Page:Siam and the Siamese.pdf/5



Between the two most peopled and most powerful empires that the world has ever known — China, with a population of more than 400,000,000 of human beings, and the British Empire in India, with scarcely less than half that number, there is a tract of country sometimes called a Peninsula, but erroneously so, inhabited by three nations — the Annamites — commonly called Cochin Chinese, by the Burmans, and by the Siamese. The Siamese are the most advanced and civilized of these peo­ples, having a language and literature of their own, occupying a terri­tory of about 250,000 square miles, maintaining a population of from five to six millions. There is a Siamese manuscript, some centuries old, giving an account of their earliest introduction to the European world, and it seems that in those remote times a French ship visited that country. The captain made his way to the capital, and was introduced to the Sovereign of Siam. He, with very natural patriotism, talked to the Siamese of the greatness of the country from which he came. He described Paris, no doubt, somewhat in a romantic style, as if "all its streets were paved with gold, and all its folks were witty." But certainly he did inspire the minds of the King and people of Siam with a desire to know more of the wondrous land of the West. And the narrative is interesting. The King determined to send an embassy to France, and to re­ present in that embassy whatever was honorable to and characteristic of the Siamese kingdom, and prominent amongst the officials was, as was customary in those times, a magician, who was considered an important member in the staff of an ambassador. Even at the present day it is not an unusual thing to nominate men acquainted with the arts of necromancy to accompany official travellers; and the