The Portland daily press., 1893-07-26

natives who approached the King had to
do so on all fours They had to raise
their hands in alteration to him and
bump their heads on the mats before
him. The King did away with all that,
and he has introduced the American
handshake into his reception OF foreign
ers. He gives receptions to foreigners
and he speaks the English tongue, though
he never does this when noted foreign
| brought the telegraph and the telephone
into Bangkok, has established street.
car line, and lights his harlem with cleo
trio lights.
The King of Siam is a Buddhist, and
he was for some time Buddhist priest,
as is the custom with all men in Siam.
Every one is expected at some time to
enter the priesthood. and this royal
monarch, with his millions of treasure.
his score of wives, and his So 100000 a
year, once shaved his head and nomi-
nally gave up his crown and his harem
to wear yellow cotton scarf about his
waist and to go fasting and praying.
The Siamese priests are picturesque, as
we'll as devout The priesthood is use
full to married men. A man can be di-
vorced whenever he likes by entering
the priesthood for month or so. No
bles do not reqnire any such formality.
The great event in the life of Siamese
is the function of having his hair cut.
This is sometimes a great event in the
life of an American young man also.
On the top of Siamese baby's head a
certain lock of hair is preserved All
the rest of the head is shaved, but this
lock is kept sacred until he reaches the
age when he officially passes from boy
hood to manhood, Then off comes the
lock. The celebrations attending the
hair cutting of the present King lasted
three days.
The King of Siam has a very large as
sortment of wives, but he is SO high and
| mighty that he must marry nobody be-
meath him in rank, his only equals being
his own family. His regular official
Queen must, therefore, always be his
half sister. The Queen is not far from
90 years of age; she rules the harem, and
she is a very pretty Siamese girl. Her
complexion is light brown, and her
oily black hair, about two inches long
stands straight up, and is combed back
ward from fair, open forehead. She
has beautiful eyes, wears diamond ear
rings and has diamond pendant at her
neck, and her fingers are covered with
precious stones. She smokes cigarettes.
as does also the King, and she chews the
be tel 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.
The debtor class of Siam afford a great
contrast to all this gorgeousness. They
are stripped naked and, chained to
heavy logs, are compelled to work as
slaves The interest on money is SO
high in Siam that when man once gets
in debt the most he can possibly hope
forsby the hardest kind of work is to
pay the interest on what he owes. This
has discouraged industry and has encour-
aged the practice of allowing women to
do the work. Man, being proud and
ambitious, soon tires of industry in
dulged in for it's own sweet sake.
The temples and palaces of Siam are
structures of complicated magnificence.
Witnesses in the courts are tortured in
very ingenious ways. Certain classes
are prohibited from testlfying. They in
clude drunkards, gamblers, virgins, ex-
ecutioners, beggars and persons who
cannot read. When they whip man
they stretch his skin from his head to
his heels to make the blows effective.
The sacred white elephant for which
Siam is famous, if he ever did amount to
anything, has gone all to pieces, He is
at present a NANCY, scraggy, wild-eyed
creature, with nothing white about him
but his ears, which seem to have leprosy.
His keepers are dirty, he is not bound
with golden chains, and the only thing
royal about him is his bad temper.