Around the World with a King

by William N. Armstrong

  We were given the rare privilege, which had also been given to General Grant, to see the interior of the royal chapel, and the chambers in which the Siamese King fasted and prayed before his coronation. In this superbly ornamented building stood a lofty image of Buddha with jewelled eyes, and on a frame before it were artificial flowers in festoons and studded with diamonds; but they were dusty, for custom permitted them to be cleaned but once a year. Near this royal pagoda were six others, in one of which was an allegorical painting of the King's life from his childhood. In all of them were the great statues of Buddha, with large and dark lidless eyes perpetually staring into vacancy. When we entered these temples the Princes knelt, clasped their hands, and bowed three times.

  We returned to our palace to receive the return call of the Siamese King. Following him came the second King, who appeared in a palanquin over which there was an enormous umbrella of red cloth with gold embroidery. He alighted about fifty feet from the entrance to our residence. Etiquette forbade his conveyance to stop where the first King had alighted. He therefore footed it the rest of the way. After he had retired, the Cabinet Ministers called, and after them the Consular Corps, of which General Haldeman, the American Consul, was a conspicuous member. He rendered the King and suite some valuable services during their short stay.

  The second King asked, during his visit, when he heard that I was an American, whether the people of America read much about the Siamese. I replied that all of the children were taught in the public schools the geography of his country. I did not state that which I believe is true, that the people of America believe that the principal product of Siam is white elephants and Siamese Twins, while the religious portion of the community regard the inhabitants as "perishing heathen." On the other hand, the second King admitted that the Siamese believed the Americans to be wandering tribes and outcasts; a people who did not chew the betel-nut must be without pleasures.

  The royal elephants were then brought to the door; they were not white, but grey, and were covered with splendid trappings. We mounted them by ladders, the King riding on a magnificent animal exclusively used by the King of Siam. Our Chamberlain, with his great weight, broke the ladder as he was mounting, and dangled in the air, with a firm grip on the seat, until another ladder was brought, while the elephant grunted at the mishap of a "tenderfoot."

  In the evening a play was presented in a small theatre of one of the Princes; to this only persons of the court were admitted. Twelve girls, six of them representing males, danced and sang to Siamese music. They belonged to the harem of the Prince and were noted for their beauty and shape; they were not seen in public. The play was mainly in pantomime; closely fitting dresses covered with spangles showed their graceful figures, and the posturing was the very poetry of motion. At times they sang while in the convolutions of the dance, but their mouths were ugly cavities which the chewing of the betel-nut had blackened. Suddenly we heard a familiar piece, one of the old hymns of Christendom. In a "pagan" theatre twelve graceful followers of Buddha stepped the measures of a Siamese dance, while they sang words which they did not understand:

  "Keep your lamps all trimmed and burning,

  For the midnight bride is coming."

  Invitation to dine with the King of Siam.

  A Siamese Prince who had lived in England said that the music-teacher of these girls had heard this hymn sung in India by converts of the missionaries, and had taught it to these women of the harem.

  The steamer "Bangkok," on which we had taken passage for Singapore, was detained a day, by order of the Siamese King, so that we might attend a banquet in his palace.

  We again entered the court-yard, the sides of which were lined with troops; over them was the weird light of innumerable torches. We walked over the carpeted pavements to the entrance, the Princes accompanying us, and following was a body of candlestick-bearers with naked legs and fantastic dresses tinged with yellow. The Siamese King received us and led us to the audience-chamber, and the band played the Hawaiian national anthem, the music of which our King had written out the previous day, and had played on a piano to the band-master. The Siamese King, in a soft, pleasant voice, then said he desired to honour the King from the Pacific islands, and placed on him the insignia of the "Grand Cross of the Order of Siam;" he then turned to me and to the Chamberlain and gave to each of us the insignia of Knight Commander of the same Order. Our King, in return, conferred on the Siamese King the Order of Kamehameha, and on the Princes the same Order, of a lesser degree, the insignia of which would be sent from Paris.

  The heavy silver of the banqueting-table was in-wrought with trees and plants of gold; special glasses mounted with jewels stood before the Kings; the dishes and the service of them, as well as the wines, were European. The Hawaiian King asked for typical Siamese music from the military band, and detected in it a resemblance to the music of his own people.

  One of the Princes, by whose side I sat, plied me with questions about Hawaii: "Is your King in the hands of foreigners?"-"Why does he not bring his own people with him, instead of white men?"-" Does he do what you tell him to do?" I suspected that the court gossip assumed that the King was under some foreign protectorate. Softly the little skeleton in our closet rattled as the King of Siam asked his guest, "How large is your army?" The reply spread a fog over the subject, which was deftly changed.

  Near the close of the banquet the durien was served. It is the most delicious fruit of the tropics, but, when opened, yields a most offensive odour; as the delicate roses spring from the rottenest manure.

