"As the sun cleared the atmosphere, however, things assumed a pleasanter aspect; and by the time that we were fairly under weigh, and working towards the anchorage, the whole city of Bangkok, consisting of a long double, and in some parts, treble row of neatly and tastefully painted wooden cabins, floating on thick bamboo rafts, and linked to each other, in parcels of six or seven houses, by chains (which chains were fastened to huge poles driven into the bed of the river), rose like a magic picture to our admiring gaze. Junks of 1400 tons were lying close alongside these floating cabins, so close that they could converse with each other with the greatest facility, and one vessel-a Portuguese, that was working tack and tack with us up the river approached so close to the houses that, in going about, she came foul with, and carried away with her, half a dozen of these floating domiciles. The tide was running down rapidly, and so soon as the brig disengaged herself, away went these houses at a steamer's pace, amidst the vociferous hootings and shoutings of their tenants; and before many minutes had elapsed, they had disappeared round a corner of the river, and were stranded on the opposite shore." The houses fronting the water-streets, or open channels, have all open shops, and as there is no such a thing as foot-way or carriage-road, like the Venetians, the Bangkokians do all their town locomotion in boats. The thousands of these little canoes, each managed by one person, often by girls, that are seen early in the morning, before the sun becomes powerful, moving through the different channels, give an interesting activity to the whole picture. Every conceivable commodity is thus borne from door to door. In one you will see rice, in another, fruit, in a third, fish; or an old Chinaman every now and then floats along, intent upon a hissing pot and pans, in which he is manufacturing a rich-looking soup. In the midst of these little craft, a Chinese junk, painted all over with dragons and monsters, lies at anchor in the stream, and forms a brilliantlooking bazaar; for no sooner does such a vessel arrive, than an awning is spread over the deck, and tables and cases are ranged fore and aft by the crew, and every one brings forth his particular stock in the general venture, and becomes, for the nonce, an expert salesman. Here and there the rows of floating houses are broken with large cages; these are the debtors' prisons, and the poor wretches who occupy them are obliged to hop from one to the other, according as the sun moves, in order to obtain a little shade, all the while keeping a sharp look-out for passers-by; for they are compelled to beg their daily bread, as our poor VOL. XXXIV.—NO. II. | debtors did of old through the iron gratings of the Fleet and other debtors' prisons. The batis, or temples, of which there are a hundred in the city, are built upon the banks. Here also stand the king's palace, and the houses of the nobles, foreign consuls, and missionaries. During the last century, the capital stood much higher up the river, and upon its banks. From this situation it was removed It was thought that the exhalations from for a sanitary as well as commercial reason. the mud at low water were the cause of the frightful visitations of cholera which ravaged the place; and certainly, since this dense city has been placed over the running stream, this frightful scourge has not been so frequent or destructive a visitant, and ague has in a great measure disappeared. This is in accordance with the latest sanitary experience of Europeans. The Bangkokians, however, have only changed the nature of the prevalent disease, for in consequence of the damp condition of these wooden cabins, rheumatic fever is very common. The writer of a paper published lately in the Transactions of the China branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, calculates the population of this floating capital to number no less than 400,000 souls. Imagine Liverpool and Birkenhead swimming upon the Mersey, and you will realize the singular situation of the capital city of Siam. Although the Siamese in many particulars resemble the Chinese, from whom, in fact, they have received many elements of their civilization, in one particular they have an advantage-or rather their government has-over their celestial neighbors: they are much more amenable to European reason, and adopt with far greater facility the notions of "barbarians." Even at a time when the rulers of Siam have not shown themselves to be superior in understanding to the average of Oriental despots, they have availed themselves of European science, and at the very moment the Emperor of China was having war-steamers constructed in exact imitation of those employed by the English enemy-barring the steamengines-the King of Siam possessed a fleet of men-of-war constructed by his own people under English direction, and officered by Englishmen. Mr. Neale gives the following list of the men-of-war possessed by the late King of Siam, a part of which was under his management :— Caledonia Good Success Sir Walter Scott 1000. 700 500 Guns. 22 10 Middleton Figgs De Luz Eglen 6 | These were fine, fast-sailing vessels, upon the European model. In addition to the government dockyard, there are dry-docks by the side of the river, in which any merchant vessel can have repairs done by the king's shipwrights. No doubt the fleet since this date is much increased, as the reigning prince's brother has, for many years, taken a great interest in navigation; and, like Peter the Great, has made himself practically acquainted with the art of ship-building. The intimate connection which has long existed between the court of Siam and the English consul, Mr. Hunter, probably led to the introduction of European ideas among this semi-barbarous people-Mr. Hunter was the confidant of the late monarch, and of the Prince Chou Fau Noi, and it was, in fact, through his vigorous action during a formid able rebellion of one of the chiefs, that the throne itself was saved. In addition