Tales of Old Bangkok: Rich Stories from the Land of the White Elephant by Chris Berslem

Author:Chris Berslem [Berslem, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Earnshaw Books
Published: 2016-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

Pork-loving Christians

From The Eastern Seas by George Windsor Earl, 1837

Many native Christians are to be found at Bankok, probably about five or six hundred. These people are either descendants of the Portuguese who formerly traded on the coast, or converts to the Jesuits…They are despised both by the Europeans and the natives, and certainly not without cause: for they do no credit to any country which might own them. How the majority of these people contrive to live, it is impossible to say, but appearances are strongly against the supposition that they earn a subsistence by honest occupations.

Their communication with Europeans has enabled them to acquire a more extensive degree of knowledge than the natives, and some of them are consequently employed as interpreters and pilots, the captain of the port also belonging to this class. Their acquirements, however, are not always turned to a worthy use, and among other accomplishments of a very dubious nature, they are said to be complete adepts in pig-stealing, so much so, that a grunter can be whipped up and carried off without the least noise, and even without the animal itself being perfectly aware of the circumstance. Many a wretched Chinaman, who has been watching for weeks the gradual development of the sides and haunches of a fattening porker, awakes some morning, perhaps after dreaming of the feast he expects to enjoy in the course of a few days, and finds to his utter dismay that the pig has been abstracted from the sty during the night.

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