N ame .
Extent and
Boundaries.
Original Population.
.
to Siam j‘ and the -Pórfüguele writers in latin call the -natives Siotiex.
The Sianiefe ftyle thenffelves Tai, or freemen j. and their country
Meuang Tai, or the kingdom of freemen. It is probable that the Por-
tuguefe derived the name. Sian from intercourfe with the Beguefe.*'
The extent of the Siamefe dominions has f e n recently -reftrifled by
the encroachments of the..Birmans;; '1 .{bine of the limits be a c curately
denned. On- the well of the Malaian peninfula a few pof-
feffions-may remain, to the fouth of Tanaferim; and on the .eaftern fide
o f :that Cherfonefe Ligor may mark the boundary. On the weft a
chain of mountains feems to divide Siam, as formerly, from Pegu,;—
but the northern province of Yunffian would appear.to .be in the hands
óf-the Birmans, who here feem to extend to the river Maykarig; and
perhaps the limits may be a fmaft ridge .Funning E. and W. above the
river Anan. To the fouth and eaft the- ancient boundaries safeftxe'd«)
the ocean, and a. chain of mountains, dividing Siam iron*' Laofe-.-attd
Cambodia. Thus the affdefii fdfea-ntay bè- retaxfcedj that this kingdom
is a large vale between two ridges of mountains.
The northern boundaries, as defined by Loybgre, evince that Siam
has loft little in that quarter.. -His city Chiamai is"pmha6Ly"Xamee j
and was fifteen days journey beyond the Siamefe frontier.- ,iBut when
he marks the notrthem limit at 22 there is a% erf dr in latitude. It
is about the nineteenth degree j | fa that the length of tirlé kingdom miy*
be about ten degrees,! or near 700 Britifh miles; bur of this about one
half is not above yo miles in medial breadth. A more adequate admeasurement
may be eftimated from about n ° jof N.- Iat. to rgQ‘ ■ a.
length of about 5,56 Britifh miles, b y the breadth of 240.
The original population of Siam, and other regions of .exterior Indian
can -only be traced by affinity of languages ; and thé" topic has'been
little illuftratedl For "this purpofe thé vulgat fpeecft muft' be cftoferi,
and not the Bali, or language öf thé learned,' which 'is: perhaps- the
fame with the Palli of Hindöftan. I f the former.be monofyllabib, as
Loubere fays, it bears fome affinity with the Chinefe; and, he adds
with thofe of the.eaftern regions of exterior India. That o f the Malays
1 Loubere, i. 16 edit. Amft. 1714.
* Shan is the oriental term', as appears from feveral papers in the Bliatic Refearches.
m, is
is very "different; and perhaps they proceeded, as before-mentioned,
from Hindöftan’, while the’ other, t-ribfes of further India advaneèdby
faftd'frofti* China arid Tibëf ^though; there1 may perhaps'be-' fóund gfeat
diffidence in the - ÖkfïëÓ:, ■ •from éaïlyiffepafatiën in a favage'ftate, fol-
30W-edbfey»ftif f é wdriis dft'd'elftom’st^
,h> Théó'^ïogreffitfê'lfko'gnqffiy óf Siam afcêntfs‘fh 'daffical a'htiquity, if
the ff>fe3le j be,1 ai? is*1 reaförfably inferred,1 'the^Sihse or Ptolerfty. The
early navigators'‘imagined ‘ffi'at'thi-'-Cffirlèfè ‘iv'ërè the SiHcêj and that the
Èfe óf Taprobaria ifras* Sumatra ! " Iri the feign ó f tHe èmperor Juftinian,
CofmaSy dalfeftIhdifiopledftfe's,, ïhëntiöftjhftfté'filk of the*1 ISitiaê, as'ife
pi^fféd 'into Tbprohana; wMëhl’hé ali^cal^W^/aA'fe, cohMding With
Se/endiè, the oriental. .'üatöePÖf Géyldöb atid wheh hÓia:Slls':®ati fthisMé
walsataïï equal diftance frofn'thc-Perfiafn .gulph, a n d r e g f o n of the
Singi, he thÉt flle: latter was Siam. s This»
Country is nof> indeed-at1 prefenf retnafkabl-e fhr- the production of filk,
the ftaple article of thé aifteient Sinoë1; bfutbitiappèaks that'the filk of thé
eari^.'claffics-whsjChó*?gtöwth óf a! tree^iM^kind of'filky Cóftbriy frill
abundant in- Siam; and perhaps, as Malacca afterwards becanife famous
for products nföt its*' own, fd Siam, inf a fitnilar ce'ritrical peïuiüft between
GMila .arïd Mifwlbftan might, ih 'tnicïén't tïèdfes, be the mart of
this andPötiier* ‘inorë* öriental articles:.?■ Wh'eri real* filk became known to
the Rpmansy abofit; the timè óf Aufeliah, a pound wasTold for'twelve
ounces o# gold, a price which {hews that it muft Have gaffed thfdügh
repeated mercantile? profits The -Pèrfiam mdnks, who, 'in the fixth
century;- introduced thuftlk-worm info* the Byzantine empire, perhaps
proceeded to the weft - óf Gbiha, i f 'thfby‘d1d'‘rfót find that valuablè
infeCt.ift feme watm Vale#‘óf Tibet** Nbr, 'whiledtxs.eenied tbat'the
Greeks, or Romans' had any knowledge of China, is it meant to be ini
febred that the Pcrfians were in the like predicament; the Arabian travellers.*
;©f the ninth century, whofe' account is publiffied by Renaudot,
and is inconteftibly genuine, Slewing a vëryóoölpiete- knowledge of
that country. ■ ■ "
* If, as fome anGiepis affirm, they brought it from the Seres, (not'fthe Sirue) Little Buchan a
m-uft be implied j but the ancient idejas were vague; and often, aè in the cafe of Arabia and
HindcHan, confounded the-mart with the native country.
e E 2 Some
OSIG
Pop;
Progrefflie
Geography.