sacred and profane; the first being in the vulgar tongue, and the last in Pali. M.
Pallegoix has given translations of some specimens of the popular literature. The
following are examples of Siamese proverbs. “ When you go to the forest, do
not leave your axe behind you."—“ Do not place your bark across the current of the
river.”—“ The elephant, although he have four legs, yet sometimes trips; and a man,
however learned, is liable to make mistakes.”—“ If you land, you may encounter a
tiger; if you continue in your boat, you may fall upon a crocodile.”—“ Nobility
implies but pedigree, but manners the man."—“ If a dog bite you, do not bite
the dog in return.” — “ Why should a man fear the rain who dwells under the
sky."
The following is a Siamese fable. “ Avarice is an enemy to prosperity and may
even lead to death. A certain hunter was in the practice of shooting elephants, for
the nourishment of his wife and children. One day he discharged his bow at an
elephant, which, struck by his arrow and maddened by the pain of the wound, pursued
him in order to kill him. The hunter, in order to escape, ascended a white anthill,
on which lay a snake that bit him. Enraged, he slew the snake. The elephant
continued to pursue, but the arrow, by which he had been struck, being a poisoned
one, he fell dead close to the ant-hill; and the hunter himself died of the bite of the
snake, leaving his bow still strung. Meanwhile a wolf, in search of prey, came to the
spot, and rejoiced exceedingly at what he saw before him. 1 Behold me rich, for this
turn,’ said he, ‘ for good fortune has befallen me. The elephant will last me three
months,—the man seven days,—and I will make two meals of the snake. But,’
added he, ‘why should I allow the bow-string to be wasted! Better that I eat it
first to appease my hunger.’ Thus meditating, he bit the string; and the bow rebounding
broke his skull, and he perished on the spot."
The following is given as the translation of a Siamese poem. “ The pains which
men endure in this world are a thousand-fold less than those the wicked shall undergo
in the infernal regions;—there the king of hell shall torment them cruelly.—
The wicked man shall be immured and loaded with an iron ruff and fetters, on account
of the crimes he committed in this world, when, pitiless, he cast others into fetters.
He shall be made to lie on a bed of red-hot iron,—he shall be transfixed, and die,
and be bom again seven times in a day.—Rapacious of bribes, he has not feared
lying; his tongue shall be torn out, because he had judged unjustly.—When he was
a judge on earth, he used menaces to extort gold; and obtaining it, he decided in
favour of the guilty, making falsehood pass for truth.—When he dies, assuredly he
shall not escape vengeance; he has not spoken truth, and for this he shall be thrown
into hell, there to remain for a long duration.-s^He has not seen his own crime ; he
has despised the laws of his forefathers, and on this account, dogs of the size of an
elephant, and crows and vultures shall devour his flesh.”
Among the Siamese, the only branches of knowledge with which they are
acquainted, that can be called science, refer to their calendar, their money, and
their weights and measures; and these are of such a character as entitles them to
rank in the third class of Asiatic civilisation. They have two eras, a sacred and a
civil. The first of these they reckon from the death of Buddha, which they place
513 years before the birth of Christ The second corresponds with the year of our
era, 638, and is said to have been instituted by an ancient Siamese king. I t probably,
however, dates from the introduction of the Buddhist religion into Siam, an
event which, it may be remarked, nearly corresponds in time with the origin of the
Mahommedan in Arabia. The Siamese year is lunar, the alternate months being of
29 and 30 days. The calendar, however, is solar, and the time adjusted by adding
a month to every third year. The week consists of seven days, and has been obviously
borrowed from the Hindus, since its days are named after the same obj ects, as
Sunday, Monday, &c., although the names be Siamese translations of the Sanscrit.
For religious observances, however, the month is divided into two parts: a bright or
increasing, and a dark or waning moon. The Siamese have two cycles, a smaller of
12 years, and a greater, which is its multiple by 5. Each year of the lesser cycle is
named after some familiar animal, as the ox, the horse, the dog, the ape, &c., and the
greater cycle is divided into 6 decades.
The Siamese have the advantage over the Burmese in possessing coined money.
Indeed, in this matter, they are above even the Chinese, who have no coined money,
except tokens of base metal. This advantage is probably no more than a matter of pure
accident. The standard Siamese coin is known by the name of a bat; and is the
same which is known to Europeans as a tical, a word of unknown origin. The coined
fractions of the tical are halves, quarters, and eighths; and its own value about three
French francs, or 2s. 6d., which makes it about one-fifth more valuable than the
Indian rupee. For small change, cowrie shells are used as in Hindustan ; and of
these, 1200 are considered to be equal to the lowest denomination of silver money
the fûang, or eighth of the tical, namely, about 15 farthings.
