SI AM. 



may mark the boundary. On the weft, a chain of moun- 

 tains divides Siam, as formerly, from Pegu ; but the nor- 

 thern province of Yunfhan feems to belong to the Birmans ; 

 who extended their territory, in this part, to the river May- 

 kang ; and the limits may perhaps (fays Pinkcrton) be a 

 fmall ridge running E. and W. above the river Anan. To 

 the S. and E. the ancient boundaries are fixed ; the ocean, 

 and a chain of mountains, dividing Siam from Laos and 

 Cambodia : fo that, according to the ancient defcription 

 of this kingdom, it may be confidered as a large vale be- 

 tween two ridges of mountains. The northern boundaries, 

 as defined by JLoubere, evince that Siam has loll little in 

 that quarter. His city Chiamai is probably Zamee, fifteen 

 days' journey beyond the Siamefe frontier. The northern 

 limit is therefore at 19°, and not at 22°, as he erroneoufly 

 ilates its latitude ; and therefore the length of the kingdom 

 may be about 10°, or near 700 Britilh miles, and about 

 one-half of this not above 70 miles in medial breadth. Or 

 its admeafurement may be more accurately ftated from about 

 1 1° of N. lat. to 19° ; being in length of about 550 Britilh 

 miles, by a breadth of 240. 



This kingdom is divided into ten provinces, viz. Sup- 

 thia, Bancok, Porcelon, Pipli, Camphine, Rappri, Tana- 

 ferim, Ligor, Cambouri, and Concacema, each of which 

 has its governor refpeftively. Of thefe provinces we have 

 the following fhort notices. Bancok is fituated above ieven 

 leagues from the fea, and in the Siamefe language is called 

 Fou. Its environs are embelliihed with delicious gardens that 

 furnifti the natives with fruit, which is their chief nourilhment. 

 See Bancok. 



Tanaferim is a province abounding in rice and fruit-trees ; 

 it has a fafe and commodious harbour, admitting voflels of 

 all nations ; and in this province the people find more ample 

 refources of fubfiltence than in the other parts of the mo- 

 narchy. (See Tasaskrjm.) Cambouri, on the frontiers 

 of Pegu, carries on a confiderable trade in the commodity 

 called by the French eagle-wood, clephants'-teeth, and horns 

 of the rhinoceros. The fineft varnifh is alfo procured from 

 this province. Ligor affords a kind of tin, called by the 

 French calain, the calin of the Portuguefe. (See Ligok.) 

 Porcelon was formerly a diftinft fovereignty, and produces 

 dyeing woods and precious gums. 



The capital city of the kingdom has been called Siam, by 

 the ignorance of Portuguefe navigators. In the native lan- 

 guage the name approaches to the European enunciation of 

 Yuthia, or Juthia ; it is fituated on an ifle formed by the 

 river Meinam or Menam. Its walls in Loubere's time were 

 extenfive ; but not above a fixth part was inhabited. Its 

 condition, fince it was delivered from the Birman conqueil 

 in 1766, has not been defcribed. The royal palace was on 

 the north, and on tlie eaft there was a caufeway, affording 

 the only free pallagc by land. Dillindl quarters were in- 

 habited by the Chinefe, Japanefc, Cochin-chinefe, Portu- 

 guefe, and Malays. The temples, pyramids, and royal 

 palaces feem to have been much inferior in all refpefts to 

 thofe of the Birmans. See Juthia. 



The other chief towns in the Siamefe dominions arc 

 Bancok, at the mouth of the Meinam, Ogmo, and others 

 on the eaflern coall of the gulf of Siam. On the weftern, 

 D'Anville marks Cham, Cini, and others as far as Ligor. 

