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Her Majesty the Queen of Siam
*«* kingdom of Siam
Ministry of Agriculture
Louisiana Purchase Exposition
St. Louis, U. S. A.
1904
Siamese Section
Edited by
A. Cecil Carter, M.A.
Secretary-General of the Royal Commission
Illustrated
G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York and London
Gbe "Knickerbocker press
1904
Copyright, 1904
BY
JAMES H. GORE
Published, September, 1904
Ubc Ifcnlcfterbocftcr press, Hew JBorft
ELECTRONIC VERSION
AVAILABLE
no 000-
1 Or^c
THE COMMISSION.
President
H. R. H. The Crown Prince.
Vice'Presiden ts.
H. R. H. Prince Devawongse Varopakar.
Minister of Foreign Affairs.
H. R. H. Prince Mahisra Rajaharudhai.
Minister of Finance.
H. E. Chow Phya Devesra Wongse Vivadhna.
Minister of Agriculture.
SecretaryGeneral.
Mr. A. Cecil Carter, M.A.
Department of Education.
Members,
H. R. H. Prince Sanbasiddhi Prasong.
H. R. H. Prince Marubongse Siribadhna.
H. H. Prince Vadhana.
H. E. Phya Vorasiddhi Sevivatra.
H. E. Phya Sukhum Nayavinit.
H. E. Phya Amarindra Lujae.
H. E. Phya Surasih Visisth Sakdi.
H. E. Phya Kamheng Songkram.
H. E. Phya Sunthorn Buri.
H. E. Phya Rasda Nupradit.
H. E. Phya Kraibej Ratana Raja Sonkram.
H. E. Phya Vijayadibadi.
Phra Phadung-Sulkrit.
Commissioner'General.
Professor James H. Gore.
The Columbian University.
Pavilion.
A reproduction of the principal building of Wat
Benchamabopit now in course of erection in Bangkok.
INTRODUCTION
THE following notes on Siam have been written
by high officials in different departments of
the Government Service, and while in no way pro-
fessing to give a full description of the people and
country, each article is, as far as possible, an accurate
statement of the existing conditions. These articles
were written during 1903 and the statistics refer to
this year and years anterior to this. There being
as yet no standard for the transliteration of the
Siamese characters each author has followed his
own system.
The Editor.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. — The Royal Family
II. — The Government
III. — A General Description of Siam
IV. — Naval and Military Forces
V. — Siam from an Historical Standpoint
VI. — Language of Siam
VII. — Religion of Siam
VIII. — The Capital
IX. — Finance
X. — Currency and Banking
XI. — Agriculture
XII. — Forestry
XIII. — Justice
XIV. — Education .
XV. — Archaeology
PAGE
I
7
i7
63
77
87
93
103
127
141
151
171
183
201
211
vn
viii Contents
CHAPTER PAGB
XVI. — Transportation and Means of Com-
munication 227
XVII. — Mining 237
XVIII. — Commerce 247
XIX. — The Industries of Siam . . . 261
Index 273
^Sl^S
ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
Frontispiece
His Majesty the King of Siam
Her Majesty the Queen of Siam
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of
Siam .....
The Crowns of Siam
Local Government Officials .
The Royal Palace
A Temple .....
A Laos Family ....
The Opening of a Canal .
Mouth of the Menam River .
Lower Siam ....
A Railroad Station, Lower Siam
A Farm-house ....
The Approach to Korat .
Ploughing
Primitive Irrigation .
A Village Festival .
4
8
10
12
26
3°
3 2
34
36
40
46
48
5°
54
58
X
Illustrations
Elephants with Howdahs
Ministry of War
The Royal Military College
His Majesty's Yacht .
Mounted Puket Police
Menam River
A Temple .
His Majesty Landing at a Temple
Temple Gate
A Group of Priests .
A Temple .
The City Wall .
The Royal Palace .
The Saranarom Palace
Bangkok Tramway .
The Port of Bangkok
A Canal in Bangkok
A Street in Bangkok
Custom House at Bangkok
Head Office, Railway Department
Ministry of the Household
Clearing the Ground
Ploughing Ceremony .
Planting Rice ....
PACING PAGE
60
66
70
72
74
80
84
94
96
98
100
106
108
no
112
114
116
124
130
138
144
154
156
158
illustrations
XI
FACING PAGE
Hulling Rice 160
Irrigating ey Hand .
162
Army Headquarters ....
164
Threshing with Buffaloes
166
Loading a Log ....
i74
Logging
176
Log-loading Station
180
The Ministry of Justice .
186
Royal Palace .....
190
A Buddhist Temple ....
204
School for Girls ....
208
Ruins at Ayuthia ....
214
Temple Ruins .....
21S
An Old Temple
220
Rice Boats
230
Central Post Office
234
His Majesty's Private Station
236
Ministry of the Interior .
242
Tidal Canal ....
252
Making Rattan Ropes
256
Ministry of Foreign Affairs .
264
A Fishing Scene .....
268
A Ruined Temple ....
270
CHAPTER I
THE ROYAL FAMILY
CHAPTER I
THE ROYAL FAMILY
The King.
HIS Majesty, Chulalongkorn, King of Siam of the
North and South, Sovereign of the Laos, the
Malays, etc., is the fifth sovereign of the Chak-
rakri Dynasty, founded one hundred and
twenty-one years ago. His Majesty is the
eldest son of King Mongkut, and was born on Sep-
tember 20, 1853. He succeeded his father in 1868,
reigning under a regency until he came of age. Since
then His Majesty has introduced many important
reforms, and Siam owes much of her prosperity to
her King's energy and initiative. He works harder
than most of his subjects, whose welfare he ever has
at heart. In 1897, His Majesty undertook a jour-
ney to Europe where he was well received and
entertained by the European sovereigns whose
countries he visited. This journey, like everything
else His Majesty undertakes, was for the benefit of
his country and his people and has already produced
3
4 Kingdom of Siam
good results. He is a keen observer and he brought
back with him many ideas formed or gathered during
his travels abroad. He is the only independent
Buddhist sovereign in the world and is therefore
looked upon as the chief supporter of the religion
of the Buddha. Under his wise and beneficent rule
the future prosperity of Siam is fully assured, and
her people, imitating the noble aims and efforts of
their monarch, are destined to take a prominent
position among the civilized nations of the world.
His Royal Highness, Maha Vajiravudh, Crown
Prince of Siam, Prince of Ayuthya, is the son and
_. „ heir of King Chulalongkorn. He was
The Crown ° fc>
Prince. born on January i, 1881, and was pro-
claimed heir-apparent on the death of his elder
brother, Crown Prince Maha Vajirunhis, in January,
1895. His Royal Highness went to study in Europe
in 1893, being chiefly resident in England. He en-
tered the Royal Military College of Sandhurst in
1898, and also attended the School of Musketry,
Hythe, where he obtained a certificate. He was for
one month in 1899 attached to a mountain battery
at the Artillery Training Camp on Dartmoor, near
Okehampton, Devon. In 1900 he went up to Ox-
ford University, studying history at Christ Church.
In 1902, as a result of his studies he published a
H. R. H. the Crown Prince of Siam
The Royal Family 5
book entitled The War of the Polish Succession.
During his stay in Europe, he represented his coun-
try at several notable functions, the most impor-
tant ones being Queen Victoria's Jubilee, 1897;
Queen Victoria's funeral, 1901 ; King Alfonso
XIII. 's accession, in May, and King Edward's
coronation in June, 1902. Before returning to his
country, he visited various European Courts, and
made a tour in the United States of America. He
also visited Japan on his way home. At the present
moment, His Royal Highness is in command of the
Royal Foot Guards and is also Inspector-General of
the forces on the Staff of the Siamese Army.
The King has several brothers, the chief one being
His Royal Highness Prince Bhanurangsi, Minister
of War and Commander-in-Chief of the
, The Princes.
Royal Navy. The King s sons have all
been or are going to be sent to Europe for educa-
tion, so it may be hoped that they will support
the King in carrying out his ideas and reforms.
They have been sent to learn various professions so
that when the time comes they may be the leaders
in such professions. In a country like Siam, when
princes lead others follow. We may therefore be
permitted to look forward to a period of rapid
advance for the kingdom of Siam.
CHAPTER II
THE GOVERNMENT
■J~.
o
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Z
2
u
CHAPTER II
THE GOVERNMENT
IN such a country as Siam, where there is no writ-
ten constitution, as there is in the United States,
for instance, it is not easy to write of its constitution
in the compass of a small article, at least in detail.
Only the chief points are here explained.
The Government is in form an absolute mon-
archy all power being vested in the hands of the
King. He is in theory, the master of life and death
and the whole of the land is his property, but it is
hardly necessary to say that this is not so in prac-
tice. No one is ever condemned without a trial,
and a line is drawn between government property
and the King's private property. Improvements
of the King's property are never paid for out of the
public or government treasury.
The King is assisted in his executive duties by a
council of Ministers {Senapati), whose members are
of equal rank. Portfolios are distributed as follows :
9
io Kingdom of Siam
i. Foreign Affairs — Prince Krom Luang Deva-
wongse.
2. Interior — Prince Krom Luang Damrong.
3. War and Navy — H. R. H. Prince Bhanurangsi.
4. Treasury — Prince Krom Mun Mahisra.
5. Local Government and Police — Prince Krom
Luang Nares.
6. Public Works — Prince Chowfa Krom Khun
Naris.
7. Household — Prince Krom Khun Bidyalabh.
8. Justice — Prince of Rajaburi.
9. Agriculture — Chow Phya Devesra.
10. Ecclesiastical Affairs and Education — Phya
Vudhikara Pati.
Under the Minister of Local Government is the
Sanitary Board, with Chow Phya Devesra as Presi-
dent.
The Department of Public Works is divided into
three sections, viz. :
(a) Public Works.
(b) Post, Telegraph, and Telephone.
(c) Railway.
The details of administration will be found de-
scribed elsewhere.
Besides the Council of Ministers, there are also a
Council of State {Rath Montri) and a Privy Coun-
The Government n
cil {Anga Montri), the members of which are ap-
pointed by the King and hold their seats during
His Majesty's pleasure. In the State Council the
members perform the functions of a legislative
assembly ; that is to say, whenever a new law is
required it is presented to the Council in the form
of a bill, and the Council debates upon it. If the
bill is passed it must receive the sanction of the
King before it becomes a law. The Privy Council
has several members, and its functions are purely
advisory.
THE ADMINISTRATION
The administration of the country was formerly
divided between the three Ministers, the Minister
for Civil Affairs and the Minister for Military Affairs,
with the Minister of the Treasury as Governor-
General.
But in 1894 the internal administration was re-
organized and the whole of the country placed
under the administration of the Ministry of the In-
terior (Mahathai) with the exception of the capital
and surrounding provinces, which is administered
by the Ministry of Local Government.
At the head of the Interior Administration is the
Minister appointed by the King with a seat in the
12 Kingdom of Siam
Cabinet; he is assisted by a Vice-Minister, who,
however, holds no seat in the Cabinet.
The ancient provinces, whilst retaining their
boundaries, are now grouped together into Mon-
thons or Circles under High Commissioners, who
are appointed by the King, but act under the orders
of the Ministry of the Interior.
The administrative staff of a monthon com-
prises :
The High Commissioner or Governor-General.
The Deputy Commissioner or Deputy Gov-
ernor-General.
The Chief Law Officer.
The Assistant Commissioner.
The Chief Revenue Officer.
The Commandant of the Gendarmerie.
The Chief Treasury Officer.
The Chief Public Works Officer.
The Inspector of Jails.
The Secretary of the High Commissioner.
The Assistant Inspectors.
The administration of each province comprises :
The Governor.
The Deputy Governor.
The Public Prosecutor.
The Treasury Officer.
<
<
>>
o
«
X
The Government 13
The Revenue Officer.
The Gendarmerie Officer.
Each province is again subdivided into districts
under the district officer (Amphur), who is assisted
by one or more assistant amphurs according to the
extent of the district, and by a subordinate revenue
officer.
The district is again divided into villages under a
village headman, and the villages are subdivided
into hamlets under an elder.
A hamlet is a collection of about ten houses or
one hundred people, who elect their own elder under
the presidency of the district officer. The ballot
may be either open or secret and a bare majority is
sufficient. The duties of the elder are to report any
cases of crime to the headman and to preserve a
register of people in his hamlet, to summon the
people in cases of flood or fire, and to assist in
arresting criminals. All the inhabitants are bound
under penalties to assist their elders in the execution
of the law when called on.
A village consists of ten hamlets. The headman
is elected by the council of elders and receives con-
firmation from the governor of the province.
His duties are to supervise the elders and to in-
form them of any new government regulation, to
14 Kingdom of Siam
provide transport and assistance for persons travel-
ling on government business, which must, however,
be paid for by such persons, the headman having no
power to requisition either goods or labor without
proper payment.
The district is composed of villages the total num-
ber of whose inhabitants is not less than ten thou-
sand people.
The district officer or amphur is selected from
among the assistant district officers or householders
of the district. The governor of the province sends
three or more names to the high commissioner, who
selects one of them. He chooses his own assist-
ants, but their appointment must be approved of
by the governor and confirmed by the high com-
missioner.
All other appointments are made by the Ministry
of the Interior. District officers, headmen, and
elders must be Siamese subjects resident in their
districts and take the oaths of allegiance twice a
year according to their own form of religion. There
is no religious disability.
One most important feature of the administration
is the meeting of high commissioners, who assemble
once a year at the capital under the presidency of
the minister to discuss and draw up the programme
The Government
15
for the following year and report on the past year's
work.
Under the Ministry ot the Interior are also the
Forest Department and the Mining Department;
under the Ministry of Agriculture are the Survey,
Land Record, and Irrigation Departments.
CHAPTER III
A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF SIAM
17
CHAPTER III
A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF SIAM BY THE DIREC-
TOR-GENERAL OF THE ROYAL SURVEY
DEPARTMENT
SIAM, "The Land of the White Elephant," "The
Land of the Yellow Robe," "The Country of
the Tai," i. e., the Free, is situated in the south-
east corner of Asia. Geographically it may be
described as lying within the fourth and the twenty-
first parallels of north latitude and between the
ninety-seventh and the one hundred and sixth paral-
lels of eastern longitude.
Siam is bounded on the north by Tong-king
(French) and the Southern Shan States of Burma
(British); on the west by Annam (French) and Cam-
bodia (French); on the south lie the Gulf of Siam
and the Malay Peninsula stretching southward, and
washed on the west by the Indian Ocean, and on
the east by the China Sea, and bounded itself on
the south by the Federated Malay States (British).
19
20 Kingdom of Siam
The length of Siam, north and south, is about
1 1 30 miles, and the breadth, at the widest part
(latitude 15 N.), about 508 miles, while the area is
242,587 square miles, a little more than Spain and
Portugal together, and the total coast-line is 1760
miles.
The two most striking physical features are the
Mekawng River (unnavigable for large vessels),
which runs for a thousand miles along the northern
and eastern boundaries, and the range of mountains
forming the western flank of the upper part of Siam,
and which continues southward to form the back-
bone of the Malay Peninsula.
Bangkok, the capital of Siam, is on the river
Menam Chao Phya, commonly called the Menam,
and about thirty miles from the mouth of that river.
This port lies at the centre of the base of the triangle
which forms that part of the Menam valley to which
has been given the name "The Garden of Siam."
This base is one hundred miles long, and the height
of the triangle is 124 miles, so that the area is over
six thousand square miles.
North of this area the country becomes more
broken till the mountainous country of the northern
part of Siam is met with. East of Menam valley,
and lying between it and the valley of the Mekawng,
A General Description of Siam 21
is a large tableland, of no great elevation, not well
watered, and therefore sparsely inhabited. The
nature of these districts, however, is more minutely
described later on.
The third great physical feature of Siam is the
Isthmus of Kra, that narrow, low part of the Malay
Peninsula which has so long attracted the eyes of
engineers anxious to reduce the already shortened
sea routes of the world.
To give a clear idea of the country it is convenient
to divide it into three divisions: Upper Siam, the
hilly country ; Lower Siam (alluvial plains), includ-
ing the eastern provinces (tableland); and the
Siamese Provinces of the Malay Peninsula.
UPPER SIAM — TERRITORY, CLIMATE, POPULATION
— BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE INLAND
REVENUE DEPARTMENT
Upper Siam lies approximately between latitude
1 6° north and latitude 21° north, and is drained by
four great rivers, the Maping, the Mawang, the
Mayom, and the Menam, each of which is divided
from the others by ranges of mountains forming
well-marked watersheds. These hills are chiefly
composed of limestone overlaid by sandstone and
22 Kingdom of Siam
slate. This sandstone is ferruginous, and in some
places iron conglomerate occurs as one advances
southwards.
From Chieng-tung in British Burmah there
stretches right across Upper Siam in a southeasterly
direction a line of disturbances or faults marked
by a series of hot sulphur springs. The medicinal
value of these springs is entirely neglected by the
people, though, judging by their analogy to those
of Japan, these springs should be of great therapeu-
tic value. The four water systems run from north
to south, nearly parallel to one another, for over two
hundred miles, then converge, finally forming a
single river, the Menam Chow Phya, the main artery
of Siam.
The soil in the valleys is chiefly a sandy loam of
great fertility, composed of detritus washed down
from the sides of the hills.
The slopes of these hills were formerly covered
with dense teak forests, but owing to the indiscrim-
inate felling of timber for many generations are now
covered with worthless jungle.
The usual result of reckless clearing of the moun-
tainsides is very evident ; through the centre of the
district runs a broad belt of country, the natural
features of which have been entirely altered by the
A General Description of Siam 23
decrease of rainfall, and the evergreen forests have
been replaced by deciduous trees.
The hillsides are cultivated by a nomad people,
whose method is as follows : Having selected a site
they fell and burn the forest trees, a most laborious
work, and in the space thus cleared and fertilized
they plant a crop of rice. After the first harvest
the clearing is abandoned for two or three seasons
to allow the soil to recuperate, the length of time it
lies fallow depending on the depth of soil and the
contour of the slope.
A peculiar variety of rice is frequently planted in
these clearings, which are marvellously productive;
when ripe the ears of this rice are black, but when
husked and boiled the grains are of a reddish color
and a peculiar fragrance.
In the valleys another variety of rice is largely
cultivated, known as glutinous rice ; this rice is quite
different from the white rice of Lower Siam, and
only those people born and bred in these districts
are able to subsist on this peculiar variety, though
it is eaten in small quantities as a delicacy by the
people of the plains. When eaten freely by those
unused to it, the effect on the general health and
constitution is most injurious, and for this reason
the Government is making great efforts to induce
24 Kingdom of Siam
the farmers to substitute ordinary white rice in its
place.
Fish, which forms an integral part of the food of
Lower Siam, is a rare luxury to the people of the
north, the rivers of Upper Siam being markedly
devoid of animal life, probably owing to extreme
shallowness of the water in the dry season and
rapidity of the current during the rains.
This difference in the daily food forms one of the
great contrasts between Upper and Lower Siam.
The second most important agricultural product
of Upper Siam is tobacco. This is generally planted
after the subsidence of the rains on those parts of
the bank which have been under water during the
floods, though occasionally it is planted in the rice-
fields as a second crop. The leaf is of a peculiarly
fine texture and would probably displace foreign
tobacco in the local markets were it cured by
scientific methods.
The method of curing it in vogue is extremely
primitive ; the leaves are first plucked and then kept
in the dark to allow a part of the natural moisture
to evaporate.
After this they are folded lengthways and placed
one on another, then cut in cross-sections by a small
hand machine ; after this the cut leaves are exposed
A General Description of Siam 25
to the sun for one or two days, and the tobacco is
ready for consumption.
A large proportion of this home-grown tobacco is
used for chewing, mixed with the areca nut and
betel leaf. Foreign tobacco is never used in this
way.
Tea grows wild on the slopes of the hills and is
also cultivated to a small extent ; it is not employed
as a beverage, but is pickled. After the leaves have
been plucked they are exposed to the sun for two
or three days and then steamed to remove tannin
and glucose; the leaves are then thrown into small
pits and weighted down, where they ferment. After
fermentation they are ready for use. This product,
known as micng, is rolled into balls, and one of
the balls is placed in the hollow of the cheek and
allowed to remain there until the soluble constitu-
ents of the tea have been extracted by the action
of the saliva.
The appearance of the people who indulge in this
practice — and it is almost universal among the in-
habitants of Upper Siam — is extremely quaint, the
ball of tea making a huge swelling on one side
of the face, as though the person were suffering
from a severe attack of toothache. This method of
using tea appears to be peculiar to Upper Siam ;
26 Kingdom of Siam
the Burmans and Thibetans, although preparing the
leaves in very much the same way, use it in quite a
different manner.
The cultivation of the poppy for opium, although
in its infancy, promises to become of considerable
importance. It is cultivated chiefly on the Burmese
frontier by a race known as the Meow, who have
probably become acquainted with the method of
cultivation from the people under British rule.
Other foodstuffs are planted to a minor extent
but only for local consumption, c. g., sugar-cane,
bananas, oranges, mangoes, limes, and various in-
digenous fruits.
The country has proved itself capable of produc-
ing most European vegetables, and in many of the
large towns cabbages, beet-roots, lettuce, carrots,
etc., can be procured.
There are no large centres of industry, but a good
deal of work is done by people in their own homes.
Most houses possess a loom, in which is woven
both silk and cotton cloth sufficient for the needs
of the household.
The yarn and raw silk are mostly imported. In
Chieng Mai, the capital of Upper Siam, a large quan-
tity of lacquer-ware is made chiefly by the immi-
grants from the old capital, Chiengsen.
A Temple
A General Description of Siam 27
The foundation of this ware is woven bamboo ;
the frame is coated with a paste of wood oil mixed
with bone ash, and when nearly dry a second
coating of wood oil mixed with cinnabar is applied
and allowed to harden. On the smooth surface
thus produced the pattern is engraved by sharp
tools and the incisions filled with a black varnish ;
the whole is then rubbed smooth with pumice-stone
and a final coating of varnish applied.
Many specimens of this ware will be found among
the Siamese exhibits.
A small amount of native iron is worked, chiefly
for the manufacture of knife-blades.
Bronze casting must formerly have reached a high
degree of excellence, but to-day is chiefly confined
to replicas of existing work. Scattered profusely
over the country are to be found bronze statues of
Gautama, some life-size, many larger, but nearly all
of artistic workmanship. The reason of the decay
of this craft is probably due to the gradual shifting of
the centre of the Siamese race to the south. The
artists followed in the train of the Court, leaving
behind them many magnificent specimens of their
art neglected and uncared for.
Silverware is manufactured to a small extent ; the
workmanship, however, is crude, though possessing
28 Kingdom of Siam
a distinctive character. The designs are rcpoussd in
very high relief.
A large amount of unglazed pottery ware is manu-
factured, chiefly for domestic use, e, g., water-jars,
cooking-pots, goblets, flower-pots, etc. Most of
these are of their natural red color with an incised
design, but the water-goblets are frequently black
and of an elegant shape. Tiles about one-eighth
inch in thickness and about four by three inches are
largely made for local use.
Sticklac is found wild, but the insect is also propa-
gated artificially. When the insect settles on a tree
the deposit is carefully collected and the insects
grafted upon the trees which are found most suitable
to their reproduction. The lac is obtained by
breaking off the twigs; the insects, which are nour-
ished by the sap, then die, but certain of the twigs
are left over to serve as the nucleus for the following
year. Very little of this lac is used locally, the great
bulk being exported ; it is prepared by boiling in
water, the liquid giving a splendid scarlet dye and
the residue a sealing-wax of a low melting-point.
Many of the people are engaged in breeding oxen
and water buffaloes. The oxen are in great demand
as pack-animals and the buffaloes for agricultural
operations and hauling lumber.
A General Description of Siam 29
To the east are large salt workings which not only
supply Upper Siam but export to surrounding
countries. The salt is extracted from the earth in
a systematic manner; a well is dug, lined with tim-
ber, and the brine hauled up in buckets. This brine
is poured from the buckets into wooden troughs and
then evaporated in iron cauldrons over wood fires;
unfortunately, this salt possesses a peculiar bitter
taste, said to be due to the presence of sulphate of
sodium.
Saltpetre for the manufacture of gunpowder is
made from the excreta of the bats which haunt the
limestone caves. The substance is collected and
boiled with water in wooden vats furnished with
bamboo tubes, by means of which the lye is drawn
off. This lye is then concentrated and crystallized
in the same way as the brine from the salt wells.
A resin is collected in the forests and used for
caulking boats. This resin is the product of the
dammer-bee and is found in cavities in the trunks of
trees.
There are extensive cutch forests, but only the
wood is used, as the people appear ignorant of the
method of extracting the cutch.
Upper Siam is famous for its boats, which at
present form the only means of transport and
30 Kingdom of Siam
communication between Upper and Lower Siam.
These boats are very strongly built, broad, roomy,
but drawing very little water; they are either rowed
or poled, and average about thirty-five feet in
length.
The number of these boats built is decreasing with
the advance of the railway to the north, and when
the country is in communication with Bangkok by
rail the art of building them will probably die out.
At present the journey from Bangkok to Chieng Mai
occupies from three weeks to three months accord-
ing to the height of water in the river. At the
period of low water it is generally necessary to dig
a channel for the boats through the sand-banks
which stretch across the bed of the river.
The average altitude of the country is about one
thousand feet above sea-level. Chieng Mai, the
chief town, has an altitude of one thousand feet, but
within an hour's ride is the mountain Doi Sutep,
of over five thousand feet, used as a health resort in
the hot weather-
The temperature over such a hilly country varies
largely, but the average temperature of Chieng Mai
(one thousand feet) may be taken as a mean. In
1893 the average daily temperature for December
varied between 53 F. (minimum) and JJ° F. (maxi-
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A General Description of Siam 31
mum) ; for March, the hottest month, between 6y°
F. and 95 F.
The rainfall is governed by the monsoon ; from
November to April practically no rain falls; the
total from May to October is about forty inches.
The country is generally healthy, the principal
diseases being malarial fevers and smallpox ; goitre
and other diseases due to the limestone formation are
common. Cholera is rare.
Western methods of treatment and surgery have
made great progress, entirely due to the noble
efforts of the American missionaries, whose hospitals
and dispensaries are always crowded by applicants
for relief.
The bulk of the population are Laos, a subdivision
of the great Thai race; this race has many sub-
divisions, of which the Siamese alone have as-
similated Western civilization and maintained an
independent position among the nations of the
world.
A few of the villages to the northwest are in-
habited by a race called Mu Hsu or Meow, probably
immigrant and of Chinese origin. Another sub-
division of the Thai, called Lu, are found in the Nan
district. These Lu have migrated to Siam within
the last forty years, driven from their own country,
32 Kingdom of Siam
the Sibsong Panna, an independent country on
the southern borders of China, by its internal
troubles. They are remarkable for their industry
and trading capacity, and their villages are models
of order and cleanliness.
In the district of Nan are found the Yao, a people
of Chinese origin and characteristics ; the men retain
the queue and wear a turban flattened on the top ;
the dress of the women is remarkable for its beauti-
ful embroidery. Their head-dress is a flat structure
resembling a gigantic college cap or mortarboard.
Scattered over the whole country are found the
Kamoos, whose home lies east of the Mekong; their
work is the felling of the teak. Many return to their
homes after having accumulated sufficient wealth;
those who remain marry Laos women and settle
down.
In the west and southwest are found many com-
munities of Karens, chiefly of the Pwo (white) and
Bghai (red) septs. They are an agricultural race.
Another branch of the great Thai race is found
distributed over the whole kingdom. They come
from the Shan country, which lies between Burmah
proper and China. These people are great traders
and deal largely in teak ; they form a wealthy and
independent section of the community.
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A General Description of Siam 33
The population of the provinces of Upper Siam
may be taken as follows :
Chieng Mai 225,000
Lampun 45, 000
Lampang 100,000
Nan 90,000
Tern 10,000
Pre 38,000
Total 508,000
The great bulk of the trade of Upper Siam is with
Burmah and China, the transport to Bangkok being
too costly. It is carried by caravans composed of
mules, pack-bullocks, and carriers. The imports
from China are chiefly brassware, ponies, and silk;
walnuts are also largely imported, but rather as
ballast than as a paying freight, as the caravans are
usually thirty days en route. The imports from
Burmah are chiefly piecegoods, opium, and ponies.
The exports are chiefly sticklac, horns, hides, bees-
wax, and imported goods.
LOWER SIAM — BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE IRRIGA-
TION DEPARTMENT
Lower Siam embraces the extensive plain of the
Menam Chow Pya, the main artery of the country
and of the neighboring Bangpakong and
1 • Territory.
Mekong rivers, whilst the adjacent plain
of the Pechaburi River forms a transitional junction
3
34 Kingdom of Siam
between the plains of Lower Siam and the Malay
Peninsula.
Lower Siam can be considered to begin about as
far north as the junction of the Nam Ping and the
Nam Po, the principal branches of the Menam
Chow Pya, at a northern latitude of about 15 20',
and stretches as a broad plain towards the Gulf of
Siam, over a length of about 150 kilometres from
the east to the west.
To the west Lower Siam reaches to the hill ranges
that separate Siam and Lower Burmah, and to the
east it stretches to the hill range which separates
the Menam basin from Korat plateau.
The Menam Chow Pya is the most important river
of Siam from every point of view. The river begins
to bear the above-mentioned name at Paknampo,
the junction of the Nam Ping and the Nam Po, its
principal tributaries.
The Nam Ping drains a rapidly sloping, compara-
tively narrow valley, together with the adjacent
mountainous regions, and shows somewhat the char-
acter of a torrent running through a wide, sandy
bed. A sudden rise and fall of some feet in a few
hours, which is enormous for Siam, not infrequently
occurs, and in the dry season the river is only navi-
gable for very shallow craft.
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A General Description of Siam 35
The Nam Po unites the slow waters of the Pitsnu-
loke and the Savankoloke rivers. These, which are
frequently interconnected, drain the extensive and
flat upper Menam plain and adjacent hill regions.
In the plain they show quite the character of lowland
rivers, the water running calmly through deep beds
and the banks to the storage capacity of the annually
inundated swamps in the lowest parts of the upper
Menam plain. Both are navigable for a good dis-
tance upstream, even in the dry season.