The smallest Siamese weight is called in the native language a hun, and weighs
45 centigrammes, or grains 6-943. Above this, and up to the bat or tical/ the weights
have the same denominations as the coins, the tical itself being of the weight of 18
grammes. What may be called the Siamese pound, weighs 720 grammes ; and the
Siamese quintal 72 kilogrammes. These two weights, however, are in much less use
than the Chinese cattie and picul, which are of one-half their weight ; making the first
9333 grains, and the last the multiple of it by 100, or 133J pounds avoirdupois.
The standard Siamese long measure is the fathom, which is two French mètres or
78 74 English inches. I t is composed of 4 cubits, each cubit consisting of two measures,
called empangs or feet. These consist of 12 parts or inches, and the inch is
divided into 4 parts, known by the native term of kabit.
The lowest denomination of road measure is the fathom already mentioned 20 of
which make a sen, or 40 French mètres; and 400 sen, equal to 16,000 mètres/make
M 1 f t measure is, probably, the Sanscrit yojana, which is nearly equal to
10 English miles. The other measures seem to be local.
The lowest measure of capacity is the coco-nut, and this, by law, ought to be
equivalent to half a French litre, or 31-10 cubic English inches. Twenty of these
make the measure called a thang, and 25 a set ; and 80 thangs, or 100 sets make the
largest measure, which is called a kien.
The religion of the Siamese is the same as that which prevails in Ceylon —which is
universal from Arraccan to the western frontiers of Anam,—which, in a modified
f0r ,V 1l t,h6Wr hip ~ - Tibet’ 5"? of the nations of Tartary, established m Anam, China, and Japan. The Siamese ascribe iatsn do rwighinic tho itsh pea prtriianlclye
of a kingdom within the valley of the Ganges, which they name Kabilaphat, no doubt
the Kapdawastu of the Sanscrit. This prince was Gautama, named Buddha or the
sage. They consider him a prophet and lawgiver of incomparable wisdom,’ but not
a god; for they describe him as dying in the 80th year of his age, and before Christ
of lndia W 6 in 623> on]y 297 years before Alexander’s invasion
The leading characteristics of Buddhism are the existence of a priesthood living on
the eleemosynary gifts of the laity, practising a rigid celibacy and exclusively devoted
o religion, the transmigration of souls,—a professed tenderness for all animal
Hie, a belief m a future state of rewards and punishments, and as the last reward
of super-excellent piety and virtue, annihilation, or at least, absorption into the
essence of the deity. Some European writers have described such a religion as a
virtual atheism for which, however, it is obvious that there is no ground. The
than the Hind, Ha’ altbough ™ tbeory “ ore mild, and less monstrously superstitious
Um I Ë ’, es not seem to have contributed to humanise or civilise its votaries.
With the exception of Japan and of China in which it is not in much esteem all the
nations professing it are less advanced than those professing Hinduism. ’
m e soil, climate, physical geography, and geographical position of Siam make it a
Eonn ÎhfvdT l,repCtilandeaspe,t ewd/ho0 ra r^e spre adJ hoev emrO eSvte aryct ™par tP aorf t tohfe ^khien gindtoemrn awl htreared /g Saicn ailse tdo
be made, much facility being afforded to their enterprise by the principal rivers their
branches and affluents. The main part of the foreign trade is with Chffla, The trad e s
mariners, and the shipping at least, as to form, being Chinese. The next most
^ p o rta n t branch of the foreign trade is with the Malay islands, and this is confined
with f r e e t 7 British settlements, and is of very modem origin, having originated
i, , abolltlon of European monopolies in European confe re e
mariners^ and shipping. “ the hands °f the Cbinese’ 88 to capitalists,'
The articles of export from Siam are very various, no fewer than fiftv-throe not™
products being enumerated. The principal articles are as follows rice uuLes coon
sappm wood a Z Sm’ Can,?'SUgf ’ Palm'6Ugar, cardamoms, black and’long pepper
/ ’ certain yellow dye-wood, mangrove bark, gamboge teak-wood rn-r
wood, benzoin, eagle-wood, cotton-wool, liquid indigo stick-lac iron in th e form o f
« s a î i S s s s s ü ki‘8do“ ™ ’*“ *■> “•