The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-01-31

Ike the Thibetans. The houses of mos
Oh these tribes were not bigger than DIR.
goods boxes. They were made of muC
and stone, and had roofs ON straw thatch
4 The most of the cooking was done out o.
( doors. and such families as I saw a
their meals were eating with their fng
! aEs.
The Hfndoos themselves are Aryanf
They come Of the same race as we do
Many of the wild tribes of India were IL
Hindoostan before the Aryans came
| They have gotten off into the hills or ir
out of the way places, and have to g
| large, extent kept themselves pure. In
| one Of the hill states of India, in the
northeastern part of the country, there
is tribe known as the leaf-wearers, the
women of which I'D to 1872 wore nc
clothes. Their only covering consisted OF
an apron Of leaves and girdle of beads
In 1871 some of these women were clothed
by the British Government The English
officer, according to W. W. Hunter, who
is one of the best authorities on India,
called one of the tribes together, made
speech to them, and then handed out
strips of cotton to the women, telling
them to put them on. There were nine
teen hundred who were thus supplied.
They put on the clothes and then throw
ing the leaves which they had been wear
ing into heap, set fire to them. 1t is
said, however, that many of the women
did not like the cotton SO well as the
leaves, and that they have gone back to
their cheaper but more scanty costume.
These people live in huts not much big
ger than dog kennels. The boys and
young men live in buildings by them
selves, while the older and married peo-
pie have their own habitaions.
In the Anadman Islands in the Bay of
Bengal there are tribes which until re-
Gently wore leaves or went naked and
daubed themselves with paint. The
Kandhs are a tribe of mountaineers on
the forest-covered hills of southern In
dia~ These people have a patriarchal
government and the grown-up sons work
for their fathers as long as they live, liv-
ing in the same house with them with
their wives and children, the whole clan
eating together. They have their vii
lagos, about which are patches of land
which they cultivate much like our Amer
lean Indians cultivate their corn. They
marry very young Kandh girls being
welded at fourteen, and boys being often
married at ten. The bride is kept as a
servant in her father-in-law's house I'M
TIL the son grows old enough to live with
her. Most Of these hill tribes or India. are
very superstitious. Only a few Of them
are Hindoos, and many of them worship
Idols.
1t VIII be surprising to many to know
that there are more Mohammedans in
India than in Turkey. Fully one-third
Or all the Mohammedans of the world
i've in Hindoostan, and they number
about $780, 200. You find them everv-
where, and there are some states which |
are ruled by them. Take for instance, |
Hyderabad, which is about as big as |
Kansas and which has population of |
over 100000 The ruler of this country |
S Turk, and he is oneof the richest |
'ulers of the world. He is about thirty |
years of age, and it is said that it costs |
lim about 100000 a year to run his es-
His table service is of solid |
gold, and his dress upon state occasions
5 of snow white silk decorated with
pearls. His income is said to be about
3O0O0,0O year, and his collection of
ewels is estimated to be worth more
han S25,0O0,000. He owns some of the
NEST diamonds of the world, among
'thers one of which is known as the Mia
;am, which is worth about a million dol
has !
With his enormous income he could, if he
would, collect a vast number of fighting
men. In the Central Indian states there
5 Mohammedan rajah who has about
million people under him, and in the
Worth Indian states there are quite
lumber of Mohammedan provinces.
The majority of the Indian natives are
axed to death. 1 travelled through parts
f Bengal which are so crowded that in
ertain farming districts 800 persons were
wing off of 100 acres, or about two per-
ons to the acre. The housesof this part
f India are largely mud huts, and even
4 prosperous times the people have little
D eat that you seldom see a labOring
nan whose ribs you cannot count. I
aw many men at work in the fields
those elbows stood out like knots upon
heir arms and whose calves were not
igger than those of a twelveyear-old
.merican boy. All members of the fam
Y work. I saw men, women, and child
en- in the field, and was told that there
Tere millions of Hindoos who supported
heir families on an income Of about fifty
ents a week. The Hindoos themselves
at no meat. They consider the COW holy
nd would as soonthink of eating their
as a slice of tenderloin
teak. made my Hindoo guide very an
ry one day by asking him to go with
lie to a butcher shop, and I know that
e would rather have starved than have
ouched beef. The wages of all classes
re exceedingly low.
saw women morking in the field for
nree cents a day and men who receive
bout five cents. I was told that the
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