Sir to make any suitable Returns for so great Favours but since we cannot do it as we ought to do we hope your Majesty will suffer us to do it the best way we can We are the Servants of the true God and the Subjects of a great Monarch As the Subjects of so great a King we will inform him of the Favours your Majesty hath shewed us and as Servants of the true God we will make our earnest Prayers to him that he would in all things prosper your Reign and so enlighten your Majesty with his Divine Truths that after so glorious a Reign upon Earth you may come to the Possession of the Glories of Heaven Some days after the L. Constance discoursed his Majesty about a Project which he had had a long time in his thoughts of bringing to Siam twelve Jesuits Mathematicians whom he had already demanded of our Reverend Father General and about the Design of building an Observatory in imitation of Paris and Pekin He made his Majesty sensible of the Glory and Profit that would thereby redound to him and the Advantage that his Subjects would reap from it who would be taught the finest Arts and Sciences of Europe His Majesty much approved that Project and bid the Lord Constance tell us that he would have an Observatory built in his Kingdom which he would bestow upon the Fathers of the Company of Jesus whom he much esteemed and whom he would protect and favour in all things that lay in his power Whereupon the Lord Constance thought it fit that some of us should return to France to press that Affair which seemed to him to be of extream consequence for Religion He mentioned it one day to the Father Superior when we were all three together We joyfully consented to it and the Commission falling upon me I had Orders presently to prepare for my Return It grieved me to the heart then to see my self for a long time removed to so great a distance from China which I had longed after for so many years The Lord Constance who is no less ready to embrace the Occasions of advancing the Glory of God than of procuring Advantages to his Master communicated to us another View which he thought might contribute much to the Conversion of the Siamese He pretends that if once their Esteem and Affection can be gained by Zeal Meekness and Learning it will be no difficult matter to dispose them to hearken to Instruction That he throughly knew the temper of that Nation and no man better why Christianity hath made no greater progress at Siam after so many years endeavours of having it planted there that besides the Observatory there must be another House of Jesuits where they should as much as lay in their power lead the austere and retired Life of the Talapoins that have so great credit with the people that they should take their Habit visit them often and endeavour to convert some of them to the Christian Religion that in short it was well known how that Conduct had succeeded with the Portuguese Jesuits who are at Madura towards Bengal The truth is we have learnt from several places and very lately too at Siam from a French Missionary who had been at St. Thomas two Months before that these Fathers had liâ—ed several years amongst those People and applied themselves with care and pains to their Conversion without any considerable fruit One of them who had been made Superior of that Mission having long implored Assistance from heaven and reflecting on the Reverence that those People had for the Bramines who are their Priests and Religious thought that if he did take the Habit of the Bramens and lived after their manner he might gain Crediâ— amongst them and win them over to Jesus Christ He communicated that Design to his Superiors who proposed it to the Congregation de propaganda Fide. It was considered of at Rome and it being represented to the Cardinals that the Habits the Bramens wore were no Mark of Religion but of Nobility and eminent Quality they permitted that Father and some other Jesuits who approved his Judgment to try that last way for the Conversion of those People Having so taken the Badge of the Bramens they began to live as they did and since that time these Apostolic Men have been seen walking upon the burning hot Sand bare-footed and bare-headed and continually exposed to the heat of the Sun which is extraordinary there because the Bramens wear no Stockings nor Shoes and never cover their Head living on nothing but Herbs and spending three or four days without eating under a Tree or on the high way waiting till some Indian affected with such surprizing austerity should come and hear them God hath so much blessed their Zeal and Mortification that they have converted above threescore thousand Indians and the People come flocking in so great numbers to be instructed that they value not all the hardship and trouble they have endured The same Church-man added that he had seen one of those Fathers whose feet had been all chopt with the burning Sand which getting afterwards into the Wounds put him to extream pain and raised strange Swellings Upon what he told us of these Missions we earnestly desired to see a more ample Relation of them being perswaded that we should therein meet with rare Examples of Zeal and great ground of Edification A VOYAGE TO SIAM The Fifth BOOK Of our Return from Siam WHen it was resolved upon that I should return to France the Lord Constance redoubled the Testimonies of Friendship wherewith he had till then honour'd me telling me that he wished he might frequently discourse me in private Next day I went to see him according as he had enjoyned me at parting I found him taken up in preparing Presents for those who had had the greatest hand in the Favour which the King had done us of sending us to China and making us draw near to see them these are but very mean Presents said he for so great Lords But you shall tell them Father that I came to know of it but very late and after I had given away all the finest and most curious things I had For besides the Presents which he sent to France and that he had given to the French who were at Siam he had sent some very considerable to Portugal by the three Ambassadors whom the King of Siam had dispatched to Lisbone sometime before we arrived there Nor is it said he a Present that I would have them take as from me but as from one of your Brothers to thank them for the Goodness they have for you and the Protection they honour you with We could make no answer to such obliging Expressions but by our most humble Thanks but he would not hear us interrupting and adjuring us not to speak to him in that Strain that being our Brother he was perwaded he did no more but his Duty The same day that we had
him so much Glory and happiness and which are no other than the Knowledge and Worship of the true God which is only to be found in the Christian Religion He offers your Majesty then by his Ambassador adjuring you and your whole Kingdom to embrace and follow it That Prince Sir is more admirable still by his Wisdom Judgment and Prudence than by his Conquests and Victories Your Majesty knows his generosity and Royal Friendship you cannot make a better choice than to follow the wise Counsels of so great a King your good friend For my part Sir I never begg'd any thing of the great God for your Majesty but that Grace and I would be ready to lay down a thousand lives that I might obtain it of the Divine Bounty May it please your Majesty to consider that by that action you will Crown all the Great and Illustrious exploits of your Reign you will eternize your Memory and procure to your self immortal Honour and Glory in the next World. Ah Sir I adjure your Majesty not to send back the Embassador of so great a King with discontent he begs that in the name of the King his Master for establishing and rendring your Alliances and Royal Amities inviolable at least if your Majesty hath entertained any good thought or if you find the least inclination to embrace that Party that you would make it known It is the most acceptable news that he can carry to the King his Master Now if your Majesty hath resolved not to condescend to what I have had the honour to represent to you or that you cannot give a favourable answer to the Ambassador I beg of you to excuse me from carrying your Royal answer which cannot but be displeasing to the Great God whom I adore You ought not to think it strange that I speak to you in this manner whosoever is not faithful to his God cannot be so to his Prince and your Majesty ought not to do me the honour to suffer me in your Service if I entertained other Sentiments The King of Siam answers the Lord Constance The King heard the Discourse of the Lord Constance without interrupting him and having a little pondered with himself as one whose mind was taken up with great thoughts he answered him upon the spot in these terms FEAR not that I will force your Conscience But who hath made the King of France my good Friend believe that I entertained any such Sentiments Ah Sir who can doubt replied the Lord Constance but that your Majesty has those great thoughts when they consider the Protection you give to Missionaries the Churches you have caused to be built the Charity you give to the Fathers of China It is upon that Sir that the King of France grounds his perswasion that your Majesty had an inclination towards Christianity But when you told the Ambassador added the King the reasons that make me continue in the Religion of my Ancestors what answer had you from him The Ambassador of France replied the Lord Constance found your Reasons to be very weighty but seeing the propositions he made you in the name of the King his Master was sincere and disinterested and that that great Monarch had no other prospect but your Majesties good he did not think that any of the reasons which I told him ought to hinder him from obeying his Masters Commands especially when he understood that the Ambassador of Persia was arrived in the Kingdom of Siam and that he brought your Majesty the Alcoran to the end you might follow it In that view the Ambassador of France thought himself obliged to offer your Majesty the Christian Religion and to adjure you to embrace it Is it true answered the King that the Ambassador of Persia brings me the Alcoran It is so reported reply'd the Lord Constance To which the King forthwith made answer I wish with all my heart the Ambassador of France were here to see what Reception the Ambassador of Persia should have from me Certainly if I had no Religion at all I would never choose the Mahometan But to answer the Ambassador of France continued the King you shall tell him from me I think my self extreamly obliged to the King of France his Master finding in his Memoirs the marks of his most Christian Majesties Royal Friendship and since the honour that that great Prince hath done me is already made publick all over the East I cannot sufficiently acknowledge his Civility but that I am extreamly vexed that the King of France my good Friend should propose so difficult a thing unto me wherewith I am not in the least acquainted that I refer my self to the Wisdom of the most Christian King that he himself may judge of the importance and difficulty which occur in so nice a matter as the change of a Religion received and followed throughout my whole Kingdom without interruption during the pace of two thousand two hundred twenty nine years After all The Motives that keep the King of Siam firm in his Religion it is strange to me that the King of France my good Friend should so much concern himself in an Affair that relates to God wherein it would seem God does not at all interest himself but leaves it wholly to our Discretion For would not the true God that made Heaven and Earth and all things that are therein and hath given them so different natures and inclinations when he gave to Men like Bodies and Souls if he had pleased have also inspired into them the same sentiments for the Religion they ought to follow and for the Worship that was most acceptable to him and make all Nations live and die in the same Laws That Order amongst Men and that Vnity in Religion depending absolutely on Divine Providence who could as easily introduce it into the World as the diversity of Sects that in all times have been established in it ought not one to think that the true God takes as great pleasure to be honoured by different Worships and Ceremonies as to be Glorified by a prodigious number of Creatures that Praise him every one in their own way Would that Beauty and Variety which we admire in the order of Nature be less admirable in the supernatural Order or less beseeming the Wisdom of God However it be continued his Majesty since we know that God is the absolute Master of the World and that we are perswaded that nothing comes to pass contrary to his will I wholly resign my Person and Dominions into the Arms of the Divine Mercy and Providence and with all my heart obtest his eternal Wisdom to dispose thereof according to his good will and pleasure So that I most expresly command you to tell that Ambassador that I shall omit nothing that lies in my power to cherish the Royal friendship of the most Christian King and instead of complying with the means that he hath proposed to me I shall take such care during the time
