The morning call., 1893-07-02

of the least known OF the great
countries of Asia and the society people
here are reading up that they may talk in
diligently to these princes OF the Far
East. 1t lies. you know. at the lower part
of the peninsula OF Farther India and 1t is
cut up by the Gulf OF Siam. The mighty
to south and the whole country is net
work OF canals. In the winter large
part of it is covered with water and the
people 90 from house 20 house and from
place t. place in boats. The city Of Bang
kok. which lies on the Meuam about
twenty-five miles from its mouth, is the
Venice of the Far East. 1t contains $780,,
0O0 inhabitants, and 100000 of these live In
houses which float upon the water. Bang
kok Is. In fact. a sort of river city. and 1t
Is stretched for distance OF ten miles up
and down the banks of the Menam.
Siam is about four times as big as the
State of New York. 1t contains about
100000 people, and the country and the
people, body and soul, belong to the King.
The King has the right to every mans
labor. and any woman whom he calls upon
must enter his harem. He has the most
arbitrary power of any king Of the East,
and he is one of the richest monarchs in
the world. His palace In Bangkok is a
magnificent structure, with golden ele-
plants guarding its entrances. 1t has
twenty-five acres of ground about it. and It's
said that 5000 people live within the palace
walls. The King is said to have 300 wives,
but the Queen, who is the chief of these, is
his Majesty's half sister. She is very
bright woman, and has made herself noted
for her charity. She rules the harem, and
when l was in Siam l was told that she
smoked cigarettes and chewed the betel
nut.
L.
doubleday be betel chewers. Every one
in Siam is addicted TO this habit, and there
is big store just opposite to the palace
of the King in Bangkok in which | was
shown, during my stay there, lot of little
china spitt0ons about the size OF shaving
mug. This store supplied the palace with
goods and these little spittoons were used
pectoraton of betel juice. The betel nut
is a native of Siam. 1t is about as big as
black walnut and il has a green skin.
1t is sold In pieces the size of hickory
nut, and it is Of soft. spongy ma
tnre, having bitter. astringent taste.
lime and tobacco. The lime is
colored red and it is carried
about in green leaves. Having mixed his
quid the Siamese chews and splits and
splits and chews all day long. 1t makes the
teeth black. and the juice which the people
expectorate is as red as blood. l saw both
men and women using it when l was in
Siam, and l was told that babies were
given it almost as soon as they were
weaned. Both women and men smoke in
Siam, and the children are taught to puff
cigarettes AS soon as they are old enough
to crawl. If anv ladies como with the le-
CATION they will probably be smokers and
betel chewers, and of the Kings harem
half of the women have black teeth. The
Siamese say that any dog can have white
teeth, but only those who are rich enough
| to buy the betel nut can have black ones.
This legation will be the first foreign
mission of pure Buddhists which has ever
come to Washington. The Ministers from
Europe are to large extent Catholics.
The Chinese are Confucianists. The
Japanese are liberal free-thinkers and the
Koreans about the same. Buddhism is the
religion Of Siam, and every man Of any
prominence there has been at some time
Of his life Buddhist priest. The King
| himself was at one time priest, and he
once shaved his head and gave up his
crown and harem to wear yellow cot
ton scarf about his waist and go
about fasting and praying. Any one
who wants to become a priest In Siam
can do so upon a moments notice. The
result is that when man gets into finan-
cial difficulties he enters the priesthood,
| and in this way his debts are forgiven
some time they come out and start into
business anew. When a man has done
anything very wicked he goes into the
| priesthood for a certain number OF years
to cleanse himself, and this becoming a
Buddhist priest is one OfIthe simplest meth
DDS of Siamese divorce. The man who
enters the church has the right to dismiss
his wife, and when he comes out again at
the end of few months or year he
can marry her again or not. as he chooses
Siam is the home of Buddhism. and
while was in Bangkok saw the. purest
OF the Simon pure article. There are %, 900
Buddhist priests in the Siamese capital.
and these are of all ages from 16 TO 80
! They go about with shaved heads aud
yellow strips of cloth wound about their
half-naked bodies, and they chew the
betel and smoke cigarettes as: they 60 beg
/ ging from house to house. The city is
divided up among these beggars. Each
priest has his beat and at every door he
gets an Offering of rice.;or of. something
else Of this kind. Visited the Buddhist
temples while was In; Bangkok. They
1 are costly: beyond description. There is
one right near the Kings palace which has
100000 worth OF gold leaf on one Of its
| spires, and in another temple there is an
idol made of Jewels and pure gold. 1t is
/ about foot high and eight inches wide.
When 1t was being made, while the metal
|
sapphires, rnbies and diamonds: were
): stirred into it. land before this idol the
King comes every morning and worships.
! 1 could fill this. paper with descriptions
of the wonder temples Of Siam. and in one
Buddhist: temple / found the floor covered
! with mating of woven silver wire. 1t
was dirty from the bare feet of the priests,
and as went out l noticed that the door
was ebony in1aid with mother-of-pearl. In
another temple I found an image of
Buddha asleep. This image was $50 feet
long and the soles of its feet by actual
! measurement were IS feet from toe to heel.
A two-story cottage is often not more than
| 10 feet high; if this Bnddha lay outside
of such one on his bach his big toe would
be on parallel with the lightning rod. OF
late years number of infidels have sprung
up In Siam. and it may be that our. new
legation will not hold fast to their faith.
Their religion. sit is taught at Bangkok,
is full of errors. and was told here that
the people believed the earth to be fiat and
that their explanation of the lightning
fash was that it came from the Ratchet OF
4 a giant Of the clouds. who. angry at his
wives, was throwing hatchets at them
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