CHAPTER IX.

THEIR NATIONAL RELIGION AND THEIR GOD

TRADITIONS.

THE Karens are remarkable for believing in one eternal God, Creator of all things, "who is like the air, and lives in the sky, as does the wind, and like the wind goes everywhere," but who has no place in their paradise, who originally dwelt amongst them, and only left them after fruitless endeavours to draw them to Himself. They abhor idolatry, and regard Buddhism with contempt. Their belief in the character and attributes of God is absolutely identical with the teachings of Christianity, and requires no modifications to make it a fully developed Christianity save the teachings of Jesus Christ as the Revelation of God and the Saviour of Man. One of their sayings of the elders, handed down from generations, is, "All things in heaven and on earth, O children and grandchildren, God created them. Never forget God; pray to Him every day

and every night." On the other hand, the Karen looks upon God as having long since deserted him on account of his sins, and left him to the persecution of demons, which cause sickness, death, and all the ills of life. He insists that the demons are so near and God so far away that he is in no way disloyal to God when he sacrifices to demons. He merely temporizes with them till God's promised return. To the heathen Karen, "the world is filled with invisible spirits. Every living being, be it man or beast or creeping thing, has its La (spirit); and every mountain peak, tree, cataract, and river has its lord, and every lord a number of attendants, agents to carry out his will, who are the La of those who have died violent deaths. These lords reside near the physical object which they protect, seated on the mossy crag, under the forest tree, or in the foaming torrent. Their attendants, the ghosts, smoking pipes with gold and silver stems, and armed with swords and spears, lurk in every nook and cranny, and should a luckless Karen ignorantly touch one of these powerful guardians, or step upon their attendant's unseen weapons, they rise in anger and afflict him with sore diseases, and must be propitiated with bloodless sacrifices."

Nature is thus to him bristling with actual and

possible mischiefs and evils of all kinds. Wherever he goes he is in danger. His life is a life of perpetual terror. He never knows when or how he offends one of these malevolent beings till the punishment swoops down on him. But the ghosts and their masters the lords are not the only enemies whom the Karen dreads. In old times, they say, "God made a mixture of the flesh of every animal, and directed them to eat the whole, for if they omitted to eat any portion, the animal whose flesh had not been eaten would hereafter become invisible and eat them. Accidentally they neglected to eat of the flesh of the Na, since which time it preys upon them, causing sickness and death, and is incarnate in tigers, serpents, and other wild animals and reptiles, and must be driven away from their fields and their houses. But perhaps the most formidable danger to which he is exposed is the attacks of seven spirits who are always on the watch to kill him, and who are pledged to destroy him-one by the mouth of a tiger, one by old age, one by sickness, one by drowning, one by the hand of man, one by a fall, and the last by every other means."

But although thus in perpetual dread of malignant attacks which he can never foresee, he is not left

entirely unprotected. His guardian spirit, his benevolent La, "accompanies him, seated on his neck or head; and as long as he so remains the Karen is safe from all attacks. But this La may be enticed away by others, or may jump down, or may wander away during the body's sleep-and then follow sickness and death. If a man pines away, his La is supposed to be wandering, and must be called back with an offering of food."

The demons are supposed to cause sickness by stealing away the protecting La or spirit from the sick man. The first thing done when any one falls ill is to attempt by some slight offering to propitiate the demon, and induce him to return the stolen La. The first offering is generally made at the crossing of two roads at evening time by some relation of the sick man. When this means fails, the sick one grows worse, and the demon is supposed to have rejected the offering. The great sacrifice must now be offered under the leadership of the eldest female living ancestor of the sick person. This sacrifice can only be performed by an unbroken family. The absence of a single member renders it unavailing. It is this that makes it so hard for a Karen to avow himself an out-and-out Christian, and to take the decisive step of baptism.

Belief in the efficacy of the great propitiatory sacrifice to the malignant demon still clings to those who are and admit themselves to be "almost Christians," and the rite is jealously guarded. A Karen falls ill. His relatives are summoned-not invited to the great sacrifice. A Christian relative from conscientious motives refuses. If the sick one dies, the Christian is looked on as his murderer, just as much as if he had plunged a dagger into his heart. Across the frontier, a blood-feud would be the result. Hundreds of Karens are found all round the Christian villages who firmly believe themselves to be Christians, attend the Church services regularly, give liberally, live outwardly as Christians, give up liquor and profligacy, and yet are not baptized. They beg earnestly to be baptized, stipulating only to be allowed to be present at the sacrifices of their relatives, and, for form's sake, to put a single morsel of the offering between their lips. They plead that they have no wish to perform the sacrifice themselves, or to have it performed on their behalf; but they urge that they dare not become utter outcasts, and be regarded as the murderers of their kith and kin. They freely admit that they have no faith in such childish ceremonies, but they cannot bear to be cut