Wichita eagle., 1888-01-08
THE PLAQUES OF INDIA.
SOME OF ThE TORRENTS OF Ex-
iSTENCE IN THE ORIENT.

Guarding Against the Dangerous Infin.
ence of the Sun-keepins Cooi-The
Plague of Servants-Tne Bearer and
the Ayah-1usquitoes.
None but those who have become
parched and crisped by the desiccatins
sun of India-who have travelled reeking
on the cracked and splintered earth, be-
meath the great sky fixed ocean of molten
silver-can appreciate thoroughly the free,
broad, bracing freshness of a Californian
breeze. The surface of everything I'M
sheltered is polished by the suns rays M
til the eye becomes bleared with merely
doing its duty. the sleek backs and
wings Of the thousand crows which twit
Oh the path shine like new rupees; the
green leaves hang motionless and glisten
as the wavelets in the sea. Even the ma
tives, brought forth by parents who have
never known another lind, have huge
turbans over and round their heads, and
more particularly On that portion of the
neck immediately below the organ of
philoprogenitiveness. lest the sun should
srlite them in his wrath
70 guard against the dangerous influence
OF the sun man has sought ont many in
ventions. Carriages have double roofs;
hats are built Of pith and are ventilated by
cunning cupola in miniature ingeniously
implanted in the crown; parasols are ri
gantic wooden mushrooms. and garments
are OF any substance that can possibly be
obtained, which, III weight and fiber. does
not exceed gossamer The walls of the
houses are about three feet thick, yeran-
daed and terraced round The rooms are
halls worthy Of containing the common
council Of any small American mining
town. They are matted and not carpesed,
unless in some houses where appearances
are more studied than comfort The glass
windows have each outer ones of wood,
similar TO the Venitian pnes so prevalent
ia Californian houses. These are closely
shut fourteen hours OF the twenty-four
Huge squares OF matted straw are placed
before such openings as cannot be closed,
and 1t Is the duty OF a servant to sprinkle
them with the coolest water Obtainable ten
times an hour.
The motive is obvious. The hot wind
passing through the damp cusca is cooled
almost to welcome point. and from a
scOurge transferred by simple device into
a refreShment. We live in the breath of
the punha, for all day and night q SER
want stands by to fan us. If he halts for
one second a glow of feverish heat steals
over lis. and the punka wallan submits
nluteiy TO the castigation he deserves and
most inevitably gets. These poor wretches,
possessed, it may be, of more intellect than
brutes, but undoubtedly of less instinct
and sagacity, ply their monotonouS occu-
pations like pieces OF i'll fitting machinery.
They are certain to fall asleep unless re-
tanned at high pressure by the constant APP
plication Of I, hOrsewhip.
The second plague in life in India, fully
as nonStrOus as the first. is-servantS.
Take professional man whose income is
500 rupees, or $3.50, month. He does
not desire, in all probability, to domesti-
cate himself in the cherries circle of a
boarding house community, where his alb
solute cost to the amiable landlady will
be about 20 rupees per month, on which
he is called every four weeks to pay 500
per cent. He therefore takes a house and
becomes, he blindly imagines, ''his own
master.
compound" which means in America
sits own ground.' So spontaneous is
vegetation that o ''malIee" gardener is
LEU the iIldSlcE LaSteS Dc
ever so much inclined to till his own gar
den and rear marvels in botany and horti-
culture, the heat forbids him. The pay Of
the malice will vary between 6 and s
rupees per month ga. The next neces-
sary creature is the mater" or house
sweeper-a man who always seems the
acme of devotedness and activity, but who
has really a remarkably easy life of it gen
orally. His pay is equal TO the mallee's.
The ''bhestie,'' who may be met with in
the twelve signs of the zodiac under the
nomenclature of "Aquarius, - is the serv-
ant to whom the tractable and sensitive
heart most inclines to he liberal He fills
his muscock - Ia sealskin many times n
day with pure water and replenishes the
bath. He fills the house buckets and del
uges the carriage when it is being cleaned.
Our gratitude, extreme as it is, goes no
further than s rupees Then comes the
table servants and the cook. Pursuing
the list we reach the ''sirolarbearer.' -
This man trims the lamps and pulls the
punEa, and does nothing else for the
world. His wages are rupees.
Another and even more important man
Is the bearer. Say, old Indian of thirty
hot years standing, how often have you
blessed this man above all Others He is
valet. banker and general protector over
all things you may possess; he wipes yol
dry as finder when you issue from Your
bath; he puts your hose on while you sit
on & chair in q revere; he does the sam
good turn for all the garments you desire
to don. He has your hat and gloves beau
TRULY prepared for you; he takes charge
VI your floating capital in the way of any
odd rupees which ynu may happen to
leave in your discarded waistcoat, and
you may safely trust him with thousand.
He studies your every movement and re-
places all mutilated buttons; in fact. he is
to a great extent o wife. and II you give
him q full and valuable wardrobe To be
lord and master over as long rs he may
stay in your service. you will find it undi-
minished and precisely as you gave it.
If a resident here is a married man he
may, in the nature of things, be blessed
with household gods-each god needs an
''ayah' She is. of course. q female ser
want. and the most troublesome, except
the syces, of them all The wages Of an
ayah are very changeabie and uufixed,
few under 10 rupees a month are q much
good. though some are obtainable at half
that sum. Besides the regular ayah 10
the wife and cash child there must he the
''materanni." Ii is her business TO do
certain things which, il executed by the
Others. would lose them their castles.
To readers ve2sed in the technicalities
Of natural histor. the third plague OF
India viii De recognizable 10y the name Of
'.culeI, but IL setter known by the name
of mosquito. The curtains round our
beds az nights are not Only valuable safe