The Kho occupy the delta of\ the Mei-kong in Kambogia, between Siam and Cochin - China, the remaining population being Chinese, Cochin Chinese, Siamese, Malays, Portuguese, and mixed races. The Kho are the aborigines of Kambogia. Their language and that of the Mon in Pegu are said to be much more nearly allied to each other than to the T'hai language, which is spoken in the intervening country. The Kho and Siamese languages are mutually unintelligible.
Champa is a narrow mountainous tract between Cochin-China and Kambogia. The only part of the continent of Asia, the Malay Peninsula excepted, in which the Malays have settled, and to which their language has extended, is Kam begin. In that country they established the little independent principality called Champa, well known both in Malay and Javanese story. Both the Malays of the Peninsula and the Javanese appear to have carried on a commercial inter course with Champa, and the same commerce still goes on between Champs and the British settlement of Singapore. The people are known in Kambogia as the Tsiam, and to the Annamese as the Loi Thuan or Thieng. Colonel Yule says a number of them are settled near the Great Lake.
The 111aung T'hai or Siam people consist of the Siamese proper, the Khamti, the Laos, and the Shan. The valley of the Menam, throughout its whole course, is exclusively T'hai, and the T'hai attain their highest civilisation on the alluvial delta of their river. The old capital, Ayuthia, founded iu 1351, was abandoned in 1751 for Bankok, lower down the river, and Siamese now dominate that part of the Peninsula which extends from the Siam Gulf to lat. 7° N. Kambogia, the Laos of the Lu country, Luang, Phra Bang, and Nan, are also tributary to Siam. The Siamese are a Mongoloid race, as are those of Ava, Pegu, Kambogia, Cochin-China, and the Malays. The Siamese have large, straight faces, flat occiputs, lowness of the hairy scalp, comparatively small and firm mouth, hard staring eyes, and a grave expres sion. The Siamese are physically superior to the natives of the Indian Archipelago, if we except those of Bali ; indeed, the Balinese and Siamese bear a striking resemblance to each other. Some natives of Siam attain a height about the middle size, and are generally well made ; • but their average height is 5 feet 3 inches. The hue of their skin is a shade darker than that of the Chinese, but they have fairer complexions than the Malays and Javanese. They are a busy,
industrious, and enterprising people, but vain, deceitful, and cruel. T'hai is the native name of the Siamese, and their chief divisions are the Laos, Shyan (Shan or Ahom), and Khamti.
The Laos nation are in the interior of Siam, and their language is a variety of that of the T'hai. Burma, Siam, and Tonkin received their first culture from India, along with Buddhism, and their ancient buildings all bear the stamp of Indian origin and Indian taste of a post-Christian age ; Siam in recent times has added Chinese methods of improvement to the Indian ones ; while Tonkin mainly from China. De Carne mentions (p. 129) that at close of the 18th century, when the king of Siam made himself master of Palembang on the Kambogia, he drove out all the inhabitants, and replaced them by others. Many foreigners, Chinese and Cochin Chinese, reside in Siam, also Portuguese, French, British, and Dutch. The Siamese marriage ap proaches more to a civil contract than to a religious institution. The bridegrooms are from 16 to 20 years of age, and the brides about 14 years. In Siam polygamy and concubinage are allowed. There are four classes of wives recog nised, the first being those received from royalty. Relatives of the same blood do not intermarry. In Siam, the kings marry into their own family, even with their own sisters and daughters.
The wives of the Burmese and Siamese engage largely in business, take an active part in their husband's affairs, and enter into personal trans actions. The wives of men of rank advise and issue orders ; those of humbler station make trading voyages in boats up the river on their own account and on that of their husbands. The women of Burma and Siam attend public festivals and theatrical representations. They go abroad on foot without ostentation or affectation.
The dress of both men and women consists of a cloth wrapped round the waist, one end being brought between the legs and fastened behind, which gives this portion of their attire the appear ance of a pair of trousers. In addition, women wear a cloth wrapped round the body, under the arms. Both men and women have the hair shaved from their heads, with tho exception of a small round patch which is left between the crown and the forehead. This, being brushed up, is made to stand on end, which gives them a scared appearance. Paternal authority is strongly en forced.