5A) Uatede afore Asse ye RE — — ——— a ~ MAR a1 1967 HEN aceon oS AV 8315 .BIiy2Ze ; Brown, Arthur Judson, 18564 1963. The expectation of Siam tt ivi wie 4 \ ay Ad yak eer " Deal A ( i J : _ " “is t a The Expectation of Siam BY / ARTHUR JUDSON ‘BROWN Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, New York Author of “The Mastery of the Far East” “The Why and How of Foreign Missions” “New Forces in Old China” “The Foreign Missionary,” etc. Cover and Decorations by Margaret Freeman Tue Boarp oF ForeiGn MIssions OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE U. S. A. 156 Fifth Avenue, New York. CopyriGut, 1925, sy THE Board oF ForEIGN MIssions OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE U. S. A. Printed in the United States of America. CONTENTS Page Neoewormllitistrations. 6 sc te clos Uses amen oielete 5 MPLANTOL OU pei Pare ate Peis Sh Wiaies ie ltie aes ee tae Z Chapter I—An Interesting Oriental Land....... 9 Chapter II—Progress and Problems........... 41 Chapter III—Siam and Western Nations....... 61 Chapter IV—The Land of the Yellow Robe.... 85 Chapter V—Pioneer Experiences.............. 107 Chapter VI—The Missionary at Work......... 135 Chapter VII—Methods and Results............ 167 r try ree HL 7Ab oe it , aed - (* n4 “ii ) f a i vim, ARR | ‘ AW U | Ae Pe Auk, | iy do BREE AS TE PRS Wii bi tT i eo peer ie j A ee a | Opry ek 8, CA gn ayape it 14. Aw ILLUSTRATIONS Facing Page A Buddhist Temple in Bangkok................. 14 EMEA OLP OCNOOL TITLES wars ei year meen Ce 74 arab i@onsregation | eb kakrs ee eres ey si 74 me paddhisti Priest ati Worship, 20s s dive o cao 88 mepercer omen Danvkok Wane ol wie Une eae 118 AVT ypical) River’ Market*Scene sy), vous erty as, 118 Siamese Christian Workers and Converts........ 148 Little Tots of Jane Hayes Memorial School, DAR PROM Gre cabled os inal te ee at Oh Benne Re EM ist 148 Pamsoamege Mandornay cis stss sin pha nha pinion tu ohne Kad 178 na Wee, ar olaimese Schodleiri. i. jaar ee eel 178 “An”, a Pupil at Wattana Wittaya Academy..... 178 Pupils of Bangkok Christian College............. 178 By ARTHUR J. BROWN The Mastery of the Far East. The New Era in the Philippines. New Forces in Old China. The Foreign Missionary. The Nearer and Farther East (Joint author). The Why and How of Foreign Missions. The Chinese Revolution. Rising Churches in Non-Christian Lands. Unity and Missions—Can a Divided Church Save the World? Russia in Transformation. FOREWORD Siam is little known in America. This ignorance is not intentional. Lying off the main thorough- fares of the world, Siam is seldom visited by trav- elers. It is not involved in any acute international controversy. No nation, except France, has sought its territory, and French aggressions have not been recent. Its small foreign trade is not an important factor in world commerce. The people are so peace- able and well-behaved that they have been free from the turmoils and tragedies which make “news” for foreign journalists. Only one of the great re- ligious bodies in America, the Presbyterian, is con- ducting missionary work in Siam. Missionary periodicals and religious papers of other denomina- tions therefore have no special reason for keeping their readers informed about it. And so it has come to pass that Siam is seldom mentioned in American newspapers and magazines, that com- paratively few books on Siam have been published, and that these have had small circulation, most of them now being out of print. And yet the country is one of the most interest- ing of non-Christian lands, beautiful in its scenery, attractive in its people, and with a history of mis- sionary work abounding in stirring incidents and the experiences of devoted workers. The author has therefore gladly complied with the request to write this little book. It is designed primarily for those who are to study Siam in the numerous mission study classes throughout the country, and this consideration limits its size and price. The author trusts, however, that it will be of some interest to general readers. As Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, he has had direct relations for a quarter of a century with the American missionaries in Siam, has had many conferences with them, and has made a per- sonal visit to Siam, during which he traveled widely in the country and sought information not only from missionaries but from diplomatic repre- sentatives, European business men, Siamese offi- cials of all ranks, and native Christians in their own churches and homes. He has learned to love Siam and its people, and to honor the missionaries who have consecrated their lives to Siam “for Jesus’ sake”. That this little book may serve to increase interest in Siam is his earnest hope. In checking over the numerous data, the author gladly acknowledges the assistance of the Rev. Hugh Taylor, D.D., and Miss Bertha Blount of the Siam Mission, and Mr. Clarence A. Steele, formerly of the Mission and now Assistant Treasurer of the Board. In adapting the material to the use of mis- sion study classes, he has been greatly indebted to the assistance of his colleagues in the Home Base Department of the Board, at whose request the work was undertaken, particularly the Rev. Edwin E, White, of that Department, who has gone over the manuscript with painstaking care and made many helpful suggestions. ARTHUR JupDsoN Brown. 156 Fifth Avenue, New York. ing Oriental Land An Interest yy aa nina AE : aor sey anh ry ¥ Wp brandi atte aT: Fy hag death iif ae, te yar it aif a ee Wh 4 ie i Oa Wr ie Pv Nisa i ; ahah ahah a) Ria LS, ea al Hdl ty ri al mi, ‘ nial j fa Are 4.2 b “. Ae Die i A ea rs city | CHAPTER I AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND The Gulf of Siam was smooth as glass as we entered it after leaving Singapore. We might have adapted the lines of one of Kipling’s “Barrack Room Ballads”: “The Injian Ocean sets an’ smiles So sof’, so bright, so bloomin’ blue; There aren’t a wave for miles an’ miles Excep’ the jiggle from the screw.” We were glad of the calm, for the Gulf of Siam is sometimes what a Londoner characterized the English Channel—‘“a nawsty bit of water”, and our steamer was a small tubby freight boat with lim- ited accommodations for passengers. However, our stateroom was clean, the German officers were courteous, and the Chinese steward zealously tried to make us comfortable—and partially succeeded. So the boat waddled along until, at nine on the morning of the fourth day, we arrived at the wide mouth of the Menam River. The first glimpse of Siam was not inspiring. Far away on either side stretched the low, flat delta of silt carried down by the great river through un- counted centuries. But here and there graceful palms relieved the monotony of the landscape, and presently the temples and palaces and crowded shipping of Bangkok came into view. At noon we 10 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM were landed in this far famed capital, one of the most picturesque cities of all Asia. In common with every friendly American who visits Siam, we were most hospitably welcomed by the missionaries, and our hearts were warmed by the heartiness with which their greeting was reinforced by the Ameri- can Minister and his family and by representative Siamese. The Venice of Asia Bangkok is a fascinating city to a visitor. It lies upon both sides of the Menam River about twenty miles from the sea. The site is low and swampy. Nothing but the current of the river, aided by the tide, keeps the city from being depopulated by epidemics. The Government is doing much to lessen the dangers of the situation by preventive and sanitary measures. It employs a foreign medical inspector and it cooperates with medical mission- aries and freely adopts their recommendations. Prince Songkla spent several years in America studying the best methods of public health and hygiene. The population is variously estimated. A former American Minister to Siam, the Honor- able Hamilton King, said that it was nearly a million. The streets are filled with a motley throng, several races and many tribes being represented. Bangkok is often called the Venice of Asia, for although some excellent thoroughfares have been laid out in recent years, the chief highway for com- AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND 11 merce and pleasure is the river. Its broad surface is crowded with canoes, launches, houseboats and foreign ships, while the luxurious steam yacht of the King and the gunboats of the Royal Navy add to the picturesqueness of the scene. Numerous creeks and canals branch off on both sides and are used by innumerable small boats. Trade is repre- sented by scores of steam rice and saw mills and by thousands of shops and offices, including several large European and Chinese firms. Four clubs, nine foreign legations, and the Court make the city a center of social as well as of commercial and political activity. Paris is not France and Bangkok is not Siam, but in a notable way the life of the whole nation centers in Bangkok. It is one of the world’s important cities. From it as the seat of the government offi- cials are sent to various parts of the country to govern the provinces, and to Bangkok they peri- odically return to make their reports and get new instructions. Bangkok is a metropolis in which one finds paved streets, electric lights, street cars and a modern hotel. But the ancient and modern are in strange contrast. One sees jinrikshas and auto- mobiles, a Buddhist wat and a Christian church, bamboo shacks and elaborate palaces, crowded native bazaars and foreign department stores, dug- out canoes and steam launches. As all roads lead to Rome, so all roads in Siam lead to Bangkok. The Royal Palace grounds occupy an extensive 12 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM section in the upper part of the city, and contain some splendid buildings which would grace a Euro- pean capital. There are famous wats (temples) of superb beauty and costly decorations. In one of these is the celebrated statue of the sleeping Buddha, and in still another several “relics” of Buddha. A pagoda with a carpet made of silver tape is the receptacle of a richly inlaid cabinet in which is preserved, with jealous care, the sacred Pali manuscripts. The Royal Library occupies a fine building, and contains not only rare Buddhist books in beautiful and expensive bindings but many modern books and periodicals in English. The foreign visitor usually inquires for “the white elephants” about which so much has been written. He is apt to be disappointed. The ele- phants are not white, except in the eyes and a few spots about the ears and the top of the head. The rest of the body is of a somewhat lighter shade than that of an ordinary elephant but is far from white. White eyed elephants, however, are rare and for- merly were highly prized. In times past they played a large part in the life of the nation. Wars between Siam and Burma were actually waged for pos- session of white elephants. They are still the ex- clusive property of the King, and when a wild one is caught, it must be sent to the royal stables. Soon after the ascension of the present King, a “white” elephant was brought to Siam amid great ceremony. Of late years, veneration for them has somewhat Se ed ' AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND 13 UO) EEE i SRI ta ERR al dhs waned, though visitors to Bangkok are certain to hunt them out. The Charm of Siam The country of which Bangkok is the capital and metropolis is one of the most interesting and beau- tiful of tropical lands. Its foliage is exuberant. Its palms and bamboos, and other trees unfamiliar to western eyes, make a varied background for the brilliant flowers, the varied costumes of the people, and the gorgeous hues of wats and palaces. How- ever bright the colors and however bold their com- bination, they do not jar or glare, but blend into soft tones in the tropical sunlight. In the jungles, sev- eral species of monkeys nimbly climb the trees; ele- phants crash their way through the dense under- growth; and tigers and snakes prove dangerous to man and beast. Everywhere animal and insect life is abundant. Apart from a few ponies and cattle, the chief beasts of burden are the clumsy but pow- erful water buffaloes and trained elephants. It is in- teresting in the teak lumber region to see the huge elephants intelligently piling the heavy logs. Siam has not figured largely in the world’s news. Its people live a quiet and orderly life. Unlike Japan, its ambition and policies have not challenged the attention of western nations. It has not the vast populations of China and India. But to stu- dents of nature in some of her fascinating forms, to lovers of humanity in unfamiliar types, and to £41) 000 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM hearts that are stirred by the lure of far frontiers, Siam is a land of rich disclosures. Here are quaint cities with their street bazaars, bejewelled temples, bronze skinned people in picturesque costume and many ornaments, and the pageantry of an Oriental court. Here is a kingdom that has remained free throughout the centuries, and here the only inde- pendent king remaining on the mainland of Asia is trying to lead his country into the life of the mod- ern world. Here Buddhism holds sway, that reli- gion that has almost as many followers in the world as Christianity in all its forms. Here monarchs have counseled with missionaries, and governors welcomed their advice and cooperation. Here mod- ern education, modern medicine and numerous im- provements are directly traceable to missions, and here the race of missionary pioneers continues to our day. Real pioneering is still going on and millions of unreached men, women and children, isolated beyond jungles and rivers and hills, still beckon to the messenger of Christ. Presbyterians particularly ought to know Siam, for here their Church, practically unaided by other Protestant Churches, is trying to reach a whole nation with the Gospel. By Houseboat and Elephant After a delightful and profitable visit in Bangkok, with its bountiful hospitality of missionaries, Siam- A BUDDHIST TEMPLE IN BANGKOK AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND 15 ese and the American Minister and his family, we made a long anticipated trip to northern Siam. We had done strenuous journeying in Japan, Korea, China and the Philippines, and it was an agreeable change to the leisurely and restful journeying by a Lao houseboat. The Menam River shallows rap- idly above Bangkok and there are numerous sand bars so that flat-bottom boats of light draft must be used, except at high water in the rainy season. Our boat was 25 feet long and six feet wide with a crew of five. It was too heavy to be rowed against the current. A footboard ran around the entire craft, and our Lao boatmen, stationed at the stern, thrust long bamboo iron-tipped poles in the bottom of the river, and pushed with bent shoulders while they walked the entire length of the boat, returning on the other side. This method of locomotion is very slow. As our time was limited and the distance to be covered great, we hired a launch to tow us as far as the depth of water permitted it to go. After that, we were laboriously poled up the river. The current was often strong, and we usually grounded several times a day on sand bars. Then the boat- men simply jumped overboard and pushed the boat off. They were good-natured and faithful, and we soon learned to like them. We were quite comfortable on this boat. There was a tiny six by eight space at the stern enclosed by mats of palm leaves over a bamboo frame. Here we slept, while our days were spent outside, rest- nnn UES EERE 16 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM fully enjoying the changing scenery of the great river, the teeming vegetation, the occasional vil- lages, the bare-legged children, the huge water buf- faloes and the numerous canoes heaped with fruits and vegetables which came out at almost every vil- lage; while ever and anon we passed a great raft of teak logs floating from the forests above to Bang- kok for transhipment to England. Our larder was stocked with a variety of canned goods, a coop of a dozen live ducks, and fruits and vegetables were easily bought en route. We particularly enjoyed the pomelo, of the same family as our American grapefruit, but much larger. Our cook was a Chinese “boy” in his twenties. His stove was a small box partly filled with sand. He scooped a little hole in the sand, built a tiny fire of charcoal, and with that simple appliance did fairly well— when my wife stood over him and showed him how. “At Utradit, 300 miles above Bangkok, the river became too shallow even for our light draft house- boat. We therefore left it and continued our jour- ney on elephants, in company with Dr. and Mrs. Thomas who were returning from furlough and joined us at Utradit. Our Siamese fellow traveler, Mr. Boon Itt, who had charge of all arrangements, had difficulty in securing elephants as they are valu- able animals and none is kept for renting to stray travelers. The task was to find some owner who was willing to hire out his elephants for a long trip through the jungle. Finally, Mr. Boon Itt suc- AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND 17 ceeded in securing two elephants and two ponies. Dr. Thomas advised the ladies to travel on the ele- phants where the covered howdahs would protect them from the tropical sun, and they gladly con- sented. As the elephants had been used only for transporting freight and were not accustomed to carrying passengers, they could not be induced to kneel for us, and the only way that one could get on and off was from the platform of a house eight or ten feet above the ground, or, when no house was available, alongside a sloping trunk of a tree or a steep bank of a creek. They refused to stand side- wise and would stand only head on. There was then a ticklish moment while one was getting over the head and neck, too far on to get back and not far enough along to reach the howdah. Once an elephant snorted and started off before Mrs. Brown could secure a safe landing, and she had a bad fall. Other elephants, at later stages of the journey, had never before seen a man in foreign dress and, while not objecting to a woman’s approach, betrayed astonishing fright as Dr. Thomas and I approached them. It was therefore necessary for us to keep out of sight of the elephants on which our wives were riding. A few days afterward, two more ele- phants were secured and once in the howdahs our party could keep together. Since there was so much trouble in getting on and off the ill-trained elephants, we did not stop for luncheon, but climbed into the rude howdahs before seven in the morning 18 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM took food and water with us, and plodded steadily on until four or five in the afternoon, when we stopped for the night. In spite of these little drawbacks, which seemed slighter at the time than they appear in the telling, that journey of two weeks through the mighty jungles of northern Siam was an enjoyable experi- ence. Our elephants jogged slowly along, pausing occasionally to browse tempting vegetation, and averaging about two miles an hour. But what did we care? Our interest was in the exuberant trop- ical vegetation, the lofty trees festooned with vines, orchids and other flowers of bewildering profusion, birds of brilliant plumage and raucous voices, and several varieties of monkeys excitedly commenting upon the passing caravan as they swung from branch to branch. Our narrow winding path some- times ascended steep hills, at others followed the boulder-strewn beds of mountain torrents. Cross- ing streams was interesting. The elephant stopped at the water’s edge and, after a careful exploration with its trunk, extended a huge foot into the mud and cautiously put it down to solid bottom several feet below. The other forefoot was then lifted and placed beside its fellow. When the two fore feet were firmly planted, one hind leg was slowly brought up, and then the other until all four feet were on the bottom. Meanwhile the howdah was rocking like a ship in a storm. It rocked worse when the huge beast reared backward, pulled one AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND 19 of his legs out of the mud and planted it in a new place, and then repeated the performance with his other legs, until he scrambled up the steep bank on the other side. Sometimes night would bring us to a sala, a plat- form on poles eight or ten feet high, roofed but with open sides, which is free to travelers. When no sala was available, we pitched our tents. One night we were awakened from sleep by what felt like scores of hot needles. A hurried investigation by candle light showed that the tent was alive with swarms of red ants, There was nothing for it but to rise, free blankets and clothing as best we could from the nocturnal pests, and move the tent to an- other place. Thus we journeyed from Utradit, where we had left