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    Death , to him ; and how the new morning was a Resurrection to him : —nay , more , how the sun , and the moon , and the stars were his personal friends , as well as his deities ; how he held communion with them , and thought that they regarded every act and word ; how , in his solitude , he fondly imagined that they sympathized with him ; and how , with outstretched arms , he appealed to them against their own unkindness , or against the injustice of his fellow-man . The great chief , nearly allied to the throne , and longing for high employment , went out from the presence of his sovereign , elated or confounded hy a look , and told his joy or his grief to the listening god of Day ; or , perhaps , -with an aching feeling of envy at his heart , confided to the Sun his anxious misgivings about the rise at Court of a brother Orejcm , " * -a mean man , given to terrestrial things , who loves you not , " le said , addressing : the luminary , " as I do . " The sensitive Amaztta , vexed at the more skilful flattery ( more skilful , perhaps , because less delicate and true ) just recited at Court by another Amauia , the reigning Inca sitting by , deplored , in wailing accents to the Sun , the want of refinement among princes , even his descendants ;

    and prayed for a larger measure of the right kind of inspiration which should suit the present age . The Peruvian lover left the overpowering presence of his mistress ( as lovers in all countries and all ages have done , and will do ) , only to think more freely over the transcendent merits of the loved maiden , and to weary the Moon with idle repetitions of great praise and joy . Our inspirations , more fervid when we are within four wa-Us , our nicely-weighed addresses to the heavenly bodies , uttered with musing , downcast eyes , -were unknown to the Peruvians , who in the open air spoke boldly up to tbe living creatures , for so they deemed them , of their poetic idolatry . The astrologer , perhaps , was the only Peruvian who scanned the heavens in a cold and business-like manner , and wished that he could see his way more clearly in deriving knowledge from those wandering lights : wbile the Sacred Virgin , when the hot Sun poured down upon her cloistered retreat , regarded him with the rapt enthusiasm , of religious love , scorning , for a moment , the pale , terrestrial joys , but yet so dear , of other girls , and with a sad , stifling feeling at the heart , trampled down , as best she might , the inextinguishable motherhood that dwells in every woman ' s breast . ' . ' ¦ . ¦ . . '¦ ¦ ¦ ' ' : ' ¦ ' ' ' :

    As for sacrifices , what is there which a Peruvian would not have given to these great and glorious personages in the upper air , —his flocks and herds , bis slaves , his captives , the choicest works of his hand , and even his own life ? Once penetrated , if only for a moment , by a sense of the utter abandonment to adoration that existed in the souls of these Peruvians , we may bring before ourselves the depth of meaning which was expressed in any of their great rites , celebrated upon spots which the Sun seemed , indeed , to have chosen for his own , where around , for unnumbered leagues , he shot his burning rays , through unimpeding atmosphere , upon the tawny earth ; where the calm , level sea , the boundless desert , and the clear mountain , with its sharp shadows , formed a fitting amphitheatre for his majesty ; and where the Moon , his sister or his spouse , seldom appeared , except with a full Court , surrounded by innumerable lesser lights , waiting to do her honour .

    But we must cease quoting , and refer the reader to the work itself , as not only the most erudite , but the most entertaining book yet written on Spanish America .

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    that , if the information he received be correct , a cutting only a few- mii ^ in length would be required . Before he saw Slam , similar infor mationhS been published . uun naci Far up the Meinam are the remains of the ancient capital , Ayuthia f ™ merly among the most splendid cities of u the East , and known to ' W existed since the fourteenth century 5 its pagodas and pyramids colo ^ i statues and fragmentary walls , attest its ancient magni 0 cence . Above tK place the population decreases ; the villages become less frequent , crocoS multiply , the roar of the elephant is louder , until the ruins of Pb . it SaloV another deserted capital , are reached . Beyond lie forests and iunrfS swarming with wild beasts , and intersected by sluggish streams . When and by what race this vast territory was originally populated it is impossible ^ say ; the native annalists , of course , are prepared with a d ynastic pedigree reaching to the clouds , but among their elephants , heroes , and devils it is easy to be bewildered . A great deal of murder , and still more imbecility is mixed up with their narrations . The reigning king traces himself modestly to a modern source ; but whence does he derive the name d

