A NEW ZEALANDER IN SIAM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12955, 26 August 1905, Page 5 (Supplement)

A NEW ZEALANDER IN SIAM.

BY DR. LINDSAY. . SIAM is a little known land in which a picturesque and ancient civilisation still lingers. Four days' journey from Singapore only, but off the beaten track of steamers running from Europe to the Far Fast, it is rarely visited by travellers. What makes the future of Siam so particularly interesting is the fact that it is the one remaining independent State of tropical Asia. The Menam River is such an important feature of Siam that more than one traveller has compared it with the Kile. The country through which it flows is by far the most populous and fertile region of Indo-China, and it is easily understood therefore with what ' covetous eyes the French now regard the valley of the great river and those of its tributaries which constitute all that is most valuable in Siam. The Menam and the Meping are fortunately navigable for small craft almost for their entire length throughout the year. The inundations of the Menam and the rich alluvial soil which it carries with it continue to make its valley one of the most fertile in the world. It is one of the finest rice-pro-ducing regions of Asia, and the export trade is steadily increasing. Rice has for long been the chief product of the country. It is brought by water to Bangkok, between January and July, according to prices and market requirements. At Bangkok it is received into the rice mills, by far the greater number of which are in the hands of the Chinese. Next to rice the most important article of export is teak. During the past live or six years the Siamese Government has with great ability organised a Forest Department, under an Indian forest expert, to regulate the leasing of the forest reserves to prevent the ruin of this industry. TUB VENICE OF THE BAST,

• Bangkok is 25 miles from the mouth. iSiani is not a country of great towns. There are lew beside Bangkok of any size or importance, and Siam without Bangkok is not to be thought of. What Paris is to France, Bangkok is to Siam, and more even. This is because it is the seat of a very centralised system of government and administration. It contains the only permanent residence of the King, who is source and fount of all power and privilege, and who rarely leaves it except on very short visits. Here all the chief nobles and officials have their work and their homes. They may have large estates in the country, from which they derive a portion of their revenue, but they never live on them, and rarely, if ever, visit them. It is in Bangkok alone that are to bo found not only the Court but all the aristocracy of Siam, and the very small element there is of p. middle everyone indeed except the patient millions, who are the source of the country's wealth. It is on her waterways that Bangkok is really picturesque. She has been called the " Venice of the East." She is built on the waters. A great proportion of the population live in floating houses on the river, and in the klongs, or canals, connected with it. The shops and bazaars open "on to the waterways, and boats supply by far the easiest and most popular means of communication. Away from the river there is a long street of recent constructioncalled the new road--which connects the mercantile quarter with the old-walled city. This street is lined with Chinese shops, and is crowded with Asiatics of every hue and costume, a confusion of coolies, rickshaws, gharries, bicycles, and electric trams. In the old city are broad roads and open spaces, and the picturesque gables of the numerous temples, with their pagodas and tapering prachadces among the tropical foliage, and the glimpses of water in the many klongs, remove the disappointment which the first experience of Bangkok is certain to produce.

