The best historian that the country has had was the late king, father of the present ruler, who, owing to a usurpation of his rightful sovereignty by an elder and illegitimate brother, was led to spend some years in a Buddhist monastery, where he gave himself to study and became, under the circumstances, a rather remarkable scholar. According to his authority, King Tuang as early as A. D. 457 introduced the Siamese alphabet, which he handed over to a conclave of Buddhist priests. His reign was distinguished by the possession of a white elephant with black tusks!――a very important fact from a Siamese point of view. Authentic history, however, begins with A. D. 1350, from which date the succession of kings is directly traced. The ancient capital of Ayuthia, which was then established, occupied the site of a still more ancient ruined city. There had been frequent wars with the Laos and the princes of Pegu, involving an obscure succession of dynasties. For about two hundred years the kingdom enjoyed peace, and Ayuthia became a great and wealthy capital. In 1556, however, the king of Pegu again conquered the country, though upon the death of the king the Siamese princes, to whom the throne properly belonged, regained the power. About the middle of the seventeenth century the country received a great impulse in civilization from a Greek merchant, Constantine Faulkon, who through skill and success in business and his general public spirit, became a great favorite of the king and his court, and who seems to have devoted himself to the introduction of European improvements of every kind. He received from the king the highest titles, with great power and influence. Under his direction forts were built on the banks of the Menam and new palaces were erected. He also built a church, the ruins of which still exist. He greatly improved the canal system, which is almost as important to Bangkok and Lower Siam as that of Holland is to it. Aqueducts were constructed also for supplying the city with water from the neighboring mountains. At length, becoming an object of envy on the part of Siamese officials, he was assassinated. In 1759 the king of Burmah with an immense army laid siege to Ayuthia, which, after two years, was compelled to surrender. The king was slain, and a long struggle followed, after which, in 1767, the Burmese, having gained complete possession of the country, appointed a king of Peguan origin to hold the sceptre. By this time the country was full of armed bands of outlaws, who, like the Saxons under the Norman Conquest, proved irrepressible, and after the withdrawal of the Burmese army anarchy bore sway. AN AMBITIOUS CHINAMAN ON THE SIAMESE THRONE.