Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-09-22

pyramid of jewels. He puts on upon
state occasions q coat, vest and brocaded
surong, which arc loaded down with
jewels, and he often wears upon state
occasions precious stones which are worth
81 ,O0O,0 900. The Siamese do not wear
trousers. The surong, which they tie
about the waist and tuck in at the back.
takes their place. The king wears silk
stockings, shoes which are pointed like
those of the Turk, and his costume is
beautiful one. He is not bad looking
man; his face is olive brown, his eyes are
black, his forehead is high and his eyes
are slightly almond in shape. He has
little mustache. and thickest of stiff,
black hair. He is very fond of his wife
that is, half sister wife-and he makes
a great deal of the crown prince.
NATURE OF THE GOVERNMENT.
The government of Siam is in some re-
spects much like that of other countries
having limited monarchy, while in one
particular it is curiously different.
There are two kings, afirst and second,
each of whom has q state establishment,
but only one is honored as sovereign,
the other acting as sort of prime min
lister. The whole country is divided
into districts, the government of each
being administered by a local official
who is Siamese or Luosian, or Malay,
according to the prominence of the
people in these nationalities in the popu
lation. The reigning king is Chulalong
Kom l., known also as Somdetch Phra
Paraminde Maha, who assembled the
throne in 1863, and who governs by
means of council of six princes and
from ten to twenty members, appointed
by himself. Nominally limited mon
archy, there are so many ways of setting
aside the established laws Of the king
dom that although the Siamese call
themselves the Thai, ''the Free" and
their kingdom the Muung Thai, ''the
free kingdom" they are practically
under the same kind of government as
most other Asiatics.
The king of Siam is, comparatively
speaking, rich monarch, having an
annual revenue somewhat exceeding
e2,000,O00, of which sum e2S7, 900
comes from the land taxes, e65, 900
from the taxes on fruit trees, G10O,-
600 from the spirit tax, e12O, 900 from
the opium tax, e100, 900 from the gam
bling tax, Gl43,O00 from the customs
duties, 100000 from the tin tax, e27.-
600 from the tax on edible birds nests,
and about the same amount from the
fisheries tax. AS all the taxes are, how
ever, farmed out, and Siamese tax farm
ers are no more honest than the people
of the same business in other parts of
the world, his majesty of Siam loses
no small sum annually from the
populations and embellishments of
his agents, and it is even asserted
that scarcely more than half the
amount due reaches the royal cof-
fers. He probably makes up the differ
ence in the personal service exacted from
all Siamese natives, every Siamese in
habitant of the kingdom being required,
if called upon, to give at least three
months labor in the year to his sovereign.
The result may be beneficial, so far as
the king is concerned, but as he fire.
quently calls for this service at time
when the crops should be planted, cult
waited or gathered, the result is far from
beneficial to either the agriculture or the
general prosperity of the kingdom.
All the inhabitants are required to
render military service, exceptions, how
ever being made in favor of the priests,
of the Chinese, who are taxed instead:
of slaves, of government officials and of
those who are willing and able to pur-
chase exemption by hiring a substitute
The whole kingdom is practically, there
fore, at the kings command both in
time of peace and of war, and although
it is, in some respects, one of the richest
countries on the globe, Its natural ad-
vantages lie unimproved, and territory
almost the size of Texas has thus an an.
nual export of only about 1000, 900 a
year, consisting mostly of rice, teak,
pepper and other tropical products.
AREA OF THE EMPIRE.
The limits of Siam on the north and
east have always been rather indefinite,
for to the north, adjoining British Bur-
NAH, there lay number of semi-inde-
pendent States. which sometimes owned
allegiance to Siam and sometimes to Bur-
NAH, as the influence of one or the other
preponderated. The same difficulty ex-
listed in the East, where the Anamites
sometimes paid tribute to China and
sometimes to Siam. Siam itself has in
times past been dependency of the Chi
nese empire, and even now sort of al
legiance is acknowledged and tribute
paid. So far as the Siamese territory can
be estimated, its utmost limits at the
time of its greatest extent were about
1900 miles from north to south and 200
miles in width, or very nearly one third
the size of the United States. That,
however, was before the English con-
quests ia Burmah, which considerably
reduced .ne nominal size of the empire.
Its present area is estimated at 250,OOo
square miles, while it has population of
1000, 900 Siamese, 1000. 900 Luosians,
and 900, 900 each of Chinese or Malays
The Siamese have been given bad
reputation by travellers as being turbu-
lent. quarrelsome and destitute of good
qualities. but apparently do not deserve
it, for the best authorities describe
them as a peaceable, polite and kindly
people, They are not particularly good
looking, having a Monaghan aspect, with
large heads, broad faces, wide mouths,
short nOSpa low forahea1s and tho teeth