they think suitable to the Dignity of God whilst he is upon Earth for they reckon it below him to mind the Government of the World to take care of Men and Beasts and to produce all that the Universe brings forth and in this manner it is that the World shall be from time to time renewed to all Eternity I thought it fit to premise all these things before I came to speak of Sommonokhodom so the Siamese call the God whom at present they adore because they are necessary to the understanding of his History That History after all Sommonokhodom is the Last God of the Siamese is a monstrous mixture of Christianity and the most ridiculous Fables It is at first supposed that Sommonokhodom was born God by his own virtue and that immediately after his Birth without the help of any Master to instruct him he acquired by a meer glance of his Mind a perfect knowledg of all things relating to Heaven the Earth Paradice Hell and the most impenetrable Secrets of Nature that at the same time he remembred all that ever he had done in the different Lives he had led and that after he had taught the People those great Matters he left them wriâ—en in Books that Posterity might be the better for them In these Books he reports of himself Fables which the â—alapoins relatâ— of their God. that being become God one day he desired to manifest his Divinity to Men by some extraordinary Prodigy He then sate under a Tree called Ton ppô which for that reason the Siamese reverence as some sacred thing and look upon it as a happy Presage for the places where it grows being perswaded that it would be a great sin to do the least hurt to that Tree He adds that presently he found himself carried up into the Air in a Throne all shining with Gold and precious Stones which came out of the Earth in the place where he was and that at the same instant Angels coming down from Heaven rendered him the Honours and Adorations that were due unto him His Brother Thevathat and his Followers could not without extream Jealousie behold the Glory and Majesty that environed him Thevathat Sommonokhodoms younger brother makes war against him They conspired his Ruin and having stirred up the Beasts against him engaged with him in a War. Though he was all alone he was not terrified by that multitude of Enemies he resisted all their Attempts without being shaken and by virtue of his good works which defended him the shafts they darted at him were changed into so many Flowers which far from hurting him served only to encrease his Honour In the mean time he confesses that in the brunt of the Battle when he was most in danger it was but in vain that he had his recourse to the good works he had done in keeping the Nine first Commandments of the Law which he found were not sufficient to defend him in this pressing Necessity But being armed with the tenth Command which he had inviolably observed and which enjoyns the practice of Charity towards Men and Beasts he easily triumphed over his Enemies and in this manner he obtained that Victory The Female Guardian-Angel of the Earth for we have already distinguished two Sexes amongst the Angels coming to him Sommonokhodom assisted by the Female tutelary Angel of the Earth triumphs over his Enemies at first adored him then turning towards Thevathat and his Adherents she made known to them that Sommonokhodom was really become God. She told them that she had been a Witness of his good Works and to convince them of that shewed them her own Hair still dropping with the Waters that he poured out in the beginning of his good Actions Hence came the â—uperstitious Custom of the Siamese of shedding Water in the beginning of their good works whereof we have spoken several times already and which the Siamese religiously observe since that time In fine she exhorted them to render him the Adorations that he deserved but finding them to be hardned and obstinately resolved not to hearken to her Remonstrances she squeezed her wet hair and pressed out of them an Ocean of Water wherein they were all drowned It is also found written in the Books of Sommonokhodom The Poppery which the Talapoins tell of Sommonokhodom that from the time he aspired to be God he had returned into the World five hundred and fifty times under various shapes that in every Regeneration he had been always the Chief and as it were Prince of the Animals under whose shape he was born that many times he had given his Life for his Subjects and that being a Monkey he had delivered a Town from a horrible Monster that wasted it that he had been a most potent King and that seven days before he obtained the Sovereign Dominion of the Universe he had retired in imitation of some Anchorites with his Wife and two Children into remote Solitudes that there he was dead to the World and his Passions in such a degree that without being moved he suffered a Baramen who had a mind to try his Patience and carry away his Son and Daughter and torment them before his face Nay his mortification went a great deal farther for he even gave his Wife to a poor Man that begged an Alms and having put out his own eyes he sacrificed himself by distributing his flesh amongst the Beasts to stay the hunger that pressed them From thence they take occasion again to find fault with the Christian Religion which enjoyns not Men to comfort and assist Beasts in their necessities These are the rare actions which the Talapoins in their Sermons propose to the people for imitation and the examples they make use of to encline them to virtue Thevathat killed his Brother Sommonokhodom when they were Apes What is Recorded of Thevathat in the same Books is no less extraordinary nor Fabulous There we learn that he was always born again with his Brother Sommonokhodom in the same kind as he was but still inferiour in Dignity because Sommonokhodom was the Prince of the Animals whose shape he took But Thevathat aspiring also to Divinity and not endeavouring any thing above himself would never submit to his Brother On the contrary he endeavoured by continual Revolts to disturb his Reign and omitted nothing that he might deprive him of the Empire wherein at length he succeeded in some manner for he killed him when both of them were Apes What we saw during our abode in Siam did but too much convince us how far the People are infatuated with such Fables A young Church-man maintaining a position of Divinity in presence of my Lord Ambassador some Talapoins came thither out of curiosity and amongst others the superiour of one of their most famous Monasteries This Man asked what they were disputing about with so much heat and being answered that they were speaking of God and of matters concerning that first Being Likely
enough replied the Talapoin the stress of the Disputation rests upon the great labours and the death his enemies made him suffer whilst he was a Monkey Let us now return to the fabulous Story of Thevathat Being a person of much wit and address Thevathat makes a Schism and declares himself against his Brother he found the way to make a new Sect wherein he engaged several Kings and much People who embraced his Doctrine and imitated his examples That was the Original of a Schism which divided the world into two parts and gave a beginning to two Religions whereas before that all Mankind had but one Some of whom they reckon us for the Reasons we shall presently alledge became the Disciples of Thevathat and the rest of Sammonokhodom Thevathat tho he was but the younger finding himself supported by so many Princes who espoused his quarrel employed open Force and Treason to Ruin his elder Brother He invented the most heinous Calumnies to blacken his Reputation but these Designs succeeded not Nay he was oftner than once overcome when to confirm his followers in the Faith which he had taught them he had the boldness to contend with his Brother who should work the greatest Miracles Thevathat conspiring to to be God is with his Followers deprived of many knowledges Ambition made him desire to be God but not being really so he was ignorant of a great many things which his Brother perfectly knew and because his haughtiness would not suffer him to listen to Sommonokhodom he did not learn of him what was done in Hell and Paradise nor the Doctrine of the Transmigration of Souls nor yet the changes that had been and were to be in all ages from whence they conclude that it is not to be wondred at if we who are his Disciples find nothing of all those things in the Books he hath left us if our Scriptures be full of obscurities and doubts and that if being wholly ignorant of Divinity we have so great a mind to reason and dispute with them For since Thevathat our Master knew nothing of that himself he could not instruct us therein Hence is it also that we are ignorant of the secret of curing Men of preserving them from all evils of making Gold and Silver and of discovering those precious Metals in the places where they are hid For they believe that there are vast Treasures in certain unknown places but that I know not what supernatural Virtue hinders us from perceiving them or if we do see them it makes them appear to us under a shape and figure which imposes upon our sight They also object to us that we cannot work many prodigies which they pretend they can do and are the Essence of Magick because Thevathat having as little skill that way as in all the rest he could not teach us But tho Thevathat was not God and that by consequence he had neither the agility nor subtilty of Body nor the other perfections of Divinity yet he excelled in several Sciences especially in the Mathematicks and Geometry Now as it is of him if we 'll take their word for it that we have received these knowledges it is no wonder if we be good Geometricians and be perfectly well skilled in other arts In the new Doctrine which he published he foisted in a great many things The Talapoins perswade the Siamese that the Christian Religion is