175 
S I 
The language of the Siamese, called “ T’hay,” accord- 
ihg to Dr. Leyden's account of it (Asiatic Researches, 
vol. x. p. 244), appears to be in a great measure original; 
but there is reason to conjecture, that it is not different 
from that of the Birmans. To this purpose it is alleged, that 
Siamese dramatists used to perform in the Birman dominions, 
which is not probable, unless the language were common. 
Dr. Leyden says, that it is more purely monosyllabic, and 
more powerfully accented, than any of the Indo-Chinese 
languages. It certainly is connected, in some degree, with 
some of the Chinese dialects; especially the Mandarin or 
Court language, with which its numerals, as well as some 
other terms, coincide, but these are not very numerous. 
It borrows words freely from the Bali, but contracts and 
disguises more the terms which it adopts, than either the 
Ruk’heng or the Barma. In its finely modulated intona¬ 
tions of sound, in its expression of the rank of the speaker, 
by the simple pronouns which he uses, in the copiousness 
of the language of civility, and the mode of expressing 
esteem and adulation, this language resembles the Chinese 
dialects, with which also it coincides more nearly in con¬ 
struction than either Barma or Ruk’heng. Its construction 
is simple and inartificial, depending almost solely on the 
principle of juxta-position. Relative pronouns are not in 
the language; the nominative regularly precedes the verb, 
and the verb precedes the case which it governs. When 
two substantives come together, the last of them is for the 
most part supposed to be in the genitive. This idiom is 
consonant to the Malayu, though not to the Barma or 
Ruk’heng, in which, as in English, the first substantive 
has a possessive signification. Thus, the phrase, a man's 
head, is expressed in Barma and Ruk’heng, lu-k'haung, 
which is literally man-head; but, in Siamese, it is kua-khon, 
and in Malayu, hapala orang, both of which are literally 
head-man. A similar difference occurs in the position of 
the accusative with an active verb, which case in Barma 
and Malayu generally precedes the verb, as tummaing cha, 
literally rice eat; but in Siamese follows it, as ken haw, 
literally eat rice, which corresponds to the Malayu, makan- 
nasi. The adjective generally follows the substantive, and 
the adverb the word which it modifies, whether adjective or 
verb. Whenever the name of an animal, and, in general, 
when that of a species or class, 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 monosyllabic 
languages, as well as in the Malayu. In the position of the 
adverbial particle, the Malayu often differs from the Siamese; 
as Mana pargi, literally where go, but in Siamese, pai hnei, 
go where. The Siamese composition is also, like that of 
the Barma, a species of measured prose, regulated solely 
by the accent and the parallelism of the members of the 
sentence; but in the recitative the Siamese approaches more 
nearly to the Chinese mode of recitation, and becomes a 
kind of chaunt, which different Brahmins assured Dr. 
Leyden is very similar to the mode of chaunting the Sa¬ 
naa veda. 
The Siamese are not deficient in literature, and their modes 
of education are well explained by Loubere. 
From Mandelslo we learn, that the commerce of the ca¬ 
pital of Siam consisted in cloths imported from Hindoos- 
tan, and various articles from China; in exports of jewels, 
old, benjoin, lacca, wax, tin, lead, &c„ and particularly 
eer-skins, of which more than 150,000 were sold annually 
to the Japanese. Rice was also exported in great quantities 
to the Asiatic isles. The king was, by a ruinous policy, 
the chief merchant, and had factors in most of the neigh¬ 
bouring countries. The royal trade consisted in cotton 
cloths, tin, ivory, saltpetre, rack, and skins sold to the 
Dutch. A late writer informs us, that the productions of 
this country are prodigious quantities of grain, cotton, ben¬ 
jamin; sandal, aguello, and Japan woods; antimony, tin, 
lead, iron, load-stones, gold and silver; sapphires, emeralds, 
agates, crystal; marble, and tambac. Siam, in respect of 
fertility, ioco-position, and productive labour, possesses 
commercial advantages of the same nature with those of the 
A M. 
