The Karen people of Burma: a study in anthropology and ethnology

Front matter

THE

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY BULLETIN

Volume 26 April 29, 1922 Number 13

Preface

To many a visitor to Burma, who views the country from the deck of an Irrawaddy River steamer or from the window of a railway carriage, there appears to be little difference between the Karen and the Burman. This is not strange, for many individuals of the non- Burman tribes wear the Burmese costume and speak the Burmese language ; and they present no markedly different characteristics in feature or color of skin. I have often heard the remark that “there is no difference between the Burman and the Karen.” It is doubtless because the Government of Burma recognizes that there is a difference in the tribal characteristics, customs, and religion that it has adopted the wise policy of publishing a series of complete studies, of which this purports to be one, of these various peoples. If the reader will have the patience to read these pages, it is hoped that he will realize that, though the Karen have lived for generations in the closest proximity to the Burmese, they preserve their own racial traits, which are quite distinct from those of their more volatile neighbors with whom they have had little in common.

This work deals more particularly with the Sgaw branch of the Karen people. My own acquaintance has been more intimate with this tribe, though I have known many of the other groups. This circumstance, together with the fact that the Bwe and Taungthu peoples have already been described in the Upper Burma Gazetteer, as well as the limitations of space, has led me to limit my discussion to brief references to the other tribes. But I am convinced that in the main the Sgaw exhibit the general characteristics that are truly Karen in the broadest sense of the term. I have also omitted any detailed study of the large mass of Karen folklore, which may possibly be incorporated in some future study.

The reader may notice that I have used the term “Karen,” instead of the more usual plural form “Karens,” when referring to the tribal name. This is more accurate, for to add the “s” is as misleading in this case as in that of the Lao, who are often mistakenly spoken of as the “Laos.” In the transliteration of Karen words I have followed the continental system of spelling, adopting “x” for the guttural which is pronounced like the “ch” in the Scotch “loch,” and the dipthong “eu” for the sound which closely resembles

vii viii

the common pronunciation of “er” as in “her.” I have accepted the simplified spelling for the tribal names, Pwo and Bwe, in place of the more cumbersome “Pgho” and “Bghai.”

It is not without some misgivings that I allow these sheets to go to the publisher. The notes were collected at such intervals as could be taken from my labors as a district missionary, and that at a time when increasing administrative duties precluded my giving such attention to them as I could wish. The return to America on furlough necessitated the completion of the work on the opposite side of the world from the sources of my material, and where, though I enjoyed the privileges of a Graduate Fellowship at the Ohio State University, I had to depend largely on my personal collections, there being no department of Ethnology there.

I wish to acknowledge the assistance which I have had from my wife, whose sympathetic interest and accurate knowledge have been of untold value, and also the help I have received from my missionary colleagues, among whom I should mention my father-inlaw, Rev. D. A. W. Smith, D.D. ; Rev. C. A. Nichols, D.D., who was first to ask me to undertake the preparation of this work, and Rev. E. N. Harris. Among the many Karen members of the mission staff who have helped in the gathering of materials, I can only mention Thras San Gyi San Kwe, Po Myaing, and Shwe Thee, of Tharrawaddy; Thra Pan Ya Se, of Shwegyin; and Thra Aung Gaing, of Insein, who gave me a full account of the Karen of Siam. The sketches signed “D. P.” are the work of a Karen schoolboy from Tavoy, Saw Day Po, who, to his credit it should be said, drew them without having had any instruction in drawing whatever. My thanks are also due to Drs. B. Laufer and Fay Cooper-Cole, of the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, for many valuable suggestions, and to Professors J. A. Leighton and W. H. Siebert, of the Ohio State University, for many kindnesses. To Professor Siebert I am especially indebted for a most painstaking review of my entire manuscript, for its acceptance for publication, and for seeing it through the press of the Ohio State University. Finally, I desire to express my gratitude to the Government of Burma for the privilege of undertaking this work. The necessity for careful observation and thorough investigation has not been without its benefits to me. The undertaking has been exacting and quite instructive, even if it had benefited no one but myself.

