continue this sort of Bathing for an hour In a word they need not to warm the water for their Domestic Baths no notwithstanding it has been kept several days and in Winter it always continues naturally hot They take care of their Teeth altho' they black them The Neatness of their Teeth and Hair they wash their Hair with Water and sweet Oils as the Spaniards do and they use no more Powder than they but they comb themselves which most of the Spaniards do not They have Combs from China which instead of being all of a piece like ours are only a great many Points or Teeth tied close together with Wire They pluck their Beard and naturally have little but they cut not their Nails they are satisfy'd to keep them neat We saw some Dancers by Profession who for Beauty An Affectation for long Nails had put on very long Copper Nails which made them appear like Harpies At China at least before the Conquest of the Tartars the Custom was neither to cut the Nails nor the Hair nor the Beard The Men wore on their Heads a Net of Hair or Silk which they fasten'd behind and which not covering the top of the Head left a space through which they pull'd out their Hair and then wreath'd and fasten'd it with a Bodkin And it is said that this Dress on which they sometimes also wore Bonnets or a kind of Hats did cause Megrims and other very violent pains in their Head CHAP. II. Of the Houses of the Siameses and of their Architecture in Publick Buildings IF the Siameses are plain in their Habits they are not less in their Houses The Siameses keep the same Simplicity in every thing in their Furniture and in their Food Rich in a general Poverty because they know how to content themselves with a little Their Houses are small but surrounded with pretty large Grounds Hurdles of cleft Bambou oftentimes not close compacted do make the Floors Walls and Roofs thereof The Piles on which they are erected to avoid the Inundation are Bambou's as thick as one's Leg and about 13 Foot above the Ground by reason that the Waters do sometimes rise as much as that There never is more than four or six on which they do lay other Bambou's across instead of Beams The Stairs are a Ladder of Bambou which hangs on the outside like the Ladder of a Wind-mill And by reason that their Stables are also in the Air they have Climbers made of Hurdles by which the Cattle enter therein If every House stands single 't is rather for the privacy of the Family Houses soon built which would be discover'd through such thin Walls than for fear of Fire For besides that they make their little Fire in the Courts and not in the Houses it is impossible for them in any case to consume any great matter Three hundred Houses which were burnt at Siam in our time were rebuilt in two days On a time when a Boom was shot to please the King of Siam who beheld it at a distance and from one of the Windows of his Palace it was necessary for this purpose to remove three Houses and the Proprietors had taken and carry'd them away with their Furniture in less than an hour Their Hearth or Chimney is a Basket full of Earth and supported with three Sticks like a Tripode And thus they place the Fires wherewith they enclose great spaces in the Forests for the hunting of the Elephants There are no Inns at Siam 'T is in Houses of this Nature or rather in these sorts of Tents but bigger that they lodged us along the River They had built them purposely for us by reason there are not any wherein they could lodge us There are no Inns at Siam nor in any State of Asia But in Turkey Persia and Mogul there are Caravansera's for Travellers that is to say public Buildings without Furniture in which the Caravans may shelter themselves and here every one eats and lies according to the Provisions and Conveniences which he carries thither In the Road from Siam to Louvo I saw a Hall for this use 'T is a space about the bigness of an ordinary Hall enclosed with a Wall about as high as one may easily lean over and covered with a Roof which is laid upon wooden Pillars set at equal distances in the wall The King of Siam does sometimes dine there in his Travels but as for particular persons their Boats serve them for their Inn. Hospitality why unknown amongst the People of Asia Hospitality is a Vertue unknown in Asia which in my opinion proceeds from the care that every one takes to conceal his Wives The Siameses practise it only as to the Beasts which they freely succour in their Distresses But the Talapoins having no Wives they are more hospitable than the People At Siam was a French man who resolv'd to keep an Inn there and some Europeans only did sometimes go thither And although amongst the Siameses as well as amongst the Chineses it be an established practice to entertain one another yet it is rarely in this Country and with much Ceremony and especially no open Table is there kept so that it would be difficult to lay out much in keeping a Table if one would What Houses were purposely built for the King's Ambassadors There being no house proper for us on the banks of the River they built some after their Country fashion Hurdles laid on Piles and covered with Mats of Bulrush did not only make the Floors but the Area of the Courts The Hall and Chambers were hung with painted Cloaths with Cielings of white Muslin the extremities of which hung sloping The Floors were cover'd with Rushmats finer and more shining than those of the Courts and in the Chambers where the King's Ambassadors lay Tapestry-carpets were laid over the Mats Neatness appeared every where but no Magnificence At Bancok Siam and Louvo where the Europeans Chineses and Moors have built Houses of Brick they lodged us in Houses of this sort and not in Houses purposely built for us brick-Brick-Houses for the Ambassadors of France and Portugal which were not Finished Yet we saw two Brick Houses which the King of Siam had built one for the Ambassadors of France and the other for those of Portugal but they are not finished by reason perhaps of the little probability there was that they would be frequently inhabited Moreover it is certain that this Prince begins several Brick buildings and finishes few The reason of which I know not The Houses of the great Officers of Siam The great Officers of this Court have Timber Houses which are said to be great Armories but therein do lodge only the Master of the House his Principal Wife and their Children Every one of the other Wives with her Children every Slave with his Family have all their little Apartments separate and alone but yet inclosed within the same Inclosure of
