TIME

CHAPTER VIII.

COMMERCE.

ME was when Bangkok occupied the third place among the commercial cities to the east of the Cape of Good Hope-(first, Calcutta; second, Canton)—and as many as sixty British vessels were engaged in trade with the River Meinam; but such has been the baneful influence of bad legislation-such the destructive progress of monopoly-that when I visited Siam, all that remained to represent foreign trade was one English (half-caste) merchant, one Armenian, and a few Anglo-Indians from Bombay and Surat. The existing commerce, carried on in square-rigged vessels, was wholly possessed by the King and the nobles, while the mass of the junk coasting-trade had passed into the hands of the Chinese; but even this latter branch of commerce had been so interrupted by the pirates on the coasts of China and in the Gulf of Siam, that the junks employed had been reduced to one-tenth of the number formerly engaged.

Yet, looking at the wonderful aptitudes of Siam, it is obvious that nothing but mismanagement and misrule could have prevented the rapid growth and extension, instead of the decline and decay, of the commerce of so feracious a region. Four great rivers, navigable at a considerable distance from their mouths, open cheap and easy communications

with vast regions of cultivable lands; multitudes of canals lend their auxiliary aid; the general spirit of the people is favourable to maritime pursuits, and the trader occupies a respectable position in public opinion. In fact, from the monarch to the meanest of his subjects, everybody is disposed to barter and to turn to profit the exchange of commodities.

The greater activity of the multitudinous Chinese, and their roving and adventurous spirit, have made them the principal channels of trading operations in all parts of the country: there are no districts too remote to be explored by them, no object of traffic too small to escape their notice,-they are awake to everything which is to leave lucre in their hands; they are masters of the art of exploring and of exploiting, (we want an English word, though exhausting would be hardly too strong,) and their presence often reminds me of the vultures which I have seen gathering from all quarters of the heavens to feed upon a camel that has fallen down in the deserts, or the tens of thousands of black ants which collect around and devour or carry away the body of a cockroach which has had the misfortune to be trodden upon.

Let it not, however, be supposed that I look with any feelings but those of complacency upon the exodus of the Chinese from their native land, and their outpourings on all adjacent regions. I believe there is no class of settlers who, under proper control, are so likely to be useful-that the very quality, the passion for acquiring wealth, which leads them to dare all danger and difficulty, is a most valuable recom

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243

mendation. Their own habits of subordination,their inborn and inbred respect for authority-their gregarious spirit, which drives them into associations of every sort, private and public, praiseworthy and pernicious, only require a thorough knowledge of their character to be turned to the best account. Already they constitute nearly half the population of Siam. Every year there is a considerable influx, principally from the Island of Hainan, and from the provinces of Kwang tung and Fookien; the two latter districts affording, indeed, the chief supply of emigrants not only to Siam, but to Cochin China, the Straits, California, Australia, Western America, and generally to the countries in which Chinamen are located.

As most of the Chinese junks come down by the north-east and return by the south-west monsoon, their trading affairs are very sluggishly conducted; and long credits, irregularities, and delays have, no doubt, added to the profits, but have increased the risks of commerce, especially to the foreign trader desirous of realizing his import cargo and obtaining produce in return. It was an ancient joke of one of the Catholic bishops, that every foreigner who came to Siam should be accompanied by three cargoesone of presents for the King and the ministers, another of the commodities which he desired to sell, and a third loaded with patience to enable him to wait for their sale.* The establishment of capitalists, with warehouses for stowing goods, ready to purchase the

Pallegoix, i. 326.

produce of the country, or to exchange the goods they import for such produce, will in future years regulate or supersede the existing state of things.

Van Schouten (1636) reports on the commerce of Siam," The principal traffic of the country is in stuffs which come from the Coromandel coast and from Surat, Chinese manufactures, jewels, gold, benzoin, gum-lac, wax, sapan-wood, eagle-wood, tin, lead, and deer-skins-more than one hundred thousand deer being annually caught, the skins of which are sold in Japan at a great profit. They also deal largely in rice, of which all the Oriental nations consume great quantities. The King is the greatest merchant in the whole kingdom, annually sending to the Coromandel coast and to China, where he is held in high honour. Each year he obtains large sums by trafficking in the kingdom of Pegu, at Jongoma and Langhojangh.

"The coinage of the country is of very pure silver. The tical is worth 30 sols, the mace 7 sols, and the foang 3 sols 9 deniers. They usually reckon by catties of silver; each catty being worth 20 taels, or 144 livres; for the tael is worth somewhat more than 7 francs. All commerce is conducted by this money, no other being current in the country: but from Manilla and the islands of Borneo and Legneo is brought a shell, of which eight or nine hundred are worth a franc; and this is used in purchasing the necessaries of life, which are exceedingly cheap." (P. 34.)

In La Loubère's time all foreign trade was monopolized by the King. He says that no individual was

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allowed to sell imported articles; and that the King was not contented with selling by wholesale, but had shops in the bazaars where his commodities were dealt out in retail. He not only monopolized the sale of imports, but compelled his subjects to buy the wares he imported; and parents were ordered to clothe their children before the accustomed age for wearing garments. Tin, ivory, areca, and some other articles could only be sold to the King, and by him were supplied to foreigners; but the export was free of many important articles of produce, rice, sugar, fish, salt, gums, birds' nests, oils, spices, &c.

The ancient commerce of Siam was, when La Loubère wrote, in a state of decadence, in consequence of the King's monopolies; and he reports that only two or three Dutch barks traded with the country. Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, the famous exaggerator, states that, in his time, more than a thousand foreign ships were engaged in the Siamese trade. "Commerce," the French ambassador well remarks, "requires a certain liberty;" and when the prices at which imports were to be bought and exports to be sold were arbitrarily fixed by the King, there was little encouragement for the commercial adventurer. (P. 113.)

In the former days of Siamese commerce, teak, cassia, oil of turpentine, sandal-wood, resins, ginger, pepper, tobacco, coffee, cotton, sugar, benzoin (gum benjamin), eagle-wood, cardamums, gutta percha, cardego, and a variety of oils, were the principal vegetable commodities for exportation.

The dyewoods of Siam were objects of considerable