Tropic Fever

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 29, 18 February 1937, Page 13

Tropic Fever

Life of a Plantef in Sumatre

TN "Troplo Fever" Ladlslao Szekely describes "the adventures of a Hungarian planter in Sumatra," and without striving for effect provides an epitome of the lives of thousands who have penetrated itottifeWhem beyond the Conflnes of civiiisatiOh, ftnd without the glarisour attach*d t6 pure eXploration have established ih the reihotest parts the combined amenities and discomforts of western life. THe young Hungarian of 20, who was lUTed to Sumatra by tales of salarles and pleasures more aUuring than provlded by an insurahce office at, home, begins his Story as ihe Dutch steamer nears the island. . : As he lands at a deiolate little port, I Where the stench_of a flsh drier mingies With "th* pestllehtiai breeze from the swamp, he makes the mfstake 'of walking ■ a ifew steps with his small trujok. An irate Dutchman shouts at him, "Put that trunk down. What are you thinking of? You its a Eurqpeajb can't lug ybur bag- ; ^a|fte. Ndthihg like that faere, Flease don't 1 fbrge't the prestige of the Whites." Xealbos Cooiies. I A zealous coolie crSeps tip, holding back ; tumd with hte left fe -|>reVent.it boldly touching the belonglngs of th* "tuih." He iquickly learnS thit the ' 'White mlh % master And ruleif ih the st'rictest Seruje bf the "word. He doee not ; qS&iihe (Xtmnihds. "BOyl Beer!"— and thfe ^JaVan lervant at once runs Soundi lessly to ietth "it. . .. . Thfchext day work fregihs ih % distant ptantation, of the jhhgle. His : fellow tudns Are from all parts of Europe and all grades of society. Behind his house is the black-green jungle that two before hJtd be%h Vfrgin fofekt. At work in charge of flve to six hundred cdolieS, who are virtually slaves, and pursued if they run away in defiance of their "coritract," he carries only a big crooked . Stick. "It, would have been a disgrace, a I tKordughiy dwjplcable Isct of cdW*rdiee, ' to put h fevbiyer ih one's pocfet. A ! planter is hot afraid, And will hot even j appear «o." Hofhihk nli Nijrht. FpHE ebolie slogs from morhlng tui S hight, Wiling ahd stbopihg. He has j tb kthhd ,t6 iU s neck ih stihklhg ! marshland, while greedy lefecKes suck hls ; tbth blood, ahd malarira mosquitoes : pbiSbn fi& ihckly body. The hfe of the ! Ehrbpeah ;"is not much pMasahter. He, ' too, has Ma blood sucked by leeches, ahd thfe Mbsbuitoels infect him afsb, Ohly he i dofes hot havfe hls eaxs bbxed, ihd he i can riM iWiy if hfe WiShei. He tolls ji&t j as hard as the. coolles, his thffe'd muscles ! stretch just like thehfe, ahd hfe ti ex- ! hausted in likfe mahher. Pferhaps even * ; more ®o, bfedsuas he ffe hot fftted fbr this reiibn. The coblie— the Javan Malajr, as well M ihe Sotithem dhinfefefe-4s strong, ; tough, ihdfestrufetible. The Burbpean— eveh thfe kthmiest^has to jprbdhce a I huhdred ftmes xnore energy frorh hls Soft i body, Which is hot flttfed for life Jh the tfbhicSj than thfe coolie from Ms frajnfe, i which hafe bfeCOMfe hardehed over thbtisanas of years. Srnnettmes hfe feels as it hfe Could hbt take another sttep, as if hfe mhfet die, must he down In the Cleared fotfeat and hot bothef about ahythlhg more. "To die^ so 1 is not td havfe to ihoVe oh, pay attehtion, Or hivfe to Screath . . . br live any more— only to Ue down and think oi nothing more." After returnlng in the evehittg, "when you have dragged your- i seif home and m standing m Me veran- ; dah, ih a jlff there is a large puddle of ; sweat all round you. Then you sink into ! the deck chair, pull off your shirt lying i down and throw it into a corner. Ahd : you lie there like a CorpSfe. You fefel 1 glddy, you haveht even strength to eat : or drmk or gfet Up. You haveht even ; enough energy to llght a cigarette. You j

