The kingdom of . the greatest as-sistance to agriculture. But the granite hills areusually covered with a thick covering of rich clay;and for all kinds of hill crops the country is admir-ably adapted. The mountains are covered with thedensest and most magnificent tropical vegetation,in which the most characteristic and useful growthsare several varieties of the guttapercha (in the southonly), the camphor tree, ebony, eaglewood, sapan,rattan, nibung, bamboo, nipa-palm, cocoanut, areca,and gomuti. The fauna is unusually rich, both the Asiaticmainland and the islands of the Eastern Archi-p
The kingdom of . the greatest as-sistance to agriculture. But the granite hills areusually covered with a thick covering of rich clay;and for all kinds of hill crops the country is admir-ably adapted. The mountains are covered with thedensest and most magnificent tropical vegetation,in which the most characteristic and useful growthsare several varieties of the guttapercha (in the southonly), the camphor tree, ebony, eaglewood, sapan,rattan, nibung, bamboo, nipa-palm, cocoanut, areca,and gomuti. The fauna is unusually rich, both the Asiaticmainland and the islands of the Eastern Archi-pelago being represented by numerousvarieties. The elephant, tiger, one-hornedrhinoceros, tapir, hog, and many varieties of bearand bison are met with. Quadrumana are repre-sented by nine or more specimens. Amongst birds 62 Kingdom of Siam there are several varieties from Java and other EastIndian islands; in fact, the Malay Peninsula islargely the meeting ground for the denizens of theAsiatic and the Polynesian CHAPTER IVNAVAL AND MILITARY FORCES 63 CHAPTER IV NAVAL AND MILITARY FORCESTHE SIAMESE ARMY AMONG the departments of Siamese administra-tion that have shared to the full in the progresswhich forms so marked a feature of the present reign,the army occupies a foremost place; for not onlyhave radical reforms been introduced into Its Reform the organization of this most necessary and im- 1 1 f 1 . -1 . • provement. branch oi the service, with a view to in-crease its efficiency, but every effort has been madeto reconcile as far as practicable the inevitable callit makes upon the time of the younger and morevigorous elements of the nation with the exigenciesof the other branches of the government service, aswell as with the conditions indispensable to thehealthy development of the countrys natural re-sources and industrial capabilities. With the system until recently in force, military 65 66 Kingdom of Siam service, while weighing heavily upon a few particularThe Ol
Size: 2094px × 1193px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booki, bookornament, bookyear1904
