THROUGH COLONIAL SPECTACLES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2541, 26 November 1902, Page 65

THROUGH COLONIAL SPECTACLES.

A SOUTH AUSTRALIAN IN INDIA. By "Uno Hoo," in the Adelaide Observer."

To anyone who reads thes desultory notes I wish to issue a solemn warning. They do not profess to fill a long-felt want, neither do they profess to be crammed with valuable information. They are simply a few personal observations of a South Australian who, through circumstances over which he 'had some control, hopes to find himself in India during the closing months of 1902 and the earlier months of 1903. It the reader expects to find herewith a " mixture of guidt book, history of India-, and a detailed account of the manners and customs of its varied and interesting inhabitants, he will be disappointed. Nevertheless, as personal account? of India a • seen through Australian spectacles are uncommon, my own experiences may not be uninteresting. A MEDICAL MISSION. About Coronation time volunteers wcie called for to work in. India on plague duty, the Indian Government having decided on making a gigantic effort to stamp out the plague, which had been raging more or , less virulently for several years. It ?u* in the nature of an experiment on a colossal scale to endeavour, by inoculation, di*' infection, isolation, and segregation to rid a great part of the Indian Peninsula of the scourge that had been claiming its victims in thousands in past years. That part o India known a« the Punjaub was the dis trict selected for the trial. Plague hat long been devastating its villages ; and, ib people being more amenable to reason thiw those in other parte of India, it was especially suited to a crusade of this dec ■ scription, where, in the absence of coercion. the success of the plan depended upon th* voluntary assistance of the people themselves. THE MAGNITUDE OP THE TASK. To properly appreciate the magnitude of. the task it may not be out of place b» give a few facts and figures. The Punjaub occupies the north-western corner of India, running on its northern boundaries to the Afghanistan and Kashmir borders. Its siz* is, roughly speaking, 110,000 squar- miles, and its population about 21,000,000. It is divided into 27 districts, and again subdivided into 114 sub-districts or tahsils,. each of which contains from 25 to 700 villages and towns. The xital number of towns and villages throughout the Punjaub. is, .according to official figures, 32,795,. which would give the average populatioaper village, according tc the above figures, a little under 700 persons. The. plague in' this part of India is at its worst from Feb* juary to July : it then gradually dies away> to reappear with increased virulence at the* beginning of the following year. During the exacerbation of 1900, 78 villages hadJl been attacked ; and this number had inn creased to 353 in the following season., The operations for the campaign against plague for the coming leawn extend oVt*