This book is, after all, but another by-product of the great missionary enterprise, which seeks to lift the less fortunate peoples of

PREFACE

IX the world to a higher plane of life and enjoyment, and to bring to them the best of our Christian civilization. If this work should help to make the Karen better known and understood and in any way assist them along their upward path, the writer will feel that it has all been a part of the great task to which he has dedicated his life. May the blessing of God rest upon it.

Columbus, Ohio August 30, 1920

Part I. General Topics Chapter

I. Habitat and Tribal Distribution of the Karen ... 1

II. The Origin of the Karen 5

III. Physical Characteristics 16

IV. Mental and Moral Characteristics 22

V. Language 31

VI. Dress and Ornaments 35

VII. Measures of Time and Space. Karen Astronomy ... 48

Part II. Domestic Life

VIII. The Karen Village-House 56

IX. Food and Its Preparation 66

X. Agricultural Pursuits and Other Occupations ... 75

XL Hunting and Fishing 96

XII. Spinning, Dyeing, and Weaving. Mat-making and Basketry 108

XIII. Bronze Drums 115

Part III. Social Life

XIV. Social Conditions 127

XV. Laws and Precepts 143

XVI. Warfare and Weapons 152

XVII. Music, Musical Instruments, and Dancing .... 161

XVIII. Birth Customs. Childhood 168

XIX. Marriage Customs 176

XX. Funeral Customs 193

PART IV. RELIGIOUS LIFE XXL Religious Conceptions 210

XXII. Supernatural and Mythical Beings 223

XXIII. Propitiatory Sacrifices and Healing Offerings . . . 234

XXIV. Feasts to the “Bgha” 248

XXV. Mount “Thaw Thi.” Religious Cults 262

XXVI. Magic 267

XXVII. Divinations 279

XXVIII. Tabu 286

Part V. Development Of The Karen People

XXIX. Growth of Christianity Among the Karen .... 296

XXX. Progress of the Karen Race 304

APPENDIXES

A. Glossary of Karen Words 315

B. Bibliography 321

Index 325

XI

ILLUSTRATIONS

A Sgaw Karen Youth with His Harp Frontispiece

PAGE

A Creek of the Irrawaddy Delta

A Mountain Stream in Burma

A Path through the Bamboo Jungle, Pegua Hills

The Morning Mist in the Toungoo Hills

Karen Hill Men Coming Down to the Plains

Karen Men from the Hills, Tharrawaddy District

Karen Family with Traces of Negrito Blood

Sgaw Karen Young Bloods, Ngape Eh Village, Tharrawaddy Hills .

Karen Boys

Playmates: Karen Boys and the Sons of the Author . . . .

A Paku Schoolgirl, Toungoo

A Karen Belle

A Bwe Karen Man’s Suit .

A Karen Bamboo Comb

Women’s Garments

Women’s Head-dress

Karen Skirts and Bags

A Padaung Couple, the Wife with Neck-rings and Leg-rings

Women’s Earrings .

A Boar’s Tusk Comb

Karen Girls in Burmese Costume

Two Sgaw Karen Maidens

The Gateway of a Village Stockade

Part of a Mountain Karen Village, Tharrawaddy District . Stockade and Gateway of the Village, Re Tho, Tharrawaddy District

Plan of Shataw Village, Tharrawaddy District

A Torch with Its Stand

Plan of a Karen Family-room

A Hill Village in Transition

Sideview of a Bamboo Karen House, Kaindagyi

Pounding Paddy in a Mortar

The Fireplace in a Hill Karen House

Karen Tobacco Pipes and a Piston for Breaking Betel-nut . Offerings and Traps on the Edge of a Field

