Siam (native name, Muang Thai, 'the Land of the Free') occupies the central portion of the Indo-China Peninsula. Its extreme length stretches from 4° in the Malay Peninsula to Chiengsen (20° 22' N.), on the river Mekhong, or a distance of nearly 1100 miles, and the greatest breadth from E. long. 98° to 106°, or about 530 miles. It is bounded on the south by French Cambodia, the Gulf of Siam, and the British Malay states, and on the west by Burma. The northern frontier was laid down by the Anglo-Siamese Boundary Commission (1890-91); and in 1893 the treaty of Bangkok (supplemented by the Anglo-French treaty of 1896, which guaranteed the neutrality of the great central portion of Siam) conceded to France all the territory between the Mekhong and former Annamese frontier north to the Laos country; so that the Mekhong is now the Siamese boundary on the east (see map in Vol. II. p. 562). The territory ceded to France may amount to 100,000 sq. m., and its pop. to 100,000. The area of the present kingdom of Siam is about 220,000 sq. m., of which 60,000 are in the Malay Peninsula. The population is estimated at about 12,000,000, of whom about 3 or 4 millions are Siamese, about 3,000,000 Chinese, the remainder being Shans, Laos, Malays, Burmese, and hill tribesmen.
Physical Features.—The Malay Peninsula excluded, the plain of the Menam Valley, the adjoining eastern coast, and the Korat plateau (from 400 to 1000 feet high) occupy the greater portion of the country. These plains are fringed by hills up to 5000 feet high, and the north generally is hilly. The Menam, with a course of about 600 miles, is the principal river. It is formed by the junction of the Meping and Meyome, and at a point 130 miles from the sea it divides itself and falls into the Gulf of Siam by two mouths, the westerly of which is named the Tachin River. Two other streams, the Meklong and the Bangpakong, flow into the Gulf of Siam. The Mekhong (q.v.) or Cambodia has the main part of its course in or along Siamese territory, but navigation for vessels of any size is impeded by rapids, and, commercially speaking, this magnificent river is of little importance at present. The rivers form the principal trade-routes, and in and around Bangkok there is an intricate network of canals. Only the land adjoining the rivers is under cultivation, and the greater portion of the country is covered by pathless jungle.
The climate is considered healthy for the tropics. Low malarial fever is the most frequent illness amongst the European community. There are two seasons—the wet and the dry, the former lasting from May till November, and the latter the rest of the year. The average rainfall is 54 inches per annum, which is slight compared with that of the adjoining countries of Burma and Cochinchina. April is the hottest month of the year, but even then the thermometer rarely rises above 94° in a well-constructed house, and as a rule there are cool breezes at night. The average temperature for the year is 81°.
Productions, Commerce, Exports, and Imports.—The chief production of Siam is rice. It is the national food, and its export forms the great source of wealth of the country. The system of agriculture is of the most primitive kind, but a genial sun, refreshing rains, and alluvial soil combine to produce abundant crops. In 1890, 479,660 tons of rice, valued at £2,508,816, were exported, chiefly to Singapore and Hong-kong for transhipment. This item formed more than two-thirds of the total exports, which amounted to £3,209,621. The other principal exports were teak-wood, obtained in the north, to the value of £200,178, pepper, salt, and dried fish, cattle (for consumption in Singapore), and til (sesame) seed. Goods were imported to the value of £2,631,020. The most valuable items were treasure and gold-leaf, £995,003; cotton manufactures and China goods, £403,184; jewellery, £131,400; opium, £118,292. The principal commerce of the capital is in the hands of Chinese, who own 17 out of a total of 23 steam rice-mills. The labour market is supplied by Chinese coolies, and the best tradespeople and artisans are Chinese. The native Siamese are handicapped to some extent by the requirements of corvée, or state labour, but besides they are deficient in that enterprise and energy which are indispensable to successful trading. They confine themselves to agriculture, fishing, boating, and petty hawking, and many are simply idle hangers-on of the nobility. In addition to the exports above mentioned, the country produces hemp, tobacco, cotton, coffee, cardamoms, and many other articles of tropical growth, which are culti- vated for local consumption only. Tropical fruits are abundant, the most highly prized being the durian, mangosteen, and mango. The banana is cheap and plentiful.
