The New Student's Reference Work/Bangkok

Bangkok′, the capital of Siam, situated on both banks of the Menam. One third the population are Chinese, who control the large trade of the city. For the right to trade there the Chinese pay a poll-tax of about three dollars every third year, which exempts them from the half-yearly military service which all other foreign residents have to give.

A large number of the houses are built on rafts in the river. They are made of bamboo boards, wicker work or palm leaves, usually with a veranda in front and a wing at each end. On land the houses are raised on piles six or eight feet from the ground and reached by ladders. The walls of the city are about six miles in circumference. The traffic of the city is carried on mainly by canals, there being only a few streets. Bangkok is the residence of the king of Siam. The palace is surrounded by a high wall, nearly a mile long, which incloses temples, public offices, a theater and accommodation for several thousand soldiers and for about 3,000 women, 600 of whom are the wives of the king. The temples of the city are very numerous, decorated in the most gorgeous style and served by 20,000 priests. The chief exports are rice, sugar, pepper, hides, ivory and feathers, while the imports are tea, silk, opium, hardware, machinery and glassware. The building of steamships, the introduction of gas into the royal palaces and the houses of the noblemen, the starting of a regular mail to the city in 1884, followed by Siam joining the International Postal Union in 1885, show the recent progress. A railway is now running from Bangkok to Paknam (14 miles in length), while one runs from the capital to Korat (165 miles); there are also electric tramways now in the kingdom. Telegraphs connect Bangkok with Burma and Cambodia. Population is 628,675.