MfcY \ 7 1993
BY
3315"
Historical
Sketch li!^
IT)i$$ion$ in
Siam
Seventh Edition
RCVISCD BY
The Rev. A. M/iLLARo Coopci
UNOCM THE CARC
OF THE
Board of
Foreign n)j$$ion$
of the
^Prcsbvtcrian
Church
in rhc
U. $. /I.
The Uloman'i foreign
misiioitdry Society of
the Presbyteridn Church.
lUitheripoon Buildiny,
Philadelphia : : 1915
;aB:^r:r;--.
MAR 19 ]9.|3
Historical Sketch of the Missions in Siam.
Note.— The materials for this Historical Sketch have been compiled
trom so many sources that in many cases it has not seemed necessary
or teasible to use quotation marks, or name the source. Special elTort
has been made, however, in this revised edition, to verify each statement
and ehmniate anythmg maccurate, doubtful or out of date.
THE LAND.
The territory of Siam is shaped something Hke
GEOGRAPHY, a hatchet, with the long, narrow Malay penin-
sula for a handle. It is situated in the heart
of the Indo-Chinese peninsula, which forms the extreme
southeastern corner of Asia. British and French possessions
have now been extended till they meet on the north, thus
separating Siam from its old neighbor, China. On the west,
Siam is bounded by British Burma and the Indian Ocean;
on the south by the Federated Malay States (British), the
Gulf of Siam, and French Cambodia; and on the east by the
great Me Kong River, which forms the boundary between
French Indo-China (formerly the Kingdom of Annam) and
the still independent Kingdom of Siam.
A long, high mountain range extends all along the western
frontier, from the far north down through the Malay penin-
sula. The extreme northern province, Monton Payap, is
hilly throughout, but especially in the Chieng Mai region,
where some peaks are over six thousand feet high.
Eastern Siam is mostly a plateau, with an elevation of a few
hundred feet; and central Siam a low-lying plain, which slopes
very gently south-southeast to the Gulf of Siam.
In the basin of each of the four great rivers which rise in
the north — the Me Ping, Me Wang, Me Yome and Nan —
is. a wide, level, fertile plain, encircled by hills. At Pak-
nampo, in the heart of Siam, these four streams unite to
form Siam's chief river, the Chow Phya, commonly known
o Europeans as the Menam, "Mother of Waters," though
34-^^
4 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
mc nam in Siamese means simply river, and is not a proper
name at all.
Thirty miles south of Paknampo, this stream divides again,
its overflow forming the headwaters of the Tacheen River,
and through these two roughly parallel channels, with mouths
twenty miles apart, flows through a rich alluvial plain, one
hundred and twenty miles farther to the sea. Farther west
are the next greatest river, the Me Klong, on the banks of
which are Ratburee and several other large towns, and the
smaller Petchaburee River, which bears the name of the
chief town on its banks.
All these rivers deposit large quantities of silt, and have
formed banks so much above the general level that during
Hood season the country farther back is inundated, in some
places to a depth of six feet. This silt is rapidly extending
the coast line into the shallow Gulf of Siam, and obstructs
the mouth of each river with great sand bars. Even at high-
est tide, no ship drawing fifteen feet of water can cross the
Chow Phya bar, so that part of the heavy cargoes to or from
Bangkok must be transferred to lighters. Were this bar
dredged out, Bangkok would rank as one of the finest harbors
in the world.
The Siamese are an amphibious race, children often learn-
ing to swim almost as soon as to walk. They are the finest
watermen in the world, and proficient boat-builders, though
much of this building is now done by the ubiquitous Chinese.
The chief routes of trade and travel are the rivers and
intersecting canals, which form a network all over' lower
Siam, and the villages cluster along the banks. Overland
roads better than rough cart tracks are very few.
The eastern (Nan) branch of the Chow Phya is navigable
for steam launches all the way to the Lao border at Uteradit ;
but the western (Raheng) branch is too shallow, and ob-
structed by numerous sandbars.
As the traveler nears the Lao border, steep hills close in
upon the river banks, affording picturesque scenery, but
obstructing travel by swift and sometimes dangerous rapids.
The most difficult rapids of all are in the course of the Me
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM. r
Ping, below Chieng Mai. where there are more than thirty
to be passed. This isolation of the Lao territory, however
will soon be ended by the completion of the rai way from'
Bangkok through Pitsanuloke, which is expected by L7 to
reach its terminus at Chieng Mai. ^ J / ^^
CLIMATF n 'f T''"^ T'""'' ""^ ^^'^^>' '^^"^ ^^ f'-o"^ May to
CLIMATE. October inclusive. The average annual rainfall is
abundant, varying in different parts of the coun-
try trom four feet to eight feet.
Lying wholly m the tropics, 'between 5° and 21° of north
latitude, with large bodies of water on three sides, Siam en-
joys a very equable climate-seldom colder than so° F or
hotter than 100° in the shade.
Many newcomers from Europe or America find the climate
very trying, some of the most prevalent diseases being
cholera, dysentery, malarial and typhoid fevers, liver trou-
bles, small-pox and tuberculosis. Yet such as acclimate
favorably during the first two or three years, and are tem-
perate and prudent in their habits, may reasonably hope to
enjoy health and vigor for a long term of service The
records show that thirty-three of our Presbyterian mission-
aries and SIX missionaries of other societies have already
rounded out a quarter-century in Siam; and eight of these—
Dr. and Mrs. Dean, Mrs. Bradley, Dr. and Mrs. E P Dun-
lap, Dr. Wilson, and Dr. and Mrs. McGilvary-have been
able to live in Siam for periods ranging from forty up to
fifty-five years. Of the thirty-three Presbyterians, four have
entered mto rest, but the other twenty-nine are all looking
forward to a still longer term of service in Siam.
AiMTn/TAT ^^^^^ "'°^^ important domestic animals of Siam
AKIMALS. are elephants (employed chiefiy in the teak indus-
try of the north), water buffaloes and bullocks
(used in farm work or for food, but the cows not milked)
ponies (never used in farm work, but chiefly for riding) dogs'
swine, ducks, and fowls.
The chief wild animals include the tiger, leopard, bear,
rhinoceros, monkey, gibbon and deer.
Pythons grow to thirty feet long. There are forty-four
^^
D HISTOKICAL SKETCH OF
•non-poisonous species of snakes, and twelve poisonous
species the hooded cobra being the most common. ReptiHan
Me includes the crocodile, the chameleon, gecko and other
lizards, and turtles, large and small. The country swarms
with insects. Fish are abundant, and there are many kinds
of birds.
The famous ''white elephant," so-called, which is really a
pinkish brown albino, though not actually worshipped, is
held in high esteem, and appears on the Siamese flag as the
national emblem, just as we use the eagle, or Britons the lion.
ppnn.TPTc ^^^ tropical sun, copious rains, and rich allu-
FKODUCTS. vial soil, Combine to make Siam a garden spot
of foliage, flowers and fruit. Rice is the staple
food and chief export, the value exported being fourfold
greater than all other exports combined. The first mill for
hulling this nee was built in 1858. Bangkok has now twenty-
six large rice mills, all but four of then owned and worked
by Chinese.
Next in value to rice as an export comes teak lumber
Siam yields also many other valuable kinds of wood, such as
rosewood, ebony, oak and pine.
Other leading exports are tin, dried fish, bullocks, hides
and horns, white pepper, silks, cotton, stick lac, and edible
birds' nests.
The chief products, not exported but all used at home,
are bamboo, tropical fruits, maize, palm or cane sugar, betel
(areca) nut, and tobacco.
The chief imports include cotton and silk goods, opium
and h.iuors, sugar, kerosene oil, tinned provisions, machinery,
hardware, and gunny-bags.
Siam has much undeveloped mineral wealth;
INDUSTRIES, but mining industry has thus far been seri-
ously hampered by scarcity of laborers that
could be depended on for hard and steady work, and by lack
of facilities for transport. There are no coal mines and no
extensive manufactures. Siam is a country that raises hogs
in abundance, yet imports all its cured hams and bacon ; that
exports live bullocks, yet imports its tinned beef from
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM. n
Chicago; that exports raw cotton, yet miports cotton goods
back from Europe; a country where the best brands of coffee,
though grown in nearby Java, can be obtained only by way
of distant London. Such typical facts illustrate both the
necessity and future promise of industrial development.
Tin mining is the chief industry of the extreme south- and
lumbering, mostly carried on by British capital and Burmese
labor, of the extreme north. Siam produces and exports more
teak than any other country in the world, Burma ranking
second. Central Siam is a land of small farmers and gar-
deners, with few cities or large towns. The average farm
is only about seventeen acres. Present methods of cultiva-
tion are primitive and crude; but the efforts of the govern-
ment to extend the irrigation system and introduce improved
methods of farming, will doubtless make it possible for Siam
to support many times the present population.
THE PEOPLE.
According to the conclusions of such
RACES AND TONGUES, specialists in archaeology as Dr.
Frankfurter and the late Col. Gerini,
the whole Indo-Chinese peninsula was peopled in prehistoric
times by successive waves of overland migration from the
highlands of Tibet and Southwestern China, southward to
the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Siam.
The earliest wave was probably a Negritic race, the frag-
ments of which now appear in various rude hill tribes.
Next came the "Proto-Malays," a Mongolian race, who
were driven on by later invaders to the islands of the Indian
and Pacific Oceans, where, mingling with the aborigines, they
gave rise to the various Malay groups. In the twelfth cen-
tury A. D., they recrossed to the Malay Peninsula, and are
still numerous in Southern Siam.
Then followed a double wave of Mons or Peguans in the
west, and Cambodians in the east. A highly civilized Cau-
casian race, immigrants by sea from India, mingling with this
Cambodian stock, founded a great kingdom, which flourished
•• ^.
8 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
, from the seventh century, and in the famous ruins of Angkor
has left evidences of marvelous architectural and artistic skill.
Later came two successive waves of the great "Tai" race-
first the Siamese and then the kindred Lao, often incorrectly
spelled Laos. Modern scholars have traced back the name
"Siam" for one thousand years, and identify it with the oiher
form, "Shan."
TENTATIVE DIAGRAM OF THE TAI OR SHAN RACE.
i (Prepared by Rev. John H. Freeman, in consultation with
i Dr. W. C. Dodd.)
: . • Eastern Tai.
I. Illiterate or Non-Buddhist Tai.
c ^fi^^^^u- ^'Ooo-ooa Found mainly in the ancestral home of the race '
, bouth Chma and Tonkin.)
ill White and Black Tai— Tonkin and S. E. Yunnan.
(b) Tai llio — Tonkin and Kwangsi.
(c) Tai Chawng— Kwangsi, Kwangtung, Kweichau.
(d) Tai Loong— Eastern Yunnan.
(e) Tai Yai— E. Yunnan, W. Kwangsi, S. W. Kweichau.
■ 2. Literate or Buddhist Tai.
(6,000,000. Found along both banks of the MeKong or Cambodia
I D y^"*; ^^^"^ T'dhiu m Western Yunnan, south and eastward through
{ ^."tish and l^rench territory, and throughout northern and eastern
j Siam.)
I (a) Tai Niia and Lem— S. W. Yunnan.
} (b) Tai Kun— Keng Tung State and Northern Siam.
' r,< X^'. Lu— Sipsong Punna, Keng Tung, and North Siam.
(d) Tai Yuen— North Siam.
(e) Tai Lao— Eastern Siam and French Laos.
3. Siamese Pro pet.
(4,000,000. Special field of South Siam Mission.)
Western Tai, or Western Shan.
The special field of the American Baptist Shan Mission. Mainly
west of the Salween River. Data at hand insufficient to estimate their
number. Great traders, and so found at trading centres east of the
Salween and down into Siam, but nowhere forming a large percentage
of the population in these districts.
"Although the exploring work of the (North Siam) Mission
has brought our missionaries into intimate touch with almost
all the sections of the Tai race, our organized work thus far
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM.
has been directed mainly to the Yuen, Lii and Kun, who form
together scarcely one-fourth of the 12,000,000 Tai for whom
we plead."
"Both in China and Indo-China, the Tai people have an
honorable history, that far antedates that of the Anglo-Saxon.
Inscriptions discovered in Lampoon Province show that in
the days of Wycliffe and Chaucer, a civilization little inferior
to that of to-day existed in Siam." (Freeman.)
"The Siamese and the Lao tongues," says Dr. McGilvary,
"are two closely related branches of the same linguistic stock!
The idiom and the great body of common words are nearly
the same, differing chiefly in accent and intonation. Siamese
IS the speech of the ruling race throughout the kingdom; and
It was easy to foresee that the local dialect of the northern
provinces must eventually give way before it, especially for
all official and literary purposes. The chief obstacle has been
the wholly different character. Were the two alike in this
respect, there is no doubt that the standard form of speech
would take the place of the dialectical almost without notice."
