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is partly within the territory, but is of little use for navigation, being obstructed by falls and rapids. Many canals have been cut, for transportation has been almost entirely by water.
Natural Resources. Gold has been found from the earliest ages, and the mines are now worked by European speculators; copper, tin, iron, rubies and sapphires are also found. Much of upper Siam is a dense forest, including such woods as mangosteen, teak, rosewood, palms, aloes, sappan and other varieties. The fisheries also are quite extensive, and birds of brilliant plumage and sweet song abound. The animals are those of the tropical regions, the elephant being tamed and used for labor in the teak forests. Some of the famous white elephants are kept in the royal courtyard at Bangkok, but are not held sacred or fed on golden dishes, as the stories assert. The climate is healthy, with two seasons, the wet and the dry, and a rainfall of 54 inches. April is the hottest month of the year.
People and Culture. The population numbers 6,686,846, about one third of whom are pure Siamese, There are 3,500,000 Chinese, besides Burmese, Malays, Cambodians and the Laos or Shans. The Siamese are small, well-shaped, olive-colored, black-haired. They are peaceful, vain, social and lazy, fond of bright colors and jewelry. The children’s heads are shaved, except a tuft on the crown, which is cut off with great ceremony when they are grown. Their houses are built of wood thatched with palm leaves, and stand on piles. The banks of the rivers are often lined with wooden houses floating on rafts or bundles of bamboo. The food mainly is rice, fish and fruit. A liquor made from rice is used as a drink, but there is very little drunkenness. Betelnut-chewing and tobacco-smoking are almost universal, the teeth being colored black by the nut and other materials used for the purpose. The religion is Buddhism, and all the Siamese enter the priesthood for a time. The temples are numerous, with gilded minarets, roofs of colored tiles and quaint pagodas.
Production and Industries. Large tracts of waste land, sufficient to accommodate 250,000 people, have been opened by Irrigation. One irrigation-company has connected Menam and Bangkapong Rivers and is building numerous smaller canals. Chinese coolies perform the chief part of the labor in field, mill and mine, while forest-labor is done by Burmese, Karens and Khamus. The chief product is rice, with tobacco, coffee, hemp, cotton and tropical fruits. There are 26 large rice-mills and a number of smaller ones. Other products include salt, pepper, dried fish and cattle. Rubber is collected and exported.
Teak-cutting also is an Important industry, but it is almost entirely in the hands of the British. Manufactures are not developed; only coarse cloth and silk, rough paper and water-jars and tiles are made
Government. Siam is governed by a king, the present ruler being Chulalongkorn I, who succeeded in 1868. He is anxious to improve his country, and is interested in the introduction of railroads and telegraph lines. Through his influence Siam joined the postal union in 1885, and has an electric-light company to light the streets of Bangkok, which also has electric cars, while education is making distinct progress. In the capital alone there are nearly 80 government and aided schools, and these, with the schools in the provinces, are under the control of an English chief-inspector. There are two training-schools for teachers, one medical college and sericultural and railway schools. The government has spent $5,000,000 on 400 miles of railway construction, telegraph lines have been completed 2,900 miles, and mail-service down the Malay Peninsula has been developed extensively,
History. Siamese history begins with 1350. Cambodia was conquered and made tributary in 1532, and the present dynasty was founded in 1782. Ayuthia was the capital until it was burnt by the Burmese after a siege of two years in 1768. Bangkok (population about 500,000) was made the capital by Phya Tak, who drove the Burmese from the country and became king. Consult Coit’s Siam, Hallett’s Thousand Miles on an Elephant; and Vincent’s Land of the White Elephant. See Anam, Cambodia, Cochin-China, Indo-China, Laos and Shans.
Si′amese′ Twins, the name of two children, Eng and Chang, born in Siam in 1811. They were united by a band of flesh growing from chest to chest. They were shown as curiosities in the principal cities of Europe and America, and finally settled in North Carolina, where they married two sisters. The Civil War ruined them financially, and they again made the tour of Europe, exhibiting themselves in 1869. They died in North Carolina, two hours and a half apart, Jan. 17, 1874.
Siberia (sī́-bē′rĭ-a), a vast territory belonging to Russia in northern Asia. It covers 4,786,730 square miles, stretching from the Chinese empire to the Arctic Ocean.
Surface. A large part is only imperfectly known. It is covered with a network of highlands and mountain-ridges, of which the Great Altai and Sayan Mountains, separating Siberia from Mongolia; the Barguzin and South Muya ridges, svith others still unnamed; and the Stanovoi Mountains, which form a high wall on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, are the most
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