to the English influence, the mass of Siamese court prejudices must have in some measure been leavened by the residence of an intelligent Portuguese consul, and by the presence of American Protestant and French Catholic missionaries. Whilst these influences have all been powerful levers in helping to raise the Siam rulers and nobles a little nearer to the European level, all attempts to Christianize people or princes have utterly failed. And this is the more remarkable, as the state religion, Buddhism, is without a god-the last god of the Buddhists having, according to their own account, died B.C. 543. One would have imagined that a religion without a chief would be sure to fall before the first assailant; but the purest and best of faiths has scarcely made a single convert as yet. Godama, the last god of the Buddhists, was, they say, absorbed into the bosom of nature; and since this occurred, they know of no deity who has any part in managing the affairs of the world, and awarding premiums and penalties due to their deeds; but merit and malice are followed by punishments and rewards as a necessary sequence; the former consisting of sufferings endured during a series of transmigration through the various existences, from the lowest insect up to the highest divinity, whilst the greatest reward is made to consist in annihilation. The original faith is still the living faith of the country, The footprint of Buddha, which is shown a few miles from the old capital, is the object of the greatest veneration, and is the scene of an imposing festival once a year, when the king and a vast number of pilgrims go up the river and visit the spot. Mr. Neale says he saw upwards of 70,000 canoes paddle up the stream in grand proA part cession on one of these occasions. of the ceremony is to enter a cave, and cast offerings in money down a deep hole. We should fear the priests were possessed of some "Open Sesame !" to obtain an entrance into this secret treasure-house. The great sanctity of the white elephant in Siam is not difficult to understand, when we consider that the doctrine of the transmigration of souls is so vital a part of their national religion; still more easy is the explanation, when we learn that white elephants are supposed to be tenanted by the souls of deceased kings. Well might his majesty of Siam pay every attention to any blanched monarch of the forest he might be fortunate enough to capture, when he considers that his own time will come to animate the like ponderous body, and to flourish a prehensile trunk. There were, a short time since, two of these revered animals under the safe-keeping of the priest. They have for their habitations two of the most splendid batis or temples in the empire, situated in the midst of gardens filled with the tuberose, the yellow honeysuckle, and a passionflower of a very beautiful form, called by the Siamese the bell-flower. In these gardens, when Mr. Neale visited the elephants, a posse of priests, dressed in gamboge-dyed dresses, were chanting laudatory verses about the great white elephant. This traveller's description of the beast is in the highest degree interesting: admitted into the presence of this noble animal. I "We closely followed our guide, and were have never before seen so large an elephant; his skin was as smooth and spotless and white as the driven snow, with the exception of a large scarlet rim round the eyes. The brute was too dignified and accustomed to homage to pay the slightest visitors as ourselves, but went on calmly helping attention to the intrusion of such unpresuming himself to leaves and branches from the mighty piles that were heaped up before him. The room itself was an unpresuming one, exceedingly lofty, with windows all round the loftiest part; but the flooring was covered with a mat-work, wrought of pure chaste gold, each interwoven seam being about half an inch wide, and about the thickness of a half sovereign!!! If this was not sin to snakes, as the Yankee says, I don't know what The idea of a great, unwieldy brute, like the elephant, trampling under foot and wearing was. out more gold in one year than many hardworking people gain in ten! And then the soiled mess that this costly carpeting was in, in many parts, would have been sufficient to cause a miser to go off instantly into a fit of insanity. Several priests were busily engaged in different parts of the room, polishing up tarnished spots; others, professionally goldsmiths, were extracting the worn strips, and replacing them with new ones, so heavy and so bright, that it made our eyes and mouths water to see such infamous waste. Every one to his liking, however. The sovereigns and potentates of Europe manage to make millions slip through their fingers in the pursuits of the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and in indulging every appetite that vicious nature can give birth to. The King of Siam would, doubtless, do the same if he could; but he can't, for this simple reason, that so limited are the resources for gratification and pleasure, and so cheaply obtainable these few, that his majesty, who does not spend much in wearing apparel, turns his treasures into mats for his favorite doll or deity to tread upon. "The man who was so fortunate as to intrap the elephant, got from the King of Siam a pension of one thousand tikols per annum, which pension is hereditary; besides this, he was raised to a very high office in the kingdom-that of carrying water for the elephant to slake his thirst with; and the jars with which the water is transported, and the trough from which this leviathan drinks, are both more or less filagreed and worked with gold. "The white elephant, junior, differed from the white elephant, senior, considerably, in size and appearance, and consequently, luxuriated in silver instead of gold. He was evidently the younger son of a junior branch of the family, and was accordingly neglected and ill treated. Even the priests neglected to repair the rents in his silver matting, which was fast going to pieces, and if one