grey dawn, as I opened my eyes, they rested upon the
same components of the same spectacle. The sinner
who lights one cigarette at the butt-end of its predecessor
is an archangel to the betel-chewing Karen.
Their type of face is peculiar. In the eyes of the
younger generation there is the steady gaze of the
primitive and squalid savage, dully curious as to
the novel objects about him. In the eyes of the older
men there is a note of melancholy, of invincible sadness,
that seems to reflect the hereditary experience of the
race. The women reach a certain plump comeliness
during the brief season that intervenes between childhood
and motherhood. Children of both sexes have
few pretensions to beauty. One seldom sees, here the
engaging prettinesses of Burmese children. What
there is of childish charm lies in their sloe-like eyes ;
their faces are invariably overlaid with dirt.
The married women soon grow slovenly, careworn,
and wrinkled. It is little wonder, for, besides enduring
all the pains and cares of maternity, they seem to do
most of the hard work. They pound rice by the hour,
wielding the heavy wooden pounder, which is in harsh,
contrast to their slender arms. They carry water in
large hollow bamboos long distances from the stream’s
edge; they cook and weave, and when met with on
the highway, travelling with their men, appear to do
most of the porterage.
Their garments look less squalid than those of the
men, possibly because they are darker in colour, and
therefore show the dirt less. No Puritan could desire
7 0 8
a costume better calculated to conceal the human form
than that of the Karen woman. There is a skirt which
reaches to the ankles, there is a long, loose robe,
reaching half-way down to the knees. The sleeves
are cut short, and the robe, whfdrNs open in a small
V-shape fore and aft, has rather the effect of a gorgeous
surplice, when it is new. It is much less prone to slip
over the shoulder than the corresponding male garment,
which is for ever askew. The colours of the women’s
garments are red and blue, and when new, they look
very neat and attractive. The skirt is crossed by a
wide blue band, and it ends in a scarlet strip about four
inches wide. The upper robe is embroidered in horizontal
and vertical patterns. Both men and women
wear beads, the necklaces of the women being larger
and prettier than those of the men. Bracelets of silver,
clasped to the forearm, are also worn,
A KAREN VILLAGE
I had meant to camp at Nyaung-tha-da; but it
proved to be an open camping ground by the wayside,
without shelter of any kind. There was a village in
the neighbourhood, although as usual it was quite
invisible to the eye, and this I now sought out along
a narrow hidden pathway, which gave no sign of being
the main approach.
Half a mile or more brought me to a mountain
stream full of boulders and deep pools, across which
there was no obvious passage ; but I sighted a party
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