state barges.  For the late king, true to the usages of his forefathers, continued to the very close of his life to make all his tours, public and private, with very rare exceptions, by water.  This has heretofore been the custom of all classes, the gently-flowing Meinam being the Broadway of Bangkok, and canals, intersecting the city in every direction, its cross streets.  Every family keeps one or more boats and a full complement of rowers; palaces and temples have their gates on the river; and upon its placid waters move in ever-varying panorama life’s shifting scenes of weddings and funerals, business and pleasure, from early morn till long past midnight.  Only since the accession of the present kings have streets been constructed along the river-banks; and these young princes, as a sort of concession to European customs, now take occasional drives in open carriages, attended by liveried servants, though for state processions boats are still in vogue.  His Majesty the late king was ordinarily conveyed to the jetty in a state palanquin, and handed from it into his boat, without the sole of his boot ever touching the ground.  This has been the custom of Siamese monarchs from time immemorial, but I have sometimes seen both the late kings wave aside their bearers and jump with agile dexterity into their boats, as if it were a relief to them to lay aside courtly etiquette and act like ordinary mortals.  The royal palanquins are completely covered with plates of pure gold inlaid with pearls, and the cushions are of velvet embroidered, and edged with heavy gold lace.  They are borne by sixteen men robed in azure silk sarangs and shirts of embroidered muslin.  The umbrella is of blue, crimson or purple silk, and for state occasions is richly embroidered, and studded with precious stones.  So also are those placed over the throne, the sofa, or whatever seat the king happens to occupy.

[Illustration:  ELEPHANT ARMED FOR WAR.]

[Illustration:  THE GREAT GILDED BOODDH.]

The late supreme king, who died in 1868 at the age of sixty-five, was tall and slender in person, of intellectual countenance and noble, commanding presence.  His ordinary dress was of heavy, dark silk, richly embroidered, with the occasional addition of a military coat.  He wore also the decorations of several orders, and a crown—­not the large one, which is worn but once in a lifetime, and that on the coronation-day—­but the one for regular use, which is of fine gold, conical in shape and the rim completely surrounded by a circlet of magnificent diamonds.  This prince, the most illustrious of all the kings of Siam, spent many of the best years of his life in the priesthood as high priest of the kingdom.  He was a profound scholar, not only in Oriental lore, but in many European tongues and in the sciences.  In public he was rather reticent, but in the retirement of the social circle and among his European friends the real symmetry of his noble character was fully displayed, winning not only the reverence but the warm affection of all who knew him.  He died universally regretted, and the young prince now reigning as supreme king is his eldest surviving son:  the second king is his nephew.