37 39

47 47 52 55 57 57 59 61 62 63 65 68 69 xiii xiv THE KAREN PEOPLE OF BURMA

PAGE

A Hillside Plot Cut Ready for Burning 77

A Paddy-bin for Storing Grain in the Field 77

Off for the Fields with Baskets and Bags 80

Plowing a Paddy Field in Lower Burma 83

Women Transplanting Paddy 83

Reaping Paddy with Sickles 89

A Threshing-floor on the Plains 89

Winnowing Paddy 91

Fanning Paddy 91

Sgaw Karen Women Carrying Grain in Large Baskets 94

Karen Houses on the Plains 94

Turning the Buffaloes Out to Graze 95

Setting a Spring-trap, Pegu Hills 100

A Box Trap for Catching Birds 100

A Large Fish-trap 103

Climbing the Toddy-palm 103

Cylindrical Fish-traps 105

Bottle-shaped Fish-trap 105

Ginning Cotton in the Pegu Hills 109

Batting Cotton into Smooth Layers with a Bow 109

A Karen Girl at a Burmese Loom 112

The Karen Loom 112

A Karen Matron Weaving under Her House 114

Karen Bronze Drum, Nabaain Village, Tharrawaddy District . . . 119

A “Rubbing” Showing the Pattern of the Head of the Nabaain Drum . 119

Bronze Drum from Kondagyi, Tharrawaddy District 122

Head of the Kondagyi Drum 122

Bronze Drum Owned by Rev. A. V. B. Crumb 125

Head of Mr. Crumb’s Drum 125

Bringing Water for the Visitor, Nabaain Village, Tharrawaddy District 128 Young Women Bringing in Bamboo Fuel, Tharrawaddy Hills . . . 132

