190 EARL DE GREY'S ADDRESS. [May 28,1860. 



connect the Gulfs of Bengal and Siam, and so save the longer 

 passage to China through the Straits of Malacca ; but as no details 

 of this scheme have yet been laid before the Society, it will be 

 sufficient to indicate the existence of the project. 



I may here briefly refer to the extraordinary progress which the 

 foreign commerce of Siam, but more especially our own trade with 

 it, has made in recent years. Forty years ago there was hardly any 

 European trade with this kingdom; and I find that in 1856 the 

 number of European vessels that entered and cleared out from 

 Bangkok amounted to fifty, importing cargoes to the value of near 

 400,000Z. This has been chiefly owing to the remarkable man who 

 at present rules this remote country — a man who speaks and writes 

 our own language, who has introduced the printing-press, and who 

 possesses a considerable steam fleet. I may, indeed, describe him 

 as a kind of Asiatic " Peter the Great" on a small scale. 



Our third paper on the Hindu-Chinese countries is in the form 

 of a letter from a French naturalist, M. Mouhot, and relates to the 

 little-known country of Cambodia, or, more correctly, Kamboja — a 

 poor kingdom, reduced to very slender dimensions by the usurpations 

 of the Siamese to the north and of the Cochin-Chinese to the south. 

 M. Mouhot's letter is dated in October last, and from the station of 

 a Catholic French Mission called Brehem, in the country of a rude 

 race called the Stien, " Chez les sauvages Stien," in lat. 11° 46' 30", 

 and long, 103° 3'. M. Mouhot had crossed the Mekong or Great 

 Eiver of Cambodia on his route to the missionary station in ques- 

 tion, and describes it as not less than three miles broad, and con- 

 taining many large islands. At no great distance above where he 

 crossed this great stream, he describes it as obstructed by falls, so 

 that it is not navigable for probably above 200 miles from the sea. 



A full and very interesting account of Cambodia will be found 

 in the volume of our Journal now printing, compiled by our 

 associate Mr. James Campbell, Surgeon in the Eoyal Navy, from 

 the papers of the late Mr. Forrest and of the Eev. Dr. House. 

 To ourselves and to other European nations Cambodia is at pre- 

 sent an object of considerable interest, for within it the French 

 have lately formed an establishment which is likely to be a perma- 

 nent one. This consists of the town of Saigon, on a river of the 

 same name, and situated about 50 miles from the sea. The river 

 for navigation is probably the finest of Asia west of the Yang-tse- 

 kiang, the country an alluvial one of eminent fertility, and the 

 position as against any Asiatic enemy an impregnable one. The 



