354 



ON SIAMESE LITERATURE. 



The Sticcado, composed of a number of metallic bowls disposed on a 

 circular frame of bamboo which are beaten by a muffled stick, is an 

 instrument of considerable compass. 



The Bot-rang employs every variety of Siamese measure — and the 

 greatest attention has been paid to suit the language to the actions, feelings 

 or subjects displayed. To each style also distinct and apposite musical 

 airs are appropriated. These airs are not all of Siamese origin : — thus 

 there is the Lau or Laos air, the Lakhan or L,igor, and the Mon or 

 Pes'u-an airs. The music, vocal and instrumental, of the Siamese is more 

 pleasing, because more natural than that of the Chinese. A Chinese when 

 singing strains his voice, pitching it at so high a key at the outset, that 

 forced and unnatural tones must be afterwards resorted to ; and as if aware 

 of its effects, he immediately rings a brazen peal from deafening instru- 

 ments, which at once and without further comment convinces a foreigner 

 that he is as far behind many Asiatic nations in harmonic feeling, polish 

 and taste, as he is superior to most of these in many of the acts most 

 conducive to public prosperity and to private convenience and luxury. 

 The Siamese seem to have no idea of written music : so that in reading one 

 of their operas or dramas much of the effect which a knowledge and use 

 of them would produce is lost on a stranger. Above each particular 

 stanza or chapter the name of the air to be used is noted. 



Amongst the other kinds of Thai composition are the 3Iu phdtkan 



a sort of heroic verse depending more on the order of the syllables (called 



Kham-ti tang,) than on rhyme or Klan. This kind is generally used 

 in sacred works. They have likewise Phlhig or lyric verses or songs, 

 Plengna pastorals, Plengo or elegiac verses — and Plengot or lamentations. 

 The note below* will shew that the Thai are a people who delight in poetry 



* Nangsu so-ctt, ... Romance— history. ■^'^^^^ ^^""^ ") Tropes— figures. 



Metaphor — similitude. 

 Division of a subject. 

 Unities. 



