148 Dwellings, works of aft, laws, Sfc. of the Karens. [No. 3, 



now I heal the hills, and the streams and the lands. May there be 

 no failure of crops, may there be no unsuccessful labours, or unfortunate 

 efforts in my country. Let them be dissipated to the foot of the 

 horizon. Make thy paddy fruitful, thy rice abundant. Make the 

 vegetables to nourish. If we cultivate but little, still grant that we 

 may obtain a little." 



After each has prayed thus, they return to the house and say they 



have repaired the earth. 



If one is a widow and the other a widower, no fine is required of 

 them, but if one is the wife of another man, the adulterer is required 

 to pay a fine, and he is not allowed to live with the woman till the 

 fine is paid; but after the fine is paid, they are allowed to live 

 together ; and the husband takes the money, and with it, they say, 

 procures another wife. He is regarded as having obtained a divorce 

 from the adulteress, and is at liberty to marry again. If a woman has 

 committed adultery with the husband of another woman, then she 

 must pay a fine ; and after the fine is paid the injured party is 

 considered as divorced and can take another husband, if she chooses. 



Adultery, or fornication, is supposed to have a powerful influence 

 to injure the crops. Hence if there have been bad crops in a village 

 for a year or two, and the rains fail; the cause is attributed to secret 

 sins of this character, and they say the God of heaven and earth is 

 angry with them on this account ; and all the villagers unite in 

 making an offering to appease him. 



Persons possessed of poisons.— Poisoning is not uncommon. The 

 Karens purchase their poisons of the Shan traders that travel among 

 them. One of the most common is described as a yellow powder, which 

 resembling turmeric is easily mixed with the food of the victim 

 without danger of detection. This is probably yellow orpiment, the 

 yellow sulphuret of arsenic. 



Another poison is a root, perhaps the root of Gloriosa superba ; but 

 the most virulent, the one that produces death the quickest is said 

 to be in little black grains, and is supposed by the Karens to be the 

 o-um of a tree ; which must be a mistake. 



° It is said that the hairs of the whiskers of a tiger, if eaten with the 

 food produce death. They are represented as producing coughing and 

 vomiting of blood. 