On the land the most picturesque objects arc the wats, or temples. Their architecture is peculiar, but their shapes and colours are very effective and suitable to their surroundings. The colouring and ornamentation are striking at a distance, but what looks like beautiful mosaic work from a little distance off consists of stucco, with tawdry glass.and broken crockery, cleverly arranged. There is some fine work to be seen, the doors of many of the temples, which consist of moth-er-of-pearl and ivory inlaid in black lacquer, being particularly beautiful. There is little of artistic or any merit as a rule inside the buildings, with the exception of the temple, containing (he Emerald Buddha and the great sleeping idol, which are unique in their way and well repay a visit. The population is estimated at 500,000. Nearly all Government Departments now have the assistance of European advisers or other officers, whose power and authority vary with the nature of the work to be done. The British clement preponderates, and is increasing relatively, the chief reason being that it is British officials only, who from their experiences in India and Burundi and other Eastern countries, understand thoroughly the conditions under which the work in Siam is to be done. THE LAX!) OF THE WHITE IXKI'IIANT. Siam is known even to many whose ideas regarding it are of the vaguest as tiie land of the white elephant. The National standard is a white elephant on a red ground, and to this animal a special sanctity is attached, because it is popularly considered the habitation of the spirit of some Buddha, It is, of course, well known that there is no Mich thing as a white elephant, strictly speaking, a. pinkish grey of a lighter shade than usual being the nearest approach to white that can be found, The adjective " white'' is not a correct translation of the Siamese term, which really means albino. In the palace there are now to be seen four of these animals. At one time they were tended with the greatest care and surrounded with every luxury, being all but worshipped as deities. Apparently now the glamour has worn off, and beyond being housed in the palace precincts they are not treated much better than if they were ordinary commonplace elephants. They are still paraded on State occasions/ U VEEASURE-LOVJNU J'KOt'l.i:. The Siamese arc a. merry, light-hearted, pleasure-loving people, and are really little more than a nation of full-grown children. One sees no hard-set faces, where foil and privation have ingrained their marks, as in the case of those who throng the streets of our typical big towns. The serious business of life is quite beyond them; what appeals to them are its shows, its scenic effects, and its pageantries. Every afternoon, for hours at a stretch, they assemble in hundreds to fly their kites on the Premane Ground in Bangkok. In this display they show considerable skill. The contest consists in the attempt of the flier of one kite to entangle and bring to the ground that of his antagonist. This evokes great excitement among the spectators, who sit round in groups watching the curious fight for hours at a time with keen enjoyment. • One of the first things a visitor to Bangkok sees is a huge swing in one of the busiest thoroughfares. It is a curious affair, quite unlike anything one lias seen elsewhere. This gigantic erection,' about 100 ft high, stands apparently for no purpose all the year round. But for two days while the swinging festival is being he'd it becomes the great centre of attraction to the whole population. The ceremony is of the nature of a harvest festival, and appears to be of Braihmiiiical origin. There is first of all a procession, and then come the swinging games. The object of the competitors in these games is to catch in their teeth, while swinging, bags of money which have been placed on the end of a long polo close by the swing. Their endeavours are watched with the greatest interest by the spectators, who lay wagers freely on the result. The Siamese are every bit as inveterate gamblers as the Chinese. There ar,e great public lotteries and gambling-houses all over Bangkok and the provinces, all farmed by Chinese, who pay a large yearly sum to the. Government for the privilege. The life of the Siamese is one long round of play, only broken by short periods of work. They are noted for what foreigners call their incorrigible indolence. This is due directly to climatic causes and the fact that Nature has been exceedingly bountiful, and that there is no pressure of population as in India or China. In Bangkok all the hard labour is done by the Chinese. The coolies in the rice mills, and in the private houses of

foreigners, those who work on the roads, and pull the jinrickshaws, and cany burdens are all Chinese. No Siamese would look at work of that kind. It is not beneath, his dignity—he is not too proud, but justtoo lazy. The Chinese are gradually driving them out inch by inch, and it looks as if before long they will swamp them almost completely. „■

There is no pretence at sanitation in the modern sense, and there is no supply of pure water. All the water used by the people is taken from the river and the klongs. No European dreams of drinking water, and many people add Jeyes' fluid or other disinfectant to the water in the bath—-or rather to the vessel in which the water is kept, for a bath is taken standing up, by pouring the water over the body. Some people lake the precaution of carefully filtering the water, which is to be used 'for bathing purposes. There is usually cholera- and plenty of fever and dysentery in the dry season. There are millions of mosquitoes, which in venom and ferocity rival those of any other region of the earth.

Cremation of the (load is almost universal. Willi us the increasing practice of cremation as opposed to burial is justified mainly on hygienic -grounds. These are not (lie considerations which weigh with the Siamese. It is common to keep the corpse of a person of position several years before cremation ; tho more exalted the station Iho longer the ceremony is postponed. Thus the late King's body was kept nearly two years, and the Crown Prince, who died in 1895, was not cremated until January, 1901. The ceremonies attendant on the cremation of a great personage arc most costly- and elaborate. .Large buildings are. erected for the priests and. officials, and for the shows and festivities which form a necessary accompaniment of the ceremony. The ceremonies last for several days. There are prayers and religious rites every day, followed by mundane festivities in the way of theatres, shows, wrestling matches, and fireworks. On the last day the pyre is set alight, and the priests throw in candles and sandalwood (lowers, to increase the flames. No expense is spared on these occasions, nor is the time occupied by them regarded as wasted. The charred bones are collected and placed with much ceremony in an urn, in which they arc preserved by the relatives of the deceased. There is nothing in Siam of the present day corresponding to the an-cestor-worship, which really forms the religion of China.