The
Town Lieth On The River, Some Thirty Leagues From The Sea.
Sending news
of their arrival, the sabandar and the governor of Mancock,[380] a
place on the river, came back along with their messengers to receive the
letter from the king of England to their sovereign, but chiefly for the
sake of the expected presents.
Captain Essington and Mr Lucas
accompanied them to the town, where they were presented to the king on
the 17th September, and received assurances of a free trade, the king
giving each of them a small golden cup, and some little article of
dress. The covetous mandarins, or officers of the crown, would have
counteracted the royal permission of free trade, by taking every thing
they pleased at prices of their own making, and paying when they
pleased, acting in short more corruptly than those in any other part of
India, though assuredly the rest are bad enough: but, on complaint being
made to the king, he gave orders not to molest the English in their
trade; after which all their goods were carried to a house assigned them
by the king, being the best brick house in Siam, and close to that of
the Hollanders. The time when our people were at Siam was the season of
the rains, when the whole country was covered with water.
[Footnote 380: Rather Bankok, near the mouth of the river Menan. - Astl.
I. 438. h.]
On the 26th October there arose such a storm of wind as had not been
remembered by the oldest of the natives, tearing up trees by the roots,
and occasioning extensive desolation.
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