1866.] Social Customs of the Karens. 9 



tenances of their descendants to distinguish them from other Karens. 

 Their faces are a little longer, their cheek bones not quite so widely 

 expanded, and their faces have a little less of the lozenge shape. 



Births. 

 When a child is born, in some clans the mother, in others the mid- 

 wife, cuts the umbilical cord, and puts the placenta into a joint of a 

 large bamboo, and wraps it in a rag. The father then takes it and 

 hangs it up on a tree. An abortion is treated in a like manner, but 

 the tree selected is a species of Ficus, and the abortion is supposed to 

 become one of the Cicadae that are so often heard singing at evening. 



On returning to the house, if the child be a girl, the father goes 

 through the pantomime of performing a woman's labours, beating 

 paddy in a mortar, and the like. If a boy, he spears a hog, and, seizing 

 the first man he meets, wrestles with him, to indicate what his son 

 will do when he comes to manhood. 



The knife with which the navel string is cut, is carefully preserved 

 for the child. The life of the child is supposed to be in some way 

 connected with it, for, if lost or destroyed, it is said the child will not 

 be long lived. 



About the third day, when the navel string sloughs and comes 

 away, the father takes his net, and, with a few friends, goes out fish- 

 ing and hunting. The success of the party is deemed prophetic of the 

 character of the child. If much fish or game is obtained, he will be 

 prosperous ; if little, he will be unfortunate. 



On the return of the party, a feast is made, the friends are invited, 

 and the child is purified and named. Children are supposed to come 

 into the world defiled, and unless that defilement is removed, they will 

 be unfortunate, and unsuccessful in their undertakings. 



An Elder takes a thin splint of bamboo, and, tying a noose at one 

 end, he fans it down the child's arm ; saying : 



" Fan away ill luck, fan away ill success ; 

 Fan away inability, fan away unskilfulness : 

 Fan away slow growth, fan aw r ay difficulty of growth : 

 Fan away stuntedness, fan away puniness : 

 Fan away drowsiness, fan away stupidity : 

 Fan away debasedness, fan away wretchedness : 

 Fan away the whole completely." 



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