13 districts, with an average -area of 2000 square miles. To carry out these operations successfully 37 _ extra men were wanted, in. adidtion to the permanent medical force of the district. On volunteers being called for I offered my services, was asked to call at the India Office, in London, and on doing so was accepted after passing the usual medical examination. The remuneration was to be 800 rupees a month, wifcu £25 outfit allowance, first class steamer fare to Bombay, and travelling expenses to my district. THE VOYAGE OUT. The 37 having been chosen, we were despatched to Bombay as soon as we could fee got ready ; eight sailed in the first hatch, and 19 in the second, and the remaining 10, including myself, comprised .the third, which left by the Arcadia on 'August 21. Of the other nine of my batch six had never left England's shores, and ,-were as simple and gullible as any other 'Englishman on his first departure from jhome. Tbev were men of good degrees — come of them M.D.s, others F.R.C.S.'s, and one or two D.Ph.'s — but in knowledge of affairs outside England they were as (babies. They congregated in twos and *hrees. and plied any likely-looking person with questions, and the person so catechised filled them up with information •^mostly" from bis imagination) to their (hearts' content. On the Arcadia I first met *lie typical Anglo-Indian, a race to himself. ; One, an up-country magistrate, was really ■pathetic over what be called the undeserved deputation enjoyed by the Anglo-Indian on •'Australian liners for exclusiveness. It has been frequently observed by I'ravellers on this route that though the Australian and Ithe Anglo-Chinese official mingle freely, and chum up in a short time, the Anglo-Indian ds much more difficult to get on with. My L&nglo-Indian friend's recriminations were rather the other way ; he blames the Aus(tralian, and" pictures the Anglo-Indian as a shy, timid creature, who is too diffident to ,«nake the first advances. We had other passengers — and it could almost be described ias an Australian ship. The Coronation Contingent were returning, and a muchftdmired body of men they were, and their jorderly bearing and well-bred manners commended themselves to all on board. We tad two members of the Federal Parliament, a popular and leading Melbourne surIgeon, a member of the Tasmanian Upper jHouse, a fair sprinkling of Australian residents, and several wool buyers from Lonidon, to whom this trip is a yearly occurrence. BARGAINING. t will not travel well-trodden ground, tut I must mention that at Port Said I made my first purchase in accepted Eastern (fashion, which is exemplified by the rejflections of the Eastern dealer about to «nake a bargain. His mind appears to Work' as follows : —"He'll ask 20, it's worth atf; he'll take 16, I'd willingly give 14; I faay get it for 12, so I'll offer 8." Acting Jon -this plan, on the dealer asking 25s I jDffered 10s. As he seemed disgusted, I appeared annoyed and turned to walk out 'of the shop. He stopped me when I got /to the door, and, with tears in his eyes, ftsked a sovereign. I stuck to my 10s ; and, after much disparagement of the article on tny part and admiration for the same on iris, he came as low as 15s, and there was a deadlock, as neither of us would give wray. Then the question of tossing came «p. He wished to toss for 10s or £1, while I insisted on 10s or 15s. He finally gave in md wished to toss the coin himself, but I itossed and won, and became the proud {possessor for 10s of an article which problably a more experienced purchaser would fcarcprocured for 7s 6d. Such is trade in the East. With hours to spare one may ■procure any article on not much more than 25 per cent, of its real value. , KITCHENER. One of my fellow-passengers, a colonel {going to join his regiment in Bombay, was a most interesting personage, one who had seen much and varied service. He had |>een in the Soudan campaign of 1882, served for several years on the west coast of '•Africa, taken part in an expedition into ■•Uganda, . and. had charge of a brigade for two years in South Africa. He was an Accomplished linguist, speaking (besides the ordinary European languages) two African megro dialects, Persian, and Arabic ; and be was now learning Hindustanee. He had - Itiained and led both Soudanese and Housas, aud had a small opinion of either as 'fighters. He scoffed at the idea of either of them ever being of the slightest use as 'allies against a European foe. Speaking of (Hindustanee, he informed me that Lord (Kitchener's recreation during the concluding months of the South African war was to spend two hours a day with a Hindu ifceacher learning the language. This exemplifies the untiring energy and thoroughness of detail which characterised India's new Commander-in-chief. BOMBAY ; COINS AND HOTELS. Bombay at last! It was a monotonous 'journey across, without games or amusements of any kind. The day before arrival ,was mostly spent leaning over ihe sides of our steamer watching for the yellow seasnake that swarms in these waters, and whose bite is fatal. We were glad to get • run ashore. We had plenty to do — Hindustanee to learn, sights to see, and a knowledge of the Indian currency to acquire. 'A Parsee money-changer had visited us on board, and wv had parted with the remnants of English currency !for its Indian equivalent. The rupee is the standard coin of India, and of a. fixed value >f 15 to the English sovereign. This makes, it equal to ■}.s Ad of our money. An anna i« one•ixteenth of a rupee, :orresponde to our penny, and is subdivided into wee, of Which 12 go to an anna. Our experience of Bombay hotels was not fortunate. .The rooms are good; eaoh guest is supplied with a bedroom, bathroom, and a partitioned off piece of verandah or balcony, containing a table and one or two lounge chairs ; out the food and the attendance were the cause of complaint. The menus are amusing as good specimen* of Babu English. The Babu is an English-speaking

