OF SIAM 39 



being crowded into the lowest walks of life. Even 

 in Bangkok, the capital, where reside the king and 

 all Government officials, he finds it difficult to 

 retain prestige, while the town itself is taking on 

 the motley appearance of an Oriental city turned 

 topsy-turvy by electric lights and trolley cars pene- 

 trating quarters of such squalor, one marvels that 

 life can exist there at all. 



It is a strange, half -floating city, this Bangkok, 

 overrun by pariah dogs and crows ; Oriental despite 

 its improvements, and one of the most interesting 

 places in the Par East. Yet a sad city for the 

 visitor with mind apart from " margins " and time 

 saving machinery. At every turning are evidences 

 of the decay of native art, and in their stead com- 

 monplace things bearing the legend " Made in Ger- 

 many." One would scarcely believe to-day, after 

 a visit to Bangkok, that at one time the Siamese 

 were distinguished, even among Asiatic artisans, 

 in silk weaving, in ceramics, in ivory carving and 

 in silversmithing. Yet the royal museum, with 

 treasures not found elsewhere in the world, serves 

 to remind one how far Siam has fallen from the 

 place she once occupied among art-producing na- 

 tions. When, therefore, we behold a people dis- 

 couraging and losing their splendid ancient arts, 

 and giving instead a ready market to the cheap 

 trash which comes out of the West, we may hardly 



