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Table of Contents

This volume is a response to calls for information on Siam and Laos. A score of missionaries have contributed chapters. Some have written amidst conflicting claims of the crowded field-life; others, during brief visits to the home-land; several are children of missionaries and were born in Indo-China; others are noble pioneer workers, whose long years of service abroad are now ended. A few of the chapters originally appeared in a missionary periodical. Two of the writers have “entered into rest.” The editor is much indebted also to the standard works of Pallegoix, Bowring, Crawford, Mouhot and several more recent travelers, to geographical papers and official reports, and to valuable original data furnished by Dr. House, Dr. Cheek and others.

Adaptation and necessary condensation of the information thus gathered make special credit often impossible, but doubtful points have been verified by reference to competent authority, so far as practicable.

The contributions of our missionaries have special value. For years they have been brought into close contact with the people in their homes, schools, wats and markets, mingling as honored guests in social gatherings and at official ceremonials, enjoying full opportunity of studying the natives at work, at play and at worship. As teachers, physicians, translators and trusted counselors they are recognized as public benefactors by the king and many high officials. Siam owes the introduction of printing, European literature, vaccination, modern medical practice, surgery and many useful mechanical appliances to our American missionaries. They have stimulated philosophical inquiry, paved the way for foreign intercourse with civilized nations, given a great shock to the grosser forms of idolatry among the more enlightened, leavened the social and intellectual ideas of the “Young Siam” party, and, almost imperceptibly, but steadily, undermined the old hopeless Buddhist theories with the regenerating force of gospel truth.

The young king publicly testified on a late occasion: “The American missionaries have lived in Siam a long time; they have been noble men and women, and have put their hearts into teaching the people, old and young, that which is good, and also various arts beneficial to my kingdom and people. Long may they live, and never may they leave us!”

May this volume aid in arousing a more intelligent and generous interest in this field—​the sacred trust of our American Presbyterian Church; may it promote a truer sense of the heroic sacrifices, the patient and multiplied labors, of the noble band who for the past half century have toiled and waited in hope for the spiritual regeneration of the Siamese and Laos!

Schenectady, May, 1884.

N. B. Uniformity in the spelling of Siamese and Laos proper names is not yet attainable. Different ears catch the foreign sounds and transliterate them differently, giving an endless variation. Thus the single city which we give as Cheung Mai, following Dr. Cheek, may be found in books and maps as Cheng Mai, Cheang Mai, Zimma, Chang Mai, etc. To ascertain the pronunciation in such cases, see what one pronunciation can be made to cover all of these spellings. It is hoped that the present volume is a step in the direction of a correct transliteration of Siamese names.