taken out of the Law which Sommonokhodom taught them which he had taken out of his Brothers Religion and that hath rendred both Laws so like one another in several points They differ however in that Thevathats Law is far less severe than that of Sommonokhodom for it allows Men a great liberty of killing and eating Animals tho' the use of them be unlawful and criminal From the Doctrine of Thevathat as out of a source of Schism seven other Sects are sprung which have a great deal of affinity one with another and that Tradition they apply to the Heresies of the Dutch English and other people separated from the Church of Rome for they look upon them as so many shoots sprung from our Religion and that confirms them the more in their Opinions After all the outrages that Thevathat had done to his Brother without any respect to Nature or even to Divinity Thevathat is punished in Hell for having persecuted his Brother It was but just he should be punished And so the Siamese Scriptures make mention of his punishment and Sommonokhodom himself relates that after he became God he saw that wicked Brother of his in the deepest place of Hell. He was in the eight Habitation that is to say in the place where the greatest Offenders are tormented and there by a terrible punishment he expiated all the sins that he had committed and especially the injuries he had done to me Explaining afterwards the pains which Thevathat was made to suffer he says that he was fastened to a Cross with great nails which piercing his hands and feet put him to extreme pain that on his head he had a Crown of Thorns that his Body was full of wounds and to compleat his Misery the Infernal place burnt him without consuming of him So sad a spectacle moved him to compassion he forgot all the wrongs his Brother had done him and could not see him in that condition without taking a resolution to help him He proposed to him then these three words to be adored Ppu thang Thamang Sangkhang sacred and mysterious words for which the Siamese have a profound veneration and whereof the first signifies God the second the word of God and the third the imitator of God promising him that if he would accept so easie and reasonable a condition to deliver him from all the pains to which he was condemned Thevathat consented to adore the first two words but he never would adore the third because it signified Priest or Imitator of God protesting that Priests were sinful Men that deserved no respect To punish him for that Pride he still suffers and will suffer for a great many years to come The Talapoins take the Siamese off from turning Christians by perswading them that Jesus Christ is Thevathat the Brother of their God. Tho there be many things that keep the Siamese at a distance from the Christian Law yet one may say nothing makes them more averse from it than this thought The similitude that is to be found in some points betwixt their Religion and ours making them believe that Jesus Christ is the very same with that Thevathat mentioned in their Scriptures they are perswaded that seeing we are the Disciples of the one we are also the followers of the other and the fear they have of falling into Hell with Thevathat if they follow his Doctrine suffers them not to hearken to the propositions that are made to them of embracing Christianity That which most confirms them in their prejudice is that we adore the Image of
THE VOYAGE of SIAM London Printed 1688. A RELATION OF THE VOYAGE TO SIAM Performed by SIX JESUITS Sent by the FRENCH KING to the INDIES and CHINA in the Year 1685. WITH THEIR ASTROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS and their REMARKS of Natural Philosophy Geography Hydrography and History Published in the Original by the express Orders of His most Christian Majesty And now made English and illustrated with SCULPTURES LONDON Printed by T. B. for J. Robinson and A. Churchil and are to be sold by S. Crouch at the Corner of Popes-Head Alley against the Royal-Exchange 1688. Licensed August the 30th 1687. Ro. L'Estranâ— A VOYAGE TO SIAM The First BOOK The Voyage from Brest to the Cape of Good-Hope SInce the time the King setled a Royal Academy at Paris for improving Arts and Sciences within his Kingdom the Members that compose it have not hit upon any means more proper for accomplishing that Design than the sending out of Learned Men to make Observations in foreign Countries whereby they might correct the Geographical Maps facilitate Navigation and raise Astronomy to its Perfection In that Prospect not a few of the Learnedst Men of that Illustrious Society were by his Majesties Orders sent into several Kingdoms Some went into Denmark others to England some were sent to the Isle of Cayana and other Isles of America Cape Verd nay and to the chief Ports and Coasts of the Kingdom whilst others in the Observatory at Home kept pace and entertained all necessary Correspondencies with them It was desired that an Occasion might offer of sending more Observators into several Parts of Europe to the Isle of Foroy where they have fixed the first Meridian the East-Indies and chiefly into China where it was known that Arts had flourished for these four thousand years where there are Books upon all Subjects and Libraries that may compare with the fairest in Europe from which the Kings Bibliothic might be enriched The Father parted from Macao December 5. 1681 in a Dutch Ship and arrived in Holland in October 1682. This Desire grew stronger in the chief Members of the Academy after they had conversed with Father Philip Couplet a Flemish Jesuit who upon his Return from China posted by Paris on his way to Rome whither he was sent about the Affairs of the Mission The Marquis de Louvoy Minister and Secretary of State who besides the Affairs of War and Oversight of the Kings Buildings was likewise charged with the Concerns of Arts and Sciences ordered in his Majesties Name the Members of the Royal Academy to draw up a Memoire of the most remarkable things they desired to be informed of from China to be given and recommended to Father Couplet who was to return thither the year following The Duke of Mayne favoured also the Design with a great Zeal for Religion and a Curiosity suitable to his Wit calculated for Knowledg and far above his years But the King surpassing all in Zeal for the Improvement of Arts and Sciences especially of such which in those Countries might most contribute to the Growth of Religion being affected with the Necessity of Missions was resolved to assist them with his Protection and Liberalities He was informed by Father Couplet that almost all the French Jesuits who above thirty years since went to China with Father Alexander of Rhodes were dead labouring in the Missions of that Kingdom that there were but a very few Missionaries remaining that the Emperour in the mean time continued to them his Protection and that in imitation of him the Vice-Roys and Governours of Provinces were also very kind to them and that in short there was a great want of Gospel-Labourers not only for cultivating the Christians who are already very numerous there but also for reaping the Fruit of the certain hopes which at present more than ever good men have of spreading the Faith in that vast Empire He had already gone so far as to assign a considerable Sum of Money for the French Jesuits who were to accompany Father Couplet and all the care was how they might be sent under his Majesties Authority when Divine Providence presented a most favourable occasion for it Hardly was Father Couplet departed for Rome when two Siam Mandarins with a Priest of the Foreign Missions setled in Siam named Monsieur le Vachet arrived in France They were sent by the Ministers of the King of Siam to learn News of the Embassie which the King their Master had sent to his Majesty with magnificent Presents on board a Ship belonging to the East-India Company called the Sun of the East which was reported to have been cast away His Majesty perceiving what Advances the King of Siam made in seeking his Friendship and that there was hopes besides he might turn Christian if there were an Ambassador sent to him resolved to do it and by the same way sends Jesuits into China which hath a great commerce with the Kingdom of Siam from whence it is not above five or six hundred Leagues disstant The King orders six Jesuits Mathematicians to be sent to China The King having thereupon declared his Intentions to the Marques de Louvoy and Father de la Chaize they forthwith demanded of our Superiors four Fathers at least that might be capable of labouring in consort with the Academy Royal in the Improvement of Arts and Sciences and at the same time employ themselves with the Missionaries of China in advancing the Christian Religion adding that they must needs be ready to depart within six weeks in the Ship that was to carry the French Ambassador to Siam It was no hard matter for our Superiours to find men that were willing to contribute to the furthering of that design Amongst many who offered themselves six were chosen who tho of different Provinces were happily at that time in the Jesuits College at Paris as if Divine Providence had only brought them together for obtaining a happiness which they earnestly longed for The Superiour named to be over them was Father Fontenay who for eight years past taught the Mathematics in that College The other five were Father Gerbillon Father l'Compte Father Visdelou Father Couvet and my self So soon as the thing was resolved upon The preparations for their departure we had private notice given us to prepare for our departure within two Months at farthest Next day we went together to Mount-Martre to thank God by the Mediation of the Holy Virgin and Holy Martyrs for the favour that was done us and to Offer our selves up to Jesus Christ more particularly in that place where St. Ignatius and his Companions made their first Vows and which is looked upon as the Cradle of the Society that from its birth hath devoted it self in a most particular manner to Foreign Missions That 's the reason that they who constitute it have ever since consecrated themselves to that duty by a solemn Vow so that every one thinking himself in particular destiny'd to it ought
