i'ii
1 .? "
TTT HERE was mdny ajiero to fiddle . j4 as. ' anything , In the Eastnd
1 ; fiiuratrvelywhen the city of cheek by 'jowl with' thh modern .advance
; Bangkok, Siam,. was. visited,. hmen'Ljostlinf it eviery.turn 'is the' back
:'Seentljt j by :a ' $3,000000 ' conflagration. .ward stage of the uncbuth water-dwellers,
7- Only, unlike theRoman Emperor theseZTas IfuntoKhet'JjZtheTcMli&tion-' with
fiddlers -residents of -, the .afflicted city .which, they come in contact 4alyt scarcely
made merry; not because of; the suffering more advanced than they were 4000 years
entailed, but for the good which the. fire ''ago.-""::X, ? . ( - V; ' '
;.: augured, ...tl fc :;v ;v.; 1 2!A 'i European quarters' business
; TAa fire made of the Siamese capital nouses, royal palaces; clubs and residences
less a citi of contrasts bf.$ftoop;bpo than of the wealthier classes are extremely mod-.
. it had, been; but still it . remains, , of ajl ern; telephone lines meet the demands of
:the world, the place where the ifrimitive L the day, -.trolley cars glide through the
" andhe'modern-arrrnostjtriktnglydis.i
: flayed, side by side. i;J v r4
Partly, it is ; twentieth '
century as
KAVEtEES are' goin to Bangkok in
conitantly , increaaing numbere every
year. Ihey are bo delighted ith the
- ffeneral-excellenoe of -itR rnHItAotriM
and the quaintnesa of iu thoroughfares of the
; modern section of the city that they hare long,
i by common consent, called it 'the Venice of the
East :' : ''': "r : :-:-.. -:
; Almost all: the atreeta ' ar , trarersed by
canals and arroyos, , which form a ', delightful
prospect for- those residents - of -mean whose
' ... '.-:- u i. '.. ' .... - i - ' 4,
jnagnificent dwellinga nod to one another acrose.
PW waterways. , , . ,v, .
; i'But on those same Venetian streets a little
farther away, and on the river, on rafts, be -
cause iney cannox anora a rooa of ground upon
which, to live aa man is intended" to Ti
such primitive fashion reside threeuarters of
the population.
Mimil.i AH "
' -'., ,r r V t ' .
view of the fact that Bangkok ia the chief city
of biam in every respect chief port, chief com-
, xhe , anomaly ia
ink mim mw.tir.iMM f.
T
a . 11
m'SKrf &vLFZlIW
ily. To the royal palace ho architectural won-
fTCU vi irioccjaes
rSiSSY .TnTC th. r'hemmid
gleaming with -fairyJik splendor. V.
To 1,5m who 1. forttmate nAn.t. ...
trate those walls the various Ministry build -
ings, the royal library end the Buddhiat ton-
p.ch a gem of the builder's art in'itatff.
rnhanoe greatly the general effect of sumpl
L.... VUFI.
" . ...
r th truoturc almost as grand,
,'THg OREGOrSUNDAY.
- v - i r - f i i i t !
., . date- and only a few blocks away from the
semi-civuization of ages ago. ':. ; '
.:' Yet in the whole' of Bangkok there Ja hot a
a!ngle attempt at a drainage ayatem all ;the
filth and muck accumulated from anr cauae
-from the royal palaee'aa well as the homes of .
the lowly1 is dumped into those oanal atreeta,
to be either left, a deadly microbe dispenser, on
tho bed of the stream, or. to be carried out with
the tide. ' ' ;;,-,'. .-....J
One would think euch a place must be a
, Teritable plague' spot, but here the' anomaly v
-comes in -again for, -notwithstanding - that -
plague haa. every yiar assumed. epidemie form
.t.Hong Kong, sven-days steamer disUn
.no case, so far as is known,, has got beyond the
- Bangkok quarantine etation. - - '
, . Outside of those trsvelers ' who are : im-
w. ii. "TJl". li!
Ci know to wod: '7.
. . .
in rrtrA 'Vm n.a . .
SUUU1,1 or omner yesieraay or bought' a
, pound at your grocery for 10 cents and thought
n very good for the price, .never dreaming that
. 1 j: j i .
whole dav " . . u
xne house 01 such a laborer ia a bamhoa
v iSTS fiS SSSSSS SSvSS
What this
. -.Jt!.? A I'mUy aumbr ht
- ' iAt,i;-.T.. 'iii
' the loins no shoeV".MAm'fc,. .;
SometimeV ?ho
; cloth to west bT tl.e bt 1 '
.ciotn to wesr about the breast,
. irgeiy on account of the cramned wsv f
living nd tho lack of physical ccmiorta la tho
JOURNAU-. FORTLANU SUNDAY ;
i' i i. . ., i i " 1 i i r
...
or"
-X
v
'
.
