JOURNAL 
OF THE 
mot TIC SOCIETY. 
—}—. 
Pant I.—PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 
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No. I.—1866. 
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Physical Character of the Karens.—By the Rev. F. Mason, D. D, 
[Received 7th January, 1865. | 
Karens.* 
The name Karen has been adopted from the Burmans, who apply 
it to various uncultivated tribes, that inhabit Burmah and Pegu; but 
it is used, in these notices, as designating a people that speak a lan- 
guage of common origin, which is conveniently called Karen ; embracing 
many dialects, and numerous tribes. These tribes, though speaking 
a common language, have no common name with which to distinguish 
themselves; but in this respect, they do not differ from our own 
ancestors. Oasar found some twenty or thirty different tribes in 
Britain, but it does not appear that they had any common name by 
which they designated themselves. 
* The following pages are offered as answers to “Queries respecting the 
human race addressed to travellers, by a Committee of the British Association 
for the Advancement of Science,” at the request of Col. Phayre; and embrace 
all the writer has to say on the general division of the Queries, entitled “ Phy- 
sical Characteristics ;”’ from Query 1 to Query 49. 
No answers are given to Queries 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 30, relating mainly to 
anatomy, because satisfactory ones have not been obtained. Nor are’answers 
given to Queries 13, 14, 15, 16, because the writer has already published on the 
subject of Language in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and in his 
work on “ Burmah.” ‘To write again on the subject, would necessarily compel 
him to repeat considerable of what is already in print, which seemed un- 
desirable. 
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