the Malay Peninsula.1 They got their first civilisation
from the Malayas. About the third century, there
came the Chinese culture which influenced the Siamese
language so much that more than a third of it are
Chinese words.2 When the Indians came after them,
they occupied the north of the country and gradually
the south. Their successive capitals at Svargaloka,
Ayuddhya and Bangkok ( 1782) show the Indian in-
fluence. The fair-coloured Hindus called the native
population'Black', skt. syama (Pali, Satno). They
called the kingdom syamara^tham ( = skt. iyamarash-
tra] meaning the Land of Blacks.3 It is clear from
this that the fair coloured Hindus gave this name to
the country of Siam. The native name of the country
is Tha^ meaning free or compassionate.4 The in-
habitants also call the country of Siam as Muang Thai
or the country of the Thai race. This Thai race may
be traced in the Southern provinces of China. Before
the coming in of this Thai race, the country was in-
habited by Laos. The evolution of the Siamese race
was due to the gradual fusion of Lao-tai and Khmer
races. From the census reports of 1905, it is known
that there are 6,230,000 men in Siam. Of this popu-
lation 3,000,000 are Siamese, 2,000,000 Laos, 4,00,000
Chinese, 115000 Malayas, 80,000 Cambojans and the
1. Dr. G. Schlegel—Siamese studies, p. 1.
2. Ibid p. 5.
3. Ibid pp. 6-7.
4. Ibid p. 7.