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 Karens and kindred tribes, numbering rather more than 1,100,000. Their home is Karenni, still occupied by Bghai Karens and wild Padaung and Brè or Laku. The Padaung are remarkable for the practice adopted by the women of wearing from five to five and twenty coils of brass round their necks. Other Karens, Sgau and Pwo, have spread over the plain country of Tenasserim and the Irrawaddy Delta. Formerly a backward, savage race, these



classes have come under the civilizing influence of Christian missions and are now loyal, law-abiding, and progressive. They are excellent farmers and, more readily subject to discipline than Burmans, have for many years been trained as military police and, to a less extent, as regular soldiers. "There is an evident tendency for Karen women to be more largely employed in fields than Burmans ."

Taungthu. Taungthu, a Karen race, numbering 183,000, originally came from Thatôn in Lower Burma, and are still