Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-10

MIN 10 follow the nS1 ana now one HSH
differs from the other and how he must
know them 2ll both together and apart l
say that Is Wisdom: but, on the other hand.
my cousin. the gavial, lives among his peo-
pie. My people do not swim in companies
with their mouths out of the water, as the
Rewa does; nor do they constantly rise to
the surface of the water. and turn over on
their sides, like Mohoo and little Chapta;
nor do they gather in shoals after flood,
like Batchua and Chilwa."
Both are very good eating" said the adj
jutant, Gathering his beak.
80 my cousin says, and makes a great
TODD over hunting them, but they do
not climb the banks to escape his sharp
nose. My people are otherwise. Their life
is on the land, in the houses, among the
cattle. l must know what they do ana
what they are about to do, and, adding the
the tail to the trunk, as the saying Is. 1
make up the whole elephant. Is there
green branch and an iron ring hanging
over q doorway? The old mugger knows
that a boy has bean born In that house.
and must some day come down to the
ghaut to play. Is a maiden to be married?
The old mugger knows, for he sees the men
carry gifts back and forth; and she too,
comes down to the ghaut to battle before
her wedding, ard-he is there. Has the
river changed its channel, and made new
land where there was only sand before?
The mugger knows
Now, of what use Is that knowledge"
said the jackal 1.-The river has shifted
even In my little life" Indian rivers are
nearly always moving about in their beds,
and will shift sometimes as much as two or
three miles in a season, dro wing the fields
on one bank and spreading good silt on the
other.
There is no knowledge so useful" said
the mugger. "for new land means new
quarrels. The mugger knows. Ohio! the
mugger know AS soon as the water has
drained off he creeps up the little creeks
that men think would not hide a dog, and
there he waits. Presently comes farmer.
,bnr- hnr on1
melons there in the new land that the river
has given him. He feels the good mud with
his ten bare toes Anon comes anotheA
saying he will put onions and carrots and
sugar cane in such and such places. They
meet as boats adrift meet, and each rolls
his eye at the other under the big blue tur-
ban. The old mugger sees and hears. Each
calls the other brother and they go to
mark out the boundaries OF the new land.
The mugger hurries with them from point
to point, shuffling very low through the
mud. Now they begin to QUARREL! Now
they say hot wordsl Now they pull tur-
bans! Now they lift up their lathis (clubs),
and at last one falls backward in the mud.
and the other runs. When he comes back
the dispute is settled, the iron-bound
bamboo of the loser witnesses. Yet they
are not ,ateful to the mugger. No, they
cry murder and their families fight with
sticks, twenty a side. My people are good
people-upland Jats-Malwais Of the Bet.
They do not give blows for sport and when
down the river out OF sight of the village,
behind the Kikar scrub yonder. Then come
they down, my broad-shouldered Jats-
eight or nine together under the stars,
bearing the dead man upon a bed They
are old men, with gray boards and voices
as deep as mine. They light little hre-
Nh, how we'll 1 know that fire!-and they
drink tobacco and they nod their heads to-
gethel forward in a ring. or sideways to-
ward tho dead man upon the bank. They
say the English law Will come with a rope
for this matter, and that such a mans fam-
lily will be ashamed, because such man
must be hanged in the great square OF the
iail Their say the friends of the dead: Let
him hangr and the talk Is all to do over
again-once. twice twenty times IN nth the long
night Then says one at last: The fight
was fair fight. Let us take the blood
money a little more than Is offered by
the slayer, and we will say no more
about it. Then do they haggle over
the blood money. for the dead was
a strong man, leaving many sons. Yet be-
fore Amratvela (sunrise) they put the fire
to him little. as the custom Is, and the
more about it. Aha! my children. the mug
ger knows-the mugger knows+and the
Malwali .Iats are good people
They are too close-too narrow in the
They waste not the polish on the cows
horn, as the saying is: and. again, who can
CLEAN after Malwai?'.
"Ah. I-glean-them," said the mugger,
simply.
Now in Calcutta of the south in the old
days." the adjutant went on, Everything
was thrown into the streets. and we picked
and chose. Those were dainty seasons.
Now they keep their streets as clean as the
outside OF egg. and my people went
away. To be clean Is one thing; to dust,
sweep and sprinkle seven times a day
wearies the very gods themselves"
There was down country jackal had 1t
from q brother, who told me that in Cal
cutta of the south all the jackals were as
fat as offers in the rains said the jackal.
his mouth watering at the bare thought Of
1t.
'Ah, but the white faces are there-the
English, and they bring dogs from some
where down the river, in boats-big fat
dogs-to keep those same jackals lean" said
the adjutant.
."They are, then, as hard hearted as these
people? 1 might have known. Neither
earth, sky nor water shows charity to a
jackal. l saw the tents of a white face
a new yellow bride to eat The white faces
do not dress their leather in the proper
way. 1t made me very sick"
THAT was better than my case" said the
adjutant. when / was In my third sea-
son, a young and bold bird, went down
to the river where the big boats come in.
The boats Of the English are thrice as big
as this village"
all the people there walk on their heads"
muttered the jackal. The mugger opened his
left eye and looked keenly at the adjutant
1T is true" the big bird insisted. "A liar
lies only when he hopes to be believed. No
one who had not seen those boats could be-
lieve this truth"
THAT is more reasonable" said the mug
ger. And thenr'
From the insides Of this boat they were
taking out great pieces Of white stuff,
which turned to water in little while.
Much split off and fell about on the shore,
and the rest they swiftly put into a house
with thick walls. But boatman, who
laughed. took q piece no larger than
small dog and threw 1t to me. I-all we
adjutants-swallow without reflection, and
that piece 1 swallowed as is our custom.
Immediately 1 was afflicted with an ex-
cessive cold that, beginning in my crop, ran
down to the extreme end Of my toes, and
deprived me even Of speech, while the boat
men laughed at me- Never have felt such
cold I danced In my grief and amazement
TIL / could recover my breath, and then /
danced and cried out against the falseness
Of this world; and the boatmen derided me
till they fell down. The chief wonder of
the matter. setting aside that marvellous
coldness. was that there was nothing at all
In my crop when had finished my lament
ings."
The adjutant had done his very best to
describe his feeling after swallowing a sew
en-pound lump Of ice OF an American Ice
ship, In the days before Calcutta made Ice