The Laocien dialect of Eastern Siam, both spoken and
written, is intermediate between the other two. All three
dialects as spoken are mutually intelligible in the main,
though each has borrowed from India a peculiar alphabet of
Its own. They are all tonal like the Chinese, but show no
affinity to the Mon-Annam or Malayan lingaiistic groups.
Those whom we call Siamese always call themselves "Tai,'
meaning Franks or free people.
The oldest inscription using the Siamese language was
found at Sukotai, where King Phra Ruang in 1250 A. D.
established the capital of the first independent Siamese State.
Just a century later, King Utong moved his capital far down
the Chow Phya River to Ayuthia, within sixty miles in an
airline from the Gulf. That date, 1350 A. D., marks both
the beginning of authentic Siamese history, and the end of
Cambodian supremacy in the Chow Phya region. The long
rivalry between the waning power of Cambodia and the
growing power of Siam ended with the passing of the rem-
nant of Cambodia under French control in 1863; but many
f''^,.
^O HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
traces of Cambodian influence still appear in Siamese customs
and religious rites.
The Yuen Tai,. or Lao, are a less cultured branch of the
same race, physcally taller and stronger and more vigorous
in character.
^ Still more recent immigrants from, China, with their Simo-
Chinese offspring, though reported in the census as Siamese,
and no longer enumerated separately, are very numerous and
influential. To quote again from Dr. Brown: "The Chinese
are adding a more virile strain. The king himself is said to
be part Chinese. As in the Philippine Islands, the Chinese
almost absolutely control the trade of the kingdom, and
establish themselves more permanently than in America.
They are to be found in all our schools, hospitals and
churches. The blending of the two races is such — practi-
cally every Chinese having a Siamese wife and half-caste
children— that it would be quite impracticable to separate
them in mission work."
Such infusion of fresh northern blood is a very important
providential agency for counteracting the natural tendency
of the human race gradually to deteriorate in any tropical
climate.
The best national types are evolved by the blending of
diverse though not incompatible races. The American Indian
is not the ideal American; nor was there ever, perhaps, a
more truly representative Siamese than the honored and
lamented Rev. Boon Boon-Itt, whose ancestors were all
originally either Cambodian or Chinese.
The modern Siamese, like modern Americans, are among
the most composite peoples on earth. To the chief racial
elements — Chinese, Cambodian and Tai — there is added a
strain from every other Indo-Chinese stock — Annamese, Bur-
mese, Karen, Peguan and Malay. There are also Moham-
medans from India and Ceylon, Japanese, and at least two
thousand representatives of the white races of Europe and
America. In ability to assimilate and unify such a medley
of races and tongues, Siam compares not unfavorably with
the United States. The recent census shows a population
of 8,150,000.
THE MISSIONS IN CIAM. II
The Siamese people generally are less bound
CHARACTER, by prejudice and ancient custom than the pure-
blooded Chinese, more courteous and agree-
able in manners, more docile and readily influenced, whether
to good or evil. They are submissive to authority, respect-
ful to parents, extremely fond of children, given to hospi-
tality, and very generous in helping those in need. Grada-
tions of rank and social position are sharply defined, but the
caste system is unknown. Women, though regarded as
lacking in merit and inferior to men, enjoy equal property
rights, and in general far better treatment and more freedom
and inHuence than in most heathen lands.
Mentally, the Siamese excel in memory but not in close
reasoning. They are bright, but rather superficial. They
are excessively fond of amusement, and seem never to "put
away childish things," but waste much time in holidays and
sports. Though lacking in endurance for severe and long-
sustained effort, physical or mental, they apply themselves
at times with great energy and enthusiasm. And much of
the indolence with which they are often reproached is merely
a natural consequence of unsanitary conditions, which breed
hookworm and other enervating diseases, of present indus-
trial conditions, or of Buddhist teaching and ideals.
"There is no occasion to struggle for existence in Siam,"
says Dr. Brown; "and it is therefore not surprising that peo-
ple take life easily I marvel not that the people are
so backward, but that they are so forward, and that I find
them making modern improvements which cannot be paral-
leled in any Asiatic country I have visited, except Japan."
Morally, the Siamese, like other heathen people in every
land, are commonly untruthful and unchaste. IDivorce and
remarriage of both parties are of frequent occurrence. Poly-
gamy is sanctioned both by law and usage, though common
only among the higher classes.
The habits of chewing the betel or areca palm nut, prac-
ticed by both sexes, and of cigarette smoking by men and
boys down to a very tender age, are well-nigh universal. In-
temperance is prevalent, and opium smoking still more so.
J2 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
But the characteristic national vice is gambling. In recent
years the government has closed all the large gambling halls
except some in Bangkok, but many other forms of betting
and gambling, such as games of cards or dice, fish-fights and
cock-fights, are still licensed, and yield a large revenue to the
public treasury.
The government of Siam is a hereditary
GOVERNMENT, monarchy, the succession being determined
either by the king during his lifetime, or at
his death by the "Senabodi" (Council of Princes), but usually
passing to the eldest son that can claim full royal blood on
both sides.
Though in theory an absolute monarch, the king, since
1895, has voluntarily shared executive powers with the
"Senabodi," a Cabinet or Privy Council, mostly chosen from
princes of the blood royal, and shared legislative powers
with a larger Council of State (which includes the members
of the smaller Council), to whose judgment His Majesty
commonly defers. He has also committed supreme judicial
powers to a "Dika Court," which acts in the king's name,
but with whose decisions he does not interfere.
Outside the royal family are several lower grades of
nobility, but not hereditary. The kingdom comprises
eighteen "Montons" (Provinces), each governed by a Royal
High Commissioner. All high officials are appointed by the
King, Minister or High Commissioner on their merits, so
that, with education and ability, young men of very humble
birth often rise to high position. Local officials of the two
lowest grades, "Kanman" and "Village Headman," are
chosen or changed at the will of their neighbors. Such a
blending of monarchic, aristocratic and democratic features
of government seems admirably suited to the present needs
of Siam.
Wiiiliwkat««a»ii|lM
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM. 13
POLITICAL HISTORY.
During the period from A. D. 1350 to 1767, thirtv-six
^5iamese kings in succession reigned in Ayuthia. This period
was one of frequent warfare among the rival kingdoms of
Indo-China, with varying fortunes, though in the main Siam
fully held her own, During the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, Siam opened the door for conmiercial relations
with the Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch and French in turn.
The most noted man of this period was Constance Phaul-
con, an adventurer from the Greek Island of Cephalonia,
who by his ability and address repaired his ruined fortunes.'
and finally rose to be the favorite and Prime Minister of
the King of Siam. But his intrigues in the interest of France
and the jealousy of the Siamese nobles, led to his violent
death in 1688, when the leader of the anti-foreign party, Opra
Pit Rachard, seized the throne, founding a new dynasty. Tlie
foreigners themselves were chiefly responsible for this anti-
foreign reaction, which was provoked by their abuse of
Siamese confidence and hospitality, and their mutual rivalries
and intrigues against each other and against the Siamese
government.
In 1767, Burmese invaders, after two years' siege, took
Ayuthia. pursued, discovered and put to death the fugitive
king, thus ending his dynasty. But after a few years of dis-
order, General Tak Sin, an able young Simo-Chinese, rallied
and united the Siamese forces, drove out the Burmese in-
vaders, and took the throne.
Ilie Siamese Civil Era dates from April ist, 1782, when
the Prime Minister, General Chakkri, a full-blooded Siamese,
put to death Tak Sin, who is said to have become mentally
unbalanced, ruling oppressively, and fancying himself a god.
Chakkri seized the throne for himself as King Yaut Fa,
founder of the present (Mahachakkri) dynasty, and moved
the seat of government down to Bangkok. This new city,
only twelve miles in an airline, or thirty by the winding river,
from the sea, thus grew to be the metropolis and great sea-
port of Siam, with a population of 630,000, though Ayuthia,
with 200,000, still ranks next.
i
' 14 JIISTCiRICAL SKETCH OF
At the death of King Phra Qiom Klao, son of King Yaut
Fa, Prince Mongkut, son of the First Queen, was by Siamese
custom his rightful successor; but an elder half-brother by
a queen of lower rank, intrigued successfully to secure his
own election by the Senabodi. Prince Mongkut prudently
eliminated himself from the sphere of political rivalry by
taking orders in a monastery, where he was granted the dig-
nity of High Priest of Siam. It was during the long reign
ot this King Prawat Tong, 1824-51, that Protestant mission-
aries first arrived in Siam. This forceful ruler in 1828 com-
pleted the subjugation of all the Lao chiefs by establishing
Siamese supremacy over Luang Prabang and' Wieng Chan.
But his violent anti-foreign policy had brought Siam to the
verge of war with England, when the crisis was averted only
by his mortal illness. The Senabodi, no longer subservient
t© a dying king, refused to confirm the succession to his son.
He died cursing them in helpless rage, and they at once
offered his brother, Mongkut. the throne, April, 185 1.
This new King, Maha Mongkut, was a raan of^tudious
tastes and habits, a patron of science and education. He
promptly reversed the policy of his immediate predecessors,
by ratifying treaties of amity and commerce with the leading
Western nations.
His son, King Chulalongkorn, whose early education had
for some years been entrusted to an English governess,
showed himself still more enlightened and progressive. His
long reign, from 1S68 to 1910, was an age of notable im-
provements and reforms. PTe visited all the leading capitals
of Europe, being the first Siamese King to travel abroad.
He abolished debt-slavery, gradually but completely, and
greatly mitigated the burdensome corvee system of forced
labor for the government. He celebrated each royal birth-
day by opening a fine new bridge somewhere in the capital.
During this reign, Bangkok quite outgrew the old title,
"Venice of the East," for besides the numerous canals and
floating houses, a much greater city has been built on solid
ground, with three hundred miles of good macadamized
streets, fine public buildings, several electric tramway lines,
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM. 15
and electric lights. Bangkok boasts six hundred and fifty
registered automobiles, and is buying more annually than any
other city of the Far East. Cable communication was estab-
lished in 1883, and in 1885 Siam joined the Postal Union.
The first short railway line was opened in 1893; but seven
hundred miles had been completed by 1912, of which all but
sixty-five miles was owned and operated by the government
The last annual report of the Railway Department showed
that not one passenger had been seriously injured throughout
the year, and the trafiic was yielding a fair profit on the
money invested in construction. The small national debt,
which does not exceed one year's revenue, was contracted
only to hasten further railway construction. Government
paper money, redeemable at any provincial treasury, was first
issued in 1901. The circulation has steadily increased to over
30,000,000 ticals (the tical is worth about thirty-eight cents).
The metric system has been introduced, and a new decimal
coinage. Every department of public service has been re-
organized and greatly improved. A new penal code was
promulgated in 1908.
In 1912 there were in Bangkok eight thousand telephone
wires, and in the whole kingdom one hundred and forty tele-
graph stations, six thousand miles of telegraph wires, and
two hundred and twenty post ofiices. Public works for sup
plying Bangkok with pure filtered drinking water were com-
pleted in 1914.
The total imports in 1900 were valued at $12,000,000, and
exports at $15,000,000. The average for four recent years—
1909-1913— had increased to $27,000,000 for imports, and
$35,000,000 for exports. The public revenue, meanwhile,
increased from $11,000,000 (in 1902-1903) to $25,000,000.
Thus within a single decade, revenues, imports and exports,
have all doubled, with the balance of trade steadily in favor
of Siam.
So many Europeans are employed in public service that
motives of convenience have led even this Buddhist govern-
ment to make Sunday, instead of their own sacred day, the
legal holiday, when most public ofiices are closed.
i6
HISTOKICAL SKETCH OF
At the accession of King Chulalongkorn, feudal conditions
still prevailed in Siam. Each peasant sought the protection
of some influential patron in exchange for personal service,
not daring to trust the law and the courts for impartial jus-
tice. The Malay Chief of the far South, or the Lao "Chow"
of the far North, was a local despot, yielding scarcely more
than nominal allegiance to the absent King of Siam. But
the railway, steam launch, telegraph and postal service, liave
now made an effective central government possible, and a
wise policy has gradually, but surely and effectively, estab-
lished its supremacy throughout the kingdom. The govern-
ment is now consununating this tendency toward national
unity by requiring the Siamese dialect to be taught exclu-
sively in the public schools throughout the kingdom.
During the latter part of his otherwise prosperous reign.
King Chulalongkorn was forced to yield various large slices
of territory to both his powerful neighbors, France and
England. However, Siam retains full independence, which
in 1896 France and England pledged each other to respect,
with about two hundred thousand square miles of territory
still left to her, which is larger than either Japan or the
British Isles, and equal m area to the whole of France.
Under the old treaties with Siam, as formerly in japan,
each Western nation claimed extra-territorial jurisdiction
over its own subjects. But by recent treaties, France has
agreed to waive such authority over her Asiatic proteges in
Siam, and England and Denmark over all their citizens, even
white men, though with some reservations, notably the pro-
vision that European defendants are entitled to trial in a
special court where European judges in Siamese employ will
have the decisive voice.