Animals.—The wild elephant, tiger, bear (in the north), wild pig, deer, monkey, and squirrel abound in the distant jungles. Tame elephants are employed for travelling and for labour, especially in the teak forests in the north. Several specimens of the famous 'white elephant' are kept in the courtyard of the royal palace at Bangkok; but they are not, as is popularly supposed, fed from golden dishes, nor are they regarded with any special veneration (see Vol. IV. p. 290). Crocodiles are found at the mouths of the rivers. The python, cobra, reptiles of various kinds, mosquitoes, ants, fireflies, and tropical insects are plentiful. There are many species of birds, and the rivers and coast swarm with excellent fish.
Minerals.—Gold has been produced in Siam from time immemorial; and argentiferous copper also is found. Alluvial tin-mines are worked by Chinese in the Malay Peninsula, and iron is turned out in the north by native smelters. Rubies and sapphires are found in the Chantaboon district on the east coast of the Gulf of Siam, and the work of mining for these gems is carried on by Burmese immigrants. The country has lately been a field for the researches of mining prospectors, and several concessions, mostly for gold and gems, have been granted to European speculators.
Manufactures.—The Siamese are very deficient in manufacturing arts. The only manufactures are a species of coarse cloth and silk, rough paper made from the bark of a tree, water-jars, and coloured tiles for the roofs of temples. These industries, paltry as they are, are gradually giving way to the import of foreign goods. Native gold- and silver-smiths display considerable ingenuity in their work.
Inhabitants and Customs.—Pure Siamese are estimated to number only a third of the total population. The north and east are occupied by Laos or Shans (q.v.), who are tattooed, and differ somewhat in speech from the Siamese, and besides the Chinese there are considerable numbers of immigrant Burmese, Indians, Malays, and Cambodians. The character of the Siamese is essentially peaceful and indolent. They are very social, vain, and fond of bright dresses and jewellery. Their intercourse with each other is conducted with a ceremonial attention to distinction of rank. They are a small, well-proportioned race, with olive-coloured skin, black hair, slight black moustache, and no beard. They shave the heads of their children, with the exception of a tuft on the crown, which is cut off with great ceremony at the age of puberty. The hair is then allowed to grow in the usual fashion, both sexes being alike closely cropped. The national dress both for men and women consists of a bright-coloured panning—a cotton or silk cloth arranged somewhat in the form of Turkish trousers, and reaching to the knee. Princes and well-to-do people wear in addition a white jacket, often with gold or silver buttons, shoes, and white stockings, while the women are distinguished by a gaudy scarf thrown across the bosom.
The houses are built of wood or bamboo, thatched with the leaf of the attap palm, and are raised a few feet from the ground on piles. Both sides of the river at Bangkok (q.v.) are lined for several miles with houses floating on wooden pontoons or on bundles of bamboo. Furniture there is none, unless a mosquito-net, a mat or two, and cooking and betel utensils be reckoned furniture.
The food of the mass of the people consists simply of rice, curry stuff, a little dried fish, and fruit. Large quantities of tea are consumed in Chinese fashion without sugar or milk. A spirituous liquor is distilled from rice, but drunkenness is rare. Betel-nut chewing and tobacco-smoking are universal. Children begin to smoke at a very early age, and ladies do not disdain the use of the fragrant weed. Betel-nut discolours the teeth, and this process is often aided by the use of various materials to render them quite black and polished. The characteristic vice of the Siamese is gambling, which can only be carried on in the licensed government gambling houses. At the new-year holidays (in April), and on two or three other public holidays, the people are allowed as a privilege to gamble at home or in the streets.
