Much of our knowledge about Buddhism, at least in the early days, came in a
rather haphazard way, as the result of reports by travellers, envoys, etc. One such 3
envoy was Simon de La Loubère, who in 1687–88 went to Siam as an envoy of the king
of France (King Louis), and on his return wrote a book about the Kingdom of Siam,
which was published in France in 1691. Two years later an English translation was
published in England.3 La Loubère gave a fascinating account of many aspects of Siam
and Siamese culture, and he also included an account of the Siamese religion—
Buddhism—and the sacred language of the Siamese. He noted the differences between
that language, which he called Balie, and the Siamese language, and noted, correctly, the relationship between the former and Sanskrit. He also gave French translations of a few Buddhist texts.