ABSTRACT
IN this chapter I propose to deal with both the easternmost of the peripheral countries of Asia and the islands which connect Asia with Australia and Indonesia, and to include for my purposes not only the true peninsula country of Cambodia, Cochin China, Annam and Tonkin, that is what is usually known as French Indo-China, but also Siam and Burma on the west, and Indonesia on the east. Burma forms part of the Indian Empire, both administratively and politically, but it is separated from it both geographically and ethnologically. The western part of the area forms the outermost extension to the south of the countries whose culture is based on Chinese civilization ; the eastern, either culturally or physically, is related both to China and India. In spite, therefore, of diversity of political situation and geographical detail it forms a convenient unit for anthropological purposes.