Marriages are negotiated by elderly women, who find out if the birthdays of the intended bride and bridegroom are suitable—for the Siamese are superstitious in this respect—and arrange the amount of property or money the parents on each side are willing to give to set up the young couple in life. The marriage ceremonies, during which the chewing of betel-nut plays an important part, last two or three days, and all friends are entertained liberally during this time. Priests are sometimes engaged to recite prayers, the bride and bridegroom are sprinkled with consecrated water, and on a favourable astrological day—generally the third—the marriage-bed is prepared by an old couple, friends of the family who have in their time been blessed with a large and prosperous family. Among the poorer classes there is little ceremony. The main feature of the contract is that the swain hands over to his mother-in-law a certain sum of money, which is termed 'ka nam nom,' or price of the mother's milk. Polygamy is universal amongst the wealthy and noble classes.
The system of medicine is curious. The Siamese believe that the arteries are filled with air, and that most diseases are caused by some disturbance in this internal wind. Apoplexy, for example, results from wind blowing upon the heart with sufficient force to rupture it. The vegetable, mineral, and animal kingdoms are largely drawn upon to supply medicines, and the use of such peculiar articles of pharmacy as cat's eyes, bile of snakes, rhinoceros horn, sea-shells, &c. is not despised. Patients are accustomed to take medicines compounded of numerous ingredients and in enormous quantities. It is a painful custom of obstetrics that after the birth of a child the mother lies thirty days roasting before a hot fire. The number of days is diminished with the number of children. The mode of paying doctors might be adopted with advantage elsewhere. A fixed sum is agreed upon for a cure, and if the condition of the patient does not improve, or if he dies, the doctor gets nothing. The dead, after being kept for a period varying from two or three days for a poor man to eight or nine months for a prince, are cremated with much ceremony and at great expense.
Every Siamese, with certain exceptions, is bound to give the state free labour for about three months in the year, and to supply travelling officials with provisions and means of transport when called upon. A form of domestic slavery exists, by which any one borrowing money may offer his person as security. The creditor can put his debtor in chains, if necessary, and compel him to work in his service till the principal is paid off, the value of his labour being reckoned only as interest.
The religion of the country is Buddhism. The sacred books are written in Pali in the Cambodian character, and have been originally brought from Ceylon. All Siamese enter the priesthood for a short time. Priests are clothed in yellow robes, and their heads and eyebrows are shaved. They collect their food from the charitable in the early morning. The temples are numerous, and they are the only buildings, except the palace, on which any architectural effort has been expended. Their gilded minarets, roofs of coloured tiles, and quaint pagodas draw forth the admiration of the stranger on his arrival at Bangkok.
Government and General Progress.—The old system of first and second kings has been abolished, and the present and only king is Chulalongkorn I. (Phra Paramindr Maha), who was born September 21, 1853, and succeeded to the throne October 1, 1868. He is an amiable but dignified monarch, knows the English language thoroughly, and is possessed by a sincere desire to ameliorate the condition of his country. The eldest son of the queen was nominated crown-prince in 1887, and this innovation will tend to make the throne hereditary, which was not formerly the case. The legislative power is vested in the king in conjunction with a council of ministers, who have charge of the departments of war and marine, foreign affairs, home government, justice, agriculture, royal house, and finance. The country is divided into provinces administered by governors. The ablest of the king's brothers (two full and twenty half-brothers), nearly all English-speaking, fill some of the more important public offices. There is a small permanent army, modelled after the fashion of the British army, and drilled by Europeans. The navy consists of a modern cruiser of 3000 tons, a smaller cruiser, and a few gunboats, despatch vessels, &c.
