Untitled - Sabrizain.org

342 ANAM.
the Siamese, whom he had so recently visited, describes
them in much more favourable
"
terms. The man-
ners of the people" (of Kan-dyu or Cangeo), he says,
" were in general polite, I might say refined ; they
were kind, attentive, and obliging: they courted,
rather than shunned our society, and seemed to have
less of the weakness or ostentation of natural pride
than any of the tribes we had yet met. Their curiosity
was naturally excited by the contrast which they
could not but draw between themselves and us; but in
the gratification of this feeling, or in its expression,
was neither coarseness nor absence of good breeding;
and the greatest liberty they ventured to assume, was
that of simply touching our dress, with the design, I
presume, of ascertaining the materials of its texture,
they themselves having little notion of any other fit
for this purpose than silk, in which all ranks are
almost exclusively clothed.
" They are good-natured, polite, attentive, and
indulgent to strangers. Their manners are agreeable,
and they are, for the most part, found in a lively,
playful humour, and strongly disposed to indulge in
mirth. They are the gayest of Orientals; yet, the
transition from mirth to sorrow and the more hateful
and mean passions, seems to cost them nothing; it is
as rapid as it is unaccountable, insomuch that to a
stranger their conduct appears quite unreasonable as
well as fickle. Like the monkey race, their attention
is perpetually changing from one object to another.
The houses are large and comfortable, constructed in
general with mud walls, and roofed with tiles. The
palm-leaf is but little used. The interior disposition
of the house is somewhat peculiar. About one half
forms an open hall, in which they receive visitors,
transact business, and, if shopkeepers, dispose their