134 Notes of the Karen Language. [No. 2. 



" The words of the elders have been fulfilled in every particular. 

 All things have happened as they said. The Karens do not love 

 each other, so they live apart in small communities. One sets him- 

 self above another, and no one will submit to the will of his neigh- 

 bour; so they live in the forests, like the pheasant and jungle fowl, 

 one in one place and another in another place. The white foreign 

 teachers have come with our books, according to the words of the 

 elders, that we may live in cities and villages again, and rise." 



Karen is applied to several distinct tribes united by the common 

 bond of having one language, though spoken in widely differing dialects. 

 The Sgaus are the most numerous tribe, and occupy the widest 

 extent of country. They are found from Mergui in Lat. 12° N. 

 to Prome and Toungoo in nearly Lat. 19° 1ST. On the east, they 

 have wandered over the water-shed that separates the Meinam from 

 the Sal wen, and on the west, a few have passed into Arracan. The 

 Burmese denominate them sometimes" Burman Karens," but they 

 call themselves Sgau until passing the Southern boundary of Toungoo 

 where they assume the name of Mau ne pgha, and on crossing Meet 

 nan creek, that term is dropped for Paku. The Pwos call them 

 Shan, but do not confound them with the tribes denominated Shans 

 by the English. These they call Thaiug. The Sgau may be dis- 

 tinguished by his tunic, which is white with a few red horizontal 

 parallel stripes near the bottom. With a few rare exceptions none 

 of the Sgaus are Buddhists. 



The Pwos are found scattered in the same regions as the Sgaus 

 to a short distance above Sitang. They are a more muscular tribe 

 than the Sgaus, and have almost universally adopted Buddhism. 



Tradition says they emigrated South from the Paku hills, and 

 this tradition is confirmed by the fact that the Paku dialect is much 

 nearer the Pwo than the ordinary Sgau. The Burmese call them 

 Talaing Karens, the Sgaus Pwo, but their own distinctive name is 

 Sho. Pwo, however, their Sgau name, has been introduced into 

 Euo-lish by the missionaries. Their tunics are distinguished from 

 the Sgau by being handsomely embroidered near the bottom. 



The Pwos are much less numerous than the Sgaus. 



On crossing Thouk-ye-khat, or Draw-drink-water creek, an 

 eastern tributary of the Sitang, which comes in about six miles 



