THE INDIAN TROOPS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2348, 2 January 1915, Page 11

THE INDIAN TROOPS

SOME OF THEIR PECULIARITIES. A soldier at tho front in a letter Home writes of some of tho excellences and peculiarities' of the Indians. .'.'The Indian troops are behaving finely, though tho whole thing must be a whirlwind of strangeness to them. They are mud-bespattered and yrimy, and some of them look very odd with grey flannel shirts flowing beneath their tunics, (for they insist on wearing them over tho breeches, as a sort or extra gabardine). They congregate—a- chattering crowd—and do their own cooking in tho most adverse circumstances, though in an emergency—such as in the trenches—thoy coneont to eat tinned, food.

"They are brimful of interest, and curiosity abojt everything, uud have a child-like devotion to their English officers. They must be very cold, but they are stoic and cheerful, and any doubts that there may have been about their willingness to face heavy shell fire arc entirely set at rest. "I was watching one of tho Sikh regiments yesterday. Tho young men are extraordinarily handsome, like BurneJones's' knights. They might all bo poets. The older men got coarse and heavy-jowled, and have a nasty look of latent ferocitv which would' be unpleasant to meet "in a dark lane. The contrast is curious. . , .'