Plains Women Bathing in the Irrawaddy, in the Lee of the High-sterned

Burmese Boat 132

Carrying Water in Bamboo Joints 140

Dipping Water from a Shallow Stream 146

Buffaloes at Their Daily Bath 151

Karens of Three Generations on the Plains 155

Karen Girls of the Plains Carrying Water in Earthen Pots . . . 155

A Sgaw Karen Orchestra, Tharrawaddy Hills 160

Karen Jew’s-harps 163

ILLUSTRATIONS xv

PAGE

A Karen Guitar 163

Playing the “Paw Ku” or Karen Xylophone 165

An Exhibition Performance on the Xylophone 165

Musical Score of a Karen “Hta” or Poem 166

A Child Riding on Its Mother’s Hip 172

The Friends of the Bridegroom 179

The Bridegroom’s Company Entering the Bride’s Village .... 185

The Wedding Party 185

Karen Girls of the Plains, Tharawaddy District 191

Christian Converts, Ngape Eh Village, Tharrawaddy District . . . 191

Sgaw Karen Young Women 196

Arrangement of Pestles for a Funeral Game 200

Another Arrangement of Pestles for a Funeral Game 201

A Sketch of a Tree Used in the Funeral Games 203

Climbing the Cocoanut-palm 214

A Hill Village in Transition 220

A Karen Village on the Plains 220

A Bwe Karen Christian Village, Toungoo District 227

Karen Girls Pounding Paddy in a Mortar Out-of-doors 238

A Bwe Karen Prophet 246

A Hut Erected in a Forest Clearing by a Self-styled Prophet as the

Center of a New Karen Religious Cult of Short Duration . . . 246

A Sgaw Karen Grandmother 251

Karen Villagers, Tharrawaddy District 256

Utensils for the Sacred “Bgha” Feast of a Pwo Karen Family, Bassein

District 260

Village School-children with Their Teacher 266

Paku Karen Schoolgirls 272

Field-day, Tharrawaddy Karen High School 281

Chicken Bones Used in Divination 282

A Christian Karen Village School, Tharrawaddy District .... 293

Two Karen Christian Pastors 295

Karen Theological Students 299

A Christian Village School, Prome District 302

The Chapel and Schoolhouse of the American Baptist Mission High

School, Tharrawaddy District 302

Schoolgirls at Calisthenics, Tharrawaddy Karen High School . . . 305

Schoolboys Lined up for Drill 305

A Karen Teacher and Lahu Boys 308

Rev. Thra Maung Yin, of Bassein 311

Karen Military Police 313

Chapter I Habitat And Tribal Distribution Of The Karen

The Karen are a group of Indo-Chinese tribes living principally in Burma, the easternmost province of the British Indian Empire, in the Indo-Chinese peninsula, and in the adjoining country of Siam to the east. They are found between the tenth and twenty-first degrees of north latitude and between the ninetyfourth and one hundredth degrees of east longitude. The greater part of this territory they occupy in connection with the other peoples of the country, namely, the Burmese, Shan, Siamese, and Chin. The only exclusively Karen country is the hilly region of the Toungoo district and the Karenni subdivision, where the Karen chiefs of five states, comprising 4,830 square miles and a population of 42,240, are still in power under the Advisory Council of the British Government. There is also a Karen chief ruling one of the Shan States, and five other states in that section are ruled by Taungthu chiefs. In all these latter districts we find a mixed population.^

The whole group of Karen tribes can be divided into three divisions, according to their language or dialect differences. These are the Sgaw, Pwo, and Bwe groups.

The Sgaw group is the largest and most widely scattered. They are found all through the Irrawaddy Delta, from the vicinity of Prome southward, and from the Arracan coast eastward to the neighborhood of Lakong in Siam and southward to the lowest point of the British possessions. The Baku and Mawnepgha tribes of the southern Toungoo Hills belong to this group. One dialect, with only slight variations, is used throughout this region.

The Pwo group comprises, besides the Pwo Karen, the Taungthu tribe, who call themselves the Pao. The Pwo are found along the seacoast from Arracan to Mergui and are said to be found nowhere more than fifty miles inland. However, I think that some of the Pwo villages in the Henzada district may be a little farther inland than that. The Taungthu are found in a section of country

^ J. S. Scott: Burma, Appendix, pp. 470-481.

A Creek of the Irrawaddy River Delta, Bassein District These streams form the highways of this district.

A Mountain Stre am in Burma

The Karen build their villages along these streams of swift-running water.

HABITAT AND TRIBAL DISTRIBUTION running northward from Thaton into the Shan States beyond Taunggyi.

The Bwe tribes are found in the vicinity of Toungoo, in the territory extending from the foothills east of that city throughout the Karenni subdivision. This is a very mountainous region, and we find the people broken up into small tribes differing from one another in dialect, dress, and customs. Nine of these tribes were enumerated in the last Government census. The tendency of the present time is to consider these tribes more closely related than was formerly the case.

In the Census Report of the Government of India for the year 1911 we have the first enumeration of all Karens in the British territory. In former reports the Karenni territory was not included in the enumeration. The returns in 1911 showed a population of 1,102,695. This was an increase of 199,334 over the previous count in 1901, due in part to the increased extent of the territory covered. The enumeration, however, did not clearly distinguish between the Pwo and Sgaw branches of the race, due, as the Report says, to the fact that many retuimed themselves simply as Karens, without specifying to w’hich branch they belonged. The total number of Pwos and Sgaws increased from 717,859 souls in 1901 to 872.825 in 1911, a gain of 154,966. This represents a real increase in population, for these tribes are all in Burma proper. The Pwo dialect is less persistent than the Sgaw, for more of its mem.bers are using Burmese to a much greater degree than the Sgaws, although the latter are also giving up their language where they are living in close contact with the Burmans. The Sgaw dialect is not “driving out the Pwo” as rumor says, but is merely holding its own better against the Burmese. Probably there are about half a million Sgaw's in Burma and perhaps another 50,000 in Siam,- which w^ould make them the most numerous branch of the race. The Taungthu w’ere enumerated by themselves and, as has been said above, belong to the Pwo group. There were 183,054 of them in 1911. During the decade previous to that enumeration they had made an increase of 14,753 souls. The Pwo group would probably include altogether about 350,000 members and wmuld stand second in point of numbers.®

- W. A. Graham, in the Handbook of Siam, estimates the Karen of that country at 30,000, but I think this estimate rather low.

