There are scarcely any manufactures in Siam, but commerce still flourishes there, although less vigorously than formerly. The Siamese exchange their agricultural produce, their wood, their skins, cotton, rice, and preserved fish, with the Chinese, the Annamites, the Burmese, and especially with the English and Dutch possessions. Elephant’s tusks are also an important article of barter, and elephant-hunting is the calling of many of the natives.
The country is rather fertile. It is an immense plain, hilly towards the north, and intersected by a river, the Meinam, on the banks of which are placed its principal towns. Bankok is situated on this river, not far from its mouth in the gulf of Siam, and is consequently the principal port of the whole kingdom, the head-quarters of its entire trade. The periodical overflowings of the Meinam fertilize the whole of its basin.
Art and science are not entirely neglected in the kingdom of Siam. It is one of the few Asiatic countries which possess a literature of its own and some artistic productions.
Although the Buddhist religion prevails in Siam and is the state religion, yet different sects are tolerated there, and Christianity can reckon two thousand five hundred disciples.
[Fig. 154] represents the young prince-royal.
The Stieng savages are subjects of the king of Siam. Their stature is a little above the average. They are powerful, their features are regular, and their well-developed foreheads show intelligence. Their only clothing is a long scarf. They are so much attached to their mountains and forests, that when away from their own country they are frequently seized with a dangerous kind of home-sickness.
154.—THE PRINCE-ROYAL OF SIAM.
These Siamese aliens of civilization work in iron and ivory; and make hatchets and swords which are sought after by collectors. Their women weave and dye the scarves they wear. They cultivate rice, maize, tobacco, vegetables, and fruit-trees. They possess neither priests nor temples, but they acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being. The time they can spare from their fields they devote to hunting and fishing. Indefatigable in the chase, they penetrate with extraordinary rapidity the densest jungles. The women appear to be as active and as untiring as the men. They use powerful cross-bows with poisoned arrows to shoot the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the tiger. They are fond of adorning themselves with imitation pearls of a bright colour, which they make into bracelets. Both sexes pierce their ears, and widen the hole every year by inserting in it pieces of bone and ivory.