the Commander himself too that they had seen ten thousand of them together in a Plain which they found in a Wood. There are not so many Lyons nor Tygers as Stags but yet there is a great many of them and I can easily believe it because of the vast number of those Beasts skins wherein they Trade at the Cape They keep not so close to the Woods but that they come sometimes to places inhabited where they set upon any thing they meet and even upon Men themselves There happened an instance of this while we were there and the Commissary-General told us it Two Men walking at a distance from their habitations perceived a Tyger one fired at it and missed if upon which it made a spring at him and brought him to the ground the other seeing in what extreme danger his Comrade was fired at the Tyger and wounded his Friend in the thigh The Tyger in the mean time having received no hurt left his prey and made after this Man the first getting up again came in in the nick of time and killed the Tyger They say that this Beast hath such an instinct that amongst an hundred Men it will single out him that fired at it and leave all the rest A month before the like accident almost happened of a Lyon who tore to pieces a Man and his Servant pretty near the habitations and was afterwards killed himself At the Cape we took a great may excellent Fish Several sorts of Fish at the Cape Amongst others Mullets and of those fish which in France they call Dorades or Gilt-heads and are far different from the Dolphin which is much bigger and better deserves that name because of its yellowish colour and golden specks that make it pass for one of the loveliest Fish that swims in the Sea. We took also great numbers of Soals and some Cramp-fish The Cramp-fish is an ugly Fish and very soft which hath the virtue when they fish for it to cause a numness in the hand and arm We saw many Sea-Wolves there which seem to be well enough named There are Pinguins there also These are water-foul without wings and are constantly almost in the water being truly amphibious In the year 1681. the Heer Vanderstel setled a new Colony consisting of fourscore and two Families nine or ten Leagues farther up in the Country and called it by the name of Hollenbok Some affirm that there are Gold Mines on the Cape Golden Mines on the Cape They shewed us Stones found there which seemed to confirm that opinion for they are ponderous and with a Microscope one may discover on all sides small particles that look like gold But the most curious thing we found on the Cape was an exact Map of the places about newly discovered by a Hollander with a Latin relation of the Nations that inhabit them Both were given us by a Man of Credit who hath set down nothing but what himself was an eye-witness of the translation of it follows The South point of Africa is no less remote from Europe A Translation of a Latin relation of the Places about the Cape than the manner of its Inhabitants are different from ours For these People are ignorant of the Creation of the World the Redemption of Mankind and the Mystery of the most Holy Trinity However they adore a God but the knowledge they have of him is very confused In honour of him they kill Cows and Sheep and Offer Him the Flesh and Milk in Sacrifice as a token of their gratitude towards that Deity who grants them as they believe sometimes Rain and sometimes fair weather according as they stand in need of it they expect no other life after this Notwithstanding that they have still some good qualities which should hinder us from despising them for they have more Charity and Fidelity one toward another then is to be found commonly amongst Christians Adultery and Theft are with them capital Crimes always punished by Death Tho every Man has the liberty to take as many Wives as he is able to maintain yet none of them not of the richer sort is to be found with more than three These People are divided into several Nations The Manners of the Inhabitants of the Cape who have all the same way of living Their ordinary Food is Milk and the flesh of the Cattle which they keep in great quantity Every one of these Nations have their Head or Captain whom they obey that Office is Hereditary and goes from Father to Son. The Right Succession belongs to the Eldest and that they may retain the Authority and Respect they are the only Heirs of their Fathers the younger having no other inheritance but the obligation of serving their Elders Their Cloaths are no more but plain Sheep-skins with the wool prepared with Cows dung and a certain Grease that renders them insupportable both to the eye and smell The first Nation in the Language of the Country is called Songuas The Europeans call those People Hotentots perhaps because they have always that word in their mouth when they meet Strangers Seeing they are nimble strong bold and more expert than others in handling their Arms which are the Javelin and Arrows they go and serve other Nations as Soldiers Their Arms and so there is not one Nation who besides their own Natives have not also Songuas in their Militia Their Food In their own Country they live in deep Caves and sometimes in Houses as others do They live much by Hunting at which they are very dextrous they kill Elephants Rhinocerosses Elks Stags Antelopes wild Goats and several other Beasts of which there is a prodigious quantity on the Cape they gather also at certain times the Honey which the Bees make in hollow Trees and Rocks I will make a little digression from this relation Their blindness as to matters of Religion that I may give an account of what we our selves have seen of those people or what we learned of them from very sure hands The Hotentots being perswaded that there is no other life after this labour as little and take as much case as they can in this World. To hear them talk even when they are serving the Dutch for a little Bread Their Opinion as to their own way of living and that of Strangers Tobacco or Brandy they look upon them as slaves who labour the Land of their Country and as People of no Courage who shut themselves up within Houses and Forts to secure them from their Enemies whilst their people Encamp securely in the open Fields without stooping so low as to labour Land. By that way of living they pretend to demonstrate that they are Masters of the Earth and the happiest People of the World because they alone live in liberty and repose wherein they place their felicity Whilst we were in the Companies Garden a leading Man amongst them seeing how civilly we were used by the chief of
of Your Government the Magnificence of Your Court the Greatness of Your Dominions and what particularly You were willing that He should know by Your Ambassadors the Esteem You have for Him confirmed by that constant Protection which You give His Subjects especially the Bishops who are by me and who are the Ministers of the true God. He is very sensible of the many Illustrious Effects of the Esteem You have for Him and He resolves Sir to correspond with it to the utmost of His Power In that Design He is ready to treat with Your Majesty to send You of His Subjects to entertain â—nd encrease Commerce to give You all the Testimonies of a sincere Friendship and to begin betwixt the two Crowns an Vnion that may remain as strict to Posterity as Your Territories are separated from His by those vast Seas that disjoyn them But nothing will more confirm Him in that Resolution nor unite You more closely together than to live in the Sentiments of the same Belief And it is that particularly Sir which the King my Master a Prince so Wise and Sharp sighted tbat He hath always given good Counsel to the Kings that are His Allies hath commanded me to represent to You on His Part. He adjures You by the Interest which as being one of Your most sincere Friends he takes in Your real Glory to consider that Sovereign Majesty wherewith You are invested upon Earth cannot be derived from any but the true God that 's to say from an Omnipotent Eternal and Infinite God such as Christians acknowledge him to be who alone makes Kings to Reign and Rules the Fortune of all People To submit Your Grandure to this God who governs Heaven and Earth is much more Rational Sir than to refer them to the other Deities that are worshiped in the East whose Impotence Your Majesty who hath so much Light and Penetration cannot but easily see But it will be made far more palpable to You Sir if You 'l be pleased for some time to give a Hearing to the Bishops and other Missionaries that are here It will be the welcomest News that I can carry to my Master Sir that Your Majesty being convinced of the Truth takes pains to be instructed in the Christian Religion This will raise in Him a greater Esteem and Admiration for Your Majesty and make His Subjects more eager to come into Your Dominions and in a Word Sir will compleat Yoor Glory seeing by that Means Your Majesty having so prosperously Reigned upon Earth makes sure of an Eternal Reign in the Heavens The Bishop told the Lord Constance in Portuguese the Sense of his Excellencies Complement and that Minister explained it to the King in Siamese keeping in the mean while in a very respectful Posture as the other Princes and Lords did who still continued prostrate in the Hall at his Side but a little lower It would be no easie matter to describe the Joy and Gladness which King of Siam expressed on that occasion and during the whole Day It was a Surprise to the Ambassador In what manner the Ambassador presented the Kings Letter to the King of Siam when he entered the Hall to see the King so high above him and he seemed somewhat troubled that he had not been told of it When his Complement was made the next thing he was to do in course was to advance and present the King his Masters Letter to the King of Siam It was agreed upon with the Lord Constance that to shew greater Respect to the Kings Letter the Ambassador should take it from the Abbot de Choisi who for that end should stand by his Side during his Speech and hold the Letter in a golden Cup with a very long Foot. But the Ambassador perceiving the King so high above him that to reach up to him he must have taken the Cup by the lower part of the Foot and raised his Arm very high thought that that Distance suited not with his Dignity and that he ought to present the Letter nearer hand Having a little considered he thought it was his best Course to hold the Cup by the Boul and to stretch his Arm but half out The King perceiving the reason why he acted so rose up smiling and stooping with his Body over the Throne met him half way to receive the Letter He then put it upon his Head which was a Mark of extraordinary Honour and Esteem that he was willing to shew to the great King that sent it After that he made answer to the Ambassador that he was extreamly obliged to his most Christian Majesty for the Honour he did him and that he had no greater desire than to entertain an eternal Peace and Amity with his Majesty He then asked him about that Princes Health whom he always called his good Friend and about the Health of all the Royal Family and expressed his Gladness that his Excellence and all his Retinue were arrived in good Health The Ambassador presents the Abbot of Choisi and the Gentlemen of his Retinue to the King of Siam The Ambassador having thanked his Majesty for all his Favours presented to him the Abbot of Choisi as a Person of Merit and the Gentlemen of his Retinue saying that they were all Officers in the Kings Fleet that most of them had been on several Occasions engaged against the Enemy's of the State and therein signalized their Valour The King listned to him with a great deal of satisfaction and then turned the Discourse upon the Ambassadors whom he had sent into France of whom he had no News He enlarged a pretty while upon the Praises of the King seeming overjoyed to hear what the Ambassador told him of his Greatness Wisdom Conquests and of the Peace which he had given to Europe In fine he bid tell the Ambassador that if he stood in need of any thing in his Kingdom for himself and Followers he should address himself to his Barcalon whom he had expresly charged to satisfie him in all things So the first Audience ended with much satisfaction on both sides The Ambassador sees the white Elephant in his Apartment When the Ambassador came out of the Hall the Lord Constance carried him to see the white Elephant which is so highly esteemed in the Indies and which hath been the cause of so many Wars He is but little and so old that he is wrinkly all over Several Mandarins are appointed to take care of him and he is only served in Gold at least the two Basons that were set before him were of beaten Gold of an extraordinary Size and Thickness His Apartment is stately and the Ceiling of the Pavilion where he stands very neatly gilt It being now late the Ambassador came out of the Royal Palace and in the same Pomp and Order that he came to his Audience went to the House that was prepared for him Sometime after the Bishop was sent for by Orders from the King to translate the
