C H A P T E R II
T H E P E O P L E S
VTAR IED as is this country, it is surpassed in
variety by the number of races that occupy it.
I can only mention the principal of them here : viz.,
The Burmese.
The Shan.
The Mun or Talaingf,
The Karen.
The Chin.
The Kachin.
The Salon.
O f these the Burmese are beyond comparison the
most numerous. It is the Burmese idiosyncrasy that
gives to Burma its fascination and its charm ; that
makes of it, with its colour, its luxury, its beauty, Mid
its ease, a Silken East. Of the other races, the smallest
and most backward are the Salon, a fast-dying people
of some thirteen hundred souls who inhabit the islands
of the southern coast. They are probably the oldest
inhabitants of the land. Since their day Burma has
been peopled by three great waves of immigration
from the north. Of these the earliest is represented
by the Mun or Talaing; the second and third by the
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K A R EN MAN AN D W IFE
VOL, H c
