A SUBMARINE PALACE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9943, 5 October 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

A SUBMARINE PALACE.

RETREAT? OF THE KING OF SUM. Thb problem of how to keep cool in summer offers a wide range of glorious possibilities, bub probably the inosb extraordinary method ever hoard of is that of the King of Siam. This ingenious gentleman escapes the torrid rays of Old Sol by dapMlMDj himself for hours at a time at the bottom of a lake. There he sits in a house of glass as comfortable as can be, while the pond lilies droop and the furnace-like heat spreads itself all over his dominion, llid King and his royal retime, ensconced in the lake, lire anew the life of Poseidon, the Greek god Of the ocean, and his wife, Amphitrito, who dwelt in bb.»ir fabled golden house under the seas, at Aegae, ot the Homeric Isles. The question of ventilation has been already attended to by the kingly inventor. Ho pumps air from the surface through enormous tubes, and manages to keep up a constant circulation. As it is for himself alone, the room is bub 20ft square by 15ft high. With too exception of the floor, it is entirely of heavy plate glass, closely fitted into steel frames, llie floor is of wood and steel, and directly under it is a second or false floor into wlnflh are stored weights of stone. When floating all these weights are removed, but when His Majesty desires a cooling, tons of them are rolled in and the room

SLOWLY AND SILENTLY SINKS until it rests upon the bottom. It is then at a depth of about 20 feet, and so arranged that an abundant supply of air is obtained from numerous tubes leading to the surface. By means of other tubes he is enable to hold conversation with "hose in the royal Ealttce on shore, and also to transact State usinCßs. When His Majesty desires to return to the surface the weights are quickly rolled out upon a sunken raft by means of levers worked in an ante-room, and the room is drawn up, as if it were an elevator by mean* of cables fend hoisting apparatus operated from above. The raft bearing the weights is afterwards drawn up by the same method. The whole affair is its simple as it is ingenious. In this fairy-like chamber the King passes the long hot afternoons. The white hot light of the blazing sun, cooled by its passage through the waters, penetrate the transparent walls with a softness the exquisiteness of which cannot be described, and in magic tints sheds a chaste lustre over the entire environment, making it gorgeous beyond the dreams of the mermaids and naiads of the deep. Could, one of those maidens of classic lore.gazo through the

TRANSLUCENT SIDES Oft.THIS WATER PALAOS she would see its royal master reclining ab ease, lulled to repose by the gentle- murmur of rippling waters and the languorous music of his pretty attendants. Or he might bo reartiny a report from some functionary high in the State. Unfolded to his gaze there is a marine like panorama on which the eye never tires of feasting. Richly tinted fishes move slowly through the green waters, so near that the hand stretched out could almoßb touch them. Nibble fleets of water warriors glide past majestically, and ever and anon there is witneised a battle royal between opposing forces or the tierce struggle of a larger fish destroying its smaller prey. Overhead the blue tinted sky is strangely changed by the intervening waters, and clouds and shadows put on new shades. Truly, a more beautiful ceiling for a palace could not be painted by man, and the walls afford vistas of now delight on every side. The King of Siam, the inventor of this submarine device, is a wonderful parson. Ho is a, young man, bub despite his tender age, has 600 wive*. Notwithstanding this large assortment, however, he is so sacred and mighty that he must marry nobody beneath him in rank, and his only equals being members of his own family, his official wife must, therefore, be his half-sister. She rules the harem, wears diamond and emerald rings on every finger, and ruby bracelets around her ankles. She occupies her time in smoking cigarettes and chewing the betel nub, making her teeth as black as ebony. This pleases the King, who says that anybody can have white teeth, bub only monarch* who are rich enough to afford the betel nut can have black ones. In looking at this semi-heathen King ib i* bard bo believo that he is the sacred ruler of over eight millions of people, and still harder bo appreciate his absolute power. The whole people are his slaves, and his simple word inflicts instant death on any man, or robs him of his daughter.