Page:ประชุมพงศาวดาร (ภาค ๔๕.๒) - ๒๔๗๐.pdf/5

 has a good knowledge of Siamese, to translate into English a paper on "Siamese embassies to Europe" which I have published some years ago.

But there will also be present at the cremation many Siamese who are not conversant with the English language, and I thought it would be suitable to have also a Siamese text published in the same volume. For that purpose, I have selected the records of the Siamese embassy written by Mom Rajot'ay, together with my own remarks and explanations, — so that this volume contains all the records and documents on that embassy which are now available.

The three sets of records published in this volume are very different from each other, and each has peculiar features which I will try to explain.

1)The report of Mom Rajot'ay, printed as the first part of this book, is an official report. It is very well written, and is peculiar in this way: the author has succeeded in his endeavours to give his countrymen an exact idea of such novelties as the railway, the telegraph, and even the circus, which were absolutely unknown in Siam and which had never been seen by himself before.

2)The "Voyage to London" which forms the second part of this volume is a very good piece of poetry; so good that some persons are