the boat, to the mission stations at Prae, Lam- pang and Chiengmai, at each of which we were cordially welcomed, and spent happy days of fel- lowship with the devoted missionaries who were giving their lives to the people of northern Siam. The return trip from Chiengmai to Bangkok was made in company with the veteran Dr. Jonathan Wilson and his daughter. We journeyed in two houseboats, the depth of water in that branch of the river, called the Meping to its junction with the Menam at Pitsanuloke, permitting the use of a houseboat the entire distance of 600 miles. Never can we forget those days. The river forces its way through a mountain range amid scenery wild and 20 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM picturesque beyond description. Rapids are nu- merous in this part of the river. Sometimes our boat shot them. At others, when this was too dan- gerous, the boatmen went ashore and with ropes lowered the boat cautiously through the boiling current. Disaster seemed imminent more than once, but we managed to “muddle through.” I find the following in my journal: “We are having a typical missionary trip on the river—in five days thus far four cases of fever on my boat, a drunken steersman smashing us into rocks three times in the rapids, a peacock for a Christmas turkey, the whole crew insisting on leaving at Raheng, etc. But we are in good health and we are enjoying the superb scenery during these Christmas holidays on the Meping. My medicine case came in handy and I am becom- ing something of a medical missionary. A fever case gets a dose of calomel and, after the purging, quinine. All are now convalescing.” That Christmas! It found us in an uninhabited region in the midst of magnificent scenery. The thoughtful missionaries in Chiengmai had given us a live peacock in a cage, and a tin of plum pudding. Our cook roasted the peacock over his box charcoal fire, and with bamboo sprouts, a sauce of a berry not unlike the cranberry, tropical fruits and the plum pudding, we had a Christmas dinner for a king, with towering forest-clad hills looking down upon us and a glorious moon flooding the river with soft light. AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND 21 Journeys of this kind are no longer necessary in Siam, for the railway now runs to Lampang and Chiengmai. But we shall always be glad that we had the joy of making that trip in the old days, and as the missionaries made it until a few years ago. A Glance at the Map Southeastern Asia is a vague section of the world’s map to most Americans. A few names clouded in a mist of fancy and story float in their minds—Rangoon, Mandalay, Singapore, Bangkok. Their atlases and geographies devote a whole page to a map of New Jersey and a whole page to India, Burma, and Siam together, and they rather uncon- sciously get the impression that there is some simi- larity in area and population. As a matter of fact, Siam has an area of 220,000 square miles. In other words it is about as large as Japan and Korea com- bined, larger than Germany and about equal to the combined area of the States of New York, Penn- sylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Delaware, Maryland, and all six of the New England States. Siam’s ter- ritory extends over 1,130 miles, the distance from New York to St. Louis. At its broadest part it is 508 miles, the distance from New York to Pittsburgh. Siam is an irregularly shaped country, the main part of which lies between the twelfth and twenty- first parallels of latitude, but which sends a long peninsula southward to within four degrees of the 22 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM equator. Its southern end is about parallel with Panama and its northern boundary with southern Cuba. North of Siam are the British Shan States and French Tongking; on the east are Anam and Cambodia, also French; on the south the Gulf of Siam and the Federated Malay States (British) ; and on the west the Indian Ocean and British Burma. Except, therefore, for a part of the penin- sula, the country is completely hemmed in by the French and British, although there is a coast line on the Gulf of Siam and Indian Ocean of 1,760 miles. Northern Siam is a land of mountains and val- leys and rushing streams. The central and south- ern part is more level, a vast area being occupied by the broad, flat valley and delta of the Menam River. East of the Menam Valley there is an ele- vated plateau. The Menam is the great highway of Siam, and for centuries it was the only means of communication between the north and the south. At high water light-draught steamers ply its sur- face as far as Paknampo and launches for some dis- tance above that point. In the dry season the water becomes so shallow that only the small native boats can be used. The other great river, the Mekong, runs along the eastern boundary of Siam. This is also a very long stream, but its course is broken by so many rapids and obstructions that it is not navigable. The southern peninsula is trav- ersed almost its entire length by a mountain range AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND 23 of moderate height, although there are spacious grassy tracts near the coast. Generally speaking, the northern part of Siam may be characterized as a hill country; the eastern part as a table-land; the central part as an alluvial plain; and the southern part as a mountainous peninsula. Provincial Cities Bangkok, the national capital, has already been mentioned, but there are other cities of interest which should be noted. Chiengmai, six hundred miles north, is the second city of importance. What Bangkok is to the whole nation, Chiengmai is to its upper half. It is the terminus of the important railroad from Bangkok. In the old days before the Lao States came under the government of Siam, it was their capital and the home of the Lao princes. Ayuthia, as the ancient capital of Siam, is a place of historic interest. Ruins do not last long in a humid, tropical climate, but the visitor can still find some interesting traces of former splendor, includ- ing an old temple and a huge statue of Buddha which is famous. The city is the center of a con- siderable population. As we traveled in a house- boat from Bangkok up the Menam, the banks of the river for about seventy-five miles appeared to be almost continuous village streets, while above that point villages are numerous for two hundred miles from the capital. Korat, at the terminus of the northeastern branch 24 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM of the railway 163 miles from Bangkok, is the cap- ital of a province of 346,000 people. Other local towns of interest are Paknampo at the junction of the Meping and Menam rivers, Pitsanuloke on the upper Menam, Raheng on the Meping whence the overland mail runners start across country for Moulmein, Burma. South of Bangkok, the leading towns are Ratburi and Petchaburi; Chantaboon, so long occupied by the French; Sritamarat, 400 miles from Bangkok on the east coast of the peninsula, and Trang, an important port on the west coast. 90° in the Shade in January The climate is tropical. We were in Siam in the late fall and winter, which are called “the cool, healthy season.” We perspiringly conjectured, however, as Mark Twain did in India, that the term “winter” is used merely for convenience to distin- guish between weather that will melt a brass door- knob and weather that will make it only mushy. At any rate, the conditions were about those of an American July. The nights were fairly cool, and on a few exceptional mornings the thermometer fell to 56°; but on seven typical January days. the midday heat averaged 90° in the shade and 136° in the sun. In the northern part of the country the temperature of the “cool season” is about that of an American May. Wise foreigners wear pith helmets and white duck suits, screen their houses against the AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND 25 ubiquitous insects, boil their drinking water and, since germs quickly develop in exposed food, eat meats and vegetables that have been freshly cooked and fruits that are protected by rinds. With these and other sensible precautions, the average white man has as good health in Siam as in any other tropical country. In the hot season, March to June, the missionary does not perspire, he sweats; but when commiserated with, he smilingly replies, as a Swedish missionary in India did when a pitying traveler said: “Isn’t it awful to endure a tempera- ture of a hundred in the shade?” “Well, we don’t have to stay in the shade all the time.” Prolific Gifts of Nature The soil is, for the most part, exceedingly rich. The tropical climate and abundant rainfall nourish a prolific vegetation, except on the eastern table- land, which is not so well watered. The delta of the Menam is clothed with a dense growth of tall jungle grasses and bushes. In the north, and also on the peninsula, there are vast forests which . include some rare and valuable woods. The staple products of the country are lumber in the north; tin in the Malay Peninsula, where some of the greatest tin mines of the world are located; rice in the valleys, particularly in the rich delta of the Menam; and everywhere, in unlimited quantities, bananas, cocoanuts, limes, yams and other tropical and semi-tropical fruits and vegetables. The chief 26 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM part of the world’s supply of teak comes from northern Siam, and British trading companies have agents all through this region, getting out this greatly prized lumber under concessions from the Government. The chief exports are rice, lumber and tin, and the chief imports are wine, beer, spirits and opium. Siam thus gives to the western world better prod- ucts than she receives. ‘*The Free People”’ This large and favored land is the home of 9,221,000 people. Away back in the misty begin- nings of history, a race called the Tai, meaning “The Free People,” came from somewhere in cen- tral Asia. They were not Chinese, being more nearly allied to the Aryan type of India than to the Mongolian. Fifty years before Abraham entered Canaan, the Chinese sent an ambassador to them. Before Moses was born, the Tai had spread over a goodly part of the territory we now call China. In the sixth century B. C., they migrated southward until they occupied the southern provinces of China. From there they overran Siam, Burma and Indo- China. In southern Siam they met the Cambodians, who had a civilization and a written language from India. These Tai mingled with the Cambodians and became the Siamese people. The Tai who went to Burma modified their language and be- AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND 27 came the western Shans occupying the Shan States of Burma. The main body of Tai remained by themselves and became what are known as the Lao people, occupying the Lao States of northern Siam. They are almost pure Tai, like their cousins left behind in the southern provinces of what is now the Chinese Republic. This section of the Tai race dif- fers from the Siamese in dialect, dress, and various customs and characteristics. The missionaries among them speak highly of their native ability and personal qualities. The author found them among the most attractive people that he met in Asia; clean, comparatively speaking, kindly, intelligent, and more responsive than most Asiatics to new re- ligious teaching. All the Tai peoples are of medium height and physical development, brown in color, with straight black hair, slightly flattened noses and eyes less oblique than those of the Chinese and Japanese. Other Peoples While the Tai are the characteristic people of Siam, the numerous Chinese must be taken into account. Exact figures cannot be given, for the Chinese have been coming to Siam for so long a period and have intermarried with the Siamese to such an extent that a considerable part of the popu- lation now contains more or less Chinese blood. Almost every Chinese has a Siamese wife and half- 28 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM caste children. The father of the present King was said to be part Chinese. The blending of races is very noticeable in the mission schools, many of the pupils being of mixed ancestry. As in Burma and the Philippine Islands, the Chinese almost abso- lutely control trade. Every arriving steamer brings scores from Canton, Swatow, Foochow or Hainan, while Yunnanese traders are to be seen in every important town in the north. These Chinese immi- grants are introducing a more virile strain into the blood of the Siamese. They bring a stronger fibre, greater energy and persistence, and by their inter- marriage with the Siamese are in a measure com- municating these qualities to them. In addition to the Tai and the Chinese who to- gether form the bulk of the population, there is a motley collection of other peoples. About three- quarters of a million Malays are found in the south- ern districts and on the peninsula. Half a million Cambodians and Anamites have crossed the Mekong River from their original home and, like the Chi- nese, readily mingle with the Siamese. Mons, Karens and a few minor tribes make up a quarter of a million more. Aboriginal Tribes In out of the way places dwell tribes of little- known people almost untouched by the rest of the world. “At Trang,” a missionary writes, “we were frequently visited by aboriginal Negroids, the AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND 29 Samangs, living in the mountain recesses twenty miles back of Trang. They acquired such a taste for rice that they could not resist the temptation to come down to the plains to beg, borrow or steal it. The Siamese laughed at them for going about naked, so they begged a few clothes. In time they picked up a Siamese vocabulary. In a conversation with their headman, I learned that they have no places of worship but that they reverence a Great Spirit, pray to him and believe that when they die, if they have led clean lives, they go above to be with the Great Spirit in a happy place; but that if they lead evil lives they go below to a very evil and unhappy place. Disease is believed to be the work of evil spirits, but they make no offerings to appease them but pray the Great Spirit to help, then move to other quarters, and every few days move again until the sick die or get well. No more sickness or trouble means that the evil spirits have been driven away by the Great Spirit. These people catch their game with blow pipes and poisoned arrows. They are good shots and can hit a monkey in the top of the tallest tree. The poison acts quickly and almost immediately the monkey or bird falls to the ground. The flesh around the arrow point is cut away with a bamboo knife that has been hardened by charring and is very sharp. They build a fire by rubbing sticks together and cook roots and tender leaves in a bamboo pot or by roasting in the ashes. When they go on the chase they dig a pit and place their 30 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM children and babies in it, throw brush over it, and a day or two later return and take the children out. They do not fear tigers because tigers are afraid that the pit is a trap and steer away from it. The youngsters do not mind it, and like young birds stick to their nest through an instinct that it is best to do so.” A Bit of History The territory now covered by Siam was formerly divided among several petty kingdoms. There were many wars between the Siamese and their neigh- bors, principally the Peguans and the Lao. The Siamese were generally victorious, and by 1350 ruled over an extensive territory from their capital at Ayuthia. After two centuries of peace war again broke out with the Peguans (1556), who defeated their former conquerors, but the Siamese soon re- gained ascendency. The Burmese invasion of 1759 overturned their power for a time, but in 1782 the Siamese line regained the throne and has held it ever since. While the Siamese proudly speak of their an- tiquity, authentic history of their separate existence as a nation does not run farther back than 1350. This is quite convenient, for the kings are supposed to be lineal descendants of Buddha and the people of the first disciples of Buddha, so that no one can prove to the satisfaction of the Siamese that these beliefs are unfounded. For the same reason, many AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND 31 miracles in the current legends are implicitly ac- cepted. Buddha is represented as doing the most amazing things and the imagination of the people is stirred by the alleged victorious wars of their an- cestors and by tales of suppliant embassies, brilliant alliances, and extraordinary manifestations of super- natural power. Benevolent Despots The “Free People” are far from free in a demo- cratic sense. Siam is an absolute monarchy, almost the only one left in the world. Japan theoretically lodges all power in the sovereign; but Japan has a constitution and a legislative body, and the real government is in the hands of the Elder Statesmen who are the Emperor’s “advisers”. But the King of Siam is absolute in both theory and practice. He is the source and center of all power, the owner of the whole country and all its people. However, while the earlier kings were as arbitrary as other oriental despots of their time, the recent rulers have been more enlightened and humane men. King Mongkut, who reigned from 1851 to 1868, accepted instruction in English and western science from a missionary, the Rev. J. Caswell. His son, the father of the present King, rejoiced in the name of Somdet Prabart, Prah Pramender, Mahar Chula- longkorn, Baudintaratape, Mahar Monkoot, Rar- tenah Rarchawewongse Racher Nekaradome Chatarantah Baromah, Mahar Chakrapart, Prah 32 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM Chula Chaumklow, Chow yu Huah. Those who felt that life is short called him simply King Chula- longkorn. He was the first monarch of Siam to visit other lands, and his travels in Europe in 1897 and 1907, and also in India and Java, greatly broadened his mind. He familiarized himself with the English language and the world’s great movements. He abolished the abject custom of prostrations at court, introduced European dress, established a royal museum, and adorned his capital with excel- lent streets, public gardens and a noble group of state buildings. He caused whole blocks of dilapi- dated huts to be torn down, and erected in their places neat two-story brick buildings. There was method in his improvements, for he rented the new structures at a handsome profit, but they were none the less a substantial benefit to the city. Strict Buddhist though he was, he and his high officials granted full religious toleration and leased valuable property to Christian missionaries at a nominal price and sometimes for nothing at all. His Majesty and over eighty princes and nobles made cash contributions to the mission school for boys in Bangkok, while the Queen gave $1,500 to form “The Queen’s Scholarship Fund” at the girls’ school. The King promoted free public schools, reformed the currency, began the construction of railways, and inaugurated other progressive meas- ures. AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND 33 The enlightened and progressive policy of the late King has been followed by his successor, Maha Vajiravudh, who was born January 1, 1881. From 1893 to 1902 he studied in England. Before return- ing to his native land, he visited several European capitals and he then journeyed home by way of America and Japan. Several other princes of the royal family have studied in Europe, some in Eng- land and others in Germany, Denmark and Russia, while a few have come to America. The Simple Life One cannot fail to be impressed by the simplicity of the life of the average Siamese. They live in little villages tucked away under the trees, their houses of weathered wood and thatch set high on poles so as to afford a haven of refuge when the long rainy season floods the ground, and at other times a safe fold beneath for the pigs and bullocks and buffaloes. Along the rivers and canals, many floating houses are built on rafts of bamboo or zinc- covered teak pontoons and anchored to posts by rattan rings. The people are kindly, hospitable and contented. They do not lead the strenuous life. They lack the persistence and industry of the Chinese. Perhaps there are physical reasons for this. With less than seventeen inhabitants to the square kilometer, with rich soil, immense forests and innumerable water- ways in rivers and canals, several times the present 34 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM population could be supported. Wants are few and readily supplied in a land of perpetual summer and prolific soil. Even the restless Yankee likes to take things easily under a torrid sun. It is not surpris- ing therefore that the Siamese do so. They need but little clothing and no fuel, except for cooking. Fish are readily caught in the sea and the innumer- able streams and canals. The