IN THE BACKWOODS OF INDIA.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10587, 18 October 1910, Page 6

IN THE BACKWOODS OF INDIA.

(By Frmik G. Carpenter.)

( <_W I ' ills* til It HO ll U I 111 K J Ill'll.l JIL( pic- Oi \. IllJl'l l'lL" iMIII know- not'n'ij; lid ( wiiuli ih loot 01 wiiiu 1) 11 hi- nmi lnd 'I lie c "<ii IV i ii ds or Mi HoUil son Vni'i ii if Cimnitico iid I dusn\ m i 'ie v ii io\ s C 'ljni' i Ai .■ tri' -ilI i 1 in ilici Hi hi- (i 1 » i ( ileitii nl 'iii 'un ('Jim the i\U n-iori oi l'i i,i Iw us tll ,i ip'i- in' l offices 0+ the. Indian hmpiK 'J lie »<n \ (.oiuiin 1 " 1 ' J , ke i'iu 151 tllMl iputl.l tli it i,im'it\ mci nliicli i niptic i into the Gauges near where it Hows into the. Bay of Bengal It i- unit I iteh th.it we have learned an\ thing about its souice. and to da\ there is a region along its banks of which we know nothing It is inhabited by half-naked savages! v ho are professional head hunters. Thet use poisoned airows, and. we pay them tribute" for letting u& alone. We have never attempted' to cpnquer them." '"But where is this tenjtory J " I asked. -' ' |"lt lies near the noitnern boideis oi Assam, m the foothills' of the Himalayas., Jt is not far from the tea districts, and there are tea factories "with their electric lights and modern macliijQerj upon its ve"ry -edge. You may travel ten miles from such sunoundm'g and reach localities where your life is 1 not safe foi a moment The coun try is wild'and rugged, and the land drops almost'precipitously from an al titude of two miles above the sea'down tq a thousand feet or so. The descent of the Brahmaputra at that point is such that we believe there must be a great falls theie We may have hid den in those jungles a second Niagair (V a Zambesi .Falls But no one knows ft'i so far, no one has explored thai p.ut of the liver." ~ , /'And ton say■ that the mighty Bri fsl' nation pays tubule' to these eav age" Tl it is an odd policj for the strongest Ka'opean Power, is it not sl The Cabinet Minister swallowed tin flattciy without winking He re plied '/' The a'noiiin, cf tnbute is nothing We pat it because it is cheaper t( pat than to fight We began it whei tve Look possession of the A that time these sat ages weie making peziodical l.uds upon the village? of tin lowlands Thet would swoop dowi li'oin the hills and kill a fetf~ people earning <m.i\ .'s inuch loot as the; could Fhe\ usually got .' cow oi so, ; few soils a Iwca of chickens an< household 'Cfleets woith comparatively little Wish we took possession wi called the ravage chiefs to a confeieno and ."-'v'd them how much the> mad< oat (t t laids Thcj told us, anc toge"! 3' l. J figured up thou stealing toi the pist rew teais,.ind cstimatec th.it the\ netted them on the ..veiagi nbcim 1220 inpees pc aniuim TU> ■s a little iroie than £BO X: e xheie apon to thorn that if the; would let <mi natives alono and keej ut of the te'ntoi\ wo would pat then till-, r-inch it <■ h\cd time eveij tweht Tt ill 1'- TH<\ agi eed to do so, anc thus lai hat j kepi the l contiact Thd -o.iio < t tlie appointed, season toi then "i n \, .'lid notwithstanding that th< ia' ' t'u piopeit> i'i the tillage i ■ '. ■> > latewalh incieased, thej 1 'alibied with tl>en £BO " ' i]ut not t1i..1 dii iciuhgmned wai f k'( t i" t'ie pe,'ce J " 1 asked .."- ' la 1 ui this instance it is the >j i. 'lj'o onlt e.thei thiag we couk hi oulcl !>'■ to send tioops into the " itoi Ys e should h.uc to light al 'ij tl. .2 and with ut -we i. iped out th' .'v-.t'cs 't would mean, a coutinuou (- n L l.on't and life The eou'ifcn * i , i"id ' i.id cii mci would be sho nth I .mows fiom boliind tin iet T' -* i ■ ui"? toukl ki'l mum o is v iVui. 1 e'i'j; able to kill them anc lie !-»'ro d,,03 lot secin to be iioitl W T 'l'll.- " 'Jhis talk fints one a peep into tht wckiiof'ls <'l Indi.. This peninsula .< i woil 1 i'i uselt Hindustan hi- moic l 'tioi'S tl'"ii tlie rontment of i']uiope ird moic" races than >ou will rnd or I » ho msplieie of tli" Vmer.c is Et pi > cMit' h,is its own tnbes and pecuL.u ,'J -, ,ipd lieie and theic aie peoples 1 whom Ihe woild knows nothing \l"v like those de'sciibed b\ Societal\ ""Jrheitsoii aie scattered the

