Show written for this OUR ROYAL VISITOR copyrighted 1897 2697 by br frank Q G carpenter washington D C june xyth 1897 IS majesty king Chul along korn is now in europe and is expected to cross the atlantic in his bis royal yacht to make a visit to the united states is the king of siam he i is the richest ruler of the world with perhaps the exception of the czar and he has more power over his subjects than any monarch outside of the petty tyrants tyrant of savage africa I 1 heard much of hun him during my stay in in siam a few years ago I 1 his majesty was away from his capital at the time of my visit he had bad gone up the river benam in one of his royal houseboats with about thirty of his wives and was not expected back tor for weeks I 1 met however the men closest to him I 1 had letters from our cabinet ministers at washington to the leadin lea dingi V siamese officials and was given alven an inside view of matters connected with his fair majesty and his bis government his majesty is called for short hiskell his real reLl title is prabhat som det pra maha maba kate klow chow yu hua he is the ninth child of maba Mong kut who was the last king maha Mong kut had bad eighty four children and of these chala longhorn long korn was chosen to be placed upon the siamese throne he has thirlow thirty four halt half brothers and forty nine hall si sisters stem and he liked one of his half sisters so well that he has married her and jo now the queen the king is years old he is about 5 feet 4 incie high has a plump olive brown la beautiful eyes of a liquid black a blew broad high rather full forehead and sho straight black hair his nose asuan is and half flat fiat his lips are rather thid thick anahis and his upper lip is decorated withof xv Z silky black mustache he dresses in clothes which aich might pass well for those of a bicycler in the place of pantaloons he wears a wide strip of black silk or sarong which siamese gentlemen wrap around their waists and pull J between their legs so that it forms a pair air of loose knee breeches he wears F long ong silk stockings and low shoes while the upper part ot of his body is clad in a military coat his majesty sometimes wears a helmet at other times he sports a derby hat and it is only upon state occasions at his bis home that he puts on one af pf of his enormous crowns he has several such crowns in his palace these crowns are pyramids of jewels set in n gold rising in ci circular ii cular tiers and e end nd ing in a long point like that ot of a pencil il 18 or 20 20 inches above the head of the wearer the king is practically the owner of siam he basone has one of the richest countries of asia it is bigger than germany and richer than egypt there is no land anywhere which will produce more moie valuable rice its mighty forests are full of teak wood and its mines con contain lain gold silver and precious stones the king has hundreds of ek chanis some of which are worth 1000 apiece and ana his income income is is said to amount to more than a year I 1 was told in bangkok that he had between and stored up tor for a rainy day and that he could increase his revenues at will it is the diio king g who decides what the taxes are to be he taxes what he pleases and whom he pleases he gets his money from all sorts ot of sources from gambling to farming and the taxes upon some classes of people are so heavy that siamese men have often to sell their wives and children as debt slaves to enable them to foot the bills I 1 saw men in chains working on the road under the shadow of the palace wall and I 1 was told that the hoogs k laws were such that all of his subjects have to work a part of each year ear without pay for him he has you know now about xo io of people in his king kingdom dotu the kings power is is absolute by a word he be can deprive a man of his property throw him into chains ch ains or put him to death he owns not only vine the wen men but the women as well and he has the light fight to take into his bis harem any maiden that attracts his bis fancy the king has acres of palaces in the center of the big city of bangkok there is a little city surrounded by a big wall which contains the quarters quakers of his majesty and those of his ser vans and bis harem the latter is shown to no man but I 1 was able to go through some of the finest buildings of the palace roper passing the soldiers at the gate I 1 walked for perhaps a quarter of a mile by one building after another until I 1 came to an immense structure which in the distance looked like marble As I 1 drew closer I 1 saw that the marble was stucco and that the building was made of brick or stone covered with plaster it was however very imposing it covered a vast area of ground and rose to the hecht he of three tall stories before the lugh ridged roof began it had many steeples and towers and the wide stairways which led to the front door were guarded by immense elephants of some metal plated with gold past pasting passing ing by the solden golden elephants I 1 went up the steps und and entered the kings council chamber he has here a throne which looks lor for all the world like a bed and upon it 1 I was told that his majesty as a rule sat with his bis legs crossed like a turk while tie he received his bis cabinet ministers and discussed matters relating