As if walking on the water, the Intha fisherman stands in his low, narrow boat as he gazes down into the waters of Burma's Lake Inle in search of catfish and eel. He rows with his leg hooked around the oar because both his hands are busy with the fish trap. Although he looks as if he might topple, he has fished in this way since boyhood and is perhaps more sure-footed on the water than on land. The houses of the 80,000 Intha rise out of the water on stilts. Even the Intha farms float on dried-reed barges piled with fertile mud from the lake bottom. These man-made, floating plots are among the most productive in the area, providing the Intha with a surplus to trade with neighboring groups. Sheltered for centuries by their unique lake environment, the Intha, whose name means "sons of the lake", are no longer untouched by the massive changes taking place in Burma's Shan state. Recent policies of the Burmese central government have restricted the import of raw silk, curtailing the productivity of many of the once prosperous looms of the Intha. The government also struggles to control the Communist and ethnic factions fighting for Power in the Shan hills surrounding the lake. Indeed, the hills themselves are forcing changes on the lake people, as silt from the streams that feed it slowly turns the lake into marsh. The Burmese government has not allowed Protestant foreign missionaries into the Country since 1966. Most of the Intha profess a mixture of Buddhist and animist faiths, and less than one percent are Christian.