The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-03-30
At the Court of PeIesu.

Set with their backs to the wall
| With teeth locked tight to strangle
groan,
The youngest amongst US all;
With hands hard clenched for the com
ing fight.
With eyes that glisten and shine,
With nerves drawn taut and with arm:
grip'd tight.
The foremost skirmishing line
A scene near the coast on the eastern
slope Of the Malay Peninsula. A broad
| river, measuring near two miles across
its waters running white in the aching
midday heat; numerous islets, covered
with greenery of many shades, all mo-
| tionless in the hot, still air; each frond
| of the cocoanut trees stretching impO-
| tent arms 10 heaven in a mute prayer for
| GOODNESS. On the right bank of the river,
the clustering matched roofs Of a large
Malay village many of the houses extend
! ing far out over the waters on the piles
which support them. Around the feet OF
! these piles innumerable boats of all sorts,
shapes and sizes, moored in inextricable
confusion and all things throwing shad-
ows against the white sunlight as hard
as if cut out of black paper Such was
the capital of the independent native
| State of Pelesu, which some years ago
was inhabited by Malay king of the old
| school, some unimportant people, and
| Mr.. John Norris, political agent.
The kings village consisted of one long
| lane, running parallel to the river bank
for distance of something over quar-
ter OF a mile from which various foot
paths struggled off, through narrow open
ings, into the closely-clustering native
compounds in the vicinity. The street
was unmetalled, but the red and dusty
earth had been beaten smooth and hard
by the passage of innumerable bare feet.
This main thoroughfare was lined on Ell
Their hand by native houses and Chinese
shops of varying and irregular shape and
size, which matched one another only in
the materials of which they were con-
structed, and in the air of disorder and
neglect which pervaded them one and all.
At one end of the street, in an open space
facing a rickety landing-stage, a brick
mosque, glaringly white-washed, received,
refracted and redOubled the heat of the
fierce sunlight. Halfway up the village,
and standing little back from the road
in another open space, whitewashed,
green-shuttered bungalow, of European
type, stood in a neglected garden. At the
far end of the village a larger stone
building of Chinese design showed its
bare windows and its slate roof over an
eight-foot wall of stone, patched here and
there with yard or two Of bamboo fenc-
ing, the whole grown upon by creepers
like drapery.
All these buildings were the property
of the king, the mosque and the neglect
ed bungalow serving to mark a period in
his reign when, after a short visit to
the neighboring British colony, he had
for
portions of the funds which were more
usually employed in ministering to his
personal pleasures, and to those of the la
dies of his extensive harem. The third and
largest building was of older date and
represented the result OF a Chinese build
er's efforts to construct a palace worthy
of great monarch.
Both the bungalow and the old palace
were inhabited by wives of the king; la
dies of rank whom he had thought 1t i'm
polite to divorce, but whose faded charms
had long ceased to hold his tickle heart
in any semblance of bondage. Occasion
ally the king visited these ladies. and they
not infrequently sent him presents of
food in brass trays, borne by many maid
ems covered with brilliant yellow cloths,
and shielded from the sunlight by the
silken spread of a state umbrella. None
the less, the king did not grace either of
his more civilized houses with the light
of his presence. His habits were Curl
Gus. even for an Oriental king-whose
ways are apt TO be unconventional in
many respects-and he resembled the gen
tlemen whose names sometimes figure in
the police reports, in that, like them, he
had no fixed place of abode
On the side of the main street nearest
to the river. there were about a dozen
squalid tents, whose waited walls and
matched roofs differed in no respect
from the native shops and novels which
them. But all these huts be-
longed to the king, and in any one of them
he might or might not be found at aDy
given hour Of the day or night. Some
times three or four of these roval resi-
dences adjoined one another. and were so
that the king could make his
way from one house TO another without
attracting public notice by walking I'D
ana down the street on which they all
abutted.
In each of these huts, it was under
stood, dwelt q lady who occupied the
proud position Of concubine to the king.
The houses were crammed with women.
most of them nominally attendants upon
the wives of their monarch. Some. of
course, were merely cooks and waiting
women, but the vast majority were one
and all devoted to the kings more imme-
date service
When once the monarch had entered
the doors of one Of these rabbit-warrers
where no other man was permitted to set /
foot, he was apt TO be lost sight of by !
his loyal subjects for days. or even weeks !
at a time, the affairs of his country he
ing meanwhile suffered to take care of
themselves, while the State itself drifted
placidly to destruction.
An indolent European monarch NAV
perhaps seek comfort in the thought that |
The gods are too good 10 suffer the del /
lse TO swamp his dynasty until such time !
As MS own toes are turned up to the dali /
sizes. The fact that he realizes that del !
lse Is Impending, however, presupposes /
mat he has devoted some thought to the
affairs Of his country, and even this Ian /
qua effort argues q keener interest IN
ne condition Of his people, and a greater
expenditure Of energy and of time than
In oriental king, whose harem and whose
'plum-pipe are both sufficiently we'll
lled. can readily spare from his more
intimate pleasures. Thus II is that in
he East things-and very awful things
so on for years, ali Concerned
icing apparently satisfied that the pre-
falling conditions Will last forever. Then.
'pon certain day, the deluge comes
Town, as though one had tapped the sea.
ma evii-msnnered native kings and hope
essly rotten native institutions jostle one
mother on the surface Of the pool.
In the State OF Pelesu. at the time OF
which I write. the storm. which had long
reen brewing. was very near its breaking
Many things foreJoId that clearly enough. !
nd II should have needed m r.ar,. L., !