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BLOFELD, JOHN. SOME HILL TRIBES OF NORTH THAILAND (MIAOS AND YAOS). JSS. VOL.43 (pt.1) 1955. p.1-19.
SOME HILLTRIBES OF NORTH THAILAND
( MlAOS AND YAOS)
by
John Blofeld
There is a large and roughly circular area embracing South-
West China, the Shan States and the Northern parts of Thailand,
Laos and Vietnam, concerning which maps give us inadequate infor-
mation. The frontier lines drawn there hold good for what may
roughly be called ground-level,but a second map representing only
those parts of the area lying three thousand feet or more above the
sea would indicate no frontiers at all. Here dwell some thirty or
forty hilltribes who have only the vaguest idea of what goes on in
the world at their feet. Linguistically it is not easy to classify
some of them, for their monosyllabic, tonal languages differ as
much from each other as from Thai or Chinese. Those regarded
as constituting the "Thai" group do in fact speak something more
or less like Thai or Lao; but the so-called "Chinese" group is
apparently only Chinese insofar as certain items of Chinese dress
and a few Chinese customs have been adopted by them. Of these,
two of the principal tribes are the Miao and Yao, both of which
employ Chinese as a trade-language and lingua franca. My rather
fluent knowledge of the Chinese tongue was the decisive factor in
my selection of these two tribes for special study.
In May, 1953, Mr. Braine-Hartnell, a colleague from Chula-
longkorn University, travelled with me round North Thailand in
search of hilltribes. We began by spending a few days in a Miao
village north of Chiengmai. This was made possible through the
kindness of Mr. Prasit Poonchuxri of that city, who kindly provided
us with mules and a Yunnanese guide. Our next attempt to contact
tribesmen at Mesai was hindered by bad weather and the unwilling-
ness of the local authorities to allow us to venture along paths which
might lead us unwittingly across the Burmese border. We there-
upon proceeded to Chiengkam, near the Laotian border, where my
colleague fell sick. I was forced to leave him in that charming
2 John Blofeld
little town and ride into the mountains on horses borrowed from
some missionaries, who had shown us warm hospitality, with a
Chinese guide. On that occasion, I spent a few nights in a large
Yao village and briefly glimpsed the homes of some neighboring
Miaos. The following year, I went back to the first Miao village,
again with Mr. Prasit's assistance, and spent a much longer time
there, familiarising myself with Miao customs and asking innumera-
ble questions about their legends and songs,etc. From all this, it
will be seen that my acquaintance with the tribes is not very
extensive. On the other hand, my knowledge of Chinese enabled
me to question the tribesmen in great detail and to understand the
information they most willingly supplied.
All journeys to tribal villages in Thailand are much the
same. The first was more or less typical of the others. Leaving
Mr. Prasit's jeep at a point some sixty kilometres along the
Chiengmai-Fang Road, we mounted mules and entered the jungle.
Soon the path began to rise steeply and, before long, we were
ascending a mountainside so steep that I was astonished by the
animals' ability to negotiate it. Gradually, the character of the
forest began to change. From being a typical Northern Thai jungle,
it became the sort of forest one sees in illustrations to old editions
of Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Strange purples and golds gleamed
among the many sorts of green and the atmosphere became more
and more ' friendly '. Instead of the sinister sounds I had expected,
there was the cheerful shrilling of birds, including an old friend
from Peking,the 'one-more-bottle bird'and another which screamed
" Eric, Eric, Eric " with a marked Brooklyn accent. The guide as-
sured us that tigers and cobras lurked near at hand, but it was impos-
sible to imagine them in that friendly atmosphere.
At last we came to a high ridge and rode along it for several
hours. For some reason, I was a little in front of Acharn Braine
and the guide when, all of a sudden, I reached a spur which had
been completely denuded of trees and was dotted with some thirty
or forty primitive huts. Here at last was a Miao village. As I rode
Some Hilltribes of North Thailand 3
down the spur, women and children in colourful clothes ran out to
welcome the approaching strangers. It was an experience the feel
of which I have never forgotten. Time had slipped away and I was
on the threshold of a world which had hardly changed in three or
four thousand years. No new arrival on Mars could experience
greater pleasure or step from his spaceship with a sharper feeling
of excited anticipation.
