206 Beligion.&x. among the Karens', [No. 4, 



In the Tenasserim provinces, none are found who sacrifice oxen or 

 buffaloes. At Toungoo, I have not met with those that offer only rice 

 and vegetables ; and among the Bed Karens, the Bghai rite in which 

 a hog alone is sacrificed is unknown. 



There is much confusion in the minds of the Karens in relation to 

 the character of the beings addressed, and contradictory statements are 

 made by different tribes, and by different individuals of the same 

 tribe, and much diversity prevails in the forms and prayers. 



The following is a Sgau prayer, when offering a fowl : — 



" Mothers and fathers, The-klu, I will offer you a great cock with 

 a spur fit to stick a rice mortar upon. Take away sickness, take away 

 disease, take away laziness, take away inefficiency, take away sleepi- 

 ness, take away drowsiness, take away inability to obtain, take away 

 inability to make a living, take away unsuccessfulness, take away 

 want of success, take away debasedness, take away wretchedness, take 

 away the whole." 



The Bghai forms, given below, are used when the sacrifice is a hog, 

 but the Bghais do not seem to have any definite ideas of the Beings 

 to whom the offerings are made ; much less so than the Sgaus. They 

 require that the officiating priest shall be a woman, the oldest of the 

 family. The husband has nothing to do in the matter ; the woman 

 and her relatives are the only parties concerned. If the husband is 

 rich, he has to look to his own relatives to make the necessary offer- 

 ings for him, in which he joins. A Bghai writes : 



" The first thing is to brew or distil spirits for three days. Then a 

 little table is made with four bamboo posts. Leaves of a plant of the 

 ginger tribe are next rolled up in a sugar loaf form, and three joints 

 of bamboos are cut off even. Spirits are then poured into these three 

 bamboos, and the conical rolls of leaves with bamboo bottles of drink 

 are all set upright on the table. Then a living hog is put on a fan- 

 ning basket. 



" The head of the offering, or priest, is a woman, and she takes one of 

 the conically rolled leaves, and, turning to the table, she prays to Yau, 

 as if he were present there. She prays thus : 



" O, Yau-peu, thou dost now devour the whole family. We feed 

 hee with old spirits, and a great hog. Heal us, watch over us, de- 

 fend us. When we fall, raise us up ; when we slip clown, set us up 



