Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-11-24

| noisy crows perch Oh an early morn
ing on your window casing and the
tree Immediately beyond it than in
the space of a day hover near the
Towers of Silence" at Bombay await
| ing the pleasure Of the vultures feed
ing on the earthly remains Of one that
has died in the faith Of the Parsee.
Some people fancy Bangkok a city
| CT islands; hence | suppose the COM
| parison with Venice. Bangkok has,
indeed, a very large floating popula-
iton, and the city is intersected with
many "klawngs" Canals; at certain
times of the year, too, perhaps half
the city and the surrounding country
is under a foot or more of tidewater.
Yet the largest half of Bangkok's four
| hundred thousand citizens live on
land. though the easiest means of
| travel throughout much of the city is
by boat, and in fact, half Of it is
reached in no other way. The Siamese
woman of the lower class daily paddles
| her own canoe to the market; or il
of the better class, she goes in
"rua chang" the common passenger
boat which, together with the jnrikisha
| the land passenger-carrier throughout
the orient, is included among the
| household possessions of every
Siamese who can afford it.
The native city has surrounding
wal nine feet thick anu Twelve feet
high, and but single street where a
horse and wagon can travel. For the
rest, the streets are no wider than
needed for passing jinrikishas, and at
least one of them, Sampeng, to my
knowledge, is too narrow for such
traffic comfortably. Most native
Ithoroughfares are mere passage ways
trails; for the Siamese by virtue of
their swamp-like lower country travel
single file, first by necessity, after
wards through habit.
Sampeng is a street of much distino
! ton; it Is the Bowery of Bangkok. It
| is a continuous bazaar from end to
end, with many alley-like tributaries,
/ leading for the greater number, to
open-air theaters, or to large crowded
rooms where natives squat to gamble,
and a band sends up uninterrupted
melody from out of the darkness at the
rear. But the most imposing array of
shops is on the Menam river, the
Broadway of Bangkok, along when
for six miles the city spreads itself in
boating houses; on the klawngs, that
wind throughout the city with the devil
BUSINESS, and apparently all the aim
lessness of a cow path, the natives
rear single-room veranda-like houses
on stills, six to eight feet above the
water The Siamese builds his house
on stiits for several reasons. The
first, no doubt, is to avoid the super
stitious wickedness of living on the
lower story while the upper one is
occupied by other human beings, espe-
cially women. who, in Siam, are not
viewed as Of much Importance. The
second, and | should say the most
practical, If not the most aesthetic, is
for the purpose of having a waste gate
of easy access for the continually
owing saliva from betelnut chew
ing, and household refuse, which now
is easily disposed of through the
crevices of somewhat openly con-
structed floor sufficiently elevated TO
admit of dogs, pigs, crows and other
scavengers. whose immulity from
death at the hands of man Is only an
other proof of why Buddha should
have given a religion to this people
Another reason is to secure higher
and a healthier floor to live upon above
the damp SOL; and no doubt yet an
other Is to escape from the snakes,
toads. worms and multitude of other
crawling things which drag their
length over the soil of lower Siam.
Past the floating houses along the
river and among the st"lted houses
through the klawngs. flows scarcel,
ever elding procession of passenger
boats. house boats. freight boats and
canoes of all sizes. for in Siam may
be seen the most remarkable variety of
water craft in the world and, may
add, of the most graceful lines. I'm.
less it be the Burman, VINO after all is
of about the same stock, no builder
anywhere compares with the Siamese,
Aildl iluht thtll bbdNS raj sc anu Sllld4t
of teak, and give them lines uuequaled
Here is one art at least in which the
natives continue proficient, despite
the picturesque destroying march of
the derby hat around the world.
My travels around the world have
never brought me among people
seemingly more contented. more hap
by. than these Siamese. Their wants
are few and easily supplied a single
piece of stun completes the scanty. in.
expensive costume; rice and fruit aad
Ash, to be had for almost nothing, con.
stitute the food betelnuts. which high
and low chew. may be gathered. Life
moves very easily for them. and they
go TO their death with unbounded
faith that Buddha will care for the
I next world, wherever 1t may be. Real
" these followers of Buddha have
: life's true philosophy Living. they
hold to their simple faith as con-
|, Ccientiously as the Mohammedaus,