UNDER BRITISH RULE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 181, 4 September 1909, Page 3

UNDER BRITISH RULE.

"QUAINT SUBJECTS OF THE KING." Every book that will teach us people who have no opportunities of travelling the length and breadth of the Kind's dominions more about the queer subjects and localities over which the Union Jack floats should be cordially welcomed. Such a volume is "Quaint Subjects of ( the King," by John Foster Frascr. As he asks in his preface, "How little do some people, very proud of' the British Empire, know of the Empire? They know that in India are Hindus and Mohammedans; that there are 'black fellows' in Australia; that there are Zulas in South Africa; and that, besides the farming settlers, there are Red Indians on the plains of Western Canada. But ! beyojl that the average person has a hazy notion of the King's subjects be yond the seas." A dip into the present volume would tend to correct such a deficiency, for here are fascinating, simply-told accounts of some strange and little-known races who dwell in the remote corners of the Empire. It is impossible to follow the travellerauthor into all the strange lands, with their unfamiliar inhabitants, who own .sovereignty to "the Great White King —a scarcely human, but mysterious, ailpowerful lord of the all-conquering English"; but some we can glance at. As curious as any arc Hie people of Malay, who dwell in the Andaman Islands, situate in the lower sweep of the Bay of Bengal. ' ' . •>

■ "They are small people, under five feet ; in height, hut well-proportioned. . . . ■ The color of their skin, smooth antßaiFiess, is rather of a black lead hue. In • what they consider the cold weather ' which is about as warm as any ordinary summer's day in England—they smeari themselves with red 1 paint; that makes them nice and cosy. In the verv hot weather, however, they whitewash 'themselves, having discovered, savages though they be, that white is the coolest color. Their hair, short and crimpy, grows like i tiny bushes all over the scalp. Every week or tea days the head is partially shaved, with either a piece of quartz o*r ii bit of glass, the women having two little lines of h,air running parallel from the crown to the nape of the neck, whilst the men retain sufficient at the back of the skull t« give them the appearance, when regarded from a short | distance, of wearing a small and tightI fitting cap. It is atways the women [who act as barbers, and" e\™n children are shaven within a few hours of coming into the world." I

The attire of the Andamanesc is very primitive. The men seldom wear anything, while the women content themselves with a girdle of leaves and stalls. Both sexes, however, are fond of necklaces, which are usually composed of human bones. When a relative has been iimicil fijr some lime the skeleton is dug up ami the boirts broken into small pieces and strung on bamboo fibre. These are made, into necklaces and worn as a sort of memento.

"The skull, however, is not damaged; it fe carefully detached and painted "red", and, suspended by a string, is worn lound the neck in mcmoriaii'i Every-1 L-ody likes 10 show his respect f or the| (load by wearing his skull pendant. Ail' the relatives can claim to wear it in i .turn, and so the head is passed round , among the friends of the deceased. Itl ! !•> ijuitc rare to come across an Anda-' ma nose without a necklace of human oil cllicr bones. j __ WHERE WfIMEX IIILE. | The Khasis are not a whit less primi-l live. They live among the hills of As- 1 «am, which separate Bengal from Upper' Burma. ■ They arc "an almost perfcetl Miivival of the primitive social organisation in which the woman, and not the I man, is regarded as the chief person of the family." This is surely a land where woman's rights prevail, for "-nut only is' the mother the person of most import-i ance. but in some parts of the mountains she is the only inheritor of pro-1 perty, and it is only" through her that' goods can be inherited. The father is! regarded as having little to do with the l childrcn-they belong to the mother's I clan. When he dies his bones are placed ■ in the tomb of his mother's kin. He is [ of so little account that lie neither eats I nor lives in the house of his wife, but 1 only visits her on her request. | The Khasis are ancestor-worshippers,' but it is only the female ancestors thatl receive .their devolions. 'Even i.i religion it is the women who act as priestesses, the men being merely assistants.) The head of the state is a woman, nndj when property is dispersed it goes Uil the youngest daughter of the d'eceaseil! woriian, instead of, as in this country.' to the.eldest son. 'i

1 The Jodas are another primitive race. They live; among the heights of the Nilghesi Hills in India, and, owing to their isolated position, have until quite/ recent' times remained more or less untouched' by surrounding influences. Among this! people polyandry survives that is to! say, the women have a number of husbands, varying villi wealth and circumstances. The people of Baluchistan, on the Indian frontier, have a very on-; gaging personality. "The Baluchi givs the impression," we are told, "that he is wrapped in a superabundance of illfitting white garments. Tie never wears anything but white, i His face is oval ■ and hie nose aquiline]; liis l hajr is long' and in oily curls; life beard is raven.| Nothing will persuade a Baluchi to wear, garments which have any color in tliom either green, or blue, on black; although lie has '3O objection to liis wife wearing, a red garment, with srfmelimes a pain of loose-fitting trousers,:after the man-' ner of the East, The iWson we liarc ' practically no Bnlucliis 'in our Indi.r.i, Army, although they woi,ihl be inva'iu-| able as brave soldiers, is because, of their) aversion to wearing a colored uniform."!