132 



THE HAIRY FAMILY OF AVA. 



By the Rev W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.L.S. 



The photographs, which are before you, represeut a mother and two 

 Eons now living at or near Ava. The original photographs were broTight home 

 a few months ago by my brother, Captain Houghton : they were taken by an 

 artist at Rangoon. 



The first notice of this curious haii-y family occurs in Mr. Crawfurd'a 

 book, "The Journal of an Embassy to the Court of Ava" (voL i., p. 318, 8vo. 

 edition). "We had heard much," Mr. Crawfurd writes, " of a person said to 

 be covered all over ^vith hair, and wlio, it was insisted upon, more resembled an 

 ape than a human being — a description however which, I am glad to say, was 

 by no means realised by his ajjpearance." This person's name was Shwe- 

 Maong, and he stated himself to be 30 years of age when Mr. Crawfurd saw him 

 in 1826. This hairy individual was the father of the mother whose portrait is 

 now exhibited. 



The Saubwa, or chief of the country where Shwe-Maong was born, pre- 

 sented him to the king as a curiosity when a child five years old, and he 

 bad remained at Ava ever since. His height was 5 feet 3^ inches, which is 

 about the ordinary stature of the Burmese. " His form was slender, and 

 constitution rather delicate. The whole forehead, cheeks, eyelids, nose, 

 including a portion of the inside, the chin, in short the whole face, with the 

 exception of the red portion of the lips, were covered with fine hair. On the 

 forehead and cheeks this was about eight inches long, and on the nose and chin 

 about four inches. In colour it was of silvery gray ; texture silky, lank and 

 straight. The posterior and anterior surface of the ears, with the inside of the 

 external ear, were completely covered with hair of the same description as that 

 on the face, and about eight inches long : it was this chiefly which contributed 

 to give his whole appearance at first sight an unnatural and almost inhuman 

 aspect. He may be strictly said to have had neither eyelashes, eyebrows, nor 

 beard, or, at least, they were supplanted by the same silky hair which enveloped 

 the whole face. The whole body, with the exception of the hands and feet, 

 was covered with hair of the same texture and colour as that now described, but 

 generally less abundant. It was most jilentiful over the spine and shoulders, 

 where it was five inches long ; it was most scanty on the forearms, legs, thighs, 

 and abdomen. His features were regular and good for a Burmese ; the in- 

 tellectual faculties were by no means deficient ; on the contrary, he was a person 

 of good sense, and his intelligence rather above than below the ordinary Burmese 

 standard." 



Shwe-Maong married a Burmese woman with nothing abnormal about her, 

 the king having made him a present of a wife. He had fo\jr children by this 

 ■woman, all girls : the eldest died when three years old, the second when eleven 



