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Were it not for the prodigious quantities of gold consumed in this manner, it would be very plentiful and cheap in Pegu. About two days journey from Pegu there is a varella or pagoda called dogonne, of wonderful bigness, gilded all over from top to bottom, to which the inhabitants of Pegu go in pilgrimage; and near it is a house where their talapoins or priests preach to the people.
Is it necessary to exhibit such spectacles to a mighty potentate, with interludes of Talapoins more mangy than dogs? Were I you, I would command a fire to be kindled, and at once purge the earth of the Emir, his harem, and all his menagerie.”
In Pegu, there are many priests or talapoins, as they are called, who preach against all abuses, and many people resort to hear them. When they enter into the kiack, that is to say the holy place or temple, there is a great jar of water at the door, having a cock or ladle, and there they wash their feet.
They then walk in, and lift their hands to their heads, first to the preacher, and then to the sun, after which they sit down. The talapoins are strangely apparelled, having a brown cambaline or thin cloth next their body, above which is another of yellow many times doubled or folded over their shoulders, and these two are girded round them by a broad girdle.
Round about this there are many fair houses for the pilgrims to dwell in, and many goodly houses in which the talapoins preach, which are all full of idols or images, both male and female, all gilded with gold. This, in my opinion, is the fairest place in the world.
When the talapoins preach, many of their hearers carry gifts to them in the pulpit, while preaching, a person sitting beside the preacher to receive these gifts, which are divided between them. So far as I could see, they have no other ceremonials or religious service, except preaching.
The great critic exposed unmercifully and unanswerably Collins's slips in scholarship, ridiculed his style, made merry over the rising and growing sect which professed its competency to think de quolibet ente, protested indignantly against putting the Talapoins of Siam on a level with the whole clergy of England, 'the light and glory of Christianity, and denied the right of the title of Freethinkers to men who brought scandal on so good a word.
If we wish to find them we have only to ask ourselves: What countries are making no contribution to the progress of the race? What countries have nothing to give us, whether in art, science, or industry? For example, Gervaise tells us of the Talapoins, or priests of Siam, that "they are exempted from all public charges, they salute nobody, while everybody prostrates himself before them.
M. de la Loubère, who was Envoy Extraordinary from the French King to the King of Siam in 1687 and 1688, wrote an account entitled a "New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam," which was translated in 1693 into English. According to his account the use of the Umbrella was granted to some only of the subjects by the king. An Umbrella with several circles, as if two or three umbrellas were fastened on the same stick, was permitted to the king alone, the nobles carried a single Umbrella with painted cloths hanging from it. The Talapoins (who seem to have been a sort of Siamese monks) had Umbrellas made of a palm-leaf cut and folded, so that the stem formed a handle. The same writer describes the audience-chamber of the King of Siam. In his quaint old French, he says: "Pour tout meuble il n'y a que trois para-sol, un devant la fenêtre, a neuf ronds, & deux
On this occasion, the body is accompanied by all the male friends, relations, and neighbours of the deceased; and they give the talapoins or priests many mats and much cloth. They then return to the house, where they feast for two days.
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