MOMUND, an Afghan tribe, partly in British territory, partly semi-independent. The Upper or Hill Momund country stretches from the south western districts of Swat to the hills north of the Khaibar, and includes both banks of the river. Kabul, Lalpura, the capital town, being situated on its left bank, just beyond the north-western extremity of the Khaibar. The Doaba between the Kabul and Lundi rivers overlooks British territory, and at one point is only 25 miles distant from Peshawur. The Lower Momunds inhabit lands within the British frontier, although doubt less of the same family originally. Four clans of this tribe at the least have come into collision with the British Government. These are the Pindi Ali Momunds, whose country extends westwards from the right bank of the Lundi, and in naturally a very strong position ; the Alamzai Momunds, to the south of the former, who are also in possession of estates in British Doaba, which are let out for the most part to tenants ; the Lalpura Momunds on the Kabul river ; and the Michni .Momunds, a portion of whose terri tory is attached to the Peshawur district. They hold a jaghir at the junction of the Kabul and Lundi rivers, a fertile tract, partly cultivated by themselves, and partly by members of various tribes on the plains, who are tenants. This jaghir was once more extensive than it is now, but was considerably diminished by reason of their murder of Lieutenant Bullenois, of • the Engineers, at the end of 1852. That officer had, for the sake of amusement, ridden to a very short distance into the lower hills among their lands, when he was seized and killed, and his head was sent as a trophy to Lalpura. Also they withheld the payment of two years tribute. At last retribution was dealt out. In the autumn of 1854 a force was sent •against them, which destroyed some of their villages, and brought the refractory Michuis to order. They have a few large villages, such as Lalpura, Kaumeh, and Goshteh, but the people generally live in very small hamlets. They originally acquired their present possession by conquest from the Delazaks on occasion of the Afghans from the west invading this part of the country. See Mohan] nd.
MON is the native name of the people of Pegu. The Burmese call them Talaing. The Siamese appellation is Ming-mon. Part of this population dwell on the delta of the Irawadi, in Moulmein, Amherst, and Martaban. Their alphabet, like that of the Thay and Burmese, is of Indian origin, being essentially that of the Pali form of speech, and, like all alphabets of this kind, it embodies a Buddhist literature. The Mon language is quite
unintelligible to a Burmese or Siamese. The Mon 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 ecu tury,but again threw off the yoke in the,beginning of the 18th century, and subjugated all Burma. Their range embraces the delta of the Sa-luen, where Moutama or Martaban was their chief port. They long preceded the Siamese in the Tenasserim Pro vinces, 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 Menarn. Before the great southern movement of the Lap, the Mon appear to have occupied that basin also, and to have marched and intermixed with the closely allied Cambodians of the Lower Mei-kong. They seem to have been at one time the chief traders eastward of the Bay of Bengal. No trace of the Mon is now left along the Yuma range —tribes of the Karen 'family being the exclusive holders of its inner valleys. Some of the very imperfectly described tribes on the eastern side of the Irawadi, to the north of the Karen-ni, viz. the Za-baing, Ka-Khyen, etc., may belong to the older immi- • gration. But the Mon is the only remnant within the ancient Karen province, and its earlier pre servation is doubtless owing to the same causes, its arts, civilisation, and wealth, which have enabled it to hold its own against the Tibeto Burman horde of the Irawadi. The Mon or Teling language has the intonations characteristic of the Chinese family, but to a much less extent than the Chinese itself, the Tai, or the Karen. The roots are principally monosyllabic ; but this language is remarkable for its numerous compound consonants. Like all other Judo - Chinese lan guages, grammatical distinctions are made by particles prefixed or suffixed. In its vocables, it is the most isolated language in Further India, but it has a radical affinity with the language of the Ho or Kol. This is the view of Mr. J. R. Logan as quoted by Colonel Phayre, in his paper on the History of the Burma race.. He considers the radical identity of the relative pronouns, definitives, and numerals of the Kol with those of the Mon-Annam group as established. Both groups in their glossarial basis are branches • of one formation much more akin to Tibetan-Burman than to Dravidian.—Dalton, Eihnol. of Bengal, p. 119.