"Not at all," was the reply. "Siam has never had that horrid custom of the suttee, or widow-burning, that so long disgraced India. It is not allowed there now, and probably there has not been a single case of it in the last ten or twenty years. None of the religious rites of the Siamese have ever been accompanied by physical torture."
"Who pays for all the expense of these ceremonies?" said Fred.
"Nominally the king pays for them," the Doctor responded; "but in reality the money comes, as all government expenses come in every part of the world, from the people. The princes and governors, and other high dignitaries who attend a funeral or a hair-cutting, make presents that go in part for defraying the cost of the performances, and, of course, the money for these presents comes from their subjects."
"Then it is no more than right," Frank remarked, "that the people should be amused when they go to these affairs, whether they are funerals or anything else."
"But where does the king get all his money?" queried Fred. "That is, how does he raise his taxes, and how are they collected?"
"Taxes in Siam," the Doctor explained, "are of various kinds. They are direct and indirect, just as they are in other countries; and the object is the same—the production of a revenue.
"There is a tax on the sale of spirits, as I have already told you, and there is a tax on gambling. Both these taxes are farmed out, and the purchaser generally makes a good thing out of his venture. The purchasers are usually Chinese speculators, and they sub-let their privileges to smaller contractors for a round profit on their investments.
"There is a tax on fishing in the Menam River, and also in the other streams in which fish abound; the Buddhist religion forbids the destruction of animal life, but the requirement is rather considered as applying only to the priesthood, and the common people give little attention to it. But no one is allowed to fish within a certain distance of the palace, as all fish in that limit are held to be sacred, and under the protection of the king. On the canal that encloses the palace in the direction farthest from the river there are marks to indicate the limits; inside the line it would be dangerous to the neck of a native to be caught fishing, while outside of it he may do so with impunity.
"Then there are taxes on shops and on various branches of trade, just as there are in the countries of Europe; and there are taxes on fruit-trees and land, and there are customs-duties, and other things. There is a poll-tax on the Chinese inhabitants of Siam, which is collected by the authorities with the utmost care; and any Chinese who neglects to pay it is liable to be compelled to work it out under the eye of a public overseer. Every boat that is used as a shop pays a tax, and so do all the shops through the country. Then there are certain articles of export that are considered the monopoly of the king, and as he has no competition in buying, and no opposition in selling, he has a good thing of it. The rules about trade are changing every year; and so, if you make a note of what I have told you, it is well to remember that what you have written for the day may not be good for all time."
"The consul told us about the imports of Siam," said one of the boys, "when we were going up the river to Ayuthia. Please tell us about the exports. He mentioned rice and sugar as articles that the Siamese send to other countries, but did not say what other things they had to sell."