Journal of the Siam Society; 36

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VOL. XXXVI, PT. 1.

SEPTEMBER 1946.

.

•'"

THE "f

JOURNAL " OY'

'THJ:

SIAM SOCIETY. (JSS)

~BANGKOK

248i

,

CONTENTS l

IN MEMORIAM ~

ii.H. P?"i-nce Dhani Nivat 1

THE. RAM'A JATAKA

SOME INVESTIGATIONS ON ~HE lWOLUTION OF THE PRE-BANGKOK COINAGE U, GuehlM·

23

I

NOTES A.ND QUERIES_ M~n Intlnence oh Thai Inatitntions Edk S eidenjaden ,

39

Notes on the Bnlletin of the Institnt Indochinois Ponr L'Etude de L'Homme; Volumes .I-IV, 19~8-1941

Erilc Seidenfaden

43

REVIEW Nguyen van Hnyen: Le cttlte . des immortels en Annam

, Erilc Seidetifaden

67

PUBUCATIONS OF INTEREST IN OTHER ;rOURNALS'

7l

TEXT OB' ADDRESS PRESENTED TO HIS. HIGHNESS PRINCE DHA~U NIV A'l'

73

. ANNUAL REPORT: 1944

75

STATEMEN'.P OF 1\.0COUN'fS, 1944

80

ANNUAl. REPORT, · 1945

83

S'l'A'fEMENT OF ACOQTJ:NTS, 1945

86

OHITUARY .· H. H. ..Pl'ince Bidyalah'kiwana·

,. . . G.B. 1\!o. Far;Ianq, .M.P. \

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\

$9

.

•. Phya. Bhtikcli Noi·~~l'eilt4

90

90

VOI.~.

XXXVI, P1'. 1.

SEPTEMBEH 19.tlllChina. As tho late M. Louis Finot said: In these drum.~ we recuu nize tlu'!e ! n~ donesians, who f.,·om the coasts of IndocJhiwt sprea,d soulhwards to the islands (of Insulinde). M. Goloubew, who nex.t to M. Hc~er, it~ the authority on the bronze drums, is not in doubt that Insulincle received her Ketteltrommeln from Indochina where they are still in use among the Mu'ong. It must, however, be reme1nherotl that the oldest of the bronze drums, so far discovert:d,. are no~ anlel'ior to the first centuries of the Christian era. The q:.xV11

China; this type is brachycephalic, 6 the psendo-Alpine, brachyt1e-, phalic, distinctly mongoloid, antl fhmlly7) the hybrid brachy~ephalic of mongoloid extraction. This information is of interest to us living ~n Iuuochina b~cause of the raciaJ elements, mentioned above, two are or were also represented in this great su bcuntin~nt of Asi~. Some of the types which preceded the present-day Amerindian such as Nos. 2 and 3 may even have come frow here going to America via the isles of the PLlcific Ocean. M. Jacques .Ezzaoui writes about a version of the myth of the two Sadets (the king of water and the king of fire) as giv1.0n to him by a Mo'i Bahnar who had long been living with t.he Mo'i Djarai and the Boloven. These two "kings,'' present not much illOl'lil than ordinary spirit doctors, though still mnch venerated and respected by all the :Moi or Khi tt•ibos, live in a big village called Pn·patao, in the land of the Djat·ai? F1·orn the narrative us given by M. Ezzaoui 's informant it goPS for~h that when the Sauet. ('that of the fire to whom the kinu of the water is subject) becomes old and feeble he instructs a new Sadet in all his arts and knowledge. This accompHshetl 'the old Sadet lies down and sickens, When on the point of dying his successor 11eizes the magic knife, inherited down during many generations from the original Sa(ret·~ an:d plunges: it in the throat of the olU. Sa.det! This is, of course, a striking exiimple of

at

what is called "divine kingship!'' Similar institution'S and. customs are found in Africa among the Djurus in' West Africa an'd the Nile Shilluk, whose kings are ·killed· if they cannot prodnce rain, or when thijy become too old and feeble, 9) The institution of the two Sadets in ·Khaland seems to be of a hoary antiquity, and it is known that in f'ormer times' they used to receive tribute ft•om the kings of Cambodia. Would this perhaps point to a former great Kha empire ruled by two divine kings, and that long before there ~~isted the well ordered states of Champa and x·unan? Investigations tending to elucidate this point would be very ------..·-·-··- ..-.: --·-···-----~--·------ .. -.,-~ ..·--···----9}

Vida t.ba l~Ll;il ProfefHOt C. G. Seligllla.n--Itaoes of Africa..

