Peeps at Many Lands: Siam/Chapter 1
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| A corner of the Grand Palace enclosure, Bangkok. |
You have doubtless already learned in your history of England that at one time this island home of ours was peopled by wild, uncivilized tribes, who were driven away into the hills of the north and the west by invaders who came to our shores from the lands on the other side of the North Sea. At different times, Jutes, Saxons, Danes, and Angles poured their warriors upon our coasts, killed the people, burnt their homes, and stole their cattle. And one of these invading tribes, the Angles, gave its name to a part of our island, which is to this day known as England—that is, Angle-land, the land of the Angles.
Now, in the same way, the people who live in Siam at the present time are the descendants of invaders who swept into the country and drove the original inhabitants into the hills. No one is quite certain where the Siamese actually came from, but it is likely that their home was upon the mountain-slopes of Tibet. Their ancestors were a wild and vigorous race who tattooed themselves. They descended from the mountains and settled in China, where they became a peaceable people, living upon their farms, rearing their crops and tending their herds, and perhaps thinking little of war and bloodshed any more. These people are known as the Shans. Then, one day, there came down upon them a great horde of invaders, who drove most of them away from their homes. Some stayed behind as slaves; other wanderers travelled to the west and settled in the country we now call Burma; and, finally, some of the exiles pushed on to the valleys and hill-sides of Northern Siam, and these are the people whose descendants we call the Siamese. The word "Siam" is really the word "Shan," the name of the earliest settlers in the land. Amongst the first of the European nations to visit this little-known country were the Portuguese and when they came home to Europe again, and told their story of the people they had found in Further India, they both spelled and pronounced the word "Shan" as "Siam," and that is how we get the name. The Siamese never call themselves by this name. The native name for the people is "Thai," which means "free," and the country of Siam is to them always "Muang Thai"—that is, "the Land of the Free."
We shall not stay here to tell the long story of how the Siamese, in the course of many hundreds of years, have fought all the people upon their borders—those who live in Cambodia, Pegu, Annam, and Burma. This history is full of curious stories of brave and cruel men, two of whom deserve just a word or two here.
About the time when Charles II. was reigning in England, a Greek named Constantine Phaulkon arrived in Siam. He had been wrecked, together with a number of Siamese officials, upon the coast of India, and they had invited him to visit their country. He accepted the invitation, and they introduced him to the King. Phaulkon was a very clever man, and he became the chief friend and adviser of the Sovereign. He built a fort and a palace, and round the town that was then the capital he erected a wall, which was strengthened at intervals by small towers. The ruins of of the palace built by this Greek are still to be seen in the old city. Phaulkon grew so powerful that the Siamese princes and nobles got jealous, and when the King became sick, so that he could no longer hold the reins of power, the angry princes and their friends made up their minds to get rid of the King's foreign favourite. One dark night Phaulkon was summoned to attend a meeting of the chief men of the country. He hurried to the palace, little thinking what was in store for him. On his arrival he was seized and thrown into prison, and finally he was tortured to death.
Now, about a hundred years later, at a time when George III. was on the throne of England, and when we were fighting the American colonists because they would not pay the taxes we tried to impose upon them, another foreigner rose to great power in Siam. This foreigner was a Chinaman, named Phya Tak. The Burmese had invaded Siam, and had done a great deal of damage. So Phya Tak got together an army, composed chiefly of robbers and outlaws, and with these fierce soldiers he drove all the Burmese away. When he had achieved this great victory, he came to Bangkok, and caused himself to be crowned King of the country; and ever since his day Bangkok has been the capital of Siam. Phya Tak did not reign very long, for after a time he became mad. He fled to a monastery and donned the robes of a priest. But this did not help him very much, for the man who had been his chief friend and general murdered the mad King and reigned in his stead. The usurper assumed the crown in 1782, and the Sovereign who now rules over the country is his great-grandson. The present King's full name and title is His Majesty Phrabat Somdetch Phra Paramindr Maha Chula Lon Kawn Phra Chula Chom Klao Chao Yu Hua. He became King when he was not quite seventeen years of age, and his health at that time was so delicate that at first it was feared he would not live. However, on the day that he was crowned it rained very heavily, and then all his subjects felt very happy indeed; for if it rains when the King is crowned, then will he certainly live for many years. And so it has happened, for he is still alive, having reigned now about twenty-nine years.