Shan States
a number of tributary States in Indo-China, between Munnipur on the W. and Yunnan on the E., and from the parallel of lat. 24° N. S. to Bangkok and Cambodia. Of these the Northern States are tributary to Burma, and the Southern to Siam. A great portion of the mountainous region of these States is called the Laos Country, and is inhabited toward the N. by the Blackbellies, so called from the circumstance that they tattoo themselves with figures in ink, and in the S. by the White-bellies, who do not tattoo. Xiengmai, the capital of Laos, stands on a wide plain on the Meinam, 500 miles N. of Bangkok, and is said to contain 50,000 inhabitants. The number of Laocians included in Siam alone is estimated at 1,000,000. They are meek, gentle, unwarlike, and superstitious.
Their chief employment is agriculture; and in religion they are Buddhists.
SHARK