The Siamese have written laws, which are dated as far back as 561 of Christ; and others are referred to in their courts, to the years of 1053-1614 and 1773.

The higher officers of state are the justices and magistrates, but the final decision rests with the principal local authority within whose district the delinquent resides. Where the government is a perfect despotism, and the channels of justice are polluted by corrupt propounders of the law, equity and justice are but empty names, and good laws a mere mockery. Oaths are administered to witnesses only on formal and solemn occasions: the following being the form used in their courts as translated by Capt. Lowe:—

“I, who have been brought here as an evidence in this matter, do now, in the presence of the divine Prah-Phutt hi-rop (Budha,) declare that I am wholly unprejudiced against either party, and uninfluenced in any way by the opinions or advice of others, and that no prospects of pecuniary advantage, or of advancement to office, have been held out to me; I also declare that I have not received any bribe on this occasion. If what I have now spoken be false, or if in my further averments I should colour or pervert the truth, so as to lead the judgment of others astray, may the three Holy Existences, viz.: Budha, the Bali (personified,) and the three priests, before whom I now stand, together with the glorious Dewatas (demi-gods) of the twenty-two firmaments, punish me.

“If I have not seen, yet shall I say I have seen; if I shall say that I know that which I do not know, then may I be thus punished. Should innumerable descents of the Deity happen for the regeneration and salvation of mankind, may my erring and migrating soul be found beyond the pale of their mercy—wherever I go, may I be encompassed with dangers, and not escape from them, whether arising from murderers, robbers, spirits of the earth, of the woods, of water, or of air, or from all the divinities who adore Budha, or from the gods of the four elements, and all other spirits.

“May blood flow out of every pore of my body, that my crime may be made manifest to the world; may all or any of these evils overtake me within three days, or may I never stir from the spot on which I now stand, or may the hatsani, or lash of the sky, (lightning,) cut me in two, so that I may be exposed to the derision of the people; or if I should be walking abroad, may I be torn to pieces by either of the four supernaturally endowed lions, or destroyed by poisonous herbs or venomous snakes. If when in the waters of the rivers or ocean, may supernatural crocodiles or great fishes devour me, or may the winds and waves overwhelm me; or may the dread of such evils keep me, during life, a prisoner at home, estranged from every pleasure, or may I be afflicted with the intolerable oppressions of my superiors, or may a plague cause my death; after which may I be precipitated into hell, there to go through innumerable stages of torture, among which may I be condemned to carry water over the flaming regions in open wicker baskets, to assuage the heat felt by Than-Wetsuan, when he enters the infernal hall of justice, and thereafter may I fall into the lowest pit of hell; or if these miseries should not ensue, may I after death migrate into the body of a slave, and suffer all the hardships and pains attending the worst state of such a being, during a period of years, measured by the sand of four seas; or may I animate the body of an animal, or beast, during five hundred generations; or be born an hermaphrodite five hundred times, or endure in the body of a deaf, blind, dumb, houseless beggar, every species of loathsome disease during the same number of generations, and then may I be hurried to varah, or hell, and there be crucified by Phria-yam, one of the kings of hell.”

The Siamese are extremely capricious, in the standard value of witnesses; the oath of priests and men in office, bearing a preference over all others, while there are not less than twenty-eight in number, who are excluded, and declared to be incompetent; they are as follows: contemners of religion, persons in debt, the slaves of a party to a suit, intimate friends, idiots, those who do not hold in abhorrence the cardinal sins, among which are enumerated, besides theft and murder, drinking spirits, breaking prescribed fasts, and reposing on the mat or couch of a priest or parent, gamblers, vagrants, executioners, quack-doctors, play-actors, hermaphrodites, strolling musicians, prostitutes, blacksmiths, persons labouring under incurable disorders, persons under seven or above seventy, bachelors, insane persons, persons of violent passions, shoemakers, beggars, braziers, midwives, and sorcerers.

Tortures are resorted to in cases of treason or atrocious robbery, and even among debtors where property is supposed to be concealed, as well as the ordeal by water and immersing the hands in boiling oil or melted tin. He who remains the longest under water, and the hand which comes forth unscathed, are pronounced to be innocent. A debtor may be punished by stripes and imprisonment, or dried, as it is termed by the Siamese, that is exsiccated by being exposed to the direct rays of a burning sun, suffering in addition the torments from myriads of noxious insects, and finally to be sold as a slave if he is unable to discharge his debt.