just lie there, with not a thought in your head, not a wish or a will. . . The, cooiies one morning cannot explaih a shortage of one of thfeir number, until as an afterthought it is recahed that ohe died during the night. "Something was hurting him; Died," the Bat&fc rlpbrted jn abbol'utc complacency; "Where ,is the corpse?" "We threw it outi" the Batak said, proud of the fact that he had known the proper thing :tp do. "In* the. dltch surrounding the shed, which was almost closed with weeds and climbers, lay a dead man with a horribly contorted face. Probably he had died of a sUdden twlstIng 6f the bowels, and the Batak hfed done his duty faithfully — he had thrown him out." • * The trials of the ralny season, an elephant hunt, a midnight encounter with a tiger, which fortunately bounds into the darkness, and the tragic running amok of a mttrd'erous coolie in "a hew batch, bring mbre adventures ahd wider experiente. New settlements are built, rubber " replaces tobacco, and some Europetm women joih their husbands, Wiih dlsWjSBing social results. The hatlves hear thit rubber is to be planted before thfe Europeans know. They learn by kabar-ahgin, or idr heWs. ".Where it coines from, who brihgfe it, no Ihe knows. Mahy hundreds of Idlometres J^Wily, hq some hldd'en Corner Of the island, . somethlnk or other happens— a rising of cooiies; thfe murder of a EUrbpean, or the like — and Within an hOur that makes kabar anglh btit here. ChineM Know First. • tSespite our teiephohe, despitfe 6ax pollce, and despite our telegraph wires, the Cninese knoW everythlng Mroib we Europeans do. The kabar-ahgih brtngs news of things that are happenlhg outside the Island, which we hear ohly many days later. And how is it done? Nb Wfey of tellihg. Ahd thfe neWs is aiways rellable, aiways accurate. There are no wfeys pf enterlng into ihe mysterious life of the Chinese. Their connectibns are upfathomablfe, theh sfecret cohspiracies entahgled, and complete bbfecbfity envfelopfeB their laws. The flngehi of their sfecret leagues stretch to the farthest eorners of thfe earth. Thfe aifembers of their leaghfes are mahdarins; ihillionaires, cooiies, robber-murderers and bfeggars. He who betrays the league, or wlli hot serve it, has to pay . fbr it. Ahd pay for ft fh such a Way that &h hhinitiated, partic'uiarly a White man, hev«r discbverS whethfer ihe attackfed WSs thfe victim of revenge, or whether, in cleaxihg the terraln, a tree felled him. Thfe Chinese know, but they keep silehce. It ls no business of the whites, the laws ot the whites are different. Sometinies Ignorant. THE white man, lt is true, knows a Set —but in mahy things he ls considered lgnorsnt ahd uhorgfehlsed. The affairs of the Qhinese are not to be his concern— so think the yellow sons bf the Celestial kingdbm. . . ." Eventually the Writer ls senit to furnish a general repbtt bh thfe possibihtlfes of a new febncessloh, deep In the vir|M jungle. Freparations Are made for a atay of sfeveral months, and alta: « lohg rail and boat journfey he startfe up the rivfer in a prau. For thrfee days *thfe /s!X fetMWaft barsmen pulled with sll their might. Rhythmlcally their muscles souhdfed ahd their naked backs stretchfed, ihd the sweat ran dowh thfeir bodies." Thfen a sfeven-hour march through the jungle, ahd thfe concesslon is reached. Huts are b'uilt, the forest is m&rked, there is ho Cbmpahibnshfp. "Forest, toaSrsh, Wb^k. Day after day, without any break. Ahd that Was ail. Ahd yet one ehdured it. Endured it for weeks, months, and even ?ears." A war has begun, but there is no wbrfe of it or his relatives.