1839] on the Tenasserim Provinces, tyc. 1001 



the Seelongs, Kareans, and Burmese, for all three have different 

 creeds, and therefore different ideas of the Deity. 



Religious belief of the Seelongs. — The Seelongs must be considered in 

 this respect, as a people in the lowest scale. Yet the idea of the Deity 

 forces itself upon the most savage mind. 



These people have no religious creed, they have no established 

 mode of worship, i. e. no outward manifestations of their acknow- 

 ledgment of a superior being ; yet they have a vague idea or impres- 

 sion, that there exists besides mankind, some other not visible beings, 

 exercising an influence over the destinies of mankind, &c. 



To them even the notion of polytheism and idolatry is too vague, 

 and as far as I could, after a prolonged inquiry, understand, they 

 believe that the sea, the land, the air, the trees, and the stones are 

 all inhabited by nats or spirits, either good or evil ; who direct the 

 motions of these bodies ; who produce the growth of plants, &c, &c. 

 How far these spirits influence men, they do not pretend to know. 

 Of a future state they are entirely ignorant upon for in touching, this 

 question, they invariably answered, "We do not think about that." 

 The observation of things around them, seems therefore to strike 

 their poor minds; and their small share of reflective power, leads 

 them instantly to the acknowledgment of an invisible superior being. 



The dawn of reasoning and the idea of a Deity, however imperfect, 

 seem therefore identical ; and the belief in nats or spirits, seems to 

 be the first and lowest of all religious creeds. The opinion that the 

 lowest religion begins with idolatry, is not corroborated by what we 

 find amongst these people; the Seelong's idea of a Deity is so im- 

 perfect, that he does not even represent it by a figure. The idea 

 of the Deity being in its infancy indefinite and vague, idolatry it- 

 self is an advance to positive religion. 



Religious belief of the Kareans. — The Kareans, who are already 

 more advanced than the Seelongs, have also the idea, that certain 

 trees, or caverns, or animals, are the abodes of mighty spirits, to whom 

 they however do not as yet assign a form. The Burmese on the con- 

 trary, who have already their system of the Deity, embody these 

 notions, form images, and pay them superhuman devotion, as the 

 representations of these conceived and systemized ideas. The Seelongs 

 apparently not believing distinctly that superior and invisible powers 

 directly influence mankind, propitiary sacrifices, and an external 

 mode of worship are not introduced. The Kareans having an idea of 

 the direct influence of nats upon the destinies of mankind, offer 

 sacrifices to them, consisting of fowls, tobacco, rice, and pieces of mo- 



