that the head and feet came together, and after being tied up like a sausage was deposited in a golden urn on the top of the mausoleum.”  He speaks of the state officers in attendance by day and by night, and the dead king, from the golden urn on the very summit of the altar, holding his court with the same pomp and parade as during his life.  A more affecting ceremony is the coming at noon and eve of the crowds of beautiful women, not yet absolved from their wifely vows, to converse with their loved and lamented lord, and the depositing of letters and petitions in the great golden basket at the foot of the mausoleum, with the confident expectation that these loving missives will reach the deceased and be answered by him.  These royal catafalques are costly and magnificent, being covered with plates of gold, while the silks and perfumes consumed with a single body cost thousands of dollars.

M. de Beauvoir describes an interview with the king, surrounded by ten of his offspring, including the seventy-second child.  I well remember the eldest son, the present supreme king, now in his twentieth year, looking when five years old the exact counterpart of this one—­his graceful little figure, dimpled cheeks, eyes lustrous as diamonds, and the glossy, raven hair, close shaven at the back, while the foretop was coiled in a smooth knot, fastened with jeweled pins and twined with fragrant flowers.  The dress was very simple—­only two garments of silk or embroidered muslin—­but the deficiency was more than made up by jewelry, of which, in the form of chains, rings, anklets and bracelets, he wore almost incredible quantities, while his golden girdle was studded with costly diamonds.

[Illustration:  SEVENTY-SECOND CHILD OF THE KING OF SIAM.]

[Illustration:  ENTRANCE TO THE ROYAL HAREM.]

Polygamy prevails in its fullest extent in Siam, especially among those of noble or royal lineage; and the higher the rank the larger the number of wives, those of the supreme king amounting ordinarily to five or six hundred.  Of these, the “superior wife” holds the rank of queen:  she resides within the harem proper, where are the private apartments of the king, and her children are always the legal heirs.  For the other wives or concubines, their children and attendants, there is a whole circle of buildings, connected by balconies with the palace royal.  All these are handsomely fitted up, but what is called “the harem” pre-eminently is more gorgeous than our dreams of fairy palaces or enchanted castles of genii.  Long suites of apartments with frescoed walls, ceilings of gold and pearl, floors inlaid with exquisite mosaics of silver and ebony, and with hangings of costly lace, velvet and satin, huge waxen candles, and lamps fed with perfumed oil that are never suffered to expire, mirrors, pictures, and statuettes innumerable, with cups, basins, and even spittoons, of pure gold,—­all these are but a tithe of the lavish adornments of this