The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-09-01
Siam and its King.

The official name of the present King
of Siam is Chulalon Korn l.; his family
name, Somdech Phra Paramindr Maha.
He succeeded to the throne in 1868. He
is twenty-nine years old. We do not
know in what respect his administration
may be said to be an improvement on
that of his father except that the in
fuence Of an increasing commerce with
the more civilized nations, and contact with
them that is thus brought about, is slowly
producing an ameliorating influence upon
the custom of the people, changing their
modes of thought and modifying for the
better their whole civilization. Like all
the people of the far east they are jealous
of foreigners and their ways, and only
pattern after them as their superiority is
brought home to them in so convincing
a manner as to prove to them that it is
for their self-interest to abandon tine
habits and modes of centuries and accept
the results of experience and ever increas-
ing knowledge. The limits of the king
dom of Siam have varied much at differ
ent periods of its history; and even now,
with the exception of the western from
tier, the lines of demarcation cannot be
exactly traced, most of the border lands
being occupied by tribes more or less in
dependent. As nearly ascan re calculated,
the country extends, at present, from
the fourth to the twentieth degree of
north latitude, and from the ninety-sixth
to the 102d degree east longitude, being
a total area of about 250, 900 square miles.
The numbers of the population are still
more imperfectly known than the extent
of territory, and the difficulty of any cor
rect result is the greater on account OF
the Oriental custom of numbering only
the men. The last native registers state
the male population of the kingdom as
follows, in round numbers: 100000
Siamese; 100000 Chinese; 100000
Loatians; 100000 Malays; $4,000
Cambodians, and $4,000 Peguans. Doub-
ling these figures, to include the female
sex, this would give total population
for the kinfidom of 11,S00,000 inhabi-
tants, or forty-seven to the square mile.
The Siamese dominions are divided into
forty-one provinces, each presided over
by a phaja, or governor. The native
historians distinguish two natural divi-
sions of the country, called Monang-NOna,
the region of the north, and Monang-Tai,
the southern region. Previous to the
fifteenth century, the former was the
more populous part of the country, but
since the establishment of Bangkok as
capital-with from 300, 900 to 100000 in
habitants-the south has taken the lead
in population. Siam is called by its in
habitants Thai, or Monang-Thai, which
means "free," or "the kingdom of the
free" The word Siam-quite unknown
to the natives-is Malay, from SATAN
''the brown race" There is comparative
ly little trade or industry in the country,
mainly owing to the state of serfdom in
which the population is kept by the
feudal owners of the land. Throughout
the whole of Siam, the natives are kept
to forced labor for certain period of the
year, varying from three to four months,
in consequence of which the land, rich
in many parts, is so badly cultivated as
barely to produce sufficient food for its
thin population. Nearly the whole of
the trade is in the hands of foreigners
and in recent years many Chinese, not
subject like the natives to forced labc:,
have settled in the country. The for
eign trade of Siam centersin Bangkok, the
capital. The minor exports embrace a
great variety of articles, chief among
them teel-seed, pepper, Japan wood, skins,
spices, and sugar. The chief article of
export is rice.-Detr0it Post