which are encountered, often compelled those who were on foot to travel with bare feet, which, from the thorns and venomous insects which abound in these situations, was not without danger. Providence watched over us, and in the midst of so many perils preserved us from all accidents. From the hour of ten in the morning till four in the afternoon the heat is excessive. For shelter against the power of the sun's rays, it is customary for native travellers to cover the head with a linen cloth, which acts as a veil. This, however, does not prevent the skin of the face from blistering and peeling off. When one is forced to traverse sandy tracks in the hot season, the rays of the sun, thrown back by the sand as by a reflector, render it intolerable. The eyes, above all, are sensibly affected by it. So many inconveniences combined rendered all my party sick, with the exception of myself, and obliged me to renew a part of my escort." (Association de la Prop. de la Foi, No. xv. p. 254, 5.) The climate of Siam is, for a tropical region, salubrious. During our visit we suffered somewhat from the heat, which was frequently from ninety-five to ninety-six in the shade; but the health of the members of the embassy, and of the officers and crews of Her Majesty's ships, was good; and the missionaries bore testimony to the general excellence of the climate. We expected to have been much tormented with musquitoes, which are such a pest on the Irawaddy; but though they abounded at Paknam, they troubled us little at Bangkok or its neighbourhood. The jungle fever is perilous to travellers who pass into the interior, exposed to all the inconveniences which the absence of shelter and succour brings with it. The diseases which afflict the Siamese are those common to tropical regions; fevers, diarrhœas, and dysenteries being the most fatal. The southwest monsoons generally envelop the mountains of Western Siam in clouds, which are dispersed in thunder-storms, and followed by heavy rains. The north-east monsoon, which visits Siam at the end of September, brings with it cool and refreshing weather; but as the wind veers gradually towards the south, and thence to the south-west, the change of climate from cold to heat is quiet and agreeable. In the month of March, heavy dews fall at break of day. CHAPTER II. A HISTORY. NTERIOR to the establishment of Ayuthia, about the middle of the fourteenth century, the annals of Siam are made up of traditional legends and fables, such as most nations are fond of substituting in the place of veracious history. The Siamese group their early ancestors around the first disciples of Buddha (Gaudama), and begin their annals about five centuries before the Christian era. A succession of dynasties, frequently shifting their capital cities in which Buddhistical miracles and the intervention of superhuman agency are constantly exhibited, figure in the first volumes of the Siamese records. There are accounts of intermarriages with Chinese princesses, of embassies and wars with neighbouring States, all interblended with wonders and miraculous interpositions of Indra and other divinities; but from the time when the city of Ayuthia was founded by Phaja-Uthong, who took the title of Phra*-Rama-Thibodi, the succession of * As the word Phra, which so frequently occurs in these volumes, here appears for the first time, I have to remark that it is probably either derived from or of common origin with the Pharaoh of antiquity. It is given in the Siamese Dictionaries as synonymous with God-ruler, priest, and teacher. It is, in fact, the word by which sovereignty and sanctity are associated in the popular mind. As the title Divus was appropriated by the Roman Emperor,-as in most monarchies a sort of sacredness is attached to sovereigns and the course of events are recorded with tolerable accuracy. The following dates, which are taken from the annals and constitute important religious epochs in the early history of Siam, may be probably deemed approximative to the truth: The present ruling Buddha is said to have died on the third day of the sixth month of the year of the Serpent, corresponding with B.C. The first great Buddhist Council was assembled under Ajata Sutra (in India), the year of Buddha's death Christian Buddhist 543 The second Great Council, under Kala Sokkaraja (India) was called together in. 443 The third Great Council, by Sri Dhamma The fourth Great Council, in . The Buddhist teacher, Phra Buddha Ghosa, introduced Buddhism into Cam bodia, A.D. Era. 100 400 965 It was in the one-thousandth year of Buddha, A. D. 457, that King Ruang, whose advent and glorious reign had been announced by a communication from Gaudama himself, and who possessed, in consequence of his "merits," a white elephant with black tusks, introduced the Thai alphabet, which was communicated to a large assemblage of Buddhist priests. The ancient annals terminate with the establish the royal person,—the Orientals have made "gods" of their kings, their heroes, and their sages, without any scruple. Image-worship is, in fact, only the materializing or incarnating of the idea of Deity. SIAMESE MONARCHS. 37 ment of Chao Uthong, in the new city of Si Ayo Thaya (Ayuthia), but they leave the exact date of the establishment in some obscurity. The following is the succession of Siamese monarchs from the founding of the capital of Ayuthia:*— 712 1350 Phra Rama Thibodi. 731 1369 Rame Suen (his son). 732 744 805 834 875 876 889 891 909 1370 Borom Raxa (his brother). 1382 1385 دو 1401 Inthaxara. 1430 Borom Raxa Thirat. 1443 Boroma Trai Lôkharat. 1472 Phra Rama Thibodi. 1513 Raxa Kuman. 1514 Xaja Raxa Thirat. 1527 Phra Jot Fa. 1529 Maha Cha Kraphat Raxa Thirat. 1547 Phra Chao Xang Phuok. 914 1552 Mahinthara Thirat. 1564 Phra Naret. 1595 Eka Thotsarot. 1601 Chao Fa. 16o2 Phra Chao Song Tham. 1656 Phra Chao Xam Phuok. 1688 Phra Phet Raxa. * It will be noticed that the spelling of the names in this list is not in all cases identical with that in the detailed annals which follow. The discrepancy arises from the peculiarity of the Siamese language, and the variety of spelling employed by the different authorities cited. The same remark applies to all the similar variations in the names of individuals and places throughout these volumes. |