'
"
I
1 '
it:.-
fact that the death rate among- the -poor of "
Bangkok i trnnondnna. , ' . r .' '
Jiven the ; entrance to Bangkok is forbid-
dingt sunken junks . and other obstructions,
T Pf "ere to eep out an enemy, block toe l
WS "SSFIJZZl S'?? ""i
. riiam, which is north of the China. Sea. So lit-
. la V I A - 1
wo ui guicruunjui monu vq care lor amp-
ping business thst it haa m fleeted to provide
adequate lighthouse service. : . , .. ,-
Of all the population, those who dwell in1
floating hoiiei re the r let. -progressive
1 hey are Asiatic, but many tongues re heard ;
. tk- 1 v,u ' " j
1 '.Tr,are
?. .Pdi and work the machinery of the milk. -V
.w rdenors, the Bombay
.inen are merennnts, the lamils, , cattlemen and ,
pkeepert: . the ormese. gem dealers, and
country peddlers; tho Singales goldsmith, and
jewelew, mnd th. .Bengali, are tho tailon."-'. . :'
TT.nJ . . '
Hand to mouth ia the rule of livinir;rinno
all these lower tribes.- They keep jdose to tho'
yj Jjyrj ffis r,-
MOKrffNG rflHCH 17. J907
fi l l, ill i v "ii
CcnaL
"1 h
" -v.
...i.
-' ,: 'i ,1
water, and appear as satisfied with bare liv-T'
inff, 1 witbovt -considering clothes V or ; higher V
' amusements, as the alligators which splash here .
l and there in the muddy water, always ready to V
gobbJe-up. a child when one misses He balance
from. houseboat, or .to nip. oflf
man's arm ; if he
.
venture to stick
it in the
L.water. .. i ' ' - . ' - " ..-;r.Ai
... You may leave thia primeval scene,1 and in
a minute or two find yourself in consular Bsna-
kok, where' fair-sized verandahed houses, flaa-
J liViwTtJ w -
dressed, men, women and children, make it seem :
a part .of another, world. Consular Bangkok
. prefers to know nothing of ; that other Bang- ,
ell suoceeos... . , , ' . ., " .r
are worse Bangkoks than that of
port. rTo reach one of them,' the traveler
ia made' terribly malodorous bv "dead' don. dis-'
' cased Chinamen and polluting sewers the open
sewers which are expected to carry the filth to
the canal,, but do not except after a hard rain,
..Go a little further on. . and you . are in
Siamese Bamrkok:. eleaner. hMlth5ir. 1u.M t.hM
i i , , . ' , .
people are fond of bathing and whitewash gives
an impression of cleanliness.
....rT" ; thjT-CannX: r-"y .... ......... .
m
- ; i
1 S'frti
3&nce;ofth&2Zin.$Z;
1 Yet to alow to improve themselrea are these ,
Siamese, as well as the other Asiatics amonc .
them, that the government ' could never hav!
advanced aa f a aa it has but for the large nnm- ', v.
ber of Europeans who have, been appointed 'to
the various- decartmenta of the civil acrvioet
and to the failings M some of these' European '
may be due much of the trouble into which the .
conn try has fallen." J'- '
; 1 - To show that .the King of Biam baa " erf-",
ousV tried to elevate the standards in bis do- .
' minion, it may be cited that in 1893 he created,.' ,
in addition to the. old Council of State, c Coun-
,:il of JOnisters, of twelve . members, , mostly .
' . ' hesds of departments, composed of his relatives
r "" and a few of the higher nobles, and named the '.
.'chief ones Dcpsrtmenta of the- Foreign Offloe, :
the Armt, the Navy," the Publio Works,j Agri
1 culture, Justice. Eduestion and Finance.- ? ,
The navy is a very, capable organisation '
but the military instinct of the people has been ' J
wholly squelohed, nd they prefer death itself.
' rather than serving in the army. A Danish of
: fleer has for years done practically all the drill- '
ing that is done in tho army, or the native ofv
, 2cers are apathetia - ' ,5r.' ' " '
': f His Majesty, Chulalongkorn. haa about' 800
-' wives, and every ' Siamese mother and father
would sacrifice. every other aim in life to that.
of havingla3aughter admitted to the harem ;
this in spite of the fact . that" thereafter - only
yj. the King has the right to speak to them, v . .
. .. Should a woman of the seraglio become en; "'
ngea in, an aavenrare,-ane u sewea. up in
MAawb; is thrown into the inrtr. '
her accompbee beof noble ; family, he ia
the privilege - of being" beaten to deatn
wlth '"Jaawwocy rod if a mandarin of low de
orta man oiane ipeopie, n is impaiea on
a spear point and left as a dreadful example
for his kind. , '. .- . .'4,":: ; .'.;''
In the temple to Budda there Is seen the '
highest accomplishment of the Eastern archi
tect's ingenuity. One of the things that seem
out of place to the Westerner is the prevalence - '
tilm cuspidors in every part ofthe tem-
P. This is A concession to the people, who
. cannot , refrain from chewing betelnut.
while prostrating themselves in prayer. . " ... ,
Of all the disreputable streets in the city,',
the worst is Talat, the market place, which is
' too narrow to admit of the passsge of a hand- ;.
cart,' and the slippery pavement of which ia cov- ;
'eed with a coating of vicious black mud.
Here one', finds t himself surrounded, by
',opium dens, theatres, coolies and the sound of
-petards and .tomtoms. Famished , curs bark
'V furiously and bite at European. logs; lepers pass,
. unheeded imonr th crowd. . .. !
-No . other, city :, anywhere is full of such'
i.
violent contrasts.