1865.] Religion &c, among the Karens. 187 



Three times thou scamperest round the horizon. 



Thon retumest, and the rice is not hot, 



Thou returnest, and the fish is not hot. 



Thou doest whatever cometh into thy mind : 



Thou cockest the bow, layest on a red arrow. 



One arrow flies, thou arresteth it in its flight, 



Two arrows fly, thou arresteth them in their flight : 



Thou forge ttest that the arrow is flying, 



The arrow hits thy heart. 



Three years, three months, thou failest. 



Thou sendest the Tupaia to Bamo 



Thou sendest the monkey-tiger into the country : 



But the monkey- tiger went slowly ; 



When the crayfish was cooked, he said : Why, it is red ! 



The Tupaia went trotting along : 



He reached Ta-ywa before he died. 



Eeceived extraordinary power to variegate clothj 



To weave beautiful as the Python's skin, 



And have rice crops three times a year ; 



Became great and returned to Bamo, 



But back went the poor to the hill of Kukoo. 



Idolatry. 



Though the Karens can tolerate all sorts of absurd legends about 

 God, yet they cannot endure idolatry. They seem to have no more 

 sympathy with it than Christian nations. One of the commands of 

 the elders says : " children and grandchildren ! do not worship 

 idols or priests. If you worship them, you obtain no advantage there- 

 by, while you increase your sins exceedingly." 



They regard the Buddhistic religion of their neighbours with con- 

 siderable contempt. One of the couplets that they sing, referring to 

 the sleepy looks of the images says : 



" Gaudama is drowsy, 

 He cannot save us." 



Far off on the mountains, I have often noticed one and another of 

 the wild Karens wrapped up in a flashy yellow and tinselled robe, 

 which he had abstracted from some pagoda ; an act that the Burmese 

 regard as the greatest sacrilege. 