or rather his Anti-chamber do expect his Orders He has Forty four young men the oldest of which hardly exceeds twenty five years of Age the Siameses do call them Mahatlek the Europeans have called them Pages These Forty four Pages therefore are divided into four Bands each consisting of eleven the two first are on the right hand and do prostrare themselves in the Hall at the King 's right hand the two others are on the left hand and do prostrate themselves on the left hand This Prince gives them every one a Name and a Sabre and they carry his Orders to the Pages without which are numerous and which have no Name that is imposed on them by the King The Siameses do call them Caloang and 't is these Caloangs that the King ordinarily sends into the Provinces upon Commissions whether ordinary or extraordinary Besides this the Forty four Pages within have their Functions regulated Some Their Functions for example do serve Betel to the King others take care of his Arms others do keep his Books and when he pleases they read in his presence This Prince is curious to the highest degree How the King of Siam loves Reading He caused Q. Curtius to be translated into Siamese whilst we were there and has since order'd several of our Histories to be translated He understands the States of Europe and I doubt not thereof because that once as he gave me occasion to inform him that the Empire of Germany is Elective he asked me whether besides the Empire and Poland there was any other Elective State in Europe And I heard him pronounce the word Polonia of which I had not spoken to him Some have assur'd me that he has frequently asserted that the Art of Ruling is not inspired and that with great Experience and Reading he perceived that he was not yet perfect in understanding it But he design'd principally to study it from the History of the King he is desirous of all the News from France and so soon as his Ambassadors were arrived he retain'd the third with him until he had read their Relation to him from one end to the other The Officers which command the Pages within To return to the Forty-four Pages Four Officers command them who because they so nearly approach the Prince are in great esteem but yet not in an equal degree for there is a great difference from the first to the second from the second to the third and from the third to the fourth They bear only the Title of Oc-Meuing or of Pra-Meuing Meuing Vai Meuing Sarapet Meuing Semeungtchai Meuingsii The Sabres and Poniards which the King gives them are adorned with some precious Stones All four are very considerable Nai having a great many subaltern Officers under them and though they have only the Title of Meuing they cease not to be Officers in chief The Pa-ya the Oc-ya the Oc-pra and the other Titles are not always subordinate to them only the one must command more persons than the other In a word 't was Meuingsii which accompany'd Meuing Tchion on Board our Ships to bring to the King's Ambassadors the first Compliment from the King of Siam and it was to him that Meuing Tchion tho' higher in dignity gave the precedency and the word because that Meuingsii was three or four years older but the eldest of both was not thirty Of the single Officer which prostrates not himself before the King of Siam Whilst the Ambassadors were at Audience there was in one place an Officer whom we perceived not who alone as they informed me has the Priviledge of not prostrating himself before the King his Master and this renders his Office very honourable I forgot to write down his Title in my Memoirs He always has his Eyes fixed upon this Prince to receive his Orders which he understands by certain Signs and which he signifies by Signs to the other Officers which are without the Hall Thus when the Audience was ended I wou'd say when the King had done speaking to us this Prince in that silence which is profound gave some Signal to which we gave no heed and immediately at the bottom of the Hall and in an high place which is not visible was heard a tinkling Noise like that of a Timbrel This Noise was accompany'd with a Blow which was ever and anon struck on a Drum which is hung up under a Penthouse without the Hall and which for being very great renders its sound grave and Majestie it is cover'd with an Elephant's Skin yet no person made any motion till that the King whose Chair an invisible hand did by little and little draw back removed himself from the window and closed the Shutters thereof and then the Noise of the tinkling and of the great Drum ceased CHAP. XIII Of the Women of the Palace and of the Officers of the Wardrobe The King of Siam's Chamber AS to the King of Siam's Chamber the true Officers thereof are Women 't is they only that have a Priviledge of entering therein They make his Bed and dress his Meat they cloath him and wait on him at Table but none but himself touches his Head when he is attir'd nor puts any thing over his Head The Pourveyors carry the Provisions to the Eunuchs and they give them to the Women and she which plays the Cook uses Salt and Spices only by weight thereby never to put in more nor less A practice which in my opinion is only a Rule of the Physicians by reason of the King 's unhealthy disposition and not an ancient custom of the Palace The Women do never stir out but with the King Of the late Queen his Wife and his Sister nor the Eunuchs without express Order 'T is reported that he has eight or ten Eunuchs only as well white as black The late Queen who was both his Wife and his Sister was called Nang Achamahisii It is not easie to know the King's Name they carefully and superstitiously conceal it for fear lest any Enchantment should be made on his Name And others report that their Kings have no Name till after their death and that it is their Successor which names them and this would be more certain against the pretended Sorceries Of Queen Achamahisii is born as I have related in the other Part the Princess Of the Princess his only Daughter the King of Siam's only Daughter who now has the Rank and House of a Queen The King 's other Wives which in general are called Tchaou Vang because that the word Tchaou which signifies Lord signifies likewise Lady and Mistress do render Obedience to her and respect her as their Soveraign They are subject to her Justice as well as the Women and Eunuchs which serve them because that not being able to stir out to go plead elsewhere it necessarily follows that the Queen should judge them and cause them to be chastised to keep them in peace
