The Bangkok Recorder.

A Weekly journal will be issued from the
printing office of the American Missionary
Association, at the mouth of the Canal,
"Klawng Bangkok Yai" It will contain such
Political, Literary, Scientific, Commercial, and
local intelligence, as shall render it worthy
of the general patronage.

The Recorder will be open to Correspon-
dents subject to the usual restrictions.

The proprietor will not be responsible
for the sentiments of his correspondents.

No communication will be admitted un-
less accompanied by the name of the Cor-
respondent.

No rejected manuscript will be returned
unless as a special favor.

First, insertion-ten lines or half a square,
and under, ONE DOLLAR and each additional
line, FIVE CENTS.

Subsequent insertion, SEVENTY FIVE
Cent, for ten lines, and each additional line,
FIVE CENTS.

Advertisers must be particular to specify
the number of insertions.

Standing advertisements as per Con-
TRACTS.

Communications and remittances can be
sent to the subscriber, or left at the store of
Messrs. Virgin & Co.

The Automaton Type Setter
And its Lessons.

One of the most curious of the
phenomena attending that develope-
ment of the human mind known as
“conservative” is its apparently in-
stinctive repugnance to everything which
smacks of innovation while promising
improvement. When Stevenson propos-
ed constructing a railroad and drawing
trains from Birmingham to London by
steam-power at the rate of fifteen miles
an hour, the whole “conservative” in-
terest of England rose up as one man
to denounce the mad folly of the ex-
perimentalist—the dreamer; even the
otherwise progressive intellects of the
Edinburgh Review being so carried
away by the popular tornado of ridi-
cule which his proposition evoked as
to exclaim: “What! be carried fifteen
miles an hour! Why does not the
savant at once propose that each pas-
senger shall creep into a cannon and be
fired off by gunpowder from point to
point at a corresponding rate of speed!”

So, too, when the proposition to
light London by gas was first mooted,
the matter was brought before the
British House of Commons as another
diabolical Guy Fawkes attempt on a
grand scale, not only to blow up the
two Houses of Parliament, but the en-
tire capital of the nation as well.
Nothing could persuade certain “con-
servative” members—-starting with the
propositions that gas was inflammable
and would explode—-but that the fire
communicated to any single burner
would instantly run up through all the
pipes and mains underlying the city,
finally reaching the chief reservoirs of
the gas-house, and causing an explo-
sion and general conflagration to which
the terrors of an ordinary earthquake
would be as nothing. It was of no use
to try persuading this class of people
that the gas required a certain amount
of oxygen to develop its explosive, or
even its inflammable qualities, and that
no flame could penetrate one eighth of
an inch within the mouth even of the
largest average pipe. They drew their
analogies from gunpowder, and to them
laying gas-pipes and mains under the
city was nothing more nor less than
the deliberate construction of explosive
mines for the utter blotting out and
destruction of the British capital.

Against Stevenson and his locomo-
tive stood arrayed all the classes hav-
ing, directly or indirectly, any interest
in the then mail-coaching and post-
horse system of English travel—-all the
hotel proprietors along the various
roads, and all the farmers supplying
forage to maintain the old, lumbering
machinery of the existing modes of
transportation, being in red-hot op-
position. All these were vehement in
asserting that utter ruin and beggary
to them and theirs must follow, if
Stevenson’s “crazy experiment” should
prove successful; and it took years of
experience to demonstrate that the
number of travelers would increase in
exact proportion with the increased
facilities of travel; that the hotels would
be fuller and better paid than ever
theretofore, and that more men and
horses would be required to attend at
the various depots and to work in con-
nection with the railroad, than had
previously been required for the mail-
coaching, post-horse, and express-
wagon systems, all together. It was
so, also, in relation to the introduction
of gas—thousands of really alarmed
“conservatives” regarding the exper-
iment as one of extreme hazard, if not
certain destruction, to life, limb, and
property; and yet other thousands of
tradesmen, holding an interest; direct
or collateral, in the chandlery, oil, and
whaling occupations, seeing only in
the adoption of this new mode of light-
ing cities and houses the complete
ruin and loss of all their business in-
vestments.

In like manner, and with just as lit-
tle reason, we see a flutter to-day a-
mongst our practical printers as they
contemplate the success and general
introduction of the Alden Type-set-
ting and Type-distributing Machine,
which has just been brought to per-
fection, and is now in process of being
universally introduced through the
newspapers and publishing houses of
the country by the exertions and per-
severance of Mr. Charles C. Yeaton,
on whom seems to have devolved the
laborious, but doubtless profitable,
honor of carrying forward to popular
adoption that invention upon which
Timothy Alden prodigally squandered
the genius and the labors of his life
through twenty toilsome and impover-
ished years; and upon which, also,
his cousin, Henry W. Alden, expended
long years of painful industry, and all
the wealth he could accumulate in the
hot mines of our Pacific Eldorado. In
the success of this truly wonderful and
beautiful machine, our printers, we say,
will insist upon seeing only the ruin
of their craft, and themselves obliged
to apply to new vocations; whereas—-
rightly considered—-we think they
should hail in the completion of the
Alden Type-setter a guaranty of easier
pleasanter, and more ample employ-
ment than they have ever heretofore
enjoyed, coupled with an assurance
that their rates of remuneration will
rise in proportion with the more exal-
ted character of their work.

