Page 38 - A History of Siam

6 A HISTORT OF SIAM
3
emigrated to the region now known as the Northern
Shan States as far back as the first century of the Christian
and the centuries we assume
era, during succeeding may
that a stream of Tai settlers to the
steady proceeded
west and south-west. These people were the ancestors
of the tribes now known as Shans or Tai Yai (great

Tai). They formed a kingdom, or confederation of
kingdoms, known in ancient chronicles as the kingdom
of Pong. 1 Pong is one of the mysteries of history.
Its and extent are and the accounts
position unknown,
given concerning it are so contradictory and so full of
fable that the frivolous that the of
might say kingdom
Pong was Mrs. Harris, as Sir George Scott wittily
remarks.
It is certain, however, that a strong Shan, or Western
Tai, kingdom existed from about the sixth century
onwards, with its capital probably at Miiang Mao, on
the Shweli River.
Luckily for the author, it does not fall within the
of a of Siam to seek to unravel the
scope history mysteries
of the mediaeval Shan Kingdom. The inhabitants of
Siam are not descended from these Western Tai, but
from the Eastern Tai, sometimes called the Tai Noi,
whose is well known from Chinese
early history fairly
sources, as has been seen above.
The Chinese referred to the Nanchao Tai as bar-
but we need not attach much
barians, meaning to this
expression. They called all foreigners barbarians down
to a very recent date, and doubtless the term is not
even obsolete.
yet
The truth is, as shown by Chinese history, that the
Tai were no more barbarous than the Chinese themselves,

1 " "
Kengrung, in the south-west of Yunnan, is referred to as Pong in the
history of Chiengmai (A.D. 1560).