SIAM, a state of 'Further India, extending from the Gulf of Siam to lat. 23° N. It is bourkied on the IV. by Burma and the Bay of Bengal, A\the E. by the Lai mountains. Siam proper is in the valley of the Menam. The boundaries on th't Bay of Bengal reach from British Burma in a southerly line to the boundary between Perak and Kedah in the Malay Peninsula, in the latitude of 5° N. Junk-Salung Island contains tin ; it belongs to Siam. The boundary line runs nearly e st from Perak across the Peninsula, between Trt ganu and Pahang to the China Searthence no h to the head of the Gulf of Siam. The kingdom al o :c comprises the greater part of the ancient domain of Lao, and, since 1862, Battambang, which it conquered.
The Siamese mountains run north to south along the Tenasserim Provinces, and attain eleva tions from 3000 to 5000 feet. The triet,ains in. Ye province run in three parallel ric1.6 , fromt 3000 to 4500 feet high, gradually dimn4hing • towards the coast to about 500 feet. The BMalo \ mountains, alout 700 miles from Moulmein, 15, ''' feet The dominions of Siam touch the frontier line of the Tenasserim Provinces. As the crow flies, the British boundary of Tenasserim and the Siamese capital are not more than 100 miles apart.
Borgman estimates the whole area of Siam and its dependencies at 290,000 square miles, Craw furd at 190,000 square miles. Siam itself pays tribute to China ; the king of Siam seeks from the emperor at Pekin a special recognition of his right to reign. Siam proper may be deemed a vast plain, from which the mountains rise higher and higher as we reach the Laos depend encies.
The kingdom of Siam is composed of 41 pro vinces, each governed by a phaja or functionary of the highest rank, and a considerable number of their districts are under officials of lower ranks.
Pallegoix estimated the population of Siam at 6,000,000— Siamese Proper Malays, . . . 1,000,000 (the T'hai), . 1,900,000 Cambodians, . . 500,000 Chinese, . . 1,500,000 Peguans, . . . 50,000 Laos, . . . . 1,000,000 Karen, Hong, etc., 50,000
Siam, with its dependencies, is thus occupied by the dominant T'hai, a vast Chinese population, the Laos people, the Cambodians in such parts of Cambodia as recognise the Siamese authority, the Peguans in a part of the Mon or Pegu territory, numerous Malayan tribes, with a variety of moun tain races subject to the government of Bankok. The Siamese are located principally on the two banks of the Menam, and on those of the tribu tary streams which flow into that great river from the latitude of 13° to about 20° N. They also occupy the gulf from the head of the peninsula down to lat. 7° N., where the Malayan races are settled. To the east of the British possession on the Tenasserim coast, in lat. 11° up to 16° 30' N., about two-thirds of the peninsula is peopled by Siamese races. Indeed, the valley of the Menam, throughout its whole course, is exclusively T'hai, and the T'hai attain their highest civilisation on the alluvial delta of their river. The Siamese proper, the Khamti, the Laos, and the Shan, form the T'hai or Siamese ethnic group. The bulk of the Laos people who are subjects of Siatn are sprea,d over the great valley through which the Mei - kong or principal river of Cambodia. flows, between lat. 13° and 21° N. Laos is said to contain more square miles than Siam itself ; all its princes are tributary to Siam. The Shan states of Zimmay, Rahaing, and Labong are feudatories , of the present sovereign of Siam. On the demise of any of the chiefs of these states, the king of Siam appoints the successor, but it is customary to allow the eldest son of the former chief to succeed. Karen inhabit the mountain ranges on the Burmese frontier up to lat. 21° ; - the Lawa, a more numerous people, the same regions farther south ; the Ka, the mountainous district between the Menam and the 3Iei-kong. The Hong dwell on the hilly region in the N.E. angle of the Gulf of Siam, from the latitude of about 11° 30' to 13° N.