which is other than the Coverlet Pa-houm-non the upper Sheet that is to say the Coverlet They are only single Cotton-sheets Mon a longish Pillow but when they lye together every one has his own as in Spain Mon signifies also a Cushion to lean on for they never sit thereon Man-can ti-non a Curtain before the Sleeping-place Man signifies a Curtain or Tapistry Can signifies before They put a Curtain before their Bed to prevent being seen because that from one Chamber to the other there is no Door which shuts Man-can-fak-reuan a Linnen Curtain Man a Curtain can before fak the flat sticks fasten'd at equal distances to serve as Wainscot reuan signifies a House Prom a Carpet for the Feet Kiam 't is the same thing Tloum Tables with a Border and without Feet called otherwise bandeges and by our Merchants flat and thin Tables When they eat together every one has his Table at Siam as at China They have neither Table-cloaths nor Napkins but the varnish'd Wood of their Tables is very easily cleansed with hot water and so they easily make a shift without a Table-cloath Hip a Chest Hip chipoun a Japan Chest Hip-lin a Cabinet with Drawers Tad a Copper Dish they generally serve up their Fish therein Me-can a Pot to put Water in Can signifies a Pot Me signifies Mother Can-nam a bouli of Copper to boil Water for Tea nam signifies Water Can-nam-noi a little Cannam 'T is a Cup round at the bottom and without Feet Kon thoo a Drinking-pot Kon thii an earthen bouli for Tea Tioc noy a little Tea-Cup Tioc yai a larger Cup. Taboi-tong-kin-nam a Copper Ladle to drink Water They also have some of Coco for this use They bore a Cup of Coco on both sides and thrust a Stick into the two holes which crosses the Coco and serves as a handle Tong equally signifies Gold and Brass Tong di good Gold Tong Leuang false Gold or Latten Kin signifies equally to eat and drink according as it is spoken of a thing solid or liquid Thus the words to take and to swallow are common in our language to solid Aliments and to Liquors Touac the Ladle in the Pot. 'T is the greatest affront that can be spoken to any one as if one should tax him to be such a Glutton as with his own hand to take out of the Pot and not to stay till the Pot be emptied into the Dish None but Slaves take the Ladles out of the Pot or use them Touas a Porcelane Plate or Dish Tcham a Porcelane Bowl to put Rice in They use a great deal of Porcelane because they have some very course and very cheap Tian a little Saucer to put under the Tea-dish Mo-caou a Skellet to boil the Rice Mo a kind of Pot or Skellet caou Rice Quion a Spoon They use it only to take the Sweet-meats which are always served in little Porcelane Saucers with the Tea They have neither Fork nor Salt-seller They use no Salt at Table Mid a Knife They have every one a little one to cut the Arek they use it not like us by holding what they would cut between the Thumb and the edge of the Knife but they always place the Thumb on the back of the Knife and they guide the edge with the fore-finger of the Right hand which they keep extended Mid-coune a Razor or Knife to shave Their Razors are of Copper coune signifies to shave Tin-quian a Candlestick quian is a Candle of yellow Wax They know not how to whiten the Wax which they have in abundance and as they have no Butchers meat they have no Tallow and Tallow in this Country would be of a nasty use it would melt too much by reason of the heat Pen another sort of larger Knife which they carry about them for their use and which might serve them for Arms in case of need Mid-tok a sort of Knife to cut the Wood with which they fasten the foliage which serves them for Straw Krob a Gold or Silver Box for the Arek and the Betel The King gives them but it is only to certain considerable Officers They are large and cover'd and very light They have them before them at the Kings Palace and in all Ceremonies Tiab another Box for the same use but without a lid and which lyes at the house T is like a great Cup sometimes of Wood varnished and the higher the family is the more honourable he is For ordinary use they wear a Purse about them wherein they put their Arek and their Betel their little Cup of Red Calx and their little Knife The Portuguese do call a Purse Bosseta and they have given this name to Krob which I have discoursed of and after them we have call'd them Bossettes Ca-ton a Spitting-pot which they all use by reason of the Betel which makes them to spit very much Reua a Balon or strait and long Boat for a single Officer Creu a Balon for a whole Family Moung a Fly-net 'T is a Testern and close Curtain of Tiffany which the Talapoins alone do use not to be incommoded with the Gnats and to prevent being forced to kill them The Seculars have none of these Fly-nets but they kill the Gnats without scruple Kaou-i a Chair of State None but the King and Talapoins have thereof to seat themselves higher than others The Talapoins do think themselves very much above other men Monamout a Chamber-pot The Talapoins alone do use them because they are prohibited to piss upon the ground or in the water or in the fire Lom-pok a Bonnet of Ceremony Lom signifies a Bonnet pok high Their Habits It is commonly White but in Hunting and in War it is Red. Pa-noung a Linnen Sash 'T is the Pagne which they wear round their Reins and Thighs The King gives the finest which are called Pasompac and no person can wear them of this fineness to whom he does not give them Seua-kaou the Muslin Shirt which is their true habit The word Seua signifies also a Mat but then it has another Accent and the Siameses do write it with other Characters Tchet-na a Handkerchief The Lords have it carry'd by their Slaves and do take it themselves only in entering into the Palace but they dare not to wipe themselves before the King the generality are without Handkerchiefs Pahoum the upper Linnen 'T is that Linnen which they wear like a Mantle against the cold or like a Scarf on their Shoulders and round their Arms. Rat-sa-you a Belt into which they put their Dagger They wear it also like a Scarf over the Coat of Mail. Pasabai a Womans Scarf Seua creuang a Vest to put under the Muslin Shirt Seua houm a close Coat of Mail or Red Shirt for the War and for Hunting Moak a Hat They love them of all colours high pointed and the edge about a fingers breadth Peun-nok-sap a Musket or Fusil Peun signifies a Cannon Their Arms. Peun yai a great
