The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-27
LIFE IN SIAM.
A Glimpse at the Habits and Customs of a
Little-Known People.

/ LArE I'm SAAMs
| A Glimpse at the Habits and Customs of q
| Little-Known People.
| Washington Special.
| General Halderman. the American minister to
| Siam, is in town. He is here on aieave of absence
which will not expire until the middle OF next
| August. His friends say that he has no desire
| to return to SIAM The climate is not healthy
| one. Europeans cannot stand it on a stretch.
To become acclimated, it seems, is only another
| term for being brought home in coffin at the
governments expense and received in the United
| States by committee General Halderman has
| no ambition in that direction, though his years
stay in Bangkok does otseem to have affected his
| health He is as well to-day, apparently, as when
he left the United States for Siam and the Siam
esq., in 1882. He is a tall, fne-looking man of
about fifty five. His bearing is soldierly. A pair of
| massive shoulders support we'll shaped head. His
| face, tanned by exposure to tropical sum- Is
surrounded by full gray beard, cut short The
| hair quite black. He wore. when | him, a
| loose fitting suit of Clothes English in texture,
| French in suit, and Siamese in color. An in
ternational black stovepipe covered his head and
in his.right hand he carried Quaker umbrella.
| asked the General to give some Of the impress
| sions which the country and people of Siam had
| left upon his mind.
1.-THE life in a country like Siam, he said, is
| not very pleasant, and you get tired of it in
| people remain there for any length of time.
Many of the Europeans settled there are en-
| gagged in the disreputable liquor traffic and
belong to very undesirable class Of
no sanitarium in the neiehborhood of
| Bangkok to which you could retire during
| the hot season. There are no hotels, no public
| travelling conveyances. If you want to travel,
| you have to move your entire household along
| with you, and that is expensive Servants are
cheap enough, but it requires ten Siamese to do
| the work Of one European. Supplies are not
| dear, but European, and especially the repre-.
sentative Of foreign country, is always charged
| twice as much as native would be for the same
| article The expense to 60 to Siam is about $500
| for one person"
| How did you find the people inclined toward
| Americans?'
Very favorably, indeed The commercial
| possibilities are great, though at present the
| Sianese are any thing but commercial people.
They agriculturists. The chief exports
| rice sugar, pepper, Japan-wood and hides.
China carries on a larger trade with Siam than
any other country"
Tell ma something about the government"
"The King is a man of about thirtytwo. He
| is pleasant, intelligent and we'll meaning man.
He speaks English His secretary is also his
| half brother. 1t is easy enough to secure
an audience. There is very little ceremony,
considering that it is an Asiatic court. would,
| for instance, address note to the secretary and
| say | wished to have an audience with the
| King A reply would come promptly, agreeing
| to my request | would don full dress suit
present myself at the gates of the palace, be re-
ceived by the guards. passed along by different
| functionares until | reached his majestys pres
| ence. He would shake hands with me in ord-
nary European fashion, listen to what had to
! say, and when had finished / world rise and
| bow myself out When told my English and
| French colleagues that | never awaited the
| Kings pleasure to terminate the interview, but
| always rose when had stated my business they
| were somewhat surprised. They regarded it as
a breach of etiquette, but the King / am told,
| liked it very much.
'The King is a very much married man. He
| has some 3, 900 wives The establishment where
| they are housed is a city almost in itself. They
| are kept very close from the eyes of men. No
Europeans and very few natives of the male sex
| are allowed to enter the sacred precincts. Mrs
| Palgrave. the wife of the English agent did get
permission once to visit the Queens establish
ment. There is, by the way, only one Queen,
the others are merely concubines. 1t was very
| plainly furnished. There was no splendor, gor-
| geousnesS and all that sort of thing at ALL The
| floors were marble and the women sat on mats
| and rugs. They were chewing the betel root and
| constantly splitting: spittoons abounded. few
hangings were all the decoration the walls had.
| The women were very much like the Chinese
women. The head is large, the face broad, fore
| head low, the cheek bones prominent the lips
thick, the eyes black, though not upturned as in
the case of the Chinese. There is of course
| whole army of female attendants.
| Now something about Slams politics9'
swell, you know it is an absolute monarchy.
| But there are two parties, rather factions.
One is headed by the King, the ether was led
until recently, when he died, by the ex-Regent,
| who governed during the minority of the present
King There exists good deal Of jealousy and
| as the crown does not descend by right of primo
| geniture, the death of ruler gives rise always
to serious trouble The present dynasty has
held sway for about four generations. l had a
| little difficulty when the ex-Regent died, which
| did not however, lead to any serious conse-
| quences. He was sour old gentleman, quer-
ulous and cross. paid him visit in my official
| capacity, and so did the English and French
agents in theirs. He returned their calls, but
foreign representatives half masted their flags
according to custom. ] did not. I was
requested by the Prime Minister to do So
| refused. said that man who had shown so
little respect for the flag of the United States
should not be honore6 by it when dead. The
matter was reported to the King. He said moth
ing. But when saw him later, he told me that
he was very glad [ acted as did. 1t had taught
| the followers of the ex Regent lesson.
1.-The King remembered General Grant very
we'll. When left Siam he charged me with a
message for him. l was prevented through
General Grants illness from delivering it. Alto
the Kings confidence. When he received me in
| audience for the last time he said: 4 hope you
will come back. General Grant had two terms
! You ought to have two terms Also He pre-
| scented me with two decorations and also wished
to present me with valuable piece of property
/ This, however, [ refused But induced him to
give it in fee simple to the United States for the
use of legation, the first instance in which
similar gift has been conveyed to the United
| States by foreign power"
| General Halderman. among other interesting
| experiences in Siam, was able to be present at a
royal elephant hunt. This was by special inv-
tation of the King, who further distinguished
| him by requesting the General to take a seat by
! his side. The wild elephants were decoyed into
a sort of corral or stockade by tame elephants
| Over hundred were caught on this occasion
| The greatest service, however. which General
| Halderman was able to perform was in breaking
up nefarious liquor traffic carried on under the
protection Of the American flag. Some of his
predecessors it appears, had given licenses to
| their native servants aud others to keep LIQUOR
| shops. The demoralizing influences of these
places soon showed itself. 1T does not take
/ rfanc az