SKETCHES FROM MALAYA.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3465, 14 April 1930, Page 2

SKETCHES FROM MALAYA.

THE RICKSHAW COOLIE

HEAVY WORK, SMALL PAY

He is iibiquitous. Mid-day or midnight is all the same to him. Scorching sun or torrential downpours trouble him not a jot. Ho asks for no overtime; although lie is> only human, and if he thinks he can got it, he may ask for double his legal fare, says a writer in the Melbourne Age on the rickshaw coolie of Malaya. With Ids small peaked straw hat, under which lie tucks away Ids bobbed hair, attired only in a pair of patched up blue shorts, with a dirty towel ove- - one wrist, with one hand pushing against the cross bar of the shafts, the other hand pulling your human geo-gee will take you anywhere at a steady dog trot. The dusty roads resound to the the patter of his naked) feet as ho skilfully dodges the traffic, giving vent to a “Hi! Hi!” instead of using the bell provided, or roundly giving off a stream of Asiatic invective should another compatriot come too close to him. When he comes to this El Dorado fresh from the Celestial republic, the first thing lie turns Jus hand to is rickshaw pulling. It requires training and wonderful stamina; he develops legs that would put a Greek statue to shame. He hires the rickshaw with wooden or tired wheels, according to the class, and plies for fares at a fixed municipal rate. \\ aiting in a queue, you will sec him polishing up the brasswork of his vehicle or cleaning the spokes. With a lave, he lollows the main roads and streams of the traffic; you steer him by grunting at him. As lie docs not know your language, nor you his, and the local vernacular names of places (.Malay) convey nothing to him. a stranger to the town, sight-seeing by this medium, is apt to have an adventurous time. A bump of topography would stand him in good stead. At noon you may see him. if disengaged. sitting on the Hour of Ins “shaw” seriously absorbed in choosing his slight repast from an itinerant sweetmeat seller, who! planks down for inspection a portable table covered with a variety of delicacies that only the Chinese language could put a name to. The coolie’s meal will probably cost him twopence. But he is ever on the alert for a possible fare, and always ready to pick np his shalts-and bring his interrupted meal to a close. Midnight may find him patiently waiting on the rank outside the big hotels, under the glare of the lamps, till the queer foreign devils have finished practically rushing 11 p and down the Moor with their womenfolk to the strains oi a hand. When he takes yon home after your pleasurable evening, and yon lie back settling yoursel! m bis relink- letting the lovely coolness of the tropical night invigorate yon, do von ever wonder what your puller may be thinking about? ();• do yon suppose he has no soul? Do yon wonder how many miles lie has run that day in the glare and heat? Or what happens when he goes sick? (i lie lias a home at all. it is a smoke-blackened attic, which lie shares with umpteen more ol his colleagues, using the Hour as bis bed. and a little wooden block fitting Hie nape ol Ids neck as bis pillow. Recreation be has none, unless be can snatch a moment lie tween times, when a policeman ,a not in view, to indulge in a little game of dice or cards. Act he is intensely human and ever ready with a smile. Monthly lie remits most of Ids wages, won bv hard, merciless toil, to bis aged and august parents in lar Cathay. He often dies young. What he gets lie certainly earns. It is a short fife, and a man must be fit and robust to do it in. a tropical country, even for a short spell. There arc many rich Chinese Twokays now in Singapore who commenced lile as Fumble rickshaw pullers.