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SIAM. 307
some estimating it at nearly one million, while
others reckon it under half that number. It is composed
of Chinese, Cochin- Chinese, Cambodians, and
Siamese; but by far the greater number are Chinese,
in whose hands are all the wealth and the richest
products of the country. There are also from two to
three hundred native Christians in the place, who,
like those in other parts of Siam, are placed under the
care of the bishop of Metellopolis, Joseph Florens, a
Frenchman. The place is governed by a man of Chi-
nese extraction, appointed by the king of Siam."
To the south of Cape Liant, which bounds on that
side the province of Chantibond, the eastern coast of
the Gulf of Siam takes a south-easterly direction as
far as Cape Cambodia. Two-third of this tract, 300
miles in length, are a sandy desert; but here, near
the mouth of a deep but narrow river, a small independent
state was founded in 1705, by a Chinese merchant
named Kiang-si, Avhich for some time prospered
under a flourishing trade, presenting the phenomenon
of a commercial republic, a Chinese Pisa or Ragusa,
at the eastern extremity of Asia.
"
Departing," says Le Poivre, " from the peninsula
of Malacca, I fell in with a small territory, known, in
the maritime charts, by the name of Ponthiamas.
Surrounded on all sides with despotism, this charming
country, about fifty years ago, was uncultivated and
almost destitute of inhabitants. A Chinese merchant
who frequented these coasts, being a man of intelligence
and genius, resolved on a colonisation of these
parts. He hired a number of labourers, partly
Chinese and partly from the adjacent states, and so
skilfully ingratiated himself with the neighbouring
princes, that they assigned him a guard for his protection.
In the course of his voyage to Batavia and
PART II. T