The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-02-15
WHO AND WHAT Is KRAO?
The Real Story of the "Missing Link"-Tht
Great Wonder that Puzzles Doctors.

WHO AND WHAT Is KRAO?
The Real Story of the missing Link"-The
Great Wonder that Puzzles Doctors.
Edna 5. Cole, in Chicago Interior.
have seen in our daily papers many articles
written about this little child, asserting that
she is the long sought conclusive proof of the
Darwinian theory of evolution. She has been
called The Missing Link, "a human monkey"
"a tree liver" and various other such names. 1t
has been stated that there is a small tribe of
just such beings in northern Siam; that this
child was captured in the forests of Siam with
her parents. and that the latter died of cholera
while en- route to England; that they had no
language, no knowledge of fire, and, in fact,
were just what we suppose the missing link
ought to be.
Since the year 1878 1 have been living in Siam,
In the Laos country, as a missionary of the Pres
byterian Church, and know whereof | speak,
when say Krao is no more the missing link
than any other monstrosity. Her parents were
just like all the natives of that land, as far re-
moved from the ape tribe as the King of Siam,
or any member of that Slamese embassy who
visited this country last year, intrusted with the
important business of Strengthening the treaty
that exists between the two countries, and if pos
sible to stop the importation of cheap liquors
into their land. In the year 1882 Mr.. Carl Book,
a scientist, visited Siam. He announced that he
had been commissioned by one of the scientific
societies of England to go to Siam and make a
collection of its fauna ana flora. Even Queen
Victoria had approved of his commission and
granted him assistance. In this way he was
presented to the King of Siam, who graciously
promised him all the aid in his power and
offered to pay half his expenses. In a boat pro-
vided by the King he assembled the Manam half
its length to the city of Rahang; here he took
elephants and continued his journey TO Chieng
Mai. the capital of the most important Laos
province, and where our mission station is To-
Gated. 1t was on this journey, the same that
has been many times taken by our missionaries,
- n ~ - = lsAl 1s TT
her parents, and with the experienced eye of a
man of business, he realized that in her hairy
covering he had at last found his fortune, and he
purchased her of her parents for the sum of 600
ticals, equal to 800 dollars. He brought the child
at once to our mission. She was half sick and
fast losing her hairy covering, so she was put
under the care of DIR. M. A. Cheek, our medical
missionary. Mr.. Book told us that he had
bought the child for purely scientific pur-
poses. We little thought. however, that
she would be presented to the world
as a specimen of the fauna of Siam. Krao spent
several months with us while Mr.. Book contin-
ued his journey, by the aid of elephants received
from the Laos Governor of Chieng Mai, into a
deserted province in the extreme northern part
of the country. On that journey, which l have
myself taken. he passed through extensive for
ests, the home of only wild beasts. There the
native hunters, in order to shoot tigers, build
platforms or nests in the high trees, where they
can have every advantage over the game as it
passes beneath them. Mr.. Book saw these beasts.
and they doubtless suggested the sensational
stories he weaves around little Krao, calling her
"a tree-llver." A the tribe to which she be-
longed. that have been seen, are, like her, COW
cred with hair" The tribe" is certainly very
small, consisting of but this one poor deformed
creature. Krao was certainly not without Ian
guage, for when she came to us she spoke the
Siamese language as we'll as any child six years
old can speak her native tongue. One
of the first questions she asked me was to give
her five cents, and when l asked her why she
wanted it, she said, to buy a pair of earrings;
a slight proof of her apishness. 1t was also said
that she was found in Kjang- Kjang, the capital
of one of the Laos provinces" That is a very
peculiar statement. and like the others, is q mis-
take. l have never heard of such a place; it is
not the name of any of the capitals of the six
Laos provinces: it is doubtless the name of the
little village, not tree, where Kraos parents and
neighbors live. The Laos people, by the way,
are not savages. but have a civilization Of their
own, which is of quite a high order. They live
in walled cities and villages, which are sur
rounded by their beautiful rice-fields. Mr.. Book
found also that they were not without an indie
pendence of thought and feeling, for when he
reached this distant province he unearthed some
very fine idols images of Buddha) that the Laos
well knew were buried there, and considered
them especially sacred. Mr.. Book took possession
of them, Notwithstanding the remonstrance
and fear of the natives. He held he had
found az them, and they were his. When the
natives found they could not prevail, they quiet
Iy E0blT0u, OTlfluk ali OAcpudubo away,
leaving Mr.. Book a prisoner, shut in by those
dense forests and high mountains, not a very en-
viable position, and he wrote piteous letters to
the missionaries, begging them to intercede with
the chief for him. They at last succeeded in
having elephants sent him. but not until he had
been kept a prisoner a. least two months. The
story of the cholera il 20 false. 1t may be Mr..
Book came near dying in Bangkok" as he says,
but it was not from an attack of cholera, but be-
cause he had broken faith with the natives.
They, as well as the foreign population, were
very angry with him.
There is also some grave mistake about DIR. G..
q. Shelly being Kraos ''captor." No gentleman
with that name has ever travelled in northern
Siam, where she was found. L ought to add
that Mr.. Book made extensive INQUIRIES in order
to find a hairy male child. OF course he failed.
and this little girl was as great a curiosity to the
Laos people as she is to us. have seen crowds
of them come long distances to see her.
There is one other point L would like to add.
If there were such a tribe of people in Siam or
Burmah, would they not have been found by the
missionaries. who travel far more extensively
throughout the land than any other foreigners?
They travel in company with the natives, and
have a perfect use of the language and so learn
all there is to be learned about they country and
people. Then comes some stranger, spending
less than six months in the land, following in
their beaten tracks. He has no use of the Ian
guage; not understanding the people, he frightens
or angers them-soh he learns what he can from
the missionaries and other foreigners, and then
returns home and complies the notes he took
from them into a book; then sends it out into
the world as "My Travels" Are we not a little
too credulous2
A Mexican railway manager reports that his
purchasing agent has secured 300 wooden saints
for fuel. He bought them at so cents apiece