&L (jMlersFlyOte r Dense I Jangles, Magic Isles Fringed With Cocoanat Palms in Tropical Siam Told Br LOWHLJb THOMAS. (Copjjinkt, 1(24.) From Salf«* to Waaghnk m the most romantls and polsrdul leg of the entire journey round the world. Her* the American airmen were nearer the equator than at any other point along their route. They were flying through tr o p 1 c a 1 •klea over the re glona aaldom visited by travelers from tha weet. Below them were Jungle stretches where no white person had ever been either by land or by air. And they were winging their way over thro* of the moat romantic countries In tha whola of the mysterloua conti nent of Aala—Cochin, China, ancient Cambodia and Siam, "the kingdom of the whit* *lephant.“ At th* rat* of a hundred mllee an hour. In airplane* more marvelous than the maglo carpet created by the Imagination of the oriental story Heller, these six aerial navigators from America were flying over Marco Polo’s faroff “land of the Golden Chersonese.” V Over Tropical Jungle*. “A* w* left the jungle of ancient Cambodia behind us and cut across a *orner of the Gulf of Siam, this little known arm of the China sea was a glassy sheet of sapphire blue. But,” adds Commander Lowell Smith, “as though to prevent the acene from be coming monotonoua the Creator of this fascinating world, round which we were flying, has dotted the Gulf of Siam with a hundrer magic Isles, fringed with tall cocoanut palms and White sandy beaches. The jungle be yond the shore line of many of these tropical Islands looked go dense that It surely would take a day to hack one's way through a mile of It. Some however, were nearly devoid of Jungle gnd covered with long, waving ele phant grass that made them look as gmooth as well-kept lawns up where We were. “Flying lower to get a better view Of them, we explored them with a view to coming here on our honey moons that is. if any of the rest of us are ever going to be as fortunate as Erik and Jack in winning favor in the eyes of the fairer sex. Erik's sweetheart flew along with him on the instrument board. Printed on celluloid, to protect It from the salt spray, from the blizzards of the north and from the typhoons and monsoons of the tropics, her picture was his mascot and Inspiration all the way around the world. "After landing on the Menam river at Bangkok, and dodging about be tween junks sampans and house boats, and nearly colliding with ban yan trees anti carcasses of animals floating toward the sea, we spent the rert of the afternoon working on the planes. Fortunately a few minor re pairs were necessary. This gava* us an excuse to remain over for a day in the capital of Slam before flying on across the Malay peninsula to the Bay of Bengal So some of us spent the night on the destroyer, while the others, tempted by thoughts of nice hods, insect proof nets, and electric fans, went up to the Royal hotel of Bangkok, hoping to escape the mos quitoes and other sleep destroyers that take ihe joy out of life on every river in the tropics. Unman Bodies In River. "Nejct nmrning while making our repairs on the cruisers, 'Les' happen (d to he looking down the river and |.'ur the body of a baby bobbing past With the current. Much agitated he called the attention of some English people who had come out In a launch to look over the planes Thev smiled and replied that they were surprised because we had been In Bangkok so many hours without seeing more human bodies floating down stream. It seemed to be an everyday occur rence, merely a little touch of local color to which they had become so ac customed they no longer paid any at tention. "We were delighted with the Sla mese, and particularly Impressed by the Intelligence, courtesy, and charm of the upper classes. We liked them tha Instant we met them. In fact, the welcome of Bangkok was »o warm that one# again our planes were In danger of being crushed by hundreds of sanpans. But the Sia mese officers strung circles of police boats around each cruiser for pro tection. Good Siamese Air Force. “Just before we Blurted ashore With Mr. Dickinson, the American charge d'affaires, a squadron of planes appeared over the cocoanut palms and banyans. Right down the Menam river they flew In formation j When directly above us they dipped and gave us the salute of the Bla mes* royal air force. Siam la Indeed * land of cantrasts. Called 'Ihe Ven tee of tha east' hern use moot of the dwellings are built on piles along can als. everywhere around ns were quaint dugout canoes and sampans filled with nuked people, while over-1 head flew tho pirplanes Introduced j by King Rims VI , an Oxford man, and the first Asiatic potentate to he educated In (he Occident. “I Imagine we saw nearly as much j dining one day stay In Slam as many Visitors see In a week, The repre j «enlut(ves of King Rama, tha officers 91 the Siamese royal air force, and OUr own countrymen escorted us about the city. First thev took ns to tho Internationally famous palace of the monarch of this tropic realm. “As we passed the golden elephants nt Ihe outer portsl the troops of the king of Slam were there to welcome iis. 1T|> the marble siulrcase, and through great carved doors of leak We entered a vestibule with a 4(1 foot cellin'- whose teal: walls wi re hung With thp coals of n ail of ancient Hi,am. From there w W'-re ushered Into the council room whete 1. nga of Siam recline on a ; olden couch to receive advisers and envoi Rehind this combination throne and divan bangs a portrait of i half naked Buddhist pontiff who, villi sheer' head snd hslf-ctosrd < es, looks down upon the Assemblage "Although we pass Javanese, Rur j Ui»s*. Cambodians, Malays, Chinese, Shan, Was. Karri and Japanese on tha canals and tamarisk lined streets of Bangkok, the stats religion of the Siamese Is Buddhism. Every youth In Slam is obliged to become a monk for a time just as the boys In Europe an countries are compelled to serve In the army. Of