Its native name prik-thai, literally Siamese pepper, makes it probable that it is an
indigenous product. Tobacco, known to the Siamese under the name of “ medicine”
or “ physio,” is of course an article introduced directly or indirectly by Europeans,
most probably by the Portuguese, but at what particular time or under what circumstances
is not known. The plant is very generally cultivated, and it may be
said to be of universal use.
The following are the products of the Siamese forests put to economical use, the
teak, or Tectona grandis; sappan wood, Csesalpinia sappan; a kind of red wood called
by the resident Portuguese Pao-rosa or rose wood; Agila or eagle wood; and a kind
of benzoin differing from that of Sumatra, more abundant, but inferior in quality ;
two species of cardamom, seemingly different from the Amomum cardamomum of
Malabar, with the gamboge of commerce, the produce of a Garcinium confined to
that portion of Siam conquered from Kamboja. In various parts of the kingdom,
especially of its southern districts, the tree or trees yielding the valuable guttapercha,
have been recently discovered and the gum exported. From all accounts
teak forests are not found in any part of Siam further south than the 16° of latitude,
which will correspond with the locality of our own in Pegu and Mantaban. As in
Java they will probably be found confined to the limestone formation. The timber is
brought down to the capital by a long navigation, and being largely used in the construction
of temples, monasteries and ship-building, little probably remains for exportation
to foreign countries.
The most conspicuous of the wild mammalia of Siam are the elephant, the
rhinoceros, the hog, the ox, several species of deer, the hare, the otter, the royal
tiger and leopard, with some smaller feline animals, and some species of viverra.
The dog is stated, on native authority, to exist in the wild state, but the hyena, wolf,
jackal and fox are all absent. Elephants are abundant in all the wildest parts of
Siam, including Lao and Kamboja, and are largely domesticated as beasts of burden,
the finest being esteemed those of the province of Suphan, lying west of the river
Menam, and in about the 16° of latitude.
The domesticated quadrupeds, besides the elephant, are the ox, the buffalo, the
horse, the hog, goat, and dog. The ox is used for labour only, and this confined to
the dry uplands; the buffalo, the same powerful and unwieldy animal as that of
the Indian Islands, is the only beast of draught employed in the deep and marshy
irrigated tracts. The domesticated hog is of the Chinese breed, and largely reared
by the Chinese. The Siamese horse, like that of all the countries south-east of
India as far as China, is a pony, not exceeding 13 hands high, and is in general
use only in the uplands, being rarely seen within the tract of inundation. The dog,
as in all other eastern countries west of Cochin-China, is an unowned vagrant in towns
and villages.
The ornithology of Siam is a subject for future naturalists. The most conspicuous
birds are an eagle, a vulture, the carrion crow, all numerous about the capital,
because attracted to it by the disgusting character of some of the Siamese funerals,
and from religious motives, they never being either killed or disturbed. The
common Indian peacock, and the beautiful double-spurred one are to be seen in the
woods, as well as the common fowl, and several species of pheasant. The common house-
sparrow, which, as a native, is unknown in the Malay and Philippine Archipelagos,
is very frequent in the Siamese capital. The domesticated poultry are nearly confined
to the common fowl and duck, the goose being rare, and the turkey unknown.
The reptiles of Siam are numerous, consisting of various tortoises, lizards, and
snakes. Not only the eggs of turtles, but also of alligators, are used by the Siamese
as food. The snakes are of many species, but few of them poisonous. A python, of
which I saw an example when in the country, measured 12 feet long. Both the sea-
coasts and rivers of Siam abound in fish, the latter more especially in the period of
inundation. Dried fish is, indeed, a considerable article of export, besides forming
the largest part of the animal food of the people. A sauce or rather a paste
made of crushed and pickled prawns is an article of universal consumption.
This, which the Siamese call kapi, is the blachan of the Malays, and the trasi of the
Javanese.
Among insects the most useful are the honey-bee, only wild, and the lac
insect. The stick-lac of Siam is in the quantity and quality of its colouring matter,
the best in the east, and continues to be an article of export. At the capital, the
mosquito was not found more troublesome than in other hot and damp countries,
but towards the mouth of the Menam, they exceeded in number anything
I had ever experienced elsewhere. The common fly is by no means frequent
or troublesome in Siam, and it is rather remarkable that lice, bugs, and fleas are
nearly unknown, as is the case also in the Philippines.
