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AUGUSTA BATTERY,
TIRE & ELECTRIC
COMPANY
McClaren Tires
Willard Distributors
General Tires
320 Ellis St. Phone 1133
AUGUSTA, GA.
THE MARRANOS OF INDIA
(Continued from page 35)
and Tenasseritn region. As usual in all
Best If ishes for
'/'he New Year
GEORGIA PUBLIC
UTILITIES COMPANY
851 Broad Street
Augusta, Ga.
*
New Year Greetings
•
AUCUSTA
AMUSEMENTS
• INCORPORATED
' \ Subsidiary of Paramount Publix
Corporation)
Imperial, Modjeska and
Rialto Theatres
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA
our Druggist Is More Than a
Merchant
TRY
LEWIS & OLIVE
FIRST
SAME AS GARDELLE'S
1002 Broad St. Phone 1775
AUGUSTA, GA.
^\ew Year Greetings
w. R. GARRETT. Agent
AUGUSTA. GA.
istence dates back to a considerable pe
riod. From the inscriptions found at Fat-
Fung-Fu it is evident that Jewish Colo
nies were established there during the
Hun Dynasty which lasted from 206 B.
C. E. to 221 C. E. The great dwindling
of the Chinese Jews, of whom hardly a
handful remain today, has been enveloped
in mystery. A portion of the decrease
can be accounted for by their absorption
by the Mohammedan sect and by the
Bai-chu revolts against the aliens and the
constant civil wars and unstable state of
affairs. But their large decrease can
only be accounted for and can be intel
ligible if their affinity with the Karens
be maintained. The Karens had brought
their Hebraic traditions from China and
as the Chinese Jews did not exert their
beliefs and traditions on their surround
ings with much success and was on the
other hand greatly Sinsized it is obvious
that the Karens were not another race
deriving their traditions from the Chi
nese Jews but were actually their de
scendants. The date of the arrival of
the Karens to Burma has been variously
estimated. But one thing is certain that
there was not one exodus of Karens to
Burma but periodical exoduses at dif
ferent periods. While the establishment
of Laboung dates to a considerable period,
a Hill Karen tradition told by J. O.
Riley, one of the earliest English officers
to travel in the Karenni hills, suggests
that they had lived ten generations in
their present home. This will limit their
sojourn here to a period of less than 300
y'cars. It is probable that the latter
exodus may be the one recorded in the
tablet found in Kau-Fung-Fu regarding
the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1642 and
their late arrival may be one of the rea
sons why they have fresher recollections
of their traditions than the Karens of the
plains. The inscription is full of de
tails of this migration:
“'ITie city underwent a six months* siege
by the rebel chief Li-Tse-Chang who
eventually caused its fall by diverting
the Yellow River. T he loss of life was
great and the Synagogue was destroyed.
About 200 families were saved and took
refuge on the north side of the river.
The names are recorded of those who
succeeded in saving the scrolls and other
sacred books that were floating on the
river.”
It is no wonder that this incident had
left a lasting impression on the Karens
and the Yellow River has come to be
known, in their traditions as the “river
of running sand.’’ The route of the
migration was probably across the hilly
province of Y'unnan in South-Western
China thence by way of Mekon or River
Salween into the upper part of Burma
of what is now known as the Shan States.
They then spread southward to the Ka
renni hills, and on to the Lower Burma
R. E. ELLIOTT & SONS
FUNERAL HOME
Corner Telfair and Twelfth Sh.
AUGUSTA, GA.
travels and disasters the larger propor
tion of the migrants must have been males
and in the course of their travels they
might have been not a few cases of inter
marriage. This may account for the
Mongolian type of features which many
of them possess but beneath their Mongo
lian veneer Jewish characteristics can
sometimes be noticed. The beards of
some of them are most often of consider
able length, is another Jewish feature,
very uncommon among the Burmans,
Mongols and Chinese. Much of the Jew
ish rites and observances have been lost
no doubt due to the circumstances, being
peculiarly unfavorable to their observ
ances.
There arc at present, 1,300,000 Karens
spread all over Burma. TTic only exclu
sively Karen region is the hilly region
of Toungoo District and the Karenni
Subdivision which is still under Karen
Chiefs, under an Advisory Council of
the Burma Government.
Separate Baptist, Church of England
and Roman Catholic missions have been
operating among them, from time imme
morial and the fruits of their activities
have been the conversion of almost 350,-
000 Karens to Christianity comprising
about 60 per cent of the total Christians
of the province. The missionaries were
early in the field and have revealed no
table pioneers working for the well-being
of the Karens, such as Dr. Francis Ma
son, the translator of the Bible into
Karen, Dr. J. H. Vinton, Rev. Wade, au
thor of dictionaries and grammars of the
Karen dialects, Rev. E. A. Abbot and
Father D’Cruz. At the present rate of
conversion among the Karens it is un
doubted that the mass of them will adopt
Christianity. It is obvious that the Karen
traditions of the Lost Book and the re
turn of the White Brother greatly fa
cilitated the activities of the missionaries.
A number of mission schools have been
established, many of them have a promi
nent position among the schools of Burma
as the Karen High School of Bassein.
Besides the schools, the Judson College,
afliliated to the University of Rangoon,
organized in 1875, serve the needs of
those who go for College studies while
the Karen Theological Seminary estab
lished by Rev. J. G. Biney in 184 5 serve
for the training of Karen pastors. 'Fhe
Karens have distinguished themselves in
many walks of life and many of them
serve as Myooks or Headmen of villages
and in the Provincia Civil Service. They
are represented on Communal basis in
the Burma Legislative Council and have
shown unflinching loyalty to the British
rule, many of them having served in the
Great War and have furnished more
men proportionately than the Burmese
to the British Array.
| New Year Greetings
FRANK X. MAY
T. R. LUNGER
AUGUSTA, GA.
m
New Year's Greetings
with our most cordial
good wishes to our
Jewish friends
GEORGIA RAILROAD BANK
& TRUST COMPANY
AUGUSTA, GA.
When You Think of "Eats"
Think of
'Augusta's largest Retail Grocers”
DrET
FOOD STORES
AUGUSTA, GA.
-K
Happy New Year
*
Andrews Bros.
Co.
870 Broad Sh
AUGUSTA, GA.
Happy New Year
to All
RICHMOND HOTEL
AUGUSTA, GA.
Happy New Year
Claussen-Lawrence
Construction Co.
AUGUSTA, GA.
r,IE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
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