BRIGANDS OF 1908.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 154, 20 June 1908, Page 3

BRIGANDS OF 1908.

i.Thi» following graphic article on the must notable brigand gang of modern times is given lo our readers as related to a representative of Answers by lladj 'Abdullah, who speaks excellent English. Ji'adj Abdullah is the manager of the band of Moroccans wlto are pcilurming at the London Hippodrome, ami all of whom served willi Ifaisuli up in the African fastnesses during uie jn'riod of lvjid Maclean's captivity.] You Englishmen, who are said to complain of everything, complain that the times in which you live are dull, miromantic. Hut you are mistakon--mis-taken absolutely. It is not the times in which you live that are unroinanlic; it is yourselves. Visit other countries, contemplate other customs, and you will iind that this is so.

1 will explain. What has must struck me and all mv brothers during our vi-il. I to this country has been your remarkable respect for and subserviency to law. H is subserviency to law that kills romance, and contempt for law that ere ales it. Take any instance, A lover carries off his adored one by force; he disregards the law of the rights pt paternity. An insulted warrior slays his adversary in combat; he disregards tile law of the right of exislenee. A mountain brigand seizes a nobleman, and deprives him of his rings and money; he disregards the law if the right of possession. A gang of robbers in this country will rarely exceed a dozen, or a score, at most; but glance at the numbers ol Kaisuli's hand, and you will see the true difference between the two races. I have no doubt that, in your own mind, yon have pictured Kaisuli's little baud as numbering a hundred or so, and occupying an area, when "in cam]);' of something like a compact acre. Well, you are wrong again. This "little' band numbered, in all, about three thousand—men, women, and children. It was an organisation forming. In its way, a city of outlaws. Men were paid regularly, ami in the most business-like fashion, a sum equal to four shillings per day. Does the romance seem to take High! at sight of these facts and lignres—that three thousand should combine to des|H)il often a single individual V lJcmenher this, then: these three thousand banded together in demonstration of their hatred of government; these three thousand were at war with the world. And all arose from the grievances of a. single, but a great, man—Kaisuii. Here is the story of Kaisuli. Once he was a bashaw, ti man of honour in the State, with legal control over litiuilreds. lint he was a strict bashaw, and —what is more to the point—a strong bashaw, and the Government did not like, and feared him. So they took him, and sent him to prison; and he was in prison for about live years—in gaol with the most degraded of thieves and the most cruel of murderers. Then his family sent petitions to the Sultan for pardon, and he was pardoned; and when he was pardoned lie went to the church in his priest's robes, and he took an oalli to be revenged upon the Sultan and upon the whole of the Sultan's family. And so Uaisuli changed his estate of bashaw for thai of brigand. Mere is how brigands live, how tliey sjKMid their days: Their home is up among the mountains, where every inch of the ground is known to them, in the winter huts are built for shelter from the bitter cold; but in the summer are foliage and fruitfulness, and, what is more important, warmth. Aud, after a hard day's work—hard, for the most part, on account of the danger and excitement -wo throw ourselves down upon Hie ban? earth, never undressing for weeks together, and waiting always for the alliri of attack that never comes—and sle.ep, sleep, sleep through the deep, black nights and tin; great mounta ; n silences.

We rise with the morning stars, before the sun is up. and as thev pale m the dissolving skies can be heard the first murmuring* and the mull'lcd sound ol muskets aud of preparation preparation for Ihe day of plunder. Washed ami refreshed, we take our morning meal, eonsitsing 01 a soup of Hour, oil. and water.

The meal OV<M\ nnlws ;tVP given. Oill- - arc dispatched to various point*, and >o lupins the business <»f t iio day. Ml trawl mi tool. Jlaixuli si lorn* enjoy* the privilege of a horse. Suddenly an out |H)st. comes running quickly towrads us. A party of six has been espied, travelling westward. K.iMili picks-hi* men, gives them and they are oIV in a llasli. Ther.» js seldom bloodshed. If the civilians wish to fight---well. Uuisulis men will nut disappoint them. Hut if they will accept th'.dr fate rationally, thin all is well. Jlrtisuli is a good, a holy, a deeply religious man -indeed, he is a priest. Morning and evening he. would oflVr up his prayer*, and bloodshed he avoided whenever possible. He did not like kill ing, but sometimes it was not*e<s;iry. The second meal is taken at half-past twelve, and this consists of bread, butter. and eott'ee. Of meat we would very r.-.ivly partake—only upon great occasions. such as a victory over (lovern* ment troops, when special favours would be granted. We never drank Jtiniulants, but during the day we would iptench our thirst with tlu- clear water of the mountain .streams, sipped from th;» cup of our hands.

Sn the day progresses. with petty plundering* at times most rcmuneru live, at time.* practically worthies*. Of course. the he*t part of Kai*uli\ riches wnv derived from substantial ransom*. >iu-li as tho-c obtained for .Mr. Harris, IVrdiearis. ami Kaid Alacloan; hut on ! occasion we have taken as much as one thousand pound* in the cour*e ol a single day. Night falls, and all the stragglers have returned to camp. Fires arc kindled, strangely illuminating the great mountain hollows, and as the shipment per hrews we indulge in the only amusement of the day—our dancing The beat, heat of the, dull drum, and the plaintive wailing of the pipe, rise weirdly into the darkness, stirred suddenly by the sharp discharge of musket*. which terminates each abandoned movement. Then, for a spate, all sound cea*es, till the monotones of a jangling guitar rise in accompaniment to th • stamp, stamp of .some quick-footed girl dancer. Filially, with wild revolutions j and loud lirings and strange chanting*, , the revels terminate.

ABaiziyluvad and rice and Jigs disposed of. we retire at la>t to rest. Hut -ometime- the word wilt pass around that there is to be a night attack, ami we wiil silently watch the lights ot -ome far-distant village disappear, till it is -hrouded in conipk-te obscurity, ihen. with wild war-cries, we swoop down upon it ; and woe betide the inhabitant who does not. give to n* hi* all. as we demand. The wailing of women and the shrieks of children till the air. Village upon village have we d"spoiled in this manner, with good prolit. The plundered east np their eyes, grieve tor a space, and then wander hut her alield. S> ihere lie strewn about us on every side empty and deserted villag"-. with unpeopled hoii-e*. and garden* w ihl with weeds, and all around the odour of decay.