The Siamese year is solar, and to preserve it
as such an intercalary month of thirty days is
added to every third year, after the eighth
month. The months, it is also to be remarked,
are divided into a dark and a bright half, or
an increasing and waning moon, as among the
Hindoos; and it is the days of these divisions,
and not of the month itself as among us, which
are reckoned. The Siamese year does not commence
with the first month, .but corresponds with
that of the Chinese. In the year 1822, the new
year fell on the 11th of April, being the 5th
day of the dark half of the moon. *
The great divisions of time are into two cycles,
the larger of which is of sixty years, and the
lesser of twelve, each year of this last taking
the name of some animal in the following order,
thus : Chuat, the r a t ; Chain, the ox ; Khan,
the tig e r; Tho, the h are; Marong, the greater
snake; Maseng, the lesser snake; Ma-mia, the
horse; Ma-mee, the g o a t; Wok, the ape ; Raka,
the cock; Cho-cho, the dog ; and Kun, the hog.
The Siamese have two epochs, or, as they denominate
them, Sa-ka-rat, a sacred and a popular
one. The sacred era dates from the death
of Gautama, and the year which commenced on
the 11th of April, 1822, was the year 2365, according
to this reckoning. This year is used
by the Talapoins, and in all matters connected
with religion. The vulgar era is said to have
been instituted in commemoration of the introduction
of the worship of Gautama into Siam,
and to date from that event, which took place
in the 1181 year of the sacred epoch, corresponding
with the year of Christ 638.# The
year commencing with the 11th of April, 1822,
was accordingly the 1184 of Siamese time. This
whose name was Krek. I t is used in matters
of business; but on ordinary and popular occasions,
such as in epistolary writing, it is not un-
frequently omitted,—the year of the lesser cycle
only being written, together with the day of the
week, and of the moon’s increase or decrease, in
the following manner. “ Written on Tuesday,
in the 7th month, on the 8th day of the bright
half of the Moon of the year of the Horse,”
which corresponded with the 26th of May, 1822.
The knowledge which the Siamese possess of
arithmetic is, from all I could learn, imperfect
artd superficial. As accomptants, they are slow
and inexpert, even with the assistance of the
Chinese sanpan, upon which they principally
rely. They are acquainted with the decimal
system of notation, which they mark by characters
peculiar to themselves, and which vary
much, if they do not altogether differ, from
* By some authorities, the vulgar era is said not to have
been instituted until three years after the introduction of the
worship of Buddha.
VOL. I I . d