 Along the banks of the great river arc Louvo and Porfc- 

 louc, with others of inferior note. Louvo was a royal rcfi- 

 dence for a confiderable part of the year. In general, thefe 

 towns were only collections of hovels, fometimes furroundcd 

 with a wooden ftockadc, and rarely with a brick wall. In 

 the fouth-welt, Tanaferim and Merghi may be regarded as 

 poileflions belonging to the Birman empire, and the remain- 



ing fragment of the Siamefe territory in that quarter pre- 

 fents no confiderable town ; though villages appear in Junk- 

 feylon and fome of the other ides. Kscmpfer, m an account 

 of his voyage to Japan in 1690, defcribes two remarkable 

 edifices near the capital : the firll is a famous pyramid, and 

 called Puka Thon, ercfted for the commemoration of a 

 vidory obtained, on the fpot where it Hands to the N.W., 

 over the king of Pegu. This magnificent Itrudture is en- 

 clofed by a wall, and is 120 feet high, varying in form at 

 its different ffages, and terminating in a flender fpire ; the 

 fccond edifice confifts of two fquarcs to the eait of the 

 city, furrounded by a wall, and feparated by a channel of the 

 river. Thefe fquares contain many temples, convents, 

 chapels, and columns, particularly the temple of Berklam, 

 with a grand gate ornamented with ftatues and various carv- 

 ings ; the other decorations appear by Kacmpfer's account to 

 have been exquifite. 



Our principal fources of information with regard to Siam 

 are the publications of La Loubere, who went as ambaffador 

 from Louis XIV. to the king of Siam, and thofe of the 

 French miffionaries, of which, that from the papers of the 

 bilhop of Tabraca by Turpin, m 1771, is the moft im- 

 portant. According to the account of the latter writer, the 

 people of Laos and Pegu have ellablifhed a confiderable 

 colony in Siam, fince their countries were ravaged by the 

 Birmans. Here are alfo many Malays, and the ancient kings 

 had a guard of Japanefe, which exhibits, in a ftriking point 

 of view, the intcrcourfe that fubfilled among oriental 

 nations. 



With regard to the hiftory of Siam, we fhall content our- 

 felves with obferving, that previoufly to the Portuguefe difco- 

 veries, this country was unknown to Europeans. According 

 to Loubere's account, the firft king of the Siamefe commenced 

 his reign in the year 1 300 of their epoch, or about 756 years 

 after the Chriilian era. Since the Portuguefe difcovery, their 

 wars with Pegu, and occafional ufurpations of the throne, 

 conititute the principal topics of their hiflory. In 1568 the 

 Peguefe king declared war on account of two white ele- 

 phants, which the Siamefe refufed to furrender : and after 

 prodigious (laughter on both fides, Siam became tributary to 

 Pegu: but about the year 1620, raja Hapi delivered his 

 crown from this fervitude. In 16S0, Phalcon, a Greek ad- 

 venturer, being highly favoured by the king of Siam, opened 

 an intercourfe with France, for the purpofe of fupporting 

 his ambitious defigns ; but they were punifhcd by his deca- 

 pitation in 1689, and the Freiicli connet\ion was thus ter- 

 minated. From Turpin, who has extended the hiltory of 

 Siam to the year 1770, we learn, that the firft king began 

 to reign about 1444 years before Chrift,and that he had forty 

 fucceflors before the epoch of tlie Portuguefe difcovery, or 

 the year 1546, many of whom were precipitated from the 

 throne on account of their dcfpotilm. Neverthelefs, as thefe 

 forty kings cannot be fuppoled to have reigned more than 

 ten years each, at a mean computation, the firft hiltorical 

 date cannot afccnd beyond the year 1 100 after Chrift, inltead 

 of 1444 years B.C. One of the moll remarkable events, 

 after the French had evacuated Siam, is the war againll the 

 kingdom of Cambodia, which was reduced to the neceflity 

 of fecking the protetlion of Cochin-china. Tlie Siamefe 

 army, having advanced too far into the country, wasdeftroyed 

 by famine ; and their fleet, though it dcftroyed the town of 

 Ponteamas, with 200 tons of elephanta' teeth, had little 

 fucccfs. In 1760 a fignal revolution happened in Siam, pre- 

 ceded by violent civil wars between two rival princes. Ac- 

 cording to Turpin's llatemcnt, the Birmans, a people of 

 the kingdom of Ava, had, in 1754, languilhcd five years 

 under the Peguefe domination. Having loll by death 



their 



