Cecil Champain Lowis

“ We must keep this crescent in mind when we consider the movement of the Tibeto-Burmans from the north, for along a considerable portion of its length it is practically an insuperable barrier, and it is clear that as the Tibeto-Burman tribes came down, some of them were brought up by its snow-clad heights and were obliged, if they wished to pursue their southerly course, either to come out east and follow the Salween southwards or fetch a circuit towards Assam and the Brahmaputra in the west and so reach hill-ridges and fresh valleys along which their way could be pursued. ”

“ As Chins, Kamis, Mros, Chinboks, Chinbons, Yindus, etc., they have been for centuries in occupation of the western uplands, which extend from the north of the Upper Chindwin District (where the Chin merges into the Naga country) along the edge of the Assam uplands— the home of their blood-relatives the Lushais— down to the foot-hills on the fringe of the Irrawaddy delta, and have had time, by union with the plain dwellers, to form hybrid communities— like the Taungthas of Pakôkku and the Chaungthas of Arakan— whose connection with their Chin neighbours is no longer obvious. ”

“ The real prehistoric inhabitants of the country along the Irrawaddy valley from Bhamo due north must be looked for elsewhere than among the Shans and the Kachins. We find them in the Marus, the Szis and the Lashis, who, though they have been often regarded in the past as Kachins, are not Kachins, and who, moreover, speak vernaculars that present features that are strikingly like those of Burmese. ”