The young King Maha Vajiravudh (pronounced Wajira-
woot), who studied in England 1893- 1902, and succeeded to
the throne at the death of his royal father in 1910, continues
a similar liberal and progressive policy.
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM.
RELIGIONS OF SIAM.
17
The religions now dominant are Demon Worship
DEMON in the most northern province, Monton Payap,
WORSHIP, the home of the Lao race; and Buddhism in the
other seventeen provinces. The following para-
graph is condensed from Freeman's "Oriental Land of the
Free:"
"Buddhism, the nominal religion of the Lao, absolutely
forbids any worship of the evil spirits. 'He who makes the
spirits great, that man is outside the religion of Gautama.'
These are quoted as the words of the Buddha himself. Yet
all the Lao people worship the spirits, and the Buddhist monks
themselves are very often the leaders in this worship. Why
has Buddhism failed to drive out the demon worship that
here, as all over Asia, preceded it? First, because spirit
worship has always entered more deeply into the life and
soul of the Lao people than Buddhism. Their sense of the
presence and influence of the unseen has only been dulled,
never removed, by Buddhist teachings. Second, because the
Buddha gave to his followers no refuge or strength that could
deliver them from the fear of the unseen.
"Yet even demon worship may be a school-master to lead
to Christ, for it has served to keep alive a realization that
man is dependent. There is everywhere prevalent a sense of
dependence on unseen spiritual powers, wholly foreign to
the self-dependence, the atheism, of Buddhism. A God who
created all and has power to deliver from evil spirits, meets
the need and longing of their hearts. Marfy of our Christian
people have thus been first drawn to Christ."
The people of Siam were converted to Buddhism
BUDDHISM, by foreign missionaries from India in prehistoric
times, but probably during the seventh century
of our Christian era. By this time Christian missionaries
had carried the Gospel to the far north and west of Europe;
but they missed a great opportunity in allowing Buddhism
to forestall them in the Far East. Knowing nothing of
Christ, and finding the teachings of Buddha truer and better
i8
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
than their primitive faith, the people of Siam accepted the
best rehgion they knew, and have since adhered to it tena-
ciously through more than a thousand years. This history
proves that religiously the Siamese are no fickle race; yet
neither are they hopelessly conservative. Where Buddhist
missionaries succeeded by peaceful influences, without force
or compulsion, in thus converting a whole nation, Qiristian
missionaries need not fail.
Though Buddhists, so-called, are numerous in many other
lands, only the people of Siam, Burma and Ceylon still adhere
to "orthodox Buddhism," and since the passing of Ceylon
and Burma under a Christian government, the King of Siam
is the only independent Buddhist sovereign on earth, the
official Head of Buddhism, and sworn Defender of the Faith.
He appoints all the chief ecclesiastical dignitaries, and all
monks throughout the kingdom are under control of the
State through its xMinistry of Public Worship. Though all
religions are tolerated. Buddhism has the advantage of special
favor and patronage as the established religion of the State.
As Dr. Brown reports: "Siam is the centre and stronghold
of orthodox Buddhism. The shaven-headed monks are in
evidence everywhere. The temples are more numerous and
expensive than those of any other land I have visited. Many
of them literally blaze with overlaid gold and imbedded
precious stones. Statues of Buddha are simply innumerable."
Buddhism seems to have originated about the fifth century
B. C, in an age which also witnessed the teaching of Con-
fucius among the Chinese, and of Pythagoras among the
Greeks — a time of mental quickening and enlargement of
thought all over the earth. Its founder is commonly known
by the title "Buddha," that is, "The Enlightened One;" and
by his family name, Gotama. He has left an impression by
his character and teachings rarely equalled among men.
Nothing, however, was committed to writing by Gotama
or his early disciples. Christians revere as their sacred book
the Bible; Mohannnedans the Koran; Buddhists the "Tripi-
takas" (Three Baskets). But the very oldest Buddhist scrij)-
tures date only from the time of King Asoka, about 250 B. C,
THE MISSIONS IN f.IAM.
19
while large portions of the Tripitakas were doubtless added
later, both before and since our Christian era. Thus the
earliest records of Ijuddhism bring us no nearer to its founder
than the early Christian fathers to the time of Christ, and'
with no means of testing their accuracy, as. Protestants test
the fathers by comparison with the New Testament. Hence
our knowledge of the biography or teachings of Gotama is
both meagre and uncertain m comparison with our knowl-
edge of Mohammed or of Christ.
Furthermore, the Tripitakas, though held authoritative,
and published by the late King of Siam in thirty-nine hand-
some volumes, are scarcely read by any one, not even by
the monks. The typical Buddhist derives his creed from
oral teaching, or at most from reading a few modern Bud-
dhist tracts. This makes it hard to define just what Bud-
dhism really is, for even in the most orthodox Buddhist coun-
tries, like Siam, one finds no little unconscious divergence
between the sacred books and the current popular belief and
practice.
For instance, modern Siamese worship the images of
Buddha; they seek to make merit for the benefit of others,
living or dead; they believe in their own personal identity,
and expect rewards or punishment in a future life. Many
even believe in a Creator, and other doctrines absorbed from
Christian books and teaching. They are imbibing in large
measure the spirit of a modern age of progress, aspiration,
and striving after better conditions, personal and social.
Yet in all these points their thinking and actions are incon-
sistent with the authoritative doctrines and ideals of primitive
Buddhism. Some day they may suddenly come to realize
with a shock of surprise how far they are but nominal adhe-
rents of a crumbHng and obsolete faith.
Buddhism, as defined in its own scriptures, "teaches of no
God above and no soul within us. Its followers have in their
language no exact equivalent for that which we call God,
and the very idea of such a Being does not exist in Buddhism.
The Buddha himself was not a god, but a man; and each man
must work out his own destiny for himself, with no aid from
any higher power.
20 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
Buddliism has, therefore, logically, no room for prayer or
religious worship in any form. The nearest approach to this is
^m the form of inward meditation or of paying outward honors
'to the memory of Gotama by carrying flowers to his monu-
ment. When Buddhists wish to find any outlet for the religious
instinct, they must go outside of Buddhism to seek it. They
crave some object of worship, and since Gotama has given
them none, they addict themselves to some form of devil-
worship or witchcraft by way of addition to his system. They
do also say prayers, which are in some cases the real cry of
the soul toward some one or some thing for help. Usually,
however, the "prayer" which they repeat is not so much in
the form of an appeal to any living hearer, as in that of a
charm or incantation; the mere repetition of the words being
supposed to have magical power in itself. In such ways as
this Buddhism has come to receive an enormous mass of addi-
tions, many of which are directly opposed to its original
teachings.
Gotama taught that there is no such thing as soul or spirit
in man himself; that a man is only a body, with certain facul-
ties added to it, all of which scatter into nothingness when
the body dissolves. One feature of Buddhism, therefore, is
its denial of all spirituality, divine or human.
A second feature is its assertion, as the positive facts upon
which it builds, of two most remarkable ideas. One of these
is the doctrine of transmigration. This belief is held by a
great part of the human race as the only explanation for the
perplexing inequalities of earthly experience. It teaches that
the cause of every joy or sorrow is to be found in the conduct
of the man himself, if not in this life, then in some of his
previous lives. As the usual emblem of Christianity is the
cross, so that of Buddhism is the wheel — chosen as such from
its suggestion' of endless rotation.
Buddhism, however, which denies the existence of the soul,
is obliged to teach transmigration in a very strange form.
According to this, although you go to nothingness when you
die, yet a new person is sure to be produced at that moment,
who is considered to be practically the same as yourself.
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM. 21
because he begins existence with all your merits and demerits
exactly, and it is to your thirst for life that he owes his being,
^et as it is acknowledged that you are not conscious of
producing him, and he is not conscious of any relation with
you, it is hard to see how men can accept in such a form
this doctrine of "Karma." Practically its believers are apt
to forget their denial of the soul, and speak as if it did exist
and goes at death into a new body. This new birth may not
be into the form of a man, but into that of a beast of the
earth, a devil in some hell, or an angel in some heaven.
Buddhism not only teaches the existence of hells and heavens,
but fixes their exact size and position, so that any acquaint-
ance with astronomy is enough to prove the falsity of its
declarations on that point. It is further taught that each of
these future lives must come to an end, for all things above
and below are continually changing places with each other,
as they ever have done and ever will do. There is, therefore,
no real satisfaction even in the prospect of a heavenly life,
since it must in time change, and probably for the worse.
In close connection, then, with this fundamental idea of
Buddhism, namely, transmigration, is the other idea, that all
life, present or future, is essentially so transitory, disappoint-
ing and miserable, that the greatest of blessings would be
the power to cease from the weary round entirely and for-
ever. Practically its votaries have before their minds a life
in some delightful heaven, secured against any following evil
by passing instead into calm, unending slumber. This condi-
tion is marked by the perception of life's illusiveness, with
freedom from all resulting lusts and passions; and this ensures
that when the life you are then living shall close, no new
being will be formed in your place, because your thirst for
living is at last extinguished. While it is true, then, that this
condition of heavenly calm or Nirvana (called in Siamese
"Nippan") is represented as eminently attractive, yet its dis-
tinguishing benefit lies in the fact that when it ends, that
which follows is not a new birth, but an eternal freedom from
all life. This is in its essence a doctrine of despair, even
thougli the annihilation of life is called by the softer name
22 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
of endless slumber, and attention is mainly fixed on the joys
of Nirvana which precede that slumber.
Tlie third chief feature of Buddhism is its description of
the "Noble Path" — the way by which a man is to reach the
desired goal. Having (i) denied the existence of God and
the soul, and (2) asserted the existence of transmigration and
of an essential misery in all life, from which Nirvana is the
only deliverance, it proceeds (3) to tell how Nirvana may be
reached. It is by means of persevering meditation upon the
hollowness of life, together with the practice of control over
self and beneficence to others. Many of the rules given for
this end have in them a moral truth and beauty which is
remarkable. The opposition to caste and to extending reli-
gion by force of arms, the freedom given to women and the
mildness of manners cherished among all, are most com-
mendable. But as there is no love to any God in all this,
neither is there any beneficence toward men which is other
than negative and selfish. The self-annihilation which is
emphasized is sought simply as a means of finally escaping
from misery by escaping from existence, after tasting what-
ever sensual enjoyment may come within reach on the way.
The chief aim of every zealous Buddhist is to "make merit."
For a man, the most etificient means is to join the order of
monks, commonly but less correctly called priests. In
modern times very few remain for life in the "wat" (monas-
tery) ; but every man from the King down is expected to take
his turn once at least.
A woman's best hope for future happiness is to have many
sons, who can thus "make merit" for their mother, as well
as themselves. The very few nuns are aged widows, to
whom the temple serves as a form of almshouse.
Boys under twenty cannot be full-Hedged monks, but enter
the temples in great numbers as novitiates. Without count-
ing these novitiates, the latest official report shows about
100,000 monks in the Kingdom of Siam, nearly all of them
able-bodied young men, whom the women, who are the chief
merit-makers, are feeding and supporting in idleness.
The priests are clad in yellow robes, each suit consisting
of seven pieces. The wearing of these patched garments is
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM.
23
in imitation of Gotama, who is said to have adopted the
yellow garb worn in his time by robbers, so that the world
would cease to praise him. At daybreak the thoroughfares,
canals and rivers of Siam are thronged with monks collecting
their day's food from the people, each carrying a rice-pot
suspended from the shoulder, and a bag hanging on the arm,
to receive rice, fish or fruits. They never ask for alms nor
return thanks, but take their stand at a house and wait in
silence until the inmates bring the food, worship them, and
then place the gift in the pot or bag. The people consider
that the priests have conferred a great favor on them by
receiving the food.
The stricter "Tammayoot" order of monks was established
by King Maha Mongkut, with the aim of restoring the
ancient discipline; but the easy-going majority prefer the
laxer discipline of the "Mahanikai" order. The practical
conduct both of monks and laity is far below even their own
Buddhist standard. Tliey live as the heathen did whom
Paul describes in his letters to the Romans and Corinthians.
The great distinction, after all, between other religions and
Christianity, is not merely that they present lower standards,
but that they do not offer at all that grace and strength
whereby men are enabled to rise toward the standard. Bud-
dhism makes no such offer, and has no such conception. It
fixes the mind upon the evils and miseries of life, which it
is exhorted by its own power to shun, and not upon the posi-
tive holiness and blessedness of a Divine Saviour, whose
grace can lift the soul toward the glory which it sees in Him.
"We should not hastily assume that Buddhism in Siam is a waning
force, or that the friendliness of officials is indicative of a disposition
CO accept the Gospel. The mental attitude which looks upon Christian-
ity with good-natured indifTerence is as hard to overcome as that which
regards all religions as equally true or equally false.
"A languid indifference is the special obstacle to mission work.