NOT~

welcome indeed I They might lead to surprising discoveries among others to from what direction the ide~t of divine kingship came. to Indochina. Personally we· should think that it was born eitheJ: in Egypt or Syria, and from there was diffused to the other parts of the ancient world. In volume III, part 2, ·Dr. Veyre has published .a series of anthropmnetric measurements of 'fho, Ntmg, Man and Maco living in Upper Tongking. The Th6 and Nung are Thai, while the Man are identical with our Yao of North Thailand. The height of the Tho men. varies from 150 to 174 em, with .a few exceptions whose height is either less than 150 em, or more than 175 em. with an average of 1G2 em, 'l'he. Tho women are 10 em shorter than the men. Their botlily weight lies between. 50 and 54 kilograms. With regard to cephalic index it is interesting to note that 8% of the men and 10.7% of the women, of respectively 250 men and.140 women measured,~ ,were dvlicooephalics Furthermore almost half of both men and women' we1·e mesocephalies leaving only 46.4 •;', and 40.6% respectively as ln·.tehycephalics. The Tho are thus not pure Mongols taken. in the' ordinary sense of that word. 'l'he Thai Nung have also an avel'age hetght o_f 1G2 em. but are Ii:Hire marked dolicocephalio than the Tho. Of 84: N ung men measured 19% were dolicoce phaUc, while of40 women 15% were so, the remainder being. mesocephalic .or brachycephalic like the 'l'h'6. The dolicocephalism among the .Man and the Maeo is· even higher. Thus out of 43 Man of both sexes 18 were dolicooepha.:, lies, and of 27 Maeo of both sexes 13 were. so, 'l'hey must therefore be described as tending towards dolicocephalism. Of height·they,are · smaller than the Thai, ranging between 140 and 154: em, Their women are 10 em. shorter Dr; H. Marneffe and M. Bezacier have written a Vt;lry important· on the bloodgroups of North Indochina, Their researches'have been carried out among Annamites, Mu'ong Tho, Nung and Man. In Tongldng the Annamites represent 9/10 of the total population. Though om lmownledge is still too scanty for an exact classification there seems to he indications of their fundamental typ~s; ·viz: the Negx·oid';· pap~r

tiu

BH.lK ::;EHJENFADEN

I VOL. XXXVI.

the Indonesian and the Mongolian. It seems also that none of the existing populations are autoc.hton. The authors say that of the Negroid race only the Papuasian branch with its two subgroups: the Papuas and Melanesians, seems to have inhabited Indochina. 'l'ha lute Mansuy talkg of an Austro-Melanesian type but classifies most of the skulls examined by himself as Melanesian. However, the existence of such an Austro-Melanesian type is quite probable only this does not mean that tl:tere has been an Australian substratum living side by side with a Melanesian one. Which means that the Austro-Melanesians in North Indochina were immigrants? There lived, 'however, together with the Melanesians a Negrito people belonging to the pygmy race. It is possible that a few representatives of thet:~e Negritos are still existing, living on the Annamite Cordillera in the region of Dong-ho'i just near to that cave where a :-;1mll of a Negrito child has. been found. We would in this connection remind our readers of what we )lave written about the rumonrecl ex:it~tence o£ so-called Butr daeng-the red children-on the Phu Phan range in the great forest of DQng Mak Ee, between the changvate of Ubon, I Kalasin and Nakhon Phanom in Northeastern Thailand. The authors have mE.It natives in th(1 almost unexplored region of Mu-gia wi.th Pa.puan or Melanesian faces, This Papuasian :r;ace seems to be the autochtons of North Indochina where they were .driv~n up in the hills by the invading Indonesians, This would have happened in the neolithic ag€'. Perhaps one day we shall know that certain Kha t:dbti!s, living in the northern parts of J,aos and Annam on the Annamite cordille'fa, .are a mixture of Papuas and lndon~sians. 10) Our authors continue by saying that the Indonesians belong to th6 great. Europoid race. They are tho Mo'is here, the Dayaks in Bo!-'1ieo, .and the Battaks of Sumatra. The third great race to arrive in Indochina was the Mongol who d1~ove some of the Indonesians up into the hills, and assimilated others, which gave rise to the Mu'ong. Also the Man wer~ blended with Indonesian elements. As regards the Annamites