I don't suppose men with blue eyes and high-bridged noses
were a common or even a remembered sight in that village, but the
people could not have behaved better. They stared, of course, yet
without fear, mockery or impudence. And, as soon as we dismounted,
someone ran forward politely welcoming us in to the Headman's hut.
Miaos are seen at their best in the open air. The interior
of a Miao hut is not a pretty sight. The floor was of beaten earth,
the walls of axe-hewn planks so roughly fitted as to admit almost as
much light as if there had been windows, and the roof formed of
dried leaves contained similar gaps. ( I learn t later that, at the first
sign of approaching rain,someone would walk over to some bushes
near the door, pluck a few armfuls of leaves and render the roof
tolerably watertight.) About one fifth of the oblong interior was
partitioned off to form the bedroom of the senior couple of the
family—a bedroom which contained a couch of split bamboo and a
couple of shelves for storing things. The main room was sparsely
furnished. There was a large split-bamboo couch in a recess,
capable of sleeping about eight people; a huge cauldron in an
earthen stove, used as a sink except when needed for some great
feast; two or three wooden benches less than a foot high; a table
for storing oddments; and a smaller table facing a bit of the wall
where decorations of white perforated paper indicated the presence
of ancestral spirits. All eating was done off the floor; there was
no other furniture of any kind, unless we count a primitive grain-
pounder and the stone hearth, just inside the door, where an ever-
burning fire smouldered by day and flamed by night. Although it
was the height of the Thai summer, we found this fire very pleasant
4 John Blofeld
and necessary at nights; on the other hand, the smoke finding no
chimney billowed about the room leaving a thick layer of black soot
on everything there.
After glancing round this room, my heart sank a little. It
seemed that the Miaos must surely be lacking in most of those
traits which make human beings worthy of study. But almost at
once my spirits revived. Acharn Braine pointed at various objects
I had not noticed. There were all sorts of instruments and
utensils fashioned of wood, bamboo, gourds and fibre, which
showed great ingenuity and some of which possessed that beauty
of utter simplicity which is brought to perfection by the interiors
of Japanese houses. Well, at least these people were ingenious.A
further example of their ingenuity was their excellent water-supply.
A long bamboo pipeline brought fresh water into the heart of the
village from a neighbouring mountain spring. (In some villages
there is a branch pipeline leading to a trough of hollowed wood in
every house.) The villagers were thereby assured of a more con-
stant supply of water than the great city of Bangkok could boast at
that time. Unfortunately, it was seldom used for anything but
cooking, drinking and washing clothes. Questioned about the
layers of dirt on their bodies, the Miaos declared that bathing is a
dangerous practice which leads to severe illness. Perhaps it does,
if one is not used to the process.
As soon as our hosts had seen to our animals, they crowded
in to talk to us, giving us an opportunity to study their dress.
The men, especially the youths wearing clean, new-looking clothes,
were a fine sight—symphonies in black, scarlet and silver. Many
of themwore their hair in embryo queues surmounted by black
Chinese skull - caps with a red bobble in the centre. Their black
jackets were buttoned at the side with silver buttons in the shape
of filigree balls attached to inch-long scarlet frogs. These jackets
were so short as to leave an inch or two of flesh exposed above their
vast scarlet sashes with embroidered ends. From the front, their
trousers looked like the ordinary Chinese variety, but what should
Some Hilltribes of North Thailand 5
have been the seat hung down behind to well below the knees.
This extraordinary fashion may have given rise to the Chinese legend
that Miaos possess formidable tails !There was no sort of foot cover-
ing. Around their necks hung massive silver ornaments of two
kinds—chains and padlocks to chain their innate luck to their persons
aud great horseshoes to keep off ill-fortune from outside. A few
wore pieces of string round their wrists. These had been placed
there by their friends who had a little good luck to spare. Acharn
Braine and I passed some of our superfluous luck to the Headman
in this way. (Perhaps it wasn't superfluous, which would explain
why each of us suffered severe illness at later dates.)
