OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. 439 



tions that inhabit the extensive regions between Chinese Tartary, China, and Siam 

 on the north and east, and Hindustan on the south and west, are still very im- 

 perfectly understood. In connection with them may be placed the inhabitants of 

 Bhotan and Asam. They are broken up into tribes, more or less intermixed, and 

 can only be treated in groups, which are formed upon slender affiliations. The 

 principal of these are the Bhot, Asamese, and the Burmese. In the latter are 

 placed the Karens, Among all of these native populations the Burmese have 

 attained to the highest national rank ; and, as a people, they have been made quite 

 familiar to us on this side of the Atlantic, by the life and labors of the illustrious 

 Judson. 



The Burmese system of relationship is regular in its form and clearly defined. 

 It has a number of Turanian characteristics, but is wanting in some of its arbitrary 

 and artificial principles of classification. Some of its generalizations are the same 

 as those found in the system of the Aryan family. The points of agreement and 

 disagreement with the forms before presented wall be seen as its details are given. 



In the lineal line, male, the series is as follows: a-ba, father; bo, grandfather; 

 ba, great-grandfather; bee, great-great-grandfather; and descending, thci, son; my-a, 

 grandchild; my-eet, great-grandchild; and tee, great-great-grandchild. 



There is a double set of terms for elder and younger brother, and for elder and 

 younger sister, one of which is used by males, and the other by females. 



Elder Brother. Elder Sister. Younger Brother. Younger Sister. 



Said by a male. E-ko', E-ma', Ny-ee'. Hnee-ma'. 



Said by a female. Mo-ung' Ky-ee', E-ma', Mo-ung Ga-ta', Ny-ee-ma'. 



The term for elder and younger brother, which is used by females, is the same, 

 a separate word being added expressive of elder and younger ; and the term used 

 for younger sister is the same as that used by a male for younger brother, with the 

 addition of a particle expressive of the female gender. In the formation of the 

 plural of brother, the terms for elder and younger brother are united, ny-ee-e '-ko-to' ', 

 literally, younger-elder brother = brothers, to being the sign of the plural ; in like 

 manner, for sisters we have e-ma' hne-ma'-to, literally, elder-younger sister. The 

 plural is formed in the Chinese in precisely the same way, e. g., heung, elder brother, 

 literally, senior; cu-te, little brother or junior, which give 7ieung-te~mun, senior- 

 junior = brothers ; mun being the sign of the plural; and for sisters, tsze-mei = 

 elder-younger sister = sisters. 



In the first collateral line male, irrespective of the sex of Ego, my brother's son 

 is my nephew, too. Inasmuch as the correlative here used is that of father, it may 

 be doubtful whether the latter word is in strictness equivalent to nephew. My 

 brother's daughter I call too-ma', my niece. Each of the children of this nephew 

 and niece I call my grandchild, my-a. My sister's son and daughter, Ego being 

 still a male, are my nephew and niece, using the same terms, and their children are 

 my grandchildren. 



The principal Turanian characteristics are wanting with the exceptions that my 

 father's brother is my father, and my father's sister is my aunt, and with the further 

 exception that this line is merged in the lineal line. 