It is true that one of these machines
—-requiring only two workers, either
male or female—will do daily the work
of six or eight practical printers using
only their fingers; and that the ma-
chines are even now so cheap—and
promising to be yet cheaper—as to
fall within easy reach of even the hum-
blest printing-office. But what is
there in all this, save an unerring pro-
phecy that the amount of printing
done will be quintupled whenever the
Alden Factory can turn out enough
machines to supply the existing de-
mand; and that even this increased
amount will soon be doubled or trebled,
whenever the increased facilities for
producing books, pamphlets, and news-
papers shall have produced the inevi-
table cheapening and more wide dif-
fusion of these articles of prime men-
tal necessity? It requires to-day quite
a flourishing town or community to
support a daily or even weekly paper
in a manner profitable to its propriet-
ors and to those who work on it; but,
with these Alden Type-setters and
Type distributers scattered broadcast
over the land, there will soon be no
town so small, no frontier village so
remote, as to be without its daily
paper, throbbing intelligence from all
quarters of the world into the minds
of its subscribers. Indeed, as Col.
Halpine has well observed in his pro-
gressive Cities, “This machine may
be regarded as an inauguration of
every man his own printer and pub-
lisher; and before many years, we
expect they will be as common an
institution in first-class houses as
steam-heaters, iron safes, a billiard-ta-
ble, or refrigerating meat-safe."

So simple is the method of setting
up type in this manner, as to be not
only intelligible, but readily practica-
ble, by any person of ordinary sense
on the first time of seeing it. Attached
to the machine is a key-board, each
key marked with the letter or combin-
ation of letters which it controls, so
that the operator has only to read the
copy before him, and spell the same
out with his forefinger by pressing on
the proper keys. Of course, the mat-
ter thus set up must subsequently be
"spaced" and "justified" in another
part of the machine-—either by a sec-
ond operator, specially caring there-
for, or by the first operator suspend-
ing further type-setting until this work
is accomplished, and the conducting
type-canals cleared of their burden.
Nothing more simple in appearance
and execution has ever been witnessed
—no matter, at what cost of complex
internal mechanical contrivances and
adjustments the result may have been
obtained. Any child, able to read
and spell correctly, may be made mas-
ter of this method of type-setting in
a few and easy lessons; and certainly,
in this age of scientific toys, no toy
more brilliantly interesting or instruc-
tive could be placed within reach of
any child.

More curious, however, than the
type-setting part of its performance is
that of type-distributing, in which the
machine acts completely as an autom-
aton, requiring no human supervision
or interference of any kind, other than
to be fed from time to time with the
columns which are to be distributed,
and to be continually supplied with
the motive-power requisite to rotation
—-a power that may consist either of
steam, caloric, water, or the ordinary
treadle worked by the operator's foot.
Odd, is it not! to see a mere machine
of brass and iron comprehending the
significance of letters and their charac-
ter, spelling out and unspelling words,
and carrying each letter off quietly
and noiselessly to its appointed place
of deposit! These words are in "bre-
vier," and to the proper brevier feed-
ing canals each letter of each word is
quickly and infallibly carried. But
now the machine recognizes some
words in Latin or in French, (for all
languages appear equally familiar to
it), and these, as is customary, are set
up in "nonpareil" or "agate." No,
matter what the character of the type
—-"bourgeois" or "minion"—-each
letter of each word is relegated to the
proper receptacle of its kindred and
particular household: and all this with
no possibility of any error, and with-
out supervision or interference of any
kind from any human being. Human
thought has planned the machine, and
eternized its own existence by mecha-
nical provision. Human eyes have
grown weary, and some have closed
in death, during the process of con-
structing this miraculous automaton;
but in their foresight of all needs, and
the contrivances they suggested and
made to meet them, that sight has be-
come embodied in the metallic fingers
before us, and the human control of
intelligence and education is perpetu-
ated in a body of mixed metal', hav-
ing neither brains nor eyes, and yet
able to read, spell, and act correctly,
under the mechanically-continued
direction of the minds that originally
planned its intricate and complex oper-
ations.

When Arkwright first invented and
introduced the spinning-jenny, the
miserably underpaid and miserably
suffering handloom weavers, and other
operatives in textile fabrics of central
England, declared that it must be their
ruin; and that, poor as they had been
before, this discovery was to dispense
with their services altogether, and
leave them no alternative but the cold
charity of the work-house, or the yet
colder embrace of the filthy clay in
the Potter's Field. They rose in their
ignorance and wrath to destroy the
obnoxious invention of Arkwright, and
dire and bloody were their threats—-
and in some cases, until repressed by
military force, bloody and lawless were
their acts—-against all employers who
sought to put into operation that ma-
chine to which England this day grate-
fully owes chief part of her commercial
prosperity. They could not see—in
their ignorance and want of foresight
—-that by multiplying the facilities
and cheapening the cost of cotton fab-
rics, the demand for and production
of such articles would be increased, not
only in arithmetical, but even in geo-
metrical progression ; nor could their
imaginations picture—-in lieu of the
few hundred miserable hovels in which
some few thousands of them miserably
worked at rates of compensation just
enough to keep body and soul togeth-
er—the vast and splendid factories and
massive warehousing streets of Man-
chester, and its subsidiary towns, em-
ploying, at good wages and with every
surrounding conducive to health, ed-
ucation, and comfort, not less than two
millions of the most intelligent and,
until our recent war, the most steadily
prosperous artificers, male and female,
of the British Empire or all Europe.
Let this lesson not be lost upon our
practical printers—-a class of excellent
intelligence, and of great educational
advantages from the necessities of their
profession. Let them only examine
these Alden Type-setting Machines dis-
passionately, and reflect upon what
must be the inevitable results of their
popular diffusion. This done, it can-
not be but that they will hail in them
a release from the painful and often
noxious drudgery of their calling as at
present exercised; and foresee the time
when, with enough of these machines
in existence to give occupation to all,
their labors will be more light, more
healthful, more pleasant, in greater
demand, and at higher rates of com-
pensation than even the "Printers'
Union" has yet dreamed of asking.

