None of the lettered languages of the Indo-Chinese peninsula are less known than that of[96] Pegu. At the same time its unequivocally monosyllabic character is beyond doubt. The alphabet is a slight variation of the Avan.
The geographical position of the Môn at the extremity of a promontory, and on the delta of a river, taken along with their philological isolation, is remarkable. They have evidently been encroached upon by the Avans in latter times; whilst, at an earlier period, they themselves probably encroached upon others. Whether they are the oldest occupants of Maulmein is uncertain; it is only certain that they are older than their conquerors.
To the Môn of Pegu the exchange of Avan for British rule, has been a great and an appreciated advantage.
2. The Siamese.—The native name for the Siamese language is Tha'y, and Tha'y is the national and indigenous denomination of the Siamese. It is the Avans who call them Sian or Shan; from whence the European term has been derived through the Portuguese.
The Siamese population is of course greatest on the Siamese frontier; so that, increasing as we go south, it attains its maximum in Tenasserim just as the Môn did in Maulmein. It seems, also, to have been introduced at different times; a fact which gives us a distinction between the native Siamese and the recent settlers.[97]
Like the Môn, the Tha'y, at least in its more classical dialect, is a lettered language; the alphabet, like the Buddhist religion, being Indian. Unlike, however, the Môn, which is the only representative of the family to which it belongs, the Tha'y tribes constitute a vast class, falling into divisions and subdivisions, and exceedingly remarkable in respect to its geographical distribution.
The Siamese of Siam, the kingdom of which Bankok is the capital, form but a fraction of this great stock. The upper half of the river Menam is occupied by what are called the Laú, or Laos. These are partly wholly independent, and partly in nominal dependence upon China; and proportionate to their independence is the unlettered character of their language, and the absence of Indian influences. Nor is this all. The Menam is pre-eminently the river of the Tha'y stock, and along the water-system of the Menam its chief branches are to be found; their position being between the Burmese populations of the west, and the Khomen of Cambojia on the east. This distribution is vertical, i.e., it is characterized by its length, rather than its breadth, and runs from south to north. So far does it reach in this direction that, as high as 28° North lat., in upper Assam we find a branch of it. This is the Khamti. In a valuable comparison of languages, well-known[98] as "Brown's Tables,"[23] the proportion of the Khamti words to the South Siamese is ninety-two per cent.
Of the physical appearance of the Siamese, we find the best account in "Crawfurd's Embassy," the classical work for the ethnology of the southern part of the Indo-Chinese peninsula. Their stature is low; the tallest man out of twenty having been five feet eight inches, the shortest five feet three. The complexion, darker than that of the Chinese, is lighter than that of the Malay; the eye oblique; the jaw square; and the cheek-bones broad.
Tha'y is an ethnological term, and denotes all the nations and tribes akin to the Siamese of the southern, the Khamti of the northern, or the Laú of the intermediate area. The difference between the first and the last of these three should be noticed. Some members of the family are Indianized in religion, and organized in politics. Such are the Siamese of Bankok. Others retain both their independence and their original Paganism. Such are some of the Laú. Mutatis mutandis, the same applies to the next family.
This is the Burmese, to which both the Avans and the Kariens belong; but as it has been already stated that the divisions under consideration[99] are by no means of equal value, the two branches will be considered separately.