Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-27

anu hdiiieu people nave their own haDita-
In the Andaman Islands in the Bay Of
Bengal there are tribes which until recent
y wore ieaVes or went naked and daubed
t .neinse,ses with paint. The Kandhs are
tIipe OF mountaineers on the forest-covered
mus OF southern Inuia. These people have
a patriarchai government and the grown
up UPS sons rs. work for their fathers as long as
they nVe. living in the same house with
them with their wi!es, and children. the
Wnole clan eating together. They have
tneir Vilages, about which are patches
OF land which they cultivate much like our
american Indians ;cultiva:e their corn.
They marry very young Kandh girls being
welded s at fouseen, and boys being often
want in her fasaer.in,law:s house until The
son grows old enough to live with her.
Most OF these hill tribes of India are very
superstitious. Only a few of them are Hin
ooos' anu many of them worship idols.
Indian Mohammednns.
IL VIII be surprising to many to know
that there are more Mohammedans in India
than In Turkey. Fully one-third of all the
Mohammedans of the world live in Hin
doostan, and they number about Is. 600 900
You find them everywhere. and there are
some states which are ruled by them. Take
Tor instance Hyderabad, which is about as
big as Kansas and which has a population
OF over 100000. The ruler of this coun-
try Is a Turk, and he Is one of the richest
rulers of the world He is about thirty
years of age. and 1t is said that 1t costs
him about $4,000, coo a year to run his es-
ta6iishment His table service is of solid
gold and his dress upon state occasions is
OF snow white silk decorated with pearls.
Ills income Is said to be about $s0.OOO.O 600
a year and his collection of jewels is esti-
mated TO be worth more than S25, 600. He
owns some of the finest diamonds of the
world, among others one of which is known
as the Niazam, which Is worth about
million dollars. This man has small
h hS~ iy,ao hn
could II he would soon collect a vast num-
Der of fighting men. In the central Indian
states there is a Mohammedan rajah who
has about million people under him, and
in the north Indian states there are quite a
number Of Mohammedan provinces.
The Poorest Fed People in the World.
The majority Of the Indian natives are
taxed to death. 1 Travelled through parts of
Bengal which are so crowded that in GER
tain farming districts 800 persons were liv-
ing on Of 16O acres, or about two persons
to the acre. The houses Of this part Of In
dia are largely mud huts. and even in pros
porous times the people have so little to
eat that you seldom see a labering man
whose ribs you cannot count. l saw many
men at work in the fields whose elbows
stood out like knots upon their arms and
whose calves were not bigger than those OF
a twelve-year-old American boy. Ali men,
bers of the family work l saw men. women
and children in the field, and 1 was told
that there were millions Of Hindoos who
supported their families on an income Of
about 50 cents a week. The Hindoos them
selves eat no meat. They consider the cow
holy and would soon think of eating
their grandfathers slice Of tenderloin
steak. made my Hindoo guide very angry
one day by asking him to go with me to a
butcher shop, and l know that he would
rather have starved than have touched
beef. The wages Of all classes are ex-
ceedingly low.
T t. ~ AnyA .
cents a day and men who received about
cents. / was told that the people had re-
duced the problem of mere existence to a
science, and that many Of the Hindoo hus-
bands made a great fuss whenever their
wives or children ate more than would suf-
fee to support life and keep them going
In the opium districts about Patna 1 was
told that 1t was a common thing for par
ents in times OF scarcity to give bits Of
opium to their children to take away their
hunger or to keep them from eating too
much. This is done in a region from which
England collects tens of millions of dollars
worth of revenue every year. The English
government has a monopoly of the opium
crop. 1t advances the seed to the opium
land he can put in. and when his crop is
raised forces him to sell IT to the govern
ment at its own price which is always q
lions share of the profits.
How England Opened China.
What an acta Of retrtbutive Justice we
should have If the English should lose In
dia through China. 1T might. be looked
upon as a judgment-SIpo the English for
forcing opium upon China. 1t was through
the opium war that England got it's first
hold China. Its acts during that war
were the most disgraceful of history. China
begged England not to import opium. The
emperor and the officials passed laws
against the sale of the drug, for they saw
that it woul1 become a national evil. The
consumers of opium were taxed and threat
ened with death.
Opium smugglers were seized and tor
tured, and the Chinese native dealers We're
executed. The English, however, demand
ed the right to sell the drug. , They did
sell it against the law, and when the Chi
nese confiscated 10000 chests Of Indian
made war with China. The British troops
shelied Canton, and in the end forced China
to pay sd 100000 of damages. AS the price
of that war, these English foreign devils, |
as the Chinese called them, obtained pos
session of Hong Kong and opened a num-
Der of the great Chinese cities to foreign |
trade. They are still selling their opium |
to the almondeyed celestials, and the Chi
nese, through them. have become the great
est opium drunkardS of the world. Dr. |
Happier, who was for forty-seven years a |
missionary at Canton, says that nearly |
every well-furnished house in that city has |
its opium couch, and that not only China |
but also India, is full of opium drunkards. |
1t is estimated there are over 40 600 600 |
persons in Chinis who smoke opium, and |
in the city of Foochow alone there are 1 COO |
registered opium dens. 1 was told that
China used over $500 600, 600 worth Of opium
every year, and that great part of this |
amount is now raised in interior China, and |
within the past twenty-five wears great |
poppy estates have been established in |
Manchuria. The annual output of that
province alone is now nearly 1000 900 |
large part of which Is shipped |
down into China proper. |
FRANK G. CARPENTER.
DISASTERS IN THE CAUCASUS,