; which would render Penang the centre o f a
large trade, and that the Malay peninsula was now necessary
to support Penang, as she had lost the trade o f the
Eastern Countries through means of Malacca. I answered,
that this might probably be the case, for that the English
were great politicians,— that they did nothing without a
reason, and would never make war on the Siamese, unless
the latter were the aggressors, but that they never put up
with insults. His Excellency the Governor seemed very
well informed respecting the results of the wars of the Emperor
Napoleon Bonaparte, and particularly respecting the
battle of, Waterloo, and his death at St. Helena. He said,
he lamented the misfortunes of that great man, and ex