Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-13
KING A MODEL MONARCH
Ruler Of Siam and His People Described by
Dir. bays.
Pride of the Natives in Their Country
and It's Insti tutiOns - The
Siamese Navy.

DIR. 7. Hayward Hays surgeon general
of the Siamese navy, reached washington
today, and will remain here for a snort
time previous to visiting friends IN various
sections of the country. sketch Of Or.
Hays, who is an American and was some
years ago an assistant to Surgeon General
Wyman CT the marine hospital service, was
printed in this paper several weeks since.
In an interview regarding siam, Its KING
and people, Dr. Hays said:
THE King of Siam is a model monarch,
and is man you would pick out of thou
sand for a king He is tall and striking
in appearance, very approachable and not
at all overproud. He has a great library
and is very fond of literature. The king
has one hobby, and that is his collection OF
crockery, the finest in the world, and once
a year he gives an exhibition, which is
largely attended by the nobility. On such
occasions he appreciates additions 10 ms
collection as presents. He is most liberal
man, having founded several institutions,
and is supporting them out of his own
purse. One of them, "a home for children,
is especially useful and beautiful Inc
king IS a highly educated man. strange 10
say, he is teetotaler. Not drop OF hquor
or intoXcant of any kind ever passes his
lips He smokes cigarettes, obtaining his
tobacco for that purpose from Egypt lie
is not crank on drinking however. ana
everything in the shape OF liquid refresh
ment is served at the palace at receptions
and dinners.
1.-The kings birthday lalls on December
81, but that being the rainy season. he mas
changed the celebration and combined 1t
with his coronation jubilee, so that the
festivities last three days, the 10Th, 10th
and 18th of November On those days the
city of Bangkok is illuminated with cleo
trfcty, and royal salutes are fired. A mag
nificent ball is given the last day, and re-
ception is rendered to the diplomatic corps.
THE women of Siam are small in stature,
but are much prettier than the Japanese
women. Their costume is principally
cloth which hangs from the waist to the
knees and is called a 'paanung. They
wear stockings and dainty slippers. They
wear no head dress, and a neat-ftting
jacket completes the costume. The men
also wear the 'paanung.' The women are
fond of colors, and the sight at the thea
tiers is magnificent one. Children of both
sexes run about naked and this is not no.
ticed.
POIygamy Practiced.
t'The country Is polygamous, and the
number of wives a man has is limited only
by the number he can support. The king
has three queens, called Nos. ], and ),
besides any number of other wives. There
are only about 800 foreigners in the city,
of which but $50 are Americans. and these
for the most part belong to the missionary
group. The kings physician is DR.. Reytter
of Belgium.
The SiameSe navy is n small one, con-
sistng of only twelve large gunbOats. The
size is not increased, as no trouble is ex-
pected. The vessels are mostly employed
as pleasure craft. and the king often uses
them. accompanied by his suite.
THE Siamese language Is a very difficult
one to learn and I had much trouble in
mastering its iHtricaces. Russian is the
most difficult of all languages to learn,
Chinese is the next and the Siamese tongue
Is third 1t is for the most part a language
of intonations. Some of the mistakes a
person can make are extremely ludicrous.
For instance. the word NAH In Siamese
may mean dog horse or come The
meaning 8 determined by the accent or
tone. stranger ordering his horse 10 be
hitched might be surprised to find his dog
in harness if he did rot pronounce cor
recty.
The Siamese are very fond of reading
al d every boy can read and write. They
were formerly taught by the priests. The
natives are, however, strangely ignorant of
geography. They regard Siam as the big
gest place in the world, and every other
land is called in a general way the outside
country. They nave many works, how
ever, In the native tongue, including trans
lations of histories and fiction.