ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES
1. 1, Gorge of the Me Ping
2, Ancient wall at Chiengmai
2. 1, A monolith in the Me Ping gorge
2, Boat being pulled upstream through the rapids by ropes
3. 1, The "mai kwao," tree that yields gum resin
2, Transplanting young rice plants
4. 1, Fishing from the roadsides after the rains
2, Water buffalo
5. 1, A primitive type of cart
2, Elephants breaking up a log jam
6. 1, Small river boats, and bamboo water wheel
2, A temple
7. 1, A reliquary
2, The high altar of a Buddhist shrine
8. 1, Royalty visits Chiengmai
2, A princely funeral at Chiengmai
TEXT FIGURE
1. Map of Siam
[Illustration: FIG. 1.—Map of Siam.]
SIAM—LAND OF FREE MEN
By H. G. DEIGNAN
Associate Curator, Division of Birds
U. S. National Museum
(WITH 8 PLATES)
From the earliest times the great peninsula which lies between India and China …. has been peculiarly subject to foreign intrusion. Successive waves of Mongolian humanity have broken over it from the north, Dravidians from India have colonised it, Buddhist missions from Ceylon have penetrated it, and buccaneers from the islands in the south have invaded it. Race has fought against race, tribe against tribe, and clan against clan. Predominant powers have arisen and declined. Civilisations have grown up, flourished and faded. And thus out of many and diverse elements a group of nations have been evolved, the individuals of which, Môn, Kambodian, Annamese, Burmese, Shan, Lao, Siamese and Malay, fundamentally much alike, but differing in many externals, have striven during centuries for mastery over each other, and incidentally over the countless minor tribes and clans maintaining a precarious existence in their midst. Into this mêlée of warring factions a new element intruded in the sixteenth century A. D. in the shape of European enterprise. Portuguese, Dutch, French and English all came and took part in the struggle, pushing and jostling with the best, until the two last, having come face to face, agreed to a cessation of strife and to a division of the disputed interests amongst the survivors. Of these there were but three, the French, the English, and the Siamese, and therefore Further India now finds herself divided, as was once all Gaul, into three parts. To the east lies the territory of French Indo-China, embracing the Annamese and Kambodian nations and a large section of the Lao; in the west the British Empire has absorbed the Môn, the Burmese and the Shans; while, wedged between and occupying the lower middle part of the subcontinent, with the isolated region of British Malaya on its extreme south border, lies the kingdom of Siam, situated between 4° 20' and 20° 15' N. latitude, and between 96° 30' and 106° E. longitude.[1]