official members, and of
_regidores_ or _regulators_, who were chosen in varying proportions from
the "hidalgos" or nobles (_hijos de algo_, sons of somebody) and the
"pecheros," or commoners, who paid the _pecho_, or personal tax; pecho
(Lat. _pectus_) is in Spanish the breast, and then by extension the person.
The regidores of the ayuntamientos, or lay cabildos, were checked by the
royal judge or _corregidor_, who was in fact the permanent chairman or
president. The distinction between hidalgo and pechero has been abolished
in modern Spain, but the powers and the constitution of ayuntamientos have
been subject to many modifications.

AYUTHIA, a city of Siam, now known to the Siamese as _Krung Kao_ or "the
Old Capital," situated in 100deg 32' E., 14deg 21' N. Pop. about 10,000.
The river Me Nam, broken up into a network of creeks, here surrounds a
large island upon which stand the ruins of the famous city which was for
more than four centuries the capital of Siam. The bulk of the inhabitants
live in the floating houses characteristic of lower Siam, using as
thoroughfares the creeks to the edges of which the houses are moored. The
ruins of the old city are of great archaeological interest, as are the
relics, of which a large collection is housed in the local museum. Outside
the town is an ancient masonry enclosure for the capture of elephants,
which is still periodically used. Ayuthia is on the northern main line of
the state railways, 42 m. from Bangkok. Great quantities of paddi are
annually sent by river and rail to Bangkok, in return for which cloth and
other goods are imported to supply the wants of the agriculturist
peasantry. There is no other trade. Ayuthia is the chief town of one of the
richest agricultural provincial divisions of Siam and is the headquarters
of a high commissioner. The government offices occupy spacious buildings,
once a royal summer retreat; the government is that of an ordinary
provincial division (_Monton_).

Historically Ayuthia is the most interesting spot in Siam. Among the
innumerable ruins may be seen those of palaces, pagodas, churches and
fortifications, the departed glories of which are recorded in the writings
of the early European travellers who first brought Siam within the
knowledge of the West, and laid the foundations of the present foreign
intercourse and trade. The town was twice destroyed by the Burmese, once in
1555 and again in 1767, and from the date of the second dest