This is partly due to a tropical climate, but natural physical and mental
sloth is greatly intcnsilied by the teaching of Buddhism. Buddha held
that man ihould be neutral in all things, avoid extremes, and neither
love nor hate. Activity is evil; passiveness is virtue.
"Such spongy material is harder to break than a rock — like the
southern forts of i)almetto logs : the bullets buried themselves without
shattering the logs, so that the more lead was fired into them, the more
impregnable they became." (Condensed from Dr. Brown's Report.)
24 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
CHRISTIANITY IN SIAM.
ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.
Long before the beginning of Protestant effort, French
Catholics had, as early as 1662, established the first Christian
mission in Siam, during the reign of the liberal-minded and
famous Siamese King Narai. The grand embassy of 1673
from Louis XIV of France was accompanied by a consider-
able number of Jesuit priests. In 1780 a royal decree ban-
ished all Catholic foreign missionaries from the kingdom,
and they did not return in any considerable numbers or for
permanent residence until 1830, when Bishop Pallegoix was
appointed to resume the interrupted work.
Their work is now under the direction of two bishops, one
in Bangkok and another for the Lao. Dififerent methods,
both of securing and of reckoning adherents, hinder any
fair comparison between statistics of Protestant and Catholic
work. But it is probably not wide of the mark to state that
they have more European workers than all Protestant mis-
sions combined; more stations and places of worship, includ-
ing four substantial brick churches in Bangkok and a stately
cathedral; more schools, with four thousand pupils; and a
membership threefold greater than the Protestants.
They are more disposed than Protestants to concentrate
special effort in the centres of political power. For example,
they have a large hospital, supported largely by non-Catholic
donors, in Bangkok, where we have none, but attempt no
medical work in the interior, where there is greatest lack of
such service.
They provide for their adherents some devotional books
in Romanized Siamese, but do not teach the Siamese alpha-
bet, so that few Catholics can read ordinary Siamese books,
nor can ordinary Siamese read Catholic books. ' They are
not seen, like Protestant workers, showing Bible pictures,
and publishing the Gospel story to such groups of heathen
as can be gathered in market chapels, temples, wayside rest
houses, and open-air meetings, nor distributing Scriptures
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM.
'■5
or Christian tracts in heathen communities. Their favorite
poHcy is to segregate their adherents in separate communi-
ties, under their special protection and control, and thus
indoctrinate parents and children in their faith and forms of
worship.
Their policy appeals strongly to a certain class, who are
anxiously seeking protection in law-suits or other forms of
aid in temporal affairs, but alienates others. Most of the
converts they gain are not Siamese, but Chinese or Eurasians.
Just as the Lao make more offerings to propitiate the
demons they fear than the Buddha they revere, so it is, w)
doubt, less from confidence and good-will than State policy,
that the French Catholics succeed in obtaining more favor-
able concessions in the matter of holding property, and larger
donations and grants from the Siamese officials, than do the
Protestants. But the prevalent conviction that, unlike the
American missionaries, they are in very close alliance with
a foreign government, makes them generally distrusted, dis-
liked and secretly feared.
Yet, with all their faults and limitations, Catholic missions
have doubtless been the providential means of leading many
to a knowledge of the essentials of Christian truth, and to a
saving faith in the true God.
BEGINNINGS OF PROTESTANT MISSIONS.
The very first Protestant missionary effort
PATHFINDERS, for the Siamese on record was made by a
woman who never saw Siam. Mrs. Ann
Haseltine Judson, the young wife of Dr. Adoniram Judson,
became so deeply interested in the numerous Siamese colony
she found at Rangoon that in April, 1818, she wrote to a
friend: "I have attended to the Siamese language for about
a year and a half, and with the assistance of my teacher, have
translated the Burman catechism, a tract containing an
abstract of Christianity, and the Gospel of Matthew, into
that language."' Some of this manuscript was probably never
printed; but her Siamese version of her husband's Burman
[; 26 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
I. catechism was published in 1819 by the Baptist Press at
|; Serampore, India.
[ Not till August, 1828, did the first Protestant missionaries
I land in Siam. These were an Eng-lishman, Rev. Jacob
I Tomlin, of the London Missionary Society, and a German,
'1 Dr. Carl Gutzlaff, who had severed his previous brief con-
I nection with the Netherlands Missionary Society, and came
; to Bangkok independently at his own charges. Both these
I men traveled widely in the Far East, laboring in many dif-
ferent fields, but everywhere with special reference to the
I Chinese dispersion, as China itself was not yet open to the
; Gospel. Each made two visits to Bangkok, not only giving
free medical treatment to crowds of patients, and freely dis-
tributing many Chinese tracts and Scriptures, but diligently
studying Siamese, and making a beginning, as best they
could, in translation of the New Testament, and preparing a
\ Christian tract in that tongue.
1 After his marriage in Singapore to Miss Maria Newell, of
the London Missionary Society, Dr. Gutzlaff in 1830 returned
I to Bangkok with his bride, the first pioneer of woman's work
j for Christ in Siam. But in June, 183 1, after burying both
i wife and babe, and himself very ill, Dr. Gutzlaff left Siam,
' never to return. After a notable career in China, he died
i there in August, 185 1. Failing health likewise compelled the
return of Mr. Tomlin to Singapore in January, 1832.
The first American missionary was Rev. David Abeel, of
the American Board, which at that time was still supported
by Presbyterians jointly with Congregationalists and others.
. Mr. Abeel was another zealous worker of rather roving
habits. He seems never to have settled down long in any
field; but he twice visited Bangkok, first arriving from Can-
ton in June, 1831, and being compelled by ill health to take
his final departure in November, 1832.
Despite all hindrances, reverses and seeming failure, the
observations and appeals of these three missionary prospec-
tors soon bore fruit in the more permanent occupation of
the field by three American missionary societies.
W<iiU<«M«l»ifc
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM. 2/
Continuous and permanent Protestant
BAPTIST MISSION, missionary work dates from the arrival
1833-93. in Bangkok, March, 1833, of Rev. John
Taylor Jones, D. D., and wife, American
Baptist missionaries from Maulmain, Burma. Dr. Jones was
a man of exceptional industry, scholarship and literary gifts,
and the first missionary to devote himself chiefly to work for
the Siamese race. Before his death, in 185 1, he had com-
pleted a Siamese version of the New Testament, and pre-
pared several excellent Christian books or tracts that are still
in use. Like Dr. Judson, he was thrice married to noble
Christian women, who rendered their full share of effective
service. Rev. William Dean, D. D., whose bride did not
live to complete the long sailing voyage, arrived in July,
1835, and devoted himself specially to the Qiinese-speaking
population. In 1837 he organized the Chinese converts into
the first Protestant church in Siam. At his death, in 1884,
he had nearly rounded out half a century on the field.
A Christian tract published in 1836 by the Baptist Mission
Press, is believed to have been the very first printing ever
done in Siam.
From 1868 on the Baptists dropped their Siamese depart-
ment, and worked in the Chinese language only. Tlie roll
of Baptist missionaries shows thirty-two names in all. But
the great success of their work in Swatow, China, where the
same dialect was used as in Siam, finally led to weakening
the Siam Mission by transfer of many of these workers to
China; and since the departure for the United States of Rev.
Lewis Eaton in 1893, they have had no resident American
missionary, though in recent years Dr. Foster makes from
Swatow occasional visits of supervision to their Chinese
churches and Chinese workers in Bangkok.
In July, 1834, Rev. Stephen Johnson
CONGREGATIONAL and Rev. Charles Robinson, with their
MISSIONS, 1834-74. wives, arrived in Bangkok, to follow up
the work of Mr. Abeel. Daniel Bradley,
M. D., and wife, arrived in company with Dr. Dean the fol-
lowing year. This Mission, like the Baptists, combined work
a8 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
; in both languages, Siamese and Chinese, but using a different
Chinese dialect from the Baptists. In 1846 they transferred
their Chinese-speaking workers to China, and in 1849 the
American Board withdrew entirely from Siam, turning over
! its remaining work, workers and property to the American
I Missionary Association, which continued the work till 1874.
The list of missionaries of these two societies, about thirty
in all, includes many honored names; but none more notable
than the versatile and forceful Dr. Bradley. He was the
first (in 1840) to introduce vaccination, previously unknown
in Siam. His work as physician, writer, translator, printer
i and preacher, ended only with his death in June, 1873. His
1 son, Cornelius, and wife, were missionaries in Bangkok.
1871-74. His widow, Mrs. Sarah Blackley Bradley, con-
i tinned active in voluntary Christian work till her death in
[ i<^93. after forty-three years' continuous residence in Bang-
I kok, without even once revisiting the United States. Two of
his daughters. Mrs. Sophia Bradley McGilvary and Mrs.
Sarah Bradley Cheek, and two granddaughters, Mrs. Cor-
nelia McGilvary Harris and Mrs. Margaret McGilvary Gillies,
became the wives and active partners in service of Presbyte-
rian missionaries.
One of the first acts of our own Presby-
PRESBYTERIAN terian Board, organized in 1837, was to
MISSIONS. establish in Singapore a mission for
Chinese, which, by reason of the opening,
in 1842, of the five "treaty ports," was in 1843 transferred
to Amoy, China. Meanwhile, in 1838, Rev. R. W. Orr, of
that mission, visited Siam for a month, and his favorable
report led to the starting of the Presbyterian Mission by the
arrival of Rev. William Buell and wife in Siam, August, 1840.
Barring the India Mission, started in 1833, and in 1837 taken
over from the "Western Foreign Missionary Society," Siam
is thus the oldest existing mission of our Presbyterian Board.
After some years of faithful foundation work, Mrs. Bucll
was stricken with paralysis, making it necessary for the hus-
band to bring her home to the United States. Three full
years elapsed before the Board was able to fill this vacancy
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM. 29
and resume the work. But since the arrival in March, 1847,
of Rev. Stephen Mattoon and wife, and Samuel House, M. D.,
Siam has never been without Presbyterian missionaries.
This early period was one of privations, hardships and
hindrances, such as in our day it is hard to realize or imaj^ine.
A private letter from Dr. House, never before published,
says: "When I first went out to Siam, it was a semi-barbarous
land, with very little trade or intercourse with other nations.
The people went half nude, hatless and shoeless. There was
plenty 01 rice (then only half a cent a pound), brown sugar
and tea; but not a needle, or a pin, a button, or hook and
eye, a tooth brush, or a box of matches, or a lamp. Nor
could you buy wheat flour, cornmeal, butter or beef, writing
^ paper, looking glass, table or chair. We had to send home
for these, and anticipate a year's needs, and were often in
great straits from delay, or if from long voyage the flour
grew musty, or full of weevils."
The secret opposition of the King, a fanatical Buddhist,
had such influence that none dared sell or rent any property
to the missionaries. The frequency among these pioneers
of severe illness or death, often no doubt the direct result
of overwork and exposure, and lack of suitable homes or
ordinary home comforts, was appalling.
A few Chinese converts were gathered, but not one Siamese
dared avow himself a Christian. Not until the next reign
did the missionaries have the joy, in 1859, of baptizing Nai
Chune (Mr. Joy), their first Siamese convert.
Even when war with England seemed imminent, involving
extreme peril to all English-speaking residents in Siam, they
stedfastly refused to abandon their post; but the outlook
seemed well-nigh hopeless, till in this darkest hour, as in
the days of Herod and Peter, Providence signally interposed.
The King's unexpected illness, which terminated fatally in
April, 1851, changed the whole situation.
The new King, Maha Mongkut, had for eighteen months
studied science and the English language with a missionary,
Rev. Jesse Caswell, as private tutor, and learned to esteem
all missionaries highly. Though he lived and died a staunch
30 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
Buddhist, his tolerance and good-will first made possible in
his kingdom the securing of suitable missionary homes, and
unhampered Christian teaching.
By special request of the Siamese authorities, when they
ratified a treaty with the United States, the first Consul ap-
pointed was ihc trusted missionary, Rev. Stephen Mattoon.
The long reign of King Chulalongkorn, who came to the
throne in 1868, was an eventful period in the religious as
well as the political history of Siam. One of the notable
ievents of this reign was the Edict of Toleration, which in
1878 finally put an end to religious persecution, and guar-
anteed full liberty of conscience throughout the Kingdom
of Siam.
In 1867-68, Dr. McGilvary and Rev. Jonathan Wilson
had begun at Chieng Mai the first missionary work for the
Lao race. They were soon encouraged by the conversion
of Nan Inta, a man who had thoroughly studied Buddhism
and was dissatisfied with it, vvhile knowing of nothing to re-
place it. He was much impressed by having the solar eclipse
of August, 1868, foretold by the missionary a week in ad-
vance. He thus found the science of the Christians disprov-
ing the fables of Buddhism, and began eagerly to study the
spiritual truths of the Gospel. He was soon able to make
an intelligent confession of faith in Christ, which he main-
tained until his death. Within a few months seven other
converts were baptized.