to his kingdom I 1 learned that the chief work of the palace was done at night under the rays of the electric light and that the king and the cabinet ministers did a large part of sleeping in the day time on the opposite side of the hall ball I 1 saw another large room this was the kings reception room for foreigners it is gorgeously furnished and contains rare vases irom from dresden beautiful carvings from japan and china and some wonderful gold work from the jewelers ot 61 siam there were elephants tusks beautifully polished standing here and there in the corners and oil paintings looked down from the walls the next room into which I 1 was taken was the most wonderful I 1 had ever seen it was the throne room where upon great state occasions the king receives ministers of state the room covers a vast extent its ceiling being at least fifty feet from the floor it is longer than the east room at the white house and as wide as a theater at the back there is a rostrum upon which the king sits at such times on a golden chair under royal umbrellas upheld by servants around the room running along the walls and extending some distance out from the ends enas there is a very thicket ot of golden trees and bushes these little trees have their trunks and branches plated withhold with gold ane leaves are of solid gold as are also the smaller twigs they are made by the cunning gold workers of the different provinces and are sent by the governor and gub subordinate ordinate officials in different parts ot of the kingdom as presents to his majesty on one side of the room I 1 saw a number of silver trees among the gold ones and it seemed to me that the amount of met il required to make them must have been worth a fortune it is according to law for the king to take one of his halt sisters as a wife and to make her his queen this keeps the ruyal royal family comparatively pure as oril only y her sons can ascend to the throne 1 I 1 he present queen is I 1 am told about fifteen years younger than the king she is said aid to te be a very progressive woman and to help him considerably in the management of his government she directs his household establishment and rules the harem her majesty is a fair type of the best looking siamese maiden she has a aig light brown complexion oily black hair which is cut short and which consists of black bristles like those of a shoe brush standing out all over her head her majesty smokes cigarettes as do all the ladies of her harem and she is very fond corid of chewing the betel nut betel nut chewing is common among all classes in siam this nut is i the green nut ot of the areca palm in some respects it makes you xou think pt ot a green walnut it is cut into little pieces and mixed with tobacco and pink col ored lime the mixture forming the cud which fanuse ladies chew ches with more gusto gust othan than any of our american girls chew wax betel chewin chewing g is far more disgusting than wax che chewing wing As the fair betel chewers masticate their toothsome cud its juice colors the saliva red and their mouths seem to be filled with bood their teeth become as black as jet and their lips are turned dark brown black teeth in siam area are a sign of beauty T th people have a saying that mat any dog c can have white teeth but it is only those are rich enough to afford the betel n nut who can have beautiful black ones noi only the queen but also all the ladi badiea of the harem chew I 1 visited a lar bargia store right near the i alace which fu furnishes the ladies much of their fine finery their sweetmeats sweet meats and their articles oj toilet among other things which art a sold are betel spittoons spit these art little cups about t e ize of a ohavio sha mug every one of the kings wives had one or two and each lady keeps one al nays ays by her side lifting it to her lipi li from time to time and squirting out into it her surplus saliva every lady of harem has also her betel box this m for the materials of chewing some ol 01 the boxes are of silver and those of th the king and queen are set with jew jewels during my stay in the kings store I 1 asked some questions as to the fashio fashions affected by the queen and the other la 1 dies of the harem I 1 was told that tha favorite costume of the kings wives HI the burong or waist cloth falling to this knees and a jacket of silk I 1 saw ma many of the jackets in this store they we wera loosely made and were decorated wi ribbons and swiss embroidery T the man told me that most of the women wom preferred to go barefooted 1 and that t moa of them wore anklet I 1 gold the king keeps between one and two hu hundred ladies in his harem they are se lecter from the best families of the cou country and I 1 was told that the nobles of th the court were anxious to have their daughters taken up by the king as them they were able to secure fat jq jobs and official favor the rules govern the kings household establishment a alq very rigid no woman can go outside of the palace without his per permission misi autti and her days of royal favor are usual short after the age of twenty five it if f woman has not had bad children she b beg comes one of the waiting maids of t tbt younger wives new girls being baroug brought in in every year the last king had bad ad even larger harem than the present