1865.] Astronomy among the Karens. 235 



In the western ocean is an immense volcanic mountain, which is 

 continually fighting with the water. They have a story which must 

 be of common origin with Sinbad the Sailor. 



The Elders say there are fish in the sea as large as mountains, with 

 trees and bamboos growing on them as on land. Voyagers have to be 

 careful where they land to cook. They carry axes, and cut into the 

 ground to try it. If juice springs up where it is cut, they know that 

 they are on a fish ; but if the ground seems dry, they are on land, and 

 go to cooking. 



It is related that a man landing on an island, went to cooking with- 

 out trying his ground, and it proved to be a fish which sunk with him 

 into the sea, and then swallowed him. When the man was in the 

 fish's belly, he said to the fish : " When males acquire large game, 

 they shout, and cry out in exultation, but you are silent. Are you not 

 a male ? On hearing this, the fish opened his mouth to scream, when 

 the man leaped out and escaped." 



The Elders say that when people kill one of these fish, it is impos- 

 sible for them to eat it all up, and they burn its fat. With its bones 

 they can make beams and rafters for houses. 



Constellations. 



The Karens have names for a few of the most prominent constella- 

 tions. The great Bear they call an elephant, and so do the Burmese 

 and Hindus. The pole star is a mouse crawling into the elephant's 

 trunk. 



The southern cross they call Mai-la-ka, a name whose derivation is 

 not obvious, but they regard it as some kind of animal ; for they say 

 that Mai-la-ka and the elephant once dwelt together in the middle of 

 the heavens, but they quarrelled and fought. Mai-la-ka seized the 

 elephant by his tail, and the elephant took Mai-la-ka by his thigh, 

 and in the struggle which ensued the two were thrown to the opposite 

 extremities of the heavens, where they remain to this day. 



The Pleiades is called " the great house," and is regarded as a family 

 of persons, consisting originally of seven persons, but one has been 

 lost, and there are only six now. Two men, one of their myths states, 

 married here two sisters. The names of the men were Lan-to, and 

 To-phau ; and of the women Tha-bgheu-mu, and Tha-bgheu-bghai, 

 31 



