lation throughout is monosyllabic; except so far as it is
modified by foreign intermixture--of which by far the most important
element is the Indian. Everything in the way of religious creed which is
not native and pagan is Indian and Buddhist. The alphabets, too, of the
lettered populations are Indian in origin.

The population of the _continental_ part of these British dependencies
is referable to four divisions--of unequal and imperfectly ascertained
value. 1. The Mon. 2. The Siamese. 3. The Avans. 4. The Kariens.

1. _The Mon._--Mon is the native name of the indigenous population of
Pegu, so that the Mon of Maulmein, or Amherst, the most northern of the
provinces in question, on the left bank of the lower Salwin, are part
and parcel of the present occupants of the delta of the Irawaddi, and
the country about Cape Negrais. The Burmese call them _Talieng_, and
under that designation they are described in Dr. Helfer's Report.[22]
The Siamese appellation is _Ming-mon_; apparently the native name in a
state of composition. In the early Portuguese notices a still more
composite form appears--and we hear of the ancient empire of
_Kalamenham_, supposed to have been founded by the _Pandalus_ of Mon or
Pegu.

None of the _lettered_ languages of the Indo-Chinese peninsula are less
known than that of Pegu. At the same time its unequivocally
monosyllabic character is beyond doubt. The alphabet is a slight
variation of the Avan.

The geographical position of the Mon at the extremity of a promontory,
and on the delta of a river, taken along with their philological
isolation, is remarkable. They have evidently been encroached upon by
the Avans in latter times; whilst, at an earlier period, they themselves
probably encroached upon others. Whether they are the oldest occupants
of Maulmein is uncertain; it is only certain that they are older than
their conquerors.

To the Mon of Pegu the exchange of Avan for British rule, has been a
great and an appreciated advantage.

2. _The Siamese._--The native name for the Siamese language is _Tha'y_,
and _Tha'y_ is the national and indigenous denomination of the Siamese.
It is the Avans who call them _Sian_ or _Shan_; from whence the European
term has been derived through the Portuguese.

The Siamese population is of course greatest on the Siamese frontier; so
that, increasing as we go south, it attains its _maximum_ in Tenasserim
just as the Mon did in Maulmein. It seems, also, to have