they were fed from golden dishes, and were decorated with gems and chains of gold. These stories may have been true many. years ago; but a sight of the common sheds in which the white elephants are now housed,

and the simple manner in which they are fed, makes us realize that the Siam of to-day is giving up many of the customs and superstitions once common in that kingdom.

Of more importance than the palace are the temples, or wats, as they are called in the Siamese language.

The religion of Siam is Buddhism, and the people are devout worshipers. The king, although a Buddhist, has made a proclamation that all religions are to be free and unmolested in his land. The Christian missionary is, therefore, met with cordial good will, and not with opposition.

Among the imposing temples of Bangkok the most prominent is the Wat Chang, and the following vivid description, written by Bayard Taylor, will reveal its beauty:

"Within a stone's throw of my window rose the shining tower of the most splendid temple in Bangkok. From its broad octagonal base to the tip of its splendid spire it must measure, I should think, a good deal more than two hundred feet; and every foot of its irregular surface glitters with ornament.

"Curiously wrought into it are forms of men and birds, and grotesque beasts, that seem with their outstretched hands, or claws, to hold it up. Two thirds the way from the base stand four white elephants, made of shining porcelain, facing one each way toward four points of the compass. From the rounded summit rises, like a needle, a sharp spire. This was the temple tower; and all over the magnificent pile, from the tip of the highest needle to the base, from every prominent angle and projection, there were hanging sweet-toned bells, with little gilded fans attached to their tongues, so swinging that they were vocal in the slightest breeze."

Along the east coast of Indo-China is a region known as Cochin China which, with Anam and Ton

quin on either side, is now under the control of France.

The people are very largely Mongolian, and their language is like that of the Chinese.

CHAPTER XI.

THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.

"What shall we call

This Curious One who builded a great wall,
That rivers crossing, skirting mountain steeps,
Did not keep out, but let in, the invader?
With twinkling almond eyes and little feet,
She tottered hither from her fields of flowers,

From where Peking uplifts its pictured towers,
And from the markets where her merchants meet
And barter with the world."

You are familiar with the names Hong-Kong, Canton, Shanghai, and Peking. What pictures come to your minds as these names are repeated? These are but a few of the great cities that fringe the coast of the mighty Chinese Empire.

We may form some idea of the immense size of China when we know that, with the exception of Russia, it is the largest empire the world has ever known. It occupies about one third of the whole continent of Asia. This vast empire has been, till recent times, one of the least-known countries on the globe. Look at your maps, and you will soon discover why

this is so. It is shut off from Europe and western Asia by trackless deserts, hundreds of miles wide. To the east is the broad Pacific Ocean.

The Portuguese, and later the Dutch, ventured across unknown oceans to the Far East to establish trading posts and to open a highway of commerce between the Old World and the New. But not until the days of the locomotive and the steamship was it possible to carry on a great commerce with this remote land.

The seclusion of China, then, will explain why her civilization should be quite different from that of any other country. The Chinese have their own way of doing things, and very many of their manners and customs are unlike those of any other people.

Within the boundaries of the empire are all varieties of surface, from the lofty table-lands of Tibet to the lowlands along the coast.

In northwestern China is an area as large as France which is entirely covered with a fine, yellowish soil. The high winds, which frequently sweep over this country, bring great clouds of dust from the inland deserts and deposit it over this region.

In some places the yellow soil covers the earth to the depth of a thousand feet. Rivers easily cut their way through this light soil, and their banks are high, perpendicular cliffs. Many of the natives dig caves in the face of these precipices, and in them make their homes.

This curious formation is called loess, meaning yellow soil; and this part of China is known as "the loess country."