subject. There is a remarkable instance of this feeling in the narrative which Père Tachard has given, of a Siamese embassy to the King of Portugal, which, in the year 1684, was wrecked in a Portugueze vessel off Cape L'Agullas. At that time that part of the country was totally uninhabited; and the sufferings of the poor Siamese, to the number of about thirty, half of whom perished from hunger, thirst, fatigue and cold, are related by the only surviving ambassador of three, in a manner so simple and affecting, and so remarkably resembling that of Captain Franklin's narrative, as to create a deep interest, and leave an impression on the mind of the reader highly favourable to the character of the Siamese. The veneration of these poor people for their sovereign, and their confidence in his protecting power, seem never to have forsaken them; his name was indeed to them a tower of strength in their deepest distress, and afforded them consolation even in the moment of death. The letter from him with which they had been entrusted shared their veneration, and, in all their difficulties, was the object of their greatest solicitude. When the first ambassador expired, it was handed over to the second, and from him to the third; and when at length their situation became hopeless, it was solemnly agreed that the last surviving Siamese should bury it, as his last act, on the summit of some hill, to guard it against insult or profanation.

It is hardly necessary to observe that the Siamese are strict Boudhists; that their temples, their images, their priests and their ceremonials of religion are the same as those of Ceylon, from which island they profess to have derived them. Both temples and images are stated, however, by Mr. Finlayson, to be much inferior to those of Ceylon.

The Siamese would appear to excel in the number of their images, the Kandians in their quality. The Siamese temple, rich in the frippery and tinsel of a Chinaman's toy-shop, with its three hundred images, reminds you more of children's playthings than of the place of devotion; while the Kandian, by the skilful distribution of light and shade, and proper position of one, or, at most, of a few well-executed images, produces an effect at once solemn, majestic, and impressive,'—pp. 157, 158.

The largest temple in Siam is, as usual, of a pyramidal form, of about 200 feet high, terminating in a slender spire. The walls of a covered passage or veranda which surround it, are daubed with rude paintings, chiefly taken from the poem of the Ramayuna; from which it would seem that the simple tenets of the Boudhists are here blended with the absurdities of the Brahmins. As Boudhists they affect to observe the five prohibitory commands of their founder:-not to take away life-not to commit adultery-not to steal-not to utter falsehoods—not to make use of intoxicating liquors.

liquors. But while they affect to forbear from killing any living creature, they scruple not to eat of all living creatures, laying the crime on the butcher or vender. The king has the privilege of selling the fishery to the highest bidder; but by way of expiation, we suppose, he gives liberty to all fish that are caught on certain days. Besides their temple-worship, resembling that of the Chinese, the festival of the New Year is kept in the same way as by that people. They differ, however, from them in the disposal of their dead, whom they burn, with the exception of pregnant women and children; these are interred; the very poorest throw their dead into the river without ceremony, resembling in this the same class in China. The richer classes embalm the bodies previous to burning; and it is said to be a common practice, approved by the priests, to cut away all the muscular parts and leave them to be devoured by jackals and vultures. The ashes are kneaded into a paste, moulded into the image of Boudh, and placed among their lares and penates.

There was little for Europeans to admire in Siam; the royal barges, described by Loubère, and so greatly admired by the French ambassador M. Chaumont, attracted the attention of the present mission, when brought out to convey the Cochin-Chinese ambassador. They seem to be on a par, both in respect of finery and good taste, with the barge of the lord mayor of London. But the Siamese music was sufficiently good to attract notice. Their instruments were very various, both wind and stringed, and the airs they played were by no means deficient in melody. A very remarkable difference however was observed between their vocal and instrumental music, the former being as plaintive and melancholy as the latter is lively and playful. Its principal character,' says Mr. Finlayson, is that of being soft, lively, sweet and cheerful, to a degree which seemed to us quite surprizing.'

