Still There Seems A Probability That The Usual Interpretation
May Be Correct, When Properly Explained.
[Regarding the identification of Locac with Siam, Mr. G. Phillips writes
(Jour.
China B.R.A.S., XXI., 1886, p. 34, note): "I can only fully
endorse what Col. Yule says upon this subject, and add a few extracts of
my own taken from the article on Siam given in the Wu-pe-che. It would
appear that previously to 1341 a country called Lohoh (in Amoy
pronunciation Lohok) existed, as Yule says, in what is now called Lower
Siam, and at that date became incorporated with Sien. In the 4th year of
Hung-wu, 1372, it sent tribute to China, under the name of Sien Lohok. The
country was first called Sien Lo in the first year of Yung Lo, 1403. In
the T'ang Dynasty it appears to have been known as Lo-yueh, pronounced
Lo-gueh at that period. This Lo-yueh would seem to have been situated
on the Eastern side of Malay Peninsula, and to have extended to the
entrance to the Straits of Singapore, in what is now known as Johore."
- H.C.]
In 1864, Dr. Bastian communicated to the Asiatic Society of Bengal the
translation of a long and interesting inscription, brought [in 1834] from
Sukkothai to Bangkok by the late King of Siam [Mongkut, then crown
prince], and dated in a year 1214, which in the era of Salivahana (as it
is almost certainly, see Garnier, cited below) will be A.D. 1292-1293,
almost exactly coincident with Polo's voyage. The author of this
inscription was a Prince of Thai (or Siamese) race, styled Phra Rama
Kamheng ("The Valiant") [son of Sri Indratiya], who reigned in Sukkothai,
whilst his dominions extended from Vieng-chan on the Mekong River (lat.
18 deg.), to Pechabur, and Sri-Thammarat (i.e. Ligor, in lat. 8 deg. 18"),
on the coast of the Gulf of Siam. [This inscription gives three
dates - 1205, 1209, and 1214 s'aka = A.D. 1283, 1287 and 1292. One passage
says: "Formerly the Thais had no writing; it is in 1205 s'aka, year of the
goat = A.D. 1283, that King Rama Kamheng sent for a teacher who invented
the Thai writing. It is to him that we are indebted for it to-day." (Cf.
Fournereau, Siam ancien, p. 225; Schmitt, Exc. et Recon., 1885;
Aymonier, Cambodge, II. p. 72.) - H.C.] The conquests of this prince are
stated to have extended eastward to the "Royal Lake", apparently the Great
Lake of Kamboja; and we may conclude with certainty that he was the leader
of the Siamese, who had invaded Kamboja shortly before it was visited (in
1296) by that envoy of Kublai's successor, whose valuable account of the
country has been translated by Remusat.[3]
Now this prince Rama Kamheng of Sukkothai was probably (as Lieutenant
Garnier supposes) of the Thai-nyai, Great Thai, or Laotian branch of the
race. Hence the application of the name Lo-kok to his kingdom can be
accounted for.
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