U P P E R S I A M. ^3 



or iioaring habitations ; thefe occafionally move from place to 

 place when the waters are high; the inmates keep a fort of fair, 

 and difpofe of their various commodities. 



The Meinam rifes at a confiderable diftance to the north, in 

 the very extremity of the kingdom, poffibly far beyond, for 

 its fountains feem never to have been traced, and the beft ac- 

 counts are very uncertain ; its -courfe, as far as we know, runs 

 due north and fouth. 



Jutbia or Judia^ the capital of SiafJt, is feated in about Lat. Citv of 

 14° 30', on a low ifland in the form of a man's foot. It is fur- J"'^"^^' 

 rounded with a lofty brick wall. The ftreets are ftrait, and accom- 

 modated with canal^, which pafs quite through from eaft to weft. 

 As Mr. Ca^uerhill very reafonably fixes the Zaba of Ptolemy to 

 have been in the bottom of the bay of Siam^ I fee no reafon 

 againd fuppofing that it might have been either at Juthiaf or at 

 fome place not remote from that port. Ships may enter into 

 many of the canals, and difcharge their cargo near the principal 

 houfes. The greater part of the ftreets ?re very mean, built 

 with bamboo, covered with the leaves of palms. Thofe of the 

 Cbinefe, Hindoos^ and Moors, are of ftone, but very low ; the fineft 

 houfes in Kcempfefs time, were fuch which had been inhabited 

 by the Englijb, Dutch, and French. The palace of the unfortu- History or 

 nate Phaulkon, minifter of ftate in the laft century, makes the P"'^^^''°''- 

 moft confpicuous figure ; Phaulkon was a Grecian by birth, 

 and feaman by profeffion ; he had ferved various nations, but 

 chiefly the Englijh. In their fervice, in capacity of a cockfwain, 

 he came to Siam, and obtained an employment at court. He 

 was a man of very fine natural abilities ; and by his good con- 



G2 dua 



