The Siamese twins, Chang and Eng : a biographical sketch.

Date:
[1869]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Siamese twins, Chang and Eng : a biographical sketch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    8 this, achieves an immortality of fame, and makes a reputation that insures many fortunes. WHERE THEY WERE BORN. Am interest would attach to any land which had given to the world this couple of marvellous curiosity. But the Kingdom of Siam has an interest in and of itself. Siam of itself pays for study. Its vast and fertile plain, walled in on all sides, except the South, by mountain chains of vast elevation, extending to the Himalayas, owes its exist- ence and its richness to the same cause. SIAM THE EGYPT OF ASIA. The River Menam (sometimes spelled “Manaam,” the generic name for river), flowing for near a thousand miles through' that central region, is its Nile—it has made the plain. Like the Nile, the Menam has its annual inundation, when it brings from the mountainous regions of the North, the rich allivium, which spread over the surface makes Siam even more fertile than the land of leeks, onions and melons,” in Africa. In the month of August the waters of the Menam rise to a height of six feet above the average level. Between no other two countres are there such striking parallels as between Siam and Egypt. We ought to add, that, as by three channels or mouths, the Nile empties into the Mediteranean, so by three channels does the Menam finds its way into the waters of the Chinese Sea. THE CLIMATE. To wonderful fertility of soil we must add that Siam has a singularly quickening climate. Siam is in the equatorial regions. In the coldest days the mercury does not get below 70° of Fahrenheit. Yet, despite this e quatorial sun, such are the counteracting influences of breezes from the mountains, that the heat seldom rises higher than to 85°. The abundant rains in the wet season and consequent humidity of the atmosphere, sometimes bring ague and cholera. In other regards the climate is healthy. Cotton, spice, and especially pepper, are among its staples—the joint products of an Egyptian soil, and an equatorial sun. In other respects, Siam is not like Egypt. It was not known to his- tory prior to 700 of the Christian era. Nor was much known of the country before A.D. 1612, in which year an English ship first sailed up its great river. If it is true that “ happy is the nations whose annals are dry,” Siam has been a happy nation. It has indeed had its wars and civil tumults; but the current of its history has generally been equable. In this the Siamese are true Mongolians.