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INDIA

goes back the Shans and Burmese have been connected
either as rulers, subjects, or allies.” They are everywhere
Buddhist,and everywhere, to a considerable extent, civilised.
“ Mixed up with the Shans we find a wonderful variety of
more or less wild tribes. These various tribes inhabit the
hills and the wilder parts of the country, the Shans occupying
 the alluvial basins.” Rice is grown everywhere, but
our future interest in the Shans lies more with their
capacity as traders than as agriculturists.
It is impossible to trace out the habitat of those wild
Mongoloid tribes who live interspersed amongst the Shans,
or on the borders of their territory. Chief amongst them
are the Kachins on the north, the Karens on the south
(about whom much has been written lately), and the
Kakhyens (an uncivilised race of fetish worshippers), who
occupy hill districts amongst the Shans. The latter are a
“pushing race "—-“so much so” (according to Captain
Yate) that “not improbably the time will come when
the Shan will be effaced before the Kakhyen.”
The Karens (who are divided into Red and White
Karens) are interesting as a fighting race of people who were
subdued with difficulty, but who not only accepted British
authority, but the Christian faith, when once they acknowledged
 the strength of our arms. The tradition amongst
them that they were to “look to the west for their deliverers
 in the shape of white strangers, who would bring
them a book, once theirs, which would make them acquainted
 with the true God, and free them from their
oppressors,” has led to the acceptance of English rule and
the Holy Bible as a literal fulfilment of this prediction ;
and induced them ‘not only to receive the Word with
joy, but also to become a law-abiding people.” «They
are absolutely distinct from the Shans,” says Scott, “ not
less in language than in personal appearance,” and their
exact place in the family of nations has not yet been determined.
 They are as distinct from Burmese as they are
from Shans.
In store of national wealth few countries in the world
surpass Burma. Every description of timber known in