212 R. N. Oust — Langif,nges of the Indo-Chinese [Nov. 



states the Burmese domination has left its mark. Many Pali words have 

 crept in from religious influences. All the Tai languages are tonal, and 

 accuracy in speaking depends on the exact knowledge of the tone ; the 

 Siamese alphabet expresses these tones, but the others do not. Books are 

 generally metrical ; the language is rich to redundancy in synonyms. 



" In our last year's report we noticed the vocabularies of Khamti 

 and Ahom in the valley of Assam. The Shan states of Burmah are repre- 

 sented by a Shan grammar, published by the Rev. J. Gushing, at Rangoon, 

 in 1871, and a vocabulary is in the course of preparation. There are voca- 

 bularies by Hunter and others. It is distinctly asserted that, while the 

 Siamese alone call themselves Thai or ' free,' all the others call themselves 

 Tai without the aspirate, and for some unexplained reason ; and, again, 

 that the language is monosyllabic, and that the many polysyllabic words in 

 it are loan-words from the Aryan Pali and the agglutinating Burmese ; the 

 religious language of the Shans is a mosaic of Shan, Pali, and Burmese. 



" While of the Burmese Shan states we have full information, of the 

 Chinese Shan, or Tai Mow, or Tai Khe, we have scant knowledge. Mr. 

 Margary was killed in a Shan town, and the French expedition under 

 Captain Lagree passed through several of them. We have vocabularies of 

 the Shan and Hota Shan in Yunan by Anderson, of the Shan by Bishop 

 Bigandet and Yule ; and vocabularies of the Pa-laong or Palo, a sub-family 

 of the Shans, by Bigandet, Logan, Latham, Anderson, and Yule. The 

 establishment of a British Agent at Bhamo will throw light upon these 

 dark places. 



" The term ' Lawa' is said to be applied by the Chinese to all frontier 

 tribes. The Shan states within the boundaries of the kingdom of Siam are 

 called ' Laos.' They are Buddhists, with pagan customs, and fairly civiliz- 

 ed, and their language has acquired in linguistic books the name of Laotian. 

 Nothing was known of them until M. Mouhot visited them in 1861, and 

 died on the frontier. He had followed the course of the Menam, and 

 struck across to the Mekong. In 1861 the French expedition under Cap- 

 tain Lagree and Lieutenant Garnier, ascended the Mekong as far as the 

 neighbourhood of Talifue in Yunan, and threw a flood of light on the 

 country. The language is pronounced identical with Siamese, with pecu- 

 liarities. Outside the civilized Laos, in a much lower stage of civilization, 

 are downright pagan Lawas, and we find ancient inhabitants of the country 

 still retaining their independence under the generic name of Moi, but the 

 special name of Khasmi, Khmens, Lewett, and Doe ; vocabularies are sup- 

 plied by Hunter, G-arnier, and Mouhot. 



" Leaving the river Mekong, which strikes to the east, we follow the 

 course of the river Menam to Bangkok, the capital of the great kingdom of 

 Siam, who call themselves ' Thai,' but were called by the Malays ' Siam.' 



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