of having children at twelve years of Age At what Age they marry them and sometimes sooner and the greatest part have none past forty The Custom is therefore to marry them very young and the Boys in proportion Yet there is found some Siameses who disdain Marriage all their life but there is not any that can turn Talapoinesse that is to say consecrate her self to a Religious life who is not advanc'd in years When a Marriage is design'd How a Siamese seeks a Maid in Marriage and how their Marriage is concluded the Parents of the young man demand the Maid of her Parents by women advanced in years and of good Reputation If the Parents of the Maid have any inclination thereunto they return a favourable Answer Nevertheless they reserve unto themselves the liberty of consulting first the mind of their Daughter and at the same time they take the hour of the young mans Nativity and give that of the Birth of the Maid and both sides go to the Southsayers to know principally whether the Party proposed is rich and whether the Marriage will continue till death without a divorce As every one carefully conceals his riches to secure them from the oppression of the Magistrate and the Covetuousness of the Prince it is necessaty that they go to the Southsayer to know whether a Family is rich and it is upon the advice of the Southsayers that they take their Resolution If the Marriage must be concluded the young man goes to visit the Lady three times and carries her some presents of Betel and Fruit and nothing more precious At the third Visit the Relations on both sides appear there likewise and they count the Portion of the Bride and what is given to the Bridegroom to whom the whole is delivered upon the spot and in presence of the Relations but without any writing The new married couple do also commonly receive on this occasion some presents from their Uncles and from that time and without any Religious Ceremony the Bridegroom has a right to consummate the Marriage The Talapoins are prohibited to be present thereat Only some days after they go to the house of the New Married folks to sprinkle some Holy-water and to repeat some Prayers in the Baly-Tongue The Wedding as in all other places is attended with Feasts and shows The Nuptial Feast They do hire and invite profest Dancers thereunto but neither the Bridegroom nor the Bride nor any of the Guests do dance The Feast is made at the house of the Brides Relations where the Bridegroom takes care to build an Hall on purpose which stands alone And from thence the new married persons are conducted into another single Building built also on purpose at the expence and care of the Bridegroom in the Inclosure of Bambou which makes the Inclosure of the House of the Brides Relations The new married persons continue there some Months and then go to settle where it pleases them best to build an House for themselves A singular Ornament for the Daughters of the Mandarins which are married is to put on their head that Circle of Gold which the Mandarins put on their Bonnet of Ceremony Next to this the decking consists in having finer Pagnes then ordinary more excellent Pendants and more curious Rings on their Fingers and in greater quantity Some there are who report that the pretended father-in-Law before the conclusion of the Marriage of his Daughter with his Son-in-Law keeps him six Months in his house to know him better Some absolutely deny that this is true And all that in my opinion may have given occasion to the report is that it belongs to the Bridegroom to build the Wedding Room and House which he is to have at his Father-in-Law's during which that is to say for two or three days at most his future Spouse brings him Food without dreading the Consequences thereof because the Marriage is already concluded altho' the Feast be deferred The Riches of the Marriages at Siam The greatest Portion at Siam is an hundred Catis which do make 15000 Livres and because it is common that the Bridegroom's Estate equals the Portion of the Bride it follows that at Siam the greatest Fortune of two new married Persons exceeds not 10000 Crowns Of Plurality of Wives The Siameses may have several Wives tho' they think it would be best to have but one and it is only the Rich that affect to have more and that more out of Pomp and Grandeur than out of Debauchery A considerable distinction between them When they have several Wives there is always one that is the chief they call her the great Wife The others which they call the lesser Wives are indeed legitimate I mean permitted by the Laws but they are subject to the Principal They are only purchas'd Wives and consequently Slaves so that the Children of the little Wives do call their Father Po Tchaou that is to say Father Lord whereas the Children of the principal Wife do call him simply Po or Father The degrees of Alliance prohibited and how the Kings of Siam dispense with this Article Marriage in the first degrees of Kindred is prohibited them yet they may marry their Cousin-German And as to the degrees of Alliance a Man may marry two Sisters one after the other and not at the same time Nevertheless the Kings of Siam do dispense with these Rules and do think it hardly possible to find a Wife worthy of them but in persons that are nearly related to them The present King married his Sister and by this Marriage was born the Princess his only Daughter whom it is said he has married I could not find out the truth but this is the common Report And I think it probable in that her House is erected as unto a Queen and the Europeans who have call'd her the Princess-Queen have made the same judgment thereof with me The Relations inform us that in other places as well as at Siam there are some Examples of these Marriages of the Brother with the Sister and it is certain that they have been anciently frequent amongst a great many Pagan Nations at least in the Royal Families either to the end that the Daughter might succeed to the Crown with the Son or out of the fear I have mention'd that these Kings have had of misplacing their Alliances Thus Jupiter had married his Sister if they married not their own Sisters For as to what others add that it is to the end that the People may not doubt of having a Soveraign of the Royal Blood at least by his Mother I find no probability therein as to the East where the People are so little wedded to the Blood of their Kings and where the Kings do think to assure themselves of the Fidelity of their Wives by keeping them very closely The Laws of Succession for Widows and Children The Succession in particular Families is all for the
