Explication which I give and of the Determination of the Genus to the Species which I make in the beginning will not presently be understood but in the sequel it will be comprehended by the Connexion of things and by what necessarily results therefrom Concerning the Astronomical Epocha of this Method I Have endeavoured to discover what is the Epocha from whence they here begin to compute the Motions of the Sun and Moon and to what year what month and what day of our Kalender it refers for it is not treated of in this extract which supposes it either known or explained perhaps in the preceding Chapters from whence this extract has been taken seeing that without the knowledge of the Epocha it is absolutely impossible to practice this Method I have found that this Epocha is Astronomical and that it is different from the Civil which I have understood because it is here prescribed to begin to compute the Months of the Year current with the fifth Month in the Leap Year which consists of 13 Months and with the sixth Month in the common Year which consists of 12 Months For this would not be intelligible if they supposed not two different Epoches of Years the one whereof which must be the Astronomical begins sometimes in the fifth and sometimes in the sixth Month of the other which is the Civil That which likewise evinc'd to me that the Astronomical Epoche is different from the Civil Epocha not only in the Months but also in the Years is the Operation which is here made to find the Year of ones Nativity by substracting his Age from the number of the Years elaps'd since the Epocha for this Operation would be useless if they demand only the Year of the Birth after the Civil Epocha which is immediately known and which is compared to the Year current to know the Age of a Person This being supposed I have first searched out the Age to which this Astronomical Epocha may refer and having found in the Calculation of the Sun performed by this method that two Signs and twenty Degrees which are therein employed can only denote the place of the Zodiack where was found the Apogaeum of the Sun in the Epocha which Apogaeum must be in the twentieth Degree of Gemini I judged that this Epocha must be about the seventh Age where the Apogaeum of the Sun is found in the twentieth Degree of Gemini according to most Astronomical Tables Secondly having found that the number 621 which is intermixed in the Calculation of the Sun can only be the number of the days comprized between the Astronomical Epocha and the return of the Moon 's Apogaeum to the beginning of the Zodiack and that the number 3232 which is afterwards employed therein can be only the number of the Days during which this Apogaeum makes a Revolution I have confirmed that the Apogaeum of the Moon which in 621 Days makes two Signs and nine Degrees was in this Epocha in the 21 Degrees of Capricorn And because that the Moon 's Apogaeum by the Revolution it makes in eight Years three quarters returns to the same degree of the Zodiack twelve times in one Age I have distinguished the Years of the Age in which the Moon 's Apogaeum is found in this Degree and I have excluded the other Year Thirdly having found by the method here used for Calculating the place of the Sun that this Astronomical Epocha is very near the vernal Aequinox which in the seventh Age fell on the 20th or 21st of March Amongst these select Years I have found one in which the Moon 's Apogaeum arrived at this Degree of Capricorn about the 21st of March which is found but once in 62 Years wanting some Degrees and I have found that in the 638th Year of Jesus Christ the Apogaeum of the Moon was at the 21st Degree of Capricorn the 21st of March. Fourthly I have remarked that this Astronomical Epocha must have begun at a new Moon because the Lunar Months are reduced into Days to find the number of the Days from the Epocha and the value of the whole Months being deducted from the Sum of the Days the rest serves to find the Moon 's distance from the Sun In the 638th Year of Jesus Christ the Aequinoxial new Moon happened the 21st of March at three a Clock in the Morning at Siam when the Sun by its middle Motion ran through the first degree of Aries the Sun 's Apogaeum being in the 20th Degree of Gemini and the Moon 's in the 21st Degree of Capricorn This Day was likewise remarkable for a great Eclipse of the Sun which happened the same day but 14. Hours after the mean Conjunction Fifthly By the manner of finding the day of the week which is here observed it appears that the day of the Epocha was a Saturday and the 21st of March in the Year 638 was also a Saturday This likewise confirms the certainty of this Epocha and demonstrates the Knowledge and Judgment of those that have established it who contented not themselves with a Civil Epocha as other Astronomers have done but who have chosen an Astronomical one which was the Natural Principle of several Revolutions which could not begin again till after several Ages This