king and members of the royal family, and in war at the king's mandate
only. It is death for a Siamese subject, unbidden by his sovereign, to
mount one of His Majesty's elephants. In war they are considered
very effective, their immense size and weight alone rendering them
exceedingly destructive in trampling down and crushing foot-soldiers.
The howdah is placed well up on the animal's back, and in it sits a
military officer of high rank, with an iron helmet on his head, and
above him a seven-layered umbrella, as the insignia of his royal
commission. On the croup sits the groom, guiding the royal beast
with an iron hook, while all about the officer are disposed lances,
javelins, pikes, helmets and other munitions of war, which he
dispenses as they are needed during the progress of a battle. I have
been told that as many as six or seven hundred of these colossal
creatures are often marched and marshaled in battle together; and
so perfectly are they trained as to be guided and controlled without
difficulty, even amid the din of firearms and the conflict of
contending armies. Sometimes on the king's journeys into the interior
a train of fifty or sixty will be marched in perfect order, their
stately stepping beautiful to behold, but their huge feet coming down
with a jolt that threatens to dislocate every joint of the unfortunate
rider.

I have spoken of the gorgeousness of the Bangkok temples, but I must
not forget to mention the colossal statue of Booddh that reposes in
one of them. It is one hundred and seventy feet in length, of solid
masonry, perfectly covered with a plating of pure gold, and rests
quite naturally upon the right side, the recumbent position indicating
the dreamless repose the god now enjoys in _nirwâna_. This is supposed
to be the largest image of Gautama, the fourth Booddh, in existence,
and it is an object of the profoundest veneration to every devout