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10) Did not Mlle. Oolani susp:ot tha.t these ttibes ware do .icocephalica? See her work LDR M~igaHbhes ilu Haut Laoa.

NOTKS

81

it will still f.or a long time to come perhaps be difficult to say how they came into existence, The late :M. Aurousseau was of the opinion, based on historical evidence. that the Annamites are the dil•ect descend he:tV.!Illy abode. V!•ry often -such meritorious human beings may be t:tk(>n up in the celestial regions dming their terrestrial ·exil'tteuce, to wit the ilnl.)erial princess and her poor lo,~•-horn

hnt pnl'(' lwrtl'tecl loVf'J',

'l'he

celt•stial~h(•ings,

who are of celestial

ori~,l:in, may at times lJP punislwd by the Emvcror of Heaven, t1n·il' plmishmPnt, eou;;isting· in l>eing incarnated in a humau

If they thr:rraftP.r retle(\ffi ·their sir\s by tlw leal1ing- of a l'i~·hteous life they mny be allO\Yec1 to return to hPaVPn.

•body.

'l.'his btlopri1ent in Siam. Bangkok, 7th November, 1945. Wan Waith~~yakon Luang Ha.ksa Naves Saroj Ratananimman Prem Purachatra Phya Srishtikar Banchong Eri~ Seideu~adeu,

Chakrapani Srisilvisuddhi Id,or .Zieler S. Sukhyanga U.I.. Guohler L. Cltorin ~.

A.ria.p t J)r1,C,Lnji,~"! ., "-

75

ANNUAL REPORT 1944 The Annual General Meeting was held on Sunday, February 27t.h 19·14, at the Society\.1 Home, Asoke Road, Bangkapi, with the President, His Highness Prince Dhani Nivat, in tho Ohair, In submitting the Annual lleport and t,lle Statement oj: Accounts for the year 194B just conclurled, the President mentioned that the Society had passed through another difficult year, and in trying to lwep up the normal aeti vit.ies of the Society, all sorts. of obstacles have had to be tackled. Thanks to the loyal and unfailing co-operation show11 by his colleagues on tho Council, us well as the support of the general body of member8, however, th~ Society had again successfu11y weathered th(1 storm and could look to the future with calm confidence, The Council for 1944 wus then elected u.s follows :H.R.H. Prince Wan President, '' . . Waithnyakon, . . Mr. S.S. Sukhayang (Phya SarasaL Sirilak), ~ Mr. U.I.. Guehler, · . Vice-PrQsidenta, Father L. Ohorin, ·

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Mr. W. Ohakrapaui Krairoek (Luang Ohakrapani), Hon .. S(leretm'J'• Mr. I. Zieler, Hon. •rrensnl'cw,

H.S.H. Mom Chao Achawadit Disktm, Hon. Librarian.., Fr. H. Prince Prem Purachatra, H0n. Bditor, ' ·~ lVh. S.R. Snkhayang (Pln•a Saroj Ratananimmau), Hon, Architect, Major E. Seidenfaden, Past Presidl;ln~ a.ud Leader ·!:&.Section for Archaeology and Ethnology, H.H. PeinCL: Dlwni Nivat, Past P1·~sidant,,

---11.NNW\L REPORT

1ci

(VOL XXXVI

Dr .. r..1. tl(' Campos,

Mom Luang Pin "Malaknn, Mr. Samalm I\nrya1·juu ( Phya Srishtika1· Banchong ), Leader of Nat History Section, )flo. I\. M:dRUillllLO.

