Siam and the Siamese. Travels in Siam and Burma in 1904. A remarkably vivid account of a journey by steamboat and canoe, on horseback and elephant back, in the urban centers and border areas of early twentieth-century Thailand and Burma. The spare-time work of a professional archaeologist, this volume would alone merit attention for its kaleidoscopic and richly detailed account of Bangkok. The descriptions of Siam's ruined former capitals are, however, no less thorough, and the sojourn to Moulmein and Rangoon valuably comments on Britain's thriving colony. Lajonqui?re's trained eye misses little, taking in religion, architecture, history, daily habits, administrative institutions, and even the life of Bangkok's European community. Indispensable for the specialist, the general reader will find this highly readable travelogue a candid snapshot of the Thai and Burmese at a crucial transitional moment in their movement toward modernity. (Bangkok; First English translation of 1906)