The women's dress was less striking as to colour but quite
charming. They wore no hats, but had massive buns of various
shapes straight above their heads. Their long - sleeved jackets were
of blue cloth ornamented with many bands of colour around the
collar, which came down in front almost to the waist like the
collar of a kimono or a dressing-gown. Below these they wore
kilts of pleated material some twenty - one feet long, which they
swung with all the grace of Scottish Highlanders and a great deal
more charm. The upper parts of the kilts were of blue cloth
stamped with a whitish pattern, below which were several inches
of delicate cross - stitch embroidery. One girl told me that she had
spent the leisure hours of seven years on a single kilt. The
embroidery patterns resemble those of Eastern European peasants,
but the work is so fine that the reverse side is hardly distinguisha-
ble from the side meant to be seen. Owing to the absence of
underclothes, the kilts have to be weighted down against the
effects of the wind by heavy bands of black cloth hanging from
the belt before and behind. No shoes were worn, but many girls
had blue gaiters to protect their legs from jungle thorns. Their
ornaments were all of silver and resembled those of the men.
Miao dress varies from place to place, but those described are typical
for Thailand. These were Red Miaos ; there are also White and
varicoloured Miaos, distinguishable by the colours of their dress aud
by their dialect.
6 John Blofeld
What follows is based not only upon our first visit, but also
upon my subsequent investigations in that village and others. For
the sake of brevity, I shall deal with each aspect of their lives
under separate heads.
Daily Life
Miaos use their villagse as headquarters. Quite a lot of their
time is spent in the opium and maize fields, where they errect tem-
porary shelters for sleeping two together. Cultivation is by means
of jungle - burning, the burnt trees serving as manure. After per-
haps four years, the yield begins to lessen ; whereupon the whole
village is transported to new pastures, the empty huts being left
to the mercy of nature. In the busier seasons, the village contains
only old people and young children—though old is a relative term
including people in their late forties, for the life-span is rather
brief. No land is cultivated much below a level of three thousand
feet, the Miaos believing that the valleys hold death for them.
This may be true as they have no immuntiy to the diseases of the
valleys. There are no fixed meal - time—they eat when hungry ; the
food is very plain and sometimes limited to rice and salt washed
down with water. They own quite a range of animals—pigs, cows,
chickens, cattle, mules, horses, cats and the most lovely long - haired
dogs like Yorkshire terriers ; but they feel themselves too poor to
eat meat, except during feasts and afters sacrifices, unless they
manage to kill some game. Maize is their traditional diet, as they
are unable to cultivate rice on those hight slopes,but those who can
afford it eat rice purchased from the Thais below. They also
cultivate a little crude tobacco and gather wild tea - leaves. Grain
spirit is drunk during festivals, but the Miaos I saw struck me as
normally very abstemious. My hosts had to hunt for some spirit
when I asked to try a cupful. They are a very hardworking people
who toil from dawn till dusk, after which the elders gather round
their fires to chat and exchange stories ; the younger people go out
lovemaking, and lhe children fall asleep.
Some Hilltribes of North Thailand 7
There is no written language, so the children have no educa-
tion in our sense of the word. Their earlier years are spent in one
long game of Robinson Crusoe, roaming the jungle with their little
crossbows in search of birds or playing games among the trees.
Gradually they are broken in to domestic life and to work in the
fields, which they take as another sort of game. They are generally
pink-cheeked, happy, healthy and intelligent-so much so that I
would like my children to live with them if it were not an unsuit-
able preparation for their adult life. I never saw Miao children
quarrelling or fighting, nor even exhibiting signs of jealousy when
some received the presents I had brought and others had to go
without.
Economy
The principal crop is opium, yet I saw very few signs of
addiction among them. When questioned, they answered simply :
"Who eats his own money ?" Having a wise disbelief in the lasting
value of paper-money, they sell the opium for silver Burmese rupees,
with which they purchase horses, mules, needles, coloured thread,
rice, steel and salt. Of these only the last two are necessities, the
steel being used for implements, knives and so on. Given a good
supply of steel and salt, they could live quite independently of the
rest of humanity. They weave their own cloth and make all
their own utensils, weapons, agricultural implements furniture and
other requirements, often showing admirable ingenuity. Much of
the silver is retained to be made into ornaments and for bride-money,
a bride costing between three and five hundred silver rupees.
