Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/21

 SIAM SIAM (LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE) 13 innlo guards in uniform ;m<l arms. Tim nnm !cr of females within the palace is, on royal authority, 5,000, and of males about tho samel Tlio second king has ulso a separate palace, seraglio, olliccrs, retainers, and soldiers, only second to those, of the first. Though never appearing at the. audiences of tho nobles with tho senior kin;;-, his opinion and sanction are sought on important state policy, and his namo is associated in treaties. Mis position HOOIIIS to ho tlmt of counsellor, not of co-ruler or successor. The larger portion of thw public, revenue is ornbo/zlod by the numerous officers, who reeoivo oidy a nominal salary. Tho rev- enue of tho king is estimated at about $4,000- 000. There is a very ancient written code of laws, the acts and decisions of the kings, and an unwritten code, scarcely less authoritative, of traditional usages; both are often absurd, unjust, and cruel, and both liablo to be disre- garded at tho royal will. More than 25 classes uro excluded from testifying, many for the most trivial reasons. The penalties are vari- ous, from bambooing to beheading. Capital crimes arc now very few. Treason, very com- prehensive, is punished by beating tho con- vict, enclosed in a largo sack, nearly to death, and then casting him loaded into tho river. The military force is small, and is disciplined by Kuropean officers. In time of war all male inhabitants are liablo to service. The, llent consists of seven men-of-war carrying 40 guns. The history of Slant dates back some cen- turies before Christ, but only tho annals sub- sequent to tho founding of Ayuthia, tho for- mer capital, A. D. 1850, can bo doomed au- thentic. In the 16th century tho dominion extended to Singapore, and tho first western connection was mado with the Portuguese and Spanish. In KiOtthe I Mitch established rela- tions; in If'tU'j an Knglish ship arrived; and the latter part of tho century is remarkable for tho grand embassies from and to Louis XIV. of Franco, and tho later bloody and al- most utter overthrow of French influence. In 1782 tho present dynasty ascended tho throne, and transferred tho seat of government from Ayuthia, (sacked by flic Burmese) to Bang- kok. In 1822 and 1K25 treaties worn mado with (ireat Britain, or rather with the. K:r4 India company, through Mr. Crawfurd and Ca.pl. Miinmy. In 1833 a treaty was made with the, Tinted States through Kdiniind Roberts. Tho first embassy from the country for nearly two centuries was sent to England in 1857; and another was sent to I'Yanoo in 1 s<> I . In 1KOH, on tho. death of his father, the reigning king ascended the, throne, with the title Phra- bat Somdetya. Chnla. L-inkarana, and during his minority a recent carried on the government; be, became ->r age Nov. in, INT-".. The name of tho present second king (1875) is Kroma Phrarateha. The recent kings of Siam have, been among (bo most, remarkable characters of the Last by their attainments in languages and general information, adoption of foreign ideas and improvement!, wise, and humane government, and liberal and enlightened inter- course with foreigners and foreign powers. In January, 1875, aconfiict arose between the first, and second kings, tho, latter for a time taking refuge with tho British consul; but a reconcil- iation was soon effected. Tho best books on Siam are Crawfurd's " Embassy to Siam and Cochin-China" (London, I8i>8); Pallegoix's Dticription cUt Toydume Thai on Xiniii (Paris, 1854); Bow-ring's "Kingdom and People of Siam" (London, 185T); Bastian's Reisen in Siam (Berlin, 1H67); Mrs. Le.onnwms's " Kng- lish (I over ness at the Siamese Court" (Boston, 1870); McDonald's "Siam, its (iovernment, Manners, Customs," &o. (Philadelphia, 1*71); " Sia.ni, or the Land of tho White Elephant," compiled by the Rev. (Jeorgo P.. Bacon ("New York, 1878); and "The Land of the While. Llephant," by Frank Vincent, jr. (New York, 1874). SUM, Langnage and Literature of. Siamese is spoken from Bunnah and British Burmali on the west to Anam and Cambodia on the east, and from the Malay state of Keddah on the south to tho confines of China on tho north. Tho dialectical variations are numerous, and tho language is spoken well only in Bangkok and by persons educated there. (See INDO- CHINESE RACES AND LANGUAGES.) The Siam- ese alphabet, supposed to be derived from tho ancient Cambodian letters still used in Siamese sacred books, and ultimately from tho original Pali alphabet, consists of 44 consonants and 20 vowels, including diphthongs and semi-vowels. Tho gradation of tho vowel sounds is very delicate, and some of tho consonants are but slightly changed forms of the same letter, indi- cating the tone in which they are to be uttered in certain syllables. The English g, j, v, <r, and z are wanting. Tho ill sound, though fro- quent in Burmese, is entirely unknown in Si- amese, tho th used in transcriptions of the lat- ter representing an aspirated, or a combined utterance of the two sounds t and h. Accord- ing to tho tone in which it is uttered, a word has several distinct meanings, by means of which tho otherwise very meagre vocabulary is considerably increased. Thus hfcai, hlcai, hlcai, pronounced in tho same tone, would moan who? who? who?; but enunciating each with a different tone, it may be mado to mean "Who sells oggs ? " This same word likai may further bo made to signify a fever, to open, rough, fortress, or camp, by other intonations. Mi-sides the parts of speech distinguished in English grammar, there, is in Siamese a peculiar class of numeral or classifying nouns. Such a word is lam, which is used in conjunction with objects having the quality of length, as ships and palm trees; others of this class are an, ton, Ink, ton, and met, all of which must be used when speaking of one or another class of ob- jects. Three genders, masculine, feminine, and common, are distinguished by the grammarians, but in common speech and in poetry gender is