Below Paknampo the united river runs through
the lower Menam plain. At Bang Klong Kiew and
at Chainat the river gives part of its water to the
Supan River and the Menam Nawi, and at Ban
Takwai to the Lopburi River. The Supan River
runs nearly parallel to the main channel and joins
the sea at Tachin. The Lopburi River at Ayuthia
joins the Pasak River, another principal tributary
of the Menam Chow Pya, again. The Pasak River
drains the long and extensive valley to the east of
the Nam Po area. The Menam Nawi also joins the
main channel again. About 250 kilometres below
Paknampo, near Paknam, the main channel empties
into the Gulf of Siam.
The Menam Chow Pya carries down a great
quantity of silt and sand, derived from the slate and
36 Kingdom of Siam
sandstone formations of its catchment area, and at
its mouth has deposited an enormous bar, which is
a great impediment to navigation.
The Bangpakong River receives its rather sluggish
water from an almost perfectly flat catchment area of
very gentle slope, bounded to the west by the Me-
nam plain and on the other sides by low hill ranges.
The Mekong River derives its supply from the
extensive, rather high, densely wooded hill ranges
and narrow valleys west of the Menam plain, and
runs with a considerable fall and a fast current
through the plain west of the lowest parts of the
Menam plain.
The whole lower Menam plain and the plains of
the neighboring rivers show in all respects the most
regular type of river-deposited alluvial lowlands,
having a fairly uniform, slowly decreasing slope, with
the rivers running on ridges, and swampy tracts in
the lowest parts between.
Paknampo lies thirty-two metres above the ebb-
level of the Gulf of Siam, and at the mouth of the
river the ground-level is about four metres above
ebb-level. Thus the average slope of the land is
about one to nine thousand, the distance from
Paknampo to the gulf being about 250 kilometres.
In the upper parts of the plain, between Paknam-
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A General Description of Siam 37
po and Chainat, some low hills crop out of the
alluvial upper stratum. But below this scarcely any
spot of greater elevation than its surroundings inter-
rupts the flatness of the plain and the regularity of
the slope.
The soil of Lower Siam is clayey, with more or
less quartz sand. The substratum is a marine sand
formation.
The plain, where not cultivated, is chiefly covered
with jungle grass, where herds of elephants live on
brushwood and bamboo. Extensive forests do not
exist. Except in the high tracts along the rivers,
even clumps of trees are scarce in the greatest part
of the plain, apparently in consequence of occasional
floods and want of drainage.
The coast of Lower Siam is flat, with a broad,
muddy shore, and is covered with mangrove trees,
and further inland with nipa groves. Lagoons and
dunes do not exist.
The ground at the coast is only slightly elevated
above ordinary high-tide level, so that extraordinary
high tides overflow a strip of the adjacent land.
The difference between ebb- and flood-level is
three to four metres in the gulf and causes the sea-
water to run far up the rivers in the dry season,
when the discharge of water by the rivers is small.
38 Kingdom of Siam
There is a continual slow increase of land along
the coast of Lower Siam.
Lower Siam lies between the thirteenth and six-
teenth degrees of north latitude, thus it
Climate. .
is a tropical, though not quite an equa-
torial, country.
Because of this situation there is a quite distinct
cool winter season in Lower Siam and a distinct hot
season.
The hot season, however, falls not in the summer,
but in the springtime, in consequence of the influ-
ence of the southwest monsoon.
The southwest monsoon commences generally
towards the end of April. Then the breeze grows
stronger and the rains gradually commence; first
come some occasional showers termed the mango
showers, as they occur at the time when the mango-
tree is in flower. In June the rains become fairly
regular. The influence of the rains and of the breeze
moderate considerably the heat of the summer.
The southwest monsoon and the rains usually
last till about the end of October, when the north-
east monsoon begins, and dry weather follows. The
height of the rainy season falls in September. Be-
fore and after this only rare showers occur.
The combined influence of the solar season and
A General Description of Siam 39
the monsoons governs the climate of Lower Siam in
such a way that the Siamese divide the year in three
seasons, namely: a hot one (March-June), a wet
one (July-October), and a cool one (November-
February).
Climatical data are as yet scarce in Siam.
With regard to records concerning temperature,
this is especially the case. The few data available,
however, agree fairly well.
According to these data the highest temperature
rises above ioo° F. in the hot season, and the lowest
approaches 50 F. in the cool season, whilst the
average temperature can be put at above 8o° F.
The records of temperature for 1902, as kept by
the Chief Medical Officer of Health at Bangkok, are
stated in the following table :
Temperature in Shade
Month Average Highest Lowest
January 76°-82 F 93° F 59° F.
February 77° 94° 56°
March 84°.8 102 70°
April 86° 100 73°
May 85°.88 102 73°
June 86°. 56 ioo° 74°
July 85 98° 73°
August 84°.i 98° 74°
September 82°.43 97° 7o°
October S3 94" 73°
November 82°.4 93" 6 8°
December 8i°.2 95° 69
4o- Kingdom of Siam
The records of the rainfall also are scanty in Siam
and with many breaks. From the existing records
are derived the following figures, concerning the
average monthly rainfall in Bangkok during the ten
years' period, 1882-1891 :
Average Rainfall in Bangkok
January 2.23 cm.
February 3.76 cm.
For nine years only;
consequently the an-
March 1.40 cm.
April 4-71 cm. Vnual average does not
May 17-34 cm. I agree with the sum of
June 14.02 cm. J the monthly averages.
July 14.73 cm.
August 17-93 cm.
September 28.90 cm.
October 20.83 cm-
November 6. 58 cm.
December 0.38 cm.
Annual 130.20 cm.
The maximum annual rainfall recorded in Bang-
kok is 194.36 cm. in 1849; the minimum 85.75 cm< m
1884.
During the last four years, in a great number of
places all over the country, regular rainfall observa-
tions have been recorded. The average of all these
records for the lower Menam plain is 120.01 cm.
per year.
It is a matter of interest that, according to the
A General Description of Siam 41
results of these records, the amount of rain is much
smaller in Lower Siam than in the upper Menam
basin and than in the hill region between the Menam
and the Mekong basins. Comparison of the figures
for the average rainfall in the northern provinces of
Siam (149.24 cm.) and in the eastern hill range
(Muaklek 149.78 cm. and Hinlap 169.23 cm.) with
the figures for Lower Siam (120.01) show this fact
clearly.
In the Malay Peninsula (average 221.35 cm.) and
in the southeastern provinces of the kingdom (aver-
age 252.22 cm.) the rainfall also appears to be much
greater than in Lower Siam.
These facts are well known by long experience,
and, indeed, they can be explained very rationally
by the function of the high western hill ranges that
retain the humidity of the southwest monsoon ;
thus we find that the rainfall in Lower Burmah is
more than one hundred inches, that is, about twice
as great as in Lower Siam. The influence of these
hill ranges decreases as the distance to the east in-
creases, and also with increasing elevation of the
adjacent regions, and so naturally this influence is
greatest in Lower Siam.
Similar circumstances explain the fact that the
annual rainfall at Chantaboon, on the west side of
42 Kingdom of Siam
the hill ranges along the east coast of the Gulf of
Siam, amounts to 300 cm., and in Pnom Penh, the
capital of Cambodia, on the east side of these hills,
measures only 133 cm.
The air in Lower Siam seems to be rather dry ;
regular records concerning this matter, however,
have not as yet been made.
Violent tempests or cyclones are unknown in
Lower Siam. There is almost regularly a slight mo-
tion of the air, which is strongest in the winter time
and least in the hot spring season. The flatness of the
country is favorable to this slight breeze, especially
in the inland regions, where few big buildings or
clumps of trees impede the motion of the air near
the surface of the earth.
This slight breeze is a great benefit to the country,
as it tempers the influence of the heat.
With regard to the direction and the force of the
wind the influence of the monsoons is prevalent, but
the monsoon winds are very considerably modified
by the sea, which tends to create a cool breeze from
the sea by day and the reverse at night.
A regular strong wind for a considerable time is
very rare in Lower Siam, though sudden squalls
often occur at the turn of the seasons and in the
rainy season.
A General Description of Siam 43
The number of the inhabitants of Lower Siam
may be roughly estimated at some two and a half
to three millions. The main stock is
People.
Siamese or Thai, while interspersed are
numerous villages of Shans and Laos and of the
neighboring races, such as Malays, Peguans, Bur-
mans, Cambodians, Annamese, Chinese, etc. This
is clearly shown by the names of the villages, for
we find Bangkok (Malay), Bang Raman, Mon, or
Talaing (Peguan), Bang Kamin (Cambodian), Bang
Yuen (Annamite), Bang Laos, Bang Gala Njiew, or
Pamah (Shan).
Some of these settlements, especially those of the
Burmese, Malay, and Cambodians, were orginally
founded by prisoners of war and date from the
period when war was frequent among the countries
of Indo-China; others were founded by immigrants
seeking easier conditions of life, as the Chinese.
Many others, especially those of the Catholic Anna-
mese, were founded by people seeking refuge from
the religious persecution of their own country. The
rulers of Siam have always shown the greatest toler-
ance in religious matters.
The people of these settlements have intermarried
with the Siamese and all speak the Siamese lan-
guage. The men frequently retain parts of their
44 Kingdom of Siam
original habits and dress, but the women almost
without exception adopt the Siamese dress.
The Siamese are of smaller stature than the
Chinese and Indians, but taller than the Japanese and
Malays. They have straight, black hair, which is
worn cut short by both sexes ; beards are little de-
veloped, and complexion a light brown, like the
races of southern Europe.
There is an immense variety of types caused by
frequent intermixture with other races; a typical
race can therefore hardly be distinguished. In
agricultural pursuits they display a marked per-
severance and energy, and on an average the land
worked by a cultivator is greatly in excess of that
worked by the cultivators of neighboring races.
When the Siamese came down from the northern
hills and invaded the plains they were still in a state
of primitive civilization, but readily adopted the
civilization of the ancient Khmers, their nearest
neighbors.
Siamese civilization bears very distinctly the char-
acter of its origin, but nevertheless many traits of the
ancient invading mountaineers, who called them-
selves Thai, i. c, free, are preserved in the character
of the people. The abject humility and abject
terror before chiefs and great people, so common
A General Description of Siam 45
among Asiatic peoples, is entirely absent among the
Siamese. The people are polite, courteous to
strangers, and have a high sense of self-respect.
Slavery in the antique sense has never existed in
Siam, though bond serfdom, ending with the resti-
tution of the debt, was formerly common, and,
although abolished as a legal institution, still exists
in outlying provinces, though only as a bona fide
agreement between master and man.
The position of women is high in Siam. They
enjoy, both in business matters and social life, a
great independence.
Though polygamy is permitted it docs not exist
among the great mass of the people rnd in no way
affects the position of women.
Marriage is a civil contract and the wife retains
her dowry; divorce is infrequent.
From a literary point of view the women are
badly educated, but this is more than balanced by
their native shrewdness.
Nearly every male can read and write. This is
largely due to the fact that in the interior primary
instruction is in the hands of the priests, and girls are
not admitted to the schools of the monasteries.
The customs and habits of the Siamese are largely
influenced by their religion ; they are charitable both
46 Kingdom of Siam
to the priests and the poor. Their religion also
forbids the taking of life, and hence hunting is little
practised. Catching and eating of fish is permitted,
though looked down on as a calling.
The national dress is the panung for both sexes.
The panung is a piece of silk or cotton cloth about
three yards long and one broad, which is wound
round the hips, the slack then rolled up and passed
between the legs and hitched up behind ; it gives the
appearance of a pair of loose knickerbockers. The
men wear a white coat of European cut and the wo-
men a jacket or blouse.
The population of Lower Siam is an agricultural
one.
In Lower Siam, besides the capital, Bangkok,
there exists comparatively few small towns ; the bulk
of the population live in villages or soli-
tary homesteads situated chiefly along
the banks of the rivers or numerous canals. These
scattered homesteads are a distinguishing feature of
the country.
In Lower Siam communal lands are not found, the
Land farms being either the property of the
Tenure. farmer or rented by him from the big
landowners.
A peculiar feature of the population is their fre-
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A General Description of Siam 47
quent removal to the river banks during the dry
season, which lasts for five or six months, due to
the scarcity of drinking water, as, owing to the
alluvial nature of the soil, wells do not exist.
The typical home of the farmer is a house built
on piles five or six feet above the ground, and
thatched. The house contains several rooms, with
well-made windows and doors and a broad verandah.
Under the house are kept the ploughs, harrows,
carts, etc.
There is an enormous variety of boats used,
which are manufactured by the people themselves,
and are used for transporting the crops.
In Lower Siam the chief agricultural pursuit is
that of rice-growing; this, of course, is not an acci-
dental circumstance, but due to the climatic and
hydrographic conditions of the country. In the dry
season the ground is too dry for cultivation without
artificial irrigation, and in the wet season too wet to
produce other than rice.
The Government is now embarking on an exten-
sive irrigation scheme which will embrace the greater
portion of the Menam valley, and when in operation
not only will the rice crop be extended and im-
proved, but dry-season crops will then be possible.
Notwithstanding the various difficulties with
48 Kingdom of Siam
regard to water-supply which the people have to
contend with, owing to irregularity of rainfall, the
Siamese farmer, with the help of his family, culti-
vates a rather extensive holding ; an average holding
is seven hectares, and fifteen and twenty hectares is
not unknown; to this extensive cultivation is due
the large export of rice.
EASTERN PROVINCES
The eastern provinces of Siam embrace the west-
ern part of the Mekong basin, generally known as
the Korat plateau, and the western part of the plain
of the Talesap or the great lake of Indo-China, with
the adjacent hill and coast regions.
To the west and to the south the Korat plateau
reaches to the wooded hill ranges which separate it
from Lower Siam and from the Talesap plain, and
to the east and north it is bounded by the Mekong
River. As the right bank of the Mekong is flanked
by nearly uninterrupted hill ranges, the Korat
plateau in fact can be described as a basin nearly
surrounded partly by fairly high, partly by rather
low, hilly regions. The central basin is a flat,
sandy, alluvial plain (sandstone, slate, and laterite
are the predominating formations of the surround-
ing hills), that on an average lies about two hundred
The Approach to Korat
A General Description of Siam 49
metres above sea-level and shows no important
risings, though in some parts low laterite ridges crop
out as watersheds.
These circumstances predominate the physical
and hydrographical character of the country.
Nearly the whole basin drains into the Nam Moon
and its principal tributary, the Nam See, which, be-
fore joining the Mekong, pierce the hill ranges that
flank that river by a series of rapids about thirty
kilometres long. Only a small part of the territory
drains into the Mekong by separate small streams,
of which the Nam Loey, the Nam Luang, and the
Nam Songkran in the north are the most important.
The Nam Moon is navigable for big boats, during
about seven months a year, from some few kilo-
metres below Korat to the commencement of the
rapids, which only can be passed during a couple of
months in the height of the rainy season.
The regime of the rivers is irregular. In the rainy
season they are not capable of draining the country
properly, in consequence of the rapids in the hill
regions, so that the greatest part of the flat country
is turned into interminable swamps, and in the dry
season they contain no water or hardly any, as their
catchment areas are confined to the rainless plateau
and neighboring hills. In the dry season the
50 Kingdom of Siam
swamps are changed into a barren, treeless plain,
the sandy soil of which is strongly agitated by the
prevailing southern winds and fills the air with dust.
In the somewhat more elevated, less swampy parts
low bamboo shrub occurs, so far as the extensive
salt wastes, which cover a great deal of the higher
tracts and border on the swamps in many parts, do
not render all vegetation impossible. The more
elevated laterite and stony ridges are mostly covered
with for ets clairieres, i. e., shadeless forests of sparse,
poor, dwarfish trees; this kind of forest is largely
dispersed in the lower parts of the Mekong River.
On the somewhat elevated ridges of deposits along
the streams belts of proper forests are usually grow-
ing, and on these ridges the settlements and the
rice-fields of the sparse inhabitants are found.
The plain of Talesap is an alluvial lowland, ele-
vated about from ten to twenty metres above the
sea-level. Ranges of wooded hills separate it from
the Korat plateau, the plain of the Bangpakong
River, and the coast of the Gulf of Siam. The
plain and adjacent hill regions drain into the great
lake by the Kanburee River and its tributaries,
among which Sangke River is the most important,
and by some smaller streams. The lake is in con-
nection with the Mekong and serves that river as a
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A General Description of Siam 51
regulating basin, so that the water-level of the lake
rises and falls with the floods of the river in such a
way that in the connecting channel it alternately
runs from the lake to the river and in the reverse
direction. This causes the lake to silt up rapidly.
In consequence, there is a difference of about nine
metres between high and low water-level, and at the
high level the lake extends its water over the plain
so that the greatest part of it is deeply flooded. The
lake is bordered by a belt of aquatic shrub growing
in the soft mud. The solid plain more inland, owing
to the fertility of the soil of sandy clay, when the
flood recedes is soon turned into an endless jungle of
high grass where countless deer feed. Tn the higher
region of older formation the forets dairtires appear
and, on the hills, forests proper. In the height of the
dry season the lake becomes a shallow swamp ; the
rivers grow quite dry or leave only some dirty pools
in the lowest part of their bed, and the whole coun-
try assumes an extremely barren character.
Cultivation is almost confined to and is only fea-
sible in those regions along the rivers where flooding
does not reach more than a convenient depth.
The coast generally is steep and rocky, but inter-
rupted by small alluvial plains at the mouth of the
rivers.
52 Kingdom of Siam
From the climatic point of view the eastern pro-
vinces approach very near Lower Siam. As in
Lower Siam, the southwest monsoon rains are
considerably detained by the hill ranges which sur-
round the Korat plateau and the Talesap plain to
the west and south. Moreover, these hill ranges
detain also the diurnal sea and land breeze. In
consequence the climate assumes a more continental
character than in Lower Siam ; the difference to
Lower Siam appears to be that rainfall is somewhat
smaller and in the hot season the heat somewhat
greater, whilst in the northern parts the cool season
is decidedly much cooler.
The regions to the south and west of the hill
ranges along the coast of the gulf are in a particular
position. Here the annual rainfall is about three
metres, i. c, twice as much as in Lower Siam. In
other points of view the climate in this region is
about the same as in Lower Siam, but the influence
of the sea is stronger.
The population of the eastern provinces is esti-
mated at a little more than a million. About half
of them are Laos, who live in the Korat plateau ;
about a quarter Siamese (chiefly in the coast region
and in the Korat plateau), and the rest are Chinese,
Cambodians (chiefly in the Talesap plain), etc.
A General Description of Siam 53
The Laos arc of the same race as the Siamese, and
their language shows only very slight dialectic differ-
ences to the Siamese language. They, moreover,
have the same religion, generally wear the same
dress, and have almost the same habits, customs,
festivals, houses, manner of life, and occupations as
the Siamese.
The chief difference between the Laos and the
Siamese is, that the latter have been more under
the influence of progress on European lines and
economically are in much more favorable conditions.
This refers, of course, not only to the Laos, but
as well to the rest of the population of the eastern
provinces, among whom the Cambodian, though of
another race (they are descendants of the ancient
Khmers and of autochthonous races and speak a lan-
guage of their own), have the same religion and
almost the same dress, customs, habits, houses,
and manner of life (which chiefly appear to have
been derived from the ancient Khmers).
The Korat plateau and the Talesap plain are
poor regions. In the rainy season the country is
largely a swamp ; a great part of the higher lands
have a barren, laterite, sandy, or stony soil (in the
Korat plateau) or contain too much salt to be cultiv-
able, so that in general only the belts of deposits
54 Kingdom of Siam
along the rivers are fit for cultivation. Moreover,
these regions only are fit for settlement, because in
the dry season the country is nearly waterless, as
only a few of the rivers contain a glimpse of dirty
water that gathers in pools in the deepest places,
whilst the ground-water, if obtainable, is generally
too salt to be drinkable.
Removing to the higher regions when the floods
commence, and to the riverside in the dry season, is,
therefore, often necessary, this compels people to
content themselves with most primitive and uncom-
fortable shelters.
Communication, moreover, is still worse than
production. Roads are almost impassable in con-
sequence of the flooding, and the rivers mostly are
navigable only during a few months.
It is certainly no surprising fact that under such
unfavorable circumstances the inhabitants are poor
and backward compared with the Siamese of Lower
Siam, and that the sanitary conditions of the people
are worse than anywhere else in Siam. Enteric dis-
eases (dysentery and cholera), fever, and small -pox
are very common in these regions.
The people live in small settlements spread over
the country. There are only a few towns in the
eastern provinces, and these are very small.
A General Description of Siam 55
The principal means of subsistence is rice growing.
The methods are primitive; the crop is uncertain,
small, and of inferior quality. In the higher regions
the rice is planted in the rainy season ; in the deep
inundated tracts people cannot commence to plant
before the water subsides. In the last case the crop
is particularly uncertain.
The Korat plateau has nearly no rice to spare for
export ; from the Talesap plain one to two hundred
thousand piculs annually are exported.
Cattle and swine breeding and salt making out of
the salt surface earth in the salt wastes are the most
important industries, and silk weaving, timber, to-
bacco, fishing in the great lake, and collecting jungle
produce are subsidiary employments.
There is also some mining of copper, iron, gold,
and rubies in the Korat plateau, but this is not of
real importance.
As these eastern provinces have little to export,
the import trade and the interior trade are of course
also small. The coast regions are in a much more
favorable condition with regard to climate as well
as with regard to soil and situation. In consequence
the people here are in fairly favorable conditions.
Rice growing is here also the principal industry,
and fishing in the gulf, pepper cultivation, sugar
56 Kingdom of Siam
manufacturing, the timber and fire-wood trades,
and collecting jungle produce are minor industries.
Also ruby mining may be mentioned as a trade of
some importance in the regions along the east coast
of the Gulf of Siam.
THE SIAMESE PROVINCES OF THE MALAY PENINSULA
In this article this southern division will include
all that part of Siam and its dependencies situated
in what is geographically termed the Malay Pen-
insula.
Politically the peninsula is divided between Great
Position- Britain and Siam ; the dividing line run-
ning along the southern boundaries of
Kedah, Raman, Kelantan, and Tringanu.
The territory which we are now dealing with thus
includes the following provinces, starting from the
north and coming south : Petchaburi, Bangtaphan,
Chumpon, Langsuan, Chaiya, Bandon, Lakon,
Patalung, Singora, Patani, Nongchik, Jering, Saiburi,
Jalar, Raman, Rangeh, Kelantan, and Tringanu, on
the eastern slope, and Kra, Renong, Takuapa,
Panga, Takuatung, Gerbi, Puket,Trang, Stul, Perlis,
and Kedah, on the west.
The country is on the whole mountainous; but
A General Description of Siam 57
far less so than is ordinarily supposed. The whole
general Malay Peninsula has been formed by a
granite upheaval, which is clearly traced physical
from the dividing range between the val- Features,
leys of the Salween (Burmah) and the Menam (Siam
proper) right down to Singapore and the islands to
the south of it. This granite upheaval is not so
prominently represented in the Siamese division as
it is in the southern ; but there are several peaks of
from three thousand to five thousand feet high.
The older geological strata are limestone and slate.
These have been everywhere greatly disturbed and
altered by the granite ; and the limestone which was
originally overlaid by the slate is frequently met
with at far higher levels, the granite in its upward
passage having caused the limestone to fold over the
slate. The limestone wherever found is highly crys-
talline and very durable, offering a far greater re-
sistance to denudation than the granite or the slate.
Though the main range, as already stated, runs
down the axis of the peninsula, yet the various sys-
tems of hills which make up the main range gener-
ally run in a southwest-northeast direction. One
very striking result of this feature in the mountain
system is that practically all the rivers issuing on
the east coast run in a northeasterly line, while
58 Kingdom of Siam
those on the west coast have a southwesterly
course.
Few of the rivers are of much importance, as the
areas drained by most of them are limited, owing
to the narrowness of the peninsula. The
Bandon (Menam Luang), Patani, and
Kelantan rivers are the largest on the east coast;
while the Takuapa, Trang, Merboh, and Muda are
the largest on the west. All these rivers have bars
at their mouths and are consequently entered with
difficulty by ships of anything but light draft ; there
is, however, in most cases deep water in the rivers
themselves.
The rivers at Renong, Takuapa, and Panga, on
the west coast, are very badly silted up by tailings
from the tin mines worked in the hills.
From the north down to the southern limits of
Singora and Trang, the indigenous population is
Siamese; south of that it is Malay.
There are, of course, many Malays north
of this line, and Siamese south of it, and also a cer-
tain amount of a mixed breed ; but this is the main
ethnological division. Besides these two settled
races, there are the Negritos, who are found very
sparsely inhabiting the jungle-covered mountains of
Lakon and all the country south of it. These Ne-
<
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A General Description of Siam 59
gritos probably represent the aboriginal population.
They are in an extremely low state of culture, hold-
ing aloof from the settled populations, living on wild
fruits and roots, and wild game which they pursue
with poisoned arrows shot from a blowpipe. These
wild tribes are stated to be of Melanesian stock, and
are probably related to the so-called " Mincopies "
of the Andaman Islands, and the Aetas of the Philip-
pine Archipelago. The Siamese and Malays are gen-
erally similar to the representatives of the same races
elsewhere, so that there is no need to describe them
here. Besides the three indigenous races above
mentioned, there is a very large immigrant Chinese
population.
The Chinese come chiefly from Amoy, and many
of them settle permanently in the country. In
Singora especially a great part of the Chinese popu-
lation has practically become indigenous.
It is very difficult to make any reliable estimate
of the numbers of the different races inhabiting the
region being treated of; but the following figures are
given for what they are worth :
Malays 900,000
Siamese 800,000
Chinese 200,000
Negritos 10,000
Total 1 ,910,000
60 Kingdom of Siam
The climate of these regions may be generally de-
scribed as moist and hot, though seldom malarious.
In the northern part, the climate more
nearly approaches that of the Menam
Valley, where there are very distinct wet and dry
seasons; but in going south the conditions are
more like those prevailing in Singapore, where the
distinction between the seasons is slight, and rain
falls more or less the whole year round. It is im-
possible to give a description of the climate, em-
bracing the whole region, because the conditions
vary immensely in neighboring places. The pres-
ence or absence of mountains on the inland side
of different districts influences the rainfall to an
incredible extent. Generally speaking, the east
coast gets most rain during the northeast monsoon,
the months of November, December, and January
being particularly wet; this, however, does not
apply from Langsuan northward, where the rains
are heaviest in August, September, and October.
On the west coast the rains come on during the
southwest monsoon; June, July, and August being
the wettest months in most places. The rainfall, as
stated above, is very variable; and practically no
records are available; but the mean fall for the
whole region is probably about ninety inches, vary-
<!
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A General Description of Siam 61
ing from about sixty inches in the more northerly
parts, to about one hundred and twenty inches in
the southern.
The soil of the plains is not very rich in most
parts ; there is, however, some very fine rice land in
Lakon, Patalung, Kcdah, and Kelantan.
Even in sandy land, however, excellent
crops are raised, the regular rainfall and absence of
any prolonged dry season being of the greatest as-
sistance to agriculture. Rut the granite hills are
usually covered with a thick covering of rich clay ;
and for all kinds of hill crops the country is admir-
ably adapted. The mountains are covered with the
densest and most magnificent tropical vegetation,
in which the most characteristic and useful growths
are several varieties of the guttapercha (in the south
only), the camphor tree, ebony, eaglewood, sapan,
rattan, nibung, bamboo, nipa-palm, cocoanut, areca,
and gomuti.
The fauna is unusually rich, both the Asiatic
mainland and the islands of the Eastern Archi-
pelago being represented by numerous
Fauna.
varieties. The elephant, tiger, one-horned
rhinoceros, tapir, hog, and many varieties of bear
and bison are met with. Quadrumana are repre-
sented by nine or more specimens. Amongst birds
62
Kingdom of Siam
there are several varieties from Java and other East
Indian islands; in fact, the Malay Peninsula is
largely the meeting ground for the denizens of the
Asiatic and the Polynesian worlds.
CHAPTER IV
NAVAL AND MILITARY FORCES
63
CHAPTER IV
NAVAL AND MILITARY FORCES
THE SIAMESE ARMY
AMONG the departments of Siamese administra-
tion that have shared to the full in the progress
which forms so marked a feature of the present reign,
the army occupies a foremost place; for not only
have radical reforms been introduced into
Its Reform
the organization of this most necessary and im-
r i r , 1 - -i . . provement.
branch of the service, with a view to in-
crease its efficiency, but every effort has been made
to reconcile as far as practicable the inevitable call
it makes upon the time of the younger and more
vigorous elements of the nation with the exigencies
of the other branches of the government service, as
well as with the conditions indispensable to the
healthy development of the country's natural re-
sources and industrial capabilities.
With the system until recently in force, military
6 5
66 Kingdom of Siam
service, while weighing heavily upon a few particular
The oid classes of the population which had to
exercise it hereditarily as a profession,
did not become an imperious duty for all able-
bodied citizens except in the very moment of com-
mon danger. Moreover, the service performed by
these classes, consisting for the most part of govern-
ment serfs and alien auxiliaries, had necessarily to
be taken by turns of some months in and some
months out, with serious detriment to the homo-
geneity and compactness of the army, and con-
tinuous hindrance to the steady improvement of its
efficiency. There was practically no limit to the
duration of such service, except physical incapa-
bility from youth on the one side and downright
decrepitude on the other, so that it became a life-
Ions burden to those who were restricted to it.
The many drawbacks resulting from such an
antiquated system could not avoid being fully
The recognized, and the reforms gradually
Transition. introduced j ft to other branches of the
administration, above all in statutory legislation,
rendered possible the transition to a new order of
things more in keeping with modern ideas and out-
come of civilization. Thus the new system was in-
augurated, in which the fundamental principle, that
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Naval and Military Forces 67
able-bodied citizens are expected to serve a term
with the colors, has been laid down as a patriotic
duty to all, tempered, as a matter of course, by
such limitations and exemptions as the welfare and
most pressing needs of the country and its people
have rendered advisable. The example has most
happily in this connection come from the higher
classes, led by the members of the Royal Family,
many of whom have now adopted the army as their
profession.
The system recently adopted is similar to that of
a militia or cantonal one. It has been practised in
several monthons, and the result has so The New
far been very successful. According to
this system, every man is required to serve two years
in the regular army, and afterwards is transferred
into the first and second reserves, respectively.
In case the number in the new ranks exceeds that
required for the standing army, the recruits are
passed into the reserves. While in the first reserve
a man is liable to be called for training during a
period not exceeding two months a year, and while
in the second reserve his training is limited to fifteen
days.