banana, cocoanut, betel, mango, pomelo, orange, jackfruit and lime grow with little or no cultivation, and the simplest tillage suffices for abundant yields of rice and vege- tables. As for a house, one can be built in a day or two of the ever-present bamboo, thatched with attap and at practically no cost. There is therefore no such struggle for existence as that which de- veloped the vigor of the Scotch and the Pilgrim Fathers on their rocky hillsides, or of the Chinese on those densely populated plains where the in- dividual must incessantly toil or starve. The bitter poverty of China and Korea is unknown in Siam. There is not much money in circulation, but the typical Siamese is sleek and well-fed. Siamese women wear more gold and silver ornaments than any other natives of Asia. Children’s Joys and Sorrows The children in Siam are remarkably active, bright-eyed, playful, good-natured little ones, towards whom one’s heart quickly goes out. Their little bodies are plump, as food is abundant. AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND 35 They wear little clothing, sometimes none at all, but many of them wear anklets, wristlets or neck- laces, which are frequently of silver. The common beast of burden, the water buffalo, is a huge beast that is apt to be savage with strangers. It is some- times dangerous for a visitor to approach one, as it is as ready as a watch dog to charge one whom it regards as an intruder. The children of the family, however, make great friends with these huge beasts, and nothing is more common than to see chubby youngsters perched on the back of a water buffalo, which appears to be quite content and indeed proud of the little burden that it bears. The death rate among children, however, is high, as it is in most non-Christian lands, on account of the unsanitary conditions of the typical village, the carelessness in eating improper food, the drinking of impure water, and the ignorance of proper methods of treating disease. American children would probably succumb under these conditions more readily than Siamese children, but many of the latter appear to be able to survive conditions which would quickly bring trouble to a foreigner. The Place of Women The women of Siam are usually attractive in their younger years, but they age in appearance earlier than American women. A Siamese woman at forty is usually as old in appearance as an American woman at sixty. Many of the women in Siam are a eS eee 36 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM illiterate, and they are even more superstitious than the men. Yet they have greater freedom than in most other non-Christian lands. Marriage is cus- tomary at a much earlier age than with Americans and Europeans, so that it is not uncommon for a Siamese girl of fourteen to be a wife and mother. But children are not pledged to marriage in infancy as they are in India, nor are women in Siam re- strained by caste or secluded in harems. They are, as a rule, the managers of their households, selling the products of their gardens in shops, and buy- ing the necessaries for the family use. Women of the markets and villages have long enjoyed this freedom, but women of the higher classes were formerly more secluded. In recent years, however, so many of the daughters of prominent men have received a modern education, some of them having ‘studied in foreign lands, that women of the best families now have far greater freedom than for- merly. Ladies appear at court functions and all manner of social affairs in a decidedly western manner. Polygamy, however, not being prohibited by Buddha, is deemed permissible and has been almost universal among men who could afford it. Only the first or chief wife is married with a ceremony. She is therefore the head of the household and usually enjoys the power that she exerts. The King has given the marriage ceremony greater importance than formerly, and early in his reign extolled mo- AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND 37 nogamy in many of his addresses and writings. But polygamy and concubinage are still prevalent and indeed are the rule rather than the exception, the King himself now setting the example. Women are not looked down upon as they are in some other countries. There used to be a saying that “the boy is a human being, but the girl is a buffalo,” but this does not represent the present attitude. Not only are the mission schools for girls crowded but girls are attending the government public schools in greater numbers than ever before. Celebrating a Funeral The funeral customs of the Siamese are unique. The bodies, except of the poorest, are cremated. A geomancer is consulted in order that a propitious time may be chosen. A date several weeks, some- times several months, distant is usually fixed. Dur- ing this interval the body is kept in the home in a sealed box in which quick-lime has been placed. When we called on the Governor of Lampang, we found the body of his wife in the main living-room of the house and were told that it had been there six months waiting for a favorable time for cre- mation. At the appointed time, the ceremonies are as elaborate and costly as the resources of the family will permit. People in moderate circumstances sometimes spend all their savings and run deeply into debt in order to pay these cremation expenses. Pm SL ee A A eA a aN Re Ate Sy ea ee 38 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM NEST aeMs tases cakib Let Sati i hn et ah omen Sec Wealthy men and high officials make the cere- monies notable events. Numerous hired mourners are employed, and also numerous entertainers. Theatrical exhibitions are given and quantities of sweetmeats and liquors, as well as substantial food, are provided for all comers. The body is placed on a huge wheeled platform composed of inflammable materials and profusely decorated. At the conclu- sion of the ceremonies, it is drawn to the place of cremation and set on fire. Oriental vs. Occidental Manners The Siamese take time to be polite. We grate- fully remember their goodness to us. Princes and people showered hospitalities upon the strangers from the West, not because of any supposed merit in us, but because of our connection with mission- aries. A merchant in Utradit sent us his own horses for a week’s journey. The Governor of Prae Province gave us his private elephants for an eight days’ trip through the forest. Buddhist monks hospitably welcomed us to their temple grounds. Toiling carriers never complained and never deserted. We took ten thousand ticals for the mission treasurer in the north. That sum meant as much to those poor Siamese laborers as $50,000 would mean to American workmen. There were sixty-five port- ers in our caravan, all strangers to us, and there were only two of us white men and our wives. Our carriers knew that we had the money, for the united AN INTERESTING ORIENTAL LAND 39 strength of two of them was required to hoist each of the four money boxes on to the elephants in the morning and to lower them and carry them into our tent at night. We traveled much of the time through a remote region, camping at night far from the habitations of men. And yet we slept in per- fect security, and we delivered that money to its intended treasurer without the loss of a tical. “Who is master?” our cook was overheard ask- ing about me. ‘He is the father of all the mission- _ aries,” was the reply, “and he is going up the river to see them.” “Oh, then,” said the cook with a sigh of relief, “he won’t kick me or curse me.” When we bade him good-bye a few weeks later, he con- fided to a friend: “Master must be a very holy man, for he has not beaten me nor thrown a bottle at me yet.” We felt ashamed as we reflected that ordinary decency in a foreign traveler could excite such surprise; but we felt gratified that the Ameri- can missionaries in Siam have such a reputation for justice and humanity that any one who was known to be connected with them was presumed to be a gentleman. an A fr ” } } t Fee, a" ie oe ee Pa ier ey is adhe im ew aie Pi bie ie, ited ny, Tha ts say nf, ‘ ), je “pin DOE ea aa ta Hs 7 yy { y he iti s' , Hee, ey aby 1 ik oy ae 4 ne \ i if ‘ f oh fit Bs . wh yi Ree) SS A ipsa are ores Se et Ih ape: Tesi ana a Sees a mph way siiie A aa E eat! 9 ae awed oh sight ld ? sere Bh AAR ff a hi vi. . £ ss 4 i= oF a7 ‘ * Lie iS aA ; 0 a ie “ ale 3 wi | ue: Uy as eae: 7 rail ak hh sli ey ‘ited Be " igh 7 iG Kiki Bi if t is chal Bay te 1 a, ‘Haat So Ty Cee a 1 i . why , Gil Ps ae 7 “th: Wie pis he if ‘Artal ; NP Ae f ayer ? Progress and Problems BVA CR ih, Ne cA \ a y Dik Lik Whe Ae ba¥is apn ei pe AA) ba CHAPDERS Il PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS When one considers the tropical climate, the pro- lific soil, the waters teeming with fish, and the re- sultant ease of life and lack of economic pressure, one marvels, not that the Siamese are backward, but that they are so forward. In China, Korea and the Philippines, there are improvements where the foreigners have made them, but in far inland Prae, the Lao Governor sent his carriage to us for a drive, and we opened our eyes when we saw an equipage with rubber tires, shining wheels, luxur- ious upholstery, handsome harness and liveried coach- man. In Chiengmai, we were driven for hours over roads which were an amazement and a delight after the ridges and hollows which were euphemistically called roads in China. At Pitsanuloke, 250 miles from Bangkok, the neat whitewashed picket fences lining the river for more than a mile, the well kept grounds of the public buildings, the comfort of the Siamese Club, and the residence of the officials would greatly surprise a traveler who had expected to find a village of barbarians in this interior region of Siam. At Ke Kan, where we stopped for the night, there is not a single foreigner, but we strolled for quite a distance on the level, beautifully-shaded streets along the river bank. We saw a sign bear- ing the word “Post-office” in English, Siamese and Chinese. 41 42 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM One Sunday, after a weary ride on elephants, we camped near a hamlet in the heart of a mighty jun- gle, about as far from civilization, one might im- agine, as it would be easy to get. But in the police station we found a telephone connecting with the telegraph office in Chiengmai, so that although we were on the other side of the planet from New York and 600 miles in the interior of “Farther India,” we could have flashed a message to any point in Europe or America. July 16, 1883, was the date of Siam’s first telegraph line. Now there are 3,500 miles of wire, and cable connection with the outside world by way of Penang, Moulmein and Saigon. Telephones are innumerable. The Government postal system, inaugurated in 1881, now extends all over the coun- try, and in the correspondence of many years with missionaries in various parts of Siam, letters have seldom miscarried. The police stations are neat white buildings in grounds that are usually adorned with flower beds and potted plants. In the capital one might expect such things, but we are writing of what has been done in distant interior towns by the Siamese them- selves. A new system of accounting and auditing has brought order into the hitherto hopelessly con- fused finances of the country. A Bureau of Forestry has stopped the prodigal waste of the magnificent timber lands. Legal procedure has been reformed, so that an accused man can obtain justice in the courts, Prince Rabi, who headed the Department of PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS 43 Justice from 1897 to 1910, was an able official of en- lightened mind. In 1908 the penal code was pub- lished in Siamese, French and English. We jour- neyed far in Siam, and everywhere life and prop- erty appeared as safe as in America. The prisons were being remodeled. We inspected one in north- ern and one in southern Siam, calling without pre- vious notice, and found clean, well-fed prisoners in roomy, well-ventilated wards. A royal decree, dated February, 1899, made Sun- | day a legal holiday, and directed that on it all gov- ernment offices should be closed and all business suspended. The reasons were not religious, but the fact is interesting. The law is not well observed, but neither are similar laws in America and Europe. Since 1894 an electric light plant has illuminated the King’s palace. The Siam Electricity Company is doing a thriving business and advertises power for manufacturing motors. Many of the steam rice mills of the city have their own electric plants, as have also the Bangkok Dock Company, two forts, several vessels and the navy yard. Development of Modern Transportation Long ago a few missionaries brought bicycles to aid them in touring. The Siamese were keenly inter- ested, and when in 1896 an American dentist im- ported several wheels to sell, they were quickly bought. During the author’s visit, there were 3,000 wheels in Bangkok alone. A former Minister of the 44 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM Interior was president of a bicycle club of 400 mem- bers. Princes and government officials made runs into the country. In hundreds of towns wheels are to be seen. Chiengmai is said to have more bicycles in proportion to the population than any other city in the country, and when we left Lampoon the elders of the church accompanied us several miles on American bicycles. In recent years automobiles have arrived, and they are rapidly displacing bicycles in the capital and wherever else there are passable roads. As in America, eagerness to use automobiles has led people to demand better roads, and every year sees marked increase in their number and length. The poorer people still ride bicycles, but Siamese and Chinese who can afford cars, and some who cannot afford them, ride in automobiles. A street horse-car line in Bangkok, six miles in length, constructed in 1889, was changed in 1892 to an elec- tric trolley, which proved so successful that other lines have been built. Toward the end of the nineteenth century railway building was begun. Several railroads are now in operation. In addition to a narrow-gauge line from Bangkok to Paknam and a broad-gauge of 163 miles from Bangkok to Korat, there are trunk lines from Bangkok northward to Chiengmai and south- ward to the Federated Malay States and Singapore. These through lines were projected many years ago, but financial and other difficulties were serious. Railway building is not easy anywhere, especially eee ee areas IP Oa a PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS 45 iaslhed kG CE iN a hala lalate ee Maa new lines in a tropical country. The construction of the northern line might have been delayed in- definitely if the Shan rebellion of 1902 had not rude- ly reminded the Government that its valuable ter- ritory in the north might be seriously jeopardized long before a Siamese army could march six hun- dred miles over a roadless country, or be poled in boats up a shallow river. After that, construction was pushed with all speed. The tedious river jour- ney of six weeks from Bangkok to Chiengmai, which once took Dr. Wilson 100 days, is now cut down to twenty-six hours. The journey of 732 miles from Penang to Bangkok which, prior to June, 1922, was a matter of several weeks, is now easily made in thirty-six hours on a train which carries a sleeping-- car with a bathroom. A handsome main station has been built in Bangkok and the King has ordered the bridging of the Menam so that travelers from the south will no longer be compelled to cross the river in rowboats, often at night, but can be brought into the heart of the city. Everywhere tickets, signs and notices are printed in English and Siamese. The resultant changes can easily be imagined. Rail- way trains break up isolation, bring knowledge of other communities, open distant markets, provide new appliances, develop additional wants, dispel many superstitions, and thus tend to revolutionize the hitherto narrow lives of a people. And now the airplane has brought its contribution to intercom- munication. There is an aviation field in Bangkok 46 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM and airplane service between the city and distant centers. Foreign Trade Siamese exports for the year ending 1924 touched the high-water mark, 202,000,000 ticals, an increase of 32,000,000 ticals over the preceding year and more than double the exports in 1921, which were only 90,000,000 ticals. The chief item was rice, 1,300,000 tons and 70% of the total value of the exports. The second item was tin ore, and then followed teak, cattle, hides, salt, fish, pepper, copra, rubber, and a few other minor articles, such as bones of tigers and elephants, shells of turtles, skins of armadillos, and . birds’ nests so highly valued by the Chinese. In the same year, 1923-1924, Siamese imports were valued at 150,000,000 ticals, so that there was a balance of 52,000,000 ticals in her favor. Cotton goods formed one-quarter of these imports, and then came a mis- cellaneous list of railway materials, machinery of various kinds, 452 automobiles, 75 airplanes, num- erous motorboats, etc. Currency Reform Siamese currency was formerly in a chaotic con- dition. Four silver coins of varying value were in circulation—the Siamese tical, the India rupee, the Chinese “Mexican dollar,” and the Straits (Singa- pore) dollar. The late King ended this confusion by a decree making the tical legal tender throughout Saeco ee ee eee ee eee eg ee abaliniias PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS 47 Siam, and on his birthday, September 12, 1901, the Government began to issue paper currency in notes of five, ten, twenty, a hundred and a thousand ticals. Since the Government does not guarantee the value of the silver tical on a gold basis, its actual value at a given time is determined by the silver bullion it contains. As the price of the metal fluctuates in the world’s markets, like that of most other commodi- ties, the exchange rate of the tical has varied from twenty-seven to forty-three cents, the latter being the rate at this writing. Making Education Possible An educational department of the Government was organized in 1892. Free public schools have been opened all over the land. Several that we visited had good buildings, foreign desks and numerous maps, although the teachers were usually inferior to those in mission schools. The late King issued an imperial decree co-ordinating all the local temple schools with the public educational system and placing them under the supervision of Prince Vijinyana. A compulsory education act was announced in 1891. It has not been strictly enforced in some parts of the Kingdom, and the instruction in most of the public schools is still rather primitive. But, as the American Minister said, “Whatever may be the subjects taught at first, or what- ever the quality of teaching may be, this movement pro- vides, if not for every hamlet of from ten to twenty families, at least for every town throughout the whole 48 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM country, a school house already established. And this in itself is a factor toward a national system of educa- tion the value of which can hardly be overestimated.” The younger Siamese are eager to learn, and they not only flock to the mission schools but numbers of the more ambitious go to Europe. The famous English schools and universities usually have a few Siamese students. At this writing about forty Siamese students are enrolled in American educational institutions, a large proportion being in the great technical schools. It is significant that Siamese students abroad have no difficulty in maintaining equality with foreigners in the class room. Mr. Frederick Verney says that when the first ones came to the famous Harrow School in Eng- land, the Head Master said to him: “You are trying an extraordinary experiment in sending young Si- amese to Harrow and you are wonderfully sanguine in supposing that they can adapt themselves to our public school life.” But shortly before his death he spoke of the remarkable success they had achieved, and said that there was not a master at Harrow who would notgladly welcome them to his house. A Great Record for a Royal House Much of the credit for the introduction of these and other conveniences of modern civilization be- longs to the late King, who was a man of public spirit and strong mind and who was ably supported by like-minded cabinet ministers. His successor, PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS 49 the present King, has continued his predecessor’s progressive policy. He had an unusual equipment when he ascended the throne at the death of his father October 23, 1910. He soon began to put his - modern ideas into effect. He felt that the vital need of his people was to be stirred out of their physical and mental sloth and indifference and to be given a stronger national consciousness. To this end, he made many addresses, published numerous messages and