Turpin's History of Siam, published at Paris in the year 1771 consists of two volumes, the first of which deals merely with the natural History of Siam.—

The present book is a translation of the second volume only, and is of considerable interest owing to the fact that it is the only extant European work dealing with the events leading up to and succeeding the fall of the old capital, Ayuthia.—

We have no accounts of the compiler M. Turpin himself and therefore are unable to give any account of his life or position.—

The present volume falls into the following parts:—

a. A short resumÉ of the early history of Siam. Few names are given, and the accounts are somewhat vague. Chapter 1.

b. An account of the reign of Phra Narai and his immediate successors Chapter 2-6. This portion has been compiled from the earlier accounts of Forbin and La LoubÈre; but Tachard's remarks are not treated as serious history.

c. A short chapter (Chapter 7) giving a somewhat vague account of the period intervening between the above and the next.—

d. The events leading up to the fall of Ayuthia.

A description of the Burmese attack on the capital and of the early years of the reign of Phya Tak (Chapter 8-11.) This forms the part of greatest interest.

e. A description of the Kingdoms bordering on Siam (Chapter 12-13).

Taken on the whole, the book gives a very fair and impartial account, but as the bulk of the information was derived from the Catholic Missionaries, a somewhat biassed view is taken of the religion of the countries treated of.—

The original has been carefully followed in the translation; here and there a few sentences have been omitted for the reason that such sentences are merely remarks of a moralizing nature on the part of M. Turpin himself, and have no connection whatever with the relation of the historical events.—

B. O. CARTWRIGHT.

BANGKOK: November, 1908.