EASTERN GEOGRAPHY, 



in . l 1 1 1 1 . . -: r nivr_VH-W» :i|>p%roii1 , and it s.-uis rvjiliMil (litr rn.'sirly nil 

 the present inhabitants of the peninsula came original I v- cither from 

 the Central Tibetan plateau, following the parallel valleys of tho 

 Irawaddy, Salwin, end Mekhong rivers, or else from China, crossing 

 ttio intervening highland* by pusses that have been frequented froni 

 pre-] ki storie times. Of the throe main groups the western Burmese 

 still show tho closest affinity to the Tibetans, especially in their 

 speech 3 while tho Central Sinmrse and extern Annamese are more 

 nearly roluted to tho Chinese both in type and Bpeeeh. All present 

 the name fnttflenTfinfcil Mongolia characteristics, filmwn in their low 

 stature, ranging froia 5 to 5 feet 6 inches, yellowish or yellow -brown 

 complexion (olive, old wtii, leathery or cinnamon), long black hair, 

 round in section, thick on the head, elsewhere very scanty or alto- 

 gether ab«oni, s.>im'what iht fc.it u res, with idmoiid-sluipud, obliipie 

 eyes, broad, short, and concave noee, rather prominent cheek-bones, 

 small hands and feet, weak lower extremities, head mesaticephalous, 

 that is, intermediate between tho round ond long forms. 



languages. — Tlio Indo-Chinese languages belong nlso to tho 

 saine morpliulogidii order of speeeh as the Chinese iind Tibetan, 

 commonly desctibed na monoayifabir or iwlatin'j, But tlio former 

 designation roust be rejected, since it 1ms recently been shown (hat 

 imihosylUbism i* riol the original condition, but llie result of 

 phonetic decay in this group, In consequence of this gradual 

 di!i.::iy viin-d-i ori^iii-illy quite dislim-t in form, uinl coinpuseil of tu-t> 

 or more syllables, have been reduced to words oC one syllable no 

 longer distinct in form, but in pronunciation distinguished by the 

 different tunes with which they are uttered. Gramnutical inflection 

 has also been mostly rejected, word? being thus reduced to tho 

 condition of crude and unchangeable roots standing isolated from 

 each other, and acquiring their meaning mainly from their position 

 in the sentence* Hence a better designation for this group would 

 bo that of isolating toned languages. The process lins been carried 

 furthest in Chinese and Annamese, which may be taken as (he 

 typical members of the family, and which have necessarily developed 

 the greatest number of tones, ranging from four to six, and in some 

 dialects even to eight or ten. In this renpect Siamese occupies rin 

 intermediate position between Annainito-Chinese on the one hand, 

 and Tihoto-Burnieso on the othur, having preserved more gram- 

 matical inflections and developed fewer tones than the former, 

 while the Burmese, and especially the Tibetan, have retained tho 

 greatest number of grammatical forms, and ure consequently spoken 

 willi the least number of tones. 



Tho three dominant Indo-Chinese languages have long been 



