Page:Siam and Laos, as seen by our American missionaries (1884).pdf/436

 At another time, when the season had been favorable, the thanksgiving is described by the same hand, as follows:

"The rice-crop this year is a bountiful one, and the people are rejoicing over it. The second king came in from the country on Sabbath morning. He had been out in his fields threshing his rice. Returning, he arranged for the yearly procession that is made at the close of the harvest. The first gong had rung for our religious service just as the procession reached the lower compound. The noise of bells on the elephants and the chanting of the riders, together with the music made by the king's band, made it necessary for us to delay the ringing of the second gong until after the procession had passed. I had not supposed it was to be so great an affair. A large number of elephants had passed before I began to count, but I counted one hundred and ten as they passed along one by one. I was told there were one hundred and seventy in the procession. One of the largest wore trappings of the brightest silver. The howdahs contained rice. All these were decorated with green branches. The procession was in honor of the guardian spirits that preside over the rice-crop. Those that could see the procession in its whole length considered it the most imposing one that has passed for years.

"About six weeks—including parts of March