Anna Leonowens

The English Governess at the Siamese Court (Andrew Pearson Zuckerman Southeast Asian Collection) Anna Leonowens

In the following pages I have tried to give a full and faithful account
of the scenes and the characters that were gradually unfolded to me as I
began to understand the language, and by all other means to attain a
clearer insight into the secret life of the court. I was thankful to
find, even in this citadel of Buddhism, men, and above all women, who
were "lovely in their lives," who, amid infinite difficulties, in the
bosom of a most corrupt society, and enslaved to a capricious and often
cruel will, yet devoted themselves to an earnest search after truth. On
the other hand, I have to confess with sorrow and shame, how far we,
with all our boasted enlightenment, fall short, in true nobility and
piety, of some of our "benighted" sisters of the East. With many of
them, Love, Truth, and Wisdom are not mere synonyms but "living gods,"
for whom they long with lively ardor, and, when found, embrace with joy.

Those of my readers who may find themselves interested in the wonderful
ruins recently discovered in Cambodia are indebted to the earlier
travellers, M. Henri Mouhot, Dr. A. Bastian, and the able English
photographer. James Thomson, F. R. G. S. L., almost as much as to
myself.

To the Hon. George William Curtis of New York, and to all my other true
friends, abroad and in America, I feel very grateful.

And finally, I would acknowledge the deep obligation I am under to Dr.
J. W. Palmer, whose literary experience and skill have been of so great
service to me in revising and preparing my manuscript for the press. A.
H. L.




CONTENTS.

I. ON THE THRESHOLD
II. A SIAMESE PREMIER AT HOME
III. A SKETCH OF SIAMESE HISTORY
IV. HIS EXCELLENCY'S HAREM AND HELPMEET
V. THE TEMPLES OF THE SLEEPING AND THE EMERALD IDOLS
VI. THE KING AND THE GOVERNESS
VII. MARBLE HALLS AND FISH-STALLS
VIII. OUR HOME IN BANGKOK
IX. OUR SCHOOL IN THE PALACE
X. MOONSHEE AND THE ANGEL GABRIEL
XI. THE WAYS OF THE PALACE
XII. SHADOWS AND WHISPERS OF THE HAREM
XIII. FA-YING, THE KING'S DARLING
XIV. AN OUTRAGE AND A WARNING
XV. THE CITY OF BANGKOK
XVI. THE WHITE ELEPHANT
XVII. THE CEREMONIES OF CORONATION
XVIII. THE QUEEN CONSORT
XIX. THE HEIR-APPARENT.--ROYAL HAIR-CUTTING
XX. AMUSEMENTS OF THE COURT
XXI. SIAMESE LITERATURE AND ART
XXII. BUDDHIST DOCTRINE, PRIESTS, AND WORSHIP
XXIII. CREMATION
XXIV. CERTAIN SUPERSTITIONS
XXV. THE SUBORDINATE KING
XXVI. THE SUPREME KING: HIS CHARACTER AND ADMINISTRATION
XXVII. MY RETIREMENT FROM THE PALACE
XXVIII. THE KINGDOM OF SIAM
XXIX. THE RUINS OF CAMBODIA.--AN EXCURSION TO THE NAGHKON WATT
XXX. THE LEGEND OF THE MAHA NAGHKON


I. ON THE THRESHOLD.


MARCH 15, 1862.--On board the small Siamese steamer Chow Phya, in the
Gulf of Siam.

I rose before the sun, and ran on deck to catch an early glimpse of the
strange land we were nearing; and as I peered eagerly, not through mist
and haze, but straight into the clear, bright, many-tinted ether, there
came the first faint, tremulous blush of dawn, behind her rosy veil; and
presently the welcome face shines boldly out, glad, glorious, beautiful,
and aureoled with flaming hues of orange, fringed with amber and gold,
wherefrom flossy webs of color float wide through the sky, paling as
they go. A vision of comfort and gladness, that tropical March morning,
genial as a July dawn in my own less ardent clime; but the memory of two
round, tender arms, and two little dimpled hands, that so lately had
made themselves loving fetters round my neck, in the vain hope of
holding mamma fast, blinded my outlook; and as, with a nervous tremor
and a rude jerk, we came to anchor there, so with a shock and a tremor I
came to my hard realities.

The captain told us we must wait for the afternoon tide to carry us over
the bar. I lingered on deck, as long as I could dodge the fiery spears
that flashed through our tattered awning, and bear the bustle and the
boisterous jests of some circus people, our fellow-passengers,