This is thus practised in all the Courts of Asia but it is not true neither at Siam nor perhaps in any part of the East that the Queen has any Province to govern 'T is easie also to comprehend that if the King loves any of his Ladies more than the rest he causes her to remove from the Jealousie and harsh Usage of the Queen At Siam they continually take Ladies for the service of the Vang The King of Siam takes the Daughters of his Subjects for his Palace when he pleases or to be Concubines to the King if this Prince makes use thereof But the Siameses deliver up their Daughters only by force because it is never to see them again and they redeem them so long as they can for Money So that this becomes a kind of Extortion for they designedly take a great many Virgins meerly to restore them to their Parents who redeem them The King of Siam has few Mistresses that is to say eight or ten in all He has few Ministresses not out of Continency but Parsimony I have already declared that to have a great many Wives is in this Country rather Magnificence than Debauchery Wherefore they are very much surprized to hear that so great a King as ours has no more than one Wife that he had no Elephants and that his Lands bear no Rice as we might be when it was told us that the King of Siam has no Horses nor standing Forces and that his Country bears no Corn nor Grapes altho' all the Relations do so highly extol the Riches and Power of the Kingdom of Siam The Queen hath her Elephants and her Balons The Queen's House and some Officers to take care of her and accompany her when she goes abroad but none but her Women and Eunuchs do see her She is conceal'd from all the rest of the People and when she goes out either on an Elephant or in a Balon it is in a Chair made up with Curtains which permit her to see what she pleases and do prevent her being seen And Respect commands that if they cannot avoid her they should turn their back to her by prostrating themselves when she passes along Besides this she has her Magazine her Ships and her Treasures Her Magazine and her Ships She exercises Commerce and when we arrived in this Country the Princess whom I have reported to be treated like a Queen was exceedingly embroiled with the King her Father because that he reserved to himself alone almost all the Foreign Trade and that thereby she found herself deprived thereof contrary to the ancient Custom of the Kingdom Daughters succeed not to the Crown they are hardly look'd upon as free Of the Succession to the Crown and the Causes which render it uncertain 'T is the eldest Son of the Queen that ought always to succeed by the Law Nevertheless because that the Siameses can hardly conceive that amongst Princes of near the same Rank the most aged should prostrate himself before the younger it frequently happens that amongst Brethren tho' they be not all Sons of the Queen and that amongst Uncles and Nephews the most advanced in Age is preferred or rather it is Force which always decides it The Kings themselves contribute to render the Royal Succession uncertain because that instead of chusing for their Successor the eldest Son of the Queen they most frequently follow the Inclination which they have for the Son of some one of their Concubines with whom they were enamour'd The occasion which tendred the Hollanders Masters of Bantam 'T is upon this account that the King of Bantam for example has lost his Crown and his Liberty He endeavoured to get one of his Sons whom he had by one of his Concubines to be acknowledged for his Successor before his Death and the eldest Son which he had by the Queen put himself into the hands of the Hollanders They set him upon the Throne after having vanquished his Father whom they still keep in Prison if he is not dead but for the reward of this Service they remain Masters of the Port and of the whole Commerce of Bantam Of the Succession to the Kingdom of China The Succession is not better regulated at China though there be an express and very ancient Law in favour of the eldest Son of the Queen But what Rule can there be in a thing how important soever it be when the Passions of the Kings do always seek to imbroil it All the Orientals in the choice of a Governor adhere most to the Royal Family and not to a certain Prince of the Royal Family uncertain in the sole thing wherein all the Europeans are not In all the rest we vary every day and they never do Always the same Manners amongst them always the same Laws the same Religion the same Worship as may be judged by comparing what the Ancients have writ concerning the Indians with what we do now see Of the King of Siams Wardrobe I have said that 't is the Women of the Palace which dress the King of Siam but they have no charge of his Wardrobe he has Officers on purpose The most considerable of all is he that touches his Bonnet altho he be not permitted to put it upon the Head of the King his Master 'T is a Prince of the Royal blood of Camboya by reason that the King of Siam boasts in being thence descended not being able to vaunt in being of the race of the Kings his Predecessors The Title of this Master of the Wardrobe is Oc-ya Out haya tanne which sufficiently evinces that the Title of Pa-ya does not signifie Prince seeing that this Prince wears it not Under him Oc-Pra Rayja Vounsa has the charge of the cloaths Rayja or Raja or Ragi or Ratcha are only an Indian term variously pronounced which signifies King or Royal and which enters into the composition of several Names amongst the Indians CHAP. XIV Of the Customs of the Court of Siam and of the Policy of its Kings The Hours of Council THe common usage of the Court of Siam is to hold a Council twice a day about Ten a clock in the Morning and about Ten in the Evening reckoning the hours after our fashion The division of the day and night according to the Siameses As for them they divide the day into Twelve hours from the Morning to the Night The Hours they call Mong they reckon them like us and give them not a particular name to each as the Chineses do As for the Night they divide it into four Watches which they call Tgiam and it is always broad Day at the end of the Fourth The Latins Greeks Jews and other people have divided the Day and Night after the same manner Their Clock The People of Siam have no Clock but as the Days are almost equal there all the Year it is easie for them to know what Hour it is by