® These citations are all from the Census of India, 1911, Vol. IX, pp. 275, ff.

The Bwe group is more definitely treated in the Census Report, for in this group each tribe is enumerated separately, as follows :

Karenni 19,008

Karennet 3,721

Karenbyu 790

Zayein 4,981

Sinsin 533

Yinbaw 911

Padaung 8,516

These tribes,^ dwelling in the heart of the Karen country where they have been secure in the fastnesses of their native hills, have never before been counted with enough exactness to allow us to estimate their increase in numbers. There is no doubt that the general impression that they are really increasing is correct. Further investigation may show that some of these tribes as, for example, the Zayein, may be allied to non-Karen stock, such as the Wa of the Shan States.®

These Bwe tribes form a distinct group, but it is beyond the purpose of this present work to deal in particular with them, especially since they have already formed the subject of a study incorporated in the Upper Burma Gazetteer.'^

^ Karenni means literally Red Karen, in Burmese. It has been used of the tribe dwelling in the country now called by that name, because they wear red clothing. Similarly some writers have spoken of the White Karen and the Black Karen, “Karenbyu** and “Karennet.**

® Rev. W. H. Young, formerly of Kenteung, tells me that the Wa language resembles the Karen in structure but not in vocabulary, while the Lahu and Pwo Karen have similar customs and vocabulary but a different sentence structure.

^ Vol. I, Pt. I, Chapter IX.

Chapter II

The traditions of the Karen clearly indicate that they have not always lived in their present home. The most striking story is that of “Htaw Meh Pa,” the mythical founder of the Karen race, who lived with his numerous family in some unknown land to the North, where their fields were ravaged by a great boar. The patriarch went out and killed the boar ; but when the sons went to bring in the carcass, they could find only one tusk which had been broken off in the fray. The old man made a comb out of this, which surprised them all by its power of conveying eternal youth to all who used it. Soon their country became overpopulated, and they set out to seek a new and better land. They traveled together till they came to a river called in Karen “Hti Seh Meh Ywa.” Here the old man became impatient at the long time it took the members of the family to cook shellfish and went on ahead, promising to blaze his path that they might follow him through the jungle. After a while the Chinese came along and told them how to open the shells to get out the meat; and then, having eaten, they followed the old man, only to find that the plantain stalks he had cut off had shot up so high that it seemed impossible to overtake him. They, therefore, settled down in the vicinity. The patriarch went on, taking with him the magic comb which has never been discovered to this day.

While this tradition is not confined to the Karen, ^ it has a bearing, I believe, on their origin. A great deal has been written about the “Hti Seh Meh Ywa” or, as Dr. Mason called it, the “River of Running Sand,” ^ which is, as he thinks, the Gobi Desert. This opinion of Dr. Mason is derived from Fa Hien’s description of his travels across that desert. However, the Karen name of the river means not only “flowing sand,” but also a “river of

1 This tradition is found among the Lahu and also, according to Thra Ba Te, among the Chin in the northwest of Burma.

MacMahon, in The Karens of the Golden Chersonese, p. 106, refers to a different version of this story, in which the Chinese go ahead instead of "Htaw Meh Pa,” and on p. 104 MacMahon says he found traditions indicating that the Karen formed part of a Chinese expedition into Burma and that they were left behind because of their sluggish movements. These all point to early relations with the Chinese.

