Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1906-06-16
Continued from Page 1.
y. 5. Consul Botkin in the Land of
Pau and Virginia


startled the world and shook the Brit
ish Indian empire to it's foundations.
That, in brief, was the true cause and
inception of the Sepoy rebellion, how
ever hard English writer's may have
endeavored to trace it back to other
sources. But those writer's did not de-
ceive old John Bull, who, learning wis
dem from his calamities and applying
that wisdom wherever his flag floats
today has no more faithful. loyal. eff
ficient and contented subjects or sol
diers than are the descendants of
those same. Sepoy mutineers. No more
under his banner are men offended
and outraged in those little but pre-
cious things pertaining to religious
faith, belief or creed that are sacred
to all men of all colors, nationalities
and conditions. A British officer to-
day would as soon think of entering
heaven with his boots and spurs on as
he would of issuing pork, or hogs
lard, or accoutrements made of pig
skin, to Mohammedan anywhere.
either in the army or out of it.
1t cost too much once, and will never
be repeated-not by Great Britain, at
least.
Among the troops here are two In
dian regiments that for solderly bear
ing, efficiency in drill, and precision of
movement | would enter against any
white regiment in Europe or America
The English, Irish and Scotch, like our
American soldier boys, are eternally
kicking about something; but those
Sepoys and Madrases are as contented
as chickens in newly made garden
Time and again as some Mohammedan
fete day has come, their tom-toms
have beaten all the preceding night
long to usher in the joyful day, and
no smart official has thought it neces-
sary to interfere. Their uniforms and
fatigue clothes are all of Mohammedan
fashion, and, turned out for parade or
review, in their long scarlet dresses.
they are a perfect beauty.
For an island whose area is but It's
square miles-less than the average
Kansas or Nebraska county-it might
seem that $4,000 people would make
the population a little too dense for
its resources. So it would If that pop
ulation were all, even half of them,
white people. But more than 100000
of these are Indians, negroes and Chi
namen. The rest are mostly French,
as there are but few thousand Eng
lish here. There are but two Germans
and one American on the island.
Mauritius is an immense bed of lava
covered with a thin soil composed of
what appears to be potter's clay mixed
with a generous quantity of volcanic
ashes, and the whole enriched by
vegetable mould and the ancient drop
pings of wild fowls. That soil under
the tropical sun and with abundant
rains is very fertile, and produces
sugar cane and all kinds of garden
vegetables I'M great abundance. There
is. in fact, but little waste land, al
though the government has set aside
and keeps with jealous care number
of forest reserves for the conservation
of the fuel supply and the preserva-
ton of game. The latter consists
principally of deer, cartridges and
hares. The game law is strictly en-
forced. In the open season." which
extends from June l to August 81,
those having official license may shoot
hares and cartridges, and bucks that
are above two years old. But woe to
the luckless wight whose shot fells or
crirpes a younger buck or a doe, or
a fawn.
After the treaty of 1915 that forever
established Mauritius as a British col
ony, the contract labor system was
adopted. The French had about 10000
fa,. nfn