complexion of the inhabitants varies from brown to nearly black. Their figure is
short and robust, and in physiognomy they resemble the Chinese, yet are much
uglier. They profess the religion of Budha. Their literature is, for the most part,
metrical, consisting of songs and romances; a fact which corresponds with their
moral character, for they are represented to be a lively, inquisitive race, volatile;
impatient and irascible. They are greatly inferior to the Chinese, and have made
but little progress in the useful arts* Besides the Burmese, the kingdom of Ava
contains, especially towards the north, many wild tribes of people who have no
seeming affinity with the dominant population, and who are said not even to be
Budhists, and to speak dialects and perhaps languages of their own.f
The Jlramrme are much the most uncultivated and barbarous people of this
family. They are accustomed to flatten the heads of their children by means of
a plate of lead, applied soon after birth, and they slit and distend their ears to a
frightful degree.
The Siamese present strong analogies to the Burmans. The following
graphic description, from the pen of my friend Dr. Ruschenberger, will convey
an accurate idea of these people. “ Their average height, according to the
measure of Mr. Crawford, is five feet two inches, which I suspect to be near the
truth, from the few to whom I have applied the rule. The lower limbs are
stout and well formed; the body is long, and hence the figure is not graceful.
The shoulders are broad, and the muscles of the chest are well developed. The
neck is short and the head is in fair proportion. The hands are large, and the
complexion of a dark olive, hut not jetty. Among females of the higher classes,
who pass their time mostly within the harem of their lords, the skm is of a very
much lighter hue; in some instances it might be described as a very dark brunette.
The forehead is narrow at the superior part, the face, between the cheek bones
broad, and the chin is, again, narrow, so that the whole contour is rather lozengeshaped
than oval. The eyes are remarkable, for the upper lid being extended
below the under one, at the corner next to the nose, but it is not elongated like
that organ in the Chinese or Tartar races. The eyes are dark, or black, and the
white is dirty, or of a yellowish tint. The nostrils are broad, but the nose is not
flattened, like that of the African. The mouth is not well formed, the lips
projecting slightly; and it is always disfigured, according to our notions of beauty,
by the universal and disgusting habit of chewing arecanut. The hair is jet black,
renitent, and coarse, almost bristly, and is worn in a tuft on the top of the head,
1 Crawford, Ava, &c., p. 372. t Ibid, p. 470.
about four inches in diameter, the rest being shaved, or clipped very close. A
few scattering hairs, which scarcely merit the name of beard, grow upon the chin
and upper lip, and these they customarily pluck out.
» .(“ The occipital portion of the head is nearly vertical, and, compared with the
anterior and sincipital divisions, very small; and I remarked, what I have not seen
in any other than in some ancient Peruvian skulls from Pachacamac, that the
lateral halves of the head are not symmetrical. In the region of firmness, the
skull is very prominent; this is remarkably true of the talapoins.”* Mr. Finlay-
son’s observations are to the same purpose. “ The head,” says he, “ is peculiar:
the diameter from the front backwards is uncommonly short, and hence the
general form is somewhat cylindrical. The occipital foramen in a great number
of instances is placed so far back, that from the crown to the nape of the neck is
nearly a straight line.”t
The moral character of the Siamese appears to be at a very low ebb. The
intelligent voyager first quoted, describes them as suspicious, vacillating and cruel.
Cringing and servile , to their superiors in the extreme, they are arrogant anff
tyrannical in regard to those who are below them in rank.J Their virtues and
their vices are venal; and the services of the judge and the assassin ;haye each
their price. “ I regret,” says Mr. Gutzlaff, “ not to have found one honest man:
sordid oppression, priestcraft, allied with wretchedness and filth, are everywhere
to be met with.” They are remarkable, nevertheless, for filial respect, and regard
for their rulers.
The inhabitants of Cochin-China, or Annum, are smaller in stature thamthe
Siamese, and they are also less clumsily formed. The general form of the face is
round, so that the two diameters are nearly equal- The forehead is short and
broad, but the occipital portion of the head is more elongated than in the people
of Siam. The chin is large and broad; the beard grisly and thin, the hair
copious, coarse and black; the nose small, but well formed, and the lips moderately
thick. Obesity is rare. The color of the Cochin-Chinese is usually as fair as
that of the inhabitants of southern Europe, yet the dark Malay hue is not unfre-
quently met with. They are, nevertheless, a coarse featured people, and render
themselves repulsive by the constant use of areca and betel, which reddens the
lips and blackens the teeth.
* Voy. Round the World, p. 299.—In the same work, p. 300, the reader will find some detailed
measurements of Siamese heads.
t Siam and Cochin-China, p. 229.
13
% Voy. p. 301.