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THE KARENS AND THEIR HUTS.

that a more elementary instruction, and a position in French Switzerland, where he is now receiving more suited to his peculiar wants, were necessary. an education that will qualify him afterwards, A place in some family, where he would have the should God bless his studies, and show him the help and supervision of an intelligent Christian way, to be a preacher of the Gospel to his countryman, seemed most suitable, and, through his men. Berne friend, a place of that very kind was found

KAREN VIEWS OF THE SPIRIT WORLD.

The well-known missionary, the Rev. F. Mason, thus describes the Karen views of the future state:

Karen ideas of a future state are confused, indefinite, and contradictory. They seem to be a melee of different systems. That which appears to me indigenous Karen, corresponds to the notions of the American Indians. It represents the future world as a counterpart of this, located under the earth, where the inhabitants are employed precisely as they are here. When the sun sets on earth, it rises in the Karen Hades; and when it sets in Hades, it rises on this world. The following story is adduced by the Karens as proof of the accuracy of this cosmology.

"The elders say: There was a man who had a wife that he loved, and she loved him in return. His wife died, which distressed him beyond measure, and he said, 'If there be any one that will raise her up to life again, I will give him whatever he may ask?'

"A prophet or necromancer was found, who raised his wife from the grave, and restored her alive to her home in the night. She pursued her usual daily avocations throughout the night, but as soon as daylight appeared she died again, and remained dead all day, but revived at eve and went to work as people usually do in the morning. This course she pursued constantly. Hence it is manifest that people in the next world work just as they do in this."

To those ideas are appended others that appear to have been originally derived from the Hindus. They say that Hades has a king or judge, who stands at the door to admit or reject those who apply for admission into his kingdom. He decides the future of each. Those who have performed meritorious works are sent to the regions of happiness above; but those who have done wickedness, such as "striking father or mother," are delivered over to the king of hell, who is in waiting, and who casts them down into hell; while those who have neither performed deeds of

merit nor guilty of great crimes, are allotted a place in Hades. The Sgans call this personage Yu, or Tha-mie-Yu, and the Bghais Tha-ma. Both are probably derived from the Hindu Ya-ma; and his office and duties are as old as the earliest records we have of the Egyptian religion.

The Spirit World.

To a Karen the world is more thickly peopled with spirits than it is with men, and the occasions on which his faith requires him to make sacrifices and offerings to these unseen beings are inter

minable.

Every human being has his guardian spirit walking by his side, or wandering away in search of dreamy adventures; and if too long absent, he must be called back with offerings.

Then the spirits of the departed dead crowd around him, whom he has to appease by varied and unceasing offerings, to preserve his life and

health.

Again, there are all the conspicuous objects of the material world-the lofty mountain, the wide river; the shady tree and the inaccessible precipice, every one of which, by the awe they inspire, demands reverence and respect from human beings, and punishes each breach of etiquette with sickness and death. These two must be propitiated.

Thus, though the Karens have no cumbrous written ritual of services and ceremonies, like the Mahommedans, the Brahmins, and the Buddhists, they have yet an oral liturgy of observance, as burdensome as the services of the ancient Egyp

tians or the Mosaic ritual.

Guardian Spirits.

The word in Karen that designates the heart is also used for the mind and soul. The seat of all moral qualities is in the heart, and death is designated as the departure of the heart from the body.

Some German critics say, that "Psyche, in Homer, signifies only the breath and the life; never, as in the language of later times, the spirit or soul. Yet it goes to Hades and continues to live there." There is something like Psyche, as thus defined, in Karen Psychology; yet in many points more like the genius of the Latins; but differing as it does from both, it will be better in this paper to designate it by its native name, and explain it by its attributes. The Pwas call it Là, the Bghais Lai, the Sgaus Ka-là, and the Red

Karens Yo.

This Là existed before man was born, comes into the world with him, remains with him until death, lives after death, and for aught that appears to the contrary, is immortal. Yet no moral qualities are predicated of it. It is neither good nor bad, but is merely that which gives life to mortality.

The Làs of a part of the dead remain on earth and become mischievous spirits; others go to Hades, where they are employed as on earth; others go to hell, where they suffer punishment; while others go to the Deva heavens, where they enjoy happiness.

Although in this state the Là and the man himself, the Ego, are said to be distinct, yet in nearly all the representations of the future state the man seems to be absorbed in the Là; and, inconsistent as it is with previous representations, it then appears equivalent to the soul.

Sometimes it is spoken of as the man before being united with the body. Thus a Bghai writes:

"The elders say: "The God of the whole human race resides at the foot of the sun, at the foot of the moon; and people who are born are sent by God, and people who die are called back by God.' "Men at the beginning are in the presence of God, and he sends them forth; but before sending them he tries their courage. He takes a sword and lays it across an abyss as a bridge, with the edge uppermost, and orders them to walk over it. Those who dare to walk across it are bold, and God sends them into the world men. Those who, after being urged to go two or three times, dare not go, God sends into the world women.

"When God sends them forth, he gives commands in relation to the times and seasons of their return. It is related that a prophet or necromancer, looking into the world of spirits on one occasion, saw seven men and two women coming into the world, and he heard them talking with each other. The first man said: 'God has ordered

me to go and return.' The second said: 'God has ordered me to return after I am able to draw water.' The third said: 'God has ordered me to return after I am able to weed.' The fourth said: 'God has ordered me to return after I am able to make it easy for my father and mother.' The fifth said: 'God has commanded me to return after I am able to go to the Burman and Shan country.' The sixth said: 'God has commanded me to | return after I am able to cultivate paddy for my father and mother.' The seventh said: 'God has commanded me to return after I have married.'

