ABSTRACT
A number of theories have been put forward regarding the birthplace of the Karen nation. Some say they are a Thibetan race; others assert that they came from the north of China; a third supposition is that they are the aborigines of Burma; and a few enthusiasts, fascinated by their remarkable God traditions, have been bold enough to declare that they are one of the lost tribes of Israel. It appears certain that they are not the aboriginal inhabitants of Burma. Their own traditions tell of a “river of running sand” which they had to cross, and of the great tribulations which they endured in crossing it. The Karens regard the “river of running sand” as an immense quick-sand, where the sands roll like the waters of a river. Fa Hian, the Chinese pilgrim, who visited India about the fifth century, describes the great desert north of Burma, between China and Thibet, as a “river of sand,” 68and in the Chinese map of India this long tract of desert is marked “quick-sands.” The prominence given in tradition to the crossing of these sands show that the movement must have been a difficult and important one for the race. The wilderness of sand was evidently the desert between China and Thibet, which the Chinese pilgrim describes thus: “There are evil spirits in this river of sand, and such scorching winds that whoso encountereth them dies and none escape. Neither birds are seen in the air nor quadrupeds on the ground. On every side as far as the eye can reach, if you seek for the proper place to cross, there is no other mark to distinguish it than the skeletons of those who have perished there.” The Karen traditions describe it as a “fearful trackless region, where the sands rolled before the wind like the waves of the sea.” Malte Brun, on the authority of Marco Polo, says, “The country of the Caride is the south-east point of Thibet, and perhaps the country of the nation of the Cariaines, which is spread over Ava.”
