POLITICAL DIVISION.

Comprised within the wide geographical limits we have given, are, Siam Proper, on the Me-nam, and in the centre of all, the old kingdom of Ligor, and four small Malay states, Quedah, Patani, Galantan, and Tringanu, to the south; to the west, a part of the kingdom of Kambogia, Muang-Korat, and several principalities or states occupied by a Lao population; and to the north the old kingdoms of Lao, Xùng-Mai, Laphun, Lakhon, MuangPhre, Muang-Nan, Muang-Lom, and Luang-Phrapang. Several of these little states are merely tributary, and appear to be not very perfectly subjected to Siam. Every three years they are bound to present to the king trees made of gold and silver. In these fancy trees the fruit is sometimes represented by diamonds and other precious stones; but when not made by the Chinese immigrants, there is not much to admire in the art or workmanship. These tributary states also pay the suzerain lord tribute in kind, in copper, tin, ivory, wax, teakwood, &c., and are under the obligation of furnishing their contingent of troops in case of invasion, or, indeed, whenever the king of Siam may call upon them to reinforce his armies.

ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY.

The great plain of Siam is bordered on the east and on the west by two chains of mountains, which descend from Southern China, and are ramifications or offshoots of the mighty Himalaya, which fringes our possessions in Hindostan. These mountains are from two thousand to six thousand feet in height; and thus it is always easy to escape from the scorching heat and dried-up vegetation of the low country, to a cool atmosphere and a verdant region, with cascades, lakes, and clear and rapid mountain streams. Those who have complained so much of the heat of the climate, have lived only in the valleys. The mountain chain to the east terminates in Kambogia, that to the west extends to the very extremity of the Malayan peninsula. To the north, these two chains approach each other rather closely, and throw out a multitude of little branches, which render the whole of Lao quite a hilly or mountainous country, abounding in mineral wealth, which, hitherto, has been but little drawn upon. The grand plain of Siam, the length of which is stated by Bishop Pallegoix at four hundred and fifty leagues, is watered by the great river Me-nam, which has its source in the mountains of China, and by many inferior tributary rivers, and a prodigious number of canals, bordered for the most part with tall growing bamboos, tamarinds,

and other fruit-trees.

For irrigation, or for water carriage, there

seems little left to desire.

The great plain is also dotted, here and there, with groups of antique palm-trees, the resort of multitudes of water-fowl. The mountains, which rise in the form of an amphitheatre, are green and well wooded, and most of them are covered with almost inaccessible forests. The sea-coasts present the most picturesque and most varied sites and prospects; all along the seaward line, from distance to distance, islands or groups of islets, raise their heads above the ocean waves, being now close in shore, now in middle distance, and now on the line of the horizon. Most of these islands have a fertile soil and a rich vegetation; some are as beautiful as the best of the isles of Greece, or as any of the islands that lie off the Italian or Sicilian shores-Calypso-like regions, where the poet and painter might love to sojourn; but they are for the most part quite uninhabited. Verily, a bountiful Providence has given us scope and verge enough! Men ought not to be cribbed and confined, and starved out for want of room, when such millions upon millions of acres of fertile land, under a fructifying and genial climate, lie untouched by the hand, untrodden by the foot of

man.

PORTS.

On her maritime coasts Siam possesses a certain number of excellent harbours and safe roadsteads. But the commerce of the country may be said to be almost confined to Bang-kok, the capital, on the great Me-nam river. At the bottom of the Gulf of Siam are the mouths of this river, which traverses the whole of the empire, and would afford wonderful facilities for trade. There are three mouths, of which only the largest, lying to the east, is passable by European ships of any considerable burthen; and even this passage is somewhat impeded by sand-banks, which, when the tide is at its lowest, are scarcely three feet below the surface of the water; but, with the aid of a pilot, and the advantage of the rising tide, an ordinary merchant-vessel may easily cross the bar, and get into the deep broad river, where every difficulty of navigation ceases. Ships of superior size may get across the bar by putting part of their cargoes into junks, and other country vessels. At the distance of only half a day's sail from the mouth of the river you reach Bang-kok, and cast anchor in the very midst of that city, in eight or ten fathom water.

It is rare to find a port so spacious, secure, and commodious; for there is nothing to fear from impetuous currents, sandbanks, rocks,

or tempests, and ten thousand vessels might lie there among the houses, and have room enough. Close to the shipping are floating shops, where provisions and other commodities are sold; and, at short distances, are warehouses, and the great bazaars or general markets. The water of the Me-nam is excellent, and bears long sea-voyages. It, however, requires a little clearing, as in its

passage through the rich alluvial soil it gets rather turbid. The Siamese have a very cheap, simple method of clearing the water, and it is in universal use among them :-To fifty gallons of water they put a tea-spoonful of pulverized alum, they stir the water with a stick for two or three minutes, and then leave it to itself; in an hour or two a deposit is formed at the bottom of the cask or vase, and the water is exceedingly clear and limpid. The hint may be useful to sailors, emigrants, and other voyagers and travellers. It is seldom, we believe, that a ship is found without a little

on board; it is very easy to carry about, and the llest quantity will go a great way. How much that is inconent and unpleasant may be obviated by a little forethought!