Birman empire ; but on the coast at least, the climate is far 
from being healthy. 
The two first months of the Siamese year, corresponding 
with our December and January, form their whole winter; 
the third, fourth and fifth belong to that portion which 
is called their little summer; and the seven others to their 
great summer. As they lie north of the line, their winter 
corresponds with our’s, but it is almost as warm as a French 
summer. Their little summer is their spring; autumn is un¬ 
known in their calendar; the winter is dry, and is distin¬ 
guished by the course of the wind, which almost constantly 
blows from tj ’ north, and is refreshed with cold from the 
snowy mourncuna of Thibet, and the bleak wastes of Mon¬ 
golia. 
We have already described this country as a wide vale 
between two high ridges of mountains; but compared with 
the Birman empire, the cultivated land is not above half the 
extent either in breadth or length. Less industrious than 
the Birmans, the agriculture of the Siamese does not extend 
far from the banks of the river, or its branches; so that to¬ 
wards the mountains there are vast aboriginal forests filled 
with wild animals, whence they obtain the skins which are 
exported. The rocky and variegated shores of the noble 
gulf of Siam, and the size and inundations of the Meinam, 
conspire with the rich and picturesque vegetation of the 
forests, illumined at night with crowds of brilliant fire-flies, 
to impress strangers with admiration and delight. 
The soil towards the mountains is parched and infertile; 
but oh the shores of the river consists, like that of Egypt, of 
a very rich and pure mould, in which a pebble can scarcely 
be found ; and the country would be a terrestrial paradise, 
if its government were not so despotic as to be justly reckoned 
far inferior to that of their neighbours the Birmans. Rice of 
excellent quality is the chief product of their agriculture; 
wheat is not unknown; pease and other vegetables abound; 
and maize is confined to their gardens. The fertility of Siam 
depends in a great degree, like that of Egypt on the Nile, on 
their grand river Meinam, and its contributary streams: for 
an account of which, see Meinam. 
Of the lakes of this country little is known : a small one, 
however, lies in the east of the kingdom, which is the source 
of a river that flows into that of Cambodia. To its exten¬ 
sive ranges of mountains, inclosing the kingdom on the east 
and west, we have already referred. A small ridge also 
passes from east to west, not far north of Yuthia, called by 
Loubere Taramamon. The forests of the country are large 
and numerous, and produce many valuable woods. Its 
chief animals are elephants, buffaloes and deer. The ele- 
hants in particular are distinguished for their sagacity and 
eauty; and those of a white colour are treated by the Sia¬ 
mese with a kind of adoration, as they believe the soul of 
such is royal. Wild boars, tigers and monkeys are nu¬ 
merous. The reports of the mineralogy of Siam are various. 
Mandelslo, or rather his translator Wicquefort, who added, 
about the year 1670, the accounts .of Pegu, Siam, Japan, 
&c., informs us, that Siam contains mines of gold, silver, 
tin and copper; and Loubere suggests, that they were 
anciently more diligently wrought, as the ancient pits indi¬ 
cate ; not to mention the great quantity of gold, which must 
have been employed in richly gilding the idols, pillars, 
ceilings, and even roofs of their temples. In his time no 
mine of gold or silver, worth the labour of being wrought, 
could be found. The mines chiefly wrought by the Siamese 
were those of tin and lead. The tin, called “ calin” by 
the Portuguese, was sold throughout the Indies; but it was 
soft and ill refined. Near Louvo was a mountain of load¬ 
stone, and another of inferior quality in Junkseilon. 
The Siamese, though of a melancholy turn, have no ob¬ 
jection to lively music. They have often parties on the 
water, which they render very pleasant by a number of 
voices, and the clapping of hands, with which they beat 
time. 
The instrument in the highest favour with them produces 
a sound similar to two violins perfectly in tune, played at 
the same time. But there is nothing more disagreeable than 
