39. Shan and Palaung Jew’s Harps from the Northern 
Shan States. 
By J. Coaein Brown, M.Sc., F.G.S. 
(Plate IX.) 
It has been shown in a previous paper that bamboo Jew’s 
harps attain a wide range as a common form of musical instru- 
ment among certain tribes of Eastern Asia.! 
In the eastern parts of the Indian Empire the Lakher, 
especially to those branches o: ee Tai family usually 
wer gti as o- sae of ‘Uppe Burma.” 
be mentioned here that the Palaungs pee to be 
Mon Hkmer family ‘of Indo-China, Pelee also c 
head-hunting Was of the country eas he Saleen, on ns 
K’amus who, with allied races, ag ee into Cambodia. 
It is probable that tribes of this family were the first Mongo- 
lian race to inhabit Indo-China, and the Palaungs left behind 
reserv: 
from the remote past many of their national customs, their 
day in Tawnpeng (the smallest of the Northern Shan States of 
Upper Burma) by their own chief.’ 
Palaungs are also found scattered over the hilly districts 
of the Northern Shan States of Hsipaw, North and South 
Hsenwi, and in Mongmit, a Shan State. which is administered 
as a sub-division of the Ruby Mines District. There are other 
aeiioet on a Collection of rtoeme et Instruments from the Siamese 
Malay States and Perak,’’ by Henry Balfour, M.A., F.Z.8. ‘* Fasciculi 
sia by owe Anthropology, Part IT (a), pp. 6-7. 
‘The Jew’s Harp in n Assam,’’ by A. Willifer Young. Journal 
Asiatic Soc. os, ees vol. iv, No. 4, pp. 233-237. ‘' A Lisu Jew’s Harp 
from Y¥ ’ by A — own. Journal Asiatic Soc, Bengal, vol. 
to n = 
‘loi’? = "nll, whilst the Yunnanese Chinese refer to them as +t Balers 
long,’’ which may only be a péeription of the Burmese name. 