And now, in conclusion, a few words
as to Mr. Yeaton, the practical father
of this Alden machine in its present
shape, and with its present prospects
of rapidly superseding all other means
for the diffusion of printed thought.
He is still very young—-probably not
over thirty—-and was born in Ports-
mouth, New Hampshire. Descended
by the mother's side from Gen. Sul-
livan, of the revolutionary war, he has
in his veins the ardor of this Milesian
stream blended with the cooler, clearer,
more calculating and persevering cur-
rent of the New England character.
This combination in his case—-if not
in all cases-—proves a happy one ; and
it may well be doubted whether any
man less endowed with fire to hope
and patience to labor could have car-
ried forward this great work to its pre-
sent condition of completeness. From
his earliest youth the aptitude of his
mental and physical powers to me-
chanical pursuits attracted attention ;
and from the days in which, when but
twelve years old, he entered into part-
nership with another boy of about
equal age on a capital of one "Yankee
shilling," and made a profit of $43 in
a month by the manufacture of martin
houses, snow-shovels, wind-mills, and
other kindred toys, down to the pre-
sent day, no species of mechanical
work in wood, brass, iron, or any other
workable material, can be set before
him of which he is not, or cannot read-
ily make himself, the master. In the
India-rubber business, with Horace
H. Day, and in the manufacture and
sale of sewing-machines, with Grover
and Baker, he found himself equally
at home, as if by instinct ; and during
the past five years of his active and
noteworthy life, his investigations, la-
bors, and the confidence he commands
with our business men, have converted
the original discovery of Timothy Al-
den from a beautiful but terribly cost-
ly and unremunerative experiment, in
which no prudent capitalist would em-
bark more means, into a great practi-
cal and financial success of world-wide
acknowledgment—-not merely com-
manding all the capital it needs, but
with capital pressing to be allowed a
share in it—-and promising in its re-
sults to mark a new era in the art of
printing, only second in importance
to that original discovery for which
Dr. Faustus is alleged, in German fable,
to have periled his soul's redemption.

Precious Stones their
VALUES AND TESTS.

Mr. Emmanuel in his book on Dia-
monds estimates values, of course, by
the carat, the lapidary's standard, or
the hundred and fifty-first part of an
ounce Troy, consisting of four grains.
The dearest stone is the ruby, which
sells at from £14 to £20 for one carat
weight to from £400 to £450 for four
carats. A really splendid ruby ring
with a perfect single stone of two carats
will cost 85/. The next dearest is the
diamond, the price referring only to
“brilliants,” or diamonds thick enough
to admit of proper cutting. Such dia-
monds, when perfect, cost from £5 10
for ½ carat and £18 for 1 carat to
£100 for 2½ carats. A diamond ring,
therefore with a single magnificent
stone of two carats, ought to be pur-
chaseable for 70/., or about 83 per cent
of the value of a similar ring in ruby.
Though the price per carat of the
emerald may vary from 20/. to 40/.
it does not rise in proportion with its
size. So of the sapphire. A fine per-
fect, evenly coloured, spread sapphire,
weighing one carat, of a deep rich blue
colour by night as well as by day,
is worth 20/.; whilst a sapphire equal-
ly fine, of 100 carats, would not be
worth more than 2,000l. Legacy duty
has been paid upon a sapphire supposed
to be worth 10,000/. Pearls, of 80
to 100 grains, may be estimated at 7/.
to 11/. per grain; those of 50 to 80
grains, at from 4/. to 7/. per grain;
and those of 30 to 50 grains, at from
3/. to 5/. per grain; smaller sizes
bring from 20 to 60s. per grain. Or-
dinary pearls fetch lower prices, a pearl
of 1 grain weight being worth half-a-
crown. Gas and grease injure pearls.
All these values apply only to the best
specimens. Nothing that a file will cut
is a precious stone; the file should be
used on both sides, to avoid the trick,
very common in Italy, of fastening
a slice of the real article on to a false
basis; a stone cannot be genuine of
very much less than its proper specific
gravity. As to colour hold a stone in
clear water about an inch from the
surface, and the shades will be at once
apparent, and the points at which they
glide into each other.

NOTIFICATION

The undersigned H. B. M. Envoy
extraordinary and minister plenipo-
tentiary has the satisfaction of making
known for the information of all sub-
jects of Her Majesty, that the negocia-
tion in which he has been engaged at
Osok in concert with his colleagues the
representative of France, the United
States of America and Holland have
been attended with the following
result:

1st.-—The Mikado has given his for-
mal sanction to the Treaties concluded
by the Tycoon with the foreign powers.

2nd.—-Negotiations for the revision
of the Tariff on a basis agreed upon,
will at once be proceeded with at Yed-
do.

3rd.—-The opening of the port of
Hiogo and the city of Osaka, is guar-
anteed at the time mentioned in the
London Convention of 1862, or an
earlier date if circumstances should
permit.

H. B. M’s Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary in Ja-
pan.

Fire Extinguisher.

