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Against these we have to set off a few customs mentioned by our authorities in which they differ from the Kayans. The Karens eat everything except members of the cat tribe. They bury the bodies of the dead after they have lain in state some three or four days; and they hold an annual feast for the dead at the August new moon.
Before she arrived, however, her illness grew more violent, and, though it subsequently abated for a time, became again so decided that on the following Wednesday she was removed to this place by Christian Karens for the purpose of obtaining medical aid.
"On the 9th of March Miss Macomber came down from Dong-Yahn with brother Stevens, and on the morning of the 10th left us again, with a view to visit a body of Pgwo Karens, residing high up one of the rivers. She had also a particular reference to spending the hottest part of the season on the river, having suffered much from the extreme heat at Dong-Yahn during the hot season last year.
Of all the peoples of the south-eastern corner of the continent, the one which seems to us most closely akin to the Kayans is that which comprises the several tribes of the Karens. These have been regarded by many authors as the indigenous people of Burma.
This need not surprise us, since for such men every object is a fetish, which contains a soul. The Karens, a tribe in Burmah, believe that their arms, knives, utensils, etc., have all a kelap or soul, which is termed a wong by the negroes of West Africa.
Three bungalows and other buildings of value are also found there, and the whole property is owned, not by the mission, but by the Karens themselves. Ten miles away from this is the largest theological seminary in the East, with more than one hundred and forty students under training.
On the 4th instant she returned from this excursion, having enjoyed excellent health and a peculiarly pleasant season in labor for the good of the souls of the Karens, many of whom listened with much interest, and were 'almost persuaded to be Christians. "She arrived here late in the evening, and appeared quite well, with the exception of a slight cold, which she said she had taken that evening.
"I have had two or three Burman assistants constantly, who not only go out in the vicinity, accompanied by some of the Karens, and preach daily, but make excursions of four or five days in the villages, amongst the mountains, preaching the gospel to Toung-thoos, Peguans, or Burmans, as they happen to meet with them.
Offerings are made to this spirit, chiefly of fowls, and some of the blood mixed with palmoil is rubbed on the forehead. The Karens suppose that a being called the tso resides in the upper part of the head, and while it retains its seat no harm can befall the person from the efforts of the seven Kelahs, or personified passions.
Mutilations in somewhat graver forms, but still in moderation, are practiced by the Tasmanians, Tamaese, the people of New Guinea, Karens, Nagas, Ostiaks, Eskimos, Chinooks, Comanches, and Chippewas. What might be called mixed or compound mutilations are practiced by the New Zealanders, East Africans, Kondes, Kukas, and Calmucks.
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