exhortations, promulgated new laws, developed the educational system, and organized the young men of the country into a patriotic organization which united the features of a Boy Scout Move- ment and a National Guard and to which he gave the name of “Wild Tigers.” The army has been de- veloped and the Siamese are taking great pride in it. It is, of course, small from a western viewpoint, but it is considerable for Siam and it is absorbing a large part of the national revenues. Thirty thousand men are in arms and seventy thousand are in re- serve. Although the years that the King spent in Eng- land, when Crown Prince, had familiarized him with Christianity and although he has been friendly to missionaries, he feels that Buddhism is the his- toric religion of Siam; that the King, as the heredi- tary and ex-officio head of both State and Church, should be loyal to it; and that as the national faith, with numerous temples and well-nigh innumerable priests and monks, it is an effective instrument 50 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM ready at hand for his program of nationalization. He has therefore tightened up the religious as well as the military and educational life of his people all along the line. He decreed that the Buddhist calen- dar, dating from Gautama’s supposed attainment of Nirvana, 543 B.C., should be used instead of the Gregorian calendar which his father had adopted in 1889. Like some American politicians of the present day, he proclaimed everywhere the duty of “one hundred per cent patriotism” as a necessity for a nation that is to be respected by the world and pro- tected from the encroachments of other nations. The King’s efforts to strengthen Buddhism are illus- trated in a speech to the Wild Tigers in which he said: “In each group or nation of men there must be a governor to take care of the people and there must be some one to teach them to do good, like Jesus, a Buddha or a Mohammed. The work of these men we call religious. Re- ligions are sign posts to tell the people how to walk in the good way. All the religions con- template the same effects. People must believe in religion. The Siamese people, born in the Buddha religion, must believe in it. But some people at the present time think that they are free, that they may formulate their own re- ligious ideas, the idea for example that it is not right to steal if you get caught, but that it is all right if you are not caught. People who have thoughts like these are men without religion a PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS 51 ee and therefore without goodness. A man can- not construct a religion for himself. Religion is a thing that has taken many thousands of years to work out. The man who thinks he can construct a religion for himself is a fanatic. I have examined all the religions myself and I be- lieve the Buddha religion to be the best. There- fore I believe in the Buddha religion. I know about the Christian religion better than some foreigners do because I was educated in Europe where I studied Christianity and passed an ex- amination and got first honors in it. Next Sun- day I will explain about the Christian religion.” The awakening national and religious spirit, while not affecting the freedom of the missionaries, has naturally stiffened the attitude of the priestly and military classes and made the task of the mission- aries somewhat more difficult ; but it is undoubtedly benefiting the Siamese in many ways and it may well challenge our respect. It is surely better for a people to develop loyalty and self-reliance than it is to remain sunk in a slough of indolence and apathy. Even opposition is better than indifference. Some of the measures which the King has pro- moted were enumerated in a reply that he made to a congratulatory address by the princes and officials of the realm. Among them he referred to a family name law, supplying the common lack of surnames and thus promoting family integrity, the lessening of the liability of people to compulsory labor, the limiting of the liberty of private citizens to buy ee 52 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM He nemmeena a ARNSPOME Tl Wiese ree D Le as Dalam RE eee LO, weapons for criminal purposes, the restriction of the sale of morphine and cocaine, the construction of railways, the reclaiming of large tracts of land which had been rendered valueless by sea-water, and the adoption of preventive measures against contagious diseases. It is interesting to note that in connection with his reference to this last sub- ject the King said: “We take this opportunity to return thanks to all persons who have assisted in establishing hospitals in various parts of the country, in- cluding also the American missionaries who have joined in this charitable work by estab- lishing a leper hospital.” He added: “We should consider the happiness of the many before the comfort of the few. Those among you who are officials should understand that you have responsibilities, as the duties en- trusted to your care are for the maintenance of the integrity and prosperity of the Kingdom. Do not waste time in seeking personal benefit. Seeking and thinking of personal benefit only lead the mind astray and create ambitions in undue directions. By devoting your best at- tention to the performance of your duties in the best manner and keeping your ambition within proper bounds everything would go well and you would be happy in mind. There is an- other matter to which I trust everyone of you has given a careful consideration. It is whether personal conduct is distinct from official con- duct. We are of the opinion that it would be PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS 53 difficult to separate them, because it is the char- acteristic of us Siamese to look up to our elders and try to imitate them in whatever they do. This characteristic makes personal conduct one of greatest importance and it becomes the duty of every official in the government service to be careful so that people may not be able to say that the King employs men of base character. Endeavor everyone of you to convince the peo- ple and lead them to say that the King likes to employ only those who are of good character. This will redound to your own credit and also command the respect of other nations.” This is certainly wholesome advice for officials everywhere. Other outstanding achievements may be noted. A really splendid marble Throne Hall, that was begun in the preceding reign, has been completed. A gov- ernment irrigation bureau has formulated extensive plans to bring water to the broad areas which have hitherto been parched and arid in the dry season, and a tract of 600 square miles has already been brought “under water” so that it can be success- fully cultivated. Effort is being made to improve the quality and yield of various fruits and grains. Prince Y. Sanitwongre is active in promoting this effort. A Red Cross Society, under the presidency of Prince Nagor Svargara, a half brother of the King, is actively at work. It has inaugurated a pub- lic health nursing service in Bangkok and has brought about the completion of the Chulalongkorn 54 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM Memorial Hospital which, in an imposing modern plant, commemorates the great King who wisely ruled Siam for forty-two years. Prince Songkla, another half brother of the King, who took courses in public health and hygiene in England and at Har- vard University, is leading in the work of sanita- tion. A water supply system, installed in 1912, has improved public health by lessening the epidemics of disease which were caused or aggravated by the polluted drinking water of former years. A police emergency hospital, a Pasteur Institute, an asylum for the insane, a hospital for lepers, and a maternity hospital have been established; and the Royal Med- ical College, with the generous assistance of the Rockefeller Foundation, is being developed into a thoroughly modern institution. But There Are Problems All this, if left without qualification, might give a wrong impression, for foreign civilization is as yet chiefly a veneer with a weak basis in character. The real life of the people has not been so essentially modified as their modern improvements might lead one to suppose. The King is undoubtedly an en- lightened and progressive monarch and he has a few capable men who sympathize with his views and actively assist him in executing them. Notable among these were Prince Damrong, a half brother of the present King’s father and long the efficient Minister of the Interior; the late Prince Deva- OO eee PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS Np wongse, the intelligent Minister of Foreign Affairs ; several of the commissioners and nobles, and the diplomatic representatives in foreign capitals. But | His Majesty and his best officials are far in ad- vance of the rest of the nation. There is no middle class to give that substantial support to reform — movements which have been the salvation of Eng- land and America. There are practically but two classes, the high and the low. The forward move- ment has come from above, instead of from beneath as in Europe, and it has not penetrated much be- low the surface of the nation as a whole, except where the missionaries have been at work. The King is trying to fasten the fruits of Christian civil- ization to the dead tree of Buddhism. The effort | should not be criticised. It is well meant, and it is | beneficial as far as it goes. It is doing much to open | up Siam to the influence of the outside world. But true civilization cannot rest upon an unstable foundation in morals, Home and society are what one might expect where polygamy and concubinage are openly recognized. Missionaries experienced great difficulty in convincing the first native Chris- tians that social vice is anything more than a venial sin. Schools for girls have to be unceasingly watched and a majority of cases of discipline in the church are for violating the seventh commandment. There are no laws regulating divorce, so that families are easily broken up, and the maintenance of a high level of home life is very difficult. 56 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM While public drunkenness is not conspicuous, there is considerable drinking, and the “Spirit Farmer,’ who has the government concession for the manufacture and sale of liquor, is a mighty man in every community. To the shame of Christian na- tions be it said, Scotch whiskey, French brandy and Australian beer are everywhere. We saw rows of foreign bottles in the shops of the remotest towns, and in Bangkok we read the English sign: “Place for the Drinking of the Delightful Juice.” Some of the Siamese nobles who were educated abroad have learned not only European manners, but European _ intemperance, and one of the highest judges of the land died, it is said, as a result of the excessive drinking which he began in England. Cigarettes and betel nuts are generally used, not only by men but by women and children. The to- bacco is mild and is smoked very slowly. Our car- riers in the jungle would take two or three puffs and then thrust their cigarettes into holes in the lobes of their ears. There the cigarettes would re- main for half an hour or more, when one would be relighted, puffed a few times, and then returned to the ear. Sometimes our men would carry three half-consumed cigarettes at once, one in each ear and one at the top of the ear, as an American clerk carries a pen. The betel nut, chewed with a little tobacco, lime and an aromatic leaf, stains the teeth and lips in a way that is unpleasant to a foreigner, but the dark-red color is highly prized by the Siam- PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS 57 ese. White teeth in a girl were formerly regarded as a sign that she was kept by a dissolute white man; but the influence of the mission schools is in- creasing the number of Christian girls and women who have natural teeth and lips. Opium-smoking is not common except among the Chinese, but gambling is the national vice. Every) village has its gambling hall, and the larger cities many of them. Although there is a law against it, a license to gamble may be obtained without serious difficulty. In connection with cremation ceremonies it is customary to take out a license good for three days. Like spirit farming, the exclusive right to conduct a gambling place is a government conces- sion, so that the vice has direct official patronage. There is no attempt at concealment. The gambling hall is usually the largest and most conspicuous building in a town, and every evening a big drum or an orchestra announces the beginning of the play. A free theatrical entertainment outside usually adds to the attraction, and frequently the whole population assembles. In our travels through the country, we often walked about the villages where we stopped for the night, and, as a rule, we found the crowd, children as well as adults, in or about the gambling resort. It is painfully signifi- | cant that sixty per cent of the government revenue | comes from the spirit, opium and gambling farms. | Truly has this been called “a policy of death,” a 58 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM drawing upon the physical life blood and the moral stamina of the people. The Government is not indifferent to the injurious effect of the widespread passion for gambling. That great missionary, the late Rev. Dr. Eugene P. Dun- lap, made earnest representations on the subject to the late King, and met with sympathetic response. A royal decree cancelled some of the concessions, and decrees of the present King have been directed against the evil throughout the country. The dif- ficulties, however, have been great. Under the old treaties with European nations, Siam could not raise her low customs duties without their consent, and as that consent could not be secured, the Gov- ernment felt obliged to depend upon the gambling concessions to make up its necessary revenue. The spectacle of a non-Christian government hampered in dealing with vice by the failure of alleged Chris- tian governments to permit it to raise its import tax was humiliating to all Christian people who knew the facts. It was not until the recent ratifica- tion of the revised treaties that Siam obtained greater freedom in this matter. Another difficulty lay, and still lies, in the general ' lack of banks outside the capital. When the vil- lager or peasant farmer earns money, he has no place to keep it. His bamboo hut has no locks or bolts. So the money is on his person when he goes with his neighbors to the gambling booth. He is therefore easily tempted to indulge his natural pas- EOE OEE EEE EO EOE EEEEEEOEEOEOEOEOOEOEE EE EO EO EE EEE EEE EEE avo PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS 59 sion for games of chance. Dr. William H. Beach of Chiengrai tells of a man who had received twenty ticals in advance payment on a house he had con- tracted to build and was going to use this money to take his boy to the government school at Chieng- rai. But the night before he decided that he could add considerably to his twenty ticals if he were to gamble with it. He lost it all, and when he got home told his son that he would have to walk to Chiengrai, begging his way as best he could, if he desired to go to school. The boy, undaunted, set out the next morning, and walked the long dis- tance to Chiengrai. He was not going to allow his father’s carelessness to cheat him out of an edu- cation, How Christianity Can Help Siam We studied Siam as a friend, not as a critic, and we came to the conclusion that the root difficulty in Siam’s social and political condition lies in the fact that progressive ideas are not supported by any | considerable body of intelligent Christian character | and opinion among the people, who, as a rule, are | a century behind their ruler. This radical defect is | precisely the one that Christianity is fitted to meet, since it directly leads to the development of men whose character is the bulwark of the state. Mis- sionary work, therefore, is the hope of Siam. It is introducing into Siam the particular element that is most needed. It has not only brought to the 60 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM Siamese the printing press, modern schools, modern medicine, modern science, modern inventions, but has brought those great reconstructive truths which exalt ideals and transform character. The writings of Buddhism contain no power to enable man to put their precepts into effect. Christianity alone brings a Gospel which, in the words of St. Paul in Romans 1:16, is “the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth.” Siam therefore has no better friends, no truer benefactors than the mis- sionaries who are the ambassadors of this Gospel. Siam and Western Nations i ‘anor pai eee Nae Se ee ep | ay es bie Vito TR tle ee, cats Te. ae = i g vig le, oP: ne Nita: ? Deipectitgeak’ to ~?. a yy pnd as han! ae, Lae CHAPTER III SIAM AND WESTERN NATIONS Siam’s relations with other nations are hardly known outside of a limited circle, for they have not been given prominence in American and European newspapers. But they have caused her Government no small anxiety. The story is too long for detailed telling, but friends of the Siamese should know at least its salient features. It illustrates the plight of weak nations in a world that, unhappily, is still domi- nated, in international affairs, by self-interest and physical force, and it brings into clear relief the al- truistic contribution that America has made, not through her Government, but through her Christian men and women. Siam’s foreign relations have been handled by wise and able men. We have referred on other pages to the late King, in whose long reign some diplomatic questions became acute. He was readily approachable by an accredited foreign visitor, and, at the request of the American Minister, at once granted audience to the author. We of the West are apt to picture an Oriental monarch arrayed in magnificent robes, seated on a golden throne, wear- ing a glittering crown and holding a bejewelled scep- tre. But when we were ushered into the spacious and handsomely furnished audience chamber of the Royal 61 62 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM Palace, we saw a man whose attire was that of a European gentleman, who wore no diadem and sat on no throne, who cordially greeted us in excellent English and as frankly as if he had been an Amer- ican President instead of an Asiatic Sovereign. There are some rulers who need the aid of pag- eantry to make up for their lack of royal qualities, but to as marked a degree as any man we ever saw, the Sovereign of Siam was “every inch a king.” In some other countries we had found monarchs whose weakness or bigotry was retarding the development of their people; but in Siam we found a King who was leading his people to higher levels of life. This progressive ruler was ably supported by a strong Cabinet, whose outstanding members were the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Devawongse, and the Minister of Home Affairs, Prince Damrong, men of diplomatic experience and personal char- acter. These skilful pilots steered the ship of state as well as they could in the stormy sea of inter- national affairs, and the present King and his ad- visers are following the same careful course. Opening of the Outside Door Siam’s first official contacts with European nations date back to 1664 when the Dutch East India Com- pany, under authority of the Dutch Republic, nego- tiated a treaty regarding trade. We need only mention this in passing, and also subsequent treaties which established diplomatic relations with such SIAM AND WESTERN NATIONS 63 European governments as Denmark and the Han- seatic Towns in 1858; Portugal in 1859; Holland in 1860; Prussia in 1862; Belgium, Italy, Norway and Sweden in 1868. More important have been Siam’s relations with the great powers. Germany and Siam Prior to the World War, the Germans were quick to see and seize the opportunity for trade. By their purchase of the steamships running between Hong Kong and Bangkok and Singapore and Bangkok, the only important lines regularly connecting Siam with foreign ports passed into their hands, so that whereas eighty per cent. of the shipping entering Bangkok from foreign ports was formerly British, eighty per cent became German. Articles “made in Germany” were abundant in Siamese shops, and Germans flocked in to develop the interests of the Fatherland. But Germany’s plans were commercial rather than political. Her defeat in the World War eliminated her for a time, but her shipping is now appearing again in Asiatic waters. Siam’s reasons for entering the War have been variously represented. Public opinion regarding the issue, as understood by the Allied and Associated Powers, could hardly have been the reason since there is little public opinion in Siam outside of governmental circles. An autocratic government in Asia, however enlightened, could