Formerly Chinese traders roamed the hills selling various necessities
and pretty oddments such as plastic toothbrushes; now Chinese are
unable to cross the border, so sometimes the elders walk or ride
down to the main road and take a bus to the nearest city. I often
noticed that, unlike other people, they put on their oldest and most
tattered clothes for journeys to town, probably to convince the
shopkeepers of their poverty. Thus their economy is a simple and
uniform process of selling opium for silver and exchanging silver for
whatever they happen to want. Though delighted to receive presents
8 John Blofeld
in the form of mirrors, torches, plastic bowls and so on, they are
wise enough to waste almost no money at all on anything inessential
to their traditional way of life.
Arts and Amusements
A totally uncivilised people, the Miaos are by no means
uncultured. Of visual arts they have none besides embroidery and
simple silver-work, but there are several others. They play pleasant
tunes on a sort of 'Jew's harp' with which they prelude their'
extemporary lovesongs; and they have a delightful form of ' kan '
with horizontal bamboo pipes attached to a vertical mouth - piece
which descends into a sort of hollow wooden bulb which acts like
the bag on a set of bagpipes. A youth will play a merry tune on
this, dancing very slowly as he plays. Gradually the dance quickens
and he whirls round and round, somehow finding the breath both
for violent movement and the music to which he dances. The effect is
rather like that of a butterfly dancing, the horizontal bamboos forming
one wing and the musician's left leg stretched out behind to form
the other. Many Miaos can recite long poems committed to memory
solely by ear and, best of all, the youths and maidens are adepts at
improvised lovesongs, alternately capping each other's with rhyming
refrains in similar metre. The greatest of the world's poets would
be hard put to it to improvise at such a speed. Their other amuse-
ments include a performance with sword-sticks or swords, somewhere
between fighting and dancing, and competitions between men or boys
armed with crossbows. For the elders, there is the solace of their
heavy bamboo water-pipes, which gurgle throughout their nightly
fireside discussions, and the occasionally indulged in pleasures of
opium and grain-spirit. The happiest time is a week or ten days of
fun ushered in by the (Chinese) New Year. T hen, everybody
hastens back to the village prepared for ten days of feasting, drinking,
music and merriment. Second to this come the great family feasts
when chickens and animals have been sacrificed to appease the
spirits in times of sickness and death.
Some Hilltribes of North Thailand 9
Religion
Properly speaking, the Miaos and Yaos have no religion.
They worship nothing and offer no prayers or sacrifices except in
times of trouble. They are doubtful about the existence of ghosts
or demons, excepting the spirits of their own ancestors who seem a
rather unkind lot, very different from the warm-hearted, kindly
living Miaos. When a man dies, the Meng-goong ( Magician ?
Priest? Doctor ?) is called in. By means of certain pieces of horn
or pigs' bones, he discovers where the dead man wishes to be burried.
Within ten days, the corpse is escorted to his chosen place and
burried in the centre of a ring of stones. For three days the
mourners remain at his side feasting his spirit with the savour of
many sacrifices. On the fourth, they return home, but not without
leaving him a water-dipper and a rice-container together with
instructions as to where to find the sweetest water and the best grain.
There the spirit remains for three years, after which he goes to rejoin
his ancestors in their 'home-place'. But during that period he
watches over the survivors with a jealous eye. Any fancied
discourtesy to him, any departure from custom is met with severe
punishment in the form of misfortune or sickness. Nothing will
appease him but the sacrifice of the number of animals he indicates
to the Meng-goong. For example, my taking photographs of the
villagers infuriated the ancestor-demons; to avert calamity, I paid
for several chickens and a small pig to be sacrificed for thei r pleasure.
On another occasion, somebody fell seriously ill. Hour after hour,
I heard the booming of the Meng-goong's drum proceeding from a
neighbouring house.
" May I go and see ? '' I asked.
"Why not?"
