1865.] Religion &c. among the Karens. 175 



create all tilings at once. When God created the earth at first it was 

 not as large as a cotton spindle. There was not as much in it as 

 there is in a butterfly. And GTod commanded that the male Tha-lu 

 should rule over the sky, and the female Tha-lu should rule over the 

 earth, and all the animals on it. And that which made the earth 

 increase was the earth-worm, and that which made it firm was iron, 

 and that which sewed the earth together was silk. And before the 

 iron and the silk had united the ground, the whole earth was covered 

 with water. God was not pleased with the look of it, and he separ- 

 ated it by pressing the earth together with iron and silk, when the 

 water flowed out and became rivers and seas, and the dry land appear- 

 ed with its mountains and hills. And the three things that helped 

 the earth, were the earth-worm, iron and silk. There was a spider in 

 the sky, and he was able to pass to and fro between heaven and earth. 



" The first mountain that was created was Lwie-nya ; and the first 

 rivers formed were La-ko-meu, 



Lie-la-sho, and 

 Mai-e. 



" And the river Lie-la-sho had its sources among the mountains of 

 Eako-sho. 



" And God created a precious stone, and it became a great tree, and 

 the first tree was Than-du, and the first grass was the Chrysopogon 

 acicularis. And the first bird he formed was the Night-jar, and the 

 first fish was Tai-pai-men-bu, and the first snake was Die-lo-to. 



" God created two suns, one was the husband and the other the 

 wife, and they were shut within a palace with stone gates, and gave 

 no light. God therefore gave the Pangolin to eat a hole through the 

 gates which it did, and broke out all its teeth, and then the suns came 

 forth, but the heat was so great that neither man nor beast could 

 endure it. Therefore man entreated God to destroy one of them. 

 And God told man to make a bow, and to shoot an arrow into the 

 face of one of the suns. So the man went up into the valley of mount 

 Ka-ko-sho, and shot an arrow into the face of one of the suns, and it 

 ceased to give light and became the moon, which God appointed to 

 rule over the night." 



Another version of these myths is given as follows : " The Red 

 Karens say : Where, or how God came into existence, they know not ; 