King of France his Letter into the Siam Language which being done it made a great impression on the mind of that Prince These are the terms wherein it was conceived MOST High most Excellent The French Kings Letter to the King of Siam and most Magnanimous Prince Our most Dear and Good Friend God augment Your Glory with a happy end I have learnt to My Trouble the loss of the Ambassadors which You sent to Vs in the Year 1681. and We have been informed by the Fathers Missionaries who are returned from Siam and by the Letters which Our Ministers have recived from him to whom You entrust the principal care of Your Affairs how earnestly You desire Our Royal Friendship To correspond therewith We have chosen the Chevalier de Chaumont for Our Ambassador to You who will inform You more particularly of Our Intentions as to every thing that may contribute to the setling of a solid and lasting Friendship betwixt us In the mean time we should be extreamly glad to find occasions of expressing to You the Gratitude wherewith we have learnt that you continue your Protection to the Bishops and other Apostolic Emissaries who labour to instruct your Subjects in the Christian Religion and the particular esteem we have for You makes us ardently desire that you would your self condescend to hear them and learn of them the true Maxims and Sacred Mysterys of so holy a Law wherein one has the Knowledg of the True God who alone can after a long and Glorious Reign over Your Subjects here make You eternally Happy hereafter We have entrusted Our Ambassador with some Presents of some of the most curious things of our Kingdom which he will present to You as a mark of our esteem and he will also tell You what it is We may desire for the benefit of the Trade of our Subjects Whereupon We pray God that He would augment Your Greatness with a most happy end Given at our Castle of Versailles the One and twentieth day of January 1685. Your most dear and good Friend COLBERT LOUIS The Ambassador Visits the Bishop of Metellopolis After the Ambassador had had Audience of the King he rendred his first Visit to the Bishop of Metellopolis at the Seminary This Prelate is Apostolical Vicar in the greatest part of the Indies submitted to Apostolical Vicars He has been labouring for a long time with much assiduity and zeal in the Conversion of the Siamese whose Language he hath carefully studied We received from him our approbations in writing and when he sent us them he signified to us that we might exercise our Functions in the Indies as well as in Europe He resides commonly at the Seminary ever since he hath been weakned by long Sickness It is one of the prettiest Houses in the whole Town or Countrey about Siam consisting of a large double house built after the French way and two Stories high where twenty people may be conveniently lodged The rooms are large and high some of them lying towards the Garden and the rest towards a Church which the King of Siam orders to be built hard by and is not as yet finished It will be very large and if they had been so careful at first as to have made a regular design of it it might have passed for a pretty Church even in Europe It is a Custom established at the Court of Siam The King of Siam sends a Present to the Ambassador to give a Vest to all who have the honour of being introduced into the Kings Presence and it is always brought to the Ambassadors at the end of the Audience when they present them the Betle The King being informed that the French made no use of Betle and that perhaps a Suit of Cloaths made at Siam would not fit them he would not have it given them at that time but some days after he sent his Excellence twenty pieces of a very rich Stuff with flowers of Gold and as much silk stuff for linings He made a like Present to the Gentlemen of his Retinue that they might make lighter Cloaths these are the Kings own words and so suffer with less inconvenience the great heats of a Climate to which they were not accustomed When the Ambassador received the Kings Present The Ambassador ordered Money to be thrown out at the Windows to those who brought him the Present he caused a great deal of Money to be thrown out at the Windows to the Servants of the Mandarins who brought it and to the People who were gathered together there in great Crouds This made much noise in the City of Siam and surprised all the People who had never before seen that kind of Magnificence There was no otheâ— talk for a long time but of that rich shower 〈◊〉 Gold and Silver which fell in the Court of thâ— Ambassador of France That piece of seasonablâ— liberality much encreased the esteem which thâ— Great Men and People had conceived of the Frencâ— Nation So soon as the Ambassador was setled in thâ— City of Siam the Lord Constance who lived before in the Field of the Japanese came to a fâ— House that he has near the Ambassadors Palace and lodged there Nay all the while that we werâ— at Siam he kept open Table for the French anâ— upon their account to all the other Nations Hâ— House was very well furnished and instead 〈◊〉 Tapistry which would be intolerable at Siam bâ—cause of the heat all round the Divan there was 〈◊〉 great Japan Skreen of a surprising height anâ— beauty He kept always two Tables for twelvâ— People apiece where all things were very delicaâ— and in very great plenty There we had all sorâ— of Wine Spanish Rhenish French Cephalâ—nian and Persian We were served in greâ— Silver Dishes and the Cupboard was furnishâ— with most lovely Gold and Silver Plate of Japâ— rarely well wrought with a great many laâ— Dishes of the same Metal and Workmanship Tht King of Siam sends his Presents to the Pagods with much Pomp. The Rumor that was then spread abroad thâ— the King was about to go in great State aâ— make a Present to his Pagod raised the curiosâ— of the French Gentlemen to be spectators of tâ— Pomp. One of the Mandarins who was alwaâ— in the House to prevent disorders and to toâ— heed that nothing were wanting took them â—oâ— place where they might conveniently see that sheâ— The Streets through which the King was to go were paled in with red Lattice breast-high and strewed with Flowers in several places The King came not abroad that day nevertheless his Present was carried to the Pagod with great Ceremony First came a Man upon an Elephant playing upon Timbrels with two Trumpeters on horseback before him several Mandarins on horseback also marching two and two came after and then a great number of Foot-Soldiers of those who are called painted Arms advanced in good order They were followed by fifteen Elephants of which
that God grants me life that hereafter my Successors and Subjects shall on all occasions testifie as well as I the grateful acknowledgment and high esteem which they ought to have for the Royal Person of his most Christian Majesty and for all his Successors This was the answer of the King of Siam in the same terms that he delivered it to his Minister and as he gave it in writing to my Lord Ambassador The wit of that Prince sufficiently appears by that reasoning who without any knowledge of the Sciences of Europe hath alledged with so much force and perspicuity the most plausible reasons of the Pagan Philosophy against the only true Religion They who know the uprightness of that Prince cannot doubt but that he sincerely said what he thought and what seemed to him most rational The King having said so was silent for some time and then eyeing the Lord Constance The Lord Constance his Reply to the King of Siam's Objections about changing of Religion What do you think added he the Ambassador will answer to these Reasons which I command you to give him in writing I shall not fail Sir answered the Lord Constance to obey your Majesties Orders but I cannot tell what the Ambassador of France will answer to what you have now said to me which seems to be of very great weight and consequence Sure I am he must needs be surprised at the high wisdom and wonderful perspicuity that he 'll perceive thereby in your Majesty However I fancy he may answer that it is true all the Beings which God hath Created Glorifie him every one after its way but that there is this difference betwixt Man and Beasts that when God Created these be gave them different properties and particular instincts to know what is good for them and pursue it without any reflection to discern their evil and avoid it without any ratiocination So the Stag flies from the Lion and Tyger the first time he sees them the Chickens new hatched dread the Kite and flie under the wings of the Hen without any other instruction but what they have received from Nature But in the Creation of Man God hath endowed him with a Mind and Reason to distinguish the Good from the Evil and Divine Providence hath thought it fit that in pursuing and loving the good which is proper for him and avoiding the evil that is contrary to him with reference to his ultimate end which is to know and love God Man should from the Divine Bounty merit an eternal Reward The truth is it is as easie for Man to make use of his hands eyes and feet in the commission of evil as in doing of good if his prudence enlightned by the Wisdom of God directed him not to pursue the ways of real Grandeur which are not to be found but in the Christian Religion wherein Man finds the means of serving God as best pleases his Divine Goodness But all Men follow not so holy and so rational notices It is just so as with your Majesties Officers who are not all equally addicted to your Interests as you but too well know tho all of them call themselves your Subjects and account it an honour to be employed â—in your Service So all Men serve God it is true but in a very different manner Some like Beasts follow their Passions and irregular appetites and live in the Religion they have been brought up in without examining it But others perceiving so great a difference betwixt themselves and Beasts raise themselves above their senses and by means of their Reason which God fails not to enlighten endeavour to know their Creator and the true Worship which he would have men render unto him without any interest but that of pleasing him and to this sincere search of the truth God Almighty hath annexed Mans Salvation Hence it is that negligence in not being instructed and weakness in not following that we judge the best will render us guilty in the sight of God who is the Sovereign Judge of all Flesh This answer from a Man of no Studies who from ten years of age had been applied to Trade and Commerce wrought a great surprize in me when he did me the honour to acquaint me with it I confessed to him without any fear of flattery that a Divine consummated in the Study of Religion would have been hard put to it to have answered better The King was smitten with the discourse of the Lord Constance and if any knowing Man who is acceptable to him hath the happiness to insinuate into his favour and procure his esteem it is not to be dispaired but that he may be brought to know and embrace the Truth and if once he come to know it seeing he is the absolute Master of his People who adore him all the Nations who are under his Dominion will humbly follow his example The King of Siam who Reigns at present is about fifty five years of Age. A Character of the King of Siam He is without contradiction the greatest Prince that ever governed that State. He is somewhat under the middle Stature but