    an style that drag their slow length along in the dedication , Phra Bard Som detch Phra Paramendr Maha Mongkut Phra Chom Klau Chau Yu . Hua ? This gentleman reads and writes English , and will appreciate , it is to be hoped , Sir John Bowring ' s resonant flattery . We may set aside the question of population . All the tables are mere guesses—Pallegoix ' s six millions , Sir John Bpwring ' s four millions La Loubere ' s nine millions , in which La Loubere did not believe . Whatever the numbers are , they are composed of Thai , a large arid semi-uu ' oratory population of Chinese nationality , of Laos , of Cambodians , of Pef » uan / Malays , and miscellaneous mountaineers . Of these the Laos alone are interesting . They are a curious people , scattered over the great valley of the interior ; their music is the sweetest in Eastern Asia ; they play on singularly harmonious instruments—organs of bamboo , bound with ebony—and dance in delicate measures holding garlands of flowers . They are meek , elegant romantic , and sing only pathetic or- amorous songs . Their women wear

    graceful costumes , and decorate their hair with white blossoms . The great nobles of Siam always send for wives to the country of the Laos . With respect to marriage , the treatment of children , household life , slaves , food , utensils , costumes , social ceremonies , and political institutions , we refer to Sir John Bowring ' s volumes , which abound in details , largely derived from Pallegoix , who represents the Siamese as a particularly servile people , accustomed to crouch and cringe before their superiors . Of course tie white elephant and Siamese Buddhism occupy pi * ominent chapters , effectively illustrated . The Laos are Buddhists , but their creed includes a variety of superfluous dedications to demons , generally malignant . The Laos capital is situated on a wide plain , at the foot of a mountain far up the interior ; escaped criminals take refuge there . The women are said to exercise more power than the men , but both sexes , after the harvest has been gathered in , enjoy a period of extravagant indolence . In Cambodia public and private manners are considerably more ostentatious . Like many Eastern sovereigns the king delights in having a female body-guard . A writer quoted by Sir John Bowring saw a bevy at the palace .

    They all appeared to be very young , and were doubtless the best-looking girls we had seen in the country . Many of them had soft and regular features , and were it not for the disgusting habit of blackening the teeth and shaving the bead , only leaving the short tuft of hair I have mentioned before , might really be called pretty as all had most elegant figures , with those gracefully-curved , flowing outlines , and plump development sculptors love so well to delineate , as forming the chief grace of feminine beauty . These odalisques were Tery thinly clad , wearing salendangs , and a long silk scarf thrown loosely over one shoulder and across the body : this piece of dress seemed to be used more as an ornament than as a necessary covering , for it was often allowed to slip off the shoulder , and had to be every now and then readjusted .

    After a long digression relating to the previous intercourse of European powers with Siam , Sir John Bowring describes the incidents of his own mission . He arrived in March , 1855 . The king at once sent him a courteous letter in an ornamental vase of gold , with a variety of presents . Two days afterwards the prime minister came off , and great colloquies arose as to the style in which his Majesty should receive the British envoy plenipotentiary , Mr . Parkes " very properly" insisted that the same ceremonial should be observed as that which greeted the ambassador of Louis XIV . The Siamese declared they had no records , but offered to treat Sir John as though ho were a diplomatic Burmese , or Cochin Chinaman . That was unsatisfactory ; ultimately , the Louis-Quatorze reception was granted ; the procession of gilded boats resembled the pictures in La Loubere ' book , and the plenipotentiary was well content . He seems to have conducted the mission in a disguised yet conciliatory manner , and the Siamese appear to have been equally decorous and friendly . Everything , in fact , augured welt for the intercourse of the two nations : Siam already -wore a partially

