Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1913-08-01
THE KING OF SIAM.


stepmothers and other relatives In
equal proportion. The late King Chu-
lalongkorn, father of the present mon
arch. had upward of GOO wives. Each
one of the wives left on an average
two children who grew to adult age.
Many of the children died while quite
you,~. and the bodies of these little
dead children were kept by the king in
one OF the halls Of the palace in Iium-
bered Baskets.
The present kings father, aside from
looking after and taking care Of his
GOO wives, provided for all the living
wives Of his predecessors, and altogeth-
err this group Of wives formed little
city of about 5000 women.
Likewise the duty of caring for the
wives of his predecessors fel! upon
varjiravudh. the number of whose
wives is increasing by leaps and
bounds each year. Aside from caring
for this great number of wives, the
king of Siam is called on to take care
Of his hundreds and hundreds Of broth
ers and sisters.
The present king, who has been sole
ly responsible for many Of the recent
reforms which have come about In
siam, was educated in England and
does not cherish some of the old Sia-
mese customs and beliefs. He is now
advocating other reforms in his coun-
try. The king is an excellent linguist
1uvr
fuently. He has recently written a
book dealing with the peculiar customs
Of his peculiar country.
The people of Siam in very ancient
times killed off their king about every
year. However. about 800 years ago
this custom and had the courage to
offer other suggestions which In the
end prevailed and which put an end
to this custom of sacrificing the king
of the country.
The king of Siam has difficult task
in distinguishing between his brothers
and sisters. OF course 1t would not
be possible for him to remember the
names of each one Of thousand rela-
lives and know each Of them we'll He
has hit upon unique scheme, and
each brother and sister wears tag
around the neck. Each tag bears a
letter and number For instance, the
sons Of royal mothers are lettered A.
and then follows a MINERAL. The sons
of nonroyal mothers are lettered B.
with numeral. Likewise the daugh-
tiers Of royal mothers are lettered c.
followed by mineral. and the daugh-
tiers Of nonroyal mothers are lettered
u, with a mineral following. Each
one carries this tag around the neck.
and therefore the king may distin-
guish at a glance which one 1t is he Is
talking to-. The tag is made Of gold.
In this manner also he Is able to tell
and remember which Of his brothers
and sisters are not behaving properly.
and an official call down follows mis-
behavior
In Siam one Of the most peculiar
customs is for every city and town to
send its most beautiful maiden to the
kings harem as an offering each year.
IL 10 uttcSSdl. loi TIC hiho Si'H>' "
accept her as one OF his wives or else
provide another man for her Like
wise any and every unmarried woman
in the kingdom has the right to In
scribe herself on the list Of royal
wives.
The distinction between royal and
nonroyal wives in Siam Is great one.
Many wives OF ordinary birth are moth
ing but slaves and are not allowed to
go out OF the royal inciosure 1t should
not he surmised that the king does not
make use OF all of his wives. To be
sure no one has right to tell the
king what he must do or what he
ought to do for ii would be grave
reflection on his powers OF half broth
er Of the SUM-" etc.