** May blood flow out of every pore of my
body, that my crime may be made manifest to the
world ; may all or any of these evils overtake me
within three days, or may I never stir from the
spot on which I now stand, or may the hatsani, or
lash of the sky (lightning), cut me in two, so
that I may be exposed to the derision of the
people. Or if I should be walking abroad, may
I be torn to pieces by either of the four super-
naturally endowed lions, or destroyed by poisonous
herbs or venomous snakes. I f when in the waters
of the rivers or ocean, may supernatural crocodiles
or great fishes devour me, or may the winds and
waves overwhelm me; or may the dread of such
evils keep me, during life, a prisoner at home,
estranged from every pleasure, or may I be afflicted
by tbe intolerable oppressions of my superiors,
or may a plague cause my death ; after which,
may I be precipitated into hell, there to go through
• o o
innumerable stages of torture, amongst which may
I be condemned to carry water over the flaming regions
in open wicker-baskets to assuage the heat
felt by Than-Wetsuwan, when he enters the infernal
hall of justice, and thereafter may I fall
into the lowest pit of hell; or if these miseries
should not ensue, may I after death migrate
into the body of a slave, and suffer all the hardships
and pain attending the worst state of such
a being, during a period of years measured by
the sand of four seas; or may I animate the
body of an animal, or beast, during five hundred
generations; or be born a hermaphrodite
five hundred times, or endure in the body of a
deaf, blind, dumb, houseless beggar, every species
of loathsome disease during the same number
of generations, and then may I be hurried to
Narak, or hell, and there be crucified by Phria-
Yam,* one of the Kings of Hell.”
With respect to the persons competent or incompetent
to give evidence before a court of justice,
the Siamese betray the usual caprice of barbarians.
The best witnesses are openly declared
to be priests and men in office. Of incompetent
witnesses we have a list of not less than eight-
and-twenty, containing a very curious medley, as
follows:—Contemners of religion, persons in
debt, the slaves of a party to a suit, intimate
friends, idiots, those who do not hold in abhorrence
the cardinal sins, among which are enumerated,
besides theft and murder, drinking spirits,
breaking prescribed fasts, and reposing on the
mat or couch of a priest or parent; gamblers,
vagrants, executioners, quackdoctors, play-actors,
hermaphrodites, strolling musicians, prostitutes,
blacksmiths, persons labouring under incurable
disorders; persons under seven, or above seventy
; backbiters, insane persons, persons of violent
passions, shoe-makers, beggars, braziers, midwives,
and sorcerers.
* The Lord Yama, that is, the Hindoo Pluto,
VOL. I I . K