726 PROFESSOR SIR \V. TURNER ON 



The Karens numbered about 1,000,000. In addition to these races, natives of India. 

 Malays, Chinese and Europeans were' also represented. 



The Burmese proper are people of moderate stature. In the lists which accompanied 

 the valuable series of crania of prisoners who had died in the jail at Insein, for which I 

 am indebted to Surgeon-Major Bell, the stature of each person is given in feet and 

 inches. They were all men. The mean stature was 5 ft. 2f in. The tallest man, 

 Nga Aung Myat, a native of Yebouk, was 5 ft. 7 in., and the shortest, Nga Pe, a 

 native of Sharsayboo, was 4 ft. 9-| in. ; whilst another, Nga Pu, born at Aungmyingain, 

 was 4 ft. 11 in. Seven measured from 5 ft. 5 in. to 5 ft. 6 in., and the others were 

 between 5 ft. and 5 ft. 4 in. The Burmese men are thick-set, muscular, and active. 

 The skin in the higher classes is a light olive-brown, but a darker brown in those people 

 who are much exposed to the sun. The hair is black and straight, abundant on the 

 head, but scanty on the face. The face itself is broad and flattish, the nostrils are usually 

 spread out laterally and the nose is short. The eyes are wide asunder and inclined 

 to be oblique and almond-shaped. The lips are not thick and projecting as in the negro. 



The Karens consist of three divisions,* the Pghos (Pwos), who are found along 

 the sea-board of Tenasserim from Moulmein to Tavoy and Mergin ; the Chghaws 

 (Sgau), who occupy the hills and jungles of the lower part of the Irrawaddy river, in the 

 district of Henzada on the right bank, and those of Prome and Shwegyin on the left 

 bank, as far east as the Salween river. The Bghai (Bwi) division are found in the 

 Toungoo hill-tracts which lie to the east of Prome. Mr Smeaton says that the Karens 

 are short in stature, but broad and muscular. A Karen man from the Toungoo district 

 who died in the jail at Insein, and whose skull was presented to me by Major Bell, was 

 5 ft. If in. high. The skin is naturally fair, like that of the Chinese, and the features 

 of those of pure blood are, according to Mr Smeaton, Caucasian in type. The hair 

 is black and straight ; the eyes are black, though in the north brownish hair and hazel 

 eyes are sometimes found. It is difficult to give the original home of the Karens. The 

 prevailing opinion, however, is that they left the borders of Tibet and passed through 

 Western China on their way to Burma. 



The Shans (Htai or Tai, to employ their own name), on the eastern frontier of Burma, 

 are divided into the Chinese Shans, the Salween Shans and the Siamese Shans, They 

 form a number of tribes, which occupy the hill-ranges, elevated plateaus and valleys of 

 the extensive tract of country in which they dwell. t They present differences in their 

 physical characters in different districts. Dr Anderson states that the Shans dwelling 

 in the valleys have the sallow tint of the Chinese, usually with red cheeks, dark brown 

 eyes, black hair, face generally rather short, broad and flat, cheek bones prominent, a 

 faint obliquity and contraction of the outer angle of the eyelids as in the Chinese. The 



* The Loyal Karens of Burma, by D. M'Kenzie Smeaton. London, 1887. 



t The Shan country has been visited by many travellers. The works that I have consulted are Dr John 

 Anderson's Expedition to Western Yunan, 1871 ; Report on Administration of Shan States for 1889-90 and 1892-93, by 

 J. G. Scott; Census of Burma, 1891; Colonel Woodthorpe in Journ. Anthrop. Inst., August 1896, vol. xxvi. p. 13; 

 From Tonquin to India, by Prince Henri d'Orleans, 1898. 



