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Ban Pa In is on an island in the Menam River. One handsome palace is in the European style, and another is of a pure Chinese pattern. There is a modern temple of Gothic style, built fifteen years ago. Near the palace a tower affords a fine view. We arrived at Bangkok late in the afternoon, feeling well pleased with our day's excursion.
The steamer was obliged to descend the Menam at less than half speed, to avoid running down any of the multitude of boats and vessels that thronged the river, and because the stream was so crooked. "How far do you think Bangkok is from the Gulf, Captain Ringgold?" asked the general, at the close of the session. "About twenty miles," replied the commander.
From the Strait of Malacca we passed into the China Sea, thence to the Gulf of Siam, and lastly to the broad Menam River, with banks showing masses of foliage, and with tiny Siamese villages or isolated houses built close to the water's edge, supported on piles, with thatched roofs and sides.
Bangkok, like Rangoon, has enormous exports of rice, teak, and many other commodities; there are large rice factories, and we saw the elephants dragging logs to the river, as in Rangoon, whence they are brought on rafts to the immense sawmills. Unfortunately, a shallow bar at the mouth of the Menam River prevents the passage of large vessels.
The rest of the number is made up with Malays, Laosians, and other tribes. "The Menam River is six hundred miles long, and it has several branches. On the banks of these streams very nearly all the people live, for the regions away from them are a wild jungle which is not cultivated.
It was very lucky for the Dane that he could swim, because the room opened on a verandah and the Menam flowed below very wide and black. A boat-load of Chinamen, bound, as likely as not, on some thieving expedition, fished out the officer of the King of Siam, and Jim turned up at about midnight on board my ship without a hat.
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