626 



SIAM. 



Several fanciful suggestions were made for the 

 naming of the seven masts, but the following 

 was sensibly decided upon as good seagoing form, 

 to wit: Fore, main, rnizzen, spanker, jigger, 

 driver, and pusher. 



There can hardly be two opinions regarding 

 the appearance of the two vessels under full sail. 

 The ship is beyond question the more stately and 

 beautiful; but the champions of the square rig, 

 on the one hand, and of the fore-and-aft rig on the 

 other, can never be brought to amicable agree- 

 ment. The square-rigger holds, with good reason, 

 that his craft is the better of the two with a fair 

 wind. The fore-and-after, with equally good rea- 

 son, declares that his rig is by far the best going 

 to windward, and he will by no means admit that 

 it can be so very much outsailed running free. 

 In the matter of ease and simplicity of handling, 

 the schooner is far superior; and in regard to 

 pay-roll her running expenses are about half those 

 of the ship. Both vessels are fitted with donkey- 

 engines and all modern conveniences. 



The Lawson is built of steel, with the exception 

 of deck and cabin furnishings. Her lower masts 

 are steel cylinders 135 feet long, and her topmasts, 

 of Oregon pine, 55 feet long. She spreads 43,000 

 square feet of canvas with all plain sail set. The 

 sail-spread of the Preussen is considerably in ex- 

 cess of this, but exact figures are not at hand. 

 The Lawson has given a good account of herself 

 in actual service, and at present holds first place 

 in the matter of carrying large cargoes at small 

 expense. The revival of sailing craft will restore 

 in some degree the romance of a seagoing life, 

 which has been largely destroyed by the prosaic 

 mechanics of steam navigation. 



The Young America, a full-rigged sailing ship 

 with auxiliary steam power, is now building, with 

 the intention of fitting her out as a preparatory 

 school for boys, whereon they may be fitted for 

 college and at the same time may see the world 

 and be subjected to wholesome naval discipline 

 under highly favorable conditions. 



SIAM, a kingdom in southern Asia. The 

 King is advised by a Cabinet, called the Senabodi, 

 composed mostly of his half-brothers and sons, 

 each of whom is advised by a foreign expert 

 except at present the heads of the army and 

 navy. A Legislative Council was created in 1895, 

 containing in 1902, besides the 10 ministers, 45 

 nominated members. It has authority to amend 

 and complete the laws with the approval of the 

 King. Many new laws have been made after Eu- 

 ropean models, but the actual administration of 

 the country by corrupt and oppressive local man- 

 darins has not changed. The industries and local 

 trade have passed into the hands of Chinamen, 

 while Europeans have introduced enterprises with 

 the encouragement of the Government. Belgian 

 jurists have improved the administration of jus- 

 tice, and at present Japanese lawyers are pre- 

 paring a new code of laws. An International 

 Court tries cases between natives and foreigners. 

 An Englishman has organized a police force and 

 Sikhs are employed as police in the capital. Eng- 

 lish assistants are employed in the financial de- 

 partment and in the forestry, survey, customs, 

 sanitary, mining, and other branches of adminis- 

 tration. There are also numerous Belgian and 

 Danish officials, and recently Japanese experts 

 have been called to responsible positions, while 



Siamese who have received a European education: 

 have replaced some of the Europeans. The reign- 

 ing King is Chulalongkorn, born Sept. 20, 1853. 

 Prince Vajiravudh, born Jan. 1, 1881, was pro- 

 claimed heir to the throne on Jan. 17, 1898. Sia- 

 mese is the official language in all parts of the 

 country. A system of education has been estab- 

 lished by the Government under English guid- 

 ance, and English is taught in some of the higher 

 schools. There is a school for the children of 

 nobles, many of whom, however, receive only the 

 education of the lower vernacular schools. There 

 were 90 young princes and others studying in Eu- 

 rope in 1902. The normal school has 60 pupils. 

 A military school and a civil-service school pre- 

 pare youth for an official career. The imported 

 educational system has made little impression. 

 There are 5,000 Buddhist temples and 60,000 

 priests, and of these 3,300 are teachers having 

 23,000 pupils. There is no class now between the 

 nobility and the serfs, the Chinese having taken 

 the place of the free Siamese. 



Area and Population. The present area is 

 estimated at 220,000 square miles, the population 

 at 7.500,000, of whom 2,500,000 are Siamese, 300,- 

 000 Laotians, 1,000,000 Malays, 3,000,000 Chinese,, 

 and 700,000 Burmese, Cambodians, Annamites, 

 and Indians. The Chinese immigration in 1900 1 

 was 26,499, while 17,230 returned to China. The 

 population of Bangkok, the capital, is about 600,- 

 000. The Siamese Government estimates the 

 total population at 12,000,000. Slavery has ex- 

 isted from early times. One can become a slave 

 by falling into debt. The insolvent debtor is sold 

 to any bidder who assumes the debt. Forced 

 labor is exacted from the laboring population for 

 any public work and often for the benefit of the 

 officials. This is being abolished and a poll-tax 

 collected instead. Slavery also will be abolished 

 by a decree of 1890 freeing all children of slaves 

 born after Dec. 16, 1897, and reducing the re- 

 demption fees for all slaves. Free labor is very 

 hard to obtain. Chinese coolies do the work in 

 the rice-mills and mines of the south, and in the 

 northern forests Karens, Khamus, and Burmese 

 are employed. 



Finances. The revenue for 1901 was esti- 

 mated at 33,000,000 ticals and for 1902 at 35.500,- 

 000 ticals, expenditure for 1901 at 32,669.96& 

 ticals and for 1902 at 38,074,288 ticals. The 

 actual receipts in the year ending March 31, 1901, 

 were 35,611,306 ticals, and the actual disburse- 

 ments 31,841,257 ticals. The receipts in 1900 were 

 30,022,640 ticals, and expenditures 27,052,077 

 ticals. The opium, spirit, and gambling monopo- 

 lies, which are farmed out, yielded 4.568,622 ticals, 

 3,730,059 ticals, and 6,299,255 ticals respectively; 

 land tax and fisheries, 3,001,145 ticals; customs, 

 4,450,523 ticals; forests and mines, 1,414,402 

 ticals; posts, telegraphs, and railroads, 795,753 

 ticals; personal tax, 1,664,400 ticals. There are 

 taxes on boats and shops, on pigs and poultry, 

 on Chinese cakes and birds'-nests, and on various 

 other articles that yield in the aggregate 442.7<ir> 

 ticals. The revenue for 1903 was estimated at 

 39,000,000 ticals. The revenues in the last ten 

 years have increased rapidly without change in 

 the tax levy. The civil list and household ex- 

 penses of the King amount to 6.500,000 ticals a 

 year, besides which 90,000 ticals are expended in 

 charities, 100,000 ticals on precious stones, 100,- 

 000 ticals in entertaining strangers, and 800.000 

 ticals in funeral expenses for the court. The 

 sum expended on new roads in 1901 was 275,000- 

 ticals. 



The tical is the standard coin, equal in silver 

 content to three-fifths of a Mexican dollar. The 