Epocha is 5 Years and 278 Days distant from the Persian Epocha of Jesdegerdes the first year of which began on the 16th of June in the Year of Jesus Christ 632. Yet these Indian Rules are not taken from the Persian Tables related by Crisococa for these Tables do make the Sun 's Apogaeum two degrees more backward and the Moon 's Apogaeum above six degrees forwarder which agrees not so exactly with our modern Tables The Persian Tables do also make the Sun's Aequation 12 Minutes less and that of the Moon 4 Minutes greater which agrees better with the Moderns These Indian Rules are not drawn neither from the Tables of Ptolomy where the Sun 's Apogaeum is fixed to the 5th degree and a half of Gemini nor from the other Tables since made which have all this moveable Apogaeum It seems therefore that they have been invented by the Indians or that perhaps they have been taken from the Chinese Astronomy as may be conjectured from this that in this extract the Numbers are written from the top downwards after the manner of the Chineses but it may be that this way of writing the numbers might be common to these two Nations Having found the Astronomical Epocha of this method and the Relation it has with the Julian years we may rectifie the Epocha's of the motions of the Sun and Moon by the modern Tables by adding about a Minute a Year to the Sun 's Apogaeum and by correcting the other Periods Thus there will be no difficulty to reduce the Years and Months since the Epocha into days and if the Equations are likewise corrected conformably to the modern Tables we shall by the same Method find the place of the Sun and Moon with
of having children at twelve years of Age At what Age they marry them and sometimes sooner and the greatest part have none past forty The Custom is therefore to marry them very young and the Boys in proportion Yet there is found some Siameses who disdain Marriage all their life but there is not any that can turn Talapoinesse that is to say consecrate her self to a Religious life who is not advanc'd in years When a Marriage is design'd How a Siamese seeks a Maid in Marriage and how their Marriage is concluded the Parents of the young man demand the Maid of her Parents by women advanced in years and of good Reputation If the Parents of the Maid have any inclination thereunto they return a favourable Answer Nevertheless they reserve unto themselves the liberty of consulting first the mind of their Daughter and at the same time they take the hour of the young mans Nativity and give that of the Birth of the Maid and both sides go to the Southsayers to know principally whether the Party proposed is rich and whether the Marriage will continue till death without a divorce As every one carefully conceals his riches to secure them from the oppression of the Magistrate and the Covetuousness of the Prince it is necessaty that they go to the Southsayer to know whether a Family is rich and it is upon the advice of the Southsayers that they take their Resolution If the Marriage must be concluded the young man goes to visit the Lady three times and carries her some presents of Betel and Fruit and nothing more precious At the third Visit the Relations on both sides appear there likewise and they count the Portion of the Bride and what is given to the Bridegroom to whom the whole is delivered upon the spot and in presence of the Relations but without any writing The new married couple do also commonly receive on this occasion some presents from their Uncles and from that time and without any Religious Ceremony the Bridegroom has a right to consummate the Marriage The Talapoins are prohibited to be present thereat Only some days after they go to the house of the New Married folks to sprinkle some Holy-water and to repeat some Prayers in the Baly-Tongue The Wedding as in all other places is attended with Feasts and shows The Nuptial Feast They do hire and invite profest Dancers thereunto but neither the Bridegroom nor the Bride nor any of the Guests do dance The Feast is made at the house of the Brides Relations where the Bridegroom takes care to build an Hall on purpose which stands alone And from thence the new married persons are conducted into another single Building built also on purpose at the expence and care of the Bridegroom in the Inclosure of Bambou which makes the Inclosure of the House of the Brides Relations The new married persons continue there some Months and then go to settle where it pleases them best to build an House for themselves A singular Ornament for the Daughters of the Mandarins which are married is to put on their head that Circle of Gold which the Mandarins put on their Bonnet of Ceremony Next to this the decking consists in having finer Pagnes then ordinary more excellent Pendants and more curious Rings on their Fingers and in greater quantity Some there are who report that the pretended father-in-Law before the conclusion of the Marriage of his Daughter with his Son-in-Law keeps him