6

The envoy, having found that he was not likely to gain any thing from the Siamese, prepared for his departure, which he was allowed to take without the least mark of attention from any person belonging to the court. The ministers were satisfied, it would seem, that they had succeeded in degrading the represen tative of the Great Mogul to his proper level of a provincial governor,' and in the same proportion elevating their own sovereign in the opinion of his subjects. The merchants of Singapore, however, are more likely to teach these people good manners than Mr. Crawford. A brisk and flourishing trade is now carrying on between them; and all the Siamese vessels that used to go to China, now make the shorter and safer voyage to Singa

pore.

Of the botany of the Sechang or Dutch Islands, opposite to

the

the mouth of the river Meinam, Mr. Finlayson gives some interesting notices; among other things he mentions an enormous yam, whose creeping stem, scarcely larger than a quill, rises, almost without any earth to cover its root, out of the most arid and sterile situations, covering the trees with its clusters of branches and leaves, and throwing out such masses of tuberous excrescences, that one of them was found to be no less than 474 pounds in weight, and to measure nine feet and a half in circumference; yet the atmosphere apparently was the only source of the plant's nutriment. In our own temperate climate we can form no adequate idea of the vigorous vegetation of an intertropical country. What,' asks our author, would Mr. Brown say to a plant of the Orchideous tribe, that should have a flowering spike six feet high, covered with upwards of one hundred flowers, each two inches across?' He adds, there is not a more splendid object in vegetable nature.' There is, however, a more singular. and gigantic one-the Rafflesia-whose single corolla measures three feet in diameter.

Their next visit was to the city of Saigon, in Cambodia; and in the account of the passage up the river Donai, we are forcibly struck with the very great difference which exists between the descriptions of Mr. Finlayson and Captain White* as to the appearance of the houses, and the character of the natives. The filthy huts and pigsties' which the latter found at Cangeo, the former has converted into 'large and comfortable houses.' Where White tells us of men and women, children, swine, and mangy dogs, equally filthy and miserable in appearance,' Finlayson finds the poorest among them clothed from head to foot, and the populace to make a more decent and respectable appearance than other eastern nations.' White says, the women are coarse, dingy and devoid of decency;' Finlayson says, among the females there are many that are even handsome as well as remarkably fair, and their manners are engaging;' that they betray no looseness of character' nor coarseness,' but, that their conduct was agreeable to the strictest decorum. The American tells us that they were obliged to chastise with their canes the rude curiosity of the crowd;' the Scotchman reports that the crowd conducted themselves with a degree of propriety, order, decency and respect, that was alike pleasing as it was novel.' How are we to reconcile these and several other contradictions of the two travellers? does this difference of colouring arise from the different reception which the authors met with? or does one of them purposely falsify the real facts? We hinted, in our review of Captain White's

See Vol. XXX. p. 351. History of a Voyage to the China Sea, by John White, Lieutenant in the United States Navy.

book,

book, a suspicion that we were in danger, under the guidance of our author, of underrating both the understanding and the power of this singular people;' and we are now satisfied that we were right; the disappointment of his sugar speculation having, no doubt, made him view things with a jaundiced eye.

The envoy and his party met with no obstacle to their travelling up to Saigon, for which purpose they were accommodated with barges of thirty or forty rowers each, dressed in red cloth with yellow facings, and having light caps surmounted with plumes of feathers. On their arrival five elephants were sent to conduct the party to the presence of the governor, whom they found to be an old withered eunuch. He was however sagacious enough to discover that the letter, of which the envoy was the bearer, was only from the Governor-general of India; and having observed that it was customary for kings only to write to kings, How,' said he, can the Governor-general of Bengal address a letter to the king of Cochin-China? This inauspicious letter being sent for, was opened and copied, and copies of it immediately dispatched to the capital.