At this point the Governor of Chieng Mai began to mani-
fest the hostility he had thus far concealed. In September,
1869, Noi Su Ya and Nan Chai were arrested and confessed
that they had forsaken Buddhism. The "death yoke" was
put around their necks, and a small rope passed through the
holes used for earrings by all Lao people, and carried tightly
over the beam of the house. After being thus tortured all
night, they again steadfastly refused to deny their Lord and
Saviour, even in the face of death. They prepared for exe-
cution by praying to Him, closing with the words, "Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit." Being then taken to the jungle,
they were clubbed to death, and one, not dying quickly
i THE MISSIONS IN SIAM. 3 1
■ enough, was thrust through the heart by a spear. The whole
V record is hke one from the apostohc age, and speaks vividly
I of the first martyrs, and of the same Lord by whose living
I presence they were sustained. '
'- For some months after this martyrdom the missionaries
found their work at a standstill, and it seemed as if they
would surely be driven out. But Providence interposed in
a way that strikingly reminds one of the earlier crisis of 1 8^1
in Bangkok. The persecuting Prince being just then sum-
moned to Bangkok, was there suddenly stricken with mortal
Illness. On the last stage of his homeward journey, he died
at Lampoon June 29, 1870.
The good-will of his son-in-law, who thus became Gover-
nor, not only ended the persecution, but gave the mission-
. aries facilities to begin building permanent homes.
Another crisis was encountered in 1878. Tlie missionaries
had decided to perform the marriage ceremony between two
native Christians without making provision for the customary
feast to the demons. The relatives, all demon worshippers,
prevented the marriage on this account, and the local authori-
ties supported them in the refusal; but an appeal to the King
of Siam secured in reply a proclamation declaring- "There
IS nothing in the laws and customs of Siam to throw any
restriction on the religious worship and service of any one
lo be more specific, if any person or persons wish to em-
brace the Christian religion, they are freely permitted to
follow their own choice. This proclamation is to certify that
from this time forth all persons are permitted to follow tho
dictates of their own conscience in all matters of religious
belief and practice." This proclamation of religious liberty
entirely changed the attitude of the Lao officials
Within twenty years from the first occupation of Chiemr
Mai, North Lao Presbvtery was able to report 432 communi
cant members, and Siam Presbytery 393. Ever since that
date the Lao membership has exceeded that of the older
mission.
From J866-1890 inclusive, the force of American mission-
aries increased from eleven workers at two stations to
32 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
iorty-six workers at five stations, nine of them single women.
There were no single women in the Siam missions earlier
than 1871.
Meanwhile, the total number of pupils had increased from
thirty-six to 780 in twenty-five mission schools, and the
native communicant membership of Presbyterian churches
from eleven to 1,280, of which 880 were among the Lao.
During the following decade the work so continued to
grow that the nineteenth century closed with over seventy
Presbyterian missionaries at ten stations, about 850 pupils
(512 in the South and 335 in the North), and over 2,800
members (389 in the South and 2,440 in the Presbytery of
North Laos).
During the early years of this period, the missionaries
were so few, and so isolated from each other by lack of any
facilities for communication between the different stations,
that each had to work almost independently, with scant
opportunity for effective organization and co-operation. But
the closing years of the century found each of the two sta-
tions welded into an efi'ective organization, with all needed
officers and committees for team work, and a set of mission
rules, gradually elaborated on the basis of practical expe-
rience, to define the mission methods and policy,
MISSION PRESSES.
For some twenty years all the printing of Christian litera-
ture was done by the Congregational and Baptist Mission
presses. But since i860 our Presbyterian Church has main-
tained in Bangkok its own Mission Press.
At first the press occupied a dark basement under a mis-
sionary dwelling at Sumray, a suburb of Bangkok. In 1892
it was removed to larger and better quarters across the river,
and in 1897 again moved to its present permanent location,
where buildings were erected suitable for both press and
godown. New equipment has been added year by year, till
there is now no more complete publishing establishment in
Siam.
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM. 33
The rapidly increasing number of readers, as schools are
I multiplied all over Siam, magnifies as never before both
demand and opportunity for the Mission Press.
Since 1909, the growing work of our Press in Bangkok,
together with the duties of Godown Manager and Shipping
Agent for both Missions, have been transferred to an ener-
getic and efficient layman, Mr. Edward Spilman, leaving the
ordained men free to devote full time to other work.
This Press publishes The Daybreak, an attractive monthly,
which gives a variety of good reading in the Siamese lan-
guage, including stories, scientific and religious articles, and
inews of current events. Just now a Siamese translation of
Ben-Hur is appearing in serial form. The Press also carries
a varied stock of school text-books, and Christian books
or tracts. Among its recent publications may be named
translations of the story, "Titus, the Comrade of the Cross;"
and of Munhall's "Manual for Christian Workers;" a series
of small volumes of Old Testament Bible stories, a Siamese
concordance, primarily for use in the Christian Training
Schools, a book on Ethics by Miss Gait, and an enlarged
Siamese Hymnal, with tunes, and over four hundred and
fifty hymns.
During the hot dry season of 1914, a great fire in Bangkok
burned over an area of some thirty acres, including all the
buildings on three sides of our Press Compound, seriously
threatening our Press and other valuable property there,
when the wind was providentially so shifted as to blow the
fire away. This marvelous escape was a signal manifesta-
tion of Divine protection, which became a lesson to the entire
city, as an evidence of the protecting care of the Christian's
God.
There is also a smaller press at the Christian College,
managed by the students as a feature of their industrial work.
This publishes College Nczvs in Siamese, and in English The
White Elephant, which will appear bi-monthly as the official
organ of both Siam missions for giving news of their work.
For twenty-five years after the founding of the North Lao
Mission, they had only books in the Siamese character, which
34 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
few of the Lao people could read; but Dr. Peoples brought
in December, 1890, a font of Lao type cast in America. A
building was put up at Chieng Mai, and the only press in the
world equipped to print the Lao character was finally estab-
lished in 1892 by Rev. David Collins, who has continued in
charge of this work ever since.
This Press doubled the space and quadrupled its working
capacity by the completion of a new building in June, 1913.
Here is published the only vernacular Lao newspaper in the
world, with a monthly circulation of over one thousand
copies, reaching every station and out-station of North Siain.
The late Dr. Jonathan Wilson translated or composed in
the Lao dialect about five hundred hymns. The recent new
edition of the Lao Hymnal, enlarged to include nearly four
hundred hynms, has been the most difBcult work undertaken,
as the new music type could not have been handled without
the constant supervision of Mrs. Collins for months.
A Karen tract in Lao character was published in 1914.
This press also constantly prints English and Siamese, and
occasionally French.
The financial loss on Christian literature, much of whicii
is sold below cost, is made good by profits on job work for
government departments, business firms, and other patrons.
Thus both presses are self-supporting, the earnings covering
all outlay both for running expenses and increased equip-
ment, and the Bangkok Press even paying part of the sup-
port of the American manager.
The most important work of both presses is
BIBLE WORK, of course the publication of the Scriptures.
Besides the New Testament entire, eight of
the more important Old Testament books have already been
translated and published in Lao, while others are in prepara-
tion. The Siamese Bible has long been published complete,
but in three or four rather bulky volumes. All new editions
are now being printed partly on India paper, which, with
other improvements, such as photographic reproduction,
with reduced size of page (done in Japan), will eventually
make it feasible to bind the complete Siamese Bible in a
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM. 35
single handy volume. New editions, whether in Siamese or
Lao, are also being carefully revised under the supervision
of committees chosen by each mission.
Dr. John Carrington, formerly a member of the South
Siam Mission, labored indefatigably as agent of the American
Bible Society from 1889 ^i^til his death in 1912. His suc-
cessor is Rev. Kobert Irwin, formerly a member of the
North Siam Mission, but since 191 1 in the service of the Bible
Society, which is spending about $12,000 a year in Siam.
Besides employing and directing about thirty Chinese or
Siamese colporteurs, Mr. Irwin has opened a Bible depot
on the main business street of Bangkok, where the Scriptures
are offered for sale in seventeen languages or dialects.
The I.ao Christians have in recent years begun to buy
large quantities of Scripture portions for free distribution*
among their heathen neighbors. Though few copies are
given entirely free, the circulation of Scriptures in Siam has
within twenty-five years increased from 9,000 to 173,000 —
nearly twentyfold, and threefold within four years past.
MEDICAL WORK.
Medical work has always been a prominent factor in Siam.
With the single exception of Bangkok, which has many gov-
ernment hospitals andEuropeanphysicians in private practice,
each station of both missions has its hospital and dispensary,
with native assistants under the direction of an American mis-
sionary, and some have American trained nurses. Dr. Cort
returned in the fall of 1914 from the United States to Chieng
Mai under appointment to start a Medical College for the
training of native doctors.
There are thousands of lepers in Siam, but only one leper
asylum. This is on an island four miles below Chieng Mai.
Dr. McKean obtained the grant of this site from the Siamese
Government in 1907. The present annual expense of main-
tenance is nearly four thousand dollars. The completion of
permanent buildings, free from debt, was celebrated with
appropriate opening exercises in June, 19 13. The seven neat
36 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
brick cottages are filled with about one hundred and fifty
lepers, nearly all of whom have become Christians and mem-
bers of the "Leper Church." Medical work among the Lao
has proved a most efifective means of combating their super-
stitious belief in witchcraft and demon worship.
In recent years special effort has been made to transfer
financial responsibility in increasing measure to the Siamese
themselves, with such success that in no other country do
Presbyterian Medical Missions report so large .receipts on
the field as in Siani. The financial cost of charity cases is
made good by fees or donations from those able to pay, so
that the work as a whole is fully self-supporting.
, SCHOOLS.
I The early days, when little directly evangelistic work was
I possible, saw the beginnings of the present important schools
^ both for boys and girls, Years of patient labor, in spite of
limitations and obstacles, have transformed public opinion,
and introduced new ideals of education.
In 1878, King Chulalongkorn appointed Rev. S. G. Mc-
Farland as his first Superintendent of Instruction and head
of the new government college. Since that time the Siamese
Government has organized and developed a new educational
system, with a prescribed curriculum and under State control.
This advance has rendered it necessary for the missions
to adopt a definite educational policy. Each station aims to
provide for its children up to the high school grade, main-
taining boarding schools for boys and girls, and day schools
where necessary. The school courses conform to the gov-
ernment code, with the addition of Christian teaching in every
grade. Each mission has its schools of higher learning; at
Chieng Mai, Prince Royal's College and the Girls' School;
at Bangkok, the Christian College and the Harriet House
School. Each of these includes preparatory classes and a
Normal Department. The Harriet House School is the most
popular and influential girls' school in the kingdom. It is
full to overflowing, .with, more than one hundred pupils.
THE MfSSIONS IN SIAM. ' 37
In connection with the cremation ceremonies in March,
191 1, for the late King- Chulalongkorn, all our mission
schools, as well as the hospitals, and some Christian churches,
shared in the royal distribution of memorial gifts.
The Siamese Government is moving steadily toward a
system of compulsory education, which would doubtless in-
crease the attendance at mission as well as other schools.
Mr. Harris, in Laos Nezvs for April, 19 15, says: "Within a
few years all our schools will conform to a single curriculum,
which, in turn, will be the curriculum of all the schools, gov-
ernment and mission, throughout Siam. This change of
policy standardizes our educational work; it has greatly in-
creased the prestige of our schools in the eyes of the people;
and finally, it has won the favor of the Government Education
Department, who are pleased to find us conform as far as
possible to their wishes and ideals."
At Chieng Mai alone about two hundred mission school
pupils, including sixty girls, took the government examina-
tions in 1915.
STATIONS.
South Siam.
For many years, Bangkok, lying on both banks
BANGKOK, of the Me Nam, was the only centre of mission-
1840. ary work. The first buildings erected were on
a rented site on the west bank of the river. In
1857, a desirable property was obtained at Sumray, in the
southwestern part of the city, where the mission was per-
manently established. A_school for boys, opened in i8c;2.
was attended _iit first only hy Chinese pupils. Under the
devoted care of Dr. House, Dr. McDonald and their suc-
cessors, the school became well established, and developed
into the Boys' Christian High School, and afterward into
the Bangkok Christian College.
By the aid of the Troy Branch of the Woman's Synodical
Society of Albany, N. Y., a Girls' Boarding School was be-
gun in 1874, at Wang Lang, five miles north of Sumray.
38 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
The first principals were Mrs. House, whose name the school
now bears, and Miss Arabella Anderson (Mrs. Henry Noyes
of Canton). After several changes, Miss Edna Cole took
charge in 1886, and has been identified with the school ever
since.
In 1910 the self-supporting First Church of Bangkok,
which since August, 1896, has been in charge of the faithful
native pastor, Kroo Yuan, dedicated a neat new chapel build-
ing, costing 7,000 ticals, without aid from the United States,
and free of debt.
