, 1912-01-17
TIL AVIS.
Christi aasted,St. GxoAx.
Wednesday, 18th january, 1919.

"O"nS~""yt l"UH 1919.
The FSgaHa1a had sonae of her sails torn
while crossing to st. Thomas in the soually
weather of last Thursday night, and has to
remain INST Thomas for repairs. The mails
on Monday afternoon were taken over by tile
sloop Mizpah~
The s. s. HOrond arrived at Frederiksted
on Saturday afternoon too late for the Bassin
mails to be sent up. Mr.. Armstrong; auto
mobile left town about a quarter past five
on Sunday morning and was back with the
mails about half past seven.
The 8. e. Parma for New York is due at
Arederiksted at 6 o'clock tomorrow morning
and will sail at z. The mail by her will be
closed in Christiansted's Post Office at 3
o'clock this afternoon.
The British 3 masted schooner Lillian
BeN'eh left here on Monday For Moss Point,
Florida, to load lumber.
One of the kilograms from Copenhagen
published last Saturday tells us that Prince
Valdemar and his sons have returned from
Siam. Where and what is Siam? The an.
:swer to this question may be of some inter-
'est TO our young readers, particularly to those
who are learning Geography, and the fol
lowing sketch is intended fer them. Siam
being an Asiatic country we must refer to
the map of Asia and we may perhaps take it
for granted that the reader has access to such
a map either in all atlas or hanging up as
a wall-map in fhe schoolroom.
If we now first give our attention to Che
continent of Asia as a whole, we find most
remarkable differences in the way the land
meets the water of the great ocean boun-
diaries on the north, east and south respec-
lively. On the north the coast line is COM
paratively simple, while on the east five
chains of islands in successive loops shut
IN FIVE successive branches of the great
Pacific Ocean, seas, as they are called,
and the south coast is just as remark
able, though in quite a different way.
Here, in marked contrast with the conpara-
tive regularity of the north, the coast is
broken on a grand scale by three great pen
inslas, Arabia, India and the ndo Chinese
Peninsula. All these peninsulas differ essen
TALLY from each other in form; for
while Arabia meets the ocean with q
square front, India projects into it as
a triangle pointing south, and Indo-Uhi-
ma differs from both III" being partly di-
vided into two by q broad gulf, the Gulf
of Siam. OF these two divisions, the.
eastern zone IS broad ana snort, while the
western one is long and narrow, extending in
fact about 700 miles farther than the other
towards the southeast, forming the subordi-
aate peninsula of Malacca or the Malay Pen
Ursula.
At the head of the Gulf and stretching
part OF the way Town its eastern side and
far down the Malay Peninsula we find Siam,
q country about as large as France or Ger
many, say over 100000 square miles, and
containing a population of nearly seven mil
lions. 1t is a very fertile land, cultivated
along the rivers and near the coast and COW
cred with fine forests on the billy land. Run
Hing through it is a river 600 miles long call
ed the Menans while a still larger stream,
the Mekong, forms the eastern boundary. Its
capital is q city of about half a million of
people, Bangkok, situated about 20 miles
up from the mouth of the Menam, or
more correctly speaking, its largest mouth,
For the river has a delta. 1t is a remarkable
city, extending G. or Z miles along both banks
of the river Chambers's Gazetteer gives the
following description Of it. ''The approach
to Rankok, by the Menam,i is exceedingly beau
tiful, with its temples, gardens, noble trees
~n1 D,loooc A lncUa nnmhap Of the hOusos