The Natural History of the Varieties of Man

by R. G. Latham

THE SIAMESE.

Locality.—From the Gulf of Siam and the neck of the Malayan Peninsula to the frontiers of China. Part of Assam. Conterminous on the east, except so far as they are separated by mountain tribes, with the Anamese, and Kambojians; on the west, subject to the same limitation, with the Môn of Pegu, and the tribes of the Burmese empire. On the south with the Malays of the Malayan Peninsula.

Synonym.—T'hay, the native name.

Religion.—Buddhist.

Alphabets.—Of Indian origin, rounded forms of the Pali. Chief Divisions.—Laos, Shyán, (Ahom?) Khamti.

Physical Appearance.—Average height of twenty men, taken indiscriminately, five feet three inches, the tallest being five feet eight inches, the shortest, five feet two inches. Limbs and trunk robust. Complexion, light brown, lighter than the Malay, darker than the Chinese. Hair, black, lank, coarse and abundant. Hairy scalp descends low. Nose small, but not flattened; nostrils divergent. Sclerotica yellowish. Outer angles of the eye turned upwards. Cheek-bones broad and high. Lower jaw square, so as to look as if the parotid gland were swollen.—Crawford and Finlayson from Prichard.

In the history of the Siamese Tribes, the conquest of Assam is, perhaps, the most important event; and this is connected with their wide distribution.

In the lower part of the valley of Assam the language is Bengali, or nearly so; but only in the lower part. The upper half is peopled by different small mountain tribes, one of which is the Khamti.

The Khamti.—In the North Eastern corner of Assam, the Khamti are conterminous with the Singpho, Mishimi, and Miri, and are traditionally reported to have emigrated from the head-waters of the Irawaddi. In physical appearance they are middle-sized, more resembling the Chinese than any tribe on the frontier. Perhaps, a shade darker in complexion. Their alphabet is Siamese; and their language, far north as it is spoken, when compared with the Siamese of Bankok, closely resembles that dialect. In Brown's[11] Vocabularies the proportion of words, similar or identical, in Khamti and Siamese, is 92 per cent.

Still it is by no means certain that the Khamti represent the original conquerors. These were Ahoms; their alphabet was Ahom, and the language Ahom. The Ahom, however, was Siamese; and probably the Khamti was a dialect of it.