might judge from the meagre and sickly look of the poor animal, it was not likely to live long enough to tread upon a new. The vault in which this poor brute was confined was also insignificant in comparison with the other, and the garden, though abounding in flowers, was evidently ill looked after and neglected." The late king was a mere bloated sensualist, with just sense enough to see that he could depend better upon the advice of Europeans than upon that of his own nobles; and, in consequence, foreign influence has predominated for many years at Siam, and the notions of the higher nobility have been very much influenced thereby. Many of the Ministers of State speak very good English, and have adopted semi English fashions in their houses. The example of the late king's youngest half-brother gave a great impulse to this monarch, for he was an admirer of our nation, and treated all Englishmen with the greatest respect. For many years this | prince was looked upon as the heir-apparent to the throne, and high expectations were entertained of him when he should have ascended the throne. Dr. Richardson, who visited the court of Siam in 1839,* gives the following interesting account of the reception-room of the prince, which shows at a glance the style of man Chou Fau must be, brought up, as he has been, among a nation of semi-savages. "The room," says Dr. Richardson, wherein we were received was fitted up in the English style, and on the table was a splendid gilt lamp, with cutglass shades, which was made for William IV.; the walls were decorated with English prints, and he had a small library of English books, of which the Encyclopædia Britannica formed a part.” The possession of this work points to the scientific turn of the prince's mind. Chou Fau Noi acquired a respectable knowledge of mathematics, as a preliminary to a study of fortification and gunnery, in both of which arts he is reported to be "well up." Mr. Neale, who visited Chou Fau later than Dr. Richardson, gives us a fuller view of the habits and occupations of the prince. He says: "His thirst for literature was then (1840) greater than ever; all the latest publications, he, by means of agents, procured from Singapore, and I have seen him laugh as heartily over 'Dickens' Pickwick as though he had been accustomed to the scenes that book depicts from his earliest youth. . . . The prince had some favorites that had picked up a little smattering of English, and assisted him in his more scientific amusements. Opposite the armory, and just on the threshold of his palace, was a very pretty little farm-house, surrounded with glass windows, and over the entrance-door of which was placed a board with the inscription of Watches and clocks made and repaired here,' written in large letters of gold; and here he would be seen, seated at a table liberally bestrewed with fragments and little mites of wheels, pursuing his favorite occupation of watch-making. It was a strange sight, in such an out-of-the-way place as Bangkok, and among such a set of uncouth beings as the Siamthe prince presented, with a pair of huge goggles ese, to come suddenly upon the strange figure protruding from his eyes, and surrounded by a group of curious and inquisitive favorites." · Mr. Hunter, the English consul, was the chief agent in sowing the good seed of enlightenment in the prince's mind. He taught * Journal of a Mission from the Supreme GovRichardson. Published in the Calcutta Journal. ernment of India to the Court of Siam. By Dr. 1840. him English, and pointed out the chief works. that he should study, and the result here, as at Sarawak, has shown what a centre of civilization an Anglo-Saxon consul might become in the midst of a barbarous people. Of late years, a still greater advance has been made in Bangkok towards introducing the domestic influences of our race among the people, the ladies of the American Protestant Mission having free access to the ladies of the harem, and of course imperceptibly imparting to them European ideas. The latest information we have received from this little-visited country, tends to increase still more the interest Europeans must feel in it. The old king, a man of narrow intellect, having died in April, 1851, his eldest half-brother, Prince Chou Fa Yai, was, contrary to general expectation, called by the nobles from his seclusion, and placed upon the throne. This prince had long buried himself in a convent, and, apparently, was wholly taken up with the performance of his office as a priest; whilst, however, wearing the yellow badge of his order, and in consequence excluded from political affairs, this sagacious man was forming opinions of men and things, and acquiring a knowledge of European affairs and arts and sciences, which appears to have been little guessed by the European residents, from whom we have acquired what knowledge we have of the march. of civilization at the Siamese Court. They universally believed that Chou Fau Noi, the younger brother, would succeed the old king. Able, however, as we have shown this prince to be, he is still inferior to the king, of whom Dr. Bowring, in a letter to a friend of the writer, makes mention in the highest terms, speaking of him, indeed, as one of those extraordinary men that at rare intervals suddenly rise up in all parts of the world. "I am," he says," in communication with one of the most extraordinary men of the age-the King of Siam. His letters would astonish you, so well written (in English), so inquisitive, so tolerant, so sagacious." An extract from one of these letters, writ ten by his Siamese majesty, in acknowledg. ment for a present of some philosophical toys and instruments, which we give verbatim et literatim, will, however, speak more clearly in his behalf than we can do. "Your various presents," writes the royal scribe to Sir John Bowring, "you had been so kind to send me, by care of Honorable Thomas Church, Esq., of Singapore, was reached my hand long ere, with letters addressed me. I found but my name on back of the parcil, and little bok contain