The different races inhabiting the Siamese territories
may be enumerated as. follows : Siamese,
Lao, Kambojans, Malays, Kariang, Lawa, Ka,
Chong, and Samangs, with the following strangers
or foreign settlers, Chinese, Mohammedans and
Hindoos of Western India, Portuguese, and Pe-
guans. Of the number of these different classes,
I shall endeavour to furnish such brief notices,
however imperfect, as I was enabled to collect,
either during my residence in the country, or
afterwards from other persons who had visited it.
The number of the proper Siamese borne on the
rolls for public service, according to the statements
given to me, was said to be about three
hundred thousand. This would give a population,
in round numbers, of one million two hundred
and sixty thousand.
The native population of Lao was stated to
me, on an estimation of the number of persons
borne on the public rolls, to be equal to that of
Siam itself. To avoid error on the side of exaggeration,
however, I shall state it at one-third less,
or eight hundred and forty thousand. Of the
Mon, or Pegu, race, although the Siamese be in
possession of no part of their territory, there are a
considerable number in Siam, chiefly emigrants,
from the province of Martaban, driven from
thence by the oppression of the Burman Government;
and they are subject to the conscription.
The number of persons of this nation borne on
the public rolls of the Siamese Government, was
stated to me at six thousand; which would give
a population, in round numbers, of twenty-five
thousand. The amount of Kambojans was stated
at the same number. The Malayan state of Queda,
previous to its occupation by the Siamese, in 1821,
was said to contain about fifty thousand inhabitants,
of whom about ten thousand have since
emigrated into the British territory. The population
of Tringano and Kalantan, on the opposite
side of the Peninsula, has been reckoned together
at about eighty-five thousand; giving thirty-five
thousand for the first, and fifty thousand for
the second, the Chinese settlers not being included
in either case. The state of Patani is
the largest and most populous of the Malayan
Peninsula; but I have heard no estimate of its
population. Allowing it, however, to be equally
populous with the others, it ought, from its area,
to contain not less than sixty thousand inhabitants.
Besides the Malays residing in their own
countries, there are said to be at Bangkok not
less than ten thousand, chiefly captives, carried
off from Queda and Patani, but especially from
the latter. The Kariang, the Lawa, the Ka, and
the Chong, are wild and migratory races. The
first and second of these are the same people who
inhabit various portions of the Burman dominions.
They are confined to the mountainous
parts of Lao. The Ka, a term which in the