OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. 



443 



nations and tribes that we must look for the most ancient and unaltered forms of 

 consanguinity. However undeveloped any language may be it will be found that 

 the system of relationship in daily use among the people is clearly defined and 

 perfectly familiar to all. As a domestic institution it is invested with a peculiar 

 stability and persistency. Its deviations from other forms with which it is nearly 

 allied embody a record of ancient affiliations, which a comparison of forms will still 

 reveal ; and these deviations thus become a source of evidence of the ethnic con- 

 nection of widely separated stocks. 



There are three schedules in the Table, each ^giving the system of relationship 

 of the Karens. The first was prepared by the Rev. Dr. Francis Mason, of Toun- 

 goo ; the second by Rev. Dr. Jonathan Wade, of Maulmain ; and the third by Rev. 

 H. L. Van Meter, of Bassein. For upwards of thirty years the first two have been 

 engaged in the Karen missionary field. The first schedule is in the Sgau dialect, 

 as Dr. Mason states in his letter; the second is conjectured to be in the Pwo 

 dialect, although the fact is not stated by Dr. Wade ; in what dialect the third is 

 written does not appear. 



The Karen language is very difficult to represent by any system of notation 

 which can be prepared, from the unusual number of vowel sounds, and the inability 

 of English letters fully to indicate the native consonants. Dr. Wade says upon 

 this subject : " The Karen language has nine vowel sounds, and each of these five 

 inflections, making, in all, fifty-four vowel sounds. Every change in these fifty-four 

 sounds involves a change in the signification. It is plain, therefore, that with all 

 the diacritical marks with which we are able to invest our English vowels, the exact 

 sound, and, of necessity, difference of signification between some words and others 

 will not be comprehendible. There is, also, as great an impossibility of indicating 

 the native consonants by English letters ; and it is equally important that they 

 should be indicated, in order to avoid wrong deductions from apparent identity of 

 syllables, where really no identity exists. I have, therefore, great aversion to 

 writing native words in Roman characters, where scientific questions are involved. 

 Erroneous conclusions will very often be the consequence." 1 Dr. Wade furnished 



1 Dr. Mason, in the letter which accompanied his schedule, and which was dated at Toungoo, June 

 6, 1860, after premising that " it seems necessary to append a few remarks that could not be intro- 

 duced into the schedule," proceeds as follows : 



" I. Karen Dialects. 



"There are three or four written Karen dialects, and several more unwritten. It matters nothing, 

 for the purposes of the schedule, which is adopted in filling it up, The Sgau has been used be- 

 cause it is the most cultivated. The difference of dialect may be illustrated by the word for man 

 which occurs in the schedule. 



Dialects. 

 Pwo, 



it 



Ka, 



Shopgha, 



Tarn, 



Sham-phie, 



Man. 



Hen-phlung. 

 Ghen. 

 Han. 

 Plan. 

 Pin. 

 Pa-Iu. 



