Untitled - Sabrizain.org

298
S1AM.
herself to her domestic duties. All the heaviest labour
devolves on the females. Their treatment of the dead
varies according to the rank of the deceased. The
corpses of the poor are unceremoniously thrown into
the river. Infants under the
women who have died before
age of dentition, and
delivery, are interred
in a superficial grave, a peculiarity connected with
some obscure superstition. With these exceptions,
the practice of burning the dead extends to all classes.
This is often performed very imperfectly, and the
partially consumed bones are left to bleach on the
plain, or to be devoured by beasts. In some instances,
it is deemed meritorious, before burning the corpse,
to distribute the fleshy parts among the beasts of the
field and the birds of the air. In other cases, the
body is sometimes embalmed before it is burned. This
appears to be a relic of a very ancient practice, in use,
probably, prior to the introduction of the custom of
incineration. The actual state of the art of embalming
is characteristic, Mr. Finlayson says, of that general
ignorance of the ornamental as well as of the useful
arts of civilised life, which is displayed by the modern
Siamese.
The criminal punishments, as among the Birmans,
are most barbarous. Trial by ordeal is very frequently
had recourse to: of this there are various kinds,
walking over hot irons, ordeal by water, and by combat
with tigers. Adultery is now punishable only by
fine. Debtors are very severely treated, being for the
most part reduced to slaver)'. All males in Siam are
enrolled from infancy, and are liable, on' becoming
adults, to be called on for military service, without
pay, during six months of the year. The king has no
standing army except his personal guards, who are
chiefly Tatars, but the whole nation is thus formed