Siam and Laos, as Seen by Our American Missionaries
History
Siam and Laos, as Seen by Our American Missionaries
Laos -- Description and travel; Missions -- Laos; Missions -- Thailand; Thailand -- Description and travel
The Yongs occupy a province south of the Liews. Their principal city
is a small one on the Ma-Yong (River), a tributary of the Cambodia,
which empties into it above the desolated province of Cheung San. They
are also subject, I believe, to the king of Burmah. The above-mentioned
tribes of people in many respects resemble the Northern Laos. Except
the Ngieus, they have the same written language, and the difference in
the spoken language is not great. The Lwoas are another tribe of the
same family. Representatives of all these tribes, as well as Burmese,
Karens, Siamese, Peguans and Chinese, are found in all the Laos
provinces. Those most numerous in Muang-Luang-Prabang are the Liews.
The religion of all the peoples before-mentioned, except the Karens
and the Kamoos, is Buddhism, more or less mixed with Shamanism.
The Karens, Red Karens, Kamoos and Kamates are not Buddhists, but
worship or believe in evil spirits, to whose influence they attribute
all that is averse to their sense of good, and whose evil power they
must arrest by ceremonies and sacrifices. Thus the Kamoos in cases of
sickness do not give medicine, but offer sacrifices to appease the
spirits, sometimes killing ten or twelve animals over a single
patient.
The Kamoos and Kamates are so nearly related that I will speak of them
as one tribe. I have purposely omitted mentioning them in connection
with the other tribes of people found in Muang-Luang-Prabang, because
there does not appear to be any similarity betwixt them, either in
language, religion or customs. The Kamoos are quite as numerous in
Muang-Luang-Prabang as the Laos: I mean in the province, not the city,
for they are a mountain-tribe. They have no province of their own, but
are slaves, who, though they live among the mountains, must pay their
tribute, each man, to his Laos or Siamese master. They are most
numerous in the province of Muang-Luang-Prabang, but are found in all
the Laos and in some of the Burmese provinces, in the Hau country of
China,[4] and among the independent tribes. They are said to be
harmless and honest. They are ignorant and despised, even by the poor,
wretched people of this country. Their clothing is even more scanty
than that of the almost naked Laos.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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