So I strolled over and walked into the dark chamber. The
Meng-goong, wearing a black mask and dressed entirely in sombre
black, was seated facing the spirit-shrine. He was thumping a drum
and gabbling some sort of ritualistic chant. Now and then he would
scream and rise some four feet into the air-this movement by a seated
10 John Blofeld
man appearing so uncanny that I felt myself shiver. The sick man
was lying on skins spread on the floor. Soon after I came in , his
wife raised him into a sitting position; some youths quickly
slaughtered some chickens and piglets and the fresh blood was rubbed
on. his back. More of the blood was placed on a divining-horn to
discover the omens, and then the chanting and drumming went on
as before. There was something about the whole procedure which
was obscurely frightening to me, but to the Miaos it seemed quite
devoid of terror, The victims had hardly ceased to live when they
were being prepared for the pot. I left quickly, unwilling to stay
there longer, but not before I had noticed how tender and affectiontate
they all were to the sick man.
Administration
Each village elects a Headman, who has very few duties
beyond keeping in touch with the Thai Authorities as represented by
the Nai Amphur, to whom he reports all changes of location and
acquisitions of virgin jungle. Internal administration is dealt with
by the Elders. It is they who decide the amount of the fines to be
paid by thoughtless young people who break the custom in some
way, or for the very rare offence of wife-stealing. In general, Miaos
and Yaos are singularly free from crime. They have no word for
'to lie' and do not seem ever to resort to lying. Offences against
personal property are nil, for fear of ancestral wrath and, no doubt,
because in a small community consisting of groups of some twenty
people confined in the space of an ordinary 'civilized' diningroom,
stealing would be almost impossible. Larger property offences
would not make sense. The jungle is huge and every man free to
take as much land as his family can cultivate. Sexual crimes are
very rare for reasons explained below, and the Miaos have a horror
of fighting and scolding. It displeases the Ancestors too much.
"But what would you do if some other people attacked
you ?" I asked.
Some Hilltribes of North Thailand 11
"We should run away. The jungle is big. It goes on
forever. There is plenty of land for all." I obtained this sort of
reply in several villages, and I imagine it is the truth. Certainly
I never witnessed a fight or a squabble, though I lived at such very
close quarters with numbers of them. Twice I heard an old man's
voice raised scoldingly, but everyone else laughed so much that the
poor old fellow couldn't keep a straight face himself.
Sex
Between the age of puberty and the time of marriage, young
people are prefectly free to sleep with whom they will. Every
night, at dusk, they gather together in small groups and spend an
hour or two making fun of each other or competing in verse and
song. Then, gradually, they slip away in pairs, returning to their
houses at about three or four in the morning. Their parents have
not the least objection, so long as they do not show disrespect by
cohabiting under the same roof as their elders. Very often a couple
will be faithful to each other from puberty to marriage. In other
cases, varied degrees of promiscuity take place,according to indivi-
dual preference. The only restriction placed on Miaos (it does not
exist among the Yaos ) is that no relationship, casual or serious,
shall be formed with non-Miaos. Even Varicoloured Miaos are
beyond the pale, though White Miaos are permitted to court Red
Miaos and vice-versa. This objection to the former is strange,
because al1 three types of Miao are designated as Meng (human-beings),
whereas Thais, Chinese and other races do not qualify for that name.
Such promiscuity is shocking judged by our standards, but
it does seem to have some advantages in addition to being the
universal practice of man in his natural state. By the time a Miao
youth seeks a wife, he is more or less free of ' love's blindness 'and
chooses a girl who will be a good manager and a suitable addition
to his family in other ways, being thrifty, hardworking, and so on.
Divorce is very rare, in spite of being easy, and unfaithfulness
scarcely more common. Besides, as women are married for them-
selves rather than for their faces, there are hardly any would-be
12 John Blofeld
wives debarred from marriage for lack of physical charm. In those
few cases where a wife does run off with another man, the husband
is generally willing to relinquish her, for he considers that a wife
held against her will does not make a very good mate. Besides,
whoever runs off with her is forced by the Elders to reimburse him
to the exact extent of the bride-money paid by him to her parents
at the time of his marriage. The commonest form of irregularity
is the elopment of a pair who cannot get their parents' consent to
their marriage. With such cases, the Elders deal very leniently,
merely stipulating that the bride-money be ultimately paid either
in cash or by work done on the land of the girl's parents.Curiously,
very few children are born of premaritial unions; those who do get
born are warmly welcomed by the girl's parents. The possession
of one or more potential farmers increases her value and puts the
bride-money up by a considerable amount. On marrying, the girl
takes her children into her new home.
