The Mission to Siam, and Hué the Capital of Cochin China, in the Years 1821-2

10

Literally the roof of the Pra or Lord.

11

The design of the small chambers in the Pyramids of Egypt has been variously explained; some considering them as sepulchral depositories, and others as the adyta of the more sacred and retired mysteries. The truth possibly may be that each conjecture is correct, and that in the office of a sepulchral shrine, as well as in form, the Pyramid and the Dagoba exactly coincide.

Among the Mackenzie collection in the Library of the Honourable East India Company, is a volume of drawings representing the ruins of Amarawati, an ancient city on the Kishna river, in which the form of the interior of the Dagoba, or sepulchre of Buddha is amply illustrated.

Several circumstances and ceremonies in the religion of Buddha would seem to identify its origin, in a great measure, with that of ancient Egypt. The physiognomy, the form, and the stature of Buddha are as distinctly Ethiopic as they are different from those which characterize the various tribes which inhabit either the western or eastern parts of the Asiatic continent. That it is a religion foreign to Asia, the uncertainty which still exists with regard to the country or district which gave it birth would seem to render probable. The proofs which have been brought forward in favour of Ceylon, and of Magadha, would seem to rest upon very slender foundations. Several festivals in this religion bear a strong resemblance to the ceremonies performed by the ancient Egyptians on the rising of the Nile. That called Periharah is of this nature. The Pyramids of Egypt, are they not the prototype of the Dagobah, or Pra-cha-di? Instead of considering these stupendous monuments of human labour as the tombs of earthly kings, ought we not rather to regard them as owing their origin to religious motives? It is scarcely possible to believe that any other motive could induce men to undertake or to execute works of such magnitude. The small chambers found in the interior of some of them might have contained, or at least had been intended to contain relics, such as bones of their deity. This conjecture receives confirmation from Sir Everard Home’s account of those bones which he examined at the desire of Lieutenant-Colonel Fitzclarence, and which, when compared with the skeletons in the Hunterian Museum, were decidedly those of the Bos genus. These bones were found in the sarcophagus of the pyramid of Cephrenes. See Fitzclarence’s Route through India and Egypt to England, page 499. In addition it may be remarked, that Mnevis and Apis, the sacred bulls, were considered as emblems of the God of Justice, and that Dharma Rajah, or the King of Justice, is a very common appellative of Buddha. —Editor.

12

Laou or Laos is the country north of Siam Proper, and immediately adjoining the southern border of the Chinese province of Yunnan; from this circumstance, from the reported difference of language, and from the boundary of Siam not including the Northern Laos, the people of Laos are, in all probability, nationally distinct from the Siamese.

13

If we compare the Malays with the more acute forms of the Tartar race, with the Chinese on the one hand, or with the Arabs or Hindoos that frequent their islands, on the other, we may be disposed to consider them as forming a different race. Their affinity with the Indo-Chinese nations, whom we have every reason to consider as of Tartar origin, is, however, quite unequivocal; and it is through this medium, it appears to me, that we ought to trace their filiation. The sea-coasts of the peninsula of Malacca, Sumatra, and a few other places in that neighbourhood, will be found to afford the best forms illustrative of the character of this tribe; as for instance, the people called Orang Laut. In the better-cultivated islands, the physical form is much modified, as well as the manners, by intermixture with other tribes; probably with those who preceded them in the possession of the country. Let the inhabitants of the places referred to be compared, not directly with the Chinese, but with the Siamese, Barmans, &c., and little doubt will be entertained as to the probable origin of this people.

14

A comparison of languages, both in the grammar and vocabulary, may yet produce much light on the interesting subject of the family origin of nations. A comparative vocabulary of some of the Indo-Chinese languages was published by the lamented Dr. John Leyden; to render such a compilation perfect, it should embrace, not merely the more obvious dialects, but those of the inland recesses. Is there any affinity between the language of the tribes who inhabit the hilly wildernesses of the Goand country, of Rajemahal and Malwa, and those similarly situated on the Malay peninsula, Kassai and Asam? – or extending the investigation, do any ancient languages of the east bear affinity to those of Ethiopia or Africa? —Ed.

15

A custom somewhat similar is not unknown to the Bauddhists of Ceylon. During the late war in that country, a chief of some rank was sentenced to undergo the punishment of death by decapitation. It was intimated to him that government would not prevent his relations from rendering to his body the funeral rights of his country. He replied that it was his desire that his body might be left to be devoured by the jackals and other wild beasts.

16

Ah! mortal is the body, as now ascends this smoke,So may thy soul ascend to heaven.

17

The tical is about twenty-five per cent. more valuable than the Sicca rupee.

18

The Barmans entertain the highest reverence for Magadha; a deputation from his Majesty of Ava visited the sacred places in that vicinity a few years ago. Possibly this veneration for localities changes according to political circumstances.

19

According to Loubere, this enactment suffers various interpretations, some abstaining from feeding on vegetables so as to hurt the seed, and so, says he, eat only fruit; others vary the practice of the law in the opposite direction, and hang themselves out of devotion, which action, if performed on a certain sacred tree, is considered as having great merit.

20

It is, perhaps, a combination of an essential oil with resin.

21

Packnam is a term of frequent occurrence in Siam, apparently signifying the mouth of a river.

22

This mode of constructing embrasures had been long before strenuously recommended by some military writers.

23

Possibly we may be allowed to doubt the validity of our author’s opinion on this point; it may be that the monarch of Cochin China in 1822, had heard of the drama of Constantine Phaulkon, M. Chaumont, and the Jesuits, which was acted by command of His Majesty the French king in 1688, at Bankok and Louvo.

For an account of the extraordinary alliance projected between the kings of France and Cochin China, and which was disconcerted only by the breaking out of the French revolution, see the historical sketch in Barrow’s Cochin China from p. 250 throughout. The political importance attaching to such a connexion is incalculable; every one must in this agree with the opinion of Mr. Barrow, that “it is difficult to say what the consequences of such a treaty might have been to our possessions in India, and to the trade of the East India Company with China; but it is sufficiently evident that it had for its object the destruction of both.”

24

In their persons, the Cochin Chinese are far from being a cleanly people. Many of their customs are, in fact, extremely disgusting. Those ablutions so much practised by all the Western Asiatics, are here unknown; and their dress is not once washed from the time it is first put on, till it is no longer fit for use.

There appears but little ground for an opinion commonly entertained of this people, that they are dissolute, and that female virtue is held in little repute. The conduct of both sexes in public is altogether correct and decorous. The frailties of married women are said to be looked upon by all ranks with the greatest indignation and abhorrence, while the punishment awarded by the laws amounts to the greatest, and even to revolting, severity. With respect to unmarried women, the greatest liberty is conceded in matters of this sort, nor does even public opinion oppose the smallest obstacle to the freest indulgence of their inclinations. The utmost degree of liberty is conceded to them, and the connexions they form with their male acquaintances, whether temporary or durable, whatever consequence may follow, is in no manner prejudicial to the woman’s future prospects, nor is she the less respected by her future husband. The lesser chiefs make no scruple in giving their daughters, for a sum of money, to any one who is to reside for a short time in the country. Indeed, there seems to be little other ceremony in matrimonial treaties than that of giving.