streight and well shaped He hath an engaging Air a sweet and obliging carriage especially to Strangers And amongst them particularly to the French. He is active and brisk an enemy of idleness and laziness which seems to be so delightful to the Princes of the East and which they look upon as the greatest Prerogative of their Crown This Prince on the contrary is always either in the Woods a hunting of Elephants or in his Palace minding the Affairs of his Kingdom He is no lover of War because it ruins his People whom he tenderly loves but when his Subjects revolt or that neigbouring Princes offer him the least affront or transgress the bounds of the respect that 's due to him there is no King in the East that takes a more conspicuous revenge nor appears more passionate for glory Some great men of his Kingdom having rebelled and having been openly supported by the Forces of three Kings whose Territories environ the Kingdom of Siam He attacked those Princes so briskly that they were obliged to abandon the Rebels to his wrath He would know every thing and having a pregnant and piercing Wit he easily is Master of what he has a mind to learn. He is magnificent generous and as true a friend as can be imagined These are the great qualities which acquire him the difference of his Neighbours the fear of his Enemies the esteem and respect of his Subjects that 's nothing short of adoration He hath never been given to those vices which are so common to the Princes of the East nay he hath severely punished the most considerable Mandarins and principal Officers of the Crown for being too much addicted to their pleasures So that the most invincible obstacle to the Conversion of Idolatrous Princes is not to be found in him I mean the immoderate love of Women By the
find to be in it Their Physicians say that it is a Sovereign Medicine against the Stone and pains of the Head that it allays vapours that it chears the Mind and strengthens the Stomack In all kinds of Feavers they take it stronger than commonly when they begin to feel the heat of the Fit and then the Patient covers himself up to sweat and it hath been very often found that this sweat wholly drives away the Feavor In the East they prepare the Tea in this manner when the water is well boiled The manner of preparing Tea they pour it upon the Tea which they have put into an Earthen pot proportionably to what they intend to take the ordinary proportion is as much as one can take up with the Finger and Thumb for a pint of water then they cover the Pot until the Leaves are sunk to the bottom of it and afterward give it about in China-dishes to be drank as hot as can be without Sugar or else with a little Sugar-candy in the mouth and upon that Tea more boiling water may be poured and so it may be made to serve twice These people drink of it several times a day but do not think it wholsom to take it fasting Of all the Plants of the East the Ginseng is most esteemed There are several kinds of it What Ginseng is and its vertues but the best is that which grows in China in the Province of Laotung It is of a yellow colour the flesh or pulp of it smooth having little threads like hair They find of these Roots some that are shaped like a Man and it is from thence they have their name for Gin in the Chinese Language signifies a Man and Seng sometimes to kill according as it is differently pronounced because that Root being taken seasonably or out of season produces quite contrary effects There is Ginseng also in the Kingdom of Goree nay and in Siam too as some say but it is not so good as that which grows in Laotung The Chinese Herbal says that this Root grows in the shade in low Valleys and that it must be gathered at the end of Autumn because that which is gathered in the Spring has ten times less virtue The Chinese Physicians who make most use of it affirm that it is a sovereign Remedy for cleansing the blood and recruiting the strength that has been weakened by long sickness that he who has that Root in his mouth will hold out at labour as long again as he that hath it not that corpulent people who have a white skin may take more of it than dry persons who have a swarthy Complexion and whose countenance speaks heat that it is never to be taken in distempers caused by an internal heat nor when one hath a Cough or spitteth Blood for preparing of it they put water into a cup and having made it boil well they throw into it Ginseng cut into small bits The way of preparing Ginseng they cover the cup very close that the Ginseng may be infused and when the water becomes lukewarm they drink it alone in the morning fasting They keep that Ginseng and prepare it the same way in the evening as they did in the morning saving that they put but half the quantity of water and drink it when it is already a little cold Then they dry the Ginseng that hath already served in the Sun and if one please he may again infuse it in wine and use it The quantity of the Ginseng is proportioned according to the age of the Person who is to take it From ten to twenty years of Age they take a little more than half the weight of a groat of it from twenty to thirty about the weight of six pence from thirty to threescore and ten and upwards they take of it to the weight of about a shilling and never more We saw at Siam certain Birds Nests which these People find to be rarely good for Ragoes Some Particulars concerning certain Birds Nest and excellent for the health when Ginseng is mingled therewith These Nests are only found in Cochinchine upon vast steep Rocks Thus they make use of them They take a Pullet such as have the flesh and bones black are the best they gut it well And then taking the Birds Nests which have been steeped in water till they are soft they tear them into small shreds and having mingled them with Ginseng cut into little bits they put all together into the body of the Pullet which they boil in a Pot closely shut until it be enough boiled This Pot or Pipkin is left upon the coals all night and in the morning they eat the Pullet the Birds Nests and the Ginseng without any other Seasoning After they have taken this Remedy sometimes they Sweat and if they can they 'l sleep upon it Nobility is not Hereditary amongst the Siamese Various customs of the Siamese The places given by the Prince make the Nobles and the distinction of quality with that people Though their Religion allow them Polygamy yet few of them have above one or two Wives As for the Ladys they think the greatest respect that can be shown to them is for a man to turn his back and not to look upon them as they pass The multitude and magnificence of their pagods and their liberalities to the Talapoins are Arguments of their Piety They say that in the Kingdom there are above fourteen thousand Pagods and fifty thousand Talapoins What ever is within those Temples is looked upon as Sacred and to steal any thing from thence is death about five years agoe five Robbers were surprised in a Pagod and they were Roasted alive by a gentle fire They fastened every one of them to a great pole and then having kindled a fire all round them they were turned there till they expired In their morning prayers which they never miss they call to mind three things God and the Law which he hath left them to observe Their Parents and the benefits which they have received from them Their Priests and the Reverence they owe them when a Missionary would speak to them of our Religion for a Present he may have free access to them and that also will dispose them to hear him The Curiosity of the Siamese to know things future Seing they live upon a small matter and that their countrey supplies them with all that is necessary for life without much Labour and Husbandry they spend their time in Idleness They improve not their minds by any Science and are curious about nothing but future contingences To know such they not only consult Astrologers but make use of also other means full of Superstitions The Lord Constance told me that there is a Cave where the Siamese go and offer Sacrifices to the Spirit that presides in it when they have a mind to know any thing that they are in pain about After they have said their Prayers
make them deserve all kinds of Disasters And thence proceeds the Horror which the Siamese have for the Cross of Christ For in short do they answer when one speaks to them about that if he had been a just man his Justice and good Works would have saved him from the shameful punishment he suffered and protected him from the fury of his Enemies They distinguish two things in Sin They know the punishment and guilt of Sin. the guilt and the punishment reserved in Hell for the Sinner The punishment may very well be remitted or lessened in this Life by good works and good resolutions but the guilt is never blotted out till one be first punished by Death or other Miseries In the punishing of Sins the Law of like for like is exactly observed for if you have killed a man you shall die a violent death in this Life or in another If you have killed a Serpent a Serpent shall sting you to death if you have robbed any Birds Nest and carried away her young you shall one day be after one or more transmigrations snatched out of the arms of your Parents in your tenderest Infancy and forsaken of those that could any way assist you Nay their God himself had not the power to exempt himself from that rigorous Law for at the age of fourscore and two years he was put to death by a Monster called Man whom heretofore he had killed at the like age under the shape of a Pig. If the Fault a man hath committed in his Life-time be but slight he may by the good he does or by the good will he has to do so merit that the punishment which he ought to suffer in Hell be remitted either wholly or in part at least But if the Sin be grievous no good Works can expiate it he must blot it out by suffering in Hell all the pains that it deserves And this hath given ground to a Tradition received amongst them that God neither could nor as yet can deliver his Brother from the pains of Hell to which he is condemned So there is not any good Action but what is rewarded in Heaven nor any Crime but what is punished in Hell. Hence they conclude that when a man dies upon Earth he acquires a new Life in Heaven that here he may enjoy the happiness that is due to his good Works and that the time of his Reward being finished he dies in Heaven that he may be born again in Hell if he lie under any considerable sin that if it be only a slight fault he is guilty of he enters again into the world under the shape of some Animal and having in that state satisfied Justice becomes man again as before In this manner they explain the Metempsychosis which is one of the fundamental Points of their Religion so that the Life of Man is pent in continual transmigrations until he be sanctified or hath deserved to be a God. They allow of Spirits but these Spirits are nothing else but Souls which still inform some-body until they attain to Sanctity or Divinity They believe Angels to be corporal Angels are corporal and as there are different Sexes amongst them so they may beget Sons and Daughters These Angels are never sanctified nor deified It is their part only to take continual care of the Preservation of Men and of the Government of the Universe They distribute them into seven Orders or Hierarchies whereof some are more perfect and noble than oâ—hers and they place them in so many different Heavens Each part of the world hath one of these Intelligences that presides over all that is done there They assign them also