'Hie "Krit Sampantuwong" (United Christian Family)
Church, organized December, 1908, worships in a beautiful
chapel centrally located near the Bangkok Christian College.
This ofifshoot of the First Church owes its origin to the
leadership of a grandson of the first Chinese preacher,
Quakieng, Rev. Boon-Jtt, who, after graduating from
Williams College and Auburn Seminary, returned to devote
his life to his countrymen in Siam. The building was well
under way before his lamented death from cholera in 1903,
and was carried on to completion in accordance with his
plans.
The membership and congregation of the Second Church
is largely composed of present or former pupils of the Har-
riet House School. Its services are held in the school
chapel. The government hospital next door is in charge of
George McFarland, M. D., son of the early missionary, Dr.
Samuel McFarland, who is also elder of this church, and
often preaches there most acceptably in Siamese.
Tlie membership of the Third Church (Rajawong) is chiefly
Chinese, and services are held both in Chinese and Siamese.
There are also regular evangelistic services at the "Confer-
ence Chapel," so-called because supported by the Christian
Conference, and at Ban Maw Chapel, where "Siamese,
Chinese, Hindoos, Burmese and a few Europeans come and
go like the waves of the sea."
The Boon-ltt Memorial Institute, which is conducted along
similar lines to Y. M. C. A. work, but under Pres-
byterian Mission auspices, occupies a fifie site in Bangkok,
f
f THE MISSIONS IN SIAM. 39
^ bought for about six thousand dollars gold with funds all
i given on the field. The main building was completed in
?' 1909* ^s a memorial of the late Rev. Boon-Itt, with money
|- raised by his college classmates and many friends in the
I United States, thus realizing the cherished hopes and plans
I which he himself was not spared to carry out. This Asso-
i ciation has now been duly registered and incorporated
according to Siamese law", and a recent . campaign
increased the membership to one hundred and twenty.
The situation of Bangkok affords imlimited opportunities
for itineration. Rev. Eugene Dunlap, D. D., the senior
member of the mission, has spent a large part of his long
ministry in visiting both shores of the Gulf of Siam in the
mission schooner, and has made long journeys, preaching,
teaching and healing, in the Malay Peninsula and on the
shores of the Bay of Bengal.
Ayuthia was occupied as a separate station, 1872-74, but
the available force was not sufBcient to maintain it. The
mission still holds property there, and Ayuthia has since been
worked to some extent from Bangkok, from which it is dis-
tant about two hours by rail.
When Petchaburi was first visited by a mis-
PETCHABURI, sionary in 1843, l^is books were refused, and
1861, all his attempts at Christian teaching were
thwarted by the authorities. But in 1859 the
acting Governor welcomed Dr. McGilvary cordially, offering
a house and every assistance, if missionaries would settle
there and teach his son English. Sickness and death in the
little mission circle delayed these plans; but in June, 1861,
Dr. McGilvary was finally able to return there with his bride
and also another young missionary couple, Dr. and Mrs.
McFarland. A site fronting the river was secured for build-
mgs. A church was organized in 1863, a girls' school opened
in 1865, and eventually a boys' school and a hospital. This
station, which since 1905 has been within five hours' journey
by rail from Bangkok, could then be reached only by native
rowboats, a journey of about two days and nights. In 19 13
land was secured, and the Boys' School transferred to new
40 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
buildings. Evangelistic tours are regularly made through
the scattered hamlets and out-stations to the north and south.
Ratliuri, thirty-two miles from Petchaburi, was occupied
in 1889. Since the opening of the railway, it has been pos-
sible to oversee the work from Petchaburi, and in 1913 the
last resident missionary was withdrawn.
The chapel, schools and hospital, with a missionary resi-
dence, have been rebuilt on a new site. The hospital is cared
for by a Simo-Chinese medical man, Kean Koo, who is com-
petent and faithful.
Pitsanuloke was one of the ancient capitals
PITSANULOKE, of Siam, and is still a provincial capital. It
18&9. is located on the Nan River, two hundred
and forty miles above Bangkok. Dr. and
Mrs. Toy and Rev. and Mrs. Boon-Itt began permanent
work there in 1897, although Pitsanuloke was not officially
recognized as an independent station until 1899. Dr. Toy
and family lived for some time in a house boat, which served
also as a floating dispensary, there being for several years
no funds available for suitable dwellings on land. The hos-
pital buildings and the substantial teak building for the
Padoong Rart Boys' School, were put up with funds raised
entirely on the field. Since 1908 the completion of the rail-
way linking Pitsanuloke with Bangkok and with the sur-
rounding towns of Pitsanuloke field has greatly improved the
facilities for tounng and other mission work. A good
motor launch has also been secured for touring by water in
this wide field. A church was organized in August, 1909.
Many improvements have recently been made in the hospital
buildings with funds raised by Dr. Shellman on the field. A
new building was put up in 1914 for the Girls' School. The
enrollment in 191 5 was about forty girls, and forty-five in
the Padoong Rart School for Boys.
"Pitsanuloke," says Dr. Brown's report, "impressed me as one of
tlie strategic ponits in all Siam for a well-equipped station. Its natural
-field extends northward to the border of the Laos Mission at Uteradit,
six days distant by boat, and along the intervening river bank are nearly
two hundred villages. Southward the Pitsanuloke Station has no less
than one hundred and fifty villages lining the banks between it and
Paknampo, an eight days' journey, where it meets the northern end
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM. 4I
of the Bangkok Station field. The people are chiefly farmers and
traders— the most reliable class. Westward the missionaries can find
other villages during a six days' overland trip to Ralieng on the Me
Ping River, while eastward for an indefinite distance there are hmidreds
of villages which have never even seen a missionary. Our mission
compound is a spacious tract, extending -^^s feet along the river, and
650 feet back from it."
The liealing of a native of this province at
NAKON SRI the Petcliaburi hospital in 1883, resulted in
TAMARAT, 1900. his conversion, which was followed up by
several missionary tours to that region.
In 1895 the converts were organized into a church. Their
number grew, and in March, 1900, a permanent station was
opened by the arrival of Rev. Charles Eckels and Dr.
Hamilton. For some years this distant outpost, three hun-
dred and fifty miles from any other missionary, was most
of the time held by the Eckels family alone. They kept up
dispensary as well as evangelistic and other work until the
transfer from Petchaburi of Dr. Swart. By his efforts suf-
ficient funds were secured to build and equip an excellent
hospital, the new buildings being dedicated in 1907. All the
materials, except brick, had to be imported — teak from Lao
forests, other lumber and paint from Bangkok, tiles and lime
from Singapore, cement from Copenhagen, steilite ceilings
from London, and hardware from New York. The roomy
wards are almost constantly filled, and at times patients have
to wait for room. Quite a number of these patients have
been converted and joined the church.
The new station at Taptieng, far south in the
TAPTIENG, Malay Peninsula, was opened in 1910 by Dr.
1910. E. P. Dunlap and wife, and Lucius Bulkiey,
M. D. The late High Commissioner, Phya
Ratsada, had built and donated the hospital building and
the doctor's residence in gratitude for his recovery under
^ Dr. Dunlap's treatment from a serious illness. Taptieng is
^., an important market town in Trang Province, and in 1914
was linked by the completion of the railway with Nakon Sri
Tamarat, and was also made a post office and telegraph sta-
tion, thus ending its previous extreme isolation from other
workers in Siam.
' V
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
North Siam.
Near Petchaburi are several villages settled by
CHIENG MAI, descendants of Lao captives of war. Becom-
1867. ing deeply interested in this race, Dr. McGil-
vary and Dr. Wilson secured mission author-
ity to explore the unknown region to the north. After
spending ten days at Chieng Mai, January, 1864, they re-
turned full of enthusiasm for this new field. But such mani-
fold difficulties intervened that not until April, 1867, after a
tedious three months' trip at low water up through the many
rapids, were the McGilvarys able to open at Chieng Mai the
first station among the I.ao race. The Wilsons followed
early the next year.
What hardships and hazards this involved, we can now
scarcely realize. Chieng Mai was then the most isolated and
distant missionary outpost in the world, as far in time of
travel beyond Bangkok, as Bangkok from the United States,
and with not even postal service till many years later. This
involved practically cutting themselves off from former asso-
ciates, to maintain a separate mission. It also involved
spending many years in open native salas (rest houses) or
bamboo huts, before they could secure land and homes.
Until the arrival of the first medical missionary, Dr. Vroo-
man, five years later, these isolated families faced sickness
and even death of darling children, with no trained physician.
In one instance, when Dr. House undertook to meet a special
need of both families, he was not only unable to arrive at
the critical time, but nearly lost his own life, being gored
by his elephant, and having to sew up his own dangerous
wounds.
Furthermore, the virtual independence of Lao chiefs at
that time left the strangers largely at the mercy of capricious
local officials, their isolation putting them almost beyond
reach of effective and timely protection, either from the
Siamese Government or their own American Consul in
Bangkok.
There were in 1867 but twenty-five native Presbyterian
1
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM. 43
communicants in all Siam, or about one convert for each
Presbyterian missionary who had labored in that field during
a quarter century.
The occupation of Chieng Mai at such a time had seemed
to some members of the missions premature; and when dif-
ficulties and dangers multiplied, they again urged that it
was prudent to withdraw. The determination with which
Dr. and Mrs. McGilvary refused to give up this post might
well have seemed rash, if not foolhardy; yet the outcome has
fully justified their sacrifices and their faith, for this Lao field
has since proved an exceptionally fruitful one.
The First Church of Chieng Mai received more than three
hundred new members in 1914, and more than three thou-
sand within the half century of its history. From this mother
churcli, thirteen other churches have successively been or-
ganized, and it still numbers more than one thousand three
hundred communicants.
Chieng Mai is the largest city, the oldest station, and the
chief centre for institutional mission work in Northern Siam,
including the Lao Press, Theological Training School, Medi-
cal School, and Prince Royal College.
The Severance Dormitory for the Training School was
completed in 1915, at a cost of $15,000 gold, and will accom-
modate two hundred students. During 1914 this Training
School was in session eight months, with eighty-five men
enrolled, representing every station of North Siam.
Soon after lack of funds for current expenses made it
necessary to limit attendance to thirty at any one time, dif-
ferent students coming at different times for one or two
months of consecutive study and training, but sent out each
week end for practical experience in evangelistic work.
An appeal for the financial support of this work was sent
to all the Lao churches. The first gift in response was from
the Church of the Lepers — the equivalent of ten dollars
gold, saved from their pennies by these poor incurables, who
know from experience what the Gospel means to lives other-
wise doomed to hopeless misery.
The majority of the students are men of limited education
/
44 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
employed as evangelists. But six young men, representing
three stations, are preparing themselves for ordination by a
fuller and more advanced theological course.
Lampoon, eighteen miles south of Chieng Mai, was occupied
in 1 80 1 by Rev. and Mrs. Dodd, the government granting a
iine property for religious and medical purposes. In recent
years this has been grouped with Chieng Mai, as a sub-
station.
In 1877 a venerable man of high rank,
LAKAWN LAMPANG, then seventy-three years of age, came
1^85. to Chieng Mai to ask medicine for his
deafness, and referred to the miracu-
lous cure which Christ had wrought upon a deaf man. He
proved to be the highest official of the court in the Province
of Lakawn Lampang. Twenty years before, he had visited
Bangkok and received religious books from Dr. Bradley
printed in the Siamese character, which he had to learn for
the purpose of reading them. He gave assent to the truth
so far as he could understand it, but had never found any
missionary to give him further instruction. At Chieng Mai
he immediately sought out the missionaries, and made this
matter his one study, obtaining Buddhist books from the
temple and comparing them with Christian books. He soon
professed his faith in Christ and joined the Chieng Mai
church. As soon as he was known to be a Christian, he
was ordered back to his native city. Threatened with death,
he said: "If they want to kill me because I worship Christ
and not demons, T will let them pierce me." His life was
spared in the end, but office, wealth and social position were
taken, and he was ignored by all his friends. Later we hear
of this aged man starting to walk all the way to Chieng Mai,
being too impoverished to command any mode of convey-
ance. The result of this second visit was the return with
him of two native members fjom the Chieng Mai church
to begin work in his native city. Out of this there developed
one of our most promismg stations; and the whole afTair is
directly traceable to the patient work of that early missionary
who never in tiiis life came to know anything of it.
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM. 45
Xakawn Lampang (Lampanp: City) was first occupied as a
, permanent station in 1885 by Dr. and Mrs. Peoples, who
\ established both medical and school work. The Governor
I gave a fine site for a hospital, and the original building- was
put up in 1893.
I In that same year the country suffered from a terrible
V famine. Even the seed-rice was consumed, and many sold
themselves into slavery. Relief committees were at once
formed, and by the aid of money from America the mission-
aries were able to distribute rice, both for seed and food, and
relieve the worst suffering until another harvest could be
gathered. Nearly ten thousand dollars was expended in this
work of mercy, which did much to open the hearts of the
people to Christianity.
