VIEW OF BANKOK.
THE
MISSION
TO
SIAM, AND HUÉ
THE
CAPITAL OF COCHIN CHINA,
IN
THE YEARS 1821-2.
FROM THE JOURNAL OF
THE LATE GEORGE FINLAYSON, Esq.
ASSISTANT SURGEON OF HIS MAJESTY’S
8TH LIGHT DRAGOONS,
SURGEON AND NATURALIST TO THE MISSION.
WITH A
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR,
BY
SIR THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES, F.R.S.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
MDCCCXXVI.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES,
Northumberland-court.
DEDICATED
(BY PERMISSION)
TO THE
HONOURABLE THE COURT OF DIRECTORS
OF
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY;
THROUGH WHOSE LIBERALITY THE MISSION WAS PROVIDED
WITH THE MEANS OF PROSECUTING
OBJECTS OF SCIENCE,
BY THEIR MOST OBEDIENT
HUMBLE SERVANT,
THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES.
INTRODUCTION.
In the year 1821, a mission was sent by theGovernor-General of Bengal to the courts ofSiam and Cochin-China, having for its objectthe opening of a friendly intercourse betweenthose countries and the British possessions, andthe establishment of free trade on both sides.
This mission it is well known was not attendedwith the success expected; little or nopositive advantage was gained to our trade, butthe foundation of a friendly intercourse waslaid by the visit, and the knowledge procuredmay prepare the way for a future attempt undermore favourable circumstances.
It at any rate afforded an opportunity for ourobtaining much valuable information respectingcountries and people, hitherto almost unknownto us, and in this respect the particulars containedin the following pages may be deemedof sufficient interest to justify their publication:they are transcribed nearly verbatim from the[viii]private journal of the late Mr. George Finlayson,who was attached to the Mission as Surgeonand naturalist, but who, unfortunately forhis friends and the cause of science, fell a sacrificeto his unwearied exertions in the performanceof the service intrusted to him, anddid not live to revise and arrange them himself,having died on his passage to England.
The Journal in its unfinished and rough state,with the whole of the valuable collections in naturalhistory made by Mr. Finlayson during thecourse of the Missi