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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64545	A relation of the voyage to Siam performed by six Jesuits, sent by the French King, to the Indies and China, in the year, 1685 : with their astrological observations, and their remarks of natural philosophy, geography, hydrography, and history / published in the original, by the express orders of His Most Christian Majesty ; and now made English, and illustrated with sculptures.; Voyage de Siam des pères jésuites. English	Tachard, Guy, 1651-1712.	1688 (1688)	Wing T96; ESTC R16161	188,717	400

and our Sails Hereby it is apparent enough that the less Ships stand away to the Southward the better it is and that if they met with westerly Winds at the height of the Cape they should steer their Course without giving themselves the trouble of running into more Latitude because of the Winter Season and the Accidents I have been speaking of which without Caution and Circumspection are not to be avoided It is not the same in coming back as we found it in our Passage off of the Isle Maurice and I heard also a Dutch Pilot whom we took in at Batavia to carry us to Siam tell my Lord Ambassador so He said that in the Summer-time which we took to return again to the Cape Necessary Remarks for those who are bound to the Indies from the Cape the best way was to stand away Southward to the thirty fifth or thirty sixth Degree of Latitude for avoiding some furious Gusts of wind which happen commonly near the Isles Maurice and Medagascar that these Gusts are like Hurricanes which endanger the best Ships That was a very discreet Warning and two violent Storms that we met with in those very same Parts as I shall relate in its proper place convinced us of the Truth of it I have already observed that we were put in vain Hopes that being past the Line we should find at the height of six or seven Degrees South Latitude fair Winds to carry us to the Cape of Good-hope We were no less deceived after we had doubled the Cape in our Expectation of the Westerly Winds that were so confidently promised us if we stood off to the thirty sixth or thirty seventh Degree South We followed these Instructions but we found that what the Heer Van Rheeden said was true when he assured us that their Pilots had observed within these four or five years that the Seasons and Winds were extreamly altered and that there was no trusting to past Experience but to sail with all circumspection Seeing our Pilots steered their Course according to the Instructions that were given them in France they bore away South to the thirty seventh Degree of Latitude and farther that they might preserve the West Winds but there we lost them for having met with them upon our setting out from the Cape they failed us at the thirty fourth Degree Nay they began to be both so contrary and so high that we never met with so rough a Sea as we had then nothing but Mountains and Abysses and the Waves broke against the Ship with so much violence that they made almost as great a Noise as a Canon Shot so that had not she been a strong Ship and had the Weather lasted many days longer she would have been in great danger of springing Leaks and of being foundered The Waves ran so high and broke so violently that they went clear over our Stern and poured in several Tuns of Water at a time betwixt Decks which was very uneasy and tiresome to the Ships Company After six or seven days Prayers made for obtaining of fair Weather these Winds did indeed abate a little but then they became contrary This obliged us to have our recourse to the Holy Virgin to whom the whole Ships Company vowed a Novenary or a nine days Devotion to pray her that she would obtain a fair Wind for us because having made little or no way for near a Fortnight we were afraid of being forced to put into the Coast of Malabar or the Isle of Ceilon or at least to come too late to Batavia for making the Voyage of Siam that year We had the more cause to dread that Delay Sickness amongst the Ships Company for that we began to have a great many sick on board not only because of the bad Weather but also of bad Victuals which now began to be spoilt We had at least sixty sick at a time from the Cape to Batavia most of them of Scurvies a Distemper which rotted their Legs their Mouth and made their Teeth drop out We had then a fair Occasion to assist those poor Wretches in the Work of their Salvation We did all we could to administer to them Spiritual Comfort in their Troubles by teaching them to make a good use of them It was easie to make them resolve to resign themselves to the Will of God The Patience and Piety of the Sea-men in the violent Pains they endured especially when they were dressed the Chirurgeons being obliged to scarifie their Gums even to the Palate of their Mouth and then make them wash their Mouth with Vinegar or Brandy to stop the Putrefaction and hinder a Gangreen We were sometimes surprised to see in what tranquility they were amidst their Pains how indifferent as to Health or Sickness Life or Death desiring nothing in this World but that God's Will might be fulfilled They shew'd so much Earnestness to hear Mass and to Communicate that getting their Mess-mates to carry them up upon the Deck you might see them faint away and yet return satisfied though