Directory_and_Chronicle_1901 — Page 935

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BANGKOK

to traffic on January, 1901. Good progress has also been made with a line running South-west to Petchaburi, via Ratburi. A fleet of steam-launches runs from the metropolis in all directions up-country, to the east and west.

The Army is small, but in recent years great progress has been achieved in military matters. Under the new organization the following five Regiments are stationed in Bangkok, viz., the Royal Bodyguard, the 1st Infantry of the Line (old Royal Guards), the 2nd Infantry of the Line (old Palace Guards), the 3rd Infantry of the line (old Barge Guards), and the 4th Infantry of the Line (old Front Guards), part of the last named being stationed at Ratburi. There are in Bangkok a Regiment of Artillery and another of Cavalry. In the interior, the 5th Regiment of the Line is stationed at Korat, the 6th Regiment at Ubon, the 7th Regiment at Ban Dua Makheng, and the 8th Regiment at Chiangmai. Seventy each of these is attached to one Battery of Mountain Artillery.

The Regiments are not, of course, kept up to their full strength, the men taking service by turns, so that one third are under arms while two-thirds are on leave at home. For the up-country regiments the men are recruited in the military district where the regiment is stationed, and for this purpose the country is being divided into military districts, but only the four mentioned have so far been organised. The Royal Military College in Bangkok has been one of the principal factors in the improvements effected, and young officers trained in this institution are also in great demand for the work of the civil administration of the interior. The Navy is small, but thoroughly efficient, and additions are constantly being made to its strength.

The native population of Siam, with Laos, Cambodians, Peguans, &c., excluding those under Consular protection, is variously estimated at from seven to nine millions. The number of Chinese in the kingdom is estimated at about 2,500,000.

BANGKOK

On

The city of Bangkok is situated on both sides of the Menam about twenty- five miles from where this magnificent stream empties itself into the Gulf. the left bank of the river is the city proper enclosed partly by a wall. The Royal palaces and Government Offices are within the wall, the foreign hongs, the Consulates, and the principal rice mills being on the principal or main street of the city. The right bank is principally occupied by the Siamese, Chinese and Mahomedan residents. The bulk of the business is transacted on the left. Here a road, called New Road-in Siamese, Charurn Krung-extends from the Palace walls to Bangkolem, and the electric tramway runs along it for a distance of about six miles. Various other new streets and roads have been made recently, and Bangkok has now over sixty miles of carriage roads. A telegraph line connects the Lighthouse at the Bar beyond the mouth of the river with the business portion of the city. The principal trade of Bangkok, and the foundation on which not only its prosperity but its actual existence mainly rests, is rice. This article is drawn in immense quantities, not only from the innumerable fields which line the fertile valley of the Menam, but from the adjacent rivers which flow into the Gulf from the enormous watershed of the mountain crescent which fringes the northern extremity of the kingdom. The output of this grain in favourable years is scarcely to be calculated. It not only furnishes support to the native population of Siam and the Malay Peninsula, but largely contributes to the supply of China, Manila, the Straits, Java, and Sumatra; a large amount is also sent to Europe and even to South America. There is also a large trade in teak-wood and ivory, with very many other minor articles of native produce which are exported to China and the Straits. The steamers of the North German Lloyd Orient Line keep up regular communication with Hongkong (occasionally leaving and returning vid Swatow and the Straits Settlements), besides special boats only running during the rice season; while other lines of steamers connect the kingdom with the Straits Settlements.

The public buildings and institutions include the Royal Museum, which is situated in the Wang Nah, Bangkok, and consists of two buildings; that on the left to the approach contains the natural history collections and ethnological exhibits from