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308 SIAM.
the Philippines, he borrowed from the Europeans
their art of defence and fortification. With regard to
the internal police, he gave the preference to the
Chinese. The profits of his commerce soon enabled
him to raise ramparts, sink fosses, and provide artil-
lery; these precautions secured him from the sur-
rounding barbarians. He distributed his lands among
his labourers, without the least reservation in the
shape of fines, duties, or taxes, and he provided his
colonists also with all sorts of instruments of hus-
bandry.
"
. His country became the resort of every indus-
trious man who wished to settle there : his ports were
open to all. The woods were cleared ; the grounds
were sown with rice ; canals, cut from the rivers,
watered their fields, and plentiful harvests supplied
their own wants and afforded means of commerce.
The neighbouring states call him king, a title he
despises; he pretends to no sovereignty, but that of
doing good, and certainly merits a very noble title,
that of friend to mankind. The neighbouring dis-
tricts, astonished at this abundance, flock to his
magazines, which, notwithstanding the great fertility
of Cochin China, are the granary of these eastern
Asiatic states."*
It were a pity to destroy so pleasing a picture, even
if tinged with a little romance. It is clear, that a
lucrative commerce was established here; but its
prosperity must have been of short continuance, as,
in 1720, Hamilton found the city in ruins. It had
been taken and plundered in 1717, by the Siamese.
It was then a place of considerable trade, and it is
said, that not less than 200 tons of ivory, ready for
exportation, were destroyed.
* Pennant's Outlines of the Globe, vol. iii. p. 52.