Travels in the central parts of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia, and Laos : during the years 1858, 1859, and 1860 . ants, 144 houses licensed for opium-smoking, and11 houses for the sale of a peculiar spirit unknown inFrance, but which is extracted from rice, and known underthe name of arrack. T]|e fishing-boats number for locomotion and traffic are provided by 589public carriages, 1180 passenger-boats, and 600 carts forthe transport of merchandise. In addition to the population of Singapore itself, theislands in the immediate vicinity, and forming a partof the settlement, contain 1
Travels in the central parts of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia, and Laos : during the years 1858, 1859, and 1860 . ants, 144 houses licensed for opium-smoking, and11 houses for the sale of a peculiar spirit unknown inFrance, but which is extracted from rice, and known underthe name of arrack. T]|e fishing-boats number for locomotion and traffic are provided by 589public carriages, 1180 passenger-boats, and 600 carts forthe transport of merchandise. In addition to the population of Singapore itself, theislands in the immediate vicinity, and forming a partof the settlement, contain 1500 inhabitants, making theentire population of Singapore and its dependenciesnearly 83,000. I made only a short stay there, my chiefobject being to gain information respecting the countryI was about to visit. On the 12th of the same month,after a very monotonous voyage, we arrived at the mouthof the river Menam, on whose banks Bangkok is built. Avast sandbank here bars the entrance of large ships, andcompels them to go eight or nine miles farther up thegulf, and discharge their cargoes at great additional. ?*!tet IIHIIiHil lIlIlllllIliP 11 Chap. I. PAKNAM—THE MENAM. 41 expense. Our vessel, however, only drawing eight feetof water, passed without much difficulty, and anchoredat Paknam in front of the Governors house, whither thecaptain and myself proceeded without loss of time, in orderto obtain the necessary permission to continue our route. This formality over, I hastened to visit the forts, whichare of brick and battlemented, the markets, and some ofthe streets. Paknam is the Sebastopol or Cronstadt of theKings of Siam; nevertheless, I fancied that a Europeansquadron could easily master it, and that the commander,after breakfasting there, might dine the same day atBangkok. On a little island in the middle of the river rises afamous and rather remarkable pagoda, containing, I wastold, the bodies of their last kings. The effect of thispyramidal structure reflected in the dee
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