356 THE VEGETABLE PRODUCTS OF SIAM. 



have seen samples of sugar from Nakhon-Yaisi which left nothing to desire, 

 either as regarded grain or appearance ; but this is only an instance, while 

 other districts produce a quality very inferior. The greatest quantity of 

 sugar is made in the neighbourhood of Bangkok and the adjacent provinces, 

 to where the tidal waters extend. Here irrigation, in cases of drought, may 

 be carried ou, with the greatest convenience ; and, were there sufficient 

 labouring hands to attend to its cultivation, ten times the quantity of sugar 

 now produced might be raised in those localities to which the tidal 

 waters extend, setting aside other places appropriate for its cultivation.* 



With better machinery, the manufacture of sugar in Siam might be 

 greatly improved. White or clayed sugar, red unclayed, and yellow, are 

 the three descriptions brought to market. The yellow sugar is always 

 deficient in grain ; most of it comes from up the country, and from 

 Chantibon : it seems to be a peculiar description of sugar, and the 

 Chinese manufacturers say they are unable to grain it ; it is usually 

 pretty dry. 



Palm-sugar is manufactured to a considerable amount at Pitchabure ; 

 but it is all consumed in the country. This is not the same as the date- 

 sugar known in Europe. 



The best sugar is procurable in March and April ; that which is made 

 in the two following months is mostly from the second boiling, and is 

 •much lower in quality. The quantity produced during each of the two 

 seasons 1857 and 1858 is supposed to have been about 100,000 piculs (of 

 133^ lb.) of Avhite, and the same quantity of red and yellow together. The 

 yellow sugar generally costs a little more than the red. 



Amongst the woods which are used for architecture or the construction 

 of shij>s, the teak-wood stands prominently forward. The tree is known to 

 botanists under the name of Tectona grandis, and is confined to only a few 

 localities. It is considered the strongest and most durable timber of India, 

 or perhaps even in the world, the greenheart of Guiana only vieing with it. 

 In Siam it has not been found in large quantities south of latitude 16° 

 North. The greatest supply to the Bangkok market arrives from the pror 

 vince of Sangkalock, the capital of which, bearing the same name, is 

 placed in Sir John Bowring's map in latitude 18° 30' North. 



Large forests of teak exist on the Burmese boundaries. The logs, when 

 dry enough to float, are made into rafts and floated down the rivers to 

 Bangkok, where they are usually sawn up. The most suitable form for 

 exportation is planks five inches in thickness. The supply has almost 

 entirely ceased, owing to the high prices and scarceness of wood. The tree 

 is now fully 50 per cent, higher than it was in former years. 



A number of woods, the produce of the forests in the interior of Siam, 

 might become of importance, were their qualities for naval or civil 



* As far as I have been able to judge, from what I have hitherto seen of the coast 

 regions of Siam, they strongly resemble those of British Guiana, one of the greatest, 

 sugar-producing colonies of the British possessions in the New World. 



