1866. ] Social Customs of the Karens. 9 
tenances of their descendants to distinguish them from other Karens. 
Their faces are a little longer, their cheek bones not quite so widely 
expanded, and their faces have a little less of the lozenge shape. 
Birvus. 
When a child is born, in some clans the mother, in others the mid- 
wife, cuts the umbilical cord, and puts the placenta into a joint of a 
large bamboo, and wraps it ina rag. The father then takes it and 
hangs it up on atree. An abortion is treated in a like manner, but 
the tree selected is a species of Ficus, and the abortion is supposed to 
become one of the Cicadez that are so often heard singing at evening. 
On returning to the house, if the child be a girl, the father goes 
through the pantomime of performing a woman’s labours, beating 
paddy in a mortar, and the like. Ifa boy, he spears a hog, and, seizing 
the first man he meets, wrestles with him, to indicate what his son 
will do when he comes to manhood. 
The knife with which the navel string is cut, is carefully preserved 
for the child. The life of the child is supposed to be in some way 
connected with it, for, if lost or destroyed, it is said the child will not 
be long lived. 
About the third day, when the navel string sloughs and comes 
away, the father takes his net, and, with a few friends, goes out fish- 
ing and hunting. The success of the party is deemed prophetic of the 
character of the child. If much fish or game is obtained, he will be 
prosperous ; if little, he will be unfortunate. 
On the return of the party, a feast is made, the friends are invited, 
and the child is purified and named. Children are supposed to come 
into the world defiled, and unless that defilement is removed, they will 
be unfortunate, and unsuccessful in their undertakings. 
An Elder takes a thin splint of bamboo, and, tying a noose at one 
end, he fans it down the child’s arm; saying : 
“Ban away ill luck, fan away ill success ; 
Fan away inability, fan away unskilfulness : 
Fan away slow growth, fan away difficulty of growth: 
Fan away stuntedness, fan away puniness : 
Fan away drowsiness, fan away stupidity : 
Fan away debasedness, fan away wretchedness : 
Fan away the whole completely.” 