It was with some difficulty that the old man and his assessors could be made to understand the nature of the Governor-general's proposals respecting commerce; but having discovered that this was the main object of the mission, he hinted that it was not necessary to have come so far for that purpose; telling them that all ships of all nations were permitted to trade with Cochin-China. During the interview and afterwards nothing could exceed the civility of the mandarins and people of Saigon; they entertained them with shows and plays; but our limits will only allow us to extract the description of a fight, got up for their entertainment, between an elephant and a tiger, though the cruel and unfair treatment of the tiger may grieve the heart and draw down the honest indignation of Mr. Martin.

'In the midst of a grassy plain, about half a mile long, and nearly as much in breadth, about sixty or seventy fine elephants were drawn up in several ranks, each animal being provided with a mahawat and a hauda, which was empty. On one side were placed convenient seats, the governor, mandarins, and a numerous train of soldiers being also present at the spectacle. A crowd of spectators occupied the side opposite. The tiger was bound to a stake, placed in the centre of the plain, by means of a stout rope fastened round his loins. We soon perceived how unequal was the combat; the claws of the poor animal had been torn out, and a strong stitch bound the lips together, and prevented him from opening his mouth. On being turned loose from the cage, he attempted to bound over the plain, but finding all attempts to extricate himself useless, he threw himself at length upon the grass, till seeing a large elephant with long tusks approach, he got up and

faced

faced the coming danger. The elephant was by this attitude, and the horrid growl of the tiger, too much intimidated, and turned aside, while the tiger pursued him heavily, and struck him with his fore paw upon the hind quarter, quickening his pace not a little. The mahawat succeeded in bringing the elephant to the charge again before he had gone far, and this time he rushed on furiously, driving his tusks into the earth under the tiger, and lifting him up fairly, gave him a clear cast to the distance of about thirty feet. This was an interesting point in the combat; the tiger lay along the ground as if he were dead, yet it appeared that he had received no material injury, for on the next attack, he threw himself into an attitude of defence, and as the elephant was again about to take him up, he sprung upon his forehead, fixing his hind feet upon the trunk of the former. The elephant was wounded in this attack, and so much frightened, that nothing could prevent him from breaking through every obstacle, and fairly running off. The mahawat was considered to have failed in his duty, and soon after was brought up to the governor with his hands bound behind his back, and on the spot received a hundred lashes of the rattan.

Another elephant was now brought, but the tiger made less resistance on each successive attack. It was evident that the tosses he received must soon occasion his death. All the elephants were furnished with tusks, and the mode of attack in every instance, for several others were' called forward, was that of rushing upon the tiger, thrusting their tusks under him, raising him, and throwing him to a distance. Of their trunks they evidently were very careful; rolling them cautiously up under the chin. When the tiger was perfectly dead, an elephant was brought up, who, instead of raising the tiger on his tusks, seized him with his trunk, and in general cast him to the distance of thirty feet.

"The tiger fight was succeeded by the representation of a combat of a different description. The object of it was, to shew with what steadiness a line of elephants was capable of advancing upon, and passing the lines of the enemy. A double line of entrenchments was thrown up, and in front of it was placed upon sticks, a quantity of combustible matter, with fire-works of various descriptions, and a few small pieces of artillery. In an instant the whole was in a blaze, and a smart fire was kept up. The elephants advanced in line, at a steady and rapid pace, but though they went close up to the fire, there were very few that could be forced to pass it, all of them shuffling round it in some way or other. This attack was repeated a second time, and put an end to the amusements.' -pp. 321-324.

At Turon Bay they were equally well received as at Saigon; the people behaved to us,' says Mr. Finlayson, with remarkable civility.' An account of their approach had, of course, preceded them, and in a few days two barges of forty oars each arrived from Hué to carry the envoy and ten persons only of his suite to that capital, but after some discussion he was allowed to take fifteen; the obvious purpose of limiting him to this number was to make the mission, thus shorn of its beams,' as obscure as

VOL. XXXIII. NO. LXV.

I

possible.