into which, the elephant places his leg, then,
having drawn the rope tightly with his
trunk, he ties it securely in a knot.  The
keepers found it impossible themselves to
fasten the cords tightly enough, and thus, in
self-defence, were compelled to teach the
animals to be their own gaolers.  But might
they not with equal skill untie themselves?
But this is an idea which never would occur
to such well-trained animals.

  We saw during this visit the beast called
the White Elephant.  The original White
Elephant had died two years before.  His
successor has little pretensions to be called
white, being of a dirty light red; but he is
only kept until a whiter beast can be found,
should the king be so fortunate as to obtain a
second one during his reign.  The stables of
the first king contain sixty elephants; but we
saw only a few, for it requires more than an
ordinary share of enterprise to persevere in
floundering among the mud.

I spoke of the First King of Siam.  That
Siam has two kings, most people know.  The
First and Second King of Siam are brothers,
and sons of a royal mother.  As such, they
are of equal rank; but, as there can only be
one reigning monarch, the precedence is
given to the elder brother, the younger being
the heir apparent to the throne.  The Second
King draws a smaller revenue than his
brother, and it is, moreover, under the First
King's control.  He has his own soldiers, his
own palace, and keeps up an almost equal
amount of state.  The same prostrations and
ceremonials are observed in the presence of
both; the only difference between the two
being that the elder brother actually governs
the kingdom, though the younger has a voice
in all public matters, and no important state
affair can be settled without his approval.

  It is singular to observe the great difference
between the palaces, grounds, and
troops of the First and Second Kings.  The
King Number One loves pomp and display,
and appears to possess little of the innate
refinement and consistency which so eminently
characterise his younger brother.
Both are remarkably in advance of their age
and country; highly intelligent men, who
have cast aside entirely the self-satisfied
spirit of a half- wild people.

  The Second King excels the First in intellectual
attainments.  King Number One
may be considered decidedly clever, but is
extremely superficial in his knowledge, and
his self-conceit is a great barrier to his advancement.
By the assistance of the American
missionaries, he has acquired a smattering
of most subjects, and even a slight
knowledge of Latin and Greek, of which he
is very proud.  He writes English with
difficulty, and looks out all the dictionary
words, which he strings together in a way
that renders the sense far from plain.  The
perseverance, however, with which he gets
up his official letters, writing every word
himself, is very praiseworthy.  I was told he
insisted on writing a long and elaborate
epistle to the Queen of England (whom
he always styles with great affection his
Royal Sister), in addition to an English translation
of the Siamese Treaty.

  It may not be uninteresting to give here
an extract from the private journal of the
consul, relating the first interview with his
Majesty.

" Started at noon to the audience of the First King.
In the waiting hall, an open shed-like building, used
on ordinary occasions for the administration of justice,
we were supplied with coffee, cakes, and fruit.  On
entering the audience-hall I made a bow, by inclining
the head, and a second on reaching the carpet, on the
edge of which I was to seat myself.  The King sat on
a chair, placed on a raised platform, a foot or more in
height, and large enough to accommodate a small
table, on which was placed a plated candlestick with a
glass shade (which being dirty, his Majesty wiped
clean with his pocket-handkerchief), a small tea set,
cigars (one of which his Majesty was smoking), writing
materials, and other objects for ornament or use.
Behind was a throne of greater height than the platform,
richly carved and gilded, and behind this a
second throne, still more elevated and elaborately
adorned, looking somewhat like, or rather reminding
one of, the organ-loft in a cathedral.  To the right
and left of the table were servants bearing fans, swords
of state, betel-leaf boxes, and so forth, and on the right
and left—from within a few yards of the platform to
the hall door—were nobles and ministers of state, the
most exalted in rank being foremost, but all—every
person in the hall—without exception, save the King
and ourselves, on their hands, knees, and faces, a position
between crawling, sprawling, and lying on the
floor.  In the side aisles were other nobles apparently
of less exalted rank, extending past the table nearly
the whole length of the hall.  His Majesty was not
possessed of personal beauty, but was rendered conspicuous
by his fingers, on which were rings set with
diamonds of immense size, and seemingly of great
value; also brooches of precious stones and gold, which
confined the breast of an under garment of muslin
which he wore beneath a jacket of cloth of green and
gold.  Before the principal throne was a large curtain
of a rich manufacture of dark red and gold, and drawn
to either side of the hall, along a simple cord.  A
small table was set on the King's right, covered by a
cloth of woven gold, neither for use nor show, the folds
of the cloth being raised to a point in the centre, much
as ladies carry their pocket-handkerchiefs, to display
the beauty of the fabric.  A Chinese carpet covered
the lower end, and a more costly fabric, probably of
western manufacture, the upper part of the floor, and
the walls and unoccupied portions of the room were
adorned by a great variety of articles of vertu, collected
and presented, it seemed, from many parts of the
world, but principally from Europe and America, an
indiscriminately arranged and heterogeneous assortment
—statesmen and danseuses, iron garden chairs,
chests of drawers, dressing-tables, cheval glasses, astronomical
instruments, gloves, and vases of china, silver,
and gold.  I was accompanied by Messrs. Bell, Forrest,
and Hunter, and by a Portuguese half-caste linguist
named Victor, and seated myself with my legs behind
me, as comfortably as circumstances would permit, and
when the King was not addressing me, with my arms
crossed. * * *  The entrance pavement outside was
filled with soldiers dressed in the European style, but