The man of Siam, including all the nations and tribes which inhabit it, is the game
with the Burmese and Kambojan. It is the race which prevails from Bengal to
China, a peculiar one that has not been much commingled with other races. The
average stature of the male sex is about five feet three inches, which is about an inch
taller than the stature of the Malay, and an inch and a half shorter than that of
the Chinese. The complexion is a light brown, nearly the same with that of the
Malay, but considerable darker than that of the Chinese. The hair of the head, is black,
lank, course, and abundant. That of every other part of the body scanty, the beard
consisting only of a few scattered piles. The nose is short, round at the point yet never
fiat- The upper part of the forehead is narrow, and the face broad at the cheekbones,
giving it a lozenge instead of an oval form. I t is not difficult to distinguish a
Siamese from a Malay or a Chinese, when the parties are present to the observer,
but by no means easy to convey by words the difference between them.
The dominions of Siam are inhabited by four distinct nations,—the Siamese proper,
or Little Thai, the Lao, or great Thai, the Kambojans, and the Malays, and of three
rude tribes,—the Karieng, the Chong, and the LawA All these have their separate
languages, and are more or less distinct in manners and customs.
The proper Siamese, or ruling nation, as far as our imperfect knowledge extends,
inhabits from the seventh degree of latitude to the twentieth, and from the shores of the
Bay of Bengal to about the one-hundred-and-second degree of east longitude. This
embraces the whole fertile tract of the inundation of the Menam, and other rivers which
debouche at the head of the Gulf of Siam, and to this favourable locality is, no doubt,
to be attributed their supremacy. The Lao nation lies north of the Siamese, extending
eastward as far as the Mekong, or great river of Kamboja. The Laos are composed of
several petty states, governed by their own princes, and paying tribute to the Siamese.
There is no record of their having existed as an independent people, their states
being subject either to the Siamese, Burmese, or Kambojans. The Kambojans, called
by the Siamese, Khmer, inhabiting the Siamese territory, occupy a considerable
portion of the country on the eastern side of the Gulf, from between the tenth and
eleventh degree of latitude up to about the sixteenth.
The wild race of the Chong inhabits the mountains to the east of the province of
Chantibun, on the eastern side of the Gulf, and the Kariengs have their locality to
the north of them. The Lawd are found in the range of mountains lying between
the Menam and the river of Martaban. In reference to the Siamese, the Lao, and
Kambojans, those three rude tribes stand in the same relation as do the mountaineers
of Hindustan to the civilised Hindus, or those of the Philippine Islands to the
advanced inhabitants of the lowlands. They are not without some knowledge of
agriculture and the useful arts, but have not adopted the religion of their masters to
whom they, notwithstanding, pay tribute.
Besides the native nations of Siam, a large number of strangers are permanently
settled in it, retaining their own languages and manners. These are chiefly Chinese
from the maritime provinces of that empire, with some Peguans, and Cochinese or
natives of Anam. M. Pallegoix, in his recent work, makes the whole population of the
kingdom, tributary states included, 6,000,000, composed of the following elements —
namely, proper Siamese, 1,900,000 ; Laos, 1,000,000 ; Malays, 1,000,000: Kamboians
500,0001 Peguans, 50,000; and rude tribes, also 50,000. As the area of the whole
kingdom is estimated at 111,000 square geographical miles, the relative population
by these dates, is about 54 inhabitants to a mile. The statement, however, is not
only suspicious on account of its round numbers, but also from no data whatever being
furnished of the principle on which the estimate has been formed. That portion of
it which relates to the Malay population is, beyond doubt, a monstrous exaggeration
since we know that English writers, with far better means of information, do not make
the population of the four tributary Malay states to exceed 180,000. Their estimate
however, does not include the Malays living within the proper Siamese territory, but
it we make these 20,000, the exaggeration will still amount to 800,000, which must be
deducted from the total population of the kingdom.
aaa eSiim,at? of M- Pallegoix, the proper Siamese population is put down at
1,900,000, which is probably not overrating it. The territory occupied by them is
the fertile inundated plain of the Menam, and its affluents. Estimating the area of
this at 24,000 square miles, it would give, excluding Chinese and other strangers, a
relative population of near 80 to the square mile. The population of the Laos
is given at 1,500,000, and considering that the territory they occupy is extensive, and