The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1929-06-21

available nook of the valley is ter
raced for irrigation, which is carried
out with great skill and eye for con-
tour. They grow good deal of cot
ton and make their clothes of it. The
average height of their country is be-
tween 1000 and 1000 feet, with peaks
rising to 5000 Their roads are well
aligned, fairly bread, and much used.
and are considered very good by those
who have Travelled over railroads.
though bicycle would have to be car
ried for three miles in every four.
Pack bullocks are kept and caravans
go down TO Toungoo on the railway.
On the whole, they may be said to be
the best of the hill races in this neigh
borhood, and they have great game
drives with trained dogs.
Some authorities have doubts as to
whether they are Karens and want TO
place them in the Mon-hkmer group.
Their language. however, has many
similarities with Taungthu.
Some distance TO the north of the
Padaung country-with the small Red
Karen State of Nawngpalai interven-
ing-is the Bre tract.
Their country is of a different char
acter from that of the Padaungs. 1t
is a much more emphatic tumble OF
hills, very high and steep, with exceed
ingly narrow valleys in between.
The dress of the Bre men is more
distinctive than that of the Padaungs.
They wear pair of very short trou-
sers, striped red and white. and tied
at the waist with bit of string. A
blanket of coarse cotton serves for a
coat, and their long black hair is tied
into knot, just over the right temple.
and the rest. apparently never combed.
hangs over the shoulders and face.
On their legs they wear cotton cir
clets below the knee. with brass rings
to keep the coils apart. Many of them
also wear necklets or torques of brass.
The dress of the women varies for
the three groups, but the differences
are not great. The chief garment is
gaberdine called thindaing by the Bur-
mese, perhaps more like a poncho.
since it is slipped over the head. and
has either rudimentary sleeves or none
at all. They also wear short kirtle
which reaches within hands breadth
of the knee, but some dispense with
this. II is red and blue in stripes.
Decorations of the Bre People.
The women in the northern section
of the Bre tract have brass tubing
coiled round the leg from the ankle
to the knee. and from above the knee
to half way up the thigh. The south
ern Bre women have TO content them
selves with cotton coils instead of
brass. Both wear large brass hooks
or torques round the neck, and enor-
nous ear-plugs are fixed through the
lohes of the ears.
They have no head-dress. and their
hair. which is unkempt as that of the
men. is tied in a knot at the back of
the head. They marry very early-the,
girls at about thirteen, the youths at
fifteen wears of age.
whether or not man has wife. The
unmarried wear pebble necklaces
which have been handed down from
father to son for generations. Some
of them are valued at 20 rupees. which
is wealth for these hills
Besides these, large brass rings en-
circle the mans neck, hang from the
ears, and are inserted in the cotton
carriers on his legs. The northern Bre
bachelor adds to these ornaments a
twisted bamboo hand round the head.
studded with mother-of-pearl shirt
buttons or small red and green beads.
as sort of setting 10 the shards of
large green beetles.
All this finery goes TO the wife when
he gets one, and as husband he Is
reduced TO a pair of trousers. a blan-
ket, and some unornamented black
rings around his legs. A rudely carved
wooden comb sometimes remains fixed
in his top knot as an ornament. not
for use.
Both sexes stain their teeth black,
using for the purpose the leaves of
tree which the Bre call Thupo. mixed
with lime-juice
The rest of the Karen tribesmen of
these hills form much smaller groups.
but they all have their distinctive
patois, due. no doubt, TO the detest-
ably rugged character of the country.