large flat slab of stone set in masonry on the terrace
beside the ruins of an old palace. The stone ;ras "an
object of reverence and fear to all the people. If any
one failed to bow before it, or presumptuously walked
up to it, he would be striken with fever or other
disease. When the Prince saw it, he walked straight
up and sat down to rest upon it: and, because of the
power of his good fortune, he suffered no harm what-
soever. On his return to the capital he had the stone
brought down and set in masonry as a platform at
Wat Rachathiwat. After his accession to the throne,
he had it brought to Wat Phra Sri Ratana Satsadaratn
(Wat Phra Kago). He also secured a stone pillar
inscribed in Khamen letters, and one inscribed in an-
cient Siamese, both standing now in Wat Phra Sri
Ratana Sat-Sadaram •,—of wonderful import, as if pre-
saging that he would be sovereign of Siam, a king of
majesty, power, and goodness far-reaching, like the
Phra Bat Kamaradeng At,.........who was king in
Sukhothai, as recorded in that inscribed stone."
The most important work of the king Rama Raja
was the discovery of a new script for his people. In
his inscription he says that in M. S. 1205, he invented
a special kind of writing for the Siamese. He says:
1 Heretofore, there were no strokes of Siamese writing.
In 1205 of the era, year of the Goat, Prince Khun
Ram Khamhasng sought and desired in his heart, and
put into use these strokes of Siamese writing. And so
these strokes of Siamese writing are, because that
Prince put them to use.3