1868.] Dwellings, works of art, laws, &c. of the Karens. 127 



fowls often roost on the beams over the rooms, but sometimes below 

 in connection with the pigs. 



Among the southern tribes, each family has commonly a separate 

 house, though sometimes several families of relatives occupy the same 

 building. These houses are built on one plan. The front is at one 

 end, where the ladder, by which they are entered, leads into the hall ; 

 which is a verandah, where visitors are received, and where both men 

 and women work. The main body of the building consists of one 

 room, with a fire-place in the middle that serves to divide it into two 

 apartments ; in which different members of the family, when large, 

 sleep. 



The Pwos of the Tenasserim Provinces have the singular custom 

 of always building their houses so as to face to the east, but they 

 can give no account of its origin ; and it is not observed by the other 

 tribes. 



The size of Karen villages varies from ten to one hundred houses or 

 families ; and in some of the Red Karen villages there are two or 

 three hundred families. 



Monuments. 



51 — 52. No monuments of any kind are raised by the Karens, or 

 have ever been known to be raised. They prefer that their localities 

 should be unknown, and wish to ignore their existence to all the 

 outside world. 



Works of Art. 



The Karens are singularly deficient in works of art. In the Tenas- 

 serim Provinces, the only works they can exhibit are baskets and mats, 

 which are very neat. The mats have various forms woven in them 

 to which they attribute a divine origin. When god was about to die 

 as the legend rims, he called all nations to him to receive his dyino- 

 legacies ; but the Karens being tardy in coming, they arrived only in 

 time to see his mats burning, and to note the figures on the ashes which 

 had been woven into them ; and they have made their mats, they say, 

 after these patterns ever since. 



Among the Bghais, we find a few that can work in iron, so as to 

 forge their own axes and bills, hoes and spears. On proceeding to 

 the Red Karens, silversmiths are met with who make all the common 

 female ornaments, as rings, bangles, ear-knobs, and the like. The 