but direction for use, and adjustment of the instruments, and the printed tracts regarding philosophic observations upon the same. "Now I beg to return my thanks for your so valuable various presents, which many of my visitors, who have witnessed the same at my residence, praised muchly for such the wonderful and finest European manufacture; but I am sorry that I do not understand its use with all pains or glad if you give me another direction for use of pictures contain in the cases. I shall be very all pictures, or figures, or pairs, exactly more." This curious letter, describing the interest taken by the chief of a semi-savage nation in one of the latest and prettiest philosophic toys so common in our drawing-rooms-the stereoscope-thus concludes with a sentence which evinces the thoughtful character of the royal writer. "Myself and my royal family are well, and hope you and yours will be the same, Him blessing the superagency of the universe; whose characteristics of are always difficult to be exactly known by whole world of mankind. "I beg to remain yours faithful, The freedom from prejudice, and the largeness of the views, of this sagacious prince, at once proclaim the depth and power of his understanding. The King of Siam is a constant contributor to the Calcutta periodicals, and a very singular paper, which appeared in one of them in 1852, giving an account of his coronation, and making excuses for some of the ceremonies used on that occasion, is generally understood to have been written by him. In this communication, he seeks to shield himself from the ridicule which he fears will be heaped upon him by Europeans, by stating that, however absurd they are, yet the people believe in them, and any sudden departure from the established usage on such occasions would only lead to a revolution, without advancing the aim of his lifethe progress of civilization among his people. This paper alone would be sufficient to stamp the character of the man. The king, who is upwards of fifty years of age, is tall and spare in person, with a look and manner indicating that he was born to command. Since he has come to the throne, he has busied himself in opening roads in his territories, and in extending the metropolis upon the banks of the river. The Prince Chou Fou Noi, the younger brother, according to the singular custom of the country, has been, created "Second King," or reserve monarch. With two such rulers, we may reasonably hope to see the kingdom of Siam entering into closer connection with the maritime countries of the West. Hitherto, commerce has been so shackled by the absurd restrictions imposed by the laws of the country, that it has been little better than a second Japan, and all our political missions to obtain a modification of them have come to nothing; even the attempts of Sir James Brooke, in 1850, were fruitless. The accession, however, to the throne, of the present wise prince, whose attachment to Europeans, and especially to the English, is well known, presents a most favorable opportunity for opening the flowing cornucopia of one of the most productive countries of the East to our commerce, and we should be delighted to learn that the mission of Sir John Bowring, appointed to open negotiations with the King of Siam for this purpose, has proved successful. The flood of Europeans at the present moment pouring into the Pacific, is day by day spreading its fertilizing influence among the stagnant nations of the East. China is fast entering into more intimate relations with Europe, Japan promises to come forth into the world, and Siam without doubt will see the necessity of abolishing the last remnants of that system of commercial restriction which suited her well enough before she had British India bounding her like a wall on the West, and a new empire of restless AngloSaxons watching her from the not far distant shores of the American Continent. From the Biographical Magazine, LUCRETIA AND MARGARET DAVIDSON. IF the spirit of poetry, infused into the soul with the very breath of life, and brightening from infancy to dawning girlhood, till its flame, too powerful for the frail tenement in which it glows, destroy it—if versatile fancy, delicate sensibility, exquisite tenderness, and purity and grace-if these give their possessors any claim to rank with the illustrious, then Lucretia and Margaret Davidson enjoy it. Yet a melancholy overclouds their short career, and deepens with our admiration of them. We are made sensible at every step that intellect adorned them, not in Barry Cornwall's words To light them like a star, but as the wreathing flame which consumed whilst it heightened their loveliness. They were daughters of the New World, where Poetry breathes among the forests and the mountains, and gives its everlasting voice to the majestic rivers. LUCRETIA DAVIDSON, the elder of these two sisters, was born in 1808, in the State of New York. Her father, Dr. Oliver Davidson, was a highly intellectual man; and her mother, notwithstanding many household cares and anxieties, and often much sickness, retained her imaginative and ardent feelings, and appreciated the marvellous mental gifts and dawning genius of her child. As soon as Lucretia could speak, it was discovered that her thoughts were of a deeper nature than those of the children around her; and when she could read, she was continually busy with the little books she received as gifts from her father. Long before she could write, she gave her thoughts to paper in awkward Roman characters. In infancy, she had her favorite birds and flowers; to these she would address odes, irregular, indeed, and very imperfect, but all tinted by true poetic thought. Occasionally she indited a sonnet to her mother, and at such times a look of grave reflection rested on her face which would have been altogether out of place there, had it not, by frequent and sudden expressions of the most brilliant animation, been rendered by contrast positively beautiful. When only ten years of age, she wrote the following acrostic upon her own name: |