442 SYSTEMS OF CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



The Rev. H. L. Van Meter in a letter to the author which accompanied one of 

 the Karen schedules of relationships, dated at Bassein in 1861, remarks: " The 

 Karens are not an independent united people, and, if they ever were, the fact is 

 not certainly known to those now living. Those in Pegu, and near the sea coast, 

 have long been in subjection to the Burmese, while the tribes inhabiting the 

 mountains of Toungoo and beyond, though not acknowledging any other govern- 

 ment, if we except their subjection to the English, within a few years past have 

 been in a constant state of warfare with each other, and with adjacent powers. 

 Their tribal divisions are numerous. The two principal divisions in Southern 

 Burmah are the Sgaus and the Pwos, indicated in Karen as Pah-tee and Mo-tee, 

 the former signifying, of descent from the father's side, and the latter, of descent 

 from the mother's side ; but how, or when these divisions originated cannot be 

 discovered. The former are all known as Burmese Karens, and the latter as 

 Taking Karens, from the nations with which they have associated. There are also 

 White Karens, Red Karens, and Black Karens. Dr. Mason says, ' All the Karen 

 tribes between the mouth of the Tenasserim and the sources of the Sittang resolve 

 themselves into three classes, the Sgau tribes, the Pwo tribes, and the Bhgai tribes.' 

 In reference to the schedule, the answers elicited have been prompt and unhesi- 

 tating with very few exceptions, showing that the system of consanguinity, as here 

 presented, is well established among them, and one with which all are more or less 

 familiar." 



From the highly primitive character thus ascribed to the Karens their system of 

 relationship is very important. It has remained uninfluenced by the development 

 of civilization from within, and doubtless unchanged from external causes, as a 

 consequence of their free and roving habits. Their system is classificatory ; and it 

 is not a little singular, that whilst it does not possess the extraordinary characteris- 

 tics which distinguish the Tamilian, it affiliates, in its fundamental features, very 

 closely with the Burmese, and also with the Gaura form, although variant from both 

 in some particulars. The nomenclature is rude and rather scant. Many of the terms 

 are in common gender, which is an unfailing indication of the undeveloped condi- 

 tion of a language. It is, however, in the systems of the rude and uncultivated 



impulse to the spread of Christianity. The wild men and women in their mountain homes found a 

 new employment ; and they entered upon it with enthusiastic avidity. They had never before sup- 

 posed their language capable of being represented by signs, like other languages ; and they felt 

 themselves, from being a tribe of crushed, down-trodden slaves, suddenly elevated into a nation, with 

 every facility for possessing a national literature. This had a tendency to check their roving pro- 

 pensities; and under the protection of the British government, they began to cultivate a few simple 

 arts, though the most civilized among them still refused to congregate in towns, and it is unusual to 

 find a village that numbers more than five or six houses. Their first reading books consisted of 

 detached portions of the gospel ; and the Holy Spirit gave to the truth thus communicated, regene- 

 rating power. Churches sprang up, dotting the wilderness like so many lighted tapers ; and far back 

 among the rocky fastnesses of the mountains, where foreign foot has never trod, the light is already 

 kindled, and will continue to increase in brilliancy, till one of the darkest corners of the earth shall 

 be completely illuminated."* 



* Wayland's Life of Judson, I. 542. 