Manners
In the literal sense of the word "manners", the Miaos and
Yaos possess none at all. There are no words for 'please, 'thank
you', 'excuse me ', etc. Yet they are most genuinely polite. The
hospitality of their village is free to all comers; everything is done
to see to the visitors' comfort, but without intrusion, so that guests
feel able to do exactly as they wish; there is no rude staring or
rude jests at the 'ignorant stranger's' expense; and the artificial
laughter and smiles of social intercourse are as foreign to them as
smiles of derision. There is nothing boorish about them; they
behave as a 'gentleman' would behave if shorn of every shred of
artificiality. The only phrase corresponding to 'goodbye' is ' come
again soon'. If you wave your hand and shower smiles upon your
hosts at the time of departure,you will get no answering waves or
smiles—merely an expression of bewilderment, but there is something
in their manner which lets you know you will be very welcome to
return.
Some Hilltribes of North Thailand 13
Yaos
So far, I have hardly mentioned the Yaos, because in most
respects everything said about Miaos applies to them, too. There
are, however, some differences. The most obvious is that of dress.
The men dress in dark blue clothes almost identical in cut with
those of Southern Chinese peasants-skull-cap, jacket buttoning at the
side, and floppy trousers. The women, on the contrary, are gorgeous.
They wear enormous black turbans, the size of which, a grand Vizier
of Bagdad might envy, long jackets with scarlet lambs-wool collars,
reaching to the ankles behind, but worn under the belt and trouser
in front. Every inch of their vast, full-length trousers is covered
with gay embroidery. If the Miao kilts represent seven years'
leisure, these must take some fifteen years to produce, or else the
women have more leisure.
I liked the Yaos enormously, but found them falling short
of "my'' beloved Miaos in just one respect. They have taken on
rather more of Chinese culture and lost a corresponding amount of
spontaneity. In some villages Chinese teachers are employed from
time to time to teach the elements of writing, and Chinese wall-scrolls
and mirrors decorate some of the houses. I have already mentioned
that the Yaos do not limit promiscuity to their own people, and
thereby hangs a tale.
On my first night in a Yao village, I noticed that only men,
boys, and eldery women dropped in to have a chat. The lovely
girls whose beauty I had so often heard praised were strangely
absent. Finally, I found the courage to ask where they were.
"Girls?" answered the old Headman-Magician. "Wait
until tomorrow. You'll see'' There was something sinister in
the way he spoke, something I didn't much care for. When we
were left alone for the night, I asked my Chinese guide to explain.
"It's like this", he said. " Yao maidens consider they
have a right to the person of any male stranger who catches their
fancy. Tomorrow, they will come and examine us. If they like
14 John Blofeld
the look of us—well, I'm all right, an old man like me—if they like
the look of a man they may detain him here until they tire of him.
Sometimes it takes days." He sighed in a manner which indicated
he had been among Yaos in his youth.
"But, Good Heavens ", I said. "Surely the menfolk won't
stand for a guest being held here against his will."
"Ah, they will know nothing of it. On the way down the
mountain, the women kidnap a departing guest and take him to a
hut in the fields. "
I was fortunately so tired that I slept well in spite of this
disquieting news. The next morning soon after breakfast, I was
startled to see a bevy of women from fourteen to about twenty-five
come crowding into the room and gaze at me in silence. Presently
a hand was stretched out and rubbed across my chest. They were
not at all unattractive in feature, but covered with thick layers of
dirt and, in some cases, open sores which might have been yaws or
worse. For once I was delighted with my few wrinkles and one or
two grey hairs. " I'm old enough to be their father, " I reflected,
but I wasn't too reassured. Suddenly it occurred to me that this
would be a wonderful chance to snap some pretty faces, Yaos being
terribly camera-shy and normally difficult to approach with a camera.
I had no sooner produced my camera, opened it up and begun to
focus it upon the prettiest girl when consternation broke out among
them. Before I could say "Jack Robinson" in Chinese, the room
was cleared of the whole bevy and my virtue was saved !
