When we were in Siam, his Majesty the King
had three hundred wives, of one description
or another ; and the Phraklang forty. The indulgence,
however, is far from common, being
of necessity limited by the small number of individuals,
in any state of society, capable of maintaining
more than one family. “ When I was in
the country,” says the Abbé Gervaise, with much
good sense, “ they would have me to believe that
the lower orders were chaste through virtue, because
polygamy was not common amongst them ;
but, for my own part, I have always believed
that it was not so, because the object was to save
the expense of supporting many wives.”
The Siamese are a ceremonious people, attaching,
like most other Oriental nations, an
undue and ridiculous importance to mere form
and ceremonial, breaches of which are rather considered
in the light of political crimes than offences
against mere etiquette. A Siamese seldom
stands or walks erect,; and an inferior never does
so in the presence of a superior. In the latter relation,
the crouching attitude, as I have already
described it, is the most frequent of all. The
tenderest embrace between equals consists, as the
language expresses it, in “ smelling” the object
of affection. This practice is common to them
and many of the Indian islanders. Hugging is
another practice frequent among friends, or where
a profession of friendship is made. There was
not one of our own party, during our stay in
Siam, who, at one time or another, was not subjected
to this inconvenient ceremony. Our new
acquaintances, who happened to take a fancy for
us, generally conferred this mark of their regard
in a very sudden and unexpected manner, and
often in the public streets. They were eom-
monly persons from the country, and, as well
as I can recollect, frequently natives of Lao.
In drawing this unfavourable picture of the
Siamese character, it should be recollected that
our experience was very limited, being confined
to the inhabitants of the capital, with a few occasional
strangers. I was assured, on what I considered
good authority, that the character of the
provincial inhabitants is much more favourable.