to Stars the Earth Towns Mountains Forests nay even to the Wind and Rain And because they are perswaded that these Angels are constantly busied in examining the conduct of Men and that they are witnesses of all their Actions to reward such as are laudable by virtue of the Merits of their God it is to these Intelligences and not to their God that they are wont to apply themselves in their Necessities and Miseries and they thank them for the Favours which they think they have received from them They acknowledg no other Devils but the Souls of the wicked They acknowledge no other Devils but damned Souls which coming out of hell where they were detained for a certain time roam about the World and do men all the mischief they can Among those wretched Spirits they also râ—ckon Children still born Women that die in Child-Bed those that are killed in Duels or who are guilty of some other Crimes of that nature They relate strange things of some Anchorites whom they call Ppra Rasi They tell strâ—nge stories of certain Anchorites who retreating into dismal Solitudes and thick Woods lead a most holâ— and most austere Life These Solitaries according to their Books have a most perfect knowledg of the most hidden Secrets of Nature They can make Gold Silver and the most precious Metals The most astonishing Miracle is not above their power They take all the shapes they please fly in the Air and in an instant are where they have a mind to be But though these extraordinary men might render themselves immortal because they know the means of prolonging Life yet every thousand years they sacrifice it to God by consuming themselves upon a Funeral Pile all but one who remains to raise the rest by virtue of his Charms It is no less dangerous than difficult to meet with these miraculous Men for nothing less than Life is risked by the Rencounter Nevertheless one may learn in the Books of the Talapoins the way that is to be taken and the means which are to be made use of for attaining to the places where they are Their Belief touchinâ— the Eternity of the World. They reckon the Heaven and Earth to be uncreated and eternal and cannot conceive how the World could ever have a beginning or that it should have an end They 'l have every Star and Planet to be the habitation of a particular Angel. They reckon only seven Planets and the Names they give them serve also for the seven Days of the Week as in the Latin Tongue After all the Stars are fastened to no Body they hang in the Air and have their particular Motions The Earth in the opinion of the Siamese is flat and square The Earth in their Philosophy is not round it is only a flat Surface they divide it into four square parts which they call Thavip The Waters by which those four parts are separated not being navigable because of their extream subtility hinder the commerce that they might have one with another The whole Earth is encompassed with an extreamly strong and very high Wall. On this Wall all the Secrets of Nature are engraven in great Characters and there it is that these wonderful Hermits whom I mentioned learn all the admirable things they know for they easily
that it might live His wish was granted him in consideration of his great merits for at this very present the same half Fish is still alive in the Lake It would be too tedious here to relate all their other raveries we shall only take notice that building upon an infinite number of Prodigies of this Nature in disputing with us they challenge us to show some Miracles in confirmation of the Doctrine we Preach They brag to us of certain Brass and Stone-statues which they believe were heretofore Men and by a divine Virtue rendered inanimate They have also as they say many ancient Works made by the hand of Angels In conclusion all the Effects which we attribute to Magic they take to be so many amazing wonders and they are proud that they alone have the art to do them There are certain Talapoins amongst them who have embraced a State of life called Vipisana Nothing can be more Austere they observe perpetual silence always appli'd to the Contemplation of Divine things and they have the Reputation of being great Saints The Siamese believe that they continually converse with Angels that what is most admirable in nature is always present to their mind and that their Eyes pierce even into the most hidden Mines where they clearly see Gold Silver all Metals and all sorts of Precious Stones As to manners and the way of living a Christian cannot enjoyn any thing more perfect than what their Religion prescribes to them It commands them to do good and not only prohibits them bad actions but also every sinful desire thought and intention And that makes them say that their Law is impracticable or at least very hard to be kept as it ought to be and indeed they think that they shall all go to Hell. The Law of the Siamese contains ten very severe Precepts Their whole Law is comprehended in ten Commandments as ours is but it is much severer for besides that with them neither necessity nor any other Circumstance excuses a Man that sins many things which among Christians are only of perfection and Council pass with them for indispensable Precepts The use of all intoxicating Liquors are forbidden to them They are not so much as permitted to taste Wine whatsoever need they may be in or whatsoever occasion may press them and they are extreamly scandalized when they see Christian Priests drink of it They cannot without a sin kill any living Creature nay it is a Crime to go a Hunting to strike a Beast and to do it hurt any manner of way The reason they give for that is that Beasts having life as well we are sensible of pain as well as we and since we are not willing that any body should hurt us it is not reasonable that we should hurt them Nay they accuse us of ingratitude because we put to death innocent Creatures who have rendred us so many Services For that reason they are obliged to practise Charity not only towards Men but towards Beasts also and to assist them in their necessities They have so great a respect to their Scriptures that they dare not trust them in our hands no nor explain their Law to us lest that exposing it to our dirision we might be guilty of some irreverence and the sin of that be imputed to them They often upbraid us with the way we carry holy Images and read the holy Scriptures as being not respectful enough After all the Talapoins who are their Priests Monks and Doctors are looked upon as the true followers of God. They have little Commerce with the World never salute a Lay-man no not the King. And that 's the reason why it offends the Siamese to see the European Priests use familiarity with Seculars The Talapoins go every Morning a begging and the opinion People have of their Virtue makes every one give them somewhat And indeed the most essential part of Morality which they Preach is that to be saved men must erect or repair Pagods and above all things assist the Talapoins The Lay-men have eight principal Commandments which consist 1. In adoring God his Word and those who imitate his Virtues 2. Not to steal 3. Not to drink Wine nor any Liquor that intoxicates 4. Not to lye nor to deceive any body 5. Not to kill Men nor Beasts 6. Not to commit Adultery 7. To fast on Holy-days 8. Not to labour on those days These are the Duties which the Priests explain to the People and instruct them in in their Sermons The Monasteries of the Talapoins are so many Seminaries where Youth are bred Thither are all Children of Quality sent as soon as they are capable of instruction and whilst they continue there they are made to lead a very austere life They are called Nén and have their particular Rules and Precepts which consists in wearing a yellow Garment and having their Head and Eye-brows shaved twice a Month the fourteenth and twenty ninth of the Moon to fast those two days and also three other Holy-days which happen the fifteenth twenty third and last day of the Moon to eat only twice a day in the Morning and at Noon without permission to take a bit of Food more till next day to have no Commerce with any Woman never to sing a Song nor to hear those that do sing not to play upon any Instruments to avoid public Shows and Rejoycings not to use Perfumes not to love Money which they are not so much as to touch far less to hoard it up not to take pleasure in the taste of what they eat and to divert their thought from that which is the reason that several of them mingle somewhat with what is given them to render it less agreable In fine to honour their Priests to give them the hand and to sit always below them The Talapoins lead a more austere life for besides that they have all the obligations of Lay-man and of the youth whom they breed they have over and above more than sixscore rules proper to their station whereof these are the chief To go twice every day to the Temple Morning and Evening to say their Prayers to be wholy covered never to touch Women not to speak to them hand to hand nay and not to look upon them when they meet them in the streets to walk with great modesty looking downwards and not turning the head to carry always a Fan and to cover their face with it to hinder their eyes from wandering never to consent to any ill thought not to dress their own Victuals but to take such food as is given them to live on Alms which they beg about the Town but not to enter into houses neither to wait at doors longer than an Ox is a drinking to teach the Law to their Disciples and to the People to mortify themselves and do penance a whole year part whereof consists in staying abroad fifteen days in the Month of February exposed to the Dew of Heaven in the
158 The several Nations at Siam come and complement the Ambassador 160 The Lord Constance receives the Ambassador at the River-side 163 The Respect shewn to the Kings Letter 164 The Ambassador is carried to the Palace ibid. A Description of the Palace of the King of Siam 165 A Description of the Throne of the King of Siam 167 The Ambassador enters the Hall of Audience 168 The Harangue of the French Ambassador to the King of Siam 169 In what manner the Ambassador presented the Kings Letter to the King of Siam 171 The Ambassador presents the Abbot of Choisi and the Gentlemen of his Retinue to the King of Siam 172 The Ambassador sees the white Elephant in his Apartment ibid. The French Kings Letter to the King of Siam 173 The Ambassador visits the Bishop of Metellopolis 174 The King of Siam sends a Present to the Ambassador 175 The Ambassador ordered Money to be thrown out at the Windows to those who brought him the Present ib. The King of Siam sends his Presents to the Pagods with much Pomp. 176 The King treats the Ambassador in his Palace magnificently 178 The Ambassador Visits the most famous Pagod of Siam 180 A Pick weighs an hundred and twenty five pounds weight 181 A description of one of the fairest Temples of Siam ib. Rejoycings performed at Siam for the Coronation of the Kings of England and Portugal 185 The King of Siam goes abroad publickly to visit a Pagod 187 The King's Progress from Siam to Louvo 190 The Funeral of a great Talapoin 191 The description of a Palace of the King of Siam built after the European manner 193 The King gives the Ambassador an Audience at Louvo 195 The Elephants have five Toes in each Foot. 197 A description of Louvo 198 The King of Siam gives a private Audience to the French Jesuits ibid. The Jesuits Harangue presented to the King. 200 The Fifth Book THe Moors make a Feast to celebrate the Memory of their Prophet 215 The way of taking