The notices hitherto given have applied only to the great _political_ divisions of the variety speaking monosyllabic languages; and have referred to nations of a known and similar degree of civilization. It would be an error, however, to suppose that they supply a complete enumeration. Hardly an empire mentioned will not exhibit some instance of a new series of phenomena standing over for investigation. The Chinese, the Burmese, and the Siamese, represent merely the dominant tribes of their several areas; those whereof the civilization and territorial power have given their possessors a certain degree of prominence in the history of the world. The intermixed tribes, sometimes imperfectly subdued, always imperfectly civilized, inhabiting barren tracts or mountain fastnesses, have a value in ethnology which they cannot command in history. In these we see the original substratum of the different national characters, as it may be supposed to have shown itself, before it was modified by foreign influences. In a more advanced stage of our knowledge, these tribes will probably be brought under one of the sub-divisions already noticed. At present, even when in some cases they may be so placed, it is best to take them in detail; premising that, the list does not pretend to be exhaustive, that, from the fluctuations of the geographical nomenclature, the same tribe may be mentioned twice over, and, lastly, that partly from imperfect knowledge, and partly from changes of locality, arising from migrations of the tribes themselves, the geographical position is, in many cases, difficult to fix. The notice, however, of the minor representatives, real or supposed, of the great division of the human race speaking monosyllabic languages now commences. THE SI-FAN. The word[12] _Si_ means _west_, whilst _Fan_ means _stranger_; so that _Si-fan_ means _western strangers_. The term means one or more of the wilder tribes on the Tibetan or Mongolian frontier. Nothing is less likely than that the _Si-fan_ should differ in _kind_ from the Chinese--unless it be that they are Turk, Mongol, or Tibetan. THE MIAOU-TSE.