far sicker than before they had performed their Devotion Doubtless this was a great Comfort to us which was much encreased by the Conversion of two poor Sea-men Calvinists who were shipped without the Ambassadors knowledge Had it been known that they were Hereticks they would never have been suffered to make their Voyage but Divine Providence made use of the Curiosity they had of going to Siam to bring them into the way of Salvation They had much ado to resolve upon it but at length being gained and instructed by one of our Fathers they publickly renounced the Errors of Calvin Father Fontenay having made a short Exhortation to them to confirm them in the Resolution of living and dying good Catholicks received their Abjuration the third Sunday after Whit-Sunday They were afterwards farther instructed to prepare them for their first Communion which sometime after they performed with much Piety and since that time both of them have lived very exemplarily in the Ship. We began then our Novenary the seventh of July and next day our Prayers were heard God grants fair Weather at the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin There arose so favourable a Wind that we made fifty Leagues in less than four and twenty Hours after that we saw Weeds and Foul in greater number than usually for we had not failed of having their Company all the way from the Cape to Batavia It was thought they came from the Isle of St. Paul of Amsterdam which is towards the thirty sixth Degree of South Latitude and the eighty ninth of Longitude Having run near a thousand Leagues Eastward we steered away our Course Northward that we might make the Isle of Java which lies within six Degrees of the Line Southward Nay for some time we had a fresh fair Gale but July the Fifteenth it began to slacken so much that we hardly made any Way at all The Seventeenth of the same

any Seamans appearing on Board That adventure occasioned various reasoning Those of most sense were of the opinion of the Ambassador and Monsieur de Vaudricourt who attributed it to a careless working of the Ship. The truth is if she had had any bad design she would not have failed to fire her Guns when she laid us on board and to have poured in a volley of small-shot amonst us We were informed at Siam by Hollanders that came from Batavia after us that it was one of their Ships coming from Palimbam and that all the Men on Board were drunk or asleep The wind was good The Streight of Banka difficult to be passed because of the want of Water and so that accident did not at all hinder us to pursue our Voyage It was not long before we got to the entry of the Streight of Banka which is made by an Isle so called and the Isle of Sumatra The Banks and Shelves that are at the entry of this Streight make it a difficult passage for those that are not acquainted with it We had a Dutch Pilot on Board and a very able Man who had several times before past that Streight and for all that tho we continually also heaved the Head our Ship stuck aground and so did the Frigat too But the Ground being owzy we were in no danger and having put out an Anchor at a distance in deeper water we weighed our selves off again without any prejudice The wind continuing fair in a short time we repassed the Line We felt it a great deal better in this place encompassed with Land then when we passed it the first time out at Sea before we came to the Cape Calms are not so much to be dreaded here because of winds that reign there and blow sometime from the Land and sometime from the Sea. The safest way of Sailing in those Calm Seas that are as smooth as a Mill-pond is to keep always along the Shoar in twelve fifteen or twenty Fathom water and never go out of sight of Land as we did observing this circumspection you have always the advantage of coming to an Anchor when you please which you will be forced to do very often because of the Currents that set in to Land and of certain strong gusts and flurries which commonly blow from the Isle of Sumatra Some days after we set out from Batavia we were all of a sudden surprised with one of those Flurries which put us into great fear because all our Sails were then abroad but the diligence that was used in taking of them in cleared us of the danger October 5. we began to make the Land of Asia and the first we made was the point of Malaca We all felt a secret Joy to see those places that had been watered with the sweat of St. Francis Xavier and to find our selves in these Seas so famous for his Voyages and Miracles We publicly and daily invoked the assistance of that great Saint after the Litanies of the Virgin on Board We then ranged along the Coasts of Johor Patane and Pahan whose Kings are Tributary to the King of Siam but the Dutch have all the Trade of these Kingdoms September 6. Monsieur de Vanderets D' Hebouville one of the Gentlemen of the Ambassadors Retinue died on Board the Frigat in the Flower of his Age. He was handsome Discreet and the eldest Son of a very Ancient and Rich Family in Normandy His Distemper was a Bloody-Flux common enough in the Indies especially to those who eat too much Fruit as this young Gentleman did during the five or six days that he was at Batavia We had notice of his Death by the Frigats handling their Colours at eight of the Clock in the Morning and in the Evening we came to know the time of his obsequies by means of five Guns slowly fired one after another Funerals at Sea are performed with like Ceremonie Having sung some Prayers they wrap up the Body in a Linnen Cloath tye a great shot to the Feet and upon a Plank to which it is made fast let it gently drop into the Sea. Next day all we that were Priests said a Mass on Board of our Ship for the rest of his Soul. At length September 22. we came in sight of the River of Siam and next day to an Anchor three Leagues from the Bar which is at the entry of it The sight of that Kingdom raised an incredible Joy in all of us after the dangers and fatigues of so tedious a Voyage There had been but little talk till then of the Conversion of the King of Siam which was the cause of the Embassie but at that time it was almost the subject of every discourse It was known to all that the King had publickly said to my Lord Ambassador that he was in hopes that by his prudent Conduct he would accomp●ish that great work which was so far advanced We earne ●●y begg'd it of God in our prayers and from our first coming on Board our Father Superiour had ordered every one of us to say a Mass weekly for that intention So soon as we were come to an Anchor the Ambassador dispatched the Chevalier de Fourbin and Monsieur Vachet with the news of his arrival to the King of Siam and his Ministers The first was to go no higher than Bancok which is the first place of the Kingdom upon the River ten Leagu●s from the mouth of it and the other was to take a Balon which is a Boat of that Countrey very light and make all hast to Siam The Governor of Bancok by Nation a Turk and of the Mahometan Religion being informed that the Ambassador of the King of France was in the Road prayed Monsieur Vachet to take his repose for the rest of that night and suffer him to send an express that he might give the Court speedy notice thereof The Governor of Bancoks Messenger arrived at Siam next day about noon The Lord Constance Minister of State was acquainted by a Letter which he had received that Morning from Coromandel that the most Christian King had named the Chevalier de Chaumont to be his Ambassador extraordinary at the Court of Siam and that he had set out from France ever since the Month of March with two Men of War. Seeing we are often to mention this Minister in the sequel of this relation and that he alone was deputed by the King his Master to treat about the Affairs of this Embassie it is proper we should make it known who he is The Lord Constance is properly called Constantin Phaulkon and so he writes his name He is a Grecian by Nation born in Cephalonia his Father being a noble Venetian the Son of the Governor of the Island and his Mother a Daughter of one of the Ancientest Families of the Country About the year 1660. when as yet he was but about twelve years of Age he had discretion enough to reflect upon the bad condition

a pretty rare one which we observed betwixt the Line and Tropick of Capricorn and which seems to be difficult to be explained It was one of those great whirl-winds which the Seamen call Spouts or water dragons They are like to long Tubes or Cylinders made of thick Vapours which with one end touch the Clouds and with the other the Sea that seems to boil all round it Much after this manner are these Dragons formed The manner how Spouts are formed At first you see a great thick Cloud from which a part breaks off and this separated part being driven by an impetuous wind insensibly changes its shape and takes the figure of a long pillar which descends as low as the Surface of the Sea continuing so much the longer in the Air as the violence of the Wind retains it there or as the lower parts of it support those that are above So when that long spout of water comes to be cut by the Yards or Masts of the Ship entring into it when one cannot avoid the same or the motion of the wind comes to be interrupted by rarifying the neighbouring air with Canon or Musquet-shot the water being then no longer supported falls in prodigious quantity and immediately all the Dragon is dispersed Which are dangerous to be met with They do all they can at Sea to avoid them it being dangerous to meet them in their way not only because of the water which falls into the Ship but also by reason of the sudden violence and extraordinary weight of the whirlwind that blows it which is able to unmast the greatest Ships and even put them in danger of being lost Though at a distance these spouts seem to be pretty small and like to pillars of six or seven foot diameter they are nevertheless of far greater extent I saw two or three of them near the Berlingues in Portugal within a Pistol-shot of me and they seemed to me to be above an hundred foot in circumference We observed besides other Phenomenas not much different from these last Spouts of another kind they are called Siphons because of their long Figure pretty like in shape to some Pumps They appear about Sun-rising and Sun-setting towards the same place where the Sun then is They are long and thick Clouds environed with other clear and transparent ones and fall not but in process of time are all confounded together and by little and little scattered whereas the Dragons are impetuously driven last a long while and are always accompanied with rain and whirlwinds which make the Sea to boil and cover it with froth The Rainbows of the Moon in those places have far more lively colours then those that are seen in France Extraordinary Rain-bows to be seen at Sea But the Sun forms rare ones upon the drops of Sea-water which are driven by the wind like a very small Rain or like fine dust when two waves beating against one another break When one looks down upon these Iris's from a high place they seem to be reversed and sometimes it happens that a Cloud passing over it and being ready to dissolve into Rain another Rainbow is formed the extremities whereof seem to be continued with the extremities of the reversed Iris and so makes a Circle of Rain-bow almost entire Phenomena that are to be seen in the water of the Sea. The Sea hath its Phenomena as well as the Air fires many times appear upon it especially betwixt the Tropicks We have seen it sometimes in the night-time covered all over with sparks when it is a little high and the water breaks with a topping Sea we observed also a great light a-stern of the Ship especially if she made quick way for then the wake or tract of the Ship appeared like a River of Light and if any thing were thrown into the Sea it glittered and shone all over I think the cause of that light need no where else to be searched for but in the very nature of the Sea-water it self which being full of Salt Nitre and more particularly of that water whereof the Chimists make the chief part of their Phosphorus which being agitated is immediately inflamed and appears Luminous ought also by the same reason to sparkle when it is put into motion So small a matter is enough to make fire come out of Sea-water that handling a Line or small Rope that hath been steeped in it one will force out an infinite number of sparks like to the light of Glow-worms that is to say lively and blewish Lights that come out of the Sea in the night time It is not only when the Sea is in agitation that these glancings are to be seen we saw of them near the Line in a dead Calm after Sun-set they seemed to us to be like a vast number of small flashes of faint Lightning coming out of the Sea and immediately after disappearing The cause of that we attributed to the heat of the Sun who having in a manner impregnated and filled the Sea in the day time with an infinite number of igneous and luminous spirits these spirits uniting together in the evening that they might get out of the violent state whereunto they were forced by the Sun endeavoured in his absence to regain their liberty and formed those little flashes as they made their escape by the favour of the night Besides these transient glances of a minutes continuance we saw others also during C●●●s which might be called permanent because they are not dispersed as the former were There are of them of different sizes and shapes round and oval above a foot and a half diameter which passed along the Ships side and were kept in view above two hundred paces by what one could guess in seeing them pass nine or ten paces from the Ships side They were thought to be ●nly slime or some unctuous substance which by some natural cause or other unknown to us might be formed in the Sea. Some would needs have had them to be Fish asleep and these glitter naturally It is true that twice in the Morning we had seen above twenty such glittering things following one another in a strait line and shaped like our Pikes nay many who had been much at Sea took them to be real fish but one cannot be positive as to that Let us now pursue our Course again An Engish Ship made off at Sea. the tenth of May in the morning we made a small English Ship which hailed and spoke to the Mal●gne that was nearer it than we she was returning from the Isles of America and going to take in Slaves at Madagascar They did what they could to keep up with us but the wind being good and we carrying much Sail the same day we lost sight of her May 17. We were got into the 33 d. Degree of South Latitude and the 19th of Longitude according to our Mates reckoning There we began to see Fowl of various shapes

conveigh themselves thither with that surprizing agility they are endowed with As to the men of the other three Parts of the World they have a Countenance much different from ours for the Inhabitants of the first have a square Face of the second a round and of the third a triangular Whatsoever diversity of Faces there may be amongst the Inhabitants of those three several Parts of the World yet in every particular part they look so like one another that it would be hard to tell who is who if men had not another way to distinguish those with whom they live The different Inclinations that People have for different persons is the Standard of discrimination Thus a Father distinguishes his Son from his Wife and Friend because he finds the Love he has for his Son to be quite different from that which he has for his Wife or his Friend There is this difference besides betwixt the three other Parts and ours that all good things abound in those without any mixture of evil and that what things they eat takes what relish one pleases by virtue of a certain Tree which they invoke when at any time they are in need Hence it is that no Charity nor Virtue can be practised there And because there is no occasion of meriting there men cannot acquire Sanctity nor receive any punishment which makes them earnestly desire to be born again in the Part which we inhabit where many occasions of well-doing are to be found They obtain that favour when they beg it by the Merits of God who hath run over all those places though they be inaccessible to us The System of the Siamese In the middle of the four Parts of the World there is an exceeding high Mountain called in Siamese Ppukhan Pprasamen It rests upon three precious Stones very little ones its true but strong and solid enough to support it Round this Mountain the Sun and Moon continually turn and by the daily revolution of those two Luminaries Day and Night are made This great Mountain is environed by three Rows of lesser Hills of which there is one all of Gold. The great Mountain is inaccessible because the Water that surrounds it is not navigable As for the Mountain of Gold a fearful Gulf renders the approach to it most difficult It is true a rich man heretofore got to it but it was with extream danger of being lost in that Abyss whither all the Waters come and muster and from whence afterward they gush out to make the Sea and Rivers The whole Mass of Earth hath underneath it a vast extent of Waters which support it as the Sea bears up a Ship. These inferior Waters have a communication with those that are upon the Earth by means of the Gulf I have been speaking of An impetuous Wind holds the Waters under the Earth suspended and this Wind which exists of it self and has no cause blowing from all eternity with incredible violence drives them continually back and hinders them falling When the time is come that the God of the Siamese hath foretold that he shall cease to reign then the Fire of Heaven falling upon the Earth shall reduce into Ashes every thing that comes in its way and the Earth being so purified shall be restored again to its former state But you must know what is to go before this universal Renovation They say that heretofore when God was still living upon Earth men had the stature of Giants enjoyed perfect Health during several Ages were ignorant of nothing and above all being instructed in the obligations of the Law led a pure and innocent life and were religious Observers of their Promises In process of time they lost all these Advantages and at long run they 'l become so weak and little that hardly will they be a foot high In that state their Life will be very short and nevertheless they 'l grow up in wickedness until at length in the last times they 'l give themselves over to the most ignominious Crimes Then they shall have no more Law nor Scriptures but being buried in most profound Ignorance shall forget the very Name of Virtue And that makes them say that the end of the World draws nigh because there is nothing now but corruption in it and so little Sincerity and Faithfulness amongst men that they seem to be arrived at the highest pitch of wickedness Moreover these great Changes shall be observed in Beasts as well as men and they shall degenerate by little and little Nay they have already lost the use of Speech which whilst God lived upon the Earth was granted them through his Merits Prodigies which the Siamese expect before the birth of a new God. They gave liberty to Beasts thinking them capable of good and evil and worthy of punishment and reward In the three last Ages six new Suns shall successively appear and every one of them shall enlighten the World for the space of fifty years These six new Luminaries shall by degrees dry up the Sea kill the Trees and Animals and even consume Mankind After all these Prodigies a Fire which they call Phai Balatran descending from Heaven shall burn the Earth the Heights thereof shall be made plain by it and no more Inequalities will remain therein Then the Earth covered over with dust and ashes shall be purified by the blast of a boisterous Wind which shall carry off these Remains of the Worlds Conflagration and after that it shall breath out so sweat a Smell as shall draw a Female Angel down from Heaven that will eat of this purified Earth She is to pay dear for that Pleasure for to expiate it she shall be obliged to live here below and never be able to ascend to Heaven again This Intelligence shall by the Piece she hath eaten conceive twelve Sons and as many Daughters who will re-people the World. The Men that spring from them shall be ignorant blockish not knowing one another at first and after they shall come to know one another they shall be ignorant of the Law and not come to the knowledg of it till after a long space of time which they call Cap. To explain the duration of that time they suppose a deep Well twenty fathom square if there be a grain of Mustard-se●d yearly thrown into this well the time that is required to fill it up is that which they call Cap. This space of Time being expired a God shall be born again who shall scatter the darkness of the Ignorance wherein they were by teaching them the true Religion discovering to them the Virtues that are to be practised and the Vices to be shunned and instructing them in all Sciences He will give them Scriptures that shall explain these things and the holy Law that for a long time had been blotted out of the Minds of Men shall be of new again graven in them by the Cares and Merits of that Deity This is the only Employment which