The Siameses which embraced the Religion of the Moors had the Priviledge of being exempted from the personal Service But the Barcalon Moor soon experienced the Inconstancy of the Fortunes of Siam he fell into Disgrace and the Credit of those of his Nation fell afterwards into Decay The considerable Offices and Employments were taken away from them and the Siameses which were turned Mahumetans were forc'd to pay in ready Money for the six Months Service from which they had been exempted Nevertheless their Mosques are remaining to them as well as the publick Protection which the King of Siam gives to their Religion as to all foreign Religions There are therefore three or four Thousand Moors at Siam as many Portugueses born in India and as many Chineses and perhaps as many Malays besides what there is of other Nations The Foreign Commerce ceased at Siam has caused the Richest Strangers and especially the Moors to depart thence But the richest Foreigners and especially the Moors are retired elsewhere since the King of Siam has reserved to himself alone almost all the foreign Commerce The King his Father had heretofore done the same thing and perhaps it is the Policy of Siam to do it thus from time to time otherwise it is certain that they have almost always left the Trade free and that it has frequently flourished at Siam Ferdinand Mendez Pinto reports that in his time there were annually above a thousand foreign Ships whereas at present there goes no more than two or three Dutch Barks Why the Foreign Trade ceased at Siam Commerce requires a certain liberty no person can resolve to go to Siam necessarily to sell unto the King what is carry'd thither and to buy of him alone what one would carry thence when this was not the product of the Kingdom For though there were several foreign Ships together at Siam the Trade was not permitted from one Ship to the other nor with the Inhabitants of the Country Natives or Foreigners till that the King under the pretence of a preference due to his Royal dignity had purchased what was best in the Ships and at his own rate to sell it afterwards as he pleased because that when the season for the departure of the Ships presses on the Merchants choose rather to sell to great loss and dearly to buy a new Cargo than to wait at Siam a new season to depart without hopes of making a better Trade A Siamese Song Say Samon eüy leûpacam Son Seüa conêp neüa Tchâon Keun diaou nayey pleng nij co tchaoüa pleng day pleng labam le tchaoüey tchautay pleng nij cochaoüa pleng So nayey peüy Vongle chaóüey Tchiong quouang nang Tchang Tchayleu Tcha deun ey Musical Instruments Statues of Somona Codom A Brasse Statue A Brick statue in Demi relief gildâ—â— A Brasse statue gilded A Platforme of the Hall of Audience of Siam A CONVENT of Talapoins A Talapat leafe or the Umbrelle of the Talapoins In a word 't is neither the natural Riches The Natural Siameses cannot afford a great Trade nor the Manufactures of the Kingdom of Siam that should tempt one to go thither The natural Siameses ruin'd as they are by impositions and services cannot carry on a great Trade though they should have all the liberty imaginable The Trade is manag'd only with the superfluous Money and in the places where the Impositions are very great there is scarcely found Money necessary for life The vast summ levied on the people returns slowly to the people and especially in the remote Provinces and the whole does not return because that a great part thereof remains in the hands of those that tend upon the receipts and expences of the Prince And as to that part which returns to the people it remains not in their hands for their uses it soon goes thence to return to the Princes Coffers so that it must needs be that all the small Trades do cease for want of Money which cannot be but the general Commerce of a State does greatly suffer But this is yet much truer at Siam where the Prince annually accumulates his Revenues instead of expending them Having thus explained what respects the King the Officers and the People of Siam it remains to speak of their Talapoins or Priests CHAP. XVII Of the Talapoins and their Convents THey live in Convents which the Siameses do call Vat The origine of the word Pagod and they make use of the Temples which the Siameses do call Pihan and the Portugueses Pagode from the Persian word Poutgheda which signifies a Temple of Idols but the Portugueses do use the word Pagode to signify equally the Idol and the Temple The Temple and the Convent do take up a very great square piece of ground A Description of the Convents of the Talapoins encompast with an Inclosure of Bambou In the middle of the ground stands the Temple as in the place esteemed the most honourable in their Encampments and at the corners of this ground and along the Bambou Inclosure are ranged the Cells of the Talapoins like the Tents of an Army and sometimes the Rows thereof are double or triple These Cells are little single Houses erected on Piles and that of the Superior is after the same manner but a little larger and higher than the rest The Pyramids stand near and quite round the Temple and the ground which the Temple and the Pyramids take up besides its being higher is inclosed between four Walls but from these Walls to the Cells there likewise remains a great void piece of Ground which is as it were the Court of the Convent Sometimes these Walls are all bare and serve only as an Inclosure to the ground which the Temple and the Pyramids take up Sometimes along these Walls there are covered Galleries of the Figure of those which in our Religious Houses we call the Cloyster and on a counterwall breast high which runs along these Galleries they place in a Train and close together a great number of Idols sometimes gilded Though at Siam there are some Talapoinesses or Women They have Cells for the Talapoinesses who in most things do observe the Rule of the Talapoins yet they have no other Convents than those of the Talapoins themselves The Siameses do think that the advanced Age of all these Women for there are none young is a sufficient caution of their Chastity There are not Talapoinesses in all the Convents but in those where any are their Cells run along one of the sides of the Bambou Inclosure which I have mentioned without being otherwise separated from those of the Talapoins The Neus or Talapoin Children are dispersed one two How the Talapoin Children are lodg'd or three into every Talapoins Cell and they serve the Talapoin with whom they lodge that is to say with whom they have been placed by their Parents So that when a Talapoin has two or three Nens he receives no
