1842.] in Ava, to Aeng in Arracan. 1145 



leaving the neck its natural colour, and thus giving them the appear- 

 ance of wearing masks, were it not that the deadly appearances of the 

 white spaces round the eyes and the livid colour of the lips indicated 

 the transformation to be indelible. These Kicaams* are a quiet, inof- 

 fensive set, and must be distinguished from the Kicaams of the moun- 

 tains, inasmuch as they have placed themselves under the Burman 

 Government, and are liable to be called upon for their quota of men in 

 case of war, and pay taxes, whereas the others are quite independent. 

 Residing in the most remote and unfrequented recesses of the moun- 

 tains, the Kicaams hold themselves aloof from, and are entirely in- 

 dependent of the rest of mankind, whom they consider their enemies 

 and lawful prey ; and acknowledging no sovereign, they herd together 

 in small parties of thirty and forty, and select some fertile spot 

 in the neighbourhood of a mountain stream, sufficiently large to cul- 

 tivate grain for their consumption. There they erect their miserable 

 dwellings, and with the produce of the land, consisting of rice and 

 turmeric, continue to subsist themselves. The rivers furnish them with 

 abundance of fish, and they will eat any animal, however disgusting 

 it may be. The origin of the Kicaams is lost in fiction, and of the 

 details of their early history the present race know little except from 

 vague traditions, verbally transmitted from one generation to the 

 next. They, however say, that in former days the plains of Ava and 

 Pegu were peopled by their race, and under the dominion of one 

 of their kings, when a horde of Tartars made a sudden irruption from 

 the northward, and overran the country. For some time the inter- 

 lopers kept the appearance of friendship with the aborigines of the soil, 

 but becoming daily more formidable, and having secured a footing in 

 the land they threw off the mask, and electing a king amongst them- 

 selves, declared themselves independent of the Kicaam king. The 

 Tartar chief then sent to the Kicaams and desired their allegiance, 

 stating, that it was contrary to the dictates of nature that two kings 

 should reign, or that two races of people should exist in the same land, 

 and having deposed the Kicaam king, and put many of the chieftains 

 to death, obliged the others to seek for refuge in flight. The remain- 

 ing chieftains therefore with their attendant villages collecting all 



* There are a great many of them in Arracan, who still observe the custom of 

 tattooing the face. They are called Kaiengs. 



