Page 176 - A History of Siam

168 A HISTORT OF SIAM

however, not long afterwards greatly decreased owing to
the of their factories at Patani and which
closing Ayut'ia,
had been found
unprofitable.
King Songt'am, so far as we know, took no exception
to this between at Patani. When,
fighting foreigners
however, liberties of this kind were taken nearer to his
he was to take action. We learn from
capital, quite ready
van Vliet that in 1624 the Portuguese captured a Nether-
lands in Siamese waters. The the
yacht King compelled
to restore the and from that time
Portuguese yacht,
onwards treated all the Portuguese residents in Siam with
marked disfavour. In 1628 a Siamese junk was sunk by
the Portuguese, and at the time of King Songt'am's death,
at the end of that a state of war existed between
year,
Siam and
Portugal.
We must now retrace our to describe the
steps
Cambodian war.
In 1622 King Songt'am undertook an invasion of
Cambodia, in order to reduce King Jai Jett'a to sub-
mission. Two armies were fitted one
large out, being
despatched by water and the other by land. The King
' '
himself accompanied the land army. After the Armada
of armed and of less
(consisting many galleys ships
had been for a time in the river of
importance) lying long
Cambodia into action or
(without going doing anything),
it returned the
again. The Cambodians, encouraged by
of the Siamese went to meet the
departure boats, army
which came by land. They united in the valleys and low
fields and by false guides brought the Siamese from the
good roads. They attacked the Siamese and many
thousands of men were slain.
Many great men, elephants
and horses were slain in that unfortunate battle. The
Cambodians took about 1
250 living elephants/'
*Van Vliet.