Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-05-16

4 Peep at the Dusky Rotentaee and HIs
Well-<toeked Harem-
His Majesty's name is perhaps the
longest Of any monarch in the world
1t contains fifty-seven letters. and he is
sailed Chulalangkorn for short He has
ten different names in addition to this,
and the full names of the royal family
would. doubt not. fill column OF this
newspaper. The Queen is not far from
twenty years of age; she rules the
harem, and she is a very pretty Siam
ese girl. Her complexion is a light
brown. and her oily black hair, about
two inches long, stands straight UP
and is combed backward from fair.
open forehead. She has beautiful eyes,
wears diamond earrings and a dia-
mond pendant at her neck, and her
fingers are covered with prec ious
stones. She smokes cigarettes, as
does also the King, and she chews the
betel nut, making her teeth as black
as Jet and her lips stick out The
Siamese say that any dog can have
white teeth, but that it is only those
who are rich enough to afford the
betel nut who can have black ones.
Black teeth are a sign of beauty here.
and all the ladies of the harem chew
and smoke. / visited yesterday the
storehouse of the perveyor to the
King. 1t is an English establis b.
ment but its business is to sell the
palace and the harem the various ar
ticles they need. 1t has hundreds of
balls and playthings. which are
brought from Europe for the royal
babies, and the clerk tells me that
there is not fancy French plaything
or amusement of any sort that is not
sold to the palace. was shown about
one hundred dozen little china spit
toons about the size of shaving mug.
These were beautifully decorated. and
some of the pictures were by native
Siamese artists sent to Europe to be
painted upon them I bought one
decorated with picture by Siamese
Prince, and / was told that these spit
toons are used by the ladies of the
harem to spit in while chew
ing this disgusting preparation of
the spongy betel nut mixed with
rose-tinted lime and fne-cut tobacco.
/ talked with the dreSSmal1er as to the
fashions affected by the Kings wife
and his scores of concubines and was
told that the ladies of the harem pre-
fer SiameSe dress and that their IA
vorite costume is the surong aud waist
cloth, to which they add a loose jacket
trimmed with swiss embroidery and
covered with bows of ribbon set on in
rows. Commonly they wear neither
shoes nor stockings. and the chief leg
decoration is an anklet of gold. They
have some foreign costumes which
they put on when the court photo
grapher takes their portraits, but their
common attire is more that of iewelry
and bracelets than OF silks orof satins.
These ladies of the harem are the most
noble ladies of Siam. The last King
had wives from China and India, and
he was anxious to add a well-bred En-
giish girl to his gallery of beauties.
He had, it is said, chances to secure
,ne or two French maidens, but he
had had SO much trouble with the
French that he declined to re-
ceive them Once in the harem
it is impossible for a woman to get
out, and in the case of fiirtations
the offending woman is in danger of
being put to death. Many of the girls
gamble and some of them do fine en-
broidery and fancy work Some be-
come jewelers. and others make articles
and sneak them out of the palace to be
sold The women are not kept in sep
arate palaces and each does not have
an establishment of her own as in
Japan. After the age of twenty-five
if they have had no children. the older
women become the waiting-maids OF
the younger and the stock
is replenished continually The pres
ent King shows no inclination to come
down to the American one-wife prin-
eiple, and during his present visit te
the interior he has taken q couple of
score of his favorite women along with
him The amazons have. I am told.
been done away with at the palace.
The last King had them, but though
looked through the best Of pebbled
glasses for them during my visit to the
palace / saw not one.-E G Carpen-
ter, in Chicago Times
DArEhr 0rErO- ~.,~--