The eyes are small, dark, and round. They want the
tumid, incumbent eyelid of the Chinese. The nose is small
but well formed. The mouth is remarkably la rg e ; the lips
are prominent but not thick. The beard is remarkably
scanty, yet they cultivate it with the greatest care. On
the upper lip it is more abundant.
They are of a yellowish colour. It is rare to find any
among them who are very black. Many of the females in
particular are as fair as the generality of the inhabitants of
the south of Europe. There is a peculiarity in their costume
connected with this fact: they clothe themselves more
than any other Indo-Chinese .races. There is not a person
however mean who is not covered from the head to the
knees.*
Physical Constitution of the Burmahs.—The Burmahs
are described as a short, stout, but well proportioned and
active race, of a brown, but never very dark, complexion.
The hair on their head, like that of other races-in tropical
climates, is black, coarse, andTabundant; their beard somewhat
fuller than that of their neighbours, especially the
Malays. They are very subject to leprous and other cutaneous
maladies .-1
It may be inferred from some of the preceding remarks
that the physical characters ascribed to -the Indo-Chinese
tribes are not without exception and that kind of variety
which is displayed in almost every race. A more remarkable
instance than any other yet observed is to be
found among the Laos, who are a branch, as we have
seen, of the T’hay or Siamese race. We are assured by
Dr. Richardson, a late traveller, the first Englishman
who ever penetrated to the country of the L&os, in the
northern and interior parts of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula,
that the females of that race are remarkably beautiful;
that they are destitute of all traces of the Mongolian
or Chinese physiognomy, and have large and beautiful
eyes, unlike the generality of the raced
* Finlayson, 378.
t Crawford's Embassy, p. 251.—Ritter’s Erdkunde, 5, p. 269.
t Erdkunde, 3,1243.
The preceding observations refer principally to the T’hay
and Anam races spread through the northern and more
extensive parts of the Peninsula. The nations of the southern
region, as the Tschampa, Khomen or Cambojans,
and the Mon or people of Pegu,, have not been particularly
described. They-appear,.indeed, to be included with the
rest inbthe general delineation given by Crawfurd and Finlayson
of the physical and moral characters. of thev Indo-
Chinese tribes collectively.surveyed ; and. this even extends,
as we have seen, to the Malays. We.collect, indeed, from
other writers, that most of the. southern nations partake
of the same type. . .The Portuguese and Dutch voyagers
describe the people of Camboja.as resembling the Siamese
in their general description, ahd their country as full of
monks of the same religion, who,-dike the Siamese tala-
poins,' shave-their heads and eye-brows* A similar account
is given by Linschot of. the people of .Pegjr, and a
remark, is added as to theib physical characters,—that
they resembles the (&nfi;esev their complexion: alone being
somewhat different: «they :are said to be darker than
the Chinese and fairer than .the .natives of Bengal.f The
people of Arakhan or the Rukheng are described by. an old
English traveller, Daniel Sheldon, * who; reported that what
other nations reckoned deformity, was. esteemed beauty, in
Arakhan. “ They admire a broad, - smooth forehead, and
in order-to produce it they fasten a, plate of lead on the
heads of new-born children. Their nostrils are wide and
open; their eyes small but slively;. their ears hang down
to their shoulders like those of the Malabars. $ The
civilised nations of the peninsula appear all. to/bear the
same general type, especially those among whom .the..religion
of Buddha , prevails. The wild aborigines of the
mountainous districts are as yet but little known.. A description
of their physical; characters, and adequate specimens
of their languages would be of great interest, and
* Allgemeine Hist, dei Reisen, Bd. 18, p. 200..
t Linschot, in Allgem. Hist, der Reisen, Bd. 10, s. 577.
~ * AHg. Hist., Bd. 10, s. 67. 7;
VOL. IV. 6 U