While on active service all men belonging to the
above categories are exempt from both capitation
68 Kingdom of Siam
and land taxes, and after having completed their
terms of military service become freed
Facilities and
Exemptions from payment of similar taxes for the
Accorded. .
rest of their lives.
Total exemption from military duty is accorded
to Chinese settled in the country, to wild tribes, to
physically disabled persons, and to recipients of a
royal authorization to that effect.
Temporary exemptions are provided for in favor
of members of the priesthood, students in the higher
standards during their course of study up to thirty
years of age, officials in the civil service while on
active duty, village headmen so long as they exer-
cise such functions, sons of disabled parents who
provide for their sustenance, elder brothers who
support orphans ; younger brothers as yet incapable
of earning a living, so long as necessary; agricultur-
ists and tradesmen who do a large business entailing
on their part the payment of a certain large sum
yearly in taxes to Government, so long as such pay-
ment lasts; invalids; persons involved in legal suits
to which they personally attend, as long as such
suits last, etc.
These provisions are destined to meet the peculiar
conditions of the country and people.
For the purpose of military organization, the
Naval and Military Forces 69
country has been apportioned into circles, or mon-
thons, which are not necessarily identical
J Military
in extent and limits with the monthons Territorial
, , ,, e ..... . Organization.
created for the purpose of civil adminis-
tration.
Within the area of these monthons the men are
recruited, drilled, and kept under normal conditions
to serve their terms with the colors.
By having recourse to this regional system of en-
listment, the least possible inconvenience is caused
to the men themselves, who thus enjoy the advantage
of performing their military duties near their own
homes, and can easily return to the labor of their
fields or other customary occupations during the
periods in which their presence under arms is not
required.
The same facilities are enjoyed by the non-com-
missioned officers who are picked from the ranks and
trained at a special school established for them in
each monthon, whence after training and qualifica-
tion by an examination they are detailed for service
to the corps stationed within their native monthon.
Since last year (a.d. 1902) the infantry
Armament
has been armed with the new repeating and
Equipment.
rifle (model R. S. 121), while the cavalry
and artillery retained the Mannlicher carbine.
70 Kingdom of Siam
The field artillery ordnance consists, for troops in
the interior, of steel-bronze 7-cm. mountain guns
only, the conditions of the country not permitting,
for the present, the use of a heavier ordnance. For
the same reason the employment of larger bodies of
cavalry becomes impossible over the greater part
of the country, hence the task of the cavalry
must remain confined to reconnaissance and scout
duty. In this no better animal could meet the re-
quirement than the local wiry and hardy little pony.
Accordingly the cavalry is mounted exclusively on
native ponies and armed with sabre and carbine, so
as to readily do also work on foot, and the use of
the lance has been proscribed. For the artillery,
elephants, pack-bullocks, and boats are severally
used, according to the character of the country to
be traversed. The clothing and accoutrements of
the troops follow, on the whole, Western models,
being modified in detail so as to suit local condi-
tions. Barrack accommodation on improved lines
is provided both at Bangkok and in the various
outer monthons.
Great attention has been paid during the last ten
„„.. years or so to this most essential branch
Military J
Education. f arm y organization. About nine tenths
of the commissioned officers are now supplied
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Naval and Military Forces 71
by the Royal Military College, and only about one
tenth by the rank and file. The Royal Military
College, installed in a spacious and imposing group
of buildings, was founded as early as 1885, but it
has since been several times enlarged and generally
improved. It now accommodates over three hun-
dred cadets, who go through a three-years course
of training, at the end of which those who qualify
at a final examination are promoted and appointed
to the various corps. A preliminary course of three
years is also provided for those applicants who join
the college before possessing the necessary qualifica-
tion for the technical course.
The Royal Military College at Bangkok has been
an important factor in the improvement of the
standard of officers in the army. Over three fourths
of the officers now on active service have been
trained there, and so satisfactory have been the re-
sults attained that there is a great and continuous
demand for these officers for the work of civil ad-
ministration. Many of the officers who are now at
the head of the various departments and corps of
the army have received their complementary educa-
tion and military training in Europe, in the armies
of either England, Germany, Austria, or Denmark.
To these will soon be added a small yearly supply
72 Kingdom of Siam
from those cadets who have won scholarships and
are now receiving their military training abroad, so
that the standard of officers in the army will keep
continuously improving. Of the special schools for
non-commissioned officers mention has already been
made. There are now three such establishments in
full order in the military monthons of Bangkok,
Korat, and Rajburi, aggregating a total of some
three hundred pupils. Other similar institutions are
being created in each of the newly formed monthons.
His Majesty the King is the supreme head
of all forces. The army is immediately controlled
Headquarters by a General Commander-in-Chief, with
staff - an Assistant General. The Headquarters
Staff is organized into three administrative branches,
under the supervision of the Chief of the General
Staff, the Adjutant-General, and the Quartermaster-
General, respectively. Besides the above-named
principal officers, there is an Inspector-General,
whose function is to inspect all His Majesty's forces.
The Army Headquarters are located in a spacious
building near the centre of Bangkok City. On the
same premises is also installed the Ministry of War
and Marine, on which the army depends mainly for
administrative purposes, as well as for the supply
of both men and war material.
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Naval and Military Forces 73
The army as it stands will be quite sufficient for
ordinary purposes, which are chiefly the maintenance
of order and security in the outlying dis- strength of
tricts, and ability to cope with any even- e rmy '
tual rising of unruly alien elements whether in the
capital or in the interior of the country.
THE ROYAL NAVY
The Naval Yard and Arsenal are situated in
Bangkok, on the west side of the river opposite the
royal palace.
The dockyard contains the Admiralty and Ad-
ministrative offices, also barracks for the men,
drilling grounds, and artillery park ; a drvdock able
to dock the largest ships of the navy, also patent
slips, workshops, iron and brass foundries, carpen-
ters' and sailmakers' shops, etc. ; two shear-legs of
different lifting capacities, and all necessary appli-
ances for the fitting out and repair of the ships of
the navy.
The naval education is carried on in three schools :
the Naval Cadet school, the Marine Officers' school,
and the Petty Officers' school.
The engineers receive part of their education in
the Naval Cadet school.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Navy is, at pres-
74
Kingdom of Siam
ent, the Minister for War, Admiral Prince Bhanur-
angsi.
Chief of the Staff, Captain Prince Abhakara.
Principal Ships of the Navy
Name of Ship
Maha Ckakrkri. . .
Makut Rajakumar
Ran Rook
Bali..
Sugrib
Muratha
Yong Yot
Han Hak Sakru . . .
Teywah. Suraram.
Nirben
Prap Parapaks. . . .
Uthai Rajakit
Thon Kramoom. . . .
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3,000
Cruiser
2,800
14*
16
s.
700
560
12
8
s.
700
Gunboat
535
10
9
s.
580
41
500
11*
10
s.
580
500
II*
10
s.
530
11
500
II*
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255
9
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250
140
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Despatch
180
9
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200
171
10
Comp.
134
Training
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8
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Vessel
(sail)
4
w.
Besides these ships the navy possesses two trans-
ports, two yachts, various despatch and river ves-
sels, steam launches, fire engines, and one spar
torpedo-boat, in all seventy-one vessels.
GENDARMERIE
Outside the capital and the surrounding province
the country is policed by the gendarmerie. This is
a body of military police at the head of which is a
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3
Naval and Military Forces 75
military officer, as Inspector-General, acting directly
under the orders of the Ministry of Interior. Most
of the force are mounted, and all are drilled on mili-
tary lines, special attention being paid to skirmishing
and shooting. There are numerous stations scat-
tered over the country, which serve as centres for
the prevention and suppression of crime.
From each station patrols are sent out, chiefly
during the night, who report themselves to the civil
officials of each district, to whom they hand over any
lawbreakers they have arrested, and receive informa-
tion of any crime committed in the district.
The force possesses a training school for its officers,
but the men are trained at the stations.
The force is recruited in some provinces by volun-
tary enlistment and in some by conscription.
The present strength of the force is: non-com-
missioned officers and men, 6000; officers, 150;
chief stations, 250.
The cost of the whole force, including school for
officers, is over 2,500,000 ticals.
THE PUKET FORCE
Puket, the centre of the tin-mining industry, has
a separate police force, which is solely responsible to
the Minister of the Interior and the High Commis-
76 Kingdom of Siam
sioner of the monthon. The sanctioned strength,
consisting of twelve officers and 531 men is com-
posed of Siamese and Malays, and distributed as
required amongst the six provinces which comprise
the Puket monthon.
The force is both a military and civil one, and was
reorganized at the beginning of 1900. One of the
chief features in the reorganization was the training
of young Siamese police officers ; selected men were
sent to Rangoon for a six-months course of police
training and drill with the Rangoon police; they
took every advantage of the opportunity afforded
them and obtained certificates of efficiency.
The whole force is armed, and great interest is
taken in musketry. There is a rifle range, where
target practice is held periodically and rewards given
for good shooting.
The force has a mounted detachment at head-
quarters ; they are chiefly used for patrolling, and
escorting high officials when on tour of inspection.
Crime is very slight throughout the monthon.
CHAPTER V
SIAM FROM AN HISTORICAL STANDPOINT
77
CHAPTER V
SIAM FROM AN HISTORICAL STANDPOINT,
BY DR. O. FRANKFURTER, SIAMESE FOREIGN OFFICE
LITTLE is known about the early history of the
country which was first called Siam by the
Portuguese and, following them, by the other nations
who first came into contact with it. The name has
become more general during the last few reigns,
perhaps through a mistaken etymology by derivation
from cyama, blue-black. This derivation is inade-
quate with regard to the complexion of the people
and to the soil, to which it is equally inapplicable.
Siemlo, the Chinese name, is of equally doubtful
etymology, and by the neighboring countries, such
as Burmah and Cambodia, the country was called,
after the name of its former capital, Sri Ayuddhya.
The Siamese call themselves Thai, probably the
equivalent of Franks, the free ones, i. e., free from
the foreign (Cambodian) yoke.
We find also in some chronicles the well-known
79
80 Kingdom of Siam
Indian term, Suvarnabhumi (golden country), so
that it shares with other countries the honor or be-
ing called the Golden Chersonese or Chryse.
The chief source of the earliest history is found
in the Phongsawada?i Muang Nua (the Annals of the
North). The facts related therein are to a great
extent correct, but as these annals have been com-
piled from various fragments without much dis-
crimination, and as, moreover, the data given in these
annals cannot be reconciled, they can only be used
as throwing a general light on the history of Siam.
Besides these Annals of the North, there are local
annals, some written in Pali, some in Siamese or
Laosian, which also throw a certain light on pre-
Buddhistic times.
None of these chronicles, with the exception of
the Annals of the North, have as yet been printed.
The great difficulty met with is the use of the eras.
As is well known, there were three eras in common
use — the Buddhist era dating from 543 B.C., the
Maha Sakarat era dating from 78 A.D., and the
Chula Sakarat dating from 638 A.D., while at
the present time the Gregorian Calendar has been
adopted, the era in use dating from the foundation
of the present capital in A.D. 1781.
In these old chronicles the eras were frequently
The Menam River
From an Historical Standpoint 81
changed for what may be called local eras, and un-
fortunately the Buddhist era, the only real fixed
one, has never been adopted throughout in any of
the countries.
In the earliest times, before the capital was estab-
lished at Ayuthia in 1350, there extended throughout
the country a number of small principalities. These
extended over what is now called Siam, from the
borders of China east and west through the valleys
of the Menam Chow Phya and the Menamkong and
down the Malay Peninsula, with Ligor as capital, as
far south as Malacca.
These principalities were bound together by race,
language, religion, and customs, but did not form a
political entity or state, though standing in com-
mercial relations with one another. Frequently the
dominions of a prince were extended by marriage
and frequently they were subdivided by the laws
governing succession.
The early history of the race shows a continual
migration from the north to the south, seeking an
outlet to the sea, successive sections pressing in
those that had gone before until in 1350 the branch
of the Tai race known now as the Siamese estab-
lished their capital at Ayuthia.
The history of the Siamese as a dominant power
6
82 Kingdom of Siam
begins from this date, for at that time twenty of the
minor principalities to the north, east, and west, and
four to the south, owed allegiance to Ayuthia, send-
ing as a token the customary gold and silver flowers,
and the oath of allegiance was taken by Pitsanu-
loke, Sajjanalai, Sukothai, Nakon Sri Thammarat
(Ligor), Rachasima (Korat), Tenaserim, and Tavoy.
From the founding of the capital at Ayuthia in
1350 down to its destruction in 1767 by the Burmese,
its history is chiefly to be found in Phongsawadan
Kning Kao, or the Annals of Aynthia, in which is
related the reigns of thirty-six kings, commencing
with the reign of Phra Chao Utong, and ending with
the reign of Krom Khun Anurat Montri, during
whose reign Ayuthia was destroyed by the Burmese.
The history is written without preconceived
ideas, and although it is a compilation only made
in the middle of the last century by Somdet Pra
Paramamijit, it gives a very fair account, and many
of its facts are corroborated by the chronicles of
neighboring countries and the description given by
foreign travellers.
There is, however, not always a right proportion
in details, and while some reigns are detailed at in-
ordinate length others are dismissed in a few words.
It goes without saying that the inner connection of
From an Historical Standpoint 8
the facts related is not always made clear inasmuch
as the source from which the compilation was made
proved inadequate.
The history of the Siamese during these years
shows their efforts to consolidate their political
power, by which they roused the jealousy of the
neighboring countries who were striving for the
same end. The inevitable result was war, and
the dependent states were compelled to vary their
allegiance and submit to the victorious power.
These attacks finally culminated in the destruction
of Ayuthia by the Burmese and its abandonment
by the Siamese as a capital.
The nearer to our own times, the more exact and
explicit the history proves to be; the chronicles as
related by Somdet Pra Paramamijit breaks off with
the reign of Khun Hluang Tak, who, after the de-
struction of Ayuthia, collected the shattered forces
of the Siamese Army and eventually re-established
the dominion, founding his capital on the west bank
of the Menam Chow Phya at Bangkok.
After the deposition of this monarch who became
mentally deranged, and was succeeded by the first
king of the present dynasty, we have the Annals of
Bangkok. These annals were compiled from original
sources by the late Chow Phya Thipakarawongse.
84 Kingdom of Siam
The modern history of Siam may be considered
to begin under King Mongkut (1851-1868), when
Siam entered into treaties with foreign powers grant-
ing the rights of exterritoriality to their subjects,
and the opening of the Suez Canal brought the na-
tions of the West into closer contact with those of
the Orient.
With the opening of the Canal the attention of
the Western nations was turned towards the East,
and it was through their colonial expansion that,
indirectly, a large influence was brought to bear on
the development of the country.
Besides these annals, the attention of those inter-
ested in the history of the country should be called
to the collection of the laws of Siam, made in the
year 1807 by a commission appointed by King Phra
Buddha Yot Fa, and since 1872 frequently reprinted ;
the absence of a proper chronology is, however,
much to be deplored. Nevertheless a careful study
of these laws, taken in conjunction with the facts re-
lated in the annals, would probably be instrumental
in constructing an authoritative history of the last
six hundred years both from an historical and intel-
lectual standpoint.
Another source of the history of Siam are the
local chronicles regarding the origin of the more
A Temple
From an Historical Standpoint 85
famous statues of the Buddha; an archaeological
survey would also perhaps throw a welcome light
on its history, whilst the chronicles of the neighbor-
ing countries of Annam, Burmah, Pegu, and Cam-
bodia would elucidate the more obscure points.
The description of early travellers and residents
should also not be neglected, though scarcely any
of them are free from a certain bias.
This is more especially the case with regard to the
narratives of the French travellers who visited Siam
in the seventeenth century a most interesting period
of its history.'
The descriptions of modern travellers from the
last part of the nineteenth century are written under
preconceived ideas and inadequate knowledge and
may be disregarded by any one who undertakes a
serious study of Siamese history.
Happily we have for the last two reigns the
official gazette in which everything of importance is
chronicled and the laws by which the country is
governed are promulgated. This forms an adequate
source of the history of Siam in latter years. 5
1 Cp. Lanier, £tude historique stir les relations de la France et du
royaume de Siam de 1662-1703, Versailles, 1S23 ; Anderson,
English Intercourse with Siam in the Seventeenth Century, London,
1890.
''Cp. Satow, Essay towards a Bibliography of Siam, Singapore, 1886.
CHAPTER VI
LANGUAGE OF SIAM
87
CHAPTER VI
LANGUAGE OF SIAM, BY DR. O. FRANKFURTER,
SIAMESE FOREIGN OFFICE
THE Tai family of language to which Thai,
the language of the people of Siam, belongs,
is spoken with slight but well-defined phonetic
differentiations, east from the frontier of Thibet
and south from the Chinese frontier, through the
whole valley of the Menam Chow Phya (Siamese)
down to Songkla (Singora), in the Malay Peninsula,
and west from the frontiers of Annam, Tonquin,
Cochin China, and Cambodia. The characters in
which these languages are written are derived from
Indian alphabets, and their affinity with those in
which Cambodian, Burmese, and Peguan, and the
language of the continent of India and of Ceylon are
written can be easily traced. It is clear that the
forms of the characters were influenced by the ma-
terial used in writing (copper plates, stone, palm
leaves, paper written by stiles, chisels, brushes).
89
9° Kingdom of Siam
The alphabets are akin to those of Sanskrit and
Pali, — syllabic.
The affinity of the Tai group with other languages
is not certain, but there is no connection with the
Mon-Annam group or the Malayan family.
The character of the language is that of a tonal
one. There are five tones in the language, but
differentiation of meaning is not, as a rule, expressed
in the same word by tones. These tones are known
as the tonus rectus, circumflexus, demissus, gravis,
altus (Pallegoix, Grammatica Lingace Thai), and
their pronunciation is roughly indicated by their
nomenclature, most of the words are, however, pro-
nounced in the tonus rectus.
The unit of speech is the sentence, and conse-
quently there are no distinct words for the different
parts of speech, as practically any word according to
the context in which it occurs may perform the
function of verb, noun, adjective, pronoun, etc.
In the sentence the determinating word follows
the determined word, contrary to the invariable rule
of Chinese, where the determinating word precedes
the determined word.
Loan words and especially abstract terms are
mostly derived from Sanskrit and Pali, although of
course the words of commodities introduced through
Language of Siam 91
intercourse with European nations are derived from
European languages. Thus we have derived from
Portuguese, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
for instance, the words for paper, bread, soap,
cloth. In the same way, commodities of Chinese
origin are designated by Chinese words, such as
terms for ships and furniture, etc.
In more modern times, loan words for European
commodities were derived from the English, but
now there is a marked tendency to employ words
for new commodities from the stock already existing
or to derive them from Sanskrit or Pali words.
It goes without saying that in the frontier districts
we find the influence of the bordering language and
consequently loan words from Annam, Cambodia,
Burmah, China, etc. 1
1 Diguel, £tude de la langue Tai, Hanoi, 1895.
Frankfurter, Elements of Siamese Grammar, Leipzig, 1900.
Lorgeou, Grammaire Siamoise, Paris, 1902.
CHAPTER VII
RELIGION OF SIAM
93
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CHAPTER VII
RELIGION OF SIAM, BY DR. O. FRANKFURTER,
SIAMESE FOREIGN OFFICE
THE religion of the state is Buddhism, while all
other religious creeds are granted full liberty
of worship, nor are their followers, by virtue of their
creed, prevented from occupying any secular office
under the administration or disabled in any other
way.
The king is the highest "supporter of the doc-
trine," and stands at the head of the religion, and
in consequence of this position a spiritual hierarchy
has developed which corresponds in many ways to
the position of the temporal hierarchy. The king
appoints all ecclesiastical dignitaries, and they as
well as all other priests and monks are, with regard
to their temporal affairs, under the Ministry of
Public Worship.
First in the hierarchical order are the four Somdet
Phra Chow Rajagana (archpriests), who stand at the
95
96 Kingdom of Siam
head of different assemblies of priests and monks.
From among these four dignitaries the king appoints
the Somdet Phra Sangharaja (prince of priests), who,
as his title implies, is the head of the entire ecclesi-
astical order. The whole kingdom is divided among
these four dignitaries, of whom there is one for the
northern division, one for the southern, one for the
sect of the Dhammayutika, and one for the hermits.
The Dhammayutika are a sect formed under King
Mongkut, with the aim of bringing the doctrine in
outward matters (initiation into the priesthood,
dress, etc.) more in accordance with the pristine
teachings; whilst the archpriest appointed for the
hermits (of whom there are not very many now),
i. e., those living in secluded places, follows the king
into the province. These archpriests receive from
the king, just as the highest officials of state, gold
or silver tablets recording their titles. Next in the
hierarchical order are the five high-priests to assist
the archpriests, and after them fourteen dignitaries
in whose official titles the words Dhamma, Raja,
Deva enter. In the hands of these twenty-three
priests lies the supervision of the doctrine in all re-
spects. Then follows an official list of twelve gurus
(teachers) who, as their title implies, are to assist in
teaching the doctrine. These also receive their
H
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Religion of Siam 97
official appointment from the king, whilst other
gurus or teachers are appointed by the archpriests,
corresponding in this respect to civil officials who
receive their appointments from the hands of the
responsible minister.
These gurus can be appointed heads of temples,
and sometimes the title is bestowed on them, as the
recognition of special service rendered in scholarship,
as an honorary degree. The priests next in rank
are those who hold official positions or are appointed
to a certain office under the archpriests, the high-
priests, the heads of temples, so that their official
position only lasts as long as the superior who has
appointed them holds his office. They are entrusted
with the ritual, and act as judges and arbiters in
cases of discipline. A numerous class of priests are
formed by the "Barien " scholars, who receive their
title after having passed an examination in Pali, in
the sacred books, and in the commentaries. There
are nine steps in these examinations and they must
be taken one after the other. They are entitled to
the epithet "Maha' (eminent) before their own
names, but they hold no official position in the
government ecclesiastical service, although from
their ranks the officials are mostly recruited ; they
also receive a "fan" as a mark of honor from the
98 Kingdom of Siam
king. The Acariya are those who make a study of
the outward manifestation of the religion, and their
services are required in connection with royal
festivals ; they may receive an official title. As the
last rank of the priests we have to mention those
priests engaged in attending to private ceremonies
not held in the temples.
The term ' ' monk" may be applied to the large class
of persons living in the temples without any official
rank and engaged more or less earnestly in the study
of the sacred writings or in meditation. It is, more-
over, an essential part of the education of a Siamese,
when he has completed his twentieth year, to enter
a temple for a time. Many of the Siamese while
still boys of fourteen or fifteen also enter as novices
(Samancras) for a short period, in the upper classes
usually from six months to a year. This custom,
however, is not so universal as their entering as
priests when grown up. There is no restriction
placed on a priest as to the duration of his stay in
the priesthood, but while a monk he has strictly to
obey the rules of the order.
The initiation generally takes place at the com-
mencement of the rainy season (full moon of the eighth
month, i. e., July), and is always accompanied by a
festival. It forms the conclusion of the education.
t/1
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Religion of Siam 99
This initiation and service in the priesthood is of
special importance to the princes of the reigning
house, and most particularly to those princes in the
direct line of succession, for the king as temporal
head of the religion must have shared in the com-
mon lot of the followers of Buddha in order that he
may be in full sympathy with their feelings and
ideas, and the great reverence in which the priest-
hood is held forms a firm bond between the highest
and the lowest in the land.
It can thus be clearly understood that the priests
are under the strict control of the state. From it
they draw their power, by it they are provided with
means of subsistence, under it they form an hier-
archical order. In the hands of the priests was
from the olden time the practical and religious edu-
cation of the people, as it is even now controlled by
the Education Department. The priests are to a
large extent, formerly more so than at present, the
physicians of the people, and they certainly also help
them in their spiritual needs.
With regard to the tenets of Buddhism as prac-
tised in this country, it can only be said that it is the
Buddhism of the southern school. The sacred books
contained in the Tripitaka, known in Ceylon and
Burmah, are likewise known in Siam, and it was from
ioo Kingdom of Siam
this country that the editio princeps was issued a
few years ago. Amongst the educated classes,
Buddhism is practised in its pristine purity, while
of course, just as elsewhere, superstitious practices
have crept into the popular belief. Buddhism in
Siam has kept clear, however, of esoteric influence,
as it was prevalent a few years ago in Ceylon under
European influence; it has thus kept the command
forbidding to claim or to aspire to supernatural
power, whilst Nirvana is rightly explained as the
extinction of the three fires of lust, hatred, and de-
lusion. A more realistic view is taken, however,
among the people, who believe in future substantial
states, and in a migration of souls which enter new
bodies according to the good or evil deeds per-
formed in this world, though according to the pris-
tine teaching it is only the deeds, as such, that
survive.
This may perhaps be due to the birth stories
which, although they do not form part of the sacred
writings, are well known in Siam as in other Bud-
dhist countries. These birth stories are in many
cases old folklore tales which were used to illustrate
a verse in the sacred writings.
With regard to the whole doctrine of life and
death as presented in Buddhism, we will quote from
Religion of Siam 101
the sermon preached by Somdet Pra Vanarat at the
memorial service of the late Crown Prince, in whose
words is found a solution of the whole question both
with regard to the dead and the living.
"In the life of sentient beings there is no cer-
tainty. We know not when or for what reasons life
will be extinguished. No one is able to guarantee
existence; short is our life and swiftly are we ex-
tinguished, and our sorrow never ceases. As the
potter's work will be broken, so our life will come
to an end, and whether children, young or old,
whether foolish or wise, all fall under sway of death.
We may speak of days, months, and years ; but we
cannot say when our existence will come to an end.
No one is spared, whether of kingly origin or a
Brahmana, whether a Vaisaya or a Sudra, whether
of the lowest caste or a slave; all fall under the
sway of death. When we depart from one existence
to another, the parents cannot protect their child,
nor will the love of the kinsman avail aught to his
kin; the lamentations and grief over the departed
do not benefit him. Death is the natural conse-
quence of existence, and our life is like that of
the cow which the Brahmana leads to the altar
for sacrifice. Knowing this, what will lamenting
over the departed benefit us? The dead are not
102 Kingdom of Siam
supported by our grief. The dead have no con-
sciousness of our acts, and they have prepared their
existence by their own deeds. Everything is sub-
ject to change, although we may think it permanent ;
this is the law of the universe. . .
"Thus having listened to the words of the Fully
Enlightened One, we know that the dead cannot
come to life again ; therefore let us cease lamenting
and turn our attention to the living, so that the
country may prosper; work for the living. For
such is the work of the living, when death has not
yet reached them. We are born and die, this is the
way of the world ; but the good works we do in this
world, they will bear fruit in future, they will last." '
1 Cp. Phra Phachonwilat, Tham nieb Samana Sakdi (" The Rank
of the Priests "), Bangkok, 1902 ; Kotmai Phra Songh, Laws Gov-
erning the Priesthood in Kotmai Thai, vol. ii., Bangkok ; Chow
Phya Thipakarawongse Kinanukit, translated by Alabaster, Modern
Buddhist, London, 1870; also, Wheel of the Law, London, 1871.
CHAPTER VIII
THE CAPITAL
103
CHAPTER VIII
THE CAPITAL, BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
THE capital of Siam is Bangkok, situated on the
river Menam, about fourteen miles from the
sea, though owing to the winding of the stream it
is about twenty-five miles by river. It is a most
interesting town for travellers, and their number in-
creases year by year.
Owing to the bar at the mouth of the river, ves-
sels drawing more than fourteen feet of water cannot
come up to the town, so that the only main line of
steamers which calls is the East Asiatic line from
Copenhagen to Shanghai ; however, there are almost
daily steamers of some one thousand tons to Singa-
pore and Hong Kong.
The main portion of the city lies on the east side
of the river, though the west side is thickly popu-
lated on the banks. The old name given by travel-
lers to this town was "the Venice of the East," and
fifty years ago it was a good description ; since then
105
106 Kingdom of Siam
roads have been made, the canals have been bridged,
and electric tramways cross the city in various
directions.
Bangkok is the chief city of Siam in every sense :
it is the chief port, the chief commercial centre, the
centre of the Government, and principal residence of
the king and royal family.
Unlike most other Eastern cities, there is no for-
eign quarter, but the European houses are dotted
about the city, the suburbs, the banks of the river,
and the busiest part of the town.
The nucleus of Bangkok is the royal palace, situ-
ated on a bend of the river. The outer walls of the
palace enclose an immense area, but the ground de-
voted to the actual residence and garden is compara-
tively small. Within the walls are various ministries,
namely, the Foreign Office, the Treasury, the Min-
istry of the Interior, the Ministry of the Household,
and, in addition, the Royal Library, Legislative
Council, a magnificent Buddhist temple, barracks,
etc. Surrounding the palace on the land side is the
city proper, formerly surrounded by a massive em-
battlemented wall and pierced by lofty gates. Most
of the wall has now been pulled down, and a boule-
vard constructed, and of the gates few have with-
stood the modern desire for wide roads. Most of
u
H
The Capital 107
the roads are macadamized, drained, and planted
with trees, and many of the sidewalks are protected
from the sun and rain by lean-to roofs projecting
from the houses. Next to the palace is a large open
space of grass of an oval shape surrounded by trees.
This is the Premane ground, formerly used for the
royal cremations, but now used for drilling troops,
kite-flying, cricket, foot-ball matches, and golfing.
Anchored in the river, between the palace and the
naval dockyard, are the royal yachts and such of
the gunboats as are not cruising in the gulf or con-
veying troops to distant parts of the kingdom.
From the palace to the southeast stretches the
New Road, the oldest of the roads built outside the
city. Formerly an elephant track running parallel
to the river, along the backs of the houses which
faced the river, it now passes through a densely
populated quarter and is the busiest road in the
town. Lined on both sides by shops for some three
miles, it is traversed by electric trams which follow
one another every few minutes, while carriages,
jinrikishas, bullock carts, and native omnibuses
pass in a perpetual stream. It is intersected at
right angles by numerous roads leading to the river,
but the farther it gets from the palace the less
densely populated it becomes, and after passing
108 Kingdom of Siam
through the rice-mill district it ends close by the
abattoirs.
From the Premane ground to the northeast
stretches the finest boulevard in Bangkok, leading
from the royal palace to Dusit Park, a private resi-
dence of the king. It is not quite finished yet
within the city walls, but the section from the city
walls to Dusit Park, a distance of over a mile, is now
open. This boulevard consists of three carriage-
ways, separated from one another by double lines of
trees and bordered by shady footpaths.