The station work is centred in two large compounds on
the river about a mile apart. In the southern compound
are two missionary homes and the boys' school. Stretching
back from this compound is a tract of sixty acres presented
by King Chulalongkorn, on which it was hoped to develop
an industrial farm. This hope is now being realized in part.
Eight miles east rises a beautiful chain of hills, the boundary
of the province. On one of the peaks is built a bamboo
cottage, to which the missionaries sometimes resort in the
hot season for a short rest in the cooler air.
The church, organized in 1880, has grown steadily, and
two more churches have been organized. The membership
includes a number of scattered families in remote villages,
and there is a large field for itinerating work.
A training class isjnaintained for Lao helpers, and Bible
wonien are {^ni^lovecr to teach the women in their hornes.
Three Chinese and one Siamese gentlemen of means jointly
met the whole expense of adding to the hospital plant a new
ward, which was dedicated in February, 1915, the donors
naming it "Preeda Ward," which means "Appreciation."
This substantial building is intended for the use of high class
"- Asiatic and European patrons, and is well adapted to its
purpose.
4^ HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
The town of Prae is about sUty-five miles east
PRAE, 1893. of Lakawn Lampang, on the banks of the Yome
River, and in the centre of a beautiful and fer-
tile plain, dotted with villages. The population within a
radius of fifteen miles is estimated at one hundred thousand.
The famine of 1893 was specially severe in this region, and
many heard of Christ through the relief work. The first
resident missionaries were Dr. and Mrs. Briggs in 1893,
followed in 1894 by Rev. and Mrs. Shields, A church was
organized, and school and dispensary work begun — all show-
ing good promise.
In 1908, the missionary in charge was compelled by failing
health to leave Siam, and furthermore the undermining of
the river banks at flood season made the old mission com-
pound untenable. But a fine new site of nearly twenty acres
has now been secured, and the station rebuilt. Since the
arrival of Rev. and Mrs. Gillies in December, 1911, and Dr.
and Mrs. Cort in February, 1912, progress has been very
rapid. In 1914, more than one hundred and fifty new mem-
bers were gathered into the church. Both the medical work
and schools also show encouraging progress in numbers and
self-support.
Nan is a beautiful walled city on the Nan River,
NAN, 1894. and capital of Nan Province, which has a popu-
lation of one hundred and fifty thousand. It
was visited by Dr. and Mrs. Peoples in 1894, but their per-
manent occupation was delayed until September, 1895, A
vigorous church has been developed, and the city is also an
important centre for itinerating, with many out-stations.
The Sunday school raises funds to send out one of its mem-
bers as an evangelist. Each March a Conference for Chris-
tian Workers is held, with special reference to the needs of
the country Christians,
Since 1914, the general evangelistic work has been in the
care of Dr, and Mrs. Peoples, This is the first time in the
history of the station that there has been a man free to devote
his whole time to evangelistic touring.
Dr. Taylor, in charge of Nan Church, reported forty-four
)
TUE MISSIONS IN SIAM. 47
adults baptized in 19 14 — threefold more than the previous
year.
In January, 191 5, the schools had seventy-five boys en-
rolled, forty of whom were boarders, and fifty-five girls.
Mr. Palmer, Principal of the Boys' School, says: "We are
rejoicing in our new brick building, which has a nice assem-
bly room and three class rooms. The acetylene gas plant
gives excellent light. When the wings planned for and
needed are built, we would not trade our school plant for any
other in the mission." The Girls' School was also soon to
be housed in a new brick building.
The antiquated wooden structure that now serves as a
hospital needs to be replaced with a suitable building. Dr.
Beach reports his discovery of the startling prevalence "of
the hook-worm infection. Examination of more than one
hundred and fifty individuals from a wide area in the province
showed indications that ninety per cent, of the common peo-
ple are victims of the malady.
Dr. McGilvary first preached the Gospel at
CHIENGRAI, Chiengrai (Chienghai) in 1872, beginning those
1897. annual tours which, by the blessing of God,
resulted in the formal opening of a station in
1897, with Rev. W. C. Dodd, Dr. Denman and their wives,
as the first resident missionaries.
This frontier post, one hundred and thirty miles north of
Chieng Mai, is essentially an itinerating station. The coun-
try trails are difficult from May to September, but all the
cool season is utilized for trips by land and water, often to
districts never before visited by missionaries. The tours of
Dr. McGilvary in 1897 ^"^1 ^^9^ among the "Ka Mu" hill
tribes living in French territory east of the Cambodian
frontier resulted in the formation of a little church. These
converts were visited by Lao evangelists, and by Dr. Dodd
and others, until the French authorities forbade further visits
and even the circulation of papers and leaflets in the Lao
dialect. There would probably be no objection, however, to
evangelistic work ajnong these Lao, if conducted by a sepa-
rate mission located entirely within French territory, and by
workers who could speak French.
48 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
The Chiengrai Church has built a chapel and maintains a
tlourishing Sunday school. The organization of Chieng
Kum Church in September, 19 14, makes six churches in this
station field, with a present membership of one thousand
communicants.
The Kennedy Boys' School, a boarding school for girls,
and about one hundred and fifty day pupils enrolled in eight
parochial schools, testify to the interest in education at this
distant station.
The Overbrook Hospital (a gift from the Gest family of
Overbrook, Pennsylvania) is the finest building in the North
Siam Mission.
Keng Tung (pronounced Keng Toong), in
KENG TUNG. British Burma, eleven days' journey north of
Chiengrai, was occupied by Dr. and Mrs.
Dodd, 1904-08, and a promising work begun, with an organ-
ized church and nearly fifty members. The Presbyterian
Board has since yielded that territory to the Baptists, but
has planned for the opening instead of a new station at
Chieng Rung, as soon as funds permit.
Chieng Rung (also called Chieng Hung,
CHIENG RUNG, pronounced Hoong or Roong) is an import-
ant town on the Kong (Cambodian) River,
three hundred miles north of Chieng Mai, in South Yunnan,
China. This will be the strategic centre for extension of
mission work among the eight million unevangelized Lao
beyond the frontier of Siam.
SIAM IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
The Government of Siam had an exhibit at the St. Louis
Exposition of 1903, and made a still more creditable showing
in the Siamese pavilion at the Panama Exposition of 191 5.
Since the opening of this twentieth century, railway con-
struction and various other unifying influences have brought
the various peoples and missions of Indo-China into closer
relations than ever before.
The Siam Council, representing both Presbyterian Mis-
i
THE MISSIONS IN SI AM. 49
sions, has been established to consult on matters of common
concern, with a view to secure closer co-operation and
greater efficiency. And when, in 191 5, war conditions in
Europe brought serious financial embarrassment upon the
Swiss Mission to the Lao race in French territory, members
of both Presbyterian missions in Siam personally contributed
over three hundred ticals for their relief.
A Conference of Christian Workers, held annually since
1905, has done much to inspire and stimulate tlie Christians
there assembled from widely separated fields of work. Of
the fifty-two speakers who took assigned parts in the three
days' program of the 1914 Conference in Bangkok, thirty-
nine were Siamese. A Simo-Chinese, Kroo Kim Heng, was
chosen to preside as chairman, and under his efficient leader-
ship the meeting was a great success.
It is expected that by 1917 all our existing mission stations
in Siam will be linked together by railway and motor lines,
extending from Chieng Mai in the far north to Taptieng in
the extreme south.
The South Siam Mission has now (July, 191 5)
STATISTICS five principal stations, with forty-eight Ameri-
OF GROWTH, can missionaries; and North Siam, five princi-
pal stations, with fifty-seven missionaries — one
hundred and five m all, including some on furlough. Tlie
19 14 reports showed for the Presbytery of Siam, thirteen
organized churches, with 819 communicants and 936 pupils
in thirteen Sunday schools; for North Lao Presbytery,
twenty-eight organized churches, with 6,934 communicants
and 6,588 pupils in eighty Sunday schools. During the past
three years, 191 2-14 inclusive, 3,830 new members have been
gathered into the Church, the average each year thus equal-
ing the whole number gained in the first half century,
1840-90.
The number of pupils, in round numbers, had in 1914
increased to 1,500 boys and 900 girls in fifty mission schools.
Of these, one-fourth were boarders, and 150 pupils joined
the Church within the year. The total school revenues in
Siam were, in United States money, $25,000; and medical
revenues, $31,500,
W^
50 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
Three schools in North Siam and seven in South Siam
were fully self-supporting.
Of the eighteen Montons (Provinces) in
CLAIMS OF SIAM. the Kingdom of Siam, seven only now
have any resident Protestant missionary.
Seven others can be worked more or less by extended tours.
But the four provinces to the east, approximately equal in
area and population to the whole State of Michigan (over
60,000 square miles and 2,530,000 souls), are still unevangel-
ized, and so distant as to be practically inaccessible from any
existing station.
To meet the urgent need of this region, the missions are
anxious to establish a station at Korat, and probably another
at Roy Ett, capital of the province next beyond. Both mis-
sions recently approved the offer of two experienced mis-
sionaries to pioneer this work as soon as feasible, though it
cannot be undertaken with the present force. As Dr. Arthur
Brown reported so long ago as 1902: "Korat, 750 feet above
sea level, is a wholly independent centre, terminus of a rail-
way which gives it direct communication with Bangkok, one
hundred and sixty-three miles distant. When we occupy
Korat, our work will touch all the important centres in
Siam."
"In North Siam there is a general expectation of another
Buddha, Ahreya Mettai. These people, hungry for truth
that satisfies and longing for light, are awaiting the coming
of the promised Messiah of Buddhism. Never has the Chris-
tian missionary had a better opportunity to take tactful ad-
vantage of a national belief to present the Gospel of Christ."
"In spite of obstacles, Siam and Lao are among our most
promising mission fields. There are notable advantages in
the openness of the entire country, the good-will of all classes,
the willingness of high officials to send their children to our
schools, the frankly expressed gratitude of the King and his
Ministers for the services the missionaries have rendered to
Siam, and the comparative absence of that bitter poverty
which so oppresses the traveler in India. Then there is nO
caste, no ancestral worship, no child marriage, no shutting
up of women in inaccessible zenanas."
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM.
51
h
Nor should we forget that this extensive field, peopled by
the Tai race, has, in the Providence of God, been committed
to our Presbyterian Church, though but a small part has
yet been) occupied, so that for this our special field we alone
must bear the grave responsibility.
The favor of princes is proverbially uncertain. Political
complications may some day close against us the doors that
now stand so invitingly open. The revival of interest in
historic Buddhism may end in transforming easy tolerance
into active antagonism. We can scarcely expect that the
present remarkable freedom from external obstacles will
always continue, should we neglect our present opportunity.
52
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
MISSIONARIES IN SIAM, 1840-1916.
Died while connected with the Mission. Dates, term of service in the hehj.
1 Signifies reappointed; 2 transferred; 3 service in both Missions.
For the list ol missionaries at each station, consult the current Year Book.
South Siam.
!* Anderson, Miss Arabella
F. (Mrs. Henry Noyes,
China) 1872-1876
Armstrong, Rev. Harry. 1901 -i 902
Armstrong, Mrs 1901-1902
Arthur, Rev. R 1871-1873
Arthur, Mrs 1871-1873
Bates, Miss Elsie (Mrs.
Vernon Kellett) 1891-1898
Berger, Rev. Christian. 1888-1890
Berger, Mrs. (Miss
Van Eman) 1887-1890
"Bissell, Miss Edna 1899-1906
Blount, Miss Bertha.. .. 1908-
*Boon-ltt, Rev. Boon 1893-1903
Boon-Itt, Mrs. Kim
Hawk 1897-1903
2 Boyd, Harry, M. D.
(China) 1901-1902
"Boyd, Mrs. (China) .. .1901-1902
Buell, Rev. William 1840-1844
Buell, Mrs 1840-1844
Bulkley, Lucius, M. D..1905-
Bulkley, Mrs. (Miss E.
Bruner) 1903-
Bush, Rev. Stephen 1849-1852
♦Bush, Mrs 1849-1851
Caldwell, Mr. Albert. . .1909-1912
Caldwell, Mrs 1909-1912
Carden, Rev. Patrick. . .1866-1868
Garden, Mrs 1866-1868
-Carrington, Rev. John,
D. D. (Bible Society) 1869-1875
Carrington, Mrs 1869-1875
Christensen, Miss J 1911-
Coffman, Miss Sarah. . . 1874-1882
3 Cole, Miss Edna S 1879-
Conybeare, Mr. Samuel. 1909-191 1
Conybeare, Mrs
1 Cooper, Rev. Willard..
Cooper, Mrs. Nettie
Sayers
Cooper, Mrs. (Miss S.
E. Parker)
Cooper, Miss LarissaJ..
Cort, Miss Mary
Cross. Mrs. Samuel
(Miss Linnell)
Culbertson, Rev. John..
