of Karen higher up, employed in fishing, and two of
them, considerably startled, led me across its devious
stepping-stones to the village.
The next symptom of life I met was a herd of
buffaloes, which came plunging and snorting through
the long grass to look at me ; and I was warned that
there was a “ wild ” buffalo in the neighbourhood, of
whom even the Karen lived in terror. I was destined,
as it happened, to make a closer acquaintance with this
potentate.
Leaving the herd and the thicker jungle, I came
upon some tmmg-gya clearings, where the new leaves
were just bursting out of the charred trunks. Then
suddenly, and not till I was right into it, I came for
the first time in sight of the village. The taung-gya
wreckage extended right up to the posts of the houses ;
there was no attempt either at a clearing or an enclosure.
The appearance presented by the village itself was
almost comic. It looked as if it was tottering under
the effects of an earthquake, or as if the houses had
suddenly taken to strong drink. There was not a
straight , line in their composition ; bamboos of all
descriptions and at all angles lay scattered about; some
in mere piles resting against the walls, others thrown
out as buttresses to the posts on which the houses were
built. In the forefront of all there stood the dilapidated
remnants of an abandoned house, to complete a picture
of trumpery disorder. The houses stood to each other
at a variety of angles, two being long barracks with
accommodation for several families.
710
A violent creaking of bamboos set up within, as I
approached, followed by a sudden silence. Then eyes
began to peer at chinks in the bamboo walls, and fingers
fell surreptitiously to work, to widen these apertures
for a better view. Whenever my eyes crossed a pair
of eye,s behind the
chinks, they were
immediately withdrawn.
The first sign I
made of a nearer approach
was followed
by sudden agitation
within, and the tumultuous
creaking of
bamboo floors. But
for these symptoms,
the village might have
contained no human
inhabitants.
The houses were,
as a matter of fact, t h e h u t a t m a y -w in e
swarming with a
population of men, women, and children, all of whom
were stricken, as wild beasts are, with simultaneous
fear and curiosity. When I summoned them a little
later, through some of the leading men, to be photographed
on the verandahs of their houses, there was
a display of men," of small boys and children, and a
few wrinkled and awful hags. The young and the