  Returning to the audience-chamber, wreaths of jessamine were placed about our necks; those about the King's being arranged by the hands of the Siamese King. Some valuable presents were given to us. We visited the jewel-room, full of rare stones. When the Kings were again seated, the plaintive music of the native voices rose from an invisible choir concealed by screens at the end of the great chamber. These Asiatic nightingales were female members of the royal household, who sang in a minor key the joyless songs which pervade Asia and Oceanica; the expression of races without mental or moral freedom. One rarely hears comic songs among the races which are superstitious.

  The monarchs bade each other good-bye. The Siamese King said that his royal guest was most fortunate in ruling a good people who were quiet while he was absent; he wished, above all things, to visit Europe and America, but he was unable to leave his people. If he had ventured to talk frankly he would have said he could not go abroad lest some rival would board his ship of State and seize the helm.

  In the morning, photographs of the King and suite were taken by request of the Siamese King. The party, with the usual ceremony, was then driven to the landing; the royal barge, with the stately movements of its twenty-four oars, brought them to the steamer "Bangkok," and the Princes left us. at the gangway. Buddhist priests, on behalf of the Siamese owner of the steamer, passed a white string around her and hung wreaths of flowers in the saloon; kneeling, they clasped their hands in prayer, repeating the name of Buddha many times; then they ate an enormous meal of rice and curry and waddled to their boat. The forts gave their salutes; the five hundred pagodas and the forests of cocoanut palms sank out of sight, and we pointed for Singapore.

  In Siam the Chinese are the stronger race; they have already absorbed the business interests of Bangkok and comprise more than a third of the population. Nor are they disturbed, for they are not politicians and engage in no public affairs. They gradually abandon ancestral worship, adhere to some of the forms of their religious beliefs, and are contented to become permanent settlers in the country because they are prosperous.

  Christendom is a riddle to the Siamese statesman. He does not understand the missionary. He cannot reconcile the teachings of the Gospel with the conduct of the people from whom he came. The missionary preached a religion which he declared had created the great and powerful nations of Christendom, while the traders and travellers who chiefly represented those nations in these Far Eastern lands
displayed vices which shocked the people. But lie who attempts to explain to them the consistency of great virtues and great vices which appear in individuals, communities, and nations to work together with harmony, undertakes that which even the subtile mind of the Asiatic cannot comprehend. One of these intelligent Siamese, connected with the Foreign Office, said to me: "Is it true that the civilisation of Europe is due to Christianity?" I replied that this was a difficult question to answer, but that such was the claim of the leaders of the churches. "Then," he inquired, "if Christianity is the cause of European progress, is it also the cause of the fleets and armies with which they are ready to destroy one another?"

  We were the sole occupants of the saloon cabins of the steamer. From our upper deck we looked down on indolent Siamese chewing the betel-nut with the satisfaction of goats; on Chinese sitting on clean mats; and on Mohammedans, who squatted about in a listless way, until sunset, when they at once became vigorous and picturesque in their attitudes of prayer and prostration.

  The royal hospitality of Siam had filled the steamer's lockers with mangosteens, duriens, and young cocoanuts, on which we mainly fed till we reached the latitude of I° 17" north of the equator.

  CHAPTER XVI

  Arrival at Singapore — The King Tired of Royal Etiquette — Visits and Receives the Governor — Drive over the Island — Importance of the Place — A Colossal Missionary Station — The King and the Tiger — A State Banquet — Effect of the "Climate" on Englishmen in the Tropics — Visit to the Maharajah of Johore — His Grand Palace — The Sword of State and the Great Umbrella — The Valet and the Feathered Cloak — Tiffin with the Maharajah — The Sovereigns Discover Each Other's "Strawberry — Marks" — A State Banquet — Dreams of Residence in Marble Halls — Moonlight and Native Music — A Morning Scene — Farewell to Singapore — More Trouble for the Valet — Loss of the Feather Cloak — Embarkation for Calcutta.

  WE rounded the southeastern point of the Malay peninsula, drew close to the shore, passed many islands covered with dense vegetation, and anchored off Singapore, another prominent free port of Great Britain. Fort Canning and some Russian warships fired a royal salute; and an aide of Sir Frederick Weld, the colonial Governor, with the King's Consul, boarded our steamer with an invitation from the Governor asking the King to become his guest. But the weather was hot, and the King preferred the freedom and informality of hotel life. The invitation to reside in the Government House was "graciously" declined. The poet who dreamed that he "dwelt in marble halls" was never a king, or the minister of a king. It is said in every court that "the king does as he pleases," but the fact is that he is like a chained animal, which has large freedom within the limits of his chain. The Grand Lama of Thibet has absolute power and does as he pleases within limits, but his life of sacred splendour is a chain which keeps him in a narrow circle of perpetual ceremonies, and binds him to many monotonous and irksome sittings upon a golden throne. Though his legs become weary and his back aches, he cannot relieve his fatigue by a game of leap-frog. Stronger than the will of a sovereign is the etiquette which traditions and customs make for him. Those who know the inner history of courts know the efforts of princes and kings themselves to escape at times from their monotonous environments.

