SIAM. 



the women are employed in works of induftry. Although 

 the Siamere are indolent, they are ingenious, and feme of 

 their manufafturcs deferve praife ; neverthelefs, the ruinous 

 and defpotie avarice of the government crufhes induftry by 

 the uncertainty of property. They are little flailed in the 

 fabrication of iron or iteel, but excel in that of gold, and 

 fometimes in miniature painting. The common people are 

 moftly occupied in procuring fifh for their daily food, while 

 the fuperior clafTes are engaged in a trifling traffic. 



The language of the Siamefe, called " T'hay," accord- 

 ing to Dr. Ley den's account of it (Afiatic Refearches, 

 vol. X. p. 244.), appears to be in a great meafure original ; 

 but there is reafon to conjefture, that it is not different 

 from that of the Birmans. To this purpofe it is alleged, that 

 Siamefe dramatifts ufed to perform in the Birman dominions, 

 which is not probable, unlefs the language were common. 

 Dr. Leyden fays, that it is more purely monofyllabic, and 

 more powerfully accented, than any of the Indo-Chinefe 

 languages. It certainly is conneAed, in fome degree, with 

 fome of the Chinefe dialefts ; efpecially the Mandarin or 

 Court language, with which its numerals, as well as fome 

 other terms, coincide, but thefe are not very numerous. 

 It borrows words freely from the Bali, but contrafts and 

 difguifes more the terms which it adopts, tlian either the 

 Ruk'heng or the Barma. In its finely modulated intona- 

 tions of found, in its expreffion of the rank of the fpeaker, 

 by the fimple pronouns which he ufes, in the copioufnefs 

 of the language of civility, and the mode of exprefiing 

 efteem and adulation, this language refembles the Chinefe 

 dialefts, with which alfo it coincides more nearly in con- 

 ftruftion than either Barma or Ruk'heng. Its conllruAion 

 is fimple and inartificial, depending almoft folely on the 

 principle of juxta-pofition. Relative pronouns are not in 

 the language ; the nominative regularly precedes the verb, 

 and the verb precedes the cafe which it governs. When 

 two fubftantives come together, the lad of them is for the 

 moft part fuppofed to be in the genitive. This idiom is 

 confonant to the Malayu, though not to the Barma or 

 Ruk'heng, in which, as in Englifli, the firft fubllantive 

 has a poffeffive fignification. Thus, the phrafe, a man's 

 head, is exprefl'ed in Barma and Ruk'heng, by lu-k'haung, 

 which is literally man-head ; but, in Siamefe, it is kua-thon, 

 and in Malayu, kapala orang, both of which are literally 

 head-man. A fimilar diflerence occurs in the pofition of 

 the accufative with an aftive verb, which cafe in Barma 

 and Malayu generally precedes the verb, as tummaing cha, 

 literally rice tat ; but in Siamefe follows it, as ken kaiv, 

 literally eat rice, which correfponds to the Malayu, makan- 

 naji. The adjeftive generally follows the fubllantive, and 

 the adverb the word which it modifies, whether adjeftive or 

 verb. Whenever the name of an animal, and, in general, 

 when that of a fpecies or clafs, is mentioned, the generic, 

 or more general name of the genus to which it belongs, is 

 repeated with it, as often happens in the other monofylhbic 

 languages, as well as in the Malayu. In the pofition of the 

 adverbial particle, the Malayu often differs from the Siamefe ; 

 as Mana pargi, literally luhere go, but in Siamefe, fai hnei, 

 go where. The Siamefe compofition is alfo, like that of 

 the Barma, a fpecies of meafured profe, regulated folely 

 by the accent and the parallelifm of the members of the 

 fentence ; but in the recitative the Siamefe approaches more 

 nearly to the Chinefe mode of recitation, and becomes a 

 kind of chaunt, which different Brahmins aftured Dr. 

 Leyden is very fimilar to the mode of chaunting the Sa- 

 maveda. 



The T'hay coincides occafionally, even in fimple terms, 

 both with the Barma and Malayu ; but thefe terms bear fo 



fmall a proportion to the mafs of the language, that they 

 feem rather the effeft of accident or mixture, than of ori- 

 ginal connexion. 



