Edifices and structures for public convenience
and utility have not, as far as we could hear or
see, any existence in Siam, and neither piety,
superstition, charity, nor interest, seem to have
led the rulers of this country to construct bridges,
wells, tanks, or caravanseras, such as are to be
found more or less among all the other consi-
derable nations of Asia. The bridges which we
observed at the capital, and in the immediate
vicinity of the palace, consisted generally of no
more than a single plank ; and even within the
walls, they amounted to no more than laying
over abutments of coarse brick and mortar, a few
rough and naked beams. We nowhere observed
any attempt to construct an arch.