A great number of debtors are seen in irons about the bazars, whose only mode of subsistence is by begging; and they seldom ask in vain of a people who are pre-eminently charitable.

Theft is punished with the bamboo and with imprisonment, and even hard labour for life, in aggravated cases. Murder, counterfeiting coin, and forging the royal signet, with imprisonment for life, and the severest punishment of the bamboo; and in cases of cruel and deliberate murder, with death, by decapitation. A breach of the marriage-vow is not deemed a highly criminal act, and it is easily commuted by paying a fine, according to the rank or standing of the parties, from the sum of two hundred and seventy to ninety dollars. Marriage is a civil contract, and the Talapoins are not considered, in any way, necessary to legalize the contract; but their prayers and benedictions are occasionally bestowed. Insults are punished, from an inferior to a superior, according to the aggravation of the offence, by a fine, and even by corporal punishment, when a priest is the aggrieved party.

If a priest commits a criminal act, he is divested of the sacerdotal habit, and is punished generally with more severity than a layman. Divorces are easily obtained, and each party receives back whatever was contributed to the common stock. The minor male children go to the mother, and the female to the father. Property can only be given to the wife and children, and daughters receive from a half to a whole share more than the sons. Wills must be made in the presence of four witnesses.

Siam appears to be a place of refuge for the surrounding nations, and is composed of a great variety of people, viz.: Siamese, Laos, Cambojans, Malays, Kariangs, Lawas, Kas, Chongs and Semangs, Chinese, Mohammedans, and Hindoos of western India, Peguans, and Portuguese. The population of the whole empire, including their late conquests in the Malay peninsula, does not probably exceed three millions and six hundred thousand, (although many Siamese rate it, in round numbers, at five millions.) Of this number, I am led to believe, from frequent conversations held with men in office, that the Siamese do not exceed one million and six hundred thousand. The native population of Lao, about one million and two hundred thousand. The Chinese at not less than half a million, there being nearly three hundred and forty thousand in the capital and the villages which compose Bang-kok. The Malays, probably, amount to three hundred and twenty thousand; and the remainder are natives of western India. Peguans, Cambojans and Portuguese, the latter from pretty correct authority, do not exceed fourteen hundred in the whole Siamese dominions. The Kariangs, the Lawas, the Kas, and the Chongs, are wild and migratory races; the three first inhabit the mountains and fastnesses of Lao, from the Burman dominions to Camboja. The Chongs inhabit the hilly country, bordering on the eastern side of the Siamese gulf. The Semangs are a race of savage negroes, dwelling in the mountainous regions of the Malay peninsula, of which a very curious and particular statement was published by J. Anderson, Esq., included in his account of the “Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula,” which I have subjoined at the end of my Journal on Siam.[†]

By actual admeasurement of a great number of Siamese, it is ascertained that the average height does not exceed five feet and four inches. Their skin is darker then the Chinese, yet they are several shades lighter than the Malays; their complexion is rather a dark shade of yellow or a yellowish brown. All classes delight in heightening it, by using turmeric. A light yellow is considered to be the “ne plus ultra” of all colours and all shades. This taste is derived, probably, from the numerous Chinese who reside there. Owing to their frequent bathing, and daily using a clean waist-cloth, their skin is remarkably smooth, soft, and shining. They are inclined to obesity, have large lower limbs and stout long arms; yet they are by no means a strong or robust people. The face is broad and flat—the cheek-bones round, but prominent—the nose rather small, round at the point, and rather hollow at the bridge—they have large mouths and rather thick lips—the lower jaw is long and full at the extremities, and the countenance apparently square—the eyes are small and black, the white tinged with a yellow cast—the forehead, although broad in a lateral direction, is generally low—the beard is very scanty. The diameter of the head is remarkably short from the front, backward; the top is unusually flat, and from the crown to the nape of the neck, (in a large proportion of them,) is nearly in a straight line. The hair is always black, thick, coarse, and lank.

