The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-07-02

/. This king has adopted coinage. making
money much the same as that Of ours He
mas mint OF his own. and he imports
Mexscsn dollars and casts these into CONS
10. TIE use OF his people The unit OF
Saiae IN Siam - the tecaf, and the chief
silver coin used is about the sig. Of hall
Dollar He has . pos;otfice department,
anu siam belongs to the internasio.sa a,
postal union. While I xas in bangkok I
met the head Of his roysi college, and
saw wonderful museum in the
grounds OF the palace. The king
talks English. and he is think
ing Of building . railroad which will
open up the interior OF his rich kingdom.
siam - full Of valuable resources. II has
mighty forests OF seakvood and its mines
contain the finest Of gold and silver The
King has an income OF abou, $40 GO obe q
Year. and he IS said to have about $50. un.
90 stored away in bis Golfers He has his
own secretary OF the treasury. but he signs
ali the checks himself, aad he is said Ia be
very me business man. He has his
cabinet just rs our president has his war
department, state department, interior de-
partmeat and agricultural department.
His country is divided into forty-one
provinces. presided over by governors. and
he runs things To suit himself, making
such appointments as he chooses.
The people of Siam are taxed for all
they are worth Everything under the
sun has To pay percentage TO the govern
ment. and great part of the revenue of
the King comes from the gambling estah-
iishmsnts. The people are nation Of
gamblers and the gambling taxes bring in
<5o.ocO year. The taxes are all iarmed
out. as are also the people. who, rs slaves
OF the king. are ordered to work for him =
part OF every year. IL is only the Chinese
who are not subject TO such service and
they are released from 1t by the payment
OF poll tax. There are many Chinese In
Siam, and it is said that they are fast
swallowing up the country. They are
smarter than the Siamese in o business
way. and they marry Siamesc wives end
settle down there for life. All of the gov
ernors OF Sam make presents to the king.
and they sometimes pay their taxes IN the
shape of gold and silver bushes. In the
audience chamber Of the palace l saw
around the room trees and bushes Of gold.
The leaves OF these trees we're of pure gold,
while the trunks were heavily plated with
gold. On one side Of the room there were
number OF silver trees. aud was told
that these were part Of that years offer
ing to his majesty from his governors.
heard diplomat who Is well posted in
Asia,ic matters discuss last night the rea-
son Why the king sent his legation TO
Washington. Said he: The king OF Siam
is very anxious to strengthen his relations
with foreign powers. He realizes the
danger which constantly menaces his
country from its geographical position. Ii
il the meat Of the sandwich Of Farther
India. One slice Of this sandwich belongs
to France and includes Cochin China. The
other slice belongs 10 Great Britain and IL
takes up the provinces Of Burmah. Siam
lies in the center and it is richer than
either Both France aud England are land
hungry and they look with greedy eyes ON
Siam. 1t 10 one OF the richest pIums
which still hang on the tree of barbarian
in the far East. It produces crop after
crop without the aid OF manure and il
ships millions Of dollars worth of rice,
pepper and cattle every year"
What kind Of an army has Siamf" !
asked: ''thcre was no navy there when /
visited the country"
1.-THE army is nothing to speak Of" was
the reply. Every man has to serve the
state for three months in the year, but
there - 10 armed militia. In case Of
war with England or France Siam could
not do much, and its chief safety lies in
the fact that neither Of these great coun-
tries want the other TO have il. suppose
it eventually will be divided between them,
and IL il should, it would be much better
for the people. As il il, they are prac-
tically slaves while under France or En-
gland they woutd be free. have no doubt
but that the king appreciates the situa-
ton. and he probably thinks that II no has
legations at the other capitals these two
nations will DO less inclined to impose
upon him."
The king of Siam il still young man.
He will be 10 years old on the 2lst Of Sep
tembsr. He Is not over tive feet high. but
he 10 very stra:ght and we'll formed. In
his court dress he wears 4 vast fortune of
jewels. His head il crowned with n
golden pyramid Of jewels. He puts on
upon state occasions q coat, vest and bro
caded surong, which are just loaded down
with jewels, and | was told that he often
wore upon state occasions precious stones
which were worth q million dollars. The
Siamese do not wear pantaioons. and the
surong. which they tie about the waist
and tuck in at the back. takes their place
Tho king wears silk stockings, shoes
which are pointed like those of the Turk,
and his costume 10 = beautiful one. lie is
rot bad-looking man; his face is olive
brown. his eyes are black. his forehead 10
high and his eyes are slightly almond in
thickest of stiff black hair. He - very
fond Of his wife. ] mean his haif-sister
wife. and he makes a great deal of the
crown prince. The crown prince is still
a boy, but he has been hown q number OF
times to people and he is said to have re-
markedly good sense. Just outside Of
Bangkok there IL palace which belongs
to him. and the boy IL being educated in
such q way that he will probably make .
TIT successor OF his father.
l wonder whether the members of the
legation vii. ever bring their wives to
Washington City. III they do we will
have decided sensation. provided they
come in their native costume. The COM
mon Siamese woman wears only y surong
and Turkish towel The surong goes
around her waist and between her legs,
and the Turkish towel is wound about her
bust and shoulders. Now and then she
takes off the towel and 10 satisfied with
the surong She rarely wears shoes. and q
girl under years old often wears nothing
but string around her waist. The better
classes wear more costly clothing. and
some of the ladies have strip Of thin cot
ton which they wear tightly around the
body under the arm pits and tasten with
q knot just over the bust, leaving the
shoulders and neck bare. Some Of tho
ladies of the hareui wear upon state occa-
sions European clothing, and others add
Swiss embroidery and covered with bows
of ribbon set on in rows. They all wear
bracelets on their wrists and snklets on
their legs, aud not few of them are quite
pretty. The Siamese girls are tho
most graceful women In the world.
and part of their education is
made up OF bending their joints back and
forth - make them 30. They ara all
snort haired. and when Young they are as
plump a. pariridges and as straight as the
palm trees of their own beautiful land.
As they grow older they become wrsnkied
aud ugiy. and the most OF them ruin their
teeth from chewing the betcl. Only the
fewe.s OF them are educated. and 1 don Z
think that they wouid be happy in our
high Freneh-heei shoes and they would
die ii bound IN our cossets and crinoliue
Ore of the preis'ext women in Siam il the
queen. she has snort hair like her Sianese