six Months in his house to know him better Some absolutely deny that this is true And all that in my opinion may have given occasion to the report is that it belongs to the Bridegroom to build the Wedding Room and House which he is to have at his Father-in-Law's during which that is to say for two or three days at most his future Spouse brings him Food without dreading the Consequences thereof because the Marriage is already concluded altho' the Feast be deferred The Riches of the Marriages at Siam The greatest Portion at Siam is an hundred Catis which do make 15000 Livres and because it is common that the Bridegroom's Estate equals the Portion of the Bride it follows that at Siam the greatest Fortune of two new married Persons exceeds not 10000 Crowns Of Plurality of Wives The Siameses may have several Wives tho' they think it would be best to have but one and it is only the Rich that affect to have more and that more out of Pomp and Grandeur than out of Debauchery A considerable distinction between them When they have several Wives there is always one that is the chief they call her the great Wife The others which they call the lesser Wives are indeed legitimate I mean permitted by the Laws but they are subject to the Principal They are only purchas'd Wives and consequently Slaves so that the Children of the little Wives do call their Father Po Tchaou that is to say Father Lord whereas the Children of the principal Wife do call him simply Po or Father The degrees of Alliance prohibited and how the Kings of Siam dispense with this Article Marriage in the first degrees of Kindred is prohibited them yet they may marry their Cousin-German And as to the degrees of Alliance a Man may marry two Sisters one after the other and not at the same time Nevertheless the Kings of Siam do dispense with these Rules and do think it hardly possible to find a Wife worthy of them but in persons that are nearly related to them The present King married his Sister and by this Marriage was born the Princess his only Daughter whom it is said he has married I could not find out the truth but this is the common Report And I think it probable in that her House is erected as unto a Queen and the Europeans who have call'd her the Princess-Queen have made the same judgment thereof with me The Relations inform us that in other places as well as at Siam there are some Examples of these Marriages of the Brother with the Sister and it is certain that they have been anciently frequent amongst a great many Pagan Nations at least in the Royal Families either to the end that the Daughter might succeed to the Crown with the Son or out of the fear I have mention'd that these Kings have had of misplacing their Alliances Thus Jupiter had married his Sister if they married not their own Sisters For as to what others add that it is to the end that the People may not doubt of having a Soveraign of the Royal Blood at least by his Mother I find no probability therein as to the East where the People are so little wedded to the Blood of their Kings and where the Kings do think to assure themselves of the Fidelity of their Wives by keeping them very closely The Laws of Succession for Widows and Children The Succession in particular Families is all for the
Appeals of the Kingdom do go they call Yumrat He generally bears the Title of Oc-ya and his Tribunal is in the King's Palace but he follows not the King when that Prince removes from his Metropolis and then he renders Justice in a Tower which is in the City of Siam and without the inclosure of the Palace To him alone belongs the determinative Voice and from him there also lyes an Appeal to the King if any one will bear the expence The Judiciary form before the King In this case the Process is referred and examined by the King's Council but in his absence to a Sentence inclusively consultative as is practised in the Council of the Tchaou-Meuang The King is present only when it is necessary that he pronounce a definitive Judgment and according to the general form of the Kingdom this Prince before passing the Sentence resumes all the opinions and debates with his Councellors those which to him seem unjust and some have assured me that the present King acquits himself herein with a great deal of Ingenuity and Judgment The Office of Pra-sadet which is pronounced Pra-sedet The Governor of the City of Siam is called Pra-sedet and generally also bears the Title of Oc ya His Name which is Baly is composed of the word Pra which I have several times explained and of the word Sedet which signifies say some the King is gone and indeed they speak not otherwise to say that the King is gone But this does not sufficiently explain what the Office of Pra-sedet is and in several things it appears that they have very much lost the exact understanding of the Baly Mr. Gervaise calls this Office Pesedet I always heard it called Pra-sedet and by able men altho they write it Pra-sadet The Reception which the Governors gave to