KHYEN TKIBE. 263. 



transmitted from one generation to the next. They, however, say, that in 

 former days, the plains of Ava and Pegu were peopled by their race, and were 

 under the dominion of one of their kings, when a horde of Tartars made a 

 sudden irruption from the northward, and overran the country. For some time, 

 the interlopers kept up the appearance of friendship with the aborigines of the 

 soil, but, becoming daily more formidable, and having secured a footing in the 

 land, they threw off the mask, and, electing a king amongst themselves, declar- 

 ed themselves independant of the Khyen king. The Tartar chief then sent 

 to the Khyens, and desired their allegiance, stating, that it was contrary to the 

 dictates of nature, that two kings should reign, or that two races of people 

 should exist in the same land, and having deposed the Khyen king, and put 

 many of the chieftains to death, they obliged the others to seek for refuge in 

 flio-ht. The remaining chiefs, therefore, with their attendant villagers, collecting 

 all their cattle and other valuables, availed themselves of the first opportunity 

 of escaping from the thraldom in which they were held, and fled to the lofty and 

 remote mountains on the frontiers of Siam, China, and Arracan, where they 

 considered themselves safe from the persecution of their conquerors, whom 

 they left in undisputed possession of the plains. With them went some members 

 of the royal family, but, in the course of time, and from deaths and changes of 

 residence, all traces of them were lost, and the Khyens of this country know 

 not whether any of the royal blood exist or not. Divested, as they now were, 

 of a common head, to whom they could look up for advice, they, in each vil- 

 lage, selected from the community one who, either from age or experience, 

 was deemed worthy to be their chief, and in this independant state they 

 have since remained, each little hamlet considering itself as perfectly distinct 

 from those adjoining. 



These small republics have since resisted all attempts at much inter- 

 course with their more civilized neighbours, and have preserved unsullied 

 their innate love of liberty. 



