DIVIGATIONS IN A GOAT SHED.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 425, 6 February 1909, Page 7

DIVIGATIONS IN A GOAT SHED.

4 Tolling of Arbitration Courts where tho only award is death Also shotting 1 how Nam Sook, being Hospitable, was Rewarded, and how the Hunter came to be Hunted ' (By ''Maws Onk>okeis'.") '< ,' 'n. .' Where were we ? I had told jou of my meetiflg on Lambton Quay tho ovorseer, that had escaped—ho whose ojes betrajed familiarity with the sun I foun dhim, on tho wholo, a gonial and cominumcativo alien, Ho tucked his blan-lcot-coat more straitly in about i his throat and oars, and said'that ho could forgive Wellington everything but ita climate. It was cold hero, he thought. Ho en confessed that the country amused him. "Your methods," ho said, ''are bo circuitous. "When you want to arbitrate", jou set Sir Joseph Ward and his tame Parliament going Then jou get two laymen and a bigwig, who sit solemnly many dajs appieciating jour assorted noises. Tho Court decides',, and if the decision suits jou, j'ou accept it. If it doesn't, you begin to arbitrate all over again. In Fiji we are at least direct. Our arbitlation is geneially with a hoe." - r i Hero I pause once moro to tell •vou what a Fiji hoo is It is an adze-like instrument, some nine ppunds of steel mounted on a six or seven-feet pole. It is sharpened to a< wicked razor-edge. For purposes of arbitration, it isr wielded fiercely by a httlo brown person standing about 4ft. 6m. There is no appeal fTom this arbitrator, and tho party against whom the award is made ne\cr again appears in any Coiut jvithin the limits of'his fellows' cognisance ' i . But where wore weP / ' Ah, yes; wo were in Nam Sook's goatshed. The centipedes were voraoious, and tho mosquitoes sang paeans of derision as they stabbed. The night pressed heavily in, like black velvet just wrung 'out from boiling water. It was a night heavy with discouragement and pain, rich in those discomforts that make one's manhood ooze away. I was glad to see the morning: ■which, after certain centuries, dawned in duo course Na.ra'Sook was a man of Agra of his origin, and of his stock a Punjabi. At the outsot ho regarded mo with frank suspicion, but. time swiftly mellowed tho acidity of his mute aspersions, and we became friends. He knew just enough. English to completely misunderstand every, word -I said 'to him; and as his average misapprehension opened up picturesque vistas, I found our conversations very interesting. . My faco was inflamed and furiously painful, I had poignant memories of tho torment of tho goat-shad, but I looked at Nam Sook, considered my own reputation for consistency, and so determined to stay mv eight days, como good or ill ■ I asked Nam Sook if ho knew the Taj Mahal of Agra, and he assured mo that there was no such person. I pointed out that tho Taj was not a person, but a placo; and-Nam Sook swore that ho had never heard of any such place ' And so wo would go on. I had ternblo trouble explaining to these fellows who and what I was. Reporter. Tho word conveyed nothing.' Tho nearest Bam Rakha could get to it was a word, '"moonshee," ho ferreted out of the dictionary with my assistance I A moonshee is a sort of wise man of the East, given to the occupations and solaces of the scribo, and I'know that tho word fitted mo like a s glove, but Nam Sook looked at mo blankly, To this day^ho has no idea of what a reporter may be. , Ono night tho,thing happened that I had been led to expect, There was a row between the Jlobammodans and tho Hindus. There was'a policeman there, ono All mu Been,' a man given to exaggerating the importance of hi l ) position, as policemen are apt to do>j,This man's brother and a motley crowd of'LJloharamed(niftrF(ind;i Hindus were sitting in a big hub, smoking and 'gambling. There present —fierce follows, inveterate ganjblers, lovers , of war. All drinking .some sort of arrack, and, all wero armed with tho servicethej_ call latce. And/there, of course, was I, sitting the rook of hemp and'opium'and spirits,, as , wicked as either. - There was a sudden snarl of hate. "Ch'ljiar'" I heard Now, "chemar" is a very bad ta,unt to fling at a man of any 6aste, and I looked for trouble. I saw a fier\ little Hindu glaring, defiance at a biHy Mohammedan, and I heard the son of Islam roar in reply. He mado a