SOMETHING ABOUT SIAM.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XV, Issue XVII, 26 October 1895, Page 532

SOMETHING ABOUT SIAM.

Readers who have read of the quarr< 1 between Fiance and Siam will be interested in this queer country of Farther India. Some French subjects having been killed in Siam, the Fiench Government demanded the payment of a round sum of money and the cession to France of a large share of the territory of Slam. To this the King replied that be was willing to pay even mor e money than France asked, and to yield about half as large a share of his kingdom as the French demanded. As this paragraph is written, the probability of a war is increasing, with Russia willing to aid France, and England and China eager to preserve the kingdom of Siam as it now is. The King of Siam is a tributary subject to the Emperor of China, but in his own dominions he has more nearly absolute power over his subjects than the Czar. He is small in person. When he appears in public his head is crowned with a golden pyramid of jewels rising in circular tiers, diminishing as they go upward, until they end in a long pencil-like point, which extends nearly two feet above the forehead of its kingly owner. His body is clad in gorgeous coat and vest, heavily embroidered in gold and jewels ; and in place of pantaloons he has the rich brocaded surong of the Siamese about bis loins and waist. It comes down below his knees at the front, and it looks not unlike a pair of fancy knickerbockers. Below these are white silk stockings ; and bis feet are thrust into jewel covered, heellees slippers, pointed like the shoe of the Turk. He is a pleasant looking monarch, and bis olive-brown face is plump and unwrinkled. He was picked out of a family of eighty-four children to be placed on the throne. He has

thirty-four half-brothers and forty-nine half sisters.

As has been said, his power over his ten million subjects is nearly absolute. All men in Siam are forced to give him either the whole or a part of their services during the year. His word can throw a man into chains or put him to death ; can deprive him of his property or rob him of his daughters. His court is wicked beyond the belief of an American or European. He levies taxes so heavy that at times men have to sell their wives and children as slaves to enable them to pay hrm. Still his vaults are full of treasure. Siam has no national debt, and he has an income of more than $10,000,000 a year, most of which be spends for bis amusement. Still this King of Siam is the best his country has ever had, and is far in advance of his people. Before his second coronation, in 1873, all natives who approached the King had to do so on all fours. They had to raise their hands in adoration to him, and bump their heads on the mats before him. The King did away with all that, and he has introduced the American handshake into his reception of foreigners. He gives receptions to foreigners, and be speaks the English tongue, though he never does this when noted foreigners have an audience with him. He has brought the telegraph and the telephone into Bangkok, his capital city, has established a stieet-car line, and lights his palace with electric lights.