The palace is surrounded by ornamental gardens
open to the public, and the whole quarter is laid out
as a purely residential district, the houses being oc-
cupied by the princes and noblemen of the court.
Between this quarter and the river runs the Samsen
Road, corresponding to the New Road below the
palace, but far less densely populated. It has a
good service of electric trams. Running between
these two main roads are many subsidiary roads;
the total length of carriage roads being some one
hundred and twenty miles. The river is hardly less
crowded than the New Road. Both sides for miles
above and below the palace are lined by floating
houses, most of which are occupied by traders, who,
taking down their front shutters, wait quietly for
The Capital 109
their customers to arrive in boats or launches and
take their purchases away with them. These houses
consist generally of several rooms and are supported
on pontoons; the row is only broken by landing
stages and the mouths of canals. Built in Siamese
style, with the curious gable characteristic of
Siamese architecture, they form one of the unique
and interesting sights of Bangkok.
Down the middle of the stream are anchored the
ocean-going steamers flying the flags of many na-
tions, sailing boats loading teak for the European
and American markets, whilst in and out and from
shore to shore scurry steam launches of every sort
and shape. With the tide, huge rice-boats bring
the harvest to the rice-mills, and rafts of teak logs,
which may have been years on their journey from
the north, follow a purring launch which has picked
them up above the city to tow them to the mill.
Then there are house-boats, with two or more
rowers; a priest's boat, paddled by ten of his pupils ;
boats which ply for hire and carry eight to twelve
passengers, rowed and steered by one man like a
gondola; tiny canoes, beyond the skill of Europeans
to manage, holding just the postman and his bag of
mail, or perhaps a travelling cook who, with his pot
of boiling rice on a little stove in front of him and
no Kingdom of Siam
the rest of his cuisine cunningly stowed around him,
drives a roaring trade with the boatmen and dwellers
in floating houses, dispensing his goods with the one
hand and keeping the boat steady with the other.
A noticeable feature in the river life is the water
markets at certain places along the banks ; a regular
market is held which begins soon after midnight and
lasts till seven or eight in the morning.
Both buyers and sellers are chiefly women. The
sellers come in small boats bringing fish, eggs, fruit,
etc., which they have themselves grown, and one
may see two or three hundred small boats, each
with its little lamp, the owners talking and laughing
with their neighbors. Then as soon as the sun has
risen they begin to return home, and what was a
busy market is now an open space of river.
To foreigners the most interesting things to be
studied, after the life and customs of the inhabi-
tants, are the royal palace with its surroundings and
the numerous Buddhist temples.
The town of Bangkok being comparatively modern
(1782) is interesting chiefly on account of its up-to-
dateness, but within easy reach of Bangkok by rail
are many places of historic interest such as Ayuthia
(the old capital), Korat, Rachburee, Prapatom,
Petchaburee, etc.
The Capital 1 1 1
The population of Bangkok is estimated at five
hundred thousand souls, of whom, some eight to
nine hundred are Europeans or Americans. Besides
these, the foreign element includes Chinese, Japan-
ese, Koreans, Malays, Javanese, Hindus, Klings,
Pathans, Afghans, Burmese, Arabs, Cambodians,
Annamites, most of whom are rendered conspicuous
by their national dress, which they seldom abandon.
Owing to this habit of retaining their national dress,
which differentiates them from the rest of the peo-
ple, a casual observer is apt to overestimate the
foreign population, the number of which, excluding
the Chinese, is comparatively small.
The Chinese population, by the returns of the
poll-tax in 1900, was 65,345 male adults, and the
entire estimated Chinese population, allowing for
old men, women, and children, who pay no tax,
85,500. In 1903, owing to exceptional circum-
stances, the number rose to 100,000.
Bangkok is the terminus of four lines of railway.
It has a fine service of electric trams, and is well lit
by electricity. It possesses one of the finest race-
courses in the East, a United Club, open to all
nationalities, a Siamese Club, a German Club, a
Golf Club, and a Sports Club, several European-
managed hotels, three banks, a French hospital, and
n2 Kingdom of Siam
a British nursing home, English, French, Danish,
German, and American doctors, besides numerous
Siamese hospitals and medical men. The climate
and rainfall are those of Lower Siam. Further de-
tails and statistics relating to the capital will be
found in the various sections.
THE PORT HEALTH DEPARTMENT
The sanitary service of the port of Bangkok is
directly under the control of the Ministry of Local
Government, and is directed by the Medical Officer
of Health, assisted by two medical boarding officers,
orderlies, boatmen, coolies, and a large staff of police
told off specially for this duty. The sanitary sta-
tions are two in number: one at the island of Koh
Phai, some thirty miles beyond the bar; and the
other at the customs station at Paknam, within the
mouth of the river Menam Chow Phya.
At Koh Phai, where alone sick or inspected per-
sons are landed, there are, besides medical officers'
quarters, hospital quarters for Europeans and several
large barracks capable of accommodating fifteen
hundred Chinese coolies. Police barracks, coolies'
quarters, storerooms, and a water-condensing ap-
paratus make up the complement of equipment.
9
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The Capital 113
Throughout the year, all ships from Hong-Kong or
China ports are medically inspected on their arrival.
When quarantine is declared against any port, a
period of nine days' quarantine is enforced and in-
spection takes place at Koh Phai.
According to the maritime decree, the medical
officer may board and examine any ship arriving in
Siamese waters no matter whence it has come, and
ships which have already obtained pratique are still
liable to control within the port.
During the past year, 262 ships were inspected,
and 35,028 passengers were medically examined. It
may be interesting to record that although plague has
every year assumed epidemic form in Hong-Kong,
a distance of seven days' steaming from Bangkok, no
cases of plague, so far as it is known, have got beyond
the quarantine station.
THE CATTLE TRADE AND GOVERNMENT ABATTOIRS
A considerable export of cattle from Bangkok to
Singapore takes place every year. In Singapore the
smaller animals are slaughtered for food, while the
larger cattle are sent to the adjacent Malay and
Dutch states for draft purposes.
Owing to a severe and widely extended epidemic
8
ii4 Kingdom of Siam
of rinderpest in Siam six years ago, the whole sys-
tem of cattle inspection before export was reorgan-
ized. A royal decree was proclaimed giving to
the Medical Officer of Health full control over the
importation of cattle into the port of Bangkok,
their detention in Bangkok, and the manner of
export. At the same time powers were given deal-
ing with the slaughter of cattle for food and with
the care of milk cows and of cowsheds throughout
the town.
A large piece of ground was purchased of the
Government, and upon it were erected two large
sheds, each capable of accommodating five hundred
head of cattle. There was also built a quarantine
shed capable of holding two hundred sick cattle,
and at a distance of three hundred metres from the
main sheds. A public abattoir was also erected, of
such a size as will be sufficient for all needs for many
years to come. In addition, there are the officers',
inspectors', and coolies' houses. The cattle sheds
are floored with compressed brick pointed in cement,
while the abattoir is floored with concrete and cement
and has steel and iron fittings.
Cattle can only be landed in Bangkok at the gov-
ernment wharf alongside the bullock sheds. This
wharf was specially built to enable the ordinary
•A
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The Capital 115
trading steamers to go alongside in order to load
the bullocks.
Although rinderpest has practically died out, foot-
and-mouth disease is almost always present in Siam.
All bullocks are therefore subjected to eight days'
medical observation in the government sheds free
of rent. They are then slaughtered for food, or, as
is the case with the great majority, are exported to
Singapore. Before being passed for export by the
customs authorities, each owner must show the ex-
port pass from the Medical Officer of Health certify-
ing that the cattle have been quarantined for eight
days and have been stamped as healthy.
Slaughtering of animals for food is only permitted
in the government abattoir. Each animal is ex-
amined when alive, and the flesh is again examined
before being allowed to be taken away from the
abattoir, when, if found healthy, it is stamped with
the medical officer's seal. The flesh of a bullock
found in the market without this seal is presumed to
have been slaughtered illegally and is confiscated
and destroyed.
The dead meat is transported from the abattoirs
to the butchers' shops in a specially constructed
electric car run on the public electric tramway, thus
ensuring prompt and clean delivery.
u6
Kingdom of Siam
The following figures show the work done during
the past year at the cattle station :
Cattle landed, 1 5,907; exported, 8574; slaughtered
for food, 6900.
METEOROLOGY
Daily readings of temperature and rainfall are
taken by the Medical Officer of Health. The fol-
lowing is an abstract of last year's readings from 1st
April, 1902, until 31st March, 1903:
Month
April
May
June
July
August . . .
September
October . .
November
December.
January. . .
February .
March. . . .
2 £
HI X.
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a
86.
85.3
86.5
85.
S4.I
82.4
83.
82.4
81.2
80.6
So. 7
86.
K — *->
til ^'Ti
§2£
Hq.£
l. u m
U> a*
a <*■-*■
x o
o o
- Ill
98
102
100
98
98
97
94
93
95
97
97
101
H
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K X.S
£z a
m ~ v
H oi
, w rt
go
o w
J Pi
73
73
74
73
74
70
73
68
69
53
66
71
s
o
z
z
2.97
3.15
2.99
2.04
6.91
16.64
7.77
1.49
0.08
0.05
0.03
Nil.
Annual mean temperature.
83.6
Total rainfall. . . .46.47
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The Capital 117
DRAINAGE
In Bangkok there is no system of drainage by
closed pipes such as one sees in European countries.
The numerous canals which intersect the city, as well
as the deep and quickly flowing rivers, are the main
sewers of Bangkok. These are flushed daily by the
rise and fall of the tide, the influence of which is felt
for many miles above the city. In addition to these
natural drains, side drains have been constructed
by the Sanitary Department alongside most of the
streets. Into these flow the flood water after rain-
fall, as well as the soiled water from the neighboring
dwelling-houses. Many of the drains have now been
provided with sluice-gates where they join canals;
the gates are opened at low water, and thus the
drains are effectually flushed, the cleansing being
assisted by sweepers. These drains are solidly built
brick culverts lined with cement, and with man-holes
every four metres apart to enable the coolies to
cleanse the drains more easily.
As the pail system of conservancy is employed,
nothing but bath, kitchen, and surface water enters
these drains, so that complaints of their being of-
fensive are not so frequent as might be imagined
by those unaccustomed to such an open system of
drainage.
1 1 8 Kingdom of Siam
REMOVAL OF HOUSE REFUSE
This is done entirely by the Sanitary Department.
Seven bullock carts and metal hand-carts are used
for this purpose, and by aid of these some fourteen
tons of refuse are carted away daily. In the mean-
time this refuse is utilized for the purpose of filling
up marshy holes in and about the city. When
enough refuse has been deposited, a layer of good
soil is scattered upon the surface as a deodorant,
and in a year, so rapid is the disintegration of all
vegetable refuse in this climate, it is found that
what was once a rubbish heap has become trans-
formed into innocuous soil.
It is proposed to erect refuse incinerators, not only
to destroy the ordinary refuse, but also to desiccate
the night soil so that it may be sold as a fertilizer.
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LATRINES
Within the city of Bangkok there are now seventy-
nine public latrines with a total of 361 rooms. The
bucket system is employed and the daily changing
of these is given out to contractors. An average of
three thousand buckets of one gallon capacity are
removed daily from these public latrines and from
private houses. The night soil is taken first to a
The Capital 119
central depot, it is there emptied into barges spe-
cially built for the purpose, and is then taken away
some miles beyond the limits of the city where it is
buried.
BANGKOK REVENUE DEPARTMENT
This department collects the various taxes in the
province of Bangkok. The total taxes collected
amounted to 1,800,000 ticals.
It has also charge of the Chinese poll-tax, which
is collected every three years. During the year
1903, the tax was paid by nearly one hundred thou-
sand Chinese, a number largely in excess of the pre-
vious collection. This increase is due to the fact
that owing to competition the fare from China was
less that $1, and immense numbers took advantage
of this cheap rate.
THE SANITARY DEPARTMENT
This department was instituted in the year 1897
for the city of Bangkok. The department is under
charge of the Vice-Minister, who is assisted by
directors of the various departments, a municipal
engineer, a medical officer of health, and numerous
assistant inspectors, clerks, etc.
The main duties of this department are :
i2o Kingdom of Siam
I. The construction and maintenance of the roads
and bridges.
II. The collection and disposal of all refuse.
III. The enacting and enforcing of regulations
against infectious diseases both of men and cattle.
The budget of the department amounted last year
to 810,520 ticals {£ 1 equals 17 ticals) and a special
allotment of 229,120 ticals.
The only revenue derived is the tax on bullocks
slaughtered in the government abattoirs, which
amounted to ten thousand ticals. The annual
amount thus spent on the sanitation of the city by
the Government amounted to 1,111,064 ticals, or
over £65,000.
BANGKOK POLICE, BY THE COMMISSIONER OF
POLICE
The Bangkok police is a force of 3580 officers and
men of the following ranks :
Commissioner I
Divisional Superintendents 4
Assistant Divisional Superintendents 8
Chief Inspectors 16
Inspectors 23
Head Constables 45
Sergeants 232
Constables 3078
Office staffs '. 73
The Capital 121
The commissionership extends over the province
of Bangkok and also includes the policing of all
the state railways. It is divided into four districts:
Bangkok town ; northern suburbs ; southern sub-
urbs; railway district.
The force is composed of the following nationali-
ties: Siamese, 3252; Europeans, 8; natives of In-
dia, Hindus, Pathans, and Sikhs, 320.
The force is recruited from all parts of Siam, en-
listment being particularly popular in the districts
of Korat and Lopburi, large numbers of Laos from
those two districts joining every year. Amongst
the native of India, Pathans largely predominate.
The uniform of the men is khaki coat and pants,
putties, with round cap.
In the town district the cap and putties are dark
blue, in both the suburbs divisions the cap and
putties are khaki, and in the railway district the cap
is khaki and the putties are dark green.
The uniform of the officers is: full dress — dark
blue ; undress — white or khaki.
On first joining the town force, the recruit goes
through a course of two months' training at the
police school. He is there taught drill, police regu-
lations, elementary law, and reading and writing, if
not already able to read and write.
122 Kingdom of Siam
There are usually about 1 80 recruits under training.
The officers — i. e., head constables and those
above that grade — are recruited both by promotion
from the ranks and by special enlistment.
The number of officers promoted from the ranks
is small. In the case of special enlistment the
officer recruit undergoes a training which varies
from six to ten months, according to circumstances.
Whilst under training, he receives a small allowance
and is attached to a station under the supervision
of an officer of experience who is responsible for his
training.
In the system of administration the station circle
is the unit. This circle necessarily varies greatly in
importance, the biggest station circle having one
hundred and fifty men attached to it, and the
smallest twenty men. According to size and im-
portance, the stations are under the direct command
of an inspector or head constable or sergeant. The
stations are grouped together in a series of chief in-
spectorships, each group being under a chief in-
spector. These again are grouped into subdivisions,
each subdivision being under an assistant superin-
tendent. The subdivisions are grouped into divi-
sions, each under a divisional superintendent, and
the commissioner supervises the whole.
The Capital 123
The duties of the police are the same as elsewhere,
being the investigation and detection and suppression
of crime. The police also undertake the prosecution
of all cases reported to them in the courts of first
hearing. They also supervise the pawnshops and
enforce the canal regulations. Permits for theatrical
performances, etc., are issued by the police, and
they are responsible for the maintenance of good
order at such performances. The force also supplies
watchmen to private employers. These men belong
to the force but are paid for by the employer. The
number of men so supplied is 205.
The work of the police is rendered more difficult
by the very large number of courts.
Owing to the system of extra-territoriality, each
treaty power has its own consular court. In ad-
dition to the ordinary criminal courts, there are in
Bangkok ten consular courts, each having a different
procedure and different system of law.
Another of the difficulties is the very large num-
ber of languages spoken, and although many police
officers of and above the rank of head constable can
speak two languages, and many three or more, it
frequently happens that a complainant is quite un-
able to make himself understood.
In addition to the ordinary police, but included
124 Kingdom of Siam
in the totals already given, there is a Special Branch
Police, a detective force, consisting of the following :
Assistant Superintendent I
Chief Inspector I
Inspectors 4
Head Constable 1
Sergeants 18
Constables 90
The assistant superintendent in charge of this
branch is also the licensing officer of pawnshops.
Until the year 1901 there was no supervision of
pawnshops. Before that time there were 432 shops,
all of which habitually acted as receivers of stolen
property. As there were no regulations of any sort
and as the owners were under very many different
jurisdictions, it was practically impossible to suppress
crime.
In April, 1901, the pawnshop regulations became
law, and there are now ninety-five pawnshops which
are under strict laws.
Under the regulations, all forfeited pledges in
pawnshops are examined by the police before any
can be sold, and are compared by them with the lists
of stolen property. For facility of reference, all
property is divided into certain classes, and the de-
scription of each kind is entered in the appropriate
z
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pa
a
X
The Capital 125
volume, each inspector being provided with a com-
plete set of volumes. Every morning at 8 A.M., the
description of all property stolen during the previous
twenty-four hours is sent to the Special Branch, the
descriptions are entered in the volumes of stolen
property, and the lists are then printed off and one
copy sent to every pawnshop. In the event of any
pawnbroker being already in possession of any of
the property described or subsequently receiving it,
he is obliged under heavy penalties to report the
fact to the nearest station. To ensure his doing so,
the examination of forfeited pledges already de-
scribed is made. Another of the duties of the
Special Branch is the identification of previously con-
victed offenders. The method in use on the Bang-
kok police is the finger-print method, the prints
being classified by Henery's system. The bureau
is maintained by the jail department. The finger-
prints of every man arrested for serious crime are
despatched each morning to the bureau. They
are there examined, and in those cases where the
offender has been previously convicted his former
convictions are entered on a form which is taken
to the court and attached to the case papers before
the court opens for the day.
The finger-print is also utilized for the detection of
i26 Kingdom of Siam
crime; every person who pawns an article being re-
quired to place the print of his right thumb on the
pawn-ticket counterfoil.
In those numerous cases in which suspicion has
fallen on several persons, and there is no clear proof
against any of them, this affords a very valuable
clue to the police, as an inspection of the fingers of
the suspected reveals who, if any of them, was the
person who pawned the recovered stolen property.
Although the system has been in force for only a
few months, it has already resulted in the detection
and conviction of many offenders. The latest avail-
able criminal statistics are for the year ending March
3i» !9°3-
During the year, viz., April i, 1902, to March 31,
1903, 12,137 cases were taken up by the police on
report.
For these offences 11,409 persons were arrested,
of whom 5653 were convicted.
In 1 191 cases the accused were allowed to com-
pound with the complainants.
Of the total of 12,137, 3575 were of a petty
nature, being cases of public nuisance, petty assault,
offences against canal regulations, etc.
The force as at present constituted has been in
existence since 1897.
CHAPTER IX
FINANCE
127
CHAPTER IX
FINANCE, BY THE ACTING FINANCIAL ADVISER
THE budget estimates of the kingdom of Siam
for the year 122 (April 1, 1903, to March 31,
1904) show a revenue of 45,540,000 ticals, an ex-
penditure of 45,499,365 ticals, and a surplus of
40,635 ticals. The first two amounts are largely in
excess of those for the previous year, and represent
an advance of over sixteen per cent, on the esti-
mates for 121 (1902-1903), the corresponding totals
of which amounted only to 39,000,000 ticals, and
38,971,271 ticals, respectively. This increase is in
keeping with the progress recorded during the last
twelve years, in which period the public revenue
and expenditure of the country have nearly trebled,
as will be seen from the figures below :
Year Receipts Expenditures
(Ticals) (Ticals)
111 (1892-93) 15,378,114 14,918,977
112 (1893-94) 17,389,672 18,174,504
9
I29
130 Kingdom of Siam
Year Receipts Expenditures
(Ticals) (Ticals)
113 (1894-95) 17,334,469 12,487,165
114 (1895-96) 18,074,690 12,685,697
115 (1896-97). 20,644,500 18,482,715
116 (1897-98) 24,808,001 23,996,625
117 (1898-99) 28,496,029 23,787,582
118 (1899-1900) 29,902,365 27,052,717
119 (1900-01) 35,611,306 31,841,257
120 (1901-02) 36,157,963 • 36,646,558
121 (1902-03) 39,000,000 ... .38,971,271
122 (I903-04) 45,540,000 45,499.365
The continuous, and in many ways remarkable,
growth of revenue evidenced by these figures is all
the more striking in view of the fact that it is the
result, not of new or enhanced taxation, but merely
of more effectual methods of collection and financial
control, combined with the natural expansion of
trade and cultivation. The expenditure, it can be
readily understood, keeps pace closely with the
revenue, since with a rapidly progressing adminis-
tration and calls for funds from every quarter to
carry out the numerous schemes brought forward
for the development of the country and the in-
creased welfare of its inhabitants, the budget allot-
ments must always approximate closely to the funds
available for the undertakings of the year.
It is, therefore, a matter for genuine satisfaction
that the revenue continues to show itself so elastic
.5
<
3
3
Finance 131
that the Government is able, year after year, to de-
vote larger and larger sums for the requirements of
the several departments of state, and the fact may
fairly be taken as indicative of the steady develop-
ment of the country, as well as of the real progress
made in the government of the realm.
REVENUE
The appended statement shows the main heads
of revenue and expenditure, with the amounts esti-
mated against each for the current year, and the
following explanations regarding certain of them
may be of interest.
The revenue from the first four heads, as their
names imply, is farmed out annually to the highest
bidder, who has the right, under Government con-
trol, of retailing his spirits or opium at certain fixed
prices, or of running his gambling houses or lottery
offices, as the case may be, in conformity with the
regulations in force in that behalf. This system
ensures a considerable revenue to the Government
from the heads concerned, with a minimum of
trouble and expense, and the only item to which
exception may perhaps be taken is that appertaining
to gambling, which is open to obvious criticism.
It must be remembered, however, that the practice
i3 2 Kingdom of Siam
is one of very long standing, that the gambling habit
is deeply ingrained in the Chinese community, who
constitute an important element in the population
of the country, and that no Government can af-
ford to suddenly lose a considerable portion of its
revenue without violently checking the progress of
administration. The question whether the total
suppression of public gambling is practicable is en-
gaging the attention of the Government, which is
fully alive to the objections to be urged against the
practice on moral and economic grounds, and it is
hoped that it may be possible before long to devise
a scheme providing a sufficient augmentation of
revenue from some other sources to make up for
the loss of that at present derived from the gambling
farms. In the meantime, it is the policy of the
Government to reduce the number of gambling
houses as far as possible, and in pursuance of this
thirty-eight such houses have been closed during
the last four years, viz., seven in 1900-01, fifteen in
1901-02, twelve in 1902-03, and four in the current
year (1903).
The customs revenue is derived from a general im-
port duty of three per cent, ad valorem, and a vary-
ing export duty on the main products of the country,
the chief of which are rice, teak-wood, and bullocks
Finance 133
—the last being exported principally for consump-
tion at the neighboring port of Singapore.
The mining revenue is mainly obtained from roy-
alty and export duties on tin. This commodity is
obtained in large quantities in Siamese Malaya, and
particularly in the province of Puket, on the west
coast of the Malay Peninsula, which has been de-
scribed as the Rand of the kingdom. The gross ex-
port of slab tin from Puket during the year 1902-03
amounted to 57,893 piculs (about 3430 tons), and
the direct revenue was over one million ticals.
The receipts under the head "Royal Mint and
Treasury " are almost wholly represented by the
profit accruing to the Government from the coinage
of ticals, of which it is expected that fourteen mil-
lion will be minted during the current year to supply
the requirements of trade. In accordance with the
scheme brought into force in November, 1902,
which is referred to in more detail in Chapter
X., these ticals are issued by the Treasury at a fixed
rate (at present seventeen to the pound sterling) in
exchange for gold drafts on London.
The raihvay traffic receipts for the current year
show a large increase of eighty-three per cent, on
those estimated for the previous twelve months — a
result due partly to the recent opening of a new line
i34 Kingdom of Siam
of railway, 151 kilometres long, from Bangkok to
Petchaburi, on the southwest of the capital, and
also in part to the expectation of increased traffic
on the northeastern line to Korat, including its ex-
tension to Lopburi. This very considerable increase
of receipts is satisfactory evidence of the largely
extended use of railways in Siam — a circumstance
which must tend to the convenience and enlighten-
ment of the inhabitants of the realm and the further-
ance of trade, both internal and external.
The octroi in Siam is an impost of the nature of a
transit duty on produce not included in the schedule
of dutiable articles of export. Its effect being to
hamper the internal trade of the country to some
extent, and to raise the cost of living, the question
of its abolition is engaging the attention of the
Government.
The Chinese poll-tax is levied triennially on male
Chinese subjects resident in Siam, while the capita-
tion tax is an annual impost payable by Siamese
males of certain classes, in commutation of the
forced personal labor for the Government, formerly
exacted.
EXPENDITURE
Ministry of the Interior. — In reviewing the ex-
penditure heads, attention is naturally directed in
Finance 135
the first instance to the Ministry of the Interior,
which controls the greater part of the administration
of the kingdom, outside the metropolitan province,
and as an indication of the enormous advance made
by this ministry in the past decade, it may be men-
tioned that its expenditure budget has increased
during that period about fifty-fold — the figure for
the year 1894-95 being approximately 206,000 ticals,
while that for the current year exceeds 10,500,000
ticals.
The chief items included in the above-mentioned
sum are: Gendarmerie, 2,560,000 ticals; Revenue
offices, 1,482,000 ticals; Provincial administration,
5,275,000 ticals; and F"orests, 850,000 ticals. The
gendarmerie is a police force of a semi-military char-
acter, officered partly by Europeans ; while the duties
of the Forest Department are concerned with the
conservation of the extensive teak forests of North-
ern Siam, the general control of the timber-extract-
ing operations conducted therein by the lessees of
the several tracts, and the collection of the royalty
and transit dues payable on the timber so removed.
The Ministry of Local Government controls the
administration of the capital at Bangkok, as well as
that of the province in which the capital is situated.
The principal departments under it are those of
13 6 Kingdom of Siam
Police (1,143,000 ticals), including a special railway-
force, and Sanitation (1,121,064 ticals), which is
concerned with the conduct of all sanitary arrange-
ments of the capital, as well as the construction and
maintenance of the roads and drains of Bangkok and
the lighting of its public thoroughfares.
Ministry of Finance. — The principal departments
included in the figures shown against the Ministry
of Finance are the Royal Mint, 1,632,000 ticals, and
the Custom House, 434,000 ticals. As regards the
former, it may be mentioned that the greater part of
the sum concerned represents the anticipated profit
for the current year on the coinage of ticals — the
whole of which has been charged off on the expen-
diture side of the budget for transfer to a special
reserve fund to be formed in connection with the
scheme lately adopted for placing the currency of
the country on a gold basis. Further reference to
this scheme is made in the chapter on Currency,
but it may be briefly explained here that the policy
of the Government is to set aside annually the profit
accruing from the coinage of its metallic currency,
with a view to creating a gold reserve for the pur-
pose of ensuring the stability of the tical at the rate
of exchange to be eventually decided on.
Ministry of Agriculture. — The expenditure of the
Finance 137
Ministry of Agriculture is chiefly incurred in con-
nection with the following departments, viz., Land
Registration, 179,0x^0 ticals; Sericulture, 236,000
ticals; Mines, 174,000 ticals; Special Commissioners
for the Issue of Title-Deeds, 195,000 ticals; and
Survey Department, 901,000 ticals.
The departments concerned with the registration
of land and the issue of title-deeds are creations of
recent date, and have been established in conformity
with the policy of the Government to accurately de-
termine and record the holdings of the land-owning
classes. The importance of this work cannot be
overestimated, as it will not only ensure to the
owners of the fields security of tenure in their hold-
ings, but also provide the Government with reliable
data for the assessment of land taxes.
As regards the Department of Sericulture, which
is still in its infancy, it will suffice to say that the
efforts of the Government are directed towards the
establishment of an agency for the investigation of
the best methods of silk production, as suited to
Siam. A Japanese expert was engaged for this
purpose last year, and his observations and experi-
ments have been attended with so satisfactory a
measure of success that it is now the purpose of the
Government, by the creation of model nurseries in
i3 8 Kingdom of Siam
suitable localities and the adoption of modern
methods of worm-raising and silk-reeling, to provide
centres of instruction for the classes already engaged
in this industry.
Siam at present exports a fair quantity of raw
silk, but the quality is in all cases poor owing to
unskilful methods, and, as a consequence, the prices
obtained are very low compared with those of other
silk-producing countries. This defect it will be the
endeavor of the sericultural department to remedy,
and if the scheme proves successful it should not be
long before Siamese silk takes its proper place as an
important and profitable article of export.
Ministry of Public Works. — The sum shown against
this head includes the Provincial Buildings and Roads
branch (1,269,000 ticals), and the Department of
Posts and Telegraphs (914,000 ticals), but not Rail-
ways, which are separately shown in the accounts,
though under the control of the same ministry.
The sum allotted for road construction in this
year's budget is chiefly for the province of Puket,
on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, and the
continued opening up of this part of the country by
improved means of communications should assist
in still further developing the flourishing tin-mining
industry carried on there.
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Finance 139
Raikvay Construction. — The policy hitherto
adopted by the Government has been to construct
its railways entirely out of revenue, and up to the
end of the year 121 (1892-93) a sum of over thirty
million ticals had been so expended. The current
year's allotment of 1,500,000 ticals is considerably
less than the average of the last few years, but it is
proposed to supplement this to the extent of about
4,500,000 ticals from the accumulated cash reserve
of the Government, in order to provide funds for
the further extension of the northern line. This is
to be pushed on as rapidly as possible to Chieng
Mai, a town in the extreme north of Siam, and it is
estimated that the work will be completed in about
six years at a cost of thirty-six million ticals.
Miscellaneous. — The items included in this head
are principally large sums of a special nature, such
as 1,600,000 ticals for non-recurring expenditure in
the northern province of Payap, which was disturbed
last year by a local rising headed by freebooters
from across the frontier; 300,000 ticals for the civil
list of H.R.H. the Crown Prince; a like sum for His
Majesty's tour expenses; and 150,000 ticals for ex-
penditure connected with Siam's exhibits at the St.