An invention for the extinction of
fires, the property of MM. Courtinez
and Monnet, was tried a few days ago
in the Rue d'Abbeville. A pile of
faggots saturated with tar and petrol-
ium was erected in a large courtyard,
and then set fire to. When the whole was
thoroughly in flames, the inventor ap-
proached with a small metal cylinder,
and from an issue effected by means
of a spring in it, a stream of liquid
was projected on the burning pile; in
less than two minutes the fire was com-
pletely extinguished. The effect was
produced by water charged with chem-
icals having the property of producing
carbonic acid gas. The cylinders may
be prepared beforehand, and the li-
quid preserves its quality for more than
two years. As the apparatus occupies
but little space, it may be always kept
ready on board ship, or in a corner of
a theater or apartment. When requir-
ed for use, all that has to be done is
to open the top; the liquid then rush-
es out with a force sufficient, it is said,
to project it to the height of the sec-
ond floor of a house.

Bangkok Recorder.

According to our promise in our
last issue we will now give a particular
account of the late royal festival for
the tonsure of Prince Chowya Chu-la-
longkorn. And this we do particu-
larly for the benefit of our readers who
were not present to witness it.

His Majesty the king had very po-
litely invited all European and Ameri-
can residents together with transient
visitors to the extraordinary festival.
This he did a week or more before the
time, through the six foreign consuls,
resident in the city. The purpose of
the royal invitation was, that His Ma-
jesty the king would be pleased to
have all the white faced foreigners wit-
ness the ceremonies, and would have
provided for them eligible locations
for observation and comfortable seats,
together with suitable interpreters for
any that might need such aid for un-
derstanding what they would see.

The first three days of the festival
were chiefly occupied in extraordinary
religious ceremonies, preparatory to
the fourth day on, which the topknot
which had been most carefully pre-
served thirteen years, was to be removed
from its highly revered location and
cast away.

It was our privilege to be present
only on that great culminating day
of the festival; but not quite early
enough to witness the procession by
which the Prince was escorted to the
hall where the ceremony of cutting
the hair took place. It was reported
to be most imposing and august, as we
could readily believe from what we
afterwards saw. Neither did we see
the act of applying first the regal shears
and then the razor to the head of the
PRINCE. The same failure, it is be-
lieved, all the foreign guests, shared
equally with ourselves, and the reason
of it was not explained to us. We
only know that the Prince, a beautiful
lad with his topknot neatly dressed,
was escorted into the Pra mahá pra-
sat and that he came out of that half
hour of seclusion from foreign gaze as
bald as an eagle, and to our eye great-
ly disfigured by the loss he had sus-
tained in the act of tonsure.

The great display of the day was
made in the inner court of the old
royal palace. Within this area of
about half an acre there had been
erected for the occasion an artificial
mountain called Trei-lat, to re-
present as we understand it, one of
the Himalaya mountains on which
the Brahmin god Indus is supposed to
bestow his blessings upon those who
revere and seek him. Buddhism,
though originally in diametrical oppo-
sition to Brahminism, has for many
hundreds of years been courting the
favors of the latter, at least so far as
the kingdom of Siam is concerned,
and is now paying great deference to
very many of its rites and ceremonies.
Indeed by far the greater part of the
superstitions now practiced by the
Buddhists in Siam are of Brahminical
origin. If we mistake not, all the
ceremonies connected with that ton-
sure festival were of this class.

The artificial mountain in the palace
court yard was about 50 feet high,
having a circumference probably not
less than 300 feet. Its frame work or
skeleton was made of teak wood, and
so shaped as to describe peaks, vallies,
clefts, caves etc. This frame work was
all covered with bamboo wattling
made to conform quite accurately to
all the varieties of form in the mount.
And over all this wattling was laid
paper having a metallic appearance.
Consequently some parts of the mount
seemed to be composed chiefly of rusty
iron, some of copper, some of brass,
some of tin, some of silver, and some
of gold.

The largest cavity in the side of the
mount appeared to be lined with sil-
vered paper. In that place was an
artificial pool of clear water full of
imitation fish, turtles, prawns, crabs
and a crocodile. In it had been placed
two large flowers of the Victoria Regia.
Adjacent to it was another pond where
poppet figures were playing in the
water, diving for aquatic animals. On
a shelf of the rock at the backside of
the cavity, stood the figures of four
animals designed as emblems of pros-
perity and fruitfulness. They were
the lion, the elephant, the ox, and
the horse. They stood with their
heads extended a little over the brim
of the larger pool, prepared to sprinkle
pure water from their mouths upon
the head of the Chow-fah at the pro-
per time.

On the top of the mount there was
a very tasty and apparently richly
gilded temple with a spire extending
from the center of its roof, perhaps
20 feet. On the same plane round
about the most sacred place, were
several other very neat buildings, re-
presenting, as we supposed, the various
accompaniments of a Brahmin temple.
On the East side of the mount near its
top was displayed a circular mirror
with a diameter of two feet, on the face
of which was pictured the royal coat
of arms. And there was connected
with it a silvered wheel with radiating
arms revolving on its axes. All this
was intended to represent the sun.
There was also on the west side a
similar representation as an emblem
of the moon. Two flights of steps led
up to the mountain temple—the one
on the east, the other on the West side,
each having a neat bamboo railing.
The one designed for His Majesty to
handle, was wound all the way with
white muslin, and the steps were
carpeted with a neat grass matting.
There was a tasty fence which formed
a square around the foot of the mount,
leaving sufficient space within it and
the mount for a procession to circum-
ambulate it.