Nearly opposite to the island of Ko-hong, inhabited by a curious mixture of Siamese, Kambogians, Anamese, and Chinese, who have erected considerable towns, and are very industrious, stands Chantaban, a port and place of considerable trade, situated on a pleasant but shallow river, near to the mouth of which there are said to be good shelter and good anchorage for European shipping. Within the last two years some American traders have put in here, and made up their cargoes with pepper, which is extensively cultivated by the Chinese immigrants in this neighbourhood. There are other ports annually frequented by junks from China and Anam.

The Chinese settlers alone would render the best part of Siam a trading, prosperous, and rich country, if the government were only a little less tyrannical, and the Siamese and the other elements a little more industrious. But the fact is, the people would work if the sovereign and the mandarins did not so rob them of the fruits of their labour.

NOTES UPON COFFEE.

DOUBTS were long entertained in Europe as to the nature of the tree or shrub which produced the coffee-bean. Nay, some opined that it was not the production of any tree or shrub, but grew in pods, on a short stalk, like our beans, lupines, &c.

The first coffee-plant seen in the west was one which was carried (when young) by some Dutchmen from the island of Java to the city of Amsterdam, where it was regarded as a great curiosity. As it grew apace, and even flourished and bore its fruit, we must suppose that it was kept in a greenhouse, or otherwise sheltered and supplied with heat. In the year 1714 the magistrates of Amsterdam presented a young tree (a slip or cutting from the one at Amsterdam) to the king of France, who, after keeping it for a time in his garden at Marly, presented it to the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. There it was kept in a large glass case, in a house which contained other productions of tropical climates. It was about five feet high, and it bore its flowers and afterwards its fruit. By this time the parent-tree at Amsterdam was described as being as high as a house of two stories, and proportionably large. The curious flocked to see it, and botanists were enabled to draw up correct scientific descriptions.

The coffee-tree (Coffea Arabica) is an evergreen shrub, with oval, shining, wavy, sharp-pointed leaves, white, fragrant, fivecleft, clustered corollas, with projecting anthers and oblong, pulpy

berries, which are at first of a bright red, but afterwards become deep purple. When in flower they diffuse a most delicious, reviving fragrance. The fruit begins to ripen in February, and when the seeds are prepared they are for the most part carried to the city of Mocha. This preparation consists merely of taking the beans from the husk or shell, and then drying them in the sun, The fruit, when ripening on the tree, is not unlike a cherry. The Arabs grow the tree from seed, and do not propagate it from slips. They rear them in nurseries, from which they are transplanted with great care. The foots of mountains and the gentle declivities of hills (in the more shady and moist parts) are the sites which coffee requires. The greatest care consists in turning the course of the springs and rivulets, which descend from the hills, into these nurseries, conveying the water by small canals or trenches to the foot of the trees, which will not thrive unless they be well moistened. But when they see that the coffee is ripening on the tree, they drain off the water, so as to let the fruit dry a little on the branches. The tree is seldom taller than an English apple-tree. It will bear fruit when two years old, but the best beans are not produced until the fifth or sixth year. Among the coffee-plantations in Arabia they intersperse other trees of various kinds, whose shade has a beneficial effect upon the coffee-trees. Some French travellers, who visited the districts at the beginning of the last century, found poplars, plums, almonds, peaches, oranges, citrons, pomegranates, and figs growing among the coffee-trees, and affording them shelter from the too great heat of the sun. Among these pleasant, fragrant groves the natives have their habitations.

As the consumption of the bean so rapidly increased in Europe, fears were entertained that the supply would be insufficient to meet the demand. In the year 1709 some French merchants of St. Malò sent two ships round the Cape of Good Hope, to ascend the Red Sea, visit Mocha, and endeavour to open a direct trade with that place. Up to this period the French had purchased most of their coffee from the English and Dutch, who procured it at Alexandria, Beirout, and Smyrna. It is certain, however, that long before the French visited the Red Sea, both Dutch and English ships had been at Mocha. In 1612 Sir Henry Middleton anchored in the port with three ships of the East India Company, but he does not appear to have concerned himself much about coffee.

It is quite certain that Mocha could not long have continued to supply the European demand; but some ingenious, speculative Dutchmen carried a number of young plants to their settlements