iVir-ests of the different: sections.''of India. There are queer collections of Mongols .011 the borders of Tibet, strange- forest ■dwellers-on the Nilgiri hills, and aborigines on the various islands, arid in "Kashmir and Beluchista'ri one finds peoples and' customs which differ as much as those of the Eskimos and-Hbe"" Anglo-Saxons. ;There is one great class her© known as jungle people. They live in the wiiocls and.are about as savage as the natives of the Congo. They believe in v.-'itches and witch doctors and .make bloody sacrifices. Wild dances are i; 'part of their worship.. These people are generally known as Animists, and thev' number eight or • nine millions. They live in all sorts of ways, feeding largely on wild herbs and fruits and dwelling in caves or temporary shacks which they leave when they seek a new location.

In the eastern Himalayas are the

N.agas. the descendants of the ancient snake'worshippers. They arc . head hunters, and now. and then raid the lowlands. In Southern India are the Yanadis, who have round huts made of brush.wood. and who "support themselves on jungle ii lifts- and wild honey. They are as shy as our Negritos, and . will : run at the- sight of a. white man. During my stay in India I have met some of the British officials who have charge of the Andaman Islands. These islands have long been a penal settlement of Lndia. They lie in the Bay of Bengal skirting the east coast. They are largely inhabited by aborigines who correspond: to our Negritos and live much like them. Their homes :iro the forest. They move about from place to place, putting up ■-belters of leaves and twigs wherever they camp. They wear practically no clothing and are not unlike the pigmies of the Congo. They have black Fkins and frizzy hair, which is so shaved as to leave a circular patch as big round as a tin cup.on the top 1 of the head. The women are the barbers and every wife dresses her husband's hair. Both women and, men are tattooed. The eyebrows are usually shaved, and sometimes the whole body is gone ovei). 1 am told that when the British officers first came to the Andamans the 'l-itncs wuo cannibals clad chiefly in a n.v.d ot led e.uth They worshipped a god who w.. 1 * an evil spirit, spreading di'csc They believed the whole \\oild lias fl.it, and that their islands i '"re .+ The\ thought this .'world w is bil.mc. d ou top of a. very tall tree, vhich at the dav will be loosened In in ci'thqurke When that comes n i'io fi'ey bel eve that the living and r<_ c 1 w til ch ivae places and that the 'igtl° and devils will keep shaking the >»o j-'d thus prevent mankind from ' 'i up the bamboo ladder which con- ,.. i 'I with heaven. lhc> think also that the devil dwells in the sea and feeds upon the bodies of those who are drowned. He has submarine boats and carries a net to capture all mankind w-ho fall- into the water.