We have been thus particular in
describing the mount because it was
the central point for almost all the
ceremonies of the occasion. In the
temple on its top was supposed to
dwell Pra In, the god of the Brahmins,
and whom many of the Siamese later
ly as disposed to denominate the
maker of the worlds. And there in
that cave or cleft of the rock which we
have so minutely pointed out, the
Young Prince was sprinkled with the
pure water of the sacred mount and
with a great variety of specially con-
secrated liquids by which both his in-
ner and outer man was to be streng-
thened for the stern realities of man-
hood. Our time and space will not
allow of our writing of the hundredth
part of what engaged our curiosity on
the morning of the 4th inst., and it
would be quite preposterous for us to
think of picturing the scene so that a
long description of it would be read
without weariness by our friends a-
broad. Even an Eng. Russel in his best
moods, we fancy, would almost shrink
from the task. We shall venture to
touch only on a few more salient points
of the scene.

It was about 10 o'clock A.M. when
the royal trumpet sounded, giving a
certain signal that the hair cutting
proper was over, and that the royal
sire and son, the lions of the day, were
about to return from the royal barber
shop in the Prämáhapräsät. Present-
ly they made their appearance by the
way of a beautiful Sala on the wall
opening into the palace court where all
the foreigners were in eager waiting.
The golden sadan designed for the
king was first carried alongside of the
sala, and His Majesty walked into it.
He wore a small brimmed black hat
with a round top decked with precious
stones, and a single white plume added
much to its gracefulness. He was richly
and fully attired, though not in full
state. A golden umbrella 18 feet in
circumference was held over him. As
the king moved off in his sadan borne
by eight men, there was another golden
sadan brought up to the door of the sala
and received Prince Chowfa. He also
wore a hat like that of his royal sire
with a gray plume, and seemed to be
clothed in much the same material as
his father. Though the distance from
the sala to the place of bathing to
which they were then going was not
more than 28 rods, a little royal pro-
cession was formed for it. Arriving at
the place, they both alighted and walk-
ed into the cave. The prince was
seated on a rock, or what purported
to be a rock, in the pool. No part of
his apparel was removed from him ex-
cepting his hat.

The king, laying off only his cap,
addressed himself most actively to ar-
ranging all things, so that no part of
the blessing craved should be marred
by the least disorder. When all was
ready the lion, elephant, ox and horse
vied with each other in giving the
Prince a shower bath from their
mouths. This was continued at least
ten minutes, when the lad became chill-
ed so that his teeth almost chattered.
He was then removed to another seat,
within the pool where he sat another
10 minutes to be suffused with sundry
consecrated waters, poured upon his
head from Brahmin shells and goblets,
first by the royal sire, then by royal
uncles, and then by the two Prime min-
isters for the Southern and Northern
divisions of the kingdom. We could
not avoid feeling some anxiety for the
Prince, so severely chilled did he seem
to be. He was led into a richly drap-
ed cloister 8 or 10 feet from the bath,
where he was assisted in changing his
wet dress for a dry suit. Meanwhile
His Majesty, putting on his hat, and
taking his cane in hand, walked up to
the top of the mount, and closeted
himself for a few minutes in the tem-
ple there. In 15 or 20 minutes we
saw the Prince being escorted up the
mount by the two Prime ministers.
Presently the king made his appearance
at the door of the temple in his most
complete kingly dress wearing a gold
crown. He sat in the door four or five
minutes as if he expected to be pho-
tographed. Mr. Thompson the pho-
tographer was present and had taken
His Majesty once or twice that day;
but by some mistake did not attempt
it then.

As for the Prince, it was supposed
that Pra In arrayed him in new hab-
iliments in his own temple on the
mount, and then imparted to him his
blessing.

The whole time spent in the mount
was probably not less than half an
hour. After which the king disap-
peared from the scene; but the Prince
was escorted down the mount and was
carried in great state three times a-
round its base within the enclosure,
and then once or twice outside of it.

There were two lines of beautiful
lads fancifully dressed who surround-
ed the mount. All of each line
were in communication with each
other by means of a purple cord, which
each held in his hand. Between these
two lines-being 10 feet apart, the roy-
al procession passed. We suppose
they were to keep invisible devils from
injuring the Prince as he circumam-
bulated the mount. There were in
the procession 8 or 10 distinct com-
panies, some being composed of men,
some of women and some of boys.
Each company was in uniform with
itself, and quite different from all the
others. They were all arrayed in their
richest and gayest costume, and made
a very unique and we may say, beauti-
ful appearance.

When the procession wheeled, with
the view to return by the way it came
in the morning, it was joined by sev-
eral motley companies of what we may
term Old Siam leading two or three
spans of fith ponies most fancifully
caparisoned.

This was the winding up of the
morning services, and it was then
about midday.

At 3 O'clock P. M. the evening cer-
emonies commenced, and bountiful
tables were provided for all Europeans
and Americans.

A translation from the
Siamese.

In reply to an article we publish-
ed in the Siamese "Recorder" of the
18th ult.

That which you have published
about the Bible being the source of
great light, producing illustrious wis-
dom and knowledge, sounds strangely
to the ear. Are they words written
in earnest or in sport? Are they for
adults or are they designed only for
children to hear?

Now whenever a person desires to
learn about the physical world, how the
heavens and the earth were established
or constituted, and believes your words
that the Bible is the best of all books,
let him go to the Bible and open the
book at the beginning—-the first page
of the book of Genesis. He will read
concerning the creation of the world
that God made the world in six days
—-that He made the darkness and made
the light dividing the one from the
other, and called the light day and the
darkness night. After this He made
the earth and the trees and the grass;
and that when He was about to finish
the work of creation, He made the sun
and moon and stars as things with
which to garnish the heavens and serve
the earth. Now such being the record
of creation, how are we to learn whe-
ther the sun, which was made subse-
quently to the light and the earth is a
great water jar (or perhaps a great
orb), or that the earth which was made
some days before is but a green bean
or the moon that was made simultan-
eously with the sun is but a [?]eelood,
or that the many ten thousands and
the many hundred thousands, and the
many millions and the many tens of
millions of smaller jars near the close
of the work of creation are truly stars
in the heavens?