the 8,000,000 people in the country more than 80,000 are Buddhist monks, in fact, there are nearly 20,000 Buddhist temples, gold en-spired pagodas. and fantastic teak monasteries. Palace Impressive Sight. “From the council room the gener als, admirals, ex-prime ministers, and other dignitaries who were showing us the sights of Slam took us into another chamber, where we saw two hug# and exquisitely carved elephant tusks, end then as a final climax they marched us Into the throne room, with Its lofty celling of inlaid glass. Its frescoed walls of glittering gold leaf, Its dazzling crystal candel abra, Its marble mosaic floor, and the king of Siam's throne under neath a nine story, pagodalike struc ture covered with gold. The oriental magnificence of this palace, and the fact that we, the heroes of the Ariblan Nights, had flown here through the sky. made us feel like modern Aladdins, and we had to pinch each other to make sure we were awake. "Although the king business Is get ting to be one of the most difficult a%d hazardous Jobs In the world, per haps only a trifle less dangerous than a job In the United States air service as a test pilot at Dayton, being king of Slam has Its compensations. For Instance, every woman In the coun try belongs to him. according to the custom of the country. In fact, all of his subjects are slaves. But In reality Slam Is ‘Muang Thai,’ which, trans lated, means 'Land of the Free,* The Siamese are modest, however, and do not call their country ‘the home of the brave.* White Elephants Too Costly. "From the king’s palace with Its golden, tiled roof ws were taken to the stables of the royal white ele phants. As a matter of fact, we were as Interested In seeing the king’s flock of white elephants as anything else In Slam. But this was our one disappointment In Bangkok. They are not white at all—merely a sort of sickly pinkish. In other words, albino pachyderms. “The white elephant Is still the royal animal of the country, but ever since the present Oxonian mon arch ascended the throne, took unto himself only one wife Instead of 80, introducing typewriters, phonographs. American automobiles, airplanes, and expert advisors from the United States and Europe, the white ele phants of Slam have been attended with less and less pomp and circum stances. “Whereas It was only a few years ago that whenever a so-called white elephant was located In the Jungle, he was captured, tied with sllkce ropes, assigned a group of Siamese counts, barons, and marquises to serve as his valets, bathed with per fumed water, given tender shoots of grass, cane, and bamboo, and trays of wheat cakes and syrup to eat. water scented with the fragrance of jessamine to drink, elevated to a peer age at court, baptized by the Bud dhlst priests, and assigned a corps of j uniformed attendants with palm leaL fans to keep the flies and gnats away j from the royal face. Those were sure ly palmy days for the white ele phants of Slam. In fact the cost of, maintaining these pinkish, pachy derms In royal fashion was enough to bankrupt many a Siamese nobleman. And It was thus that the expression ‘to have a white elephant on their hands’ came Into existence. Absolute Monarch. “But times are not what they used to be In Slam, according to the brief conversation we held with the few scrawny-looklng white elephants In the royal ^tables. For Instance, we visited one Buddhist temple where we saw a statue of St. Peter at one of the gates and a statue of a Dutchman j smoking a pipe at another. But there Is one quant little custom that we i were glad to discover was a* popular today as It ever was. I refer to the custom of beheading. The king la an absolute monarch, one of the few left on earth. And as a special honor a beheading bee was arranged for us. This gay event was to have taken place a fortnight later, but was mov ed up Just for our benefit. However, we sent our regTets at not being able to visit the ’playground’ where these frolics are alwajs held In Bangkok. We explained that w# never attended beheadings unless we were given the light to say who was to lie beheaded “Before concluding this one dnv jaunt around Bangkok, the longest sight seeing tour that we had time to make from the time we left America until our return, we stopped to psv our respects to the ranking Siamese who happened to he In the city. AVhen we were ushered Into his draw Ing room, to otir astonishment we saw a picture of our own General Mitchell, assistant chief of air service occupying the place of honor on the I prince’s table. General Mitchell had, been there on a tiger hunt only a few weeks before and every one In .Slam was loud 111 praise of the man who fought so hard to mal e 1 lie pen plo of America appreciate the far! that the world has at last reached the era of travel by air. “That night we elept on the de stroyer In order to be ready for our long flight across Malaya to Burma, 'on the rood to Mandalay'." Iteuil the next installment of 'the thrilling story of ftio round tlie-worlil flight in The (lip,'ilia Ibe tomorrow. Mrs. Ailor I)icH in Arizona; Brought lo Stella for Burial Htella, Inc, SJ.—Mrs. Katt Ailor, who rll»i| jit the home of her grand da tighter, Mrs. Thomas Jackson, In I'reseott, Arias , wsm brought back here (his weil; for but hi! In Stella ceme tery lirBide her tin*hand, who died 13 years ago. IHdcr J. W. Sapp preach c d the tuner,11 per vie© at the Christian church In Stella. Mrs. Ailor was horn In Ohio In IH4I ind had lived In nr near H’elln for 40 years. Ifer death resulted after a week s Illness following a stroke of paralysis. ^ I ■ ■ Thompson-Belden * - Thompson-Belden SORQSIS Shoes Reduced Broken Lines from Stock 595 From our regular stock of footwear we have taken all models in which the line of sizes is broken. These pumps represent excellent foot wear values when priced at 5.95. Black satin slippers ! 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