WITCHCRAFT IN SIAM.

Otago Witness, 14 December 1893, Page 41

WITCHCRAFT IN SIAM.

Extremely interesting are the stories of harem life in Siam told by Mrs A. H. Leonowens, an English lady who spent six years at the court of the late king. Mrs Leonowens describes a trial for witchcraft which occurred while she was at the palace : —

" It seems that during the king's absence a beautiful princess disappeared from the harem, and in her place remained only a deaf and dumb slave girl. On the day of the trial three women, half stupefied by the foul air of the damp cell in which they had been imprisoned, were conducted to the great couit hall of the temple, where the trial for witchcraft was to take place. A procession of royal astrologer, wizards, and witchea, who receive handsome salaries from the king, filed into the templfi and took their places. Then came the Chief Judge of the Supreme Court and his secretary to report the trial to the king. The prisoners, when brought in, proved to be May-Peab, who was the deaf and dumb changeling, and the two handmaidens of the princess. They were guarded by 50 Amazons.

"The crowd, who looked upon May-Peah as a veritable witcb, was breathless with ex-

pectation. Conch shells were now blown to summon the holy man of the woods, who soon appeared on the opposite bank of the river, plunged into it, and came and took his place beside the prisoners. This strange mortal, who lived the life of an orangoutang, had a remarkably fine, sensitive face, and was always called to aid the court in its spiritual examinations. At the command of the judge, the two A.maz;ns who were on duty on the night of the abduction testified that a tall, dark figure, with a dagger in one hand and a ponderous bunch of keys in ths other, had entered the hall. They saw her go to the cell of the princess, open it with one of the mysterious key?, and lead her forth. "As they were paralysed and unable to move from the spot, the strange figure reappeared, passed by them quickly into the cell, and closed .the door. To the questions of the wizards May-Peaa returned no answer. At a signal an alarm gong v/as struck immediately behind her, and being taken by surprise, she turned to see whence the sound came. The wily judge then shouted, 'It is plain that you can speak, for you are not deaf.' She was forthwith condemned to all the tortures of the rack. The holy man of the woods, on hearing this, uttered a wild cry of ' Yar ' (forbear), and declared that she was powerless to speak, because she was nnder the influence of witchcraft. One of the wise women suggested that some magic water should be poured into her mouth. On opening it they fell back with horror, and cried, ' Brahma ! Brahma ! an evil fiend has torn out her tongue.' " Immediately the unhappy woman became the object of pity, and even of adoration. The ceremony of exorcism was gone through, and she and her companions were fully acquitted of any complicity with the devil, each receiving a sum of money and being set at liberty. May-Petih's friends afterward told Mrs Leonowens tbat it was she who had terrified the Amazons, released the princess, and led her to a boat in which were the lover prince and two friends. As there was not room for all, May-Peilh refused to leave the companions of her beloved mistress, and full of terror lest, by the dreadful torture which she knew awaited her, she might be forced to betray those who were dearer to her than her own life, she with one stroke of her dagger deprived herself of the power of ever uttering an intelligible sound."