THE RELATION OF CHINESE AND SIAMESE 9 



and was rapidly spreading from the eastern focus as well as 

 the w r estern : "from An-hui Province into Chiang-hsi Pro- 

 vince, and from the western focus over the whole western 

 part of Ssu-chuan and southwards," says Lacouperie. 



There was an interval of over 400 years between the 

 second general migration and the beginning of the third, 

 A.D. 78. In this third great migration we are not only 

 furnished with date and cause, but also with some interesting 

 particulars. As related in the Annals, these particulars do 

 not reflect credit upon the Ai-Lao: possibly the Annals do 

 not intend that they shall ! In the first place, the Ai-Lao 

 "appear again in A.D. 47, making raids on the Chinese 

 territory, descending the Han and Yangtze Rivers on bamboo 

 rafts." Next we are told that while Titus was besieging 

 Jerusalem "in the year 69 Liu-Mao, their general-king, 

 submitted to the empire, with 77 chiefs of communities, 

 51,890 families, comprising 553,711 persons. As they had 

 -extended over the whole western part of Szechuan and 

 southwards, they were officially recognized by the Chinese 

 •Government in the east of Yun-nan." Just why this small 

 section of the great Ai-Lao race thus submitted, the Annals 

 •do not say : we suspect pressure. But however that may be, 

 "in A.D. 78, having rebelled against the Chinese officials 

 appointed to represent the suzerainty of China, their king, 

 Lei-lao, was defeated in a great battle, which caused many 

 of their tribes to migrate into the present country of the 

 northern Shan States" — Lacouperie. 



Those were troublous times in the world's history. Jeru- 

 salem was destroyed and the Hebrew race scattered. Mount 

 Vesuvius overwhelmed Herculaneum and Pompei. Nero 

 was persecuting Christians most inhumanly. Mars must 

 have been in the ascendency. Still we are told that the 

 Ai-Lao "soon recovered from this blow," and went on to 

 great power still in Yunnan for yet many centuries. 



More than 250 years elapse before we have record of 

 another great migration, the fourth recorded one. While 

 gaining temporary victories over the Ai-Lao and the Pa-Lao 

 in the west, Chinese power was evidently waxing in the east. 

 While not yet able to cope with the Lao in Anhui and 

 Chianghsi, we are informed that the Chinese subjected the 

 Leao, farther west along the Kiu-lung range, "to a regular 

 •slave-hunting when the Chinese were able to take the offen- 

 sive and to quash their successive rebellions. The result was 

 to drive them southwards; thev spread all over the south 

 rafter A.D. 345." 



The Ai-Lao seem to have enjoyed comparative quiet in 

 China from this date onwards for some six centuries. During 