not have been in- terested in overthrowing an autocratic government 64 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM in Europe; nor could an absolute monarchy have been eager to aid in “making the world safe for democracy.” It was indeed vitally concerned in the safety of small nations, but Siam was in no danger from Germany. The inner diplomatic history of the War has not yet been written. Perhaps it never will be. Important matters are usually arranged in unofficial private conversations, and, as a rule, offi- cial record is made only of those matters which the government concerned is quite willing to have pub- lished. What is known is that the Allied Powers strained every nerve to array all possible nations against Germany, and that they were not disposed to overlook a country like Siam whose bountiful rice harvests could strengthen their food supply, whose ports might be used by German warships, and whose capital might become a center of German intrigue. It is reasonable too to conjecture that Siam, like some other nations, found a neutral position em- barrassing and difficult to maintain, that she was influenced by the fact that the two most powerful allied nations, France and Great Britain, were on her borders, had numerous warships handy, could make things exceedingly uncomfortable for her if she did not comply with their wishes, and would probably give her some greatly desired treaty ad- vantages if she did. At any rate, whatever the reasons, Siam on July 22, 1917, openly joined the Allies by declaring war upon Germany and, as soon she could, sent soldiers SIAM AND WESTERN NATIONS 65 to France. Of course they were too few to have an appreciable effect on the battle front, but they meant much to the Siamese, and the Siamese flag meant something to the Allied Powers, since it closed Siamese waters to German vessels and Siamese cities to German agents. When at the close of the War the Siamese soldiers came back, there was a remarkable demonstration of public joy. Public and private buildings in Bangkok were gaily deco- rated and enormous cheering crowds assembled. Rain had recently fallen, and the ground was muddy, but the excited throng cared not, for their beloved army had stood alongside the armies of powerful nations and had a right to share in the victory that had been won. France and Siam Relations with France have involved some per- plexing governmental questions. An extensive French possession in Indo-China has appeared quite as legitimate to Frenchmen as an extensive British possession in India has appeared to Englishmen. France has had few commercial relations with Siam, and, at the time of the writer’s visit, only two of the 190 foreigners in Government employ were French. The ambitions of France have been distinctly poli- tical. As far back as 1787, the French negotiated a “treaty” with the King of Cochin-China, by which they obtained the Peninsula of Tourane and the Island of Pulu Condore. They soon extended their 66 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM power over Anam and pressed toward the interior until they had occupied the whole of Cochin-China, Cambodia and all the territory east of the Me- kong River. In 1856, France followed Great Britain in securing extra-territorial rights for her sub- jects, and another “treaty” in 1862 gave legal color to her encroachments on Siamese territory. After many disputes and under a threat of bombard- ment, the King of Siam, October 3, 1893, was forced to sign a treaty which designated the Mekong River as the boundary between Siamese and French possessions, gave France all the islands in the river, and forbade Siam to fortify any point in or to send any armed force into a strip twenty-five kilometers wide on the west bank. Not content with this, France proceeded to take under her “pro- tection” the province of Luang Prabang in the north, although a considerable part of it lay on the Siamese side of the river. She even added a claim to a part of Nan province, on the ground that it had once been under “the local government” of Luang Prabang. Altogether, France appropriated over 300,000 square miles in Indo-China, a territory a third larger than France itself. Another method of extending French influence was by enrolling as French protégés people in Siam who had come from other regions under French control, or who were the children or grandchildren of those who had been born there. Since there was a heavy immigration from Cambodia, Anam, Ton- SIAM AND WESTERN NATIONS 67 quin and other lands of Indo-China, it will readily be seen what it meant to France to claim them and their descendants for three generations. Some Chi- nese from Hainan were also enrolled, and it has been charged that men who sought to escape taxes, or military service, or who wanted help in lawsuits, took out French papers in order to gain the power- ful support of priest and consul. In these ways France enrolled many people in Siam and thus gained a pretext for interference which she was not slow to utilize. A western power would probably have felt that it had half a dozen provocations to fight, but Siam well knew that war would result in subjugation. The Siamese Government, therefore, intimated that it was prepared to make further concessions in order to maintain peace. Almost anything appeared better than a continuance of an irritating situation or a war in which Siam would inevitably be crushed. Negotiations dragged wearily along, and more than once trouble appeared imminent. Finally, and large- ly through the skilful management of the American Mr. Edward H. Strobel, who had become Foreign Adviser to the King of Siam in March, 1904, a Con- vention was signed February 13, 1904, and a protocol June 29 of the same year. France got the coveted Luang Prabang on both sides of the Mekong, and also Krat, Bassac and Melonpey on the west bank, a vast region 8,000 square miles in extent. She also secured a voice in public improvements in the pro- 68 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM vince of Korat and the appointment of a French legal adviser on the Siamese court of appeals in all cases affecting French subjects. Siam secured the abolition of the vexed neutral twenty-five kilometer zone, a settlement of the equally vexed registration of French protégés, a recognition of her court of appeal, a reduction in the jurisdiction of French courts in Siam, the French evacuation of Chanta- boon, and, in general, a feeling of relief that the perilous questions with her powerful aggressor were now so far settled that she could have a period of rest from outside interference. January 9, 1905, the flag of France was lowered at Chantaboon, where it had floated for twelve years, the French troops sailed away, and the flag of Siam was once more unfurled. The Siamese felt a little sore over losing more valuable territory, but on the whole they were better satisfied than Asiastic na- tions usually are after “treaties” with European powers. They were still further relieved by another treaty with France which was signed March 23, 1907. This treaty ceded to France some more ter- ritory—the provinces of Battambong, Siemreap and Srisophon—but the French returned to Siam Dansai, Krat and the adjacent islands. Most gratifying of all to the Siamese, provision was made for waiving the extra-territorial rights of Asiatics who claimed to be French subjects or protégés, and for placing them under the jurisdiction of Siamese courts. At this writing, therefore, Franco-Siamese relations SIAM AND WESTERN NATIONS 69 are better than for many years. February 14, 1925, another favorable treaty was signed. The French plans have been aided by the Roman Catholic Missions, which began with the arrival of some French priests in 1662. At the time of the author’s visit, there were two bishops, 66 churches, including a cathedral in Bangkok, 32,000 members, 73 schools, a convent, a hospital and two colleges. French priests were scattered over the land. The French Government is not friendly to the Roman Catholic Church at home, but it prizes the help which its missionaries give to her political designs in the Orient. The latest accessible report, 1924, lists a Vicar Apostolic, 64 priests and 15 catechists.* Friends of Protestant Missions have learned from experience, not only in Siam but in Korea, Africa and Madagascar, that in so far as French colonial policy is influenced by Roman Catholic bishops, it is un- friendly to Protestantism. The venerable Dr. Mc- Gilvary of Chiengmai, on a trip to Luang Prabang, was not allowed to remain long enough to visit the few Christians there, and in spite of his age and weariness after a long and toilsome journey, he was 1The Roman Catholic Church in America has hitherto done very lit- tle foreign missionary work in Asia, nearly all of the extensive missions of that Church being European. In recent years, however, American Roman Catholics have begun to interest themselves in this work. The Catholic Herald of August 16, 1924, announced that “The Fathers of the Society of St. Columban, Nebraska, have undertaken, at the special re- quest of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, a new mission in Siam. The missionaries were asked to take up the work in view of the fact that a large number of inhabitants of Siam are Chinese.” 70 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM peremptorily ordered to leave at once. Hearing, in 1907, that Mr. and Mrs. Park of Nan were contem- plating a tour east of the Mekong, the French Consul wrote to them that no “proselyting” would be permitted. Great Britain and Siam The British occupation of Burma on the north and northwest brought Siam into close relations with Great Britain. After several efforts the British negotiated a treaty of friendship and commerce in 1826. Another treaty in 1855 regulated England’s trade relations with Siam and secured extra-territorial rights for British subjects, so that they were under the sole jurisdiction of British consuls. A third treaty in 1883 gratified Siam by providing for the renunciation of some of these extra-territorial rights and the establishment of an international court for the trial of cases in which British subjects were involved. The present boundary between Siam and British Burma was agreed upon in 1891, Great Britain has heavy interests in Siam—trading companies with enormous vested capital, large num- bers of British subjects, including many thousands of Burmese in the Lao States, and, what is a particularly sensitive point with England, the long, thinly settled and ill-protected frontier line of her vast Indian Em- pire. It is hardly conceivable that England would like to see France, by absorbing Siam, occupy her unde- fended and almost indefensible Indian frontier for a SIAM AND WESTERN NATIONS 71 thousand miles and more. Several years ago, the Brit- ish Foreign Office hinted as much to France in connec- tion with the latter’s attempts on Luang Prabang. In some hidden way, perhaps an understanding that the Shan States west of the Mekong were to be recog- nized as British, England was persuaded to recognize French rights to the Shan districts east of the Me- kong. At any rate, in the Anglo-French Convention of January 15, 1896, both governments engaged that neither of them would, without the consent of the other, advance their armed forces into a region west of a line beginning west of Chantaboon and running irregu- larly northward to the Shan States. Lord Salisbury smoothly explained that “nothing in our present action would detract in any degree from the validity of the rights of the King of Siam to those portions of his territory which are not affected by the new agreement,” and that “we have selected a particular area because it is an area which affects our interest as a commercial nation.” Despite this declaration, the unpleasant fact remained that France could seize the entire eastern half of the Kingdom without violating the terms of this Convention. Great Britain’s political policy in relation to the Siamese Government has doubtless been influenced by the fact that she has so many exposed colonies of her own, which usually keep her well supplied with trouble- some questions, that she is not disposed to interfere with the plans of her continental rivals as long as they let her alone. She is therefore not likely to risk a col- ren nn oem enicree reaea et og 72 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM lision for the sake of Siam; but for the protection of her own interests she undoubtedly prefers to have the integrity of Siam preserved as a buffer State. And yet the British have been and are good friends of Siam. They have sent expert advisers to aid the Siamese Government in various departments. British loans in 1905, 1907 and 1909 made possible the con- struction of Siam’s railways. Some funds were sub- scribed in Paris and Berlin, but the bulk came from London and the Government of the Federated Malay States. A fourth loan in 1922 financed Siam’s irriga- tion project. It may be said that these loans were to Britain’s advantage. Perhaps so, but the point is that Britain trusted Siam when no other government was disposed to do so and that this trust enabled the Siamese to make improvements that would otherwise have been beyond their reach. Moreover, while the British Government, as will presently be noted, was the first to demand extra-territorial rights for her subjects, it was the first to relinquish them and to trust its nationals and their properties to the protection of Siam- ese laws and courts. The principal banks in Bangkok are branches of the British Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, opened in 1888, and the Char- tered Bank of India, Australia and China, opened in 1893. The late king imbibed much of his broad, pro- gressive spirit from his English governess. The pres- ent king was educated first by an English tutor in Bangkok, Sir Robert Morant, and then in England (1893-1902). When Prince Damrong went to Europe SIAM AND WESTERN NATIONS 73 in 1891 to study western educational methods, it was England that gave him most cordial welcome, and on his return to Siam, it was Sir Robert Morant who aided him in organizing the government educational system. It is not surprising therefore that the Siamese count the British their friends and that British prestige is high. Treaty Limitation on Import Dues Siam’s political need is an opportunity to work out her own problems, unembarrassed by outside interfer- ence. One of her serious perplexities grew out of the treaty of 1855 with her best friend, Great Britain. That treaty had limited import dues on foreign goods to three per cent. “The most favored nation” clause extended this provision to every other nation. When Siam sought to inaugurate administrative reforms, the limitation seriously hampered her. The decree on gam- bling, noted elsewhere, is but one of several illustra- tions which might be cited. It was manifestly unjust that the Government should be tied hand and foot by a commercial treaty made more than half a century ago when the situation was quite different. Siam wanted those early treaties readjusted to modern conditions. On one occasion, the King sent a Cabinet Minister, accompanied by Mr. Frederick Verney, then Counselor of the Siamese Legation in London, to ask European governments to permit her to control her taxes and the traffic in intoxicants. Mr. Verney said that he 74 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM and his colleague got a cold reception. A small and distant nation, without military strength, has a poor chance of getting justice in dealing with the great powers of the world, especially when money interests are involved. Extra-Territoriality The extra-territorial rights of foreigners were an- other sore point with the Siamese. They had been legal- ized by the treaty with Great Britain in 1855 and that potent “joker” in most treaties which gives to each contracting party all the privileges accorded to “the most favored nation” had extended these rights to the - other western nations which concluded treaties with Siam. The Siamese quite naturally felt that the pres- ence of men who were not amenable to their laws and courts was a standing reflection upon them. Plans for improvements were sometimes blocked because a pro- posed street extension affected some old building which was owned by a European who made a great hue and cry if his premises were touched without an extor- tionate indemnity. Some crime was committed, and the Siamese found themselves helpless to punish the offender because he was under foreign protection. Indeed, it was to secure this very immunity from pun- ishment that some bad characters took out French certificates. Undoubtedly, this was a prime reason why the Siamese Government was so reluctant to allow foreign- ers to acquire absolute title to property. It trusted A FORD-LOAD OF SCHOOL GIRLS A RURAL CO! yREGATION OF CHRISTIANS = a) hee § Bry 7 ey 7 a e 5 a SIAM AND WESTERN NATIONS 75 the Protestant missionaries and cordially loaned or rented them land for a merely nominal sum, but it withheld title because sales to them would have to be made to the French. The missionaries and their Board in New York naturally desired to own the properties on which they had spent considerable sums for schools, hospitals and residences, but they did not press the matter because they knew the friendliness of the Gov- ernment and they did not wish to embarrass it by in- sisting upon privileges which, if granted to them, would have to be granted to other foreigners whose interests in Siam were less altruistic. In no other country in Asia has the Protestant missionary been regarded with greater friendliness than in Siam. In no other have more marked favors been shown to him or more influ- ence accorded to him. His life and property are safe and judges and officials are not only more intelligent than formerly, but they are, as a rule, the personal friends of the missionaries. There was, therefore, no particular reason to fear injustice from them. Extra- territorial rights are less vital to the interest of mission- ary work than they are popularly supposed to be. As one American expressed it: ““The missionary is largely dependent for safety upon the good will of the people anyway. If he has that, and he certainly has it in Siam, he does not need his extra-territorial privileges. If he does not have it, those privileges will not save him, as experience in China has painfully proved.” All that is really essential to him he possesses in his American citizenship, which is protected by the diplomatic and 76 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM consular representatives of his country, independently of extra-territorial rights. That Siam is willing to listen to wise counsel is shown by her readiness to advise with experienced mis- sionaries and by her use of official foreign advisers. Years ago, she asked Lord Cromer of Egypt for advice in lessening the abuses of farming out taxes, and he recommended the appointment of Mr. Mitchell Innes as Financial Adviser. The appointment was promptly made, and Mr. Innes and his successors have done much to remedy administrative evils and to put Siam’s financial affairs on a sound basis. The King did not stop with this, but appointed a Legal Adviser to counsel him on general questions of state and relations to western nations. Mr. Rolin Jaequenyns was largely influential in this capacity for many years. Recent advisers have been Americans. Such able and wise men as Edward H. Strobel, Eldon R. James, Francis Sayre, and the present incumbent Courtenay Crocker, have given ample opportunity to propose reforms and have been a power for good. Treaties With America The desire of the Siamese to have more favorable treaties with western powers was warmly supported by the American Ministers. Diplomatic relations with the United States had begun with the treaty of 1833. In the treaty of 1856, it had shared in the extra-territorial, commercial and other rights which Siam had been forced to yield to European nations, “the most favored SIAM AND WESTERN NATIONS 77 nation” clause carrying with it every privilege that any other government had ever obtained. The Hon. Hamilton King, a greatly beloved minister, who, after the exceptionally long service of fourteen years, died in Bangkok in 1912, earnestly advised the State De- partment in Washington to negotiate a new and more just treaty with Siam. He did not live to see his advice realized. Diplomatic wheels revolve slowly, especially when, as in America, there are frequent changes in ad- ministration and personnel. Mr. Eldon R. James, then Foreign Legal Adviser of the Siamese Government, and the Siamese Minister in Washington tactfully con- tinued their efforts, Mr. James personally visiting Washington. Finally, in 1921, to the profound gratification of all concerned, the long drawn out negotiations were brought to a happy issue. A new treaty was agreed to December 16, 1920. It was approved by the United States Senate, and the formal