Louis Exposition, this not representing the whole
of the expenditure, but the amount allotted for this
140
Kingdom of Siam
year only, a further credit of 30,000 ticals having
been voted for the year and 70,000 ticals for the
following year.
Budget Estimate of the Revenue and Expenditure of the
Kingdom of Siam for the Year 122 (1903-04)
Revenue
Expenditure
Amount
(Ticals)
Heads
Amount
(Ticals)
5,757,383
4,158,583
7,"3,396
2,136,225
638,170
4,376,478
4,384,9*3
1,137,322
1,037,345
135,940
537,556
1,726,920
2,020,000
600,405
67,231
2,357,765
69,024
1,552,303
792,411
3,386,937
179,943
127,633
539,000
1,047,800
10,580,018
6,532,140
1,005,274
2,9!5,554
3,085,277
1,906.840
1,588,566
1,520,307
2,183,799
Ministry of Foreign Affairs..
Ministry of Local Government
Taxes on Paddy Lands, Or-
chards, Gardens, Planta-
Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Public Instruction
Ministry of Public Works
H. M.'s Private Secretary's
135,690
154,948
120,952
H M 's Civil List
Railway Traffic Receipts ....
Sundry Fees and Licenses...
Pensions, Annuities, and
730,000
1,500,000
Reception of Distinguished
350,000
4,080,000
Rent and Revenue from Gov-
Total
45,499,365
Sale of Government Property
Interest and Profit on Ex-
Total
45,880,693
340,693
Deduct for short collections
45,540,000
CHAPTER X
CURRENCY AND BANKING
141
CHAPTER X
CURRENCY AND BANKING, BY THE ACTING
FINANCIAL ADVISER
PRIOR to the 27th of November, 1902, the cur-
rency of Siam was on a purely silver basis, and
hence, up to that date, the value of its monetary
unit (the tical) followed the fluctuations of the white
metal. For many years silver had been steadily
falling and although, as shown in the chapter on
Finance, the revenue was exhibiting a most satis-
factory quality of expansion, the purchasing power
of the tical was being reduced year by year, and
larger and larger sums had to be paid by the state
for all services and commodities whose value was
measured in gold. His Majesty's Government was,
therefore, forced to the conclusion that unless it
took steps to counteract the depreciation of its
monetary unit (a depreciation the end of which no
one could foresee), it would be necessary, if the
progressive efficiency of the administration was to
143
144 Kingdom of Siam
be maintained, to increase taxation to a considerable
extent. This was regarded as undesirable for many
reasons even if its practicability were demonstrated
and consequently, after mature deliberation, it was
resolved to prohibit the further free coinage of silver
— hitherto imported in the form of Mexican and
British dollars, and exchangeable, by law, without
limit, at the rate of five ticals for three dollars. At
the same time it was publicly notified that, for the
future, any person desiring to obtain ticals from the
Treasury could do so by depositing an equivalent
sum in gold with the Government bankers in Lon-
don, at a rate of exchange to be ascertained on ap-
plication, and the first transactions effected under
this arrangement were at the rate of twenty ticals
to the pound sterling, the quotations of the local
banks just prior to this having been about 21 J. The
Government selling rate has since been gradually
raised by easy stages until, at the present time, it
stands at seventeen ticals to the pound, with a bank
rate showing no very marked difference.
The arrangement here described has, so far, been
found to work satisfactorily and has been generally
approved by the banking and mercantile community,
by reason of the strengthening effect it has already
had on the currency of the country, and the expec-
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Currency and Banking 145
tation that when the scheme is thoroughly estab-
lished the tical will have a practically constant value.
The importance of the latter consideration from the
point of view of general trade interests will be readily
appreciated, while the effect of a tical of higher value
will be to lower gradually local prices all round and so
reduce the cost of living to the community at large.
It may thus be claimed that the important economic
step taken by the Government for the placing of its
currency on a gold basis is calculated to further the
interests of the country generally, besides enhancing
the credit of the state and the value of the public
revenues, and that the measures adopted towards
that end have resulted in a minimum of disturbance
to the local trade interests.
METALLIC CURRENCY
The metallic currency of Siam consists of the
following coins :
SILVER
Name Approximate Weight Fineness
Tical 234 grains i About 900 parts
Sailing (\ tical) 58.5 " -(pure silver to
Fuang (I tical) 29.25 " ( 100 alloy.
COPPER
Name Approximate Weight
Song Phai, or 4-att piece (value -fa of a tical) 291 grains
Phai, or 2-att piece (value ^ of a tical). 175
Att (value fa of a tical) 87
Solot, or half-att (value T l 5 of a tical) 43
H 6 Kingdom of Siam
PAPER CURRENCY
Up to the 19th of September, 1902, the paper
money circulating in Siam was confined to the issues
of the three foreign banks having branches in Bang-
kok, and the notes of these, though not legal tender,
had been practically accepted as such by the public
and enjoyed a considerable measure of popularity.
It appeared expedient to the Government, however,
to provide for an issue of strictly convertible state
paper currency, and arrangements were accordingly
made for the establishment of a separate department
for this purpose, subordinate to the Ministry of
Finance, the operations of which commenced on the
date above mentioned.
The Government notes are of five values, viz.,
five, ten, twenty, one hundred, and one thousand
ticals, and the success of the scheme has been most
marked, as the circulation has risen in a single year
to over six million ticals, being at the average rate
of above five hundred thousand ticals a month.
This result is all the more remarkable in view of the
fact that the state notes have still to compete to
some extent with the issues of the banks already re-
ferred to, and that no attempt whatever has been
made to force the circulation in any way, the issues
being made for cash only, even to the Treasury.
Currency and Banking 147
The striking success attained in the short time the
department has been open augurs well for the future,
and seems to show that the Government notes have
supplied a real want in the needs of the country.
The outstandings at the present time are fully
covered by cash held in the vaults of the paper cur-
rency department. By law, twenty-five per cent,
of the coin received for the notes issued may be in-
vested in such securities as the Minister of Finance
may select, with the approval of His Majesty, but
no investments have yet been made.
BANKING
Banking establishments are represented in Siam
by branches of the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Bank-
ing Corporation, the chartered Bank of India, Aus-
tralia, and China, and the Banque de l'lndo-Chine,
which commenced business in Bangkok in 1888,
1893, and 1897, respectively. There are also agencies
of the Mercantile Bank of India, the National Bank
of China, Limited, and the International Banking
Corporation of New York. All these institutions
are substantial and well-established concerns, with
branches, agencies, and correspondents in the prin-
cipal cities of the world, and they are thus in a
148 Kingdom of Siam
position to meet all demands made on them for
purposes of trade and private business. Their
establishment in Siam has undoubtedly been most
beneficial to the trade interests of the country, and
the three first-named institutions also deserve special
recognition as being the pioneers in the matter of
popularizing the use of paper money in the capital
of the kingdom. Much of the success of the Gov-
ernment issue, of which mention has been made
above, is unquestionably due to the fact that the
notes of the private banks had already thoroughly
established themselves in the confidence of the
people and had accustomed them for many years to
the use of this particular form of credit. The Gov-
ernment paper had consequently no prejudice or
suspicion to encounter, and was readily taken by
the public from the first.
The aggregate volume of business done by the
banks established in Siam may be gauged to some
extent by the figures relating to the foreign trade of
the country, which amounted, in the year ending the
31st of March, 1903, to a total of 155,531,994 ticals,
the imports being valued at 69,716,074 ticals, and
the exports at 85,815,920 ticals. These consider-
able figures, which show on the total an advance of
nearly eighteen per cent, on the returns of the pre-
Currency and Banking 149
vious year, indicate the extent to which the assist-
ance of the banks is invoked in financing the external
trade of the country ; but besides this there is, of
course, a very large mass of business connected with
private loans, advances, deposits, and drawing ac-
counts. Among the latter are those of the Govern-
ment, which keeps a portion of its cash balance with
the three institutions mentioned as having branches
in Bangkok.
No regular banking facilities are provided for the
interior of the kingdom, but the Government is
usually prepared to sell drafts on district treasuries,
for the convenience of traders and others, at a small
charge for commission. This privilege is readily
availed of at times, and may be regarded as the
germ of one phase of the functions of the future
National Bank of Siam. There can be little doubt
that an institution such as this would be of the
greatest convenience and utility both to the Govern-
ment and the country at large, and it is hoped that
it may be possible before long to give practical
effect to the idea.
CHAPTER XI
AGRICULTURE
151
CHAPTER XI
AGRICULTURE IN SIAM, BY W. A. GRAHAM, ESQ.,
FORMERLY ASSISTANT TO THE MINISTER
OF AGRICULTURE
THE Siamese are, before all things, an agricultu-
ral nation. From time immemorial, the valley
of the Menam has been one vast rice-held, and the
present inhabitants of the country continue to
plough, sow, and reap in it after the same methods,
and with the same kind of implements, as were em-
ployed by their predecessors a thousand years ago.
The Siamese man does not take kindly to most
forms of labor, and is quite content to see such
trades and manufactures as there are in his country
in the hands of Chinese and other foreigners. The
pursuit of agriculture, however, he reserves to him-
self, and, while nine tenths of the people of the
country follow the calling, it is very rarely that for-
eigners are found taking an active part in any form
of agriculture except market-gardening.
153
154 Kingdom of Siam
The principal product of the country is rice. In-
deed, so much is this the case, that thus baldly to
state the fact is to convey but a feeble and inade-
quate impression of the supreme position of this
cereal in the land. It might almost be said that rice
is the only agricultural product, for though Siam
exports timber and grows maize, millet, sugar, to-
bacco, and fruit, yet her rice production preponder-
ates so entirely, and her commerce, politics, and
social conditions are now, and have always been, so
profoundly influenced by rice, that all these lesser
products amount, by comparison, almost to noth-
ing. The European, whose idea of a staple food is
formed from a knowledge of the part played in the
economy of his own country, can only vaguely
imagine the importance of rice to the Siamese. It
constitutes not merely the principal, but almost
the sole food of every one, from the highest noble
to the lowliest plebeian: horses, cattle, dogs, cats,
and all other domestic animals live on it ; it is used
for making beer and spirits ; it enters largely into all
ceremonials, and the superstitious observances in
connection with it provide the people with their
most frequent occasions for holiday-making. The
only recognized means of investing money is, or was
until the recent introduction of European banking,
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Agriculture 155
the purchase of rice-fields ; the nobility is graded
according to the (now purely nominal) grants of
rice-land conferred by the king; dealings in rice and
the ownership of rice-land are the causes of most of
the civil litigation in the law courts, and the result
of the last, or prospects of the next, rice harvest,
make the most absorbing topic of conversation at
all times. It is rice which forms the cargoes of the
thousands of boats ever passing up and down the
river Menam ; which supplies the grist of the numer-
ous mills of modern Bangkok (the furnaces of which
are fed with rice-husk), and which is carried away in
the ocean-going steamers always to be seen loading
in the port; finally it is from rice that the Govern-
ment derives, directly, almost the whole of its
revenue.
Every step in the process of rice cultivation de-
mands, in common with most of the ordinary occur-
rences of Siamese life, the observance of more or
less elaborate religious ceremonial, for no one living
in a country where the innumerable spirits of earth,
air, and water take such a lively interest in the
affairs of mankind as they do in Siam, would be at
all wise in undertaking any matter, as to the issue
of which he might be anxious, without due pro-
pitiations made beforehand. Besides these private
156 Kingdom of Siam
ceremonies which affect the individual only, there
are also others of a public nature, directly concern-
ing the entire community, and regarded as of the
utmost importance in determining the nature of the
harvest. The chief of these are the "Loh Chin
Cha," or Swinging Festival, and the "Raak Na,"
or First Ploughing; ceremonies probably of Brah-
minical origin, the latter, and diverse forms of the
former, being practised in all the countries of Indo-
China and mentioned in various Brahmin histories
and traditions. From the incidents during the per-
formance of these ceremonies, which are watched
with anxiety by enormous crowds of the people, the
soothsayers are enabled to foretell the amount of
success which will attend the agricultural operations
of the coming season.
Rice is grown in the plains after two different
methods, the one by sowing the seed broadcast on
the land where it is to grow, and the other by caus-
ing it to sprout first in small patches or nurseries
of specially prepared ground and afterwards trans-
planting it into the fields. The first is the older
system, the adaptation, in fact, of the ancient
rude hill-cultivation to the plains, and for this the
local rainfall is the only water-supply required,
while for the second the collection of water with
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Agriculture 157
which the land can be irrigated from time to time is
necessary. For the first method, or " Na Wan "
(Na, a rice-field, and Wan, to sow), also called "Na
Muang," the land is ploughed as soon as the rain
has moistened the soil sufficiently for the plough to
break it up, usually in the month of June. Soon
after, the ground is again gone over with the harrow,
being thereby completely broken up and denuded
of grass and weeds, after which the seed is sown
upon it. The crop is then left to grow and usually
receives enough moisture from the rain to enable it
to come to maturity without further attention. For
the second method, or "Na Dum" (Na, a rice-field,
and Dum, to dive into, hence to plant with the hand
in the soft, yielding mud), also called "Na Suan,"
the ploughing is as for Na Wan, but the harrowing
is not done until sufficient water has collected on
the field, either from rainfall or by irrigation, to
entirely cover the soil. It is then churned into a
porridgy mass and the weeds and grass removed by
the harrow. In the meantime the rice has been
sprouting in the nursery, the manured soil of which
causes rapid germination, and the young plants are
now taken up and planted out. The "Na Dum "
method, common to all rice-growing countries of
the East, is much more intricate than the "Na
i5 8 Kingdom of Siam
Wan," but is also much more productive, and
whenever a supply of water becomes available by
irrigation or from excessive rain the latter gives
place to the former.
The practice of "Na Dum" is an art. The seed-
lings, when the fields are ready for them, are taken
from the nurseries in bundles of a hundred or so and
neatly tied together, the mud being shaken from
their roots by a deft kick administered to the bundle
at the moment of drawing it from the soil. This
work falls to the men and the planting usually to
the women, and as skill in planting vastly enhances
a girl's chances in the marriage market, so a young
man who should hand to the women, to plant,
bundles clumsily tied or with muddy roots would
stand small chance of getting a bride in his own
village.
Buffaloes are used for ploughing in the lower
plains, where the atmosphere is humid, but the
buffalo, in spite of his great strength, is useless in a
hot, dry climate, and therefore, in the higher and
drier parts, bullocks are used, a pair of these doing
the work of one buffalo.
While the paddy, as it is called until the grain is
husked, is growing, it demands no labor, and until
it is reaped nothing is done beyond a little spas-
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Agriculture 159
modic bird-scaring by the children. With the
reaping time all are busy again : the crop is cut
with small sickles loaded on sleds and drawn to the
winnowing-ground, a small spot either in the fields
or near the village, on which the earth is beaten
down hard and smooth. There, after the spirits have
been duly propitiated, the sheaves are strewn out
and are trampled upon by the cattle until the grain
is all detached from the straw. Winnowing then
takes place, after which the golden yellow grain is
stored in specially constructed huts and the year's
work is over.
Though there are many large estates in the neigh-
borhood of Bangkok, the property of the royal
family and nobility, the greater part of the land is
held in small farms by peasant proprietors, having
full hereditary rights subject only to the will of the
king, in whom, finally, all rights are vested in ac-
cordance with ancient custom. Each man ploughs
his own land, but the planting and reaping is usually
done with the aid of his neighbors, the whole village
turning out and working together on each owner's
fields in turn. This labor in common is the occa-
sion for much merry-making, the young men and
maidens, glad of the chance of meeting, planting
or reaping all day amid bouts of repartee and bursts
160 Kingdom of Siam
of laughter, finishing up with a hearty feed at the
expense of the owner of the fields, followed by rude
music and further badinage. In the lower plains,
however, where the farmer is beginning to under-
stand the profit to be derived from increase of pro-
duction, this happy-go-lucky custom is falling into
disuse, the merry amateurs being replaced by hard-
working farm hands engaged at a wage for the
season.
Two crops of rice are habitually raised each year
in the plains of Siam, the first called "Kao Bao,"
or light crop, and the second, "Kao Nak," or heavy
crop. The "Kao Bao" is planted on irrigated land
before the appearance of the rains in the plains,
often as early as February, and is reaped in May or
June. The "Kao Nak," is planted between July
and September, and is reaped in December or Jan-
uary. The "Kao Bao" crop in no case amounts to
a very large quantity of rice.
The inhabitants of the hilly parts of Siam culti-
vate a variety of rice different from that grown in
the plains, following the method common to the
hill-tribes of India, Burmah, China, and other rice-
growing countries of the East. This is the old,
original, primitive form of agriculture, the first
probably practised by prehistoric man, consisting of
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Agriculture 161
merely clearing a patch of jungle by cutting and
burning, making holes with a sharp stick in the
ground thus exposed, and therein inserting grains
of rice.
The varieties of rice cultivated in Siam after the
above methods number more than forty, many of
which, however, resemble each other so closely as
to be scarcely worth special notice. Others present
highly distinctive qualities either in size, color, or
flavor of the grain (such as glutinous rice, red rice,
and the small, round-grained hill rice), or in the
nature of the plant itself. There can be no doubt
that some of the latter varieties have been evolved
from the peculiar conditions under which they have,
during succeeding centuries, been cultivated. Thus
a variety of common rice, grown on land which is
subject to high floods, has the almost miraculous
faculty of growing with more or less speed (at times
as much as a foot in twelve hours) according as the
water rises, the plant often reaching as much as ten
feet in length in its efforts to keep its leaves above
water. This variety, now a thoroughly established
one in Siam, is unknown in Burmah, Java, or India.
That the amount of rice produced in Siam has in-
creased enormously of late years is evidenced by a
glance at the customs figures, which show that the
162 Kingdom of Siam
amount of rice annually exported has risen from
217,000 tons in 1885, to close on 800,000 tons last
year. Nevertheless, it is now fully realized that the
production of the country is still very far short of
what it might be, were the question of irrigation
properly taken up and all available land brought
under cultivation.
Though the whole valley of the Menam is inter-
sected by innumerable canals, many of which are of
ancient construction, in the absence of water-control
these are useful only as a means of communication ;
and irrigation, except in one small district north of
Bangkok, is almost non-existent. Various uncouth
and primitive implements are used by the farmers
for raising water on to their fields, implements quite
powerless to avert total loss of crop should water be
scarce, but irrigation by raising the general water-
level above that of the land, though there is a reason
to believe it was once practised, is a lost art. The
Government is now considering the execution of a
great irrigation scheme which, if ever completed,
will revolutionize agriculture in Siam and inevitably
place her in the van of the rice-producing countries
of the world.
Other agricultural products of Siam are maize,
millet, tobacco, cotton, sesamum, sugar, betel-nut,
Agriculture 163
betel-leaf, pepper, cocoanut, yams, beans, gourds
of different kinds, and a large variety of fruits.
Maize and millet are grown in small plots in the
plains and in fields on the higher lands. As they
do not require much water, two crops can often be
raised in a year, but the amount grown is small and
is not increasing.
Tobacco is grown in considerable quantities in
several districts, though not in the lower plains. In
some localities it is cultivated in the rice-fields during
the dry weather, but the best crops are raised on the
light, rich, alluvial soil near the banks of the upper
reaches of the Menam. The production is not quite
equal to the amount consumed in the country, and
a certain quantity is imported from China. The
methods of cultivation are rough. The seed is sown
on ground prepared by ploughing and hoeing, and
the young plants are thinned and occasionally
weeded as they grow up. Little care is taken to
ward off the attacks of insects, with the result that
much of the crop is often lost, while that which is
reaped frequently consists of diseased, stunted
plants. Notwithstanding this bad treatment, how-
ever, and the very primitive methods of drying and
curing the leaf, the tobacco grown in some districts,
notably Pitsanuloke and Ratburi, is of a superior
164 Kingdom of Siam
quality, and there is little doubt that with proper
care the tobacco of Siam could at least compete
with that of Burmah, India, or Java. At present
none is exported, but were a foreign market to be
found, it is probable that tobacco-growing would
extend rapidly.
Cotton has been cultivated in Siam from time im-
memorial, all tradition as to when and by whom it
was introduced having long been lost. It is proba-
ble that the plant was first introduced from India,
where it is known to have been used at least 2500
years ago, the earliest record of cotton in China
being some centuries later. Several varieties of the
species Gossypium herbaceum are known, and it is
believed that Gossypium hirsutum is also found in
Siam,- though this species is otherwise confined to
the American continent. Cultivation is carried on
chiefly in the north, but is apparently declining
owing to the increasing facilities for obtaining for-
eign cotton goods. There is, however, every reason
to suppose that cotton could be successfully culti-
vated in all parts of the country and, given sufficient
incentive to development, might become one of the
chief agricultural products of Siam. The plant,
which is treated as an annual in most countries, is
here often allowed to remain in the ground for two
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Agriculture 165
or even three years, bearing crops of diminishing
value twice each year and growing into a straggling,
woody shrub from six to eight feet high. This
treatment is prompted by the laziness of the culti-
vators, laziness which, however, brings its own pun-
ishment, as the roots of the cotton, after three years'
growth, are plunged very deep in the earth and can
only be removed by extensive digging operations.
The cotton produced in Siam is nearly all dressed,
spun, and woven into cloth locally, but a small
quantity of the raw article is exported overland into
China and Burmah.
Sesamum is grown sometimes in the rice-fields
before the rice season and sometimes on high land.
It is easy of cultivation, and usually commands a
good price, but it is not much grown in the lower
plains. Sesamum is cultivated for the oil contained
in the seed, which is extracted by means of rough
wooden presses worked by hand or by bullock
power. The residue, after the oil has been ex-
tracted, is also used for feeding cattle and as a
manure. The oil itself is used locally for cooking,
and a certain amount of the unpressed seed is an-
nually available for export (about four thousand
tons). It is probable that, with a little judicious
encouragement, the cultivation of sesamum might
1 66 Kingdom of Siam
be greatly increased, as, the crop ripening in the
month of May, it could be largely cultivated by
diligent husbandmen without in any way interfering
with rice-growing operations.
Sugar. — In the early part of the last century
sugar was very extensively grown in and exported
from Siam, and Sir John Bowring, when he visited
the country in 1855, predicted that this would soon
become its chief agricultural product. His con-
jectures have not, however, become facts, for, in
common with other cane-sugar centres, Siam has
been defeated by beet. Sugar is not now exported
at all, in fact it is largely imported, while sugar-cane
continues to be grown only for use as molasses and
for the manufacture of coarse, unrefined sugar used
for home consumption. A good deal of jaggery
sugar is extracted from the palmyra and cocoanut
palm-trees, but as the trees grow chiefly on waste
ground and receive no attention from the cultivator,
this can scarcely be considered as an agricultural
product.
Betel-nut is grown all over the country, but not,
except in the Siamese Malay States, in sufficient
quantities to supply the enormous demand which
the chewing proclivities of the Siamese create.
The betel-nut palm is grown in gardens, of which
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Agriculture 167
a great number exist in the suburbs of Bangkok.
Once planted in a moist situation it requires abso-
lutely no care, and though it is possible that by
selection and manuring the fruit might be im-
proved the Siamese cultivator has never thought it
worth while to take any trouble with it.
Betel-leaf is a vine and is grown in plantations.
It is cultivated round almost every village in the
country, and so great is the consumption of it in
Bangkok that one of the large markets there is de-
voted entirely to its sale. The vine requires a good
deal of water, and the ground on which it grows must
be manured and frequently weeded. The leaves are
fit for use when the vine is a year old and, from that
time on, are picked as quickly as they grow, until
the vine is about five years old, when the leaves be-
come too small and strong-flavored to be of value,
and the plant is taken up and replaced by a young
one. Betel-leaf is one of the few agricultural pro-
ducts the cultivation of which employs a consider-
able amount of Chinese labor, the others being
pepper, fruit, and vegetables.
Pepper is grown in some quantity in the southern-
most parts of Siam. At one time the production
was greater than it is now, and in the seventeenth
century the monopoly of trading in it was a bone of
1 68 Kingdom of Siam
much contention between the European merchants
trading with the country. At that time the output
was probably more than three thousand tons a year.
Now it is much less, the market during the last few
years having been so uncertain as almost to destroy
the industry. Pepper grows as a vine and is trained
upon poles, usually in small garden plots near the
villages. It has a large, handsome green leaf.
The seed, when dried and husked, consist of small,
round berries. They are mostly smooth and hard,
but about one third of the produce of each vine does
not come properly to maturity, it shrivelling up,
is separated from the good seed, and sold as in-
ferior, or black pepper.
Cocoanut was, at one time, largely grown round
Bangkok and farther inland, but within the last few
years the ravages of the cocoanut beetle have been
so terrible that the cocoanut palm has almost disap-
peared from there. Cocoanuts are now imported in
great numbers, the cocoanut tree tax has been re-
moved from the revenue schedules, and the country
has apparently acquiesced in the defeat inflicted
upon it by the beetle. Yet a reasonable amount of
care and forethought is all that was ever required to
overcome the insect pest, and even now there is no
reason why cocoanut should be any more difficult
Agriculture 169
to grow in Upper Siam than it is in the Malay States.
On the coast of the gulf, and inland in the Siamese
Malay States, the cocoanut palm grows magnifi-
cently, and not less than ten thousand tons of
copra, reported the finest in the world, are annually
exported thence to Singapore. The cocoanut, like
the betel-nut, demands no care except that the soil
in its neighborhood be kept clean and open, and that
a strict watch be kept for signs of beetle. After the
trees become big, weeds cease to grow at their feet,
and the happy cultivator then has nothing more
to do than to gather his nuts, of which an average
tree produces over one hundred in a year. The
Malay, who is no more inclined to work than most
people, has discovered the superior advantages of
cocoanut-growing and, at the present moment, land
is being converted, throughout the Malay States,
from rice-land into cocoanut plantations.
The remaining vegetable products of the soil of
Siam may be classed rather as horticultural than as
agricultural produce. Of yams, beans, and gourds
many different kinds are cultivated, but always in
small quantities and for local consumption merely,
and the same may be said of the various fruits,
fibres, dyes, etc.
There has, for a very long time, been a Ministry
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Kingdom of Siam
of Agriculture in Siam, but unfortunately in the
past few steps have been taken by it to improve or
encourage the agriculture of the country. Enough
has been said to show that there is abundant room
for such improvement and encouragement, and it is
fervently hoped that the scientific agricultural ex-
periment laboratory which has recently been or-
ganized under the Ministry, will place in the hands
of the Government the means to give that assistance
to the agriculturists of the country which alone can
enable Siam to keep a place in the keenly contested
produce-markets of the world.
CHAPTER XII
FORESTRY
171
CHAPTER XII
FORESTRY IN SIAM, BY THE CONSERVATOR OF
FORESTS
AT present by far the most valuable tree in Siam
is the teak. The forests in which this species
occurs are situated in the dry regions of the Mon-
thon Payupp, and those parts of the Monthons
Nakon Sawan and Pitsanuloke which lie north of lati-
tude 1 7 , the average annual rainfall being probably
under fifty inches. These regions, which are hilly
throughout, are drained by the Salween on the west,
and the Mekong on the east, while the numerous
feeders of the Menam water the whole of the cen-
tral portion, all affording the waterways by which
the timber is floated out.
Where conditions are suitable teak occurs in de-
ciduous forests up to 2500 feet elevation, mixed with
many other species, of which the following are some
of the most important :
Xylia dolabr if onnis, Eugenia jambolana, Bombax
173
1 74 Kingdom of Siam
insignia, Sterculia {various), Pteros pernum semisa-
gittatum, Garuga pinnata, Bursera serrata, Semecar-
pns panduratus, Spondias magnifera, Terminalia
tomentella, Terminalia crenulata, Terminalia be-
lerica, Anogeissus acuminatum, Lager strcemia flos
regina, Lagerstrcemia tomentosa, Homalium tomen-
tosum, Cordia grandis, Cassia Siamea, Odinawodier,
etc., etc.
Prior to the year 1896, although teak had been
worked very extensively in the Menam and Salween
basins, practically no attempts had been made to
control these workings. It is true that such work
was supposed to be restricted to forests for which
leases had been granted by the Government, and the
forms of lease then in use contained certain con-
ditions as to minimum girth, etc., which, although
inadequate, were apparently at the time considered
a sufficient safeguard for the future of the forests,
but as no Government official was directly responsi-
ble, not only were the conditions of leases not en-
forced, but very many unleased forests were worked
under the authority of the local officials.
Forestry in Siam (if President Roosevelt's defini-
tion is to be accepted) may be said to have com-
menced only in 1896-97, when the Government
secured the services of an officer of the Imperial
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Forestry 1 75
Forest Service of exceptional abilities on deputation
from the Government of India.
This officer at once directed his attention to the
teak forests, and acting under his advice the follow-
ing measures were taken to protect the very valuable
properties of the Government.
(i) A Forest Department was established with an
European staff of officers, recruited as far as possible
from the Imperial and Provincial Forest Services of
India and Burmah, not the least important of whose
duties being the training of selected Siamese youths
with a view to their filling responsible positions in
the department in the future.
(2) The promulgation of various royal decrees by
His Majesty, providing for the better protection and
control of the forests, and absolutely prohibiting
any work except under a lease.
(3) The inspection and survey of all leased forests
by Forest Officers with a view to ascertaining the
future possibilities of the forests and also further
periodical inspections to ensure strict observance of
conditions of leases.
(4) The training of selected Siamese at the Indian
Forest School at Dehra Dun.
In 1897, with the consent of the lessees a new
form of lease was substituted for that under which
176 Kingdom of Siam
they had hitherto worked, the conditions of this
lease embodying the more important restrictions
necessary for the future welfare of the forests,
among which may be mentioned the raising of
the minimum girth from fifty-one inches to 76%
inches.
In 1900-01 most of the old leases expired and a
further new form of lease was brought into force for
such forests as Government decided should still be
worked. This form provided for the closing of one
half of the original areas and prohibited any further
girdling by lessees.
The royalty was also raised from 4.25 Rs. a log
to 10 Rs. per large and 6 Rs. per small log.
A short account of the system under which teak
is worked may be of interest. The trees selected
are first killed (girdled) by cutting a ring round the
tree near the ground, well into the heart-wood.
They are then left standing for two years at least
to season, when they are felled, logged, and dragged
usually by elephants, into the nearest floating
streams. Parties of elephants are also kept working
the main streams to break up stacks and keep the
timber moving.
Across the flat country carts are now being largely
introduced, dragged by buffaloes, as such work can
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Forestry 177
be done in the hot weather when elephants cannot
be used.
