1865.] Religion &c. among the Karens. 233 
He next addresses the fowl, and says: ‘“ Arouse, arouse, Thie- 
keu’s fowl, Mo-khie’s fowl, we give thee food, we afford thee sustenance. 
Thou drinkest in a knowledge of the future, thou eatest superhuman 
power. In the morning, thou seest the hawk, in the evening thou 
seest man. The seven heavens, thou ascendest to the top; the seven 
earths, thou descendest to the bottom. ‘Thou arrivest at Khu-the ; 
thou goest unto Tha-ma [7. e. Yu-ma, the judge of the dead]. Thou 
goest through the crevices of rocks, thou goest through the crevices of 
precipices. At the opening and shutting of the western gates of rock, 
thou goest in between ; thou goest below the earth where the sun travels, 
ITemploy thee, I exhort thee. I make thee a messenger, I make thee 
an angel. Good, thou revealest; evil, thou revealest. Arouse thee 
fowl, arouse ; reveal what is in thee. Now I exhort theé, I entreat 
thee, if this man is to live to an old age, if his head is not to be bent 
down, if he is not to come down crash, like a falling tree, let the 
right hand bone come uneven, let the bones be short and long. Thou 
art skilled in the words of the elders, thou knowest the language of 
old men. The good, thou fully knowest; with the evil thou art 
perfectly acquainted. Fowl, I exhort thee, I entreat thee; reveal 
whatever is in thee. And now, if this man’s head is to bend*down, if 
he is to come down crash, like a falling tree, if he is to be unable to 
rest himself from incessant trouble; if unable to overcome obstacles 
which shall meet him on every hand ; if unable to rise up or lie down, 
if his life is not to be prolonged, if he cannot live, then, fowl, come up 
unpropitious, come up with the tendon short on the right side, come 
wrong end foremost. If he be able to obtain sufficient to support life, 
if he be not overcome by feuds, fowl, come up even, Thie-keu’s fowl, 
Mo-khie’s fowl, I pull out thy feathers, I pull at thy skin, I dip thy 
head, I dip thy feet. Arouse fowl, reveal what is in thee.”’ 
Every one in succession is then besmeared on his forehead with the 
Dlood of a separate fowl; and then every one marks his own fowl by 
tying a string to it that he may recognise it after being cooked. 
Some tie a string on the neck, others on the leg, others on the wing, 
and others elsewhere. They next scorch off the feathers, and boil 
them. 
The hog is taken if the gall bladder be deemed a good one, otherwise 
it is rejected. When the rice and meat is cooked, they bring the rice, 