A Yao Legend
"Long, long ago we lived in a land far away, we the
children of the Emperor's dog. Ah, the dog ! Of course you know
nothing of him. In the earliest times, a Miao prince ruled in that
land, whom the Emperor of China detested. One day the Emperor
said to that dog 'Bite me the Miao Prince to death and I shall be
pleased with you ! 'Good', said the dog, 'but what reward shall
I have?' The Emperor answered that it was early to speak of
that. Let the dog do his bidding aud the reward should be as he
Some Hilltribes of North Thailand 15
chose. So the dog swum the great water and came to that land
and bit the Miao Prince so that he died. This done, he swam back
to land and came quickly to his Master again. 'Well?' said the
Emperor. 'It is done', answered the dog. 'Name your reward,
my good dog. Whatever you ask, that you shall have. ' So the dog,
being wise, asked for the Emperor's daughter. The Emperor was
not too glad to give his only daughter to such a queer son-in-law,
but what could he do? He had spoken and a word must always
be kept. So the marriage took place. The dog returned with his
bride to the land of the Miao, where many children were born to
them. We Yaos are the offspring of those children. Now you
know of the dog.
" As I was saying, we children of the dog were once hungry.
There was no food in the land. We grew thin and died. Some
there were who tried to cross the great water in boats. But the
winds blew and they died in the water. Then came nine families
to the shore, carrying three boats. These had the wisdom to pray
to the Great Devil, Pan. 'O Pan', they said, 'Take us safely to
the other shore and we will give you a pig.' So Pan carried them
across the water and they went up on the land. Then they
remembered that there was no pig. So they fashioned a pig out of
paper and other things and offered it to Pan, who was pleased.
Since then, we Yaos have had but nine surnames among us, and
since then we have offered pigs to Pan and honoured our pigs by
keeping their thigh-bones in our houses. "
This story has one important point of contact with the Miao
story to the effect that, their ancestors " came out of a cave bearing
torches of flax and crossed the great water ". For this reason,
together with the fact that their migrations have always been
westward,and the resemblance between the dress of Miao women
and the Formosan aborigines, all tend to support the theory that
both Miaos and Yaos came originally from Formosa (Taiwan), or
Hainan, or from both. Of course, a comparison of languages would
be needed to confirm this theory.
16 John Blofeld
Conclusions
The people of these two tribes, but especially the Miaos,
struck me as being the hardest-working, least quarrelsome, kindest,
and most cheerful people I had ever met. Given the civilized
man's solace of a few good books, I believe I could live among
them for years in the greatest happiness. Nevertheless, it must be
admitted that they have certain qualities and habits of which it is
difficult to approve. The squalor of their houses and persons is
fortunately less harmful than it sounds; no doubt the clean
mountain air robs it of dangerous effect. Their superstition is
primitive in the extreme, but it must be confessed that all of us are
more or less guilty on that count. I know 'civilized' men who
have a childish faith in the great god Vitamin, and my own father
would put on his hat while still within the doors of the church
where he worshipped rather than risk his life by baring his head
for half a second to the fresh air—yet he was a highly civilized and
cultured man. In any case, other people's dirt and particular
brands of superstition call for no outside interference. The same
applies to their sexual life. Judging from their appearance, it un-
doubtedly suits them; and there would seem to be fewer disap-
pointed wives and spinsters among them than in any community I
have ever known.
There remain two very serious drawbacks to their way of
life which cannot be lightly dismissed, because they do or ultimately
will affect the lives of other people. The first of these is their
wasteful method of agriculture which entails the systematic destruc-
tion of valuable jungle. Complaints have already been made about
this by Thai persons in places of high authority. To me, these
complaints seem a little premature, in view of the enormous area of
jungle in Thailand which has hitherto been put to no use whatever.
All the same, such complaints are right in principle and the day
must surely come when every inch of the earth's cultivatable or
afforrested surface will be required.