2 Mason, British Burma, p. 831.

water flowing with sand.” ® The reference to the Gobi Desert seems rather far-fetched and has, therefore, been abandoned by scholars. Dr. D. C. Gilmore suggests the Salween as being a river that fulfils the requirements of the tradition, but bases his conclusions largely on the reference to the early home of “Htaw Meh Pa” as located on Mount “Thaw Thi,” the Olympus of the Karen, which is mentioned in Dr. Vinton’s version of the story, from which he quotes.* This reference is not found in other versions of the story and was probably not a part of it in its earliest form. It seems reasonable, therefore, to look further for the sandy river. Dr. Laufer ® asserts that the early home of the peoples of eastern Asia was in the upper reaches of the Hoang-ho or Yellow River, of China, and that from this center the Tibetans migrated westward ; the early tribes of Indo-China, southward; and the Chinese, southeastward. According to this view, the progenitors of the Karen probably formed a part of the southward migration and, at some stage of their march, stopped on the banks of the Yellow River which, as its name suggests, has from time immemorial been freighted with silt and sand. Here they may have tried to cook the shellfish referred to in the tradition. From this region they doubtless made their way down to what is now Yunnan, where perhaps they found a domicile till they were pushed farther south by migrating people advancing behind them.

The name “Karen” is an imperfect transliteration of the Burmese word “Kayin,” the derivation of which has puzzled students of that language. It has been thought that this word is derived from the name by which the Red Karen call themselves, i.e., “Ka-Ya.” The designation of the Sgaw for themselves is “Pgha K’Nyaw,” which has not usually been associated with the native name of the Red Karen. In August, 1914, it was suggested to me ® that these tribal names, which have hitherto been thought to mean simply “men,” were related to, and derived from, the name of one of the four ancient tribes of China, that is, the Ch’iang (ancient pronunciation, Giang or Gyang). This tribe, which is indicated in Chinese by the ideograph of a man combined w'ith the character designating a sheep, conveying the meaning of shepherd, occupied

3 E. B. Cross, Journal, American Oriental Soc. (1854) Vol. IV, pp. 293, ff. and D. C. Gilmore, Journal, Burma Research Soc., Vol. I, p. 191.

^ J. B. Vinton, D.D. and Rev. T. Than Bya. M. A., Karen Folklore Stories,

^ Dr. B. Laufer, Curator of Anthropologry, Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, in a note to the writer, Jan. 6, 1920.

® By the Rev. Thra Ba Te, in a letter dated August 14, 1917.

A Path through the Bamboo Jungle, Pegu Hills

The Morning Mist in the Toungoo Hills The mists settle in the valleys, which make the mountain-tops look like islands in an inland sea.

the western part of ancient China. The first part of the name, “Ch,” means “people,” and the latter part, “Yang,” is the distinctive tribal name. Turning now to the Karen word “Pgha K’Nyaw.” “Pgha” is a general word meaning people. “K’Nyaw” is, according to my informant, composed of two elements: “K’,” a prefix often found in the names of tribes in the vicinity of Burma and denoting a tribal group, as “Kachin,” “Kethe,” or “Karok” (as used by the Talaing of the Chinese). “Nyaw” is derived from “Yang,” referred to above. The final nasal “ng” is softened in Karen to the open syllable “aw,” following the analogy of many words occurring in the dialects or in Burmese and having nasal endings; and “n” and “ny” are interchangeable. Thus, if this reasoning is correct, “Pgha K’Nyaw” is derived from the ancient “Yang,” and is like the source from which the Burmese “Kayin” is derived.' This explanation affords another link connecting the Karen with the early dwellers within the confines of the present Chinese Republic.

The language of the Karen, after being classed in various ways, has now been recognized as a Sinitic language and, according to the last Burma Census (1911) is set down as belonging to the “Siamese-Chinese” sub-family of the Tibeto-Chinese languages, being grouped with the Tai or Shan. I feel sure that this last grouping is subject to revision by the philologists. While at first glance the relationship of these languages appears to be remote, Major H. R. Davies makes a very pertinent statement when he says: “Doubtless owing to phonetic change and the splitting of initial double consonants, many words have been altered beyond all hope of recognition, but a systematic study of the subject would, I believe, reveal many unsuspected resemblances.” ®

When we consider that many of these languages have never been fixed by written characters and that, within the past few decades, the Karen language has so changed that the bard literature of a century ago is almost unintelligible to the present generation, we can see how complicated the problem is and that it is only capable of solution, if at all, at the hands of experts.