Culbertson, Mrs. (Miss
Belle Caldwell)
-Dickey, Miss Elizabeth
(China)
Dunlap, Rev. E., D. D. . .
Dunlap, Mrs. Emma...
Dunlap, Rev. J., D. D...
Dunlap, Mrs. (Miss
Mary Stoaks)
Eakin, Rev. John, D.D..1888-
*Eakin, Mrs. (Miss
Laura Olmstead) ...1880-18'^
Eakin, Mrs. (Mrs.
Lyman, 1896) 1899-
Eakin, Miss Elizabeth. . 1891-1901
Eakin, Rev. Paul 1913-
Eakin, Miss Ruth 1914-
Eckels, Rev. Charles. . .1888-
Eckels, Mrs. (Miss M.
Gait) 1891-
Ellinwood, Miss Alice.. 1911-
1 Franklin, Rev. Robert. . 1902-
1 Franklin, Mrs 1902-
Fuller, Rev. Graham. . .1915-
Fuller, Mrs 1915-
Galt, Miss Annabel 1891-
George, Rev. Samuel C. 1862-1873
1909-1911
1886-
1886-1887
1890-
1890-
i874-i8()i
1882-1885
1871-1881
1878-18S1
1871-1873
1875-
1875-
1888-
THE MISSIONS IN SIAM.
53
-^ George, Mrs 1862- 1873
Grimstead, Miss S. D.. .1874-1877
'''Hamilton, Guy, IVI. D.
(China) 1899-190T
2 Hamilton, Mrs. ( China ).i899-i90i
Hartwell, Miss Mary. . . 1879-1884
Hays, T. H., M. D i886-i&;i
^|r\ Hays, Mrs. (Miss J.
Nielsen) 1884-1890
House, Rev. S., M. D.. .1847-1876
House, Mrs. Harriet N. 1856- 1876
Jones, Rev. Robert C. . . 1899-
Jones,Mrs.Jessie Magill 1899-
Lee, William, M. D.. . .1890-1891
Lee, Mrs 1890-1891
*Lyman, Rev. F. L 1896-1807
Mattoon, Rev. Stephen. 1847-1865
*Mattoon, Mrs 1847-1864
2McCauley, Rev. J. M.
(Japan) 1878-1880
2McCauley,Mrs.(Japan) 1878- 1880
McClelland, Rev. Chas.. 1880-1882
McClelland, Mrs 1880-1882
McClure, Rev. W., D.D. 1886-
McClure, Mrs. (Miss M.
J. Henderson) 1886-
*McClure, Mr. Arthur. . 1912-1915
McClure, Miss Helen. . .1914-
McCord, Miss Margaret. 1905-
McDaniel,Edward,M.D. 1903-
McDaniel, Mrs 1903-
McDonald, Rev.N.,D.D. i860- 1886
McDonald, Mrs 1860-1884
McDonald, Miss Hattie. 1879-1882
McDonald, Miss Mary . 1881-1886
McFarland, Rev. Samuel
D. D 1860-1878
McFarland, Mrs 1860-1878
McKee, Rev. Archie. . . 1899-1901
McKee, Mrs 1899-1901
♦McLaren, Rev. Charles. 1882-1883
Mercer, Miss Bertha. .. 1912-
Moeller, Miss Beatrice. 1912-
Moody, Rev. Hugh 1905-1907
Moody, Mrs 1905-1907
Morse, Rev. Andrew. .. 1856-1857
Morse, Mrs 1856-1857
*Odell, Mr. John 1863-1864
Paddock, Benj., M. D.. 1888-1890
Post, Rev. Richard. .. .1902-
Post, Mrs 1902-
Ricketts, Miss Annie
(Mrs. Chas. Barley) .1893-1895
Shellman, Carl, M. D..1906-
Shellman, Mrs 1906-
*Small, Miss Jennie 1886-1891
Snyder, Rev. I""rank . . . . 1 890-
Snyder, Mrs i8i)0-
Spilman, Mr. Edward .. 1909-
Spilman, Mrs 1912-,
Steele, Mr. Clarence. . .1911-
Steele, Mrs 191 1-
Stcwart, Rev. Herbert. 1910-
Stewart, Mrs 1910-
^Sturge, Ernest, M. D.
(San Francisco) ....1880-1885
^Sturge, Mrs. (San
Francisco) 1881-1885
Swart, William, M. D. . . 1898-1913
*Swart, Mrs 1898-1901
Swart, Mrs 1905-1913
*Thonipson, James, M.D. 1886-1898
Thompson, Mrs 1886-1893
Toy, Walter, M. D 1891-1905
*Toy, Mrs 1891 -1905
Van Dyke, Rev. James. 1869-1886
Van Dyke, Mrs 1869-1883
Van Metre, Paul, M. D. 1913-
Van Metre, Mrs 1913-
VVachter, Rev. E., M.D..1884-
Wachter, Mrs. (Mrs.
McLaren) 1882-
Walker, Chas., M. D.. . 1904-1913
*Walker, Mrs 1904-1906
Walker, Mrs. Winnett. . 1911-1913
*Wilson, Maria (Mrs.
Jonathan) 1858-1860
54
IIISTOKICAL SKETCH OF
North Siam.
Baclitell, Rev. Ray 191 1-
^Bachtell, Mrs. (Miss
Campbell) 1910-
Barrett, Rev. A. P 1904-
Bairett, Mrs 1904-
Beach, William, M. D..1912-
Beach, Mrs 1912-
Beebe, Rev. Lyle 1908-
'Beebe, Mrs 1911-
Briggs, Wm., M. D 1890-
1915
1907
190''
191 3
1 891
*Briggs, Mrs 1890-
Briggs, Mrs 1892-
Brunner, Miss Hazel. . .1912-
Buck, Miss Edith 1903-
^ Callender, Rev. Chas. ..1896-
iCallender, Mrs. Chas... 1896-
*Campbell, Miss Mary... 1879-
Campbell, Rcv.H., D.D. 1894-
Campbell, M rs. Sarah . . 1894-
Carothers, Miss Eliz 19(34-
Cary, A. M., M. D 1886-
*Cary, Mrs 1886-
Cheek, Marion, M. D. ..1875-
Cheek, Mrs. Sarah B...1875-
Collins, Rev. David. .. .1886-
Collins, Mrs 1886-
Cornell, Howard, M.D. .1903-
Cornell, Mrs 1903-
Cort, Edwin, M.D 1908-
Cort, Mrs. (Miss Mabel
Gilson) 1904-
Crooks, Charles, M.D...1904-
Crooks, Mrs 1904-
Curtis, Rev. L. H 1895-
Curtis, Mrs. Lilian 1895-
Denman, Rev. C, M.D..1894-
Denman, Mrs 1894-
Dodd, Rev. Wm., D.D.1886-
Dodd, Mrs. (Miss Belle
Eakin) 1888-
*Fleeson, Miss Kate 1888-1905
Freeman, Rev. John H..1894-
^ Freeman, Mrs. (Miss
Emma Hitchcock) ..1892-
1910
1888
1887
1886
1883
1904
1904
1899
1890
1906
1906
Chormley, Miss Hattie. 1895-1899
Gillies, Rev. Roderick. .1902-
Gillies, Mrs. (Miss M.
A. McGilvary) 1891-
Griffin, Miss Isabella. . .1882-1903
Hansen, Carl, M. D 1895-1908
Hansen, Mrs 1895-1907
Harris, Rev. William. .. 1895-
Harris, Mrs. (Miss C.
H. McGilvary) 1889-
Hartzell, Rev. Jacob. . .1912-
liartzell, Mrs 1912-
Hatch, Miss Julia 1894-1903
^Hearst, Rev. J. (Japan) 1882-1883
-Hearst, Mrs. (Japan) . .1882-1883
-Irwin, Rev. Robert
(Bible Society) 1890-1905
Irwin, Mrs. (Mary
Bowman, M. D.) 1895-1905
Irwin, Miss Alta IQIS-
Lyon, William, M.D 1912-
Lyon, Mrs 1912-
MacCluer, Rev. Donald. 1910-1911
MacCluer, Mrs. S. C. .1910-1911
MacKay, Rev. C. A 1902-1904
*MacKay, Mrs 1902-1903
Martin, Rev. Chalmers,
D. D 1884-1886
Martin, Mrs 1884-18S5
Mason, Claude, M.D...1906-
Mason, Mrs 1906-
Maxwell, Miss Maud.. 1914-
*■'* McGilvary, Rev. Dan.,
D. D 1858-1911
^McGilvary, Mrs. S. B..1860-
McGilvary,Rev.Evander 1891-1894
McGilvary, Mrs 1891-1894
McKean, James, M.D..,i889-
McKean, Mrs 1889-
McKean, Miss Kate. .. .1912-
McMullin, Mr. Arthur, . 1912-
Niederhauser, Miss M..1915-
Palmer, Rev. Marion. . 1906-
Palmer, Mrs 1906-
#
TUK MISSION!;
^ParW.Rev.Dav.d .|.;;^
'tjcja^' r-
Peoples. Mrs. (Miss
:E:r:M:s.^.iV^""^'^
Preston. Mr. NevvcU...i9i4-
Preston, Mrs 9U
Reid, Mr. Henry.... ■■•1911
Reid, Mrs. (Miss A. ^^^^^_
Sh^eTds^ Rev." William' '.iBOA-'O^.^
Ihrel^Mrs... ;^4-^°
Starling Miss Luo^^..-Og_
• Taylor, Rev. H., ^^■^■■■'
Taylor, Mrs. ^^"^
, IN SIAM. ^^
T) , I c: M D 1894- up3
Thomas, Rev.J.b., i^i^- o/]^^,^.,
Thomas, ^^^^ ,;.•>• "0^6 '
Van Vranken, Miss E.-iQOO
Vmccm, Rev. nowcll..i903-
..^rRe'r('c^-a).iB..-.^^
^W^ te Mrs (Chin^
:w:;le:^"A-(China).iB.9-i90.
.Warner Miss Antoin-
ettc (Japan) ^°
White, Rev. Henry 902_
White, Mrs. ••••-^••^gg-ion
« Wilson, Rev. J ^.7^- 066.1876
« Wilson, Mrs. Kate...^6i»7
Wilson, Miss Margaret. 1895-190.
nVishard, Miss Florence
(Mrs. Al^-^t Fulton, ^^^^_^gg^
Yatcs, Rev. William.... 1909 1913
56
UISTOt^lCAL SKKTCil OF
BOOKS OF REFERENCE.
■
Kiicyclopcedia Brilannica, art. Sia>n.
All Oriental Laiitl of the Free. Freeman. lyio. Presbyterian Board
of Publication.
The Kingdom of Siam. Carter. 1004. Putnam Sons.
Christ and Ihuldha. Cushing. 1907. American Baptist Pub. Society.
Nearer and i^arthcr East ; Chapter V, on Siam. Dr. Arthur J. Brown.
1908. 35 cents.
The White Elephant (bi-montlily ). 25 cents a year. 405 West Adams
Street, Eairrield, Iowa.
Educational Series, Siam. 3 cents. Philadelphia. 1915.
Aledical Mission. Series, Siam. 3 cents. Philadelphia. 1914.
Itinerating in Siam. Dr. E. P. Dunlap. 1907. 3 cents. Board of
I'oreign Missions, New York.
Work among Lepers. J. W. McKean, M.D. 1910.
Boon Itt in Siam. Dr. J. A. Eakin. Philadelphia. 6 cents.
Call to Siam. Mrs. Julia Cole. Chicago. 1908. 2 cents.
Siam; Questions and Answers for Bauds. Philadelphia. 1915. 5 cts.
Lotus Laud. Thompson. 1906. Lippincntt Co., Philadelphia.
A Half Century among the Siamese and Lao. Dr. McGilvary. 1912.
Revell Co. $2.00.
The Laos of North Siam. Mrs. Curtis. 1903. $1.25.
Laos Folklore. Miss Fleeson. 1899.
Around the World Series of Missions. Bradt Party, 1912. Chapters
VII-LK. Missionary Press Co. $1.50.
Miracles of Missions. First Series, No. IV. Dr. Arthur Pierson.
Funk & Wagnalls.
The Light of Asia and the Light of the World. Dr. S. H. Kellogg.
1885. MaciMillaii & Co.
Siam and Laos. 1884. Presbyterian Board of Publication. $1.85.
Siam the Heart of Farther India. Miss M. L. Cort. 1886. Randolph
Co. $1.75.
Siam : Its Government, Manners and Customs. Dr. N. A. McDonald.
1884. $1.25.
NoTii. — The above list has been carefully selected, after wide reading,
with a view to include only publications of real value. But for busy
people who cannot read all, the compiler specially recommends the
works listed above the line, as up to date and important.
\
\
%iiiii I .i.
... Histori'cai sketch of the missions in
Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library
1 1012 00044 9019
DATE DUE
^52-;
ly^a^
HIGHSMITH #45230