ratifications were ex- changed in 1921. In addition to important articles re- lating to commerce and navigation between the two countries, the treaty abolished the extra-territorial rights of American citizens, which Great Britain had relinquished for her citizens in 1883 and France in 1907, and whose continuance for Americans had nat- urally been displeasing to the Siamese Government and occasionally placed American missionaries in an em- barrassing position inasmuch as practically all the American citizens in Siam are missionaries. Bearing more directly upon missionary work and making the 78 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM treaty one of really essential importance are the articles which extended the property rights of American mis- sionaries and mission work. The former treaty pro- hibited foreigners from taking title to property in their own names in places more than twenty-four hours dis- tant from Bangkok by boat. Much of the mission property in Siam therefore had to be held under leases which were subject to revocation at the will of the Gov- ernment. While there was no serious trouble on this account, it was a relief to have the Siamese Government so cordially recognize, as it did in this treaty, that the time had come for a more satisfactory adjustment. The fiscal autonomy of Siam was also recognized in the treaty in ways very gratifying to the Siamese since it recognized Siam’s right to determine for herself what her import duties should be. What Has America To Give to Siam? First: Unselfish friendship. America does not seek a foot of Siamese territory, nor would it, if it could, jeopardize the integrity of Siamese possessions or the independence of the Siamese Government. Americans ardently desire that all the relations of America with Siam be based upon the Golden Rule of doing unto others as we would that others should do unto us. The influence of missionaries in promoting international friendship was illustrated in the treaty which was nego- tiated between Siam and the United States in 1856. Dr. William M. Wood, later Surgeon-General of the United SIAM AND WESTERN NATIONS 79 States Navy, who accompanied the Embassy, wrote: “The unselfish kindness of the American missionaries, their patience, sincerity and truthfulness, have won the confidence and esteem of the natives, and in some de- gree transferred those sentiments to the nation repre- sented by the Missions, and prepared the way for the free and national intercourse now commencing. It was very evident that much of the apprehension the Siamese felt in taking upon themselves the responsi- bilities of a treaty with us would be diminished if they could have the Rev. Stephen Mattoon as the first United States consul to set the treaty in motion.” Mr. Mattoon, a missionary, was willing to take the office only until a successor could be appointed at Wash- ington. Thus Siam was peaceably opened by American mis- sionaries. The Regent in 1871 frankly stated this to the Hon. George F. Seward, then United States Consul General at Shanghai: “Siam has not been disciplined by English and French guns as China has, but the country has been opened by missionaries.” This friend- liness of the Siamese Government has not been inter- rupted sintce. Second: America offers to Siam fair trade. It has manufactured articles that Siam needs and the Siamese have products that we need. The exchange would be to mutual advantage. Already Siam values some of our manufactures. Strolling along the river bank one evening in Paknampo, we saw a Siamese busily at work on a sewing machine made in America. 80 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM Nearly five hundred of them are sold in Siam every year. Most of Siam’s bicycles and automobiles are of American make. In scores of homes and markets we saw American lamps, of which $40,000 worth were sold in a single year. We might add similar illus- trations regarding American flour, steam and electrical machinery, wire, cutlery, drugs and chemicals. More American products go to Siam than official statistics indicate, for most of them reach Siam through Chinese middlemen. One is glad that American goods are so superior that foreign firms find it to their advantage to handle them, but one is sorry that American business men do not wake up and take more direct interest in what could easily be made a great market. The Siamese prefer many of our manufactured goods, but our busi- ness men are allowing European nations to walk away with a trade which might be more largely ours. As it is, American trade relations with Siam are largely in- direct, and although there are a few agents, there is not an American business house in all Siam. If manu- facturers in the United States would heed the con- sular and diplomatic reports on this subject, they could develop a trade with Siam which would be profitable to them and helpful to the Siamese. Third: But the chief thing that the people of America have to offer the Siamese is an equal share in those blessings which we ourselves first received from Asia. Just as Siam has learned some things which we need to know, so we in turn have learned some truths which the Siamese need. Supreme among these is the knowl- SIAM AND WESTERN NATIONS 81 edge that there is a wise, loving, personal God—a God who created the world, who made man, who governs the earth, and who regards men as His children. This God has revealed Himself to man in a Book which answers the profoundest problems of the human heart, and, above all, He has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to tell of His love and to show man how he may, by re- pentance and faith and the quickening of the Divine Spirit, attain eternal life. This idea of a Supreme Being is not simply for America but for the world. Indeed, God first revealed Himself in Asia. The Bible was written in Asia and Jesus lived and died there. And now, just as America sends ministers and consuls to represent her political friendship for Siam and corporations send business men to represent her trade, so the Church sends mis- sionaries to represent those higher truths which are for the larger blessing of men. We send them not because we regard the Siamese as inferiors, but because we regard them as men made like ourselves in the image of God and who have the same rights that we possess to the knowledge and love and care of God. We know that the Siamese need Christ because we need Him ourselves, and because we see that the Siamese lack those qualities which Americans lacked before they received the Gospel and which they lack now just to the extent that they fail to follow Christ. We are ashamed of those Americans who imagine that these blessings are for themselves alone and that they should not be given to other people, who think that it 82 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM is proper to send rifles to the Siamese and improper to send the Bible. Is it not a good work to heal the sick? To teach the young? To publish good books and periodicals? To tell men that there is a holy and loving God who will help them bear life’s burdens and save them from their sins? Is it not good to apply the principles of the Gos- pel of Christ to all the activities and relations of life? These things missionaries from America are doing in Siam. They do not interfere with any proper custom of the Siamese people. They are loyal to the Govern- ment. But recognizing the Siamese as our fellow- men who are heirs of the same inheritance, we simply desire, in a spirit of true brotherliness and Christian faith, to communicate to them those sublime truths which experience has shown to be for the temporal and eternal blessing of men. While America’s political and commercial relations with Siam have been small, her spiritual relations have been large. Details are given in another chapter, so that only mention may be made here of the fact that outside of the Legation staff and less than a dozen others, all of the more than 200 Americans in Siam are missionaries and their families. There are no other Protestant missionaries in the entire kingdom, except one agent of the American Bible Society, so that the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions in New York is the main channel through which the people of Amer- ica are extending the hand of brotherhood to the Siamese. They are doing this through the educated SIAM AND WESTERN NATIONS 83 Christian men and women whom they are maintaining in Siam and the gifts of over $200,000 annually which they are sending. This is done gladly and unselfishly, without expectation or desire of profit to themselves, but as a substantial evidence of the earnest and fra- ternal desire of the Christian people of Amreica for the welfare of Siam. The royal decree of a former King of Siam truly said: “Many years ago, the American missionaries came here. They came before any Europeans, and they taught the Siamese to speak and read the English lan- guage. The American missionaries have always been just and upright men. They have never meddled in the affairs of government nor created any difficulty with the Siamese. They have lived with the Siamese just as if they belonged to the nation. The Government of Siam has great love and respect for them, and has no fear whatever concerning them. When there has been | a difficulty of any kind, the missionaries have many | times rendered valuable assistance. For this reason | the Siamese have loved and respected them for a long | time. The Americans have also taught the Siamese | many things.” With fair treatment from other nations, and with her progressive King and Cabinet, her excellent for- eign financial and legal advisers, and the strong body of Protestant missionaries supplying ideals and forming character, Siam may fairly be expected to move along right lines of national progress. The Land of the Yellow Robe r).F. CHAPTER. iv THE LAND OF THE YELLOW ROBE The visitor quickly observes that yellow robed, shaven-headed monks are in evidence everywhere —on the streets of the cities, in the humblest ham- lets, and particularly on the rivers in the early mornings as they dexterously paddle along the shore in their tiny canoes, thanklessly accepting the spoonful of rice which the villagers count it a merit to give them. Every man from king to coolie must spend at least one rainy season in a monastery or be ostracised, so that it is no wonder that monks are numerous. Buddhism has taught the people to give largely for the support of religious institutions. The temples of Siam are more numerous and expensive than those of any other land we visited. Many of them literally blaze with overlaid gold and im- bedded precious stones. Constructed usually of brick and covered with mortar, they quickly de- teriorate in this land of heavy rains, destroying insects and rank, parasitic vegetation. There is great “merit” in building a new temple or rest house, but none in repairing one that someone else has built, which accounts for the number of crum- bling temples, and also for the many new ones which are springing up on every side. 85 Pigs le Fete PN, a ONE eae 86 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM Statues of Buddha are simply innumerable— statues of all sizes, statues sitting and reclining, statues of wood, and iron, and stone, of marble, and bronze, and alabaster. In the “dim religious light” of the large temples, their huge figures (one is 145 feet long and overlaid with thin sheets of pure gold), look down upon the worshipper with a sol- emn, majestic impassiveness, a timeless unmoved calm, which impresses even a western traveler and helps him to understand in some measure the awe which these vast statues excite in the minds of the people. A quaint legend, described by Dr. W. C. Dodd, adds interest, not unmingled with pathos, to the be- liefs of the Siamese, since it has led to an expecta- tion of another reincarnation of Buddha. According to Buddhist theology, myriads of ages ago a white crow laid five eggs. Earthquake, thunder and tor- nado enveloped and scattered them. Each was taken by a foster-mother and hatched. They became re- spectively Kahkoosuntah, Konahmanah, Kasappa, Kotama (afterward Gautama Buddha) and Ahrehyah Mettai. After living for a time as sons of the white crow, they were reborn in the upper world as water lilies or lotus. There they agreed that the lotus which first budded should be born on the earth as a Buddha to bless animals and men. First, Kah- koosuntah’s lotus budded and he became a Buddha for 5,000 years. His appearance was like gold. At the end of 5,000 years he entered Nirvana, or, as it THE LAND OF THE YELLOW ROBE 87 is called in Siam, Nippan. After him came Konah- manah, like a jewel for 3,000 years. Then down came Kasappa, white as milk, for 2,000 years. Then the lotus of Ahreyah Mettai came into bud, but Kotama slyly swapped lilies with him and came down to earth. It is acknowledged that his nat- ural life was only eighty years, but it is claimed that he has merely entered upon the second stage of Nippan, of which there are three stages in all. The first he entered when he made the great re- nunciation under the sacred bo tree. The second one he entered at death, and in this he still retains consciousness and power; he can come on invita- tion to inhabit his images and can bless his votaries. Thus his life is not yet ended. It is to last 5,000 years, when he will attain the final stage of Nippan, complete annihilation for a time. His religion is only a preparatory one, admonishing the negative virtues and warning against positive vices. Some say that at the end of the 5,000 years, others that when all men become pure as milk, Ahreyah Mettai will be born and take his turn, out of which he was cheated by Kotama. He is to combine all the glories of person, and all the virtues and powers of his four brothers who have preceded him, and is to live and reign 84,000 years. All who have white hearts will be born or reborn at that time, and when he enters Nippin they too shall enter, and thus stop the hitherto ceaseless round of trans- migration. Yet only for a time. After cycles of nee nS 88 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM eee Nk Res Sa le nee ages all must begin the dreary round again, the five brothers, animals and men alike. And so it has come to pass that as missionaries go about Siam with the good tidings of Jesus Christ, people ask one another in awed tones: “Is not this He for whom we look?” Buddhist monks, instead of being bitterly hostile like the priests and mullahs of other lands, invite the missionaries to their temples and eagerly inquire of them further of this matter. “I was kept so busy attending the sick and answering questions in regard to the re- ligion of Jesus, that I found it difficult to press my way through the crowd Sunday afternoon and ride off to visit another village nearby,” wrote a medical missionary, Dr. William A. Briggs. “The ‘head man of the village showed deep interest, listening for hours. The highest official of the district, an old, white-haired governor, sent a special messenger to call us to his place, asked to hear our message, and listened to it thankfully and even devoutly. In the evening, over thirty persons, who had waited hours in the temple for my return, listened with eager attention for an hour and a half to the story of the birth, life, death, resurrection, and promised coming again of our Lord. The messages were re- ceived with outspoken gratitude and intelligent in- terest, many of the people remaining till long after midnight, reading the books and tracts by the light of the fire and asking questions of the Christians in our company. In Muang Daam City, one priest A BUDDHIST PRIEST AT WORSHIP a | see aa _ a THE LAND OF THE YELLOW ROBE 89 paid us eight or ten visits, coming every night after dark and staying until we were too tired to talk longer. He was given a copy of the Scriptures and spent many hours in diligent study, asking thought- ful questions that he might be able to teach others. These people, hungry for truth that satisfied and longing for light, are anxiously awaiting the com- ing of the promised Messiah of Buddhism. What a preparation for the true Messiah! “T was finally obliged to request them to leave that I might rest. I then went to say farewell to the abbot of the monastery, who was sitting in state, teaching the priests and novitiates their les- sons. I presented him with a copy of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, which he accepted with thanks. As I turned to go, I found two or three men to whom I had given leaflets, who implored me to explain some things to them more fully. Thus, for a half hour after midnight, I preached on the Lord’s Prayer and ‘Come unto Me’, having for an audience the two or three men of the village, the abbot, and some twenty odd priests and monks, all of whom gave most respectful and thoughtful attention. In the morning, at five o’clock, the abbot and the people of the village were out to wish me many good things; promising a warm welcome should I return.” Dr. Dodd wrote that many of his auditors looked upon Jesus as the next Buddha, Ahreyah Mettai. Many lifted both hands in worship of the pictures, 90 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM the books and the preachers. This, of course, he forbade, and tried to explain Christ as the true Mes- siah of all men. The general expectation of the reincarnation of Buddha doubtless explains the re- ception accorded the colporteurs. They were treated in most places as the messengers of the Buddhist Messiah. Offerings of food, flowers and wax tapers were made to them. In return, they were expected to bless the givers. The colporteurs explained that they themselves were sinners deriving all merit and blessing from Jehovah God, and then reverently asked a blessing from Him. Thus Christian services were held in hundreds of homes. Some of the late Dr. McGilvary’s warmest friends in Chiengmai were Buddhist monks. He regularly visited the monasteries and was always cordially received. During our own tour in the Lao States, we visited many monasteries and sometimes we camped in the temple grounds. We were invariably welcomed with great cordiality. Never has the Christian missionary had a better opportunity to take tactful advantage of a national belief for the introduction of the Gospel of Christ. Him, whom they unconsciously expect, the missionary, like St. Paul in Athens, declares unto them, not in any spirit of sectarianism or nationality but as the One for whom the world waits and through whom only man may enter into communion with God. THE LAND OF THE YELLOW ROBE 91 Religious Toleration The welcome accorded to the missionaries is partly due to the prevailing belief described in the preceding pages, partly to the nature of Buddhism, and partly to the high character and unfailing tact of the missionaries. The Hon. Hamilton King, when American Minister to Siam, wrote of a trip to a remote village with the Rev. Dr. E. P. Dunlap: “From the first the head man of the island was our friend. He assisted in getting the people together in the meetings and sat an interested listener to the words of truth. Although a Buddhist himself he encouraged the people to hear the truth, and said he desired with them to learn the best. And let me say right here, this is the attitude of Buddhistic Siam throughout, from the King upon the throne to the most humble coolie, the priest in the temples and the officials of the Government. Among all and under all circumstances I hhave yet to hear the first word of ridicule or opposition as touching the teachings of Christianity; and my verdict is the verdict of all our missionaries in the work. The Siamese people are an open-minded people, and the King of Siam and his Government are the most tolerant of religious teachings of any Ruler and any government of which I have heard.” We have noted in another chapter that there has been a stiffening of Buddhist attitude since the ac- cession of the present King; but it is still true that 92 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM Siam is a wide open country to the Christian mis- sionary. We paid a visit to the Priest-Prince Vajiranana, a brother of the late King, and the head of the Buddhists of Siam. He lived in a noble group of buildings resembling those of a renowned Euro- pean university, for here is the famous Pali College where scholars of the highest rank study the sacred books. The Prince knew my relation to the effort to Christianize his people, for the American Minis- ter had, to my confusion, introduced me as “the Father of all the missionaries”. But nothing could have exceeded the cordiality. of his manner or the mingled tact and frankness with which he com- mended our mission schools and pointed out how the missionaries could increase their influence by more thoroughly studying the literature and cus- toms of the Siamese and by coming into a closer relation with the princes who exemplify the best types of national learning and manners. Knowing that the Prince was a noted Pali scholar, I spoke of the King’s edition of the three collections of the sacred books of the Buddhists known as the Pali Tri-pitaka, published by order of the King in thirty-nine volumes in 1894, and of the interest aroused by His Majesty’s generosity in sending sets to Yale and Harvard Universities, as well as to the Royal Asiatic Society of London and several European libraries. These sacred books had hitherto been printed only on palm strips in Cam- THE LAND OF THE YELLOW ROBE 93 bodian characters. The preface states that the French control of Cambodia and Anam, the Eng- lish control of Burma and Ceylon, and the fact that Lao Buddhism is of a less pure type, were en- dangering the purity of the sacred text. So the King of Siam undertook the pious task of ordering the best of the princely scholars to edit a correct text, and he printed it in Siamese characters in this series of stately volumes. This was revolutionary in Siam, and it has resulted in a much wider dis- semination and a more general study of the Buddhist Scriptures. Buddhist Teaching Since a study of Buddhism affords a clue to many things in Siam, which is the centre and stronghold of orthodox Buddhism, we may remind ourselves of a few salient facts regarding this great religious system. Its founder was Gautama, who was born at Kapilavastu, India, about 463 B.C. He was a devout, high-minded man who thought long and deeply upon the mystery of life. One must have in mind the outcome of his brooding in order to under- stand Siam. The four basic principles of his teach- ings, as adopted by a Council in the reign of the famous Buddhist Emperor Asoka, 250 B. C., were: 1. All existence is evil because all existence is sub- ject to change and decay. 