The Siamese week consists of seven days; the months, alternately, of twenty-nine and thirty days; and twelve months, or three hundred and fifty-four days, make a year. The year being solar, an intercalary month of thirty days is added every third year after the eighth month. The month is divided into a dark and a bright half, as the moon is upon the increase or the wane. The Siamese new year corresponds with that of the Chinese, which commences after the last half of the month of January, or the sun’s entrance into Aquarius. It is very certain, that in forming their calendar, they depend upon that constructed at Peking. There is also a greater division of time, consisting of twelve years, each year taking the name of some animal, thus:—

The Siamese have two epochs, sacred and popular. The sacred era dates from the death of Gautama, and the year 1833 corresponded to the 2376 year. The vulgar era was instituted when the worship of Gautama was first introduced; and the year 1833 corresponded with the year 1194, and was the fifth, or dragon year.

Siam proper extends from about the latitude of 23° north, to the gulf of that name, and is bounded, west by the Burman empire, and east by the Lao (Lau) mountains. This is the valley of the Menam, the “Mother of waters,” the country of the true Siamese. The Menam, after watering the low, flat land, by its annual deposites, empties itself, by three channels, into the gulf of Siam. The boundaries of the Siamese dominions on the bay of Bengal, extend from the Burman, (or more correctly speaking, in the present day,) the English Burmese dominions, as far south as the boundary line between the petty states of Perak and Quedah, in the straits of Malacca, in about the latitude of 5° north, in which is included the valuable island of Junk, Ceylon or Salung, containing a vast body of tin ore. It then extends nearly east, across the Malay peninsula, in about the same latitude, between the provinces of Tungano and Pakhang, the shores of which are bathed by the China sea: it then extends north to the head of the gulf of Siam. The Siamese government, during the year 1832, brought under their immediate subjection, nearly the whole of the tributary states in the Malay peninsula. They possess, also, a large part of the late kingdom of Lao, including the former capital of the empire, called Lau-chang, situated on the great river Camboja, in about the sixteenth degree of north latitude, and which is represented to be very populous. They hold also (with the exception of a small portion of the southern part) the province of Batabang, in Camboja. Their eastern boundary line is in about the longitude of 105°, and extends north to the latitude of 15°, being the dividing line between Lao and Camboja, and extending south to the Siamese gulf, the boundary being the island of Kong, (alias Ko Kong,) situate in north latitude 10° 43', and longitude 103° 17' east. Extending north, on the east coast of the gulf, lies Chautabun, once a part of the ancient kingdom of Camboja. It is well known as a rich and valuable possession of Siam.

The Siamese possess no ships of war, but they have an immense number (probably not less than five hundred) of war-canoes; some of them being over a hundred feet in length, and made of a single teak-tree: they have also, probably, fifty or sixty vessels, having two or three masts, using fore and aft sails, and carrying from three to eight brass guns: the largest do not exceed a hundred tons’ burden: these are neatly and strongly built, and many of them are even elegant models. The whole number of mariners employed in foreign and coasting voyages, may be fairly estimated as amounting to not less than thirteen thousand.

Siam is a very fertile country, and abounds in productions suited for foreign trade, beyond any other with which I am acquainted to the eastward of the cape of Good Hope. It is no less distinguished for the variety and abundance of its mineral, than it is acknowledged to be for its vegetable productions. I have annexed a statement, showing the exports of 1832, the quantities of each article, the prices, &c., &c.

To the Siamese trade may be added that of ship building, which is carried on very extensively. A great number of Chinese junks are built here annually; the timbers are of a very hard wood called marbao, and the plank is of the finest teak in the world. Many of these vessels are of a thousand tons’ burden.

The imports consist of British piece goods, white and printed, with some woollens. India goods, of all descriptions, the coarser from Bengal, and the finer and more expensive, from Surak. From China are brought silks and teas, porcelain, quicksilver, and almost every other article exported from that country. From other sources powder, arms, and cannon; glass ware, and crockery; cutlery; some drugs; arrack; wine, &c., &c. Opium is strictly prohibited; but the Chinese and others introduce, clandestinely, large quantities for sale. There is an immense trade carried on at the capital, called Si-a-Yuthia, (pronounced See-ah-you-tÉ-ah,) and on the opposite, or right bank of the river, at Bang-kok.