reference to the Amir of Afghanistan These Muslims held strong regarding the omnipotence of the Amir, who, they say, will shortly sweep across India, as his first in iho conguest of the world, and boats like this are as gall and wonjiwood to tho stomach of the Hindu. I saw every man reaching'swiftly- for his! latce. I feli that we were on tho verge of when a Mohammedan* relieved the tension, bj stalking away with/his followers, When the Hindu heats - had simmered to 'a tolerable warmth, liasked for explanations Tho fierce little, Hindu, who had some EngLsh, oxplained. "Hej, Salub Here is Ram Rakha, who is apt to eat opium One passed to mo a pipe of Indian hemr/th'at I might smoko, and after me, it was the turn of Ram Rakha I offered him the pipo, but ho did not look my wav, nor take it from mo. Then I said, 'What shamo, Ram Bakha, that your ejes are drooping and lour wits dulled by reapon of the opium, so that you do nqt recoivo tho k philum that 'my hand is lidding for vou.J "Ali mu Deen was sitting with Nisa mu Deen, tho Punjabi, his brother, and Ah said like«this. 'Yes/it is shake to Ram Rakha to be begging his rice all over tho country to keep in hie, but it is greater shamo to you to bear tho filthy Englishman's gods upon jour heads and to allow jour children to learn Christian When the." , Amir breathes with his nostnlii upon' India] - and" comes down to tbVplams, ho will dnvo every missionary soul'and every chemar like you out • of Hindustan. And whore will you bo then —you that cry shamo on Ram Rakha, you that allow jour children to drink tho poison of tho false religion, instead of reading tho theTJrdu, and 'the Sanscrit, the truo scriptures of jour own religion? You havo fallen from Hinduism m order that you may fill tour soul, which is tho soul of an unclean beast, with the slime of the Englishman, who is hated of us all. . Like that he said/' "And what of you s ' I said, 'you who aro of the swcppincts of tho bazaars? You aro a ilohamniedan because, when the False Prophet came, your ancestors were of no caste, and changed their religion to get their Btomachs filled Tho owls roost upon their tombs, degraded chemars that they were! ' You. are no equal, that jou should speak thus to mo. Ah mu Deen. , " And so tho explanation went on, interminably; but there you have the gist of it. The Mohammedans are bigots of their faith, but tho Hindus upon occasion lapso to a profitablo opportunism, and the only point that unites theso two-is thnr common hatred of tho English. These poor "heathen" despises ns -But then they do not know us. They *nly r know certain English youths and ceriain Australian overseers I got my food from Nam Sook—generally v>me preparation of the eternal dhan or dhal Once I sent Nam Sook out of the Tillage to get mo some meat, and made a fat fiy for •mself J did not live luxuriously; but I iid well ei'ough, and the goat-shed was not so larl after the first nirfit. Now, think of this There are ninety thousand Fijians in Fiji, thirtv-five thousand ■Boohes, and three thousand whites. Already the time-expired Indians, turning peddlars and shopkeepers, hav? swept tbo small tradesthe islands off thflir leas. As tilings go, in a compaiatnelv short time thorp will do an empowering predominance of Indians At Labasa, not very long ago, the police had to fire on tho Indians Whit will happenlater', > You must understand that Punjabis 'arc noti at all tho right sort of stuff to make coolie labour of; nor are the indomitable and avaricious Solomon Islanders. It is time men bocan to provide agaihst the time when the Inters of England are m the majority in Fm. I SDoke to a deep-eyed fellow with a -vermil'nn star on his forehead I siid I wanted to know things, so that I could put them right into the newspiner I tried to explain to bin where Now Zealand was, but, ho 1

