Page:The Tribes Of Burma - 44.png

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fainter Tibeto-Burman element in their language than was at one time supposed. On the whole it seems probable that the Maingthas are merely Chinese-Shans. The total, of Maingthas at the 1901 Census was 749 only. The Upper Burma Gazetteer connects the Maingthas with the Turengs, referred to by Mr. Enrol Gray, but it seems probable that Mr. Errol Gray's Turengs were merely a tribe of Kachins. A second Shan tribe is that of the Daves, who are found in the Myelat Division of the Southern Shan States. They may possibly have a strain of Chinese blood in them, but it probably dates back to a very remote period. Most of what is known of them is noted at page 564 of the Upper Burma Gazetteer. Further data about the Dayes and Naungyes (a branch of the tribe) have been supplied by Mr. C. E. Browne, who thinks it possible that they may have migrated from the Shan State of Kale on the Chindwin. It appears that the Dayes once had a tribal dress of their own which must have been like that of the Taungfthus and Taungyos. In all 1,094 persons were enumerated as Daves at the 1901 Census.

The Karens

The Karen country proper lies at the southern end of the Southern Shan States and the north-eastern corner of Lower Burma, but Karens are found also in the Irrawaddy delta in both the Pegu and Arakan Yomas and over the greater part of the Tenasserim Division. Speaking generally, the Karens play in the east of Burma much the same part as the Chins do in the west. While not found so far north as the Chins, they extend a good deal further south than the latter: in fact as far south as the hills which separate Mergui from Siam. The term Karen includes a large number of tribes known by different names. In the days