Cotton twist is daily increasing in demand, more particularly low numbers, from twenty to thirty. Twist, of a bright red, (not narrow,) from number forty to fifty, always sells well; yellow and green are died in the country, as well as ordinary red. Not more than twenty peculs should be sent by one vessel.

Siamese dresses should be of small star patterns, on red, blue, and green grounds, with a few chocolate grounds: the red grounds must be bright; they should be in the proportion of four to one of the others. Each case should contain twenty corges, containing four hundred dresses.

Prints, generally called seven eighths, find a ready market. They must be all of the star pattern, bright ground and narrow. The proportion is, two pieces of red to one of black or blue, in a case of a hundred pieces. Some on cloth, of thirty-four to thirty-six inches, would also sell.

Chintz. Large pattern furniture chintz is saleable. It is used for curtains and screens. Patterns running lengthwise, are preferred.

Ells. Long ells find a ready sale. The consumption of red is very great. There should be one hundred pieces of red to twenty of green.

Woollens. Thin ladies’ cloths only are in demand; heavy, thick broadcloths will not sell. From September to December, there is a demand for them. Red and green are the favourite colours. In a bale of twelve pieces, each seventeen and a half to eighteen yards in length, there should be five of red, four of green, one of yellow, one of light blue, one of light purple.

Steel, in tubs of a small size, sells readily in small parcels.[†]

The inland trade is a very important branch, especially with Lau, and the Chinese province of Yunan, &c. This domestic traffic is carried on, on the Menam, in flat-boats, and on bamboo-rafts. Boats leave Lau in August and September, when the river is swollen by the periodical rains, and arrive at Bang-kok in November and December. They bring stic-lac, benzoin, raw silk, ivory, beeswax, horns, hides, timber, &c., &c. The articles of merchandise exported into China, through Lau, consist of coarse woollens, broadcloths, cutlery, gold, copper, lead, &c., &c. The Chinese are the principal foreign traders. The Siamese prosecute a large foreign and coasting trade to China, Camboja, Cochin-China, the Malay peninsula, to Singapore, to the eastern coast of Sumatra, to the bay of Bengal, &c., &c. The traffic between the countries lying on the shores of the straits of Malacca and the bay of Bengal, is generally conducted by three different routes, across the Malay peninsula; and then reshipped, in boats, on the gulf of Siam, to the capital: the imports being British and Indian goods, opium, esculent swallows’ nests, &c., &c.

The population of the capital and Bang-kok, with their suburbs, may fairly be rated at four hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, I deem it best to state this fact, so that it may be seen that, in a commercial point of view, it is a place of great importance.

The Siamese coin no money strictly speaking; they use bent bars of silver, made nearly round and stamped with a star. Those of the largest size are called baats, and by Europeans ticals. They are of the value of sixty-one cents and a small fraction. The halves are denominated two salings, the quarters one saling; there are also eighths, called one tuang. They have a gold currency formed in the same manner and of various values; they have no copper or tin coin: occasionally, some of the latter may be seen brought from Calantin, &c.: cowries or bias are used in their stead.

The currency is as follows: one thousand and fifty cowries or bias make one tuang; two tuangs, one saling; four salings, one baat or tical.

Imaginary or money of account: four baats, one tamling; twenty tamlings, one catty or eighty baats; fifty catties, one pecul or one thousand baats.[†]

The weights are the same as in China, being the pecul and catty; one hundred catties making one pecul; one catty, one and a third pounds avoirdupois. The fathom is the measure in most frequent use, being six feet, six inches; also, twelve finger-breadths make one span; two spans, one cubit; four cubits, one fathom; twenty fathoms, one sen; one hundred sens, one yuta or yut.

On the twentieth day of March, 1833, corresponding to Wednesday, the last of the fourth month of the year 1194, called Pi-ma-rong-chat-tava-sok, (or the year of the dragon,) the final articles of the first commercial treaty between Siam and the United States were concluded after a negotiation of twenty-two days, and on the first day of April they were signed and sealed; but only a single copy of the treaty could be obtained, notwithstanding the promise of the chao-phaya praklang, one of the first ministers of state, that two copies should be furnished me. No other reason was assigned for this breach of promise, than that it was not customary.

