promote the interests of their own particular clan. They have frequent quarrels with the natives of other provinces.
Some time ago there was quite a serious quarrel between certain clans. The trouble is said to have originated with the Ang Yees, a secret society. They resorted to knives and firearms, and a number were killed. The government took the matter up and decapitated several of them, which put a quietus upon the others for the time.
The Chinese are very daring. There are organized bands of robbers, who go up and down the river robbing boats and breaking into native houses, and committing murder in some cases where resistance is offered. One house in the very shadow of the palace was entered and a large sum of money taken. The ringleaders were caught and beheaded, and the people are now feeling more secure in life and property.
The Chinese are inveterate gamblers. Much of the hard-earned wages of the laboring classes is lost in the gambling dens. The gambling establishments are all in the hands of the Chinese. Gambling, like many other things in Siam, is a monopoly, and the government sells to the highest bidder the privilege of licensing and controlling all such establishments in the country. He has the right to arrest and punish all those who infringe upon his privileges. Men, women and little children all frequent the gambling-places.
