"Slaves bought with money are subdivided into three classes:

"(a.) Those slaves who are free by payment of the debt. [These must have a security.]

"(b.) Those who are bought irredeemably. [These have no security.]

"(c.) Those who pay interest and do not work.

"Husbands may sell their wives, parents their children, masters their servants.

"When children are sold under the full value, they must not be beaten till they bleed.

"When slaves K'ai fak (a) take their master's place in prison, half their money must be remitted; but if they are K'ai kat (b), no part is to be remitted.*

"If a man sell a slave, and after receiving the money refuse to give up the man, he shall pay twice the price, three quarters to the buyer, and one quarter to the Government.

"If a buyer disapprove of a slave before three months have elapsed, he may claim back his money. If a master strike a slave so that he die, no claim can be had upon the surety, and the master shall be punished according to law.

"Anything that the slave shall break after the money has been paid, shall be added to the redemption-money paper.

"It is a very common thing, when masters have been arrested for debt, to make their slaves take their place till they can collect sufficient money. I never heard, however, of any slave having had any portion of his redemption-money remitted for it."

LAWS OF SLAVERY.

197

"If, in minding cattle, he should be negligent, and they be lost, he shall pay; but if more be given than he can possibly look after, he shall pay half. But if robbers bind him, and steal the cattle, he is not liable.

"Any claim against the slave must be made before he is sold to another master.

"If a master insist upon a female slave marrying against her will, half her redemption-money must be remitted.

"If a slave go to war in lieu of his master, or by the King's command, and fight there, all his redemption-money must be remitted: if he do not fight, half must be remitted.

"If a slave be placed to plant rice, &c., he cannot leave until the season be finished.

"If a master sell a slave, and then repurchase him, if the master dies, only half can be demanded from the slave.

"If, when rice is dear, a slave sells himself below the standard price (forty-eight ticals for women, and fifty-six for men), when rice gets cheap, his price shall be raised to the standard.

"If a slave injure himself when at work, compensation shall be allowed according to the amount of injury.

"If a slave die in defence of his master, nothing can be demanded from the security.

"In case of any epidemic, and the relations of the slave who is ill with it attend him, nothing can be demanded.

"If a merchant have a slave who has been in the

habit of collecting accounts and selling goods for his owner, and that slave abscond with money received on his master's account, his master cannot claim; or if he has bought goods on his master's account, the seller cannot claim.

"If a man have several wives, the smaller selling themselves to the higher wives, no interest can be claimed, as they are all considered sisters.

"If a master wishes to get rid of a slave and cannot, he may take him to the judges; and if they cannot sell him within three days, and another person buys him after that time, he must be 'K'ai kat.'

"The children of slaves who are relatives of the master are free.

"If a slave run away, the money expended in apprehending him must be added to his account.

"Slaves having children, the children must be charged for according to age.

"If the parent's price is below twenty-four ticals each, their children are not considered slaves.

"If a slave quarrel with his master, the judges will not receive his complaint until he has paid his money, unless it is a serious charge.

"If a slave makes money while in service, at his death it goes to his master; but if he had money before, it goes to his relatives.

"If a slave accuse his master of capital crimes falsely, he has his lips cut off; but if the charge is true, he receives his freedom. Children always

accompany the mother.

LAWS OF SLAVERY.

199

"Two slaves, husband and wife, having their names on the same paper, if one of them run away, the other can be charged.

"I have given, I think, all the important laws, and in general they are literally translated,-for the greatest part of which I have to thank Mr. Hunter."

CHAPTER VI.

NATURAL PRODUCTIONS.

Vegetables.

AS regards the productions of Siam for the con

sumption of its people, and for the supply of foreign countries, the state of agriculture is generally rude and backward. Few or none of the instruments which represent the application of science to the culture of the land are to be found in Siam,a country whose rural population is comparatively small-whose soil, spontaneously creative alike from its alluvial character, and from an abundance of water and of sunbeams to give vegetation every possible impetus, rewards the cultivator by large harvests for a small outlay of capital or labour. Immense tracts remain to be recovered from the jungle; and there can be no doubt that, under the influence of peace and commerce, vast districts will be subjected to the beneficent sway of the husbandman. China, that has already poured her millions of men into Siam, is at hand to provide from her teeming and superfluous multitudes the principal element wanting for the full development of the territorial opulence of Siam; while the presiding presence of European settlers will no doubt furnish the appliances which knowledge, wealth, and civilization are able to bring to regions so inviting.