that they are a peaceable and rather a civilised people, it may not be over-rated.
The Kambojans are set down at 500,000, but we know so little of them and their
country, that no means exist for checking the statement.
The presence of a large Chinese population is certainly a singular fact in the
history both of China and Siam, and the more so since the emigration is of comparatively
recent origin, for at the close of the 17th century, according to the
statements of the missions sent by Louis XIV. the number did not exceed 5000.
M. Pallegoix gives it at 1,500,000, which I have no doubt is over-rating it. In 1826,
it was stated to myself at about half-a-million, and supposing it to have since increased
by one-half, the number will be 750,000, which far exceeds the number of this people
to be found in all the other countries put together to which this people has migrated.
They are chiefly confined to the fertile part of the country occupied by the Siamese,
attracted to it by trade, and the manufactures of iron and sugar. Adding them,
therefore, to the Siamese we shall have a total population for an area of 24,000 square
miles of 2,650,000, or 110 to the square mile, which in density is one-half that of
the island of Java, and scarcely a third of that of the plain of the Ganges.
With the deductions now made, the total population of Siam will amount to
4,450,000, which would give about 40 inhabitants to the square mile. Most of the
country, indeed, consists of mountain and forest, and even the most fertile portion
of it is under-peopled. The people are rude, and have never enjoyed any other than a
barbarous and arbitrary government. The country is now, and has been for the last
half-century, better governed than perhaps in any other period of its history. It has the
example and the labour of a large body of industrious Chinese, and is no doubt from
all this, more populous than it ever was before. The abundance and cheapness of
com and the other necessaries of life, show that much fertile land is yet unoccupied,
and still abundant room for a rapid increase of population.
The country of the proper Siamese natiou is divided into forty-one provinces,
named, after the manner of the Chinese, from their chief towns. The tributary
Malay states amount to four, namely, Tranganu, Kalanten, Patani, and Queda, which
are described under their respective heads. The tributary Lao states amount to
seven, and the Kambojan to five. I t is only where their own language is vernacular
that the Siamese administer government directly.
As to towns, the Bishop of Siam renders some account of twenty-four, most of
which he had himself visited, and which, exclusive of the capital, contained populations
varying from 4000 up to 80,000, giving a total between them of 330,000, or,
including the capital, of about 730,000. This, according to the estimate of the
population of the kingdom which I have attempted, would make the town inhabitants
to amount to one-sixth part of the whole, a result highly improbable in a rude state
of society, and in a country which, with the highest estimate of its population, is very
thinly inhabited.
By far the largest and most important of the towns of Siam is Bangkok, the modern
capital, in north latitude 13° 38', and east longitude 100° 34'. I t lies on both banks
of the river Menam, where it is about half-a-mile broad, and about eight leagues from
the sea, its site being within that portion of the lower valley of the Menam, which,
as already stated, is elevated above the level of the annual inundation. The present
reputed population of Bangkok is 404,000, composed of the following nationalities,
namely, Siamese, 120,000; Laos, 25,000; Malays, 15,000; Peguans, 15,000; Kambojans,
10,000; Cochin-chinese, 12,000; Burmese, 3000 ; Portuguese Christians, 4000;
and Chinese of the whole, or mixed blood, 200,000.
There is no doubt but that Bangkok is a populous and busy place, but the probability
is, that this estimate of the number of its inhabitants is greatly in excess.
The number given would make its population equal to that of Calcutta or Bombay,
which, considering the difference of government, and that these towns are of earlier
foundation than itself, is highly improbable. The town is described as occupying an
area of twenty-five square miles, but this includes the river, the palace which has a
circumference of three-fourths of a league, and many temples with their courts.
Most of the houses, too, consist only of the ground-floor, oraf there be a second, the
lower is uninhabited, owing to the insuperable repugnance of the Siamese to have
any one over their heads. The Chinese, it will be seen, form near one-half the
population, and to them is entirely due its commercial prosperity. The Menam
within the town, and indeed for many miles above and below, forms a safe, spacious,
and commodious harbour. Bangkok was founded in the year 1769, after the
destruction of Yuthia by the Burmese, and in the long period which has'since
transpired, has never suffered by foreign invasion or serious insurrection.
SIAM
o f iw m f Ayutbia>a ™rrWfj1°n of the Sanscrit Ayudya, the.name of the country
of the Hindu demi-god Rama the ancient capital is situated on the river Menam,
E 1! ? I V Z e - k, and seventy-eight mfies from the sea, and lies in
u ■ \ 18 Tr thf trac* °f inundation, surrounded by water, and
intersected by canals. Its present population, consisting of Siamese, Laos Chinese
and Malays, is computed at 40 000. The ruins of this old capital are v e ^ e x t e S
and several of the temples still standing, although neglected. ’
°r- in P,°rtug,U<; f orthography, Xiengmai, is a town of Lao, and the
It ii?i th P” no;p j y of th® ?ame name, situated apparently in latitude 20° 46'.
in J * a mountain, but has an extensive fertile plain near, and is
close to the Menam. The town, surrounded by a double wall and fosse is said to
3 o yoa area °f 1000 t0iSeS “ length by 900 in breadth> a n d l h t r a popXtion
• ° ? y °tbe/ Tlarge to,wn, in the Siamese dominions is Luang Phra-bang. This
is also a town of Lao, and the capital of a tributary state. I t is situated on the
sunused"“flth " T u KamboJa> a latitude 17° 50', and is a flourishing place
8ofoOO g probably with much exaggeration, to have a population of
Of all the people inhabiting the Siamese territory the Thai or nmn«.
have attained the highest degree of civilisation, and it is of them only that the state
of our knowledge will enable us to speak with any confidence the m, i«™ _i
excepted. Siamese civilisation is intermediate between Hindu and Chinese but
much below either of them. It has received a good dealfrom bote te ese» 2 but
m the main is indigenous, nor is there any reasonable ground for concluding that it
tbat in J bicb “ K ^ S T a S S S S
T n f f i = ? * ' r 5 “ $ ,h“ tto * ~ ~
m. S j B i S E S a s l f ‘3 , ’2 3 S S * £ * • °f * *v
severe The . ’ I y are very reserved, and on this head their laws are
The Siamese are greativ addTrfc J to 7 offender's being sold as a slave,
said that one-half tee y e a r^ nLssed f h ^ a“ d /musements, and it may be truly
t o ^ h e b quarrels are oift reareo opcc-uprrefnSce-faSnd S r^r,, fwri n a S i ' in the populous capital senous
year will sometimes p ^ s™ teo; ^ h e c? r " f c UD“ 0n an event> that a whole
Siamese are favourably distinguished from^nsT °f ft,8“™ I 0a8e' • thiS resPect the
whom they ''evere^e'almc.t'aa^HTh'0, 1" . , '0!? 60 e l01" 811 8nperiors, from the king,
indeed, would can tLir“ ! deity> to the humblest of his officers. Europeans
parents, and, generally, to bU+ ab-’eCt serriUty- Reverence to
that among the resident Chinca? f -a great respect. The bishop observes
ever known among the 2 S .“b S f f t T - while tbey • » scarce?;
Siamese alone, but to all the Asiatic nah 18 .obse^vatlon n° t applicable to the
. The most not °fth e firat rank of civilisation,
is excessive. This was observed to distic™68 h “ilaP etf r 18 a national vanity, which
17th century, and equally distinmishe V 7 French travellers of the
y ™lngmshes lt at the present day. One of these travellers