Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-04-10
THE VENICE OF TIE EAST.

On Bangkok, the capital of Siam, tray
eiers have exhausted their powers of de
scription. 1t is on the Menam, about
thirty miles from the sea, and accessible to
she largest vessels that cross the bar of the
river. 1t is sometimes called the Venice OF
the East. The broad and handsome
river is its chief highway, and a
large proportion of its more than half a
million OF inhabitants live and trade in
floating houses moored for miles along the
water front. Floating houses and shops
are not an uncommon feature of Chinese
cities, but those OF Bangkok are considered
more characteristic and remarkable II is
now stated that they are decreasing, owing
TO the undermining of the city by the open
ing of new streets and drives, and the add
ton of numerous European improvements.
The palace of the King is q modern build
ing, furnished in European fashion, an ex-
ample that many Siamese mobiles have not
been slow to initiate. The Buddhist tenn
pies, which are among the most magnifi-
cent dedicated to that religion, are conspic-
uous ornaments of the city, and often de-
Scribed by those who have seen them in
the most extrayagant terms. To the most
Eastern travellers Bangkok is Siam. Those
who go there see little but the city and
Its suburbs. The country, except along
the Menam where the sea wind is con-
stantly felt, is hot and unhealthy. In the
forests the jungle fever operates with deadly
effect. No doubt if the forests were cleared
and the land cultivated ii would become
healthier, but the process goes on at a
scarcely perceptible rate A race whose
home is the troplc aud whose religion is
tatalistic Buddhism, have not the spirit or
the physical elements of progress.
PoNPEuAN HOUSES.
You would be astonished at the size of
some of the Pompeiian houses, and of the
rooms and spaces they inclose. They look
small because they are empty, but when
you measure them you find them very spa
cious. Houses of thirty and forty rooms
in the first story are not uncommon. The
great space was the atrium, about thirty
five to forty feet long, having an opening
for light in the center of the roof. and lust
~lnder this q 1narble-lined basin, raised
above the floor, into which the rain fell,
and on the margin of which were placed
bronzes and vases. Out of this opened
bedrooms, and at the end a Teeeption-room
and diniug-room. Beyond these was
peristyle, or court, surrounded by from
eight to twenty columns, thus making
broad corridor running round. Some of
the peristyles were so or 100 feet square,
with great variety of rooms opening into
Ihem. DeyOnu lhe perlSlyIeS was the gar
den, sometimes $50 feet square or more
with all sorts of arrangements for plants
and fountains. y good many of the elab-
crate niche-shaped fountains are still per-
feet. The street entrances to some of the
houses are ten to fifteen feet in width, and
had quadruple or four-leaved doors. In
fact, so spacious are these dwellings on the
ground floor that it is generally believed
that the upper story rooms were rented out.
The floors of the first and second stories
were of cement in which patterns of mosaic
OF tassellated work were laid. Many of
these floors were uninjured. The houses
were admirably planned to save space (;
and the decorations, mural and otherwise,
were far beyond our conception of the art
of ornamentation. The workmanship. es-
pecially the plaster and stucco, was much
better than can be produced by modern
craftsmen.