Page 235 - A History of Siam

A HISTORT OF SUM 221
The of Nak'on Srit'ammarat, which followed, was
siege
long and troublesome. The Governor, P'ya Ram Dejo,
a Malay, was a man of great determination. His fleet was
and his was defeated and but
destroyed army again again,
he refused to surrender. At last all his were
supplies
finished and his of starvation. He then killed
people dying
his wife and and
family, escaped by boat, with fifty
followers, by the connivance of the Siamese Admiral,
This also a was an
P'ya Rajabangsan. Admiral, Malay,
old friend and companion in arms of the rebel Governor.
P'ya Rajabangsan gave his life for his friend, and his
severed head was set over the of the
gate vanquished
city.
In 1697 King Sadet of Cambodia sent a present of a
female white to This shows that
elephant King P'etraja.
the traditional of Siam over Cambodia was
suzerainty
acknowledged during this King's reign.
In October 1698 Father Tachard again visited Ayut'ia
and tried to conclude a new between Siam and
treaty
France. The asked for the advice of the Dutch
King
residents, who, of course, urged the danger of ever again
the French to obtain a foothold in the
allowing Kingdom.
Father Tachard the
aggravated King's misgivings by
about a fort at Tenasserim and a
talking building factory
at P'etchaburi. This so the that he sent
disquieted King
to both those to be in case of a French
troops places ready
invasion. Nothing was arranged with Tachard, and from
this time onwards France abandoned all interest
political
in Siam, though the Jesuit missionaries continued their
work. Their success does not seem to have been great,
for Alexander Hamilton, who visited Siam in 1720,
said that at that time there were not more than
seventy
1
King Sadet Jai Jett'a of Cambodia reigned from 1690 to 1716, with intervals.
He abdicated and entered the priesthood several times. The capture of a female
white elephant in 1696 is recorded in Cambodian history.