'l'he new Council, in the :first business meeting of the yea!', appointed the following stancling committees: Finance: The Senior Vice-President (Mr. S.S. Sukbayang, Chairman). 'l'l1 e Hon. Seeretal'y, The Hon. ''i'reasnrer,' Exchange: 'l'he Hon. Lihrarian ('M.O, Achawadit Disknn, Ohail'Inan). The Hon. Editor, Major B. Seidenfaden. Editorial: '.l'he Hon. Editor of the Journal (H. H. Prince Prem Purachatrn (Chairman). H.H. Prince Dhani Nivat, The Leader of the Natural History Section (Mr. Samahn Panyarjun), Mr. Wit Siwasriyanon, J\fr. Ariyant Manjiknn, M,R. Sumonchat Sawatdikun, Membership: H.R.H. Prince Wan 'Waithayakon, Chairman. Mr. U.L. Gneh~er, Mom Luang Pin Malakun, l\fr. K. Matsumoto. '!'he Committee fo1• Pl'izes was abrogated as in the previous y"ear. At the close of 1944 the Society's membership consisted of: Honorat'y 8 .· Corresponding 5

Life Ordinat·y Associate ftee

4 13.6 2. ·2

Pt. 1)

ANNUAL REPORT

77

m~iking a total of 1;)7 as compared with 159 in 1943, 193 in 194:i2, 24 7 in 1941, und 233 in 1940.. In point of fact, however, the nurnb•:r of OI'dinrtry members for the year 1946 and 1944 have remainell the same at 136, the slight reduction iu the totttl number of members of all ~atPgories being due t.o the fact that the narues of several associate members have had to be dropped, because their period of membership had expired.

During the ~year 1944 under review, tbe Council held 12 business meetings in all at the Home of the Society, in Bangkapi. Owing to lack of transport facilities and frequent local air raids, no Ordinary Meeting or Natural History Meeting had been arrauged duriug the year. The activities of the Society were. however, very far from being at a stand still. A good deal o£ quiet research [~t home on the part or several members resulted in the bringing out of ·two

highly instructive numbers of Volume XXXV of the Journal as well as one numbet' of the Natuml History Bulletin Vol. XIV which gained credit n~t only for the contributors themselves, but for the efficient Editorial Staff led by Prince Prem as well. In thjs connection, realising that the publication of the Journal and .the Bulletin is one of the acti'Vities which the Society could still catTy on inspite of the war, the Council decided to store up enough printing paper fo~· printing these perioclicuJs for some years to come. and it is hoped that members will, continue to co-operate by sending asr many ;uti_, ,. • • • . cles to the Hon. Editor as they possibly can, · ~

The :financial ·position of the Society remains sound, due to another good year of unexpected large sales of our publications, The total sum realised .under. th~~. !~ga4_ip.(:L!l.~ounted to Baht 6429.a5 which was only surpa~~·~d by. -~·~c~~:d figure of Baht 9180.01.

i9.43;·s

However, as the price of: almost all our publications has now been raised 100% for the year 1945, and as saturation poiu~ may have now been reached, it cannot be hoped that income under this heading will continue to he so good as in former years. '!'he yeal' 1944 produced two itents of entirely unexpected income. One was the r(mi; obtained h·om t.lH~ Depart,ment. of General Educn,tion,

