Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 28, No.2, September 1990 Why the Kula Wept: A Report on the Trade Activities of the Kula in Isan at the End of the 19th Century Junko KmZUMI* volved in the region, played in the develop­ ment of the money economy and commer­ I Introduction cialization in this region, and the effects this This is a preliminary report on the trade ac­ development had on the different social tivities of a minority group from Burma called groups during the period concerned here. the Kula or the Tongsoo in the Northeastern The main purpose of this article is to outline part of Thailand (Isan) during the last few the Kula/Tongsoo's trade activities, which are decades of the 19th century. mentioned in some studies on Isan economy This study attempts to examine the role the but rather in passing,2) and their implications Kula/Tongsoo,1) one of the various actors in- to the study of the socio-economic history of this region. * IJ'\jRJI~T, Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, Japan 1) Who the KulalTongsoo were is still an unanswered II The Early Period question. Although Siamese documents of the 1870s and the 1880s mostly use the two words in­ The Kula/Tongsoo seem to have been terchangeably, it is not clear whether they refer to rather familiar to the people in Northeast the same ethnic group, as there are exceptions. Thailand for a long time. Paitoon Mikusol, Wilson, for example, writes that "Tongsoo" (or Tongsft) was used in the 19th century as a designa­ tion for (a) "the Karen tribe in general"; (b) "a Thai Shans in Siam both by the people of the country trader tribe closely related to the Shans known for and by themselves, appears to be in reality the dealing in elephants and horses"; and (c) "the Shan Burmese word Kula, foreigner" [Smyth 1898: vol. pronunciation of the Burmese word taungthu, 2, 181]. The British Consular Reports, on the meaning 'hill man', referring to the Pa-O subdivi­ other hand, explain the Tongsoo were those who sion of the Karen tribe" [Wilson and Hanks 1985: came from Pegu. This shows that there was 62]. Reporting on the gem diggers in Chantha confusion in identifying some of the peoples from Buri and Cambodian peninsula, Smyth says, "The Burma during this period. In this article, the Siamese often style the gem-mining Shans word, the KulaiTongsoo, is used in a broad sense, Tongsu, but there are very few real Tongsus meaning certain ethnic group(s) from Burma who among them. Europeans have usually called them were called the Kula or the Tongsoo (Tqngsu) and Burmese, but beyond the fact that they come from sometimes Shans. And where citations from any the Burmese Shan states the term is not applicable reference materials are made, the writer follows to more than an extremely small percentage, and the wording of the original text. the application of the name to his face would not be 2) See, for example, Deesuankok et at. [1986: 167­ considered flattering by the average Shan. The 168], Sapsarn [1982: 38], and Nartsupha [1984: 44­ term Gula, which is most commonly used of the 45]. 131 for example, writes in his thesis on the socio­ in the Northeast appears in the reign of King cultural history of this area during the reign of Rama the Fourth. It reports the trouble be­ King Rama the Fifth: "The Shan (Kula) from tween the Tongsoo and the chaomitang of Roi the Shan states took bells and gongs which Et, Suwannaphum, and Khon Kaen over the were good[s] for [which] Shans were famous dealing of almost six hundred head of cattle and trade[d] them in the northeastern huamu­ which the Tongsoo had bought there.7) Ac­ ang. 3) Since the Shan apparently met trouble cording to the document, the Tongsoo had in a large grass plain between Muang Suwan­ purchased 66 oxen in Roi Et, 178 oxen in naphum and Muang Rattanaburi, that plain is Suwannaphum, and 333 oxen in Khon Kaen. called the Thung Kula Rong Hai (the field of Then the chaomitang of these principalities the weeping Kula)" [MikusoI1984: 102-103]. confiscated these oxen. The King ordered However, the earliest official Siamese docu­ these chaomitang to refund the price to the ment in the Rattanakosin Era which mentions Tongsoo, who were waiting in Bangkok, by the Tongsoo appears, as far as this writer has selling these oxen either back to the original noticed, in the year C.S. 1200 or 1838 A.D.4) owners or to anyone as soon as possible. But And the earlier records made during the reign the response by these chaomitang were so of King Rama the Third were primarily on slow that the