trends : Considering the long period of time that the Lawa have been in their area. it must be said that their rate of absorption by the Thai people has been a very gradual process and continues to be such. Some circles, to be sure, have dcfinitely been completely absorbed. such as the former villages near Chiengmai city and near Vieng Pa Pan, Chiengmai Province, but the distinctive n.h v,s ical features of the Lawa will still be seen in such communities.
Tn such a situation. none of the young people are able to speak the 1.awa language and few of the uldcr people will use the langua~e among themselves. FIowever, in the Eaw Luang and adjacent areas. they have become assimilated mainly in economic aspects, retaining
their tribal affiliations and language. Indeed. it is a fact that physically, the Lawa in this area have modified the Thai people around them as much as the Thai have modified them, through the mixing of their bloods. There are villajps which consider themselv~sto be Lao-Thai. but the Lawa characteristics are so stron.g> in them that one is immediately imyressed that the vilIage might actually he Laws instead. The "nure" Lawa. who are raciaIIv verv different from the
Thai peoples, certainly have more dominant genetic characteristics than the Thai peoljle. While econamic assimilation will undoubtedly be an eventuality, it wilI be a very long time before the physical characteristics of the lawa people are Iost completely.