Some Hilltribes of North Thailand 17
The second drawback can hardly be separated from the first,
being at once its cause and its result-the planting of opium. So far,
we can hardly dare to criticise the Miaos and Yaos for this on moral
grounds, since the governments of Burma, Thailand, Laos and all
the countries concerned have been (and in some cases still are)
willing to purchase this product. But everybody knows that
opium, although in many ways less pernicious than alcohol, is
exceedingly harmful at least insofar that addicts of small means
are compelled to deprive themselves and their families of the good
things of life in order to have the money to satisfy their craving.
The time must come quite soon when the growing of opium will be
prohibited or narrowly restricted in every country in the world.
But merely to pass a law and then restrict the growth of opium by
force would be tantamount either to condemning the hilltribes to
death and extinction, or to turning them into dangerous armed
smugglers and bandits like the so-called Haws (Yunnanese) with
whom the Thai police are often in conflict.
The extinction of the hilltribes would be a shame and a
disgrace, and not only from the humanitarian - Buddhist point of
view. Thailand is fortunate to have side-by-side with its present-
day culture another culture hardly changed in thousands of years—
a rich source of material for anthropologists and all students of the
human race. It is my humble opinion that individual members of
the Siam Society, in the name of humanity and culture, should make
use of any available opportunity to draw the attention of the
Government to this matter and to suggest some means of keeping
this ancient people alive and happy. Some may be in favour of
educating the tribesmen and absorbing them into the Thai way of
life. This would not only entail the destruction of their unique
culture, but would have even worse results, Experiments in India
and elsewhere have shown that any attempts to bend primitive
tribesmen to another way of life completely demoralize them,
turning them into fourth or fifth class citizens unable to compete
with others and riddled with newly acquired vices and diseases.
18 John Blofeld
I am quite certain that there is only one solution reasonably
sure of promoting the happiness both of the tribes and of their Thai
neighbors . For this the Government requires a long-term plan.
The tribes should be notified that, in a certain number of years, all
opium-planting must come to an end, on pain of the severest
penalties; but the intervening period should be at least ten and pre-
ferably twenty years. During that time, agricultural experts should
be sent up to make a prolonged study of the capabilities of the soil
in those areas. It will not be enough to say to the tribes "Plant tea
or tobacco or coffee", because without expert aid they will certainly
be unable to produce anything of the kind which will compete
favourably with similar products from elsewhere. In any case,
they would not have the means of processing such things for them-
selves. It is essential that their products be easily transportable
over narrow mountain and jungle paths, and that they be readily
marketable on arrival at the nearest city. The tribes do not grow
opium from choice. Hundreds or thousands of years ago, they
were pushed off the best land by their Chinese and other neighbors
and forced to take refuge in the mountains to which they have now
become accustomed. On those high slopes they find it impossible
to grow anything but opium, for which there is sufficient demand
to provide them in return with the necessities of life. The substi-
tution of other crops will take years to accomplish, and can never
be accomplished at all without expert help and guidance.
Each time I have visited those delightful people in their
lovely airy surroudings, I have left them with deep regret, and my
affection for them is such that I may perhaps be excused for utilizing
this address to a learned audience not only to describe what I saw,
but also to plead the cause of those who afforded me so many
pleasurable nights and days.
Some Hilltribes of North Thailand 19
TWO MIAO LOVE - SONGS, taken down at the time of their
improvisation.
The boy: Goo tsa gao; I sing to you;
Goo yoh gao; I love you;
Gao na, gao tze, jirr-k'ng. But your parents won't
give you to me.
Gao yoh ha-li joang ? What do you say ?
Gao da jia, ' Goo yoh gao ' ? Oh, do say ' I want you' !
Gao yiu goo jirr-yiu ? Will you take me or not ?
Gao jirr yoh, goo jia gu-doh If not, I shall die.
Gao yoh goo, i-meng or-nao. If yes, we shall go and
plant our own field.
The girl : Hlung gao. A girl's song ( sung for )
you.
Gao na, gao tze jirr-k'ng Your parents won't let me
goo yoh gao; love you;
Goo na. goo tze jirr-k'ng My parents won't let you
gao yoh goo. love me.
Nu-noh i-jirr i-meng Now let us run away and
on jiorr, become Thais,
I shirr yoh, Sure of our love,
Gao dou goo, goo dou gao. You with me and I with
you.
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