8 Physical Character of the Karens. [No. 1, 



part European. Indeed, if not exposed to the sun, some of thern 

 would be as fair, I think, as many of the inhabitants of Northern Eu- 

 rope. 



The yellow tinge of the Chinese is very distinctly seen on many of 

 the Karens, particularly the females ; and yellow, as well as white, is 

 considered handsome, by Karen connoisseurs of beauty. 



The hair is straight and coarse, usually jet black ; but a few have 

 brownish hair. 



The eyes are commonly black, but as we proceed north, many hazel 

 eyes are met. 



The head is pyramidal, the breadth of the face across the cheek 

 bones wider than across the temples, and the bridge of the nose rises 

 only slightly above the face. Occasionally a decided Roman nose is' 

 seen, but there is still a depression between the eyes not possessed by 

 the Romans. The face is lozenge-shaped, and the whole countenance, 

 in typical specimens, is Mongolian. There is a great diversity in indi- 

 viduals, and these traits are less developed in the more civilized Sgaus 

 and Pwos than in the wilder Pakus and Bghais. 



It is not easy to describe the characteristic countenances of the 

 different tribes, yet there are characteristic differences, which the ex- 

 perienced eye detects. There is considerable too in locality, which 

 affects the countenance, apart from the difference of race. Thus the 

 Sgaus of Tavoy and Mergui can usually be distinguished from the 

 Sgaus or Pakus of Toungoo. Education also affects the countenance. 

 The Karens that have been educated in our Mission schools look like 

 quite a different tribe from their wild countrymen on the hills. 



The Karens rarely marry with other races ; but among those who are 

 settled near the Burmese, a Burman is sometimes found with a Karen 

 wife, and in every instance that has come under my personal observa- 

 tion, the children have had a strong Burmese cast of countenance # 

 There in a village near Toungoo where there are several of these mix- 

 ed families ; Europeans do not distinguish them from Burmans. Still, 

 persons acquainted with the Karens, readily recognise them as a mixed 

 race. There is a village, however, on the mountains called " Village 

 of Talaingings," that tradition says was settled by a company of 

 Taking men who fled into the jungles during some of the wars in 

 Pegu two or three centuries ago ; but there is very little in the conn- 



