C ommerce.
Climate and
Seatons.
gold, benjoin, lacca, wax, tin, lead, &c. and particularly deer-fkins, of
which more than 150,000 were fold annually to the Japanefe. Rice
was alfo exported in great quantities to the Afiatic-iflesi***
The king was, by a ruinous policy, the" chief merchant, and had factors
in mofto'f the neighbouring cOuntries. The royal trade confided
in cotton cloths, tin, ivory, faltpetre,rack, andikins fold toThe Dutch.
The following recent information is derived from a valuable collection.
7 “ The produirions of this country are prodigious quantities of
grain, cotton, benjamin’; fondai, aguallo, and fapan woods antimony,
tin, lead, iron, load-ftones, gold, and filver; fapphires, emeralds, agates,
cryftal, marble, and tambac.” •
C H A P T E R IV.
Na t u r a l G eography.
Climate and Seafons.— Face of the Country .— S oil and -Agriculture,^Ri<peri. —
. Lakes*—Mountains,—Botany.—’•Zoology.—Mineralogy'. ;
r p H E two firft months of the Sfotnefe year, whieh c.orrefpond with
our December and January, form the whole wintef of this country:
the third, fourth, and fifth, belong to what is called their littlefum-
mer; the feven others to their great fummer. ‘ Being on the north of
the line, their winter of courfe correfponds withours ; but is almoft. as
warm, fays our- author, as a French fummer. The little fummer is. their
spring » . but autumn, is abfolutely unknown in their calendar... The
winter is dry ; the fummer ttloift; the former is diftinguifhed by the
courfe of the wind, which blows almoft conftantjy from the, north,fill
frethed with cold from the fnowy mountains of Tibet, and the bleak
waftes of Mongolia.
* Loub. L 2 8 6 . 7 Dalrymple’s Oriental Repertory, p. 118. * Loub. i. x g .
11 t l S f i This
This- country,,as;-already ipeptfoped, is, a w i f e ^ l e between ttyo high Lace.of the
rid g e sp f,m o u n ta in s,fjt^ a fom fw h ^ re ^ ig hU ^ ^ y p t on a widerfcale.
Compared witb, tjie ;^ rrq an $mgjr^vAhe* cultivated «kkel ia'jnojt^ahpye
half the patent'either inj,bjeadth or f e n g ^ jMqr do^the Siamefe feem
fo induftrious. ^s.^,e'Birmans,-,as.jtbei|5%g^icult'ure *doe$t not appear to.
extend far/romjlhe b.anJsi of ,t’& river and its br^nqbes iT o ^ a t tpwardSj
the, mountains there are .yaft, ^priginnl ^refts^itli^d- with wil^-^fomals^
whence the n um b j^ o f d§er and ptber fkius exported as merchandize.
an.d variegated fhofips> of* the|nqblq"gqlf of /Siam, and thp fizi,®
and inundations pfthe Meinam,!^ |^ te |W (itfo ^ |e ^ ^ a n d p i^ u fe fq u .e
ve;gbtaiio5' of tfie forefts, U lu ^W |.^ t ;ni^J;t with f rq'u^is p/brilliant fif
Jltps,' to i&prcefs ftrangeijsfwifh*dej|ghtt arcdfa^mkatiog,
j^T h e foil > Jo wards theympuntajns is ga^cjied^nd unfertile, but on the, Soil,
Ihpfes of therivjer confifts, dike tljat ofTgypt/©f an extremely/ich and
pu^d mould, in which.it is even difficult to find ,a pebble,., Its is ip /act
a ^ d d y |^ p §V } p n ^ ^ ccu«ttilating'fjro^ prly-ages, and .manured,,as i |
wpre^by regular-inundation^ fo- -as, to; produce -exuberant <juant-ities-o|
riW - ]Tbe country * .would t fife a tqrreftrial j?aradi£e,--\yerte .it nqtTp^jeAf
,tp the moft abfurd defpptjfm, which impoverifoes itfelf, and may per-
i a p s beclaffed among the> worft ofj go-vernments^being, far inferior to
iha^of their neighbours thq Birmans. ,
^ a ^ jm ltu r e vas u/iial ip the ea-ft, is/imple and primifiv^.'The chief Agriculture; I
•produift iarice of excellent quality ; bqt wheat iamot junknown, in land?
notffubjeft to the inundation^. ..t Peas, and other yegetahles,;^lfo„aboun4
*Majze is confined to - their gardens. From ind^l^ip^QT ^ej^dieefeb- ^ " ' I
.dom, more than one annual crop is taken from land.*.
, The grand river'Meinam, a name which fignifiqsfh? wo$mafvwater^rI ^
reigns fonreme ampng tbe.Sfomefq ftyeatfis.. Rpuberel ^ff^-that 'ttqs
riyer.isfo fmall when it enters the dominions pf 'Siam,th^t/or
Teagues m can only convey fmall fioats, not -capable dfcarrying..abQve
four qrufive perjbps. By his-Recount it ,ja afterwards the
.townofLaconcevan, hy another cqnfiderable. ri^r.from tfie aorth^jp 1
galled Meinam ;Jput this in our modern maps* is a mere reunion. of a
4 Loub. i. 50, who has engraved the Siamefe plough* 1 3 11 7-
• B’Anville however follows Lswbere.
hranchi ;