ing ceremony. The Minister of Agriculture
ploughs a few furrows in a field outside Bangkok, being fallowed by
four young women of the court who scatter rice grains on the freshly
opened soil]

But, though the monarch and his court are as up-to-the-minute as the
Twentieth Century Limited, many of the spectacular and colorful
ceremonies of old Siam are still celebrated with all their ancient pomp
and magnificence. For example, each year, at the close of the rainy
season, the King devotes about a fortnight to visiting the various
temples in and near Bangkok. On these occasions he goes in the royal
barge, a gorgeously decorated affair, 150 feet in length, looking not
unlike an enormous Venetian gondola, rowed by three-score oarsmen in
scarlet-and-gold liveries. The King, surrounded by a glittering group
of court officials, sits on a throne at the stern, while attendants
hold over his head golden umbrellas. From the landing place to the
temple he is borne in a sedan chair between rows of prostrate natives
who bow their foreheads to the earth in adoration of this short, stout,
olive-skinned, good-humored looking young man whom nearly ten millions
of people implicitly believe to be the earthly representative of
Buddha.

* * * * *

Another picturesque observance, the Rice-Planting Ceremony, takes place
early in May, when the Minister of Agriculture, as the deputy of the
King, leads a long procession of officials and priests to a field in
the outskirts of the capital, where a pair of white bullocks, yoked to
a gilded plough, are waiting. Surrounded by a throng of functionaries
glittering like Christmas trees, the Minister ploughs a few furrows in
the field, being followed by four young women of the court who scatter
rice grains on the freshly turned soil. Until quite recent years, the
officials taking part in this procession claimed the privilege of
appropriating any articles which caught their fancy in the shops along
the route. But this quaint practise is no longer followed. It was not
popular with the merchants. The Siamese, like all Orientals, place much
reliance on omens, the position of the lower hem of the _panung_ worn
by the Minister of Agriculture on this occasion indicating, it is
confidently believed, the sort of weather to be expected during the
ensuing year. If the edge of the _panung_ comes down to the ankles a
dry season is anticipated, even a drought, perhaps. If, on the
contra