The Ahom literature, preserved in the books of the Assam priesthood, is said to be remarkable for the negative fact of there being in it no traces of the Hindu religion—either Buddhist or Brahminical. This speaks much either in favour of the antiquity of the conquest, or for the recent date of the Hindu influence.
In A.D. 1695, the Brahminical religion was established in Assam: how much earlier is uncertain.
THE KAMBOJIANS.
Locality.—Lower course of the Mekhong river. East of the Siamese, west of the Anamese, except so for as they may be separated by isolated mountain tribes, conterminous with these nations.
Our knowledge respecting the Kambojians is not sufficiently definite to enable us to say how far they differ, or how far they agree with certain tribes of the interior, which have been described separately. In Prichard I find that they were supposed by the Portuguese to have been derived from a warlike nation of the interior, called Kho, or Gueo; who are still represented as painting and tattooing their bodies.
Now these Kho, or Gueo, are probably the Ka described along with the Chong, as a separate people. If so we are enabled to dispose of three unplaced tribes; since, by Crawfurd's Ka and Chong vocabularies we can connect, perhaps identify, them with the Kambojians.
| ENGLISH. | KA. | CHONG. | KAMBOJIAN. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | tangi | tańgi | tangai. |
| Moon | kot | kang | ke. |
| Stone | tamoe | tamok | tamo. |
| Water | dak | tak | tak. |
| River | dak-tani | talle | tanle. |
| Fire | un | pleu | plung. |
| Fish | tre | mel | trai. |
| One | moe | moe | moe. |
| Two | bar | bar | pir. |
| Three | peh | peh | bai. |
| Four | puan | pon | buan. |
| Five | chang | pram | pram. |
Most of the Ka, and Chong words which are not Kambojian are either Anamitic or Môn.
Furthermore, in Crawfurd's Embassy to Siam, a vocabulary representing a fourth Kambojian dialect is given; the Khomen.