failure.' Almost everything is pressed into the _materia medica_
for service, including such things as cats' eyes, the bile of snakes,
sea-shells, horns, and probably dogs' tails, kittens' teeth, and
monkeys' tongues. Doctors are paid by the job, and not by the number of
visits. The price of a cure is agreed upon; and if the patient dies, or
fails to get better, the physician gets nothing.

"After poor people, dying, have been kept a few days, they are cremated,
as in India; but they keep a high noble nearly a year before they commit
his remains to the fire. When called upon, a Siamese farmer or other
person is compelled by law to furnish transportation and board to
travelling officials. The law of debit and credit is curious, and
amounts to actual slavery. A man may borrow money, and give his person
for security. If he fails to pay as agreed, the creditor can put him in
irons, if need be, and compel him to work for him till the debt is
discharged,--the principal only, for his labor is the equivalent of the
interest.

"Missionaries are sent here from America, including many female
physicians; and they have a great deal of influence among the natives.

"The present king of Siam is Chulalongkorn I. The former system of
having the country ruled by two kings has been abolished, and the
present monarch is the only king; and I never could find out what the
second king was for. The throne is now hereditary, but the king formerly
had the privilege of naming his own successor. Chulalongkorn is an
amiable and dignified ruler, well educated, and speaks English fluently.
The laws are made by the king in connection with a council of ministers.
The forty-one provinces of the kingdom are in charge of commissioners
appointed by the king. Such a thing as justice is hardly known, and what
there is of it is very badly managed. Thieving and plundering are
carried on almost without check in Bangkok, which includes about all
there is of Siam except a great deal of spare territory, and property is
very unsafe there. I think I have wearied you, Mr. Commander, and ladies
and gentlemen."

"Not at all!" shouted several.

"Did you ever see the Siamese twins, General Noury?" inquired Uncle
Moses.

"I never did; but I have read about them, and looked them up this
morning," replied the lecturer. "They were born in Siam in 1811, but
their parents were Chinese. I don't quite understand in what manner they
were united."

"There was a ligament,