"The prophet said that after this he saw them all born on earth, all boys, and he noted that they all died one after another, as he heard them say in his vision.

"Of the two women he said one carried two Kyee-zees, and the other a basket on her back and a spinning-wheel and distaff in her hand. The first one he heard say: 'God has commanded me to stay by my Kyee-zees till I am whiteheaded.' The other one said: 'God has commanded me to spin thread and prepare cotton till I am white-headed.' The prophet said he saw both born in this world females, and the one came in possession of two Kyee-zees, and the other spun thread and carded cotton, in accordance with his vision."

According to a Sgau authority, the La promises God, before it comes into the world, that it will die by one or other of seven things. It says: "I will die in the mouth of a tiger. If I do not die in the mouth of a tiger, I will die of some kind of sickness. If I do not die of disease, I will die by drowning. If I am not drowned, I will die by the hand of man. If I am not killed by man I will die by a fall. If I am not killed by a fall, I will die by a blow. If I am not struck dead, I will die of old age."

The Là sometimes appears after death, and cannot then be distinguished from the person himself. One story says:

"After a certain woman's husband had gone to the city, she died. On his return home, he met her Là in the road, and taking it for his wife in the body, he said: Where art thou going?' She replied: "I am going to see my father and mother.' He was not at all aware that it was her Là, and she said to him, Thou hast a long way to go, let us spend the night together here.' He consented, and to obtain food for their supper, she went and asked it of her children, but they did not see her.

"Though they did not see her, they still had

some indications of her presence. While her daughter was beating out paddy, all the paddy suddenly leaped out of the mortar, and a fowl suddenly dropped down dead.

"The man and his wife eat and drank together, and in the morning separated, to pursue their several journeys.

"When the husband got back to his house, he | found his wife dead, and his children and neighbours preparing for the funeral. Then the truth rushed on his mind, and he said: 'Children, I met your mother last evening in the road, and we spent the night together. She was going on a visit, but alas it was her Là. Had I but known it, I would have called her back." Although the body and the Là are represented as matter and spirit, yet in the following story, materiality seems to be possessed by the Là :—

"A certain woman sickened and died, while her husband was absent on a journey. While he was returning home, he met her Là on the way, and asked: 'Where art thou going?' She replied: "I am going to visit my parents.' He then slapped her on the face with his hand, and she came to herself again, and returned with her husband home.

"When they arrived at their house, they found the people mourning over her body; but she immediately entered the body, and it came to life again as before."

The Là may be separated from the person to whom it belongs during life. In sleep it wanders away to the ends of the earth, and our dreams are what the Là sees and experiences in his perambulations. When absent in our waking hours, we become weak, fearful, sick; and if absence be protracted, death ensues. Hence it is a matter of the deepest interest with a Karen to keep his Là with him; and he is ever and anon making offerings of food to it, beating a bamboo to gain its attention, calling it back, and tying his wrist with a bit of thread, which is supposed to have the power to retain it.

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The forms differ in different tribes, though the thing is substantially the same. A Bghai writes :"Should a person be often sick; if he cannot walk without being weary, or work without feeling exhausted; if he has no appetite for his food; if he pines away, and has a sallow countenance; it is said that his Là has left him.”

Then his friends take a fowl and a garment of the invalid's, and they spread a mat down at the top of the steps. The garment they place at the top of the steps, and taking a stick with which

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"Mr. A. B., thy Là has left thee, thy Là has gone away. It is going to and fro; going to the Shans, going to the Burmese; and hence thou art afraid. Thy Là has gone away, and thou art startled, thou art not strong, thou art not vigorous, thou art depressed, thou art heartless, thou hast a sallow countenance, thou hast a cough, thou hast difficulty in breathing, thou art weak, thou art weary, thy head is bald.

"Now Là, I call thee, beat for thee. Here is the great hen-bird, here the great male fowl. Come, come, COME. Come and dwell in thy dry place, in thy pleasant location, in thy house, as water-tight as the bottle gourd, to thy divan, to thy bedstead. Come and eat the flesh of the female bird, the flesh of the male fowl."

After the fowl is cooked, the fowl and rice are set out, and the sick man is made to take hold of the fowl's head, when his wrist is tied with a thread, and then the above prayer is repeated. The string is then cut off, the end unravelled, and the cotton pulled from it and scattered on the head of the sick man, with the following blessing:

"Mayest thou live till thy head is white, and thy teeth broken, like this string!"

At the Sgau funerals the presence of the Là is said to be manifested thus. One end of a slender erect bamboo is attached to the bone of the deceased that has been taken from the funeral pyre. A small thread with alternate tufts of cotton and bits of charcoal, with a metal ring, or bangle, at the extremity, is tied to the other end, which makes the bamboo bend down in a curve; and under the bangle, nearly touching it, is a brass bason containing a boiled egg.

The closing ceremony of the bone feast is calling the Là of the deceased, which is supposed to be hovering around till the funeral rites are completed; when, should it respond to the call, it is bidden to depart in peace to Hades.

When the apparatus has been put in order, the relatives of the dead approach in succession and strike the edge of the brass cup with a bit of bamboo; and when the one that was most beloved touches the cup, the Là responds by twisting and stretching the string till it breaks and falls into the cup, or at least shakes and rings against it.

A hundred witnesses could be produced who have seen it done. Indeed the thread is of such slender material that a very little legerdemain

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