See Harry de Windt, Through the Gold Fields of Alaska to Bering Strait (1898); Dittmar, “Über die Koriaken u. ihnen nahe verwandten Tchouktchen,” in Bul. Acad. Sc. (St Petersburg), xii. p. 99; Hooper, Ten Months among the Tents of the Tuski; W.H. Dall, Contributions to North American Ethnology, vol. i. (1877).
CHULALONGKORN, PHRA PARAMINDR MAHA (1853-1910), king of Siam, eldest son of King Maha Mongkut, was born on the 21st of September 1853. His full signature, used in all important state documents, consists of twenty-seven names, but it is by the first four that he is usually known. Educated in his childhood by English teachers, he acquired a good knowledge of the English language and of Western culture. But his surroundings were purely oriental, and his boyhood was spent, according to custom, in a Buddhist monastery. He succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, 1st October 1868, and was crowned on the 11th of November following, a ceremony marked by the innovation of permitting the presence of Europeans. Until his majority in 1873 the government was carried on by a regent, the young king retiring to a Buddhist monastery, and later making a tour through India and the Dutch East Indies, an undertaking until then without precedent among the potentates of eastern Asia. He had no sooner taken the reins of power than he gave evidence of his recognition of the importance of modern culture by abolishing slavery in Siam. He simplified court etiquette, no longer demanding, for example, that his subjects should approach him on hands and knees. Still more important, in view of the numerous races and creeds included among his subjects, was the proclamation of liberty of conscience. This was followed by the erection of schools and hospitals, the construction of roads and railways, and the further development of the army and fleet which his father had initiated. To him Siam is indebted for its standard coinage, its postal and telegraph service, and for the policing, sanitation and electric-lighting of Bangkok. Several of his sons, including the crown prince, were educated in England, and in the summer of 1897 he himself visited England, arriving at Portsmouth in his yacht on the 29th of July. On the 4th of August he was received by Queen Victoria at Osborne. After a tour in Great Britain he proceeded to Berlin, Brussels, and the Hague and Paris. (See also [Siam].)
CHUMBI VALLEY, a valley connecting Tibet (q.v.) with the frontier of British India. Lying on the southern slopes of the Himalayas at an altitude of about 9500 ft. above the sea, the valley is wedged in between Bhutan and Sikkim, and does not belong geographically but only politically to Tibet. This was the route by which the British mission of 1904 advanced. Before the date of that expedition the valley had acquired a reputation for beauty and fertility, which was subsequently found to be only comparative in relation to the barrenness of the rest of the Tibetan frontier. The summer months, though not hot, are relaxing and enervating.
CHUNAR, or Chunarghur, a town and ancient fortress of India, in the district of Mirzapur, in the United Provinces, situated on the south bank of the Ganges. Pop. (1901) 9926. The fort occupies a conspicuous site on the summit of an abrupt rock which commands the river. It was at one time a place of great strength, and still contains a magazine, and is fortified with batteries. In the old citadel on the height, the remains of a Hindu palace with some interesting carvings indicate the former importance of the place. The town, which consists of one or two straggling streets, contains a handsome English church. Chunar is first mentioned in the 16th century, when in possession of Sing Joanpore. In 1530 it became the residence of Shere Shah the Afghan, and forty-five years later was recovered by the emperor Akbar after sustaining a siege of six months. It fell into the hands of the English under General Carnac in 1763 after a prolonged resistance which caused considerable loss to the assailants. A treaty with the nawab of Oudh was signed here by Warren Hastings on behalf of the East India Company in September 1781.
CHUNCHO, a tribe of South American Indians, living in the forests east of Cuzco, central Peru. They are a fierce and savage people who have preserved their independence. They are said to be akin to their neighbours the Antis. They dwell in communal houses, and live chiefly by hunting. Chuncho has also been used to describe one of three aboriginal stocks of Peru, the others being Quichua and Aymara.