Some of the strangest of people live in the upper Himalayas. Those mighty mountains spotted With non-Arjan tribes, > whose ancestor weie thiust back'by our ancestors o\ ci three thousand years ago, but who still eMst, notwithstanding There aie lull men in Assam who have no method ot telling distances, but measure the length of a journey by the amount of betel leaf they can chew on the wa%. The Nagas stretch the lobes of the ear and pierce it in such ? waj that it foi ms a ring of flesh three <{r f/rar inches in diameter They also split the e;u mi that it looks like a great lump, oi flesh ", i > i . These Nagas are found' m" the same, distuct as the savages, of" which Mr R oh oi t son speaks. "They uihabit >fche ■ countij east of the Assam valley.. They aie Mongols and number in. all about 162.000 "The largest*of* theu r >tnbes is the Angami, "who have lately come uif- , der British subjection."" The Angami believe they first oh 1 earth, and say 'that' they sprang from the dei\. _They call earth their onl\ master, - and . worship" it. Their homes are .villages surrounded b> stockand guarded, bushes and' nettles. ' 'Thej come into them •tliiotigli 'sunken paths, the ei.trances being protected bv dooib Each tube has its chief, and the people hare .1 blood brotherhood, like some of the I African tribes. Another of the Xag.i division is known as the Aos. These people were pnee notorious slaveholders, and they '