native, and his ideas on things he does not completely understand are peculiar ; for instance, at my first meal in Bombay I was struck with the item "grilled Indian's coins" — of course, the final "s"' should have been omitted in both words. Then, again, "pears' tart" i suggestive of something soapy ; while "Wales rabbit" leaves you in delightful uncertainty whether you are ordering something made of cheese or the flesh of the bunny from the other side of the Severn. HAFFKINE AND HIS LABORATORY. Our first duty on being settled was to report ourselves and receive our instructions. This we did, and learnt that we were to stay 10 days at Bombay to be inoculated and attend Haffkine's Plague Research Laboratory to gain an insight into the preparation and method of use of the plague prophylactic. We were then to proceed to Umballa, in the Punjaub, and await further instructions. Wonderful man is Haffkine, a true scientist, and marvellous is the work being done in the labo1 ratory under his control at Parel, about ! five miles out of Bombay. I do not here I intend going into technicalities, but there is no doubt in my mind that tht work he has done and is doing now will revolutionise modern medicine in the preventive treatment of epidemic disease as completely as vaccination revolutionised the effects of smallpox. Able and thorough scientist as Haffkine is, he is not the only enthusiast, nor is his the only experimental work done at the laboratory. SNAKES ; THRILLING EXPERIENCE. In the basement of the building is a wellappointed "Snakery," where healthy and active members of the poisonous Indian snakes are kept, including that most venomous of reotiles, the cobra. It is here that Captain Lamb, after a long and painstaking series of experiments, evolved a serum that, if used in time, will save the life of a person bitten by a cobra. It is well for him that his labours bore good fruit, as on one occasion his life depended upon the accuracy of his results. He was bitten on the thumb by one of these reptiles, which meant certain death in two hours if the patient were untreated. He knew by experiments and careful calculation that 47 c.c. were required in his case, and a hurried search in the laboratory produced only 29. This was at once injected into his system, and messengers were despat- ed post-haste to the city, five miles away, where some serum was stored. The quantity already injected would prolong hie life, but would not ward off death. Would the messengers arrive in time? He knew the sequence of symptoms, and had the agony of feeling the distinctive paralytic sensation creeping up his limbs, and then his body ; and in another five minutes | his breathing would be affected, and relief would be too late. Just at that opportune moment the messenger returned with the extra serum, which was at once injected, and v his life was saved ; but he lost the end of his thumb as a memento of his narrow escape. Captain Lamb's experiments and labours tend to show that, though an antidote may be prepared for the bite of any kind of snake, it will act only for the bite of the particular variety for which it is intended. Thus the cobra anti-venom will act only for the cobra bite, and the tiger snake venom only for the bite of that kind. No anti-venom yet found will act for all poisonous snakes. PAIN AND PLEASURE. As our work was to be in plague-infested districts, we were inoculated with antiplague serum. As the poet of our party appropriately put it : We were introduced to Haflkine, -with his needle and syringe, And he introduced his needle into us ; And for days our lefthaud neighbour who happened to impinge "Was greeted impolitely with a cuss. The inoculation produced a febrile attack, lasting about a day, and left our arms painful and tender for a few days more. During our stay in Bombay three of us took a Sunday off, and made a short excursion to the far-famed Caves of Elephanta on an island seven miles from the city. When we had landed from our boat we had to climb steps to a height of 250 ft, i and the caves were reached, They are hewn by the hand of man from solid rock, and consist of three large chambers and several smaller ones. They contain niches elaborately carved from the mother rock, and are mostly representations of the life of Shira, in whose worship they were built. The labours date back to the fifth and sixth centuries ; and, though some of the carvings have become somewhat dilapidated, others are in wonderful preservation, and bear testimony to the skill and patience of the sculptors. Besides the chambers there are two lingras or shrines, each containing a wishing stone, in which the Hindus place ereat faith. They make pilgrimages there at certain seasons to reveal their wishes to the gods, and depart in the full confidence of iieir being realised. I laid my hand on the stone in the orthodox manner, and wished for anything I could think of at the time ; but, so far, Avitih no result. Perhaps the gods do not hurry over strangers ! AN INTERESTING CITY. In Bombay one may spend days, watching the phases of Indian life and the grades of native :aste, from the rich Jewish-look-ing Parsee to the leprous beggar — all are interesting. The palatial buildings, the oiu-fashioned fort« of centuries ago, "till standing with their antiquated embrasures, dismantled of guns, Mid the various drives and walks through the country, i*nd the native quarters of the town — all give food for reflection; and b© one who cares to study Eastern life > few days' residence in Bombay is wonderfully entertaining. But our orders art to proceed Punjaulbwards, and w; must be moving along. We settle our hotel bills, tip the hordes of coolies who gather round 'jay departing guest, drive in our gharries to the "Victoria railway station (one >f the finest buildings of its kind in the world), take our tickets, see to our baggage, fill our seats, and start on fiur next staie. a railway journey of

over 1000 miles, to the headquarters of the Punjaub.