2. The source of this evil is the desire for things which are to change 94 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM and pass away. 3. This desire and the evil which follows it are not inevitable; for if we choose we can arrive at Nirvana when both shall wholly cease. 4. There is a fixed and certain method to adopt, by pursuing which we attain this end without pos- sibility of failure.* Buddha’s appeal was to the reason of man. He was preeminently the rationalist of his age. Un- like Mohammed, he offered no material rewards. His disciples went about persuading men. Nor did he use force. The spirit of Buddhism is tol- erant. It is seldom opposed to the coming of Christianity. Its all-embracing catholicity simply makes room for every other system. Three words are prominent in Buddhism: Karma, merit and Nirvana. Karma “is the doctrine that, as soon as a sentient being (man, animal or angel) dies, a new being is produced in a more or less painful and material state of existence, according to the ‘Karma,’ the desert of merit of the being who had died.” ? Merit is the teaching that the individual can influ- ence the character of his future birth by the acts of this present state. Certain deeds make merit, which can be accumulated so as to better one’s condition in the next incarnation. Popular efforts to gain merit are to place a prop under a drooping branch 1T, W. Rhys Davids, Buddhism, 101. * Rhys Davids, 101. THE LAND OF THE YELLOW ROBE 95 of a bo tree, or to build a rest house for travelers, or to give alms to a monk. The motive is neither sympathy for the traveler nor respect for the monk, but the making of merit. It is an elaborate system of the salvation of the individual by works. A woman, by fidelity and obedience to her husband, may be born the next time as a man; if she is un- faithful or disobedient, she may be born as a monkey or a pig. Nirvana has been defined in different ways. Some call it annihilation, some absorption in God. Rhys Davids says that “it is the extinction of that sinful, grasping condition of mind and heart which would otherwise, according to the great mystery of Karma, be the cause of renewed individual existence.” The “Buddhist Catechism” defines it as a “state of mind and heart in which all desire for life or annihi- lation, all egotistic craving, has become extinct, and with it every passion, every grasping desire, every fear, every ill-will, and every sorrow. It is a state of perfect inward peace, accompanied by the im- perturbable certainty of having attained deliver- ance, a state words cannot describe, and which the imagination of the worldling tries in vain to picture to himself. Only one who has himself experienced it knows what Nirvana is.” This “Buddhist Catechism” includes the follow- ing interesting questions and answers: “Did a God-Creator call the world into existence by His will?’ 96 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM “Answer: There is no God-Creator upon whose grace or will the existence of the world depends. Everything originates and develops by and out of itself, by virtue of its own will and according to its inner nature and condition (its Karma). Only the ignorance of man has invented a personal God- Creator. The Buddhists, however, absolutely reject the belief in a personal god, and consider the doc- trine of a creation out of nothing a delusion.” “Is there any positive or absolute evil?” “Answer: No. Everything temporal is relative, including things morally good or bad. Both ex- pressions denote merely the higher or lower degree of egotism of a living being, whose roots are the will-to-live and ignorance. No living being, no matter how deeply it may be sunk in selfishness and ignorance, is excluded from emancipation. Every- one can attain wisdom and perfection, if he really wants to, though perhaps only through a long series of rebirths. On the other hand, no being, no mat- ter how good and noble, is certain of emancipation until it has reached Nirvana. As long as the least craving for life and the least remainder of ignorance exist, a relapse may always occur,- for all action, good as well as bad, remains in the sphere of finite- ness and does not lead beyond. To Nirvana lead only the separation from action and the complete overcoming and total annihilation of the will-to-live through true knowledge.” Siamese Buddhism holds to the doctrine of trans- THE LAND OF THE YELLOW ROBE 97 migration of souls, though it is not so prominent as in some other lands. The spirit of one who dies is believed to be reborn on the earth either in some higher or lower form according to the character of the earthly life. This accounts for the unwilling- ness to kill animals, birds, and even serpents, since they may contain the spirits of former human beings who may later be reborn as men again. This explains, too, the veneration that the people give to the “white” elephants, which are supposed to be reincarnations of some great and powerful men. Therefore attendants reverently kneel when offer- ing the great beasts bits of food on silver platters. There are no blood-sacrifices as in Hinduism. There is strong emphasis on kindly deeds, alms- giving, patience and submission. Buddhism at its best is simply a system of ethics. Its teachings are purely naturalistic and atheistic. Buddha “renounced dependence upon God, angels, ceremonies, and for- bade to place faith in any saviour, divine or human; but taught that we are to have reliance in ourselves, and that without prayers or sacrifices or the para- phernalia of worship we are to associate ourselves with others like-minded, that together we may fol- low the noble eight-fold path which is based on the four great truths, and thus attain the end of our labors—salvation.” We should not hastily assume that Buddhism in Siam is a waning force, or that the friendliness of officials is indicative of a disposition to accept the EEE EEE EEE a en 98 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM Leg TESTES REG OT STE ESE Wale ns Gospel of Christ. The mental attitude which looks upon Christianity with good-natured indifference is as hard to overcome as that which regards all re- ligion as equally true, or, as Gibbon has reminded us, what is the same thing—equally false. Buddhism is not conducive to physical or mental energy. Buddha held that man should be neutral in all things, avoid extremes, and neither love nor hate. Activity is evil; passiveness is virtue. The Siamese Buddhist languidly asks: “What is the use of troubling ourselves and of toiling to lay up treasures in this world? We brought nothing into it and we can take nothing out of it. So that we have food and clothing, why not be content and spend life in meditation?” Such material is harder to break than a rock. It is like the Southern forts of soft palmetto logs in the American Civil War, in which bullets buried themselves without shattering the logs, so that the more lead that was fired into them the more impregnable they became. Few men have the strength of character to do what Gautama did. With his indomitable moral courage he fought the battle of life to an issue un- aided. His followers, lacking his vision and per- sistence, have made sorry work of his teachings. Here and there, exceptional individuals have main- tained the consistency of their religion; but the masses, after a few ineffective struggles, have sunk helplessly back into the abyss. Indeed, they have resorted to so many expedients that Gautama would THE LAND OF THE YELLOW ROBE 99 have repudiated and have incorporated into their practice so many idolatrous elements that, if he could return to the earth today, he would not recog- nize the faith that bears his name. Even the com- mand not to take life is evaded. Fish are freely caught as a staple article of food, but “we do not kill them; we simply lay them on the bank and they die.” The priest who will not kill a fowl him- self will gladly eat it if someone else will kill it for him. Buddhists who would not kill even a snake or a mosquito will fight their fellowmen to the death. Public wars and private feuds occur in Buddhist lands as in others, and many for- mer Buddhist kings and lesser officials have been notorious for bloody cruelty. Buddhism is not only far below the moral level of Christian teachings but it is absolutely unreconcilable with many of them. It shows the utter breakdown of a religion of human reason. It has undoubtedly brought benefits to the lands in which it prevails, because it is a higher type of faith than that which it dis- placed. It exalts reason and urges man to think for himself and to obey nature’s laws. Christ or Buddha? But while Buddhism raised its converts slightly above their old level, it has left them there. Christ communicates a living power which enables His disciples to practice His precepts, in some measure nnn aaa EE a ddnEIEE SSIES ET 100 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM at least. But Buddhism is utterly destitute of such power. It is barren and dead as a formative force in character and life. It did not better India, nor has it shown a regenerative energy in any of the lands it has entered. No Buddhist nation ever de- veloped the principles of new life until Christianity entered. The fundamental teaching of Christianity is ex- actly the reverse of that of Buddhism. Buddhism attaches little value to personality and teaches that it is to be extinguished. Man is a “drop of water,” to borrow a phrase from Victor Hugo, who has come out of the ocean of infinity and who is to be merged into it. Christianity on the other hand emphasizes personality and teaches that it is to be continued throughout eternity. Buddhism mini- mizes, Christianity emphasizes, the worth of the individual. While both recognize the sorrows of life and the duty of observing the ordinary morali- ties of behaviour, Jesus gives the answer to the problem which Buddha despairingly failed to find. A Chinese evangelist graphically illustrated this by picturing to his hearers the plight of a man who had fallen into a deep pit. Presently Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, came along, peered into the pit and said: “What is the matter, my good man?” The man replied: “I have fallen into this pit and cannot get out.” “I advise you then,” said Gau- tama, “to spend your time in meditation in order that you may not be troubled by your condition ;” THE LAND OF THE YELLOW ROBE 101 and he passed on. Soon, Confucius passed and asked the same question: “What is the matter, my good man?” only to receive the same reply. Whereupon Confucius suavely said: “It is well to learn by experience, and I am sure that you will so profit by your present plight that if you get out of this pit you will be careful not to fall into it again.” And he passed on. Finally, said the preacher, the Lord Jesus approached, asked the same question, but, on receiving the same reply, he did not, like Gautama and Confucius, content himself with meaningless advice, but He stretched down His hand, took hold of the imprisoned man, and drew him forth. Yes, this is what Christ does, and what He alone does. He saves. Buddhism is pure selfishness. The whole system centers in the interests of the individual. Its chief object is to lead man to live for himself and to eman- cipate himself wholly from the world. There is no thought of the salvation of society or of others through the individual. Christianity is just the opposite of this. It is preeminently the religion of altruism. It tells its disciples to think of others rather than of them- selves. The ideal Christian is not a monk in a monastery, or a hermit in a cell, but a man down in the dusty ways of life. Buddhism teaches that life is evil and therefore its supreme object is to escape it. Christianity believes that sin is evil and there- fore its supreme object is to save men from it. 102 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM Buddhism tries to run away from life, while Chris- tianity tries to transform it. Said a blind listener to a missionary who had told him about Christ: “I feel bound to believe you. I can tell by your voice that you truly love your God and want others to worship also the great Being you trust and love. That you should be interested enough in me and my afflicted son to explain to us so very carefully your message is an unheard of experience for me. No worshippers of other religions have taken the interest in me that you have taken. I have lived nearly fifty years on this Island and there are over fifty Buddhist priests here and there are many thousands of Buddhist priests on the mainland, but they do not seem to care for my future welfare. I thank you for telling me about Jesus.” Modern Buddhism, too, compromises with evil, as Christianity does not. This helps to account for Buddhism’s rapid progress and its great hold upon a third of the human race. It calls for very little self-sacrifice. It leaves the individual in the possess- ion of his favorite sins and vicious indulgences and superstitious practices. A man can be a good Buddhist and at the same time a bad man. Why then should he not be a Buddhist, since no sacrifice is involved? This was not the teaching of Gautama. He was a man of high personal character, and some of his followers today are men of like type. But Buddhism as a present-day religion has lost what little power it ever had to keep its devotees morally straight. THE LAND OF THE YELLOW ROBE 103 The Fear of Spirits We should not imagine, however, that Buddhism is the sole religion of Siam, for in common with other non-Christian faiths it has been superimposed upon a basic mass of animistic beliefs. Animism may be defined as the fear of demons, of ghosts and portents, a peopling of the earth and air, the rivers and forests with spirits of varying degrees of benevolence and malevolence, chiefly the latter. Most Asiatics and practically all Africans are haunted from the cradle to the grave by this fear of evil spirits. Every occurrence in nature is attributed to them. Thunder is the roar of a demon; lightning the flash of his angry eyes; dis- ease is due to a demon in the body. Everywhere in Siam one observes the mingling of Animism and Buddhism. Spirit shrines are common both out- side and inside of the humble houses, and a large part of the worship of the people, particularly in the north, is an attempt to propitiate spirits. When an epidemic broke out in a Lao village, the panic- stricken people besought the missionaries of the nearest station to come and cast out the demons, and when the epidemic abated under the sanitary measures and medical treatment which the mis- sionaries applied, the people wanted to become Christian en masse, because they believed that the Christian spirits were stronger than the others. A medical missionary writes that a nineteen year old 104 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM girl from a non-Christian home came to his hos- pital. She was very ill but began to improve. One night the girl thought she saw some evil spirits enter the room, and in the morning she begged to be permitted to go home for a few days. Her parents wanted ther to attend a feast to feed the evil spirits. They insisted on taking her, but she was not strong enough to stand the strain of the journey and the ceremony, and died shortly after- was doing well when his family decided that he had ward. Another man came in suffering greatly. He better go home to give the evil spirits the head of a pig, and then ‘the would return to the hospital. He went home and died that night. “Evil spirits are our greatest enemy,” writes the missionary. “The people live all the time in terror of them. Education in our Christian schools, and years of it, is the best and about the only method of curing the people of their dread of evil spirits.” Islam The statistical survey of Islam in Asia, published in the proceedings of the “First Missionary Con- ference on Behalf of the Mohammedan World at Cairo, 1906,” listed one million Mohammedans in Siam, on authority of Hubert Jansen, who stated that the Mohammedans in Siam were called Sam- sams. We are inclined to think that this is rather a vague estimate, although undoubtedly there are some Mohammedans among the Chinese and THE LAND OF THE YELLOW ROBE 105 Malayans in Siam. At any rate, Mohammedanism is not in evidence. The author did not see a mosque in his travels throughout Siam, and the Rev. A. Willard Cooper, who has resided in Siam for a generation, writes: “The only Mohammedans in Siam that I know about are natives of India. I have not known in Siam of Chinese Moham- medans, nor ever heard of the name ‘Samsams’ as applied to a class of people. I would not affirm there might not be such, as I do not understand their language. But I consider it quite incredible that we should have anything even remotely ap- proximating to a million Mohammedans in Siam.” 4 Sieh fasta Poca Tae Seaae Seb ete, pees REY pri ‘ mI rl srenedodtt; een in 1” fal ee oa WMA Sse rs byiis: Apdatte: a at iro yew) bute ‘del : Brest “4 ey, $2. ts mut, tet eon ne tyr. Pioneer Experiences * : ie a, ‘ ‘ iv F iy nf ropa ) uly aut CHAPTER V PIONEER EXPERIENCES Picture getting to Siam as the first missionaries had to go, about a hundred years ago. No great, luxurious steamships with ample supplies of milk and ice water and fresh meat; only small sailing vessels with few conveniences and no luxuries. The voyage of a month or more from New York to Liverpool was not so bad, for the ships were reason- ably good for those days; but from England to Siam one had to take passage on a slow schooner with close, unventilated cabins and ill smelling din- ing saloon. Since there was no ice, the meat was corned “bully beef” and salt pork. Butter and lard became rancid, biscuits wormy, and water tepid and slimy. Half a year had to be spent on such boats before one’s destination was reached, perhaps with health impaired by the poor food, bad water, and the bleeding which was then commonly resorted to in all physical troubles. No welcome awaited the messenger of the Cross when he landed. The people were suspicious. “What have these strange white men come here for?” There were no foreign houses, and available native ones were bamboo huts with thatched roofs. Let- ters from the homeland came at rare and irregular intervals, once in six months or a year. Supplies of foreign food and clothing could be obtained only 107 108 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM at long intervals and great cost. Isolation and lone- liness in an alien environment were trying to sensi- tive spirits. The tropical climate, always debilita- ting, bore heavily upon men and women who were deprived of the accustomed refinements of American life, and the death rate among the early missionaries was high. Mr. Tomlin and Mr. Abeel broke down in their first year. Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Bradley and Mr. French soon died. Mrs. Dean died at Singapore before reaching Siam. Mr. Robinson, invalided home after brief service, was buried on the way at St. Helena. But those who could stay did, a little paler, a little weaker, but resolute and undismayed. History will write the names of those pioneers upon the pages which record the heroism of bygone days. Missionary Beginnings It was in such circumstances that missionary work was inaugurated in Siam. The beginnings date back to 1818 and to the honored name of Mrs. Ann Hassel- tine Judson of Burma. She never visited Siam, but met some Siamese in Rangoon and through them heard such accounts of their country that she became deeply interested, learned the language and translated a tract, a catechism, and the Gospel by St. Matthew. The Eng- lish Baptist Mission press at Serampore printed the catechism in 1819, “the first Christian book ever printed in Siamese.” The first Protestant missionaries to visit Siam were the famous Dr. Karl Friedrich August Gutzlaff of the Se PIONEER EXPERIENCES 109 ce EO as Set Wn LIES EINES ISR RI Seas ie aise Netherlands Missionary Society and the Rev. Jacob Tomlin of the London Missionary Society, who came to Bangkok in 1828 and began work among the Chinese. Ill health forced Mr. Tomlin to return to Singapore the following year. Dr. Gutzlaff left Bangkok for China in 1831. He baptized only one convert in Siam, a Chinese named Boon-tai, but his influence did not stop with his departure. Not only did he leave some translations of Scripture portions, which were printed in Singapore, but he and Mr. Tomlin had united in an appeal to the American churches to undertake perma- nent work in this needy field. That appeal was con- veyed to America in 1829 by Captain Coffin of the American trading vessel which brought those physical freaks, the Siamese Twins. The Congregational Mission The first board to respond was the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, which sent the the Rev. David Abeel from Canton. He arrived July 2, 1831, shortly after Dr. Gutzlaff had left. Il health compelled him to leave November 5, 1832; but in 1834 and 1835 seventeen missionaries, including wives, arrived and for a time everything looked bright. But disease and adverse conditions soon decimated the little company. In 1846, the Ameri- can Board, whose main thought from the beginning had been for the Chinese rather than the Siamese, concluded that the time had come when the former could be reached in China more effectively than in 110 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM Siam, and it therefore transferred Mr. Peet and Mr. Johnson to Foochow. The few remaining mis- sionaries struggled on among the Siamese. In 1848 Mr. Caswell died, and when ill health drove out Mr. Hemenway and his family in 1849, the Mission of the American Board was closed. Fifteen years of hard labor had not resulted in any baptisms, but the toil of those devoted missionaries in that steaming climate formed an essential part of the foundation upon which others were to build. Two Notable Men Two members of this early American Board Mission did much to make possible the subsequent development of Siam. One of these was the Rev. Jesse Caswell, who had arrived in 1840 and whose ability and wisdom so impressed Prince Chow Fah Mongkut that this future King chose him as his special instructor and for a year and a half (1845- 1846) studied as a docile pupil. The enlightened and progressive policy of King Mongkut, which was the real beginning of modern Siam and which gave op- portunity to missionary work, was due in no small degree to the training that he received from this devoted missionary. The other notable missionary of the American Board was Dr. Dan. B. Bradley, M.D., who arrived July 18, 1835. He brought the first printing press to Siam. Prior to his coming, what few books and tracts were available had been obtained from China PIONEER EXPERIENCES 111 and Singapore. This press, together with one brought by Baptist missionaries the following year, made possible the publication of books and tracts and the Gospels in Bangkok, and set in motion a movement which was to result in a voluminous Christian literature and, with the generous coopera- tion of the American Bible Society, in the publica- tion of the complete Bible. Finding that multitudes of the Siamese died annually from smallpox, Dr. Bradley introduced vaccination in 1840. When the American Board withdrew its missionaries, he felt that he could not leave the people to whose spiritual welfare he had consecrated his life. He transferred his connection to the American Missionary Asso- ciation, and though the Association soon gave up the field, he continued his work until his death in Bang- kok, June 23, 1893. He was remarkable alike as a physician, a scholar, and an evangelist, and his name is still venerated by the Siamese. The Baptist Mission The American Baptist Missionary Union also had a part in the early efforts to give the Gospel to the Siam- ese. The Baptist missionaries in Burma answered the appeal of Dr. Gutzlaff and Mr. Tomlin by sending the Rev. and Mrs. John T. Jones, who arrived in Bangkok March 25, 1833. The Rev. William Dean came in 1835 with Dr. Bradley, and Mr. and Mrs. Reed and Mr. and Mrs. Davenport in the following year, July 2, 1836, bringing a printing outfit with them. The Baptists, 112 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM like the Congregationalists, felt that the most inviting opportunities at that period were among the Chinese in Bangkok and the first converts were Chinese. Re- sults came slowly, but by 1848 sixty persons had been added to the little church. Reenforcements came in 1840 and 1843, but sickness and death made sad havoc among the little band of workers, and the Siamese showed no disposition to accept Christ, the majority of the converts still being Chinese. When the Anglo-Chinese treaty of 1842 opened five ports in China, the Baptist Missionary Union, like the American Board, decided that the mighty empire in the north offered more promising opportunities, and part of the Siam force was trans- ferred to China. A few recruits were added, but deaths, resignations and transfers weakened the little company, until, by 1871, Dr. Dean was the only Baptist missionary left, and on his death in 1884, the Mission was finally closed. It left many gracious influences and contributed not a little to the pioneer effort to gain a foothold for the Gospel. Some of the missionaries who afterward became prominent in China began their careers in Siam. Among these were the famous William Ashmore of Swatow, Josiah Goddard of Ningpo, and J. L. Schuck of Canton. The Presbyterian Vanguard The withdrawal of the Baptist and Congregational missions left the Presbyterian Mission the only one in the field. The Presbyterian movement for the evan- PIONEER EXPERIENCES 113 gelization of Siam had begun with the Rev. R. W. Orr, a missionary from China who made a visit of inquiry to Bangkok in November, 1838, and then strongly urged the Presbyterian Board to open a mission. The Board complied by sending the Rev. and Mrs. W. P. Buell in 1840. The failure of Mrs. Buell’s health obliged them to leave in 1844, and three years passed before a successor came. But in 1847 the Rev. Stephen Mattoon and Samuel R. House, M. D., arrived and permanent work was inaugurated. Mr. and Mrs. Mattoon did faithful work in Siam for nineteen years, and Dr. and Mrs. House for twenty-nine years. Mrs. House devoted herself to the education of the girls of Bangkok. She founded the first school for girls in Siam, which later became her memorial, the famous Harriet House School in Bangkok. In March, 1876, the ill health of Mrs. House compelled Dr. and Mrs. House to leave for America, where she died July 12, 1893. Dr. House survived her five years, passing away October 13, 1898. George Haws Feltus has recently enriched missionary literature by his fine biography of Dr. House whom he happily characterizes as “the man with the gentle heart.” That the gentleness of Dr. House was united to indomitable fortitude the following incident shows. One day, while in the country on an itinerating tour, he was attacked by a rogue elephant which threw him to the ground, and, with one of its tusks, ripped open his body so that the intestines protruded. Dr. House’s medical knowledge enabled him to see at once that 114 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM the wound would be fatal unless instantly treated. There was no one near but a few frightened natives, so the sorely wounded man bade them bring him water and then he himself washed his intestines, put them back with his own hands, and took a sufficient number of stitches to close the wound temporarily. Then he instructed the trembling natives to carry him to the mission station. He suffered long and grievously, but his first aid to himself had been so prompt that he finally recovered. The annals of war do not record greater fortitude. Reenforcements and a Church Mr. Mattoon and Dr. House labored for two years before reenforcements came. In 1849 they were joined by the Rev. and Mrs. Stephen Bush. Their stay, how- ever, was brief, Mrs. Bush dying in 1851 and Mr. Bush leaving the field with impaired health in 1853. The First Presbyterian Church in Siam was organized August 29, 1849. There were no native Christians connected with the Mission at that time, the member- ship of the church being confined to the missionary families. A Chinese teacher, Qua Kieng, had been baptized in 1844, and another Chinese, a young man from Hainan, in 1851; but no Siamese convert glad- dened the missionaries till 1859, nineteen years after the arrival of Mr. Buell. “With tears of joy,” Dr. House wrote, “the missionaries received the first fruits of labor among the Siamese.” Nai Chune was the name of the man who thus headed the roll of Siamese PIONEER EXPERIENCES 115 Christians. It required no small courage to cut loose from all the associations of his lifetime and to stand alone among his countrymen for Christ. But he proved faithful. Anxious Days Many difficulties attended this pioneer mission work. There was no experience of predecessors to guide the new arrivals in adapting themselves to the climate, in studying the language, and in getting into touch with the people. The Government of the time was un- friendly. The missionaries were not subjected to per- sonal violence, but several times the situation was most trying. The hostile attitude of the Government and the ruling classes was so well known and was exerted in such effective ways that obstacles confronted the little band of missionaries at every step. No Siamese land- lord dared to rent or sell them property, and they were often sorely beset for suitable housing. Finally, one Siamese, braver than the rest, sold a site. The money was actually paid, but before building operations could be begun, a high official declared the sale void and forced the owner to return the money, the reason given being that “the residence of foreigners there was con- trary to the custom of the country.” When Dr. Brad- ley’s medical work began to win the favor of the common people, the Buddhist priests made the odd complaint that if these foreigners were allowed to show kindness to everybody every day, their merit would soon outstrip that of the best men of the Kingdom! 116 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM When the strain was most acute, a non-missionary foreigner, Captain Wellar by name, shot a couple of pigeons in the grounds of a Buddhist temple. He deserved the beating that the infuriated priests quickly gave him. He was badly injured, and the extravagant demands and haughty threats which he and his friends made added to the popular excitement. Dr. Bradley wrote in his journal August 10, 1835: “It is rumored that there is a plot on foot to burn down the houses of our Mission. Doubtless there are men who would rejoice in such an event, but I do not fear at present that we shall fall into such hands. An exceedingly scurrilous and obscene placard was, a few mornings since, found on the gate of our homestead, and on it were displayed in bold relief pictures of crosses, one for each of the adult members of our Mission.” The houses were not burned, but the missionaries were ordered to leave their premises within five days, and they had to find shelter as best they could, one family in a houseboat and another with the Baptist mission- aries, while Dr. Bradley sought temporary refuge with a friendly English merchant, Mr. Robert Hunter. The few native converts were fiercely persecuted and the native Christian workers were imprisoned. It looked for a time as if the end of all missionary work had come. The Day Grows Brighter Suddenly, when the prospect was blackest, the hostile King died (April 3, 1851), and his half brother, Prince PIONEER EXPERIENCES 117 Chow Fah Mongkut, ascended the throne. For twenty- seven years he had lived quietly in a Buddhist monas- tery, studying and thinking and showing rare openness of mind and heart to all good influences. When the missionaries from the West arrived, this priestly prince had welcomed them and, as we have already noted, engaged Mr. Caswell to instruct him in western learn- ing. Not only this, but he gave the missionary free use of a room on the temple grounds for daily preach- ing services after the royal pupil had taken his lesson. The new King showed himself as friendly to mis- sionaries on the throne as he had been in a monastery. He invited them to his palace and showed them many kindnesses. Instantly opposition vanished. Ground was secured without further difficulty, and buildings were erected. The missionaries wrote: ‘The princes and nobles now courted our society; our teachers and servants returned to their places; throngs came to our houses to receive books and to talk with us respecting their contents; and we were permitted to go where we chose, and to speak in the name of Jesus with the con- fidence that we should not be avoided, but obtain a respectful hearing.” The King even permitted some of the missionary women to enter the royal harem and teach. The work now made steady progress. New arrivals strengthened the missionary force. The Christian Boys’ High School was opened in 1852. In 1860, Pet- chaburi, whose Governor, in 1843, had treated Dr. Buell with contemptuous indignity, gave polite atten- 118 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM tion to Dr. House, Mr. Telford, and Mr. Wilson, and in the following year a station was formally established there. It is a provincial capital, possesses a famous royal palace, and, with its neighboring city of Ratburi and numerous outlying villages, forms a missionary field of 350,000 souls. The death of King Mongkut in 1868 was deeply mourned; but his son, the late King Chulalongkorn, continued the tolerant policy of his father, and a proc- lamation of religious liberty was issued in 1870. Ayu- thia, since merged with the Bangkok field, was made a station in 1872, and 1878 saw a second church organ- ized in Bangkok. The influence of the missionaries was recognized on every hand. In 1878 the King appointed the Rev. Samuel G. McFarland, who had come to Siam in 1860, Superintendent of Public Instruction and President of the Royal College in Bangkok, the first college to be opened in Siam. Dr. and Mrs. McFarland were freely permitted to use their enlarged opportunities for Christ. _ Their son, George B. McFarland, M. D., became Super- intendent of the Government Hospital and Dean of the Royal Medical College. Most of the Siamese physicians whom he has trained are in the service of the Govern- ment either as army surgeons or as medical inspectors under civil appointment. His knowledge of the Siamese language and literature has never been surpassed by any toreigner, and he has long been a tower of strength to the cause of Christ in Siam. A STREET CORNER, BANGKOK A TYPICAL RIVER MARKET SCENE PIONEER EXPERIENCES 119 The Spread of the Work A suffering native of Nakawn Sritamarat having heard, in 1883, of the fame of an English physician in Bangkok, left Nakawn in a little sail-boat in search of healing. His wife accompanied him to nurse him by the way. Adverse winds drove their little craft into the Petchaburi River where they met a Christian who said: “Why go to Bangkok? There is a good mission- ary physician at Petchaburi who will gladly care for you.” The sick man was welcomed to the hospital, and there found recovery from his disease and Christ as his Saviour. His wife also was converted. They re- solved to return to their native province and tell the good news. They were given instruction in the Bible, and in less than a year from the time they reached the Petchaburi hospital, ignorant even of the name of Jesus, they were earnestly proclaiming Him not only in the city of Nakawn but even to the northwest border of the province. It was not long before several persons, instructed by them, journeyed to Bangkok and Petcha- buri and united with the churches in those places. Deeply moved by this incident, the Bangkok mission- aries visited the field and did what they could to inau- gurate work. They labored at great disadvantage, since Nakawn Sritamarat is about 400 miles from Bangkok, and the only means of access at that time was by water on the treacherous Gulf of Siam. Steamers ran very irregularly, and during six months of the year, when the monsoon threw the waves boisterously against the shore, it was impossible to land. The work, however, 120 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM developed so promisingly that a church of thirty-one members was organized in 1895, and in 1900 two mis- sionary families were in residence. The good-will of the people made it easy to secure land, a house was soon erected, and later a hospital, the King making a liberal contribution. The town is the natural center for all that part of the peninsula and the seat of a Royal High Commissioner. Pitsanuloke, although a town of moderate size, is a strategic point for the mission station which was opened in 1899. It was formerly the capital of Siam and now, as the residence of one of the two Royal High Commissioners, it is the seat of government for central Siam. Its field for missionary itineration extends northward to Utradit, six days distant by boat, and along the intervening river bank are nearly 200 villages. Southward no less than 150 villages line the banks to Paknampo, an eight days’ journey, where it meets the northern end of the Bangkok Station field. All these 350 villages are accessible by a houseboat in which the missionary can live for weeks at a time. Westward, Pitsanuloke missionaries can find other villages during a six days’ overland trip to Raheng on the Meping River, while eastward for an indefinite distance there are hundreds of villages which have never seen a missionary. A native evangelist, who made an exploring tour some years ago, reported that for six days he passed villages of from ten to two hundred houses every few hours, and that the people surprised him by their interest and attention. The first PIONEER EXPERIENCES 121 missionaries at Pitsanuloke had a hard time. Suitable property could not be secured, and the missionaries and their families lived for several years in houseboats on the river. Now they have schools, a hospital, a church and residences. The buildings are of modest size and limited equipment, but faithful work is being done. Trang, where a mission station was opened in 1910, is on the western side of the peninsula and is the lead- ing place in a region where the late Rev. Dr. Eugene P. Dunlap made annual tours, distributing medicines, tracts and Scripture portions, preaching the Gospel and baptizing converts. The field comprises nine Siamese provinces and five Malay State dependencies of Siam. The mines in this region yield more than half the tin of the world, the Ranong Province alone having 268 tin mines. The people are friendly and eagerly welcome the missionaries. All the provinces are on the sea and thus are easily reached by boat. A couple of English missionaries worked exclusively among the Chinese, but the Siamese population was wholly untouched until Dr. Dunlap began his tours. The Mission Pushes North Down to 1863, the labors of the missionaries were concentrated upon the Siamese and Chinese in lower Siam, chiefly in and near Bangkok. In that year, how- ever, a notable tour was made to the distant north. The Rey. Daniel McGilvary, then stationed at Petchaburi, had become interested in a neighboring village whose 122 THE EXPECTATION OF SIAM people spoke a different language and appeared to be distinct from the Siamese about them. Through these villagers he learned of a vast hill country to the north from which their ancestors had come. He became eager to know more of these people and to carry the Gospel to them. Therefore in 1863, he and a colleague, the Rev. Jonathan Wilson, made a long tour of explo- ration to the Lao country. It was an adventurous journey into an absolutely unknown land. For months the devoted missionaries made their way up the Menam River, their half-naked boatmen wading, pulling, and pushing by turns in order to get the boat over sand bars and through rapids, until they finally arrived at Chiengmai, 600 miles from Bangkok. Their report on their return was so enthusiastic that, in 1867, Mr. McGilvary returned to Chiengmai with his wife and founded the mission which became known as the Lao Mission.