It is written in four languages, viz.: Siamese, Chinese, Portuguese, and English, and is of the great length of nine feet and seven inches. Previously to the signing of the treaty, the charges were not defined and fixed; now, all obstacles and impositions are removed, and but a single charge is made of seventeen hundred ticals on every Siamese fathom of seventy-eight inches on the breadth of the vessel, if merchandise is imported, and fifteen hundred if specie only is brought. This charge is in full of all import and export duties either on vessel or cargo. The sixth article of the treaty relates to debtors. As foreigners were equally liable to the penalties with the natives, I deemed it most proper to guard against the barbarity, which gave the creditor in fact the power of life and death over his debtor, and therefore in the early stage of the negotiation, I proposed an article (which was agreed to) which released the American citizen only, from all pains and penalties, by delivering to his creditors all the property he possessed. About a fortnight after its conclusion, the minister inserted an additional clause, making it reciprocal, so that the Siamese debtor might receive the same benefit of the American creditor. He was told it would have an unequal operation, as it would very rarely occur that an American would incur a debt to a Siamese; but he insisted that it should remain as it was, although I proposed nullifying the whole article. But still if any American feels disposed to take advantage of a code of laws written in blood, it will readily suggest to him that a transfer of his debt to a responsible Siamese, will give him a free and unimpeded course to hunt down a prostrate victim.

An attempt was made to reduce the measurement-duty on vessels bringing specie only, to eight hundred ticals (instead of fifteen hundred) but it did not prove successful, and a similar failure was the result of another proposition to admit vessels wishing to purchase a part of a cargo only, by paying a proportionate part of the measurement-duty.

The treaty has removed all obstacles to a lucrative and important branch of our commerce; the merchant being left free to sell or purchase where and of whom he pleases. Prior to this period, the American merchant was not allowed to sell to a private individual the cargo he imported, nor purchase a return cargo. The king claimed the exclusive right of purchase and sale in both cases; and furthermore, such parts of the imported cargoes as were most saleable, were selected and taken at his own valuation, which was always at prices far below the market value, as profit was the sole object in making the purchases.

Secondly: he also fixed the prices of the articles wanted for return cargoes, and no individual dared offer any competition either in buying or selling.

Thirdly: the American merchant not only did not obtain a fair value for his merchandise, but it is notorious that he had to pay from twenty to thirty per cent. more for the produce of the country than he could have purchased it for from private hands.

Fourthly: the vexations occasioned by delay were a matter of serious complaint. It was no uncommon circumstance to be delayed from two to four months beyond the stipulated time. The loss sustained, say for three months’ charter, and interest on the capital employed for that time, &c., &c., amounted to several thousand dollars. In addition to all these evils the merchant was frequently obliged to take payment in inferior articles, at the highest market value for the best, and even unsaleable merchandise at high prices.

Fifthly: the duties on imports were not permanent; they varied from eight to fifteen per centum.

Sixthly: the export duty on sugar of the first quality, was one dollar and a half (Spanish) per pecul, which was not less than from 25 to 30 per centum upon the first cost, and other articles were charged in the same proportion.

Seventhly: port-charges and other exactions were not defined and fixed, but they generally amounted to not less than three and a half (Spanish) dollars per ton.

Eighthly: Presents were expected, and in fact exacted, from the king to the lowest custom-house officer, according to the usages of Asiatics; there were but a few vessels that did not pay upward of a thousand dollars, if they had a valuable cargo. The difference, therefore, in exactions and impositions, prior and subsequent to the conclusion of the treaty, may be stated on a vessel of two hundred and fifty tons, having a twenty-five feet beam, as follows: The duties, formerly, were from eight to fifteen per cent. on imports; the average rate was not less than ten per cent.

The result is, that the treaty has secured to us a valuable branch of commerce which was entirely destroyed, and which will continue to increase vastly, as the Siamese recover from the serious disasters which resulted from the inundation of the valley of the Menam, for upward of three months, during the year 1831.

Exports from the river Menam (Siam) during the year 1832, showing the quantity and market value of each article.