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THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



Photo by Mr. H. Warington Smyth. 

 A SHAN MAN. 



Both Shans and Siamese proper call themselves Tai 

 (Shan Tai), i.e. "free." Assam may be a translation of 

 the word Shan. The obsolete Siamese word is Siem, and 

 the Chinese Sien-lo, the Sien being, according to them, a 

 tribe which came north about A.D. 1341. The Siamese call 

 Shans "Great Tai," as having preceded them, and them- 

 selves " Little Tai." There is certainly a close relationship 

 between them; but the Siamese, having had much intercourse 

 with the Malays, and other southern races, are of inferior 

 physique. The Cambodian kingdom formerly extended much 

 farther north. Tradition says that the town of Lapong wa& 

 founded in 575, and that the half-mythical king Phra Euang 

 freed the Siamese from the Cambodian yoke. 



The Siamese proper are a well-formed people, with olive 

 complexion and black hair. They are darker than the 

 Chinese, but fairer and handsomer than the Malays. Their 

 eyes are well shaped, the lips rather prominent; the nose 

 is slightly flattened, the face rather wide across the cheek- 

 bones, the top of the forehead pointed, and the chin short. 

 They are dearly fond of bathing and swimming in their 



rivers many times in the course of ' the day, a practice rendered almost necessary by the heat 

 of the climate. Many of the men shave off the hair of the head, leaving only a coarse tuft 

 on the top. The preservation of this tuft, and the changes it undergoes under different 

 circumstances, are matters of considerable social importance. The tuft on a child's head 

 is prettily knotted, and kept together by a gold or silver pin, unless the family are poor, 

 in which case a porcupine quill serves instead; but it is generally wreathed with fragrant 

 flowers. The shaving of the hair-tuft of children is an important family festival, to 

 which friends and relations are invited. Displays of fireworks announce the event. Priests 

 recite prayers and wash the head of the young person, who is decorated with all the 

 jewellery the family can lay their hands on. Music is played during the ceremony; 

 congratulations, together with gifts of silver, are presented to the newly shorn one. One 

 seldom sees a bearded man, for the hairs on the chin are generally plucked out. The 

 passion for ornaments is universal. Scarcely a family is so poor as not to possess some 

 jewellery. Kings of silver and gold adorn the arms and legs of children; and rich necklaces, 

 earrings, and belts are sometimes worn in such quantity as to embarrass the wearer's- 

 movements. 



As among the Chinese, so here also long nails are regarded as a mark of aristocracy; and 

 every art is employed for making the teeth black, betel and areca being used to accomplish this- 

 object. As a rule, the people go about barefooted. The Siamese are decidedly a sober race, 

 though when a man takes to strong drink he generally becomes a hopeless drunkard. Opium- 

 smoking, owing to severe edicts against the practice, has not increased very much of late 

 years. Tobacco is smoked a good deal, and tea is used almost as freely as in China. 



Bishop Pallegoix, who knew the Siamese very well, was favourably impressed with the 

 character of these people. "They are," he says, "gentle, cheerful, timid, careless, and almost 

 passionless. They are disposed to idleness, inconstancy, and exaction; they are liberal alms- 

 givers, and severe in all matters of decorum. They are fond of sports, and lose half their 

 time in amusements. They are sharp, and even witty in conversation, and resemble the 

 Chinese in their aptitude for imitation." Serious disputes are of rare occurrence, and strangers- 

 can rely upon being hospitably received. 



Eeverence for authority appears as the ground-work on which all institutions and habits 

 are founded, and is developed to the most absurd extremes. No man of inferior rank dares- 

 to raise his head to the level of that of his superior; no person can cross a bridge if some 