s'u lilted lie 'lnc. which llie\ ( umht m wu ViKitli i i the Se.ii !"< who U"t'l hi ■ l'\ vtie !'l i 1 liuntei-. .ml .1,1-1 ,31 L '■(.ll.p'l til L'lllLltini mest*- .mil ! i tiicin when oil guard J >•, i jl(l ui i l 11" NV i 1 n e it l)ii 1 lii _ ij' ili>- 1) u' iln i,i \uimj; ~ no i' " in'' ci'ii ,1 it i t 1 "- mi n - (|ii uti'is in New '.iii'ii ii.(J hj» i) th*» onn„ r people <• ii ill, u loi {r tli-> -Alt'- o! Centi ii \ lit i \iiiim > l'n- 'Liu Uoone't h.n. bo' n liuiuiiu Jn Oii'iiua .ill the u ii o! one iiibe li\e in -nth ipiaitoi 1 - iiki tlicir lines Ijim," thoni then io(,d In M.is.iil.md the frills and -umng warnois h.ue a common house to themA.iong the N.ya', and other tribes ot the lulls of Bengal tlio joung men's hall is elected on a jjlatfoim and tlie girls' house is nearb). The men sleep in. berths, and in the gills', house "there aie .ahwvjs tyio oi Jhice < maidens sleeping, togetliprr" In addition . there is- sometimes an old 'woman as chapejon I am told she is" often, hall blind and spends' ]ob. 'Pol) "amy is * common throughout mbst plfrts' of India. .Thei e * aic T some'tlnne like, 60,000.000 .Mohammedans scatteied over th© country, " who by I then, religion, have the right to four wHes and there- axe -2Q;000,,000 Hm'doos, eacli of -wliom 'lias as many wivesand slave gills as-he can support ,- ,; - Hi"-h up in the Himalayas -Lhe, reverse" is the case. J -The Bkqtiyas,,some or whom I saw dining my trip through the mountains, practice'- polyandry, that is, one' woman will have several 'husbands This is so -with the Tibetans and others of the far noirii,' and sctoe-J times with the Jots of the Punjab and the Santals of Bengal. It is still common along the whole Himalajan range from Assam to Kashmir, and also among the Todas or the Nilgin Hills. Such mamages aie often a matter ot bargain and sale If there' is'a pietty gill in the familj and a man falls ui love with her. he pajs so muck.to her parents, and possibly comes into the house as her husband After a time J second lovei may appeal, and, without the hist husband can offer a large sum to secme exclusive possession, he pays his price and joins the cncle lam told that it is entirely'jtf question of monev, and that the man who can atfoid it can have a wife to bimselr. In such mamages the children Me looked upon as belonging to .the woman, and then fathers can Ln rto claim.to' them. In Southern India theic aie many stiange tubes. In the Nilgai hills, . gieat plateau, ovei a -mile high, not tar from Madras, theie aie aboiigmes who conespond to the Ainus oi Japan The} aie a hau\ people, noted tow then drunkenness and laxitj of moials. Thej dwell m huts about ten ieet high, with dooiwa\s so small that one has to ciawl m and out on all foms Their dwellings are made ot bamboo and with thatch They aie chiefly heidsmen, and noted tor then longhomed buffaloes, which they dnve about hom place to place to pastuie. These people woiship the rising sun and the moon, and they haie other cods ol various kinds They now and then saenhee calves, with the hope that tho cows will gne moie milk, and at iuncials thej sacrifice buffaloes, believing that then =ouls will go with the dead up to heaven The Todas aio allied to the hiewalkeis, people who claim that the> can tiot o\ci hung coals without h.um 1 see .m instance of one ol then 'ceiemomes in today's papei. It. took place at Mtishirabad, where, it is related, the people, by a great fire of wood, made a bed of live charcoal 18it in diameter. While the coals were still red two priests, bearing Hags, jumped bareiooted into them and walked to and Iro again and again'over the fire. As thev did so the people to the number ot "hundreds walked over the coals, •and among tliem we're children of alt i\"e~. The newspaper account says that noT a single one received 'injury, not even a bum, and that the only effect of the ordeal was to make them perspire profusely. - -Another strange people oi India are tho Kandhs, or mountaineers. They were "reat m the past and bloodthirsty and powerful, but since they have come under the British they have abolished nianv strange customs. They once had "human sacrifices, and kidnapped the people of the plains. Their victims were daintily ted until the day oi the sacrifice, when they were killed m honor of the'earth god, whom they worshipped."The Santals worship the great mountain, and the Gonds, who think they are sprung from a certain peak of the Himalayas, bury their dead with their feet turned northward that they may be ready to start home without turning around. There are many strange tribes in Ceylon and on the islands off the Hindustan coasts. The whole of northern and western India has its backwoods. Beluchistan is largely a desert with fertile valleys of date'palms' and with camels and caravans. Its people arc mostly Arabs or of Arab ancestry. They are more like Persians audi Turks than the gentle, servile inhabitants of Bengal. They do not recognise caste, and they are chiefly Mohammedans. Not unlike them are the Afghans, who, though not a part of East India, live on the outskirts. :Thero are about ten million of them. They- claim to be descended from one of the lost tribes of Israel, and their genealogical trees are rooted in both Solomon and David! The Afghans have a rich country, which is said to be filled with mineral wealth, but as yet is not prospected. They are a' nation of horsemen, and send 'hundreds of horses down here to Delhi and to other parts of India each year. ' 'Afghanistan has-a half dozen or more gbod-sized cities, and some of them are great trading centres. ' It has twp capitals—Kabul, in the east, and-Herat, in the west. It is ruled by the Amir, who holds close relations to the Government of India. He gets something like £140,000 per year in the way of subsidies from the British, and his treaties with them provide that he shall have no relations with anv other Power except the Empire of India. ' At Calcutta I visited tho Foreign Office and' found that a large part of that bureau was devoted i to Afghanistan, Persia, and the other' countries which verge upon India. ' I was told that Afghanistan is practically closed to foreigners as far as trade is concerned, and- that it. is not* safe to-travel through--it without a special-permit from the Amir. There ' are no railroads. The only hiahways are trails' for horses' and camels, although wagon roads are nowbeing made from the chief towns to the Russian, Persian, and .Indian frontiers.. Railroads are talked ,of, and in 'time they come. The railways fr'oiu Delhi, where this letter is [written, .extend northward through Lahore, to Peshawar, hot far from the 'Afghan frontier. There is also a road which' goes' through a- pass in tlie mountains to Quetta. in Beluchistan. and 'another which has beeu.\tunnelled' .under the ' Khojak' pass to the Afghan" border. 1 North of Afchanistan the Russians have been building-railroads, and they have iust crossed the border. II wouldi take .less than 'soo' miles of' new - line to connect, these Russian roads' with the Indian system, and thus make a throuEh route from Paris to-Bombay and f Calcutta. tio prospect now of such a connecliionj but it will come in time', : as all bility, a trunk-line front here to Constantinople. •' ! . ,