[Illustration: SIAM AND LAOS] [Illustration: HIS SUPREME MAJESTY, CHULALANGKORN I., KING OF SIAM. _Frontispiece._] SIAM AND LAOS, AS SEEN BY OUR AMERICAN MISSIONARIES. “Siam has not been disciplined by English and French guns, like China, but the country has been opened by missionaries.”――_Remark of His Grace the late Ex-Regent of Siam._ FULLY ILLUSTRATED. PHILADELPHIA: PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, No. 1334 CHESTNUT STREET. COPYRIGHT, 1884, BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. _ALL RIGHTS RESERVED._ WESTCOTT & THOMSON, _Stereotypers and Electrotypers, Philada._ PREFACE. This volume is a response to calls for information on Siam and Laos. A score of missionaries have contributed chapters. Some have written amidst conflicting claims of the crowded field-life; others, during brief visits to the home-land; several are children of missionaries and were born in Indo-China; others are noble pioneer workers, whose long years of service abroad are now ended. A few of the chapters originally appeared in a missionary periodical. Two of the writers have “entered into rest.” The editor is much indebted also to the standard works of Pallegoix, Bowring, Crawford, Mouhot and several more recent travelers, to geographical papers and official reports, and to valuable original data furnished by Dr. House, Dr. Cheek and others. Adaptation and necessary condensation of the information thus gathered make special credit often impossible, but doubtful points have been verified by reference to competent authority, so far as practicable. The contributions of our missionaries have special value. For years they have been brought into close contact with the people in their homes, schools, wats and markets, mingling as honored guests in social gatherings and at official ceremonials, enjoying full opportunity of studying the natives at work, at play and at worship. As teachers, physicians, translators and trusted counselors they are recognized as public benefactors by the king and many high officials. Siam owes the introduction of printing, European literature, vaccination, modern medical practice, surgery and many useful mechanical appliances to our American missionaries. They have stimulated philosophical inquiry, paved the way for foreign intercourse with civilized nations, given a great shock to the grosser forms of idolatry among the more enlightened, leavened the social and intellectual ideas of the “Young Siam” party, and, almost imperceptibly, but steadily, undermined the old hopeless Buddhist theories with the regenerating force of gospel truth. The young king publicly testified on a late occasion: “The American missionaries have lived in Siam a long time; they have been noble men and women, and have put their hearts into teaching the people, old and young, that which is good, and also various arts beneficial to my kingdom and people. Long may they live, and never may they leave us!”