OF THE INDO-CHINESE NATIONS. 231 



only a slight variation of the Rukheng, which it ap- 

 proaches much nearer than the Barma. The range 

 of mountains to the north and east of Rukheng is 

 inhabited by a race termed Khhig, by the Ruk'heng 

 and Banna tribes, or as it is written by Dr. Fr. 

 Buchanan, Kiayn ; but who term themselves Kolim, 

 and whose language is peculiar, having little or no 

 affinity to either Rukheng or Banna. From tlie two 

 names, R6 and Kheng, the name of Rukhhig is gene- 

 rally derived ; but the national name of the Rukheng 

 race is Ma-rum-ma, which seems to be only a cor- 

 ruption of Maha-Vunna; Vunna being an epithet 

 generally assumed by the tribes of Kshatnya ex- 

 traction. The inhabitants of the mountains between 

 Rukheng and Chatigan are termed Sa-moivng-syang 

 by the Rukheng tribes, and are asserted to speak a 

 ditferent language. They are probably only a di vision 

 of the Kheng or Kolun. Whether these are tlie same 

 with the Kiikis, who inhabit the high ranges of hills 

 to the N. E. of Chatigan, I have not been able to 

 determine. In the able and curious description of 

 this singular race, given by J. IMacrae, Esq. in the 

 seventh volume of the Asiatic Researches, the lan- 

 guages of the Kiiki and Mug, or Rukheng races, aje 

 said to be so intimately connected as to be mutually 

 intelligible. That the two adjacent tribes should 

 be mutually able to understand each other, is very 

 probable; but that their respective languages are 

 connected, in this instance, 1 apprehend to be very 

 dubious ; for in a specimen of above 500 radical terms 

 of the Kiiki, which I owe to that gentleman's polite- 

 ness, 1 find very few which are similar to the cor- 

 responding Rukheng, or that were understood by an 

 intellgent native of Arakan. The subject, however, 

 requires further investigation, and there seems to be 

 no person better qualified than Mr. Mackae, for 



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