  We therefore, in this place, took lodgings in a hotel, where we were entirely free from the strain of ceremonies and attendants. This disposition, however, may have been due to our fresh and wild natures, which had not been sufficiently subdued by contact with civilisation.

  The Governor's carriage, however, took us in the afternoon to the Government House, where troops in white uniforms and white helmets lined the courtyard. The Governor received the King at the entrance and led us up a very wide stairway, on the steps of which guards were standing with muskets, and into the drawing-room, which was decorated with flowers. There we met the Governor's wife and daughter. The Governor had many years before visited the King's islands and studied their volcanic formation. With fine humour he related an incident of his experience in the Hawaiian Parliament which happened while he listened to a debate. The King's immediate predecessor, Lunalilo, was known, until he reached the throne, as "Prince Bill," and he was a member of the House of Nobles. Though he was a pure native he spoke the English language with ease, and invariably used it when tipsy, as I have before said. He disliked the reigning King, and in this debate he shook his finger at the palace, shouting: "Uneasy is the 'bloody' head that wears a crown!"

  The heat in the large reception-room was intense, for the air about the seaport was saturated with moisture. The perspiration, owing to our heavy uniforms, streamed down within our clothing, and the only relief was in shortening the visit. We returned to the hotel, and within an hour the Governor, in a State carriage, returned our visit.

  In the evening we drove through the city, which is situated on an island, which, through the wise policy of Sir Stamford Raffles, the British had bought without conquest. Here were a few British and German traders; a large population of Chinese, who were the leading traders, many of them men of great wealth, and not distressingly devoted to ancestral worship; here were Klings from southern India, Malays, Japanese, Arabs, Papuans, Mohammedans, Hindoos, and Parsees; Chinese joss-houses, Buddhist temples, and Christian churches. But over all these people of many races, over the vast commerce flowing into and out of this free port, stood the British power, silent and omnipotent, itself the colossal missionary in the Orient, enforcing law and order with its armaments, and holding the millions of implacable haters of one another's religions from one another's throats. Singapore is not a missionary station, but it is in fact the most stupendous of missionary enterprises, though it appears to have no god but Trade. Here the ideas of Occidental civilisation slowly spread throughout the many races and tribes which meet in commerce at these cross-ways of Asia, of which this port is the central point.

  In the morning the Governor took us in his drag over one of the fine roads of the island, which is formed of many small hills, between which are dense jungles infested with tigers. It is said that over three hundred persons are killed by these beasts every year in this island. We alighted at the waterworks. While looking over the jungle from the embankment, the Governor pointed to a spot near by and naively said, "By the way, there is a beast of a tiger in that jungle, but he does n't attack white men." This discrimination in colour caught the King's ear. I noticed that he was uneasy, and he soon suggested that we should return. On the homeward drive he closely watched the jungle. With pirates on the sea, and tigers on land, he was "sucking" much experience of the world.

  The State banquet in the evening, with its many guests, its military band, the white uniforms of the Sikh guards, the dead air stirred by the punkas, was a fair scene of British life in the tropics. The men looked tired, and the women had lost their colour. Every one longed for vacation days in England and the close of colonial life. But at this banquet, and in all others which we attended until we reached Europe, we found the British living on an unwholesome diet, because their stubborn habits and appetites refused a change to the diet which ages of experience had taught the natives of the tropics is wholesome and healthful. The scholars discuss the question: "Can the European thrive in the tropics?" In these discussions I have not yet seen any consideration given to the fact that it turns largely on the character of food and drink. The European, especially the Englishman, insists on eating, near the equator, the meats which are suitable to the cool temperature of England; as if the Eskimo should ask for whale's blubber right under the sun. The British, as a rule, retire from foreign service in the tropics with impaired health, and charge it to the climate. But wherever we visited I inquired of the physicians the cause of this debility, and the reply without variation was, the refusal of the Europeans to adopt the simple diet of the natives,—a diet of fruit, vegetables, and fish, which does not overload the stomach and excludes the use of alcohol. The European in the tropics, an exile, isolated in a measure, finds his enjoyment in the heavy diet of hi
s fatherland, and declares that life is not worth living if he is fed on the fruits and vegetables which the wealthy classes of the tropics find most suitable. Our own country, Hawaii, is an experimental ground in the life of the Anglo-Saxon in the tropics. The missionaries, forced by necessity into a frugal life, lived on the diet of the natives and were never debilitated by the climate. The majority of them retained the energy of their New England inheritance without the least impairment due to climate. But their descendants, under financial prosperity, reversed the ways of plain living followed by their fathers, and the evidence of deterioration is becoming apparent.

  The Governor toasted the King at this banquet. He said that lie had seen many of the Polynesian races, and their good nature and chivalry were conspicuous among the Maoris of New Zealand, whose language was similar to that of the Hawaiians. He related that during a civil war the powder of one of the native forces gave out, and under a flag of truce the battle was suddenly suspended while a request was sent to the enemy for an immediate loan of powder, with the promise to pay for it whenever the fight was ended; and with a chivalrous regard for this misfortune the request was at once granted.