Various mechanical contrivances have also been
introduced by the Borneo Company, Limited, and
the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation, Limited,
with wire ropes to drag the logs over hills which are
too steep for elephants.
Owing to the many rapids on the Me Ping, Me
Yome, Me Wang, and Me Nam, logs are floated
singly until arrival at Raheng, Sawankaloke, or
Utradit, when they are made into rafts varying in
shape and number of logs according to the river,
and thus conveyed to the duty station at Paknampo,
where they are examined, measured, and duty due
collected by a Forest Department establishment be-
fore proceeding to Bangkok. The average annual
arrivals at Paknampo amount to some one hundred
thousand logs.
Salween timber is floated singly to Kyodan, a
rafting station some seventy miles north of Moul-
mein, then rafted to Kado, where the Government
inspection and collection of duties is carried out
before passing to Moulmein.
Average annual arrivals from Siam at Kado
amount to some sixty thousand logs.
As regards the other valuable species of timber
1 78 Kingdom of Siam
trees in the north, these at present cannot be
worked north of Raheng, Sawankaloke, or Utradit,
as, being heavy woods, they require to be floated
lashed to bamboos, and too large a percentage
would be wrecked in the rapids to make it a paying
business. A railway to Chiengmai is, however, under
course of construction which when completed will
tap a very large area of practically virgin forest, so
far as these species are concerned.
Whereas teak, the most valuable tree in Siam,
and the most largely exported, is confined almost
Forestr in entirely to the hilly tracts in Northern
siam. Siam, it must not be supposed that Lower
Siam contains no valuable forests; far from it.
Although at the present time little is done to foster
forestry operations in the south, the Government
being fully occupied in looking after its teak forests
in the north, the time is not so far distant when the
forests of the Malay Peninsula and Lower Siam will
constitute one more of the many valuable natural
assets of the country. The areas of these forests are
very extensive. On the east they extend from the
borders of the Krung Kao Monthon all along the
Korat Railway to a short distance beyond Buriram
at the eastern extremity of Monthon Nakon Racha-
sima. This same block extends south into Monthon
Forestry 1 79
Pachin. On the southeast a great belt of forest
extends through the coast districts of Chantaburi
and Pachin, while on the southwest the peninsular
districts of Singora, Tringanu, Kedah, are one
compact mass of dense forests.
The question that naturally arises in regard to
such extensive forests is, Of what value are they to
the Government or to any one else? Though their
value is to a certain extent still a matter for the
future to decide, it must not be supposed that
nothing has yet been done to prove the existence
of many valuable woods in them.
The first we may mention and at present the most
valuable is the well-known rosewood (Siamese,
Mai Pa Yung) Dalbcrgia (sp.). This extends in
suitable localities throughout the forest area of Na-
kon Rachasima and Pachin, and owing to the facil-
ities of transport afforded by the Korat Railway
considerable quantities are exported yearly to Bang-
kok and find their way to Hong-Kong and Singa-
pore and even to London, where it is in demand as
a furniture wood.
Other very useful woods are largely exploited
from this area, such as Diptcrocarpus tubulatus,
Sliorca obtusa, and Pentaceme siamcnsis (Siamese
Mai Taig-Lang); they are used in Bangkok as
i8o Kingdom of Siam
posts for buildings, but more especially for the rail-
way, the sleepers for which, as well as the wood for
bridge construction, having been from the very com-
mencement supplied entirely from the last two spe-
cies, to which uses they are admirably suited.
In spite of such a great demand there are still
enormous tracts of these woods which have never
yet been touched by the axe.
In addition to the above may be mentioned Ptero-
carpus indicus {Mai Pradoo), a valuable furniture
wood, supplies of which are only awaiting better
means of communication and transport to be worked.
Turning to the woods of the peninsular districts
we find along the coasts of Petchaburi and Cham-
pawn a kind of boxwood {Mai Put), much sought
after by Japanese traders, who export it for use in
wood-carving.
These are but a few of the many valuable woods,
which as time goes on will no doubt be found in the
as yet almost unexplored forest of the peninsula.
Already foreign firms, who have recognized the
value of these forests, are applying for concessions
to work them, and when, in addition to the woods
mentioned, the many other species useful for boat-
building, house construction, and other local require-
ments, such as Xylia dolabriformis {Mai Deng),
fc.;»
W£r
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Forestry
181
Hopea odorata {Mai Takien), Lagcrstroemia flos
regina {Mai Tabak), Schleichera trijuga {Mai Mak-
raw), Nauclea cordifolia {Mai Kivow), and a host of
others are considered, the value of these forests to
Siam can hardly be overestimated.
CHAPTER XIII
JUSTICE
183
CHAPTER XIII
JUSTICE, BY THE JUDICIAL ADVISER
THE Ministry of Justice is quite a recent creation,
as previous to the year 1892 there were as many
jurisdictions as departments, and each de-
partment frequently tried cases concern- ystem.
ing themselves either as defendants or plaintiffs.
There were restrictions on their arbitrary powers,
but these restrictions were often overridden by a
powerful head of a department. The board in
whose hands the decision of an appeal was sup-
posed to lie were not strong enough to enforce
any judgment affecting the department of a strong
minister or against an influential nobleman. Be-
sides the courts there existed what might be called
the germ of a Ministry of Justice in the board named
Lukkhun. This board dealt with cases which were
not directly concerned with the departments and
with any appeals which the departments were pleased
to send to them. But they had no real power.
1S5
1 86 Kingdom of Siam
The work of deciding cases was divided amongst
different sets of officials. The actual recording of
evidence was done by the Talakarn (or judges); the
guilt or responsibility of the parties was decided on
the records by the Lukkhun. The Pooprap, or
officials, who were supposed to know the law, fixed
the punishment or amount of judgment.
All judicial officials received only nominal salaries,
and it can be well understood that chaos reigned
supreme, and that justice was only likely to be done
when money and influence were on the side of the
plaintiff.
In the provinces the executive officers acted as
judges, and could do pretty well as they pleased.
In 1892 the Ministry of Justice was established,
and all the judicial functions of the various depart-
ments, with the exception of the military
New System.
and naval courts and the palace court,
were consolidated under the control of a Minister
of Justice. This change was confined to Bangkok
at first, but in 1895 all the central provinces were
brought under the same control. The outlying
provinces of Petchaboon, Udawn, Isarn, and parts
of the Malay States still remain as before, but ap-
peal from the courts in these districts are now for-
warded to the Appeal Court at Bangkok. It is
Justice 187
intended to incorporate the whole of the interior
gradually, as time and money will permit.
At present every province is divided into Muangs
with a District Court (San Mnang) capable of trying
cases up to five thousand ticals in value
Courts.
and criminal cases involving punishment
not exceeding ten years' imprisonment. An appeal
lies to the Circle Court (San Monthon), established
in the capital of each province. This court is
capable of dealing with every kind of case, both civil
and criminal, and the cases from the District Court
and those entered originally in the Circle Court are
subject to appeal to Bangkok. The Bangkok Ap-
peal Court is in two divisions, one of five judges
dealing with appeals from the provinces, and one of
three dealing with appeals from Bangkok and from
the provinces not yet incorporated under this
ministry.
A final appeal lies to His Majesty the King, who
has delegated his duties to the tribunal composed of
five members commissioned under the Royal Sign
Manual. This tribunal may be termed the Supreme
Court of Appeal (San Dika).
The procedure, both civil and criminal, was pro-
mulgated in 1896. It was based on the procedure
then in force in the British Consular Court at Bang-
1 88 Kingdom of Siam
kok, and is essentially English in form. In the crim-
inal procedure it is noteworthy that the accused
generally makes his statement as soon as
Procedure.
the charge is read over to him, and the
statement taken at that stage of the proceedings
helps immensely to have the truth brought to light,
as the accused generally proffers a complete narra-
tive of all that happened from his point of view,
and, if guilty, he frequently incriminates himself.
The law is, of course, Siamese, and, thanks to
the labors of H. R. H. Prince Rajburi, the present
Minister of Justice, it can be consulted
Law. J
in a handy and convenient form. He
brought out an edition of the ancient laws in two
volumes with footnotes and a full index show-
ing which sections have been modified or repealed,
and has also edited recent enactments up to the
year 1901. The principal decisions of the Supreme
Court of Appeal since the year 1899 have also been
published under his superintendence. These form
the law reports of Siam. The student of Siamese
law can thus easily ascertain all the written law on
any subject, and has a fair amount of judge-made
law for his guidance in addition to lectures delivered
in the law school by the minister and other Siamese
judges on special branches of law.
Justice 189
The ancient laws of Siam are fortunately worded
in very wide terms, and are elastic enough, with the
exercise of a little ingenuity, to meet nearly all the
requirements of modern conditions in this country.
In civil cases where the law is silent new paths can
always be struck out, but in criminal cases this is
not quite so feasible. The importation of brand-
new codes would doubtless make the work of the
judges easier, but the advantages of working on a
system known to the people for centuries are obvi-
ous. As substantial justice can always be meted
out if the judges display ordinary intelligence and
impartiality, the changes of the future are likely to
be confined to the gradual amendment of the present
groundwork.
One of the most striking features of the judicial
system of this country is the facility and cheapness
of appeal, and the systematic way in
which it is made use of by most litigants.
When this department was first established the
minister rightly considered that as most of the
judges were new and untried men and generally
youthful, appeal should be made as easy as possible.
Appeal by post from the provinces is the result.
It costs only two and a half per cent, on the
amount involved, and in criminal cases nothing at
190 Kingdom of Siam
all. It is not necessary to appear personally before
the Appeal Court nor to engage counsel. The con-
sequence is that the Appeal Courts are overwhelmed
with work. Last year the two divisions of the Ap-
peal Court disposed of 3100 cases, of which 414 were
arrears from the previous year. Of these appeals
1 175 were sent up to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
One of the most important institutions under the
Ministry is the law school. This is only in its in-
Law fancy yet, but on the attention and money
school. spent on the training of the future judges
depends to a great extent the successful administra-
tion of justice.
The first object that has been steadily kept in
view in regard to judicial appointments has been to
eliminate those of the old-fashioned officials whose
ideas as to progress, punctuality, and rapidity of
work are not abreast with the times. The result is
that already a large proportion of the judges are
young men.
The law school was started in 1897, and the aver-
age number of students has been annually increas-
ing. The number on the books last year was 375,
and the previous year 292, so that it is evident that
the judicial career and practice in the Siamese courts
is becoming more attractive. The present lecturer
Justice 191
is the judge of the Court of Foreign Causes, and as
his court is by no means a busy one, he can give the
best part of his time to the school. He is an old
student and received his final education in England.
The examination, which this year was conducted
under the supervision of H. R. H. the Minister of
Justice, the Under Secretary, and two other exam-
iners, is pretty stiff. The papers, in fact, bear a
marked resemblance to ordinary bar examination
papers in England, turned into Siamese with, it
must be said, additional puzzles peculiar to Siamese
law. The number of students who succeed in pass-
ing this examination is in very small proportion to
the number going up. Since 1897 only fifty-four
candidates have received the title of Advocate, or
an average of nine per cent.
Provision has been made for the training in
Europe of three of the best students who know a
foreign language. There they remain three or four
years, receiving first general education and latterly
tuition in law.
The sum allowed this year for the total adminis-
tration of justice in Siam (exclusive of the out-
lying districts already mentioned) was
• 1 1 . 1 • Staff -
1,204,194 ticals or, roughly speaking,
about £60,000. This includes all expenditure on
19 2 Kingdom of Siam
the law school, new buildings, repairs, etc. It
seems at first sight a very inadequate sum with
which to run a department of this size. The whole
estimate would, in fact, only provide salaries for a
dozen judges in England or India, but it does not
bear a very unfair proportion to the general revenue
of the country, which is only 40,000,000 ticals, or
say £2, 000,000. In any case no matter how neces-
sary a larger sum may be, it could not be obtained
without great difficulty.
There were on the list of the staff at the end of
this year 168 judges, of whom 41 are stationed in
Bangkok province, and 773 other officials, or a total
of 941 on the pay-sheet of this Ministry.
The officials in the Ministry itself, or the controll-
ing branch, number fifty-two. It is satisfactory to be
able to note that the judges receive very fair pay.
They begin at 240 ticals a month (say £150 a year)
and rise to 800 ticals a month (£s°° a year). The
executive branch of the Government service is, how-
ever, better paid than the judicial; the position is
more honorable and the work entails less drudgery.
A judge in Siam has in the past been looked upon
as a very subordinate kind of official, and he is just
now beginning to lose the stigma of belonging to an
inferior service. The best men in this country are
Justice 193
attracted to the Ministry of the Interior or the
executive.
There is provision in the estimates for eight assist-
ant legal advisers, but at present the staff is reduced
to three, one of whom is on leave. The
Assistant
assistant legal advisers have, with the Legal
rr . Advisers.
exception of one Japanese, who is a
graduate of Yale University, been drawn from
Belgium.
The Minister of Justice has issued at various times
instructions to judges which have been collected
and form a small volume of about fifty instructions
pages. They explain in a clear and defi- to J ud e e3 -
nite way many points which have proved a source
of doubt to the judges, and also lay down regula-
tions for the carrying out of details of court work.
The Bangkok prisons only are under the control
of the Ministry of Justice. The Central Prison
contains an average of 1500 prisoners and
, , 1 1 • 1 • Prisons.
the short-sentence and under-trial prison
about 600. The total cost of these two prisons last
year was 230,850 ticals, or say £1 1,500.
The provincial prisons are under the control of
the Ministry of the Interior.
The penalty of death is carried out by beheading,
and during the year twelve criminals were executed.
13
194 Kingdom of Siam
One died before the death penalty could be inflicted.
Death These criminals were all convicted of more
Sentences. . i ,, ,
than usually atrocious murders.
It is satisfactory to note that the registers and
General other books of the courts are well kept,
and the returns are made with praise-
worthy punctuality.
The returns of cases for the whole Bangkok prov-
ince were received at the Ministry within fifteen
days of the close of the year. Typewriters, both
Siamese and English, are extensively used in the
courts, and this accounts to a great extent for the
dispatch with which the general work of the courts
is conducted.
STATISTICS
The following statistics are for the province of
Bangkok. A short summary of the statistics for
the provinces is added at the end.
The total number of cases before the courts in the
Bangkok province during the year was 11,470, a
slight increase on last year (1 1,242). Most
Cases in
Bangkok of these cases arose in the city of Bang-
Province. . .
kok, the five district courts in the province
accounting for 1881 only. Of this total of 11,470
only 229 were pending at the end of the year.
Justice 195
Of the total number of cases 8140 wore criminal.
There were 57 convictions for homicide (26 being
manslaughter), a decrease of 27. The criminal
previous year seems to have been much
above the average. For theft there were 1479 con-
victions, nearly double the year 120, but about the
same as the year 1 19.
There were altogether a total of 3418 cases which
ended in conviction and 2637 in acquittal. The
convictions were forty-two per cent, of percentage of
., i« j /• , • 1 • 1 Convictions.
the cases disposed of, a proportion which
is very much the same as last year. This result,
however, is unsatisfactory.
The percentage of sixty-two in the central crim-
inal court was fairly satisfactory, and the Attorney-
General's Department, which is concerned almost
entirely with the serious crimes dealt with in the
central criminal court, obtained ninety-four per
cent, of convictions out of the 857 cases they took
up. This percentage includes cases which they
appealed and were successful with in the .Appeal
Court.
In the police courts the police act as prosecutors,
and the percentage of convictions in the chief police
court in Bangkok (Borispah No. 1) was fifty-five.
The average percentage of convictions in the district
196 Kingdom of Siam
courts was thirty-four and in Nontaburi twenty-
three.
The magistrates can only deal with the evidence
put before them, and should any prosecutor think
he has not obtained justice he has the remedy of
appeal, which costs nothing except some trouble.
Out of the 3801 cases before the Borispah Court
No. 1 there were only 73 appeals, which tends to
show that dissatisfaction with the judgments does
not account for the large percentage of acquittals.
Three persons were sentenced to death, 12 to im-
prisonment for life, 47 to upwards of ten years, 93
to a term not exceeding ten years, 465
Punishments. . .
to periods varying from six months to
three years, and 181 3 to less than six months.
These punishments are all heavier than during the
previous year, and in that year penalties were
heavier than in the year 119. The courts are be-
ginning to deal much more severely with crime than
in past times, and this tendency is in the right
direction.
The number of civil cases shows a decrease from
4H9to3330. The most numerous cases were for
damages in assault, which is freely allowed
Civil Cases. & J
by Siamese law. There were 965 of these
cases. There were 387 land cases, 386 proceedings
Justice 197
for divorce, 154 cases of malicious injury to prop-
erty, 338 on commercial contracts, 51 actions against
persons who are termed co-respondents in English
law, 97 cases regarding deceased estates, 60 of de-
posit for safekeeping, and many other miscellaneous
actions.
The amount of work in the Court of Foreign
Causes, the court in which foreigners are plaintiffs,
is very small in comparison with the ordinary work
of the courts. There were only forty-seven cases
this year, but this does not include petty cases in
the police courts, of which there are not separate
returns. Twelve of these cases were appealed, and
judgment reversed in one only; British subjects
form the majority of plaintiffs, but suits forwarded
by seven other different consulates were also dis-
posed of.
The division of the Appeal Court dealing with
Bangkok had before it 11 79 cases, of which 10 only
were carried forward as arrears, and the Appeal
division for the provinces had 2394 cases
of which 463 had to be carried forward.
The division for the provinces is being reinforced
by two additional judges this year, and this will
relieve the strain considerably.
In the Appeal Court were confirmed seventy-five
198 Kingdom of Siam
per cent, of the judgments, amended six per cent.,
and reversed nineteen per cent. Last year seventy-
two per cent, were confirmed.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (Dika Court) is
not' under the control of the Ministry of Justice,
supreme The judges are appointed by His Majesty,
court of anc j tf\e expenses are paid out of the
Appeal. A x
Legislative Council budget. There were
1 175 cases before the court for adjudication, of which
443 were arrears from the previous year.
The Japanese Legal Adviser was permanently at-
tached to the court during the year, and the Minis-
ter of Justice and the Judicial Adviser also hold
commissions. The Minister of Justice and the Ju-
dicial Adviser, however, only sit, as a rule, in more
than usually important cases, or where decision is
to form a precedent for the application of Siamese
law to modern conditions.
Of the 1 175 cases 827 were disposed of (as com-
pared with 350 last year), but still leaving 348 to
be carried forward. The number of appeals from
Bangkok and the provinces were about equally
divided. There were 12 cases from the Special
Land Commissioner's Court. The number of really
difficult cases is comparatively small.
The total number of cases before the provincial
Justice 199
courts was 17,726, or 923 less than last Casesinthe
year. The number of arrears at the close Provinces,
of the year was 1005.
Criminal and civil cases were about equal in num-
ber, 1000 of the former and 8143 of the latter. In-
cluding the returns for Bangkok already commented
upon, the total number of cases in all courts under
the Ministry of Justice during tue year was 29,196.
Of these, 27,962 were disposed of, carrying forward
1234, or four per cent., as arrears. This percentage
of arrears is very satisfactory, and is due to the
stringent orders that were issued by the Ministry of
Justice some time ago.
The number of appeals disposed of by the circle
courts (San Mont /ion) was 3210. Of these,
2175, or sixty-eight per cent., were con-
firmed.
The district courts {San Muang), whose appeals
were thus dealt with, are on the whole fairly satis-
factory, judging from statistics. It has to be remem-
bered that some of the cases reversed in the circle
courts (San Monthon) may have been upheld in the
Appeal Court at Bangkok and that only nineteen
per cent, of the total number of cases dealt with
were appealed from the district courts.
CHAPTER XIV
EDUCATION
20I
CHAPTER XIV
EDUCATION, BY THE DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION
ALTHOUGH education on modern lines is a
thing of quite recent introduction into Siam,
the temple schools have provided a certain amount
of instruction from time immemorial. True, it was
of a primitive kind, but its graduates were able to
read and write their own language, and in some
cases acquired more or less knowledge of the sacred
language, Pali. Instruction was given by the priests
attached to the temples in which the schools were
held. Before the great movement of the Siamese
nation seaward had begun, when Sukkothai was the
capital of the state, in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, there were schools and scholars in Siam.
In this respect the condition of Siam was very much
the same as that of the great Western nations.
Education centred in the Wat (temple), as it did in
the monastery in Europe, and Pali took the place of
Latin to the studiously inclined. It is only within
203
204 Kingdom of Siam
the last hundred years that Siam has fallen so far
behind Western nations. Probably even fifty years
ago the percentage of illiteracy in the capital was
not much greater than in many capitals of Europe ;
but whereas Europe has forged ahead with amazing
rapidity Siam has until recently been content to
stand still.
That attitude has now gone and for ever, and the
people themselves are qualified to attain to any
standard. Naturally quick and retentive they have
a genuine love and desire for knowledge and respect
for the possessor of it. To this has latterly been
added an appreciation of the benefits, moral and
material, likely to accrue from it.
The zeal for education has been a part of the gen-
eral quickening of the nation that the last few years
have witnessed, and has met with the approval and
encouragement of His Majesty the King and of all
in high places. The first-fruits of this zeal was
the establishment of an Education Department.
Formed at first as a separate department, it was
afterwards enlarged into a Ministry of Public In-
struction, taking cognizance of education in general,
ecclesiastical matters, the superintendence and up-
keep of hospitals, and text-book compilation. In
this form the Department of Education has had
w
ij
a.
w
H
as
Q
Q
D
m
Education 205
an existence of about fourteen years. At certain
periods of its history it cannot, perhaps, be said to
have been particularly active, but of its progress in
the last few years there can be no question.
The work of education is always gradual, and it is
impossible to point to immediate results such as can
be produced by effort directed in most other ways,
but there are already many tangible evidences of the
work done.
Primary schools have been established in every
part of the capital and are attended by ten thousand
scholars. In these a four-years course of instruction
is given in the ordinary subjects, much the same as
in all primary schools the world over. After com-
pleting this course the scholar who wishes to con-
tinue his studies may enter one of the secondary
schools. Here, in addition to the ordinary subjects,
instruction is given in English, higher mathematics,
practical geometry, and the knowledge of Pali terms
and words necessary to the correct writing and
understanding of official letters, documents, and
Siamese literature. A thorough knowledge of the
Siamese language is in itself an achievement of no
mean order, and the various additional subjects in-
cluded in the code justify the description of second-
ary schools.
206 Kingdom of Siam
Three years spent in one of these schools give a
boy the necessary mental equipment for ordinary
departmental work. And here it may be pointed
out that a very large proportion of the scholars are
destined to enter the Government service. The
educational system of a country must always be
framed in accordance with the country's require-
ments. The Siamese are distinctly a governing race.
Thus for the nation's needs a civil-service college is
a more practical institution than a technical school.
This college is one of the special schools which a
scholar may enter after completing his course in the
secondary schools ; here future administrators are
given some idea of the duties and responsibilities
that will in time devolve upon them. The pupils
mostly enter the service of the Department of the
Interior and will carry new methods of organization
into the provinces.
There are various other special schools into which
the scholar may pass on the termination of his
secondary course. The English schools, of which
there are at present three under the department,
one residential and two day-schools, give thorough
instruction in English. Here the students are
further incited to work by the prospect of being
sent abroad to continue their studies. His Majesty
Education 207
the King has donated two scholarships to be com-
peted for annually by any bona-fide Siamese subject
under the age of nineteen. The fortunate winners
of these scholarships, worth three hundred pounds
a year for four years, are sent to Europe and per-
mitted to take up any line of study which they
choose, the sole condition being that at the end of
their course they place their services at the disposal
of the Government. Others chosen from the list
may also be sent to be trained as teachers, on their
return to spread the knowledge they have acquired,
as teachers, or compilers of much-needed text-
books in the vernacular. The number so sent
might well and probably will be increased in future.
In addition to the Government schools there are also
several private institutions, of which special mention
may be made: of the Assumption College (staffed
by the Reverend Brothers of St. Gabriel) and the
High School of the American Presbyterian Mission.
They are both residential and day-schools combined
and do much good work. "Wang Lang," also
under mission control, performs a similar service for
girls and has an excellent record of work and service.
Of special schools attached to the different depart-
ments there are many. These take scholars from
both primary and secondary schools, but in the
208 Kingdom of Siam
latter case the special course is shortened. Mention
may be made of the Law School, the Military and
Naval Colleges (especially popular with the sons of
nobles), and the Medical School and College, which
is doing much real if quiet work, sending out quali-
fied men into the provinces to fight against the epi-
demics that have in the past sometimes decimated
the population.
From these schools promising students are se-
lected from time to time to be sent abroad, there to
continue and to perfect their studies.
The Survey School (residential) trains men for use
in its own department, giving a thorough practical
training both in the schoolroom and in the field.
There are in addition schools for training men for
work in the railway department, the police, the
provincial gendarmerie, and in sericulture, this last
being under Japanese instruction and supervision.
Lastly and most important of all, as being those
' on which the success of the others depends, come
the two normal colleges. One trains teachers for
both the primary and secondary schools of the capi-
tal ; the other, recently established but already very
full, is intended primarily to supply the needs of the
provinces. Upon this school the future of educa-
tion in the provinces will largely depend. In edu-
en
►J
3
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iu
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en
Education 209
cation, as in most other things, the capital is far in
advance of the rest of the country. True, there are
schools in every province and in communication
with the department, but the control over them is
more nominal than real. This year two organizing
inspectors have been sent out to near provinces,
whose work it will be to raise the provincial schools
to the same standard as those of the capital. This
will be the work of the future: to establish a uni-
form national graded system of education, and while
perfecting the system in the capital to extend its
workings to every town and village in the country.
It is a work of great magnitude, but its accom-
plishment is only a question of time. The desire
for education is rapidly spreading, and the provin-
cial authorities are as eager as the central department
for the work to be started.
There are many difficulties in the way, the chief
being the want of money and the scarcity of suitable
teachers. But these will be lessened in time, and
there are many cheering features, not the least of
which is the manifest enthusiasm and self-sacrificing
work of the Buddhist priests. These form a con-
siderable part of the teaching staff of the primary
schools.
They are for the most part keen teachers, full of
14
210
Kingdom of Siam
their work and excellent managers. Temples and
priests figure very largely in the work of education,
and it is well that this is so.
Little progress has as yet been made in the work
of educating girls, and in the higher branches of
education much still remains to be done. At pres-
ent the foundations are being laid, and if the more
ornamental part has not yet appeared it is not alto-
gether a bad sign for the future.
CHAPTER XV
ARCHEOLOGY
211
CHAPTER XV
SIAMESE ARCHAEOLOGY — A SYNOPTICAL SKETCH BY
COLONEL GERINI
SCARCELY any of those neolithic implements
typified in the shouldered Celt, which have been
traced in a continuous and homogeneous series all
from Chutya-Nagpur in India through Quasi-totai
Assam, Burmah, the Yun-nan borders, * bsenceof
' Prehistoric
Laos, Kamboja, and the Malay Penin- Remains,
sula, to the Archipelago, have so far been discovered
in Siam proper. The last find recorded is the head
of a stone hatchet dug out a few years ago at some
thirty feet below the surface of the ground on the
railway works, at a point about six miles to the west
of Korat. It is now in the Royal Museum at Bang-
kok. Although there is ample evidence to show
that the ethnic element characterized by such imple-
ments must have been in the early days also in
occupation of the Menam valley, for some reason
or other, chiefly, perhaps, on account of as yet
213
214 Kingdom of Siam
insufficient and systematic exploration of the coun-
try, such prehistoric and presumably aboriginal relics
have hitherto failed to come to light in this region,
except in exceedingly rare dribblets. Accordingly,
the archaeology of Siam must needs start, for the
present, with the Brahmano-Buddhist period.
From several centuries before the Christian era a
double system of traders and adventurers began to
The indu flow into Indo-China from, respectively,
northern and southern India, reaching the
upper parts of the peninsula by land through Burmah
and its southern coast by sea, and founding there
settlements and commercial stations. Brahminism
and later on Buddhism (third century B.C.), with
most other achievements of Indian culture, followed
in the wake of these pioneers; and thus it is to
ancient India that Indo-China owes her early civili-
zation. At the dawn of the Christian era, as I have
elsewhere demonstrated, Buddhism had already
gained a firm foothold on the east coast of the
Malay Peninsula, near the head of the Gulf of Siam,
whence it advanced and soon spread all over the
country of the Menam delta. On the other hand,
Brahminism had established itself in central and
northern Siam, where Swankhalok and Sukhothai
formed its principal foci. Not more than about
Ruins at Ayuthia
Archaeology 2 1 5
four centuries later we begin to hear of Nagara Sri
Dharmaraja, or Ligor, as the chief centre of both
Buddhism and Brahminism on the cast coast of the
Malay Peninsula; while on the Menam delta we
find both faiths prevalent, but more especially Bud-
dhism, in the territory of Phrah-Prathom in the
present Nakhon-Chai-Sri province.
In the sixth century A.D. no less than three cities
already existed in central Siam, to wit: Swankhalok
(0; B.C.), Sukhothai (circa 70 B.C.), and
yj:> " ' Siam'sMost
Kampheng-phet (A.D. 457); and in the Ancient
Cities.
north, not far from the headwaters of the
Menam, another one, Lamphun, had just been
founded (A.D. 527). The two first-named were
alternately, for the next eight centuries, the capitals
of the famous Swankhalok- Sukhothai State, which
so long held hegemony over central Siam. The
last one became the capital of the first Thai king-
dom in the Menam valley, holding its own until
A.D. 1 28 1, when it was supplanted by the newly
rising Lao power that established soon afterwards
its seat at Chieng-Mai (a.d. 1296). In southern
Siam we find at the same remote period the cities
of Sri Vijaya, on and about the site of the present
Phrah-Prathom village; and the then but recently
founded Lopburi (a.d. 493), which was soon to
216 Kingdom of Siam
become the chief centre of power for southern Siam.
All these, conjointly with Ligor, already referred
to, are Siam's most ancient cities. Accordingly, it
is on their sites and in the adjoining territory that the
oldest monuments and about all that remains of
Siamese antiquities of that early period are to be
found.
The influence of Indu civilization was not slow in
making itself felt in the centres above described and
The Monu- to perpetuate its own memory in monu-
ments whether epigraphic or otherwise.
It is, however, as naturally follows, in edifices de-
voted to worship that it began to make itself mani-
fest.