    Eng-SIR JOHN BOWRINGIN SIAM . The Kingdom and People of Siam ; with a Narrative of the Mission to that Country in 1855 . By Sir John Bowring , F . R . S . 2 vols . J . "W . Parker . Sir John Bowsing , author of the general election of 1857 , is not a proficient compiler . These are two disjointed ! , irregular , verbose volumes , containing an amplitude of information , old and new , which should have been much more compactly put together . Only a small proportion of the work is original , the rest being derived from Pallegoix , La Loubere , Moore , and a number of preceding writers of more or less authority . Sir John Bowring seems to have aimed at bringing together all that is known of Siam ; but this object he has not attained , while he repudiates the pleasant attributes of a personal narrator . Towards the close of the book , it is true , the mission of 1855 is described , but only as a sequel to others ,

    including Mr . Crawfurd ' s failure , and the effort of Sir James Brooke , which undoubtedly led the way to the establishment of the relations actually in existence between the Siamese kingdom and Great Britain . We say Sir John Bowling has not succeeded in producing a complete account of Siam , and that , as a traveller , he has sunk his individuality ; but this doe 3 not imply that his work is altogether unsatisfactory . On the contrary , it throws together large masses of excellent material—it lays open the interior life of a little known state—it collects the anecdotes and traditions of a remarkable dynasty—it is replete with interesting facts bearing on the trade , the religion , and the manners ^ of the more distant regions of Asia . We object to it simply that it is awkward in form , that it is too superficial for

    an encyclopedia , and too voluminous for a manual , and that Sir John Bowring has inundated his actual experiences "with an enormous superfluity of bookmaking . Little is known of Siam , the Si&o of Camoens , in spite of this large book about it . We know neither why it is called Siam , nor what are its boundaries ; a broad debatable land lies between it and Malaya and Buvmah on one side , and the mysterious countries of Cambodia and Cochin China on . the other . Sir John Bowring gives it a length of nearly twelve hundred railes , and o maximum breadth . of three hundred and fifty ; but these figures are doubtful . Borgman estimates its area at two hundred and ninety thousand square miles . Cmwfurd deducts a hundred thousand from

    this calculation ; both , probably , made thoir reckonings in the dark . The king himBelf could not define his own territories . He owns allegiance to Unma , and claims sovereignty over Cambodia ; but Cochin China disputes hiB sovereignty , and Cambodia pays tribute to both . The mountains which divide the two countries are scarcely known to geography ; they are supposed to ramify from the Himalaya , which sends another S 3 S ? ? * ^ Malay peninsul a , the two diverging ranges enclosing Sinm SioJXv' ^ T throughout its whole extent by the MePnam , which perio-JwiJw ^ T !^ * W . *«* . ? Ws a treasure of virgin soil from forltSST 1 " ; ™\ 5 & «• "vcr pours down from a wildernessof forest and jungles ; but it is far from certain that Kemphcr was wron « ThS ^ mST'f £ * ° — Ct 9 Si ^ * 7 a ™™ gaUe rou te wiTh Be ^ fr . « £ k «?? £ * P , tbway > lt »» now . imagined , may bo opened across the neck of the peninsula by means of a ship canal . Sir Join , Bowrin" says

    hsh costume : — When I reached the landing-place , the chair , with " a bearer of a huge umbrella , convoyed mo within the palace courts , through hundreds of tovch-bearurs , the soldiers placed at different spots " presenting arms" to the order given in lingliah . On reaching the reception place , the King came forward . Two little children of tho King were playing on a crimson and gold carpet , who screamed at my approach , ana wore taken away . They seemed to wear nothing except wide-brimmed hats , wlucn covered their heads . He took mo to Ins private apnrtinenta , ornamentcti with . beautiful pendulea and watches , statues of Queen Victoria and l ' rince Albert , handaoino barometers , thermometers , &c . He then led me through two or three small chambers , where wore fine specimens of Chinese porcelain services , and other costly decorations . Almost everything seemed English . There wore many new books on the shelves . The King spoke of the history of Siam , and said it was rathor obscure and fabulous , but that tho more veracious portion went back about five hundred years ; that tiw Siameso alphabet had been introduced about that time . Inscribed on the apartments to which his Majesty had conducted me , were the words *» Royal Pleasure " in fcnfi "

    liah , and in Sanscrit characters with the same meaning . Sir John Bowring ' s notes taken during his stay at the capital , are hi" »' y interesting ; his opinions are stated moderately , and generally with clearness . However , the several superfluities we have remarked upon , vf encumbering the book , and enlarging it unnecessnrily , detract from its originality , and arc serious inconveniences to tho reader ,

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    256 THE LEADER . [ No . 364 , Saturday

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 14, 1857, page 256, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2184/page/16/