XXXli - MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES &C. 
of it for several years. It is now governed by the Siamese comman¬ 
der in chief, Phya Bo din. 
This place is situated on the great river called Me kong From 
this place north to the sources of the river, it is believed the Cochin 
Chinese have no possessions on the west side of the river. It is 
known that the river lias numerous outlets to the sea ; whether these 
are all in possession of the Cochin Chinese is doubtful. If they are, 
they do not embrace a very wide extent of country, and it would be 
sufficiently accurate for all general purposes to say that the Me 
kong was the western boundary of Cochin China, and consequently 
the eastern boundary of Siam. 
Another topic to which I would advert is the communication re¬ 
garding the Siamese laws from Colonel Low.* 
All praise is due to Colnoel Low for investigations into the langu¬ 
age and literature of this country, while they were otherwise univer¬ 
sally neglected by foreigners. Neither ought it to be forgotten that he 
pursued his researches under complicated disadvantages. The capital 
or central regions of the country, and the actual usages of the country 
generally, never fell under his personal observation. His pronuncia¬ 
tion and usage must have been acquired among the southern provinces, 
where the dialect differs almost as much from that used at Bangkok 
as that of Yorkshire differs from the usage of the best educated Lon¬ 
doner. If, under these circumstances, he should have been sometimes 
misled and mislead others, it is in no w r ay to be wondered at. 
My first remarks relate to the schedule of sounds by which he 
would represent the Siamese pronunciation. He employs " u short 
as in but, rut.” The Siamese of the capital recognize no such 
sound in their language. They have indeed one which resembles it 
when followed by n final, but under no other circumstances. It is 
exactly the sound observed in the last syllable of Anglictf/i, Ger man 
&c. The d to which he gives the sound of a in all has usually been 
employed by almost all Romanizers of eastern languages, during the 
last ten years to denote the sound he expresses by double a. The 
* See Yol. 1. p. 327 