Vice-Roy of Canton who being poysoned himself and feeling the approach of Death called her whom he loved the best of his Wives and desired her to follow him which she did by hanging herself so soon as he was dead But certainly neither the Chineses nor the Tonquineses nor the Siameses The Oeconomy of the Chineses and of their Neighbors in Burials nor the other Indians beyond the Ganges have ever as it is known received the Custom of permitting the Women to burn and moreover they have by a wise Oeconomy established that instead of real Furniture and Money it should suffice to burn with the dead bodies those very things delineated in paper cut and oftentimes painted or gilded under pretence in my opinion that in matter of Types those of the things in Paper were as good as those of the things themselves which the Paper represents Wherefore the People report that this Paper which is burnt is converted in the other Life to the things which it represents The richest Chineses cease not to burn at least some real Stuffs and they burn moreover so much Paper that this expence alone is considerable But all these Oriental People do not only believe that they may be helpful to the dead as I have already explained The power of the Dead over the Living the Source of the worship of the Dead they think also that the dead have the power of tormenting and succouring the living and from hence comes their Care and Magnificence in Funerals for it is only in this that they are magnificent Hence it comes also that they pray to the dead and especially the Manes of their Ancestors to the Great-Grand-Father or to the Great-Great-Grand-Father presuming that the rest are so dispersed by divers Transmigrations that they can hear them no more The Romans likewise prayed to their dead Ancestors tho they believed them not to be Gods Thus Germanicus in Tacitus at the beginning of a military expedition besought the Manes of his Father Drusus to render it happy because that Drusus himself had made war in that Country They fear only their dead Acquaintance But by a prevention which I see diffused likewise among the Christians that are afraid of Spirits the Orientals neither expect nor fear any thing from the dead of foreign Countries but from the dead of their City or of their Quarter or of their Profession or of their Family CHAP. XX. Of the Burials of the Chineses and Siameses The Reason of speaking of the Burials of the Chineses THE Burials of the Chineses are described in several Relations but I shall not forbear speaking a word thereof to render those of the Siameses more intelligible because that the Customs of a Country do always better illustrate themselves by the comparison of the Customs of the neighbouring Countries What are the Principal Circumstances thereof The first care of the Chineses in Burials is to have a Coffin of precious Wood in which they do sometimes make an expence above their Fortune and though they bury their bodies without burning them they forbear not at their Interment to burn Goods Houses Animals Money and whatever is necessary to the Conveniences of Life but all in Paper except some real Stuffs which are burnt at the Funerals of the rich Father Semedo reports that at the Burial of a Queen of China her goods were really burnt The second care of the Chineses in Burials is to chuse out a place proper for the Tomb. They chuse it according to the advice of the Soothsayers imagining that the repose of the deceased depends on this choice and that of the felicity and repose of the living depends on the repose of the dead If therefore they are not the Proprietors of the place declared by the Soothsayers they fail not to buy it and sometimes dearly And in the third place besides the Funeral Train which is great they give magnificent entertainments to the dead person not only when they bury him but annually on the same day and several times in the year The worship of the Dead In their House they have a Chamber designed for the Manes of their Ancestors where from time to time they go to render the same Devotions to their Figure as they render'd to their Body in interring it They do again burn Perfumes Stuffs and cut Papers and they do make them new repasts The Tonquineses according to Father de Rhodes do intermix these sorts of repasts with Paper-meats which they burn The same Author very largely relates the Prayers which the Tonquineses make to the dead how they demand of them a long and happy Life with what zeal they redouble their Worship and Prayers in their Misfortunes when the Soothsayers assure them that they ought to attribute the cause thereof to the Anger of their Parents The Chineses at present are entirely impious Several Relations of China assert that the learned men which in this Country are the most important Citizens do consider the Ceremonies of Funerals only as civil Duties to which they add no Prayers That at present they have not any sense of Religion and do not believe the existence of any God nor the Immortality of the Soul and that tho they render unto Confucius an exterior Worship in the Temples which are consecrated to him yet they demand not of him the Knowledge which the learned Men of Tonquin demand of him The Doctrine of the Ancient Chineses on the worship of the Dead and that it is very probable that they never prayed to the dead in Funerals But whether the Funerals which the learned Chineses do make for their Parents be without Prayers or not it is certain that the ancient Spirit of the Doctrine of the Chineses was to believe the Immortality of the Soul to expect good and evil from the dead and to address some Prayers unto them if not in Burials at least in the disgraces of Life to attract their protection Moreover what opinion soever they have had of the Power of the dead to succor the living it is very probable that they thought that the dead were in need at the moment of the Burial that is to say in the Entrance and Establishment of another Life and that it then belonged to the living to succor the dead and not to demand succor of them But it is time to relate what the Funerals of the Siameses are The Burials of the Siameses So soon as a man is dead his body is shut up in a wooden Coffin which is varnished and gilded on the outside and as the Varnish of Siam is not so good as that of China and hinders not the stench of the dead body from passing through the cracks of the Coffin they endeavour at least to consume the Intestines of the dead with Mercury which they pour into his Mouth and which they say comes out at the Fundament They sometimes make use also of Leaden Coffins and sometimes also
