Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-02

relaxed did he dare crawl far from his hid
Ing place lac was In great ra. S San
to remain IN his fathers realm. he decided
to get as far away as possible, This he did
by Disgusting and presenting himself to the
st eooie on s Isw
He had worked as Ebmmon field laborer
| for five years before hS story accidentally
BECAME known. Over a certain number OF
coolies another coolie Is usually placed as
overseer. One day the rajah's son and his
overseer disagreed over a piece Of work,
and the latter was on the point OF using a
whip on the former when the plantation
superintendent, a young Scotchman, inter-
fered.
The gratitude of the laborer was UNI
bounded. For once he lost his oriental
stoicism and tears came into his eyes, as he
said:
Master you have saved me from great
disgrace
The superintendent curiosity was
aroused and although the Hindoo endeav-
ored to stink away.she was pressed so hard
that he finally explained his remark
You have saved me from great dis
grace" he said. II. a rajah's son, TO be
struck by a Hindoo of low caste!"
Then the whole story, which the Scots
man verified later on. came out. The hero
of it Is still employed on an interior planta-
ton in Jamaica.
Ram Singh's Worldwide Search.
Another story Of the love of a man for a
woman is typical of the countless romances
that the coolies have brought with them to
their new world homes.
Iboran was the daughter of Chundar Lal.
or plateau village of India. In the same
town Ram Singh lived. and Ram was en-
gagged to marry Iboran when he could Sc
cured rupees enough to make the wedding
festivities. To that end he went to work
for an Englishman in a distant town. TWO
years later he returned to his own village
with the money, only to find that Chundar
Lal and his daughter had followed coolie
contractor across the black water"
Ram Singh was in despair. To his ques-
ton as to where Iboran had gone no one
could definitely answer him, not even the
contractors. who had sent the girl along
with hundreds of others to the seacoast to
be shipped to any one of half dozen places
Fiji Natal, Trinidad, Jamaica, British
Guiana, Montserrat.
Ram Singh vowed that great as was the
task before him he would find Iboran and
marry her. There was but one way to do
that She had become a coolie; he must
become a coolie also.
Perhaps she has been sent to Fiji" the
contractors. told him. So Ram Singh in
dentured himself for term of six years as
a coolie on Fiji plantation.
Arrived there he set about hunting for
1boran when he was not required to be in
the fields. But his search was in yain-she
was not in Fiji.
For six years Ram Singh worked and
waited Then Maybe she is in Natal" the
plantation owner, who knew his story, told
him. And straightway Ram Singh bound
himself for a term of six years to a Natal
planter.
The End of the Lovers Travels.
Again it was six years wasted. six years
of working and waiting. But on the day
that his contract was ended Ram Singh
signed away his liberty for a third term of
six years and was taken in a coolie ship to
Trinidad.
Here he got his first ray of hope. One
day as he was about his search he ran
across man who had been a neighbor Of
Chundar Lal, 1borans father, and he told
Ram Singh that Iboran, mourning for her
lover. whom she never expected to see
again. had gone with her father from In
dia to Jamaica.
essary to his release to pass swiftly for
Ram Singh, and then, with the money that
he had saved, he took passage to Jamaica
and began his search with renewed heart.
1t was in an interior village that Iboran
was found, still unmarried, still true to the
memory of her lover. At first she would
not believe that Ram Singh was other than
a ghost, but when he had convinced her
and told of his worldwide search for
her the wedding festivities were straight
way planned.
Today Ram Singh and his wife, Iboran,
the daughter of Chundar Lal, are living
back of their little slversmith shop in the
town where five years ago Ram Singh
found his sweetheart.