Again when one desires to know
the causes of the rainbow, and goes to
the Bible and reads about it in the
story of the flood, (what does he there
learn?) God spake concerning the use
of the bow and arrow, dwelling on the
theme for two full pages of the book
of Genesis. But when we read about
the rainbow how are we to learn from
the record the truth about what pro-
duces it? These remarks are only
given as specimens (of the darkness of
the Bible) at the beginning of the
book.

Again, some persons criticize the
Bible by saying, that when God show-
ed favor to Noah and his family, and
gave him to make an Ark to escape
destruction by the flood, if He had
then but favored him with the know-
ledge of making a steam boat, and the
use of a rudder to ships, and the science
of calculating the longitude and lati-
tude of places, it would have been of
great service to him. He could then
have sailed his vessel by steam hither
and thither, and would have known
certainly where he was (on the waste
of water) and whether or not the wa-
ters had subsided; and would not have
been under the necessity of sending
out ravens and doves as it is said in
the Bible he did. Was he not at that
time very ignorant?

There are others who say that per-
sons having a firm faith and a pure
heart in the religion of Christ, believe
that He showed extraordinary favor
unto great multitudes, healing paralytics
without number, and cured untold
numbers of persons that were blind,
and many leprous persons, and even
some who were dead he raised to life.
An account of these miracles is given
in the after part of the Bible, in many
places. Now they who believe firmly
in the religion of Christ are such as
devote their persons and their lives to
that religion. In the present age some
of them are suffering from leprosy,
some from hemiplegia, and general
palsy. They do not desire to suffer, nor
to have their friends suffer and die.
They are very sorry for their sick and
dying friends. This is very manifest.
There is no disputing or denying the
fact. It is true they say "the will of
the Lord be done." ' As to this we will
say nothing. But there are others who
have been newly initiated into the
faith of Christ, who if their teachers
and guides could but show miraculous
power in healing leprosy and paralysis
and in delivering from death—-only
these two or three classes of sorrow
and distress, would not the whole world
by this time have entered the christian
religion? But such power and such
results have not been seen. (Had such
miraculous power been given) honest
men who have not trusted in christian-
ity would no longer have doubts as
to what you say of the excellency of
the Bible.

The words (translated) trusted as
above are to be understood in various
senses. Even the Kings of Siam have
occasion to use the term. Not to speak of
the kings of other nations, the kings
of Siam themselves from time imme-
morial have sought to aid themselves by
a certain kind of trust in three systems
of religion viz-—the Buddhist, the
Brahmin and the Kaak Chow sen, a
sect of the Mohamodans. The bees-
wax which the Kaak Chow sen, use
for their wax candles in worship is
almost all a donation from the kings of
Siam. Besides this they give them
annually much in aid of their sacred
feasts. But to the Brahmin religion the
kings of Siam give annually many cas-
ties of silver. They thus make don-
ations to the Kaak Chow sens and
Brahmins trusting or believing that
such works will in someway revert in
blessings upon themselves and their
peoples. Hence they never grudge what
they thus give abundantly every year.

Again, The kings of Siam praise
the Buddhist religion, saying that
there is no other religion that excels
it. This every king of Siam has done
until the present time. Now it must
be confessed that this looks as if they
had all given their hearts to the priests
who are the great lords of the religion
in Siam. But the truth is, the priests
who are the teachers and leaders of
the Buddhist religion are as yet very
ignorant, not knowing geography or
astronomy, and still persist in holding
the notions that the Eclipses are caused
by the jealousy of the great Yak
who comes to bite and swallow up the
sun and moon—that the earth and the
heavens are of equal size, and that the
sun and moon in size differ but little,
and other equally ignorant notions do
they hold. Consequently all the former
kings of Siam have held to the same
views.

Now whether His Majesty the pre-
sent king, holds to the the same notions
or not it is not known (or it is not
divulged.) But we see that he can ac-
curately enunciate the eclipses of the sun
and moon, and he has said that the
Yak—-Rahoo does nothing to the sun
or moon; but that the moon is eclipsed
by means of the earth coming between
the sun and moon at thet time of her
full, and that the sun is eclipsed by the
moon coming between him and the
earth at the time of new moon, and
consequently the eclipses are not al-
ways alike, sometimes being visible in
Northern latitudes and not seen in the
Southern.

Now although His Majesty the king
can predict eclipses as stated above, he
still adheres to the Buddhist religion,
and declares that it is better than all
others, and hence he is strict in the
observance of all the rites and cere-
monies of it. He sees clearly that it
is because that he thus holds to it, that
he has become so much enlightened.
Now while we have such an illustrious
example of the benefits of Buddhism
why mention the name of Queen Victo-
ria which you reiterate time without end,
thinking that you will constrain men
to believe (in the christian religion) be-
cause of the influence of such a name?
It is the custom of the people of all
nations to follow very nearly the same
religion that their chief rulers do.
This we understand.

Death.

The youngest sister of His Excel-
lency the Prime Minister, a maiden
lady, aged 47 years, died on the 16th
inst. of typhoid fever. She had been
sick 32 days, but in the meantime had
become decidedly convalescent, when,
by the use of some improper food, she
suffered the fatal relapse.

Local Items.

His Excellency the Prime Minister
has now remaining one own brother
and two full sisters. The brother is
Phya Montree Sooriwong, who was
the chief ambassador to Paris a few
years since, aged about 46 years. The
two sisters are maiden ladies, aged
respectively 47 and 51 years.

