3. _The Avans._--_Avan_ is a more convenient term than _Burmese_, inasmuch as it is more definite; the _Burmese Empire_ containing not only very distant members of the great _Burmese_ family, but also populations which belong to other groups. _Ava_, on the other hand, is the centre of the dominant division. Whether the _Môn_, or a family yet to be mentioned, represent the aborigines of _Maulmein_, it is certain that the Avans of that country are of comparatively recent introduction. Again, whether the _Tha'y_, or a family yet to be mentioned, represent the aborigines of _Tenasserim_, it is certain that the Avans of that country are of comparatively recent origin. Nevertheless, there are Avans in each; and in Maulmein, although the Môn preponderate in number, they all are able to speak the language of their conquerors. I say _conquerors_, because the Avans are for all the parts south of 18° North lat., an intrusive population: the end of the eighteenth century being the date, when, under Alompra, an Avan or Umerapúra dynasty broke up and subjected, in different degrees, the Môn and Tha'y populations to the south, as well as several others more akin to itself on the east, west, and north. The kingdom of Ava, next to those of China and Siam, best represents the civilization of those families whose tongue is monosyllabic. This implies that it has an organized polity, a lettered language, and a Buddhist creed; in other words that the influences of either China or India have acted on it. Of these two nations it is the latter which has most modified the Indianized members of the great Burmese stock. In strong contrast with these is the fourth and last branch of the _continental_ population for the provinces in question, the 4. _Karien._--The Kariens are partially independent; chiefly pagan; and their language, belonging to the same class with the Avan, is unlettered. They are the first of a long list. Their geographical distribution is remarkable, like that of the Tha'y. Its direction is north and south; its dimensions linear, rather than broad; and it bears nearly the same relation to the water-system of the Salwín that that of the Siamese does to the river Menam. There are Kariens as far south as 11° North lat. and there are Kariens as far north as 25° North lat. Hence we have them in Maulmein, and in Tenasserim, and in the intermediate provinces of Ye and Tavoy as well. All these, like the Môn, have been eased by the transfer from Avan oppression to British rule; though this says but little. Hence, with one exception, the other members of their family are decreasing; the exception being the so-called _Red_ Karien.