The oldest of these structures are to be found at
Swankhalok in the shape of gloomy shrines and
hermit cells, erected mostly on the tops
In Central J r
and Northern and flanks of the hills, and carefully
Siam.
oriented according to the cardinal points.
They are characterized by massive Cyclopean walls
surmounted by gable roofs, all built of laterite
blocks excavated near by, and laid throughout in
horizontal courses without any cement ; their unique
entrance, which faces the east, curving towards the
top into a pointed, often lancet-shaped arch. The
style quite resembles that of the ancient central and
Archaeology 2 1 7
northern India temples, thus evidencing that their
planning, and perhaps construction, was due at least
in part to immigrants and settlers from those quar-
ters. The shrine, apparently Sivaite, erected on
the summit of the Laong Samli Hill, near the centre
of old Swankhalok city, is no doubt one of the most
ancient of these structures, for by tradition it is
almost coeval with the foundation of the city itself
{circa 95 B.C.).
Later on follow more elaborate creations, charac-
terized by the same massive style of building, but
embellished with portals, railings, and
1 o ' Develop-
symbolical decorations, devoted to Brah- ments.
minic worship; and further Buddhist spires and
pagoda-shaped reliquaries; royal palaces and city
walls, and smaller monuments, some of which are of
an exceedingly graceful architecture, which may be
seen in considerable numbers all over the sites of
old Swankhalok, Sukhothai, Kampheng-phet, and
other ancient cities of central and northern Siam.
The masterpiece of all, and the best-preserved speci-
men, is undoubtedly the spire of Wat Phrah Prang,
at the southeastern corner of old Swankhalok city,
dating from the latter part of the eleventh century.
Notable also is the Brahminic temple of Sri Swai
in old Sukhothai, with its three finely ornamented,
218 Kingdom of Siam
&'
tapering domes, built somewhat after the style of
the Angkor Wat and the Mi-bun shrine in Cambodia.
The material exclusively employed in the oldest
monuments of central and northern Siam is laterite
hewn into fair-sized blocks. Later on,
Building
Materials. b u |- no t- before the eleventh century, this
becomes associated with gray or greenish-gray sand-
stone, used for statues, doorways, railings, and
decorative sculptures. A striking example of its
employment in huge monoliths occurs in the gate-
ways of the walled enclosure surrounding Wat Phrah
Prane at old Swankhalok. From the twelfth cen-
tury A.D. brickwork comes into evidence and soon
prevails, forming in after ages the characteristic of
Thai architecture, which elaborated and developed
in brick, plaster, and mortar the old architectural
motives just described.
This being a deltaic country where neither laterite
nor other natural building materials are to be found
except at the foot of the hills flanking
In Southern x
siam. both sides of the Menam valley, stone
structures do not occur except on the eastern bor-
ders on the one side, and in the province of Rajburi
on the west, and then but very sparsely and of very
diminutive sizes. The prevailing material is brick,
and it is accordingly of this that we find the oldest
en
z
Archaeology 219
monuments built, though not unfrequently coarse-
textured sandstone, either yellowish or reddish,
more rarely gray, in color, occurs associated with it
in terminals, wall crests, stelae (Wat Maha That at
Rajburi), in statues (gray, Phrah Prathom), and even
in square blocks (Wat Na Phrah That at Lopburi).
The oldest monument of southern Siam appears
to be the original Phrah Prathom spire, now encased
in a recently erected and far more imposing one of
over three hundred feet in height. Nearly co-eval
with it is the neighboring Phrah Thon pagoda, also
in brickwork (a.D. 656). Then follow the remains of
ancient temples at Lopburi, on the sites of which
Buddhist Wats now rise; and the ruins of primitive
hermitages with debris of statues and stelae on the
flanks of the Sabab Hill near Chanthabun, a city
dating from the eighth or ninth century A.D., if not
earlier. At Ligor, Wat Na Phrah That, in the
centre of the city, and Wat Mahcyong (Mahiyan-
gana), on its outskirts, are undoubtedly very ancient
foundations; and ruins of considerable antiquity,
never yet brought before this to the notice of the
public, with statues of deities, etc., occur on the
western side of the Malay Peninsula at the Phrah
Maria (/. t\, Visnu) Hill, on the upper course of the
Takua-pa (Takopa) River. A thorough examination
220 Kingdom of Siam
of the as yet archaeologically unexplored adjoining
districts is sure to reveal the existence of many
more ancient remains. All early structures on this
region are in brick, the material generally employed
all over the east coast of the Bay of Bengal as far
north as Pegu, Arakan, and the delta of the Ganges.
The chief characteristics of the old monuments of
southern Siam are, besides the almost exclusive
employment in them of brickwork, their more gen-
eral Buddhist destination than in the north, where
Brahminism was the prevailing form of worship in
the early days. Moreover, their style of architec-
ture is, as may easily be inferred, more southern
India, i. e., Dravidian, in type, thus most closely
approaching that of the latter Cambodian monu-
ments. Nowhere do we find, however, in Siam,
whether north or south, any sublime creations
equalling in grandeur and artistic perfection those
of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thorn, which are, in-
deed, unique in that respect not only in Indo-China
or even Asia, but perhaps in the whole world.
Limestone caves, many of which are stalactitic,
abound in southern Siam, especially in the Rajburi
and Phejburi provinces, but nowhere
Caves. , . - _ , T-. • i
more than on the Malay Peninsula.
These, as in Cambodia and Pegu, have been mostly
-
a
h
o
-i
o
Archaeology 221
utilized as Buddhist sanctuaries and places of pil-
grimage ; but beyond some decorations and statues,
generally in brick or plaster, they offer nothing re-
markable in the way of architectural achievement,
compared with, for instance, the rock-cut temples
of western India or even Ceylon. Buddhist clay
tablets, bearing Sanskrit legends of the tenth and
eleventh centuries, have, however, been dug out of
the caves to the northeast of Trang, on the west
coast of the Malay Peninsula. They greatly re-
semble those from Pagan and Tagoung in Burmah.
Although no such fruitful harvest of ancient in-
scriptions has been gathered in Siam as in Cambodia
and Champa, owing, no doubt, to the lack
of thorough and systematic archaeological
exploration, the petroglyphic monuments thus far
brought to light are of sufficient historical and palaeo-
graphic importance to deserve more than a passing
mention. Their chronological range extends for
the districts on the Malay Peninsula as far back as
the fifth century of the Christian era, while in
southern Siam it borders upon the sixth or seventh.
No inscription has, strange to say, so far been dis-
covered in either central or northern Siam earlier
than the fourteenth century, i. <?., than the period
when Thai supremacy had already firmly established
222 Kingdom of Siam
itself over the whole of the Menam valley. Ancient
manuscripts are extremely scarce, and the oldest
ones so far known are on palm leaves, and do not, as
a rule, go back more than three centuries. No coins
with inscriptions or monograms dating earlier than
the fourteenth century have as yet come to light.
Leaving aside the already well-known inscriptions
of Kedah and province Wellesley {circa A.D. 400),
on the Malay and proceeding up the peninsula, we feel
Peninsula. bound to notice the Pali and Sanskrit in-
scribed stelae of the eighth century A.D. from Wat
Maheyong in the province of Ligor, a Pali inscrip-
tion on a brass plate from the Takua-thung district
{circa ninth century A.D.), and, what will be welcome
news to scholars, a petroglyphic monument of about
the same age as those of Kedah and province Wel-
lesley just discovered at old Takua-pa (Takopa),
within the precincts of Wat Na-Muang, in the middle
of a former bed of the river. This last find is of the
highest importance, as evidencing that Indu influ-
ence had established itself, not merely at one or two
isolated points on the west coast of the Malay Pen-
insula, but practically over the whole length of that
littoral, whence it crossed overland to the Gulf of
Siam.
In the country of the Menam delta the oldest
Archaeology 223
epigraphic records hitherto discovered are those in
Pali on terra-cotta tablets, dug at Phrah In southern
Prathom some fifty years ago (a.d. 1857).
They contain the Buddhist profession of faith, and
the shape of their characters (of a southern Indian
type closely identical to the Vengi and western
Chalukya) argues their age to be the sixth or seventh
century A.D. Then follows a gap stretching down
until the Khmer inscription from Lopburi, which
bears two dates corresponding to A.D. 1022 and
1025. At Chanthabun, however, both Sanskrit and
Khmer inscriptions dating from the ninth and tenth
centuries occur, as well as at Battambong and in the
province of Korat, on the outskirts of the Cambodian
epigraphical zone. These are all the records so far
discovered of the age of Cambodian domination over
southern and central Siam, which extended, with
but few interruptions, from the middle of the
seventh to that of the thirteenth century.
The following period, that of independent Thai
rule, is first marked by the Sukhothai inscription of
about a.d. 1300, this being the earliest
The Dawn
epigraphic monument extant worded in ofThai
i.l ti • 1 1 1 ■ ^1 Epigraphy.
the lhai language, and engraved in the
Thai characters that had then just been invented.
After this, Thai inscriptions become numerous in
224 Kingdom of Siam
both central and northern Siam, as well as in west-
ern Laos (Chieng-Mai), and we enter upon the
phase of national Thai history, centring at first in
Sukhothai (a.d. 1257-1350) and then in Ayuthia
(a.d. 1 350-1 767) as successive capitals.
Most of the inscriptions alluded to above are
carved on finely grained sandstone slabs of either
paiseographic a gray or greenish-gray color. At old
-u ian les. g wan ]-} la i ] <: anc [ Sukhothai, dark - blue
slate and phyllades have also been at times em-
ployed. Inscribed bricks and tiles are common on
the delta, as well as all over the Malay Peninsula,
where also occur the stamped clay-tablets bearing
Buddhist images and inscriptions already referred to.
Until A.D. 1500, such epigraphic records as bear
dates are invariably dated in the Saka era, begin-
ning A.D. 78, which has been the one in general use,
until comparatively modern times, and, with but rare
and sporadic exceptions, all over Indo-China and the
Archipelago. This fact, as I have elsewhere more
fully pointed out, proves the pretended foundation
of the Chula era in A.D. 638 at Swankhalok to be
a pure myth absolutely unworthy of credence. 1
1 Ckipta era in Burmah (fifth century A.D.), also Buddhist era
(from A.D. 1084 downwards), and Sakaraj (Culia Saka) era at about
the same period (from A.D. 1017 downwards). In Siam the Bud-
Archaeology 225
In the Swankhalok and Sukhothai monuments
from the eleventh century downwards, glazed tiles,
statuettes, friezes, terminals, and other
decorations in glazed pottery occur. A Noticeable
ceramic industry turning out products in ^ eatures,n
J o I Connection
imitation of the crackled ware of the with Ancient
Monuments.
Chinese Sung dynasty was started at
Swankhalok towards the close of the eleventh
century. Iron I found employed in the walls of
Wat Sri-chum (old Sukhothai), a temple dating from
the end of the thirteenth century and built of square
blocks of gray sandstone carefully fitted and clamped
inside. Bronze castings of considerable dimensions
also begin to appear at about the same period, as
well as Buddhist statuettes carved out of jade,
quartz, alabaster, ivory, and other prized materials.
More ancient, however, appears to be the establish-
ment of the art of niello-ware-making at Ligor,
where it soon attained a high degree of perfection.
With the advent of brickwork structures, wood finds
dhist era occurs at times on purely religious inscriptions, but not
before a.d. 1357, when it is but cursorily mentioned in the Thai in-
scription from Wat Sri-chum at old Sukhothai. Its first direct em-
ployment is in the Pali inscription on the model of Buddha's
footprint from Sukhothai (now in the former second king's tem-
ple, Bangkok, dated in the year 1970 from Buddha's Nirvana, or
\.i>. 1420).
15
226 Kingdom of Siam
wide employment in buildings, where it is inserted
into the masonry and utilized separately in the
shape of pillars and supports for the roof, with
great detriment to the solidity and durability of the
constructions. On the other hand, however, its
extended use gives an impetus to the art of wood-
carving, which soon attains marked excellence in
ornamental pieces, but above all in door frames and
panels, of which several highly finished specimens
are still extant (doors of the Phrah Then sanctuary
at Thung-yang, and of Wat Suthat at Bangkok,
brought thither from Sukhothai, both dating from
the fourteenth or fifteenth century). Later on this
industry is superseded, especially in door and win-
dow panels, by the more modern one of lacquered,
gilt, and mother-of-pearl inlaid work, of which per-
haps the most perfect early specimen extant may be
witnessed in the massive door panels of the Phrah
Chinaraj sanctuary at Phisnulok (made to the king's
order in A.D. 1755).
With these developments we enter upon the phase
of modern Siamese art, at the threshold of which
the province of archaeology — forming the object of
the present cursory sketch — must, as a matter of
course, end.
CHAPTER XVI
TRANSPORTATION AND MEANS OF
COMMUNICATION
227
CHAPTER XVI
RIVER AND LAND TRANSPORT, BY THE SECRETARY-
GENERAL
THE chief means of communication and trans-
port in Siam is by water. This is due to
the configuration of the country and to the bulky
nature of its staple exports, rice and teak.
A glance at the map of Siam shows that the
river Men am Chow Phraya forms the main artery
by which nearly all the produce for export reaches
Bangkok and by which naturally the imported goods
are distributed over the country.
In addition to the Menam there are the Pachim,
Tachin, and Mekong rivers, which are connected by
canals with the Menam, and also the whole of Lower
Siam is intersected by canals opening into the main
river.
Though roads exist in the towns and in Upper
Siam, where the country is hilly, they would be
practically useless in Lower Siam, where the greater
229
230 Kingdom of Siam
£>
part of the country is under water during the wet
season.
Very few data can be given respecting the number
of boats in Siam, but the following figures show the
great extent of this means of communication. Dur-
ing the past year, a five days' reckoning of the num-
ber of boats passing certain given points was made
with this result :
Tamnearn Saduak Canal 3163 boats
Prawete Canal 2291 "
San Sep Canal 5302 "
Rangsit (lock gate) 2978 ' '
An average of about 683 per day at a given spot.
A point taken on a canal joining two rivers, the Pase
Charoen Canal, gave the number of 9851 boats in
seven days, of which 7830 were small. The highest
average number of boats passing a given spot in
Europe is said to be 200 per day, and the figures
for the Rhine where it enters Holland are 160 aver-
age per day for 1898.
Another proof of the great extent of transport by-
boat is shown by comparing the returns of the rail-
ways to Bangkok with the export returns ; these
show that ninety-seven per cent, of the total rice
exported reached Bangkok by boat and ninety-three
and a half per cent, of the other exports.
<:
o
w
w
o
(5
Transportation and Communication 231
This enormous boat traffic has resulted in the
evolution of many interesting forms of boats suit-
able for special requirements, varying from the
miniature canoe, just sufficient for one person, up
to the heavy rice-boat which brings the harvest to
the capital.
Boats are propelled in Lower Siam by three ways
— chowing, poling, and paddling. To "chow" is
the Siamese name for propelling a boat much like
the way a gondola is propelled — that is, the rower
stands facing the bow, and the oar swivels on a small
upright fixed on the edge of the boat. The great
advantage of this method is that, with a single oar,
the rower always sees ahead and steers the boat by
the manipulation of the oar.
The long boats which make the journey to the
north, a journey varying from three weeks to three
months, according to the state of the water, arc
generally towed by launches where there is sufficient
water, then rowed in European fashion till the shal-
lows are reached, where they are poled or punted.
In the dry season it is frequently necessary to dig
channels and drag them through the sand-banks
stretching across the river, hence these boats have
to be built with a massive keel to stand the strain ;
similarly when descending the river there are rapids
232 Kingdom of Siam
to be shot and rocks to be avoided. Persons
travelling under the most favorable conditions in
the best season can do the journey from Bangkok
to Chieng Mai in three weeks, goods in six. The
wages of a boatman are from £\ to .£1,10 a
month. The overland trade is carried on chiefly
by means of caravans of carriers, mules, and bul-
locks. Elephants are not much used in trading,
being generally employed in working teak and oc-
casionally in carrying baggage and rice. Large
numbers of elephants are bred in captivity and
wild ones are captured.
The carriers are mostly Shans. Mules are not
bred in Siam, but come over from Yunnan carrying
goods. The cost of mule transport is is. to 2s. per
load (150 lbs.) for ten miles.
Bullock transport is much slower than mule trans-
port, but about half the cost per load of ninety
pounds. A bullock caravan has about one hundred
animals.
Siam entered on her career of railway construction
in 1 891.
The policy then adopted has been adhered to
since and still controls the spirit in which
Railways. ....
railways were originally decided on.
The three chief points of this policy are: (1)
Transportation and Communication 233
Construction by the state of all main lines. (2)
Construction out of revenue. (3) Concessions given
for smaller lines.
The state has now built and works 456 kilometres
of main line, and is steadily pushing the line through
to the north. This main line leaves Bangkok and
proceeds almost due north until it has passed the
old capital; it then bears to the northeast, but
divides into two branches, the one terminating at
Korat, the other, the main line to the north, is
open for 42 kilometres beyond the junction, while
160 kilometres are under construction, and work is
being pushed forward as rapidly as possible.
The second main line connects the west of Siam
to the capital and reaches the head of the Malay
Peninsula. Some day it will probably be extended
to meet the line which runs up the Malay Peninsula
from Singapore.
Lines built by concessionaires. There are two
short lines terminating in Bangkok, one of which
has been working since 1893, the other is still under
construction. Another line connecting with the
main northern line has been recently opened.
Owing to most of the lines being recently opened
it is impossible to give statistics.
The Government lines, 306 kilometres of which
234 Kingdom of Siam
were open from April, 1901, to March, 1902, carried
850,525 passengers, and the profit earned, after
placing eight per cent, of the net profit to a special
improvement fund, amounted to two and a third
per cent, on the total capital expenditure.
The Paknam (concession railway), which was
opened in 1893, has paid a steady and increasing
dividend since its opening. It now pays over ten
per cent, interest on its capital.
Except in the capital there are no tramways in
the country. The tramway in Bangkok
Tramways.
is owned and managed by a Danish com-
pany under a concession from the Government.
The line started as a horse tramway, but was
afterwards electrified and was then amalgamated
with the electric light company, and power is now
supplied both for the tramway and lighting from
the one generating station.
The length of line at present open is 17.3 kilo-
metres, and in contemplation 16 kilometres. The
fare per kilometre is 1.1 atts (0.5 cent gold) second
class and 2.2 atts (1. cent gold) first class.
The number of passengers carried per annum is
over 10,000,000. The capital of the combined com-
panies is about 3,000,000 ticals, including debentures
say about £160,000 sterling, and the profit earned
H I |.«
"Ft f
F=
^
Central Post Office
Transportation and Communication 235
by the tramway for the past six months was about
;6"900G sterling.
POST AND TELEGRAPHS
Siam entered the Postal Union in 1885. The
collection, transport, and distribution of letters is a
state monopoly.
The post and telegraph department, which in-
cludes the Government telephone department, is
organized under a director-general and forms part
of the Ministry of Public Works.
The receipts for the year 1901 amounted to fr.
177,315 and the expenditure to fr. 489,227, the ex-
cess of expenditure over revenue being fr. 311,912.
This heavy excess is due to several causes. In
1901 Siam was still working under a silver standard,
and the postal and telegraph department was com-
pelled to make remitments in gold to pay its
share of the international charges. The population
is small compared with the size of the country, but
widely spread ; the cost of transport is therefore
extremely heavy, whilst the charges are light.
Inland letters pay a minimum of 4 atts (8 cen-
times), and foreign letters 14 atts (28 centimes).
STATISTICS, igoi
Letters 777, 380
Post Cards 101 ,441
236 Kingdom of Siam
Printed Matter 470,413
Samples 5,827
Postal Order 2,080
Postal Orders (value in fr.) £49,097
Post-offices 154
Letter Boxes 330
Staff and Employees 705
The annual number of post cards and letters per
person is 0.12.
(Values are given in francs and centimes to com-
pare with those issued by the International Bureau
at Berne.)
Siam is linked to the telegraph system of the
world at three points, viz., Tavoy, Saigon,
Telegraphs.
and Penang.
The length of line is 4710 kilometres and the
number of offices 71.
The upkeep of the lines is costly and difficult ;
the rapid growth of vegetation, the tropical thunder-
storms, and the insidious insects are all factors which
cause rapid deterioration of the lines. The cost of
inland telegrams is 64 centimes for the first ten
words and 8 centimes for each additional word.
Bangkok is well supplied with telephones and also
is linked to some of the neighboring
Telephones.
towns. The length of line open is 596
kilometres.
o
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z
=
CHAPTER XVII
MINING
237
CHAPTER XVII
MINING, BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT
OF MINES AND GEOLOGY
M
INING in Siam is practically confined to tin,
gems (sapphires and rubies), and gold, their
relative importance being in the order given.
The mining industry is under the control of the
Royal Department of Mines and Geology, which
was created in 1890. The Siam Mining Act of 1901
is now in force for most parts of the country, and
prospecting licenses and mining leases may be ob-
tained without difficulty. In this article the differ-
ent minerals mined for in Siam are referred to in the
following order: gold, copper, lead, iron, tin, gems,
coal, oil, saltpetre.
Gold is very widely distributed in Siam, and is
washed out of the alluvium by the natives in several
districts. The chief of these are Pu Kiriu,
Bangtaphan, Kow Suplu, and Tomoh.
In the last district Chinese workers carry on lode
239
Gold.
240 Kingdom of Siam
as well as alluvial mining. The native gold-mining
industry is, however, a very unimportant one, the
total number of persons regularly employed probably
not exceeding one thousand.
Gold-mining according to modern methods has
been far from successful in Siam. Many conces-
sions have been granted by the Government, and
much capital has been expended, but in no single
instance have mining operations met with any suc-
cess. This may be accounted for partly by the
difficult nature of the country for carrying on mining
by modern methods, and partly by bad manage-
ment, but it remains to be seen whether the future
will bring forth better results.
Copper is known to exist in small quantities in
several districts, the best known being at Chan Tuk.
In former days the deposits at Chan Tuk
were worked to a small extent by the
Siamese, and during the last few years a European
syndicate has attempted to open up the mines, but
so far the results have not been satisfactory. There
are no records of copper-mining ever having been
attempted elsewhere.
Lead is not known to have been worked in Siam
except in the Malay state of Jalar, where large
veins of argentiferous galena are found in the lime-
Mining 241
stone. Some thirty years ago these were worked
by a Singapore firm with considerable
profit, but the enterprise had to be aban-
doned when the fall in the price of lead turned the
profit into a loss.
In ancient times there was probably a considerable
amount of iron-mining and smelting, sufficient at all
events for the manufacture of weapons
1 Iron.
and other articles in common use, but the
opening up of the country to trade, and the conse-
quent import of foreign iron, have practically killed
the industry, and at the present time there are only
a few places where iron is worked, and in them the
industry is quite insignificant.
Tin is the only metal the working of which is of
any great importance in Siam. Tin is found in
small quantities in the valley of the Nam
Sak River and in various places in north-
ern Siam, but all the deposits of importance are
derived from, and lie adjacent to, the great line of
granitic upheaval which forms the boundary range
between central Siam and Tenasserim and is the
backbone of the Malay Peninsula ; it may be traced
down to the Dutch islands of Billiton, Banca, and
Singkep. This great line of granite is the source of
practically all the vast alluvial deposits of tin which
16
242 Kingdom of Siam
are found in the British, Dutch, and Siamese pos-
sessions in the East Indies. The Siamese territory
is probably as well off in this respect as either the
British or Dutch, and the deposits are very widely
distributed. Tin is at the present time being
worked in the following provinces: East Coast —
Ratburi, Bangtaphan, Langsuan, Chaija, Bandon,
Lakon, J alar, Rangeh, Rahman, Kelantan, Trin-
ganu. West Coast— Kra, Renong, Takupar, Panga,
Takuatung, Puket, Trang, Stul, Perlis, Kedah.
In some of these provinces the works are small
and unimportant, but the total annual production is
little short of five thousand long tons, of a value of
$3,000,000 (gold), taking the price of tin at $600
per long ton.
Generally speaking, all the mining is in the hands
of Chinese ; the labor is Chinese, and the smelting is
done locally by Chinese methods. The only excep-
tions to these generalizations are that one British
and one Dutch company are working in Kedah, and
an American company is making a small commence-
ment in Bangtaphan, and a British smelting com-
pany is establishing an ore-buying agency in Puket.
The number of Siamese and Malays engaged in tin-
mining is very small.
There is an enormous field for the expansion of
Mining 243
the tin-mining industry in the Siamese possessions
in the Malay Peninsula, and considerable activity in
prospecting, on the part of European and American
capitalists, has lately been shown.
At present, Puket Island (on the west coast) is
the most important tin-mining centre in all the
Siamese states ; but Kedah, Takuapar, and Renong
(also on the west coast) have a considerable mining
industry. On the east coast, Nakon Sri, Tamarat,
and Jalar (Port Patani) are the chief centres. The
most promising districts for future developments are
in Kedah, Rahman, Jalar, Takuatung, and Renong.
Sapphires and rubies are the only gems the work-
ing of which is of any importance, though spinels,
zircons, garnets, and topaz are also pro-
Gems.
duced to a small extent. Of the two
forms of corundum, sapphires are very much more
abundant and more largely worked than rubies.
Siamese sapphires form a considerable proportion
of the world's supply of this gem. Statistics, how-
ever, are not available, as there is no duty on the
stones, and the work is carried on by numerous
small parties of men and even by individuals, who
dispose of their findings to a number of travelling
traders. Siamese rubies do not command a good
price, as those of good color are mostly very small,
244 Kingdom of Siam
whilst those of good size are of poor color. It is
believed that any really good stones which are
found are sent overland to Burmah and sold as
Burmese rubies. As regards statistics, the same
remarks apply as have already been made about
sapphires.
Practically all Siamese sapphires come from the
district of Phailin in Battambong. Rubies are
worked in a small way in the same district, but the
chief ruby workings are in Chantabun and Krat.
The deposits are all alluvial, work being usually
carried on by digging numerous small pits in the
neighborhood of streams, the gem-bearing earth
being washed by hand in the streams.
Most of the work is in the hands of Burmese and
Shans, who, however, employ a considerable num-
ber of Laos as laborers.
The gem buyers are Burmese, Shans, Singalese,
and natives of British India, and some European
firms in Bangkok take a share in the trade.
The gem-mining districts are, for the most part,
exceedingly unhealthy, this fact being a great bar
to European enterprise in this line.
No true coal is known to occur in Siam. A
lignite or brown coal is found in the Malay Penin-
sula in various places, of which Bandon, Gerbi,
Mining 245
Plien, and Trang are those best known. There
is considerable prospect of these lignite deposits
being successfully exploited in the near
Coal.
future, but it is as yet too early to say
anything more definite. Real coal has lately been
reported from Nakon Sawan, but confirmation is
lacking.
Petroleum is found in Muang-Fang, in the ex-
treme north of Siam. The amount of oil produced
is quite insignificant. The oil may be
collected by skimming the water which
collects in shallow pits dug for the purpose. The
oil thus collected is black in color and very viscous.
It is supposed that this occurrence is geologically
connected with the oil-fields of Burmah.
This oil is not likely to become of any importance
until communications have very much improved.
At present it would be practically impossible to
open the district so as to be able to work the de-
posits, even if they have any value, which at present
is an open question.
Oil has been frequently reported in Kedah, and
experts have pronounced it to be there, but it is
very doubtful whether there is any truth in these
assertions, and no samples have ever been obtained.
It appears that people have been misled by the
246 Kingdom of Siam
presence of considerable quantities of marsh-gas in
some undrained ground.
In the limestone hills of Lopburi, Saraburi,
Buachum, and the Prabart district there are numer-
ous caves, many of which contain thick
Saltpetre.
deposits of bat guano. From time im-
memorial these have been worked for potassium
nitrate, for the manufacture of gunpowder and
medicine. At the present time it is still worked in-
termittently for the same purposes, and within the
last few years some has been sold in Bangkok for
the manufacture of fireworks. Quite recently at-
tempts have been made to work it on a considerable
scale and export it to Japan. The difficulties to
transport are, however, great, and success is not yet
assured.
The native method of procedure is to boil the
crude guano with wood ashes in pans. The liquid
is skimmed and allowed to crystallize. The crystals
thus obtained are extracted and again treated in the
same way. The resulting saltpetre is of a slightly
brown color and assays about ninety-five per cent,
potassium nitrate. Sodium nitrate is almost entirely
absent.
CHAPTER XVIII
COMMERCE
247
— J
CHAPTER XVIII
COMMERCE, BY THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF
CUSTOMS
SIAM has ranked herself amongst commercial
nations for nearly four centuries. As early
as 151 1 it is recorded that the Portuguese traded
at Bangkok, and subsequently the Japanese, the
Dutch, and the British all entered more or less into
commerce with her. It was not, however, until
1856 that its present trade with almost all the com-
mercial peoples of the world took definite root. In
this year Sir John Bowring, on behalf of the British,
entered into a treaty with Siam, and was followed
during the succeeding years by the representatives
of the other commercial nations, until now there are
no fewer than fourteen distinct countries which com-
plete the circle of Siam's treaty friends.
Trade for many years appears to have fluctuated
from various causes, but during the last twenty
years it has steadily grown.
249
250 Kingdom of Siam
The total export for 1902 was valued at 87,401,-
889 ticals; five years ago (1897), it was 57,689,792
ticals. The total value of imports for 1902
amounted to 65,420,231 ticals, and in 1897 it was
40,973,403 ticals (5 ticals = $3 Mex., or 17 ticals =
£1 sterling approximately).
The principal productions of Siam are rice and
teak-wood. There are at present in Bangkok thirty-
six mills and in the Patriew district east of Bangkok
four others, whilst eight new ones are in course of
erection. The mills are more than sufficient for the
handling of the crop, and the result is great com-
petition amongst the millers when buying from the
farmer or middleman. This has a detrimental re-
sult upon the growers, who are growing careless as
to quality, or the manner in which the paddy is
prepared for the market. The soil is, however, rich,
and the price of the finished product has held its
own as compared with the Burmese or Indo-China
rice on the Singapore, Hong-Kong, and occasionally
the European market. With care and with an ex-
tension of the irrigation system which at present
exists, the quality of the paddy could be much im-
proved and its production largely increased. Atten-
tion is now being devoted to these matters under
the supervision of the Agricultural Department.