The "Steamer Siam" arrived on the
17th inst. being 140 days from Liver-
pool, having called at Anger—Singa-
pore and other places. She was built
by George Forester, Liverpool, by order
of His Excellency Chow Phya Kala-
hom. Her tonnage is 326, and her
horse power 60. She was ordered for
Phya Toongsa Pookit governor of
Quedah, and is to ply as a merchant-
man between Singapore, Quedah,
Maulmain, and Rangoon.

The body of His Majesty the late
2nd king of Siam, has been placed in a
copper urn, according to custom in a sit-
ting posture, so arranged as to have with-
drawn daily by a stop-cock the fluid parts
of it until it shall become perfectly dry.
It will probably remain in this state
more than twelve months awaiting due
preparations for its cremation.

The causes of the present high pri-
ces of Rice now ruling in the city are
unquestionably the great amount of
shipping now in Port, waiting to
load with this article for China, and
the fact that the new crop coming to
maturity fully a month later in the
season than usual, has not yet been
prepared for market. Indeed much of
the rice in the Province of Ayuthia is
still unreaped, waiting for the fields to
become sufficiently dry for harvesting.
We were informed by one of the high-
est in authority, that the rice in that
section will now be quickly gathered,
and that in the month of February
the grain will be in market in the
greatest abundance.

We have been credibly informed
that His Excellency the Prime Minister
has put his powerful hand to the work
of, building a Sanatorium at Anghin,
and that the work is now well under way,
and will be completed probably in the
course of the current year. His Excel-
lency feels stimulated to press forward
in this good work by the hope that a
place of resort for European and Amer-
ican invalid residents will be of great
public utility.

Siamese Slavery.

Mr. Editor-—I am a kind of benefactor of that part of the
race which belongs to this kingdom, and as such, my services
are frequently called upon. Some times perhaps I transcend my
calling, but I trust I may occasionally be allowed the privilege of
doing so, with the hope of accomplishing some good. Some port-
ion of the race here are occasionally oppressed by their immedi-
ate superiors, and if I can in any way alleviate their distresses,
without too much interfering in those things which don’t belong
to me, I shall consider it my duty to do so. I shall relate a couple
of instances in which my services have been called upon, thinking
they may give some idea of the customs of this people. One mor-
ning an old woman living on my premises came, in apparent dis-
tress, saying, that two nieces of her’s were slaves by debt to a cer-
tain nobleman of considerable rank, and governor of one of the
principal provinces in the kingdom. The debt of both amounted
to about one hundred and thirty ticals. One of the women had a
husband, but the other had not, and as the master wished to use
her for rather dishonorable purposes they had both concluded to
get the money, and purchase their freedom. The Siamese custom
is that a slave by debt, who wants to free himself must bring the
money, and lay it down before the master, and if he refuses to re-
ceive it, they must do so three times, and if on the third time
he still refuses to receive it, the money can be taken to some judge
of the court, and deposited, and the master must then lose half the
amount. The old lady said that they had already laid down the
money three times, and the master would not receive it. If they
took it to the court, the master being a big man they could not
hope for justice. She therefore begged that I would take the
money, and go and offer it to the master and when he saw that a
foreigner had taken it up he would receive it. Supposing the story
to be in the main true, I saw nothing amiss in making the effort.
The first day I went, the master was not at home, but when I had
stated my errand one of his wives came out, and stated that he
had not yet returned from the province, but would return on such
a day, and told me to come, or send up then, and the money would
be received. When the day came, I sent up my teacher, but he
was told to come back another day ! He went back another day
with the same effect. The third day he went again, but returned as
he went. I therefore concluded to go again myself, and according-
ly went and took my seat in the reception room as I had done
before and announced my arrival. After waiting some time a little
Nai (master) came, and asked my business as if he did not know
all about it. I told him it did not amount to much, as I only want-
ed to pay the money for the freedom of a couple of slaves. He
said the master was then eating his breakfast and would be out
in a short time. I waited an hour, which I supposed sufficient
time for any man to eat. I then began to be a little restless. Short-
ly afterwards the women of the establishment came out dressed
up, going out on a pleasure ride, and among them the one who
had talked rather friendly with me on the previous day, but now
she passed me by with apparent contempt. After waiting some
considerable time afterwards, I saw there was something up. The
servants were squatting around and whispering and laughing
among themselves, and occasionally would cast a glance at me. I
told a little Nai who seemed to be “under authority” that I was
in a great hurry, and his master would confer a great favor by
appearing as soon as possible: but he did not dare deliver the mes-
sage. Considering it useless to wait any longer, and not wishing
to be treated wholly with contempt, I told the Nai in a tone suf-
ficiently loud to be heard all over the establishment, that I would
take the money to the court of Mom Rajoday; (The International
Judge) and when the master called on it he could receive what
would be coming to him, after the expenses of the court were
deducted. Having made this deliverance, I left, but had gone
only a few steps, when the man’s son came running after me, and
said his father had a very sore leg and could not be seen that day.
I repeated what I had said before and left, with the full intention
of doing it; and seeing that it should be justly carried through.
But when I came to consult the parties, their hearts failed them,
and they said they could not go to law with a big man, and would
have to abide their present fate. So the matter was dropped.

I have already occupied considerable space, so I shall reserve
the other instance for some other issue.

Discoveries at Pompeii.

