The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-08-30

try, and upward of thirty children.
Though he has SO many wives only
one ranks as Queen.
The population of Siam is very
mixed one. Only about a third of it
consists of pure Siamese. There are
about 100000 Chinese, most oi
whom, strange as it may seem, are
subjects of Holland. The remainder
of the population is made up of mixed
races-Burmese, Indians, Malays, and
Cambodians.
The Siamese are essentially peaceful
and indolent. They are social, vain,
and fond of bright dresses and jew
elry, and are inveterate gamblers.
The dress, both for men and women, is
a cloth called "panoong," about two
feet wide, wrapped around the waist,
with one corner drawn up and caught
in girdle at the waist. This makes a
sort of flowing trouser falling to the
knees.
Well-to-do-people wear, in addition,
white jacket, shoes, and stockings.
The women are distinguished ~by a
gaudy scarf thrown across the body.
Bangkok, the capital and largest
city, has a population variously esti-
mated from 800, to 100000. So
peaceably disposed are the people
that Colonel David B. Sickles, for
many years United States Consul there,
says the murders did not average one
year. Bangkok is situated on both
banks of the Menam River. Aside
from the pagodas, temples and Govern
ment buildings nearly all structures
are of bamboo, with thatched roofs.
Many of these float on pontoons or
bundles of bamboo in the river, or in
the canals, which form all intricate
network of waterways about the city.
The religion of the people is
Buddhism. Nearly all men of the
upper classes enter the priesthood for
short time, and by custom no one
can ascend the throne who has not
been a mendicant priest.
The temples are very striking OBJ
jects seen from afar, and some of them
are beautiful, but generally, as is the
case with most things Oriental, dis
tance lends enchantment to the view.
Upon near inspection it is found that
there is a great deal of tinsel about
them, and their gaudy, cheap orna-
mentation does not favorably impress
the American. They are not neatly
kept, and the visitor picks his way
through rubbish heaps to the temple
entrances. Here come the people in
swarms to pray and to listen to the
monotonous chants of crowds of lazy
priests. The lower part of the edifce
contains the images of Buddha, and
all around the pagoda are buildings
devoted to the service of the priest
hood. The most famous temple in all
Siam is the Wat Cheng, opposite the
royal palace. 1t lifts its sacred spire
200 feet from the ground, and every
inch of its irregular surface is covered
with glazed and co]ored ornamental
tion, while little bells hang from every
possible projection, and every zephy,
sets them tinkling.
Another famous temple contains the
mammoth sleeping Buddha. The re-
clining statue is eighty seven feet long.
The most interesting temple in Bang
kok is the temple of the Emerald God
within the royal enclosure, devoted to
the use of the Kings family. 1t is
most ornate, is filled with the rarest
specimens of Oriental and European
art, and, crowning all, is the little
emerald Buddha, only foot high, a
solid mass of diamonds, sapphires and
other gems. Several far loftier temples