the King's Ambassadors every one in his Government The course of the River from its Mouth to the Metropolis is divided into several small Governments The first is Pipeli the second Prepadem the third Bancock the fourth Talaccan and the fifth Siam The Officers of every one of these Governments received the King's Ambassadors at the enterance into their Jurisdiction and they left them not till the Officers of the next Jurisdiction had joyned and saluted them and they were the particular Officers of each Government that made the Head of the Train Besides this there were some Officers more considerable that came to offer the King their Master's Balons to the Ambassadors at the Mouth of the River and every day there joyned new Officers that came to bring new Compliments to the Ambassadors and who quitted not the Ambassadors after they had joined them The place where the King's Ambassadors expected the day of their entrance The King's Ambassadors arrived thus within two Leagues of Siam at a place which the French called the Tabanque and they waited there eight or ten days for the time of their entrance into the Metropolis Tabanque in Siamese signifies the Custom House and because the Officer's House which stands at the Mouth of the River is of Bamhou like all the rest the French gave the name of Tabanque to all the Bambou-houses where they lodged from the name of the Officers House which they had seen first of all The day therefore that the King's Ambassadors made their enterance The Governor of Siam came to fetch them Oc-ya Prasedet as Governour of the Metrpolis came to visit and compliment them at this pretended Tabanque CHAP. VII Of the State Officers and particularly of the Tchacry Calla-hom and of the General of the Elephants AMongst the Court Officers are principally those Of the chief Officers in general to whom are annexed the Functions of our Secretaries of State but before an enterance be made into this matter I must declare that all the chief Officers in any kind of Affairs whatever have under them as many of those Subaltern Officers which compose the Tribunal of the Tchaou-Meuang The Tchacry has the distribution of all the Interior polity of the Kingdom Of the Tchacry to him revert all the Affairs of the Provinces All the Governours do immediately render him an Account and do immediately receive Orders from him he is President of the Council of State The Calla-hom has the appointment of the War Of the Calla-hom he has the care of the Fortifications Arms and Ammunitions He issues out all the Orders that concern the Armies and he is naturally the General thereof altho the King may name whom he pleases for General By Van Vliet's Relation it appears that the Command of the Elephants belonged also to the Calla-hom even without the Army But now this is a separate Employment as some have assured me either for that the present King's Father after having made use of the Office of the Calla-hom to gain the Throne resolved to divide the Power thereof or that naturally they are two distinct Offices which may be given to a single Person However it be 't is Oc-Pra Pipitcharatcha corruptly called Petratcha Of the General of the Elephants who commands all the Elephants and all the Horses and it is one of the greatest Employments of the Kingdom because that the Elephants are esteemed the King of Siam's Principal Forces Some there are who report that this Prince maintains Ten Thousand but is impossible to be known by reason that Vanity always inclines these People to Lying and they are more vain in the matter of Elephants than in any thing else The Metropolis of the Kingdom of Laos is called Lan-Tchang and its name in the Language of the Country which is almost the same as the Siameses signifies Ten Millions of Elephants The King of Siam keeps therefore a very great number and it is said that three men at least are required for the service of every Elephant and these men with all the Offiers that command them are under the orders of Oc-Pra Pipitcharatcha who though he has only the Title of Oc-Pra is yet a very great Lord. The people love him because he appears moderate and think him invulnerable because he expressed a great deal of Courage in some Fight against the Peguins his Courage has likewise procur'd him the Favour of the King his Master His Family has continued a long time in the highest Offices is frequently allied to the Crown and it is publickly reported that he or his Son Oc-Louang Souracac may pretend to it if either of them survive the King that now Reigns The Mother of Oc-Pra Pip â—haratcha was the King's Nurse and the Mother of the first Ambassador whom we saw here and when the King commanded the great Barcalon the Brother of this Ambassador to be bastinado'd the last time 't was Oc-Louang Souracac the Son of Oc-Pra Pipitcharatcha that bastinado'd him by the King's order and in his presence the Prince's Nurse the Mother of the Barcalon lying prostrate at his Feet to obtain pardon for her Son CHAP.