Bangkok authorities decided to those cases concerning the Tongsoo detained pay the price of the oxen, or 2,763.5 bahts, to by local officials in the North, Le., in Chiang the Tongsoo first, and ordered the chaomitang Mai, Tak, Sawankhalok and Kamphaeng to pay the money back to Bangkok without Phet, and not in the Northeast.5) The delay. The Bangkok authorities were, in Tongsoo came in groups from Moulmein fact, suspicious of the hidden intentions of through Tak or Rahaeng, bringing some Burma behind these Tongsoo trading ac­ goods to sell along the way and sometimes tivities and had been ordering the chaomitang buying elephants and oxen on their way back under their control not to sell any cattle and to their homes. The articles which they animals to anyone from outside the territory.8) brought to trade were piece goods of various These incidents in the North and the North­ kinds, pieces of cloth (some were silk), mir­ east reveal the difficulties of trade in the rors, small toilet boxes (aep), rings made of early period. The trade with the Tongsoo, gold and ornamented with gems, scissors, especially of animals, was discouraged and knives and so on.6) even forbidden by the authorities on the One of the earliest records on the Tongsoo 7) NL, CMH RIV, C.S.1217: No. 48, No. 74. In fact, 3) HuamUang is roughly translated as "principality" previous to this incident, the chaomUang of Chon­ or "township" and chaomu.ang is a "lord" or "gover­ nabot was accused of not prohibiting his subor­ nor" of huamkang. dinates from selling elephants to the "Moulmein 4) NL, CMH RIll, C.S. 1200: No. l. people" (phuak mf/Yamo£ng). But the document 5) NL, CMH RIll, C.S. 1200: No.1; NL, CMH RIll, does not state whether they were the Kula or not C.S. 1207: No. 50, No. 101, No. 135, No. 30l. [NL, CMH RIV, C.S. 1215: No. 206]. 6) NL, CMH RIll, C.S. 1200: No.1; NL, CMH RIll, 8) The Richardson mission, sent in 1839 to improve C.S. 1207: No. 50; NL, CMH RIll, C.S. 1210: No. the trade relations, especially in animals, between 188. Moulmein and Siam, failed. 132 J, KOIZUMI: Why the Kula Wept Map 1 Siam and Her Neighbors 133 Siamese side. Those who peddled their plans of trips desired by British subjects as wares in the North were sometimes caught by reported by the British Consul in Siam.9) The local officials as well. places where the Kula/Tongsoo planned The incident in Roi Et, Suwannaphum, and trading journeys were Northern Lao prin­ Khon Kaen happened just before the Bowring cipalities (huamltang lao jai nita) in general, or Treaty, ratified on the 5th of April, 1856, often specifically, Nakhon Ratchasima, Tak, came into effect. The treaty, first of all, Chiang Mai, Phrae, Lampang, Lamphun, guaranteed that "all British subjects coming Nan, and to lesser extent, Nakhon Sawan, to Siam shall receive from the Siamese Sawankhalok, Lopburi, Lorn Sak and so on. Government full protection and assistance to Those groups which visited Nakhon Rat­ enable them to reside in Siam in all security, chasima often proceeded to Moulmein, their and trade with every facility" [Bowring (1857) final destination, travelling through the 1969: vol. 2, 215]. "The interests of all Northern (Lao) principalities. British subjects" were "placed under the Elephants, ivory, horns, silk, as well as oxen regulation and control of a British consul" in and buffaloes were the popular products the Bangkok [ibid.: vol. 2, 216]. And the Sup­ Tongsoo wanted to purchase in Nakhon Rat­ plementary Agreement stipulated the ex­ chasima and in the Northern Lao prin­ clusive jurisdiction of the consul over British cipalities. They were also interested in teak, subjects [ibid.: vol. 2, 233-235]. They were which was the product of places like Chiang also provided with the right to "travel to and Mai, Phrae, Lampang, Lamphun, and Nan. fro under the protection of a pass, to be fur­ Although they expressed their wishes to nished them by the British consul and trade, both buying and selling, what they counter-sealed by the proper Siamese officer, brought from Bangkok to sell upcountry were stating, in the Siamese character, their little mentioned. The only items specifically names, calling, and description" [ibid.: vol. 2, mentioned in the limited number of cases 218]. These stipulations in the treaty, in­ were guns and silk cloth. They usually trav­ cluding the Supplementary Agreement signed eled in groups of three to 17 or 18 people, but in May, 1856, provided the basic framework there was also a case of a group with 48 to regulate the trade activities of the members recorded.