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and history of the Karens that the deepest interest. must centre. Their traditions of the elders, telling of a God who had long ages ago confided His Sacred Word to them; of their faithlessness in losing hold of this Sacred Word; their aspirations to recover it; their enthusiasm when, more than fifty years ago, the gospel was first preached to them by the white man, whose advent had been for generations predicted; their extraordinary aptitude in discerning and assimilating the doctrines of Christianity; the almost miraculous success of the American Baptist missionaries both in Christianizing and in civilizing them; the growth of what may be said to be a really indigenous Christianity and a high civilization; and the almost undisturbed harmony between the heathen and Christian Karens, resulting from community in their religious traditions and the feeling of partnership in the Christian revelation, are all subjects of profound interest to the student of social science and religious history.

During a five years' residence in Burma, from 1879 to 1884, I learnt a great deal about the Karens, both from themselves and from their missionaries and pastors. I saw them in their mountain homes and in their secluded dwellings on the

plain. My interest in them was early aroused, and has never ceased. Keen personal sympathy with the race and a desire to awaken interest in their behalf have prompted me to attempt the present narrative. It is not often given to witness such a remarkable development of national character as has taken place among the Karens under the influence of Christianity and good government. Forty-ay, thirty-years ago they were a despised, grovelling, timid people, held in open contempt by the Burmese. At the first sound of the gospel message they sprang to their feet as a sleeping army springs to the bugle-call. The dream of hundreds of years was fulfilled; the God who had cast them off for their faithlessness had come back to them; they felt themselves a nation once more. Their progress since then has been by leaps and bounds, all from an impetus within themselves, and with no direct aid of any kind from their rulers; and they bid fair soon to outstrip their Burmese conquerors in all the arts of peace.

In writing the story which these chapters contain, I have made no attempt at literary finish. My leisure is scanty, and I have not been able to do more than piece together the fragmentary notes taken at odd times and places during my five

years' service in Burma. I claim no literary merit, therefore, for the book, and trust that readers will find compensation for defects in style and arrangement in the facts of interest which I have endeavoured to bring together.

F

CHAPTER II.

THEIR ORIGIN, LANGUAGE, AND PHYSICAL
CHARACTERISTICS.

A NUMBER of theories have been put forward regarding the birthplace of the Karen nation. Some say they are a Thibetan race; others assert that they came from the north of China; a third supposition is that they are the aborigines of Burma; and a few enthusiasts, fascinated by their remarkable God traditions, have been bold enough to declare that they are one of the lost tribes of Israel. It appears certain that they are not the aboriginal inhabitants of Burma. Their own traditions tell of a “river of running sand" which they had to cross, and of the great tribulations which they endured in crossing it. The Karens regard the "river of running sand" as an immense quicksand, where the sands roll like the waters of a river. Fa Hian, the Chinese pilgrim, who visited India about the fifth century, describes the great

desert north of Burma, between China and Thibet, as a "river of sand," and in the Chinese map of India this long tract of desert is marked "quicksands." The prominence given in tradition to the crossing of these sands shows that the movement must have been a difficult and important one for the race. The wilderness of sand was evidently the desert between China and Thibet, which the Chinese pilgrim describes thus: "There are evil spirits in this river of sand, and such scorching winds that whoso encountereth them dies and none escape. Neither birds are seen in the air nor quadrupeds on the ground. On every side as far as the eye can reach, if you seek for the proper place to cross, there is no other mark to distinguish it than the skeletons of those who have perished there." The Karen traditions describe it as a “fearful trackless region, where the sands rolled before the wind like the waves of the sea." Malte Brun, on the authority of Marco Polo, says, "The country of the Caride is the south-east point of Thibet, and perhaps the country of the nation of the Cariaines, which is spread over Ava.”

It seems very probable, then, that the Karens are a people from the borders of Thibet, who crossed the great desert of Gobi into China, and found

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