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

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4 L civilization, there are hill tribes
in Burma whose members are
strikingly primitive. Most of them are
classed as Red or White Karens.
In the old days the Red Karen
never went out without dha (swOrd)
and gun, and in addition had small
sheaf of spears or rather javelins.
Now. the guns remain at home, only
to be used when there is death in
the village. They are fired then to
scare away the disembodied spirit
All the dead are looked upon as evil
minded or, at all events, maleyolent
characters, best driven away.
The Karen spears have vanished so
completely that the hunter after
curios has difficulty in getting them.
They are of very distinctive charac-
ter, sharpened on one side only, like
knife-blade, with a male bamboo shaft
that had a spike at the butt, so that
the owner could stick it in the ground
when he was hoeing his fields or cut
ting his crops. and be ready for any
stranger.
But the Red Karen remains a heavy
drinker. Early prospectors for teak
forests used to say that a genuine
Karen-ni never went abroad without
taking bamboo on his back. from
which a tube led to his mouth. APP
parently they could carry their liquor
then, inside and out.
In addition to their liking for spirits
from the still. the Red Karens are de-
voices of the spirits of the air, the
food and the fell. Latterly a few have
become nominal Buddhists, and some
have even founded monasteries and
built pagodas, but none of them give
up their belief in mats, to use the
Burmese word for spirits.
Ornaments of Brass.
The Karen's idea of ornamentation
seems to Western eyes to make for
anything but comfort They wear
great coils of brass wire and brass
rods on their. arms and legs. The
length of these coils seems only linn
tied by the space available or the abil-
ity of the household to pay for the rod,
for brass is very expensive
The total weight carried by the aver
age woman is so or 60 pounds, and
here and there some manage as much
as 20 or even so.
Burdened with this weight, they hoe
the felGs, carry water for domestic
use, and go long distances TO village
markets to sell liquor. They brew a
great zeal of very fiery stuff and sch
It to most of their neighbors, carrying
1t in fiagons made of woven strips of
bamboo lacquered over with wood-uil,
and dispensed in goblets of the same
manufacture. The cups are of most
generous size. They hold about half
a piSt, and those not trained to ii usu-
ally become noisy after one.
The brass-collar fashion does not
seem to affect the women's health.
There are plenty of active old crones
among them and families of eight or
ten are quite common. The only no
ticeable effect is that the women speak
as If some one had them tight around
the neck. They wear colored scarfs
twisted into the hair, jumper coats
which slip over the head, have a FASH
ionable V-shaped front and back. and
very short sleeves. with occasionally
little embroidery.
The skirts are like kits, stopping
above the knee and striped red and
blue. The necklaces are of the usual
kind, with comedians and other stones.
coins and beads.
The men are not nearly so pic
turesque. Near main trade routes
they wear the baggy trousers and
short coats of the Shans. The remote
villagers wear shorts and cane leg
rings. An attempt at decoration is
seen in the anklets made of shirt but
tons and kaleik seeds 1.-THE white seeds
of herbaceous plant. and every man
carries powder-and-shot case
strapped to his belt. These are of
wickerwork, neatly embroidered with
brass bosses and raised scrollwork,
and they glitter with wood-oil varnish.
One Clan of Good Farmers.
The Kekawngdu clan occupies a tract
covering, perhaps, 80 square miles.