ANNUAL REPORT

( VOL. XX.XVI

who had temporarily hired the premises of the Society for the purposes of the Laor Uthit Kindergarten School for five months of the year at a monthly rental of Baht 100. 'fhe other came from a ne'v member in the South in the person of Mr. A..H. Froda, who kindly donated Baht 100 to be used in promoting the affairs of the Sooiety as the Council thought fit. In these hard times such a gift certainly comes in very handy and it is to be hoped that not only new memhers but old ones will soon follow the good example set by Mr. Froda, Although the Ubrary has been deprived of almost all the opportunity of exchange with our fellow institutions abroad, we have· beel'l."fortunate in having made an agreement of exchange with the new .Royal Institute in Bangkok, and now publications of that learned body are sent to us regularly to enrich our Libral'y. ·During the year Nai Sli Chaloemphao; son ' of the former Library clerk Nai Sin Chaloerophao, who had to retire from the Society's service owing to failing eyesight last'· year, '\Vas engaged at a small fee to help Miss Chan Xavier in the Library. In conclusion, the Council would like to say that, taken ali in aU, the position of the Society had been well m'aintahied during the last year, and unless something really untoward happens, there is no reason td believe ~hy this Society should not again do well in the comingybar.

·

(VOL. XXXVI

fiNANCIAL RESUME Receipts B(tht

f::{ub.,cripliun~:

Ordinary Members, current 1944 , , Arrears 1941/4i1 Advance Assueiate niemhers

Baht 3,250.,, 125.-

••

,.

125.2-

:3,502.--

8 ales of P ztblicat·ion.~ :

Journal of the Society Baht 5,137,55 'l'he Bulletin (N;ttuml History Supplement),. 94,6,80 'l'hc Mon Dictionary 225.-:" LeMay: 'l'he Coinage of Siam 70." Craib's Florae Siamensis Enumeratio " Burnay et Lingat : Lois Siamoises " Catalogue of the Stamps of Siam 14." Creclner: Observations in Tali Region \Yunnan) 3G.-

" ----

6,4-29.35

S·und·ry Accounts Bank Interest Gift from upconntt•y Member Compensation from Kindergarten School for use of building

" "

234.75. 100.-

" -500.--

834:75

Br~ht

10, 7Citi.10

Examined and found to agree with the books and vouchers,

J. ERIKSEN Hun. At~dilo1· 41'

Bangkolc, 12th, January 1945,

81

Pt. 1)

OF THE YEAR 1944. Ex;>enditures

Baht

Horne's mainteruu11:o :

i\80.-·

\Vu,ges of C1.48 11.88 108.85

.

Libra-ry & S locks oj' P ltliliattions : Wages of Clerk~ (two) Book Binding Fire Insurance of Books & Furniture

{Rtht. 10,000-) BookH purchaseLl

(i0.-

GOO.- 1,280,31

330-

" 38.03

"

14lUO

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"

Secretarial & Editm·ial:

:~:3.85

Pustage & RevPnlH' Stamps, Hon. 'l't·ea:mrer , Postage, Gl~neral & Hon. Secretary , Hi t·e of P.O . Box ()~) ., Printing of:·

,Journal of Society Bulletin (Nat. His.) Aut.hot·'s Separates Circuhll', Notices & Stationeey .... W1·apping & A•ldressing Publications Exchange Acljnstment; ....

" ",, " ",

144.19 20,-

HH1.50 1314.85

- --··--

Advance Pul'chase of Pt•inting Paper (Stock} 8 unrl1·y Accounts : Representrttion, Meeting Expenses etc.

5G1,43

48.2911,llt),5.~~2 3.~J·IH.71

4,10R.80

Baht Ba,ht

·-····--~---"'----

'l'otal Expenditure Excess of Income over Ex:penditure forward

to Finance Account

Baht

9,900.25

865.85 Baht 10,76li.10

Bn.ht

I. ZIEL:Bm .J! orl. T·reruiU.1'tW

sa

ANNUAL REPORT 1945 The Anunal OutH.Jl'lll MPr•ting wal'J helVernrnent Gazette Voh1me 5G B. E. 2~82 to Volume 60 B.E. 248(), consisting of 389 parts, ~l':jle Dire.ctm·,,(:lenel·~~L of the Pttblicity Department pr·c~sentecl the Society with 14. bqoll:S on Culture, On the l;Zt.h of December 1945 publ icati 0}1S .•~~.· Bot1;1.n y-.·ali,({z~(,logy, 20 copies in all, began to arrive f1•om St~oiiliohu:: ·;~ ·~.·~·