The government, assisted by many British and other resident officials, has in recent years made rapid strides in reforming the administration. Mr Mitchell Innes, who acted as financial adviser to the king during 1896-7-8, greatly improved that department. The revenues have been increased, are now paid directly into the Treasury and regularly audited, and an annual budget instituted. Judicious expenditure has been made on public works, the Civil List has been put on a definite footing, and all salaries and accounts are paid regularly at fixed intervals, instead of being months in arrear. Taxation is lightened and simplified, so that Siam is now the most lightly taxed country in Asia. In other directions similar reforms are being carried out. Sanitation, education, and the administration of law and justice are all greatly improved. By improvements in forest conservation the teak revenues have been trebled and waste prevented. An improved and now effective police system has had beneficial results in many directions. Bangkok is lit with electricity. Telegraph lines connect Bangkok with Europe via Saigon, and also via Tavoy in Burma, and with Chiangmai in the north. The postal union was joined in 1885, and a telephone exchange exists in Bangkok. A railway connecting Bangkok with Paknam at the mouth of the river was opened in 1893, and a line to Korat, 165 miles NE. of Bangkok, slowly constructed; other railway lines (to Burma and the Chinese frontier) have been surveyed. Bangkok has tramways. Education, which is carried on by the priests in the temples, has been supplemented by schools for the teaching of English. Extra-territorial jurisdiction exists in Siam—i.e. foreigners are not subject to Siamese laws, but to the laws of their respective countries administered by consuls.
The revenue is estimated at £2,000,000, and includes £1,000,000 for opium, spirit, gambling, pawnbroking, and other monopolies; £700,000 taxes on houses, shops, boats, fisheries, theatres, &c.; £200,000 land-tax; and £100,000 customs.
History.—Authentic Siamese history does not begin till the year 1350, when Aynthia (q.v.) was founded. Cambodia was conquered and made tributary in 1532. The period from 1659 to 1688 was rendered illustrious by the career of Constance Falcon (or Phaulkon), a Greek of Cephalonia, who attained the dignity of prime-minister. He was the king's favourite, and induced that monarch to send an embassy to Louis XIV. Ayuthia remained the capital till 1768, when after a siege of two years it was taken and burned by the Burmese. The invaders were finally driven from the country by a general named Phya Tak, son of a Chinaman by a Siamese mother, who made Bangkok the capital, and afterwards ascended the throne. The present dynasty was founded in 1782.
Language and Literature.—The alphabet consists of forty-four characters and twenty vowel-signs. The language is monosyllabic (the polysyllabic words being borrowed from Pali) and has five tones, which render its acquisition difficult to Europeans. The style in which inferiors address superiors differs considerably from the common language, and the sacred books are written in Pali. Literature is comprised in some volumes of history, medicine, laws, astrology, &c., but it is of no particular value. The Siamese are fond of reading fables, romances, plays, &c., of which there is a cheap and abundant supply.
The principal books on Siam are La Loubère, Description du Royaume de Siam (1691); Pallegoix, Description du Royaume de Siam (1854); Bowring, Kingdom and People of Siam (1857); Mouhot, Travels in Siam, Cambodia, and Laos (1864); Bastian, Die Völker des östlichen Asiens (1866); Leonowens, The English Government at the Siamese Court (1870); Bock, Temples and Elephants (1884); Colquhoun, Amongst the Shans (1883); Coit, Siam, or the Heart of Farther India (New York, 1886); Chevillard, Siam et les Siamois (1889); Hallett, A Thousand Miles on an Elephant (1889); J. Anderson, English Intercourse with Siam in the Seventeenth Century (1890); Mrs Grindrod, Siam: a Geographical Summary (1896); Maxwell Sommerville, Siam: on the Meinam (1897); H. Warington Smyth, Four Years in Siam (2 vols. 1898). See the map at Burma, Vol. II.; the article in the Times, 31st January 1899; a series of recent consular reports; and articles on ANNAM, SHANS, and TONG-KING.—The Gulf of Siam is an arm of the China Sea, is bounded on the N. and W. by Siam, and on the E. by Cambodia and Cochin-China. At its entrance it is 250 miles wide, and it extends nearly 400 miles inland.