The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1889-07-27
AN AQUATIC CITY.
Slams Capital and Its Fifteen
Miles of Floating Houses.
Glimpses of a Country About
Which Little is Known,


fc. or of the Indian Ocean stop at it
Few lobe trotters visit it and if i
about fifteen hundred miles out of III,
regular line Of travel around the world
The great Siamese peninsula juts dowr
from the east coast of China. 1t con.
tains half a dozen different countries
the chief OF which are Burmah, Siam
and the French States of China. Sian,
itself is at the lower end of the noni,-
sula and 1t bounds the greater part of
the mighty body of water known as the
Gulf of Siam. 1t is 1900 miles lonc
.nd at It's widest part it is $50 miles
wide. 1t IS almost as fiat as your hand.
though 1t has here and there a few
mountain chains. 1t has MANY bio
rivers, and the country is as much cut
| up with canals as is Holland. Durino
the rainy season it becomes a MIGHTY
lake, and the people move here and
there from one city TO another in boats.
The greatest river> is the Menam.
which the Siamese know by the same
pane as the Indians knew the Missis-
kppi. 1t is "the Father of Waters
pad it forms the great highway of the
Kingdom. This river flows into the
Gulf of Siam at its head, and it is about
orty miles from its mouth that | sit
fere on its banks and write this letter in
bis floating city of Bangkok. Imagine
city as large as Chicago, of which
irety-nine hundredths of the people
We on the water. There are fifteen
ies of floating houses on the two sides
this river and these, with the Kings
Alace' and few foreign buildings on
land, make up the capital of the
amese people.
There are SIX millions and more of |
csc slamese, and their country covers
territory of about twice the size of
orado, four timLs the size of New |
rG, and it is about five times as bio
Ohio. 1t is a tropical country, and
click OF my typewriter falls upon my
mixed with the songs of thousands
birds which sing in the branc hes of
trees outside of the Oriental hotel.
doors and the windows are all open,
the lightest of white duck linen is
Pressive as clothing. 1t is too hot to
out In the middle of the day, and we
all the surroundings of the tropics.
eocoanut and the palm tree line the
Ks of this Menam River, and the
Is fit in and out of jungles
Oh remind one of the swamps of
fida, save that you may see the mon
upon the trees, and the plumage of
BIRDS is more splendid.
wish | could give you a picture of
rde up the Menam 10 Bangkok. The
Oh the river are lined with these
hoating houses. They are an
ed to piles and they lie half hidden
ne great palm trees on the banks.
and there canal juts off into the
e and the houses on il make this
'aung street. These houses are
oil bamboo, with their sides and
roofs matched with palm leaves.
are sometimes on piles high above
a'e', but more often they rest on {
flace. They are tied to poles
INTO the bed OF the river. and
rise and fall with the tide. Their a
se height is not more than ten '
aud each looks like two large dog
es iastencl together and covered t
palm leaves. c
anu there is an opening in the {
"ees and you get glimpse of the d
rs II Is Hat as the water. of the 3
%ua where it is ploughed it looks
as your hat. The only beasts
"%e ugly water bufTaloes. There
'sGces' no barns, and only these 4
'u houses on piles. "
aser is winding. 1t is perhaps a 81
'" mile wide, and every turn u
NC" surprises. As we near Bang II
waters are alive with craft of all :"
LATHE, naked, brown, shock head u
s'eFs paddIelong canoes not over 9
a wide and so sbarn that tba u