on aoe his wives came from china and india indi as well weli as siam and he was wa anai anxious io us i is said to add some well bred augh Englis tt girls to his gallery of beauties i with so many wives you would t thin h the king would be able to do little oft side his own family he does a gr deal he has a cabinet of twelve M ars and many subordinate officials official though he settles the most imbor matters himself not a dollar can i out ot of his bis treasury without his sig while I 1 was in bangkok a young ame ican who bad been teaching the kin king children wanted his salary the t trea es ury officials knew that thac it was due b but t could not be paid until his bis majesty cans back from his t trip 1 into the interi is t the e most progress progresso monarch siam has ever had he hat taken take up with foreign ways a and d ha has s to 0 ft certain extent modernized siam ta country is a member ot of the Inter natio postal union I 1 saw the postmen del detia ering letters and I 1 was able to regis registe mail which 1 sent to america there now an electric railroad in bangkok banak and within the past few years severs stevee steam railroads have been colstr construct A number of new roads have bee been rss su keyed and there is one being built I 1 an fn bangkok to korat about miles naile i ii the interior connection will evenie be made with burmah and at no dist date we shall be able to travel throughout farther india by rail at present a large part of the interior transportation has to be done upon elephants the only beasts which are able to make their way through the thick jungle the king speaks english fluently and reads it with ease it is not etiquette however for him to use anything else than his own language during his audiences and tor for this reason he will have an interpreter during his travels in this country the elephant is the royal beast of siam you see elephant pictures on all the flags the old coins had bad an elf elephant printed on them and the white elephant elep bant in fact forms what you would call the court of arms of the king the siamese are buddhists they believe io in the transmigration of souls they think that the souls of their heroes or greatest men go into elephants and of the very greatest into ane white ele chants it w s for this reason that white elephants were worshiped in times past today the king keeps a number of white elephants in his palace stables I 1 asked to be shown these beasts during my visit to the palace I 1 expected to find the animas decorated with gold and urple purple and fastened with goden chains I 1 was shown something far different the stables were dirty wooden sheds and the elephants were tied with rough ropes to posts the keepers in charge ot of them were dirty and there was no sign of royalty about them the elephants themselves looked freckled they were not pure white by any means and I 1 have since learned learna d that the white elephant is a diseased elephant his whiteness is ii more like that of leprosy than nature and he is the ugliest beast of the elephant kind I 1 I 1 spent some time in the wonderful buddhists temples of bangkok there was one right next to the palace of the king in which his majesty daily worships during his stay stav in his capital this temple has a spire hundreds of feet high made of coil after coil 0 masonry plated with gold there is I 1 was told more than oooo xo worth ot of gold upon it it has doors of ebony inlaid with mother of plarl pearl and it is lighted with candles of all sizes some as big around as your finger others of the size of your dour waist these candles are in candles icks plated with gold 0 id they will burn for weeks and tae their i r flickering kering flames are supposed to dispose of a multitude of sins in this temple there is one room the floor ot of which is covered with a carpet of woven silver wire its chief idol is the famed emerald god this god is about a foot high it is made of pure gold mixed with jewels I 1 it is set with diamonds topazes to pazes sap chires and rubies and it represents a vast amount of money ane idol is placed high up above the floor of the temple almost almost under the roof it is so high that that it is hard to ap appreciate i i ate its value but so holy that the pk king rang bows before it every morning and the hundred ladies of the harem come in now and then and bending their naked knees upon the cold floor pray to it siam has hundreds of other temples they are by all odds the finest buildings in bangkok the contributions to them and the priests do much to keep the people poor there is no city ot the world that has so mavy many buddhist priests as bangkok siam is the home of buddhism and bangkok is the central station for its worship there are 25 buddhist priests in theaty thed the city ty these are of all ages from sixteen to eighty and the religion is such that any man can be a priest if he chooses every siamese Sia trese man is expected to become a priest for a certain part of his life and king chu has I 1 am told served two terms in the priesthood this being beina a priest changes a man mans manis Is relations to his fellows for the time he is then considered holy to his family as well as to others I 1 saw mothers bowing down to their boys sons who were acting as priests the priests shave |