OUR "PANTHERS" AT MALTA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 193, 13 September 1878, Page 4

OUR "PANTHERS" AT MALTA.

If for no other reafcon tban the better information of the British public, it would be -well for some of Ihe sable soldiers bow at Malta to pay a flying visit to this country. They have been co dealt with by tbe graphic pens of talented but rather too imaginative writers, that tho people of this country may bo excused for fooling some curiosity about euch terrible fellows. Are tbey nofc "panthers creeping stealthily on tbeic victims ?" Is it nol easy to detect "untamable ferocity hidden under tbeir sinuous grace of movement?" Do they not habitually look sideways out of "tho magnificent Oriental eyes, which are only "wanting in some trace of human feeling to be perfectly beautiful?" These, aud many other characteristics of a similar upnle*93aDtsorf, must really appertain to Jack Sepoy, because ihey are attributed to him hy authorities whom it would "be treason to question. Oddly enough, however, those who have had long and oioae acquaintance witb the subject of the sketch deny its authenticity. There are the Ohoorkas, to begin with, the diminutive, bandy-legged warriors who are supposed to be entirely recruited in Nepau). We believe tbat only a email proportion came from the mountain kingdom, tbe majority having been born and bred in tbe Himalayas, on the British side of the border. But whether from Nepau I or Kumaao, they show very similar characteristics, mental and physical, Tbey are supremely ucly ; let tbat be granted at once. Witb features of Thibetan type — flat noses, narrow eyes, large ears, and prematurely-developed cheekbones,—your true Ghoorka is uot an Adonis, even when his stunted Btature and general bandines3 of legs are left out of consideration. But " handsome is that handsome does," and very pretty things these stout Jittle highlanders do whenever it comfls to hard flighting. A much more dignified and equally valiant being ib the Sikh Sepoy. If we Britons have a right to ridicule the ugliness of the Goorkas, the Sikba have equal reason to laugh [at our pretentions to comeliness of feature and symmetry of form. Far above tbe average height of Europeans, broad shouldered, thin flanked, very muscular, a regiment of these good-looklDg soldiers generally covers considerable more space in line than a British battalion of equal strength They can march and fight too, when properly led, as well aa any race under the sun. Nor are they Ibsb admirable in quarters, where they are invariably distinguished by good behaviour. But the British loafer who iufests the great towns farther soutb, and levies blackmail on the native inhabitants, knows better than to try his 'prentice hand among the soldier races of thePunjaub. Strike a Sikh or a Ponjaub Sepoy, and he will almost certainly return the compliment, be tbe consequences what they may. Their chief weakness is a tendency towards that assumption of swashbuckler airs which used to greatly characterise the native troops before tbe MutiDy. The Sikh is unquestionably a bit of a swaggerer, as he goes along with bia splendid moustaches, curled fiercely upwards, and his hoadgear cccked jauutily on one side. It is a trivial Jaulf, however, and may well be pardoned in consideration of his solid merits as a fighting implement. The Punjaubi presents so many points of. resemblance to tbe Sikh that tha sketch of tbe latter will serve for the former, except that, when a Mahommedan, ha is much more given to vaunting himself ahd bia valorous deeds. But the Afghans, who constitute an important constituent of the Bengal mounted troops at Malta, widely differ from the foregoing. Tall, sinewy, slim yery active, and possessing immense power of endurance, they form the bmu-ibedl of irregular troopers. Their features are of a distinctly Hebrew type, and this trait, together witb the common occurrence of Jewish names amongst them, formerly induced a belief thut thoy were descended frora the lost tribes of Israel.