The Karen language, as we now have it, is a monosyllabic agglutinated speech, with no final consonants in Sgaw Karen and with nasals and finals in other dialects. These are all marks of Sinitic

" Dr. Martin in the Lore of Cathay gives the names of the other three of the four ancient tribes of China as the La in the North, the Yi in the East, and the Man in the South. ® Maj. H. R. Davies, Yunnan, The Link between Burma and the Yangste.

speech. Dr. D. C. Gilmore believes that the Pwo dialect branched off from the parent stem earlier than the Sgaw, but kept the original nasals and, being in closer contact with outside races, adopted more outside words.® The Sgaw has dropped the final nasals, because they were more difficult to pronounce, but has kept the original form of the language to a greater extent than the Pwo.

The fact that the Karen have used bronze drums for many generations has, I think, a bearing on their racial relationship. These remarkable drums have only recently been studied by Western scholars, and their full significance is still a matter for investigation. These drums were formerly thought to be of Chinese origin, but it seems that they are to be attributed to aboriginal tribes, found in what is now Tong King and Yunnan by the Chinese generals, Ma Yuon (41, A.D.) and Chu-Ko Liang (230, A.D.), who conquered these territories for the Chinese.^®

The upper portion of Camboja is now considered to be the original home of these drums. They formed part of the possessions of the chiefs and were considered very precious, each being worth from eight to ten oxen. Chu-ko Liang is reported to have exacted sixty-three bronze drums as tribute from the barbarians and to have taken them back with him. Among the peoples of Burma the Karen seem to be the only race that has made use of these drums. They do not manufacture them, but buy them from the more industrious Shans, who do not appear to set much store by them.^^ Among the Karen, until recent times, the owner of one of these instruments was considered of more worth than a man who had seven elephants. A drum often formed the ransom of a village or the dowry of a maiden. Although so valued a possession often belongs to a chief, it may belong to any one who can purchase it.

It may have been from the Karen that the Chinese generals exacted part or all of their tribute. If so, this people was living in the mountains of Yunnan at the beginning of the Christian era.

® D. C. Gilmore, “Phonetic Changes in the Karen Languages” in Journal, Burma Research Society, Vol. VIII, Pt. ii, pp. 122, if.

Several pamphlets and articles in anthropological journals deal with these drums. The most extensive work on the subject, which is in German, is hy Franz Heger and is entitled Alte Metalltrommeln aus Sudost-Asien, Leipzig 1902. An excellent short work entitled “Anciens Tambours de Bronze,” is by H. Parmentier and is printed in the Bulletin VEcole d’ Extreme- Orient, Hanoi, 118. See also Chapter XIII on Bronze Drums, pp. 115-126.

W. W. Cochrane, in The Shans, mentions the Shan towns of Tagaung or Ta Kawng and Mogaung or Mong Kawg as denoting, respectively. Drum Ferry and Drum Town, and on page 62 he says : “They took also a palace drum, whose reverberations could call the people together, daunt enemies, or bring rain in time of drought.” He makes no further reference to their use.

It is a belief of the Karen that their forefathers have cherished these drums from time immemorial. One drum in Toungoo district is, I have been told, supposed to be a thousand years old. Our knowledge of them is, however, too meagre to permit any dogmatic statements on the subject. Further investigation should throw more light upon it.

The religious traditions of the Karen have also been thought to possess significance in regard to their racial origin. When, in 1827, the early missionaries first discovered the Karen, they were surprised to find that these people professed having received from their forefathers monotheistic traditions in which the story of the creation was almost parallel to the Mosaic account in Genesis. (See p. 211.) The question, “Whence this story?” at once suggested ftself. Was it their independent possession from the beginning of time, their only relic from a more vigorous and highly civilized past when, as they explained, they had not yet lost their book?^^ Or had it been borrowed from another people, whom they had met in the course of their wanderings from their northern birthplace to their present home? Some of the early missionaries, including Dr. Mason, thought that the Karen might be found to be the lost tribes of Israel or, if not actually descended from Abraham, that they had received instruction from colonies of Jews, who were supposed to have spread to the East in ancient times.