and taming Elephants 216 The Harangue of the Lord Constance to the King of Siam 216 The King of Siam answers the Lord Constance 222 The Motives that keep the King of Siam firm in his Religion 223 The Lord Constance his Reply to the King of Siam's Objections about changing of Religion 225 A Character of the King of Siam 227 We began to make observations at Louvo 230 Observation about the variation of the Needle 231 The King of Siam observes with the Jesuits an Ecclipse of the Moon in his Palace ibid. The King of Siam invites the Ambassador to an Elephant hunting 232 A description of that hunting 233 The King of Siam demands the Chevalier de Fourbin from the Ambassador 234 The Jesuits prepare to observe in the Kings Presence at Theepossonne 235 They begin the Observation of the Ecclipse before the King. 236 The King puts several Questions of Astronomy to the Jesuits 238 The way of catching Elephants 246 The Ambassador takes his Audience of Leave of his Majesty of Siam 248 Departure from Siam 251 The King of Siam's Letter is carried on board the Oyseau 252 Departure from the Bar of Siam 254 News from an English Ship outward bound 256 Putting out from the Bay of the Cape 258 We past the Line at the first Meridian 259 The Sixth Book THe Scituation of the Kingdom of Siam 264 A description of the Kingdom of Siam 265 The Habits of the Siamese 266 A Character of the Siamese and their Manners 267 The property of Betle and Areca 268 The property of Tea 269 The manner of preparing Tea ibid. What Ginseng is and its virtues ibid. The way of preparing Ginseng 270 Some particulars concerning certain Birds Nest 271 Various customs of the Siamese ibid. The Curiosity of the Siamese to know things future 272 The Reverence the Siamese have for their King. 273 The King holds Council several times a day 274 The Kings Daughter hath her Court and Council ibid. The Kingdom of Siam descends not from Father to Son. ibid. What the Siamese believe of their God. 275 The knowledg of the God of the Siamese 276 Wherein consists his happiness ibid. Men may become Gods. 277 The Siamese acknowledge a permanent state of Sanctity ibid. The Siamese believe a Heaven and a Hell. 278 What the Siamese believe of Hell. ibid. What they believe of Heaven 279 Vpon a Religious account the Siamese respect those who are any ways Eminent by the advantages of body mind or fortune 280 They know the punishment and guilt of Sin. 281 They believe Angels to be corporal 282 They acknowlegdge no other Devils but damned Souls 283 They Tell strange stories of certain Anchorites ibid. Their Belief touching the Eternity of the World. 284 The Earth in the opinion of the Siamese is flat and square ibid. The System of the Siamese 286 Prodigies which the Siamese expect before the birth of a new God. 287 Sommonokhodom is the last God of the Siamese 289 Fables which the Talapoins relate of their God. ibid. Thevathat Sommonokhodoms younger Brother makes War against him 290 Sommonokhodom assisted by the Female tutelary Angel of the Earth triumphs over his Enemies 291 The Foppery which the Talapoins tell of Sommonokhodom ibid. Thevathat killed his Brother Sommonokhodom when they were Apes 292 Thevathat makes a Schism and declares himself against his Brother 293 Thevathat conspiring to be God is with his Followers deprived of many knowledges ibid. The Talapoins perswade the Siamese that the Christian Religion is taken out of the Law which Sommonokhodom taught them 295 Thevathat is punished in Hell for having persecuted his Brother ibid. The Talapoins take the Siamese off from turning Christians by perswading them that Jesus Christ is Thevathat the Brother of their God. 296 Wherein consists the Annihilation of the Siamese God 297 The Siamese with great reverence preserve the hair and picture of their God. 298 False Oracles whereby the Siamese Authorise their Religion 299 The Law of the Siamese contains ten very severe Precepts 302 FINIS La Baye du Cap DE BONNE ESPERANCE Le Fort des Hollandois au Cap de Bonne Esperance Zembras ou Anes Sauvags du Cap. Carte des Pays en des Pâ—uples du CAP de Bonne Esperance Nouvell◠〈…〉 Hottentots habitans du Cap de Bonne Esperance Namaqua Peuples Nouvellem decouverts vers le Tropiq du Capricorne Rhinoceros Cerf du Cap. â—vache Marine Cerafte ou Serpent Cormâ— Cameleon du Cap de Bonne Esperanâ—e Petiâ— Lezard 〈◊〉 Cap de Bonne Esperance GRAND LEZARD DU CAP. LA RADE DE BANTAN LE PORT DE BATAVIA Batavia Cabinet de' Feuillage ou les Chinois font les Festin des Morts VEUE DE SIAM Balon du Roy a 76. Rameurs Ballon du Roy á 〈◊〉 Rameurs Ballon des Gentils Hommes Balon de Prince Mr. L Ambassadeur 〈◊〉 A. Constance en 〈◊〉 Semblable Elephan◠〈◊〉 avec sa Chaise pour la Princesse Reyne Elephant avec sa Chaise pous les Etrangerâ— le Roy monte sur son Elephant Palais de louvo d'ou le Roy de Siam Obserue l'Eclypse de Surie PAGODE DE SIAM Mandarin qui parle a vn de ses gens Ginseng Arequi Betel Talapoin allant par la Ville
Ally that was at the other end The wild Elephant which had followed them to that place stopping at the entry of the narrow pass all manner of ways were used to make engagement they made the females who were beyond the Alley cry some Siamese provoked him by clapping their hands and crying pat pat others pricked him with long sharp pâ—inted pâ—les and when they were pursued by him 〈…〉 â—ixâ— the Pillars and hid themselves 〈◊〉 thâ— Palâ—adoes which the Elephant could 〈…〉 â—gh at length having pursued 〈…〉 â—en he made at one single Man 〈…〉 of Fury The Man ru◠〈…〉 Elephant after him But 〈…〉 was taken for the Man having 〈…〉 let fall purposely too P◠〈…〉 other behind the Elephant 〈…〉 of his power to go forwards 〈…〉 himself he strugled prodigi◠〈…〉 â—errible cries They endeavoured 〈…〉 â—im bâ— throwing buckets full of wa◠〈…〉 Body rubbing him with leaves p◠〈…〉 upon hâ—s Ears and they brought 〈◊〉 â—phants both Males and Females to hi◠〈◊〉 caressed him with their Truncks In 〈…〉 time they â—stened Ropes under his b◠〈◊〉 to his hind-seen that so they might pull 〈◊〉 out from thence and they persisted in thrâ— water upon his Trunk and Body to câ— At length they brought to him one of â—se tame Elephants that are accustomed to inâ—ruct the new-comers An Officer was mounted upon him who made him go forwards and backwards to shew the wild Elephant that there was no danger and that he might come out So at length they opened the gate to him and he followed the other to the end of the Alley So soon as he was there they fastned an Elephant to each side of him another went before and pulled him by a rope into the way that they would have him take whilst a fourth made him go forwards by thumping him with his head behind until he came to a kind of manage where they tyed him to a great Pillar made for that purpose which turns like the Capstern of a Ship. They left him there till next day that he might spend his anger but whilst he tormented himself about that Pillar a Bramen that is to say one of the Indian Priests who are numerous in Siam cloathed in white and mounted on another Elephant drew nigh and turning gently about this which was tied sprinkled him with a certain water consecrated after their manner which he carried in a Vessel of Gold. They believe that that Ceremony makes the Elephant loose his natural fierceness and fits him for to serve the King. The day following he begins to go with the rest and in a fortnights time is fully tamed Amidst all those diversions the Ambassador was wholly taken up about the Subject of his Embassie which was the Conversion of the King but perceiving that he had no solid nor positive answer as to that he resolved to draw up a short memoir which he intended should be presented to the King by the Lord Constance He spoke of it to that Minister who in a long conference they had together disswaded him from pressing the King upon that point but the Ambassador very prudently still persisted in his opinion and prayed the Lord Constance to present that writing to his Majesty wherein he besought him to give him a positive answer that might be acceptable to the King his Master The Lord Constance having received the Memoir from the Ambassador went to the Palace in the Evening and there prostrating himself at the Kings feet made him a discourse full of that Asiatic Eloquence that was so much esteemed in ancient Greece Here you have a true translation of the very words he used SIR THE Ambassador of France hath put into my hands a Memoir which contains certain propositions whereof he is to give an account to the King his Master but before I read it to your Majesty The Harangue of the Lord Constance to the King of Siam suffer me Sir if you please to lay before you the principal motive that engaged the most Christian King to send you so solemn an Embassie That so wise a Prince your good Friend Sir knowing the greatness of your Soul and the generosity of your Majesties Royal heart by the Ambassadors and Magnificent Presents which you designed for him without other interest than that of desiâ—ng the Royal Vnity of a Prince so Glorious and so Renowned over the World and then perceiving that your Majesties Ministers had sent to the Ministers of his Kingdom two Mandarins with considerable Presents to congratulate the birth of the Grand-son of their great King worthy of a perpetual Pâ—sterity which maâ— eternally represent to France the Image of his admirable Virtues and secure the happiness of his People That great Monarch Sir being surprised by so disinterested a procedure resolved to answer thâ—se obliging cares and to do so devised a means worthy of himself and suitable to the dignity of your Majesty for to present you with Riches it is in your Kingdom Sir that Strangers come in search of Wealth To offer you his Forces He knew very well that your Majesty is dreaded by all your Neighbours and in a condition to punish them if they should offer to break the Peace which by their prayers they have obtained from you Could he have thought of bestowing Lands and Provinces upon the Sovereign of so many Kings and the Master of so great a number of Kingdoms as make almost the fourth part of Asia Neither could it enter into his thoughts to send hither his Subjects only upon the account of Trade because that would be a common Interest to his People and your Majesties Subjects So that it would have been hard for him to have hit upon the right course had he not reflected that he might offer to your Majesty somewhat infinitely more considerable and which was congruous to the Dignity of two so great Kings Having considered what it was that had raised him to that high pitch of Glory where at present he is seated what had made him take so many Towns subdue so many Provinces and gain so many Victories what to this present had made the happiness of his people and what had brought him from the extremities of the Earth so many Ambassadors of Kings and Princes who Court his Friendship what in fine had obliged your Majesty to prevent this incomparable Prince by so splendid an Embassie which you sent to him Having I say attentively considered all these great things that King so wise and prespicatious found that the God whom he adores was the sâ—le Author of them that his Divine Providence had so disposed them for him and that he owed them to the intercession of the holy Mother of the Saviour of the World under whose Protection he hath consecrated his Person and Kingdom to the true God. That 〈◊〉 and the extream desire he hath to communicate to your Majesty all thâ—se great advantages hath made him resolve to propose to you Sir the same means that have procured