THE SIAMESE KING'S HAREM.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 474, 18 July 1871, Page 2

THE SIAMESE KING'S HAREM.

Most of the women who composed this harem were of gentle blood—the fairest of the daughters of Siamese nobles, and of princes of the adjacent tributary states, the late queen consort was his own halfsister. Besides many choice Chinese and Indian girls, purchased annually for the royal harem by agents stationed at Peking, Foo-chou, and different points in Bengal, enormous sums were offered, year after year, through " solicitors" at Bangkok and Singapore, for an Englishwoman of beauty and good parentage, to crown the collection ; but when I took my leave of Bangkok, in 1868, the coveted specimen had not yet appeared in the market. The cunning commissionaires contrived to keep their places and make a living by sending his majesty, now and then, a piquant photograph of some British Nourmahal of the period, freshly caught, and duly shipped in good order for the harem; but the goods never arrived. Had the king's tastes been Gallic, his requisition might have been filled. I remember a score of offers from French demoiselles, who enclosed their cartes in billets more surprising and enterprising than any other " proposals" it was my office to translate. But his whimsical majesty entertained a lively horror of French iutiigue, whether of priests, consul, or lionnes, and stood in vigilant fear of being beguiled through one of these adventurous sirens into fathering the innovation of a Franco-Siamese heir to the throne of the celestial Phrabatts.

The king, as well as most of the principal members of his household, rose at five in the morning and immediately partook of a slight repast served by the ladies who had been in waiting through the nit;lit; after which, attended by them and his shtcrs and elder children, he descended and took his station on a long strip of matting, laid from one of the gates t through all the avenues to another. On his Majesty's lelt were ranged, first, his children in order of rank; then the princesse?, his sisters; and lastly, his concubines, his maids of honor, and their slaves. Before each was placed a large silver tray containing offerings of boiled rice, fruit, cakes, and the seri leaf; some even had cigars. A little after five the Patoon Dharmina ♦" (" Gate of Merit," calW by the populace " Patoo "Boon") was thrown open and the atnazons of -the guard drawn up either side. Then the priests entered, always by that gate, —one hundred and ninety-nine of them escorted on the right and left by men armed with swords and clubs, —and as they entered they chanted : " Take thy meat, but think it dust! Eat but to live, and to know thyself, and what thou art below! And say withal unto thy heart, 'tis earth I eat, that to the earth I may new life impart." Then the chief priest, who led the procession, with downcast eyes and lowty mien, very simply presented his bowl (slung from his neck by a cord, and until that moment quite hidden, under the robes of his yellow robes) to the. members of the royai household, who offered their fruHs and cakes, or their spoons fall of rics or sweetmeats. In like manner did all his brethren. If by chance, one before whom a tray was placed was not ready and waiting witli an offering, no priest stopped, but all continued to advance slowly, taking what was freely offered, without thanks or even a look of acknowledgment, until the end of the royal train was reached, when the procession retired, chanting as before, by the gate called Duiu, or, in the court language, Prithi, " Gate of Earth."

After this, the king and all his company repaired to his private temple, dedicated by his majesty to the memory of his mother. This is an edifice of unique and charming beauty, decorated throughout by artists from Japan, who have represented on the walls, in designs as diverse and ingenious as they are costly, the numerous metempsychoses of Buddha. Here his mnjesty ascended alone the steps of the altar, rang a bell to announce the hour for devotion, lighted the concentrated tapers, and offered the white lotus and roses. Then he spent an hour in prayer, and in reading texts from the Phrajana Paramita and the Phra-ti-Mok-sha. This service over, he retired for another nap* attended by a (resh detail of women— those who had waited the night before being dismissed, not to be recalled for a month, or at least a fortnight, save as a peculiar mark of preference or favor to some one who had had the good fortune to please or amuse him; but most of that party voluutarily waited upon him every afternoon.

At two o'clock he rose again, and, with the aid of his women, bathed and anointed his person. Then he descended to a break-fast-chambbr, where he was served with the most substantial meal of the day. Here he chatted with his favorites among the wives and concubines, and caressed his children, taking them in his arms, embracing them, plying them with puzzling or funny questions, and making droll faces at the babies; the more agreeable thp njother, the dearer the child. The love of children was the constant and hearty virtue of this forlorn tiespot. They appealed to. him by their beauty and their trustfulness, refreshed him with the bold innocence of their w ays, so frolicsome, graceful and quaint. From this delusive scene of domestic condescension and kindliness he passed to his hall of audience to consider official matters. Twice a week at sunset, he appeared at one of the gates of the palace, to hear the.complaints and petitions of the poorest of his subjeots. who at no other time or place could reach his ear. It. was most pitiful to.. see the hapless, awe-stricken-wretches prostrate and abject a? toads, many too terrified to present the precious, petition afte* all. At nine he. retired to his private apartments, whence issued immediately peculiar domestic bulletins, in which were named the women whose presence he particularly desired, in addition to those whose turn it was to " wait" that night.— Atlantic for August,