1864.] On the history of the Burmah Mace. 21 



given to them by Marco Polo. I cannot say how the Chinese got 

 the word, but it is possible that Mien was the original name for the 

 race, and contains the root meaning man. However that may be, the 

 word in this or any similar sense is now entirely lost among the Bur- 

 mese, excepting as above noted in the term for woman, and it may 

 be in Mru (race). It does not appear as the name of any of the tribes 

 with which the Burmese might be supposed to be immediately 

 connected. 



Observations. 



Having traced thus far the legends of the Burmese race from the 

 earliest period, down to the time when a new dynasty was established 

 near Prome, about three hundred miles lower down the Irrawaddy 

 than the ancient capital Tagoung, it will be convenient to pause, and 

 enquire how far we can discern any true historical basis in the legends 

 and tales which have been narrated. 



The physiognomy and the language of the Burmese people, as well 

 as those of the adjoining tribes, proclaim them all to belong to the 

 same family of nations as the tribes of Thibet and the Eastern 

 Himalaya. Whence did they come ? and how did they arrive at 

 their present country ? The theory of Prichard in his Natural History 

 of Man on this subject is probable, is supported by existing facts, and 

 accords with the physical geography of the regions north of the coun- 

 tries now occupied by the Indo-Chinese races. That author thus 

 refers to those peoples. " The vast region of Asia forming the south- 

 eastern corner of that Continent, which reaches in the sea border from 

 the common mouth of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, to the 

 Hoang-ho, or Yellow River of China, and even further northward 

 towards the mouth of the Amur or Selinga, is inhabited by races of 

 people who resemble each other so strongly in moral and physical 

 peculiarities, and in the general character of their languages, as to give 

 rise to a suspicion that they all belong to one stock. With the rivers 

 which descend from the high country of Central Asia, and pour their 

 diverging waters on all sides, after traversing extensive regions of 

 lower elevation, into the remote ocean, these nations appear also to 

 have come down, at various periods, from the south-eastern border of 

 the Great Plateau ; in different parts of which, tribes are still recog- 

 nised who resemble them in features and language," 