Commerce 251
Year by year more rice is being exported, principally
due to the fact that more land is coming under cul-
tivation, the quantities shipped for the past three
years being as follows : 1900, 6,962,476 piculs; 1901,
1 1,506,736 piculs; 1902, 13,414,441 piculs. Picul =
133^ lbs. avoir.
The trade in teak depends each year on the rain-
fall. The wood is felled far from the rivers and is
floated down the creeks until it meets the
Teak.
main stream, where it is gathered into
rafts and sent on its way down the Menam to Bang-
kok. Here it is exported to the principal countries
of the world, India and Europe, however, being
Siam's best customers for this article. The quan-
tities exported during the past three years are as
follows: 1900, 45,261 tons; 1901, 43,735 tons; 1902,
56,075 tons.
Siam has a considerable export trade in marine
products — beche-de-mer, dried and salt
1 Other
fish, fish maws, prawns, sharks' fins, turtle Goods,
shells, and ray skins.
Pepper is exported largely from Bangkok, it being
first removed in coasting steamers from the Chanta-
bun district, where it is grown. Black pepper is no
longer exported. White pepper — that is, the pepper
with the outer husk removed — is sent year by year
252 Kingdom of Siam
to London, Liverpool, ports on the continent of
Europe, and to New York and San Francisco. On
the west coast of the peninsula pepper is also grown
and finds its way, via Penang, to the various markets
of the world. The export value of pepper for the
year 1902 was equal to nearly one million ticals.
Various sorts of wood are produced and ex-
ported, such as agilla, sapan, padoo, yellow-wood,
box, ebony, and rose, but the trade in these woods
does not seem to increase, as no effort is made to
grow them systematically. Jungle products, such
as hides and horns, are gradually being worked out,
and will in time disappear unless efforts are made to
preserve the deer in the interior. Rubies and sap-
phires are exported in a rough condition for sale on
the London market. This trade, however, seems
to be gradually diminishing. The silk trade looks
to be entering on a more prosperous future. Under
Japanese instructors the Siamese are developing the
production of this article, and it is hoped that in
time it will become one of Siam's most important
industries.
Bullocks are exported to Singapore. This trade is
not improving, for various reasons. Disease has un-
fortunately year by year prevented the exportation
for some months at a time. The trade is a profit-
<
■J
<
kr*i
Commerce 253
able one, and every effort is made by the dealers
to secure animals, but up to the present cattle-
breeding is not sufficiently organized to create
a permanent supply, hence this branch runs the
risk of extinction by the exhaustion of the supplies
available.
The imports of Siam cover the whole field of
manufactured articles, and they are drawn from
almost every part of the globe. Cotton
goods bulk largely in every imported
cargo of general goods. They come principally from
England, India, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Ger-
many, France, and Denmark, being almost invari-
ably transshipped at Singapore, and from America
and Japan, coming via Hong-Kong. Cotton goods
are amongst the most valuable imported. The
people are year by year demanding more cloth-
ing, as the fashion for wearing foreign cloth extends
gradually over the whole interior. The printed
cottons for nether garments, called by the Siamese
" palais " or "patas," come principally from India and
Switzerland, while the plain woven patterns in one
color come from Britain and Switzerland, India not
competing. Singapore seems to be the market for
Siam to buy its gray and white shirting in ; ninety
per cent, of the importation comes from that port,
254 Kingdom of Siam
The countries of production vary, but Manchester
and Indian goods seem to predominate, Holland
and Germany being the only two countries to
compete.
Silk piece-goods are imported mostly from Hong-
Kong and are used for clothing by the local Chinese.
Half the importation is exported after being dyed
black. This dyeing trade in Siam has been going
on for years. A berry which grows in the jungle
produces the dye, which does not keep in fit con-
dition for any length of time, and it is therefore
necessary to bring the cloth to the place where the
dye is made.
Books and printed matter are supplied mostly
from England.
Denmark sends Siam her cement. Chemical pro-
ducts come from Singapore, Hong - Kong, and
Britain.
China sends her earthenware. Electrical goods
are equally supplied by the United States, Britain,
and Germany.
Fifteen different countries help to supply the
Siamese market with hardware and cutlery, Ger-
many, Britain, and China taking the lead.
Hats and caps and household furniture are sup-
plied from Hong-Kong and China.
Commerce 255
Lamps and parts are imported from Hong-Kong,
Germany, and the United States.
Machinery is supplied by Germany, Britain, and
the United States.
Oil (burning) is now almost exclusively supplied
from Sumatra.
Provisions, vegetables, etc., come from Hong-
Kong and China.
Though tobacco is locally grown it still takes over
seventeen different countries to supply the Siamese
with his tobacco; Hong-Kong, however, furnishes
by far the largest portion, but this Hong-Kong
tobacco comes in great part originally from the
United States.
The Siamese, though great smokers, do not drink
so much spirit as the people of the West. Ger-
many, France, and England supply beer, whiskey,
and brandy, but the rice spirit, known as " samshoo,"
is supplied exclusively from Hong-Kong and China.
The balance of trade lies entirely with Siam, whose
exports exceeded its imports in value by no less than
thirty per cent, in 1902. This varies, of course,
year by year with the rain supply, but it never has
gone the other way so far.
The number of vessels entered at the port of
Bangkok during the year 1902 was 727, five of
256 Kingdom of Siam
which were sailing vessels. The tons of shipping
represented by the above amounted to 631,458.
Besides the above, fifty-three junks entered with
cargo from China. The German vessels hold the
lead in Bangkok shipping. The two principal lines
to Singapore and to Hong-Kong sail under that flag.
Two Chinese-owned steamers trade between Bang-
kok and Singapore under the British flag, but lat-
terly that flag has dropped to the third place in the
customs statistics, as the number of Norwegian
steamers has increased greatly during the past two
years. This is due to the Chinese exporters of rice
desiring to have steamers under their own control
so as to take every advantage of the market when
favorable either in Singapore, Hong-Kong, or any
other neighboring port. As many as twenty vessels
have been in the Menam at one time during the past
year, and as they discharge and load by means of
cargo boats the river is at times alive with craft and
presents a most busy appearance. The vessels do
not load up at Bangkok. They must cross the bar
light and fill up at the outer anchorage — Kohsichang
Island or Anghin Head, according to the monsoon.
Lorchas or large sailing lighters with a few steam
tug-barges are engaged in carrying cargo to those
anchorages, to be there transshipped. A French
Ph
c
Pi
z
<!
Commerce 257
liner runs regularly between Bangkok and Saigon
carrying the mail. Its trade is, however, insignifi-
cant.
The caravan trade in the interior was at one time
a large and flourishing one. Latterly it has
dwindled away until now it is really of no import-
ance. The route from Moulmein to Raheng is the
busiest one, but the total import by that route last
year did not amount in value to more than 100,000
ticals. About 60,000 of these were for cotton
goods generally, 20,000 were for gold leaf and jew-
elry, and the remainder brassware, etc. In return
there were exported by this route bullocks and
ponies to the value of 12,000 ticals, and native-made
dresses of silk and cotton, called "panungs," to the
value of 40,000 ticals. The caravan route from
China to Chieng Mai and Nan is of no importance.
The travellers coming that way are mere hucksters
who buy and sell as they travel along. They will
soon have to give way before the importation of
European goods, which in a short time, by means
of the rapidly advancing railway, will spread far and
wide over the northern parts of the country. Mean-
time it is a most expensive operation to move goods
to the north by boat.
In conclusion it is evident that Siam has every
17
258
Kingdom of Siam
prospect of a great commercial future. The admin-
istration is being rapidly improved, each department
getting its due share of attention. The security-
due to good government will help to encourage
trade and enable European and American goods to
be within the reach of all. In return Siam can feed
the East and can supply the European market with
rice of a very fine quality, with teak-wood, and with
silk, each of which has hardly a rival. The tables
shown hereunder will prove that it is no vain boast
to predict an important commercial advance in the
near future.
Table A. — Values of Principal Exports
Rice
Teak
Tin
Bullocks
Fish (Fresh, Dried, and Salt),
Mussels, etc
Birds' Nests
Sticklac
Gamboge and Gum Benjamin. . .
Teel-Seed
Hides and Horns
Woods Other than Teak
Pepper
1900
Ticals
37,469-597
5,499,134
13,343
817,247
2,039,426
197,273
164,715
27,710
137,760
777,519
513,046
735,525
1901
Ticals
60,268,327
4,214,077
112,247
575,970
2,911,671
402,552
292,718
I5,"3
126,415
789,958
500,180
1,435,120
1902
Ticals
69,846,978
6,546,633
172,341
556,350
2,130,663
268,635
376,779
29,681
79,502
1,266,661
513,713
990, 266
Commerce
2 59
Table B. — Values of Principal Imports
Cotton Goods
Silk Goods... ,
Gunny-Bags . ,
Petroleum. . . .
Machinery.. . .
Sugar
Liquors
Opium
1900
Ticals
5,831,961
2,084,059
1,539,902
1,648,622
1,302,342
1,714,833
1,079,018
2,377,240
1901
Ticals
8,347,9°4
1,822,116
2,345,9 6 3
1,108,133
1,992,098
1,449,630
1,037,553
2,163,277
1902
Ticals
10,497,623
1,976,231
2,888,703
1,136,060
2,035,844
2,061,257
939,202
2,091,578
CHAPTER XIX
THE INDUSTRIES OF SIAM
261
CHAPTER XIX
THE INDUSTRIES OF SIAM, BY THE SECRETARY-
GENERAL
SIAM is emphatically an agricultural country and
not a manufacturing one. This may be ac-
counted for partly by its geological formation,
partly by its climate, and partly by the scantiness
of its population.
The greater part of Siam, in fact nearly the whole
of Lower Siam, is alluvial, and up to the present
coal has not yet been found in paying quantities in
any part of the kingdom, the consequence being
that the only native fuel, except the husks of the
rice, is wood, the price of which as a fuel has stead-
ily increased and is likely to still further increase.
The climate being tropical is an important factor in
the readiness of the people to submit to continuous
manual labor, and the needs of a tropical population
are so much fewer than those of a people to whom
artificial warmth is an absolute necessity.
263
264 Kingdom of Siam
The vast extent of land suitable for agricultural
operations offers to those willing to work a more
attractive career than toiling for a daily wage.
The mills for rice and teak probably are the
largest employers of day labor, the number of
rice-mills in Bangkok being thirty-six and sawmills
eleven. The steam rice-mills run continuously day
and night, employing two shifts, but the sawmills
work only by day.
The trained hands are employed continuously,
but the number of unskilled laborers varies from
day to day. A large proportion of these laborers
are Chinese, particularly those employed in shifting
the grain from the boats to the mill and back again,
all of which work is performed by hand. The
estimated number of hands, skilled and unskilled,
employed in the mills is about ten thousand.
Fishing is another industry of great importance.
The greater part of the fish caught is dried or
salted, and a large export is done in various kinds of
preserved fish to Singapore and Hong-Kong.
The favorite method of catching fish is by gigantic
traps. These traps are constructed of bamboos
fixed upright in the shallow water; a long V-shaped
neck, with an opening sometimes extending to a
quarter of a mile, leads into a compartment some
rfl
pi
<
En
<
Z
2
3
o
o
The Industries of Siam 265
sixty feet square by a narrow aperture. The fish,
guided by the walls of the V, are caught in the trap,
which is netted every two or three days.
The amount of fish caught annually is enormous ;
not only is it eaten fresh or dry at every meal by
the inhabitants of Lower Siam, but there is a large
surplus for export.
Boat-building is perhaps the most widely ex-
tended industry, being carried on over the whole
country, each district building the boats adapted to
the local needs. In the capital a large number of
steam launches and small sailing lighters are built.
Ship-building, which was formerly an important
industry, has disappeared with the introduction of
iron steamers.
The manufacture of spirits is a state monopoly
and is farmed out to the spirit farmers in every pro-
vince. Licenses to conduct a distillery are issued
to any one applying, but the spirits must be sold at
a rate fixed by the farmer, who usually takes the
whole output.
Sugar of a coarse quality is also largely manufac-
tured from the sugar-cane; there is no direct tax on
its manufacture, but it can only be sold in pots
supplied by the government manufactories.
Salt is extracted from sea-water at various places
266 Kingdom of Siam
along the coast. These salt farms are situated on
low lands near the coast, which are flooded at high
tide; each field is surrounded by a bank of earth
which retains the water. The sea-water is admitted
at high tide and allowed to evaporate by the heat of
the sun, and the field filled up with fresh sea-water
from time to time till the brine is sufficiently strong
to crystallize.
A large amount of coarse, unglazed earthenware is
made — large jars of fifteen to twenty gallons' capac-
ity for storing water, pots for boiling rice, small
charcoal stoves, tiles for roofing, etc. Except the
large jars, known as Siam jars, few of these articles
are exported.
Weaving exists only as a home industry ; the silk
is produced in Siam (see sericulture), but the yarn is
imported, chiefly from India.
Two minor industries are the collection of gum
benjamin and gamboge; gum benjamin is indige-
nous to the north of Siam, and gamboge grows only
on the coast. These valuable resins are obtained
from their respective tree by making incisions in
the bark and allowing the resin to ooze slowly out,
where it is collected in hollow bamboos and sent to
Bangkok for export.
Although silkworms have always been cultivated
The Industries of Siam 267
in Siam and a large amount of silk produced for
home use, there has been but little export, and the
value of raw silk exported has seldom been over
20,000 ticals per annum.
The Government have now taken the matter in
hand, and a special department of sericulture has
been organized under the Ministry of _ . ..
o J Sericulture
Agriculture. Japanese experts have been Department,
engaged to introduce the latest scientific methods
and two experimental farms have been started.
The native grains or eggs are of a flat, ovoidal
shape and a light yellow color, which turns to
grayish-blue when they begin to hatch.
The average weight of the grains is
0.04527 gr. per hundred, and their average length
and breadth 1.15 mm. and 0.98 mm., respectively.
These grains are smaller than either Japanese or
Chinese grains, and in consequence produce smaller
worms.
When hatched, the worm is about 2 mm. in
length and reaches maturity in about
Worms.
one month.
Compared with foreign varieties their growth is
very rapid, while the weight of leaves consumed is
about one half. They are extremely healthy and
the amount of disease small.
268 Kingdom of Siam
The average number of eggs deposited by a native
moth is from 260 to 350.
The cycle of the Siamese variety is as follows :
Egg Stage 10 days
Larva 25-32 "
Pupa 10-12 ' '
Moth (Image) 3-4 "
Total 48-58 days
It is thus possible to rear these worms seven to
eight times a year, provided a sufficient crop of
mulberry leaves can be obtained.
According to the results obtained at the Govern-
ment Experimental Station, it requires twelve to
sixteen kilos of leaves to produce one kilo of silk.
The cocoons of the Siamese varieties are long,
ellipsoidal, tapering and pointed at both
Cocoons.
ends, and surrounded by much floss.
The length of silk per cocoon is from 200 to 250
metres, and the yield of silk is as follows:
370 grams silken matter
630 " non-silken matter
1000 grams cocoons
One kilo of fresh cocoons yielded
75 grams good raw silk
40-45 " inferior raw silk
4-5 " waste silk
z
w
u
SI
z
■s:
<
The Industries of Siam 269
Under scientific methods the amount of good raw
silk has already been increased by thirty per cent.
The two known kinds of native worms are (i)
plain white; (2) vers tigr£s.
The first (plain white) is the better variety and
yields silk twenty-seven to forty-five per cent,
longer per cocoon than the latter variety.
The size of the bave is smaller than that of foreign
varieties and yields a fine raw silk, which
The Bave.
has a higher market value than larger-
sized raw silk.
In Siam it is found that one rai of land (1600
square metres) will yield about 2000 kilos of mul-
berry leaves, and 14 kilos of leaves pro-
J » t r- Rearing.
duce one kilo of cocoons, yielding 75 to
78 grams of good raw silk, hence one rai of land
will give between 10 and n kilos of raw silk per
annum, valued at 200 to 300 ticals.
The cost of reeling the silk on a large scale is
about nine ticals per kilo.
It is the intention of the Government to foster
the silk industry in every possible way among the
farmers, who will be encouraged to plant mulberry-
trees and rear the worms under scientific methods,
in which they will be instructed either at the experi-
ment stations or by travelling instructors. If
270 Kingdom of Siam
found desirable, the Government will erect a large
central station for reeling the cocoons in order to
obtain silk of fixed qualities.
Formerly a large amount of paper was made in
paper- Siam, but owing to the import of cheap
making. foreign paper this industry has greatly
declined and only a small quantity is now produced.
The paper is made from the bark of the koi-tree
(Streblus asperd), which grows wild in Upper Siam,
and from there is brought down to Bangkok. The
bark is first dipped in a strong solution of lime and
allowed to drain, exposed to the air ; is then steamed
for twenty-four hours, and the soft fibre collected
in jars; from them it is taken out and beaten to
pulp by mallets on a flat board ; when completely
pulped it is made into balls, each about the size of
a cricket-ball.
The paper-maker takes one of these balls and
places it in a bucket made of woven bamboo, which
he dips full of water and stirs up the pulp with his
hand. This work is generally done on the edge of
a stream or pond. He then floats in front of him a
wooden tray, the bottom of which is coarse canvas.
By a dexterous movement he pours the bucket of
liquid pulp into the tray so as to cover it evenly
with pulp; he then lifts out the tray, drains it, and
A Ruined Temple
The Industries of Siam 271
presses the superfluous water out of the pulp with
a bamboo roller. The pulp adheres to the canvas,
and the tray is set up on end and allowed to dry for
twenty-four hours. The paper is then stripped off,
covered with fine rice starch, polished with a smooth
stone, and made into long, folded books.
Should the paper be required to have a smooth
black surface the starch is mixed with fine charcoal
made from the Acschynomeme aspcra ; the paste is
then spread over the rough paper and polished.
The casting of bronze figures has been an art in
Siam from time immemorial. The process followed
is always that of cire fondu. The artist Bronze and
Terra-Cotta
first models the figure in clay coated with work,
wax, then coats it again in clay, and by the applica-
tion of heat allows the wax to run out; separate
tubes are made to allow the metal to find its way to
the smaller parts of the figure. The founder, who
is generally the artist himself, then pours in the
molten metal, and when cool the mould is broken
and the figure cleaned and polished ; each figure is
thus an original work, and a new wax model is made
by the artist for each. A few years ago, Phra Pra-
siddhi cast a figure of the Buddha for the Wat Ben-
chamabophit, the base of which was nine feet six
inches and the height twelve feet, which is one of
272
Kingdom of Siam
the finest modern statues of Siam. Terra-cotta
figures are made by the artist, who also superintends
the burning, assisted by his pupils. Unfortunately
sufficient care is not taken in the selection and
cleansing of the clay so that when baked the color
of the figures is not even.
INDEX
273
INDEX
Abattoirs under government
control, 113
Administration, 1 1
Advisers, number of legal, 1 93
Agriculture, chapter on, 153;
cost of Ministry of, 136
Alphabet, similarity of Sans-
krit and Siamese, 90
Altitude, average of, in Siam,
3°
American Presbyterian Mis-
sion, school of, 207
Ancient cities of Siam, 215
Annals of Bangkok, historical
value of, 83
Annals of the North, historical
value of, 80
Appeals, ease of taking, 187,
189
Archaeology, chapter on
Siamese, 213
Army, equipment of, 69;
organization of, 69; im-
provement of, 65
Artillery, equipment of, 70
Assumption College referred
to, 207
Awakening of Siam, 84
Ayuthia, ancient capital, 81
Bangkapong River described,
36
Bangkok, chapter on, 105;
establishment of capital at,
83
Banks in Siam, names of, 147
Betel leaf, cultivation of, 167
Betel nut, growth of, 166
Bhanurangsi, brother of the
King, 5
Boat-houses referred to. 109
Boats, building of, 29, 265;
description of, 47; number
of, 30; propulsion of, 231
Brahminism, beginnings of,
in Siam, 214
Brick, early use of, in Siam,
218
Bronze, casting of, 27, 271;
early examples of, 225
Brothers of the King, 5
Buddhism, beginnings of, in
Siam, 214; religion of Siam,
95; form of, 99
Budget of Siam, 129
Building materials in an-
cient temples, 218
Business, aggregate volume
of, 148
Cambodian people, descrip-
tion of, 53
Caravans, extent of, 232, 257
Cases, number of trial, 195
Cattle, trade in, 113
Cavalry, limited use of. 70
Caves, early use of, as tem-
ples, 22
Chantaboon, rainfall at, 41
Chieng-Mai, journey to, 30
275
276
Index
Chulalongkorn, birth of King,
3
Cities of Siam, 46
Civil service, school for, 206
Coal, absence of, 244
Cocoanut, growth of, 168
Coins, names and values of,
i45
College, Royal Military, 71
Commerce, chapter on, 249
Commissioners, duties of, 14
Communication, means of, 54
Convictions, percentage of,
r 95
Copper, extent of, 240
Cotton, cultivation of, 164
Council of Ministers, 9
Courts of justice described,
187
Criminal procedure, method
of, 188
Criminal statistibs, 126
Crown Prince, born, 4; edu-
cated, 4; Inspector - Gen-
eral, 72
Currency, chapter on, 143
Customs, rate of, 132
Cyclones rare in Siam, 42
Death, Buddhistic idea of,
100
Death sentences, number of,
196; execution for, 199
Description of Siam, 19
Dignitaries of the ecclesi-
astical order, 96
Diseases, prevalent, 31
District, composition of, 14
Divorce, rarity of, 45
Dockyard facilities, 73
Doi Sutep, height of, 30
Drainage system at Bang-
kok, 117
Dress, national, 46
Dusit Park described, 108
Eastern Siam, climate of, 52;
description of, 49
Education, chapter on, 203 ;
form of military, 70; naval,
73
Elephants, home of, 37; use
of, 232
English schools, number of,
206
Epigraphy, little evidence re-
garding early forms of, 221
Eras, number and names of,
80, 224
Exchange, rate of, 144
Expenditures, amount of,
129, 134
Exports, total, for 1902, 250,
258
Family, Royal, 3
Farms, size of, 48
Fauna of the Malay Penin-
sula, 61
Finance, chapter on, 129;
expenditures of the Min-
istry of, 136
Finger print used for the de-
tection of criminals, 125
Fish, prevalence of, for food,
24
Fishing, methods of, 264
Flora of Malay provinces, 61
Foreign causes, court of, 191
Forestry Department, 15;
chapter on, 173; cost of,
135
Forests, extent of, 50; of
Upper Siam, 22
Frankfurter, 0., author of
Siam from an Historical
Standpoint, 79; Language
of Siam, 89; Religion of
Siam, 95
Gambling, suppression of, 132
Index
277
Gendarmerie, cost of, 135;
described, 74; schools for,
„ 75
Geology of Upper Siam, 22
Gerini, Colonel, author of
chapter on Siamese Ar-
chaeology, 213
Gold, distribution of, 239;
methods of mining, 240
Government, 8
Guru, order of priesthood, 96
Hamlet a political unit, 13
Health, state of, 31
Health department of the
port, 112
History of Siam, sources of,
80, 82
Houses, types of, 47
Illiteracy rare, 45
Imports, character of, 253;
extent of, 259
Ind'i influence trac<\iH ■ in
Siam, 214, .m(>
Industries, chapter on, 20 1
Inscriptions, importance of,
223
Interior, Ministry of, 1 5
Iron, early use of, in con-
struction, 225; production
of, 241; working of , 27
Irrigation, importance of, 47,
162
Irrigation department, 15
Justice, chapter on Ministry
of, 184
Kamoo people, home of, 32
Karen people, home of, 32
King, born, 3 ; European
tour, 3 ; highest supporter
of Buddhism, 95
Korat plateau, description of,
55
Kra isthmus described, 21
Lacquer, manufacture of, 2 7 ;
early use of, 226
Land, laws relating to tenure
of, 46
Land record, department of,
15
Language of Siam, chapter
on, 89
Laos people, description of,
53.
Latrines, use of, in Bangkok,
118
Law school, value of, 190
Laws of Siam, codification
of, 84, 188
Lead, distribution of, 240
Legal advisers, number of,
.J93
Life, Buddhistic view of, 100
Local government, cost of,
i35
Lower Siam, described, 33;
temperature of, 38
Lu, home of, 31
Magistrates, limited func-
tion of, 196
Maize, cultivation of, 163
Malay Peninsula, Siamese
provinces of, 56; physical
features of, 57, 60; popu-
lation of, 59
Manuscripts, ancient forms
rare, 222
Markets referred to, no
Meat inspection rigid, 115
Medical officers in sanitary
service, 112
Medicine, school of, 208
Mekawng River described,
20, 36
Menam River described, 20,
34
Meow, home of, 31
278
Index
Meteorology of Bangkok, 116
Migration of early Siamese,
8r
Military education, form of,
7°
Military service, nature of,
66
Millet, cultivation of, 163
Mines, department of, or-
ganized, 239
Mining, chapter on, 239
Mining act in force, 239
Mining revenue, amount of,
1,33
Ministers, council of, 9
Ministries, location of, 106
Mint, receipts from, 133
Mongkut, reference to King,
84
Monk, functions of, in priest-
hood, 98
Monsoons, time of, 38
Monthon, administration of,
12
Monuments, ancient Siamese,
216
Mother-of-pearl, early exam-
ples of, 226
Nam Ping River described,
34
Nam Po River described, 35
Narratives of travellers un-
reliable, 85
National banks under con-
sideration, 149
Naval education, form of, 73
Navy described, 73
Negritos described, 59
New Road described, 107
Nirvana explained, 100
Octroi, effect of, 134
Official gazette, value of, 85
Oil, evidences of natural, 245
Oxen, breeding of, 28
Paknampo, location of, 36
Palace, reference to Royal,
106, 108
Paleographic peculiarities,
224
Pali, study of, 205
Paper, making of, 270
Paper currency, issue of, 146
Pasak River described, 35
Patrols, stations for, 75
Pawn shops supervised by
police, 123
Pepper, growth of, 167;
amount exported, 251
Petroleum, evidences of, 245
Police, Bangkok, 120; Puket,
Police courts, procedure in,
i95
Poll-tax paid by Chinese, 134
Polygamy permissible, but
not general, 45
Poppy, cultivation of, 26
Population, character of, 31;
Bangkok, in; Lower Siam,
43; Upper Siam, 33
Port, health department of,
112
Postal affairs, statistics of,
235
Pottery, first examples of
glazed, 225; manufacture
of, 28, 266
Premane grounds described,
107
Priesthood, organization of,
96; induction into, 99
Priests, educational services
of, 45; great influence of,
99; under state control, 99
Primary schools, wide distri-
bution of, 205
Prince Royal serves as priest,
99
Prisons, control of, 193
Privy Council referred to, 1 1
Index
279
Procedure, method of crim-
inal, 188
Products, list of principal,
250
Property, possession of, 46
Province, administration of,
I 3.
Public works, divisions of,
10; expenditures for, 138
Puket, special police force
for, 75
Quarantine, duration of, 113
Railroads, appropriation for
construction of, 138; ex-
tent of, 233 ; revenue from,
1.33
Rainfall, average, 31; at
Bangkok, 116; in Lower
Siam, 40
Religion, chapter on, 95; in-
fluence of, 45
Resin, manufacture of, 29
Revenues, of Bangkok, 119;
of Siam, 129, 131; reasons
for increase, 130; sources
of, 131
Rice, cultivation of, 156;
importance of, 153; kinds
of, 23, 160; number of mills
for, 264
Rifle practice encouraged, 76
Rinderpest, absence of, 115
Rivers of Lower Siam de-
scribed, 49
Roads, extent of, in Bangkok,
107
Royal Family, chapter on, 3
Rubies, extent of, 243
Salt, extraction of, 29, 265
Saltpetre, manufacture of,
29, 246
Samscn Road described, 108
Sanitary service described,
112, 119
Sapphires, extent of, 243
Scholarship esteemed and
encouraged, 204
Schools, frequency of, 205 ;
topics taught in, 205; value
of law, 190
Sentence unit of speech in
Siamese, 90
SericulUvre, organization of
department of, 137
Sesamum, cultivation of, 165
Sewerage system at Bang-
kok, 117
Shipping, statistics of, 230,
256
Ships of the navy, names of,
.74
Siam, histoically considered,
79; civilization of, 44; de-
rivation of the word, 79;
gendarmerie, 75; general
description of, 19; lan-
guage of, 89; physical char-
acteristics of the people of,
.44
Silk, manufacture of, 26, 266;
improvements in, 137
Silver, cessation of coinage
.of. 143
Silverware, manufacture of,
27
Slavery, abolition of, 45
Soil, character of, 22
Sons of the King, European
training of, 5
Souls, reference to migration
of, 100
Spirits, manufacture of, 265
Staff, organization of army, 7 2
State Council, referred to, 1 1
Statistics, criminal, 126; ju-
dicial, 194
Statuettes, examples of early
forms, 225
28o
Index
Sticklac, manufacture of, 28
Sugar, limited production of,
28, 166
Sulphur springs, existence of,
22
Supan River described, 35
Supreme Court, decisions of,
188
Surplus, annual, 129
Survey department, referred
to, 15; school of, 208
Talesap plain described, 50
Tea, cultivation of, 25
Teachers, lack of, 209
Teak, amount exported, 251;
importance of , 173; output
of, 177; regulations regard-
ing, 174
Telegraph, statistics of, 235
Telephones, use of, 236
Temperature, mean, 30; at
Bangkok, 116; in Lower
Siam, 39
Terra-cotta, manufacture of,
272
Text-books, compilation of,
207
Thai, name given by Siamese
to themselves, 79
Tiles, manufacture of, 28
Tin, importance of, 241
Tobacco, cultivation of, 24,
163
Tones in the Siamese lan-
guage, number of, 90
Trade, rapid development of,
249; of Upper Siam, 33
Traffic, increase in railway,
133
Tramways, extent of, 234
Transportation, means of,
229
Treaties, commercial, 249
Uniforms of police, 121
Upper Siam described, 21
Vegetables, growth of, 26
Village as a unit of govern-
ment, 13
Vocabulary, origin of Siam-
ese, 90
War of the Polish Succession,
written by Crown Prince, 5
Wars, early Siamese, 83
Water systems of Upper
Siam, 22
Wind, force of, in Siam, 42
Woman, high position of, 45
Wood, early use of, in tem-
ples, 226; kinds of , in Siam,
174, 178, 181
Written Siamese characters,
derivation of, 89
Yao people, home of, 32
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