Page:Secret writing in Siamese - Frankfurter - 1906.pdf/1



The desire to conceal the true meaning of writing from third persons has, as is well known, led to different kinds of secret writing. It is the writing of cyphers and codes which long employed in diplomacy may be said to have found its greatest development in this age of telegrams in the commercial world.

Several ingenious methods of such secret writing have existed in Siam from old times, but, unfortunately as in most things Siamese, we are quite unable to fix any date. It would however appear from internal evidence, the letters employed etc., that it is owing to Indian influence that the systems have been developed.

A collection of these cyphers, if we may so call them, has been made by Hluang Prasöt Aksaraniti (Phë) under the title of Porānavākya, in which other grammatical questions are also discussed, and which has been published by order of Prince Kitiyakara Varalaksna whilst in charge of the Education Department (Bangkok 120.)

We cull from it the following specimens in which there is a combination of letters and cyphers.

We find then first the numerals 1–9 employed to designate vowels in the following way.