Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-general of India to the Courts of Siam and Cochin China: Exhibiting a View of the Actual State of Those Kingdoms, Volum 1

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H. Colburn and R. Bentley, 1830
 

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Pàgina 167 - Geraes at the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries; in the case of California in 1848 and the years immediately following.
Pàgina 336 - ... combat was to take place. The Governor went out at another gate, and arrived at the place before us in his palanquin. When the hall broke up, a herald or crier announced the event. With the exception of this ceremony, great propriety and decorum were observed throughout the audience. The exhibition made by the herald, however, was truly barbarous.
Pàgina 71 - On the edge of this terrace, we find fourteen large blocks of sandstone; which, from the hole in each, had probably been the pedestals of as many wooden-posts which supported the building. This shows us, at once, that the upper part of the structure was of perishable materials; an observation which, no doubt, applies to the rest of the buildings as well as to this. Within the square terrace is a circular inclosure, formed of rough sand-stones, in the centre of which is a well, or hollow, which very...
Pàgina 338 - As soon as the grass was set on fire, a number of squibs and crackers were let off, flags were waved in great numbers, drums beat, and a single piece of artillery began to play. The elephants were now encouraged to .charge ; but they displayed their usual timidity, and it was not until the fire was nearly 'extinguished, and the materials of the chevaux it frise almost consumed, that a few of the boldest could be forced to pass through.
Pàgina 275 - July 10 (1822). I had in the course of this forenoon a visit from a person of singular modesty and intelligence. Pascal Ribeiro de Alvergarias, the descendant of a Portuguese Christian of Kamboja. This gentleman holds a high Siamese title, and a post of considerable importance. Considering his means and situation, his acquirements were remarkable, for he not only spoke and wrote the Siamese, Kambojan, and Portuguese languages with facility, but also spoke and wrote Latin with considerable propriety....
Pàgina 150 - Notwithstanding the veneration with which the white elephants are considered in some respects, it does not seem to be carried so far in Siam as to emancipate them from occasional correction. Two of them were described as so vicious that it was considered unsafe to exhibit them. A keeper pricked the foot of one, in our presence, with a sharp iron, until blood came, although his majesty's only offence was stealing a bunch of bananas ; or rather snatching it before he had received permission ! In...
Pàgina 149 - The countries in which it is found, and in which, indeed, the elephant in general exists in greatest perfection, and is most regarded, are those in which the worship of Buddha and the doctrine of the metempsychosis prevail. It was natural, therefore, to imagine that the body of so rare an object as a white elephant, must be the temporary habitation of the soul of some mighty personage, in its progress to perfection. This is the current belief, and accordingly every white elephant has the rank and...
Pàgina 389 - ... compliment to his administration. " The art of casting good brass cannon, under the direction of Europeans, appears to have been long known in this part of the world; for, among the cannon in the arsenal, were a good number of very well founded ordnance, apparently of the size of long nine pounders, as old as the years 1664 and 1665. These had an inscription in the Portuguese language, importing that they were cast in CochinChina, or Kamboja, and bearing the dates in question, with the name of...
Pàgina 145 - His head was bare, and he wore neither crown nor any other ornament on it. Close to him was a golden baton, or sceptre. ' The general appearance of the hall of audience, the prostrate attitude of the courtiers, the situation of the king, and the silence which prevailed, presented, a very imposing spectacle, and reminded us. much more of a temple crowded with votaries engaged in the performance of some solemn rite of religion, than the audience chamber of a temporal monarch. ' The king seemed a man...
Pàgina 267 - Paknam, and their small arms and cannon landed, according to former custom, and then that the ships shall be conducted to the capital. As soon as they are anchored, the superintendent of customs shall afford all assistance in buying and selling with the merchants of Siam, and the duties and charges shall not be more than heretofore, nor afterwards be raised. Let the English merchants come to Siam to sell and buy in conformity to this agreement.

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