In giving these pages to the public the author has no ambition to make a book. Having been invited by the Principal of Milnwood Academy, at Shade Gap, Pa., to deliver in that Institution a series of lectures, or talks, on Siam, its government, manners, customs, &c., a few friends have requested that they be reduced to paper and published, which is his only apology for giving them to the public in book form. A few additions have been made, and the facts are narrated as seen and understood by the author. In a few instances, to refresh his memory, he has referred to articles on Siam, published in the Bangkok Calendar and elsewhere. The work is intended chiefly for a class of readers who may not have access to the more pretending works recently published on that country.

N. A. M.

Shade Gap, Pa., April, 1871.