rdidh't understand; VtheSo; •.-, people have no ;idoa; ; of sea-distancesV; :V ; '■. •'>;>,; : "A-. ' I said, "Tell n\e, what yo.u think of English?;. How;,y6u:.l6ok'oil Englishmen? , ' . -. ■ .: ,He'>turned his sombro'eyes oniiie.,. "The English,"', ho. said—''the Englishman is lying on.niy:country likoa big'suakpll' •. '■;■'. ■ ■ ' Hβ-told'me", that-the Indians had only lost India temporarily. ".' He>aid that the-Indian ■Mutiny,, was'•: a.;mistake, : because \ the signs ; of:the; stars. werp; against 1 any /uprising at that 'time. € When : tho; time'became ripe, thq .English iwqiild-not: be,,able to hold- India ■longer,.because ;God .would take it. away ".from ■jliem".-;---'.:.'/:'"' , "- 1 ;;/'■■: '■■.., ':■■'■■"'.''.'': '"■ '■"''■;'■'■-" '.•;".'■■; " ' ■; •-'."Wβ do riot'.Want.English religion,"■' his said,.-in offcct^ii,"Wβ do libt'.-want''English ideas; ."■Wβ are an-olderrace than'you—millions ; ; of:-'yeaf 8Voider -than 1 you.v-.v.'Yo'iic;'; stole, things .'from:the myths wohad.used: up and flung 'aside.; 'iiim 'drive us/|now,; because-you knowvhb*':to v .kill;";;'•'■■■•"; '.'■ ..-!-■ ■';■-.'■■ .-y';:. ; of opinion-, that the predominant';,. Taeo'! --in "Fiji- will;,hold npreseiitly, , ; Judging by: Friday's cables ..theyVhold it now. '•.;;On,.,the*.day. : :l. left,- relayed a wrong- card. I'; had .photographed-.Nam Sook : and his family. -So far, g00d,.;" But .I-gaye Banvßakba ten shillings; .morfcthanjw'as- due.to;, him, and I: gave; ten I" did, not. b"jv6 to. tho family; of :tHe'Nam ; :Sopksi:»And so the. .word went: forth '■ into', the" camp that" I.'■ was a greaterfool/than, had'.at .first' been' supposed; .When I; got back'to Suva; crowds of .natives - followed mo" .to the; steamer..; "They looked, for largesse:-:v : They;.'hail Vme'ti.m'y. sottVb'efore.; ! I 'yasfa^Vßimple- : 'BpiirJ'>'.Th6":h\inter-.wais now 'hunted v . ;■; :^fi ; :; ;;.. ; : .{.x: ;-,;;.;;,;■ ■;-.:lt may'beJfitting arid modest,/however, to admit that I saw:.no '"arbitration , , , in- , 'actual progress.'.- Oiie-; overseer"",was removed . while I .'was; therer-a , .-mail '.'; working':.at'i't'a'Titok'aTr ;the biggest^sugar-min;.in . : ,the : world/; with ;a plant;;' : thatvcpst.a: million,' , sterliijg—and i aiir' o'ther: siiifered : the ; Unsought • Aw.ard ; r ;at ■ • ■I .'saw'/ithO;' 3)o'dy"'.of.. a;;- third! 'brought ; 'tp'.;the JTharf.at/Suya Tvhjlo I wnsithere.blt was not a sight:to.be.recalled. : willMgly. : or;.with grati-: |ication. :.'V ■'■''?: '■'':'.' S''-: :: :-'-;-'"- '.■';'•'"'' ;-::Furtheri:it.'is : really:'woyerful : ;hoiv;;both ! ,parties;abidei'by; the-Award in; these cases.' The .■natives',.; afror.:a tragedy,, never-dream, of jrunning'/ 0r..: evading; the..issue: they- know what -they.are. iii.'for, and they look for.' itr iThey arrive?by a; more , circuitous,'d'ourse'at the':appqintedVendi>.v;'Both •;'parties',' r'say, abide•■ by,;the!;award;. ';: The..appeal:,.ieVtoVa :opurt-beyond; o'u'rVken.!';;';'; : ;;X:;-;;,;,; : .c::-r::: y'-r.~ . '■'■ ■' And .'.so,' you ."■ and. I; hay o '. brought 'to. our . breakfast-tables;.'• while we ' discuss,the.. irialigr iiity."of;imedical-examination '} on ; the;West Coast, 1 androther'.Jittlo. .outcrops .iof. our. ,bitration, troubles—w;e :: have;,'.what-'"shall , .'■ t >ay?/'.We;havehero.b.2fore us the : BUgar that ;Nam;Sook.'and;his.-family.hayaharvested and .refiried^and.^made^^:marketable a product;iipt produced,.'without;occasional-arbitfatipnVof a :sterne.r Just \noiy 'Jlshpok;. : upi v.tbe sugar Mn' : ;mv>o'wri's^ ;.sThife'Stopacify\'.pf:--'the^;strictly'- : -'inferior :: '.ppr.celainftl ;saWi such visions '• as.'-- might'awe ; ; a •.■■'■'■l .■.•' sawvJtheV wliite 'gaol : vest ■froraSuva , ,'p'6nstellate'dlike ; a ; Norman; keep; hammers, ominously busyv'.'oiLva: JViday-;iiI;';saw" ; grim ;;;figurp stalky to';. ft' taslc."■■ .abhorroht, ■>,: a' ■ figure: irom' .whose,lphely;iprpgress;the;dark-'folk fell away ;t'o rightl-'a'ndleft; and'in,among these,visions: I -■;: saw , ;" the^. court,; ; ; where ''.-.. fair., ladies.; fanned themselYes' asrthey; watehed,;th6 and«presently, : lpheard again .the-; clatter, of ~cabs,v: b earing.-the: condemned, ; ;as they drovp 'AwayiVV;;; 1 ;-;!;';';.:^-:;;'.^!'::--- 5 -' 1 ■'^:'r : . : 'r ; ]; : Andi:ori v ing" west\frpm Suva, the invariable four, words of conversation/betwee^^ahy \ two:;lndians^■'•'as :theyi6catter: : :.right,;atid;;ieft:;to 'let:, this'.one,. 'dark,'.,sinister.- man;pass. on,->:are';s6 .reihajk-; able, that .<ench.exclamation Reserves; a: whole' lihe-m;p'riirt,'tb'*itself.': 1 . s ;'.;:^ !! . '' :y ■'! :^^:: ■'-:''■ :^ ; ■i;'! , Huh!^S : .}VU f -: i^s^A.-;:«-v^-.'.;'; :- : -:'v:-J ; :-v5 ■^•.'■'Pfians'i V&.& V ■ ■':■ ■";d;-: v ; .^.''PhansßViis}:the;.Hindustanee", ; .wordy ''■'■>tori ;exedu;tioner.:;::"> ; .;;:;- ; v;j:: -v5 v -' : : y i'.. : r: -•.*• >V ; "> : --/-^- ; '::-!-yf:-