The story of Pompeii reads like an Eastern fable—-a city buried
in a moment, and unearthed only after a sleep of centuries. A
French writer says;

The excavations at Pompeii are going on with an activity
stimulated by the important discoveries made at almost every step,
and the quantities of gold and silver found, which more than suffice
to cover the cost of the works. Near the temple of Juno, of
which an account was recently given, has just been brought to
light a house, no doubt belonging to some millionaire at the time,
for the furniture is of ivory bronze and marble. The couches of
the triclinium, or dining room, are especially of extreme richness.
The flooring consists of an immense mosaic, well preserved in
parts, and of which the centre represents a table laid out for a
grand dinner. In the middle, on a large dish, may be seen a
splendid peacock, with its tail spread out, and placed back to back
with another bird also of elegant plumage. Around them are
arranged lobsters, one of which holds a blue egg in its claws, a
second an oyster, which appears to be fricasseed as it is open
and covered with herbs, a third, a rat farci, and a fourth a small
vase filled with fried grasshoppers—Next comes a circle of dishes
of fishes, interspersed with others of partridges, hares, and squirrels,
which all have their heads placed between their fore feet. Then
comes a row of sausages of all forms, supported by one of eggs,
oysters and olives, which in its turn is surrounded by a double
circle of peaches, cherries, melons, and other fruits and vegetables.
The walls of the triclinium are covered with fresco paintings of
birds, fruit, flowers, game, and fish of all kinds, the whole inter-
spersed with drawings which lend a charm to the whole not easy
to describe. On a table of rare wood-carving and inlaid with
gold, marble, agate, and lapis lazuli, were found amphora still
containing wine, and some goblets of onyx.—Lorain county News.

France.

AN ECCENTRIC MARRIAGE CONTRACT.
-—An extraordinary case was brought,
a few days back, under the considera-
tion of the Paris Court of First Ins-
tance, presided over by M. Benoit
Champy. A Count and Countess,
whose names are not given by the legal
journals which report the case, refused
their consent to the marriage of their
daughter Helen with the man of her
heart. She thereupon retired to a
convent, from which she addressed to
her parents those actes respectueux,
which by the French code enable per-
sons of full age to marry without the
consent of father and mother, which
is `prima facie` to be [?]ecessary. There-
upon the parents instituted a suit to
stop the marriage, on the ground that
their daughter was insane, and the
principal evidence produced in support
of the allegation was that she had
signed a contract of marriage in the
following form.—-

Art. 1. Loving each other and
knowing each other well enough to be
certain that one cannot be happy with-
out the other, we join ourselves toge-
ther to live for ever hereafter as good
married people. She will be I and I shall
be she, he be I and I shall be he. Art.
2. Charles: I promise Helen to de-
vote all my mind, all my strength, and
my whole being to the purpose of
maintaining her and the children that
she may give me honestly and decent-
ly. Art. 3 Helen: I promise Char-
les to second him in keeping our
household from want and difficulty;
with that view I shall make economi-
cal habits a duty. Art. 4. Charles:
I admit that I am sometimes hasty
and violent, and I hope to be excused
for sudden bursts of anger. Helen:
It will perhaps be hard to endure,
but the condition is acceded to. Art.
5. Helen: I must also be pardoned
something. My temper is a little un-
even, and I am greatly disposed to be
jealous, Charles: I will not mind cap-
rices if they are not too frequent. As
to the other fault, am disposed to re-
joice at it rather than otherwise for a
jealous person is not likely to give
cause for jealousy. Art. 6. Charles
and Helen. We are persuaded that
between lovers disputes and coolness
almost always arise from petty causes.
On this account we mutually promise
never to follow our own desires in
things of small importance, but always
to give way to each other. Helen: In
important matters it will be right that
Charles should decide, for he has more
knowledge and judgment than I. Char-
les: Helen is too modest. I shall ne-
ver decide anything without consulting
her, and either converting her to my
views or adopting hers if I think them
best. Art. 7. As a consequence of
the last preceding article, each of us
shall always be dressed according to
the taste of the other. Art. 8. The
words "I will", "I expect", "I re-
quire", and other similar expressions,
are absolutely erased from our diction-
ary. Art. 9. Charles will honour his wife
that she may be honoured by others.
He will always exhibit towards her es-
teem and confidence, and will be espe-
cially careful never in her presence to
allow any advantage over her to any
other woman upon any point whatso-
ever. Art. 10. We shall ever bear in
mind that want of cleanliness and at-
tention to personal appearance must
necessarily produce repugnance and
disgust. Neatness is to the body what
amiability is to the soul. It is that
which pleases. Art. 11. Helen: The
majority of women nurse their own
children. I hope Charles will approve
of my performing my duties as a mo-
ther. Charles: I approve, subject to
the doctor's advice. Art. 12. Charles:
Helen will take great care not to spoil
our children's intellects in their early
years. She must not talk or suffer
others to talk to them any of that
nonsense which gives false ideas and
dangerous impressions throughout life.
Helen: I will pay great attention to
this point. Art. 13. Although our
mutual tenderness is a guarantee that
we shall never fail in the engagements
hereinbefore set forth, each of us will
keep a copy of these presents, and in
case of the breach of any article shall
be entitled to lay it before the other
party to remind him or her of cove-
nants entered into. Art. 14. Inasmuch
as neither will have anything which
does not belong to the other, there is
no occasion to take any account of the
contribution of each to the common
stock. Affection and courage, our only
fortune, cannot be counted, and each
of us will endeavour to bring as much
as possible.

The Court held that this eccentric
contract afforded no evidence of inna-
nity, for which imputation there was,
moreover, no pretence. Judgment
was accordingly giveli against the pa-
rents, and the Mayor was ordered to
proceed at once to perform the mar-
riage ceremony: