Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	climate_n	place_n	zone_n	14	3	11.7904	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48403	A new historical relation of the kingdom of Siam by Monsieur De La Loubere ... ; done out of French, by A.P. Gen. R.S.S.; Du royaume de Siam. English	La Loubère, Simon de, 1642-1729.; A. P.	1693 (1693)	Wing L201; ESTC R5525	377,346	277

since improved it from very plentiful Mines and though not very skilful yet they cease not to get a considerable revenue by it This Tin or Calin as the Portuguese report is sold through all India 'T is soft and basely purified and a specimen thereof is seen in the common Tea Boxes or Cannisters which come from this Country But to render it harder and whiter like that of the finest Tea Boxes they mix it with Cadmia a sort of Mineral easily reducible to powder which being melted with the Copper makes it yellow but it renders both these Metals more brittle And 't is this white Tin which they call Tontinague This is what Mr. Vincent relates on the subject of the Mines of Siam Mines of Loadstone In the Neighbourhood of the City of Louvo they have a Mountain of Loadstone They have another also near Jonsalam a City seated in an Island of the Gulph of Bengal which is not above the distance of a Mans voice from the Coast of Siam but the Loadstone which is dug at Jonsalam loses its vertue in three or four Months I know not whether it is not the same in that of Louvo Precious Stones In their Mountains they find very curious Agate and Mr. Vincent inform'd me that he has seen in the hands of the Talapoins who secretly busie themselves in these researches some samples or pieces of Saphires and Diamonds that came out of the Mine He assured me also that some particular Persons having found some Diamonds and given them to the King's Officers were retired to Pegu by by reason they had not receiv'd any recompence Steel I have already said that the City of Campeng-pet is famous for Mines of excellent Steel The Inhabitants of the Country do forge Arms thereof after their fashion as Sabres Poniards and Knives The Knife which they call Pen is used by all and is not look'd upon as Arms although it may serve upon occasion The blade thereof is three or four Fingers broad and about a Foot long The King gives the Sabre and the Poniard They wear the Poniard on the left side hanging a little before The Portuguese do call it Christ a word corrupted from Crid which the Siameses use This word is borrow'd from the Malayan Language which is famous throughout the East and the Crids which are made at Achim in the Isle of Sumatra do pass for the best of all As for the Sabre a Slave always carries it before his Master on his right shoulder as we carry the Musquet on the left They have Iron Mines which they know how to melt Iron and some have inform'd me that they have but little thereof besides they are bad Forge-men For their Gallies they have only wooden Anchors and to the end that these Anchors may sink to the bottom they fasten stones unto them They have neither Pins nor Needles nor Nails nor Chisels nor Saws They use not a Nail in building their Houses altho' they be all of Wood. Every one makes Pins of Bambou even as our Ancestors us'd Thorns for this purpose To them there comes Padlocks from Japan some of Iron which are good and others of Copper which are very naught They do make very bad Gunpowder The defect they say Salt-Petre and Powder proceeds from the Salt-Petre which they gather from their Rocks where it is made of the dung of Batts Animals which are exceeding large and very plentiful throughout India But whether this Salt-Petre be good or bad the King of Siam sells a great deal of it to Strangers Having described the natural Riches of the Mountains and Forests of Siam 't would be proper in this place to speak of the Elephants Rhinoceros Tygers and all other savage Beasts wherewith they are stored yet seeing this matter has been sufficiently explicated by a great many others I shall omit it to pass on to the inhabited and cultivated Lands CHAP. VI. Of the cultivated Lands and their Fertility THey are not Stony it being very difficult to find a Flint The Country of Siam is Clayie and this makes me to believe of the Country of Siam what some have reported of Egypt that it has been gradually formed of the clayish Earth which the Rain-waters have carry'd down from the Mountains Before the mouth of the Menam there is a Bank of Owse which in the Sea-phrase is call'd the Bar and which prohibits entrance to great Ships 'T is probable that it will increase itself by little and little and will in time make a new Shore to the firm Land 'T is therefore this Mud descending from the Mountains The annual Inundation fattens the Lands of Siam that is the real cause of the Fertility of Siam where-ever the Inundation extends itself In other and especially on the highest places all is dry'd and burnt with the Sun in a little time after the Rains Under the Torrid Zone and likewise in Spain whose Climate is more temperate if the Lands are naturally fertile as for Example between Murcia and Carthagena where the Seed yields sometimes an hundred fold they are nevertheless so subject to Drought Insects and other Inconveniences that it frequently happens that they are deprived of the whole Harvest several years together And 't is this which betides all the Countries of India which are not subject to be overflowed and which besides the barrenness of the Soil do suffer the ravages of contagious and pestilential Distempers which succeed it But the annual Inundation gives to Siam the assurance and plenty of the Rice Harvest and renders this Kingdom the Nourisher of several others Besides the Inundations fatning the Land it destroys the Insects It destroys the Insects altho' it always leaves a great many which extremely incommode Nature instructs all the Animals of Siam to avoid the Inundation The Birds which perch not in our Countries as Partridges and Pigeons do all perch in that The Pismires doubly prudent do here make their Nests and Magazines on Trees White Ants at Siam There are white Ants which amongst other ravages which they make do pierce Books through and through The Missionaries are oblig'd to preserve theirs by varnishing them over the cover and edges with a little Cheyram which hinders them not from opening After this precaution the Ants have no more power to bite and the Books are more agreeable by reason that this Gum being mixt with nothing that colours it has the same lustre as the Glasses wherewith we cover Pictures in Miniature This would be no dear nor difficult Experiment to try whether the Cheyram would not defend the wood of our Beds against Buggs 'T is this same Cheyram which being spread upon Canvas makes it appear like Horn. Therewith they us'd to environ the great Cresset-lights which some reported to be of Horn and all of a piece Sometimes also those little Cups varnish'd with red which come to us from Japan and whose lightness astonishes us do consist