[6]. A Dewah, or inhabitant of Indra’s heaven.
[7]. Mr Archer gives the Siamese pronunciation of the names; I give that of my Burmese Shan interpreters.
[8]. Most Chinese and Indo-Chinese cities are under tutelary deities, as the cities in Egypt and Babylonia were in ancient times. The same custom prevails in India, where many cities are presided over by incarnations of one or other of the gods.
[9]. The great masses of the common people are marked and designated as Prai-luang. These are scattered all over the country. The provincial or the city authorities can demand of those thus marked three months’ personal services each year, and there may be extra demands if there is a seeming need. The usual mode is to require service one month, and then allow them three months to carry on their own pursuits. The only derangement to this plan is the extra service. No pay is allowed for this service. For failure to perform the service he must pay $3.60 each month.—Extract from ‘The Siam Repository.’
[10]. Committed by themselves or by their relations. The law frequently adjudges, besides punishment to the man, that his family and descendants shall for the future be slaves of the Government. The descendants of captives in war are classed and treated as Government slaves.
[11]. “The abolition of the system of corvée, which weighs very heavily on the people, would be a boon of infinite benefit to the country. It is not only that the service lawfully due is heavy, but the opportunity for imposing vexatious and severe labour, with a view to receiving a bribe for dispensing with it, is eagerly taken advantage of by unscrupulous officials. A poll-tax of reasonable amount would probably bring in a greater sum to the Royal revenues, and would bear but lightly on the people.”—Consular Report, Siam, No. 1, (1886).
[12]. Up to August 1885, when George Washington, the second King of Siam, died, a duplicate king reigned in Siam in conjunction with the supreme monarch, and had much the same power as a Chow Hona has in the Shan States.
[13]. During my various journeys I passed through or near 222 villages in the portion of the Zimmé plain lying between the entrance of the Meh Teng, into the Meh Ping on the north and the junction of the Meh Hkuang with the Meh Ping on the south—including those on the various branches of the river.
[14]. The prince at the head of the Gem City.