, 1889-04-30
THE CAPITAL OF SIAM.
BANGKOK AND ITS FIFTEEN MILES
OF FLOATING HOUSES.

A City rs Large Rs Chicago, of Which Nine
Out Of Ten of tho People Live on the
water-somothing of the Country Itself.
The King Owns tho People.
Siam is one of the out of the way coun-
tries of the world. None of the great
steamship lines of tho Pacific or of the
Indian ocean stop at it. Few globe trot-
tiers visit 1t, and 1t Is about 800 miles
out of tho regular line of travel around
the world. The great Siamese peninsula
juts down from the east coas of China
1t contains half n dozen different coun-
tries, tho chief of which are Burmah,
Siam and the French states of China
Siam itself is at the lower end of the pc
ninsula and it bounds the greater part of
the mighty body of water known as the
Gulf of Siam. 1t Is / 300 miles long, and
at its widest part it is 450 miles wide. 1t
is almost as flat as your hand, though it
has here and there n few mountain chains.
1t has many big rivers, and the country
Is as much cut up with canals Us is Hol-
land. During the rainy season it becomes
q mighty lake, and the people move here
and there from one city to another in
boats,
on TIE RIVER y
The greatest river Is the Menam, which
the Siamese know b.. the same name as
the Indians knew the Mississippi. 1t Is
'the father of waters" and it forms the
great highway of the kingdom. This
river flows into tho Gulf of Siam Mt its
head, and 1t is about forty miles from its
mouth that l sit hero on its banks and
write this letter In this floating city of
Bangkok. Imagine a city rs large rs
Chicago, of which ninety-nino hun
dredths of the people live on the water.
There are fifteen miles of floating houses
on tho two sides of this river, and these,
with the kings palaces and a few foreign
buildings on the land, make up the capt
tai of the Siamese people.
There arc six millions and moro of
these Slamese and their country overs
n territory of about twice tho slze of
Colorado, four times the size of New
York. and 1t Is about five times as big rs
Ohio. The %cocoanut and tho palm tree
line the banks of this Menam river and
the boats fit In and out of jungles which
remind one of the swamps of Florida.
/ wish l could give you n picture of
our ride up tho Menam TO Bangkok.
The sides of the river arc lined with
these small floating houses. They arc
anchored to piles and they lilo half hid
den by the great palm trees on the banks.
Hero and there n canal juts off into
the jungle and tho houses on it makes
this n floating street. These houses are
made of bamboo, with their sides and their
roofs matched with palm leaves. They
are sometimes on piles high above the
water, but moro often they rest on its
surface. They arc tied to poles driven
into tho bed of tho river, and they rise
and fall with tho tide. Their average
height is not moro han ten feet, and
eack looks like two largo dog kennels
fastened together and covered with palm
leaves.
The river is winding. 1t is perhaps n
quarter of n mile wide and every turn
brings new surprises. AS wo near Bang
kok the waters arc alivo with craft of all
kinds. Little, naked, brown, shock
headed youngsters paddle long canoes
not over two feet wide and so sharp that
the least balance would unseat the
rover. There arc half naked women
with great hats of straw, which look Xix
inverted work baskets, sitting bare
logged and harc breasted in boats which
they paddle along, and boats of all sizes
are worked by all ages and sexes from
babies of O to wrinkled old men and
short, gray haired women of GO. AS you
enter Bangkok the crowd increases. In
stead of one line of floating houses along
the banks there arc three and sometimes
four. The whole river is alive, and you
turn your eyes this way and that, meet
ing n mazo of new objects at every turn.
LFE oNG SLAVERY.
Tho king of Siam is supposed 10 own
the people, and each man In the realm
has to serve for three, six or nine months
as a ervant of the government. At q
certain time of the year tho entire popu-
lation is marked off to particular noble
men or government masters. These
masters, whenever the government de-
mands anything of them, can compel the
men marked off to them to serve. All
kinds of work arc demanded, and the
various marks put upon the men indi-
cate their trade or profession. Some
men are required to give all their time
to the government, and In this case they
get nominal salaries. Those who give
half their time work for tho king fifteen
days, and then have fifteen days off.
The three months subjects get no pay,
and during the time they arc In Bangkok
they have to find themselves In food and
lodging. This work practically e~nslaves
the whole population of males, and
slavery is common in Siam. Criminals
convicted often become slaves, and they
are sometimes marked or branded on
the forehead. l have seen many men In
chains during my stay here, and just
outside the walls of tho palace there are
at least two score of men, bright eyed,
good looking, lusty fellows who have
great iron collars about their necks and
chains about their legs and arms, who
were making basket work, and who
offered to sell me their wares Us l passed.
Tho debtor who does not pay in Siam
must become the slave of his creditor,
who charges him from 10 to 80 per cen
q year, puts him in chains and takes his
work as the interest on the debt
There are hundreds of such slaves in
Bangkok, and many of the men become
slaves by gambling AWAY their living.