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



more than ten or twelve villages left of the whole tribe. They 

 have some indistinct traditions of having been much larger former- 

 ly, but were reduced by wars. They skirt the Bghais on the west, 

 and their dress cannot be distinguished from the tunic-wearers ; 

 nor have they any distinctive mark except their dialect. A few of 

 the villages call themselves Mopgha, while others know no name 

 for themselves but the word for man. The Burmans have different 

 names for them, some being Taubya gie or " great Bees," and others 

 Tau by a gnay or " little Bees." 



There is a small tribe that the Burmese call Tounggthus, from 

 toung south or mountain, and thu person, signifying either south- 

 erners or mountaineers. They call themselves l?a-au; in some sec- 

 tions they are known only as pedlars, but in province Amherst and 

 Pegu a few are settled in villages. The natives inform me that 

 large numbers are settled on the north-west boundary of the Bed 

 Karens. They do not consider themselves Karens, but their lan- 

 guage is nearly allied to that of the Pwo Karens, like them they are 

 Buddhists, and they are a muscular tribe like the Pwos ; but in dress 

 they cannot be distinguished from the Shans. They claim Thatung, 

 the old Talaing capital, as one of their ancient cities, and Bugda- 

 gautha, who first brought the Buddhist scriptures from Ceylon, as 

 their countryman, but on no good grounds. 



Quala, when among the red Karens, met with a tribe from the 

 north who were called Taru, nearly the Karen pronunciation of 

 Tarouk, the Burmese name for the Chinese. They shave the head 

 leaving a tuft of hair on each temple. Besides their numerals, he 

 noted down about twenty words, nearly all of which indicate a 

 common origin with Karen. They are reported numerous north of 

 the Red Karen country. 



The Kaeen Language. 



The Karen language is distinguished from the Tai, the Talaing 

 and the Burmese, the other independant tongues of farther India 

 by possessing the Arabic sounds of k ghain, c ain, and £ kha, and 

 by being nearly destitute of the initial gutteral imperfectly repre- 

 sented by ng, found in the other languages. It is remarkable, 

 however, that these Arabic sounds are most common in Pwo and 

 Sgau. In Bghai they are found in very few words, especially the 

 first. 