The T'hay or Siamefe alphabet differs conCderably in 

 the power of its charafters from the Bali ; though it not 

 only has a general refemblance to it in point of form, but 

 alfo in the arrangement of the charaAer. The vowels, 

 which are twenty in number, arc not reprefented by fepa- 

 rate charafters, but by the charafter correfponding to the 

 fliort iikar, varioufly accented ; excepting the vocalic ru 

 and lu, which are only variations of the r and / confonants. 

 The confonants are thirty-feven in number, and are not 

 arranged by the feries of five, like the Deva-nagari and 

 Bali, but the firft feries, ka, confifts of feven letters ; the 

 fecond feries, cha, 01 fix ; the third feries, ta or da, of fix ; 

 the fourth feries, ha or pa, of eight ; the fifth feries, ja, of 

 four ; and the laft feries, fa, of fix, including the vocalic 

 akar, though t%vo of them are not in common ufe. Each 

 of thefe letters is varied by fixteen fimple accentuationi, 

 and by thirty- fix complex ones. The letters ka, nga, ta, or 

 da, na, ma, ba ox pa, are alfo final confonants. Hence it 

 is ealy to perceive the near approximation of the Siamefe 

 to the delicacy of the Chinefe accentuation ; while in other 

 refpefts, the alphabet is confiderably more perfeft, than ia 

 the Mandarin or Court language of the Chinefe, which ha* 

 neither the fame variety of confonants, nor admits fo many, 

 in the clofe of a fyllable. The Siamefe pronunciation, even 

 of confonants, correfponds very imperfeftly to the Eu- 

 ropean mode : r and / are generally pronounced n in the 

 clofe of a fyllable ; h is often prefixed to a confonant ; but 

 from the total fufpenfion of the voice in pronouncing 

 fyllables which terminate in a confonant, no afpiration can 

 be pronounced after them ; ma and ha, tya and chya, are 

 often difficult to be diftinguiflied in pronunciation, as are 

 ya and ja, kye and chye, with other combinations. From 

 this circumftance, many combinations of letters are pro- 

 nounced in a manner fomewhat different from that in which 

 they are written. 



The firft European who attempted the ftudy of Siamefe 

 literature, was the learned Gervaife, but his lucubrations 

 have never been publiftied. The learned and indefatigable 

 Hyde procured from the Siamefe ambaffador at London, 

 an imperfeft copy of the Siamefe alphabet, which has been 

 publifhed by Greg. Sharpe, in the " Syntagma Differta- 

 tionum," 1767. It is inferior to La Loubere's alphabet 

 in accuracy, though it contains a greater number of com- 

 pound charafters. La Loubere's alphabet contains three 

 forms of the fa, correfponding to the Nagari ; but lYieJla 

 zxiAJh'ha, being difufed in common pronunciation, are com- 

 monly omitted both in the alphabet and in modern MSS. 



The Siamefe or T'hay language contains a great variety 

 of compofitions of every fpecies. Their poems and fongs 

 are very numerous, as are their Cheritras, or hiltorical and 

 mythological fables. Many of the Siamefe princes have 

 been celebrated for their poetical powers, and feveral of 

 their hiltorical and moral compofitions are ftill preferred. 

 In all their compnfitions, they either affeft a plain fimple 

 narrative, or an unconnefted and abrupt ttyle of fliort, 

 pithy fentences, of much meaning. The books of medicine 

 are reckoned of confiderable antiquity. Both in fcience 

 and poetry, thofe who affeft learning and elegance of com- 

 pofition, fprinkle their ftyle copioufly with Bali. The laws 

 of Siam are celebrated all over the Eaft, and La Loubere 

 has mentioned three works of fuperior reputation, the Pra- 

 Tam-non, the Pra-Tam-Ra, and the Pra-Raja-Kam-manot. 

 Of thefe, the firft is a collection of the inftitutions of the 

 ancient kings of Siam ; the fecond is the conititutional code 

 6 ef 



