The Mon, called by the Burmans Ta - lain, and Peguans or Peguers by Europeans, long successfully contested with the Burmans the sway over the basin of the Irawadi. They were annexed to Burma in the middle of the 16th century, but again threw off the yoke in the beginning of the 18th century, and subjugated all Burma. Their range embraces the delta of the Salwin, where Moutama or Martaban was their chief port. They long preceded the Siamese in the Tenasserim Provinces, and the languages of the •Semang and Binua Of the Malay Peninsula retain deep traces of their ancient influence to the south. A colony is also found in the basin of the Menam. Before the great southern move ment of the Laos, the Mon appear to have occu pied that basin also, and to have marched and intermixed with the closely-allied Kambogians of the Lower Mei-kong. They seem to have been at one time the chief traders eastward of the Bay of Bengal.
The Nicobar Islanders appear to have been an early colony of the Mon race in its pure or more west Chinese and less Indian condition. They are flatter faced and more oblique eyed than the Rakhoing and Mon, in this resembling the more sequestered hill tribes of the Burman race. In some islands they have been much mixed with Malay colonists. Nicobar phonology is allied to , that of the Selong and Sernang. The entire 1 population has been estimated at 6000 souls. ' They eat the pig, yam, and plantain. They dread evil spirits. They bury the dead, and deposit with the body all the small articles of property of the deceased. They are monogamic, but divorce is frequent.
Ka-Khgen.—In the Irawadi and Mei-kong basins, there are remnants of tribes strongly distinguished from' the predominant races, and tending, with the evidence of language, to show that the ethnic history of Ultra-India is very ancient, and has undergone repeated revolutions. One of the most remarkable is the Ka-Khyen. They are described as being in their appearance not Mongolian, and totally different from the surrounding races of Shan, Burmese, and Chinese.
The Palong, Pa-on, or Ze-baing are partially subject to, and located to 'the east of, the Mo Meit (hung Myit, Moung-m-ri), beyond the Karen-ni, and along the Chinese..frontier, as -far as the latitude of Bamo (Maug-mo). They are good carpenters, dyers, and blacksmiths. Their dha or swords are exclusively used in and around Baum. They appioiimate to the Shams, of whom they are probably an offshoot; they wear the same dress, and are Buddhist, but they have affinities with the Ka-Khyen. Tho Palong seeni to resemble the Annamese in some respects.
A race of the same name (Panong), but to which the Siamese apply the generic name of Ka or Kha, inhabit the mountains of Laos, bordering on Kambogia. They arc a coarse and debased variety of the Amara and the Kambogian type.
Chong.—On the same side of the Metkong basin, but towards the sea, between lat. and le N., a hill tribe called Chong preserve more of the ancient Austral° - Tamilian character than the surrounding tribes. In tho Chong, the hair, instead of being stiff or harsh, as in the Mongolian, Tibetau, and prevalent Ultra-Indian and Malaya Polynesian race, is comparatively soft, the features are much more prominent, and the beard is fuller.
The Muong or 3fuan , who inhabit the moun tains on the west of the Tonkinese province of Thank - Hoa noi, and stretch into China, are evidently an extension of the aboriginal or un civilised Laos of Yunnan. The name is the Laos term for town or village which is scattered over so large a portion of the Chinese maps of Yunnan, indicating the present limits of Laos in that province.
The Annamese, or Annamitic group of peoples inhabiting Cochin-China and Tonkin, arc a section of the division to which the Chinese belong. The Chinese designate the Annam people. Ngannam. The Tonkinese call the Cochin-Chinese Kuang and Kekuang, names probably the same as Khyen and Ka-Khyen. Tho Cochin - Chinese, on the other hand, call the Tonkinese Kepak.
The Annamese group, amongst whom are the Moy, are found in Cochin-China and Tonkin, and two centuries before Christ the Chinese found the Annamese in possession of the basin of Sang Koi. • The Annam race (comprehending under this name both the Cochin - Chinese and Tonkinese, for there is very little difference between them) are fair, but are a short, squat, and ill-favoured people, with long arms and short legs. They are probably lower in stature than any people of Central Asia. Their limbs are strong and well formed, and they are active and hardy. In point of features they bear a nearer resemblance to the Malay than to any other people ; their counten ances exhibit an air of cheerfulness and good humour. The women are, to a remarkable degree, fairer and handsomer than the men, their hands, arms, and feet are well formed, and the carriage even of the lower orders is graceful. The hair of the head is ivorn long, and put up in a knot at the back of the head, as was practised by the Chinese before the present fashion was im posed upon them by the Manchu ; and the dress of both sexes is becoming ; it is the old costume of China, before the Chinese were compelled to adopt that of the Manchu conquerors. Both sexes dress nearly alike. For the lower part of the body, the covering consists of a pair of loose trousers, secured at the waist by a sash. The main portion of dress consists of two or more loose frocks, reaching half-way down the thigh. Its sleeves are loose, and with persons not com pelled to labour, they dangle a foot, or even a foot and a half, beyond the extremities of the fingers; but the labouring classes from necessity wear them short. With the women, the inner frock reaches below the knee, and the outer down to the ankles. When a Cochin-Chinese is in full dress, as when he makes visits or is engaged in the performance of religious rites, he always wears over the frocks now mentioned a loose silk gown reaching to the ankles. Both sexes wear turbands, which are put on with much neatness ;* and the form of this article of dress, which is always determinate, distinguishes the civil from tho military order of public officers.