THE DEVIL'S BARGES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9092, 23 November 1907, Page 2

THE DEVIL'S BARGES.

("Pall Mall Gazette.")

He is just a poor coolie sitting on ___| edge of the canal up by the \OoaX wharves at Port Said. Just opposite him in the canal a passenger boat ia. making ready to start, and. with many] a clank of the wheezing little donkey} engine in the bows, the anchor is being pulled up. Plop, plop, the big bits oft brown mud fall away from the flakea'af the^ rusty anchor as it is dragged into position, and, with a final toot on tM whistle, the boat is off on its long Joan ney to sunny lands. A little group of people has gathered in the bows, and a man takes off -his big sun hat a_4 waves at someone on shore. The coolie sits staring out at the saM lake that glares with a* fierce white light in the distance, wiping away the coal dust from his face with the ragge. end of his dirty turban. That Doal that has just started has been tin means of his earning a few pence t< buy rice for the evening meal- For al hour or more he has been _tandin| knee-deep in ooal dust with a shovel raking up the coal in big shovelfuls am dumping it down into the wicker basH kets to be carried up to the sides of th< ship arid: poured into the BUNKEES THAT O-UPB _0p lOOD. This life in the barges is what he haff always been accustomed to,— and what he does now he will do for many a y«__4 if his health will stand the heat _.nq dust that finds its way tc every crevicj of hie poor weak lungs.) To-night haj has been told to come down early to t__f wharves, for a big liner is on its way taj India, and she will need a- good feed after her long tramp across the blu_| waters of the ( Mediterranean. Thia wilt be a big job-^-not like- coaling tha little p&sseuger boat that already la * speck in the distance, down the elate*] coloured waters of the canal. To-nighf there will be real hard work to be dona with the chance of getting a few extra coppers that some interested pa_»eng__j , may throw, down into the barge whoa tt is emptied of coal. i The flies buzz round, and with a muW tered oath the man stands up ana stretches his long, thin arms above hu| head. Behind him, the one J lo_jtt street /of Port Said reaches away ih_qj the heat and dust cf the town. Don* keys, driven by brown-stunned donkeW boys, clatter over the cobbles, and tha old tram clanks backward- and fox* wards down the street. Outside thief shops stand the proprietors, -hontiiuj the excellence of their , wares, tm'i band of young men pass down a sideij alley accompanied by a guide, with hia red fez and white clothes. From aho. e| further down the road comes th^soupq of a small' hand, playing a onc-'p^Mfi lar tune at the ' Balls,' and,, from __«( windows of a gambling hell, the crou-4 piers' cry of " Rien ne va plus" sounds from time to time. Port Said is fori ever awake. \ Port Said cannot sleep— 4 its people will not allow ft. The verjj houses stare out into the sunlight wita sleepless eyes, and days of vice and siq follow hard on one another's heels* Outside the harbour beyond* the 1 e_H ''-T-:n6e I 't6"'the canal the sea rol_- ."__( calmly, as if to cleanse the dirty beach, but its blue waters are tinged witH scum and filth as they draw back. \ c .ffsa tide neither advances nor recedes, and; thus i A WI OF DIRT _■___ EVER BKCI_SCT.T» T-O-ti ULCER OF THE BAST. The coolie stands for a moment _B| the full glare of the midday sun. There, is ; nothing for him to do now/,.; so>, . squatting' down on his haunches, ha pulls his little tin box from the foldsf of his turban and proceeds to smeai. a green leaf with^the red betel nut,. As he eats, the blood-like juice rsn_| from the corner of his- mouth and hia teeth. Wiping his mouth with thsj back of a dirty band he closes the bos with a snap, and settles down to sleet against a neap, of coal. The banal at the cafe up the street is playing Ji new tune ' now, the croupier drones wearily tin. " Faitee yes jeux, messieurt — faites vos jeux," and a fly settles on the sweating face of the coolie as ha sleeps. / Out in the Mediterranean a linei thumps -its way through the bhw waters. The. very beat of. the engine, seems hurried. They want food. The coolie turns on his side and brtßshe- ' away the fly. A piece of coal fal_< withy a little click into the emptj lighter, bumping and scraping _g_-___i the side of the wharf. . ; • Dust everywhere... Dust and no_-f< The devils are at work in the barges. In an endless stream the men poui I up the sloping planks glistening likd | diamonds in the light of the eTectrio, lamps hung from the 6ides of the Knerw Men, women, and children hurry wrthj the wicker baskets on their heads tqj and fro, and, tilting the contents intc the coal shoots, jump down into th< rapidly-emptying barge" in a cloud ol coal-dust. The men at the _©tfco__ of the barges, their stark naked bodies shining with sweat, -hovel the coal. in feverish haste, shouting and singing t< one another. In the bow arid stern of the boat two braziers of coal aw burning. The smoke from them curlabout and for a moment ] A _TH-5_D COOLIE STANDS IK THB BED O-ASS from the burning coal, and the Bccra moment he is running up the pl an 4 with a new basket on his head. Three} hours of sweat. Three hours of dusti Little by little the cries of the men? die down. ' One by one the shovela are thrown into the barge. The wate_! all round has the look of solid earth-^ so covered is it with the dust thai still falls from the open coal bunkers. i As the first barge floats away fromf its moorings, a beautiful!* di-ssea v youth puts his head through the can*? vas awning on deck and gazes for si moment on the scene. " Here, catch this, you filtihy -brutes,'^ he drawls to* a little group, of mexSj gathered together in the stern of tho, barge, as he throws a piece of silvesj out into the night. ' % „' . The coal braziers, like red eyes, winSj > and finally close altogether, as a turn, in the canal hides them from view. In the smoking-room of the conah fortable liner- the beautiful youth sitA\ smoking a cigarette — a whisky and eodai by hie side. What of the coolie? 0h t he is dead drunk by now, asleep on tha wharf with some of his _o_graa_s.- . 'J^ broken brandy bottle lies by his side. .--' • ■ I _____^^ Ma^__________