betide him and the fortune that a Son would have at whose Nativity there had appeared so many Wonders They all assur'd him that he had great reason to rejoyce seeing that if his Son did continue in the World he would be Emperor of the whole Earth or that if he turned Talapoin by abandoning the Pleasures of the Age he would arrive at the Nireupan It is necessary to know that this Emperor had seven sorts of things which were so peculiar to him that there was none besides him that had them The first was a Glass-bowl which he made use of to rid himself of his Enemies by throwing it against those whom he would kill which being let go went to cut off the Enemies head and then return'd of it self The second were Elephants and Horses of an extraordinary goodness and beauty which did fly with the same facility as they walked The third was a piece of Glass by the means of which he could have as much Gold and Silver as he pleased for to this end he needed only to throw it into the Air and of the heighth that it went there would grow a Pillar of Gold or Silver The fourth was a Lady come from the North of a marvellous Beauty who had a great glass Pot sustained by three Columns of the same then when she would boil any Rice she needed only to put never so little Rice therein and the Fire would kindle of it self and extinguished also of it self when the Rice was boiled the Rice multiplied so exceedingly in the boiling that it would feed five hundred men and more The fifth was a man who took care of the House and who had Eyes so penetrating that he did see Gold Silver and Precious Stones in the Bowels of the Earth The sixth was a great Mandarin of an extraordinary Strength and Valour The last was that he had a Thousand Children by one Queen which indeed did not all come out of her Womb. One alone came out thence and the rest were engendered of the Water Blood and whatever comes out at the Delivery Every one of these Children in particular being grown up was capable of subduing and vanquishing all the Enemies which their Father could have Now there was one of the Soothsayers who taking the Father aside told him that assuredly his Son would abandon the World would quit the Kingdom and would consecrate himself to Repentance by turning Talapoin to be able by his good works to arrive at the Nireupan His Relations to the Number of Ten Thousand understanding by the Answer of the Soothsayer that the Universal Demesne of this whole World or the Nireupan were ascertained to this young Prince resolv'd amongst themselves every one to give him when he should be a little advanced in years one of their Sons to make up his Train and so they did When therefore this Prince after the Repentance of some seven years which he performed in the Woods was become worthy of the Nireupan a great many of these young men whom we mentioned which were of his Retinue turn'd Talapoins with him but amongst this great Company there were six who though they were his Relations and in his Train would not yet follow him We will recite the Names thereof by reason that in the sequel we shall speak only of them The first is called Pattia the second Anourout the third Aanon the fourth Packou the fifth Quamila the sixth * The Siameses report that Thevetat was the Brother of Sommona-Codom by this History he only is his Relation Thevetat and it is of this last that we wrire the History One day the Fathers of these six young Princes being accidentally met together after having discoursed a long time about several indifferent things one of them observed to the rest that not any of their Sons had followed the Prince to turn Talapoin and they said amongst themselves is it because that not any of our Children will turn Talapoins that we shall upon this account cease to be his Relations Hereupon therefore the Father of Anourout one of these six young Princes who was the Successor of Taousoutout said to his Son that though he was of Royal Blood yet if Sommona-Codom would receive him into his Company as a Talapoin he would not hinder him though some Persons of his Quality would not follow this Example Prince Anourout being accustomed to his Pleasures and to have whatever he desired understood not what this word of refusal No did mean One day as these six young Princes diverted themselves at Bowls and played for Confects for a Collation Anourout having lost sent a Man to his Mother to intreat her to send him some Confects which she did having eaten them they played for a second Collation then a third and a fourth and his Mother sent him some Confects till all were gone But as Anourout still sent to have more his Mother then told the Servant No there are no more Which being related to the Son and the Son not understanding what these words No there are no more did signify having never heard them spoken thought that his Mother meant that she had yet others more excellent the name of which must be these words No there are no more He therefore sent back his Servant to his Mother desiring her to send him some of the Confects No there are no more his Mother perceiving hereby that her Son understood not these words No there are no more resolved to explain them to him She took a great empty Dish covered it with another and gave it to the Servant to carry to her Son But then the Genij of the City Koubilepat reflecting on all that had passed between Prince Anourout and his Mother and knowing that the Prince understood not these words No there are no more because that formerly in another Generation he had Charitably given to the Talapoins his Portion of Rice and had demanded and desired that in process of time when he should come to revive again in this World he might not understand what these words No there are no more did mean neither did he understand or know the place where the Rice did grow they said that it was necessary speedily to assemble themselves with the other Genij These Genij are not invulnerable and their care is to recompence and punish to consult what was proper to be done because that if Anourout found the Plate empty their head as a Punishment would be broke in seven pieces It was therefore resolved that they would fill it with Confects brought from Heaven which they did The Servant who carried the Plate having laid it at the place where these young Princes were diverting themselves Anourout who only expected this to pay his Debt to his Companions ran to the Plate and uncovered it and found it as before full of Confects but so excellent that the whole City was perfumed with their Odor The excellent taste which they found in these Confects diffused it self